Reminiscence of the Rails

The long awaited train arrives with the familiar whistle, bringing relief, cheer and hurriedness on passengers’ faces. Suddenly the platform becomes alive, buzzing with people and activities all round. Fathers holding their kids’ hands tightly and making way through the crowd to find their way to the compartments, the coolies pushing the luggage in between, with the hawkers shouting, desperately, at the top of their voices, trying to utilize every available space and opportunity to sell their items. Finally the train departs, with the relatives bidding farewell to their kins on the train, till the train fully goes out of sight. Everything becomes as quite as before.

Indian Railways: The one and the biggest entity that connects to all of us in India. Not only because of the fact that it employs more than 5% of total Indians, but also that everyone from all parts of the country have witnessed the activities described in the previous paragraph. Everyone has some or the other experience with train journeys to share.

The best part of travelling in a train is that one gets to meet lots of people from different cultures and backgrounds. One gets to socialize with people with different opinions and all of them share their thoughts and views. Pre-Independence, trains were a major factor in bringing people, with similar thoughts but from different regions, together. Even Mahatma Gandhi used the trains to mix with people that laid the foundation for the independence struggle.
In a long distance journey, one can find everyone to be very friendly with each other and trying to put up their best character in front of others. They kill time by playing cards, discussing over politics, sports and about everything that one normally doesn’t talk about in their daily lives, for lack of time. On the other hand, some keep themselves busy by reading novels and newspapers. There are yet others, who use the precious time in retrospection of their lives. If there is nothing else to do, one can simply observe people and their activities, both, inside and outside the train, like watching a mother scold her child for spilling things or a farmer working on the fields or simply the nature itself in its full-fledged pure form.

The charms of trains are also evident by the fact that many scenes of Indian movies are related to trains, most famous being “The Burning Train”. Also one can’t forget the famous last scene in DDLJ, where Raj pulls Simran towards him in a moving train. Since then, parting and meeting in trains have often been romanticized in films. Many love stories start in train in films, and may be in real life as well.

Even though Indian railways are much behind in infrastructure, when compared to their foreign counterparts, nevertheless, travelling in a train is still the most comfortable and enjoyable ride and every ride is a unique experience in itself. In spite of the tragedies and mishaps like train theft and train delays, memories of rail journeys will keep reminiscing us throughout.

The Chase Ends

Often there are many things that one keeps chasing in life. He/She tries his/her best to achieve them. They try all sorts of things for those. But finally realize that all of them lead to the same dead end. All end up at the starting point. Life is such a maze of twists and turns, but ultimately there is no twist. Everything is the same. Life is a pattern. Everything follows a pattern. Whatever you try, How much ever differently you try, you gonna soon see that it’s been happened to you before. Many times you know the result before hand, but you don’t wanna believe that it will end up in the same way as the previous ways. We all want to avoid the past, the patterns already followed before, but the truth is that every new pattern some way or other, is exactly the old pattern. Déjà vu? No not exactly, because in the case of déjà vu, you realize it’s been happened before, but in this case you also know the result. Everyone knows the result of their actions, instinctively. It is just that we don’t want to believe our own predictions. Isn’t it strange that you don’t want to believe in your prophecy, in your instincts? It is because we hope that it won’t be the same as if hoping against something will actually lead to something different. Sadly, enough, it doesn’t work like that.

Talking about patterns, let me tell you that there is a unique pattern for every individual. Something inborn in that person decides the pattern that would be repeated throughout his/her life. There is no problem in this, as long as the person doesn’t realize the truth of the pattern. When one is oblivious of the pattern, he/she will try out things that are supposed to give him a different way of living. This will keep the energy/fire/momentum alive in his/her heart, and will make him/her experiment everything in his/her life. These people do not know the result and keep their fingers crossed till the last moment and still unable to believe in the outcome. This hope of the unknown result keeps them alive. This section of people is fortunate who don’t realize that everything they do will follow the so called “pattern”. But the trouble lies with that category of people, who realize the pattern before it’s too late. They know the result of their experiments beforehand. They know what lies ahead in their career and how their life is gonna shape up in the future. Though it sounds as if these sections of people are fortunate/talented enough to know the predictions, it is worse inside. Why? Let me convince you of this in the next paragraph.

Consider a guy who falls in the latter category who knows the pattern. He wants to try out a different experiment in his career. His instincts tell him that it won’t work, because the pattern depicts so. Now the guy is in a dilemma. What should he do? Should he go ahead with the experiment, being fully aware that it won’t produce the desired result? Or should he abort the experiment and thus get stereotyped as a coward, who doesn’t try out things, going against the popular Bhagavat Gita (which advises one to not to worry about the fruit of one’s action). Should he then just stop fighting with life and surrender to the mysteries of kismat? Wouldn’t giving up everything abate the fire inside him and stop the possibility of making his life different? To give an analogy, it’s like buying a lottery. You know the result that you won’t win it. So should you stop buying up the lottery and hence end up all the possibilities of winning right away?

Poor guy!!! Will he still keep the hope and spirit alive in his soul? I don’t know/care about his new style of living. But temporarily, “The Chase Ends”.

Dreamers’ Dimensions

The most beautiful aspect of our lives is that we can dream. By dreams, I mean literal dreams that we have during our sleep, the dreams that Alice in Wonderland used to see.

Dreams have played an integral part in the human lives, right from the past, in all the civilizations. How can one forget the dream of a man who warns Julius Ceaser of his doom before his death? Many people strictly follow their dreams and respect the gestures suggested in them. For example, the Hindu king “Harishchandra” parts with his kingdom and family to fulfill the promise made by him to a sage in his (sage’s) dream. Many books have been written on “The Interpretations of Dreams”. Science and religion both have their own explanations for the occurrence and mystery of dreams.

The best thing of dreams is that no one can predict as to what dream one will see the following night and also if there will be a dream at all. So, one has to completely surrender oneself to the DreamLord/DreamLady and let the movie begin. Yes, believe me, it is better than watching a movie. Better in the sense that you can get a first hand experience of watching first day (rather, first night)-first show, because many a times you are the actor/protagonist in the movie and the whole plot revolves around yourself. And that too, free of cost.
The next best part of dreams is that you get to see and do things that you have long wanted to do but are always afraid of the result. The inhibitions, buried inside a person, come out in a full-fledged way. In this world, where society does not permit you to do things as per your whims, you are free to try them, as many times as you wish. This is the beauty of dreams. Many a times, you commit mistakes, or do some grave sins and then wake up and say “Thank God, it’s only a dream”. Dreams are truly, another dimension that lets out all the frustration and also the truth inside oneself.

Dreams always fantasize me. I love dreams. I enjoy dreams. That’s partially the reason why I like sleeping, in the hope that I see a good dream and then wake up and still remember it. I am utterly disappointed when I fail to recollect all the details of my previous dream.

I have jumped from a 50ft building and still my legs don’t hurt. I have tried yelling but my voice just wouldn’t come out, as if I were dumb. I have missed my trains and exams. I have beaten up many rascals. I have died and watched my own funeral. I have kissed her. I have seen ghosts and gods. I have seen more weird creatures than those shown in The National Geographic. I have woken up in the midst of a dream just to discover that it is still another dream. WOW!!! What a variety.

Oh!! See you next time. It’s time for me to glide to the Dreamland.

Greatest Inventions of the Aeonic World

What are the greatest inventions/discoveries in the history of mankind?  The three things that have changed the human race and given Homo Sapiens a distinct and superior identity are undoubtedly “Fire”, “Wheel” and “Paper”. All of them have enhanced and sophisticated the mankind at different times in different fields. Let me elaborate on each of them separately.

FIRE symbolizes both light and heat. In the initial days, fire offered warmth to the cavemen, protecting from the harsh cold. It allowed them to see things and work in dark. It also enabled them to cook/roast food. A secondary benefit was that it helped them to scare away wild animals from their homes. Electricity is the modern version of fire. Needless to say, electricity has been very much a part of our lives and development.

WHEEL signifies the entire transportation. It allowed us to save time and energy and reduced the distances between fellow human beings. I wouldn’t be wrong if I say that wheel led to the discovery of continents, mountains, rivers, people, civilizations, etc. It enabled people to mix and trade with other people from different lands. Even today, we feel the presence of wheel in the form of trains, ships, airplanes, rockets, etc.

PAPER, although an invention much later than the first two, has made our civilization progress by leaps and bounds. Paper could imply lot of things. For example, accounting, maths, science, etc can be called the effects of paper invention. If not for paper, we would have still been in the Stone Age and trading in the form of barter system which needed minimal calculations. Paper actually enabled us to refine our calculations and thus came out scientists and technicians. It allowed us to share/retain knowledge in a more visible manner. It developed the traditional form of teaching called “shruti” (ancient oral based learning) to a modern classroom based education, supplemented with books and computers.

Now that we have dealt with all these three, one feels tempted to compare them and ask as to which one is the greatest invention ever.  Anyhow, all these put together have definitely revolutionized our lifestyle and made MAN as the most superior species in the universe. One might also want to analyze if there are anymore similar discoveries. One might say telephones, but if we look closely, it is a mixture of the effects of electricity and paper. Hence, fire, wheel and paper are the mother of all inventions and will continue to do so.

A few good movies

A Wednesday
Dasvidaniya
Mumbai Meri Jaan
Ramchand Pakistani
Ghazini
Rock On
Welcome to Sajjanpur
Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na
Jodha Akbar
Aamir
Superstar
Black N White
Tahaan
Khuda Ke Liya
Shoot on Sight
Shaurya

As the year 2008 ends, I feel satisfied that this year has given a lot of good films. Based on reviews of movies released in 2008, I have made certain observations.

1) Low budget movies were the most successful ones.
 If you notice closely, you can see that most of the films in the list are low budget movies. This simply show  that these low budget movies have made it big without any  glamorous stars or exotic shooting locations. They also didn't get the media hype which proves that the smaller movies have survived purely on their script and good direction.

2) Promotion of films is the new mantra.
Promotion is today's mantra for making money before and after the movie. The importance of the movie has shifted from the script to the stars and promotion of the film. Even the news channels feel that film promos and stunts are more important for their TRP, rather than their daily news. Many movies simply suffered for the lack of media hype. Although promotion of the movie may not always prove to be the success formula, but no one would take the risk of skipping the promotion part.


3) Male acting has risen whereas the female acting has declined.
 The actors like Ranbir Shorey, Rahul Bose, Vinaya Pathak, Irfaan Khan, Shreyas Talpade, Naseeruddin Shah have shown that acting is still a thing revered by the audience. On the pit side, there is a shortage of acting skills in today's actresses who prefer showing off their body and making news in media rather than refining their acting. Perfect examples are Kareena Kapoor and Minisha Lamba.

However, lets hope that a few good movies like this year's keep coming up, so that one can still feel the presence of better directors of Bollywood and can expect some masterpieces from them in the next year.

England –The pioneer in sports

Although recently England has lost badly in both One Days and Tests, that doesn’t stop me from appreciating their innovativeness in sports. If not for the English people, there would not have been so many different outdoor varieties of sports today. Almost all the sports, widely known today, have been invented and popularized by the Britishers, be it football, cricket, hockey, tennis, rugby, basketball or badminton.

They don’t stop after inventing a game. They keep on researching and are always on the lookout for new rules, different strategies and techniques. They always keep on trying different ways to make the game more interesting and enjoyable to the audience. Cricket can be a good example to prove all the above statements. When the English invented cricket, it was Test type of cricket. Then they refined it and shortened it with new rules and developed One Day International form, which was gradually accepted by all the cricket boards of other countries. But they went on further to shorten it to a Twenty20 format game, which is yet to find acceptance by all, including country officials and critics.

Even within the cricket game, they continuously researched and found out better techniques of batting, bowling out, etc. For example, the famous controversial “BodyLine Technique”, was also as a result of innovative British ideas.

Today England still gives lot of respect to its traditional and purest form of cricket, namely Test Cricket. People still find time and turn out in large numbers to enjoy this sport. We can always find young English ladies and gentleman out there in the stadium under a sporty umbrella passionately watching and enjoying cricket. Now there is talk of cricket being included as a proper sport in Olympics. “When so many sports are already there, then why not the popular cricket” is the typical argument of Britishers. I am sure when the next Olympics 2012 is hosted in London, cricket definitely would be an Olympic sport as well, thanks to the British Olympic organizers. Perhaps cricket being in Olympics would give them a sense of achievement and satisfaction.

Even though England has never won the World Cup in both One Day and Twenty20, it still holds cricket in high esteem. It still plays all formats of cricket and enjoys them. That would never happen in India where a defeat or victory decides the fate of sport. The domination of cricket over hockey proves it. We should learn from England where despite defeats, all games are still alive and very much popular.

E-Voting

Now a days, everything that we do in our daily life has got an internet solution. Most of these things can now be done at the click of a mouse. Just a few years back, all these things involved manual work that consumed lot of time, patience and problems. Just to enlist some of those things, they included “booking a rail/bus ticket”, “paying electricity and other utility bills”, “doing money transfer”, “shopping”, “booking a movie ticket or that for a sports match”, etc. The list is endless. However, there is one thing that probably has been forgotten that should be made online by now. I am talking of online voting.

Nobody is giving much thought to this election process. The government has probably forgotten that it is this election that still enables India to depict proudly its status of being the largest democracy. It is a genuine concern because the polling rates have fallen rapidly. Now a days, there seems to be just 50-60% polling in the urban cities. The literate population is turning away from using their ballot.

The main cause for this decline is that most of us are always on the move and are hardly present in our native land at the time of election. Most of the eligible students study in schools/colleges outside their native place. Also, many end up in jobs in places away from their home-town. It is but natural for them not to go to their native just for voting.

Not only that, people tend to give more priority to their personal life and hence don’t feel voting as an activity worth enough to go to the voting booth and cast their vote. They would rather spend time with their family or meet some relative or get some urgent household work done. They cannot be blamed for not using that time to vote. Today’s life has become such demanding and competing that one has to spend each and every bit of time for his/her personal activity.

To add to all of these, there are still others who do not have a registered voter’s card, as getting one is a government process that usually gets delayed by a long time.

Hence, by looking at all these, the only viable solution is in making this voting process online. Today we see so many polls on internet like “Best Company “, “Most innovative company”, “Best Actor”, “Best Youth Icon”, etc. We do not have a separate polling booth for these polls. All these surveys are mostly done online that takes up hardly 10-15 minutes of our time. Similarly, if our voting gets online as well, it would enable many migrants to vote. It would make the voting job as a comfortable and time-saving activity. This would certainly increase voting participation in the urban sections of people.

I have come across the NGO “EFG” that is trying to spread the voting awareness among people by organizing seminars, rallies, etc. It is a very noble effort by these people, who are really conscious of the decline in voting interests. They are doing their bit and now it is government‘s turn to do something that is very much needed and along with launching “e-voting”, start promoting voting in cities.

Only when all of India participate in election, can our nation be truly called as a democratic nation.

Kismat's Trap

Call it luck,fate, destiny, kismat, naseeb or bhagya. It is all the same and still I have never fully understood as to what is this Kismat.

In my school days, my English teacher had said that Luck is nothing but God. She explained that it is just a word to define God's presence, because something happening by chance in one's favour can only be manipulated by God and therefore luck can never be explained in normal human terms. I have often tried to figure out how God is synonymous with luck and still not been successful to either prove or disapprove the correlation.

Logic fails to explain it. Science calls it probability. Sometimes I wonder that maybe it is not at all complex and is just another word coined by human beings to give a appropriate name to their mistakes or someone else's success.

Many a times, people say that it wasn't their day. Sometimes students before exams say it all depends on your luck. You may get easy questions or you may not be able to recall something needed at that time. Still, there are many others who contradict and say success doesn't lie in luck. They feel that it is pure hard work. When Shah Rukh Khan was once asked about the reason for his success, he had said "You have to be at the right place and at the right time."

Yet there are many who still associate fate with palmistry, and may sometimes develop an inferiority complex in themselves after discovering that their fate line is not blurred/missing. Just to add a note, Panini (the great Sanskrit scholar) had etched out the education line with knife on his palm to make out for the missing line.

According to most of the religious mythology, everything has been decided beforehand. And no one can change the "vidhi ka vidhaan". It is said that none can change destiny.
In the movie "Serendipity", the girl believes in the power of luck and decides to choose her partner only if luck brings him to her. Maybe it sounds ridiculous or superstitious but if properly analysed, people still fall prey to the sheer superstitious power of fate.

For example, today we have many games and lottery that lure people to squander their money by giving them false promises of Kismat. All the share markets, stocks are all one or other form of Kismat. Not only that, the charms, gems,amulets, etc. still have a market of their own.

Kismat is such a beautiful mystical event that it makes almost anyone believe in it. One can't help but get engulfed in this maze and then get trapped and wait for the angel to open the door.

I am trapped and I need to be rescued. Where is the angel whom I am seeking? When will Lady Luck knock my door? If I am to believe the protagonist in Shantaram who defines the angel as "Luck is what happens to you when fate gets tired of waiting", then how long should I (or rather my fate) wait?

“Fabulous Four”

For me, to pinpoint the Fabulous Four, I need to dig deep into Indian mythology. But wait a minute, I am not judging these famous characters by their skills and prowess. The underlying factors to pick up these mighty personalities are more based on their honesty, integrity, truthfulness and kindness.

Hanuman

He is the only character that has never come under any criticism or controversy in the entire Indian history, save for an incident where he refused to accept his “son” as his own. That can be partially justified, considering the strange circumstances in which his so called son was born. Apart from that, he isn’t a human. This can also indicate that animals are more honest than humans.

He has never crossed his lines and always maintained the respect for everyone around him, right from his birth. He also had respect for the Brahmastra that Meghanath had thrown upon him, by not defending it and allowing himself to be bounded by it. He was a true devotee of Ram, which was depicted when Hanuman tore his chest out to reveal Ram and Sita in his heart. This amar (immortal) lord continues to be amar in everybody’s heart in this “Kalyug”.

Karna

Karna was a very brave and dexterous person. He was the guy who had met with lot of injustice in his life. Though an upper caste by birth, he was refused proper education, because of lower-caste of his foster parents. He was not allowed to show his skills in front of Pandavas, for the fear that he would outshine them. He was also forbidden to attempt the Swayamavara of Draupadi.

He is the greatest donor ever known in the history of mankind. Even though when he was warned that Indra would come in disguise and ask for his kawach and kundal (his shield and earrings), thus leaving him defenceless, he still readily parted with his life saviour elements, by using his sword to separate them from his body.

Just as a note, he was killed unfairly by Arjun when he tried to remove his wheel that had sunk in the muddy ground.

Eklavya

Eklavya was also one of the characters who could not become famous as a skilled archer, just because he was refused education by Dronacharya on grounds of his lower caste. To add to that, he was also asked to sacrifice his right hand thumb as a token of guru-dakshina. There is not much mention about Eklavya as his growth was restricted. But still, he will always be remembered for the greatest “Guru-Dakshina” ever, in the history of mankind.

Mahabali

Mahabali, the Lord of Asura (devils), was the greatest and the best king on the patal-loka (underworld). Even though an Asura, he always kept his word. To add to his power, he decided to perform a yajna. To stop the yajna, Lord Vishnu had to come to him, disguised as a dwarf (popularly known as Vamana avatara) on the pretext of begging for something. Before Bali (Mahabali) could promise the beggar alms, he was warned by his wise teacher, Shankaracharya, to refuse to give anything, as he had recognized the true identity of the beggar. But inspite of being aware of all this and also knowing that it could be disastrous for the yajna that had been continuing for a long time, he promised the beggar, 3 steps of land.

Even being an asura, he kept to his word and on the contrary, the gods had not kept their word of sharing the amrita (nectar) equally with the asuras, during the samudra-manthan.

These above characters always stood by their principles and words. Although there were many other great characters like Krishna, Rama, Yuddhishtira, Ravana but they all have been accused of deviating from the moral principles as a safeguard measure to protect themselves or their kin. So we find that the people who are portrayed as “good” also have flaws in their character, and the others, who are equally honest, are simply tagged as evil, on the pretext that they are asuras.

Old Television Days

Going back in the memory lane, the one thing that we all have in common is the old television programmes.

Back in the 1990’s, when I was a kid, I still remember the advent of television in India and slowly in my neighbourhood and eventually in my home. Doordarshan soon became a household name. Doordarshan brought with itself a whole set of serials varying from entertainment to sports to quiz to cartoon to suspense thrillers.

As it was the only channel available in that period, most of us have grown up watching the same serials and soaps. Today watching some of the episodes of those serials that are re-telecasted, makes me nostalgic. So, I just decided to enlist some of the popular serials that, I am sure, all of us would have definitely been part of it at some point of time.

Sunday was the most loaded, starting with Rangoli at 7am. We used to have breakfast watching the old melodies. Rangoli was followed by a serial meant for children, which changed over the time. Some of the popular ones were “Jungle Book - Moguli”, “Chandrakanta”, “Shree Krishna”. “Shaktimaan” which became a huge hit, was shifted from Saturday to Sunday, as a result. Then there was also “Captain Vyom” a sci-fi thriller.

Every Saturday and Sunday evening, one movie used to be shown. I still remember when a power cut during the programme used to disappoint us so much, that we all kids of neighbourhood used to pray to God, to get the power back. The joy that we used to experience when power used to come was the ultimate one.
Regarding the animated programmes, there were “Aladdin”, “Disney Tales”, “Sindbaad”, etc.
Coming to the religious programmes, “Shree Krishna” by Ramanada Sagar was the best and my favourite. I hardly missed any of its episodes. The other serials were “Mahabharata”, “Jai Hanuman”, “Om Namah Shivaya”, etc.

Doordarshan also had its share of comedy programmes like “Dekh Bhai Dekh”, “Nehle Pe Dehla”, etc. Among the thrillers, magic and suspense were the programmes like “Alif Laila”, “Vikram-Betaal”, “Tehkikaat”, etc.

There were other episodes that were also liked by certain sections of people like “Surabhi”, “Shanti”, “Swabhimaan”, “Turning Point”, “Yug”, “Akbar –The Great”, “Bharat ek Khoj,“Noor-Jahan”, etc.
There were also some musical shows and quizzes like “Antakshari” and various programmes.

Between various programmes were beautiful nostalgic melodies like “Mile Sur Mera Tumhara”. The famous advertisements of “Nirma”, “Bajaj (buland bharat ki buland tasveer)” still haunt our memories. Even the screen that used to appear in case of transmission problems, which had the seven vertical stripes of rainbows , reminds me of the old television days.

Having said all the above things, I can’t stop myself from comparing those days with the current television scenario. Today we have an abundance of channels that are dedicated to news, music, movies, cartoon, television daily soaps, bhakti, etc. Today we have lot of celebrity driven news and reality shows, that have be come the norm of today’s entertainment. Religious serials have declined. News channels have become the crappiest ever since. The excitement of waiting and watching for a movie has gone. The impatient wait for an episode for a week has also diminished. Even with so many channels in all languages and also with recent foreign channels, we have so less quality programmes to watch. The bulk of repeated advertisements, that intrude the normal show, add to the irritation of the viewers.


Inspite of all the good serials of Doordarshan, it has today become a laughing stock among everyone and it is only viewed in the rural areas. Probably because Doordarshan still connects to the heart of India and hence cannot afford to be glamorous to cater to the needs of urban India.

But the saddest part is that our new generation will miss the whole fun and knowledge offered by those day programmes. It is a pity that they cannot enjoy and imbibe the beauty of our great epics “Ramayana”, “Mahabharata” and “Krishna”. I am not sure if they will really miss something by not having a chance watch the legendary shows of DD. Of course there have been new ventures in the cartoon sector that have greatly developed owing to the new and better animation technologies. But I must say, that’s all that can really be called as shows meant for children and nothing else, can be safely assumed as unobscene or not vulgar. The difference between news channels and entertainment ones have blurred. The idiot box has become the idiotest. Now the only genuine reason for still remaining glued to the dabba is watching live sports (mostly cricket).