I visited this amazing Ram Mandir in Chinchwad, Pune:
The temple appears to be made of gold. It shines and shines and one can simply get mesmerized. When I went inside, a group of women were singing bhajans and it had amazing atmosphere. The deity is in the form of Ram Darbar, i.e. consists of Lord Ram, Goddess Sita, Lakshman ji and Lord Hanuman.
If you are visiting anywhere nearby, it is my recommendation to visit this temple too. You can find it on Google Maps here.
Below pictures show a splendid sculpture of the Chapekar Brothers from Pune who gave up their life fighting the British:
If you are not from Pune/Maharashtra you might not have heard about these legendary brothers.
The Chapekar brothers, Damodar Hari Chapekar (1870–1898), Balkrishna Hari Chapekar (1873–1899) and Vasudeo Hari Chapekar (1879–1899), were Indian revolutionaries involved in the assassination of W. C. Rand, the British plague commissioner of Pune.
Chapekar family came from a traditional Maharashtrian Brahmin family and were rich and influential once in the past. Later the family had turned into poverty.
Chapekar brothers were ardent followers of Bal Gangadhar Tilak and influenced by his hardliner and nationalist thoughts. Bal Gangadhar Tilak is an icon amongst Indian freedom fighters and is also considered "Father of Indian Unrest" against the British rule over India. Many also consider Tilak as one of the original 'Hindu Nationalists'. Influenced by Tilak's ideals and in attempt to make true his visons, Chapekar brothers founded a secret organization called "Binashi Samity" in Pune.
When there was a Plague outbreak in Pune, in the late 1896; part of the "global Third plague pandemic". A Special Plague Committee was formed by the British under the chairmanship of Walter Charles Rand, a Civil Services officer. Mr. Rand, the "Plague Commissioner" and Lieutenat Ayerst treated Indian patients ruthlessly in the pretext of preventing the plague epidemic and were detested by local population. Stories of their atrocities on Indian population were commonly known. Chapekar brothers were enraged and thought to eliminate the two British officers as a lesson to the British.
Chapekar brothers shot Mr. Rand and Mr. Ayerst dead. this was perhaps one of the first such assassinations.
The British police got hold of Chapekar brothers and hanged them till death. The selfless and defiant sacrifice of Chapekar brothers helped spread the revolutionary spirit all across Maharashtra. Reference
Where else can we find examples of such brave revolutionary brothers who gave up their lives for their motherland?
Chapekar Wada or Chapekar House:
The house of Chapekar brothers still exist today; called Chapekar Wada; in the same Chinchwad locality. I visited this wonderful house which is now converted into a museum:
Entry to this museum is free
I could simply walk into the main door
The view the house is amazing
It was indeed a wonderful visit to pay tributes to the great Indian revolutionary brothers...
I have prepared a video with pictures of Buddha Smriti Park or Buddha Memorial Park in Patna.
The park is situated at Frazer Road, very near to Patna Junction Railway station. This park was inaugurated by Dalai Lama. It is a very beautiful park and inside it I got similar feeling as I got in park around Lotus Temple, Delhi.
The park also has preserved remains of historical Bankipur Jail (picture posted below).
Several states have banned single use plastic and plastic carry-bags in India. The change is obvious in these places. Plastic use is now very less and people have started using paper, clothes and jute bags instead of plastic carry bags. But this good development has potential to create a new problem - increase in paper consumption would mean more trees being cut for increased paper production!
Domestic paper consumption has been increasing in India. As this article from CARE Ratings published on 12th Feb, 2018 tells, the domestic demand in India grew from 9.3 million tonnes in FY08 to 15.3 million tonnes in FY16 at a CAGR of 6.4%. But this plastic bag ban is a game changer - this would definitely lead to increase in per capita paper consumption; which may be good for paper industry in India but not for the environment.
According to references, 1 carton (10 reams) of 100% virgin copier paper uses 0.6 trees (Ref). According to this Quora thread, "each ton of recycled paper saves 17 trees and a multitude of other resources such as oil, water, landfill space and the energy used to produce paper. The average person in the United States uses approximately seven trees per year in various paper products, totaling 2,000,000,000 trees per year."
Another report from the USA tells, "The United States produced about 20,700,000 tons of this paper last year, which by my reckoning (see below) takes 55 to 110 million trees, but we only recycle about 11,000,000 tons, or 53 percent, according to those who should know: the American Forest and Paper Association."
The solution to this threat is to re-use paper to the extent possible before throwing, and to recycle more paper than we are doing now.
If we re-use and recycle more then this will reduce the harmful effect of increased paper consumption due to plastic-ban.
Someone has made this amazing video clip of a Shivshahi Bus going in the background while an idol of Chhatrapati Shivaji can be seen inside the traveling car:
Shivshahi bus is launched by Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) and you can check more details and features about this very good bus service at this website: http://www.shivshahibus.in/
In his recent visit to Jammu & Kashmir, Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi has posted two amazing pictures, one of iconic Dal Lake and the second of Leh and Ladakh:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Dal Lake, Srinagar
These pictures once again remind us of the natural beauty of this earth and the blessing India has got. After all, Kashmir is called Switzerland of India.
Once upon a time, Kashmir was a major tourism destination for domestic Indian tourists. But along with rise in Pakistan supported militancy, gradually tourism declined and now if anyone plans a domestic tour, Kashmir does not most likely come in the mind at first. Thanks to the Prime Minister, we are reminded once again of its beauty.
The number of domestic and foreign tourists visiting Jammu and Kashmir in 2016 were 94.15 lakh and 62,000 respectively, registering a positive growth of 2.95 per cent and 7.92 per cent, respectively over 2015 (Source). Tourism is a major source of income for Kashmir. Looking at tourist inflow data, it seems even foreign tourists are not flocking in in large numbers. We need to create more awareness among tourists, since not all places in Jammu & Kashmir are impacted by terrorism. Also, the local population has to keep a positive mindset. If they continue to pelt stones at Indian Army men in exchange for a Rs 500 note from the pro-Pakistan militant groups, it won't help their state.
Let us hope that tourism booms in Jammu and Kashmir once again and very soon.
It seems there is some confusing about finding the option to delete one's Facebook account; since the menu path does not show it at all. In order to delete your Facebook account, you can go to below link:
If you want you can only deactivate the account instead of deleting it; or else choose permanent deletion. Many users deactivate their account fearing loss of data and connections in case of permanent deletion; but end up remaining 'enslaved' to Facebook since they tend to return back and log in again after a few days/weeks. Hence, ponder over pros and cons of permanent deletion, take necessary backup beforehand and then make your final decision of deleting the account.
Remaining logged into Facebook and its excessive usage has taken a toll on many people's mental and personal wellness. And the recent privacy concerns and instances of users data being sold to third party apps and businesses for making commercial gains has dinned the credibility of Facebook a lot. This is why #Delete Facebook is a live and progressing trend on Twitter for long.
I watched a documentary on National Geographic on Pablo Escobar, a drug-lord from Colombia in the Investigates series. There are several such videos on YouTube and I am not able to locate the exact one which I watched on TV, but here is one pretty close and may be even better:
Nat Geo Investigates: Hunting Pablo Escobar
Nat Geo website mentions: "In the cocaine capital of the world, violence is the law. One man, more than any other, holds the country in a bloody death grip Pablo Escobar, the worlds most notorious drug-baron. With US support Colombias President fights back, but Escobar is too strong. In a desperate bid to bring peace, the President resorts to offering a tempting deal if the drug-lord serves just a few years, hell emerge with a clean slate. Escobar surrenders, but his luxurious prison offers him a safe place to keep running his business as usual, and even commit murder. When the government decides to act, after a year of humiliation, Escobar simply walks past the guards and disappears. An elite Colombian force, backed by top-secret US military technology, finally get their man following one of the biggest manhunts in history."
After watching the documentary, the most interesting thing I could notice was the state of total "defiance" in Pablo Escobar. He did not fear the cops, he did not fear the government, he did not fear the President of the country and he did not even fear the American troops who went down there to eliminate him. I wonder how could be have such kind of absolute defiance and fearlessness in him.
Another interesting aspect was how Pablo helped his local community and supported the poor and needy people in the time of their need. Pablo was also a "family man" and he loved his family immensely; including his wife, children and his sister. Since he loved his family too much, government tried to use that against him and indeed in the end his weakness for his family was exploited in tracking him down and killing him.
I watched that in the end, the police and armed forces were able to track him down by putting a "trap" for him by forcing him to call up his son and his family who were kept captives by the police. He talked to his son for a long time over phone, answering questions which were supposed to go to the press; without a hint that due to the phone call he was being tracked down by the police. I don't think there was something wrong in it, may be even from ethical point of view, if I think of the menace he had become and the number of lives lost due to his bombings and shootings.
Still, as the documentary showed in the end; when Pablo Escobar was killed, his rival groups soon took up the position vacated by his group and Colombia still produced 75% of coke supplied illegally into the US. Then the question rises that what was really gained by killing him? It tells that often the war is too difficult to be won and the only consolation is the occasional small battles that can be won.
