My Small World

What I am not sure of ?

2012-01-20T00:45:00.001+05:30

What I am not sure of ?

I am not sure of what one human being wants from other one. I am confused. I do not know how much importance is given to the virtue of being humble, hardworking, honest and hearing. The mentioned attributes will give you respect, pseudo importance, will put you at some distance from people; yet when you will like to mingle with people it becomes a tougher task.

A new question: how to keep yourself serene?

Last few days of this Cold Season

2012-01-20T00:37:00.001+05:30

I am hearing that cold is quite aggravating these days; especially in northern India. However there may not be too many days left for this cold season. During these days because of seasonal changes people are observing health related issues. Quite succinctly, I too have been a victim of the swings in Season. But this is about season which now man has capabilities to measure; what remains indeterminate and enigmatic is the behavior of Human Beings.

Why Man is fallible and fragile is not just because of he has been made so; one of the root causes is, he feels people should be apologetic about their deeds, though his own actions misses virtues of being apologetic. Part of this lies in the way people are taught about values these days and another part of this lies in lack of readiness to engage with himself. Sense of reading a book and sense of learning it are two senses. Added to it is the fact that to analyze actions Man must make sure that his fundamentals are in place.

These are the questions that are going in my mind. The question of Man's need, desire and willingness and the way he should conduct his life are important ones.

Day 0: 2012 - Happy New Year

2012-01-01T22:44:00.000+05:30

Happy New Year 2012 !!!

Wishing you all the success, good health and good life in 2012.

I am now in Bangalore, where I was in Hyderabad earlier (for last three and half years). My memories of Hyderabad is quite rich, and I will like to write more on it. It took lot of effort to adjust to new home. Still some problems are remaining. I should not complain more, for I am finding this home quite relaxing.

First person to visit my home was my Uncle (elder to my father) and aunty. I do not know how much to feel emotional about this visit. For when a machine does a good work, one can say that machine is emotional or honest about its duties; however seldom such assertions are made. Emotion is a word very much tied to expressive (or impressions which are observed) nature of people. I chosen to not to be emotional, rather kept my thinking on and tried to connect thoughts, discretely. Will express what I thought someday. I am yet immature to express precisely.

Man have no choice but to assume that the conditions of his life are desperate enough to test him, put him for some sort of examination. One can engage with this perspective enumerating life in terms of success, failure, pain or joy. Another perspective is to tell yourself, that, see how intricate this problem is, what are layers of solution for layers of problem; and how much engaging are this intricacies. Man is a machine subject to sequence of problem statements, and he must obey.

Accepting truth is courage. It takes time.

Day 4 :: Plato -- The Republic - I

2011-11-20T23:30:00.000+05:30

I am reading Desmond Lee's translation of Plato -- The Republic.

And I met this line, somewhat tricky for me:

"Plato sought a cure for the ills of society not in Politics but in philosophy, and arrived at his fundamental and lasting conviction that those ills would never cease until philosophers becomes rulers or rulers philosophers."

It appears from the flow of above line, that Plato's idea of "Philosopher King" is not just an abstraction. However having a Philosopher King does not seem to be a very strange or very particular idea. For it makes sense for the Guardian of a house to observe housemates and rule an appropriate way. Same applies to those who rule society or country. The bigger problem is what should be the way King should learn; and how he deduces or sets up analogy among varied observations. Notion of Philosopher King appears having relation to some axiomatic, deductive and decision making system. If we forget religious concoction, the idea of Philosopher King appears straightaway like a Mathematical abstraction. One may like to draw analogy to the idea of Operating System or some Central System found in the areas of Computing.

In what seems appropriate here is that though how entities compose a system is important; nevertheless abstracting out the governing rules, rules though which governing rules will be altered (lets called it meta-rules) and process of identifying rules or meta-rules is critical. When Plato said that Philosopher King has learning aptitude, then there appears expectation on Philosopher's side that he may have chance to learn something; in the sense that there are stuffs which may not have been learn already. This will be always tricky, for when something is not known to Philosopher and then there is an inherent demand for the mentioned knowledge to be applied for, then will there be any chances of error or creation of inconsistency by the Philosopher.

Will have to read more to further expand the viewpoint that Plato expressed. By introducing the phrase "Philosopher King", Plato for sure is stating something which will undergo multiple layers of expansion.

Day 4

2011-11-20T01:03:00.001+05:30

I earlier planned to direct this blog more along the lines of Philosophy. At this time I am only aware of Mathematical Logic and its Philosophical context. I thus do not have formal training in the areas of Philosophy. Nevertheless Philosophy as well as Psychology are chief ingredient behind a cohesive society or country. It will be delayed if I do not study this area. I am thus going to study Pages of Kant, Plato, Radhakrishnan, Hegel and many more. While doing so, I will keep logical perspective (the way one keeps it in Mathematics), and I will initially note down terms involved in it. Content of these notes will be always subject to verification.

Day 3

2011-11-19T23:30:00.000+05:30

I inquired again, what space Sin and Virtue creates. The novel (and movie based on it) Chitralekha came to my cognition. A syndrome gets created when one confuses the domain of Sin and Virtue he is aligned to. True conceptualization of context or circumstance demands analytical approach but people, as always, are not connected, within themselves, at all level.

I made good Brinjal-Potato sabji (vegetable) yesterday; and I left nothing in the container. I was on Twitter for a long time yesterday, and I wondered by what was trending on it in India. Conservatism in India is not by some rule, it is by comfort. You will be confused if you study religious or conservative aspects of people. For people trick notion of their moralistic or religious values. Actually it always make sense to identify the threads of comfort for a human being. And "comfort" could be aligned to "virtues" one seeks for; at the same time Man identifies many a notion/perspective as "Sin". This is a struggle of thoughts, struggle for giving meaning to life.

This morning ( stupid me, I woke up by 12 PM!!! and I am still calling it morning) I cooked Gobhi-Aloo. It came fine. And yes this time I did not sleep. Last week I slept when I really required to be awaken. You are lucky when you are able to control your routine. I am wondering about my daily routine, and there appears no schedule is in place. If there is routine in place, it is always better. For your procedures and people are aligned to your common routine. During my childhood days, my father used to make routine for our daily purposes. And it was fun, I always wanted to skip the day on which I have to study Civics or History. These days, I am not sure what Guardians do, but if they think that having some kind of routine is too much of forceful act on their children, then I think that might be incorrect. If they think that omitting routines is a sign of Liberation then it will be only against fundamentals.

Liberation as such is not an old idea, but people, what they call as a Sin, use the same idea, these days, under the name of Liberation. So say if you are not following some custom you are feeling liberated. When you are divorcing you are feeling liberated. Your studies are more and more based on Computers or Mobiles then you are liberated. You have multiple girlfriends or boy friends then you are liberated. And if you are using long Khaki Kurta then also you may be liberated. So when you break say some paradigm you say you are now liberated.

Man chances upon creating multiple personality when he wants to selectively project his identity or ideology. It always remains a challenge to clearly state yourself.

Day 2

2011-11-18T01:17:00.000+05:30

After my post of "Day 1", it became something like a week when I am now writing this post. People tell you that in your life you should have aim, and then what I usually do is to envisage life of people around me, life of my relatives, life of my friends. Majority of the people are in the business of making money, stocks, defeating points of fellow people or in the business of procuring or creating a family. I then miss the enjoyment that one has during his childhood, curiosity to see new things, energy to keep playing and the ability to remain at ease. When people believe you they will put you on stress test; when people do not believe you they will put you stressed. But people, I am sure, do not know the reason behind their attitude to earn money; their attitude to be greedy and selfish for their family or loved ones; their attitude to get rid of people.What one should do in such a case ? I always thought that reading books and developing my skill set is what gives me peace. And these observations came after multiple stress tests I have been put for, and in order to give myself a stability, I went closer and closer to studies, monotone works. Now this gave me some kind of shield; but for the same reason many accused me being mechanical or formal. But then I no longer have fear of loosing; for you always have your work as backup.

The attitude of righteousness that Man assumes in different walks of life could be deterrent to what we call Social progress. At the same time when he cajoles with Society actively, the aftereffects need to be monitored. To what extend he should liberate will always remain a question. What suits me, is to keep one's work or duty always of ulterior priority. After all, there are no one, in place, when you observe collapse.

Day 1

2011-11-08T21:48:00.000+05:30

Yesterday I forgot (read slipped) to write post. I was quite aware that I have to write a new post, poor me, I could not. It happens, don't feel so bad ! :)

Yesterday, I went through interview of Thomas Friedman by Sonia Singh of NDTV. Check for the conversation at 3:46 with Mani Shanakar Aiyer. I will not denigrate Mani's questionnaire, but what was recommendable is Friedman's optimism about India. It is important that people should become more confident about their future. Not only for India, but for entire Globe.

I cooked Khichdi yesterday, plain old type khichdi. I put lot of vegetables in it and yes it came good. I was very hungry, ate good enough, and like day before yesterday, I slept in day time. I rarely sleep in morning, may not have slept more than fifty times in my entire life, but I slept again. And actually I dislike sleeping in day time, though this time I felt fresh after I woke up. My aunt, my mother's sister, Mausi, always made sure in her, so far, life that she sleep for 3 hours in afternoon. Combine this with eight to nine hours sleep at night time, I will say she has been hibernating for fifty percent time in entire life. But that is fine, there is no necessity of becoming an Owl or a Donkey.

One friend of mine, worked till 12:30 PM in office and put this info on Facebook. His colleague replied, she slogged for even more. So people declare themselves an Owl or Donkey so that their Managers can hear there Dhenchu, Dhenchu. Necessary, man, Necessary.

I had a phone call late night, yesterday, from US, official. Attended it. Then there were other works piled up. Did some, left majority of others for future, and then it became like 1 AM (did you got what I meant to tell actually). Actually it became 2 AM. I have the same plain old type Khichdi, and there since I slept. So when I woke up by 9 AM or perhaps 9:30 AM, today, I was feeling like over slept. Have to rush for office, cab got missed, so took Auto. Like every day Auto Wallas fought with each other for who will get the customer. In between I missed my breakfast also.

At my home, I usually keep my Laptop and my Television alive almost full time. These days I am not liking fierce debates on News channels or interviews which are intended towards asking more of questions rather than getting answer. Though I like conversations between Mani Shankar Aiyer and Swapna Das Gupta. Such discussion enhances your social knowledge. I do not find my self agreeing with majority of points of these two folks, but well I am too novice.

Sister was still discussing who is better - Madhuri or Sri Devi. And in between came the topic of film Chandni. Chandni and Lamhe are two of the films whose album defines Yash Raj's film. Soothing locations, full of melody. Rishi Kapoor in Sweater. Chandni was released during Durga Puja time. That was the era where Video cassettes were popular, and there was a Video Studio closer to our house. They used to make pirated Video Cassettes, actually piracy was too normal or common activity during those time. There was nothing illegal or legal about it, people were simply copying the content. And they used to keep their Television On, while film was getting copied by VCR. We children, specially I, watched so many movies much before they were public topic, and we were careless about whether it is a hit or flop. We never used to watch Naseeruddin Shah's or Om Puri's movie. They were Doordarshan kind of movies and even the visualization of those kind of movies used to put shivers in us. I also did not like Chandni, I used to dislike such rona-dhona (crying-frying) movies. But the songs I used to like, particularly this one - Chandni mai teri Chandni. Actually I started abandoning this movie ever since Rishi Kapoor in the movie meets accident. I managed to watch the movie completely, only during when I was traveling on Bus during my Undergrads days.
Lamhe I watched only partially, every one in my family watched it at my Uncle's home. But I was not there, and so I did not watch it. Actually I disliked Anil Kapoor without mustache. Too bad. Chandni actually has too many memories. It came during the Durga Puja, perhaps my best so far. I was allowed to roam outside on my own.They really put great pandals, I found all the toys which should be bought and which should not be bought. Nothing is as great as the money of your parents which can buy whatever you think you must have.

Your success brings happiness to you when you can share it with those with whom you spent your childhood. But with age many of them drift away, and you very well know many of your successes lack the capability of eternal happiness.

Day 0

2011-11-06T16:40:00.003+05:30

Day 0 is not my Birth Day.

It is just another Sunday, my mother is at my home town and here at Hyderabad I am alone in a 3BHK flat. The place where I am ( Janapriya, Hyderguda, Attapur) there is only one restaurant closer by - Hyderabad House. And there food is pretty bad. They call their food spicy; but in reality it appears like you have crushed red brick and decorated it with Chilly. The Naan will require efforts of both hands to tear them apart. Terrible. Mother went to home town on 5th October, and then since I ordered Hyderabad House just two times.

But then I cooked good enough Potato + Soybean + Green Peas curry yesterday night , and it came out good. So good that it inspired me to try making Roti (chapati) again. This time I was careful to spray water over Wheat flour dough. I guess now I have learned art of making dough. Bit practice and I will be a chef. The Rotis this time came approximately circular, they were not triangular or semi-circular or some random shape.

However this morning, I did not had Rotis left from yesterday night. And I thus made steamed Rice. This Rice got over boiled, and it appeared somewhat sweet, thick something like Rice of Kheer or Paysam. My hunger had reached my mind and so I ended up eating all of Rice and yesterday's curry. My stomach there since have been heavy. Some how my tummy has come in shape, and I feel bad when it has to suffer out or eating so much of Rice. Bad.

I had plans to read few chapters. Poor me, I started feeling sleepy, must be out of Rice. You eat food to remain alive, and when you eat food you enter into hibernation phase. When Man will work?

Between this hibernation phase, I am now feeling bored of Facebook. Don't know what people write there. There I cannot write with full freedom. Facebook sucks.

Got call from one of my 2months older cousin. He married some years ago, do not know how many years ago, but he has two Son. I mean this has been his achievement. He did not stop there and triggered me that my age is on wrong side and I must marry. It is hard to put my view point in front of him, but its an absolute misinterpretation of what you have been struggling for, over years. I will just write one statement over here, such a call sucks. Don't call.

But my mood is not bad. I am habituated. Now four stuffs - have to bath, have to go out and buy vegetable, have to study and have to cook. In between I have to sync with sister Nandi, sync with bro/sis Rahul/Anisha, sync with mom and papa. May be I will write a new section again.

Diary

2011-11-06T16:01:00.001+05:30

I am feeling too bored today. I am not lonely, rather I do not feel there is much to talk to people. In past people were not available who could answer my questions. In present, my questions have matured so much, I am afraid I will get any answer. When you talk to people, you get topics and then you write. And I am feeling so bored, and so disenchanted with topics of one or other choice, that I do not know what to write and what not to write.

To help this blog survive, I think it better to write my day to day story - the boring stories which even I may not like. Read the forthcoming posts with all mental care.

Antenna

2011-09-04T18:28:00.003+05:30

I studied Antenna twice, once in under-grads, next time in post-grads. When I studied Antenna in under-grads there happened to be a situation of third world war, among boys and girls. There were issues of Syntax and Semantics. Boys have tendency to flick letters of words and Girls have tendency to cry on everything which distantly or by implication induces immorality. When I studied Antenna in post-grads, I disliked the way our Professor was teaching the subject-matter; it was quite rushed, may be he had to go out for shopping with his Wife or may be he didn't want to tread into Philosophy of Antenna. But my empathy with Antennas is not just associated with these two era. It has its role in popular culture as well.

First in those days [of my childhood] there was immense popularity of Television Serials like Ramayana, Mahabharata. People who were phobic towards this Western creation - called Television, had bought TV sets or they flocked in neighborhood. On Doordarshan they used to broadcast some fifty-sixty advertisements before actual program commenced. TV serials were not embellished, embedded with ads. During these advertisements women used to discuss new born babies or yet to born baby and men used to discuss that why the world was better during their forefather days. Added to it, there was this Spiritual or Dharmik [or some can call it religious] fervor that these Soap Operas provided. For the viewers, apart from Villains of the opera, there were three major Villains - electricity [ or discharging batteries ], broadcaster's services failure [ Rukawat ke liye khed hai ] and lack of clarity in picture because of problems with Antenna. So People used to resurrect their Antennas very long. And there was this firm conception that longer is your antenna's altitude better is the viewing. This caught my attention also. However no one told us, what is the ultimate height one should go for. Or, do you need to put rods of Antenna so long that it reaches to God's place or palace; after all God himself is there in box's frame.

Society was not capitalist in those days. You cannot call it socialist or communist, either. Simply because there wasn't much influx of cash, nature of society was not perceived sharply. You need to get chance [or you may need to work hard or crack all nuts ] to earn; and in doing this you are scarcely concerned about moral or immoral aftereffects. This was true then and it's true even now. People were knowing in those days that who owns a Television set and who does not. And though owning a Television set could be a matter of social jealousy but Television itself helped in socialization. Part of this may be attributed to a particular soap opera, but then Television was the medium. My uncle who was doing course of Dental surgery got accolades not because he got some scholarship or treated someone, but because he got batteries for a TV set, which used to stay longer. At the same time he made sure that his Antenna's altitude is higher and higher. I being his nephew, though could not persuade my parents to get batteries; but resurrecting a higher Antenna nevertheless did not look too impossible. So now I determined to put my Antenna, - which so far was hanging miserably on first floor of building, - on the water tank which on on third floor. My rivals of that time [ the family who used to stay on second floor ] have put it on the water tank, and I could not chew this fact any more. So here was this, me yet counting on lesser side of ten, had plans to put Antenna where it should have been. But somehow my this plan [through my admirable sister and the second floor family] went into ears of my mother.

So my Mother knowing that water tank area is too slippery, alarmed, warned, frightened, did police to me. And the bullet was, I will tell this thing to your Father. No, don't tell this thing to Papa. Well, OK, then you have to promise. What could be the meaning of such promises ?? Alarmed, she was, she did not revealed this to my Father in front of me, but she told him somewhere sometime, in my language she conspired. This did not help changing my commitments, and on daily basis I was in search of ladder to reach up to that Water Tank. Some people around our building were able to jump to the water tank floor by just using the corners of Wall [ and at later time I also succeeded in doing so ] but this was not my aim for I have to put Antenna also, fastened with sides of Water Tank. And on one lucky day, I got ladders, put the Antenna over there, got scolded by my parents, but the fact that my decisions got vindicated made me satisfied; and there was this notion that my Antenna was at higher altitude than that of these second floor apartment conspirators! But this did not improve image quality and they say you have to work out North-South-West-East; NSWE. Someone also stated, if there are Crows on your Antenna you will see crows inside the Box! This divided opinions of people, of course not of mine, but Antenna's positioning is important and there were news of Dish Antenna's occluding on surface. There were news of Cable TVs; and news of Internet and Mobile was subject to Science and Scientists only. Hidden somewhere in five-to-six lines of Science columns of newspapers and that too once or twice a year!

People now a days have good information about devices and gadgets and they use these mediums to Socialize. In contrary, Antennas became topic about which people Socialized. One created topics and medium, other just created medium. Antenna's are not harmful thing on which society should not have discussed, - but assume this thing that you got lot many mediums and you do not know what to discuss on; or suppose you know what to discuss on but the topic is too off for the medium. I find these all things quite entangled. Do we lack chutney news of Society?

Of those free days

2011-08-16T21:34:00.001+05:30

There were Occasions of Free Talk. They were not exactly the days of childhood; they were somewhere in later years of High school and earlier days of College. Wasted lot many days during those time; debated on what could be a topic and what could not be a topic. And there was an immense sense of righteousness; how it is possible that it can be incorrect ? Played chess for hours and nights, with daylight and lanterns; discussed why we we are really stronger than US; put thousand of green, yet having red fusion, Litchis, in water so that they get sweetness. We were not bothered about what people think about you; and its not like that people were not taking notice of you behavior; they were, but we were simply immune. Why Knight is stronger than Queen; why I hate Mango, why Litchi is the best fruit, why this Prime Minister can't become fast ( IK Gujaral was the prime minister); how to check it is Chicken or Mutton curry, and why I hate fish and like curry of Chicken or Mutton. There were likes and dislikes. If you dislike eating Fish you will simply, not eat it. There was no room of adjustment. There were no theory of compromise.

Compromise for many a things, ironically, germinated in those days only. There were shadows or elements of what could symbolize the thought that in coming time there will be chances of struggle. I used to play Chess with Maternal Uncle (Mamaji) and he liked to play Chess with his brother-in-law (Wife's brother); both of them I called Mamaji. It did not use to be a mentally high Chess tournament; rather the steps were quite predictive; and I use to win a lot which was the boring part; the real match used to happen with these two Mamajis. There were statements like - not every one should play Chess to the taunts that, why you are taking so much time. If you must have food in between (for other family members are simply annoyed) then if you are praising food in between, simply meant that, yes, I have a real wish to play more. While game was going on, electricity was distant, Lantern was on (and some time even moonlight was sufficient, we used to play on House's roof), Radio was tuned with News, and our analysis of News was immediate. The air was fresh (I went to Mamaji's home, a village; rather developed one); you call it breeze, sky was not cloudy but appeared deep black when Night advanced, Moon was clean and had useful light. There were the distant sound of Trees, of Jugnoos, of Jackals and in between there was bark of our Dogs. Dogs are engaged in their stories, if you don't play Chess you will give ears to them, and if you are normal person you will relate their barks with some problem or some story. These were the chirrups, and in between there were echoes of Check, Cheque, Chek, Maat, Maaat, Shah- Maat.

Little I stressed over the fact that these two Mamajis were unemployed. They had money, they wasted a lot, but they were unemployed. Was it the problem of their generation, I cannot summarize. But they were unemployed and I had to become employed. So you must pass examinations and thus I landed in a College. But even in the College, the anecdote of those Chess days were flushing in and out the relaxing mind, and there was a wish to live an extension of it. Fresh air, Litchis, long nights, clean moon, I wanted all of them in my bowl. But the notion that you will have to compromise eventually (they say, you have to succumb; follow the line) was now resonating with higher and higher beats. So much so that you cannot hear yourself.

Will write more on it in pieces.

Ram Narayan

2011-03-26T14:37:00.003+05:30

I never got chance to eat the thick Masaala clad vegetable made out of Potato, that the wife of the House Lord - whom we called NaniJee (grandmother) - used to make. They never asked me to have it. Retrospecting now, I cannot conclude that she or any one of her family had any intention to not to call me for the delicious food. May be they have thought that this small child may cry after eating so spicy food. Or may be there were other issues which because of grounds of being seer conjectural in nature, I will better skip. Whatever the case may be, the aroma of Masaala clad Aalu (Potato) coming up via vapors still jettison in my Nose, and I feel helpless about it. I have never seen any one making that kind of pure Indian dish with spices permeating in the Potato in so absorbed manner. Along with that they used to make slightly thick Chapati, which was boost to sciences of Gastronomy. I never had it, however the fact that its aroma still engross me is something strange.

We used to call the House-Lord Nanaji(Grandfather), and we use to respect him with very high order. Somewhat thin out of his age he lately had become very active in social life. His this social life affected me also. In those days, somehow, I picked up habit of reading Newspaper, but my parents being too disinterested in - politics, sports or local news, did not allow me to get involved in any kind of Newspaper reading habit. My father, those days, did not had much interest in reading news or watching anything related to Television. He has been more of a family person and talking about family, friends and food were the main activities. But I, getting trapped in news world, used to visit Nanaji's house and read the news in early morning. So much I got crazy about Newspaper that I wanted to be the first reader of newspaper. So innocent were those days and so good were people those days, that Nanaji or any other in his family never scolded or said anything alarming to me. I remember except for page 3 and business pages, I used to engulf all of news. Poor me, I did not knew that my this activity or hobby will become a trap for me. Nanaji, because of his old age had suddenly developed symptoms of poor visual capability. Was operated for cataract and with green protection frame over his eyes he was not able to read clearly. Because people in his family were elderly and use to go for work, I was requested by Naniji to read the News for him ! Initially it appeared like I have become some one of importance, but it was awkwardly boring job for a boy of age 7-8. Initially I started reading news like Manjari Joshi of Doordarshan fame, but with time I wanted to give up my this new job. So I started to skip lines in the News. Here and there. But Nanaji, being an old thoughtful person, was able to catch this, "has the leader said something about town place after that line" !. Quite naturally, I used to have sense of being caught. But then I also started skipping stanzas while reading News. I was just 7-8 those days.

As I said, Nanaji got too involved in Social services in those days. So much involved that his family members were somewhat uneasy about his recent activities. With him being an old age and involved in too many guests never sounded too good for family. One day we saw that there were huge noisy discussions in his family. He bought one 16-17 years old boy and has given him one room to stay. Whole family was conspicuous of this person, him being poor, village like and most importantly being a stranger were the concerns. But then no one had courage to argue with Nanaji. "Ram Narayan" was the name of this boy.

(to be continued ...)

Holi - 2011

2011-03-20T20:37:00.000+05:30

I always have mixed impression of Holi. Mixed because you will like the exuberance of people, you will like the colors, at at the same time you may have to face over-excitement of people and survive notoriously acidic effect that chemicals in the colors leave on you. But "Holi", if you are from India, is not just about celebrating afestival - it is one of the timestamps that quote your life. For people say, this "Holi" it was cold, that "Holi" we all in family assembled. Basically you remember many an events of your life based on near which Holi, it happened.
This year my Holi was rather very silent, just me and my Mother. Father at home place while brother and sisters are at there workplace. And then we two - me and my Mother - decided to have enough rest, for we had some fever and some unrest out of long travel. Last year I was out of country so we did not had Holi. But before last year, - because of presence of my brother and sister, we had some of it.
The best Holi, as is the prevalent case, I had were during and before my entrance to Engineering college. that is when my Hostel life started. Either in colony, or at maternal or paternal village we used to have the festival. Mother and aunts used to make different kind of dishes, mutton enrich with deep masala (spices), then we children along with grandparents cut dry fruits, and we used to have taste of many food items in houses in vicinity. It was a culture to reach houses of people in surrounding to get blessings of elders. Simple. However once you are out of home, residing somewhere in big cities, and you do not have habit to become open to people very soon, - it appears quite artificial to do the same in vicinity. First, you cannot do it as you are stranger to people, second customs and culture undergo fabrication at these places and most importantly, third, a bachelor working good enough time in offices, having too mechanical life, does not get much welcome (or rather cannot be welcomed). Though I quoted that this problem is there in big cities, I believe this can happen anywhere.

Anyways,
Happy Holi

Beginning of Tour - II

2010-12-23T10:11:00.000+05:30

So, then I left for New Delhi, with the info that travel guys at my office have booked itinerary in Hotel Diplomat - sounding quite a classical name; with really classy images of it on web. But what you see is what you get remains a wish in the Industry of Hotel, and then it is New Delhi. They significantly charged my office, and the room appeared too small, and some of the glasses (on almirah ) were tilted, almost giving the warning - hey, I may put you in the company of Doctors. I managed. Managed my stay. Managed to stay. New Delhi was hosting CWG - Common Wealth Games in October, and security services made it appear like a fort. Or may be a Jail. It could be an idea that people may choose Delhi as a Tourist place just to watch neatly clad Security persons in different colors and decorations.

The next day, after giving VISA interview, and after getting cheated by the Taxi Driver or better to call their management, I then rushed to Ratan's room, near Delhi University, near Kashmiri Gate. I was easily able to sense the environment within DU. The environment of College. The environment of Schools. Stiff competitions, extreme gossips, politics, films, styles, rickshaw and restaurants.

Hums, cigarettes, Paan and Tobacco, Jeans, Xerox machines, Wine, Kurta, creativity and Frustration.There is a room for every possible debate.

Ratan, has been my friend for years. He has traversed the corridors of Colleges which are way different from mine. Actually I have not traversed corridors of college with the same intensity and vigor as Ratan has done. His journey began in Allahabad, and then at that time I was trying to get into some Government Engineering college. Government college because in those days going to Private colleges was never taken in a good sense - it just meant that you were provided a thrust with the help of money to join the Institute, - and when you do so you never owned the degree. However there was a sharper truth - we did not had enough money so that I could take admission in private colleges. But this is a fact which holds for many a families in India. Further in the days of my childhood, money was not the best thing of world. We were not in the clutches of money neither money was in our clutch. Families were more involved in the matters of custom, culture and gossips about each other which were never fatal or had perishing sense. So long there were reasons to be happy, - and actually we always used to find some reasons to remain happy; we were done. I don't think that because I was a child then, so only positive senses arrived to me; money and economy had never been prime choices in those days and days before those days. There were inclinations towards better life, owning things, but it never became units of thought. In all the murkiness and cheeriness of life there remained some set of "values" that we followed, - may be somewhat loosely and some time dishonestly - but never suppressed those values to death. I got admission into Engineering College and in the meantime Ratan moved to Allahabad for his long wishes to join higher ranks of Governance.

Beginning of Tour - I

2010-11-28T15:52:00.002+05:30

It so happened that for VISA interviews I had to go to New Delhi, almost in a chaotic condition. And I discussed this with Ratan, my friend since ages, and of few friends who are in New Delhi. Since VISA interview was on Thursday so it seemed lucrative to take vacation on Friday, and then go for Saturday and Sunday. Altogether four days of vacation, - four days often appears to us who are affixed to daily cycle of job and schedules as good enough to capture every essence of world. Four days, you know ! So my mind flickered with innumerable ideas - from going to Vaishno Devi to Himachal to even to Kathmandu or like North-East of India . Ratan too played his role towards every unsettling; and we both never amply considered the means to travel. Or may be, Ratan just wanted me to stay with him, and see the world the way he perceives. Some people still ascribe some ideology to me and with this presumption they want to alter me. When I am confused about my own ideologies or when I really wonder whether I pursue any ideology, it becomes quite strange task for me to confront views of ascribing some ideology. to me.

(To be continued)

Discontinuing Last Post As of Now

2010-11-28T15:33:00.000+05:30

Seems time is not prepared for the post under heading "A Common Journey". So I am discontinuing last post as of now.

A Very Common Journey - I

2010-03-15T10:13:00.000+05:30

Preface

    Usually "Preface" to some literature provides glimpses of the whole diction - its structure, theme, context. However this is not the case here. I am writing something which is to be published in form of posts (not one post but several posts, forming part of the whole) of this blog, and thus chances of restructuring it - the way we do while writing books or columns, rereading, proofreading, and re-infusing meaning to the words, phrases are not possible. This is just a product out of a sudden Vision, which came only a few hours ago, while I thought to slow down attention to events, events which we observe - of which we need not be a part, - something like applying a slow motion camera to record what we see or hear. Very slow capturing of the events which ultimately hint some Vision. So what will arrive, will be a natural, unconscious flow out of the Vision. I feel I am in the same situation, the way Agyay was, while writing preface to his book - "Shekhar Ek Jeevani". But what I am going to put is not an Autobiography of some one, rather it's a Journey. However like in the case of Agyay - his narrative came out of a Vision, mine too; and also the way "Shekhar Ek Jeevani" need not be the life story of Agyay, this narrative too, need not have all derivations from my own. I warn readers, who already would have observed lack of literary skills in me, while reading this far only; - please do not put things against any literature standards, and take the reference to Agyay's creation not in a sense of comparison, - here there is something which may not have any concrete substance. Writing bad is an injustice to the language, please pardon, and I request ignorance.
   In this literature, we have a person, namely Shekhar, the way Agyay's book had, and though he cannot be put to an ulterior standard - he is a very common man, but he suffers an inward trauma of seeking truth and justice - a symptom that most people suffer. So he may appear happy or remorseful, but the mentioned inward trauma essentially settles him to silence. Shekhar is perhaps a reflection of your own, but he is certainly not a shadow, he generates idea, he has a life of his own, but then he succumbs to a silence. His silence is not synonymous to cowardice, he is rather vibrant, but his silence is a period of inward restlessness that he suffers. Such is the restlessness that it breaks him, jolts him, puts him in a state of inertness the way a patient feels out of several days of severe medication where chemicals hammer down charm of life. Observations are good for life, where goodness is aided by it(observation) and , goodness is quantification of the notion of Success and Failure with the later having pre-definition. But when observations perpetuates within, eccentricity is the effect. Shekhar suffers. These sufferings hasn't made him unstable, neither he has become more determined or possessive about the course he takes, actually course is required when some aim is inherent; he is not frail, he has become silent , with ever more impatience for truth and justice. This is not truth and justice in the way decisions are made in courtroom, Shekhar does not possess model for truth or justice, rather there is a struggle for it.
    So this is Shekhar's story. Story, in a partial sense, as the notion of story is absent while I have expanded the vision till now, - it's a Journey, however again destination is not known. I leave it to readers and posts to do necessary justice. In any case I will request readers to not to have moral bondage with Shekhar, this will be injustice to him, as he is a commoner; further you will see you will loose belief over him. Perhaps a hope ...

§1

******************
***********
*****

   "What can be the meaning of life and lifelessness ?" If you are sleeping, on a floor, some half or one mile away from the Jungle, on an otherwise cloudy, dark night with no one besides, is it lifeless ? Or does sudden humming of insects, bees, glows life ? Does life exist on streets of an Indian town only, full of people, noises or music ? Darwin and many other Biologists have given Biological definition of life, but then what can be the definition of life, which appeals to Natural sense of people. Certainly the biological definition is a technical piece only, for otherwise we needed help to identify animations of birds and motorcycles on computers as whether they are abstraction of some Natural creation or not. Life is something different. Perhaps the formal definition of life is yet to complete.
    Does life exist in a 3 months old children ? May be yes - for if the child smiles it becomes Natural for us to feel good, and if the child cries we come in attention mode. But if we restrict some notions, then the child may appear just as a tool to switch on, switch of our nerves. Yet in what consciousness the child lives remain a question. We are yet to know what can be the notion of life for the child.
    Anger, smile, sorrow, all such adjectives may have contracted meaning. But consider this - what can be the definition of "Smile" of a hotel staff who whenever sees you, give a warm smile ? Does life exist there. What if you are put among hundreds of hotel staffs all giving you warm smile ?
    It does not seem to call Abstraction an artificial process. Otherwise why so many human beings consciously or unconsciously do abstraction. Abstraction of success, abstraction of politics (democracy or what ever), abstraction of enumeration and abstraction of life over computers. Whichever form it finally takes, abstraction has roots in human activities. So one may find life in the picture of Taj Mahal or Tele Vision serials. Will you call a Television serial an example of lifelessness or life?
    May be the word life requires a context which creates meaning for it. But does not life has an absolute context when it comes to our senses when we try to observe Nature? But smile of Hotel staffs or a Tele-Vision serial, which has life ? Why, when I saw my name - Shekhar, on the list of otherwise numerical but then a roll number, on the mid-pages of News Paper, I felt some life in it.
    Perhaps life is plural. Or may be yes it is a plural. It may have broader meaning than hanging on or hanging off, in jails. It has elements.
    Alpna, my poor, not so distant paternal side aunt, who was younger than me, and with whom I behaved like a possessive brother, and twelve years ago when I scolded her not use my bicycle, does she was elemental to life ?
    Or Nanaji, my maternal side grandfather, who used to play Carom with me, and where rules were subject to modification, and who died some fourteen years ago was detrimental feature of my life ?
    May be they still create the aura of life, though I feel puzzled, for I just have an abstraction of them, as in case of Alpna - I don't have contact with her or in case of Nanaji, he is no longer there. I am confused whether abstraction alone can create life or not.
    The lady, who was vehemently crying in the Trekker, with report from "Oncology" department in her sister's hand - may be she knew the difference between life and lifelessness, but then it is ten years old incident, and so I am inconclusive about what she would have meant.

******
************
*******************

(Shekhar is struggling with the definition of Life. The life whose hours family and friends say that they own, Industry says that it owns, Life whose termination and course may be subject to some others fun, which may be subject of inspiration, jealousy, does not have a known boundary with what we call lifelessness. At least this is where my Vision reaches till now.)

What Hooks me Crooks me !

2010-02-20T13:04:00.004+05:30

Am of the idea; to evolve the jungle. Jungle with Cheetah and Bison. Jackals and Fox. Cobra and Pythons. Doves and Eagles. The fully evolved Jungle. Greenish everywhere and no one knows others mind; yet everybody suspects there is some rule, some law. Some law of appearance and disappearance. Some law of violence and negotiations. Of handshakes and pranks. In the due course of judgment Pigeons and Peacock meet, Lions and Tigers talk; they all meet, they try to find the rules. They estimate the effectiveness and universality of the rules and so they create rules, rules of rules, rules of rules of rules, and then this hierarchy suddenly collapses to rules. ... Then the Chimpanzee says - the wisdom of thoughts does come only from those rules which lack any element temperamental to the sudden visuals of the Jungle. The rules of Jungle are from outside.

Owning Complexities

2009-09-13T18:45:00.003+05:30

Holding complexity gets inspiration out of the inner thrust from different thoughts. For if you want to move from one stage to other stage, while keeping things intact may require certain juggling and a lot of practice to sustain inherent complexity. And add to it the side effects of the effort which may introduce cacophony; or moreover you come to a situation where holding complexity may sound meaningless.
How valid steps of our life is, often requires or gets input from others. And often these inputs should be rigorously analyzed of. This is too big a requirement. More you look into validity of your steps the more you are susceptible of crossings by people.
You buy peace by diffusing some complexities. :)

The passing days

2009-06-08T23:04:00.003+05:30

With every passing day, with every day which eventually gets completed ... I suffer a trauma. The trauma of the meaninglessness of who I am. The trauma of really not doing anything which substantially makes thing relevant. Amid this trauma, for last few days, I have started or you can say restarted reading things on Plato, Kant, Russell, Lenin and likes. Will like to write more on them. Will like to blog about them. Give me time till this coming Sunday.

The spiritual mission followers

2009-06-06T22:58:00.003+05:30

It seemed almost dramatic, - Mr. Govind Jee's (name changed) sudden turn to Praja Pita Brahma Kumari Mission, a Hinduism oriented spiritual mission spread across India ( may be across the world, I have not inquired much). Not that he could not be a religious person, but his seemingly more involvement in this mission and spreading the thought of this mission in morning jogging time appeared hyperactive. All these activities started happening after his 30years old daughter died, almost 10 years ago, some say it was a suicide, some say there may have been some conspiracy; but Govind Jee who may be 65 something at that time gradually got involved in the spiritual mission. In the jogging time he used to catch people and explain the terms like Param Brahma, Brahma and many a phrases literally bound to Praja Pita mission. Unsurprisingly people were afraid of his company for it was either boring or irritating in subject matter. Though every body somehow goes into analytic of any context, but when it comes to religious matters, questioning sometimes is taken as disrespectful. The conceptions and logic of common Spiritual discourses are laid on religious ethos of masses; and people find it suitable not to question those things.

Govind Jee thus declared himself a spiritual person. And though people refrained discussing spiritual matters with him, still his visit to some one's house or even parties offered logisitc problems. His demands were always subtle. This kind of bed. That kind of food. Unfatefully his own sons and their families practically dejected him. At the age of 75 now, his wife still takes care of his meals; and because of his earlier government officer job he gets good pension to live with. Actually economy is not a problem for him, and quite tacitly he uses services of Praja Pita branches wherever he goes. Govind Jee lives his self. For him the idea of materialism or spiritualism has actually become Govindism. The uncanny and scrupulous attitude of attributing truism to your own.

I saw similar trait in Mr. Gupta Jee and Mr. Param, both aged above 60 and both bound to religious associations. Quite interestingly I saw some folks of my colleges practicing these things. I do not have any view point regarding whether these associations are good or not, still doing something which does not promote free thinking does not appeal much to me. I understand that religious believing sits down there in its own strength within us, but to not to inquire the changes and their objectivity which these believes bring to us seems wrong to me.

Virginia Slims -- You've come a long way, baby

2009-06-05T01:20:00.004+05:30

Phil Harris -

Smoke Smoke Smoke That Cigarette

Now I'm a fella with a heart of gold,
The ways of a gentleman,
I've been told.
The kind of a guy that wouldn't even harm a flea
But if me and a certain character met
That guy that invented that cigarette
I'd murder that son of a gun in the first degree.
Well not because I don't smoke myself
I don't reckon they'll harm your health
I've smoked all my life and I'm not dead yet.
But nicotine
slaves are all the same,
At a pettin' party or a poker game,
Everything's must stop while they smoke a cigarette.

Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! that cigarette.
Puff! Puff! Puff!
And if you smoke yourself to death,
Tell Saint Peter at the golden gate
That you hate to make him wait,
But you got to have another cigarette.

Now in a game of chance the other night,
Old Dame Fortune was doing me right.
The kings and queens just kept on comin' round
I played 'em hard and I bet 'em high
But my bluff didn't work on a certain guy
He kept on raisin' and layin' that money down
Yeah he'd raise me, and I'd raise him.
I sweated blood, gotta sink or swim;
He finally called, but he didn't raise the bet.
I said aces full, pal,
How 'bout you?
He said well I-I'm gonna tell you in a minute or two
But right now I got to have a cigarette.

Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! that cigarette.
Puff! Puff! Puff!
And if you smoke yourself to death,
Tell Saint Peter at the golden gate,
That you hates to make him wait,
But you gotta have another cigarette.

Now the other night I had a date
With the cutest little gal in the 48 states,
A high bred up-town fancy little dame.
She said she loved me,
And it seemed to me
That things were about like they oughtta be.
So Hand in hand we strolled down lover's lane.
She was oh so far from a cake of ice,
Our smoochin' party was going nice,
So help me Hannah I think I'd've been there yet
But I'd give her a kiss and a little squeeze
And she said, "Phil, would you excuse me please,
But I got to have a cigarette."

Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! that cigarette
Puff! Puff! Puff!
And if you puff yourself to death,
Tell Saint Peter at the golden gate,
That you hate to make him wait,
But you got to have another cigarette.

The puff speaks independence.

In 70s Philip Morris USA, sponsored Women Tennis and declared

You've come a long way, baby

The puffs became slim. The marketing was at its height. The femininity quirked. Teenagers rolled about Virginia Slim. The smooth, mellowly puff.

It reminded me my first year of engineering. Where the boys were free. Free first time out of their home. They had hands full of money, thanks to worry of parents. And guys, I will not speak out your name, you people bought these kind of Cigarettes only. The puffs meant for them, you bought those puffs. And you said, its mild, its mellow ... no harm, its ecstasy.

Guys, when it came final year, I saw you with those beedis. The mild fume and then the Beedis whoosh.

Gone are the days of Mr. Anbumani Ramadoss, our highly honored Ex-Health Minister. Depiction of Smoking is a reflection of creativity. No hiccups.

But what about Woman smoking in Indian Subcontinent. Though many Indian Woman smoke but the social acceptance is negligible.

You became the President. You became the chair person of most powerful political party. You became the speaker of world's biggest democratic parliament. You talk about 50% reservation everywhere.

But woman o woman, why not any Cigarette ads for you and only you yet ?

The puffs color is yet not ultimate shiny.

Djinn

2009-06-04T19:49:00.002+05:30

Djinn always enchanted me. The folklores generating from Arabian Nights were the cause of being glued to Television. Djinn ( or its transliteration to English Gennie or simply Jinn) is a well established notion originating from pre-Islamic era and the early foundation days of Islam. The conception that Jinn (جن), the Spirit of Lamp as per as Aladdin goes, who helps us and is kind, helping yet very powerful augurs well for Children.

Spirit of Lamp is rubbed and Djinn appears.

What will happen if all Djinn have Spirit of Lamp ? One Djinn calling other Djinn, the second calling third one. Is God the ultimate Djinn ? Does God sits over infinite chains of Djinns ? This may appear ogreish or demonic to say, but these infinitude are not logically otiose. So my beloved writer Douglas Hofstadter describes this beautifully in his masterpiece Godel, Escher and Bach.

Djinn or Indra's net or Monalisa's painting all have giant depth. You think, space is yet left. But some pictures for you to get ulterior feeling for Djinns. (Source:-sprott.physics.wisc.edu/fractals/collect/2003/)

Have you ever tasted Man?

2009-06-03T21:25:00.002+05:30

Just so stories, Rudyard Kipling:-

N the sea, once upon a time, O my Best Beloved, there was a Whale, and he ate fishes. He ate the starfish and the garfish, and the crab and the dab, and the plaice and the dace, and the skate and his mate, and the mackereel and the pickereel, and the really truly twirly-whirly eel. All the fishes he could find in all the sea he ate with his mouth--so! Till at last there was only one small fish left in all the sea, and he was a small 'Stute Fish, and he swam a little behind the Whale's right ear, so as to be out of harm's way. Then the Whale stood up on his tail and said, 'I'm hungry.' And the small 'Stute Fish said in a small 'stute voice, 'Noble and generous Cetacean, have you ever tasted Man?'

Have you ever tasted Man?

Neigh ... don't cut him. Don't cut him like chickens ... No need of knife. Actually knives or incisions are just not required. Tasting a man does not require tasting him.

So, have you ever tasted Man?

The Whale in Kipling's story got taste of Man ? Not by engulfing him ! Actually the man effectively Tasted him.

In the realistic world, no will say ayes for this question. Even phrasing this query other way around, will not get much direct support - Have any man tasted you?

How a man Tastes ?

Spicy, sweet, salty, saucy, soothing ...

Or,

... Assuming, Angry, Alluring, Assertive, Annoying.

The bluish night, bluish because black is too dark a word to describe an otherwise seemingly vivid life. The bluish night, where you think that amid the darkness you are able to see yourself. The bluish night, you think you are always there - you sleep, yet you are awake.

In the deep darkness you are perceiving blue circles or rather blue castles, going closer to them they turn black, just for the moment that some blue fumes appear thereby. Its black, its blue. Its blue, its black.

Its nihility. Yet is not the end. For end may be a nihility for the observer but not for the object, as it is end of the object. So nihility is not the end for the object. Nihility is a state.

Chains of handshakes.

Clever chains. Sweet chains. Friendly chains. Brotherly chains. Social chains.

Chains of handshakes.

The stamp that you're "Tasting" others. Others Tasting you. Its not Test. Its Taste. A Test has passiveness, a Taste does not have passiveness.

Have you ever tasted Man?
Have you ever tasted Man out of Nihility?

Sowmalya on Ramaiya Vasta Vaiya

2009-06-02T14:25:00.006+05:30

Sowmu, my friend and the song Ramaiya Vasta Vaiya of Shree 420.

If we think from the premises of this film this song resembles the pain one is going through during the parting times.

But if we see the song from the beginning the song is being sung by a group of street people who in general does not have anything to loose or not much a thing to gain .Their singing the song indicates their casual interaction with life and easy acceptance of any good or bad. One big teaching which comes from this film is HOPE. Which reflects in a couple of plots of the film e.g. the 100 rupees flat sequence , the hope to get everything back for the poor, getting the love back after all the miss happenings.As we know this film is the journey of a small town guy coming to a big town and lost his naive ness partly due to the circumstances and partly by his inclination to be rich early (which in general every body have) .The first part of the song tries to make him remember the pure soled human with which he came to the city and changed. The second part is used as a comparison between the previous him and the current him.

Now a days these things may look stupid but these words are eternal and have a wonderful meaning always.

These days when love , care kind of feelings loosing its meaning in its true sense these songs are like fresh air and let you float to your childhood days.

Optimism may be off and on for the rich people but are always with the poor. These are kind of songs always remain as a token of good lyrics and unbiased intention to make to meaningful cinema.

RAMAIYA VASTAVAIYA...

Archie and Betty ... or Archie and Veronica

2009-06-01T20:39:00.005+05:30

So with whom Archie should go finally ? The 600th edition's cover page suggests it could be Veronica !!!

Oh! don't say that this is their personal life, personal decision ... and one should not interfere, intervene !!! Veronica seems to be happily blogging, and cheerfully oozing her wavy words. But lo and behold, the whole blogger world is damn serious about this issue, and internet is flooded out of discussion - with whom Archie should marry !

He should marry otherwise "Bahan Jee" (sister kinda) type Betty or should he go for the "Kat" Veronica?

Its 2009. Its 68 years of Archie Andrews. He is still young, still to marry ... thanks because he is a comics character. But he is not just a comics character. Along with Veronica, Betty, Jughead, Reggie, Dilton and all of Riverdale and Riverdale High School - Archie develops on your imagination. In your teens you may have been fan of this team, your father in his teens may be fan of this team and perhaps may be your grandfather !!! Archies and fellows live right there ... they will make you nostalgic ... they are our very own.

We do not want Archies to live a tormented life. We do not want Betty to sob. We do not have any wish to let Veronica spoil her life randomly. We never had completely polarized bad wishes for any of them. The Riverdale High School high school folks should remain joyful( though yet they can keep plotting).

But then it appears that they(authors of Archies) are planning to wed Archie.

Some say Veronica was the only love interest of Archie.
Some say its Betty who cares about Archie.
Some say Archie being a below average, lazy and economically down guy should not be married with either of two !
Some say since divorce is a real thing now (read its 2009) so Archie go and marry Ronnie(Veronica) just to finally settle down to Betty !! Scandalous yet so real these days.

The quintessential thing always have been - how come an avergae guy like Archie can be the subject of contention between some one like Veronica or Betty. Quite Unreal. But saying it that its a pure Comics Act will be like shutting down many a things.

Veronica says in her blog:-

Veronicafashionrule I love jeans. Betty LIVES in jeans. Everybody LOVES jeans! There are THOUSANDS of jeans out there – some new, some not-so-new, and some found in retro boutiques all over the country (my favorite!) They’ve been around FOREVER. These are MY rules for wearing jeans.

I will just assume that Archies Comics Authors will just do what is there in the fashion. What is there in the fashion ?

An excerpt from Pride and Prejudice

2009-05-31T22:36:00.005+05:30

Society cares very little about thoughts of a yet to be married professionally well settled man. Such men are treated like a hook and probably a lot of things, wishes die very quickly for them. Jane Austin' Pride and Prejudice interestingly puts this view point at the beginning itself. Here is an interesting excerpt from it:-

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good
fortune, must be in want of a wife.

However little known the feelings or views of such a man may be on his first entering
a neighbourhood, this truth is so well fixed in the minds of the surrounding families, that he is considered the rightful property of some one or other of their daughters.

"My dear Mr. Bennet," said his lady to him one day, "have you heard that
Netherfield Park is let at last?"
Mr. Bennet replied that he had not.
"But it is," returned she; "for Mrs. Long has just been here, and she told me all about it."
Mr. Bennet made no answer.
"Do you not want to know who has taken it?" cried his wife impatiently.
"You want to tell me, and I have no objection to hearing it."

This was invitation enough.

"Why, my dear, you must know, Mrs. Long says that Netherfield is taken by a young
man of large fortune from the north of England; that he came down on Monday in a
chaise and four to see the place, and was so much delighted with it, that he agreed with Mr. Morris immediately; that he is to take possession before Michaelmas, and some of his servants are to be in the house by the end of next week."
"What is his name?"
"Bingley."
"Is he married or single?"
"Oh! Single, my dear, to be sure! A single man of large fortune; four or five thousand
a year. What a fine thing for our girls!"
"How so? How can it affect them?"
"My dear Mr. Bennet," replied his wife, "how can you be so tiresome! You must
know that I am thinking of his marrying one of them."
"Is that his design in settling here?"
"Design! Nonsense, how can you talk so! But it is very likely that he may fall in love
with one of them, and therefore you must visit him as soon as he comes."
...

The Australian Episode

2009-05-31T15:40:00.007+05:30

If Indian television News media were a lady, or better say Indian Film Industry to Page 3 celebrity, who it would have resembled ? I'll go for Rakhi Sawant( for those who don't know her, please do not Google her for wiki pages, some masaala web pages will do the necessary). The morale for both is the same - keep speaking, rather keep boozing, till it advertises you, till it accelerates your TRP. And hey more and more you will pour out, all truth, all morality and all news will have free flow, free ascent. Something like captain cook iodized salt ... :). But 'm just hearing, someone is murmuring ... Rakhi is too frivolous while media has people like Pronoy Roy, Barkha Dutt, Mr. Rajdeep Sardesai and the Secular Superman Vinod Dua ... damn serious people, the pillars of Indian Television Journalism, ohh ... rather they are The Journalism themselves. Thankyou, ... so what ??? The lexicons, the words they beat ... solemnizes, casts whatever happens around in polarized way.

Whatever happened in Australia, is for sure a problem, or rather a social problem. Its happening in Australia, may be in UK or Germany also. But its not Australia the State who is doing this. Its the Australian society and Indian society coming up together has racial overtones. And as this is a problem, and solution involves people understanding the fact that whatever is happening over there is wrong, I suppose this needs serious handling. But then what I saw on TV screens is this - "Racist Australia ??" or "Amitabh ne Australia ko Tamacha maara". Very little respect for a country, very little respect for people over there. Okay, someone is saying, India is a Nuclear Power, Economic power, &@&^@* power, let it thunder them. Too insane.
Indian students(mostly from rich background or having good support system) go there for better facilities ... why not develop those facilities in India ? Or like if racism is at its height there, should not Indian and Australian government workout at social level to clean things. I assume these things may be happening already. I heard reports of Peace March over there.

But these things do not give veto to ... Indian Media to call Australia, a racist country. This is too bad an adjective. And too bad if some one from India says so.

What about the cast-creed mixed disastrously in India ?

What about North Indian students beaten in Maharashtra and whole India watching it sheepishly?

Moreover what about students coming from Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar to India and studying over here? That the students of colleges making frequent mockery of them, and making them feel that they are separate islands?

Any Indian does not have morale right to tell any other country Racist ! First clean your rooms.

"IN THE LAND OF BUDDHA!" - a poem by my friend Ratan

2009-05-31T01:17:00.006+05:30

I would have liked to write about my friend Ratan, but perhaps a quadruple of posts can only do the justice to him, me and the world both of us share. Ratan is in Allahabad and will remain so, as he is planning to shift from Delhi to there, it appears ... completely. Here is a poem by him, the theme is based on Genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka.

"IN THE LAND OF BUDDHA!"

haa lankesh,
haa haa lankesh !
naash karo tum naash karo,
niti,riti,
sab prit ka,
vichaar, gyan,
tum manav-man ka,
naash karo tum naash karo,
haa lankesh,
haa haa lankesh !
boond boond kya?
tum dhaara bahaavo,
hind mahaasagar tum lal karo,
samundr jal kuchh aur khaara ho,
bhishaan tum chitkar karo,
haa lankesh,
haa haa lankesh !
nanhon ko tum bikhlane do,
karo tarunon ka tum kop bhaakshaann,
man kanpe.........
thaar-thaar-thaar-thaar
thaar-thaar-thaar-thaar
haa lankesh,
haa haa lankesh !
karo tum bhishaan haal-chaal,
dekho yah chita fir n dahaad sake,
usakee aatma bhi n chinghaad sake,
golion kee tum jhaadi lagao,
nabh se bhi aag barasavo,
haa lankesh,
haa haa lankesh !
aaj n tumhe koee ram rokega,
n hi tumhe buddh ka gyan rokega,
nahin ruddh karega koee mahaadanav kee gati,
tum manavata ka kal karo,
haa lankesh,
haa haa lankesh !
--makabool.{kumar ratan}

99B

2009-05-30T23:52:00.002+05:30

And then we jettisoned ourselves into IMAX to watch this otherwise 3-4 weeks old movie - 99B
(thanks to IPL effect). The popcorn were on ... the otherwise Rs. 15 turned Rs.45 Sprite can was on. Since 99B was the only Hindi film flick available on the screens, and since the title of film looked dark ... so respectively, the choices were not there and hope for a complete movie was also remote. But nay, 99B proved me wrong, and can say that movie structured out well out of the plot based on "Cricket Match fix" scandal that rocked the cricketing world back in 99. And Boman Irani once again has proven that how masterly a good actor deciphers the minute elements of a scene. The way he was persuading against his wife for his characteristic weakness to bet for Cricket Matches, was hilarious and at the same time very original. In short this movie does what it was meant for. Moreover this guy, Kunal Khemmu is also impressive. Another interesting scene was Cyrus Broacha's showing seriousness on his face ... lending the thought to viewers that just because he is healthy and muscular(say fat) he can go for borrowing his bosses money.
Good movie ...

Shelley's Marriage ...

2009-05-29T13:34:00.007+05:30

Percy Bysshe Shelley, famously called Shelley is one the very popular poets of English literature. And like very creative people of other fields, he too had enigmatic elements in his life.

...Four months after being expelled, the 19-year-old Shelley travelled to Scotland with the 16-year-old schoolgirl Harriet Westbrook to get married. After their marriage on 28 August 1811, Shelley invited his college friend Hogg to share their household. When Harriet objected, however, Shelley brought her to Keswick in England's Lake District, intending to write. Distracted by political events, he visited Ireland shortly afterward in order to engage in radical pamphleteering. Here he wrote his Address to the Irish People and was seen at several nationalist rallies. His activities earned him the unfavourable attention of the British government.

Unhappy in his nearly three-year-old marriage, Shelley often left his wife and child (Ianthe Shelley, 1813-76) alone, first to study Italian with a certain Cornelia Turner, and eventually to visit William Godwin's home and bookshop in London, where he met Godwin's daughter, Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, later known as Mary Shelley. Mary was the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, the author of A Vindication of the Rights of Women.

On 28 July 1814, Shelley abandoned his pregnant wife and child when he ran away with Mary, also inviting her stepsister Jane (later Claire) Clairmont along for company. The three sailed to Europe, crossed France, and settled in Switzerland, an account of which was subsequently published by the Shelleys. After six weeks, homesick and destitute, the three young people returned to England. In the autumn of 1815, while living close to London with Mary and avoiding creditors, he wrote Alastor, or The Spirit of Solitude. ...

(source - Wikipedia)

Wish I could do it ... oh yes 'm not 19yrs old ... ecchhh . And Galois the great Mathematician who died at age of 20 ( he booted Group Theory and, Galois Field - a finite field, is named after him) was similarly a big revolutionary in 19-20 ... Galois died, some say its because of a love affair-

...Some archival investigation on the original letters reveals that the woman he was in love with was apparently a certain Mademoiselle Stéphanie-Felicie Poterin du Motel, the daughter of the physician at the hostel where Galois remained during the final months of his life. Fragments of letters from her copied by Galois himself (with many portions either obliterated, such as her name, or deliberately omitted) are available.The letters give some intimation that Mlle. du Motel had confided some of her troubles with Galois, and this might have prompted him to provoke the duel himself on her behalf. This conjecture is also supported by some of the other letters Galois later wrote to his friends the night before he died. Much more detailed speculation based on these scant historical details has been interpolated by many of Galois' biographers (most notably by Eric Temple Bell in Men of Mathematics), such as the oft-repeated conjecture that the entire incident was stage-managed by the police and royalist factions to eliminate a political enemy. ...

(source - Wikipedia)

When you are in age of 18-20, you are altogether different person ... the music is always unscripted.

Aila

2009-05-29T01:04:00.004+05:30

I am not sure of literal meaning of "Aila". Neither am sure of it belongs to which language, though Hindi film song --"Aila re ..." or Sachin's Pepsi's ad suggests that "Aila" may be a slang, at least . Aila's femininity or masculinity is something I am leaving up-to linguists or ... the hard nosed people who debated and debated with me on it ;).
But gone by the essence in which this term was used in Songs or Ads, "Aila" carries a sudden surprise element though the imposition of surprise is not forceful. So though it is delivery of surprise ... its not something which will make you run bizarre. "Aila" has soft intensity.
"Aila" has killed hundreds of people this time. Its cyclone Aila. Aila is just a noun here, its verbal context described in upper stanza has no connection.
Actually in the consciousness of Indian mindset, Cyclone "Aila" or floods or earthquakes or any other cacophony are verbally "Aila". Surprising, soft intense.
Aila's are forgotten ... till next Aila comes and passes away ...

Rebooting ...

2009-05-28T23:16:00.001+05:30

Almost Six months ...

The green, lightening green, stem first got stemmed ... something stoppered its giggles ... and the greenery slowly darkened ... became pale, shrunken ... just an inert mass ... full of dusts ... leaving no scope for some one to look after it ...

My Blog has kissed though not the death ... but it suffers a feeling of being stemmed ...

Its frightening for me ... promising to keep writing ... writing is yet, the best art of the mankind. Hope, will be updating on daily basis.

Socialism in 21st Century

2008-12-14T22:10:00.007+05:30

Individualism is getting prominence. We were comparing small families and nuclear families, but suddenly Individualism has erupted. There are many affairs which are pure State affairs, many are not. One of them is Socialism. If Socialism in India has failed to some (good) degree then probably one of the reason was delimiting the scope of Socialism to state. It was not practised at the level of Individual. Or at least there never have been any any larger programme which would educate and groom masses about the aspects of Socialism. Probably when my study grows more on this matter, I can answer better. I am putting one article here about Socialism in 21st Century :-

SOCIALISM IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

by

JOHN ROBERTS

Socialism is the political expression of the principle of human inter-dependence. It embodies the idea that as members of the human-race, we are all essentially responsible for one another: we have an obligation of mutual support and share a reciprocal bond which binds us together for our collective protection and maintenance.

Expressed in a religious sense, it connotes the proposition that in order to fulfil one's obligation to the Creator (Divine Source) one must necessarily fulfil the commandment to serve one's fellow creatures. It also embodies the principle that the physical possessions which are bestowed, albeit temporarily, upon mankind are for the benefit of everyone, not being confined to the exclusive use of a privileged section of society.

Socialism, however, has been thoroughly discredited as a workable political philosophy, and is no longer fashionable. This is the prevalent view of most political commentators and is certainly the opinion of those affluent individuals who occupy the driving seats of the various governments, which are running the world at the present time. So why raise the spectre at all at this time, when it is so obviously a "dead duck"? After all, we have all been enjoying ourselves and, particularly, here in Australia, in "Privatising" Public-Property and selling it off to the highest bidder: usually ourselves or our friends and relations. In the process, we have “done ourselves proud”. We have made,(or at least some of us have and are still making), money from such profitable investments. We certainly do not wish to know about Socialism: it is a dirty word, hereabouts.

Unfortunately for the capitalist, socialism has a tendency to stick around and, when least expected, to rear its ugly and unwelcome head. The reason for this is that socialism is the expression of a basic principle of humanity: the fundamental and undeniable equality of the mass of mankind. In spite of the howling catcalls of the disaffected, there are, and always will be, a minority of thinking people who comprehend the essential validity of the proposition that, "....all men are created equal." This quotation, no doubt, rings a bell somewhere within the faint and subconscious recollection of those who dwell in the, "Land of the Free!". If men are, fundamentally, equal, then they are entitled, as of right, to an equal share of the good things of life.

Proponents of the theory of the egalitarian basis of Society have always been unpopular with the representatives of entrenched privilege. They would deny it outright. Even in the days of Jesus of Nazareth, the wealthy and the powerful were suspicious of all levelling movements and the teachings of Jesus were, essentially, levelling. There is nothing that wealth loves more than stability and certainty, in the knowledge that change is unlikely: that the "status quo" will continue into infinity.

Throughout the history of Europe, there do not appear to have been many instances of the development of powerful levelling movements. The principle social systems have been of a primitive and feudal type, in which wealth and power were concentrated in the hands of the few. Thus the lives of the poor have been traditionally a record of continuous deprivation: extreme poverty and ignorance. The lot of the masses was, from the distant past, a vicious cycle of squalor and semi-starvation: tolerated, promoted and sustained by the overbearing pressure and coercion of the powerful. For a thousand years there was little opportunity for the flowering of the intellect of the poor. What social movements did develop, were rapidly and viciously suppressed: e.g., the Hussite Movement in Bohemia and the Peasant's revolt in England.

The French Revolution was the first major attempt on the part of the masses, within Europe, to bring about a more equitable change in human relationships. Whilst it brought about the downfall of the Bourbon Dynasty, the revolution itself failed, largely owing to the immaturity and inability of the "fathers of the revolution" to establish a truly democratic and just system of government. The French Revolution destroyed the intellectualist elite, who might have been able to run the country. Those who attempted to establish orderly government, such as Danton, found themselves victims of the monster that they themselves had created. There was lacking a fundamental morality, necessary for the establishment of an equitable social system. It is this socialist-morality, which is an essential foundation upon which to build an enduringly democratic political system. Without a firmly idealistic goal, based upon the idea of the commonwealth of the people, all attempts to establish socialism will fail. This is due to the inherent weakness of the individual will: to selfishness, greed and personal ambition.

It is apparent that the essential cause of the failure of Socialist systems, in the past, has been the inability of those professing to be Socialists, to establish and maintain truly fraternal relationships within the fold of the faithful. Nobody can profess to be devoted to the cause of human wellbeing, if his motivation is corrupt. Karl Marx may have been sincere and I have no doubt that he was, but those who followed Marx and who implemented his co-operative ideas, had little collective awareness of the underlying morality which the principle of socialism demanded from them.

From time to time, there have appeared political parties in various lands, naming themselves, "Christian-Socialists". This again, is all very well, but Christian-Socialists are required to act like true Christians, not, as is so often the case, like those who merely think they are Christians, yet act in ways contrary to the teachings of the Nazarene.

Perhaps the closest approach to a form of democratic Socialism was that of the Fabian Socialists of Great Britain, who evolved theoretically advanced ideas regarding the promotion of the interests of the masses, as opposed to the collective interest of the wealthy. This movement grew into the British Labour Movement of World-War Two, which ultimately gained momentary control of Government in Great Britain for a while. During its period in office, the Atlee Government processed a great deal of social legislation, much of which was later reversed by reactionary Conservative governments. An earlier Labour Government of the 20's led by Ramsay McDonald, which, I understand, lacked an outright majority, attempted but achieved nothing in the way of democratic reform.

Fabian Socialism was merely a limited approach to the question of egalitarianism and quickly succumbed to the pressures of materialism. The Fabians themselves were privileged, educated people, who would have been out of touch with the living conditions of the bulk of the poor in England. Their Socialism was a theoretical philosophy. It did not include such things as serious re-distribution of wealth or land reform. Never at any time did British Socialism threaten revolutionary change, without which little progress could have been made.

During the last fifty years, the British Labour movement has drifted away from all thought of socialist philosophy, until we perceive no essential difference between the major political parties of the right or left. As in Australia, the labour movement has been subverted by infiltration and deception, so much so, that it is now unrecognisable as representative of working-class interests.

The absence of an influential Press of the left, means that, until there is a major breakdown of the Capitalist system, resulting in severe and continuous hardship for the masses, there will not be a revival of interest in socialist principles in Western Society. In spite of the fact that all the signs of such a impending social collapse are there, as Capitalism slowly turns the thumbscrews on the lives of the workers, the masses of the people are still deceived into believing that the good times are sure to continue, indefinitely. The rot has already commenced in Asia and it will not be long before the boom of the West will give way to the bust. When it does, the protection formerly available to support the poor during periods of economic depression will no longer be in place, having been gradually whittled away by callous and indifferent political leaders. Then poverty will begin to bite: deprivation and hunger may inspire the once comfortable and complacent minds of the poor to forget the “telly” and their local football team, and encourage them to spend a moment or two considering what they have unwittingly permitted to slip from their grasp.

This process has certainly happened in the United States in recent years, with the reduction or elimination of Welfare Services. Here in Australia ( and I have previously commented on this fact ), the working classes are facing a barrage of assaults against their entrenched rights and working conditions. These take the form of "Award" conditions protected by Federal and State legislation. What protest is being made by "Socialist" or "Democratic" parties? Very little indeed: even the Trade Union Movement is so much a tool of Labor Party policy, that its protests against attacks upon workers rights are muted and half-hearted. There is no really united Socialist Labour Movement here in Australia at the present time and what Socialist Parties exist are tiny bodies of self-interested individuals, who are all flogging their own particular aspect of "Socialist" activity: be it women's rights, homosexual rights, marihuana-smokers, animal welfare or other extremist idiosyncrasies.

None of these people have any concept of the importance of co-operation between individual groups of workers: co-operation which has been sadly lacking in the past, as one group enjoyed privileges over and above those of its fellow workers. When called upon to support the claims of other workers, there has been no response. "I'm all right Jack!", has been the answer. Under such conditions of self-interest, it has not been difficult for employers to drive a wedge between various groups of workers in the community, whose rights and privileges have subsequently been eroded, one by one. Indeed, many workers, usually in small, independent industries, have been induced to agree to waive their rights and privileges, preserved by Award conditions, in return for short-term and transient advantages, such as increased weekly wages or allowances. By this means, such benefits as guaranteed sick pay, have been whittled away. The crass folly of such action demonstrates the vulnerability of the workers, in situations where there is no disinterested party to advise them of their best course of action.

Had Australian workers enjoyed a sense of fellowship with their colleagues in other industries and with the Public Services of the Commonwealth and the States of Australia, they would undoubtedly have remained in an invulnerable position. Now the situation has been drastically altered, with massive loss of employment in all walks of life.

It is not going to improve, such is the remorseless determination of the "captains of industry" to destroy the power of the trade unions and eliminate the high wages and living standards of the Australian worker.

None of this need have happened. Had there been a sense of social obligation and community within the hearts and minds of the Australian Public. The Australian people should take a long hard look at what is happening all around them. They have the example of the United States, a vast country with a large population, which has enjoyed a wonderful living standard throughout the 20th Century. Yet it is a well-known fact that millions of citizens of the USA are living well under the poverty line. There has been little to change this situation right throughout this period of time. The city of Washington DC, the Capital city of the United States, itself has hundreds of thousands of poverty-stricken black citizens residing within its borders. There is an enormous drug and alcohol problem affecting these unhappy souls, who live in close proximity to the vista of the massive opulence and vainglorious display of the wealth of their white superiors.

What has this to do with the principle of mankind's equality? It is merely an indicator that the rule is conveniently ignored when it is appropriate to do so. Of course, Washington, Jefferson and the framers of the United States' Constitution were merely feeling sociable when they declared that "...all men are created equal...". Never for one moment did they consider that black people would ever be included within the general definition of "men". Nor, indeed, did they intend to introduce Socialism or anything approaching such a political philosophy into the new system, which they were so carefully establishing. The only essential change was in the persons who would be running things. It merely remains to confirm that neither the Parliamentary Revolution in Britain in the 17th Century nor the American Revolution in the 18th were inspired by egalitarian principles.

The 17th Century in Britain did produce a movement of "Levellers": puritanical Protestants, who were enthused with the idea of the equality of all people, amongst whom were the Quakers. They made but little contribution towards the progress of the revolution. Indeed, the Quakers, under their leader, George Fox, would have nothing whatever to do with the promotion of the Civil War: War and Civil strife, in any form, being contrary to the principles expounded by these most Christian of men. None of the levellers were popular with the parliamentary party and were actively suppressed. What was of great significance, however, was the fact that England, at this time, should have been capable of producing such progressive and liberal ideas and from within the ranks of the unlearned and ignorant masses. Of course, the Quakers, with their astonishingly advanced social philosophy, were unpopular with those who wanted to run things their own way. They were persecuted by the Independents during the period of Parliamentary rule and again, upon the restoration of the Stuarts. Many "Friends", including Fox himself, suffered extended periods of imprisonment, in foul conditions, for their staunch adherence to their enlightened principles.

The Russian Revolution of l917, although prompted by egalitarian principles, quickly floundered in a sea of blood, resulting finally in the Soviet system of the Stalinist years. In no way can this period be regarded as the time of the, "Flowering of Socialism!". The Soviet system was totalitarian and belligerent: even engaging in a sustained reign of terror for 60 or more years and oppressing: butchering or starving, millions of its own citizens. Socialism is essentially democratic, whilst the USSR was, undoubtedly, a Police State, in which the rights of individuals were ruthlessly suppressed. In this respect the Russian people had much in common with the poorer citizens of the McCarthyist United States.

Obviously, Russian style communism was only popular with Communist Party members and those who profited from the system. The satellite states, Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, etc., were virtually annexed by the USSR following World War II, with the consent of the Western Powers, and had little individual say in the question of who would be running their affairs.

Cuba, on the other hand, was liberated by a determined Socialist revolutionary group, fighting against a corrupt, decadent and oppressive regime in its own country. This writer has only admiration for the Cubans, in their determination to run their own land in their own way. They have persevered, in spite of the most oppressive and outrageous conduct of the United States, which for many years has maintained a completely unlawful blockade and trade embargo against the people of Cuba.

It is a well-known fact that the "Bay of Pigs" invasion of Cuba, in the 60's, was supported by President Kennedy and funded by the American Mafia. This fact speaks volumes regarding the morality of the United States, in its dealings with its near neighbour. One might be excused for imagining that there exists an obligation on the part of such a wealthy and powerful nation as the USA, to give the people of Cuba support and assistance in whatever way is possible, to enable them to establish and maintain reasonable living standards for their people. The contrary has occurred and is still continuing to deprive the Cubans of their essential right to live in peace and in freedom: to practice the principle of equality which is their God-given right and to which the United States pays lip-service in its much quoted, but generally disregarded and dishonoured, Constitution.

The sustained trade embargo and sanctions, arbitrarily imposed by the United States over a period of fifty years, together with a constant barrage of anti-Castro propaganda throughout this period, has resulted in a reduced standard of living for the majority of Cubans. It is, therefore, not surprising that a proportion of the population should become disaffected with the prevailing Socialist system. Many of these people, unable to appreciate the sacrifices made by their forefathers and unwilling to work for the community, have left Cuba, seeking the bright lights of life in the United States. Cuba is well rid of these people: those who care only for themselves. They will find themselves much better off, I am sure, in the hell-hole of a degenerate and vice-ridden Florida.

So far as China is concerned: the triumph of Communism can only have been of tremendous benefit to the masses of the poor. At the end of the Second World War, China was governed by a motley array of War Lords, each seeking his own personal advantage in the general chaos. The success of the Chinese People's Army, created order out of anarchy. Sadly, a Godless communism, lacking a spiritual sanction, rapidly developed into a totalitarian system. Perhaps this was inevitable, given the enormous population and extent of the nation and the interminable historical difficulties facing the new rulers. How does one govern a nation of a billion people, without exercising a strict and, at times, ruthless control? Whatever happened, China was not an example of democratic socialism at work. The same could be said for North Korea, in which totalitarian dictatorship is the order of the day and has been so for fifty years.

What then, went wrong with the Utopean ideal? Essentially, neither the USSR nor China and its satellites were sufficiently mature in a cultural sense, for democratic socialism to work. China with its horde of private armies was in a chaotic state, much of this chaos occasioned by l9th Century interference in Chinese affairs by European interests. The Soviet Union was emerging from a feudal system, from which the serfs were only liberated in the late l9th Century. In neither culture did there appear to be a highly developed social consciousness. Life was cheap and the need for individual freedom, lightly regarded. After a blood bath in each instance, it is not difficult to understand why totalitarian systems were introduced in both Russia and China.

With the withdrawal of the British from India and Pakistan, in l946, the Government of India was established on Socialist principles. This was necessary, in order to moderate the extreme poverty of countless millions of poor Hindus.

The Indian experience has been hampered by the need to maintain a large standing army: both from fear of China and from Pakistan. With support from the Soviet Union, India was able to maintain, if not greatly improve, the living conditions of its poorer classes. Upon the collapse of the Russian economy, both India and Cuba have suffered financial difficulties. In the case of India, there has been a "liberalization" of previously strict economic controls and an attempt at rapprochement with the Western powers.

Socialism in India has largely failed, owing to the continuing class-consciousness in the survival of the Caste System, which denies the right of the lower castes to the enjoyment of a reasonable standard of living. This is despite the fact that the Caste System was declared unlawful soon after the attainment of Indian independence. The principle of the "Fundamental Equality of Mankind" has not borne fruit here. Another factor has also been the failure of population control measures, resulting in a population explosion since partition in l946.

It will, therefore, be evident, that India has far to go before the establishment of a truly democratic and equitable social system. The rise of Fundamentalism within India, gives cause for further concern for the process of democratisation within this vast and ancient land. Religious polarization threatens to undermine the work of such earlier leaders as Mahatma Ghandi and Pandit Nehru, who both, in separate ways, worked for the unification of India.

Socialism is the highest political aspiration of which the human mind is capable, but it must be based upon lofty principles as to the status of the individual. For a Socialist society to work, there must be the necessary degree of cultural maturity within the ranks of the people. There must be a devotional approach to the ideal: that the application and maintenance of the rule of service must be applied at all levels of public life. One cannot anticipate that there will be a rapid return to such standards in the forthcoming 21st Century: such is the progress of the march of materialism at the present time.

The Western World has been brain washed unceasingly for the last fifty-odd years, regarding the evils of Communism and its fellow-traveller, Socialism. It will not be until millions of people begin to think for themselves and to observe the capitalist mess, visible in the world around them, that Socialism will, once more, come into its own.

We certainly live in a world, gone mad, in the lust for the material benefits of life. These privileges, unfortunately, are not possessed by the majority of mankind but are confined to a relatively few of the "advanced" nations of the West. Third World countries are still racked by the internecine wars and civil strife which is the legacy of the white man's trade in arms, which the militarist interests of the West are willing and able to supply in large quantities to unsophisticated and ignorant people.

A resurgence of interest in Socialism as a Philosophy of life is inevitable, as the only ultimate solution to the woes that presently afflict mankind. Socialism invokes the recognition of the fact of the "Brotherhood of Mankind", and endeavours to apply principles of universal equity. Mankind does not need an over-abundant supply of luxuries to gratify the hedonistic wishes of the privileged but it does need suitable housing, food, employment, clothing, educational facilities and medical services for all its people. Only a Socialist system will apply these priorities: only Socialism will redistribute wealth so that it adequately provides for all the members of a given community.

A liberal socialist government will permit a modest degree of personal enterprise, it will not eliminate private property but it will limit the extent of the accumulation of wealth by individuals, as being in the interest of the people as a whole. It will see to it that no one is in a position to exercise despotic control over millions of poverty-stricken and ignorant poor, as is the case in many parts of the world today.

With a smaller share of the national wealth being diverted into arms production, a socialist government is able to invest in its people: in the education of the masses: in the maintenance of reasonable levels of public health. Socialism, practised universally, means no World Wars and less Civil strife. Recent activity on the part of the United States and its allies, Britain, Germany and France, would indicate that the world is moving rapidly towards a military catastrophe. How long can the West support such huge military establishments, equipped with "high-tech" killing instruments, before we descend into the abyss?

The present state of affairs is the product of militarist policies which themselves result from pressure from arms-producing capitalist enterprises. The world is flooded with highly efficient weaponry, which is bound to be used by the strong against the weak. This is what we are witnessing at present in the Balkans and in the near-East. The world can only stand-by and observe the increasing disregard of the USA for the decisions of the United Nations Organization. It has become apparent that the USA is prepared to trample upon the wishes of the world-community in determining for itself who is to be the next target in its assertion of its claim to world dominion.

If Socialism has failed, then it becomes increasingly evident that lassez-faire capitalism, which has burdened mankind in the past, is about to deal the death blow to human progress, in a massive conflagration, which is quite likely to result in the extinction of life upon the Earth. We have quite definitely reached the point of no return, when it comes to the decision whether to continue the arms race to the state when every man is armed against his neighbour, or whether simple common sense and sound reason will prevail. There can be no alternative but to dismantle the system before it wipes us all out.

The 2lst Century, if we reach that stage, might present us with a breathing space, wherein to consider our position. When it all comes to the point that nobody will be safe or secure, no-matter how well prepared for the impending disaster.

Capitalism will not submit: profits must be made: otherwise we go under. The richest rewards are in armaments: therefore, they will be produced and men will kill themselves much more efficiently than ever before. Politicians in the USA, and elsewhere, are the product of a militarist/capitalist system: they have been educated within that philosophy and can see no other solution to the economic problems facing mankind.

What then is to be done? We observe the prevailing mess and despair of a solution. Only when men understand the principle of mutual dependence, will we begin to comprehend wherein the solution lies: it will lie in a return to social awareness: in the development of new socialism: in which a love and regard for humankind is expressed in physical terms: in a raising of the living-standard for all people: in the provision of jobs, of housing, of adequate food and clothing, of education and health care for all the people of a given nation. Only in the provision of basic services can we hope to see the light in the present darkness. Only when the swords have been beaten into ploughshares and put to work for mankind will we make any form of progress.

There were a few idealists in the l9th Century who looked forward to the progress of humanity. Were they to observe the state of things today, they would feel deeply disappointed and betrayed. Whilst benefiting from the material progress of this Century, we have allowed our moral faculties to atrophy. We have not wanted to know: we do not wish to be reminded of our failure to ourselves and to our fellows.

In the past, we have allowed self-interested, opportunistic politicians to bamboozle us into thinking that they were interested in the Public Weal. In all the nations of the Western World, as we rush to the brink of a third World- War, it becomes all too clearly apparent that we have been hoodwinked. Now is the time for working-class people, of all nations, to begin to think for ourselves and not merely to leave that to others, whom we have thought were cleverer than we ourselves. Now, more than ever before, is there a need for workers, in the immortal words of Marx, to "Unite!" against the enemy within. These are those puppets of International Capitalism who have been so busy undermining and destroying the essential rights and privileges of working-class people everywhere.

We are still in the majority: we have the vote: we should, indeed, unite and elect representatives who will honestly and dutifully fulfil the mandate of the people. Those who profess to work for the people under the banner of a "Labour" Party will need to return to the traditional socialist policies of a Working-Class political party. The only alternative is the formation of new parties, dedicated to the establishment of socialist principles.

Will the 2lst Century see the revival of Socialism? If we do not act now, there will not be a 22nd Century: nor yet will we see the completion of the first ten years of the next Century. Yes, my friends, the situation is that serious! The time bomb is ticking away! This is not merely an attempt at melodrama: the world is under threat of a major and irreversible disaster in the massive accumulation of weaponry: contemporary, nuclear and chemical, which is swamping our environment today. The control of these instruments of evil is in the hands of cynical and unprincipled men, who do not lack either the will or the capacity to use them.

It is not a pretty prospect for humanity at the present time. The only possible solution is to be found in a return to the idea of Democracy: based upon the principle of the fundamental equality of all people. This is the indestructible doctrine of Socialism: "Government of the people, by the people and for the people!"

Have you heard that somewhere before?

It's time to stir the slumbering giant!

THE END

John Roberts
Sydney, Australia.
31st March l999

Exiting IM World

2008-12-10T23:22:00.003+05:30

Got too much bored of Instant Messengers. :) And thus I am quitting that world, the world of Instant Messengers. Some of my IM friends will think that I have blocked them, which is not true, as I think blocking anybody is a kind of cheat. Altogether it was six years of enjoyable tryst with IMs, but then for sometime I felt some kind of suffocation in using them, some kind of psyhcological suffocation.
My orkut account and facebook account is just useless one. You can contact me over my gmail id (reetesh.mukul@gmail.com) and yes I will never quit blog world. Till then, bbye.

The Terror Time

2008-12-07T22:15:00.003+05:30

That development and usage of technology has good degree of parallelism is something that cannot be thoroughly refuted. However should technology and also science in the general sense be the chief elements of development, is something to be analyzed. Of the organizing factors of a society or a country at larger scale, the struggle for power whether it is religious in nature or whether it has to do with ownership of state and at the same time struggle for better life by individuals, effectively shape the problem statement for the masses. Any imbalance on any side asks for chaos. To solve the problem amicably a good standards of social, religious and political engineering must be practised.
What happened in Mumbai, the 26/11, is actually a collapse of or in some sense absence of any kind of engineering that should happen at global level. But the chief question that arises -- whether any such engineering is possible or not ? United Nations, which is now over 60 years old, very partially address this problem. Actually it just addresses the minimum basic life quality of individuals or societies. Mostly only at humanity level.
The practised method of countering the problems one society/nation faces due to other one have been first through soft methods, like cutting down economic, cultural relations and then hard methods like war. But since almost always the problem is so localized that a lack of guiding force causes individuals to suffer very negatively. Further the intra and inter social inequalities among nations, be it at economic level or power level is never addressed. For example if UK has ruled India for so many years is not it responsible to pay back to India ? Or, who can dare intervene in China affairs when the individual rights are very limited. Or coming back to India, is not it comprises of some unsuccessful countries on its neighborhood ( I refrain calling them "failed" as it will be too derogatory) and twenty eight unsuccessful states ? Perhaps this is too hard statement, but are not these states and countries have been unsuccessful in many of their desired aims ? True the democratic processes can guide to some scale, yet effectively it is not done at regular basis.
The bottom line is that, is not there is a lack of social, political and religious engineering at many scales which should shape the course of human processes ? All three elements, religious aspiration, aspiration of political power and aspiration of individuals have tendency to turn greedy, and with time the centralization of a check to control this greediness is necessary. In Sciences there lies the zenith of human beings creation, but such creations will become just tools rather than prominent ideas when the aspirations soar too high.

Echoes

2008-06-26T18:41:00.005+05:30

Red Rose. Red rose, with its glowing redness, sweetness -- for sweetness comes along with the act of perceiving rose's metaphor. Mild breeze and the rose plant. Shining summer day and the rose plant. Days, every passing days and the rose plant. Smiling, giggling roses on the rose plant. The idea of roses gain prominence over the existence of the rose plant. But roses die! Small black lines inscribe it. Roses die! But who suffers the seclusion out of this death -- the plant which lives the life of rose, or the one who imagines the metaphor of rose ? The thought that emanates from the occlusion of a tender flower, the thought that suffers the tyranny of death of flower; how much that thought is cared of ? Roses die. The perceiver of beauty of a rose caught by the emotion of death of rose suffers. Moves. Moves, but frequent honing of the aura of rose plant calls him. For there is a thought that the plant will remedy his vision. For he prays to God for the days. But the next time, the cold, the lack luster, unknown, remote coziness of the plant; the dry, lifeless lone branch where the flower earlier used to be, haunts him ... silences him. Introspection says -- "why you wished again to have the glimpse of the rose plant" ?

My BlogoSphere

2008-06-25T19:48:00.005+05:30

Well I have been lazy towards my blogs for last three months, and I think cause of this laziness have been laziness itself, ;-). Here is the simple planout:-

http://nature1729.blogspot.com ( this one ) -- will be my personal blog. I will behave like human beings, in this blog.
http://quickies4u.blogspot.com -- will be my programming language blog. It is still in edit mode. So please wait for few more days. :(
http://nature1729.wordpress.com -- my science blog. I will not behave like human beings on this blog. ;)

Thats all !

Clips

2008-03-31T23:34:00.000+05:30

Some Clips:-

George Fernandes Interview by Karan Thapar -- Karan Thapar in his TV programme, Devil Advocate , intrigued George Fernandes over all possible issues. And when Karan Thapar interviews some one, it appears like -- "stupid,.. ANSWER my question". Geroge Fernandes had his great glorious day, when in those days his oratory and administrative role matched best of the country. But then the Jaya Jaitley case, the coffin scam and his constrained relationship with his party members; made him just a symbolic figure of his past. George is now 78, and in the above mentioned interview he appeared unconscious, fighting with himself to utter single words and his health appeared poor. Often Karan had to put letters in his mouth. It did not appear a fair debate. Actually it appeared cruel. A person who was once pitted as possible PM after Vajpayee, who is no Deve Gowda no Lalu, though he could have easily got cool-nice power positions for himself, should not be treated in such manner.
RACE -- My brother and sister pressed hard to watch this movie at some multiplex. In 2007 I watched three movies in Cinema Halls -- Saawariya, Welcome and Taare Zameen Par. Movies like Welcome, are some of the best example of worst making of a movie and still becoming a major hit. And Saawariya ... when I told my sister ( Anisha and Nandi ) that its background was great, somewhere somekind of flame appeared! But Saawariya is like a metaphor, where its words got consumed, absorbed in the poet himself. It suffered lack of dialogue with spectator. Now coming back to RACE, I was in no mood to spend my hard earned pennies on such a movie where Bipasha Basu, Sameera Reddy and Katrina Kaif ( she always giggles or smiles, and this is her central acting prowess )are the poster ladies. No doubt, my skepticism turned true when I saw it on my Lappy. The suspense, thrill and the unfaithfulness of the step bothers ( Saif & Akshay Khanna, in the film ) is worth of 17 years old 1st year college student only. Not for me.

It is now almost 10 years since I slept on the roof of my Mama Jee's house, which is in a village, where the cold but soothing breeze kept the soul happy; the bare sky, where the stars were twinkling and playing with your eyes ... where is that peace and the calmness ?

Does modern India have a mind of its own ?

2008-03-30T21:52:00.002+05:30

In his Prime Ministerial tenure, Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, during a poetic consortium gave an elegant statement -- "development in our main aim ... it is another matter, how much and what kind of development is needed". The last phrase of his statement had poetic touch, in fact it has sensible essence, but this statement could not enter debate rooms, and I never found any serious national debate on this matter. The definitions of development has philosophical rhetoric but there should be well defined notions about it. Or, the issue of development is very personified, and a society or a country should not be bothered about this matter if it succeeds in granting full scope for respective development for its individuals. Perhaps, this will not meet litmus test of purists or even average analysts.
What are the potential candidates for the identification of development trends of a country? Is it finance, education, good moral value of public, religious purity, business, big industry, science, army, spiritual leadership or natural resources? May be, all of these. But how these ingredients have been mixed. Are we following US who looks for money everywhere, anywhere or Russia/China who do not believe in open debate, free open atmosphere for its citizen ? Or we should keep the model as it is, which is quite insensitive and unconscious about people ( Singur, fast urbanisation, corruption ) ? Are we making a consistent model of development and educating people about its norms ?
Does modern India have a mind of its own ? ... Else, we are borrowing everything, everything that we begged for ?

A Rule, A Very Simple Rule

2008-02-24T18:23:00.000+05:30

Anything that disrupts my study for more than 2 days, I will get rid of it!!!

By the way friends, I will start writing in few days. Just involved in reading some books, so as to prepare for my future course.

Virtual Life --- Introduction ( Part II )

2008-01-27T20:14:00.000+05:30

In my last post, I touched a few of the notions associated with "Machines". It can happen that a reader who is not acquainted with theoretical world of Computer Science, would be confused or may feel the treatment too abstract. I will like to post on "Virtual Life" in philosophical sense, with almost no use of domain oriented technical terms. Subject matter should be clear to a High School pass out!
"Virtual life" certainly requires some concrete definition. However, for the time being, we will identify it as an element which does modification to our life, because of the presence of machines. But what "Machines" actually are? Again, no definition, and I am just citing examples of some machines:-

My fan, television, and this laptop are machines.
So is yahoo messenger, GTalk or IRC ( Internet Relay Chat).
Big Brother or Big Boss reality TV series. The conception behind these TV series is that participants are put together in a house for few days, and part of their activities are broadcasted. The rules, the behavior of participants on the basis of the fact that they are on broadcast; constitutes a machine, although an abstract one.
Games, like Second Life.

And any of the thing which you call a machine, :-). So let us switch on our "philosophical engines".

Virtual Life -- Introduction ( Part I )

2008-01-14T03:38:00.000+05:30

One of the elevators in my company ( it has five floors) has certain problem in its floor-indicator. Some time it keeps showing 0 digit only, some time it goes to 0-1-2, and then it sticks to 2. However, there are times when it shows no problem. I don't know exactly what kind of logical mechanism ( is it based on sensors; some kind of speedometer is used or crossing a level gives some information to the system ) assists the floor indicator, nevertheless I, like any other person, can point out that the system has got into problem. However, the observation that the system is not indicating digits correctly, does not mean that that its logical fabric is completely torn out, rather the sections of the floor-indicator which decides on changing indicating values, may not be getting correct values through the assisting physical mechanism( sensors/speedometer/? ). In retrospect, a common presumption about any machine we have seen is that their logical fabric remains intact, provided the elements of logic fabric has not been altered by man or nature. This means systems do not change themselves. Or in exact terms, a machine cannot give birth ( like the biological process fission ) of other machines, on its own; and this I am stating in terms of a statement. This means, I am not defining machines as entities which cannot give birth; rather it is just an observation that machines cannot give birth.

Now consider movement of an elevator (whose indicator has no problem) in my company; it can be --- 0,1,0,1,2,3,4,3,2,3,4,5,4,3,4... Successive numbers will differ by 1, and the sequence will reflect some aspects of people, their work, floors, elevator's location. The sequence of output from the given machine, is a reflection of human being process. A little thinking tells us that output of a machine, depends also on property of machine. Consider a third entity who just sees machine's output. If, suppose, we have a scale to call something human or machine, how much point we will attribute to human factor or machine factor? Can a machine scale on human factor, without interaction with human being?

These questions have very deep consequences, and since this blog is non-technical in nature, we will explore things in not-so-mathematical sense. Nevertheless, I presume that we will not take words like Love, Anger, Happiness or Passion in very confused sense, in the series of posts under the label "virtual life"; and we will solely explore the interaction among human beings via machines ( often supported by a vast logical system ). Virtual world, and hence corresponding virtual life (which we will define gradually) is a part of the actual world. So far, the existence of Virtual world out of real world seems to be illogical; though, yes, any concrete conclusion requires some brainstorming analysis.

Some of the posts now onwards, will be on Virtual Life.

Taare Zameen Par

2008-01-01T19:46:00.000+05:30

tu dhoop hain jham se bikhar

tu hai nadee o bekhabar

beh chal kahin ud chal kahin

dil khush jahan teri toh manzil hai wahin

My soul said, thank you! Thank you Amir Khan, Thank You Prasoon Joshi, Thank You Amole Gupte ... and above all Thank You Darsheel Safary. Taare Zameen Par is my kind of movie. And since I really care about it, I will not compare it with Black or RDB, LRMB.
Taare Zameen Par is the movie where the tears are not just emotional, they will also clean up your soul.
A New Year Has come. Dear Blog Friends, a very happy new year to all of you. Help me, in becoming a good human being. Thank you very much, thank you dear brother Rahul and dear sister Anisha for your patience and calmness; thank you dear sister Nandi for some of your nice points, thank you Abhinav for your phones, thank you world.
I will be very very active in blogosphere, this is my single pledge!!!

Me in 2007

2007-12-31T19:50:00.000+05:30

I am on track! I am on track of the adventure, we call it Mathematics and Physics. 2007 effectively taught me that the satisfaction that one gets in doing Mathematics, is way ahead of any work human being can do. Of course people get satisfied by doing hard work in their corresponding field, but the longevity of any Mathematical duty is everlasting. If something is a prime number, it will be always a prime number!
My tour from a General Physics lover to Electronics engineering to Computer Science to an Embedded System Engineer was neither smooth, nor I got any any sincere help from academia or people surrounding me. None from any of my friends! Doing Maths, which earlier involved fundamentals of computing, often involved stuffs which have no direct use in Industry. For example, I succeeded in getting into Variational Calculus, Geometry of fourth Dimension, and Lambda Calculus, Relativity; and of course I am on the way to study Nicholas Bourbaki book. But can you write themin your resume? Can you tell your friends that I was occupied in understanding infinity and Set Theory? Though, if you are developing open source your friends will fabricate your intentions. 2007 made me very, very mechanical!
It was an year when none of my friends tried to understand me, and left me really dry! Oh yes, there was a view --- nothing will affect you (that is me)! Dear all, your friend can be right or wrong, and the way he was actively involved in enriching part of your lifetime, he may go for some other duties too! Forget him, but do not do politics with him.
I may be bad or may be a good person, I do not want to know ... however there are many people and areas for whom I can play important role! This is what I am going to be in 2008.

India in 2007

2007-12-30T20:40:00.000+05:30

When I read the situation of democratic values in countries like Russia, China, middle east, and many other countries of world, I think we worked very hard to inculcate the larger sense of democracy in the ethos of Indian diaspora. Yes we have Narendra Modi, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee; nevertheless our fundamentals of democracy are too strong to be easily shaken. Indian politics has not been extremely idiot on major issues involving prolong interest of country. I will not delve deep into analytics, and so I have just compiled some points which were critical to India in 2007:-

Sanjay Dutt's Imprisonment. The TADA court verdict stirred many a debate regarding the purposes of punishment. If a person has improved himself, or realised his fault, what should be the action of law? Or, what should be the motive or methodologies of any punishment. Are criminals or frequent law breakers can be cured? Can people like Sanjay Dutt should be "punished" to work as a normal member of some NGO and achieve such and such results? This should of course take benefits of his star image.
Nandigram. For a major population of India, agriculture is still the single most important economic source. Though India has seen rapid development in Manufacturing and Services sector in last few years, same cannot be said about agriculture areas. Agriculture is not a highly profitable field. It is hard for a farmer having few acres of land to earn money for his development proposes, though he can manage to feed his family properly. The economic fabric in villages of course creates a protective umbrella, but then mischievous Industry can easily blow it. Thus there should not be hyper active desire of State/Industry to eat up agricultural land. However this happens, and has happened in Nandigram. The most cruel part was the insensibility of government towards the concern of poor villagers. India have not learnt respecting farmers, and if they will perish India will become hollow inside.
Shilpa Shetty & her tears in Big Brother. I am not a sexist. I am surely not a feminist, neither I have any logical intent to be anti-feminist. So when I am writing about Shilpa Shetty, women please do not get perturbed. Shilpa proved herself through media that she is cultural brand ambassador of India! That she represents modern India. And yes, she weeps too. She can make very very tasty chicken curry. She dances. She can tolerate infinite tortures, as many Indian women do. Her steps made such views floating in different corners of media in January this year. I have no point to disagree. However like her, Rakhi Sawant cries too. So does actors of many of those horrible K* Television serials. So does many women in India, who manages to get (technical) jobs, and have pathetic attention over their work. I have never seen any women fighting hard to be technically sound, though yes academically they are strong. Shilpa Shetty made me think on other question also --- why Indians are still so fond of British or American pats? After all, we all have conception of perfection. She also made me think that we lack intellectual inclination. Though she still needs Indian people to make her films hit, she feels honoured by British. Indian, and particularly women should be more courageous towards real intellectual issues, ;-).
Super Computer by India. India was in the race, and now world's fourth fastest super computer is from us. This will definitely broaden the range of computing currently available to India. Such type of developments are initially a research issue, and after some success, they gain large commercial/engineering interest. Dr Narendra Karmarkar (of Karmakar Algorithm fame)was involved in this project. I think people like him who are in the computing field should reach masses.Computing is a fundamental field, sharing questions common with Mathematics and Physics(Quantum Theory). Actually computing can be thought as a wing of Mathematics. Dr. Karmakar's involvement with masses (and also direct involvement of people like Dr. Ashoke Sen, Raj Reddy) will be a major boost for technical level of Indian students. Of course we have Abdul Kalam, or YashPal, but we need some one who teaches real technology to masses, some one like RP Feynman. Though we have some dozen of scientists who are doing great job, technical unfitness of majority of engineering or other technical field students is surely some thing that worries us.
Sports Country. Sports does not get prime attention from most of us, though movies like Chak De! are certainly a bang on such an erratic attitude. A lot of introspection is necessary to ascertain the elements which sets the standards of life, including a higher level of happiness. Sports plays bigger role in making a healthy, happy society. Chak De taught many such things. It's title song has become the unofficial sports song. Unluckily we do not have enough sports ground, and there are very few facilities commonly avaiable. The recent controversay over ICL/IPL and Hockey federations, do not have serious sports interest. However we all should play!
Hyderabad Bombs. India suffers terrorism more than any country of world. This time the center of attack in India was Hyderabad.
FloodGate. Bihar saw worst flood this year. Similarly water lodging problem in Delhi/Mumbai is a deep problem. Actually whole India has severe issues involving water. Be it Narmada or Kaveri. Our infrastructure is not up to date, and environmental problems are towering. Proper usage of water, and electricity should be strictly followed. Though media puts some emphasis on environmental matters (basically through celebs), coverage of floods/water lodging in different areas of India was extremely erroneous. I think water issues are more important than Kashmir issue.

Connection of Indian rivers is a major engineering endeavor. Though it can help us fight floods, the environmental aftereffect should be studied/researched deeply. This is surely the biggest engineering task that India should consider properly.

Nepal and Bangladesh should be properly involved in water management issues. Since they are either sink/source places of our rivers, there is a ncessity of political will in solving this problem.
Drainage system should be state of art. One can look into water purification, dirt filtration issues in the flow system, as well as in the back end there should be electronic surveillance system (along with the pipeline).A hi-tech central monitoring system of drainage is worth of attention.
Kaveri issue is a cake for politicians of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Is it possible to treat water supply and usage something similar on the lines of electricity supply and usage?
And a revolution involving plantation lot many herbs/shrubs/trees along the shores of river!

2007 was an year of silent progress for India. We did lot of introspection, and it is right time that we should make our basics strong!

The condition of Science

2007-12-26T23:26:00.000+05:30

Though Mathematics and Physics are the most enrich and deeply developed fields, they are not getting prime attention from academia for many years. I thought that the situation is prevailing only in India, but it seems it has become a global epidemic. A Babe in the Universe is a blog by beautiful researcher L. Riofrio, working in the field of Cosmology. I initially thought that like many women she will be jelling with "life-is-a-saga-of-poetic-events" kind of attitude, but luckily that is not the case. Her blog is sincere approach towards disseminating knowledge of Cosmology in particular, and Physics in general. In one of her articles, Big Trouble in Little Particles, she has precisely pointed out the sorry state of affair between State and Physics:-

The world of particle physics is getting small indeed. The UK budget is caught between Northern Rock and Southern Iraq. On December 11 the UK announced withdrawal from the International Linear Collider. One week later December 18 the US budget was finally released. It ends funding for ILC and US participation in the ITER fusion project. Fermilab is hit particularly hard, having already spent much of its budget for the year. Possibilities include laying off staff and shutting down the lab for a time. There could be very little raison d'etre for Fermilab after the Tevatron shuts down in 2009.

Once I was explaining Binomial Theorem (in a way to prove some theorem), to a 100+ M.Tech class, it became as if I am ploughing mountain. The approach towards subject matter has become too methodical, and the guys coming out of undergraduate/graduate classes can have funny knowledge. I do not think that our courses in schools or colleges are too bad, rather somehow we are lacking the culture to respect education. Riofrio, UK has Fermilab (even if it is getting less budget), India does not have any such name. Though, yes, we are playing one IT-IT game. I do write programs, but I do not know what is the core competence level (in intellectual terms) people of this game has.

Social Analytics and Narendra Modi's Victory

2007-12-25T13:25:00.000+05:30

This is a different time. This is a different generation. Youth of present India, who comprise major population of it, are not able to differentiate between Goodness or Badness. The definitions are blurred, often twisted, and sometimes in moral contradiction. Clever politicians should understand this notion. So when the Hinduism card is not working in India (people do get bored of monotonous slogan) , when people are recognizing the rhythm of "India Shining" ( Vajpayee government had fallen not because of this slogan, rather the confusion, the mutual contradiction of thought prevailing in the middle class of India at that time to accept the changes ) and when India suffers the most of Islamic terror; a radically polarized view point of "Moditva" arose. This surely is not a moralistic pathway; it has nothing to do with projecting ideologies of a religion (like Pope does often) though it uses religion to secure its position, and the followers will have to be hard on development for if they loose steam their fate will be similar to Shiv Sena in Maharastra. Nevertheless it is not vandalism every time, it does not make situation as dim as SP/BSP/BJP made in UP, RJD made in Bihar; it is not as anarchist as Communists (actually they are ~communists) . It has religious flavor, though it is not casteist; and cast has created severe problems, to India. However "Moditva" shares its elements with Nazism or Fascism.
Unluckily, Indian media has degraded in terms of quality over the time. It seems the degradation is proportional to the corresponding process in Indian politics. Media should be critical to the threads of thought emerging in social dynamics; it should not make decisions rather it should stir analytical discussion, it should present all available points to public. I could not find any positive reasoning in the way media clashed with Narendra Modi over Gujarat election. Vinod Dua, who is a complete mediocre and has many a purposes other than journalism, started his own roadshow on NDTV. Similarly a big fraction of media was fighting with Modi, as a political party. However the blog world was much balanced, thanks to "free writing", thanks to people who use their absolute mind while writing.
The present India does not believe in many a thing, its ideologies and mindset are different. The average Indian wants money, he wants having all kind of materialistic happiness, and he wants to win. In the era when personal happiness is most important, people vote for those who can deliver.

No More Ads

2007-12-10T01:29:00.000+05:30

I know those who know me, would not have liked the idea of putting ADs on this blog. Chillax, I have cleaned them, :-). Shiny Toy Guns - Le Disco song for all of you:-

The Elements of Indian Socialism --- Preface

2007-12-09T23:51:00.000+05:30

The Indian society has a history of its own kind of Socialistic flavor, mostly based on social interactions, though in last hundred or some more years, sets of different kind of socialism were identified. It was the intent of larger Indian community to seek glimpses of Socialism in Hinduism, Nehruism, Marxism, Gandhism and many of the ideologies enunciated by people like JaiPrakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia, Vinoba Bhave. However such type of intent often got blurred, one reason was the nascent stage of democracy in India. Since the values of a society changes with time, so the level of maturity that the society has achieved so far, will still have to be dynamic. Indian society was not excellent in Science, Arts, Music and in many other skill sets, when you will compare it with some of the prominent society of other part of world, however it certainly got benefited from a bunch of leaders, who were often very educated, and helped India adapt to new ideas (which were often inspired from other part of world). This gave us an almost integrated country, though lack of intelligence led to evolution of mediocracy in society. In following articles I will basically compile the elements of Indian Socialism, and since I do not have any formal planning, I will present the relevant materials, analysis and conclusions in "chat" paradigm. The era I will stress on will be mostly 1900 onwards, though the effects will be watched for 20XX's only and also origin of thoughts will be looked into the depth of Indian history.
Let us begin the story with an article from Yogendra Yadav, in the Indian Express :-

YOGENDRA YADAV
Posted online: Wednesday, March 21, 2007 at 0000 hrs IST

Nandigram did not surprise me. I was anguished and angry but not surprised. I had heard the story of Alipurduar from Jugal Kishore Raybir.
This dalit activist, a believer in Gandhian non-violence, was the founder of UTJAS, (Uttar Bango Tapsili Jati O Adibasi Sangathan) an organisation of dalits and adivasis of north Bengal. Through the 1980s it demanded greater regional autonomy and justice for sons of the soil. Not only did the government turn a deaf ear, the ruling party launched an offensive against them, branding them ‘separatist’ or ‘bichhinatabadi’.
The story of Alipurduar goes back to January 10 1987, twenty years before Nandigram. On that day, UTJAS had organised a rally of what they estimated to be about 50,000 people in Alipurduar, the headquarters of Cooch Behar district. As the rally started, they noticed something unusual: The police was nowhere in sight. Soon the rallyists found themselves surrounded by and under attack from the armed cadre of the CPM. The rally was dispersed as unarmed protesters were beaten and chased. The police surfaced, only to arrest the victims, once the party cadre had finished their job.
They say Jugal Raybir’s commitment to non-violence prevented a blood bath that day. But that day also marked the end of the rise of UTJAS as a political challenge to the Party. For the next few months, the UTJAS cadre was hounded by the police, attacked by the CPM and not allowed to hold even indoor meetings. This dalit movement wilted under the onslaught of the state, police and Party. That prepared the ground for the rise of militant outfits like the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation. But that is a different story.
Note the parallels between Nandigram and Alipurduar: The Party faces a political challenge, decides to nip it in the bud and executes an onslaught in sync with the police and administration. The only difference this time was that there was unexpected resistance. And that an anti-SEZ movement makes more news today than a dalit movement did twenty years ago. There were no Gopal Gandhi or Tanika and Sumit Sarkar then to point out that the emperor had no clothes.
Nandigram may not have been the worst case of police firing. We have seen similar incidents in Orissa, Rajasthan and UP in recent times. West Bengal is certainly not the only state where the ruling party uses the state machinery to crush its political rivals. Om Prakash Chautala could still teach the CPM a lesson or two in this game. But there is one thing Chautala never did. He never talked of human rights and lofty democratic ideals. A Chautala could not have issued the injured yet clinical statement that the CPM’s Politburo did after the Nandigram killings. The cold-bloodedness of the statement reminds you of the BJP top brass’s reaction after Gujarat.
This gap between the CPM’s preaching and practice did not surprise me. I have been looking at Christophe Jaffrelot’s research on the social profile of MLAs in India. His analysis shows that the proportion of upper caste MLAs is on the decline all over the country since the 1960s. There is only one exception: In West Bengal the proportion of upper castes has increased in the state assembly after 1977, after the Left Front came to power. A coincidence? Not if you calculate the caste composition of successive Left Front ministries: About two thirds of the ministers come from the top three jatis (Brahman, Boddis, Kayasthas). Perhaps you did not notice that West Bengal was the last major state to come out with an OBC list to implement Mandal. You might say, the CPM believes in class, not caste. Fair enough, but then why is the CPM in Delhi so aggressive about championing Mandal? Why does it present itself as more Mandalite than thou?
Or read the data supplied by the West Bengal government to the Sachar Committee. With 25.2 per cent of Muslim population, the state government has provided just 2.1 per cent of the government jobs to Muslims. West Bengal has the worst record of all Indian states in this respect. Gujarat has just 9.1 per cent Muslims and has 5.4 per cent Muslims among government employees. The irony, of course, is that the CPM was the first party to come out with a statement demanding implementation of the Sachar Report!
Will the CPM stop playing games? A few months ago the Party held an unprecedented State Secretariat meeting to discuss the Cricket Association of Bengal elections. The CM was openly backing Kolkata’s police chief only to be opposed by his own sports minister and Jyoti Basu. The Party finally declared that the CPM will not play politics with games, at least not with cricket. But what about playing games with politics? Will the CPM stop that as well?
Perhaps we should ask: Can the CPM stop playing games? Or are these games essential for survival for a party that has lost touch with the times, has lost faith in its own ideology and has come to fear its own cadre and election machine. Satyajit Ray’s Shatranj ke Khiladi was a brilliant depiction of the games nobility played at the time of its historic decline. Alimuddin Street may not have time for such bourgeois indulgence, but the point of this film would not be lost on an avid cinema buff like Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee. Sometimes it is not the player who plays the game; it is the game that consumes the player.

The writer is a political scientist at the CSDS, New Delhi

You would have sensed a fundamental asynchronism in the behavior of Indian politics. This is an example where people have an obfuscated conception of the locus of Marxism in India. This out-of-phase Indian politics is hard to dissect, but this is one of the problem statement of identifying the Elements of Indian socialism.

Nalini Singh ...

2007-12-06T00:24:00.000+05:30

We have heard about Arundhati Roy and VS Naipaul, but masses read Sidney Sheldon or Robert Ludlum. No doubt these people will like Nalini Singh's novels. This Nalini Singh is not the famous Journalist, sister of Arun Shourie, often coming on Doordarshan; rather she is a famous author, author of some "bestselling" books. Check her blog ...
Do women write on politics or International relations ? I do not have any idea ...

Morni Baaga Maa ...

2007-12-02T23:18:00.001+05:30

Where is Yash Chopra of Lamhe, Chandani or Silsila ...

"I literally die of shame,
when people listen to my love story."

Books I could not get

2007-12-02T11:53:00.000+05:30

Yesterday I went to IISc (Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore) to buy some Mathematics book with rigorous treatment of subject matter. The Tata Book House residing inside the campus is famous for range of books in the areas of Science/Technology. Further since IISc is top quality research center of India, it is expected that book store (ofcourse libraries will have all range of books) can be interesting buyer stop. But this time I was very much disappointed as I could not find high end Mathematics book which should be common for such an Institute.

No book on algebraic set theory.
None of Nicolas Bourbaki's books.
No book on Riemannian Geometry/Surface
Single book on Calculus of Variation
Very few and elementary books on Complex Analysis.

I have no idea why there are so many books on computer programming. Interestingly the book store did not have any book on latest advancements in Computer Science.

Oh! I forgot, power point slides are the way classes are taken these days (my MTech Institute (IIITb) used it like a very serious medium of disseminating knowledge). Great going!

An Interview of Noam Chomsky by Michael Shank on Indian-Pak relationship

2007-11-30T23:02:00.000+05:30

The Army regime of Pakistan has perhaps entered its last phase. Religious fundamentalism has become the source of unstability through out whole world for a peaceful society, since cold war. With the likes of people like Arjun Singh and Karan Thapar (believe me I place both of them in same category, both are idiots in their own way of thinking and spelling the causes of society); and people like Narendra Modi, Karunanidhi and ofcourse Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee our Indian society has gone through serious religious, social turbulence. My own thought is that the middle class of India has forgotten its idealism, vision and consciousness towards each other. I will study this thing exhaustively in coming months; however I am sure for a country having limited resources and such a big population this will have worst of all impacts. Noam Chomsky is definitely few of those people who have balanced study of the diplomatic nerves of world. He has aptly pointed the key problem that confronts India and Pakistan in coming times in following interview taken by Michael Shank (I am pasting his interview from his website ; though the interview was taken in May this year, the context is still valid):-

On India-Pakistan Relations

Noam Chomsky interviewed by Michael Shank

Foreign Policy in Focus, May 22, 2007

Michael Shank: Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri cites a sea change in India-Pakistan relations, agreements have been forged requiring a pre-notification of missile testing, and both countries will soon engage in a fourth round of composite dialogues. What else needs to happen to provide a positive tipping point in Indo-Pak relations?

Noam Chomsky: There are a couple of major problems that need to be dealt with. One of them, of course, is Kashmir. The question is, can they figure out a joint solution to the Kashmir conflict?

There are other questions: about energy integration, for example, pipelines going from Iran to India. India and Pakistan are now joint observers of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which, if it works, will tend to bring about closer integration of the Asian countries altogether. So is Iran, and the Central Asian states, China of course, and Russia too. So it’s basically the whole region except for South Korea has joined. And Japan probably won’t join.

It’s an emerging structure of relationships. Meanwhile India-China relations are certainly improving. They’re better than they were 20 or 30 years ago. There are now some joint energy projects.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization was China-initiated but there’s also an India-initiated program by the former [Petroleum and Natural Gas] minister Mani Shankar Aiyar. He had been initiating similar plans for Asian integration; he had arranged conferences in India, joint projects with China and so on. And China and Pakistan have pretty close relations so through that connection India and Pakistan may overcome some of their conflicts.

In general the conflicts in the region, the internal conflicts, most of them have been softened, so they’re less sharp than they were in the recent past. This is partly because of economic integration, partly because of the danger of confrontation, partly because of outside enemies. All of them want to become integrated with the west Asian energy producing system. That brings them together as well through joint projects.

So I don’t know if there’s an actual tipping point. But I think there is a gradual improvement of relations and a willingness to put aside what could be major tensions, like a terrorist operation in Mumbai or something attributed to Pakistanis. There are attempts at reconciliation, which is a healthy development.

Now Kashmir is going to be a difficult one.

Shank: Do you think Kashmir is a territorial issue or an issue related to secular or religious identity? Pakistan sees Kashmir as their Muslim brotherhood up north. For India, it’s emblematic of their secular identity. Is it an identity issue or a territorial boundary issue?

Chomsky: Yes, obliviously that’s a factor in it. The Muslim population and the Hindu population do separate on those lines. Does that mean they have to be broken up? Not necessarily. There are 160 million Muslims living in India. There has been tension and some serious atrocities but it has been over the centuries a reasonably integrated society. There are real dangers. The Hindu nationalist danger is certainly serious.

Shank: Should the UN step in to do for Kashmir what they’re now doing for Kosovo?

Chomsky: I think what’s needed is some kind of federal arrangement. Kosovo could have been a model. As it’s now developing Kosovo will just be independent. The counterpart would be for Kashmir to be independent. And that doesn’t seem to be in the cards. India and Pakistan both have interests. But some sort of federal arrangement, keeping the line of control, with semi-autonomous regions loosely federated with each other and with a broader South Asian federation, could be a direction in which things could move.

Shank: Do you think the Pakistan and Indian diaspora in the United States or the UK are doing anything to escalate tensions?

Chomsky: For some reason, which I don’t entirely understand, that’s a very general fact about diaspora communities. In fact, almost every one I know of. For example the Jewish community in the US, its organized part, is much more rabid and extreme than Israel. The Irish community in south Boston was much more extreme than Northern Ireland.

Take, say, the Armenian genocide. All Armenians want to have it recognized but the pressures for having national declarations is mostly coming from the diaspora. Within Armenia itself, people have other concerns. For example they would like friendly relations with Turkey. The diaspora doesn’t care that much; they just want the recognition of this genocide.

Shank: Is it because the diaspora often leaves during a traumatic period and that’s what fresh in their minds?

Chomsky: I don’t think so. It varies. The Irish immigration has been coming since the 19th century. Take the Jewish immigration. They really became extremists – again, I’m not talking about the population, only the organized articulate part of it, which is a small part but it’s the part you hear about -- they really became extremists since 1967 but that’s not when they left Eastern Europe. It had to do with internal developments.

I suspect that the tendency towards a kind of extremism in diaspora communities may have something to do with keeping them unified. Otherwise they would tend to assimilate. In the home country they’re not going to assimilate, you don’t have to prove you’re an Armenian or Israeli or Irish. But if you’re in the United States and you want to maintain some kind of cultural identity as a group it’s going to have some relation to the home country. And often more extreme positions are taken than in the home country because of the need to maintain identity. The one that I know best is the Jewish community but, as far as I know, others are much like it.

In the Jewish community there’s a lot of concern over the disappearance of the community, through inter-marriage, assimilation, and so on. Those who want to make sure that the community stays together tend to be very Israel-oriented, much more so than the general population is. And then they tend to become extreme. So you have to defend Israel against every charge. Israelis don’t feel that need, they can raise the charges themselves.

If you were an American abroad, let’s say, forced to defend America against the French, you might take a more extreme position than you would here. I think that kind of dynamic works, in some fashion, with diaspora communities. There is a notable tendency for them to be more fervent, nationalist, extremist, and defensive than the home country is.

So yes, going back to your question, what I’ve seen of the Indian diaspora -- I don’t know much about the Pakistani diaspora -- is that it tends to be more extreme, more pro-BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] than the native population would. At least that’s what I’ve seen.

Shank: India is attempting to renegotiate their nuclear agreement with the United States, specifically to remove a U.S. legal requirement that it halt nuclear cooperation if India tests another nuclear weapon. If India is successful in renegotiating that agreement, what are the implications for Indo-Pak relations?

Chomsky: As soon as the United States made the agreement with India, that had immediate and predictable implications. The agreement with India was in serious violation of U.S. law, the export law from the early 1970s that was passed after the Indian test [“Smiling Buddha” in 1974]. It was also in violation of the rules of the two major international organizations, one that controls, or tries to control, nuclear material exports, the other that tries to control missile technology exports.

There are two nuclear missile control regimes, and they both require notification before anybody’s going to do anything that would be inconsistent with their rules. And the United States did neither, didn’t even notify them.

It’s a sharp blow against two of the elements of the international system that’s trying to prevent proliferation of nuclear technology, weapons technology, and missile technology. It was predictable that as soon as the United States broke it someone else would break it too. And shortly after, China approached Pakistan with sort of a similar agreement. I don’t know exactly where it stands now but it’s clear that’s what they would do.

Russia will probably do the same and others will do the same. Once you open the door others are going to follow. And that is a serious blow to the whole non-proliferation system. So anything that India does, Pakistan is going to try and balance. I guess that’s the way to disaster.

That’s why there’s a very serious critique of the U.S. agreement with India within the disarmament community. People like Gary Milhollin, for example, very sharply criticized it. Michael Krepon who’s the founder of the Stimson Center and a major specialist, has an article in a recent issue of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists warning that this could very well lead to the breakdown of all nonproliferation systems. I think he ends up his article by saying that Bush wants this agreement to be his legacy and Krepon says, “Yeah, maybe it will be his legacy, but it may mean the end of the species when you think of the way it could develop.”

Milhollin was also very bitter. He said for the United States it is being done partly just for commercial reasons. It opens exports markets in India. In fact, Condoleezza Rice testified in Congress to that effect: that it would have commercial value to the United States, it would open Indian markets for exports. Milhollin suggests, if I’m remembering correctly, that the main exports might be military jets. That’s exactly what we don’t want because that’s going to again be a trigger for escalation. India gets more advanced offensive military forces, Pakistan will want the same, and China will want the same.

Shank: And Japan will come to the United States asking for a stealth fighter jet…

Chomsky: And then it spreads over East Asia and beyond and you’re off and running. The world needs control of these exports, not escalation. India is playing a complex game. It’s apparently trying to maintain something of its traditional non-aligned role. So it’s agreeing to closer relations with the United States, but it’s also at the same time developing closer relations with China and insisting on its own independence as in the effort to renegotiate this deal.

Shank: You mentioned the existence of extremism in the diaspora, but looking internally within South Asia, how much has the U.S.-Pakistan alliance in the so-called war on terror been responsible for the rise of extremism in Pakistan? How is it fostering extremism, if it has at all?

Chomsky: I’m not sure it has. These are very complex problems internal to Pakistan. For example, is the United States concerned about Baloochi terror inside Iran, based in Pakistan? It’s probably fostering it. We don’t have any direct evidence but there have been clearly terrorist acts in Iran, which are based in the Baloochi areas in Pakistan. And it’s very likely that it’s part of the general U.S. program to disrupt Iran.

Shank: Actually the last time you and I talked, you speculated that United States was in Iran fostering ethnic division…

Chomsky: I would assume so. One has to be a little cautious when talking about terrorism. From the U.S. point of view, there’s good terrorism and bad terrorism. And Pakistan has its own problems. The Baloochi areas are very antagonistic to central rule for good reasons. Pakistan also has complex relations with the Northwest Territories and the tribal areas. It’s held together in a very fragile fashion, Pakistan. The United States supports the central government and is claiming that it’s not acting as militantly as the United States would like to control its sub-populations. And if it tried to, the country might blow up. Musharraf has to walk a very delicate line, also with regard to allowing some democratic opening in the country, which is not easy.

Shank: If extremism is on the rise in South Asia, which a lot of people say it is, how does one go about undermining extremism, in this case religious extremism?

Chomsky: In India and Pakistan there is a very dangerous development. One of the roots of the BJP is a quasi-fascist Hindu extremist movement. And for India that is extremely dangerous, as is Muslim extremism, as is Christian extremism in the United States. These are very dangerous movements. They are not inherently destructive. They could take a constructive path but that’s not the way they usually develop.

How do you combat them? The same way you combat any other dangerous movement: education, organization, looking at the issues that make them arise. Often they arise out of real or perceived oppression, as a reaction to it. So, for example, take Islamic radicalism. A large measure of it was a reaction to the fact that secular nationalism was destroyed -- partly because of its own internal corruption, partly because of external force.

When you destroy the opportunities for secular alternatives to develop, people aren’t going to give up. They may turn to religious movements for identity. That’s one standard reaction to oppression and a loss of opportunity.

You can see it happening very clearly in the Islamic world, the Muslim world. In fact, the United States and Israel both fostered religious extremist movements in an effort to undermine secular nationalism. Hamas, for example, is an outgrowth of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was supported by Israel as an attempt to undermine the secular Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). Hezbollah was the direct result of the Israeli conquest of part of Lebanon, in an effort to destroy the secular PLO -- and ended up with Hezbollah on their hands.

The United States has almost always tended to support the most extreme religious fundamentalist group in the region. Take Saudi Arabia, the oldest and most valued ally of the United States and also the most extreme Islamic fundamentalist state. By comparison, Iran looks like a flourishing democracy. And there are good reasons for it. I don’t mean good in a moral sense. There are understandable reasons.

The United States supported Saudi Arabia against the threat of secular nationalism, symbolized mainly by Nasser. They were very much concerned that Nasser might move to direct the resources of the region to the population of the region, for development and so on. And that’s not how it’s supposed to work. The wealth of the region is supposed to flow to the west with a kind of payoff to the local managers. That didn’t seem to be Nasser’s program. He was a pretty harsh tyrant himself but secular and possibly with the thread of a populist aspect.

The same happened when the Qasim coup took place in Iraq in 1958. U.S. and British intelligence assumed that it was Nasserite in origin. They thought this might be the spread of a secular, nationalist development that would try to appropriate and gain control of the resources in the region and use them for internal development and growth. It’s always been a danger.

One of the barriers to that has been religious fanaticism. Similarly, inside Pakistan, the Zia-ul-Haq regime, which did drive the country towards religious extremism, was very strongly supported by the United States and its Saudi ally. During those years, the Reagan years, that’s when Saudi Arabia was developing its network of Madrassas, religious extremist schools. Zia-ul-Haq was introducing Islamic extremism in the higher educational system, in social life, and so on, fully supported by the United States because this was part of their global policies.

Gossip@TeaTime

2007-11-29T23:04:00.000+05:30

Though Cin has some kind of "firebrand" nature of posts, but often they become nice(rich) example of Lolism. Her last post, the Dumb Blond, was not jerky, it was picturesque; it appears surreal though you think a bit, its a complete unadulterated truth. No doubt Keshi, picked the theme with Lara Croft like pace, and now so, the whole Dumbness issue has become academic matter of Girl's world. Spice up yourself. Yesterday (28th), at 3AM when I was cajoling with my laptop, I saw Cin's post, and I was sure the day will have funny moments. So when I entered into coffee room of my office, sipping self made half water - half milk-little sugar with a lot of tea infusions diffusing randomly to create some intelligent order, tea, I found myself as a grand spectator of heatly Cricket discussion. Remember, India has taught me that the easiest way to kill your time is to be in mid of a cricket, politics or SRK-Amitabh-Bollywood discussion. (By the way, such type of Indian philosophy is known to every Indian, and when Shashi Tharoor tried to exemplify this philosophy (in a sense of his grand study), Chandrahas Choudhury in his blog -- The Middle Stage ,has rightly made an intellectual comic of him) . So here goes conversation between two of my company mates (call them A and B):-

A:- I think Sachin should retire, and he should become Indian Coach. (his seriousness reflected as if he is next Gorbachev)
B:-Why do you want to make him Indian coach, he should better remain as a player. (what an idiot person I am talking to)
A:- No for the future of Indian Team, he should retire. (Retire Sachin, Retire ... your every delay is a statement of anti-patriotism).
B:-Hmm... Sachin cannot be a good coach ... you know this AAmmmiiiir,..umm..., In ... Sohaib Malik,..., no player hears him ... (fool, what you are discussing on; there were mixed smiles around his lip corners)
A:-Amm, what do you want to say ...
B:-See Sachin will not be heard by the players. He is not ... (collecting the correct word)
A:-Why he will not be heard? Every body will hear him ... you are comparing Sachin with Sohaib ( B should be instantly guillotined)
B:- He is not authoritative. You know Sourabh Ganguly is the better person.
A:-Sachin is a better person ...
B:-Sourabh was not hearing Sachin when Sachin was captain.
A:-How you know that Sourabh was not hearing Sachin (now this is axiomatic, boy you are stuck)
B:-Sachin was not able to command Sourabh.
A:-HOW DO YOU KNOW THIS?
B:-Sachin is kinda soft guy.
A:-People like you are stupid, you don't know meaning of your words (tug of war)
B:-You are stupid, you do not know how to discuss.
A:-What has happened to your mental condition ...

So the fight had begun, though, as their discussions were not time bound to company work (how can it be!), I left the place.
............

Manisha Panday is writing some really good posts in Hindi. The quality of her Hindi Literature assures me that Hindi has great future.

...........

Anton Chekhov's 201 short stories can be read from this place. If you have a lightened soul, you will like them.

Quickies Status

2007-11-28T20:21:00.000+05:30

You may be thinking that I have stopped posting to my technical blog, Quickies, however I have serious plans to reframe it. The real problem is blogger, which does not provide enough resources to edit a technical blog. Or may be I have lot many requirements which blogger need not provide. Some of the requirements are:-

Latex support.
Tabbed windows for post/discussion/comments.
Ability to open links in tabbed window within a post.
Highly linked posts.
And many more ... nice visuals, graphic tools, etc.

I am planning to do some javascript coding, my own design of templates. So please wait for updates/changes at Quickies for few months.

Is Education becoming too costly ... ? Part 3

2007-11-27T23:21:00.000+05:30

Economy, Education and The Balance -- Consider the expenses when one studies for M.B.B.S degree at Private Medical colleges. Based on common information, it seems to be any thing between 10Lac to 30Lac rupees. If we add expenses for MD degree, this will come close to 50Lacs. With such a huge investment over studies, it is likely that the degree holder will look for smart returns. Clearly opening door gates of medical education on the basis of huge expenditure is not good for society. Another thing that I have observed over the years is Industry and Institute interaction. If the bias of Industry is towards education, then things are in balance. The concerned student will have strong foundation which will help him in future to build his career. However because of the economic interest of companies, involvement of teachers in financial benefits and prime interest of students in employment, the whole education process gets severely damaged. Economy and Education should have a balance, and if you have to build a strong nation, there should be large emphasis on education. Too much involvement of economy can jeopardizes the system, it has an imbalancing impact.
In last three posts(including this one), I have just touched the scenario of education system in our country. I somehow feel that more than the issue of reservation, the greed of middle class of India can affect the essence of education. The society should be democratic towards qualities of education.

Is Education becoming too costly ... ? Part 2

2007-11-25T18:50:00.000+05:30

So, as I observed, there was dilution of courses and examination right from primary school level. Sadly, there was no effort from the system to solve this problem at College level (under graduate level). Under graduate studies is no longer easily available for all economic categories of society.

Unorganized and costly Under Graduate studies --- an average Indian is not economically strong. There is no respect in society towards people who have good education, though society respects people who have thick purse, who have wealth. Under graduate studies are foundation stone for skill sets a man should have, to grow his career in comprehensive way. However instead of developing their skill sets most of the students are preparing for public/private service examinations. This, earlier, involved students preparing for Indian/State Government examinations, ranging from Banking services, Railways, PSUs to UPSC, Defense. For those who wanted technical skills, IIT-JEE, state examinations, AIIMS were prime examinations. In the pre-globalization era when every thing was run by Government, there was not much professional approach towards these examinations, and it was almost dependent on endeavor of candidate to succeed in examinations. However after globalization the situation did not remain the same. Cost of goods increased, and many a processes got refinement; however for economically weak section of India (which comprises major population of India) this meant increase of opportunities provided you spend deliberately (often to alarming level). In the same era dozens of engineering colleges mushroomed in South Indian states (Karnataka, Tamil Nadu) and private medical colleges offered degrees. With the success of IIMs and IT industries several B schools emerged, and the middle category of India suddenly moved towards them. But this time money become a prominent threshold, also the system lacks way for identifying and uplifting talented/intelligent folks. Remember, every thing has become too professional, the coaching institutes are too costly, thus even if a student is intelligent or meticulous he may not be able to ascertain all focal points he should look for. Thus a large section of students coming from humble background lacked a Guided(professional) process.
This whole event has many sad effects. Most of the students of technical colleges (particularly private colleges) lack many ingredients required to comprehend subject matter. Since in these colleges, the management has primary focus to make profit, so the faculty used to be underpaid, less skilled. No doubt IT companies complain about quality of Indian human resources. Further since rich/ economically stable can only avail high end colleges/institutes, so most of the opportunities go to those section only. This situation will be more visible in coming years, probably the system will have to rethink about standards of its technical institutes. IITs, IIMs, NITs, State Institutes; similarly AIIMS, NLS, IISc, do not cater whole population; their entrance process has become professional to the limit of affordablity, and whether they are a big success is a serious discussion matter. After consuming (supposedly) best mind of country, have they given any CV Raman or Bose ?

(... to be continued ...)

Is Education becoming too costly ... ?

2007-11-24T15:41:00.000+05:30

Thus, I am back to Bangalore. It was (as should be) very nice and refreshing Home going, also the social thinker within me was kept alive (in silent mode) and lot a many social fabrics were unthreading themselves in my imagination. I do not have wide study of Social constructs, neither I have the chance to participate in any relevant discussion, so I am not going to make any assertion, rather it will be a compilation. Of the many a things that touched my mind set during this journey, education was one of them. Particularly the cost of a "good" education can be any thing these days. Also, degrees are easily available for those who have money. This essentially means, you can buy engineering, medical, business management and many other degrees.
Dilution of Courses and Examination -- The standard 10th and 12th examination (CBSE) has become lot easier. I have heard of Sample Papers being distributed among students, in Kendriya Vidyalaya (they conduct pre-exam tests using these papers) and there are good chances that similar question do appear in the main examination. Interestingly the easing up of examination was done because of over-burden reports, suicide attempts, and every body should "feel good". This caused zooming of exam results to fit in 90% range, where still, skill set of student was limited to the sample papers. The system has no way to encourage intelligent students, rather it encourages parrots, the mediocre. Such a system also encourages planned approach towards study, where print outs, guides, supplementary books take place of Course books. The teacher comes to class, teaches student in very methodical way, the theme of subject matter gets lost in the way, and the foundation of child is built up in a weak manner. This whole "training" for examination requires a "dedicated" approach, which is surely not in the hand of Government schools. No doubt the result of students from rural areas have not improved much, moreover we loose raw talents (folks who were intelligent in mathematics in particular) very earlier. How good are Navodaya Schools ? This I am leaving to critics to decide, but surely they are serving very small fraction of population. How strong children are in their Geometry classes ?

(... to be continued ... )

Going To Home

2007-11-12T22:51:00.000+05:30

Finally, going to home ... and for almost 10 days. So guys, I will not be updating this blog for those days. Moreover, I have planned to meet Janki Vallabh Shastri, noted poet, will discuss condition of Socialism in society with people and will watch lot of movies in Cinema Halls!

Nandigram's Diwali

2007-11-09T22:08:00.000+05:30

Places like Nandigram are not on the map of shining India. Actually shining India does not need places like Nandigram, Singur, Mukundapuram, Kalahandi, Palamu and many other small towns. Most of these places are occupied by unprogressive people, or you call them uncivilized people. The definition of civilization can be very tricky for analytical engineers, but in shining India the definition is very explicit --- the one who thinks he has the moral right to get all comforts of world. Actually the world of shining India is addicted of doing revolutions. They disliked the normal functioning of Public Sector Units (PSUs) , so they put a logical point -- it is not the job of Governments to run PSUs, and they started closing them. It thinks that Industries should be frequent in its operations, so there came a group of unlisted daily workers. It has done lot many things --- it diluted the conception of socialism, it gave us politicians who do not need to discuss over issues --- they should not wait for ideas to be implemented, it told us to listen to SRK and read TOI, and most importantly it told us to earn, love and idolise money.

Shining India is busy in bursting crackers and discussing release of Om Shanti Om and Saawariya. There is a News --- there is a village called Nandigram, the villagers are living as refugee in their own village. Hey, good script piece!

Newbie

2007-11-07T00:14:00.000+05:30

"Do, you have this T-Shirt in XL size ?". Actually I took "M" size TShirt as part of my Company gift few days ago, and since 6-pack is a very very remote idea to my own existence, so this time I was sure I will buy XL size T-Shirt from the shop.
"Sir, ... No sir, I think there is no XL size T-Shirt ... sir, you don't want L size T-Shirt ?". There were many "Sirs" in her lines, and they were not totally meant for me, She was actually perfecting her skill as sales woman.
"No ... I need XL size only?"
"Sir, please wait 2 minutes ... I think there is no more XL ... sir I will just look in store ... ?" The blue, light navy blue combination T Shirt, seemd to be comfortable and, very unusually I was on a shopping spree. In 5-6 minutes she came back, and ... "Sir do you want to try this ...?". She started to remove the cloth hanger, but her "just become boss" intervened ... "Don't open T-Shirt this way ... open it this way ?", "Now onwards open it like this way ... ", "Why you have opened it this way ...?". She kept silence, and gave me the T-Shirt.

"I will take it ...". "Ok, sir, shall we go to counter ...". She was a bit hurried, actually she wanted to deliver her selling capabilities by making it sure that she has sold one T Shirt". "Aha, wait ... I am looking for some more ... !". "Sir, you want this ... sir this one ...?". To the state of creating uncomfort for me, she was running along my movements in the shop. Neverthless, I kept myself cool ... and I chose one more T-Shirt. Her suggestions were on," ... sir will you take this one ... sir thissss "
"My purchase is over. I want bill."
"Yes sir."
At the counter, the owner or manager of the shop told her to pack the T-Shirts.
"Oh, do it this way?"
"Why you are so lazy"
"How much is the rebate over this T-Shirt?"
"25% ...". She was still busy with arranging the T-Shirts.
"It is 35% ...". The manager looked heavily on the girl, when I reminded him of 35% rebate.
.......
"Thank you sir, thank you!"
Newbie ...

Shiny Toy Guns --- Next Gen Ad

2007-11-05T00:52:00.000+05:30

You would have watched this ad commercial(Motorola's RAZR 2), if you have browsed any (Indian) Television Channel:-

The Music of this ad is Technophonical and at the same time, cheesy, stylish and future gen type. Its from Shiny Toy Rock Band, and Lyrics goes like this:-

Hello little boys, little toys
We're the dreams you're believing
Crawling up the walls
Running down your face
Razor sharp, razor clean
Feel the weapon's sensation
On your back with loaded guns

Now hold on to me, pretty baby
If you wanna fly
I'm gonna melt the fever, sugar
Rolling back your eyes

We're gonna ride the race cars
We're gonna dance on fire
We're the girls Le Disko
Supersonic overdrive

So what's it gonna take, Silver Shadow believer?
Spock rocker with your dirty eyes
It's a chance
Gonna move, gonna fuck up your ego
Silly boy, gonna make you cry

Now hold on to me, pretty baby
If you wanna fly
I'm gonna melt the fever, sugar
Rolling back your eyes

We're gonna ride the race cars
We're gonna dance on fire
We're the girls Le Disko
Supersonic overdrive (x2)

If what they say is true
You're a boy and I'm a girl
I will never fall in love with you

We're gonna ride the race cars
We're gonna dance on fire
We're the girls Le Disko
Supersonic overdrive (x3)

Very shiny? Actually Mobile Set ads were never so handsome and involving. During the recent T20 world cup, this one from Nokia (Nokia Prism) was quite common:-

There is another ad from LG, for their Black Series mobile, though I could not trace its Indian Commercial ad clip. Where are Samsung, Sony ... ? Ad please ...

Continuation

2007-11-04T00:24:00.000+05:30

If you keep on writing, it is sure you will find some improvement in yourself. I have not been doing the same for a while, and I think I need to be disciplined. I have given fresh look to this blog, thanks to the template from John Oxton. Meanwhile, my fast track technical blog, Quickies is getting shape. Actually Quickies will contain my frequent Science, Mathematics and Technical observations, and it will be semi-research, semi-chat kind of blog. Well, it will take one more week to get the shape, I have desired for it.
This blog will remain my personal blog, and I will really like to discuss human matters, many thing that I usually do not discuss with people,...and I do not want to impose any constraint over myself ... Amen...

Laptop Says I am Back ...

2007-11-03T22:30:00.001+05:30

I was depressed quite a bit as my Laptop was not working smoothly for many a weeks. Actually, till last year my Laptop was in warranty period (HP), and HP service center guys have changed the motherboard, HardDisk perhaps 2-3 times during this period --- the usual problem was system not getting powered up (in simple language the Orange LED was not blinking ...). Almost similar kind of problem started popping up for some weeks, and my brother went to HP Service center, but then the charges were quite not affordable . They demanded some 2500 rupees for adapter, some 4000-5000 for battery, again some thousand rupees for CDROM ... and these charges were quoted before complete diagnosis. No doubt I told my brother to leave Laptop's checkup for few other months ...
When I wake up today morning, I saw my Laptop ... and its pale, silent state made be really worried. Suddenly, my sixth sense stepped in, and told me to play with the hardware aspects of the power adapter. Actually, earlier I found that by putting power adapter in some position, the Laptop used to start up. However some times the Laptop could not boot up, whatever be the configuration I put the adapter in. But then I was in mood to take risk ... I opened the adapter ... which is not tough ... you can even use sharp end of a spoon to open it ... (not recommended, ;-) ) ... Interestingly the internal adapter circuit did not seem too complex, also my work was going to be lot easier. I used razor blade, and sliced the plastic sheath over wire entering to adapter(from laptop side) ... and to my excitement the wire (which was flattened, breaded copper wire sheath) had a disjoint at one point. I simply connected them, put tape over it (5 rupees investment) ... and the Laptop got powered up! No doubt, I saved lot of money, but more than that my worry about the state of extremely dear some Laptop ended.
Contrary to a Desktop, when a Laptop gets into problem we go to its authorized service center. Often the charges become so unaffordable that it causes abandonment of the system, though I am sure most of the times problems can be solved by simple engineering. Actually many of the devices inside a system, are quite fault tolerant, but then Service Center guys are adamant to throw off hardware just for the sake of ... laziness, company policy or ...! I am smelling presence of tonnes and tonnes of reusable hardware abandoned in this particular way ...

Everything is in place

2007-09-17T12:27:00.000+05:30

So, now I can say --"everything is in place". My backache is fine -- thanks to the roof, the plain, flat, hard roof ... that magically cured my back. My brother's study is also on track, and with time he is able to understand merit of hard work and I am finding that he has become curious towards many thing. Career of my sister is also on track ...
In last few days, I watched a lot of Television -- T20, the usual Aaj Tak chirrups, Music contests --Sa Re Ga Ma and Indian Idol and lot many movies(though in bit and pieces). These days, it seems that Electronic Media has reached to streets and on TV set you can hear street like noise. Obviously to make such noise, Electronic media needs lot many journalists where quantity often affects quality. When I was 10-12, I saw many movies and the rate was something like 2-3 movies per day (thanks to neighbors; two of them had video library shop). I think I have to wait for some years from now ... where there will be enough movies in stock which I have never seen.

So how was my Birthday on 28th July

2007-08-19T02:20:00.000+05:30

I will not say that I do not give special attention to my birthdays. Specially, I take some resolutions, some aims ...and, though resolutions do break ... but aims, interestingly always get accomplished(well my aims are not so heroic kinda). This time, I planned to celebrate my birthday myself. Actually, my brother who stays with me, was at home (my hometown) and my birthday was on Saturday this time, so I planned something new for my own goodness.
The first thing that came to my mind was to release my project "Tarang", which is one of my three personal, open source projects that I have planned to work on for rest of my life. Well "Tarang" is quite a bit technical at this stage, and at present it will be comprehensive to developers only. I chose 12O'clock, (the usual birthday bashing time) for its release. And yes, finally I released it ... I really felt nice at that moment --- it was not that I have submitted it at BOOST, or I have completely released it in public, ... neither I have done some really extreme geeky thing ... nevertheless I enjoyed the moment. One cause was obvious --- "Tarang came on some surface", and other cause was --- it was quite a moment for a person who worked so hard on it, that his evenings, and weekends were well defined, quite mechanical for almost 6 months (even more). And you know, when you work like this, there are good enough chances that you will keep loosing friends. Those who say that there are people who do understand, have very weak micro level analytical skill!
I was waiting for phone calls by 12 ... Interestingly none came ... my parents thought I would be sleeping, my sister Nandi was ill ... But as the morning started I got lot of phone calls. Though all of the calls that I got, were not very charming kind ... and I also answered in a very formal sense ... thank you ... great, you have remembered me ... and so on ... As usual ... I took it as a reality ... Most usually, any friendship has an interesting attribute --- people do not want you to be much socially conscious, they want to be in a closed system with you. If you are describing a bigger canvas, of which they may not be a part, of which they do not have prolonged benefits, there are good chances that they will abandon you. Please do not analyze these lines keeping usual meaning of canvas, benefits, etc. However, if you have time, keep thinking.
Cook came in morning. After that, I went to bank. Borrowed some amount ... I waited whole evening, I thought I may have to spend some money over party ...

Niyativaad ... Niyativaadi

2007-05-17T02:43:00.000+05:30

God doesn't hear,

so I kept telling to human beings,

but human beings left me deserted...

My friends often blame me, either for being optimistic or pessimistic ... but there lies an idea of being realisitic. Optimism infuses faith and confidence in people, but slight unsuccess often leads to catastrophe. Pessimistic approach always lacks creativity and has lot of resistance to vision. To keep, balance I often turn towards being realistic.

I never made much observations, it is time that has tought me, to not expect much from human beings,-- they may be your friends, family or whoever. It also has tought me to stop thinking about yourself, about your own existence and sometimes about your own happiness.

... These all thoughts have somewhere a linkage with a game called "creativity". For me the status of accepting the situation ("niyati"), is the most courageous act.

Returning Back ...

2007-05-17T02:00:00.000+05:30

I could not complete the sequence I have started in my last post. In fact this will be my first post in 2007. I will again keep writing about myself, my naive thoughts and the world I am involved in. It will be hard to continue writing from the point, where I have stopped in my last mail, but the jest is that after submerging my self in complete chaos, I reconfirmed my thought that platonic attitude towards life is though very dry, but it has great protective sense. We all know what life is composed of, what can be the possible forthcoming scenarios, ofcourse, there are lot of strange situations that can possibly evolve, but then still there are always some chance to do usual calculations. The twisting factor is that, though we observe things, neverthless we are element, we are pawn of the whole scenario. Experiments become tricky when we become part of it!

Beginning of the Cycle

2006-12-23T03:30:00.000+05:30

In many ways 1^st January was true representative of the activities I was involved in through out this year. I wake up perhaps by 7A.M. in morning, gave a glimpse to my laptop (I promised on 31^st December to my mother that I will not do any computer stuff on 1^st January), and looked the fog outside … I will not say that I have been lazy while waking up, but perhaps the situation in home was not of much celebration as I have to leave home on 2^nd January, and thus I was a bit passive in response.

“Why don’t you talk once with Manish?” – My mother started querying about my friend Manish (we are friends from class 2) who has to return back to Bangalore, also.

“Well, Ma! He has already told that he will go one week later on … there is almost no point to talk with him on this issue”… Ma, like all mothers think their sons/daughters as children … and takes no cognizance of the fact that me, my friends are no longer class eighth folks … It is another matter that I was also quizzed that why Manish was not going back with me – there have been no fights between us (in fact I don’t remember whether I had fought with Manish ever or not) – may be his ailing job, or may be he has some family issues, I couldn’t pin point on the matter going with him. Relations are always hard to delve into … if you go too deep inside cacophony starts, if you go too far away you can’t hear the music. Life has taught me; better keep a fixed distance in almost all cases!

After promising my mother on 31^st December, I found in evening that I have shift + deleted my codes that I have written very meticulously. Unluckingly I have not mailed them to any person, so that I could retrieve it from mail box and neither, I had fragments of those codes. I knew I have to write again. One may want to know that what I have been coding those days? (In fact many will not like to know this thing,J). Somehow the year, 2005, passed into practicing codes for computer languages or software kits for me. Late in 2005 I come to know that designing software codes is pivotal to success of big software systems and it will be chief tool for mapping elements of subject matters – Physics, Mathematics and other one, to Programming world. I did not have any software design course beforehand, and neither I wanted my knowledge to get hindered by thoughts of my Professors or even friends … so I liked to do the design naturally – as it appears, the logical flow that it had … I knew that this is not going to pay back any career advantage to me and certainly I am not going to master any subject matter (that the curriculum is most worried of). But then I have never been conventional in approach towards studies, (neither I think knowing a single subject to ultimate depth will solve any problem occurring in nature in cleanest way) I thought let dip into death once again! Yeah its death, because this is what friends in some or other way let you think of,J. I think though I have not written any poem, I became poetic in one jerk …

11A.M., 1^st January, 2006 … I was sitting on my bench … Laptop was on … folks who were in my project perhaps were enjoying elixir of life … Mummy was cooking food silently …

...Compilation...

2006-12-15T02:35:00.000+05:30

2006 have been a very important year for me. I will like to compile, illustrate the experiences I have gained this year. I will like to talk about my friends, my family, my life, of course my technical works and above all where I am heading towards (as it appears now). This may often seem boring, inconsequential to the reader of my blog, but then there may be some one to catch the points. Yeah, this time I will like to write with full freedom from myself, :).

Different Times

2006-11-22T09:38:00.000+05:30

Industry teaches discipline, which I think is a trick to get its work done :). I have been doing job for almost 11 months and the bottomline is that I have lost my freedom, the fun that I used to have when I was completely free !!! I am not kinda person who flock with lot of friends; my fun, my freedom means walking, travelling from one place to another, talking with unkown faces and spending time for almost no purpose. In fact I am more creative in those situations ... but alas where is vacation, where is leave ...

Whether I will ever get those days, whether I will get out of the Industrial black hole, keeps me worried ... I always played hard with those equations ... where I used to get solution for a system under different constraints ... I am finding that I have become one of those systems ... completely trapped in something I never wanted for myself ...

Aasha Ji Ka Pyara Interview ...

2006-11-05T05:12:00.000+05:30

As told by Mr Bhagwant of BBC on a different public discussion group

Asha was on a UK concert tour and had scheduled in 2 dates for Wembley
Conference Centre and Birmingham. The promoter had apparently booked a
"last minute" additional concert in London the following weekend. I
was a little sceptical about this last minute thing as Wembley is not
an easy venue to hire and you really have to book it well in advance. I
suspect it was called "'last minute" so as perhaps not to
disappoint Asha too much if few people turned up.

As it was, the last of the shows did not have as many people in the
audience as her first 2 shows, but it WAS the best show. I say this
because having seen her first show, which I reported on RMIM, in
comparison, she was far more relaxed, at ease, had more stamina, was
less irritable and frankly wanted to carry on singing. I think she
found her second breath and actually enjoyed the experience; whereas,
initially in her first show she was tired, losing track of which song
to sing and lacked warmth with the audience. To be honest I think she
can be excused these minor faults as many of us when we have had to
travel across continents are less than "together" owing to jet lag,
weather, travelling between venues etc; coupled with the fact that she
was inundated with interview requests from the likes of me.

Because of the clamour for her time, naturally it was proving quite
difficult to get a commitment from her son Anand Bhosle and/or her
promoter. I won't bore you all with the details of what happened and
who said what to whom etc. Suffice to say it was not easy getting the
interview.

At around 4pm on Tuesday 13th June I got a call of Asha's whearabouts
and that she was willing to go "live" that night. This was a bit of
a surprise as I had completely given up hope of getting her on the
show; indeed I was preparing to produce a news programme that featured
an interview with Rageh Omaar, the former BBC journalist whose
reporting of the Iraq war in his inimitable dispassionate manner won
him many plaudits. A colleague at the BBC who had done most of the
running around finally managed to get the job done and had got me her
daytime telephone number.

When I rang the number it was answered by Kamal Barot; a bit of a
surprise as I had not realised that she lived in London, but a pleasant
surprise nonetheless.
She passed me onto Asha and we spoke briefly and agreed that she would
be my guest via telephone at 8 o'clock that evening.

I rang Satish Kalraji and asked if he would be sporting enough to
assist me with the interview. Satishji immediately agreed and we were
all set for the show.
One of the things I normally do before interviewing a guest is to make
sure about an hour before they are due to come "on-air" that they
are actually present at the location they are supposed to be. This
prevents any last minute surprises. However because I was busy
producing the Asian News Hour and trying to set up Rageh Omaar, who was
about to jet off to Geneva, I was far too pre-occupied and did not have
the time to check Asha out.

At 8 o'clock my own show began and I played in "Aankhon Se Jo Utari
Hai Dil Mein" from Phir Wohi Dil Laya Huun. Whilst this was playing I
finally managed to ring the number she gave where she would be at. I
was told by this elderly sounding gentleman that Asha had left the
residence and had gone out to dinner!
I was flabbergasted. Do I just gamely carry on and not mention I had
her on the show after the song had finished or do I allude to the fact
that I had expected her but that she somehow forgot about the show. I
decided to do the latter and bought some time as I frantically off-air
tried to ring around trying to locate her wherabouts. I had cleared the
board with my other interviews and had left the hour for Asha alone and
now I was stuck.

Anyway, because I had several telephone numbers to hand, I eventually
rang her hotel, in the hope that she may have gone there before the
meal. Hallellujah. She was there. After a few quick niceties I lined
her up. Satishji by this time was patiently listening to the show on
his telephone at home and also must have been wondering if all this was
going to be a waste of time.

Well the show started properly with Asha on the line and after the
greetings, she mentioned that she was in London with her 2
grandchildren and that the day passed quickly with them in tow; indeed
they had gone sight-seeing to Windsor Castle and the changing of the
guard at Buckingham Palace. She said that she sat in the car whilst
they went out as she had done all of this before. She said that she was
also busy preparing for her shows.

She spoke about doing her riyaz and that she woke up at 7am to do
riyaz which she did in an adjoining room in the hotel so as not to
awaken other family members. The riyaz went on till around 8.45am.
I asked her about the importance of riyaz and could she manage to do
without it. She replied that it was possible to do without riyaz but
one always got the feeling that the songs were not true; it was as if
someone who exercised every morning abstained for one day and they
would also feel that something was not quite right.

BS: Would it be true to say that todays singers rather than doing
riyaz, are looking for a short-cut to success.
AB: No I wouldn't just say that about todays singers but that the
whole world is trying to find a short-cut to success.
BS: I attended your show last Saturday and thoroughly enjoyed it.
AB: Did you like it?
BS: Absolutely. It was a wonderful show. How does it feel for you
personally when so many people come to see you.
AB: It feels great. Its much better than receiving any award. To feel
the love of the audience is quite something.

At this point Asha expressed some concern about her "last minute"
show and whether anyone would turn up. I tried to re-assure her that it
would be fine (in fact as I already said, it was the best of the
shows).

BS: I noted within the audience many elder citizens who I am sure some
30 or so years ago had warned their children not to listen to Asha's
cabaret songs lest it corrupt their morals (I said this half in jest in
order to get a response) and yet here they were attending the same
Asha's show and looking forward to her singing cabaret songs.
AB: "Laughing" - Yeh To Waqt Ki Baat Hai. Taqdeer Ki Bhi Baat
Hai.
BS: Within the audience at the London show, there was Anandji of
Kalyanji Anandji fame, indeed you brought him on to the stage to guest
conduct the orchestra. What was your working relationship with them.
AB: Kalyanjibhai as a music director was very well known but
Anandjibahi was also a prolific composer, indeed of his most popular
songs for me were "Yeh Mera Dil" and "O Saathi Re, Tere Bina Bhi
Kya Jeena". We never knew when we rehearsed with them whose song it
was, we only found out a bit later. It would be Kalyanjibhai's song
one day and Anandjibhai's song the next. We didn't feel as if we
were working when we were with them, they were very friendly and
"hasmukh" people, always joking and never being too serious. But in
getting the maximum out of us, they were very particular. They managed
to get the best out of us working from morning till night.
BS: Anandji said that he was a few months older than you and he too
like you is very fit and energetic, he was conducting the orchestra
animatedly and was dancing. In fact your Cha Cha Cha was really
exhilarating. I must admit I was a little ashamed of myself because for
the life of me I couldn't do the Cha Cha Cha.
AB: Why not. If anyone sets their mind to it they can do anything.
BS: Will you teach me the Cha Cha Cha?
AB: Of course. If I can teach RD(Burman) I can teach you too.

At this point I mentioned that I had some questions from various people
that I wished to ask and that we also had Satish Kalra from USA on the
line, who I introduced. (For some reason I was getting tremendous
feedback on the line from USA and for the remainder of Satishji's
chat with Asha, I was busy trying to reduce the noise levels by fading
in and out of Satishji and Asha).

Satish Kalra: Ashaji first of all I would like to thank you on behalf
of all music lovers in the USA for giving us the time in your busy
schedule. There are many music lovers in America who feel that our
music is being adulterated too much by western influences. What are
your views?
AB: Ahhm...long pause. There's no real benefit in expressing my views
about this because people will do what they want to do. Actually
nowadays, people don't think too much about creativity and just use
what they can. "Issi Liye Yeh Sab Sangeet Ka Golmaal Ho Raha Hai".
If they thought about what they can accomplish from a pure musical
perspective it would be a lot better.

SK ( I lost Satishji momentarily because of the poor connection but I
think this was the gist of the question): We have gained something and
lost something from these influences. If we have gained anything, what
do you think it is?
AB: Paa Rahe Hain, Kuchh Kho Rahe Hain. Bahut Sa Kuchh Kho Diya Hai
Humne.
SK: Aap Kah Rahi Hain Ke Zyaada Khoya Hai, Paaya Kam Hai
AB: Laughs under her breath and says reluctantly "Haan"
SK: If I may be permitted to ask an Ajeeb sa question. Jaise aaj ka
sangeet chhichhora lagta hai - if I can use that word - by the same
token song lyrics have become very cheap. You may recall the 50s film
Dhool Ka Phool in which you sang a duet with Mahendra Kapoor - Jhugti
Gata Gaati Hawa Sapne Jagaaye in which there was a line Hothon Pe Hai
Chhaye Tere, Hothon Ke Saaye. The censor board instructed the producer
of the film to change the line to
Aankhon Pe Hain Chhaye Tere Jalwon Ke Saaye. Now after hearing the
lyrics of today, what can you say was objectionable to the censor board
in those days?
AB: Us waqt censor board badi kadak thi. Aaj kal censor board hai ki
naheen maluum hi nahin hai. Noawdays with songs beamed from HongKong
and Singapore and beyond, sab chal raha hai sab.

SK then posed the question asked by Anand on RMIM:
" when is her next album with Shridhar Phadke in Marathi
which she recorded 2 years back getting released /

AB: I haven't done the album yet but am about to do it.

SK asked her Kaustubh Pingle's question:
When would her autobiography come in the market....
AB: I am working on it and writing for it constantly but getting it
back "on line" is very difficult.
SK: Of your private songs, for example Ambuya Ki Daali Bole Kaali
Koyaliya and Geet Kitne Gaa Chuki Huun, do they have the same music
director and lyricist?
AB: The lyricist was someone respected but the music director was a
Ghosh... a Mr.Ghosh.
SK: Was the lyricist Bharat Vyas?
AB: The lyricist for Ambuya Ki Daali was Bharat Vyas but the lyricist
for Geet Kitne Gaa Chuki Huun koi baday writer thay... koi puraane
writer ka hai.
SK: There was a time when record companies would issue version records
of popular songs. In your career you have sung 4 such version songs. 2
from Shabab - Marna Teri Gali Mein and Mar Gaye Ham Jeete Jee and 2
from Amar - Udi Udi Chhayee Gata and Jaane Waale Se Mulaqat Na Hone
Paayi. Did you sing these songs originally for the film or as cover
versions or did Lata sing them afterwards and they were inserted in the
picture? What are your recollections?
AB: Mujhe Yaad Nahin Hai. Yeh To Bahut Purani Baatein Hain, Kuchh Yaad
Nahin Hai...Kaun Sa Gaana "Ujli Gata(sic)"...
SK: "clarifies the 2 songs from Amar
AB: sings Jaane Waale Se under her breath and says "Nahin Maine Nahin
Gaaya Yeh Gaana - Yeh To Didi Ne Gaaya Tha.
SK: Nahin - Aap Ka Gaaya Hua Hai, Colombia record se release hua tha
AB: Accha, mujhe yaad nahin hai. Bahut saal ho gaaye.

By now the interference/feedback was becoming too much and I had to
thank Satishji for his input and continue with the show.
BS: Ashaji, tell us what you feel when you listen to a song like
this...(I then proceed to play "chupke chupke mast niGaahen" from
EK TERI NISHAANI/1949).
She listens intently and after the first stanza asks "Yeh Kiska Hai
Yeh Gaana". I then tell her that the lyrics are by A.Shah and the
music director is Sardul Kwatra.
AB: Mujhe bilkul yaad nahin hai yeh gaana...(then she proceeds to hum
the song)...I then continue to play the song and she laughs approvingly
and says "Agar yeh gaana mujhe cassette banakar dein to bada mazaa
aaye ga. Main kabhi sunaayuun gi apne pothon ko ke main aisa gaati thi
ek zamane main".
I do not take credit for locating the song and proceed to talk about
the internet (which she says she has no interest in) and of the many
music lovers across the world who have diligently made a compilation of
her rare songs for their mutual listening pleasure...namely RMIM and
their 'meets' in the USA. The special Asha album contains many
rare songs and was compiled to celebrate her 70th birthday. I then also
play "hamaare dil pe tera ikhtyaar" from RAAT KI RANI/1949
AB: Arre yeh to mere life ka teesra gaana hai...teesra bhi
nahin...doosra hai
BS: Do you know who composed the song?
AB: Hansraj Behl...aur maine yeh gaaya tha koi Begum ke liye...naam
nahin yaad unka.
BS: There are many questions that have been sent to me by music lovers:
Arun asks if you sang Ae Mere Watan Ke Logo during the 65 conflict in
front of Lal Bahadur Shastri?
AB: Ae Mere Watan Ke Logo was composed for me and I had 6 rehearsals
for it. It was about to be recorded...we were initially going to go to
Delhi...then something happened...Dilip Kumar was there and some
important people turned up and Didi made an appearance. Didi rehearsed
for the song and I stepped aside and Didi sang the song.
BS: But what was the reason for you stepping aside especially after you
had rehearsed for it so intently?
AB: Maluum nahin abhi bahut saal ho gayen hai.
BS: Abhay Phadnis, Rakesh Sharma and Arun want a final clarification on
this matter; that you rehearsed so much for this song yet were unable
to ultimately sing it.
AB: Jo cheez apni taqdeer ki hoti hai who rah jaati hai, jo nahin hoti
hai who chali jaati hai. Yeh gaana bhi log bhuul jaayenge. Har cheez
kaal main nasht ho jaayegi...aap ko yaad rahega Asha Bhosle ki
acchhayee. Asha Bhosle kabhi kisi ke liye kuchh kahti nahin aur kisi ke
liye man mein bhi nahin rakhti. Jo mera hai woh mujhe mila, jo nahin
tha woh chala gaya.
BS: I think I understand what you are trying to say and you have said
it very well. Muzaffar saab asks if there is any song you have listened
to and wished you had sung it?
AB: I have never felt that about someone else's song but if I listen
to my old songs I feel that I could have done a better job. Let me tell
you about the song O Mere Sona Re Sona Re...uska recording hua ...chaar
baj gaaye the raat ke subha se, to main bahut thak gaayi thi. Mera zara
low pressure ki tendency hai, mera pressure low ho jaata hai jaldi. Us
din mujhko khaana nahin mila to pressure down ho gaya. To mujhe aisa
laga ke maine gaana bahut kharab gaya. Jab main ghar gayee maine khaana
bhi nahin khaaya, kuchh nahin kiya...tadpad tadpad kar rahi thi ekdum.
Raat ke 12 baje maine RD ko phone kiya..tab sirf RD hi the mere liye
music director...aur Pancham ne bola kya hua hai didi...maine bola
Pancham maine gaana aap ka kharab kar diya, tum phir isse retake karna,
paise main duun gi. RD ne kaha aap chinta mat karma, main isse subha
sunta huun aur aap ko sunwa deta huun aur aise waise kahke chhod diya.
Doosre din ek bada phoolon ka guldasta RD ne mujhe bheja aur us mein
likha ke aap ne ek naye music director ke liye itna socha, raat ke
baara baje aap ko neend nahin aayee. Mujhe iski appreciation ho rahi
aur is liye main yeh phool bhej raha huun.
BS: Sudhir asks if you were the artist who provided the humming
for the song from: ADL-E-JAHANGIR / Chand Sitare, Kirte Ishare,
Tum Ho Humare Hum Hain Tumhare (all the vocals are by: Talat)
The music was composed by: Pandit Husnlal & Bhagatram
AB: Tune kaisi thi?
BS: I haven't heard the song personally.
AB: Tell you the truth I have sung 13 thousand songs and I cannot
remember all of them.
BS: Not to worry, the next questioner asks if RDB ever helped her son
Hemant Bhosle on any film album? Hemant's album was Taxi Taxie.
AB: Album nahin tha, picture ka music tha. It was his first picture and
gave good music for it. Burman saab did not give him any support but he
sat in on the first recording so that he would be happy.
I then spoke about her first concert and the fact that she told the
joke about the lions and the mouse. I asked her to tell the joke again.
She said she wouldn't tell the joke now but that she would again at
the next concert on the 18th June and a few more besides.
She then spoke about her work at home, her recordings. She mentioned
that she was working with Ghulam Ali's son Aamir and that she had
recorded 3 songs with him and that another 5 still had to be done. I am
always looking out for a youngster who can come up with a good tune . I
don't watch television because I always feel that you could be doing
something more useful instead. I am also working on my autobiography
and that keeps me really busy.
BS: When will you publish your autobiography?
AB: It will take another 18 months and there's so much material to
collect, so many photographs, where I lived; I used to travel by train
from Borivili and my husband used to earn Rs100 a month on which I had
to manage. I remember the first time I went to learn singing and the
fee was Rs5/- and that was a huge amount in those days. So I have to
gather all the photos and get all of it written down. There's so much
to say and I wouldn't want people to think that Asha Bhosle was
always this way. I had to put up with a lot. After Pitaji died we went
through a lot and after I got married I went through even worse (
shaadi ke baad husband ko bahut kam bakhaar thi...bahut kashton se main
upar aayee huun)
BS: Did he like your songs?
AB: Who?
BS: Your husband.
AB: Maluum nahin...laughs...mujhko maluum nahin.
AB: Main aap ko apne husband ki baat bataati huun. Unhon ne kaha tha
ke..yeh jo anaaj hota hai na - woh khet mein phenk do, phenkte jaayo
- koi na koi ped to nikal hi aayega. Matlab ke, koi na koi gaana to
hit ho jaayega. Yeh na samjho ke main yeh gaauungi aur yeh nahi
gaauungi. Aise pahle hota hai ke main sad song hi gaauungi, qawwali
nahin gaauungi...nakhre hote hai na? Toh usne kaha tha ke nakhre na
karo...maluum nahin kismet kya nikaalne wali hai. Is liye maine har
style gaaya.
BS: Is ka matlab hai ki aap seekhte bhi hain.
AB: Barabar - Is ka matlab ki aap flexible ho jaate hain - har cheez
seekhne ke liye tayar ho jaate hain na.
BS: I would go further to say that you present a song in a totally
different light with your vocal acting. An actress may appear on screen
but it is you who provides the vocal emotions, nuances, nakhres.
AB: Yeh baat sahi hai. Mere Pitaji ek drama artist the aur unse hi
mujhe yeh kala mili hai acting ki.- - gaane mein acting karna, life
mein nahin.
BS: We spoke earlier of the "khush dil" nature of Anandji. You of
course worked very closely with another "khush dil insaan" and that
was my favourite singer Rafisaab. What are your memories of him?
AB: Rafisaab bade nek aadmi the. Kisi ki len den mein kuch nahin -
har waqt allah ka naam - kabhi kisi se jagda nahin. Mere se bahut
hota tha jagda - lekin kisi aur se nahin. Music director se kabhi
nahin kaha ke mujhe aap ne yeh kyuun kaha aur woh kaha - chup ho
jaate the - shaant rahte the.
BS: Aap ne kaha ke aap ke saath jagda hota tha unka?
AB: Haan - she laughs
BS: Bataayeeyeh - yeh to ham sunna chahte hain - hamare hi beech
mein baat rahe gi - koi sunne ga nahin
AB: Listeners hain to bhi kya - ek din kya hua ke Yeh Raaste Hain
Pyaar Ke picture chal raha tha aur hamara gaana tha. Hum rehearsal kar
rahe the and there were musicians present, Dutt saab was also present
and his friends. Rafisaab ne mujhko kaha ke Ashaji aap baar baar "Hay
Hay Hay" karke harkat leti hain - koi zaroorat nahin hai harkat
leni ki - aaram se dheek se gaayiye". Mere ko bahut bura laga.
Maine unse kaha ke aap zara machhi khaayiye aur achha hoga ke aap ko
harkaten suujhen gi mere ko jitney suuj rahin hain. Unko pahle samaj
nahin aaya aur bolen "achhi baat hai main khayuun ga machhi" -
baad mein bole "Kya Bola Tumne?".Maine kaha kuchh bhi nahin - ke
aap ko harkat suuje gi to aap harkat lenge - to aise bachpan ki jagde
jaise. Phir hamne 15 din ke liye baat nahin ki aur maine hi kaha unse
Rafisaab kaise hain aap. Woh bole ki aap mujhse baat nahin kar rahi
hain, main aap se baat kar raha huun - aur bole jaane do abhi jadga
- phir baat karte hain.
BS: Bahut pyaare insaan the
AB: Haan ji
BS: Aur aap ki jodi badi hit thi
AB: 900 gaane gaaye ham ne
BS: Kuchh log kahte hain ke Asha hi Rafisaab ka muqabla kar sakti thi
AB: Haan woh bhi chilaate the jaise koyal Kuhu Kuhu bolti hai na. Jitna
Koyal chilati hai woh unse se bhi zyaada chilate the - aur jab woh
sur lagate the ham bhi sur unse jod ke uncha sur laga dete the.
BS: Lets listen to a song composed by Nayyar saab - let me play you
this song (I play Aa Pardesi Baalma, More Angna from Chhamchhamacham)
- Yeh kaisa laga aap ko
AB: Mujhe lagta hai ke Chham Chham koi naam ki picture thi
BS: Ji haan - Chhamchhamacham
AB: Chhamchhamacham - a very old picture. It's the 2nd picture in
his life. The first picture was Aasmaan and the 2nd was
Chhamchhamacham. Geeta Dutt sang in Aasmaan and I sang in
Chhamchhamacham.
BS: There is so much Punjabiyaat in the song, you of course sung quite
a few Punjabi songs yourself. Being a Marathi your Punjabi diction is
excellent.
AB:Yes I sang for a Punjabi film titled Posti
BS: You sang a duet with Rafisaab "Tu Peeng Te Main Parchhawan"
AB: Haan - "Par Bhaidda Posti" - Laughs-- Aur mera aur Daljit
Kaur ke saath gaana tha " Sunn we Dhupatiya Satrangiya" Aur ek aur
bhi gaana tha " Doh Ghuttan Kar vi riya ni maayi meri nuun mera
chaa".

I then play Jaayiye Aaap Kahan from Mere Sanam and comment that for me
the song is sheer perfection. She says that in Nayyar saab's
orchestra the santoor was played by Shiv Kumar Sharma, the flute by
Churasia and saxophone by Manohari Singh.
We then spoke about her forthcoming concerts and she mentioned that
some English (speaking ) people also attend her concerts and that they
also turned up when she had performed at Boston and New York where
there was house full at Carnegie Hall. She feels more at ease in newer
theatres where there is less of a problem with sound and lighting. I
ask her about being careful about what she eats before a show. She says
that never mind before a show...she has to be careful at all times. She
avoids pickles, imbli, ice cream and prefers to eat apples and
"chikoo" and no other fruit. Dhaal Roti and Sabziyan are all fine.
I ask her if she still finds the time to cook herself. She says that
she does and that she also has 2 restaurants in Dubai and Kuwait and
that she is opening new restaurants in Birmingham and Manchester and
will go by the name "Asha's".
I then round off the interview by promising to give her a copy of the
rare songs I played at the beginning of the programme. She says
"Please...please...bahut bahut dhaniwaad dhuungi apko". I reply
that we should be ones who are thankful that she made this request from
us.
AB: Dekhiye ek gaana hai, mujhe kabhi nahin milta hai . It's a
Punjabi song and I have sung many Punjabi songs and it's a Sardul
Kwatra composed song. The words are (and she sings out loud): "Dhola
We Sharaabi, Chhad de Nawaabi, Uunchi Ghurgabi mainu la dewe je tuun
meri tor wekhni" Bahut sundar gaana hai lekin mujhe milta nahin hai.
I ask if she recalls the name of the film. She says she does not and
that she only knows the words. I tell her that I would pass on the
words to friends in RMIM and hope that they may be able to assist in
locating the details and/or actual recording of the song.
I then thank her for being my guest and wish her success with her
concerts and say that I have fulfilled one ambition of talking at
length with the great Asha Bhosle. She blesses me and replies in kind.
I then play out the programme with Ta Thai tat Thai from Tere Mere
Sapne.

Well that's the transcript of the show finished and apologies for its
length. Apologies also for switching between languages. I just typed it
out the best I could. Spelling errors are regretted.
I later contacted both Satishji and Vish Krishnan about seeking their
permission to pass on the RMIM commemorative CDs to Asha Bhosle. Their
response was as magnanimous as expected and they said that the artiste
making the request is itself an honour. I went to the Sunday concert,
met Asha in her dressing room and handed her the CDs. She thanked me
but I said the thanks I will pass on to the RMIM group who made it
possible. She again asked if I had managed to trace the Punjabi song
she sang for me. I said that our friends would try.
Bhagwant

Moving Again

2006-11-05T01:57:00.000+05:30

Life is like a river flow. Some times some leaf gets stuck somewhere and could not flow for a long time. Even strong flow of river could not change the destiny of small leaf. Often stories end without any statement … I am not interested in the end, or in the story, or in the leaf, I am more interested in the metaphor of transition that led change of course. I am not interested in the sufferings or sufferer; rather I am interested in the noun “suffer”.
The world is mechanical. Many people say that we can’t buy everything with money, I also assert the same, but then a dichotomy lies within my mind. To get something which is outside domain of money, is it necessary to believe in destiny or you should play your cards tacitly (even you keep yourself ignorant about the fact that you are not playing your cards). Is it necessary to kill many germinating corpuscles for achievements or is it necessary to work honestly and hope for your chance? The words, destiny or hope are so illusionary that they keep giving resonance to the noun “suffer”. The delicate person, the one who thinks, often live for hope.
What if life changes its course … ?

Cindrella's Post

2006-08-05T03:26:00.000+05:30

Cindrella is a blogger like me ... but she writes much better ... and with every passing day her expertise gets richer. I am hereby posting her last post.

And claim Thy bed.

Far away deep in the woods
Thy light above the mountain burns.
It flickers and dances,yet stands tall
as the blue and yellow glow in turns.

The road's too long,the light's too far
and my brazen soul is getting weary.
The sun gives way and Thy sillouette falls,
as Thou behest the night so eery.

On the wings of history and the sands of time,
Thy purple haze my eyes have seen.
Emanating from Thy pristine soul,
engulfing me they've always been.

Be tired I may,but lost I havent.
My feet move forward and start the hike.
My eyes may droop but not forever,
for they'll stay open to behold Thine like.

I'll trace the smell,I'll track Thy shed.
So tread I must and tread ahead.
I'll take the walk and face the dread,
I'll reach Thy gates and claim Thy bed.

ईदगाह

2006-07-26T10:51:00.000+05:30

रमजान के पूरे तीस रोजों के बाद ईद आयी है। कितना मनोहर, कितना सुहावना प्रभाव है। वृक्षों पर अजीब हरियाली है, खेतों में कुछ अजीब रौनक है, आसमान पर कुछ अजीब लालिमा है। आज का सूर्य देखो, कितना प्यारा, कितना शीतल है, यानी संसार को ईद की बधाई दे रहा है। गॉंव में कितनी हलचल है। ईदगाह जाने की तैयारियॉँ हो रही हैं। किसी के कुरते में बटन नहीं है, पड़ोस के घर में सुई-धागा लेने दौड़ा जा रहा है। किसी के जूते कड़े हो गए हैं, उनमें तेल डालने के लिए तेली के घर पर भागा जाता है। जल्दी-जल्दी बैलों को सानी-पानी दे दें। ईदगाह से लौटते-लौटते दोपहर हो जाएगी। तीन कोस का पेदल रास्ता, फिर सैकड़ों आदमियों से मिलना-भेंटना, दोपहर के पहले लोटना असम्भव है। लड़के सबसे ज्यादा प्रसन्न हैं। किसी ने एक रोजा रखा है, वह भी दोपहर तक, किसी ने वह भी नहीं, लेकिन ईदगाह जाने की खुशी उनके हिस्से की चीज है। रोजे बड़े-बूढ़ो के लिए होंगे। इनके लिए तो ईद है। रोज ईद का नाम रटते थे, आज वह आ गई। अब जल्दी पड़ी है कि लोग ईदगाह क्यों नहीं चलते। इन्हें गृहस्थी चिंताओं से क्या प्रयोजन! सेवैयों के लिए दूध ओर शक्कर घर में है या नहीं, इनकी बला से, ये तो सेवेयां खाऍंगे। वह क्या जानें कि अब्बाजान क्यों बदहवास चौधरी कायमअली के घर दौड़े जा रहे हैं। उन्हें क्या खबर कि चौधरी ऑंखें बदल लें, तो यह सारी ईद मुहर्रम हो जाए। उनकी अपनी जेबों में तो कुबेर काधन भरा हुआ है। बार-बार जेब से अपना खजाना निकालकर गिनते हैं और खुश होकर फिर रख लेते हैं। महमूद गिनता है, एक-दो, दस,-बारह, उसके पास बारह पैसे हैं। मोहनसिन के पास एक, दो, तीन, आठ, नौ, पंद्रह पैसे हैं। इन्हीं अनगिनती पैसों में अनगिनती चीजें लाऍंगें— खिलौने, मिठाइयां, बिगुल, गेंद और जाने क्या-क्या।
और सबसे ज्यादा प्रसन्न है हामिद। वह चार-पॉँच साल का गरीब सूरत, दुबला-पतला लड़का, जिसका बाप गत वर्ष हैजे की भेंट हो गया और मॉँ न जाने क्यों पीली होती-होती एक दिन मर गई। किसी को पता क्या बीमारी है। कहती तो कौन सुनने वाला था? दिल पर जो कुछ बीतती थी, वह दिल में ही सहती थी ओर जब न सहा गया,. तो संसार से विदा हो गई। अब हामिद अपनी बूढ़ी दादी अमीना की गोद में सोता है और उतना ही प्रसन्न है। उसके अब्बाजान रूपये कमाने गए हैं। बहुत-सी थैलियॉँ लेकर आऍंगे। अम्मीजान अल्लहा मियॉँ के घर से उसके लिए बड़ी अच्छी-अच्छी चीजें लाने गई हैं, इसलिए हामिद प्रसन्न है। आशा तो बड़ी चीज है, और फिर बच्चों की आशा! उनकी कल्पना तो राई का पर्वत बना लेती हे। हामिद के पॉंव में जूते नहीं हैं, सिर परएक पुरानी-धुरानी टोपी है, जिसका गोटा काला पड़ गया है, फिर भी वह प्रसन्न है। जब उसके अब्बाजान थैलियॉँ और अम्मीजान नियमतें लेकर आऍंगी, तो वह दिल से अरमान निकाल लेगा। तब देखेगा, मोहसिन, नूरे और सम्मी कहॉँ से उतने पैसे निकालेंगे।
अभागिन अमीना अपनी कोठरी में बैठी रो रही है। आज ईद का दिन, उसके घर में दाना नहीं! आज आबिद होता, तो क्या इसी तरह ईद आती ओर चली जाती! इस अन्धकार और निराशा में वह डूबी जा रही है। किसने बुलाया था इस निगोड़ी ईद को? इस घर में उसका काम नहीं, लेकिन हामिद! उसे किसी के मरने-जीने के क्या मतल? उसके अन्दर प्रकाश है, बाहर आशा। विपत्ति अपना सारा दलबल लेकर आये, हामिद की आनंद-भरी चितबन उसका विध्वसं कर देगी।
हामिद भीतर जाकर दादी से कहता है—तुम डरना नहीं अम्मॉँ, मै सबसे पहले आऊँगा। बिल्कुल न डरना।
अमीना का दिल कचोट रहा है। गॉँव के बच्चे अपने-अपने बाप के साथ जा रहे हैं। हामिद का बाप अमीना के सिवा और कौन है! उसे केसे अकेले मेले जाने दे? उस भीड़-भाड़ से बच्चा कहीं खो जाए तो क्या हो? नहीं, अमीना उसे यों न जाने देगी। नन्ही-सी जान! तीन कोस चलेगा कैसे? पैर में छाले पड़ जाऍंगे। जूते भी तो नहीं हैं। वह थोड़ी-थोड़ी दूर पर उसे गोद में ले लेती, लेकिन यहॉँ सेवैयॉँ कोन पकाएगा? पैसे होते तो लौटते-लोटते सब सामग्री जमा करके चटपट बना लेती। यहॉँ तो घंटों चीजें जमा करते लगेंगे। मॉँगे का ही तो भरोसा ठहरा। उस दिन फहीमन के कपड़े सिले थे। आठ आने पेसे मिले थे। उस उठन्नी को ईमान की तरह बचाती चली आती थी इसी ईद के लिए लेकिन कल ग्वालन सिर पर सवार हो गई तो क्या करती? हामिद के लिए कुछ नहीं हे, तो दो पैसे का दूध तो चाहिए ही। अब तो कुल दो आने पैसे बच रहे हैं। तीन पैसे हामिद की जेब में, पांच अमीना के बटुवें में। यही तो बिसात है और ईद का त्यौहार, अल्ला ही बेड़ा पर लगाए। धोबन और नाइन ओर मेहतरानी और चुड़िहारिन सभी तो आऍंगी। सभी को सेवेयॉँ चाहिए और थोड़ा किसी को ऑंखों नहीं लगता। किस-किस सें मुँह चुरायेगी? और मुँह क्यों चुराए? साल-भर का त्योंहार हैं। जिन्दगी खैरियत से रहें, उनकी तकदीर भी तो उसी के साथ है: बच्चे को खुदा सलामत रखे, यें दिन भी कट जाऍंगे।
गॉँव से मेला चला। ओर बच्चों के साथ हामिद भी जा रहा था। कभी सबके सब दौड़कर आगे निकल जाते। फिर किसी पेड़ के नींचे खड़े होकर साथ वालों का इंतजार करते। यह लोग क्यों इतना धीरे-धीरे चल रहे हैं? हामिद के पैरो में तो जैसे पर लग गए हैं। वह कभी थक सकता है? शहर का दामन आ गया। सड़क के दोनों ओर अमीरों के बगीचे हैं। पक्की चारदीवारी बनी हुई है। पेड़ो में आम और लीचियॉँ लगी हुई हैं। कभी-कभी कोई लड़का कंकड़ी उठाकर आम पर निशान लगाता हे। माली अंदर से गाली देता हुआ निंलता है। लड़के वहाँ से एक फलॉँग पर हैं। खूब हँस रहे हैं। माली को केसा उल्लू बनाया है।
बड़ी-बड़ी इमारतें आने लगीं। यह अदालत है, यह कालेज है, यह क्लब घर है। इतने बड़े कालेज में कितने लड़के पढ़ते होंगे? सब लड़के नहीं हैं जी! बड़े-बड़े आदमी हैं, सच! उनकी बड़ी-बड़ी मूँछे हैं। इतने बड़े हो गए, अभी तक पढ़ते जाते हैं। न जाने कब तक पढ़ेंगे ओर क्या करेंगे इतना पढ़कर! हामिद के मदरसे में दो-तीन बड़े-बड़े लड़के हें, बिल्कुल तीन कौड़ी के। रोज मार खाते हैं, काम से जी चुराने वाले। इस जगह भी उसी तरह के लोग होंगे ओर क्या। क्लब-घर में जादू होता है। सुना है, यहॉँ मुर्दो की खोपड़ियां दौड़ती हैं। और बड़े-बड़े तमाशे होते हें, पर किसी कोअंदर नहीं जाने देते। और वहॉँ शाम को साहब लोग खेलते हैं। बड़े-बड़े आदमी खेलते हें, मूँछो-दाढ़ी वाले। और मेमें भी खेलती हैं, सच! हमारी अम्मॉँ को यह दे दो, क्या नाम है, बैट, तो उसे पकड़ ही न सके। घुमाते ही लुढ़क जाऍं।
महमूद ने कहा—हमारी अम्मीजान का तो हाथ कॉँपने लगे, अल्ला कसम।
मोहसिन बोल—चलों, मनों आटा पीस डालती हैं। जरा-सा बैट पकड़ लेगी, तो हाथ कॉँपने लगेंगे! सौकड़ों घड़े पानी रोज निकालती हैं। पॉँच घड़े तो तेरी भैंस पी जाती है। किसी मेम को एक घड़ा पानी भरना पड़े, तो ऑंखों तक अँधेरी आ जाए।
महमूद—लेकिन दौड़तीं तो नहीं, उछल-कूद तो नहीं सकतीं।
मोहसिन—हॉँ, उछल-कूद तो नहीं सकतीं; लेकिन उस दिन मेरी गाय खुल गई थी और चौधरी के खेत में जा पड़ी थी, अम्मॉँ इतना तेज दौड़ी कि में उन्हें न पा सका, सच।
आगे चले। हलवाइयों की दुकानें शुरू हुई। आज खूब सजी हुई थीं। इतनी मिठाइयॉँ कौन खाता? देखो न, एक-एक दूकान पर मनों होंगी। सुना है, रात को जिन्नात आकर खरीद ले जाते हैं। अब्बा कहते थें कि आधी रात को एक आदमी हर दूकान पर जाता है और जितना माल बचा होता है, वह तुलवा लेता है और सचमुच के रूपये देता है, बिल्कुल ऐसे ही रूपये।
हामिद को यकीन न आया—ऐसे रूपये जिन्नात को कहॉँ से मिल जाऍंगी?
मोहसिन ने कहा—जिन्नात को रूपये की क्या कमी? जिस खजाने में चाहें चले जाऍं। लोहे के दरवाजे तक उन्हें नहीं रोक सकते जनाब, आप हैं किस फेर में! हीरे-जवाहरात तक उनके पास रहते हैं। जिससे खुश हो गए, उसे टोकरों जवाहरात दे दिए। अभी यहीं बैठे हें, पॉँच मिनट में कलकत्ता पहुँच जाऍं।
हामिद ने फिर पूछा—जिन्नात बहुत बड़े-बड़े होते हैं?
मोहसिन—एक-एक सिर आसमान के बराबर होता है जी! जमीन पर खड़ा हो जाए तो उसका सिर आसमान से जा लगे, मगर चाहे तो एक लोटे में घुस जाए।
हामिद—लोग उन्हें केसे खुश करते होंगे? कोई मुझे यह मंतर बता दे तो एक जिनन को खुश कर लूँ।
मोहसिन—अब यह तो न जानता, लेकिन चौधरी साहब के काबू में बहुत-से जिन्नात हैं। कोई चीज चोरी जाए चौधरी साहब उसका पता लगा देंगे ओर चोर का नाम बता देगें। जुमराती का बछवा उस दिन खो गया था। तीन दिन हैरान हुए, कहीं न मिला तब झख मारकर चौधरी के पास गए। चौधरी ने तुरन्त बता दिया, मवेशीखाने में है और वहीं मिला। जिन्नात आकर उन्हें सारे जहान की खबर दे जाते हैं।
अब उसकी समझ में आ गया कि चौधरी के पास क्यों इतना धन है और क्यों उनका इतना सम्मान है।
आगे चले। यह पुलिस लाइन है। यहीं सब कानिसटिबिल कवायद करते हैं। रैटन! फाय फो! रात को बेचारे घूम-घूमकर पहरा देते हैं, नहीं चोरियॉँ हो जाऍं। मोहसिन ने प्रतिवाद किया—यह कानिसटिबिल पहरा देते हें? तभी तुम बहुत जानते हों अजी हजरत, यह चोरी करते हैं। शहर के जितने चोर-डाकू हें, सब इनसे मुहल्ले में जाकर ‘जागते रहो! जाते रहो!’ पुकारते हें। तभी इन लोगों के पास इतने रूपये आते हें। मेरे मामू एक थाने में कानिसटिबिल हें। बरस रूपया महीना पाते हें, लेकिन पचास रूपये घर भेजते हें। अल्ला कसम! मैंने एक बार पूछा था कि मामू, आप इतने रूपये कहॉँ से पाते हैं? हँसकर कहने लगे—बेटा, अल्लाह देता है। फिर आप ही बोले—हम लोग चाहें तो एक दिन में लाखों मार लाऍं। हम तो इतना ही लेते हैं, जिसमें अपनी बदनामी न हो और नौकरी न चली जाए।
हामिद ने पूछा—यह लोग चोरी करवाते हैं, तो कोई इन्हें पकड़ता नहीं?
मोहसिन उसकी नादानी पर दया दिखाकर बोला..अरे, पागल! इन्हें कौन पकड़ेगा! पकड़ने वाले तो यह लोग खुद हैं, लेकिन अल्लाह, इन्हें सजा भी खूब देता है। हराम का माल हराम में जाता है। थोड़े ही दिन हुए, मामू के घर में आग लग गई। सारी लेई-पूँजी जल गई। एक बरतन तक न बचा। कई दिन पेड़ के नीचे सोए, अल्ला कसम, पेड़ के नीचे! फिरन जाने कहॉँ से एक सौ कर्ज लाए तो बरतन-भॉँड़े आए।
हामिद—एक सौ तो पचार से ज्यादा होते है?
‘कहॉँ पचास, कहॉँ एक सौ। पचास एक थैली-भर होता है। सौ तो दो थैलियों में भी न आऍं?
अब बस्ती घनी होने लगी। ईइगाह जाने वालो की टोलियॉँ नजर आने लगी। एक से एक भड़कीले वस्त्र पहने हुए। कोई इक्के-तॉँगे पर सवार, कोई मोटर पर, सभी इत्र में बसे, सभी के दिलों में उमंग। ग्रामीणों का यह छोटा-सा दल अपनी विपन्नता से बेखबर, सन्तोष ओर धैर्य में मगन चला जा रहा था। बच्चों के लिए नगर की सभी चीजें अनोखी थीं। जिस चीज की ओर ताकते, ताकते ही रह जाते और पीछे से आर्न की आवाज होने पर भी न चेतते। हामिद तो मोटर के नीचे जाते-जाते बचा।
सहसा ईदगाह नजर आई। ऊपर इमली के घने वृक्षों की छाया हे। नाचे पक्का फर्श है, जिस पर जाजम ढिछा हुआ है। और रोजेदारों की पंक्तियॉँ एक के पीछे एक न जाने कहॉँ वक चली गई हैं, पक्की जगत के नीचे तक, जहॉँ जाजम भी नहीं है। नए आने वाले आकर पीछे की कतार में खड़े हो जाते हैं। आगे जगह नहीं हे। यहॉँ कोई धन और पद नहीं देखता। इस्लाम की निगाह में सब बराबर हें। इन ग्रामीणों ने भी वजू किया ओर पिछली पंक्ति में खड़े हो गए। कितना सुन्दर संचालन है, कितनी सुन्दर व्यवस्था! लाखों सिर एक साथ सिजदे में झुक जाते हैं, फिर सबके सब एक साथ खड़े हो जाते हैं, एक साथ झुकते हें, और एक साथ खड़े हो जाते हैं, एक साथ खड़े हो जाते हैं, एक साथ झुकते हें, और एक साथ खड़े हो जाते हैं, कई बार यही क्रिया होती हे, जैसे बिजली की लाखों बत्तियाँ एक साथ प्रदीप्त हों और एक साथ बुझ जाऍं, और यही ग्रम चलता, रहे। कितना अपूर्व दृश्य था, जिसकी सामूहिक क्रियाऍं, विस्तार और अनंतता हृदय को श्रद्धा, गर्व और आत्मानंद से भर देती थीं, मानों भ्रातृत्व का एक सूत्र इन समस्त आत्माओं को एक लड़ी में पिरोए हुए हैं।

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नमाज खत्म हो गई। लोग आपस में गले मिल रहे हैं। तब मिठाई और खिलौने की दूकान पर धावा होता है। ग्रामीणों का यह दल इस विषय में बालकों से कम उत्साही नहीं है। यह देखो, हिंडोला हें एक पैसा देकर चढ़ जाओ। कभी आसमान पर जाते हुए मालूम होगें, कभी जमीन पर गिरते हुए। यह चर्खी है, लकड़ी के हाथी, घोड़े, ऊँट, छड़ो में लटके हुए हैं। एक पेसा देकर बैठ जाओं और पच्चीस चक्करों का मजा लो। महमूद और मोहसिन ओर नूरे ओर सम्मी इन घोड़ों ओर ऊँटो पर बैठते हें। हामिद दूर खड़ा है। तीन ही पैसे तो उसके पास हैं। अपने कोष का एक तिहाई जरा-सा चक्कर खाने के लिए नहीं दे सकता।
सब चर्खियों से उतरते हैं। अब खिलौने लेंगे। अधर दूकानों की कतार लगी हुई है। तरह-तरह के खिलौने हैं—सिपाही और गुजरिया, राज ओर वकी, भिश्ती और धोबिन और साधु। वह! कत्ते सुन्दर खिलोने हैं। अब बोला ही चाहते हैं। महमूद सिपाही लेता हे, खाकी वर्दी और लाल पगड़ीवाला, कंधें पर बंदूक रखे हुए, मालूम होता हे, अभी कवायद किए चला आ रहा है। मोहसिन को भिश्ती पसंद आया। कमर झुकी हुई है, ऊपर मशक रखे हुए हैं मशक का मुँह एक हाथ से पकड़े हुए है। कितना प्रसन्न है! शायद कोई गीत गा रहा है। बस, मशक से पानी अड़ेला ही चाहता है। नूरे को वकील से प्रेम हे। कैसी विद्वत्ता हे उसके मुख पर! काला चोगा, नीचे सफेद अचकन, अचकन के सामने की जेब में घड़ी, सुनहरी जंजीर, एक हाथ में कानून का पौथा लिये हुए। मालूम होता है, अभी किसी अदालत से जिरह या बहस किए चले आ रहे है। यह सब दो-दो पैसे के खिलौने हैं। हामिद के पास कुल तीन पैसे हैं, इतने महँगे खिलौन वह केसे ले? खिलौना कहीं हाथ से छूट पड़े तो चूर-चूर हो जाए। जरा पानी पड़े तो सारा रंग घुल जाए। ऐसे खिलौने लेकर वह क्या करेगा, किस काम के!
मोहसिन कहता है—मेरा भिश्ती रोज पानी दे जाएगा सॉँझ-सबेरे
महमूद—और मेरा सिपाही घर का पहरा देगा कोई चोर आएगा, तो फौरन बंदूक से फैर कर देगा।
नूरे—ओर मेरा वकील खूब मुकदमा लड़ेगा।
सम्मी—ओर मेरी धोबिन रोज कपड़े धोएगी।
हामिद खिलौनों की निंदा करता है—मिट्टी ही के तो हैं, गिरे तो चकनाचूर हो जाऍं, लेकिन ललचाई हुई ऑंखों से खिलौनों को देख रहा है और चाहता है कि जरा देर के लिए उन्हें हाथ में ले सकता। उसके हाथ अनायास ही लपकते हें, लेकिन लड़के इतने त्यागी नहीं होते हें, विशेषकर जब अभी नया शौक है। हामिद ललचता रह जाता है।
खिलौने के बाद मिठाइयाँ आती हैं। किसी ने रेवड़ियॉँ ली हें, किसी ने गुलाबजामुन किसी ने सोहन हलवा। मजे से खा रहे हैं। हामिद बिरादरी से पृथक् है। अभागे के पास तीन पैसे हैं। क्यों नहीं कुछ लेकर खाता? ललचाई ऑंखों से सबक ओर देखता है।
मोहसिन कहता है—हामिद रेवड़ी ले जा, कितनी खुशबूदार है!
हामिद को सदेंह हुआ, ये केवल क्रूर विनोद हें मोहसिन इतना उदार नहीं है, लेकिन यह जानकर भी वह उसके पास जाता है। मोहसिन दोने से एक रेवड़ी निकालकर हामिद की ओर बढ़ाता है। हामिद हाथ फैलाता है। मोहसिन रेवड़ी अपने मुँह में रख लेता है। महमूद नूरे ओर सम्मी खूब तालियॉँ बजा-बजाकर हँसते हैं। हामिद खिसिया जाता है।
मोहसिन—अच्छा, अबकी जरूर देंगे हामिद, अल्लाह कसम, ले जा।
हामिद—रखे रहो। क्या मेरे पास पैसे नहीं है?
सम्मी—तीन ही पेसे तो हैं। तीन पैसे में क्या-क्या लोगें?
महमूद—हमसे गुलाबजामुन ले जाओ हामिद। मोहमिन बदमाश है।
हामिद—मिठाई कौन बड़ी नेमत है। किताब में इसकी कितनी बुराइयॉँ लिखी हैं।
मोहसिन—लेकिन दिन मे कह रहे होगे कि मिले तो खा लें। अपने पैसे क्यों नहीं निकालते?
महमूद—इस समझते हें, इसकी चालाकी। जब हमारे सारे पैसे खर्च हो जाऍंगे, तो हमें ललचा-ललचाकर खाएगा।
मिठाइयों के बाद कुछ दूकानें लोहे की चीजों की, कुछ गिलट और कुछ नकली गहनों की। लड़कों के लिए यहॉँ कोई आकर्षण न था। वे सब आगे बढ़ जाते हैं, हामिद लोहे की दुकान पररूक जात हे। कई चिमटे रखे हुए थे। उसे ख्याल आया, दादी के पास चिमटा नहीं है। तबे से रोटियॉँ उतारती हैं, तो हाथ जल जाता है। अगर वह चिमटा ले जाकर दादी को दे दे तो वह कितना प्रसन्न होगी! फिर उनकी ऊगलियॉँ कभी न जलेंगी। घर में एक काम की चीज हो जाएगी। खिलौने से क्या फायदा? व्यर्थ में पैसे खराब होते हैं। जरा देर ही तो खुशी होती है। फिर तो खिलौने को कोई ऑंख उठाकर नहीं देखता। यह तो घर पहुँचते-पहुँचते टूट-फूट बराबर हो जाऍंगे। चिमटा कितने काम की चीज है। रोटियॉँ तवे से उतार लो, चूल्हें में सेंक लो। कोई आग मॉँगने आये तो चटपट चूल्हे से आग निकालकर उसे दे दो। अम्मॉँ बेचारी को कहॉँ फुरसत हे कि बाजार आऍं और इतने पैसे ही कहॉँ मिलते हैं? रोज हाथ जला लेती हैं।
हामिद के साथी आगे बढ़ गए हैं। सबील पर सबके सब शर्बत पी रहे हैं। देखो, सब कतने लालची हैं। इतनी मिठाइयॉँ लीं, मुझे किसी ने एक भी न दी। उस पर कहते है, मेरे साथ खेलो। मेरा यह काम करों। अब अगर किसी ने कोई काम करने को कहा, तो पूछूँगा। खाऍं मिठाइयॉँ, आप मुँह सड़ेगा, फोड़े-फुन्सियॉं निकलेंगी, आप ही जबान चटोरी हो जाएगी। तब घर से पैसे चुराऍंगे और मार खाऍंगे। किताब में झूठी बातें थोड़े ही लिखी हें। मेरी जबान क्यों खराब होगी? अम्मॉँ चिमटा देखते ही दौड़कर मेरे हाथ से ले लेंगी और कहेंगी—मेरा बच्चा अम्मॉँ के लिए चिमटा लाया है। कितना अच्छा लड़का है। इन लोगों के खिलौने पर कौन इन्हें दुआऍं देगा? बड़ों का दुआऍं सीधे अल्लाह के दरबार में पहुँचती हैं, और तुरंत सुनी जाती हैं। में भी इनसे मिजाज क्यों सहूँ? मैं गरीब सही, किसी से कुछ मॉँगने तो नहीं जाते। आखिर अब्बाजान कभीं न कभी आऍंगे। अम्मा भी ऑंएगी ही। फिर इन लोगों से पूछूँगा, कितने खिलौने लोगे? एक-एक को टोकरियों खिलौने दूँ और दिखा हूँ कि दोस्तों के साथ इस तरह का सलूक किया जात है। यह नहीं कि एक पैसे की रेवड़ियॉँ लीं, तो चिढ़ा-चिढ़ाकर खाने लगे। सबके सब हँसेंगे कि हामिद ने चिमटा लिया है। हंसें! मेरी बला से! उसने दुकानदार से पूछा—यह चिमटा कितने का है?
दुकानदार ने उसकी ओर देखा और कोई आदमी साथ न देखकर कहा—तुम्हारे काम का नहीं है जी!
‘बिकाऊ है कि नहीं?’
‘बिकाऊ क्यों नहीं है? और यहॉँ क्यों लाद लाए हैं?’
तो बताते क्यों नहीं, कै पैसे का है?’
‘छ: पैसे लगेंगे।‘
हामिद का दिल बैठ गया।
‘ठीक-ठीक पॉँच पेसे लगेंगे, लेना हो लो, नहीं चलते बनो।‘
हामिद ने कलेजा मजबूत करके कहा तीन पैसे लोगे?
यह कहता हुआ व आगे बढ़ गया कि दुकानदार की घुड़कियॉँ न सुने। लेकिन दुकानदार ने घुड़कियॉँ नहीं दी। बुलाकर चिमटा दे दिया। हामिद ने उसे इस तरह कंधे पर रखा, मानों बंदूक है और शान से अकड़ता हुआ संगियों के पास आया। जरा सुनें, सबके सब क्या-क्या आलोचनाऍं करते हैं!
मोहसिन ने हँसकर कहा—यह चिमटा क्यों लाया पगले, इसे क्या करेगा?
हामिद ने चिमटे को जमीन पर पटकर कहा—जरा अपना भिश्ती जमीन पर गिरा दो। सारी पसलियॉँ चूर-चूर हो जाऍं बचा की।
महमूद बोला—तो यह चिमटा कोई खिलौना है?
हामिद—खिलौना क्यों नही है! अभी कन्धे पर रखा, बंदूक हो गई। हाथ में ले लिया, फकीरों का चिमटा हो गया। चाहूँ तो इससे मजीरे काकाम ले सकता हूँ। एक चिमटा जमा दूँ, तो तुम लोगों के सारे खिलौनों की जान निकल जाए। तुम्हारे खिलौने कितना ही जोर लगाऍं, मेरे चिमटे का बाल भी बॉंका नही कर सकतें मेरा बहादुर शेर है चिमटा।
सम्मी ने खँजरी ली थी। प्रभावित होकर बोला—मेरी खँजरी से बदलोगे? दो आने की है।
हामिद ने खँजरी की ओर उपेक्षा से देखा-मेरा चिमटा चाहे तो तुम्हारी खॅजरी का पेट फाड़ डाले। बस, एक चमड़े की झिल्ली लगा दी, ढब-ढब बोलने लगी। जरा-सा पानी लग जाए तो खत्म हो जाए। मेरा बहादुर चिमटा आग में, पानी में, ऑंधी में, तूफान में बराबर डटा खड़ा रहेगा।
चिमटे ने सभी को मोहित कर लिया, अब पैसे किसके पास धरे हैं? फिर मेले से दूर निकल आए हें, नौ कब के बज गए, धूप तेज हो रही है। घर पहुंचने की जल्दी हो रही हे। बाप से जिद भी करें, तो चिमटा नहीं मिल सकता। हामिद है बड़ा चालाक। इसीलिए बदमाश ने अपने पैसे बचा रखे थे।
अब बालकों के दो दल हो गए हैं। मोहसिन, महमद, सम्मी और नूरे एक तरफ हैं, हामिद अकेला दूसरी तरफ। शास्त्रर्थ हो रहा है। सम्मी तो विधर्मी हा गया! दूसरे पक्ष से जा मिला, लेकिन मोहनि, महमूद और नूरे भी हामिद से एक-एक, दो-दो साल बड़े होने पर भी हामिद के आघातों से आतंकित हो उठे हैं। उसके पास न्याय का बल है और नीति की शक्ति। एक ओर मिट्टी है, दूसरी ओर लोहा, जो इस वक्त अपने को फौलाद कह रहा है। वह अजेय है, घातक है। अगर कोई शेर आ जाए मियॉँ भिश्ती के छक्के छूट जाऍं, जो मियॉँ सिपाही मिट्टी की बंदूक छोड़कर भागे, वकील साहब की नानी मर जाए, चोगे में मुंह छिपाकर जमीन पर लेट जाऍं। मगर यह चिमटा, यह बहादुर, यह रूस्तमे-हिंद लपककर शेर की गरदन पर सवार हो जाएगा और उसकी ऑंखे निकाल लेगा।
मोहसिन ने एड़ी—चोटी का जारे लगाकर कहा—अच्छा, पानी तो नहीं भर सकता?
हामिद ने चिमटे को सीधा खड़ा करके कहा—भिश्ती को एक डांट बताएगा, तो दौड़ा हुआ पानी लाकर उसके द्वार पर छिड़कने लगेगा।
मोहसिन परास्त हो गया, पर महमूद ने कुमुक पहुँचाई—अगर बचा पकड़ जाऍं तो अदालम में बॅधे-बँधे फिरेंगे। तब तो वकील साहब के पैरों पड़ेगे।
हामिद इस प्रबल तर्क का जवाब न दे सका। उसने पूछा—हमें पकड़ने कौने आएगा?
नूरे ने अकड़कर कहा—यह सिपाही बंदूकवाला।
हामिद ने मुँह चिढ़ाकर कहा—यह बेचारे हम बहादुर रूस्तमे—हिंद को पकड़ेगें! अच्छा लाओ, अभी जरा कुश्ती हो जाए। इसकी सूरत देखकर दूर से भागेंगे। पकड़ेगें क्या बेचारे!
मोहसिन को एक नई चोट सूझ गई—तुम्हारे चिमटे का मुँह रोज आग में जलेगा।
उसने समझा था कि हामिद लाजवाब हो जाएगा, लेकिन यह बात न हुई। हामिद ने तुरंत जवाब दिया—आग में बहादुर ही कूदते हैं जनाब, तुम्हारे यह वकील, सिपाही और भिश्ती लैडियों की तरह घर में घुस जाऍंगे। आग में वह काम है, जो यह रूस्तमे-हिन्द ही कर सकता है।
महमूद ने एक जोर लगाया—वकील साहब कुरसी—मेज पर बैठेगे, तुम्हारा चिमटा तो बाबरचीखाने में जमीन पर पड़ा रहने के सिवा और क्या कर सकता है?
इस तर्क ने सम्मी औरनूरे को भी सजी कर दिया! कितने ठिकाने की बात कही हे पट्ठे ने! चिमटा बावरचीखाने में पड़ा रहने के सिवा और क्या कर सकता है?
हामिद को कोई फड़कता हुआ जवाब न सूझा, तो उसने धॉँधली शुरू की—मेरा चिमटा बावरचीखाने में नही रहेगा। वकील साहब कुर्सी पर बैठेगें, तो जाकर उन्हे जमीन पर पटक देगा और उनका कानून उनके पेट में डाल देगा।
बात कुछ बनी नही। खाल गाली-गलौज थी, लेकिन कानून को पेट में डालनेवाली बात छा गई। ऐसी छा गई कि तीनों सूरमा मुँह ताकते रह गए मानो कोई धेलचा कानकौआ किसी गंडेवाले कनकौए को काट गया हो। कानून मुँह से बाहर निकलने वाली चीज हे। उसको पेट के अन्दर डाल दिया जाना बेतुकी-सी बात होने पर भी कुछ नयापन रखती हे। हामिद ने मैदान मार लिया। उसका चिमटा रूस्तमे-हिन्द हे। अब इसमें मोहसिन, महमूद नूरे, सम्मी किसी को भी आपत्ति नहीं हो सकती।
विजेता को हारनेवालों से जो सत्कार मिलना स्वाभविक है, वह हामिद को भी मिल। औरों ने तीन-तीन, चार-चार आने पैसे खर्च किए, पर कोई काम की चीज न ले सके। हामिद ने तीन पैसे में रंग जमा लिया। सच ही तो है, खिलौनों का क्या भरोसा? टूट-फूट जाऍंगी। हामिद का चिमटा तो बना रहेगा बरसों?
संधि की शर्ते तय होने लगीं। मोहसिन ने कहा—जरा अपना चिमटा दो, हम भी देखें। तुम हमार भिश्ती लेकर देखो।
महमूद और नूरे ने भी अपने-अपने खिलौने पेश किए।
हामिद को इन शर्तो को मानने में कोई आपत्ति न थी। चिमटा बारी-बारी से सबके हाथ में गया, और उनके खिलौने बारी-बारी से हामिद के हाथ में आए। कितने खूबसूरत खिलौने हैं।
हामिद ने हारने वालों के ऑंसू पोंछे—मैं तुम्हे चिढ़ा रहा था, सच! यह चिमटा भला, इन खिलौनों की क्या बराबर करेगा, मालूम होता है, अब बोले, अब बोले।
लेकिन मोहसनि की पार्टी को इस दिलासे से संतोष नहीं होता। चिमटे का सिल्का खूब बैठ गया है। चिपका हुआ टिकट अब पानी से नहीं छूट रहा है।
मोहसिन—लेकिन इन खिलौनों के लिए कोई हमें दुआ तो न देगा?
महमूद—दुआ को लिय फिरते हो। उल्टे मार न पड़े। अम्मां जरूर कहेंगी कि मेले में यही मिट्टी के खिलौने मिले?
हामिद को स्वीकार करना पड़ा कि खिलौनों को देखकर किसी की मां इतनी खुश न होगी, जितनी दादी चिमटे को देखकर होंगी। तीन पैसों ही में तो उसे सब-कुछ करना था ओर उन पैसों के इस उपयों पर पछतावे की बिल्कुल जरूरत न थी। फिर अब तो चिमटा रूस्तमें—हिन्द हे ओर सभी खिलौनों का बादशाह।
रास्ते में महमूद को भूख लगी। उसके बाप ने केले खाने को दियें। महमून ने केवल हामिद को साझी बनाया। उसके अन्य मित्र मुंह ताकते रह गए। यह उस चिमटे का प्रसाद थां।

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ग्यारह बजे गॉँव में हलचल मच गई। मेलेवाले आ गए। मोहसिन की छोटी बहन दौड़कर भिश्ती उसके हाथ से छीन लिया और मारे खुशी के जा उछली, तो मियॉं भिश्ती नीचे आ रहे और सुरलोक सिधारे। इस पर भाई-बहन में मार-पीट हुई। दानों खुब रोए। उसकी अम्मॉँ यह शोर सुनकर बिगड़ी और दोनों को ऊपर से दो-दो चॉँटे और लगाए।
मियॉँ नूरे के वकील का अंत उनके प्रतिष्ठानुकूल इससे ज्यादा गौरवमय हुआ। वकील जमीन पर या ताक पर हो नहीं बैठ सकता। उसकी मर्यादा का विचार तो करना ही होगा। दीवार में खूँटियाँ गाड़ी गई। उन पर लकड़ी का एक पटरा रखा गया। पटरे पर कागज का कालीन बिदाया गया। वकील साहब राजा भोज की भाँति सिंहासन पर विराजे। नूरे ने उन्हें पंखा झलना शुरू किया। आदालतों में खर की टट्टियॉँ और बिजली के पंखे रहते हें। क्या यहॉँ मामूली पंखा भी न हो! कानून की गर्मी दिमाग पर चढ़ जाएगी कि नहीं? बॉँस कापंखा आया ओर नूरे हवा करने लगें मालूम नहीं, पंखे की हवा से या पंखे की चोट से वकील साहब स्वर्गलोक से मृत्युलोक में आ रहे और उनका माटी का चोला माटी में मिल गया! फिर बड़े जोर-शोर से मातम हुआ और वकील साहब की अस्थि घूरे पर डाल दी गई।
अब रहा महमूद का सिपाही। उसे चटपट गॉँव का पहरा देने का चार्ज मिल गया, लेकिन पुलिस का सिपाही कोई साधारण व्यक्ति तो नहीं, जो अपने पैरों चलें वह पालकी पर चलेगा। एक टोकरी आई, उसमें कुछ लाल रंग के फटे-पुराने चिथड़े बिछाए गए जिसमें सिपाही साहब आराम से लेटे। नूरे ने यह टोकरी उठाई और अपने द्वार का चक्कर लगाने लगे। उनके दोनों छोटे भाई सिपाही की तरह ‘छोनेवाले, जागते लहो’ पुकारते चलते हें। मगर रात तो अँधेरी होनी चाहिए, नूरे को ठोकर लग जाती है। टोकरी उसके हाथ से छूटकर गिर पड़ती है और मियॉँ सिपाही अपनी बन्दूक लिये जमीन पर आ जाते हैं और उनकी एक टॉँग में विकार आ जाता है।
महमूद को आज ज्ञात हुआ कि वह अच्छा डाक्टर है। उसको ऐसा मरहम मिला गया है जिससे वह टूटी टॉँग को आनन-फानन जोड़ सकता हे। केवल गूलर का दूध चाहिए। गूलर का दूध आता है। टाँग जावब दे देती है। शल्य-क्रिया असफल हुई, तब उसकी दूसरी टाँग भी तोड़ दी जाती है। अब कम-से-कम एक जगह आराम से बैठ तो सकता है। एक टॉँग से तो न चल सकता था, न बैठ सकता था। अब वह सिपाही संन्यासी हो गया है। अपनी जगह पर बैठा-बैठा पहरा देता है। कभी-कभी देवता भी बन जाता है। उसके सिर का झालरदार साफा खुरच दिया गया है। अब उसका जितना रूपांतर चाहों, कर सकते हो। कभी-कभी तो उससे बाट का काम भी लिया जाता है।
अब मियॉँ हामिद का हाल सुनिए। अमीना उसकी आवाज सुनते ही दौड़ी और उसे गोद में उठाकर प्यार करने लगी। सहसा उसके हाथ में चिमटा देखकर वह चौंकी।
‘यह चिमटा कहॉं था?’
‘मैंने मोल लिया है।‘
‘कै पैसे में?
‘तीन पैसे दिये।‘
अमीना ने छाती पीट ली। यह कैसा बेसमझ लड़का है कि दोपहर हुआ, कुछ खाया न पिया। लाया क्या, चिमटा! ‘सारे मेले में तुझे और कोई चीज न मिली, जो यह लोहे का चिमटा उठा लाया?’
हामिद ने अपराधी-भाव से कहा—तुम्हारी उँगलियॉँ तवे से जल जाती थीं, इसलिए मैने इसे लिया।
बुढ़िया का क्रोध तुरन्त स्नेह में बदल गया, और स्नेह भी वह नहीं, जो प्रगल्भ होता हे और अपनी सारी कसक शब्दों में बिखेर देता है। यह मूक स्नेह था, खूब ठोस, रस और स्वाद से भरा हुआ। बच्चे में कितना व्याग, कितना सदभाव और कितना विवेक है! दूसरों को खिलौने लेते और मिठाई खाते देखकर इसका मन कितना ललचाया होगा? इतना जब्त इससे हुआ कैसे? वहॉँ भी इसे अपनी बुढ़िया दादी की याद बनी रही। अमीना का मन गदगद हो गया।
और अब एक बड़ी विचित्र बात हुई। हामिद कें इस चिमटे से भी विचित्र। बच्चे हामिद ने बूढ़े हामिद का पार्ट खेला था। बुढ़िया अमीना बालिका अमीना बन गई। वह रोने लगी। दामन फैलाकर हामिद को दुआऍं देती जाती थी और आँसूं की बड़ी-बड़ी बूंदे गिराती जाती थी। हामिद इसका रहस्य क्या समझता!