Some extravagantly unhappy, Some Happily subsisting..!!!

This is an old post written in May but I forgot to publish this... I never realized that it was still in draft status..!!!! Nevertheless, better late than never..!!!


It was a hot day of May.... 29th to be precise. In fact, the entire week had been unusually hot. Generally, Hyderabad becomes slightly cooler with some drizzles during this time but this year it was quite different. As a matter of fact, the entire nation reeled under an unusually hot summer. Naturally, many a news channel carried programmes showcasing the hardships of the oppressed denizens. One such piece was carried out by NDTV on the tryst of the capital's distressed citizens.

The reporter first took an interview of a family from the dingy by-lanes of Old Delhi. It was a family of modest means. The head of the family was a daily wage laborer. The family lived in a decrepit single room house. It was embellished with just a ceiling fan. In this oppressive heat, it is quite but natural to use the fan but more often than not a fan is not enough to cool our excruciatingly hot heads..!!! The reporter was inquiring about how the family beat the heat.. Well, since the family found it tough to meet both ends meet, there was no other option for them but to live in that small dingy room. But the family came up with indigenous ways to fight the heat. They drenched their bed-sheets in water and slept on them. This helped keep themselves cool.

I felt really sad and happy after watching this. Sad, because of the hardships the family had to endure. Happy because the family did not allow their deprivations to come in the way of their cheerfulness and happiness. They were happy with what they had..!!!!

Picture shifted to the next family staying in an upmarket plush colony of New Delhi... And they had a different tale to tell....!!!

The family in question had 5 air-conditioners in their house, one in each of the rooms. Apart from this, the family would hit the swimming pool both in the mornings and evenings to beat the heat... But still they were morose all through the interview. They looked so gutted as though the entire burden of this world was on them. There was not a single cheerful face in that family. I don't know if that was a bit of over-dramatization by the family, but it really irked me on ends.

This contrast of lifestyles once again brought to the fore the glaring differences between the haves and the have-nots. The differences between extravagance and subsistence. I am still nonplussed by the way life is... Someone who has all the material benefits with him is not happy whereas someone who is deprived of basics is cheerful...!!! This again shows that man's wants and desires are never-ending. The more we have the more we crave. This also inadvertently results in undue sorrow, gloom and distress..!!!!

But how would this world change. I have absolutely no idea whatsoever. Even I am one of those who is never satisfied with what I have. I am desperately trying to come out of this vicious and debilitating cycle of wants and desires... BUT HOW...????????????

Duty-bound Day, Honest Hour, Mirthful minute, Sinless second..!!!!

Yesterday, I was sitting in my home doing virtually nothing when my mobile phone came alive and blurted out the message tone. It was one of my friends asking me if I was observing "EARTH HOUR". I bluntly replied that I was not. Well, I don't really observe earth hour just for that one day. I observe it every day, hour, minute and second of my life. It can be as simple as using a fan only when you need it. It can be as simple as switching off lights in your bathroom when no one is using it. It can be as simple as plugging leakages in your kitchen tap.

I really hate it when people just do lip-service and make a huge hue-and-cry about the so-called "EARTH HOUR". The celebrities have their twenty-minutes of fame by posing in front of the shutter bugs. Yes, agreed, there are some who are genuinely concerned about the environment but practically speaking, they are quite few and far between. I was amused to see the Page 3 of my newspaper today. Lots of wannabe celebrities were flashing their impeccably polished dentures holding rechargeable lamps..!!! If my basics of physics are still well-conditioned then definitely there has to be some source of power for these rechargeable lamps. From where does this power come??? Obviously, it has to be charged by plugging it. This is akin to clearing forests to plant more trees...!!!!

Let me quote you a small instance of my life when I was working with Infosys. I think it was somewhere in 2007. As most of you know, Infosys campuses are probably the best office campuses in India. There is lush greenery everywhere. The buildings are totally magnificent. Approach roads to the buildings completely spic and span. You would have to really concentrate with all your might and still you would not be able to find even a semblance of trash anywhere. That speaks volumes about the dedication and efficiency of the house-keeping team as well as the discipline of the employees. You would seldom find employees littering inside the campus. Once you are in the confines of the campus, you would feel as though you are transported to a completely different world. And I used to think all employees are really sensitive about keeping the surroundings clean.
Once on my way home, I was sitting in my office bus chatting with my friend. One of the employees, sitting in front of me, devoured a packet of Lays and without a blink of an eye just trashed the packet on the road. When my friend and I questioned her about littering the road, she gave a weak smile and said - "Chalta hai..!!" This is the sort of lip-service I am talking about. When educated individuals do such things, you cannot really blame others.

When we talk about changing the world, we should actually be talking about ourselves. The change has to come from within. First, we must try to change ourselves. The world will change consequently. What we need is not platitudes like Environment Day, Earth hour but it should all be about changing the way we live. Changing our perspective. If each and every one of us can strive to have a sinless second, a mirthful minute, an honest hour and a duty-bound day every second, minute, hour and day of our life that will go a long way in making this world a better place to live in. There would be no need of publicity gimmicks like EARTH HOUR anymore. I know it would be difficult to follow this but at least an attempt can be made. This reminds me of a dialogue from the hindi movie GHULAM -

"Leheron ke saath to koi bhi tair leta hai.. magar asli insaan wo hai jo leheron ko cheer ke aage badhta hai..!!!"

PENCHAR... PENCHAR... PENCHAR..

Teri Tirchi nazariya dil ko kar de PENCHAR.. PENCHAR... PENCHAR... PENCHAR...

When I heard this song for the first time, I did not understand the meaning of the word - Penchar. I googled the word and got myriad explanations about it from netizens. But two explanations caught my attention and both fit in here perfectly well.

The first one said that Penchar is a rustic and crude word used in Old Delhi for Puncture. When I tried fitting this word into the song, it made perfect sense...!!!

The second explanation said that singing aloud - Penchar, Penchar, Penchar multiple times would remind one of a very very commonly and routinely used expletive in the north of Vindhyas. This expletive is not so popular towards the south, but yes, with more and more songs like this, there is bound to be substantial followers and users of this expletive...!!!!!

Ever since Delhi Belly, with all its slang and expletives, was released, there have been numerous critics singing paeans about the so-called "boldness" in the movie. Using foul-mouthed dialogues seemed like path-breaking to them. No hard-feelings towards the makers of this film but it is the critics and media who seem to have enjoyed those dialogues more than anyone else.

But if you look at the Hindi movie industry, it definitely has become "bold" in the past few years. There have been movies with some crude and rather embarrassing dialogues. I remember a dialogue in Ishqiya which twisted the complete meaning and pronunciation of Sodium Sulphate.. Na2SO4.. if my chemistry is good enough. My chemistry professor is definitely bound to cringe at hearing Chh****** sulphate. It was just gross and obnoxious if I were to quote one of my friends.

Indian movie industry has been very conservative in terms of using foul language. In the olden days, it was just the Kutte Kaminey main tera khoon pee jaaoonga. Hearing this dialogue so many times in hindi movies makes me wonder if the protagonist in the movie is a human or a vampire???? If it had it's way then man's best friend would have sued the dialogue writers for using their names along with the villians... :P

I remember when I was in 3rd or 4th standard, a telugu movie, Bhadram Koduko had a few expletives in it and I was totally shocked to hear it on television...!!!!! But alas, the kids these days keep singing Bhaag DK Bose DK Bose DK Bose DK Bose DK. Although we too, in our childhood, must have used expletives but using them blatantly on screen was a big taboo... !!! Not now... Changing times????

Well, personally, if just using expletives makes a movie path-breaking then why not have it in the title itself... Or if one is a bit conservative then they can possibly take a cue from Amitabh Bachchan of Buddha.. Hoga tera baap.. They can name the movie as BEEP BEEP.. or BEEP KI BEEP..!!!!

Bottomline is that despite using the expletives in day-to-day life it still makes me cringe to hear it on-screen particularly if you are watching the movie with your family.. Using expletives or erotic scenes in the movies does not constitute boldness but baldness...!!! Baldness of thoughts and intellect..!!

A tale of two 'Manishs'

Here I come after a long long long self-imposed exile... !!! I don't know if it was lack of motivation or lack of new ideas that forced me into this hiatus... But I am back now with a new 'tale to tell'...!!!!

The title of this article is definitely bound to remind you of the novel - A tale of two cities by Charles Dickens. But trust me, this article has nothing in common with this novel..!! Or has it???

As is the case of most of my articles, let me take you back down the memory lane to the 90s when I was in my school... Precisely, let me take you to 1997 when I was in 9th standard. It was a cricket match again between the two neighbors divided by the Palk Strait - India and Sri Lanka. I am quite sure you remember those days when India was often whipped around by the Matara Marauder - Sanath Jayasuriya. It was one such match and India needed around 250 odd runs to win but as was the case almost always, as soon as Sachin got out, there was a big batting collapse and India was tottering and on the brink of yet another mammoth loss at the hands of our tiny neighbors... Two of India's all-time tallest cricketers were at the crease.. One a thin and frail individual.. Other a massive and intimidating individual... One known for his leg-cutters and the other, ahem, I am not sure if you remember his name even... No pun intended.. Well, let me take off the lid now, the two gentlemen at the crease were Venkatesh Prasad and Abey Kuruvilla...!!!! India needed around 70-80 runs to win.. The die-hard fan and the never-say-die individual named 'O-Manish' was still hopeful of an Indian victory...!!! But there was this other individual named 'P-Manish' who had predicted Indian loss the moment Lankans posted above 250 runs...!!!

This was well a precursor to the great fight that would keep on ensuing between 'O-Manish' and 'P-Manish'...!!! Let me represent these two as OM and PM respectively for ease of typing... !!!

OM always hoped for the best... PM always predicted the worse...!!!
OM always saw a silver-lining in every cloud... PM always saw spots on the moon...!!!

Let me now recount the story of OM and PM..!!!

- When I gave up cricket for the sake of education, OM saw a new opportunity in it. PM thought it was the end of the world..!!!

- When I could not make it to IIT, OM saw an opportunity in EAMCET... PM again thought it was the end of the world..!!!

- After my life's first ever interview with the erstwhile Satyam Computer Services, where I was rejected for being a bit too undiplomatic and forthright in the HR interview, OM was imagining job with a better company... whereas PM again thought it was the end of the world...!!!!

- After faltering in my first attempt to crack CAT in 2003, OM saw an opportunity in CAT 2005 where PM, as usual, thought this to be the end of the world...!!!

- After debacle in CAT 2005, 2006 and 2007, OM saw opportunity in CAT 2006, 2007 and 2008 respectively.. But PM gave up any hopes of making it to IIM..!!!

- After making it to IIM and then giving up the seat, OM still saw an opportunity in software industry again.. but PM was just inconsolable...!!!!

Even today after some debacle or the other, OM finds newer avenues and opportunities whereas PM finds newer ways at self-destruction...!!!!

Well, reading this story, some might think about their own life-story albeit with different scenarios... I am quite sure each and every individual has two 'selfs' within. One OPTIMISTIC and the other PESSIMISTIC..!!!

In my case, O-Manish was always Optimistic with life... P-Manish was always Pessimistic with life...!!! But time and again, OM was always proved right. His belief in good things always brought about good results. He never let PM get over him..!!!

I feel when we are born, all of us have 50% optimism and 50% pessimism within us... It is up to us to ensure that the P-component reduces as we grow... The more the growth of O-component the lesser the influence of P-component..!!!

Now then, even as I write this article, OM says people would love it but PM says they would despise it...!!!! To this OM says - Even if people despise it, I see an opportunity to improve my writing skills..!!! And the battle continues...!!!!

SLAP STICK

July 2010

A school student commits suicide as his teacher slaps him in front of the class.
Media raises a hue and cry… Breaking news for 3-4 days…. Astounding and articulate arguments on live TV with all and sundry pitching in with their ‘expert’ comments…. Human rights activists ready to pounce..

A school student again attempts to commit suicide as his teacher reprimanded him for coming late to the class.
Media raises a hue and cry… Breaking news for 3-4 days…. Astounding and articulate arguments on live TV with all and sundry pitching in with their ‘expert’ comments…. Human rights activists ready to pounce.. And the story continues……!!!!!!

PICTURE REWIND

July 1995

A 12-year-old nondescript boy was struggling with the Chakrasana in his Yogasanas class in school…. He was not able to do it properly… He was trying hard but somehow was not able to manage it…. Suddenly, out of the blue moon emerges the PT sir… pulls the boy’s belt up and tries to lift him up in Chakrasana…. The boy, unable to bear the pain, falls down… The Sir slaps him then uses his trademark stick and bashes him on his buttocks…. Fighting tears, the boy tries again but does not succeed…. After the Sir goes away, he shares a joke with a fellow friend about how mean that Sir was…. Both have a hearty laugh and that was the end of that…!!!!!

The 12-year-old boy did not attempt to commit suicide just because his teacher beat him… Neither did his parents bother to inform ‘media’ about it…. Although there was not much choice at that time with only the good old Doordarshan being the only channel broadcasting quality news…. !!!! But nevertheless, the boy never informed such trivial things to his parents at home… He was too preoccupied with other wonderful things in life to complain about it to his parents…. Once when he did, his parents just told him that it was part and parcel of school life and one needs to just get on with it… And that’s exactly what the boy did every time he was beaten up …!!!!!

Just imagine what would have happened if this incident took place in these times… Channels would have had a field day…. Because there would have been a suicide every day in a school like the one mentioned above where students were beaten with a stick on their buttocks…. !!!! Now let me not overemphasize on the beating part in this old school… Yes, children were beaten up but only as a last resort…

I am quite sure that people of my age would have been slapped or beaten in their schools at least once… None of us ever had any qualms about it as we never allowed that slap to affect our heart… The slap on face was never assumed as a slap on our hearts…!!!!

But things are entirely different these days…. Children just don’t listen to kind words… More often than not, they tend to misuse their freedom…. And parents have to take a major share of blame for this… I have seen many a time parents coming to the rescue of their children and fighting with their neighbors although knowing that their child is at fault…!!! This somehow creates a sense of invincibility in the minds of children…. They know that they can do bad things and still get away as their parents would be there to shield them.. !!! This creates some sort of a false sense of invincibility around the child. This makes him/her feel as though no one has a right to scold him or her…!!

In every classroom, there is bound to be a section of students who are extra-sensitive and some who would be totally thick-skinned… And it is these extra-sensitive types who are more often than not overly protected by their parents…. Parents do not allow these children to be tough… They don’t allow them to get out of their shell as they keep on being extra-protective….!!! When such children are out of their comfort zone they tend to feel that the entire world is conspiring against them… They grow suspicious of the good intentions of their teachers as well… !!!

It is up to the parents to ensure that children don’t really get bothered by all the beating that happens in the school… Yes, agreed that even the teachers need to restrain themselves from resorting to such treatment… But then, there are circumstances where it is imperative to use the slap or the stick…!!!

Even the media needs to be slightly restrained when reporting such issues… It should highlight only genuine cases otherwise people are going to misuse their power… A case in point being the innumerable cases of small kids falling in the open bore-wells… It all started with PRINCE and it just went on and on….!!!!!

I am neither a proponent of the philosophy – “Spare the rod and spoil the child” nor am I totally against it.. But only thing that is needed is a bit more tactfulness and restraint because not every kid is like that nondescript kid beaten up for not doing Chakrasana properly…. Needless to say, that nondescript boy is none other than Mr. Manish…!!!

UNDERDOG UNDERWEAR...!!!!

Well.. Well.. Well… I guess most of you must be curious about the title of this article. People who are reading this article just because of the title are in for big disappointment. That’s because this article is going to stress upon the ‘Underdogs’ rather than the ‘Underwear’.. I had this dubious title just to grab your attention…. All those filthy minds who want to read about underwear can better switch on their television sets. There you can see Akshay Kumar, Shah Rukh Khan, Hrithik Roshan flaunting their chiseled bodies whilst brandishing Dollar Club, Amul Macho, Macroman, etc etc… Others read on….


India won the cricket World Cup in 1983… When the world cup started, no one in their wildest dreams ever gave a chance to India… But miraculously, India pulled it off… Same was the case with Sri Lanka in the 1996 World Cup…. And may be, who knows, Netherlands might pull off an upset over a rampaging Spain and be the new World champions in Soccer… I am sure during most of the matches people would have wanted the weaker team to win in their heart of hearts… At least I did… There is a certain sense of romanticism associated with seeing a weaker team pull it off against the stronger team… Everyone wants to see a timid David pull it off against the mighty Goliath….!!!!!


Extrapolating these examples from the sporting field into real life would bring up some interesting observations. What is it with these underdogs that fascinate everyone? What is that extra something which catches the imagination of everyone?? What is it that makes everyone root for the underdog??? Well, the answer is pretty simple. In the heart of hearts, everybody thinks that he/she is an underdog. It can be any field. Some people consider themselves to be underdogs in studies. Some consider it in the sports world. Some consider themselves underdogs as far as financial matters are concerned.. That’s the fact of life.. Some of you may not agree with me forthrightly but I am sure there will be a tiny pulse in the smallest of corners of your heart which would agree with me…!!!! This holds true particularly with us Indians… Most of us are more emotional than practical… Let’s take the example of Bollywood.. Great superstars from Bollywood have something in common… Amitabh Bachchan, Akshay Kumar, Shah Rukh Khan… All the three have one thing common… All the three were underdogs when they entered the industry… And look at where they are right now… Not many would have as much mass appeal as these three great superstars of Bollywood… Even down south, two of the biggest superstars Chiranjeevi and Rajnikanth were underdogs when they entered the industry… Agreed that all these individuals had immense talent but the biggest asset that these five individuals had was the support and goodwill of the masses… If it was not for the fans these superstars would have been anonymous individuals… What made the masses support them? It was the strong desire to see the underdog succeed..!!!


Most of you who are Harry Potter aficionados would appreciate this scene from the second book, The Chamber of Secrets… When Harry Potter goes to meet the Principal of Hogwart’s, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, he sees the mystical phoenix, Fawkes. Before his eyes the phoenix gets burnt and dies… But in a matter of seconds, it rises again from the ashes, ready for a new life…This is exactly how we wish an underdog to be… We always wish someone completely despondent to win against all odds just like the phoenix rose from the ashes…!!!!!


But there is a flip-side to this entire romance for an underdog… What if the Goliath is us? What if it is our team??? Well… honestly in such a scenario all this romance about underdog will go out of the window… I am sure no one will support Bangladesh to win against India in cricket.. That’s the fact of the matter… We would never sympathize with the underdog if we are at the receiving end. We would like to believe in the adage – “Every dog has its day.”. But equally true is the fact that we would never want this dog to have his day against us. So, what we can understand from this whole thing is that this basically depends on the situation. Situation is what dictates terms to us and we become slave to it and change our perceptions accordingly..

Underdog is good as long as we are not the “Overdog”…!!!!!

TRAVAILS OF A TRAVELLER....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

‘Hum jo chalne lage… chalne lage hai ye raaste… ‘ – Humming this wonderful tune from Jab We Met, I embark on my rollicking journey to my office. Off late, I have been feeling more and more like Kareena Kapoor… now now now don’t get it wrong… What I mean is I feel more and more like her character Geet from Jab We Met… The reason being that in the movie she always dreamt of missing her train… And I too have been dreaming the same these days.. Only difference being that I dream of missing my BUS..!!

The most vivid memory of my day after I wake up is that of me dashing towards the overflowing road at Koti which unfortunately happens to be a Bus stop…!!! It is not surprising to find the entire road in front of the bus stop crowded with myriad people having myriad ways of ensuring that they catch their bus. Some people are waiting as though they are waiting for an impending enemy and ready to pounce on it. Some like me wait for it as though waiting for girlfriend in a park… As they say in Urdu – “Badi Nazaakat se hum intezaar karte hai…” But then this Nazaakat generally gets lost in the melee and we tend to be part of the marauding enemy more often than not…!!!!

After a Herculean effort, I board the bus. I think that my war is finished but hang-on. A new war has started now. I need to find a seat for myself. Otherwise I would just be crushed by a pummeling and intimidating crowd. But as fate would have it, I am left gasping for breath as I don’t find myself efficient enough to jump through the window or reserve my seat by throwing a handkerchief from the window…!!! Left with no other option, I stand there balancing myself on one leg and perilously hanging from the support-bar as I sense precociously closer to being trampled by a rampaging crowd…!!

Amidst this entire din, I notice two young boys, probably eight years old, trying to cling on to the bus near the foot-board. It amused me no ends when these guys were shouting chants of Jai Telangana…!!! I am pretty sure that they might not have an iota of idea about what they are shouting about but they seemed to be oblivious of it and just did things their way. This is the beauty of childhood. You do things which you like without any inhibitions… I was rudely awoken from my thoughts by an abnormally over-weight and obnoxious idiot who stepped on my foot. Ouch…!!! The fatso didn’t even bother to apologize and stomped away like an elephant trampling everything that dared come his way….!!!!

As I stand there writhing in pain, I notice a clutter of confused engineering students mugging up the program to print numbers of the Fibonacci series…!!! This brought to life the wonderful memories of my engineering life.. The time of exams… The gadbad to revise everything again… Well, I think I should write about the memories of engineering in some other article as I am pretty sure that one page won’t be sufficient to showcase the showbiz of our gang…!!!!!

Just as I feel happy about the sweet memories, the feel-good factor somehow helps me attain a seat…. And I finally assume my seat… I am almost half-way through my journey to office…. The moment I sit down a guy requests me to hold his bag… As I keep it on my lap, another guy comes out of nowhere and requests me to hold his bag as well… In a matter of a few seconds, I have three bags firmly placed on my lap…. !!!!!!

”Saar… Konchem Madhapur vaste cheppandi” - requests the guy sitting next to me. I oblige. Madhapur… This name is rarely used these days… It is now Hitec-City that is used for any place near to this village… Yes, it used to be a village some time back but not anymore…. I still remember my engineering days not long ago when we went to Durgam Cheruvu (Secret Lake) and there was absolutely no traffic…. Now we need to search for ‘Cheruvu’ in the concrete jungle… It has receded drastically over the years… Encroached by the gluttonous real-estate mafia, it is a sorry sight now….!!!!!

I am suddenly jolted as the driver slams a sudden break and the bus comes to a grinding halt… What the heck.!!!! Well, it seems like some stupid moron who in polite terms is referred to as an ‘Auto-driver’ suddenly swerved right and came in front of the bus… Nothing new for a Hyderabadi… We are used to the whims and fancies of these rulers unto themselves….!!!! A barrage of swearing followed in chaste Hyderabadi language… The bus-driver and auto-driver enquiring about each others’ mothers, sisters, etc, etc…!!!!! Finally, after the intervention of some good Samaritans, Bade babu as they say in Hindi movies, going on the road my driver decided to resume the journey…!!!!!

As the bus catches speed on the undulating roads of Jubilee Hills, I too try to catch a short nap…!!! As I wake up from my sleep, I notice that the bags on my lap no longer exist… Probably, the guys may not have thought it prudent to wake me up from my deep slumber…!!!! I glance outside and notice that we are almost nearing Madhapur… I inform the person sitting beside me that the next stop is Madhapur… He thanks me profusely and rushes towards the exit…!!!

A lot of people scramble to get down the bus at Cyber Towers … The bus is almost empty now… I feel like a king in this near-empty bus… I sit lavishly on my seat albeit for a few minutes…. I prepare to disembark from the bus as my stop Kothaguda approaches…. As I step out of the bus, a smile and a frown both appear on my face thinking about my impending journey back home later...!!!!!! Hum jo chalne lage, chalne lage hai ye raaste....!!!!!

Aman ki Asha

Aman ki asha… This caption is everywhere these days…. In the newspapers… On the billboards… On the internet…. In TV advertisements…. At first look I thought that this was a movie’s name wherein the hero is Aman and heroine is Asha….. I thought this to be one of those typical Bollywood love stories and sighed… Oh No…not again…!!!!

A couple of days back, I was watching yet another India-Sri Lanka one-day match…This was the 20th ODI between these two teams in the last 19 months…!!!! Too much of anything can be too boring….. Anyways, let’s not transgress from the main point here….
It was the last ball of 43rd over I guess and the match was on an even keel… It was the last ball of the over and suddenly, thanks to Neo Cricket, there was this advertisement…

An elderly Muslim man, standing on a small pedestal, is playing dumb-charades in the middle of the desert and is cheered on by his friends… There is one more chap with binoculars who tries to decipher the name of the movie gesticulated by the old man …. As he finally decodes the name as Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge, there is frenetic activity all around…. People shouting around… One of them, asking another to call the radio station…. Then the other man calling up the radio station and making his farmayish
Finally, the good old All India Radio plays a song from the aforementioned movie…. And the entire village ecstatic that their farmayish has been accepted…. !!!!

Even until this point I could not decipher what this advertisement was all about….. Then came the message…. Aman ki asha - An India – Pakistan peace initiative started by the Times of India group of India and the Jang group of Pakistan.

As a proud citizen of India, I am really very happy that something of this kind has been started… Well, this is not the first time that a joint peace initiative has been forged between these two brothers but the sheer magnitude of this exercise is what impresses me this time around…. The biggest news group of India initiating this in association with a leading news group of Pakistan has immense possibility of hope…!!!!

Right from the day I came face to face with the term called ‘Nationalism’, there has been a marked polarity in the way I treated Pakistan… Although no one told me that Pakistan is our enemy but still there was enough going around me which ensured that I hate Pakistan…. This hatred entrenched in me deeply…. Be it a cricket match or a hockey match, I found happiness in Pakistan’s defeat…. I was happier seeing Pakistan lose than India win…. This feeling gradually seeped into me and spread like gangrene all through my body… I am sure my counterpart in Pakistan would have felt exactly the same about India…. !!!!

We in India think that we are always right…. People in Pakistan think that they too are always right…. And this has slowly but steadily put in place rigidity in the stand adopted by both the countries… Yes, politics is to blame partially but then it is pretty easy to blame politics for everything bad that happens…. Before we blame politics for anything, we need to keep in mind that all these politicians were at first common people like us… All the corruption or unaccountability over decisions is somewhere or the other rooted into our system.... So, rather than blaming politics it is better to introspect on whether we are following what we preach…. !!!

I vividly remember an anecdote that I read in my childhood in a children’s magazine called Gokulam.. The story goes like this:
Before independence, there was a small boy who had this habit of eating lots of sugar…His father did not approve of it and wanted his son to shun this habit but somehow his son didn’t leave this… So, he took his son along with him when he went to meet Mahatma Gandhi and told him about his plight… Gandhiji asked the man to come to him after some days…. The man agreed and came back after some days…. Gandhiji went upto the young boy and asked him to stop eating excessive sugar as it was not good for health… The youngster agreed to it and stopped eating sugar excessively from that day onwards…. The boy’s father was surprised that Gandhiji took so much time to tell this small thing to his son…. So, he went to Gandhiji and asked him as to why he took so many days to say this small thing to his son…. At that Gandhiji said that he himself had this habit of eating sugar excessively… So, he had to first control his habit before preaching to the young boy…. !!!!!
This to me is the best example of the saying – “Practice what you preach.”

A start has to be made somewhere… Someone has to take up the initiative… Someone has to walk that extra mile… Only then can long-lasting peace be achieved… India has always accepted artists from Pakistan…. Many of them are thriving in India… They have made big name and money for themselves…. Now, it is time for Pakistan to reciprocate…. I understand that a common man of Pakistan is no different from a common man of India… He is concerned about his Roti, kapda aur makaan rather than the number of nuclear weapons his country possesses… !!!

I think time is now ripe to forget all the bickering of the past and forge an alliance of long-lasting peace and tranquility…. And this initiative Aman ki Asha is a right step in this direction…!!!

Sau rupaye ki amar kahani....!!!!!

I am here to tell you the story about ME. I have seen the ‘ups and downs’ of life. There is nothing left to be seen but a lot to be said.

I was born in a dingy little place devoid of proper lighting. The moment I was born, I was undulating in mirth and gaiety. My life seemed to be completely perfect. My body was so supple that it felt like I was a born-gymnast. My skin was glowing like radium in a dark room. My colour was so dazzling that it was as though God created me to showcase his mastery. People around me were completely and overwhelmingly besotted by my beauty. Everyone around me had just one word to describe me – Delightful. I was cynosure of all the eyes around. There was so much attention towards me that I felt like GOD. But the irony was that despite all the attention that I had they said that I was an orphan…. !!!!!!!

My joy knew no bounds when I was adopted by a magnanimous gentleman. He considered me to be so precious that he always kept me near his heart. I could feel his heartbeat as he went about his work. He was a very hard-working and busy man but still he kept really good care of me. He didn’t ever allow even a single fold on my skin. He was very very careful with the way he handled me. He ensured that I was always ‘spic-and-span’. And I was proud of it.

But life is full of glorious uncertainties. My master had to send me to one of his friend’s place. He was unhappy to let go of me but he had to do it reluctantly. His friend appeared to be a lousy man at first sight. And he really was. He never cared for me. He pierced a needle-like object into my heart for no fault of mine. It pained me a lot. He pierced the object with a lot of force and left me gasping for breath. Blood oozed out of my heart but it didn’t deter him. The pain and torture was unbearable. I was yelping in pain and pleading for help. But it all fell on deaf ears. I was later told that he did this to make me stick together with children of my age. All of us were bound together with this needle-like object. All the fellow kids were crying along with me. But the cruel and heartless man just went about his work. And I was left cursing my destiny.

The next morning seemed unusually pleasant. I was in a completely new place. This was warm and cozy. That was when I realized that my adopted father’s friend had shifted me to a new place. The owner of this place was a lovely lady in her 30s. She seemed a kind-hearted and genteel woman. This lady carefully took the needle-like object out of my heart. Then she bandaged the area. She used some elastic bandage over the wound. She put this bandage over all the other fellow kids as well. And then she took a pen and tattooed something on my skin. I felt a tingling sensation when she was tattooing on my body. After she finished I was surprised to see that she made a 100 using the pen on my skin. I couldn’t understand why she made it but then I was happy that I had a tattoo on my body. I was eager to flaunt it before my friends. But before I could flaunt it in front of my friends, her husband came and scribbled something on my skin. He used a pen to cut off the 100 and wrote something in a strange language. I could not understand what it was. My beautiful skin now became completely pathetic and dirty.

Days went by and I kept changing my house every other day. It was more like a routine every day. I was habituated now to keep changing my house. That’s possibly the reason why people hate to be an orphan. No one wanted to be with me. I had to fend for myself. But the tough weather and conditions had started taking toll on me. My skin was not as glowing as it used to be earlier. Even the suppleness of my body seemed to be on the wane. My body was beginning to get crooked up right through the middle. There were numerous holes on my heart made by the pricking of innumerable needle-like objects over the days. Now pain seemed to be an integral part of my body. In fact, my body didn’t respond to pain. It had now become a way of life.

One such day, as I was going along with my new owner I saw that there was some kind of fervour in the air. There was excitement all around. People looked very happy and were throwing colour at each other. There were lots of colours all around - Pink, Red, Blue, Green, Yellow and Orange. Looking at people made one feel as though one was looking at real-life replicas of rainbow. I had never seen such an environment ever before in my life. My new master too was enjoying his time out there. He too was resplendent in bright colours. He was splurging colour at everyone around. Although I was happy looking at the happiness around, I was still unable to fathom the fact as to why these people were splashing colours at each other. I asked one of my friends about it. He told me that this was an Indian festival called Holi and people celebrate it by playing with colours. I was happy to know about it and was in a trance when it happened all of a sudden. Someone came in front of my master and threw large quantity of colour on him. As he ran for cover, I bore the brunt of the entire colour. I was completely soaked in pink-coloured liquid. It was nauseating. I felt like vomiting as the colour went into my mouth. I choked for a moment. But then, gathered my breath and tried to dry myself. It took me two hours to be completely dry. I was happy that I was now dry. But oh no… What was this???? My body was completely pink. This colour stuck to me. It was not ready to leave me. I was completely pink now. My beautiful colour was all lost now. I was looking very ugly. An unbearable stench was emanating from me. I was devastated.

My pink-coloured body kept on shifting hands. I was moving from one house to other. Not many were now ready to adopt me. Many a time people shunned me. Also, the vicious attack on ‘Holi’ had left deep scars on my skin. It had begun to break up. Also, once my leg got stuck up in a zipper and it got mutilated. People didn’t want to take me as they despised my mutilated body. Then one day, a good Samaritan applied a plastic bandage on it. At least now, it appeared as though I had normal legs but the pink colour was still on. Some people didn’t notice the abnormal legs and bandage and took me over but then began cursing me as soon as they found out that I was a crippled fellow. I used to be very unhappy hearing all this about me. But then I had no other option. I had to stay on with them until some other careless person took me over.

One fine day, a person took me to a dingy little place devoid of light. This place felt eerily familiar to me. As I turned around and saw the length and breadth of the room, it became apparent that in fact this was the very room where I was born. I was happy to get back to my place of birth. I had been hoping to come to this place one more time before I die. Now I was here. There were many mutilated people like me all around me. As the man who brought me here came towards me with an object containing many sharp edges, it became seemingly apparent that my end was very near. He slowly brought the object towards me. And then, with a surgical precision he pushed me into the depths of the object. My body writhed in pain. I was shred into a million pieces and I was gone, gone forever into the depths of oblivion.

You would be curious to know as to who I am. Well….you have been listening to the story of an Indian currency note. Yes, I am the 100 rupee currency note…..!!!!!!!

Main Kaun Hoon????????????????????????

“Main kaun hoon??? Main kahaan hoon????” – This is an evergreen dialogue heard in innumerable Hindi movies just after a character regains consciousness. More often than not, the character would have met with an accident where his head gets injured and he forgets about his past… Thus, asking this evergreen question….
But you know what --- I too have asked this question many a time to myself…. Hey… hang on…before you draw any wrong conclusion… let me clarify that I never had an injury to my head … nor did I lose my memory or forget my past….!!!!! But then, why do I keep asking this question to myself???

Well, I am one of those lucky few who can understand the lyrics of songs like “Gaajuvaaka pilla memu gaajulollam kaada…” or “Dhagaala laagli kala , paani themb themb gala…. “. Not only these songs, I am one of those who can watch and understand, with equal élan, movies like Puttinti pattucheera or Maaherchi saadi…. !!!!!! I am one of those who can read Eenaadu or Dainik Lokmat with equal interest….!!!!! I am one of those who can converse fluently with the likes of Sachin Tendulkar or Vangipurapu Venkata Sai Laxman in their mother-tongue….. I am one of those who can be called a Telugu Bidda or a Marathi Manoos…. !!!!!

Yes, I am one of those who can read, write and speak Telugu and Marathi fluently… But what is the big deal…. Anyone who stays in Pune for a substantial period would learn Marathi or anyone who stays in Vishakhapatnam can learn Telugu…. But not many are lucky enough to have a mother whose mother-tongue is Marathi and a father whose mother-tongue is Telugu…. I am proud to say that I am one of those lucky few….. The best thing about being in such a family is that you get to learn more languages… You get to understand the culture of two different places… You get to associate yourself with two different regions…. You develop a strong bond of togetherness with two different set of people…. What better example to quote than the fact that one of my best friends is Marathi and the other is Telugu… !!!!!

I am sure most of the people who are like me would tend to have these feelings… Not just this Marathi-Telugu combo, but it can be anything…. I have friends who are Kannada-Marathi, Telugu-Kannada combos…!!!! Not to mention my cousins who are of the same combo as I am… !!!!! We all know that India as a whole is an amalgamation of various languages and cultures… but still we are united… What better example of national integration than to quote examples like mine… !!!! But then, a coin always has two sides…. It’s not always hunky-dory..!!!!

As a kid, I faced a huge identity crisis…. I couldn’t understand if I was a Telugu guy or a Marathi guy…. Generally, it is accepted in any society that the father’s mother-tongue would be the mother-tongue of his son or daughter…. But somehow I was not able to fathom this fact…. I spoke Telugu as well as Marathi with equal gusto in my house…. In fact, I speak Marathi more than Telugu in my house… Then how come Telugu can be considered as my mother-tongue…???? What exactly is the definition of mother-tongue??? Does it mean that the language spoken by your forefathers is your mother-tongue??? Or is it the language which you speak more in your house??? These were some of the questions I had in my mind…. Well, honestly speaking, there would be different opinions about this issue… Some might argue that consistent with my logic since most of us speak in English at our workplace, we need to consider English as our mother-tongue… Well, this would sound completely absurd… But then how do we resolve this???

I thought long and hard about this…. Then a sudden revelation came to me…. It said that this hypothesis cannot hold good in the case of English because it was never the language of choice of our ancestors…. But then I thought, why can’t I consider both Telugu and Marathi as my mother-tongue because I love both the languages equally… I love both the regions…. I love both the cultures… So, there I was with gyaan in my life…. I started feeling proud of my heritage.. of my luck as not many have this kind of privilege of having a special bond with two languages and two cultures….

Before ending this, all I wish is that I marry a Punjabi or a Bengali or someone else… so that my lineage can be even better examples of national integration… !!!!!!