Valley Of Flowers

The Road is treachery, and long,

But I keep walking on, accompanied by a birdsong;

Savoring the dream of reaching the valley,

Where flowers bloom in plenty;

 

There I see them, in all colors and sizes,

They gleam as the morning sun rises;

The lazy ones are still in deep slumber,

But they are very less in number;

 

A river stream madly runs over a few,

As if it wants to make them anew;

Pink, yellow, purple, white and red,

Smiling at me, making me glad;

 

A bee kisses the purple one,

A butterfly runs hither-thither to have all the fun;

The mountains around protect them all,

From rain, sun and heavy snow-fall;

 

A narrow bridge takes one to the vast land,

Where all the colors blend;

Some feet away lies Lady Legge’s grave,

But to think she died here is too naïve;

 

She threw herself happily around,

In the ocean of flowers, unbound;

Mother Nature turned her into a beautiful flower,

Being one of them, now she stays here forever;

 

The search is over; the daaman is all over;

Time to go, but the heart says never;

Flowers wave merrily behind my back,

I promise to them I will be soon treading on the same track.

==========================================

* In 1939 Miss Margaret Legge, a botanist deputed by the Royal Botanical Gardens Edinburgh arrived at the valley for further studies. While she was traversing some rocky slopes to collect flowers, she slipped off and was lost for ever. Her sister later visited the valley and erected a memorial on the spot where she was buried by the locals. The thoughtful memorial is still there.

* Lines from Andaleeb Shadani's composition Der lagi aane me...

Shafak Dhanuk Mehtaab Ghataayen Taare Naghmen Bijli Phool,
Us Daaman Mein Kya Kya Kuch Hai Wo Daaman Haath Mein Aaye To ...

Shafak = break of dawn; Dhanuk = rainbow; Mehtaab = moon

* I visited the place in July 2008, but now also I remember the sensation of touching those beautiful little flowers. A must-visit place for everyone. Check out the pictures at : http://picasaweb.google.co.in/brijesh.gajera/ValleyOfFlowers# 

Thus Spake EVMs

 

The Indian parliamentary election result is out at last! The marathon is over and the joy of crossing the finish line is doubled looking at the result. The day before everybody was anticipating a fractured verdict from Indian voters, where regional and other small parties would dominate the political scene. Many people were ready to watch a long political battle on television and horse-trading in the parliament. Some jittery stock market traders had envisaged Black Monday on 18^th May, 2009. This was natural considering the prevalent politics and chaotic nature of functioning of the country. But, as many experts on the subject would say, there is a certain method to India’s madness. Faithful says that God runs this country. Once in a year, devotees in Puri roll the Juggernaut of Lord Jagannath. Rest of the time the God runs the juggernaut called India! Completely surprised by the election results, and shocked for a moment (if you are a supporter of BJP’s nationalism sans fundamentalism, you ought to be shocked), I tried to compile a list of takeaways from this election results. Check them out:

 

·        The winner takes it all, so credit goes to Manmohan Singh and Rahul Gandhi. This election may be coming-of-age of Rahul Gandhi. He deserves all the accolades for bringing Congress back in UP. The boy is a man now! The man in the blue turban must be the happiest man. The other day Nandan Nilekani remarked that this is the win of sincerity. As the title song of Singh Is King goes, “Dil Agar Ho Sacha Rab Sab Karde Setting, Singh Is King... ” So Manmohan’s sincerity and integrity have struck chord with the voters. But the real reason I see behind the mandate is that people want a government which is neither right nor left. As a communist leader, Mohit Sen, once pointed, India can not be governed either from the 'right' or the 'left'. India can only be governed from the 'centre'.  Farooq Abdulla also echoed the sentiments of the people when he said: People of India wants a secular India, India for every religion and place. The Congress Party has found its footing in that centre now. Read Re-centering the Congress Party.

 

·        The biggest satisfaction I have from the result is the defeat of Left parties. They seem to be living in a different time, and the world has changed more than the color of the hair of some of the veteran Marxist leaders. It’s quite an achievement of Mamata Banerjee and Congress party to oust them in their own bastion, West Bengal. The Left has to do some introspection – the people of this country no longer see what these ideologues want them to see.

 

·        BJP was hoping to come back to power, but they in fact lost more seats than last time. The message is clear for them – They cannot be extreme right and they cannot win by only shouting about the non-existent issues. They should have disowned Varun Gandhi the moment his hate speech was delivered. They have to have some soft centrist leader, like Atal Behari Vajpayee, who sensed the nerve of the people of India and tried to move BJP towards centre. They also need to understand that they cannot oppose the government only because they are in opposition. Supporting the nuclear deal, in national interest, at the time when even Congress allies were opposing it would have given them a more constructive and acceptable image. Also they badly need some young and energetic leader who doesn’t just savor the dream of heading the central government.

 

·        The most encouraging results have come from the different states. Voters in Delhi, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, and Gujarat have voted for the incumbent governments because of the development work carried out by them. I am particularly happy for Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar and Orissa chief minister Naveen Patnaik. Nitish has gone ahead with pro-industry and pro-poor policies in the state of Bihar and the results are showing up. Naveen, the son of charismatic Biju Patnaik, also has slowly but surely worked on the development front for the poor state of Orissa. Though he may be called opportunist, because he parted his way with BJP just before the election, I consider him the most pragmatic leader in the country. The reclusive and aloof leader, who before joining politics, used to roam in USA writing about art, culture and travel, has not gone out of India for last 10 years. He has stuck to working for his state which has him returned to the power third time in a row. When asked about the reason of his success, he just said that he was lucky. All these state leaders, except Narendra Modi, have shown some common qualities. They work in corridors of their offices without making too much noise. There probably lies the key for the future leaders of India. It’s not only needed to work for the development, but you should be seen as someone who is modest and sincere. Modi can take a leaf out of their book – they all want to keep working for their states without much fanfare.

 

The state of Tamilnadu has shown that LTTE’s struggle in Sri Lanka was never an issue, though opportunistic politicians in the state tried to make it one. Prabhakaran’s death news also proved the same – nobody cared about it much. People of this country are smart enough to care for their own good, rather than worrying about some murderers in neighbor country.

 

Mayawati has also got her rightful place in this election. She cannot fool the people every time with her much-hyped social engineering trick. Her ambition to move the elephant to the North Block in Delhi has a major setback in this election. She needs to work for the people of UP first and show some good results in the administration. Otherwise Rahul Gandhi’s fast approaching to win the majority of the hearts in the Hindi heartland. 

 

·        To term this result as the win of positives will be too simplistic view of a country like India where everything can be explained in paradoxes. Win for Varun Gandhi is a disturbing sign. Congress’ win in UP is just a swing of Muslim votes from Samajwadi Party for now. DMK fared well in Tamilnadu not because of their governance but maybe because actor Vijaykant’s party ate away some of Jaylalita’s votes. Even Andhra Pradesh gave Congress second chance because Chiranjivee’s party shared some of the opposition votes. The Left lost in West Bengal because of negatives of Singur, Nandigram and probably nuclear deal.

 

·        But what hurts the most at this point is the role, or absence of it, of media in this election. If this election was termed as “non-issue” election, the media had contributed more to it. They were busy showing how the small parties will have bargaining power, they showed shoe-hurling and politicians fighting war of words. But no body showed real issues – the condition of people at grass root level in different states, their aspirations, the hope in their eyes, and their urge for a stable, peaceful government. The media is one of pillars of democracy alongside judiciary, executive, and polity. I see other three pillars getting stronger right now but media has started becoming a weak link. In one of the post-result debates on a news channel, somebody rightly commented that the common man of this country is not going to understand even a word of their discussion. And he was dead right! Sitting in an air-conditioned news room, they will not have pulse of this country. They also need to connect to the people of this country like some of the politicians. Read Menaka Doshi’s blog for more.

 

·        In hindsight we could have not asked for better outcome. We have a stable government now, which is pro-poor and pro-reforms. I just pray that Congress again doesn’t get bogged down by sycophancy and short-sightedness of tokenism. Also the new government has tough task to deal the extremists in the country – Naxalites and Pakistan-sponsored terrorists. Security has become important issue as Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka are facing tough challenges within. On the other hand they have to provide higher economic growth - and there lies my biggest fear. The talk for reservation in private sector has already started. That will not go well with India Inc. In last five years, the government has spent a lot of money and contributed to huge fiscal deficit. They need to tighten their purse-string now. They should not indulge themselves in financial profligacy – we have some of the sharpest minds of the country in this government, use them and devise innovative ways to take the country forward.    

 

We almost forgot that we should congratulate the election commission of the country for conducting such a free and fair election in the largest democracy of the world. They deserve thumbs up – it’s not a mean task, in a diverse country like India where every constituency presents its own problem. Nirvachan Sadan has almost turned itself into a place of worship.

 

Though, the biggest game-changer in the process was the faceless voter of the country. While we discussed endlessly about possible election outcome, he was working under sun, dreaming about a better tomorrow, for him and the coming generations. He had nothing to offer to the media in lip-service, but he made sure his vote offered this country what it really needed. He made the best choice when we feared the worst. Did I hear Jai Ho!?

A Game Of Tangram

I open my eyes reluctantly this morning as I prepare myself for a Sunday. I wish I sleep for some more time, but sleep eludes me. So after resisting getting up for quite long, I finally leave the bed. I hug laziness which is prevalent in the air. I am at a friend’s place and she is a good host, so she makes tea for me. I quietly sit in the balcony sipping hot tea with halke phulke ParleMonaco and some butter. It’s a kind of day when you don’t have anything to do and you actually feel good about doing nothing! I just keep watching some plants in the balcony and also look at the distant blue sky scattered with cotton-white clouds. Suddenly my friend drops some flat plastic objects in front of me and asks to play Tangram with her. I do not have any idea what a Tangram is, so she explains the game to me.

 

Wikipedia offers following definition for Tangram:

The Tangram (Chinese: pinyin - literally "seven boards of skill") is a dissection puzzle consisting of seven flat shapes, called tans, which are put together to form shapes. The objective of the puzzle is to form a specific shape (given only in outline or silhouette) using all seven pieces, which may not overlap. 

 

I take a lot of time to solve the puzzles initially, and they are not very difficult puzzles. But after a while, I sort of catch up with my friend and start putting shapes in less time. Then comes a time when I complete the puzzle before her and I take pride in it. The puzzle I solve is the following one:

So buoyant by my success, I move to next puzzle and this time I decide to solve it in even lesser time. The next shape is seemingly identical to the previous one which gives me more confidence, so I start solving it enthusiastically. I think of keeping the most of the structure of previous solution intact and shuffle a few pieces here and there to get the solution. Look at the below shape:

But as laws of physics would comply to, the gravity pulls you down when you actually start flying. I try hard to put the pieces properly but instead of finishing it fast, I take a lot of time, and am still not able to solve it. I have to look into the answer book for the solution. I think had I started afresh without sticking to previous solution, I would have completed it successfully and much faster. Check the solutions below and notice the difference of approaches between the two:

Then I realize the folly of my thinking. Psychologists call it anchoring. Anchoring is a cognitive bias that describes the common human tendency to rely too heavily, or "anchor," on one trait or piece of information when making decisions. My relying too heavily on the previous solution brought me in this position. This particular type of anchoring where we depend on the immediate preceding information is called “I am as good as my last trade” in stock market trader’s parlance. But that information can be anything, not necessarily the previous success-producing fact. So what do we rely on when we make decisions? As poor humans devoid of any way to know the future, except maybe astrology and its sister concerns, we have to rely on the past information. We have to start from somewhere, and we generally take help from past successes or experiences. But my request for the friends will be not to rely too much on this bias, and start looking for new ways if one particular mode doesn’t work. It’s better to dismantle the structure sometimes and start from the beginning. Let the new shapes take form in front of your eyes!

Beauty

Beauty is in the flight of a bird,

Beauty is in a kind word;

Beauty is in the water,

And in a pot made by a potter;

 

Beauty is in the green land,

Beauty is in the touch of a hand;

 

Beauty is in those two eyes,

Where the depth of an ocean lies;

 

Beauty is in the bread that does feed,

Beauty is to help someone in need;

 

Beauty is in smiling flower even if it’s in a gutter,

Beauty is in the face which says a lot without a mutter;

 

Beauty is in the never-ending road,

Beauty is in the Omni-present God;

 

Beauty is duty, it is purity,

Aha! Beauty is simplicity;

                                  

Beauty is to care, it is to share,

Beauty is to stand up and dare;

 

Beauty is to take, and to give,

Beauty is to love, and to live;

 

Beauty is there in you, and it’s here in me,

Beauty it is when “You’ and ‘I’ become ‘We’;

 

I believed beauty was nowhere,

And, Beauty it is, now I find everywhere.

Wish List for Politicos

Since the parliamentary election is going on in India, there is a lot of buzz around who will gain the power in centre. Every party has come up with their own manifestos and almost everyone has promised sky for free to voters. So here is my wish list for some of the parties or leaders:

 

·        As they are considered to be the first political family in India, the list starts from the Congress Party and Nehru-Gandhi family. Rahul Gandhi is touted to be the future prime ministerial candidate, when time is ripe for him. From outset he looks a sincere and honest leader – if you consider him one, he was made a leader by default in the very beginning of his political career because of his political lineage. With Congress Party, everything comes by default, so one day Indira Gandhi is thrown into active politics, Rajeev is drawn into it because Indira was killed by her own bodyguards, Sonia hesitantly accepted to be party leader because there was no acceptable face around after the loss of party in 1998 election under the leadership of one Sitaram Kesari. Due to feudal and dynastic way of working within the party, it is near-certainty that one day he will be prime minister of India if Congress has even a millimeter of its toe in the striking distance of that chair. Rahul has stressed on youth power and wants to change the functioning of party, he wants to include more young people in party, give them more representation in the saying of the country which is going to have the largest young population in the world in coming years. He wants to revive the party in its former heartlands – UP and Bihar. So we see him referring a poor Kalavati in parliament, or sitting in a Dalit’s home in a remote UP village with a British young politician, or frequently invoking talk about youth involvement. But in his party, we don’t see young leader coming up in the ladder without being son or daughter of a leader or having allegiance to Nehru-Gandhi family. I just wish his good-intentioned words don’t turn out to be mere tokenisms in future and he really means it when he says it.

·        Then we come to BJP. And I don’t wish that they put down Ram Mandir issue from their agenda, because they have already done it. Whatever exists of it is only in the political rhetoric during the election time. My wish is for Narendra Modi and his party. Without going in to the reasons of why Gujarat 2002 happened, I just wish Modi apologizes for the riots. Why? Because as a leader of the state, it was his duty - or in the words of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, his Rajdharma – to protect the citizens of his state, no matter what religion they belong to. And I do feel he failed somewhere on that line. Come on Mr Modi, there is nothing wrong in the apologizing. On the contrary, you may grow in your stature. Even Hinduism would have demanded such act from you. I sense support for Modi in the working youth of India who are not bogged down by history, even if it’s as recent as 2002, and they see in you a future leader of the country. We need someone as hard-working, non-corrupt and determined as you, but stripped of all the talk-and-walk-fundamentalism. A single apology will gain broader acceptance for you, and give decisive leader to the country. Don’t bother about the other politicians’ reactions – A politician would not stop using his tongue, that organ is even out of their own control. Ultimately it’s Bharat Mata for whom we all are working, isn’t it?   

·        Well, they see problems where none exists. They just sit outside the corridors of power and want to run the puppet-show. They are the Left of India. They are the Marxist people. But they are considered ideologues. As, in popular Hindi movie Lagaan, Ishar Kaka says, “Jo Aankhe Puri Khuli Ho…Unme To Sharam Bhi Nahi Aati.” So they vociferously defend all their acts of sabotaging government. In theory, it all looks good as they talk about equality and distributing public resource evenly in the masses. But short history of communism suggests that countries all over the world have failed to execute it successfully. Even their fort, the state of West Bengal, is lagging behind other fast-developing states in India. I really don’t have any wish for them. I just wish the History repeats itself again to prove that their style is not the in-style.

·        There are other innumerable parties and leaders. But if we start talking about it, we will go on and on for hours. And they really are not worthy of our precious time. Besides they are not national parties in any sense, although they may extract benefits from national parties solely bases on their number power. But I have one wish for Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav. Looking at his party manifesto and the promise to remove computers and English education, and also considering that how ridiculously he offered three seats to Congress Party in UP for election tie-up, he appears to be having a funny bone or maybe two. There are lots of TV channels in this country who run laughter shows, and I wish he just throws himself in that ring and lands a job for himself – I don’t mind even if he sends Navjot Singh Sidhu packing. Oye Guru, you may help the country more that way.

 

ROMANCING THE RAIN

As I look through the glass window of my office, I see a flurry of rain outside. The effect is multiplied by the accompanied heavy wind blowing westwards. Some of the weaker trees are bent from their back and almost touching the ground, as if pleading to the rain God for some mercy. They have, unwillingly, shed quite a lot of weight in last few seconds. The stronger trees are standing upright, almost challenging the rain to have a game of wrestling with them. A strong urge to go out grows inside me. But the rain is so heavy that I decide to wait till it subsides. Invariably it does weaken after some time. It’s raining slowly now and I pack my bag to leave the office.

“Let me drop you to your home. You may get wet in the rain.” 

I turn around and find a familiar face in the parking lot. I politely refuse, saying that I would prefer to cycle to my home in the rain. He is somewhat bemused. I start pedaling as I watch him standing there still trying to make sense of it. The moment I get out of the office, I feel small little drops of rain on my face and a strange sensation passes through my body. The heavy, unrelenting wind has now turned into cool breeze, which makes one feel sleepy or dizzy. People are rushing to their destinations as I hear unwanted honking of their vehicles. The road is full of small and big tree leaves, those unfortunate victims of the havoc wrecked by the team of rain and wind. The trees seem to have acquired new green attire as the rain has cleansed those leaves who managed to hang on. Some of the leaves have water droplets on them, clinging to them as a child would cling to her mother in a crowded market. I fondly remember my childhood when I used to watch the old house in front of mine. As the wind blew away the dust and rain washed the roof tiles, it looked as if the new orange roof tiles had just been put on.

 As it is case with the most of the Indian roads, the one which I am going on is also not deprived of potholes. As I watch front-wheel of my bicycle splashing water, I bump into one of the potholes, full of water, so I have a mild jerk. A vehicle just passes by, spraying dirty water on me from the nearby small rain-created pond of water. Immediately I think why it’s needed to have rain on the roads. Why can’t we just have rain in the farms, on the trees, on the houses and of course, on the people who enjoy it? I break down in the laughter the next moment for this stupid thought as I remember following words of Nida Fazli: 

“Barsaat Ka Baadal To Deewana Hai Kya Jaane,

 Kis Raah Se Bachna Hai, Kis Chhat Ko Bhigona hai?”

The rain has stopped and my attention diverts to the air now. It smells like a two month old baby smells. So fresh! I feel like I have been deported to a different planet. Where do you find such fresh air in cities these days? I want to treat my lungs with this air so I take a deep breath and pump some air in. In the process I close my eyes, still pedaling slowly. Suddenly a sound of a horn wakes me up, and I see a car running towards me like a Spanish bull. The motorist manages to stop the car a foot away from me. He looks angry. 

“Are you in hurry to reach the heaven?” inquires he, not gently though, as he rolls down his car window.

“To reach the heaven? I think I am in heaven. Is it going to be better than this?”

“Mad!” He just waves his hand disbelievingly and leaves. 

I think about the madness. If this is called madness, then I am glad I am mad. At the same moment I regret not getting mad before. I declare myself a mad today. They say that all the good things in the world are free; And I don’t want to let this free stuff go, so I take a long road back home just to enjoy the weather more. For the uninitiated, there are other advantages of going out in rain. For one, if you are too lazy to wash your shoes, go out in rain and let it take care of the washing. The rain does the job much better than we humans do! Also you can clean your bicycles/motorcycles if you think Sundays are not meant for cleaning those machines. I take a look at my bicycle – the red and silver body is glowing, the wheels are the best of the black you can see in the world. I realize that I have not changed the gear during the complete journey, but who cares? I was in the top gear for the whole time. After a few moments the mad man reaches to his home, wet outside from rain and inside from joy.   

The Fig Tree

I live in Bangalore, the Garden City of India, but I always wonder why I don’t visit gardens often. So today I leave office early to have enough time to relax in a garden. I go to a garden nearby my house. It’s small but beautiful. They always are. The gardens! As soon as I enter the garden, I see sea of people there. Children are playing and shouting at each other. Elderly people are talking about range of topics.  I find a couple sitting on a bench, holding each other’s hands. They are whispering to each other, careful enough not to give hint of what they are talking to anyone else. There are a few joggers who pass by me in hurry.  

 

I try to find a place to sit on. As it’s evening time, all the benches are occupied, so I go to the centre, where some people are sitting below a tree. Quietly I sit down. I see a kid playing Catch-Me-If-You-Can with her mother. He is running happily, looking back and forward time and again. The mother is enjoying the show and is in no mood to catch the boy. No prizes for guessing who the winner is. Over the years, the mothers have always lost the game to win the hearts. What a blessing the mothers have been to…Thud. My train of thoughts derails by a sound of sudden thud. I see around me, but don’t find anything. Another thud troubles my ears after a while. This time I see a fig falling from the tree I am sitting below. The evening breeze is good enough excuse for some of the figs to let themselves loose. In a few moments many figs fall down from the tree. One fig lands just an inch away from my legs. Another one misses my back.

 

I look around me; there is a bunch of those figs. It amazes me that not a single fig falls down on me. Given my affinity towards attributing all the happenings of the world to chance and randomness, I think myself lucky to survive the onslaught of the figs. Not that any of those figs would have hit me hard enough to crush my bones, but the impact of the sound and the effect on the mind makes you afraid of the consequences. It’s like the shoe-throwing game people play with politicians in the great Indian Election drama of 2009. Almost no one has been injured by the shoe-missile but everyone is fearful in the anticipation of the next shoe hurled at him – all the politicians have (not) done enough to be eligible, and I am sure some of the politicians might have nightmares and a few would have sleepless nights. The probability of a fig hitting me was considerable, given the large number of figs on the tree and the small area where they can land themselves. So I happily assume that I was lucky not to have been at the receiving end of the Russian Roulette. I was randomly selected to be lucky.

 

But there is something inside me which refuses to accept this randomness theory. I survive from the falling figs, but so do others sitting below the same tree, and there are many of those. The certain thought of God crosses my mind. Lets be honest; it doesn’t cross, it just stays there. In those innumerable battles within mind between the faith and the logic, I have seen the logic persisted most of the time, giving a hard punch to the faith. The only refuge I find in those times is in Blaise Pascal’s wager. But today seems to be different. I see the hand of God in giving me a chance. Probably He is there between those two figs landed in front of me and back, and He is everywhere else. May be He is inside me (I refer to God as He only for the sake of convenience. I would rather like feminine form of God – more loving, caring, compassionate and beautiful). “The best place to find God is in a garden”, said George Bernard Shaw, “You can dig for him there“. The thought of having him around pleases me and gives a sense of security. When I see around, it’s dark now. The night has slowly started spreading her wings. The God inside me is hungry and I realize that the food is not far away.