A well known YouTuber , whose podcasts are lapped up, especially by the youth, has run into problems for his certain comments that seemingly crossed the thin line between tongue in cheek and outright crassness! It’s not clear how the controversy will end, but currently the matter is refusing to die.

In today’s age of social media, visibility and getting the eyeballs have assumed great importance as these elements contribute to both – popularity as well as revenue! We can see that the shows by stand up comedians, pod casts by YouTubers, reels by amateurs etc all vie for likes and eyeballs. In the process, everyone tries to outdo everyone else and this frequently leads to the content getting compromised.

In my years of journey as a writer and blogger, I have tried not to go insane or overboard and have never craved for response from audience. My two books met with at best moderate success and some of my very important blogs and posts have attracted much fewer eyeballs, when compared to other popular bloggers and commentators, but that has never deterred me. 

The best case for use of social media platforms is to impart knowledge, share wisdom and spread goodwill and happiness. The criticism, contrarian view, speaking one’s mind etc all form part of knowledge and wisdom that’s bereft of hurting the sensibilities of the audience for earning some laughter or eyeballs. 

On a broader note, over reaction to something offensive only goes to inflate the matter. The best way to douse a controversy is to ignore it. 

Sent from my iPhone

Suddenly I realised that Valentine’s Day was around the corner and that given its importance more specifically to rhe millennials, Generation Z and Generation alpha – in fact all those eligible to be classified as youngsters, including those young at heart, notwithstanding their age, it was a great opportunity for me to reach out to a fresh set of readers on this occasion. My book, “ A tryst with destiny “ is all about celebrating love in its purest form and though the book is set in a period when Valentine’s Day was just taking roots, and the day, therefore, does not find an explicit mention in the book, it nevertheless has all the relevance as a true Valentine’s Day read. 

Happy Valentine’s Day to all the young at heart and die hard romantics! 

https://amzn.in/d/h4tyuf2

The annual budget presented by finance minister is a big enigma.  Certain things are predictable – criticism of the provisions by the opposition, unhappiness expressed by those either unaffected or adversely affected and welcome by those who are benefitted. There’s unpredictability too, like the tax exemption allowed up to annual income of Rs12 lakh and increase in standard deduction , though I could be blamed of being ignorant of the Pre budget expectations that hovered around relief to middle class and a boost to consumption. 

Now let me touch the enigma part. All of us lament that the problem is not about tax rates, which are high in any case, but the coverage of the tax net. With less than 2% of the population paying tax, the need is to broad base the tax net. However, the nation is celebrating relief to about a crore of the tax payers, who are out of tax ambit consequent to the enhanced limit. 

On a philosophical note, all the nation lovers want our great country to be scaling new heights of growth, progress and prosperity for which sacrifices are required from the citizenry to contribute to the process of nation building – infrastructure, defence capabilities, space research, healthcare, educational establishments et al. Ultimate path to the glory will lie in saving and mobilisation of resources for the huge outlays that all the aforesaid entail – savings by individuals as well as government and newer venues of mobilisation by the government . Already, in the new tax regime, there’s no incentive to save. My exhortation to all the youngsters is that even if savings result in no tax benefit, part of the surplus income that’s about to come their way due to enhancement in taxable income must be pooled into savings in any form – mutual funds, insurance or bank deposits – and that too every month. Government wants consumption to grow; we can contribute to it without necessarily trying to be one its poster boy.

Came across this beautiful short verse posted on FB that read:

Strephon kissed me in the spring 
Robin in the fall,
But Colin only looked at me
And never kissed at all.

Strephon’s kiss was lost in jest,
Robert’s lost in play,
But the kiss in Colin’s eyes
Haunts me night and day.

The above sort of emboldened my view that in pure love, an affection laden look, glance, glimpse or exchange of sight speaks thousand times louder than a physical gesture, the basic premise of twenty four carat pure love between the main protagonists, Bittoo and Shabana of my new book “ A tryst with destiny”. While writing this book, I had the conviction that while material things could get dated, the matters of heart and soul, the human emotions and feelings were timeless. This universality ( language of love is universal), timelessness ( from Heer Ranjha to Bitto Shabana to the current day, love remains eternal and timeless) and purity ( the love emanating from the soul and bereft of material considerations) make my book unique and eminently readable. But this has to ultimately come from the readers rather than I blowing my own trumpet.

A video doing rounds on social media has a beautiful Hindi poem, the gist of which is human being’s tendency to yearn for something not possessed. As the poem goes, when one walked to the school, the ultimate desire was to possess a bicycle that only a privileged few could afford. Passing out of school earned one a bicycle, but by that time the privileged few had bikes. On finishing college, bike came as a reward, but those privileged few had moved to a four wheeler. When years of slogging made it possible to own a car, by that time health had assumed a top priority and those privileged few could be seen going to gym on their bicycles! 

It touched me deeply as instead of feeling happy and satisfied with what we have, we are always craving for something not with us or beyond us at that moment. By the time we possess it, the happiness is momentary as by that time our focus already shifts to the next thing. Or, sometimes by the time that particular thing we crave for is possessed, it has outlived its relevance. 

Sometimes a few words in verse are more effective than tons of knowledge that is meant to be disseminated out of management lessons and experts. 

Mahakumbh at the holy congluence of Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati rivers in Prayagraj is attracting world wide attention. This is Mahakumbh, happening after a span of 12 years, but all the more special due to a unique celestial configuration of Sun, Moon and Jupiter that happens once in 144 years or 12 cycles of Jupiter, as Jupiter takes approximately 12 years to complete one revolution around the Sun. Between the start of fair and its conclusion on 26th February, more than 40 crore people are expected to take a holy dip and the list includes celebrities such as Anupam Kher, Gautam Adani, Sudha Murthy and Laurene Powell, wife of the late Steve Jobs.

The word Kumbh is derived from Sanskrit Kumbha or vessel( Amrit Kalash) that contained the nectar of eternity ( Amrit) derived out of churning of ocean ( Amrit Manthan). As the story goes, in their struggle to possess this Kalash between gods and demons, a few drops got spilled over in four places- Haridwar, Prayagraj, Ujjain and Nashik and hence Kumbh mela is celebrated at these four locations every three years with Mahakumbh happening every 12 years.

It’s a matter of faith that holy dip during the Mahakumbh helps an individual wash away all his/her sins, though this fact does not give a license to any individual to commit sins in first place! More than it, it’s the size of gathering, profound faith, elaborate arrangements, efficient crowd management and the sheer scale of the event that lend an aura of grandeur to the event. Presence of sadhus from various akhadas ( orders), more particularly enigmatic Naga Sadhus, impart a sense of deep spirituality to the event.

It may be the holiest of the acts to believers to take a dip or a mere grand event to the sceptical, the undisputed fact remains that Mahakumbh celebrates one of the largest gathering of humanity in all its magnificence that has not only survived, but flourished over the centuries.

Kudos to all – the administration for superb management, the believers for braving the bitter cold and unprecedented rush to take a holy dip in the confluence of three rivers ( Triveni) and to us, all the Indians, for being born in the country that boasts of such a unique culture.

As is commonly said, learning is a lifelong journey and we continue to experience new things as we move ahead in life.

Destination wedding of an old friend’s daughter broke two common myths –

(1) Myth no 1- All Indian marriages happen as per IST. Here, it was a destination wedding and while the bride’s side came all the way from a long distance, the groom’s side, in spite of being based locally, also chose to move to the same hotel. With the both the families and their relatives co-located, it should have been recipe for time going for a toss! But the things moved with clockwise precision, with each ceremony happening as per the schedule. In one classic instance, when the previous ceremony was slightly delayed, the bride and the groom came for the next ceremony in the same attire and with the same make up. This is something very rare in today’s world of showbiz.

(2) Myth no.2 – There’s no party without alcohol. Not only both the sides, youngsters included, danced non stop, there was an after event for the youngsters where they danced to the tunes belted out by the DJ till wee hours of the morning. This was very refreshing. If a few were served alcohol in their rooms , I am not aware, but the entire marriage comprising several events and ceremonies was bereft of any alcohol.

Kudos to both the families for breaking certain age old myths there are commonly associated with the great Indian weddings!

Our neighbouring country, not  known more for many progressive activities , has done something that may be worth emulating. As per reports on social media, under an intensive weeklong traffic drive in the city of Lahore, the authorities challaned 55 lakh violators, earning in the process a sizeable amount of PKR 300 crore. The numbers are mind boggling and are also reflective of the depth of the malaise. The report further says that the drive  is proving to be seemingly effective, even if temporarily.

We do come across such drives in our cities, but their deterrence for repeat as well as new offenders is low, if not altogether futile. How come in a city like Mumbai, years of convincing and penalising two wheeler drivers has not ensured 100% compliance for wearing helmets? In spite of several serious incidents of deaths and grievous injuries due to wrong side driving, why we are not able to stop such offenders? Why after so many years of little success in preventing signal violation, we have not been able to instal CCTVs, especially on important crossings? Why are the two wheelers outside the purview even if caught on CCTV for signal violation? Why can’t temporary personnel be deployed at every intersection where the “ right to cross first” results in massive jams? How the unauthorised parking and unauthorised pavement vendors be provided alternative spaces so that they don’t clog the traffic? 

Traffic management is not a one-off problem, but the one that has emerged a major issue relating to urban planning. The chaos on the road, apart from being a major nuisance has several social and economic consequences- road rage, fuel consumption, pollution etc. 

Incidentally, the above social media report also refreshed another post in my mind that I had penned a few days ago in connection with this “ten minutes assured delivery menace.” I wonder how will these delivery personnel fare if an intensive traffic drive like the one undertaken by our neighbour, is followed here too? In fact, one development aftermath the aforesaid post ( I am sure as an unrelated development ) has been inclusion of our more commodities under “ ten minutes delivery” category! 

It’s high time authorities bestow their serious attention to traffic management, which may simply be impossible without using technology. 

We celebrate passing of another year and arrival of the new year. However, we need to promise ourselves a life that’s beneficial for others apart from for us and our immediate families. 

We should make good the regret, if any, for having missed out on something that we should have done in 2024 and ensure that we tick mark all the agenda items that we set for 2025. 

While age is a number that automatically changes with the change in the calendar and is therefore, involuntary, the changes that we are volunteering to bring in ourselves for our betterment are more important. 

Let’s contribute to a world thats’s cleaner, greener, more peaceful and better place to live in. 

All the above and many more such ideas come to my mind as we prepare to wish 2024 bye-bye and enthusiastically welcome the new year 2025. 

 India has lost two of its diamonds in quick succession. First it was tabla virtuoso, an artist par excellence, a born genius and a goodwill ambassador of Indian classical music Ustad Zakir Hussain, who bade adieu to this world, leaving the Indian music scene poorer by several notches. His death in US was most unexpected  and sudden that left his millions of admirers and the connoisseurs of pure music stunned.

Yesterday, the architect of financial reforms of 1991, an economist par excellence, a scholar and a politician, the likes of which are much required today when the sanity is a much desired requirement in public life, Dr Manmohan Singh breathed his last. 

The common between both the above persons was their gentlemanliness that went much beyond their mastery in their respective fields – music and economics. They were humility personified, of balanced temperament, humble in spite of being super successful and true representatives of what India and its culture is all about. 

There’s no superlatives in this world. There will be more incisive economists and more talented musicians. But someone as talented as them and yet so much rooted to the ground is a rarity and for reemergence of such persons, we may have to wait , may be for infinitely long period.