Pranabda - You too Brutus ??

Even Pranabda has overlooked the aspect of security of our borders on the North - Eastern Sides of China and also of our borders along the Pakistan side. Year after year we hear about China's increasing resource mobilization capabilities and also about constant infiltration from the Pak side, but little do we take up some corrective measures or projects. We heard about Sealing of Borders on the Indo - Pak Border. Why the Center does not make any provisions in the budgets and take up this on war footing ? Similarly why can not we too build and spread our Air - Road - Rail network touching the Indo - China Borders ??

Let our hard earned money be spent on these causes rather than getting stacked  in Swiss Banks. It is high time for us to act.

You too Brutus ??

Railway Budget

Mamata Didi blew the buigle and sang " Aamar Shonar Bongla " and nobody can or could do any thing. What Lalu had done during his days is followed by  Didi. Why talk of inclusiveness ? Do for your self first, then for your party and then for your state. Forget about the rest. How simple it is. Our politicians are only playing the games to save their kursis through elections. China on the other hand has built Air, Road & Railway connectivity right up to our borders on the North - Eastern Sides. And we are only worried about our constituencies or states.

One more Opportunity Lost !! No one is bothered.

Sarp Mitra

We had an unusual guest amidst the chaos of the impending marriage in our house. A 3'6" snake entered my brother's house and was taking an afternoon siesta under the center table, when my brother's wife noticed him while searching for something in the heap of papers lying on the bottom rack of the center table. She screamed at top of her voice and ran out. We were busy in packing for our Indore trip. Initially I thought that some thing abnormal has happened in the kitchen. As we ran down and out, we were informed that it was a snake who had created the panic. Luckily, she had shut the main door while coming out. So we were sure the snake was still inside the house only. None of us had the guts to enter inside the house and do some thing, as none of us exactly knew what and how to go about the task of overcoming him.

We contacted fire brigade and took the contact details of the Sarp Mitra ( Firend of Snakes ) in our area. To our great and pleasant surprise both, the fire brigade and the Sarp Mitra, were in our house in less than 10 minutes. They were fully equipped for the task and had the necessary tools as they entered the house. They searched the drawing hall and finally located him perched on the sofa, under the cushions. Probably he had a good lunch and had been really looking for an afternoon siesta.

Poor creature. He was not destined to have all that luxury. Soon the Sarp Mitra literally caught him by his tail and pushed him in a gunny bag. Gone was the creature in no time, who created panic a little while ago

Both The agencies finished the official documentation and were gone in no time, after the thanks giving formalities were over.

" Hats off " to both the agencies for their machine like efficiency. It was probably our first positive experience of government machinery.

Gire tau bhi tangadi upar

Election results of Bihar has once again shown that the aam admi looks for development and votes for a party or a person who works for inclusive growth, and tries to address to the issues of health, education, shelter and food. It was proven in Gujrat Elections too, but the media played it low, because it was a BJP ruled government there. The congress gave credit to Nitish, they must be complimented for that, but chose to underplay BJP’s victory. They also downplayed the Zero Effect of the Gandhi Clan. Some in congress went to the extent of giving credit to Sonia & Rahul for their guidance and help in building the party from the scratch.

Kahate hain na “ Gire Tau Bhi Tangadi Upar ”

Food For Thought

Is it not surprising that Sonia and hence the whole Congress party do not get tired of beating their own drums and claiming that theirs is a “ NO NONSENSE ” party when it comes to corruption. Poor them, they do not realize that the country thinks just the opposite about them. Scam after scam of corruption and loot, the latest bigger, larger and are more scary and threatening than the earlier but still the party leadership is not ashamed. They think that they are doing a wonderful job by asking the tainted person to move, temporarily though. Whom they are fooling? Tell me a single political – administrative person getting punished legally and by law. Is mere removal enough?

The other parties are just following their footsteps, may not be on the same scale. You need courage and expertise to aim bigger, you know. Who can be better placed than the Congress which has ruled the country for almost 6 decades? That wealth of experience is paying them rich dividends.

Sarey Jahan Se Achcha Hindusatan Hamara

Long back the son of a known acquaintance told his father that he had scored a zero in a unit test. His father replied “ Never mind sunny !! You have only one way to go and that is Upwards ! ” .

It appears that the morale of the incidence applies in great measure to India in the ongoing Asian Games. We are at 15th place, at the moment, little above a little known country – Macau. China has crossed the hundred mark in Gold Medal tally. It reflects on our sporting standards. It may take a decade or two of sustained efforts to come anywhere near China.


Sarey Jahan Se Achcha Hindusatan Hamara !!

Sense of Fulfilment

Seldom, I read the page having details of the movies and naataks. However, Saturday was an exception. My eyes stopped on the advertisement of the naatak “ Mi Nathuram Godse Boltoy ”. Nobody in the family was interested at this point in time, because of the coming marriage function in our house, breathing down their necks. So, I checked up with Sudheer Kaka. He was interested but wanted clearance from his doctor daughter. She gave the clearance in the evening on her return. The decks were cleared, so to say. I sprang in to action immediately and booked 2 tickets of the show on Monday at 12.30 P. M.

We saw the naatak. We both were overwhelmed for sure. Incidentally it happened to be Nathuram’s Punyathithi. His nephew, Nana Godse, and Mrs. Hematai Savarkar ( If I heard her name correctly ) were also present to grace the occasion.

Recovering from my foolish act

I must have gone nuts or crazy in last hour or so. By accident I hit upon the link of drafts for editing. I observed that I had edited and posted all of the drafts so I deleted. Then I do not know what happened and I thought let me do the same for the published posts. I thought I would only be deleting the saved published drafts. Little did I realize that in fact I was in deleting mode of all published blogs. I went berserk and kept on deleting. I was lost in a mirage or sorts and was not able to come out of it for almost 10 minutes.it happened like CHAKWA , the way way we hear in our native places. I came to senses after about 10 minutes and realized that I had deleted all my blogs from June onwards.

Can some one help me and guide me to recover the lost blogs. Luckily I have a few ( last 9 ) on my i - google page. I have reloaded 3 of them now. So few of you, who are on my regular mailing list will get to see the mails again. Please ignore these if you have read these blogs earlier. and please send me some if you have still in your mails.

I felt like crying.

Sumant Sir

A person with a normal built wearing an old styled striped knee high under pant and a half cut vest just touching the thighs, appeared near the basin for a wash, as we settled in our seats in his house. He had no inhibitions and no airs too. In normal circumstances he would have walked to the drawing room in the same attire, but today he had unexpected guests in us. So he walked to the bed room, got himself dressed in a pyjama and a bush shirt and came out with a sheepish smile. He greeted us both. We touched his feet and got back to our chairs. He was Sumant Sir !!

His house was like what I had guessed, Just befitting his profession. He was not a teacher in today’s mould, earning handsomely on tuitions besides the hefty salaries that the today’s teachers get. A metal folding cot adorned the drawing room, which had two old chairs for visitors. An old TV on an old table was the other furnishing of the drawing room.

The attached kitchen had a serving hatch, opening to the drawing room. I could see the kitchen through the hatch. It was also styled and fashioned old styled.

The whole house had serenity and a silence of a classroom. It was pious and pure and simple like its owners.

Sir had taught all Apte girls ( my wife and all her three sisters ) in their school life. He taught Maths and Science in English. In fact he was a schoolmate of our Tara Aaji in Subedarwada School at Kalyan, from English 4th to 8th class, that is from class 7th to 11th in today’s terminology. This school was one of the three Akshikar Sir’s Creations like Chabildas at Dadar. So ! The family had long standing relations of sorts with him.

I was told that he spoke very little but was very articulate. He had not changed over time. Once a while, he raised his forefinger to drive his point home, in a teacher like habit. Other than an occasional comment here and there, he was more a good listener. What struck me most was his simplicity. It was written all over the house and had also rubbed on his wife.

He has a photogenic memory and it showed when he churned out surnames of all the sisters, spoke about where our kids were placed and where we lived till very recently. This is at the age of 80 Plus. He spoke about all with passion and love and yes, with out any malice. He could have hardly had malice for any one leave alone the Apte sisters.

I walked out after inviting him for my nephew’s marriage with a lasting impression. I have no hesitation to say that there are only a very few left of this breed. These are the people who have laid the foundation of strong India of Today.

I bow my head to salute such people. I salute you Sumant Sir !!

Pune Cyclothon

This Sunday was a special day for me. I participated in the Pune Cyclothon organized by Hero Cycles & Network 18. there were 4 categories besides the one for professionals in competitive class. One was for Children up to the age of 18, the second was for Corporates, the third one was the Go - Green and the fourth for the amateur. The first three had to cover a distance of 10 KMs and the last, a distance of 20 KMs. I appeared in the armature category.

I had once cycled from Pilani to Delhi, a distance of about 180 KMs, many times to Chirawa, about 15 KMs from Pilani, Once each to Khetari and Rajgarh ( 40 KMs from Pilani ). But all these attempts were during my college days. Then there was a huge gap. I had stopped cycling and till my retirement had become a slave of fuel driven vehicles, like scooter and the cars.

Once I shifted to Pune, I got back to cycling and physical fitness. Thanks to the influence of Nitin Gadgil, Kedar Gogte and Swanand Apte. Though I have been a fitness freak all through my life, I had hardly taken it seriously after I got more and more responsibilities in my professional field. My love for fitness, cycling, writing, painting etc had taken a back seat and were almost sidelined. Things changed for good post my retirement.

I must admit that I became a more of a social animal. I started attending marriages, thread ceremonies and get together. I lead our first ever family trip to Amba Ghat and to Rajasthan the very nest year. As if that was not enough, I undertook the Himalayan Trek. I started challenging my self. Our group leader, Kedar is a very keen adventure trekker. I got to know more about the latest trends in cycling during this trek. That is when I decided to get back to cycling once again. He even gave his geared cycle to me for a couple of months to know and understand the geared cycling. I almost fell in love and then I decided to follow Nitin and Swanand Apte, for their ageless spirit.

I started cycling with my new geared cycle. I had been doing that for almost 3 - 4 months now and covering about 15 KMs daily.

Last week I read about this event at Range hill Grounds. The event for armatures was to cover 20 KMs. And Lo!! behold your breath. I did it in style and in about 45 minutes flat. Probably I was the only one of my age ( 63 rd Running ) who was amongst the first lot to touch the finishing line.

I hope to continue that as long as my body and above all my mind permits.

I have heard and read some where - " the game is won and lost in mind and that the fear is in the feet ". So as long as I do not allow the negativity to creep in my mind or the feet, I will be able to do it, and SO WILL I.

Pune Cyclothon - some experiences

The cyclothon was an experience in itself. there were about 5500 participants in the four non - competitive categories, Children, Corporates , Go - Green, & Amateurs. All were to cover a distance of 10 KMs and we were to cover 20 KMs in the amateur category. we were all asked to assemble about 45 minutes prior to the start of the event. We were all there. It was a colourful event. There was music and festivity all around. However, there were some irritating lapses too




We were all there in huge numbers, right from 6.15 AM or so, and waiting for the word go. the first race for the children was to start at 7 AM and ours for amateurs was to start at 7.15 AM. It was almost 8, and still There was no announcement no communication and we were all left to our own mercy and guess working. Finally the kids category started at about 8 AM or so and then ours started at about 8.15 AM or so. We were told to assemble once again on touching the finishing line. So we did that and for what ? God alone knows. The only positive thing happened is that all of us were given a banana and a bottle of water. After spending some time there some wise participant from the army ( MH Khirkee ) commented in Hindi " Aarre bhai apne ko koi inaam thode hi milane wala hai, kela mil gaya !! ab chalo ghar ". we all laughed heartily on our own foolishness and returned back home.

I must also thank the organisers for the mess they created en route. The participants were given water bottles and almost every one threw their bottles on the way as if they were all in the France De - Tour Race or as if they all were like Armstrong or so. I wonder why there were no dust bins near these points. In fact these should have been created like pit stops where participants move out of the main track, take water, help for their cycles or medical assistance and then join back the main stream. if this was done and dust bins were kept then the participants would have automatically thrown their bottles in the bins. In fact that would have added value to your GO - Green Concept, which other wise was a farce as I did not not see any of the Green Effect.



Except for these blemishes the event was an overwhelming experience.