Remember the time

My mind always gets an intense feeling of an unknown longing or yearning, whenever any pleasant experience, being enjoyed by me, is nearing to an end. When I am on a holiday or a pleasure tour and I have spent few days having great fun, suddenly, on a relaxed evening, my mind gets this feeling of yearning. I might be enjoying a programme scheduled for the evening. Yet, my mind becomes acutely aware rhat all this is going to end today and I have to return home next day. Once this feeling engrosses my mind, and even though I am physically away from my home, my mind already reaches home where daily problems and tasks start facing me. I then normally  try, to counsel my mind, by thinking about the next tour or holiday, which I can take up in future.

Few days back, my daughter, who is settled abroad, came for a visit to India. The time just flew those few days. As the day of her departure from India came nearer, I had similar feeling of yearning in my mind. After she and my grand daughters left, my house had become for a day or two, a torturing hell for me. It took few days, for things to return to normal.

Gems from the National Museum- New Delhi, Sir Aurel Stein Collection – Part 2

Sir Aurel Stein began his 1906 expedition to Chinese Turkmenistan, or present day Xinjiang, again from Khotan and Niya areas, situated on the southern rim of Takla Makan desert. This time however, he was able to continue his journey further, along the southern rim. After investigating areas near old Miran fort again, he marched northwards and soon reached the areas of Lou-Lan on northern rim of Lop Nor desert. After investigating this area once again, he continued east words, to reach famous landmark caves of 1000 Buddhas, near Dun-huang oasis. I shall describe the rich haul, Stein obtained here, in the next part of this serial. Moving northwards, Stein reached the town of Hami and then turned eastwards along the foot hills of the Tian Shan mountains, towards Turfan-Chong-hissar (Present day Turpan). In this area, Sir Aurel Stein was able to investigate sevaral promising sites and could get a rich haul of artifacts.

Buddha in Dhyanmudra

On Air Travel

Last week, I had a chance to make a journey by air to New Delhi on a domestic flight. It has been years since I had traveled by air on a domestic flight within India. In fact my last trip to New Delhi was at least 30 years back. It was natural for me to wonder at the change that has taken place in aviation sector in India. We were supposed to take off from Pune airport around 11.30 AM. I had in my mind the old airport of Pune, when I reached there. In old days this airport was very small with only a flight or two landing there. That too was the old DC3 or Dakota aircraft belonging to the Government airline as there were no private airlines in those days. The Pune airport of today was a real shocker.I could not believe that there were at least seven or eight hundred people on the airport, waiting to go some where. When I reached the departure hall, I saw at least 4 or 5 big jet aircraft waiting on the tarmac. Out of these, three aircraft belonging to different airlines, were supposed to leave for new Delhi only, one after the other. All this was beyond my wildest imagination. I checked the departures board. There were 11 flights leaving for Delhi every day, which meant that at least 2000 to 2500 passengers traveled to New Delhi from Pune each day by air. Looking at the crowd, who were waiting for my flight, the fact could be confirmed.

Gold prices and Kanchipuram Saarees

Few years back, I was traveling in the Indian state of Tamul Nadu on a sightseeing trip. On our itinerary, was a visit to a town known as Kanchipuram. We (which meant in reality, my wife) had planned to buy few famed Kanchipuram saarees, woven on the hand looms, near about this place. After reaching the town, we visited few of the Saaree shops. We were however astonished to find the price tags well beyond our budget. As a rule, I do not carry large amounts of cash, when I am traveling, to avoid unnecessary risks. Surprisingly, Kanchipuram shops even flatly refused to accept credit cards for the purchases and insisted on cash payments. We had no choice but to give up our plans for shopping and proceed further on our journeys. 

Few months back,  we had similarly traveled to another town, famous for Saarees, Irkal. Because of our previous experience at Kanchpuram, we warily asked about the saaree prices here in Irkal town. Surprisingly, Irkal shops had a range of saarees, that would fit in any one's budget. Since Irkal shops offered saarees right from about seven or eight hundred Rupees, my wife could happily shop here. I was at a loss to understand tha,t why the shops in Kanchipuram could not show the same business acumen as their brothers in Irkal showed?.

For us,lips of wisdom, the real precious jewels

When we entered our school building in Pune, from the main door, the first room was a circular lobby. In this lobby, right in front of the main door, bass relief statues of our school founders, fixed in the wall, would be seen. On the left of these bass reliefs, there used to be a big notice board. I also remember few sign boards hung on the wall, somewhere in this arrangements. These nicely polished wooden sign boards, used to have in engraved letters, writings and sayings of the famous saints and poets of Maharashtra. I do not clearly remember now, what were these sayings? However I do recollect one sign board which said that "Talk without corresponding action, is worthless." Unfortunately, no one ever paid any attention to any of these sign boards, even though we used to see them at least couple of times each day. I never felt that there was anything of substance to be learned from these sayings.

However, I keep on remembering this particular sign board, these days very often. During course of last year (2011), Punaites or citizens of city of Pune, had only one subject in their mind. Subjects such as presence of garbage heaps on the streets, water supply irregularities, crowded streets, squalor and dirt, were all forgotten. All the so called local leaders, were trying to join the din and noise by expressing their opinions on this subject rather vehemently. There were citizens forums discussing the topic. The common subject of all this heated discussions,  was the Metro train for Pune. There were questions and questions. Should we have the metro? Should it be elevated or underground? Where should  the stations be located? etc. etc. Finally, ordinary Puneite even hoped that the Metro train may actually run in Pune one day and would provide some relief to the harassed commuter. After a considerable debate, local Municipal corporation approved the plan. However, more than an year has passed since then. It now appears that bureaucracy has probably swallowed up the project file as there is no talk, no action by anyone on the subject. If we now ask a Puneite about the Metro, he is surely going to react with a counter question, What Metro?.

What common people want from Lokpal act?

On 27th December 2011, the Loksabha or the lower house of the Indian parliament, finally passed the Lokpal or Ombudsman bill. If this bill clears further hurdles and turns into a law, how effective would it be? Or does this bill include demands made by veteran social justice fighter Anna Hajare, or these have been just neglected in the new act? Many more rounds of discussions are likely to happen in media and on TV on this subject. Favourable set of circumstances,  continue to exist for continuation of these discussions,  because the parliament did not agree to Government's wishes to make this law a part of the Indian constitution statute.This is, from Government point of view a definite shortcoming,  because the act can be amended any time in the future with a simple majority in the house. For apposition its an opportunity for the future.

Anna Hajare started yet another fast, this time in Mumbai, to pressurize the Government and the parliament to his point of view. Surprisingly, his agitation received very poor response from the common man. Many reasons have been put forward by the media and the TV channels for this apparent fiasco,  like Mumbai has no time for agitations,  as it is a working city, or people's support to Anna Hajare has diminished. In all this rigmarole, I am wondering, whether the media are just being carried away and do not realize or bother to realize, what a common man really wants  this new ombudsman to do?

My favourite holiday spots

The great Isaac Newton had said once that “ To myself, I am only a child playing on the beach, while vast oceans of truth lie undiscovered before me. ” How true! A quiet day on a beach, where there is nothing to do, is according to me the best vacation for anyone. I love beaches. Whenever a new travel plan is being discussed in my family, my first choice is always for visiting a beach in some or other country. It is always my dream to relax on the white sands and watch the azure bluish sea, roaring continuously, and face the cool salty breeze blowing through my hair. Over the years, I have been fortunate enough to visit some of the most picturesque beaches of the world. These may not be the world's top beaches necessarily, yet I have found them extremely beautiful. I always remember and cherish my little sojourns at these beaches.

My love affair with beaches of the world, began many years ago, when I was visiting west coat town of Weston-Super- mare in England. I was staying then with a relative of mine, who had a nice house on a little hillock like terrain, north of the main town. My relative insisted that I must visit the beach and took me there. It was evening and the sun was about to set. In front of me a scene was unfolding, which was stunning and now permanently etched in my memory. The vast beach, the long pier or jetty going deep into the gulf like a dagger, at the end of which, there was an enclosed construction housing restaurants and museums, made that place extremely picturesque.

Traveling south east of England and leaving the Spanish coast to venture into Mediterranean sea, another set of fabulously lovely beaches comes up on the Balearic Islands Archipelago. The largest island from this archipelago is undoubtedly the amazing Mojorca island, which has some of the most spectacular beaches with sparkling white sand, pretty inlets, turquoise sea and natural landscape . Majorca has more than 120 beaches, yet some are very popular. Magaluf beach is only 8 Kms from the capital of the island Palma. This is a large beach with a good selection of hotels, restaurants, shops, disco and bars.

Pseudonymes on the net;

Blogging is becoming a very popular hobby in India. With more than 14 languages, Blogs are flourishing with full bloom. Even in my mother tongue, Marathi, it is becoming an accepted channel of communication. Yet, a blog post is essentially a personal memorandum or a reflection of what that individual writer thinks or what prevails in his mind at that time.Some people call a blog as a diary. It was a custom of yesteryear for learned people, to write a diary of sorts. Their writings were known as chronicles. Really speaking, the blogs of today on internet, are nothing but chronicles of that writer.The first thing that strikes me ,when I read any of these blogs is that the author is very honest or true to the words that he has put down. There are off course any number of bloggers, who try to popularize their blogs by pasting excerpts from prose or poetry of well known or famous authors. I would rather leave aside such blogs. Since a blog writer always accepts that whatever he has put down in his blog is truly his thinking, it always appears very honest and without any hidden agenda.

Besides writing individual blogs, another facility now exists for any amateur writer of today.This opportunity to write is offered by many forum type web-sites. You need to identify yourself with a name to be able to participate in such forums.Once you do that, you can raise a topic for discussion on such forums or offer freely your comments on anything under the sun. Many such forum participants, assume a Pseudonym or an anonymous name so that they can write incognito their thoughts freely and frankly. Something they might not do if writing with their own name and identity.

Gems from the National Museum- New Delhi, Sir Aurel Stein Collection – Part 1

Aloof from the hustle and bustle of the office going crowds, an impressive building stands on Janpath (People’s way) in New Delhi. Frequented mostly by the foreign tourists and school children on day excursions arranged by their schools, this impressive building, exhibits some of the rarest archeological gems from ancient India and China. Out of the large collection of antiques in possession of the National Museum, three categories of antiques are the most impressive. The stone carvings of the ancient India, Indus valley civilization relics and lastly the Sir Aurel Stein collection from Taklamakan and other desert areas of China, are perhaps some of the the most unique and exquisite remnants from a long gone by and ancient era. These aptly demonstrate the richness of culture and history of the Indian sub continent and also it’s effect on the famous silk route from China to India and to the west.
In this serial, I would be trying to recapture some of the history and the glamour from this ancient past. Luckily for me, National Museum allows to take photographs of the exhibits. I was thus able to take snaps of the exhibits that impressed me most. We begin our tour with the ‘Aurel Stein collections’ from Chinese Turkmenistan or today’s Xinjiang..

Buddha's Original Alms-Bowl

In the year 1880-81, the then Director General of the Archeological Society of India, Major General A. Cunningham, made a tour of the Archeological sites of the Indian state of Bihar. During course of his visit, Cunningham visited a place known as 'Besarh', which was immediately identified by him as the famous medieval town in India known as 'Vaishali'. Cunningham did not find any artifacts in this village. He however came to know a very interesting belief that Buddha's original alms bowl was preserved for many centuries in this town. Cunningham collected more information about this story and kept a note of this in his book.

Buddhist birth stories have an interesting anecdote about Buddha's alms-bowl. According to this anecdote, the original alms bowl given to 'Goutama' by 'Mahabramha' vanished when 'Goutama' became Buddha. The four guardian deities, Indra, Yama,Varuna and Kubera, each brought an alms-bowl made from emerald to Goutama, which he refused to accept. They then brought four alms-bowls made from stone of mango colour and each and every one of four begged to Goutama to accept their alms-bowl. Not to disappoint any of them Buddha kept all the alms-bowls and after placing them one into another, miraculously transformed all the four bowls in a single bowl, upper rim of which appeared, as if four bowls have been placed one within the other.

The Onion Wars

A visit to the shop popularly known as 'Mustafa' is a must routine, whenever I plan a return journey to Pune. For sundry purchases and chocolates, this shop is really the best choice. When my wife found out that I am visiting Mustafa, she immediately told me to get some Lentils, since any way I am going there. I bought the lentils along with other stuff and came home. While checking the invoice, I found out that the shop had charged me 3.90 Singapore Dollars for a Kilogram of Lentils. I was shocked as in Rupee terms, the price worked out at Rs. 140/- per Kilogram. I distinctly remembered that 4 months earlier, I had bought the same Lentils  at a rate of Rs. 60/- per Kilogram in Pune. I felt sort of cheated,  as I felt that I have paid a mark up of 120%

When I returned to Pune, I was shocked to find that same Lentils were now priced at Rs. 90/- per Kilogram, which meant that there was at least 30% price rise in last 4 months. Slowly I came to know about the prices for other eatables and found that there has been a rise of 10 to 20% in the prices of almost all the eatables. What was most shocking was the fact the Onion prices had increased to unimaginable figures in just a fortnight. One Onion was now being sold for Rs. 2/-. Garlic bulbs were sold at Rs. 300/- per Kilogram. I did some checking on the net and astonishing data came before me.

Time to flex muscles

A distress signal was received on 11^th March 2011, by a Dornier Maritime surveillance aircraft, belonging to Indian Navy, while it was on a routine sortie some 600 miles west of the Indian coast. The distress signal was from a merchant vessel, MV Vancouver Bridge and had said that they were under a pirate attack. The aircraft Immediately moved to the area where MV Vancouver Bridge was sailing and noticed that pirates from a mother ship had launched two whiffs and were preparing for an attack on MV Vancouver Bridge. The pirates, on seeing the Naval aircraft, aborted their attempt to attack MV Vancouver Bridge, and returned to the mother vessel to try and escape from the scene. During this rescue sortie, the aircraft identified the mother vessel as Vega 5, originally a fishing vessel, which the pirates had hijacked on December 28, 2010. Following its hijack, Vega 5, a Mozambique flagged fishing vessel, was being used as a mother vessel to launch pirate attacks on ships sailing on high seas and had carried out several such attacks. It had become a great risk to international shipping since then.

Chilled Pune, just for me

I returned back to Pune after a long period of three and half months. When we entered Pune, the clock showed 9.30 in the morning. By Singapore standards it should have been very hot and murderously sunny. I was pleasantly surprised to experience cooler air. In Singapore, such coolness is possible only in air conditioned buildings. It was a great experience to feel such cool and crisp air. Even in Pune, weather has changed now. It is rather rare, when we can experience such beautiful weather. I recollect that in the previous year, we had such fine weather only couple of times. The sky would turn cloudy, whenever mercury started going down, and hot air would return. This year surprisingly, things have turned for better. There were three days last week, when sky was cloudy. Even then the weather stayed cool with even colder winds blowing from the north. Punaites brought out their woolens to enjoy the weather. In reality the night temperatures were not very much lower, but days were cooler and the weather became very enjoyable. 

A new window opens for India

For my Engineering degree, I studied in one of the famous Indian institutes of learning. Since our institute had a sort of Pan India nature, I had classmates from all over India. A similar situation prevailed for most of the courses taught in our institute. Some of the special courses, like Aeronautical Engineering, even had foreign students on their rolls. I distinctly remember having met a number of students from Egypt, during my college years. These Egyptians were a friendly lot. They studied hard and were most cordial when talking to other Indians and never confined or restricted themselves to the company of their own countrymen. Those were the days of great bonhomie between India and Egypt, with Indian Prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru and President Abdul Nasser of Egypt, forming some sort of coalition of Non-Aligned nations. Indian Government and Government of President Abdul Nasser, collaborated on many joint projects. This might have been the main reason for presence of the Egyptians in our institute. However, those days of friendship were soon lost as Nehru and Nasser passed away. Egypt moved towards Soviet block first and later moved on and became friendly with Americans. The special relationship between India and Egypt evaporated and only formal relations remained.

Land Mines musum in Cambodia

A two lane metaled road goes towards north, from a side of the world famous Angkor Wat temple in Cambodia. This road actually leads to the beautiful Bante Strai temple. Somewhere on the way, a traveller may see few tiny single storied buildings. These buildings house a small museum, which depicts heartrending history of Cambodia, over last sixty or seventy years. This small museum actually brings out a message that is so powerful and important that each and every visitor to Cambodia comes here and pays his respect for few seconds to the hapless, unfortunate victims of war.

Even a cursory look at Cambodian history of last sixty or seventy years tells us a story of continuous and bloody civil war. In second world war, this country was won by Japanese from French. In 1945 after defeat of Japan, it was reoccupied by France. Around same time. underground communist forces started a war of Independence along with Vietnam. After their defeat at Din Bin Foo, French gave up Vietnam and Cambodia also became independent. In 1965 Cambodia broke off diplomatic relations with US and allowed North Vietnamese forces, fighting the US, to open secret bases within Cambodia. Aggrieved US started bombing Cambodia on regular basis from 1969. 

A journey in the past with 'Prabhat Film Company'

I experienced a rather different yet pleasant experience on the evening of 20th December 2011. It was like a journey back in time. Not very far from my house in Pune, there is an institution run by the central Government, called as 'Film and Television Institute of India'. I had some close contact with this institute many years back. I used to teach Electronics to the students of the sound engineering department here for 2 or 3 years. The campus of this institute therefor was not very new to me. I had received an invitation to attend a function in the institute and had gone there. Since this institute campus, until 1955, were the main studios of the erstwhile 'Prabhat Film Company', a famous landmark for Pune, it was natural that a visit to the campus, meant a trip to the past. To add somewhat reality to this trip to past, full credit must be given certainly to the Film Institute for retaining and cherishing the old Prabhat Look of the campus. The old heritage buildings on both sides of the main street in this campus have been carefully preserved and immaculately maintained. It was no wonder therefore, that this trip to the campus, took me sixty years back in time. When I was a kid, there was nothing but barren land between our house and the campus of this Institute. It was easily possible on many occasions to observe the outdoor film shooting going on in the campus from the terrace of our house. Sometimes we would be allowed in the campus to watch, if any famous director or person was working there. I still remember having watched one of the great litterateur of yesteryear's,  Acharya Atre, directing a film here.

An Impostor

In the year 1761, the forces of the Maratha empire, had fought a great battle with the Army of the Afghanistan Amir, Ahmad Shah Abdali at Panipat in north India. The Maratha army was badly defeated in this battle. The General of the Maratha army, Sdashivrao Bhau was killed in this battle. Sadashivrao Bhau was the son of Chimaji Appa, brother of the greatest Peshwa, Bajirao. The defeat of the Maratha army at Panipat was so horrific that entire Maratha empire was shocked to the core. Credit for salvaging the prestige of Maratha's and bring back stability to Maratha rule, mainly goes to Senior Madhavarao Peshava and his advisor, Nana Phadanvis. Unfortunately Senior Madhavarao Peshava died at a young age and Maratha empire suffered another set back. Subsequently many unfortunate incidents like the  murder of the younger brother of Madhavarao did happen. In the period of this great instability, Nana Phadanvis and other Maratha statesman rose to the occasion and saved the Maratha empire from falling to pieces. As long as Nana Phadanvis was in power at Pune, British owned East India company, was not able to make any inroads. This is a historical truth.

Twitter and an Earthworm

Telling the truth, sometimes can bring that person in very embarrassing or difficult situations. About two years back, the then deputy foreign minister of India, Mr. Shashi Tharoor was caught in a very embarrassing and difficult situation when he had publicly called the Economy class on international air flights as cattle class. All people like me, who are forced to to do international air travel with their own money, always travel  by this class only. They will immediately endorse without hesitation that considering the way in which travelers are crammed in this so called economy class, it is most appropriate and reasonable to call this class as Cattle class and it is the truth. In spite of saying the truth, Mr. Shashi Tharoor, found himself in a very embarrassing situation no doubt. Even after this storm in the tea cup had subsided, the Mr. Tharoor's in born enthusiasm to tweet did not subside. He came out with blast  and tweeted about the auction of Indian cricket players for Indian Premier league. This lead to several disputes and controversies that became so severe that finally Mr. Tharoor as  well as Mr. Modi, chairman of IPL, both had to resign.

The Apsaras of Angkor

When I visited the world famous temples of Angkor near Siem reap in Cambodia, one thing that struck me most was the importance given to the concept of Apsaras in the ancient culture of this country. Now, anyone may wonder, what or who is an Apsara? The idea originally comes from the ancient Hindu scriptures from India or The Puranas. An Apsara is a female celestial nymph normally resident of heaven. Her job is to entertain and please the Gods, who also naturally reside there. The Apsaras are supposed to be extremely beautiful with curvaceous and sexy figures with lots of oomph. They have expertise in dancing and singing and in general improve the ambiance and desirability of the heavens.
Surprisingly, this concept is not limited to Hindu scriptures only. Even Islamic scriptures describe a paradise or a ‘Jannat’ full of gardens and pure perpetual virgins, who are divinely beautiful. Any righteous person would have an access to these most beautiful women or ‘Houris’ after his death as per these Islamic scriptures.
Khmer kings in medieval Cambodia, picked up this concept from Hindu Puranas and have given the Apsaras immortality by picturing the heavenly beauties in almost all temple bass reliefs in Angkor.

Virtues of singing!

The day before, I had an occasion to travel by Singapore's MRT or metro train. Earlier, I used to travel extensively by MRT. Now-a-days this is a rare event. The LTA or Land Transport Authority of Singapore has recently commissioned a new Metro line called Circle Line. While traveling on this line, I got dawn at the Bishan junction station and was waiting for my next train towards Jurong east station. After waiting for about four or five minutes, I was startled to hear suddenly, nice musical tunes from overhead loudspeakers. I thought first, that it must be an advertising jingle from the TV monitor fixed overheads at a distance. After having a look at the monitor, it was clear that this tune was not coming from there, but from overhead speakers only, as TV monitor was showing a non musical programme.  I listened carefully to the musical tune. Someone was singimg and the words, which could be heard clearly were something like this. 

” Train is coming!—-Train is coming!—Train is coming.!”

The decisive Maratha- Afghan war in 1761 at Panipat; Total expenditure 900 Crore Rupees)

One of the most decisive war, which had direct bearing on the history of India in Eighteenth Century, was fought between forces of Maratha Empire and Afghanistan Amir, Ahamad Shah Abdali's forces in 1761 at Panipat in north India. I have read in number of history books the exact number of Maratha Generals and soldiers lost in this battle. Yet, so far no figures were available about the exact monetary expenditure incurred by Maratha Darbar on this campaign, which ran for many number of months. 

Nanasaheb Peshawa ordered his cousin Sadashivrao Bhau to launch a campaign to counter the Afghan Amir , who was moving towards Delhi from Kabul and provided Sadashivrao Bhau with necessary ammunition, army and money. Maratha forces reached Delhi on 1 August 1760 and secured it on 2nd August. On 14th August they had captured the famous Red Fort.

Run for your lives- Part IV

The war, which started on 12th of October 1962, in the Kameng division of NEFA or Arunachal Pradesh, ended on 19th November, when Chinese forces captured Bomdi La. In this period, fighting was also going on in other sectors of Arunachal Pradesh. Lohit river flows from north to south in extreme east sector of Arunachal Pradesh, bordering with Myanmar. The river basin and adjoining region, is part of the Lohit Sector. From Geographical considerations, it can be said that to enter Arunachal Pradesh from Tibet is much easier here. (From Lohit River basin). Because of this reason, there were number of army outposts on both banks of the river. Walong village is located to east of Lohit river near the Tri junction point of the borders of India, Myanmar and Tibet. Walong village and Kibithu village had important army posts. However there was no motorable road between Assam and Kibithu village. All ordinance and other provisions was supplied to Lohit division outposts by air. 

While reading about the descriptions of the battles that took place in Lohit river basin, I could see a major difference between defence here as compared to Tawang sector. The war here was fought as per plan. The sector was well defended by the army posts, which could give covering fire to each other.  War at Walong turned out to be a bad dream for Chinese, who lost at least five times more soldires than Indian losses. During the period 18th October to 25th October Chinese forces , one division strong (about 15000 men), attacked the positions held by 6th Kumaon units of India army. The positions here were so well defended that Chinese were not able to capture even an inch of land and had to suffer number of counter attacks by Indian forces. 

Chakra 2.0

In 1988, India leased one nuclear submarine of 'Charlie-I' class from Russia. This submarine was named as 'Chakra' and was in service with the Indian navy up to 1991. The officers and men of the Indian navy could get excellent experience of running a nuclear power submarine during that period. Subsequently, no nuclear submarine of any type was inducted by the navy. Because of this, all the experience and the expertise developed by the Navy in running and maintaining a nuclear powered submarine, was lost as all men operating 'Chakra' eventually retired. This raises the question as to why this Chakra exercise was done at all? I do not think that any one can really answer this question.

Marching towards Global food prices regime

In the first week of December 2010, as I was packing my stuff to return to Pune ( my hometown in India) from Singapore, I thought of making a trip to a department store there, popularly known as Mustafa. Since this store sells almost everything under the sun, I was not able to say ‘No’ to a request to buy a packet of Lentils(Toor Dal) from my wife for use in the kitchen. After I returned from the shop, I casually checked the invoice. For that one kilogram packet of Lentils, I had paid 3.90 Singapore Dollars or about 140 Indian Rupees. No doubt, I was unhappy about this price and I expressed my resentment about this heavy mark up on prices as I remembered, that during July-August of this year, the same stuff did cost me about 60 Indian Rupees in India. This meant that I had to pay about 120% mark up to buy the same stuff in Singapore.

Run for your lives - Part III

From the tri junction point, where eastern border of India, Tibet and Bhutan meet, a range of hills known as Thagla Ridge, spread towards southeast. Near the  eastern end of this ridge is a confluence of  two rivers. The southwards  flowing Namka Chu river  meets here west-east flowing Nyamjang river. From this pint, this river flows southwards and  crosses India-Tibet border and flows into India along the Bhutan border and villages of Lumpu and Shakti and eventually meets east-west flowing Gomkang Chu river first and the Tawang Chu river. Shakti village mentioned above is located roughly to west of district town of Tawang.  The main road from Shakti village to Tawang, passes through Lum La pass.

On 23rd October 1962, Chinese soldiers crossed  Macmohan line international border and with rapid advances reached Lumpu and Shakti villages. 

Bleeding Borderlands of Pakistan

Every morning, as I rush through the morning news papers, I secretly hope in my mind that at least today, there would be no news item about a bomb attack or a suicide bomber blowing himself anywhere in South Asia. Unfortunately such days are very rare and reading about the agony and the misery of the victims of such bomb attacks has almost become a routine affair. Most people simply avoid reading such news, perhaps to isolate themselves from such horrific news coming to them every day of the week. Almost 80 to 90% of such bombings are being reported from the western border areas of Pakistan, adjoining Afghanistan. Just to emphasize, what I am saying, here is a list of such incidences that happened in these Pakistani border lands during last week ( 6^th to 10^th of December 2010).
On Monday, two bombers killed more than 40 people as they attacked anti-Taliban militia talks in Mohmand, in the north-western tribal belt on the border. On Tuesday, a suicide attacker failed in an attempt to assassinate the chief minister of Pakistan’s south-western province of Baluchistan. On Wednesday, a bomber blew himself up near a minibus in the town of Kohat, not far from Hangu, killing at least 16 people. Another 16 people were injured by the blast at the Shia Muslim-run facility in Hangu district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The explosion follows the start of the Islamic holy month of Muharram, which is especially important for Shia Muslims. Actually, I must admit frankly that the names of these places do not mean anything to me as I have never heard about them before. What hurts me is the loss of innocent lives happening there almost everyday.

Run for your lives- Part II

India's northeastern border with Tibet is a natural geographical border formed by a series of snow clad Himalayan peaks. This border can be crossed only through few natural mountain passes or by walking along the foot ways formed adjoining three or four river beds in the basins of these rivers, that cross this natural border. Because of this natural protection and also considering the fact that there was absolutely no border dispute till 1959 between India and Tibet, India had never taken any military steps to safe guard this border. Few border posts near the mountain passes and the river beds were established by India to secure these places. Since there were no roads in this region, most of these frontier posts in the NEFA region were maintained by airdrops of all essential provisions. Till 1959, Assam Rifles policemen were guarding these border posts. 

In August 1959, Chinese attacked Indian position at Longju in Subanseri sector. About 200 to 300 Chinese soldiers attacked the Assam Rifles Policemen guarding this post. There were few policemen guarding this post and they defended this post for 2 day gallantly. After that, they had to withdraw in the interior. In October 1959,  Kongka Pass incident took place. In November 1962, Chinese unilaterally declared that they do not accept Macmohan line as the boundary between India and Tibet. It can be said that attack on Longju post was in a way a precursor to the things to come.

Crash of the Rupee

For last few days, Indian Rupee has been continuously sliding down against the US Dollar. Two days back, it reached the lowest level of more that 53 Rupees against one dollar. Many knowledgeable persons and Economists have been expressing themselves on this subject. I came across many opinions about, Why the Rupee if falling? Or What would be the effect of this fall on the lives of the common man? Or Is there any way by which this Rupee fall can be stopped? and many such questions. Even after reading many a points of view, I was not really able to pin point the cause and effect of this fall. I would attempt here, to give an explanation about the cause and effect of the Rupee fall, as envisioned by me.

The economics of an entity, may be,  an individual, a company or even a nation, naturally depends upon income and the expenditure incurred by him. Mr. Micawber, a memorable character from Charles Dickens's classic novel, David Copperfield, explains this basic truth in this novel in the following way.

" My other piece of advice, Copperfield,' said Mr. Micawber, 'you know. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery." This Micawber principle may hold true for day to day income and expenditure. It is certainly not valid, when for example, we want to buy an apartment or a car.

My days with the Gods – 3

I am on my way to visit the Angkor temple called ‘Banteay Srei’. This temple is not a part of the Angkor Archeological Park and is located at least 25 KM to the north of Siem Reap. For anyone who wants to visit a temple in Siem Reap, the person must first pass through a check post, set up by the Apsara Authority, the organization which looks after the safety, security and maintenance of the temples. My car had to travel by this check post today, even when I was going to a place bit far away. At the check-post, I present my 3 day pass for visiting the temples and only then could proceed onwards. I am told that if a vehicle is found to have bypassed the check-post, it would surely be stopped further on the way. A fine of 200 Dollars per person and 100 Dollars for the driver is collected from the errant vehicles. To avoid payment of such huge fine, everyone seems to follow the rules. On way, I see a large lake and decide to stop here on my way back. The landscape on this road to Banteay Srei, reminds me of south India, with paddy fields stretching on both sides to the limit of my vision. This area, in which I am traveling, is known as ‘East Baray’. This name comes from the name of a huge water reservoir built by Khmer kings, which had existed on this very land few centuries ago. Because of this, the soil is very rich here. This fact however does not reflect in the rice crop yields, as the farmers are dependent only on monsoon rains and there is a general shortage of fertilizers. In the days of Khmer Kings, farmers in this area, grew 3 rice crops every year, with the abundant water supply from East Baray. Farmers today, can just grow at the most, one crop in an year. The villages along the road however, look fairly affluent. I learn that the affluence has come because of the flow of tourists along this road. My car now takes a sharp left turn and comes to a halt in a nicely developed parking area. This is the entry area for the temple of ‘Banteay Srei’. It is clear that someone has taken lots of pains to plan and develop this area with well arranged basic tourist facilities. The time is 10 ‘O’ clock in the morning but the Sun is already scorching. It is important that any visitor to Angkor, must carry with him a good quality Sunscreen cream.

The East Entrance

Run for your lives-Part I

We have seen in a previous article, the background and reasons of the total and extensive defeat in East Ladakh, inflicted on India by Chinese in 1962. This war was actually fought on two fronts, which were physically separated by thousands of miles. Besides Ladakh, another important front, where war was fought,  was opened in Arunachal Pradesh, located in North East corner of India. In east Ladakh, China and India had a dispute regarding territory of Aksaichin and the war there was mainly fought over that issue. As against that, except for a very minor dispute regarding few border posts, there was no such standing dispute existing in Arunachal Pradesh (It was known as Northeast frontier agency or NEFA then.), at that time.

Any student of history would realize even after a brief study, that China had come up with the dispute about Arunachal Pradesh, so that when eventual negotiations would open about Aksaichin, it would appear to observers, that China was ready for give and take. The steps taken by China in this regard were planned and executed very carefully. Let us first consider certain developments that took place before the war. 

Relatives, relations and relationships

Few years ago, I had gone to visit the Indian city of Hyderabad. I came to know then,  that Hyderabad's famous 'Salarjung Museum' has now been shifted to a new building.  I knew that, with this new building, display of the artifacts and other stuff,  would be far better than before and I had made it a point to visit the Museum once again then. In one of the halls of the Museum, I had found  the old dresses worn by the Nizam of Hyderabad, neatly displayed in glass showcases. The dresses made from silks, were heavily brocaded with gold and silver threads and studded with priceless jewels. In the bright spot- lights arranged to show off the dresses, the jewels were shining brightly. 
I had then thought that though observing these dresses displayed in glass show cases was a wonderful experience, I would not have liked wearing these dresses at all. The gold and silver thread would have rubbed against my skin while moving about and the bright jewels would be like thorns pricking me all the time. Few days back, there was some unsavoury incidence amongst some relatives of mine. While thinking about the incidence, I thought that the relationships with relatives are really like wearing those brocaded dresses. The relationships are pleasant only from a distance. 

Holiday in Goa- Part I

You can reach Goa from the north, in two possible ways. The first and the simplest, at least on the map, is to hit the Mumbai-Goa highway, which starts at Panvel, some 50 Km south of Mumbai. This road goes straight to Goa. There are no mountain passes or Ghats, as we call them here. Yet there is a catch. This road in most parts, is just a two lane road. Considering the volume of traffic on this road, and the trucks that ply on it, I think that it is best to avoid this road as far are possible. The other alternative is to take Mumbai-Pune expressway and then bypassing Pune city, take the National Highway No. 4 to Bengluru. This road is fairly wide (4 lanes) and in general one can have a pleasant journey. Since I started my journey from Pune, my choice was limited to latter, any way.

We had planned to leave Pune city early in the morning, have lunch at Kolhapur and then proceed to Goa. We managed to leave Pune, well in time, after having sumptuous breakfast of Idli's and other south Indian snacks, joined the Bengluru highway early morning. At a distance of 8 to 10 Km from the city, we had to cross the first mountain pass at Katraj. I had some apprehensions about this pass because of the heavy traffic, which I had experienced previously. I had somehow forgotten that it is no longer necessary to cross the Katraj pass as a new tunnel has been built. This tunnel, which removes the necessity of climbing a narrow mountain road , has made the travel much easier and before we knew it, we were already speeding towards Satara. Our  holidays to Goa had truly began. Kolhapur city is about 200 Km south of Pune and we managed to reach there in about three and half hours after breaking for a cup of tea at Karad.

A need of the times

Last Sunday, we had gone to a restaurant for lunch. This place specializes in serving dishes of Italian origin like Pasta and Pizza. The restaurant was jam packed. Because of the school holidays, the place was full of boys and girls of all ages. With great difficulty we managed to secure a table for us. My granddaughter (age 5) was sitting next to me. There were ethnic Chinese kids sitting around a table just next to us. They were laughing and chatting presumable in Mandarin. (This is only an educated guess, as I did not understand a word of what they were saying ) Suddenly I realized that my granddaughter was frowning. It was obvious that she had some disapproval on her mind. She told her mother something and her mother looked at the kids from the side table angrily and murmured something. The kids became silent for few moments before continuing their chatter once again. After we finished our meal, I asked my granddaughter about why she was angry? She told me that those boys had used some words, which according to my granddaughter's teacher, were not to be used publicly. Since I do not know a word of Mandarin, I was not able to understand anything at all.

Anna Hajare 's fast 2.0

Indian social reformer Anna Hajare returned to Delhi's Jantar Mantar ground once again yesterday for a symbolic one day fast. This one day fast might be considered as a continuation of his old marathon fast or a totally new effort. This fast carried out in presence of the leaders of the opposition part leaders on the same platform was bound to be a sore point for the ruling party and they reacted angrily as expected. Yet, this fast proved once again that no one can beat Anna Hajare in playing strategic political moves.

When Anna Hajare had earlier made an announcement of this symbolic fast, many people, including me, were very skeptical about the purpose, objective and what could be achieved by such a fast? However as things turned out, I understand now, how much thinking and planning Anna Hajare must have done to successfully carry out this fast and achieve his objectives.

Mario Miranda- An obituary

During the decade that followed 1970, I was working in Mumbai for few years. I used to stay at Andheri and had to travel every morning by a crowded local train to reach my office in south Mumbai. My daily routine included the Lunch brought to me by famous 'Dabbawala' of Mumbai and evening return to Andheri by even more crowded local train. This very same routine was followed bu hundred thousands of people like me in those days. There were not many channels available then for entertainment. There was no TV and what we could see in theaters were typical Hindi films with their typical hero's, heroins, villains and their fights and sweet endings. There were not many magazines, and what used to available, had very poor print quality. Subsequently in 1975, Indira Gandhi imposed national emergency on the country and the life for an ordinary man became even more colourless and drab.

Yet, in those drab days, we had two things , which brought a smile on our faces. The first was the small, Common man's cartoon, by one of the great cartoonist of those times, Mr. R.K.Laxman, that appeared on the front page of Times of India under the caption “You said it!” and the second was the full page cartoons published in Sunday times and Illustrated weekly of India by another great cartoonist, Mario Miranda. Laxman's cartoons used to be simple with just one or two characters and a catch line. Miranda's cartoon would be spread all over the page featuring hundred or even two hundred characters in it and little bubbles showing the comments these characters were supposed to be making. It would take minimum 15 to 20 minutes to see the full cartoon and appreciate it. The more the time you spent on it, the more enjoyable it became. I remember having spent my full travel time by a packed suburban train from Andheri to Churchgate reading just one cartoon page by Miranda. In his cartoons, he would draw some characters like a socialite lady with a huge bust, a politician with a Gandhi cap, Mumbai's wealthy merchants or 'Shetajis' and a fisher women from Goa in such a distinguished special way, that even with a glance from a distance, the reader would know that the Sunday Times has published a new Miranda today.

The suburban rail travel usually a pain in the neck would turn into a laughter club with Miranda cartoon in hand.His presentation of the fish market in Goa or a Mumbai street scene would be like a complete story by itself.I can never forget some of the characters like Ms. Nimboopani, drawn by Mario Miranda.

I never knew that Mario Miranda spent his retirement years in Goa after retiring from the Times of India. Some of his recent cartoons showed details about Mumbai's streets and obscure little places so accurately and uncannily that I always thought that he lived in Mumbai and was a full time Mumbaikar.

The brush in the hands of Mario Miranda has suddenly stopped painting now, when he was 85. Mario Miranda is no more.

With their phony socialistic policies, rulers of Independent India, spoiled the social life of an entire generation of my age. In our drab world, Mario Miranda brought a smile for few moments on our faces with his cartoons. I want to express my gratitude to him and pay my homage.

11^th December 2011

My days with the Gods – 2

As I come down to hotel lobby, my watch shows just 5 ‘O’ clock in the morning. However, my trip coordinator, Mr. Bunla is already waiting for me. I get into the car and we speed towards Angkor Wat. Watching the Sun rise from behind this temple is the Reason for my departure at this unearthly time. While traveling, I remember that the Khmer language word ‘Wat’ has come from a similar Thai word, which means a temple. I note in my mind that both these words must have come from the Sanskrit word Watika. Angkor Wat therefor means a temple city. The construction of this temple was started during the reign of Khmer King Suryavarman II or during 1113-50. However, it seems that the construction work, which took 30 years to complete, was completed only after the demise of the king, as his after death title or name, ‘Paramavishnuloka’ appears in one of the bass reliefs on the first level. It is believed that the design of this temple was made by a Brahmin minister of the king, Divakar Pandit, who was believed to be endowed with divine powers. Cambodians however attribute the temple to Hindu mythological architect of the Gods, ‘Vishwakarma.’ There has been a considerable debate as to whether Angkor Wat was built as a temple for God Vishnu or a tomb for the king. I think it is better to leave these debates to experts only.

Culture of Dirty Toilets

The coverage given to India in Singapore newspapers is usually very scanty.To get a news about India on the front page is therefore quite a rare event. This is but natural because except for the economic achievements of India, people of Singapore hardly have in  any interest in India. For 3 consecutive days in September 2010, India or rather Indian Toilets were covered in front page news of all Singapore papers. Becuase of the Commonwealth games and Singapore's participation this news was of great interest to Singaporeans. Unfortunately, being an Indian, this news was very shameful and insulting for me no doubt. 

What old age really means?

Last week, I came across two interesting articles about aging and people. The articles really set me thinking about our concept of Aging. For all living beings, growing old, is obviously one of the unwritten but basic laws of the nature just like death. Leaving aside the cases, where a living being has met a sudden and immature death, old age is inevitable and irreversible. But how do we define age? I am little confused regarding this, as a result of my reading these articles. I am convinced now that it is practically impossible to define old age by any measure of number of years. We can see that across a spectrum of societies and nations of the world, there is no similarity or coherence at all, regarding old age and number of years one has to put in, to reach that status. The so called retirement age, wherein you are officially considered a senior, varies widely from 55 years to 72 years of age. Even in India, even though one is considered a senior to avail special rates of interest on a bank deposit, at an age of 60, Income tax refuses to acknowledge the same person as senior, unless he attains an age of 65. We also see persons with exactly same age at totally different levels of physical fitness and mental agility. There is something wrong in defining old age by number of years one has put in.

No. 64, Govardhan Dham Colony

'Govardhana Dham' is a posh residential colony in the Indian city of Ujjain,( State of Madhya Pradesh). This colony is listed as a show piece in the city development plans of the local municipality. The colony consists of nicely built houses and just a look around would convince any onlooker, that fairly well to do and wealthy citizens of Ujjain city are inhabitants of this colony. Some of the residents of this colony turned out to be very lucky few days back, when suddenly currency note bundles and jewellery, started raining on their houses and the terraces. However their luck lasted only for a short while.

Coorg Diary Part II

(Continued  from)

Wednesday

I open my eyes and look at the watch. It is only 5 o' clock in the morning. The weather in Coorg, is temperate and fine. Even at the peak of the summer, temperature rarely crosses 30 or 31 degree Celsius. The nights also are not very cold. All along the day and even in night one feels very comfortable here. When I went to sleep last night, I felt like covering myself with just a light blanket. Since the weather is so comfortable, I had never expected to wake up so early in the morning, yet I am fully awake at this unearthly hour for no reason. I suddenly realize then that I have been woken up by some kind of weird noises. Outside my suite, there is a high volume din and clamour from somebody. This sound has woken me up. I get up and slide the thick curtains on the french window. It is still dark outside. Dawn has not yet reached the heavily wooded surroundings of my resort. Every thing appears so calm and quiet. Yet there is blaring going on outside. I am very curious and open the balcony door. The sound just fills my suit like a storm surge. I had never understood previously, the true meaning of the word 'Cacophony'. Listening to this strange sound, I feel that I have now really understood what Cacophony means? After listening carefully, I can make out individual sounds of chirping, cooing,squawking, hooting and warbling, going all around me. It is fascinating to hear the bird songs so clearly, and so early in the morning. My suite in this resort is surrounded on three sides by dense growth of shrubs. Behind these shrubs there are groves of large trees. All this sound is coming from the birds hiding in the trees. 
 

Satellite photo showing relative distances of Medikeri town from Mangalore city and Bengaluru city

Our resort is located near Medikeri town in Coorg district of the state of Karnataka in India. Medikeri town is well connected by road to two major cities of Karnataka. From Manglore, a city on west coast, the distance to Medikeri is about 125 Kilometers, whereas the distance from Bengaluru (the route by which we travelled.) is about 250 Km. Both these places are connected by air, having good airports. However, Mangalore, being a small city, is not so well connected and very few flights land there. Bengaluru has an international airport and many airlines including budget airlines fly there and offer cheapest flights.

Our Resort in Coorg

This resort, where I am staying, has been constructed in a very nice fashion. The entire resort is situated in a gorge. On the perimeter of this gorge or the highest points are all the residential complexes. Each residential complex having six individual suites on three floors. At a slightly lower height, we have the restaurants and a Fun Zone for the kids. At a still lower level, we have the Adventure Zone a Gymnasium and a Massage Parlour. The residential complexes have been named after very uncommon tropical trees. It is fun to tell others that we are staying in “Jojuba” or “Lokucha”. The over all experience here is very pleasant and provides comfort.

Adventure Zone

Really speaking, Coorg is an anglicized version of the original name “Kodagu” in the local dialect. Even though Coorg is part of Karnataka state, the culture of the people resembles more to the culture of the people of the next door Kerala state. If you ask one of the locals regarding the most important place in his Kodagu district, the probable answer would be 'TalKaveri' and it should not raise any eyebrows. The 'Kaveri' river has the same kind of importance in this part of the world that river 'Ganga' or 'Ganges' has in north India. Commoners in the north, call affectionately, the river 'Ganga' as 'Mother Ganga'. Similarly 'Kodagu' people address their 'Kaveri' river as 'Kaveri Tai' or 'Mother kaveri'. The source or headwaters of this 'Kaveri river is located at a place called 'Tal Kaveri' and this place happens to be located very much in the Coorg district itself. Naturally, this place has similar religious importance, here in south India, as the source or headwaters of 'Ganga' river, located at 'Gangotri' in the Himalayas has in north India. Kaveri river flows from its origin at Tal Kaveri towards east, first near Shrirangapattan ( which we passed by, on our way to Coorg from Bengaluru.), where a dam has been built on the river. The lake formed here is known as 'Krishnaraj sagar' after a past Mysore state king, and the famed 'Vrindawan gardens' are also located near this lake. The second most important dam on Kaveri river is at 'Mettur” in the state of Tamil Nadu. The river finally joins the Bay of Bengal' near 'Tanjore'.

Good Housekeeping; bath towels arrangement

Considering the effect and importance this river has on the lives of the Kodagu people, I decide to start my escapades here in Kodagu with the birth place of the river at 'Tal Kaveri'.

All our plans to start early for Talkaveri actually go haywire and the clock shows 11 o'clock in morning, when we finally depart. We take a narrow hilly kind of road roughly going in south-west direction. There are just too many curves on this road, yet our SUV driver keeps driving as if he is driving a Maruti 800 car. (one of the micro cars available in India.) We take our first halt, after we travel a distance of about 40 Km from Medikeri. Our driver says that there is a confluence of three rivers just a small distance away.

This confluence is a total and complete disappointment. Leave alone the confluence of Ganga with Jamuna at Alahabad. Compared to this place the confluence of Mula and Mutha rivers near my home town of Pune, could be considered as colossal. This really is a confluence of two canals. Out of the three rivers supposed to be there, I could see the beds of Kaveri and Kanika rivers. The third river known as Sujyoti is conspicuously absent. I ask one of the votaries, who is worshiping the river bed. He tells me that the third river is actually hidden from view of mortals. Since I can not claim to have any other qualifications except that of a mortal, there is nothing further to ask. Just near the confluence, I can see a fairly big temple complex. The temple has a style which is distinctly from Kerala. The main gate to the temple complex is huge and highly decorated and carved. Inside the complex, I can see number of small temples of miniature size, dedicated to various idols. I ask another votary about the names of idols. He comes out with a list of names like Ishavar, Bhangadeshwar, which I have never heard before. Finally, I find a name plate written in English and find out the name of the main idol to whom this temple is dedicated. He is called as 'Bhagamandaleshwar.'

After this short break, we are again motoring to our destination; the head waters of river Kaveri. We start climbing another hilly road again. The terrain changes again with thick foliage all around, just like Coorg. About 4 Km away, I can see a parking lot with number of cars parked. There are number of shanty shops on one side, all of them selling the stuff like flowers and fragrant sticks used in worshiping of the idols by votaries. All shops have one thing common. They have their own public address systems, over which they play religious songs and ballads praising the River Kaveri. Ahead of me is a huge and wide gate with number steps for approach.

Continuing to listen to the ballads, all praising sister Kaveri, I climb up the steps. There is a deep pit there lined with marble tiles. There is also a water outlet shaped like head of a cow or a bull and water from the pit flows into another pit through the mouth of this cow/ bull, whatever it is, and then just becomes untraceable. This trickle of water falling out of the pit, at a height of 3700 feet from mean sea level, is considered as head waters of Kaveri river; one of the mightiest river systems of south India. There is also a temple dedicated to river Kaveri. The photography of this temple is apparently prohibited. The logic behind this rule is something that I just fail to understand. Many votaries appear to be worshiping the idol of Kaveri river. There are also number of other miniature temples, dedicated to assorted idols again. One thing is to be however appreciated. The entire temple complex is completely clean and tidy and surroundings are extremely picturesque. It is a great pleasure to just look around and see the panoramic views.

 

The votaries say that the river after disappearing from the pit on the hill, only makes an appearance again, just near the confluence at ' Bhagamandaleshwar' temple, visited by me earlier. Since, I can not prove otherwise, I assume that it must be true. It is always an impossible task to try and find the head waters of a river. Near my home town, there is a place called 'Mahabaleshwar,' they say that you can see head waters of five rivers there all originating from the same temple and then flowing in different directions. One can see at least 5 independent rivulets there, flowing in different directions. Here at Tal Kaveri, there is nothing to see.

Just on the side of the head waters of Kaveri river, I see number of steps in the range of 200-300, which go up a hill all the way. This hill is called as 'Bramhagiri Hills.' I decide to take up the climb , just brushing aside any thoughts of aftereffects like pain in the legs etc. I actually succeed climbing to the top quite easily, though I take number of mini halts on my way. As I look around in a 360 degree view, my mind gets filled with an unknown joy and delight. The hill top is about 200 feet up from the headwaters of Kaveri. The top is not actually large, could be a circle of about 25 feet diameter. But the 360 degree view of the hill tops and vales covered with thick dark green foliage is unbelievably grand and majestic. It is always possible to have this kind of grand view from an aircraft in flight. But to see something similar from the ground itself is something very unique and rare. I feel happy with this close contact with nature's bounty here and feel that today's excursion has been a worth while exercise after all.

We decide to have our lunch at some odd hotel in Medikeri. The plan is immediately rejected by our driver, who says that there are no places to eat, worth a visiit in Medikeri. I am rather surprised at his opinion, but finally give my consent to return to our resort. We order our lunch with a minute to spare before closing time of the kitchen of the resort restaurant at 3.30 PM. After lunch, I realize that my legs are now complaining about the climb. I hit the bed and wake up only late evening for some tea.

(To be continued)
 

9 December 2011

Kent Ridge Park- A Photoblog

When I was a kid, I liked very much the books about 'Tarzan', that fictitious character supposed to have been raised by the Mangani 'Great apes', in the Jungles. I used to be absolutely thrilled by the way this guy could jump from a tree to another by swinging with the help of  aeriel roots of the tall jungle trees. I always secretly wished to carry out this feat, which I knew was quite impossible. Two days back, this secret wish from my childhood, was suddenly fulfilled at least partially. Even though I was not able to swing from a tree to another, I could at least manage to walk from a tree top to another and then again to another. 
It is said that in the mind of each and every adult, there is always a young boy or a girl, who has all kinds of wishes. Just to fulfill such wishes of young boys or girls inside us, a 'Canopy walk' has been built in Singapore recently.

My days with the Gods – 1

Silk Air flight from Singapore to Siem Reap, lands slightly late, which itself is rather unusual, considering the reputation of the airline. The flight is jam packed with tourists from all corners of world. I can notice Caucasians, Chinese and Africans in the crowd. There are however very few Indians in the plane. The German couple sitting next to me is very friendly and wants to know about me and India. The airport is clean, nice and on one level. No climbing. I walk straight to the arrivals lounge. A huge white statue of a rider on a white elephant welcomes me. I presume that the statue is of Buddha because of the hair style of the rider. Much later, I realize that the rider could not be Buddha as no where else, he is shown sitting on an elephant. I had taken pains earlier to get an e-visa for me. Getting past immigration is done fairly fast as most of my co-travelers are still stuck at the Visa-on-arrival counters and there are no lines here. The whole attitude and approach of the airport security and immigration staff very much reminds me of India, because of their unfriendly, suspicious and authoritative air. The Air terminal architecture however is quite distinct and impressive and most importantly user friendly.
I come out of the terminal and is welcomed by Mr. Bunla, my trip coordinator. While I chat with him, I notice another big statue standing in the corner. The face and the head gear of the statue, appear rather strange. I however notice something very familiar. The statue has four hands and two of them hold a conch and a disc. I realize immediately that the statue is of the Hindu god Vishnu, the maintainer and preserver of the Universe and the humankind. The disc in his hand is the formidable ‘Sudarshan Chakra’, or the wheel that destructs all evil. My days with the Gods have just began.

English, Hinglish or Manglish

A Tamil song 'Kolaveri De', which has been an instant hit on the internet, has spread around like wild fire. The singer of this song Mr. Dhanush says that this song is in 'Tanglish' language. When someone asked him to clarify about this 'Tanglish' language, he says that the song has all English words but it has been sung with a Tamil accent. Speaking generally, we can say that in all countries of the world (except England), where English is spoken and widely used have developed their own versions of the language. In US we have the American English, in Singapore the Singlish, in China the language that is supposed to be English and which is quite incomprehensible to outsiders is known as Chinglish. Even the closest neighbours of England, Ireland and Scotland have their own version of the English.

It is therefore but natural that in India, we would have our own special English language. In fact there are several English languages in India such as Hindi-English, marathi-English, Gujju-English, Kannada-English etc.etc. This 'Tanglish' is a new addition to this list.However there is one basic difference. It is one thing to speak English words with a totally alien local accent, yet what is more significant for the Indian languages is the incorporation of English words into the indigenous languages to create a hybrid sort of language.