San Diego trip July 2026 - Concluding part

San Diego is the Bangalore of USA. A la Bangalore it is called air conditioned city, having salubrious weather all through the year. But any similarity ends there. Traffic in this southern most city of California isn't even a fraction of what we see in Bangalore. Last time I was in the capital city of the state of Karnatak in India and praising the flora and canopies of greenery across the city, the man driving me around said - "Sir, we have turned the Garden city to a Garbage city". In contrast San Diego is pretty clean and far less congested.

The city of San Diego is full of Mesa - a term for isolated, flat-topped elevation, ridge or hill bounded from all sides by steep escarpments standing distinctly above surrounding plain. It is filled desert, thorny shrubs which can survive long dry spells. Mesas are known to harbor varieties of rattlesnakes of different shapes and sizes - from the runt Pygmy rattlesnake to the lummox Western Diamond back variety. The desert dry weather made my skin already naturally moisturized by the humid Georgia weather feel itchy in San Diego. Streets are named in Spanish, like "Rancho Cordova", "El Camino Real", "Camino Del Norte" and so on. Lot of names start with San, which in Spanish means "Saint". There is a lot of Spanish flavor in this area.

The lovely day commenced with a brunch (breakfast-cum-lunch) at Stone Brewing World Bistro and Gardens. We sampled varieties of local ale, followed by a trip to the Cabrillo National Monument. In the year 1542, 50 years after Columbus discovered America, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo became the first European to set foot on the West Coast of America. Cabrillo National Monument not only tells the story of the 16th century explorer, it houses a wealth of historic and cultural resouces. Highly recommended for visiting San Diego to visit the monument location at a picturesque, higher elevation caressed by soothing, cool sea breeze.

Having a temperate weather, Southern California place doesn't see a freeze. It's vegetation is a veritable blend of tropical and Mediterranean. My friend has Mango, Guava, Curry leaf plants rooted in the ground in his backyard. In surrounding neighborhood I saw stucco homes with Pomegranate, Oranges, Apricot trees blooming with fruits, branches striving to lean over the fences. Felt like being in a whole different world far cry from the state of Georgia. Even the accent here is different from the predominantly southern accent I am used to. When I told someone that I am from Georgia the person retorted back - "You are too away from home, my friend" ! He wasn't far from truth.

California is expensive, at least the coastal cities. Regular unleaded Gas here costs more than $5 a gallon here in San Diego. In fact, everything here, starting from the groceies to fast food are at least 30 to 40% more expensive than Columbus, Georgia. Now back home back to to hot and muggy Georgia from the cool comfort of coastal California. Thus concludes my travelogue until my next sojourn.

San Diego trip Day I - July 2026

 I rarely miss an opportunity to meet and greet my close friends. On the wrong side of 50 and Inching towards 60 years of age, I invariably look forward to such encounters as we never know what's in store for us in the unforeseen future. As the last line of the famous novel by Margaret Mitchell "Gone with the wind" and the movie based on it goes - "tomorrow if after all another day". Life is a lottery. It's ike a box of chocolate, you don't know what you are going to get. That said my short trip to San Diego, California after a long, hard couple of work weeks was exactly what I was looking forward to.

Arriving early at  the Atlanta's Hartsfield Airport, post checking in and clearing the security, I was starving and looking forward to a hot breakfast and a strong coffee to shrugg off my jaded nerves. I wanted to fill my stomach before I catch my coast-to-coast flight, because these days the Airlines offer peanuts, often literally. There was a long line at the Chick-fil-A inside the Airport but it was moving fast. The popular chicken based fast food outlet of Southern United States does brisk business anywhere it is located. But the price of the items was about 30% more than normally it would be. Food is invariably expensive at Airports. I remember seeing Samosa displayed at Rs. 250 a piece behind glass cover at New Delhi Airport, which reminded me a saying in Hindi - "BOSS PE BHAROSA AUR AIRPORT MEIN SAMOSA, DONO MEHNGI PADTI HAI" (Trust on Boss and Food at Airport could be costly).

As I was dragging my bag towards the departure gate, some one whizzed past me talking in thick Barhampuri Odia. The Doppler's effect which we studied in High School Physics forbid me to catch only part of the conversation as the guy melted away. But I could hear him saying "GHANTE ADHE EKKA" or "SADHE GOTE" as they say in unaccented Odia - both meaning "one and half hour". Wasn't sure if the man meant that the flight was at 1.30 or was late by 1.30 hours by his "Ghaante Addhe".

It was quite conspicuous that I didn't see a single Desi (a slang for Persons of Indian origin) boarding the aircraft, sans a Sardarjee (Sikh). It's said that Sardarjees and potatoes are found everywhere in the world. Neil Armstrong was greeted by a Sardarjee when he landed on moon. It was a rarity sight these days whether you fly domestic or international. The boarding was orderly and every one sat patiently and waited for their turn to stand in a line to board the flight. Didn't see a bunch of folks clustered around with multiple lines struggling to merge with the main boarding line, as if rivers Kathajodi and Kuakhai struggle to merge into the river Mahanadi.

The 4 hour long flight from Atlanta to San Diego on the South West tip of the United States was a full flight, considering it was summer weekend.
Summer had its challenges too. No sooner we boarded the flight, than we discovered to our discomfort that the the Air Conditioning inside the Airplane wasn't working. Passengers started fanning themselves with the aircraft safety guideline pamphlet. We were deplaned, diverted to another get and boarded another plane. The flight was delayed by 2 hours. Not too bad. It's better late than never.

As flight descended closing in to San Diego I peeped through the light, variable white fleece clouds flying below, trying to race with the jumbo bird. I looking at the vast California desert interspersed with gigantic wind mills which would have made Sancho Panza of Don Quixote novel proud. Looking from the top they looked like like pins fixed on a gray sandpaper. A few water bodies were around surrounded by grayish green, sand covered dull looking desert shrubs, far cry from the lushly green flora of Georgia.

The airplane finally touched down arriving after 4 hour flight duration it felt very pleasantly sunny San Diego at 73°F with dry light wind blowing. A drop of 20 degrees from 93°F plus humidity weather in Georgia felt a lot salubrious. A co-passenger sitting nexr to me, a proud San Diego resident beamed - "Welcome to California - tge richest state of America which by itself is the 4th largest in the world". More later...

Sri Jagannath's Mahima

 Today is the Ratha Jatra of Sri Jagannath, who is arguably their most worshiped amongst the Odias. His picture along with His brother Balabhadra and sister Subhadra adores living rooms (called drawing room in the state) of the majority of Odias. No Hindu auspicious occasion in Odisha ever gets initiated or moves forward without inviting Sri Jagannath or sans his blessings. Even his chariot is said not to move forward if his staunchest devotee hasn't arrived at the venue of Puri "BADADANDA" (Broadway) where the His chariot along with his sisters are pulled ahead on the day of "RATHA JATRA" (car festival).

In 17th century the legendary Sri Jagannath devotee Bhakta Salabega, son of a Muslim Subedar (Military Officer) desired to see the Ratha yatra festival at Puri, but on the way he suddenly fell ill. Feeling helpless and realising that he would not reach the town located on the coast of Bay of Bengal in time to see the Ratha yatra festival, he offered prayers to Jagannath petitioning Him to wait until he arrived. It is said that on the day of the Car festival, Nandighosa, the cart of Jagannath refused to move until Salabega's arrival in spite of hundreds of volunteers trying their best to pull it in sweltering heat. No sooner than Salabega arrived on the spot, the chariot started galloping ahead.

Many wouldn't be knowing the story of poor Bandhu Mohanty, an ardent devotee of Sri Jagannath who took his hungry family with him, just sustaining on water and wild fruits on his journey to see Sri Jagannath in Puri. It took him 5 days to reach his destination from his native Jajpur. It was late in the night. Tired from the long journey and on the verge of collapsing the family fell asleep in front of the SINGHADWAR (Lion Gate). In middle of the night Bandhu Mohanty woke up from his sleep to see a smiling Brahmin in front of him offering him several delicacies of food on a gem studded plate. The starving family devoured the sumptuous meal. The Brahmin who suddenly appeared in middle of night with a large plate filled with food for a hungry family was never to be seen again. Any doubt Sri Jagannath took care of His sincere devotee ?

The following incident isn't from centuries ago, rather happened a few years back. A group of Ukrainian devotees of Sri Jagannath arrived late at Delhi enroute to Puri to see the Ratha Jatra. Their flight got delayed. Keeping their fingers crossed, they started praying to Lord Jagannath to arrive on time to see the chariots moving. The delayed flight finally started and arrived at Bhubaneswar in the evening. The devotee left all their hopes to see the Lord's chariot on "Badadanda", resigned to their fate, sans any magic from the Lord himself.

And the magic happened. There was an argument between the servitors to the Lord and the temple officials for some trivial matter which delayed the pulling of the chariots. By the time the issue was settled the Ukrainian devotees had arrived at their destination. No sooner they were present, than to their pleasant surprise the Raths started moving. The devotees couldn't stop crying at the miracle of Lord Jagannath fulfilling their lifelong wish to witness the Ratha Jatra at Jagannath Puri.

The anecdotes could be apocryphal. Cynics may doubt it. But what's not in doubt is the "MAHIMA", glory and the greatestness of the Lord. CHAKA AKHI SABU DEKHUCHI (Sri Jagannath is watching everything). He watches over us, understands true devotion and doesn't mind fulfilling the devotee's wish.

It needs to be notes that Bandhu Mohanty was a Hindu, Salabeg a Muslim, the Ukrainians were Christians. But our Lord, Sri Jagannath doesn't care about the faith of the devotee if the devotee cares for Him. He only listens to the call of the BHAKT (Devotee) if the devotion is sincere and pure. Because, the word Jagannath is formed as conjoint (SANDHI) of the two words JAGAT (Universe) + NATH (meaning Lord of the Universe). Our Lord belongs to everyone in this world, irrespective of their caste, creed, faith, religion or sex.

I will end this article with

JAGANNATHA SWAMI,

NAYANA PATHA GAMI

BHAVATUME,

which roughly means -

"O Lord Jagannath, 

The Beacon of our eyes,

He who shows us the path, 

Be visible to me".

Jai Jagannath.

Marriages are made in heaven

 The following are a few recent higher court’s judgement in India as shared by a friend who is well conversant with legal matters.

1- Wife or husband can have sex outside of marriage and it can’t be a ground for divorce
(having sex with anyone is part of personal freeedom - married or not )
2- Even when the wife claims or circumstances prove that the child is not the biological child of the legally wedded husband but someone else,
No one can demand a DNA paternity test as it violates the privacy of wife and child. It can’t be a ground for divorce .

3- If the child has a different biological father other than the husband , still the husband is responsible for child maintenance (as child was born while he was legally husband).

All these happenings at a time of a rising trend in separations and divorces in India. The Supreme Court of India not long observed that most divorces arise from love marriages. A bench of Justices BR Gavai and Sanjay Karol, while hearing a transfer petition arising out of a matrimonial dispute, made the observation. 

The Justices may not be doing justice by coming to a conclusion based without any scientific evidence but they may have a point. So also I would like to throw light on the difference between the arranged or the so called love marriages sans scientific evidence.

Marriages may be made in heaven but breakups and divorces happen on earth. Amongst my numerous friends and relatives I have observed that the success rate of arranged marriages is way more than that of so called love marriages. (The term love marriage is a misnomer here as in many cases in India it's more like a self negotiated marriage of convenience rather than any kind of real love associated with it. Usual disclaimers apply). I have seen many such love marriages collapsing like a pack of cards, while amples of arranged marriages have spectacularly succeded. 

The simple psychological equation, (Expectations - Fulfillment = Frustration) still holds good in all spheres of life, including marriages. Every human being has a good and bad side. In love marriages, before marriage the boy and girl know the good side of each other, shadowing their bad and ugly sides during their courtship period. During the dating phase the couples know the best part of each other, striving hard to successfully hide their shortcomings, rarely aware of each other's negative side. They raise the bar of expectations to the highest level. The first 100 days of marriage is the honeymoon phase of life after which familiarity slowly breeds contempt. As the initial physical attraction wanes the true color comes out like dusky evening sky after the dissapearance of cloud cover. This leads to disaster in many love marriages. As William Shakespeare famously said in his "A Midsummer Night's Dream - the course of true love never did run smooth." 

However the opposite happens in case of arrange marriages when the good, bad and ugly side of each person is known after marriage. Expectation is low as two virtual unknowns tie their knot and the couple tend to adjust with each other as trust and care slowly builds up over time akin to a slow baked Pizza crust brings out its best taste and texture. Slow and steady wins the race. Like two sides of a coin they couple may not see each other but stick together.

In a country where the reason for divorce could be as silly as my husband eats a lot of spicy foods, baked bean and farts all night and breakups happen like drop of a hat, nothing fascinates my American friends more than our concept of arranged marriages which they find quite intriguing and amusing. They dont use the term love marriage like we do. I too find the term love mariage an oxymoron. I reiterate should be rather called self arranged/self negotiated/post courtship marriage or whatever, but quite frankly the term love marriage is a misnomer. 

Upon queried, I have tried my best to explain by drawing a contrast between arranged and love marriages. I tell them how my own marriage was arranged. Long story short, my wife and I met for the first and only time before marriage for 30 long minutes and our marriage approaching 30 years, still going strong. Our dating was limited to our conversation on phone, a telephonic courtship over 10,000 miles between US and India at an exorbitant rate in 1990s at $1 a minute, the contemporary call rate to India. AT&T and MCI (now defunct) should have given me some bonus as those 5 months between meeting my would be wife and our marriage I contributed handsomely to their coffers. 

Not sure how much my American friends were thrilled at my telephonic dating story, they found it quite amusing. One of them joked - "How can you marry someone you barely know ? Don't ya take a car for test drive before buying it ? You dont wanna buy a car just looking at it and talking to the dealer over phone". In another instance when I queried a friend why he is not yet married his response was "You don't have to keep a cow at home to get milk". Logic well made and point well taken.

However one cannot compare a car with "Yaar" (companion). Though most marriages in India are arranged and in spite of the recent spike the divorces, the rate in still low compared to the western world. This gives credence to the fact that most arrange marriages succeed. A la America, arranged marriages are built from scratch, time tested and have succeeded on the long run, a la "LAMBA RACE KA GHODA (Horse good for long run) - robust and resilience. 

Happy birthday Sanjeev Kumar

 If he were alive today, he would be celebrating his 88th birthday. He is Sanjeev Kumar, arguably the most versatile Bollywood actor of all time was born this day in 1938 in Surat, Gujarat as Haribhai Jariwala. A la his other brothers with congenital heart disease running in family, he couldn't complete 50, nor he could become a star like Amitabh or Rajesh Khanna. But he was an awesome actor to whom acting and his characteristic smile came naturally and hand in hand. Give him any kind of role - old, young, comedy, tragedy, father, husband, brother or a leader, he would bring the best out of the character. His smile, his style of smoking, whether a Bidi of a slum dweller or a pipe smoking business tycoon was unique of its kind, perfectly fitting to the milieu and the type of the role he played.

The other day I was watching the movie KOSHISH, where Sanjeev Kumar and Jaya Bhaduri played the role of a deaf and dumb couple who stammered, communicating using broken words and sign language. Stellar, emotionally choked performance from both actors moistened my eyes. Watching him one never feels that he was ever acting, he was just the next door man having a casual look with a harmless smile just leading a normal life.

In that movie Sanjeev Kumar was paired with Jaya Bhaduri, an actress with whom he had great on screen chemistry. Both of them excelled playing all different combinations of relationships between a man and a woman to perfection - Lover and Beloved (ANAMIKA), Husband and Wife duo (KOSHISH), Father-in-law and Daughter-in-law (SHOLAY) and so on. In the
movie LAKHON KI BAAT, a wonderful family oriented comedy movie Sanjeev Kumar played a comic lawer fighting a Worker's Complenation lawsuit for his brother-in-law Farooq Saikh. In the same movie, Utpal Dutt played the role of a Private Detective with a skull cap. He doesn't laugh at all, but can't stop you from laughing by occasionally winking his over enlarged eyes, swinging around his eyeballs - no actor has ever made me laugh more. 

Sanjeev Kumar's personal life was turbulent. He remained single all his life. Actress Nutan once slapped him when Sanjeev Kumar proposed her at the set of movie "Devi". He had also proposed to Hema Malini in 1973 which was also rejected. Both remained in touch even after he suffered his first heart attack in 1976. Dharmendra who later married Hema Malini was so insecure that during the shooting of the iconic movie SHOLAY, he ensured that Hema Malini (Dharam was chasing Hema and later took her as his second wife) and Sanjeev Kumar were not seen together in a single frame in any scene in that iconic movie. During the shooting of Gulzar's "Aandhee" Sanjeev Kumar got drunk and knocked the door of actress Suchitra Sen's hotel room in middle of night. An insecure and insulted Suchitra Sen almost left for Calcutta after this incident but for the timely intervention of legendary Gulzar who stopped her from leaving. The movie which had resemblance to Indira Gandhi's personal life was banned before getting released and turned out to be a huge success.

The singer and actress Sulakshana Pandit later recounted been in love and having proposed marriage to Sanjeev Kumar who politely declined her proposal. It is speculated that as a result of this rejection, Sulakshana Pandit chose to remain a spinster. It is said that Sanjeev Kumar grimaced and famously told Sulakshana Pandit in his distinctive soft, lyrical voice - "Mein Kisi Aur Ko Pyaar Karta Hoon, Aur Toom Mujhe aur Wo Kisi Aur Se. Zindagi Kuchh Ajeeb Si Hai" - "I love some one and you love me, and she loves someone else. Life is some what weird". He wasn't far from the truth.

Sanjeev Kumar's smile, expression and sarcasm filled dialogues came naturally to him. In one of his movie he is held hostage by a big, burly man. In order to escape he pretended to go to pee and showed his little finger to his captor. The big guy asked - YEH KYA HAI (What is this) ? Sanjeev Kumar says - "PEHLWAN JEE, AAP SCHOOL-WOOL NAHI GAYE THE KYA" (Mr. Bodybuilder. Didn't you ever go to school) ?

In movie SHOLAY he answers a puzzled duo Amitabh and Dharmendra querry about hiring them post a staged fight - TUM DONO KO YAHAN BULA KE KOI GALTI NAHI KI (I have done no wrong by calling both of you here). "LOHE KO LOHA KAT TA HAI" (only iron can cut iron).

Sanjeev Kumar was eqully deft in both comedy and tragedy, until tragedy struck him as he died of heart attack on the morning of  November 6, 1985 at the young age of 47. It was reported he Sanjeev Kumar smoke and drank, was drinking till the wee hours of morning when he had a heart attack and breathed his last. 

What a multifaceted actor he was. He was a good man too, having helped many in Bollywood, an industry full of selfish folks. Satrughan Sinha mentioned about how Sanjeev Kumar helped him with money during a phase when the Bihari actor was going through a rough financial phase in life and Sanjeev Kumar was one of the highest paid. In the movie SHOLAY Sanjeev Kumar was paid Rs.1.25 lakh, more than any of the other actors in that movie.

Happy Birthday Sanjeev Kumar. You will forever be remembered for carving your niche in Bollywood and beyond. But you have done wrong to the Hindi movie industry by leaving too early when a lot was still left in you. Rest in Peace where you are.

Happy July 4th 2026

 The Spanish explorer Christopher Columbus discovered a land in the year 1492, though the name "America" came from Italian navigator Amerigo Vespucci. Columbus (the name taken by multiple cities in the United States including the one where I live) died a frustrated man. Because the legendary Spanish explorer was never able to discover his dreamland called India - considered the land of opportunity those days.

A frustrated man, he had to settle for a group of Islands which he aptly named as West Indies (India of the West) when his ship "Santa Maria" sailed far west in the Atlantic Ocean instead of East where India was located. The name "Indies" was the consolation prize for his failure to discover the El Dorado of the time - the land of milk and honey called India.

Wish Columbus had lived half a century longer and found solace in his discovery. Because the readings of the famous French Seer and Clairvoyant Nostradamus - the man credited for seeing the future centuries ahead of time, which includes correctly predicting the arrival of Napoleon and Hitler as well as the two World Wars accompanying these two anti-Christs, two dwarfish looking men trying to create a tall world order. Around the year 1550 Nostradamus predicted that "The New World", as America was called then, will rise to its zenith of power close at the turn of millennium. He was half right. United States of America went a step further and become a Superpower at turn of the millennium, the year 2000.

A new star was born little more than a century after Nostradamus's famous prediction. Western settlers adventured their way to North America which those days had more Bisons than humans. The Pioneers (explorers in the form of initial settlers who moved further west and south) would expand the American horizon - from its initial 13 states to 50, each star representing one state, combining to form the United States of America. The last ones acquirer were Alaska - a lucky buy at a darn cheap price from Russia and the Island of Hawaii, now a vacationer's paradise. When Alaska was sold by Russia for a darn cheap price to America, the US press of the time howled - "Russia sold a sucked orange to us". US is now sucking oil and gas from the mineral rich state, not to mention the revenue from tourism in Alaska.

America became independent on 4th of July, 1776, commemorating "Declaration Of Independence", after defeating the undefeatable English, arguably the only nation ever in history to have convincingly defeated the British and drive them out of their land. (Although America retained the English language, Foot, Pound Unit of measurement and modified the English game of Cricket to their own Baseball). A defeated Lord Cornwallis had to beat retreat and accept defeat. Cornwallis who was driven out of America went later to India to establish the British empire over there.

America is still a baby, considering only 250 years old compared to the most civilizations of the world, some of whom are at least 10 times older. But the baby has taken some giant steps in a short span of time, which no one has ever done in history of mankind. A land of immigrants, it has come a long way since the days of the Mayflower (the ship which carried early immigrants). Isolated from rest of the world, America coped well with changing times - began as an agrarian society, followed by industrial revolution which made it self sufficient, whereas trading by selling its surplus made it rich.

Soon it surpassed Europe in opulence. By the beginning of the First World War, 90% of American households had access to car, 4 times more phones per person than British, 6 times more than Germans, the two nations considered compatible to US at the time. Except a blip post during the 1929 financial crisis which exposed the ugly underbelly of American Capitalism, its opulence prevailed. The reason - America's uncanny ability to continually innovate, invent and improvise. From Electricity, Air Conditioning, Airplanes to this platform called Facebook and its host internet, the Apple iWhatever devices we use to connect and communicate across globe as well as use these American products to be critical of the United States are all America's contribution to the rest of the world.

Those who built America from the scratch were adventurous, because they arrived at a time when they left home knowing that they aren't going to come back. They also didn't know what's in store for them at their new place of arrival. They also  knew that they can't communicate to their folks back home in an age sans telephone and internet. Patriotism is ingrained in this nation, vindicated by still able to stitch the country together post Civil war which lasted from 1861-1865.

America is known for its resilience. Those pejorative towards the USA should know that it has been through shittier times and came out unscathed. Bad times too shall pass. So stuff your wishful thinking about America's demise to your most convenient orifice. Time and again this nation has proved wrong its detractors who predicted its early demise. The end of America as they see is premature and preposterous. The nation will thrive as long as it retains the edge in technology and juggernauts ahead on its wheels of unbridled innovation and free market. Happy 250th milestone  birthday to the United States of America. WISH ALL A HAPPY 4TH OF JULY. Enjoy the fireworks and stay safe.

The Odisha school textbook fiasco

There is a lot of brouhaha going on in Odisha about ridiculous and trivial errors in Odia text books in the vernacular medium schools. After looking at few of them, some outrightly funny I didn't know whether I would laugh or cry ! Regardless, nothing could be more atrociously disgusting than this.

Mass Education is a sine qua non of a healthy society. A child's education is very important to the growth of his or her mind and shaping the child's future. And the teachers and school curriculum form the salient part of it. A few errata here and there are acceptable. But there are 1600 errors already identified. What's not acceptable is teaching Isaac Newton was a pilot who flew Airplanes, a popular Bollywood song "Nimbuda Nimbuda.." presented as a Rajasthani song in Odia script in Class V English textbook. Niyamgiri Hills of Odisha was shown as part of Jharkhand in Geography book. Wheat was written as paddy, temperature as pressure and equinox as equator, not to mention enormous number of typos. Errors are way too many and to mention them all is beyond scope of this blog.

The response of the state government so far is tardy and miserable. As expected it is in denial mode with the Chief Minister of the state blaming it on conspiracy by his rivals to give him and his government a bad name. The opposition parties have rallied around to embarrass the ruling party. The blame game continues.

Now coming from a family of teachers this fiasco not only annoys me, it hurts me a lot. I am sure a lot of those who are reading this blog are on the same page with me. The fault not just lies with the books, its with the entire system which is both inept and corrupt. The quality of teaching has gone down as teachers are paid in peanuts and teaching is no longer a respected profession.

Decades ago there was this incident, when a sub-collector in Sonepur district of Odisha did this shameful, cowardly act of kicking a hapless school teacher, abusing him as a poor MASTRA (the way the word master is often pronounced in Odia, a term mostly used in derogatory sense for teachers back home). I remember a cartoon related to the above incident which came out on the local vernacular Newspaper with  following caption, (rhyming with our famous Sloka "GURU BRAHMA GURU BISHNU... "

GURU DEENA GURU HEENA
GURU SAMANYA MASTARA;
KANDOOKA SAMAN GURU
TASME SRHEE GOITHA MARA
ITI UPA- COLLECTOR
JILLA NAMA SONAPUR.

Transliterating in the same rhyme form to keep the theme intact,

"Teacher is poor, Teacher is mere;
Teacher is just an ordinary Master.
Teacher is akin to a football;
To be kicked for sure.
Courtesy Sub-Collector,
From the district of Sonepur."

I have heard parents asking in Odia to their children "KIRE MASTRA AJI KANA PADHEILA" meaning "Hey, what did the master teach you today". The English transliteration may not sound so bad but the way it is delivered in the native language is not a sign of great adulation. It shows the respect the guardians of the students give to their teachers.

My simple take - A society which does not respect its teachers can never prosper. Period. Great nations are made by great men. Great men (and women) are shaped by their teachers. Hope a public apology is issued, these errors are rectified and appropriate legal actions taken against the culprits. The sooner it is done, the better it is.