Archie is amongst my favourite cartoon characters and the daily strip in Bombay Times is my staple. The beauty of this comic strip is that it has updated itself with time and therefore, continues to hold interest of readers.

We are all aware of communication revolution that started with mobile phones ( remember Nokia and Motorola?). While the new avatar of mobile phone, smart phone, is altogether in different league, the basic objective of the mobile phone of being contactable while being mobile is now an integral part of our lives.

Those who love and savour Archie comics know Veronica’s father’s dislike for Archie whom he treats as good for nothing fellow wasting his daughter’s time. In today’s strip, he’s seen lamenting to his butler about his disgust with mobile phones. He sees his daughter Veronica talking to Archie on phone and then his sight catches Archie standing outside their house about to enter. So he laments , “ You know I prefer old phones to these cells. It used to be when she was taking to Archie there was at least a reasonable chance that he was at his house! “

And we have all experienced in real life situation people lying about them being out of city or out of country or alternatively children lying to their parents being only 5 minutes from hone, when in reality they could be in altogether different location!

Of course, we now have apps that help one locate the actual coordinates of other person and catch his bluff.

But as is my experience, sometimes this light hearted banter in comics contains very deep rooted and pertinent message and the message from this take on mobile phone and new technology is to use the technology to build better character and become a better human being and not misuse it for nefarious objectives. If we use technology for betterment and upliftment, there will be no spams, vishing attacks, cyber crimes and tendency to avoid and lie.

‘‘यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत।
अभ्यूत्थानंमधर्मस्य तदात्मानं सृजाम्यहम्।।
परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम्।
धर्मसंस्थापनार्थाय संभवामि युगे युगे।।’’

Now that this Covid pandemic has unleashed all its power on the mankind, it’s time for its end. All these Corona warriors – doctors, nurses, health workers, sanitary workers, police personnel etc are members of vanar sena and one who invents Covid vaccine or its cure will be a Vishnu avatar like Lord Rama, who will slay this modern day Ravana, Covid. That day we shall celebrate Dussehra again.

जो महा शक्तिशाली और महा बलवान था

लंका का राजा रावण जिसका नाम था

ख़ात्मा किया उसका भगवान श्रीराम ने

वही इतिहास दोहराया जाएगा कोविड के इंतक़ाल में!!!

Happy Dussehra!

If Bollywood and movies made in India are our strength, our neighbour is quite strong in plays, dramas and stage acts. In fact, Bakra Kishton Pe made Pakistani comedian Umar Sharif a household name on both sides of the border. Since then, Pakistani theatre scene has remained replete with many success stories, churning out several stars. Zee TV had started Zindagi channel that gained quick popularity as it was mainly airing Urdu plays and serials mainly shot in Middle East but having content from Pakistan. However. the channel had to go off air following deterioration of bilateral ties between two neighbours.

However, thanks to lockdown and an opportunity to surf through contents of Netflix, Prime video and YouTube that accidentally led me to watching a few episodes of political satire cum comic show Hasb e Haal aired on Duniya TV, hosted by Junaid Salim. Like our Kapil Sharma show, while the host lends grace and identity to the show, life of the show is very popular stage actor and comedian, the redoubtable Sohail Ahmed, who dons a different avatar in each episode. And this virtuoso talent copies almost everyone – mostly Pakistani politicians but also their other dignitaries and people of importance from across the world. A few episodes that I have watched , I have seen him playing personalities as varied as Donald Trump, Queen Elizabeth, Navjot Singh Siddhu, Actress Mira and host of politicians such as Maulana Fazlur Rahman, Sheikh Rashid, Shah Mehmood Qureshi etc.

While copying their mannerism and speech is Sohel’s talent and coming out with sharp and witty comments evidence of his tremendous timing and sense of humour, what is most remarkable thing about the show is openness of Pakistani society and patience and big hearts of the politicians, who are sometimes made a mince meat of by Ahmed through his barbs, satirical remarks and provocative humour! On the contrary, in our country, the world’s largest democracy and one of the most peace loving societies, there’s absolutely no tolerance! Politicians, actors, dignitaries – leave apart presenting them in lighter vein or making a spoof on them on TV or in movies, in fact, we have become so sensitive and touchy, that any slightly uncomfortable comment leads to polarisation, trolling and in some cases physical assault! Where’s our sense of humour, tolerance, patience and openness gone? I am told that Mrs Gandhi used to respect cartoonist R K Laxman, though some of his cartoons and caricatures of hers were quite vitriolic and critical! And here look at the reaction when a segment in Kapil Sharma show based on a popular and very aggressive news anchor got severely trolled on social media!

To carry on Pakistani humour further, Sohel’s special targets are loud mouthed Pakistani Railway Minister Sheikh Rashid ( yes the same guy who said that Pakistan has made a bomb that will not kill Muslims in India) and the current man in news Maulana Fazlur Rahman, who is leading opposition unity against Imran Khan government. He’s arranging a big congregation this month, a show of strength for his movement. When asked by the host that how many people were expected to attend this congregation, Maulana replied , “ 2 Arab” ( which is 200 crore). On being asked whether he was expecting people from India and China too as the population of Pakistan was only 22 crore, Maulana replied, “ my two friends from Saudi have promised me to attend by protest and that’s a confirmed number.” I thought that was quite a sharp humour – comical, satirical and hard hitting at the same time. And it’s accepted by Pakistani public and tolerated by their politicians. We need to be more open and tolerant , because this trolling, polarisation, anger, lack of humour are not what we inherently are as a nation and society.

Come autumn or Sharad Ritu in Hindi and its time for Sharad Navratri. It heralds the beginning of festival season marked by 9 days of offering worship to nine forms of Goddess Durga viz. Shailaputri, Brahmacharini, Chandraghanta, Kushmanda, Skanda Mata, Katyayani, Kalaratri, Mahagauri, and Siddhidatri.

Sharad Navratri brings whole lot of nostalgia of my childhood days to the fore for it was time for the first school break called autumn break or Dussehra holidays. The nights in Delhi were crisply cool and it was Ramlila time, nine days of celebrating Lord Rama’s life culminating into assassination of the demon king Ravana and burning of the effigies of Ravana, his brother Meghanad and son Kumbhakarna on Dussehra day.

Ramlila staged by amateur actors happened in almost all the localities. Of course, there were more professional ones at Ramlila ground and DCM, where well known actors played the characters from Ramayana and there was good grandeur and use of gadgets for special effects. Going with friends after dinner to watch this show that lasted well up to midnight over groundnuts is an unforgettable experience. And watching burning of the effigies of the aforesaid three evils on the last day was accompanied by the mandatory treat of kadai hot jalebis though by the end of the day, spirit used to start sagging as it was school time again the next day!

In Kolkata it used to be total shutdown from the sixth day onwards during the day, with the city coming alive at night with hordes of families doing pandal hopping and eating savouries.

In Mumbai, it was all about 9 days of dandiya that presented colourful pageantry.

Readers must be wondering the use of past tense in this blog. Because while Delhi , which I left in 1986 and Kolkata, where I last stayed in 1999 are all in my memory, Mumbai, where I have stayed for last 2 decades is sensibly staying away from all this celebrations to defeat Corona virus. Like Lord Rama killed the demon king to liberate his beloved wife and goddess Durga killed Mahishasura, we the ordinary folks will have to emulate our revered gods to kill this demon coronavirus by wearing mask, washing hands, maintaining social distancing and staying safe so as to celebrate Ramlila, Durga Puja and Dandiya next year and convert the past tense into present once again.

Happy Navratri!

Do you ever imagine the kind of feeling that could be experienced by a space traveller, who spent months in space conducting certain chores and experiments ? Or for that matter someone on an expedition to Antarctica or posted in a place like Siachen glacier that would keep him or her away months together from the normal world? Though not the right example and definitely not in the same vein as above quoted instances that are reflective of heroism and bravery but evoking may be similar feeling would be that of a prisoner undergoing term punishment?

Before my readers start feeling zapped with the riddle, let me clarify what it is all about? It’s a unique, hitherto not experienced and a very strange feeling that has engulfed not only me but all of us for the last 7 months! What has led to this feeling:

(1) I have not boarded Mumbai local for 7 months, which I used to board daily while returning from office. Ditto Mumbai metro.

(2) I haven’t seen my driver who has been with me for last 20 years and who has been ringing my doorbell each day sharp at 7.30 am, since the lockdown started.

(3) I have not visited Siddhivinayak temple since my last visit on March 7th and Four Bungalows Gurudwara opposite my residence, a source of daily inspiration, has been out of bounds since the start of lockdown.

(4) I haven’t been to my favourite restaurant for last so many months, which has been my weekend haunt for the past so many years and when I visited multiplex for a movie last beats my memory.

(5) I have been working for close to 4 decades and the only time when I missed office for more than 15 days at a stretch was during my marriage when I took leave for 4 weeks. Since 1st of April this year, I have been to office only on 4 occasions, working from home all this while.

(6) Haven’t met my old mother staying in Delhi for more than 1 year and my daughter and her children living in Johannesburg for almost an year.

(7) I eagerly awaited the morning copy of daily newspaper first thing after getting up; haven’t touched hard copy of newspaper for last so many months!

(8) And this list can go on and on – haven’t visited friends place, have not been to Mall, haven’t boarded an aircraft, haven’t shaken hands or hugged and above all, haven’t eaten a paan !

Could we have ever imagined the impasse that our lives would come to ? Isn’t it a feeling that’s like no other feeling that ordinary folks like us have experienced in our lifetimes and so far would have been unique to astronauts, explorers, soldiers and as an outlier to prisoners!

Go Covid go!

Now that the process of unlockdown has started, things are slowly trying to come back to normal. However, the point to be noted is that unlockdown is not an outcome of waning Covid. Rather Covid seems to be growing stronger, infecting people and killing many. The latest victim of Covid is US President Trump, who seems to have come out of it as dramatically as he fell victim.

But people are treating this opening up as old normal. They are crowding markets, bidding adieu to masks, becoming casual about need for social distancing and doing almost everything that they were doing in the pre Covid period. So far Mumbai local and metro have not commenced services but I am sure once these services restart, the scene will not be very different.

Actually, the main reason behind this casualness is the feeling that I am immune to Covid! Everyone thinks so unless he or she is actually infected! But here people should understand that if the President of the most advanced nation on the earth is vulnerable, than we ordinary mortals are certainly very much on Covid’s hit list!

The reality is that by not observing the Covid rules, we are not only risking our lives, but we are in fact becoming Corona carriers, as against Corona warriors who are national heroes. When we don’t wear mask, don’t practice social distancing, don’t go out unless extremely urgent and adapt “ care a hoot” attitude, we are making ourselves corona carriers. We may have natural immunity or antibodies as a result of herd immunity, but we can transmit the virus to others, which could be fatal for those who may not be as strong as we are! I go a step further and assert that by applying the analogy of Corona warriors being national heroes, Corona carriers become national villains. When it comes to the matter of community, the onus is on each member to ensure the safety and well being of the community. One rotten fish can spoil the entire pond.

Lockdown is opening

And things are becoming normal

But not wearing mask and being careless

Are both impudent and immoral!

Warriors have fought the virus for months

They are exhausted, tired and groggy

If we can’t augment their efforts

Let’s not be carriers either, making nation’s fight soggy!

Let’s defeat Corona and eradicate it because it’s so contagious that even if one strain remains amongst us, communities will continue to face suffering. Let’s resolve that enough is enough and Corona must exit now!

رزق اور موت کا خوف نہ رکھو
یہ اختیار صرف اللہ کے ہاتھ میں ہے..
रीजक और मौत का खौफ न रखों_ये‌ एख्त्यार सिर्फ अल्लाह के हाथ में है .

I think I am currently fascinated with writing sequels. Yesterday I wrote something about a Sikh preacher, who had interpreted Guru Nanak’s words that had a great relevance, especially in today’s milieu. The above couplet is something I came across today in one of the the Urdu groups I am member of that seems to be another interpretation of my previous thought.

Rizak is livelihood or the work we do to earn our livelihood and Maut is death. I think these two are currently the biggest causes of depression that’s forcing many ordinary and not so ordinary folks to committing suicide. Corona virus has scared us to our bones and though in some senses the strain seems to be weakening, the fact is that we are all worried about our lives. And of course, one of the biggest victims of this pandemic is economy that’s resulting in job losses all around! Factories are yet to restart to full capacity and the bigger challenge is to bring back labour who has migrated back to native. Companies are finding it difficult to sustain their workforce, when revenue streams have dried up.

I think the above couplet shows the light and the way. “Don’t be scared of loss of life and livelihood; no one else but only God almighty controls both of these.” There are several other connotations of the aforesaid teaching – “ जिसने पैदा किया है वो जीने की राह भी दिखाएगा ( Giver of life will also open the way for its sustenance)” , “जाके राखो साईंया मार सके ना कोई ( who can kill one whom the God protects) .

When nothing else works, faith works and let’s hold on to the string called life, for if life is there, livelihood will be arranged as both of these are not in any individual’s but God’s domain and control.

Came across a sermon by a holy Sikh preacher who quoted the famous Shabad (gurbani) by Guru Nanak that says:

“Hum aadmi hai ik dami hai
mohlat mahat na jana” which can be loosely translated as “Human beings live for short moment, not knowing the appointed time of departure.”

He cites a very glaring example of a person who has been advised by his Doctor that he has only one week to live as his serious ailment has now reached its end stage. The sermoniser asks the audience, “ Do you think such a person will fight with anyone or have greed to shortchange someone for quick gains or any such requirement for any material gain? His standard refrain to all this would be that what he needs to accumulate materials for or to have avarice for more as in any case he’s going!” The preacher further tells his audience that if such a person has even an iota of intelligence, he’d be bereft of all insecurities, fears or despair! To drive home his point, he says that if a person destined to live at least one week realises the futility of greed, materialism, fear, insecurity etc, what about all of us, who have no guarantee as to whether we will be alive to live the next moment! And then he quotes the aforesaid bani of Guru Nanak that there’s only one last breath that separates us from death!

The preacher further says that it doesn’t mean that due to uncertainty of life, we should not do or plan anything but wait for the ultimate moment. In fact, the message exhorts us to plan for positive things – progress, benevolence, charity, character and nation building, kindness et al!

A very powerful thought that, in fact , not only promotes positivity but expels negativity by stressing impermanence of everything, including life. And this immediately brings me to my favourite topic – Covid 19! If life is momentary, Corona cannot be permanent. If we are not to have greed for or attachment to materials , we definitely not need to fear pandemics, cyclones, floods, droughts etc.

Let’s live the moment!

Veni, vidi, vici ] “I came; I saw; I conquered”) is a Latin phrase popularly attributed to Julius Caesar who used the phrase in a letter to the Roman Senate around 47 BC after he had achieved a quick victory in his short war against Pharnaces II of Pontus at the Battle of Zela.^[2] The phrase is used to refer to a swift, conclusive victory.

I don’t know Latin and therefore, I am not sure that if this phrase in first person is to be converted into a phrase in third person, how will it sound, but in English, it will be “ He came; he saw; he conquered” and this is what describes best the personality to whom is this blog dedicated!

Like Caesar used this phrase after his quick victory, this person led us to many such quick wins. In fact, he came like a phenomenon, who changed the very way we thought and worked before, till we experienced his influence.

And he didn’t come at the best of the times! Within a few days of his arrival on the scene, he was welcomed with a relatively large sized fraud that we faced! He was just new in the system , but the way he brought all the stakeholders together, delineated clear cut responsibilities and set up a rhythm of deliberations, actually made us beware that this person was indeed a phenomenon and no ordinary mortal. While we were still struggling with the aforesaid fraud, the first signs of pandemic started knocking at the door! Of course, it’s a different story that pandemic gripped India virtually in no time and by the last week of March, it was already there everywhere and even more than 6 months since then, it doesn’t seem to be going away anytime too soon. And here he was, leading from the front, ensuring that our BCP preparation on paper actually effectively got executed on the ground. And what he started in the first week of April, a daily cadence to review all related aspects – critical activities, customer proposition, health of the people working on the ground, work from home et al – it’s a long list, , has all got embedded in our DNAs today and ironically, we have emerged more strong, more enabled, more in control, more smart and more systematic as an outcome of the pandemic rather than anything to the contrary.

A popular story goes about Guru Nanak having blessed a useless, idle, foolish person to stay put wherever he was and a hardworking, intelligent, positively attuned person to be uprooted to be going places. When his disciple asked him about his strange act of blessing a fool and bestowing curse upon a hard worker, Guru replied, I want this intelligent person and doer to go from one place to another to spread his knowledge, positivity and hard work attitude amongst masses, while the other person should remain confined to one place only so that no body picks up his vices.” In English, they say that rolling stone gathers no moss. What else can explain his such a short stay? It just beats the imagination that if instead of 10 months he had stayed for 10 years where could we have been!

All the best NT, as we lovingly call him! Our loss is someone’s gain, but what we gained from you is something that we are going to cherish during our lifetimes and to that extent, it’s been a short time togetherness but an experience of a lifetime!

However, I would not like to elaborate on the title of this write up as I couldn’t think of any other words to sum up this personality.

As lines of a popular song go-

May God be in your mind
May God be in your heart
May God be always looking over your shoulders

God is in my mind,
In my thoughts all the time
God in my words,
God is my life
God is in my heart,
In the love that I share
God in all I do,
God is my prayerGod looks over me,
God looks after you
God is in me,
God is in you

My earlier blog that had the similar title as this one was received rather well. Encouraged by the response and looking to the reaffirmation of my belief and that too by none other than our very own ex president and the Missile man of india, the most revered Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, I felt encouraged to write part 2.

In the course of a talk, Dr Kalam narrates an incident relating to his friend, an eminent cardiac surgeon of Baroda, Dr Shailesh Mehta. Dr Mehta in his 69th year was as busy as ever, with patients needing up to 1 month wait to get his appointment. Only junior doctors would see the report first and refer a doable case to Dr Mehta so that his precious time was not getting squandered away on gone cases. This was the case of a 6 years old child who had her heart totally clogged. The battery of junior doctors had declined the case but on fervent plea by the child’s parents referred it to Dr Mehta for his final opinion. Dr Mehta reiterated what junior doctors had said – that it was a hopeless case. He said that surgery would be very complex and chances of success were barely 30%. Without surgery the girl could survive for a few months and given the luck even a few years. Parents decided to take chance and the girl was admitted for surgery on the destined day. Dr Mehta wearing his sterile uniform saw the small child lying on the operation table. He asked the child whether she was worried. The girl said she wasn’t but she had a question to ask? She asked the Doctor, “ My parents tell me that a child’s heart is the abode of God. When you cut open my heart, please do tell me how the good looks like”? Dr Mehta told Dr Kalam that he was then caught in a double dilemma. As it was, chances of survival were only 30% and if at all the surgery was to be successful, he would have to do the impossible task of explaining how the God looked like to the child!

As the child was cut open, the case appeared to be more hopeless than it was imagined to be. 45 minutes into surgery, the flow of the blood into heart stopped completely and Dr Mehta decided upon calling off the surgery and informing the parents about the bad news of the child’s death. His mind strayed into the child’s query and he started sobbing! Then a miracle happened, suddenly a junior doctor informed Dr Mehta about the start of blood flow into child’s heart. The surgery went on for more than 6 hours and at the end of it, child had a heart that would last her a lifetime.

Dr Kalam sums up the above incident beautifully. He says that from then onwards, Dr Mehta who had performed thousands of surgeries and had full confidence in his skills decided to put a picture of God in his OT and to commence his surgery only after paying obeisance to almighty.

The story is not about miracles or spreading religion or blind faith. It’s about the good teachings or “samskaras” that we receive from our parents and gurus that have the effect of “culturing” us. The sheer purity of the thought makes it a powerful one raising it above all the cliches and lip service that we receive at later stages of our lives.

Let’s bow to Dr Kalam and Dr Mehta for this is what we need today – to skill our selves the best and have faith in our heart that an invisible power is with us to guide us through in this life’s journey.