Spring in Bangalore

       I am in Bangalore. The spring is adding colours to the city of gardens. Violet flowers on big trees attract me and then envious pink ones call me from another tree, clouds float over the head, plying hide and seek with the sun and funny thing I have been asked by a kid, recently, if I like hide and seek. Some naughty cloud drops few tiny droplets over me and smiles. Petals are scattered on the road. I ve seen Bangalore changing from good to worst. This time I see construction for metro-rail and fly-ways in progress. And I found that a lot of trees have been cut to facilitate the construction. But there is a hope in me, the nature lovers Bangaloreans (hope I m pardoned for not spelling it Bengaluru) will strive their best to plant more and more trees.

      I am a member of 350.org; this is an international movement aiming to bring down carbon emission to 350 ppm (parts per million CO2) which is considered as safe limit for humanity. It is believed that this is only by attaining the 350 ppm we can control global warming. Some small island countries like Maldives are feared to be drowned if 350 is not attained. But people are not still sensitive about global warming they are using more and more ACs, wastage of electricity is rampant, more and more vehicles are coming to roads, none cares to plant trees, they do not minimize using polythene. Ultimately this so called development is bringing the doomed day closer and closer. We are not bothered to make this planate safe for the coming generations.

      Present generation has witnessed many spectacular shows of nature, its not strange if it witnesses one more ……….the end of life on earth.

सानिया की शादी में अब्दुल्हे दीवाने

        कल खाने की मेज पर टी वी महोदय ने खबर दी कि सानिया मिर्ज़ा सोहैब मलिक से शादी करने जा रही है! फिर क्या था! खाने की मेज जैसे कि गोल मेज परिषद् में बदल गयी! अलग अलग आदमी अलग अलग राय! पाकिस्तानी ही मिला था क्या शादी करने को! ये ठीक नहीं है! वही बसेगी क्या! अरे अरे कंट्रोल यार! मैंने कहा क्या आफत आ गयी अगर वो पाकिस्तानी से शादी कर रही है तो! एक सज्जन बोले नहीं यार किसी से भी कर लेती पर पाकिस्तानी से नहीं! और सुनो इस दूसरे दिल जले की, 'सानिया मिर्जा भी पाकिस्तान जा रही है मेरा दिल नहीं लगेगा!' जैसे सानिया आ के इस के दिल में कमरा किराये पर ले के रहती थी! इन का बस चले तो उस का वीसा ही कैंसल करवा दें! और पाकिस्तान ने भी क्या जल्दी दिखाई वीसा देने में! कि कही सानिया का मन न बदल जाये! वैसे भी उसे मन बदलने की बीमारी है!

       खैर गुस्सा थूक दो दोस्तो अब रिश्तेदारी हो रही है हो सकता है ये रिश्तेदारी ही दोनों देशों की दुश्मनी को दोस्ती में बदल दे! अच्छे की उम्मीद करो और हाँ बारातियों का स्वागत पान पराग से ही होना चाहिए!

Kanu Sanyal: The faded comrade

      Each ideology finally ends up with the same evils which it sought to remove. I am sad to repeat the similar sentence in less than a month. The news of suicide by Kanu Sanyal comes to me as a shock. He, along with Charu Majumdar, was the founder of Naxalite movement in late sixties. I’ve passed through Naxal Bari many times, which is a village in Siliguri district of north Bengal, not far from Indo-Nepal border. The village can be proud and ashamed of being an epithet of Maoist menace in India.

      Some times back I read an interview of Kanu Sanyal in which I felt that he was not happy with the way Naxalite movement has changed. Though, since beginning, he had differences with Charu Majumdar on ‘the deviation from the ideology of Marx, Lenin and Mao’. But root cause of the problem was the way the movement was started. It’s a well established fact that ‘Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’ Those ‘Weaks’ after attaing power from ‘Powerfuls’ start doing same oppression which they were opposing. This is the inherent fault with an armed revolution, at least in Indian settings. Indeed the root cause of the Naxlite terrorism (let’s stop saying it a movement now) is poverty & corruption. In a country where surplus grain was rotting in the granaries and people in hunger were dieing of eating poisonous kernels in Orissa, not strange they can be easily gathered to take arms. Alas! Government is more interested to suppress Naxlites than to improve the socio-economic condition of the tribal and poor. But Naxal movement has lost its path and this might have forced Kanu Sanyal, a man of strong will power, to commit suicide.

      Organizing and spearheading a popular movement is a very sensitive job. It’s still easier to instigate an uprising but giving it correct direction is far difficult. I believe that a prevailing system should never be challenged till you don’t have a well researched better system to replace it. Leaders like Kanu Sanyal, while starting a movement, forget to understand this fact. They import and implement the ideology of Marx, Lenin and Mao but ignore the Indian social conditions.

Incredible India: Adalaj ni 'WOW'

       ‘Adalaj ni vav’ is a step well at a village, Adalaj, between Gandhi Nagar and ahmedabad. Step wells are called Vav in Gujarat, but in Rajasthan & Haryana they call them Baawdi and in Delhi Baawli. Step wells are typical to arid zones of western India. I think the reason for constructing step-well was to make water available, to the travelers and passengers, in this part of India, where there was no perennial source of water, other then wells, was available. And the well always needed rope and a pot to extract water, thus the idea of creating step-wells must have surfaced. And with the passing time, constructing step-well must have become a status symbol which would have, ultimately, resulted in to flourishing art and architecture around the step-wells. Though it was not the first time I visited the magnificent and picturesque step-well, yesterday, and after going there I once again said “WOW!!” so I call it Adalaj ni ‘wow’.

        Perhaps language is among the funniest things human has invented. When you compare certain words of different languages you can’t stop yourself from laughing and be careful as it might land you in some trouble. A woman’s tail (choti) in Punjabi has led poets into creating some nice songs but singing them in front of a Bengali gal might land any one into trouble. A north Indian door’s bolt is posterior in Tamil. A Mizo pot would leave a Biharan red faced, a Hindi jump is Tamilian vulgar for female genitals and be careful and never  buy banana in hindi while in Assam. Just discover and enjoy, I would like to know more such funny combinations from my readers about the languages of the Incredible India!

Any objection on my calling it Adalaj ni ‘wow’!!!!!

women reservation bill

         One of my friends, Kuheli, has raised eyebrows about my writing a blog on this subject. She feels it’s a common point and every one will write about this. But I feel so tempted to write in this regard but some engagements ve delayed me to write on the subject. I ve been asked if I m for or against this reservation. And my answer is I m both. Women are ACTUALLY suffering and with this reservation initially, indeed, wives and daughters of politicians will come but slowly things will improve. And educated and enlightened women will come forward. Soon we might get some good legislation passed which will stop atrocities against women.

       But again, the parliament is four sided now, ruling party versus opposition and men vs women. Three women namely Maya, Mamta and Jaya made Vajpayee Govt defunct many times and now they are one third. We should be ready for more drama in parliament. Already some so called women empowerment societies are active in engineering cracks in homes. And now we'll have a legislation to do that in parliament

चमत्कार को नमस्कार

येल्लो एक और स्वामी जी पकडे गए रंगरलियाँ मनाते. अरे भाई मीडिया वालो इतनी सी बात समझ नहीं आती कि ये सब लीला है स्वामी जी की. वरना आम आदमी की क्या हिम्मत कि किसी अभिनेत्री के साथ रास रचाए. हम भी होश सँभालने के बाद से आज तक इन हिरोइनों को परदे पर देख-देख के ही आहें भरते-भरते बड़े हो गए पर ससुरी कोई परदे से बाहर न निकली. ये तो इन स्वामियों का ही चमत्कार है की इन्हें परदे से बाहर निकाल लाते हैं. अब एक और सुनो, पब्लिक ने स्वामी जी के चेलों को पीट मारा. वाह भाई वाह पिटें चेले और मस्ती करे स्वामी जी. ये तो वही बात हुई की कष्ट उठाये मुर्गी और अंडे खाए सरदार. अपनी पब्लिक को भी दिमाग नहीं है. ये बात भी ठीक है, स्वामी जी तक तो ये दिल जले पहुचने से रहे तो चेले ही सही. कुछ लोग तो इस लिए इस जूतम पैजार में शामिल हो गए होंगे की जब लड्डू फूटा तो इन्हें एक भी टुकड़ा नहीं मिला आखिर स्वामी जी अकेले ही क्यों ये चमत्कार करे, अरे ये तो जनतंत्र है पब्लिक को भी कुछ न कुछ मिलना चाहिए न. नेता से ले कर कार्यकर्ता तक, अफसर से ले कर क्लर्क तक, डी जी पी से ले कर सिपाही तक, जज से ले कर वकील तक ( एक और खबर आई है एक मोहतरमा आर्मी में क़ानून की अफसर थी और पैसा ले कर कोर्ट मार्शल में मनचाहे फैसले करवाती थी) और संपादक से ले कर पत्रकार तक सब मिल बाँट के खा रहे हैं तो फिर जनता को ही हिस्सा क्यूँ न मिले. अब इन दिल जलों को कौन समझाए की जनता तो वो गरीब की भोजाई है जो सब की लुगाई है. अरे क्या जरूरी है की जनता में शामिल हो जाओ. स्वामी जी नहीं तो नेता, अभिनेता, अफसर नहीं तो क्लर्क या सिपाही ही बन जाओ. कुछ भी बनो पर जनता मत बनो. वैसे सच कहें स्वामियों के चमत्कार देख-देख कर हमारा भी जी भगवा धारण करने का हो रहा है.

Chinese and Sindhi

Recently one of my friends sent this joke:-

       A Chinese and a Sindhi were traveling in a train, together. A mosquito was flying there. The Chinese caught it and ate. After a while another mosquito came. The Sindhi caught it and asked the Chinese, “Khareedega (will u buy)!!”

     Good joke! But reality is reverse of it. Chinese are all over. Recently I was checking the data of honey exports, China is far ahead India. And in every field they’ve left us decades behind. Indeed we are more humanitarian than they are, if it comes to citizens rights but fact is that the dragon has left the tiger very much behind and hey he is no more hidden! Be it economy, foreign relations or defence. India may be a future super power but China already is one. It’s not that we have exhausted our all chances to surpass them. We indeed will be having better brain power than them. We might be leaving them behind in the field of science and technology and quality of professionals we shall have. But not yet the time to cheer up but let’s gear up and take the cue from history, Europe ruled the whole world on the strength of industrial revolution

Fluke and flick

      Second day of Hockey world cup, super power of hockey, South Korea was leading by 2-0. The stick work by Korea, up to its heights of perfection and then a goal of Germany by fluke but second goal was a spectacularly carved goal and ultimately the superpowers couldn’t avoid this draw. But I haven’t forgotten the India-Pakistan match yet. Indians played magnificently well. I think they have over come their traditional weakness of not converting the penalty corners. Finally, something good in the tail of controversy. If India does well, in this world cup, it will be once again proved that the sports should be out of the clutches of bureaucrats and politicians.

       After all sport is neither politics nor terrorism and Mr. Gill it’s not the posterior of a lady IAS officer either.

Holi: tradition and fun

Happy Holi to all my readers…..

     Playing Holi in my ancestral village is always fun for me. On Holi I try to be there to become a part of the fun. Holi here is always a decent affair. Those habituated with mud, cow dung or any other thing in that series will sure be disappointed here. Abeer-gulaal, that’s all. This is a big village in the foothill, roughly divided in three parts. A ‘toli’ of men would start from one end of the village, which would accompany the other one from the middle part to join with the third one at the farthest end (our side of village) and I was in third one, as usual. Each toli had its on ‘dhap’(ढप) or ‘chung’(चंग) it’s a big dafli (डफली) like rhythmic instrument like u see in almost all holi songs of Bollywood movies. Every one singing songs called dhamaals (धमाल). Dhamaals are sung by only males. Themes would be around Holi, bhajans of lord Rama and Krishna, mythological stories and some times folk. The lyrics would be Rajasthani and Brij.

      Like:- रंग मत डाले रे कान्हूडा म्हारो गुजर मारे रे (A Gujjari imploring Lord Krishna not to smear her with the colour as her husband would beat her)

      Another colour:- आज बृज में होरी रे रसिया (Today is Holi in Brij, Krishna’s birth place)

      And: - सागे चालो रे भौजाई मेलो देखां गौर को (A dever (brother-in-law) teasing his Bhabhi and inviting her to visit with him Gangaur fair (A festival exclusively celebrated by women in Rajasthan and parts of Haryana and U.P.)

      My cousin plays very good dhap and sings good dhamaal. He would always lead from front. All three tolis went together to a Temple of Dadu panth at the farthest end of village and from there together to another temple at the other end. Singing and making the sky colourful. Women were standing on top of their houses. Their style varied. Those of Rajputs had only their eyes visible from inside their ghunghats (Purdah or veil) they were in groups, women of Baniyas and Brahmins had their heads covered. Others were seemed free to adopt either style. Girls were watching the fun shyly. Abeer-gulaal was flying in air. Younger ones were pouring their regards to elders’ feet in the form of abeer-gulaal, elders were reciprocating by pouring their love, in the heads of younger ones, same way. I am finding, each year, my feet becoming more and more colourful.