Happy Mother's day 2026

 A song from Amitabh Bachchan's blockbuster movie "KHUDDAR" released in the year 1982 where the tall actor, the unquestioned Superstar, the King and the one man Bollywood industry of the time sings onscreen this Kishore Kumar's song - 

"MAA KA PYAAR, BEHAN KYA PYAAR,
KABHI KABHI DULHAN KYA PYAR,
TERE PYAAR KA RANG HAZAAR". 

Roughly transliterated... 

"Mother's love, Sister's love,
Sometimes the love of the beloved,
Their love comes in thousand colors". 

Mother's day this year reminded me of this song from my teenage years. The love of mother is in its genuine form - pure, precious, unadulterated, like the clear Spring water bubbling out of the top of a glacial mountain. It is perennially pristine, unequivocally soothing, unwavering and unflinching. When I used to India, my mother's hug and caressing hands felt so soothing, the touch I long for days, months and sometimes years. Mother's love is panacea to all ills plaguing mind and body, heart and soul. Unfortunately she is no more and I am yet to get over the loss and probably never will. No wonder the vacuum from the loss of mother couple of years ago still haunts me. The lacunae in my heart remaining  unfilled. 

Few years back around this time of the year when I spoke to my mother in India, I told her that the heavy rains that spring had filled the creek behind my house. I saw a lot of frogs in my backyard and occasionally few snakes to complete the food chain. As usual, in her concerned tone she advised me to be careful and pray Lord Siva to keep the slithery beast away.

Teasing her mildly (as we often take this liberty with our mothers, though we rarely do same to our fathers) I said - "Mummy, we all know Lord Siva has a stranglehold over Indian Cobra, not sure if he has the same control over the snakes of America. Sanskrit SLOKAs (hymn) won't work here. Southern American accent filled prayers and sermons from the local Methodist church might help in keeping the snake away."

As usual she interrupted to chastise me, "Stop teasing and take my advise seriously. I will pray for you to Lord Siva to keep you safe from PODA MUHA (Burnt Face) "Rattle SAAPA (snake)". The depth of her love was unfathomable. 

Whenever I go home, she puts an Igloo shaped mound of rice on my lunch plate, telling - "TU PETA PURA KARI KHAUNU, JHADI GALUNI (you are not eating stomach full and losing weight), though there was hardly any visible sign of my weight loss. For her, this hemispherical shaped lump of rice on plate should be high enough for its tip to touch the legs of a cat trying to jump over it. That's her unit of measurement of quantity of food for keeping her son's stomach filled. 

When I insist on reducing the amount of rice, suggesting that intake of extra carbohydrate would add unwanted extra amount of flab to my waist, my mother vehemently disputes it - "TORA SWASTYA TIKE HEICHI, TATE MOTA KIE KAHUCHI ?" "You are little healthy, how dare someone calls you fat" ? Like all mothers from our generation, gaining weight by their son is a matter of pride.  A chubby chap is known as "KHAIBA PIBA GHARA PILA" (in Odia) or KHANE PINE KA GHAR KA LADKA (in Hindi) - meaning a boy from a well to do family who liberally spends on food. (In India a SWYASTAWALA or healthy son earns accolades for the daughter-in-law in front of her in-laws for feeding their son well. On the other hand a slim, trim husband can earn the wrath of the mother-in-law for not feeding her son enough). 

She used to advise me - "BARSA RE ODA HABUNI, THANDA DHARIBA" - Don't get drenched in the rain, lest you catch a cold. If she ever found out that I have a fever, she would advise me to eat Apples and LUNI BISCUIT (Saltine crackers, similar to the RITZ crackers, popularly consumed during fever during my childhood as it titillates numbed taste buds) and eat PAUNRUTI (sliced bread) dipped in warm milk. She still treated me like a 10 year old. Though I am way past that and in the middle of my middle age, her love was unwavering and eternal. No matter how far I am from her, her love and concern for me never ever ebbed. I had complete faith on her devotion. Now that I have outsourced my well being to her I could roam freely in my backyard and get on with my life.  

Motherly instinct isn't just limited to humans. It extends to the animal world too. Not just cats, cows, tigers and lions - the snakes too are very protective of their little ones. Other day on Discovery Channel I was watching a female King Cobra hatching her eggs she just laid. She could sense intrusion from the anchor and the camera person. Protective and insecure the 15 feet long Queen Cobra raised her hood to a height of 5 feet, hissing furiously. The anchor was cautious - "We aren't carrying any anti-venom. Need to be very careful here. This protective mother is pissed off with us uninvited guests trying to get closer to her eggs she is succintly protecting. One bite from this angry mom Queen Cobra will inject a gargantuan amount of neurotoxin into the bloodstream, potent enough kill 20 adult humans in few minutes. We stand no chance". All mothers are same, protective and their children's well being being their topmost priority. HAPPY MOTHERS DAY !!!

First Anniversary of Operation Sindoor

 Close to the first anniversary of Operation Sindoor, the name given to India's strike on Pakistan in response to the latter's terror attack in Kashmir, India's defense minister Rajnath Singh said “We stopped the Operation voluntarily, on our own terms".

If so, why was the ceasefire announced not by India but by Trump ? India reiterated Trump's announcement after an hour the US President proclaimed it on Truth Social, repeating his claim time and again taking credit for stopping the war between two nuclear power neighbors. So far India has never contradicted Trump.

It was followed by Modi telling our Parliament last July that India achieved its objectives by attacking terrorist camps across the border. Such a claim by striking largely empty terrorist training camps reeks with strategic naiveté. Timing is an essential element of any war. After the Pahalgam terrorist massacre, India waited for 15 days before launching the short-lived May 7–10 Operation Sindoor, giving Pakistan ample time to disperse assets and empty key camps with the surprise element thrown through the roof. No high value terrorist was eliminated. If a few terrorists perished such state reared figures are expendable, easily replaced through thevast Madrassah networks inside Pakistan. How then were India’s strategic objectives served by targeting only low-level proxies?

Operation Sindoor was a tactical success for India, but a strategic failure, one that left Pakistan emboldened. The cessation of hostilities after just three days helped to rehabilitate Pakistan’s international standing, particularly in USA and Islamic world, where it was seen as having held its own against a much stronger adversary. That perception proved consequential, contributing to the emergence of the Saudi-Pakistan mutual defense pact and Trump’s embrace of Pakistan. Turkey and Azerbaijan came out in open support of Pakistan which ended up driving its narrative.
Truth is the first casualty of war. In spite of giving a bloody nose to our western neighbor, India had lost few fighter Aircrafts including the much fancied Rafael which costs $245 million a piece. Pakistan too possesses Nuclear and Missile technology. Forget building missiles, Pakistan, a basket case of poverty cannot even manufacture a Diwali rocket on its own. So, how it managed to acquired these ?
The answer is China for whom Pakistan is the cheapest way to keep India, its only nuclear adversary at bay. Pakistan has done a good job doing China's bid. The Middle Kingdom and Asia's rising giant doesn't consider India as its equal and often mocks at it. The best example if so many videos and reels on social media mocking India and praising their all time ally (in reality their slave) Pakistan which went viral during the days of OperationSindoor.

After the ceasefire was announced, a bunch of our Netas and Babus dispersed around the world with the goal of painting Pakistan as a pariah state and a sponsor of terror. Forget about convincing the world powers, except Sashi Tharoor no one could articulate well India’s position. Looking in a holistic way, Pakistan is not only important to USA, it is important to many other countries as well, including our all weather friend Russia for various strategic reasons, simply because of its very geographic region and it having nuclear weapons.

However brilliant our Foreign policy may be, when push comes to shove, as we saw during Operation Sindoor, the rest of the world mostly remained neutral. China, Turkey, Azerbaijan (it hardly matters anyway) sided with Pakistan - overtly or covertly. For their own selfish reasons the world powers who matter will continue to hyphenate between India-Pakistan in unforeseen future for some time to come. Foreign policy is filled with hypocrisy and double standards. It always was, will continue to be the same.

The comfort of Air Conditioning

News from home galore about the ongoing brutal summer in India with mercury touching 45°C (115°F) in many places, a notch higher than normal at this time of the year. We just entered into the month of May, it's still a long way to go for Indian summer to end. A friend in need is a friend indeed. At this juncture no one is a better friend than the Air Conditioning, more popularly known as AC, thanks to a 25-year-old engineer from New York named Willis Carrier who invented the first modern air-conditioning. The mechanical unit, which sent air through water-cooled coils, was not aimed at human comfort, rather designed to control humidity in the printing plant where he worked. But down the road it became too ubiquitous and attached to comfort, more of a necessity than luxury these days.

Recently I spoke to my father who lives in Bhubaneswar. He apprised me of the current unprecedented heat wave the city in particular and the state of Odisha in general, confided to me of confined to AC rooms as open windows intended for cross air ventilation only brings in lava laced air meandering through the concrete jungle. Never ever in his life he was so much dependent on the AirConditioning. In between occasional power cut is making it worse.  When the Electricity comes back jump-starting the Air Conditioning, its whirring sound sounds like music to his ears.
We are too much conditioned to Air Conditioning these days. In USA, especially in South it can get hot and muggy during the summer. When faced with similar situation during my growing up days in India when the outside air was much hotter and more humid, I didn't run to the comfort of AC - because like most from my generation we didn't have AC in our home. Now every middle class household has at least one wall mounted Air Conditioning installed in their home.
I rarely felt the pang of heat, even during the hottest of summers in India. My generation in India grew up at a time when AC was a luxury. The weather was a lot salubrious then. For me exposure to AC was limited to its cooling comfort wafting inside the Computer Lab in NIT (then REC), Rourkela during my student life. Only two places in REC Campus had AC those days - Principal's office and the computer center. The first was out of bounds for us. But come April, we were smart enough to spend many afternoons inside the computer center sitting in front of the Vax 11/780 dumb terminals. Wasn't so lucky in Bhubaneswar where only a few restaurants and movie theatres had AC, who regularly cut corners to save money by switching it off now and then. The owners cheated their hapless customers of Air Conditioning by robbing them of comfort, easily taking them for a ride.

Urbanization and rapid growth of concrete jungles has made our cities hotter than before, but over dependence on AC makes us feel and complain more about the heat. As the saying goes in Odia - MANISHA SABUTHARU BADA SUBIDHA BAADI PRANI (Humans are creatures of comfort). Now that I have the comfort of AC, every now and then I look forward to it. Without access to it, I would adjust to the environment, vindicating Darwin's theory of the survivor of the fittest. Humans being intelligent animals readily adjust to the situations and cicumstances. That's why we survived whereas the dinosaurs, mammoths and mammoth number of animals part of the fauna didn't.

Same applies to most from our parent's generation who grew up in villages. After living in the cities for decades they can barely spend more than half a day in their native villages which do not provide the same levels of comforts as cities do. My grandmother who lived more than two third of her life without electricity was so much addicted to AC that she wouldn't leave her room which was a cool 20 degrees cooler than the outside world. She was too tuned to AC and refused to visit her native village in summer where she lived lived happily the better part of her life.

During the World war II at time of relentless Nazi bombing on England the British Royal Air Force fought bravely against the air blitzkrieg of Germany's Luftwaffe. Winston Churchill, then the British Prime Minister said about Royal Air force - "Never in the History of mankind so many were dependent on so few", a tribute to contributions of a handful of pilots who stubbornly defended the entire English population from the Nazi onslaught. Same can be attributed to AC - never in the history so many humans were dependent on a devise. Let's spare a moment to be thankful to Willis Carrier, the inventor of Air Conditioning, after whom "Carrier", a popular brand of AC is named.

RIP Chinmay Mohapatra - Bobby

 He was my classmate in school and my friend. A very active individual filled with warmth and affection, a talented singer and a huge fan of Sanjay Dutt. Chinmay Mohapatra, who also happens to go by his nickname Bobby, lived his life to the fullest until he passed away yesterday.

It is a small world. Chinmay was the son of Mr. R.C. Mohapatra, our history teacher in my Alma mater D.M. School in Bhubaneswar and a colleague of my mother-in-law Mrs. Swarnalata Devi who incidentally passed away exactly a decade ago. Chinmay lived in Acharya Vihar, a stone's throw from my in-laws house, a walking distant from School. I wasn't so lucky, so had to commute to school in our school bus, though traffic wasn't too bad those days when the arteries of roads of Bhubaneswar weren't clogged yet, so no bypass was needed.

Chinmay used to sing Kishore Kumar numbers pretty well, though his favourites were songs from Sanjay Dutt movies, an upcoming actor during our growing up days. Always an active member of our School Orchestra team, he enthralled the audience with his energy and enthusiasm. Unforunately I missed his performances in School during our Higher Secondary (called +2) days as I shifted to B.J.B. College closer to my home.

We lost touch for a while before reconnecting just before my marriage. Well known to me as well as my in-laws family he attended both sides of our marriage reception. I starkly remember him at our marriage reception at "Pantha Nivas", Bhubaneswar proudly holding his foot long mobile (cell) phone, a new gadget in town those days - neighbors envy, owner's pride.

After I moved to USA, connectivity increased as the world shrank to a global village. Soon we were back in touch via email, followed by social media which opened the floodgate of communication. We met many times in our hometown Bhubaneswar during my frequent trips to India. Recently I heard about him not keeping well these days, but never expected him to leave so fast, so soon. The news of his untimely demise was stunning, came like a bolt from the blue.

As I finish writing my obituary, I am tersly reminded of this Hindi song, an ode to a nice human being whose repertoire of affection towards his family of friends was never empty.

ZINDAGI SAU BARAS KI SAHI,
ZINDAGI KA BHAROSA NAHI;
CHAAND CHHOOP JAE KAB KYA PATA,
CHANDNI KA BHAROSA NAHI.
Transliterated..
Life is for living hundred years,
But destiny is unreliable forever;
Never know when moon can go into hiding,
For Moonlight is not worth relying.

May God give strength to his family, his brother and my friend Satyajit to overcome grief in this torrid time. Be happy in heaven my friend. Om 🕉 Shanti.

Nostradamus back again

 Whenever a major global event happens, Nostradamus is back again in the news cycle. If the noisy charters in the social media is to the believed, the 16th century bearded French Seer centuries ago envisoned the ongoing Ukraine War and also added that it would lead to World War III.

The bearded Gothic Clairvoyant is known to have correctly predicted the rise of Napoleon, both the World Wars and even named Hitler as close as "Hister" nearly 500 years ago. He said Hister will cross the Rhine River blitzkrieging through his opponents before finally destroying his country, killing millions and killing himself. One of his numerous predictions was about the rise of the New Land (as present day America was then referred then) as Superpower, with a Black President at the turn of the 21st century. He was laughed at then, as there were more Bisons than humans in America those days.

Nostradamus wrote all his predictions in an indecipherable cryptic form in his book aptly named "Centuries". Conspicuously, all his predictions are connected through dots only after an cataclysmic event occurs because of his indecipherable lingo. Social media posts about his predictions have gone viral, translated from cryptic Gothic to sensible meanings by myriads of self proclaimed translators and honorable graduates from the Whatsapp University, a la a computer translating binary code into readable text. Almost all predictions of the seer appearing on social media platforms appear bogus to me. Imitating his 15th century latin, there are so many horrendus predictionus or simply "fakus newsus" in his name circulating around.

During my college days in REC (now NIT) Rourkela, a common question during Quiz competitions was to name this great psychic and clairvoyant from France - the answer to that was Nostradamus. Those days his name was unheard of, enough to be part of any quiz questionnaire, a trivia for challenged brains. No more. His name is way too common these days to be part of any trivia/quiz question.

After the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center e-mails (there was no social media at that time) started circulating about Nostradamus's predictions - "At 45° (the latitude of New York) Big Birds (airplanes) will strike the heart of the most powerful nation". Regarding India he supposedly predicted the Queen (Indira Gandhi) who would rule India will be assassinated. She will be followed by her son.

We Indians in general are cynical in nature. So lies spread faster than Corona virus. Nostradamus also said to have predicted Corona virus pandemic and the arrival of our Messiah Narendrous Modus (Narendra Modi), who will be chosen over "Moronous Rahulus Gandhus (Rahul Gandhi)". Modus Operandus of Narendas Modus will take India to great length, breadth and heights of success, a superpower by 2024 - per his prediction. Well already in 2026 Mr. Modus doesn't have a great number of achievements to boast about, so being a superpower by 2050 now looks distantly impossibulus. Interestingly the French legend failed to see the rise of China as a superpower which is already happening. He also failed to see the rise of a class of Moronus Bhaktus in India.

However, the seer was silent on Odisha, probably outsourced the predictions to our own MAALIKA PANJI, the Odia version of "The Centuries". Not sure if there is print version of it or anybody has ever read it - it supposedly predicts "BAAISI PAHACHE KHELIBA MEENA (The legendary 22 steps leading to the Jagannath temple of Puri will be submerged in water with Fish playing on it). It was expected to happen during the tropical Cyclone Phailin, but our Lord Jagannath decided to take a Rain Check. Not sure if Nostradamus or Malika Panji predicted arrival of "Gullius Spreaders" on Facebuckus and Whatsap Alumnus on Whatsappus !

500 years since Panipat

 Today (April 21st, 1526) marks exactly 500 years since the first Battle of Panipat fought between Babur who went on to establish the Mughal empire in India and the Afghan king Ibrahim Lodi of Delhi. This engagement had a profound impact on the history of the Indian sub continent and Islamicate Asia.

Marching from Kabul in late 1525, Babur reached Panipat with around 10,000 men, vastly outnumbered by Lodi’s forces in 1 to 10 ratio. Yet numbers matter little against innovation and discipline. Babur introduced field tactics unfamiliar to India which included fortified wagon-lines, trenches and coordinated use of artillery. Using Ottoman inspired “Rumi” method, he anchored his army defensively while forcing the enemy into a narrow front. Babur then unleashed the Tulughma tactic, a fast moving cavalry sweeping around the flanks, encircling & raining arrows on the compressed enemy.

The result was decisive. The war which began at dawn on a hot day in the dusty fields of Panipat in modern day Haryana 100 years ago lasted until noon. Ibrahim Lodi was killed, his army shattered and Delhi fell soon after. The victory laid the foundation of the Mughal Empire, shaping the political and cultural trajectory of South Asia for centuries.

But the resistance to Babur didn't end there.
He had to face Rana Sanga, the King of Mewar in modern day Rajasthan who was a much more formidable rival compared to the Afghans under Lodhi. More importantly Rana Sanga did something unthinkable in Hindustan at that time. He united various Rajput Chieftains, who were known for their internal squabbling under one umbrella. The United front concerned Babur as he had heard valiant stories of bravery about Rajputs to consider themselves as descendants of Huns and an united army of Rajputs would be of dangerous proposition.

Both the armies of Babur and Rana Sanga faced off each other at Khanwa in eastern Rajasthan. One evening when ventured out of his camping Babur saw in the horizon smoke emanating from various places on Rana Sanga's side. Unfamiliar with Indian culture, he enquired why smoke was coming from so many places. He was told that the enemy's army consists of several groups based on their caste who won't eat together and have their separate units of cooking. That's why we can see so many places of smoke oozing. The Mughal King was bit puzzled by this.

Babur's army were already tired and scared of the fierceness and the greater number of Rajputs. With fledgling moral the forces from Central Asia who hated the heat and dust of India were reluctant to fight any further, wanting to go back home with their loot. But Babur managed to convince them to carry on by giving a religious color of "Jihaad" (Islamic Holy war) to fight against the infidel Hindus.

After a long, hard fought war, Rana Sanga lost the battle of Khanwa primarily due to the use of gunpowder technology which his adversary learnt from his maternal side of ancestry from China, the country credited to have invented gun powder, a game changer in the warfare for years to come. Rana Sanga's soldiers as usual went for a frontal assault for which the Rajputs are known. That was a fatal tactics to have against a battle hardened army known for its innovation, modern approach to war those days. Though brave and gritty, the Rajputs with their frontal assault attack plan were cannon fodder for Babur's blazing cannon.

Rana Sanga was injured by bullet and died shortly after. Thus ended the final resistance to Babur whose descendants continued to rule Hindustan for centuries to come. It was followed by British who like their predecessor too hated the heat and dust of the Indian subcontinent, ruled the country for couple more centuries to come. 500 years since the day Babur won the first Battle of Panipat, India has witnessed several turning points in history and possibly more to come. In millions of years its existence, the last 500 years is arguably the most memorable time in our history.

Hitler's birthday

 Today, April 20, is Adolph Hitler's 137th birthday. Love him or hate him, you cannot deny his place in history. No doubt he was a monster who caused death to millions. His role in the Jewish Holocaust was ghastly. He too was solely responsible for World War II which no doubt was Hitler's War, something he desired, something he could have avoided.

Our Hindu God Sri Krishna famously said to a recalcitrant Duryodhan in the famous epic MAHABHARAT teleseries of B.R. Chopra shown on TV during our childhood days - "SHANTI KA KOI BIKALP NAHI HAI (There is no alternative to peace). But like Duryodhan, Hitler didn't choose peace as an option and went for an all out war. Yet there is always something to learn from history and we cannot deny the place of German's Fuehrer in it.

The other day I saw one of Hitler's speeches on the History channel. He was no doubt a powerful orator and a popular demagogue, from the way he was driving his German audience crazy and berserk, responding hysterically to his histrionics and forming a set of blind Nazi Bhakts (devotees). Unfortunately that's the go of the world. When one speaks sensible things few listen, but one can drive people crazy by talking illogical and outrightly insane stuff. Hitler and demagogues like him (some very much exist in today's society) are known to be able to cast enchanting spells on humans who are inherently gullible and prone to be influenced by those who can promise to turn their aspirations and inferiority complex into reality by creating an illusion of progress. Often they successfully pick up a minority community as their bete noire whipping boys.

The British, co-towed by France sowed the seeds of the Second World War by humiliating the Germans with their absurd terms in the "Treaty of Versailles" at the end of World War I. America who until then kept aloof from global events, warned about the consequences of humiliating a proud German race, but the arrogant, cunning and conniving British had their way.

In the World War I which ended little more than a century ago, a diminutive German soldier who was poked fun at his funny moustache and short height by his strapping 6 feeter military mates sleeping inside his camp, suddenly had this strange urge to go outside. He duly followed his instinct and moments later a bomb wiped out the all the German soldiers sleeping inside where he was just moments ago. The rest is history - as this tiny man was no other than Adolf Hitler who survived that day to rewrite history by adding an important chapter to it.

World War II was Hitler's war. He started it and was on a roll with his blitzkrieg pulverizing his opponents in mainland Europe as he attacked one nation after another. Eventually he got carried away, attacking all, going for a multi front war and lost it. Had he not made the cardinal miscalculation of attacking Russia and America didn't interfere in World War II because of Japanese mistake of awaking a sleeping giant, today in all probability we would be speaking German and forced to buy their product.

It also reminds me the role destiny plays altering the courses of history. In 1556 during the 2nd battle of Panipat, Bairam Khan's hapless Mogul army were about to be slaughtered by the rampaging elephants and undefeated Army of the Hindu King Hemu when a stray arrow hit him in the eye, rendering him unconscious and causing his army to flee. Hemu was captured and beheaded. India's history could have been different with Hemu as the next Hindu King after Prithviraj Chauhan (in fact Hemu ruled Delhi for only 40 days before the fateful 2nd battle of Panipat ended his short tenure on Delhi throne).

Around 1750, Robert Clive, a frustrated Clerk in the British East India Company who pretty much failed in his life in his native England and arrived in India to try his luck, recovered from a bout of Malaria in hot and muggy Madras faraway from his home of salubrious English weather. Dejected, he tried to commit suicide by pressing his gun to his head and clicked the trigger only to be surprised that he failed again. After this incident he never looked back, had a meteoric rise, went on to establish the British empire in India.

History has its own turning points determining the destiny of the mankind and the time to follow. America was most benefited by the two world wars which catapulted it into a Superpower status. Not only the War helped US economy boom at that time and recover from the Great Recession, it also benefited by the arrival of Jewish immigrants from Europe who played a constructive role shaping the nation. One of them was Albert Einstein and the grandfather of Facebook's founder Mark Zuckerberg.

After Russia and Britain, Hitler's next target towards his desire for world conquest was US, though destiny had it's way. It would have been a tough call for the German Fuehrer given America's technological and military prowess. But the devilish man's Russian misadventure ended his dream.

Yet Hitler carved his niche as the Second Anti-Christ famously foreseen by the French Clairvoyant Nostradamus. The Seer also supposedly predicted the arrival of 3rd Anti-Christ and the 3rd World War. Not sure if that will happen in these turbulent times.

But one thing we have learnt from Hitler and his dream of Third Reich is that fanaticism leads to fascism and fascism leads to total destruction - as Hitler led Germany towards Gotterdammerung. We wish the man was never born this day in 1889.

Suicide at educational institutes

 A 19-year-old B.Tech student, Diksha Dubey, who hailed from Bihar, allegedly died by suicide on Thursday in the National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra in the state of Haryana. Previous suicides at NIT Kurukshetra include incidents in February and March, happening too often for comfort and raising concerns about student mental health.

NITs are considered premier Technical Institutions in India, next only to the IITs (incidentally many old NITs like NIT Rourkela, Trichy, Calicut are considered better than many new IITs which mushroomed across nation). The cream of the cream of our time used to clear a fair and highly competitive exam to earn a seat in these coveted  Technical institutes. Today also I believe it's still the same.

Regardless of being from a premier institute or not, it is so sad to see men and women at such young age taking a decision to end their lives. It needs to be noted that suicides have grown up exponentially in educational institutes these days. Part of is this reason sited by professors from IIT Madras to a friend of mine who lives in the United States and regularly visits his Alma mater whenever he makes a trip to India (America is filled with folks from IITs and NITs. It is said if you blindly throw a stone chances are it will hit someone passed from IIT or NIT). As confided by professors to him, these days many mediocre students are churned out of innumerable coaching institutes manage to clear the entrance test. Once in, when left on their own they can't cope up with the aggressive curriculum and choose to end their lives unable to face the failure and an over expectant milieu, including their parents.

Every person has right to live. It hurts utmost when someone commits suicide. And it hurts more, if that person happens to be young. Like every man and woman of their age, they too have a dream, but unwisely decide to procrastinate their unfulfilled dream by killing themselves. 

When does a person decide to end his or her life ? It's not just because of the frustration with life, it's more due to their lack of care or concern for rest of the world, which includes their near and dear ones. If I ever feel suicidal for some reason, I may resist that thought for a moment, if I think of my family, if not me. Apparently they don't care about their loved ones and decide to end their life at the spurt of the moment, never ever getting any second chance to regret over it.

Suicides in college campuses aren't so uncommon. Surging teenage hormone gone wild can create havoc in heart and mind, which can be due to failure in academics, romance or bullying by others. It reminds me of the iconic movie 3 IDIOTS where a student kills himself due to his frustration at his project being pooh poohed by the Principal of the College. The student Rancho played by the actor Aamir Khan complains about the mental stress the students undergo, leading to such avoidable tragedies. As the Principal gets defensive and refuses to take the blame, Aamir Khan replies - "I am rather blaming the entire system, not you Sir".

Aamir Khan speaks some hard truth in that movie. Students carry a lot of burden and expectations from their demanding parents and a cut throat competitive society. The simple equation Ambition - Achievement = Frustration holds good. Often they snap, as the lid of the pressure cooker comes off burning the face.

The greatest tragedy is silence of the silent majority, which is conspicuously deafening who mostly turn a blind eye to competition and peer pressure which are to be blamed. Can't resist repeating my often mentioned joke. A person once went to an astrologer, who after seeing his chart said " You will go bankrupt after two years". "What will happen after that ?" asked the person who was now somewhat concerned. The astrologer responded "You will get used to it". So the silent majority has got used to the chaotic system with a CHALTA HAI (let the status quo prevail) attitude. Don't be surprised if you hear news of more such suicides more frequently. 

RIP Asha Tai

The younger sister to the better known and more famous Lata Mangeskar, she outlived her and many prominent male singers of her time, especially the poular trio of Kishore Kumar, Mohammed Rafi, Mukesh and the fanous music director R.D. Burman whom she married, all who died in their 50s. She was Asha Bhosle, arguably the last singer from the golden era of Bollywood music who passed away today.

Like her elder sister Lata, Asha had longevity in her genes (the other sister was Usha who didn't rise to the same heights as her sisters duo of Lata and Asha). She was destined to live long as predicted by Satya Sai Baba, a famous Godman based in South India. She mentioned this episode in one of her interviews. Once she visited the famous Godman in latter's Puttaparthy Ashram sometime in the 1970s along with her close female friend. The saffron clad Godman smiled at them and told Asha "you will live a long life", while he told her friend - "Take care of your stomach". Very soon her friend died of stomach cancer. Asha lived much longer, passed away today after almost 50 years from this incident at the ripe age of 92.

Initially carrying the tag of Lata's younger sister, Asha carved a niche for herself in the Bollywood industry by rendering her voice to many hit songs, winning multiple awards spanning decades. It is alleged that Lata Mangeshkar, her elder sister used her influence in Bollywood music industry to promote her ahead of other talented female singers of the time, like Hemlata, Sushma Shreshta and Indrani Mukherjee. Those allegations were never proven. Nevertheless she sang many popular and famous songs, especially duets with Kishore Kumar who was at his peak in the 1970s and 80s.

Asha used to praise the versatility of his duet partner Kishore Kumar who would make her laugh to his crazy jokes, often at his expense. Once he made her laugh so much during the recording of a song that she told him - "Dada, please stop cracking jokes. I cannot concentrate on recording". The Mangeskar sisters had a love -hate relationship with the legendary male playback singer. 

His son Amit Kumar mentioned this in an interview - "Baba (Dad) will ask the producer how much money the Mangeskar sisters are charging ? Once the producer replied that Lata Mangeshkar was charging Rs.90,000 per song. A competitive Kishore would demand Rs.100,000 (one lakh), a gargantuan amount those days which the proucer obliged. Bollywood is known to be misogynistic with staggering gender remuneration gap. It is said that Kishore and the Mangeskar sisters later fell apart. Months before he passed away, Kishore Kumar refused to share the same podium with the Mangeskar sisters in a concert held in Bombay (now Mumbai). The eccentric genuius, was also known to be idiosyncratic and occasionally silly. 

Having a long, eventful life with multiple marriages incidentally with her better known elder sister who never married, in passing away Asha marks the end of an era of music industry. RIP Asha Tai. Om 🕉 Shanti.

How to catch a Bhakt

 I have nothing against BHAKTs (a prolific, popular slang for the blind Right leaning devotees of Modi/BJP. The tag sticks to them as iron sticks to magnet). Like everyone else they have every rights to their unflinching BHAKTI (Diehard Devotion) towards their MAHAPRABHU (Ultimate God). I have no issues with that. Their BHAKTI (devotion) is non of my business, until they get personal and start trolling me. 

Every Spring and Fall (Autumn) I get into the mode of cleansing my Facebook friendlist of such BHAKTs and still continue this practice. I follow a very simple method of scouring and smoking them out of their holes. So far it has worked well for me and I have been quite successful in my mission of trapping & eliminating them. 

How to catch a Bhakt ? During my childhood days in our ancestral Brahmin dominated village near Puri, I have seen a semi religious occasion followed by a grand gala dinner called "MAJENA" - An offering of Fish to our village Goddess "Ma Rangini" followed by a massive feasting on varieties of mouth watering dishes made out of fish - MACHHA BHAJA (Fried fish), BESARA (scrambled fish cooked in mustard paste), MACHHA KAALIA (fish Chunk curry), MACHHA MANJI (fish roe or egg) fries, MACHHA KHARADA (scrambled fish) and so on. 

Fish is procured from our village pond. The fishermen would enter into this pond called GAAI GADIA (named after cows taking bath inside the pond), wade through it several times, toing and froing from one end to the other, deliberately muddying the water. The small fishes like "KERANDI" who get agitated and start jumping around are the ones caught first. The process is repeated until the target for the evening MAJENA session is met. 

I do the same on Facebook by deliberately posting something critical of Modi, BJP, RSS, sarcastic memes and cartoons mocking and poking fun at them, especially superstitions peddled as phoney scientific theories simply to score cheap political goals and fake portrayal of their Supreme leader as "Vishwaguru" (the Guru of the entire Universe). It riles some Bhakts to no end. A la the "Kerandi" fish they start jumping around with their asses on fire. They bite the bait, start bad mouthing me. I lose no time in giving them the option of unfriending me - to go ahead and make my day. If they prefer I oblige them by reciprocating the same at my end. In extreme cases I block them, sometimes they beat me to it.

Last week I had to unfriend several folks from my Facebook friend list. The reason, although they wrote nothing against me but irritated me by their nonsense, parochial and outright moronic statements directed to my post and comments on my posts from some of my erudite friends. A few later said sorry, but my prudence prompted me to get rid of them. If you keep snakes in your backyard expecting to bite only your neighbors, then you are living in a fool's paradise. One day they will turn their fangs on you. It is wiser to wipe them off from my friendliest rather than leave any such scope for future. 

I am also reminded of this story great folklore PANCHATANTRA (The Five Treatise), a series of meaningful short stories compiled by our ancient story teller Vishnu Sharma. A king kept a monkey as his pet. His favorite simian became too close to him as the King treated the animal as a friend. 

One fine afternoon the King was enjoying his siesta. A fly came from nowhere and sat on his nose. The monkey saw it. Not wanting to disturb the king and get rid of the nuisance fly, the monkey grabbed the unsheathed sword of the King and took a hard blow at the King's face. The fly managed to fly away, but the King was dead. The moral of the story - "MURKHA BANDHU THARU BUDDHIMAN SHATRU SHREYASKARA", often an intelligent enemy is preferred to an idiot friend. This moral from hundred years ago still holds good. Lesson learnt, good riddance. 

So far this strategy has worked out well for me. I have already have my quota of fish and feel satiated for this year. Now I got to wait until the next MAJENA before I go on my next fishing expedition. Spring is just getting started, so also my cleansing. Elon Musk once said, “You don't lose friends. You lose undercover haters. Real friends can never be lost". He wasn't far from the truth. 

My goutlandish story

 This April is a landmark for me. It's now a decade since last time I got Gout - a painful inflammation on my left toe. That was April, 2016. Glad so far I have been spared from getting a repeat bout of gout. Yet as always illnesses can be predictably unpredictable and have a knack of hunting you down at the most inopportune moment. Quoting Scarlett O Hara from Margaret Mitchell's classic movie Gone With the wind, "Tomorrow is after all another day".

My first bout with Gout was 16 years ago when I was in India in summer of 2010. One fine hot and humid morning I woke up to a painful, inflamed toe. It hurt pretty bad, even the slightest touch of the soft blanket on my toe gave me a throbbing, stinging pain. It was so bad that one evening I couldn't wear my  shoes and had to cancel my planned trip to Bhubaneswar Club, a place which mandates wearing shoes.
The first thought came to my mind was that it's was probably an insect bite which caused this lingering pain on my toe. I took several painkiller pills which gave me temporary relief, but the pain stubbornly refused to go away. Late Dr. B.K. Das, an eminent physician and my father's friend upon seeing my symptoms suspected it as gout. The lab tests soon confirmed it, finding my blood saturated with more than the normal amount of uric acid. Medicines prescribed by Braja Mausa reduced the pain, but it still persisted, with me walking with a perpetual limp like the legendary character SHAKUNI of BR Chopra's  MAHABHARAT serial from my college days, until the pain slowly relented after completing the full course of the medications.

Now fast forward to April 2016, almost 6 years later. My tryst with gout continued, as after years it showed at my toe step. This time on American soil as I woke up to a big, painful toe. My Primary Care Physician prescribed a medicine to reduce the pain and another to reduce my high level of Uric acid. The medicine acted fast and swiftly reduced the pain, but gave me severe diarrhea. Less than a day after I started taking the medicine, at my workplace a sudden urge to relieve myself hurried me towards the Restroom (toilet). Before I could bang through the door, my boss appeared right in front of me exchanging pleasantries, though my mood was hardly pleasant at that time.

Struggling to hold on to my bowel with a smiling face, I had to bear the imminent nature call with clenched teeth. Suddenly I remembered Shakuni ridiculing Duryodhan in B.R. Chopra's MAHABHARAT serial - "MURKH WOHI HAI JO RONE KI WAQT PAR HASTE HAIN" (Fools are those who laugh at the time of crying). My smile was now slowly turning into a helpless grin. You should have seen my face and captured it on camera. It would have gone viral with million plus hits on YouTube.

To my relief, my boss got a call on his cellphone and melted away, leaving me alone to attend my nature's call. The journey of less than 10 feet from the restroom door to the stall seemed eternal. I tip toed as fast as I could, sat, shat and burst myself. Ahh..finally I came out immensely relieved of both bowel and gout pain, which was now gone with the wind. It reminded me the story of the legendary Odia witty jester Gopal Bhanda who convinced his King that world's greatest feeling of relieving oneself after taking a huge dump in toilet.

Gout used to be known as the Rich man's disease during medieval times though me, a poor victim of gout is no where close to rich. Mughal Emperor Akbar had gout. His Hakeems (doctors) struggled to treat him. King of England Henry VIII had multiple wives and multiple bouts of gout. Protein rich, high purine foods like red meat, shrimp, crab, turkey, bean, beer etc are said to cause of very high Uric acid, leading to gout. But I know someone, a strictly vegetarian and frugal foodie who also gets periodic bouts of gout. Guess genetics plays a role here.
The prescription medicines are good at providing instant relief, but would like to avoid them as they're not free from side effects. Eating a balanced diet, drinking plenty of water and doing regular exercise are recommended to prevent gout. As always, prevention is better than cure. Thanks for your patience for hearing my goutlandish story. Glad gout has spared me for 10 long years though tomorrow is another day.

April Fool's day - 2026

 March this year ended with a lot of uncertainty with wars, high oil price, stubborn inflation and speculation of impending recession. But being an eternal optimist I can see light at end of the tunnel as nothing lasts forever, not even bad things which happens to us. The first quarter of the year is about to end and the next month starts with April Fool's day, the first day of a new week, a new month and a new quarter. Time to gather some Foolish anecdotes while stepping into the All Fool's day.

April 1 is named FOOL'S DAY, after Steve April. He was born on 1st April of year 1579. He started 105 businesses in his lifetime, but none of them ever succeeded, losing all his father's assets. So everyone started calling him father of fools. At 19, he married a 61-year-old woman who divorced him after a month because of his foolishness. He used to carefully read all kinds of fake stories like we are doing now on social media. So we are no less fools than him.

Every year, 1st of April comes with its share of April Fool jokes. Even when we were keep washing our hands to keep Covid and other diseases away last few years, we shouldn't wash off our sense of humor. A few year's back April Fool joke from Google was - "Equator found to be slipping. Australia at risk of becoming a Northern Hemisphere country by 2055". Many actually believed it.

Not a whole lot are aware of the fact that Equator is an imaginary line. Once Indian President Giani Zail Singh was flying above the Equator. His secretary humored him - "Sir, can you see the equator below" ?  Zail Singh responded "Yes. I can see it and a car is slowly running on it". What he actually saw, was a lice walking on his long strand of hair, which just happened to fall right in front of his eyes.

MIT, Massachusetts which has produced hordes of innovators and Nobel winning Laureates is known for sheer wit and sense of mischief from its bright and creative students. In 1998, on All Fools' Day, MIT's homepage was rebuilt to announce that the Walt Disney Company had bought the famed institute for $6.9 billion. In same year in Pittsburgh where I was living, 1st of April came with a freak snow storm - fooling all on April Fool's day.

One thing I can't fathom - Why the Utkal Dibas (Odisha day) coincides with the April Fool's day ? It would not have hurt our forefathers to chose 31st March or 2nd April instead. We have been living in a Fool's paradise ever since, fooled time and again by our leaders who have taken us for a ride.

Never let a fool kiss you, or a kiss fool you - said Joey Adams, American Comedian (1911-99). Happy Fool's Day.

When your Commander-in-Chief has no militarily experience

 In the movie Movie "Last Castle" released in year 2001, the legendary Robert Redford is a 4 star general who goes to a military prison. Inside the jail he meets the man in charge of the prison played by actor James Gandolfini who shows him around many military decors he had collected. Instantly replies Robert Redford - "These collectibles can be gathered by a man who had never stepped a day in a battlefield". Robert Gandolfini wasn't amused.

Same is the case of Donald Trump. The man, is a draft dodger who has never stepped on a battlefield is unfortunately the Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful Military on earth who is fighting a war of choice with no clear goal in mind without any end game.

Politically the Middle East is an extremely complex place and the American is making it from bad to worst in its quest to control global energy. Add to it the Israeli factor. It is the Jewish state who is trying to fix Iran by firing gun from America's shoulder. If it backfires (which it looks like), it is US which will feel the brunt of it. America has happily walked into Israel's trap. War is rarely a solution to a problem. Most war mongers I have encountered, whether they are proponents of war against Pakistan, Iran or Ukraine have one thing in common. Forget about fighting a war, neither they nor anyone in their 14 generations from both sides of family lineage have ever held a real gun.

The Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussain kept Iran under control by fighting a decade long war with its eastern neighbor. US and the Arab nations indirectly supported Saddam until he went rouge in 1990. He had a personal hatred for Iran and famously said - "God shouldn't have created 3 things. Sand, mosquitoes and Persians". America went to Iraq and created a huge vacuum by removing Saddam Hussain for Iranians to fill in the void.

Not having its bete noire Saddam to fear, Iran expanded its influence to Iraq which is Shia majority nation and has 60% Shia population. Then it wanted to be the champion of the  middle east by fingering Israel by publicly announcing to wipe it out from earth when the Sunni majority Arab world went soft on Israel, having a healthy working relationship with the Jewish state. At the same time, Iran funded terror groups like Hezbollah and Houthis, the former fights Israel and the latter fights Saudi Arabia. Iran failed to realize that as an isolated country it cannot fight Israel and antagonize the Arab states at same time as the Sunni Islamic world will never allow a Shia majority country to be the leader of the Islamic Ummah.

So, long story short, the Middle East needs a political solution, not military. America which is still the superpower is currently led by one crazy man who is doing exactly the opposite. Now let's look at the two other major global powers - China and Russia. China, though growing powerful day by day, is not in a position to take global leadership role to solve Middle East crisis. Russia is knee deep in the Ukraine war. So ironically countries like Turkey, Egypt and even Pakistan are now playing the role of the peacemakers. Middle East, what a mess ! May Vishwaguru save it.

Adversity to Advantage

 History has witnessed many instances of men and women turning their weakness and adversity into advantage which is the secret sauce of their success. Instances are plenty, but let me address a few in chronological order, with one example each from Ancient, Medieval and Modern age of history.

Samrat Ashok from 260 BC in Ancient India and Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in the 17th century Medieval India are great examples of using their shortcomings as opportunities to turn the tides of fortune in their favor. Both killed their brothers to ascend the throne. Battle hardened, both eliminatrd their father's favorite, pampered and eldest son among others to ascend the throne.

Ashok was son of Bindusara and grandson of legendary Chandragupta Maurya. During his childhood a saint who came to Bindudara's court predicted that Ashok, not the the King's eldest son Sushim will follow him to powerful throne of the Magadh kingdom after killing all his brothers.

Bindusara ignored the  prediction. However his eldest queen and mother of eldest son Sushim was quite concerned. Apt at palace intrigues, jealous and insecure of her Souten's (co-wife and another queen) charismatic son Ashok's growing popularity, she succeeded in convincing the King to send Ashok to quell rebellion in some faraway province. While the eldest son Sushim stayed back, pampered in the Magadh court, Ashok polished his military skills by engaging with the enemies of the state. When he heard the news of his father the King's death, Ashok brutally killed his brother Sushim who tried to stop him at the gates of Magadh, followed by killing rest of his brothers (he purportedly didn't killed his brother from her own mother). As the Saint's prediction came true, the point is Ashok didn't whine about being banished out of the state at cost of his brother, the favorite to the throne, but used it as an opportunity hone his military strategy and acumen to go for the final kill when it mattered.

The medieval era Aurangzeb's case was slightly different. The brothers he killed were from his own mother's womb. The third son of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, better known for building the famous Taj Mahal saw from childhood his eldest brother Dara Sikoh being pampered and groomed for the throne by no other than his father Sah Jahan. Dara's marriage in year 1633 to his cousin (cousin marriages were common among Mughals) was a costly affair. Historians have estimated that amount to be over $48 million in today's money which surpasses all display of opulence.

Aurangzeb noted the favoritism shown by his father to his eldest brother, breeding hatred and suspicion towards both. 25 years later in 1658 when Dara Sikoh was mollycoddled in Mughal court groomed to ascend the famous Peacock throne after Sah Jahan, the 3rd son of Sah Jahan was sent by his father on missions to distant Afghanistan and Deccan. Unfortunately for both father and his favourite son Dara Sikoh, this mistreatment of Aurangzeb produced a tough and experienced warrior. While the suave Dara sat with Pundits busy learning Sanskrit and translating Upanishad (a sacred Hindu text) to Persian, his younger brother became a hardened combatant learning all scheming and political maneuvering needed to fight a war. When push came to shove, the battle tested Aurangzeb not only defeated and killed Dara, he sent an imprisoned Sah Jahan the severed head of the old man's favorite son. Aurangzeb like Ashok before him used circumstances adverse to him to his advantage.

Now let's jump to modern era. Unlike Ashok or Aurangzeb, the case of Naveen Patnaik, Odisha's Chief Minister for 24 consecutive years is not about blood or bothers, but him using his inability to speak the native language Odia, his perceived shortcoming which he turned into positivity towards his advantage. He read the minds of the Odias pretty well as him not speaking Odia created an aura of exceptionalism and exclusiveness around him in front of Odisha millieu. Like these Emperors he is known to be politically ruthless and trusts no one. But his voters loved him, his suave and soft demeanor.

This part of his personality can be attributed to his legendary father who was rumored to have a low opinion of his youngest son. It is noted in a well researched book written by a reputed journalist that sometime during the early 1990s when Biju Patnaik was in his last and final tenure as the Chief minister, his Delhi based socialite son Naveen, a frugal visitor to the state suddenly dropped in with his British friend at the state capital (Now it's other way round. Naveen Patnaik rarely steps outside state). The father Biju Patnaik avoided entertaining the duo in his house and instructed one of his ministers to house them at a local hotel. This is one of several instances the Odia legend snubbing his son for reasons best know to him.

It is said that the son has paid it back by not being a big fan and protagonist of his legendary father's vision, except using his name for political gains. Yet, a la Aurangzeb who ruled the longest amongst the Mughals for almost half a century, the ignored son of Biju Patnaik eventually had the last laugh by ruling the state longest post independent Odisha has seen, with the possibility of ruling further if he is still around 2029. He is another example of turning adversity to advantage. No wonder, History loves to repeat itself. What was served as ruthlessly in ancient and medieval age has repeated itself in the modern era.

The saga of fountain pen

A part and parcel of our childhood memories, an ubiquitous paraphernalia of our early student life was the ubiquitous 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 a staggered manner, going through a 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, though I preferred black. 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 to make it workable. Sometimes widening the nib with an used razor blade also did the trick.

Razor 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 RE. TOOPAAZA (Topaz) BLADE NEI DAANTA KURRIBARRA EKKA (Tonight using Topaz blade I will extract all the stains out of my teeth). Not sure if he ever got the job.

The iconic movie 3 IDIOTS pokes fun at our education system - our tendency to prefer complex solutions over simple ones, deliberately obfuscating 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 used 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, our teacher's curiosity to trace its 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 celebration written in ink had an unholy ending as no one ever dared to play this ink throwing 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. Wish you all had a Happy and Colorful Holy-day sans ink. 

Our social media warriors

 The ongoing Israel-US's war on Iran has set cat amongst pegions within social media in India. Many hitherto united due to their hatred against current Modi-BJP disposition are not only highly divided about a war where the Government of India has taken a neutral stance, they are rabidly warring among themselves more than the current war, being already divided and taking opposite sides. It is often outrageous and occasionally outright funny to see their clash of thoughts and watch them debating on social media. Those having opinions about the ongoing war in the Gulf fall into the following categories.

1. The Indian Liberals - especially those from an Eastern state of India known to have a long Commie leaning are not unexpectedly staunchly anti-USA although their idol Russia and comrade China have long relinquished communism and have a perfectly working relationship with the United States. America is certainly not above criticism and they have every right to be critical of its policies. But here comes their hypocrisy - they don't send their kids to Moscow or Beijing, rather to Marlyland or Boston and try their best to get American Visa for themselves. (One of my college mates and a huge critic of America had his US Visa rejected). If Hypocrisy would be an event in the Olympics, they would win Gold medal hands down.

2. Hard core Bhakts and supporters of Modi/BJP - They love to hate Iran and have a crush on Israel. Since time immemorial they have been cheering every time the Jewish nation bombs Hamas, Gaza or Iran. Some of them even address Israel as "Salom Dost" (salute my friend). Don't think common Israelis ever reciprocate in same frenzy and address us Indians as "Namaste Mitron". Even if Modi hugged Netanyahu (the later reciprocated the former's hug by an apparently uncomfortable embrace not to be seen as diplomatically impolite in public), the Israeli Prime Minister's "Fraandly" response was more strategic than any meaningful friendship with Modi. I am sure the Isreali commoners share the same feelings, without having any great love for us.

A few of them who are rabid Muslim haters are supporting Iran because of their antipathy towards Trump ever since the American President, once the darling of India's right wing now turned into rabid Trump/America haters. They are behaving like jilted lovers ever since their idol Modi was ditched by his Fraand Dolaand for his new love Pakistan. They come with their own confused defense of their support for Israel but opposition to USA - we stand with the Iranian public but are against their Ayotollah leadership. They are against American attack on Iran, at same time they're for Israeli attack on Iran, as if the results of their attacks are any different. Have you ever heard of more confusing opinions ! Regardless, the deserve a Silver medal in hypocrisy.

3. Indian Muslims - No surprise or hypocrisy here. They were anti Israel and Trump from the beginning, they are still now. Most of their love towards Iran dwell on religious affinity rather than understanding of the complex Middle East crisis. While they are critical of killing of innocents in Gaza (I too consider killing of innocents as inhuman), they are conspicuously silent of the attack by Hamas on innocent Israelis and the atrocious atrocities of the Iranian Mullahs on their own citizens, especially women. Bronze medal in hypocrisy goes to them.

Regardless of what's happening in the Middle East, the issue is too complicated to be solved militarily. A long term political solution is the key no one is talking about. Forget laymen like us, even professional foreign policy analysts have no clue about any long lasting solution. Middle East, what a mess !

Happy Women's Day

 There is a song from Amitabh Bachchan's blockbuster movie "KHUDDAR" which was released in the year 1982 where the tall actor who was the unquestioned Superstar, King and the one man Bollywood industry sings onscreen the Kishore Kumar's song -

"MAA KA PYAAR, BEHAN KYA PYAAR,
KABHI KABHI DULHAN KYA PYAR,
TERE PYAAR KA RANG HAZAAR".

Roughly transliterated...

"Mother's love, Sister's love,
Sometimes the love of the beloved,
Their love comes colored in thousands".

March 8 being the Women's day reminded me of this song from my teenage years. The love of mother and sister is in its purest form, precious and unadulterated, like the clear Spring water bubbling out of the top of a glacial mountain. It is perennially pristine, unequivocally soothing, unwavering and unflinching. When I go to India, my mother's hug and caressing hands used to feel so soothing, something I longed for days, months and years. Mother's love is panacea to all ills plaguing mind and body, heart and soul. Unfortunately she is no more. I am yet to get over the loss and probably never will.

The love of the beloved comes next, with the disclaimer of "Kabhi Kabhi" (sometimes) tied to it. It reminds me of another Bollywood movie titled "DULHAN WOHI JO PIYA MAN BHAYE" - "Beloved is the one who keeps her Lover happy". In my opinion, it applies other way round too. It is also the duty of a lover to keep his beloved happy, the men to keep their women happy, yet our misogynistic society rarely mentions about it. (Bollywood is still a misogynistic institution, filled with nepotism and hypocrisy. Otherwise how could be a silly movie like "Animal" released few years ago where a woman asks a man to lick his shoes be a big hit making millions) ?

But unfortunately with the progress of time, in the age of cutting edge technology where thoughts can fly in twinkle of an eye, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Robots are replacing humans, the world has become anything but respectable to the fairer sex. Women are still belittled, harassed, persecuted, suffer from inequality and often treated as sex objects. There are plenty of stories of battered women, not from slums but from the so called elitist families. Discussing it here is beyond the scope of this blog. But I can say with confidence that I personally know many Indians and folks of Indian origin here in America boasting openly about treating their women as doormats, humiliating their wives in public like drop of a hat to prove their masculinity and indulged in rampant cheating.

I am now reminded of the Hindi saying - "MUCHHE WOHI RAKHTE HAIN JIN KE APNI MARDANGI PAR SHAQ HOTI HAI". Roughly transliterated it means - "Those who keep Moustache are those who got doubts on their masculinity". Similarly, those who needlessly boss over their women have an inferiority complex about their masculinity. I remember a scene from movie "ARJUN PUNDIT" where actor Sunny Deol slaps actress Juhi Chawla. An angry and humiliated Juhi retorts back - "AGLI BAAR IS HAATH KISI MARD PE UTHANA (next time you better try hitting a man using this hand of yours). I consider it isn't masculinity, rather a cowardly, despicable act to physically hit a woman universally considered as the weaker sex.

One guy, who doesn't live very far off from me well known for conquering whores once bragged in front of me that women should be treated as slaves and physically beaten, then quoting an Odia proverb to drive his convoluted logic -

"NAARI, GADHA, BHRUTYA AAU  DHOLA,
TANKU JETE BADEIBA SETE BHALA".

Roughly translated

"Women, Donkey, Servants and Drum,
The more you beat, the better they Perform". 

It made me feel sick to my stomach. I told him impromptu on his face in no uncertain terms, LOUD and CLEAR, that I COMPLETELY DISAGREED with him and believe that beating women, animals or servants is not only utterly disgraceful, it is cowardice, despicable act and the ultimate form of indecency. 

The fairer sex is no more the weaker sex. Things are changing of late, though not as fast we would desire. Still facing hurdles in their life, women have come a long way, matching mano to womano. They have succeeded, equalled and even bettered men in myriads fields. We still have some catch up to do and miles to go before achieving the gender equality of accepting women as equals. On the occasion of Women's Day I salute all women who have made a significant difference to my life, contributing to it, shaping my knowledge and character, like a potter shaping pottery out of clay. Happy Women's Day to all !!!

Ides of March

 Beware of the Ides of March. As weather warms up with the arrival of spring, the month began with a turbulent world heating up Middle East as war and turmoil there continues unabated with no sign of Russia's war against Ukrain ending anytime soon. It is further accentuated by uncertain economic future ransomed by Trump initiated war.

Historically nothing new about a tumultuous March as it brings back memories from a major historical event tied to this month eons ago, when Julius Caesar, the scion of the great Roman Empire was murdered inside the Senate by his own insidious colleagues, many he believed were his friends.

Julius Caesar was a fascinating character in history, a great general and politician, a handsome, muscular, flat stomach man with a magnetic persona, the Knight-in-Shining armor darling of the Roman women presiding over 50 million people of the Great Roman empire at its zenith of power, extending from Britain to Syria, from Bavarian Alps to North Africa. 50 million was a gargantuan population 2,000 years ago.

With success comes jealousy, rivalry, enemies and backstabbers. This has been since time immemorial, a basic human nature unaffected by passage of time. Caesar was a victim of his own success. In the quest for power a person's near and dear ones (as usual) can be your worst enemies. We have this Odia adage - "ANTI CHHURI TANTI KATE" (the waist knife can cut your throat, or your so called near and dear ones are the first ones to backstab you). It was vindicated two millenniums ago that politics invariably and eventually trumps over military. Most who planned Caesar's assassination were his close friends, especially his closest buddy Brutus of "Et To Brutus" fame. Those were Julius Caesar's last words as Brutus pulled the dagger on him to snuff life from his body.

Historians differ on how close Brutus was to Caesar. Some say they were extremely close. Others say it wasn't so, as Brutus once unsuccessfully rebelled against Julius and was pardoned by the later for he was the son of Caesar's mistress. He always had a grudge against Julius to settle, for he harbored the humiliation of often taunted for his mother's allegedly affair with Caesar. It is said Brutus's mother simply couldn't resist and succumbed to Julius's charm. Personal anger and jealousy can be a lethal concoction leading a person to get vindictive. Brutus was waiting for the opportune moment to push the dagger on Julius to backstab him.

The role of another Mistress of Caesar, the powerful Egyptian Queen Cleopatra in this imbroglio can't be ignored. She was from Royal Egyptian bloodline with a legendary blend of beauty and brain, a talented woman who spoke multiple languages and dabled in politics and medicines with equal aplomb. Cleopatra who was rumored to take bath in pure milk to preserve her beauty accentuated Caesar's ambition to be the ruler of great Roman empire by suggesting subjugation of Senate - the people's elected body. She too fell for Julius Caesar's irresistible charm.

Power could be an addictive aphrodisiac and its still now. Thousands years down the road we have seen democratically elected leaders soon developing dictatorial tendencies - Indira Gandhi, Trump, Modi and many more included. Cleopatra, who was the daughter of a politician from Egypt's powerful establishment and quite familiar with the palace intrigues saw this coming. It is said that based on a dream she had the night before her husband's Brute(al) assassination, she warned Julius Caesar to be on guard. But drunk with sheer public adulation, fame and the accompanied over confidence he chose to ignore her, least expecting an assault to come from his close friends on his familiar Senate floor.

Power often prevents the powerful from being aware of the vacuum surrounding them, keeping them myopic not to be able to see the approaching storm, leaving them off guard and vulnerable. China's all powerful President Xi Jinping who has consolidated power in China, the second largest powerful country in world couldn't see Corona virus coming. Trump ignored it only to pay a price of getting defeated after his first term. In India, Indira Gandhi, the iron lady Prime Minister with dictatorial tendencies was assassinated at the peak of her power when she was a pan Indian cult figure.

From Shakespeare's novel it looks as if the attack on Caesar was impromptu on that fateful Spring day inside the Roman Senate. But the sinister plot to kill him was hatched long before and later implemented to perfection. Gladiators were kept ready as back up, in case the best laid plan went wrong. Caesar was assassinated on the Senate floor as planned.

Plenty of water has flown in the river Tibur (the bank on which the city of Rome was established ) since that fateful day in the month of March. Guns, bombs, missiles have replaced dagger as the killing machine. Humans can fly into space and their thought can travel at twinkle of their eyes, with the world shrunk to a global village as Artificial intelligence and Robots take over.

Yet for quest of absolute power politics, the backroom deals, back stabbing, jealousy,  assassinations, leaders with dictatorial tendencies vying to consolidate power hasn't changed over the past 2000 years. The basic human nature hasn't changed at all. March has just started, we are not done with it yet. Beware of the Ides of March.

Israel - US launched strike on Iran

 Middle East is boiling again as Israel and America have launched attack on Iran behind the smokescreen of talks going on between US and Iran. It is rumored that the Iranian Supremo Ali Khamenei has been eliminated, though we all know that truth is the first casualty of war. Here are the major forces who are in action and what's in stake for them.

1. USA - I remember in 1996 US firing Monica missiles on targets in Afghanistan at peak of Bill Clinton's Lewinsky scandal. Fast forward 30 years to 2026. It's time for "Epstein" missiles to fall on Iran. Also pro-Israeli Jewish lobby is very strong in USA, a country which has more Jews than any country including Israel. American jews are extremely rich, powerful and influential. Their writ runs in any US Administration, regardless of Republican or Democrat. Trump who promised to end American involvement in overseas wars is true to the salt of his fellow Republicans is involved in wars, dancing to Netanyahu's tune. With US $38 trillion national debt and still growing,. the country can at least afford a war at this juncture.

Israel - The country seems to be obsessed with Iran and fully using America to do its dirty work. Ever since Israel was formed in 1948, followed by immediate recognition from US and UK the country along with its middle east neighborhood is in perpetual turmoil with no end in sight. Now too both countries have come swinging in support of the Zionist state unlike most of their NATO partners. But end of Iranian regime doesn't mean that Israel will be allowed to live in peace and tranquility. A place as complicated as Middle East can't be solved militarily, it needs a long term political solution.

Iran - It has done the strategic mistake of trying to be the hero of the Muslim world by taking on Israel which is more than thousand miles from Iran and both countries don't share a common border. In its zeal to be the darling of the Isramic world it started to poke Israel. This hasn't gone well with the Saudi Arabia led Sunni world of Middle East for whom Shia Iran is more dangerous than Zionist Israel. Iran is paying the price of taking the Israel bull by horn when the other Middle East Sunni dominated nations have compromised with it,grudgingly accepting Israel's existence to coexis with the Jewish state.

China - It is a country which ruthlessly follows its self interest policy with long term goal to dislodge America from its position of world's superpower. This war gives it an opportunity to test its weapons against American's with whom it is fast catching up. It is shrewd enough not directly get involved in a war, although it is a major buyer of Iranian oil. In one way we can see it as a proxy war between China-Russia versus US-Israel axis.

Russia - A long time partner and weapons supplier to Iran, it is busy in its war in Ukraine. Economically not in great shape, its war ridden economy benefits from high gas price due to the turmoil in the Middle East. Trump's softness towards Russia is pretty well known and American President will make sure that Putin is kept in good humor. Don't be surprised if top officials of the present Iranian regime end up finding asylum in Moscow.

India - Incidentally Prime Minister Modi was in Israel just few days ago when Israel-US were openly plotting to launch an attack on Iran. Incidentally Donald Trump already went public mentioning America was preparing to strike Iran. The recent public show of hospitality and extension of red carpet by Netanyahu towards Modi is not due to Israel's love for India, but as a timely strategy. Not that Netanyahu loves our Vishwaguru's white beard or fake laugh, being mostly isolated these days even by its erstwhile friendly western European nations, Israel is desperate for any support from any quarter in any form. In that context it doesn't hurt Israel to court India. No more, no less.

There are folks on social media fed with fake propaganda of India being a Vishwaguru are demanding India to intervene to stop the war. Let's be realistic here setting our jingoism aside. Do you think that US and Israel will listen to India and stop the war ? What leverage it has got to impress Israel and USA to change their mind to stop the war ? Modi was in Israel only few days ago when Israel was already in preparation for the war. What magic India has to stop the war at this moment ? The best option for India would be to follow a wait and watch policy as it won't do anything, as it cannot do nothing. Let's just keep fingers closed and hope for the best for the entire world.

Two men of February - Manoj Das and Khushwant Singh

 As we March into the month of March, February is the month I remember for giving birth to two great Indian writers - Manoj Das an Odia writer of international fame and Khushwant Singh, who needs no introduction. Both are my favorites whose simple, crispy and lucid style of writing without using many bombadistic words has a tremendous influence on me. 

Both are unique and contradictory in their own way  - One known for his sagacious and the other for his salacious writings. Manoj Das's writing touches the simple truth and philosophy of life. He never hurts a fly. But Khushwant Singh never spared anyone, including himself and his Sardar community by his self deprecating jokes, often mocking at his own religion and community.

Books by both authors are enchanting writing and make a fabulous read. Manoj Das was an excellent story tellers, his philosophical writing was way beyond to comprehend for a layman tyro like me. Both have some serious writings to their credit - Manoj Das with his philosophical stuff which can only be understood and appreciated by folks at an higher level of intellect (not me). Khushwant Singh is known for his volumes of "History of Sikhs" which is regarded as an authentic treatise and researched encyclopedia about the Sikh community and the religion.

Manoj Das was a vegetarian and spiritual person to core. Khushwant Singh loved his Spirits in the form his Scotch every evening. Prayers and Devotional songs were Sri Das's company during the evening, while the old Sardar cherished the company of wine and women his company. The fairer sex were attracted towards his intellect. He listened to their sorrows (most women have their secret sorrows to share) and his company was a soothing balm for them. The Sardar was smart enough to figure out Indians mind's hypocrisy and obsession with sex which he catered well in his work. Manoj Das never veered into that territory in his writing which was clean as a whistle.

Unlike poles are known attract each other. Manoj Das's short stories were serialized by Khushwant Singh when the later edited "THE ILLUSTRATED WEEKLY", the most widely read and circulated magazine in 1970s. Those days many were desperate to get their short stories published in Illustrated Weekly magazine. But Khushwant Singh would include Manoj Das's short stories which he found to be uniquely unique, very authentic and original.

Writings styles of both eminent writers were poles apart. The Sardar, a master of glut of smut, thrived on liberal dosage of crude humor, fart and sex, whereas Manoj Das's revolved on nature and life, the subtle humor hovering around its vagaries. No wonder Khushwant Singh who rejected many stories sent to him published many short stories written by Manoj Das because of the authenticity in the later's writing. Sri Das eulogized the witty Sardar as "JANE NIRBHIKA LEKHAKA" (One fearless writer). It is proved by the fact he dared to take head on the likes of Bal Thackarey and Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale at a time most other journos when expected to bend, volunteered to crawl before the those self proclaimed lords and myopic hate mongers).

Manoj Das, in his tribute to Khushwant Singh after the later's death has described how liquor used to flow during evenings at the Sardar's party, while Manoj Das would be sipping his endless glasses of Tomato juice. These two great writers formed a unique bond in diversity, of mutual trust and respect. The old Sardar still kept writing well into his late 90s and may Sri Manoj Das too. Khushwant Singh lived until 99 and Manoj Das late 80s. Kudos to both.

Urban legends from Childhood days

 Like many from my generation, I grew up amidst several Urban legends (few Rural too) in Odisha. For a long time I believed them as gospels written on stone. Here you go :

Jeff Thompson was known to be the fastest bowler during my childhood days. It was then said, to Sunil Gavaskar, the better known cricketer of our time, once the ball came out of Thompson's hand it looked like a woman's Sindoor (Vermilion dot which adores Hindu women's forehead as a symbol of marriage). A la Hindu women, it was destined for Gavaskara's (Sunny's last name pronounced in a thick Odia accent) forehead.

But our little Gavaskara knew about this folklore attributed to him. Because the Little Master had the height advantage of having a small height, readily ducking Thompson's "bounsara" missiles without getting hurt. As we know in India, cricket is more skewed towards the batsmen (probably the reason why we rarely produce quality fast bowlers). So whatever supposedly came out of our Gavaskara's mouth who dominated in the 1970s and 80s was treated as the gospel.

A guy in our neighborhood used to say that the world's fastest bowler was Lillian Thomson. Many would be wondering how can be a woman be the world's fastest bowler in a male dominated sport. Fast bowlers are known to hunt in pairs, so he innoculosly combined Lillie and Thompson duo as Lillian Thomson. But unfortunately later on we alluded the guy as "Gullian" Thompson (Gullia in Odia means a person who kills light hearted jokes).

In the 1979s a person from near my ancestral village near Puri, Odisha got into the Civil Services, undoubtedly the most cherished job those days when government was the largest employer in the country. The legend goes like this. In the UPSC interview panel he was questioned - "What's Half Circle, Full Circle, Half Circle A, Half Circle, Full Circle, Right Angle A". Instantly came his answer - "Coca Cola", which catapulted him to a top rank above the rest who were not brilliant enough to answer this question correctly. Not sure if that question prompted George Fernandez, the champion Socialist of that era to drive Coke and IBM out of India. It's rumored he toiled hard to nationalize the Tatas, the largest private sector of the time. Glad sanity prevailed, nothing of that sort happened.

And this one beats all - the myth about Mahatab's head. A widely circulated story attributed to the brain of late Dr. H.K. Mahatab, a Congressman and ex-Chief Minister of Odisha and the Governor of the state of Maharastra. Considered to be a wily politician of his time, it is said after his death America secretly fetched his head from Odisha to investigate and explore the secrets behind his masterly shrewd political brain.

It is still rumored to be well preserved is some remote research lab in the United States as the American scientists still can't fathom the depth of his immense political acumen and shrewness. Source of this GULLI (a light hearted joke) is most likely the Old Town area of Bhubaneswar where he lived and still has a lot of fan following. Many credit him for being the Founding Father of the New Capital city of Bhubaneswar who influence with Nehru tipped Bhonsara in its favor rather than the originally panned Anugul as the capital city of Odisha. Never know one day I might stumble upon a mummified head in some museum in US with a slab underneath it 'The Brainiest Head in the history of Mankind'. 
 
The story about his head is a devotional lie which transformed itself into a well believed truth. No wonder Goebbels, Hitler's propaganda Minister during the days of Nazi Germany famously said - "A lie repeated hundred times becomes the truth". We have an Odia proverb - "TINI TUNDARE CHHELI KUKURA - " a goat can be a dog if three mouths say so". The meaning is self explanatory as lies after lies peddled these days are believed as gospels by gullible folks.