On Christmas Day last year 2023, I launched my first book, “ Ordinary is extraordinary “, a self help motivational book cast in a storyline. The book was read and liked by many of my friends and acquaintances as also people not known to me. The high point of the book was readers identifying closely with the main protagonist Sunil, an ordinary man next door, the likes of which we come across in our everyday life. Many readers gave me feedback that they could finish the  book in one reading and wished that it read a tad longer. A few also wished elaboration of the lives of other characters that found mention in the book, but that was just about it. And one general feedback was that my next book was being eagerly awaited! 

Of course, I took the above feedback with a caveat that friends were always generous and supportive and that I must be very careful about the ground reality. The ground reality of today is that people, in general,  are very busy and hard pressed for time to indulge in anything outside their core activity, which is pursuing their profession. Whatever leisure time they have, they are spoilt for choices – Internet, social media, OTT, sporting events, movies et al. Besides, everyone has a wish list of the movies they want to see, the authors they want to read and places they want to visit! I for one read the biography and filmography of Satyajit Ray and then watched all his movies one by one on YouTube and other channels! I did a similar exercise of reading James Bond’s books following them by watching the concerned movies based there on. Currently, I have got interested in Salman Rushdie’s work and hope to read some of his books. 

Under the circumstances, the only factor that comes to my rescue is my self motivation. My blogging journey of the past several years has been sustained due to my self motivation. Most of my blogs are hardly read by at best 4 to 5 readers and enjoy no commercial support in spite of I having created a significant body of work. And my next book, a romantic interlude with country’s partition as a backdrop, is a work of pure fiction that’s high on emotions but bereft of any preaching! This is not a curtain raiser for my new book, which will be launched properly when it’s ready, which is still some distance away, but this post is primarily aimed at all the existing and budding writers- bloggers, authors, social media users etc- exhorting them to persist with their passion by remaining self motivated, irrespective of number of likes or quality and quantity of feedback on their work! Our writing, if it touches even one heart, can be deemed to have achieved the purpose that’s primarily satisfying our own creativity. It was this self motivation only that kept me going for years in my professional life despite normal ups and downs. 

A friend shared a beautiful post on Instagram this morning. A BBC reporter asked master chef Vikas Khana that as he didn’t come from a rich family, his sense of hunger ( a desired attribute for a chef ) must have come from India. To this Vikas replied that he came from Amritsar where everyone got fed in langars. His sense of hunger, in fact, came from New York.

And why single out Amritsar, when a great deed is visible right in front of my eyes ! Four Bungalows Gurudwara, right opposite my home, serves day and night langar daily to hundreds of hungry , who queue up neatly at the desired hour and then bin their disposable plates in a trash can. And I am told that similar daily langars are also organised at Seven Bungalows and Sion Gurudwaras, where hundreds get fed daily thereby escaping starvation.

Many a times we criticise when a new religious institution – a temple, Gurudwara, mosque or church comes up, lamenting that we need more schools, colleges or hospitals! But let’s not forget that many religious establishments are doing yeomen services by distributing langars, running charitable dispensaries, hospitals, diagnostic centres as also schools and colleges. This is one great confluence of religion serving society against the general perception of religion dividing the society.

Kudos to Vikas Khanna for great response to a representative of Western media that loves showcasing abject poverty and other social evils in preference to great strides made by India in the fields of space, science and technology. And kudos to all religious establishments that are fighting the great battle against poverty, starvation, illiteracy and lack of healthcare.

This Ganesh Chaturthi, a few questions come to my mind. Most of us pray or remember God, at least our favourite God ( Isht) daily. We generally eat good food, sometimes indulging in sweets and other special dishes, especially on weekends and holidays. We clean our abodes daily. Then what makes festivals so special ? 

I think festivals connect us with our friends, relatives, neighbours, acquaintances etc, who are very much on our mind, but probably need a festival to be reached out to! And unlike other social occasions that connect us, festivals are more sombre, pious, understated and yet joyous!

Let me wish all my friends, relatives, neighbours, acquaintances and others a very happy Ganesh Chaturthi restating that all of you occupy a special place in my heart and life, thought at times expression of these feelings may be amiss! 

I did not exist till two angels decided to bring me into this world; 

They were my parents, my first teachers.

I was illiterate and knew nothing apart from speaking,

Till a set of people taught me to read and write;

They were my second teachers, school and college teachers.

I didn’t know basics of my profession, but a set of patient, matured and knowledgeable people

Took charge and guided me through my professional journey

They were my next teachers, my colleagues and bosses.

The life’s journey was tough, entailing rat race, competition and challenges,

But there were my stress busters, my wife and daughter, my next teachers.

And each day as we live and acquire tips to live better from gurus, friends and acquaintances:

Don’t they all qualify to be our teachers! 

Happy teachers day to all the above, unnamed in this verse, especially composed on the occasion of the teacher’s day, but their names and faces sharply etched in my heart! 

Certain songs and tunes are integral part of certain specific occasions. On the first of every month, Radio Ceylon used to play Kishore Kumar classic, “ Khush hai zamana aaj pahli tareekh hai.” Similarly, there are specific songs that can be heard on Holi, Diwali and Independence Day.

Likewise, an immortal tune is associated with Ist September that was the theme played in 1961 romantic comedy starring Rock Hudson and Gina Lollobrigida titled “ Come September”.

Internet search showed me that there’s indeed a song titled “ September “, composed by by Kurt Weill with lyrics by Maxwell Anderson. It was introduced by Walter Huston in the 1938 Broadway musical production Knickerbocker Holiday. This song has some wonderful lines such as:

“But it’s a long, long while from May to December
And the days grow short when you reach September
And the autumn weather turns the leaves to flame
And I haven’t got time for waiting game”

And there’s something about September that’s represented by transition of weather from hot to cooler ( reverse in the Southern hemisphere, where September heralds onset of Spring), from summer to autumn, from longer days to shorter days and in general, a feeling of good times!

Let me wish all my readers happy September, autumn, September the song and all time classic Come September tune. If I may pay an ode to September in my own words, it would read:

Come September, the start of four ber months

Post rain greenery, cooler days, shorter nights

Festivity all around in the air

Streets and homes decorated with lights.

There’s something about September

That ignites love, romance and passion

Let’s complete the circle fully

By filling it with empathy and compassion!

Hindus are known to have numerous gods. On the top is the supreme trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh. Then there are very popular, much adored and widely worshipped gods such Ganesh, Hanuman, Durga etc. However, the human manifestation of Lord Vishnu in different yugas or ages in the form of Ram and Krishna are part of our culture, ethos, personality- whatever you may call it! Their stories as enshrined in Ramayana and Bhagvad form the very basis of our existence and the way we conduct ourselves in our daily lives.

While maryada purushottam Ram’s life is highlighted by his victory over Ravana and celebrated as Dussehra and Diwali, birth and childhood are important highlights of Krishna’s life, making Janmashtami a very special occasion.

Ram and Krishna are human manifestation of supreme lord and mere chanting their name wields the power of uplifting human consciousness to a divine level. As per Swami Prabhupada, the founder of ISKCON movement, mere chanting of Krishna‘s name will ensure deliverance from all the sins! Let’s celebrate this Janmashtami by chanting the simple mantra

Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare

Hare Ram Hare Ram Ram Ram Hare Hare!

In our schooldays, rape and killing of a brother and sister by the notorious gangsters Ranga and Billa shook the city of Delhi and the entire country as it was unprecedented and heinous. Thereafter, over the years, we have been exposed to more heinous cases of rape, molestation and murder, including that of Nirbhaya in not too distant past that once again rocked the nation and its establishments! Kolkata’s most recent case is a new addition to this abominable list of the crimes most heinous! 

I have spent a good part of my life in the city of joy and being born and brought up in Delhi and a confirmed Mumbaikar for more than past 2 decades, I have always appreciated Kolkata for its several qualities, most importantly for the respect for women and elderly! And this is not a mere impression, but borne out of personal experience relating to real life incidents with my then very young daughter and my aged parents! That this incident happened in Kolkata and that too inside the holy precincts of a hospital makes it all the more abominable and repulsive! 

When shall we stop treating a girl or a woman as a commodity or an object of consumption instead of another person equal to us? Why a woman rejecting our obscene overtures has to be necessarily trolled, harassed and worst of all, victimised? Why a girl cannot walk alone during any part of a:24 hours day? And how can a man become a beast, most wild in his sexual arousal that he can indulge in worst of acts with any female, age no bar? 

And we as a nation, need to stop politicising such issues ( a sexual demon has no religion or political philosophy) but act firmly by forcing the law keepers and conscience keepers of our nation to come up with deterrents that send a chill down the spine of these sex hawks before they indulge in such heinous acts!  We need to go beyond social media and candle light marches before this evil strikes someone our near and dear! 

 Our nation is celebrating 77th Independence Day and it is indeed important for us to treat this occasion as very important, especially looking to the state of affairs around us. Pakistan continues to be in the throes of instability and the developments in Bangladesh have thrown our easterly neighbour into turmoil. Nepal refuses to become politically stable and it continues to dance between India and China, not fully knowing what’s right for it. Tensions in Middle East and never ending Russia – Ukraine saga make it explicitly clear that we are lucky to be in India, the safest, fastest growing and by far the best place to be in ! Minorities are being treated with disdain in our neighbourhood and across many states of the world, but westerly nations and their boss US, are only concerned about the rights of minorities in India! If we look around, we hardly see any dramatic change in the ground reality concerning minorities! Manipur was exception and an ethnic issue as well and not strictly communal! In a nation of 140 crore, stray incidents of caste, community, religion and societal based tensions can never be fully eliminated, but the basic secular fibre of our nation remains protected and intact. 

This Independence Day, let’s resolve to be united and stop talking about religion, which is a personal subject matter.  but only about Indianness or Bhartiyata! If we are united and our minorities are part of the mainstream, no narrative by any non well wisher of this country will work and India will continue to march along its chosen path – that of peace, prosperity and progress for all Indians! 

Happy Independence Day!

I frequently visit South Africa as my daughter stays in Johannesburg. During my first visit way back in 2011, I was thrilled to see Tata Indica cars on roads. Later in 2016 and thereafter, number of Tata Indicas came down, which was understandable as Tatas had stopped producing it, focusing on new generation PVs. However, instead, I saw Mahindra MUVs and mini trucks, mainly Boleros, but not branded as Bolero. During my recent visits, while Mahindra’s small commercial vehicles are visible off and on, it’s more delightful to see their KUV, XUV 300 and XUV 700 competing with all international auto majors, including Chinese GWM and Cheryl that are now increasingly boosting their market share, thanks to their competitive pricing. I was also surprised to see “ Bolt”, a Bajaj offering, which is a two seater small car, even smaller than Nano that’s acquiring popularity with the locals, though this is not allowed on highways and expressways but only on internal roads.

It’s true that I Phone is now getting manufactured in India and many other leading brands have shifted/ are shifting manufacturing to India. But cars are visible and their make easily identifiable and the kind of pride our indigenous brands that compete against the best in the world, give when sighted on the roads in a foreign country is unmatched, unparalleled and inexplicable! I am told that several African cities have Indian bikes – Hero, Bajaj and TVS on their roads. And of course, let’s not forget that JLR ( Jaguar and Land Rover) brand belongs to Tata stable and these cars are counted amongst the most premium worldwide!

Congratulations Tata, Mahindra, Bajaj and two wheeler manufacturers! Maintain quality, regulate the price and bring India pride and export earnings! Other sectors can also take inspiration from their automobile brethren!

USD 1 Billion roughly translates into Rs8500 crore and this amount is roughly 4 times the money purportedly spent by Ambani clan on Anant Ambani’s grandiose marriage ceremonies.

I have nothing against the rich splurging their money on the events or for purposes that they hold important or dear. After all what’s the purpose of making do so much money, if it’s not to be spent as per one’s whims and fancies! If the money earned is not to be spent, then the millionaires of the world should not own islands, villas, private planes, yachts or buy rolls Royce, alpha Romeo’s or the most precious designer jewellery. In this matter, I am at odds with the popular trolling against Ambanis for having splurged their money on Anant’s marriage.

However, the above quoted figure of USD 1 Mio is donation by one Ms Ruth Gottesman to Albert Einstein College of Medicine with an objective to making education at college tuition fee free! She’s the former professor of the medical school and the current chairman of the Board and the donation money came from her late husband’s investments who advised her to use it as deemed fit! And what an incredible use has she made of the inherited money by making it possible for students to study medicine free indefinitely!

Billionaires of the world should splurge their money, because splurging also gives a boost to the economy. There have been fringe benefits of Ambani’s events on Jamnagar, Mumbai, fashion industry, precious gold and jewellery makers, hospitality etc and they have all the right to use their money as they like it. I am also aware of several charitable initiatives by the family trust and by Neeta Ambani in particular. But a donation like Ms Gottesman is something that kind of makes a deep impact on humanity and such initiatives are expected from all the world’s billionaires that would ultimately cause a visibly change on the ground situation marred by hunger, poverty and lack of access to medical facilities.