Baatapni

A cousin had come all along from Chappra (Bihar) to Delhi on a road trip with his friend. They had been to Varanasi and Allahabad on the way. They had left home for some work in Banaras but since they don't get much opportunity to travel they thought of taking full advantage of the situation and travel as much as possible. Before reaching Delhi they had planned to go to Shimla from Delhi and post that return back. On a Saturday early morning they reached my place. Completely exhausted by such long journey they quickly took to bed and slept well. After waking up they wanted to go to many places in Delhi. Their excitement was more of kids. They wanted to do everything and visit every place they can. So the itinerary had to be decided. Shimla had to give way to a trip to Hardiwar and Rishikesh. I suggested since you are doing a Ganga Darshan (went to banaras, took a dip at sangam) why not continue with Ganga darshan and visit Haridwar and Rishikesh too. They liked the idea and want...

I have been a firm believer that one can only be a great politician if one doesn't have a conscience, no self respect/esteem and lives totally on the principle of 'there is no friend or enemy in politics'. Time and again politicians have proved it and hence one can only derive they live just for the sake of power and not for their conscience. However there are few who have created a different identity for themselves and have lead by right examples. They are liked and admired for their ethics and principle. Nitish Kumar has been (or was) one of such kind. A politician rather a leader admired not only in the circle of Bihar but also in National Politics. However his decision to quit the Grand Alliance and then form the government immediately with BJP has made him drop from this pedestal (at least in my eyes). For me he now is as good/bad as any other politician. However the step he took is a masterstroke in itself which has enhanced his political life and a step towards movi...

Its been two months that i have shifted my base from Delhi to Bangalore. I had been to Bangalore just for a week 5 years back so hadn't explored the city much nor was much aware about the city. Had heard a lot about the city being great and awesome. Being the IT hub we all assume a city has to be awesome - "a millennium city" , if thats the term  used for such cities. A city has to stand out in various things to create an awesomeness. Unfortunately, it has stood out in two negative things for me.. Traffic and Pollution.. both go hand in hand in a way. I was looking forward to being part of the city. The day arrived. I landed at Bangalore airport. My brother had come to pick me up. In the car he told me it will take around 1.30 hrs to 2 hrs to reach home.. What.. so much time.. And that was on a Saturday at around 9 pm at night... it seemed crazy.. I know the airport is almost 20+ km away from city but still around 2 hrs is too much time. I assume that less time will be...

Its been more than 9 years since i left school but still remember the day i joined my dearest school. St. Xavier's, Bokaro - the greatest school... Couldn't have asked for a better a school. We move ahead in life but perhaps the school days are those which every one cherishes.. We sometimes want to relive these golden days of our lives, want to go back to school one more time, want to wander in those amazing environment again.... Missing all those great friends.....

Ashamed of being called a man – how a man can induce such kind of cruelty and brutality. We have failed as an individual, as a society and as a country. It’s hard to believe but perhaps we are living in a shameless society. A society which does worships the female goddess but in reality shows disrespect towards female. Have we become so insensitive in our day to day life that we need some grave misfortunes to be awakened? Why can’t we be more compassionate? We all have women in our families be it a mother, sister, wife, daughter. Why can’t we show the same kind of respect to other women the way we show to our family members? Perhaps the day we do so such incidents will not happen. We all need to introspect. I hope we all men show more respect towards women be it our sister, friend, colleague or some stranger. We should assure them of safety as can’t expect it from the police and government. With such incidents happening and yet no stern steps taken by police or gov...

I was walking down an isolated lane when I saw a man confused and depressed. I asked him "Who are you?" "A human" was the reply. It was a very irritating reply and yet a correct  one. I again asked him "What's your name and what are you looking for?" He replied "my name"..... Well you can call me whatever you want. If i tell you my name it will reveal my identity, my religion and after knowing that you will start assuming me what kind of person I am. You don't know me as a person yet after knowing my name you will start assessing me and create an impression of me. And here i have not yet said anything about myself. You will judge me by color, nationality, religion, caste but will not judge me as a human. We say all humans are alike and yet we have created differences. So he asked me "You tell me who am I". I was taken aback by this statement. He didn't ask me something wrong or something vague but I didn't ha...