Raja festival of Odisha 2026

The month of June is regarded as the beginning of the summer season in USA, whereas in Odisha, my home state back home in India it marks the beginning of the end of the blistering, hot summer season. RAJA SANKRANTI is a popular festival during this time of the year - especially in the long, culturally and historically rich coastal Odisha welcoming the monsoon rains which brings down the scorching heat prevalent for months.

The festival invariably comes in mid June per the Gregorian calendar and marks the beginning of the summer crop plantation, especially rice. Raja festival isn't native to Western Odisha and frugally celebrated there. It is also considered as the harbinger of the cooler rainy season, as the South West monsoon rolls over the state from the North East, lashing it with silvery stripes of rain. The nimbus cloud bearing dark sky gets alive with the spectacle of flashes of white lightning as if zillions of flashlights are switched simultaneously in the sky, a la the zigzag lights on a circus stage or a JATRA (dance troupe) show popular in Odisha. During daytime the rain is often followed by the sky getting rewarded in the form of a rainbow of garland. These long awaited rains bring much needed relief from the long streak of heat and prickly humidity, healing the parched earth dried from a long, extended Indian summer.

As the silvery monsoon rains ornament the thick humid air, the perfume of PODA PITHA (baked rice cake) pervades the environment. Young and old alike play on DOLI (swings), with men snarling their blackened teeth and girls exposing red pouty lips - post effect from chewing PAAN (betel leaves filled with colored condiments and scented tobacco for those habitual with the stuff). The drenched earth, now softened by the fresh summer rains on parched earth accompanied by wafting petrichor scent, gets ready for tilling, marking the beginning of the KHARIP crop farming season when water supply gets plenty due to monsoon rains. 

I still cherish the memories of my trips to our ancestral village near Puri during my childhood days for a fun filled lunch of GHEE (clarified butter) laced NADIA KHECHUDI (coconut sprinkes sweet rice), thick sweet DAAL (Lentil soup), an array of Curries and fries, washed down with KHIRI (sweetened skimmed milk). It would invariably be followed by an afternoon session on the RAJA DOLI (swing). Dinner would be PITHA (Rice cakes) and more varieties of PITHA - the icing on the cake would be occasional PODA PITHA made from ripened TAALA, fruit from tall palm trees, as a fitting finale to a day of RAJA MAUJA (fun).

I remember the tall palm tree standing taller than the surrounding Coconut trees behind our house in our village, right behind our home facing a green pond perennially covered with a cessful of watercress in its dark, stenchful barely visible water where locals wash their utensil as well as their buttocks post defecation. During the early monsoon close to the 3 day long Raja festival these large brownish-black color fruits from the palm tree, looking like coconut sized plums with a yellowish orange pulp ripen and fall off from the tree. Many roll into the green swamp. Those who survive make their way to make PODA PITHA of different flavor. I was sad to hear that particular palm tree ruptured from its middle as it couldn't withstand the devastating force from Cyclone Fani a few years back, closing a chapter of the history of my ancestry. 

A few summers ago in Odisha, on the morning of RAJA Festival I switched on the TV. A promotional song LEMBU, ATI CHUPUDILE PITA (Excessively squeezed lemon tastes bitter) from an Odia movie scheduled for the RAJA release (same as prominent Bollywood movies go for a Diwali or Eid Release) was playing on screen as an Odia actress danced to the tune of a song from that movie. It was symbolic of Raja being commercialized, now  celebrated in big hotels in bigger cities as the action has shifted from the villages to the cities.

This was followed by an interview of the actress. It didn't go unnoticed to me that a discussion about an Odia movie, between an Odia anchor and a leading Odia actress getting released on a leading Odia festival, was taking place with a typical accented Odia with almost an equitable spread of 50% Odia, 30% English and 20% Hindi. Speaking in pure Odia is a sign of being a GAUNLIA (from village origin) these days, whereas talking accented Odia sounds so cool. A lot of billboards and commercials on local newspapers take pride in pronouncing RAJO instead of RAJA. 

A person usually speaks with an accent when speaking a language other than his or her mother tongue. Odisha is perhaps the only place on earth, where some (certainly not all) natives, especially from the new generation not only love to speak their own mother tongue with an accent, also chose to write it in another accent, e.g, RAJA as RAJO, MANSA as MANSHO bear testimony of it. Wish you a Happy RAJA (certainly not RAJO) from the bottom of my heart. Have a feel and fill of RAJA MAUJA.

My tryst with AC going poof

There is a saying in Odia - MANISHA SABU THARU BADA SUBIDHA BAADI PRANI (Humans are creatures of comfort). No wonder I was vindicated in last 24 hours.

I normally set my home temperature at 78°F (25°C) in summer. Yesterday afternoon no sooner I entered my home, than I felt a burst of warmth, not the usual cool comfort of humming sound of the Air Conditioning on a  summer day. I instantly suspected that something was wrong with my AC. Soon my worst fear came true. The thermostat read 84°F (27°C). It was tell tale sign of the Air Conditioning going poof.

It wasn't until the next day afternoon the AC mechanic arrived. Fixed my Air Conditioning Unit cost me a cool $278. As the unit started pumping out pleasantly cool air wafting across my house, it was literally a breath of fresh air for us. The humming of the AC circulating fresh air sounded like music to my ears. The sight of the slow climb down of the thermostat from 84°F to 78°F felt so comforting.

The outside temperature was 92 degrees (33°C), nothing compared to the Indian summer heat of 40°C (104°F) I was accustomed to, much higher with the heat index if you take the sweltering humidity into consideration. During this time of the year we go through the phase of ANASARA GULUGULI (muggy) days in Odisha. The almost static air, pregnant with water vapor and barely moving a leaf on trees becomes unbearable. One feels like a melting man with hardly any relief in sight. We all took solace from a free Sauna bath.

Without access to Air Conditioning we can 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 couldn't.

Yet we didn't complain and suffered the heat of the summer and humidity into our stride those days when Air Conditioning, now ubiquitous, was strictly a luxury item - a fantasy for the Indian middle class. But nowadays just 90 degree Fahrenheit heat with lot lesser humidity makes me feel like a fish out of water. 24 hours without AC felt like eons. Man is definitely without any doubt a creature of comfort and I am certainly not an aberration. Just 24 hours without AC in summer vindicated this fact.

During World War II at the time of relentless Nazi Bombing the British Royal Air Force fought bravely against the air blitzkrieg of Germany's Luftwaffe. Winston Churchill, then British war time Prime Minister said this about the Royal Air force - "Never in the History of mankind so many were dependent on so few", a tribute to the contribution of the handful of pilots who stubbornly defended the entire English population from the Nazi onslaught. Same can be attributed to AC - "Never in the history of Mankind, so many humans were dependent on a mechanical unit". When in the summer month of July, 1902, a 25-year-old engineer from New York named Willis Carrier invented the first modern air-conditioning, little he knew his invention would be indispensable a century later.

How two rainstorms shaped history

How two rainstorms decided the fate of British Empire by defining the outcome of two major wars and the future of two British colonies on both sides of the world.

The Englishmen were lucky from the outset of the Battle of Plassey fought in a mango orchard of Bengal. It was the month of June and a heavy pre-monsoon downpour wetted the gunpowder of the Army of local Nawab Siraj-ud-Daula who was preparing to take the British Army head on. His generals were foolish not keep the gunpowder dry from the pouring rain. In contrast, Robert Clive, the master strategist leading the much smaller British army had the foresight to cover his gunpowder stock with rain proof tarpaulin.

No sooner the rain cleared and the war started, than English cannons came blazing in full force. The Nawab's army already weakened by treachery of Mir Jaffer and his soggy gunpowder failing to ignite, the helpless cannons were witness to a crushing defeat of the Nawab's army. This victory was a major step towards the establishment of the British empire in India. The year was 1757.

Exactly 20 years later in 1777 on other side of the globe, the same British were engaged in a fight to the finish with the American army led by the legendary George Washington near a city to be later named after him close to river Potomac. Washington was a bit nervous due to the size and sophistication of the professional, experienced and battle tested well trained British Army and the French help on its way was days away.

Just before the battle began, the wind started gathering speed. The sky started turning into gray, suddenly becoming dark with lightning as powerful Nor'ester approched which is very typical of North Eastern America during summer. The Armies from both sides failed to see the gathering storm and were rattled, but it was the British standing on a lower ground were at the worst receiving end. Their powerful but heavy artillery and cannon got buried, stuck in slush mud. The horses and men were scattered helter skelter. Damage caused by the weather was devastating enough to stop the war not for hours but for several days before the French troops arrived from the North to bolster the American troops. Boisterous with the new enforcement, the Americans led by an able General in George Washington managed to defeat Lord Cornwallis's British Army in a bitterly fought yet divisive war which led to the foundation of the United States of America.

A frustrated, dejected Lord Cornwallis under whose wings the British faced a rare defeat at that time, later went to India to establish the British empire there, its crown colony by defeating Mysore's Tipu Sultan few years later. This is how two rainstorms in 12 years shaped history of the world separated by 12 time zones.

Happy birthday Binod Kanungo

 Today is the birthday of another of Odisha's forgotten heroes. His name is Binod Kanungo, the man who wrote GYANA MANDALA or Encyclopedia in Odia.

Born this day in the year 1912, Mr. Binod Kanungo wasn't highly educated, nor he earned any fancy degree. But he was a brilliant student and a voracious reader. Like many famous creative persons he was a school dropout, though he left pursuing formal education for a different reason. Inspired by JATIYA KABI (National Poet) Bira Kishore he decided to drop out of school on 10th of April, 1930 to join in full fledge the Freedom movement against British.

After being released from the jail, in post independent India he had the option of plunging into the more lucrative profession of politics. But spreading knowledge was his motto, so he settled down in Cuttack which was the cultural epicenter, a happening place Odisha at that time, the state's capital and a counterpart of our present day Bhubaneswar. To give him company was his frugal possession of a 1 Rupee note (bill), a cotton shirt, a MASINA (plain mattress) and his most prized material - An array of books.

He never pursued formal education, nor thrived for a degree which could have landed him a decent job those days. A la the famous dropouts Bill Gates, Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg, he went above and beyond doing a job. He wanted to do something more contributory and beneficial to the society.

So he started writing GYANA MANDALA or an Encyclopedia in January, 1954 - a first of its kind in Odia and in Odisha. It took him six long years to collect, compile and present all the necessary information in an age when forget Internet and Google, electricity was strictly fantasy and out of reach for a rural centric Odisha. On December 2, 1960 his baby - PRATHAMA SANSKALANA or the first edition the first ever Odia encyclopedia was born.

Winner of the Odia Sahitya (literature) Academy awards and Civilian Award Padmashree, he carved his niche before passing away in June, 1990 - the same month he was born at the age of 78. May Odisha produce more pioneers like him. Happy 114th to the creator of the first Encyclopedia in Odisha.

Ides of June

The first week of June also reminds me of couple of events of far reaching consequences. One is the Operation Blue Star, which happened this week exactly 42 years ago in the year 1984. The Congress party which perfected the art of mishandling crisis (Bangladesh war of 1971 being the exception), completely blew the situation in Punjab at that time out of proportion by catapulting Bhindranwale, a Sikh with a flowing beard and aquiline nose from a small time preacher into a big time martyr. (BJP is fast catching up with Congress in mishandling issues - the longer is its tenure in power, the more screw ups are in making. But that's a different story for a different day). 

As Khushwant Singh mentioned in his autobiography, Giani Zail Singh, India's ex Home Minister and President famously described Bhindranwale as SADDE DANDA or "our stick" to beat the Akalis with. Congress party wanted to use him as an useful idiot to settle score against its Akali opponents. Eventually the so called useful idiot became a genie escaped from the bottle and the DANDA became a huge stick to cause pain to Congress and the nation's butt.

Bhindranwale's myth still lives on. It's not unusual to find T-shirts figuring his turbaned head and cassettes containing his speech in parts of Punjab, especially in the rural areas. His simple but powerful one liners like 'JO DARTA WOH SIKH NAHI AUR JO SIKH HAI WOH DARTA NAHI' (one who fears is not a Sikh, one who is a Sikh never fears) caught the imagination of the Sikh youth of that generation.

The violence and senseless killings reached its peak in the late 1980s when the Punjab problem seemed beyond solution. I met an Odia guy, who was lucky to survice one such attacks in JCT Mills, Phagwara. One night, a bunch of terrorists entered the plant compound and quickly wrapped up those from outside of Punjab they could get their hands on. Then they forced them to stand in a line and shot them randomly. But
before doing their cold blooded target practice, those heartless folks took some time to play with their victims who were crying and begging for their lives.

Our Odia guy was standing in a dark corner. In the commotion, he decided to take his chances. He slowly stepped backwards, jumped off a wall and ran away, luckily surviving the volley of bullets sent after him. The darkness and his luck saved him. He just ran away and next morning (Night time bus services were banned in Punjab those days) he left Punjab once and forever, determined not to return ever again. His story sent chills down my spine.

Sending out the Army into the Golden Temple to flush out terrorists was akin to bringing down a house to get rid of rat menace. Operation Blue Star on 4th June had its series of consequences. Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her own Sikh bodyguards not long after the operation to flush out terrorists from Golden Temple. Khushwant Singh who once used to be close to her family, especially to her younger son Sanjay Gandhi, but later fell out of her favor after Sanjay's death in an air crash, still wanted to visit her home to pay his last respect, in spite of their estrangement. When he was about to leave he got a call from a well wisher - "Sardarjee (as Sikhs are addressed), have you lost your mind by any chance ? Don't ever dare going out now. The goons of Congress are dragging Sikhs out of vehicles, roasting them alive. They are going to make a Sikh Kabaab (barbecue) out of you". 

Indira Gandhi's death was followed by killing of many innocent Sikhs who were butchered by hired Congress goons. The Sikhs retaliated by killing many innocent Hindus in Punjab as the terrorism continued for many more years to come.The other event in June is the 37th Anniversary of the Tiananman Square massacre in China. The famous picture from the 1st week of June 1989, of the lone young man standing bravely in front of a Tank carries a lot of connotations.

It is an image of defiance and a strong desire for freedom by the contemporary youth. Sadly the Chinese government effectively quashed the freedom movement. The movement became dormant, but is far from dead. Quarter of a century later in that nation well connected with microbloggers it's sitting on a tinterbox who knows one day could implode any moment. History could be made any time. One never knows. So beware of the Ides of June !

FATURANANDA - the forgetten Odia writer

 He is a fellow Gemini like me. I doubt many from current generation would remember him today. A talented but underrated writer he was born on this day more than a century ago in Odisha. He possessed the typical traits of a Geminian, being an excellent communicator and artistically inclined since childhood. His real name was Rama Chandra Mishra, but went by his pen name FATURANANDA - a writer of Odia short short stories who has physically blind.

Born in Jhanjhirmangala, Cuttack he was a non conformist and his writing mostly satirical. He suffered from a disease during his childhood which took out his eyesight. Growing in an era when Odia literature was not appreciated a whole lot, nor could buy a decent, comfortable living - he vented his frustration and cynicism in his writing using satire as a weapon. His language was lucid with a unique flow, his black humor and sheer poignance driving the images of his characters. 

Faturananda's description in minute details of the ethos and pathos of life was amazing - especially of the human feelings. He was very young when he lost his eyesight, so could never fell in love at firstsight. He described the feeling of love in his unique way, the way a blind man sees it - "PETA RU GOTE GARAM PABAN BAHARI CHHATI KU KUTU KUTU KALA PARI ABHINGAYA" (Love is the feeling of a warm air emanating from the stomach and tickling your heart). I fell in love with that expression of a person who could see his feelings which he was unable to see through his eyes.

In one of his short stories, a talented but failed painter was surprised at the sudden adulation in his art gallery. He painted a portrait of BUDHHA DEBA (Lord Goutam Buddha). But suddenly he noticed some changes on his painting. Without his knowledge, the night before his infant son played with the paint brush, crisis crossing Lord Buddha's painting with his playful hue straight out of his shit. A connoisseur of art interpreted the brownish shit coated portrait as BUDDHA DEBA (a Gentle God) turning into KRUDHA DEBA (An Angry God) and its aroma depicting the non-violence protagonist Buddha's disgust at the prevalent go of the world. The poor and struggling arist got a hefty price when that painting was auctioned, least knowing that the credit should goes to his child's fresh shit on his canvas.

There is this story behind his unusual pen name FATURANANDA. Every evening he and his friends used to gather together (called GULLI KHATTI or light hearted chatting in local parlance) inside a dilapited room of a local Club in Cuttack. In one such Gulli Khatti gatherings everyone was asked to give a nickname to the other guy ending with the word "Nanda". The participants gave each other a name like Prema (love) - Nanda, Dharma (righteous) - Nanda, Dhana (wealth) - Nanda, depending on their proficiency in love, spirituality and wealth. Nobody could coin the appropriate name for him, so he came up with FATURANANDA - which basically means nothing. But the name stuck to him and he used it as his pen name. 

His Biography "MO PHUTA DANGA RA KAHANI" (The story of my punctured Boat) was a bare all of the morbid milieu and his struggle in a feudal, poverty stricken Odia society of the time known to be a graveyard for any kind of creative pursuit. I believe he was the proverbial "BANA MALLI BANA RE JHADI JAE" - "Jasmin flower in the forest falls off without its fragrance ever getting noticed".

Mortal man with immortal contribution. My two cent of tribute on his 111th birthday - to the man who is one of many talented Odias ignored by the sands of time, hoping it inspires the current generation and many more generations to come.

American vs Indian (British) Format

 Am sure those who travel to India from USA must have encountered this situation. Foremost is the driving on the left side with the driving wheel on right side of the vehicles. It always baffles my son when he travels to India, so also the electrical switches in India working reversely.

During my India trips, especially on the initial days after my arrival, I have opened the door on the driver's side of car by mistake to invite a hearty laughter, sometimes a muffled giggle if the person observing my plight chose not to be impolite. Using mobile instead of cell phone is another one. I always feel the mobile sounds more appropriate as you are immobile without a mobile phone these days. Once I left my house without a mobile and felt that as I have left my liver behind akin to the wise monkey (of PANCHATANTRA fame) who faked to his Crocodile friend that he left his liver behind when the giant lizard wanted to eat his simian buddy's sweet liver in the middle of the river. It was a sweet relief for me when I got my cellphone (oops Mobile) back - the feeling was no less sweeter than the elusive sweet liver of monkey cherished by the greedy Crocodile.

Writing dates is another area where I stumble. June 12th, I write as 06-14  in America (which would be rather 6th December in India). That is because dates are written in DD-MM-YYYY format in India, a British legacy while in America it is MM-DD-YYYY format. Inadvertently I have wasted several checks for writing wrong dates on them. A simple mistake like this in a bank can cost you an additional unwarranted trip to go back to the line (it is Queue in India) and wait for minutes before your turn.

In India my son mentally convert temperature from Centigrade to Fahrenheit to get a hang of the heat, similarly convert kilometers to miles to make out the distance. For me it doesn't matter so much as I am more familiar with MKS (Meter Kilogram Second) system than my son. When I came to US, I was doing exactly the opposite, converting from FPS (Foot Pound Second) to MKS. Living in America for 30 years now, I am pretty much familiar with the FPS system.

Weather is a favourite topic of discussion in America. Many conversations commence discussing about the current weather situation.
A typical American husband when returns home from work addresses his wife, "Honey what's for the dinner and how is the weather ?" Talking about weather is very much ingrained as part and parcel of American life.

During my initial days in America when my coworkers talked of temperature being in 70s, 80s, 90s and so on, my first thought was that they were talking about years like 70s for the 1970s, 80s for 1980s etc. Eventually I came to know that they are talking about the temperature in Fahrenheit. One afternoon when temperature reached 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32°Centigrade) in Philadelphia, heat was the talk of the town. I had to mentally convert from Fahrenheit to Centigrade to get a hang of the heat, similarly convert miles to kilometers to make out the distance. 

Another contrast I experienced while driving years ago from Seattle to Vancouver. No sooner we crossed the US border and entered into Canada, than the speed limit changed from 65 mph to 110 kmph. My first thought was Canadians drive at a greater speed until I realized the change in the Unit of measurement. 
Now 30 years down the road when I go to India part of the reverse cultural shock I get is to convert from metric to FPS (Foot Pound System) though it's not too hard to calculate. For me life has come to a full circle, same way you rotate the Globe a full circle you see India and US on the opposite sides. 

Several years ago I was on a flight to Las Vegas. An American couple in front of me were struggling to convert from Centigrade to Fahrenheit. I did it for them in seconds using the classic formula C/5 = (F-32)/9. "Oh, you are a genius" - out poured their impromptu compliment. As if they encountered a Math wizard. I enjoyed my two minutes of fame.

You call Rose by any different name it's perfume remains the same. You call it 100 degree Fahrenheit, or 38 degree centigrade the heat feels the same. 100 miles is no less than 160 km. If what's in a name, then what's in an Unit ? The whole world has switched to Metric system, well except America and Britain. They are the only ones I believe who still use foot and pound as measuring units.  Apart from the English language this is probably the only thing the Americans retained from their one time occupiers whom they drove away and gained their independence. Otherwise, the unfollowed everything British - they drive on the right side of the road, electric switches are opposite, they use date in MM-DD-YY format and many more. 

Birthday 2026

 Thanks everyone for your wonderful birthday wishes. Completely flabbergasted, floored and flattered, pleasantly overwhelmed by multiple number of birthday wishes on social media and still counting. Thanks for those being so creative to create a story for me on Facebook for this occasion. I can only write crap, can't be creative like you all.

Not much of a milestone commemorative type of person, for me my birthday and marriage anniversary is just another day. This year's birthday was no exception. On top of that, on a sombre note it came at a time close to the anniversary of my mother's passing away couple of years ago. It will be my 3rd birthday without her to whom I owe my existence. She would invariably be the first person to call and wish me, reminiscing about that very day more than half a century ago. Her is the wish I am going to miss forever for the rest of my life. 

Per Western Astrology I have the same zodiac Sun sign Gemini as every one else who is born between May 21 and June 20. Geminians are considered to be good communicators and tend to be popular in social circles. At the same time Geminians are known to be fickle, restless and mercurial in nature. It is the sign of twins. Apart from getting along with all star signs, Geminians get the best along with Librans and Aquarians. 

On a lighter note Geminians tend to be popular among the opposite sex, the famous Geminian examples are John F Kennedy, my teenage crush Brooke Shields, Clint Eastwood, Marilyn Monroe, Angelina Jolie, Donald Trump, Steffi Graf just vindicate this fact. Not necessarily all Geminians are Casanova, but many I know having this star sign end up in love marriages (a term used in India for those marrying after falling in love or in self negotiated marriages). Being a girl shy person, I am probably an exception to this very Geminian rule.

During my childhood, on our birthdays my mom would pray and cook KHEER (a sweet dish) for us siblings. An additional luxury could be a special dish from her kitchen. Those days birthdays were tame affairs sans balloons, cake cuttings or any kind of fanfare. It's still the same for me. We grew up in a collective society where our identity is more qualified by lineage, village, caste, community and so on (many South Indians and Punjabis have their village names tagged to their name. For example - for P. Ravi Kumar, P could be the first initial of the man's native village. For a Sikh named Jagjit Singh TALWANDI, the last part is the name of his PIND, or village). I or Me as an individual always came last after the society, village, city or district. Unlike the current generation, it was the norm for most parents of our time to have more than two kids. On top of that many lived in joint families who shared the same roof and celebrated thirteen festivals in twelve months. Birthdays of an individual rarely made into the priority list, always put in the back burner.  

But things in India are changing fast with rapid urbanization. The bonding built as a result of long term fusion of Nuclear families is fast dissipating by fission. DINK (Double Income No Kids) and DITK (Double Income Two Kids) is the new normal, prominently proclaimed by rise in birthday celebrations as the harbinger of neo individualism. While I hardly celebrate my birthday, my son plans ahead for months to celebrate his. It is quite understandable. For him growing up in America where individualism rules the roost, his birthday is a matter of celebration.  

No wonder in US they make a big deal about Birthdays. Years back one fine morning no sooner I entered my work place, than I found it nicely decorated with balloons proclaiming "HAPPY 50th BIRTHDAY". Half dozen teammates barged in, singing an impromptu Happy B'day song. A cake was cut. I had my few minutes of celebrity fame. They gave me a funny card signed with something like "Why Men Turn Naughty After Fifty" printed on it. (Americans make a lot of fuss about celebrating birthdays, annivarsariew and graduations, liberally punching them with dosages of humor. We in India are catching up fast). 

I forced myself a smile by fully exposing my phalanx of my 32 teeth and took a snap with them. Yet it was a stark reminder that being 50 in Chemistry lingo I have already reached the half life period, a la radioactive elements. In ancient India at this age people use to take VANAPRASTA (preparation towards retirement). In modern age life begins after middle age. 

Thanks again for your birthday wishes. As my mother wasn't there to wish me, for her wish was the one I always long for and I still can hear her wish from heaven. Let me yet again repeat this stanza from the famous Mukesh song in movie "MERA NAAM JOKER" dedicated to her :

"CHAHE KAHI BHI TUM RAHO,
CHAHENGE TUM KO UMR BHAR
TUM KO NA BHOOL PAENGE".. 

Roughly transliterated... 

"Wherever you are going to live,
I will long for you all my life,
Shall Never be able to forget you"....

Cockroach Janata Party

 India's Cockroach Janata Party began as a joke in response to comments made by Supreme Court Justice Surya Kant, who compared some young people and critics of institutions to “cockroaches” and “parasites.” His insensitive statement - “There are youngsters like cockroaches, who don’t get any employment or have any place in the profession,” Kant said. Coincidentally in short form its CJP, which sounds like BJP rhyming with it.

Regardless, the Justice's action had its unintentional consequences. His remarks quickly ricocheted across social media, drawing criticism and meme-making in equal measure. Kant later said he had not intended to insult young people and that his comments were directed at individuals with fraudulent degrees.
But it was too little, too late. As we say in Odia - "NEDI GUDA KAHUNI KU BOHI JAI THILA", meaning the jaggery on the palm had already reached the elbow. It simply meant, his regret came too late. By then, the internet had already done what it does best. On Instagram, the movement has amassed roughly 19 million followers — more than double the number for the BJP,  which has approximately 9 millions.

One thing happened for sure. Apparently it made BJP and its supporters nervous, which tells us that irrespective of all these bravado the right wingers are essentially a bunch of  nincompoomps filled with inferiority complex and insecurity. BJP and its famed IT Cell is doing everything to discredit this movement by trying to block 🚫 it on social media, blaming the movement being funded by George Soros to Pakistan, US to Bangladesh. If Soros and Pakistan are able to do all this, then what's our secret service is doing ? Our NSA, Doval 007 should throw away his dark glasses and should be sacked immediately for his inability to see this coming.

It reminds me of the heyday of Congress party when Indira Gandhi blamed every ill plaguing India on the ubiquitous foreign hand, alluding to the CIA. People bought them, people buying its now too. History is repeating itself in India. It clearly says that despite being a $4 trillion economy, not every thing is hunky dory in India as this movement is a reflection of the discontent amongst the youth due to lack of opportunities and rising inequality. Not every thing can be brushed under the carpet citing fake nationalism, jingoism and foreign hand. Problems are genuinely internal. 

The current millieu is akin to all sitting inside a room filled with inflammable gas with someone waiting to light a matchstick iIt's high time the Modi/BJP led government do a reality check, do something decisive than get defensive. They better be aware - Cockroach has a lot of resilience and tenacity,  it is the only animal which is capable of surviving a nuclear warfare. Current BJP disposition is nothing !

My fascination with snakes

 As summer rolls in when Spring in its last throe, occasionally see snakes slithering away in my backyard. Most of them are southern racers and rat snakes. They are harmless and non venomous. As weather warms up, the reptiles come out of hibernation. When it rains I can hear a lot of frogs croaking in my backyard and it probably brings out the snakes to complete their food chain.

Snakes have always fascinated me. There are so many myths related to them. They don't drink milk, contrary to the belief of many in India. In fact, milk can damage their digestive track. They swallow their victims whole from tip to toe. Their fangs aren't used to chew, rather attack and paralyze their pray by injecting venom. A snake contrary to the belief of traveling at speed of a galloping horse can only slither maximum at 6 - 8 miles per hour, the fastest one being Black Mamba which can reach a speed of 10-12 mph. In Georgia its illegal to kill non venomous snakes. Nevertheless, they keep nature's balance by eating rhodents.

India is a land of wide variety of snakes, from sluggish pit vipers like Russell viper to the fast and furious King Cobra, one of the most venomous serpents on earth. I always confused the two common varieties of Cobras found in my home state back home Odisha in general and South East Asia in particular - "NAGA and TAMPA". NAGA is called Spectacled Cobra for its KATHAU (in Odia meaning wooden sandals) mark behind its hood which resembles two glasses of a pair of spectacle. It is mostly yellowish - brown in color. When it raises its hood, the two circular marks behind its back resemble spectacles sans frame are clearly visible.

In contrast, its cousin TAMPA is called Monocled Cobra. Its single circular spot conspicuously visible on its back. It is generally gray or brown in color which is known to fade away as the snake grows older. The monocled Cobra is more aquatic, prefers to be around the paddy fields and ponds, slithering inside the holes at the base of small embankments (called HIDA in Odia) separating the paddy fields and near the ponds, making them its abode as it finds plenty of food in the form of frogs and rhodents like mice in the surrounding areas.

Because of its shrill hiss, the monocled cobra or TAMPA is thought to be very aggressive in nature. There is this popular urban (rather rural) legend in Odisha about the ADHEI KIARIA TAMPA, or the 2 and 1/2 paddy field chasing monocled Cobra. It is rumored that it chases its victim until a distance of 2 and 1/2 paddy fields. If a man outruns the snake till that distance, the snake gives up the chase to man's safety.

Chasing 2 and 1/2 plots of paddy fields is nothing but a figment of imagination. A la any other snake, the monocled cobra is rather shy and elusive in nature. It hisses or bites when feels threatened and gets defensive or hunts for food. Far from being faster than any glalloping horse, a snake's maximum speed on ground is no more than 6 miles (10km) per hour and this cobra is no different.

Though snakes have poor eyesight, they have a tremendous sense of movement. The Jackals, being intelligent animal puts its tail inside the holes near the paddy fields and the pond to catch crabs. No sooner than a crab latches on to a jackals tail, it pulls it out of the hole to have its meal. But sometimes the jackle is bitten by the monocled cobra occupying those holes. The neuotoxic poison has its effect, as the jackel becomes mad, miserably whines around and dies within couple of days. 

As a fitting finale to my blog on Cobras - it will be incomplete without the mentioning the King of Cobras, aptly named as AHIRAAJ or King Cobra. It is known to be 12-15 feet long, sometime reaching 18 feet. When aggressive this majestic snake can stand as tall as 5 to 6 feet, staring at a person's eyes. It feeds on larger rhodents and its smaller cousins, other varieties of snakes like rat snakes, even cobras. The venom injected by an adult king Cobra is enough to kill 20 humans and can cut down a full grown elephant.

Odisha, my home state back home is rich in widelife and uniquely endowed with variety of snakes, including these 3 exotic varieties of NAGA, TAMPA and AHIRAAJ as the icing on the cake. It also has Russell's Virus (Boda) and Common Krait (Rana), both extremely venomous. Come rainy season, a lot of folks back home die from snake bites. That's because in many cases the locals delay taking the victim to the hospital and waste time taking help from quacks which hardly helps. Yet the majority of the snakes are non venomous. Let's protect this species rather than indiscriminately killing them, as they are important part of maintaining nature's balance.

Sabitri 2026

 Today is the festival of SABITRI which is mostly exclusive to Odisha (there could be slightly different versions elsewhere, but it's kind of unique to Odisha). It is widely celebrated on the New Moon day of the Lunar month of JYESHTA, which per Gregorian calendar comes in May-June time frame every year (it is to be noted that the Hindu festivals are celebrated per Lunar Calendar). 

On this day married women pray for long life and well being of their husbands. You can call Sabitri an Odia version of "Husband's day" though no such day exists in the Western world, the closest would be Valentine's day. In our PURANAs (ancient religious texts), it is mentioned that a young man named SATYABAN died a sudden, unnatural death. His wife SABITRI who was a SATI (the pious and chaste one), ardently  prayed Lord YAMA (God of death) to restore her husband's life. Gratified by her devotion and penance, Lord YAMA duly obliged. Her husband woke up to life as if he just woke up from his nap.

Following this mythology our ladies do UPABAASA (fasting) on this auspicious day eating frugally, surviving mostly on fruits and yogurt. Parents send SABITRI BHARA (the gift bucket for Sabitri) to their married daughters, which apart from SINDOOR (vermillion) and Bangles symbolizing long marital life also contains a wide array of fruits, including but not limited to locally grown seasonal tropical fruits like Mango, Banana, Jackfruit, Lichi, Guava, Date, Palm and Pinapple. Now a days non native European origin fruits, a la Apples, Oranges and Grapes have added taste and veriety to the traditional ones.

The presence of a SABITRI BHARA inside house can be identified by the  conspicuously strong scent of ripened Jackfruits, which are in season at this time of the year and can be smelt miles away. Odisha has its tryst with Jackfruit trees, from its jungles to the residential lots filled with Jackfruit trees and it is not unusual for this large size fruits cluster around the bottom of the tree, protruding from tree trunks like the sagging fat of a Sumo wrestler. Bears and Jackles who get attracted by its strong smell love to feast on these gargantuan sized fruits, the largest size fruit grown on tree on earth.

The downside of this festival is the prices of fruits and SAREEs (traditional attire of Indian women) skyrocket days before the festival, both due to their demand and hoarding by nefarious  merchants taking advantage of the festival. Glad I don't face same situation here in USA as the prices of fruits are no different from any other day. For few years there was low key celebration of Sabitri due the nationwide lockdown imposed as a preventive measure against Covid pandemic. But it's back to normal.

This year, Sabitri falls on a weekend. When my Sabitri is too tired to cook dinner for me, the SATYABAN won't shy away from SHURAPAAN (help myself with few sundowner) and order take out of some exotic dish to end the auspicious day. Happy "Sabitri Brata" to all ladies.

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.