The Cricket matches that MY generation will never forget!!
10/25/2015 11:04:00 am
I saw this
video on Facebook, the great moments of Indian cricket (2000-2015). It brought
so many memories. I was going to share on my timeline, but then as I was
writing a status I realized that this won’t do justice to these memories. So this
is how this post was born. Read on. I am quite sure all of you belonging to MY
generation can relate to each of these matches. This video does highlight most
of matches, but I wished they made a 1990 to 2015 one so that we don’t miss out
on the ones before that.
The best
part of the video was that I remembered not only the details about these
matches but even the back-story attached to each of these. Those were the days when I used to watch
matches right from the toss to the presentation ceremony. There are so many of
these matches! It’s difficult to choose a few out of those many matches but
then I have tried to list the most memorable one, in no specific order.
If I had to pick up one match or one performance that would definitely be Sachin Tendulkar at Sharjah. This one was an awesome knock. We had to score a specific number of runs to reach the finals and Sachin played a blinder of an innings. He simply bludgeoned the Australian bowlers, especially the Australian bowlers. What made the knock even more interesting was the commentary by Tony Greig. It was like the icing on the cake/ “sone pe suhaga”. It was also the first occasion I guess where the match was interrupted by a sandstorm.
The next one
is the Hero cup league match at Eden Gardens (the first match played in
floodlights there) and this time too India needed to win this one to reach the
final. Sachin has mesmerized all of us
by his batting but he has this uncanny knack of breaking partnerships. He could
bowl all sorts of deliveries. Medium pace, leg breaks , off spin. And he used
to move the ball quite a distance. This one over was special of course, South
Africa needed 6 runs from the last over. There were other main stream bowlers
like Srinath and Kapil Dev, but then Azhar gave the ball to Sachin, rather he
offered to bowl (History repeated itself when Dhoni gave the bowl to Joginder
Sharma, Can’t compare the two but an odd decision none the less). Run out, 0, 0, 0,1, 1. India win! True hero of the Hero cup!
The next
one is an interesting one and I doubt if many will remember this one. This was
the Titan cup in 1996, a tri-series between South Africa, Australia and India
just after the 1996 world cup. India played Australia at Bangalore and we were
47/4 chasing 216 (back then anything above 200 was a decent target). We did not have cable back then , I remember watching most of these 1993- 1996 wala matches at our neighbor’s place. This one I
watched with my family at home as we had got our own TV by then. Earlier the TV
coverage was not as statistics savvy as now and they did not show all stats at
all times like now. So I and my dad has this habit of calculating the required
run rate at the end of every over. We never used the calculator but we did all
the calculations on a slate and pencil (That helped me my math classes
eventually!). It used to be a fun family thing. Coming back to the match, as
always Sachin anchored the innings but then after he was out there were very
little hopes of India winning (which was the case during most of the matches at
that time.) But then Javagal Srinath (30 of 23) and Anil Kumble (16 of 19) were
the unexpected heroes who won the match for India. The visual of Kumble’s mom
cheering every run in the spectators is something I vividly remember.
The next is
Ajay Jadeja’s blitzkrieg 25 ball 45 against Pakistan in the quarter final of the 1996 world
cup.
There is
the other match of this world cup which we all remember but we wish we forgot.
The semifinal against which turned ugly because of the spectators and had to be abandoned. All of us still remember, Vinod Kambli
crying as he walked off the ground
Another
special ground was Toronto and that was the series I used to look forward to. The surprise package there was Sourav Ganguly who with his medium
pacers was quite successful at this ground.
Irfan
Pathan bowling against Pakistan was a pleasure to watch. The way he swung the
ball was brilliant. His hat-trick in the first over of this test match was very special. Just watch the Younis Khan getting bowled.
Natwest
Final against England!
The T20
triumph! I remember watching this at the KEM Naigaon Boy’s hostel. The atmosphere
in that small TV room was simply electric. There were people dancing stripping
and throwing all sorts of things here and there with excitement. It was the
last over, Misbah after doing all the hard work committed suicide and Joginder
Sharma was the unlikely her. Dhoni’s Midas touch had just begun!
Yuvraj and his six sixes!
India vs
Pakistan 2003 ! Who can forget the way
Sehwag and Sachin butchered the star Pakistani bowling line up (Wasim Akram,
Waqar Younis and Shoaib Akhtar)
2011 World Cup. I was at some conference and was not able to catch the match during the day. We were at the ITC Maratha ,Andheri. The conference got over at 8 and there was no way that we could watch the match if we travelled back. So we crash into this restaurant there where they were playing it on a huge screen and request them if we could watch the match. We ended up cheering, shouting and chanting “India! India!!” with random corporate guys at the restaurant as India triumphed. What followed that victory was even more crazy. People were on streets till late night carrying the national flag. Some of us even managed to gate crash Wankhede that night. Only to be beaten by the police but then that’s how crazy it gets.
There are a very few recent ones in the list. I don’t think that Indians have made a better comeback than this one, especially while defending a total. South Africa were placed comfortably at 188-1 and ended up losing the game (Losing a game from a comfortable position is India's forte but there are exceptions when tables turn). The brilliant catch was Yuvraj was the thing that triggered the downfall of the Chokers.
The
follow-on triumph at Eden Gardens! The Dravid-Laxman partnership was not the
only special thing in this test match. Watching Bhajji bowl during the entire series was simply
superb. With the ball doing so much and men in catching position around the batsman, every ball seemed to be
exciting.
There are
many more matches. Thanks to these great players for making our childhood special,
especially Sachin Tendulkar. There is always the never ending debate how he
played for stats and he didn’t win India matches. To silence the critics 53 out
of his 100 international centuries have come in winning matches (the only one
with a better record being Ricky Pointing with 55 centuries). Anyhow its not
his talent on field that I admire but the efforts he took to get there. The
hardworking gentlemen that he is (remember he walked off when he was caught
behind at Sharjah, even before the umpire declared him out). He has achieved so
much and yet he so humble. His autobiography, ‘Playing it my way’ is an excellent
read.
These days especially
with the IPL fever, there is oversaturation of cricket I feel. I don’t follow
it as regularly as I used to do. But then still there are ardent fans of the
game. The fans of the NEW generation. Cricket is still the most religiously followed
religion in India, but then probably it has lost some of its most worshipped deities.
Cricket will no longer be the same for me as it was back then when Sachin-Dravid-Laxman-Saurav-Kumble-Srinath
represented India.
An Amatuer Guide for Planning a Himalayan Adventure Trek!
10/21/2015 11:27:00 am
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| Those were the best days of my life! |
I recently completed the National Himalayan Hampta Pass Trekking Expedition organized by the Youth Hostels Association of India (YHAI). This was my first national trek and it was a wonderful experience. The base camp for the trek was at Manali and the top most point of the trek was Hampta Pass which is around 14000 ft (for reference the Mount Everest stands 29000 ft tall). Would like to share a few tips which helped me planning the trip. Read on to find out!
The first and the foremost thing is to make up your mind. The rest all falls in place automatically, trust me on this one. Until you decide on that nothing will seem going your way but once you decide this, all things seem to fit in. Like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle; seems way too difficult to start off, but then once you see the bigger picture it’s like child’s play (exaggeration I know but then these things need a push, infact a lots of pushes to be convinced). And what’s the easiest way to fix up your mind? Book tickets. Book tickets for the trek. Book tickets for travel. Book tickets for your stay. (The more you are unsure about yourself, more the tickets you should book: P). The fear of losing money on cancellation is a good enough inspiration for most of us. On a serious note, that’s the next thing you do. Most of these the National Level treks fill in fast, especially the slots around holidays. Plane tickets get costlier by the day and train tickets fill up fast, so it’s always better to finish of these bookings well in advance. Also keep a buffer for your bookings , especially the return tickets. If the trek schedule changes or you have any other issue you always have a spare day to tackle these. The other advantage (and the more important one) is that you can check out the adjacent places like most of us did. When your boss thinks that you are "HAVING Typhoid" for 7 days, you might as well have it for 10 days :) ;) You may not get to such an opportunity later.
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| If this doesn't inspire you then nothing will!! |
YHAI is a national level
non-profit NGO which organizes group treks all over India. Lifetime membership
is cheap and that entails you to trek all over India, including local YHAI
groups. They have professional, disciplined guides and safety issues are taken
care of. (We had a 17 year old girl who had come all the way from Gujarat all
alone. Kudos to her but credits to the YHAI team too for building that kind of trust and reputation). All this at a very reasonable price. You can read about the organization here and have a look at their adventure programs here. The other options are
private trekking groups. They organize group trek as well as private treks for
5-6 people. These are bit costlier but then they provide better facilities. You
can chose either. Google them, you will find lots of such groups.
If you haven’t
made up your mind, please do that. People who don’t come for treks (but wish
that they were once you show them those awesome selfies, velfies and other pics)
have this common question: Why are you going for a trek? Or other variations of
this question like : “Itne upar jake kya karna hai?”, “Upar jake neeche hi
utarna hai to upar kyun jana hai”, “Pahad chadne mein kya maza hai”, “Why subject
your body to such atrocities?”. There are many answers to this question, but
then none of them can answer it perfectly. The only way you will be able to
find out the answer is to experience it. Pictures are not even a close
representation of the kind of fun you will be having. It’s something that you
can’t describe in words. The other problem that one faces is the lack of
company. It’s difficult to convince people in the first place, secondly people
have different preferences. Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani is partly to blame for that
I guess. People expect to find someone like Deepika Padukone these treks (They
themselves are akin to Rajpal Yadav but then no harms in dreaming ;)). The only
reason you should do this is YOU. Most of the people we met had come alone.
Discovering new people, people from different states, different age group, and
different cultural background is way more fun than hanging around with the same
people and discussing the same things that you do routinely. The room I was
lodged in for the 1st day had 4 other guys. We instantly connected within
no time and to such an extent that people thought we had come together. We
bonded on so many things, Bollywood being the most commonly discussed topic and
the one which never came up was Medicine. The latter felt so good J
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| The Panch Pandavs: Mr Anand (the alpha male of the group), Ajay (aka Haryanavi dude aka Suresh aka Afghani, Vijay (aka Ramesh), Manjunath (aka Majnu) and Me (aka Dactar babu aka bhaiyyaji selfie wala smile)) |
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| I, Me and Myself |
So that now
that you have crossed the two major hurdles, the Why and the with whom ones,
the next one is How?. There are two types of people at the treks, one who will
pack everything in their field of view in their backpack and the other who will
be dependent on the first type for everything on the trek. Either one is bad
and you need to have a balance cause it’s YOU will have to carry the bag all
the way up (unless of course you have a pair of X chromosomes like Goddess
Deepika, in which case you will have many Rajpal Yadav’s to do that job for you).
It’s a good practice thing to make up a list
of things and keep on adding things to it as you remember/or get advised to
carry. Carry a decent sized bag, you shouldn’t drown in the weight of your own
bag, at the same time you need to it to be spacious to pack stuff you want to
carry there and which MAY carry back from there. Pack your stuff well. Carry
extra plastic bags. They come in handy all the time and you may not be able to
get them at some place (The Manali Market had a strict no plastic bag policy).
Also you can compartmentalize your stuff in these. You have to pack and unpack
your bag everyday so you can have separate bags for each of the things.
Make sure
you get in the essentials first, and then you can chose from the optional
stuff. The list is exhaustive:
“Rucksack
(if You have one), Woolens, Cotton Shirts, Slacks, Cotton Pants, Sun Cap,
Shoes, Socks, Enameled or Steel Mug / tumbler, Plate, Spoon, Water purifying
tablets, Pen knife, Needle, Thread, Spare buttons, Goggles, Cold cream /
Vaseline, Soap, Toilet Paper, Towel, Rain sheet, Medicines which you normally use at home,
Camera with extra batteries. Jungle Boots/ Snow Shoes/ Trekking Boots are must
for walking on snow.”
I have
filtered a few of these:
The essentials:
A good pair of trekking shoes: If you are to take only one thing
to the trek, make sure this is it. Routine sports shoes may not suffice. That
depends on the trek you are going though. I had bought Action trekking shoes on
my friend’s advice and they were pretty good. These came in only two variants
and are available at all shops. The better option is Quechua. If you trek often
then a pair of Quechua shoes is a good option. Many of my fellow trekkers had
the same and they are good too.
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| Is there anything like a "foot"fie? |
Basic stuff as advised by the organizers: Warm clothes are essential if you trek to
North/ North East. These include warm inners, a good sweater/jacket, gloves and
socks. Trust me, when the temperatures trend to sub-zero range there is nothing
more comforting than having these. Most of us had all sorts of protection and
we still were shivering like crazy. The good thing about having our base camp
at Manali was that we could manage most of the stuff from there itself.
The Decathlon store is a good place to buy all authentic trek related stuff. Bangalore has a few places where they even rent out stuff.
Preparing your body for the trek: If there is time then it would be beneficial if you acclimatize your body a bit. Do a few local treks if possible. You can walk/jog, preferably uphill a few weeks prior to the trek. Breathing exercises also help. (Ramdev Baba ki Jai!). You don't want to end up with an injury there. It's not a pleasant experience, neither for your nor your fellow trekkers who will have to adjust for you.
The semi-essentials:
Sun protection: Yes. You read it right. You not only need to
prepare for the freezing nights but also the scorching sunlight which is
equally worse. A cap is the bare minimum
you need. A sunscreen is also helpful (at least SPF 50). At the end of the trek
there was a sharp demarcation line which separated our clothed unexposed part
of our hands and the exposed one!! Good quality sun-glasses are also helpful. That’s
a place where it’s more a utility than an accessory.
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| Chubti-Jalti Garmi ka mausam aya! |
A waist pouch: I found it to be really handy. Packing and
unpacking every day is a real pain which you will realize for yourself. Imagine
getting out your camera from your bag every time you need to capture that
perfect click (that happens quite often in these places!). At the same time you
can’t take the risk of your super costly smartphone plunging into the deep
Himalayan valleys from your pocket as you are climbing. You can’t go down to
get it back :P. I found a waist pouch really handy for stuff like my phone, my
glares, a few quick bites.
A good camera/ a phone with a good camera: Who doesn’t want to show off those
beautiful pictures once you are back? Yes I am contradicting my previous
statement that the only reason that you should trek is you, but then we all are
allowed a bit of hypocrisy. Majority of us want to capture those moments (apart
from a few who are above all these material things), not only to show off but also to relive those
moments once again. So a good camera is a must for the “Awww” wala awesome
moments. To couple that you MUST have a battery pack/power bank for the I-am-out-of-battery-wala
“Oh shit” moments. We did not have electricity for most part of the trek as I had my One Plus Two phone which captured
some amazing shots and awesome 4K videos. Many others had DSLR’s. Whatever
suits you the best!
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I owe these pictures to Xiaomi and Ambrane as much I owe to the awesome One plus two!
|
A pair of chappals: It’s useful to roam around at the
camps in the night as every time you don’t have to wear and remove your shoes.
Plus your legs are suffocated wearing those shoes all day.
Rain Protection: Depending on the weather. You can buy this at
the base camp based on local advice that once you reach there
The
not so essentials:
Extra set of clothes: At these treks you need to keep your
bag as light weight as possible. Most of us had just one set of extra clothes and
we did manage. It’s not that you are going to have a bath every day. Plus
bathing in the River Beas when its freezing cold seems more like a
Roadies/Splitsvilla task rather than something you will willingly do (Splitsvilla
would be more interesting. This modern Mandakini would rather be called Ram
Teri Thandi Ho Gayi. Sad one I know but then I need to have a bit of masala).
The
quintessential stuff:
A smile on your face and a good attitude. Be open to
people. Make new friends. Learn new things. Share your thoughts.
Enjoy,
have the best time of your life and make the most of it. Kya pata yeh opportunity
Kal ho na ho!!
P.S./Statutory warning/Disclaimer:
This in no
way is a perfect guide. I am sharing my first time experience. The problems I
faced while planning my trek and what solutions that helped me. There are
better guides available and you can take the help of Google Baba as always for
more guidance. You can always add your suggestions for fellow trekkers in the
comments section.
P.P.S.
Planning to
write up a picture blog of the trip as and when I find time :)
Scion of Ikshvaku!
7/06/2015 09:58:00 am
After reading the Shiva trilogy I was quite impressed with Amish Tripathi and his style of writing. He keeps the plot exciting and at the same time the language he uses is easy to understand. I am not that avid a reader and prefer these kind of books where I don't have to look up my dictionary often. Coming back to the book. Shiva's trilogy was interesting and I liked it but I didn't knew much about the actual mythological backdrop on which it was based. On the contrary, I have recently finished Sita by Devdutt Pattanaik (which is also an excellent book and is a simple account of the Ramayana). That made the book even more interesting for me. Amish Tripathi has tried to be as parallel to the original story as he can but without intersecting the plots anywhere. The basic story and the twists take place as in the original but the circumstances that lead to each of these twists is novel, different and interesting. He keeps the reader engaged. There is a secret back story just as in the Shiva trilogy (which hasn't been revealed in the first book and hasn't been revealed in the first book). Working on a parallel story is difficult , be it writing a book or making a movie. One of the best example of this was Rang de Basanti. It was a cult movie and Rakesh Om Prakash Mehra did a wonderful job of setting the legendary story of the revolutionaries in the modern setup. And he did manage to keep the plot parallel to the original without deviating much. I feel Amish too has done a great job. The character traits , their origins their relations have been kept same as that of the original epic and at the same time the plots that connect these are different. The interactions in between these characters has also been given a humane touch (For eg one finds Bharat and Laxman pulling Ram's leg quite often). The book doesn't divulge into the core philosophy of Ramayana, but there are few references here and there.
All in all it's a good read. Eagerly waiting for the second part.
This is the opening quote of the book and I loved this one.
P.S.: Google Books is an awesome application if you are into ebooks and like to read them on multiple devices. It is available for iOS and android. It not only syncs your books on all your devices but also remembers the page where you left the book last time. This way you can resume reading on another device at the same point you left on the first one.
P.P.S: I know there are people who prefer actual books over ebooks.. But then ebooks give you the portability. You can read it anywhere and everywhere . Also the other advantage of google play books (or for that matter an e book reader ) is the in built dictionary for quick reference.
Dactar sahab , Report kaisa hai?
6/22/2015 06:33:00 am
It was 24th of December, I was posted in the USG section of Tata Hospital. The next patient was a 60 year patient named Mr. Joseph. He was operated for a cancer of the oral cavity, which recurred twice in his neck and he re-operated for the same. he had now developed another swelling on the opposite side of the neck. He was here for a USG guided FNAC from the new swelling (which is like taking out a small sample for examination). This looked like another recurrence and the cytologist examined and confirmed the presence of malignant cells. By this time Mr Joseph had figured out that something wasn't right (Being operated multiple times, he was quite well versed with basic medical jargon.) He asked me "Doctor , how is the report? " I explained him that it looks like another recurrence and I called out the next patient. He went outside and came back again asking if he can have a word with me. He asked me by when will the report be available, which is usually 2-3 days. By that time Tata Hospital had adopted an online system and patient could access the reports online. Once they are online, the patient gets an SMS regarding the same. So Mr. Joseph calls me outside and tells me " Beta, can you delay the report and the SMS by a few days?" That was a strange request as most of the patients want their reports to be processed asap. He continued, "I want to enjoy Christmas and New Year with my family in a happy mood. I don't know how many of them are left with me." I had tears in my eyes. I didn't know what to say to him.
That's when it hit me that we often do not realize what the patient goes through before he comes to us and while he awaits a report from us. As a radiologist we do not have a lot of actual interaction with patients, except for USG and intervention procedures. And that's the reason I like both of these. We used to have a lot of patients who come for yearly/ 6 monthly follow up USG to rule out any recurrence or metastasis. Imagine the anxiety each of these patients has as he boards his train for his follow -up check up, while he discusses his illness with his fellow inquisitive travelers (who always has a story about some distant relative/ friend who died of cancer or had a bad recurrence), while he waits outside the USG room for his appointment (where his fellow patients too often have scary stories), while we are doing the USG and once we are done with it. All this while he and his family are praying that he remains cancer free. Imagine yourself in that situation. It must be tough. And once he is done with it , his question is "Dactar sab, report kaisa hai?" (Doctor sir , how is the report?). I have seen my colleagues and my juniors often saying "Apke doctor ke pas jao, woh bataenge apko (Meet your doctor he will tell you the report) and that too in a rather insensitive tone. In fact even I have done that at times. This is especially true if the report has some positive findings. Communicating bad news to the patient in the appropriate way is an essential skill which a physican must develop. Due to the limited patient interaction we have, this is something that we lack and maybe that's one of the reason why we fail to convey reports to patients . For the patient however the anxiety gets even worse as the treating physician's OPD is usually 2-3 days later. Imagine what the patient goes through for those two days. " There must be some problem, that's why the doctor didn't tell me right away", that's the first thought that comes to his mind. And he thinks of the worst possible outcomes , only for the doctor to tell him two days later that the report is perfectly normal. It would not have taken more than few seconds to let him know that report is normal. And I have seen the sense of relief when I tell them that the report is fine. That look says it all. Even when there is a positive finding , I feel it's best to tell them in simple terms what are the implications of the same as patients assume the worst possible outcomes when they are uninformed. Imagine this is just one report. There are at least 5-6 reports he has to collect every time. These are times when "Ignorance is bliss" seems so apt (in the case of uneducated patients who do not have much idea about these as compared to the informed Internet savvy educated types)
At Tata , we get patients from all over India , it being a tertiary care center for oncology. Being the one of the top most government institute for cancer treatment, that's a place where patients get referred to from the remotest part of India. I had a patient who came all the way from Andaman and Nicobar for his follow up. He was treated case of rectal cancer. While doing his USG he told me how he had to travel for approximately 60 hrs from Andaman to Kolkata and from there a train journey for 40 hrs . And then he waited for another hour in the line before he came to me. All of this for a 5 min test (at times even less than that). And what would he feel if, at the end of these troublesome 100 odd hours he is doesn't get an answer. I told him his report was normal and he had this huge smile on his face and he thanked me and said if I ever visit Andaman , I have to come to his place.
The story is not different at Municipal hospitals. I was in the surgical ward during my second year of residency, going through patients' files, looking for that elusive " good exam case". While going through one such files , the relative told me "Dactar sab , kya hua hai inko, char din se yeh sab davai , test ho rahe hai. Par hua kya hai inko. (Doctor what has happened to him. We are being doing all these tests and taking medicines since four days but exactly what has happened to him). It was a case of duodenal ulcer , which I explained with the limited medical knowledge I had at the that time. The relative and the patient both had a smile on their face (in spite of the pain he was going through) and told me that no one had told them till now what was the exact problem since they were admitted.
Communicating with patients in the right way is not only important for the patients but that is also important for a radiologist. That way you assure that the patient stays with you. Also being a para-clinical branch we do not get the kind of satisfaction our surgical/ medical colleagues get once they treat the patient. Building a good rapport with the patient, talking to him is one of ensuring that. It's an important habit which we may realize once we start private practice. I remember one of my professors telling us this when we were caught postponing patients " Now you are refusing these patients, behaving rudely with them. Why ? Just because they are coming to your government hospital? Once you will leave this place you will crave to have such a number of patients and you will have to talk to them politely to each of them". Not only that but communicating with the patient will often save you time and help you from missing important findings. For e.g. One of my juniors came to with a patient saying he diagnosed situs inversus totalis (which is basically a condition when there is a left right inversion of organs) and he had some doubts in the rest of the scan. On asking the patient , this 60 year old lady ("maa-ji") pointing to her abdomen says " Beta yeh sab ulta hai . Idhar ka cheez udhar hai and udhar ka idhar. Aur yeh pitta ka thaili bhi nikala hai (Everything is opposite. The stuff on the right is on the left and vice versa. Plus she had her GB removed for stones) ". With a disappointed expression , my junior was like, " Yeh pehle nahi bata sakte the maa-ji" (Couldn't you have told me this before!). She would have definitely told him ,if he had asked her. After all Radiology (and medicine for that matter) is only as clinical as you want it to be.
As always there are two sides to the coin. The amount of cases each doctor sees every day in any of the government hospitals is huge. But that does not give us a reason to disrespect them in any way. May be for me its easier to say all this. Being on the para-clinical/ non-clinical side we do not have to interact with many patients. My clinical colleagues handle so many patients day in and day out and we can't expect the same from them. Or in fact they may be even better than us at handling patients, communicating them their reports. But for others who aren't as good as them , the next time a patient asks you this question " "Dactar sahab , report kaisa hai? ", please spare a minute and do let him know the same in a language that he understands.
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| This is so true!! |
P.S. Please do let me know your views in the comments.
Dil wali Delhi!!
5/12/2015 02:33:00 pm.jpg)
I had to travel to Delhi for an exam and this is a short account of the same. The title is sucks and is cliché but then couldn't come up with a better title so thats what I had to settle with. Is Delhi "dil - wali " ? I am not quite sure , but is definitely full of people who like to flaunt- money, looks, attitude. Atleast thats the Delhi I saw!
Anyways I write this article to share a few travel tips which I found in handy. So to start off , the first thing you need a smart phone with decent net connectivity as traveling in Delhi can be a bit confusing. The following apps come in handy :
The easiest way to search for boarding is to do an online search and select a hotel/ hostel which suits your need. There are many cheap hostels which suit the needs of people whom roaming around in the city is a priority and can compromise on stay. Booking and Hostel World are good places to start off. I stayed at the International Youth Hostel Delhi which I found a decent and safe place to stay (Read more here : International Youth Hostel).
Once you arrive at the Airport/ Delhi railway station, you should get the Metro card which comes in really handy. For a refundable security deposit of Rs 50, you can get the card at any metro station and that will save you the long ticket queues. Also you get 10percent discount on all your tickets. If you are arriving at the airport (national or international) , the Airport Metro line is the cheapest and fastest way to get into the city. The ticket for New Delhi station is just 100 bucks which will take anything from 300 to 400 bucks by cab. For traveling within the city, metro is the cheapest option and from your station to your destination you can choose either the above cab services or the local autos/ cycle rickshaws.
I didnt get enough time to roam around but I did manage a few places. Out of the Red Fort , Jama Masjid (both of which are closeby) and Humayun's Tomb, I like the latter the most. If you are group of people it would be advisable to take a local guide as roaming around just looking at these monuments doesn't make much sense. The light show at the Red Fort is something you should not miss. Check out the timings here. Also a visit to the India gate in the night is a must.
I didnt interact much with people but the ones I did (mostly my cab drivers, hostel staff and a few random tourists whom I forced to clicking my pics) were helpful. The area around South Delhi is safe. I visited the India gate on Saturday at midnight and it was quite crowded with families having a fun time in the gardens parallel to the path leading to Rashtrapati Bhavan.
All in all it was a pleasant short stay!
P.S. It was a short trip and I didn't end up exploring much of the city and its people so its a shallow more of a technical post!
Anyways I write this article to share a few travel tips which I found in handy. So to start off , the first thing you need a smart phone with decent net connectivity as traveling in Delhi can be a bit confusing. The following apps come in handy :
- The Quintessential Google Maps : Click here to download.
- Delhi Metro Rail App. Click here to download. This is a neat app which shows the metro route with connecting stations , fare, approximate travel time and the nearest metro station. Also there is a list of places to visit with the metro station closest to each which comes in handy!
- Any of the following Taxi services , given the notoriety of the Delhi auto drivers. In fact you can use all of them one by one. Out of all the three services, I found Uber to be the most useful to get a cab immediately while Taxi for sure is good for booking cabs on a later period which is not possible using uber. Click on the name to download. Click here for free credits
The easiest way to search for boarding is to do an online search and select a hotel/ hostel which suits your need. There are many cheap hostels which suit the needs of people whom roaming around in the city is a priority and can compromise on stay. Booking and Hostel World are good places to start off. I stayed at the International Youth Hostel Delhi which I found a decent and safe place to stay (Read more here : International Youth Hostel).
Once you arrive at the Airport/ Delhi railway station, you should get the Metro card which comes in really handy. For a refundable security deposit of Rs 50, you can get the card at any metro station and that will save you the long ticket queues. Also you get 10percent discount on all your tickets. If you are arriving at the airport (national or international) , the Airport Metro line is the cheapest and fastest way to get into the city. The ticket for New Delhi station is just 100 bucks which will take anything from 300 to 400 bucks by cab. For traveling within the city, metro is the cheapest option and from your station to your destination you can choose either the above cab services or the local autos/ cycle rickshaws.
I didnt get enough time to roam around but I did manage a few places. Out of the Red Fort , Jama Masjid (both of which are closeby) and Humayun's Tomb, I like the latter the most. If you are group of people it would be advisable to take a local guide as roaming around just looking at these monuments doesn't make much sense. The light show at the Red Fort is something you should not miss. Check out the timings here. Also a visit to the India gate in the night is a must.
I didnt interact much with people but the ones I did (mostly my cab drivers, hostel staff and a few random tourists whom I forced to clicking my pics) were helpful. The area around South Delhi is safe. I visited the India gate on Saturday at midnight and it was quite crowded with families having a fun time in the gardens parallel to the path leading to Rashtrapati Bhavan.
All in all it was a pleasant short stay!
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| Old Delhi - View from the Jama Masjid minaret! |
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| Jama Masjid |
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| Meena Bazaar |
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| Humayum's Tomb |
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| Humayum;s Tomb |
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| Red Fort |
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| Red Fort |
P.S. It was a short trip and I didn't end up exploring much of the city and its people so its a shallow more of a technical post!
Jaya -An illustrated retelling of the Mahabharata
5/03/2015 04:52:00 am
" The fear of death makes animals fight for their survival. Might becomes right as only the fit survive. With strength and cunning territories are established and pecking orders enforced. Thus, the law of the jungle comes into being. Animals have no choice but to subscribe to it. Humans, however, can choose to accept, exploit or reject this law.
Thanks to our larger brain, we can imagine and create a world where we can look beyond ourselves, include others, and make everyone feel wanted and safe. We can, if we wish to, establish a society where the mighty care for the meek, and where resources are made available to help even the unfit thrive. This is dharma.
Unfortunately, imagination can also amplify fear, and make us so territorial that we withhold resources, exploit the weak and eat even when well-fed. This is adharma. If dharma enables us to outgrow the beast in us, then adharma makes us worse than animals. If dharma takes us towards divinity, then adharma fuels the demonic.
The Kauravas are stubbornly territorial before the war. The Pandavas struggle to be generous after the war. Adharma is thus an eternal temptation, while dharma is an endless work in progress that validates our humanity."
These are words from the final chapter of the book on Mahabharata by Devdutt Pattanaik and they quite aptly sum up the essence of the book. Rather I should say that of the epic called Mahabharata. First a word about the author's contribution. He has managed to present the humongous piece of literature in a concise manner. The text is lucid and he has tried to simplify the confusing tangles of relationships. He keeps providing us short revisions everytime he reintroduces a character in subsequent chapters. And this comes in handy as remembering the lineage if each character is a pain. It's like the desi Game of Thrones. Everybody is related to everybody in some complex way and there are too many bodies there to remember. Plus there is karma which keeps coming back at intervals. So by the time it hits back at someone, you are way ahead in the story and recollecting the back story is difficult. He doesn't complicate things by showing off his vocabulary and keeps the language simple (I guess that's the only reason why Chetan Bhagat has such a following in India I guess. But I doubt whether he does that to hide his vocabulary or the lack of it). Plus that was the very reason the scriptures were written in Sanskrit so that only a small portion of the population could understand them. I don't know how accurate his version is but it's a book that can give you a gist of the story in the simplest possible way. There must be many other authentic translations but then as they say Devil is in the details. It would have been difficult for me to interpret all the plots and subplots if they were presented in a more complex manner. That's just my opinion though. He has also provided these small snippets at the end of each chapter giving us interesting facts and revising those complex subplots. Also even though it's labelled as an " illustrated retelling " , the illustrations don't serve much purpose
Coming to the more important part. The epic itself. I am otherwise an atheist and was sceptical about reading the Mahabharata. But then it's nowhere close to what I thought. It's not about gods and goddess. And to contrary to belief , it's not about the Kurukshetra war. That definitely forms an important part of the story but it's not the central theme. In fact it's a medium through which the central theme is elaborated i.e. Dharma and karma. And by dharma it never means blind faith and superstitions as projected by some of the present day " dharmik babas" . It means the righteous path, what is the ideal way of life. It's not that reading this has transformed me at a spiritual level , but does make you think about so many things. Keeping aside the spiritual part of it, it makes you aware of how awesome our forefathers were. Compiling such a huge book and carrying forward it's legacy through so many generation is a tremendous task. All this in the world without computers (They didn't have any of the cloud drive technology where they could back up their data at regular intervals. One hundred thousand verses over a span of 18 chapters). All the stories have such good morals and which are quite appropriate even in the Kaliyug. Plus their knowledge of astrology and other life sciences is fascinating. During the war there are these arrows which multiply as they travel. Some postulate that the ancient Indians were aware of nuclear weapons and this was an example of a nuclear fission reaction. I think that is a bit far fetched, but you never know. The other interesting part and the one that I liked that the actual stories are way different than what they have been presented to us. Why have always been told the story of how Kunti asked Arjuna to share Draupadi equally with his brothers but then there are other reasons to it too. Here it is :
"In her past life, Draupadi had invoked Shiva and asked for a husband who was honest, a husband who was strong, a husband who was skilled, a husband who was handsome and a husband who was knowledgeable. Shiva had said, ‘You will get all five men that you want for no single man, except God. In another past life, Draupadi was Nalayani, the wife of a Rishi called Maudgalya. He had a terrible disease that made him cough and spit all day and covered his skin with scales and rashes. Still Nalayani served him as a devoted wife. Pleased with her unstinting service, the sage offered her a boon. Nalayani requested that he use his ascetic powers to indulge all her sexual desires. Accordingly, Maudgalya took the forms of many different men, some human, some divine, all handsome, and made love to her in many different ways. After indulging in sexual pleasures for many years, Maudgalya decided it was time to renounce the world. But Nalayani was not satisfied. ‘Who will make love to me after you are gone?’ she asked. Disgusted by her insatiable lust, the Rishi cursed her that in her next life she would be the wife of many men."
There are other interesting subplots too. Like how Shakuni was not wicked de novo and why he did the things that he did. What made him limp. How each of the Pandavas had multiple wifes and children and how each of them plays some part in the battle. How Krishna twisted so many rules and used his powers to help Pandavas win the war. How The Pandavas too lost everything at the end of it. How the epic doesn't end with the war , it ends with Yudhishtira realising the true meaning of dharma. And that's what the central theme of the epic is. How each action of every character is governed by their good or bad karma. How each of the so called good characters have bad traits which we never knew. And in the end why the Pandavas in spite of being the good people end up in Naraka and the Kauravas end up in Swarga.
All in all, it's a good book and more importantly the story of Mahabharata is something which each of us should read at least once. It won't change your spiritual thinking in any way but it would definitely make you proud about the knowledge and legacy of ancient Indians.
P.S. I read books once in a while, not that frequently, so these were just my amateur thoughts about this book. There might be better books and people who read often would better be able to tell more about the quality of the writing and it's accuracy. I personally like something which I can read uninterrupted without referring to my English dictionary frequently. Suggestions are always welcome.
PPS: Watch this guy talk about ancient Indian wisdom
Thanks to our larger brain, we can imagine and create a world where we can look beyond ourselves, include others, and make everyone feel wanted and safe. We can, if we wish to, establish a society where the mighty care for the meek, and where resources are made available to help even the unfit thrive. This is dharma.
Unfortunately, imagination can also amplify fear, and make us so territorial that we withhold resources, exploit the weak and eat even when well-fed. This is adharma. If dharma enables us to outgrow the beast in us, then adharma makes us worse than animals. If dharma takes us towards divinity, then adharma fuels the demonic.
The Kauravas are stubbornly territorial before the war. The Pandavas struggle to be generous after the war. Adharma is thus an eternal temptation, while dharma is an endless work in progress that validates our humanity."
These are words from the final chapter of the book on Mahabharata by Devdutt Pattanaik and they quite aptly sum up the essence of the book. Rather I should say that of the epic called Mahabharata. First a word about the author's contribution. He has managed to present the humongous piece of literature in a concise manner. The text is lucid and he has tried to simplify the confusing tangles of relationships. He keeps providing us short revisions everytime he reintroduces a character in subsequent chapters. And this comes in handy as remembering the lineage if each character is a pain. It's like the desi Game of Thrones. Everybody is related to everybody in some complex way and there are too many bodies there to remember. Plus there is karma which keeps coming back at intervals. So by the time it hits back at someone, you are way ahead in the story and recollecting the back story is difficult. He doesn't complicate things by showing off his vocabulary and keeps the language simple (I guess that's the only reason why Chetan Bhagat has such a following in India I guess. But I doubt whether he does that to hide his vocabulary or the lack of it). Plus that was the very reason the scriptures were written in Sanskrit so that only a small portion of the population could understand them. I don't know how accurate his version is but it's a book that can give you a gist of the story in the simplest possible way. There must be many other authentic translations but then as they say Devil is in the details. It would have been difficult for me to interpret all the plots and subplots if they were presented in a more complex manner. That's just my opinion though. He has also provided these small snippets at the end of each chapter giving us interesting facts and revising those complex subplots. Also even though it's labelled as an " illustrated retelling " , the illustrations don't serve much purpose
Coming to the more important part. The epic itself. I am otherwise an atheist and was sceptical about reading the Mahabharata. But then it's nowhere close to what I thought. It's not about gods and goddess. And to contrary to belief , it's not about the Kurukshetra war. That definitely forms an important part of the story but it's not the central theme. In fact it's a medium through which the central theme is elaborated i.e. Dharma and karma. And by dharma it never means blind faith and superstitions as projected by some of the present day " dharmik babas" . It means the righteous path, what is the ideal way of life. It's not that reading this has transformed me at a spiritual level , but does make you think about so many things. Keeping aside the spiritual part of it, it makes you aware of how awesome our forefathers were. Compiling such a huge book and carrying forward it's legacy through so many generation is a tremendous task. All this in the world without computers (They didn't have any of the cloud drive technology where they could back up their data at regular intervals. One hundred thousand verses over a span of 18 chapters). All the stories have such good morals and which are quite appropriate even in the Kaliyug. Plus their knowledge of astrology and other life sciences is fascinating. During the war there are these arrows which multiply as they travel. Some postulate that the ancient Indians were aware of nuclear weapons and this was an example of a nuclear fission reaction. I think that is a bit far fetched, but you never know. The other interesting part and the one that I liked that the actual stories are way different than what they have been presented to us. Why have always been told the story of how Kunti asked Arjuna to share Draupadi equally with his brothers but then there are other reasons to it too. Here it is :
"In her past life, Draupadi had invoked Shiva and asked for a husband who was honest, a husband who was strong, a husband who was skilled, a husband who was handsome and a husband who was knowledgeable. Shiva had said, ‘You will get all five men that you want for no single man, except God. In another past life, Draupadi was Nalayani, the wife of a Rishi called Maudgalya. He had a terrible disease that made him cough and spit all day and covered his skin with scales and rashes. Still Nalayani served him as a devoted wife. Pleased with her unstinting service, the sage offered her a boon. Nalayani requested that he use his ascetic powers to indulge all her sexual desires. Accordingly, Maudgalya took the forms of many different men, some human, some divine, all handsome, and made love to her in many different ways. After indulging in sexual pleasures for many years, Maudgalya decided it was time to renounce the world. But Nalayani was not satisfied. ‘Who will make love to me after you are gone?’ she asked. Disgusted by her insatiable lust, the Rishi cursed her that in her next life she would be the wife of many men."
There are other interesting subplots too. Like how Shakuni was not wicked de novo and why he did the things that he did. What made him limp. How each of the Pandavas had multiple wifes and children and how each of them plays some part in the battle. How Krishna twisted so many rules and used his powers to help Pandavas win the war. How The Pandavas too lost everything at the end of it. How the epic doesn't end with the war , it ends with Yudhishtira realising the true meaning of dharma. And that's what the central theme of the epic is. How each action of every character is governed by their good or bad karma. How each of the so called good characters have bad traits which we never knew. And in the end why the Pandavas in spite of being the good people end up in Naraka and the Kauravas end up in Swarga.
All in all, it's a good book and more importantly the story of Mahabharata is something which each of us should read at least once. It won't change your spiritual thinking in any way but it would definitely make you proud about the knowledge and legacy of ancient Indians.
P.S. I read books once in a while, not that frequently, so these were just my amateur thoughts about this book. There might be better books and people who read often would better be able to tell more about the quality of the writing and it's accuracy. I personally like something which I can read uninterrupted without referring to my English dictionary frequently. Suggestions are always welcome.
PPS: Watch this guy talk about ancient Indian wisdom
