A Reason to celebrate..Finally!!!

Railways started in India in 1853.. And we get a train for Keonjhar in 2008..finally..

I am a big fan of Lalu, our Rail Minister . No, not because he ate all the "chara", but simply for the entertainer that he is. Kudos that you've brought railways from the brink of privatisation to the most profit making govenment enterprise.

Another reason to celebrate that our CM, Mr Naveen Patnaik has somehow woken up to the plight of NH 215 and has decided to write to the NHAI. For newcomers that's the road that links my district with the outside world and been a killer of hundreds of people just in the last six years. The wells..err..potholes on them don't even need a mention.More than 15,000 trucks loaded with iron ore on them everyday generating the maximum revenue for the state and the nation but who knows where that revenue gets sucked.The only link to the lives of 16 odd lakhs people who live in this tribal district , people have to get stuck in traffic jams for sometimes two days. Can you visualise the condition of the patients who have to come from those interior areas? You would.

The V Day , the whos and the cries...

It's Valentine's Day. You ask what's the big deal. I ask the same.

What's so big about it that the saffron brigrade goes lengths to make sure all rose shops are closed and all shops selling cards and gifts are vandalised and gives a damn that not all road side vendors are Bill Gates and not all shopkeepers have an insurance.Atleast not one that covers all its losses. They burn and picket whatever they can and in the meanwhile also manage to annihilate, damage and deface a lot of public property which if they looked closer with their "far" sightedness is the people's money.

And all in the name of saving our culture. So who appointed you as the saviour of our culture? And what i pray is Indian culture to you? Is it Godhra or is it Bilkis Bano? Is it Babri Masjid or is it Raj "Thug're"? So Marathis are not Indians and yours truely just landed from Mars. Mumbai still remains my favorite city in India and i can't imagine my Marathi friends shooing me away with a stick and a broom on my next visit to Mumbai. Oh sorry that was a spear wasn't it?

The things we do in the name of culture. The things we say as being Indians.Why are we becoming such an intolerant lot? Do we really have nothing better to do? At a time when we still have poverty, at a time when people still don't get two square meals a day do we really need all the hue and cry from the "who" and "sly"? Why can't we see through the politics of the political ambitions of one man? I seriously have nothing againt Raj Thakre, the bigger Thakre or the biggest Thakre. Morons being morons will be morons.. But what's with our people? The Indians that make India? Are we so foolish? Or has our sense of humour increased so much that we humour people like these? I have nothing against BJP or agaist Shiv Sena or RSS or VHP or any other Sena. We do have our own Kalinga Sena , locally born saviour of India and specifically Orissa and as Indian and Oriya as Ricky Ponting. But i do have a thing or two against my co-patriots who think this will save India. I do have a thing to say to the people who think being Indian means killing people, burning trains, instigating people in the name of region, religion and if nothing better they'll sure invent something sillier and stupider to fight about.

I still am an eternal optimist but pardon me for saying this, with as myopic a view as one we are going ahead with we just might hit a big big wall ahead and then there would be no going ahead.

We already have loads to be ashamed of. Let's not add regionalism, communalism, shamelessness and intolerance to the list.

Thank You Baba...

Baba said, "Those who do monumental work don't need monuments."

And he lived and died like a monument himself. Indeed no monument can ever match what he did. His actions , his thoughts and his vision surpassed all a person could dream of. Thank You Baba..For being what you were..Thank you for showing the way where others saw none..Thank you for leading when there were no leaders to follow..Thank you for being an example when all idols were shattered and there was no one to look up to. Thank you for standing for your convictions and giving one the courage to go after the things s/he believed in.

You'll be remembered always..and live in the hearts of people you touched in your special way..

"He came to be known as Baba not because he is a saint or any such thing, but because his parents addressed him by that name," - Sadhanatai Amte (Baba's wife)

BABA's words that still make me proud of ourselves....

"I haven't the arrogance to say I can carry the mighty load of His Cross, but I do try to walk in its shadow. He wants to carve your life like a crucifix. Every calamity is a crucifixion, crucifying your ambition, your lust. Each is a tiny lesson, and then the imprint of the crucifixion is on your life. What is your plan of sacrifice today? You and I, petty souls, sacrifice for our children. Christ sacrificed for tomorrow's whole world. Whenever I see slum-dwellers, with their hunger and poverty, that obscene poverty, I feel He is crucified like that. When I come across a person suffering from leprosy, foul smelling, ulcerous, I can see the imprint of His lips, His kiss. What did they not do to sufferers of leprosy in His time, yet the carpenter's son cared for them and touched them. That hand is an emblem for me, that hand which cared for the loneliest and the lost. The Christian is ... he who not only lights the darkest corner in the world but also the darkest corner in his own heart.

"Charity Destroys; Work Builds." "I believe as a society we have to evolve, through experimentation, a system which combines the principles of individual freedom and common ownership. And this is what we have tried, basically with success, in all our projects, involving leprosy patients, tribal people and the so-called 'disabled' persons.""Consider the honey-bee. Its treasure is nectar, obtained even from the chilly plant. It is not at the cost of the flower. In fact, its act of extracting honey contributes to the progress of the flowers. You need not learn from Kahlil Gibran, Marx or Gorbachev, not even from Gandhi-ji. Choose instead to learn your lesson from the honey bees as your silent partners: they will show you how to develop without destroying.

"I have never been frightened of anything. Because I fought British tommies to save the honor of an Indian lady, Gandhiji called me 'abhay sadhak', a fearless seeker of truth. When the sweepers of Warora challenged me to clean gutters, I did so. But that same person who fought goondas and British bandits quivered in fright when he saw the living corpse of TuIshiram, no fingers, no clothes, with maggots all over. That is why I took up leprosy work. Not to help anyone, but to overcome that fear in my life. That it worked out good for others was a by-product. But the fact is I did it to overcome fear.

"Joy is more infectious than leprosy."

"Our governance is by a gerontocracy. This cataract of history can only be removed by youth. In this common man's century, only the common man can change the profile of this country." .."The war-cry will no more be with Marx and Mao: the spirit of revenge cannot build a new world ... Only a revolution which leads to a higher sense of human dignity can lead to a higher and nobler way of life. Revolutions based on hatred and violence does not really change the situation. They merely transform the people who had been exploited into a new class of exploiters but hatred and exploitation remain. Therefore, there is no substitute for Gandhi's way of rousing the impoverished masses to creative awareness."

"To me, the common man's society is a mask-less society. He does not carry that thick mask which the professional people, the upper classes, whereas they might look nice and beautiful. Very often they do not dare to say what they really think and feel."

On Spirituality"I'm so busy, I have no time to pray! The Lord is kind!" "Wherever God has pointed the way with his finger, he also cleared the way with His mighty palm."

And there was so much much more..

The Seventh Season!!!

You dial the digits which you say is the sequence of numbers you remember better than your ATM password and give a call to me after five years. Why, i have no idea and neither do you.

You say i still love you. You say it's more than ever. And i confess, i do not know. The love that was is a moment frozen in time. I admit i outdid myself in loving you and swore it would be eternity before it died.

I do not know if it died. Or just went to sleep. I say i have changed. You say i'm still the same. I do not know which is worse.

I had moved from one time to the other, from one relationship to another before we met, in search for that "love" which i thought would never find. I haven't found it since either. You say i don't want to find it. You should know. Weren't we called a phenomenon? Wasn't there a time when words were such stupid unnecessities in communication? Wasn't a look enough to know what the other as thinking?Wasn't there a time when it was always "we" and never an "i"? You say i should move on. I say i have and you don't believe me. I am bored really. Nothing, no one to be precise, manages to hold my attention for more than a few days. Sometimes there's a sudden promise of depth and i try my best to make it work but it always turns out shallow. Is it their failing or is it mine? Now that i look at it, i realise i never try to keep my side of the bargain. I just don't connect. You know i'm not unhappy. Far from it. I'm happy and satisfied. I love my work and i don't feel the need to get into a relationship now. You say i still love you...

But what difference does it make? i could have called you too and i would be lying if i said i didn't want to. I did. Oh so much that it ached till i could bear it no longer. Just to hear the sound of your voice, to see the look in your eyes. But i knew it wasn't the thing that could change anything.

You know i hated you once. But it was never enough to wipe the love i felt. I still haven't understood if it was my love i felt or yours i knew. If someone mentioned your name it was a fresh wound in my heart. Oh god, it still is. To see the same eyes, and the same look.To see the reflection of the love i felt and the pain still hidden behind that smile.I could hate you but i don't have the urge anymore. I have tried and failed. We are not together not because i loved you less or you ceased to love me . As if that can ever happen. But because that was a decision you took for your family and that's just another reason i loved you for. I know you'll never read this and if you do it will just be a testimony to what you already know.But when was there a need for one? The similar people that we are nothing needs to be proven to each other.

We pass each other on the street after such a long time and you still look at me as if the five years never happened. You smile and all wrongs are forgiven. And that is my space with you. I know and you do too that the vacuum will never cease and the blank spaces will always remain. And we both know it will never be right again. Not in the sense the world wants it to be.

********

She woke up with a start. She knew it was a dream. She knew he would never call. She knew he was like her.

She knew it was just one of those days.

Happy Birthday!!!

********

Happy Republic Day!!!

It has been raining continuously since three days.The clouds have settled on the roads, houses and streets and it's difficult to see beyond a few metres. The temperatures are hanging between 4 to 7 degrees and as i type my fingers feel like stiff long pencils.

And still as we unfurl the tricolour in the rain and sing our national anthem, it makes me proud being an Indian.

The least we can do on this day is think about all we went through to achieve independence and after three years of meticulous preparations became a sovereign republic on this day.In our race for god knows what we cannot forget that we are what we are because we are Indians. I would never change this for anything. Call me a romantic, call me stupid, but i know deep inside all of us love our country. Every time our country scores a point in any field our hearts swell with pride..We get angry when we see an injuctice being dished out, when we see the dirt, pollution, inequality,injustice,callousness, intolerance but atleast we know in our country we have a right to be angry and that our voice will be heard..There may be a thousand reasons why we-are-not-proud-to-be-an-Indian but million others why we are.

Let us keep our country safe and cherish what we have.

To the best people in the world, to the best country that holds them together..A Happy Republic Day .

We all miss you

After four weeks of a new relationship we had to say our goodbyes. It was great having you here. Virag you taught us a lot about organisational changes happening throughout the world and it was a pleasure to have you here. For those who don't now, Virag , a Hungarian, was an animal rights activist working in an international NGO in London. She came here with her boyfriend Joszef and they travelled a lot of India before coming here. We were introduced sometime in September 2007 and she was looking for an NGO to volunteer for a few weeks.

She chose us. She knows her reasons best but whatever they are, i'm thankful for them. Had she not come, i would not have understood my own need to change the structures at our organisation because it did not seem right. Also she re-affirmed my pride in India and the thing everyone accused me of having :eternal optimism. Joszef helped us put up a concrete plan for fund raising because who ever has ever worked with NGOs knows what a problem that can become. With his degree in psychology from London, he also helped out counsellors wing to brush their skills.

But besides the professional know how, it was their interest in India that had me stumped as well as their inherent pride in their own country: Hungary. They have read all the books i could think of about India, its culture, its history, its society, travelled from Chennei to Kashmir, from Pushkar to Orissa. I'm ashamed to admit but i haven't been to places where they have be . They share every work as equals. Their love for each other, the care and dreams of a future together make you want to fall in love . Joszef's sense of humour, Virag's shyness and permanent smile is etched in our hearts.

We all miss you. Thank You Virag and Jo. This is from all of us here. We had a great month and hope you did too.

And yes, everyone is still digesting that you have finally gone. The food misses you too.

Have a great life.

The roles we play!!!

Sakhshi (not her real name) is 11 years old.

Her father died before she knew what a father meant. Her mother committed suicide when Shakshi was just about 9. The reason: she couldn't take in the accusations by everyone around of being a bad omen and incessantly accused of being the reason her husband died. People wouldn't even look at her because that would bring bad luck for the day . And what's more- she had two daughters and had failed to produce a son.

Orphaned along with her two years older sister, and with no one to look after her, Shakshi was sent to their maternal uncle's house. Both of them worked like domestic helps doing all the cleaning, washing and cooking and of course no love, acceptance, education or payment for all they did.

On a day she fell sick she was taken to a doctor who took pity on the sisters and hired them to work in their houses, one for his family and the other for his in-law's place. Does it need mention that their monthly salary of Rs 200 went to their uncles? I think not.

After a few days of work Shakshi was sexually abused every day by the doctor for 6 months and when she couldn't take it anymore she told about it to the doctor's wife. The doctor's wife beat her up and accused her of lying and threw her out of her house.All the neighbours were also told about what she had done and they finally branded her as being mentally unstable. The kid all of 11 years , walked for miles, with tears running down her cheeks with no-one to turn to and reached the place where her sister was working. She told her what had happened and when her elder sister tried confronting the family, she too was asked to leave the place immediately.

The two sisters were found by a person passing by, under a tree , huddled together and crying . And that is how they came to us, scared, hungry and probably permanently scarred for their lives.

Does this make you angry?

This is not the only story. We have 78 such stories filed neatly in files in our SWADHAR Home, a Shelter Home for women in distress which provides shelter to such women and takes care of the emotional and psychological needs, the medical needs and also initiates legal steps to bring justice to the women wronged. In the meanwhile besides the counselling they are also provided with vocational trainings so that when they go back to the society they have something to fall back on. Throughout last week we were doing the an assessment of all our programmes individually and the organisation as a whole and we tried to analyse our objective as a leading NGO in Orissa. One day was for SWADHAR and we tried assessing its role and our objectives. Was it to provide shelter to women only and the medico-legal and psychological counselling?

Is that the solution that we are seeking? Is that the issue at all?

We started with a rich picture which charted the journey of a woman and believe me it doesn't end at a shelter home. A shelter home can be a temporary arrangement and she can never make this her home. And if she did, i'm not sorry to say that surely will not be healthy, either for the woman or the society. It can only facilitate the process to get justice and try to ease her pain and give her the confidence to face the world and overcome the emotional and sometimes physical battering she has received.

That girl would not have had to face all that she did if she had found some sympathy at any step of her journey- at her own village, at her uncle's place, at the doctor's house , with his wife or at any of the "Mahila and Shishu desks" in every district or any other place which could have stopped what happened to this tiny girl. And better still, her mother would have not committed suicide driven to despair by the callousness of the society.

We see violence against women in so many areas, with so many faces and be it Guwahati or Konark or Mumbai, the cause is much beyond not providing safety to women. When last week we sat down with our counsellors and managers for the annual evaluation and objective analysis the picture was far from what first met the eye.

When we drew a problem tree where on the surface we had a woman on the streets without the family support and tried to reach the roots, which really wasn't easy because one would say it was lack of awareness, education, poverty , physical weakness and the rest but gradually it went down to a society where we still have a deep rooted patriarchy, where women still have to carry a stigma if there is any deviance in their perceived and society designated roles. Call it hypocrisy, call it multiple standards but it is there for you to see.

Men do not wear Indian dhotis and kurtas anymore, at least not on a daily basis but a woman has to confirm to the Salwars and Sarees and if she wears jeans pretend that she likes Salwars and Sarees more. A woman who leaves her husband or the other way is ridiculed and shamed at every suitable occasion. A woman who drives a car/bike depending on which place you live in is sure to attract some incredulous looks.A woman has to adjust and sacrifice if she has a violent husband who beats her up and never talk about it to anyone and turn up smiling and understanding the next morning. God help a woman whose husband dies before she does. You would say that sati is only some stray occurrence in backward areas, but if you look closer you will find her burning in a social pyre every day . Brides are still being burnt for dowry as if she was a burden and had to be paid off.

We have 6 million girl children missing from our population and the female ratio is declining, more so in the high literacy and high growth states with Punjab, Haryana, Gujurat and Maharashtra leading the list. From 976 females per 1000 males in 1961 it has come down to 927 in 2007 and is decreasing at an alarming speed. If you think that wasn't shock enough, think of this: There are presently 24 Districts in India which have a female ratio less than 800 and they are all in so-called developed states. Wasn't education supposed to empower women? So what happened?What is it that going wrong? Does social stigma and patriarchy ring any bells?

If you still don't get the implications think about these : Think about the 6 million guys who won't have a partner. What will they do? Do you think they will turn yogis? Definitely not. They will borrow from the future generation, old men will get married to kids, one woman will have many husbands, the kidnappings and women trafficking will increase and no, women will not have better respect. We just might usher in the purdah system and women might again end up in the confines of homes without education or a share in development process.

When we drew the objective tree, the vision we have set for ourselves was quite clear: We wanted "A society where a woman lives with respect and dignity , has equal opportunities in every sphere, has the freedom and independence to take decisions about herself, is an equal partner in development and democracy". Sounds like a lot doesn't it? But is it too much to ask for? In a country whose basic constitution is based on equality?

As we started finding out structures it became evident that the support systems like police stations, courts, punishment of the guilty, early justice, swift action were relevant but more important were building the base with education, health and economic development of the women and at the same time working on removing the traditional stigma that exists where women are judged based on primitive and traditional roles played by them.

I do not think we can change it in a day. Like any disease it is all right to provide medicines once you fall sick and having the right medicines but what is important is to not fall sick at all. But once we start thinking about the problems and realise that the solutions go much further than providing the curative care and is more about preventing such occurrences and promoting better practices by society i think we can go a long way. We have to start preparing the society for the change that will evidently happen and the roles will surely change.

[Photographs are of the candle lighting done by hundreds of women during celebration of "End Violence against Women" on December 10th'2007 as a part of 16 days activism to stop VAW.More than a thousand candles were lighted by women who came from different walks of life. ]

An open letter to Mr/Ms X

To

Mr / Ms /Madame X, Y and Z

Behind the counters

At the boutique, eateries,cinema halls, the kirana store,and pretty much anywhere behind any counter

Any place in the galaxy

Dear Mr / Ms /Madame X, Y and Z

I'm sure people do give you a hard time every time they visit you. I'm sure you feel like throwing glasses of water and mugs of anything you have in your hand every time you take an order. I'm also very confident you have an urge to strangle the vocal chords of the person who owns the voice which returned the "any"thing made by you, either to be changed, replaced or altered.

But hey, what were you expecting ? You didn't become a manager, tailor, developer, waiter, or any counter owner, waiting every person you cater to to heap accolades on you, did you? Specially when you have actually spoilt something awaited eagerly by the people foolish enough to believe in you? Not that you are bestowing some kind of favour on the people. You also charge exuberant sums to do it on time and people actually schedule visits to accommodate your convenience, They take pains to be nice and cordial, because i doubt they want to end up with burnt cheeks, in more ways than you think. Or a dress tucked with safety pins at your D-day.Make no mistake, you are up-above in the same list as the gods because you create, or destroy us with a click of your fingers.

And because you know it, you just act as if you own the world.

Which probably you do . But do not make mistake sirs: not the dignity of the people. No reason, which includes a bad hair day, a fight with your wife, a mother-in-law at home or PMS, gives you the right to behave haughtily or arrogantly. People go to you to get a work done. No they do not want to build relationships with you unlike what you guys claim. You might put up hoarding saying you value customer relation but i guess the small writing on it says "* conditions apply".

No, i don't want a bleach on my face because i'm allergic to all kinds of chemicals even though you swear it will make me beautiful. No, i don't want extra toppings on my anything or coffee with milk which comes from the machine and carries a price tag of forty rupees only because you are "Pizza Hut" . I did want Paprika though, at least the name of the shop where you got it from. But "Dear Manager" had an attitude but no "right" to go with it. No , i don't want to know what happened to the server but only want our website which should have been done in 15 days but has taken more than 6 months and still is no where near completion. No i don't want to wear the design you made with my khadi just because it is in but only the design i gave you. And i specially want none of it when it comes with dollops of attitude, when you don't take instructions given to you and behave as if it is people's mistake. I might be too mild to show it but just don't take it too far. The next time you might not be too lucky and the next time it might not be a blog.

eetz gold eear!!!!

Nah..no one's got a "gold" ear..It's the freaking cold around this part of the world..My throat's croaking like Vikram Seth's frog, there are two perennial riverlets running down from the viscinity of my nose..Don't know if it's still there because i can't smell anything anymore...It was so sore a few days back from wiping that i've stopped feeling it anymore..also realised i had fever sometime in the past few days but not very sure when..The realisation deemed only when i had one of those fever blisters on my lips..My feet have forgotton what heat was..Even though i try to keep them in thick socks..nothing changes except the number of clothing i put on..My vocal chords have gone for a yuvi brand six and my voice has become permanently husky..I'm also not very sure if i'm ever going to get back my voice.

The north India is freezing as is some people's blood.. The news say it'll be like this till february second week. I can't help but think about the people who live on streets, the kids who have no place to call home except the platforms and footpaths. And the millions of others who don't have a good fire or a proper roof on their heads. Who was that guy screaming about the water heater not working and the AC not heating up properly?

I wish all those people without any shelter have a better year and the warmth of some good people around to help them fight the this biting cold.

I'm feeling cold. From what, i don't know. Brr...why can't i do something ?

I have a good feeling..

I live by my gut feelings and intuitions. And this year i really have a good feeling about it.

Last year started on the wrong foot and the whole year was a follow up on that.

On the political front , it was literally bang bang bang..from Kashmir to Ram Sethu, from Gujjars of Rajasthan and Gujjus of Modi's Gujurat to burning Mizoram and tense Guwahati, from twin blasts in Lucknow and Hyderabad to the Nondigram and Prashant Tamang. The last audible bang was with which went forever one of the most charismatic women leaders of this era. I realised in the game of politics, the game is more important for the powerful, the powerless and the powers that were than running a polity itself. I realised the US can play the big bully till the moment we gather the guts to fight it. That also needs courage and conviction which somehow has become as rare as the white gibbon but soon can become a dodo if we don't start looking for it now.But no one had in their dreams imagined India and somewhat China, the market-led-capitalist communist country , if there was any, go shooting in the international arena, past all speculations and predictions of the "futurists". Didn't the sensex have a bull-run past all expectations?But we still had the stories of poverty and unemployment, but that was totally behind the scenes. Until we realise that our concepts of development need to change, you know where we can all end up.

On the other fronts, i lost that unflinching devotion to the Big B and SLB. There was the break up of Shahid-Kareena which made me sad because they made such a great pair and surprise hits in "Jab We Met" (just to rub in the irony, i guess) and "Chak De" and not-so-surprising flop in Sad-wariya. I realised we have some very good copy cats and the originals are only appreciated after they shun appreciation of all kinds. Also a few had imagined India , the written-off underdogs to be the world-champs in the fast food form of cricket.I still remember my friends' incredulity who had put up a bet where i was the only one scooting for India. The 'Chak De India" factor went beyond cricket for a change and hockey and footfall with sprinkles of tennis, chess,shooting and badminton thrown in, had their fare share at the India's hall of fame.

On the homestead there were blasts of a different kind. My family didn't give me a moment's peace and the only thing on their agenda was to see me married and sent off to that unknown land- lock, stock and god knows how many smoking and fuming barrels..Thankfully, i evaded all those. But just about it.

On the professional front, we overcame a lot of hurdles, some which we had anticipated and some just materialised at the most unlikely of places. We also graduated from the small hut which we were running as a school to our own building.We changed the entire look and feel of the office and shifted our strategy and involvement to more of lobby and advocacy and increased importance on the basic human rights.We started a lot of projects and wound up a few more..Eventful and still going strong.I became much more laid back and a stronger person.

On my personal front, it was mayhem as well. I consciously took a lot of decisions which hurt me initially but on the hindsight, i'm proud to have made them. I cut the threads of a lot of connections which had become umbilical. The severing was painful and yet very necessary for life to go on. I learned a few lessons and revised some more. I realised that my family is very important to me and i can be a lioness with her cubs when it comes to them. I realised i can do my best to make a relationship work and bear the hurt and pain to the point impossible. But once i call it quits there is no looking back. Don't know what kind that makes me but i am not bothered about it as you know, more confident than i already was, more a loner than ever. A lot happier and a shape of the road just visible. And the road was never very important for me , neither is it now. My god played elusive too or maybe it was me. The journey still continues and deep inside, i'm still questioning a lot of things in me and my world..i realised the only constant variable in life is change.

And another year on the calender has changed.

Another thing that has changed is my feeling about it. I really feel good. My instincts tell me this will be a good year. For all of us.

Have a great year ahead..

and once more..Make a difference, be the change and lead by example..The best of everything for everyone.

Humans no more!!!

We are no better than the animals..No, let's not even insult them by comparing them to us..Atleast they don't kill their own..not like we do..To satisfy the needs of power and superiority, we have stooped to levels noone knew existed..In the name of religion , of filthy politics, of fundamentalism of every subject imaginable except the basic fundamentals of life itself...for what reason? to achieve what end?

We have lost it..No, not the brains..So all you scientists can sit back..We have taken leaps and bounds in improving skills and knowledge and knowhow..to what? i'm not really sure..

What we have lost is what gave us our identity some ages back..the thing called "humanity"...

Remember?

The stepping stones...

I'm tired.And blissfully so.

The last time i climbed those hills was when i was still young and a few kilos less.And that was when i was still running and exercising and would never tire.Now it's a totally different story.

Anyways that isn't what this is about.

It was a trip planned for Virag and Joseph.It's a pleasure showing them around. When there's a pair of new eyes that see your country, your villages and your small world, it's like looking at all of it for the first time for you too.

After a week long 'Perspective Building Workshop" we went over to our school.After we hand painted a five hundred and a few more cards with those tiny palms and were all coloured in bright colours - pink,red, yellow, orange, blue and green, off we went strutting to the Juang village near the school and spent some lovely quiet hours just sitting at the porch of those lovely huts of the even lovelier Juang people..getting drenched it moonlight and finding our way back through the narrow lanes of the village with just that light above..It was lovely..the bright moon..the village and the people..The funniest part was when i asked the driver to switch off the lights and drive on our way back to Keonjhar after that nocturnal walk. I could sense he was totally apprehensive but what choice did the poor guy have? Once i realised he wasn't going more than a snail's pace with the lights switched off ,more so because he was scared than the real danger in it, i asked him to switch it back on..Ok there was no road that could be called one and was more a few small and big rocks piled on to give the impression..but haven't we been there zillion times already? i thought we could drive through those jungles blindfolded and there was this huge moon , almost full, shining down as if the sun had given it the power-of-attorney for a day..

If that was,'t tiring enough, i invited V and J to go on a trek..Sunday, a few friends, a hill beckoning and a trip that was begging to be taken since the stars appeared in the sky..

So there we were..all geared up, the water bottles and a heavy breakfast..Oh yes..really heavy..it being a Sunday and with J-2 and M also coming over, mom made those lovely idlis only she can make with that mean side dish of coconut and groundnut chutney , sambhar and pudina chutney to accompany.. All those who know me know that i'm a foodie but when it comes to south-indian food prepared at home-you won't find a worse sucker for it that yours truly.By the way J-2, weighing 35 kilos when you're already in your twenties and a waist size of twenty isn't really a thing to boast about..Please add a few kilos to that skeleton you carry everywhere before you vanish into thin air..The complex you give me is not to be mentioned either..And M, J and V asked me if R was your daughter..So you know what to do..

Oh..back to my track..er..trek..the ground rule when you go for a trek is never start with a full stomach..and mine was not only heavy but would have fallen off if i wasn't blessed with a flat one, not-genetically. As we started and had only walked about two kilometers i was panting like a dog..And we had still not reached the foot of the hills yet..

And guess what? Today being a Sunday and the week of picnics around this part of the world there were about a thousand people who had decided to chose our destination as their's too..The only difference was they came loaded in buses and jeeps and cars..and we were on foot..taking the road not taken..atleast not by the civilised folk....And we were stared at like we had just escaped from a zoo..Ok we made at unlikely team..two whites and one a shade of brown...But they could at least hide their incredulity till we passed them. I swear i had fight back the urge to go and put their tongues back safely to where they belonged and clip their lips more than a dozen of times..

We started on the trek through the winding footpath made since ages of travel by the people who live up in those hills. And we met quite a few of them..It was a rush today because of the weekly "haat" or market, which is where all the economics , sociology and history happened for all those people..And what took the cake was they had cattle accompanying them in those roads broad enough only to let one person pass at a time and filled with huge rocks and stones smoothed down with years of walking on them..it was quite slippery and a slip would mean a fall of quite a feet and at least a dozen broken bones and scratches..No..you wouldn't really die because the foliage is too thick and would break your fall..

The tribal people were far more decent than the "civilised" ones..There smiles were more genuine and curiosity more to know about the people rather than act "oh-i-see-foreigners-all-the-time-and-they-are-so-common" and ogle at them like it was just the opposite.

After walking for almost an hour through those meandering roads and gaining altitude with every step, we came upon the lake all of a sudden..It was breathtaking..in more ways than one..we were taking in air by gallons...and the view was magical..But that's about it..in the scene which ideally should have been accompanied by a soft rippling of water and the sound of the waterfall had about four different music systems bellowing at just below the 20 k decibels mark..and all those songs which made no sense at all..On second thoughts they did..but you'd have to have a knack for lewd double-meaning lyrics to understand them as well as a love for loud hammering that's a combination of hard metal and war drums..

When we reached the fall Joseph went into it like a fish which had been kept captive on land against his wishes..There he was..swimming and getting freezed in the water that made our feet numb..that's about the part of our bodies we managed to wet..

In the meanwhile we had visits from hundreds of the picnic-errs...staring at us as if that wasn't what they were really doing..Some overgrown teenagers beyond their teens did start to act smart, like most of them usually do..behaving worse than animals in jungles..making remarks that violate the basic rights of any human..that of dignity and respect..what with the social networking sites they virtually live in..they think everything goes...for them, it isn't real people and real feelings..i don't blame them either..It's what we get from too much exposure to all things western and yet not understanding where the rights of your freedom end and where you start encroaching the space of someone else..Seems stupid but they need to understand that watching almost naked women gyrating in music videos is one thing but expecting every woman to dress like that in real life is a different matter altogether..and all the while i was thinking about Virag who took pains to dress according to Indian sensibilities and her whole reason of coming to India was to find the inner beauty that we Indians supposedly are endowed with loads of..

As we came back there a bunch of students who came running for photographs..Virag and Joseph said they faced it all the while in India at tourist places where people wanted to take pictures with them..Joseph said he was really cool with hanging just above the fireplace as a prize certificate in the drawing rooms of the thousands of households..He also said he should actually start asking for money in return of pictures like every baba and shopkeeper did when he wanted one and save on a few rupees..

So..there..We came back through those hills..meeting those tribals again..some drunk beyond their senses and totally oblivious to the world and doing and saying things which had me in splits..and some did make sense..their anger against the civilised world which had the best of everything and yet never spared a thought about the elephants that ate their crops, the poverty they live in..oh let's forget that for a while..We also manage effectively to leave behind the plastic cups and bags and loads of garbage after we have had our picnic..for them to clean..It's their waterfall..their lake..but when have we ever spared a thought??

We were finally back..totally tired from the day of walking and climbing those hills..and those stones i stepped today were all worth the effort..because i learnt some things our books forget to teach...

Merry Chrismas!!!

Merry Chrismas..

:)