India After Gandhi a.k.a India under Nehru-Gandhi

After a long hiatus in between, i finally completed the book “India After Gandhi – History of world’s largest democracy” written by Ramachandra Guha, volumnous enough to cover more than 700 pages.

If in one sentence i have to summarize the book, I would say that it is story of India under nehru gandhi family.

The book beginning coincides with Indian independence making Nehru the premier of the nation and the story is wrapped up at the defeat of Rajiv Gandhi in 1989 and emergence of V.P.Singh as the PM with great expectations.  In between though there had been reigns of non-family members but it is wrapped up swiftly. Be it the great mass leader Shastriji or the Janta rule. The book concentrated primarily on Nehru-Gandhi family.

The book also tried its best to present the brighter side of these people. Be it defeat in 1962 or the black days of emergency, the author find something to save the grace of Mr Nehru and Ms Gandhi. Even the nepotism and dynastic hand over of power have found some way or other to be justified. If Sanjay Gandhi had been given undue power from his mother and the acts were abominable, author finds out the case of kanti bhai desai to equate. During emergency rule, when atrocities were the nature of the day for the government, quotes from foreign jpurnalists have been found criticizing the way JPN and others carried out the revolution.

the defeat of 1962 has largely been attributed to the then defence minister, the way Pt Nehru had wished it to be. Nehruvian idealism has been justified even during the time when he should have been preparing for the combat and providing armaments to the soldiers of India.

The only people the nehru indira duo have been belittled against is each other. Like Nehru’s love for democracy has been praised against the approach of indira and his lack of preparedness against china been compared against indira’s invasion of pakistan.

But what i fail to understand is if the author started the book since he feels that Indian story post-independence has not been retold, why a book which got published in 2007 had to be stopped after the incidences of 1989 election have summarily been penned down? Implementation of Mandal commission report, opening up the economy, Babri Masjid, Emergence of BJP as a political force, changing world equation making indian relation changing , tilting from erstwhile USSR towards USA have been many of the events, which could have been put in black and white by the historian. Is it only because there has been no one from ‘that’ family as PM after that?

Whatever the span chosen by the author and whatever allegiance he may have, I must praise the effort put in by the author in putting together the historical account of Indian footsteps after the birth of a nation submerged in blood of post partition hatred and marred by the continual nagging of neighbouring nation, accentuated by internal rife and riots –  The piece of land, which at the upper crust seem to be a conglomerate of divided people garlanded by a common thread of passion and dedication to create the great nation.

The book certainly makes a good read as it opens many a chapters, which people like us, born so many years after the independence had little chance to know otherwise.

A friend of mine in US had asked for a book detailing india’s history and I sent this book to him. Hope he understands the history of India well and more than that the underlying feeling behind that history.

Forced Cuts

These days my carbon footprint is getting reduced as compared to some days earlier. Some of them are propelled by me and some being forced upon, which i may or may not be happy about.

Disconnecting television connection would mean reduction of at least a couple of hours of television time and thereby electricity during weekdays and 6-7 hours during weekends. Summing up it would be around 20 hours of reduction per week of electricity consumption.

Many a times, i prefer taking a bus over driving  my black beauty onto the road. This would certainly be saving around 2 Ltrs of diesel per day of my bus ride to office.

There are some more small steps that i take volunteerially to be usefule to myself and the environment.

However, there are some cuts enforced on me, which though results in less carbon footprints, do not go with my taste of life.

One of them and the foremost of them being load shedding enforced by electricity department. In last one week, there have been two instances of load day long load shedding. The schedule is 10 AM to 5 PM. But they disconnect at 8 AM itself and increase the woes of the citizens. It also results in driving out and increase in further fuel consumption.

More so having it twice a week is a bit too much. Agreed we are energy starved nation but it does not mean you make some people starve very often and cut the power for whole of the day so frequently.  Having it done on a Sunday is all the more painful. Having worked for the week and in order to be prepared for the upcoming week, one needs to cool his/her heels on this particular day and the dependence on electricity is so high in order to spend the day peacefully and in comfort that one feels so irritated by such act of the department of electricity.

May God give them some power to think about inconvenience of people.

The lyrical marvels of Gulaal

Sometime back, I watched the movie ‘Gulaal’. Quite an intriguing and arrogant movie, I must say. The Take it or leave it approach of the moviemaker had an impact. Either you would love the movie or you would find it worth running away from the theatre even before the interval.

The storyline and the nakedness in presentation of the ugly side of politics is quite catching. However what I liked the most was the songs. To be honest I did not like them when the movie was going on. But it certainly left something lurking in the back of my mind.

Back at homoe, I browsed to raaga website and listened to the songs and without delay, I was into it. That started search for the audio CD. Searching in 4-5 music stores went in vain. In a couple of shops, they did not even try to search – “Not available” was the readymade answer. I was not surprised as the songs were not advertised much, they were not even catchy for those who do not like poetry in its raw form . But those who love Hindi poetry would certainly find it to be a good collection – and you would not find many in Bangalore of that class.

Finally a friend of mine shipped the CD for me from Delhi – I was sure the CD woudl be available in Delhi. Couple of days later, the CD was lying in my hands and immeidately went into the CD plpayer of my Black beauty and the songs keep on flowing as my hands were busy on steering wheel. On a long drive to Pondicherry, I made Prof Pankaj Gupta and his family listen to them song and also made them admire the satire in ‘Rana ji ….’. In fact then Prof’s wife told that she had listened to the song partly somewhere and was searching for the album name. Apparently she had liked the song beforehand only.

Personally my favorite is ‘Yara Maula……….’ the song whch retells the saga of student politics and the whirlpool students get into and end up in helplessness and thereby being a part ofthe system.  just a couple of lines “Hum Nahin jaante ye bhi kyun kiya – kyunki unki to farmayeesh yahi thi”

Whereas ‘Yara Maula………..’ depicted the sad state of student politics, ‘Ranaji…’ presented a wonderful satire on things ranging from commercialization to international politics, targetting mostly the policies of US. ‘door desh ke tower men ghus jaye airoplane’ sets up the stage, followed by “sare aam iraq men jaakar chhip gaye Uncle Sam” to ” ………bina baat Afganistan ka baj gaya bhaiya band”.  At the same time another song “Ek waqat ki baat batayen….” portrayes the agony of common man at the somnabulist state of the indifferent society has been picturized quite well. 

Another osng that i like a lot is “Aarambh hai prachand…”. This certainly is a master piece by Piyush Mishra. A class of poetry unparalleled in films, apart from the ones written by Gulzar. For a person who adores poetry and enjoys it written in tatsam (same as that (sanskrit)) and tadbhav (derived from Sanskrit) words, it is a marvel.   Not only did Piyush Mishra used the might of his pen but his voice too had an immense impact. Not only is the word selection but the intensity they bring in is what you end up enjoying the most.

Overall I really enjoyed listening to all the songs of this movie and do hope that lyricists like Piyush Mishra comes up with more and more of such songs.

Traffic blues

Why does it always happen that when you are in a hurry and want to drive fast, you come across:

1. (un)expected traffic jam with apparently no reason. There woudl be a bunch of vehicles getting stuck in jam and you can see empty rad ahead.

2. a vehicle going in front of you at a speed as if it does not have to go anywhere.

I wonder.

Listening to Mukesh – Such pleasure!

Now that I realised that most of my time at home is sucked by Television – watching T20 IPL matches, crapy & useless news, repetitive movies and sometime for a change, a couple of comedy programs (all boring except my favorite Sarabhai Vs Sarabhai), I decided to say good bye to Tata sky connection – at least for the time being.

Believe me I never had such a peaceful time in my life. Just imagine, no Jayanti Natarajan to give her useless views, no ‘Rahul saga’ to make me feel killing couple of reporters and not having to see Tendulkar losing a match. A lot of time to read and enjoy books. After a marathon 14 hour day, Madam Television was always there to snatch away an hour or two from my sleep. Now I can easily explore the dream land with peace. Good morning used to happen with news to accidents, military coups, political gambits. Now mornings bringing a whiff of fresh air in balcony, followed by couple of pages of some books and Pranayam. In summary I can say that the life had never been better.

Now that Idiot box has been shut down, a void was created. Being alone at home, it brought in complete silence except for occasional phone calls. In came the music system, which has been my partner since my college days – the one playing tapes and not the CDs. To provide company to the machine were a host of cassettes to chose from.  The music filled in the void left by cacophonous speeches.

Today I was feeling tired of running and my limbs giving a straight no as answer for any plans to get out of home, I picked up an old cassette of Mukesh. the moment play button was pressed, Mukesh filled in the air with “Ek din bik Jayega Maati ke mol’. It had been long since this song had vibrated my eardrum. The tiredness was forgotten for the time being and the body was swinging to the tunes. As the sone came to an end, started another masterpiece – “Kahta hai Joker….” followed by one of my all time mukesh favorites ” Oh re Taal mile nadi ke jal men…”.

The Melody combined with aroma coming out of kitchen has ensured that the mind is completely relaxed. When the mind is all set to relax, how can body resist? So I am going off to let my hairs down and enjoy ‘doing nonthing’. Rest once I am back from the rest.

An experience to remember

I am generally fascinated with big and huge things – be it automobile, buildings or machine.  The endlessness of sea attracts me much more than the calmness of soothing river.

So whenever I used to see big machines whether in factories or hospitals, I always wanted to use them and to play with them. So when the doctor prescribed me an MRI, I was happy in a way. Though till date it is not clear to me as to why doctors prescribe so many tests for any ailments but anyway I would let it be  a matter to be pondered on by those enlightened white coat wearers. However phobic as I am to the medical procedures – I kept on postponing the scan for quite some time. Then after being prescribed by another doctor (well doctors probebly just need to know that certain test has been asked for by another doctor and they would prescribe the same withjout any delay) and pressuree by a couple of my friends, whose minds have been doctored by their Medicine schools, I decided to take a plunge into the mammoth machine.

I mean, I have been through Ultrasonography and X-rays but those machines fail to bring about same impact as MRI machine would. Whereas USG machine let a probe touch the body and X-ray subjects you to be target of some invisible rays, MRI lets you be a part of itself. Takes you in and makes you one with the system.

The reception nurses scared me a lot by mentioning again and again about the low temperature etc. But I still went on and submitted myself to the radiologist. The Siemens made machine was in front of meinviting me to get in – the same way sursa invited hanumanji in the mid of the sea.  the first instruction I received was to put away all metals on my body. The next one was not to move at all and keep my eyes closed. I was just afraid that I would feel asleep when I am inside the gigantic machine. now tell me what a man is suppose dto do if he has to keep his eyes shut and his body still?

The moment I was slided in, I pressed the diaphragm given to me to indicate that I wish to get out – I still had my rings on my fingers. I was llater told that gold and silver would have no effect of the magnetic field. Though I had read in my chemistry classes that magent impacts primarily ferrous alloys, it is another thing to believe on all the theory when you have your dear rings at stake. So I grabbed my fingers in my fist and allowed myself be pushed in. Once inside, when I did not feel any pull on my fingers, slowly I relaxed but still not letting my fingers be straight, lest at some point the ring are sucked by the golianth.

Then came the realization that i am in the magnetic field and they have put on a matrix of structure around my face. Initially I thought probably it would be to save my eyes and face from some radiation. Later was I told that the matrix structure is to capture the image and my eyes weretp be closed as the matrix may catch artifacts from my eyes (well I do not know what artifacts he was talking about). No sooner than I was about to give in to the idea of sleepinig peacefully in the cold environ, the machines started humming and then slowly the noise turned more discturing, sometime even accompanied by vibration. everytime the noise kept on changing, taking away the chances of sleep completely.

Now when you cannot sleep and you cannot move, somehow or other some part of your body starts itching, knowing quite well that the demands would not be satuated. Now in such situation, the itch would start travelling in the body stimulating different parts of yoru body. Thankfully for me, it ended at my palm where i could caress with my fingers.

All the humming and drumming sound of the machine went on for around 15 minutes, which passed quite like ages for me and I was getting restless to move my body and to feel the life in my muscles. By the time the radiologist announced “2 minutes left”, I was already in countdown mode. Some weird noises were still on from within the machine and as it were the last two minutes, i was enjoying them the more.

Finally as all other good things, my stay in the womb of the elephantine machine came to an end and my stretcher started moving out. The matrix was dismantled and I was relieved to see the world again. I could answer to my 15-minutes itch now and can me visibly impressed by the dimension of the things around.

Time to get out and get going!

The joyful smile

Just saw an ad. Dont know the product it came for – did not care. It wa a break between the overs and when the Little Master of the game is on the rease, breaks seem to be so unwanted.

However what caught my eye was the little girl in the ad. Just the permission of the parents to let her friends in makes her so happy that she was jumping with joy, clapping her hands.

Made me think: when was the last time I let myself let loose with joy and let my feelings get the better of me. Well its not just about me. When we grow up, we forget the be happy to let us be filled with joy and to let the joy overpower us and take us to the other realm.

Kids generally have very short span of attention. This also reduces their focus on the thing in present and diverts their attention towards whatever new comes in. But this works as a boon for them too. Due to lack of focus and grip of attention, they also do not remember what heppened sometime ago. At least they do not carry that over to the present moment.

Last time I saw Gurudev (Sri Sri Ravishankar), i found the same smile dancing on his lips and same carefree attitude. Completely aware that he was the focus of so many people, he was not at all self concious. his walk had a flow matching only with the flow of knowleddge around him. Just like a kid, he can unarm anyone around him.

Just make me wonder – How?

The hiatus is over

It has been a long hiatus – a Bakers’ Dozen years – but finally it has come to an end. Having started with a wobling game – egypt does not deserve a draw from our team – finally team India came into full swing and ended up as winner of the finals. Agreed, the teams participating in ’Azlan Shah Cup’ tournament were not the top ones in the world. It still feels good to know that the team is on winning way.

Growing showcase of indian hockey team certainly is a good news and as a fan, i can only hope that it grows on forever.

First Award for him

He is only 6 months old but certanly a source of immense joy.

Two days ago, I got a call that Adyant, the youngest in the family, has been adjudged as the best baby by the Bhagalpur Chapter of IMA.  They do not need to tell me that he is the best baby indeed. But certainly it brings in the smile.

I do not know exactly what all were the criteria, but it  ws about health and growth. I must say the Mom is taking good care.

I am sure it is just the beginning of the recognition. Long way to go my Son! Amen!

Rock Climbing at Gabbar’s Land

Gamgarh, Gabbar, Rck Climbingabbar singh – unarguably the most famous movie character of hindi cinema. Hi abode – Ramgarh a.k.a Ramnagarama – 50 Kms away from Bangalore.  anyone who would have seen the movie – and there would not be many Hindi cinema viewer who would  have not – can swear by the roky landscape of the place where Gabbar Singh used to unleash his aura of terror, ensuring that only one person could save he denizens of that are from the clutched of terror of Gabbar Singh – the man himself.

Enough of fictitious stories and settings. This time I got a mail from Indian Adventure Club with a plan of rock climbing and rappelling. Not to let the opportunity pass by, I registered myself and three of my other colleagues for the event.

The biggest hurdle was to start early in the morning. Friday night almost all of us 4 could retureto bed at 5 in the morning and we were supposed to start our trip at 7: 30. As it happens with many unrealistic plans it failed. I got up at 8 AM only to find out that others too are just up from the bed and would start from their houses in some time, Some how we could make it to the road before 9 AM and off to our destination.

After some pathfinding exercise, we could reach there finally.The moment we were there, we were in love with the place too. It was a hot day and the rocks were hot but the greenery around made it easier for us to bear the heat. We were expectng the Sholayesque brown setting of landscape but it was quite different there. The green trees and grass were giving a much animated touch to the environment.

Now it was time to learn something about climbing down. Rappelling was the first event we undertook. It looked quitedifficult to climb down – what if ropes are there – looking down itself sends a chill and fear in the spine. But when the real action started, it seemed quiteeasy. Using the techniques of ‘Not looking down’ + holding the rope properly with both the hands + keeping ourselves inclined on the rookhelpedallay the fear and I started enjoying the process. A colleague of mine taught me how to use my hands effectively in controlling my slide. Left hand in front was used for support whereas holding the rope with right hand beindmy back helped me controlling my speed of descend. Once on ground, the thought came “Ohh! it ended so soon?” and immediately it was time for trying it once again.

Rappelling was followed by valley crossing . Crawling under the rope with the support of rope alone seemedtobe an easy task. However the pressure builds up on arms if the momentum is lost once. It happened with me too. A colleague of mine started taking my nas and called my name. I stoppedand looked at him and lo! the momentum was lost completely. It took quite an effort for me to cross the disctance thereafter.

However te toughest was still waiting for us. giving a pass to rock climbing due to excessive heat, we decided on chimneyclimbing. The distance between the two rocks was barely enough for us to stand properly  and we were to climb it with only hands and legs as our means. keeping the legs on the rock in front and our backs on the rock behind, we wereto climb the rock at our back side. It was quite difficult to keep control over the rock while pulling the body up. But somehow it was completed with much fun.

By the time we were done withour climb, we were exhausted enough to not to trek and enjoy beneath the ‘Neem kaped’. The cool breeze just made us forget all or tiredness and sleepiness. To top it up, the watchman at the site came rushing to us and started narrating stories of Sholay to us and posed as a guide. He displayed a shred of selflessness by not demanding any money from us ” whatever you give is fine with me” was his statement. But tired enough, we decided to let it be at that and started back for Bangalore.

It indeed was one of the best weekends in the recent times for us. Loosing all energy but regaining freshness we were back to our ‘Karmabhoomy”.