The Hills have Teeth....When the Ganges Shrugged

               "Off purifiers,I am the Wind,of the Wielders of weapons I am Rama,
                 Of Fishes I am the Shark,And of Rivers flowing,I am Ganga."
                                                                     - The God Krishna in Bhagvad Gita 3:14

The Wrath of the Ganges might be a more apt heading considering the death and destruction wrought to the Northern Indian states of Uttarakhand and Himachal.Having trekked,travelled and visited almost every place that is headline news today causes me to shudder in despair.

 

 

In a way this was almost expected.The same Bhagirathi river had almost dried up in 4-5 places for a stretch of almost 12 kms due to the various hydel projects and dams on it at different places in Uttaranchal around two years back.Swollen with water,silt and chunks of mountain it is a frightening sight,even,to people who were born on its bank and have never seen it rage thus.

 

I remember one memorable,bitterly frozen night at sub zero temperatures at Rambada.Midpoint to the holy Kedarnath shrine.The Mandakini flew in a tiny stream beside my cottage,gurgling on its way to the confluence with the Bhagirathi at Rudraprayag.Today Rambada has been wiped clean of the map.Gaurikund has been swept into the river.Joshimath is cut off.No one knows what happened at Gangotri or yamunotri or Dharcula?

 

Years of rampant corruption,concretization of almost all small towns in an ecologically fragile and earthquake prone zone.Building six lane highways to the Badrinath shrine by dynamiting the mountains,damming the river,creating silt.Add population pressure,resultant waste-biological and environmental pollution and we have the perfect recipe for disaster.

 

Can we lose the Himalayas?create an environment so hostile that travelling or living amidst them becomes a risk?

 

Over the past decade all this noise over the Tehri Dam was neutralized by the powers that be by saying it was 'for the people'.Catchy slogan but deadly.These hills fall in Zone 5 or MSK IX level earthquakes in the highest risk zone!!

 

 

Although I am no geologist,I was told that if Tehri Dam is breached,it will take 7 minutes for Rishikesh and 9 minutes for haridwar to be washed away(as in wiped off the face of the earth kind).All it needs is that One Big One of the century.nature waits.

 

Nature waits.And nature has its revenge.My thoughts go out to those shivering in the rain,huddled in the mud.Cityfied tourists more used to seeing the world outside through tinted glasses.To see car sized boulders rain down on their heads,swirling waters try to drown them and in many cases succeeding.

 

Nature lies submerged under a rampant Ganges river today.On the day that its descent to Earth is venerated by a million Hindus as Ganga dussehra.Is the Mother River of India sending a grim message?

 

The destroyer is not Shiva but -

 

Population

Pollution

Parviscient Government

 

Projects located on the Rivers in Uttarakhand:-

 

Loharinag Pala hydel project

Pala Maneri Hydroelectric Dam Project

381 MW Bhaironghati hydel power project

Phata Byung Dam

Singoli Bhatwari Dam

 

If completed these projects are expected to leave the rivers dry for a minimum 50-70Kms running the water through tunnels.

 

The Mountains I have loved all my life have finally shrugged.How much further rapine and plunder can their stoic facades endure?

 

Sir Alex:The Anti-Hero

Let me tell you at the outset that I am not a Manchester United Fan.There was something about the Liverpool team of the late eighties,when I began to understand football,with the sublime strikes of Ian Rush and the strong physical presence of Kenny Dalglish that made me watch games unblinking for 90 minutes.Mostly on TV but a few at Anfield that made me a 'self-confessed' Liverpudlian!

1999.UEFA Champions league Final.Ole Gunnar Solsksjaer scrambling in the mud and snow,shoots out his foot inside the eight yard circle and into the roof of the net.The match time was 92.17min.Manchester 2 Munich 1.The red shirts won that day without two of their legends - Roy Keane and Paul Scholes.

That in microcosm has been the USP of Sir Alex Ferguson.Never give up.Never back down.If you were an opposing club supporter,to see him hardjawed,grimfaced,pacing up and down the sideline with barely held in aggression was to hate him.You knew him and his team would coming at you.

He did have a cryptic sense of humour and of all the many quotes that comes to mind,the oneOn José Mourinho  ranks best in my mind

 "He was certainly full of it, calling me boss and big man when we had our post-match drink after the first leg. But it would help if his greetings were accompanied by a decent glass of wine. What he gave me was paint-stripper."

Hate in professional parlance translates into respect.Allegories to the corporate world are replete with words such as 'team building','leading from the front','judgement of the opposition','work ethic' etc are misnomers.They capture in words such a vast effort that few can manage and fewer still can match.

 

For such a dour,working class anti-hero,Sir Alex has shown how important it is to persevere,to experiment with new talent and tactics in a most uncharacteristic display of 'out of the box'thinking with just a hint of the old fashioned working class method of training and re training.Just show how important the daily,boring routine can bear results!

 

This aint an epitaph.I am sure that bulldog and sheerbloodymindedness will be in full display as a director of MUFCL.He was not a great player,but he is one of the best coaches in the world.Just look at the talent that he nurtured - Beckham,Giggs,Scholes,Rooney,Ince and offcourse the brilliant Ronaldo.

 

But the best testament to a teacher or a coach is not how he gets the brilliant and the best to perform but how he elevates the mediocre and the plain.Teddy Sheringham,Ole Gunnar Solskjaer,Irwin just faded away after their MU stint.He made the team work and it was the team that came to the party.

 

The best thing I can say for this man is that you couldn't bully his team.Ever!David Moyes hope you drop the baton...!!

 

 

You are Your Own Brand

Have you ever thought about this statement?

 

Have you tried to look around you and find out from your friends,collegues,acqaintances as well as relatives how they percieve you?What is it about you that they value?How honest do they think you are?

 

I ask this question because in the past few years I have met such people who on the surface are happily settled yet their perception of themselves is through such a prism of lies that reading their social network profile and knowing the real person is just such a world apart that it made me wonder how they justify their lies to themselves.

 

Might be that the word 'introspection' does not exist in their vocabulary.Yet do they not realise the futility of their life spent creating an impression of an active,productive individual with a clear social conscience!!

 

having spent an entire career in Sales,hundreds of manhours in training Salespeople how to sell a product and the I had a 'Eureka' moment.The product is secondary to the one who is selling it!I would buy an insurance policy or invest my money through someone who comes across as intelligent and who knows what they are talking about.Who seem honest.Who are approachable.

 

When trekking in the Himalayas I would ford rivers that flowed serenely with a less careful approach than those that rushed past with speed and a lot f white water.The two times I came close to drowning was when I recklessly waded into what looked like a shallow river but turned out that the current was stronger as it had hidden pitfalls!

 

We do 'judge a book by its covers'.That cover is the BRAND.That is you.That is moldable.But you have a choice:-

 

a)To be honest:show the world the person you are

 

b)To be dishonest:show a side that you think the world wants to see

 

Early on in my professional life I follwoed option (b) but soon realised that i could not meet expectations arising out of that style of working.Along with growing confidence in my own abilities I started owing up to my mistakes and foibles.Shockingly my collegues and clients loved the new 'human' me!!I have stuck with that as my brand since the last so many years.My conscience is clear,i do not need to avoid my mistakes-JUST LEARN FROM THEM.

Yet,whichever way you think its important not to feel guilty and not make the same mistake again.Let us not pity ourselves.We are where we must be,and we will do what we must.Life.

Not an Ideal Freedom...

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection:
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is lead forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action —
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

~ Rabindranath Tagore ~

 

So said one of the greatest minds as a freedom song for the Nation.After Six decades,India stands at inflection point.Scattered,polarized on religion,caste,reservations.Weak Leadership.The "just Me" society,ridlled by corruption.Unfocussed,unseeing,unjust.

 

Ripe for takeover?An economic capture if not physical!

 

For those who are students of History,this was the exact scenario  in the 18th Century.The zenith of the Mughals had been reached a century earlier.The descendants enconsced in their Forts in delhi and Agra unaware of the miserable condition below their own battlements.Debauched and uncaring in their hauteur.The British came.

 

Disguised as merchantmen with brigs loaded with cannon.They found a country in turmoil.They tested,probed the defences and found Babylon.The rich resources and trade and the urge to have monopoly made them masters of political intrigue.According to Sir Charles Woods the highest number of British troops was never more than 70,000.Just that few controlled a Nation.

 

Hindu against muslim,muslim against Sikh-the famous 'Divide and Rule'Policy.

 

Has anything changed from the 1800s?In 2013 isn't it still the same?

 

China testing how far it can push India on its frontiers.Terrorists exchanging hostages at will.The Leaders advise patience.It buys up energy resources globally.It pushes all its South Asian neighbours.Does the Indian army lack the steel or does the Government lack faith in the army?Whatever it may be,the presence of Chinese troops inside the borders of India in Ladakh is not a good harbinger.

 

They want Arunachal,Sikkim.Yet India recognises the brutal suzerainty of Tibet by the Chinese?Our IAS and political leadership has such vast credentials-graduates of IIMs,IITs,Sorbonne,Oxford...an endless list.YET they blink.They wait and think while a Nation cannot defend its own borders!

 

I read that a study says India is the 8th most powerful nation in the world.What is the point of words printed on paper when our own citizens walk in fear of a repressive neighbour?

 

Mahatma Gandhi taught us to turn the other cheek.In this century this could be a suicidal thought.

 

I cannot express my anguish at such pussillanimity.For those too immersed in their daily lives and happy with their daily quota of shopping and TV,the world outside is crumbling.Its time to move beyond introspection and take action before its too late.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Which Mouse doesn't want Cheese?

Because this is all I do. Or ever will. Because if you take more than a few steps, you can never turn back.Times when you want to tweek more than a few things with your Life.Time when it seems that all is a waste.All the running,the frustrations,the missed deadlines,the lost dreams.

 

The Fear of Death.

 

But then how many can tolerate  living more than One Life?Death is a blessing.Offcourse not for the teenager who chooses it over the fear of Failure.Or for not being good enough.

 

I for one have always feared Fear itself.Of making public gaffes,horrendous foot-in-the-mouth disasters.And of showing fear publicly.Having Got through those early years I do realise that no one cares.Human memory is short.Even of your neighbours!Till we can go back in time a la The House on The Strand-Daphne Du Maurier,we cant change the mistakes we made.

 

The cocoon of society hides many warts.Softens the edges of many failures.The success of Silicon Valley is an ode to failure.There is only one such place that encourages risk,asks that you try even if its to try and fail while the rest of us try to curtail risk,live within limits and navoid 'Tall Poppy Syndrome'.

 

"It does not matter how hard you fall.What matters is how quickly you get up" - Vince Lombardi.

 

Indian society abhors failure.A few marks less than thy neighbour is sin.Give up your passions because if you dont get a cushy job or that IIT or IIM badge you become a 20 year old failure.Maybe its the pressure of all the other rats in the system.Lemings running for degrees.

A 2012 report by NASSCOM says 67% of Indian tech graduates are unemployable?UNEMPLOYABLE!Cause we cram them with theory and little practise.Rote by learning.Unimaginative.Unsure of adapting theory to reality.

 

A Society that cares only for success is breeding amorality.Every parent wants to teach their child to be honest,truthful.When you see your neighbour taking shortcuts and succeeding,morality sheds its skin.For some its a seasonal phenomenon for others a lifelong vocation.

 

Yet,we all talk of doing good."It costs a fortune to Keep Gandhi in poverty"an admirer once said.Did the Father of the Nation,along with Independence bequeath another more insidious legacy to Indian society?Hypocrisy.Keeping up appearances.

 

I certainly feel so.We took the Mahatma to heart.India won indepencence but lost its soul.

 

 

 

Kashmir...the Lost World

Riven.Angry.Frustrated.Anguished.Pained.Hurt.Despondent.Hopeless.

 

All these words sum up the condition of Kashmir and Kashmiris at the moment.During my extensive travel the only word I heard was ,"Siyasat".Politics.I couldn't agree more.

 

I had stones thrown with murderus intensity by  groups of 14-15year old kids.I waded through a curfew in Srinagar when the state capital was locked down by security forces after an encouter the day before,to reach the airport.

 

Everytime my car passed a group of locals I ducked in expectation of a few more pigeon egg sized stones coming my way.I looked at them suspiciously and they looked at me with sad eyed frustation.

 

Kashmir is still as beautiful as shown in movies and eulogised in poems.The people just as hospitable and caring.The Dal Lake with its shikharas and houseboats still picture perfect.The Nigeen Lake secluded and serene.

 

 

 

Yet the wounds go deep that I wonder if they will ever heal?The current Government seems to have given up the fight to win over the people's mind.The sound of azaan from mosques was a constant reminder of the power of the mullahs.Whatever is spoken from the pulpit becomes the truth and it gets repeated...remember Goebbels and his..."Repeat a lie a hundred times and it becomes the truth" remark!

 

 

I did a straw poll of as many people in the street as I could reach...cab drivers,travel agents,stewards,waiters,shikhara rowers,houseboat owners and I was shocked that not a SINGLE person had a SINGLE positive thing to say about the politicians in the Government or the opposition.

 

There seems to be a vacuum and the UPA Government prefers to sweep things under the carpet,make pronouncements in parliament and then forget Kashmir.The media so forthright about issues is silent too for reasons best known to them?Ms Dutt and Mr Pranoy Roy have given it the go by.

 

Until I stepped into the freezing march air outside Srinagar airport,I had no idea of the level of disenchantment.Afzal Guru has definitely become a symbol of how the rest of India doesn't care about Kashmiri sentiment....put the guy into prison for 12 years,hanged him and finally did not even honour to return his dead body to his family.They feel he was punished in Three ways for a single crime.

 

Sitting in the safety of your home it is easy to pass judgment and condemn an entire people for the act of a few.As I sat in the Houseboat a couple of kilometres away from where 5 CRPF men armed with bamboo canes where killed by AK 47 wielding militants,I watched the news channel and other than the statistics there was nothing else.

 

Kashmir,caught between the security forces and the militants,its a difficult life for people on the street,without industry,growth and the travel trade falling into a downturn,things can only get worse.

 

I am struck by the attitude of the rest of India-IGNORE.

 

The Union Government neither tries to crush Kashmir the way the Chinese have Tibet,neither does it attempt to win the hearts and minds of Kashmiris and assure them that this great country that we call India is made up of diverse and imposing cultures that can live together.

 

On a day of curfew I really worried whether the dream that our founding fathers had would remain a reality?The maoists battling for rights in Chattisgarh,Jharkhand and Bengal.The Northeast in Assam,Manipur,Meghalaya,Nagaland marginalized.Sikh separatists in Punjab.Marathi 'manus'agitating to keep Maharashtra for marathis?

 

Never in the History of this country have we had such poor leadership,such paucity of empathy and such unparalleled greed.In the meantime a beautiful paradise is slowly dieing.The Sufi traditions replaced by strict sharia and once where Kashmiri women had gender equality today young kids are wearing headscarfs if not burkhas.The mullahs who from Mughal times waged a battle for power with such enlightened rulers like Akhbar are finally winning.Those who really love this country should at least once visit Kashmir and try to see their point of view.And show them that WE CARE FOR KASHMIRIS.

 

Gar Firdaus bar rooh-e-zaminast                   If there is a heaven on earth

haminasto,                                                          it is here

haminasto                                                          it is here

Haminast.                                                          it is Here. 

 

Alas Firdaus is dead and this heaven on earth gone to dust!

Culture goes the Vulture Way!

According to reseach by The National Geographic ONE language is lost every FOURTEEN days.By the next century nearly half of the 7,000 odd languages spoken in the world will vanish.

Its simply not the language that dies but the culture,the tradition,superstitions,beliefs,ideas and finally the people who spoke that language.This world has seen wars that were not only for politics,land or natural resources.They were also about people and culture that was alien to invaders.

The Navajos driven into reservations in Arizona by the whites,their fertile lands seized,their sheep and cattle butchered or the aborigines of Australia where the Government in the 1930s started a controversial program to raise aborigine babies with white foster families are but a poignant reminder that today's superpower nations who champion human rights are no less guilty.

I was born in Calcutta and I remember visiting my ancestral village with my grandmother in Punjab.The mile wide wheat fields,the blooming yellow and green mustard flowers and the dense as jungle sugarcane plantations left me spellbound because I had never seen so much open space in my life.It made me fall in love with a culture that was never part of my everyday existence.Everbody needs a catalyst and my grand parents were mine!

Yet my cousins who did not have the benefit of visits to the village have never related to the life there as its far removed from their Bershire home and their plum puddings.All it takes is one generation to lose what evolution and human civilization created over thousands of years.

Today India is excited about Taco Bell,Mcdonalds,KFCs etc .From a business standpoint the economics makes sense but its playing havoc with our traditional cuisine.Obesity,Diabetes were inherent Indian diseases which have got a huge fillip with the junk food culture that has just started to appear on our shores.

For typical Indian families these are baby killers - junk food,lack of open spaces for excercise,lack of time from studies to ensure a healthy lifestyle and a lack of awareness insofar what we eat.

Yet culture when imposed is a crown of thorns.But the feelings that are lost make us forget where we came from?The vulture embodies that final connection between Life and heaven for the Parsis and pesticide has destroyed 95% of the vultures in India.A lot of indigenous identities are set to follow.