A railway platform in orissa

"It gave my feeling," Tennyson said to his son (after writing this great poem), "about the need of going forward and braving the struggle of life...."

...I cannot rest from travel: I will drink Life to the lees

To rust unburnished, not to shine in use!

To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought.

He works his work, I mine.

Death closes all: but something ere the end,
Some work of noble note, may yet be done

It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles

...strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

(Excerpts from:
ULYSSES by Alfred, Lord Tennyson.)

The White Tiger

In a letter written to Mr Jiabao, Adiga seemed reporting him the stark reality that he sees in our society through his investigative eyes. Written in a story mode, he has actually done to unravel the mysteries which are otherwise hidden. In the guise of an absorbing story told lucidly, he has successfully hammered home the idea of real and hidden India. To me, perhaps this is one of the most important reasons for which Arvind Adiga has been awarded the Booker Prize. He is also a master narrative because, as already said, the language he has used is simple and easy-to-understand (for an ordinary reader, like me). In bringing out to brightness what he calls 'the Darkness', never seemed like overshooting the sight. Although I am only half way through it, I am quite sure that he has made a sense, he means what he does. Some may disagree about the arguments (I consider them as facts; 'reality in its potentiality'), but I believe that the grass root situation is no different.

Yes, "we are in the coop Mr Jiabao", we are in the coop!

So, Three Cheers to Mr Adiga: one to him, one to his award and one for the most powerful letter he has written.

How much can we hope…

How far is the present democratic process equipped to work for mass betterment? To create a society where everyone can live with all their basic needs fulfilled? We have been watching this in our country for the last 62 years. And therefore will not it be too optimistic if we start to believe that we will see a new India after the 15th general elections? If, even today our basic needs are not secured, then how am I wrong in taking this view?

Who will stop the crooked politicians to continue to cheat people? On the one hand there is the Election Commission which has perhaps the longest experience of conducting elections in one of the largest democracies of the world. There are clearly spelt out rules or codes of conduct. There is Vigilance Commission of India. The Constitution of India is one of the largest Constitutions of the world too! All these and many more. Still it is not possible to stop the wicked persons to win elections and rule over us.

There may be one way, if everyone of us vote. But still then I am unable to believe that whether this will give us a new India: ‘an India where the poorest of the poor shall feel that it a nation of his own’. A nation where mothers won’t die giving birth to the babies, babies won’t suffer sickness for malnutrition, people won’t die of malaria, farmers won’t commit suicide, ……(and the list is endless!).

Perhaps Albert Einstein was right that ‘coming generations will seldom believe that such a man (Mahatma Gandhi) had ever walked on this earth’. Yes, Mahatma Gandhi is dead (recall recent Varun Gandhi’s controversy and the vehement protests from his alma matter!).

My visit to Begusarai

In the historic temple of Lord Budha at Venu Van

A lot of thought that impinge on me after I visited Bihar—the much talked about politically, economically and culturally, I have heard since my childhood days. Throughout my stay and meeting people I had been frenziedly looking to discover my erstwhile mental image. But alas! Nowhere I could, except one or two instances to tally with. Instead, what I found are new experiences which are at times marvelous and sad on the other. Then, were all those only an infantile myth? I wish I could visit more places and see real Bihar!

I got enough love and overwhelming respect from my students I had hardly hoped for. Whether it is by dint of their compulsion towards me (because of the traditional Guru-Shish relationship, which I found people obeying there very much) or for something else, I know not. But there was enough genuineness I could feel. Every now and then they brought for me a number of different kinds of local dishes to eat, rich milk to drink, and enough hospitality when invited at home along with a dinner with a very rich fish curry (the great vanga dish) cooked in their own style, and so on. All these were sufficient to convince anyone. The same reception I got from almost every nook I went. I was always a little sorry for all those I got, as I had the feeling that I do not deserve so much.

However, certain things were quite depressing. The so called pukka village-roads, only two or three kilometers away from the city, are in dilapidated condition. The numerous potholes in it make the rickshaw or tonga--the most common means of travel--ride horrible. Above all, there is crisis of electricity; in a state which is on the bank of one of the major rivers of the Indian subcontinent: the Ganges; quite unbelievable! The vast expanses of the great Gangetic plains around Begusarai are either dry in winter or over flooded. I wonder, if Hwang Ho (ranked approx. 6th in the world in terms of length), once the “sorrow of China” can be tamed then why shall people still have to live on the mercy of the mighty Ganga (ranked approx. 39th in the world in terms of length) even after 62 years of our independence?

One evening something happened. I was returning attending an invitation. The village path (better called pagdandi, for I refrain calling them road) was rough and broken. Our rickshaw puller fought hard to take us safely to the hotel. There were potholes which could not be seen. We could only hear people chit chatting. Once or twice few tractors passed by whose headlight helped me to know that we were on the road. Thanks to the experience of the rickshaw puller that we rode ‘safely’ in that night (at 6.00 pm)!

When we were about a mile or so from the house, we saw from the distant a dim light approaching us. As we rode through, the light kept on coming near. Soon I found that it was a bicycle riding almost on the middle of the road. As the torch light came close to us, I was abruptly shocked to find that it was on the verge of hitting our back wheel, when it stopped thrashing. The man on it was furious and had almost hit at the head of our rickshaw puller with his torch. Somehow the situation came under control. Later I heard that the man in dhoti on the bicycle was some respected person of the village, and that our rickshaw puller did the mistake of not being able to judge the wideness of the road accurately and leave more than half of the way for the bicycle!