Year end wishes

Its not just time to change Calendar, Diaries and Planners but much more. Its a time to reflect what had gone right in 2010?
What could have been better and what should i avoid in and what should i must do in 2011.
After all new year is just another day. Sun rises and sets as usual.
Its more about hope that we can make change and make things better for ourselves and sorroundings in pursuit of happiness. Hope you will do all those changes which will help you reach your goal in 2011. Lets resolve to help others near and away from you. Lets resolve to make our society and country a better place. Lets resolve to do things helping save planet.
Let also resolve be in touch in 2011.
Wish you happy new year 2011
Gautam Naik

Special event

We organized recently a special sports event for differently able children at Jeevanjyot School on Karve Road.
Differently able and mentally handicapped children need special care, attention and support for the society. To highlight this point, cityblog supported the interschool event conducted by Jeevanjyot School. The occasion was World mentally handicapped day on 8th Dec. The school organizes various events like sports, dance, painting etc. We financially supported Jeevanjyot for this cause and also proposes to highlight the cause to support such schools. 14 different schools all around Pune participated on that day with around 400 such children and adults from vocational centers attending the sports competition. The events like Lemon and spoon race, weaving beads, throwing ball in basket, ‘lagori’ , carom, dumbbell race etc were conducted. Children enjoyed while participating in these events. The competitive spirit shown was exemplary even for non handicapped people. The winner’s faces said it all. There were competitions for teachers as well. The participants were also given snacks etc.
We had selected this event to salute the fact that mentally challenged people are the most vulnerable lot amongst all those disabled in some form. If one loses ability to think normally, one has great challenges as mind controls everything. So as society we need to care, support these people and make their lives happier and easier.

Can facebook kill email?

There is one ad on TV where an old man is asked about events 25 years back. He says in those days we used to talk face to face than over facebook. here i wont say facebook is responsible for killing person to person interaction. Rather i would blame internet as such. Facebook is just an application in social networking. Its the need to create a desired identity virtually which may or may not match your real personna. That is your virtual identity. Thus many people want incognibilty, inaccountabilty , anonymity offered by internet applications like chatrooms, social networking apps and they prefer over face to face conversations or tagged internet applications like email (where you have to declare identity). ofcourse pshycologist can add text over text on effects of internet in personal relations etc thats beyond the point. What i mainly want to compare is facebook and email.
Promoter of facebook has claimed that fb will kill email very soon. Though i have some doubts especially say from archival, attachment , official communication protocol points of view but i am sure it will kill person to person communication in form of email. Nobody writes snail mail today unless for above reasons. The way we have stopped writing letters to our friends, relative, colleagues, we will stop emailing.
One point of contention though is privacy. Though one can send message privately, most still prefer writing on wall which is public to all. The basic success of facebook depends on the fact that there is an urge to make others believe in your profile; real or affected. It has some ego trip about showing off people about your hectic social or professional life. Updating status is need to tell people what my life is. And people also love to peek into others lives and compare. Thats the same vouyeristic tendencies the reality shows cater to. Thus it offers opportunities for individual to assume an self image which he declares on his status. Man is socia animal. he always wants to be among close one. Facebook always makes you feel connected with your world. Some friends are just names you associate by means of some occasional interactions, most are old friends who suddenly appear after many years and whom you thought would never talk to again (thats best part of fb for me), some are very close friends, colleagues (thats very risky proposition on fb to have professional contacts to be there. better they be on linkedin)and some relatives (its again tricky selecting them). Thus your facebook means your world which you live in almost.
While benefits of facebook in promoting event, product is beyond doubt. the most intruguing point for me is psyhcology which drives people to post status updates like " today morning had dosa for breakfast" , ' Had great afternoon tea' , 'waiting to catch flight to seattle'. Why should i be interested to know that. Argument can be that you are only posting to your friends. So they will be interested to know what you do in life. But would you do same in real life ? will you bombard your friends with such trivial items. Just because you are 24/7 online and opportunity is there why should you. Talk about cinema, sports or some important event in life, politics, weather, society, crack some jokes: thats what you talk when you meet face to face. So why facebook should not follow face to face talk.
Coming back to email vs facebook. The convenience and speed offered by fb will bypass email esp for personal communication for sure. facilty to chat, message makes it fulproof. also add birthday reminders, apps, events.
What makes me believe this? On my just concluded birthday, i got a huge update on wall as it was ealier for all my friend to do that rather than send me email. Earlier i used to wait for emails but now my email box was full with fb updates. thanks my friends for all wishes. you made me feel special despite knowing that they were aided by fb. to remember b/day and send email/call makes one feel more special (i had many such friends as well). they say proof of pudding is in eating. so there lies my proof. Sure we will stop writing emails to our friends one day..

Its tough going with the flow

They say its easy going with the flow but very difficult going against the flow. In this case, going against flow is impossible but going along itself is a challenge. here i mean literally. I am talking about white water rafting.

Rishikesh was a place which fascinated me since 1989 when i went there first onwards for a trek in garhwal. The charm and romance of Ganges flowing first time onto plains itself is an event to witness. Add to that mysticism of Hills which are very tall. The anticipation of approach of The Nagadhiraj or the king of mountains the Himalayas. Narrow road adjoining the flow of Ganga which is deep down the valley. And some religious fervour makes it a special place.

Heard that in Rishikesh you can go upto level 6 of rapids. Maybe only ladhakh/beas can offer those. Rishikesh has gained popularity as it can offer rapids from level 1 to 4 suitable for novices as well as its proximity to Delhi/Dehradun.

This year we had planned to spend a weekend in rishikesh while attending a family event in Delhi and a meeting. Few friends roped in and we were set.

We reduced travel time by using overnight trains from Delhi and Dehradun so we get two full days in rishikesh. Our hotel was 25km from Rishikesh towards Devprayag. Thus we went upstream and air became more refreshing , cool . The entire region is scenic. And what a view from the rooms.

After a good north indian breakfast, we went towards marine drive (not the one in mumbai) a place where road and stream of ganges lie side by side for a very small patch thus maybe the name. That was the starting point.

Our instructor deepak rana explained basic commands, dos , dont, safety tips. He warned us that falling outside raft is very common and nothing to panic. Thats the best preparation you need. Problem is that water is very cold. So he made us jump to acclimatize. You lose all senses once inside the cold river. Hope all our sins were washed by Holy Ganges.
First track from Marine drive to Shivpuri (12 Km) has 6 rapids which are uniquely named for eg Good morning, Tee off, 3 blind mice etc. The rapids are smooth and good for beginers. Maximum rapid is level2. But still its thrilling as your raft wobbles and you need to really concentrate and hold over raft even at level2.
The arms start making their protestations as you have to do forward/backward oaring insite of being with flow either to navigate or balance or move ahead. Ours was team of six , guide and his helper. Helmets and life jackets are compulsory.
The next patch from shivpuri to laxman jhula in rishikesh has 10 rapids with two most rapids are level 2-3 and two of them level4 (roller coaster and golfcourse)
Level 4 is some experience. All three boats accompanying us upsurped. All the contents: people. oars, chappals, water bottles start flowing with stream. all you have to do is not panic. Hold your head, legs pointing downstream, Head upstream, start flowing till you reach calm. Your life jacket will help you stay afloat (depth of water some places is 50 ft). Only thing to avoid is getting hit on head and body by boulders on side. And dont panic. Experts are around. They will rescue. Our boat had honor to be only boat not to capsize. So we conducted rescue for two other boats. Only mishap was one of our friend (amongst group of 6) fell off . but she was cool and being good swimmer helps. This was at first level 4 . The second one golf course, the amount of water rushing makes it tough. Thats where mountain dew ad is shot. Its amazing experience. Then we had another experience of body surfing. Thats when you knowingly jump out of raft, hold the lifeline on side and cross the rapid along raft while inside water. Thats when you remember your Nani( grandma).
Then at another rapid you are supposed to leave life line and have a free flow. That was fun for swimmers like me. Finally we had cliff jumping. To jump in river from 17 ft cliff. you have to make final resolve prior to jump . Thats it. I had jumped into 30 ft well when i was 6 yrs. I was given prize by A B Vajpayee for doing that. That exp helped maybe. But thrilling exp nevertheless. After 5 hrs of rafting we ended at Muni ki reti and headed towards hotel for heavy heavy lunch which was needed.

To gain india its rightful place in the world

When we were young we used to have a pledge. In that there was a mention of we striving hard to gain India its rightful place amongst the countries of the world.

I think we have lived up to that pledge. When i say we, i say the foot soldiers of New Indian Economy. Proof of concept is the Obama speech in parliament.

I know that these speeches are empty rhetorics and carry no significance. But inspite of cynicism, the proof of imminence of India lies in fact that in first ten yrs of new milleniun US presidents have visited us thrice. It took fifty years for US presidents to visit India thrice in 1900s. Things have changed.

I remember we (India as country) meant nothing for international community read western world. We were a closed society with dubious political inclination towards Russian block. We were on wrong side of cold war. Troubled by treacherous neighbours like Pak and China, we had no voice . Though congress and nehru vision may sound gaga over NAM etc. Those were useless initiatives. Only high point of our international relations were winning of wars against PAK inspite of being at wrong side of world opinion.

The process of change started with IIT grads and medical students starting going out in 70s and 80s. They showed that Indians are equal if not more in adopting to best practices. International media and movies used to depict us as land of snake charmers, and tigers roaming around. Though our movies had impacted russia, central eastern asia, china and south east asia , gulf,etc but the western world or the image makers of the globe found us worth neglect and disdain. Cricketers from Eng, Australia, NZ used to find excuse to avoid indian tour.

Amidst this visionaries like JRD Tata, FC Kohli , Narayanmurthy saw value of computers and its impact on all other sectors. We also were lucky to have been ruled by Britain instead of other Europeans which resulted in young indian popultion getting educated in English.

Then came rajeev vision where he had opened small window for world helping indian technology, real estate. telecommunication revolution came in with cities and towns getting connected. All this helped IT and new economy.

Thankfully we had green revolution in 70s to feed our population which again helped increase purchasing power of Indian Populace. During and say 25 yrs after indian independance we struggled with agro economy and were unable to look beyond food security. Thus many western multinationals were attracted to purchasing power and numbers of Indian middle class.
It were calamitous years of evil regimes of VP singh, Chandrshekhar, that drove us to BOP crisis. This made liberlization only option for MMS and PVN to follow. P V Narsihnarao along with Dr Singh deserves a mention in this indian story. More often due to dirty politics of seculairism he had been vilianized.
That drove world to India as a market. indians went out going to attract export business in technology. There was Y2k and dotcom windfall. Indian economy was found stable esp after 97 asian crisis. Our diasporia already had broken stereotypes with great success stories on foreign shores. Thus we entered new millenium

New millenium mantra is money. Thus our economy helped us to gain political weight in world forums. Terrorism was common problem which india faced since mid eighties with punjab earlier, and Kashmir later. With 9/11, US and western world empathized with us. Energy , Climate were hard fought issues with western world which alienated india from developed world. But with Civil nuclear deal and with acceptance of climate change resolutions we do not pose threat value to westerm world. Till say 2008, we were just an equal entity amidst many other alies for western world.

Ofcourse oue cinema was truly global with our stars getting global recognition (in terms of popularity and not substance). Our cricket has attracted millions. Cricketers from Aus, SA, England crave indian riches.

2008 financial meltdown tilted balance finally for India. Indian was only place which seemed to survive in competition to hegemonial china. So now India is best bet for western world to stand against chinese domination while it was also found capable to create business opportunities for western world and help them survive the downturn.

Thats where Obama speech comes from. Thus the words...

That made me feel part of process to gain indian right place in world. India internally has enormous challenges to be able to be a great country: Terrorism, Corruption, rich poor divide, education, environment, naxalism, energy.... List is daunting and not much seems to have been done. we have to make a start..

Ofcourse, now that platform is set. Its upto our action that will define further course of political history. But economic position is irreversible. and that is an achievement from the days when i used to say pledge in my school.

Diwali: Down the memory lane

Diwali brings about a special ambience, happiness, peace, camaraderie within each of us. We are sure that readers of Cityblog are excited about upcoming Diwali festival. In special theme of Now and Then where we look upon what are the key points we remember Diwali thoughout our memories since childhood.
History and Mythology: Diwali marks the return of Lord Rama to his kingdom of Ayodhya after defeating (the demon king) Ravana, the ruler of Lanka, in the epic Ramayana. It also celebrates the slaying of the demon king Narakasura by Lord Krishna. Both signify the victory of good over evil. Sociologically it was the time to celebrate four months of toil of farming and celebrating agricultural success. Historically Diwali has been celebrated all over India in various formats. Here in Pune it is spread over six days. There are historical references of celebration during Shivaji era as well as in peshwa era. In famine ridden old days of bristish empire, people needed occasions to celebrate and most importantly eat well. Faral items were made only during diwali in the entire year. Now we can eat Chakli, ladoos anytime. New clothes were bought only once a year in diwali Pre independence days saw emergence of cultural social agenda in form of Diwali magazines. Post independence crackers got prominence as well as cultural programs like music shows drama. In post liberalization era, cracker menace was identified and also a phenomenon called Diwali Pahat gained popularity.
Let us now highlight each phenomenon unique in its association with Diwali Memoirs for atleast pst 3 generations and current one.
Holidays: One semester is over and schools break after a Diwali party, for Diwali vacations of 3weeks to allow students enjoy diwali as well travel. Some schools give homework which is spoilsport. But that does not dampen spirit of chidren and parents
Nature: Rains normally subside (last two years being exception), Nature takes its own course. There is typical aroma of seasonal flowers and air. Mornings and evenings are chillier with day moderate. I am sure most people associate that aroma of nature with Diwali.
Faral aroma: Another aroma paves way thorugh kitchens all over Pune, is smell of faral items mostly fried. Chivda, ladoo, chakli , karanji etc. Chakli being king of farals as its success defines total faral to be good or average. We kids used to love tasting samples freshly made braving few scolds from parents/grandparents/aunts
Killa and akashkandil; Once we had vacations, we used to plan structure of our clay fort. It used to be a mixture of modern city scape with old shivaji era forts. In one shot you can have four wheelers plying on road where shivaji and his soldiers used to be placed atop the fort and lord Shankar in cave with tiger. Clay idols were really attractive. Getting clay is becoming a task in concrete jungle. Its also time to make/buy an akashkandil or light to be hung from balconies/window. Some people do extensive lighting. That creates ambience.
Vasubaras: That’s the first day of diwali. Only part of celebration is puja of cow and her calf organized by some local politico. But it marks the beginning of festivities.
Dhanteras: Its lady’s Diwali. That’s also mark puja of dhan (money) and dhannya (grains): symbols of wellbeing.
First Cracker of morning: then comes the thirds day of narak chaturdashi. There used to be a competition where someone who lights first cracker of morning say at 4 am is winner. Nowa days cracker menace is identified rightfully so this tradition needs some bypass but idea is to maybe write the first rangoli or something.
Rangoli is drawn in every household on everyday. Creatively inclined are popular in Diwali
Abhyngsnan: You can associate Utne (multani soil), Fragrant Oil and Moti soap with this. All men folk are massaged and idea is to take bath before first rays of sun else you will get into narak (hell) .This was some threat for young ones .
Sarasbaug: After abhyangsnan, idea is to go the dev darshan or a temple. Sarasbaug was is immensely popular for its ambience. Everybody decked up in new clothes, a good sight seeing.
Faral with friends: On return, most families have traditional get-togethers to have joint faral where the faral quality was put to test. It also used to be marked with jointly viewing special programs on TV or some Marathi play VCD. I remember PL ‘s Varyyavarchi Varat on DD. Gone are those days.
Diwali Ank: getting to sleep in afternoon is must after early rise. Best way is to relax and read diwali special magazines. Good literary stuff.
Laxmi Pooja and Haldikunku: This is the fourth day . This is when goddess laxmi pooja is done. We can remember a lot of fire crackers in eighties and nineties where there used to be competition to light biggest cracker. Great noise pollution and decibel levels were really high. All lights were lighted up and ladies used to have haldikunku.
Diwali Pahat/cultural programs: Post liberalization era identified need of people to be involved in culture, music and drama. Thus a line up of programs was held and there was enthusiastic response for such shows. Nowadays these shows are held abroad also.
Deepotsav: Mjor temples, gardens are now lit up with earthen lamps in formation. It’s a sight to watch.
Padwa: This is fifth day. Here there is big lunch with a sweet dish. This also is time for husband to gift his wife. First diwali after marriage is very important and son in law gets gifts.
Bhaubij: This is sixth and last day. Now its sisters time to be gifted from brother.
Travel Plans: Diwali vacations had a window for those who could travel to faraway destinations like north /south or near destinations like Konkan/Mahabaleshwar. Also was opportunity to go to relative’s house outside town.
Cricket: Time to play and watch cricket as this new cricket season starts in Oct.
Charity: Some people do real good work to donate faral, colthes etc for needy. This angle of celebration has caught up.

There are some post diwali rituals like Dev Diwali or Tushi marriage which are not so wide spread. But Diwali season and vacations end with bright Tripuri Pournima leaving behind great memories and leave us longing for next Diwali. Wish you very happy diwali and prosperous new year.

If gods were cricketers

Indian cricket team is ruling roost esp with current victory snatched from a defeat at Mohali. With VVS Laxman as hero.I read a cartoon where people demanded temple of Laxman to be undisputed in backdrop of Ram Temple issue. Thats led me to a train of thoughts. pls note i do not want to create any religious controversy nor i intend to insult gods. If Gods in heaven form a cricket team whose T shirt will they wear?

In India there is cliche. Criket is our religion and players are Gods. But here its reverse.

Lord Ganesha: He is opener. He is attacking. He removes all obstacles. He is master of arts. All evil fear him. So he has be Sehwag

Lort Kartik; Brother of ganesha, equally capable. But remains not so prominent; he is gambhir

Now comes trinity in the middle order: Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh

He is creator, he created world , with whom everything starting, he cannot be created nor be destroyed. He remains on and on and on.. He is Tendulkar

He is saviour of world. He faces most trickiest solutions. he ends up winner in every incarnation. He is maryada purshottam, he is dravid

He is destructor, powerful , iconoclast, listens only to his own guts, he is ganguly

Where is Laxman: He is shesha. Accompanying vishnu in every incarnation. Remains sidelined. equally capable. creates great partnerships with vishnu (Kolkata, adelaide).

Now comes the king indra, dhoni; Leader on basis of his team of gods. Lucky, simple, has his own strengths like vajra.

we all know powers of nature. so they bowl out opposition
Suryadev: Bhajji with hot attitude and scorches opposition with spin
Varundev: Zaheer destructive yet productive
Vayudev: Ishant with pace and lightness. His putra Saved Laxman using sanjeevani booti like in mohali.
Agnidev: Shreeshant with fiery attidute and dance.

Yamdev: silent death : kumble with knack to kill opposition and yet be friendly. yam has most important role to maintain balance of life and death.

last pair of ashwini kr can be our spin twins ozha and mishra. they were twins. they were doctors. Here our pair doctors spin.

i think i have most gods covered . i know there are 33 crores of gods but search vedas or refer to any mythological serial list ends here. if experts know more, pls suggest.

oh kamdev i forgot; that has to be yuvraj....

thanks team india for all winning moments

Ayodhya Verdict : A monumental Opportunity

Last week whole India waited with baited breath for Ayodhya Verdict. Finally it came as a big suprise for many. For once law went beyond the irrelevant minor technicalities and delivered a solution, which seems to be only way out of this mess created by interested parties (say politicians , leaders cross the spectrum starting from Babar himself, followed by bristishers, congress and BJP).
Following the verdict, i could not wait to analyze reactions to the verdict from all parties involved, armchair philosophers and usual suspect crowd. and i was totally disappointed. No politician in country has guts to stand out of crowd and make sense to public. let me explain
firstly issue like Ayodhya cannot be solved using normal civil court procedures. Its matter of coexistance and tolerance. If No one party can remain victor or loser, Then only the solution can evolve. I have heard from wakf board claiming that land belonged to them and events in 1949 and 1992 created dispute. This stand has certain limitations as its virtully beyond court to reaffirm what happenend in 15th century or for that matter to go and ascertain birth place of almighty. The issue has to be solved with a view beyond the myopic and convenient positions taken by so called secular parties and media.
It has been historically witnessed that victors always went on stamping the humiliation on losers. babar was no saint, he was a plain invader. That is a fact. So majority community could get attracted to sentiments aroused by sangh parivar to this basis that they wanted to be part in restoring their pride. That does not though justify sangh Parivars thought process which denies existance and rights of 20% of population. That also is myopic version of saffornization. you need to coexist with 20% population. Minorities also should feel themselves to be part of mainstream and stop feeling alienated or pampered out of political equations. In fact this factorial politics played by Congress and other opportunists has resulted in the poverty and misery of Muslim population. They should see themselves equal and take benefit of modern education, economical opportunities in India (to which whole world is attracted to) and assert their rights rather than always look to create arbic indentity always as outsider and the feeling of being victimized.
So Court which was the last establishment to solve this. It sincerely tried to resolve matters by giving out of box solution. Leaders and politicians etc failed conveniently as it was in their interest to let the confict remain unresolved.
Court has tried sincerely, went with its limitations and delivered a super verdict which paves way for coexistance and conciliation. Each party should now accept others existance as per directive and once for all resolve this tricky issue. I know we are not done yet. SC might over turn this and that will be a disaster. I sincerly hope matter does not go the SC which by all means will. I really pray equally to Ram and Rahim to give sense to all parties and let us live peacefully. Its a golden opportunity.
But i had fun watching reactions from so called secular faces criticizing court. Had the decision been reverse they would have claimed court to be untouchble and any criticism would have been sacrelage. Even some media stawarts were busy explaining how decision is wrong etc etc. Media always has taken convenient position . worst were snakes like Samajwadis who went beserk. There is no reason for Muslims to feel dissapointed as they should understand that it has given them rights as well. Coexistance and tolerance are key words here. And There is no reason for Hindus to feel jubiliated as again here coexistance and tolerance is key. No one has lost and no one has gained. Perfect balance and sanity is restore. I hope SC does not tumble this applecart. cannot afford to go back to 92/93.....