imPRESSIONS..............

The Hindu : States / Other States : Jarawa footage: Andaman administration to serve notice to TV channels

2012-01-11T03:46:00.000-08:00

The Hindu : States / Other States : Jarawa footage: Andaman administration to serve notice to TV channels

from me and my diaries of sanjeev reddy ck

2011-12-22T05:37:00.001-08:00

'As a child I was tough to handle..parents, teachers, neighbours and friends..everybody had problems with me..had countless complaints against me..

school for me was not boring but sitting inside a classroom was horror..

my school was in the fields..open wells to swim all day.. buffaloes and cattle to rare..paddy pools to play with mud..mango trees to climb..

was not allowed to write my half yearly exam in 5th standard for short of attendance...hardly attended the second half..after several requests from my appa and intense lobbying by favourite teacher Rajanagendra mestru i gottu write the final exam...

to this day m surprised how I managed to top in 5th standard..

now I understand perhaps, it would take not more dan a month to digest all dat is der in the pulpy books and vomit on the final papers..

schooling was funny....

but I enjoyed it all the way....'

101MSDCF

2010-12-05T01:00:00.000-08:00

Girls are Complex

2010-11-22T06:29:00.000-08:00

She has a doubt
Often puts him in trouble, forcing him to clarify
Poor guy
He didn't know girls are complex.
Infact a friend of him inquired to help him out
What the doubt was all about
Nothing
Simplest of the simplest
"Honey I love YOU......
But why is that Jack, Raj, Kittu and Manu come into my wild dreams....
Every night I swear on you, every night"
His friend was bowled before he could lend a helping hand
And found his way out of the coffee hut!
What an istant coffee shot....!

Monalisa, Her Ancestral Rags and a Paradox

2010-09-06T04:29:00.000-07:00

Generations perished
Generations came along
This one they say still will go on.

Mystery behind the rosy lips of Monalisa
Is it Davinci's paradox
Is it my mediocrity
Is it my untamed artist in me,
She tends to be the same under all clouds
Every time witness I the same smile.

Oh! where is the mystery and what is the mystery
Tell me could anyone around
How is it different
Different from this angle to that angle?

I am ignorant
Layman laid all his brains flattened
Under the million dubious feet of the errant critics.

I opine what I am taught to read
Beneath the mixture of colours brushed over the contracted canvas
What sense does it put through to debate on
What emotions and moods flutter through thee,
She tends to be the same under all clouds
Every time witness I the same smile.

Is it
Because it is The Davinci
The creator from the summit of creativity
A mystery sustains.

Lest,
There stands in her ancestral rags
Clinging on to her dusty dark skin
Inartistically designed
Yet fashionably presented for the besieged ramp,
A trillion dollar mysterious smile
behind the rosy lips of that anonymity,
Is the fun of riches
Is the gift of our democratic lineage.
She stands still
Beaten by the deceived unfaithful dreams
Beaten by the ungrateful blessings of Gods and Goddesses,
Still with a smile
A mysterious but not one on the contracted canvas.

Yes. A paradox
One on the centuries old contracted canvas
Other on the unknown amongst you and me in the mass.

My mother, your sister, her niece
She stands there
Gazing into the tunnel of vividness
Blinded for a while for centuries for hope
Sucked to the last drops of her restless veins
stretched her arms both
Still soothing
With a mysterious smile.
Woman thy name is not news to me
I am helpless
What a monster and an impotent I am
I am born to you
Why then I still say
I am what I am.

I am, he is, we are and they are
Flocks, flocks, flocks
One, two, three and hundred and one.

Journey doesn't adjourn out of persperation
From this end to that end
From canvas to one in the mass.

When would we break the jinx
Let ourselves boot the paradox of smiles,
Monalisa open herself up
Say then,
Enough is enough
Put me down on the floor
I am tired all these days hung on to the wall.

Davinci would run away
Having blurred her rosy lips locked up
In a mystery for all these days.

A paraodx lost.
A smile lost.
A thousand generations lost.

My untired mother
I am a while tired
Could you take me in your arms
Lay me on your laps
Let me take the last nap
Miles to go before dear,
Hug me hard I have a meeting in the Hell
Bless me I come back alive
With
Monalisa
Davinci
And a mysterious smile,
And a palanquin on the shoulders of His messengers.

In His presence
The judgemnt of the smiles
The judgement of her ancestral rags.

Language of Breaths in a Vacuum of Harmony (An Ode to Gauri)

2010-08-28T03:37:00.000-07:00

Splashes of cupid’s light shades
Green, blue, yellow, red, white and many more
Brushed in woven hearts.

Early murky morning with the entry of dancing beams
Early monsoonal drizzling
As lilies, roses, jasmines, gulmohars
Swinging along the garden alley
Kept humming in an usual gaiety.

Drenched in her creamy shirt and denim blue jeans
Her glowing disposition beating the beauty of Venus…
Gauri’s late but barging entry into the classroom
Followed with her the waves of magical gravity.

While eyes touched eyes
Simple mathematics
Simplest chemical reaction
Dreams catapulted through the backstage musical chores.

Her jerky smile
Her spiky breezing hair
Her nimble forefingers
Her mesmerizing elegance…
A 360* perfection perfectly spread over the canvas.

Maiden sight
Maiden love.
Attraction caved into infatuation
A bountiful harvest of unseasoned illusions.

Maiden sight
Maiden love.
Those bygone days
Acute shortage of selfness nudged me and broke me often.
So less did I open up
So less did I dared to,
Amidst a crowd of Yankee accent tongues
Amidst a crowd of thick leather valets
Amidst a crowd of young intellectual freaks..

Where exactly did I fit in?
None!
So was I an odd one out_
May be an odd one out but hope still being with.

Attraction prevailed infatuation grew
And I grew too
None to someone
Someone to one
One to one of them
One of them to near one
Near one to dear one.

Infatuation prevailed liking grew
Gauri was into unscheduled dreams
An additional course to live with.
Autumn shed its leaves and rolled back
So did the sequence of seasons followed
Chilling, budding, scorching over the calendars.

Coffee in canteen
Once in a while walks on the busy campus
Moments sometime spent on the historical stone benches
An occasional ride together on her TVS Luna.

Like any other collegiate
I would do the sleep talk
‘I would die for her a million times’
Why didn’t I in those eight semesters of prime life
Ever did I open my heart and just say
‘My dear, I think I am in love with you and I mean it’
Why did I let my maiden love
Into the barren lands of solitude.

With all the purity
With all the courage
With all the humbleness

At last
True being to what I would wish to
‘My dear, I think I am in love with you and I mean it’
Over the phone on one fine day I think I spoke…..
Language of breaths in a vacuum of harmony
I smiled to myself
With my heart leapt into the skies of limitlessness,
‘I would marry if I could!’

Angels are angels
To this day still I carry my love close to my chest crystal clear
At peace and in tranquility.

'What if she hadn’t lost her last breath the sweetest breath!’
So early
So early to the lovely last lost call.

I love you
Still
My little cutie pie…

WHERE ARE THE VILAGEWALLAS IN INDIA TRAVELLING TO THESE DAYS? (Fortune the Bottom of the Pyramid in Travel Businesses in India)

2010-08-25T06:09:00.000-07:00

"I recall my grandma, amma, appa, brothers, sisters and neighbors sitting in bullock carts four or five in a row depending upon the crowd, talking the mud roads to the nearest places of worship widely known and visited by the villagers and the neighborhood but less known and hardly visited by the outside world. Not far into the Indian rural history am I taking about but just a 20-25 years ago. Most of the temple complexes in around my village at a reach of 20-30km had their unique congregations seasonally which attracted thousands of villagers", says Mr. Jitu Bhai sitting in panshop at Kharedi, a small village in the eastern part of Panchamahals in Dahos district of Gujarat. People in villages like Kharedi thousands of them spread across the country used to travel mostly in bullock carts and some of the rich in tractors to fairs and festivals without missing most of the year. That invariably used to be the travelling experience which the villagers started with and majority of the older generation actually ended with.

A number pedagogs in the industry opine that most of the rural population in India has actually not travelled beyond their district or neighboring districts. Venkat Ram Reddy who works for India Railways in Pune gets emotional in expressing his part of story, "I recall the excitement my parents had for the first time travelling to Tirupati a pilgrimage destination many of them would dream those days to go. A dream my mom realized after thirty seven years." They were fortunate to have that slice of spiritual accessibility realized but the story with most of their generation remained unrealized for many more years.

Travelling their own country in India was a dream unreachable/unrealistic for too a recent times. How unimaginable it looks for the globalised world where we talk about ‘global village’, ‘squeezed world’ etc. It is indeed the responsibility of the stakeholders in the industry to enable these village folks to see the world outside they are confined to.

‘Fortune the Bottom of the Pyramid’ as envisaged by late professor C K Prahlad should show way out for the entrepreneurs and the businesses to look towards this unventured market so far. Before we analyze the intricacies of taping rural market for tourism businesses, it is important to dig into the de facto status of today’s movement of people from villages.

Rural population in India has been migrating from villages to urban areas looking for opportunities. The growing stress on farmers for sustenance due to failure of seasonal crops, encroachment of cultivable lands, less demand for the agricultural produce and high risk combined with dreams of giving better life to their next generations. Reasons are a plenty for migrating some seasonal and some permanent but the fact remains fact, migration is at an ascending level. Infact this migration from rural to urban has added numbers to the domestic tourism. People from small hamlets are travelling to nearby tourist destinations for pilgrimage and leisure purposes but at a very slow pace. ‘I visited Srisailam last sivaratri with my wife and children and have planned to go to Sirdi the next season’, says Mr. Balaih a resident of Pochampalli a rural tourism destination in Andhra Pradesh. He says he is motivated by tourists who visit his village and has saved some money for his next trip. Not everyone is so lucky as him to afford to travel but a beginning is always welcome.

Mr. Binu Alakode who visited Kumbalangi an award winning rural tourist destination near cochin in Kerala opines that villagers here are economically benefited due to growing tourism activities and are also taking time off to travel to other parts of the country’, thanks to the recognition and coordinated development of the destination. Come winter many people across their beliefs are found to wear the Ayappa attire black on black in south India especially the rural folks for forty days and make a visit to Sabarimala in Kerala. Motivations have changed so do the villagers’ outlook.

The missing element in the process of these developments is sustainability. "In the middle of an ocean of green paddy fields all around my little village in itself was a spectacular piece of nature’s grace two decades back. Today it pains to witness the missing paddy fields amidst human habitation." shares with Miss. Rwihali Brahma, a travel executuve working with Askon Tours and Travels who hails from a vilage in Assam. So is the case of millions of destinations around the world. Their villages apart atleast their dreams be fulfilled!

Onus also lies with the governments to help in not only the sustainability of the rural destinations but also the rural folks. One of the best ways to sustain the rural folks is to help them travel, support them to see India which they are equally entitled to. One of the revolutionary initiations in this line has been taken by IRCTC by launching its ‘Bharat Darshan’ travel packages. Insiders although say one would hardly find villagers getting their share of chances to have Bharat darshan since urban middle class can easily access to the services and they are in waiting too. Sixth pay commission with pay hike has satiated domestic as well as outbound travel. There is a huge section of employees now travelling to far off places in the country from north to south and even to north eastern states. Middle class in the recent years has suddenly found in their accounts the much needed ‘disposable income’ which they can spend for their vacationing. It speaks good of tourism growth and for dynamics in the economy. Such an attempt needs to be instigated in rural India in order to enhance their disposable incomes so that their long awaited dreams of having Bharat darshan are fulfilled in the near future.

Stakeholders in the tourism industry in India must work towards these objectives. Risk taking entrepreneurs should venture into this bottom of the pyramid with innovative travelling projects. If shampoo was a product meant for high end customers in eighties bottled and sold, innovative product development with ‘out of the box’ distribution channels by C K Ranganathan the sachet king of FMCG tapped the market at the bottom of the pyramid. It is evident from CavinKares’s unimaginable growth from Rs15,000 to Rs 950 crore between 1983 and 2010. A phenomenal growth which vows its credit to the bottom of the pyramid of India. Similar creative start ups in travel industry for the vilagewallas will surely give a new fillip and definitely raise money for the operators. It is also evident from certain rural destinations that pilgrimage tour businesses are on the run in an unorgansed manner. There are small players in the rural market who are organizing trips to pilgrimage destinations across the country but to the very conventional destinations like Varnasi, sirdi, Tirupati, Nasik, Hardwar-Rishikesh, Puri, Sabarimala, Vaishnodevi, Pushkar, Amritsar, Ajmer, Veilankani, Bodhgaya etc. The rural markets for these pilgrimage spots are mainly the neighbouring regions. If the cost factor is worked upon, it would change the way the world looks at the Indian rural market especially in tourism activities.

The general perception of the purchasing power of the villagers being low may partly be true. But there is also a section of the population in rural India involved in petty businesses and harvesting good crops. This section is otherwise very potential market in itself. A group of five from Mudhol, a remote village in north Karnataka was found vacationing in Goa last summer. One of them Mr. Ravi shared, “We often plan for a vacation trip every summer, last time we had been to Ooty and next year probably we would go to a hill station somewhere in north India. Such groups who plan their own trips from villages are growing in numbers in the recent years. Given proper guidance and motivated to participate in organized travel business, this will have a multiplier effect on others as well. Now the question is, who will do this job of motivating and organizing? Certainly here comes the role of catalyst organizations especially enterprises, intermediaries and the local bodies.

The responsible task of developing rural tourism business may be initiated by the stakeholders in a coordinated approach. Firstly, it is necessary look at villages as markets for tourism businesses and secondly to create villages as destinations. Later aspect is being currently addressed by the Ministry of Tourism with the support of UNDP under the flagship project of endogenous tourism . It is also being promoted under the programme ‘Explore Rural India’. Its high time to see the things from the other angle as well i.e., to tap the rural markets for tourism businesses.

A TURNAROUND COLOUR

2010-08-20T05:49:00.000-07:00

No denim clothing

No concrete roofing

No motor car comforting

No electricity lighting…

Simple is the living

Contented are they all together

Happy are the oldies

Happier are their girls and boys…

Deep in the thickets the other side of the valley

With the walls of mahoganies around

Emergency call for the congregation of

The empty bowels crying

The broken skeletons limping

The lost ploughs looping

The impotent land begging…

Where the need are worn away

Where the dreams are grounded down

Where the joys are torn apart

With the hopes knitted tirelessly

Strangers attempted strangeness.

An ungracious pebble was thrown from the other side

Into the perfectly calm green lakes in meditation

Serene white waters of the valley in slumber,

Ripples, Ripples, Ripples

More pebbles!

More ripples!

Virginity of the white waters of the green lake lost

Lost in the valley chronically that is raped

Lost forever and ever

No vigilance vigilant around.

While the monsoons shy away

Seeds hide cuddled beneath laterite

Thatches fly with the taunting storms;

Shaky earth under those bleeding feet

Scorching sun over wounded heads

Silence at gun points

Gun points at silence!

When the drooping heads of the lambs rise

When

The empty bowels

The broken skeletons

The vanished ploughs

The impotent lands

Roar……….!

Sun has to rise again

Rise again in the east.

Red mountains across the belts stand

Witness history in making in the foothills

Future being built with mud and hearts, brick by brick.

Two thousand miles far away from the makeshift capital

Amidst the jungles of shrubs

Is the coincidence at reach,

The fall of one single pristine droplet from the heavenly sky

The rise of one single glaring lily from the faithful soil.

Hope lives now miles closer

I can sleep for the day with my dreams close to my lovely chest.

LIES.....

2010-06-07T05:15:00.000-07:00

How could this world foolishly for generations in length and breadth
Tolerate and believe
The wildest of the lies called GOD!

How could all the men still survive for ages together
While hundred million GODS
Lived in mansions in Heaven and on Earth and underneath Oceans!

How could all the deseased and orphaned, dumb and deaf and the blind and the forbidden
While the temples elixered
Feed their bellies till the Sun's bedtime!

Faith may it prevail
Faith may it get injected to nullify the originality of the thinking
Faith may it take all towards the drained world of insanity
Faith may it take you to the threshold of doomsday.

Do you have time a little to water the thirsty
Do you have time a little to feed the hungry
Do you have time a little to soothe the deseased
Do you have time a little to shelter the orphaned.

Almighty is mighty
When all are mighty
Mighty at heart stretching that arm further to hold the needy
Mighty at heart walking that extra mile to hug the wounded
I shall walk with you to give my life a thousand times
Just tell me you are here to open your heart and stretch your arms.
Amein!

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

2010-05-28T13:32:00.000-07:00

Blogger Buzz: Blogger integrates with Amazon Associates

VILLAGERS AND VILLAGES AROUND

2010-04-09T04:40:00.000-07:00

Purple blue shades of the lonely stream
Energized with a fresh after shower of early monsoons
Meanders like a hungry serpent in the loamy plains
Swollen like a fully conceived balloon pumped by countless lungs
Can’t stop her the prayers alone from bursting anytime not sure.

Those dreams built through the days of easing rainless calmness
Peasants now are dancing to with the droplets of drooping clouds
Wrinkles of gaiety tripled, hopes of merry piled up
The fields of innocence groomed in bridal gown of waiting
Contours of colours, aroma of authenticity and sounds of trumpets all mixed up.

Pundits readying to spell out the fortune of villagers and villages around
Baniyas are adding additional hands to make the most
Topiless panchayat politics is resurfacing placidly
The calendar of festivities, another chance for the rich to rip is rolled
Change is calling its shots, shots of immeasurable blows.

Another apple should fall on the head of Newton
This time to learn the gravity of our suffering
Another Marx should take birth at the earliest
This time to tell the world that our lands are sucked by globalization
Life has to go on lest the sleeping tigers will wake to roar again.

The bread that comes out of the sweetness of sweat
The granary that fills with the labour under the scorching Suns
The naivety that results out of ancestral lineage
Purity of freedom, solemness of integrity, wealth of belongingness
All harvested octroi free with the villagers and villages around.

Limping moon behind the thatched villas over the meadows
Single out witness in the dark dusty sky of the sleepless nights
Twinkling little stars dispositioned out of helplessness
Under the vigilance of bats, owls and wolves
Are flattering themselves on the ground villagers and villages around.

ROUTES TO THE GREEN END

2010-04-09T04:30:00.001-07:00

There are two doors to the green end
Even to pray the so called Almighty
Here are doors reserved for
The heavier your valets, the faster you reach
The heavier your valets, the closer you stand.

There are two worlds to the green end
Divided the worlds outside these worlds stand
Clamped between the iron walls
Tears that roll down are hang frozen on to the cheeks
Before they on to the muddy earth beneath fall down.

There are two paths to the green end
Our tastes are determined by them
Our clothes are tailored by them
Our breaths are pumped by them
Our blood is insured for their lives surveyed upon our lives.

There are two boroughs to the green end
Every brick that goes into the erecting walls
Every time its replaced is legally stolen again
Our roofs are safe entry for Sun, rain and wind
Our worries are ours but also their merry making ferries.

There are two bridges to the green end
Armies of intellectuals, contingents of mafia to cross over
Roles have gone topsy – turvy, looks haplessly remixed
Hanging on to the horns of antelopes attempting to jump across
Ovens without fire, bowls without rice and lips without smile.

There are two indecisions to every decisions
While everything falls apart into bits and pieces
Clocks standstill to witness the stillness of parity
Likeminded assembled to discuss the chaos
Again to find the new routes to the green end.

bORROWED sMILES

2010-02-13T23:21:00.000-08:00

Amidst the gravels of mutiny unsolicited lately
Those lonely traverses of waters down the hills,
They stand till date spectators of irrelevance
How could one be reconciled to be alienated?
I am done with!

Doldrums of milieu unnoticed everytime asusual
We are hooked to be part of this invisibility,
Shanty dwellings of screwed up emotional enities
For what are those takeaway counters of modified smiles?
I am done with!

Under the canopies of solidarity in the bazaars of nudity
The carbon copies of beleagured human faces,
Impressive rule of the ascetics goes unacknowledged
How long is this Dharma redefined, reframed and chronically reraped?
I am done with!

Balloons of cowardly helium caught in the gravity of power
Nestled in the spiderwebs of societal mania,
Abnoxious images making uninvited entry into my visual holes
Why are the beauties of divinity dancing to the tunes of hungry hounds?
I am done with!

Cradles of borrowed smiles weighed along with the innocent babies
Mothers, fathers, sisiters, brothers, aunts and uncles all cuddled,
Rivers of insanity flowing down the carpets of ingenuity
Are the hopes hopping in the corridors of rubbled castles worth dreaming?
I am done with!

“Experience the Grandeur Before They Vanish”

2010-01-15T02:54:00.000-08:00

“……………it is clear that the worlds environment is being altered by human activities and that without remedial action the results may be catastrophic”

(WTTC position statement, WTO 10th General Assembly Bali, Indonesia)

Human interference has certainly has impeached the grandeur of the earth’s environment as well as the environment that he has created on his own. This has impacted the tourism industry in general and tourism products in particular resulting in the latest facet of global tourism_ ‘DOOMSDAY TOURISM’, a new concept speaks volumes about itself what it means.

A dig into the concept of Doomsday Tourism:

The rapidly changing world in reciprocation to the global warming is alarming the people to realize about the squeezing time before many of the destinations cease to exist or vanish permanently from the itineraries the coming days. There’s threat everywhere, threat of losing all the around us as the sea level is rapidly increasing, rare species are dying, topography is morphosing and atmosphere is polluting. All this and a lot more has caused irreparable damage to the most sought after destinations, species and primitive tribes pushing them on the brink of vanishing not late but very soon.

This has ultimately borne an unwantingly visible phenomenon of doomsday tourism. Conceptually doomsday tourism refers to the thinking that one hurries up to visit the famous and specific sightseeing spots which are under great threat of vanishing and they may disappear into oblivion once and for all mainly due to global warming and environmental disasters combined with human interference.

It’s implicit to know the key environmental issues under five headings as examined by WTTC way back in 1993,
1) Global warming
2) Depletion and pollution of water
3) Acid rains
4) Depletion and pollution of land
5) Depletion of ozone layer

The results are here, after fifteen years of descending trends of improvement there are today scores of places which are simply endangered.

How deep is the wound? _ The gravity of the issue:

Themovechannel.com lists these endangered and disappearing hotspots. Lets now borrow into the hard to digest but need to be aware of ‘the ten most endangered sites due to global warming which are contributing to the hotcakes sale of ‘doomsday tourism’:

1) Antarctica: the Muller ice shelf is and the Larsen ice shelf are shrinking dramatically.
2) Mt. Kilimanjaro (Tanzania): Global warming is cursed for the melting of the year round snows at the summit of the Africa’s highest mountain. It is estimated that there won’t be any snow 15 years down the line.
3) Great Barrier Reef (O ff the east coast of Australia): the rising water temperatures are leading to bleaching of the famously vivid reefs is forecasted that 95% of the living corals will be killed by 2050.
4) Galapagos Islands (Ecuador): here too, riding temperatures are bleaching the corals and killing the marine species.
5) The Arctic ice cap: ice bergs are melting speedily due to global warming threatening the beauty of it and the very existence of the species such as polar bears.
6) The Maldives (Indian Ocean): Rising water levels could completely submerge these 1200 spectacular coral islands alluring millions of tourists and may vanish in not more than 100 years.
7) Alaska: Glaciers are shrinking and Parma frost is melting (soil at or below the freezing point of water (0 °C or 32 °F) for two or more years).
8) Kitbuhel (Austria): The world’s most famous ski run may disappear due to rising temperatures.
9) Venice (Italy): This Italian city is sinking into Adriatic and rising sea levels could worsen the situation.
10) Patagonian (South America): the splendid glaciers and feeders for perennial rivers are shrinking at great pace.

Ethical perspectives of Doomsday Tourism:

No doubt, all is not well with these destinations but the million dollar question arises at this juncture is; How ethical is it to travel to these threatened destinations?
It is argued that there’s nothing wrong in traveling to these destinations provided that is done responsibly_ in the lines of WTTC and WTO which advocate for a sustainable approach to tourism in which destinations resources are protected and preserved for the future generations.
But it’s also argued that the very labeling of these destinations has increased the scale of visiting tourists many fold in the last few years. Such a trend will only augment and hasten the predicted doomsday of these hotspots. It’s astonishing to know that according to IAATO (International Association of Antarctic Operators) over 46,000 tourists visited the Antarctic continent during 2007-08. Over 40,000 people visited Galapagos Islands in 1990 which increased to 1, 45.000 by 2006. These huge number of tourists how much ever responsible they pledge to be, invariably add to the environmental woes.

It is innate to the human nature to see something that may going to exist tomorrow, as a traveler one would never wish to miss out anything of this sort be it the town of Churchill in Canada famously known as ‘ The polar bear capital of the world’, crumbling Angkor Wat in Cambodia or the shading Taj Mahal in India. If a common man is to restrain from congesting an endangerd destination_ it like, Arindham Choudhary watching ‘ The Slumdog Millionaire’ and asking others to not to watch but at the end of the day everybody ends up watching it at least once to find out why the movie isn’t worth watching.

An emergency call for ‘Responsible Tourism’:

Simply because certain destinations are endangered you can not draw a line of control and restrain travelers from visiting them rather these destinations being prone to a thousand problems challenging their existence require better management; holistic in nature and practical approach. Having said that it’s important to answer the impending question_ ‘Can Doomsday Tourism be a Responsible Tourism’?

The answer is positively ‘YES’. It can certainly be the responsible tourism if scientifically managed. Educating the visitors and the hosts, developing sustainable modules and models, practicing green principles and subjecting the carrying capacity. Awareness is one big lesson that should be seriously indoctrinated to protect these endangered destinations.

Tour operators and travel agents should play a major role in discouraging this neo-concept and abstain from marketing it as doomsday tourism. Although officially its not marketed as doomsday tourism, most of them do operate tours to places of delicate nature and lure tourists with the concept of disappearing destinations.

A peep into the products of ‘Doomsday Tourism’:

There are several places which find place in the itineraries of tour operators. Interestingly the future generations to come may find it hard to witness, visit to, and experience these tourism products as they are getting ready to vanish.

A) The Most Endangered Natural Sites:
Apart from the top ten endangered destinations the other natural sites are_ Sonoran and Chihuan desert borderlands in Mexico, Pataganonian grasslands in Argentina, Great Lakes in United States and Canada, arid lands of Namibia, the Appalachians and Wes Indian coastline.
B) The Most Endangered Monuments:
The Word Monuments Watch (WMW) has enlisted 100 most endangered monuments. Among them the top monuments at great risk are_ Angkor Wat in Combodia, Taj Mahal in India, Byzantine Church in Hagia Safia in Istanbul Turkey, Tibetan Monuments in Nepal, Khami National monument in Zimbabwe, Ellis Island in New York and Lafayette Cemetery in New Orleans U S.
C) The Most Endangered Species:
Countless species are also of tourist interest as part of doomsday tourism. The top most endangered species according to the World Wildlife Federation (WWF) are: Black rhino, giant panda, tiger, belnga surgeon, hawks bill turtle, alligator snapping turtle, green cheeked parrot, mako shark and big leaf mahogany.

D) The Most Endangered Rivers:
Salween (China, Mynmar,Thiland), Danube (Europe), La Plata (South America), Rio Granados (USA), Ganges (India), Indus (India and Pakistan), Nile (Africa), Murray-Darling, Mekong and Yangtze in China.
E) The Most Endangered Tribes:
There are tribes which are most endangered in different pockets of the world. These primitive tribes are very few in numbers living in the Amazon basin, central African forests, central India and Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Australia. World’s most primitive tribe at danger is jarwas of Nicobar Islands.

There is new terminology coming into usage every morning so is the ‘Doomsday Tourism which is a kind of Dark Tourism_ i.e. travel and visitation to sites, attractions and exhibition which have real or recreated death, the seemingly macabre, generating gloomy enthusiasm such as disaster tourism, grief tourism, poverty tourism. Although doomsday tourism aligned with these kinds its seemingly infamous kind as it stands tall among all of them as the gravity of influence upon the tourists is immense and immeasurable.

The Bottom line:

So, what’s the bottom line of the debate? Its never as simple as its thought since to encourage or not to encourage the intoxication of tourists hurrying up to see dooming places, people and wildlife is an pen option.
Nevertheless the practice of responsible tourism seems to be the answer to a lot of daunting questions and pave way for a better tomorrow for the generations to come, hopefully not cursing the spirit of their predecessors.

Hence, next time when you plan to visit either Mt. Kilimanjaro or long to see giant pandas in China or crave to spend time with jarwas of Nicobar islands, remember not to forget your responsibility i.e. to not to leave behind any footprints of yours. That way you would be the last person to cause any damage.

My last flip to readers (travelers):

Let’s not give chance to any of the transgalaxy inhabitants of earthlike planets somewhere in the other side of the Milky Way to add our green planet as a doomsday destination of their universal tour package!!

“If half the door is closed, so what! The other half of it is still wide open”

Workers Participation in Mangement

2009-04-18T02:08:00.000-07:00

WORKERS’ PARTICIPATION IN MANAGEMENTIntroduction:
Three groups of managerial decisions affect the workers of any industrial establishment and hence the workers must have a say in it.
◊ Economic decisions – methods of manufacturing, automation, shutdown, lay-offs, mergers.◊ Personnel decisions – recruitment and selection, promotions, demotions, transfers, grievance settlement, work distribution.◊ Social decisions – hours of work, welfare measures, questions affecting work rules and conduct of individual worker’s safety, health, sanitation and noise control.
Participation basically meansØ sharing the decision-making power with the lower ranks of the organization in an appropriate manner.Definitions:
The concept of WPM is a broad and complex one. Depending on the socio-political environment and cultural conditions, the scope and contents of participation change.
◊International Institute of Labour Studies: WPM is the participation resulting from the practices which increase the scope for employees’ share of influence in decision-making at different tiers of organizational hierarch with concomitant assumption of responsibility. ◊ILO: Workers’ participation, may broadly be taken to cover all terms of association of workers and their representatives with the decision-making process, ranging from exchange of information, consultations, decisions and negotiations, to more institutionalized forms such as the presence of workers’ member on management or supervisory boards or even management by workers themselves as practiced in Yugoslavia. Objectives:
According to Gosep, workers’ participation may beØ viewed as:
◊ An instrument for increasing the efficiency of enterprises and establishing harmonious relations;◊ A device for developing social education for promoting solidarity among workers and for tapping human talents;◊ A means for achieving industrial peace and harmony which leads to higher productivity and increased production;◊ A humanitarian act, elevating the status of a worker in the society;◊ An ideological way of developing self-management and promoting industrial democracy.
Other objectives of WPM can be cited as:
◊ To improve the quality of working life (QWL) by allowing the workers greater influence and involvement in work and satisfaction obtained from work; and◊ To secure the mutual co-operation of employees and employers in achieving industrial peace; greater efficiency and productivity in the interest of the enterprise, the workers, the consumers and the nation.
The main implications of workers’ participation in management as summarized by ILO:◊ Workers have ideas which can be useful;◊ Workers may work more intelligently if they are informed about the reasons for and the intention of decisions that are taken in a participative atmosphere.Importance:

Importance of WPM can be listed in the following management perspectives:
◊Unique motivational power and a great psychological value.◊Peace and harmony between workers and management.◊ Workers get to see how their actions would contribute to the overall growth of the company.◊They tend to view the decisions as `their own’ and are more enthusiastic in their implementation.◊Participation makes them more responsible.◊They become more willing to take initiative and come out with cost-saving suggestions and growth-oriented ideas.Scope and ways of participation:
One view is that workers or the trade unions should, as equal partners, sit with the management and make joint managerial decisions. The other view is that workers should only be given an opportunity, through their representatives, to influence managerial decisions at various levels. In practice, the participation of workers can take place by one or all the methods listed below:
◊ Board level participation◊ Ownership participation◊ Complete control◊ Staff or work councils◊ Joint councils and committees◊ Collective Bargaining◊ Job enlargement and enrichment◊ Suggestion schemes◊ Quality circles◊ Empowered teams◊ TQM◊ Financial participationParticipation at the Board level:

This would be the highest form of industrial democracy. The workers’ representative on the Board can play a useful role in safeguarding the interests of workers.
◊ He or she can serve as a guide and a control element.
◊ He or she can prevail upon top management not to take measures that would be unpopular with the employees.◊ He or she can guide the Board members on matters of investment in employee benefit schemes like housing, and so forth.
The Government of India took the initiative and appointed workers’ representatives on the Board of Hindustan Antibiotics (Pune), HMT (Bangalore), and even nationalized banks.
The Tatas, DCM, and a few others have adopted this practice.
Problems associated with this method:

◊ Focus of workers’ representatives is different from the focus of the remaining members of the Board.◊ Communication and subsequently relations between the workers’ representative and the workers suffers after the former assumes directorship.◊ He or she tends to become alienated from the workers.◊ As a result, he or she may be less effective with the other members of the Board in dealing with employee matters.◊ Because of the differences in the cultural and educational backgrounds, and differences in behaviour and manners, such an employees’ representative may feel inferior to the other members, and he or she may feel suffocated. Hence, his or her role as a director may not be satisfying for either the workers or the management.◊ Such representatives of workers’ on the Board, places them in a minority. And the decisions of the Board are arrived at on the basis of the majority vote.

Participation through ownership:
This involves making the workers’ shareholders of the company by inducing them to buy equity shares.
◊ In many cases, advances and financial assistance in the form of easy repayment options are extended to enable employees to buy equity shares. Examples of this method are available in the manufacturing as wellØ as the service sector.
Advantage: ◊ Makes the workers committed to the job and to the organization.Drawback:◊ Effect on participation is limited because ownership and management are two different things.Participation through complete control:
Workers acquire complete control of the management through elected boards. The system of self-management in Yugoslavia is based on this concept. Self-management gives complete control to workers to manage directly all aspects of industries through their representatives.
Advantages:◊ Ensures identification of the workers with their organization.◊ Industrial disputes disappear when workers develop loyalty to the organization.◊ Trade unions welcome this type of participation.
Complete control by workers is not an answer to the problem of participation because the workers do not evince interest in management decisions.Participation through Staff and Works Councils:
Staff councils or works councils are bodies on which the representation is entirely of the employees. There may be one council for the entire organization or a hierarchy of councils. The employees of the respective sections elect the members of the councils.
Such councils play a varied roles:◊ Their role ranges from seeking information on the management’s intentions to a full share in decision-making.◊ Such councils have not enjoyed too much of success because trade union leaders fear the erosion of their power and prestige if such workers’ bodies were to prevail.Participation through Joint Councils and Committees:
Joint councils are bodies comprising representatives of employers and employees.
◊ This method sees a very loose form of participation, as these councils are mostly consultative bodies.◊ Work committees are a legal requirement in industrial establishments employing 100 or more workers.◊ Such committees discuss a wide range of topics connected to labour welfare.◊ Examples of such committees are welfare committee, safety committee, etc.◊ Such committees have not proven to be too effective in promoting industrial democracy, increasing productivity and reducing labour unrest.Participation through Collective Bargaining:
Through the process of CB, management and workers may reach collective agreement regarding rules for the formulation and termination of the contract of employment, as well as conditions of service in an establishment.
◊ Even though these agreements are not legally binding, they do have some force.◊ For CB to work, the workers’ and the employers’ representatives need to bargain in the right spirit. But in practice, while bargaining, each party tries to take advantage of the other.◊ This process of CB cannot be called WPM in its strongest sense as in reality; CB is based on the crude concept of exercising power for the benefit of one party.◊ WPM, on the other hand, brings both the parties together and develops appropriate mutual understanding and brings about a mature responsible relationship.Participation through Job Enlargement and Job Enrichment:
Excessive job specialization that is seen as a by-product of mass production in industries, leads to boredom and associated problems in employees. Two methods of job designing – job enlargement and job enrichment– are seen as methods of addressing the problems.
◊ Job enlargement means expanding the job content – adding task elements horizontally.◊ Job enrichment means adding `motivators’ to the job to make it more rewarding.
This is WPM in that it offers freedom and scope to the workers to use their judgment. But this form of participation is very basic as it provides only limited freedom to a worker concerning the method of performing his/her job. The worker has no say in other vital issues of concern to him – issues such as job and income security, welfare schemes and other policy decisions.Participation through Suggestion Schemes:
Employees’ views are invited and reward is given for the best suggestion.With this scheme, the employees’ interest in the problems of the organization is aroused and maintained.◊ Progressive managements increasingly use the suggestion schemes.◊ Suggestions can come from various levels.◊ The ideas could range from changes in inspection procedures to design changes, process simplification, paper-work reduction and the like.◊ Out of various suggestions, those accepted could provide marginal to substantial benefits to the company.The rewards given to the employees are in line with the benefits derived from the suggestions.Participation through Quality Circles:
This concept originated in Japan in the early 1960s and has now spread all over the world. A QC consists of seven to ten people from the same work area who meet regularly to define, analyze, and solve quality and related problems in their area.Training in problem-solving techniques is provided to the members.QCs are said to provide quick, concrete, and impressive results when correctly implemented.
Advantages:◊ Employees become involved in decision-making, acquire communication and analytical skills and improve efficiency of the work place.◊ Organization gets to enjoy higher savings-to-cost ratios.◊ Chances of QC members to get promotions are enhanced.
The Indian Scenario:◊ Tried by BHEL, Mahindra and Mahindra, Godrej and Boyce among others.◊ Experienced mixed results:M&M (jeep division) with 76 QCs has experienced favourable results. • Technical problems got solved.• Workers got to get out of their daily routine and do something challenging.
Trade unions look at it as:◊ A way of overburdening workers, and◊ An attempt to undermine their role.
These circles require a lot of time and commitment on the part of members for regular meetings, analysis, brainstorming, etc. ◊ Most QCs have a definite life cycle – one to three years.◊ Few circles survive beyond this limit either because they loose steam or they face simple problems.◊ QCs can be an excellent bridge between participative and non-participative approaches.◊ For QCs to succeed in the long run, the management needs to show its commitment by implementing some of the suggestions of the groups and providing feedback on the disposition of all suggestions.Empowered Teams:
Empowerment occurs when authority and responsibility are passed on to the employees who then experience a sense of ownership and control over their jobs. Employees may feel more responsible, may take initiative in their work, may get more work done, and may enjoy the work more.
For empowerment to occur, the following approach needs to be followed as compared to the traditional approach:◊ Element Traditional Org. Empowered Teams◊ Organizational structure Layered, individual Flat, team◊ Job design Narrow, single task Whole process, multiple tasks◊ Management role Direct, control Coach, facilitate Leadership Top-down Shared with the team◊ Information flow Controlled, limited Open, shared◊ Rewards Individual, seniority Team-based, skill-based◊ Job process Managers plan, control, improve Teams plan, control, improve Features of empowered or self-directed teams:◊ Empowered to share various management and leadership functions.◊ Plan, control and improve their work.◊ Often create their schedules and review their performance as a group.◊ May prepare their own budgets and co-ordinate their work with other departments.◊ Usually order materials, keep inventories and deal with suppliers.◊ Frequently responsible for acquiring any new training they might need.◊ May hire their own replacement to assume responsibility for the quality of their products or services.Titan, Reliance, ABB, GE Plastics (India), Wipro Corporation and Wipro InfoTech are empowering employees – both frontline as well as production staff, and are enjoying positive results.

Total Quality Management:
TQM refers to the deep commitment, almost obsession, of an organization to quality. Every step in company’s processes is subjected to intense and regular scrutiny for ways to improve it.
Some traditional beliefs are discarded:◊ High quality costs more.◊ Quality can be improved by inspection.◊ Defects cannot be completely eliminated.◊ Quality in the job of the QC personnel.
New principles of TQM are:◊ Meet the customer’s requirement on time, the first time, and 100% of the time.◊Strive to do error-free work. ◊ Manage by prevention, not correction.◊ Measure the cost of quality.TQM is called participative because it is a formal programme involving every employee in the organization; making each one responsible for improving quality everyday.Financial Participation:
This method involves less consultations or even joint decisions. Performance of the organization is linked to the performance of the employee. The logic behind this is that if an employee has a financial stake in the organization, he/she is likely to be more positively motivated and involved.
Some schemes of financial participation:◊ Profit-linked pay◊ Profit sharing and Employees’ Stock Option schemes.◊ Pension-fund participation.Pre-requisites for successful participation:
◊ Management and operatives/employees should not work at cross-purposes i.e. they must have clearly defined and complementary objectives.◊ Free flow of communication and information.◊ Participation of outside trade union leaders to be avoided.◊ Strong and effective trade unionism. ◊ Workers’ education and training. Trade unions and government needs to work in this area.◊ Trust between both the parties.◊ Workers should be associated at all levels of decision-making.◊ Employees cannot spend all their time in participation to the exclusion of all other work.
Limitations of participation:◊ Technology and organizations today are so complex thatØ specialized work-roles are required. ◊ This means employees will not be able to participate effectively in matters beyond their particular environment.◊ Everybody need not want participation. The role of trade unions inØ promoting participative management has been far from satisfactory.◊ Employers are unwilling to share power with the workers’ representatives.◊ Managers consider participative management a fraud.

Evolution of participative management in India:
The beginning towards WPM was made with the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, which made Works Committees mandatory in industrial establishments employing 100 or more workers. The Industrial Policy Resolution adopted by the government in 1956 stated that there should be some joint consultation to ensure industrial peace, and improve employer-employee relations. The functions of both these joint bodies were to be consultative and were not binding on the management.
The response to these schemes was encouraging to begin with, but gradually waned.◊ A study team was appointed in 1962 to report on the working of joint councils and committees. ◊ The team identified some reasons for their failure.◊ No concrete steps were taken to remove the difficulties, or change the pattern of participative management.◊ During the emergency of 1975-77, the interest in these schemes was revived by the then Prime Minister by including Workers’ Participation in industry in the government’s 20-point programme.◊ The government started persuading large enterprises to set up joint consultative committees and councils at different levels.◊ The Janata Government who came to power in 1977 carried on this initiative.◊ In was again emphasized by the Congress government who came back n 1979.◊ This continued in a “non-statutory vein” till the late 1980s, and the response from the employers and employees stayed luke-warm.◊ Then, the 42nd Amendment to the Constitution was made.◊ Now, Article 43-A reads: The State shall take steps, by suitable legislation, or in any other way, to secure the participation of workers in the management of undertakings, establishments or other organizations engaged in any industry. Thus, participative management is a constitutional commitment in India.
◊ And then, on May 30,1990; the government introduced the Participation of Workers in Management Bill in the Rajya Sabha.
The bill requires every industrial enterprise to constitute one or more `Shop-Floor Councils’ at the shop floor level, and`Establishment Council’ at the establishment level.* These councils will have equal representation of employers and employees.* Shop-Floor councils enjoy powers over a wide range of functions from production, wastage control to safety hazards.* The Establishment Council enjoys similar powers.* The bill provides for the constitution of a Board of Management of every corporate body owning an industrial establishment.* The bill also provides for penalties on individuals who contravene any provision of the bill.

Conclusion:

In spite of all these efforts, only the government and the academicians have been interested in participative management. But participative management is staging a comeback. The compulsions of emerging competitive environment have made employee involvement more relevant than ever before. Managers and the managed are forced to forget their known stands, break barriers, and work in unison.Managers and workers are partners in the progress of business.

.......................NO RISK WHILE PEGGING PLEASE!!

2008-08-25T07:58:00.000-07:00

PEG-I
I don't take any risk while pegging !
my wife will be busy cooking in the kitchen by the time I go home !

I here some sound on the shelf !
I tiptoe into the house without making any sound !

I take out the bottle from my black cupboard !
I do everything secretly!
Because I don't take any risk!

An unused glass
Kept in the bathroom shelf I take out carefully!
I pour a peg into the glass and drink to my throat !
After washing the glass cleanly I place it back in the shelf!
Of course! I do wash the bottle too and keep it back !

Ganghiji is giggling from the photo!
I then go to the kitchen to see!
My wife is mixing the dough!
I do everything secretly!
Because I don't any risk!

Me: Is Reddy's daughter's marriage finalised!
My wife from the kitchen: He himself is a big loafer, his daughter is really unfortunate!

PEG-II

I again come out of the kitchen!
Some one is calling from inside the black cupboard!
I take out the rest of the bottle without making any sound !

I pour a peg into the glass and drink to my throat again!
After washing the glass I keep it in the bathroom!
Of course! I keep the black glass in the shelf!

I do do everything secretly!
Because I don't take any risk!

Me: by the by is Reddy's daughter grown up to be married?
My wife from the bedroom: What, grown up? She ia as old as two asses together!
Me: (Resisting myself from saying...............) is it?

PEG-III

I again take the dough from the black cupboard!
Cupboard has changed its place!
Taking the bottle out from the shelf!
I pour a peg into the bathroom!

Gandhiji is laughing loudly!
After keeping the shelf in the dough!
I wash Gandhiji's photo and keep it in the cupboard!
My wife places the bathroom over the stove!

The bottle does everything secretly!
Because I don't take any risk!

Me: (angrily) How dare! you call Reddy an ass?
My wife from the cupboard: Stop blabbering nonsense, just get the hell out of here!

PEG-IV

I take out the bottle from dough!
Getting into the black cupboard I take a peg!
After washing the bathroom I keep it back in the shelf!
My wife is laughing at me from the photo!
Gandhiji is still busy cooking in the kitchen!

Reddy does everything secretly!
Because I don't take any risk!
Me: (laughing) What Reddy married an ass?
My wife from the bottle: Just shut up, go and help Gandhiji in the kitchen!

I peeped into the kitchen again and came back!
I sit calmly inside the shelf!
The glass is also in the shelf!
I here the bottles making a lot of sound outside the kitchen!
I get out of the bottle and see!
My wife busy taking peg on peg in the bathroom!

The donkey does everything secretly!
Because Gandhiji doesn’t take any risk!

Reddy is still busy cooking in the kitchen!
I keep laughing at my wife from the photo hung on the wall!
The bottle does everything secretly!
Because the peg doesn’t take any risk!

(Originally written in Marathi by an unidentified poet and the Telugu version of it written by Harish G was published in Telugu daily Andhrajyothi recently)

BIDAR: A POTENTIAL TOURISM DESTINATION AND SUGGESTIVE MEASURES TO TAP THE POTENTIALITY

2008-08-25T07:43:00.000-07:00

INTRODUCTION
Bidar is a city and taluka in Karnataka state, India. It is the administrative seat of Bidar District. Bidar is also know as Karnatakda kerita.
Bidar city is known for its unique Bidri handicraft products. Manjeera is one of the main rivers supplying drinking water for Bidar. Historically prominent centre and boasts of historical monuments and religious places of importance. Has every feature of being a potential natonal and international spot of tourism.

GEOGRAPHY
Bidar is located at 17.9° N 77.55° E[1]. It has an average elevation of 615 metres (2017 feet).
BEST TIME TO VISIT
The best time to visit Bidar is between October and March.

HISTORY
The first Rashtrakuta capital, Mayurkhandi, was in Bidar district. The regal capital was later moved by Amoghavarsha I to Manyakheta in the present Gulbarga district.
Kalyani (today called Basavakalyan, after Basaveshwara) in Bidar district was the capital of Western Chalukyas, who were also called Kalyani Chalukyas after their capital. The Kalachuris continued with Kalyani as their capital.
Later, Bidar was ruled in succession by the Sevuna Yadavas of Devagiri and the Kakatiyas of Warangal, before being invaded by the armies of Allauddin Khilji, Malik Kafur and Muhammad bin Tughluq.

The generals of Muhammad Bin Tughlaq who were nominated as viceroys of the newly conquered Deccan region broke up and formed the Bahmani Sultanate under Allauddin Hasan Gangu Bahman Shah.
The Bahmani capital was shifted from Ahsanabad (Kalburgi or Kalubaruge, pronounced as Gulbarga by the Muslim newcomers), to Muhammadabad (Bidar, as it was called then), in 1425 and remained capital until the Sultanate's breakup after 1518. It then became the center of the Barid Shahis, one of the five independent sultanates known as the Deccan sultanates, that were the successor states to the Bahmani kingdom.

HOW TO REACH
By Air: Rajiv Gandhi International Terminal, Shamshabad, Hyderabad is Just 150 Kms away from Bidar District Head Quarters. Its just 3 hours drive from the airport to Bidar on NH9 till Zaheerabad and a diversion of 30 KMs after Zaheerabad.
By Rail : Rail facility is available from Bangalore and Hyderbad. Bangalore - Nanded Link Express Via Bidar, Departure from Bangalore at 9.50 PM. Secundrabad - Manmad Express from Hyderbad Departure at 6 PM from Secundrabad Station, Hyderbad. Hyderbad - Aurangabad Express from Kachiguda weekly thrice. One can also take Udyan express or KK Express from Bangalore reach Gulbarga and take a bus from there, its 105 KMS from Gulbarga.
By Road: From Bangalore many Govt Luxury Buses of KSRTC ply daily via Hyderbad, Its 16 hours journey from Bangalore via Hyderabad on NH 7 and NH 9. From Bangalore Via Gulbarga and Bellary its 20 hours journey. From Hyderbad Imaliban bus stand for every 15 minutes a Bus to Bidar is available from Plat form No 36.
One can take cycle-rickshaw or auto-rickshaw to move in the town

WHERE TO STAY
There are very few hotels and lodges in Bidar. Whatever accommodation is available is of mediocre standard.

TOURIST ATTRACTIONS
The following places of this District attract a lots of tourists all through the year although the influx is far below it potential.

Guru Nank Jhirar
Gurudwara Bidar is one of Holiest Place for Sikhs. Every Year this place attracts lots of tourists from all parts of the country particularly during the months of November and March. Legend has it that Saint Guru Nanak visited the place while the land was in the grip of a famine The Guru performed a miracle at the request of the locals and a spring of water from the laterite rock mountain burst out. Till this day crystal clear water flows from the laterite trap. The belief is that drinking of this water cures many ailments.

Papnash Shiva Temple at Bidar:.
As per the local traditional saying, the Shiva Linga idol in this temple is one of those installed by Shri RAM during the time of his journey back from Lanka. The location of the temple in a valley is mesmerising to the eyes. Every year at the time of Shivrathri festival lot of tourists visit this place. A natural spring flows into a pond in front of the temple which is called 'Papnasha'

Narshimha Jhira Water Cave Temple:
At this place the Powerful diety as per the belief here is situated in cave of nealy 300 meters. One has to wade through water upto chest height to have darshan of the diety. It will be thrilling experience with bats and owls sitting on the roof toop of cave but they will not do any harm to the devotees. In the year 1999 with efforts of an young IAS Officer Mr. M Maheswar Rao who was working as Assistant Commissioner and was incharge of this temple committee got the cave Air conditioned and Electrified.

Dev DeV Vana (Botanical Garden):
An Eco Tourism center 6 KM away from Bidar town on Bidar - Hyderbad Highway. With more than 200 medicinal plants, this vana is believed to be something of an unconventional temple of plants.

Veerbhadreshewar Jatra's at Humnabad & Changlare:
Two very ancient temples of Lord Veerbhadreshwara in Humnabad Taluk one at Humnabad and one at Changlara village attract lakhs of tourists in the Month of January and November respectively for the yearly Jatra and cart pulling Mohotsav's. The temple at Humnabad constructed in 1725 is famous for its moving pillar.

Manik Prabhu Temple at Humnabad:
It attracts lots of tourists in the Month of December at the time of Annual Celebrations. On the same occasion every year a Night long Classical Musical function will be held and till now the likes of Bhimsen Joshi, Zakir hussain and many others have come here for this annual jatra mahotsav.

Bidar Fort
Period of Construction: Built in 8th century, renovated in 1428 AD.
Constructed by: Sultan Ahmad Shah Bahamani
Originally built in 8th century and strengthened and renovated in 1428 by Sultan Ahmad Shah Bahamani, the Bidar fort boasts of a dominating presence in the Bidar landscape. Nestled inside this moated fort is the royal town dotted with crumbling ruins of the bastions and gates, royal baths and kitchens, audience halls, and pleasure pavilions.

Madrassa of Mahmud Gawan
Madrassa of Mahmud Gawan is an Islamic seminary built in 1472 by Khwaja Mohammad Gawan, the Prime Minister during the reign of Bahamani ruler Muhammad-III. This university was once a renowned centre of learning in the Muslim world for the scholars of Persian, Arabic, philosophy, theology and mathematics. The massive three-storey building housed a mosque, a laboratory, lecture halls, quarters for the teaching faculty and a students' hostel.

Chaubara
The Chaubara is a mighty 71-feet-tall tower located at the heart of the town. Built to function as an observation post, this cylindrical structure gives a commanding view of the entire city from the top.

PLACES AROUND BIDAR
There are a few places of tourist interest around Bidar. Basvakalyan, the capital city of the latter Chalukyas in the 10th century, is 80 km from Bidar, while Humnabad, 52 km from Bidar, is a famous pilgrim center and attracts thousands of devotees annually.

FAIRS & FESTIVALS
*Thousands of devotees throng to Humnabad during Veerabhadreshwara Jatra, which is a local fair. This annual fair is held for seven days during January-February.
*Bidar Utsav is organised to attract tourists.

WHAT TO CARRY FROM THE MARKET

BIDRI (a specialized metal handcraft) is done in Bidar. The basic material used is an alloy of 94% zinc and 6% copper. After moulding, the required article is filed and the surface smoothened. The design is then sketched and engraved on it. Pure silver wires and sheets are inlaid by hammering them into the engraved designs.

PRESENT STATUS OF TOURISM HERE
The present status of tourism in bidar is not its potential at all. having so many places of importance historicall as well as from the religious point of view it still doesn't stand out in the tourism map of india.
there is an array of problems attached to this starting from infrastructure to information. tourism industry could be the second highest income earner for the district if projected systematically and the present challenges are honestly won over.

SUGGESTIVE MEASURES TO TAP THE POTENTIAL TOURISM INDUSTRY TO ITS FULLER LENGTH:

A) Agressive Publicity Campaign
Tourism Department has not taken up any major publicity campaign
Although Bidar is declared a heritage city, Department of Tourism hardly gives any publicity to the monuments. So as to meet the demand department of tourism has to campaign aggressively to increase influx and create awareness.
B) Tourism Information and Promotion Building
The department never had a serious presence in the district even after having a building. At present, the building had been temporarily allotted to some other department. The department must start functioning from its building seriously to help the tourists and to create awareness.
C) E-Linking
Bidar could be a constant attraction for tourists but many of these monuments remained unknown to the outside world. E-Linking in collaboration with the tourism promotors from corporate sectors can also be wooved from across the globe.
D) Infrastucutre
_ Laying of bipass highway connecting Nanded with Bidar should be completed. It may be noted that NHAI has sought Rs. 40 crore for developing the Nanded-Bidar highway but it has materialised yet.
_Highway connecting Gulbarga city with Bidar should be converted into atleast two-lane for a smoother journey.
_Although the city is connected with railway line there are hardly two trains are run one from Bengaluru and another from Hyderabad. So there is need to increase number of trains and double line railway.
_This city has air force training centre but doesn't have its own airport. It may not be economically feasible to build an airport now but the future needs may make it imminent as Gulbarga and Hyderabad are growing at a great pace.
_ Beautification of these places by designing gardens and parks would also support the tourism development.
E) Accommodation
There is dire need of better hotels because of which tourists normally avoid touring Bidar even though its just 150 km drive from Hyderabad.
F) Places to relish
Bidar does not offer any special cuisine to the traveler. The restaurants and eating points offer traditional Indian dishes. This gives an opportunity for the hospitality industry to contribute its part. The department can start a food festival as well.
G) Tourist circuit within the district
A systematized tourist circuit should be developed to connect all the impotant places of interest for better access within the district with its headquarters.
H) Basava Peace Convention
The Basava Peace Convention must be immediately put to action to draw tourists from across the globe to participate in convention for internatonal peace and spirituality organised in the lines of philosophy propogated by the great social reformer and promoter of shaivism.

Bidar could be one of the important tourist destinations of north Karnataka if its potential is tapped properly. The government, hyderabad karnataka development board ,NGO’s and the locals must strive to materialise this impending fact. This tranformation would ultimately benefit the so called backward region of the software savvy state.

TOURISM-RELIGION-DASA SAHITYA

2008-08-24T07:35:00.000-07:00

An article on tourism studies in the age of Dasa movemet with its implicatons on the present day industrry is in the offspring(being edited and translated from an article in Kannada)........

Bharat- which carries literally fabricated name as India is synonimously referred to as holy land, vedic land and "Karmabhoomi".
it is indeed consodered to be great honour to take birth in this land nad its the result of selfless deeds one has done in many of his previous births.
india is the4 abode of cuktural heritage and religion is its spirit. religion plays an integral and undettachable part of the lifestyle of the people here. scores of scions,sadhus,saaints,sanyasies and godly gurus from various spheres have adopted and adapted and ascented to the hieghts of spirituality have tranfomed and purified this "Karmabhoomi"(the land of deeds).
this land is an ocean of wisdom into which flow streams of spirituality. religion is in every breath one takes and it forms the undeterred base of inhabitants. what is passed on to us fron our ancestors is this great heritage, inheritance of unmatchable ethoes, ethics finely woven into religious tolerance and practice.
the same philosophy of life and its essence was practised and proposed by every single sadhu, sant and sanyasi and dasa and sharana.
the enthusing features of religion can be concieved from the following lines from a sanskrit sloka:

dhruthi kshama damah ashtreyam
shuacham indriyanigraha I
dihi vidya satyam akrodha
darshakam dharma lakshanaam II

what's religion(dhatma)?there have been thousands of versions derived from time to time over a two thousand years. huaman race hasn't yet at a satisfactory conclusion which undoubtedly an unendinding process of search for truth.
its there in the blood of every indianess to render a helping hand to the fallen and help to satnd steady again. they call it, " its our DHARMA".
The point of discussion is not about the fallen-who, when, why, how and how much? becauase this wil lead us into a listless differential conclusions. if to uplift the fallen is Dharma, what attributes/traits the uplifter endoves. where does he imbibe these naunces from? an attempt to journey the alleys of untrodden meadows of Dharma renderes us all the answers because its from there metemorphosis commences.
let me unlock the complexities of subtle reality to make it simpler- brotherhood, sensibilty, integfrity, humility, co-operation, responsibility and truthfulness are infact the derivations of Dharma in the post medivial era.
what turns a 'human being into a parasite, unimpressive, uninspiring and gloomy is his dullness, stagnacy of thought process and lethargic acumenship.
the remedy to shun them all is to amke an indomitable approach towards pragmatic life style, to be part of the perennial soceity and participate in constructive endeavours and above all to travel across the country, nook and cornner of it. and then relate to the realities of the existence outside his chamber of mundaneness sandwitched between the crumbling walls. this process of realisation from relating and through the hard realities/enchanting experiences of travel result in the emergence of tourism literature. this is what an old adage in Kannada speaks about:
" Desha sutti nodu, Kosha odi nodu"

to be continued.......

THE WORLD OF DIRECT EXPERIENCES AND LEARNING BY DOING

2008-08-10T05:13:00.000-07:00

In a world of competitive freakiness fraught with the disease of capitalism, face of school education has enormously changed. Here comes the dire need to look into our schooling culture. A system that is slowly but steadily getting degenerated creating apprehensions of loosing out the generations to come into a world of ‘definitions’ instead of ‘applications’.

Since ages exceptional people have been trying hard to formulate a feasible working system of learning against ‘rote-culture’ on the principles of ‘thought provocation’, application, analyzing bend, appreciation, reasoning and practical approach of ‘learning by doing’.

‘Direct experiences and learning by doing’ are the age old alternatives for passive learning approaches being following followed by most of the schools across the nation. All though it’s making its slow and steady headway into some of the schools, the present pace would take decades to make these societies realize its importance. Unless the total existing system is revamped, the facelift will possibly be very slow.

Learning experiences should infuse the objectives of inquisitiveness, expression, reasoning , application , and appreciation. A great number of philosophers in the past have successfully experimented the same. The contribution s of Mahatma Gandhi, Rabindra nath Tagore, and Jiddu Krishna Murthy in this regard are of great scale.

Mahatma Gandhi during his stay in south Africa established Tolstoy farm, Rabindra anth Tagore opened Shanthiniketan –an international school with the philosophy of back to woods, J.K. started Rishi valley schools and Susaku the Japanese educationist commissioned the TOMO school.
These experimentations were holistic in nature and practical in nature with the principles of ‘back to nature' amidst which learning by doing and direct experiences were sincerely incorporated.
A child who appreciates the intensities of nature, a child who experiences anything directly, and a child who dares to experiment and apply them into its practical life by doing is unparallel in its composure, reasoning, expression and performance when put abreast to a child who is persistently injected with the doses of information.
A sudden peep into the nations which are technologically under privileged, socially not augmented, economically backward and commercially exploited would expose the hard realities of the handicapped state of education system.

India in the recent years has evolved itself to be the best sought after nation in the world for its finest brains, no doubt leading to economic resurgence but equally is the resurgence of corruption level. For a nation to make a mark, its not the bright assemblers we need but an army of inventors with a human face. Learning from and through direct experiences and doing combined with the zeal of imparting the socio-cultural values in the process of teaching- learning is the only proxy for us to resurrect ourselves from the tomb of degeneration.

Give the child two options and she would say, “ I would love to play in TOTOCHAN’s TOMO school than sit in Jack’s school and do arithmetic’s”. Hence the mantra of the system must diversify and change from ‘learn and then play to learn while you play’.
High degree of motor and cognitive development of a child(positively) will develop in an environment where she is let loose to reach up to the horizons and to bounce across the zeniths to discover and rediscover. Qualitative upsurge of a child’s thinking capacity to sprout has very less room left between the four walls and to the baritone of teachers.

We have come far off from the essence of ‘real learning’. A conscious effort to manure this unfertile soil of schooling by the think tanks to smell the dire demand of a progressive world ahead, we must adopt adapt to constructive system of deliverance.
In the words of Edward de Bono, “ almost all of what a child learns at school after the age of ten is totally irrelevant to his needs in later life…….. most schools do not teach thinking at all”.

In the past eight years or so, government of India has pumped in thousands of crores of rupees into ‘Sarva shiksha Abhiyaan’ programme , a comprehensive step in promoting primary education. Although its an accorded move, bringing children to the school alone is not education. The real and tougher task ahead is to transfer qualitative learning_ after a million Ifs and Buts we end up giving precedent answer of_ “There is still a lot do”.
Unfortunately the cozy world of globalization, liberalization, industrialization, urbanization and many more “zations” has yielded mechanical lifestyles creating compressed class rooms where children have to sit under a roof (the so called schools in the interior and remote regions of India are devoid of even that) suffocating all through the day for pumping in the “K” word to excel in multiple tests_helplessly and haplessly.

The result of all this is “ a great mess” that we tend to mess up with once these children formally get their degrees. Then we sit in coffee shop and talk about growing corruption, shunning of responsibilities, devaluating moral values and all sorts of contemporary and current drawbacks simultaneously hoping for a certain “visioneering” of a utopian visioneer to give us our breathing afresh again.

The services of the so called trained teachers are used in the preparation of study materials, question banks and hundreds and thousands of model papers. If the same energies of the same folks are invested in researching, in formulating activity oriented methods and in formulating creative approaches, no doubt there will be a sea change in our education system

Scientific temper, spiritual inclination, physical training, communicating abilities, vocational training and socio-cultural values were imbibed in the live4s of children of varied regions at “Tolstoy farm” and shantinikethan, best of the satyagrahis and the sharpest brains walked out of these premier schools of learning. Not a single prescribed book was used but all that’s required to be a successful human being was imparted simply practically.

Henceforth the whole army of educators need to introspect and rethink over the modus operandi of the lifeless schooling jammed with dullness and monotony.

to elevate standards of living with a liberated mind is torebuild the human society with a ocean full od peace and harmony, unlike the present state of affairs of unrest.

"A change is what brings in a deal of change".

LEARNING FOR ME AND LEARNING FOR YOU

2007-10-27T04:31:00.000-07:00

The article below was published in THE TIMES OF INDIA- NIE edition of Hyderabad on 5th December 2007 with the tiltle: ALL WORK AND NO PLAY

(An article on the present ‘Learning Process’ at school level in Indian education system and its influence on learners)

“The difficult is that which can be done immediately; the impossible is that which takes a little longer.”

_GEORGE SANTAYANA

It’s not uncommon to witness on countless occasions pupils being referred to as dummies and duffers, slow learners and low scorers, buffoons and weak students(I am afraid it doesn’t mean physically weak for I have been a weak person since my school days.) and an immeasurable tail of tags and nomenclatures—in most of the cases, taking “ marks scored against the maximum marks” as the sole parameter.

On questioning the credibility of such an outdated yet reckoned as a neo-parameter; people come out with fashionably packed ready made reasons to justify as though they have excelled in the post-doctoral research on the theory of “The survival of the fittest” and “Score high to withstand the competitive world!”.

Teaching has become teaching per se (in Indian perspective). As long as the principles of evaluation in our education system continue to numerator/denominator kind of a thing, there is hardly any chance far progressive surge in this regard.

Let the child enjoy his learning and learning ambiance and let’s not condition the child to breathe in stress. Let their dreams be not haunted by loads of worksheets, homework or home assignments. I f the present day thirty plus folks are asked to speak about their childhood, they would narrate an endless enchanting stories of their reveries of childhood days. I have apprehensions on what would the present generation kids have to tell about their childhood after a decade or so. Whom would they curse for not having played “HIDE AND SEEK?”

Everyone is born with a working brain, let there be no doubt about it (leaving aside the exceptions). Why then they shouldn’t be given their share of freedom to prove their mettle and individuality? How long should they lament for their own birthright?

“Child is the father of the son..............” (altered)

The need of the hour is not the so-called teachers but facilitators or may be supporters. I wouldn’t mind referring them as cordial helpers. Thrust should be on enhancing inquisitiveness and creativity of the child, originality of thought, application of knowledge, process of reasoning and analysis and imbibing moral values.

Although the pedagogues have for ages hailed these objectives as crux of any education system, nevertheless systematic approach in deliverance and practicality especially in India has largely been unsatisfactory. We have been successfully able to ‘produce’ the sophisticated and techie brains for the global market but have scantily been able to bring down illiteracy in its real terms.

“ Something is rotten in the state of affairs…….!”

Where have we gone wrong? To answer this million-dollar question we need to get back to the rudimentary business of learning process.

How qualitative and productive is our learning process?

An unfenced convivial learning environment around the child opens up ample opportunities which would act as catalysts to bore and shape the multiple intelligences. The

By-product of this will be an optimistic and progressive social being. In juxtaposition to this a conditioned and dogmatic atmosphere of learning will only hatch either prototypes of parasitism or self –centered individuals. Both are uncalled for in this present world of civilization.

Taken the size of the “Y” generation population, ‘ India is the youngest nation in the world’.

Who should guide this bubbling sizeable population to a well-groomed future?

Here is list of some suggestive measures which any pragmatic thinker would come out with_

* Role of boardroom policy making and syllabus framing:

The big heads involved in policy making and syllabus framing are accountable for what the whole of a generation is being imparted.

It shouldn’t become a Byzantine complexity nor should it be influenced by political vendetta. It’s high time they frame syllabi which kindles and boosts the learners’ thought process not mere cramming culture.

* Teachers (The torch bearers) :

They are the one on whom the whole world bestows the responsibility of grooming the learners to build not only their careers but also better societies. Unlike the other services it’s not a thankless job. Aristotle of bygone centuries is still revered as the highly inspired teacher. What the teacher imbibes lasts forever in the minds of learners. Learners get molded the way she molds them. The service should not be a mere means of bread earning alternate. It ought to be accepted as passion and honour.

* Parents/guardians (Emotional link):

They should be open and communicative, soothing and caring. They should never be repulsive, should cultivate good traits in their children and heed to their problems and needs. Avoid comparing the child with neighbours’ child which might result in negativity. Parental pressure will put a child in trauma succeeded by worst repercussions of any scale, play the role of a friend for an open verbal ism and compassionate enough to bust out stress. Give the child freedom that it often craves for but with a tinge of caution sensibly communicated.

* Why not bank on individual talents:

Every individual is born with some talent.
Identifying and improvising such talents in a child at the right age and stage will render fruitful dividends and of course opens up a Pandora of alternate opportunities in the follow.
Painting, dancing, singing, creative writing, photography, acting, orating and debating, scientific and mathematical experimentations to list some of them are today part of the curriculum by de-fault. A child showing interest in a particular art/skill must be provided a platform with enough time and space to nurture and excel. It could be any of the arenas listed above.
These forms of art sprout aesthetic sense, creativity and spontaneity in a child and double the energy and spirit. There is absolutely nothing in concrete to lose as its germane to the process of learning.

* Art of expression (Magic of speaking skills):

teachers,parents and all other elders in the life of a child must motivate,encourage and facilitate it to express openly and fearlessly. help it to overcome inhibitions. the more one is coaxed to express, the higher his confidence grows. it's conspicuous that a confident child performs better than anything else. at school peer learning in the form of group discussions, debates and a variety of other techniques come in handy to enhance communicating skills.

* “I Can Do” attitude:

“Don’t mind your make up but make up your mind”

I Can Do (ICD) attitude should be implanted right from the inception of schooling. Let the child soar into an endless sky fluffing with confidence to embrace its DREAMS.

With an ICD factor,

If a pretty hocker called Dhiru Bhai Ambani from a small town in Gujarat could build one of the richest business establishments in the world,

If a middle class lad called APJ Abdul Kalam from a small island town Rameshwaram in Tamil Nadu could go on to become the highest citizen of India,

If a Ludwig Van Beethoven born in Bonn in Germany I\even after turning into complete deaf could become world famous pianist and music composer,

If an ordinary soldier in the French army could become an emperor to rule half of Europe,

Why can’t anyone else, YOU and ME, make a DIFFERENCE!!

Honing a child is not hatching chicks. It’s a complex, continuous and comprehensive process of bringing out the best in the child as well as morphosing its abilities into an all round development for a tranquil global society.

The saga of “Learning for me and learning for you” should go on in a contentious manner. The crowd encompassing around a child should sow the seeds and deliver the requisite goods and the transformation automatically takes place and the child reciprocates by standing high.

2007-09-23T05:37:00.000-07:00

FAITH
Pray they the sinking sun in its doom
Spreading on the barren lands of deserts in evening,
Like the sentenced satins;
Whiten they blotted arcs of hymns silly on the bricks powdered
My foot then they call him their mighty Almighty.

Pray they the rising moon in its gloom
Diving into the sinned waters of brooks east flowing,
Like the endangered dolphins;
Nail they framed portraits of spirits ghostly on the walls mudded
My foot then they call him their mighty Almighty.

to be continued...

ಮುಳುಗೋ ರವಿಯ ಪೂಜಿಸುವರವರು ಅವನ ಸಮಾಧಿ ಸೇರೋವಾಗ

ಮೈಚಾಚಿ ಮಲಗಿರಲು ಮರಳಿನ ಮಹಾಸಮುದ್ರದೊಳಗ

ಅಮ್ರುತದೊಳಗೆ ಮಧಹಸ್ತವಾದ ಮುನಿಬಲಾಗದ ಹಾಗೆ

ಚಪ್ಪರವೇ ಇಲ್ಲದ ಮನೆ ಗೋಡೆಗಳ ಸುಣ್ಣ ಬಡಿಯುತಿಹರವರ್ ಜಪಮಾದುತಲಿಹರವರು

ಹುಚು ಸಂತೆಯ ಹುಚ್ಚರಿವರು ಅವನ ಕರೆಯುವರು ಅಲ್ಲಮನೆಂದು!

2007-09-17T04:10:00.000-07:00

THE FAKIR, THE QUEEN AND THE SHEEP

I am summoned by the mother of angels my Queen
She in her kitty has a thousand offers to make
You know She has descended here to heal every problem of problems
You know She hates to see her children sleep in the laps of hunger
You know She is concerned
Compassionate, affectionate,loving,soothing,caring,sharing
Yes She is everything
Everything that a Queen is destined to have
She is my Queen and your Queen and unquestionably every body's
You know she wants every child of hers to be crowned
Knows She even in her depths of clouded sights She can't fulfil that
But challenges She, She will have that realised one day, yes one fine day.
She has a husband smart and handsome
He rarely attends the court
He rarely comes out of that hilltop castle
He rarely travels countryside
Saw him I last time when the Queen bore her first son.
Next month her son is expected to be father if everything with his better half goes right.

I am summoned by the mother of angels my Queen
Our knight of the eastern province last Sunday was summoned too
A man of business,thought and doing
He had differences with different courtiers of the Queen
It was about the legal taxes and soaring prices groceries and dipping prices of automobiles
Sheep are we all, do we all as told we are to
Fields are ours, pastures are ours, crops are ours, seeds are ours
plough we, irrigate we, manure we, harvest we
Sacks eight out ten that every sheep grows is Royal tax!
That comes back to market sheds is costlier than loamy soil under our cracked feet
Plough we for food ploughed are our bellies taxes they call it for!
Our knight sought for mercy
And given he was plenty
Vultures of our eastern province are loyal too
they went on an indefinite hunger strike
they calmly rejected to dine on our knight
And then came the order
and
they were sent to heaven too
Not to deny the fact with all royal respects for being so loyal.

I am summoned by mother of angels my Queen
I am the knight now, knight of the sheep, sheep of the eastern province, province of my Queen
I am the knight now, of faith have they bestowed upon me an honour to yell
Vultures of the eastern province in Lords I pray
To reject to dine on my flesh of my sullen limbs
Assured my fleet to fight for the caged rights without any respite.

to be continued

LOST IN MARRIAGE

2007-09-16T08:30:00.000-07:00

I know da dead one never come back!
The living one are married!
The married one might hardly divorse!
The divorsed one will carry kids!
I dont like kids!
SO marriage is an IDIOTIC COMPROMISE!
That most of the folks get SUCKED in.

lIVE LION (moderator of www.inspirationpeak.com)from Canada has left the following criticism over my lines scribbled abive:
Posted: September 15, 2007, 8:28 pm

I have NEVER considered marriage a compromise. I love my spouse and my kids. I was not sucked into anything. I more than willingly gave myself to love and be loved. To grow, nurture and encourage side by side with my loved one. Faithfulness, honor, perseverance, wisdom, gratitude, understanding, emotional growth, fulfillment, enhanced, balance, loyalty, respect, security, joy, sensual bliss, gentleness, dignity and love understood in all its forms from the most gentle to the hardest to the ease of life. This is just a few words to describe what marriage has bestowed on me and mine!
Marriage when given 100% by 100% as much as one knows or becomes aware of along the journey together... is one of the most astounding of all the human relationships.

I would defend mine to my very own death! inlove

Marriage is fixed within the heart and that deep bond is one of the greatest that could be known... unfortunately we live in an imperfect world. Hurt people hurt people. That is why I believe I personally have the right and priviledge to find all the barriers within me that hinder my relationship with my own spouse... so I am the spouse that mine deserves! Funny how it has a give and take effect... because my spouse is also evolving more and more over the years into the man of my reality and not dreams!

I am sorry you have not had this embrace of love as the known example in your life Sanjeevdavinci... but please be assured... it does indeed exist! And I do believe that it is indeed the divine order that heaven did want established for all who partake of it. Again, it is people's brokeness and not the holiness of creation that has made so many marriages null and void.

Love Lion~*MaritalBlissCanHoldManyATwist
ButIfYouFocusAndUnwindYouCanHaveALifeLongGoodTimePaw

____________

I'm letting my soul sing ~.*.~ ~*

William Wordsworth:
Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart...

missing soul

2007-09-14T22:59:00.000-07:00

ಯಾವ ಗತಕಾಲದ ಪುಣ್ಯ ಕರ್ಮಕಾಂಡಗಳ ಪ್ರತಿಫಾಲಾವೋ
ಯಾವ ಯಕ್ಷ ಪ್ರಶ್ನೆಗಳಿಗೆ ತಪ್ಪುತ್ತರದ ದಂಡನೆಯೋ
ನಾನ್ ಈ ಭುವಿಗೆ ಧಬ ಅಂಥ ಬಂದು ಬಿದ್ದೆ
ಬಿದ್ದೆ ಬಿದ್ದು ಎದ್ದೆ
ಎದ್ದೆ ಎದ್ದು ಮತ್ತೆ ಬಿದ್ದೆ
ಬಿದ್ದೆದ್ದು ಎದ್ದು ಬೀಳುವುದುರಾಗ
ಅಂಬಿಕಾತನಯದತ್ತ ತನುವನ್ನ ಬಿಟ್ಟು ಮಣ್ಣಿಗೆ
ಮನವನ್ನ ಬಿಟ್ಟು ನಮಗೆ
ಕಾನೆಯಗಿದ್ದರು!!

Im what I am
An athiest they call me as I never pray them who they pray,
Barring my insanity I was never a great witty,
Yes they say
They say I was born to die and chronically cry,
In my endaevour to rosey hell of pre-historic talking apes
Zipped their skins off stand they cramming;
With the sound of cronches behind the curtains of Rangayana,
How far shall I walk on my weired bony arms?
She is not around to drudge me ahead.
I am born to die
So shall I die.
Send me a mail or female
But with something that keeps me alive till I die.

AND THERE ARE

2007-04-04T02:15:00.000-07:00

There are commons fixing fences for us
There are gurus fermenting lives for us
There are hatchers cooking lives for us.
And there are
Those all whom you know
Those all who you know but recall not
Those all whom you crave not to recall at all.
And there are
Things that you loved to play with
Things that were of the finest gifts couriered to you
Things that you always wished to present to
Things that you loved to hate
Things that you hated to love.
And there are
Thoughts which squeezed your childhood
Thoughts which you shared on your fairy walks
Thoughts which ignited your dampness
Thoughts which you breathed out to change a hundred lives around
Thoughts which encroached into your id.
And there are
Theatres where characters chameleonise at every stroke of midnight
Theatres where bondages are bounded over decades and broken overnight
Theatres where wired clowns are baked on biddings
Theatres where mules are cloned and human skin tanned
Theatres where mediocre tangle with the bourgeois.
And there are
Thatches full of Somalian skeletons and Ugandan skulls hung all over
Thatches painted in African blood shades
Thatches ornamented with the oriental empty earthen hungry bowls
Thatches across euroamerica with reinforced steel and cemented beams,pillars and beams
Thatches with golden canopies down the stairs of world bank with civilized beggars.
And there are
Thinkers who really thought over their heads and difference they made
Thinkers who really didn’t boil their heads yet difference they made
Thinkers who were buried alive ‘coz though tugged for Utopian reality
Thinkers who sneaked, demolished and demised in the orbital pull
Thinkers who woke up erupted like Fujiyama under the scorching sun.
And there are
Thugs flicking and flicking and flicking and flicking
Thugs being caught and beaten up released and felicitated ‘gain
Thugs with empty bellies they go daintily raising arms for alms
Thugs baptized to be put into the gentleman’s list
Thugs licensed to ease inside parliaments, assemblies and august chairs.

CHE

2007-04-04T02:14:00.000-07:00

Is born
Born in the thick greens of Bolivia
Beware! All the agents of the new world;
Che is born-
Born in the deserts of Atakama
Born in the jungles of Mississippi
Born in the Sahyadri hills
Born in the Siberian colds
Born in the skyscrapers of choicago
Born in the dark world,
Be ware! All the machine men;
Che is born-
Westerlies will retreat
Monsoons will retreat
Tornadoes will retreat
All shall assemble at Leningrad
Alight here till the bell rings
Disperse we shall
To the hamlets and megalopolis
To the huts and city heights
To the oil fields of gulf and Wall street
Soil troughs are borrowed to reverberate
Seeds are sprouting
And the sunflowers facing the east.
Che is born-
Beware the bulls!

RON ATCHISON from Sanfransisco has the following comments:

Ron Atchison
Inspiration Peak

Joined: Nov. 2001
Posts: 120
Location: San Francisco
Now Reading: The People's History of the World - by Howard Zinn

Posted: April 15, 2007, 8:15 pm

Hello Sanjeev....

I just wanted to comment on this poem 'Che'.... it's powerful and beautifully written... and most of all, I think it's the most 'readable' of all the poems you've shared with us. I think it's so important that poems be written in a way that the masses, the 'everyday joes', the working people can appreciate - especially poems of a political nature.

All my best to you friend!

Ron
Inspiration Peak

Edited by Ron Atchison on April 15, 2007, 8:29 pm.

BEING RULED

2007-04-03T03:10:00.000-07:00

Gaudy with grotesque countenance
Roll calls uphilled for bricking mansions
Fisted the white and balck walling 'gainst
Lashing the star over the gigantic barrack awaits!

Black panther curled briskly ventures to crawl
Three billion rats will sneak in
Which skyscraper would sponsor the pidepipers,
How many might they bid for!

MUSINGS OFAN UNSOLICITED EARLY MORNING

2007-04-03T02:10:00.000-07:00

Early morning sun is squeezed into my sleeping room
Through the daringly freaky window that keeps opening
Without prior consent,
Sleeping corpses I think could be woken up
Somehow, a cry, a bang or a kick
Difference hardly it ends in,
I don’t foresee any devils of that sort.

Cotton inside the mattress oppressed for years
It has been with to rescue
No one at the doors.

Perspired all through the chilly night of full moon day
Face I must this unholy gypsy
Standing right before my window in the lonely sky;
That rusty piece of plastic like thing
At first wake sneaks
At second wake shrieks.

These well-wishers so called
Find time enough to recall the high tides
In the accounts at the month ends,
Of course their bosses pay and they gay.

Heaviest are the young mornings
After sleepless nights starting from
Living room to study room and to kitchen
Then ‘gain to study and then to balcony thrice
Then to bed and then to dining and then to bed,
At last into solitary darkness!
Back! Black! Black! Black!

A five odd pairs of seducing moonlight
Through those black holes in my roof,
May have been,
Popping in and dancing on to the snores of Tommy under the cot;
Then like cathedral candle burning to melt down a while later,
Like deceiving venalities of poignant human life,
Vanish the moony beams
By the trumpets of leisurely waking sun
With a slippery yawn
Ingratiating smile
Woke me up!
You unfaithful mongrel of the dishonest skies!

IN THE WOODS OF SHANTINIKETAN: AUTUMN 1999

2007-04-02T02:49:00.000-07:00

Slender thy forefingers nimble their faces are dude afar
You in divinity ditched my million wishes at the altar
Thee shall ever rever thy esteemed stature
Foreseen thou mine is the cursed stupidity.

He a dozen tales about sermoned to me
Occasionally how thee were stormy,
Damn the glimpse per se
Stars shall shy away be crushed.

Aparno Dutta
The wrong pseudonym may be mistake it was of mine to Christine you so
How shall I but had the name dreamt of
Light of the darkness
Music of the woods
Strolls of evening
Call of the breaths
Petals half dead showered from the skies above
Boughs kneeling down to ease chastity;
You smiled, smiled ‘gain
Dr. Herman Heck passed by smiling like a child in the cradle
Tenth day was it friends they had been
Wonderful autumn really is
Aquarians crawling hand in hand.
Reds, yellows, blues,
Splashed all over the virgin canvass
That little dimple in the right cheek
Reminds me of you unto the last limp
Ohff!
That falling smile is mesmerizing me doll, don’t smile now please!
Vibrant shades to welcome all here forth
All have been solicited I think, at least it looks so,
We both have together are here uninvited
Somebody is to marry today
At the house behind that Bolpur station
Officially every friend and every relative has been
Informed and cordially solicited, ‘gain it seems so Sohan said,
Some come for music
Some for food
Some for a match
Some for fun
Some for a show
Some for especially those rasgullas,
Some for something unknown to none.
After the death of the first year
The neighbours, if parents are alive they may too
Come for a piece of unevenly cut cake to eat
On the occasion of maiden birthday celebrations,
If you call and if they feel so to come its all vice-versa.

Relationships are of need, or it may not be exactly
Feeling for is just a perspired traveler misguided
Cruising lethargically over the calms waters
Of evening breeze went we to the chaywalla for tea two cupsfull.
You are if you think you are
You aren’t if you think you aren’t
So, we thought we were
So we were what we wished to be of a good company to the solitude autumn!

comments by RATCHISON

Ron Atchison
Inspiration Peak

Joined: Nov. 2001
Posts: 120
Location: San Francisco
Now Reading: The People's History of the World - by Howard Zinn

Posted: April 11, 2007, 1:48 am

Hello Sanjeev!!!

Once again it's very interesting to see the world through your eyes...

I especially like the way your words tease each other and dance off the tongue in every direction.... kind of like a T.S. Eliot poem.

How many years have you been writing poetry?

continuation to SCOUNDRELS of ganges

2007-01-11T05:17:00.001-08:00

All the sands of Sahara,waters of Pacific,pines of Alpine,yens of Japan,scents of Arabia,guns of America,ribs of Somalia,widows of Iraq,orphans of Afghan,
On the ramps of Ankara land
Can they match the prostitutes of democracy
And
Bastards of politics and Brutus and their balderdash?
He scissors into bellies
Gopes for the rib cages
To play the tunes of sarangi
One by one asserting to announce the exact number
Counts again and again the viscous ribs
Pulls out intestines to curl around his arms and does the shakira,
Demands for recompense
Then licks the bowl full of dust and fungus.
On the front page Laxman's cartoon sings the song unto the grave for the day's burial.
Subcontinental rivers are meandering,
Thames is willing to offer its clutches but the Queen is unwilling.
Ganges is thirsty so is she sobbing,
Mississippi is ready to quench her thirst ,
But Yankees are unwilling.
In the corridors of haunted castle behind the lunatic Gothic pillars
Government and its clowns are joking,
Opposition is opposing,
Kudos to comrades! under their asses are they sleeping?

continuation to SCOUNDRELS of ganges

2007-01-10T07:12:00.000-08:00

I opened the door,
Smog has taken the throne of this murky morning
Only thing visible to my dry eyes through this summer smog is a long-long thick blanket of of smog all around,
Thick smog,thin smog,dark smog,black smog,crouching smog,choking smog,howling smog,butcherig smog,
I broke into the smoggy ravines
Rubbed my dusty eye balls stood I'
Down on the pavement, at that corner,
Yes that very corner
Stood Tughlak with a pair of eyes in dispair
But commanded his men, his children thirsty,hungry,exhausted and naked
To shape that invinsible fort, treacherous and venomous,
Sultan was exulted, He blessed them all as a client of Prophet.
They thanked him and said amien!
Really! at times
Madness has sense and sense has madness
Here stands Sultan's creation
Off the veins of pampered His own children.
On the pavements of dalal streets
Little hands alongwith stray dogs are on their diarnal duty
Both in the wastebins and heaps of waste
Plummaging to remonstrate against starvation.
Obnoxious worlds borne by Brahma are being squeezed into the bottles of rot champegne bottles and tightened with spanish corks.

continuation of SCOUNDRELS of ganges

2007-01-08T04:41:00.000-08:00

There are folks who always smile at their party's penalty
Have you ever not been party to it my friend
Every morning and every evening
Before the dawns and dusks
We had the pain at heart and mercy at will on credit basis
Searching for one last panacea for this jejune Homosapien life
Pentagon weather and Yellow stone national park swirls and twisters
Breezing and blowing aside and beside and all around
Millions and millions my friend may be billions
A whole generation of misanthropes
There are bulls,bitches,foxes,jackals,owls,hyenas,hawks and what not
'Coz of this,'coz of that
Have morphed me those scoundrels of ganges numb
What am I craving for machcha?
Is it self mortification of the bloody bohemian inside my own den of thoughts!
Alas! she is the most believable creature on this beautiful earth not to be believed
Entrepreneur of
Jerking,kindling,drowning,seducing,breaking,hovering slice of smile!
At whose capacity
At whose cost
At whose throat
I am a no novice today, neither was yesteryears;
One with a pair of drooping shoulders and heavy head
Thy bosses waiting to alight on my head and dine to their belly,
In the scroll of maps one I've for my comrade
If you wish you can have it in full
If you want you can have it in pieces
If you wish you can have it in soups
All at your will and risk.
Wait, somebody I think is at the door
...Doorbell isn't ringing for a few years
So is that knocking of course irritating;
Who could it be?
Doodhwala,chaywala,bill collectorwala,taxiwala,policewala,boss,boss ka p.a.,neighbourwaleka Wife,his daughter,no. I don't have an affair with,friend-which one?,Tommy-how can a dog?
Who knows they are no less smart,
Pizzas and burgers they also have added to their diet.
Then who could it be........?

to be continued..................

SCOUNDRELS of ganges

2007-01-07T06:18:00.000-08:00

WAIT! let me take a break
My neighbour is barking at my bedroom window and me
Listen, I havw never been a scuffler
Oh! yes struggler is not a lie may be
"You bloody scoundrel"
What's that he's shouting 'gain
No, this fellow is not going to let me to slumber thi morning,
Wait, what did he call me-"scoundrel"
Never,never did me try to change my name
I still own the name my father it seems gave me
Atleast, I swear by that empty Officers Choice bottle
Ya atleast half of my barrowed name still I breathe on...
What could I do if the breath has puffs and puffs of my buddy Gold Flake smoke
Tell me dears could you ever betray your buddies?
No. Isn't it. So did I.
Let me see what my samaritan streetmates snag is.

to be continued...............