Charm of Delhi

Dilli-ki-Chaat!  Gajar ka halwa! Golgappas! Jalebi, Rabri or Garam gulab jamun!

The slim streets of Chandni Chawk –to get lost and be confused, with a medieval feel. 

Lose yourself to shopping in Sarojani nagar, Lajpat nagar, Khan Market, Kamlanagar or Janpath.......!!! 

Wander around Lodhi Garden in Sunday mornings. Sooth your eyes and eat delicious food at Delhi Hut on holidays. Taste ice cream at India Gate in the mid-night hours.....(but ofcourse never go alone)!!!

And top of it, the Dilli ki Sardi!!! Sip a cup of tapori wala garam chai with pakodas while coming back from office. Take a walk in the misty evenings through the white-laced streets....feel like singing “Pari hu me.....”, go to the nearby Dhobi aunti to get a fire–doze!! Organize a barbeque party in the new year!! 

Literally, missing Delhi badly!!! Passing 11 years in this capital made me feel like home. 

Bangalore is an amazing place to live in.  Though the weather of Bangalore is mind-blowing with no winter, no summer......the charm of Delhi’s winter is unmatched!!!! (Excuse me for not thinking about the bitter winter for the homeless....at this point of time.)

Education matters....

It was the Year–end of 2000. Recession period started. Aaruv completed his BE in Mechanical Engineering from a well recognized Engineering College in Assam. Not getting a good job, he decided to pursue MBA in Delhi with a hope that the BE and an MBA degree together could probably lead up to a dazzling career.

Recession continued. Aaruv could not rely on the Campus interviews in completion of MBA. Started applying jobs here and there. One fine day, received a call for an interview... and ultimately selected as a sales and marketing executive of a good kitchen appliances manufacturing company. Only Aaruv can tell you what kind of feeling he had, how excited he was, getting his first job,  kick starting his career.....as if world was at his feet....stepping into the dreamed world.

First day in office. Aaruv reached in time. Infact before time. He was extremely excited and energetic to join his first job. He had already planned how he would spend his first salary, and also decided to give double effort to have more incentives. He was firm that he would buy one guitar for himself from his first salary.  

Aaruv was asked to sit in the reception. The receptionist was very cordial. She offered coffee to him. He observed that the office must have a very good corporate culture. Every employee, he had seen was wearing formal attire. Most of them were wearing tie too, like him. His offer letter also instructed that all employees should wear corporate/formal dress. 

Next to the reception, he suddenly saw few guys gathered in a room. Somebody gave some instructions for few minutes and then played loud music. Daler Mehendi was put to high decibels...seemed the guys were cheering and burning the floor. It continued till 15 minutes or so. After sometimes, there was silence. Aaruv was invited to join the group. The lead introduced himself to him as a qualified Engineer  and then introduced Aaruv to everyone. All greeted him well. The lead told him that this was a daily exercise before they start the day, to kick up their motivation and spirit for whole the day and bring positive energy. Then he asked Aaruv to accompany one of the teams to learn how to do sales and marketing.

So, expedition started. 

It was a crazy summer day in Delhi. The team of four boarded in a city bus. Two team members were carrying two boxes. They were really in high spirit....had been saying all praising words for the team lead....and general challenges they faced daily etc. They got down in Vasant Kunj bus stand and reached one gated community. The teamlead said, “Let’s not enter from the main gate, security personnel will not allow us to enter. There is broken wall nearby the dhobi shop. Let’s try that.” All followed him.

All were successful in entering the campus through the broken wall. The team lead said ‘hello’ to the dhobi too, showing his acquaintance and proving his frequency in visits. 

The first house. Just before putting finger on the calling bell, the teamlead asked to open the boxes. They were “Pressure Cookers” of two different designs. The team lead reminded everyone to behave like a Management student so that they can attack the soft corner of the prospects and silently repeated the sentence “We are Management students and doing a project. This is a high end product launched by…….company. The selling will help us getting good marks.”

The team lead rang the calling bell. One lady opened the door. The lead just started the crammed sentence –“We are Management students ………company……”

Dhuuuuu……ung……!!!!!!!! The lady closed the door. 

The teamlead consoled the others, “This is very normal. You need to be strong enough to be a sales & marketing professional.”

Next house. Ranged the bell. One old gentleman opened the door, started scolding, “Don’t you  have any other work than disturbing others. If needed, we will go to the market to buy these stuff, why I will buy from you…….!!” ……

Dhuuuuu…..ung………!!!!!!!!  Shut the door on their faces.

Aaruv was holding one Pressure Cooker that time. 

The team lead declared a cigarette break.....probably Wills Flake...the cheapest.....HUH still to hit target...no looking back...

Aaruv was hungry, frustrated and confused - did this profile really require the combination of BE and MBA degree??? 

His conscience was saying…. “Run…..Run……Run away Aaruv……….” 

Begging in bus stand

Just remembered one incident today!!!

 

I was waiting for a bus to go from Jorhat to Teok in a fine morning, many years back, probably, 1997-98.

 

"I have not had food for last three days. Please give me some money." uttered an old lady. Her age was approximately 55-56. I gave two Rupee Coin to her.  She was happy to get the two Rupee coin from a student and went away.

 

After few minutes, the bus (it was a mini bus) came. All the passengers sat in the bus. I saw the old lady coming inside the bus. She started begging money from each passenger saying the same sentence, even from me too. Probably age made her forget that few minutes back only, I gave her a coin.

 

Few passengers gave her money, and she said, "God bless you guys! You are so lovely people". But, I did not give her money again, and I was not the only one who gave her money before getting into the bus. One guy was angry and told her that he just gave few coins few minutes ago. Immediately, the lady shouted and got down saying, "God punish you guys, may some earthquake come and destroy the whole world!" ....Nobody reacted.  

 

Few days later, I was again waiting for a bus in the same bus-stand. The lady was again begging money uttering the same words.

 

Didn't know how to react, whether to feel sorry, or smile!.

 

 

 

Shop Style On The Go

Come October, you find freshness in the air, brightness in the sky, and sparkle in the eyes of every being. The lined festivals one after another bring joviality, happiness to everyone’s heart and mind.

I love this season. Autumn followed by Winter! All through the year I wait for this time.

In this season, you get to see people flaunting in marriages, parties, offices. Especially in corporate, you surely get to see ladies gathering in various cubicles…to envy each other on their new shoppings. You will get to hear one praising another, asking cost and address, discount etc….then plan to go out from the office in between…after lunch or after office hours… As a day is not enough for a lady’s shopping, again plans to go with husband or boyfriend. Shopping with a husband is too tough. While shopping, he will surely say, “Hurry up” at least ten times, or he will have head ache/tummy ache or search for a public lavatory nearby. And if you are taking your baby along, nothing like that – you will never get a chance to choose. You will surely end up buying the stuff found at ease only.

Today’s fast paced life does not allow you to spend enough time on shopping in a market, but sit comfortably on laptop and select the most desirable products in the wide spread collections of various online stores. Thanks to online shopping which helps housewives to make themselves busy, mothers to spend more time with their children and working women to give more time to their family…same with the men too….

And also, if you can ensemble and get your craving products at your door-step, why to waste your time searching in markets, carrying your cloths to match with your bangles or earrings?

Shoppers Stop really stopped me to look at its tempting products and the discounts they are offering! It was quite challenging to pick and ensemble the products as all were so unique and beautiful, but tried to bring out the best upshot according to my taste.

My Western attire :

I picked up stylish, fashionable and sufficiently casual Allen Solly Ladies Wrap Dress. To match with it, I took a Lucera Silver CZ ring with contemporary designs in work, prêt and evening collection to complement various moods of the modern and fashion conscious woman of today. To add elegance and exquisiteness, I picked up a beautifully crafted Infinity bangle, a pair of Infinity Rhodium plated earring with clear crystal, a Lucera Silver CZ Pendant, trendy and bold Lemon Pepper – Footwear. To bring brightness to the face and whole attire, I added a red French Connection wallet and United Colors of Benetton’s reddish sunglass.

   

For traditional wear, I picked a simple red Kashish printed Georgette Saree, as I believe in “Simplicity is beauty”. To match with that, I picked an Infinity Bangle, a pair of cufflinks designed Infinity earring, 18 Kt Gold plated Infinity necklace with clear and Siam crystal, Fossil -  Watch, Carbon Diamond Ring and a red Hidesign- Wallet.

Shopper Stop! You are really a wonderful one stop shop with excellent quality products!

Hope, you will like my picks.


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N.B. This post has been written for 

Shoppers Stop Perfect Look 

Lakes in Bangalore

Just raise a question – “what kind of place you wanna live in”. I bet almost all answers will infer directly or indirectly to a place with serenity, tranquility….. small dose of natural beauty, where you can escape from the stress of day to day life, feel refreshed, relaxed, get up with the melody of chirping birds and at least no water problem J!

I have recently shifted to Bangalore. Though I made few official trips to the city earlier, I was dillydally how the place would be to settle down.…..With hundreds of questions in mind, like, will it be better than Delhi or my home state Assam, how will be the people, food etc., I came to this city last month.

Depositing a good amount of money, we took a rented house. Rent is quite high in this IT hub, for which we started searching for a house to buy from the next weekend of our arrival. While flipping the newspaper pages- specially the Property supplements, and the sites like Magic Bricks, 99acres etc., we found there are lots of lakes in Bangalore. Lots of properties are using “Lake View” as their selling point. We targeted some of these sites.  And yes, that’s true….actually many of these properties are situated on the bank of the lakes, such as Bellundur, Ulsoor, Vatkal, Domlur, Munekolala etc.

While exploring various locations within the city, I found Bangalore to be a beautiful place, full of exquisite landscapes. There are numerous lakes in Bangalore, though there is no river close by. Most of the lakes in the Bangalore region were constructed in the Sixteenth century by damming the natural valley systems by constructing bunds. But, unfortunately, so many places are facing water problem, some places have dried out bore-wells, most of the places in the city don’t have Kaveri water supply. The cities of Bangalore, Mandya and Mysore depend almost entirely on the Kaveri for their drinking water supply.

Urbanization has taken some heavy toll on the beautiful lakes, the flora and fauna in Bangalore. Most of the lakes have vanished due to encroachment and construction activity for urban infrastructure expansion. Some of the major lakes that disappeared over the years are changed to stadium, sports complex, bus station, golf association, market area, sewerage collection tank, college, residential layout etc.

The city once had 280-285 lakes of which 7 cannot be traced, 7 are reduced to small pools of water, 18 have been unauthorizedly encroached by slums and private parties, 14 have dried up and are leased out by the Government. 28 lakes have been used by the Bangalore Development Authority to distribute sites and build extensions for residential areas. The remaining lakes are in fairly advanced state of deterioration. Now, only 17 good lakes exist as against 51 healthy lakes in 1985 in the heart of the city.

We are shortlisting a property on the bank of such a lake. We will have to pay some extra from our pockets for the so called “Lake View”. But, a thought is engulfing our heads if the lake will be dried-up or else if government will transform the lake into a stadium or a market place..…?

Thoughts are still on…..

Driving through the Delhi roads

I am not a bad driver….I am sure, atleast better than Michael Schumacher! J

Schumacher drives in lane, I can drive in narrow bylanes. Schumacher drives in a free road, I can drive in crowded roads… He drives when people cheers, I can drive through people who love living on the edge.

I am an employee of a nice organization which offers flexible timing. So, I usually go to office just after the common office rush timing. But…so many red lights (Ofcourse traffic signals! J) I have to bump into, all the way of 14 kilometres road : Delhi to Noida! 

Such a week day, as usual, I started for office dressing as a gentle lady wearing nicely pressed cotton Saree. After crossing DND Flyway, I faced the first red light at Rajnigandha. I have the habit of switching off the engine in traffic signals as a conscious citizen J, so I did so. Suddenly, my car started shaking…..I wondered what happended all of a sudden…I looked at the other cars which were in front, left and right side, and thought was there any earthquake. After a small break of few seconds, it again started shaking…! I looked back….saw an Indica trying to fit in the gap between my car and the other car standing in my right side. When it could not fit in, again it went back….

I saw in my side rear mirror, my car got injured badly…. White stretch mark on my Maroon car! I got down, just opened my mouth to scold them, but then saw that the driver was looking like a Daako of Kabristan….He was accompanied by four men. The Indica probably met many accidents already in its last many years. Though I was very angry and wanted to shout very loud, I lowered my voice and just asked why he did that, couldnot he assumed that there was not enough space. He just gestured with his hand which indicated, “What’s a big issue? What is done, cant be undone! And now just move ahead!”…….. By that time, it was green light, all vehicles in my back started whistling continuously……I could not do anything except silently sit on my car and move ahead with a sorrowful and defeated mind. After few seconds, the indica intentionally overtook me and all those guys sitting in it just shouted something and tried to make mockery on me. Once I thought to note down the number and complaint to the police, but then thought what will be the result…nothing…just will extend the case, so left that idea. 

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Have you ever seen hardly any vehicle, taxi, bus, auto-rickshaw without a single dent, in Delhi? I can bet on that. If you are extremely lucky, and your car is without any scar, be very careful, somebody at least from your society is eying on it, and someday while you are relaxing in your bed, the task will be done.  You will get to see next day, and you will shout for nothing!!!

In Delhi, everyone drive according to his/her own wish. All seems in a big rush. Once, you are in the driver’s seat, you are a warrior. One hand on horn, one on cell-phone, loud music, foot on accelerator, eyes on female bystanders : that’s a common habit of the drivers.

People need no reason for honking. They honk when they start the car. They honk when there is nobody on the road. They honk when they find somebody to ask for overtake. They honk when they overtake the vehicle. Honk is louder when a red light turns into green at the traffic signals. And the list goes on…

Traffic signals are rich of scenic affairs. Bikes zigzag between cars and buses, trying to get into the front. Cars do not care about lane lines and invade into any free space. Beggars and hawkers weave around the vehicles. And when the traffic light turns green a thousand impatient horns go off. If you are late in reving up your engine, you get countless glares coming your way.

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Another day, my husband and me both went to one of my relative’s place in Faridabad. While coming back, it was quite late. My husband was driving comfortably as the road was free enough and we were belly full with delicious dinner. Suddenly, a car was behind us…continuosly putting horn to give a side. I looked back and saw, a Sardarjee was driving accmpanied by another guy. We were driving in the side lane. The road was four lane wide. We just wondered why the car was continuosly honking. We acceleared the speed, but the car behind also put into the same momentum…in this way we atleast crossed 2 kilometres. Then we thought to give a side by shifting to an another lane. The car now overtook us, driving through the same lane he was driving. While overtaking, on the contrary, he shouted at us! Strange!

It’s totally a discordant anarchy. Heavy traffic, poor infrastructure and absence of a road culture are bringing out the worst in drivers.

If somebody yet to take this quintessential experience, take a drive down in the capital of the country! All the Best!

Rain Rain Come Again or Rain Rain Go Away?

The churning sound of drizzling! The pearl shower...! The drops on glass windows... Who doesn’t like these?

I love rain. I love to listen to the melody of rain from inside a straw hut or a house-roof with aluminum tin sheets! I love to enjoy the stunning sight when clouds play tricks with the sky, cocoon the sun after playing hide & seek and then bring the showers to the arid earth, the thirsty dusts quench its thirst and turn into vapor yielding a sweet, serene aroma! …..And I love to take delight of this milieu with garam chai and pakoda or some other scrumptious snacks, sitting in the verandah, welcoming the sprinkles to raise my every sense.

Rain grows some wonderful grains in the paddy fields, brightens the farmers’ lives and refreshes the river; Bestows the fish-eaters to be belly-full, livens the flora, and after all, sooth the scorching summer.

But does it have only the greener side?

India is among the countries which receives seasonal rainfall unlike the countries like Germany where rain occurs throughout the year. Most of India receives rain for only around 100 hours every year. The monsoon is extremely important for India as it fills up water reservoirs, replenishes ground water and is essential for the Indian agriculture of which around 70% are rainfed. Ofcourse, Northeastern India is a bit exceptional. It usually gets more rain in comparison to other parts of India. Mawsynram is a village in the East Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya state in north-eastern India, 65 kilometers from Shillong. It is reportedly the wettest place on Earth, with an annual rainfall of 11,872 millimetres (467.4 in). Charrapunji is a subdivisional town in the East Khasi Hills district in Meghalaya again which is credited as being the second wettest place on Earth.

A few weeks back, Delhi was longing for rain. Regular power cut, desert heat,  low water supply had become the key problems before the onset of monsoon.

By the middle of the last month, the monsoon finally landed the Metro and gave some relief from the hottest summer in the country’s capital in last 33 years. The urgency has gone, but the susceptibility of people across India to an increasingly unpredictable weather remains a serious cause for concern. An unexpected deluge can be destructive and deadly. Luckily not in the capital, but, 14 people died in Jaipur and Shekhawati regions of Rajasthan as torrential rains lashed several parts of the state last few days. On the other hand, 11 farmers committed suicide in last one month in Gujarat because of drought.

The monsoon accounts for more than 80% of India’s annual rainfall, feeding crops and filling the nation’s reservoirs. Weak rains can mean less to eat for millions. Major FMCG players like Dabur, Emami and Godrej are  concerned about the overall negative economic sentiment hurting demand as the late arrival of monsoon can have an impact on rural sales. India’s economic growth rate slipped to nine-year low of 6.5% in 2011-12 and current account deficit (CAD) has touched a high of 4%. Inflation, meanwhile, was high at 7.55% in May.

Apart from the impacts on country’s economy, in most of the cities or urban areas, monsoon comes with its bag and baggage, which includes water logging, traffic jam, water-caused diseases, humidity etc.

Heavy rains make many parts of the city to suffer from water logging, whether in posh or poor areas. The rainwater infrastructure, if it at all exists L, is not satisfactory to assure the drainage of the water and the lower areas to not get inundated. Roads get blocked leading to traffic jams; pedestrians have to stride through flooded streets. Besides, the urban poor, living in slums or trespasses have their homes often damaged by the rainwater, which may take several days to retrocede.

The polluted water with the mixture of the garbage and waste that is littered here and there also becomes a big risk to health. Not only that, there are so many manholes without cover, all over the cities. In a submerged street, these holes become invisible and cause a serious threat to pedestrians and the two-wheelers.

Though I have almost forgotten in my metro life, the greeting and gushing new feelings rain brings, I still try to eavesdrop its melody amidst these problems and try to say, “I love, sometimes I hate, but hey Rain, please you never be late!!!”

Ignorance about North Eastern states of India

Big B’s ignorance about North Eastern India has been recently making big news.

But many people like me would not be surprised about these kind of mistakes….I am sure, half of India must be confused about the seven sister states of North East India.

A survey conducted by North East India Image Managers, the group of communication professionals from the North Eastern states, (I am too part of the group) reveals a shocking ignorance of professionals about the North East (NE) states. It is a sad fact that 87 percentages of the working professionals cannot name all the NE states and 53 percentages shared highly negative views of these states.

“It’s a place with insurgency and most unsafe place in the country” or “people with mongoloid features, weird food habit and an alien culture”, were the responds from some who were interviewed in the survey. Surprisingly 30 percent of professionals don’t prefer to work in this region, even if that best suits their career interest. The survey showed how these professionals are preoccupied with some wrong notions and how deeply they are ignorant about NE states.

Infact, I was asked very weird questions by some of my ex colleagues, (especially north Indians) who even didn’t know or care to know even the names of the capitals of the states. How we stay in such insurgence, do people there carry pistol all the time, does some people in village still wear odd dresses like  – leaves, if we eat snakes, dogs etc.

Hundreds of students come every year from the NE to seek admission in Universities all over the country. But, the joy of seeking admission is often cut short by the difficulties faced (particularly in the national capital) like racial discrimination, language barriers, sexual harassment and trouble finding accommodation etc. Many people like to refer the NE people as CHINKIS  as they have Mongolian features.

One of the honored moments for the NorthEastern people was at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games 2010. The Indian contingent was led by Abhinav Bindra, proudly carried our Indian flag. Before him, the lady who was holding the signboard, was wearing the Mizo tradition Puanchei dress. But the leading daily - The Times of India carried a photograph of the Indian contingent in the front page next day, saying “All the teams were led out by girls wearing saris in different styles, except for the Indian team, which was heralded by a girl in a Naga dress.”

Now, though boxer Mary Kom is not the only athlete from the NE to represent India at the London Olympics (another woman archer is Bombayla Devi), Kom's Bronze medal is trying to be a catalyst in bringing attention to this region of India, where big B’s tweet is adding fuel to the fire.

NorthEast India is a vast land with almost 50 million people. Assam produces approximately 55 percent of India’s tea and 60 percent of its plywood and a substantial part of its crude oil. But, the Central Government is not doing enough to develop this region and to bring it on par with other states of the Indian mainland.

Central Government opened its eye recently, when Dragon was at the Bay! Central government put some attention to Arunachal Pradesh, when China was trying to include this beautiful state in its geographical map. The Manipur State Budget is less than the annual budget of one single department under the Andhra Pradesh Government. The government often mentions the presence of many revolutionary groups in these states, but do not try to solve the main reasons behind, like not releasing adequate funds to the region, not looking at the illegal immigration of the Bangladeshies in all these states etc. The Indo-Bangladesh border passes through Assam (263 Km), Meghalaya (443 Km), Tripura (856 Km) and Mizoram (318 Km), where there is enough porosity for illegal migration into the country. These all show that the Central Government is not much interested in the development of the region, but only in the region's Natural Resources.

So, its time, that the Indian Govt. should try to solve the insurgency problems in the region through good will and look at development and genuine concern for the region and its people. Also, the State government representatives, the MPs, Ministers etc. of the region should raise their Voice, explain the genuine issues to the Central Government and try to solve the problems and engross in developing the region instead of planning how to be rich in 5 years!

Metro or Town : Which one is better?

Life has truly become competitive. The war is continuously on… to cleave on to the rat-tortoise race, first to survive, then to boost our ego by possessing a house, a car, 60 inch LED tv, iPad and leading not only a comfortable, but also a luxurious life.

We do not have enough time to visit neighbors, pass time with our friends, think or do something for the society. An occasional call or an SMS takes care of maintaining a relationship. I believe even a busy bee has some time for all these stuff.

Fitness is in vogue (Ofcourse for a good reason!). For most of us, it is important to get in shape and a visit to the gym is a must. A prescribed breakfast by a dietician, work out in the gym or do yoga under an instructor, rush to the office (if one has a car, then lucky, otherwise hang on the public transports), face the traffic jam, come back home and cook food if you don’t have a cook, fight with the full time maid if you have, spend some time with your family if your body permits, go to sleep and start all over again next morning.

If you are single or double, then weekend adds some flavor with the visits to the disco, or watch a movie and end up with a dinner at a restaurant. If you are triple or more, you can not do that also, does not matter, be it your Sasu Maa or your kidoo.

When I first came to Delhi, I was very excited. Deeply impressed with the high-rise buildings, big roads, fast life, countless career scope, and uncountable restaurants to taste delicious food from all over the world, like Chinese, Japanese, German, Turkish, and what’s not. Completed my studies, started working….with a handsome salary. But I used to be left with no money at the end of each month. Rent of the room, household expenses, travelling costs, phone bills all used to be so big that my good salary used to never suffice. Sometimes, I used to think, did I take a good decision to come to Delhi, leaving a luxurious life at Assam… a big house with big loan, all facilities, two maids, the special care of Mom and where there was no such competition. In fact, there were jobs available there too. I too got jobs – one in TV centre to anchor in one particular program and another in a college. But I wanted to study further and make my career a bit different…and thus I stepped into Delhi.

Life is moving on...., but a  question often arises in my mind where life is better, in a metro or a small town/village?

Indian Railways

My Maahi (Aunt) and her family visited us last month for couple of days….on her (She is a school teacher) and her children’s summer vacation. She lives at Sibsagarh…yeah my favourite place. My Moha (Uncle) is the Jailer of Sibsagarh jail. They stay in a quarter in a beautiful place, just on the bank of Sibsagarh pukhuri (pond), whose water level is above the ground (I talked about it in my ‘About Sibsagarh’ blog). Simplicity is the special jewel of the family.

They came by Rajdhani Express to the country’s Rajdhani – Delhi. They were very excited. I went to receive them from the station.

Train was almost on time: Indian time; just 25 minutes late. As I reached early, I had to wait 40 minutes in the station. Initially, I thought how would I pass that 40 minutes, but it was quite easier when I started observing people around.

While the platform was dazzling with diversity of human being, spits of paan masala, garbage, dust, wrappers, food-wastage, dirty water, mud all were increasing the muckiness of the whole platform. Stink of stool was on the air. Some people were lazily lying, some were sitting, some were playing cards, and some were running for other platforms.

Just beside me, one family - husband, wife and three small kids were just sitting on the floor, probably waiting for their train. Smallest one, almost 2 years old baby was sleeping on the floor, keeping the head on Mother’s lap. Other kids were having some biscuits. One biscuit fell down from one kid’s hand, he immediately picked up and started having again in front of the parents. After sometime, the couple took out their lunch, probably Roti and Sabji, kept on a newspaper which they were sitting on.

Suddenly a dog came running, passed by me spreading a stink, splinting few drops of black water on my light coloured attire. He was just running in the platform, was supposed to hit a chana masala vendor. Alas! The poor vendor lost his balance. Half of his chana, khira etc. fell down on the platform. But, he was smart enough. He didn’t wait a second, acted very fast to pick almost all the fallen objects. In a minute, everything was set and he started selling like before.

A girl was also waiting in the platform, just few meters away from me. She was probably waiting for the same train I was waiting for. I could see her continuously talking on phone. Suddenly, a lean and thin man, with not very clean attire marched fast towards that girl. Thank God! The girl was conscious, she changed the standing angle in the last fraction of a second, and the guy could just hit her shoulder. He did not turn back, went away in a fast speed as if nothing happened. 

All these scenes reminded me that we are in the third world country. The key hitch for all these is the attitude of majority of the Indian population. We Indians, generally consider public places as ‘our’ or ‘government’s’ property and do not feel responsible. This is the plight for all these. We spit the ‘paan masala’ anywhere; if we are eating something, we will throw the wrappers anywhere; don’t put water after toilet in public lavatory and the list goes on.

I could see adequate number of dust bins around me. But these must be not cleared in time. And bins are used for spitting ‘paan’. There are approximately 3467 railway stations in India. I believe, most of them have the same situation. I am sure, the government is devoting resources to keep the country clean, but the people fail to utilize those resources.

Does every year see us going one step forward? We cannot move ahead, if we don’t do our bit and take care of our surroundings and if we be a part of that littering and spitting.

I believe if the people chose to be conscious of their duties, the state would be forced to deliver better.

After the ‘40 minutes’, Maahi and her family arrived. I started bargaining with the Kooli. I saw Maahi putting her pallu of the Saari on her mouth to save herself from the stinks…..