Refreshing old ties….

On last Tuesday we had alumni meet of Engineering College, Koptown…. (That is Kopargaon). It was a Pleasant surprise when I received a mail from Prof Nagarhalli informing that some of the professors are coming to Bangalore and asked me to meet them. I replied with my mobile number for them.

On Sunday I got call from the team that reached in Bangalore informing about the event planned. It was after long time in fact for the first time after graduation that we were to see the professors…

The main curiosity was about whom all are there in Bangalore from kopargaon…. I knew about presence of only my batch mates that too were 4-5 people only. So we had no idea about how many people we were to see at the event.

We were surprised to see about 20 seniors present and some came with family too. We were the junior most among all those present. We had a formal “Intro” then some small speeches, updates about current developments and activities going on in the college. This was followed by establishment of a small committee for co ordination among all Kopargaon students in Bangalore.

In the end we had dinner together and then dispersed after some time. The event lasted for about 3 hours…

This event gave me some new experiences….
First thing was that I got to know some Kopargaon people in Infy... hitherto unknown to me…

Secondly it was about the change of behaviors towards each other…that is professors and students… because the professors that came were not the ones in student’s favorite list… they were the ones with a “Maarroon thevanaar” reputation during college days…. I m sure the response would have been different during college if someone had asked us to go and meet these people. But here was a different scene.

That was because they had not come as professors but they were representatives of the college… and it was the love for the institution that had brought everyone for the event… even after 13-14 long years…..

Pune Reloaded....

Visited Pune after long time...
Nimitta arthatach Phadanisaanchyaa engagementche.
This city fascinates me. I always enjoy visiting to Pune
especially the expressway :-)

samarambha sandhyaakaalcha hota. mi matraa sakalich punyaat yeun jamel
titakyaa mitraana tond dakhavaaycha vichaar kela.
and finally i landed in pune at around 11 30 am. Nishant laa aadhich sangun thevale hote, so pahila padaav tyaachyaa ghari taklaa. duparche jevan ekatra kele aani mag
tyaachyaa sobat thodi punyaachi chakkar maarli.
ektar he shahar badlatach nahi... kinvaa jar badlat asale tar khoopach halu halu badaltey.

even when i went to developing area like aoundh after almost 2 long years... nothing much has changed... i can't stop compare this with virar where even after a short duration of say 2-3 months i always see too many new developements...

aso, tar aamachyaa bhatakanti mage mukhyaa uddesh hota to mhanje ekhaade chhanse greeting card shodhane. donchaar dukane ulati paalti kelyaavar ek navhe tar don chhaansi greetings sapadali.

Somehow I managed to teach to the Sankalpa mangal karyalay before the function started.
It was a nice short and sweet function. Dinner was really good... (This is very imp. because generally people comment on a function based on food quality)

While returning I traveled with Sachin's family to Mumbai. it was around 1 30 am when we reached near Borivali. There were no hopes of Virar train. So I went to my sister's home... next day evening I was on my way back to current Karmabhoomi....Bangalore...

Short and sweet vacation

The last vacation from 9th to 12th of Dec was the most productive vacation in terms of the number of days and number of activities I performed....

I met a lot of friends...after a long time...

Some pending financial activities...

And most importantly i attended Sachin's engagement ceremony. I think I should write another blog post for the engagement function.

A party from Rupali was a really nice way to start off the vacation…

Keeping up with the old tradition we met after one year. This is something happening ever since we first met almost 4 years ago. We somehow happen to meet only once a year...

We spent an entire evening chatting and roaming around Juhu beach and it really refreshed the ties...

On the very next day we had our yearly "sarvajanik satyanaravyanachi pooja". This too was a really good function from my point of view since I happened to meet so many friends from neighborhood as well as my cousins.

I was almost certain that I was going to miss this pooja this year... But my cousins managed it in such a way that it coincided with this vacation… so this ate up my Saturday.... one more fabulous day…

Sunday was fully devoted to Pune... firstly for meeting old friends and then for the evening ceremony for which I had traveled all the way from Bangalore...

I left early morning for Pune and met Nishant and Prasad... then I attended "The function" and I was so late while returning to Mumbai that I had no train from Borivali to Virar. I had to stay at my sister's home at Kandivali.

From sister's home I returned Monday morning... then I troubled those people at HDFC a little bit... before starting to pack up... Finally in the evening I packed up and left for Bangalore….

Strike of Thunderbolt...

Sachin is getting engaged on coming 11th...

I have been a silent observer to this whole process that extended over a span of few months...
right from thinking about getting married...
till the engagement...

I remember those long discussions on chat debating over what qualities the girl should possess...
right from the looks n figure to the nature n education...

the concept of flowchart... and the finalization and publishing of(among ourselves)...
"Steps to be followed during selection...."
"Remote short listing process" carried out...
Resulting in a "Short list" that is to be checked out....

Talks of a vacation…
That was supposed to be full of "Interviews"....
Wherein I had to Book a time slot in that "busy schedule"...
Just to meet my friend...

But when he landed in Mumbai...

I m observing something else...
The whole plans for that Interview process are gone for a toss....
The process abandoned....
Schedule Discarded....
The interviews are over....
First candidate selected...

For me it appears to be a case of the "Strike of the Thunderbolt"...
Something that happened to Mike Carleone in Sicily... (Refer The Godfather)...
Sometimes ppl call it "Love at first sight"....

Now he seems busy "Mumbai <--> Pune"...
Call from a friend gets cut at 9 00 bcos...
"He is Expecting Someone's call"...

And all of a sudden...
The appointment I had got in this “busy schedulee” has also become
"Subject to availability....”

When I try to find out reasons behind abandoned process....
I got news of "meeting of parents to finalize details"...
And a probable date of engagement....

That date coincides with "Time slot" I got from "his busy schedule"...
The function is at Pune...
It is really good that I will be making a trip to Pune...
And meet some old friends too...

I wonder if this is what happened to plans of such a consistent person....
I would rather not talk about probable fate of mine... :-O

Around Hyderabad in 4 hrs...

While returning from Jeddah on 25th Oct I did not get any Mumbai flight so I had to board on a Hyderabad flight since I was too eager to be at home. So I preferred make an additional trip from Hyderabad to Mumbai instead of waiting for Mumbai flight that was after 2 days. This was going to be my first visit to Hyderabad

As usual the flight was a bit delayed and landed in Hyderabad at 10 30 instead of 9 00... This made me miss the 10 30 flight (which was a remote possibility)... I checked with other airlines counters but no immediate flight... next flight was Indian airlines at 16 00... I booked ticket...

Now i had a million dollar question... what to do for 4 hrs till I check in for Mumbai flight at 15 00? I thought of checking into a hotel and spend some time watching TV etc...So I booked a prepaid auto and headed for a nearby hotel the auto driver knew... but he rates were very high... we checked all nearby hotels but it was all the same...and I was not ready for paying 600-700 rs for a 4 hrs stay.

So i struck a deal with the auto driver... anyway I was to spend 300-400 rs even if i had gone for heaper hotels.. So I asked the autowala to take me around the city…and show some landmarks as well as the marketplace and all for 400 rs.

After i enjoyed the famous Hyderaabadi chicken biryani...We managed to visit a few places like the famous Char Minar.... some lake with a Buddha statue in the middle.... also I visited the Birla temple... and finally we made a trip to high tech city after spending some time just roaming around the city central areas and all...

It was clearly evident that Chandrababu had done a lot for this city... at least the areas that i went around had all good infrastructure of roads flyovers and all...also before landing i could see that the city had a fair presence of greenery. I could not hold from comparing this with the crumbling infrastructure of Bangalore... as well as worst infrastructure of Pune.

I felt really bad when i saw the Char Minar... When we think of Hyderabad the first image that comes into mind is of the Char Minar like we think of Gateway of India for Mumbai or say Red Fort or India Gate for Delhi... but all these monuments are taken care of very well but this char Minar was a sad exception...

Too many names carved on the walls all over....the steps that lead upstairs as well as all the corners were red...testifying the "Paan" culture and the interesting part was that they were charging 100 rs per head for foreign nationals to visit this monument...

The typical south Indian tradition of "Vyakti pooja" was also evident in the form of a lot of statues scattered all over the city...Hyderabad is a Muslim dominated city... and this being the month of Ramadan.. i was expecting a special look for the city like we generally observer in Diwali or Dashera in other cities , but to my surprise there was no such thing...city had no festive looks....

After roaming around till 3 pm I came back to the airport only to hear that the flight is delayed by an hour… but those 4 hours spent had given me a good idea about the city and it’s culture…

Call from ICICI

Some days ago I received a call from ICICI. It was about some Cash loans schemes. the usual telemarketing stuff… I really enjoy talking to these call center and Tele Marketing people and troubling them with a lot of questions.

The same thing I did here to :-) for about 20-25 minutes, I was asking questions about
Everything... from the amount... interest rate then.. The documents and all...
In short it was something which one of my colleagues termed as ragging on phone after it was over.

After this episode we went to canteen. After some time, to my surprise….the phone rang again... it was same number... same gal...

She had called me back to say thanks... apparently what all I did was a welcome change for her from the routine job wherein most of the people don't even listen to fully and just put the phone down. I took the opportunity to ask a few more questions to find out the nature of job and other info about the way these services operate.

Next day...she called again. This time it was for chatting only ;-) we talked for about 10-15 minutes. Again in the evening also she called. I managed to gather a good deal of info about her profession and it clearly gave the idea of the cut throat competition these companies face.

She was working in an environment where salary was highly dependent on the performance. A very small base salary and everything above the basic salary was dependent on how many customers they bring in for the bank through telemarketing. You bring in 10 customers and you get a salary of about 4000. Here too control and monitoring was very strict. I got the glimpse of it very next day.

On the third day I received a call from the same service. This time someone else was on phone. As usual they started telling the usual stuff about the scheme and all and the direct questions about my employment. It was clear that they were expecting a customer interested in loans. But in response I asked, "What is a flat interest rate?”. Then without a single word, phone was slammed down.

Then I suddenly realized, the four calls made to same number had brought the number under scanner and they were checking it out. This must have put the poor gal in trouble.

For me this entire episode highlights the fierce competition the Indian banks are facing as well as the new service industry that is thriving on of this competition because they provide cheap services like this one.

And most importantly a new Indian business culture where your progress is mainly dependent on your performance...a major shift from the concept of "sarkari noukari..."

The BHN Experience...

The events of yesterday remind me of another such experience when I felt a good deal of pressure. The story goes back to the days when I was working with L&T.
We were on a hydro testing mission of newly installed oil and gas pipelines. Taking the ship from Platform to platform, we were carrying out testing one after the other.

We were at BHN.... yes... the same one that was destroyed during this rainy season. During the course of testing we had left some material at previous places of testing. So I got down to BHN along with some crew members to carry out the preparatory work for testing. And the ship left to collect that material from other platforms. We knew it would take long before the ship returns so we had adequate food provisions with us too.

We had finished work at the lowermost deck. (it is lust 3-4 meters above sea level...tyaala spider deck ki sailor deck ase kahitari naav asate... aata aathavat nahi...). we were just roaming around and chatting while we were waiting for the ship to come back. One of the crew members was a fat man. At one place the grating was badly corroded. And he happened to put his foot there (oh lord Murphy...).

The grating gave away and he was laying there with one foot gone inside. We pulled him up. His testicles were badly hit. So to ease his pain we carried out the basic exercises like making him bend.... and all. After some time he felt good and we were back to chatting.

After around an hour he was in severe pain. And it was becoming unbearable. Now we were at the lowest level. The only way to go upper decks where we could take help from ONGC doctors was either to go upstairs and call them or to take the man upstairs. I was not feeling like leaving him and going upstairs to search the doctor. It would have been late. And the man was certainly not in a position to go upstairs.

I was the in charge of the crew and onus was on me to decide the further course. I went to the barge of some other company that was working there too for some other project. I met the doctor there and asked for help. He agreed and so we took the injured man to that barge. The doctor him some medicines and tea and asked to rest for some time on the barge. But the pain was not easing and to our horror we found that his testicles were growing in size.

Now the doctor was under pressure. He was afraid that the man would certainly die. He did not wanted him to die him on the barge and then get involved in further inquiries. So he asked me to move him from the barge immediately.

Now there was nowhere to go....
It was not possible to take him up in the BHN complex..... Our ship was at least 2 hours away.... and the only available shelter...this barge was not allowing to stay.
I thought for a min. about what to do then I went to the radio room of the barge and called the BHN control room asking for medical evacuation chopper.

Thankfully the barge had a helipad. I still remember the time.... after completion of all formalities the chopper left at 4 55 pm. I then called my boss in Powai on radio and informed him about the accident. He immediately went to Juhu aerodrome to take care of further things.

Later that night we came to know that he was admitted to Nanavati Hospital where the operation had begun at 6 00 pm. His life was saved.
A delay of an hour... and he would have been dead....

Ajab Desh Ajab Niyam...

20 Oct 2005... I was supposed to return to India from Saudi Arabia. Seat Booking confirm-reconfirm zale hote. Sakali 9 00 chi flight. Savayee pramane mi sakali (ki bhalyaa pahate!!!) savva saha la Jeddah airport var hajar hoto. Arthaat airport paryant cha pravaas pan as usual smooth navhata. Rastyaat ek don thikaani nehami pramane bags ughadun dakhavavyaa lagalyaa hotyaa. Hyaa tight security cha parinaam mhanoon Aajkaal mi sudhaarlo aahe. Airport madhye ghuse paryant bag la kulup lavatach nahi :-)

Boarding pass ghetala....luggage submit kele... avadhe sopaskaar urakalyaavar mi Immigration counter var gelo. I gave him the documents & passport. To my surprice he said you can not leave country at this moment. Your visa is expired. First get it extended and then you can leave the country.

I was 101% sure that I was well within my visa expiry. I was leaving after 4 months whereas my visa was for 6 months. So I showed him the slip where it said validity 6 months and then showed him the stamp on passport for date of entering the country.
As a response that guy pointed to some Arabic script on the slip and said as per this your visa is expired. Arthaat haa sarvaa prakaar thoda modakyaa todakyaa english madhye aani thoda sign language madhye challa hota.

I met his boss. Thankfully his boss was ok with English. He looked at the record on his monitor. Saw the name of the sponsor and then his way of talking changed (tase aamhi mothyaa lokaanche pahune...) he just said there is something wrong with your visa stamping. Just contact the officers from National Commercial Bank and they will take care of it after which you can leave.

I asked if there was some way out... so he went to his boss with me who again was “English Maafi” (don’t know english) kind of person. So the final outcome was that i can not leave the country today.

As a last resort I called my friend from bank Naveen who had a good experience of staying in Saudi Arabia, and asked for his advice. He told that just get luggage out and come back. “Wahaan pe kuchh nahi hone wala.”

So I asked the officer what I need to do now to cancel the ticket and get luggage back. He gave enough instructions about where to go and what to do and I was able to get through all that stuff. I got luggage back after flight departure and was back to hotel. In between i had some hard time explaining this scenario back home.

I had a word with bank project manager. He said check out for flight bookings after Saturday. The rules here keep on changing and we will get this matter cleared on Saturday and then u leave. This was ok. But today on 21st Oct I have a bigger problem in front of me.

All the economy class reservations are full till Nov. 10.... Yesterday was last available reservation. Now I have 3 options left. Wait till Nov. 10 and then go back..... Or get ticket upgraded to First class.... Or try for ticket from some other airlines.

First option is virtually ruled out because I desperately want to be home before 28th Oct. The second and third option can be tried. But here again the second option will require that i pay the diff. of fare from my pocket since I m not entitled for first class travel as per company rules. Getting seat with another airline was also a very faint possibility because this is month of Ramadan and a lot of people are going back to India on vacation because the last week of Ramadan is a week long holiday.

Now i must wait till Saturday because Thursday and Friday are holidays here. And check out of latest available reservation after the visa matter is cleared, prepared to shell out some extra money for first class seat.

But somehow when I look back at yesterday’s incidents...it makes me believe there is a good reason behind everything that happens. It was good that this thing happened on 20th... now I have 7-8 days to fall back. If this was on 25 or 26 then there were high chances that i would have missed Diwali because by then the Ramadan holidays would have started. Also now i know the procedure of canceling the ticket after getting boarding pass and procedures taking the luggage out of the cargo bay. And most of all, i would never have thought of traveling by first class (at least in immediate future) if not for this situation

Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterward
-- Vernon Law

Experience is not what happens to you; it's what you do with what happens to you.
--Aldus Huxley

Parting Ways...

Parvaa Nishant cha email pahila... about last day at Infosys Bangalore. He left for Infosys Pune. One more parting of ways... Now it feels like I am habituated to this ritual because i did not feel too bad that after working together for two years and being good friends, the relation entered a phase where we don’t even know when next we will see each other.

Hyaa prakaracha pahila anubhav shala sodatana aala. Tyanantar tharavik kalane tyaachi punaravrutti hot rahili. Diploma..L&t....Degree... and now this latest venture Infy... Pratyek tappyaavar naveen mitra milale. Kahi kaal aamhi ekatra rahilo mag punhaa raste vegvegale zale. Kadhi me marga badalala tar kadhi etarani.

Pan yacha artha asa nahi ki maitree sampali. Tithe maitreeche ek nave parva suru zale. Pratyaaksha bhet sodali tar baki sarv tasech rahile. And this is what matters to me.

What is friendship? In my opinion at a very primitive level if we see... friendship is nothing but an agreement about at least not to harm each other in any way... if not support. The ones who support each other are the ones we call close friends.

This reminds me of Bush’s sentence... “For us... or Against us” this sentence put people on border in the “against” party by saying if u r not for us, u r against us. But friendship says “against us... or for us” which puts the people on border into “for us” because of “at least not to harm” fundaa.

Most of the times we all are forced together by circumstances.... some common task or whatever. And during the course we find that we can relate to some people more than others. the most imp binding factor initially is the mutual common goals or interests.

But what happens when those common interests are over? Pure materialistic point of view, there is practically no reason for the friendship to continue. And “at least not to harm” type of relationships end here. A few remain... they are the ones of “support” kind.... the ones we generally find ourselves emotionally closer to.

Once friendship aquires this new dimention, we remain friends because we choose to remain as friends of each other. Kuthalehi bandhan asnate. Sagala raji khushi cha mamala asato. Aapan samorchyaala jase asel tase sweekarto.

Aapan ek mekaancha aadar karaayla shikato. Because we become fully aware that we practically we do not need each other. Everyone is independent. So we learn to recognize each others personal freedom. And there is a very big change in behavior with each other.
Even when we give advice... sometimes we say “mala ase vatate.... bagh tula jase thik vatel tyaapramane kar” this may look a common sentence... but it demonstrates a full recognition and respect for other person’s personal freedom.

Sometimes we move away pursuing our own goals... and there is little time for friends. We don’t happen to meet for years. But the in some corner of mind the friendship remains and when we meet again we r able to move ahead from the point where we parted as if nothing happened. I believe it is this distance that sometimes keeps friendship alive...

Earthquake Aftershocks on CNN

All news channels are currently flooded with news about the Worst South Asian Earthquake in past more than 100 years... and so does CNN... my only TV news source now a day... :-( here are some observations....

The short interview of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was good example opportunism in my opinion. In his speech he put whole emphasize on “Cargo Helicopters” and gave all reasons for it. Speech made direct request to US... and after speech was about to get over he made a brief mention of other things.....Tents...Blankets...and Medicines... Of course there is absolute need of Heavy Cargo Choppers given the in accessibility of mountain areas but... how does is sound to put that thing forward ahead of essential things and stressing it more than everything else?

I have never seen the weather forecast on CNN giving any information about Middle East... or SAARC countries....or South America. Their world begins with US... then Europe... then Africa... and then directly to Japan and eastern China coast. But thanks to the quake.... now every now and then one happens to see the weather forecast for India and Pakistan; of course at the expense of Africa...

During business news Asian markets means NIKKEI, Hang Seng and Straits. There is no place for BSE on the main screen... it only appears in the right corner small scroll bar. KSE (Karachi Stock Exchange) is nowhere.... but again... now we occasionally see these two indexes too... mainly when they discuss financial impacts and all.....

The most interesting observation is about “The Building”...“Margallah Towers” in Islamabad. All Initial news was concentrated about the collapse of one wing of this building complex. All video footage showed this building only. As if all the 18000-19000 casualties (till that time) were all buried under the rubble of this building. And as if all rescue efforts were carried out at the same “Ground Zero”. I wonder if this collapse brought back the Sep 11 memories back... and so it was at the center of the news.

But more interesting than the news focus was the analysis of the building collapse. Because out of a whole complex of many 10 storey buildings; only one collapsed. That too was the newest one. The analysis began with fundamental reasons like negligence of seismic forces during structure design or Faulty architecture etc and it concluded with more common causes like Faulty workmanship and use of substandard materials by the construction company. This is something we are all familiar with.

This highlights the grave danger Mumbai is in. When we see around many such substandard Buildings I can not even dream of similar quake in Mumbai. I m sure the toll will be much higher in this single city that the entire toll of this current quake.

One should not forget that Mumbai and Thane area is situated near fault lines and has a “Good” history of quakes and a fairly high risk given the quality of construction. Just go through the Presentation at above link and the projections of deaths and injuries it makes. When you read above link you may require help of these links on MMI and MSK

Garv Se Kaho Hum Non Veg Hai...

Kaal TV var Chachi 420 lagala hota.... it nicely showcased hatred of a pure vegetarian family for a Non Vegetarian persons. We come across such examples in real life some time or the other.

Why it is so? I don’t want to get into eternal debate between veg and non veg.... I m a Pure Non Veg... Here when I say veg or nonveg... it is about “eating habits of civilized humans...” otherwise aapan sarv “Non Veg” category madhye aahot... irrespective of what kind of food we eat. (Think from a cannibal’s or say tiger’s point of view :-))

Non veg banane hi mazyaa mate human evolution chi ek mahatvaachi payari mhatali pahije. Karan aapan food chain madhye ek level var gelo.... or I will say top laa jaaun basaloy.

Samajaat sagale lok “Uchha” starachyaa mage asataat... let it be social status... or financial status...or job... whatever.... but this may be the only “Uccha” status that some people look down to mostly from religious point of view.

In practical life there are a lot of advantages of being Non vegetarian. No one is “Pure Non Vegetarian” because most of all the other ingredients used in cooking are “Vegetarian”. So in that sense all Non Veg people are actually omnivorous.

This means a non veg person has a lot more choices for food... a lot more chance of survival under extreme circumstances. Forget extreme... just have a look at Middle East as well as Far East like China... Taiwan... and u will realize how difficult life becomes if u r not cooking for your self or have some special cooking arrangements.

You go into any restaurant. Look at menu for veg dishes. Most of the dishes are made of either aaloo...mutter....palak... paneer... with some onions... tomato’s here n there. No matter what name they give.... ingredients are same.

Now just have a look at Non veg menu... u have chicken... u have mutton.... then look at fish side.... and u have a lot more choices available. Depending upon ur beliefs u can have pork...beef....also. Or if u r in China or Taiwan... the array is still larger bcos now it includes snakes... grasshoppers... frogs etc etc...

I don’t like the dual standards the veg ppl follow when they call milk as veg. In my opinion if milk can go as Veg... Then blood of animals taken out without killing them should also pass as Veg... I don’t think process of taking blood will hurt the animal more than milking with a machine....

For me the non veg eating habit symbolizes the survival of the fittest. Humans are the fittest and we are just enjoying that.... so Garv Se Kaho Hum NonVeg Hai....

Upavaas

Aaaj var ubhyaa aayushyaat mala upavaas ha prakaar kadhich jamala nahiye. Jamala nahi... ki patala nahi mhanoon jamavoon gheta aala nahi nakki sangane kathin aahe, but the bottom line is that mi kadhi upavaas kela nahi.

They say on TV...Sunday ho yaa Monday... roj khao ande.....Mazyaa babtit matra hi slogan next stage la pohochaliye.... next stage mhange.. andyaachi next stage.... kombadi... baher asalo ki kombadi... ghari asalo ki maase...

Jar kadhi mi ghari asane aani kuthali tari ekadashi asane hyaa donhi goshati ekatra zalyaa...Tar kadhi kadhi mag sampoora shakahari banave lagate... (nahitar upashi rahave lagel....shevati Aadhi potoba mag Vithoba...) as far as I understand... the flow is like from Nonveg... to Veg... And at the top Upavaas if u want t become (or at least show that u r ) “Dharmik” so in that sense hyaa chaturthyaa aani ekadashi chyaa divashi mi dharmiktechyaa thoda faar javalpaas phatakto. Tar shevati kaay tar aamhi Gatari pan joraat karnaar.... aani nantar Shravan pan palnaar nahi....

He sagale ramayan sanganyaa magacha uddesh kaay? Tar sadhyaa ek mothi ghatana ghadtey.... mazyaavar chakka upavaas karaaychi vel aaliye.....to pan forcefully....
May be this was “devine” ;-) reason behind my being held back here....

Sadhyaa ekade Ramadan chaloo aahe... the country being a hardcore Islamic country,
It is law that no one (irrespective of whether Muslim or not) should eat or drink during the day. If caught... it is offence and one goes to jail.

Mazyaa upavasacha ekandar etihaas baghata... mala shankaa vatat hoti ki kase kaay jamnaar he udyog mhanoon. But results of last 3 days show that I m doing fine. At least I am able to manage.

Tyaat sadhyaa Navaratri chaloo ahet. So my Upavaas can very well be counted as Navaratri Upavaas. Only thing is that unlike others, i have skipped the middle step of being “Shakahari” and there is direct jump from NonVeg to Upavaas.... so sadhyaa mi roj Kombadi khaaun upavaas sodato :-)

I think The Goddess should be fine with it. Kadhi navhe to porgaa upavaas kartoy... to pan kadkadit upavaas...pani suddha na peeta.... mag tyaala avadhi soot dyaayla kahich harkat nasavi...aaj kaal aapalyaa kade upavas mhatala ki lokana pahili khichadi havi asate. Ugaach nahi “Ekadashi aani duppat khashi” mhanat.

Hyaa asalyaa vatavarnaat jar koni kadkadit upavaas kar asel to use itana incentive to milana hi chhahiye....After all aaj kal discounts aur free gifts ka jamana hai.
what say? ;-)

Bhaarataat Parataayche Force Analysis...

     I m really feeling anxious about returning to India these days...
     There are three forces acting on my mind at this moment... (Shevati boloon chaloon Mechanical.... :-)) The first force is the repulsive force between me and Saudi Arabia. The direction of force is such that it causes me to move away from Saudi Arabia....in the direction towards India.

     First force acting is the repulsive one caused by extended stay in this stupid country. I really have no words for people who can think of blocking Blogger.com for entire country. I m bored of Saudi Arabia.. I m bored of this client office and stupid people here. The internal politics between these Arabs at client place goes to such a low level that sometimes I think even school children in India have far more maturity than these dumb skulls. I m simply fed up and just want to move out of this country.

     The second force is the force of attraction between me and India. Now this force is actually a resultant of various components like,

1. I have not spent time with my parents for a long period


2. I have misses absolutely all the festivals this year... right from Holi... till Ganapati... and I don't want to miss Dasara & Diwali.


3. There are a lot of functions being arranged to celebrate the Golden Jubilee year of my school... I miss my friends...


4. Above all... I miss the our free liberal society.... the Secular democratic Atmosphere...after spending so much time in this religious autocratic country (exactly 180 deg.) I m longing for breath of freedom.

This second force is also acting such as to cause me move towards India.

     The third force is the one balancing these two forces and is responsible to maintain the equilibrium of the system and hence still make me stay here. This force is the order from my boss to extend my stay :-( it acts from Bangalore towards Saudi Arabia. This force is much stronger in magnitude than the above two forces at this moment.

     Sandhyaakaal pasoon ugaachach.."Ne Majase Ne..." aathavatey... Savarkaaranchyaa manaat kaay talmal asel he gane lihile tevhaa.... tyaacha lahanasa kaa hoena pan anubhav yetoy sadhyaa...

     But somehow in last 25 years I have learned that whatever happens... happens for good...or like they say "not getting what u want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck" aage aage dekhate hai... hota hai kya...

     8th madhye astaana Pu La Deshpaandyaancha ek dhadaa hota...tyaat tyaana library madhye basun choroon pustake vachaaychi savay asate. Aani ekada librarian baheroon lock lavoon nighun jato asa prasanga hota... tyaa dhadyaachyaa shevati
"Swayampaak gharaat kondalele manjar daar ughadlyaavar jase dhoom palat sutate tasa mi palalo" ase kahitari vakyaa hote.

The moment this third force vanishes.... mazi avastha kahi faar vegali asel ase vatat naahi....

Mi....Ek Vadval...

---

Some days ago, when I came back to my desk after lunch, I found a messenger window popped up saying “Hi”. I looked at ID. Some Stranger…. Now, Generally I don’t incline to chatting requests from some one stranger unless there is a cross reference of a common friend.

But as with all rules… this one too has exception. This was that “Exceptional Case” because the ID was made up of name and surname and the surname was indication that the person might be a “Vadval”. Yeah… this is the exception….and I responded positively and continued with chat…

What is so special with being a vadval? Well, for me... it is… because “Vadval” is name of “My Community” the one I belong to (somehow I really hate to use the word “Caste”). I never find myself declining a chatting request if it is from a “Vadval”

In our daily life right from school we come across people from different layers of the society. We become close friends… all this does not involve community and all… it goes irrespective of... language… religion etc…etc…

But in all these relationships no matter how close we are, there is an invisible line that separates us at some social level. “Kahi Alikhit Niyam...” we all respects those rules knowingly or unknowingly.

The separation is at a very basic level if both are from entirely different regions or religions etc. And there are very minor differences or the separation is at a deeper level if both are belonging to different sub communities of same main community. These basically define the boundaries of interference (or rather Involvement) into each other’s social or family matters. Because after that “Rules of the Community” dominate and everyone try to adhere to the norms and rituals of “His Community”.

When we are part of same community, when it comes to interaction, the principle of “Home Centric Universe” of course comes into play.

When I ponder over this, I realize that I m missing no only my parents…close relatives and friends but I m missing community interaction too…. All those community gatherings, sports events, “Yuva Melave” so many things where we get to interact with people from our community. Since at least last three years I have not attended a community gathering…. Or yuva melava…There is a yahoo group for interaction but it is almost more than a year when I posted a mail on the group…. Mainly because there are either some serious discussions taking place about community or some job posts are put up…. There is no place for the time pass forwards that I am generally involved in.
But somehow I need to renew the ties…

Here I remember one story from “The Panchatantra”. There was one sage.
One day he sees a she mouse (bahutek kahi kaamdhandhe nasavet tyaala so...) he converts it into a girl child. Years pass by and time comes to get her married. The sage has such great divine powers even gods are not in position to refuse his requests.

He first goes to the sun with his daughter and ask her if she liked him. She says no… so the sage ask the sun to suggest someone. The sun says,"Despite of all my power this cloud can easily shadow me… so he is more powerful…".

So the sage go to the cloud… but the girl does not like him to…. Again the sage asks the cloud to suggest someone. Then the cloud said that despite of all his powers this mountain could stop him… so the mountain was more powerful…

When they go to the mountain, the girl does not like mountain too….
The mountain says,"Even though I m this big… a small mouse put me in lot of trouble by making holes in my body. So he is more powerful than me."

Eventually they end up meeting the mouse. The gal blushes when her eyes meet the mouse. She likes him and requests the sage to again convert her into a mouse. The sage smiles and agrees to it. Even when she could marry virtually anyone in the universe, she finally rejected all and chose someone from her own community… A mouse…

Maaroon Mutakun National Day

Shaniwari Kingdom of Saudi Arabia celebrated its national day....

First ever national day celebrated by the Country. Actually it was the
Foundation Day for the Kingdom

For a person accustomed to national festival celebrations like 15 Aug and 26 Jan, this was a totally diff. experience. I can not describe the apathy I saw here. At one end I saw Indians celebrating 15 Aug at the Indian consulate and at other end I saw these countrymen total apathetic about their national day 24 Sept.

No enthusiasm ...no celebrations....no functions charged with patriotism... of flag hoisting... nothing ....nothing.... I wonder if this country has a National Anthem.

The interesting thing was that the actual foundation day was on Friday and not on Saturday. But since Friday was a holiday, Saturday was declared as national day. Actual day mahatvaacha nahi... Sutti mahatvaachi. :-)

Nahi mhanaayla i saw some flags on the some shops and all... but the way they were put up, an element of compultion (may be a desperate need to display loyalty) was clearly evident...(Hence the title... Marun Mutakun.... ;-) )

And all this was done on Saturday... not of Friday!!!

I look at the episode as a good attempt by new king to get along with the people in the country. Or as we say in marathi...Navi Viti Nave Rajyaa....

This highlights a point to me...
Any National Festival can not be successful just by declaring it a holiday... the incident or the process (is this a correct word?) that is related to the festival should have great involvement of common man...and sentimental attachment to the people. And most importantly it should be in some way or the other related to freedom of people, accepting the will of the people and giving control to the people. Only then people celebrate it wholeheartedly...

Take 15 Aug... Or Independence Day of US... 4 July or the French celebration of Bastille Day on 14 July....All these underline the same thing....

Maazyaa Astrological Uchapati

---

Ever since childhood... I like astrology... I always read the astrological predictions for the weeks in every newspaper that I get to read. And trust the one that is most favorable to my sign. kahi divasa poorviparyant hi paristhiti hoti.

Some days ago i was chatting with a friend. He was facing pressure for getting married.
Chat kartaa karta gadi "Patrika" ya vishayavar aali. Patrika hyaa prakara vishayee malahi
faar kahi mahiti navhate. So I trained my guns towards astrology...

First step was to get my own "Patrika" As usual..."Jai Google baba ki..." and a list of sites offering free natal charts was in front of me...
I was just trying to understand the explanation that came with the chart. I noticed that the moon was in Sagittarius....I thought it may be bcos I entered birth place as Vasai since it was the nearest available in the list of cities provided. So using Google earth, I found as accurate co ordinates of my birthplace (I mean Hospital) as I could. And prepared chart again using the actual co ordinates but still results were almost the same.

Wait... something is wrong. For Years i was being told that my moon sign is Scorpio. Mag saaheb ekade Sagittarius madhye kaay kartaahet? Kahitari chukatey... either this chart is wrong or the chart that was at home was incorrect....
This called for further study. Soon I found myself tackling terms like Zodiac... tropical... sidereal... celestial sphere...precession of equinox... ek naa don..hajaar bhanagadi.

Finally it turned out that there are two basic systems in astrology for predictions... first is the Tropical Astrology that is practiced in the western world and the second is Sidereal Astrology or Vedic Astrology or what we call as "Jyotish" The horoscope that we read in any English paper is the one based on "Position of sun in your chart that is prepared as per the principles of Tropical Astrology." on the other hand when we look at the horoscope in local papers then it is based on, "Position of the moon in your chart that is Prepared based on Principles of Sidereal Astrology" this means there are two factors affecting your "Bhavishya" first is the method and second is position of a planet.

Now it is very much obvious to think that why position can be different in two systems when everything is viewed from same planet at same time into same sky but sadly enough.... it is...

Ek simple example... we celebrate " makar sankranti" that is "Suryaacha makar Rashit pravesh" so if my birthdare is after 14 jan... than my Sunsign should be Makar or Capricorn.... isn't it? Now have a look at English paper...as per them if your birthrate is between 20 Dec to 19 Jan then your Sun sign is Capricorn. So if I m born 13 Jan or before then I have two sun signs Sagittarius and Capricorn... in two different systems and both claim to be valid. Now i refrain from telling the actual Astronomical dates... that is altogether different story...

So now I can have 2 different but valid charts showing planet positions at time of my birth and they can be interpreted by two systems. So I have 4 "patrika" giving different predictions... sounds great na?

Next... we say that there are 12 constellations... in the Zodiac... So we have 12 "Rashi's" named after each of them.
Ethehi popat....

There are 13 star constellations along the zodiac. Oops... there is one more constellation of "Ophichchus" between the Scorpio and the Sagittarius. Sun passes through it between Nov 30 and Dec 17. And Strangely enough both the systems don't recognize this constellation. So if u r born between these two dates...your sun sign is not really what is being told to u....
This also applies to all planet positions also... effect of a planet being in this 13th "rashi" is totally ignored. And funny thing is that this 13th “rashi” is much larger in size than Scorpio... now for what reasons our ancestors ignored this big constellation but considered the smaller one like Scorpio may very well remain a mystery...

Anyway... we go further... this Zodiac... what is it basically? As per dictionary,
“A band of the celestial sphere extending about 8° to either side of the ecliptic that represents the path of the principal planets, the moon, and the sun."
In normal terms celestial sphere means the sky. And ecliptic means the plane formed by the earth's path around the sun.
So, why it is only 8 degrees wide? May be because most of the planets are found within that belt for "most of the time"

Planets are found sometimes in other constellations to apart from the ones that are being considered. So, what about the planetary influence when they in some other "rashi's"?

There is one more Principle called "Ayanamasa" that affects the calculations and is highly debatable. Shit... I m trying to be as brief as I can.... but still size of post is increasing...

so many confusions... the more i read into details... more i doubt the very fundamentals of the astrology....But still we believe into astrology.. We feel that whatever is being told... that is fully applicable to us. Why this happens then? When the very system itself looks flawed why we tend to believe it?

Here I came across a new Psychological funda called "The Forer effect". It refers to the tendency of people to rate sets of Statements as highly accurate for them personally even though the statements could apply to many people.
And something called as "Selective Thinking" in which people pick the favorable evidence from a bunch while ignoring equally valid unfavorable evidence. For details on these... bolo jai Google baba ki...

I really feel weird... we put our important decisions like choosing life partner or Starting a new business under control of a system that has highly dubious fundamentals. In most of the arrange marriages first thing they check is "patrika"!!! The girl or boy who is sitting in front does not matter but the distant star does. If the system was so accurate then there would not have been so many unsuccessful marriages around. But when a marriage fails, no one blames the “Jyotishi”, but everyone blames his or her own “Nashib”. Shevati jar sarv kaahi nashiba pramane hote tar te tasech hou dyaayche na.... patrikecha gondhal ghalun nashibaat dhavala dhaval kashala karaaychi? Sounds logical..... Isn’t it?

Jevha ShaleBhovati Bhinta Navhati...

---

Mazyaa shaleche he Suvarna Mahotsavi varsha aahe.
It is more than 10 years since I passed out of the school, AannaSaheb Vartak Smarak VidyaMandir, Virar; and "The Wall" I m writing about was constructed when i was in 6th or 7th standard. But still.... some faint memories....

The school now has a 15 feet high wall around it now...with a big gate..It was not the case till I was in 6th or 7th... that is around 13-14 years ago... It was a world without a Kumpan

Shaleche maidaan aata aahe tyaapeksha officially thode mothe aani unofficially barech mothe hote. Shalebhovati keval ek taareche modake kumpan hote. Pachhimela Railway yard aani shaleche maidaan yatali adhikrut seemaresha te kumpan dakhavit ase aani arthatach aamachya maidaan hyaa shabdaachya vyaakhyet te railway yard suddha included hote.

Tyaa Yard boundry war ek chhaan hirvegaar chincheche zaad hote. aani mule tyaakhaali jamoon gappa marat... aata te zaad bahutek shalechyaa navyaa emaratichyaa mage kuthetari aahe... kase vatat asel tyaa zadala? "Vaalit taakane" mhantaat te hech ka?

Pavsalyaat especially khoop maja yaaychi... sadhyaa navi imarat jithe ubhi aahe tyaa bhagaat; to be precise navyaa emaratichyaa payryaa aahet tyaanchyaa samor, may be 20-25 foot ahead ek choukoni uthal khadda hota jyaat valu hoti... aani generaly long jump compitition sathi to vaparala jaaycha. Pahili Dusari madhye asataana paavsalyaat matraa toch maidanacha lahaan kopara aamachyaasathi "mini samudrakinara" banaaycha. Madhalyaa suttitala aamacha barachasa vel tyaa valut kille aani bogade banavanyaat jaaycha.

Shalechyaa maidanacha jo bhaag mukhyaa bldg aani railway yard chi bhinta hyaanchyaa lagat aahe to thoda khol aahe. Tithe pavsalyaat baryaapaiki pani sathate.... to ek mini talaav mhanava lagel. Actually to jevadha shalechyaa maidanaat aahe tevadhach kinva thoda jasta to railway yard madhye aahe. So when the wall was not there, it was a pretty good scenery... aamhi madhalyaa suttimadhye chapate dagad panyaavar fekun to kiti vela tappe khato te mojaaycho. aata matraa to talaav bhinti mule ardhaa ardhaa vaatala gelaay.....

Aanakhi ek mahatvaachi goshta ji hyaa kumpanamule gayab zali ti mhanaje... madhalyaa suttit khelnyaasathi fukataat milnaare balls. Shalechyaa bajoola steel chyaa bhandyaana buffing karnaare barech lahaan kaarkhane hote. Buffing karnyaasathi ji kapadachi gol wheels vapartaat ti wear out zalyaavar maidanachyaa bajula eka jaagi fekun det asat... madhali sutti zali ki aamhi tyaatala ek "Buffingcha Ball" gheun cricket... catch-catch.. aaba dhubi asale khel khelat asu. bhinta aali aani to source hi banda zala...

Dakshinela shalelagat ek railway line aahe. Tyaa lagat 2-3 Gualmohoraachi mothi zade hoti...bhinta zzali aani bahutek ek don pavasalyaat ti zade dharashayee zali. Bahudha bhintichya paayaa ne tyanchi eka bajuchi mule tutali asaveet.

Bahutek sahavichyaa sumaaraas shalebhovati bhinta baandhavnyaacha "pahila prayaas" suru zala aani shalebhovati vitaanchi javalpaas 4 footi bhinta ubhi rahili.... pan ti tichyaa apekshit kaaryaat kadhich yashasvi zali nahi. Nitkrushata darjaache baandhakaam aani mulaanche prayatna yaamule lavkarach tyaa bhintichi unchi 4 varun baryaach thikani 2 futaavar aali...

Aathavit yeta yeta ekadaachi ti bhinta poorna zali. Hyaa navyaa bhinticha sarvaat lakshaneeya parinaam mhanje "Lahaan Gate" gayab zala. Aata ashalela fakta ekach gate urala. Lahaan gate mhanje ek vegalech prakaran hote. Khare saangaayche tar lahaan gate band hoiparyant barichashi mule (tyaat meehi) mothyaa gate cha vapar karit nasat. Shala sutali ki lahaan gate pashi mulaanchi gardi whaaychi. Aani mag konitari shipaai shevati to gate ughadun dyaaycha. Aani bajuchyaa chali madhun aadrastyaane aamhi ghari jaaycho.

Tyaa bhintine kahi goshti hiravoon ghetalyaa tari tyaahun mothyaa kahi goshti shaletalyaa mulana dilyaa... sarvaat mahatavaachi goshata mhanje surakshitata...aani thodifaar shista pan lavali.

My Home-Centric Universe

---

Ever since I completed my diploma, I m wondering around... Starting from Bombay High... Kopargaon...Pune...Bangalore....Riyadh...Jeddah..... adhun madhun Virar too... and these are places where I spent at least 3 months.... I m not counting those short visits....like picnics and all...

When I put together all these traveling experiences I realize one thing, "wherever we go, our universe always remains centered around our home" May be I m generalizing my personal experiences but that is the way I see the whole thing.

Whenever we find ourselves in a new city and it is time for interaction strangers, people whom we have never seen... but need to trust them. Under such scene unless we had some specific contact information, we tend to choose the ones who are from a location geographically closer to our home.

Like, if I m in Maharashtra but outside of Mumbai, I feel inclined towards a person from Mumbai or around Mumbai but when in Mumbai we tend to form groups area wise like virar- vasai, kalyaan-dombivali parle-andheri etc..etc.. And once in that particular area when it comes to making a choice, our inclination changes towards someone closer to our home.

On the other hand if i m in central or eastern parts of Maharashtra I will look for someone at least from western maharashtra or konkan. But when I m in south India even a Gujarathi will be a lot closer.

When outside country; I tend to look for someone from the subcontinent if not from India itself. This reflects from the fact that we always tend to go into Indian restaurant. Always tend to hire a taxi with a driver with a familiar sub continental looks. If no one from subcontinent then we look for someone from Asia pacific, isn't it?

In Kopargaon there were region wise groups and they used to stick together always. When in a totally new city like Bangalore, we found all people from Mumbai forming a huddle together.

I remember once in Mhapusa, Goa how suddenly a shopkeepers attitude changed when he came to know that we came from Virar... he too was from Virar. He was suddenly talking about his old days in Virar... not to mention we got special discounts and all....

This is how we come across so called regional lobbies, when going for an interview we tend to believe if the interviewer is from same region or speaks in a familiar language tone , he will favor us. We expect this kind of support in all aspects of life knowingly or unknowingly.

Even when you talk to people who have spent a lot of years away from home, except a few people most of them tend to cherish a dream of returning and spending time in their native place. May be for this reason we have Marathi Mandals in many part of India as well as world.

What causes us behave this way? May be I need to turn towards psychology to find answers.....

The All in One Storm.....

---

     18 April 2005.... Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, It was a day in office as usual. It was around 5 pm. I was busy with some usual work... The phone rang; it was Elmer, Client side project manager for the project I was working on. “Nik, come here quickly.....” whenever he called this way, it used to be something interesting. We shared a common passion for General knowledge. When I went, he simply pointed to the glass wall where some 3-4 people from office were standing and looking outside. I too joined the group...The scene outside was something I would never forget.
     A thick dust cloud was moving ahead swallowing everything that came in the way.... if you have seen movie The Mummy then u may be able to imagine the scene.
     From the 15th floor one could clear see the city slowly moving into a thick dust cover.
     Yes, it was a sand storm. It was amazing to see how the slowly forwarding border of the cloud was changing the visibility from clear visibility to almost zero visibility.

     I was excited with the first view of a sand storm in my life. I said “I m going outside to experience4 the storm” I knew it was once in a lifetime chance for a person like me. Despite others saying don’t go... I had already headed for the lift.
     I came outside of the building. Wind was so strong that it was difficult to stand. I decided to take a round around the building. I could hardly see 7-8 feet forward. The marble flooring outside the bldg had become slippery because of the layer of fine dust. I advanced slowly.
     I set on my mission, “Around the office, in a sandstorm....” a few steps and I realized that I was inhaling too much dust. Pan Keeda Ajoonahi Valvalat hota.... Nakaavar rumaal dharun aamacha pravaas pudhe chaloo zala. Slowly I completed my “Paradakshina” and reentered the building.
     First thing I did was to visit toilet and clean my face as much as I could. The shirt had a new cream shade. I entered office area. Elmer was waiting. He had a smile as if he was expecting my new “Avataar”. “Nik, I know you must have washed your face. But this is different sand. It is very fine and easily settles into skin pores. So go and wash face again with liquid soap at least 3-4 times”, he said.
     The sandstorm lasted for about an hour and then faded slowly. It was only the first installment of the trouble coming. The sky was already covered with thick black clouds and the lightning had begun. Now this was something usual if i was at home. But not where I was at the moment. This is supposed to be a dessert!!!!
     Halu Halu pavasala suruvaat zali. I and my colleague decided to go back to our hotel. Valvantaat paaus baghaaycha ek durmil yog mazyaa nashibi hota. Tasa paaus rimzim padat hota but the clouds were thick. The rain got stronger with the night passing. There was of no indication of any decrease in rain.
Around 1-2 o’clock in the night; we suddenly woke up with a loud noise of something as if some small objects were being bombarded on the window pane.
To our surprise now the hailstorm had begun. Not very big in size though, but hail in dessert :-o
     It continued for almost 2 hours, during which we were forced to watch (only watch!!!) the TV because sleeping was impossible due to noise.
Next day we saw something unusual for a city in dessert. Streets were flooded with water. Obviously the drainage system was certainly not designed for this much amount of rain. And it took almost two days to completely drain the water.

Khajuranchyaa Deshaatun.... - 2

---

Kahi Interesting goshti.....
Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that does not have a single movie theater. I tried to find the reason behind it and came to know that Entertainment is against Islamic Principles. So this rule out all other mediums likes Music, TV and Drama etc... But hold.... strangely enough no such restriction is seen. You enter any shopping mall and u will find 4-5 showrooms for Sony only... Leave aside other brands.... the only rule seemed to be that do whatever u want but inside ur home.

The same funda applies to cable TV also. It is not permitted legally but no one restricts it. Every home has cable connection. Ise kehate hai “Saap bhi mare aur lathi bhi naa toote” I observed a typical thing in middle east channels.... whenever there is any match... mostly football....the commentator yells like anything.... as if there is no mike...throughout the match..... And after the game there is an analysis as usual.... here there is no sign of laughter..... everyone sits like they have come for a funeral.... and when the supposedly expert speaks, he always has a pen in his hand that he uses to draw strange lines on I don’t know what since it can not be seen but it is not something obviously logical. Sometimes a round sometimes just lines etc... A strange way of emphasizing a point...

Everywhere you go, if it is a place where people can gather and sit together etc. mostly restaurants. There is a strange discrimination..... They discriminate against..... Hold your breath..... “Bachelors” :-) all the places have two separate areas.... one for bachelors and other for families.

Now here single means only males. Females can not go outside without a male from her family accompanying. So they make up a family. And only males are left in single’s section. Janu kahi Bachelor asane ha faar motha gunhaa aahe aani sagale bachelors janu kharaab asataat.... nehami striyaankade vakadayaa najarene baghataat etc...etc..... and the moment one gets married.. he sagale dosh nahise hotaat aani to manushyaa ekdum bhola saamb banato...... strange philosophy.....

Height mhanje beach var suddha saperate areas for family and singles. Aata jar hyaa beaches varache drushyaa etar deshaatalyaa beaches sarakhe asate tar goshata vegali hoti, pan tihi goshata nahi. U can easily find shopping malls that have boards “Family Only”.

Aata ethe aani ek fundaa mhanje just because you have a female with you; it does not become family. That is you CAN NOT go out with a gal who is not your sister or wife. “ek ladka aur ek ladki kabhi dost nahi ho sakate” hyaa vakyaache shabdasha arthaane palan kele jate. Kadachit tyaa vakyaacha ugam ethech zala asaava....

Aso, Next Item on our list is the two calendar system. The country follows both the Gregorian and Hijri Calendar systems and suitably adapts to anyone based on profitability. The important Point here is that the Hijri calendar system is a moon based system AND there is no correction for the difference of days between solar based Gregorian calendar and Lunar based Hijri calendar. (In India our Hindu calendar also is Lunar based but still u never see Shravan coming in any other season than rain... this is bcos the calendar is corrected after regular intervals to synchronize with movements of sun. and it is for this purpose that we have “Adhik Maas” after regular intervals.)

The Gregorian calendar has 10 days more than Hijri calendar. So, when it comes to payment of salary or interest on investment, your company will follow Gregorian calendar. But when it comes to Payment of rent, they will follow Hijri calendar. So you end up paying one month extra rent every three years just like that. Sahi hai na?

This country has a firewall for "entire internet traffic in the country". Any content that is suspected to be against Islam or related to sex is blocked. And strangely enough Many Indian (Not Pakistani!!) bollywood sites are also blocked. Normal sites like santabanta.com are also blocked. I still remember the bad feeling I had when I first time encountered that I could not open a single Indian site to get some nice bollywood wallpapers.

Khajuranchyaa Deshaatun....

---

Don varshapoorvi Middle East mhatale ki valvantaat untaavar basun khajoor khaat tel vikanare arab ya palikade mala kahihi mahiti navhate. Aaani one day suddenly I found myself traveling to Saudi Arabia.

Pudhe kaay vadhun thevalaay yachi chanagalich idea seniors ni briefing kele tevhaach aali hoti... Don’t carry any religious book.... Airport ke bahar kisi Pakistani ki taxi me hi baithnana... ek naa don anek lahaan sahaan practical suchana.....

Riyadh la vimanatun utarlyaa utarlyaa tyaa sarv suchana kharech kiti mulyaavaan hotyaa te pataayla lagale.... I was amazed to see sudden change in behavior when the staff saw someone wearing suit and tie (to “someone” mhanje meech he sangayala nakoch...) Almost no checking at customs when rest of all people’s baggage was checked thoroughly. Wow.... senior’s chyaa suchana kami yeu lagalyaa hotyaa. Airportchyaa baher Pakistani taxiwala kasa shodhaaycha tehi sangitalele hote... so no probs at all.... in reaching the residence...

From next day I was exposed to new world I was hitherto unaware of.... The world of Islamic kingdom... The world of autocracy..... A world without freedom..... I suddenly realized that even under British rule (jyaala aapan Partantryaa mhanto)....Indians had more freedom..... :-)

Aani tyanantar sur zala ekamagun ek khatakanarya anubhavaancha silsla.
Pahili goshta ji lakshaat aali ti mhanje rastyaavar bhar divasa ekahi manoos naa disane... fatka cars cars aani cars. Office flat chyaa javal hote so I used to walk down but most of the times I used to be only person walking on the footpath.... Chakka bhardivasa when everyone is supposed to be out for routine business....!!!

When I visited the client office which was Headquarters of a big bank there, next shock.... no females at work :-(. Not even receptionist or secretaries. It was all male dominated work culture. Tyaa 15-20 majali bldg che je kahi 5-6 floors firalo te sagale miloon fakta ek “female” disali ti pan sampoorna kalyaa boorakhyaat.... dokyaapasoon payaparyant.

Arthaat hyaa goshtichi aadhich mahiti hoti. Aani landing chyaa thode aadhi jevhaa vimanatalyaa jyaa striya “Saudi Mahilancha Adhikrut Poshakh” madhye navhatyaa tyaa sarva kaalaa boorkha ghalaayla lagalyaa tevhaa gammat pan vatali hoti.

But later that day when I went to my company’s office and mixed up with people there (all non Saudi....except owner)... all that I came to know through conversation was really unbelievable for a person from state of Mahatma Phule and Maharshi Karve.
Ethe mahilana shikshanacha adhikaar miloon keval kahi varshe zali hoti aani jyaa koni striya office madhye turalak disat, tyaa sarva baher shikalelyaa hotyaa.

Striyansathiche niyam pahile aani manaat eka mansik drushtyaa magaslelyaa samajache chitra tayar whaayla lagale.... a woman can not go outside home without a “male” accompanying!!! She has to wear that black veil jyaala ethe “aabha” ki “aabhaya” ase kahitari mhantaat. Women have no voting rights too... arthaat ethale elections ha swatanntra vishay aahe tyaavishavi nantar. Fakta ek shobhechi bahuli aani bhogavastu yapalikade ya samajaat striyana kahihi kimmat naahi.

But one can observe a strange scene when visiting shopping malls and all... a lot of shops selling dresses for women that I think only higher class women or some film stars in India will wear that too during parties. And here women in black dress in those shops buying those. I could not imagine any opportunity for them to wear those dresses except inside house. Aani tarihi hi shopping....Striyanchi hous kahi kelyaa fitat nahi hech khare.

Mumbai Vs New Orleans

---

Mumbai aani New Orleans… donhi shaharani javalpaas eka mahinyaachyaa antarane nisargaache roudra roop pahile. Both the cities almost submerged….karane thodi vegali kaa asenaat pan tulana kelyaashivaay rahavat nahi.
Donhi mothi shahare... aapapalyaa deshaatil pramukh bandaranpaiki ek... donhivar sankat panyaamule aalele....
Pan he samyaa avadhyaapuratech.... The very fact that New Orleans is situated below sea level increases the severity of the situation many fold. Mumbai on the other hand is full of hills.
Since past few days I m reading news as well as mails making a mockery of US govt. For not handling the situation properly and the sentences like “doctor... heal first yourself”. All I will say that all those who said like this did not understand the scenario well. Yes, the govt. response was slow but still it was much faster than our government’s response to Mumbai scene. I will rather say that this incident shows how a mightiest and most prosperous nation too can feel helpless against nature.

The trouble in Mumbai was much manmade than it was due to nature. The rainfall was excessive but still the area’s near eastern exp. Highway that has sea on the east did not face much problem. All the areas that faced problem were the ones where the drainage system constituted by “Nala’s” And the Mithi river was heavily encroached. So water could not flow out. This highlights one more fact that the Drainage infrastructure (Natural as well as the one built by the British) was never improved but always eroded off its capacity to carry water.

I simply can not imagine Mumbai in place of New Orleans. That city even though below sea level, was well guarded by a network of levees and canals against the sea, the Mississippi river and the Lake Pontchartrain. And the height of water raised upto 20 feet (2 floors??? :-( ) also the news that it might take as long as 80 days just to pump the water out indicate the severity of the scene. In Mumbai max water level seen was up to the first floor...

But in spite of all this, full points to people of Mumbai for the fighting spirit and a splendid display of social integrity. The society faced the calamity much more cohesively. On the other hand New Orleans had a complete collapse of law and order.
People started ransacking shops and numerous incidents of rape occurred.
In Mumbai not a single incident of looting or rape occurred. People were stranded on platforms, some marooned in cars, some walking down but everyone helped each other.
Even the news channels, instead of simply shooting and broadcasting, were seen doing some social service too by relaying the messages from stranded people to their family etc.

This makes me wonder about the reasons behind the behavior of people in New Orleans.

Is it an indicator of a weak foundation of a society that appears so advanced? Nisagrachyaa eka praharane aadhunikatecha mukhavata galoon padava aani ek kroor amanavi American chehara samor yava asa prakaar vatato sara...
Mage tsunami chyaa veli pan lokani asale kahi kele navhate.... (pan mhanoon aapan kahi dhutalyaa tandalache nahi aahot.... Killari aani Gujarat chyaa bhukampachyaa veli asale prakaar aapalyaa kade pan zale hote... aani tsunami chyaa veli asale kahi karaayla velach milala nahi... shen chamacha bhar khalle kaay kinvaa vaati bhar.. shen te shen...)
Or is it the downside of a secured society that people fumbled and lost their conscience in the wake of calamity.... isn’t it weird to see people looting TV sets when they have lost food, shelter and clothes?
Or was it an “Organized” activity like the one we see during riots?
Whatever it was..... It definitely put up an ugly show of very primitive instincts and inhuman behavior totally unacceptable in today’s social order.

I wonder how people from Mumbai would have behaved if they had an escape route?
Would they have done same thing on deserted streets as people of New Orleans? Mazyaa mate mumbai chyaa lokaanchi avastha SinhaGadavar Shelaar Mamane dor kapoon takalyaavar mavalyaanchi ji avastha zali hoti tashi hoti. They had to fight back... or in this case people had to co operate after the “ropes” of railway were cut off....
Aso.... “Zakali Mooth Savva Lakhachi”

One more thing I can not stop wondering about is the design of drainage system for coastal city New Orleans that is below sea level. It may have some useful hints for improving the Drainage system in Mumbai since our drainage system generally fails whenever there is a combination of high tide and heavy rain.

Ganapati Baappaa Moraya

---

Blogging cha shriganesha...... Sachinpantanchyaa nimantranacha sweekaar karun ekadache maze bloggingche dukan suru zaley. Really confused about what to write. but one thing I must admit....At this moment I m willing to write in Marathi....hyaa Engrajallelyaa paddhatine kaa hoenaa.
He gurhaal aanakhi barech divas chaalel he matraa nakki.
Sriganesha..... aare ho... udyaa Ganesh Chartuthi. kaam karnyaacha mulich mood nahiye. ugaach gharchi aathavan yetey. I don't like missing festivals. Pan kadachit aata tyaachi savay lavoon ghyaavi lagel.
He varsha mazyaa shaleche suvarna mahotsavi varsha aahe.
A lot of functions are being arranged aani mi nehami pramane ekade tikade bhatakatoy.
what all I m missing.... Do I need to draw a line somewhere?

He ase lihaayla basale ki khoop lihavese vatate....
A lot of topics and I shall write about them in future posts.... Vicharaancha Achar ghaalaayla khoop maja yeil....... :-)