Travel Diaries – Up & About in Leh-Ladakh

The morning washed all the frustration away and welcomed us to 1 very happy feeling – We were on vacation!!! As I mentioned in my earlier post, the hotel where we were put up – Hotel Chubi – was a very homely hotel. The tea and the breakfast – Omlette and Aloo da Paratha – were really simple to taste and really helped us relax. The only prick in our sides was the annoying caretaker who was very rigid in his approach towards handling customers. “Aap aur khaoge?” was a classic dialogue which made you think as to who is paying the bills around there!

Another fantastic thing about the hotel was the fact that they cultivated most of their vegetables! They had a big garden which housed a number of vegetable plants along with apricot and apple trees! Being a guy from the city, sights like these were something to which I cannot control my excitement! It was a superb experience to witness such things.

The evening when we reached Ladakh, our travel agent over there came around to take our photo ids. These were required for making our permits for Nubra Valley and Pangong Lake. These permits take about a day to be made. So, a travel tip – ensure that you enroll for these and plan for your visit accordingly.

Since it was going to take a day to prepare the permits, we stuck to visiting only some local places during the course of the day. Below is a walkthrough of the same:1

• Thiksey Monastery:

Located on the outskirts of town, the Thiksey Monastery is home to all the Tibetan monks in Ladakh. Its one of the quietest places in the world – a place where even I was quiet! It’s located on top of a hill, so walking on top to the various temples is a real challenge. From the monastery, you have a nice cool view of 2 parts of ladakh – the dry mountainous region and the oasis that is the Ladakhi town! The highlight of this place is the monks who move around effortlessly in their area. They are serious contenders in the sport of parkour. Another highlight is the sheer simple approach towards Buddhism which is portrayed here. I aint a religious guy but I loved the way the people here value peace and silence.

• Indus River bank:

The river bank aka ghat was inaugurated by our then Prime Minister Mr Vajpayee. Its basically a small sightseeing kinda place built on the banks of the river indus as it gains momentum and flows down from the Himalayas. It is also used for performing some rituals. Its was an awesome place to attain inner peace :)

•           Shanti Stupa:

One of the highlights of the day for me! It’s the top most peak of ladakh where a small Buddist monument has been made. Its supposed to be a symbol of peace. All I can say is, it provides another awesome view of the entry valley – a panoramic view! Its simply surreal to be there, a feeling that can only be expressed by actually visiting that place!

•      Kargil Monument & Museum:

Ladakh has a Kargil monument which was laid down to honour those who lost their lives during the Kargil conflict. The monument gives even the most unpatriotic person a feeling of Patriotism. The monument is preceded by a war museum which documents the various strategies undertaken by our military to stamp out the infiltrators. It has a lot of models showing the strategies employed, equipment used in war and for survival, the medals bestowed and the enemy equipment and artifacts confiscated. It definitely increased the respect which I had for the military and changed my outlook towards the entire defence system employed by the country. This is 1 place which I recommend should not be missed whilst in Ladakh.

Speaking of places which we missed – there were 2 places which were missed by us due to time and health constraints:

•      Nubra Valley
•      Pangong Lake

Yea, I know I would be criticized for missing these but there are some issues which you cant really keep aside – one being a health one. As I always say, there is always next time!

To compensate, we explored the ladakhi market and had good at some quite nice places in and around ladakh. The ladakhi market is more or less oriented to support foreign tourists and is loaded with Pashmina silk shops which give shawls, sweaters at phenomenally high prices. The reason for high prices is simple – the valley is closed for 6 months of the year, so all the profit which has to be earned is earned in the remaining 6 months! My friend introduced me to some really nice brass artifacts – one which makes an ‘OM’ sound when you swipe its brim with a wooden rod through resonance. Another nice ones were of candle stands, daggers with decorated hilt etc etc. The Ladakhi market is definitely another place not to be missed!

Our stay in Ladakh was a breeze. 3 nights just went pass by without us knowing about it! Sometimes when I travel through the noisy, frustration generating streets of Mumbai, I really long for the quiet and peaceful bylanes of Ladakh and the inner peace which I could attend by just glazing out from the Shanti Stupa!

Travel Diaries – Sarchu to Leh-Ladakh

Sometimes I really wonder, what would I classify as my more horrific nights? Was it the one when I saw a horror movie for the 1^st time? What it when I was left home alone? Well, the night I spent in Sarchu was definitely one of the horrific ones. Headaches dominated the night with the low temperatures (dropping to -10 degrees) to give it company. The bed was unforgiving as well. Turning ice cold within a blink of an eye! I vaguely remember getting frustrated, getting up in the night and gulping a shot of brandy and trying to go back to sleep. A help note – drinking brandy in such a cold and high altitude environment doesn’t help at all!

But as we all know, the night changes a lot of things. I was woken up by the local caretaker who gave half a bucket of warm water for me and my wife to finish off our morning chores. When asked for more water, we were told that due to shortage of kerosene, they weren’t in a position to warm a lot of it as they had to ration it for the next 2-3days. Of course, no one in their right mind would even think about taking a bath in that weather. Once I freshened up, I was a changed man! Felt upbeat and somehow I had a feeling of triumph as I survived a night which I felt was unlivable.

Unzipping the main entrance of the tent, I felt as if I entered heaven. Snow covered mountain peaks seen up close and then greeted by the Gods with white flakes of clouds showering down on you – I experienced my very 1^st snow fall. It was simply amazing!! Never really imagined that I would experience such a feeling at such an unlikely place!

Rest of the gang weren’t as high spirited as I was. The snow fall continued and intensified as time progressed. Our drivers urged us to get started on the road as soon as possible.  

After having some really god sent breakfast (omlette and bread with warm warm tea), we jumped into our cars and decided to head off to the Leh-Ladakh, our final destination in a race against nature!

The 1^st couple of hours were pretty smooth considering the journey experienced till now. The route was pretty beautiful – rocky path covered in snow with a single trail which would indicate the route to be taken! We were approaching the 2^nd highest motorable roadway in the world – Tanglang La Pass!!

But before we reached there, we had a scary moment! At around 15000 feet, as we were approaching a turn, we heard a soft little sound of the tyre giving away! As we stopped and inspected the puncture, we noticed another thing – the 2^nd car which had been driving in front of us had disappeared and now was nowhere in sight!

Life at 15K feet is tough…so imagine changing a tyre at that height…especially when your Toyota Innova is jam packed with luggage, it’s snowing and you realize that the tiny jack which is supposed to elevate a car filled with 4 individuals isn’t working due to the rough terrain it has to rest on!! Panic set into my friend and then into me. However, looking at the positives, we thought – it’s the middle of the day, this is an open road – someone is bound to come through this route and help us! And help we did get!! A fellow travelling Sumo approached, lent its jack to us which helped us to change our tyre and get the hell out of there before we all froze to death!

As we resumed our journey, we saw a familiar sight – our 2^nd car who realized that we aren’t behind was coming back for us!

From here on it, in typical filmi style, the weather started clearing, snowing stopped, we dropped down to a modest altitude - 11 thousand feet – and for the 1^st time in 2 days, we started enjoying the drive! Moods started getting better and excitement started reaching the high point at which it was when we boarded the Rajdhani from Mumbai! The road translated from a cold snowy one to a more dry mountainous one! However, we noticed that the air wasn’t as dry and hot as the surrounding was! We had our final pitstop in Pang before heading off to the beautiful place that is Leh Ladakh!

The area is quite a secure area. On the outskirts of ladakh, we halted for some refreshments. The drivers took the opportunity to clean the car. It is here where I had my very 1^st Kashmir tea – kava!! In the words of the planner, it was Jannat for me!

We had to cross 3 check posts before we could enter Ladakh. Once in, we were told that in Ladakh, outside vehicles cannot be used and only local transportation needs to be availed off. This is to ensure that locals make some money off you. The drive from the check post to the actual ladakh town was around 50 kms and we had to pass through some military camps - More on the military establishments later on. One more thing – in ladakh only Airtel network is the one which can be used. Prepaid numbers do not work and the post paid numbers get network as we get water in Mumbai – only 3 to 4 hours in a day. Fortunately, we had a couple of airtel guys – so 1^st thing we did was to contact our parents. We weren’t in contact with them for over 2 days now!

Finally, cruising now towards ladakh, we finally entered the ladakh town and started searching for our hotel – google really disappointed here! We might have crossed our hotel – Hotel Chubi – a couple of times before we finally arrived at it. The hotel was a modest one but it had a homely feeling. The owners had lend their house as a hotel. They interacted with the guests, provided them with a home like feeling – apart from the annoying head caretaker – helped us enjoy our ladakhi experience.

We quickly checked in, went up to our rooms, kept our bags and finally soaked in the feeling of being on a vacation!

Travel Diaries – Manali to Sarchu

It is said that in a race between human and nature, nature always triumphs. In our case, we got a 1st hand experience of this saying.

It was never in our plan to stay in Manali. But after the mayhem, the trip from Delhi to Manali caused, we thought it would be wise to have a pitstop here. Our original plan was and should have been to reach Manali around afternoon and then head over to Keylong by late evening. In a perfect scenario, this was a perfect plan.

But we improvised and stayed over at Manali owing to the cloud burst. Late evening in Manali, we came to know that the road to Leh which begins with Rohtang Pass was now deemed ok to be travelled on. We also came to know that the transport trucks would be given a nod next morning (which was our morning) at 6 am to use that road.

After settling the bills, getting some breakfast packed, we left Manali at 530 am exactly all thanks to our 

driver who came in late. Once we hit the road, it was a beautiful picturesque journey right uptill the beginning of the pass. We had heard stories about the pass’s beautiful view of the valley, but clearly someone left out the journey of the pass itself.

We were greeted by ankle high soft mud which ensured that our cars swayed like rally cars as we tried going up the mountain. It’s a 2 lane road (1 for incoming and 1 for outgoing) but when your cars slide like that, even 2 lanes aren’t enough. If that wasn’t going to cause panic, imagine this, getting your car stuck in mud at 8000 feet! So, we had to step out and push the car out of the ditch and hope that it doesn’t get stuck some place else!

This entire transit continued for around 4 hours. At one point, we were part of a traffic jam resulting becoz one of the cars ahead of us got stuck and at the same time, its tire was punctured! So, there we are, at 8000 feet, behind a battery of trucks and SUVs while people are trying desperately to help out the poor car driver! One fellow traveler almost lost his senses when he saw the driver of a fuel tanker lit a burner next to the driver seat just so that he can make tea!

After a successful tire change which saw done despite some really ingenious thought process of changing tires (I meant it sarcastically), the traffic moved again. But as fate would have it, the same ditch caught its next victim – Us :(

The thing about such routes is that once you are able to accelerate, you shouldn’t stop otherwise you risk getting stuck again. So, we had to leave our car and push it out of safety.  Not only that, once the car got out of the ditch, painting my face with mud in the process, the driver told us that he wont stop. All we had to do was to jog at 8000 feet climbing a slope!

If that wasn’t enough, after slowly panting our way upto the car, the driver informed us about another fun trivia – “rocks are sliding ahead, you would have to get out of the car and walk some more distance”. So, grabbing my wife’s hand, cautiously we made our way through fallen rocks to the other side!

The entire frustration of the trip till now melted quickly as we reached the top of the Pass. It was simply beautiful. Just as I had expected – mountains looked as a milk chocolate cake with some white icing on top, an icing which I could touch and throw around. The pushing of the car, the mud on the face was forgotten and forgiven. We moved on from that to some snow, some fire to warm ourselves and MAGGI! :)

After having some fun at the pitstop, we began our descend which was nothing like the things which we saw during our way up! It was spectacular. I can never have words enough to describe the beautiful snow mountains. It was clearly nature at its finest!

Admiring the beauty, we made our way to Keylong where we were greeted by another troubling news. Due to the heavy rains, the small rivers in the area had flooded. More specifically, a ‘nala’ called ‘pagal nala’ had taken its name to heart. It had really gone mad and had flooded the road which connected Keylong to Sarchu. The only way around it was a single lane road through an adjoining village. Further to intrigue our endurance trip, we had all sorts of electric poles and wires blocking our way. To add to that, we had traffic coming from the other side – imagine managing 2 cars side by side on a road meant for only 1!

Finally, we made our way across and reached a petrol pump which had a sign board which read – “Next petrol pump 365 Kms away in Leh Ladakh”. Although some people would find it scary to see something like this, it is really intriguing for me personally,

The road from Keylong to Sarchu passes through a military controlled area (its termed as NH21) and is considered to be relatively safe. However, due to all the experiences of the day, a new enemy surfaced for us – time! We had around 2 hours to cross over from Keylong to Sarchu before night fall. To make matters more complex, we had 2 fellow travelers suffering from nausea and trouble adapting to drop in oxygen levels and another small fact of an impending snow fall.

The 2 hour drive was the most tensed one. Although the passage was extremely beautiful, I personally wasn’t able to enjoy it. I never experienced snow fall before and as it started to shower flakes of snow, I wasn’t able to enjoy it. During these 2 hours, barring a couple of stops due to health issues, we drove at a consistent pace and finally reached 13000 feet camp!

The cold was unreal – something none of us had ever experienced. Enroute to our pitstop for the night, the drivers stopped to drink tea at a shop which also sold warm bed covers. Seeing the opportunity at hand, one of my friend got out of the car, and jumped into the 1^st bed cover he could see and covered himself up and began walking around in it!! Of course, he didn’t buy it J

Finally, we reached the base camp. To be honest, I don’t really recall anything that happened that evening. I, myself, had a splitting headache and only had blur memories of our car getting stuck in the parking area of the camp, me getting out and asking someone as to which tents are booked for us, opening one of the tents, and then falling on one of the beds. The final thing that I do remember correctly was the intense chill my body experienced on heading the bed – it was as if I fell onto a block of ice, covered in cloth!

Travel Diaries – Delhi to Manali

                The funny thing about a plan is the most obvious fact – they never succeed. So, if for a second, you feel that the plan lined up by our planner was 100% success, well then I bet the planner would give you a big treat for sure….I am still waiting for mine btw J

So, all was set. Tickets, receipts, clothes, phone numbers, meds, lots of good luck & advice – we collected just about everything! The only thing which we missed out was some good fortune. Anyways, let me tell you another fun fact – the way you begin a trip sets the tone for the rest, so what I will now do is lay down the facts in terms of how we began the trip!

Friday evening 16:40 was the time when our Mumbai Rajdhani departed. As we were advised, we knew that the train kicks off at precisely that time so we knew what time to reach. As usual, typical IT attitude led us to work for half a day – atleast I did. By the time, I winded up, it was – OMG – 1 pm! Just as Rajnikanth’s Robot, I was quick to finish bath, food, packing, hiring taxi and then finally stuffing 2 big bags and 2 backpacks in it! The time was 245 pm! As luck would have it, traffic jam allowed us to reach the station precisely at the time when the train docked. After settling down,  we noticed one simple fact – the planner himself isn’t in the train.

Now the planner is a delhi guy whose claim to fame is the fact that he knows delhi in and out. But we cant say the same about Mumbai. Poor dude had to carry a hefty bag along with him in a taxi which he ditched at Mahalaxmi and took a local all the way to BCT! He stepped into the train just 5 mins before it departed!

Mumbai Rajdhani is one of the elite train services in the country. They treat you like loyalty. The servers actually smile while serving! Unreal aint it? I was thoroughly enjoying the experience. There wasn’t a moment during that entire journey (while I was awake) where they weren’t bringing something to eat. Welcome drink, tea, biscuits, sandwich, soup, meal, sweet, you name it and they gave it – only once!

True to time, the train pulled up at the grand New Delhi terminus. Nothing grand about it, apart from the fact that it was the train station located at the heart of our capital. After the usual train station taxi negotiations, we left for our planner’s house.

Going to a typical Delhi house is always a treat. Big houses with terrance, no big high rise buildings, peaceful surroundings, the works! To top it all off, the food and the welcome gestures, those small aspects which really make a difference. The hospitality shown by the planner’s relatives was supreme and really set the tone for the day. Felt kinda nice and warm about being in Delhi and enjoying company of nice friends and family. In the words of the planner – it was Jannat!

Then came the evening – time to board the bus to Manali! We quickly but reluctantly bid our farewells to the planner’s relatives and hopped onto a concept which for a Delhite, is a point of show off – the delhi metro!

An expansive setup running through the heart of delhi, the metro has been modeled onto 

the London tube system. The start atleast seems nice with the condition of the trains being fine and the trains being on time. However, in my opinion, the concept fails at the most common issue in India – human traffic!

Reaching the bus stop, it came to light that due to 15^th August preparations, Janpath road is closed and the buses would leave from another location. So in the words of Delhi belly, we grooved to the song “Bhag bhag D K Bose” and did what D K Bose would have done – we ran to the departure spot. The bus company, Swagatam Travels, was one of the buses in the entire bus cartel that operates the Delhi Manali bus route. Their motto – take the money, care less about the customer. The bus departed at the right time – around 530 pm with a scheduled arrival time of 8 am in Manali. Just before we reached the bus, we came to know that there was a cloud burst in Manali resulting in heavy rains for 24 straight hours which further caused our route to Leh being blocked. That news was like cat amongst the pigeon stuff!

Anyways, the bus ride could have been interesting if it wasn’t for the Delhi traffic and the bus operator putting on Tees Maar Khan. After having a ok dinner, we slept only partially through the night. At around 4 am in the morning, the bus stopped approx 150 KMs from Manali, conveniently in front of a Dhaba citing the fact that the main bridge connecting Delhi and Manali has caved. So now, the Volvo bus cant go. There was a route through the village (Sundernagar) which could be taken but Volvo buses cant go through that route. While the operator was explaining this situation, we could see the State Transport buses wizzing past us. It was clear that the operator – who slept the night sleeping in the bus luggage compartment – was not going to inch ahead to Manali. So, we took matters into our own hand. With a lot of negotiations which went on, we finally got the bus operator to drop us approx 6 kms near a state transport bus station where we can hope of finding a bus or a taxi. The taxi rates touched the skies but we still managed to hook up a cab for approx 5K for 9 people. Dumping all our luggage, 9 of us sat in a Tavera and left for Manali – through the village.

The cool thing about the village is that it is not made for cars and trucks. So you can imagine what would happen when you stuff a whole bunch of vehicles travelling in both directions. I know what happened – a road block for 5 hours and a word which is very much common in India – Chaos! Finally, we had to step out and regulate the traffic and get our car and our asses out of there.

Finally, we could now enjoy the beauty that is the route to Manali. However, that didn’t last long. Another 2 hour halt – this time due to a landslide. To be honest, we were saved by 5 mins! The landslide helped us take in the beautiful place that is the route to Manali (didn’t I say that already?). A super fast river, greenery everywhere, water fall just a few meters away from our car, the fear of landslide happening again – you cant put a price on all this!

Finally the landslide cleared and fortunately, we were the ones who were the 1^st to move! Yey!!

The journey then on was a treat to watch! Awesome river views, dams, driving alongside a valley and moving under a mountain. One of the highlights was – driving through a tunnel in a mountain for approx 3.6 KMs! The drive towards Manali is normal weather is a real treat and for us, specially in the weather we went in was extra special to experience!

After discussing with the tour operator, we shifted our pitstop – from Keylong to Manali for the night! Finally after nearly 25 hours in a car, we reached our hotel, nice little place on top of a hill! Never really saw apples growing on a tree – this was my moment and I was loving every bit of it! After a quick stroll through the market, we came back, had food, some liquid courage and then off to bed, not quite knowing what nature had instore for us the next day – and boy! Nature was all in the mood for surprises!

Travel Diaries – The Leh PrepWork

                There are times when you look back and wonder, “Hell this should have been done that way”. Its always the retrospect which really helps you in enjoying what you have achieved or in other words, what you went through. The retrospect really helps you appreciate and value the experience like how a new born appreciates the world around.

My Leh-Ladakh trip was such an experience. If you prepare a ‘To-Do’ checklist of things which you should have covered in a trip spanning 10 days, then I would come out with a score of 30/100 i.e., I can say that I got 30% worth fun put into the entire trip. In reality, that is not the case. The trip was an exhilarating experience which I would remember for the rest of my life – not becoz of the negative things that did happen..but simply becoz of all the positive things that did happen.

So the trip was a brain child of a single individual. That person actually wanted to do this trip on a bike. The thought of cruising around the country/mountain side on a bullet or Harley sounded unreal. But the support of family members beckoned and the trip became a road trip instead wherein we would hire some cars, buy some train/bus tickets, book some decent hotels and embark on a thrill ride!

The travel planning took only 10 days. After identifying the longest weekend possible, we did booking of train tickets – Mumbai Rajdhani – approx 2 months in advance. To our luck, we were put on waiting list. To complicate matters, bookings were randomly done (2-3 tickets at once). So, the final ticket was at waiting list number 34 – a number which we thought would clear – it did but not without its own sense of twists and turns.

Now comes the difficult part. For starters, there were 14 of us – including a couple who had joined us after chucking their own plan. 14 people, 14 brains, 14 panic buttons, 14 ideas – 1 planner. The planner actually did a lot of research for this trip. Signed up on multiple forums, talked to god knows how many travel companies and finally was able to deliver a perfect package – all thanks to the Intersight Holidays Pvt Ltd.

Originally, we had decided to go from Delhi towards Leh Ladakh via Manali and back. However, due to some really awesome suggestions, we decided to circle the valley and come back via Srinagar. Everyone agreed and the planner started attacking the flight operators for the best available fares. Finally, we got it – Kingfisher Airlines, 4 Star Hotels in the sky – group booking carried at an appreciable cost. Immediately, day dreaming of some folks started - “I will enjoy the road trip and while coming back, will enjoy the inflight hospitalities” – something which wasn’t disappointing at all.

The travel agency managed to give us some really good deals in terms of accommodations and car hires. It turns out that all this planning, we forgot to take in 1 important factor into account – The Cost – The big ‘C’. The cost inflated to around 25K of only travel and living – no personal expenses included. Further to add to the woes was the fact that if anyone pulls out, the cost goes up and it so happens, we have 5 pull outs increasing the cost further!

After a lot of adjustments, we were able to maintain our costs at 27K (give and take 2K here and there). The plan was set – 9 men and women out to conquer the most gruesome journey undertaken – Leh Ladakh, Kargil & Srinagar.

So, we were all fine in the 2 months leading upto the trip, where suddenly panic set in – Waiting list tickets are now only RAC. Further to add to the complications, someone brought in news that RACs aren’t confirmed tickets as far as Rajdhani is concerned! Turmoil struck. Everyone started looking at flight options – the cost barometer was heading due north! Giving him company was sheer frustration! Finally, time took over and calmed us all down and slowly but surely, the tickets trickled over the confirmation line!

A travel like this always is demanding on the body. God knows how many people would have given me advice of what to do and what not to do. Some even went as far as getting me numbers of hospitals and police officials rather than contact numbers of some fancy tourist place! For a moment, it was as if we were heading into a war zone. On top of that, were the numerous advices – don’t talk to army men, don’t use your mobile phone, don’t say holla to the monks! The advices just kept on coming! What you have to do is clear your head – you know your body more than anyone else. Take all the usual meds that you normally need. In addition to that, take Diamox (after proper consultation with your doctor) along with Avomine. In addition, if you have a case of the vertigo, take appropriate meds to suit your needs.

In terms of clothing, buy a good thick jacket, you wont be needing it in Leh Ladakh, but you would need it in your journey between Manali and Leh. Carry warm long sleeve clothes – lots of it.

By now, you must be thinking “Is this guy going to make a documentary out of this trip? Where is the fun!!” Well prepwork is always the boring stuff which no one wants to do but everyone wants to know. Trust me guys and gals, the fun stuff is almost there – right from the beginning of the trip. But that’s for another time. 

Stray Thoughts

This is the 1^st line I have written after early February this year. The last article I wrote was a valentine day special. Well time has clearly flown by and with time, so has my motivation to write something.  Now, all I have bottled inside me are random thoughts, mixed thoughts, brief thoughts about everyday things or every mundane thing which we are confronted with in our regular life.

So I decided to collate all these stray thoughts and compile something which just reflects my views on all that is social.

Life is a mess which needs cleaning. Very seldom you identify a lifestyle which is clean as a whistle. Everyone has problems. These problems are the basic motivating or demotivating factors. These causes an individual to take steps which might not be right in others view point but spot on correct in the person’s point of view. This is the basic foundation of good and bad activities. A person taking a bribe is a classic example. For us, its taboo! Why? Becoz we haven’t taken a bribe as yet, becoz society condones it. It is something of an ethical thing or a value based attribute which enables us to decide that what we would undertake is wrong. What we fail to acknowledge the situation under which the person might be pushed to take money for some work. We do understand it but never acknowledge it. The money taking might be due becoz of a not to do well background from which the individual comes. It might also be a compulsion imposed by others. For example, if a traffic cop doesn’t take bribes to do work, people would go to him and others wont be entertained. Yes, wrongdoings can also be compulsion in these scenarios.

Common Wealth Games came and went. The event in itself was breathtaking and awesomely conducted. However, the pre and post activities would always be remembered. What should we attribute this to? Greed? Or just the reason I mentioned above? There is always a motive. Yes, we made jokes and did we get any accountability from these people? The media also just moved on from this piece of news as it wasn’t “happening” enough. People and friends I know also moved on saying “This will toh happen…becoz this is India”. These are the people who look at things with a bias in mind.

The metro is a classic example. Yes it is a step in development of Mumbai. But tell me 1 thing, should we do development for the heck of it? Should be develop one area of our infrastructure and damage the other? These are questions which people fail to understand. Yes metro has long term benefits but those benefits are getting cancelled out by the vehicular traffic the rails would create once operational. Bottom line is that this project was pushed for money making purpose NOT for development as it is projected. Development is a by-product not the chief one. The route which was taken up would make life easy for people. But it would ruin the road development which has been done. Furthermore, ownership would be a key thing here. We, Indian like to wash our hands off things which are ambiguous in nature. Metro developers would build their rails by breaking the concrete road. Once they are done, then they would just move away from the breakage citing that the road development authority should handle it. The Road development authority will then say its your mess clean it up…the media would have field day of pointing to the mess but not doing anything and the common man would learn to drive/walk around it and then mention it to his/her friends saying “Is desh ka kuch nahi ho sakta”.

Please don’t mistake the above words as means of me complaining. I, as media is doing, am just pointing out the flaws. What I am willing to do is come forward and do something about it. But when I look behind, what do I see, nothing. No one to support.

Meter Jam was another awesome initiative. Even I had thought about it but didn’t think it would ever be initiated. Meter Jam did happen. There was only 1 problem. They didn’t take into account the Mumbaikar’s “chalta hai” attitude. The masses (college folks and IT professionals) did try and support the initiative. People I know boycotted rickshaw. Even I said an up-front NO to the auto walas. But the issue was that there were few areas or rather sections of society who weren’t informed or choose to be ignorant of the initiative. They took the rickshaws out of dependency or out of plain opportunistic attitude. “What’s it in for me?” “How this would hamper me today”. These are typical questions which they asked. I won’t consider this as a self centered attitude but more to do with what Mumbai is. It lives in the present, works in the present and plans for the present. It doesn’t think about the past or the future. Not even doing the times of the train blast or the infamous 26/11 attacks. This attitude costs us dearly. This attitude makes us lose out our unity and that is how others take advantage of this. The rickshaw unions celebrated as the Meter Jam folks were embarrassed by the people of Mumbai. However, what they do forget is what goes around comes around. Let’s hope that this attitude doesn’t spurge up when Rickshaw union need public backing to be in business (yes the day would come).

Speaking of Mumbai’s attitude, every step of the way since the 1960s, it has been taken advantage of. That’s till what I can recall. This divide and rule culture has been adopted by all major political parties with a view to make a mark on the country’s financial and commercial capital. This culture involves instigation, provocation and downright ugly protests all in the name of a common man’s struggle. Tell me one thing, when a common man is staying in his house on a hot summer afternoon with 5 hours of load shedding or when he scraps through the day with minimalistic water intake, is there any noise made? If noise is indeed being made then why is the common man still affected with the basic aspects of life? Why is importance given to protests on a movie which calls Mumbai Bombay? Based on my understanding of this subject, Mumbai is better off as Bombay. Atleast it doesn’t have a selfish ring to it. Bombay looks more welcoming and more open towards success. But I am the last one who would just be intimidated by the name. There was a campaign, spanning 5 years, just to change names of institutes and important landmarks. Why wasn’t such an effort spent on improving education or maintaining the landmarks which we so dearly love! As a matter of fact, where were these voices when Mumbai was siege on 26/11 or 11/7? I tell you where these voices would have been. These voices would have been plotting their next move to leverage the predicament of the common man.  However, at the end of it all, we always commit the 1 basic mistake, we vote these degenerates back into power.

We are progressing towards success and development. But still I see a lot of wastage in terms of processes and in terms of personnel. Why the hell does one have to undergo N number of form filling just to get his own marksheet? The answer partly to this question is the fraudental nature of this country. This again is attributed to what we began this discussion with (remember the bribery aspect). This country lacks trust. People don’t trust each other, the system and they don’t trust the fact that this country has the capability to deliver. This is seen in all aspects. The level of bargaining which goes on in buying vegetables, the hesitancy in purchasing something online, reluctance of giving someone loan, the list is endless but the source is only 1 word – Trust. Further, I would say that we trust the wrong things in life. We trust the degenerates and vote them in power. We trust that people around us are going to dupe us. This has led to an atmosphere where only distrust has prevailed. Some factions of society have known this all their lives and have been milking it to their advantage.

Trust is an integral part of any nation. It is in full force in the USA. I would say they trust each other too much, hence the recession. There needs to be a balance. Sadly to achieve such a balance, one needs to be in a world where there are no misdeeds. This thought does bring out a chuckle in me. But it is the truth. As of now, as I type this line, I wonder how much balance the forces of good and bad bring into the truth equation. This complicates and to some extent contradicts matters now. Let me sum it up for debating:

Distrust arises due to people engaging in wrong doings. Now, to have a trustful environment, trust needs to prevail. If trust prevails, wrong doings won’t. If wrong doings don’t then there won’t be any different viewpoints and if there are no separate viewpoints, development of a country would get adversely impacted. Putting it in an equation we get:

Development = (Good – Bad) + (Trust – Distrust)

How on earth would this balance out now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

System Fault

What is a system? A system is defined as a network of interrelated components which have been assembled in order to achieve a common goal/objective. A system basically is set up in order to fulfill that objective and the various components required for attaining the same in a smooth fashion.

An individual’s daily routine can be seen as a journey through various systems. He/she is constantly moving from one system to another in order to get through the day. The system can be self installed or can be a 3rd party process which he/she has to undergo. In other words, we can say that an individual’s routine is achieved through a network of interconnected (NOT interrelated always) systems! Thus this network of systems can be referred to as a Super System! Needless to say that a person’s routine is enriched or harmed based on how this super system works. Expanding the statement, I can say that the quality of the routine depends upon and is restricted by the quality of the each and every individual system he/she transits through.

Now that it is established that all systems impact an individual through their routine, we can have a closer look at the systems themselves. Let’s consider the systems introduced in the country. If the government or whoever it is that wants to help or enrich the life of its citizen would be designing a system to do exactly that. It is very rare to find a system which doesn’t want to assist the individual. Even the legal system provides a way for the guilty suspect to be given a chance. So, basically system is initiated to help! If it helps individuals, it increases satisfaction level which in turns helps them to trust the system. But what if this system turns for the worst? What if the very guidelines or rules which help establish the system lead to more dissatisfaction than trust? Would the individual be right in his place to go ahead and fight it? Ideally yes, he has the right and the power to do the same. But I am bit skeptical if that is possible in a country like ours.

Let me give you an example of the way the Police authorities have established a system. Suppose my bank account is hacked and someone transfers all the money into his own account and goes ahead and withdraws the same from an ATM. This would be a police complain for which I would need to go to a Police station. This should be a simple thing right? However, it is there that I find out that I need to go to multiple places just to get my complaint registered!!! The rules of the system become so conflicting that the Police think of rule 1 and tell me “You need to go to the Police station which is closest to the branch office where you have an account”. When I argue that the transfer was done online and the money was transfer to an account which is in a branch closer to this police station, reply based on rule 2 and 3 says “You need to go to Cyber crime cell as this is an online case”. What this system lacks is accountability and flexibility. This system forgets or ignores the state of mind the people coming have. If they are truly there to help the people then they should not make them run around from point A to B. Instead they should have an internal mechanism which enables them to register a complaint with Cyber Crime branch and also the various other places where this has relevance. How can this be achieved? One answer can be infrastructure. Development of this infrastructure is also system in itself!!! This can establish how 1 system affects another one!

When you face a system which lacks accountability and flexibility, you should have the right (as the basic and primary inputs to the system) to call for a change. However, is it really that simple? Yes it can be, if this request for change is taken in the right spirit. Most of the time, such a request is taken as a threat to the system. Changes involve drawing people out of their comfort zone. This is the simple concept of resistance to change. This resistance becomes prominent which the person doing it has power. In a country like India, system corruption is a common thing. It is a naturally accepted fact. Thus when you try to change the way of functioning of powerful but corrupt people, you rattle the cages which in turn brings about consequences. Now, in a country like India, it is needless to say that people are scared and afraid to fight the system becoz of 3 basic points… (a) No one wants to get their hands dirty; (b) they have dependants which might also land up in problems (c) They just don’t have any time!!

Yes, the natural argument is that “no system is perfect” and “how simple people can bring about a change”. Perfectly valid questions, however, they are not practical enough to be asked and answered. The point is that since the system is so corrupt and dirty, it doesn’t need tuning, it needs an overhaul. A brand new system introduced by new set of individuals is the way to go. This might sound a bit radical but this is the only way one can guarantee that the system becomes corruption-free. But then such a system cannot be perfect from the onset. But there is a surety that such a corruption free system can be made perfect through the concept of evolution. Clean systems would tend to have accountability and flexibility which would in turn increase trust and faith in them. This would further give impetus to improvement and development of the system and also increase the satisfaction levels of the people who are the primary reason these systems are in place - We the People!