A Baba divided between India and Pakistan.

There is a religious place called Chamliyal, right on the Indo-pak border in Samba sector of J&K. The place is around five to six kilometers from my house. As goes the story some anti social elements beheaded baba because he used to treat villagers of various ailments with his meditation. Because of spiritual power of Babaji, his head travelled from the place where he was beheaded (now in pakistan) to the village chamliyal (now in India). The soil and water of chamliyal called shakkar and Amrit are still used by various devotees for the treatement of skin diseases.

This border post is manned by BSF and being an ex-defence officer, I had the luxuary of going right upto the border and have a peep into the pakistani villages with the telescope of BSF. My family was with me and ofcourse thrilled to see pakistan from such a close distance.

Every year a Mela is organised at this Peer Baba. Around one week before mela, firing from both sides of the border stops. On this border post, where the roar of guns is a common phenemenon, prevails the peace. On the day of Mela both sides meet and exchange Shakker and Amrit. Since my childhood I have never seen any untoward incidence happening on this religious meet of India and Pakistan. The wholy shrine may bear a deserted look on a normal day but is very crowded on the day of mela. A lot of crowd, mostly villagers from the nearby areas, collect and enjoy the feast of jalabees, Burfi, pakoras and other locally prepared items. Its a much awaited day among the locals.

What a Joke

The other day a friend of mine e-mailed me two pictures. One of them depicted Rahul Gahdhi working as a labour. He wore a spotless white payzama Kurta, sport shoes and held a blue plastic bucket over his shoulder. The labour lady working along with him wore chappels, a maroon Ghagra Choli and had a heavy load in a metallic container over her head. The Rahul Gandhi was probably trying to feel the pain of her life, or at least pretending so. He must have done that for five or ten minutes and then gone to the people telling them that he realises the difficulties of their life. He must have asked them to vote for his party and then promised them that his party will make their life easy. Its like a person trying to judge the depth of the ocean by walking a few steps in the knee deep water at the shore. The time tested trick is being played by our cruel politicians and I am sure it will work again. Mr. Gandhi if you really want to know their pains live with them in their clumsy slums, eat their tasteless food, wear their stinking cloths, use their toilets for which i have no adjective, work with them for the whole day and live this life for at least a month. You will realise the intensity of pain they suffer.
The other picture showed Mr. Karunanidhi Fasting................. fasting for four hours that started after breakfast and ended before lunch. He slept on a comfortable bed in front of two huge air conditioners with his supporters standing around him. Gandhi ji's soul must have felt happy that the definition of fasting has changed for better. He also wore the favourity dress of Indian politicians, spotless white. What a joke Mr. Karunanidhi.
Will India ever get good politicians. I hope its a cyclical process and is about to bottom out.

Some photographs I would like to share

कहा जा रहे हो , मुजे भी जाना है, रुको मैं भी आता हूँ।

अरे देवानो मुजे पहचानो कहा से आया हूँ मैं कौन,

मैं हूँ , मैं हूँ, मैं हूँ, DON

Low turnout on elections

Sorry guys, I have been away from this space for a long time. The little one at home has been keeping me busy.

A lot of fuss has been created about the low turnout in polls in a place like mumbai. Just 40 percent. Well I am the one of those who has not voted this election. The reason, I am in mumbai and I have a voter id in Jammu. Around six months before I tried to register myself in the voter list in mumbai, for that I was required to get my name de listed form the voter list in Jammu first. Well going to Jammu, visiting Tehsildars' office, paying him him the bribe or to make five to ten rounds of his office for a voting right in Mumbai. Well all this, I could not afford for various reasons, well understood by those who live in my class, the educated lower middle class.
Our political leaders have come out with the idea of making voting compulsory, least aware of the fact that the system to ensure the same is not in place. We have failed in bringing those people to book who have committed heinous crimes, how are we going to deal with those who do not vote, and mind you the number of such people will he huge. The already crumbling police and legal system can fail because of this one stupid step of the government. And why should one think of this, once there are other means of ensuring the same. We have failed to learn lessons from the Income Tax Department. The tax collections grew many fold not by cracking the whip, but by making tax payment easy and by reducing the tax rates, thereby encouraging the tax payer to pay the tax.
Internet is a very powerful tool. Online voting is a wonderful Idea. Even those who are abroad can vote on the day of polling. I think this is the only way to make the educated and informed voter, which sadly has not been voting since independence, to take part in the process of government forming. We can go even a step ahead. Voting by sms. All the election commission is required to do is to tie up with the various telecoms service providers and issue a user id and a password to every voter. I know these ideas are there in the minds of those who matter, but somehow they do not want to implement, either because they want only illiterate and ignorant to vote, or the will is lacking. As I generally say, its time for us, the educated, honest, and young lot of India to join the politics and clean the filth, rather than being the mute spectators and mourn the countery's pathetic state of affairs over a cup of coffee inside the comforts of our drawing rooms.

Of customs and traditions

There lived a farmer in a village in ancient India. They had a pet cat hat home. Despite its nuisance every one loved the cat. As the time passed by, the farmers children grew up and it was the marriage of his eldest son. During those days it was only home made milk sweets and other milk products that served as delicious dishes in the ceremony. The cat thought it was its day and started munching onto the delicacies prepared for the marriage . It created a ruckus. The whole show of the poor farmer family was destroyed. This made the farmer boil with anger and he put the cat in a cage. Since the cat was also loved by each member of the house, they didn't throw it out but kept putting it in the cage every time there was a marriage in the family. Since this family loved cats, they always had a cat at home. The generations passed by and every time there was a marriage in the family they put the cat in the cage. The younger generations kept on following their predecessors and putting the cat in the cage without understanding the logic of doing so. There came a time when there was no pet cat in home and there was a marriage in the family. So, going by the traditions they caught a cat from the jungle and caged it in the house during the marriage. This became a tradition of the family.

Most of the traditions which we follow today are like caging the cat without understanding the rational behind it. Caste system, Religious and Regional differences, biasing against women are some of such traditions. Mankind must understand that traditions were made for providing a organised society so that it can live happily. It was not that mankind was created to follow the tradations. Before we follow an age old tradation blindly, we must find its relevance on the scale of time.

valentine

Life is what you do it’s the way you spent your time.
It's what you keep close to you and how you make moments fine
It's where you keep your cool and what you die for
It's what you wish to leave and what you desire for
Today I changed my life….

Religion is the way you live, its what you see
It's what you believe in and what you want to be
Its faith in something divine, it's pure, it’s a spell
Its unique, its warm, its something words can't tell
Today I changed my religion….

God is what you trust the most, it's in your heart
It's what makes you happy; it's what controls your thoughts
It's what you look up to and it's something always with you
It means different to every one, yet it’s the only thing true
Today I changed my God….

So on this day of love, this day of valentine
When lovers express their love, together they spent some tome
I have changed my self and please pardon me O! Lord
Love is my life, love is my religion and she is my God

Running for a cause

Mumbai Marathon is probably one of the biggest Marathon in the country. The number of people participating, the number of athletes, the amount of prize money, the kind of media attention it draws, all the parameters are huge. I have been attending this event for the last three years. But this year the feeling was different. Since the event took place shortly after Mumbai Terror attacks people wanted to express their anger against such anti-social activities by coming out in large scale. The same happened also. The participation as well as the spirit, both were high. From RBI the participation was the highest ever, and it was the head of the institute who led from the front. With marine helicopters hovering overhead and cheerleaders and jazz band playing Bhangra and Rock respectively, it was really an experience to run on the marine drive.