The Great Divide

It is said that knowledge and experience come from all directions in different forms and situations. One should be absorbent like a sponge and learn from all the experiences, whether good or bad. Journey by public transport of Mumbai teaches you the lessons of survival amid the thickly packed throngs. If one has to understand what rat race is, one can always travel by the public transport of Mumbai. I became a regular commuter of this ‘deluge’ a year ago and since then I have observed and learnt the horrid forms of rat race which can take place for a seat in a bus or a train. First class compartments of trains are known to be convenient and less crowded than the second class compartments. Unfortunately, these ‘convenient’ compartments for which we shell more money are cubbyholes where it provides seats for 13 women. Though the written instruction says “13 passengers only”, I watch an eighth woman constrict into 7-seater long seats. I commiserate with the other 7 women who lose the opportunity to sit comfortably because of this 8^th encroacher. And if this woman happens to be a plump one, the others are in for great discomfort. Therefore a delay of a single minute to get into the train and you lose the chance to be among the ‘Top 13’ or else you become a forceful intruder inviting the wrath of the seated ones. During summers, travelling in packed trains becomes intolerable. To add to the misery, first class ladies compartment is too small to bear the huge hordes of women getting in at each station. On the other hand, the gents’ compartment is relatively bigger, where men, in most cases, stand or sit comfortably. This is the first ‘divide’ I come across every day.  Also, I come across many ignorant women who mistakenly get into first class compartments, given the relatively scanty crowd. We all wish to travel comfortably, don’t we? Therefore, with an expectation of at least standing comfortably in the train, these poor women board the First Class. But the ladies of the First Class do not tolerate this ignorance and they taunt and scold these women for the ‘unpardonable crime’, until they drive them out on the next station.

What I find astonishing is the surmising power of the ‘Great Women of the First Class’. Only by looking at the ignorant women’s attire, do they understand that these women do not belong to the First Class. How a person’s dressing sense can determine his or her wealth, I wonder. There are so many people in this world, who dress and live simply, in spite of the immense wealth that they possess. Wear a simple looking dress and you are perceived as a second class traveler! What a parameter! I feel bad for these ignorant women who have to bear the criticism for no fault of theirs. I am not saying that such women should be allowed to travel freely into First Class putting up ignorance as an excuse. But I believe the other women in the train should be polite to these women while making them understand for their mistake. What does it cost to be polite? Absolutely nothing! This is the Second Divide that I observe that of being educated, well informed and civilized and on the other hand, being illiterate, ignorant and savage. The local trains are meant for everyone, for all strata, the destinations to reach are common, yet such a vast difference between its classes of travelers. I cringe at the fact that some do so well in their lives, enjoy affluence and all the comforts, while some are deprived of simple joys and necessities. Necessity of having enough wealth and education to stay in a city like Mumbai and the ability to support one’s family! Although many efforts and taxpayers’ funds are utilized into improving the level of education, it will still take many years to bridge this gap of education and ignorance.

From past one month and a half, I have been travelling to Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), the hub of trade and commerce, where head offices of big conglomerates are situated. While I travel in a bus from Kurla till BKC, I pass by huge pockets of penury and misery. The poor occupy every little space that is available and build hutments in whatever meager space that is left. My sincere salute to all BEST Bus drivers who drive on such narrow roads without losing calm and patience! If one wants to understand the thick density of population, one can find it on the roads of Kurla. Sometimes these filthy localities and slums offer catering services and food stalls. Given the nearby surroundings, it’s easy to determine the safety and hygiene of these meals. The part of my journey, where road construction is going on, I see a serpentine queue of slums, which are built using 4-5 bamboo sticks each and plastic covers serving as roofs and walls. The urchins play on the road fearlessly. These are half naked children in poor state of health and hygiene, who find joy even in their deplorable way of life. Every morning I watch this tremendous transition from the squalid streets of Kurla to the plush roads of BKC. When I witness such enormity of poverty and misery, I am reminded of the concept of ‘vicious circle’ which we were taught in Economics. Population explosion is the second stage of demographic growth where the birth rates are high and the death rates low. Such a situation prevails in developing economies like India. Population explosion leads to unemployment, which causes poverty among the masses and therefore an increase in the crime rate, which proves pernicious for the entire society.

Burgeoning population is the scenario which I observe almost every day during my train or bus journey. The observation goes like this: I wait for my train, which is to arrive in 5 minutes, or say 2 minutes (It is assumed that the trains run on time!). I am pleased to see only 5 to 6 women around me, waiting for the same train as I. I make plans to sit or stand comfortably in the train, plug in my headphones and listen to music till I reach home. Alas! While I am lost in my reverie, making such ‘hypothetical’ plans, I see a huge group of women gathered to catch the same train. I am stupefied to see such a large number of women in a mere 5-minute period. I marvel that if this is the rate of people gathering only to catch a mode of transport, how rapidly our population must be growing! Delay of trains, be it on working days or even Megablocks on Sundays, can cause near-death experience to the commuters. Dilatoriness of trains or buses during monsoons paralyses the entire city. The strain on resources which such a preponderant population must be causing is beyond imagination. As a result, no matter how well the infrastructure is developed, it still proves insufficient to meet the needs of ever growing population. We often find people expressing dismay about the Government and the authorities, for not promising efficiency in the services.

The reason for this havoc in public modes of transport is the subsidization of these services by the Government. Providing large subsidies can result into exacerbation of the economy in the long run. Though the hoi polloi rejoices over the reasonable rates of transport services, the quality of the services is questionable. In countries like the USA, travel by train maybe as expensive as flying. I have travelled in Mumbai Metro, which is a best paradigm of privatization. Fare for a single journey is as high as Rs. 30 from Ghatkopar to Andheri. Besides, it provides the services of highest class. There is no scope for people to travel ticketless in Metro. The infrastructure and security is ensured to be state-of-the-art. I imagine that if such transport network would have existed in the entire city, the train journey would have been so hassle-free!

Population and poverty are growing at rapid pace and so is urbanization. People in rural areas or smaller cities migrate to cities like Delhi or Mumbai in search of better education and job opportunities, which lead to overcrowding in cities. If we really want development of our nation as whole, it is necessary that development is concentrated in each city or state, in terms of infrastructure and job opportunities. It will only then be possible to distribute the resources fairly to all people and justice would be done to the taxpayers’ money. Secondly, it is the need of the hour to curb the population growth in our country. As per the Census, the working population of our country i.e from the age group 15-59 is high in number, which bears the brunt of all taxes. High working population would also mean high fertility rate, resulting into immense growth of population. Like China, if even India strictly implements ‘one child’ policy, we can bring down this tension. It sounds theoretical though in a country like India, where a child is considered to be God’s gift, which one should not refuse!  Similar to ration cards, where names of only up to two children are only allowed to be added, certain tax deductions or relaxation can be offered to families having one or two children. Now that ration cards are reckoned to be obsolete, this measure will induce the penny pinching working class to keep population under check. Rather than producing more children with an expectation to continue the lineage in a family, it is always a good deed to adopt orphans who are in dire need of love and care. Just imagine the bright future these children can have if they are adopted by well-to-do couples. It would be tautological to giving birth to a new life.

Primarily the attitudes of the people need to change. Merely criticizing the authorities does not help. Change should happen from within, from every household.  Governments are run by human beings after all and so we cannot expect them to be infallible.  A nation can enjoy complacency only if its citizens and the Government walk hand-in-hand playing pivotal roles towards development of the nation. The malaise of poverty and corruption can be weeded out if there is such cooperation. Only then can every individual live a secured life without much struggle, a sense of solidarity and compassion is developed, and there are smiles of contentment instead of lines of worry on every face. Though such a picture may look Utopian and difficult to achieve, we all can try to achieve reformation of mindsets, effacing out the boundaries of division and reaching closer to this Utopia. If that happens, it will truly symbolize the greatness of our nation.

1st Anniversary Special: Femme Fortitude

10^th May 2014: The day my Graduation exams got over and the entire evening that I spent creating my blog. The long discussions that I had with my sister over the URL of the blog, the title and look of the blog all seems fresh in my mind. I still feel that same excitement which I had then, when I published the first write-up on my still embryonic blog. The fervor to express my mind on the blog grows every time I post something. And this exhilarating journey continues further. Since my sister has been a driving force behind my rhetorical style of writing and today we celebrate Mother’s Day as well, I wish to dedicate this write-up to all women….. (Read: To Men readers, I hope you join me in my feminine eulogy!)

Recently I finished reading a novel. As I closed my book, a question crossed my mind. Which was the best novel I had ever read? I got my answer in no time. It had to be ‘A Thousand Splendid Suns’ by Khaled Hosseini. The characters Mariam and Laila of that book are two of my most favourite characters among all the characters that I came across in novels. Each page, each description seemed real. It was as though I was experiencing affliction of Mariam and Laila as they suffered at the hands of their acrimonious husband and further the immense courage that they show to ameliorate their lives. Though the book was a work of fiction, I wondered how many women would be there all over the world, who are silent sufferers of injustice and whose screams for help are lost deep in this ruthless world.

In one of my college events, we performed a street play on the theme domestic violence. My friends and I discussed the apparent reasons of domestic violence. We came up with situations like harassment for dowry, domestic violence by drunken husbands, women tormented by husbands and in-laws in want of a male child, not only in low strata families but also in well educated families. Domestic violence reminds me of Sudha Murthy’s encounter with a woman who was set alight by her husband’s family for her inability to pay dowry. This burnt woman, who was admitted to the hospital for the mishap of ‘stove burst’, had further committed a ‘crime’ of bearing a girl child, which resulted into such heinous deed by her in-laws. According to Indian National Crime Record Bureau, India has by far the highest number of dowry related deaths in the world. A bride is burned every 90 minutes, or dowry issues cause 1.4 deaths per year per 100,000 women in India. Women are still valued like commodities and are sent to the bidder-like families who quote a whopping price for the bride entering their home. I wish if there is someone like Ananya Swaminathan of Two States in every family or is one such friend to women, who can really find question the man’s true worth for his bride!

There are some movies based on true stories which are capable of touching the human minds. I saw one such movie few months back: Philomena. The movie was based on the life of Philomena Lee, who was an unwed mother and was separated from her son when he was an infant. The film shows the 50-year struggle of Philomena to find her forcibly adopted son. In 1950s England, being an unwed mother was a matter of disgrace. In India, it still is. This reminded me of another Sudha Murty’s vignette on unwed mother. She describes how there is a difference between the outlook of the western countries and India towards unwed mothers. On one hand, one of her students commits suicide when she finds out that she is pregnant before marriage and her boyfriend and his family refuses to accept her with her child, on the other hand, there is a young Norwegian girl who has a son which is born out of her affair with a college classmate. Though they split up, the little boy’s father assumes full responsibility of his son. The child’s parents lead separate but happy lives. The western society does not look down upon or raise eyebrows at unwed mothers, which so not the situation in India. I read an article ‘When young girls are at risk’ in one of the magazines. It focused on how girls are ignorant about sex and pregnancy making them vulnerable. These girls are usually in the age bracket of 15 to 19 who then go for abortions. Some girls who accidentally get pregnant belong to the educated class of the society in which the level of awareness is believed to be high. In our country where sex and sex education is taboo, such cases are bound to happen. Parents are uncomfortable about discussing such issues with their children. As a result, girls become susceptible to unwanted pregnancies. It happens that girls offer sex for love and boys offer love for sex. For girls, love is an emotion while for some boys love is a sexual conquest. This mindset needs to change and girls need to be alert and wise before falling in love with someone. Love should not be so blind that we fail to see the possible ramifications.

Africa as a continent interests me a lot. Certain African tribes’ customs towards women brings me shivers. I had seen a video of the Hamar tribe in Ethiopia, where there is a ceremony of female whipping. The whipping is consensual and women go begging to whip them. They do not show the pain they feel and they say they are proud of the scars. One effect of this ritual whipping is to create a strong debt between the young man and his sisters. If they face hard times in the future, he’ll remember them because of the pain they went through at his initiation. Her scars are a mark of how she suffered for her brother. In Mauritania, girls are forcefully fed so that they find suitable husbands in future. A plump girl in Mauritania is a symbol of family’s prosperity and wealth. A frail looking girl would therefore not get good marriage prospects. Togo is one of the poorest countries in the western part of Africa, yet polygamy is legal and widely practiced. Practice of polygamy is frequent in the rural areas than in towns and cities, and a Togolese woman’s level of education is also directly linked to whether she will choose polygamy or not. Even the health of African women is highly at risk due to the gruesome customs and lack of better health facilities. For example, I had seen a case of a pregnant African woman who had to go on a motorcycle with her husband on the hilly road till the clinic where she could deliver her child. In Rwanda, 18% of menstruating women miss on an average 35 days of school and work because they cannot afford sanitary napkins. Therefore they resort to unsafe alternatives like rags, leaves and mud which can lead to infections and diseases. Thanks to organizations like the Desert Flower Foundation started by the Somalian woman Waris Dirie, that fights against female genital mutilation and other issues which women face.

One of the most prevalent dangers that Indian women face today is that of rape and sexual harassment- be it at home or at workplaces. Such inhumanity does not depend upon the kind of attire a woman wears. It is the sick, diabolical mentality of men who want to prove their chauvinism over women by imposing such atrocities on them. Such men emerge from families where women are treated as inferiors and these young boys grow and mistreat women in the same way. They cannot reckon the fact that women can and should step out of their homes to get educated and stand on their own feet. Sadly men with such sordid mindsets hail from the elite class of people too. This shows how education fails to illuminate the minds of all. Women trafficking are also one of the lurid cruelties against women. The shocking fact is that there is underage prostitution too, wherein there are an estimated 1.2 million children involved. God knows where our society is headed and how far can these merciless acts against women go.

We have been living in a patriarchal society where women are subjected to male dominance. But the times are changing and we the transformation happening in form of an upsurge in women getting educated and excelling at jobs. The myth that rural women are far from development is slowly changing as we see a number of women being superb managers at self help groups to run their families and earn a living. For those who feel that ‘women can’t have it all’, there are glorifying examples of women who are not only wonderful homemakers but also dedicated professionals. Being a feminist is not tantamount to misandry. It is an attempt to elevate women’s status by exonerating them of all the society’s unfair set of rules against them. It is a means to promote the fairer sex of the society to a venerable level, just like we respect our Goddesses. It is a movement which will not be successful without the encouragement, sensibility and support of men. I believe the feminist movement will only be successful if boys are imbibed since childhood to treat women with dignity; they will surely turn into fine young men who will be excellent sons, brothers, husbands and fathers. 

Cordon Bleu- Pampering the Taste Buds

For me, the fun ersatz to my afternoon siesta has always been movies, most of the times the good and the sensible ones. Today I happened to watch one such ‘mouth-watering’ movie, if that is a non-lecherous way to describe a movie. Julie and Julia, starring my favourite Meryl Streep and Amy Adams, was a movie based on Julie Powell’s book “Julie & Julia: 365 Days, 524 Recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen”, where Julie (Amy Adams) excellently cooks Julia’s (Meryl Streep) French dishes from her recipe book ‘Mastering the art of French Cooking’ and shares her experiences of the same on her blog. Some of the French dishes that were shown were amazingly tempting which of course, required a lot of meticulous effort on the ingredients and the method of cooking to be obediently followed. French cooking was epitomized in the film ‘A hundred foot Journey’ as well. The reason why ‘La Cuisine Francaise’ is considered best in the world is probably attributed to the geographical and climatic variety of France. The reasons for the supremacy of French cooking have a great deal to do with religious attitudes to pleasure, high-powered political patronage of cooking over the centuries and straightforward economic reward. So much so, that the words ‘restaurant’, ‘gourmet’ and ‘Bon appétit’ have not found any English equivalents. It is as though cooking and France share a tautological relationship.

Food is one of the basic necessities of all living creatures. But this basic necessity when blended with sterling culinary skills can result into a healthy being. Recently my sister got for me a walnut cake. Each bite of that cake tasted like heaven. The adage “One must eat to live and not live to eat” seemed momentarily hazy for me as I could live to eat such tempting confectionaries. I have a sweet tooth for few selected sweet dishes circumscribed to Sheera, Seviyaan, Gulab Jamun and of course, cakes. Indian sweet shops are loaded with a panoply of sweetmeats and the rush for them during festivals is at peak.

I consider India as one of the best places to savour and devour food. If variety is the spice of life, then welcome to India as Indian food is a potpourri of rich ancestral heritance and a variety of spices and ingredients, which one cannot procure anywhere else in the world. When I enjoy the delectable dishes of various states of India, I silently thank my country for its diversity. The cuisine of each Indian state acts as a liaison of the unique traditions, culture, language, religion, geographic and climatic conditions of that state. To give a simple example of people living in north India who prefer fatty and highly carbohydrate oriented diet owing to the chilling weather conditions, in contrast to their Southern counterparts who prefer less fatty and light diet due to the sea coast in its propinquity. The bountiful Mother Nature in India has assured that man uses her edible resources to satiate his eating needs and therefore we enjoy diverse cuisines and distinct cooking styles.

Being a Mumbaikar I enjoy my country’s diverse food here as Mumbai is a city where people of almost all states reside. Hence, there is no dearth of any cuisine in Mumbai. A gourmet like me can enjoy food of all kinds here- both continental and Indian. Mumbai’s status of the ‘commercial hub’ of India is a feather in the cap as you can taste the food here which is found globally, without losing the original essence of the dishes. Mumbai is also famous for its street food and chaat which every Mumbaikar relishes. The dishes which Mumbai can call rightfully its own are Pav Bhaji and Vada Pav. It is believed that no person in Mumbai can starve as he can thrive on a vada pav. The laborious work style of the mill workers in the olden times of Mumbai necessitated a wholesome and heavy meal and thus Pav Bhaji came into existence, the variations of which we enjoy today. It is a perfect example of:  creation of need --> identification of need --> ways to fulfil the need --> creation of a profitable business model.

I believe traditions, ancestral inheritance and culture play a major role in shaping the cooking style of a family, a state or a nation. For example, I have noticed that there is a tremendous difference between the South Indian dishes prepared by people other than South Indians and the same dishes prepared by a South Indian family. Similarly Puran Polis made in a Maharashtrian home taste better and original than in a non-Maharashtrian home. Also the Biryani that is cooked by the Muslims has an original charm and unique taste. It is as though the food is analogical to a state. When we say Dhokla, it’s Gujarat, Chole Bhature – Punjab, Daal Baati Churma- Rajasthan, Rasgulla- West Bengal, so on and so forth.

Thanks to globalization, we are exposed to international cuisines. Successful chains like McDonald’s, Burger King, KFC, Subway, Starbucks, Taco Bell etc. attempt to introduce Indians to western lifestyle. Many dishes at these outlets are designed to suit the Indian tastes, keeping the religious sentiments in mind. Therefore we enjoy vegetarian burgers, French fries, sizzlers, pizzas, tacos and cakes which are normally non-vegetarian in their countries of provenance. Where else would you find paneer on a pizza or aloo tikki in a burger? Well, that’s truly the east meeting the west! As a result, vegetarians like me are not deprived of such delicacies!

In India, there is a rift between the vegetarians and non vegetarians. Vegetarian food eating people may not like to eat food in a restaurant where non vegetarian dishes, too are served. The vegetarians see the non-vegetarians as carnivores, bloodthirsty people. On the other hand, the non vegetarians view their vegetarian counterparts as cattle, eating ghaas-phoos!

Though I am a connoisseur of various vegetarian continental and Indian cuisines, for me the best cooks in the world are my mother and grandmother. My Grandmother’s signature recipes of puran polis, jhunka, modak and every other simple dish that she cooks are worth devouring. Despite her old age, I see the immense efforts and dedication that she invests in making that dish. For her, cooking is her forte and every dish that she cooks, her piece de resistance. My grandmother honed her culinary skills under my great grandmother’s tutelage, she says. That’s what I call bequeathing the food habits from one generation to the other. My mother’s expertise, as a working woman, lies in cooking tasty food in a short span of time. Though my sister is an amateur when it comes to cooking, I can proudly say that she is getting an excellent hand at cooking for I appreciate every dish that she prepares lovingly for the family. My sister is the one who introduced me to the world of continental dishes because she is a foodie who loves to taste and experiment various dishes.

Like I said earlier, food being a necessity, no person can live without it – rich or poor and hence the food industry will never cease to exist. Lot of innovations and variations are possible to make food taste better every time. Cooking provides lucrative opportunities to so many, especially the housewives who possess excellent culinary skills.  This can be a paradigm where you can transform your métier into money making successful business proposition. And what can be better than you being your own boss?

I believe that our body is a representative of our diet. While pampering one’s taste buds, one should not forget the nutritional enrichment or pernicious repercussions that affect the subsequent stages of life. Choosing to have a vegetarian diet or a non-vegetarian one or both, omnivores that we humans are called, one must always keep in mind the diet’s influence on the body. Faulty and miscalculated eating habits in addition to the stressful lifestyle can cause several ailments. To avoid that, we must relish the gifts of nature in their original form so that we enjoy a healthy, disease-free, long life. The food prepared and the eating habits adopted, not just bearing to please the tongue but to the well being of the entire human body can ensure that. So readers, watch your tongue!

 

Envisaging a Spic-and-Span India

If someone asks me the best place to study human behaviour, my answer will always be: An Indian railway station! It is a place where you would always find huge exoduses and equally huge arrivals, at any given hour, be it early morning or late at night. Railway stations are truly the spots of Mumbai, which never sleep. As a regular commuter of the local trains, I observe diverse colours of human foibles. Some observations teach me important lessons in life; some are thought-provoking incidents, while some give ugly glimpses of human nature. Every morning after successfully accomplishing the Herculean task of getting a seat in the cubbyhole-like First Class compartment, starts my litany of observations. The most ignoble sight which I come across every morning in the passing train is that of people walking along the railway tracks, carrying bottles or buckets in their hand to attend nature’s call. It goes without saying that these people are residents of a nearby impoverished area, which we call as ‘slums’, a preponderant feature of Mumbai. These slums house innumerable people cramped like in a Holocaust. Where it is so difficult to make both ends meet, how can a person living in such an area think of better sanitation facilities? As per latest reports, even Mount Everest is sinking under the weight of human excreta, how can one expect hygiene in these hubs of squalidness?  While my mind is filled with disgust when I see the state of those people, at the same time I feel sorry for the sordidness which is still prevalent in a developing country like India. Today this picture is certainly deplorable when we compare it with the ancient Indus Valley Civilization, which had water supply and sanitation devices that were the first and best of their kind.

Mr. Arun Jaitley, in his recent Union Budget announced that around 6 crore toilets will be built in India under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. This budget allocation, I believe, is vital than any other, as I am of the opinion that social development of a country comes prior to its economic development. This particular provision in the budget gave me a sense of confidence that finally (and hopefully) those beleaguered people that I see every morning would be soon able to ‘relieve’ themselves in a correct manner! In some villages too, people do not still understand the importance of having toilets at home and therefore are vulnerable to many diseases. Vidya Balan’s advertisement of “Jahan soch waha shauchalay”, stating the need to have toilets at every home, surely attempts to open every ignorant villager’s eye.

Till the time comes when the sanitation facilities in India can be availed by everyone, the dread of epidemics or newer diseases will always brood over us. Why just open defecation, aren’t we surrounded by haphazardly thrown heaps of garbage? Not to forget, the menace of stray dogs that add to our environmental woes! The reader might think that I am too critical of the state of railway stations in Mumbai, but sadly they are the implied dumping grounds for many commuters. And when I say ‘commuters’, I do not target people of a specific strata or status, or people travelling by a particular class. After all, they all are citizens of India, rich or poor.

I remember this amusing incident of my junior college days, when I had gone ice-cream savouring with my friends. Each one of us bought an ice-cream cone of varied flavours and was enjoying it till we reached the railway station. I wanted to throw away my ice-cream wrapper but I couldn't find a dustbin nearby. When I expressed my ‘predicament’ to my friend, her answer was just like any other Indian. She said, “Throw it on the railway tracks, simple!” I was taken aback by her reply. I wondered if educated people like my friend had such a mindset, then expecting civic sense from barely educated or illiterate people would be an over-expectation.

There was another train incident, when a lady sitting opposite to me, was about to throw orange peels outside the window. When she saw me looking at her, she immediately stuffed them in her bag. I wish if every person who litters around were this conscious. The lady in the train must have thought that she would owe me a justification if I saw her throwing garbage out of the window. Similarly, any person who throws waste carelessly in the surroundings owes a big penalty towards the society and the environment. Then such people have no right to bemoan the dilatory railways during rains, as people of such frivolous behavior are responsible for the clogging of railway tracks during monsoon. The problem with us so-called educated Indians is that we often revile the municipal authorities for not keeping the surroundings clean, but we fail to retrospect where we err to keep our environment clean. When Indians go abroad, they abide by all the rules there and dare not litter on the roads, but when in India, they find nothing wrong in degrading the environment. When I was in school, we often used to throw pencil shavings or crumpled papers on the floor. Seeing this in almost every class, our principal pointed out once, “School is your second home. Do you throw around waste like that at home? No. Then how can you litter your second home like that?” All Indians need to think in the way our principal had suggested then.

Another environmental malaise which exists in society is that of spitters. The epitome of flouting is when people spit on the board itself which says, “Yahaan thookna mana hai” or at some places I have seen the word ‘mana’ scraped from the sentence, making it look “Yahaan thookna hai”. Seriously, how lunatic one can get! Often, at the railway stations, the garbage bins which are meant for ‘garbage’ are converted to spittoons with people spitting more and throwing less garbage in it. These so-called ‘dustbins’ are covered all in red, with paan stains on it. Same follows in case of people who pee in the open, despite the similar ‘mana hai’ hoardings.

Then there are stray dogs to cause further discomfort to the pedestrians. In the newspapers we read cases of people being attacked by packs of stray dogs. Of course, there are certain ‘mercenaries’ in the society who have a big share in mollycoddling the dogs by feeding them biscuits and food, something which can suffice the hunger of one poor person at least. The result of such ‘kindness’ is again, degradation of surroundings. Food wastage is another common problem in India, where people absolutely have no regard for food. One would wonder if such people eat to live or live to eat. The quantum of food which is wasted in India is beyond imagination. One fails to realize the value of food for the hungry indigent. Truly, the rift in the mentality of Indians is very high to fill the gap of sense and sensibility, and of right and wrong.

The only broom which is capable of cleaning the minds to have a green and clean environment is education. And by education, I do not mean merely introducing the subject Environmental Studies in schools and colleges, but making people aware, educating them about the need of maintaining clean surroundings. Inculcating civic sense is important. Imagine, if every individual becomes environmentally conscious, we need not worry about diseases like malaria, dengue or jaundice.

Technology too can play a huge role towards a clean environment. Recently I read about the maiden voyage of ‘Bio-Bus’ in England. This bus runs on biomethane, which is generated through the treatment of human and food waste. The article said that the bus can travel up to 186 miles on one tank of crap, besides having 88% less greenhouse emissions. It is an example of innovation + technology = clean environment. In India, there are many villages which have installed biogas plants as an effective step towards waste management and power generation. As shown in one of the episodes of Satyameva Jayate, there can be other scientifically innovative ways too, to generate ‘wealth out of waste’. Companies, who are required to spend 2% of their net profits towards CSR, can surely work in this area of development. Sudha Murty, chairman of Infosys Foundation, explained the significance of pay toilets in one of her vignettes. She is helping out rural areas by building 10,000 public toilets and several hundred toilets in the city of Bengaluru. This is a wonderful way of expressing gratitude to the society, by doing something for the society. Many companies have followed suit towards betterment of the society.

I believe we can achieve the pinnacle of cleanliness and hygiene if each individual strives to do as simple acts like throwing garbage in the dustbin and not around it, not treating the surroundings like open air toilets, eating and cooking food keeping the appetite in mind, so on and so forth. As citizens of India, if we follow Mahatma Gandhi’s principles towards cleanliness, we would definitely be called ‘developed’ from the global point of view. It would not only result in realizing the present Government’s dream of Swachh and Nirmal Bharat, but also a disease-free and habitable environment for every human being.

9 to 5 Jobs becoming a Myth!

As budding, highly competent employees ready to enter the equally highly competitive corporate world, we are often prepared by the faculties of my Institute to tackle the challenges of any kind which we may have to face in future as managers. Often I have heard some of my faculties say, “You need to spend maximum number of hours in the Institute and consider it as your home and there will be a time when your own home will be your second home! If you spend 10 hours here, then you will be easily capable of spending 12 hours once you work in the corporate!” I was quite flabbergasted and shaken to hear that. In my school days, we were told, “School is your second home”. I chuckle when I hear these contradictory statements. Well, either the definition of work life balance has changed or I am simply a person who loves reminiscing the past.

Recently I read an article in The Economic Times which said that the traditional or I would call it the ‘ancestral’ culture of 9 to 5 is dead. The article was thought- provoking, with lot of pun and intended humour. I asked my classmates to read that article. Some of my classmates were of the opinion that because we Indians work for longer hours, we are better than our foreign counterparts and are flexible and not time bound like them. I argued that the rat race to get quicker promotions and pleasing the immediate boss by working after the office hours drives the employees to stay back till late at night. But my friend, I would say, who looks too much into the bright side of things, says that the rat race is only making us better. Well, what can I say? Human psychology differs!

Why do we Indians believe that longer working hours are the measure of one’s sincerity towards work? If that is the case, then according to Indian working professionals, European employees must be extremely inefficient malingerers who leave for home when the clock strikes 5 pm! When I was doing my fifth level of German, also called as Deutsch für den Beruf or Business German, we learnt about the work culture of Germany. Germans work for 35 hours a week and get 24 days paid vacation. For them, working hours are actual working hours. Employees are denied access to Facebook while at work. They don’t squander time gossiping and doing other frivolous activities. Germans work for fewer hours but produce more. They work hard and play hard. Since the working day is focused on delivering efficient productivity, the off hours are truly off hours. They demarcate their professional lives from their personal lives and hence colleagues often are not seen hanging out together after work. It was interesting to read about the working hours mandate in France and the Scandinavian nations. In France, it is illegal to work beyond 40 hours a week, and receiving a mail past 5 pm is punishable by law! The Scandinavians have eight weeks paid mandatory leave, the failure to take which, can lead to punishment. Bless these countries!

Completely opposite is the Indian work scenario. Here there is a different kind of pleasure to work or schedule meetings after 6 or beyond that. I wonder what exactly happens in the daylight hours! Here’s what happens most of the times. People ‘punch’ into the office strictly at the given official time (with the fear of a memo or late mark). So far, so good. Kudos to punctuality. Then like the downward sloping Learning Curve, employees undergo a litany of unproductive activities; say logging into Facebook or browsing through the online shopping websites with a hope to get exciting offers, having ‘n-number’ of coffee or tea breaks, gossiping about a colleague or political tactics in the organization etc., before actually starting with the work. These are the people who are unable to finish their work in time and will stay back after office hours. In fact, I feel that people who stay late in the office, are inefficient as they cannot complete their work in the stipulated working hours. Then these same people will come to office on Saturdays and Sundays to finish the backlog of work which was supposed to be finished during the week itself. Weekends are supposed to be meant for relaxing and spending time with your family. I fail to understand why we Indians are so languid when it comes to using our time resourcefully. Why do we want to showcase our talent of being spontaneous, when we can give out the best quality, when the activities are well planned? Aren’t we Indians gifted with immense intelligence and talent, that we need flexibility and spontaneity as our supplementary skills? We often read in newspapers about students bagging salary packages of crores of rupees. We hold these students in awe and appreciate them for their success. In reality, such highly paid jobs not only mean positions of high responsibilities but also unspecified number of working hours. Quite tautological with the adage, “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown”. Something similar to the characters in Ravi Subramanian’s novels.

Work is worship, which one has to do with full dedication and devotion. We work so that we earn a living and lead a secure future. Monetary and non-monetary gains should not always be the motivation to do a particular job. When you worship work, at the same it is also necessary that you spend time with your loved ones. Your reward in form of salary should also be spent on your family, rather than just piling up the bank account with huge amounts every month. Earning huge sums of money would be futile if you are unable to get the taste of your hard earned success. Unnecessary long hours of work, too can help you to spend money, sadly, to pay your hospital bills when you health is severely affected due to unbearable work load. There are many professionals who leave early in the morning and return home late at night and have absolutely no time to look after their children or their studies. There’s a fear of such children going astray due to lack of parental attention. So it’s high time to revive the 9 to 5 culture so that the well planned work life can also be as ecstatic as personal life, which most people forget that they have one, in the process of working like machines. I’m sure if that happens, no working professional would wait for a Friday or frown on a Monday. Weekends would be truly family-and-rest-oriented. Work will be fun then, right?

The ‘Sea’rene Wonders

Everyone will agree with me on this. The routine, humdrum jobs for working professionals and for students, the ever-increasing-eleventh-hour heap of projects and assignments, coupled with the old monster friend called ‘Exams’, reach the saturation point and the Production concept of ‘Law of Diminishing Returns’ clearly applies to our performance in exams and at work. Hence when the stress levels reach the pinnacle of our tolerance, we take a break in the form of vacations. During the last 2-3 months, I was also a sufferer of the burgeoning stress. I was in a dire need of a holiday. As this was going to be my last official vacation before the busier 2015 began, my family and I decided to go somewhere close to the nature. And where can one experience peace of mind better than at the sea? So we went on an exploratory trip to Ganpatipule with an urge to explore the wonders of nature and to find sangfroid from all the urban ennui, in the embracing arms of nature….

Our journey began in the wee hours of cold Christmas morning. We boarded Janshatabdi Express which would take us to Ratnagiri in five hours. After getting down at Ratnagiri and after a lot of haggling with the rickshaw drivers, we reached Ganpatipule: our destined accommodation for the next four days. My joy knew no bounds when I got the panoramic view of the Arabian Sea from our room. 

The sight of the sea is always a treat for my eyes. In the evening, we headed out on the beach for a long walk to enjoy the sunset amidst the cool sea breeze. The calm moon had already started shining, as if it was ready to take charge of the sky, after the sun had set. Standing in the sea and experiencing the cold waves dashing against my feet, was a pleasant feeling. Looking at the far stretched sea, I wondered how many lives does this nature’s wonder support… Be it the marine life residing in it or the fishermen who sold the gifts of nature to earn a livelihood. We, human beings, too can learn so many things from the sea. If only we all could be forgiving, benevolent, merciful and generous like the sea! My evening turned merrier by playing carom with my family, loaded with lots of laughter. It was delighting to play carom after so many long years. 

From next day onwards, we started with our expedition. Our first stop was Jaigad Fort. Although the fort is in ruins, the outer walls still stand strong. The Bijapur-Sultanate-developed fort overlooks the bay where the Shastri River meets the Arabian Sea. This 500 year old fort had many controllers from Bijapur Sultanate, the Portuguese, Shivaji Maharaj, the Peshavas to the British. Near the Jaigad Fort is the Jaigad Lighthouse. It was used for port security and navigation in the old times. The Jaigad lighthouse is nowadays used in the night for the local people and is still functional. 

As Konkan is known for its magnificent temples, we visited temples of various deities. The first temple which we visited was Karhateshwar temple. A small stream originating from the hillside nearby is an interesting feature of this temple. The next two temples viz. Laxmi Keshav temple of Lord Vishnu and Goddess Laxmi and Jai Vinayak Mandir by JSW are beautifully built, nestled in complete solitude, devotion and oneness with God. Karneshwar Temple, built by the Pandavas in memory of their eldest brother Karna, was not only beautiful, but it also depicted interesting stories about the Pandavas and the Indian mythology from its stone carvings. This temple was located in Kasaba, the same place where Sambhaji was imprisoned, following the perfidy by his brother-in-law. Our next destination was Keshavasuta Smarak at Malgund. Krishnaji Keshav Damle was a great Marathi poet who wrote poems under the pen name ‘Keshavasuta’. He died at the young age of 39 after succumbing to plague. I had never read his poems earlier, but my parents were familiar with some of his poems, which they learnt in their school days. Some of his poems were displayed outside the library. We visited his house where he was born. It was a typical cozy Konkan house with cow-dung plastered floor and walls. We then visited the room in which this great poet was born. My admiration for Keshavasuta grew when I learnt more about his life and his contribution to the Marathi literature in his short span of life of mere 39 years. We left that place with lot of inspiration and awe for this great personality born in the rich Konkan. Later that evening we visited the Swayambhu Ganesh temple of Ganpatipule on foot, by walking along the sandy Aare Waare beach.

Next day, we headed towards Marleshwar, which is a two-hour drive from Ganpatipule. Marleshwar temple is a cave temple of Lord Shiva. To reach this temple, one has to first climb the steps for 30 minutes. The temple is surrounded by tall mountains, appearing like formidable guards of Lord Shiva, and the snow white waterfall originates from these gargantuan mountains. The sight was so beautiful that I simply could not stop eulogizing the virgin natural beauty around me! After taking Lord Shiva’s blessings from Marleshwar, we drove to Dervan. Dervan is known for its ‘Shiv-Srushti’ or a memorial to honour the revered deity of Maharashtra, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. There we saw splendid sculptures of various significant episodes in Shivaji’s life. Each sculpture there looked life-like and grand. 

Then our journey took a surprising turn. With our day long drive, we reached close to my mother’s native place. Years had passed since my mother had seen her home in her native place, which was so close to her heart. I have always seen that glimmer in my mother’s eyes when she remembers her home in her native place. Call it her strong will power or God’s miracle, it suddenly struck us that we could actually pay a visit to my mother’s native place. Our amiable driver agreed with our plan to visit the village, and there we were, fulfilling my dear mother’s desire to see her village. When we reached the Kuldevi’s temple, I could see the immense happiness and never fading smile on my beautiful mother’s face! After seeking the Goddess’ blessings we visited my mother’s home. There was a childlike excitement and uncontrollable contentment on my mother’s face on seeing her home after 17 long years! That day I realized that the most beautiful part of our entire trip was my mother’s beautiful smile that evening. No other place that we would visit could match with that pleasant look on my mother’s face. 

Next morning I was quite morose as we were leaving for Mumbai on that day. That meant bidding goodbye to the rejuvenating view of the sea from our room. We drove to Ratnagiri city, where our first stop was Patit Pavan Mandir and the Veer Sawarkar Memorial which was next to it. This temple is the first temple in India, that offered an unrestricted right to any member of Hindu Community to enter the temple and to worship the idols of Laxmi Narayana. What I found amazing about this temple was Goddess Laxmi’s idol. She is portrayed as a simple married woman with no ornaments except her mangalsutra, and her husband, Lord Vishnu standing proudly next to her. These two divine powers captivated my mind. A question crossed my mind as I stared at Laxmi: If the Goddess of Wealth herself is dressed like the hoi polloi, then why do we strive so much to amass heaps of wealth? Can’t we all try to be content and ingenuous like the goddess? 

Later we explored the life of a godlike human being, the courageous Veer Savarkar. As I read more about Savarkar’s early life, his education, his struggle for freedom and the atrocities which were imposed on him by the British, tears dwelled in my eyes. We also read about the other bold freedom fighters who laid down their lives for our Motherland. We simply stood there, still and frozen, saluting and bowing to each of these epitomes of bravery. Next, we visited the home of another great personality, Lokmanya Tilak. Tilak’s home is also a simple, cow-dung plastered abode, similar to that of Keshavasuta. Today his home displays various important events in Lokmanya’s life and his valuable contribution to the freedom struggle. My respect for these two immortal freedom fighters, born in the soil of Maharashtra, grew by several times, after delving and getting to know better about the lives they lived. We later visited the Ratnadurga Fort and the temple of Bhagavati Devi. Ratnadurga Fort was under Daryasarang Kanhoji Angre’s control for 45 years. Ratnadurga Fort is a horse-shoe shaped Balekillla with strong fortifications from south east to west side. 

Finally the time came to say goodbye to Ratnagiri and thus marked the end of our wonderful trip of 4 days. As our train left Ratnagiri station, my heart became heavy, not wanting to part with the magical creations of Mother Nature. My mother, being the excellent motivator as always, cheered me up and made me understand that how good things, too have to come to an end. My trip to Ganpatipule was not only a much needed break from all monotony but also an opportunity of spiritual enrichment. I learnt many lessons in life from the sea, the forts, memorials and temples that I visited. The train journey to Mumbai was great; having completed reading Sudha Murty’s yet another wonderful work, ‘Something happened on the way to heaven’. This trip was like an ablution of all stress and tensions and a realization of optimistic outlook towards life. When I got down the train, I braced myself to face all the upcoming set of tasks with lots of enthusiasm and cheer, like the wide sea and the intrepid freedom fighters!