Confused Soul

No, I ain't not talking about any of those exciting IPL matches... Instead, it's related to a board game LUDO. I was playing ludo with bhabhi the other day and trailing :-( And then what happened was just unbelievable, I rolled seven sixes in a row. At that time I felt like Sachin hitting 7 sixes in a row to move India towards an impossible win.

Everyone was stunned to see those 7 sixes in a row and bhabhi started arguing that we should cancel 6 sixes and only one six should be considered valid. You might know that if one gets 3 consecutive sixes in ludo they get canceled. On the same ground, bhabhi was arguing to cancel first 6 sixes and considering only last six as valid. But that time bhai was considered for his consent and he has given his decision in my favor :)

Ultimately, it was a close game and I won just by a ONE.

Last weekend, I spent my time driving, walking and driving. Yes, you read it right, walking and that too bare foot. Actually, I was on a religious trip to Goverdhan and completed Goverdhan Parikrama with family. It is real fun to have all your family members around on a trip. For the uninitiated, I want to clear that Goverdhan is the same Holy Goverdhan hill, which Lord Krishna held on his little finger to save the town from wrath of the god of rains, Indra. Devotees are supposed to encircle the entire hill and the journey is called Goverdhan Parikrama. The entire parikrama is around 21 kms long and is divided in two parts. First is the main parikrama of the hill and second one is of Radha-Kund, 13 kms and 8 kms long respectively. Being Lord Krishna’s place, this place is famous for milk sweets, Lassi etc and we enjoyed everything on our way. There are some differences I noticed between this trip and our Vaishno Devi trip. Though Vaishno Devi carries a far bigger place in devotee’s heart, this place does have no less. Below are some points that I have noticed:

1) At Vaishno Devi, you have to climb up a mountain so that is more tiring and time taking but here is a plane walk. Still, it's not easy coz you are supposed to walk bare feet and these guys made a full concrete road only to increase your pain. My brother got his feet blooded as he did already have some allergy but still he showed great enthusiasm and didn't give up.

2) In Vaishno Devi, you can't find any shop selling articles of personal interest but here, there was a shop at every 20 steps selling ciggis and tobacco. I was surprised when I saw a restaurant on the way with a board "THANDI BEER UPLABHADH HAI".

3) As I have mentioned here, at Vaishno Devi the spirit of devotees for making jaikaras were missing, but here it was on full show. Also you can not find a place in the way where you can't here the sound of Bhajans coming out of shops.

4) Vaishno Devi has been commercialized a lot over past few years. Brands like CCD have already marked their presence there but here it is still missing.

5) At Vaishno Devi, you will hardly find a beggar but here you will certainly loose your count if you start.

So these were some differences but the power of bhakti has no comparison anywhere. Overall, I enjoyed here, the walk, the bath at Mansi Ganga, the food, the drive (500 kms in total) and on the top of that the presence of everyone.

PS: I would also like to share my earlier experience at Goverdhan. I, my brother, Mom and Dad were there. I and my brother were walking too fast and left Mom n Dad miles back. But when we were almost at the finish, we got a call from Mom that she is missed and there was no info from Dad's end. Finally after a lot of chaos, we all were able to meet. So this time, all of us made sure that everyone would carry his/her cell and we will walk together :)

नए रिश्ते जुड़ न पाए, और पुराने टूट रहे है,

कभी गाँठ पड़ी थी जिनमे, वो धागे टूट रहे है,

नफरत के इस आंधी मे, कुछ अपने छूट रहे है,

जिस कांच की है ये दुनिया, वो शीशे टूट रहे है|

उसकी चोली में पैबंद लगे हुए है,

वो सीने से अपने बच्चो को चिपकाये हुए है,

कभी सड़क पर बैठती, फिर अचानक उठ जाती,

क्या ढूंढ रही है ?

हाथ में तो चुम्बक है,

शायद इससे वो लोहा छाटेगी,

फिर आज की कमाई से मिलने वाली एक रोटी,

अपने बच्चों के साथ बाटेगी |

वो एम् जी रोड के किनारे,

तेरह नंबर के पाइप में रहती है,

और सर्दी, गर्मी, बरसात के साथ-साथ,

वक़्त के थपेड़ो को भी सहती है |

अभी वो जवान है, शायद इसीलिए,

कभी-कभी उस पाइप में से,

चीखने-सुबकने की आवाजें आती है,

पर कोई क्या करे,

जब कानून के रक्षक ही इंसानियत का खून करते है,

और उस अभागन को हर रात मजबूर करते है |

-आकाश

कोई अशर्फी बाँट रहा है, तो कोई हाथ काट रहा है,

नानक-कबीर के देश में देखो, नेता, जनता को बाँट रहा है,

कोई हारा महंगाई से, किसी को जूता कांट रहा है,

क़त्ल हजारों करके कसाब, मुर्ग-मुस्सलम चांट रहा है|

“I want real India, poor people, hungry people”, remember this dialogue from a tourist in ‘MunnaBhai MBBS’? Though it may sound a little harsh, it is the truth about our country. It may be true that we are among world leaders in terms of GDP (gross domestic product), that we are 4th in terms of GMV (Global Manufacturing Value). We may be the 12th largest economy in the world (as per as the World Bank 2007 report) or at fourth position in terms of purchasing power. It might have been predicted that India will be the 2nd largest economy by 2050. We may be the world leader in software services and in many other fields. But hold on, still there is high economic disparity with rich getting richer and poor getting poorer as its per capita income is very low. A large percentage of our population is still below poverty line (25% as per CIA report).

Since Bhabhi is not at home, I was at a food stall to get our lunch packed. When a woman with her small kid came and asked for food. Initially, I didn’t notice but when she kept standing there for 15-20 minutes and her kid started looking at people’s plate with hungry eyes, I could not help myself and buy them a rice plate. Very soon, I found myself surrounded by a bunch of these people, everyone asking for food. Clearly, I couldn’t fulfill all the demands, so I ignored them. We were trapped in a similar situation while our Vaishno Devi trip, when Shikha offered her glass of milk to a street kid.

What is the reason of this type of situations? Do these guys do anything to avoid such situations or they just do this stuff daily? One reason, I can see, is the population of our country. India shares only 2 % of world’s GDP but we have more than 16 % of the world population. In turn we have a very low per capita income and these situations arrive. Still our government isn’t taking any move to avoid such circumstances.

Another reason is ignorance; most of these guys think children as the blessing of the GOD and believe in having as many children as possible. When we were looking for a slum for our community service, I asked one of the residents that how many children he has. I was almost fainted after hearing his answer, the answer was SIX. “Do you think that you are able to take care of them”, I asked, he tossed a grin back in reply. So guys, let’s come together and educate these people of the advantage of a small family.

PS: I have also seen many highly educated families, which carry on making babies until a boy arrives.