While i was advocating the dance bars and appreciating the sudden warmth in the relations between India & Pakistan, lots of things were happening on personal front too. Its already last week of April. Two more days and i will be off to Delhi. One of my dear friend is getting married on 1st of may (labor day!). I keep pulling her leg saying that you are going to make a guy, slave for entire life and that too on 'labor day'! The Delhi visit will be a short one and apart from attending her marriage, i will be meeting some of my old school friends and hoping to receive a call from Deepak ;-).
After the Delhi trip, it will be destination Gwalior for me. Its been ages since i met my family. It feels as if i haven't met them in the AD era! So if i say 'i am excited' then that will be an understatement. Hoping to spend some vintage time at home. So all in all, it will be a welcome break from office. Waise bhi, 'no' office is always a welcome break.!
Even at Mumbai, these days, life is moving too fast to handle. Just 15 days back, we were 5 sharing a flat & working for the same company. Now one of them has already joined another firm and is going abroad in two weeks time. Out of the four left (including me), two are in the process of joining new company and they will leave bombay on or around 15th May. So from '5' just 15 days back, we will be reduced to '2' in another 15 days!
Life sometimes moves too fast to leave you any time to realize whats happening...
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Friday, April 22, 2005
Peace Recipe...
Things never looked so bright. Suddenly, there is a feel that the atmosphere is changing. Things are moving, and although they are moving at their own pace, at least they are moving in right direction. Really, things were never so bright, not even in the days of Vajpayee’s Lahore visit. May be this is just another bubble, blown by the politicians (if we can call Musharaff a politician) of both the sides and it might bust but I am happy that for the first time, the confidence building measures or CBMs are working in favour of comman man of the valley. They are meeting their long lost relatives on the other side of Kashmir. I saw on television, a brother from POK meeting his sister in the Indian side of Kashmir after 57 years! Compare it to the fact that I am craving to meet my family and its only been 6 months!
There are a variety of reasons for this change of heart from both the sides. First, I firmly believe that up gradation of both the nations to the nuclear powers acted as THE MOST important deterrent to keep them away from a war or a war like situation.
Second, both the countries realized that engaging into a military warfare is just not a solution to the Kashmir problem. It only leads to a huge burden on economy and a ‘stick’ from the US. Although it took a “Kargil” and an “Operation Parakram” for them to realize this.
Third, Pakistan realized that breeding, training & promoting militants is becoming more and more unacceptable throughout the globe. Gone are the days when the militants used to execute the directions issued by the military of Pakistan. Now, Pakistan military are working under pressure of US and Musharaff is bravely trying to put up a mask of “messiah against terrorism”. Pakistan realized that the hardliners and the militants are not playing in the hands of Pakistan military anymore and they are freely taking their own decisions.
Fourth, they realized that good relations between the two countries are as favorable for India as they are for Pakistan. India is taking fast strides to make its mark in on the globe. Its on the verge of securing a permanent seat in UN Security Council which will automatically stamp India’s authority in the world. On the other hand, a war or a proxy war with Pakistan will jeopardize its chances beyond repair. Similarly for Pakistan, good relations with India will not only convert into good trade ties with India, which in turn will fuse life into its nearly dead economy but also establish it as a liberal Islamic state, a tag for which Musharaff is vying for so long.
Now the question is where to go from here? A start has already been made and a good start is equivalent to half job done. Still there are a lot of areas where we can move.
1. Discourage the use of army from both the sides to solve any issue, as both are equipped with nuclear warheads and the deadliest of weapons. They should work towards de-militarizing the siachin glaciar. Really its ridiculous to maintain army from both sides at such a high cost and inhuman conditions.
2. Trade and social ties should be encouraged beyond vision. Bring the people from both the sides closer. Nobody and no issue (not even Kashmir) can create the rift between the nations if there are no differences among the folks.
3. Political talks should never be stopped (and yes, its ridiculous to sever cricketing ties even at the neutral venues!). They are the only means and the platform the discuss core issues. CBMs will continue at their own pace but the hard and ‘out of the box’ decisions have to taken on the table only.
4. The concept of ‘soft border’ should be given a thought and implemented, if worth. More road and rail routes should be opened. Cultural ties and social ties should be encouraged.
These are just the few of many steps which will consolidate the relationship between the two countries. I personally feel that because of its bad ties with Pakistan, India is 10 years behind from where it could have been and for Pakistan, it has been much worse. It could not even start! Its high time that the politicians, hardliners and the comman man from both the sides realize this and move forward this peace process which many experts are terming as “irreversible”. I just hope that they are right.
PS: This article has not come out the way I was expecting it to be. I have skipped many points and left some issues untouched. I hope to discuss them in comments column.
There are a variety of reasons for this change of heart from both the sides. First, I firmly believe that up gradation of both the nations to the nuclear powers acted as THE MOST important deterrent to keep them away from a war or a war like situation.
Second, both the countries realized that engaging into a military warfare is just not a solution to the Kashmir problem. It only leads to a huge burden on economy and a ‘stick’ from the US. Although it took a “Kargil” and an “Operation Parakram” for them to realize this.
Third, Pakistan realized that breeding, training & promoting militants is becoming more and more unacceptable throughout the globe. Gone are the days when the militants used to execute the directions issued by the military of Pakistan. Now, Pakistan military are working under pressure of US and Musharaff is bravely trying to put up a mask of “messiah against terrorism”. Pakistan realized that the hardliners and the militants are not playing in the hands of Pakistan military anymore and they are freely taking their own decisions.
Fourth, they realized that good relations between the two countries are as favorable for India as they are for Pakistan. India is taking fast strides to make its mark in on the globe. Its on the verge of securing a permanent seat in UN Security Council which will automatically stamp India’s authority in the world. On the other hand, a war or a proxy war with Pakistan will jeopardize its chances beyond repair. Similarly for Pakistan, good relations with India will not only convert into good trade ties with India, which in turn will fuse life into its nearly dead economy but also establish it as a liberal Islamic state, a tag for which Musharaff is vying for so long.
Now the question is where to go from here? A start has already been made and a good start is equivalent to half job done. Still there are a lot of areas where we can move.
1. Discourage the use of army from both the sides to solve any issue, as both are equipped with nuclear warheads and the deadliest of weapons. They should work towards de-militarizing the siachin glaciar. Really its ridiculous to maintain army from both sides at such a high cost and inhuman conditions.
2. Trade and social ties should be encouraged beyond vision. Bring the people from both the sides closer. Nobody and no issue (not even Kashmir) can create the rift between the nations if there are no differences among the folks.
3. Political talks should never be stopped (and yes, its ridiculous to sever cricketing ties even at the neutral venues!). They are the only means and the platform the discuss core issues. CBMs will continue at their own pace but the hard and ‘out of the box’ decisions have to taken on the table only.
4. The concept of ‘soft border’ should be given a thought and implemented, if worth. More road and rail routes should be opened. Cultural ties and social ties should be encouraged.
These are just the few of many steps which will consolidate the relationship between the two countries. I personally feel that because of its bad ties with Pakistan, India is 10 years behind from where it could have been and for Pakistan, it has been much worse. It could not even start! Its high time that the politicians, hardliners and the comman man from both the sides realize this and move forward this peace process which many experts are terming as “irreversible”. I just hope that they are right.
PS: This article has not come out the way I was expecting it to be. I have skipped many points and left some issues untouched. I hope to discuss them in comments column.
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Bar barred...
Another dictum by a democratic government and more than 100,000 rendered jobless. Yes, the state govt. has decided to ban all the dance bars in the state of Maharashtra including Mumbai, stating that they promote crime and prostitution. The decision has directly affected not only the bar girls (75,000) but also the managers (1500), waiters (20,000), bouncers (6,000) and cooks (6000). The figure easily crosses the astonishing mark of 100 thousand! At least bar girls are lucky enough to have an association of their own which is desperately fighting for them. Rest all are not as privileged and they will have to find the alternative jobs over night.
The very ground on which they are banned is stupid enough to justify that the government here reacted in a hurry and pushed the accelerator a little too early. They reacted without any plan of their rehabilitation! Afterall one lakh is not a small number by any means.
According to the govt, they are promoting crime. How come? I don’t think that the murder mysteries and robbery plans are hatched there in dance bars with a dozen females dancing around you and where you find it difficult to hear even your own voice! I would be highly surprised if the crime chart shows a dip of even one percent after the ban on dance bars. My only question is..If they are talking about promoting crime, why only dance bars? Why not all the public bars? Infact they provide more conducive ambience for making devilish plans and they are the breeding ground to criminals more than the dance bars. Food for thought Mr. Deshmukh.
Secondly, according to them, they are the routes to prostitution. May be. Or I should say it’s partially true. But do you think it is justified to crush each and everybody on the road if 10% are guilty? And forget about Mumbai, each and every city has a well-defined ‘red light area’ where you can find prostitutes. Nobody bother to raid them or close them. Infact by banning the dance bars, there is every probability that these girls will take the route of prostitution and the govt. adventure of stopping it will only increase the prostitution in the city. Remember, most of these girls come from very poor families of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar & West Bengal and it’s very easy to coax them into the hell as they are vulnerable enough and they have to support their families back home.
The problem does not end here? It is more grave than it seems. Look at the bigger picture The question is..For how long we will have to bow ourselves to the moral policing of the government or of the certain section of the society. For how long Hallmark and Archies will bear the brunt of a certain political outfit on every 14th Feb? For how long we will be forced to accept that FTV and the likes should not be a part of our TV channel list? After all, Liquor shops are there all over the places but still teetotalers exist in this society. Same applies for lotteries and all. The point that I am trying to drive is simple. In this era when the society is getting more open with each passing day, you just cannot force anybody what to drink, what to see, where to visit and what to wear. Even a conservative nation like china with communists in command does not come up with such mind-boggling decisions and laws.
Probably the reason of our current mindset lies here. We are in a transition phase. At present, neither we are having a totally conservative society nor we are having a completely open or westernized one. Hence, when these dance bars comes up, we get afraid of loosing our moral values and traditions. But remember, 15 years back, when only DD national channel was in place, even a glimpse of scantly clad female was rare. And 15 years hence, we have a total collection of Sherawats and Dhupias…
I am not saying wherever we are heading to is the only way to progress. But my simple point is, in today’s world, moral policing is as bad as keeping a slave and I think we have progressed enough to make our own mind on what’s correct and what’s not. Still, the transition of our mind set is not complete. It’s happening. It will take sometime before we will realize that one cannot and should not keep a vigil as far as deciding moral values is concerned. And I don’t think in the era of my grandchildren, anybody will be bothered to burn Valentine’s Day cards or any government will take such drastic steps like the ban on dance bars without even blinking their eyelids about the future of 1,00,000 citizens.
The very ground on which they are banned is stupid enough to justify that the government here reacted in a hurry and pushed the accelerator a little too early. They reacted without any plan of their rehabilitation! Afterall one lakh is not a small number by any means.
According to the govt, they are promoting crime. How come? I don’t think that the murder mysteries and robbery plans are hatched there in dance bars with a dozen females dancing around you and where you find it difficult to hear even your own voice! I would be highly surprised if the crime chart shows a dip of even one percent after the ban on dance bars. My only question is..If they are talking about promoting crime, why only dance bars? Why not all the public bars? Infact they provide more conducive ambience for making devilish plans and they are the breeding ground to criminals more than the dance bars. Food for thought Mr. Deshmukh.
Secondly, according to them, they are the routes to prostitution. May be. Or I should say it’s partially true. But do you think it is justified to crush each and everybody on the road if 10% are guilty? And forget about Mumbai, each and every city has a well-defined ‘red light area’ where you can find prostitutes. Nobody bother to raid them or close them. Infact by banning the dance bars, there is every probability that these girls will take the route of prostitution and the govt. adventure of stopping it will only increase the prostitution in the city. Remember, most of these girls come from very poor families of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar & West Bengal and it’s very easy to coax them into the hell as they are vulnerable enough and they have to support their families back home.
The problem does not end here? It is more grave than it seems. Look at the bigger picture The question is..For how long we will have to bow ourselves to the moral policing of the government or of the certain section of the society. For how long Hallmark and Archies will bear the brunt of a certain political outfit on every 14th Feb? For how long we will be forced to accept that FTV and the likes should not be a part of our TV channel list? After all, Liquor shops are there all over the places but still teetotalers exist in this society. Same applies for lotteries and all. The point that I am trying to drive is simple. In this era when the society is getting more open with each passing day, you just cannot force anybody what to drink, what to see, where to visit and what to wear. Even a conservative nation like china with communists in command does not come up with such mind-boggling decisions and laws.
Probably the reason of our current mindset lies here. We are in a transition phase. At present, neither we are having a totally conservative society nor we are having a completely open or westernized one. Hence, when these dance bars comes up, we get afraid of loosing our moral values and traditions. But remember, 15 years back, when only DD national channel was in place, even a glimpse of scantly clad female was rare. And 15 years hence, we have a total collection of Sherawats and Dhupias…
I am not saying wherever we are heading to is the only way to progress. But my simple point is, in today’s world, moral policing is as bad as keeping a slave and I think we have progressed enough to make our own mind on what’s correct and what’s not. Still, the transition of our mind set is not complete. It’s happening. It will take sometime before we will realize that one cannot and should not keep a vigil as far as deciding moral values is concerned. And I don’t think in the era of my grandchildren, anybody will be bothered to burn Valentine’s Day cards or any government will take such drastic steps like the ban on dance bars without even blinking their eyelids about the future of 1,00,000 citizens.
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Ganpatipule...Curtains
It was yet again a much needed sleep and we must have got a lot of blessings from our bodies specially the arse for this long sleep after torturing them brutally throughout the journey. Yet again we were planning to catch the sunset and yet again we missed the simple trick that getting up from the bed is pre-requisite to see the show! I woke up when all the friends were well dressed to visit the Ganpati temple on the beach. As an atheist, I was not too much inclined to go all the way to temple so I asked them to go ahead and convince them that I will follow soon. It was the time to hit the bed again but to my dismay this fellow Anurag got ready within no time (after his nth bath) and then forced me to follow the suit. 15 minutes later, we were moving leisurely to the temple. Somehow I always find it difficult to watch all the rituals there so I entered the temple and duly came to its verandah within no time. This time anurag sacrificed his 25 bucks there (to my surprise as he is also a non believer in god).
At this time, all got dispersed. Some were interested in ‘parikrama’ so they went ahead with it. Some were into their own zone, so we didn’t disturb them, while for us, it was ‘wading time’ again! This time another friend of mine gave us company. Another walk in the ankle deep see water, another stroll under the glittering sky or in short..another heavenly and unforgettable experience! 45 minutes and a round of coconut water later all were back from their respective zones and we finally halted at MTDC restaurant (I guess we two had every single breakfast, lunch and dinner at this place only and I enjoyed fresh lime water soda every time. No applause for MTDC required as you don’t need to have a mastery over this drink as soda is all that you need to make it!). Now we had plenty of time to kill, the whole night to be precise, and nobody was in mood to sleep early. We took atleast 25 minutes to select the dishes and the waiter took his own half an hour to serve. Still nobody complained. We ate till everybody’s stomach was filled to the throat. Now it was the time to go on beach again err..yet again.
Some of us were hell bent on having a bon fire there on the beach itself just to add to that ‘chill’ mood although the weather was not at all conducive for the fire thingie. The bonfire was as oddly placed as a 10-year-old kid in a Mumbai dance bar! Now somebody cried for the guitar. But as Anurag put it “...but I guess both rathore's and my prowess with the guitar was rather disappointing for the audience..so they continued with there dumb C”. Now, I am not at all a fan of Dumb C still just to extract some life out of it for myself…I came up with some imaginary movie names and left them all puzzled. One of them was “Hamlavaron ki toli aur raniyon ka mela!!”
After a lot of deliberation and persuasion, we dropped the idea of going to Ratnagiri as we have to come back all the way to Bombay and we didn’t want to ride during the daytime. Next day, Anurag was insisting on leaving as at 5:00 while I wanted to catch some sleep. Somehow I stretched the time to 6:15 am, the time at which we finally left for Bombay. Again no jacket and again the time for me to convert into an ice cream. This is one lesson I have learnt from this trip. Always go with a jacket even if u are heading towards the sun. By 7, I was totally frozen while he was having the cover of his newly bought jacket, which was again dropping temperature for me by 5 more degrees! At this time, we stopped for refueling and I snapped this opportunity to insert two ‘cuttin’ into my veins just to raise the temperature a bit. We rode on appreciating the black carpets of Maharashtra maintaining a speed of not less than 85 at anytime and in fact touched 107 at a particular instant! (But it was safe). Second stop was Chiplun where we had a ‘local’ burger but the guy charged handsomely for it. By 9’O Clock the markets were buzzed with activities and every now and then we were intercepting one of them. Now our sore asses started to give us trouble. Another halt to have bhajiya and chai. By 10 O’clock, sun was showing its true colors and with our helmets on, the conditions became all the more sapping. From there onwards, it was a continuous struggle with heat and thirst. Two more halts followed just to add substantial quantities of cold drinks and neebu-paani. We were exhausted by the time we were just 3 kms away from Panvel but our adventurist souls were still at large. We took a left turn in order to discover a new road hoping that it will take us to the beauty of Palm Beach road. We were horribly wrong. We were totally lost at 1:30 pm! After an aimless drive of 20 minutes (which at least I didn’t enjoy) we took a kuccha road and it infact took us to palm beach road but added another needless 10 kms and 20 minutes to our journey.
Finally we reached the flat at 2:00 pm sharp with a bottle of chilled water and another coke. The distance meter showed a whopping 815 kms of journey! He ended up with his sun burnt legs in cold-water bucket while I went off to sleeping mode sipping cola and watching the match!
Thus ended our 4th and most probably the last trip of the season….
At this time, all got dispersed. Some were interested in ‘parikrama’ so they went ahead with it. Some were into their own zone, so we didn’t disturb them, while for us, it was ‘wading time’ again! This time another friend of mine gave us company. Another walk in the ankle deep see water, another stroll under the glittering sky or in short..another heavenly and unforgettable experience! 45 minutes and a round of coconut water later all were back from their respective zones and we finally halted at MTDC restaurant (I guess we two had every single breakfast, lunch and dinner at this place only and I enjoyed fresh lime water soda every time. No applause for MTDC required as you don’t need to have a mastery over this drink as soda is all that you need to make it!). Now we had plenty of time to kill, the whole night to be precise, and nobody was in mood to sleep early. We took atleast 25 minutes to select the dishes and the waiter took his own half an hour to serve. Still nobody complained. We ate till everybody’s stomach was filled to the throat. Now it was the time to go on beach again err..yet again.
Some of us were hell bent on having a bon fire there on the beach itself just to add to that ‘chill’ mood although the weather was not at all conducive for the fire thingie. The bonfire was as oddly placed as a 10-year-old kid in a Mumbai dance bar! Now somebody cried for the guitar. But as Anurag put it “...but I guess both rathore's and my prowess with the guitar was rather disappointing for the audience..so they continued with there dumb C”. Now, I am not at all a fan of Dumb C still just to extract some life out of it for myself…I came up with some imaginary movie names and left them all puzzled. One of them was “Hamlavaron ki toli aur raniyon ka mela!!”
After a lot of deliberation and persuasion, we dropped the idea of going to Ratnagiri as we have to come back all the way to Bombay and we didn’t want to ride during the daytime. Next day, Anurag was insisting on leaving as at 5:00 while I wanted to catch some sleep. Somehow I stretched the time to 6:15 am, the time at which we finally left for Bombay. Again no jacket and again the time for me to convert into an ice cream. This is one lesson I have learnt from this trip. Always go with a jacket even if u are heading towards the sun. By 7, I was totally frozen while he was having the cover of his newly bought jacket, which was again dropping temperature for me by 5 more degrees! At this time, we stopped for refueling and I snapped this opportunity to insert two ‘cuttin’ into my veins just to raise the temperature a bit. We rode on appreciating the black carpets of Maharashtra maintaining a speed of not less than 85 at anytime and in fact touched 107 at a particular instant! (But it was safe). Second stop was Chiplun where we had a ‘local’ burger but the guy charged handsomely for it. By 9’O Clock the markets were buzzed with activities and every now and then we were intercepting one of them. Now our sore asses started to give us trouble. Another halt to have bhajiya and chai. By 10 O’clock, sun was showing its true colors and with our helmets on, the conditions became all the more sapping. From there onwards, it was a continuous struggle with heat and thirst. Two more halts followed just to add substantial quantities of cold drinks and neebu-paani. We were exhausted by the time we were just 3 kms away from Panvel but our adventurist souls were still at large. We took a left turn in order to discover a new road hoping that it will take us to the beauty of Palm Beach road. We were horribly wrong. We were totally lost at 1:30 pm! After an aimless drive of 20 minutes (which at least I didn’t enjoy) we took a kuccha road and it infact took us to palm beach road but added another needless 10 kms and 20 minutes to our journey.
Finally we reached the flat at 2:00 pm sharp with a bottle of chilled water and another coke. The distance meter showed a whopping 815 kms of journey! He ended up with his sun burnt legs in cold-water bucket while I went off to sleeping mode sipping cola and watching the match!
Thus ended our 4th and most probably the last trip of the season….
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