Practise what you preach!

 June 6 is close to every Maharashtrian heart. It is the day when the pride and the inspiration of Maharashtra, King Shivaji, ascended the throne.

Shivaji Maharaj is indeed unique, both as an individual and as an emperor. In my opinion, his life proves how you win everything, your goal, the followers/friends who support you to advance fast trot (literally!) towards that journey even when you began, you did not have much to write home about.

Undoubtedly, Maharaj is a great inspiration, but would not you find intriguing the people who utter his name every second, and disgrace it actively, and every minute? Want proof? A few examples here and there could prove my point, I suppose.

People spit, and thus spray the individuals passing nearby through a widow with a picture of Maharaj! Eve-teasing is a normal  'done' thing hereabouts. So mobikes vroom past. They are playing mouthful of ugly Rangpanchami. If they get to play a prank at a woman thus or otherwise, they are the happiest. Yet umpteen times would they tell the 'legend'ary story of the Kalyan Subhedar's beautiful daughter-in-law and her honorable treatment at the hands of the great king!

Many more such examples can be added. The moral of the story, in brief, is 'practise what you preach'!

Pratima@ When a great person is deified, put on the pedestal, it is easier for the followers to pay mere lip service, I suppose! Thus are ideals tarnished, right?

Enough environmental exploitation!

 What is progress? Since the eighteenth century Enlightenment era, this question has haunted humanity. As the rational, logical mind started superseding the softer inner self thence, egotism, both at the individual and the societal levels, evolved abundantly. Technological developments, cushioned by the capitalistic forces, fed in to this narrow vision. 

As a result, development started meaning an instrumental approach to everything and everyone. Exploiting nature and others for the immediate, miniscule, self-centred profits meant progress and development. 

Such a framework has resulted in a threat to sustainability. Nature seems to be grieving the (in)human inroads in to everything natural. Hence the need to raise awareness that total destruction awaits us if human-beings continue to follow such a path.

Since 1972, the U.N. has been celebrating the World Environment Day. The urgency, however, is felt more and more as we proceed further in to the twenty-first century. Flora and fauna as well as the aboriginals are the species we are making extinct. Given the notion of the food chain, such extinctions actually lead to our own destruction!

Even a kid today knows about the u/v ray's, the carbon footprint, the flash floods, the forest fires, the soil erosion, and so on. Why repeat all that shebang? Instead, let each one of us do at least the following, and soon "earth will not have anything more fair to show": 1) planting and caring for at least three plants 2) insisting on rain water harvesting 3) car pools 4) not using a vehicle for a minor errand 5) insisting on alternative sources of energy such as the solar energy. 

Pratima@ The best change always begins with our own selves, right? So a small but sure step towards the final goai!

The Democratic Process Wins

 The election results. Finally they are out. I do not know the exact tally as a few rounds still remained last I checked. Yet the picture was quite clear then.

Why the title of this blog? To begin with, this time, as it suited them perfectly, the Opposition Parties did NOT repeat a replay of their 'blame the EVM' game. In my opinion, this is a great win for the democratic process as once and for all, now it is established beyond doubt that the EC conducts the elections fairly. 

Sure I could not vote because in my ward, except me, even dead people, possibly non-existent voters, all were there in the voters' list. Such bureaucratic lapses were not heaped on to the EC by the Opposition Parties which is a great democratic gain not just this time, but forever, as it is proved indubitably that all is fair! As for me, I am happy to know that at least the Income Tax Department never de-lists me!

In brief, institutions that are the fulcrum of any operating democracy must never be demeaned. The election results have cleansed at least one systemic base of the democratic process, namely the EC, of any culpability, and I feel elated, even when, as for myself, personally I could not vote, despite trying a lot.

Yet another takeaway in my opinion is that we are India, we are not America! Want to know why? Despite disappointing results, there was not any rioting on the roads. Remember the Capitol onslaught? No such shenanigans in India, please!  'Foreign hand', moreover, did not intervene in the Indian election process, unlike the U.S.!

In other words, the Indian democracy, given the sheer numbers, is not merely the largest. It is absolutely mature as well.

Now onwards, the dirty politicking may begin as was hinted/openly stated by very many anchors and the experts on their 'debates'. That is none of my business so long as the good practices of the earlier government do not get derailed in sheer retaliation because the nation and its stability should matter the most, right? Our status at home and in the world matters the most, right? 

Surely introspections and equations et al will go on and on. Such tamasha matters hardly so long as the democratic process wins! Just a passing thought incidentally! Psephology, like astrology, seems to be more a belief system, often practised without much depth, right?

Pratima@ A wonder it is, is not it, how/why huuuuuge crowds do not translate in to votes? What exactly could be the reason? Not only the leaders but the voters, too, must walk the talk by being responsible, actually going to the booth and voting beyond any temptations and/or threats, right? Yet another takeaway, right, that neither money nor muscle power (no major mention at all of either in this election!) nor caste/religious equations  nor optics nor any kinds of tool kits matter! The democratic process alone wins!

 

The Cycle Diaries

 Remember Che Guevara's "The Motor cycle Diaries"? I love the book. It shows how wandering makes you both, wonder and wiser. My AIR speech on the text was well received. Actually, I was supposed to translate it from the original Spanish in to Marathi. Well, the publisher's enthusiasm waned soon, as no huge sales/profits  seemed to be looming large on the horizon!

Remembered all these details because I feel many amongst us can write "The Cycle Diaries", right? Honestly, the bicycle almost always has lovely/lively childhood memories. It is a proper ride down the memory lane. For me, the remembrance consists of Papa teaching me how to ride a bicycle. 

Very emotional stuff because in my opinion this activity symbolises Papa's faith that once equipped/educated well, I would never falter! He trained me so well that later learning to ride a two-wheeler was no big deal. I can manage such a ride so well that after Jadugar Raghuveer, if there is anybody in Pune who can ride a two-wheeler blindfold, it would be me!

With the bicycle, I have other cute memories such as reaching/fetching my kid bro to/fro his school. His Royal Highness would be riding pillion, and guiding me from behind!

Yes, riding a bicycle is magic. The wind whistles gently in your ears, the tring-tring of the bell adds its own music, the breaks are yours to control, and the paddles are yours to speed. There is no danger, moreover, of the 'Vedant Agarwal' variety. Even if you were to hit someone, at the most, you and the victim might suffer a few scratches. So no worries about writing essays!

A cycle is so handy that you can manage zillion "chal meri, Dhanno" types. No loss of any energy, moreover, neither petrol nor electric charging needed. Wonderful exercise for the entire lower part of the body in addition! No wonder, till mid-eighties, Pune was the bicycle h(e)aven! I can go on and on the bicycle way, but, hey, can I hear the horns honking, signifying the rude, eh, road rage of the reader! So better to move on, right?

Pratima@ Cycling is so heady that in the golden era of Hindi films, the hero and the heroine would either meet in a library with their books falling, et al. Or their bicycles would together crash. Crush forever for sure!

The Queen!

 May 31 is the birth anniversary of a unique woman, Rajmata Ahilyabai Holkar. She is unique in multiple ways. In fact, in very many ways, she literally re-writes history. Hence the title.

To begin with, from Chaundi near Ahmednagar to Indore, her journey is not merely geographical.  On a subtler note, her identity changes, and in to regality. She manages it so well that to her father-in-law, she is more like a son. 

In those days, she does not go sati, a remarkable feat indeed, as it was THE norm then. Instead she chooses to guard a kingdom like a king. She leads her army in to wars to win them, and to make the patriarchal mindset accept her supremacy, both as a warrior queen and as an able administrator.

For her, as a queen, her citizens are like her children. She takes care of their professional development so that they can lead a comfortable life. It has been said that she initiated the industrial revolution in India.

Undoubtedly, she propagated the Hindu Dharma, then on the wane. Literally across India, she built temples, 'dharmashalas' as teaching centers which would also provide a protective space to the dispossessed. The river side 'ghats'  she built channelise both, water and religious practices.

In my opinion, she is an example of a woman enabling her own self, womanhood, and a way of life. Fabulous is her contribution. Often i think of her as an excellent example of the Gramscian concept of an organic leader. What a shame indeed hence that in the so-called progressive Maharashtra, she is getting limited/restricted to the casteist rhetoric!

Pratima@ "I have to be seen to be believed," said Queen Elizabeth II. Ahilyabai Holkar was so unusual and great that we need not even see her. Her legend lingers on!

Challenges galore

 Well, it was just by chance that the Sadguru twenty-one day challenge flashed on my mobile, and I decided to take it up. No, not on an impossible impulse (that would ba wasteful wager!), but because it is worth taking up. Why, anyways, I am in to yoga and meditation. A habit, moreover, is always formed when followed for twenty-one days.

Anyways, challenges are fun. Why? Well, they test the real you, the inner soul that one is. Challenges show you how tough you can be even when otherwise mostly you have always been quite a senti(-n-)mental fool.

Oh, yes, it is equally enriching to stand up to the whole world, your own timid, shy, introverted self included. Challenges introduce you to the tremendous reserves of strength you had embedded within you. Like the fiery rebellion against all sorts of cheapness-es, just blubbering around!

Challenges create a fortress that save you from all the ugly compromises. Nor do they allow you to be harsh, hard-hearted neither mean. Well, anyways, your dreams have always been so clean. Hence that is also a challenge to fulfill them, come what may! Long live challenges of all sorts!

Just a passing thought before this passionate praise of challenges ends. In the new, politically correct lingo, none is deficient. Everyone is 'challenged'. None is blind or deaf or mute, for instance. Why, none is a dumbo either, is just a wee little bit "intellectually challenged," for sure!

Pratima@"In life," writes Roger Crawford, "being challenged is inevitable. Being defeated is optional."

Happy Memories

 Why do we love jokes? That is because they leave a track record of happy memories in our minds, right? Okay, look at this play on words beyond a typical PJ. The joke is as follows:"Which part of a laptop does an astronaut love the most?" No, it is not the RAM nor the software as expected. Rather it is a memorable play on words. "It is the space bar".

 Let us look at another joke which is a cheeky comment on harsh reality, hard facts, and hence is memorable. Makkhan Singh reaches Kanaiida (Canada, as pronounced thereabouts) the 'Dunki' way. He does not get the much awaited job though. While wandering here and there, he meets an agent who offers him the job of draping as a bear, and sharing the cage of a lion.

Makkhan is afraid actually, but has no other go. Willy-nilly he has to accept the job. Terror-stricken, he enters the cage. The lion is inching towards him. At that last moment, an amazed Makkhan says:’’ Ari,O, Kartara, tu itthe kitthe?" Murmurs the lion, "Hum sare itthech." A wonderful comment on the dream job abroad, most often pittance paid and highly dangerous, given the uncertainty of a pink slip! 

Let us look at one more before we bid good bye for the day. What with Delhi @ 52 degree celcius, whether real or a bureaucratic embarassment, this one should stick around like plaster! It is 2 a.m. A man in pyjamas walks in to the kitchen, gets the thanda, thanda, kook, kool. Back in his bedroom, before he can take a swig, he sees three mosquitoes floating around. As he reaches for the mosquito repellent racquet, a mosquito buzzes past, and hums in his ear, "God promise, we will not bite you. But allow us to stay in this air conditioned room, please!"

Pratima@ Why remember jokes today? Well, as May 31 is the birthday of my bro, Sanju, this is to wish him a 'Happy Birthday' with jokes, as he loves both, listening to them and making them up!