How ethical are the Gay rights in India?

Author- Manoj Kumar Abhimanyu

From many quarters recently we witnessed uproar on the recent Supreme Court judgment that reversed the High Court order that decriminalized homosexuality.  High Court had questioned the legality of section 377, and mentioned it as an infringement of Human Rights in India. Well I have written on this subject earlier also that how in a poor country like ours where many far more important issues need to be addressed first.  Unlike this unfortunately we hardly come across such a degree of alertness by these intellectuals, political leaders and even the media on the other dark realities in India.  Instead such irrelevant issues are fed to our minds by these so called intellectuals to push back all other burning issues and to deviate people's attention on those. 

Well now that this issue has taken such a prime time space, let me put some light on this. They are talking about Gay rights.  LGBT they call it, I hope many of us would not even know its meaning. I have heard this some time back, let me share it with you. In fact, LGBT is an abbreviation for Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgenders communities. Now I think I need not explain much why they have been kept under one basket. 

Now if people in Congress led Government were so serious about it, of-course at least they are looking so much anxious after the SC ruling that they are talking about abolishing this section by passage of a bill in parliament and all top leaders of Congress have made statements on this, so looking at that, have they gone on to survey this category of persons in our society? The way national survey is being done for population and other things, they could have gone for this to exact the number of people who fall in to this category. No, they can't do this, it's so simple. If they go with sample survey, people would throw those survey persons out of their homes. Yes it's true. That means even in this 21st century, hardly someone in their families acknowledge such kind of relationships. And if homosexuality or gay rights are made legal in India, can you imagine, what future it may bring to our nation?

From the very beginning, students in their teenage, would start believing that it's absolutely alright to be in gay relationships. Moreover senior guys will force junior guys for such relationships thinking it their legal right.   This will be as unfortunate as a rape making legal between the members of similar sex.  In our homes, our sons and daughters would openly advocate to live with their gay partners.   All the more, think of the woman who comes to her husband after her marriage finds that he is in a gay relationship with another man or think of a man who after his marriage finds his wife giving him a cold shoulder as she is a lesbian. This will start killing the fabric of marriage in our society just like what's happening in west.   
What a kind of freedom and human rights are we talking about? It's absolutely rubbish..! What future are we giving to our next generations? Why then we call India a cultured nation? Some people are hell bent on bringing unnatural and pervert elements from west to nip our social threading.  We must oppose such moves vehemently.   I see when such issues are raised on media platforms, the young guys in the audience applauding and cheering the speakers who speak in its favour.  India has become a hub to mint money by creating sensational stories and on that basis asking for donations in the name of improving the quality of lives for those people.  And who doesn't know how such donations are misused and galloped by the bosses of these NGOs who run under the patronage of politicians, celebrities and other big wigs.  

Your take on this please...

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मित्रों यदि मेरा यह पोस्ट आपके दिल को जरा भी छू कर गुजरा हो तो मुझे विश्वास है कि आप मेरे इस प्रयास को लाइक दे कर मुझे और भी अच्छा लिखने की प्रेरणा, स्नेह और आशीर्वाद देंगे। आप अगर मुझे मेरे फेसबुक प्रोफाइल पर फॉलो करते हैं तो आपको मेरे शेयर किये सारे पोस्ट्स आपके नोटिफिकेशन्स में मिलते रहेंगे। 

Floods of sexual assault Charges on Celebrities and people holding high ranks

Author- Manoj Kumar Abhimanyu

There are now floods of sexual assault charges on celebrities and people who are holding high posts in Corporate houses, Central and State Governments. Even people in Judiciary are facing these charges. Many of these allegations are made on them after a long time gap of the alleged occurrence of assault, some times even after months or few years. I don't understand if that sexual assault was done then, why the victim did not turn up with the charges at that time? I think hardly any body including Media asks this question to those who put these allegations on others after a gap of such long periods. Whether the alleged person was really involved or he has been falsely implicated, at the first instance due to such allegations, his reputation in public is tarnished and undergoes irreparable damages. Even after the courts discharge them of those allegations, their reputation in society can not be restored. Law makers should give a serious thought on this and should amend the laws accordingly so that due to personal vendetta, the existing laws are not misused.

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मित्रों यदि मेरा यह पोस्ट आपके दिल को जरा भी छू कर गुजरा हो तो मुझे विश्वास है कि आप मेरे इस प्रयास को लाइक दे कर मुझे और भी अच्छा लिखने की प्रेरणा, स्नेह और आशीर्वाद देंगे। आप अगर मुझे मेरे फेसबुक प्रोफाइल पर फॉलो करते हैं तो आपको मेरे शेयर किये सारे पोस्ट्स आपके नोटिफिकेशन्स में मिलते रहेंगे। 

NPAs of PSU Banks now at alarming levels due to high interest regime by the Govt. and RBI

Author- Manoj Kumar Abhimanyu

I posted some months back about the PSU Banks dilapidated state because of surmounting NPAs. Can you imagine this figure? It's more than Rs. 2 Lakh Crore, if you take together all PSU Bank's total NPAs and every quarter this figure is getting bigger and bigger. Recently I learnt from the news papers that out of this figure Corporate bad debts are far greater than the bad debts from the rural and agricultural sectors. It's around 3.6% of the total Assets of the banks. You know banks operate on a very tight margin due to stiff competition with the other banks operating in the same line of business. Further due to high interest rate regime by RBI under the pressure of the Central Government to tame inflation, Indian GDP has suffered badly and most of the industrial sectors have suffered setback due to their unmanageable debts that they had taken in the past in the hope that they would be able to grow at a continuous rate as the demand cycle will keep on moving smoothly. But due to high interest rate, all sectors suffered badly and it had an spiral effect on all producers and consumers of the industrial sector as one is consumer to the other. As a result many big corporates also started defaulting their loans taken from Banks and these sums were quite huge. Banks restructured these loans several times, still there were not much improvement in bad debts. Their health is so bad that the last quarterly results of all PSU banks and some of the private sector banks showed their bottom lines either coming into red or are highly squeezed than before something that we witnessed after a very long time, thanks to our think tank sitting in the Center. Your take please...

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मित्रों यदि मेरा यह पोस्ट आपके दिल को जरा भी छू कर गुजरा हो तो मुझे विश्वास है कि आप मेरे इस प्रयास को लाइक दे कर मुझे और भी अच्छा लिखने की प्रेरणा, स्नेह और आशीर्वाद देंगे। आप अगर मुझे मेरे फेसबुक प्रोफाइल पर फॉलो करते हैं तो आपको मेरे शेयर किये सारे पोस्ट्स आपके नोटिफिकेशन्स में मिलते रहेंगे।

Some interesting moments during my train journey

Author- Manoj Kumar Abhimanyu

Recently met a group of travelers in a train bound to Ajmer, a very lively group with members from teenagers to those even in their fifties, both men and women. Had a chance to interact with some of them. They were from Kolkata and were going to visit Agra. During interaction I found among them a very talkative girl, very modern, frank and outgoing. In fact she draw attention from many of the co-passengers due to her fluent English, lovely voice, frequent smoking, round naughty eyes, enchanting personality and unmatched beauty with childish innocence. We were astonished to see that she was having two kids, one of six years and other of four. She showed their photos in her mobile in which she was preparing them for schools. We did not believe it initially until we saw those photos. In fact she got married with her boy friend when she was just 18. She was a Sales Officer in some Company at Mumbai, she told. She looked so young that one boy in his early twenties who was going to accept his first job offer at Jaipur after completing his internship of Hotel Management at Singapore almost proposed her... something really interesting that I witnessed.

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मित्रों यदि मेरा यह पोस्ट आपके दिल को जरा भी छू कर गुजरा हो तो मुझे विश्वास है कि आप मेरे इस प्रयास को लाइक दे कर मुझे और भी अच्छा लिखने की प्रेरणा, स्नेह और आशीर्वाद देंगे। आप अगर मुझे मेरे फेसबुक प्रोफाइल पर फॉलो करते हैं तो आपको मेरे शेयर किये सारे पोस्ट्स आपके नोटिफिकेशन्स में मिलते रहेंगे।

Atithi Dev Bhava - a noble initiative by Amir Khan

Author- Manoj Kumar Abhimanyu

You must have watched the educational ad series, "Atithi Dev Bhava" presented by Aamir Khan on Television channels. One of those ads shows a small kid peeing at a flyover, assisted by his parents and all this catches the sight of some foreign tourists moving in a car close to them.  The tourists get really shocked to see what was that happening?  Another ad shows how a woman moving in a bus throws the peels of banana from the window of the bus that fall inside the car moving parallel to the bus.  The foreign passengers sitting in the car are again disgusted to experience such a thing.

It's a good initiative but I feel like it's not intended just to show a kid there, in fact the finger is raised more towards mature adults who can not be shown on television doing the same.  But it's a shocking truth that this type of scene is very common in many parts of our country, specially in northern states of Bihar and UP. Health and Hygiene for the people living in those areas are their least priorities. It feels disgusting to those who are not frequented with these things. But those who do such things, are so habituated and shameless that they do it in full public view at roadside and at many public places. At many places on walls, you can read slogans that peeing there is strictly prohibited, still people don't spare even those places for such actions.  

However I won't blame those people squarely for all this. People remain out of their homes for long hours and it's something which can not be controlled by everyone for long intervals.  Moreover, Governments' and local bodies' apathy towards providing public toilets at optimum distances in most of the northern states in India is well known to all of us. Those who talk about the necessity of creating more and more toilets in India, before creating Temples are mocked at. Even those politicians who make statements in favour of this, only do the lip syncing, but even when they remain in power, they hardly do much in this regard. 

Well we can't be perceived as educated, well-mannered and civilized citizens in the eyes of people from other parts of the globe until we provide our people these basic necessities.  Government and local bodies need to provide clean and hygienic toilets every few meters at public places and on roads at affordable rates to the people.  Once these are provided to our people, this will automatically inculcate discipline and manners in them required for a decent life standard. Your take please..

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मित्रों यदि मेरा यह पोस्ट आपके दिल को जरा भी छू कर गुजरा हो तो मुझे विश्वास है कि आप मेरे इस प्रयास को लाइक दे कर मुझे और भी अच्छा लिखने की प्रेरणा, स्नेह और आशीर्वाद देंगे। आप अगर मुझे मेरे फेसबुक प्रोफाइल पर फॉलो करते हैं तो आपको मेरे शेयर किये सारे पोस्ट्स आपके नोटिफिकेशन्स में मिलते रहेंगे।

Need of a rating system of our MLAs and MPs on a scale of -10 to 10

Author- Manoj Kumar Abhimanyu

As per unicef.org data, quoted by Harpic India today in Times of India, over 620 Million Indians start their day by defecating in the open. It's a real shame for us that even after 68 years of Independence we are not able to provide toilets to more than half of our population. I remember Kalam Sahab's quote in his books and speeches that India would be a developed nation by 2020. When I was a student of MCA, our beloved Head of department, Computer Science in L.N. Mishra Institute at Patna,  Er. Neeraj Sinha often brought with him some books of Sri Kalam in his both hands during his classes and used to give untiring lectures to us for hours on his dreams and that time it all seemed so realistic from his mouth. Well we are just 6 years away now from 2020 and now where do we stand?  

Today morning I saw a photograph on FB in which there was a lady labour who was having her few days' or a few month's old baby tied in her Sari at her back and she was in the process of putting stack of bricks over her head to take that from one place to other.  I don't know whether we should feel proud to see such a great mother.  We are often seen in the habit of clapping or praising such things if raised in public or shown on television.  However it's really painful to see that a lady with a little baby on her back is doing such hard labour that puts her along with her child on a life threatening risk, any time any accident may happen.

Yes my friends, there is nothing new in this. In fact this is also one of many bitter truths of India. A country post British era after 7 decades of freedom did not bring its people out of sheer poverty. It's ironical that this is the same country where in the name of democracy and casting votes every five years, billions of Rupees are spent.  As an estimate around 35500 Crore of Rupees will be spent on 2014 Lok Sabha elections in India.  This amount so spent for election purpose is second only to the world's richest nation, United States of America which in its last presidential elections spent around 40000 Crores of Rupees.  Our nation is also ranked 5th with regard to largest number of Billionaires in a country. 

I leave it on you to judge, how far we have moved ahead after we won freedom. Where is the 'Bharat Nirman' that is shown on Television every now and then on almost all News Channels? Would our Bhagya Vidhata sitting in Delhi and elsewhere ever speak honestly for their continuous failure to provide even the primary necessities of a dignified human life, or they would keep on beating their own hollow drums without any substance whenever the elections come near to them? How many more years we would be fooled by them?  And how long would we just remain mute spectator of all our miseries? 

Friends we have got a TRP system for the Television Programs in which these are rated on the basis of their popularity among the audiences. We also have some kind of rating of our Corporate entities and their financial instruments.  Can't we have some kind of rating for the politicians too, whether he or she is an existing MLA or MP?  The ratings would be on the basis of - What actual development works they have done in their assemblies or constituencies?  Whatever promises did they make before elections, did they fulfill after being elected? How much of their allotted funds did they honestly spend for the development of the people in their constituency/assembly?  Make a scale of -10 to 10, and give them rating so that they start fearing of poor rating for their reluctance to work. Yes, I suggest negative rating also for such people as Indian politics has gone down to unthinkable levels.  Let this debate start among the people, hope my post is read by many and become a matter of discussion among public in general and reach the ear of those politicians and policy makers too.  And yes it’s very relevant today as the Lok Sabha election is just a few weeks away from now.

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मित्रों यदि मेरा यह पोस्ट आपके दिल को जरा भी छू कर गुजरा हो तो मुझे विश्वास है कि आप मेरे इस प्रयास को लाइक दे कर मुझे और भी अच्छा लिखने की प्रेरणा, स्नेह और आशीर्वाद देंगे। आप अगर मुझे मेरे फेसबुक प्रोफाइल पर फॉलो करते हैं तो आपको मेरे शेयर किये सारे पोस्ट्स आपके नोटिफिकेशन्स में मिलते रहेंगे। 

74 year old fruit seller - an inspiration for many

Author- Manoj Kumar Abhimanyu

Yesterday itself when I was taking apples from the fruit seller, he first gave me a big black polythene bag to select the apples. I told him to weight 5 apples after which he was not happy and mentioned why I was taking only 5, I should take at least 1 or 2 kgs for the family. I told I live alone. He did not get satisfied with that, he thought I was just faking. He started saying, "Have a heart like me, I have brought up so many sons and daughters and to all I have fed well but you Sahab log only go for one son or daughter, a family of three. See, I am 74 years old, still I am working myself, my children are grownups, they are working, but I don't take anything from them for my living." I was not replying him anything but just feeling good from inside the way he was speaking. Probably his simplicity came out to share his ideas with me for I look very sensible to others. He is a poor fruit seller, if we don't purchase from him in good quantities, how would he take home enough Rupees to shell that out for his expenses?
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मित्रों यदि मेरा यह पोस्ट आपके दिल को जरा भी छू कर गुजरा हो तो मुझे विश्वास है कि आप मेरे इस प्रयास को लाइक दे कर मुझे और भी अच्छा लिखने की प्रेरणा, स्नेह और आशीर्वाद देंगे। आप अगर मुझे मेरे फेसबुक प्रोफाइल पर फॉलो करते हैं तो आपको मेरे शेयर किये सारे पोस्ट्स आपके नोटिफिकेशन्स में मिलते रहेंगे।

Plight of common man due to price rise

Author- Manoj Kumar Abhimanyu

Yesterday when I was returning from my office, I thought of taking some vegetables and fruits from the mandi. Though now not a surprise for me, but would be very pinching for many others that all the vegetables were almost available in similar price that is Rs. 60 per Kg. Be it tomato, be it Parwal, Bheendi, Baigan..; you name the vegetable and all were in the same range. I had to take lesser quantity of vegetables only for myself as I live alone, so I had to wait till the vegetable seller finished with the lady who was probably taking her quota of vegetables for a week or so. I was silently watching, she was asking for each addition of the vegetable, how much she was to pay and whatever the seller told her, she was telling he had to reduce that by Rs. 10. It was funny for me, but not for the seller. I don't know may be his margin might have increased due to sudden spurt in prices of vegetables, but his annoyance with the lady was clear on h...is face, after all he can give her discounts up to a limit, not from his normal profit margin. Any how, after she left, I purchased tomatoes and brinjal from him. While giving me tomato, he put a small piece of tomato after the weight was done. I thought he was doing me a favor by that after being harassed by the woman who just left... hahaha. Well on a serious note, in morning newspaper today I read in Malda, villagers made a riot against the vegetable sellers looting their vegetable. But is that correct? Sometimes I feel their plight, they are poor fellows who just buy it from the whole sellers and sell that in retail. There is no fault of them for the price rise. On the other hand, consider the poor families, how they will survive in such a scenario? How will they have their food? Such things would start happening now, if the state and Center does not have any concrete plans to tame the price rise of essential commodities, sorry to say they have terribly failed in that.

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मित्रों यदि मेरा यह पोस्ट आपके दिल को जरा भी छू कर गुजरा हो तो मुझे विश्वास है कि आप मेरे इस प्रयास को लाइक दे कर मुझे और भी अच्छा लिखने की प्रेरणा, स्नेह और आशीर्वाद देंगे। आप अगर मुझे मेरे फेसबुक प्रोफाइल पर फॉलो करते हैं तो आपको मेरे शेयर किये सारे पोस्ट्स आपके नोटिफिकेशन्स में मिलते रहेंगे।

Migratory birds flocking in large numbers to Bengal lakes for their breeding :D

Author- Manoj Kumar Abhimanyu

Feeling happy to read today's newspaper that many migratory birds from Siberia, Russia, Tibet and many other European and Asian regions including our Sub-Himalayas are flocking to the water bodies at Howrah and Kolkata lakes. It sends the first message that Humans still care for them as I read that every year these lakes are cleaned for them exhaustively around Diwali, the time of the arrival of migratory birds, and some islands are prepared for them artificially where they could lay their eggs safely. Consider when the newborns come out of those eggs, after the end of this winter they fly back thousands of miles with their mothers to their home land. We know that many species of birds have gone extinct due to human encroachment of their habitats and also certain other reasons including radiations coming out of the mobile towers. How ever such efforts really thrills all of us that we still have a heart for them.

The second message that this news sends to us is other State governments can learn from Bengal, as we all know that India was second home to many migratory birds since long and because of human apathy towards them, we lost their arrival in many parts of our country with the time. The way Bengali communities have preserved water bodies near their homes is an example which can be followed by others also and in the process they may contribute immensely in preserving beauty and balance of our ecosystem.

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मित्रों यदि मेरा यह पोस्ट आपके दिल को जरा भी छू कर गुजरा हो तो मुझे विश्वास है कि आप मेरे इस प्रयास को लाइक दे कर मुझे और भी अच्छा लिखने की प्रेरणा, स्नेह और आशीर्वाद देंगे। आप अगर मुझे मेरे फेसबुक प्रोफाइल पर फॉलो करते हैं तो आपको मेरे शेयर किये सारे पोस्ट्स आपके नोटिफिकेशन्स में मिलते रहेंगे।

Need for an exclusive News Channel for International and Sports Contents other than Cricket

Author- Manoj Kumar Abhimanyu

Our Indian TV News Channels don't have a regular schedule of programs based on their contents.  In the race of TRP, we hardly find any different news on different channels.  You switch on different news channels and you will find same news, mostly called "Breaking News" and in this rat race all claim to make that live to their viewers ahead of others.  Sometimes what I feel that they have become so much myopic in copying others that they forget to look from the viewers perspective.  A news channel's role is to provide all kinds of news from the world both national and international.   But we mostly find on these channels, Politics and Cricket.  At the most what you can find in the name of scheduled programs are news based on crimes for example, Sansani.  The reporters of such news portray such cases as if they are the judges and they have done all the trails ahead of the courts and now the alleged should be hanged in full public view.  Thankfully some more responsible news content are coming in the form of 'Sawadhan India' and 'Crime Patrol' but still what I feel many of those too are not fully unbiased.  The other scheduled programs may be on TV shows and serials like 'Saas Bahu aur Beti". 
As a serious scanner of news I always miss other Sports news there.  Even if some Indian players won a medal on any athletic, boxing, wrestling or weight lifting event, I get the news only from the newspapers, and mostly the news channels skip such reports.  At least for sports news, Doordarshan News Channel has a time fixed for that; in half an hour we can have news from sports event around the world; there we have news on SAARC countries and other international groups also.  But international news are given complete miss by our popular news channels.  Our young generations are not able to know much about other parts of the world due to this apathy of the news channels towards international news and I sincerely feel a need of an Indian channel exclusively for International news, sports other than Cricket, diplomatic relations of India with other countries, news based on Indian progress in Science and Technology and many such things that existing News Channels are not able to give time and space.  Your views please.
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मित्रों यदि मेरा यह पोस्ट आपके दिल को जरा भी छू कर गुजरा हो तो मुझे विश्वास है कि आप मेरे इस प्रयास को लाइक दे कर मुझे और भी अच्छा लिखने की प्रेरणा, स्नेह और आशीर्वाद देंगे। आप अगर मुझे मेरे फेसबुक प्रोफाइल पर फॉलो करते हैं तो आपको मेरे शेयर किये सारे पोस्ट्स आपके नोटिफिकेशन्स में मिलते रहेंगे।

Girls not safe in the four walls of their home - very disturbing trend in our society

Author- Manoj Kumar Abhimanyu

In today's The Times of India edition, I got two striking news headings - 1. Father rapes and kills teen for eloping with boy friend and 2. Techie held for raping 13-yr-old niece. Both the events are highly unfortunate and disturbing to us.

In the first incidence, her own father rapes her 4 months pregnant 17 year old daughter who got married to a boy of 19 from her own mohalla by eloping with... him some months back. They were residing in Mumbai far from their parent's home. Some how the father of the girl found out her whereabouts and reached there and tried to convince her to leave her husband and return with him to her parent's home. When she denied, he took her forcibly to a jungle and raped her there and then allowed one of his friends also to rape her after that. With the fear of the girl informing this to police, they murdered her.

In the second incidence, a Techie at Bangalore raped a girl continuously for last two years. The girl is now 13 years old. She is his wife's niece who was sent there by her parents for helping her aunt when her aunt was pregnant and taking care of her new born baby afterwards. Somehow one day his wife caught her husband red handed when he was exploiting her niece. Even after her warning to her husband, he continued to do so. He even locked his wife and did not allow her to move out. Only with the help of one of her neighbors she had the courage to report this incident to police and got his husband arrested for his heinous crime.

Well friends, don't these two events compel us to think who are these people who are doing all this? Aren't they from our own society? The father of the deceased teenager said he did it just to give her a lesson, who eloped with several boys in the past for sex. And after her rape when he feared that she will reveal that to police, he murdered her. And what kind of psyche that Techie was having who kept on molesting that small kid of 11 for next two years continuously? She was a small girl who came there to assist his wife when she was pregnant and had to deliver his baby. His wife feared that her daughter would have the same fate one day as her niece if she does not get him caught by the police. I leave this up to you to decide what is responsible for such crimes in our society which are being done by close relatives? Girls are not safe even in their father's hands.. where are we heading towards? Where is our Indian culture which we don't get tired boasting off?  

Then for us it is the easiest thing to blame law enforcing agencies or Police force for each and everything bad happening in our society. I am not discharging them from their duties. We all know their failures. At the same time we should understand their limitations as well. If the small kids in the four walls of our home are not safe, how police would come to know about all this? And my dear friends, you must be knowing, only out of 1000 cases may be less than one case is getting reported. Who will dare to report against her own father and that too if she is a small child who does not know much about this world yet? Change is required in the society itself. The mothers who remain silent even when they know that their boys and girls are being sexually abused by their fathers or other relatives, they have to come forward and let others know how they have become victims of their own. But it's not so easy. We all know how our own society thinks and looks at such girls and ladies who themselves are victims. So very few mothers dare to do this, and they just keep on tolerating all this by their husbands and other relatives.  We all are responsible for this, aren't we?? Keep your hands on your hearts and ask this question to yourself.

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मित्रों यदि मेरा यह पोस्ट आपके दिल को जरा भी छू कर गुजरा हो तो मुझे विश्वास है कि आप मेरे इस प्रयास को लाइक दे कर मुझे और भी अच्छा लिखने की प्रेरणा, स्नेह और आशीर्वाद देंगे। आप अगर मुझे मेरे फेसबुक प्रोफाइल पर फॉलो करते हैं तो आपको मेरे शेयर किये सारे पोस्ट्स आपके नोटिफिकेशन्स में मिलते रहेंगे।

My observations after first innings of the ODI match between India and Australia on Nov 2, 2013

Author- Manoj Kumar Abhimanyu

No record or no player is the best in today's cricket... for last around two decades we always talked about Sachin Tendulkar and we kept him on the first position, then we had Ganguly and Dravid on second and third. While Ganguly had aggression he was never judged as a technically perfect batsman; on the other hand, Dravid was perfect in technique but lacked aggression in his shots, though he is known as Wall of Indian Cricket. But after this Tripod left the team, all the analysts were anxious what would happen now???? But the way the today's team has shaped itself, we can convincingly and proudly say that this is the strongest Indian team ever.. this is a fearless team... this team is having a very strong skipper.  More over there are few others too  in the team, who can very well lead the team in the absence of the present skipper.  This is the most confident and aggressive team. This team is full of match winners. Opposition team fears when they roar with the bat.  Be it Virat Kohli, Shikhar Dhawan, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina.  They are certainly the most dangerous batsmen in the world...
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मित्रों यदि मेरा यह पोस्ट आपके दिल को जरा भी छू कर गुजरा हो तो मुझे विश्वास है कि आप मेरे इस प्रयास को लाइक दे कर मुझे और भी अच्छा लिखने की प्रेरणा, स्नेह और आशीर्वाद देंगे। आप अगर मुझे मेरे फेसबुक प्रोफाइल पर फॉलो करते हैं तो आपको मेरे शेयर किये सारे पोस्ट्स आपके नोटिफिकेशन्स में मिलते रहेंगे।

Belonging and Practicing a religion are two different things, let's understand!

Author- Manoj Kumar Abhimanyu

Good morning friends! Just read the article of Chetan Bhagat, my favourite columnist and writer with whom I am greatly inspired for he writes in a very simple language. Each one of his sentences are pretty clear to all of us.  He keeps his flow with the readers and his writing is not just artificial, it touches our hearts and probably that is why he is darling of millions of readers across India, specially our youth. Today's Times of India in The Times of Ideas section I read this article in which he has advocated for the need of a healthy debate on religion in our country.  Along similar lines I just want to express my views on this topic for you to have a look on and it should be taken as my attempt as a neutral writer with no intention to hurt the sentiments of any of my readers and others.  Even then if something hurts to anyone of you, I sincerely apologize. 

Ours is a country which is in making for last around 66 years after its independence, the people of which are divided under the different banners of religion. They are mostly confused with their identity when it comes for them to align with their religions with a view to have a visible difference in the way of leading their lives from the people of other religions and as prescribed by different preachers of those religions.  In my view, religion is just a practice, but we very often link it with our births. When we go to schools, our parents fill the forms and in one of the columns in the form remains the religion where these parents put their own religion for their wards.  And by that time in our early childhood we hardly know about ABC of religion.  And the same religion column that is filled in that form becomes our identity for rest of our lives.  

We often believe or better say we are made to believe that all what we could think of originates from that particular religion.  In our country, our own names are also kept by our family members so as to retain the difference between the people of different religions.  Commonly with the name of a person, we can easily identify him what religion he belongs to.  To the contrary in many countries we have seen people having different religions but their names are so identical that you would hardly be able to distinguish by their names, what religion they belong to. Sorry I too used the word 'belong to' on few occasions.  As far as my view goes, belonging and practicing are really two different things. We should practice religion and not belong to it. The moment we start belonging to a religion, there comes the problem. We start believing in something that actually does not happen. Let us try to understand this how, in the next paragraph.  

Ultimately all religions have one goal to achieve that is to become a loving and compassionate human being to coexist peacefully with all other members of this universe, in simplest of terms if I could say.  So I don't find reasons why there should be so many religions for us to choose from or we should be made to choose one from.  All religions are perceptions.  Some basic tenets have been prescribed in these religions that differentiates one from the other.  Most of the followers without understanding those things get themselves aligned with one of those, mostly by birth as a lineage from our parents.  And thus mostly all of us bear several illusions in our minds with respect to our own religions.  

If we could differentiate between belonging and practicing a religion, I think there would be an end to the religious fanaticism, one of the biggest problems that our country is facing today.  Let us collectively work towards it what ever religion we practice.  Let us understand that we all are human beings having similar kind of features, looks, voices, emotions etc. We don't need to become a Saudia or Iran.  Let us write our own scripts.  Let us be known by our nation first and then by our religions. Some times I feel, if there is a good practice in Islam, I should practice that in my life, and similarly what is good there in Hinduism, I should practice that too.  In fact we don't admit this publicly, but many of us use to do this very often knowingly or unknowingly.  This is in fact Indianisation of all our religions.  

Let us now talk about inter-religious marriages, today's youth are doing it and unlike past it is not so uncommon.  There are some second generation people also from such families.  In such families, two people from different religions have married.  Then either of the two, have to change their religions, or sometimes they practice their own religions individually and still live together under one roof with love and peace.  Further when they have their children, they have the choice to adhere to one of the two religions their parents were following.  It is not exactly a choice again.  It all depends on the family's choice.  But later on when the children are grown ups, they can have their independent views on this.  So then that becomes a practice for them.  

With these lines, I would like to stop my pen.  I hope I was able to clear the difference between belonging and practicing of a religion. I also feel that I could express to some extent to my readers that belonging to a religion is just an illusion in our minds.  However the two words are commonly used interchangeably by us.  Thanks for your patience to read my post.  If you liked please show your love for this in my blog.

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मित्रों यदि मेरा यह पोस्ट आपके दिल को जरा भी छू कर गुजरा हो तो मुझे विश्वास है कि आप मेरे इस प्रयास को लाइक दे कर मुझे और भी अच्छा लिखने की प्रेरणा, स्नेह और आशीर्वाद देंगे। आप अगर मुझे मेरे फेसबुक प्रोफाइल पर फॉलो करते हैं तो आपको मेरे शेयर किये सारे पोस्ट्स आपके नोटिफिकेशन्स में मिलते रहेंगे।

Memories of my childhood with reference to the major festivals of Durga Puja and Moharram

Author- Manoj Kumar Abhimanyu

Some of the little known facts and my fond memories I want to share here.  From the age of 7 to 8 Years when I was able to recognize and enjoy the things of this world around myself, I remember where I resided at Patna, we had a population consisting of Hindus and Muslims both, but it was not fully mixed.  We had small pockets of mohallas where Hindus were together in the bunch, while Muslims were again in the bunch in different pockets; and these small pockets were hardly separated by a few meters. It was also like a narrow street of 5 ft width that separated the two such pockets while one side Muslim dominated and other side Hindu dominated.  But mostly both the communities remained in peace and harmony enjoying each other's festivals too.

I remember some of the muslim families' ladies and children who used to come to our home and meet my mother.  They used to come with sweets and dry fruits with the plates covered by coloured and netted cloths for us on the occasion of their festivals.  They used to invite us to their homes on the occasion of their festivals too.  We also reciprocated to them in the similar way.  I remember my mother used to send me to their homes to give Prasad of our "Chhath" Festival or Diwali Festival with some more ingredients for them than for others, probably because of my mother’s affection for those ladies and children who treated us equally well with lots of affection.  But since some unfortunate riots those Muslim families who were living in our mohalls, left and settled somewhere else.  Similarly those Hindus living in Muslim Mohallas, they also sold their properties and settled elsewhere. 

I was fortunate to study in schools in my childhood where there were students from both the communities almost in equal numbers.  The Muslim classmates and friends were very cordial to me and I always enjoyed their company.  I liked their way of dressing in schools; while Hindu girls were mostly wearing Skirts and Shirts, the Muslim girls always wore Salwar Kurta and Dupatta covering their heads, even little girls of six seven years.  That time we were little kids, how different we were while playing together, they used to shout "Hi Allah" and we "Hey Bhagwaan"..   We used to play "Chhupa Chhupi" which you also know by the name of "Hide and Seek",  "Denga Paani", "Chhua-Chhui", “Pitto” etc. hahaha…  While returning home with them, I did not come directly to my home, but while taking longer route returning with them and in the way pelting stones on the branches of trees where Amla and Amra trees were located and then eating those fruits in the way.  Plucking thrones from the Cactus tree was also our favourite habit those days in the way. 

Well I also recall the days of Moharram which we all Hindus also waited for the entire year.  It was the time when all the streets and Roads were cleared by the administration for around 24 Hours when there was a complete ban on any movement of Vehicles.  All the families of our mohallas used to come with bed sheets or mats to sit on the road side shops and their platforms the whole night and subsequent day.  Those who were having their houses on the road side, they along with their friends and their families sit on their roof tops to watch the number of Moharram Akharas passing along those roads. 

Moharram Festival is celebrated in different ways in different cities of India but at Patna, they used to have competition with Hindus' Durgapuja Idol's Visarjan celebrations that was a huge hit with the localites.  There were some puja committees who spent huge amount of money bringing bands of musicians from different states who used to march past and this exhibition might have been anywhere between half a km. long to two Kms. long with band of Camels, elephants, horses; then several bands with variety of musical instruments, then singers singing on the beats of those bands.  This huge chanin of exhibition passed along the streets and roads covering the whole stretch of the heart land of the city, covering around 10 to 15 kms.   And one after another the different Pooja Committees had their exhibitions lined up.

Moharram is though a festival of sorrow and remembering sacrifice, but in Patna on its last day when the exhibition had to reach to the Karbala, it was just akin to the Durgapuja Idol visarjan ceremony.   There was one striking feature in those Moharram exhibitions that they had two big flags tied to two big bamboos and then stitched together in the middle and two persons holding those bamboos one each at both sides of the narrow roads of twenty Ft. portraying the arrival of their Akhadas, walked on foot along the roads. There were several such different coloured and textured flags used by them in the celebration. The exihibitions were so long that you could not see the bands of musicians even after arrival of the flags of those akhadas.  The exihibtions include many speakers one after another boasting about their Akaadaas and highlighting their shows, bands of musicians and singers, Animals, and even dancers.  Some were showing their dancing skills, some Marshal Arts, including use of Lathis and naked swords.  It was awesome to the eyes of the beholders.  Spectators were just awed by these arts and glimpses of the troops and bands.  I remember from the roof tops, people used to throw flowers and garlands also in some areas in both these festivals, mostly in case of Durgapuja by the Muslim Community and in Moharram by Hindu Communities in contrasting styles to commemorate the harmony of the two communities.  And then the speakers used to make us really emotional.  The love that evoked out of by those speeches brought cheers on the faces of all the spectators.

Yes, I miss those days. I got the inspiration to write this article after watching this song “Phir tere Sehar mein Lootne ko chala aaya hoon, Phir wohi Ishq tera, Phir wohi dil laaya hoon” from the movie “Ek musafir ek haseena.”  Actually this song I heard only in the Moharram Celebrations some ten years back when I was there at Patna during those days.  It was having a band from Maharashtra and it was having such a long tail I think almost two hundred musicians were lined up with their saxophones and all the instruments that they play, and there were dozens of brass loud speakers and the song resonating all around in the skies were reaching our ears, thus bringing an immortal effect on us.  It can never be imagined if you did not witness all this.  This was the first time I heard this song then and never knew which movie it was from and all its descriptions, but today when I watched this movie, I could feel why that song was chosen by such an expensive band then while there were many other popular songs of that time they could have chosen; and also why these bands are so expensive, and why they are known to be different? 

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मित्रों यदि मेरा यह पोस्ट आपके दिल को जरा भी छू कर गुजरा हो तो मुझे विश्वास है कि आप मेरे इस प्रयास को लाइक दे कर मुझे और भी अच्छा लिखने की प्रेरणा, स्नेह और आशीर्वाद देंगे। आप अगर मुझे मेरे फेसबुक प्रोफाइल पर फॉलो करते हैं तो आपको मेरे शेयर किये सारे पोस्ट्स आपके नोटिफिकेशन्स में मिलते रहेंगे।

Ek Musafir Ek Haseena

Author- Manoj Kumar Abhimanyu

Today I watched a splendid movie of yesteryears -"Ek Musafir Ek Haseena" For long I did not watch such a beautiful romantic movie. It's a special treat, sometimes I feel like such black and white movies must be screened in multiplexes and Cinema Halls to new generation so that they could get to see wonderful gifts that our directors of those times have given to us. The time when it was made and the way it has been picturised really compels us to ponder how genius our directors were then. I never felt while watching this movie that I am not able to connect to it even in today's era, may be around half a century has already gone past since then. The locations of Kashmir has been so vividly shown in the songs.. The evergreen songs like "Bahot Shukriya Badi Meharbaani" and "Aap yuhi agar hamse milte rahe" take our hearts out of us. The acting of the characters are so natural, specially Sadhna, the actress in the movie who has performed so brilliantly that you will just be lost in her. She was gifted with the natural beauty in the same league of Madhubala. Her flawless figure, graceful body language, facial expressions, melodious voice, and unparallel charm in her eyes and lips coordination while speaking are something which made her a brand among ladies of those times.  I have heard that there was a hair style famous on her, called 'Sadhna Cut'. I have seen some of her other movies like "Mera Saya" and "Wo kaun thi". Not only her acting skills were so natural and gifted, but also I feel like she would be among the best looking ladies in all times and generations.

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मित्रों यदि मेरा यह पोस्ट आपके दिल को जरा भी छू कर गुजरा हो तो मुझे विश्वास है कि आप मेरे इस प्रयास को लाइक दे कर मुझे और भी अच्छा लिखने की प्रेरणा, स्नेह और आशीर्वाद देंगे। आप अगर मुझे मेरे फेसबुक प्रोफाइल पर फॉलो करते हैं तो आपको मेरे शेयर किये सारे पोस्ट्स आपके नोटिफिकेशन्स में मिलते रहेंगे।

India - Land of Gods and Goddesses

Author- Manoj Kumar Abhimanyu

India is a land of Gods and Goddesses. We Hindus perceive Almighty in various forms and incarnations for all His powers, benevolence, blessings, creation of each and every element of this universe and demolition of evil forces. We look for power in Goddess Durga, knowledge in Goddess Sarasawati, prosperity in Goddess Luxmi. Yes I took the names of Goddesses intentionally. That explains how we also look God in the female gender which probably in other religions seldom one thinks of.  Elsewhere God is always thought to be Him, not Her while we all know that most of the creatures are born out of females. So She is the genesis of the entire Universe. 

Well, we look for one God in all these incarnations. We are taught to start with idols to concentrate our focus on Gods and gradually shift towards meditation where we can enlighten ourselves with the actual perception of God in ourselves, in fact our souls where resides God to whom we also know by the name of Super Soul. The meeting of soul and Super soul is the actual journey of our lives that we keep looking for elsewhere in temples, and in idols.

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मित्रों यदि मेरा यह पोस्ट आपके दिल को जरा भी छू कर गुजरा हो तो मुझे विश्वास है कि आप मेरे इस प्रयास को लाइक दे कर मुझे और भी अच्छा लिखने की प्रेरणा, स्नेह और आशीर्वाद देंगे। आप अगर मुझे मेरे फेसबुक प्रोफाइल पर फॉलो करते हैं तो आपको मेरे शेयर किये सारे पोस्ट्स आपके नोटिफिकेशन्स में मिलते रहेंगे।

My love for Kolkata

I am continuing to live here for around 6 and half years.. it's a major chunk of my life.. in such a scenario it's automatic you will develop attachment to such a place. Also I like the climate here which is less harsher than you experience in the cities like Mumbai, Chennai or Delhi the three other metro cities in India.. People are friendlier, less egoistic, and less of show offs as compared to many other places.. Many other things I like here, like freedom of expression, Public Display of affection, love birds.. biryani..
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मित्रों यदि मेरा यह पोस्ट आपके दिल को जरा भी छू कर गुजरा हो तो मुझे विश्वास है कि आप मेरे इस प्रयास को लाइक दे कर मुझे और भी अच्छा लिखने की प्रेरणा, स्नेह और आशीर्वाद देंगे। आप अगर मुझे मेरे फेसबुक प्रोफाइल पर फॉलो करते हैं तो आपको मेरे शेयर किये सारे पोस्ट्स आपके नोटिफिकेशन्स में मिलते रहेंगे।

Pandal hopping on Mahasaptami at Kolkata, 2013

I went to see Pooja Pandals yesterday with some of my friends. Same Durga Maa everywhere but the idols were so different at many places. Like the previous years, this time too there were lots of creativity that I observed in many pandals.. some took the concept of Global warming, some were depicting historical monuments and some, palaces of the Great Kings of India. Some took beautiful concepts... from the villages and villagers' life. Kolkatans who are mostly used to a sedentary life style really like this Village concept and so it was looking so fresh and so enchanting. Use of artifacts was one of the USP of such pooja pandals. The periphery of such pandals was quite huge compared with others as these had to give real look of a village. The men, women, huts, wells, bulls, carts all were created by those artists with soils.. lovely so enchanting.. I saw people were so much mesmerized with such pandals, that they remained glued to them for quite a long time. No body wanted to leave that beautiful sight. 

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मित्रों यदि मेरा यह पोस्ट आपके दिल को जरा भी छू कर गुजरा हो तो मुझे विश्वास है कि आप मेरे इस प्रयास को लाइक दे कर मुझे और भी अच्छा लिखने की प्रेरणा, स्नेह और आशीर्वाद देंगे। आप अगर मुझे मेरे फेसबुक प्रोफाइल पर फॉलो करते हैं तो आपको मेरे शेयर किये सारे पोस्ट्स आपके नोटिफिकेशन्स में मिलते रहेंगे।

Night of Mahasaptami at Kolkata, 2013

I came back to my flat yesterday late at night and by that time it was around 1 AM. And then it took some time for my eyes to go into the sleeping mode. But in the morning, my eyes got opened automatically with the chants of mantras and prayers coming from all sides of the sky travelling into my ears.. it's a different day.. it feels so divine at the time when everything looks so unnatural, artificial. It... reminds me that even now our heritage, our traditions, some real devotion to Gods are still left, if not to everyone but to some of the people and that is also satisfying to our hearts. I want to see these prayers live. But did not get chance this time so far. Last time I saw the prayers and aarti.  Durga maa's aarti is really something if traditionally it is done in Bengali style, there is nothing comparable to this.. I hope to see it if possible in the evening today if the much publicized Failin, the cyclone does not spoilsport my plans.

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मित्रों यदि मेरा यह पोस्ट आपके दिल को जरा भी छू कर गुजरा हो तो मुझे विश्वास है कि आप मेरे इस प्रयास को लाइक दे कर मुझे और भी अच्छा लिखने की प्रेरणा, स्नेह और आशीर्वाद देंगे। आप अगर मुझे मेरे फेसबुक प्रोफाइल पर फॉलो करते हैं तो आपको मेरे शेयर किये सारे पोस्ट्स आपके नोटिफिकेशन्स में मिलते रहेंगे।

Pandal hopping and youngsters' adda during last four days of Durgapuja at Kolkata

Now when Durgapuja Pandals are open for hopping, I find so much of crowds everywhere here at Kolkata... I was not able to find Auto today evening while returning from office.. one more day to go, from Saptami we have our holidays starting... Well here I saw that mostly all Bengalis are crazy for these ten days in the year... they wait anxiously for this time through out the year... I saw the adda ...last year once I went for Pandal hopping. I did not know earlier what exactly this Kolkatan Adda means though I had read about this several times in newspapers and heard about it from some of my Bengali friends. Then I saw boys and girls in the age group of 15 to 40 all enjoying sitting on newspapers in a park in front of a pandal which was made in side a park.. there were some different groups of boys and girls who were playing guitars and singing some Bengali, English and Hindi songs, they were probably the budding musicians who wanted to get attention of the public. There were some audiences looking adoringly towards them surrounding them all. In a central embankment, one group of young girls and guys were waiting to dance on Dhak... Ah.. that was awesome.. initially it started with one or two and subsequently it was having a crowd of dozens dancing on the tune of melody coming out of the Dhak.. even that was played by some of the old time veterans from the organisers... all the dancers were greeted and loved like anything... Girls were going crazy on the boys who were dancing on Dhak.. There were food stalls, ice cream parlours every where inside the park.. some guys were selling old newspapers for others to buy those to sit in the open over the grass inside the park. It was Kolkatan Pooja crazy crowd's adda. I loved all this. Really something you can experience only if you come here this time, right from Panchami till Navami... It's another experience, very different, very rejuvenating.. A time when all singles try to find a love bird for him or her and those who have found theirs, renew their commitments for each other on this occasion.

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मित्रों यदि मेरा यह पोस्ट आपके दिल को जरा भी छू कर गुजरा हो तो मुझे विश्वास है कि आप मेरे इस प्रयास को लाइक दे कर मुझे और भी अच्छा लिखने की प्रेरणा, स्नेह और आशीर्वाद देंगे। आप अगर मुझे मेरे फेसबुक प्रोफाइल पर फॉलो करते हैं तो आपको मेरे शेयर किये सारे पोस्ट्स आपके नोटिफिकेशन्स में मिलते रहेंगे। 

First Indian Idol Junior - Anjana Padmanabhan

First Indian Idol Junior's name announced - Anjana Padmanabhan..

Yes, she holds the promise.. her voice texture is amazing and control on her rhythm is impeccable... I am happy for her. But equally sad for Sonakshi and Sugandha Date as they once again performed on stage like winners.. they are equally good to Anjana... I wish them all the best and want to see them become great singers in few years time.. love you all kids.. Not to forget the consistent performance of Debanjana.. she deserves a lot and she is a readymade material for playback singing and this has been acknowledged by many music directors who came on the show... I shall wait her to perform as playback singer in coming months...

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मित्रों यदि मेरा यह पोस्ट आपके दिल को जरा भी छू कर गुजरा हो तो मुझे विश्वास है कि आप मेरे इस प्रयास को लाइक दे कर मुझे और भी अच्छा लिखने की प्रेरणा, स्नेह और आशीर्वाद देंगे। आप अगर मुझे मेरे फेसबुक प्रोफाइल पर फॉलो करते हैं तो आपको मेरे शेयर किये सारे पोस्ट्स आपके नोटिफिकेशन्स में मिलते रहेंगे।

When soul meets the greater soul

Greatness comes from humility. The time when you can connect with small child, the poorest of the poor, the weakest of the weak, the illiterates of the villages, the common man in the streets with same ease as you do with others who are supposed to be suave, polished, rich, highly educated and successful in their careers, is the time when you reach the real destination of your life, which for many of us is a lifetime journey in which only a few become successful. Then you really forego your ego, you forego your self and you become an identity for others in which there is no distinction left between you, me and him. It's the time when your soul is looking for a greater soul in others.

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मित्रों यदि मेरा यह पोस्ट आपके दिल को जरा भी छू कर गुजरा हो तो मुझे विश्वास है कि आप मेरे इस प्रयास को लाइक दे कर मुझे और भी अच्छा लिखने की प्रेरणा, स्नेह और आशीर्वाद देंगे। आप अगर मुझे मेरे फेसबुक प्रोफाइल पर फॉलो करते हैं तो आपको मेरे शेयर किये सारे पोस्ट्स आपके नोटिफिकेशन्स में मिलते रहेंगे।

Pilgrimage to Triveni - A unique encounter with nature in its purest form

I was to a famous pilgrimage in India where three most sacred rivers meet i.e. Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswati (the river which is supposed to exist few thousands of years ago but now it's dried up.)   We also call it Triveni. Well yes I am talking about Prayag. Prayag now known as Allahabad, the name given by Mughal Emperor, Akbar. Akbar named this city Allahabad in the name of Allah and its meanin...g is the City of Allah. I find this city as very unclean, smelly and unplanned. Every where you can find garbage spread on roads and streets. The civic bodies are not doing their job properly. People are not cleanliness friendly. No traffic rules are followed. Well.. once I reached the Ganga ghat by auto, autorickshaw driver told me to leave me till the last lap where the auto rickshaws ply upto the bank of river Ganges. But as I was new to that place, he left me two or three hundred meters before that as most of the other passengers had already alighted. From the time I alighted from the auto, one boatman (kenwat) came along with me telling I should go with him in his boat and what ever I would give him as reward, he will keep. He told me not to interact with any of the Pandas (priests) and come with him till the bank of the river. I kept following him. When I reached there to the bank I found many boatmen trying to convince me to hire their boats. I first asked where is the Sangam. And then the boatmen saw me where we had to go. It was hardly 200-300 meters from the bank of the river. And can you guess, how much they were asking for to take me to that place. Yes they started with Rs. 850/- Ultimately they settled for Rs. 200. But after I along with one of my friends entered his boat, he started telling it's very meager. I should pay him at least Rs. 350. Then I said what ever we decided before entering his boat should be final. Then he started telling about his plight that all the money goes to the owner of the boat and all. When we told him if he kept on insisting us paying more, better let me come out of his boat, then he started telling then he will take some more passengers. We agreed, then he started bargaining us on the context that they are going for pind-daan and then they will remain there for four hours, and in that case we will be brought back only after that. We could not have waited for that much. Ultimately he took us together and we paid him more than we agreed at the first instance. Well.. we reached there filled a one liter bottle with the water from the confluence of Ganga and Yamuna. After a long time, may be years..I was going inside a boat, that too at a place where Ganga and Yamuna two biggest rivers of our nation meet. Wow.. it was such a nice experience.. I was in water, holy waters below the open sky for miles, water and only water... life line for all of us, whose water run into our bodies as we get our drinking water from these rivers only. This was one of the memorable moments that came to me totally unplanned unawares.

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मित्रों यदि मेरा यह पोस्ट आपके दिल को जरा भी छू कर गुजरा हो तो मुझे विश्वास है कि आप मेरे इस प्रयास को लाइक दे कर मुझे और भी अच्छा लिखने की प्रेरणा, स्नेह और आशीर्वाद देंगे। आप अगर मुझे मेरे फेसबुक प्रोफाइल पर फॉलो करते हैं तो आपको मेरे शेयर किये सारे पोस्ट्स आपके नोटिफिकेशन्स में मिलते रहेंगे।

A girl's ordeal after her marriage in a wrong family - Excerpts from Crime Patrol Dustak - August 2013

Author - Manoj Kumar

I watched today's episode of Crime Patrol Dustak. A girl from a village got married to a boy of another village. She was not received well by the groom and his family. They started demanding dowry like scooter and color TV which her family could not provide and from there her ordeal started. The groom's family started torturing her in all possible ways, mentally and physically. They used to beat her mercilessly. They did not give her proper food, even they locked her inside a cow's fodder room where her husband and one of his neighbors used to sexually exploit her almost daily. All these led her to become so weak that she was not even able to walk on her feet. She was kept locked in such inhumane conditions for about two years continuously in the same fodder room. So many times her parents came to meet her but they were not allowed by her husband's family unless they fulfilled their dowry demand. 

Almost two years passed like this.   When the boy's family realized that now the pressure was mounting on them to allow her family to meet her, and if they did so they would land into trouble if the truth comes out before her family members.  Therefore, they planned to send her to one of their relatives to stay with them and once she reaches there, they would tell her family that the girl has eloped. But by then as she was not given adequate food, her health had deteriorated considerably and she was not even able to walk properly.  They did not want to see her to any doctor since this might have led the villagers to know about their torture on the girl.  Some how they provided her food and medicine so that she could recover this much that she could walk on her feet.  Thereafter as per the plan, her husband took her to his relative, a man in his sixties. Leaving her there he came back to his home. The girl's ordeal did not end there too.  Now his husband's relative and his two adult sons started sexually exploiting her almost everyday. 

When they had enough of her fulfilling their lusts, they sold her to a cruel moneylender where her ordeal continued unabated. She once tried to run from their net, but only to be caught again from the bus she was travelling in to reach at her parent's home. In order to give her a lesson, the moneylender and his men beat her mercilessly like beasts so much so that it became absolutely necessary for them to take her to a doctor to save her life, where one person who was working in that clinic recognized her. This news of her presence in a moneylender's home was informed to her parents.  Then somehow she was rescued by her parents with the help of the villagers.  Also the moneylender and the relative of her husband and his two sons were arrested by police.  However her husband and his family members were absconding for a few months after which they were arrested.  Not surprisingly as usual what happens in India, within few months all of them were free on bail. Charge sheet has been filed in this case. All the culprits are since out of jail.

Now the most pertinent questions are-
1) why such ordeal started to that girl ?
2) even after such inhumane and cruel treatment with the girl, how the culprits are still free on bail?

Answer lies in another set of questions-

In the name of tradition, why dowry is still so much prevalent in our society?  Why don't we educate our children that we won't take or give dowry for their marriage?

Why don't we educate our girls?  They remain so much silent to tolerate all this, specially girls from rural background, why?

How as a member of the same society, we remain silent if such things keep on happening with someone in our vicinity and we think it's their internal affair, why should we interfere?

How can we be so insensitive? If you are a father or brother of a girl, you must realize, this thing can happen to any girl, even your daughter or sister.

I just urge you all that don't encourage the system of dowry. Don't make the marriage of your boys and girls an issue of prestige that you would marry them in your own caste and community even if you have better choice outside. If your boy or girl wants to get married to someone of his or her choice and you find that the boy is equally matching to him or her though they are not from the same caste or society, don't come in their way. Allow them to marry and start their own world. Be custodians as parents and not a ring master of your girls. Change your mindsets please.

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मित्रों यदि मेरा यह पोस्ट आपके दिल को जरा भी छू कर गुजरा हो तो मुझे विश्वास है कि आप मेरे इस प्रयास को लाइक दे कर मुझे और भी अच्छा लिखने की प्रेरणा, स्नेह और आशीर्वाद देंगे। आप अगर मुझे मेरे फेसबुक प्रोफाइल पर फॉलो करते हैं तो आपको मेरे शेयर किये सारे पोस्ट्स आपके नोटिफिकेशन्स में मिलते रहेंगे। 

Ten simple rules that I follow to live this life happily

Author- Manoj Kumar Abhimanyu

Today morning I was having anger deep inside on some momentary issues.  Negative emotions started flowing inside my heart all of a sudden. Even while going to office I returned half way. But then I tried to control myself. It took some time for me to come to terms but now I am feeling okay.  Well, this life is the biggest gift of God to us.  The more we would attract negative energy in our lives, the more we would hurt ourselves and remain sad. Some experiments I am trying in my life to relish its journey following these simple rules-


1. Always remain down to earth. Be humble to people of all ages.

2. Never think yourself as too knowledgeable or expert.  This way I could give myself a chance to know and learn newer things and newer ways to do existing ones.  Even the most unsuccessful persons have something good to offer, at least their experiences as lessons for us not to repeat those. 

3. We can never be complete in all respects.  So, let us recognize our own strong points and work more on those rather than competing with others.  Let us not be a part of the rat race.

4. Let us never give up hope.  Remaining positive is the only necessity in life that keeps a person young and enthusiastic at all ages.

5. Always remember that we are human beings and so the feelings like enmity, jealousy, anger, greed,  fear etc. would come to our thoughts and actions.  Let us not carry those with us as our baggage.  Let us try to forget and forgive.  We need to develop art of controlling those emotions and if at all we are not able to control those instantly, we should at least give vent to those emotions by way of sharing those with some trusted people in our friends and family circle and not keeping those close to our chests. This way we can come out of those negative traits within a short duration.

I am in the habit of glorifying or cursing someone to extreme levels. I evoke my emotions at once full and final. Next day the person with whom I had a skirmish the previous day, you can find me normal with him today.

6. There is a child inside everyone irrespective of what age we are. Let us not allow this child in us to die.  I like to dance, I like to sing, I like to play with children, I like to have fun with others. I can laugh for long, I can sing at odd times. I have no hesitation to say others that yes, I am moody.  And I want to remain like that for rest of my life.

7. Sometimes we feel we are not lucky enough. We are not blessed as others have been.  When such thoughts capture our imagination, let us start thinking about them who are not blessed enough to get two square meals.  Let us consider those who are not able bodied like us but they still survive with so much of pains and difficulties in their lives.  Let us not forget despite all these miseries they are going through, they still smile.  Life has given us enough reasons to smile then why to cry?  Let us try to reinvent those simple reasons in our lives to smile. 

8. Never feel yourself lonely. At least God is always there with us at all times.  Even when we feel no body cares for us, He cares.  So we survive all challenges in our lives till we are alive.  Every bad day comes to its end.

9. Love others unconditionally. This love is not a physical love that we usually think of.  It's in fact eternal love - love for nature, love for children, love for elders, love for fellow human beings, love for animals and birds, love for plants and trees, love for our environment, love for mother nature.

10. I have got nothing in my life that I can boast off. No bank balance, no FDs, no flat, no car. I feel everybody should be independent enough that if left alone or dumped by someone he trusted a lot, even then he should never feel lifeless. Fortunately I have few good friends, good sense of humor, love for others to which I want to make my strengths in my life. My life has not been so smooth so far.  The life ahead may be even more difficult for me but I have a hope that I would cross all hurdles in my life and sail this journey easily with God's grace.

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मित्रों यदि मेरा यह पोस्ट आपके दिल को जरा भी छू कर गुजरा हो तो मुझे विश्वास है कि आप मेरे इस प्रयास को लाइक दे कर मुझे और भी अच्छा लिखने की प्रेरणा, स्नेह और आशीर्वाद देंगे। आप अगर मुझे मेरे फेसबुक प्रोफाइल पर फॉलो करते हैं तो आपको मेरे शेयर किये सारे पोस्ट्स आपके नोटिफिकेशन्स में मिलते रहेंगे।