Nandi Hills and Rasta Cafe`

                 My overly generous office had offered me holidays for 5 consecutive days including the weekend during Dussehra. After discussing the prospects of visiting places near Bangalore (the discussions mostly getting spiced up during our office hours), we finalized on Kodaikanal. But as if to mar our
enthusiasm, Apurv caught a mild fever just a day before our trip. With my other friends not so lucky to have got these many holidays, a long boring weekend at home seemed inevitable.
                 To make up for the lost time, we decided to hire bikes for a day and go to Nandi Hills, a hill fortress located at around 60 kms from bangalore city. Aditya's(better known as HINDON! :P) greediness over riding the bike all day made him suggest that we start off to Rasta cafe at night. Rasta cafe is an all-night cafe situated midway on the Bangalore-Mysore road (exactly opposite to our trip destination). Another friend from office, Ankit had also joined us for the biking trip. We started off at midnight. I had to sit pillion thanks to my stolen driving license (though later i ended up on the driving seat for most of the trip). As we rode our bikes, the city lights gave way to the moon lit highway along the new Bangalore-Mysore road. NICE road is a dark clean patch of 4 lane tar stretching across 111 kms from Bangalore to Mysore.
As the skyscrapers receded back, my mind drifted towards the ambiance around me. Grasslands on both sides looked like empty black spaces under the starry blanket. With no street lamps, the road crawled towards the occasional headlamps of the vehicles speeding across the highway. The cold breeze swept continuously across the face giving a calming sensation. Without uttering a word, we let the calming silence shelter inside us. After savouring the aura around us, we finally reached Rasta Cafe`.
                 With youngsters chatting and playing snooker under a well lit shack,its always Friday in Rasta Cafe`. After having coffee and hanging out for a while, our engines roared again to start off to our next destination. As if to complete the near perfect portrait around us, it started raining, initially only a drizzle and then a thorough downpour. We took shelter under the roof of a chai shop and watched the rain while sipping tea with biscuits at 3 am. We reached Nandi Hills at 6.30 am and knew that we had missed the sunrise already. After breaking off from the highway, we rode on a ghat road on the hills for about 15 kms atop the hill fort, a slight drizzle chilling the already cold morning. A breathtaking view awaited us at the top of the mountain (Around 1500m!!). The houses down below looked like tiny dots amid the morning mist. Slowly, a cold blanket of fog covered the entire land. Nostalgia crept inside me as I remembered Pilani's similar February mist. It was enchanting!
                 Journey back home was tedious but a satisfied ride. The niteout and a morning trip to Nandi Hills had more than compensated for our crashed trip.

India Against the World

There was time when a term was coined "The hindu rate of growth" considering the sluggish growth rate of India just after independence owing to the then over-cautious and thrifty government. But slowly, like a maturing plant, the Indian economy started reaping fruits out of it. Since India’s independence, ancient traditions have increasingly converged with modern influences, and India has become progressively more internationally integrated.

The reforms of the mid 1980s and early 1990s sharpened the pace of change and, as globalization has advanced, prompted by rapid technological developments, India has become more significant in international  markets. Now many analysts are predicting India’s emergence as a global player, set to follow the blazing economic success of another giant, China. It is not difficult to see the rationale behind such optimism. Some of the main reasons for such optimistic prediction are:
1. Emergence of Indian population as an asset rather than a liability
2. Growing importance and reach of technology
3. Constant Economic reforms opening gateways for Foreign investments
4. Increasing importance of Entrepreneurship and Global Integration.

But these aspirations are marred by various hurdles limiting this optimism to mere stargaze. To start the unending list of difficulties in rapid expansion and development of the economy is the effectiveness and the ease of completion of the developmental projects undertaken in public and private sector. As an illustration,
the need of rapid metro transit was identified in India in 1968. Though the project started off soon, due to lack of proper resources and red tape, the project was postponed for almost decades after which finally, the operations started in Delhi in 2003. Apart from this, other problems like corruption, illiteracy and a weak
democracy pose an enormous threat to the vision of India's emergence as a World Leader.

Though steps, both by the government and many other organizations are being taken continuously, their effectiveness is often limited or unsustainable. If India wants to emerge as a World leader, it must compete not with its own past but the present and future of its western counterparts. Only then can India ever achieve the vision that is now associated with it.

A moment called Life...

Warm, cozy protected from the world,

It lay in the midst of love and care.

With the first breath came slight pain,

The first cry brought tears of joy.

Eyes glistened in the morning light,

Feet found the new strength of flight.

Next, the world was full of rejoice

Even the slightest wish found its voice.

Youth came with all its glory,

Fearless hearts went hunky-dory

Winter knocked as spring went by

Once green leaves became worn out and dry

The heart went still, lost the courage to fight

Though devoid of a star, the sky shone bright.

The finest Teacher

                "Sisters and Brothers of America"; It happened probably for the first time that someone received applauds and a standing ovation for just his greetings. This line and the following speeches by Swami Vivekananda in Chicago in 1893 helped gain Hinduism, for the first time, an important position among major world religions. In an era where countries like India, considered as the third world nations, had yet to break the shackles of slavery and atrocity of the British tyranny, these words made the world realize the potential of India and its people. It made them aware that India is not a land of uncultured and uncivilized people but one of the most ancient civilizations of the world.
                Through his speech, Swami explained the importance of Spirituality in a person’s life and the role it plays in shaping a person’s overall persona. After this introductory address, he gave a number of speeches on various topics such as Yoga, Spirituality, and Buddhism. His vast knowledge and the articulation of his thoughts instantly put an everlasting impression on everyone’s mind. Not only did it acquaint the westerners with the new knowledge about spirituality, but also reminded Indians how important asset it was for them.
                Not many speeches in the history have been so strong as to touch so many hearts and influence so many souls. The reason for this is the eloquence and honesty it had which was the direct reflection of Swami Vivekananda.  Swami Vivekananda, in many places of his speech, related various spiritual concepts with their scientific counterparts. He explained how the laws written in the form of vedas were similar to the law of gravity which existed from time immortal but only realized after it was discovered.  The scientific minds of the westerners were instantly influenced by this and it made them believe in his ideology.
                After coming back to India, he founded a social organization called Ramakrishna Mission, an organization whose ideals were based on Karma Yoga. Swami Vivekananda believed that the supreme power of a country vests in its people, and particularly the youth. He wanted “to set in motion, machinery which will bring noblest ideas to the doorstep of even the poorest and the meanest. His teachings are still taught and practised in his founded institutions.
                On the eve of Swami Vivekananda’s 50th birth anniversary, let us celebrate his intellectual genius by learning as much from his personality as we can. I would like to end this post with Swami’s message to the country’s youth
"Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life – think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. That is way great spiritual giants are produced."                

The jinxed fate

       The acrid smell of fumes coming out of vehicles and their honking horns woke her up. This had always been her morning alarm. The dusty, frigid ground felt punishing against her back. But she was grateful. It was the only shelter for people like her. And obviously, bitter gourd would not taste bitter if you don’t know the taste of sugar.

       She woke up amidst the din of traffic around her on the footpath of a chowk. It was a sunny day and she squinted as the broad sunlight hit her eyes. It was just like any other morning. People wake up in the morning to chase their dreams. Each day brings something new to their life. But people like her; they just live because they have to.

She sat on the road divider staring at the usual chaos around her. The Gandhi chowk was full of people like her. Watching the happenings around her was her favourite pastime, rather the only one she had. The beggars had already started their only chore of begging. Her gaze was broken by a baby’s cry somewhere near her. A beggar, a girl slightly older than her was feeding her child. The baby seemed hungry but the woman had nothing to feed him. She wondered why people like her even marry. They bring a new life into the world and leave them to live a life of misery. Probably, the similitude of their problems brings people together. Devoid of happiness, they try to lessen their grief by sharing it with people who experience the same pain. She was born in a similar way. But as if her fate wasn’t done screwing with her life, her parents died before she even learned to talk.

       She hated what she had to do every day, living a life without dignity and meaning just to get enough money to keep herself alive. In spite of this, there were times when she had to go on without food for days. At times, she felt alone and scared. She wept for hours at nights but there was no one to console her. Finally, when her tears would dry up, she would go to sleep.

        She saw a car stopping at the signal and went to the car. As soon as the driver saw her coming, he shut the windows of the car. She hovered there for some time and then moved to another car. At the end of the day, all she could gather was a rupee. It had already been 3 days since she had eaten anything. She begged a small chaiwala for a biscuit but he angrily pushed her away. A group of young lads were watching the scene. One of them called her over. She went there hoping for their sympathy. The guy who called her was looking at her intently. There was some evil perversion in his eyes.

“Are you hungry sweety?” he asked. He held her hand and pulled her closer. 

“Well, I can help you. But you see, I am hungry too. How about we both help out each other?”

The girl stared at him in horror and tried to free her hand. But his grip was tight.

“Let me go, you rascal.” She spat on his face.

       He slapped her twice. He motioned other boys of the group to hold her tightly while he started undressing her. She cried and begged but it was of no use. She cried for help but there was nobody around her to hear her wails. It seemed even God had turned deaf ears. She tried using force but could do nothing. After a while, they left her on a corner badly abused and unconscious.

       When she woke up, desolate and got her senses back, she started crying hysterically. What had she done to get a fate like this? She could not take any more of this. She went to a lake nearby and plunged into it. As the water flooded inside her body, she slowly closed her eyes, finally free from the shackles of this ruthless world.