The Recent Happenings at Delhi...

I do not know how people might take this writings of mine. The recent happening in Delhi. of rape of a helpless girl, Nirbhaya, or whatever be her name is a result of long term conditioning of the minds of individuals specially the men folk of India.

Today, we find a mass hysteria in public condemning and condoling the wrong that has been done. However, I go back to my memories as a small boy, when I used to hear stories of Ramayan from my Didu and then contemplate. One of the incidents which still haunt me was when Ram and Lakshman along with Sita, were living in Panchavati; and Shupnakha approached the two handsome princes with the proposal of marriage. She was from a different clan but was still a princess in her own rights.

Making fun and cracking jokes could have been one thing but then physically mutilating Shupnakha and treating her as an article by Lakshman, as I was told,  was something I was never ever convinced about. I had learned that all these things happened in the presence of Ram and Sita and when her brothers, Khar & Dushana came to her rescue they too were killed in a battle.

Ram, Lakshman and Sita were revered then and are revered now. And still all of us, feel the agony of the victim. Why do such thoughts keep crossing our minds that somehow, those who did such a dastardly deed against the victim, should suffer the same plight? - Be it though a life sentence or at least a chemical castration. And going back to the times when such things were not possible, was it not the best option available to Ravana to abduct Sita and let them, who did such an act, Lakshman, or who could have prevented such an act, Ram, understand the plight of the victim.

I had even learnt during my childhood, that the powerful king of the demons, Ravana, did not even touch Sita. Perhaps that was never his intention. We, the people of India, are once again taking a stand against the wrong doers, as did the people of Lanka, and I regret to contemplate that once again they are going to fail. History will fail to give credit or even recognize the real heroes as history is always written by the victor.

As for the victors of Ramayan, the skills of Ram and Lakshman was used by Sugreev and Vibhishana to serve their own ends. It was they who enjoyed the fruits of victory over Lanka, Ram and Lakshman had to end their own lives despite being the victors of the Lanka war.

Humko Maloom Hai Jannat Ki Haqeqat Lekin .....

Below are the excerpts of my mail sent to my friend (name has been changed), who was moving to the US with his family. At that time I was posted at Udhampur overviewing certain constructions. The mail was sent on Feburary 12, 2003; despite over 7 years now the situation in Kashmir has only gone from bad to worse.

Udhampur, J&K.

Feb 12, 2003

Dear Akhil,

Good to hear about your decision of moving to the US of A with bhabhiji and kids. All the best and Njoy!!

These days I'm in Dharti ka Jannat- Kashmir. Its on account of an official visit that I am here. Internet access is not so frequent here and so I do get down to it whenever possible. The place and people here are beautiful. No doubt it was known as the Jannat on Earth. Though there certainly are some things which one cannot help feeling bad about. The plight of the localites is bad. And bad means bad. Poverty looms large. They are very dedicated and hardworking folks and with no means of livelyhood. Perhaps thats the condition with most of India.

Being and living with the Army people is not so safe here. They are the prime targets. Its advisable not to venture out with them much. The uniformed people have been deployed here for too long a time now and that has also resulted in various types of exploitations. Empathetically speaking I cannot blame them from taking to wrong means just as I became a supporter of Phoolan Devi on seeing the movie.

At first we had all Bihari labourers but then I replaced them all with the Kashmiris. They are much more dedicated and needy. Today being Eid almost all of them were on leave though. They were even inviting me to visit them at their villages in the remote of Kashmir. I was even tempted to go but then being a vegetarian it would have been difficult for me.

You know the other day I trekked for over 15 Km in various villages around. Both the localites and the security personnels were watching me with suspicious eyes. I wonder when and how this place will come back to normalcy.

At this time I feel bad taking the sides of the terrorists the so called terrorists against my own soldiers but sometimes you cannot distinguish between the terrorists and the terrorised. Its all so confusing. I can see that these faces of Khurshid, Naushad, Bashir, Gul Mohammed may be in some of the newspaper headline as dreaded criminals which we may not even stop to have a re look. But is life that cheap, should life be that cheap. They can be harnessed to better productive works but how is a big question.

Better not to ponder much about it. I am an Indian and would continue to be with the mainland people for "...Dil ki Kushh Rakhne ko Gaalib Yeh Khhayaal Achchha Hai."

Best regards,

Anupam.

Developing Roots

From Kuhuks Visit to Jim Corbett National Park

I always feel that an individual is like a tree. Wherever he goes he needs to develop roots so as to be able to stand upright. By developing roots I mean, the individual needs to visit the hinterlands of the area he is moved to, so that he is able to aclimatize himself with the surroundings.

I have recently moved to Varanasi with a new assignment and now at times I do get time to sit back an realize. Realize, the opportunities I enjoy of being able to develop roots in so many different parts of this great country India. I have travelled out of my home since 1994 but it was when I joined MBA at Indore that I started realizing the importance of developing these roots.

During those days my grandfather was staying at Jhansi, at my uncle's and I used to visit them quite often. Once I remember, my grandfather mentioning to me that even the trees in around Jhansi do not seem familiar to what we had been accustommed of seeing at Allahabad. It was then I made a resolve to make myself familiar to the surrounding flora and fauna of wherever I dwell.

Since then I have stayed at so many places for work from Indore to Kolkata to Pune to Delhi to Bangalore to back to Delhi. My stay at Kolkata was short and thus I was not able to develop roots around the place but I can proudly say that I have loved each and every place I worked or each and every place I could develop roots.