Adhikaar mangta hu mai...

A composition on "Human Rights Day"...


pet me lagi jo bhukh aankh se jhalak rhi
dhudh kaise mangu dekh maa bhi hai tadap rahi
chaar roj gujre tan daane ko taras raha
aur tere ghar me kaisa swaad hai baras raha

na subah ki chay na sham ka tandoor
pure din me roti ek bar mangta hu mai
jo diya khuda ne par chiin tumne liya
pet bharne ka adhikar mangta hu mai..

baap ne karaj liya,kaam mai hu kar raha
vo to mar chuka hai,pr aaj mai hu mar raha
kheti-bari chhod mal-mut tak utha liya
apne swabhiman ko nam aankho me gira liya...

na mantri ki kursi na hi afsari ki naukri
sar uthane layak rojgaar mangta hu mai
jo diya khuda ne par chhin tumne liya
Kam karne ka adhikar mangta hu mai...

anguthachaap tha jo mai,gharbar sara chin gya
sau rupaye ke note ko,mai das hazar gin gya
atyachar shoshan hai, pr mai lad nahi sakta
niyam kanoon sab to hai, mai padh nahi sakta

na takneeki gyan na hi ved na hi shastra
bs kale aksharon ka adhar mangta hu mai
jo diya khuda ne par chiin tumne liya
padhne likhne ka adhikar mangta hu mai...

kisi ka sar kata to kisi ke tan ko hi kuchal diya
jo bach gye un sab ka dharm hi badal diya
manjil to ek hi hai, bs raaste alag hai
kyu fir ek dharm sahi aur dusre galat hai...

na mandir na masjid na church na gurudwar
apne dil ka tukda hi udhar mangta hu mai
jo diya khuda ne par chiin tumne liya
moksh pane ka adhikar mangta hu mai...

mai jo gya mandir mujhe nich kah bhaga diya
kam manga to pakhane ki safai pr laga diya
meri parchhai ko bhi chhut mante hai sab
insaan hu par zinda bhoot mante hai sab...

na ijjat na shohrat na rutba na dolat
saanse chal sake bs utna pyar mangta hu mai
jo diya khuda ne par chhin tumne liya
zinda rahne ka adhikar mangta hu mai...

अधिकार मांगता हूँ मैं ...

"मानव अधिकार दिवस" के समर्थन में एक प्रयास- 

  

पेट में लगी जो भूख आँख से झलक रही,

दूध कैसे मांगू देख माँ भी है तड़प रही,

चार रोज गुजरे तन दाने को तरस रहा,

और तेरे घर में कैसा स्वाद है बरस रहा|

न सुबह की चाय न शाम का तंदूर,

दिन में रोटी एक बार मांगता हूँ मैं,

जो दिया खुदा ने पर छीन तुमने लिया,

पेट भरने का अधिकार मांगता हूँ मैं ||

बाप ने करज लिया,पर कम मैं हूँ कर रहा,

वो तो मर चुका है पर आज मैं हूँ मर रहा,

खेती-बारी छोड़ मल –मूत ताक उठा लिया,

अपने स्वाभिमान को नम आँखों में गिरा लिया|

न मंत्री की कुर्सी न अफसरी की नौकरी,

सर उठाने लायक रोजगार मांगता हूँ मैं,

जो दिया खुदा ने पर छीन तुमने लिया,

काम करने का अधिकार मांगता हूँ मैं ||

अंगूठाछाप था जो मैं, घर-बार सारा छीन गया,

सौ रुपये के नोट को मैं दस हज़ार गिन गया,

अत्याचार शोषण है पर मैं लड़ नहीं सकता,

नियम कानून सब तो है पर मैं पढ़ नहीं सकता|

न तकनीकी ज्ञान न हि वेड न हि शाश्त्र,

बस काले अक्षरों का आधार मांगता हूँ मैं,

जो दिया खुदा ने पर छीन तुमने लिया,

पढ़ने लिखने का अधिकार मांगता हूँ मैं ||

खून बहा सर कटे, तन को ही कुचल दिया,

जो बच गया उसका तो धर्म ही बदल दिया,

मंजिल तो एक ही है, बस रास्ते अलग है,

क्यूँ फिर एक धर्म सही और दूसरे गलत है|

न मंदिर न मस्जिद न चर्च न गुरुद्वार,

अपने दिल का टुकड़ा हि उधार मांगता हूँ मैं,

जो दिया खुदा ने पर छीन तुमने लिया,

मोक्ष पाने का अधिकार मांगता हूँ मैं ||

मैं जो गया मंदिर मुझे नीच कह भगा दिया,

काम माँगा तो पाखाने की सफाई पर लगा दिया,

मेरी परछाई को भी छूत मानते है सब,

इंसान हूँ पर जिंदा भूत मानते है सब|

न इज्जत न शोहरत न रुतबा न दौलत,

साँसे चल सके बस उतना प्यार मांगता हूँ मैं,

जो दिया खुदा ने पर छीन तुमने लिया,

जिंदा रहने का अधिकार मांगता हूँ मैं||

~ 'शेखर'

लाल अमरुद

(इस कहानी के समस्त पात्र एवं यह कहानी स्वयं ही पूर्णतः काल्पनिक है| इसकी किसी भी जीवित या मृत व्यक्ति या वस्तु से समानता मात्र एक संयोग है|)                                                                                  

आज रोड पर टहलते हुए अमरुद का ठेला दिख गया| अमरुद और मूंगफली के बिना सर्दियों का मौसम गुजारना बड़ा ही मुश्किल काम है| ठेला देखकर मुझसे रहा न गया और जाकर आधा किलो अमरुद खरीद हि लिए| बचपन से आदत रही है अमरुद को बिना धोए बिना कटे सीधे मुह से खाने की, उसी आदत को जारी रखते हुए मैंने एक अमरुद बाहर निकाल लिया| मुह से एक टुकड़ा काटा हि था कि अमरुद का रंग दिख गया – लाल| अरे वाह! ये तो लाल अमरुद था,मेरी खुशी का कोई ठिकाना ही न रहा| मेरी दादी कहा करती थी कि गर्मियों में जिसका खरबूजा मीठा निकल जाये और सर्दियों में जिसका अमरुद लाल निकल जाये, उस से खुशनसीब इंसान कोई नहीं हों सकता| उस एक लाल अमरुद ने हजारो यादे ताजा कर दी| बचपन में कैसे छोटी छोटी बात पर खुश हों जाते थे हम- वो चाहे लाल अमरुद हों , या आम के बाग में पहला पका आम ढूँढना या शक्तिमान का गुंडों को मारना, वो दादा जी का जलेबी लेकर आना या किसी इतवार दूरदर्शन पर अमिताभ बच्चन की फिल्म आना| और अमरुद को लेकर तो न जाने कितने युद्ध हुए है घर में हम भाइयों के बीच, उस एक छोटे से लाल  अमरुद के दस टुकड़े होते थे| ऐसा कुछ खास स्वाद में फर्क नहीं होता है पर फिर भी हमें मस्ती करने का बहाना जरूर मिल जाता था| एक ऐसी ही किस्सा है बचपन का –

क्लास 7^th की बात है| मेरा तबादला नए स्कूल में हुआ था | ये हमारे छोटे से शहर का सबसे अच्छा स्कूल माना जाता था| सारे अमीरजादे रईसजादे यहीं पढ़ने आते थे| एक से एक स्मार्ट लड़के, खूबसूरत लड़कियाँ| आप सोच रहे होंगे इतनी छोटी उम्र में ऐसी बातें, अरे हुस्न को निहारने सराहने का हुनर मुझ में तब से ही है|और  बचपन से ही मैं आशिक मिज़ाज रहा हूँ ,बाकी बच्चो को जितनी जल्दी जुखाम और खांसी होती थी, मुझे उतनी ही जल्दी इश्क होता था| पुराने स्कूल में भी मुझे  दो तीन लड़कियों से प्यार हों चुका था, या आजकल की भाषा में कहिये तो मेरा कृश था| मुझे याद है पहली दफा इश्क मुझे 5^th क्लास में हुआ था| जो लड़की दो चोटियाँ करके आती थी, उस पर तो मैं पक्का फ़िदा हों जाता था| इस नए स्कूल में भी एक ऐसी हि लड़की थी, बहुत ही प्यारी| बताने कि जरूरत नहीं आपको, शायद समझ हि गए होंगे कि वो टॉपर थी, हमेशा फर्स्ट सेकंड रैंक लाती थी| मैंने भी तब ठान लिया कि इसको तो पीछे करके रहूँगा| बहुत पढाई करता था उन दिनों, न टीचर की मार के डर से, न पापा कि डाट के डर से.. बस उसे पीछे करने की धुन में| खैर उसे पीछे तो मैं नहीं ही कर पाया कभी स्कूल में| नया नया स्कूल में आया था तो मैं सबसे शर्माता भी बहुत था| लेट एडमिशन कि वजह से मेरा कुछ काम छूट गया था| क्लास टीचर ने उसे मेरी हेल्प करने के लिए बोला| मै उसकी कॉपिया ले जाता था| उसकी हैण्ड राइटिंग तो उससे भी खूबसूरत थी| पर उससे बातचीत कुछ ही दिन चली, जब मेरा सब काम पूरा हों गया उसने ज्यादा बात करनी बंद कर दी| मै तो मन ही मन फ़िदा था उसपे, वो जब जब सामने आती मेरी तो सिट्टी पिट्टी ही गुम हों जाती| ऐसे हि एक बार टीचर्स डे के दिन वो सब को क्लास में चाकलेट बाँट रही थी| मेरी बेंच पर भी आयी, मेरे सामने पूरा डब्बा कर दिया| मैंने शरमाते हुए सर हिला दिया कि मुझे नहीं लेनी | उसने अपने आप दो चाकलेट निकाल कर मेरे हाथो में थमा दी और कहा- खाने पीने के मामले में शरमाते नहीं| हाय ! क्या बताऊ मै, मुझे तो हार्ट अटैक ही आ गया| फिर मैंने वो दोनों चाकलेट दो हफ्तों में धीरे धीरे करके खतम की| मैंने उससे दोस्ती करने कि बहुत कोशिश की, पर जब भी बात करने जाता था मै शरमा जाता था| उसका घर भी मेरे मोहल्ले में ही था| कई बार स्कूल से वापस घर जाते समय वो मेरे सामने से निकल जाती थी पर मै कुछ न बोल पाता था| समय बीतता रहा| सर्दिया आ गयी|

हमारे स्कूल के बाहर तरह तरह की चीजे मिला करती थी| एक बूढ़े बाबा भी थे जो अमरुद बेचा करते थे| उनका बच्चो को लालच देने का तरीका बहुत ही बेहतरीन था| एक रुपये का एक अमरुद देते थे| और जिसका अमरुद काटने पर लाल निकलता था, उसे वो फ्री में ही दे देते थे| उनके ठेले पर छुट्टी के टाइम बहुत भीड़ लग जाती थी| बच्चे अमरुद खाने कम, किस्मत आजमाने ज्यादा जाते थे| मै भी जाता था, और मेरी किस्मत कुछ ज्यादा ही अच्छी थी, मै जब भी अमरुद उठाता था, अधिकतर वह लाल ही निकलता था| कुछ दिनों बाद तो मेरे दोस्त मुझे अपने अमरुद चुनने के लिए ले जाते थे| बुड्ढे ने ये देख लिया और मुझसे कहा कि मै दिन में एक ही अमरुद खरीद सकता हूँ , अपने लिए लू या दोस्तों के लिए मेरी मर्ज़ी| खैर फिर मैंने जनहित करना बंद कर दिया| एक दिन ऐसे हि जब मै वहाँ पर खड़ा था, वो भी वहाँ आ गयी| उसने मुझसे कहा- “यार सुना है तुम अमरुद के सेलेक्शन में एक्सपर्ट हों, प्लीज़ मेरे लिए भी निकाल दो”| मैंने बिना कुछ कहे एक अमरुद उठा दिया| उन दिनों किस्मत भी साथ दिया करती थी, अमरुद लाल निकला| वो बहुत खुश हों गयी| अब क्योंकि मै दुबारा ले नहीं सकता था, मैंने उसको बिना कुछ बताये कहा कि वो मेरे लिए उठाये अमरुद| वो मुस्कुरायी और उसने उठाया,पर इस बार हमे पैसे देने पड़ गए| खैर उस समय मुझे अमरुद से कोई मतलब नही रहा, वो जिस तरह मुस्कुरायी थी उसे देख कर तो मेरे होश उड़ गए थे| कोई लाल या सफ़ेद अमरुद क्या,ज़हर भी खिलाता मै खा लेता| उस दिन हम बात करते करते साथ ही घर गए| साथ में मेरा छोटा भाई भी था, और वही सेंटर ऑफ अत्रैक्सन बना रहा| मुझे आज तक नहीं समझ आया कि लड़कियों को छोटे बच्चे ही क्यों क्यूट लगते है,भले वो उनसे दो तीन साल छोटे हि क्यों न हों| उसके बाद स्कूल से छुट्टी के बाद का वही सिलसिला रहता था, अमरुद लेना साथ में और वापस साथ साथ घर जाना| लाल अमरुद ने उससे दोस्ती करा दी, जोकि ऐसे तो मै कभी न कर पाता| उन दिनों मै इतनी कोशिश करता की भाई अपने दोस्तों के साथ चला जाये, या रिक्शे से ही चला जाये| एक दिन मेरा भाई बीमार पड़ गया| उस दिन मै बहुत खुश हुआ, शायद मैं ऐसा पहला भाई हूँगा| ऐसे तो वो कितना भी बीमार पड़ जाये,कितने भी बहाने मार ले,मै उसे छुट्टी नहीं लेने देता था पर उस दिन मैंने खुद उसके लिए लीव एप्लीकेशन लिखी वो भी तीन दिन की| उन तीनो दिन मै अकेले ही उसके साथ आया| आज भी ये सब याद करके बहुत हँसी आती है| फिर सर्दियों की छुट्टियाँ हो गयी| बाद में उसके मम्मी पापा ने घर बदल लिया और उसे साईकिल भी दिला दी| अब तो वो साईकिल से ही आती जाती थी| फिर से हमारी बातचीत कम हों गयी क्योकि स्कूल के अंदर तो लड़के लड़कियों का आपस में बात करना पाप के समान था| और  इससे पहले कि मै कुछ कुछ करके अपना घर बसा पाता उसके पापा का ट्रान्सफर दूसरे शहर में हों गया| 

                                                                                  ~ 'शेखर'  

An appeal to my friends..!!

In a very unfortunate and senseless event in Student’s Senate , the festival coordinators of Antaragni have been impeached. Following which the Core team has given their letter of resignation. Being a part of the team, I know what kind of effort and dedication, my festival coordinators have put in to organise an Antaragni of this level. They started back in March, when everyone was busy preparing for exams, they spent hours to give structure, fix dates, theme and all. In hot summers when each one of us was on an internship and foreign tours, they stayed back in the 40 degreeC  to plan the festival. Hours of phone calling, numbers of meetings in Delhi and NCR to associate with Embassies and arrange sponsorship for the festival. Inspite of the importance of the summer internship in an IITK’s student’s career, they decided to think for the festival, to work whole heartedly for the festival. When Semester started, again everyone started preparing for placements. But I know they preferred meetings with sponsors over pre-placement talks, they preferred the completion of various deadlines over the numerous quizzes and assignments just to ensure a smooth festival. When everyone was busy with mid-sems, they were busy finalising the artists for professional shows. When everyone was enjoying the festival…they were running here and there, sleepless and tired to ensure a smooth conduction and maintain the decorum.When the President was standing in the front line along with the media persons in Sonu Nigam's concert and enjoying the songs,one of the festival coordinators was on the IIT gate to ensure no security mishap occurs.

I am really sad to say that all their hard work has been out rightly ignored by a bunch of people. They only see their ego. Out of around 40 members present inside the senate room, 20 wouldn’t have even come out of their rooms during Antaragni. It’s a clear misuse of power. I really fear that if such things prevail, any of the festivals could be conducted.

Earlier in one of our festivals, an incident took place named- "Papa CJ"... in which our respected faculty members were humiliated... But the profs were sensible enough to understand the hard work put in by the team and no such serious results were imposed....What happened in Antaragni... some people were just not allowed to enter hospitality desk, they did their every bit to impeach the festival coordinators.

Yesterday I saw a clear resemblance between the executives we elected and the politicians whom we keep on abusing. I feel shame to confess that I supported some of them during their election campaigning.

Anyways, for today I demand your support for my team leaders….

If you have enjoyed the Antaragni…

If you sang Maa Reva with the Indian Ocean..

If you went crazy with Faizal Khan..

If you danced to the beats to Sonu Nigam…

Support them!!!

The North Indian Thali

(This post is not inspired by any kind of regionalism at all. I very well acknowledge, appreciate and respect the different food habits of people of India which is an inseparable part of our varied cultural heritage.  The remarks are just for fun so please take it lightly.)

During my childhood in many movies and television serials, often I used to come across this dialogue, “Maa ke hath ke bane khane me jo baat hai vo kahi aur nahi”. Every time some Mr. Hero will utter this and my mother will point out to me, “Dekho kuch suna..aur ek tum ho jo khana dekh kr naak muh sikoda karte ho.. jab bade hoge tab pata chalega.” Honestly speaking at that time I didn’t like the food cooked at home. Those chapatis, plain simple vegetables seemed to be in no comparison to the spicy Kadhai paneer of restaurants, tadka Daal of dhabas and unlimited noodles and ice-creams at parties. Well after going to Kota, I too started believing in that particular dialogue. And then after staying in IIT Kanpur and eating in a Government mess, I started saying this very dialogue. From the past two months I am living in Bangalore and now I am ready to kill anyone who opposes this dialogue.

These last two months I have been continuously experimenting with food. (Because that’s the only thing you can do to console your heart, tongue and stomach. Yes! It gives you some positive hope that something tasty might end up on your table). In have eaten Dosa’s- from paper to plain and from set to pyaaz; Noodles- form veg to Singapore, Rice- from fried to masala and from plain to Punjabi, Idli- with sambhar without sambhar and from plain to rava. There are countless dishes whose names I do not recollect. Many times I have taken the South Indian Mini Meals, the details of which I will discuss later. One can estimate my frustration that one day I even ordered “American choupsey”, the dish which I hate most. I didn’t leave a single bit of it in the plate and swallowed it with the help of cold drinks (Because I had no strength left to experiment some other dish at that time). I even tried food by changing the alphabets in a word, like we ate Paratha and then Parotha. One can not even imagine that changing an ‘a’ with an ‘o’ can make a dish taste like shit. Our each day remains kind of incomplete. There is always a desire in this heart. There is a sense of incompleteness in life- Oh its not about love or girlfriends… its about food!!

The Chow Chow Bath dilemma

From the very first day this object was coming in the Menus. It was there in all restaurants. The name sounds like Chinese so we thought that it will be some Chinese dish. Then we observed that it has Bath in the end, many south Indian dishes have Bath in them so it must be some south-indian dish. Then somehow a weird thought struck our mind- What if it’s a hybrid of a Chinese and a South Indian dish- “Chow Chow” and “Bath”. Fuck man, no way we are going to try it. For many days we avoided it. For our lunch we go to one restaurant which is the only good one near our office. After one month almost all the menu was experimented out so with all our courage we ordered it. When the dish came, we realized it was not a hybrid. It has two parts- one is sweet and the other is salty. It took us 15 minutes to eat it. For the first 5 minutes it was like, “Wow what a tasty dish, why didn’t we try it earlier.” In the next 5 minutes, “we can have it often during lunch. It somewhat tastes like Suji halva.” In the next 5 minutes, “Yar its too sweet to take in this much quantity. I can not take it anymore.” We started feeling vomiting till the end of it. Finally some spicy bhujiya saved us. We never tried it again.

Now the South Indian mini meals are another tragedy. It has Rice, Rice, Rice and Rice. Sorry I exaggerated it. Well you will find Sambhar, Rasam, Saagu, Curd rice, masala rice, plain rice and papad. One day my boss was saying, “You north Indians eat very spice food.” Well the Sambhar, the Rasam are no less a spicy affair in Bangalore. The Tamilians and Andhras scold the Sambhar prepared here. I bet even a Punjabi can’t eat full cup of it without water. Last month I went to Tamil Nadu on a trip. I got to taste the Sambhar there. Really it was mouth-watering. I asked the waiter three times to bring it again. Also there is a great consistency in the taste of dishes across Bangalore, I don’t know how it is. No matter where you go, the taste of dishes doesn’t change. The quantity of rice which I have eaten during last two months will be equal to the quantity eaten during my rest of life.

The North Indian Thali (Deluxe!! Mind it)

Many restaurants provide you the North Indian food. But the minimum cost of a vegetable (generally it is fried potato) is Rs 70. If you have to eat out daily then you have to consider monthly budget also. The problem is you can’t even ask for money from your family now, because they know you are getting a handsome stipend. Instead they all think that we’ll get them some gifts from our first salaries. Ok so one needs to save. So what an economic and intelligent guy ends up doing is taking up a Thal.

The cost of this Thali varies from 60 Rs to 150 Rs across different restaurants. I have eaten a lot of it. But the thing is that the contents and the taste again is consistent. Normally a North Indian Thali consists of Tandoori Roti, Rice and many UFO’s. UFO’s ??? Yes- Unidentified Food Objects. After days of research I actually found out the ingredients- its roti, rice, curd rice, fried rice, daal/chhola, palak curry/mix veg, soup and a sweet. The first question is why the hell these people think that North Indians take soup daily with lunch/dinner. Anyways that thing in a bowl is soup, is also tough to figure out. At first I thought it was some kind of curry so I ate it with roti. Later I came to know the truth. The second question, “Does a North Indian always eat a tandoori roti.” He will die of indigestion. Can’t you give plain simple Tava roti. And to your surprise most of the restaurants don’t have it in their menus. There is an interesting story with curd rice. For the first time, when the plate came before us we thought that it was Kheer. There was no limit to our joy. But when we tasted it, it was sour and salty. For many days I ate it with roti and then rice and what not. Then it struck to my mind remembering my roomie Sravan that he used to eat rice with curd, that its curd rice. Now I understand why the people around me used to smile when I ate roti with it.

Babaji ki Roti

After a month, we found out a small dhaba near our home. It is run by a Bihari old man and he serves Bihari food with lots and lots of onion. Although the hygienic conditions are not good there but we still have our dinner daily over there. He is the saviour whom God has sent to save us.

 Well, “ Babaji ki booti ke bare me pata nahi, pr Babaji ki sukhi roti me bhi  bahut anand hai” 

Coorg : A Land of Surprises (Part II)

                                                      Part I 

A meet with the Eternal: The golden temple

After a short lunch we headed towards the famous Tibetan Golden Temple. Our driver told us that this area was inhabited by the refugee Tibetans. They are quite hard working and have built the entire infrastructure there by themselves. Near the temple there were hostels for the monks (most of them were young). There are four temples there, two of them very big, built in Tibetan style.  On the central temple there is an arc on the top with golden roofing. I could not understand the religious significance of anything there but the place itself gave the feel of divinity. There was a strict silence inspite of a big crowd there. Only the sound of the drums and the hymns sung by the priests were in the air. As it was a prayer time, entry was not allowed inside. We went inside one of the temples where prayers were not being organised. As I entered the gate, I found in front of me three magnificent statues (idols). The centre one was of Lord Buddha-60 feet in height made of copper plated with gold. The very first look of the Buddha gave me a kind of shock. I felt if I was losing all my energy into that statue or I was gaining something. Whatever it was I don’t know but I was standing dumb and staring continuously at the centre statue with an expressionless face. Since my childhood I have visited so many temples but I have never found such a peace anywhere. I wanted to stay there and just stare at that statue. I fear if I visit that place few more times I might change my religion.

Nature’s Dhama: Nisarga Dhama

Nisarga Dhama is a protected forest area on the banks of Kaveri, with the river surrounding it from all sides. We crossed the hanging bridge leading in there. From the bridge one can see the fish in the clear waters. All kinds of trees (bamboo, sandalwood, teak) and shrubs are there. There was a deer park also. The deer were standing right near the protection cage waiting for the tourists to feed them. After walking for some time we went down near the river. The river was flowing in between the rocks with trees hanging in the water from both sides. It gave a feel of the mangrove forests. The place is full of greenery and natural beauty. We went a bit deep in the forest when I received a call from our driver asking us to come back. While returning back to Madikeri , driver asked me-“Are you married”. I said “No”. He continued “Then do come on a honeymoon trip here when you get married, I would love to give a ride again”. Interesting driver… Nice marketing skills J

A window to paradise: The Raja Seat

It was around 6 in the evening when we reached the park. Madikeri had just witnessed heavy rainfall for about an hour. It was cold and winds were blowing. I was dumbstruck on seeing the picturesque view of the valley and the hills from that place. After few moments I uttered few words- “What the fuck!!”, seriously that was a scene of paradise. The clouds were still floating with the winds, covering the hills, making them invisible at times. One can see the mist rising from the plants, forests and other places in the valley. In front of our eyes was an unending sea of greenery. The clouds were passing from the place where we were standing, with mist touching our faces. Wow standing in the clouds… an amazing experience. Thanks to the special timing of the rain.

Just outside the park there was a toy train. We took a little ride in it. While returning back to bus stand another interesting thing happened. I tried to initiate a conversation in Hindi with a group of kids to get directions. They were poorly dressed, with dirty clothes. After I finished my sentence, one of them replied-“Can you speak in English please” . Oh that was unexpected (on seeing them it felt as if they even don’t go to school). For the first time in all these months here someone has asked me to speak in English. I asked them again (in English) and they replied fluently. I was impressed… Completely. All the way back I was smiling because of those boys. Wish them a great future ahead.

That’s it.. my memorable trip to Coorg.

Coorg : A Land of Surprises (Part I)

It was 5.30 AM and the sudden brakes of the bus opened my eyes. I looked out through the window- Whoa I was in a different world altogether!!  The sky painted with city lights has changed into an arena covered with floating clouds, clouds disappearing the hills ready to wet the red soil. The tall buildings have been converted into the Nariyal trees alongside the road and the streak of stores and shops has been converted into the never ending coffee plantations, and the climber plants of pepper and clove. Coorg it was..!!! Truly called as the Scotland of India..or Kashmir of South.. or the Misty Hills.

Getting off at the bus stand we enquired about the tour packages available with the agencies. But finally we hired a cab on our own. That went to be relatively inexpensive.The travel agencies literally loot you. The driver was an awesome cheerful man, having a strong command on Hindi. We headed directly towards the Abbey falls.

The Peaceful Falls: Abbey Falls

In the morning silence one can easily hear the peaceful noise of the falls from the road itself. The way to the falls passes through the jungle with coffee plants all around. The trees there were so dense that even in the full sun, the sunlight will plead to touch the ground. The sweet chirping of birds was a nature’s welcome to us.  The very first look of the falls relieves you from all the tiredness. The white water falling from the rocks, collecting at the base, making a stream and then disappearing in the thick forest. The morning weather added to the beauty of the falls, with dark clouds still hovering up in the sky and the mist giving a soft bath to the leaves as the wind slowly played with the falling water (and my emotions ;) ). We tried to climb up the hill on a trail carved out in between the shrubs. After going a bit up I remembered the fearful warnings written in English and Kannada on the boards, and changed our decision and came back.

The Bliss of Kaveri: Dobare

Next we went to the Raja’s tomb. I have no interest in describing that but the view of surrounding hills was pleasant. We clicked some funny pictures there with the stone elephant and other architecture. We then went to the Dobare’s elephant camp. This elephant thing is seriously nothing but an elephant shit. They take 100 Rs to bathe an elephant,50 Rs to feed dried grass to the elephant ,100 Rs for a 100 metre elephant ride..and people were doing all this. Anyways the nature there is another pie to eyes. 

The Kaveri unshackles itself from a narrow stream and extends with all its effort on both sides to show its affection to the land. The water crawls slowly on the black stones. One needs to cross the river with the boat to reach the elephant camp. But you can do it otherwise by walking on the stones lying on the river (risky but fun). My fellow friend insisted on doing rafting there so we changed our dresses and went with one of the groups. The water being so slow, the rafting felt like boating. After going downstream for 1 km we jumped in the river and swam. Swimming in the cold waters of Kaveri with rain drops falling from above- an experience which you can never forget. The other group with us and our guide everyone was fantastic. Without even knowing each other we played in the water, swam to the other shore, competed and made fun of other groups. While returning back, we would have rowed for less than a hundred metre, when I asked the guide “What is the depth of river here?” He replied-“Right now more than 30 feet” . The very next moment he pushed me into the water. I was shocked to the fullest, after a few seconds when I balanced myself, I found him smiling and saying “swim swim..its fun” . Later three other members joined me. We returned back swimming. I drank the water twice. It was bitter because of the diesel engine boats running on the water(Pollution man pollution L ).

                               Link to the Part II

  

A village in deep South

I have this wish of visiting villages of all parts of India since my childhood. I have been to villages of UP, Uttarakhand and Rajasthan. Last week I got the opportunity to visit one of the villages in deep south. It was a company trip(field visit) to a village named Naagar in Trichy,Tamil Nadu. One of the best things about company sponsored trips is you can afford all types of luxuries even while going to a village. The purpose of the visit was to study the soil conditions, the cultivation methods used, the kind of technology they are open to and yes to check the feasibility and acceptability of our machines. Although the company expected me to make the visit as an engineering student but I found the sociologist inside me more active (I guess that’s what happens after taking four sociology courses).

As soon as our car entered the village, my eyes started wandering here and there to find something unique or different from the villages of north.  On the first sight everything looked very familiar except the coconut trees. We straight away went to one of the fields where a group of five farmers was taking rest under a mango tree. Yes there are mango trees here also (that’s quite obvious but I was a bit surprised). At that place there were mango and coconut trees side by side, creating an awesome view. We were accompanied by a group who were running a model farmer helpline facility sponsored jointly by IIT Madras and Government of Tamil Nadu. They inspected the fields and talked to the people. We also interviewed some of them.  The people there were so open in accepting technology that sometimes I even doubt myself. They used harvesters, powered rice transplanters and advanced machines for most of the cultivation processes. One of the farmers had bought a rice transplanter worth 6 lakhs(price after subsidy by government). I imagine that if at this moment I was a farmer with all the education I have, I would have never invested this much for a rice transplanter (and like me most of the people in my village).

After an hour or so, the head of the other group introduced us to the farmers. Although he was talking in Tamil but I was still was able to grab something which surprised me. He started by pointing towards us –“ These are the students of IIT Kanpur and are working on a project to give a new design to the present rice transplanter. IIT Kanpur is one of the great IIT’s like the one we have in Chennai.” And I could definitely note a change in their behaviour after he made this statement. But this led to a embarrassing situation because he gave all the importance to us and ignored our guide who was the chief person for this project. But one thing I understood – the IIT name sells, everywhere and before everyone from industrialists to farmers.

I had a short conversation with a guy who knew a bit of English. I asked him about a bell which was ringing after every hour. He told me that it’s a church bell. There was a smile on my face and I said – So there are Christians in this village. He replied ‘yes’. ‘But they are converted you know’, he said after a pause with a different expression on his face.  It was very clear that Hindus there were envious of Christians, as they were in a good economic condition.

After lunch we had another meeting with farmers. This meeting was in a temple. The temple was huge with a bull in front of the main gate. It also had a pond but it was dry. The Mandir was also using the benefits of technology. They had an electric powered system which beated the Tabla and rang the bell simultaneously during the aarti. During the discussion the head of the other group asked the farmers- Do you people have GPRS activated on your cell phones. Five people said yes they have. Then he pointed towards women and asked the same question. None but a 60 year old lady said –Yes I have GPRS activated on my phone. Everyone present there started clapping. After half an hour everyone had GPRS activated in their phones with an app downloaded, which will transfer the pictures directly to a central database. Based on the photographs of the plants which farmers will send, experts will give their suggestions to them by phone. The acceptance of technology amongst people there made me really glad and excited. And that was the major difference I found between that village and the villages I have been to in the north. Hopefully this fever of technology will soon cover entire India!!!

In the lap of Nanda Devi (Part II)

 Part I

Day 5: Start of the trekking-

In the morning next day we went to a temple in Auli and then had our breakfast at GMVN. At around 11 Am we started trekking. We were given rubber shoes to walk on snow and Laxmi got a new yellow coloured trouser. With the shoes, trousers and his party wear shirt he was looking a complete joker. We started trekking in snow and due to the strong reflection of sunlight it was impossible to see anything without sunglasses. On the way our guide told us about various dried out flowers and herbs and the beauty of the valley in summer season. He also narrated an incident where a person lost his eyesight during an expedition when his sunglass got broken and he had to spent 4 days without glasses in snow. We made our camp on a patch of land amidst snow in Gurso Bugyal. The guide used the vacant army camp nearby as the kitchen. We had lunch and took some rest. In the evening we went up the hill on snow to watch sunset. The top gave a wonderful view of the mountains with snow all around. We took many photographs there. I carved out my mother's name on the snow there. After that we slided and rolled down from the top again and again. It was one of the most awesome evenings we spent there. Cold winds started blowing as the sun set and we came back to our tents. We then enjoyed the camp fire with music from my phone, had dinner and slept after a tiring day. Our guide was awesome, we even didn’t have to wash our plates.

Day 6: Holi at 4200 metres-

We woke up at 6am, completed our daily activities and had breakfast. In the breakfast cook by mistake added red chilly sauce instead of tomato sauce in the sandwich making a rare combo. We packed the tents and left around 8am. With heavy bags it was difficult to move, as with more weight the foot sunk deeper in snow. I was in great problems because I was the one who was carrying the entire waste luggage because of the new big trekking bag, which I bought recently. But slowly we kept on moving. As we moved up the view of mountains became good. We took rest after each 20 minutes of climb on a patch of land free from snow. We made zigzag routes following the top. Finally came the steepest of the slope. I wanted to be at the top first so went ahead of the Guide himself and took a wrong direction. The snow was melting on that side and on each step I could sink upto 3 feets in snow. I even slipped four times. Thanks to my hands else I would have gone straight 200 metres below. Finally using all the four hands and legs and crawling like an animal I reached near the guide who was moving up some 25 feet left of me. After 4 hours of continuous trekking we reached the top. We observed a rare phenomenon there- a circular rainbow around the sun. We took some refreshments at the top. From the top I got to view one of the best natural sceneries covering the peaks of Nanda Devi,Trishul range,Kamet, the nearby villages Auli,Tapovan and Dhak.We met some guys from the other IITK group there. After around half an hour of sightseeing and Sravan's Photography we started descending down.

 We thought that going down on snow would be easier. It was for sure but more adventurous and risky. We slided on the slope. At some places slope was to steep and if we had made a mistake we would have landed directly into a valley 1000m below. On this side of the mountain the stretch of snow was less as it faced the sun. Then we moved down on the rocky slope, stopped at one place had lunch and started walking again. By the time the other group had come back and we walked with them to their camp. They offered us some tea. We changed our shoes from the rubber ones to our regular sports shoes which were more comfortable. Seeing us doing this our Guide also changed his shoes. Now we were able to move faster. We passed through some villages, saw the terrace farming of wheat. The plants covered the whole hill slope and the greenery looked awesome. After around a total of 16km of trekking on this day we reached the road near Dhak village. A car was waiting for us which took us to Tapovan,a place of hot streams. We went down there for a bath. The water there was 60 to 70 degree c hot and people were easily bathing in it. With lot of courage we also put our heads in the stream of hot water.The bath removed all our tiredness.From there we came back to Joshimath, bid goodbye to our Guide and went to our room.

Day 7: The Ganga Aarti(Haridwar)-

We took a bus to Haridwar from Joshimath at 6 am. The way back is always boring and we passed the long journey sleeping and listening to music. We reached Haridwar at 4Pm,had some food and went to Har Ki Pauri. There was a huge crowd of devotees, with banks full of people bathing in Ganga. The flow of water there is great. We also took a bath in the cold waters and then went to attend the aarti which had just started. The aarti starts daily at around 6.30 pm and a crowd of more than thousand attend it. At first I saw a great discipline in the crowd. The Pandit was reciting some mantras and the people nearest to the Ghat were sitting and the people at the back were standing according to their heights so that everyone can watch the proceedings. But as soon as the main aarti started this discipline vanished all of a sudden and everyone stood up pushing each other and fighting. Pujari asked everyone to take a pledge for not polluting Ganga and all of them repeated the pledge words after him. But as soon as the aarti ended most of them put flowers and burning diyas in the holy river. And not to mention about bathing as we also did that. Sometimes faith overpowers reason and you can't do anything about it. The smoke of the aartis soon filled the air. One interesting thing I noticed about the Aarti was the way people saw it. Earlier during aartis people clapped and sung it along but now I could see people busy in recording videos and clicking pictures. Almost half of the crowd had some camera in their hands. Its really difficult to differentiate between devotees and tourists of modern India. After the aarti we roamed around in the nearby market and then went to the railway station. Fortunately the train was on time and we returned back.

Photographs by- Sravan Photography

In the lap of Nanda Devi (Part I)

 (A trip to Auli,Joshimath,Tapovan,Gorso Bugyal.Kuari Bugyal,Rishikesh,Haridwar with friends)

Day 1: The Unplanned Journey-

  We made our plan of the trip just few days before with one of the friends coming in just one day back. All four of us gave awesome and creative explanations to our families  for not coming to home on Holi vacations with one of us even not informing them about the trip. We couldn’t get a tatkal reservation so decided to travel by bus, which indeed was a bad decision. We left the campus in the evening around 7Pm, reached the bus stop and took a bus to Bareiley. We were expecting to reach Haridwar by 8Am but of course one should not predict about Indian roadways and Railways. Meeting many traffic jams, accident sites and changing bus two times we reached Haridwar at 12.30Pm next day.

Day 2: The Holy Dip (Rishikesh)-

Reaching Haridwar we had lunch and then took a bus to Rishikesh which is about 25kms from Haridwar. Buses are easily available and we reached Rishikesh in one and half hours. We decided to spent rest of the day in Rishikesh as buses to Joshimath are available only in the morning. After resting for sometime in a relatively cheaper room because of offseason benefits we left for Lakshman Jhula. On the road to main Ghat one could find many shops providing services for Adventure sports like rafting, trekking,wild safari, camping, bungy jumping  and many more.I doubt that once a religious place, Rishikesh has now become a place for adventure sports with adventure shops rising in numbers at least 4 to 5 times then the number of temples there. One more peculiar thing was that you can find more people in rafting boats and on the banks of Ganga in Shivpuri then on the Ghats of Rishikesh near temples. Finally we reached Lakshman Jhula, its a hanging bridge on Ganga, vibrating up and down when people move on it. We spent some time jumping on it, clicking photographs and discussing how resonance can bring it down in the Ganges flowing about 30 metres below. 
We reached the Ghat below after sometime with intentions of taking a bath but touching the ice cold water we almost left the thought. After much of provocations two of us jumped in the waters. It was too cold but relieving. Following us two other foreigners also jumped in. One very strange thing about the Ghats in Rishikesh was that we could only see 2 or 3 Indians there, rest of them were all foreigners.  Sometimes it felt as if we were in a British colony. Some were busy in reciting mantras and hare ram hare krishna. There was a group of 50 foreigners near by singing the tone of Shiv Shiv Shiv Shambhu with the help of Guitars and flutes. It was so sweet to ears that we sat with them. There was a girl painting the Ganges ghat in the sunset .In Rishikesh you can find many foreigners getting inclined to Vedic religion, practising Hindu rituals, reciting mantras and bhajans, some even becoming saints. We returned back with a walk of 7kms passing the Ram Jhula and temples.

Day 3: The dangerous turns-

The next day we woke up at 4 as we had to leave for Joshimath. Private buses are available from Rishikesh till 7 Am and a bus is there from Haridwar at 5.30Am. We took a bus from Rishikesh at 6Am, it was a small bus with not so comfortable seats but we had no other option. The road from Rishikesh to Joshimath is all along the banks of Ganges, providing a wonderful picturesque of mountains and the rivers. Because of the awesome scenery the 250kms distance consuming a time of 10-11 hours doesn’t seem boring at all. On the way there are many towns, some of religious importance like Dev Prayag, Nand Prayag,Rudra Prayag,Karna Prayag and cities like Srinagar and Chamoli. Prayag means confluence of tributaries of Ganga. The road however was a bit damaged and very often one could find boards saying-"आगे रास्ता संकरा है और धंस रहा है | कृपया सावधानीपूर्वक चले ". Many a times I found the tyre of the bus just passed the damaged corner of the road. A small mistake from the driver could have very easily lead to the salvation of the 50 lives onboard in the Holy Alaknanada itself. When we were just 50kms from Joshimath,a suspension of spring of one of the front tyres got broken.Now the driver was driving it at a rate of 15kms/hour and finally we reached Joshimath around 5Pm.
 
On reaching the taxi stand we met some of our seniors who reached there in the morning for vacations. We then talked to some of the people providing services of trekking and camping for a possible trekking activity. All of themrefused considering the heavy snow in the Kuari  pass region saying that it was risky and also Police won't grant permission. However one of them gave the contact details of a guide from Auli and said he may do something for you. Now the most interesting thing- After 2 days, including us 3 groups were doing trekking in Kuari Bugyal region inspite of the fearful warnings from the locals, and the best part-All the three groups were from IIT Kanpur.

Day 4: Lost in the Wild-

As per plans we had to spend next day in Auli which is about 16kms from Joshimath. Instead of taking a taxi we decided to trek through the village and the forest ,with shortcuts distance reduced to about 7 kms. We left for Auli around 7am.While passing the village we had to trek through the stair cases which became a difficult task with heavy load on my back. When the village ended we had two options either take the road to Auli or go in the forest through some more short cut routes. Locals suggested not to go in Jungle because we might get lost, but we did. It was great fun with splendid greenery and birds chirping all around. The fun turned to excitement soon when we saw the snow and then to adventure and then to terror when we realized that we have lost the track and we were just wandering here and there.
 Out of fear we put our cameras in bags and started applying all our brains to get the right directions. We had just 1 packet of biscuit and 200 ml of water left. We decided to reach the top of the snow clad hill as from there we would be able to easily see Auli and then proceed. But the hills are decisive, as we moved up we could see some other hill tops to reach. In the snow it was difficult to climb up so we left the hope and started descending right. Coming down in snow was again risky and we slipped many times. After 3 hours of wandering in forest with no food and water we finally found a one ended road which lead to the main road.

After reaching Auli we took a room, had some food and left for skiing. There is a chair lift available from GMVN hotel to the ski resort. It’s a bit costly but the experience is worth the money invested. The ski resort has an international ski slope of 1.5 kms with all the modern facilities.SAIF winter games were held this year in Auli.We were given some heavy shoes and practised walking with them without support. It took us some time to learn the balancing on snow but it was great fun later. We fell many times in the process. We forgot to bring our gloves and our hands got frozen. I also had a sweet little snow fight with a kid there. From there one can get an awesome view of Nanda devi and other peaks covered in snow. After 3 hours of skiing we were tired and decided to come back. In the evening we contacted the guide, gave him some advance money and fixed our trekking tour.


Part II

Photographs by- Sravan Photography