One More Haiku - Set 1

                                                                                      I

Vivid shades on
Bags packed; outré trance on mind
en route, a road trip

II

Spirituality springs
Saints, Hippies and Sinners swarm
On the Ghats of Ganga

III

Robed in Maroon
Marooned, whirling Lakhor
In trail of Nirvana

IV

Frosty twilight killing
And, arid timber kindling
Comfortable warmth

V

Relished each frame
Eyes on the aft of the dark Alps
As the Moon ascended   


VI

In the quiet canopies
Tranquil slumber is shaken
By the sombre, howling Mountains

-Ashish

Overcoming Fear

Hello Reader,

I always had a fear of deep water bodies. I, most of the times, tried to avoid the outings which included boat rides. This realisation began, as I can remember, when in my early childhood days, we went to a sea beach at Vishakhapatnam. As I put my feet into the water and the sand beneath my feet started to move giving me a frightening feeling of being dragged by the waves into the deep blue sea, I knew that it was not my habitat.

I have another childhood memory of a boat ride at a pond in a botanical park and I can only remember myself crying all along the ride. I cried and cried until we reached the shore.

On top of that, Titanic was the first Hollywood movie I ever watched and each time I boarded a boat or a ferry, I visualized the ship wrecking scene and all I could think of was water getting filled into the boat’s body through a hole at the bottom and sinking the boat, drowning me into the water, where alligators would be waiting to feed upon me.

As I grew old, I tried my best to fight this fear out of me. I did little experiments by soaking my head into bucket full of water in the bathroomand holding my breath, taking various rides in water parks and visiting swimming pools. And my fear was slowly fading away.

Then began a series of outings where I would not think a moment to dive into the same water bodies I once thought were my enemies.

In our college trip to Goa, of all the other amazing activities, the one where I felt one hundred per cent alive was in the Dolphin ride, for which we took a Motor ferry. After going on for almost half an hour, into the sea, we reached a place from where all you could only see through your eye’s panorama was water. The engines were stopped for quite a long time and the ferry floated in that silent ambience and the turbulent waves kept hitting the ferry’s outer body. And at that moment, all the fear eloped. There was no escape anyways. I had moist eyes, not out of fright but for making it there, for playing with the same water I once feared and for finding peace within myself.

A similar, little more adventurous experience was on a trip to Shivanasamudra, a place near Bangalore, famous for the waterfalls. Here, to cross the river, circular, cup shaped boats called ‘coracle’ are available, which look really unsafe.  Thick ropes are placed along the route which the boat man takes, so that it can be held to avoid the rapids while rowing along the river Cauvery. It was an amazing experience, as the boat man rows over a depth of about 300 ft., very near to the waterfalls, surrounded by flora and fauna, lush green trees and rocky hills, where you feel very close to the nature as it is and where the water actually falls upon you.

And now, I can proudly say that I do not have fear of the water bodies or the boat rides. After many such experiences, you just want to keep adding more to your list. My recent travel to Rishikesh and camping there on the banks, by the river Ganges was another amazing venture. I would like to share a small video from this trip which was again a small tryst of mine with the fear and I guess it went pretty well.

And I would like to share a quote from Hermann Hesse’s book ‘Siddhartha’: The River is everywhere.

After reading this book, especially the part where the protagonist makes amicable relation with the river, which is a metaphor for life and tells us that no matter what, life keeps on flowing. Ever since, I have an urge to try out adventures like rafting, deep sea diving and they make it on to my bucket list. Overcoming fear in life is very important. It is one of the biggest hurdles in trying out anything new. And once you know how to face it and fight it out, you win.


Because Darr ke Aage jeet hai.

-Ashish

Thakyou IndiBlogger

and Mountain Dew India

for this prompt


Image Courtesy Link: http://travel.sulekha.com/shivanasamudra-falls_travelogue_2715

Be a Miracle worker

Hello Reader, 

It was the time when Anna Hazare’s Anti-corruption revolutionary act was in full throttle and majority of our countrymen seemed to be greatly inspired by the entire buzz going on, watching the new-age Satyagraha happening full-house in Delhi, live on their television screens, supported by superstars, activists and yoga gurus. The amazing part about such acts is that a lot of attention seeking pseudo-nationalists and politicians of the opposition parties, wanting to steal the thunder, start to join these campaigns and set a perfect example for us to realize and understand the Hindi proverb “behti Ganga mein haath dhona”. 

They never kept up with their pre-election campaign manifestos but were present, with their full energies, orating strongly written speeches, at any little gathering organized in support of Anna Hazare and his Anti-corruption Movement.  It was happening in every state and every small and big city. Conducted by either the local opposition parties or the vocal youth groups, these little campaigns, in support of the bigger cause, were happening everywhere.

It was happening in my hometown too. I was there at that time and I too had witnessed the sudden rise of patriotism in everybody. The local opposition party leaders set public stages for themselves where, using loudspeakers, they were telling people how if they would have voted for them, the state would have been free of corruption and would have made an exponential growth and blah-blah. At the same time, corruption was also in its good health. A private construction company was given a contract to build the sewerage system for the entire city, which till date is not in working condition.  And the people, resilient and helpless as always, accepted it and were happy with what was served to them. Nobody bothered to question the local politicians about all the money spent on constructing the sewerage system. People were too indulged in the twenty-four-seven media coverage of the Anti-corruption movement which pushed them into living in a delusional, dreamy Utopian society.

What was left behind, after all the heat chilled down, was the same old bad condition of roads, broken sewerage, unhygienic disposal of the city waste on barren lands and complaints of the citizens, unspoken to the deaf government.

Many Indian cities still have open drainage system which runs in front of every house in highly populated residential colonies. The waste water flow of these drains are often stuck due to the collection of polythene bags and other non-decomposing waste items which are contributed by nobody else but the same people residing in these populated colonies.

So, before complaining and blaming everything onto the government and municipal workers, one should make sure that they themselves are not involved in such wrong practices. At home level, it is every citizen’s duty to look forward that the waste produced at their residence every day is being disposed properly because, cleanliness begins at home. We all want our houses to be clean; ourselves to be clean and even our inner soul to be clean then why do we dirty the outsides?

Often it is seen that the garbage collected every day is thrown out, on open barren fields because there is scarcity of big common dustbins.in every street. Open drainage adds to the dirtiness and welcomes germs, mosquitoes, flies and diseases like Malaria, Diarrhea, Dengue etc. creating a totally unhygienic condition for living. Whenever someone wants to spit, spits. Where ever someone feels to pee, pees. They are habitual of doing it; for them it’s as casual as drinking water.And swags, spitting chewing gums, would kick a can of coke with their toes on the road and crush it with their canvas soles. And then someone would say “Eww! Who wants to live at such a dirty place? You must visit ‘Merica, dude.” But, the swags won’t find cheap labour there, unlike here, where they would dirty the city all day and then numbers of poor sweepers, rag pickers and janitors would have to clean up all the mess.In train travels too, passengers often leave behind used or unwanted stuff on their berths before leaving and also, throw crushed plastic disposables, packets and bottles under their berths or out of the window from the moving train. Hypocrites are everywhere; culprits everyone. Nobody would step up to make a change, to stop someone from littering freely or for at least not dirtying the place. Those who actually and truly stand up are very few in number for cleaning such a big country. We need more volunteers for this good cause. And today sounds like a good day to begin. Are you in?

Well, let’s see what we can do at a basic level.

  1. Stop blaming the administration. Let us begin the work. We are equally responsible for it. 

 2. If there is scarcity of big common dustbin, try to contribute among your neighbours and buy one for everyone’s common use. 

 3. Don’t litter and don’t let litter. 

 Thanks to my young cousin, Shashank, for this one

  4. If you can’t clean, don’t dirty either. 

  5. Disposing the garbage properly. Organic wastes (vegetable waste, paper etc.) and Inorganic wastes(plastic, metallic objects etc.) should be separately treated. 

So, Volunteers, I hope you follow these steps regularly and we can hope for a clean, Swachh Bharat very soon. A great inspiration for us which I would like to mention is a group named ‘The Ugly Indian’ which is a Bangalore based community started with an aim of making our country cleaner by methods of spot fixing, repairing and following the motto: Stop speaking, Start Working. Kaam Chaalu, Muh Band. And after this initiative, a wave was spread all over the country and various small teams came up to clean and spot-fix their surroundings.

See what miracles can happen if we all unite for cleaning our mess ourselves. Here are a few before and after photos which portray the change, the beautification of the places which were ugly. These have taken place all over the country. 

Courtesy: The Ugly Indian

Our Prime Minister Mr.Narendra Modi has already waved the green flag for the Swacch Bharat campaign which needs the participation of each and every person of this country. And now, the Olympic relay flame of bringing the much needed change has been taken over by Millennium’s Super Star Mr. Amitabh Bachchan, who is going to lead us for this nationwide campaign, in association with Dettol and NDTV. Banega #SwacchIndia. You must all participate.

I would like to sum up this post with a poem.

Here to a cleaner India. Swag स्वच्छ भारत, स्वतंत्र भारत।

Step up for this noble campaign,

Keep your surroundings neat and smugly

And don’t let anyone ask again,

How can you live in a city so ugly?

Don’t let the swags drain your brain,

Shun the red spits, ban the litterati

And don’t let anyone ask again,

Is that a contemporary graffiti?

Wait for none, Plant the grain,

It will grow into a United Dustbin

And don’t let anyone ask again,
Where should I throw the napkin?

Come on, Volunteer, let’s begin this chain

For a healthy, Cleaner India, less Cynical

And then, don’t let anyone ask again,

How is it like to witness a Miracle?

-Ashish

Thank you Indiblogger

Dettol and NDTV

for this promt.

Hunger v/s Wisdom

Hello Reader,

Hands soaked in Besan (Gram Flour); Munna was busy helping his mother in the preparation of Samosas and Onion Pakoras while, his father was fixing the light bulb on their snack stall as the dusk dawned.  It is not what they wish to do but it is their need; their only way to earn. Munna handed me a Samosa with some green chutney in a disposable plate and went back to dip the raw onions into flour mould. Whilst nibbling onto the Samosa, I saw Munna’s mother chiding him if he made any mistake or if he slowed down. But, he always accepted it silently and said nothing to defend himself. Then another customer arrived and placed an order. And very quickly, Munna was back to his business of serving the snack, trying his best not to make any mistake. The mother kept supervising his work and interrupted him if he did not work as she wanted him to, in addition to regular grim looks from his father.

They wanted their son to learn the work they do, properly, to earn their livelihood. But, I feel sad for Munna because he never had a choice to do what he wants to. Not just that but he will not even be old enough to explore what he likes. Because before he grows old enough to know what he likes or has an option to choose, he will already be frying Pakoras and Samosas on a roadside. Unfair, isn’t it? Unlike us, he would probably use the printed newspapers not to read but to wrap the Samosas.

This is not just one Munna’s story. There are several children who are deprived of these basic necessities like education because most of the money they earn is spent on buying food. And, of course, you know, food is needed to stay alive and healthy. So, I won’t say that Munna’s parents are to be blamed. It is their need and I am sure, they would also want to see their son wear a school uniform and attend a classroom and get educated. But, they are not able to right now.

I can still remember the laundry man, tears in his eyes, folding hands before me, asking for some monetary help. He had a similar crisis. He wanted to buy books for his children, who were attending a local government school. I did help him but I know that it was not enough. And I can also remember the two kids at the juice shop, peeling oranges and many others selling tea, polishing shoes and even taking up hazardous occupations like working in a factory. Is this what they are destined to do? I wish I had a magic wand which could at least give them the basic necessities and they could go to school, read, write, play and enjoy their childhood like a child should.

The common problem in all these stories is quite evident. It is the lack of food which forces these poor souls to start working from such a young age. In managing to earn for food and shelter, little is left to spend for education. 

So, what can we do?

We can feed a child. It is not too difficult and we can all share a little of our earnings to help these kids get proper food to eat so that they do not have to worry about earning and can go to school like every other child and get educated. It will make a big difference in their lives. 

And this is where organizations like Akshay Patra come into picture. 

The Akshaya Patra Foundation believes that no child should be denied an education because of hunger. It is because of this belief that the Bangalore children's charity started providing mid-day meals to government school children across the country. This child NGO Bangalore currently feeds over 1.3 million children across India every day, and is on the mission to feed 5 million by 2020. But like other charity organizations in Bangalore, Akshaya Patra relies on the help of donors to achieve its goal.

You can Read more about the Organization here

or from their official website and Lend Help to the needful children.

• I am going to #BlogToFeedAChild with Akshaya Patra and BlogAdda.
• -Ashish

• 
  

Safety OK Please

 

Hello Reader,

 

Working in an IT firm, once our team had to perform a skit on a fun event. We decided that we’ll work on an entertaining act which will also have an important social message for everybody. We all agreed to go with a message on road safety. Because, may be, we all knew that all other things can be taken care of but not accidents. And going by the definition of accident: it is an event that takes place without one’s foresight or expectation. Accidents are inevitable and you never know what it might do to one’s life.

Every day, numerous people move out of their houses in their cars or bikes, with certain personal responsibilities on their minds, helmets on their heads and seatbelts across their chests onto the crowded roads with unpredictable traffic. A man might have promised to his wife and child that he would be back early in the evening but he does not always gets to decide that. Some rash, drunken driver may change that man’s and his family’s fate forever. Even though, it would be unintentional.

Imagine if you are that person because of whom a wife lost her husband and a child lost its father. How hard would it be to live with that guilt? Once you go out on the road, another responsibility, apart from your personal ones, that should be on your mind is your fellow motorist’s safety.

To avoid these road hazards, one should always be aware of certain precautions and bring them to action every time they ignite a vehicle. Here are a few quick tips which you should keep in mind while driving your vehicle.

1.        Not Losing Temper

 

While driving, you should always be calm, composed and have a stable mind. Even if it is a bad day, you must not release your frustration while driving, be it raising pressure on the accelerator or applying sudden brakes. They are both injurious to the driver and the people around him.

 

 

2.        Don’t be rude, give way

 

If a fellow motorist or an ambulance alerts you, let them overtake you if it safe enough. Don’t race with them. If you see a car wanting to take a U-turn on a busy road, wait for them to pass. Being patient will make you a great driver. And also, you’ll earn respect and goodwill gestures from the fellow drivers.

 

3.       Knowing the Signs

If you are influential, getting a driving licence in India is very easy. Sometimes, the applicants don’t even have to take the driving test. They simply get it. Yes, can’t deny that, it is true. And once they get the license, not everybody cares to learn the basic signs and rules. If you see a sign alerting you about a school ahead, it is your duty to take it seriously and go slow and make no noise.

 

4.        Slowing down on turns

 

Because drifting looks good only in the movies like Fast and Furious. In real life, it can be lethal. It is always suggested to slow down the speed near dead turns, especially while driving in the valleys. Along with that, honking the horn and using dipper at the night helps notify your presence to the driver on the other side of the turn.

 

5.        No talking while driving

Phone calls can be postponed. Even though, hands-free earphones and speakers are available, it is always better to avoid the phone calls because it might steal away a lot of your concentration, you’d need to keep your eyes on the road. And, if it is really important, finding a safe spot on the roadside and stopping there to pick up your call is always advisable.

 

 

 

 

6.        Maintaining proper distance

We were always taught in the school, during the morning prayers, when we stood in queues that we should strictly maintain a one-hand distance among us, so as to not disturb the students next to us. A similar discipline is needed when you are driving. If a proper gap is not maintained, possibility is that you suddenly apply brakes after driving at a good constant speed and there is a car behind you, whose driver might not get enough time to react and would come dashing right into you.

 

 

7.        Don’t Rush and Rash

 

It is better to be late once than prefixing the tag ‘Late’ before one’s name forever, right? Everything can wait, so slow down your vehicles’ speeds and do not rush.

Many youngsters often get influenced watching their favourite star driving at a speed unreachable on Indian roads or cutting through, from between two cars. They watch it, love it and then repeat it. Nor is it as cool as it looks on the screen neither is it as safe as the stuntmen make it look. Rash driving should absolutely be avoided because there is no excuse for it.

 

 

8.        Drinking kills anyways

And, as I mentioned above, having a stable mind while driving is very important. After having a few drinks, you might feel like the king of the world but that would not immune you from any kind of unfortunate mishap. So, if you really can’t resist drinking at a party, better take a cab and save yourselves and the people, whom you might run over.

 

9.      Following lane discipline

      Frequently shifting the driving lane might confuse the other drivers. If you have to turn left ahead, move to the left lane slowly, giving the indicators. The sudden shift from the right lane to turn left is definitely a bad idea. Also, knowing the speed limits is very necessary, especially on the highways. Usually in India, the lanes from left to right are for 30, 60 and 90 km/h respectively. This is why the drivers driving the heavy trucks are advised to take the leftmost or the middle lane, so that the other lighter vehicles can overtake them, using the rightmost lane.

 

 

10.     Brace yourselves

Last but not the least; make sure that you are on a safe side. If you are on a bike, wear your helmet and if you are on a car, never forget to put on your seat belts and having air bags would be a plus point.

 

I hope that you’ll always follow these driving etiquettes whenever you go for your next drive and will always make sure that you being on the road should not trouble others.

Now, I would like to sum up my say in form of a short poem.

Enjoy and Drive Safe.

A smiling sun rises, you take a bow

Sipping morning tea, a face full of glee

Lost in all the zeal, you’d never know

From where, which tree might fall upon thee

To return back safely, to your Queen

Off to your battle, you take an earnest vow

Alas! You meet the mishap, unforeseen

And she cries out loud, “Oh! Dear, where art thou?”

God Forbid, let that just be a nightmare

Carry with you, your armour and your brace

Crown your head, and always be aware

Better late than Late, So, slow down you pace

 

Don’t fight against the fellow charioteers

Let no guilt kiss you, be spotless of disgrace

For welcoming death, become not volunteers

Yet Again, Slow, Steady and Safety, wins the race

 

 

Do you know about NSDF?

 

Nissan Safety Driving Forum is a campaign started in 2012 by the well renowned Car manufacturing company Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. It aims to promote safe driving practices and etiquettes in many major Indian cities. They look forward to spread the message of safety nationwide and their main concern is to change the mindset of the masses who many a times neglect being cautious.

You can read more about the Forum here: NSDF

I ‘d like to thank NSDF
and IndiBlogger for this promt.  

 

-Ashish