Versus the Nature…

We alone are responsible for our self-destruction.Look at us when something called Natural Disaster approaches us, we are completely helpless and caught off-guard. We are never prepared for facing anything coming to us, and this is because we are so busy managing other things that we forget our prime consent and begin wandering like a dog.

Consider the case of Mumbai. The city is ever-bulging since it became the financial capital of India. The population holding capacity of the city has been crossed way back in 1990’s. CIty’s area is very less as compared to it population. Yet again new bunch of people are coming from outside and coming straight to Mumbai as if Mumbai is the lone reruiter of each and everybody. People come inMumbai, they build their own house somewhere (a hut or 2 room cottage) or buy an apartment and stay here forever. But it’s not the end,one family of 5 people coming in Mumbai is not satisfied by the outcome, they ask their relatives also to come and join them in the race of earning money and that too in Mumbai.Let me make one thing clear here. I am not against of anybody coming in Mumbai and making a living here. But the thing is Mumbai isalso having its limits of area and population bearing capacity. It can not accommodate ever bulging population. Can it? The city’sprevious and original boundaries have long been erased and new boundaries are being build every now and then. AAMDAR NIWAS (thatsa guest house for the MLA’s stands dangerously on the sea. The land on which the MLA Guest House has been constructed is a very dangerousplace. The sea has been pushed back to some extent to build MLA Guest house there, so there are very much chances that sea will sometimeor other will burst of and will come with great intensity again to find us helpless.

We have seen what a massacre that can be when nature shows that he is greater to any brain and force by humans.26th July 2005 has seen Mumbai crumbling to the heavy (well, heavy will be an understatement) rain. The drainage were not cleaned upand people were unaware. The day saw many of the people in Mumbai drowning with the force of water and furnitures and vehicles were accompanying them. People were so helpless that for weeks the life could not come back on track. Ground floor residents took shelterin the upper floor resident’s house for more than a week. What does this show? That we should take things seriously and make arrangements for proper drainage and disposal system. But even after 4 years of the incident, Mumbai drainage has not been looked after. When asked to clear the doubt the officials say that we are certainly looking after them and by a month or so we will clear them up, but still the situation is pretty the same. Take the case of Tsunami that struck which caught people in Chennai, Mumbai and some other coastal regions off-guard. We can’t really say that we were caught off-guard because we were having fair idea of the tsunami coming to India.

But even then people were not able to vacate the premises. Not only in Mumbai, but in Chennai too there was a heavy traffic jam and the crowd was not able to vacate the city properly and effectively making them vulnerable to the incoming tsunami waves. And the same happened. People were caught running and were killed by the mighty waves.

Even after such a situation, we haven’t learnt a lesson. The recent threat of Phyan cyclone hitting Konkan, Mumbai coast and Gujrat coast was nothing less than a terror in people’s mind. Government also haven’t learnt a lesson about administration. I doubt the capacities of thepeople who are administrators of cities like Mumbai and Chennai or some other city too. When Phyan cyclone was expected to hit Mumbairegion between 3:30-4:30 PM how thoughtfull is it to start vacating the city from 1:00 and 2:00 PM? The government offices and schools were asked to close down by 2:00 PM and 1:00 PM respectively. If everybody is set to be released at the same time, will there not be a heavy traffic jam on the roads? And the same happened in various parts of Mumbai. At around 3-4 PM people were still struggeling to break the traffic jam and get back to home. Consider the situation, what if Phyan cyclone would have actually hit Mumbai? These people were obviousvictims. How forged, bad and regretful the situation could have been? Can’t the so called administrators see such things?

This is high time we should think of managing a city properly. We have time and again seen how cruel nature can be if we start to play with it unthoughtfuly and foolishly. We have made various silly mistakes and now they are starting to pay off by forcing the nature to turn ugly.I am not against of anybody coming here in Mumbai and making a living, it’s their right and I am no one to deny that right. But people also should understand that every city has its limits and Mumbai have certainly long back have crossed the limits. Mumbai is so much out of bounds now to manage it properly. The boundaries have been pushed back, the population is shooting like anything and people are coming in bulk everyday. Shouldn’t we stop somewhere and introspect what we have done till now? How bad effects have crawled in because ofour greed and un-thoughtfullness? There are certainly other cities to migrate to, and Mumbai is not on the list anymore and it should not be. I ask why to migrate for some pity work? I suppose we can develop our own states and cities and can live happily there without jeopardising the nation.

If people keep on coming to Maharashtra or rather specifically Mumbai, where the original Maharashtrians will go? This is high time thatwe should think over this issue, otherwise we will be left we not time to act on it. It’s already late to reverse the harm we have caused to nature.Here onwards we can atleast try and not harm the mother earth. If we take care of the nature, nature will take care of Us. Otherwise, the ugly face of nature is too harsh to stand against.

USA also faced similar threats from Nature like Katrina and wild fire in the jungles that they couldn’t control before the fire burnt everything. We are destructing the very source of Earth’s stability and peace. If we don’t make a move right now, we will be done within some years only. Melting glaciers and rising sea levels, increasing heat and big changes in the climates, seasons being toppled and all natural resources coming to an end are all shouting loudly to tell us that WE are on a wrong path. But the shout is falling on the deaf ears so the nature has to take some serious steps. But even after those steps we are not learning things.

Nature has its own way of maintaining the balance of everything that’s present in nature, let that be population or other natural things. Nature’s way is no doubt the ugly way of clearing the surface but can’t help it. Nature takes a lottery and whoever comes on the list is cleared without any second thoughts. If human want to play dirty games with nature, as he has always been doing, trying to be over smart and trying to be the controller or the world, keep this in mind that in the game of Human v/s nature, nature will always and for sure will win. No second thoughts.

Nature has played the shot and now the ball’s in your (or rather our court) and its our time to play the shot. So decide what shot you want to play.

People and their driving sense…

Ahead of Commonwealth Games 2010, Delhi is buzzing with various infrastructure developments (only Delhi Government knows how many of those infrastructure development programs are meant for infrastructure development and how many for internal corruption and wallet filling). The development seems to be much sluggish than a tortoise walking on the beaches. Constructions have only started but the end seems no where. May be the development will end either on the date of commencement of Commonwealth Games or after the games get over. Similarly the traffic regulation and people’s driving sense seems to have gone for a vacation on some other planet (may be on Moon as Chandrayan and other space shuttles have discovered water on the Moon).

The traffic all over India is unregulated. Traffic Polices are only for a show off and for jacking money from people. But they don’t seem to regulate the traffic. They don’t even try for regulation. People also follow the similar notes. Vehicles are provided with Upper and Dipper beams so as to facilitate people in night driving. These facilities are provided for use only. But people don’t use the dipper beam and ply with upper beams only, even though that upper beam obstructs the vision of the person coming from the other side.

Similar incidence happened with me (though it happens on a regular intervals with me) recently. A person was driving a jeep and on a narrow road we came head to head. He was focussing upper beam only. So I flashed upper and dipper consecutively so as to suggest him that lower your beam as I am not able to see anything. But he refused to lower the beam. What I could have possibly done other than cursing that man. I tried to tell him to ply the vehicle on dipper and use upper when necessary, but in vain.

Delhi Government has announced a new program wherein they will educate the Delhites on proper driving rules and practices. But I doubt how useful that will be. But there is no harm in trying things out. Delhi Government and P. Chidambaram (Home Minister of India) stressed out that Germany and China have done the same thing before hosting such big events. The education program in Germany and China were successful because people there think for their nation and feel dejected if someone from outside blames their country. But that’s not the same with Indians. We Indians have lost pride in our country. And that’s the reason we are facing issues like corruption, ill-politics etc. (the list will go on and on).

Sania Mirza – A burst bubble in Indian Tennis…

Sania Mirza!

A teen tennis sensation in India!

A star in Indian Tennis!

These were some of the statements that wowed every Indian Tennis lover. Rather it would not be an exaggeration if I say a lot of people started watching tennis just because of Sania Mirza, at least in India. Sania made her international debut in 2005. The debut was an ideal start for any debutant. Lasting till fourth round in US Open was something amazing from a debutant.

 

But that’s it. Since then Sania has not been able to match her debut US Open charm for lasting till 4th round. There has been no consistent performance from her since then. She came in every title tournament and lasted till maximum of 2nd round unlike other players of similar age and gender who debuted later than Sania.

 

Isn’t it a shame not to match the debut performance? Generally people flounder in their debut performances but over the upcoming matches make themselves tough and try to overshadow the previous best performance. Why is this not with Sania Mirza? Look at Maria Sharapova, she is as young as Sania with almost same birth years. But she flourished very well and maintained her position in top 35 since last so many years. Maria was number 1 seeded for so many days or rather months. That’s commitment and class. Consider other players like

1) Melanie Oudin

2) Yaroslava Shvedova

3) Vania King

4) Sara Errani

5) Aleksandra Wozniak

6) Kirsten Flipkens.

These girls have managed to upset top seeded players like

1) Elena Dementieva (04)

2) Jelena Jankovic (05)

3) Samantha Stosur (15)

4) Amelie Mauresmo (17)

5) Patty Schnyder (19)

6) Anabela Madina Garriques (20)

in US Open 2009 in 1st and 2nd round. Even though their consistency has not been proved but still we can clearly make out from their current playing standards that they will show certain consistency.

 

Consider Roger Federer. Look how committed he is to the game and how he gives more than 100% to every game he plays. Though he has no one to prove to but he plays like he wants to prove him again and again. Forget about Roger Federer, Sania Mirza will have to take birth again to match his abilities and class. But lets match Sania with Saina Nehwal. Just a shift of “I” in the names and see the big difference.

 

Since Saina has made debut in Badminton world she has rocked everything. Continuously rising in her ranking and performance quality, she seems to be the real sensation. Look how committed Saina is to the game and her practice. As compared to Saina, Sania seems to have lost the charm. Though Saina is pretty new and Sania is almost 4 years old in International scene, Saina looks more convincing than Sania.

 

But then what is the reason for such a fall for Sania?

The answer can be mixture of various facts and things like

1) Entrance in Commercial ad world

2) Excessive fame and hype

3) Miserable physical fitness with almost every year bringing one or other ailing conditions

With commercial ads coming her way pretty easily and paying her much higher than what a match could may have taken its toll. When one gets fame through TV medium (s)he gets carried away. There are various examples that players fall more into such traps than anybody else. Roger Federer also shoots for some ads but those are limited. Rolex and that’s it.

 

Sania has been a victim of excessive fame and hype. Since she has started to play everybody has been diehard fan of her. Becoming fan is not a bad thing, but you are not supposed to make player’s life miserable. And a player is also not supposed to fill his/her head with air and consider himself/herself the best one. And that’s what happened with Sania. Its my deep heart wish that Sania recovers from her ailing body, her bad patch and plays some real good tennis taking her ranking to good height.

 

Also Sania has been victim of her unfit body. Every now and then she falls for some illness and body pain. She should really concentrate on fitness and improvising her game. It is high time that Sania concentrates more on game than anything else and makes it a point through her performance and winning percentage.

 

Amidst all this, Sania is getting married now to Sohrab Mirza. I hope that the marriage don’t make this bad patch more persistent and miserable. The expression we see in the picture above have become rare. The only expression we see these days on her face while in the game is of disappointment. Sania has become a “burst bubble in Indian Tennis World” and she should try and eradicate the image now she has on people’s minds.

All the best Sania and congrats on your engagement.

 

Prasad B. Kulkarni

Aurangabad.

“Contradiction”…

Swine Flu.

Swine Flu has been making news since almost two months now. After various news flashes all over the world of this disease taking lives, the disease has been declared as “Pandemic” Disease. Born in Mexico and affecting whole of the world through a virus born in swine, has made India its home now.

 

First death from Swine flu has happened in Pune, and Pune has become more of a birth place than Mexico. Pune and Bangalore being worst hit, Mumbai and other metropolitan cities with some other small cities are also making news with this virus.

 

But I have spotted some contradictions in its spread. When Swine flu virus first came in India, nobody was prepared for it and that itself was the very big mistake. I met with an Ayurvedic Doctor just after 3-4 days of introduction of Swine Flu in India. I wanted to know the spreading pattern and some indications of Swine Flu. The discussion moved to another level with me asking him, how can we stop this or rather whom this virus will not affect. He replied,"Those who are having good immune system and resistance power will not get affected by this kind of virus or rather any virus. We have so many virus flying in front of our nose daily, but do we get sick everyday?" So there is no need to panic and just follow some rules in day to day life. Use a mask with Camphor or Eucalyptus oil spread in it. Such strong odours keep these viruses away.

 

I further asked him, how to make our immune system strong and gain more resistance power? He replied “Eat lots of fruits, drink distilled water, wash your hands regularly with soap and avoid going in crowded places” etc etc.

 

But I sighted a contradiction there. Slum dwellers don’t follow such rules, moreover they don’t get to eat proper food forget about fruits and all healthy diets. On the other hand, apartment dwellers get all those costly fruits and dietary foods. But still Swine flu has NOT affected the slum dwellers but the rich ones. Why is that?

 

This might be due to the fact that slum dwellers have strong resistance to such mean things plus their immune system is pretty strong as compared to rich people. This point can be proved by following example. If both rich person and slum dweller get drenched in the rain, apartment dweller catches cold quickly but a slum dweller withstands it. So I guess its about immunity and a mental thing too. If you fear of something, you will feel that you have caught that thing. Also the slum dwellers face these flu and cold every now and then, and have to withstand it as medical assistance is rejected because of no money. So by facing such things regularly their body also becomes impervious to such things. And that might be the reason why these people are spared.

 

But let me clear one thing, whatever I have said above is not full proof. I mean it is not guaranteed that slum dwellers won’t catch Swine Flu ever. They can also catch the disease but surely in a lower percentage.

 

My main point of writing all this here is, “Don’t panic to this swine flu, take due care and you will be spared. Adding to this, I will also tell that do Yoga, Pranayam and keep yourself fit. Increase your immunity by any means and may God keep you away from this pandemic.”

 

 

Prasad B. Kulkarni

Aurangabad.

Multi-tasking…

It’s great to have multi-tasking skills. It really helps in gaining some weightage at your workplace and at times socially also. When at relative’s place a multi-tasking person really gets all the attention.

 

But multi-tasking at some places is really uncalled for and unnecessary too. Multi-tasking while driving or voyage is what I am talking of. Recently I was travelling by train. With almost ass seats reserved I asked my mom to be seated on the only vacant seat and I decided to stand near the door. There was a fellow, rather a boy of age around 25, already standing at the door so could not get the position of a doorman.

 

While standing there I spotted one thing that he was standing with his head tilted to hold the mobile between his head and left ear, with his two spare hands he was grinding tobacco and he was not holding the handle for safety too. This type of multi-tasking is risky one. Similarly while driving a two wheeler I have seen too many people talking on the phone while driving. Is that really necessary? One can always ignore the call and recall once you are off the bike or out of the car. Other option is to stop at the side of the road and pick up the phone. Other option is to go for a hands free, which is generally provided by the mobile company. But such a multi-tasking people show, is not necessary.

 

 

Prasad B. Kulkarni

Aurangabad.

 

Quote of the Day:
He who laughs last has not yet heard the bad news.
–Bertolt Brecht

 

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Judas Insects…

One of the most Judas insects is a Housefly. Really, I have experienced their betraying nature very closely.

 

We always provide them, the houseflies; with a beautiful playing ground by dumping kitchen waste just in front of the gate or somewhere in the corner of a compound wall. Moreover we keep the manholes open, nullahs uncovered and sewage lines flowing like rivers, just for the sake of these insects. There are various other avenues too where these insects can play but still they poke their nose and legs in our food. We have been so friendly with them but to no use.

 

Well mosquitoes at least get “Moksha” by getting themselves killed. Thus they pay the price for their wrong doings. Mosquitoes try to escape but their slow pace as compared to human hands make them fall for death God. But this is not the case with houseflies. They almost every time defy the human speed and capacities. Just try to give them “Moksha”, try to make them free and they escape away from it. Such a blasphemous nature is really not pardonable. But that’s not it, they (houseflies) will time and again irritate you by sitting on your face or body part and food. I guess they want to prove to humans that they can eat your food, but you can not.

 

We do various better things for them, but they won’ restrain from annoying us and making us sick with some disease. So I insist all the humans, specially those who are under the increasing influence of houseflies; that don’t prepare any playground for them. Don’t keep the nullahs, manholes and sewage open. Use any good phenyl or disinfectant and get your house cleaned. We have been friendly with these insects for enough time now, its time to rebel against them and be Judas to them only.

 

 

Prasad B. Kulkarni

Aurangabad.

 

Quote of the Day:
There should be no yelling in the home unless there is a fire.
–David Oman McKay

 

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Destiny…

Some days back I was in Pune. I was happy those days, actually when I am in Pune, I fell content and serene. Sometimes just staying at home watching TV, reading some book or having a chat with my aunt on various subjects brings me pleasure. And sometimes, I feel the urge to go out, explore different places and drink the nature’s beauty with eyes, meet my friends there.

 

On one such days I was thinking of meeting my friends scattered all over the city. One friend lives at one end and the other one reaching to the farther end. So meeting all friends at one place is really a rare moment. One day I was having the pleasure to enjoy that rare moment. That day a friend of mine, Satya was describing his recent encounter with a receptionist from some coaching class he used to go while preparing for MBA entrance exam. He was so juicy in describing the incident, a chat rather; to Mayur that Mayur had his eyes popped out of their place and mouth wide open in ecstasy. Satya was telling Mayur that they both have planned a coffee date in Barista and was planning what to say and what not to say in mind, and was explaining to Mayur.

 

I always out myself into listening position and never put forward my views unless asked for in such situations. That situation was also not exceptional. I kept mum and listened to all their conversation. But to tell the truth, I was getting bored with the portrayal. This is quite natural to get bored with such stories as they are not related to you. Satya was describing his 10th such encounters and I was not interested in it but stayed there and showed as if I was interested.

 

If anybody else would have been present there, he would have definitely thought that, “Satya is having so much fun man, and look at me, I’m not” with a sad face. But I am certainly not that type. I will never hurry into such things just because somebody else is doing this. I won’t think I am missing the fun. Because I believe in my destiny. And I know things happen when they are supposed to and when right time comes. I have experienced the “Destiny” thing in my life earlier also on various fronts. I know someone will come in my life when she is supposed to come. There is no point in hurrying into things, when those things are not meant to carry any significance in your future life.

 

 

Prasad B. Kulkarni.

Aurangabad

 

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Mile sur mera tumhara – A must possession of an Indian…

 

I was fond of this song since so many years. This song has been on my mouth tips since young age, as this song is created in 1988, just 3 years after my birth. So everyday on Radio (Back then) and T.V. this song used to air trying to instil a sense of pride and unity among we Indians. This song was broadcasted by Doordarshan back then, as that was the only channel aired in whole India. This song has been composed in 14 different Indian languages and shows or makes us feel that we have so many different gods iterating the same thing.

 

I love this song very much. Whenever I listen to this song, it makes me feel something different, it makes my blood run on high notes and some extra flesh pounds in my body thinking I am a son of this great INDIA where there is Unity in Diversity. This video is a high quality video which I found on youtube. And I think this is must possess song for Indians, so guys don’t waste time and download the song.

 

This is one of the patriotic songs which makes me feel elated. Though I know that this song is not a patriotic song (as this song was not involved in any freedom fighting) but a cultural exploration, and in a way it is patriotic only.

 

 

Prasad B. Kulkarni

Aurangabad