First general elections that I have faint memories of were 1971 Loksabha elections that are best remembered for landslide victory for a breakaway congress led by Indira. I was very young- may be in class 2nd or 3rd but the festivities associated with elections caught my fancy as a child. There were meetings in which parties would generously distribute flags and metal batches bearing party symbol. Collecting these party batches as memorabilia was a favourite pastime of children. Of course, Bollywood has always been a national obsession and I didn’t remain untouched by it and the thought of seeing film stars in person generated unprecedented euphoria. I distinctly remember a meeting addressed by then very young and super handsome Dilip Kumar. Crowds had simply gone berserk to catch a glimpse of their favourite thespian. And there were other speakers of excellent oratorical skills. Most prominent of them was youthful Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who subsequently led the destiny of this nation with great distinction, whose oratory would keep audiences spellbound for hours. He interspersed his speech with anecdotes laden with rustic humour.

And then I followed consecutive elections, each strengthening the democratic fabric of this great country. Elections were highlighted by serious issues, great leaders, good orators, celebrities and the right earnestness they deserved but there was seldom bitterness, violence and rowdiness. Leaders were gracious enough to accept the verdict with humility and assured the elected Government of all the cooperation in driving the national agenda for next 5 years. There was no acrimony, enmity or aversion.

The provocation for this blog came from the current round of elections being held in 4 states where the acrimony, bitterness and aversion seem to have touched all time high. Let’s restore the grace and associated festivity of elections – objective of all parties and leaders ultimately is to take India ahead of all other countries. If objective is same and is so noble why then this acrimony?

The posts in one of the FBGroups that I am a member of are mostly soaked in nostalgia. Nostalgia about the people, places and events of yore. Names have changed, old joints have closed down, iconic theatres are no longer there, double deckers are on their way out and this list is endless.

The moot point is that is this change exclusive to Mumbai? The answer is no and I can vouch for at least one another city – New Delhi. Connaught Place and Connaught Circus became Rajiv and Indira Chowks respectively, iconic Madras Hotel shut down and like Mumbai all iconic theatres have either closed down or converted into Multiplexes,

While nostalgia is a natural feeling and it stems out of our past experiences with these places and events, I think the overarching principle is that change is the only constant. Some changes will be sign of progress – world class metro network, mono rail, coastal road, new International Airport – a few will drown us in further nostalgia – closure of restaurants where we enjoyed our meals and time spent, theatres where we looked for corner seats in our youth or renaming of the places that will simply refuse to hook on to our tongues!

Let’s hope, whatever changes, it happens for better and aamchi Mumbai relives the grandeur of iconic old Bombay! ​

As the folklore goes, Jesus was made to bear the cross on which he was finally crucified. While Jesus being the son of God did so to save the humanity, in our lives, we all have to bear the cross , which as per Cambridge dictionary means an unpleasant or painful situation or person that you have to accept and deal with, although you find it very difficult. The underlying message is that a problem has to be faced heads on rather than avoided as once we bear the cross only then we can expect ascension to heaven, the manner in which Jesus, crucified on Good Friday attains ascension on Easter Sunday.

All the religious festivals have underlying social message and while we observe the rituals – prayers, fasting, feasting as the case may be- unless we understand the essence and imbibe the real message, it’s an opportunity wasted.

Mumbai has reported zero new Covid case. Almost the entire population of the country has been vaccinated. Government has issued a formal advisory declaring Covid to be summarily over and removing all restrictions that were in place in view of pandemic.

Pakistan has formally acceded to India’s position on Kashmir, has decided to destroy all nuclear warfare and signed a friendship treaty with India.

China has recognised LAC to be the actual border between India and China thereby ending all border disputes.

Fossil fuel and other polluting materials have been completely put into disuse, paving way for solar and other renewable non polluting sources of energy and ozone layer has started repairing itself. Scientists have forecasted that in a decade our planet will have greenery, wildlife, water bodies and pollution level that existed at the beginning of the 19th century.

India’s population has been progressively coming down and is expected to fall below 100 crore in the next 5 years thereby ceding the position of the most populous country to China, the county it had overtaken in 2030.

World religious council leaders met in India and declared all religions to be equal and similar, summarily ending the long standing dispute of superiority of one religion over the other. With this, all religious conflicts are going to end and the world is going to witness lasting peace based on religious bonhomie,

If wishes were horses, beggar would ride. But where would we be if we lose all hope and live in perpetual despair. This is no April fool joke but a sincere heartfelt wish and to ride this horse, I am ready to become a beggar!

Happy April Fool’s Day and new financial year!

In yesterday’s episode of Super Dancer a young participant from Arunachal Pradesh broke down while narrating an incident that happened with him outside North East. The hotelier, where the young boy had put up in connection with an event in which he was participating, was amazed to see the boy speaking Hindi, sarcastically commenting that it was amusing to see a Chinese speaking Hindi! And that was not an isolated instance! The young boy had heard this vilifying comment several times outside his home state. One of the judges on the show then remarked, “ Sun rises first in India in Arunachal; when sun does not discriminate, what right do we humans, the much lesser mortals, have to discriminate on the basis of religion, region, ethnicity and cast?

It’s indeed true that nature does not discriminate. The sun and the moon and the stars and the sky offer the same look and experience to all. Rain and trees and vegetation and more importantly, other living animals do not discriminate. Therefore, discrimination in any form – gender, colour, caste, creed, looks, ethnicity, food habits, dressing et al – is not natural but highly unnatural- I won’t even use the words artificial or synthetic because all man made things ultimately owe their origin to something natural – oil, plants, animals or other natural resources.

While in zest and humour, creating laughter by replicating the accents of Madrasis ( anyone south if Vindhyachal) , Bengalis ( forgetting that Assam, Tripura and Odisha are different states), Punjabi ( anyone from North of Delhi state), Bhaiya ( UP and Bihar) or creating typecast caricatures of Brahmin, Marwari , Sardarji, Khan Bahadur or Anthony Gonsalves may appear harmless from the point of view of Bollywood, but anything more serious than that is strictly unnatural.

I have heard several stories of students from NE, studying outside NE in various places within India having to face this unsavoury jibe of Chinese and foreigner. It’s high time we give people of different looks, faiths, rituals, food habits, customs etc space and freedom as this country belongs to all. That’s how we can celebrate the real strength of this country viz Unity in diversity. Otherwise all our progress and giant leap in space, technology and military strength will go futile!

All our major festivals are generally celebrated around the theme of victory of good over evil. Ravana, Kansa and Holika – all represented evils and Lord Vishnu either directly as in the case of Holika or through his incarnation as Rama and Krishna killed these demons to save the humanity.

This demon called Corona virus raised its ugly head around last Holi and it seems to be the utmost evil, who, like a chameleon, changes its colour from Holika to Kansa to Ravana. And while the humanity awaits reincarnation of Vishnu the virus already has reincarnations in the form of UK and South African strains.

A demon is a demon

Call it Ravana, Kansa or Corona as a matter of fact

We need deliverance through divine intervention

And waiting patiently with faith intact !

This Holi let’s pray to whosoever is our cherished divine for colour back in lives for we need not only human unity but also unified divine force !

Last year 22nd March, the first taste of the things to come was evident when Janata curfew was imposed for 14 hours. As the name suggests, the curfew was more of self restraint for the people and I must say that people didn’t disappoint by choosing to stay indoors.

The issue can be debated – did India handle the pandemic well or could it be handled better, was lockdown a good option or it caused too much suffering, especially to the migrant population, did we open up too soon or too late – and one can see merits and demerits in all the above questions! But one fact that’s an indisputable feather in the cap of the country and especially pharmaceutical industry, is production of Corona vaccine almost simultaneously with some of the most advanced countries. Oxford- Astra Zeneca vaccine Covishield being produced by Serum and covaxin by Bharat Biotech have not only given a tremendous boost to the country’s fight against Covid, but India has also emerged as one of the major suppliers of vaccines to several countries. This has eclipsed its earlier gesture of supplying hydroxyl chloroquine to US when that country needed it most.

The idea to write this blog stemmed from an article I read yesterday in Pakistani Urdu daily Jang in which the writer had very generously lauded India’s preparation to be vaccine ready. In fact, the article also criticised the story fed to the generation of Pakistanis of that country’s military might and it being a nuclear power. As the writer quotes an instance of a Pakistani visiting India and being told by his host of India’s tremendous stride forward in manufacturing sector. When the host asks, “how come Pakistan is not manufacturing even a needle?” . the visitor replies, “ We have a nuclear bomb!”

It’s a bit ironical and tragic that two neighbours have invested a lot in destructive power; India’s investment is largely justified as borne out by recent aggression by China and the fact remains that India has simultaneously worked on infrastructure, health, manufacturing, science and technology, where Pakistan seems to have lagged. And the intelligentsia in that country is not altogether blind to the damage by powerful military and its nexus with the politicians. However, like always, I am sure India will keep aside all its differences and the past acts of omission and commission by its hostile neighbour and export Covid vaccine if requited by Pakistan in this need of hour.

I hope India’s medical, scientific and engineering fraternity will continue to make India of tomorrow to which the entire world looks up to for help, guidance and inspiration.

Jai hind !

This is a post I came across in an Urdu group on FB of which I am a member. The original post is in Urdu and it’s my humble attempt to translate it into English for its an interesting post. It reads:

A teacher was teaching a group of students when one of the students posed a question to him, “ Sir, when we breathe our last, how the good deeds and misdeeds done by us in our lifetime are accounted for? More particularly, how are we made to pay for all the sins committed by us during our life time?

Teacher pondered over the question and then called all his students one by one. To the first student, he gave 100 Dirhams with the instruction to spend the entire money over the weekend and to meet him at Nanbai’s tandoor (clay oven) on Monday morning. Thereafter, he gave 50 Dirhams to the second student, 25 to the third, 15 to the 4th , 10 to the 5th, 5 to the 6th and lastly 1 Dirham to the student who had posed this question, with the similar instruction to all of them to meet him at Nanbai’s tandoor on Monday. The student who had posed the question felt humiliated at being given only 1 dirham to spend and he realised that his question might have irritated and upset the teacher.

On Monday, as students arrived one by one at the designated place, they found their teacher already waiting for them. He asked the first student to bring to his mind all that he had done with 100 dirhams over the weekend so that he could quickly reel out details when asked to . He was then instructed by the teacher to stand on the periphery of tandoor and start explaining his expenses detail. With fierce heat burning inside the tandoor heating the periphery to an unbearable extent, the student was in much pain and agony as he started reeling off his adventure- one dirham spent on ice cream, one on chocolate, one on kebab, one on gift for his friend and it took him quite a while to give account for all his spends! By the time he was through, his feet had been badly singed and he needed gallons of water to soothe his skin and nerves. He had a harrowing time. This experience was repeated for all the other students albeit that much less harrowing in proportion to the lesser money they had received from the teacher as they had correspondingly shorter list. The last student took just a second to explain his account of 1 dirham, but above all he couldn’t stop expressing his gratitude and admiration for his revered guru for his giving him 1 dirham was not humiliation but a joy at the end.

I think in our mythology also it’s believed that Chitragupta keeps record of all the Karmas that a person has performed during his lifetime and Lord Yama takes this statement of account ( lekha jokha) from Chitragupta based on which one is allotted heaven or hell.

Even if we keep mythology apart, I think one of the important learning from the above story is to exercise caution, prudence and discretion in earning as also spending the money. While we all want more and more, we should also do more and more albeit not only for ourselves but others who are deprived and hungry.

As I got my first dose of vaccination today, a strange feeling crossed my mind, contrary to the elation suggested by the blog’s title. A cure is not permanent as it just relieves the symptom and the ailment can come back, but a vaccination is more permanent for it leads to formation of anti bodies that ensure that the ailment vaccinated against doesn’t recur. While firstly I got cured from Corona and now I am vaccinated and hopefully, may not suffer the infection again in this lifetime, what about other infections that have built their abode in my heart and mind – jealousy, envy, avarice, cut throat ruthlessness, selfishness, pride, possessiveness – it’s a long list! While exposition by saints, scriptures, philosophers, guides, mentors, friends and elders frequently provides cure from some or all of the above, these ailments comeback each time and with renewed vigour. Caught up in the aforesaid thought, I tried composing a few lines, which read as under:

Vaccination

Vaccine has been discovered

Now I will be Covid proof

I can live my life as usual

And need not stay aloof.

But my heart is still not clear

And mind not without fear

I wish for a vaccine against all my vices

That will make me a better human for my remaining years.

A vaccine that gives me immunity from –

Greed and avarice, yearning for more beyond dal, bread and rice

Desire to win the next race, at any cost and with any face

To be on the top of corporate ladder, by crushing the dreams of my junior cadre

Envy jealousy at others success, for the things to which I don’t get access

The bigotry for other religions and caste, by glorifying only me and my past

Cowardice to look the other way, for things that don’t matter to me and are not in my way

Insecurity to amass the wealth, at the cost of happiness and health

I can go on and on for I have no dearth of vices

But I need a solid vaccination and not mere advices!

Having said so, I plead to all my countrymen to support the Corona vaccination drive and defeat Corona and not wait for the vaccination of writer’s dream!

While what we receive on social media, more so on WhatsApp every morning, mainly eminently avoidable good morning messages, is crap, once in a while, we do come across certain stuff worth its value in gold. One such video was forwarded by an old friend of mine in which, the protagonist described her life changing experience during her official visit to India.

She expresses her desire to go to a crowded bazaar area in the city of Bangalore and persists with her request in spite of her host’s suggestion to avoid the area. However, she reaches there and soon regrets not having paid heed to her host’s advice to avoid the area. She’s overwhelmed by the crowds and rush and dirt and filth expose her to various smells, not all of them pleasant. She escapes to a corner to get some respite from the crowd, heat and humidity, where she observes a group of women making leis out of plucked flowers. She gets intoxicated by both – the aroma of freshly plucked jasmines as also at the artisanship of these ladies in the manner they were weaving flowers into leis. Her eyes fall on a lady – very slim and petite , wrinkles all over who, the protagonist felt wouldn’t be younger than 90 years of age. Her heart gets filled with empathy and she gestures to the old lady to accept the wad of notes that she has taken out of her purse! The old woman refuses and the protagonist takes the services of her guide to explain to the old woman in native language not to treat this as charity, but a deal from an admirer of her craftsmanship to buy old lady’s entire produce for the day. When explained by the guide, the old woman bows with her hands folded and offers 2-3 leis as gift to her foreign guest free of any cost.

The above incident strums the strings of the protagonist’s heart that there are certain values that are much above sales, profits and aggression. Till that day, the protagonist had spent most of her life in running a rat race to climb up the corporate ladder by indulging in ruthless competition. But this small gesture by an illiterate , poor and nonagenarian lady taught the protagonist a valuable lesson in life that changed the direction and approach towards the life. The purpose of the life goes much beyond money, success and position.

As she sums up her talk – “ That valuable lesson made me quit my corporate job and encouraged me to pursue my passions. That simple, poor, illiterate Indian lady made me realise to value Service over sales, honour over hustle and people over profits.”

Not really sure, how many corporate houses are running their businesses today by following the above principles! As I read somewhere, real life changing corporate and management lessons are not taught in B schools but in our day to day lives by observing the real life incidents!