The essence of India

When I hear people talking about Indian culture, I get depressed, because with every sentence most of them drift away from culture or India. In the name of Indian culture, people want to preserve superstitious dogmas, half of which were never associated with India or even originated in the country. Some of them are middle eastern or western beliefs so much integrated in the system that now, they are attributed to the Indians. For e.g. the concept of ghunghat.

Firstly, British thought that earlier India was not a nation. They were wrong. India was a nation, and will always be. The political and geographical boundaries don't make a nation just as staying in the same house doesn't define a family. Family members may be dispersed throughout the world, but they remain family. Love binds the family, not the walls of a house. A nation is a group of people who are bound together by a deeper thread of underlying spirit of belonging, and culture.

The hue and cry of the custodians of the culture is dress. It seems that Indian culture is irrecoverably attached to Indian dressing style. Are you talking about the same culture of which Swami Vivekananda was also a part? Then, listen what he has to say:

In 1893, when Swami Vivekananda visited U.S., he walked along the street, clad in his traditional saffron clothes. On seeing this unfamiliar attire, a woman whispered to her husband, “I don't think that man is a gentleman.”

Overhearing this remark, Swami Vivekananda said to her politely,“excuse me, Madam, in your country it is the tailor who makes a man a gentleman, but in the country from which I come, it is character which makes a man a gentleman.”

I don't think anyone has better right to comment on Indian culture than Swami Vivekananda. If he feels that dress don't define Indian culture, then the self appointed custodians of culture need to study Indian culture rather than worrying about trends in female clothes. Culture has nothing to do with clothes, religion or any of the outer trappings of human invention.

So, what is the culture which represents the essence of India? There are many qualities which define a country, but there is always one quality which supersedes every other quality, and decides the path of the nation's destiny. For India, that quality is its explicit trust in the goodness of human beings.

India was and will always be trustful of people. One of the causes for the high superstition rate in India, faith, isn't related to the amount of education. A highly educated Indian trusts people as much as an illiterate person next to him. India is ready to forgive, and give second chances to people who aren't worth it. Psychopaths, criminals, and politicians take advantage of this nature to influence the people with fake ideals, and false promises.

That is the reason in medieval times, a country like India has fallen in most of the wars. People of India in general, are never wary of foreigners. Even if one of them has given a cause of doubt, we are ready to give them a second chance. We still trust the Brits, don't we?

Is this attitude wrong or right? Frankly, attitude is always neutral so is trust. It depends on how the other person reacts. As far as I'm considered, it's always better to be a believer than a sceptic. Even a sceptic trusts people though he doesn't accept it. But, the problem with sceptics is, once they trust the wrong man they forever doubt the genuine ones, and miss the joy of unbiased interaction with people.

India is not a land of injustice like everyone believes, but a land where people fight against injustice. Indian people (not just leaders) fought for independence, they fought to get justice for Jessica Lal, and they continue to fight against rapes. 

Gandhi once said, “You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.” This is exactly what Indian culture is about. Having faith that few bad people don't represent any country. That's why we don't believe General Dyer, or his supporters, represent the British or that Hitler represents German mentality.

This post is inspired by Indispire Edition 57

Which quality do you think is the essence of India? Do share your views.

New campaigns; the same old habits

Image Courtesy: Charuhas Acharya @ A glimpse of Paradise

It is easy to talk about change, but habits aren’t easy to kill. This picture was taken on 27/2/2015; five months after the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. People still litter; the civic authorities continue to ignore the garbage. 

Maybe this pile will attract someone’s attention, and then a wave of cleanliness will begin. A local celebrity will sweep it, and expect people to follow. People will definitely follow- on Facebook, on Twitter, on every other social media- not in real life. Sadly, these waves are limited to virtual life.

The civic authorities do include the local elected politicians. However, these people are a class in itself. They preach cleanliness, even take up brooms, but don’t do any follow up. Still, there is no penalty strictly imposed on those who litter the streets. The cleanliness truck passes the same littered street every morning, but fails to classify the trash as garbage to be disposed. We are still a long way from Swachh Bharat.

India continues as it always did. Everyone is either in a race or living their life; no time for a sense of duty or a change. The only change most people carry is spare coins for the auto wallah or the bus conductor.

Related article: Swachh Bharat, littered streets, and the missing trash cans.

Swachh Bharat, littered streets and the missing trash cans

Once upon a time in the golden past, though not so golden when you think of it. Still, if you observed minutely you might have found some streaks of gold, if you were lucky. At that time, Mumbai could boast of little penguins along the streets. No, no, it’s the truth. That was when we weren’t worried about global warming. If you were lucky enough to have seen Mumbai during 1990’s you might have seen them. No kid could resist the lure of feeding those pretty black and white creatures with yellow beaks. We couldn’t just throw the rubbish on the road, and miss the chance of getting close to the penguin. Yes, I’m talking of the striking trash cans of Mumbai which resembled a penguin. It wasn’t like any trash can, but a cute penguin.

As children, we were in awe of the penguins. They were as much an attraction as any picnic site. But, as I grew up the penguins vanished without a trace. Last year, when I went to Gateway with my nephew, I couldn’t show him any penguins or any other trash cans in Mumbai. I was worried. Was there a possibility, the penguins had migrated to the poles, and the poor authorities couldn’t find any substitute?

For a healthy child

Whenever we talk about kids, what do you picture? A lovely kid with chubby cheeks, sweet smile and shiny hair. Unfortunately, more than fifty percent of India’s kids do not have the features. These kids have hollow cheeks, dry, undernourished hair, cracked lips and vacant eyes. These are the victims of a demon called malnutrition. It is not some ordinary demon, but the dementor from ‘Harry Potter’ which sucks the hope and happiness from this kids, and makes them cranky, and listless. Those of you who think that malnutrition is over-rated, let me tell you, India has the highest prevalence of underweight children in the world, almost double than Sub-Saharan Africa. Malnutrition in India can not be ignored, and is also prevalent among affluent family though less than the poverty stricken.

Next stop, destiny

Image Courtesy: Charuhas Acharya @ A glimpse of paradise

He received the news. His beloved was giving birth to a baby, his baby.

Standing at the crossroads in life, he thought about his destiny; his country’s fight against injustice.

He’d escaped jaws of death, time and again.

Death couldn't stop his destiny.Would life succeed where death had failed?

      Word count: 50
 

Linking this to the Fiction Challenge ‘From 15 to 50′ November 2014

Children's day

For this children’s day, instead of me, my friend offered to write a post. She wants to share her childhood memory related to child labour, and how it affected her.
This post by Dr. Nilofar Attar is part of Shankhnaad for happy children. To contribute a post, or read other posts which are a part of this campaign check ‘Happy children equals to a happy world’.

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We had gone to Juhu Chaupati with my family friends, I was eleven years old and my younger brother was nine. We enjoyed snacks with our friends and had tea. When we finished my brother, always a good boy took all the cups to place them at the counter. Immediately our friends interrupted him and signaled one of the few boys working in the hotel, saying ‘it was their job, let them do it’. I looked at their innocent faces. The shame that they have to serve children of their age was reflected on their faces. When the boy cleaned our table with the cloth placed on his shoulders, it seems as if he was carrying the huge burden on those weak shoulders. I saw tears in my brother’s eye which he wiped away. I was disturbed. What if we were one of them? What would be like if we didn’t have our loving father and mother that we had now. I still get the same feeling if I pass any child who is struggling to fulfill his needs. It is said that the childhood is the best time anyone has. but when these children are forced into labour, exploited as servants in households, dragged into begging racket,human trafficking, how can we as human ignore another innocent human’s trouble? Someone who is just like us, and whose wounds hurt as badly as ours.

How we effectively kill curiosity

When a child is born, he/she has only one attribute: curiosity. He is curious about the various sounds, different objects and the people around him. He wants to know all about them. That’s when he starts his education. He tries to focus on every little thing that catches his attention. There are so many new things to learn, and the little one has no sense of priority. He tries to take in every new thing and gets easily distracted. 

As he grows, he starts receiving guidance from others and his education progresses. Then, finally starts his formal education. Now, all his queries would be answered. He should be exuberant, right? It seldom works that way. 

There are two classes (aren’t there always?) of kids: the kids who can’t afford education, and the ones who are victims of education.

My INKLive experience

Blogadda announced the contest 'beyond boundaries' and selected our post 'technology and life' as one of the winners. Actually, my blogger friend Swati was supposed to attend the INKLive conference but she had to go to Chennai. I hadn’t even heard about INK prior to this. So, when I was offered the pass, the first thing I did was check what the INK conference was all about.

This is what I found: "The INK Conference is an annual conference that aims to fuel innovation and foster knowledge by bringing together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers on a global stage."

Image Courtesy: inktalks.com

Big, impressive words, but I wasn't much impressed.The reason was I hate to sit and listen to lectures for hours. I attend conferences, mostly dental and sometimes literary, to meet friends. Besides, I wasn't supposed to attend INK conference but the INKLive conference. INKLive is the live web cast of the INK Conference hosted at a venue close to the main conference venue. This added to my lingering doubts.

After attending the conference, I was surprised that this was one conference, I focused on listening to the speakers rather than meeting people. The attendees were cool, the INKLive hospitality and team was friendly and helpful, but I was engrossed in the sessions.The sessions were mesmerizing. I know mesmerizing sounds a bit too much, but it’s the truth. Have you ever got up to witness the sunrise? The warm sun rays infuse an enthusiasm and positivity which brightens your day. Listening to the achievers is like that; you realize the there are no limitations except the ones you put on yourself. So, I’ll describe more of the sessions than other things.

The sessions

Due to my busy schedule, I could only attend the second day of the conference which was on 2nd November. The INKLive conference was in American School of Bombay, Kohinoor City. Since, I stay in Mumbai I couldn't hope for a better location than Mumbai itself. The two morning sessions for the day were traveller's tales and Future Billions. I settled for some supposedly funny anecdotes on travel and a lecture on economics. I was in for a surprise.

This was no ordinary traveler's tale. It wasn’t a travel where you move across regions and geographical boundaries. True to the spirit of the year’s theme, ‘beyond boundaries’, these were the people who traveled beyond our time, beyond the limitations of our systems and technology. Be it Leonard Pauli’s quest for more freedom (which led him to start a website for fellow students), Neeraj Kakkar’s thoughts of food migration, scope of the Internet by other speakers or changing the face of conservative travel as in case of Phanindra Sama. These speakers were the travelers who followed a dream, and made it to their destination.

Happy children equals to a happy world

Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man. ~Rabindranath Tagore

A child is born happy; his/her happiness radiates around the area infecting people in the vicinity. You might have had a depressing day, but when a child laughs, your first reaction is to smile back. The reason God sends kids to this world is because he wants to counteract the forces of sadness and evil in the world.

Some situations and people suck the joy out of the children. Malnutrition, child labour and child abuse are some of the culprits. Instead of happy children, we have kids who are scared, half-starved and abused. As a human being and a citizen of this world, it is our duty to prevent anything/anyone from wiping a child’s smile.

In India, November 14^th is celebrated as children’s day. We decided to extend it a little bit and dedicate the whole month for children. This is a campaign to spread awareness about child’s rights and related issues, and how we can as individuals contribute in protecting a child’s smile.

All the Shankhnaad posts for this topic can be found on this page. You can contribute too, if you wish. All you have to do is write a post in November, about children. It could be a prose/poetry or fiction/non-fiction. It doesn’t have to be about children’s issues. It could be a happy post about children. Link your post to this page with a text “Shankhnaad for happy children” and add your link to this page. If you want, you can grab a ‘Shankhnaad for happy children’ badge and proudly display it on your post(optional).

The only condition to take part in this campaign is before you write, you have to take the pledge below:

“I may not be able to help all the children around the world, but if I see any child in distress, I’ll do my best to help him/her. I’ll never be a participant or an indifferent observer to any sort of injustice met to kids.”

Copy(using ctrl+c)the HTML code to grab the badge and post it in your blog post:

<a href=http://theconchblower.blogspot.com/2014/10/happy-children-equals-happy-world.html> <img src=https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE_lsHY0teQ6DsckQL_GQ48gpEsY8uFuk-d_iUbdGyZJ98pEwltFzIEOvfx6tkmJ7JfShqythI5UUkJ1c1-SYOJNEBhs1KErotf1O1Dpx5ncS4FNF7qlGw_yZK5P_ryf0MWpyT7jXoZ2I/s1600/SFC2.jpg” width="180" height="180" alt="Shankhnaad for happy children"> </a>

“We aren’t professionals in the field, but we are here to make every amateurish effort count.” - Shankhnaad-the sound of change Team.

Presenting 'Memory Intrigues'

When we think of novels, the first thing that comes to mind is flow, an original voice and continuity. So, when Blogadda formed teams of ten authors to write a single story, I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea. I, like other bloggers, can’t say no to any creative writing endeavor, and became a part of the game of blogs.

When we started writing, I realised that the saying, too many cooks spoil the feast isn’t always true. At times, every cook adds his individual flavour, and the dish turns out more delicious than expected.

Thank you Blogadda for giving us a chance to explore our creativity and have fun at the same time.

Now, we have a novel where every chapter has a different, refreshing voice like the vivid sky displaying various shades of blue, white, and red, the shades  instead of diminishing add to it’s beauty. 

Our Logo designed by talented Ruchita

Dynamic WordWeavers is a team of writers: Ganga Bharani, Rajesh K, Sulaiman Sait, Kiran Acharya (me), Madhavi A, Ruchita Shah, Swati Aiyer, Aditi Kaushiva, Shetall, and Purba Chakraborty.

Artistic collage by Ganga Bharani

 

Presenting to you ‘Memory Intrigues’ by Dynamic WordWeavers.

Memory Intrigues: 

 

One phone call causes an upheaval in Shekhar Dutta’s life. It was the beginning of a disaster. He can no longer trust his own wife, and is ignorant about the shadow overcasting his daughter’s happiness.

Tara Dutta believes that success is the key to happiness. None of her calculations work when her ambition is entangled with a family crisis.

Where is Jennifer Joseph? Shekhar and the media are intrigued. Jennifer is on the run. She thinks, she has everything under control but control is a tricky thing.

Cyrus Daruwala has goals set in life; his research is progressing in the right direction and a brilliant career is awaiting him. What more would a student want? A shortcut to success. Only he has no idea where the path leads.

Everyone has a secret hidden safely or so they think. Secrets are hard to keep and harder to reveal when the time comes.

Creativity by Ganga Bharani

 

Memory Intrigues, Part I

 

Chapter 1   Chapter 2   Chapter 3   Chapter 4   Chapter 5  

Chapter 6   Chapter 7  Chapter 8   Chapter 9   Chapter 10

Memory Intrigues, Part II

 

Chapter 11  Chapter 12  Chapter 13  Chapter 14  Chapter 15  

Chapter 16  Chapter 17  Chapter 18  Chapter 19  Chapter 20

Memory Intrigues, Part III 

 

Chapter 21  Chapter 22  Chapter 23  Chapter 24  Chapter 25   

Chapter 26  Chapter 27  Chapter 28  Chapter 29  Chapter 30

We invite you join us in our thrilling adventure, and don't forget to let us know how you like it. You can comment on individual chapters or on the blogadda page here. (On Blogadda page you stand a chance to win goodies, if your comment is selected.) You can also let us know on our Facebook Page: Dynamic WordWeavers. And while you are at it, why not like the page too? On the page you'll find more about the authors and also some inside stories on how we fabricated the story. So, keep following our FB page.

We are looking forward to your words of encouragement.

Encounters with the Indian Police

As a kid, my only opinion of the Indian police was formed thanks to Bollywood movies. I considered them some guys who arrived after everything happens (like beating up the bad guys) to arrest the bad guys.
Later, I encountered various types of Police: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The missing smiles

He wasn’t here to create smiles. The correct term was social service. He glanced at the weary faces, some of them disfigured by a swelling, waiting for their turn to come, hoping the man in the white coat would somehow make everything alright.

 His job consisted mostly extractions, the word conservation unheard in these parts, seldom an emergency root canal opening. They had too many patients, and too little time. The dental clinic was equipped with basic equipments, the dental chair barely functional. There wasn’t even a regular dentist. Some dentists like him visited once a month, every last Sunday, to provide basic dental care.

This wasn't the dentistry he knew.

Though his mind wandered, his hands worked with the same efficiency, and his face held his routine smile. The patient, whose tooth he had just extracted gave him a lopsided smile, revealing missing anterior tooth. He shuddered.

How do these people eat with so many missing teeth? He realized the right question was, do they even afford to eat everyday? He stared at the calluses on their hand, their sun burnt skin and worn out clothes.

This wasn’t the world he knew.

The gloomy atmosphere was more suffocating than the dingy, cluttered room. Was he in some bizarre, dystopian novel? The people, he knew, would go at lengths just to modify their smile, to enhance their beauty. These were the people who couldn’t afford pain relief, they had no reason, no occasion to smile. If only he could create smiles here!

This was the place where God Himself had forgotten to distribute smiles.

D is for Dentistry; for Dentists who Dedicate their life to solve your dental problems.

Sharing this post with ABC Wednesday

I feel like the earth is made of parallel worlds, half are in the quest of happiness, the other half haven't heard of the word, happiness.

Have you ever visited a place which you felt was completely different from your world? Do let me know your experiences.
Also don't forget to let me know your views on this story.

Check Ofpad, learn Mental Maths Tricks.

Lokmaya Tilak: the man who dared to dream

*Lokmanya Tilak

Swaraj is my birthright, and I shall have it!”- Lokmanya Tilak

Every child in India knows the above sentence and the man who said it. However, when he talked about it Swaraj was considered a hopeless dream, a mission impossible. The British had invested in a lot of propaganda to make Indians believe that British Raj was for their own good and how freedom wasn’t a happy outcome. Many Indian leaders shared the outlook. Bal Gangadhar Tilak was the first leader who not only challenged the idea but believed that freedom was possible.

Most of the leaders of that time preached from the dais but half of them weren’t eager to work along with the people. They considered the Indian people backward in ideas. Tilak was the leader of the masses and earned the title ‘Lokmanya’(acceptable to the people) with his involvement with the people from all strata of society.

A drop of water

Water is the driving force of all nature- Leonardo da Vinci

She was living her dream in a beautiful city and an adorable house, only if it weren’t for water supply shortage.

She stared at the dirty dishes in the sink wishing for the faucet to flow continuously.

She should have dreamed something different like life on the sea―a gorgeous yatch, her hair blowing in the wind, dancing waves.

Her reverie broke when she realised, she couldn’t use that water either.

Life would be just the same, beautiful yet empty.

That which is right

I’ve wondered how people brand each other, either conservative or modern. As I see it, both the terms are illusions. If you are in agreement with the current values, then you are modern. The problem is modern keeps on changing. The values which are modern today might be outdated years later. It must be exhausting to keep up with the latest values. Liberals (today’s modern trend) might blame the conservatives but they aren’t very fast to embrace real progressive ideas either. The real progressive people are remembered in history as ‘the man who was ahead of his time’. The poor guy is thought a weirdo in his times.

Whisperings of the soul

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 47; the forty-seventh edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

 

When you want to understand emotions, you can’t rely on the spoken word. Sometimes, the heart is too full for words. Sometimes, words are not enough. The deep seated feelings seldom find their way towards the lips. They are hidden in the corner of the heart. When they manage to leave the heart, they get stuck in the throat, and at times wander to the eyes.

In this respect, the nature is similar to humans.The nature speaks through the gushing waves, the chirping birds, and the rustling waves, but it is more eloquent when it speaks through silence. The silent sea speaks louder than the turbulent waves. The sun rises, the dewdrops glisten, the stars shine and the flowers dance in silence. Silence is the language in which God speaks, we need silence to get in touch with our souls. It is a language that transcends boundaries. Some things need to be felt not said.

We are busy talking about everything, we seldom find time to listen. When we do listen, we are so wrapped up in ourselves we tend to forget to hear the words left unsaid. The pain, the agony and the hurt are often missed. These depressed emotions which don’t find words, find a way through tears, or sometimes, through the blood let out of a cut wrist.

Silence must be heard. It is an unseen and unheard cord which binds people together. A reassuring pat, a silent smile makes all the difference. An extensive vocabulary may make you knowledgeable, but it is worthless if you don’t have the wisdom to listen to the unsaid words. You might know many languages but your soul knows only two - love and silence. Remember, when the soul talks listen with your heart.

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. Participation Count: 01

Chasing dreams

His whole life was centred on chasing his dreams.

Day & night, he toiled so that everything went just as he had planned.

Finally, he managed to fit all the puzzles in life to get a perfect picture.

There he was, standing in his favourite place basking in the realization of his dream.

For the first time, he saw his dream for what it really was - a nightmare.

A Letter to the Sun

Dearest Sunny,

I know you’ll be surprised (or probably annoyed) when you receive this letter. The truth is I can’t bear to look at you, hence this letter. No, I haven’t done anything stupid, it’s you who is in one of your tempers again.

You are my best friend and you bring warmth and joy in every life you touch, the kind of girl who guides people from darkness to light. But, this is when you are in a generous mood. When you are blazing with fury, there exists no man in this world who can face you. In that mood you transform from a benevolent angel to a holy terror.

The so called box

"Creativity is outside the box," they say.

"Think outside the box," they say.

As a child, I saw the same world and there was no box.

When, and how did the box appear?

 © Kiran Acharya

The curious case of Monday- Part 3

*To understand this story, you need to start from the Part-1 where Monday is hurt by his ridicule and tries to resign as a day of the week.

 

 

The Socialist/ Communist way

The Russian prime minister thought about the Monday problem. He wasn’t suppose to believe in existence of God, but he wanted to be the one to solve the crisis. The solution seemed easy on the face of it, and there was a consensus in the Russian government regarding it’s worth. He decided to talk it over with China.

“We make a law protecting Monday from ridicule. People are bound to obey the laws.”

The Chinese prime minister had the same idea. “The laws are for the good of the people.” He said, “ but I don’t trust that email.”

The Russian Prime minister was restless. “You mean, they sent it?”

The other nodded. “I don’t think God sent it.”

“We could outwit them. We’ll take up Monday’s problem without involving God. Monday is a conscientious worker. Even if it’s a plant, he needs help.”

“We always stand by the working class.”