Internet Connection in Pune...finally :)

After a wait of more than 2 months since I got my new lappy, I have finally got myself an internet connection. The Reliance Netconnect (offerring upto 3.1 Mbps speed). It is USB powered meaning I can be online on the move :)

But there is a flip side, the connectivity in my house is pretty pathetic, but if I step out and occupy any of the benches on Sus Road, I get a 100% connectivity, which is good enough!!! I did try looking for other service providers, but the connection problem at my place persisted, so went in for this which atleast assures me maximum speed when I am in the zone :)

It feels great!!!!

What Went Around Eventually did Come Around: Diwali @ Vidya

Vidya Society, Shikhare Wadi, Nashik Road (my home), is not just a building. Infact in 1985 when 10 families moved into the 10 flats of this society, it was for all of them a fulfillment of a dream- a dream of finally having their own names written against the OWNER column of the legal documents of a flat. The 10 families had finally settled down in the real sense of the term. It was a common dream which was fulfilled at the same time and so they were not 10 families, but infact 1 big family.

You can imagine the enthusiasm and the fervor which would have been generated at Vidya especially during Diwali. The terrace of the building used to fill up with kids bursting crackers, lighting rockets etc. You had to be doubly alert not only with the cracker which you have just lit, but also about you surroundings. There were ample cases, where a kid running from a cracker he jus lit got caught in the cracker lit by another guy on his way back to the safety zone. The safety zone, was where one parent from a house was present dispensing crackers to the kid, with a bucket of water kept handing incase of an emergency.

Diwali is not only about lights and crackers. It is about “फराल” too. The typical items making up the “फराल” are:

1) चिवडा

2) चकली

3) लादू

4) शंखर पाली

5) सेव

6) करंजी

7) अनारसा

And it is a custom to invite your neighbors and close friends for “फराल”. The kids at Vidya needed no invitation. I was especially at the fore front on the tasting brigade, and used to go from house to house, demanding “फराल” :) And then some “फराल” used to be placed on a plate to be taken home for the parents to be tasted.

At the end of day 2 of Diwali, each family used to end up with multiple plates of “फराल” from different houses. The items were all the same with different tastes, making it difficult to which plate belonged to which household!!!

It is also basic courtesy not to return an empty plate, so “फराल” from your home had to be laden on the plate and returned to the neighbors. With all these thoughts running paralleled in every household, each one committed the same folly

This is roughly what each family did.

Flat 1 had plates from flat 2, flat 3, flat 5, flat 4, flat 10, flat 6. But they could not distinguish between any. So they simply decided to rotate the same plates. Little did they know that this same thing will be done in 9 other flats!!! The end result of this confusion: Flat 5 got a plate of “फराल” from Flat 6 which they immediately recognised to be the one they had given to Flat 1 some 2 hours back. Flat 8 got a plate of “फराल” from Flat 4 which they immediately recognised to be the one they had given to Flat 7 some 2 hours back.

What went around eventually had come around!!!!

Everybody realized in a humorous way that they were indeed undone by the other 9. It was the last time “फराल” was ever circulated in Vidya on a plate. The Diwali after that, either people were invited for “फराल” or “फराल” was given out in plastic boxes, which did not need returning :)

Eclairs

Appearances can be deceptive. This saying applies most to my generation

Think of it this way, have you not been harangued by your parents for the choice of your t-shirts, the patchwork on your jeans which was a major hit or even the piercing you did which incidentally your girlfriend finds cool. I am sure that like me you are subjected to dialogues like, “You are not appropriately dressed for the occasion or your look may be cool, but next time a simple clean shave will look better”. I am no different. Even I am harassed by such things.

My parents don’t only say that my appearance is inappropriate but go a step further and brand me outright repulsive. I don’t blame them completely. A guy with a beer belly, dark complexion, unkempt hair and a 7 day old stubble, with an eyebrow piercing, a low waist jeans which he is too bored to even pull up at times, survives on his roommates deo-oderant is not inappropriately dressed but outright repulsive at first sight!!! But this perception of the prior generation was soon to change.

I got into the afternoon bus to get to Pune. The bus was half empty. I got in and the very first empty seat caught my eye. There were other window seats too but I overlooked them and landed on that seat. The window seat right next to me was occupied by a 60 something gentleman, whose afternoon nap I have just broken. Giving me an injured look he scowled, “There are other seats empty too.” Not wanting to get into an argument with the senior citizen I pretended to ignore him and turned on my ipod. He looked at me for a long moment and tried to get back to sleep. In the meantime the bus started.

After about 30 mins, in which I was slipping in and out of sleep, I caught the senior citizen staring at me. I hate people staring at me, makes me feel like a museum exhibit. I cleared my throat and very politely began a conversation:

Me: Where are you going Uncle.

Uncle: Pune. I just noticed that your jeans is torn.

Me: Err..yes. Does it look cool

Uncle: Cool?? You seem to be a software engg. I saw your company bag

Me: Yes…(with a smile on my face)

Uncle: You wear such clothes to office too?? My sister’s son is also in software. He is much more decently dressed, he is in the US now.

(I got it. The reason I was here in India, was because of my clothes. I don’t want to go to the US now, I am more than comfortable here in my torn clothes)

It was clear that Uncle was going way too tangential and that he did not like me one bit!!! His oblique references to my clothes and ofcourse his loving repartee about why you are still rotting here meant only one thing that “HE DID NOT LIKE ME”.

I had to do something to salvage the pride of my tribe. Tribe referring to people like me, who work for a software company, are comfortable the way they are in their torn jeans, pierced eye brow, smelly over alls. Instinctively I went for my jeans pocket.

More often than not my jeans pocket throw up surprises. Random searches bring up bus tickets, coins, parking tickets etc. But at that fateful moment when my hand came out, it had 2 eclairs!!!!

Why did éclairs came out? Why only two? This was sure to be a sign!!!! I just have to interpret it properly. In a flash I knew what to do.

Uncle had long forgotten my existence and was now enjoying the scenery outside. With the last ounce of self respect left in me I nudged him. He looked at me.

Me: Here Uncle, how about having an éclairs.

He gave me a look of disbelief. I thought that now the senior citizen would get hysterical but to the contrary he smiled. He accepted the éclair and instantly began opening it with child like enthusiasm. I didn’t interrupt him. He rolled the éclair in his mouth and with a calm face said, “Thanks, that was unexpected. I think that very soon even you will get a chance to go to the US. Even you deserve it”!!!!

I just smiled back.

My Vote Counts!!! Go Out and Vote today!!!

13th Oct 2009, Maharashtra Assembly elections. Along with Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh also go to polls. I just came back from the polling booth adoring the ink mark made on my left index finger. It was the second time I voted. And the novelty of it is still there.

The effort is colossal, even monumental. Electioneering in itself is noting less than a festival in India.

Consider the statistics for the assembly elections in Maharashtra alone:
No of Districts: 35
No of Assembly Seats: 288
No of Polling booths: 84136
No of candidates: 3559
No of voters: 75811245
(source: http://news.rediff.com/slide-show/2009/oct/12/slide-show-1-three-states-ready-for-polls.htm)

Isn't this monumental? And these are only the assembly elections!!!! The first test of popularity for the parties after the Lok Sabha elections.

It is a very interesting mix this time around. Both the Cong-NCP combine and the BJP-Shiv Sena to some extent have been rocked by rebels. The reason being discontent with fielding candidates who are descendants of senior party leaders. Notable being the President Prathibha Patil's son (from the Congress) and ofcourse the extended Munde family (for the BJP). However in all the melee one party stands notably alone without any cadre issues or discontent and that is the MNS!!!

MNS broke the back of the BJP-Shiv Sena combine in Maharashtra during the last Lok Sabha polls. Though they didn't manage to return any MP's they did eat up the vote share of the Saffron alliance, helping the Cong-NCP candidates.

MNS has a good chance to win seats to the assembly and it is a possibility that we will have a 3 way tiff to form the govt (Cong-NCP, BJP-Shiv Sena and the MNS). Though MNS will not be able to go alone, it is going to be a decisive cog in the wheel!!!! Raj by all means will be the King Maker this time around.

Will MNS return to the Saffron fold? or will MNS side with the Cong-NCP? or will MNS give outside support and sit out of the govt? Or will the Cong-NCP against all odds sweep the polls like they did at the Centre?

The answers to all these questions are in MY SINGLE VOTE!!! and for that I feel important!!!!

GO OUT and VOTE

1026 DWn Pune-Nashik-Manmad Express

Its been more than a year and a half since the Pune-Nashik rail service has started and with the frequency of my Pune-Nashik travels, I must say that I was late when finally on Saturday morning I decided to take the train to come to Nashik. It was my dad who gave me the idea to try it out, as I had time on my hand. Plus I was going to be home (Nashik) till Tuesday. So at the age of 25 years, it was to be my first train journey totally alone. Hope you didn’t jump off your seat, but it is really not my fault.

I must admit that I have not travelled much. I really can’t help it. We don’t have distant relatives (in terms of distance from Nashik). The fartherest (this word doesn’t exist in English language) that my relatives have stretched to is Indore. And long distance travel was always to be juggled with the holidays of my parents and mine too. Most of my summer vacations were spent in cricket and swimming coaching. My mother thought these would reduce my fat. Well they did, but now it is all making a comeback.

Apart from relatives the Borate’s (my family) undertook a tour of North India, where we visited Gangotri, Yamnotri and the works. So that has been the only feather in my travel cap. There have been a couple of train journeys to Nagpur, Mysore and one to Suratkhal to take a look at the NIT there. Ofcourse I never secured a seat there.

So the fact remains that with my experience level with the Indian rail I can be termed as a novice. The first hurdle of getting the ticket was surpassed with excellence when in the morning Neha got me my e-ticket. Atleast now I would not have had to sweat it out in the queue only to discover after an hour that I was in the wrong queue and then feel ashamed about my existence on the planet.

Another plus point was that the train starts from Pune. So I did not have to negotiate hordes of passengers getting down and even more trying to get in and all this happening within a span of 1 minute. When the very first announcement of my train was made I promptly made my way to the assigned platform, found my bogie and settled in my seat. I had just bought a novel to read in the journey. I opened page 1 and patted myself on the back. Nothing had gone wrong until now.

At 12:50pm the train started and I made a few phone calls to the people who should know my whereabouts. I looked around my seat and there was the usual gathering of passengers you will see in any second class chair car. There were a couple of hard nosed 45 year olds, who were stretching their legs on the seat opposite there own. There luggage was the cap they had on their head and the newspapers they were carrying to clean the seat where they were going to seat. From the look of it, those were the battle hardened Indian Rail regulars. There was a family of 5, with 2 kids included. One was asleep but the other was going to throw a tantrum. I secretly wished that they would get down earlier. Then there were the other type of battle hardened minions who loved to get into a conversation with anything and everything and in that they will make it a point to show off their knowledge about the latest timings of some of the important trains on the route and how they got it all wrong when they made Ranchi come before the Shatabdi and how the Panvel Passenger should have been a couple of hours later on the schedule. The scene was completed with the guest appearances of the blind singers, urchins who sweep floors for money, a passing eunuch and ofcourse the many motley salesmen.

The scene outside was breathe-taking. I used to just close my novel and look out till the horizon for minutes together. It was a welcome change compared to the road which I had seen a million times over. At Karjat I treated myself to 2 vada pavs and a cup of tea.

The scheduled arrival of the train at Nashik-Road station is 7:30pm. At around 6:45pm I realized that I should somehow get to know the station where the train stops just before Nashik Road. The train does not have a conductor who keeps shouting the names of the forthcoming stops and plus I wanted to avoid the last minute rush which is the primary reason for forgetting something or the other. I called up a friend and enquired.

After listening to his wise cracks of how I wasted my life if I did not know even that and blah blah….he finally told me what I needed to know. Once the station of Deolali passed I was in ready mode (mentally) and finally at 7:30pm the train halted at Nashik Road station and I got down.

Don’t know when the next rail journey will happen. Atleast with this Pune-Nashik journey I am awaiting it eagerly.

P.S: Read the latest Chetan Bhagat novel “2 States: the story of my marriage” in the train. After the disappointment of “3 mistakes of my life” I must say he is back in the groove. At only 95 bucks it’s an easy buy and an enjoyable read.

Nightflier

I still dont want to believe it, but the Nightflier has left the blogging scene :( With a heavy heart I deleted her link from my page. This just a note to say I will miss your blog.

She says that she has left blogger and blogging for good. I dont want to agree. How can some one grow out of blogging? How can it be boring? :(

There are many questions unanswered, which will simply remain, cos the Nightflier will no longer visit blogger and yes not even know about this post!!! Ever :(

Please come back!!!!

P.S: Went to Sula yesterday evening and remembered how you had been drunk when u visited it. Damn I was not there!!!!

The Nobel Peace Prize: Discretion or Merit?

Barack Obama the American Blue eyed boy, the first black president of the country. The man who taught us the “Audacity of Hope” was declared the winner of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. This announcement left many gasping for air while some said that it was a pleasant surprise. Though one thing is true that this is “too much and too early”

The Nobel prizes are the highest honour bestowed on civilians on this planet. The Nobel Prize which was instituted by Alfred Nobel was originally given away in 5 categories : Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature and Peace. A 6th category was added in 1968, and this award was instituted by Sweden’s central Bank. The category of Economics.

If you look at the 5 categories (Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, Literature and Economics) you will realize that all those are academic subjects. Where things have to be written down and proved beyond a measure of doubt. Hypothesis could be made but they have to be substantiated by things which happened in real life. And because of this very fact, the 5 categories (as stated above) have never been subject to criticism. But somehow PEACE is something which can never fall in line with the above 5 categories.

PEACE is a relative term. And that PEACE can be achieved by different ways. The 2 that come to my mind are 1) By destruction: Simply uproot the population who is causing the disturbance and you can establish PEACE or 2) Dialogue: Engage in dialogue and try to address the needs of the population causing the disturbance.

Point 1 mentioned above is like the “ready to eat” fast food solution, you have to be a World Power, you should have the capacity to pocket the UN and you should leave aside the considerations of collateral damage. If you look at the winners of the Nobel peace prize (http://nobelprizes.com/nobel/peace/peace.html) you will find it loaded with politicians. Politicians who did not usher in Peace but tried to broker it and almost everytime the discussions, which earned them the Prize came after the backbone of the enemy was broken using force. If this the case then tell me is it really worth it?

Mr Obama won the Nobel Prize for (and I quote): “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples”, sounds vague to me to be frank. The category of PEACE has always been won by international people who were present at the right place at the right time, their past or their rise to fame has never been a consideration. I would say that if somehow Dr Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart, get together and ink a deal on peace and keep it going for atleast 6-8 months even they can bring home the NOBEL PEACE PRIZE.

Infact I am sure that this year's prize would have been closely contested, and the man who just missed out would have been non other that the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Pajapaksa. Does he not claim that he has brought peace to the island nation after ending the menace of LTTE?

What better way to rest my case when I say that the Nobel Peace Prize has always been a matter of discretion than merit, than the fact that the Mahatma never won it!!!

P.S: also read: http://greatbong.net/2009/10/09/the-obama-lama/