Monday, December 29, 2014

2015

Its been  the year of change. There is a hint hope  as well as the challenge of unknown simultaneously.
Time to assess, analyze and move on to turn around hope into reality.
Its time to rise and make everything better around us.

Lets plan and succeed in 2015. Wish you happy new year 2015.

Nayak

Friday, December 26, 2014

Ganagot: a verbal portrait: Sabne Kaka



I had read a book named ‘Ganagot’ which were biographies of people who PL met in real life.  Being an ardent fan of PL, I had this idea to pen down some characters in real life like PL. Hope I create that generic feel out of personal experiences as in the original book.

SabaneKaka
Every night after 9 PM few music channels on TV and few FM channels play old songs.  Whenever I hear the eternal songs from films like Anaadi,  Madhumati, Chori Chori, my mind rides upon  a time machine to  reach a house very close to the foothill of Parvati (Those outside Pune will not know that there is a small hill which is used for exercise purposes for ages named Parvati. There are few good temples and views on the top of the whole city.) Those were the early 80s. DD was just gaining popularity. Households were buying black and white TVs from companies like EC, Dyanora, Crown.  Every Saturday they used to play a Marathi movie and on Sunday a Hindi movie. Those Marathi movies were either old mythological movies or musical dramas which we used to hate then, or biographies of the saints of Maharashtra, family drama, movies based on local dance called tamasha, few great comedies. We also had few great programs like Gajra: a collection of good literary pieces. But the star of the show was a Sunday movie invariably an old one. As a child, I  loved contemporary Amitabh or Mithun movies with customary fight sequences. Never then I realized that it's impossible for a single man (that too having lean physic of Amitabh) to defeat 20 odd villains in a fight to win over a lady. Maybe that's why we really believed that to win a lady you need to hit 20 people at a time when you grow up. Old movies were boring and that too if you were asked to walk say about 4 km from Sadashiv Peth to Parvati, it was a tough ask.  But then it was an incentive to visit Sabnekaka’s home as we had a separate room there where we could watch Parvati,   while elders saw the movie in the hall. But then you got to get interested in movie plots if you had to see them. I remember being perplexed by Vyjayantimala's double role in Madhumati while I enjoyed songs. I found Raj Kapoor funny.  I was impressed by Devanand in Guide and Jewel Theif  (never believed Ashok Kumar to be a villain at any point till it was exposed in the plot) But the darling was Kishore Kumar with comical presence and voice. The road from Sadashiv Peth to Parvati had another incentive of the detour to Saras Baug to play and eat bhel. We were promised a return journey by auto which depending on movie length was fulfilled when it was really late (late meant 9 30 then). But then we used to enjoy the whole Sunday movie experience thanks to the warm hospitality of sabne kaka and kaku with great food and comments. Sabne kaka is a gentleman personified. He is a professor in Maths and statistics. He had written many books. Very soft spoken quite contrary to the image of maths as a subject and that too as a teacher. I really wish I attended his class at Garware college where he used to teach. Later when I grew up, I came to know the trustee role he played in helping us grow in modernized housing. I don’t want to elaborate but that itself was rare those days. As we got our own TV, these sessions ended. In fact, since the mid-80s  to early 90s DD viewing was another experience as we all know. Sunday movies were shifted to Saturdays. Then in the 90s private channels and satellites entered our living rooms. Rest as they say is history with the explosion of entertainment and media. But still, whenever I hear a song from Madhu Mati or Chalti ka Naam,  I still remember those Sunday evenings.  The other day, I had a chance to meet Kaka. Kaku is no more. Sabne kaka is still the same as in those memories. Look forward to his blessings as always...


Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Time to rise



Each time a visit to so called first world country evokes same feeling of comparing systems, conditions, and almost everything under the sun. There is feeling of helplessness, frustration you get as you are in awe of life, systems, discipline, public awareness, initiative, functioning government and local bodies, efficient public transport, integrity, professional ethics. These are the attributes which make difference between where we are and where we want to be. Lots have been written, discussed by those qualified to speak on these issues and as well as in the kitty parties denouncing everything that is ‘desi’. I have heard it all and read it all. But this time there is hope and real chance for India to take leap. Now we at least have functioning government. Western Economies are facing sever challenges to sustain welfare policies which differentiate. They don’t have numbers that India or china has.  Skill development is hampered. In the interconnected environs they are visibly threatened by emerging economies.  So its the real time to rise and take a leap. As a child i had a dream to make India on par with foreign countries (though only exposure to that were Hollywood films and TV). As i travelled the world was closer but still we lagged. But now is the real chance. Thus I felt like writing and discussing on such well documented and discussed (to death) topic comparing west to India.
Having said that there is a functioning government, there are still road blocks. Petty politics still can emerge as we saw in Maharashtra. Vested interests can still survive like old foxes that eat flesh of pound every time. We still have miles to go. But then there is hope. Being strong Modi supporter, i still am hopeful as i haven’t seen Modi letting his guard down even with absolute majority.  But then anti-nationals can always rise thanks to strange politics.
But the real change will happen only when we change ourselves as citizens. Yes we need performing government but what we need to do is to inculcate the basic discipline, patriotism, ethic, professionalism, skill development. Only then we can dream about stepping into the realm of first world. How often we break traffic rules, pay bribes to get our work done. Or how clean we keep our surroundings?  Do we really do our job with professional ethics and substance?
And finally we need to manipulate world economical situation to our advantage. In the modern history of world, the countries which did that have qualified be it industrial revolution, colonialism, slavery, great wars, technology, services, manufacturing and so on. For that we need to have diplomatic and economic vision. Next 5 to 10 years or so are going to be defining years in the history of independent India. Is current govt under Modi adept enough? Only the time will tell. But i am hopeful. Let us rise and waste this opportunity.
On personal front been travelling to some great cities and parts of world. I express sincere apologies for being irregular on this page.  I cannot wait for December festivities as usual and the change of calendar as we head towards another year end. Wasn’t it just few months back we welcomed 14. Time flies, but this time it’s definitely time to rise.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

It’s that time of the year again......



In this year of change, let’s hope we keep moving towards ‘Acche Din’. ‘Acche Din’ means days when you enjoy peace, prosperity and good health. Let you have quality time with family, hobbies, travel and satisfaction at work. May you have strength to overcome obstacles and difficulties.  Let’s spread the Diwali spirit and make small efforts towards helping those who really need.  Wishing a very Happy Diwali to you and to your near and dear ones.
 It’s that time of  the year again......

Saturday, September 13, 2014

9/11 moment again

Thirteen is unlucky number. 13 years have gone by. I distinctly remember that Tuesday and time around quarter to 6 PM IST.  I was interviewing few candidates in a locality of Hyderabad. I had to catch my train back to Pune by 7. Interview was delayed and i rushed out of the ISBN office and reached station just to find that train was 45 mins late. So roamed in those lanes around station dominated by Kebab thelas, mosques, old houses. Majority of people were in their skull caps. And suddenly there was a black out due to electricity failure. There was some strange aerie feeling though i never knew what had transpired miles apart in New York at the same time. As I boarded train, no one had an idea. By nine after dinner, i took my berth and slept like a log to get up at Daund.  The paperwallahs were shouting “USA attacked”. Bought Sakal and Times to know what had happened. Coincidentally in the age of digital media, i got aware of 26/11 also on print media after reading papers delivered at home.  I had retired early after Indian victory over England in ODI on 26th say by 10ish, as last night on 25th Nov  I  had a night out due to work. That event on 9th morning changed the world. Lots have been written about it. But for me only thing to add was world started taking Indian suffering seriously. Terrorism for India was local freedom fight hyphenated with Pak till then.  There were debates and most of the west dominated by liberalism questioned India while ignoring evil existing across Indian borders and within in some anti national quarters. I remember how US froze for almost fortnight. I travelled to Malaysia then on 1st Oct and flight was empty. Security was beefed up everywhere. US now suffered pain which was meant till then for third world countries like India.  It was defining moment for humanity and personally as well as my daughter was born few months after....
Iraq and Syrian problem is another such moment we now face after 13 years. USA has been silent till now and now only showing intent after being provoked by killing of journalists. USA chose to remain watchfully patient as situational dynamics in those countries are tricky. Helping Syrian govt vs ISIS funded by its own allies is the dilemma.  USA has been conveniently choosy in having allies and only parameter is self interest. But things seem to be poised at a level where if uncontrolled cancer will spread and world will be a different place.   Support amongst section of Indian youths is also alarming. So we are again facing 9/11 moment. Another point is would like to criticize is double standard by liberals, secular media (fiberals as per definition by a friend), while denouncing Gaza attacks they chose to remain silent on genocide and atrocities in Iraq and Syria. Also is it not ironical that those who wanted to drown Indian Army in Kashmir have army as their only saviour to avoid being drowned. It’s high time some vested interests should answer mango people as they are the only ones who suffer and never the leaders or armchair philosophers.

Friday, August 29, 2014

Someone, Somewhere, Somehow Always....




My story is about that day in late 90s since when I met someone in remotest jungle.  
Late nineties were some interesting times. We had seen liberalization for half a decade. Sachin the wonder boy had added multimillion coffers to BCCI and himself.  IT industry was booming thanks to Y2k bugbear created by one of the masterminds in IT space. Things were promising. I had bagged the best paid job in IIT campus then.  With my first job in pocket felt like a king. I was a yuppie all set to conquer the world. I stayed at company provided quarters in city like Mumbai. I used to be chauffeured in a company provided car to commute from office to Home. My first pay cheque had created ripples in my house. My company sent me to Bangalore by newly launched Jet Air. I stayed at a five star hotel in Bangalore. Every weekend we partied in south Bombay on Friday night. And i use to visit my home in Pune on Saturday morning. I used to have another party on Saturday night in Pune and travel back to Mumbai Sunday evening.  Life was a big party. My whole family was excited and whole world seemed to be at feet.
But then this was not what i was happy with.  I wanted to gain experience for maximum an year and then move on to greener pastures either though GRE or GMAT. Who wants to remain just a techie in life?
 On a long weekend we decided to trek from Lonavala to Bhimashankar.
Somewhere in November few of my friends at a trekking group which i was a part of in Pune till twelfth, planned a trek on a long weekend. I had done many treks in Sahyadris and Himalayas with this group. So it was all set to meet at Lonavala station Friday Morning. They would be taking local train from Pune and i was to take a express train from Thane.
We met at Lonavala station. And three people ditched us at last moment. Actually six were confirmed including me.  But only Milind and Shailesh had turned up. The group size of six was good enough from safety, logistics point of view for an unknown trek. We felt, three of us was bit of a small group that too when we had no one who had done the same trek in past. But then we decided not to back out. Three again is a tricky number. Anyone less would have resulted in cancellation but three is a crowd as they say.  And anything negative was not a part of our thought process at that age and during those times we were in. So we decided to move on. All other logistics were planned. Each one was to get dry ration which we planned to cook, some light snacks, water etc. So the SAM group (based on our first names) started towards destination with very small information about route and lot of overconfidence
As we left the station we were approached by a small boy who was begging for money. He was so thin and his clothes were ragged.   He asks for 5 Rupees. I lecture him that he should stop begging and go to school and so on. He completely ignored me with a look which made me look stupid. He approached Shailesh and Milind who also drove him away. The look on his face really made me think if i was right in lecturing him. Did he gain some wisdom or lost Rs 5/- using which he could have bought at least some food which was still possible in late nineties? Today i don’t think Rs 5/- can buy you any food. And it was not like that i had put any great thought in my lecture as it was just out of my habit and an assumed high moral ground and saved Rs 5.
Trek went ahead with small ST Ride taking us to the base camp village.  As we got down from the bus, we were swarmed by small boys who wanted us to use their services as a route guide. There were few trekkers also in the same ST bus. They also faced same fate of being pestered by those boys.  One boy approached me and asked if we needed guide. Taking a guide was so out of fashion for ‘know it all’ people like us. But still Milind out of his habit to study every minute detail of information, asked him that what should we use guide and at what cost.  Not surprisingly Milind remained topper throughout his career. He then had a scholarship from a leading institute in US and was to fly there next semester. Shailesh worked for big automobile company in Pune.
“There are two possible routes. One route is easier where even bullock carts can ply. It is almost 7-8 km longer route. Other one is difficult and has a steep climb which turns into straight rock patch which needed to be treaded carefully. Also the road is very difficult to find” said the boy in local Marathi dialect hard to understand.
Milind asked how much will he charge
“Rs 300”
That amount was not large divided between three of us. But then out of habit we negotiated. Do we negotiate anything in super malls, branded shops where we know prices were high even for the quality of product? Do we ever bargain at multiplex while paying Rs 300 for an idiotic movie? But then these are soft targets.
“No we can consider if you take Rs 200/-“ i said
Boy simply refused. He said if he accepts that rate then all other guides will scold him for undercutting.
How can a village boy refuse us? India is poor country and even Rs 200 is big amount for these poor guys. We tried again but guys simply refused. We asked other boys as well. They seemed to be all acting in tandem. Few boys got customers. Others waited for the next ST bus arriving from Kamshet in next 10 mins. STs are somehow lifeline of remote villages in India. With all liberalization, privatization can any enterprise dare to start private buses in these areas. They will be in loss.  Thus the private players stick to the main routes. Debate on nationalization vs liberalization is eternal.  I have seen some private enterprise in northern hills but again they remain focused on cash rich routes.
But then it all rubbed on our egos and our over confidence to manage on our own finally sealed our decision to move ahead. We had saved another Rs 300/-. Milind had a friend who had done this trek so he had studied some details about the shorter route. But then his information was very sketchy. For eg. As you reach a small hamlet on main road, take a small walkway adjoining a rivulet as you reach the mountain, turn right to climb. Leave aside two sparrows (as we call the hillocks) continue walking and start climbing the waterfall.
We started by main route and we had few other trekking groups walking close by. All was fine. We reached the small hamlet in late afternoon after walking for almost for two-three hours. Weather was fine as winters were just about setting in after a good monsoon. But then even in late November sun beats you down in early and late afternoon.  We were bit tired. We decided to wait for snacks.. Other groups who were better guided somehow chose to go ahead using well established longer route guided by locals.  But we the conquerors of the world want to do things differently. And we don’t like crowds that too at such scenic location.
We had our snacks and left for the route by early evening.  Now we were guided by our own misinformation. We started traversing sparrow. While calculating three sparrows we also counted a small upward hillock popularly known as ‘Dumba’. Sparrows are triangular by definition while ‘dumba’s are like small thumb. So we made a mistake and turned left to climb along the dry waterfall as guided by our informants. The climb was treacherous. At a point we believed we were lost. But then coming back was so stupid. Instead we thought lets climb up and then find our way as we reach up.  The climb was most difficult climb we had ever done without mountaineering kit. And it was almost dark as we reached the top.
And we knew we were lost.  All possible avenues to reach main path were abandoned either in shrub or overlooking valley. So we were stop at top a mountain with only way ahead was to return back using the same path we climbed. But it was pitch dark by now so a climb down on that treacherous path was a bad idea. So what to do? We decided to camp on open. We found an open spot on the top.  We collected all dry wood sticks to light up camp fire for protection against animals and cold.  We searched for water but could not. We had only quarter of bottle left in someone’s bottle. So we decided to ration same. Cooking was ruled out as priority was drinking water. We had only last ¼ kg packet of salted bundi as snacks and some onions which we could roast on camp fire. We talked and talked.  We sang songs Marathi and hindi.  We ate that divine pack of namkeen. Ate roasted onions after some hard work to roast them. Finally drank quota of water and settled near the fire. It was 10 30 after all this. Night was dark and sky was starry away from city which was at least 30 km away. Could see some lights in the valley below giving us hope that there was civilization around and it was a just day break that we were waiting to reach those hamlets. We were tired so we decided to take our turns of sleeping while a single guy should keep watch. Mine was the easiest shift decided by toss. So i guarded first and rest slept. It was scary experience keeping watch in shrubs or from valley if any wild animal came. I started hearing strange noises of jungle or was that my own imagination. Those were the longest two hours of my life 11pm to 1 am. At 1 am i woke up studious Milind for his turn and went inside my sleeping bag. After some efforts of counting sheep, i dozed off. I woke up when suddenly Milind woke me up screaming at top of his voice. We saw something rushing into the bush? What was it? Was it a leopard or a hyena?  We were scared. I thanked Milind for being attentive and saving us all. Milind started screaming at Shailesh. In fact that was more a shout of anger of being cheated than real fear of unknown. Later i realized that Milind had kept his watch till 3 am and had woken up Shailesh. He then slept of. And it seemed Shailesh had dozed off while keeping watch. Even the fire was extinguished for lack of refuelling to be done. We three of us were soft targets for any worthy animal of any attack. But thanks to our lucky stars, Milind is a light sleeper and heard a grunt and swish of bushes and we were saved (?) from unknown by his scream. No one slept after that and we waited for the sunrise. We talked again. We had kept very small water for morning. As we saw lights of dawn on eastern skies, we really thanked nature to show life to all living beings with the most scared event called as sunrise. I bet it was the most beautiful sunrise i have ever seen in my life. Life teaches you everything. We the three conquerors were conquered by might of nature. And while taking journey back we learnt that there is victory in retreat as well.  But then we lost again. Our hopes to reach back were shattered as we realized that we could not find path back to water stream from where we had taken path up the hill. All our efforts were in vain as each time we ended up at cliff. And now we did not have water and food.
What will happen to my career, what will happen to my family, if we could not find road back. But then our hope was small hamlets we could see from top. But how to find path that would lead us to those human establishments?
Suddenly we heard a human cry to call cattle. We ran following the sound. We saw a small boy. It was first and only time in my life till now that i was so happy, relieved to see a poorly dressed stranger that too a small boy in his early teens. Life is a great leveller. He was surprised to see us there as maybe no one ventures there except the locals who mend cattle. We told him that we were lost. He gave us a look that is normally reserved for some villager by an upmarket city dweller.
He eagerly volunteered to take us to his hamlet from where we can walk to nearest ST pickup. He guided us through a very narrow road. We asked him what about his cattle, he said he will come again up and take them back. It was safe in daytime. He coolly told us about a stray leopard spotted in night which made us shivered remembering last night. He then offered us part of food he had paced with him. We declined either out of shame or out of concern for hygiene so typical for snobs like us. I am not sure.  His name he told was Kisan.
As we reached the hamlet, he invited us to his house. To our surprise we found that he was only able bodied person there. He managed a small rice farm, cows and sold some berries to the traders in village which was accessible by ST. He had seen school in that village but did not have time. But he had a friend there so whenever he went there tried to read or at least try to learn from him. His next project was to install pump in his rice farm. His hamlet was promised electricity by local administration. But he wanted to save money to buy one. In fact he had already located a second hand pump from village. That will save him some time using which he can study. By then his younger brother can help him with mending cattle. That will help both of them to study. He asked many things about cities, he had curiosity about how trains run, aeroplanes fly. He wanted to change village around him, bring school there. He wanted tar road, ST and school for his village. He said that he would not migrate to any city as many of his villagers did. He wanted to serve his village. He wanted to create a big farm where he could provide food to all. He wanted to create a rice mill so he could give jobs to all. He wanted to teach others so they could earn. He also had an entrepreneur mindset. He wanted to invest in   a second hand davy light that could help him guide trekkers who wanted night trek especially on full moon nights.  So he can earn more even during nights
Who taught him all this? That took me to next level of thoughts, if such kids be given proper training in real world what would they achieve.  He was a very likable guy. He offered us food again but insisted we had tea, so we could not refuse. We wanted to thank him. We offered him to pay money but he simply refused saying he had not done anything and as per his village oath he would nver refuse to help guests. We did not have even chocolate to thank him.   We bid him farewell and walked our way to reach ST point. We reached kamshet by ST from there to Pune and then to my job

And i compared myself. On the same day when someone like Kisan saved us,  we refused Rs 5 for empty moral rightness to a begger boy of same age, bargained for Rs 100 to poor local guide of same age.   We only cared about ourselves. If i were put in same situation of that boy, would i have helped strangers? Forget strangers, do we even help our friends, relatives in need? Would I have been that positive, generous helpful in such gloomy conditions where he lived? That day we saved Rs 305 but earned lessons for our lives from that good boy.
Next month we decided to meet and thank Kisan with some gifts, Davy light, books which he can refuse. In fact we had arranged for water pump as well from a dealer. We took the ST, walked that same road to that village. And to our surprise, no one in the village knew Kisan and his family. The house that he had taken us as his own was occupied by people who were different and they told us they were staying there for long time. Either we had gone to wrong hamlet or what had happened? We asked about possibility of another hamlet connecting the ST. We were sure it was that hamlet as we had walked that road. There was no other village could match proximity to that ST stop.
Who was Kisan? If he were not there we could have been eaten by leopards or had some mishap. We owed him something. Was he part of some other divine design? Oh that’s too self pompous. It just must have been our lucky stars resulted out of prayers and love of our families? I am clueless. Our trip was futile and some questions unanswered even after 20 years.
After that day for a year I remained confused with my career choices to go abroad or management? But when the opportunity came i decided to react like Kisan would have sticking to roots and picked up entrepreneurship as a path. I don’t know whether Kisan was real or fictitious, figment of tired imagination, answer of all prayers, or just coincidence. But then that ‘something’ unknown helped me come over fear of unknown and helped me venture beyond trodden paths. I then firmly believed that someone overlooked the situations always. I still believe....
 I am yet to realize if i am success or failure, but i am still there and have done something of matter which i owe to someone unknown. Always someone somewhere overlooks that things are taken care of at the end of the day.... Don’t you agree with me, each one of you will have such experiences?
(Disclaimer: This is a semi-fictional story about some inexplicable experience)
This story is in continuation with blog post on divinity published on occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi)