The ‘RS’ tree.

My visual of wisdom and knowledge being distributed amongst eager and raw minds is that of a large banyan tree located in the corner of a village where the inhabitance of disturbances are less and far between. Below this tree are a bunch of hungry looking faces, excited to discover the unknown and proud to have acquired that vital tool called ‘information’. This information is imparted to them by a learned soul who has only one satisfaction from the above exercise and that is to share all that he has and see his listeners grow.
Having lived all my life in the man-made mess called a city and having no roots in any village whatsoever I was content to have satisfied myself with the banyan tree visuals and experiences from related fiction. However, something’s happened now.
I’ve found my Banyan Tree…located right here in the busted city of Mumbai, somewhere in Andheri is this tree where you find my eager face reflecting the same amount of excitement and pride at having acquired something new as I sit staring at ‘ The RS tree’. Yes…that’s what it’ll be called here from now on, as I’ll share all my notes that I gather and absorb from the ‘RS tree’.
Last evening I had a long sitting before the RS tree and amongst many things that I was exposed to was an observation which the tree loudly exclaimed in a tone that echoed of hurt, acceptance and a desire somewhere deep within to wake people to this fact which was –‘We the creatures of Nature have started taking ourselves so seriously that we have genuinely started believing that we are contolling things and in the process- “We (human beings) have forgotten to live with Nature!”…… and that will be the title for my next post.
Until then if you don’t find me anywhere you know where to look…by the RS tree

Daman (Part II) and Erric Houssie

The initial P.O.A. on reaching Daman was to go and roam around. Get some pics and get a taste of the local life, but I guess when you take a vacation once in a year that’s expecting too much! All I did for the next two days was largely lazing around. A beer in the morning and good old rum at night, taking long walks on the beach, reading short stories sitting in the room window overlooking the sea and chatting up with family! Not bad na?
However, There were a few things I was not going to do and I stuck to that- I did not watch TV, I did not laze around in the cozy hotel bed and I did not over eat!! (Which is a norm with me on holidays!!)
However on the second day we did go to Jhampore beach which is in Moti Daman, a distance of 23 kms from our hotel and an hour’s drive. Jhampore is the beach to stay at, as the picture alongside will reveal- all the sights and sounds of the beach are available along with the local folk to chat along. DO NOT STAY AT DEVKA BEACH- ITS BAD, STAY AT JHAMPORE BEACH and you’ll thank me for the advice!
Jhampore was the only outing we had and after that it was hotel all the way! I had fun playing Table Tennis with my sis and also on making a new friend in the hotel- Eric Houssie.
Eric Houssie was German-Irish but had his two generations settled in Boston. He had come to India for the first time on account of his work. I ran into him at around 9 at night when I was walking on the beach. I saw a man searching something through the beach sand and enquired if he needed any help in looking for something. That’s how I and Eric started talking. He was apparently collecting stones and sand samples for his niece who collects such samples from across the world!!
We then took our conversation over drinks and this is what Eric had to say- “India!! What a place…people are so happy here…look at them everybody is happy”, he said pointing to a bunch of gujrati’s dancing to a version of a hindi film song- being performed by a live orchestra- that would make the singer take his own life!! “The woman are so beautiful here” but marriage he said was not for him. He was around 40 now and he could not take the ‘pack-pack-pack-pack-….’ That comes along with a wife!!
There was much more to the evening from talking about Bollywood to Eric’s take on THE AMERICA!!
The most interesting moment was to see how people search for bonds…apparently Eric’s father had come some 50 years ago very close to the Devka beach when his father was working for the US navy. I could not miss the shine in Eric’s eyes as he pointed to the sea and celebrated the fact that he was now some 300km’s close to the same spot where his father was 50 years ago!!
Such is the human being…so different and yet so same!!
We wrapped up Daman the next day afternoon. The drive back took less time because we came back through Vapi and not Udhwada…although we saved only 5 kms by distance, it took an hour less making Daman-Borivali a three hour non-stop drive mostly at 100 kph. That was it!

Borivali TO Daman by road

The last trip that I took was a year ago. It was in December last year and it was to Bordi near Dahanu, a couple of hours drive away from Mumbai. Considering the fact that I love escaping from Mumbai to any small town where life seems more humane and natural, this was a much craved for event.
Taking a vacation has always been and still is a major exercise for my family and hence vacations however small and tiny come by few and far between. As such the planning of this one began sometime in the beginning of October. It was going to be someplace that would be a few hours’ drive from Mumbai. We locked on the first option that came to mind- Silvassa but then we wanted beaches and Silvassa does not have any so the route was diverted to Daman.

I began my R&D on the net and found Cidade de Daman to be the only hotel which showed a definite proximity to the sea. Rest all only claimed it. Hence despite the fact that the rates at Cidade were not inclusive of any food, I chose Cidade. However before that the major confusion was over hotels close to Jhampore Beach or Devka Beach. Although both these beaches are as different as tooth and nail, the net did not clarify this difference to me. Jhampore beach is far better than Devka beach.
So on the morning of the 24th of Nov, the 5 of us-mom, dad, sis, granddad and me, were headed for Cidade de Daman at Devka Beach, Daman. I was to be the driver and I knew driving a Honda city for the next three hours with a loaded stock of music, off city roads was going to be fun.

We hit the W.E. Highway from Borivali at sharp 8.00 a.m. The drive was pleasant and relaxing, with good music, good scenery, no rush and idle chat. We took a halt for half an hour at hotel Foodland (110kms from Borivali) a cup of coffee would not do any harm. After that I expected to reach Daman in an hour not more than that.
But I missed a left a Vapi Town and went straight ahead. Now there are no signs or boards to direct you to Daman from Vapi, in our case only when we got a ‘feeling’ of having come ahead did we find out-on asking people- that a left at Vapi town would have helped. However there was a road up ahead if we would take left at Udwada. We did that and reached the hotel at 12.00 noon(3.5 hours, 165 kms). All through the way the Direction signs are not very explanatory (there were only two Cidade boards that said nothing about direction or distance) and hence a map is your best option.
The Hotel was alright and since it was high tide the beach looked its best. My reaction to the beach when it looked its best was, oh-oh!
But I was already relaxed. We bought a rum bottle as soon as we entered Daman and the fact that it was 157% less than the price in Mumbai was too relaxing to recover!

END OF PART 1(DAMAN)

Giving in?...am i?

Once in a while you reach these moments or phases of life when you see the picture clearly and feel comfortable at things being in control. Life looks simple and sorted and you tell yourself to do nothing "too smart" and just play along. I was at such a stage in my professional life very recently(until the 31st of october to be precise). I could see my life over the next 6 months- working as an Asst Director on a project that was to be directed by two most amazing people i had met so far in my life. The production house that i'm working for also is reputed and a dynamic organistaion, all looked well....but...
Oh!! there is always a BUT, isn't there??!
These two amazing individuals both above 50 years of age with a bulk of expertise and experience to add on to their refreshing and acomodative attitude were incapable of a few things...they could not play corporate politics, they could not lick the arses of the bosses, they did not beat around the bush and did not tell you only what you wanted to hear but they told you what really was!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
HOW CAN SUCH DEMONS BE SPARED??...and they were not.
After having made use of their energies for over 3 months these two gentlemen were asked to leave the project after a day of shoot was over...and thereby i witnessed two individuals having to pay a price for being genuine and sincere people. It was the triumph of those who successfully managed to fool the higher-ups by wearing branded clothes, speaking curvy melodic english and trudging along with lap tops for the conference room meetings!!
The sadest part however was that all this apart i'm still here amongst the same crowd that i despise and those that make me uncomfortable. I did my bit of raising an objection to the above developments and thats when i was pointed out the essentials of profesionalism and competition!!
It is important, i was explained- to take tough decisions to make things right- it is essential to hurt people and feel nothing about it in order to cover for your own mistakes- is what i heard!!
I wanted to leave that very day- my heart told me that..my brain rarely talks to me anyway! But then i was advised to stay a little longer, for certain 'professinal' and 'economic' constraints required me to stay longer. So i stayed, i'm still here, amongst those i look down upon...i still report to work everyday and be polite to those i want to give some piece of my mind as a result presently i'm plainly being self centered and fake---so how am i different?
Hence everytime i bitch about them or condemn their action i am invariably remined of my inaction...and i know this once...i've given in...have'nt I?

Happy Birthday, Bapu

India is a country of over a billion people. A country with multiple castes, creeds and as a result people with diverse thinking and belief’s…yet when it comes to a freedom struggle that lasted for over a 100 years, all of us invariably think of one man- Gandhi. We do think of some other leaders too. Infact there are cases where some others like Vallabhai Patel, Bhagat Singh, Subhash Chandra Bose, Ambedkar, Tilak, et all. However try playing that game wherein one has to quickly associate one word with the other like- cloud: rain, heart: beat/love, etc and throw Indian Independence at someone and the answer invariable will be Gandhi!

Is it because he got us independence? Is it because he was a great leader? I have had my debates on these questions and not always have I been pro-Bapu because I believe the Freedom struggle was only a stage that revealed to us The Mahatma Gandhi who was to live far beyond the freedom struggle and in some way be a way of life, a portion of the Indian psyche.

Gandhi became our father because- he gave us what every father gives his children- he gave us an identity, whether that identity was right, whether it was helpful or not is another matter of contention but when he walked in his loin cloth with a walking stick or sat peacefully churning the charkha or asked us to extend out right cheek when slapped on the left, he took us from the crowd and and coerced the world to take notice.

To me Gandhi is the one who started clapping loudly and consistently in a crowd of people who were beating drums. May be the sound of the drums was louder but because it was a crowd one drummer could not be distinguished from the other however someone did hear a different sound- that of a clap!!

Think of the other freedom fighters and you will invariable find a tinge of an alien element in each of them- Nehru(socialism from Russia and the aristocracy of Europe), Bose (the aggression of Japan), Patel (the discipline and focus that not all of India could relate to), Ambedkar (What could a muslim or a Brahmin identify in a suit clad Dalit leader)…and so on. But Gandhi does not remind us of anything un-Indian. He propogated peace as the means to fight, he flaunted poverty with élan and did insist on maintaining a discipline in his lifestyle- the religious, the poor and the classy- all taken care off!!

By doing what Gandhi did, he did not walk on the roads that were already constructed. He made a road and walked on it, we followed. We followed because for years we had been walking on the existing roads and took us nowhere, this new road atleast had hope. A tiring India needed that hope to propel its fight for freedom.

Hence, Gandhi is not just restricted to the freedom struggle but he is required at every place where the systems have begun to fail and available solutions although seem effective are redundant and corrosive!

Gandhi’s solutions….is my next post.

coming up soon...

Happy Birthday, Bapu.

I've been wanting to write on Bapu but havent really got to sit and punch it in. It is about a man who has lived far past his sphere of profession and his time... a man who stands for a country as huge and as diverse as India.

As it is righly said in the recently released film Gandhi, My father-
"Hindustan mein Gandhi se bada kuch nahin hai" (In India there is nothing bigger/ Larger than Gandhi).

1 crore of Understanding to the Indian team!

I love cricket and drive my throat to ‘soredom’ as I watch India win and I sulk and abuse when India looses.

I was at Wadala when the match on Monday began, atleast couple of hours away from my home in Borivali. It was 5.20 when I left for home, the toss had happebed and India was going to Bat. I ran to Dadar station, took a Borivali fast, ran from Borivali station to my home which is atleast a kilometer and half away…I finally reached with 6 overs left of the Indian batting!

I jumped like ‘Flubber’ when India won and am still glowing with their success…but what’s with the money???!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is money the only way of showing one’s appreciation? Lakhs…crores…millions of dollars…cars…without all this wont we be able to tell the boys that they did a good job and we are proud of them?

Is this how materialistic we have become? If I cannot pay anything to the men in blue does that mean that their victory is of less importance to me?

Its all not the case wherein we have taken all the concerned areas and now have enough surplus money to splurge. We are a huge country with lots of people and almost everyone at a certain age wants to be a cricketer. There are academies that can be opened, Fitness regimens and diet plans that can do good to the current crop of players. I’m sorry to be a blooper but we are not the world’s best team despite of winning the world cup.

And more so-
I’m sure the players would like and benefit more if we show a little understanding rather than this money distribution spree. Can we be patient with them if they loose two matches on the trot against Australia? Will the media control itself from coming up with swashbuckling slogans like- “Sher bane Billi”. “The fall of the Titans” or “Dhul gayee Dhoni ke Sena” aur worst…Faida liya hamare pyaar ka!! The players have not asked for what they are being given. They are just happy to win but they are certainly not happy with the pressure that comes along with this enforced love…this suffocating affection!

One could count the number of times Dhoni smiled throughout Wednesday and I’m sure somewhere in the back of his mind was lingering this feeling that this love might over night turn into mad hate frenzy!

So I, as a fan or fanatic of the game give the Indian team 1 crore worth of understanding. I’ll be patient with your loses provided you promise that you’ll give your 100% and nothing less.

Because you know what guys…after all…it’s a game…a sport!!!

I had this interesting discussion with a friend today…it started when he commented- "That Alister guy got just 3 years of imprisonment yaar…just 3 years!!"

"That’s good enough", I said and this is what followed-

Sidd (friend)- "What?! He should be given much more! He killed 7 people!"
Me- "He did not kill them Sidd, they got killed…there is a difference here."
Sidd- "What difference? They are no more! They died…their loved ones are suffering."
Me- "Yes, but how does Alister spending, say 10 years in prison get the dead back? Does causing harm to Alister give peace to the family of those who died? Say even if it does…is that right? Tit for tat, is it?"
Sidd- "Its not about Tit for Tat, its about punishing him for the wrong he did…(interrupted by me)."
Me- "Punish him to harm him or change him for the good?"
Sidd- (trying to find the right words)
Me- "Why do we or should we punish the people who have done a mistake? What is the purpose behind punishments? Is it to cause harm to that person or should it be to teach him a lesson in a way that he will be truly sorry and will not repeat the mistake? …Isn’t that the right way to go about it?"

From then on the debate was mine, for I believed in what I was saying. Firstly, there is a difference between a deliberate act and a mistake. And when you are reacting to the mistake in order to correct it, you first got to know what the mistake was.
In the case of Alister Parriera the mistake was not killing people. It was driving under the influence of alcohol. Had he not been under the influence of the liquid he would not have gone ahead and killed 7 people, by choice. And that brings us to the justification of the jail term.
Jail is not a magic remedy home where you put someone and all is taken care off. In most cases a jail term is where the problem begins! Jail is for those people who are a threat to civil society. It is primarily for people who should not be allowed to roam around unchained amongst people for their mere presence is dangerous to others. Are Alister or for that matter Salman Khan and Sanjay Dutt such people?
I’m not saying that such people should be set free without punishment, Not At All but let the punishment be constructive. Let it change them and make a positive difference to the society at large.
Let Alister after his jail term or otherwise be subject to some contribution to the drinking and driving problem. Make him responsible for keeping check of such events for a certain period of time in a certain way in a certain area. Same goes for Salman Khan or Sanjay Dutt and so many others who are just offenders to begin with but after a jail term they are criminals!

I have no association with Alister, Salman or Sanjay but i've a definite objection to the manner in which certain of problems are tackled, for in such cases its not the mistake that makes a as much a negative difference as much as the remedy.

Its hence important for us to remember in all spheres of live the objective behind any punishment and then the result of it on the subject and the problem…unless of course the idea is just to cause damage to an individual because he caused damage to someone! And that by no means is right…although it is definitely simple and immediate.