Inspiring Journey

It was a month of November I was travelling back to Ahmedabad after my Surat visit. It was the high time when everyone was stunned by the declaration of demonetization of Rs. 500 & Rs. 1000 Bank notes by our honourable PM Mr. Modi. People were facing tremendous problems with cash & everyone was in search of money. While coming back to Ahmedabad I observed that there were many disabled students in my bus & most of them were blind. After travelling few hours from Surat my bus got stop for the dinner at the Restaurant called “Hotel Basera” near Bharuch city. As i was aware about the presence of blind students hence closely observing how the students will going to step down and make it for the dinner. There was one colleague of them who was normal and guiding them.

I sat next to their table for the dinner, the person has come to us and took order for them and me as well.  Once they are done with the dinner they stood up and started walking out of the Restaurant. The entire staff was clueless as they were yet to give the food bill to them. I call one of them and offered to pay their bill and they have refused it politely, then I started insisting for the same. The owner of the Restaurant Mr. Maksood was closely observing the whole incident he came to me and said “Bhai ye toh khudda k bande h inse paise lenge toh Allah kbhi maaf nhi krega” He told those sentence with so honesty that I couldn’t ask him again to pay their bills. He then told me that he never ask for money from any person who is not able to pay but he make sure whoever comes to his restaurant will never go back with hunger. He told me due to demonetization in past few days many people had refused to place order due to cash problem and he had served each one of them without asking for a single pie whatever people feel comfortable they pay as per their convenience.

People don’t want to make any compromises or don’t want any kind of adjustments in their life. Its very easy to criticize, complain and making non sense statement on the other hand a guy like him sitting in mid of highway serving free meal and helping others trying to giving his bit in his own way. He told me that if I had to serve few free meals for a week or month that does not make me poor but this decision will surely help India to grow further. People may have different opinion/perception for Demonetization decision, few may not be agree with that & i totally respect their views since its independent country and people have every right to express their feelings. But there is no doubt that the dedication & level of commitment this guy has showed is above any political decision or views but for humanity & that is just remarkable. He was so inspiring, a man with golden heart. I was extremely moved by the spirit of this common man.

I couldn’t take photograph of Mr. Maksood bhai but here is the pic of the Restaurant.

That Pround Moment!

It was first week of April, I have shifted to the new flat since two of my friends got married in last 3 months and they have shifted with their wife. So I left with no other choice. It is very common scenario now a days for the people who was born in late 80’s or early 90’s. Everyday you come across such news from our surrounding i.e. about friends colleagues got married.

It was first day in my new flat. It was very hot day and my whole day went in shifting of the belongings, cleaning of new flat, making necessary arrangements i.e water, gas cylinder etc. At the end of the day I was very tired and little frustrated since after all this hard work I have to attend office tomorrow.

Before going to the bed after nasty day schedule, I went to the washroom and found that the water tap was leaking. I saw it and simply neglect it and went to the bed to make peace with the body. Then suddenly I realized that I have read recently about Latur draught in Maharashtra. The whole story came to my mind.

 “Maharashtra is currently witnessing one of the history’s worst drought situations in several areas. Out of 43,000 villages in the state, 27,723 villages have been declared drought-hit and 54 out of the 75 medium dams have been declared dry.

This year also, at least 57 farmers have committed suicide till March 1.”

Somewhere those things were running in my mind I could not sleep and instead I was thinking about the leakage of water tap. Finally I have gathered all my power & courage and decided to look into the matter. I got up and went straight to the washroom. I tried very hard to fix the things by many ways but couldn’t able to make it. I started sweating, its very hot and humid climate in Ahmedabad. I got frustrated out of it and went to the bed with little anger.

Again I was feeling unhappy about it and after almost 15-20 mins I couldn’t agree with myself on giving up hence I have decided to give it a try again. I got up again and went to the bedroom to see if I can find something to which I can use to fasten the tap tightly to stop or reduce its leakage but I couldn’t find any since its new & naked flat.

Finally I saw there were some cookery which I have bought for the home. So I took all the cookery out of the plastic bags and tried & use that to fasten it to the tap. I tried for almost 20 mins in many ways. By that time it was 12.30 in the night I was freakingly tired & I have to again got up early to attend the office. But in the end I believe god was with me and I succeeded in my attempt. The water tap has stopped leaking now. I was very very happy that time and feeling proud. I knew my whole effort is worth and I have saved lot of water today. Now I can sleep well after all that was the best thing I did that day.

I know I might have saved some buckets of water only but if everyone gives their bit the amount of water saved could be enormous.

Finally all I can say is in our own country our own people are struggling to get a drinking water so I urge you all “EVERY DROP OF WATER IS PRECIOUS SAVE IT”

Struggling Childhood of India

It was one fine evening I was coming back to home after day long stressful work at office. I was pretty tired so to kill the stress I stopped at a road side tea stall to have a cup of tea. While having a tea I saw there were many kids hanging around some of them were begging for money while others are selling small toys.

One of them came to me and asked me to purchase a toy. Initially I refused to buy but he keep on insisting me to buy one. His efforts and dedication made me curious to know about him so I strike conversation with him.

His name was Deepak and he was around 10-11 years old kid. He was wearing a red sweater which was dusty and torn from all sides with naked foot.

In anxiety I asked him about his home, parents, education and stuff like that. He told me that he lost his parents in childhood and living with his younger brother 5 years old at footpath near bridge. He didn’t want to talk about education thing don’t know why may be feeling weird or something but I emphasis on that  then he told me he is going to Govt School of nearby area and currently in 6^th standard.

By now we were sharing a comfortable zone with each other so I asked him curiously from where did he bought all this toys he told me heart wrenching thing. Firstly he begged for money then he decided to do some work instead of begging so he collected money and purchase this toy at Rs. 17 and selling them in Rs. 20 by making Rs.3 Profit per toy. When asking for food arrangement he replied that he is having 2 bricks and one pot to cook rice every night to satisfy him and his younger brother hunger. He put 2 bricks aside and place rice in the pot and put it under fire by collecting waste paper, plastic or piece of wood from the road. This melts my heart.

I have decided if he is ready to work and not accepting begging for money I will surely help him. I have asked him after school instead of selling toys he can come to my office and do some work i.e. file shifting, market work etc. He was damn happy and said yes without wasting a second.

But at the same time I know child labor is an offense or crime but I can’t let him work like this since he is sincere and hardworking.

Our conversation last for 40-45 minutes I purchased one toy from him and we had a cup of tea together. My all stress and frustration goes into the gutter and was feeling happy and relaxed.

I have asked him to meet me at the same place same time tomorrow and he agreed happily.  I went there next day but couldn’t find him it’s a big area may be some miscommunication happened. I wish if he could have mobile phone with him. Since then whenever I visit that place my eyes are always searching for that boy.

I never met him again but he taught me something which I will always remember. I believe he was not meant to be selling toys hope someday he will achieve certain heights in his life.

A Memorable Journey

It was a time of first week of October I was travelling back to the Ahmedabad from Vadodara. It was pretty hectic week full of travel & I was very tired after 2 day site visit at Vadodara. While coming back I luckily got a seat in the last row of the bus and just after me a old age couple somehow managed to get into the bus with the support of their stick they came and sat beside me.

They were very old around 80 years of age & hardly move without any stick/support yet look confident and travelling alone at this age. I was pretty impressed with their passion & courage to live life at their own at this age so I gave them a smile & conversation started.

Of course my first question to them was how long you have been together? They smile and replied approx 64 years. I was delighted to hear that this gives me more reasons to know about their journey of life.

In my one & half hour journey Baa (I addressed her by that name which means mother in Gujarati) told me that they live at Bhavnagar Gujarat alone and she herself perform whole home activity cooking, cleaning etc by her own. This works as a pain killer for me and all my body pain due to hectic traveling schedule goes into the gutter it was very inspiring.

We had a lot of conversation they keep on asking me have you seen Baghban it was beautiful movie must watch it I can feel their emotions behind this sentence. It was touching I felt emotional this time.

 

After reaching Ahmedabad I have dropped them to their home in spite of them saying we can manage and all. It was such a privilege & honor to meet such beautiful couple I will cherish those one and half hour my entire life. 

Unfortunate Truth

Being an Indian we all feel proud on our nation and why not there are countless reasons for it. We have one of the most ancient culture of the world. But there is another part of it. Britishers have ruled over us more than 2 centuries, off course we have got independence in 1947, more than 67 years have passed but I believe we are somewhere still stuck there. We can’t get over their tradition/rules or you can say we have eventually adopted them in our daily life.

I am not going to talk about Indian culture, British rules and blah blah stuff but I must say we have learnt to respect others specially elder one i.e. parents, grandparents etc.

I want to share recent incident which I have come across last week.

I was in the city of Surat for some professional work. I had to meet with the clients which were local municipality representatives. When we enter in the premises for the meeting I saw a guard sitting on the chair near main gate of the campus. He was thin, old, having white hair, wrinkles on his face are clearly visible and light beard. He looks weak but calm and composed. When you see such old working person a feeling of respect genuinely comes out of your heart. As we enter in the premises the guard (Old man) stood up and salutes us & the same thing happened while returning back after the meeting. The worst part is that he is giving salute to his boss but the guy didn’t even response/notice or kind of neglecting him. It’s like he doesn’t really care.

I felt really sorry for that moment. As I have lost my grandparents in childhood I always wish if my upbringing would have been done by them or I wish I could spent my childhood with them but not fortunate enough. Having such regrets in your heart when you see such incident it hurts you deeply. He was like my grandfather I should have seeks blessings from him.

I mean in which world this people have to salute us every time and for god sake why?? Just because we are more educated or richer than them they need to salute us. We have not done anything great or something outstanding. We are just an ordinary people. This is one of the weirdest thing happening around us but sadly nobody has ever spoken about it.

Ask yourself, do we really deserve a salute from a guy who is battling for his family livelihood???

We have got independence long back we are not slave anymore. Every person has its own respect & dignity even as per our constitution every Indians are same and should be treated in same way without any discrimination.  Still some communities’ i.e sweeper, guards are fighting for their rights this one was the latest example.

In US and other European countries even a sweeper is treated as equal as other person because he is just doing his job as simple as that. He doesn’t need to salute any high class person for that. He has his own respect & dignity.

Now question is why can’t we adopt this?

Just like some of our ministers of various states have taken small step and have stopped taking royal treatment and intended to live common man life, I think the people like sweeper, guard etc should also be treated at the same & equal platform as they have the equal right to live in the society with same pride & honour.

Come on guys grow up its 2015 L

Judiciary System of India.

Change is a rule of universe and we are all abided with nature's law.Things keep on changing in our surroundings and we are witnessing it in our regular life.

Doctors update themselves with recent medical advancement in the field of medical science, Engineer update themselves with the latest softwares, technician update themselves with latest technology etc. Doctors use video calling & help doctors in delicate surgeries by sitting a miles away to save a life, food & other necessary items cannot be supplied to different part of the country without using fast transportation to meet people's requirement, so basically change is an essential element for survival.
If we wont pace up ourselves with the time & requirements we cannot survive and the same thing is apply to our Judiciary system as well.

Our constitution formed on 26th January 1950. At that time crime rate was very low rape, murder etc hyneious crime were almost negligible so as per those scenerio the laws were made.Now a days scenario has completely changed and we are witnessing it in our regular life, crime rate has grown up exponentially in past several years. Its just impossible that you spent a single day without reading or hearing about a murder or rape case in the country. But as we all aware that the laws are so flexible that the crime rate is keep on increasing day by day.

A girl got raped and murdered in Delhi (Nirbhaya Case) whole india came down to the streets for 'Dharna, Candle March etc' for the justice and unfortunately just after a week people forget everything and become busy in their routine life.
Now one question-  What is the use of Candle March, Dharna and all if it does not make any difference in the crime rate? Does rape case has decresed after Nirbhaya Case?
Unforunately the answer is NO.

The fact is that the rape case has been keep on increasing after Nirbhaya Case nothing has changed by Dharna or Candle March. The changes can only been seen once the laws has been revised and become more stringent so that the culprit has a feeling of fear for the law. This is the only way to control the crime rate. An excellent example of this is Saudi Arabia's and other arab countries. Their law system are so powerful that the crime rate is very low there.

In nirbhaya case after hearing the court decision victim's brother statement was- " Usse bilkul pacchtawa nhi tha jo usne kiya or judge k faisla sunate waqt wo muje or mere parents ko dekh k hasne lga or hum teeno ro rahe teh esa lga jese saja usse nhi hume mil rhi ho".
I must say that was a tight slap on our Judiciary system.

There are millions of cases are pending in our indian courts presently. Even some times people have died while fighting their cases for whole life and they never get any sought of justice and finally the case has been closed automatically with the end of their life. Citizen of India invest huge amount of money or savings of their life for justice but unfortunately in most cases that day has never come.

I've read that as per indian law a wife cannot file a rape charge againt her husband because they are married. But at the same course if a couple who is living together for long a girl can file a case of rape againt him or his live in partner. I mean i seriously dont get it in any way how can you define something just because they are married crime is crime no matter what.

In the terrorist attack of 26/11 in mumbai 161 people have died and 202 injured and we caught Kasab. What American did they went and killed the Saddam and laden directly and what we did we have spent millions of Rupees on upbringing of Kasab his food, medical, security etc and finally hang him. I mean what the hell is it really worthy?

As we have seen an recent example in Salman Khan's case. it took almost 13 years to come to an judgement but it hardly takes 2-3 hours to get him bail.In a very short span of 2 days he managed to got stay on the judgement as well. One question is it possible for any common man like you and me?

To a positive note, Government of different states have taken action and install fast track court for quick decisions. Govt has also formed a body called "Jan Adalat" this Judiciary body takes place in remote areas village etc to resolve their family matters etc. this is appreciable efforts from the govt, towards this end.

I am not blaming anyone for the current scenario whether its boy's fault or girl's fault in rape case or its a wife or husband who is responsible for divorce,  Dharna, candle march and stuff is wrong or so. But the matter of the fact is is that our Judiciary system need to be revised as per the current scenario by realizing the fact that what is happening around us. This is the only way to reduce crime rate so that a normal citizen can live freely without any fear in the society.

Thanks

Water Scarcity

Whenever i travel back to my childhood memories, one incident always strike my mind. It was the time of summer vacations when i used to go to my Grandfather's (Nana) home which is a small village in Madhya Pradesh. It was the time of April-May there was a vital problem of water availability.

I still remember my Uncle (Mama) used to get the water on the byke with the help of some 20-25 litres of plastic utensil from well which was at farmer's farmland 3-4 km outside the village. Though my Nana never told me a single word on a consumption of water while my mother never allowed me to use more than 1 bucket to take bath. she used to tell me " 1 Week baad ghar jayenge tb tuje mana nhi krungi". That innocent kid never understand how serious the issue was.

At present many African tribal countries which is far-far away from all the technological development & modernized world. Their peopls are still fighting for thier lives over water. I have seen a documentry on discovery channel on which tribals use the root of the plants to collect water from it and gave it to their crying child to satisfy their thurst. Believe me that was really heart wrenching scene i can never forget. This is not limited to a certain country but it is global issue which is affecting millions of lives through out the globe.

Hundreds of people died every year due to unavailability of water or by consuming unsafe water.

Our india is also not enough lucky in this front. If we come to our country in some parts of the state of  Rajastahan i.e Badmer etc. The local govt. has identified unique way to fight with the water problem. Govt. has installed Water ATM.  Ya you read it right. The ATM cards were distributed to a single person from each family they can recharge their cards & swap it into the machine & they can get 20 L of water by each swaping with minimum charge of Rs. 5. I mean this is the sceneraio what our people are facing for water and how we use at our home we all know.

Water ATM

Water ATM Used by Villagers

Moreover most of the indian cities i.e Mumbai, Delhi, Gurgaon etc are encountering the same problem. There are disputes going on over so many years on the river's water in many states of the country. Every states wants to hold and take command over the water by builidng dams, canals etc for their growth as well as meeting thier occupants requirements.

Everyone aware of the fact that no industry or agriculture etc can survive without water. Hundreds of farmers commit suicide in india every year for not getting enough output in the farmland. One of the major issue behind this is water unavailability, lack of rainfall etc.

If the water can be saved many lives can be saved directly or indirectly. Hundreds of people may get employement . Industry may increase their productivity.

If the people get employed and if they have a job to earn their livelihood. Then we can find a decrement in crime rate as well.



This leads to an overall development in terms of a nation or a people of the nation.






Infact now a days politicians have started claiming votes on the basis of water security (24 hour bijli, 24 hour pani)

Below is one video which can give you a glimpse of future scenario:

To a positive note, I would like to appreciate here the govt. efforts towards this front. Govt. has mandate rainwater harvesting in many states of our country and shortly they will gonna mandate use of Sewage Treatement Plant (STP) as well.

Just for a brief information, STP is a technology which treats waste water from kitchen, car wash, bathroom (except toilet water) & treat it to a territary standards and reuse it in a toilet flushing, gardening, car washing etc. Believe me this will gonna save enermous amount of water which could be provided to the needful,

I am not saying you to bound yourself to not to use water (not taking bathing , drink less water) but there should be a maximize utlization of limited resources available to us.

Next time whenever you are going to use water think about this blog.

Just remember there are thousands of ways to satisfy hunger but there is no substitue out there to satisy your thrust except water.

Once a famous writer presents the importance of water in a small sentense: A little water is a sea to an ant. 

Everone say water is a precious thing please save it. I would rather interpret in this way: if you cant save it atleast dont waste it.

This is a wake up call.

Thanks