Ashiyana

1.5 years ago when I had planted random plants in the balcony of my apartment, it was just to make the balcony look little green which is otherwise so barren. Interestingly, I ended up harvesting around 750gms of French Bean, more than a 1 Kg of tomatoes and 6 lemons so far. But, what I discovered this morning was amazing. I had put 3 mango saplings in one tub, and over the time the saplings have grown quite leafy and resembles a thick shurb. I saw a small bird's nest being built in the midst of the saplings with the leaves of the mango plants. The nest is engineered very well and I have seen a small bird (smaller than a sparrow), coming and going to the nest. I think its still under construction and the bird hasn't yet got the possession. But it was so nice and cute to see the nest. An ashiyana coming up inside mine.  

Home Sweet Home

Ashiyana (आशियाना ) is a Hindi word meaning 'Home'

Return to Innocence

While cleaning up my bookshelf, I stumbled upon an old book of my brother and a letter inside it which I wrote to him 13 years ago. The letter is dated 13th September, 2000 and was written almost a month after I started my engineering course in NITK (National Institute of Technology Karnataka - http://bit.ly/14JDlqF), which was KREC (Karnataka Regional Engineering College) those days. As I read the missive after so many years, it made me go down memory lane 13 years back. The words rightly reflects the excitement of a small town guy being in a college campus, a little bit nervous and home-sick, a turbulence in the heart and mind of the mama's boy on encountering a totally different lifestyle and the difficulty faced when he was all by himself. The 1st semester restrictions seem to play a spoilsport on the overall experience of the boy!

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The boy has grown, he is a man now. Many things have changed in all these years, but it looks like just yesterday. And its 'Yesterday Once More by Carpenters which comes to my mind:

... ...

Those were such happy times

And not so long ago

How I wondered where they'd gone!

 ... ...

... ...

All my best memories

Come back clearly to me

Some can even make me cry

Just like before

It's yesterday once more

 [Yesterday Once More Lyrics - Carpenters - http://bit.ly/1aeYj8V]

 

Random Musings

I love rainy season. Not because rain makes me feel romantic or something, but I like the gloomy kind of weather, and monsoon gives the perfect setting. I know for most people it appears depressing, but I just love it. My friend, who was my batch-mate at college has shifted to my city recently and last week when we met, it was after 8 long years! Hard to believe, but time have just flown without us realizing. We chatted about life, what others of our batch are doing and things which happened to us in all these years. In the course of the conversation, I happen to comment that when I look at the professional profiles of all my batch-mates, seniors or even juniors, it gives me a feeling that everyone is doing so good in their lives while I am just leading a constant, average life with not much accomplishments to boast about and there is none but I am only responsible for it. Because, I still haven't found out what I am good at and what I really want to do. My friend said a good thing on that context. Life should be measured in terms of distance covered, and not just point in time achievements or accomplishments. "Babumoshai, zindagi badi honi chahiye, lambi nahin!" Lets see if I can do anything big in this half of it!

Someone rightly said that ignorance is bliss. The other day, I drove for more than a kilometer in a busy one-way and cursing all those who came in my way until I was told by a fellow car driver that I was driving in the wrong direction. God, I kinda panicked, but I was lucky not to get caught by a cop. When I was ignorant about the fact that the road was a one-way, I was lecturing about ethics which the other drivers lacked to block my way, but once I realized the truth, my euphoria made me freeze. This is true in many other spheres of life as well.

People say its okay to make mistakes, because we learn from our mistakes and it makes our life a journey of continuous learning. But sometimes mistakes can be very expensive. Few months back, I appeared for an interview with one of the big shots. The questions were not so tough per-Se, but I made some horrendous mistakes in my approach to solve the problems and I sucked badly. I don't know what I learnt from it, whether not to appear for interview without preparing hard or its okay to fail, but the opportunity was extremely lucrative and I lost it. An expensive mistake indeed. Those days, I went to another interview for a company of which I got a call through one of the professional networking site. The job details did not mentioned anything about the work profile and skill-sets required, but something bombastic stuffs in a metaphorical way! Like we are a startup, we do things differently... baghera, baghera. After attempting the written round, I was made to wait for around 1.5 hrs because the next round was scheduled with their CEO and he was very busy. Ironically, the big CEO talked just for 5-10 minutes after all those waiting. In between, another guy called me and looked at my resume, and said my profile don't really align with their requirements. WTF! I assumed I was called onsite only after my resume was screened. An utter wastage of 3-4 hrs and 2-3 litres of fuel for travel! Holy Shit... At least I learned something from this incident. Never go for random interviews, specially when the company writes lofty stuffs in the job details instead about the job itself. I keep getting emails with job postings and today I happen to read another job posting of the same company. It says that the position they have is not for someone who have worked for 10+ years in a 10,000+ peoples organization because they don't have the bandwidth to make unlearn all those unwanted things one inadvertently learned in those years of experience; keeping Google as an exception! WTF again!!! I never read such a rude job posting in my life. Anyways, its a free country, anybody can express, write anything they like. Also, there is a bad trend going on where just anyone arbit says that we are a startup, we have a high paced work environment unlike the biggies; if you are a geek, then only join us. Dude, give me a break! A good programmer don't need to forget to eat, drink or pee to write amazing piece of code. Geeks don't have special attributes in their look. If you think people with long beards like Richard Stallman is a geek,  a clean shaven Bill Gates is also a geek. Anyways... Nevermind!

How We Got Leh'd!

 

If it's not a road trip... it's probably not a trip!

Yes... Before life takes a different course, lets do it!. It was around early April of '13. I and my friend started planning for a bike trip to Ladakh. We started reading travelogues of people who did motorcycle trips to Leh/Ladakh and started collecting information. Routes, essential things to carry, places to see, places to stay enroute... everything. Initially, I was little scared mostly because I am a bike illiterate and have to go as a pillion. Secondly, it was only two of us going and people's experiences with acute mountain sickness (AMS) in Ladakh region due to high altitude and scarcity of oxygen already made me little breathless. I ended up reading a lot of literature on AMS and ways to prevent/cure it. We decided that we'll take the Jammu -> Srinagar -> Leh/Ladakh route and return via Leh -> Manali -> Chandigarh! Couriered our machine, Bullet (Royal Enfield, 350CC), to Jammu and boarded the train to Jammu on 29th of May '13. We took Mangala Express from Mumbai to Delhi and Rajdhani Express from New Delhi to Jammu. God, we were quite lucky! Got all the tickets through Tatkal :-) Penning down whatever I remember about one of the most wonderful things ever happened to us!

Day 1 (29th May): Boarded the train to Delhi at Mumbai (Panvel Station) in the afternoon. The journey was a okay dokay type. Was traveling in train after quite a long time, so treated ourselves with almost all the snacks and food items available on board.

Day 2 (30th May): Reached Delhi (Hazrat Nizamuddin Station) at around 1 PM. It was my 1st time being in Delhi by train. Our next train to Jammu was from New Delhi Station at night. Went there, kept our luggage in the cloak room and thought of doing a little hitch hiking. Had a stupendous lunch in KFC at Connaught Place. It was extremely hot in Delhi, temperature soaring to around 45 degrees. So returned to railway station and just killed our time. Boarded Jammu Rajdhani. It was my 1st time again in a Rajdhani Express and I was really impressed. Had a nice dinner on board and slept. We had to wake up early next day as a the train reaches Jammu at 5 O'Clock in the morning. 

Day 3 (31st May): We reached Jammu and an autorickshaw guy took us to a hotel, probably one of his acquaintances expecting some commission. Had a lot of tasks at hand that day. Collect our bike  from the courier, fix the carrier in it and start on our joyride! Everything happened so smoothly. Specially, we never thought that the rucksacks we were carrying will fit so well in the bike with the carrier. We ate our lunch, fitted our bags to the bike, checked out from the hotel and started with our ride at around 2:00PM. Initially it was little uncomfortable for me to sit pillion wearing the safety gears and all. We planned that we should cover a distance up to Patnitop that day before the nightfall. It was an extremely hot and humid afternoon in Jammu.  But the ride to Patnitop was amazing. Stopped once or twice for a hot cup of coffee and some snacks. We reached Patnitop by around 7:00PM and checked into a cozy little hotel called "Patnitop Huts". The place was too beautiful and the was chilly. It reminded me of a evening in December in Shillong. The guy in the hotel cooked some amazing food for our dinner. Finally went to sleep, planning to wake up early the next day.

Day 4 (1st June): We checked out from the Patnitop Hotel and started for the day's ride. We had Srinagar to reach in our mind. The road was good and scenic. Kashmir Valley is rightly called the Paradise on earth.  Finally reached Srinagar by around 4:30PM. Thought of covering some more distance and decided that we'll halt for the night as Sonamarg, which was another 75KM from Srinagar. We took the Srinagar - Leh Highway, and the ride from Srinagar to Sonamarg was very beautiful. Reached Sonamarg by around 8PM. We checked into a hotel and could see the snow in the mountain just ahead of our room's window. It was very cold there. The place was on an altitude of around 8500ft. and I could feel a little breathlessness. Initially I thought it was a sign of AMS, but probably I was just tired. We had  rode around 310KM that day. Both of us fell asleep just like that after our dinner.

Day 5 (2nd June): The morning was quite chilly. The hotel guy told us start early as we'll have to cross Zozila Pass.  We had our breakfast, filled up the tank in our bike. We filled two jerry cans with fuel as well (see the pic above) as it might so happen that we wont get any petrol pumps till Kargil. The idea was to reach till Drass or Kargil before its dark. As we advanced on our trip from Sonamarg, we gradually started ascending a mountain which will take us to Zozila Pass. The roads started deteriorating to almost no roads and the terrain started becoming too hostile. The never ending army convoys added to our woos. In many parts, I had a get down as it was not possible for the bike to go with so much weight and a pillion. At times, a thought crossed my mind, "We should not have done this trip". There were warning boards saying "shooting stones ahead" and my friend even felt a few on his helmet. God! Zozila was scary. Specially, it was the first "La" we were crossing! But as they say, "Darr Ke Aage Jeet Hai..... Fight Fear.....!!!!" We fought the terrain, our fears and finally reached the top of Zozilla Pass. You start entering Ladakh region after Zozilla.

The road after Zozila was relatively good apart from some stretches. We stopped in many road side stalls, had Omelets with Maggie and tea. Visited the Kargil War Memorial. Finally reached Kargil by around 4:30 in the evening and decided to halt for the night. Zozilla had taken away most of our energy that morning. Kargil seemed to be a small, sleepy town. Had Chicken Thupka and Momo, checked into a guest house and slept. We did not even had our dinner that day.

Day 6 (3rd June): A long night sleep made us feel very fresh. We checked out from the guest house by around 8AM and started our ride. We were intending to reach Leh that day. We realized that we had very little cash left in our hand, and if we had to pull over before Leh, we'll be in big trouble as there was no ATMs enroute. We tried ATMs of 3 different banks, J&K Bank, SBI and HDFC, but could not find any cash. The locals told that none of the ATMs had any money in it and asked us to wait till 10:30 or 11:00, when the banks will open and put cash in the machines. Finally, we could get cash at around 11:00, we filled up our fuel tanks, jerry cans and started our ride. The ride from Kargil to Leh was amazing. The roads, the scenary was just amazing. You get a place called Lamayuru enroute to Leh. God! it looked like Indian Grand Canyon. Really enjoyed  this part of Srinagar - Leh Highway and kudos to Border Road Organization for doing such a fantastic job. It must have been extremely difficult for them to build roads in such hostile terrains. But, just amazing job done. Hats Off! We reached Leh by around 7:00PM that day. Leh looked more like Goa if you replace all the mountains with seas. Lots of tourists, Indian as well as foreigners. After some searching, we could find a nice hotel. The hotel owner was an old lady and she was too kind to rent us a spacious room in a very decent rate. The hotel is called Kunga Hotel in the heart of Leh town, and is recommended for anyone willing to have a nice stay at reasonable cost. Had our dinner with some yummy Tibetian food. I was feeling a little breathlessness, staggering gait and could realize that an altitude 11500 feet is showing it color.  Both of us were too tired  and slept like logs of wood!

Day 7 (4th June): Woke up late, had yummy aloo paraths for breakfast. We had to make our inner line permits for visiting places around Leh. We queued up in the District Commissioners office and made our permits and by then it was already late afternoon. Had a heavy lunch and again slept. By the time we woke up it was already evening. We visited the local markets and streets of the town to get a feel of the place. Had dinner and slept. The next day we planned to go to Pangong Tso, the lake of 3 Idiots' Fame!

Day 8 (5th June): Checked out from our hotel, and started from Leh for Pangong Tso at around 10AM. The lake is about 150KM from Leh and is across Chang La, the 3rd highest motor-able road in the world. The journey started with a nice tarred road and as you climb the mountain range it started deteriorating rapidly. There were a few places where the melted water from the glaciers made its way through the so called road! As a pillion, I had to get down, and carefully cross the water to avoid getting swept away. My friend is an excellent biker and bravely crossed all such obstacles. We saw wild animals like ponies, yaks, mountain goats in our way. After riding for the whole day, we reached Pangong Tso in the

evening at around 5:30PM. We checked in to a cozy tent, did a lot of photo session around the lake and rode around the place. Chinese border is just 70Km from there, but we did not go to see it. The Swiss tent we stayed, called Eco Huts, was very good. We were served excellent food in the place which was literally in the middle of nowhere. 

Day 9 (6th June): We returned to Leh by climbing across the mighty Chang La again and reached around 5:00PM in the evening. The bike was showing signs of less power/pickup and so took it to the mechanic. We were told that it happened due to less oxygen. We changed the engine oil and filled air to the tires and returned to our room. Rested, had a nice dinner and slept early. We planned to start our return journey in the Leh - Manali road the next day. We have been already told many bad things about this road by other fellow bikers we met in Leh and so was little scared. The plan to visit Khardung La and Numbra Valley was ditched just in the eleventh hour and Tso-mo-riri Lake is planned for the next visit to Leh/Ladakh!

Day 10 (7th June): We started early in the morning at around 5:30AM. Rode, rode and crossed three  La's. Tanglang La (2nd highest motor-able road in the world), Lachung La and Naki La. We stopped in places like Karu, More Plains, Pang for tea and snacks.

The road was a mixed one of good, bad, extremely bad and sometimes no road. We finally pulled over in Sarchu for a night halt. We rented a tent just near the snow laded mountain. God! Sarchu was extremely cold. I found Sarchu kinda depressing as well! Also, you feel little dizzy and breathlessness there due to the high altitude and cold. We were already acclimatized and so did not have much issues. Slept under two thick blankets. It was bone chilling cold.

Day 11 (8th June): We woke up early in the morning and started from Sarchu at around 6:30AM. It was ice, ice and ice all over the road. After riding for around 50 - 60 KM we started ascending for Baralacha La. It appeared that Antarctica has shifted there. The so-called road was full of ice, and it was extremely slippery. While crossing this cruel La, we slipped and both of us fell. We were not hurt much, thanks to the safety gears we were wearing. I got a souvenir of a torn pant there. Took an hour halt at Zing Zing Bar after crossing Baralacha, and started with the next part. Rohtang La was the next obstacle in our journey to Manali. People we met told that the road to Rohtang was very slipper with mud, sludge and water bodies. We met three water falls in the road which had to be crossed with extreme care. But it was kinda nice. You don't get a waterfall in the road anywhere else! Gradually we crossed Ladakh, J&K and entered Himachal. Had our lunch in Keylong and made our way to Rohtang Top. During this stretch we were stopped by the BRO people for around 30 minutes as there were dynamites blasting being done. God! That was too much! Rohtang appeared easy compared to other La we crossed, but yes, it was full of sludge and very slippery. We descended Rohtang and finally reached Manali at around 7:00PM. It was so called "tourists' season" going on in Manali and it too us 3 hours to get a hotel room. A shabby room, but very expensive. Took a shower, had dinner and immediately went for sleep!

Day 12 (9th June): We planned to reach till Kalka that day, where we plan to parcel our bike by train back to Mumbai. We started at around 9AM and rode through NH21, the Manali - Chandigarh Highway. Kalka is a place 35km before Chandigarh. The road was good and it was a scenic ride as well through the green hills of Himachal. Someone told us the wrong way for Kalka when we were crossing a mighty hill called Swarghat and we reached some place, we dont know where. Two villagers guided us and finally we were on the right road for Kalka. We reached Kalka at around 10PM. Extremely wasted and exhausted, we checked in to a hotel just near the Kalka Railway Station. The next morning we have to parcel our bike by Kalka - Bandra Paschim Express.

Day 13 (10th June): After breakfast, we went to the railway parcel office and booked our bike to Mumbai. So, with our bike boarding the train, our motor cycle trip ends there. We checked out from the hotel, took a cab to Chandigarh and checked in to a nice hotel. Ate chicken cooked in a Hariyani style and slept for the whole day. Towards the evening, we went out to see Chandigarh. Both of us were there for the 1st time. Chandigarh is expensive but a very beautiful city. Nicely planned, awesome babes. We had a stupendous dinner at KFC.

Day 14 (11th June): We had our flight to Mumbai at 10:00AM. Reached Mumbai by 12:30. Went straightway to the Bandra Railway Station to collect the bike. After a brief hassles from the touts and dalals, we collected our bike by around 4:00PM only to find it punctured. It was raining very heavily and we had a face a lot of inconveniences. But, the only positivity was, what would have happened if there was a puncture while we were in our joyride in Ladakh. Our bike did not have any break down throughout the trip except losing its power/pickup in some places due to less atmospheric oxygen. Finally, fixed the tire and headed back home!

And, we got Leh'd!

Flickr: http://bit.ly/17vJPkG
YouTube: How We Got Leh'd!

Red Red Tomatoes

In last few weeks, I harvested around 750 gms of red yummy tomatoes in the balcony of my apartment. Its indeed a nice feeling to grow food, even if in a miniature quantity :-)

A Musical Week

Last week happened to be a musical treat for me. Watched four live performances, and the best part was that all of the concerts had free entries. Enjoyed Parikrama, Agnee, Raghu Dixit Project and Indian Ocean! Had a great time. While people say there are nothing called free lunches, sometimes, probably the best things in life are free!

Parikrama Live in Action! spot me there :-)

Swaying with Agnee!

Sea of people merging into Indian Ocean!

Lolita

“The moral sense in mortals is the duty
We have to pay on mortal sense of beauty”

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov! What should I say about this book? Its far more than being just amazing and truly marvelous. The style of writing, descriptions of each and every events of the story in such a lucid manner made me totally spellbound.

The 1st impression of the book, about the protagonist (Mr. H.H) being a pedophile, his desire and lust for young girls (nymphets, in his nomenclature) gave me a sick feeling. I believe any readers of this masterpiece must have got the same initial notion about the book.

But this feeling disappeared as I advanced in my journey through the leaflets of the book with Mr. Humbert Humbert. The writing, the plot, the events looked so real, so lively that at time I felt that I myself being a passive witness of the whole narration. I probably myself got possesive about Lolita as I imbibed myself deep into the wordings of the book. Mr. H.H will be called a sick person in any civilized society, but his love (devoid of the lust) for Lolita, I'll call truly eternal. Lolita appeared to be a mysterious girl/lady/woman as any other women in this world. But authors portrayal of her was just more than a normal humane child. Every minute details of the 1st and 2nd joyride across The States is incredible and as it appeared in the book, its just more than a travelogue.

As I finished reading the book, I wish Lolita was still well and doing good in her life post 1952, even if she exists only in the fictional world! From a feminist point of view, the novel smells of male chauvinism as the voice and feeling of Lolita, the girl, do not come out so well from the narration. But, as I see it, its not suppressed as well. Reader has to guess and imagine a mental image of her feelings and emotions, probably through her actions as depicted in the book!

An awesome and serious read, recommended to any adult who want to plunge themselves into an world of lust, love, care, melancholy, possessiveness, hope ... If someone can survive the first 20% of the book, it will be difficult to put the book aside after that. Again, I truly disagree with people calling "Lolita" an erotic novel! Lolita is far more than just a literary chef-d'oeuvre.

However, I would like to echo the same as in the the book's forward by Widworth, Mass. John Ray, Jr..

As a case history, "Lolita" will become, no doubt, a classic in psychiatric circles. As a work of art, it transcends its expiatory aspects; and still more important to us than scientific significance and literary worth, is the ethical impact the book should have on the serious reader; for in this poignant personal study there lurks a general lesson; the wayward child, the egotistic mother, the panting maniac-these are not only vivid characters in a unique story: they warn us of dangerous trends; they point out potent evils. "Lolita" should make all of us- parents, social workers, educators-apply ourselves with still greater vigilance and vision to the task of bringing up a better generation in a safer world.

The Year That Was!

Every time I sit on the last or the second last day of the year to recollect and pen down how the year was which is about to be over now, I once again realize how fast time flies. If physics says it travels at the speed of light, but in a more layperson's term like mine, it travels faster than my thoughts. The whole year was like any other previous years because I am still living in the same city, working for the same employer and lived alone, solo for almost 9 months of the year. Ofcourse "solo by choice". I always loved it and will keep loving it.

However, in my own way of putting it down, the year was professionally far better than most of the previous years. It was enriching, working on newer and contemporary stuffs, if not anything ground breaking. I could get a publication in one of the IEEE's conference along with my colleagues. Hope to get more in the upcoming years and wish to have it on one of the tier - 1 conferences. People says change is vital for anyone to come out of the carapace and experience new things and I could see how true it is indeed! I felt relieved to come out of the monotonic work which I was doing for past many years, disassociate myself from some people inflicted with extreme illusory superiority attitudes, and some others who have been bestowing just "fundaes" in their whole professional lives and ironically they are still flourishing! Sad but true. Definitely not my type of people with whom I wanna spend 40hrs a week. Wish to experience more changes in the upcoming year.

On the personal front, life did not change much. I have been the same old person, may be little more matured or its just the reflection of my age! We welcomed a new member to our family, my nephew! I read more number of books in the whole year than any of the past many years and letting other people know it here. I think, I also increased my presence in Twitter and Quora. I was totally fascinated by Quora when I started using it and using it more and more. If Wikipedia is about facts, Quora is probably about human thoughts. Many a times its difficult to question our own opinions and viewpoints about something until we know what others think about it from a different perspective. Quora is the right platform for that to happen. Judge things from many angels and increasing our own thinking corpus. I watched 96 movies of different languages in the whole year. 1 movie every 4 days! Not Bad... hmmm? I am very good in housekeeping and I have recorded the name  of the movies I watched in here. I did not go out holidaying or vacation much in the year. Been to a place called Tarkarli in Konkan Maharashtra with my friends. It was a good as well as a disastrous trip. Had written about it before. In search for a greener pasture or a livelihood, been living far from my native place for more than a decade now and in all these years, I have not met many of the close family relatives due to one reason or the others (excuses?). It was very tragic and shocking at the departure of a few of my such close relatives in this year. I should have met them in person atleast once in all these years. An ill feeling which will probably be with me for the many years to come. Most of the whole year was spent just  in the viscous circle of home -> work -> home and even though I/we crib about it, that's what is life, I guess.

2013? As always, no resolution at all. I have a wishlist though; hope to see atleast some of it seeing the light of accomplishments. Above all, I just hope and wish the coming year to be a normal year, if not anything extraordinary! 

Wishing all a very happy, joyous and peaceful New Year  - 2013!

bravery award winner to daily wage earner

This story appeared in television series Crime Patrol, telecasted in Sony Entertainment Television.

The content has been compiled from various sources given at the end of the post.

It was the start of a seemingly normal working day on May 10, 2004. Two unknown men entered the campus of a local school in Assam's (its a state in the North Eastern part of India) Kamrup district, fired on a teacher at point blank range and fled. Teachers and students of the school chased the miscreants – who were later identified as ULFA (United Liberation From of Assam, a terrorist organization fighting for Assam's sovereignty for 3 decades) members – but the pistols in their hands (and also a potential grenade threat) soon scared them off. However, Ratul Chandra Rabha and Rituparna Boro, then students of Class VIII and X respectively, were not that easily scared. They chased the militants for almost three kilometers and eventually helped nab one of the men who had killed their teacher. The act of courage was acknowledged by the nation and the two had made the headlines by winning the India's National Bravery Awards in 2005.

Today, the youngsters are fighting a grim battle for survival, forgotten by the very government which had turned the two into role-models of people’s fight against terrorism. After being forced to give up their studies due to abject poverty, both are now eking out a living by working as manual workers. “Our financial condition forced us to give up our studies. Now we are daily wage earners,” Ratul said. Ritupurna rued that he could not appear in higher secondary examinations for failing to procure Rs1000 to pay the examination fees. Both youths — now in their 20s — proudly displayed their Bravery Award certificates given to them in 2005 by the then President APJ Abdul Kalam.

All the political heavyweights of the country like then Union ministers Pranab Mukherjee, Arjun Singh and Shivraj Patil had patted them on their backs for their exemplary courage and bravery in the face of grave personal risk. Even chief minister Tarun Gogoi is said to have assured them of jobs. But nothing came their way. After achieving the feat, the two tribal youths have been running from pillar to post for the past many years for a job but to no avail. Both Ritupurna and Ratul still remember the day it all happened and wonder if courage has no value in this country. Strange though may it seem, the fact is that the nationally acclaimed bravehearts now have to toil to feed their poverty-stricken families. “To serve in the Indian Army is our heart’s desire and to make it a reality we are still working hard,” said Rituparna. The two had even made a written plea to prime minister Manmohan Singh to help them.

The duo had been honored by the SOS Children’s Village of India in 2006, Gandhi Smriti and Darshan Samiti, New Delhi, in 2005. Despite being selected for scholarship by the Indian Council for Child Welfare, Ratul has not got any benefits. Also a prominent sports personality, Ratul had clinched the first prize in All Assam Martial Arts Championship in 2008, won the 2nd National Chinese Traditional Martial Arts Championship in 2009. But despite all these feats under his belt, Ratul roams villages to earn a living. Same is the case with Ritupurana who toils in rural areas. For Ritupurna Boro and Ratul Chandra Rabha, the two certificates of National Bravery Award have become a mockery of the system which rewards surrendered militant with either jobs or economic packages but has nothing to offer to those who stand up against militants. And that too bare hand.

With the intervention of print media and Crime Patrol, The Assam wing of ICCW (Indian Council for Child Welfare) admitted lapses on their part and has given assurances that both the dare devils will get all their deserved remuneration. A terribly sad but true story, a tight slap on the rotting administration of the country.

Compiled from:

http://crimepatroldastak.blogspot.in/2012/09/From-President-Award-for-bravery-to-Daily-Wages.html

http://thrill-suspense.blogspot.in/2012/09/crime-patrol-two-daredevils-turn-daily.html

http://www.thesundayindian.com/en/story/two-daredevils-turn-daily-wagers/7/38986/

http://sevensisterspost.com/bravehearts-living-under-scourge-of-poverty/

The plight of The Elephant (God)

Ganesha Chaturthi also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi, is the Hindu festival celebrated on the birthday (re-birth) of Lord Ganesha. A very famous and lavishly celebrated festival in the Indian state of Maharashtra.

The widespread celebration of Ganesha Festival can be attributed to Indian freedom fighter and social reformer Lokmanya Tilak. He recognized the wide appeal of the deity Ganesha as "the god for everybody" and popularized Ganesh Chaturthi as a national festival in order "to bridge the gap between Brahmins and 'non-Brahmins' and find a context in which to build a new grassroots unity between them", and generate nationalistic fervor among people in Maharashtra against the British colonial rule. Tilak was the first to install large public images of Ganesh in pavilions, and also established the practice of submerging in rivers, sea, or other pools of water all public images of the deity on the tenth day after Ganesh Chaturthi.

    Under Tilak's encouragement, the festival facilitated community participation and involvement in the form of intellectual discourses, poetry recitals, performances of plays, musical concerts, and folk dances. It served as a meeting ground for people of all castes and communities in times when, in order to exercise control over the population, the British discouraged social and political gatherings. From then on, Ganesh Chaturthi is celebrated with a lot of enthusiasm and zeal.

History apart, but the 10 day long festival celebrated is a great period of joy and enjoyment. The "Modak", a specially prepared sweet to offer Lord Ganesha and playing of drums called dhol-tasha are other attractions of the festival. Added to it is the high decibel Bollywood music.

While doing all these, it appears that Lord Ganesha is lost somewhere in the clay idols and people forgot the real animal, the elephant, which our Lord signifies. This is the story of Sunder, the 13yr old elephant which was kept captive for seven long years in Kolhapur's Jyotiba Temple. As per reports of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India, Sunder spent seven years in chains in a dark shed. Sunder, who had been kept chained by temple authorities since 2005, has a hole in his ear due to an ankus (an iron rod with a hook at the end), in addition to scars all over his body and a severely injured eye probably due to a beating. In August 2012, Sunder became violent and uncontrollable in response to the ill-treatment meted out by his mahout (handler) and temple authorities, tore down a pillar and tried to flee his captors. He was subdued and brought back. The abuse of Sunder highlights the way elephants used in Indian temples are being housed and mistreated.The utter hypocrisy of Indians. PETA led a three-month campaign under which 13,000 people across India signed PETA's online petition calling for Sunder's release. It caught the attention international personalities as well. Sir Paul McCartney, former Beatle member, had taken time off from his rehearsals at the recent London Olympics to appeal to the state government to free Sunder. Apart from McCartney, Hollywood actor Pamela Anderson also lent support to the campaign by writing letters to government officials. Finally, the dark days were over for Sunder. He is being moved from the temple and rehabilitated in a wildlife rescue-and-rehabilitation center near Bangalore. 

The PETA link showing the plight and sufferings of Sunder is here.

Its a kind of hypocrisy on my part as well that being a non-vegetarian I am blogging about animal rights. However, the story of Sunder is far beyond just cruelty to animals, it shows the drastic sinking of morals in us.

Tarkarli Fun

Last week, I along with a bunch of my friends went for a 3 days trip to Tarkarli. Tarkarli (Marathi: तारकर्ली) is a village in the Sindhudurg district in Maharashtra, India. The place is famous for its beautiful beaches and the famous naval fort Sindhudurg built by Shivaji Maharaj. The beaches are probably less frequented by people and so looked virgin and clean. The place is around 450KM from Pune and it took us around 7Hrs. to reach via Kolhapur and Ganapawda Ghats. Thanks to a long stretch of pothole ridden roads. The journey was otherwise nice through the serene roads of Konkan Maharashtra. We checked in to the MTDC (Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation) resort. The resort was nice except it was expensive as per the maintenance of the rooms are concerned. However, the best part was that the rooms were sea view ones and the resort had its own private beach. The restaurant in the resort was horrible, with worst quality food served in sky high prices. The first day we had lot of fun in the MTDC beach itself. The next day went to a backwater stretch, which had a small island called "Tsunami Island" :-). Another attraction of the place was that it had the lower course of a small river, where it meets the Arabian Sea. The shallow water body near the island was ideal to have a sun bath and just float and relax. There were options of many water sports as well which every one of us enjoyed. This was followed by a stupendous lunch in a place called "Atithi Bamboo". Yeah, funny name as it sounds. But the food was extremely good and priced at reasonable rates. This is the best place to fulfill ones' craving for sea food and Malwani dishes in Tarkarli. Another place of attraction is "Rock Garden" just near to Malwan town. A nice garden near the sea. However, one need to be very careful about the rough sea there and should avoid going into the water. A few other beaches, almost empty during our visits were other attractions. It was some nice relaxing days spent for all of us there. The return journey was nice as well which we did via Amboli Ghat, the same route for Pune - Goa. In fact Tarkarli is just 2 Hrs. or so from Goa. So, someone planning for a longer vacation can plan a few days in Tarkarli followed by fun in Goa. Somehow we felt the sun to be harsh in Tarkarli with probably more UV content. So, a statutory warning is to use sunscreen for sure before going out in the sun. I got exposed to severe sun burns and the wounds are still healing even after 1 week of return. Although it diluted my overall fun experience to some extent, but in all the visit to Tarkarli was a great break after a long time.

The Minority Ultimatum

Somebody realizes it or not, but something horribly went wrong for India in the last 2 weeks. The recent exodus of people of North East India in an alarming rate from Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai and Mumbai fearing Muslim atrocities was something 21st Century India should have never faced. Statistics say around 35000 people left Bangalore and Hyderabad on 14th and 15th of August alone! Happy Independence Day, my dear fellow North-Easterners. Muslims or the minority community of India, out of their love and care for the illegal Bangladeshi migrants, gave ultimatum to N.E people in these cities to face dire consequences once Ramadan is over. Students, working professionals from the region left, leaving everything behind for fear of life. Government termed these ultimatums as rumors and the exodus as a move out of panic; because for them the minority people can never do such wrong things (WTF!). After all they are just a minority community. As a damage control or as a show off of "we care" signal, bulk SMS, MMS are banned in India for 15 days. This exodus of its own citizens from mainland India is a rape of the democracy and in India its common for rapists to walk free. It was hilarious to read the headlines in the newspaper today, that Indian Government has credible evidence of Pakistan being behind this rumor mongering, which led to the massive exodus of N.E people. History says that any problem in India which originates from Pakistan has no solution and Indians have to live with it. That's the easiest way the incompetent Indian government washes its hand with. N.E Exodus Case Closed!

The liberalization of Indian economy in the 90's generated massive employment opportunities in mainland India. In far lying N.E India, the terrorists (freedom fighters?), who were fighting sovereignty from India for decades, started losing local peoples' support;  citizens realized that a decent life is more important than bloodshed and a never to be won battle for sovereignty. India saw an influx of people from these remote region in search of livelihood, better education and a better life altogether. When you are in school, it's a common notion that you come out of N.E after your 12th standard for building a career of your choice, getting a good job and supporting your families thereafter. N.E Indians started caring more about opportunities the other parts of the country is offering and gradually the doctrine of sovereignty which was ruling their minds for so many years faded away. N.E was no longer seen as a land of "liberation fronts". But, the recent happenings, which kind of shattered the confidence of North-Easterners, is a big blow to these positive developments of past two decades. If Indian Government reports are to be believed,  then Pakistan with the help of "Pakistani Muslims Settled in India" are pretty successful in doing what even many attacks on Taj or Oberoi can't do. Yes, I won't call them Indian Muslims because if they are Indian in their heart and mind, they wont be involved in such a treachery. Pakistan played really well in this effort. A quick and successful plot. Our eunuch government just kept watching, busying themselves in arranging special trains to Guwahati. Once Pakistan tried to disintegrate the N.E India from the mainland by supporting the cause of the terrorists with money, arms and ammunition and making Bangladesh a safe haven for their trainings and settlement. While they were not so successful in that attempt, in 2012 they hit the rod when it was hot. They took local help; the locals who stays in India but whose heart beats for Pakistan and Bangladesh. 

But, its OK. Everything is "Chalta-Hain" in India.

It's no longer "their" problem !!!

Yesterday, Mumbai saw an aftermath of riots in Assam in the form of mob vandalism and public property destruction. Thousands of Muslim people gathered in Azad Maiden in South Mumbai to protest for the "Muslim" victims of riots in Assam and Myanmar. The protest went out of control which held Mumbai streets in hostage for hours, killing 2 people, injuring many - mostly cops. Media vans, police vans, and like always BEST buses were torched and damaged. In my opinion, most of the protesters didn't even know or care where Myanmar is, or for a matter of fact are not even aware much about Assam. Whatever, public property destruction and mob vandalism is one of the way of reaching orgasm for people in this country. The protest was anyway not meant for Indian Muslims. It was for Muslim victims of riots in Myanmar. The Muslim victims of Assam riots were not Indians. Violence is never justified even if the victims are not citizen of the country. This is something I like about Muslim Brotherhood; having a heart for the community irrespective of citizenship status. I wish the people in mainstream India cared about the Bodo victims of Assam riots. Bodo population is just a meager 5% of Assam's population and as per history, they were one of the earliest inhibitor in Assam. If their rights are not protected now, it'll be quite late. Its quite ironical that the Government calls the others as "minority", even when they don't belong to Assam in particular and India in general. And excuse me, these people are no "minorities", they dominate 11 out of 27 districts in Assam and counting. 

These illegally migrated people from the nearby famine ridden Bangladesh, where their own country could not provide them with the basic necessities of life are becoming  an utter threat to the identity of indigenous people, their property and security. But, who cares? The ruling government don't care, as no other people can give such strong vote banks. The illegal migration problem is not new, the balloon is being blown since Indira Gandhi's regime dated back to 1983 when the IM-DT Act was specially imposed on Assam; until Supreme Court of India made in null and void in 2005. However, 22 years is a long time and the damage was already done. Added to it are the porous border, where a few corrupt security personnel allowed people to cross the border and corrupt officials are selling ration-cards, voter-id cards in a mass scale. The illegal migration is continuing in unchecked scale. Assam riot of July - 2012 is a threatening signal to India's sovereignty. If no strong and aggressive steps are taken, its not hard to foresee Assam being another branch of East Pakistan.  

The mainstream India usually don't give a damn for Assam or the other six states of North Eastern region. But, its high time that they start doing it now. 11th August violence in Mumbai is just an indication that problems in far lying Assam or North East India is no longer confined to the region. It quite saddening that a portion of people is showing sympathy to the outsiders / illegal immigrants just on their religious status and giving the problem a communal tone. The riot in Assam was not a religious riot, it was fight for their rights by the indigenous people, and was challenged by the outsiders because for them it is do or die, a war for survival. They have nothing to lose, because they illegally entered India when they lost everything back home. But, their struggle for survival can change the political and geographical identity of India forever, if not checked now.

Hello Indians, its no longer Assam's or NE-India's problem. If things are not checked and stopped now, the next attack in Mumbai wont get plotted from Karachi, but from inside the country.

I wish people in this country really cared for their homeland. Just "homeland", and not thinking in terms of religion, caste and creed. If it was done, damages to the tone of millions of rupees would not have happened in Mumbai  yesterday. Politicians are busy looting public money like a huge bunch of pigs plunging themselves into pile of shits. Look at me, I have taken the easier path of showing my concern by writing blogs from my cozy living room.

Life

Life is like a box of chocolates... You never know what you're gonna get.

This story appeared in the newspapers on 3rd August, 2012.

I used to hate running. I was running back home to save my life 

South Sudan marathon runner Guor Marial will officially compete under the Olympic flag at the London 2012 Games but deep down he will represent his new nation and its long-suffering refugees. No coach, no sponsors, no country to represent, Former child slave Guor Marial bids for marathon gold.  Olympic marathon athlete Guor Marial knows what it’s like to keep running for mile after gruelling mile. The 28-year-old long-distance runner spent most of his childhood being chased through savage battles in his native South Sudan.

Running through the desert with hardly any water or shelter, his was a training regime like no other. A tough survivor of a 20-year civil war that left two million dead – including eight of his 10 brothers and sisters – he ran from Sudanese soldiers who attacked and burnt his village, an army officer who kept him as a slave and Arab nomads. Now Guor will line up in the London 2012 marathon on Sunday. He will represent no national team because South Sudan, the world’s newest country which won independence in July last year, has no Olympic committee.

He has no coach, sponsors or training facilities and just one well-worn pair of running shoes. He works all night to earn a living in Flagstaff, Arizona, and trains by day. But remarkably Guor has secured a place alongside the world’s greatest long-distance runners on merit.

It makes his story one of the most inspiring of London 2012, so much so that the US, British and Olympic authorities have gone out of their way to help him.

When he ran from his crisis-hit East African nation to become a refugee, Guor completed the most important race of his life so far.

He went first to Egypt before arriving in the US state of New Hampshire with an uncle in 2001.

He said: “I used to hate running. I was running back home to save my life.” However, he won the state cross-country championship and was given an athletics scholarship by Iowa State University. In June last year, he entered his first marathon, in Minneapolis, and finished it in two hours and 14 minutes – just inside the Olympic qualifying time. But he was a runner without a country. As a refugee he could not represent the US. The Sudanese government invited him to join Sudan’s team, but Marial refused. “If I ran for Sudan, I would be betraying my people,” he said. “I would be dishonouring the two million people who died for our freedom.” After a second quick marathon time, a lawyer took up his case, lobbying influential people to get Guor a place at the Olympics. Just 12 days ago, the International Olympic Committee agreed that he could run as an independent athlete under the Olympic flag.

Last Thursday, the US and British authorities granted him a visa and travel documents in record time – though they arrived too late for the opening ceremony. He said: “South Sudan has finally got a spot in the world community. Even though I will not carry their flag in this Olympic Games, the country itself is there.The dream has come true.”

The Accidental Writer

Someone truly quoted that from the day you were born your fate is decided. How you go about that fate varies but no matter what the results are the same. This is very true and can be related to many contemporary successful and famous persons. Whenever I see the great fan following of Chetan Bhagat of Five Point Someone fame (in case someone don't know him), my belief on that quote gets stronger and stronger. I myself read Five Point Someone, mostly on peer pressure though, kinda found it okay, nice. However, all the other books which came later were a big disaster. I don't know how people can find such mediocre and loathful writing so compelling that Chetan Bhagat has such a huge clan of buffs. Or, may be reading Chetan Bhagat is just a "I am cool because I read Chetan Bhagat" factor among teenagers and young adults.  Whatever, he is a famous writer in India and a widely read The Sunday Times of India columnist.

Today, I happen to read his article called "Home Truths of Career Wives" [http://bit.ly/PZDqTV]. I really appreciate the crux of the article.  I myself is a strong believer in women's social and economic independence in India and has a deep sense of respect for the working women. But, I strongly denounce the way the article has been stereotyped and written. It has been written based on a recently released ga-ga-ga Bollywood movie called Cocktail, where the hero chooses the homely kind of girl to that of an (so-called) independent girl for marriage. Then he compares how Indian men prefers traditional phulka making girl as wives and gives his moral advises on benefits of choosing a career oriented woman. He says how Marissa Mayer instead of being 6 month pregnant is going to lead a Fortune 500 company and is a role model for all. In all these, although the spirit of womanhood seems to be celebrated, but for me it smelt something that of a male chauvinistic dictation for what men should choose !!!

I believe, what a woman really wants to do in her life is really a choice of the woman and no one else. Whether she wants to make phulkas for her family or lead a Fortune 500 company, its her choice and a woman should not be pigeonholed into categories of women depending on the work she does as it seem to be done in the article. The word phulka-making women itself sound so distasteful.  How can someone say that the work of making food, looking after the kids and managing a home be a small task. God! It's far more tougher than a 9 to 6 corporate job and when you don't even get a paycheck for your work. I personally see Marrisa Mayer not as a woman who is 6 month pregnant and is going to lead Yahoo, but mostly as a great mind who is behind most of the UI design in software Google developed, software which everyone of us uses daily. Choosing a life partner should be based on whether you love that woman and on the feeling that you can spend the rest of your life with her. Rest follows automatically, where she wants to make phulkas or want to take/continue on a job, it should be her choice. Whether a woman has a educational pedigree of IIT and IIM or has a 7 digit paycheck can't be a primary criteria of marriage. Again, a few will be so lucky to have a choice as Saif Ali Khan had in the movie Cocktail. If I were him, I would have gone for Meera as well, not because she is traditional, but I found Diana Penty more hot and lovely than Deepika Padukone. [Disclaimer: I did not watch Cocktail, nor would I watch.]

It's terrible that even after 65 yrs. of our so-called independence, women in our country are subjected to social crimes like dowry, rape, atrocities of never ending erection of Indian men, moral policing by protector of Indian culture.

Everytime I read Chetan Bhagat, I feel good about my writing. Someone rightly christened him as the Rakhi Sawant of Indian Literature.

What the F**K!

The recent incident of the molestation of a teenage girl in full public view by a mob of more than 15 animals for 30 minutes in Guwahati city's busy G.S Road outraged the whole country. #Guwahati became the trending topic in Twitter. TRPs of news channels went up like anything. While a group of news channels displayed the footage in a loop, a few others tried to show (so called) maturity by not showing the footage but opening up a telephone/SMS discussion forum. I, like most others expressed my anger by tweeting in Twitter. The whole incident was extremely disturbing and I really felt embarrassed today for being an Assamese, or belonging to the community. I always used to compare the safety and state of women in this part of the country to that in Delhi, Gurgaon or Noida and express pride in it, which got shattered today. Assam or North-East India was devoid of these heinous social crimes. But, I believe good old days are gone. While we will go back to our lives with our "chalta hain" attitude, the poor little girl has to move on with the trauma forever in life. I pray to God that she gets the strength and will power to go back to life and I hope (a hopeless hope though) the perpetrators will be punished accordingly.

If you've ever seen a one-legged man...

A continuation to my earlier post on the movie "The Wrestler". The movie ends with a nice.. but kinda depressing song..  A soothing acoustic one by Bruce Springsteen, fits the mood when you want to resonate yourself with that sadness prevailing over you...

Have you ever seen a one trick pony in the field so happy and free?
If you've ever seen a one trick pony then you've seen me
Have you ever seen a one-legged dog making its way down the street?
If you've ever seen a one-legged dog then you've seen me

Then you've seen me, I come and stand at every door
Then you've seen me, I always leave with less than I had before
Then you've seen me, bet I can make you smile when the blood, it hits the floor
Tell me, friend, can you ask for anything more?
Tell me can you ask for anything more?

Have you ever seen a scarecrow filled with nothing but dust and wheat?
If you've ever seen that scarecrow then you've seen me
Have you ever seen a one-armed man punching at nothing but the breeze?
If you've ever seen a one-armed man then you've seen me

Then you've seen me, I come and stand at every door
Then you've seen me, I always leave with less than I had before
Then you've seen me, bet I can make you smile when the blood, it hits the floor
Tell me, friend, can you ask for anything more?
Tell me can you ask for anything more?

These things that have comforted me, I drive away
This place that is my home I cannot stay
My only faith's in the broken bones and bruises I display

Have you ever seen a one-legged man trying to dance his way free?
If you've ever seen a one-legged man then you've seen me

The Wrestler

A few days back, I watched a movie named "The Wrestler". Another master piece from director Darren Aronofsky, known for Requiem for a Dream, The Black Swan. The Wrestler is about the life of professional wrestler - Randy "The Ram" Robinson (played Mickey Rourke), his dejecting quest for a life outside the ring. Amazing acting by Mickey and ofcourse the direction. The movie plunged me into a state of deep thoughts for sometime, and I remember I felt the same thing when I watched Requiem for a Dream. I ain't no movie critic, but this a must watch for any serious movie watcher. Randy, who is on the verge of retirement for aging and ill health due to the use of steroids, tries to find the same love and affection out side his professional life, which he gets from people associated with the ring. But, as the character was portrayed, he was too much f**ked up in his personal life, disassociating himself from his daughter long back. Although, he tries to reconnect with his estranged daughter again, but it was all in vain. Next, was his failed convincing attempt on a stripper, for whom he had romantic feelings, to settle down with him. Doing all odd jobs like working in a grocery store for survival, Randy was striving for the same name and fame which he enjoyed jamming in the ring. The movie ends with an iconic wrestling re-match between him and one of his long time nemesis, where Randy outweighed his mortality for his love for the ring, his profession and his identity. The movie also portrays the utter truth of the back-stage in the world of wrestling, in midst of all the roar and joy of the crowd. How wrestlers sheds their blood for name, fame and money! In one of the frames in the movie, the dismayed look in the face of the stripper, a mother raising a nine year old son, for her sodding need for a lap dance from the customers was very touchy.

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1125849/
Rotten Tomatoes: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_wrestler/
Meta Critic: http://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-wrestler

Oops.. 4 months already passed....

1st official post in 2012. 4 months have passed without even realizing it. Am I am too busy with the elephant now? Or, may be its just an excuse for a stale blog. Life is going okay-dokay type. Too much imbibed into work to think about anything else. Again, my productivity in this time of the year really goes down due to the heat and I am too much reluctant and unwilling to increase my carbon foot print by buying devices to resist the summer. On an another note, over the last one month, I have adopted a new hobby (really?) to do gardening in whatever space I have in the balcony of my apartment. I have all together 7 - 8 varieties of plant now. One hibiscus shrub, a jasmine plant, an infant mango tree, a toddler lemon tree,  an aloe-vera, one tulsi and I don't know the name of other two plants. I am taking utmost care of all of them, watering it every morning and evening, putting all raw kitchen wastes so as to give them some organic manure. A few of them have started blooming too, and it feels nice. I always loved gardening when I was a kid, but the interest was buried in some dark corner inside me for last 12 years or so. Although a  majority of these inactivity can be attributed to one reason or the other, some being genuinely valid. Anyways, better late than never. Its fun to see the plants growing in front of you. I am looking out for getting organic fertilizers to over-clock the plant's growth, but alas! eBay, flipkart, infibeam ... none sell fertilizers :-( I am planning to grow some green chili plants to cater my miniature need.

Can you spot the lemon?

Sweet Child O' Mine !!

In Bloom

A Violet By A Mossy Stone?