26/11 terrorist attack was so grievous that I felt like penning this poem.

When they were firing indiscriminately at VT,

Could they discriminate between Hindus and Muslim;

One who was dying was his mother’s child,

Irrespective of whether he was wearing cotton or muslin.

Did they come to kill only Hindus?

Or did they target all the Indians?

If we could be united in death

Why can’t we live as Indians?

When terrorists had let loose fire on us,

They were not aiming at any religion;

They were rabid, irrational misguided youth,

Their religion was only perversion.

9/11, 26/11 are not mere dates,

Nor are they symbol of any religion;

Terrorists are brainwashed to extremism,

Killing is their only passion.

If we face them together,

Our wives, sisters and mothers won’t have to cry;

We will be a formidable force

Ready to push them back on the sly!

At home we may be Hindus and Muslims,

For outsiders we are Indians;

26/11 will never repeat itself,

As indeed we are undoubtedly Indians!!!

26/11 is one of the saddest days not only for Mumbai, but the entire country. It was on this day in 2008 that 10 fully armed and militarily trained LET terrorists attacked India’s commercial hub, exposing the country’s vulnerability to the World. Coming through the sea route, these terrorists landed at Fishermen’s colony in Cuffe Parade and started their game of death. It started from Colaba’s popular joint Leopold Cafe and the names of Cama Hospital , Oberoi Hotel, Chabad House, CST and Taj Mahal Palace are permanently etched in the memories of Mumbaikars and Indians. So are the names of the brave officers of Mumbai Police, who took on these professionally trained terrorists, guided by military strategists of ISI, with quaint arms and zero protection. Brave and brilliant officers like Vijay Salaskar, Ashok Kamte, Hemant Karkare, Tukaram Ombale fought bravely but proved to be sitting ducks in front of these mercenaries. The way black cat commandos of Indian Armed forces flushed these terrorists, holed up inside iconic Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, out by neutralising all of them except one, Kasab, who was caught alive on Marine Drive and executed subsequently after spilling all the beans on the conspiracy, is the stuff folklores are made of. Sandeep Unnikrishnan, a young Army officer, laid down his life, but his brave father refused to grieve on the martyrdom of his son.

What’s the learning from this all out attack on Mumbai? Is Mumbai of today safer than Mumbai of 2008? Are it’s roads, public transport, schools, public places safer than they were when attacked? I don’t think so. I read that metal detectors, installed at suburban railway stations post train blasts do not work. Passengers are busy fighting for place to sit or stand rather than watching the racks or underneath seats for suspicious bags or packets. Road Nakabandis appear most lackadaisical and their effectiveness is highly suspect. We seem busy on Mandir, Rafale, Mallya, elections issues rather than worrying about the safety of our city and country. On the eve of the anniversary of this darkest, blackest day in the history of our city and country, let’s not waste the sacrifice and martyrdom of the country’s brave sons by allowing such dastardly acts to be repeated. Let’s plug our vulnerabilities by being united and adopting systems such as group, community or neighbourhood watching for the safety and well being of all of us and our beloved country and Mumbai.

This season of KBC is proving to be more special than previous seasons for we have seen more special people in this season, who are selflessly working for the benefit of society. Earlier I was compelled to write a blog on Waterman and after seeing the yesterday’s telecast, I am compelled now to write about the Medicineman. He started by saving a part of his pocket money for helping needy cancer patients. In fact, for several years he did so by hiding this fact from his family, However, his wife did not oppose his good work and on the contrary extended her full support. He was encouraged to go whole hog into his work and he decided to give his restaurant to someone else to run. After years of grind, his efforts were noticed by his friends, who after the initial hesitation started supplementing his financial resources. Now his Sanstha has started receiving substantial voluntary donations, though he needs to double this amount looking to the demand from the needy patients and their families.

His approach his holistic. He runs a medicine outlet that sells medicines at cheap rates and also gives free to those who can’t pay anything. Then he goes around talking to cancer patients, counselling them, giving them hope, playing with children suffering from cancer and making available food to the patients and his/her family members. It was spine tingling to learn certain stories that how family members accompanying patients to Tata Memorial Hospital have no place to live but the footpath and how ladies were exposed to physical assault by drug addicts and other hoodlums of the area. His aspiration is to make a rest house for family members accompanying patients where they can stay in the safety of four walls at least.

At a time, when we are chasing money and materials, a person is dedicating all his resources and life to welfare of patients. He never says no to anyone approaching him and he is God to so many who lost all hope after being affected by cancer. As he rightly put, all religions preach anna daan (feeding the hungry) , but no religion preached dawa daan (medicines to the needy), which as per him is the ultimate charity. His only earning is a sound good night sleep that beckons him as soon as he hits the bed!

Can all of us strengthen the hands of Harakchand Savla in his mission for the mankind? First the Waterman, then the cabbie from West Bengal who runs a school for the down trodden and now the Medicineman, this season of KBC is worthy of being weighed in Gold!

Listening to a popular Mohammad Rafi number on FM, it just struck me that the evergreen voices of Rafi, Kishore, Mukesh, Lata, Asha, Shamshad can be easily recognised even from a distance. In contrast, I find it extremely difficult to put a name to today’s singer in as much as that even the number 1 singer of today , Arijit Singh, is difficult to be placed apart from his rivals. They all sing full throat, mainly following the Pakistani style of singing inspired by the likes of all time greats such as Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and whenever I listen to a song from new movie, I have to google to check the name of the singer. Rafi had a great pitch – he could sing O duniya ke rakhwale on one hand and sound smooth as silk in yeh mera prem patra padhkar! Lata could sing aa jaane ja and more panghat pe nand lal chhed gayo re with equal ease and yet sound Lata in both the genres of the above songs. Kishore could yoddle or be immensely serious with ease and without sounding anyone else but Kishore.

After the above greats, the last of the lot were Suresh Wadkar, Alka Yagnik and Sonu Nigam, who sounded distinct ( I am not including Southern greats like Yesudas, SP Balasubramaniam etc for obvious reasons). Today’s movies are the first weekend wonder and so are the sounds. It’s difficult to make out one Arijit number from another or for that matter Arijit number from a Pakistani singer’s number. They are all talented, but they sing alike. In the matters of old songs, I am a master winning several radio quizzes. When it comes to the recent songs and movies, I am going to be a damp squib – the only argument being whether I or these songs are damp squibs? 😀

I distinctly remember I was in my early teens and had just taken to watching Hollywood movies in big way. Steve McQueen, Robert Shaw, Clint Eastwood etc we’re making big impression on me. In such excitement, an NRI filmmaker decided to make blockbuster movie by bringing Hollywood stars to India to collaborate with Indian stars. The end result was “Shalimar” filmed on grand scale and starred Hollywood biggies such as Rex Harrison, Sylvia Miles, John Saxon and Indian superstars like Dharmendra and Zeenat Aman. In spite of medley cast, hype about international production values and good music that generated lot of initial euphoria, the movie proved to be a dud and flopped miserably at the box office. Before this, showman Raj Kapoor’s dream project “Mera Naam Joker” with international star cast, great music and 3 hours plus running time, proved to be a big time failure that in a way finished the career of Raj Kapoor, the star actor. Of course, he bounced back 3 years later with Bobby that launched his younger son Rishi Kapoor and classic beauty Dimple Kapadia, but the failure of Mera Naam Joker shattered him from which he couldn’t really recover. Another example that readily comes to mind is that of “Shaan”. After Sholay’s unprecedented success, the onus was on Ramesh Sippy to use a larger canvas to make even a bigger blockbuster. However, Shaan failed miserably at the box office and Ramesh Sippy could never regain his past glory in spite of some decent movies later on. The history of Bollywood is replete with such instances that created big time pre release hype, but proved dud when released in theatres. While some of them were unfortunate to have failed at the time of original release, the case in point being Mera Naam Joker, which today is treated as an all time cult classic, most of these flopped because they failed having concentrated only on gloss and not on content. Ultimately, content is king as validated by recent success of low key movies such as Badhai Ho and Andhadhun. The inspiration for this blog also came from a recent dud – “Thugs of Hindoostan” with which two megastars of Bollywood seemed to have met their Waterloo.

Does anyone today remember Afghan Snow, the original fairness cream that used to be advertised on Radio Ceylon? Or for that matter Charmis Cream that used to be marketed in fancy glass container with pink cap? Binaca toothpastes had 3 variants – green, top and flouride and all three packs had miniature animals inside that children used to collect fondly, while Forhans had original that didn’t foam and a flouride variant that was more normal! Signal had stripes, though Maclean’s never attained big popularity! While vestiges of Ambassador and Fiat can still be seen on the roads of Kolkata and Mumbai respectively, Standard is consigned to history! I just read about the plans to revive iconic motorcycle brand “Java” that once formed one part of the troika, others being Yezdi and Rajdoot! I don’t think many people would have heard about Dalima or JB Mangharam, two iconic biscuit brands that no longer exist. How about Flag mint bar that had a flag of one of the countries inside the wrap, avidly collected by children? Delite and Petuit Berry were super popular biscuits that ceased to exist even though the company making them is going strong! Once famous and almost monopolistic shampoo brand Halo is seldom seen on shop shelves!

It takes years of hard work, advertising support, marketing efforts for a brand to catch fancy of the consumers, but several brands lose out even after attaining iconic status. This could be ascribed to new technology (automobiles), competition (toothpaste, biscuits), lack of innovation (cosmetics, toiletries) or failure of the company making a particular brand to survive! Under the circumstances long surviving brands like Colgate, Coke, Lux, Parle G , Bournvita etc deserve a salute! I think a brand needs an emotional connect with consumers to survive in long run.

This was my third visit to Pondicherry. It’s French heritage, beautiful promenade, Lord Ganesha temple – all attract repeat visitors to this beautiful Union Territory. But it has great significance almost like a place of pilgrimage for the devotees who throng serene, peaceful and absolutely calm Sri Aurobindo Ashram. The samadhis of Sri Aurobindo and Mother ( as Mirra Alfassa is fondly addressed by her thousands of devotees) and the meditation room are a source of divine experience to thousands of devotees of this cult, if I may call this group so!

I really couldn’t connect to the devotion and divine experience of thousands of devotees during my previous visits for I found the place to be rather rigid with an imposed calmness. I saw certain bit of artificiality about the place. During my this visit two days ago, I decided to go a bit deeper into the lives of Sri Aurobindo and Mother and picked up a few books concerning their lives and philosophy. Mother, a child of Turkish- Egyptian descent, did not have a usual childhood. She started having divine experiences from very young age. When she was 3 years old, she would sit in meditation for hours, worrying her parents. At 11 she had experience concerning Krishna though till then she had no exposure to Hindu philosophy. She was of the firm view that she would meet him one day on the earth. She was married twice and had a son from her first marriage. She was exposed to Sri Aurobindo during her first visit to Pondicherry, India in 1914 along with her husband. Sri Aurobindo by that time had left his English academic background and civil services to seek truth by doing intensive research and study in his humble Ashram at Pondicherry, a place he had made his permanent abode. Mother had another opportunity to visit Pondicherry in 1920 and this time she was clear that she had met her mentor and Krishna in Sri Aurobindo and thereafter she never left Pondicherry for next 53 years till her death in 1973. During that period of 53 years, she attained sainthood with several divine experiences, which were not exclusive to her but to several sadhaks too who served Sri Aurobindo and Mother selflessly in search of truth. While Sri Aurobindo got more and more immersed in reading and writing, the Mother forged a close bond with hundreds of devotees who got attracted to her persona. The experiences that Mother had during the Second World War and that Sri Aurobindo had during the partition of the country ( he died soon thereafter in 1950) are the stuff folklores are made of and are gospel for the followers of the cult. Mother continued her work (Auroville, Schools, daily discourses, supramental experiments etc all of which make a fascinating read into the lives of two great people separated by thousands of mile geographically at birth but who co- created a philosophy that seems a bit too advanced for their times but has all the essence of something divine. The story of mother is especially awe inspiring given her complete dedication to Sri Aurobindo in whom he saw her Krishna. I intend to study more about their fascinating lives and am sure that whenever I visit Pondicherry next, it will focused around Mother and Sri Aurobindo Ashram.

Chennai, Madras of yore, has been one of the four original metropolitan cities of the country, though after the IT boom, Bengaluru(Bangalore of yore) seemed to have overtaken Chennai on certain growth parameters. However, Chennai continues to be original in many senses for North Indians like me for whom Madrasi (of Madras) will remain colloquial for everything South Indian – people, food, culture etc. Delhi was introduced to South Indian cuisine – Idli, Dosa, Vada etc. by Madras Hotel, which continued to tickle the taste buds of gastronomes till the early part of last decade before hanging boots! Most of the civil servants and senior government officials living in and around Lutyens Delhi were people from Tamilnadu. Grand Trunk Express between Madras and New Delhi was the sole connection between these two cities till host of other trains were introduced gradually. Swami Malai Temple, Delhi Tamil Sangam etc all had Tamilnadu /Madras connection.

An avid lover of South Indian food and admirer of South Indian simplicity, I was immensely excited during my first visit to Tamilnadu with my parents, with Madras being the hub. Madras had not become cosmopolitan in the sense we know perhaps Mumbai to be, but I was fascinated by the architecture, pure form of Hinduism, discipline, extremely cheap my favourite South Indian stuff – idli, vada, dosa, aromatic filter coffee, availability of hot cup of horlicks at neighbourhood restaurant etc. With each subsequent visit, the metamorphosis of the city is amply evident. While industrialisation has always been Tamilnadu’s strength, in new Chennai, one comes across IT hubs all over, swanky buildings with glass facades, international cuisine, fast food and new age local transport -Metro! In one of my earlier visits, I was advised to take local train from the city to get down at Trisulam station from where the airport was walkable. That railway line and station still exist, but I wonder whether any flier takes this option any more in a city, where traditional is beautifully married with modern!

In an earlier blog, I had highlighted the importance of potable water and that how this resource essential for the survival of Human Race would become scarcer and scarcer in the very near future! Yesterday, this proposition of mine was proven to be true by the Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) episode featuring Shri Rajendra Singh, rightly called the waterman of India! An ordinary man, trained to be an Ayurvedic Doctor, he got inspired first to practice in a remote village where he saw plight of villagers in that arid region due to lack of water. More than KBC the game show, yesterday’s episode was a revelation of how our traditional water resources and local rivers have dried up due to exploitation of underground water and how an ordinary man can change the scenario and in turn lives of locals through sheer determination and backbreaking efforts.

How he constructed the first Johar (a water holding pond that’s underneath a catchment area) with the help of the locals ( by exhorting the aged population as youngsters there had all migrated to nearby towns in search of livelihood and especially the ladies, who were real sufferers having had to travel miles daily to fetch water ) and revived a local river is the stuff folklore’s are made of! The story actually gave me goosebumps and inspiration to write this blog!

Open spaces and water bodies in our neighbourhood are all being encroached upon by avaricious builders in cahoots with the local administration and water mafia is running illegal boring wells to supply water. This is resulting in constant depletion of underground water table as there’s only extraction and no replenishment. Mumbai gets enough rain ( in a good year) to replenish its water sources in the form of lakes around it. But this water is not available or available adequately to meet the requirements or quench the thirst of millions living in unauthorised shanties or buildings, all relying on such supplies of underground water by mafia. Experiments with water harvesting and recycling have been few and far between!

Let’s wake up and take a pledge to treat the water as a resource more precious than our most precious possession or in next 20 years survival of the mankind is going to be endangered!

After celebrations reach a crescendo on Diwali day, everything seems to have come to a standstill. Some offices and geographies have an extended vacation and the offices that resume working the next day, like mine, virtually enjoy a disguised holiday with practically nothing happening. Of course, Diwali yet not ends for certain section of community- postman, chowkidar (security guards), house maids, servants, drivers, other helping hands who all are agog for their Diwali bakshish! Indeed, this spirit of real gifting to people who selflessly serve us throughout the year, making our lives easy, safe and comfortable is one of the finest aspects of this lovely festival.

The final leg of this festival period is Bhai Duj ( the second day after Diwali) celebrated as Tikka or Bhai Phota also all over the country. It’s a beautiful festival when sisters pray for the well being and prosperity of their brothers and brothers in turn reaffirm their love and affection for their sisters! For those not having real sister or brother, there is always extended family comprising cousins! Getting together on Bhai Duj and celebrating the festival in full spirit over sweets, special food and guffaws are the highlights of this very intimate and emotional festival.

By dedicating this blog to all the sisters, I finally end this series of blogs around Diwali and it’s festivity. May between this and next Diwali, all our problems, pains and miseries vanish into thin air so that we celebrate next Diwali again with same enthusiasm and zeal like we always do.