Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Fight against Corruption

In my earlier post, in the backdrop of Arab revolutions, i had mentioned that people coming out on street can be possible in India only due to law and order issues like terrorism and gap between rich and poor. But in April, just after the world cup, Anna Hazare was instant rage. All and sundry supported him as rightfully we should have against corruption. People had candle marches, social networks went beserk...
So finally indians have said enough is enough for corruption. Or we are still like sheeps in the herd , herded by manipulators in the system with their new media tools.
There is a whole conspircy theory about phenomenon behind Anna movement. It was timed perfectly. Monday after world cup win on saturday. Media had over exposed itself on cricket frenzy. They needed new fodder. There were many fasts in Delhi which fail to catch even 100 eyeballs. What was different here? was there a media role to promote and highlight. If so who was behind and who were beneficiaries. Not all questions were answered but any logical mind can extrapolate. Not that i dont respect Anna Hazare. His issue is noble. He is a trustworthy guy who has taken rich maharashtra scoudrel politicians. Though some say he is stooged by maharashtra opposition (non congress ncp parties). Congress blames him for RSS sympathy. He was framed in false cases for sure. The faces of anti corruption movement are respectable: kiran bedi, kejriwal, bhushan, hegdes. Congress played its dirty politics as usual to attack the leaders of this movement. Last but not least he was attacked by idiots like mahesh bhatt who had only one point of objection that he praised Narendra Modi. whats the connection between that and anti corruption movement. what positibes has modi got into for gujarat is another topic. for that matter what nitish kumar has done to bihar progess is another matter.
But the movement had a specific agenda aboutr Lokpal Bill.Thats again a positive thing. You cannot have vague points to agitate. Lokpal bill with proper norms can be effective bill to fight corruption. some thought leaders argued that just like any other law in India this bill can be manipulated by those who have manipulated and milked indian system for last 64 years. What can a law do? But being a civilized democratic society we can only resort to lawmaking. Another criticism against Anna Movement was that it will undermine parliamentary democracy with sort of pressure tactics used by its leaders. Who were these people who criticized anna: digvijays, pawars, sibals, and whole set of incumbents who are known to be champions of special kind of politics, manipulation.
Then came ramdeo issue. First government wanted to explore if they can use ramdeo movement to fizzle out steam from anna movement. Moment both Anna and ramdev showed solidarity it cracked down badly. Its a blot on indian democracy. In fact we indians are used to congress version of democracy as in case of emergency. What made government motivated to use high handed ness is to douse fire before it builds up and then save ts skin using majority in parliament. It also knows that public memory is short and election in 14 will be fought on different issues. 3 years is long time in politics. Though state elections in states like UP are year away but in those states congress does not have any chance.
So its now for public to drive the fight against corruption for next 3 years. There seems no vaible alternative to congress as we see bjp today in shambles. But we need to give chance to get clean candidates elected. we need to cleanse system. The educatd should come in political mainstay. Let the parties who have milked india with corruption have civil society alternatives. Let there we revolution by leaders like anna, bedi taking constititional posts apart from just being watch dogs....

Monday, June 6, 2011

Himalaya Ki Goad Mein; Har Ki Dun experience

It was 1989; I had just appeared for my Xth exams. I was an ordinary student in school. Thanks to some external motivation, I had developed some interest in studies and some knack to get good marks in exams. That was though not enough for the great rat race of life. What was needed was that spark, a little bit of confidence to excel. Though I don’t claim extraordinary achievements but the Himalayan experience in 1989 really helped me in long run as I realize today when I return from another Himalayan trek after a gap of almost two decades.
Then world was different then. In fact state was UP today is Uttarakhand. Rajeev Gandhi govt was struggling due to Bofors. Ram Mandir movement was in its very early stage. Political uncertainty was 6-7 months away as general elections were looming. Here we were a group of 30 people led by Gore sir a trekking enthusiast from SP college and colleague of my father. The group was motley, a doctor couple, few banking couples, old collegians, an old but fit prof, hot college girls and boys after them, kids from 10th till 12th. I was the baby of team by birthdate. The facilities were very basic. In Delhi we stayed at Maharashtra Mandal. Rail journey was cruel with less no of confirmed seats than the actual number. We stayed at Dharamshalas everywhere in biting cold and just carry mat , sweaters and shawls. The journey was scenic. The route was Ghuttu, Panwali, Trijuginarayan, gaurikund, kedarnath, ukhimath,chopta, tungnath, gopeshwar, valley of flowers, hemkund, badrinath and mana. These all places were heavenly. The most important point there was I was chosen as a rope leader to manage a sub group of 8 college ladies and a couple. It sparked a leadership spirit inside me and gave me immense confidence.
22 years have passed. Life has taken twists and turns. Life has taken me to many places in India and abroad. But I always wanted to go where it all started. 2011 has been super. I achieved 4 sinhagad treks, 1 vasota trek, 2 WC live matches , WC win. To top it all, my plan to go on Himalayan trek materialized. I was encouraged by a friend who had done same trek via yuvashakti last year. Also I had a friend who had promised to join me but backed away at last minute eventually. This trek was a comfortable one. Started with flight to delhi, ac express to dehradun. There I joined the group which had faced torture of mainland heat from pune via sleeper class. Most of them were youngsters: eng 1st years, Xth, XIIth students and few elders with yuvashakti leader being eldest at 45.
We took an arduous bus journey to a place called sankri around 200 kms ahead of dehradun. For some time we were on jamnotri route. we could see yamuna flowing in the valley below. We had a very economical lunch and bread omlette/magi enroute. We wasted a lot of time and it was almost dark when we reached base camp of sankri.Before that we had to take permit from shri govind national park which is forest reserve. Jungel was getting thicker, taller and air was getting chillier. Sankri is on hilly front though just at 1930 mtrs above sea level. There is a great wind factor as its on peak top. We put on our warm clothing and looked forward to first evening together. Due to trees collapsing, there was power outage so we had gloomy evening descending with only torches and candles to support. We started on track of ghost stories to add to the ambience. The rest house has metal cots, mattresess and thick blankets. This is the case throughout but for harki dun where capacity of guest house is only 10 beds and we were 20. Yuvashakti had outsourced the arrangements to local party who sent two very sweet kids (sons of owner brothers), guide (gajendarbhaiiya), 2 cooks who were very friendly, 2 porters one of whose name was daftar (meaning office in hindi). They prepared normal food of rice, dal, rotis and sabji. Any food in the hills is heaven. So many of youngsters who were disappointed at bhendi being served could not stop from second helping. We had our first trek night.
Next day was kind of acclimatization. We walked flat alongside a mountain and valley which had at its base river Supin flowing. Forest was thick. We crossed two waterfalls where we drank fresh mountain water. We walked though 11 kms. There was no climb or altitude gain. Some clever tourists used jeeps to reach next destination called taluka. Taluka was the only place we had electricity. This was the time I realized importance of reaching destination early. All good rooms were blocked by those who reached first. We had to fight flies and had toilet which was away and unclean. We played cards and visited a local house. Local people were very hospitable and had kids who were very smart. Some of them knew geographical location of Pune and i was amazed. I know of same age students in Pune who cannot make out ahmednagar in Maharashtra map. That guy wanted to be engineer. God bless him and let him realize all his dreams. Till now I was close to only group which had fairer sex as members. We had only two.
We started the real trek at taluka and headed for osla. We had first river crossing over a bridge. We had to climb up and down. It was 14 kms of arduous trek. Most of youngsters tired. My motivation was to reach destination as i knew if i stopped it would be tough for me. Along with some young kids I was the first one to reach seema where we had guest house overlooking osla village on valley opposite and river supin flowing in between. Enroute we had a stall which provided us maggi which was out of world. I got best room for my group comprising of a stodgy Xth passout in whom I could see myself 22 yrs back. That led to a fun batter that I being senior was a god father of that kid. Anyways today’s kids are smart and I had a great chance to interact with them. They think differently. Their values are different. The inputs I got from this group am sure will help me raising riya when she turns at that age. I was totally disconnected from young generation. Now I know total psychology that these kids have. These kids are unruly but they are good. I repeat maybe P L Deshpande in asami but I got abreast with clock. At Osla we had another task to drive away a group of moneyed Punjabi guys on letching only 2 girls in our group. We managed that.
Next day was supposedly most difficult day of the trek. 14 kms with more than 1.5kms climb. We had two maggi stalls. Weather started getting chillier. Gradient was amazing. But again I was the first one to reach destination at HKD. The place is amazing with river supin flowing as heavenly stream . All snow laden peaks adding height quotient. We played cricket and handball which added to my fitness quotient.
As I said HKD has only 10seats and yuvashakti had managed only 1 room so we in a room were 2 per bed and oxygen available was limited. I suffered there first night but had guts to bang door to make them open the door and sleep .

Next day weather changed and it was raining. So whole morning we had to spend indoors with anatakshari in full flow. This was the time when some old ladies tried to put me into difficult position. I don’t know in what way I antagonized them and they felt that I was khalnayak no 1. I know that in immediate past I had intentionally made fool out of my adversaries, but here someone was trying to make me one. I was amused.
The weather cleared and most of us reached Mangad glacier where we played snow and had great time.
Next day was climb down to osla and seema. The return journey had started and climb down was easier. I again was first to reach osla. This was the only place which had satellite phone. So we all talked with our dear ones. And we were rejuvenated. We had great time at seema with dumb charades ruling. All the kids were calling me kaka (uncle ) and were very pally to me,
Next day was tougher as road to taluka is up and down. But with greater resolve we entered taluka and ended our trek. We covered osla to sankri atop of jeep. In 1989 I had travelled ukhimath mandal a top of bus and today it was same. I had with me a great singer in chinmay who can sing great Marathi songs.
We reached sankri to find that there is a landslide on way which can keep us at sankri for 3 days. But thanks to Col ss chawla, yogi (our local support) we managed to ply on both sides of landslide and enter bus that reached us to Dehradun
At Dehradun I upgraded myself to ac in transit hotel as I am spoilt with urban pleasures. I managed all my pending correspondence. I met my business and social friends. I reached train ac express in night where few youngsters from my group came in to bid me farewell. As with other short term friends, I know these kids will not be in touch with oldies like me. But I shared with them my only concern to be a good father to Riya and best practices involved. These kids are good and I spoilt them with party involving high spirits. I am feeling rejuvenated after being in touch with them. Though also I don’t understand reason for some old people esp ladies to have crossed me. But I don’t care. I have kept myself abreast with times esp with youngsters and incidentally I know someone in my shoes as a youngster who was in katariya or someone’s who were doing first trek after std Xth . I can identify with the thought process of most of them. But ladies I cannot. That’s the tragedy.
Now I am back with my loved wife and daughter totally rejuvenated and fresh and I hope it brings about same results as what himalayan trek did in 1989….