THE OTHER SIDE: August 2018

Delhi Darshan - Connaught Place

This is my sixth or seventh journey to explore Delhi yet the state is too old and vast in terms of traveling that still there are lots more things to see. My travel craving took me to Connaught Place this Monday. Since I was eager to see Madame Tussauds recently inaugurated in Delhi I booked ticket to visit there 3 months before and plan to see other famous things of the area also. Here I should also mention that I booked ticket online which give discount and are not time and date bound. So if you plan to go there book ticket online on their site.

I was ardent to see Jantar-Mantar as the name usually attached to the protests that happen in Delhi but the original site has no such protests around it. This is possible that these protests used to happen in a specified place in this region hence the same name is used. The area is boring and there is not much too see. Jaipur Jantar-Mantar is better and maintained nicely. But it feels good to see the iconic heart shaped building.(Misra Yantra).

Next stop was Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. The world famous museum has opened its first branch in India i.e. in Delhi where wax statues of famous international, sports,films and politics are kept. It gives you an international feel. The high price of ticket attracts only few people so this place in not much crowded and you can touch and have photographs with all of them easily. It has statues of Narendra Modi, Shah Rukh Khan, Angelina Jolie, Virat Kohli, Amitabh Bachchan, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Sonu Nigam among others.

The Charkha Museum is situated in the busy area of Connought Place adjacent to Palika Bazaar but it holds the calmness of Mahatma Gandhi on whom it is based. A large steel Charka (Spinning Wheel) along with Make In India motto Lion is situated there. There is also a room where timeline of different type of Charkhas has been shown.

Then we go to Ugrasen Ki Baoli made famous by the character of Aamir Khan in the movie 'PK'. It is situated in a secluded place and except few not much people visit there. Maintenance was also done ordinary and the place is occupied by blood sucking mosquitoes. God knows how Aamir Khan spend time there perhaps mosquitoes left him because he was alien in the film.

Last we go to Gurudwara Bangla Sahib a kind of pilgrimage for Delhi's Sikh. It was filled with people at that time of the day also. We rested there for sometime and then went away to our home. Delhi holds many more wonders to see which I hope I will see in regular intervals.

Pray For Kerala

Kerala's most worst flood in 100 years has killed more than 324 people and more than 2 lakh people are living in 1500+ relief camp. It's a natural tragedy and we can only pray for their safeguard. Army, Navy, Coast Guard and NDRF (National Disaster Relief Force) working tirelessly to rescue as many people as possible. The opening of all the gates of almost all the dams in the region has send more water to the flood affected area making relief work more difficult. In some areas water is also entering relief camps.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi also surveyed the affected area and released some initial rescue fund to the state. Keralites living in UAE, UK, Australia are all desperate in concern over rescue of their families stranded in floods. Kerala is being ravaged by torrential rains since August 8, which have triggered landslides and floods. It has disrupted air, rail and road traffic in several places. Public transport has practically disappeared from most parts of the state.

National news channels and newspaper remain ignorant to the condition of Kerala till PM Modi didn't decided to visit Kerala. They remain engaged in covering Independence Day celebration and telecast live funeral of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee when a part of the country is almost submerging in water. The apathy shown to a region of south is really disheartening. At this time we can help by donating to Chief Minister Distress Relief Fund as much as possible to Stand with Kerala at this time.

We can not do anything sitting at such a long distance but we can #PrayForKerala because prayers can travel miles in second. Hope Kerala stand back to its feet soon and the rain Gods give them some respite from the rain.

Kya Khoya Kya Paya Jag Mein - Tribute to Atalji

Kya Khoya Kya Paya Jag Mein - Tribute to Atal Bihari Vajpayee

Atal Bihari Vajpayee passed away today (16th August 2018) after prolonged illness in Delhi’s AIIMS hospital. He didn’t marry in his life so has no children but has an adopted daughter. He was not in the active politics since the time he was defeated in 2004 elections after serving as Prime Minister of India. Interestingly he served as the Prime Minister of India thrice, first for a term of 13 days in 1996, second for a period of eleven months from 1998 to 1999, and then for a full term from 1999 to 2004 by leading an alliance NDA (National Democratic Alliance) which is group of almost 36 parties. He was also a famous poet penned poems like Kya Khoya Kya Paya Jag Mein, Kadam Milakar Chalna Hoga, Khoon Kyun Safed Ho Gaya, etc.

He became Prime Minister at a time when my interest in politics was increasing. I always used to admire his oratory skills and enjoy his speeches laden with metaphors, poetry and unique examples. It was during his Prime Ministerial ship that I got chance to visit PM house with school group during his birthday celebration. There he was friendly with the crowd and tried to meet as many people as possible. An idea of River Linking Project came up during his tenure was one of my favorite but it didn’t take shape till now. He retired from active politics after defeat in 2004 general elections making L.K.Advani his successor. He was conferred with highest civilian award Bharat Ratna by Narendra Modi government.

He was credited for Pokhran 2 nuclear tests which was criticized by many nations in international circuit. He started Bus service from Delhi to Lahore and initiated dialogues with Pakistan after signing Lahore Summit agreement which was benchmark for peace process between Indian and Pakistan. He was disliked by his own party BJP and RSS for such actions but continue to face tough questions. His tenure also saw Kargil War and then 2001 attack on Parliament. Both act as setback for his peace initiatives. Agra talks were also failed with Pakistan which further derailed peace process. Indian Airlines flight IC 814 was hijacked when he was the PM for which he was forced to release terrorists under India’s control to release the passengers.

His political career marked with controversies like 2002 Gujarat riots for which he even criticized role of then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi. His slogan of India Shining flopped badly when they lost 2004 elections. His role in the mysterious death of Deen Dayal Upadhyaya was also questioned by the people at that time. He was among the founding members of Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) after having connections with Jana Sangh and RSS.

His government started free market policy, national highway project and Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan. He was the man who first delivered speech in Hindi in United Nations when he was External Affair Minister in Morarji Desai government. However he was among the accused perpetrators of Babri Masjid demolition his term as a PM washed away many such allegations on him as he was liked by Muslims also. Today in his death nation has lost a great orator, a loved statesman and a person who is respected across all party lines. Rest in Peace Sir you will always remain in our memories.

RIP Kalaignar - M Karunanidhi

Kalaignar literally translates into ‘scholar of arts’ or just artist the title earned by M Karunanidhi from his followers not for being a Tamil film actor but due to active role played in Tamil Nadu politics. M Karunanidhi breathed his last on 7th August 2018 at the age of 94 in Chennai after prolonged age related illness. He married thrice in his life and has four sons and two daughters from different wives among them M.K Stalin second son of his second wife is seen as his political successor.

Karunanidhi entered Tamil Nadu politics at an early age from anti-Hindi agitation and become part of Dravidian movement by joining DMK. Dravidian movement is associated with atheism and anti-Brahmin ideology the reason he was disliked by fundamentalist Hindus. He was a screenwriter in Tamil movies through which he extensively shared ideas of atheism and anti-Brahminism to masses. His screenplays consists of themes of anti-Brahminis, widow remarriage, abolition of untouchability, self-respect marriages, abolition of zamindari and abolition of religious hypocrisy. He rose to the rank of President of DMK and served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for five terms and twenty years between 1969 and 2011. It is a almost a miracle for me that an atheist ruled those people who are strong believers of scriptures and religion. He must have served them well.

In nineties I remembered to heard only two names of Tamil politics on national level i.e J Jayalalitha and M Karunanidhi. This shows how they rose to importance in national politics also. M Karunanidhi’s death put an end to an era of stalwarts of Tamil politics; the man who made anti- Hindi and atheism as his tool remain true to these ideologies till his end. He remained in controversy on the issues of corruption by his family members, for his statement on Setusamundaram and existence of Lord Ram. He was accused of connections with LTTE an organisation responsible for death of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and also of charges of nepotism.

As an observer of politics I can claim that a big void has been created in Tamil Nadu politics which is impossible to be filled by any other leader. No one can earn the support of masses like he does in his lifetime. With him the country has lost the true champion of social causes. RIP M Karunanidhi.

Round Up : 4 - July

From historical Rahul Gandhi hug to PM Narendra Modi in Parliament and the wink that follows this hug to Imran Khan winning elections in Pakistan to mysterious suicide of a family in Burari area of Delhi to NRC controversy in Assam to Kiki Challenge to debate on entry of women in Sabarimal Temple complex to Rafale Scam and involvement of Reliance Defense in it to Dhadak release and its comparison to Marathi original ‘Sairat’ to lynching of Rakbar Khan in Alwar which put role of police under scanner to the longest Lunar eclipse to RS Sharma’s show your Aadhaar challenge which left him exposed before the country to France football world cup win and many other incidents made news this July .

There are so many news to show but our propaganda driven channels concentrated their debate to Hindu-Muslim issues to widen the divide in the society. Most don’t even care to show rapes in Muzaffarpur, Bihar shelter home because BJP is in alliance with Nitish Kumar there. Let’s have a close look on this news.

There at least 34 girls were sexually exploited for years in a shelter home meant to take care of them. The shelter home was partially funded by government for care and maintenance of these abandoned or ran away girls. A local news channel ‘Kashish TV’ brought this issue in front of the nation. Many government employees and ministers are reportedly involved in the crime. The strange thing is that government gave it grant even after reports of irregularities in the functioning of shelter home. The girls are scared and not in a position to face even each other and their counselling only can bring them to normalcy. The youngest victim is only 7 years old.

The Supreme Court has taken the matter in its own hands and directing the police to take appropriate action. It has also asked Nitish Kumar government for explanation on the issue. The incident is not only shocking but shameful for the society which can’t even care for those left by their families or living their due to tough circumstances. I hope police soon take action against those involved in the crime.

The August started with news of curb in freedom of expressions as well as on free and fair journalism with government’s involvement in forcing ABP News’s Abhisaar to 15 day holiday and resigning of its editorial head Milind Khendekar and anchor Punya Prasoon Bajpai. Bajpai was earlier removed from AajTak also over tough questions asked to Baba turned businessman Ramdev. No one knows what will happen to them but we must speak on such developments so that someone left to voice our concern when they attack us.