Two Cold Feet....A Hundred Teary Eyes

Life is full of uncertainties; the worst being its end. What exists today may tomorrow be a thing of the past. Combine that with the human affinity for procrastination - especially when it comes to expressing your love or gratitude for someone - and the results would be nothing less than sheer regret.

One fine morning a beloved someone leaves as per his/her routine and instead of him/her coming back as scheduled, you receive the grim news of his/her demise. Or maybe, in the middle of the night you are woken up from deep slumber just to be told that a dear relative is no more. Alternately, you wait for the dear one at the airport only to realize that their body and soul were on flights to different destinations. Whatever the situation in which the news arrive, the outcome is the same. Suddenly your world comes to a stand-still. The conscious mind gives in to its subconscious  counterpart. Immediately upon taking over, the subconscious mind takes you through cycles of visuals from the past and of the future. Half nostalgic, half hysteric one juggles between responsibilities and emotions.

Directly or indirectly, I have witnessed such unfortunate situations many a times. I have always wondered what must be going through the minds of those at loss, until I lost someone close enough to find the answer. For the not-so-strong hearted, the thoughts are usually revolving around the memories of the gone while for the strong  hearted, the brains are already working on deciding the future course of actions. (They say you can never make up for the losses. True, but then you can’t even sit grieving for the loss because grief only brings more sorrow.) Whether you are the strong hearted or the not so strong hearted, there is one feeling that you just cannot overcome – the feeling of regret.

There is always a moment when those at a loss wonder, hope and pray that the deceased would have stayed on for a little longer. ‘I wish he would stayed until the so-and-so’s function at least’; ‘I wish he would have seen his new house before he went’ - we all have heard such statements being made at funerals. But what remains unsaid, and to my mind what is the most important, is that regret of not having expressed enough to the deceased. The desire to or even the actual actions of expressing one’s love and gratitude towards the deceased is the most painful sight to see. ‘Why did you leave me alone, what will I do with out you, please take me along’ – such statements have always broken me down. I have always pondered over the possibility of the cold lifeless body coming back to life and giving a warm consoling hug to the ones at loss – just for a moment. There would be so much to say…………….the heart would be so much lighter……..for I think its not just loss but sudden loss that makes the process so much more painful.

||सौ ख़त लिखे हैं तुम्हे,

पर लिफाफे पे लिखने को पता नहीं;

हर पल धुन्धती हैं नज़रें तुम्हें,

पर तुम्हारे तो साए भी नहीं दीखते कहीं;

तुम्हारी यादों में भीग जाती हैं पलकें,

पर इन आसुओंको रोकने वाला ही नहीं||

- Tejas Gutka

Today.....at the cost of tomorrow.....

India has moved from being a long time under-developed country to a developing one. The journey now advances towards the more sought after status of a developed country. Dreams are big - and so they should be. But the biggest of the dreams are fruitful only if they are backed by a determined action plan. Economically speaking, higher spend on infrastructure, higher conversion of savings into investments, promoting education, creating opportunities and an open economy are the actions that will convert India’s dream of development into a reality.

Unfortunately, a major deterring force called politics stands between India’s dreams and reality. There is no denial that the both, the present and the past governments, have given a fillip to the infrastructure development of the country. However, there are various issues that stand as hindrances when it comes to infrastructure development. Those familiar with the news would know that land acquisition is one of the major hurdles that come in the way of development. Various projects approved by the center are stuck because of opposition from locals (who are ofcourse backed by their MPs/MLAs) either on environmental grounds or for higher compensation. Corruption and bribery further deter the quality of the work and whatever development takes place is for a short period. The bureaucrats, just before and election, will polish the roads and prvide water supply, and once the elections are done water can only be seen in the potholes on the road. Take any major highway/road/lane in Mumbai and you can bet your life that there will be more potholes on any given stretch than its length. Someone put it very aptly by saying “yeh mumbai hain…yahan pe kabhi sadak pe gadde milte hain..to kabhi gadde mein sadak”. The financial capital of our country, the Shanghai of India, has some of the worst roads than any of its metros.

Its not just bad roads that the country has to mend, there is another problem of similar scale about which very little could be done. The problem is that of the turmoil in the global financial markets. One news channel says, when the US sneezes, India falls sick. Very True. Just when Indians started leaving behind the memories of the dot-com busts and the various stock market scams, and we saw a higher conversion of savings into investments, the stock markets the world over have crashed. To make things worse, the real estate markets have also crashed in tandem, thus leaving very little scope for investment for the Indian Households. Add to that the various IPO scams and the sentiments are pushed further into the negative territories.

It is said that the Indian investors are not a very educated lot and driven more by sentiments than by logic. True, but not surprising. On the one hand, vote-seekers propagate the need for free education; on the other hand, the cost of education is rising leaps and bounds. Education, today, stands to be one of the very attractive investment avenues; and its takes no rocket-science in relating the attractiveness of a sector for investments to its profitability. Thus the sector has shed its social image and donned a corporate look. So what so the policy-makers do to overcome the problem of low-education? Well, they reserve seats for the SCs/STs up to higher education and push for such reservation in the corporate sector as well. All in the name of giving opportunities to the socially backward classes. Now, is a socially backward student wanted to study and had the ability to do well, he could have done so in his earlier years of education when he had the same reservations. If, inspite of backing his form school to college, he had failed to be competitive, why would you want to push him further into higher education and work-place. Anyways providing employment to educated youths is a problem and we add to it by pushing the non-performers just because they belong to some under-privileged caste. It is evident that all this is done merely for votes and there are no benevolent intentions here.

Most of the solutions to all problems have been short-term – all for the purpose of garnering votes and winning elections. Bureaucracy, corruption and a laid-back attitude have held the economy from growing as well as opening up. Inferior quality of work, delays and regulatory confusion have only added to the problems of the country. Most long term issues have been handled with a short term solution. We have managed to save our today, but at the cost of our tomorrow.

The problem, however, is not just that of an inefficient system, it is also that of an ignorant population.

गणपति बाप्पा............चला नाचुया.........

Come August and the great Hindu diaspora gets into a celebration mood. It is said (atleast in my family) that Holi marks the end of the festive season whereas Raksha-bandhan and Janmashtami mark the beginning. So after a dry spell of nearly five months, the Indian diaspora finally has a chance in August/September to deck-up and demonstrate (read: exaggerate) their love for festivals.

Ganeshotsav - celebration of the birth of the elephant headed son of the Hindu deities Shiv andParvati - is one of the most prominent festivals in the western parts of India. It is said that one of India's more famous freedom-fighters, Lokmanya Tilak, popularised the festival as a grand public event (prior to his efforts, the celebrations were private and within the family). The idea was to facilitate community participation and provide a common meeting ground for people of all castes and sects in a time when social gatherings were prohibited by the British rule (somwhere in 1893). The celebrations included learned discourses, dance dramas, poetry recital, musical concerts, debates, etc. so as to spread the messgae of unity and evoke nationalist feelings.

Lokmanya Tilak was a great visionary. But even this great visionary would not have envisioned the future of the practice started with a noble thought. While the festival, even after more than 100 years, is celebrated as (or maybe more) grandly as (than) it was celebrated then, the essence of the celebrations has undergone a lot of change. Instead of promoting unity and oneness, patrons are often seen drunk out of senses, eve-teasing, abusing and fighting. Bhajans and devotional songs have been replaced by the whacky filmy numbers. The traditional dhol and lezim have been replaced by the mordern DJs, flash lights and cheap dances. Not that I am not a fan of the new age hindi music and dance, but its just that your love for those songs and dances can take a back seat sometimes...specially when the ocassion is an auspicious one.



Maybe someone fore-saw this day and therefore the ritual includes submerging the Lord's statue in the waters. Because the way things are today, I am sure that the Lord himself would be wanting to drown himself in water out of shame looking at his 'modern' devotees. Going by he way we are influenced by movies and music, it is quite possible that one day we see the deity's statue in the following avataar:

Videos of the dances i spoke about

Yaari Dosti aur phir Zindagi.....

Humans are one of most social animals on this planet. Whatever we do, wherever we go, we seek company. The innate desire to have someone witness each moment of our life - be it happiness, sorrow, triumph or failure - leads us to coexistence. Right from preschool to the hospital bed, we never fail to identify with like-minds and create that 'special' bond. Sadly, not all that is 'special' lasts long.

School friends...by the time you graduate, half of them are lost. Some because you cant connect to them, and some coz they are growing their mustache in some other nation. People you meet while you are finishing college (graduation/post-graduation), hmm , well you hang on to them for a while. But then, theres work that keeps you occupied and ofcourse there soon is a family to build and look after. So best friends soon become people whom you party with on birthdays and anniversaries, or have a drink with each time you have fought with your spouse. With time, most of them are also lost in transit, only a few remain (with whose spouse your spouse can manage to have a conversation).

And ofcourse, there are some we find at work. But then, either you or they change their jobs..and shoowsh..the names are tucked away slowly into memory. Really sad, we spend so much time building relationships that we would care so little about in the future. Wouldnt it be better to have a few and hold on to them for a lifetime....or is it that you play safe by having many so that even if you lose some on the way, you dont find yourself walking alone??

Dunno whats the public opinion on this, but I surely would love to have a few good and long lasting relationships (friends i mean). And I wouldnt say I have been hundred percent successful with that formula of mine; there are a few that I wish would have stayed till date.....for them...this is something I found on the web..

WE ONCE WERE ONE by Manda

The day that we first met,
in my mind I still see,
you sitting in the lunch room, looking for some company.
I alone myself, sat down with you that day,
neither of us knowing what the hell to say.
But we got through the awkward times, and quickly came to be,
the best of friends to eachother, we could ever be.
The closer we grew, the more we left, the other world behind,
just me and you we jumped into a new place totally blind.
We prayed together our friendship forever, and always would stay the same,
but time has passed, only memories last, and little friendship remains.
WE ONCE WERE ONE! I screamed at you, I want my best friend back!
But we both realized at once it was that bond we lacked.
You think it doesn't hurt me, to see us back to two, looking to my left and right to see there is no you.
But we both are moving on now, lets do it gracefully, I hope our friendship still lives on in you memory.

Stairway to heaven..a photographic narrative..

Times have changed (and they have been changing ever since). Economies are opening up and globalisation has become the latest economic buzz-word. Level of education has gone up and so has earning power. The consequences: longer working hours, stressful lifestyles and therefore an increased need to 'unwind' frequently. Since I belong to this fast moving globalised economy, I cannot really stay away from the need to unwind - and so I have taken up to traveling.

Keeping in mind the shortage of time and money (there are other ways of unwinding which also need attention and money), a lot of my unwinding excursions have been to a place called Sanjay Gandhi National Park, also known as Borivali National Park (BNP). While from the outside the place might look like just another picnic spot, the deeper you venture into this stretch of green land extending from Borivali to Thane, the more you'll find yourself falling in love with the place.

About a three-four kilometer drive into the park would bring you to the staircase (pictured above) leading to Canheri caves. About a 100 odd ancient caves greet you at the entrance of this natural abode. Beautiful carvings, lush green valley, monkeys with red face (and bottom) and a huge waterfall add to the beauty of the place. And as you move past these semi-natural::semi-man made structures, what you experience is an absolute treat for any nature lover. Colorful wild flowers, thick rain-forests, a huge lake, variety of bees, spiders & crabs, huge rocks and the dwarfed city at the horizon add to the beauty of the place. Further eep

into the jungle are hidden huge waterfalls, not so difficult to trace if you have sharp ears and strong feet. Other attracions of the place include a Lion and Tiger safari ride and a plethora of cliffs for rock climbing and rappelling.

All in all it’s a wonderful getaway for the adventurous as well as the nature enthusiasts. Truly a small little heaven within the claustrophobic city of Bombay.








P.S. For more photos on the place check out my picasa albums placed on the right-hand panel.