Travelogue: Some Nature Photographs, Muzaffarpur, Bihar

 

Travelogue: Some Murals at Lakefront, Muzaffarpur, Bihar

 

Travelogue: Sikandarpur Lake Front (Marine Drive), Muzaffarpur, Bihar

 

Travelogue: Delhi Airport Terminal 1

 

Travelogue: New Delhi Railway Station

 

Hindu Temple: Prati Shirdi Sai Baba Mandir, Shirgaon, Pune

 

- Rahul 

List of Some Places of Visit Around Pune

1. Shaniwar Wada
2. Vishram Bagh Wada Palace
3. Dagdusheth Ganpati Mandir
4. Tilak Smarak Mandir
5. Ayyappa Temple
6. Inorbit Mall
7. Chakan Fort
8. Induri Fort
9. Raj Kapoor Memorial
10. Pune Tribal Museum
11. Shri Subramania Swamy Temple
12. Film and Television Institute of India
13. Premal Hanuman Temple
14. Bhama Askhed Dam
15. Jambhulwadi Lake
16. Bund Garden
17. Tail-Baila Fort
18. Kranti Flamingo Point
19. Gandhi National Memorial
20. Zapurza Museum of Art and Culture
21. Kamla Nehru Park
22. Lal Mahal
23. Katraj Lake
24. Junnar Caves
25. Chittaranjan Vatika Garden
26. Mayureshwar Wildlife Sanctuary
27. Pratishirdi Shri Saibaba Mandir
28. Appu Ghar Amusement Park
29. Seven Wonders Dream Park
30. Joshi’s Museum of Miniature Railways
31. Shri Mahalakshmi Mandir, Sarasbaug, Pune
32. Amazeum Children’s Museum
33. Ishanya Mall
34. Lavasa International Convention Centre
35. Peshwa Udyan Zoo
36. Jangali Maharaj Temple
37. Shri Wagheshwar Temple
38. Malhargarh Fort
39. Bagul Udyan
40. Bhatghar Dam
41. Saint Tukaram Gatha Mandir
42. University of Pune
43. Morgaon Mayureshwar Temple
44. Empress Gardens
45. Trishundha Ganpati Temple
46. Dive Ghat Valley
47. Tung Fort
48. Kanifnath Temple
49. Baner Hill
50. Sant Dnyaneshwar Maharaj Samadhi
51. Sambhaji Maharaj Samadhi
52. Shri Someshwar Temple
53. Osho International Meditation Resort
54. Purandar Fort
55. Saras Baug
56. Gram Sanskruti Udyan Village Park
57. Ghorwadeshwar Caves
58. Pashan Lake
59. Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary
60. Neelkantheshwar
61. Seasons Mall
62. Koregaon Park
63. Lonavala Lake
64. Ranjangaon Ganpati Temple
65. Amanora Mall
66. Taljai Hill
67. Shri Satya Sai Pandurang Kshetra
68. Narayani Dham Temple
69. BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir
70. Tulsibag Market
71. Raja Dinkar Kelkar Museum
72. Sarasbaug Ganpati Temple
73. Chaturshrungi Temple
74. Bhuleshwar Temple
75. Pataleshwar Cave
76. Osho Teerth Park
77. Kasarsai Dam
78. National Defence Academy
79. Khadakwasala Dam
80. Parvati Temple
81. Mulsi Dam
82. Aga Khan Palace
83. Tamhini Ghat
84. Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park
85. Sri Balaji Mandir
86. ISKCON NVCC Temple
87. Sinhagad Fort
88. Mahabaleshwar – Panchgani
89. Peshwa Energy Park
90. Vetal Tekdi
91. Osho Garden
92. National War Memorial

Movie Review: Chand Mera Dil (2026); and Why People Criticized Ananya Panday’s Bharatnatyam

 

I got interested in watching ‘Chand Mera Dil’ after seeing news of social media users making fun of actress Ananya Panday for her Bharatnatyam dance in this film. I thought to check why people were so agitated. After watching this film, I realized it was a case of “much ado about nothing”. Ananya Panday had danced during “fresher’s function” of her engineering college. And her Bharatnatyam was not a pure one but a ‘fusion’ to make it funny for viewers. Entire college enjoyed that dance and were astonished. So, the film never claimed that Ananya was making a classical dance performance in this film. Instead of appreciating Ananya and this film for depicting one of the Indian native dance forms, people on social media were making fun of it and it was disappointing. I would give her 10/10 for that dance. And the ‘hero’ of the film Lakshya fell in love with her seeing that dance.

In “Chand Mera Dil”, Ananya’s character is named “Chandni” which is a refreshing name in the current times. Lakshya is playing the role of Aarav, a promising engineering student who sacrifices his career to support Chandni. I don’t want to give too much spoilers, but I can tell you that I felt like quitting the film mid-way by the intermission because the film was so intense and troubling at the same time.

The theatre where I was watching the film was filled with young men and women. And a group of them were sitting in my row. Initial minutes of the film were all about love, hence everything went fine. The moment it turned into “marriage”, one girl started getting ‘triggered’. She started talking to her friends around her, started judging whatever happened on the screen, and passed comments. There was a scene after which she started shouting “loser” at Aarav, the male lead. Immediately, the picture of a typical male-hating fake-feminist came to my mind. She kept shouting at Aarav, calling him whatever bad things she could, and it went on for some time and it was so irritating to hear all that. But by the end of the film, Aarav shows real character and she went totally silent. The ending of the movie was a bit comforting and gave people hope, and hence perhaps all previous feelings were forgiven.

The movie depicts struggles and survival for young couple, but presents the whole story in a unique way, not seen before. I had become a fan of Lakshya after seeing his film “Kill” (2023) on TV, and Chand Mera Dil was his first film I watched in a theatre. Same for Ananya Panday too. After watching this film, I could realize why her critics were shouting on social media. In this film, her acting skills has shone like a moon (Chand), and she has really given a powerful and ‘complete’ performance. She is not a typical “show girl” in this film, but she has played the role of a versatile character artist. And she has given as great performance as any A-class actress would have given.

This is overall a very nice film. Although I won’t recommend this film for either people below 18 or the senior citizens too. Its target audience is exactly the age Aarav and Chadni are playing – in their mid or late 20s. Hence, overall recommended to above audience.

- Rahul

Travelogue: E-Square Multiplex, Xion Mall, Hinjawadi, Pune: Part 2

 

- Rahul 

Social Media Cockroaches: For How Long Shall We Allow Anarchy to Rule Social Media “Jungle Raaj” While Tech Firms Earn Billions?

 

I read in news that the Supreme Court chief justice recently compared unemployed youth with “parasites”, and then a social media storm broke down. Finally, the chief justice had to “disown” his earlier statement saying he was “misquoted” (sounded like what politicians do daily). When I looked up the news, I found that in his original statement, the chief justice had meant well and there was no need to clarify or retract from his position. Here is how.

What the chief justice wanted to say was that there are many people around us who live off other people, and instead of contributing to society, they attack the system society is working on. The context was a junior lawyer who was using the designation “Senior Advocate” along with his name on social media for getting attention. The chief justice got upset at him and perhaps blamed him for being irresponsible and wasteful like a “cockroach”. The “cockroach” was of course a metaphor for being useless and wasteful.

The eventual social media furore over his comment totally justified his initial statement. The unemployed youth wasting their time on social media went on to create numerous satirical entities after replacing a term with “cockroach” and wasted days in the name of humour and satire. How long can one sit over one’s high horse – finally the horse has to take rest and fodder too, right? Eventually, the social media uproar will end and the only effect this whole episode will have is lowering the dignity of our justice system and making a joke of our constitution given right of free speech.

As we have seen during many controversies, social media platforms have shown zero control over stopping misleading, incorrect, fake, malicious or defamatory content. At the same time, they are earning billions of dollars every year due to the content created by users. For how long shall we allow total “anarchy” rule and social media content visibility policies changing the way people speak or behave on these platforms? If we expect real world to be rule-based, and society functioning on principles and ethical boundaries, why should we allow social media to be a lawless, “Jungle Raaj”?

It is high time the Supreme Court of India must look into this matter since we have seen many a time on such issues that only the SC can help and no other institution comes up to correct the situation. Lawless, anarchist, misleading and defamatory nature of social media must be purged, to make it rule-based, fair, and a controlled entity. It is very much possible to achieve, just look at how the early-days social media platforms were designed, for clues. Along with time, “virality” was given first priority while designing these platforms and this is the root cause of all evils. This problem can be solved in one day, if the Supreme Court orders. There are many other important concerns like restricting social media for children, making content copyright compliant, stopping use of these platforms for crime and financial fraud.

The day the Supreme Court takes up this matter in its hands, it won’t matter how many cockroaches line up to shout, the insecticide of law will be powerful enough to control them for the benefit of everyone.

- Rahul

There are no bad marriages; only bad people

 

There are no bad marriages, only bad people. Show me a marriage gone bad, I will show you a person gone bad. Why marriages fail may be a complex question, but my understanding is that marriages failing is only a symptom of a person failing. A marriage failing has many effects and after-effects, and people often can’t pinpoint to one root-cause. But if you look closely, typically, one of the two spouses was a wrong person, causing the marriage to fail.

What we call “compatibility problem” is actually one bad spouse trying to impose things on the other, who decides to push back instead of bending. What we call aspirations and lifestyles not matching is basically one spouse developing unreasonable aspirations which the other can’t cope with. And when it comes to other reasons for ending marriages, like infidelity, domestic violence, alcoholism or cruelty, are obviously due to lack of character of one spouse.

My theory is that the blame for ending marriage hardly lies on both parties; but mostly rests on one of the two. People close to the family know who the bad apple is; though they may not talk openly about it.

Unfortunately, the real cost of failing marriage is paid by the children, if any were already produced by the time the couple decided to part ways. The couples who part ways before kids were born are lucky and evil both at the same time. There is a theory which says that if the wife is not interested in having a baby, it is because she is not sure she wants to spend whole life with that man. And if the man is not eager to have a kid, he may also be having other plans. Ideally, people marry to have kids, and one should have kids reasonably sooner after the marriage, otherwise, in the era where people date each other for years before marriage, what was the point of getting married to begin with?

Everyone is aware of the psychological void suffered by the children raised by single parents. What they are not aware of is ways to avoid “the problem”. A happy and everlasting marriage is the only solution to avoid this problem.

If you notice the general character of people in society from the things happening around us and the news and events, it would be clear that there is a general decline in honesty and ethical behaviour. It is totally logical, because earlier the world was small and in small towns everyone knew everyone else. It was difficult not to be sensitive towards others and people were naturally more social. With life in big cities, families living long distances, people living in isolation due to work, etc, there is a natural decline in social behaviour and general empathy. There is more probability of people going rogue now, and hence marriages are going rogue too.

The institution of marriage was one sacred invention by human society which made people from improper animals to proper men. Right now, the marriages are at threat because the modern world is breaking age long ways of social life and the modern, materialistic life is not designed with happy family life as its top priority.

- Rahul

Does PM Modi Intentionally Break the Internet with “Melodi”

 

Like millions of people and ‘bots’, I have also watched PM Modi’s latest video with Italian PM Giorgia Meloni. And I found it extremely adorable too. But one opposition party leader has taken offense at the video, calling it “nautanki”, i.e. non-serious banter. It made me think about it too: what does PM Modi want from such “banter”?

It is clear that PM Modi has specifically chosen Italian PM Meloni for these series of “banter”. There is no doubt that Italian PM Meloni is extremely beautiful and has a very positive and pleasing personality, and somehow it matches the charisma of PM Narendra Modi so well. Together, they look “magical”! There is something really special about their pictures, and we can easily see that PM Modi’s face “glows” and some very positive vibes come out of these images.

At the same time, the relevance of “Italy” cannot be ignored since Congress Party leader Sonia Gandhi came from Italy after marrying India’s popular PM Indira Gandhi’s son Rajiv Gandhi. Before her, or apart from her, I don’t think Indian people had much idea about Italians. And somehow the kind of impression she made on Indians was not really positive. She always appeared “cold”, with an entirely emotionless face, and the politics in Indira Gandhi’s family post her arrival, e.g. removal of her Indian daughter-in-law Maneka Gandhi from her family and political legacy, made people keep a negative opinion about her. People also remember Bofors scam and Italian man named Quattrocchi’s involvement in it. Somehow, Italian PM Meloni has completely changed the old impression of Italians in the eyes of Indian people, and it is a big positive for Italy in the long term. Today, people in India do not look at Italy with suspicion, but with a warmth, and a large credit for this goes to “Melodi” brand friendship.

We can even wonder if PM Modi does excessive display of warmth towards PM Meloni to irritate Sonia/Rahul Gandhi supporters? The way Rahul Gandhi reacted to the latest pictures, clearly points out that he does not like it at all. But PM Modi will do more of the same nonetheless.

To summarize, I think PM Modi has not specifically chosen friendship and warm bonding with Italian PM Meloni due to political reasons, but it would have happened naturally and genuinely. But he does intentionally highlight these in the form of social media posts, because he knows social media users and rest of the world love it when he does so.

Therefore, until “Melodi” friendship continues, Modi-Bhakts will enjoy but the Modi-hating opposition members are going to have a very “annoying” time.

- Rahul 

Normal Vs New-Normal

 

I always get air in my motorcycle tyres only at petrol pumps because many poor local air filler guys deliberately puncture tyres to get repair work. Plus, air is always “free” at petrol pumps. But after the recent Iran war made the finances of oil marketing companies tight, I noticed many petrol pumps had their air filling machines closed. Finally, I found one petrol pump where the air machine was working, so even though half of my motorcycle’s fuel tank was already filled, I went and got petrol filled.

I always say “normal” as soon as the petrol pump guy starts his work, to avoid paying for the expensive version of petrol which everyone thinks is just a marketing gimmick. After getting “normal petrol” filled in my motorcycle’s tank till the brim, I went to get “free air.”

As soon as the air filling guy saw me, he shouted, “Nitrogen?” I shouted back, “No, normal!” He said the petrol pump was giving only free nitrogen and the air machine was not working. Don’t know what happened to all the air filling machines in the city. As I moved away, I realised I had said “normal” instead of saying “air.” So, while petrol became “normal” earlier, now even “air” became “normal.”

This struggle to get “normal” things is really real.

I remember the first time this habit of shouting “normal” while buying things started - it was while buying packaged drinking water at railway stations. If you don’t tell them to give you “normal” water, they give chilled water by default, which takes several hours to come back to “normal” temperature.

In India, the phrase “normal” is often used by buyers in shops to distinguish between multiple varieties of the same product. Here are some common examples:

Biscuits: Many brands have cream-filled, chocolate-coated, or premium versions. Shoppers often say “normal Parle-G” or “normal Marie” to mean the plain, everyday biscuit.
Cold drinks: With options like Diet, Zero Sugar, or flavoured sodas, people ask for “normal Coke” or “normal Thums Up” to mean the regular sugary version.
Milk: Packaged milk comes in toned, double-toned, skimmed, or full-cream. “Normal milk” usually means the standard toned milk most households use.
Chips: With masala, cheese, and exotic flavours available, “normal chips” refers to plain salted potato chips.
Ice cream: Brands sell sugar-free, low-fat, or premium flavours. “Normal vanilla” or “normal chocolate” means the basic, regular scoop.
Tea: Shops may stock green tea, herbal blends, or masala chai. “Normal tea” means the everyday black tea with milk and sugar.
Rice: With basmati, brown, organic, and specialty varieties, “normal rice” refers to the everyday non-basmati white rice used in most homes.

“Normal” is basically shorthand for “don’t give me the premium, diet, or fancy variant - just the regular one everyone uses.”

As PM Modi used to say, “this is the New Normal” in the post-Covid world, now the “not normal” has become the “new normal” no matter what you try to buy. Asking for “normal” itself feels like an anomaly.

In today’s complex world, when everything becomes “not-normal,” perhaps the “normal” is the real “not-normal.”

– Rahul