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.

Freedom

Photograph by Charuhas Acharya

Freedom or Liberty isn’t a light word to be trifled with, long declarations are dedicated to it, wars are fought in its name and now, the state recognizes the right to freedom. The last one used to confuse me as a child. If we are born free then, why does some one confer upon us right to freedom? Then, I started growing up and saw birds in cages, animals in zoos, and humans trapped in their own virtual prisons, I realized how difficult it is to remain free. The poor animals are the victims of being the weaker species but man who is supposed to be intelligent isn’t free either.

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.

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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.

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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.

Dutch lessons

Netherlands vs Mexico match in round of 16, besides being an amazing match also gave some life lessons. Mexico had almost made into quarter finals when there was a dramatic twist in the last few minutes.

This was one of the Fifa matches, I'm glad I did watch. The match gave valuable insights to life.

People watching the match on big screen at Museumplein, Amsterdam

• When the going gets tough the tough get going

   

  The dutch players demonstrated the expression to thrive under pressure. Only three minutes were left and Mexico had almost won. The dutch tried their best in spite of the odds piling against them.
  
  Life also keeps on piling problems at us. If we let the problems affect us, then we start losing hope. We have to remember at such times that victory wouldn't be so much sought if it was very easy. tough times help us prove our mettle, don't let them discourage you.
  
  

•  You can't be sure of the outcome till the end of the game.   

   

  By the end I was going to switch off the television thinking Mexico had qualified. That got me thinking. How many times have I given up trying thinking it's too late?
  
  The game can change course in the last two minutes, never quit trying till after the last second. Most of the times, we quit just before the game was going to turn on our side.

The winners win because they don't breakdown or give up. Remember, winners aren't born, they are made. Every life is a making of a winner, some follow through, some quit.

Get up and follow your dreams, happiness is awaiting you at the next turn.

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.