The dead phone

My phone went dead a few days back and as a result I lost all the contact numbers in it. I then wrote a mail to all my friends informing about the incident and asking their numbers. Some of the responses I got were interesting, and so I thought to write a post on it.
The following is what I wrote, followed by some of the responses I got.

"dear friends,
due to the sad demise of my phone yesterday i have lost all my contact details. it would be great if u can mail me your phone numbers. sorry for the trouble.
also i may not be available on phone for few days (till i fix this one or buy a new set). till then please feel free to contact me over email."

and the responses were.......

>ooops dude what happened to your phone....
9818588696 my working cell phone number
26411199
41622329 my resi numbers>

>I can just picture the jaspal bhatti episode, in which his phone is declared 'dead' ..safed chaddar... mourners.. gali ke sab log aate hein afsos dene... hehe..
My number in UK is - 0044-7747031399
And my number in India is / was - 0091-9818333036
chal ja naya phone khareed ab.. yeh sab natak issi liye tha na.. kyunki tujhe naya phone chahiye tha... i tell you kids these days..

>9966162734

>9885078508
......... not a single word of sympathy.SOB! SOB!

>bahut dukh huaa jaan kar bhai....chal koi nahin himmat rakh upar wala sab sahi karega....waise mera number store kar lena...its 9899099849.

>Dear Harsh,
Jaihind!
Sorry to hear about the sad 'demise' of your cell phone. Yes, it is a disastewr these days. Hope you would be able to fix it.
Here are my contact numbers:
Mobile: 093123 23702

>ha......ha.........ha......... :)
condolences..... :(
may ur mobile rest in peace..........
according 2 me ....everything in our life has got an ultimatum.......ie; there is a limit for using things ....whether eating or using......i think ur mobile might have reached that ultimatum...by usage. U might have used to its max capacity..and so it decided to rest in peace........
well......my no is : 9966655730
.....first you laugh, and then you give condolence and then lecture

>hey i read that as "Warm regrets" haha...my phone number is 9871311353

>my due condolence 4 ur mobile..........
my d way mt no. is 09425562690....
pls do in4m as soon as dis problm gets sorted......
....it took me 4 days to figure out that in4m is short for inform

>do u really want our no.s?
........ this was one of the best. notice i still dont have her number. also notice the word 'our'. how many are you?? biharis are never alone.

>I am sure you must have done something to it... any way heres mine
9833975345"

>Nalayak, Phone kahan de diya tha?? Abhi jaldi se theek karwa kar phone karna iss no par... 09971176672
......kaha diya tha ka kya matlab hai. hadh hai matlab batameezi ki.

>What happened to ur phone? abhi to ek saal bhi nahi hua tha..
nd wat did d nokia care guys say abt it?
.....where is the number???

>Hi,
where have u lost ur phone??My no. is 9740444775..
........I DID NOT LOSE IT.

>Hows it going? well.. the number is... +91 9980331167 you can save it now! and lemme know yours if you are getting a new one..
by the way.. if i may ask.. how did the sad demise happen ? tervi kab hai? :P

>Oye kya ho gaya aapke phone ko…..jab bhi main decide karti hu aaapko call karne ko tabhi aapka cell maar jata hai……. J very bad aur batao kya haal chaal hai…sab kuc mast???
........ arre as if my phone dies every month. people she never calls me, just gives plain excuses. and notice even here she did not give her number.

Some one special at AIIMS bus stop...Taare Zameen Par part-III

It was a nice sunny winter afternoon in December. I was standing at the AIIMS bus stop in Delhi. I was waiting for a bus which would take me to Noida, my work place. The winter afternoons are quite pleasant in Delhi. It is real fun to enjoy the sun. This is the only time of year in India, when people can enjoy sun. All other time, it is the sun which enjoys people. My shift was to start at 4pm and it was only 2pm now. The journey to office was not more than 40min. I am one of those who take one's own sweet time to reach work. I never got late for work, but I have never been in a hurry. I always started way before time from home, and would take my own sweet time to travel. I would happily let the crowded buses go by and wait for an empty bus. On my route usually 2-3 packed privately owned buses would be followed by one empty DTC bus (government owned). And while I would wait for my bus, I would enjoy the afternoon sun and also the people.
The AIIMS bus stop that time was my favorite hang out place. Lot of people would come and go and I would just observe them. I would eat nice warm moongfalis (peanuts) while doing this. Sometimes on Sundays Gayatri would come and join me as her house was right behind the bus stop. Since I worked in a news channel then, Sundays was working for me. I think my off that time was on Friday.
This must have been a weekday, as I was not expecting Gayatri to give me company that day. As I stood there watching buses come and go, a girl came and stood by me. She seemed fairly dressed and educated. She then asked me if bus number 544 would come here. When she asked this question, she seemed to be looking at something else. It was like she is looking across the street and asking me. At first I got confused if the question was meant for me. But as I was the only one at the proximity of her voice, I replied back,"Jee haa. yahi pe aayegi". To this she replied, "Jab aayegi to please bata dena." I was now sure that the question was addressed to me. But she was still looking across the street while talking to me. And moreover why should I tell her when the bus comes? Can't she for herself see it? She looked literate enough to read the numbers on the bus.
In India, its a common habit on our part to not look into the eyes when talking to a stranger of opposite sex. I thought probably thats the case here. Maybe this girl is a little too shy to look at me and speak. But she seemed more than being a shy person. While speaking she never stood still. She kept shifting her weight from one leg to other much too often. It was like she is dancing to some music. And she kept adjusting her chunni (a wrap around) much too often. I could figure out something was not normal here, but exactly what I did not know. Moreover why should I fear from a girl I thought. She should fear from me (specially with my bearded look).
While we waited for our buses, this girl stood a little too close to me. Normally we maintain an extra distance if standing to a stranger of opposite sex. She stood so close, that she even bumped into me once while looking at something across the street. All this was surely new to me, and I knew she is not normal. I thought she could be blind, but never dared to look into her eyes to confirm that. Usually blind people wear dark goggles and carry a stick with them. She didn't have any.
Just then a bus approached us and she asked excitedly. "544? 544?" Why is she asking, cant she see it, I thought? As I did not respond, her excitement grew and she asked again "yeh 544 to nahi hai?". And this time she held my hand. As if forcing me to respond quickly, else she might miss her bus. This was really unusual. I never even dared to hold my girlfriend's hand in public. Is she crazy or what.
Well yes she was. I realized she was one of those 'special' people who have had a stunted mental growth. While their body has grown to take an adult form, their mind is still between a child and an adult. These people are not crazy. They are like young adults.
Seeing this I replied "nahi nahi mudrika hai. aap chinta mat kijiye, main aapko bata dunga jab 544 aayegi?" I was feeling a lot relaxed now. All my doubts had gone. I was there with someone special that day. I was feeling relieved to not have jumped to any wrong conclusions about this person. I was feeling happy that destiny had given this chance to me. I was also being careful in not showing over care towards her. The fact she has chosen to travel alone means she is confident of herself. Let me not break that confidence by over care I thought. I was also happy to see, that this girl trusts people on street. She has this confidence that she will be safe. She had confidence in me. All this made me smile. I just stood there and smiled, while she stood right next to me still looking across the road.
Just then my bus came, bus to Noida. This was a DTC bus, empty with seats available. What should I do? I did what I felt like. I stood there and let the bus go. I was in no hurry to reach to work. And I thought the first thing I'll do on reaching office is tell my boss Shruti about it.

While we stood there, this girl asked me, "aapko kaha jaana hai?". I said "Noida". "Agar aapki bus aayegi to aap chale jana. Meri bus ki service to kam hai". " Koi baat nahi. aap chinta mat karo", I said.

I stood there looking at the buses. She stood there looking across the street and making that to and fro movement. Then came her bus. I saw the number from a distance. I said pointing towards the bus "woh aa gayi 544". While I said this and waved at the bus to stop, I thought I should help her get on to it. But how was the question. Should I just point her the bus, or should I hold hand and take her to the bus? Should I hold her palm or should I hold her wrist? When I was thinking all that, she kept her hand on my wrist. I smiled again.
I then took her to the rear door of the bus. She climbed onto the bus, taking one step at a time and firmly holding onto the rod. The bus was crowded, but I was sure she will manage a seat. Just as the bus moved away a thought came to my mind. I should have taken her to the front door instead. The first seat at the front door is for physically challenged people. Shit that was such a silly mistake on my part. But I knew the girl was confident enough to find her way through the crowd in the bus. I knew she would be just fine. And as for me, well I was feeling so good about myself. I was happy for her. For the first time I felt being happy for someone else.

I then got a lift in a cab to Noida. I reached Noida before the bus which I had left earlier. It was a perfect start to my day. I told Neha and Shruti about the incident at work and they were happy too.

Why do children hate Karelas-- Conditioning of mind

The issue of conditioning of mind has been occupying my thoughts for some years now. Conditioning of mind is like programing of mind. The mind is trained to think within the boundaries created. The mind is also trained to think on certain lines and not deviate from it. Its like someone has programed the mind and decided 'what' and 'how' to think for us. This is referred to as conditioning of mind. I first came across this topic during a discussion in a JV workshop in Mussoorie in 2004. Since then I've been thinking on this issue. I also read a book named 'Freedom from the known' by Jedu Krishnamurthy, where he talks at length about de-conditioning of mind.

I wonder how deep this conditioning goes and when did it start. Did it start when I went to school first? The earliest conditioning I can think of is to regard first rank or good marks as something great. Or did the conditioning start when I started seeing television. The conditioning of regarding certain set of clothes as cool and others as not so cool seemed to have taken place through television for me. Or did the conditioning started even earlier?

I've been observing kids very carefully on this issue. In my family I have 3 nieces and 2 nephews. The eldest of them now being 10 years and the youngest 11 months old. I haven't seen the youngest one much, but I have seen the other kids in the grow very closely. And often I have observed rather innocent but serious conditioning taking place on part of the parents. One very common thing I have seen in my family is the way we talk. We all talk in a fairly normal way (the accent, the voice, the pitch) when talking among ourselves. But when we need to speak with any of the kids, our style of talking completely changes. To sound polite to them everything changes about the way we speak (the pitch, the accent, the choice of words). As a result we may sound quite polite to the kids, but we sure do not sound normal to them. And I believe they are smart enough to notice this change (however small they maybe). I now think of the damage this does to them. We are showing a part of hypocrisies in us, where we behave differently with different people.

I can think of another incident which clearly showed me how a child gets conditioned. In December I was visiting my cousins in Mumbai. One of my nephew belongs there and he is about 3 years old now. I was talking about the above example with my brother and it made him think. During this trip we visited a family friend in Nerul. The sweet aunty gave Rehaan (my nephew) a piece of paper and pen to play with. Rehaan used that to draw some figure which was some figure in line with evolution of snakes. My bhabhi would very politely ask what he has drawn, and "snakes" came the answer. To this my bhabhi replied "ooooh snake! oh im scared Rehaaan" (notice the extra a in rehaan). And with this she would also enact out the emotion of fear on her face. Rehaan would then runaway into a different room and come back again within a minute. He would come back with another similar figure and my bhabhi would ask the same question. He gave the same answer again, "snakes" and that followed exactly the same response from my Bhabhi. This happened 4 times in 5 minutes. The 5th time Rehaan came with his drawing, he related the words "snakes" with "fear" and the expression my Bhabhi would make. I'm assuming here that at that time he got conditioned. He got conditioned into thinking that snakes are something to be feared of. And as he will grow his 'natural' reaction on seeing snakes would be that of fear.

I can relate this example to my life. I can see how my 'natural' reactions were not natural enough but conditioned. I'm not saying the parents did this with some bad purpose in mind. This act has been done with pure innocence on their part I'm sure.

I was reading a blog recently where this girl talks about how every child hates karela. How the 'natural' reaction of every child on seeing a karela would be 'chee, chee', while this girl loved karelas as a kid. I think a similar thing happens with karela too. When a child tastes karela (or anything which is sour), the mother (or any adult) makes this hate expression on the face. And I think this act done number of times makes it 'natural' for a kid to dislike sour things. And similarly to like sweet things. I cannot imagine that our tongue is designed to me less favorable for karela and more favorable for an ice-cream. I think the issue of tasty food is more of conditioning of mind and less of the structure of our tongue.

As we grow older, this conditioning becomes stronger and wider. This conditioning then plays a major part in our decisions in every aspect of life, shopping, hobbies, choosing a partner, choosing a job etc.

A-Z of places I've visited

A for Amarkantak- Amarkantak is where from river Narmada originates. The river originates from a spring over which people have built the narmada temple. Narmada is the only major Indian river flowing westward to join the arabian sea. All other rivers meet the bay of bengal. Amarkantak is suppose to be the highest point in the vindhyachal range. A place called Som dhara near it is like the end of the world. It is at the edge of the mountain. On looking down all you see is clouds, no ground. It is a breath taking sight. The nearest station is Pendra Road, which is well connected by trains from Delhi or Raipur. For those who love the jungles of central India, Amarkantak is a must.

B for Badrinath- It is the temple of Lord Vishnu located in the north of Garhwal region in Uttaranchal. It is just 40km from the Indo-Tibet border. Badrinath was established by Shankaracharya. This is quite an interesting fact because Shankaracharya hailed from southern state of Kerela. It is said his journey (from Kerela to Uttaranchal and back to Kerela) took some 7 years. There is an early morning 5am aarti which takes place at Badrinath. There is a hot water spring and also the river Alaknanda flows besides the temple. People take bath usually by mixing the water from the river and the spring (otherwise you may end up burning yourself or freezing). 5km from Badrinath is a small village called Mana, which is the last Indian village in that area. The road on Indian side ends at Mana. The people of Mana are a mix of Indian and Tibetan blood. There is also Valley of flowers close to Badrinath. The nearest town to all three of them is Joshimath which is inhabited all round the year. Badrinath, Mana and Valley of flowers are opened only for a few summer months. One has to book cabs from Delhi or Rishikesh to reach Badrinath. The journey can easily be two days long one way if weather permits. The road from Rishikesh to Badrinath is about 300km moving all along the river Ganga. On way one passes through many prayags. A prayag is a place where two rivers meet. It is a sight in itself to see two rivers meet from mountain top. The route is marred my deep river gorges and also many waterfalls, some even falling on the road. People take bath and wash their vehicles under such waterfalls.

C for Chail- Chail is located in the state of Himachal pradesh. It is a few hours journey from Chandigarh on one side and Simla on other side. The road from Chail to Simla maintains a constant altitude till Kufri. Most mountain roads are zig-zag and go up and down. This road is only zig-zag and does not change its altitude at all. Chail also has the worlds highest cricket field. Right on the top of the mountain, they have a plain oval shaped field with an old score board. The field looks something like the cricket field in Lagaan (the dust is replaced by lush green grass here). This field is the home of hundreds of monkeys, so never even think about showing an iota of attitude to them. They'll chase you all the way down to Chandigarh (speaking from personal experience). Simla is 4 hours drive from Chail via Kufri. Kufri is known for its snowfall. On way back to Chandigarh, a little off the road (about 15km) is a small town named Kasauli. Kasauli has an airforce base and is also inhabited by mostly retired army generals. One doesn't find too many hotels there (it seems they don't want to encourage tourists). The nearest city to all of them is Chandigarh.

D for Dalhousie- It lies in the dhauladhar ranges in the state of himachal pradesh. One could get there via Pathankot or through Kangra. In Dalhousie town, if you are looking for good aloo paranthas then sharma’s dhaba is the place on Gandhi chowk. It’s a shabby looking dhaba (that’s how dhabas are suppose to look), but the aloo paranthas are comaparable to the best I’ve eaten. Near Dalhousie is the famous Khajjiar lake which is referred as mini Switzerland due to its similar looks. Khajjiar is 23 km from Dalhousie, and buses are available to take you there and back. Another place is dain kund. It’s an airforce base located at the highest peak in the region. This base just over looks Pakistan and therefore is used for monitoring activities across the border. They have a huge radar there which is guess is used to intercept signals. Near the base lies a temple and a beautiful valley. No buses go there, so has to walk. The distance would be around 17 km from Dalhousie.

E for (nothing i can think of.....)

F for Fatehpur Sikri- This was the capital of emperor Akbar. It is about 35km from Agra. Fatehpur Sikri boasts of Buland Darwaza, the tallest gate in the world. It sure is huge. There is nothing more to the town. Closest city is Agra where Tajmahal and Agra fort are worth seeing. Agra is 200km from Delhi and well connected by buses and trains.

G for Gurgaon- That was the only place I could think with G. Gurgaon is a suburb of Delhi on the Delhi-Jaipur NH-8. Old Gurgaon is a usual Indian town, but the DLF area looks more of some western nation. It is flanked by tall,swanky corporate buildings, shopping malls and very expensive residence complexes. The most interesting thing I find about DLF area is the names they have chosen for roads and complexes. Each and every name it seems have been borrowed from the west. There are NO hindi names there. I wondered was it a deliberate policy on their end to choose such names or was it just a beautifully western coincidence. I believe it reflects the follow the west blindly kind of thinking in them, but I there is no way I can prove that. Gurgaon in anycase is used as the perfect face of growing India.

H for Hoshangabad- It is a small town in Madhyapradesh located on the banks of Narmada. I visited this place when in class VIII in a gurukul there. It is well connected to Bhopal.

I for (cant think of something....)

J for Jammu- This is the summer capital of J&K. I've never been to any place where there is so much of military. At first look it seems there is a war going on. 2hrs drive from Jammu is the temple of Mata Vaishno Devi. This temple is very popular among north Indians. Jammu is well connected by rail and road from Delhi.

K for Kanyakkumari- Kanyakkumari is the southern most point of the India mainland. This is where the Arabian sea, Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal meet (though to naked eye it looks a simple sea). It is also the place from where Swami Vivekananda grew as a person. They have an Ashram of him there. Just off the mainland into the sea is the rock where Vivekananda used to meditate. There is also a beautiful statue of Guruvayur standing in the sea. Interestingly Kanyakkumari is in the state of Tamilnadu (for some reason I always thought it to be in Kerela).

L for (cant think of any....)

M for Mcleodganj- This is the seat of the govt in exile of Tibet. Home of the Dalai Lama. One would find a large number of Tibetans there, and many in monastic robes. Mcleodganj is about 15km above the town of Dharamshala. If you choose to walk from Dharamshala to Mcleodganj through the short cut, there comes a point from where one can see the cricket stadium in Dharamshala. It's like a bird eye's view of a stadium. Dharamshala is very close to Kangra which is famous for it's apple farms. The mountain range in this part of Himalayas is called Dhauladhar range. In Mcleodganj the majority of foreign tourists are from Israel. I don't know the reason for that, but they say Mcleodganj and Kullu are like second home to Israelis. Besides hotels, one room apartments are also available for those who plan to stay for months. A lot of Tibetan and Israeli food is also available along with the usual north indian food of course. Dharamshala is well connected by buses from Chandigarh and Delhi.

N for Nainital- This famous hill station lies in the Kumaon region of Uttaranchal. It is named after the Naini lake, which now is absolutely polluted, thanks to the tourism industry. There are other lakes around Nainital, but all are polluted now. There is Ranikhet some 35km from Nainital which is lot less crowded and clean. I personally prefer Ranikhet a better place to visit than Nainital for the simple reason that there are very few tourists there. Nainital is well connected by bus from Delhi, while the nearest station is located at Kathgodam.

O for (cant think of any....)

P for Pushkarji- Pushkar is 12km from the city of Ajmer. While Pushkar is known for the only temple of Brahma in the world, Ajmer is known for the dargaah of Khwaja Moinuddin chishti, a sufi saint. It is said that more Hindus visit the dargaah than Muslims. Pushkar is located on the bank of a lake. Ajmer too has a number of lakes. Ajmer is well connected by train and bus from Jaipur and Delhi.

Q for (cant think of any....)

R for Rohtang Pass- Rohtang pass is beyond the town of Manali. I went there in the month of May and it still snowed there. Beyond Rohtang lies the lahaul and spiti valley which connect Laddakh to Himachal. There are only two roads connecting to Laddakh. Besides the Srinagar-Leh NH-1A, this is the only road. The river Beas flows through Manali. Manali is well connected to Delhi and Chandigarh through road. It takes at least two days to reach Manali by Road.

S for Shimla- This is the capital of Himachalpradesh and the former summer capital of the Raj. It is the biggest city I've seen in the mountains. It occupies almost half the mountain. The Mall road in Shimla is where all the activity is in the night. New year's time is when it is most crowded. It is said that it always snows on the new year's eve, but this time it didn't snow and it made news. Shimla is well connected by road from Chandigarh and Delhi.

T for Thiruanandapuram- It is also known as Trivandrum for short. It is the capital of Kerela. The airport is located next to the sea, so the sight of runway is quite good. There are very few red lights in the city and not much traffic. The only place where one could find traffic snarls is near the secretariat. The narial paani is the most common drink you could get. In restaurants you get warm boiled water. I found it difficult to find open cold drinking water. And one should definetly try eating barrotas there.

U for (cant think of any....)

V for Valley of Flowers- This is the best place I have visited in my life. It is breathtakingly beautiful and one major reason for that is not may people visit the valley. The only way to get to the valley is to trek 18km from Govindghat (nearest road point) of to sit on a poney. Beyond the gate of the valley, the ponies are not allowed. You pass through the gate, climb the mountain and you the a 10km long valley. It is just amazing. All you see is a bed of flowers. All kinds of flowers, all possible colors. There are some flowers which blossom only once in one year. So if you see them on a day, you will not see them for the entire year. Also the valley changes its colors. Today it might have purple flowers, and tomorrow there will be magenta flowers. My writing skills are not good enough to describe the valley. All I can say is it's a must visit for those who love to trekk and those who love mountains. It is one of the very few places left in the mountains which is untouched by the tourists. Beyond the valley lies Badrinath on one side, while on the other side is Hemkunth Sahib. This is the highest gurudwara in the world. It is located at the banks of a lake. Nearest town is Joshimath, which is more than a day's drive from Rishikesh and Delhi.

W,X,Y for (cant think of any....)

Taare Zameen Par-II....The truth about truth

I was in SIDH last year for few months. SIDH is a non profit organization based in Mussoorie in the state of Uttaranchal. It has some 17 schools in villages nearby. I was in one of them, teaching all that I know to little but smart kids there. The time I spent there was perhaps the turning point in my life. It forced me to re-look at my country in a way I was not used to. It forced me to know about Bharat and not India.

While taking a class with fifth grade kids, I asked them once. "Do you people lie"? I got no answers. I then said, "I do lie sometimes. I'm sure even you must be doing it sometimes". They now started raising hands, indicating yes they do it sometimes. All of them raised their hands. All did lie at some point or the other. I then asked, "why do you lie"? The answers they were giving sounded familiar. They lie because they don't want to get a beating from their father or their teacher. They lie, because they don't want any kind of punishment in school. Then a little boy said " we also lie to impress others, our teacher, our friends". That was a really honest answer. I was not asking all this to see if they lie or not. I was asking this to them, to help me look inside myself. All those answers seemed so familiar. All those reasons were mine too. Just that as I grew older, my lies would be more to impress people than actually out of fear of some kind of punishment.

I then asked them, "do you also speak the truth?" They laughed to this question. What a silly question, "yes we do speak the truth", everyone said. Then I asked them "why do u speak the truth?". This question was also addressed to me. We were all thinking. Why do we speak the truth? I had not definite answers. Probably because it's the easiest thing to do, I thought. Just then a little girl stood up to answer the question. "We speak the truth because otherwise no one will believe us."

This statement left me thinking long after the class. We want others to believe us, to trust us.And for them to do that, we need to speak the truth. The same is the other way round. We want to trust people. And so we feel good when they speak the truth. Why does it feel bad when the other person lies?? I guess because the trust is broken. That is what probably hurts. And one lie, causes doubts on all the truths that have also been spoken.

A friend recently lied to me. It was a totally insignificant lie, non-consequential. But that lie shook me, broke my trust. I was forced to doubt every word she had uttered before. I wanted to stop, but could not help think all the statements she made to me. And the thought of them being a lie was disturbing. Maybe I've done the same with other people too. Maybe I've broken their trust too. Maybe just like me, even they asked "why me?"

When I decided to go to SIDH, Pawan ji had told me to come with an attitude of a student. To have an attitude that I may learn something there, from the local people. That class that day proved a turning point in my life. I realized I was not there to do some kind of social service. I was not there to help those kids. I was there to learn. To learn what I did not find in my text books for over 20 years. To know what Bharat is. I had a fairly good knowledge of India, but not Bharat.

March on global warming

I met Shashank a few days ago. He was planning to organize a rally to highlight the issue of global warming. In the conversation we had I wanted to know how serious he is and how he plans to take the rally. He asked me to join him for the march.

Yesterday some 200 students (mostly from IIIT) gathered in front of the cyber pearl building in the hi-tech city area. We had hired the city transport bus to take the students from the campus to rendevouz. Almost all the IIIT students were dressed in blue jeans and white t-shirts. I think this was some kind of planning from their side. I'm not sure why this combination of dress. We were also given half a page, describing small steps we can take in our lives which would help reduce global warming.

Most of the talks I have heard on this issue and even here, the solutions suggested seem to be insufficient. I feel even if all the solutions suggested here were implemented, at best the global warming will be postponed. If global warming was to happen today, it would be postponed to say 10 years from now. I think the core issue was missing. And I believe the core problem is consumerism. I feel unless the problem of endless consumerism is tackled, environmental breakdown is inevitable.

I'll try to explain with an example. One of the solution suggested is to have better technology cars, which emit less fumes in the air. But at the same time the target of the industry remains to increase the car sale. The ideal situation for industry would be if everyman on the earth owns a car. Now even if with new technology, the fuel emission is reduced by 15%, the car sales goes up 10 times. In total, more fumes are emitted now.

Our march began in front of a corporate building which was made entirely of glass. And that was not the only building. Almost all the corporate offices in hitech city (in fact even in other cities of the country) are made mainly of glass. Now India is a hot country where sun shines really bright. A glass building would allow immense amount of sun rays to enter the building. And to cool this heat so much of more air conditioning is required. I wonder if anyone gave a thought on this aspect of those glamorous buildings.

While marching and shouting slogans, I saw a roadside advertisement banner. It read (something something....Mini city, Mega comforts). The ad was for some upcoming township in Hyderabad. If someone is trying to fit in mega comforts into a mini city, I believe global warming is round the corner. I asked Harjinder ji if the issue of global warming can be tackled without talking about consumerism. His response was that each one is standing at a different point, and each one has to raise his voice from that point. He thought, in todays time we have to talk about multiple issues together rather can putting our energy on one issue. We both felt it was important to have some kind of follow up activity in IIIT, otherwise the whole issue would be diffused. I asked Shashank if they planned anything like that. He said they have planned to show the video recordings of the march in felicity (the upcoming college festival). They are also trying to organize some talks on the issue.

The heartening fact was to see Shashank and his friends organize the event. They managed everything well and in the end seemed pretty satisfied with the effort. When we reached back at the campus after the march, Shashank's friend gave him what they call bumps (number of guys lift one person and kick his ass, till it goes red or better sense prevails). Such a celebration is a sign of a successful event and the happiness in those people.

I really hope some kind of follow up activity is organized in the college. It's very easy for the young students here to undermine the seriousness of such activities. The follow up can help them continue to be sensitive about such issues.

By the way, just for record, some of the war cries and banners were
Jhonny Jhonny yes papa, global warming no papa
vote for, green planet
be different, go green
fly less
use public transport
........and some on the lighter side were
angrezo, bharat chhodo
inquilaab zindabaad

For me the success of rally would be if Shashank and his team of organizers can make their living more green. Anyone else would be a bonus.

Celebrating by selling Gandhi

It was my birthday on 26th. Usually I don't plan any celebrations. I always thought I should not plan celebrating my day of birth, but I would always feel nice if someone else planned it for me. The idea of a surprise birthday party thrown by friends always seemed so nice. This time I was feeling different. I don't know why, but I wanted to plan myself and invite friends.
So Devansh and I sat together about a week before to plan how to celebrate. We initially thought of going to Lingampally station and do some cleaning there. We got other ideas too. Finally we decided to sell books written by Gandhi. We basically intended two things through this. We wanted to get a feel (and also give a feel to our friends whom we were to invite) of what it is like to sell something out on the street. And we also wanted to distribute some works of Gandhi. One doesn't find much on Gandhi in books stores, and hardly anyone goes to buy his books. I once asked a store owner if he has any books written by Gandhi ji. He politely declined. But then said " oh sir, we do have the new harry potter book. If you would be interested". I smiled and said no thank you. Harry potter seemed to have taken over the land of Mahatma.

I even called two friends Mumbai and Pune, but only Ruchi could manage to come. I had a list of about 10 people in mind who would join us in the 'party'. The plan was to buy books, sell them on the Punjagutta crossing and then have food.

Ruchi and I went book hunting. Devansh had told us about a shop in exhibition ground in Nampally. When we reached there and said we were looking for books on Gandhi ji, they seemed surprised. As if saying are you sure?? It reminded us of the munna bhai film. The old man took us in the store, offered us seats and asked us which book are we looking for. "All of them", we said. The look on his face made us feel happy about ourselves. He showed us all the books. His autobiography, his book to students, to lawyers, about health and vegetarianism, about village industries. The cheapest was Rs.5 while the most expensive was Rs.35. Gandhi sells cheap, thankfully. It seems the government has given some kind of subsidy on his works so as to encourage people reading it. But I guess the youth today is not attracted by subsidy only. The youth requires some kind of glamour to move.

The next day was 26th. In the morning there was a small ceremony of flag hoisting in the campus. It got over by 9am and we decided to leave by 10am. Unfortunately only 4 of us could gather for the occasion. So off we went. We reached Lingampally station and decided to do a dress rehearsal there. The response we got there was totally unexpected. We didn't manage a single success. Everyone turned down the offer. Some gave funny looks, some laughed. One gentleman said "Gandhi...something something something"...I couldn't understand telugu, but figured that the man doesnt think much of Gandhi. At that point I thought maybe it was a bad idea. I got conscious too. Others too were feeling a bit down, but we still continued with our plan.

We reached Begumpet station, and decided to walk to Punjagutta crossing, which is about 2 km from there. On our way we would try to sell to any prospective buyer. Just then an uncle ji stopped. He seemed interested. He saw all the books we had and decided to buy two. That was our first sale. Our 'boney', and boy we were excited. It was then we decided we will sell all the books and only then go for the biryani.

We spent the next hour and a half at the Punjagutta crossing. The sun was bright. We got all sort of looks. The beggars at the crossing were also interested in what we were selling. One of them even flipped through the books. "I also sell books sometime at the crossings. But have never sold Gandhi ji's books" he said. Yeah I know, I thought.

The books I had were bought by an auto driver. When Ruchi was trying to sell one to two guys on a bike, one of them said he doesnt like Gandhi. But immediately the other one said he likes Gandhi and bought one from her. Devansh met a guy who asked the source we got our books from. He said he would go to the same shop and buy books from there. Devansh tried to sell the books in front of Himalaya book store, thinking that the people who would come there would be interested. But soon the store owner came with his guard and asked Devansh to leave the place...

All in all we had fun. After that we went to paradise to have some nice biryani. Thank you those who came and made my day, and those who could not make it, well we missed you.

Taare Zameen Par

It was may,1997. I was 15 years old. It was my third trip to Amarkantak. Amarkantak is suppose to be the highest point in the vindhya range in central Indian state. The sacred river Narmada originates from a spring here. People have built a temple over this spring. Right opposite to the temple is Baba's home. His name is Shri A.Nagaraj Sharma, but I always addressed him as Baba, meaning grandfather. I thought thats how my dad wanted me to address him. He probably related to him in father-son relation. My earlier trips to Amarkantak had been in 1990 and 1991 along with my family and other colleagues of my parents. This time, my dad had already been in Amarkantak, and my mom was not coming. So I was traveling alone. Well not alone entirely, I had Gaur uncle who was a faculty in Mechanical Engg department in IIT-D, Naresh Mamaji, his son Kapil who was my age, Neeraj who was 4 years elder to me and Sandeep who was few years younger to me. Then there were Sanjeev bhaiya and Ritu bhabhi also. Among them, I was the only one who had been to Amarkantak before.

My dad had left for Amarkantak in first week of May. Before leaving he had urged and also warned us (mom and I), to join him for the shivir. Jeevan Vidya had grown in the last 4 years, and he had been requesting us to do a shivir. For some reason, mom and I both had been giving him a slip on the issue. I'm still not sure what reason's mom had, but I had no reasons. The only possible reason I could think of is probably the fact that JV was still a rural thing. All the shivirs were held in rural India, and mostly farmers were getting associated with it. At time, I had a bent of mind, where it was difficult for me to relate to rural Indians. I felt more comfortable with my elite friend circle in Delhi. And so before leaving dad had given a sort of warning to both of us to come for the shivir, otherwise he may not return home. I guess, my mom decided to take a mid-path. She allowed me to go, but herself stayed back in Delhi. I also guess, Gaur uncle was also traveling for a similar reason.

As a child, I had always seen such kind of struggle between my parents. On one hand was my dad, totally against the modern world, who saw all the answers in JV, while on the other was my mom who wanted to be more practical. It was very hard for my mom to imagine a life without the usual luxuries in life, specially when our neighbors and relatives kept adding something each year. For me, dad was always correct, but I was too lazy and weak to start living the way he wanted me too. I loved wearing nike shoes, playing basketball, watching T.V, when I always knew one day I would leave all that. I just hoped to postpone that day a little bit. Our other relatives always had high regard for dad, but thought he was a little impractical. All this had been happening in my house, when finally dad gave us the final warning this time before leaving for Amarkantak.

Meanwhile in Amarkantak, people were gathering for the shivir. All of them were either friends or friends of friends who were coming by the word of mouth. Some of them were curious to know what JV is, while others were coming for the sake of their friendship, just like me and Gaur uncle. They expected some 60 people to gather, and so in terms of numbers this would have been the biggest JV shivir till then. Dad was suppose to take it, while Ransingh Mamaji and others would take care of the arrangements. I remember Ganeshji's presence there, but what role he was playing is not clear to me.

We started at 1pm from Nizammuddin station by Kalinga Utkal express. In the evening, somewhere in Madhyapradesh we met, two more people who were headed for the shivir too. It was quite exciting for me to just meet someone like this, heading for the same place, same purpose. One of them was a very old man Sindhu Chacha. He must have been over 70 then, had a long grey beard. Sindhu chacha had been in the freedom struggle along with Gandhi ji.

We all reached Pendra road next day at 11.30 am. Sadhan bhaiya, had sent a jeep for us, but with the extra two passengers and also our more than expected luggage it was not possible for all of us to travel in jeep together. Amarkantak was still 35 km away, deep in the forest and on top of the mountain. So Gaur uncle, Naresh Mamaji, and we kids (Neeraj,Kapil,Sandeep and I) decided to come by bus. Our luggage was taken by the jeep. When the bus came, it was jam packed. It happened to be some religous season, and so people from far away were coming to Amarkantak. While Gaur uncle and Naresh Mamaji managed to get in the bus, we kids went on the roof. Surprisingly they didn't object to this. That was the first sign I got from others that I was a grown up kid now. They trusted me, when it came to traveling on the roof of bus. But sadly, the driver noticed us soon, and we had to get off the bus. There was no room inside, so we decided to stay back, while Gaur uncle and Naresh Mamaji continued their journey.

Neeraj asked me if I knew the way to Amarkantak. I said, I'm not sure. No I don't. We all laughed. I was surprised. But we all laughed. There seemed no fear of getting lost in the unknown land. It seemed even the adults had no such fear, and so they left us alone. Had my mom been there, it would had a completely different situation. I was sure, if mom comes to know of it Gaur uncle and dad would have had a good taste of her mind. But that was not happening here. We were only kids left behind, in the Jungle. There were no adults to worry.

After an hour, another bus came. We got on it. Some one offered us a part of their seats. Its pretty normal in India to adjust children. The bus played the song "tum to thehre pardesi,ghar kab aaoge". I'm not sure of who the singer was, but he had Raja in his name. This song had topped the charts during those days. For the next one hour, the driver played this song. Only this song. He would rewind and play it again. It was that part of my life, where I was trying to develop a taste for English movies and songs. Listening to Hindi songs was a sign of backwardness to me. So I was probably the only one not enjoying that song, and wondering how can someone enjoy this kind of music. The fare was Rs.9 each. When we asked for the ticket, the conductor looked at us in surprise. In that part, only the government buses give tickets. This was a privately owned bus, and they see the need of giving tickets to passengers. It was only a waste of paper. It then again surprised me, but now I can understand the concept.

We reached Amarkantak after an hour. Amarkantak was no where to be seen. It seemed the bus stand had shifted out of the town. Next to us flowed the great Narmada. We started walking where everyone was going. I remembered that baba's house is opposite to the temple, from where Narmada originates. And it would not be difficult to find that place. While walking I saw somebody familiar. Dad! Hey thats dad. He had come to receive us at the bus station. I was so happy to see him. All the kids touched his feet while I hugged him. " Don't tell this to your mom, she won't like it". I smiled. We took a short-cut to baba's home. It actually was a longer route, but it was away from the road. We walked on a 'pag-dandi' (a path among the grass), all along the Narmada, to enter baba's home from the back. Everyone was there. It was a Mela.

The next 7 days I spent in the shivir. I understood nothing in the shivir, just saw people laughing and enjoying. Some would even weep quietly. I could make out, the shivir was a hit, but still didn't know why.

We returned home in June. After two months my dad died. He was suffering from cancer.

What Attitude !!

Last year in IIT-D, I saw a student wear a t-shirt which read "I'm what you aspire to be". What attitude I said to a friend. Why would one want to wear such a logo and move in the streets? what is he thinking? what does he want others to think?
They say knowledge brings humility. Is it true? Why don't I see that humility in students here? Are they not getting knowledge or the saying is false? A student fears bad grades here more than anything else. It seems if given a choice between C grade and death, they would choose death. You ask the reason of fear, and in most cases the answer will be "what will people think. What will I think of myself".
My perception about myself depends on what others think about me. So is the case with others. So it seems everyone here, is in the process of feeling good about oneself by trying to impress others. And in an institute like this, nothing is more impressive than grades. You get good grades, people will love you and so you feel good about yourself. You feel confident about yourself. In the next semester you fail an exam and your world comes crashing down. The professor forgets your name, the friends get busy and your life stops. Everything stops. Even eating food seems a waste of time.
I was talking about this to a friend and she seemed to agree, though reluctantly. The most popular professor here has students who are feared by the campus. People love the prof for his humility, and fear his students for their attitude. And it seems both the prof and his students enjoy the situation.

I'm still an outsider here, watching things from a distance. And I already feel uncomfortable. And the JV tag is attached to my name here. He is Harsh Satya JV wala. Thats how people introduce me here.

Hyderabadi flavor- part II

I've been in the city for 6 months now, and so have now some knowledge about it. This post can be taken as a continuation of my first post. I'm writing this for those friends, who when visit Hyderabad will have some idea about it.
Travel-The buses, in Hyderabad are all state owned buses. One needs to really get into it asap, otherwise there is a likely hood that you will be left out and the bus would move. For males, don't expect the driver to stop the bus, if you wish to get in or get out. At best he would only slow down. The bus stops only when there is a lady. The bus conductors could be of both sexes and well educated. I recently met a conductor who has done a masters in technology and wanted information for admission in doctors program in IIIT. The lady conductors are usually more strict than their male counter parts. Don't even think of not buying a ticket. Unlike in Delhi, I have not seen any ticket checking flying squads here.
There are two ways of traveling in an autorickshaw. If you wish to hire it for your own, then they will over charge you for most occasions. They usually refuse to take you by metered fair, unless it is after 10pm. After 10 the rule is to charge 150% of whatever the meter reads. The other way to travel by auto is by sharing it. In this case the fares are usually fixed, anything from Rs.3 to Rs.10 depending on the distance. One auto is usually shared by 5 people.
The cabs are also available on sharing basis. There are a lot of corporate cabs (usually Indica cars), who move through the city and the driver in order to earn some extra bucks, takes in passengers when there is no corporate customer. In such cases again the fair is reasonable and fixed, and this is the fastest mode of transport in the city. There are no cabs like those found in Delhi or Mumbai (with yellow and black paint, or radio cabs). You can hire cab for yourself (mostly Indica) through any travel agent.
Then there is a local train which runs right through the city. It is called a metro, but don't mistake it for those in Delhi. It's more like those in Mumbai, but in much better condition. The crowd is much less in number, and the trains are also more spacious. The frequency however is one in 15-20 min, but if one is staying near by the railway line, I would say this is the best mode of transport. It takes you away from all the traffic and pollution of the city. The traffic in Hyderabad can get really bad, specially in the peak hours. At such times, the metro is for sure the best option.
There are no hand pulled rickshaws in the city. At least, I have not seen any.
Food- Hyderabad is known for it's biryani. Since I'm a vegetarian, the best veg biryani I have had is at a place called Paradise. This restaurant have 4 floors to it, as you keep climbing, the price tag on each meal increases. I've heard the biryanis served at Hyderabad house is also good. They are a chain of restaurants, scattered in the city. Then there is a restaurant by the name Haveli, located behind lifestyle mall at Begumpet. It serves a good lunch buffet at Rs.130. For those who have a good appetite, this is a good option. It is also very close to Begumpet station, so linked with metro. There is then Chutney's located at Nagarjuna Chowk near Punjagutta. It is known for its south indian delicacies. If you plan to visit it on weekends, be prepared to spend some time waiting outside. They seem to have no space inside, so people usually end up waiting out on the road, while the door is shut. They have a different section for buffet which has plenty of space, but only for buffet. Then there is Eat street which is a combination of number of eating joints. It is on the necklace road, on the banks of Hussainsagar lake. In the night, the view is good and nice breeze blows across the road. Though sometimes the smell of the lake can be a bit annoying. Next to it is some restaurant which has water in it's name. It will not let you in unless they are sure of your paying capacity. So one needs to be 'properly' dressed to enjoy food there (as I wasn't, I didn't went in there so have no idea about it). Next to it is an artificial cricket pitch where a machine bowls at you. You get to play 3 over for Rs.50 and if you can score 50 runs, you get another 2 overs for free. It's not easy to score that many runs.
Discos- There are some discos in the city, but I have had no opportunity to visit them. I've never been to one ever and thought to visit it once to see what it is all about, but someone told me they do not allow single males, (they do allow females though).
Cinema- Movie going here is much better than Delhi or Mumbai or Bangalore. I say betterm because one has a choice of seeing it in the order of Rs.30-40. Such choices have disappeared in Delhi and Mumbai (specially after the closure of Chanakya in Delhi). They do have multiplexes here, but the other cinema halls are equally good (in terms of sound and seating), and reasonably priced. The most famous is the Prasads which claim to have IMAX technology which I have no idea about. Of course they charge you heavily.

Time- the traditional Indian concept

I met Tenzin ji this Sunday who was visiting his parents in Hyderabad. He had brought some books from SIDH for me. Along with the books was the yearly planner published by SIDH. They named it SAMYOJNA. I guess the word comes from combination of Samay and Yojna. Samay means time and Yojna is plan. So a planner would reflect to planning of time.

The starting few pages in the planner are taken to explain the traditional Indian concept of time, the traditional calender (Lunar calender) and how the calender varies from one part of India to other. Reading those pages filled me with joy and excitement. I was happy to learn the Lunar calender and excited to know that extensive research has been done on the concept of time in India. I was so excited, I felt the need to share some of it in the blog.

Traditionally, time (of kaal) is considered in three ranges in the Hindu philosophy. The first is the cosmic time determined in terms of the life span of Brahma. Brahma is the GOD in Hindu philosophy also referred by Om. In Hindu mythology, one year represents one day for the divine. 360 divine days make one divine year and 12,000 divine years make one Mahayug. Mahayug is also devided in 4 yugs namely Kali yug (432,000 human years), Dwapar yug (864,000 human years; dw= twice), Treta yug (1,296,000 human years; tre=thrice) and Krita yug (1,728,000 human years; 4 times kali yug). 72 Mahayugs make one Manvantara i.e the life of Manu (a character in Hindu mythology). And 14 such Manvantaras make one day (kalpa) for Brahma. This works out to 4.35 billion human years. According to Panchang (a hindu way to calculate time), in the year 2008 (the gregorian way), the universe is 1,955,855,109 human years old.

The second range of time is the Panchang time, which is measured in units of days and months. This is used in determining the seasons etc. There are 6 seasons in one year, namely Vasant (spring), Greeshm (Summer), Varsha (Rain), Sharad (Autumn), Hemant (Winter) and Shishir (early spring).

The third range of time is ishorological, which is used to determine the duration of day and is measured in lesser units. This I found most interesting, though I'm not quite sure what the word ishorological means. The Truti (particle) is the smallest unit of duration. In modern terms it ranges anywhere between one ten thousand millionth of a second to one Kshan (moment). The Kshan (moment) loosely ranges from 2/45th of a second to about 4 seconds. The Nimesha/Mimisha (twinkling of an eye), which is the time taken for upward and downward movement of eyelid is equal to 4 kshanas. The lava (fraction) is the duration of a completed blink (i.e the time taken to shut completely and open the eyes) is equal to 8 kshanas. The taal (hand clap) ranges from one quarter to three quarter of a second. It is an extremely elastic phenomena depending on the intensity of clap.

All this seemed very excited to me for mainly two reasons. One, we could go beyond a second and accurately calculate the time taken by very real and common phenomena of blinking and clapping. And secondly, our research on time w.r.t to celestial movements. I guess the study of Indian astrology would be interesting.

By the way, since I'm writing this blog on the new year day I thought I would also mention that in many parts of India the year starts from Makar Sankranti, which this year would fall on 14th Jan.

Visit to Haritha- In the land of tribals

I took a visit to Haritha ecological centre with mom. Haritha is a society started by Sudhakar uncle (my mom's colleague in IIT-D). Haritha takes the responsibility of providing education to the tribal children in that area. It is located at a village called Paloancha, near the town of Bhadrachalam in Khammam district of southern state of Andhrapradesh. It was my first trip into rural southern India, and I was excited to move away from the civilization into the real civilized society.

Haritha is at its top has three people. Sudhakar ji, who is a proffessor in IIT-D, his wife Usha aunty, a retired bank employee now fulltime at haritha and swamy ji. I don't know the name of swamy ji, but like everyone I addressed him like that. He is another of those people whom I thought I had met earlier somewhere. He happened to do his graduation from a gurukul in Hissar, in the northern state of Haryana, and knew Acharya Devrat. Acharya Devrat was a good friend of my father, and so I assumed I met swamy ji sometime through him. His face looked very familiar to me. Then there are local teachers and kids who together run the school. Sudhakar ji was a permanent faculty in department of CARE (center for applied research in electronics), when about 10 years ago he quit his job and started Haritha with Usha aunty. I'm not sure at what stage swamy ji joined them. The fact that an IIT prof had the courage to quit and start something like this, has forced me to give another chance to these IITians. I simply love him for his effort. A couple of years back he re-joined IIT to work with mom in bamboo technology. Over the period he developed some technology with bamboo, which would prove to be an alternative for the concrete structures. Our visit to Haritha was to see his work on bamboo. Along with us, were Sivanandan Uncle and his wife Sulochana aunty, who own a non-profit organisation in Kerela and our interested in the bamboo technology. They see with it a scope of not only having more eco-friendly houses but also empowering the tribal community. Of course they have also been our family friend, and so it was great to see them again after sometime. With them were Jaisingh ji, who has retired from CBRI (central building research institute), Roorkie. I reminded Jaisingh ji that this was our second meeting. The first time I met him when we (Sivanandan uncle, Sulochana aunty and me) visited their place in Roorkie on our return from Badrinath. With them was also one George, who happened to be a mechanical engineer cum farmer cum owner of construction company cum working with a non-profit organisation. Then there was Srinivas ji, the local contact along with Sudhakar ji. He was the representative from the Andhra government. There was Suprotic Gupta, a civil engg faculty from IIT-D, who was here to see the strength of the bamboo structures. And lastly there was Sapna, a student of M.tech in civil engg from IIT-Roorkie and also a close friend.

So all of us took this trip from Hyderabad. We not only explored the structures at Haritha, but also went to a village Chatti, deep in the forests on the border of Andhra and Chattisgarh. This was a tribal village, deep in the naxal territory. To my happiness, we were deep in the jungles, where the roads were as good as they can get. The traffic on them was minimal. People still walked barefoot. And we saw real bow and arrows. The bow and its string we both made from bamboo. There were two kinds of arrows. One with a metal sharp head. This one is used for hunting, primarily wild boars. The other had a blunt wooden head. It was used to pluck fruits from tree tops. A local tribal also showed us the use of it.

At village Chatti, we met Chandrasekharan ji, who had offered a part of his land for the growth of desired bamboos for the project. He had only one concern with the entire thing. He hoped, that when bamboo technology would be recognised by the country, its benefit should reach to the common man. He hoped this project would not meet the fate of all those solar energy projects. Research on solar enegry was done in the name of providing electricity to the remotest corner of the country, but in practicality now its only used in the fancy drawing rooms of the rich or in lobbies of five star hotels. The poor are nowhere near it. He hoped, the bamboo he will grow in his fields will not end as some artifact in some showroom, but would be used as real beams in real structures inhabited by common people. Sudhakar ji tried to answer his question to the best of his capability, but I'm not sure if he was convinced. We all knew, that despite Sudhakar uncle's assurance, and Srinivas ji's plan we stand no chance if the government or some corporate decides to hijack this technology. Something similar happened a decade ago to the work my mom was doing on organic farming. The fertilizer industry simply hijacked the project, and as a result her research was limited to test fields and never reached the actual farmers.

Mom,Sapna and I returned back to Hyderabad while the rest continued their trip to Vijaywada where there were some more structures. Our stay at Haritha was like visiting my village. The concept of eating with hand, eating on pattals (plates made of leaves), all that brought sweet memories. Sudhakar ji gave an open invitation for us to visit Haritha again. I would want to go back again soon.

In a conversation with Swamyji the concept of Satvik and Tamsik also became clear. I had an idea of them earlier, but Swamiji's explanation gave new clarity. In hope to meet him again and learn many more things.

The need to talk......it's not about money this time!

It happened to me again. It happened just now, a few minutes ago. I had gone to Indranagar market to recharge the currency in my phone. Since it's not too far I decided to walk. On my way back, a man standing on the road asked me if I could give him two minutes. I said sure. I knew what to expect. This man will tell some sad story about his life and in return ask for some monetary help. Such instances has happened to me before, where each time I've ended up giving some money. As my friend Tincy says, I have a public service board hanging on me. This would have been fourth such occasion with me, I thought.

As I stood there, this man started talking. For a change, this time the conversation was in english. He was quite fluent and grammatically correct in his english. He told me, he belongs to Orissa, and has been in Hyderabad for over a month now. He is working as a security guard here (pointing towards a gate in the background). He is still awaiting his first salary. While he was narrating all this, I was waiting for the moment when he would ask for money. In my mind I was preparing myself for that moment. What will I say when he would finally ask? How will I turn him down? Or should I give him money, like always? I only have a hundred rupee note in my pocket. I was suppose to go to bank today, but didn't go. If I give him this 100 rupee note, then I'll have to ask for money from Piyush or Shivangi. And if I tell them what happened, they for sure would kill me. They already hate me for giving money to Manoj at Nagpur station, or for not bargaining with the autowallas. Oh, god why did I choose to walk today. I should have taken the bus. Why did I stop? I'm such a fool.

While all this went in my head, the man continued with his story. He still hadn't asked for money.He said, he is literate and knowledgeable, and is quite frustrated with the job he is doing. He said, he has not spoken to anyone for days. His job is only to sit at the gate, open and close it each time his boss' car comes. And finally he asked.He asked, what advice I have for a person like him. "The only weapon I have is knowledge. Can I not use it to earn some money?". " Please sir, I'm not asking for money, I'm only asking for advice." I said, "maybe you should look for some other job". Like what, he asked. Hmm, a driver maybe. "Sir, I do not know driving. Is there nothing else I could do in your city?" "ah, this is not my city. I'm also a stranger here like you. I'm from Delhi."

I asked him what he used to do in Orissa. He was a salesman for 15 years, but things went bad and he lost his job. His wife doesn't want to live with him anymore. She insists on him earning some money. This job of security guard only pays enough for him to survive and not save. More over it was a very dull, no-activity job. This man was really frustrated.

I advised him. I told him to look for a job at some shopping center. After all he has 15 years of sales experience. More over a shopkeeper would love to have a sales boy who could speak good english. Such a man, would definetly attract customers. And his english was good. As good as mine.

He thanked me for my advice and my time. He asked, "do you think I'm mad? Do you think I need psychiatrist help?" I said no. I said you are like me. "I can understand what is going in your mind." He said, sometimes I feel I'm getting mad here. I understand. Sometimes you think so much, that you actually want to stop thinking. And you wonder if you are not getting mad. It happens with me so many times.

I told him, I think you should go back to your place. There atleast you will have your own people, own language, own food. He again thanked me. He did a namaste. I did a namaste. And I walked.

It wasn't about money after all. It was probably about an idea. Or maybe it was about a simple need of conversation. It must be really tough to not speak for days, I wonder.

I'm glad a chose to walk. All such things happen to you if you move at a slow speed. These things happen to you, when you have time with you. It is when you observe things around you. It is when you stop and respond to your surrounding.

The dangerous new trend

Since the last few months, i'm observing a dangerous trend in Indian society, which I believe is not something natural but man made. I'm talking about the protest over protests. When some people would take to streets to protest against some unjustifiable government policy, then they are not to be met by police barricades. The state machinery will not oppose them. Instead they will meet another set of people who fall on the greener side of the policies. And so what one would witness is two groups of people fighting on the street, while the state looking the other way. In the end of course the state can prove that their policy is for the people, and thats the reason people took to streets to protest over the protest.
Such a thing started over the Narmada dam issue, when people took to violence in state of Gujarat against the tribals of Madhyapradesh who were opposing the dam. The tribals were losing everything they had (land,homes,cattles etc), while people in Gujarat would get less of electricity.
Then more lately in Nandigram in the state of bengal, we saw people fighting people. There was one group which opposed the SEZ project, while the other which opposed the opposition of SEZ (and hence maybe was in favor of that project). It made a perfect case for the state to defend their policy on the issue. Then what happened in Guwahati was shocking. The locals in the town attacked a procession taken out by tribals demanding schedule tribe status. It is hard for me to believe that a shopkeeper would leave his shop and go about attacking others.
And lastly a similar thing happened in Orissa. Some people attacked (with bombs and guns), people opposing another SEZ project.

It becomes very hard for me to imagine that those who attacked tribals on the street of Guwahati, or those in Orissa or in Nandigram were common people like you and me. I feel, somewhere they were payed group to attack and threaten those who oppose the state, while in the media the picture is given of people fighting.

So, the next time I take to street to protest over the government taking over the next door park to convert it into a multiplex, I should not expect to meet the police force. I should expect other people who are in favor of such a project. Common people like me. I'm scared of such a thought.
It seems we are moving towards south america of 70s. It becomes so much convenient for the state to divide us further. This time not on religious lines but on developmental issues. So there are two kinds of people, one who are pro-development, while others who are anti-development. And of course its the state who defines the meaning of the word de-ve-lop-ment.

Meanwhile in all the news channel the debate is on whether will it be OSO or Saanwariya or who will captain India in the tests. We need to escape what Swami Vivekananda once described as the propensity of the Indian elite to discuss for hours whether a glass of water ought to be taken with the left hand or the right hand.

....continuation of talk on love

After my last post on love, i had a discussion with a close friend Tincy. I shared with her my ideas of love. She came up with a beautiful poem which I thought i should share. The poem has no title.

Love to me is more than just 4 letter word

Love to me is more than a relationship dat one shares wid someone near

Love to me as pure as dew

Wat love means to me i guess known by very few

Love to me is a feelin beyond one can see or imagine

Love to me is like north and south poles of a magnet inseparable

Love to me is the joy that fills the farmer seeing his crop grow

Love to me is the first drops of rain after a hot day plough

Love to me is the happy joy of enjoying my day's first bony

Love to me is waiting like a kid for the last bell to go off..

Love to me is sweet taste of going home after a war for a soldier

Love to me as small and simple yet so complex in itself

Love to me is u me and we...

Love is in the air

Love is in the air, is what one would believe by seeing the Indian movies. All movies are centered around people falling in love. I'm not complaining, but I'm sad at the fact that the word 'love' has been truncated into a very specific relation between a girl and a boy. Why can't movie makers see other forms of love, I always wondered? Then came Iqbal, a movie based on love of a boy towards a game. It was a refreshing change for Indian audience I feel. It was like a breath of fresh air. We now had a movie, which had a completely new relation of love. More refreshing was the fact that it also showed love between a male and a female in a new form, that of between a brother and sister. And it was very well shown too. Seeing Iqbal and his sister, I felt if this movie is about Iqbal's love for cricket or is it about brother sister relation.

Coming off the movies into the real life, people on the campus also seem to be falling in love. There is of course the 'usual' love of opposite sexes, but I can see other forms of it as well. One cricket team left their match unfinished to make way for the football team to use the ground. I too am in Love. I'm falling in love with the buses of Hyderabad. These buses have lady conductors, who manage the bus very well. There is also an unsaid, unwritten understanding between passengers, that the one who has a seat to himself will hold the bags of those who are standing. I was told by one such passenger to give my bag to someone who has a seat. I smiled and declined the offer, saying my bag was heavy, and it may not be too fair for someone to hold such a heavy bag.

So how is one form of love different from other?? Is it fair, to use the term 'love' for all such forms, or should love be restricted only to one form of relation? How do I know when I'm in love? These questions have troubled me for long time now and I still don't have a definitive answer. For me, I fall in love almost each day. And I've been doing that for some years now. And I feel happy after each time I'm in love. Recently I told a friend I fell in Love with a muslim guy in the train with whom I had a discussion on Islam. His first reaction was, are you gay?? That was probably the worst possible reply I sought, though expected.

trip to home:part IV Discussion on Islam

On my way back, I had the train reservation from Delhi to Hyderabad. Mom and Mausi ji had come to see me off at the station, and this time I had an extra bag. A bag of food, which I was suppose to eat during the journey. Indian moms are very peculiar of not allowing their children go hungry, no matter how old have they become.
The train on way back was crowded too. People were returning after the diwali. In our column of 8 berths there was an RAC (reservation against cancellation, where one seat is shared by two passengers). And so, it meant there would be 9 people traveling, with 2 sharing one berth and rest seven having a berth to oneself. Soon we realized, that one passenger who had half a seat had 2 more friends traveling with him. So they were 3 people traveling on half a seat. Then there was another girl who had a waiting list, and was traveling along with her friend on her berth. So in all, in a column of 8 we had 12 people traveling. I could not again help and smile. Another fun trip, I thought. Of us 12 people, three were young muslims (traditionally dressed muslims). All three of them were crammed up in half the seat they had.
They were coming from a place called deoband near town of Muzzafarnagar in Western U.P.
Deoband is infamous for its pro Pakistan stance. It is rumored, that muslims there are very orthodox, and favor the Pakistani team in every cricket match. All this made me curious to start a conversation with these young men. I found it very difficult to interact with them. It was like they were not interested in any conversation. I could only know, that they actually belong to Gorakhpur and had been studying arabic in deoband. They were now headed for Hyderabad, for some advanced course. They also told me, after this they plan to apply for a job of interpretor in some gulf country. They also told me, that there is no concept of fee in the madrasa they studied. Madrasas around the country run on donations and charge nothing or minimal from its students.

The next day at noon our train reached Nagpur and I was woken up by one of the muslim guy. He told me it's Nagpur and if I wanted to buy something from the station. I smiled and said thank you. From Nagpur we were joined by 2 more muslim men. They didn't have a reservation, and maybe came to our column seeing the other muslims. So now we were 14 people traveling in a column of 8. Of the two, one was a young handsome, religious muslim, while the other was an elderly man (his father I thought). I offered my berth to them to sit and also keep their luggage. The next few hours were going to be very enriching for me. With this young muslim I had a discussion on teachings of Islam and through it I got my first insight on the religion. All through the discussion I was been very careful of not to digress from my motive of discussion. My motive was to understand what Islam preaches and not to prove anything. Although at times I did get into an argument mode, but was quick to get back into the listening mode. And as a result we had a great discussion. The following are a few points I earned out of it.
a) Islam starts with having an unquestionable, unshakable faith in god (referred to as allah). One can not question the existance of god. GOD IS THERE. AND THERE IS ONE GOD. why we cannot question god is answered in terms of limitations of a human being.
b) it's god which made man, for the purpose of praying. So purpose of life of every man is to submit himself totally to god and pray (ibadad karna).
c) Once in the path of god, there is always a danger of being misled by the demon (shaitan). For a normal man, it's not possible to know whether he is on the path of god or demon, as they may look the same. And so it becomes essential to a man to love and fear god at the same time (allah se muhabbat aur allah ka khauff).
d) the greatest vice which god gave to man was nafs (ambition, khwaish). if one follows ones ambition one is likely to digress from god's path. and so 100% devotion is required to god. Even 99% will not do. One is not suppose to one's head, but just submit oneself to god.
e) so what is the symptom of someone who is completely devoted to god? God loves, the one who is completely devoted to him. one who is loved by god, is loved by everyone. and so the most common symptom is love (muhabbat). he is loved by everyone, and he loves everyone.
f) how important is symbolism? how does it matter of what i wear, of how i choose to pray, if i keep a beard or not, if i'm on the path shown by god? All this is important for one so that they remind one constantly of god. normally people are not mentally strong enough to be 100% devoted all the time, and so these symbols act only as supportive system. for someone who is into god totally, these symbols are no issues.
g) most religious muslim youth are reserved to themselves, because they feel the outside world is getting polluted by modernism and so its important for them not to let themselves distracted.
h) muslim parents send their kids to madrasas not for jobs, but to make a good human out of them. A good human is one who loves everyone and is loved by everyone (muhabbat), who moves on the path of god.
In this sense somewhere our hindu parents have faltered I believe. Our parents are now more interested in making us successful in life, and the good human being has taken a back seat. Most important is to be successful, being a good human at the cost of success is considered foolish now.

In our entire conversation, this young boy was very careful in his choice of words. He never used the word allah, but only god. He stressed on muhabbat (love) time and again. It was one the best conversations i've had in life.

Hyderabad came at 9pm, and we shook hands before leaving.

trip to home:part III In Delhi

I reached home on Tuesday morning, after 2 days of what had been the most memorable trip.
I told every detail of it to mom and nani. They were very happy to see me back.

It is Diwali time. It's time for loads of sweets.But this time there were less sweets. It seems, a few days ago, the police had caught tons of synthetic khoya (the main ingredient of most of the sweets). This khoya was made not from milk, but from urea and even surf. So finally they realize what we have been saying for some years now, I thought. And so this time, more people were giving dry fruits as gifts and not sweets. Some were even giving chocolates and pepsi as gifts. Diwali in truely modern sense I guess. Thats the latest trend, the shopkeeper told me.

Ours was gladly still a not so modern Diwali. We gave dry fruits along with Kheel and Patasha (the original and cheapest and cleanest diwali gift). Most of India still celebrates with kheel patasha and diyas.

Diwali also means, meeting up with people many people whom we didn't meet in the entire year.Old family friends.Old memories. Aunties and uncles telling us what we did as kids. Remembering the old times. Thanking each other for being there always, in toughest times and also good times. I always wished if we have more such festivals like these, so that we can meet more often.

A major part of my 5 day stay at home went in meeting people and distributing diwali gifts. In between India played 2 matches against Pakistan. We won one and lost one.

It was sunday, time to return back to Hyderabad

trip to home:part II Nagpur city and Manoj

While in the bus, one of the passengers had told me about a dharamshala, where I could change and take bath in just ten rupees. After coming out of the Nagpur bus station I signaled to a rickshaw walla. Pretending to be a local, I asked him with confidence "tanga stand"? He nodded and said 30 rupees. I pretended to be shocked (as if I knew what the correct fare would be). I moved on. He then shouted "achcha 25 rupees". I kept moving away from him, towards another rickshaw walla. He then held my hand, "achcha give 20 rupees, it is boney time." Boney is the first income of the day, and it sets the trend for the day to come. I agreed, being happy in me that I bargained good 10 rupees and was not fooled this time (I get fooled on usual occasions).
Off went the rickshaw, through the narrow lanes of Nagpur. I was beginning to like the city. It was almost 9.30 am, but the shops were still closed, the roads were still deserted. It seemed people here are not in a rush. It seemed a laid back city, much the way I like. The rickshaw kept moving for 20 min now. Where the hell is tanga stand i thought. It sure was far from the bus station. 3o rupees weren't too much after all. I gave him 30 rupees on reaching tanga stand. He asked me if i could also sponsor him a tea. I did happily, another 2 rupees. So was I fooled again this time? ah, I don't care if I was.
I found a jain dharamshala there, where in 25 rupees i could use their facilities to freshen up. Nagpur is like Haridwar of Maharashtra. It's a hindu religious place, and so there are a lot of dharamshalas. The next was a roadside poha I had .Yummy!!. Nothing like anything I've had before. I then took a bus to the railway station, from where I would get my train at 4pm. The city buses are pretty spacious and well maintained in Nagpur.

I reached station at 12 noon, and decided the spend the rest of time there, seeing the trains leave. Nagpur is the central most city of India, and so one can get train for every direction. I was sitting on a raised platform seeing the trains, the people, the coolies. Next to me was a young boy, Manoj. He was 12 years old and was going home to Gorakhpur. He was probably the only one not traveling to celebrate Diwali but for other reasons. The following the conversation I had with Manoj over the next 4 hours.
M: bhaiya gorakhpur ki gaadi isi platform par aayegi
Me: Mujhe nahi pata, waha dekho us par likh ke aayega (pointing towards the electronic display)
M: mujhe padna nahi aata. aap dekh ke batao
Me: (after looking at the display) haan isi par aayegi shaam ko 5 baje
....................quiet period.......................
M: jab train aayegi to aap mujhe bata dena
Me: meri train to 4 baje hai, tum chinta mat karo isi platform pe aayegi
M: main subah waali gaadi chhod chuka hu. mujhe bahut tej bukhar hai. train mein bahut bheed thi, main chad hi nahi paaya. ab yeh last train hai gorakhpur ki.
(I touched his hand. He did have fever)
....................quiet period.......................
M: aap kaha jaa rahe ho?
Me: dilli
M: gorakhpur se dilli ki gaadi to mil jaati hogi??
(it seemed as if he was suggesting i go along with him to gorakhpur and then catch a train to delhi)
(I didnt know how to respond to the question)
....................quiet period.......................
Me: tumhe gorakhpur se aage bhi kahi jaana hai
M:haan ,naugarh. gorakhpur se chhoti line hai naugarh ki.
Me: naugarh to nepal border pe hai na?
M: haan (seemed a little excited, as if saying ah here is someone who has heard of naugarh)
Me: pahad hai waha?
M: nahi pahad nahi hai, lekin chhapre se pahad dikh jaate hai
(i had no idea what chhapra was.maybe some place)
Me:hmm....nadi hai waha?
M: haa hai
Me: kya naam hai?
M: us nadi ka koi naam nahi hai. sarkari nadi hai
(he was probably referring to a canal)
....................quiet period.......................
Me: Nagpur kaam karne aaye the??
M: haan, sheet banata tha.2 mahine pahle aaya tha
Me:sheet??
M: haan sheet (pointing towards the roof. he was referring to asbestos sheet which are used in ceilings).
Me: to ghar kyun jaa rahe ho??
M: mujhe bukhar hai ek mahine se.tabiyat bahut kharaab hai.
....................quiet period.......................
M: aap jaante hai is bukhaar ko? ek din chhod ke aata hai. bahut tez chadta hai
Me: bukhar ke time sharir kaapta bhi hai??
M: haan bahut kaapta hai
Me: tum jaha rehte ho, waha machchar hai??
M: haan bahut machchar hai
(malaria i thought. poor kid)
Me:tumhara naam kya hai?
M:manoj
....................quiet period.......................
Me: ghar kuch kama ke le jaa rahe ho ya khaali haath??
M: jo kamaya tha bhaiya, woh bukhaar mein lag gaya.ab mere paas sirf 50 rupees hai
Me: ticket le liya train ka?
M: haa le liye
(he showed me the ticket.i then explained him what all the ticket says)
....................quiet period.......................
Me: ghar mein kaun hai tumhare
M: pitaji hai aur do bahan hai.
(no mother)
Me: pitaji kya karte hai
M: kabadi hai
(income not more that1000-1500 per month i thought)
Me:bahano ki shaadi ho gayi??
M: haan, dono ki ho gayi
(thank god i thought. to marry one's daughters is a huge responsibility in this part of the world, and poor people find it very hard).
Me: to matlab ab tumhari baari hai shaadi ki (i said this with a smile)
M: nahi mein to abhi 12 saal ka hi hu (his expression never changed. no smile.)
....................quiet period.......................
....................quiet period.......................
M: bhaiya, mujhe kaha gaya train mein log samaan loot lete hai. aisa to nahi hota hoga na??
(here was a young boy, who still believed in the world. who thought why would anyone steal my luggage?i didnt know how to respond to his question. i didn't want to break this faith which very few people have now)
Me: nahi aisa to kuchch nahi hota.darne waali koi baat nahi hai.tum apne bag ke upar hi baith jana.
(i then told him about the announcements being made in the station.i wanted to teach him to understand the announcements so that he would know when his train is announced.soon i realised it was really difficult for him to concentrate on each announcement. i then told me he could go to any coolie dressed in red and ask them.coolies have all the information. after all this, he still wasn't confident enough, and wanted me to stay till his train comes. i tried to explain i can't as my train was announced and i had to leave. it was one of those moments when i hated being practical).
(my train came.i had to go. i took out 100 rupee note and gave it to him.)
Me: yeh rakho, raste mein kuch khaa lena.bhooke pet mat jaana
(he looked at me, not saying a word and holding the note in his hand)
Me: is note ko andar ki pocket mein rakh le. ise kharch mat karna. 50 ke note ko kharch karna
(he kept it inside his pocket. there was a man sitting next to us, who wondered what is happening).

I got on my train.

My nani (grandmother) always says, if one gives water to a thirsty man, or food to hungry man, or guides a lost man, then he gives best wishes from his heart (uski aatma se dua nikalti hai).

trip to home:part I The bus ride

With the festival of Diwali coming I decided to make a quick trip to home. Diwali and Holi are two festivals which most people want to celebrate with their families and I was one such person. Diwali is the celebration of Lord Ram coming back home after defeating the demon Ravan and rescuing Sita from him.It's difficult for me to imagine that the whole nation moves on Diwali to celebrate the event which the ASI says 'has no historical proof'. I'm sure even the ASI officials would celebrate this not so real event.
Anyways, so I was one of the many many Indians and decided to go home. At this time it is usually to get a train ticket. I couldn't get a ticket from Hyderabad, but managed to get one from Nagpur which is about 500km from Hyderabad.So my plan was to take a bus from Hyderabad to Nagpur on Sunday evening. I would then reach Nagpur next day morning, and then catch the train to Delhi in the evening and reach Delhi on Tuesday morning.
My bus started at 6 pm from Hyderabad. It was Maharashtra state government vehicle and as expected quite rickety. We were 5 passengers in all, and the conductor was happy to see us. He was happy to see so many people going to Nagpur.It seems the Diwali rush is starting, he said. This is no rush, just 5 passengers I thought. And so we started, each one having the entire three seat room.
The road was nothing great. I've seen better roads in north. Soon one of the rear tires got punctured. They found it to be the inner tire and so thought it's safe to carry on with the journey. After 4 hours of bumpy ride, we reached Nizamabad, where atleast 80-100 people were waiting for this bus, all heading for Nagpur. Just as the bus dared to enter the bus station, all of them attacked it, wanted to get in from any possible entry, the door being only one of the possible entry points. The others were ofcourse the windows (including the driver window). We were all shocked inside, not knowing what had struck us. The driver and conductor abandoned the bus and vanished only to return after 20 min, when every inch of the bus was occupied. There were people everywhere. All seats occupied. The pathway occupied. Some even sat on top of the seat, such that their head would touch the ceiling. In such a crowd, people carry their chappals in hand rather than wearing them. The chappals would not survive the onslaught. The seat next to me was taken by an old couple. I asked why so much of rush today? "Everyone going home for Diwali", she replied.
All these people were labourers who belonged to place called Gondia in the state of M.P in central India. There are two distinct features about labourers when they travel. One, they always travel together in large groups, leaving no one behind. Here it seemed it was the entire village on the move, each passenger seemed related to the other. I could figure this out, as they all seemed to know each other and addressed each other as chacha or tai (uncle or aunt). It must be real fun to go on holiday together with everyone I thought. The other feature being, they carry all their belongings when they move. So I'm not only talking about clothes here, but everything. Few of them carried bicycles (which were placed on top of the bus), there were others carrying buckets. One such requested me if I could carry his bucket on lap,assuring me it was not heavy and he could not fit it into the shelf meant to keep the luggage. I gladly accepted his bucket. In it i could see a kadai and karchi (a bowl and stirrer used for cooking). Seeing all this I couldn't help but smile. It was like a great Indian safari for me. A true picture of how India travels.
As the bus moved, I opened the window and a nice cool breeze hit me. We were passing through the telangana region of Andhra Pradesh, and would enter the Vidarbh region in Maharashtra. These regions have been in news in recent years for their poverty and farmer suicides. The sky was clear and I had a good view of the moon. As the bus moved northward, the road became from bad to worse. And with so many people inside, no one could move an inch. We all had to maintain a statue for next 10 hours. The only space we had was to move out eyelid.
Then suddenly, a suitcase fell from the shelf.It was a big bag and so could not fit in properly. With each bump, it would inch out and then finally fell down. It fell on a man's head who was sitting under that shelf. He was raged. without asking to whom did it belonged, he just opened the window and threw out the suitcase.WHAM!! "HEY WHAT THE @#$%",shouted someone from the back."BUS ROKO,BUS ROKO" (stop the bus). Then followed a series of arguments, others laughing at the situation (I being one of them). The bag was collected and the bus moved again.
As the night progressed it became cold. I was thinking about the flat tire. I was thinking if the bus would last the entire journey. Well it did. We reached Nagpur at 9 am, good 3 hours behind schedule. Everyone had been waiting for this moment. We were all holding onto our various pressures very patiently, and it was a big relief to know we have reached.