I am excited and not without a reason. In my life extended over 5 decades and at least 3 decades of having attained majority, I will be voting for the first time. It’s not as if I have been a careless, irresponsible citizen, who never used his franchise. First it was my nomadic life, as my transferable job kept me shifting from place to place. Of course, for last 2 decades or so, I have settled down in Mumbai, but getting a document – be it passport, ration card or voter ID card has never been easy in India. But India is changing. A neighbour told us that getting enrolment into electoral roll was not all that tough and we were surprised at the treatment extended by the officer in the election Commission’s office. He was most helpful and courteous and stated that though getting ID card before elections wouldn’t be possible, but based on the SMS to be received by us, we could go to the polling booth along with personal ID and vote. And indeed we received the SMS and further inquiry revealed that we could go the the designated polling booth and vote.

The political parties should also feel excited as their chances are going to get brightened by addition to the voter strength in their constituency. Whom shall we vote for? I think electoral preference, like religion, should be a strict personal affair and although people do participate in exit polls, to my mind this should be a well maintained secret. That’s why it’s called secret ballot! I might not have ever stamped the symbol of my choice and deposited my vote into the ballot box, but unlike a few idiosyncratic fellows, I don’t doubt the integrity of EVM and I shall press the button to cast my vote to the most deserving candidate who is worthy of something as rare as pearl – I have heard it takes decades for a pearl to form inside nacre, like my vote (actually our and not only my as my wife is also voting for the first time though I can’t reveal after how many decades as far she is concerned as ladies don’t want to talk about such stupid numbers), which has fructified after 5 decades! Let the representatives of various symbols – hand, lotus, bow and arrow, lamp etc. sit on the edge- wait for the result, which will be delivered when the counting of votes commence after elections. Long live democracy in India!!!

Life is all about paradoxes. The more you ponder over it, the more you realise the pertinence of the aforesaid statement. Recently, our organisation brought in a retirement scheme for some employees. Those who were targeted were taken aback by this sudden decision of the management. Philosophically, their exit could be attributed to their fate! It can also be stated that whatever happens in life is predestined and it happens for one’s ultimate good! But it is very difficult to explain to the affected person when he asks, ” Why me?”. And this cuts across whole lot of events that we encounter in our lives! This ” Why me?” is asked by those suffering from cancer, losing their near and dear one, living in the condition of extreme deprivation etc.

The paradoxes add a layer of complexity to human life. Some people smoke heavily yet die at a ripe age old, while a teetotaller dies young of lung cancer, liver cirrhosis or heart attack! Some people slog all their lives yet live in extreme penury, while a few are born with golden spoon in their mouth, inheriting big fortune from their ancestors and don’t need to work all their lives! In spite of preparing hard for the examination, the mind simply refuses to work on the d- day resulting in abysmal performance! A prime property suddenly becomes junk due to coming up of a chemical plant, which emits heavy pollutants, in its vicinity! In our daily lives, we come across such paradoxes almost regularly, but thank God the impact of some such paradoxes is not very hard or deep and we continue with our lives, taking such events in our stride!

While not very religious and definitely not superstitious, I feel that sometimes a few such eventualities in life shake you to the core and you start seeing a great learning in a famous English proverb, ” the man proposes but God disposes” ! There seems to be a superpower sitting somewhere there, playing pranks with individuals, the impact and motive of which could be deep rooted and difficult to comprehend! This also brings one to believing another famous sloka from Bhagvad Gita that reads:

“कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन। मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि॥”?

In simple words, it means:

You have a right to “Karma” (actions) but never to any Fruits thereof. You should never be motivated by the results of your actions, nor should there be any attachment in not doing your prescribed activities.

The above teaching by Bhagwad is the only explanation for paradoxes affecting our lives.

As elections in India once in 5 years fare and this time elections are being fought with unprecedented acrimony and noise, the news around elections is providing me stimulus to write more on the topic. From the language being used to the credentials of certain candidates, it all makes up for sad but in a manner interesting jamboree ! The only solace one gets is that the electorate is becoming increasingly intelligent and able to look through the design of crafty politicians. They now know which of the elected representatives showed them his/her face during the last 5 years, who raised how many questions in the Parliament, attendance record in Parliament, the criminal record etc. and this awareness will eventually lead to the politicians of merit and impeccable record only getting a chance to reach Parliament. However, pained by rather disgraceful conduct of certain politicians in the ongoing campaign, I felt inspired to compose a few lines that read as below:

There’s desperation, there’s frustration,

Because winners take it all,

And losers are out of business for 5 years,

And the stakes are not at all small!

But what’s the lure?

Engineers get paid higher in profession,

Doctors earn more respect,

Yet politics is an uncontrollable obsession!

They seek votes with folded hands,

Soliciting favour to serve the mankind,

But selfless social service is not their forte,

Getting elected gives a kick of a different kind!

Their idols are all national icons,

They invoke the heritage of Gandhi, Nehru & Bose,

But in themselves they ain’t even a pale shadow

Of these all time greats of the yore!

In reality, this service, Nehru, Gandhi all is humbug,

The purpose behind all this hullabaloo is power

Which selfless service to the needy will not get you

But the seat in politics will reach you to the top of the tower!

Where cries of hapless will not reach,

And 5 years will fill the coffers for 5 decades,

The power will be heady and strong,

Which other profession leads to such good fate?

Let people vote with their conscience for the most meritorious candidate rising above all parochialism and we shall have the healthiest form of democracy!!!!

21st April is just not an ordinary Sunday; it’s Easter Sunday, signifying the end of 40 days of period of fasting and penitence, the Lent.

As the folklore goes, Romans sentenced to death and crucified Jesus on Good Friday and this day of crucifixion of Jesus is a solemn day observed by fasting and praying. However, Easter heralds resurrection of Jesus, proving beyond doubt that he indeed was the son of God and is, therefore, a day of high religious significance and traditional celebrations in Christian faith.

The period of fasting and penitence begins with Ash Wednesday and lasts for 40 days. The Sunday immediately prior to Easter is Palm Sunday, commemorating arrival of Jesus in Jerusalem where his followers laid down palm leaves on the road to greet him. The last week of Great Lent is in fact known as Palm Week and it ends with Lazarus Saturday, the day before Palm Sunday. Palm Sunday marks the beginning of the Holy Week, which ends on Easter. Easter eggs and Easter bunny are some of the traditions that are associated with Easter.

Like all mythologies, Christian history also makes up for interesting reading and evokes deep sentiments amongst the followers of this great religion. All four gospels in New Testament- Mathew, Mark, Luke and John- state that those who believe in Jesus’ death and resurrection are given ” the gift of eternal life”, meaning that those of faith will be welcomed into the “Kingdom of Heaven” upon their earthly death.

Doesn’t all the above sound similar to fasting during the holy periods of Navratri by Hindus and Ramadan by Muslims? Don’t all the faiths promise Swarg and Jannat, the equivalent of Christians’ heaven to the virtuous followers of the faith? Don’t all religions preach peace, brotherhood and love to their followers? The objective and end goal are the same – only the path thereto and rituals associated with the festivals are different! Let’s respect all religions and their followers, because India can only have this uniqueness to let all faiths flourish in her land!

Happy Easter to all my readers and friends! As I read outside a Church – ” While generally we always say – Thank God it’s Friday (TGIF), on Easter we thank the God for Sunday”.

(The above is from Obama’s 2008 campaign- keep it simple)

India is a secular democracy. This means that state preaches no religion and people have the right to freedom to almost anything- including following the religion and practices of their choice. However, given the mood and the tone of the current election campaign, all the freedom seems to be vested only with the politicians of all the hue and colour and the people of India, on whom this freedom is bestowed by the constitution, seem to be feeling hapless. In a state as varied and vivid as India, which has plurality of utmost complexity, any effort to polarise people on any particular thought line or philosophy will simply not work except for creating tensions in the social fabric! It didn’t work when Hindi as the official language was intended to be imposed; it didn’t work when certain states decided to go dry by banning liquor; similarly, it will not work if efforts are made to have uniform civil code or beef ban or impose any such unilateral conditionality on the citizens of this country that’s against the spirit of the constitution, drafted by visionaries.

In campaigns during this electioneering, we are coming across the political behaviour of the weirdest kind – from objectionable Modi ki Sena to crass Green virus to downright vulgar Jaya Prada’s khaki panty to asking Muslims to vote en bloc against Modi- these are new lows in the history of election campaigning in India. Supreme Court had to shake the Election Commission out of slumber and EC has now taken action against these culprits.

I admire Modi, for in spite of Gujarat riots, his rightist lineage and very Hindutva philosophy of his party, he, as Prime Minister, has shown a general restraint and his language has remained generally measured. However, the same control he doesn’t seem to have exercised adequately on some his associates. Also, in the heat of the moment of the current election campaign, even he seems to be going overboard occasionally. And the opposition has matched the ruling party in this vilification, even exceeding on occasions!

This once again reminds me of some of the great statesmen that this country has produced – Pt. Nehru (notwithstanding the current smearing campaign against his lineage, actions, decisions, the first PM of free India will always remain dear to this country), Shastri and even Manmohan, but above all Vajpayee, who never treated elections as the beginning and the end of all things! They fought elections on the basis of solid agenda and an inclusive policy. And the result was that while different sections of the society could have been voting en bloc, like they may be doing in the current elections, these statesmen might have won or lost elections, their statesmanship got only enhanced. Instead of character assassination of those who are opposed to your agenda and philosophy, notwithstanding whether the protagonist is dead or alive, the current crop of leader should not forget that elections come and go and they may win or lose a few, but only statesmanship can win the hearts of the countrymen and it is eternal and forever.

In the recent past, TED talk video by Admiral William H McRaven has been doing rounds in social media generating great deal of interest and gathering rave reviews. It talks about several things, it’s gist being that everyday before leaving the home, we should make our bed so that irrespective whether we have had a good or a bad day, a made up bed at home will be a matter of great solace!

For generations, we have learnt this truth from our elders. I distinctly remember that my grandma, lording over a large brood of about 20 members, insisted that not only bed sheets be properly made after waking up but also be laundered after 2-3 days so that when it came to retiring at night, all family members had not only well made beds, but clean linens as well ! However, she was neither a big time educationist nor a motivational speaker like the TED talk speakers! So, we just took it in our stride as a good habit, without any psychoanalysis! Imagine, she would singlehandedly wash all those bed sheets twice each week by her hands as washing machines became popular much later!

Some of the lessons being preached now as part of Swachch Bharat campaign were taught to us all through our childhood. Spitting was far fetched, even eating innocuous pan was a strict no-no! Although, there were maids at home, some of the cleaning was always done by the ladies of the house! We dare not straightaway try to eat coming from outside, without washing our hands! Clothes had to be changed everyday and washed, starched and ironed to be made ready for next time wear. However, our elders treated all these as part of basic hygiene and there would be no lecturing or limelight hogging for passing on these fundamental tips!

We like to hear it from the mouth of leaders, motivational speakers, Management Gurus, thinkers, celebrities and eagerly share their videos, quotable quotes and books feeling inspired ourselves and trying to spread this inspiration to our friends ! Little we realise that all these small nuggets of wisdom are already ingrained in our consciousness by our elders, who were neither flashy nor proponents of impeccable English but were nonetheless no less effective. It’s being proven again and again that one of the best treatises on Management gyan is our very own Bhagvan Gita that’s been increasingly referred to by Institutions like Harvard! Small life changers have been inherited by us from our family elders and are very much ingrained in us! There’s no harm listening to TED talks or management gurus; but getting mindlessly influenced by them is more of a social media behaviour fad rather than actual fascination with the contents!

“Good old times” is a refrain that all of us use quite commonly, especially as we grow in age. It’s said that after certain age, nostalgia is the most prominent feeling that far outweighs the dreams for future! You would have noticed certain posts doing rounds on social media that perfectly fuel this nostalgic feeling – signature opening tunes of All India Radio and Doordarshan, theme songs and music of the first of the popular Hindi serials on Doordarshan Hum Log, print and TV ads of brands like Erasmic ( remember the popular shaving blade and cream brand), Afghan Snow, Signal etc.

However, while seeing a stand up comedy show by an American performer, I got an entirely new perspective of this feeling. The performer, a black migrant to US from Malawi, doesn’t want the old times to come or remember about them. As he jokingly mentions, “there was no Wi fi in olden days and what’s life without Wi fi” but on a more serious note, in wry humour, he mentions about old days when he’d have been standing in auction to be bid by a rich white man for slavery! We lament about disintegration of joint families, loss of values, our preoccupation with gadgets instead of relationships, cut throat competition, inflation, pollution as some of the banes of the modern times that make us indulge in nostalgia about yore. But do we remember tradition of sati ( widow being burnt along side husband), child marriage, dowry, caste system, extreme poverty, no food security, no medical facilities, lack of communication, woes of partitions ( our elders who went through the trauma and travail of partition would never like to go back to the past) that are all only news for us!

Our scriptures also tell us that we should live in present. While the past is gone forever and never comes back, future remains a mystery and neither any one knows about it or can control it. We should live in present, now, living the moment! We can control our actions as also feelings and decide how we live our present rather than regretting ( not in the sense of having sinned but good times generating nostalgia ) the past or worrying about the future.

An occasional indulgence into nostalgia is alright, but not everything of the past was good and not everything going to happen in future will be bad! Instead of yearning for “good old days” or craving for “great bright future”, let’s enjoy the “best blessed present”.

(1) I have a luxury apartment with all the amenities, including a bath tub and massage shower. However, I choose to bath using a bucket and a mug because Mumbai lakes hold water only up to 25% of their capacity and monsoons are still good 2 months away.

(2) I have a chauffeur driven car, but looking to the chaotic peak time evening traffic, I prefer to use train and metro in the evening and in the process beat the traffic and save precious fuel.

(3) I eat on the road, but do not litter the street. I keep on stuffing the rejects either in a bag or in my pockets and dispose off the stuff in a bin.

(4) I switch off lights and fan, when not required and use AC most sparingly.

(5) I do not waste food; take little less than my appetite. Unused food is distributed to those who require- our helpers.

(6) On a day when I drive myself, I do lane driving, avoid honking and switch off the engine if the traffic has come to a halt.

(7) I strictly avoid, spitting, blowing nose or littering in public places such as railway platforms and inside the city bus.

Earlier, I used to think that what an individual can do? By not throwing one discard on the road, not spitting on the wall or using the comfort of personal chauffeur driven transport irrespective of the time taken will not make any difference as thousands and millions others will be acting contrarily! But now I am convinced that if “I am” doing certain right things, “I can” make that small difference. The target audience of this blog are already fine citizens fully aligned to the thoughts expressed in this blog and practising all, but the need is for each one of us to initiate at least one person so that this becomes a movement and we have a Bharat that is Swachch and replete with all the resources required for life sustenance- water, trees, food, fuel, clean air and above all discipline.

Just ended up watching Pink, rather belatedly on TV and I now realise why the dialogue ” No means no”, which is a very simple statement , has acquired such a cult status. Of course coming from the mouth of a living cult, Big B, it assumes even greater gravity.

The spoilt brats of rich families nurturing the feudal mentality are not sensitised to the fact that a girl, in spite of her openness, her costume, her indulgence to have a few drinks and speaking a lingo that’s quite common these days, is still an individual having a distinct individuality. Her propensity to mix freely and have good time post her work/study hours should not be taken as her permission to go to any extent with her. In the matters of personal relationships, there are no licences and anything further than a casual acquaintance has to be with mutual consent.

What I particularly liked about the movie was its non-partisan approach to women across the spectrum. The movie pierced your heart when Mr Bachchan says that even if the no sayer is a professional sex worker, her no has to be respected! After all, even business also can only be done on mutually agreeable terms!

With our sisters, daughters and wives going out to have fun, the menfolk need to understand that their libertine attitude should not be construed as a licence for them to indulge in anything with these members of opposite sex! This has to be inculcated as an important element in a child’s character by families and educational institutions so that we have youth that acts and behaves respectfully and responsibly – and we shall have no incidents of molestation, road rage or public apathy!

Let this be adopted as a motto of Women’s liberation- No means no!

Yesterday my friend sent me a message on today being World Friends Hug Day. I was totally zapped! Do you need a day to hug and that too a friend! I am rather astonished at this Western obsession for having a designated day for something as common as a hug. I couldn’t help but search net and found the existence of such a day indeed! In our culture, a hug is one of the most dignified expression of comfort and affection and we hug our parents, elders, children and especially friends all the time. We hug each other on happy occasions in greeting and on sad occasions to solace and all our festivals- Holi, Eid etc are what without a hug?

The above has amused me no end, inspiring me to compose a few lines that read:

The entire human race is influenced

By western culture that’s indeed unique;

It has the power of making our

Traditions, practices and medicines antique!

They have claimed patents on

Everything be it alum, turmeric or vanaspati;

Our ancestors have been using them for ages

In daily food as well as home remedy!

We have been spreading message of peace & love since time immemorial

But they have introduced us to the Valentines Day

We hug each other on Holi, Eid and other festivals

But I’ve just come to know about the World Hug Day!

Keep reading and keep hugging people you care for before West patents this and you have to pay royalty for this most indigenous gesture😀