Preciousness of Life and Other Tragedies

In Hindu philosophy, there is much importance given to the realization that our life is very precious. At a level, it is also done to keep people on the path of righteousness and to achieve a peaceful, prosperous and productive society. Sage after sage, and saint after saint has said the same thing - that our life is precious. But after centuries of progress and spiritual awakening, if we look around us, do we see people by large behaving in a manner consistent with this realization? 

There is so much selfishness all around, and wretched people making other people suffer, evil people using every opportunity to harass others, and so on. Number of 'good people' in our society in general is alarmingly low. People in general behave good with you if they need something from you,  otherwise you are nothing for them. People in general are wasting their own life in mundane race to collect more and more money, and wasting everyone else's life in the process too. Do they take some of the money to their 'afterlife' once they are dead? 

And those people who can't afford to waste their or other people's life, are busy wasting time watching short videos on their mobile phones! 

It won't be an exaggeration to say that in our society, there is absolutely zero realization of the fact that our life is precious. Or is it that there is a secret and quiet realization in our society that our life is "not precious"?

If we push this theory, it fits very well. Since life is not precious, people need to tolerate it, spend it, waste it, or do whatever with it, since nothing matters. Let wretched people harass innocent people, let evil people harass noble souls for their pleasure, because, since life is not precious, why be any good?

It is a great tragedy for our country that along with material progress, we are fast losing all the spiritual greatness achieved by our ancestors. It pains to understand what a shameful achievement we have made with this trend. 

Hoping for some miracle to save the soul of our people and our country.  

- Rahul 

Nature: Sun under clouds

 

(C) Rahul

Muzaffarpur, Bihar

Nice shopkeepers

I went to buy some cloth in a shop for the first time. In fact, I had searched on the internet to find where "Only Vimal" brand of fabric was being sold, since few months ago it had occurred to me that I had not seen it anywhere for long time. Like most people of our time, I had grown into habit of buying 'readymade' shirts until few years ago I saw how my father still got his shirts stitched by a tailor in our hometown, and hence I had started the same practice too. Vimal brand is owned by Reliance and since I am a huge enthusiast for Indian brands and Indian businesses, for few months I have been looking for opportunity to buy a Vimal brand fabric.

Most of such businesses in our hometown are owned by Marwaris and it is possible that the new shop I went to was also owned by one. The experience I got there touched me a lot. 

I was greeted by an elderly person, who seemed the owner of the shop. The shop was very well maintained. There was another boy along with the man who seemed like his son. Both the man and the boy were very polite and talked to me in such a nice way. There was not even an iota of negativity in them or their behaviour. 

Usually I make very quick decisions while shopping and hence I was done in 5-10 minutes, but the elderly shop owner showed me some extra material too. I liked whatever he showed, although I bought only what I had gone there for. 

After coming out of the shop, the extremely nice behaviour of both of the shopkeepers touched me a lot. I don't know when was the last time anyone talked to me so nicely like they had done. It would be a tragedy if politeness and nice behaviour are restricted to salesmen or businessmen in our society. 

Still feeling touched by the behaviour of two gentlemen. 

- Rahul 

Why I shall never buy an iPhone

I have never had an iPhone. I have used Android based phones whole life, e.g. Samsung/Nokia brands which are made in India. I have liked every phone I had, but then it is more about me than the phones, since by nature I find reasons to like most of the things or places or people I come across. And I have made it a point that I have never bought a Chinese brand phone despite knowing that they offered better features at lesser price. 

I have been aware that iPhones are built better, since a few times I have seen it with colleagues. And I have also wished to buy one for a time period and seriously considered buying one for several months. The high prices of these phones always bothered me, though my juniors in office earning 1/3 of my salary had iPhones. Buying an exorbitantly priced  iPhone felt like buying a sinful product. 

After a while, the iPhone makers made my task so much easier by hiking its price to even more exorbitantly. Thereafter, I have never wished or planned to buy an iPhone and probably never will. 

I think no one should buy an exorbitantly priced product just because it is used as "status symbol". Chasing status is a losing game and only the billionaires running these companies win if we do so. There is no reason we should buy something which is priced 100 times its intrinsic value. Every finance class will teach you the same lesson. 

People who buy iPhones may be doing it for any reason, but none of those reasons can be qualified as a wise one. Unless you are in such a profession where you need to be on iPhone in order to access a system which is accessible only on iPhones, you need not justify wasting money over it. The same is also true for few exorbitantly priced phones and other gadgets from other companies. 

Always try to be 'money wise'.

- Rahul 

 

Existential crisis: From futility of life to futility of death

I am not alone who has often thought about futility of life and struggled to see proof that God sent us here with a purpose. I have read similar thoughts from many others, and I think this is all part of our growing up psychology. But at the same time, we can't deny merit in the pertinent question. 

After many years passed, now I have even gone one step ahead and started wondering about futility of death. At this moment, I have not read this from anyone else, so I think this is a novel idea that occurred to me.  

What I am thinking is that as people or society, we have given too much importance to the idea of death. It is hyped, glamourised, demonised, all depending on the place, context or the demands of the time. In reality, death is nothing in itself. 

I think death is just a writing on the wall and while we can see the wall, we can't see what is beyond it, which makes us curious and make us assume things about it. In reality, we do not know anything about the other side of the wall and as I read somewhere that the Vedas tell that we as humans cannot even understand it fully.

I am not even sure if giving so much importance to this matter of death is worth it. Most likely, it is totally not worth it. One fine day, I shall vanish into thin air, and what is good or bad about it? From futility of life to futility of death, the thought process has come full circle. And I am not sure whether to be happy or sad about it, since if we do not have some existential things to worry about; what are we going to worry about? 

- Rahul 

Nature: Indra Dhanush (Rainbow), Muzaffarpur, Bihar

 

(C) Rahul 

The world post Covid crisis: the joke was on us

During Covid crisis (due to 'Chinese virus'), our dear PM Modi used to make many speeches on TV. I remember one of his statements which stuck with me afterwards, where he said that world history would be divided into two parts: pre-Covid and post-Covid. He said the way our world worked would change so much drastically after Covid crisis, and many of those changes would be permanent. After 6 years since the crisis, this statement looks so much misplaced. Nothing changed in post-Covid world. 

Nothing changed in post-Covid world and we were able to know this even after 1.5 years since the crisis. People continued to be good, bad or evil. Companies continued to be exploitative, generous or indifferent. Society continued to be as it were before Covid crisis. Even the types of crimes or incidents reported in newspapers have been exactly the same. What really changed? 

I can't even start to suggest that even a few things changed. The much hyped digital transformation was going on even before Covid crisis. Ignoring the two year period immediately after the crisis, its pace adjusted and now after 6 years from the crisis, the law of averages took over completely and we can't even say anything forced caused digital rapid adoption over a long time horizon. 

PM Modi was not the only one proven wrong about our world. Most of the optimists have been on the same boat. 

I have read spiritual masters, philosophers, or many great successful men; they all have been proven wrong by our world. 

Hoping that optimism does not vanish from the lexicon very soon and God leaves some hope on the table for the 'optimists' to survive.  

- Rahul 

The rotten fish theory

In my childhood, there was a teacher whom we called NK Sir, who used to repeat one sentence quite often, saying, "one rotten fish spoils the whole pond" while pointing towards some bad students in the class. I wonder how people forget most of such lessons while or after growing up. In every big family, in most neighbourhoods or housing societies, or even in professional teams at work, often there would be one person who would be the bad influence, who either in order to hide attention from his own incompetence or inferiorities, would be plotting all the time against the best of the people. 

I think the best way to deal with such people is to identify and isolate them as soon as possible. The longer we tolerate them, the more damage they would do. In the setting of families, such bad apples may try to break peace between other couples, break marriages of good people, try to feed children against parents, siblings against others, and so on. In the setting of workplace, such people may encourage good employees to quit jobs or leave, by sharing negative news, or try to defame and dishearten others by making false accusations in front of senior managers. 

It is a shame such bad people are allowed to thrive merely because most other people do not have courage to confront them or to take any action against them. The damage these people do to the other people involved as well as society at large is immense. 

No one can imagine how much in better shape and character our society would be if people knew how to deal with such evil people. And no one realises how even one such bad person can cause trouble for so many other people. 

Hope our society finds strength and courage to deal with bad people in the manner they deserve. 

- Rahul 

Why people don't talk to strangers

After staying in waiting area of a hospital for several days, I realised why generally people in India avoid talking to strangers. Here is how the things unfolded. 

When I started staying there, I did not talk to anyone initially. After around a week, when I went back there after a gap, I noticed that a very obese boy of around 20 had occupied the sofa adjacent to mine. He started by asking a simple question, then about my patient, then started giving me unnecessary but seemingly helpful tips like going out of hospital for lunch in nearby restaurants, or bottled water being sold in hospital at exorbitant rates. And once I was comfortable talking to him, he asked me for my "mobile charger"! I said I had to go away for some work and I would give him my charger afterwards. And I went back to the place only in the evening. As soon as he saw me, he asked for the mobile charger! Annoyed, I told him that I thought he would have asked anyone else for the charger since whole day had passed since he asked me first time in the morning! And what does he reply? He said, "I feel shy asking things from strangers, hence I did no ask anyone else and waited for you". So, I was not a "stranger" for him? I finally gave him my charger only late night and asked it back after 1.5 hours and to my relief, he respectfully complied. Over next several days, I had to give him my mobile charger at least once daily. All because I spoke to him on day-1.

After many days, I was at a different seat and this time two men came. They asked me about what happened to my patient, and I did the mistake of replying to them. Hearing my answer, one of them spoke towards the other, looking at with 'disgust', saying "I told you! Most people come to this hospital with insurance only". He was totally wrong in his assumption, but of course I did not correct him. So, while I had done the mistake of talking to these two men, they tried to extract its price the very next morning. 

Next morning, when I woke up and went to washroom, I noticed that my slippers were looking as if they had moved slightly from their place. I immediately suspected those two men of trying out my slippers. And within 10 minutes, I got the proof. One of them got a phone call and ran towards the exit door, and being suspicious I immediately checked my slippers and they had vanished! Losing no time, I immediately shouted at the man near exit door of the hall asking if he had my slippers and he said yes and he would return those in two minutes. Loudly enough, I said "no, bring my slippers back right now!" And he came back running. I told him that this was not a baraat-ghar where people had come for amusement, and what would I do without slippers or shoe if I was called by the doctors urgently? The two men obviously did not care. 

Afterwards, I felt satisfied and a bit happy at the manner in which I had shouted at (which was out of character for me) the man who had taken my slippers, and had disrupted "the borrowing games". Like when in Rome behave like Romans, when in Patna, at least behave like Patna-people when needed. 

I did not talk to anyone after encounter with above two men and hence I did not face any further borrowing/stealing dilemma. 

Due to above incidents, I realised why many people just don't say even a word to strangers; because they fear the strangers would try to extract benefits out of them later. 

No country for private men. 

- Rahul Tiwary

The Falsehood of Social Service

Long back, when I was working at Infosys, a colleague joined office and he was allocated seat near my cubicle. Those days, employees used to have fixed place to sit and work from, I am sure it is like this for most companies even now, although many IT companies have switched to 'cost saving' by removing physical allocation of cubicle to employees. Due to fixed cubicle, we used to have "neighbours" and got to bond with them. I remember, the new colleague was very obese and had just come to India after working in the USA for many years. When asked, he said he shifted to India to better look after family, although he did not like life and facilities in India as much. He was also upset that some of the promises made to him at the time of joining had not materialised, and he was not even happy with his work because he was given project work in a different area than his core skill. Remembering those days, it feels like very good times, when there were plenty of jobs, plenty of employees and plenty of choices and grievances. 

At that time when the new and 'unhappy' employee started working from the cubicle next to me, there was a donation drive conducted in office to fund some social work. I remember a couple of colleagues visited cubicle-to-cubicle and collected funds. They did not ask for more than Rs 100 and I was happy to contribute the same amount when asked. But the US returned rich but unhappy colleague declined to contribute anything! When asked about the reason, he said something like, "We already pay so much money in taxes to the government, what is the need to also spend money in charity? Why government is not making use of tax money to fund all those social work?" After the contribution seeking volunteers went back disappointed, the particular colleague kept repeating his moral stand of not contributing. 

At that time, I did not understand his motive much. All these years, this incident came to my mind many times and I still did not fully understand his stand. But recently, a thought came to my mind, which made me look at that incident in a whole new light. 

First of all, I don't think the colleague was right in assuming that our social obligations end with paying taxes to government. Paying taxes is not a voluntary act from our side, but it is a statutory requirement which we fulfill without giving a thought, and often to save ourselves from prosecution or penalisation too. I think true charity or social work has to be a voluntary act, where we "choose to help" when we had a "choice not to help". Therefore, his theory and moral stand for not contributing was juvenile at best. 

At the same time, a thought came to me recently about how much role "external validation" plays in the things we do; and why do we think that only helping "strangers" count towards social service. How about a man giving money to an orphanage supporting children, but at the same time not giving time to his own children who keep getting raised without proper love and care of their parents? How about someone making visits to old-age-home and giving financial support to the old people living there, but at the same time one's own old parents are living troubled devoid of love and care by their grownup children? Why is it that giving love and care to one's own family or blood relatives not considered akin to social work? Like it has happened to child-raising where a woman goes to school to take care of other people's children while her own children are also being taken care by others, making a chain of weird "unsocial" relationships; if we stretch this to other spheres of life, the world becomes too gloomy. 

Under light of these thought, I am looking at the behaviour of my old colleague, my own behaviour and work, as well as all the ongoing things around me in a different shade.

What if there is no social brownie points to be earned for doing social work or charity; how many would still choose to do it? And how many of us would understand that prioritizing the welfare of their own family does not make them selfish or bad people? Our own family, children, parents, relatives, they all are part of the "society" we intend to service, and although we shall not get any "certificate of appreciation" for doing something for them, what we do shall still be very valuable. And perhaps irreplaceable.  

Hoping for peace and health of one and all.

- Rahul Tiwary    

Travelogue: Akhadaghat Bridge, Muzaffarpur, Bihar

 

Review: Jio Notebook - 8 Reasons to Buy This Fantastic Small Laptop

I recently bought Jio Notebook, which is a small size laptop with many innovative features. I had read about it for many years, pondered whether to buy it or not for many months and finally went ahead with it. After using it for over a week, I am happy with my decision and hence writing this blog post.

1. Jio Notebook is really economical

Jio laptop is listed on Amazon for only Rs 9999. It is also available on Jio Mart for around Rs 11k and it used to be available earlier on Flipkart too at this price. Along with sellin this laptop for only Rs 10k, Amazon was also offering exchange offer for old laptop and hence I gave away my another small Dell laptop which was 10 year old and had developed fault and was not useful from the start. After exchange offer, I paid only Rs 6500 for Jio Laptop which is unbelievably economical. 

2. You will use most features over browser

Jio laptop has an inbuilt Office suit and hence it does not have Microsoft Office, but you will be able to edit Microsoft Office documents also online over browser. Jio laptop has a separate text processing software if you need to only type and save in laptop.    

3. Battery is really good

Jio Laptop's small screen size and optimized performance means you will be able to use the laptop for several hours without need for charging. The laptop comes with a free charger and it charges it also very fast. 

4. Jio laptop is better than smart phone

If you use your smartphone for most of your work, you will still find Jio laptop as a much better tool. It gives a laptop computer and professional experience, without need to break our eyes and fingers over smartphone screen. You can also avoid screen addition if you use laptop instead of phone.

5. Jio laptop has many Jio tools like Cinema, Games, etc.   

Jio Notebook laptop has many free Jio apps like for watching movies and playing games, etc. I do not use these apps, but these are there and you may find these interesting.

6. Jio laptop comes with free Jio Sim Card but you can SKIP it too

The laptop comes with a free Jio Sim card which you can insert and keep recharging monthly for data. But I just skipped it and used my mobile's hotspot for internet connection and it works fantastic. 

7. Jio laptop has Jio Sphere browser

I have been using Jio Sphere browser on my android phone and now I am using it with Jio laptop also. Jio Sphere browser is much better browser with ad blocker and many other features. 

8. Jio laptop is really light weight

Jio laptop is less than 1 kg in weight which is wonderful to carry. The laptop also has a 'rubber finish" on exterior which prevents accidental falls. 

- Rahul Tiwary

Note: This blogpost is written using Jio Notebook (laptop) over Jio Sphere browser. 

Death of a woman in Madhya Pradesh hospital and excesses done by hospitals

There was a recent news airing on TV which caught my attention. A woman admitted to hospital for child delivery died after accusing the hospital staff of threatening of killing her. Even her baby died. The TV channel showed a video where the woman was shouting for help and within few hours both she and the child were dead. It was shocking and a question would come to the mind of all viewers whether her accusations were true. 

Until a few months ago, I would have found it difficult to believe, but not any more. I witnessed a horrible incident in one of the best known hospitals where, when an old person removed cannula attached to his hand due to pain and irritation, the hospital staff threatened him with "tying his hands and legs" if he did it again. When patient was admitted to Emergency ward, attendant is not allowed to stay with the patient for a long duration and hence hospital staff sent the attendant away. After an hour when the attendant comes back, he sees the patient lying with splash of blood lying all around, all clothes, bedsheets, etc had blood, perhaps half a cup blood was wasted and blood was constantly coming out of cannula on his hand. Even the medicine which was supposed to be given to the patient with water, was lying on he floor. When he looked around to see what nurses and doctors were doing, he saw that all were busy on their "smart phones", paying no attention to his patient. When he asked a junior doctor to help, he sent a male nurse who instead of feeling sorry, got angry at the patient and have him warning against doing again and forced the attendant to sign a "consent" to tie up the patient if he does it again! So much in the name of wellness and healthcare. 

In newspapers, I have seen news where doctors of government hospital ask for monetary bribe from patient for doing surgery. And of course government hospital staff ask for bribe at every steps and also mistreat patients if they do not comply. 

On the other hand, we also see news of doctors being beaten up by families of patients, and while whole society's sympathy is with doctors on this matter, I am beginning to get a sense of why many times such violence take place in the first place. We never see nurses and other staff being beaten up, because perhaps they put whole blame on doctors.   

It is sad to realise that despite so much progress in all fields, healthcare in India is still substandard and coping up under huge crowd of patients as well as marred by mismanagement by the hospital staff. While PM Modi's vision to make India a developed country by 2047 is being realised at a fast pace, his own policy of providing free mediclaim to the poor and old people (Ayushman Yojna) has caused severe crowding of even the best of hospitals, bringing down their quality of healthcare. 

There are no easy solutions to this problem, but government should take note of all such incidents being reported by patients and bring such hospitals to the task, so that these do not repeat. Patients and their family are already suffering due to illness, and if hospital staff carry out atrocities over them, it is double tragedy. 

Hope government works hard to bring quality healthcare to the people of our country. 

- Rahul 

Hindu Temple: Arya Samaj Mandir, Muzaffarpur, Bihar

 

Travelogue: Sahu Misthan Bhandar, Bhagwanpur, near Muzaffarpur, Bihar

 

Travelogue: Medanta Hospital, Patna, Bihar

 

Nature: Moon With Star in Evening Sky, Muzaffarpur, Bihar

 

(C) Rahul 

Nature: Insect with leaf like wings

 

Hindu Temple: Baba Dudhnath Dham Mandir, Chhapra Megh, Muzaffarpur

Travelogue: Baby Krishna With a Bicycle

While going from city towards the outskirts on my bike, first I came across a man of around 20 who was speeding on his Bullet (Royal Enfield) bike in such a manner that there was almost a certainty of an accident. He was of course not even wearing a helmet. Afterwards, when I entered into major inter-city road, I came across a boy of about five who was running on the road holding a children's bicycle beyond his age. 

The boy was brown skinned, his long hair reaching shoulders had turned golden due to sun exposure, and he must belong to one of the vegabond families who live besides highways in tents. He was healthy, fit and fine and was running very fast while holding the bicycle which was of height more than his own. He was about two feet on the main road and I realized it was dangerous of him to run like that. 

Correlating the kid and the man, dont't know what is the relation between male genes and a propensity to run high-speed and flirt with danger. 

Coming back to the kid, the scene of the baby boy running with his bicycle was so heartwarming that my heart skipped several beats. I also noticed that a woman walking on the other side of the road was starring at the boy, in a gaze of concern. The boy was clearly taking risk running on a main road like this, and I only imagined his family living very near besides the road, although I could not notice any dwellings nearby. 

I am aware of sometime that boys of such age always secretely remind me of my son, and hence as I moved past the boy, I could not stop but getting too teary eyed. Now it was my turn to play with danger if I continued like that while riding a bike, and hence I swallowed all my tears with my eyes. Like Shiva, the ultimate God consumed poison to save the world, absorbing all the tears back into my eyes is a little sacrifice I can do, to save the status quo. 

On my return trip, the boy was not to be seen anywhere. Perhaps he had returned safely to his road-side home. The little Krishna had finished his leela for today and might continue tomorrow. 

- Rahul 

Travelogue: Nitishwar Mahavidyalay (College), Muzaffarpur, Bihar

 

Travelogue: PJP Cinemas, P&M Mall, Mithanpura, Muzaffarpur, Bihar

 

Travelogue: Aquarium Inside Ramakrishna Vivekananda Ashram, Muzaffarpur, Bihar

 

Hindu Temple: Ganesh Mandir, P&M Mall, Mithanpura, Muzaffarpur, Bihar

 

Travelogue: P&M Mall, Mithanpura, Muzaffarpur, Bihar

 

Hindu Temple: Shri Ramakrishna Vivekanand Ashram, Mithanpura, Muzaffarpur, Bihar

 

Nature: Mango and Jackfruit Trees in Muzaffarpur, Bihar

 

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