Country of Liberty

In my trip to US, I covered mid parts which are Minneapolis and Texas and New Orleans; Eastern part of Boston and New York. Although it was over month long trip, I wont take the liberty of commenting much on US culture since that requires furthur observation. Few snippets is all I can offer.
Minneapolis and Rochester - kind of dry place - not much to see although I tried catching up with their much publicised Contemporary Art museum which to my eyes looked ridiculous with wall length canvas with a black stroke in-between (my due apologies to all modern painters). It is supposed to be one of the coldest parts of US so people are not very fast paced or lively. They have sky walks all through to avoid the harsh climate and like the climate - people were bit stony and cold.
Boston - the tea party - did buy some tea with the same tag! Its a historical city with British Architecture and the famous harbour where American Revolution budded. The quincy market reminded me of Calcutta New Market which has its old flavour harmonised neatly with the new generation of marketers. There were street performers with their jiggs and music. Interestingly, contrary to our city setup - US marks the downtown as the city which is mostly the hub of commerce and activity while people live in and around the main downtown. To get the flavour of culture - one has to visit the downtown. MA being the seat of education with MIT, Stanford - the student culture is more vibrant. A old city with young crowd thronging the streets to shop or visit museums or just hang around Quincy Market.
New York - needs a special mention. Vibrant, positive, multi-cultural and lingual - I felt quite at home. Street are mostly unkempt, people have a maddening pace and its true that the 'city never sleeps'. I can strongly conclude that atleast in the Eastern parts and New Orleans - people are mostly on the street - enjoying live performances, hanging around, eating cuisines like Euthopian one(I tasted myself) more so in the evenings and weekends.
Houston - got the flavour of BIG. Everything was enourmous - from the quantity you order to malls to even people flashing their ornaments and dresses.
New Orleans - party city - Bouboun street where people hang around drunk for days together. The seat of Mardi Gras - the extremely friendly French Quarters. A city undaunted by the havoc and destruction of Katrina.
Interestingly, contrary to popular belief - Americans are not shameless in their dress sense(we believe they are mostly half naked) or showing their emotion publicly and its definitely not true that one can do anything on American Streets. They are pretty conservative and the recent trend is more to be family oriented. They love eating out, travelling and ofcourse shopping. Consumerism is high and responsible and one can easily get lost in the variety although all makes are Chinese!!! Wastage is high - food, water, gas, paper - all comes in such huge quantity that its bound to get wasted. Cities are not that clean as one would love to believe, beggars are plenty - infact, one data says there are about 19000 homeless in LA itself. Crime is very high - they have channels dedicated to crime reporting but one thing is for sure - corruption doesnot affect the basics like education, health system, food which I guess makes living much easier.
People are generally happy go-lucky, friendly(not like Europeans) and inquisitive. I feel their past makes them much more open to different cultures, races, religion - I would say every American has little of every kind of flavour across the world although they are very protective about their individuality too. The race for money keeps up the positive pace but also makes them loose themselves easily to drugs and crime. I found a growing influence of hinduism amongst them in the form of yoga, meditation which although for some are fads.
Capitalism, liberty and freedom makes the Americans grow in their mind and also creates bad sheep - a tough balance to strike.
Last but not the least:
Population of China is under control!!
Obviously - more than 70% reside now in US!!!!

Vote Do...Vote Do

Vote Do....Vote Do!!
A good campaign for literates to arise and awake to be part of a change in the whole election process in this country.

All these years our motherland has seen sleeping literates who though participate in fiery discussions on economy, politics but when it comes to action even to the extent of voting - they shudder giving lame excuses like what's the use? whom to vote - all are same!! The process is complicated to get registered!!

But surprisingly, I strongly feel this country is still functioning despite high level of corruption and an illegal parallel system only for few people may it be politicians or goverment people who still has some element of morality and truthfulness embedded in them. So if we ignore the mass so called 'netas' who just mud sling at each other, beg shamelessly for votes only prior to elections, resorts to money laundering and cheap ways to capture the golden eggs(votes in this scenario); we still can spot few who for whatever reason it might be have done some good at the end of the day - may it be the Railways, or Foreign Ministry or even uplifting education and electric facilities in villages.

Interestingly, despite the poor being still poor and our ''netas' even after 60 years still promising the basics of Roti - Kappda - Makan which should have been done long back, people even in remote villages today has developed a sense of practicality and deeply observe how their voted netas have performed in the last phase and are no more influenced by gifts or threatens, to vote the most eligible candidate. The other marked difference in the Indian electorate is the shelving of the concept of ideology - its hard to find a party sticking to any basic ideology - all are mix and match to form the goverment for which they are flexible enough to do away with any staunch idelogy and accept the change in the favour of people(not though very voluntarily!)

So Dear Netas - Mind your own business and responsibility - your performance is counted and observed by us every minute and you maynot have a good appraisal or can be even cruelly chucked out of your cushy job if the performance rate is not extraordinary. Mind this that its the toughest job to please millions and also look at your own benefits - its either way for you!!

Although I cant vouch 100% on the system - its too early but at least there has been a start to clean it and choose only those who are performers and less of tall talkers. The young generation of savvy politicians are also most welcome in this system and are wanted for the radical change required in economy or society as a whole.

All in All - its a feel better system working in this country after 60 long years - Better late than Never as the saying goes!!

Kawal - A miracle habitat for tigers

The struggle for survival for a tiger – Kawal
Diya


On the northern most tip of Andhra Pradesh, lies the district of Adilabad. Nearly 40 percent of Adilabad’s area comprises of sanctuaries and national parks of dry deciduous teak forests. Situated amidst these forests, is the extremely scenic Kawal wildlife sanctuary.

Established in 1965 with the purpose of safeguarding the endangered species in their natural habitat, an area of 893 sq kms was set aside owing to the richness of Kawal’s bio-diversity.

The beauty of this forest immediately catches the eye as one venture’s inside. The entire Kawal range in the distance encircles a vast area of flat expanse where nature and its bounty once thrived.

It’s dense and thrilling once you start walking inside from any point of the buffer area. The saddest part is since it’s not declared as a tiger reserve although it has about 9-10 tigers as per the last census you can view the security lapse, good bit of felling everywhere. And the most interesting part is even after all this anarchy, tiger and other animals like sambhar, cheetal, Bear thrive with all the human population in and around which itself is a wonder.

Good combinations of Darwin’s theory of existence – thrive through mutual respect and fight it out for survival.

A 280 kms drive from Hyderabad via Siddhipet, Karimnagar, Lakshattipet to reach Jannaram village will take about 5hrs. A night long or early morning journey gives you the leverage of reaching there in the morning and straight head for the buffer area or the core parts by walking with the local rangers. The DFO office is at Jannaram and he will be helpful enough to get you a forest ranger to escort you towards Alinagar/Dongapalli side or Nirmal side of the forest.

The walk leads you through villages, small tribal encroachments together with hoof marks and paw marks of Bear, Deer. All kinds of living beings seem to live in harmony without any confrontation but sadly we humans don’t like to be at peace. So you get to see the major human interventions in the form of extensive felling everywhere in the name of cheap politics.

The only other lodging is the forest guest house in Jannaram which can be facilitated by the DFO. To understand and feel a forest in your own sweet time and pace nothing can beat Kawal since it is not commercialised or organised.

Tourism would be not only good for the forest due to increased publicity but is a haven for nature lovers for all its diversity.

Note: All nature lovers must be aware that Kawal is not like any other national park or reserve and one needs to be very responsible and respectful towards the flaura and fauna there. Special care needs to be taken with regards to maintaining sanctity and peace of the place due to its delicate balance between wild animals and humans. Since there are no specific rules, one needs to be more careful and take the help of forest officials when entering the forest. Responsible tourism is a great way towards giving focus to wild life conservation.

JAI HO!!

JAI HO! JAI HO! JAI HO!

Jai Ho to what??
India - our great country portrayed as a slum - dog? or we Indians dancing to the tune and proud and happy of our great slum heritage as if that's all we have - I would say we have come a long way from depicting India - land of snakes and elephants to land of slums, hoodlums, shit..... JAI HO to westener's who made an OSCAR....BAFTA....CANNES from it!!

So why are we clapping and exultant? Some would say - its an India based movie - India has indirectly made news through the gallis - dirt - cows - dons - riots. How about putting our country in news for the right things for a change - rich culture - heritage - history - science - medicine - worldwide influence with vedas or even kamasutra.

Others say - 3 Indians got to Oscars - kudos to their talent but went to Osacrs again for wrong reasons - songs like cholli ke pecche sound alike!!! I wonder why didn't Rahman make it to Oscars with one of his great origional scores!!

But does Indians know we once made it not only to Oscars but its highest award - Lifetime Achievement for the very right reason - Satyajit Ray - how many clap to that? His movies are specially archieved in Hollywood and different other parts of the world as a rich glory and art.

I would not be surprised if the whole 'firangee' crew of Slumdog(together with Dev the actor who doesnot know the name of our Prime Minister) is slyly laughing on our sheer ignorance and stupidity of being proudly part of a masala block buster like any other B-Grade Bollywood movie with all gory scenes from the dark lanes of Mumbai.

I also wonder - what message did the Oscar guys give us? The award which has gone to greats like Ben Hur - Titanic is sharing the space with Slumdog with 9 nominations!!!

A big thought to ponder......

JAI HO! JAI HO!

Life in Caves

Air conditioned surrounding, stereo phonic effect, hidden from evils of the world - dont start imagining a new world is being created - its a LIFE IN CAVES.
A life well lived by our ancestors. Places where great meditators achieved the most impossible - control of senses and attainment of peace.
In todays world the whole enigma lies in our relentless try to achieve peace through different artificial forms. The more we try the more we see ourselves detached from nature and self. Machines which we use on a daily basis to make our life easier is making us detached from our inner self, confidence, power of brain. We get lost without mobiles, computers, TV etc and if we delve deep inside our souls we will find that we are no more self dependant, thoughtful individuals but weaklings totally sold in the hands of machines.
A short time travel to our past will reveal that we the same individuals had the power not only to control our senses of hunger, emotion, body temparture but also immense memory power, strength of mind to overcome all.
Sometimes I truly wonder whether we have really advanced as we claim or just evolving backwards into an ameba - the first one cell living vegetable.
The great director and philosopher Satyajit Ray;s movie Aguntuk is based on the philosophy which makes us think on our futile existence and the peaceful life of cave dwellers and tribals - people who are and were more connected to nature and their inner self.

A poignant thought.....

NEW YEARS RESOLUTION

Sounds so cliche' - the famous saying goes - ''resolutions are meant to be broken''....so let me make a list of resolutions which are meant to be BROKEN!!! hehehe

1. Work...work..work
2. Talk...talk..talk about changing the world
3. Plastic smile...laugh at social causes
4. Bitch and gossip about the world going wrong
5. Blame all except yourself for all dirts
6. See to it that everyone is happy all round except yourself
7. Get blocked in the pent called city and pretend to be happy
8. Dream what others dream to be part of the so called rat race
9. Love one and all while bitching about them behind their backs
10. Follow the above list to its fullest!!!

What a relief to have a good NEW YEARS RESOLUTION!!

HAPPY 2009!!

Five - Vidaniyas!!!

Surprises are always welcome but not all Life's surprise!!
The surprise or shock of Birth & Death is discomforting.

How about an organized time period for life?
Diya - you would live for another 10 years?!!! A pretty welcoming concept at least for me.
I will have the Time of my Life - Live Life Kingsize!!
No worries about retirement plans, future plans of settlement, savings - just go beserk!! What fun!!

How about listing the 5 most Things TO DO LIST?

Here is my list:

1. Would travel the world with my best friend Babla, meet the locals, eat their food
2. Save atleast 5 animals - Tiger
3. Make lifelong provision for an intelligent but deprived child
4. Meet all my loved ones - friends and family
5. Write a book on woman emancipation and direct a movie

If all Things to do can be Striked out in one lifetime; whatz the need to live with just few memories?

I envy people who can live life to its fullest in this world of uncertainity, surprises and shocks.

A tough lesson to learn.....

Guys - fill the comment section with your Things To Do List - such a comfort :)

Half a league....half a league....into the valley of death rode the whole nation!!

When was the last war we fought? Pakistan? Bangladesh?
Sorry guys; you would be disappointed to know that its not been that simple for our country with hostile nations and even more hostile politicians all round - we fight a proxy war day in and day out.
Its an ongoing war as the forces in India would confirm.
War against terror, internal hooliganism, political rivallry - not a moment of peace.

This has resulted in few major changes:

1. Attitude change among the citizens - they have taken it for granted and it takes very less time for events like Mumbai blast or the terror attack to slip to the 2nd and third pages of the news

2. People being taken for granted by our mighty politicians who feel they are beyond law - surprisingly most of the terror attacks are cruicialy timed near and around the elections!!! any thoughts?? I wont be surprised if we are fighting a hoax war internally - politicians sponsoring terrorist across the border to turn their political situation!! Nor isnt it eerie that everytime we fight these so called internal terrorism we threaten to take drastic steps but within few days we are back to square one!! So where is the great FIGHT!!!???
Too many grave questions with no answers at all and how does it matter - in a country with a population of 110 crores how does it matter to any big wigies if few die for their ulterior motives.

Please stop this never ending blame game - PAKISTAN being the catch word and lets all start concentrating on our internal policies and terrorists!!! If this part is taken care - no nation can be under any threat at all - that's a CHALLENGE!!!

I wonder how Bapu - the father of the nation would have reacted to all this!! JAI HIND!!

The Virus called USA

Creating pesudo wars to sell their arms industry
Killing lakhs in the false alligation of possessing nuclear weapons
Conquering countries after implicating under false excuses to gain hold on different parts of the world
Promoting and funding wild life protection and on the contrary creating the biggest illegal market for animal products and exotic pets
Having a big brother say on internal affairs of every other country
Creating a false hype in the international world to hide their own falling economy and turmoil
Greatest consumption of oil, food - a fact which they blame on countries like India
One of the most environmentally polluting country but a show off in international forums as a protector of different environmental issues
Making laws for themselves and implicating others on the same laws - nuclear laws
Creator of frankersteins - Bin Laden, Saddam. They seem to be much more truthful than the creator himself

The list is unending and the virus is soon catching up and spreading.
Any remedy?

Aamcchi Mumbai!!!

Conjested, bad traffic, crowded, polluted but has a throbbing heart and a beautiful self -that's my perception of Mumbai.

My Mumbai visit last weekend was in tune with fulfilling an overdue promise to a friend.

The drive from the airport to the city itself was like reminicising the past. Old world architecture, fountains at crossings, marine drive, old Parsi restaurants, sindhi houses, glamourous Victorai Terminus, roman churches, churh gate, gateway of India. Each nook and corner of the main city had a beautiful surprise in store.

Sadly, the subburb was quite a disappointment as compared to the main city. Match box houses, dirty roads, crowded bazars all added up to make you feel that you are on the same time visiting some other city. There are some parts like Malhad, Juhu(famous for its star presence), Band Stand which look in all this chaos a good attempt to polish off the dirt and filth and have an ultra modern look. Altogether quite a chaotic mixture not appealing to my taste.

Whatever might be the stark difference, the main beat of the city is definitely the people, or rather '' bindaas'' people. Spirited, enthusiastic despite all the traffic and expense hassles, enjoys whatever fun they can in the most least expense like having pao in chowpathy or just sitting in marine drive or just hanging around Gateway of India. The true spirit of Mumbai!!

Among the metros or even other happening cities, I would definitely rate Mumbai and Calcutta as best experiences in terms of a city - the perfect combination of heritage and vibrancy is sadly missing everywhere else.

Ranthambhore – tiger, tiger burning bright…..2

Ranthambhore - the largest expanse of dry deciduous forest in the world.
The Ranthambhore National Park, which is a part of the much larger Ranthambhore tiger reserve, lies in the Sawai Madhpur District of Eastern Rajasthan. The Chambal River forms a natural boundary of the Park towards the east, and on the eastern shore of Chambal lies the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. To the northeast of the Park, flows the river - Banas, a tributary of Chambal. Across the river Banas, lies the Keladevi sanctuary, while the Sawai Man Singh sanctuary lies to the south of the Park. Both these sanctuaries, along with the Ranthambhore national park, are part of the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve. Today, this Project tiger reserve spans over 1334 sq. km of area, of which 282 sq. km is the Ranthambhore national park.
We, the keen wild life enthusiasts started our trip from Hyderabad to Ranthambhore. The challenge was to make it to Jaipur and then Sawai Madhpur, in half a day, which is about 130 kms from Jaipur. The whole purpose was not to waste time to catch up with the tigers. We took the early morning flight from Hyderabad to Jaipur and then hopped in the connecting train to Sawai Madhpur(inter city express).
With a prior booking at Ranthambhore Bagh, which is owned by the renowned wild life duo Aditya and Poonam Singh, we had a car waiting for us at the Sawai Madhpur station.
The arid surrounding on the ride from the station hardly makes you feel that you are approaching the thrilling land of Machli, the star tigeress of Discovery. The distant horizon has streaks of hills covered with shrubs and small deciduous plants.
We were welcomed at the resort by a very excited and nice Boxer - Tyson, our first brush with an animal, which although being a pet had quite a wild side to it. The resort has a very personal touch about décor and the service, instantly makes you feel at home, thanks to Poonam and Aditya.
The evening trip was arranged from the resort for Ranthambhore fort. The unique feature of the park was that the fort was inside and the surrounding jungle giving it an extra romantic touch. The fort also housed a temple and as we entered through the first dilapidated gate, we actually entered the buffer zone of the park and interestingly Machli was spotted on the same roadside on our last day. So the thrill of seeing the jungles punctuated with birds, langoors, peacock and even crocodiles got us in the groove of the wild, which would stay with us all through the trip and even much after that. The presence of the temple made it a popular tourism spot for the localities’ in their colorful ghagra cholis walked up the fort of the mighty Rajput’s. The view from atop the fort overlooks the whole park and the Aravalli range. The park has scattered extensions of the fort that were the hunting palaces of the rajas. It is quite an irony to think that once those who were hunted now rule the palaces (one is inhabited by Machli and her three cubs), infact parts of the fort is a haven for leopards too.
Already on the adventure groove, we decided to do the night safari by walking. We started from one point of the jungle at about 8 in the evening and went deeper escorted by four guards with lathis and torches. The overall experience and the thrill to enter the unknown were too overwhelming. At a small peak, we sat down to enjoy the wilderness in all its glory. On our way back, our walk was duly rewarded by spotting few cheetals and a hyena.
To top all the excitement of the first day, we spent the evenings chatting with Aditya on his numerous wild life expeditions and listening to live Rajasthan folk in all its purity.
The next two days of our stay were planned with three safaris to the park – morning and evening. The park is categorized into five zones to evenly distribute the large traffic of visitors. The local guides informed that zone 3 & 5 were the lucky ones for sightings. There is a lottery system that happens to allocate the zones, one can feel the palpable excitement mounting from that very moment and all seem to be just interested to see the star – The Royal Bengal Tiger. On the contrary, we were there just to feel and absorb nature; sighting would be an extra bonus. As luck would have it, all the three times we got either zone 3 or 5 and altogether spotted about 7 tigers. We also got to spot sambhars, numerous birds, cheetals, Langoors, crocodiles and a mongoose.
The best sighting was by far zone 3, where the famous Machli resides with her three full-grown cubs. It is beside one of the very few lakes in the park, so quite a coveted territory and in that respect, Machli can be considered as the Queen of Ranthambhore. We had just entered the zone, looking all round for some good sighting when I noticed a yellowish orange head pop out from the side walk and within minutes we were following the two cubs going for their evening drink. They walked in their own pace, gallantly without being bothered about the over enthusiastic onlookers and the extreme palpable excitement all round. The other one we spotted resting under a tree, in a cool poise for all the paparazzi. The power, might and the beauty was glowing all round her and it made me seriously doubt the cause of killing or not making constructive efforts to save the tiger.
After all the excitement, we spent the last day in Manasorover Lake for bird watching. While you sit and see all your feathered friends, you feel at peace with yourself and one with nature. Kingfisher, tree pie, crane, Indian Roller, Geese made us have our own imaginary flights with them in a beautiful musical harmony.
The most dreadful account after three days of bliss was the journey back home. I wish it never happened and I still feel my spirit is hovering in the jungles.

STOP BEING AN ANIMAL!!......for Shoma!!

2 beautiful eyes
1 throbbing heart
1 baby womb
8 nipples for suckling
Does it amount to $ 12\kg

OR

A beautiful Animal to love and let live!!

STOP THE SAVAGE ANIMAL IN YOU.........
BE A VEGETARIAN!!

Children of the traffic signal!!

BMW, MERC, HONDA CITY to play around with; more than 5 kms of open wide space to run around, green grass and open sky to breathe fresh air. Sounds glamorous and ideal for many of us but for the children of the traffic signal - it is the road, cars and small patches of greens on dividers which make up for their working home.

In a country with a bursting population to reach the two billion mark soon and no attempts from the great Indian leaders to address the issue - it is no wonder or news to have 100's of unwanted children on roads. And if we have to even half believe the stark reality portrayed in the movie - Traffic Signal, it is a matter of utter disgust to see infants being used to steal sympathy for begging.

Kids of different size scooting around the signal points to hawk or beg with no fears of the monster called urban road. But I guess it hardly matters since if one die there will be an immediate replacement by 2 more who would still keep some of their innocance and once in a while forget the burdens of this dirty world and play around the cars or show their unkempt teeth - the undauting spirit of a child.

Lets stop claiming we are in the 21stcentury with brilliant scientific discoveries in contrast to unfed millions of children on road. Lets start discovering the stark truths taking place all round us and address them much before we organise big conferences on Eradication of Child Labour( India has the largest!!)

Please ARISE AND AWAKE and stop not till we restore the sprirt and innocance in every child of this nation.

Peace!!!

Birds tweet, humming sound of the bees, silence of the engulfing forest
The mind has come to rest….
At the feet of Almighty mother – Nature.

Seek peace, sounds of silence, a restful mind and soul
Seize and stop this moment of ecstasy
Surrender your heartbeats to this moment of Nirvana....

LET IT OUTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!

restless mind, painful heart,dishevelled thought
I wonder what makes life so upsetting
are these some deep desires which I have so long let to rot

wondering eyes,aimless actions,deep sorrow
is it love or hate
or few dreams trying to find life through a narrow burrow

money, honey,car or to be a star
what life has for me?
profession, passion or obsession - mind is deeply tarred

Cry out, shriek out, let it out
dont imprison your heartfelt desires and dreams
Live and let live one and all.......

FREE THE SOUL!!

TAARE ZAMMEN PAR............

TAAARE ZAMEEN PAR - Did it leave a sweet or sour taste...........or did it tinkle your senses...........or did it make you introspective?

Was it just about a special child? Or was it to do with undying and stressful ambitions of parents to see their child a topper in the rat race? Or is it a new perspective for all parents & would-be's?

Have we ever thought what we mean by parental guidance ultimately turns out to be a forceful extension of our unfulfilled dreams and ambitions which the children are supposed to fulfill in their lifetime?

Where is the individual child with his dreams and fantasies - his world? He gets lost very soon in the mark sheets, rankings, awards and certificates.

So do we give birth to our next generation just to see the extension of ourselves - how mean, tortorous and selfish idea can that be!!!

Let a child take the world as it comes to him in his own ways and thoughts. Let him dream and make his own world - hear him, observe him,extend your hand to make his dream world a beautiful place to live-in for him; its not for you.

''Every child is special'' - very rightfully conveyed in the movie and it is not about learning difficulties or motor neuron disease in a child - it is all about peeping into their own world which they create painstakingly with the beauties of the world.

Lets unite to protect their dream bubble and nurture them in their peace and beauty.

Dhikchik-dhikchik.....the jarring beats!! Melody lost???

Dhikchik...dhikchik..dhikchik...the 3 taal beat which has revolutionised the world of music in present times.

Anywhere you step into - disco...pubs....parties..or even religious ceremonies(quite a paradox!), you here the stereotype, anti-meditative sound which can get you a 'high' without any amount of hashish!!

But are we aware of OUR music which comes from our hinterland - the ever melodious beats of dhaak, ghungroo, ek tara?

One can sway in a trance to the beats of chou, rajasthani folk, santhali dance, the east godavari folk(as seen in the picture) to ecstacy level. But sadly we feel folk is a passe' and low class and goes well with some so called ''melas''.

It wont be too hard to challenge Indian folk music and dance with western hip-hop and the modulated beats of folk can anyday surpass so called pop music in beats, peppiness, melody and its effect on the soul.

As our great poet(Rabindranath Tagore) rightfully mentions:

'' Anek bidesh ghure.......dekha hoynai....chokkhu melia, ghor hote du pa feliya

ekti dhaner shish er opor ekti shishir bindu''....which roughly means....we always look for pleasures outside while we ignore the beauties inside, ones which are near to us....can also become dear to us....

Artisans lost in the backlane.......

25k for a Bidri Hookah!! The artisans get 5k!!

The makey world of art lovers frequented by socialites sipping vintage wine and discussing the beauty and intricacy of art are the decision makers of such beauty. They are the bread and butter providers for the artisans breaking their backs for the art lovers in high societies.

Noor Alam, lives in the dingy and dark backlane in Bidar. For 8 hours in a day he bends over to concentrate and create the intricate work of Bidri. The room is nothing more than 6ft by 6ft and depends much on daylight coming from a small window right on top. He represents one of many unattainded, unknown creaters of beauty who are not only lost in the barklanes but are also poorly paid in lieu of their mighty creations.

Their fault - being poor, uneducated and non-commercial in nature. They are day-in and day out sold to the art dealers who flaunt there art in high prices. While these so called ''high social beings'' make hay, the artisans create wonders and die in oblivion is some backlane of our many villages.

I guess that's called '' survival of the fittest''!!

My Mom..........the essay!!!

The heading...doesn't it sound familiar......one of the very few common topics to write essay on during our childhood days and I distinctly remember what I worte - '' My mom is fat and she cooks well''!!!

The journey of motherhood is an amazing give and take relation for both mother and her child - both pass through different phases in their relationship. The formative years are mostly spent on dependency from both sides - love - care while with time it changes to an age old concept - ''generation gap''. The summative years would be completion of the cycle - friendship - love and care.

For me it was living the same life cycle with our own personalization aspects. We also had the growing pangs of ''generation gap'' stage with ideological conflicts. We both took each other as sworn enemies and would often end up in emotional bursts. But amidst all, for us the next level of friendship, love and care happened in an escalated way. There came a time when we would openly discuss love, sex, new exposures in the growing stage and would find a lot of solace in accepting each others theories.

Reminiscing on her 7th death anniversary, all those ups and downs in a mother-child relation one thing stands true to the core - the title ''ma\mom'' might be of just 2-3 letters but it holds enormous power and strength to influence, mould, create, love & care.

My salute to the Almighty ''Mother''.

Tiger tiger burning bright.............

Tables are turned.............we the so called superior human species find ourselves in the mercy of all powerful Nature. Unknown territory, suspense at every corner, mere existence is on luck is what is in store for us when we visit the forest - Forest in real terms not the one which we live in - urban jungle.

The density, unknown sounds punctuated with numbness overpowers the mind and soul and for the first time you bow down to the enormous power of mother nature engulfing you to the last drop of your blood.

Every minute builds up to a suspense thriller when nature tries out your patience and luck with sudden glimpses of the beauties in the form of birds, deers, bisons, sambhars, bear until you come acroos the mighty power of nature embodied in one form - the Tiger. The eyes stare at you taking in all the candid shots much before you take out your camera for one click. One feels helpless as a child in front of the Mighty but the kind of respect and aura it throws, you are bound to feel a change in your superior status.

As rightfully William Blake puts:


TIGER, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?


In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?


And what shoulder and what art
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand and what dread feet?


What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? What dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?


When the stars threw down their spears,
And water'd heaven with their tears,
Did He smile His work to see?
Did He who made the lamb make thee?


Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

So what are we mere puny humans in front of the Almighty nature - are we superiors only because we can throw a bullet or burn the beauty around?