My office is located in Lower Parel area of Mumbai city, which was earlier mill area. All the spinning mills of the yore- Century, Phoenix, Bombay Dyeing, Ruby etc- had their works in and around this area. Most of the erstwhile mill lands have been redeveloped as commercial complexes and swanky malls and several posh and high rise residential projects, including the iconic Trump Tower, are coming up in this area. However, the last vestiges of the now closed mills can still be found here. If the mills were there, mill workers also required accommodation. So we still have several chawls and other low cost community residential structures still in existence.

Enroute Office, I just noticed a death notice on the community black board ( kept outside every such residential area to announce any event of common interest) grieving the death of a community elder. This spirit of oneness by co-existing in the same area for generations is unique not only to Mumbai but to this country called India! The names could be different – mohalla in Delhi and north, pada in Kolkata and East and Chawls in Mumbai, it’s all the same where communities stay together, share joys and sorrows, lend help to each other and are bereft of ego and selfishness! It’s the marriage of not my daughter or your daughter, but our daughter; when an elder dies, he is not only individual’s father but everyone’s chacha, mama, Kaku or dada! Festivals are celebrated together, it’s always community’s Durga Puja or Ganpati or Jagrata; leisure hours are for reading newspapers together, playing carrom board with neighbours or simply gossiping! There’s a great sense of security and comfort in being together!

Not too long ago, this feeling was all pervasive in even middle class residential societies. After finishing daily chores, ladies would sit together, children played outdoor games, men would meet on holidays and sweets exchanged on occasions such as Diwali.

Fast forward it to today, for 6.5 years, we had same neighbours on the same floor with entrances facing each other. Ladies must have exchanged pleasantries not more than 6 times ( that makes it an average of 1 hi per year), while men chose to look through each other in the rarest of the rare circumstances of bumping into each other. Whether they went through any problems, difficulties or sorrows, we were totally unaware and ditto on their side! I guess they had very good culinary skills because aromas from their home were very tempting and I would frequently lament about drab food repeatedly eaten by us! But never received even a morsel of yummy dishes made by them!

Communities shrunk into large families and progressively further into joint families and finally into nuclear families! These nuclear families of 2-3 members neither know any of their neighbours nor any traditions or customs. On Diwali days, scared of the noise and air pollutions, they take a quick getaway to Dubai or Thailand. I am not sure how long these community events like Durga Puja, Ganpati or Ram Lila are going to survive! If man is a social animal why is he avoiding society and becoming asocial?

Today is Teachers Day. We all have old memories of our school and college days and the teachers that taught us, etched in our minds- some fond others not so fond. There were teachers who were loving, kind, affectionate, taking personal interest in our growth and development. Such teachers were our ideals and we not only adored them but aspired to be like them. Others were strict (though not always a negative attribute and in fact, sometimes required), temperamental, distant and not quite helpful in the sense we expect our teachers to be.

As we move ahead in life, while we have no teachers in the sense we understand teachers in the parlance of school and college, we come across teachers of different kind, because learning does not stop once we are out of school and college, but is a life long process. I was a science student, who didn’t understand the B of Banking, but the first counter clerk who taught me how to post debits and credits, the Head Clerk who told me about the double entry book keeping and need to daily tally clean cash book and General Ledger, the Special Assistant who guided me about how to apply interest, the Field Officer who painfully took me through the nuances of CMS (as CMA firm was earlier known), my Regional Manager who exhorted me to finish my rural stint as my daughter was very young, a senior who gave me an opportunity to work in the Bank’s credit department that proved to be the game changer- the list is endless, but each one was a teacher in his/her own right. These are all silent invisible influences in one’s life whose contribution we realise only much later, by which, the time to convey our thanks to them is already lapsed. They may no longer be around us or in some cases in this world.

While these special days are important as they draw our focus to a particular aspect that is signified by that special day, for certain things, we should not wait for any special day or occasion. One such thing is expressing gratitude to those around us who add to our personality ( personal as well as professional), at times rather subtly, but it can all mean so much in medium to long term. Thanksgiving to parents, elders, seniors, mentors, teachers, guides and the almighty should not be slave to any particular day or occasion but a daily chore before going to the bed. On this teachers day I pay my obeisance to all those who helped me reach where I am and become a person that I am.

If you have an ailment, why go to a Doctor? You can google your ailment and find out everything about it, including its cure! However, you may not fully trust an advice from a faceless intangible virtual doctor! But you will definitely trust when your Face Book friend or one amongst several hundred (may be thousand or more depending on your proficiency of usage) WhatsApp contacts shares such kind of information with you. Moreover, most of the suggested remedies are touted to be “Ramban”, a famous colloquial word used for “Wonder cure”! (As per the folklore, Lord Rama was a perfect shooter and his arrows seldom missed the target). So, for my knee pain, I have at least 100 cures, almost all of them being Rambans! I started with a mix of turmeric, coriander and ginger powders, a spoonful to be consumed every morning with lukewarm lemon water. Then I moved on to Fenugreek seeds to be soaked in water over night to be had first thing in the morning. Then it was bottle gourd juice and aloe Vera. Then somebody forwarded a sure shot remedy ( Knowing this contact too well over the years, I was confident that this acquaintance must have had first hand experience and wouldn’t have just forwarded message received from elsewhere) – to put three drops of castor oil into belly button every night! This really looked promising as in our childhood, our elders advocated the virtues of putting a drop of oil, albeit a different oil, mustard, inside nose and belly button for general good! I have since finished a few kgs of powder mix, fenugreek seeds, a few litres each of bottle gourd and aloe Vera juices and several bottles of castor oil, but my knee pain has refused to budge even an inch! If it all, it has only worsened. And this is not limited to knee pain or me! My wife has tried concoctions guaranteeing weight loss in a fortnight and my friends have tried suggested cures for almost every conceivable ailment – BP, constipation, height gain, eyesight, grey hair, muscle formation and what not! They are all like they were before, if not worse.

Not everything on social media is truth and especially in the matters of our body and health, we should not get carried away by false, untested and tall claims, but follow the old fashioned time tested way of seeing the doctor next door. The larger message here, however, is that far too much disruption and polarisation are being caused by sensational unconfirmed rumours doing rounds on social media. Like we have to be careful with our body, let’s also exercise care and caution with our heart and mind instead of blindly believing and getting carried over by this stuff on social media!

Writing about the changing perspectives of our major festivals is one of my favourite subjects. My childhood was spent in Delhi and Janmashtami was celebrated with great gusto and fervour there. A matter of special attraction was the painstaking efforts by households to recreate the scenes of Lord Krishna’s birth in Mathura prison, where Lord’s uncle Kamsa had held Krishna’s parents in captivity as there was a forecast that the baby born to his sister Devaki would be the cause of his death. He in fact killed several children born to Vasudeva and Devaki till the birth of Lord himself when all the guards fell asleep and the gates of the prison opened automatically facilitating escape of Vasudeva with new born Krishna, whom he dropped at the place of Nanda and Yashodhara, the foster parents of Krishna. This story was created with much fanfare, devotion and dedication by the households using simple materials and decorative stuff. Temples would see huge queues for Lord’s darshanam on this auspicious day.

Of course, Janmashtami was celebrated with fervour in all parts of the country albeit in different styles. While Janmashtami at Krishna’s birth place Mathura and where he spent his childhood, Vrindavan, was understandably grand, Mumbai was famous for its Dahi Handi festival, popularised even more by the Bollywood. “Govind aala re ” and “Mach gaya shor ” with iconic stars Shammi Kapoor and Amitabh reprising the role of Govinda are unforgettable.

Like any religious festival, while the devotion, especially amongst the seniors may not have come down, fasting and queues outside temples are still common sights and Mumbai may still be loving its Govindas, somehow our tight schedules, plethora of problems, tensions, competition, ambition and the new world obsession with gadgetry, have resulted in the spirit of the festival waning considerably. We feel by forwarding received WhatsApp messages to our acquaintances, we have played our part in remembering them and greeting them on the festival day. This makes this pure, significant and sprightly festival like any other special day (friendship, teacher’s, parent’s, valentine’s etc.), which we love to take cognisance of in the today’s world ruled by social media. For me, Janmashtami is not merely about Krishna’s birth, but it’s deep rooted philosophy of victory of good over evil and spreading the message of happiness and goodwill amongst the citizenry of this country.

Happy Janmashtami and Jai Shri Krishna to all the readers of my blog.

We Indians crave for foreign destinations. Hitherto, one of the most sought after destinations was US, but thanks to Trump and his idiosyncrasies, the land of dreams no longer retains its numero uno position. Geographies such as Canada and Australia are new places of choice (unless you are Nirav Modi or Mehul Choksi, opting for safer havens like one of the Caribbean nations or tax friendly nations). Of course, places like Singapore, Dubai and much of Gulf house millions of Indians, though these countries have become much more stringent in giving work permits or permanent resident ships.

When we go abroad as tourists, we lament about the lack of cleanliness, discipline, hygiene, road manners and general orderliness lacking in India, but are the hallmarks of almost all developed countries. But when we go there either for long term or permanently, we start missing certain luxuries that are unique to India. No these luxuries are not coffee book cliches such as Indian cuisine, Taj Mahal, Folk Music and Dances, Culture, Mysticism, Varanasi, Moksha etc. Guess what are these luxuries? I have tried to list a few, without which my wife, a foreign travel freak and aspirant to migrate to one of the developed countries, cannot imagine to survive! These are:

(1) Maid, the poor impoverished lady who comes every morning to sweep our homes clean, do our dishes and wash our clothes. For what we pay to her for making our lives so comfortable, she’s is an irreplaceable luxury.

(2) Driver, the Man Friday who drives you to wherever you want, manages your vehicle as you shop around, drops your kids to school and brings them back, opens the car doors for you and do several other odd jobs. I am told valets and drivers are meant for blue blood top elite in western world and the likes of us, the middle class types, either handle our own wheels or take public transport! Our driver, our man Friday has been with us for last 20 years and once he reports in the morning, it’s the end of all our troubles and problems. Where do you get such loyal, hardworking drivers at such unimaginable cost?

(3) How about your local ironman, who takes your washed clothes and returns them duly ironed with immaculate crease? Even most affluent of the people in developed countries have an iron table and a handy iron home to do self ironing!

(4) Many Indian households with both the working members, have Maharaj coming home everyday and cooking most delicious meals! It’s said that meals so cooked are not mere delicacies but is like God’s own gift in the form of Prasadam!

(5) Then there are newspaper boy, milkman, grocery delivery person, kabadiwala, paan wala and a host of such fellows who are there for you unassumingly, but whom you miss when they are not around!

My wife is right! If some organisation wants to hire me abroad, salary is negotiable but absolutely non negotiable requirements are – a maid, a driver, a Maharaj, newspaper and milk delivered every morning at the doorstep and a masseur, who gives full body massage every Sunday morning for 2 dollars an hour!

Languages fascinate me. While Punjabi is my mother tongue and I am proficient in Hindi and English, I learnt spoken Bangla during my work stint in Kolkata. In my early days, I did a one year certificate course in Russian too. Besides, I can read and write Urdu and Gurumukhi.

However, when it comes to the tonal sweetness, ease of speaking and understanding and universality, the erstwhile Hindustani, a simpler version of today’s Hindi, remains unique. This thought specifically struck me yesterday, when I read the Hindi translation of the latest circular issued by Reserve Bank of India. “Updated Harmonised Master List of Infrastructure sub sector ” actually reads as ” Avsanrachna Oop Kshetron Ki Adhyatan Sumailit Master Suchi”. Except for the word Master Suchi, I couldn’t make out of the rest of the terms. I don’t think this was the Hindi we learnt in our schools. Why have we chosen to replace simple words such as “Mushkil/Kathin (difficult), koshish (effort), engineer, doctor, depot” etc. with “Klisht, Prayatan, Abhiyanta, Chikitsak, Aagaar” respectively. If English and other languages have borrowed and are borrowing liberally from other languages, why we are making Hindi so very pure and detached, actually either coining new difficult tongue twisting words or falling back upon Sanskrit for original words?

A good language has to have vast repository of words, representing all nuances and expressions, this repository can be built generously by borrowing good, commonly spoken words of other languages. Engineer, doctor, compounder are fine and so are computer, mobile phone and charger!

While an Indian has increasingly become a global citizen, let’s also aspire to make our Hindi a global means of communication. If it indeed aspires to come close to English and other widely spoken international languages, the way forward may be in simplification and inclusiveness rather than rigidity and ring fencing. After all, what’s in the name – our life giver sun or Suraj whom we see every day is also known as Dinkar, Bhaskar and Prabhakar. Let these remain the theme of grammar being taught in schools or the names of individuals but for day to day conversations Suraj is fine and universally understood.

It seems that the pious festival of Rakshabandhan is losing its relevance. The enthusiasm and gaiety that we saw in earlier days is somehow amiss today. Yes, in the markets like Dadar and Matunga, you see hordes of vendors selling fancy Rakhis, but that underlying spirit is tepid.

We are two brothers and in our childhood, our Aunt (Mausi) who was way younger to our mother and just a little older to my elder brother, used to tie us Rakhi. The tradition continued with our Aunt’s daughter later on following her mother. But it was more about the mood. It was a large family with our mother and Aunt tying Rakhi to their 5 brothers plus cousins tying Rakhi to each other as said above. There were peals of laughter all around with exchange of gifts and sweets, followed by yummy lunch. Preparations for the festival would start much in advance. Sisters were requested to buy a large, fancy and colourful Rakhi. We would then compare our rakhis with each other. ” Mine is bigger; mine is better; mine has a watch built into it” – were commonly heard refrains. Beautiful Rakhis were sometimes preserved for years together. Schools would give an essay on Rakshabandhan as homework and a sketch of Rakhi as drawing assignment.

Then joint family split into smaller units; children grew up and moved to different cities for work. Cousins got married had their own children and Rakhi was restricted to within immediate family between real siblings. Like other festivals, this festival too became more of a ritual rather than the underlying spirit of sibling bonding, celebration of family’s togetherness and sweets .

In an age, where people count calories, are becoming fitness and gadget freaks, are trying to become super fathers and husbands, are aiming for new social and professional rise, the simple fun and festivity of Rakhi has somehow got oblivious. As aforesaid, I don’t have a sister, though on the day of Rakshabandhan I do wish I had one of my own and I would have shown the world that nothing matters more than relationships. Luckily one cousin of mine, who never tied Rakhi to me in my childhood is now my biggest supporter, encouraging me write more and better. On this Rakshabandhan, I dedicate this blog to her!

“All the International financial superpowers should immediately stop dealing with USA”.

This exhortation by Pakistani Foreign Minister has completely caught US off guard and they are not knowing what to do?

“India should immediately refrain from providing safe sanctuary to terrorists.”

This warning by Pakistani President has caused drop dead silence in India.

“Israel should forthwith without further delay end Palestinian occupation and handover territory to them for self rule. ”

After Pakistani Prime Minister’s above statement on an international forum, a special emergency session of Israeli parliament has been convened.

“How Pakistan in such a short span has become a military and global super power?” – I asked my friend Dodo.

Dodo replied, “Five years ago a Messiah had come whose name was Imran Khan! ”

The story ends here.

The above story , though parochial from India’s perspective like all Pakistani propaganda and stories, very aptly captures the hopes and aspirations of average Pakistani, who has been promised a ” Naya Pakistan”. Doesn’t this bear eerie resemblance to India story when Modi took charge 4 years back?

Ex cricketers Navjot Sidhu and Kapil Dev received special invitation for attending the swearing in ceremony of the new Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. It seems that he wanted to keep this event largely apolitical and so special invitees to this ceremony included the members of the Pakistani cricket squad that won 1994 World Cup under Imran’s leadership, apart from the aforesaid two Indian cricketers of great repute. For some reason, Kapil Dev did not make it to Islamabad, though Sidhu seemed to have enjoyed every moment of his stay there.

It all seemed to be a very good starting initiative by Imran till our ever opinionated social media took a great umbrage to the friendly hug shared by Sidhu with Pakistan Army Chief General Bajwa! There are posts on how a congressman Sidhu could choose to hug the murderer of scores of Indian soldiers? To take their wrath out on Sidhu further, this set of self styled patriots and moralists are posting another video on supposedly royal ignore being given by Imran to Sidhu!

The above is an instance of immaturity and intolerance not representative of what India and Indians stand for. If indeed the Government was so sensitive to the acts of a Indian politico and that too one from the opposition, it should have barred Sidhu’s visit or allowed him by explaining clear dos and don’ts! If enmity, Kashmir, border strife are going to be the basis of our future dealings with Pakistan, why Government of India welcomed Imran’s premiership? And if these issues have to be discussed with seriousness, sincerity and willingness on both sides for long standing peace, why such non events are being endorsed by the secular, middle of the stream, moderates of this country? Sidhu went to Pakistan as a goodwill messenger and his hugging Bajwa was a step forward to exchanging this goodwill only and nothing more! He also went there as Imran’s friend on his special invitation and in such a scenario the question of Imran ignoring or giving cold shoulder to Sidhu does not arise, because such things don’t hold water between two friends, especially on such occasions when one has attained new heights of personal accomplishment.

Let’s take pride in India’s tolerance, all encompassing culture and its message of peace and brotherhood to the entire world. Posts of such nature and contents are unbecoming of what Indianness as known to all of us stands for.

I would like to share two thoughts on this 72nd Independence Day. The first one is rather new thinking that is evident from several interested messages on social media. These messages talk about the real freedom that shall liberate us from narrow minded attitudes on regionalism, religion, dietary habits, casteism, sexism, parochialism and such negative isms that are restraining our great nation from an all inclusive progress. The most heartwarming thing about this kind of messaging is that as education and economic prosperity take root in our country, more and more people cutting across segments are supporting such thoughts. It is not confined to a few pseudo seculars, but is being propagated by more and more commoners like us. Violence in the name of caste based reservation, religion, road rage, sexual list, beef eating, rumour mongering etc. are all derogatory and representative of primitive mentality. Can this thought be converted into a nationalist movement of such force that even opportunistic politicians do not dare disturb social fabric of this country?

Second thought is something that strikes me after a little bit of exposure that I regularly try to get to Pakistani media. In India, we celebrate freedom as a positive outcome of prolonged struggle against 200 years of oppressive British rule. We remember our heroes – known and unknown – who sacrificed their lives for the cause of the nation. We also lament the unfortunate partition of this country by remembering holocaust linked to migration of populations from one part of the undivided India to divided India or Pakistan. However, the impression I get from Pakistani version of celebration is that they rather rejoice separation from India more than liberation from British rule. They only talk about the rigid stand taken by their founding father Jinnah against the unified India, insisting on creation of a separate state for Muslim majority. They rather seem to be happy about the prospects of having avoided living in a Hindu majority India. Isn’t this a strange thought? Hindus and Muslims have lived together for centuries in peace and are continuing doing so in Secular India, which boasts of a Muslim population larger than that of Pakistan. We do have Ram Mandir- Babari Masjid dispute, occasional riots, stray incidents of discrimination, but wherever communities live with full freedom, some friction can not be totally ruled out! And is a Muslim majority and relatively more homogeneous Pakistan free from strife or dispute amongst its citizens?

The two German nations got united and two Koreas may unite; unless Pakistan avoids harbouring such thoughts and change its attitude, while unification is an impossible possibility, co-existence in peace will always remain a distant dream!

Happy Independence Day to all my fellow Indians. Jai Hind