And it rained...

Radha was a final year engineering student who had been placed in one of the best MNCs in the country. There were just few months for the college to get over and since it was the last semester the bonding between her friends had increased. They would roam around in the campus and spend most of the time in canteen. The last few days of engineering got over with parties and fun. Till the last day everyone was busy filling up each other’s scrap book; a token of remembrance for future. Finally the day arrived when Radha was parting her ways with her friends with whom she had such a wonderful time for 4 years. There were tears in everyone’s eyes and everyone was hugging each other. This was the time they realized how much they would be missing each other. From the college Radha went back to home.

Radha was 21 and she had completed her engineering; she also had a job from campus. She full filled every requirement for the search of the suitable groom. Somehow Radha was not ready for marriage yet; as soon as she landed at her home the prospect of her marriage started being discussed. Her father decided to create her bio data and start the search for that suitable groom who will marry his daughter. There was a detailed discussion with the relatives about how the search should begin and before the search began there were suggestions of getting some beautiful photographs.

Radha was informed that they would be going to a studio where some professional photographs of her would be clicked in the studio. She wore a light blue saree and did some light makeup and came out. Radha was not at all interested in the studio drama but she did not have much options. The studio person started asking her to give different poses; instructions related to chin up or chin down; the place where she should keep her hand; with all this drama Radha was just getting more irritated but she could not show her irritation on her face. She quietly kept doing what her parents wanted her to do and finally after an hour of photo sessions they left the studio.

Next day Radha’s father brought the photographs and showed it to her and her mother. She could see how much changes were made in the photograph and how they had tried to show her more beautiful than she actually was. Thanks to modern day tools such as photoshop which are helpful in modifying the photographs but anyway her parents were happy so even she was happy looking at the photograph. The next few days before her joining at the company was tough as the only discussion which would happen in the house would be related to her marriage. The prospective grooms and their details was what were discussed at the house and Radha was desperately wishing to join her job and runaway from this discussion.

Finally her date of joining arrived and quick arrangements of travel were made. Her parents and her brother accompanied her to the new city where she would be joining her job. On the way she was given list of instructions about being aware of her colleagues with whom she would be working; and the importance of performing well in the job. Her parents accompanied her till the training center and since during the engineering days Radha had stayed in the hostel she was not feeling much pain of separation; still on the first night she decided to stay with her parents. She kept her luggage in the hostel of the training center and went with her parents to their place. Next day she got up early and rushed to the training center.

It was her first day at job; there were around 200 other people along with her who were joining the job that day. She could find some familiar faces from her college but she had never interacted with them before. Now she was no more student but an employee and she felt excited about the fact that she would be earning her own money. For one week induction program of freshers at the company happened and then the training program began. It was three month long training and Radha was pretty much engrossed in her training; during her training period the discussions about marriage was not happening much. Radha was relieved that she could completely concentrate on her job.

Her training was over and her posting location had arrived. Radha had to travel on diwali to Kolkata and this was the first time she would not be at her home during diwali. Radha was bit sad but she realized in job such situations will keep coming and she was going to miss many more festivals in future. At the new place of her job there were no projects so technically Radha was on bench. During her bench period she had nothing much to do; she had made some good friends during her training days and like her they were also on bench so they would mostly chat over the office communicator.

One year of her job got over and by now Radha had got into a development project. She was enjoying her job and everyday she was learning something new. Finally her father informed her about one prospective groom whom she had to meet at Delhi. The bio data of the guy was forwarded along with his photograph and Radha scanned the bio data there was nothing much in the bio data except for the general details about his school, college, job and family. Date, time and place for meeting were fixed and Radha along with her family would be meeting the guy and his family. She had to travel down to Delhi as the guy worked at Delhi and his family also stayed at Delhi.

Radha was feeling awkward and she had no idea what she would be talking there; this was the first time she was actually going to meet a guy with the prospect of marriage. She was asked to wear a saree and she wore a saree. A restaurant was decided where the family would be meeting. The families met at the decided venue; she was standing there tensed; everyone got inside the restaurant and sat on the table. The parents began talking to each other but both Radha and the guy were sitting down tensed and did not know how to start a conversation. Finally the parents pushed them to talk and they started a conversation. They discussed about their college; their job and then there was silence. Finally Radha and the guy got to spend time alone and they were still not sure as to what should they talk about. Her first meeting ended up with nervousness and tension and a big question which Radha was asking herself was she ready for marriage yet.

Anyhow Radha’s father called up guy’s family and they said a sorry and made an excuse that the match did not fit well. They wished her father all the best for future search. Radha’s father was a bit disappointed and reasons for rejections were being discussed. Maybe it was a problem with Radha’s teeth so it was decided that Radha would get braces and get that perfect smile which would attract the guy.

Next few years went like this only where Radha would meet a guy alone or along with his family and they would come up with different excuses. ‘The girl is fat’, ‘she is not tall’, ‘she is not smart’, ‘sorry the kundali did not match’, and host of other excuses. With every rejection there would be disappointment and Radha would be upset thinking about how bad her parents would be feeling. Now the meeting process was becoming unbearable for Radha and she was not sure what men wanted in a wife. She thought it would be better if in this technology savvy world a guy could interact with her over the phone or chat with her on internet they could get a better understanding whether their frequencies matched or not.

Her father did not give up and kept on searching for the suitable groom who matched his requirement. Radha was given a detail of one guy who she had to meet and he worked at her city itself. Radha decided to be casual herself and meet him the way she usually dresses up. Radha wore a short kurta which was above her thighs along with a churidar. They were to meet at a mall at 12 in the afternoon. She took her sling purse and left; by 12 she reached the mall; she messaged on the number given by her father that she had reached. The guy replied back that he was on his way and asked her to wait at the entrance.

Radha was waiting at the entrance; looking around at people and thinking did they know her purpose of visit at the mall. Anyway she ignored them and finally one of the suitable grooms selected by her father arrived. He went straight towards her and they exchanged ‘hi’ ‘hello’. They decided to go inside and sit in the foodcourt and become more comfortable.

They started talking; they were all the usual questions as to what do they; their hobbies; how do they spend their time and finally it was time to get up and leave. They both started walking towards the exit of the mall and found it was raining heavily. Neither Radha nor this guy had brought an umbrella so they were stuck in the mall. They did not know what to do now. Finally Niraj, that was the name of guy whom Radha was meeting, said there was not much option but to wander around in the mall till it stopped raining. But the question was where they should go; they hardly knew each other and they decided to walk around the clothes department of the mall.

Finally Niraj asked Radha – “Do you watch movies?”

Radha – “Yes. Why?”

Niraj – “I was thinking that we should go for a movie till the rain does not stop only if you don’t mind.”

Radha – “Ok.”

They went up to the multiplex and booked movie tickets for the next show. In the meantime they decided to have lunch together and they took Indian meal from the foodcourt. Finally they went for the movie and they had a good time together; they laughed; they passed comments and they were not feeling that they were strangers. The movie was over and as they came out it had stopped raining also. They both said a good bye and left the mall.

Finally late at night Niraj messaged Radha – “It was nice meeting you.”

Radha – “Same here I also had a good time.”

Niraj – “I was wondering if we could spend some more time together.”

Radha – “Yeah sure that would be a good idea.”

Niraj and Radha kept meeting, talking, messaging each other for a month and finally they decided they would be getting married. Niraj and Radha informed their parents about marrying each other. The families were happy that finally their children will be getting married.

The marriage date was also decided and even on that day it rained. It rained and Niraj and Radha remembered how they met each other; liked each other and would be very soon married to each other. It rained and brought happiness in the life of Niraj and Radha.

It kept raining and Niraj and Radha kept looking into each other’s eyes as they got wet. Some rainfalls are hard to forget.

P.S. Do you love rain?

Puppy Love

She is a brown colour dog with white patch below her neck and at the tail end. Her name is Jenny. She does not have a home; she stays on the roadside. Many times young kids throw stones towards her which forces her to run away from the place. She does not have lustrous hair but still she is chased by male dogs. When it is too hot she takes shelter below any car which is parked on the road.

She is pregnant and she is about to deliver cute little small puppies. At 3 in the morning she gives birth to 4 cute puppies who are yet to open their eyes and see the different colours of world. They are yet to see the brightness of sunlight; the darkness of moonlight. These 4 puppies are a mix of black and brown. This is the first time Jenny has become a mother but there are mother instincts which has made her take the responsibilities of her puppies. Jenny might not know who is the father of her puppies but she does know that she is their mother and they belong to her.

She knows she has to save her puppies from those kids who throw stones at her to save her puppies. Earlier when these young kids use to throw stones at her she would run away but now when these kids get any near to her puppies she starts barking violently at them in self-defence. She knows she has to feed her puppies and grow them until they are independent enough to face the harsh world around them. For feeding her puppies she needs to feed herself first.

There is a lady in the locality who gives her food two times but that is not enough for her to fill her stomach. The food given by the lady is also shared by other street dogs like Jenny so Jenny gets only a limited portion of food. After this Jenny has to search the trash bins and garbage thrown by people. In her search she also has to be alert of people who come running with a stick to chase her away. After all these people don’t know that Jenny has become a mother recently.

Once Jenny feels she had got enough food to feed her puppies she returns back to them. They are crying in hunger but as soon as they feel the smell of their mother they start trying to reach her so that they can drink milk. In the process of drinking milk one puppy trying to push away the other puppy. They are yet to see their mother and by the smell only they identify their mother. Jenny takes them in their lap and gives them the comfort.

At night when they go to sleep Jenny covers them under her and provides them the warmth. She does not have the luxury of making herself warm with a blanket. Finding food for herself and feeding her puppies has been the process until one evening when it started raining suddenly. Jenny had to find a safer place for her puppies to protect them from harsh rainfall. She started shifting her puppies to a safer place where the water drops would not reach her puppies. She lifted one puppy in her mouth and took it to the safe place. She repeated this process for the other three puppies.

In the process of shifting her puppies, Jenny did not realize that one of her puppy got hurt. It was not her intention to hurt her puppy but she was tensed; she was worried; she wanted to make sure her puppies were safe. In her tension she held one of the puppies too tight that her sharp teeth pierced into the puppy and caused wound on the puppy. After she shifted all the puppies and she was relaxed that her puppies are safe and then she realized that she had hurt her child. She licked the wound of her puppy; after all that is how animals try to heal their wound.

She started giving extra attention to the puppy who was hurt and everyday licked the wound in order to make sure that her puppy was getting healed. She would caress the small puppy; give comfort; take care of it; as there were no animal doctors whom she could approach and get her puppy treated. The hurt puppy was yet to see the sunlight; yet to see the sunset; yet to see the brightness and darkness of the day.

Finally the day arrived when the 4 puppies opened their eyes to see the world around them; the world which they could just smell for a long time; now they could see this world. The hurt puppy saw the sunlight; the color of his mother who had been taking care of him; the sunset; the moonlight. Jenny was happy to see that her puppies could see the world but little did she know about the future.

That night was the last night of the puppy who was wounded. He succumbed to the injuries and he died. God gave him the chance to see the world before he died. The whole day Jenny was sad; she was upset; she had lost one of the four puppies; she sat next to the dead body of her puppy; she had tears in her eyes. She knew her puppy was gone forever; she kept licked him for the last time with the hope that he might open his eyes again. But he was gone; a precious part of Jenny was gone; Jenny had to live and live for her other three puppies.

Motherhood is the best emotion and it is present in every animal. This blog is dedicated to the feeling of motherhood.

P.S. Do share your feedback on the story.

P.P.S. Dedicated to all animal lovers across the world.

Durga Puja

These lines are from an ad campaign done during Durga Puja at West Bengal.

Saptamite prathom dekha,

Astamite hasi…………………………………..!!!!

Nabamite bolchi ami ,

Tomay bhalobasi………….:-) :-)!!

Dashamite hathath keno akul holo pran,

Pran pratima ebar tumi …….

Jabe ki bhasan …………………. :-( :-(

One of my friend told the story behind writing these lines. Here is what he said to me.

Durga Puja is a big festival for Bengalis. During this time people get a chance to buy new clothes, ornaments and jewelry. Boys wear new dresses and visit the pandals in the city. While girls also come out of houses and visit pandals. Girls also wear new dresses, jewelry and ornaments. During this time boys get to meet many girls in the pandals. The girl smiles and confesses her love for the boy. But the boy is worried that like the way Goddess Durga is immersed on the 10th day of the celebration, will the love of the girl also immerse??? The girl has become a goddess for the guy and the feeling that the love might immerse makes him sad.

While my understanding about these lines are that saptmi when the pandals open the child gets to see the Goddess for the first time. On asthami the child notices a smile on the goddess. On navmi the goddess tells him you are a good person and I love you. On dashmi the child is sad because he knows the people are going to immerse the Goddess and she will go away. :-(

Definitely we cant say that boys go to pandal to find a girl who will become his life partner. As there is a saying that har shike ke 2 pehlun hote hain. So people can look at these lines in different ways. The important thing is that 3 days everyone is visiting pandals, buying new dresses, jwelery, ornaments, celebrating Durga Puja. But every good thing has to end and the puja ends on dashmi with the immersing of the idol of Goddess Durga.

At last I would just say Happy Durga Puja, Navratri and Dusshera. So people enjoy the festival to the fullest. :-)

Reservation in India

What is reservation? Reservation is when a person books a place in restaurant, flight, train, bus etc. The pre-booking of place at restaurant does not ensure that the quality of food which would be served by the restaurant would be good or the seats of the flight, bus or train would be comfortable. Reservation just ensures that a place has been secured in advance. When reservation does not ensure quality food in a restaurant the person might fall sick because of bad food.

Now let me talk about reservation in education in India which would be given to those who are considered people from backward class. These people definitely get an ensured seat in a good college because of reservation but then who will ensure the quality of engineers, doctors, lawyers and other professional students which would come out from the college. The government which has given reservation to backward people in the name of upliftment will they ensure quality?

Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar who is popularly known as Babasaheb came from a dalit family but he became the first law minister of India. When he became the law minister there was no reservation for position in the Indian parliament which led him to become law minister; it was his merits, skills, dedication and hard work which made him law minister of India.

Reservation in education for backward class should be strict NO rather government should ensure that good primary education is provided in every part of the country and these people are encouraged to attend schools and become competitive enough to clear the competition exams on merit and occupy the seat along with upper caste candidate on the basis of merit and not reservation.

The question which the government should ask themselves is that whether primary education is reaching out to the poor people staying in villages; are there enough government schools and teachers who are willing to provide free education to the poor people.

But again providing a good primary education is not just a responsibility of government we as citizen of India also have some moral responsibility towards this. In the movie Swades it has been beautifully shown a NRI comes back to India and spreads the message of education. Something similar has been shown in the movie Arakashan. But real life is not a movie and the modern Indians who are voicing their opinion regarding reservation they should ask themselves are they ready to go to a place where there is no electricity or no water connection and teach the children in such places. Are we ready to treat everyone equal in our classrooms irrespective of which caste, creed, culture, color, place, religion or gender one belongs to.

By providing reservation what government is doing is definitely not right but we should ask question to ourselves that is our attitude to those people who belong to backward class right. The backward class should ask the question to themselves that is reservation what they really need to prove to the world their worth. Only when every Indian will get ready to spread primary education among children irrespective of their caste, creed, culture, color, place, religion or gender would be time when we would really see a change; a change that would be positive; a change which would be for the betterment of every Indian.

I am also against the concept of donation which the rich people avail so that they can ensure better education for their child but right now my concern is over the caste based reservation. A positive change is very much needed and upliftment of those who are financially weak is required but providing reservation in the name of caste is not an answer for the change. Let both rich and poor people prove their worth through merit rather than paying money or getting admission in reserved quota. Let there be a fair competition between all the categories so that there is a feeling of a just society.

Solar Energy and India

19 states, 3 power grids and one problem – blackout and half India became dark for hours. Reasons of the blackout as mentioned by the official people is that few states were overdrawing the power allocated to them and so the power tripped. But no proper maintenance of the equipment could also be the problem which affected north, east and north-east regions of India together.

The problem happened and every news channel covered it. People spoke about the problem over social networking sites such as facebook, twitter. But now with this problem it is time to realize coal will not be there forever after all it is a non-renewable resource of energy. So we need to switch to renewable sources of energy such as solar, wind and frankly India has ample solar and wind resources which should be tapped for power generation.

Many countries in the world are already using solar energy for electricity generation. Germany which has topped the list of countries for the usage of solar energy for providing electricity and the country has been doing great job in providing electricity to the people. In India also we can see that the electricity problems in Gujarat have gone down with the use of solar energy. So tapping solar power for electricity generation definitely looks a positive solution for the electricity problems in India.

With the usage of solar energy such blackout problems will definitely be avoided in future. This would also ensure that even rural parts of India are lighted up and people in villages have electricity. It is not just the government who should setup solar power plants but the people of India also need should take some responsibility of using solar energy for future benefits. Every individual houses, apartments, schools, hospitals, colleges and offices should be advised to install solar based geyser for having hot water. The initial setup cost of installing solar geysers would be high but then people would save electricity bills. There are other benefits also of using solar energy well this source of energy does not create pollution which is created by using thermal energy. There are no radioactive wastes which are there by using nuclear energy.

Well the future will only tell whether people have realized the benefits of using a clean, green and eco-friendly source of energy. But if in future we don’t want breaking news related to half of India having a blackout then solar energy is definitely the answer which the government should focus upon. 

P.S. Share your views regarding alternative sources of energy for electricity generation.

Why Jharkhand is neglected in the Railway Budget

Let me share a small story which happened with me last year. In February 2011 I was travelling to Ranchi from Bangalore and there were college students in my coupe. The train starts at 8:30 AM in the morning from Yeshwantpur which reaches Hatia (a place in Ranchi itself) on the second day at 7:15 PM in the evening. During the day we people were mostly silent and not saying much. By the evening we co-passengers started talking and discussing various things. One topic which we started discussing was the inconvenience of travelling from Bangalore to Ranchi. We all said that how difficult it is to get a ticket in the bi-weekly train; even after booking the ticket one month in advance it is tough to get a confirmed ticket. Also since there are no direct flights this bi-weekly train is the only option for students or take a train/flights from other cities which increases the cost. We know it has been ages since students/working professionals have been coming to Bangalore from Ranchi and even in these 10 years there is no direct connectivity between Ranchi and Bangalore on an everyday basis.

During this rail budget I read North-East complaining that their region has been neglected but there was no such opinion voiced from Jharkhand. I wonder why are the problem of travel from Ranchi to other cities limited only in the train journeys where people discuss this issue. Why there are no newsletters or blogs or stories written about this? Why even media is also not interested in the problems associated with Jharkhand?

I remember when Bangalore Metro (Namma Metro) progress was not happening everyday Times of India would have a coverage asking the govt when the work will get over and how much time will it really take. Now it has been more than 10 years since the Koderma to Hazirabagh line was announced by the NDA government and still we dont know what is the progress in this. There is no media coverage; no follow ups; no updates as to when will this route get the much awaited line.

I wonder how many more years will it take to see a change in Jharkhand. I hope those who have spent 16-20 years in the state of Jharkhand also voice their opinion and make the world realize Jharkhand is no less state in India.

I hope to see a change in Jharkhand and with that hope I have written this blog.

Share your opinion about this :-)

कहानी फसबूक और ओरकुट की...

यह कहानी है 2 दोस्तों के दुश्मन बने की. फसबूक और ओरकुट 2 अछे दोस्त हुआ करते थे. हर समय साथ रहते; साथ खाते; साथ सोते; साथ पढ़ते; साथ खेलते. दोनों की दोस्ती इतनी गहरी थी की दोनों एक दुसरे के लिए जान भी देने को तयार थे.

फिर एक दिन ऐसा आया जब ओरकुट को फसबूक का साथ बेकार लगने लगा और उसने सोचा की नए दोस्त बनाये जाये. ओरकुट नए दोस्त बनाने लग गया और धीरे धीरे फसबूक को भूलने लग गया. ओरकुट अपने नए दोस्तों में इतना खो गया की उसने फसबूक को पूरी तरह भुला दिया. ओरकुट की हरकत देख फसबूक बहुत दुखी हो गया. दुःख में फसबूक बहुत रोया फिर उसने फैसला लिया की वो भी नए दोस्त बनाएगा.

फसबूक ने भी लोगों से दोस्ती करना शुरू कर दिया. फसबूक अपने दोस्तों को पा कर बहुत खुश था और उन्हें खुश रखने के लिए जितने जतन हो सकते थे करता. लोग फसबूक के दोस्त बन कर बहुत खुश थे; इतने खुश की उन्होंने ओरकुट के दोस्तों को बोला की एक बार फसबूक के दोस्त बन कर देखो. ओरकुट के दोस्त अब फसबूक के दोस्त बने लग गए और उन्हें फसबूक का साथ पसंद आने लग गया. फसबूक अपने दोस्तों को हमेशा कोई नयी चीज़ दे कर खुश कर देता; लोग बस इसी सोच में रहते की अब क्या खास होने वाला है. लोगों को ओरकुट की याद तो आती पर उसके पास जब भी जाते वो वहीँ पुरानी बातें करता और लोग उससे बोर हो कर फिर से फसबूक के पास वापस आ जाते. फसबूक के नए surprises लोगों को अछे लगने लग गए और फसबूक के दोस्तों का नंबर दिन ब दिन बढ़ने लग गया.

फसबूक को अपने नए दोस्त इतने पसंद आये की वो ओरकुट के बारे में सुना भी पसंद नहीं करता. अगर कोई ओरकुट के बारे में कुछ बोलता तो फसबूक वैसी हरकत करता जैसे इस फोटो में दिख रहा है. फसबूक की यह दुश्मनी ओरकुट के लिए कभी ख़तम होगी या नहीं यह तो पता नहीं पर लोग फसबूक के दोस्त बन कर और फसबूक को पाकर बहुत खुश हैं. फसबूक और ओरकुट एक दुसरे के कितने ही बड़े दुश्मन क्यों ना हो पर इन्होने दोस्त बहुत बनाये हैं.

3 Things I like about Orkut

1. Testimonials where my friends shared their honest feelings about me.
2. Profile visitors
3. I added the communities of my interest and still had loads of members and good amount of discussion unlike facebook where the member number doesn’t go up

Facebook is 'नया दिन नयी रात'; hard to keep a track of previous discussion… :-D

P.S. Scooters came to an end and people started using bike. Similarly Orkut has come to an end and people have started using facebook.

P.P.S. Share your views about the social networking sites.

P.P.P.S. Click on the ads.