Part II - Gokarna Trip

Jog Falls to Gokarna
After the Jog Falls visit it was time to catch a bus to Gokarna. We came to know that right outside the Jog Falls gate there would be a bus to Kumta. It was supposed to come at 11:30 a.m but finally came at around 12:45 p.m. Because it was Gorvernment bus it seems :-) To make things worse, there was no seats available. To make things further worse, it was hilly and curvy road so the bus could not move at more than 20 k.m per hour. And we were getting the taste of the hot sun. I wa afraid that my wife might faint in the bus. Thankfully, some people got down at Talguppa and we got to sit. I kept taking some photographs in the middle of all this. It took almost 3 hours to reach Kumta. We got down and immediately took a bus that was waiting to leave for Gokarna. This was more comfortable since we got a seat and also the road was flat enough for the bus to go fast. We reached Gokarna in around 1.5 hours. The natural beauty started showing itself as we were nearing Gokarna. Beautiful lakes, nice agricultural fields, mountains were the ornaments of nature in this stretch of land. Gokarna bus stand is a small one.

First Evening at Gokarna
After reaching Gokarna in the afternoon with hot sun burning over our heads, we quickly checked into Hotel Gokarna International (HGI). This hotel is very close to the bus stand and walkable i.e., it is around 1.5 Km or less. But since we did not know, we had to take an auto and the auto would take Rs. 15. We were kind of doing things on a roll since it was a jampacked trip. So without wasting much time, we freshened up and wanted to go out. The hotel guy suggested we go to the Main beach since it is the closest and it was almost evening time. Main beach is also called Gokarna Beach. So we decided to go to Gokarna beach that evening. By now it was slightly cooling down as the sun was setting. What a time to go to the beach isnt it? We walked through the narrow lanes of Gokarna with kachha roads, towards the Gokarna beach. On the way we found that the Venkataraman temple and Mahabaleshwar temple were there. We decided to visit these temples next morning. So we kept walking towards Gokarna beach. It was around 2 Km from HGI. Wow what a beautiful view when you look at the sea and then see the sun taking a nice dip into the sea. It is breathtaking. All this is fine only if you see straight and up and not down. The moment you see down will you realize how qualified we human beings are at dirtying the beautiful nature. Throwing stuff everywhere even though there are dust bins. I see this and think "We the biggest A**H****" :-( The sea view was beautiful but we were starving. So we went to a small restaurant on the beach and enjoyed some nice dosas. We decided then to sit on the beach for a while until it darkens. We bought a couple of coconut water and sat on the beach, sipping the sweet coconut water, eating the nice soft coconut inside it, and enjoying the dances of the waves on the lap of the sea. Little kids playing around was adding music to this beautiful dance.

Next Morning at Gokarna::Temple Tour
We woke up pretty early since we had so much left to cover and we only had half a day in hand before we set off for the next destination town of Murudeshwar. The early morning was beautiful. A nice small temple in view from the balcony and the sun rising over the head of the temple and from within the hills was making it splendid. By around 7:00 a.m we started walking out in the streets of Gokarna. The streets were awake with little kids on their way to schools. And these tourists (ourselves) were randomly roaming around. We went to Venkataramanan temple, Maha Ganapathi Temple and Mahabaleshwar temples. These temples were nice. But beware of the priests at Mahabaleshwar temple though. We nicely got ourselves ripped off by Rs. 1500. It may not be about money but the way we were cajoled, I feel like a dumb idiot in perspective. So you dont be the next. I am just not habituated to temples where you are just pushed around by tons of people. For me, a temple is a calm silent place where I get some peace and an opportunity for introspection. Well Mahabaleshwar temple could have been but the priests there are definitely not letting it be. They were all commercial agents. Thats how I felt. So next time you visit, if you just want to walk around and nothing more, just pay the Rs. 2 and gently say I am not interested in anything. Dont be in a state of confusion as we did.

Gokarna :: Om Beach
After the temple tour and royal rip off , we decided to forget about it and rather focus on the better part for the day and went straight to Om Beach. The auto rickshaw took Rs. 100. The drive was pretty neat going way up the mountain and stop there only to walk down to the beach. We realized that there were many huts on the beach that could be rented. We wanted to have breakfast and found this place called Namaste Cafe. The typical breakfast there is, Bread and Egg, Bread and Egg and Bread and Egg :-) The one that was not was Paratha. We had paratha and curd. Everything cost around Rs. 150. The view was beautiful. After having the breakfast and a glass of coffee, we started walking on the Om beach. Pretty soon, a boatman approached us and asked if we would be interested in having a boat ride to the Half-moon and paradise beaches with other folks. We hopped into the boat since boat rides are cheaper if there are more people. The guy cruised in the sea and went past the half-moon and paradise beaches. But he went from a distance though and did not embark on those beaches. These beaches were kind of desolate and I am sure more peaceful. I also kinda got a hint that half-moon might be one of those beaches where there was no clothes on body freedom :-) The boat ride cost us Rs. 150. After coming back to Om beach, we decided to go to Kudle beach, the last one to be covered in the series of 5 beaches of Gokarna.

Gokarna :: Kudle Beach
This was by far the best beach at Gokarna. That is what I would say. Clean water, beautiful horizon, bright sunlight, nice shaded restaurant to have a cup of fresh lime juice and a vast stretch of beach to walk on. What a pleasant walk it in the morning. The feet getting wetted by the waves hitting the beach. Cooling our heads from the burning sun. Crystal clear water. How beautiful would it have been had we rented a hut on this beach. The night would be spectacular I am sure. We had a nice lime juice at a beach restaurant here. The water was so clear that we saw starfish, crab, sting ray only at this beach. After a nice 1 hour at this beach, we took another exclusive boat ride for just two of us to the Main beach.

Gokarna Streets
Once at the Main beach, we had to go back to our hotel so that we could pack up. This time we started walking through the other streets of Gokarna. These were beautiful streets giving us a glimpse of what ancient Indian society would have looked like. I mean it. A lot of antique feeling was there to these calm tree shaded streets. Almost every house had a well in the front yard. The roads were like bricklaid. While walking, we came across KothiTeertha.

Gokarna Wrap-Up
This was great place to visit I would say. Except that it was very hot. Soon we had to pack up our bags and leave for the Gokarna railway station to catch our train for Murudeshwar. The train was almost 2 hours late. But when it came, we couldnt locate our coach. And when we did, it started running. My wife almost got stuck in the station. The Ticket Collector was extremely apologetic for not stopping the train until we had boarded. We were surprised to see such nice behavior. He was a very friendly man from Andhra Pradesh. His name was Mr. Venkateshwarulu. Throughout the journey to Murudeshwar he was talking to us, asking about us, telling about himself, his family and so. And when Murudeshwar came, he ensure that the train stopped long enough for us to alight. Well, I wouldnt mind going again to Gokarna but this time it would be an exclusive Kudle beach trip.

Summary of Travel

• Bus from Jog Falls to Kumta . 1 bus that goes directly from Jog Falls. Leaves around 11:15 a.m . Takes almost 3 hours
  
• Bus from Kumta to Gokarna (around 2:00 p.m) Takes around 1 hour
• Enjoy Gokarna
  
• Gokarna To Murudeshwar (Train. Verna-Mangalore Passenger at 4:00 p.m)
  

Part I - Jog Falls Trip

Planning
I must say that planning for trips is some gigantic task in India. Either because of my lack of experience, lack of ample information on the web or some unknown reason. This has been precisely the situation when we started thinking about this 5 day trip. Several questions in mind. Several blogs in hand. Several websites with incomplete information.

How do I reach Jog Falls? How do I reach Gokarna? What is the best way? Where to stay? What places to visit ? And this needed lot of time searching the web. And then there is lack of time to invest in researching. So my dear wife was doing lot of research on this. Finally we could plan a part of the trip and we left the remaining unplanned and decided to plan as we reach the place and accordingly adjust.

Bangalore to Shimoga Town :
After lots of thinking, we took the Bangalore-Shimoga Express that left Bangalore at 23:40 hours. So all you do is get into the train and sleep :-) And in the middle of that I managed to lose my umbrella. Not that it is a comfortable sleep anyways in the train. So I was turning left and right and once in a while waking up thinking if I have fallen down from the upper berth. But I am not sure when I again slept off because soon I found someone shaking me and telling me "Hello this is the last stop. ". :-) Realized that we have reached Shimoga Town (SMET, different stop from Shimoga (SME)).

Shimoga Town to Jog Falls:
It was around 6:00 a.m. We were heartily welcomed by bunch of mosquitoes. These mosquitoes would not leave us for the rest of our journey. So carry Odomas with you all the time. We did by the way. We wanted to take a Toy Train from Shimoga Town to Jog Falls. But on getting down we came to know that the train is not in service now due to some work. Repair works are perennial in India arent they? You always see roads repaired, drains repaired. OK OK. Back to topic. We came out of station and took an auto. Being in a different town, you never know what is a reasonable rate. So you accept what you are told :-) I think the auto guy took Rs. 30 to take us to bus stand. The first difference I notice was people are very friendly. No I mean it. And it was the same observation for the res of our journey. The auto guy talked with me a lot and I continued the conversation with my "Swalpa Swalpa Kannada Gottu (i.e., Little little Kannada)" concept. As we reached the bus stand a bus was leaving. The auto guy stopped the bus and got us in. The bus guys gave us a seat and told us the bus would go to Jog. After we got in and the bus started moving, they said it will go till Sagar and then we have to catch another bus. We could not do much anyways. So we sat and enjoyed the countryside as the bus bumped and jumped and moved over the roads. It was a nice experience. The bus brought us to Sagar in 1.5 hours I think. Soon a bus was there for Jog Falls. The bus was pretty empty. We got in and reached Jog Falls in around 2 hours.

At Jog Falls
It was a bright sunny morning when we reached Jog Falls. We were very hungry too. So before even thinking of visiting the falls, we decided to have our breakfast first. There was this Hotel Mayura run by KSTDC. It was OK. Had some idlis to fill up our stomach. Then asked the guy which way is the falls. The falls were right opposite to Mayura. I couldnt believe it. Not in awe but was thinking what a let down. There was almost no water at all. Then why does the Government blow of the trumpet of largest falls? The falls that is not always in its vigorous form cannot be called falls. I heard most water is diverged to the dam. Karnataka Government should put up notice on the website on when the water will be there and when not. Otherwise I felt it is blatant cheating of the tourists. Imagine the let down when you go all the way and u find nothing. IMagine you go to Niagara Falls and you see a narrow stream falling. I for sure was upset with the way Government did not ensure that it maintains a place where it provides updates on the status of Jog Falls. I did not find it. And this according to me is cheating. After a few photographs of narrow streams, we decided to continue our journey to Gokarna.

So be careful about when to go to Jog Falls. It seems they release water on sundays and mondays. So those are good days to go. Otherwise, you may want to consider going during the months of July-August-September i.e., monsoons. That is when you will feel your visit is worth it.

Summary of Travel

• Train from Bangalore to Shimoga Town (11:40 p.m at Bangalore Central)
  
• Auto from Shimoga Town Station to Bus Stand (around 6:30 a.m)
  
• Bus from Shimoga Town to Sagar (Around 6:45 a.m at Shimoga Town)
  
• Bus from Sagar to Jog Falls (Around 8:45 a.m at Sagar)
  
• Enjoy Jog Falls if there is water
  
• Do not go arbitrarily. Call the folks there and ask if there is water
  

Jog Falls, Gokarna, Murudeshwar, Kanhangad, Mangalore Trip

Coming Soon.... The complete travelogue

Part I - Jog Falls Trip
Part II - Gokarna Trip
Part III - Murudeshwar Trip
Part IV - Kanhangad Trip
Part V - Mangalore and Return

We (Me and my wife) just finished a 5 day long tiring exhaustive trip to the above places. Will write as much as possible so that I can include our complete experiences. It was fun and lot of learning.

Who is Afraid of Transparency ?

A must read and introspect and act article by Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey.

Who is Afraid of Transparency

Shopping -- Things to Note

I suck at shopping. More so at bargaining. And the way it hurts is more prominent when the vendors out there are desperate to rip you off.

I was planning to purchase my new cell phone. A simple one. I wanted to move back to Nokia. I was having a Samsung phone and I tell you it sucks. Even before the end of an year, my network failed badly and I cant even make calls. Yeah it has nothing to do with AirTel. It had to do with my phone. So when I decided to buy my new Nokia, the next question was where to buy from. I am somehow nervous about dealing with these "Authorized Nokia Dealers". They are freaking clueless folks manned by clueless personnel. They come running to you showing as if they are desperate to help you. After first question, they lose steam and start looking elsewhere. All they tell about the phone is, "It has FM", "It is Rs. 16000". Nothing more. No clue about more specifications.

After filtering out the "Authorized Nokia Dealers", I went to this "Nokia Concept Centre". Thought it might be genuine Nokia store. I might be wrong. The guy there was soft spoken and explained everything. He quoted me a price for the phone. Next day when I went, all kind of dancing was done, such as "extra commission on credit card use" etc. only to give me the phone at the same rate. No discount etc. This is ridiculous I feel. I think there is a general lack of percerption about customer mentality. I finally managed to not buy from there and ended up buying from Chroma in the Eva Mall. And I got it from Rs. 50 less. Its not about Rs. 50. Its about this flip-flopping that is absolutely irritating.

Nokia can avoid caring anything about this but they should be very careful about how these folks are marketing their products and influencing their reputation. Lot is at stake. This is the problem of non-direct sales.

Kya sochtaa hogaa sooraj

Subah ki kirane
Khidki se aati huyeee
Mere aankhon girti huyee
Mere savere ki shurvaath kartee hai

Khidki se jhaaktaa hoon
To suraj muskuraataa hua
hello kehtaa hai

Kehtaa hai
Dost tum bhi jaag gaye
Chalo tumhe
Apni kiranon se
jhappi de detaa hoon

Dheere dheere jaise din badegaa
suraj ki aankhon mein mayoosi dikhti hai
woh gusse se garam dikhtaa hai

Woh sochtaa hogaa
kambakht kyun itna shor hai
din ki shuruvaat mein jo mehek thi
woh is dhuen mein kyun kho gayee
savere savere jo shaant maahol thaa
is shor mein kyun kho gayaa

sooraj ke man mein jo khayaal hai
woh mere bhi man mein hain
hum sab ke man mein hai
magar hum baithe hain
bas sochte huye

Tipu Palace

Visited Tipu Palace a last week. I would say it is definitely a well maintained place with a nicely shaped garden. It adjoins the beautiful Ramanaswamy temple. Unfortunately the temple was closed when we went since it was the afternoon time. The entry fee was Rs.5 and as usual extra charge for photography. I will never understand why we are obsessed with not allowing photography. Anyways.



We went to Tipu Palace after a enjoying a nice lunch at MTR. It was a weekend and hence our wait for 90 min. We went to MTR at 1 p.m and we got food at 2:30 p.m. So it is always good to get advanced booking if you are going on a weekend. But the food is great. Tipu palace is hardly 2 kms from MTR. And Lalbagh is a stone throw away from MTR. So a nice weekend outing could be a great morning breakfast at MTR, then straight to labagh for a nice walk and then a sumptuous lunch at MTR again, then have fun at Tipu Palace and if you are not tired, go to Basavangudi for the Bull. All these places are pretty close to each other.

Our mode of travel was the dearest Auto. :-) And have the Bangalore map book in hand.

Bangalore Palace

Got to visit the Bangalore palace on December 1, 2007 afternoon. Here are some pictures. The palace was beautiful. But the charge was ridiculous. It was Rs. 100 per head. And if you want to take pictures, you have to get picture taking permit for Rs. 500. Absolutely ridiculous. I guess this is our way of promoting tourism. And that is too much greediness. More on that in my later posts. When we went, there was a Timesjobs fair also going on. The whole place was looking like a garbage can. That convinces me that we in general dont give a shit about cleanliness. And remember that majority of people coming here were for IT and ITES jobs. OK why am I saying this? Because dont even make the mistake of associating education with cleanliness. These are all "educated" lot who came for the job fair. Freaking made a mess with plates, glasses all around.

Anyways, I think have deviated and moved towards my frustration.

Visit the palace and enjoy it from distance :-)

All Men of India should be Ashamed

I am ashamed. I am disgusted. I can feel the stink in the rotting principles of the society. And this rot is right in the center of the IT super revolution and this rot is fast spreading.

Every male of this country should be ashamed. The educated, the richest, the powerful, the skilled, the leaders , everyone.

For we do not deserve to have any pride after the unnerving incident in Guwahati. Stripping a woman and beating her up as a mark of punishment seems to be becoming a regular activity. And we watch. The perpetrators are not punished.

Is this the 21st century India? I am afraid not. It is uncivilized society. We attribute uncivilized behavior to lack of education. But what happens when educated people do such kinds of acts? It is a disastrous sign.

If there is any shame left in the people ruling this country, they will ensure that some trust in community is restored. They will ensure that justice is delivered in the form of exemplary punishment.

The community where it becomes a habitual activity to strip a woman to teach her a lesson is bound to be doomed unless corrections are made and made fast. The social fabric of this country is in danger.

I wonder if we have been this animalistic always.

Calcutta Volcano

A strong thought provoking article by M.J.Akbar on the recent riots in Calcutta

Calcutta Volcano

IITs Boycott Dow Chemicals

Here is an article in IBN live.

IITs boycott Dow

Happy and relieved to see students increasingly analyzing ethical credentials of companies.

Beasts in us

I think we have become beasts. Did you see the videos of Guwahati violence? Oh yes. That is one thing in India TV channels. They keep on showing the same scene so much that you start feeling disgusted. That is exactly what Headlines Today was doing.

Anyway, rather than focussing on Headlines Today, the point I want to make is, in my opinion, death has become a casual matter of fact activity. A small procession starts, it turns violent, then people start fighting and then there come the figures. 20 dead, 150 seriously injured with gashes in the head. That is how precious human life. We switch the channel as a matter of fact. And what did we expect the police to do? Correct answer. Nothing.

Health minister says oh there was a minor incident, injured have been moved to the hospital and all is fine. Ha ha.... And what do you see on TV? One person being beaten black and blue with a thick log of wood on the back, head and everywhere until he collapses.

Tarun Gogoi says, the incident is unfortunate and the situation is perfectly under control. And as he speaks, you again see on the TV channel, the police begging the people not to beat others. How depressing.

and you call, this is the land of Buddha. This is the land of Gandhi.

We unanimously call ourselves a civic society.

I wonder if ours is also the society of mindless violence propagators where the supreme value of human blood and dignity is on its way to be completely forgotten.

And the goverment forgets it. The administration forgets it. The police forget it. And we forget it. Lets just forget everything.

Our Culture is Great

While I love reading history, I always hated it in curriculum while growing up. History was unavoidable subject in primary and high schools. I always felt that it was introduced in curriculum not to invoke interest but as one more done. Its like, just have it because we have to have it.

Anyways, while I hated the subject when in school either because of poor teaching, or the way we had to cram to get high scores or just the lack of analysis in it.

Increasingly these days, the question that is intriguing me is , whether it taught me right things. One thing I am going to focus on is the fact that I had been taught that is, India had a great culture. We were always welcoming and open hearted to our guests.

Focus changed to India 2007. Looking at India 2007, I start wondering , were we really cultured? If we were, where and when did our culture get eroded. If India was indeed rich in culture and kindness, that generation would be so ashamed to see the current generation.

The treatment being meted out to Taslima Nasreen puts me to shame. I am not ashamed about the countrymen. Because I have a strong conviction and hope that if we consider the whole country, then the number of people welcoming her will far outnumber the people protesting her presence. And yet, these small number of people with their violent protests are holding the society to ransom. And the Government looks on because they dont wanna loose votes. It has been quite a drama over the last few days.

It really can be enacted very nicely.
First, the violent protests erupt. That is quite easy these days. A bunch of people with bottles, sticks, knives can easily scare the innocents off.

The government immediately buckles and sends Taslima off to Rajasthan. Lets not bring police into picture by the way. I wonder if these are the days when they command the least respect ever.

Then in Rajasthan, some bunch of fanatics again protest and they shift her to Delhi.

And today, I am depressingly surprised to see the Centre jittery on hosting her.

Oh my god. We have the advanced weaponry and nuclear strength to annihilate our neighbors (that is what our sentiment these days isnt it?) but we cannot command a discipline in our people. And it is this lawlessness that is reflected in every individual's flouting the rules day in and day out.

And they say, India is going to be the super power in 2020.

And I sadly think about the hallucinations affecting all of us.

Confidence and Arrogance

Are these synonymous? Yet some times we confuse them to be same? In fact arrogance I feel breeds out of insecurity. And insecurity breeds out of lack of confidence. So it implies arrogance and confidence should be antonymous. Yeah I am not sure if that word exists in dictionary. You got it right?

Let me see what I perceive as confidence for myself. I am confident means:

• I believe in myself above all.
  
• I believe there are others from whom I can learn
  
• I believe in interdependence.
  
• I am humble to respect others' thoughts and beliefs
  
• I believe life is beautiful
  
• I believe for every problem there is a solution
  
• I believe in empowering others
  
• I believe I am the best but I want everyone to be excellent
  

When confidence and arrogance get muddled, it means :

• I am worried about someone pushing me
  
• I am worried about the world not doing justice to me
  
• I believe in belittling others or trying to show my supremacy
  
• Empowering others? You must be kidding
  
• I believe I am the only best. Others go to hell.

As usual, the above are random ramblings straight from the heart though. :-) Thoughts? Add comments.

Plagiarism in Indian Film Music

Oops!! Did I say plagiarism in the title? I guess so... Let me rephrase it as inspiration.

Our music directors are really awesome you know. They are inspired all the time, every time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. They cannot exist without getting inspired.

Alright set the pun aside. Here is some stinking reality check. Thanks to my brother in law, I came across this site. And hats off to the person maintaining it. I admire his research :-)

Now check this out :

Indian Film Songs and their Original Versions

On the right side, you will see the music directors. Click on them to find out about their inspirations.


Thankfully, my favorite music director has not copied stuff. Though some of the initial beats etc. might hold resemblance but he is absolutely original. And that is what makes dear A.R. Rahman apart.

If you look at the deeds of folks like Anu Malik and Pritham Chakravarthy, you will realize how low they have gone. Thankfully they are not in USA or Europe. Otherwise, by now, they would have been sued enough to have lost their fortunes. It is disgusting... In gentle terms.

Drive to Bangalore International Airport

Boy this must be fun :-) Ofcourse sarcasm intended. Here is the latest Times of India article on how the travel to BIAL (Bangalore International Airport Limited) is going to be.

A Tedious Drive to New Airport : TOI Article

This is going to be so painful. I am imagining that the highway is going to be blocked now 24 hours a day.


I am trying to understand how people in charge can be so stupidly in hurry to open an airport without proper access. I think I will understand it sometime soon. In a previous article it was mentioned that some access like peripheral road, metro etc. will take atleast 4 -5years to come. 4-5 years?

By the way, there was also this idea that you can take a flight from the current airport (which will be obsolete for domestic /international flights once the new one comes up) to new airport for Rs. 1500. How ridiculous can that be?

Durga Puja 2007 in Bangalore

Durga Pujo is a very a special occassion in a every bengali's life. Born and brought up in bengal, it definitely has a tremendous effect on me too. The waiting for the festival, the festivities, then the sadness of realization that the puja has ended for the year and we have to wait for the next year are part parcel of this festival.

After celebrating in a small way in US for the last 6 years, this year I got the chance to celebrate in India. Though not in as grand a scale as in West bengal, Bangalore celebrations were not bad. I heard that there are almost 40 pujo throughout Bangalore.

I could go to three pujas in Bangalore. They were at Koramangala (organize by Sarathi Socio-Cultural Trust), Jayamahal and Ulsoor. All the places were bubbling with energy. The fantastic thing was they were open to all and not closed to members only. Thank god, that gave me the chance to enjoy some yummy bhog at these places :-)

On Panchami, we went to the Ulsoor Bengali Association pujo. That was just the beginning. The pujo mantap was being set up. There was Ananda Mela and some children's events happening.

Sarathi trust had organized cultural programmes on all the days from Panchami. These programmes were performances by bands like Cactus, Zubani, Kohal and then dance performances. You would not get these all the 4 days in US :-).

When Durga Pujo is here, how can food be far ? Yummy khichudi bhog, potol torkaari, rosogolla, tomato chutney kept me busy for the three days. :-) Somehow during these days nothing else tastes good.

अगर

agar kal aakhrii din hotaa
to main aaj kyaa kartaa
jo vakt main aise bitaataa hoon
kyaa vaise main bitaataa ?
shaayad nahiin !!
kyoonki jitane khvaab
dil men samaaye huye hain
soye huye hain
shaayad aaj jaag uthate
aur mujhme
bechainii sii samaa jaatii
jo mujhe majaboor kar detii
sochne par
ki kitne khwaab poore huye
aur kitne adhoore rah gaye
dil se chhotii sii aawaaz
mujhse poochhtii
kaisaa rahaa safar
tay kaise huaa
jude huye khwaab
chehre pe roshnii laa dete zaroor
adhoore se khwaab maayoosii
lekin ek adhooraa khvaab
zaroor poorii kartaa
taaki ek to kam ho jaaye
khwaab kuchh adhoore
kuchh poore
hameshaa rah jaate hain
magar is safar ki
yaadon se paribhaashaa hotii
jitanaa pyaar is safar men milaa
us pyaar se paribhaashaa hotii
khushii se main is kitaab ko
bandh kartaa kyoonki
kvaabon ki koee parisiimaa nahiin hotii

Note : Hindi transliteration was becoming illegible. So keeping it in English. But read them as hindi

वक़्त बीत गया

कुछ समझने में बीत गया
कुछ समझाने में
कुछ देखने में बीत गया
कुछ दिखलाने में
कुछ खुशियों में बीत गया
कुछ आसुओं में
मुस्कराहट होंठों पे लिए
हम चल पडे मंज़िल को लेकिन
कुछ को साथ लेने में बीत गया
कुछ से बिछड़ने में
बेचैनीयों के साथ आती रही
आशाओं की लहरें भी
कुछ बादलों में बीत गया
कुछ हवाओं में

Durga Pujo -- A Bengali Poem expressing memories

In response to a question : Pujo ki kore kat to?

Baah shundor daarun proshno
Jaar jowaab bhebe bhebe
Mone pore jaai shei chhotto belaar kothaa
Niye aashe aasthe aasthe
Ei mone ojaanaa bethaa

Pujo r modhye jonmo nilaam
Pujo r maajhe bodo holaam
Pujo r maati te khele khele
Pujo r smriti te haariye gelaam

Somoi jei kaachhe aastho
Utsaahe te mon phule uthto
Notun poshaaker lobhe montaa
paagol hoye laafiye uthto
School e chhuti aashbe
ei bhebei
sesh diner opekha shuru hoye jeto

Oh cycle repair koraate hobe
Jaate beraano jete paara jaai
Tyre e to pump dite hobe
Jaate Joydeb thek Gamon jaawaa jaai

Oh Joydeb e aami pushpaanjali debo
Tansen e mishti konya dekhbo
Central e Shombhu r ice cream khaabo
Taar por rowaana hobo Cement Park er dike

Baadi phirte phirte dupur hoye gelo
Maa opekhya koraao chhede dilo
Jaane kichhu na kichhu keyei aashbo
Chhele taake aar naa thaamaano gelo

Dupure aami baadi phirlaam
Berote hobe bikele aabaar
Central e boshe eibaar aaaddaa debo
Somoi kore kintu puchkaa o khaabo

Chaar dine sei mosti taa
Kokhono phire aar aashe naa
mon bhore bhore aanondo
chaar din chhaaraa thaake naa

Chaar din ki kore je kete gelo
Bhujei uthte paarlaam naa
Abaar aashbe pujo aasthe bochhor
Opekhya koraa chhaarlaam naa

Dhaak er aawaaz aajo kaane
beje uthe theek somoye
ene bhaalobaashaar diner smriti
mon jele uthe aaloye

Aaj dure aachhi shei durgapur theke
Bondhu der kotha mone pode jaai
Aaakasher dike jei taakaai
Purono diner chhobi toiri hoi

-- By Sastry

Gandhi Jayanti And Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Jayanti

Wishes to everyone reading this blog, on this occasion.

A question that has been coming to my mind is, should it be a holiday? That is, should it be a non working day?

The same is true about any event or any religious festival etc. Does that mean that the celebrations that need to be done require the day to be a non working day?

Why cant we celebrate but still continue working?

I wonder if Mahatma Gandhi would have been happy if he saw that today , to celebrate his birthday, the whole nation is sitting idle.

In a nation dreaming to be developed, I wonder if it is worth letting one day go off like this...

Well, as a coincidence this year, I guess many people are glued to TV sets watching India Australia cricket match. I wonder about this celebration.

Happy Birthday Gandhiji.... I can be 200% sure that a great human being like you who tirelessly, constantly working hard to give us the freedom, will not be delighted to see your nation folks have called it a day off and the excuse they give is celebrating your birthday....

But you will be happy to see some section though who are taking this opportunity to fight for justice, holding candle light vigils in solidarity with farmers. So there definitely is a section working tirelessly following your footsteps.

Bug in Excel 2007

In Excel 2007, multiply 77.1 and 850 and see the result.

In reality, 77.1*850 = 65535. But the result you will get will be 100000

For more details and explanation on this bug, go and read :

http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2007/09/26b.html

Apni Daastaan

कुछ सपनों से बुनी जिन्दगी
कोशिश से है बनी दास्ताँ
छोटे कदम हम ले ज़मीन पर
मंज़िल अपना बाना आसमान

सफ़र में अपने मिले अजनबी
अजीब कहलाया अपना कारवां
राह में रहते राहे अकेले
चले चलो कहती थी जुबां




I may continue working on this as when I feel like and will get some creative thoughts. If you feel like adding in line with it, feel free to add as comments and I will add them as your contribution :-) This is fun isnt it?

Why is no group ever excluded from quota?

This was the question asked by Supreme Court to the Indian Government.

Here is the article:

TimesOfIndia

Musical Memories in Austin

I was chatting with Anand yesterday and in the midst of conversation, came the discussion on music as it always does. We were just thinking about composing something etc. etc.

Way back in 2001, soon after starting to work, I came across this colleague named Anand and while talking I came to know that he played keyboard. Pretty soon we decided to catch up hear each other play our instruments that is, his keyboard and my flute. It was a fun get together. We kept playing some random things. He had this $100 keyboard and I had this $1 flute. I didnt know what to call it? A flute? A piccolo? A brass windpipe? Whatever it was but I could successfully play some tunes. Anand and I decided to continue doing some small jamming sessions ofcourse just with keyboard and flute and some singing in the middle. We both were new to Austin and accidentally came to know our musical interests and decided to just continue meeting and enjoy the music. Some of the initial tunes we tried were Bombay Theme, Nightingale by Yanni and so on.

During one of those when I was attending a concert organized by ICMCA (Indian Classical Musical Center of Austin), I was introduced to this new graduate at UT named Dinesh. He also was passionate about music and himself was a singer and a tabla player. And he was a very down to earth who did not jump around beating his musical skills. So I told him about us, the two rookies who jam and asked him to join us if he wants. He immediately jumped at the idea and promised to join when we would meet next.

Next time we met, we thought why not we start music band. So Anand, as always taking the initiative, went ahead and put some Ads on Sulekha informing about our desire to form a band. And thus started our first Austin based Indian music band. But as it happens most of the times with bands, this band got disbanded within few weeks even before something could be achieved. I guess there were too many "knowledgeable" got together who did not have the ear to listen to others. And there you go. Back to square one we were. That is, Anand and I kept meeting and doing some jamming. But our efforts to bring in other people who were aware of their knowledge as well as limitations continued. On quite some occassions, few strangers with different interests joined us for jamming sessions. They kept joining and vanishing and our jamming sessions continued. The only sad thing was we lost touch with Dinesh then. But we had a new friend Sesh who was an amazing violinist. So now our music jamming session were kind of involved myself, Anand and Sesh.

This is when I left for Korea on a business assignment. In October 2003, a fresh attempt by Anand, Sesh and Dinesh (who Anand again got in touch with and brought him back) led to the formation of our dearest music band, Omkara


I had a wildcard entry into the band as soon as I cam back from Korea. Thank god there were no auditions for me :-) My friends say that is the reason why I almost always screwed up on stage.

But Omkara was one of the best musical platforms where I learnt a lot from other talented musicians and came to learn about the amazing talents of Dinesh, Sesh, Anand, Vaish, Sriram and Priya. Everyone of us improved ourselves considerably by performing together.

We performed almost 15 live concerts in Austin, Houston and Dallas. It was not just about music. It also gelled friends. Dinesh and Anand became two of my closest friends. They gave me a nice gift which was our last composition based on a Tamil song by A.R Rahman.

Listen to it here :





I miss you guys. And the musical compositions. Lookign forward to visiting Austin and doing some compositions.

I hope I will start an Omkara soon in Bangalore.

Congratulations India

Strangers to cricket used to ask me how come Indians spend a whole day watching cricket. When I would tell them that there is something called Test cricket too which is a 5 day version and people do sit and watch for 5 days, they would just fall on the ground in disbelief.

Lately I too kept losing interest in cricket and many reasons could be attributed to it. Whether it is due to long stretch of the game, more important priorities, disgust for the overzealous passion and obsession in India towards this game, too much attention to only one game and complete ignorance of the other and so on.

And in these circumstances, 20-20 has come as a pleasant treat. Whoever says that the game of cricket is being ruined by these 20-20 are utter fools in my mind. Well, I might be a fool in their minds too :-) But I must say that 20-20 is going to survive because it is a thorough entertainment without too much of time involvement.

When did we see such a steady blasting display of talent in the past in 50 overs matches? It has been proved time and again that under pressure, with expectations clearly set, amazing talent comes out. And that is what we have seen throughout this tournament. We must have lost track of how many sixes have been hit. Almost every match had scores of above 6 an over run rate.

And finally the treat that everyone wanted came like a gift. India meeting Pakistan in the final is something everyone dreams of. And exactly that happened. The way India and Pakistan reached the final has been brilliant. It was through pure display of convincing talent. And the final was definitely not a let down. It was a treat to watch every performance, whether it was the batting performance of Gautam Gambhir and Misbah ul Haq or the bowling performance of R.P Singh and Irfan Pathan.

Oh yeah, it was fun to watch Sreesanth being taught the lesson of humility too. I sometimes fail to understand why people confuse confidence with rudeness. That is what happened with Sreesanth. Some of my friends say it is fine to behave like that with Aussies. Ha ha... an eye for and eye? God save these mindsets. I am sure Sreesanth would have behaved the same way with Pakistan batsmen too if he was not fixed in the second over for 21 runs :-) I was thrilled to see that display for sure. On the other hand R.P Singh kicks ass. Absolute composure and pure display of talent.

At the end of the day it was brilliant cricket. The way Pakistan came close to victory was brilliant. Very rarely do we see a team bringing the ball and runs to score difference from 30 to 2. And only Pakistan has done it consistently. Even Australia could not do it in their game against India. I thoroughly enjoyed Misbah's blasters just like I did when Yuvraj did.

It would have been a great gesture if Dhoni had praised that effort of Misbah. Anyway he didnt. Afridi's comments were absolutely professional I felt.


Alright, now the obsession starts. Sorry it has started last night.

Hopefully the TV channels will not keep showing this win again and again and again for the months to come.
Hopefully the obsession to one man has not again started
Hopefully the obsession to one game has not again started
Hopefully the obsession to one leader has not again started
Hopefully consistency will kill this obsession
Hopefully consistency will be our habit.

Because, when we are obsessed about one thing, we behave irrationally when rude surprise hits us. Like painting the same heroes' houses black?

Ah!!! What a game to watch it was. Pure pleasure.

Lecture of a Lifetime

Lecture of a Lifetime on WSJ

On ABC News

Happy Vinayaka Chavithi

Idol Immersion at Ulsoor Lake
Happy Ganesh Chaturthi as everyone calls it. Or happy Vinayaka Chavithi as it is called in Telugu.

Vinayaka Chavithi evokes so many sweet memories from the childhood. Although growing up in a land (West Bengal) where Ganesh Chaturthi was not a big occasion, we still used to celebrate it in a sweet little way at home. The night before, we would go with dad to shop for sticks, colored paper, and other decorative items to create the mini pandal at home. There would be four sticks standing upright in four Amul Spray tins with soil in them. The sticks would be decorated with colored paper around them . Four more sticks would be tied horizontally around the four vertical ones, covered with horizontal paper and that would create a little pandal. We would hang fruits vertically from the top. Little Ganesha would sit on a small box that would be decorated with colored shining paper.

Simple Puja at Home
On the morning of the puja, we siblings would wake up early in the morning and get ready for the puja. The puja would involve hym chanting and then recital of the story that dad would do. We would sit around dad and listen to the story sometimes intently and sometimes falling asleep. The puja would continue for around an hour. In the meantime, my mother would make some delicious Ganesh Chaturthi special items.

I do not know what to call them in english. In telugu, we would call them Buttalu, Jilludi Kayilu and Und Rallu. All of them would be made of rice flour. B would be nicely packed in Jackfruit leaves and baked. J would have delicious coconut in them. It is said U is lord Ganesha's favorite item .

As a tradition, after having puja at home and enjoying delicious food, in the early evening we would hop to different families celebrating puja to enjoy prasadam.

In the evening we used to go to community celebration by Andhra Samiti of Durgapur. That was real fun event. It used to be a platform to meet friends and play around, then enjoy food and come back home with parents. Yeah I know that food was really important part of this festival.

Many times we tend to associate too much religion with this but I believe that more than religion or anything it has to do a lot with memories, nostalgia, a sense of good feeling and peace. And where we get these, why not celebrate them in zest and have a good peace of mind?

This year, I and my wife celebrated it in a small way at our home. Brought back lots of memories. It was raining heavily this time in Bangalore. Many areas of Bangalore were almost flooded out. We had to do the shopping while getting drenched in the raining. The Madivala market was crowded with people shopping in rain. It was some fun and painful too.

The challenge was while coming back. We started walking in completely opposite direction hoping to get an auto. Someone finally pointed out to me that I was going 180 degrees opposite. Again started walking in the reverse direction hoping to get an auto. It was just impossible to get an auto guy to drive to Koramangala.

Heavy Rains in Bangalore

Bangalore keeps getting it regular dose of washing and cleaning. Yesterday was indeed one heck of rain dump on Bangalore. It was thorough fun to sit in the balcony and watch the rain pouring cats and dogs. Some say, its the usual cleaning that is needed before any big religious event. And tomorrow is Ganapati puja, I guess this was the cleaning that was needed.

Many areas I am sure might have become mini lakes.

But its beautiful out there this morning.

Event For a Great Cause :: Shobana Concert in Austin

For those of you living in Austin, TX , here is a great event for a great cause coming up soon this month.

I have been associated with AID when I was in Austin. A fantastic organization with motivated, sincere and hardworking individuals putting their best efforts to make a difference in the society.

Attend the event and support the great work being done by AID.

Association for India’s Development (AID) - Austin presents

Maya

A Classical Dance Fusion Ballet in English by

World Renowned Bharatanatyam Dancer and National Award-winning actress

SHOBANA & Ensemble

When: Sunday, September 30th, 2007, 5.00-8.00 PM

Where: Akins High School Auditorium, 10701, South 1st Street, Austin TX-78748

Tickets: $100, $50, $25

Call 512-419-8327 OR Email: austinconcert@aidindia.org

Tickets also available at Sulekha:
http://austin.sulekha.com/events/Dance/2007/07/maya-by-padmashree-shobana-in-austin.htm
For Family/Group Discounts contact Ankur Jain: 512-419-8327

Note: Babysitting will be available at the venue.

For more information and to watch a video clip of the show, visit www.aidaustin.org/maya

All proceeds from this show will go towards supporting development projects in India.

The Artist

Shobana is one of the foremost classical dancers from India, and has performed world-wide to great acclaim. She is renowned for her dedication to the classical art form of Bharathanatyam, a dance of the body & soul. She is an innovative choreographer and has crafted a wide range of traditional and contemporary compositions. Shobana has performed to distinguished audiences and received numerous awards including the Padmashree. She has acted in more than 225 films in 5 languages and won the National Award twice for her acting skills in Mitr-My friend and Manichitrathazhu.

The Show

In "Maya", Shobana and her ensemble combine the traditional beauty of Bharatanatyam with the excitement of dance fusion, using world music and popular Indian film music. This dance theatre is based on the epic Ramayana, and unconventional twists in the tale make "Maya" the magical performance that it is. With narration by Naseerudin Shah, Milind Soman, Revathy, Jackie Shroff, Suhasini Manirathnam and others, this dance fusion ballet will be a treat to connoisseurs of classical Bharatanatyam, lovers of contemporary Indian music, and international audiences keen to experience the blend of Indian dance and international beats.

About AID

Association for India’s Development (AID) is a volunteer-based, non-profit organization that supports grass-roots level initiatives in India in various inter-connected spheres such as education, health, women's empowerment, rural development, natural resources and social justice. Visit www.aidaustin.org to learn more about us. AID is a 501(C) (3) non-profit organization and all donations to AID are tax-exempt.

Event Sponsors

Hem Ramachandran- www.Indusrealty.com , 512-970-6336, hem@indusrealty.com

Dr. Robina N. Poonawala, MD- 512-440-8989
Satyananda Yoga Center- www.keepfitwithyoga.com, 512-266-9862, keepfitwithyoga@yahoo.com

1World Realty, LLC -www.1worldrealtyllc.com, 512-825-8837 shroffnp@yahoo.com

Ambica Foods- 512-828-300
International Wellness Foundation (IWFUSA) - www.iwfusa.org,

512-535-0303, info@iwfusa.org
Kid's Dental Smiles - www.kidsdentalsmiles.com, 512-259-2331

Chola Indian Restaurant -www.cholaindianrestaurant.com 512-244-2222

Our Obsession to Individual Worship

" The chief architect of Indian freedom was Gandhi; the chief architect of Indian democracy, Jawaharlal Nehru. "

Quoted from a recent article by noted historian Mr. Ramachandra Guha that appeared in Hindustan Times.

Our Violent Streak

We might go places, get great education but our prejudices, our disease like habits are so deeply rooted in our souls that we cannot get rid of them ever. Every now and then we try to cover them up with some signals of pseudo secularity, outrages against those who do not respond to you and similar such behaviors.

After reading the article by noted historian Ramachandra Guha, I could obviously smell the same stink that we most Indians are having so much difficulty in getting rid of.

Gandhi got us freedom. Nehru built the democracy. This is nothing but another sign of idolization and tending to attribute achievements to individual and not collectives. This is being seen day in and day out in every phase of our lives including cricket, business and so on. This reflectes in our obsession to Tendulkar, our obsession to Abdul Kalam and our obsession to Narayana Murthy. I respect them from the bottom of my heart but what I dislike is our fixation on them and them only. This is exactly what I perceive in this article by Ramachandra Guha.

What an utter insult to the folks other than Gandhi in this article. They (Bose, Bhagat Singh) might have craved for blood. But today, their pictures are in every household not because they craved for blood but because they gave their lives up may be thinking that even this step will help achieve freedom. They might have been misled, violence oriented but I am anguished whenever I see an attempt to downplay the efforts of others in the freedom struggle whether violence oriented or non-violence oriented. Whether the paths were right or wrong may never have decisive conclusions but an attempt to show them as useless in comparison to Gandhi/Nehru smacks of idolism and individual worship.

And this is when people (atleast me) sense the pseudo knowledge of noted historians and realize that prejudices are deep rooted in them and their articles reflect so. And in their articles they start bringing in everything possible as disparate as Goddess Kali or spicy south indian food or fish in the Bengali food to support their argument.

To finish, this article as I felt is not an articulate or practical analysis but an outburst of a prejudiced thought process.

Sing "Chak De" Wherever and Whenever You can

Chak De.... La la la India
Chak De.... La La la India

Alrite that is the defacto standard now by the way.

Any win, one has to sing this song.

After India defeated England, every channel I tuned to in my TV, only this song was going showcasing the shots of Tendulkar and Utthappa.

Oh by the way, dont get me wrong. I am not criticising anyone this time :-) I am just jotting down my observations.

But I must say that was one nailbiting match. I watched the last 1/3rds and it was fun watching.
Shouldnt Utthhappa have been given Man of Match? I dont know. I myself am not sure.

But lets keep singing Chak De as we get set for the finals ...

In the meantime, it is raining heavily every evening in Bangalore. It fun watching the rains indeed.

Its almost 2 a.m in the night... I am off to sleep. OK I might add to this post if I have energy tomorrow morning. Otherwise, a new post on some new thought from me.

पुराने शहर की यादें

एक शहर अनजाना सा
थोडा नया पुराना सा
कुछ जाना पहचाना सा
कुछ अपना बेगाना सा

बचपन गुजरा था यहाँ पर
पतली गलियों मैदानों पर
कितना अलग था वोह मौसम
इतने हलचल में भी आज
लगता है कुछ गुमसुम

परिवार था एक सारा गाँव
वोह मधुर धुप वोह कोमल छाँव
इतने बरसों के बाद यहाँ
ढूँढता हूँ मैं यहाँ वहाँ

अपना रिश्ता था प्यार का
ना हानि पर उपकार का
हृदय क्यों संकीर्ण आज है
इस भेद भाव का क्या राज है

इस मिटटी में खेला था मैं
इन राहों में घूमा था मैं
पर आज मैं यहाँ पराया हूँ
कोई नही जानते मुझको
एक आम मुसाफिर नया हूँ
--- Sastry (Written sometime in 1999)

भोर

भोर हुई
चिड़ियों का कलरव कहता है मुझसे
जागो हे मानव निद्रा से
करना है तुमको कितना कुछ
प्रगति करे मानवता जिससे
सो सो के तुम व्यर्थ ज़िंदगी
का बहुमूल्य वक़्त खो दोगे
और जब ना मिलेगा वापस यह वक़्त
तुम ही खुद पछताओगे
यह वक़्त है महनत का
अपना फ़र्ज़ निभाने का
अब ना करोगे परिश्रम तुम तो
ना आयेगा समय खुशहाली का
जीवन की डोर देव ने तेरे हाथों में दीं है
इसे बनाओ या बिगाडो सब तेरे हाथों में है
यदी सोचते हो ऐसा तुम की
भाग्य के अनुसार सब कुछ होगा
पीछे पद जाओगे प्रगती के मार्ग में
और तुझसा मूर्ख कोई ना होगा

--- Sastry

P.S: Typically font issues. I hope you can read it.

Musically Sad :: Toshi gets Eliminated in Star Voice Of India

I am sad, shocked and speechless. I hate this voting concept of selecting winners. I dont want to call the audience stupid but I never wanted to see this happen. The best singer getting voted out. Yes, that is what happened tonight in the Star Voice of India.

I am not a big TV fan. I watch couple of music programs and Star Voice of India is one. I throughly enjoyed the quality of certain voices namely Toshi, Abhaas, Irfan and Priyani.

Today, to my utter surprise, Aabhaas and Toshi were in the danger zone of eliminated. What a shame. Finally that happened which I never wanted and a class voice got eliminated and that was Toshi.

It was a very emotional moment I must say. Toshi comes from a very struggling background and he could not control his tears. He at one moment also said "Main uss zindagi mein nahin jaanaa chaahtaa". I wonder how much motivation he had towards this event with the hope of getting something out of this event. And he deserved it too.

It was one touching event today. Abhijit could not control his emotions too. The organizer was feeling shameful. And I was feeling bad to see this awesome voice getting eliminated.

Toshi was the guy whose singing, Jagjit Singh commented, was better than the original.

Watch this video of "Tune Kya Kar Daala Mar Gayee Main ...." sung by Toshi when he literally set the stage on fire and this was when Jagjit Singh was the chief guest.

Toshi Singing Tune Kya Kar Daala (Singer No. 1 in the scroll list on the side)

Also listen to when he sang "Kaho Na Kaho". That was fabulous.

Toshi Singing Tune Kya Kar Daala (Singer No. 34 in the scroll list on the side)


What a treat he was to listen to. He was the Real Voice of India. I wish, irrespective of losing it, we will hear his voice in future songs.

I am really sad to be not hearing him in the next episode.

Update : Someone has created a petition online to bring Toshi back. A talent like him deserves this.

Petition to Bring Toshi Back

पुकार

यह धरती तड़प रही है
इसकी र्क्षा कर भगवान्
पापों से अपिवत्र हो गयी
इसको पिव्त्र कर भगवान्
मार काट फैले हुये हैं
ला दे तू शांति भगवान्
जो नारी देवी है
उसकी इज़्ज़त नही रही है यहाँ
अन्याय का राज्य फैला हुआ है
कौन लाएगा न्याय यहाँ
भूक प्यास से तड़प रही है
तेरी यह प्यारी संतान
जीं ना सके तो दे देती है
अपनी यह बहुमूल्य जान
जब तू भेजे इस धरती पर
मत भेज केवल तड़पने को
थोडी सी खुशियाँ भी दे दे
इन बेसहारे दुखियारों को
शक्ती दे इनको ताकी
लड़ सके यह अन्याय के विरूद्ध
शक्ती दे इनको ताकी
पा सके अपने अधिकार
बुद्धी दे इनको जिससे
परख सके यह सही गलत
बुद्धी दे इनको ताकी
सुधार सके यह अपनी जगत

-- Sastry (Written sometime in 1999)

P.S: Typical Transliteration issues.

Memories with the Rains

Heavy rains always have been my favorite. They bring back awesome memories from the past. I just feel like just sit and keep watching the heavy downpour that the clouds are doing on earth.
After a long time, yesterday Bangalore saw some heavy rain. Dark clouds already gave an indication on how much water there is on hold. There used to be a time you would crave for so much rain so you can get drenched in it. But now I feel worried about getting drenched thinking what will happen if I get sick. As we grow old and add more responsibilities, do we start losing or disregarding the pure craving that the heart asks for?

I stand near the window looking at the sky
The sun was just here but slowly made way
The dark beautiful clouds are here
Carrying lots and lots of water with them
I stand near the window looking at the clouds
Waiting for the rain to start
I think to myself
Oh rain come soon don't delay
Bring me back those fond memories
That are associated between me and you
Remember when you would arrive
How you would bathe me
How can I forget the fun of playing soccer
While you would keep coming down on us
As I grew I stopped hugging you
But would watch you with a cup of tea in my hand
And thinking about life as a philosophy
And time kept passing
Today I stand by the window
And keep watching you
But I am scared to hug you
Influenced by consequences
But my love for you is perennial
Keep coming in loads
So I do not miss you
And hey why dont you come down
While I am walking on the road
And hug me, my dear rain?

--- Sastry Vadlamani

Human Dignity in Gutters

Imagine This : You are walking down the street. Sorry let me use "I". "I" am walking down the street. "I" suddenly see a bunch of people thrashing a man. They have torn his clothes. They are punching him left, right and central. Blood is coming out from several parts of the body. But no mercy being shown by the people beating who look no less than monsters and seem to be all excited to kill him.

By the way, I assume here that "I" am the good, civilized, law abiding citizen of the country who doesnt involve himself in these acts of nomadic activity.

What goes on in "my" mind? : Some of "me" think Oh my god how could these people be so inhuman? How can they beat this person so inhumanly? Some of "me" are thinking that the person deserves this for the petty crime he committed. Some of "me" who is reporter with several channels is busy taking every possible coverage to make sure that there is enough meat for the night showtime on the TV channel.

What do "I" do? : "I" ignore the whole activity. "I" just watch it. "I" dont move a step forward to rescue the person. What if "I" am beaten up? While he does not deserve such inhuman treatment, why should "I" risk my life to save his life? Anyway, his life is not that precious.

The above sequence of events exactly happened in Bhagalpur last night. NDTV, Headlines Today, CNN IBN etc. had exhaustive and exclusive coverages of poor, skinny thief being beaten black and blue. The anchors were interviewing Kiran Bedi, the people in power and everyone with lots of anguish about how such uncivilized acts could happen in this 21st century India?

I ask CNN IBN, NDTV, Headlines Today : Were your reporters there at the site covering it? If yes, then what kind of cultured human beings are those who kept coverage at a higher level than trying to rescue the poor skinny thief? To me, an educated cultured reporter from your channels doing nothing at the site there puts me to shame more. You know why? They are "educated" and "civilized". If they did attempt to rescue, I am sure you would have covered it exclusively.


Oh by the way, after the event, the following things happened. Do they sound familiar? :

• Two inspectors suspended.
  
• NHRC Issues notice to Government
  
• Nitish Kumar orders probe
  
• Laloo Yadav blames Nitish Kumar and his Goverment
  
• Media keeps on showing the same clip with "parental advisory"
  

And we will forget this event soon too just like we do for others.

Lastly I must also say that I am not criticizing media here. It is because of media that today politicians are not taking public for granted. It is media that has brought information to us.

But what really frustrates me is the fact that their reporters are informed citizens too. Why didnt they act? As I end, it reminds of an incident where a person immolated himself in Bihar sometime back in full media view but all media reporters were busy about was covering it and not putting the cameras aside and rescue the individual. Finally he died.

Finally, I wonder how I will react when tomorrow, in Bangalore, if I come across a similar incident. God, give me enough strength that will convince me to do what is right for supreme human dignity and not worry for anything else.

Postscript after around 1 hour of posting the above: I am not sure if it is an interesting coincidence or not but after I wrote the above, I was generally perusing through some news and came across the following article at CNN-IBN which seems like a rebuttal to my points. Interesting read :

Blame the Media