Are we Vulnerable or Foolish??

The terror attacks which happen every fortnight in our country have now become an integral part of our daily lives, we are kind of acclimatized to them now, we do feel the jerk but we don’t fall now and in due course of time we might even stop feeling the jerks.
This video may be hilarious but it is a reason to worry.(tried to attach the video but couldn't, plz click on the link below and see the video its too good)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plxJ41XvGdM

I don't really understand why should I believe that a handful of people from another country can walk into to our country with explosives and merrily plant explosives and leave and nobody comes to know till obvious results are there on television. Then there is some serious security lapse or is the security working for them? Asians are always under scanner in the west, even with a valid passport one is looked upon suspiciously but a David Headly walks freely into our country without grabbing much attention and in a brilliant TV interview our own Honourable Home Minster, when asked why we never seem to know about Headly till foreign intelligence agencies informed us, to which he replied that "David Headly is a Caucasian looking man", so does that make him a qualified gentleman is what the reporter asked !!! How come our security and intelligence agencies never really seem to be informed even if the terrorists are planning an attack on the Parliament. I mean, if tomorrow I wish to walk into the Parliament I would need permissions and documents or go through proper channel of people but the terrorists can stroll-in without proper channel or do they know the "proper channels" well enough?

If our security services are not at fault and doing their job, then probably the terrorists acquire the explosives in our country. But how can anybody new to the country just walk in and acquire explosives unless they know where the explosive would be available and whom to contact for illegal acquisition of the explosive. If I go to America and ask for RDX I might me sentenced to death on the spot, even in my own country I will be put behind bars for asking this. Now no one gets anything for guessing that the terrorists have associates in your country, to guide them through all this, after all 'ghar ka bhedi hi Lanka dhata hai '. For instance the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, do the security agencies really want us to believe that that the terrorists brought such huge amount of ammunition& resources on the due date. If yes, then how come nobody noticed, even the security personnel at Taj. If not then how was the ammunition accumulated without grabbing attention. How did the terrorists acquire the Blue-Print of the hotels which even the commandos didn't have. Are we that foolish not be believe that they were helped by Indian people. Same is the case with the Hijacking episode, they have always been helped by the Indians to accomplish their plans and I will not be too surprised if some senior officials are found to be involved in these episodes.

A plant cannot flourish till the soil is conducive and if a weed is flourishing then the soil must be supporting its growth and obviously there is nobody to pull out each weed, so isn't it better to make the soil non conducive for them. Handful of people coming from a foreign country are not concern, the people in our country who aid them are my concern, they are the real terrorists and never seem to be caught. We can only deal deal with terrorism if we deal with these anti social elements within our society. Instead of searching for terrorists and begging others to hand over them to us, we must concentrate on criminals within the country and more than half the problem will be solved.

If we help the terrorists and our intelligence is so weak then we deserve these attacks, because we indeed are fools & why blame others for exploiting our foolishness?

It has been around 5 years that I have been driving my two-wheeler and many more that I have been traveling by road. During all these years I have learnt some traffic rules that were not asked when I gave the test for my license.
Rule 1 #: Never Follow Traffic Lights
Red…Yellow…Green !!! Who will wait for so long, one might miss the credits of a movie, or will be late for meeting friends, very important stuff…more than life.
Follow traffic lights!! only stupid patriots or very ‘Aadarshvadi type’ people follow such rules. If the traffic policeman is not there then who cares…Early in the morning the traffic is less, so why follow traffic lights they are anyways not required, we can descry all dangers.
“All my friends have gone ahead, what will they feel about me, that I’m a dud, they will laugh at me for waiting for the signal to turn green.” If others are not obeying then why should I hold the flag alone, even I’m busy.”
These are colors were fine till they were on the KG text book, on roads they are for others not for me…
Rule 2 #: The smaller the city, the more rules you can breach…as nobody bothers
I always say that if anyone can drive in Agra then that person sure is eligible for a license. Seriously, it is a task. I love riding my two-wheeler but when it comes to Agra I give up totally, I would rather sit back. It is the case with Faridabad also. No road sense what so ever prevails in these cities. Actually the problem is two phased; first the traffic police are negligent; second the commuter in general is also irresponsible. Most of the times the signals are not functional, or there is no officer at the booths to monitor the traffic, and even if there is one people hardly bother, he is a mere mannequin modeling for the traffic police.
Rule 3 #: Never give signals while turning…
This I have seen, people are for some reason averse to giving indications about turning and all. They feel the other commuters have excellent sixth sense to understand where we are going when and where are we planning to hit the breaks. I have witnessed so many road accidents because the person ahead took a sudden turn without indicating…the most recent is giving wrong indicators and giving them continuously.
Rule 4 #: Speed as much as you want to, we have paid for it (taxes)…apni sadak hai.
The younger college going generation loves speeding bikes and cars, they feel that they are still playing a video game even while on road and can break speed limits drive the way they want to, zig-zag, swaying meandering in the heavy traffic. They feel they own the road, obviously, “hum tax bharte hain, apni sadak hai.”
Rule 5 #: While in traffic jam…fit in your vehicle in the tiniest place you get even if that means aggravating the jam..who cares I moved forward
Whenever stuck in a traffic jam or even signals, some people have the habit of trying to squeeze in their vehicle in to an inch of road if it allows them to forward and block the traffic thereafter. Some people are always on the look out of reaching towards the line, as if they will get a medal if they are the first ones to rush as soon as the signal turns green. Sick, they are.
Rule 6 and 7 go in synchrony;
Rule 6 #: Even if its your mistake stare at the opposite person and fight
A person on bike is always more aware than a person on cycle, and a person in a car is more aware than the person on a bike...this is a common observation that, on road people will always blame the people with a cheaper vehicle for being ignorant. A person sitting in a Merc always feels that he knows all rules and follows them and is educated, in terms of road sense and a person on a bike is always rash and lacks road sense. Even in a tiff, the person with a more exotic vehicle will always try and bully the other and blame them for the accident even if he himself is at fault.
Rule 8 #: Keep talking while driving a car or riding a bike…after all call is more important than safety.
Even repeated warming from various sources people somehow love talking on cell phones while commuting, I fail to understand which talks are more important than life. But it is a rule never disconnect the call even if it means disconnecting a more vital cord. Some people find it so difficult even to park their vehicles by the side and talk. On the contrary these days there are so many exotic gadgets as to allow you to talk even will driving comfortably…whether or not others on the road are comfortable is not an issue only.
Rule 9 #: Turn on the volume of the music player…so what if you can’t listen to horns on the road…Britney Spears, Shakira toh sunai de rahe hain na.
This is another phenomenon that we witness so often…the volumes of the stereo increases in proportion with the speed of the vehicle..I’m sure most of the people don’t even understand what music they are listening to, but they feel it’s cool to listen to all these songs…ridiculous !!!
Rule 10 #: Don’t wear helments…hairstyle kharab ho jayega…I‘ll look funny
Most of the people are so conscious about how they look that they will not where a helmet…but these days thanks to a certain John Abramin and other actors like him guys have started wearing helmets not because of safety but because that’s in fashion now…some girls still avoid wearing it…reason, I will look funny…
Rule 11 #: Don’t turn off the car engine when in traffic or signals…AC band ho jayega…garmi lagegi.
Turn off the engine…no way…AC won’t work how will we tolerate the heat…as if all of us belong to the arctic circle that we can’t survive without AC for even 2 min…but that’s the way it is. Very few realize that if the engines are not turned down harmful gases are emitted from the engine regularly also from the air-conditioners and the pollution compounds and so does global warming, leading to rise in temperature…phew!!!! too big terms why think of them when AC is the simple solution.
Rule 12 #: Throw whatever waste you can outside the car…spit on the road even while riding a vehicle.
For this rule I have no comment…

Even after learning these rules all I can say is that, while on road we are not only responsible for our own safety but also of our fellow commuters.

The Endurance of a Fairy

She is magic personified; a God sent fairy who is not native to a fairy tale but to the earth. She is……..Woman.

The writer and Sutradhar of the greatest epic ever, ‘Life’ swirls his magic wand, creates fairies and sends them on Earth to do what he cannot, being the writer and Sutradhar. These fairies have the magical power of endurance beyond imagination. This power is bestowed upon both the genders but Women have a supernatural kind of endurance.

Though the society is changing and becoming better a ‘Girl child’ is still not welcomed in some families and has to struggle, sometimes even for her life….but the society is changing and this little fairy is getting her due. As she grows she has to keep up with the pride of the family, which for some reasons is mostly on the shoulders of girls, while mostly it is the other gender that tarnishes the pride of the family, it is less frequent that a girl tarnishes the pride of her family.

In the second phase of her life he has to endure to carve a niche for herself in this male dominated professional society, where the success of a woman is the cause of concern for most of the members of the opposite gender, less men can tolerate to be sub-ordinate to a woman or even partner in profession, it hurts a certain ‘male ego’…God only knows for what reason they have these egos but they do, that is their congenital problem. But this also is changing, because they have no other option as they can never endure as much as a woman and therefore have to succumb to her.

In the third phase she has to give a test of her endurance once again as she enters the Gruhast Jeevan. Now she has to leave her till now home and acclimatize to new surrounding and people. For men it is easy as they don’t have to disturb their regular setup, for them it just another member in the family but for a woman it is another family. It is not easy to be malleable enough to adjust to a new family; still she endures to do so. In the process of molding herself she has to sacrifice many of her wishes. Only a woman can embrace so many new relationships and nurture them with love and respect. As it is truly said only a woman has the power to transform a house into home. Men can make houses but not homes, women may not be able to make houses but they certainly can make homes.

To enter into the fourth phase, she has to undergo the most grueling endurance of all. All this to deliver a new character created by the Writer. Though the new being is of two individuals the endurance is of one only. In nurturing the child also, the mother undergoes most of the grilling, and she does so with a smile on her face. This is the phase which every woman cherishes and can sacrifice anything for this one feeling….Motherhood.

A woman has a plethora of responsibilities and diverse relations to shoulder. It is not a cakewalk to shoulder so many responsibilities which just keep compounding. In spite of all this she is able to keep her calm and still endure endlessly. Men don’t endure half as much as women do and still can complain of being tired, but women are like the muscles of the heart which just cannot retire.

These God sent fairies undergoes all the endurance with a smile on her face and love in her heart without expecting anything in return…but she does deserve to be addressed with three special words: ‘You are Great’...

Just realized what is love.....

17th August 2009: A sultry extended summer afternoon, She (my protagonist, don’t want to mention the name) is fast asleep, in spite of the loud volume of the Television and the generators running in the neighboring houses. Her family members are chatting their time away in the drawing room, but she prefers to sleep in the innermost room of the house. When everybody is engrossed in deep discussion suddenly she runs through the drawing room. I sat up confused and almost scared, when another person just smiled and said not to worry He (her husband) must be coming, his scooter must be at the turn and within the next two minutes he was parking his scooter.
How the hell on earth did she know that he was just round the corner when we couldn’t hear even our own voices because of the generators running around, this I thought happens only in Karan Johar movies but this time I saw it for real. She really loves him a lot. She knows exactly what time will he come down for his afternoon snacks or evening tea. She loves sleeping, but even in her deepest slumber she will know exactly when he is coming, almost like reflex action.
1 hr later he comes down after freshening up, his eyes glanced across the entire room, everybody was their but he didn’t start eating till she came with his cup of tea (which only she will make, as a rule). As soon as she came he removed a sweet from his plate and gave it to saying “Mujhe nahi Khana”, she doesn’t resist takes it and eats. I asked my aunt that I have been seeing this for about 15 yrs now and this happens without an exception of even one day, then why doesn’t she keep one sweet less in his plate. My aunt smiled and said that, he does it because he knows that she hasn’t had one after lunch. He finishes and she is off to sleep or reading a book, something she loves. They didn’t exchange a word other than “Mujhe nahi Khana” and that’s all that they have spoken since morning is what I came to know. Is this true and deep love…which needs no vector like words.

22nd April 1984: She is all dressed up as a bride and all set to marry him. She is not nervous neither is he. Both of them have known each other for over 14 yrs now (that’s on records, and may be a few more years for which there is no authenticated record).

Sitting on the dais, waiting for his bride he recalls the first day he had met her, as his junior in Medical College. Now, he is about to tie the knot with the woman he always wanted to spend his life (though they are opposite to each other in every sense)but was reluctant because he thought that the society then was not matured enough to accept an inter-caste, inter-religion marriage, love marriage. He was not scared for himself or her, but for her younger sister and brother and his own sisters. They had mutually decided not to blabber about their relationship and with time she finished her MBBS and moved to Delhi for pursuing MD and he stayed back in the same college. They did not meet each other for about 10 yrs, while she was in Delhi. Both of them had denied all alliances proposed by their parents.

Nobody ever knew that they were willing to marry, but only with each other, only after all their siblings were settled in their lives…Today was the day when they would be declared man and wife for ever…he smiled.

28th March 1983: Then happened a fateful accident, which forced him to reveal his relationship with her. He was traveling with his younger brothers, when their car met with a massive accident near Delhi, they somehow managed to drive upto a hospital in Delhi. One of his brothers was seriously injured, though he had administered First Aid, he would need help and he could only think of her. He gave his youngest brother an address and asked him to give his reference.
It was 1.30 am when a man, stained with blood, rang the door-bell, she opened the door with her mother beside her. As soon as she heard his name, she took her coat, her medical kit and ID and rushed to the hospital(without sparing a thought to verify the information, his name was enough, such is their understanding), by morning his elder brother and father were in the hospital, situation was fine and everybody knew about her…and to his surprise were more than happy to accept her as their daughter-in-law. Even her mother was elated because her daughter who was around 35yrs now had almost refused to marry, was now game for marriage.

Even now at their 25th marriage anniversary they didn’t feel the need to wish each other. They virtually don’t interact with each other for days now, but they know each other so well that there is no room for words…I guess sometimes words may not convey the message, which silence does.

This post may sound fiction but it’s a true story and not an excerpt from the next script of Karan Johar or the Chopras. There is a lot more to this love story, which just can’t be summarized into this one post. All I can say is, if even after 10 yrs of non-contact you think of only one person in times of trouble and trust only person then its love. If you can rush from your home in chappals at 1.30 am on hearing somebodies name even after 10 yrs then its truly and surely pure love…..

Dedicated to the loveliest couple I have ever met and am sure will ever meet.

PRAYAS

As a part of the curriculum of a course I had to work for an NGO for about 10 days. I spent days searching for one in my vicinity and finally found one…Its known as Prayas. It deals with the education of underprivileged children and adult women. Initially when I applied, I just had my certificate in mind, and saw my convenience only. I took up the work of teaching rather than administrative work because the school was closer to my home as compared to the administrative office. I admit that I had been really selfish…Since it was my first day, I was give the nursery and KG classes to deal with…I thought to myself ‘great, now I’ll have to teach ABC…what a wonderful thing to do after a post-graduation in biotechnology, but…
When I entered the class…I was greeted by 54 innocent voices in chorus. I looked at their faces, smiling and joyous to see a new ‘madam’, as they put it. Initially I really didn’t know what to do and how to handle them, as they are a bunch (a rather big one) of boisterous kids…but gradually with the help of a more experienced colleague I managed to gather my energies. As the day progressed I felt a lot better as things were going just about fine…till a new student was sent to the class, his mother came along with him…His name is Sahil, and is really cute n chubby but he is a champion when it comes to crying…the moment his mother walked out of the class-room he started his orchestra. My colleague tried to console him and engage him in some talks but he kept crying finally after lot of hard work we had to call his mother and allow her to sit in the class...The moment she walked out of the class the boy would start off almost instantaneously…what scared my colleague more was that another girl named Nitya, who also has won the reputation of being the most cranky child in the batch, who surprisingly was in very cheerful mood today, shouldn’t start off…but she didn’t and trust me she is a delight to watch the moment she comes down to reciting nursery rhymes…
Then there was a trio of girls who just did want to sit separately and somehow struggled to sit on the bench meant for two only…I could only catch the names of two of them Damini (she has constant smirk on her face and is the most mischievous student) and Kusum…it was a task to get them to do any work…but they are really cute and to think that they live in such difficult circumstances (I have been to a slum and know the conditions there, so I know) and still manage to keep that captivating smile on their faces its great…
One thing that was common to all students was their zeal to learn, almost all of them performed their assigned class work and made sure we saw it. Even when we had to assign their home-works (long forgotten word for me), we didn’t give them much, but they kept on saying that they wanted to do more. Another thing that was very remarkable was that there was so much of concern for the others in the class also…if any student was not listening to what we were saying or teaching the other would nudge him/her and make sure that they listen…
But the highlight was Sahil…my hands are still aching…as I had to actually console him by carrying him around the entire class-room, showing him the different colorful charts, drawings etc…so that he stops beating the orchestra…but all this was only short-term, he would start off every 10 min and his mother had to sit their through-out the day…only a mother can do that for her child’s future…hats off to her…

On day 2: I entered the class and heard Sahil crying again, he came running to me in the hope that I would allow his mother to sit in the class…which I didn’t (felt bad, but couldn’t help it, he has to learn) but I allowed his mother to sit outside the class so that he could get a glimpse of her whenever he wanted. I made two new friends Disha and Anurag, both of them too sincere and too cute. By the end of the day Sahil had learnt to recognize the alphabet ‘A’ and the number ‘1’.

On day 3: I was just outside the school when I saw Sahil and his mother…we were 5 min early so I took him for a ride on my scooty. Then we went to the class…his mother seated outside the class. My colleague began with checking their Home-Work and I started giving them Class-Work for the day…I had just finished when a girl came to me with a blank notebook, she had not written anything…she said she can’t write…I took her and Sahil to the last bench and made them hold a pencil. It took me 15 min to get them to hold the pencils correctly and position the book correctly…now comes the real task…to teach them how to write the alphabet ‘A’…It took a cool 30 min before they got it perfectly…and Sahil took 40 min because half the time he was looking for his mother…but thank God he didn’t cry…I felt it was some achievement…At the end of the day Damini asked me “Madam aap kal bhi aoge na?” , I just smiled…

I felt really good…The in-charge asked me whether I would like to teach higher classes after he came to know that I was a post-graduate… and I declined…now when I come back home I really miss the kids and look forward to meeting them the next day…

I feel honored to be associated with an organization like this…To eradicate illiteracy, yeh hai meri taraf se ek chota sa prayas……

Eclipse…the mythological aspect

Just came across a text stating the mythology behind this celestial phenomenon. According to this text…the story of solar eclipse stems from what is popularly known as Samudra Manthan. It is said that at the time of Samudra Manthan when the sweet tasting nectar of immortality came out, there was a huge tug-of-war among the Devtas and the Asuras as to who will drink the Amrit, then the devtas approached Lord Vishnu who disguised as a damsel known as Mohini. As accomplished she was, Mohini kept the asuras enchanted with her beauty and poured the amrit only to the devtas…but two of the asuras Rahu and Ketu managed to sneak in-between the devtas and sipped the amrit but Surya Dev and Chandra Dev, because of his luminous nature were able to the spot them and Lord Vishnu acted soon and killed the asuras with his chakra but by that time the amrit had already reached their throat, so their heads became immortal, and so to seek revenge Rahu and Ketu occasionally swallow the sun and moon and the heavenly bodies then travel through the throat to finally appear again.

Strange, but true this is what our mythology states. Wonder how did people manage to think something as insane as that…Thank God for Science and scientist or else even we would trust such preposterous stories.

HEY RAM
Know if he could; the pain
his beloved motherland is in,
how grateful the Mahatma would be
to the bullet which silenced him.

Satyagriha; he fought the British with
has overrun the nation like plague,
a razor in the hands of monkeys
he would think; did he give.

Cacophony of last laugh of monsters,
cast, creed, inequalities, poverty& violence;
he fought all his life; would
make him fast everyday; unto death

Seeing spottless khadi clothing unclear souls;
wheel would cry& spindle shiver,
without an assassin he would fall
everyday& every night- Hey Ram.

My father wrote this poem about 15 years back...I read it today.

Love you papa...one day I will make sure that you pick up that pen again for writing such stuff other than just signing and reviewing official files...