The Evil Spell

 During my childhood days we used to visit our ancestral village near Puri to spend the summer vacations. We had a cow shed which harbored a few cows in their last throes but still produced milk twice a day - during the morning and evening. I used to accompany my PIUSI NANI (father's sister) to the cowshed. The old cow with shrunk udder hardly produced half a litre of milk. Our Piusi would cover the top of the container with a piece of cloth while she carried the meager amount of milk back home.

I thought she did it to prevent dirt and insects usually swarming around the clumsy, smelly cowshed from contaminating the milk. But later on I discovered the real reason. She was covering the container as she staunchly believed "LOKE DRUSTI PAKEI DEBE or in Hindi as they say NAZAR LAG JAYEGI (people will cast their evil eyes)". She was alluding to our immediate neighbor who lived in abject poverty, their family often going without food to bed at night might cast their evil eyes on the milk.

We weren't extremely rich but quite well off to wonder why someone would cast evil eyes on half litre of milk ? Well, those were the days when poverty wasn't so uncommon in Odisha which was one of the poorest states of the nation. Many marginal farmers and traders lacked stable and sustainable income, often ending up being unable to make both their ends meet. Salaried class folks were considered privileged ones as their month end paychecks kept their kitchen humming in those days when the government was the largest employer. 

Now although 60% of Indians still live in less than $2 a day, affordability has gone up considerably compared to those days. A thriving middle class now is affluent with climbing purchasing power. Such kind of abject poverty is a thing of the past and unlike those days not many are going to bed hungry. India is now a $3 trillion economy with close to $1 trillion Forex reserve under its belt. Over last few decades India has able to bail tens of millions out of poverty.

But the insecurity in mind still persists and hasn't changed a whole lot. In the meantime the human physche has graduated from 1/2 litre milk to the new model fancy car which might attract neighbor's DRUSTI (cast an evil eye on). It will take a whole generation to overcome the stigma of poverty and shibboleth associated with it. As per our Odia Dhaga - "ABHABE SWABHABA NASTA (Deprivation spoils the human nature"), scarcity can lead to a manifestations in superstitions believes.

Another example is China. It has come a long way since the country liberalized its economy. Last year Chinese President Xi Xinping boasted about removing its last person from below their poverty line, a commendable achievement. China has succeeded in moving 650 million, a gargantuan number out of poverty since they adapted the slogan "Getting rich is fun" in the late 1970s, relinquishing communism in favor of Capitalism.

However it has yet to get rid of its insecurities. Unlike America and the erstwhile superpower Soviet Union, the global powers of last century, it has never felt confident enough to take a leadership role as its hangover of being a poverty striken country still persists. USA and Russia aren't risk averse and have lead from the front on many occasions. In contrast China hasn't dared to make any full scale invasion a nation. USA has invaded way too many countries after the World War II. Russia has its share in Ukraine and Afghanistan. China has never been able to step up its military adventures, limiting to few skirmishes on Vietnam and Indian border. Though a $15 trillion economy 5 times that of India, it is still unable to get rid of its insecurity mindset even if it has been able to get rid of poverty.

Change is inevitable. Change is the order of the day. Progress in materialism and accompanied change in status doesn't change the human psychology - not too fast, not too soon. It takes ages to bridge the hiatus, probably generations.

The Last Castle

 In the movie "The Last Castle" Robert Redford is a 4 star General being court martialled of defying the Commander-in-Chief. He is sentenced to a military jail. Upon arriving he is greeted by the unscrupulous head of the prison played by actor James Gandolfini, who plays the role of a military man himself in charge of the prison. He shows Robert Redford some of his military collections. After browsing through those Redford said - "The nature of the collection aptly describes a man who has never stepped into a battlefield". The head of the prison wasn't amused at all.

The Ukraine War is now almost a month long. Many Russia supporters wrote off Ukraine, predicting the aggressor Putin marauding through Ukraine like hot knife through butter. But a stubbornly resilient, Ukrainian President Zelensky, a dark horse before the war has proved his detractors who have never stepped a day in their life on a battlefield wrong. Incidentally the views of many of my friends who have actually stepped on a battle field is more fair, balanced and nuanced.

War is impossible to predict. We don't know what's in store tomorrow. Truth is the first casualty of war. We don't know what's really happening in the war zone. But what we know is that it is irrefutable Russia hasn't made the progress it  hoped. The more the war lingers on, more it is likely for Russia to get into a quagmire which it never wished for at first place. With victory getting elusive let's see how many of Putin's fans who have never stepped on a battlefield keep supporting him !

They will hang me in the morning

 Often I wonder why the death sentences are invariably carried out at the wee hours of the morning ? Don't think the intention is to wish them a "Good Morning Sunshine" to bring a smile on their face in their final journey of life.

Many committed freedom fighters were known to smile their way to the gallows. Amongst them were Raja Nanda Kumar of 18th century and later Sahid Bhagat Singh and the Bengali teenager Khudiram Bose, all were sentenced to death by the British. All happily proudly walked to the gallows.

In contrast Narayan Apte, who was hanged for killing Mahatma Gandhi, shook nervously when he was taken towards the gallows. He collapsed when the hood was put on his head and had to be assisted to stand straight to complete his last journey.

A staunch believer in palmistry, Apte was convinced till end that his death sentence will be commuted to life, as it is written on his hands. The last minute reprieve through Palmistry never came to his rescue. However, his partner in crime Nathuram Godse showed no remorse when he walked towards the hangman's noose.

These days, there are few hangmen left in India. Never heard of any hangwomen as the profession of carrying out as hanging is a men bastion but women are sentenced to death by hanging too. A la lady police accosting women convict, don't think a hangwoman ever shadowing a woman. In many cases hangmen are borrowed from other states to carry out hanging. It's a vanishing profession. Probably its time to switch to lethal injection, a human mean to the end.

In a movie Om Puri played a hangman who had to hang is son. it was poignant.

There are interesting anecdotes related to hanging. Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was sentenced to death by his most trusted general Zia Ul Haq, whom the former Prime minister promoted superseding at least a dozen of Zia's superiors. Bhutto would make caricature of Zia in public, calling him "My Monkey General" - ascribing to his Army Chief's looks. Zia, with his short height and protruding teeth was seen as misfit to the handsome Pakistani elites. But the ambitious and vindictive Zia, Bhutto's most trusted General who vouched on Holy KORAN to be WAFADAAR (trustworthy) to his PM, had the last laugh when he ordered the later to be hanged after toppling him.

There was a strong rumor in Pakistan that Bhutto was a closeted Hindu, a Kafir (a derogatory term used for non believers), as his grandmother was a Hindu. It is said a suspicious Zia, a staunch Hindu hater who lend an ear to such rumors, after hanging Bhutto had the later's genitals checked to assertion if his former boss was a closeted Hindu. Not sure what was the outcome.

Hang in there. Before I end this blog, I can't but mention this monologue sonnet delivered by in the Hollywood Western Classic - "3.10 TO YUMA ", based in 19th Century US. Electric Chair wasn't invented yet, when Hanging in the Public was the preferred mode of execution in America's Wild Wild West. A hangman taunts the convict before taking him to the gallows :

"They will hang me in the morning,

They will hang me before dawn.

They will hang me in the morning,

I will never see the Sun".

Holi with fountain pen

 A part and parcel of our childhood memories, an ubiquitous paraphernalia of our early student life was the Fountain Pen. The first modern fountain pen was invented by an American, Lewis Waterman from New York, which revolutionized writing by making it less arduous.

Before that there was no plausible way for a continuous, capillary flow of ink. Many great writers had to contend with the pain of penning down their thought in staggered manner, going through the tedious loop, the monotony of dipping the pen tip time and again inside the ink bowl to write.

Our teachers carried multiple fountain pens inside their bulging shirt pockets. It was not unusual to see leaking pens spilling and blotting their shirts, causing embarrassments and occasionally spilling some beans. The SULEKHA was the most popular brand of ink and Royal Blue being the more often used color. The red ink was sparingly used, only for markings and notations by examiners.

One had to be very careful while pouring ink after unscrewing the fountain pen, taking care not to spill it, lest it spoils your shirt and surrounding. During the hot weather or due to fewer usage, the nib of the pen would dry out. Shaking it off and letting the Newton's law of gravitation do the rest, making it workable. Sometimes widening the nib with an used Topaz razor blade also did the trick.

Topaz blade serves multiple purposes. Once in my first job I met a guy from Barhampur, Odisha who came for an interview. Staring at his stained teeth due to over consumption of PAAN (Betel leaves with scented tobacco) I asked him - "Don't you think you need to clean your teeth before your interview" ?. He snarled his brown teeth at me - "AJI RAATI EKA TOOPAAZA (Topaz) BLADE NEI DAANTA KURRIBARRA EKKA (Tonight using Topaz blade I will extract all the stains out of my teeth).

The iconic movie 3 IDIOTS pokes fun at our education system - our tendency to prefer complex solutions over simple ones, deliberate obfuscation versus common sense. At beginning of movie the Director of the Engineering College boasts in front of his students showing a pen he designed to work in space, where there is no gravitational pull to pull the ink downwards. The pragmatic yet playful Rancho played by Aamir Khan retorts back with a simpler solution - "Why don't they use pencils in space" ? As they say in Hindi "BADI BADI KHUSIYA HEY CHHOTI CHHOTI BATON MEIN" (Big happiness lies in small talks). The audience instantly burst into laughing after Rancho's impromptu response.

Back to fountain pen, its ink had many multipurpose usages - especially in our school aptly named as Demonstration Multipurpose (DM), a school with a high visibility in Bhubaneswar those days. One fine morning we boys decided to demonstrate the multipurpose utility of our fountain pens. Someone came up with this brilliant, creative idea of using the pen to bring out more playful joy and do justice to its potential of other than using it for writing. Play HOLI with the fountain pen.

He wetted and painted the back of the front benchers by surreptitiously slashing some blue ink from behind. The front benchers did same by replicating it and passing the buck to the guy ahead of him. By afternoon, most of the guys looked colorful, their starched white shirts now converted to blue and black Polka dotted Hawaiians. Our martinet sports teacher, Hannan Sir spotted us spotted leopards and tried his best to get to the bottom to dig out the culprit who started it.

Like "NIRMULI LATA" or rootless creeper, which curls it's way from plant to plant, making it is very difficult to trace its roots, his curiosity to trace the source was futile. In spite of his best efforts, he could not get to the root of the matter. Frustrated, he punished all of us by forcing us into a tiring run around a field, along the edges of Eucalyptus trees. The Holi celebratio written in ink had an unholy ending as no one ever dared to play this game again.

Towards the end of the 1980s the  Fountain Pen started dying a slow, natural death, unable to compete with ball point pens which slowly took over. The Reynolds brand, unique of its kind and only available in Bhubaneswar those days were so popular that I used to get big orders and acted as a mule, carrying bagfuls of them to my eagerly waiting Engineering College friends in Rourkela.

Have you observed that no matter what, when you use some one's pen it has certain inertia associated with it. For a few more minutes it is not unusual for one to get this ghostly feeling of possessed by the last owner, as your handwriting tends to take the shape of the previous user of the pen. It had made me wonder how come my handwriting suddenly got better.

Now writing with a fountain pen is going to be of mountainous proportion, a real pain. Only left are nostalgic memories to cherish, which is going to die with our generation, as photo films, telegram and handwritten letters did. Have a Happy and Colorful Holy-day sans ink. Take care and stay safe.

Happy birthday Einstein

 Not many are aware that the famous Scientist Einstein was one of our own. He was Alok Sahoo from the village of "Aitalang", not far from the outskirts of Bhubaneswar. After migrating to Germany he converted into Judaism and became Albert Ein-Stein, taking his new sur(last) name from his native village. This is of course a joke. Albert Einstein, arguably the greatest Scientist of the 20th century who had his birthday couple of days ago needs no introduction.

The famous Nobel laureate who is better known for his Theory of Relativity, explained it in a very simple layman's term - "If you are chatting with a pretty girl time flies, if you are listening to a bored lecture time stops". For a few when reading my blogs the time could fly, but for the most it's boring enough to make time stop. This is one way of explaining THE THEORY OF RELATIVITY, though the genius got Nobel prize for Physics for Photoelectric effects, not for his famous Theory of relativity.

A brilliant German Jew, he packed to America when Hitler rewarded his community members by packing them to Gas chambers. There is a popular story in Odia of two cats who were fighting over a PITHA (rice cake). Their cat fight continued under the watchful eyes of a clever monkey who eventually to the cats dismay snatched the cake away. The poor felines ended up getting nothing, salivating and watching the monkey devouring it. 

The moral of the story - "When two fight, the third one gains at their expense". America was immensely benefited by the World War II when the Europeans fought among themselves, the Jews popularion of Europe migrated en masse across the Atlantic. They, along with their progenies made huge contribution towards their adapted nation. One of them was Albert Einstein, another one is the grandfather of Facebook's founder Mark Zuckerberg, due to his credit a bunch of hitherto unknowns are able to share our views. There are many more such Jewish immigrants success story in America.

Once Einstein was attending a seminar in Princeton university where he taught after migrating to America. He came out during the lunch break to grab some food and entered into a restaurant. The waiter brought him the menu. Einstein suddenly realized that he left his glasses at the seminar. So he requested the waiter to read the menu for him. "Sorry Sir, I am also illiterate like you" - politely replied the waiter.

World War II was over. Hitler who killed the jews in drove and drove away the remaining ones ended up killing himself inside his bunker, not before he drove Germany the dictator's dreamland of pure, Aryan race to Gotterdammerung. Albert Einstein settled down in Princeton University of the United States. The state of Israel soon came into existence, with the US President Truman taking no time in recognizing the Jewish state. The post of President of this newly formed state of Israel was offered to on a platter to Mr. Einstein. But the man who solved many complex problems in Physics declined it by saying, "I have no head for problems". The smart guy he was he knew politics isn't every one's cuppa tea. Rahul Gandhi are you listening ?

The eminent Scientist was frequently invited to attend a lot seminars, sundry events in schools and colleges. One early morning he had one such events scheduled - to address a group of high school students. Einstein didn't sleep much the previous night. He felt tired but decided to make it. Upon reaching the venue he instructed his look alike driver to act as Albert Einstein and attend the function while he will catch a nap inside the car. The driver duly obliged. 

After the felicitation was over, a student asked a tough question to the driver. The driver was a smart guy (He had to be. If I were having the habit of sitting close to Einstein, the dumb person in me would have contracted some of his smartness). He instantly replied with a chuckle - "Such an easy question ? Even my driver can answer this. Let me call him". The driver took a walk to his car and woke up the Scientist, explaining the situation to him. Einstein went back to the audience and answered the student's query.

Not sure if this is an urban legend. But those were the days sans cellphone cameras, without any media scrutiny. A close lookalike could easily pass off as the real one, with a contingency plan to back out in case.

He once described our own Mahtma Gandhi as - "It is hard a believe such a man in flesh and blood ever walked on the surface of earth". The world famous scientist wasn't far from the truth. My tribute to the greatest Scientist who ever walked on earth who was born exactly 143 years ago.

East is East, West is West

 For sake of privacy of Mr.X I will refer to him as just "he". Thanks for your patience for going through this blog till end. The narration is bit long, but you will find it amusing.

I knew him from childhood days until he suddenly vanished from my radar. During one of my trips to India one fine afternoon in my hometown Bhubaneswar I was visiting a local temple barely a mile from our home. After my visit no sooner I started my Scooty to return back home than I felt a hand on my back, "KIRE BABLOO, MOTE CHINHHI PARUNU - Hey Babloo (my nickname), can't you recognize me" ?

I frowned at him for a moment. Same tall guy with bright, sparking eyes, now with receding hairline. I remembered him having a good figure, doing regular workouts but over the years he has developed a slight paunch. "Are you, So and So" - I blurted out. "See, you were amongst the toppers in our class with a sharp memory. You haven't lost a bit of it", he replied. I got flattered by the compliments and equally glad on bumping into an old friend after a long hiatus.

"You know, I was a poor student" - he continued. But unlike most of the toppers in our school you were not haughty and snobbish. I remember you allowing me to copy from your Science paper during an exam. You got the highest mark and I got a decent score for someone who could barely pass. It made our Science teacher suspicious. After comparing he discovered the similarities in the answer papers and beat both of us - me the culprit and you the willing partner in crime. Do you remember that incident ?

"Yes, I do remember it. What are you doing these days ?" I asked him. Come with me, let's walk to the school next door where I teach Yoga, Asana and Pranayam. I accompanied him to a mid sized hall where a dozen students were practicing Yoga. He took me to the adjacent room and ordered tea. His next question - "Where are you now ? It feels so refreshing to see you after so long". "I live America", was my reply. "Oh America, MU BI AMERICA RE THILI (I was also in America)", he said nonchalantly.

I thought he was bluffing and looked at him in disbelief. He could read the skepticism in my eyes - "You might be wondering how this GADHA (Ass) and GANDA MURKHA (Deep rooted moron) made it to America. It's rather a long story. He took out a photo album from his drawer and showed me the pictures. I could clearly see starkly visible American landscape, nicely mowed green grass, moss filled tree trunks, roads and houses typically American. In one picture I saw a short hair brunette in the background standing next to my friend confirming he was in America and telling me the truth.

He went on. Years ago one day after he had a tiff with his parents he went out, drank himself silly and returned back home staggering. The smell of cheap liquor was conspicuous in the small flat (apartment) which housed multiple family members. He went straight to the kitchen and puked. His parents were furious and threw him out of their house.

Next day he boarded a train to nowhere and landed up in a well known temple town in North India located on the bank of river Ganga. He found an Ashram (abode) where a Baba (mendicant) took him under his tutelage. He found the job of a Yoga instructor, for he was a strapping six feeter with a flexible, muscular body with a flat stomach. There were many female students and one of them was an American girl from Oregon who came from a broken family all the way to this temple city from America to escape her step mom and a drunken, abusive father.

Their eyes met, sparks flew. She had more of a crush filled infatuation on his yogic body than any bond of love and attraction, for they hardly shared any trait with zero commonality in between them. They didn't come in search of spiritualism. Both came to escape from turbulent family lives back home. She was looking for some attention and solace to her soul and fell for someone who instantly filled that void. As told by my friend, his muscular yogic figure with a flat stomach probably clinched the deal.

He introduced her to BHANG (cannabis paste), a sina qua non of most temple township. Under intoxication they went to the next level, started living together. Soon they got married at a local temple exchanging garlands (he skipped a few pages on the album to show me that picture). In my friend's own words to the envy of many Ashram dwellers he managed to get something they coveted and secretly wished for - A US Visa and a flight ticket to America. He got both and landed up in the west coast of the United States.

I was glued to his narration, sipping my cuppa tea and listening to his spicy, titillating story with rapt attention. In the excitement I burnt my tongue as I took a bite of the freshly fried Bengali SINGADA (Samosa) fetched from a local kiosk.

Their initial days in America went well. Time flew. The structured, regulated life in America was anathema to my friend, a lifelong vagabond. The cold Oregon weather didn't suit him as he always had perpetual issues with his sinus and stuffy nose. Soon differences cropped up between them, as different as the words orient vs occident. She was as American as Apple Pie, while he was as Puriya (guy from Puri) as Chuda Ghasa Dalma (typical Puri diet).

A typical coastal Odisha guy, he was brought up by his staple diet of rice and fish curry which was the bread and butter for him. But his American wife hated the smell of curry when he ate gulps of rice after liberally blending it into DALMA, an Odia dish of boiled vegetables and lentils. My friend never liked the Western toilets and almost broke the commode when he squatted on it. He expected her to shower after using toilet paper and detested when she touched the cupboard immediately after using the loo where he kept his dieties for worshipping. When he protested she would give him a damn, retorting back - "It's non of your effing business".

She didn't tolerate him using his big LOTA (water container) and spilling water on the bathroom floor. Once he got mad when he saw her hugging and kissing on the cheeks of her male friend. When he complained she reciprocated by showing him her middle finger. He couldn't instantly understood her gesture but later on got the message.

For days he led a laid back lifestyle, doing nothing and looking at the cold, gray Oregon sky which made him more depressed. He started to put on weight. One day my friend's male ego got hurt when his wife was curt at him - "I am the one who brings bacon home". He tried to find a job. But his skill of yoga instructor didn't come handy in small town Oregon.

He eventually got bored with his life in America and his wife also starting to get bored with him. Putting on pounds he lost that edge of physical attraction he once had which had already fizzled out. Moreover familiarity breeds contempt and with time their intimacy tappered off. The American girl didn't know how to cook and occasionally made some bland pasta sprinkled with black pepper. It barely suited the taste bud Puri origin boy who kept dreaming of a good Odia meal of Rice, Dalma, fish curry etc. 

However their main bone of contention was beef. A devote Hindu he stayed miles away from beef. His American wife clearly told him that she can't imagine a life without beef and won't eat "that shit" cooked by him. She brought home Hamburgers and french fries for dinner.  Though her act was inadvertent, his cup of patience was full when she touched the cupboard where he kept his dieties without washing her hands after eating beef. He got tired of his wife and his wife got tired of him. The relationship was as good as dead, soon to be dooned

The American girl now called it quit. As a token of gratification for the companionship he provided she offered her to stay in America and pursue his citizenship. He refused to take the offer and returned back home.

It was a good, enchanting story which kept me engrossed until I realized that it was getting dark and late. "Your story made my head heavy, even after a cuppa black pepper and ginger soaked tea" - I told my friend. Don't worry, I will teach you this 2 minute Asana which can make your head relax and shrugg off your jaded nerves. The Asana he taught me that day still works.

In the meantime one of his students barged into the room. Sliding the curtain she bowed with a gesture of "Namaskar" and without waiting for my response reminded my friend - "Sir, class". Our Sir replied - ARRE JA JA, MO SANGA ASICHI ETE DINA PARE (Go back inside. My friend has come after so many days). I told him, "You shouldn't keep your students waiting. I need to run some errands too". I bid adieu to him.

While pressing the ignition key of the Scooty and wiping off the dust and sweat from my forehead I was wondering - "Google may have shrunk the world to a global village. Yet East is East, West is West, and never the twain shall meet".

Analysis of mid term elections 2022

 In the just concluded mid term Assembly elections in India BJP, the Hindu Nationalist ruling party at the center won in all states except Punjab. They won the politically crucial state of UP by a comfortable margin. But the real winner in this election is the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). By winning the state of Punjab it now has an opportunity to prove its meddle. If it governs it well they have a bright future in the country.

With this win BJP has proved that it is now an one man party where Moditva has outshone Hindutva. Moditva is now more than Hindutva - a blend of religious fanatism with left of center Capitalism. It yet vindicated that India in spite of being a country of religion right, is economically a center - left nation. The welfare largesse works handsomely reaping handsome electoral yield, be it the BJD in Odisha, BJP in UP or AAP in Punjab. Promise of freebies, subsidies and other benefits given to the rural poor has worked well for all political parties.

People are the best judge in democracy. Their verdict needs to be gracefully accepted. Not accepting it will be an insult to them. At the same time BJP and its supporters need to be graceful in victory and not behave like abysmal winners. I see many poking fun and passing condescending remarks against losing parties. Some poke fun at the winning AAP leader in Punjab being a Comedian. They should know it's not easy to make people laugh and comedy is the most difficult part of acting. As BJP's own party member Paresh Rawal a reputed actor once said - "ACTING KOI BANDAR KAR SAKTA HAI, LEKIN COMEDY KOI ACTOR HI KAR SAKTA HAI (Any monkey can do acting, but only an actor can do comedy).

More than Modi or BJP I am pissed off at the rowdism shown by some BHAKTs, especially those belligerent ones. Some are going ballistic against AAP. After winning 4 out 5 states instead of being satiated they are acting greedy. They need to give credit where credit is due and should remember that years ago they were on the same boat as AAP. In the 1980s with 2 MPs in Parliament they were at the receiving end when their colleagues poked fun at them with the innuendo "HUM DO, HAMARE DO" (We two, we have two) - the famous family planning campaign ad of that era to educate couples to limit themselves to maximum two kids.

We have talked about the winners. Now the biggest loser of this election is the Congress Party, India's GOP (Grand Old Party). How long an entity led by a person with zero accountability will survive ? The Gandhis have passed their expiry date. It's amazing the family is still at helm and likely to continue until it takes Congress party to grave. Anyone leading a corporation would have been shown the door long ago, but Congress party has its ways.

As sun never set over the British empire, once upon a time the sun never set on the Congress empire in India. The party had presence all over the country, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, from Surat to Shillong. But sun seems to be setting on the party now. The clock has turned a full circle. A popular quip of the time was Congress Party will win as long as "ALLI and COOLIE" (Muslims and poor people) vote for the party. It wasn't far from the truth. Congress is currently ailing as ALLIs (Muslims) have moved to greener pastures long agi, followed by COOLIES (poor folks).

If history is to be believed AAP should never be underestimated, same as BJP were back then when in the 1989 elections they increased their tally from 2 to 89 seats and never looked back. I wish Aamir Admi Party the best and they should not waste their mandate in the volatile state of Punjab. India needs a good opposition for a healthy, functioning democracy. A rising AAP can fullfill the lacuna left by declining parties. Wish them good luck.

Zelensky invoking Churchill's famous speech

 Earlier today the President of Ukraine Zelensky whose country is pulverized by the Russian invasion invoked Winston Churchill while addressing the British Parliament via video from his remote location. It prompted me briefly to revisit history.

During the initial days of the World war II London was facing incessant bombing and V2 rocket raids from Nazi Germany. The city was under seize and its fall looked imminent. One day a bomb fell on Prime Minister Churchill's 10 Downing St residence destroying a portion of it and nearly killing him.

Words of this attack spread like wild fire. Without heeding to his trusted advisors who suggested him to leave his official building, Churchill went to the basement. Sitting there he made the famous Radio address to the nation - "We shall fight in the air, we shall fight on the sea, we shall fight on the beach, and we shall fight on the hills.... But we shall NEVER EVER SURRENDER".

This speech was enough to rally the British moral which at that time was at its historic low. The war ravaged nation whose legendary gritty character lied dormant due to German Blitzkrieg was suddenly aroused. The Royal Air Force fought back bravely, making a spectacular comeback. The war slowly started to turn around. The yet invincible Luftwaffe (German Air Force) started suffering heavy losses, enough to force Hitler to abandon his Britain mission and divert his attention to Russia. The rest we know is history...

RIP Rod Marsh

 Rodney Marsh, the Aussie cricketer died today from Heart Stroke at age of 74. He was part of the ubiquitous caught Marsh, bowled Lillee combination, which accounted for close to 100 victims. The talented, aggressive on the field but gentleman off it wicketkeeper carved his niche in the world of cricket. A quintessential Aussie, he excelled in  sledging, the hallmark of his compatriot cricketers.

He kept wickets to the speedster duo of Lillie and Thompson who created havoc among the opponents. Many were surprised how a girl named Lilian Thompson can make the opposition sweat (Lillie and Thompson duo were often mistaken as a woman named Lillian Thompson). Marsh admitted of standing couple of yards behind his usual wicket keeping position while he kept wicket to Geoff Thompson and still his hands hurt. Thompson was the fasted bowler then.

Marsh was a maverick cricketer who was known for guzzling 40 something beers in a flight from Australia to England. Once while keeping wickets he taunted then in form English batsman Ian Botham who was at crease - "How are your wife and my kids". The mercurial Beefy Botham responded to the sledging - "Wife is fine, but the kids are retarded". RIP Rodney Marsh.