Incredible India: The Aurangabad Tale

Ideally I should title this as “Ajanta Ellora” sojourn, or something on those lines, but that would be unfair, for it was the journey, with Aurangabad as it’s locus that constitutes the experience narrated here.

After three hours of sleep and some juggling between two CSTs (I reported at the wrong railway station), when we finally got into the train it was pretty clear that the “chair car” would be the worst possible place to complete the much needed sleep before the trip begins. Little heads up for all my Northern friends, in Mumbai, chair car in a train is equivalent to a local’s first class bogie. If I am not wrong, in the row which should ideally seat eight people, seats were designated for twelve and we were actually sixteen of us including an infant trying to fit in there. Please make no mistakes, we all had reservation apparently.

What appeared at first to be a painful seven hours at hand, actually turned out to be a very refreshing journey. Thanks to the terrific weather and amazing families travelling with us, who reminded us of our own beautiful childhood experiences (read embarrassments). In those seven hours we witnessed the meticulous planning of a mother who had a three course meal prepared for her family, followed by two cousins fighting it out amongst themselves, then there was the two year old pampered daughter who had a voluptuous appetite for her age, the love hate chemistry between a grand dad and 6 month old grandson, two experienced mothers giving tips to their young counterpart. The icing on the cake were the serene waterfalls that would appear on the outside from time to time amidst the lush green surroundings. Amongst all of it were the two of us connecting the dots and linking them to memories from our childhood. Damn I felt old while writing that line.

Aurangabad was a welcome change from the daily Mumbai life comprising of the traffic and the traffic. A short break and the motivation to get to Ellora before it closes was enough to get us both going within an hours’ time of reaching the city. The initial plan was to take a bus to Ellora, but destiny had different plans. Kabir ji insisted we take an auto. Kabir is an auto driver at Aurangabad and he had been making tourists’ lives easier in this city for the past 35 years. He recalls how he moved out of college in Pune long back and moved to this city which has been home to him and his family of four children. There was no mention of the wife, neither did I ask. In the 35 years of showing tourists around he has in parallel settled his daughters in well to do families and is very happy doing what he does. I can bet the kind of energy he had would be more than 10 of me put together. He

was 65 and looked 45. Thanks to his heroic driving we made it in time to Ellora, post a short stop at Daulatabad. Kailash caves were good, the greenery surrounding it was even better. The white sky, green surroundings, the caves, mild breeze, the fragrance of rain – all of it out together could have made Yash Raj drool.

The next stop was the first of the two things that made me actually write this blog. The burial place of the great emperor Aurangzeb. Aurangzeb is known for his tyranny, for the wars with the Marathas and for putting Shah Jahan behind bars. The last Mughal to hold the empire at its maximum, lies in an unknown street on Aurangabad besides his Guru, and that is not by fate but choice. The emperor sold some self-authored manuscripts for a sum of 14.5 units (I am not sure of the currency) and asked his son to use the same amount to build his tomb. Even the modest marble flooring was an enhancement later by Lord Curzon. The aura of the place was captivating. The feeling can be well described by the figurative meaning of the word “spell bound”. Did he really believe in using wealth to serve the kingdom and not to just exhibit love? Well his numerous failed wars shout out a different story, but that’s for someone else to figure out. The next stop was some special saree shopping and as a special note I would like to appreciate the speed at which she made the final purchase, never knew girls can shop that fast too.

A special mention for the Kebabs we had for dinner at Kareems, they were so good that we not only returned the next day for them but also managed to order twice of what we actually consumed. Yes, they were that good.

Post some much needed sleep, the next stop was Ajanta. The bus ride reminded me of the rough travels from Haridwar to Hamirpur, just that this one was still so much better. Again the weather Gods were kind on us and the ever blowing soothing breeze accompanied by the scenic villages made the journey special. It’s that kind of a feeling when you are travelling and you don’t even know but there is a constant smile on your face. Ajanta was much different to Ellora. It was actually the caves that had our attention this time around. 900 years of hard work has gone into those 30 caves. Ellora was 200. Being in the 21^st century you could just not avoid thinking for once that, common, people were damn slow back then. But taking into account the far fledged location, and tools available then, the idea of even building something this grand commands a lot of respect. The caves are a manuscript in themselves, depicting the entire Buddhist culture and illustrating the lives of people back then. In an interesting observation, the guide highlighted a painting where, I quote, the guy was wearing a blue colored t-shirt and that’s how the world came to know of t-shirts as we know them J Jokes apart, the grandeur of the entire thing coupled with small add-ons like the melodious sounds you could hear by banging the walls at certain places made it an fascinating experience. Experiences like these make you think if you will ever be able to see all that this beautiful country of ours has to offer.

A special note for the hand-made idols of Buddha which were being sold at Ajanta. They were made locally by the villagers and were a fine display of handicraft in India, but what makes them stand out was that they were available at dirt cheap prices, which I in a way found insulting for the craftsman. You get a sense of duping the craftsman by buying them for the price which was being asked.

The return journey from Ajanta was more about sleeping than anything else but what awaited us once we got back to Aurangabad is much more interesting. Thanks to my poor general knowledge, I never knew a thing like mini Taj Mahal ever existed. With no expectation at all we reached the place where Aurangzeb’s wife is buried. This is the second reason, why I felt I should pen this entire thing down. The picture says it all I guess. The world goes gaga about the Taj, and here lies the twin sister in anonymity. Keeping aside the point that this defeats the ideology Aurangzeb stood for, but now that we have such a marvel at hand, it is sad that the Indian Tourism doesn’t leverage upon the marketability of this marvel. Although too tired for pics and posing, the simple observations like a cloud moving in the backdrop seemed so soothing. I guess that’s what we call ambience and its effects.

And when you have had such blessed trip there is hardly anything that can spoil the mood, even the fact that post an all-night bus journey, we would be headed to our offices for our daily chores.

P.S. I have a bad habit not doing a proof read, it’s too boring for me, so please ignore typos and anything else which seems out of place J

The boy with the balloons

Some things are always right in front of our eyes and still are so well camouflaged in the daily chores that even the brilliant minds fail to register them.

Post a pompous dinner yesterday when we stepped out of the restaurant, an intellectually differently abled kid (sugar-coated for all those who feel not using the word retard solves half the problems), was selling balloons at the roadside. One of my friends was touched and purchased all the balloons that he was carrying. The incident took me back to one similar realization almost a year ago. NCR, the rape capital of country is known for girls not being out on street alone after nightfall. After one of our team party’s at Samsung when we came out of the pub at around 1 am at night, a few young girls, not more than 10-12 years old flocked us to sell red roses. So, let me put it more bluntly, 1 am at night, in a place like Noida, outside a Pub, young girls selling *immaterial*, does that raise “some” concern? And yes this was just after December 16^th had happened. Stories are never ending, I have quite a few more and I am sure reading this even you might have recalled a few of your own experiences.

Coming back to the broader picture, the question that stares us in the face is, that who is responsible? Who is answerable? Who takes the corrective measures? Browse through the government website (http://india.gov.in/my-government/schemes) and who will see the basic flaw in the structure of these schemes. They all say, come to us and we will help you out with free education or food or whatever, but the pertinent flaw here is that, how do we facilitate the interaction between these schemes and the targeted beneficiaries. (Yes credibility in implementation of the schemes is another story, let’s ignore that for now)

Is the DA kid selling balloons on the road supposed to reach out to some govt. aided NGO for help or is it the vice-versa? Was the police responsible for ensuring that those girls were not out there on the street, hawking? Was I responsible for helping those kids out, not by buying what they were selling but by finding a way out for them? And what about you?

I don’t wish to make this very long as I do realize that I am no Arnab Goswami or Chetan Bhagat for that matter that you’ll find time to go through all this “not called for wisdom”. This blog is not ask you to get up, leave your room and do something about the issue, it is for everyone to reflect upon and think if it is also our responsibility to take care of these kids around us, it is for us to think if we can make even a minute difference, it is for us make a promise to ourselves that we shall find out opportunity to do our bit and we shall change the scheme of things.

“There is hope for some good in this world, and it's worth fighting for.” – Alfred Tennyson 

The Horizontal Limit -- DIU

“The waves were lashing out at me as I walked forward, as if to remind me of my limits. But there I was, walking across the sea, defying all rules, looking the setting sun in the eye, reaching out for the horizontal limit – the zenith in the sky.”

What was meant to be a short fun filled trip to Diu, turned into one of those rare occasions when you get much more than what you bargained for.

The frozen night: Well, okay may be a few things went here and there. The journey to Diu for one wasn't that pleasing. With Sona Mahapatra singing tantalizing songs one after the other, it was very difficult to pull yourselves out from the venue and leave for the trip. By the time we did manage to get over the awe-inspiring songs and make our way out of the venue, I had just fifteen minutes to run to my room pack some essentials and rush to catch the bus. As a result, I, actually not only me but all the three boys (Raj and Ajay Inclusive) missed out on any warmer. “Bas fir kya tha, raat to kaali honi hi thi.” Such was the pathetic freezing breeze that ultimately I had to approach the bus driver to find out if he had any blanket, but, in vain.

The beautiful day: Thankfully everything went uphill from there. A splendid beach, some awesome friends, a bright sunny day and an infinite sea staring at your face, what more does it take to make your day. Jet skiing was fun, more so the fact that Akriti fell downJ. But in the end it is always the quality time that you spend with friends that are most enticing so the best part were the hours we spend splashing in the water. Ajay, the “scared” one, had to be first dragged into the sea and finally had to be repeatedly pulled out of it too.  That’s what nature can do to you, this time it was the sea, I have seen snow, even mountains have similar effect on people; you just don’t want to leave. Amongst the other highlights, Akriti made something that she said was a snowman (made of wet sand) but trust me our interpretation of what it seemed to be wasn't very pleasant. And we found a small “dhaba”, actually it doesn’t qualify to be a”dhaba” but still, where the food was finger-licking-ly tasty.

The best part: Fun and frolic apart, a short interaction like this with the nature does help a lot to clear your mind. The vastness of the water body ahead reminded me of the freedom that we all inherently have in our lives. No bounds what so ever. Needless to say, there shall always be some tides to push you back but that doesn't mean you are restrained from reaching out to the never ending scope of “living” that lies ahead of you. As I allowed my body to float in the water, it felt like the receding waves were soaking all the negativity out of me.

I can keep going a lot about that, but the point is, everyone who has ever hit the road just for the sake of moving ahead, or trekked a mountain because that seemed to be the best thing that he could have done or just given nature, in any form possible, an opportunity to take control of him/her, would know that that inner peace is something which is priceless. So if haven’t yet tried that out please do so.

P.S. Since this is the public version, so I might have missed out on a few facts that helped propel these outright emotions.

Kuch to Sharam Karo India...

Yesterday we visited a trust named “Aadhar” that works for counselling and upliftment of HIV+ people in and around Ahmedabad, run solely by HIV+ people. Directive of the visit was to identify where the problem lies, in terms of acceptance of HIV+ people in the mainstream. To be very honest, I went there with a notion that the uneducated and lower strata of our society would be the one that outright rejects the PLHA (“People Living with HIV/AIDS”). However, the stark contrast in reality has not only mortified me but has also made me think that, is it the lack of awareness or is it the lack of empathy which is the main problem we are facing here. This blog is a part of that loud-thinking.

We are all aware that immorality and unethical behavior has penetrated deep across all professions, but I could never have thought that people would stoop so low so as to make money and gain publicity out of somebody’s ill fate.

Of everybody else, one would expect at least the doctors to be aware of what HIV is and hope that they would not be a party to this stigma against PLHA. Well, experiences tell a different story. Mrs X’s 16 year old son needed a blood transfusion, but the local doctors in nursing homes in their locality refused to stick a needle into the boy stating that they were not trained enough to inject a needle in a young kid. A doctor who can’t inject a needle, well, that was a first timer for me, and to add to it a lame excuse that the 16 year old boy to be a kid. The ones in civil hospital did something more stupendous. The boy had had excessive bleeding from his leg and had very high fever. These symptoms prompted the doctors on duty in the civil hospital to conclude that this was a case of orthopedics department and not theirs. Bleeding + fever = ortho; ya we sure buy that. The orthopedic rejected the patient saying it needs to be treated by HIV/AIDS department (reason being his mother was HIV+). And after a lot of efforts at around 3 am at night Ms X managed to find a doctor who would treat her ailing son, the lab assistant who was supposed to do an MRI scan refused to do so, for he didn't want to use the equipment for someone whose mother is HIV+. Even I wouldn't have believed the story had it not come firsthand to me, so I won’t blame you if this doesn't sound real to you.

The counterparts in private hospitals are using this as an opportunity to make some extra bucks. It’s a straight formula there. If you are HIV+, you would have to pay twice the money that would be normally charged. The reason being that they need to procure separate “set of equipment” to treat PLHA.

Another so called responsible section of our society, the media, comes up with an even more brute face. Mrs Y tells us that on world AIDS day when she approached a reporter from a renowned daily, requesting him to publish Aadhar’s story and motivating people to join/approach Aadhar, the reporter did not find the story compelling enough to be published. Next day there was a half page article in the newspaper with Mrs Y’s photograph, mentioning minute details like her husband’s name and profession, her kids names even their school names, making life hell for all of them. When the reporter was confronted that how could he publish the story without permission, all he had to say was “Sorry” and I am pretty sure there would have been a wry smile behind that sorry too.

Govt. provides a Rs. 2000 pa grant for education to a kid whose parents are HIV+. The fund goes directly to the school and hence the principal can identify the kid whose parent/s are HIV+. However I don’t know how to react to a situation where the person who is supposed to be the educator, the one who should ideally spread awareness for acceptance of PLHA, suspends a student from his school because of the obvious reasons. And then people like me would debate that education is the only cure for such menaces. Doesn't seem so anymore.

Policy paralysis is apparent in almost everything that happens in this country. When it comes to HIV/AIDS, it seemed that the govt. had done its bit very well, until very recently when NACO temporarily stopped all it’s funding for organizations like Aadhar, stating a discussion on change in policies, post which everything was supposed to be brought back to normal. The discussion is going on for the past one year and bodies like Aadhar are running from pillar to post to stay afloat. The red tape cuts in here too.

If you think you now understand in which direction the roots of this problem is headed, you need to read the following first. There is another facet to this problem. I was discussing with Mr. Z (another staff member at Aadhar, himself HIV+) about a few entrepreneurial ventures that can be taken up by them to provide employment to PLHA given the suspended funding from NACO. The response was shocking. The government, as I was told, has many schemes and facilities for HIV+ people. A nutrition ‘bhatta’ of Rs 500 pm, free medicines, education ‘bhatta’ etc. etc. and as a result when Aadhar approaches HIV+ people to turn up for some event or to participate in some venture, they bluntly refuse stating that what the govt. provides them  free of cost is sufficient and they don’t see the need to work any further. “Sumeet bhai ab hum kya Karen, aap btao”, that’s what a teary eyed Mr. Z said to sum up this chat of ours and honestly, I was too stumped to say anything in reply.

May be the schemes are there in place, but the ones that would implement them and the ones who would benefit from them, both have not got the right message. I very well know that writing this blog is not a solution to anything, but I don’t know what better to do, do I need to educate doctors, principals, the media, and the government? I am a firm believer in action but in this case I really don’t know where to start with, may be a more detailed understanding is what is required at first.

Exploring Ahmedabad: Part I

Well just to clarify, the title reads part I because I sincerely, desperately, candidly, genuinely hope that there would be many more extensions of this in the near future…. Ah ok, being realistic, in the near future J

Round about 2 pm post a pretty screwed up exam, where even I didn't like the stories I cooked up for my teacher to evaluate, I had no idea that rest of my day was going to be so amazingly refreshing. Akriti and I had planned talked about going anywhere post exams just for the sake of getting out of this place which had kept us bounded in its restricted vicinity for the past 4 months. However the only problem was, we didn't know where to go. And like devoted pupils we reached out to Google Baba for answers. As they say, destiny has its own ways, while we were randomly searching for places to visit around Ahmedabad, the guy sitting next to us noticed our dilemma and offered to help, he being the coordinator for Heritage club of our college, and we blindly allowed him to chalk out a plan for us. When all this turned out to be so smooth, there wasn't anything stopping us as we set out on our 60 km trip in an auto-rickshaw J

Sarkhej Roza: The first place on the cards was Sarkhej Roza also known as "Ahmedabad's Acropolis", due to 20th century architect Le Corbusier's famous comparison of this mosque's design to the Acropolis of Athens. Not many tourists, a few locals and non-commercial state of this splendid piece of architecture said a lot. Seems like nobody is now interested in preserving the sufi sentiments associated with the place. The pond on the backside of the monument has lost all its charm and the dried leaves on the huge gallery indicated that no prayer had been offered there since long (or may-be that’s just my interpretation). The carving on the shedding walls and the sculptures on the “maqbara” depicted the love of Emperor Ahmad Shah for art. 

Ya, that’s about it, and please note it’s a good place to click some classic pictures ;). And of-course, I missed out on the best part. Many parts of the place banned women from entering and so many a times Akriti was stranded outside while I admired all that was mentioned above J

Adalaj StepWell: Initially the plan was to get to Sarkhej and then find out where to get a bus for Adalaj which was 25 kms from Sarkhej, but lethargy got the better of us and we decided to ask our auto wala to take care of our travel.

StepWell, as the name suggests it’s essentially a water body where you ascend into to access it. First impression of the place was… “WTF”. I apparently thought that the garden next to the monument is the star attraction. However, it was good to be proved wrong. Admiring the beauty of the figurines and the architecture of the place, we ascended into the dark side of the well, a few steps from where water stood. Something magical happened there and suddenly both I and Akriti decided to just sit by the water and absorb the silence. There was something magnetic about the aura of that place. Although I recovered from this whimsical situation pretty soon, Akriti felt some connect with the place, something to do with smell of wet soil and her experiences from her village days, so we spent quite a lot of time there, before other tourists poured in from somewhere and disturbed our reverie.

Akshardham: Next destination was Gandhinagar, the capital of Gujarat (there is a joke hidden there, but I guess only a few people are privy to it, so for them,J).We had both been to Akshardham in Delhi and hence had a fair idea of what to expect. However, as we entered the temple, we discovered that before you get to the main building there’s an amusement park that you have to cross. Well, that turned out to be a very pleasant surprise. The hidden child inside us jumped at the opportunity and the next moment we were on the rides having a gala time. We even had to convince a few other visitors to take the ride with us as there was a minimum requirement of 10 people for few of the rides to runJ. In a while though we did realize that may be it was just too childish of us to persuade people to take rides and we decided to save some face and called it off. 

Since the fountain show was to start in an hours’ time, we decided to kill time by just sitting on the stair in front of the temple. That is when the second magical thing of the day happened. As dusk was setting in, slowly, one after the other the lights on the Akshardham Temple and in the garden around us were lighted. It was as if, out of the darkness a strikingly marvelous monument appeared in front of us. Can’t speak for Akriti but I was awed by the moment.

Next up was the hyped fountain show and as it turned out, it wasn’t hyped for no reasons. An awesome depiction of Nachiketa’s story via projection on stream of water, well, I must say technology has redefined spiritual experience. When I first saw such a show in Universal Studios in Singapore, I wondered if we could ever have such a quality thing in India as well, and today I felt pretty ashamed at my ignorance of the fact that this show which was as good as the one in Universal Studios was started before that one. Yes, India had led the way here.

Other than the awesome places we visited, the travel (specially the auto-rickshaw factor) was equally good. It felt good to not being bound to a timetable. To sum up the fantastic day was a delicious biryani at Sandwich Works, with an icing on the cake being the fact that I made in time for the final overs of India-Australia match too.

Before I close, this, I must thank Akriti for the push, or else I would have missed out on a very beautiful day of my lifeJ. Hope you guys too had a good time living these places via this description.

Cheers

Step 3: Succeed; Step 2: Keep Going; Step 1: LET GO

As the story goes; there was a man who had climbed down a rope and was hanging on at the very end, he prayed to God “Please save me from falling.” Nothing happened, the man was too afraid to look down for he knew the fall would be great and his life would be lost, and he no longer had the stamina to climb back up the rope so he held on tight and prayed, and prayed. Well eventually the man had been there hanging onto the rope for so long that he died of starvation and thirst, and when his both body could hold on no longer it fell the whole two feet to the ground that had been below him all along.

You have probably heard that story or some version of it before in your lifetime, maybe in a devotional, maybe told as a joke, maybe as part of a sermon, but how often are we the man on the rope?

It’s difficult, often impossible, to just let go. It covers a dual definition of-course. Some people might want to tug on to their comfort zones, some might want to tug on to their failures. The phenomenon of not letting go often turns out to be the roadblock in our lives. A month back, I got to meet a few people on campus, who in their own very different way decided to take this tough call of Letting Go.

If I were to tell you to go on a non-stop journey on a boat, battling the fierce oceans and the raging sky, all alone, to orbit the earth, would you be able to let go of the symbolic pull of the port? The answer is most probably no and so is expected. But someone did. Capt. Abhilash Tomy spent months fighting storms after storms across all the oceans on the face of earth, alone of a water logged, wrenched, miniscule vessel of his, only to become the first Indian to circumnavigate the earth solo, without docking even once. After surviving in those fierce times, he mentions the most difficult part of his journey was Day 1, when he had to bid adieu to his fleet at the port at Mumbai. Letting Go. As per him was worse than braving the raging waves of the pacific, facing the thunder all alone in a dark stormy night.  Although he also says that the second most difficult part was when he had completed the journey and knew he had to dock now, “let go” of the adventure. :P

Arunima Sinha, a national level volley ball player, thrown of an express train over some brawl over money, defines life as those moments spent on the rail tracks, brutally severed and helpless, unable to move, unable to locate half her limb, bleeding, but refusing to die. She recalls her anguish lying on the hospital bed and thinking of the career that she had lost, of the life of an amputee that she would be now living. Even today she has tears in her eyes when she says that more than the physical pain, it was the trauma of not living the normal life that was soaking out all her energy to live. Well, none of us can compare our hardships to hers, but even she managed to let go. Let go of her dream to win medals for India, only to later become the first female amputee in the world to climb Mt. Everest. Not only that, she did her final stretch to the peak without oxygen cylinder because she had run out of supply. 

Examples are endless, Hugh Jackman got fired from his job as cashier at 7-eleven, because he supposedly talked too much with the customers. Today we all better know him as The Wolverine. Steve Jobs had to let go of the company that he himself had set up. He quotes, "The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life.”

  

Among all the other things that’s common in all these names that I have mentioned, one thing that drew my attention today was the fact that they all have at some point of time in their lives or even at multiple times, have “Let Go” of their current states, of their comfort zones, of their agonies, of their failures, of their pasts, to move ahead towards a glorious, satisfying and successful future. So are you ready to follow suit, or let me rephrase it, are you ready for STEP 1 of your lives?

Campaign For Real Beauty!!

Here's a take on a different purpose of writing :)

Beauty for long had been defined by a narrow, stifling stereotype. Dove’s global campaign for “Real Beauty” brings in a fresh facet.

The campaign launched in 2004 by Unilever, focuses on beauty in different shapes, sizes, ages and communities. It encourages women be comfortable with and confident of their appearance, as they are. Dove, just offers a product that would in no way alter one’s natural self but would be a highlighter, just like a piece of jewelry.

It all began with a market survey, which indicated that only 4% of women consider themselves beautiful, post which marketing agency, Ogilvy & Mather (Brazil), came up with this campaign. The campaign began with billboard advertisements in Britain and thereafter spreading across the globe in the form of videos, sleepover events, workshops, publication of a book, and production of a play. However the most courageous step was taken recently, in the form of a scientific experiment. “The Real Beauty Sketches Campaign”, in mid-April, 2013. An FBI trained forensic artist, Gil Zamora, created two sketches each of seven different women, all from different ages and backgrounds. One of the sketch was based on how the woman herself described her appearance and the second was based on other’s description of the lady. In every case, the second sketch left every respective woman flabbergasted. It was proved that others perceive you as more beautiful than what you would rate yourself, the tagline of the campaign being, "You are more beautiful than you think." 

What’s really refreshing is that Unilever, which itself uses ads that show women as flirty hawks to sell its’ products like Axe, has brought up this new dimension of advertising altogether. This campaign has hit at the remaining 96% of the female population who were skeptical of their beauty. It associates with the masses not as solution to their problems but as an entirely new viewpoint.

The results so far have been great with Dove already being placed as premier brand in the market, for which customers are willing to shell extra bucks. The campaign, having been launched worldwide, has also given the brand a global recognition. What remains to be seen is that how long does this formula of being “just you” works, and what shall be the next step that Unilever takes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=litXW91UauE