Be Mortal - Pledge your EYES

Try to feel the world around you with your closed eyes for few moments and you will realize how difficult it is to even walk properly leave aside experiencing the vibrant life surrounding us.

India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world. But we are leading another race also – Blind Population. We harbor one-fourth of the world's blind population. What is even more shocking is the fact that even though we had about one million deaths last year, only ten thousand actually donated their eyes. We have more than four million people with corneal blindness that is curable through corneal transplantation made possible by eye donation. A corneal transplant is an operation that replaces the opaque cornea with a clear cornea obtained from a human donor.

Eye donation is the noblest of all causes and people do feel passionate about this cause but fail to convert their feelings into action either due to lack of awareness or due to unavailability of proper information. All one needs to do is to take a simple pledge to donate the eyes after death. You can fill the Eye Pledge Form online: 
http://www.bharateyebank.org/eyepledgeform.php

Or dial a 24-hour toll-free number i.e. 1919 from MTNL for eye donation.

You don't need a degree, any special skills, or even perfect vision. All you need is a completed eye donor card, and a desire to help. And I think it’s the best and easiest way of doing something for the society moreover who will not be interested in living after death? So, Pledge today and Let someone see this wonderful world through your eyes.

Don’t just leave a will, leave a vision.

Europeanized Thinking

I am not among those who show their foreign return attitude to their friends and public. I will not say “Hamare wahan Europe mein to aisa hota tha” “It’s so tidy here in India” “India can’t be like European countries” or anything of that sort. I am born and brought up here in our great India only. Whatever it be and its system, only this is my home my own country (Apne to Apne hote hain). But I would like to share some of the qualities of European people which I would love to see in Indians, not those of cleanliness or non-corruption which everyone knows.

Rules are rules – There is an Indian notion which I also followed: Rules are made for the people; people are not made for the rules. But here in Europe rules & regulations are strict and law is above all (there shall be some potholes in European system also which I may have missed). I witnessed one such incident - There was a Pizza corner outside my house, its owner was an Indian and being an Indian I had a good connection with him. Once he was fined for three thousand Euros for lack of cleanliness, next day I saw him requesting one of his customers’s for helping him getting that fine canceled, that fellow was at some high post in Municipal Corporation or something. But he straight away dismissed his request even though he was his regular customer and knew him from many years. His plain answer was “you should follow rules properly”. We know it well, if that were a scene in India then what would have been the options for this guy from bribing to the inspector to a political approach for MC. In Europe there are hefty fines for breaking traffic laws, for destroying public property, Littering etc moreover those laws are implemented strictly.

Mind your own business – We Indians are very good at poking our nose into others business. We are always eager to search into others personal matters but these Europeans are always at safeguard on their personal front. They don’t talk much about their personal life and they don’t ask much about your personal life. Nobody cares about what other person is wearing or what his/her hair-style is? On the other hand we Indians are mastered in squeezing information from others life and then blowing it out without forgetting to add spices.

Do it yourself – We need a person to help us from delivering water bottles in office to loading papers in photocopier even at home we have helpers for every kind of work. But as everyone know there are no helpers or house maids in Europe, they are used to work for themselves; there are more bicycles than cars in Germany but still there is no cycle mechanic, everyone has their own air-pump, puncture kit etc, they themselves work on their cycles and all the small mechanical or electrical stuff at home. Over to that, all the wood-work at my place was done by my landlord himself and surely there is more wood than concrete or bricks in that home. There are plenty of such examples.

Good Marketing strategies can do wonders – In last six months I have been to many European tourist spots and believe me after seeing many of them you will definitely ask, Is this worth that much hype? But these people know how to market their product. After seeing all these places I will say India has more tourist spots than anywhere else in the world but we need to learn the way to cash them.

We are the greatest – Last but not the least, whatever may be; only we are the best. Whomsoever I talked to German, Britisher, French or Italian one thing was common they won’t stop praising their country. That’s what we must learn from them, what so ever is the political or economical conditions are in India but please don’t disgrace our country in front of foreigners. Blame or abuse anybody or anything about India in front of Indians (of-course for genuine reasons) but outside India please keep yours and your countries' esteem high. I tried my best to portray "Incredible India" Image and improve their (foreigners) knowledge about India but I had seen many Indians here who by their bad mouth are not doing good for India.

East or West India is the best - There are many good Indian habits which the Europeans lack, Good Hospitality, Cultural diversity, Family Bonding, Kindness, Helping and Docile nature and last but not the least our English speaking skills ;) I will try to Europeanize my thinking a bit while keeping these Indian qualities intact.

HUM TUM

Yesterday I was talking to a friend of mine; she was annoyed on her Boyfriend’s silliness. I listened her patiently for some time but then I gave-up as she was targeting intelligence of all the boys (after all I also have that stupid male ego). So I started defending male community and told her some of my own experiences with the girlish behavior (I will not call it stupidity, as it is their basic nature and we boys love that).

Today, I thought why not write an article on that. I will not write about girl’s navigation superiority☺ as it is quite common, even girls will agree to that. They will say left and raise their right hand, and while pointing to left they will say right. I will tell you some of the good incidents and you tell me your own experiences…. Isn’t it great?

Those good college days - I walked out in the parking lot of Thapar University, a girl was fighting hard with her Scooty-pep, pushing self start button and kicking hard again and again but in vain. I was happy as I was looking for a reason to talk to her from quite some time. I entered in a Bollywood hero style “Can I help you” she had no choice so  stepped back with her friend and the Scooty was all mine, I was even afraid inside as if it will be a disaster first meeting if I will not be able to do that. I looked at the Scooty and asked her “can I get the keys”. She looked at me and then the Scooty and then at the keys in her hand and we all were laughing madly. I inserted the keys and it was burrrrrrrr at the first self button push.

This one is even better - Few years back I and a friend of mine were standing outside DT City Centre Mall, talking about Punjabi songs.

“Oh I love this song” she said for a Punjabi number ‘Challa’.

“You want it? I have this on my mobile” I said while sitting on my Bike, we were ready to move as it was getting darker.

“Yes, send it to me” she said and activated her mobile Bluetooth. I started to search her Bluetooth connection.

“Ok, I am getting late so moving now. You send it” She started her Activa and zooooommmm.

At first I couldn’t believed it and then I called her “Dear, Bluetooth range is few meters only not kilometers” and she was laughing on her stupidity (ooppsss sorry, not stupidity just girlish nature).

The best one is just few months old, I am sure you will love it. My friend wants to get some cash from the ATM so we were waiting outside an ATM in sector 22 market. There was a girl inside so we were waiting patiently as we knew it will take a bit longer for her. But that bit long was now equaled 10 minutes.

Finally she came out, “Can you please help me?”

“Yes, off course” We were glad as the girl was very pretty.

We entered and “How could I type a point (decimal) here” She asked politely.

“We were looking at each other” at first I thought even I don’t know this, but how this girl was able to put decimal in her password as there is no option of decimal in the machine.

I asked her and what she said was just awesome, please don’t laugh at that.

“This decimal” she pointed on the number where the machine gives us an option for choosing the money we need 1000.00, she wanted to type that decimal between zeros. I tried to control my laugh but sorry…….

There are many such stories and I am sure you also be having many of them. I am eager to hear those specially the ones involving boys, but real not the fake ones. So let’s share……

Do You Know Your Religion?

Every time I meet a stranger I have to explain him/her that I am a Sikh but I don’t wear a turban. That doesn’t mean that I don’t respect my religion, perhaps I am just a moderate sikh who molded the fundamentals of the religion according to my comfort; to support my point sometimes I articulate “Its more important to be a sikh than to look like a sikh” But do I really know what a sikh is and what my religion is?

 “Were you taught your religion in schools?” One of my German colleagues asked me during a coffee table conversation.

“No” I said feeling proud of Indian secularism.

“Why?” He was amazed because in here Christianity is being taught in schools.

“Because India is a secular country and there are number of religions. So its better not to teach religion in a school than to burden students with lot many books about lot many religions” I tried to explain a bit, to him and to myself as even I was not sure about my explanation because I never thought about it.

“Then how do you get to know your religion” He was surprised on my answer and interrogated further.

“I inherited it from my parents and that’s it”

“Ya, that’s right but I mean to ask, do you know your religion? How can you say that, whatever you are following is correct?”

I was mum on that. Because I never tried to read about my own religion let aside the others, I never tried to read Guru Granth Sahib or other holy books so how can I compare or say which one is good?

In a while the conversation diverted from the topic and he went busy with another colleague, but I was stuck there till days. Same thing had happened few years back also, when I was in Seoul – one of my Muslim colleagues asked me “Why I follow Sikhism? Is it better than other religions? Have I read about Quran?” The way he asked me was not impressive; it was more like marketing Quran than to give me some insight into the word Religion, so I didn’t bother about it.

This time the question by this German guy hit the right cord. It made me think about my principles of life, my fundamentals, my ideologies. I know, I am in no position to tell anything about my religion as even I don’t know much, all I know is what I was told by my elders. I go to Gurudwara and bow to the Guru Granth Sahib, I visit temples and I bow to the idols even when the idol worship is prohibited in Sikhism (I do that for the respect of the other religion) and that’s it. That’s what I know about following a religion and most of us do only that, without giving a thought to what I am doing and why I am doing?

I believe in God. But the question here is not about the existence of GOD which many people confuse with; the question is why were these religions created? Obviously not by the GOD, but by the people. So, now it’s my job to know about what I am following and why I am following - But how?

I choose to read; presently I am reading ‘A History of the Sikhs by Khushwant Singh’. Will surely try to read and understand Guru Granth Sahib and other holy books in future and will try to implement their teachings to my life and that will be the day when I will be able to say “I know my religion and I know what I am following”

so kyon manda aakhiye jit jamme rajan

Guru Nanak Dev, founder of Sikh religion, believed men and women are equal and therefore women cannot be considered inferior. To woman we married, of woman are we born, of woman conceived, by woman is the civilization continued. It is by woman that the entire social order is maintained. Then so kyon manda aakhiye jit jamme rajan (why call her bad? From her Kings are born)

It seems present India has forgotten this teaching of their mystic Guru like other teachings by the other holy persons. The crime rate against women in India is alarmingly high, India is among the top rated unsafe countries for women, either count it by annual rape cases, dowry killings, home abuse or any other. And after that to cover up their faults the so called matured politicians make such stupid statements “90% rapes are consensual sex” “Women should be married early”. I want to ask Mr. Chautala, will it change the mind set of the rapists? Do the rapists check the marital status of the girl before doing such an inhuman act? The culprit here is the rapist not the girl, so if Mr. Chautala really want to make such statements then, should not he say “Men should be married early”? Or should not the police have made such a law that, men are not allowed to go out of home after 8O’clock in the evening, as they said few months back after Gurgaon debacle. Instead of chanting such dictates against the victim, they should amend their rules to nail the culprits.

I really can’t think – what’s the problem with such youth, and moreover what really is the mind set of these politicians? Does education is one of the reasons or the lack of implementation of strong laws against such crimes or the lack of girls because of female feticide or that Indian mentality which considers pre-marital sex a crime? The problem with India is that it is moving fast into 21^st century, but the male-mentality especially of the politicians and law makers still belongs to 20^th century. Our laws against such crimes are old, and the judiciary staff is even older. Our politicians are old (Avg. age of Indian Parliamentarians is 53 years, Mr. Prime Minister is 80+ and he is ruling the youngest country of the world), and their thinking is even older. We Indians need to change our thinking otherwise we will not be able to survive in the fast pacing world. It’s better to discuss some practical steps to alter the situation then to make such dictates.

Please for god sake amend the age old laws, make hard punishments for such crimes and moreover enforce those laws effectively, this is most important for Indian judiciary.  And our politicians and police need to be educated; they should be given moral lessons for good behavior and understanding the change. Those times are left far behind when the lady of the house was considered only for making chapatis and washing clothes; now they are going out in the world and you need to learn how to behave with these new age ladies. I think Indians are as afraid of the police men as they are from criminals, our police department needs to work on their reputation.

Not related to this topic, but still I want to mention it just for a change in Indian mentality - Stop considering love affairs and pre-marital sex as a taboo, its just a physical need and don’t forget India is the land of Kama-sutra, so what culture we are defending with stupid inhibitions? Presently the average age of marrying is going up, but the age of need or say urge for making love is getting lower, so we need to change with the changing times. But that also seems to be very difficult in a country where honour killings are so common; these people can’t understand love let aside need for sex.

This may also help a little – Legalize prostitution. Accept it or not, prostitution is there in every major city of our country; Don’t the police & politicians know about GB Road in Delhi, Infact Calcutta is one of the major cities for prostitution in Asia. Then why not legalize it? The people who are crazy about sex, they can go there and can satisfy their lust. It will make life easy for the prostitutes also; presently they are living on the mercy of police and mafia. So, legalization will give them a good safe and hygienic life and it will reduce rape cases as the human beasts will be able to get legal paid sex.

I know, It's easier said than done; but we have to at least start somewhere otherwise the time is not far when the Maa Durga or sheranwali will have to go somewhere else as even they will feel unsafe here in India, or they are already gone?

Will YoU ?

As usual I was on the jogging track along the Mainz River just to kill my free time. As I was walking, admiring the beautiful river along side and the sunset on the farther bank of the river, a family of four along with their pet dog crossed me. Just few steps ahead, the dog stopped to relieve himself from nature’s call. I was surprised, not on the dog’s shit but afterward the man pulled a poly-cover on his hand and collected the dog’s poo and delivered it into the nearby dustbin. Its strange for us Indians as even I will not feel comfortable doing that, so I can’t ask you - will you do that to keep our country clean?

I remember few years back, there was a news in some paper that Chandigarh administration (one of the best in India) was also thinking about charting a rule like that but now I don’t know why that didn’t materialize, may be those Indian inhibitions came in the way. I am not writing this for this dog’s shit but for the overall cleanliness of India, and I thought of writing this after watching Satyamev Jayate – Every Drop counts.

To all the foreign lands I have been, one thing was common – Cleanliness and their love for the nature preservation. I have no hesitation in claiming that we are the dirtiest people on planet. We have grown up being told how important it is to be clean, in the past it was mandatory to take bath before entering the kitchen. But that’s all where it ends, it ends within the four walls of our house; look around and you would know that we never understood the word cleanliness. Outside our house we assume the whole place to be a dustbin; and not only us, our government and all the administrations and industries treat our rivers as a waste dumping zone. Where on earth you will find the sewage lines converging into rivers without any treatment system; in which country you see the industrial waste running into their holy river or in which part of the world people poo in open?

The best places of the big cities I visited are their river banks – as it was in Seoul, Frankfurt, Paris, Zurich name any; infact these rivers enhance the beauty of the already beautiful cities. And look at our Indian rivers, Ganga the holy river seems to be a sewage drain except only in Rishikesh and Yamuna’s pathetic status within the capital city is known to everybody. Only few days back I watched Satyamev Jayate on Youtube and got to know that there is no Yamuna in Delhi, all its water has been diverted to two canals way-before entering Delhi and the river flowing through the capital city is hundred percent Industrial waste and sewage water. I couldn’t believe it at first, but that’s our India.

Its not only about water, we don’t even have a proper waste disposal systems. All our residential waste - plastics, food, electrical, glass we dispose off as one, which means there is no recycling. Everywhere in India you can see the ban on plastics (That’s another thing no where it’s implemented), but I will say why to ban it? It’s a useful thing, use it and then dispose it in proper manner. There is a huge dearth of waste management system in India, and a big lack of cleanliness friendly public.

Despite all the progress we seem to be making elsewhere, this is one area where things are getting bad with every passing day. Either blame the Government or civic administrations or your neighbors but, it is we, the people, who need to introspect. There is no dearth of ideas and suggestions, but now is the time for action whatever you can take at individual level or a group. Stand out and make a difference, let yourself be proud of you.

It's impossible not to love PARIS

‘Beware of the pickpockets’ ‘Metro Trains are too crowded’ ‘You will have to be in queue for hours to get to the top of Eiffel Tower’ ‘French people are arrogant’ These were the words which my friends and colleagues shared with me, when I told them that I am planning a trip to Paris. But yes, they have already been there & so will I.

Before even going to Paris I started hating that city a bit, believe me I even thought to cancel my bookings. And that feeling of ‘Not-liking’ was strengthened by the ‘not so polite’ first French guy I talked to on the French soil at metro station information centre. As I moved towards my Metro-Train the litter around and sleeping beggars in the narrow alleys of metro station braced that bad Paris image further and believe me Delhi metro is the best among all I have traveled till now. Then that first look of Eiffel Tower from the Trocadero square was like ‘what is so special in this humongous telephone tower look-alike metallic structure?’

That feeling of not-liking Paris ends here. Once you spend time on and around Eiffel, you fall in love with it. The marvelous piece of engineering and that too built 200 years ago will engulf you in its charismatic beauty. The beautiful arcs of the base and then the mesmerizing view of the Paris city from the top of it is just mind blowing, at last you will end up admiring its exquisiteness for hours. The best part is- we reached Eiffel early morning, so it saved us from long queues. Even after spending long hours there, it was difficult to leave and move on to our next destination. In the afternoon we had some rest in our cozy ibis Hotel and then moved out to explore other popular places.

We saw some of the places we had read or heard about and discovered that all those were even more beautiful, much more exciting than I had ever thought. I am not an admirer of art or poetry or architecture, but that’s the beauty of Paris – you will fall in love with everything it gives you, whether its paintings & sculptures of Louvre or Picasso museum, architectures of centuries old churches or just the pigeons around (they are so friendly). If you love just to drift around like me then Paris is the best city in the world for a drifter. You go to any road or small gully it has its own charm. Don’t miss a coffee break on any roadside café, you will just love to sit and see the people going around.

 At night the city spells even more. You will admire every place you see during the day and I bet you will be awestruck seeing the same place in lights, be it Eiffel or any other structure. The markets live up to their romantic reputation; group of youngsters singing and dancing at every corner, romantic couples spilling all their emotions in open and long slender legs of beautiful fashion conscious French girls will always ask for more approbation.

Two days are too short for a city like Paris, you need at least a week if you want to see Paris; and if you fancy knowing Paris then I wonder even a life time is not enough.