About Lansdowne, the cute little hill station Part 4, A few steps more

The more you stay in Lansdowne, more you are bewitched by its beauty. At one point of time, I coyly whispered in my wife’s ear- could we plan a retirement out here. And to think that we were barely in our late twenties.

I could have seen all the places in Lansdowne all over again, but chose not to- for it was my last day over here and there were a few excursions left to be embarked upon.

On early next morning, we trekked to a place called Deoharikhal, this is a tiny hamlet of twenty odd houses on Kotdwar –Lansdowne road, but it can also be reached by a trek of about 2 hours through the surrounding jungles. The route to Deoharikhal is out of some fairy tale, you keep on stumbling upon small vantage points throughout the route, and the trek itself is least strenuous- allowing you to enjoy rather than sweat.

You start from a place called snow-view point, from where in winters you can see snow capped Himalayas. There is this rock bang adjacent to the point, which has space enough to accommodate two people- we named it lovers point. Earlier two days ago, we discovered another rock near Bhulla Lake, which has a shape of a burger; we named it Burger point- so Lansdowne is one place where you can also play a Christopher Columbus for a while.

From snow-view point the trek forks into two routes- one leading to Jaiharikhal and other to Deoharikhal. Jaiharikhal is a small market, which we stumbled upon later in the day while on our way to Bhairavgarhi. Actually, the word ‘khal’, it seems, is a generic term to denote a village. Therefore, you will encounter lots of ‘khal’ while on excursion in and around the place .

On the way to Deoharikhal, you will come across one Rathi Point, Army golf course and army warfare training ground. Nevertheless, more beautiful than all of them is the trek itself, which meanders inside the jungles and makes you enchanted and afraid at the same time. Once in Deoharikhal we savoured the delight of a hot cup of tea prepared by a roadside vendor.

A piece of advice, do carry a few parathas for breakfast, having breakfast while sitting on a roadside bench, fascinated us beyond words.

Incidentally, Deoharikhal is the same place where the toll collection station of the Cantonment Board is located, so you can get taxis to get back to Lansdowne from here, very easily.

After getting back to Lansdowne, we rested for a while and decided that we will cover Bhairavgarhi before departing from the place. We were tired; nevertheless, we just could not say no for a place, which many say, is the most beautiful excursion nearby Lansdowne. (I deliberately qualify it as nearby, because three hours away from Lansdowne is this place called Tarkeshwar, which according to everybody I consulted, is the most beautiful place in the region. Though we couldn’t go there because during monsoons, road conditions are bad and you have to hire an entire vehicle with a daring driver to get there and this would have costed us more than a thousand bucks) .

Bhairavgarhi is actually a temple on a hillock, from the foothill it is a seven to eight kilometer trek. The landscape throughout the trek is amazingly beautiful with beautiful vantages of Himalayas. Though reaching the foothill of Bhairavgarhi is a bit difficult. You have to change two vehicles to reach there.

However, I would advice that one should alight a couple of kilometers ahead of the place to see the only degree college in the area, which is located amidst of a pine tree forest. You will just fall in love with the place. And after falling in love, you can just walk down a couple of kilometers to reach the foothill of Bhairavgarhi.

The trek to the temple is a bit arduous, so ideally, it should be done in an early morning, but getting here early morning is a difficult task. Carry a lot of water and some quick bite as this is unlike any other temple trek, which are full of vendors selling tea and biscuits. All along the trek, you will find only one place that sell tea & biscuits and that too right close to the summit. However, relish the entire trek because such a beautiful trek might not be possible in this area without so little a toil.By the time we came back to the rest house, we were exhausted it was the most tiring day for us but most fulfilling also.

The next day, we said goodbye to this place and set out towards Rishikesh through an off the beaten path route. The route that took us to small Himalayan villages with a lot of innocence and charm.

About Lansdowne, the cute little hill station Part 3, Valour and a Ghost

A big reason for Lansdowne's aesthetic appeal lies in the fact that it is a cantonment. By and large, Indian cantonments are civically more appealing than their municipal counterparts.

While on our way to Lansdowne from Kotdwar, we came across many army vehicles and we came to know that Lansdowne is also the headquarters of Garwhal Regiment. Apparently we did little research on Lansdowne before embarking upon our honeymoon, in fact a non-mention of this place in the usual tourist circuit was a reason enough to form an opinion and arrange a vacation.

Not doing any research is not a perfect way of travelling, but nevertheless, its one of the most serendipitous. I have travelled extensively this way and have discovered unmentioned jewels- I wanted to go to Leh and took a wrong turn beyond the Rohtang (literally, that is) to reach Spiti !!! Similarly after trekking along the Konkans for twelve days, I just wanted to somehow get out of the place and reach Pune or Mumbai and I stumbled upon the beautiful Amboli.

So reaching Lansdowne and getting to know the tradition of valour and service, which Garwhal Regiment stands for was a sheer unanticipated delight.

The next morning, we woke up early- and tried finding our way to Kaleshwar Mahadev Temple. Local traditions say that the temple predates Lansdowne and because of this temple, Kaludanda- Lansdowne's earlier avtaar came into being. Then came the British and found the salubrious climate of the place to their liking, and Lansdowne was born. Its also said that the "Shivalinga" of the temple is swayambhu (self-formed) and was accidentally discovered by local cowherds, when their cows went missing and were found milking upon the Linga on a Mahashivratri.

The way to the temple is through the Sadar Bazar, in an early morning one can also catch up with the laidback activity of the bazar- having its own charm. And then walk his way down to Kaleshwar Mahadev. The setting of this temple is serene, but a dharamshala was being built bang opposite the temple, in a very unaesthetic manner. I am yet to see the end result.

While trying to find our way out of the place, and trying to avoid going to the Sadar Bazar again- we took another path and strayed into the cantonment area. A beautiful Regment's Durga Mandir is a must visit, and so is the Parade Maidan. In an early morning and around dusk, one can see the jawans doing parade in the Maidan.

Walking along the winding roads from the durga mandir to the parade grounds, you can see the jawans engaged in various activities, but the most interesting of them all is to see them practising music with the help of two wooden sticks and a wooden slab. Despite my curiosity, I was unable to find out the whys and hows of that interesting ritual.

Near the parade grounds is the Garwhal Regiment memorial and a museum, entry to the memorial is regulated, though the guards let you in on request, especially when its not very crowded. The memorial has a bronze (I am not very sure about that, though guard told me it was bronze) statue of a jawan engaged in a gun-battle. The statue is resting on a raised platform and therefore towers everything else in the vicinity, and is surrounded by a small garden.

But the Garwhal Regiment museum right infront of the memorial is absolutely wonderful, you can learn about the entire history of the regiment, its exploits in the world wars and more recently for our country- and see a lot of arms and armaments of yesteryears- its a must for anybody who is interested in weaponry, military history- and a delight for anybody who is not.

Nearby is a garden maintained by the regiment, run of the mill type. A small walk from the garden leads you to the Garwhal Mess, often considered to be the most well kept mess in Indian Army . The entry here, again is regulated but a request can get you an access to their display gallery. You can see a very good collection of armoury, weapons, trophies, awards and can also hear the story of a regimental ghost. A soldier of the regiment, who is still though to be serving the Army. The story instills patriotism and not fear

A couple of hundred metres brings you to the St.John's Church. Validating my theory on the size of Lansdowne

It was a long day, but very absorbing.

About Lansdowne, the cute little hill station Part 2, An aimless walk

There are very few places worth staying in Lansdowne.

Its a kind of chicken and egg situation.

A near absence of tourist infrastructure makes you wonder, if its worth taking all the effort to visit this place. And say, if a tourist infrastructure comes up, no sooner it would be lapped up by an entire horde of picnic seekers, who would render this place commercialized.

I stayed in the PWD rest house, a colonial beauty- but then i had my contacts in the department (Do meet the office in charge, Mr Pati, over there, if not already been transferred, I went there in 2004 - he has single-handedly created a small and beautiful botanical garden in the campus of PWD Office). There is also a Forest Department Rest House and a Cantonment Board Rest House, again you need to have your networks in the offices concerned. For ordinary souls, though the more upmarket options are GMVN Lodge, having all the creature comforts, but a concrete jungle, nevertheless. And then there is this small and beautiful cottage-like Fairydale resort, with a kind of village belle's charm- tranquil and soothing, a must to experience, I happened to make a visit only, but sometimes you can guess the book by its cover. The staff is absolutely wonderful and the atmosphere, most heartwarming.

The budget option includes a Mayur Guest house bang opposite the taxi-stand. The place may be noisy, but is having a quick access to the taxi-stand and therefore, any excursion. But the food, which the adjoining Restaurant serves is an absolute delight, and the owner is a Lansdowne veteran and therefore an encyclopedia of must-do's in Lansdowne.

So while my wife settled down in the guest house, I checked out the place- and arranged for some breakfast, for our famished souls- at Mayur Guest house. And while they prepared Gobhi Paratha and Mooli Paratha for me, I had a casual chat with the owner of the place, and filled myself with vital information of the must-do's. And the how-do's.

A trip to Lansdowne can not be complete without an aimless wandering in the cresty-troughy lanes of the place. And this is exactly what we did, after a sumptuous breakfast.

Any aimless walk, though, is a sight-seeing in itself, for the simple reason that this is a very small place.

So no matter where you go and whatever route you take, you will come across the small wayside chapel of St.Mary's, which has been taken over by the Garwhal Regiment, and converted into a small museum, you also come across the chapel of St.John's, which even today is a functional church- and conducts a mass on sundays. Both of them are fabulous, straight out of some medieval European setting. Nearby is an old cemetery- of the raj era, smaller than the one I had earlier seen in Mussoorie, but nevertheless interesting- do spend some time reading tomb-stones over there, and then there is also a Santoshi Mata temple- a less than arduous climb of more than a few steps, which is also the highest point in Lansdowne. Views from this place are spectacular

But for a more spectacular view head towards a point called Tiffin top. It is perhaps the most celebrated spot in Lansdowne. Ask anyone, and he seems to suggest that the world starts and end at Tiffin top, in Lansdowne. The views, definitely are straight out of some scenic painting. Its a panoramic vantage point, from where you can see the mighty Himalayas and the tiny mountain hamlets along its slopes. Though do carry some water and some food, this place will engage you for hours together.The way it did engage us.

Refreshed by the enchanting beauty of the place, we walked further, to a place which is the pride of Lansdowne, Bhulla Lake- a man made small lake, constructed by the jawans of Garwhal Regiment (Incidentally a jawan of the regiment is called Bhulla, and therefore the name). The place is perhaps the most beautiful place in Lansdowne. We happened to reach there when clouds were playing hide and seek, on the surface of the lake. And boating in it was an unforgetable experience, its no Nainital and yet more magical.

After boating for two hours, I looked at the watch it was five- we rushed back to our Guest House, had a wonderful cup of tea, which Bahadur- the keeper of the guest house had prepared.

After the tea, we had a stroll near the taxi stand, the sadar bazar, a nearby gurudwara and a nearby mosque- somebody told me that this is one of the few mosque, where Shia and Sunni pray together. I wondered if solutions to all the problems in the world were so simple

By now it was dark, we returned to the guest house

A wonderful day indeed.!!!!

I miss you

Standing alone

All by myself

Under the first drizzle of a monsoon.

Dripping my entire being

Standing alone

All by myself

Besides the splashing wave of a sea

Resonating the feelings within

Standing alone

All by myself

Over the shifting dunes of a desert

Displaying my painful solitude

I miss you

And then

I search

Your smile in the blooming flower

I search

Your touch in the finest satin

I search

Your voice in the chirping cuckoos

I search

Your beauty in the soothing sun

And yet

Amidst of all

I still feel incomplete

I still feel the need for your company

I miss you

About Lansdowne, the cute little hill station Part 1, The Arrival

Nestled among the hills of Himalayas is the small and beautiful hill station of Lansdowne.

Yes! People do know about it, though, they never bother to stop by, perhaps the charm of an ice-cream parlour or a roller skater in Mussoorie or Nainital is far too strong for this poor little place, and leave it for me.

Its solitude was the reason for planning our first vacation together. This vacation would be forever etched in my heart – for over here, we sang our first song drenched in torrents, together- for over here, we had our first altercation-spoiling the otherwise blemishless, courtship of eight years. And all this had nothing to do with us. Lansdowne is magical it makes you do all that, and a lot more- and by the end of it, you say alas! Could it have lasted a day more.

We arrived in Kotdwar in the early morning. The Kotdwar coach of Mussoorie Express is one of the two important trains, which terminate in Kotdwar. The otherwise sleepy railway station becomes alive with them. Not only the station but also the market nearby. Ask anyone, its almost a daily ritual. The train from Delhi are their butter, if not bread.

Trying to find a way out of the station is a delight in itself, surrounded by men, posing as coolies, of all age group, but having one thing in common- an earnest innocence, a far cry from the kind of coolies you must have seen in Delhi railway station or even while alighting from a bus in Mussoorie, Nainital or Shimla.

So we knew from this moment on, that we are in for a pleasing serendipity.

The Slopey roads of Kotdwar and the sights of an easy going life, are very apt introduction for Lansdowne. Even though, sites of unchecked and chequered development have started catching your sight so as to serve the purpose of an eye-sore, without which no tourist place worth its name exists, in India. But apparently, being absent from the tourist map and the hullabaloo thereby, shields the magic of this place, albeit transiently.

We boarded a taxi, which are mostly a Sumo or a Trax, magically compressing 10 person and goes up to Pauri, via of course, Lansdowne.

We were approached by a few taxi-owner to rent the entire taxi, for we looked like- what we were, a honeymoon couple. And aren't honeymoon couples liable to hire an entire taxi. But we chose to embark a journey on a pooled taxi with eight more people, for a simple fact- that, more than a honeymoon couple, we were a struggling couple- without a piece of furniture in our tiny abode, without a refrigerator and a television- (with time, unfortunately, it changed and the times which we used to spent together- were spent in passively viewing the inane soap operas, and choosing to hear repetitive dialogues than a conversation to share), but there seems to be an opportunity in this predicament. During the journey, we interacted with our fellow passengers who gave us good insights on what to do in Lansdowne, though- any claims of having plans to spend four days in Lansdowne made them raise their eyebrows, in surprise.

The route to Lansdowne is a treat, and for this simple reason- I will advise everybody to beg, borrow or steal a window seat. The road meanders along a river, enticing you to alight every now and then and just walk along. But then quite philosphically we said to ourselves, those famous lines-'miles to go before I sleep'.

Keep on asking your fellow passenger about the famous Siddhabali temple. The sheer setting of this temple creates an awe. I can try a rough description of it but that would hardly suffice, the beauty of it. And the lack of description may be a motive enough to go there. The temple still gives me a heartburn of not having alighted and trekked all the way up, but one day I will.

At the footsteps of Lansdowne the Taxi comes to a screeching halt and an employee from the local cantonment board comes knocking asking for an entry fee (a full one Indian rupee, approximately 2 cents for a heaven!!!!), to enter in the cantonment area. Incidentally, this place is the headquarters of the Garwhal Rifles- having a glorious tradition of valour and service, I learnt more about this later on- and that itself could have been an attraction enough for visiting this place.

The Tyranny of Majority

Democracy, sans democratic traditions, is a tyranny of majority.

Ideally speaking, I would not like to utilize my blog for any political posturing, for three reasons. First and foremost, I am most of the time an apolitical entity, because I believe that politics is just one of the tools for the betterment of humanity, and at times not even the most important, and therefore does not entice me to think much. Two, I feel that a blog is not the most appropriate forum of putting forth a political opinion, let alone building a movement around it. Third and perhaps the most important reason, I would not ever like my blog to become a political front piece, even at the cost of being labeled as lifeless.

But I am for once trying to put forth a political thought because I am perturbed by two isolated chain of events, which superficially are separated thematically and ideologically, but at the core are precursor to the same trend. The trend of tyranny, tyranny of majority. The first is one, which plagues, the oft-lofted Indian state of Gujarat and the second the Indian state itself. In one palette is the colour of non-tolerance and in the other is the colour of non-receptiveness.

Even before I put forth my chain of thoughts, I would like to clarify that I am not being judgmental; the parties concerned in both the case may be right or wrong beyond my limited sensibilities and understanding of issues at stake. So I would not be passing any judgment on the issues, but would like to comment upon the way these cases are being pursued and the way the issues are precipitating. These cases could have been pursued more empathetically, in a more humane manner- whatever the political ideologies were, and yet they were not. Simply because, a more humane handling would have made them look mundane and any mundane political posturing is not considered sexy in a democracy. Is it or is it not, is something that lies in the womb of future, and sadly enough future is just a vantage point, from where we can write histories and ...... obituaries.

Firstly Gujarat. Frankly, if I have seen one Indian state, where development is a rule than an exception, then it has to be Gujarat. Yes I have seen the tribal villages of Panchmahal and more importantly of Vadodara district, without roads and more importantly without a functional primary health centre and yet I say it because at other places I have seen a bleaker India. And because I consider governance as a continuum, therefore rather than attributing it to a person or a government, I attribute it to the people therein. And therefore I consider the chain of events even worse, because I believe that education is a vital backward and forward linkage to economic development- and with education comes a degree of liberalism, and humility to see oneself from a perspective that differs. Gujarat proves me wrong.

OK! So Narmada is the lifeline of parched Gujarat and sentiments of millions is attached with it. Democratically speaking, an overwhelming majority believes in it; awaits the lifeline to be extended to their villages, to their localities and to their homes. With this belief close to their heart they can democratically make or mar anybody who chose to speak for them or against it, respectively.

So! Does it give them a right to strangulate any voice, which differs or chooses to differ from them? Just because that voice is too feeble, is not voiced by many.

Anyone, who believes in the liberty for humans and human liberty as a value, would emphatically answer a NO! And rightly so, because it's not about democracy alone, its about democratic traditions, wherein a person even in dire lack of majority has to be heard and not flooded by a cacophony, wherein a person desperately alone needs to be convinced and not outcasted.

So when a vandalizing crowd destroys the office of a dissenting voice, its damaging this democratic tradition. So when an extra-constitutional authority bans a film for an actor who chose to speak what he felt (right or wrong, is another question) it's a victory of tyranny over democracy. I heard somebody asking this actor to study the matter and then air his voice- why should he behave in this suggested manner, why shouldn’t he have a right to form an opinion on what he felt prima-facie- after all, all those who vandalized the NBA office or burnt effigies of Aamir Khan- did they study the whole issue liberally before doing that. Why all the onus of forming an informed opinion is put on a dissenting voice. The sad part of it is that the voice diametrically opposite to the party in government also did not do anything more than paying a lip service, perhaps because taking up the cause of a dissenting minority would have been suicidal on the altars of a democracy.

And secondly India, itself. Strangely, on this macroscopic level those who chose to speak against the tyranny of majority in Gujarat, were parties to this tyranny of majority at national level. The issue at stake was reservations for the socially and economically backward class (SEBC) in premier educational institution. Before anybody brands me another pro-forward caste writer, I would like to specify that I am not; my commentary is on how the issue was handled by us as a society.

OK! Our society has largely been dominated by a particular group, for thousands of year. It happens everywhere, though, in our case the social mobility available for an individual was minimal and for the namesake. The social privileges were handed over from one generation to another, in such a shrouded manner that birth and only birth became a parameter of attaining social privileges. To make matter worse, these social privileges weren’t only economic (in fact least so) but also pertaining to social acceptance, and rejection (so even a economically enterprising lower caste person remained socially unacceptable, whereas a nincompoop and therefore economically burdening higher caste person had a tremendous social currency)

Today this historically marginalized class has got politically galvanized (and rightly so) and realized the power of its brute majority in this democratic setup and therefore can win any democratic battle, perhaps too easily. And therefore forms the opinion of the majority, in-fact a too emphatic majority.

But there exists a voice, a small one which opposes this majority voice. This minority voice may have its own set of logic- not necessarily right and not necessarily wrong. The idea is not accepting or discarding it, but of giving a fair listening and not branding it as an inanity. They must be convinced and not threatened, debated and not pulverized. After all, not all of them belong to the privileged class or caste of yesteryears, not all of them have arrived in life because they had a historical right over it. Peep into their household and you will see a few families which lived in a small room, which stood for hours in a queue to have the cheap food-grains from a fair-price shop, you will see a few fathers who worked as part-time tuition teachers beyond office hours to make ends meet without compromising the education of their only hope. At least, they deserved a sympathetic hearing.

And what they got, was some real-politicking by a veteran politician, an statement rubbishing their argument by a reformist (and therefore a liberalist, perhaps) minister and threatening statements by some firebrands- accept it or else, we can further limit your pie. And yes not to forget a repressive state apparatus. Perhaps not giving them a patience hearing was sexy in the state of democracy we are living in. That’s why not even a single politician was seen touching them even by a bargepole, except a few maverick ones, who have profession other than politics to fall back upon.

But in both the cases, the dangers are not very far to be realized. In both the case the society becomes intolerant to a non conforming thinking; refrains from debate and rationally wining their battles. Gujarat has lost out an opportunity of looking into other models of watershed management and India has lost an opportunity of asking a few very relevant questions- for whom reservations were meant, whom it is accruing to, what better can be done to target the real underprivileged group and in a few states where reservations have been in force for nearly 80 years, and therefore 4 generations- is it the time to start rolling it back.

I may be wrong, but as I would accept in a democratic tradition- prove me wrong and don’t brand me one.

Please don’t be a democracy, become one. Future, as I said is just vantage point.

Why blog?(And why not just relax and chill out in life, after all typing hurts) Part 3... and thankfully, the concluding.

In part one, I discussed about the need for a media orientation and how this media orientation at the micro-level was extremely powerful. It was so powerful, because firstly it was conveniently empowering every individual to have his say and secondly this media orientation couldn't be controlled by the media czars or ruling elites. The reason was simple, the entry barriers to this media were so low that anybody and practically anybody could claim a stake in it and through it, without anything stopping him. And this being a truly transnational media, was beyond the ambit of sovereignties of nations.

In part one, I also stated that this media orientation was essentially precipitated by the second edition of the gulf war. It may be an exaggeration for some but nevertheless this media was instrumental in empowering an entire populace to give their own version of a war, when practically the whole world was against them and when the media world fell trap to an amusing version of journalism, called embedded journalism. When world was going gaga over an amazing capability of an entity called smart bomb that could quite prophetically ascertain the ideology of a person, before bombing him black and blue. This community started using this media to air their grievances, to tell the world that these smart bombs are not that smart.

It did another wonderful thing- world over. It empowered the till-now dislocated and marginalized groups to return to their roots, albeit intangibly. It allowed them to form virtual forums and virtual communities, to interact and to share their emotions, to form coalitions against the forces which separated them, dislocated them. People pooled in their individual core-competencies to form a model of human interactions which was beyond the scope of monetary market system, where things were not bought and sold but exchanged on a communistic principle- from one's ability to one's need- which till the advent of this media orientation was difficult, so as to say, loosely- and impossible, so as to say, strictly.

And it used one of the most powerful media inventions ever made by humans, for this purpose. The internet (see Part 2).

Internet, is a funny thing. It started as a military/scientific invention and till very recently was accessible to an elite minority, only. Slowly but surely it fell into the hands to big businesses. Quick decision making and alacrity being their hallmark, they grabbed the tool to their advantage. Then came a dot-com boom- when this business tool, itself became a business- when huge data carrying capacities were laid down, with an anticipation that the boom will keep on growing and thus earning huge returns. But the boom faltered and the huge capacities became useless. The market forces tried utilizing them- in fact, the entire outsourcing business emanated from the availability of this overcapacity. (Read the book by Thomas Friedman- The world is flat, to understand how it all happened), but they could not consume the whole of it. As a result of this demand-supply mismatch the cost of internet as a medium plummeted to abysmally low levels- the marginal entry-barrier became zero and it became very easy for you and me to access this medium. And it being a convergence technology, the internet could do a lot more than its predecessor intermediate technologies, and at a fraction of the cost.

Now the concluding part, we discussed that a dislocated person looses his ability to inter-personally communicate effectively and is confronted with a media which is not talking his or her language. This being an unsustainable situation brings around a media re-orientation. This happens at two level- the micro-level being orchestrated by internet. Internet has the power to make geographical separation, meaningless and make temporal separation, negotiable. It gives an individual, the power to voice himself without restrictions, to interact by transcending geographical and temporal frontiers, to form coalitions without being prohibited by the otherwise omni-present state apparatus.

And the most efficient way of doing that is by web-logging. Primarily so, because it allows one to express an array of emotions, solicit and elicit response on them and refine his emotion with an informed commentary. It doesn't have a space restraint, it is not imposive in nature, its not opaque and therefore not closed in character. There can be other models of communicating via internet- say through chain emails, say through forums and say through hosting a web site. But all of them have one shortcoming or the other. An email can be imposive and thus can be a spam (in fact, most of them become one), a forum can at times be sabotaged, a website is not without a zero marginal entry-barrier. On the other hand, for a web-log you need not have any specialized ability. It being personal, can't be theoretically sabotaged. And a visitor visits a web-log on his own sweet volition and therefore a blog is non-imposive in nature.

So in the end, this commentary brings me to my original question. Why blog at all?

Web log because, its your voice and your choice. In a world when human voice is being submerged in a cacophonous market-place. In a world when choices are not formed based on one's liking or dis-likings, but on the basis of carefully administered images by a hidden but omnipresent propaganda machine. In fact at times, even the choices are doctored within the minds of humans.

At times, you will feel disheartened by the reach of your blog, a few when compared to a humanity reached by the commercially run mass media, but then in your hearts of heart, one can relish the fact that he has aired his voice, and has been able to attract a few by word of mouth, who read him, understand him out of choice and not out of lack of choice. Whose readership is interactive and not passive, and that his voice enriches them, or gets enriched by them. Your readers may be an invisible community but nevertheless close to your heart, they are your people- from whom you were displaced, spatially because per-chance you were born in a different geographical and temporal setting.

And that is why I write this article.

A love letter

Often
Words are too few
To express
My feelings for you
Then
The silence of my heart
The sparkle of my eyes
The surge of my emotions
Speak

Yes, they do
Can you hear its language?
Can you hear me say?
I love you

Hopes

Times and Oft
When
The Gloom of our Life
The Agony of our Pain
The Burden of our Guilt
The Evil of our Soul
Make us feel…
Like a failure…..Then, We hope

Hope is like a light house
Which, Standing alone
All by itself, in the eternity of ocean
Shows
A directionless ship, a direction to follow

Hope is like a silver lining
Lightening alone
All by itself, in the engulfing darkness
Shows
A deserted caravan, a road to tread

So
When pitted against all the odds, hope
Hope
Because up there is a Midas
Who by a touch
Can turn hopes to reality

The pain of separation

(These are random lines, which I wrote. They reflect an acute pain and anguish of separation)

1
She could have at least told me
But she quietly left me alone
When I was sleeping
And
When I woke up
More than missing her
I relished smell of her hair
On the pillow
But that didn’t last

2
Why so many questions?
Was it all necessary?
Was it my fault?
Did I wrong somewhere?
And
What was that mistake?
Was it that big?

3
Does she love me?
Or
Ever loved me?
Or
Even met me?
Or was it all an illusion?
How am I to find out?
She doesn’t answers

4
Am I alone?
Does nobody accompany me?
Then
What is it?
A touch!
Hard to forget

5
Was it a dream?
Did she come?
Or was she for real?
I wait for
I long for
So
Is that it

6
It's long
Long since
I have seen her
Long since
I have felt her
Long since
I have kissed her
And for long
Till eternity
It will remain so
But
I will wait till eternity

7
When I look towards her
She is there
And when I blink
For another glimpse
She is not
And then
When I turn around
There she is again
What am I supposed to understand by all this?

8
When
I need her the most
And search for her
She is nowhere
But
When I am on the brink
Battered
Slowly, she creeps in my dream
I realize
She is there
And then
I rise to conquer

9
I kissed her
That’s for sure
I touched her
That’s for sure
I loved her
That’s for sure
And
Then what happened
I will never be sure

10
Those moments
Which we spent together
Knowing each other
And
Loving each other
Quietly
I
Don’t know how
Turned into
One spent in
Hating each other
Does anybody has an answer
Or I will live
Forever hating myself

Death

(These lines were written by me on an evening, when I saw a dog crushed to death. I saw her for sure, rest is all fictional … more real than what I saw)

She was lying….
By the side of a road
Lying and bleeding
Crushed
By a passing vehicle, waiting to die

I could have passed by
Like others
Perhaps, accepting the monotony of it
But
Something stopped me and brought me closer

It was her eyes...
And glisten of a teardrop
Probably reflecting her pain and suffering
And
An endless wait for inevitable

I tired to comfort her…
Fetched her a handful of water
She, painfully wagged her tail
As
An expression of gratitude

With whatever she was left with
She turned her head
Towards five of her puppies
Huddled
Frightened, unable to comprehend

I saw her tears rolling down
Painfully, she cried out
She was dying
Tears…
Rolled out of some unknown corner of my eyes

Death stared her
I saw its reflection in her eyes
I understood, stood up and walked away
To
Let her die in peace

Why blog?(And why not just relax and chill out in life, after all typing hurts)Part 2

Medium is the Message –
Marshall McLuhan
(I believe he wanted to say message and not massage)

Why humans need to communicate?

This question had enticed me for some time. Of course there are theories and theories about communication and every two theory, synthesized, gives another theory. My question, though, pertinently relates itself to something more pedestrian. Why do I and you need to communicate?

I will try to answer the question. But, this time I will refrain from building any theory and would like to speak for myself. Of course, from thereon, I can derive a few derivations and generalizations. But first how do I communicate and even before I answer that, I must answer who I communicate with.

To answer my last question first, I communicate with my family members and that would include my mother and father and their family of orientation, my siblings and their family of procreation. I also communicate with my friends and at times their families of orientation and procreation. I have also been communicating with my colleagues during my education, profession or hobby pursuits. Beyond this a few neighbours, and few occasional communication with strangers for sporadic and non-repetitive reasons. That sums up the list of people I communicate with, ever.

And really as to how do I communicate with them- its easy, mostly interpersonally- through spoken words and written and at times even non-verbally. The idea here is that I hardly use any non interpersonal medium to communicate with the majority of our subjects of communication.

And that brings me to my original question as to why do we communicate. (Over here I deliberately chose "we" over "I", simply because as a person no one is homogeneous in his behavioral patterns). This one is really difficult, its changes with cultural and temporal settings, but then it is not impossible to find a lowest common denominator at that too. I believe that we communicate because its one of our most basic psychological need, quite akin to food and water being our physiological ones. We need to communicate because we being a thinking animal interpret our world based on our thinking, and because all of us do think differently, our interpretations are more often than not, different from each other- and there is a dire need to renegotiate our interpretations with respect to those, who matter to us. Let's take a very small example, say in a market when you haggle over price of an item to be purchased, you arrive at a cost at which the deal has to be clinched based on your interpretation, whereas the other side does the same and you need to communicate (here in form of negotiations) to arrive at a common interpretation (here, a price). This postulate of communication works wonderfully well in a lot of empirical situations, even in acutely emotional situations (Read this book, Eric Berne's Games People Play, a psychological masterpiece, to actually see the basis of my postulate. It’s a book on transactional analysis and tells the patterns a person behaves in, while entering into a communication)

So the geographical and temporal separation (See Part 1) which LPG brought around with it, struck at the root of this communication- in a sense that earlier we knew who we were communicating with and therefore could understand the way that person would be interpreting things and so it was easier for us to negotiate with him or her, but now that person had changed and so our understanding of his patterns of interpretations were lost (Say for example we know how a shopkeeper in Karolbagh market of New Delhi will behave and it would be easier for us to communicate with him, as against to a shopkeeper in Khan-e Khalili market of Cairo will, and therefore it would be difficult for us to interact with him.) And yet we have to communicate, despite the constraints, we are placed under.

And therefore we have turned to newer models of communication. These other models were, definitely an antidote to the geographical and temporal separations. Now it's anybody's guess that the only antidote for geographical and temporal separation is brought around by technology.

Technology has always tried to outpace the flux of this separation, so as to avert a constituency against this geographical and temporal separation, as it would harm the very basis of economic growth, by questioning it. A very simple and yet a very powerful question which has always been thrown towards proponents of growth is- whether a man needs to be happy or rich, everybody knows the answer, but nobody likes to topple the apple-cart. Leeching a man from his natural habitat, often community based and pushing him into cities of mass production may make him affluent, but certainly not happier. (I am sorry if I sound like one of those Marxist thinkers, I am not even distantly Marxist). Therefore not only the market forces have invested a lot in creating new communication tools, but also have always tried to make them pedestrianly cheaper. A postal system, telegraph, telegram, mobile technology all of them fall under the same category- but none of them could come even closer to the masterpiece called INTERNET. Efforts are afoot to further push the limits by convergence technology and fit this connectivity into one's pocket.

Internet had one advantage over the intermediate technology, being its degree of involvement. So while a telegraph or a telephone served a big purpose, they could involve only one sense of a human being- hearing. They were highly inadequate to display a range of emotions. In contrast the postal system did exactly this, but was pathetically slow and the geographical separation was growing exponentially. Internet was a masterpiece as it combined the goodness of this anachronistic medium with state of the art technology and created a model of communication, where geographical separation became meaningless and the temporal separation became negotiable.