"Mehangai dayan khaye jaat hai"

The words of a Hindi film song fits apt to the post I am about to write about.. "Mehangai dayan khaye jaat hai" (The witch of Inflation is eating us up).

The way things are shaping up in India, the witch of inflation is not far from eating us up. Its the 26th day of December of 2012. We have proved the Mayans wrong and we are moving ahead towards the beginning of 2013. What will that year bring for us? Peace? Happiness? But the way things shaping up, its gonna bring more Inflation !!

Sorry guys, even though I have been a commerce and economics student for so so long, I still cant explain how does the Indian Govt manage to do this. Prices are rocketing. Few years back when I rode a bike petrol costed Rs43/- Today it costs Rs80/- Almost 100% increase.

Why do we go back few years, lets take the difference of just a year. Examples may show just a Rs1-2 increase but the percentage jump shows it all. My shared auto went up from Rs7 to Rs10 in 1yr. 50% increase. My ironing guy hiked rates from Rs3 to Rs5 per clothing. 66% increase. My roadside dosawala hiked rates from Rs15/- to Rs20/-. 33% increase.

Gosh where are we heading? Are incomes increasing? NOOO

I feel I am more than comfortable in what I earn. As of now I only have to feed myself. No wife no kids. If I am feeling the pinch of this mammoth jump what about that guy who earns Rs10000/-, who has a wife and two kids, who also has to support his old parents, his kids are in class 10th and 12th and he needs to fund their education. He needs to save for his old age, he needs to save for his childrens college fund, he needs to save for his old parents health needs. Does he manage it? NOOO

One gas cylinder which costed somewhere arnd Rs350-400 now comes for Rs1000/- in the black market thanks our government.. Our Prime Minister, God knows what do we need to do to get him to speak.. He is the personification of the line " ek kaan se suno and doosre kaan se nikal do" and better still " tension lene ka nahi, dene ka"

Chalo, chhodo. No use complaining. Rehna toh yehi hai. So lets back to working, lets back to slogging, and lets back to getting the government to earn through those LOVELY taxes. Hamara kya hai. Jee lenge, kaat lenge.

A Railway Trip thru India

I still remember the time when i was in school and we used to have our English language classes. We used to write essays on various common topics year after year... How did u spend you summer vacations, my pet, my favourite sport etc So today i wanted to write on one such topic but from the perspective of a 23 yr old...

Over the last 3 days i have traversed across the width of the country and back to meet my love, Pooja (She is my life....but only thing is my life stays a 1000miles away ) and during this time she made me conscious about an hobby of mine which i myself was not truly aware of. She rightly said, "You love observing people." and thats when i realised that she was right... I did...

So today i am gonna tell you about my experiences in this wonderful train journey of mine and the sights and sounds i encountered...

As i entered the train and took my seat, i noticed my copassengers... 2 middle aged aunties, seemed like housewives, and i dont think i dont need to tell you more about them... overhearing their conversation was a joy, straight out of any Ekta Kapoor daily or more so i would say the Manorma magazine (Ekta Kapoor stories are more based on the upper class.) " You know so and so came to Mrs so and so's house" " Yesterday she cooked cutlets at home, they were tasty." "I bought this sari from XYZ Market. For how much? Just 300-350 bucks." " I worked all day in the kitchen, now am so tired, everything i only have to handle." " He is always busy in office, doesnt have time for me only." They went on and on... The typical Indian middle class housewife....

As the journey progressed the scenes outside kept changing from state to state and time to time... From the coastal areas where greenary slipped into the horizon with the rice crop to central India where heat was unbearing for the land to dry and crack up... There in the distance you could see the farmer slogging it out in the fields with his 2 bullocks and plough.. As the sun neared noon you saw their wives taking food for them, and there he rested in the shade of the lone solitary tree enjoying his chapaties with chillies and onions.... Then it was back to work for the poor guy till the time the sun gave way to the moon...

On the far off dusty roads you could see young girls going to school on their bicycles dressed neatly in their blue and white uniforms and hair nicely tied up with red ribbons... Somewhere off you could see the shephard boys standing and waving at the train as it zoomed by while somewhere else the boys were playing on the branches of a fallen tree...

As we crossed the villages, the scenes were greatly different. The older folk would be sitting under the shade of the tree and play cards or discuss matters with greater importance. The kids would be running around the streets with a stick in hand, fantastically dodging the wheels they rolled with it. The women were busy blowing into their mud stoves, preparing food for their next meal. The kirana store owner in his characteristic white vest and huge bulging stomach sat arguing with his customers. The few girls that you could see playing outside were busy in their game of hopscotch.

On the electricity wires sat the small sweet sparrows and it seemed as if they seemed to be chatting with each other... Suddenly out of no where you would see some lone bird flying along with the train, as if challenging it to a race but after some time it would give up and get left behind...

The cattle grazing pastures would be too busy to notice the train zooming by... With the horn of the train they would look up, give the "I dont care" look and get back to their grazing...

If i go on about the train and its encounters, it would be a never ending post... so i am rounding off the basic part of it and maybe some day when i get time i would take u to meet the various other specimens that you encounter... Chalo for now.... Gaadi bulaa rahi hai, seeti bajaa rahi hai

The Story of India.

This morning was having a discussion with my closest friend on the various tribes and communities we have in India and around. And i did realise my history was actually week. So with the work pressure less these days, i decided to use my day today researching on India, My India.

I hit upon a wonderful documentary on youtube, aired on BBC it was called THE STORY OF INDIA. India, the land of the golden bird, has been there for 10s of 1000s of years. It all started from the migrations of the first people on the earth, from modern day Africa to the coasts of South India, modern day state of Kerela. This was around 10000yrs ago, much before the existence of the other tribes worldwide and much much before the Pyramids of Egypt.



Around 5000yrs ago, the Indus Civilisation was the Manhatten of that age. With Harappa and Mohenjadaro, the 2 major cities of that time, it was a land of traders and great progress. They were much ahead of their times. The death of this civilisation can be accounted to climate and environment change.

The next phase, the phase of language and literature, came with the advent of the Aryans, on the banks of the river Ganges. The language Sanskrit evolved and kingdoms sprung up. Researches have shown a great similarity between the Sansrkit, Greek and Latin languages. Further research revealed the origin of Aryans to somewhere near Turkey from where people moved, some towards Europe and some towards India. This was around 1500Bc. This was the time of the longest poem in the world, The Mahabharata. The tale of the Pandavas and Kauravas also gives us the solution to every problem in the world, The Bhagwad Gita.

This was the phase, according to history, where we end the myths and where we start modern, factual history. Over the next 3000 years, people from all over the world came to India, the mughals, the turks, the portuguese, the french, the english. India cast its spell on all and went on to absorb and adjust with all. But the greatest thing of it all was that it retained its identity, India and its culture.

With the huge number of attacks and wars, the golden bird of yesteryear lost its place but we are back, back with a vengeance. The times of the West are over, India is back, to capture its long lost glory. From being the first superpower to being the next superpower. The Golden Bird is flying again !!!

Tales of a Rural Indian Farmer....

As told to me on 07/01/2010 somewhere in the Satpura Hills...

"I am Sukhdev and am from the interiors of Maharshtra from a very small village called Bela. How small u will surely come to know as you get to know me further. I am 70 yrs old and own a small piece of land around 2 kms from the village.

My village has around 70-80 families staying in it so the population will be around 500. We even have a primary school here and that also till the 4th grade. If anyone wants to study further one has to go to the nearby town, 20 kms away. Water is obtained from the borewells but at times its not enough for everyone to use. The government has promised a water tank by next year and if that plan comes about properly then there will be water for everyone. But thats only when the government works. Electricity is there but only few hours a day. We have to go to the district head office and annually pay our rents or else that will also be taken away. There is no proper road to our village. We have petitioned to the government authorities a number of times but no one pays heed to us. Just this small, unpaved roads lead to our homes.

In my 7 decades of existance I have gone only uptill Amravati (a distance of 100kms). You know I have been their twice. Once when my first daughter was born and second, when my mother wanted to visit the religious festival over there. And before i die i wish to visit Nagpur (a distance of 225kms) Someday hopefully I will.

You see this field. Its mine. I generally grow Soyabean, wheat and some basic vegetables. Last year when the monsoon was good i earned Rs5000-6000 ($100-120 annually). Thats my income in a good year. This year i have not even managed that. It should have rained when the Soyabean seed was planted and when it had flowers but the rains failed both the times and I lost my crop. So i am trying to grow barley but i dont think this too will survive. Hopefully God is there. Thanks a million for reading my story. Thats me and my story."


So my readers here u have Sukhdev who is very happy when he earns a family income of 5000 annually and here we are cribbing that we arent getting well paying jobs. Isnt our monthly expenditure sure shot above 5000. And in the same amount he runs a family for a whole year. He has never been beyond 100kms from his village and has never sat in a car. He doesnt even know whats a mobile phone or a laptop or an ipod. Music for him is what he hears on the local radio station. His food is just enough to survive. He doesnt need Pizzas and Burgers and Ice Cream to survive. He doesnt demand Nike shoes and Levis jeans. All he needs is food, clothing and shelter.

This life given by God should be cherished and thanked. We have much much more and still we keep cribbing. Be thankful for whatever you have and be happy because happiness is the essence of life. Happiness and satisfaction that every human desires, knowingly or unknowingly, and people mistake this for power and money. Guys open your eyes and live fully