With the million-dollar message of “You Live Only Once” Yamdude reminds you that as your life is running out really fast, you have very less time to make the most of it. Imagine! The God of Death giving you tips on how to live life completely so that you take back the best experiences with you. With the best bargains on mobiles, apparels, perfumes, jewellery, beauty care on Snapdeal, why go anywhere else?

The recent TV advertisements narrate the adventures of Yamdude. Where in the first ad, he takes Snapdeal vouchers from a skydiver in exchange of his life and avails them himself , in the second, while waiting for the walkers to fall in the manhole and die, he is making the most of his time by looking for deals on Snapdeal! (Also see, Hell and Hospital ads)

Follow this ‘suppa’ cool dude on Facebook and Twitter and you will learn about his amazing adventures across cities. His tweets are loaded with jokes and insights which give you the best teachings of life. Sample this, “Q: What does God say when he is surprised? Ans: Oh My Rajnikanth!”. lol

So if Yamdude has ♥ turned you on ♥ already , just say Yamdude rocks!!!

But have we won this war against corruption?

There are too many roadblocks in the way of the much coveted Lokpal Bill. Will the Parliament pass it? Will it ever come under force? Will it be able to deter the culprits? These are the questions that are hovering the minds of the people who began this revolution and have stood in its support throughout.

What is unfortunate is the condition of the Indian political system. There are some senior politicians who have been encouraging corruption either directly or indirectly and do not want to put an end to it. Why will they? After all, they have their vested interests to satisfy with the money of scams.

The fight against corruption and the revolution in favour of the Lokpal Bill should never end until we reach the goal. After all, who knows better than we Indians how much we have suffered due to corruption. It has dented the infrastructure of the nation and has badly affected our routine lives.

Anna Hazare has given us the power to recognize the revolutionaries in ourselves.

Will love to share these lines here –

Ho gayi hai peer parvat si pighalni chahiye,
is himalay se koi ganga nikalni chahiye,
aaj yah deewar, pardo ki tarah hilne lagi,
shart thi lekin ki ye buniyad hilni chahiye,
har sadak par, har gali me, har nagar har gaav me,
hath lahrate hue har lash chalni chahiye,
sirf humgama khada karna mera maksad nahi,
meri koshis hai ki ye surat badalni chahiye,
mere seene me nahi to tere seene me sahi,
ho kahi b aag lekin aag jalni chahiye aur…
Kon kahta hai ki “AASMA” me surakh ho nahi sakta,
ek pathar to tabiyat se uchalo yaaro….

Read:

What is the Jan Lokpal Bill, why it’s important
What India MUST do to reduce corruption
‘Efforts underway to delay Lok Pal bill’

I would not say that the criticism of the Games is unnecessary. There HAVE BEEN cases of corruption which should be probed and indeed should not be overlooked. But at the same time, we should not see the media and the critics of the Games as unpatriotic people who are out to boo the country and its ability to organise an international event.

Neither am I someone like Mani Shankar Aiyar who will be happy to see the Games as a flop show and even claims to be out of the country during the Games.

All I want to ask those who have been criticising the media for its coverage of the preparation of Games and the critics for their comments, is — are they confident that the Games’ preparation is going as it should have been? Can they answer this honestly?

Let us see here what provokes the media and the critics and the general public to doubt the games preparations—

First and worst to mention are the corruption charges on the CWG Organising Committee. The main aids of CWGOC head Suresh Kalmadi were fired after corruption charges. The money of the exchequer, which was meant to be spent intelligently for the successful organizing of the Games, was allegedly well stuffed into the pockets of the Games. If the OC is not to be blamed then why the files of records are now going missing (Read this) and why are they trying to delay the probe by sitting on the CVC queries (Read this).

Next, the maintenance work of the stadiums or of the city by the civic agencies, especially NDMC was started late and was done in such a slow pace that at most of the places, it is STILL not complete. The main venue of the Games, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, has just become ready and at most of the other fronts, the work is still going on (Read this). Is this how you plan to organise an international event? Why to kill the messenger for reporting the truth? The authorities should know for their General Knowledge how early Melbourne was ready to hold the event in 2006 and how they gave their players the advantage of playing at home ground.

The other stadium, Shivaji stadium, which was being built by New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) as a practice venue for athletes, who are expected to start arriving in Delhi from September 23, is now officially not going to make it to Games. It is out of the list of the stadiums altogether. Other than that, the work at the stadium, which now scheduled to be over by November, is causing numerous problems for the public. As the stadium road is the main way for the people coming through Connaught Place to go towards North Delhi, it is taken by thousands of commuters daily. But the badly dug up congested road is not in the shape to accommodate the vehicles. The big potholes are the real menace. The over-stretched Delhi monsoon has made things even worse. The recently renovated Shivaji terminal is also dug up to give space to the stadium, hence escalating the woes of the bus commuters. And now as the work has become uncontrollable for the NDMC, there is hardly any hope of things becoming better any time soon.

Most heart-breaking is to talk about the mess in Connaught Place. This blogger reported on July 26, 2009 the states of affairs of this posh market of New Delhi and promised that if the market will get a nice facelift, it will be reported here (Read this). But there is still a long wait for the opportunity. The work is still going on! With just a few weeks to the event, all that the NDMC officials have to say is that the work will be completed in just a few days more. Some of the subways, they claim, will not be able to make it and propose to just cover them up during the Games (Read this). What the public fails to understand is that after taking more than a year in the renovation work, all we have is “Work Under Progress” signs. The CWG Organising Committee even organised the Cyclathon event, touted as a trial of Games, in the CP rubble. They were not ashamed doing this, but we certainly are (Read this). At the least, should one not ask for the resignation of the NDMC head?

With having just a few weeks to CWG, there are calls by several people that we should forget the past and work towards the future for the successful Games. The players are saying that forget the preparations, we should concentrate on the number of medals that we can fetch. Even CWG brand ambassador badminton star Saina Nehwal had to retract on her statement that Delhi is not ready for Games. All that is fair. On the other side, I too believe that the controversy should not have been there altogether before the Games. Only if the authorities had done their jobs better.

Let’s become forward-looking. Let us hope that the entire let over work will be completed in the coming weeks. There are positive reports coming about the Games as well to uplift the mood. It is good to hear about the international-level shooting and swimming stadiums, which are allegedly better than what Melbourne and China had.

The rest of the dirty linen should be washed after the Games.

And…life has changed.

That includes – your geographical location, your mental situation, your physical condition and even your bank a/c. If you have heard several times that getting married is like having another birth, the statement is no exaggeration.

I will not comment what changes you face as a man after marriage (though experiences are invited), as a woman, I will say my world has changed.

To begin with, my looks have changed, people say. The lady guard at my office who used to greet me daily while entry and exit, refused to recognise me the day I joined after marriage break. To my shock, she even asked for my I-card.

Since then I am meeting old acquaintances at office who would look at me, pause for a moment, think and then extend their hand towards me in surprise, saying “Oh, this is you. I was wondering. You have changed a lot.” I don’t know this change that much because externally, I find the same me in the mirror, day after day.

As a woman, I have changed, absolutely.  Now, I am the manager of a family now. I am a working woman who is also a housekeeper. All the things won which I used to rely on my mother for all these years, I have to do all of them myself, or have to ask my husband for them. A small example, earlier if I wanted to eat a special dish one day, I just had to request my mum for it and there it was. But now, craving for a special dish comes with a planning package. First find out if you have all the raw materials in your kitchen or not and then you find out time from your busy schedule to make it. A lot has changed.

Expenses were limitless earlier. You like a thing, just buy it. But now, you calculate its worth versus the money you are going to spent it. No matter how much you earn, your priorities change. Now, you also want to save a sizeable amount for your future. Being a person who plans a lot, I have already started worrying how I am going to pay for my kid’s studies. Too far, too soon .

In case, you misjudged that I am cribbing, let me say that marriage gifts you a lot of  positive things  also.

Not opting to discuss my romantic life in public, marriage is a union of souls. You get a reaon to live, you get some one to care and get someone to care about you. You share space, love, food, television, bathroom, money and chocolates. It is so much fun.

With marriage your life takes a leap, and it is all worth to enjoy.

6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne

8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell

9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis

10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë

11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller

12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë

13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks

14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier

15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger

16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame

17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens

18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott

19. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres

20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy

21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell

22. Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling

23. Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, JK Rowling

24. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban, JK Rowling

25. The Hobbit, JRR Tolkien

26. Tess Of The D’Urbervilles, Thomas Hardy

27. Middlemarch, George Eliot

28. A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving

29. The Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck

30. Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

31. The Story Of Tracy Beaker, Jacqueline Wilson

32. One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez

33. The Pillars Of The Earth, Ken Follett

34. David Copperfield, Charles Dickens

35. Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl

36. Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson

37. A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute

38. Persuasion, Jane Austen

39. Dune, Frank Herbert

40. Emma, Jane Austen

41. Anne Of Green Gables, LM Montgomery

42. Watership Down, Richard Adams

43. The Great Gatsby, F Scott Fitzgerald

44. The Count Of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas

45. Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh

46. Animal Farm, George Orwell

47. A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens

48. Far From The Madding Crowd, Thomas Hardy

49. Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian

50. The Shell Seekers, Rosamunde Pilcher

51. The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett

52. Of Mice And Men, John Steinbeck

53. The Stand, Stephen King

54. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy

55. A Suitable Boy, Vikram Seth

56. The BFG, Roald Dahl

57. Swallows And Amazons, Arthur Ransome

58. Black Beauty, Anna Sewell

59. Artemis Fowl, Eoin Colfer

60. Crime And Punishment, Fyodor Dostoyevsky

61. Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman

62. Memoirs Of A Geisha, Arthur Golden

63. A Tale Of Two Cities, Charles Dickens

64. The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCollough

65. Mort, Terry Pratchett

66. The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton

67. The Magus, John Fowles

68. Good Omens, Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman

69. Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett

70. Lord Of The Flies, William Golding

71. Perfume, Patrick Süskind

72. The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell

73. Night Watch, Terry Pratchett

74. Matilda, Roald Dahl

75. Bridget Jones’s Diary, Helen Fielding

76. The Secret History, Donna Tartt

77. The Woman In White, Wilkie Collins

78. Ulysses, James Joyce

79. Bleak House, Charles Dickens

80. Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson

81. The Twits, Roald Dahl

82. I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith

83. Holes, Louis Sachar

84. Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake

85. The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy

86. Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson

87. Brave New World, Aldous Huxley

88. Cold Comfort Farm, Stella Gibbons

89. Magician, Raymond E Feist

90. On The Road, Jack Kerouac

91. The Godfather, Mario Puzo

92. The Clan Of The Cave Bear, Jean M Auel

93. The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett

94. The Alchemist, Paulo Coelho

95. Katherine, Anya Seton

96. Kane And Abel, Jeffrey Archer

97. Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez

98. Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson

99. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot

100. Midnight’s Children, Salman Rushdie

The credit for this adventure goes to my father who got nice LTC packages to fulfill our travel wishes. The other thing I got from my father is intricate planning of the tour. Just after we thought of a travel destination to booking the tickets, we spent hours on research and planning of the tour.

Maps used to be spread on the tabled and we used to draw tentative trails by pencil, bringing in all the popular destinations. And trust me, those hours that we spent on the research was always fruitful and a good investment. It always paid when we visited all the highlights of the destination on time and had a good mix of adventure, rest and rejuvenation.

Having this habit in me, I always plan before I travel.

This is the era of great advertising of tour packages on newspaper and Internet. The newspaper page full of advertisements speaking about Goa tours, Manali tours and even Europe, Australia and Singapore etc, must be enthralling you. And so would be the Internet websites that promise cheapest hotel deals, airfare and more discount if you book both of them together.

Sample this: Three nights and four-day package to Goa—stay in a three star hotel, inclusive of airfare, all meals and sightseeing. For a hefty amount and that too on per person basis. Such a package might be promising life to you. But wait! Start research and plan it yourself.

Planning for my holiday in Goa, I was amazed to see that for a three star hotel, a popular travel company was charging Rs 20000 per person – including air fare, accommodation, all meals. While, when I spent Rs 11000 on my flights and Rs 12000 for an all-inclusive hotel package for two. Calculate it – it adds up to Rs 22000, vis-à-vis the Rs 40,000. That’s beyond insanity.

If you are decided about the destination and you want to have it all by spending wise money, you can achieve your goals by planning in advance a little.

Plan for your holiday in November way before in March. (It is not that difficult. Offices welcome it when the employees tell them about their leaves in advance) Book your air tickets at least four to five months in advance. Trust me there is a difference of double amount.

For hotels, just compare the packages on hotels websites from what you get on the famous private tour operator’s website. Again, you would find the former ones at least in 20% discount. And if not that, you would be getting all meals option or any similar one there which these private agents would simply eat up!

Planning in advance does not just have the intention to save money but that the money should be spent wisely and for things that you really want to do. You can enjoy eating out in luxury restaurants, do adventure activities and go shaking in disc — without taxing your pocket more. It’s just about being practical.

I boarded a Volvo bus on Saturday evening from Connaught Place, Delhi, with my four family members and began journey to Katra. Located near Jammu, Katra is the last destination in the plains before the pilgrims begin their journey through mountains to the temple.

The journey began through the winding roads of New Delhi and eventually, out of traffic, bus started rolling at a fast speed on the NH 1 highway. The driver first stopped, before Panipat, for some refreshments; then hours after crossing Kurukshetra for dinner and then during midnight, especially for the people who wanted to attend nature’s call or tobacco call or the calls of their little ones for milk, water or cold drinks.

Throughout most of the night, I was listening to MP3 songs, as there wasn’t much I could do during the night, no sightseeing. The Volvo wasn’t comfortable for me, a person of moderate height, as I could not touch the ground through my feet and thus the poor things were hanging mid way, causing me great unrest. When I fell asleep, I can’t say.

I woke up Sunday morning. It was 6 AM. The bus was moving slowly through a village. We were about to enter J&K. Just after a while, the bus stopped near a border post. The driver went to get clearance and we got time for morning activities.

It was a beautiful morning, quite refreshing. A city monger got a break in the serene, natural village environment…how good else it could be? We had a breakfast of tea and biscuits and again boarded the bus to resume journey to Katra.

We reached Katra around 10 o’ clock. The driving time between Katra and jammu is not more than one-and-a-half hour. All of us were excited. I started recalling the places I saw thirteen years back when I was exactly the same age. It was fun. Because by then we had not realised a taxing task we had to do.

The whole system of darshan in the temple has changed. Now, you need a yatri slip to be able to enter the temple. It’s not that you did not require the slip before, but not so many people used to visit the temple, a decade back and getting a slip was easy then. It took us good four hours to obtain a yatri slip after braving heat, hunger, thirst and thousand other contenders. Perhaps, we could easily get the slip form the internet before hand, but then it didn’t occur to us. Nevertheless, we had a slip in our hands after all the inconvenience.

The time we invested or wasted for the slip delayed our programme. There was no question of beginning our journey to the mountains then and there. Everyone was hungry and tired to the verge of collapsing. The immediate thing that we required was a hotel, food and a good amount of sleep!

We booked a room in Hotel Vaishno Devi in Katra, a nice, well-kept hotel that provided us life-saving services, food to make our blood flow and A/c room to make our tired bones come back to action. The commercialisation fact number 1—nearly all the hotels in Katra are air conditioned now. They say that about a decade back you never required a cooler or say a fan in the city. But thanks to global warming, the case is not the same. So many pilgrims come to visit the temple that the city is several times more crowded than it used to be before.

We slept for hours and left the hotel about 7 P.M. we bought a chunni, prasad and chattra to offer the goddess from the local shop. the hotel cab left us near Banganga, the foothill, from where the holy journey to the temple actually begins.  That was an incredible moment. It was a perfect evening twilight that made the place look even more invigorating. The bulbs lit up the hill and I could actually track the roads which will lead me up to the divinity.

I had jitters on the way as i questioned my ability to walk up the mountain. “Will I be able to walk that much,” I asked myself. But then I had to. If you want to achieve something, hard work is the only way…that’s part and parcel.

But the journey was extremely swift for me. We chanted mantras and holy slogans “Jai Mata Di” all the way. I clicked pics, chatted and was too mesmerised with the aura of the place that tiredness was too distant a thought.

A shop enroute to the temple, full of a huge variety of products

The whole route of the journey is marked with lively shops that sell everything you can ask for. Commercialisation fact number 2: the shops here sell a plethora of products for the pleasures of the pilgrims to basically enliven their spirits to resume their tedious journey. You can get everything from chips, to biscuits to juices, to the old-fashioned camera rolls, studios for those particular poses, clothes, toys, and what more than a steaming hot cup from Cafe Coffee day and a refreshing ice tea from Lipton.

The route of the yatra has become more comfortable for the people. The pathways are equipped with water coolers, shortcut stairs, benches and cemented floors that help your foot in making a grip.

A swanky Cafe Coffee Day outlet enroute to the temple

Commercialisation fact number 3: The yatra has been made quite easy for the pilgrims. You already had horses and palkis to pile on, now the pedestrians have been blessed with a new route, which is not only cleaner, shorter, devoid of horses but is also more on the plain side. It does not make you climb much. And, for those who do not want to do any bit of hard work and are actually in a hurry, a helicopter is at service. Board a helicopter from Katra and you are right there on Sanjhichat, just ten minutes away from the temple in mere nine minutes. A ride that does not even turns out to be a bombshell for your pocket.

A new clean and comfortable path to the temple

The Shrine Board (the organisation that is responsible for the maintenance of the temple) shops serve fresh hot dinner at reasonable prices. A plate of kadi chawal in the sweet chill of the mountains was none less than a divine intervention.

We reached up to the Bhavan (the vicinity of the Vaishno Devi temple) in just four hours. Still unbelievable to me.

We had booked a Shrine Board hotel from Katra. We checked in at around 12:30, refreshed and slept like logs.

The next morning I witnessed a blissful scene that I had missed a night before. The hotel was nestled on the hill just overlooking the Bhavan and the scene was completely mesmerising. It was a divine call for me to head to the temple.

An hour later, I was in the queue of enthusiast pilgrims, chanting the slogans, praising the Goddess. The temple is located just in the bottom of a hill top. The old-style cave does not exist anymore. What you have now is a low height marble passage, which is well-lit and ventilated for the comfort of a swarm of people.

The darshan was fantastic. The priests do not allow you to touch the Goddess and do not give you prasad. You do not get enough time to see her and even make your wish before her. But a mere flash of the deity takes away all your tiredness and justifies all the tiredness of your body.

Commercialisation fact number 4: The shrine Board sells all the offerings to the Goddess in a shop outside the temple. The devotees flock these shops and take home these offerings as a holy remembrance of the Goddess. A win-win situation for both the board and the pilgrims. 

Our next destination was the temple of Bhairon, the demon chasing

The helipad at Sanjhichat

whom the Goddess reached such height. She killed him here and granted him the wish that for thousands of years, after visiting her, devotees will visit him as well.

After the temple of Bhairon, begins the steep slope of the mountain to get down to the plains. Getting down was not easy. I realised that it is just a myth that climbing the mountain is difficult than coming down. Going up was easy for us, but coming down was a huge task in itself.

We covered the half way in the scorching heat and could not take it more. The sunlight and heat had made us sweat a lot and lose our strength to walk. We hired five horses, which helped us to reach Katra by evening. It was 4 PM and our Volvo was scheduled to leave for Delhi in next two hours. So we did not have much time. I bought J&K’s famous walnuts and dry apples to give to my friends back in Delhi as Prasad. Delhi was calling!

“Do you have this?” he asked pointing towards the menu.

“Yes sir,” the waiter said.

“Then, please pack it for me. I want to take it away,” he said.

“How much time you will take?” he asked.

“Just five minutes, sir,” the waiter replied.

“Oh, then that is not much!” he smiled.

Walking towards a chair, he looked at me, I gave a courteous smile and again dropped my head to read the menu, mulling over the beverage to order.

“Hello!” he said to a group of three people (whom I rightly presumed to be father, son and daughter) sitting just next to me. “Are you locals or from any other Indian city?” he asked them.

“No, I am from Pune in Maharashtra,” the man replied.

“Oh, where they are having this H1N1?” he asked smilingly.

The man fumbled, thought for a second and said, “Yes”.

“Then I should better stay away from you,” and he laughingly steeped two steps back from the man. I smiled and so did everyone present there.

“Never mind!” he added and asked, “I am from Canada. So, this your family?”

“Yes I am an advocate in Pune, this is my son who is also an advocate and my daughter studying in college,” the man said.

“Oh! Smart people, really smart! I tell you I have four children. None of them is this smart, but yes they are nice…really nice,” he said dropping down in a chair and keeping his hat on the table.

And, the conversation kicked off, of which I also became a passive part. Enjoying my idly sambhar, it became an interesting past time for me. Banyan Tree’s southern delicacies are a real treat for taste buds. They serve them with fresh chutneys of coconut, pudina, tomato and coriander. Too good to be true!

“Is this your first visit to India?” the girl asked.

“No, no!” his old, round gray eyes flashed, “I was born here in India…in Jhansi. My father, grandfather and great grandfather have all lived here.

This came as a surprise to me and I became more attentive to the conversation.

“I come to India once in an year and go to the graves of my ancestors. But my wife and children do not like to come to India. It’s just me. I now call myself, ‘Jhansi ke kabristan ka chowkidaar’,” he laughed followed by others, including me.

My mind went off to the ancient tales of Jhansi that I heard in childhood, the rani of Jhansi, her valour and struggle against the British, who could be one of our self-presumed chowkidaar’s ancestors.

“Do you like Indian food?” the girl asked him.

“Oh yes, yes,” he exclaimed, “Who would not like Indian food? It is so good and versatile. I especially like the south Indian food.”

I finished my meal lost in the conversation. It was really an idly to remember for a long time.

Delhiites’ shopping delight Connaught Place is also undergoing the same ‘surgical operations’. The white circular building has been covered with sheets and floors are dug up. The authorities say, renovation is going on. CP is getting dressed up for Commonwealth Games 2010. Good. But still, it is a very difficult situation for people like me, who urge for beauty and aestheticism in their surroundings. It is painful for me to look at CP in this shape.
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For one, earlier too it was not state-of-the-art posh market area of Delhi. Its floors were never well-maintained and its ambience was getting marred by traffic inconveniences and growing number of beggars. And now, with this construction work, it has become difficult to even take a walk at CP.

The problem with Indian authorities is that they never concentrate on beauty and better infrastructure of the city. We might be going to the Moon and Bangalore might be getting more work than Buffalo, we still have broken footpaths (a penalty for pedestrians) and we take several years more than China to make sea link bridges!

In India, we have a problem of looking poor. Our past might be rich and colourful, our present is getting dull and grey. We are definitely not that poor a country as we look. Government says that overall poverty is eradicating and per person income rate is increasing, but we still look like a third class city.

We and the authorities are not bothered about this. We overlook, the excessive construction material and litter sprawled all over the roads; we just step aside and go ahead. The posh areas that are usually flocked by the tourists are not kept clean. I would not talk about an interior place of Delhi, but what is being done to keep CP beautiful and clean? I have my workplace near CP and I cross it every day to reach there. I haven’t noticed sweepers cleaning the floors and disposing off the litter. Whether you go there in the evening or at night, you will not find it clean ever. It is the big stores in the inner circle and outer circle that clean their surroundings clean, else, the public area is left only on the mercy of public.

I would like to say here frankly that whenever I see a foreigner roaming on the streets of Delhi, I always try to fit into his or her shoes. What do they think about India, is the question that makes me anxious? My insecurity is not related with the country that we are. But, it is how we look. Presentation is the key. Would you like to eat a dish or wear a dress that does not look good? Then, how can the government think that the foreigners (mostly from the developed countries) would like to visit a city that does not look good.

Ok! Here you would say that construction and renovation is going on in the city and the end product would be appreciable. I admit that. But why does it take so much time? Why does it take an international event for us to think about our city and brace it up? And even when it does, work happens at such a snail pace that it taxes every Delhiite’s patience and aesthetic sense.

And then, whatever gets made up lacks the sense of beauty. What beauty do you find in the silver embryos at the AIIMS flyover transaction? We are not able to make good looking and solid things because there is no coordination between the different departments of the government. The officials do not have the vision that can erect a thing that lasts and attracts people. I have been reading reports of tussle between officials whether they should use granite stone or sandstone for CP? Why can’t there be one department that decides about the look the city should get?

I strongly suggest here that it is high time we have a department of government that thinks only about beauty and aestheticism. We can call it, “The Department for beauty and cleanliness” or in Hindi, it can be named “Saundarya and Swachata mantralaya.” Make a creative person a director of it and give her or him the powers and funds to make Delhi all of us want it to be. We have no dearth of creative people.

Delhi is a beautiful city. My heart reels when i see it in the present shape. Gear up Delhi! In the era of gloablisation, we cannot afford to remain like this. If we have to become the residents of an ‘Incredible’ capital of ‘Incredible India’ there is so much to be done. As the authorities are bracing the city up for 2010, I just hope, I would see a difference perhaps in the next six to ten months.

I promise here if the city gets a face lift, this space would be full of pictures of that good work. My fingers are crossed.

Keep watching this space!

Thousands, dressed in strange clothes with coloured and masked faces, welcomed the court’s decision. They couldn’t stop hugging, kissing each other and shedding the tears of joy. They had a new lease of life. Now, they may not have to remain outcasts in the society. They may not be forced to do, what they really wanted to, secretly.

I am not one of those who support homosexuality. I cannot help it. For me it is against nature, against the rules of the world. But then that does not mean that you do not let it happen for others.

A gay activist celebrates the New Delhi High Court ruling decriminalising gay sex.

I want to tell the VHP, RSS, Bajrang Dal and the likes that criminalising homosexuality is not the just way of dealing with it. You cannot create law for everything. If they believe that it is dangerous for society and is against nature, there are other ways of doing it. They would have to start work from ground level and find out the reasons behind homosexuality–medical or something else. Understand who are they–the people from upper class or middle class, the creative professionals or the introverts.

The 150 years of section 377 of the IPC that criminalised same sex was what we got from Victorian ideology. Some say that before the colonial rule, India was a free country, which never judged its people’s sexual orientations. But the British, who used to snub homosexuality, changed things for us.

It might be true. This makes me remember Ismat Chughtai’s The Quilt, a short story I read in my college text book. (This proves that at least the Delhi University is not die hard against homosexuality). The Quilt or Lihaf is a beautifully written account of homosexuality that was prevalent in the times of kings, queens and nizams. That was my first encounter with that secret culture.

In ancient times, it was practiced secretly. And this is the difference. In the modern world we see the gay pride parades being carried out openly to attract supporters. In India, the homosexuality activists have been pitching to relax laws for themselves.

Critics say that media and bollywood is glamourising gay culture and spreading it. This is something one has to find out. I don’t know whether homosexuality is what you are born with or you adopt it as you grow up because you do not find the right partner in the opposite gender. Is it that for some the opposite sex cannot be trusted and thus they want to be safe in the arms of the one who is like them?

July 2, might be a historic day for the gay community but it is a day of deep brooding for people like me…who are not meant for homosexuality but at the same time have not closed their eyes towards it.

If homosexuality was the normal way, God would have made Adam and Bruce  — Anita Bryant