The signs from fate

 During the medieval times, the King Harihar who along with brother Bukka in South - Central India formed the Sangama Dynasty was passing through a remote, wooded area when he saw a deer being chased by a tiger. Suddenly the deer took an "u turn" and started chasing the tiger. The tiger fled away. The King found this sight quite astounding. Fascinated by this unusual incident he thought there was something special about the place. So he decided to build a fort at that exact location. Subsequently the King and his descendants ruled from that fort for a long period of time. 

You might have heard about Rana Sanga, the famous Rajput ruler of Mewar (now part of the modern day Rajasthan) from the early 16th century. His early days were turbulent. He was one of the princes of Mewar whose two elder brothers belittled and bullied him, attacking and banishing him from the palace for good. Rootless, Rana Sanga wandered around the Kingdom. 

One summer afternoon Rana Sanga was taking siesta under a tree. Suddenly some locals grazing cows nearby noticed a huge King Cobra wavering its hood over the head the sleeping prince. The giant reptile hovered on his head for a while acting like a canopy giving protection to his head before slithering away. The cowherds who saw this came running to wake up Rana Sanga and narrated him what just happened. 

They reminded him that such incidents are very rare and considered as an auspicious "RAJA YOYA", a sign from God prophesying him to become a King in the future. A blury eyed Rana Sanga who yawned out of his nap dismissed such prediction as day dreaming of a bunch of cowherds as he knew non of his two powerful elder brothers would ever allow him to ascend the Mewar throne. 

Soon after this incident one of his brothers died in a freak accident when lightning struck him while he was taking shelter under a tree during a thunderstorm on his way back to the palace after a hunting expedition. His other brother Prithviraj, the flamboyant heir apparent to the Mewar throne was on a roll along with his fighter Rajput wife Tarabai, who happened to be an excellent archer and sword fighter. 

The couple defeated many vassals and brought them under the jurisdiction of Mewar. They looked unstoppable until tragedy struck at the most inopportune moment. Prithviraj was poisoned by his own brother-in-law. (Ego and turf wars wasn't just limited to Afghans and Mughals, was rampant amongst Rajputs and Marathas too). His wife Tarabai became a "SATI" (woman of chastious), killing herself by jumping into her husband's funeral pyre. 

With his elder brothers dead, now the road was clear for Rana Sanga. As fate had it, the old King devastated by back to back untimely loss of his two sons fetched his youngest son Rana Sanga out of wilderness to ascend the throne of Mewar. Look at the quirk of fate. If the snake bit Rana Sanga on that afternoon, the man had no chance of survival as the bite from King Cobra emits a gargantuan amount of venom, potent enough to kill 20 adult humans or a full growth elephant. But he was destined to live another day to occupy Mewar's throne and win several battles in his life until he was stopped by Babar at the famous battle of Khanwa. 

Around the same time Odisha had a powerful king named Kapilendra Deba. Per legend, the King before him had no progeny to carry on his legacy. So, per tradition of those days an Elephant was given a golden pot filled with water and allowed to wander around with the courtiers following it. The person on whose head the elephant pours water from that golden pot was destined to be the King of the state and carry the baton from the current occupier of throne. 

A local cowherd boy named Kapila along with his friend Kashia was standing by, curious at the giant pachyderm walking nonchalantly holding the golden pitcher by its trunk. Suddenly the elephant stopped next to Kapila and poured the entire pitcher of water on his head stunningly his friend Kashia and rest  onlookers. Kapila went on the become Sri Sri Kapilendra Deb, whose Kingdom extended to Ganga in the north to Godavari in the South.

Legend had it, he didn't forget to make his childhood buddy Kashia as his minister. 

A very popular Hindi Bhajan sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Anuradha Podwal goes as follows : 

MANO TO MEIN GANGA MAA HOON,

NA MANO TO BEHTA PAANI.

Transliterated... 

"If you believe then I am Mother river Ganga,

If you don't, I am just flowing water". 

Believe or not, all these above mentionrd events from the annals of history could be apocryphal or simply urban legends, but are fascinating indeed. Incidents like deer chasing a tiger, King Cobra covering head of a person's with its hood, elephant pouring water from the golden pitcher on the of the prospective emperor aren't the causes by themselves but are unusual events which are signs of monumental changes. We have this Odia proverb - "KAPALA LIKHANA, KE KARIBA ANA", which simply means "destiny is unstoppable". What all these incidents indicated were signs of the things to come, but they came nevertheless.

Letter writing is history

 The other day I discovered that my handwriting has gone from bad to worse. My writing these days is mostly limited to taking notes at face to face meetings at work. As more and more meetings take place online, I take notes on my desk top computer on Notepad. Only solace, compared to the hand writings of many here, including my son's, mine is an exquisite art.

Handwriting also varies with age, the older persons have better handwriting, explained by the fact that a generation ago people use to write a lot using a pen or pencil. Keyboards used to be associated only with the typewriters. The persons using them during my growing up days were often ridiculed as "mere typists" in a derogatory sense. A writer is a mere typist these days, typing at tremendous speed on our gadgets while our handwriting suffers. It won't be long a piece of good handwriting will find a place in museums like dinosaur fossils.

The last time I remember writing a letter was years ago in 1997 when I wrote a letter my grandmother from USA. She was staying in our village at that time, the only mode of communication to her. Soon e-mails and texting took over. But they are no match to the euphoria and nostalgia associated with a letter written by hand which brings the flavor of the person who has written it.

A letter of appreciation or a love letter written by hand has a personal touch and fragrance, a handwritten card will never be replicated on a text or email message. As mentioned in an epic Kishore Kumar song "KHUSBOO A NAHI SAKTI KABHI KAGAZ KE PHOOLON SE" (Fragrance can never come from paper flowers), a handwritten note has a soul associated with it, when compared to an inanimate text or email. The fun of writing on a paper Diary can ever be replaced by blog writing on a cellphone.

Yet we have to live with the fact that time and tide wait for none. Those who can't adapt become extinct like dinosaurs or Cheetahs in India (The Maharajah of Sarguja, MP shot dead the last Asiatic Cheetah in 1956 causing it's extinction). Anybody is recording a VHS tape, using a floppy disk, purchasing a Kodak camera roll, using dial-up modem these days ?Does anyone remembers when he or she sent a telegram last time ? We have to accept the reality and move on. Still it doesn't hurt to write a handwritten note to appreciate some one, because there is a tangible difference.

Reminded of legendary Akshaya Mohanty's song..

"SAKALA RA GAADI,

GALA GADI GADI,

KALA DHUAN CHHADI,

DAKA GADI GALA RE,

SETA NARANGI NARANGI NARANGI...

CHHATI DHAKA DHAKA,

MANA SAKA SAKA,

ASICHI KI TANKA, HATHA LEKHA DAKA,

DAKA BALA DELA RE...

CHITHI BERINGI BERINGI BERINGI.."

"The morning train chugs ahead,

 Spraying its black smoke upwards, 

 The Mail train proceeds on

 with its compartments coated crimson.

 While the Heart beats, Mind shudders

 Expecting her handwritten letter,

 Alas ! The Mailman delivers,

 a post-paid letter, to the receiver".

Many may not be familiar with the Odia term BERINGI mentioned in this son. It is the word Bearing pronounced in ONGLISH, i.e, Odia accented English). It denotes a letter with unpaid or underpaid postage stamp, the receiver must pay the postal charges in order for the postman to deliver it. 

One more Maoist attack

 So sad and tragic that at least a dozen of our Paramilitary forces died and scores injured in yet one more sprctacular Maoists atrack in Chattishgarh state of India. The perpetrators have followed their action by proudly displaying their catch of arms and ammunition they captured from the slain and injured soldiers.

Repeated occurance of such incidents raises a very pertinent question. How can a trained federal security force CRPF (Central Reserved Police Force) be a sitting lame ducks to Maoists, not at any of our hostile border locations, but well inside India's heartland ? Thisnot an isolated incident, happening on regular basis since time immemorial. 

It not only casts aspersions on our security apparatus, but helps in perpetually sustaining our image of a weak state. We tend to blame politicians, communists, churches on these attacks and occasionally on out of state actors (euphemism for China and Pakistan) - often an official innuendo. But there is nothing official about our own shortcoming, spinelessness and lack of political resolve, notwithstanding all bravado in public.

Let's not get partisan. This thing has been happening during the Prime Ministership of Vajpayee, Dr. Singh and Modi, as well as under the state leadership of both Congress and BJP. Both parties own the responsibility. The root cause lies in intelligence failure. This is not the first time such an incident has happened. Both the state and Central intelligence agencies have their tasks cut out. If we can't handle our own shit in the middle of our nation, no point blaming the Pakistanis and Chinese.

Maoist problem is not a simple law and order problem, there is a deep rooted social angle to it. In the 1990s my cousin was posted as the SP (Superintendent of Police) of Dantewada - a Maoist infested district well known for several violent attacks. Per his own accounts, there are places so remote in that area that the district administration is virtually nonexistent. Humans cohabit with mosquitoes as big as crickets in that heavily Malaria infested region. (He had a close encounter with Encephalitis, a brain fever caused by mosquito bite and barely survived). 

Tribals in those places have their own share of social grievances where the government has spectacularly failed to deliver. For years the locals have been exploited and have their valid concerns which haven't been addressed till date. Maoists step in where governance fails. The issue calls for political settlement backed by a no nonsense security action against the perpetrators. If there is a political will, there is a way.

Punjab is the best example. By mid 1991 the all pervasive terrorism in the state seemed beyond control. Then came P V Narasimha Rao as the Prime minister who as bold political step announced elections in the state in February 1992.

The second step that followed was strong police action duly backed by the incumbent state government. Under KPS Gill, the terrorists heads were harvested similar to the chopping of corn crop, as the marauding Punjab police by the end of next BAISAKHI (A spring festival) of 1993 had a bumper harvest of the heads of terrorist. The all scourge of a decade long terrorism which not so long ago seemed beyond solution, never raised its ugly head again.

A similar approach with a strong political will, with the potent blend of political and military action can only help. Otherwise, its a matter of another day, another time and me following with another blog.

India surpasses China in population

 Few days back flashed this news in media, social or otherwise - "India surpasses China in population". I was far from thrilled. It's probably the only way I expected India to overtake China in my lifetime and we did it in a spectacular manner. 

India is now the world's most populous nation at 1.42 billion plus. I think it's high time a Population control bill is brought by the BJP led central government with certain disincentive measures to control population which will be the right step in the right direction. Modi led BJP government has the mandate, they can do it. If there is a will there is a way. Population control is of paramount importance for the nation and I support any Bill which can achieve it. Wish rest of the states in India 🇮🇳 follow the suit.

Our burgeoning population is probably the major hindrance to our growth. If you add up the population of the states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi and Haryana it becomes equivalent to the population of the United States, a country which is almost 4 times the size of India. That's a gargantuan number with a high population density. If it becomes impossible to control the spread of population, it becomes an enviable challenge to any government.

With a strong 1.42 billion plus and still growing India's population is on a rapidly expanding mode. We should remember that natural resources available to mother India is finite, so it can't sustain a population growth at this current rate for too long. It brings in additional challenges on resources and infrastructure, putting pressure on our challenged infrastructure.

One major victim of this unchecked population growth is our motherland itself. It is a huge deterrent to its growth, yet hardly anyone at the helm of affairs ever talks about the stark necessity of controlling it. We simply breed like rabbits. Our men are randy and women are fecund. Currently at 1.42 billion and still going strong, we are getting nowhere. Whatever economic progress we make is gobbled by this teeming, monstrous millions. India is apparently sitting on a human time bomb ready to explode any moment. Most of the agonies our nation faces today can very well be traced back to this burgeoning POPULATION. 

Our politicians rarely bother about it, let alone have an agenda. Not long ago, a Hindutva protagonist advocated Hindus to have 5 children each as if we don't have enough. Tomorrow a Mullah or an Evangelist might match this rhetoric by an equal number, if not more. As the old African proverb goes - if two elephants make love or war, it is the grass which suffers. It is India which suffers due to the battle of rhetorics from religious bigots.

It was never too late for China to address this issue in late 1970s. It is said that the Middle Kingdom would be having 1.8 billion humans instead of 1.42 billion now had it not strictly implemented the one child principle. With that population it won't be where it currently is. We are not under a dictatorship like China who can ruthlessly impose any such agenda on its citizens. Only a conscious effort by the populace can bring it down. 

Interestingly, the only politician who seriously ever tried to control this epidemic was Sanjay Gandhi, the maverick son of Indira Gandhi with dictatorial tendencies with least regard to the democratic norms. (Another agenda of his was to keep our cities clean, free from dirty slums which were perennial eyesore. He was a goon, but in this area he was ahead of his time). His grandfather Nehru supposedly said "Population is the strength of India" at a time when J R D Tata, a steel tycoon and a great visionary warned the former PM about it. CV Raman was more blunt and said "let's stop producing like pigs". Many including educated folks I know, knowingly go into a Repeat - Until loop (in computer coding parlance) until they produce a male progeny to carry on their linage.

It is time to put a break on it. Like certain laws of Chemistry hold good under Normal Pressure and Temperature, India would have been far better off with a population of 700 millions (half of present) under normal conditions of Chaos and Corruption. 

Sad that in our chaotic democracy a few Netas, Mullahs and Mahants can only think parochially to achieve their political goals, rather than taking the Bull by the horn. Hope our politicians come to sense on this and do something before it is too late.

The killing of Atiq Ahmed - UP mafia don

The killing of Atiq Ahmed, a well known mafia don and gangster from UP didn't surprise me. A volley of bullets came from close range in darkness from the guns of two assailants posing as TV reporters resulting in the killing of Atiq and his brother. He was known to be close to a lot of politicians, bureaucrats and like all mafia bosses cultivated connection with law enforcement agencies, having friends in police at right places. There goes the popular dialogue in Bollywood movies, "POLICE KE SAATH JYADA DOSTI YA DUSHMANI ACHHI NAHI HAI" - it is  unwise to get too friendly or inimical to police. He became way too much of a liability, too powerful for his boots for police and politicians, hence was shown the door of hell in the darkness, ironically in the Muslim holy month of Ramzan.

Only a couple of days ago the son of don Atiq Ahmed's was killed too in another encounter staged by the police. The gangster had killed way too many people in his decade long criminal career. He was always kept well informed by his moles inside the police and was patronaged by many unscupulous politicians. But Karma is a bitch which bids its time, catching one off guard at the most inopportune moment. In Atiq Ahmed's case it was no different.

I had predicted long ago that a prominent Muslim gangster (UP has tons of them) will be eliminated before the last assembly elections in UP.  But it was procrastinated for more than a year, with exactly a year left before the Parliament elections is scheduled ahead in April, 2024. It's right time to got for a kill, kill a few Muslim gangsters in electorally important state of UP which provides nearly 20% of the total number of seats to the Parliament in state known to be highly polarized on caste and communal lines.

Watch out for more such killings on the roads leading to the elections, especially of Muslim gangsters. Unlike killing of ordinary Muslims which could cost the support moderate and secular Hindus, killing a gangster from the minority community may not be too risky of an act, as it could help BJP consolidate its base in the all important state of Uttar Pradesh. A classic political ploy of BJP in play right now.

This is not the first time such an incident has happened in the lawless cow belt of North India. Last year a criminal named Vikas Dubey was shot and killed by another staged encounter by the police when he was on run after killing 9 cops. The list is long in the badlands of the gangetic belt. In the year 1999, a dreaded gangster of UP named Sriprakash Shukla was killed too. The don was famous as contract killer who operated with impunity in UP and Bihar. He was a thorough professional in his job - after shooting his victim, he would get close and pump more bullets to the victim's head and chest, ensuring his contract is completed without any dead end. The inept and corrupt authorities not only slept, the powerful Brahmin lobby protected him.

(Casteism is rampant in North India. While working in Delhi I found my ex-boss, one Sharma Jee being over friendly towards me.  One day I discovered the reason as he told me on face - "TUM BRAHMAN HO, IS LIYE SAF SUTRE LAGTE HO. TUMHARE CHEHRE MEIN JO CHAMAK HAI, "You are Brahmin. That's why you look clean, there is a glare in your looks". I didn't find it very flattering).

Sriprakash Shukla's days were numbered when the information came out that he has taken a contract of Rupess 2 crore (20 million), a sizable amount in 1999 to kill Kalyan Singh, then the Chief Minister of UP. That was the last straw for the cops to smell the coffee and wake up. He, like many mafia dons had a weakness for women. The police got scent of him entering a 5 star hotel in Delhi with a call girl in company. After his tryst with the girl, his destiny awaited him outside. The task force to eliminate him waited patiently outside the hotel and grabbed him as he came out after finishing his assignment. It was the last sex of his life. He was soon finished by the police and his body was dumped near the NOIDA expressway staged as an encounter. 

Indian Police can't even visit the toilet without the Neta's (politican) permission, forget about staging encounters. The top administration of the state must have given the sanctions to get rid of him. It was bound to happen sooner or later as the gangster went too far. It was just a matter of time he would be eliminated - partly due to keep his mouth shut lest it would be embarrassing for many if he opened it. Other reason - if not killed, it will deeply affect the moral of police, not to forget the political angle I mentioned above.

Yet if the social media is to be believed, not many are shedding tear for Atiq Ahmed. Not that they love police, but their utter lack of confidence in our law and judiciary system makes the encounters a much attractive as well as pragmatic option. In Hindi they say "NA RAHEGA BAAS, NA BAJEGI BANSURI" - there won't be any bamboo left, so also no flute made out of it will play. In other words, eliminate the root cause in order to prevent it from happening again. A dead gangster is better than an alive one, as in this case. All want instance justice, as everyone has lost their faith and patience long time ago for long, procedural trials.

In the feudal set up of North India, this is certainly not going to be one last such an incident. This culture will thrive in the environment of poverty, unemployment, politician - bureaucrat - mafia nexus for long time. Public memory is extremely short. This incident will be forgotten soon as media will move to something more attractive and appealing, until the next one...

Country of Blinds

 I remember this short story in our school English textbook in Class VIII - "Country of Blinds" by the famous author H.G. Wells. To make the short story short - A guy named Nunez suddenly lands up in a land of blinds where generations ago all the population lost their eyesight en masse due to a pandemic. So the current generation forgot what  eyesight was.

Nunez was forced to live in the country of blinds. Eventually he falls in love with a local girl with a very pretty face with tall features and a sharp nose, who was much disliked by her fellow blind young men whose concept of beauty was a flat face. As they couldn't see, when they touched a girl's face to feel her beauty, the flatter the face, more attractive was the girl to the youth of the country of blinds. Their concept of beauty was lost in time with their eyesight.

Nunez's new found love was strikingly  different from the stereotype beauty of the flat faced in the country of blinds. It's said beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. In the country of blinds, no one had eyes. Concept of beauty in the country of blinds lied in the touch of the flatness of a face, not the sharp nosed pretty face Nunez's beloved had for him to behold.

When you become blind the age old concepts and perceptions change. Not what you see is what you believe, rather you tend to see what you can't see but those blessed by the views of the conformist. Nunez's girlfriend who was constantly ignored by the youth in her milieu fell for him as he gave her the attention she never got from the local boys. When others laughed at Nunez and ridiculed the man for his sight, his lady love sympathized with him. He could see through Nunez's eyes the sight which she visualuzed must be a good thing as she trusted him. She couldn't see but feel through his eyes the greenery of grass, the beauty in the hue of the flowers, in the whiteness of the fleecy clouds, in the spectacular blue color of the sky and the bright glow of the full moon. Listening to Nunez's view of sight she was fascinated with her sharp, pretty face glowing under the moonlit sky as her blind mates stayed in dark. Unknown to her, she was already falling for Nunez.

We all know that truth could be little hard, as hardly one can take unpleasant truth. Love is blind and love is strongest when it is unreasonable. Same goes with Bhakti (devotion). Like the citizens of country of blinds, many today are brainwashed into unflinching Bhakti shown towards a person or leader, believing not in the reality but in the perception as seen by the young men in H G Well's famous short story. They can't see things as they are blinded by the rhetorics and demagoguery of their God in the human form, as those in the country of blinds. For them the day and night are the same as they can't see the difference. As per the go of the contemporary world, hope we aren't gradually turning into a country of blinds. 

Wearing Eye glasses

 Wearing eye glasses is common these days, notably among kids. My parents never wore anything beyond CHALISIA CHASAMA (reading glasses needed only after one turns forty). I started using eye glasses immediately after getting married. Probably marriage turned me myopic. My son has been using glasses since he was 10 years old. You may call it a narrowing generation gap and he is not alone from his generation.

During my growing up days in Bhubaneswar not many used to wear glasses. A few who did were teased as CHARI AKHIA (a four eyed person), CHASMUDDIN (Mr. Bespectacled) and so on. Contact lenses were not available, so the look conscious ones, especially the girls had no option but stick to their glasses. A girl who had a teenage crush on one of my friends, was devastated upon learning that he doesn't like bespectacled girls. Their puppy love built through contacts, finally broke down due to lack of contacts.

One of the reasons for the recent rise in glass epidemic could be the gradual change in diet from vegetarian to meat based. My parent's generation were frugal eaters of meat, though they ate fish more often (fish, especially the smaller variety is known to be good for the eyes). They used to eat plenty of green and leafy veggies, all different kinds of Saag, fresh fruits like Guavas and Mangoes in summer which were packed with eye caring Vitamin A. There was no TV, the modern day gadgets like tablets and computers were strictly fantasy. Now the eye catching iWhatevers have been major eye sores. Add empty calorie punched fast food and drink to that, the result being neither eye catching, nor eye filling.

Now plenty of fancy glasses and contacts are available all over market. Last time when I went to buy a new pairs of glasses, the sales girl showed me different hues of transition lenses. She burst into laughter when I told her - "Are you showing me 50 Shades of Gray" ? 

An Odia guy told his Punjabi friend my grandfather lived until 95 and never used glasses. The Punjabi guy replied - "My grandfather never used glasses too. He drank straight from the bottle". Our Odia guy felt like he hit a glass ceiling.