Multi-Modal Transport System (Or) Multi-mendicant Transport System ?

As I stay very far away from my work place, I use train as my medium of commute. Daily I travel almost around 60 K.M up and down In this real daily trip that I do, I’ve observed a modality that is increasing every day, of different ways and in different places, but especially on the train.Seeing the ways of increasing, in my opinion this modality or habit deserves more attention by specialists groups, cause show a modality that is in a meteoric rise.

Well, the other day, I completed my work and as usual headed to station to catch my train. I was standing on the platform waiting for train and to my dismay it was announced that train would be late by 45 minutes. As I had plenty of time left, I thought of exploring the station and decided to have a long walk on the platform. After few minutes of walk, I decided to sit for some time and all of a sudden I overheard a conversation from backside. Some person was asking to other person “ which platform are you working on? How is market demand for it? What you got give me. Being with a software company for quite a long time, its pretty common for me to hear such conversations. But what is this, When I gazed behind, it was completely a googly to me. They were not Software engineers but beggars.

Another day, going to work in the morning, the train was crowded, there was a blind man begging, and I thought with myself: Just in the rush, that the train is extremely crowded and just now this person decides begging? Why now and not later?

The answer came quickly, when I was back to home at evening, time there’s less movement of people on the train, I could see a scene that impressed me, each station that the train stopped, a new beggar came, blinds, handicapped, a simple beggar, immigrant, homeless, unemployed, etc.
Since this day I started to observe this type of action with more attention and I could see that each person have your own script, there is simplest to the most prepared, they have strategic places to stay (just near cyber tower), media devices, emotional appeal and are very creative. Some of them caught my attention:
There was one regular full-time old-beggar whom I never miss to see. This old man is perfectly fine in terms of physical standards and has a typical style of begging which is crying a lot while begging, and asking for Goodness any help, He comes to each passenger and starts making a cry sound so sympathetically that any first time passenger is bound to give him a coin. No wonder, I was victim several times. One fine day coincidentally he got off the train at the same station that I, and we sat on the same bank, it’s ironic that in the exactly moment that he got off the train he stopped crying, his breathing returned to normal and he started counting quietly

Also I have seen a boy with a child enters on the train, and makes the following speech: Ladies and Gentlemen, I’m here, humility, bagging for your collaboration, cause the cooking gas in my house ended, I’m unemployed and I live in old city, on the train he received donations of a minimum 20 people, if really is true that he lives on old city and came to give his speech in new city, certainly that means he just has money to buy the gas and stove! But the focus in this article isn’t mathematical, is only marketing. Is this really begging? Or is it their profession? I thought of sharing the above experiences, even being funny, but still tragic. Though I do not entertain beggars but seeing their situation, I felt pity on the man and poor children. Needless to say, I generously gave money to them, and I personally feel “OKAY” to give to those who are really helpless, but it’s best if you can show them the way to orphanage.

According to Maslow's needs of Hierarchy, a man moves on to the next stage of living only if his basic needs are fulfilled. So the standard of those helpless people can also be improved in a society by satisfying there needs initially. If one cannot do anything for them, then one does not have any right to encourage begging in the country just for the sake of giving and self containment.

Begging is a crime, bigger the crime is encouraging the beggars to beg. Choice is yours.

Is this Hopeless End Or Endless Hope ?

She lay there in the hospital bed staring blankly at the open door. Her 85-year old hands and legs are hardly of any support to her. She is alone and feels lonely. The bedsore on her buttocks indicates the length of her stay there. She is senile, her doctors really don’t bother much.

My friend asked her , 'ma! Do you know who has come to meet you? His is one of my good friends?'. She looked into the my eyes and face. For a moment it seemed like this lady would've been a beautiful young bride once upon a time. Her eyes were moist with a sense of innate pain. She just nodded to what my friend said. Later my friend was telling me She does not really care about all the years she has spent in the hospital. She does not remember the cruel treatment she met out to her in public. She does not care about what she ate or what she wore. She does not remember the recipient of her harsh words, She does not remember becoming senile. Per haps the only thing which she remembers is “hope”. And I felt as if hope is the only oxygen for her. The lady in front of us was beautiful once. Now she is greying, wrinkled, sad and standing in front of her. She gives her a blank stare and says,

"Dora, Na bidda vochada". It means “Sir, Did my son come back?”

A mother's memory is funny and very different from any creature on this earth. She quickly says his name. In a short snapping tone full of contempt. But she does not remember why she is upset with him. Maybe it is something to do with her son's wife,or may be because his son is not eating properly, I thought in my mind! Well, my friend asks her "do you remember some slokams ma". She stares at my friend "chinni Krishna leelalu ma, you do it everyday.". For the next 10 minutes, she chants the sloka without missing a word, pronouncing Sanskrit, a language she does not speak, to perfection.I was stupefied, impressed to the core with her clarity n speech, although I did not reveal this. She is not repeating from memory, she is reliving some memory. Did someone love her many years before, did she love anyone ever? Who cares about the past love of an 85 year old? After saying the last askhara of the sloka, she falls silent. Does not speak further. We left after few minutes. She seem sad.

Well, this is a story of a old women who has been abandoned ber her own son, who admitted her in a hospital and never came back. Days , months and years passed by with no trace of her son. I visited her few months back along with my friend who happens to be a doctor. Yesterday, I heard she is no more and municipal authorities took in charge for her last rituals. I was pulverized completely. How can a son, do this to his mother? And some of the hospital authorities said that during her last breath she was repeatedly calling her son. Mothers love is very much unconditional. One need not perform something to gain it.

I still remember how happy my grandfather used to feel when my mother used to bring a small flower for him. I know that it doesnt cost much, but it carries loads of love and warmth which are truely priceless.Well, I don’t know who is her son, nor any one has a clue about it. All i can say is Humility makes men look twice as honourable. Her son may be strong as a thoroughbred, making life look like a one-horse race or weak with little or no money. But when it comes to humility, he is as graceless as a three-legged donkey.

Well, guys am not sure if hope is a weakness or strength ! But yes, one thing don’t forget the famous saying, what goes around, comes around. Don’t forget that one day you will be a father and you too will be old.

The Forgotten relationships

I don’t believe in destiny, I believe in pain and regard it as the best teacher one can ever have. I also reckon that every trouble is a chance to get destiny. And consider the greatest weakness of a man is “not believing”---doubt.

“Relationship” –perhaps one of the most beautiful word’s I had ever heard. I am no Shakespeare I really wish I had the most perfect and beautiful words in the world to say, because if I did I would say them—I‘d say how great people feel when they palpate they are not solely —–Bur most of all I would tell that relationships (in whatever sense they may be, friendship, love, teacher-student, parent-child etc) would make one a better person.

Many times I was marveled at the following names “Amitabh bachan-dharmendra”, “Leander Paes-Mahesh Bhupathi”, “Rabindranath Tagore-Subash Chandra Bose” and many more to delineate. Once upon a time these were the most-best friends. But what happened later? This made me to think, does every relationship come with a “sell by” date? Yes, No, May be?

This also made me to think that how can anyone loose something which they never had. Is it that they never had any friendship? Whatsoever, for me every thwarting will make one stronger. My dad always tells me about Antaeus, the great gigantic wrestler in greek mythology. His mother was Gaia (Goddess of earth). He was unbeatable because every time he is thrown back to earth, he became more-stronger.

It’s my firm belief that relationship doesn’t get closer by constant meetings, but it is sweetened by thoughts, I care for people whom I love in my own strange world, perhaps I’ll never know, perhaps I’ll never show!

One has to work very hard to achieve that inner sense of peace; yet it takes nano seconds to lose it all. Pain, anxiety, despair come – in waves, washing in one after another – leaving you barely hanging on from the edge of a cliff… One finds one self standing where one started, sometimes even further behind from that.

This week, I stumbled onto a forgotten fragment of my past, a glimpse into the ‘other’s’ life and it again caused so much hurt, so much grief of standing where I was – years back. Life comes pouring down like a hailstorm. Can someone account the time I lost, in wondering, in wandering, in being in pain??? Is god keeping a ledger of this? What hurts me is that the friends we chose for life are the ones who aren’t there anymore . May be the relationship wasn’t meant to work out, it was apparent from the start. However, I never bailed out on my friends, no matter how hard they tried to make me do that. maybe few hold on to a dying friendship – because it’s the family I chose for myself. I guess, all things have a shelf life, an expiry date, relationships come with an expiry date, so do friendships – I have realized. I am usually told: “Oh you are too emotional!” Right! I agree, but then aren’t these the very emotions, which allowed me to care for my friends, to be there, sometimes to even bear the bullshit of others around them. We might say that one shouldn’t expect anything but is it really possible to do so? Anyways, expectations are always to be broken…so are hearts, so is trust, so are family ties, so are friendships….they are strong but they aren’t invincible; they are fragile too….

All good things must someday come to an end., Although I'd love to think about the saying, that best friends are forever..

Irresistible ICRISAT

A blend of the traditional and the modern, ICRISAT is all about simplicity and rustic beauty.

It all started at 3 PM, 4^th of june which happens to be a Thursday. A bunch of 14 strangers are required to stay together for 2 nights and 3days, where different in-door and out-door activities will be happening. The supposed kick off session was at 3:00 PM (SHARP), which conventionally started at 3:30 and finally the journey at 3:45.

Well, driving into ICRISAT, leaves you nearly with visual schizophrenia. The 2000 acre land with more then 20 km perimeter, which is meant for research on various types of crops and food item’s is absolutely stupefying.I can term this journey as “journey to childhood”. This trip refreshed all the childhood days which are entombed. The games like thief-police(chain game), lamb game etc. The ICRISAT gate is typical wodden gate painted in vivid colours. Across it: Wide, very clean streets, buildings with bright, painted motifs, full of trees , green grass, open lands and lakes. There are hardly people inside this paradise, the traffic is orderly and no one is honking. There were people who were checking the pollution levels of all vehicles driving through. These images really summarizes ICRISAT: A beautiful blend of the traditional and the modern. It is a theme that recurs and haunts you for the rest of your lives. ICRISAT is such a “fairy-tale city”. It takes days to walk from one end of main street to the other. It is easy to lose time here, soaking the sun, and watching the swans and ducks on lakes, foxes, deer’s and peacock’s in the open lands. Not that there aren’t things to see, but seems such a shame to reduce the charming place to the touristy trap.

 

 

Well, Archana volunteered to be the anchor of our group and we all reached at 4:45 PM  and checked into our rooms and there met the Mr.Navel, who is our facililator for the next couple of days and we were asked to assemble at conference room at 5:30 PM. There I got to meet Shekhar, who is my room partner for the next three days. And we have been told that even a delay of 1 min will cause fine, So i quickly slipped into my room, had a shower and was about to ram into the conference room with others, but we noticed that 2 girls are yet to come and thus we all started waiting for them. In the meantime we all shot some group pics and it was during this time I got introduced to Kiran, Raju, Priyank and Ramu who also happens to be from the same team(at work) . As even some more time passed we decided to start and after reaching conference room we are surpised to see these two girls ( Seshi and Vijaya),  waiting for the entire group at the conf. room. Then, we had gracious snacks, (wait is it really a snack?—this was a big question in my mind) before the actual indoor program. 

 

The very first program was very much of arousing or holding the attention. Here in , we were divided into 3 teams of 5, 5 and 4 members. I belonged to the group of 4 members and we were asked to know about the person sitting adjacent and tell about him. My counterpart was Nisha. And with extreme difficulty I could know something about her which I expressed before our facilitator and the team and the adjective given to her was “Natural Nisha”. In this was every person was assigned with an adjective and this process really helped all of us not only to know the names but also to know about how we are as a person. It was then followed by an activity where in we are taught typical Oracle values—here we were asked to guess each word then explain what it is all about and after that we have to demonstrate this through a small skit. Well, the third and the last activity for the day was to find a technique or pattern by which we should balance a ball from falling through holes, in a sheet. It was really stimulating activity which tested our team work and proper usage of resources.  And the session was concluded by a melodious song by saurav

 

Well with this we were done with that day and had a unstinted dinner. And the food like everything else , is a contradiction. Lamb is staple, the meet comes from outside. Ironically, the vegetables are brought from outside (Even though all those vegetables are grown in these lands). I brought all vegetarian items mockingly. Although I know I don’t progress beyond two spoons. A bunch of green chilies in carrot. And that is pretty much it. Its incredibly and unrelentingly fiery. And I guess this is the staple food there. The rest of the cuisine- you could try the array of typical dishes almost anywhere in A.P-is palatable enough. And they mostly resort to cakes, pastries and cookies which are good and popular.

Well, after the king size dinner, we all boys went out for a evening walk across the period of calm weather. By this time I got introduced to almost everyone including “Saurav-Ramu”, without whom our team would have been void, Priyank, Kiran, Praveen, Santosh, Shekhar,  Raju, Nisha, Tripti,Archana, Vijaya and Seshi. I made 13 new friends in one single day. I was absolutely felicitous.

 

The next day we are supposed to assemble at cricket ground at 7:45 AM. Regrettably my cell was out of charge the last night and I had to rely on the wall clock. So sincerely, I got up at 5:00 AM , reinvigorated  myself had a hot cup of tea and then went to the cricket ground at 7:43 AM. Surprisingly I was the only one in the ground. I had waited and waited. It was 8:15, and still I no site of any creature. In a bewildering and confusing manner, I have rammed into Saurav da’s  only to learn that my rooms clock is one and half hour fast. PHEW!!!

Anyway, that gave me a big relief , soon we all gathered at cricket ground and our facilitator had some warm up exercises for us—this made me to remember my school days where in I used to perform all these exercises in my “Physical Training or P.T” period. This entire trip is of “food and fun” oriented types. After the initial warm-up, we were to split in teams and then were asked to walk couple of distance from one point to another subject to the condition that all our leg movements should match. Sounds simple right? Even we thought the same. Despite anything to the contrary, it was one of the most difficult task for us. This taught how team work and proper planning weighs.

Then it was time for snacks. It was during this time I had talked to Trupti and come to know that she is basically a Mumbaikar, and happily married with two kids and later I came to know that she also have contacts of many film personalities which also include Jhonny Lever. 

OK! Now its time for another game, and facilitator chose Myself, Nisha and Archana. And he then said that we three are police and asked us to catch the others in a circumscribed area where in we are supposed to run holding the thief’s hand once he is caught It was very much unclear, indistinct, or blurred for me. Suddenly Nisha proclaimed “Didn’t u ever played chain game in your child hood?” For a moment I thought, “didn’t I really played it?” Later I could feebly remember something of this sort and we really had fun in recapping it again after 15 years. This taught in how to make complex things simpler, what do to first and what to do next. This was followed by another game where in we need to protect one of our team mate (Lamb) from the other team. We may circle around our team member or form square or whatever subject to the condition that no other team member should touch the “lamb”. This is also known as the famous lamb game. Although, we lost this was so nostalgic to me. This game again took me back to 15 years, wherein I almost daily used to play this game. And I also remembered how I used to form different tricks to protect my lamb.

We had more snacks and plenty of time is left with us. So we decided to have photo sessions.  Saurav Da’s pose which were in accordance with nature and relating to or concerning nature were some of the highlights among our photography. I hope all my team mates will agree with this J. Then we all went near the swimming pool and its here where we are all spread out with distinctive interests. I tried teaching Archana as how to balance a bicycle and was successful upto great extent and I hope she agrees with this J.

Praveen, as usual and as always was busy in phone although Nisha tried many ways to bring him into group, that didn’t work. Again Saurav da made our afternoon with his sweet song. Thanks to him!

 

And then, after lunch, There is something really different which we never did before. We were taught about couple of knots and its usages and later made us to build a bridge with 4 wooden piles and ropes. Thanks to Trupti and Raju, who really mastered this art and helped many of us (including me).

Finally we are all set with the bridge and it was supposed to be inaugurated(used) by Saurav da, but die to some unforeseen reason’s he could not start it and Trupti started climbing It and without  scintilla of hesitation she succeeded and rest followed her. I was, little nervous but trainer made me to climb the bridge with my eyes closed. That was a good experience and taught that we see more obstacles then goals, the moment we sww our goal obstacles vanish and perish.

 

Later that day, I spent some time at Ramu and Saurav’s room which was perhaps the most happening room. Within eye blink 2 and half hours passed away, I was completely laughing for those two and half hours. Saurav-Ramu –YOU guys are certainly the best pair. And immediately after that we rushed to conference room and had skits, and games like “crossing titanic”, “crossing obstacles with the help of animal sounds”, “Banker game”, wherein lot of planning team work and mental acumen needs, that was indeed a fun filled evening with loads of learning.

 

Although this day started not up to expectations, but ended magisterially. We are supposed to have parasailing. WOW, this in itself is exciting. But again, wind has to favor us and regrettably, wind was not up to the mark in cricket ground. So we had our share of snacks and left for a break hoping that wind god will shower mercy on us. It was during this break where I got another opportunity to train Archana on cycling. And also we guys had multiple photo sessions with various postures. Ramu and Raju left to  fields and they had their own share of photography which was indeed praise worthyJ. The rest of the group except Priyank and Shekhar, were present and we all had good time. Although we planned to visit the so called “Peacock park”, but it didn’t really work out for us.  Then finally we all assembled at the Gazebo, which is a small roofed building affording shade and rest—basically a fishing club. We had an another interesting activity where in we all teams need to stand on one sheet with two guys outside helping, and we got to move forward. Here under Priyank’s and Kiran’s leadership we WON with a considerable margin. And the next activity was to lift a ball and place it over the cone. Seems simple , but let me tell you-we go to lift the ball with rope , YES a rope. This was the most challenging task for our team , but again three cheers to Priyank and team we won it J.  Now comes the final and most awaited activity that is parasailing. Fortunately or unfortunately wind was not completely in our favor, but some how our facilitator make it happen. This time it was Trupti and saurav who could get this opportunity and I am sure they must have cherished this. This made Archana let down as she was the first person to ask Navel(our facilitator) about parasailing then suddenly Nisha exclaimed that she was the first one to ask about parasailing and she indeed emailed Navel long before J. 

Well, good things end soon, our trip is no exception and it was concluded with a small gyan session by our honoured facilitator.And what a refreshingly unstuffy person he is, friendly, approachable and quite uninhibited by his reputation. As he knew that all of us are software engineers, he confessed endearingly that he is uneducated. Seriously the trip is a whiff of the past.

 

 In ICRISAT, be prepared to believe in getting fun and knowledge. In goodness and simplicity. In beauty, rustic and untarnished.

Let Your Deeds Speak

At one of my recent reunification, although it was much time ago, I remember very well the humiliating, painful feeling of being deliberately excluded — may be because he (my friend) was from the normal middle class, in a simple attire, and still not anchored his position l The assumption that he could not speak English as fluently had nothing valuable to bring to the group made me feel worse, and I found that I too was getting hostile and prejudiced.

Ironically everyone in the group knows that person since schooldays. Everyone knows that he was born and brought up mostly in a small town and its axiomatic that not only he cant be as fluent as others but also he taking little more time than others for anchoring himself firmly in this competitive world.

This incident taught me a lot about the violence of exclusion…how it makes one seethe with anger, robs potential for friendship, and destroys bonds that emphasize our humanity.

On the other hand, the hostess, who also happens to be a close friend of mine  a very gracious lady, instead of making him feel out of place, took him around and introduced to everyone saying, “This is my school buddy who is taciturn by nature ”, and so on. She personally guided him to the best seats and stayed with him for a while, making sure he was served with as much courtesy as the others were. It shows generosity of nature and kindness of heart and the realization that we are all part of one humanity, however different we may seem.

Whenever we exclude people from meetings, social and family occasions we violate their sense of pride and dignity. When we say, or make them feel, “You don’t belong here”, or “You are not of my race, status, generation, educational standard”, we hurt them deeply and crush their self confidence. Why do we exclude people from our groups? Mainly because of prejudice, ignorance, and an inflated sense of ego. People who are crushed and made to feel inferior will not allow themselves to be treated this way for long. At some point they will retaliate and that’s what my friend did.

Loneliness, a reduced sense of self-esteem, bouts of aggression, sadness and depression. Those who inflict such violence have to understand what it is that makes them wreak havoc on the emotions and lives of those who love them. If you are a perpetrator, ask yourself, “Why am I being so nasty? Is it because I am insecure or jealous?”

My friend was born and brought up in a district of a city marked by poverty and inferior living conditions. He has a younger brother, and two sisters and his father was the breadwinner of the family. It was really tough for him to bring up his kids on his meager salary. 

He, thus, did three different jobs to bring them up and educate them. Many times I used to visit my friends house, I never ever saw him ramming explicitly that they should study well, I knew he was struggling hard to send my friend and his siblings to school. And my friend was I always determined that his hard work should not go in vain.The family is very hard working and has the quality of being worthy of esteem or respect.

My friend was one of the topper throughout my school days. In the mornings, he used to went out to sell news papers His parents only wanted to educate their kids so that they can get a good job. So true, When one constantly worry about the next square meal, how can they dare to  dream of becoming a doctor or an engineer. The only thing that was on my mind was to get a good job

I still strongly remember one incident during our high school, when my friend  made greetings with wonderful paintings during the summer vacation and accumulated money for his school fees. When he got plenty of work, he employed 5 others and all of us(including me) did the work together. That was his first real job as an entrepreneur. I always knew that he will be something one day. 

Yesterday when this 24-year old lad got selected for the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmadabad, he created quite a stir among all of us. He was inspired by his dad who with his meager income educated him and his siblings.  He silenced all his critics, now I am really looking forward for all those people who once said he can’t speak good English.

Well, now again coming back, I always feel inclusion is the antidote to exclusion. A welcoming handshake, a warm smile and pleasant greeting , a genuine desire to get to know the other person, making him or her feel part of the group.

All of us are guilty of this kind of violence. Just think…have you ever been given the silent treatment? How did you respond to it? What did you learn from it?

Truly, making people feel unwelcome can be more painful than physical violence.

Loving gesticulates

Twenty two years have passed by, had a taste of everything. Salty Tears, Sweet Joy, Frustration of failure, Ecstasy of success. Nevertheless, had enjoyed a lot, the challenges, the uphill tasks, unbearable burden …still remain intact. The pressure is immense and can shatter a mountain, pulverize granite. ‘THANK YOU LORD’ for your constant support.

I always believe that change is the only constant thing in this universe and nothing is permanent. Not even our life. And In my view life is like a river--will keep flowing. It will keep on changing its course and one has to just flow along with it. Have to survive against the strong up-currents and descend the cascades before joining the sea

If there is anything that I really remember in my life, then that is this 24-hour train journey to kolkata. Well, if you want to reveal in real luxury, head to kolkata. No other city has its sense of leisure, or its idea of luxury.. No other city has this sense of leisure. And am pretty sure that had “Speed” been shot in kolkata it would have forced to rename as “Slow”. If time is real luxury then kolkata is Paris. So serene in every sense. Well, I dare not to lie and say I am good at math. It was few years back on the same day I was heading to kolkata for a fellowship program at Indian Statistical Institute; I claimed a point on   Fermats last theorem and Taniyama Shimura Conjecture with a beautiful lady and had an unusual debate. She and her sister were traveling along with us. And there was a dumbo and two love birds from Infosys. I ditched the wood headed bloke and left the couple to themselves. That young lady was Chitra (21) and her sister Pavitra (15).I started talking to Chitra in the evening and found a lot of common characteristics. We got along so well and indeed our discussions ranged from shopping to girl friends and boyfriends. She was trying to get into International Business and trying to get a break, and hated Hyderabad. It seems her father moved to Hyderabad from Mumbai after a business fiasco. They were doing quite well afterwards and now very much stable. Then we ordered dinner. I hardly describe it as acceptable to the taste or mind. But was forced to eat. After that, it was around 9:00 PM and I thought of sleeping sometime on the berth and asked them to wake me up whenever they want to sleep. I was very tired and fell asleep. After some time, my sleep was disturbed with a cry of an infant. And to my dismay I saw the two sisters sleeping on same berth (U) opposite to me and my friend snoring in the middle berth (Chitra’s). 

I was really touched by this event. And I got down, after few minutes Chitra woke up. And when asked why she did like this, she replied that I was fast asleep and she didn’t have heart to wake me up, then she dozed off again. I was moved by his incident and left a note for her. THANKS A LOT. I AM REALLY TOUCHED’. She told me the next morning that it was cute and will be in contact with me later. 

Some incidents make permanent impressions leaving one with indelible memories. The most wonderful thing in this world is acts and words for you by someone which tells that somebody cares for you. This stranger taught me a lesson that I will never forget all my life. Although we never ever met again, I will never forget her gesture and will never forget her.