Delhi- 2010

19082010446
Originally uploaded by naturewalker

This is the road in front of my home. Water-logging and flooding have become a way of life.

The Gods are crying. And they are crying so much that the rivers, and seas are overflowing. Not only the rivers and the seas are overflowing, so are the streams and the drains.

We cried a few days ago that the water-table is going down, that the water is scarce and the situation is drought- like.

And in the next moment, Gods answered our lament... They gave us water- so much that everything is going under.

The Gandak, and the and the Yamuna, too have begun to flow near danger mark. Many have lost their lives and many are now homeless with the waters rising alarmingly.

Nature is furious. She is shaking herself lose. The earthquakes and the deluges are only the early reminders- warnings of sort- to help us decide. We can follow the path that our ancestors followed- respect Life and the source of Life, or choose the path we are on now... and move closer to perishing.

Illness, and natural calamity are a visiting- Are we going to succumb? Or will we survive?

india is FULL of people! And they are all going...

india is FULL of people! And they are all going...
Originally uploaded by naturewalker

Each morning an average Indian wakes up and goes about the morning routines quite unconsciously... And within about an hour to an hour and a half, he or she is on the way to work.

He must do that to put food on the table.

But it goes a lot further than that and a lot deeper.

The more he is able to do, the more he is able to get and the more he gets, the more he wants. He is hooked. It is like living the Mahabharata each day! It is a miracle that Abhimanyu returns home each evening!
It is easier and faster to walk in Mumbai than take a car/ scooter to work. In Delhi, the traffic moves much faster. So do people's tempers.
It is a wonder that with so much weight to bear, the roads are not caving in!
Crowds.
Noise.
Impatience.
Insolence.
And mindless movement.

We are apparently going to a predefined destination. But we are all so busy just going there that even having reached, we miss the point!!!

Delhi has 5.5million registered vehicles! And consider a mind boggling 11.2 million for NCR ( National Capital Region).
By current estimates Delhi loses nearly 42 crore man hours in simply commuting from home to work and back! What a mindless waste!

Consider then the fact that everybody is simply running, and unable to catch his own tail, only rushing to keep his rendezvous with Death!

Emission?Delhi's drivers get a PUC only if the checks are on!
Diesel is so much cheaper than petrol, if you have to be on the road, might as well save some!Pollution is a theoretical concept!
Rules? What rules? Zebra crossings are for Zebras. And we are not a zoo! Nor a jungle!! ( Hey! Wait!!, We are a jungle!)
Overtake from where ever you get a crevice to wedge your nose in! Right left is best left out of reckoning!
And most important... we are blind and driving! How else would you explain the need to honk so much! CAn we not see that the person in front of us and the one in front of him and the one in front of her and so on... CANNOT simply move because we are blaring!? And having become blind a few years ago, we are now headed towards becoming deaf! We will fail to respond to the blaring horns all around us!
There are ways to beat the crowd, ways to rise above the chaos, ways to clean up our city, ways to make Delhi better... Is any one listening?

Create greens... grass in road dividers with periodic borings that can harvest water and direct it directly into the water table.This will nopt only prevent waterlogging but also recharge the drying city.

Protect the trees. These are what give some of the DElhi roads a distinctive character. They not only clean up the air polluted by the constant movement of vehicles running on fossil fuel but also create a sound barrier, and modulate the weather apart from protecting the top soil.

Create a sacrosanct lane dedicated to buses and emergency services. Let the ambulance have a right of way!Let each driver know that it is NOT OK to block an emergency public vehicle.

Follow rules.

Round abouts are about creating zones of overlap that run smoothly- we do not need to rush in or out! We can practice a little courtesy on the road.

We are a very young country. we already have made a deep impact on the world.

That impact is not by running a bumper to bumper line of cars struggling to wriggle on the roads but rather that impact is largly due to its blend of technology and tradition that delivers what it promises!

We can run our schools to produce responsible citizens, not simply rote learners who can rattle facts and figures for the history and the chemistry paper and not know the difference!

We can do a lot. One thing at a time. One person at a time.

The time is now.

The question to ask is Am I the person?

Mathemagician...

Meet Anand Kumar...

30 something ( Born 1 Jan, 1973)

Mathematics Lover.

Educationist- Innovator.

Teaches FREE... and provides food, lodging and reading resources also free to students he personally picks and feels that they need his help.

What drives this young man? It is not just his love of the subject of Mathematics but also a life changing moment in a politician's office that made him what he is today.

Sometimes it can be a bigger blessing NOT to be granted your heart's desire! He was derisively told by a political aide that he should concentrate on his studies rather than run after politicians to fund his studies.

He had already started the Ramanujan School of MAthematics when still in college as a Mathematics Club. Even then, it was a free programme for Mathematics lovers. His natural flair and passion meant an ongoing contribution to various national and international publications. The crowning glory came with the offer to Cambridge University. That needed money. And Anand did not have enough, and had to give up that dream.

He suffered enough hardship and enough poverty to feel the need to shake it to its very roots and do something no one else had done before. He founded the new Ramanujan School of mathematics with the help of Abhyanand, an IPS officer who was himself a scholar- in Physics. In the backyard of the country, among the people who had dreams but no means to fulfill them, he decided to change things.

For the last three years, consecutively, Super 30 has managed a 100% IIT admission rate- for free!

This man teaches thrice a week, more than 2 hours each session, and the listeners are about 5000 students who latch on to every word he speaks into the microphone clipped to his T-Shirt. And outside the shed that houses the school, are lined uncountable bicycles!

As is usual in Bihar, success can mean threat... and he, too has received enough threatening calls. So now he also has body guards...

Anand has come a long way from selling Anand papad made by his mother on his bicycle to being judged the Phenomenon of the year! In less than a decade, he has created a legend and helped so many more students who could not afford anything on their own.

Where does he get the money to do what he does? He teaches. That generates the hard funds needed. His mother cooks for the students. These students have only one objective- they have to study. 14-16 hours a day! They do. At the end of the year, the reward more than makes up for the penance they go through- quite like olden days! Shiva always answers!

Now, this young entrepreneur does not need funds from the government or even from philanthropists to sustain his venture. He can go anywhere in the world- US or UK are no longer distant dreams.

His advice to youth?

Start your own venture with whatever you have. Do not borrow. Do what you love. And the world will change around you!

If a few more Anands could do this- start with whatever they have, and do what they love doing- India will also change. And She will change in the areas as yet untouched by modernity, technology and the rest of the world will watch. Awestruck.

When I saw Swades a few years ago, I cried. I wanted to do something that could make a difference.

Today I read and communicate with Anand- and I rejoice. It is not just in stories and movies. Things have begun happening to people around me.

ANAND BHARAT VIJAYETE TARAM!

आनंद भारत विजयेते तरम!

The great Indian car!

the great Indian car!
Originally uploaded by naturewalker

The Great Indian Car- Amby, as it is affectionately called, has been plying on Indian roads since 1948. then, it used to be the Morris. It got its present shape ( more or less) around 1958. Since then, it has been practically the same car with only technological updates.

It weighs more than 1500 kilos and looks every bit each ounce that it has on its frame. Nothing lean about our very old and very shweet Amby! So tough and strong is the car that it is the favoured vehicle by the bosses of the Indian government and the Indian Army.

It was the first car to be manufactured in India and one that has been on for more than half a century.

It is the quintessentially Indian car. Large, spacious, plush and comfortable... That is the car that was more a drawing room to lounge in than a car to travel by.

The car is big enough for Dada and dadi, chacha and chachi, taaya and taayi, and the several cousins who are equally an integral part of the great Indian experience. And it has a boot big enough for all the family's luggage, too!

There is always someone or the other to good naturedly remark about the size and look of an Indian- No! not really fat...only plump!! Ambassador is the same... Not really fat... just plump!!

It is a car with no sharp edges. It has a nice round shape. And it is huge! You could sink into a seat and be lost to the world outside. Comfort and paradise are not another world when you ride an Amby.

I have often looked at the FACE of a car and imagined what it appears to say. The penultimate model of the Honda City seemed to be a sophisticated lady with just a hint of a smile. A pleasant face. The present model however, appears to be baring its teeth! Our Amby? It is a nice fat lady. She is so welcoming and so accommodating that it literally beckons and entices you to board the car! And the ride it seems to promise is fulfilled in a satisfying, enchanting encounter!

There have been several words used to describe the car- reliable, sturdy, tough, all terrain, all purpose, roomy, and lucky. Yes! I still remember those days when we used to wish upon an Amby! We used to wish upon a solid black Amby. And it had to be followed by a mail wagon- totally red. And it always worked! The black Ambassador was somewhat of a rarity. So it was considered a stroke of luck to see one. And to have it followed be a mail wagon was considered doubly lucky.

The Amby is one of the two cars we used to see on the Indian roads a few decades ago- along with the Fiat. The Fiat disappeared in its antique form long time ago with the entry of the Maruti.

But... Amby lives on...

Namaste !

The Indian Salutation...
Originally derived from Sanskrit, the word is a result of union of two words... Namha (नमः) and te (ते)
Literally this means "I bow to You" It implies a deeply felt respect for the individual to who is addressed.
Traditionally, the joined hands are placed in front of the chest- at heart level. There appears to be a scientific basis to the greeting.

The words could just as easily signify Na (not) Maha (mine) and signify reducing or negating one's ego when beginning an interaction with someone. We use the same greeting when we greet elders or when we greet equals or even those younger than us. We greet friends like this, and even strangers. And... it is the same when we stand in front of the Lord! We recognise, even though unconsciously, that we are basically same and equal.
That we all have the same Lord in our heart.
That we must look inward to interact well outward.

Often we close our eyes and bow our head in the completion of a respectful salutation- as we do in a temple or even for those elder to us. This humility is quintessentially Indian.

There is also a deeper basis of this gesture- it is an energy grid that we complete around our heart chakra. We form a shield that cannot be penetrated unless we allow it. Till we embrace an unknown figure, we are preserving our energy grid and protecting our Heart (chakra) from intrusions that could potentially be negative. We pay respect, and do so with utter humility not just to the individual in front of us but also treat the one inside of us with utmost reverence and respect.

With the palms joined, we declare that there is oneness, a unity, a Divinity that pervades all life. The Lord in me is the Lord in you. I Bow to all that is Divine in you. Humbly. I protect whatever is Divine in me. Tenaciously.

Often in India, we would find people speaking out the Lord's names with the greeting- Ram, Ram or Jai Shri Krishna- further emphasising the Divine that MUST interact. And it is this Divine that MUST also preserve the Divine in each individual and demolish the negativity and the Anti- Divine in any individual.

When we bow down further in front of our elders and touch their feet, they place their hands on our heads. This special form of greeting from a younger to an older individual completes an energy grid that transfers the energy from the older to the younger. When you touch their feet, you allow their energy that is flowing into the Mother Earth, to be diverted to yourself. When they place their hands on your head, they seal this energy transfer, not allowing any leakage from the top of the head.

Indeed, Indian salutations are unique! And worthy of all the respect they generate!

GV DASARATHI says...

I received this in an e-mail... this is far too beautiful not to share with my friends...
Thanks GVD. I hope your words reach many many many people...

ARTICLE BY GV DASARATHI
(G V Dasarathi is director of a software products development company)

" This when I was born 46 years ago.

I was born to Tamil speaking parents, my father had a dark skin and my mother a light one. My ayah was a light-skinned woman from UP who spoke Hindi.

We lived in a thickly forested area in Jharkhand, where the majority of the population was dark-skinned tribal people who spoke a language called Ho. On my trips out of home I saw people wearing all kinds of attire -- from sadhus wearing nothing at all, to the locals who went topless, to women in burqas.

Most of the guests in our home spoke English.

We were Hindu, my ayah was Muslim, and the tribals were either Christian or Animists who worshiped trees, animals or the spirits of their forefathers. People around me had all kinds of food habits. Some ate only vegetables, some did not eat cattle, some did not eat pigs, some ate anything including rats and monitor lizards.

Our small mining community celebrated festivals of all religions with equal gusto.

We lived in the middle of an almost virgin forest that was home to a huge variety of wild animals that included elephants, bears and deer. The animals added to the fun and the unpredictability of life by occasionally walking into our tiny community of 10 houses (sometimes into them).

This was my small introduction to the enormous diversity of this wonderful land. Even as an infant I was listening to people of different colours and facial features speaking four languages, of four religions, dressing in different ways, and eating a variety of food.

These must have been the lessons that I learned : anyone looking like a human was a human, irrespective of skin colour or features; humans worshiped all sorts of gods, wore all sorts of clothing, ate all kinds of food, and spoke all kinds of languages.

As I grew up, my father's company transferred him every two or three years through about half the states in India. I saw the rest of India. I learned that Indians believe in far more gods than the four that I was introduced to as an infant. I learned that each state has three or four different regions. People in each of these regions speak different languages or dialects and may not even understand the other dialects in their own state. Each region eats a different kind of food, wears different clothing, is culturally very different, and looks very different geographically.

Today, nobody can convince me that I am superior to someone else because of my religion, skin colour or language. The diversity that I experienced, accepted and enjoyed as an infant is not unique to me. Every Indian experiences this -- only the details differ. I believe that this is what makes us the most tolerant country in the world. I enjoy our diversity so much that I cannot even think of living in one of those countries where everything is homogeneous -- everybody looks the same,eats the same food, believes in the same religion. Think of countries like the Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Sweden... hundreds of them.

Yes, the diversity occasionally makes us kill each other, usually over different religions or sub-religions. This is tragic and should never happen, but look at it this way: Sunnis, Buddhists, Roman Catholics, Sikhs, Bohras, Digambar Jains, Parsis, Khurmis, Iyers, Agarwals, Nairs, Syrian Christians, Shias, Shwetambar Jains, Jews, Ismailis, Seventh Day Adventists, Bishnois and a whole lot of other groups live together in India.

In Britain and Yemen two sects of the same religion were killing each other for decades. In Lebanon, people from two religions have been killing each other. The US and South Africa have seen huge problems over two skin colours. In Canada it's over two languages.

As an Indian, I laugh at these silly reasons for their conflicts -- two religions, two colours, two languages. I feel like saying "Hey guys, try Digamber Jain, Gujarati-speaking, pyjama-kurta- wearing herbivore co-existing with Syrian Christian, Malayalam-speaking, mundu-wearing carnivore". Where would we be if we had been as intolerant as them?

I believe that the religious intolerance that we are seeing now is confined to a small percentage of us, and that in the long run we have the sense to not take our differences too seriously, to acknowledge that the whole lot of us are a wonderful amalgam of different races, religions and cultures.

I can never be a global citizen. Contrary to the advice that any stockbroker would give, I've invested all my emotional stocks in this company called India, because I'm sure that the value of these stocks can only go up. Not because of the amount of steel, armaments and textiles we can make, but because we know how to live together.

Do we or do we not? U decide ! "

Time to rediscover INDIA!

We, in India, do not miss our country's proud heritage nor follow its rich traditions till we start to miss these in foreign lands. We make our homes anywhere in the world with our basic instincts staying very Indian. We feel it in our heart and soul and express it in our prayers offered on festivals, even our celebrations become very traditional. We teach our children more when we are not in India.

We need to rediscover our rich heritage. We need to reconnect with our history so we can craft an exquisite future.

We seem to be poised on the threshold of an explosive blitzkrieg that will take our national position on to another level. People are beginning to take note of our country- sometimes for the wrong reasons... but mostly for the right ones.

Whether it is Mittal taking over Arcelor or Bharti becoming a global giant; whether it is Harvard opening an Institution in India or Nalanda inspiring education; whether it is Sri Sri Ravi Shankar inspiring a spiritual Renaissance or Yoga becoming a way of life- we need to recognize and honour ourselves.

And importantly, starting from our rich history we need to celebrate our present with the likes of Narayan Murthy, APJ Abdul Kalaam and Nandan Nilekeni. It is time to take a national vow- In the words of Arun Shouri's new book... We MUST have no price and all should KNOW we have no price.

I shall aim to explore and expose MY COUNTRY through this blog and hope my readers find it as engrossing I am finding it!