Happy Dussehra to all - let's work towards removing some Ravan from negative customs.

Happy Dussehra to all – On this occasion of a festival focussing on perpective and reflection on the bad let's look at one custom which really needs attention in today's times.

Dowry – one of the most sensitive, unethical and yet not correctly understood topic of old and sadly modern times. According to a survey, a woman dies every hour due to dowry related reasons. It is sad to say, according to records our country has the highest number of dowry related deaths in the whole world, the sadder truth being its increased over the years from 2001 till date (as reported by media). The intresting fact is not only connected with dowry but the lure of considering an occasion for two as a stage for all the unwanted wishes for the rest (very sad to say mostly educated individuals) for reasons which cannot be justified. The question we need to ask ourselves is – are we still not capable enough to earn and live on our own – the closest kin to dowry comes as begging – and a begger has no standard, reputation or self respect once classified as one. As a citizen of a country with rich cultural heritage it makes me sad to hear this. Any change wanted for the country begins from the individual. We are told told to follow some rules and do not propagate such behaviour but the question is – do we change ourselves or just preach and do nothing or find a good exception when it comes to ourselves? - and the question comes back to me – is this just another write up or am I doing something for this? As an individual at this point of time, I can just make a pledge that - ' I will not in any way be a part of this gruesome harrasment and will not be connected with any one who proves to be one'. I am proud that my elders have proved to me that they are wise by not being a part of this custom. I am sure none of my relatives or known friends would also be a part of this cruel custom. The marraiges or occasions, which discourage any gifts from any side's relatives or friends and carry the occassion out simply are the best candidates for good examples. 

We should remember the we are the change, and it will not happen until we start doing it ourselves
– Jai Hind & Happy Dussehra to all!

An apparent but rare rendezvous worth to remember!

I had a strange and interesting experience today. Was at the Titanic Museum and was looking at the relics and trying to relinquish the facts which had somehow become more interesting to me. Maybe I was too deeply involved to notice but that another human being who was standing next to me was also trying to understand the details mentioned in quite an exquisite way. After brooding over the details for a few minutes, ending understanding the long charade of events mentioned, I seemed to find some space to look around me before I moved on to the next mentioned detail. That’s where I seemed to notice, someone else who was too involved as well. Until this moment, I wasn’t sure if the same thought sequence was present in their mind as well. I glanced through and waited, just because she was ending looking at her column of historic detail in front of her and I thought I wanted to move on quickly to keep my chain of thoughts running. In that flurry of a thought, I picked on the next column and didn’t realize that my fellow human being had just moved over to the column I had just finished. This progression or chronology seemed to continue unnoticed for a few minutes. I completed a few sections and one floor of historic sequence of events on the ship and people involved in making it and we both knew someone was beside us but never noticed it was the same person. Suddenly it occurred to my mind that she was interested in the same way as I was and somehow there might be a possibility that the chain of thoughts which were coming into my mind were also analogous to what arose in hers. But I wasn’t sure, so I just returned to my browsing and continued to dwell into the details of history. Sometime after, I suppose she somehow also seem to notice that I am following a sequence coherent with hers or vice versa but she didn’t seem to be much interested in it. Never I had seen someone so involved in the details. The relics section ended, and we went in for a small movie. We somehow had managed to pick up the last few minutes on the movie, so we remained in the hall to watch another cycle of it. Although seated at another corner of the hall, I felt someone gazing at me in midst of the movie, looked around to find it was her, but I thought I might have been mistaken and went back to watch the details which held a lot of sense. The movie ended and I went down for a detailed demonstration. While walking down the stairs, I saw someone cross me, I looked up and she was there smiling at me. I gave her a smile back and then I realized she was the same girl. During the demonstration, she stood next to me, and we both listened to the guide. That’s when I saw she was a charming personality and cursed myself as to not noticing her initially. Once the demonstration was over, I had to wait for my friend, so I tried to look into the details of the history by gadgets present in that room. While looking into it I was accompanied by the same girl. She was also looking into the details, probably waiting for someone as well. After this, I went down to the last floor of the museum tour to try to understand the details of the ship placement once it was found and important historic events. I was reading the list of facts when someone silently crossed me down to follow on the last column of event data listed on the wall. I went down as well, she was the same girl and now we both seemed much familiar to each one of us, just that we didn’t know anything about us except for the fact that those facts written on the wall seemed to generate a bout of interest simultaneously & sequentially for us. I knew this tour was ending in a few minutes, I looked at her, she smiled, and I initiated a short phrase to know if she was thinking in the same direction. And before I could end it, she started out to give an insight out of her mind which quite concurred with mine. It wasn’t too long before we started with the set of questions and talked about a lot of things including the history. During our talk, I realized she had come from the west for a short vacation and was to go back. The other thing, which I realized was that she was a bit familiar with my stream of work - ‘bit' as she said, but I found she was well aware of it. Basically, its’ difficult to find people with the same family backgrounds coming coincidently in the same activity circle for a short period of time and then realizing this fact themselves. She didn’t seem like a stranger to me now and I felt I need to talk to her more but I knew this wouldn’t happen in a practical scenario, so I had to cut it off. Already she had lost track of her family while talking to me and so I closed it with a short phrase - ‘It was nice to talk to you. Have a nice trip’. Some events occur in our life just to tell us or make us realize that its’ not in our hands to decide or plan on anything and some things just happen to give us a good feeling of the present. These events are the ones which make the life a better one and let us feel good about ourselves as humankind.