India- In search of Independence

65 years of independence and the search is still on. Yes, this country is still searching for the true independence which was dreamt off; independence from corruption, independence from poverty and independence from many more social evils.

Today in the midst of “second battle of freedom” which is going on in political arena, I as a common youth sometimes find myself in doubt. All I see around me is scams, corruption and oppression. From BOFORCE to CHARA, BLACK MONEY to CWG and then AADARSH to 2G. Every year, every month; a new scam, bigger than the previous one comes to dent this freedom.

Now when a 74 year old man raised his voice against the corruption, everyone started talking about fight against corruption. But question arises are we really ready to fight? Do we have the willingness to eradicate this bug? Are we ready to stop skipping traffic signals, are we ready to say no ‘donation seats’, are we ready to oppose for any demand for bribe?

There are hundreds of question like this that deals with our day to day life corruption, which we our self impose on us. If the answer to all these questions is ‘No’, then this fight is senseless. Only supporting Anna will not help, there is need to help ourselves. Jan Lokpal is only an instrument in this fight against corruption; the real weapon is our will and efforts. I know it’s easier saying than doing but at least we can make an effort by not initiating corruption from our end.

Life in last 2 years

Someone has rightly said that one enjoys the best part of life in college.
College days are the most important and memorable part in anyone’s life. It shapes a person from a youngster to a mature human; it is the place where long lasting friendships are grown. Whatever we become, wherever we go in life, the sweet memories and precious experience during college days remains always close.

Unlike many others I came back to college to discover myself- to explore something new, something interesting in a new city far away from my place. All this is more important to me as this was my first step to come out of my comfort zone and face different culture, and unfamiliar surroundings and do something new.

The delightful time started from the initial days with friendship, fresher’s party, fest, seminars, superb faculty and friendly seniors. It becomes even more delightful when you get to know lots of new stuff, friendship with new people and do other un-related things that are not related with studies. The tea at Cheta & Naik, kanti’s Chat and sandwich, Facebook and orkut life and the fun experience of living on campus with thousands of other people our age truly can't be described.

As an individual if I look back two years back, I find huge value addition to my knowledge, personality and experience. Above all these things, I found the roadmap toward my destination.

But there are hard times too in college – like the semester exams and then the night before result, and finally when friends are not around after year’s long companionship. I hope this fun & learning continues in life ahead.

The real HERO

80 years ago on 23rd march, 1931 a young 23 year old guy sacrificed himself willingly for the freedom struggle of India. Today is the 80th death anniversary of Sardar Bhagat Singh (along with Rajguru & sukhdev), who undoubtedly is one of the most influential revolutionaries of the Independence movement of India.

Bhagat Singh joined the freedom movement at young age of 14 years and became attracted to anarchism and Marxist ideologies. Bhagat Singh was one of the most prominent faces of Indian freedom struggle. He was a revolutionary ahead of his times. By Revolution he meant that the present order of things, which is based on manifest injustice must change. Bhagat Singh studied the European revolutionary movement and was greatly attracted towards socialism. He realised that the overthrow of British rule should be accompanied by the socialist reconstruction of Indian society and for this political power must be seized by the workers.

In 1929 Bhagat singh planned to explode a bomb in the Central Legislative Assembly, against an act which give more power to the police and suppress common man. He later along with Batukeshwar dutt threw a light non-lethal bomb onto the vacant corridors of the assembly; the bomb neither killed nor injured anyone. Refusing to run away from the scene, Bhagat Singh gave himself up deliberately for arrest after the bombing stating “it takes a loud voice to make the deaf hear”

Bhagat Singh was charged with the murder. Bhagat Singh decided to use the court as a tool to publicise his cause for the independence of India. While in jail, Bhagat Singh and other prisoners launched a 63 days hunger strike advocating for the rights of prisoners and those facing trial. The reason for the strike was that British murderers and thieves were treated better than Indian political prisoners, who, by law, were meant to be given better rights. The aims in their strike were to ensure a decent standard of food for political prisoners, the availability of books and a daily newspaper, as well as better clothing and the supply of toiletry necessities and other hygienic necessities. He also demanded that political prisoners should not be forced to do any labour or undignified work.

Despite great popular pressure and numerous appeals by political leaders of India, Bhagat Singh and his associates were hanged in the early hours of March 23, 1931.

A refreshing trip to COORG- Scotland of India

A refreshing trip to COORG- Scotland of India

Last month I planned for a 3 day trip to Coorg in Karnataka, which is also known as KODAGU. I collected all related information about trip from friends and internet. I was very excited as it was my first trip in South India & it was my birthday too, but sudden heavy rain and bad weather forecast ruined all plans. Due to nonstop rain for more than 30 hours in Bangalore, we were forced to postpone the trip which resulted in many trip members backing out. By the time weather became clear I was left with only one friend to accompany me. With everything to reschedule and only 2 days of holidays left we decided to travel by KSRCT Bus till the city headquarter of Coorg & later hire any private transport.

We booked our ticket for the last bus of the day which starts from Bangalore at 23.55. KSRTC bus service is quite impressive and gives you variety of options according to your budget and is runs between all major destinations in Karnataka & bordering states. We boarded our bus from Satellite Station, Bangalore to Kushalnagar. Hardly one hour of journey had passed and it again started raining. With God’s grace there was no rain as we proceeded further.

Morning exactly at 5 a.m. we reached Kushalnagar. The sky was quite dark; showing the clear sign of heavy rain. With no option to wait till Sun makes it appearance, we headed to a tea stall opposite to Bus stand; there we met a local guy Hasan who gave us good information about the transport facility and exact distance information of the area. As we ordered the tea rain drops started to touch the ground. After around 20 minutes of rain finally when it stopped I saw the first glimpse of gift of Mother Nature to this place. Soon the place was covered with a very thin layer of fog and I felt like home (my village in Uttarakand).

We waited for sun to show its first rays and then took an auto to Bylakuppe which is around 5-6 km from Kushalnagar bus stand. Bylakuppe is the Tibetian resettlement location with well maintained fine-looking & calm surrounding and many monastery and temples. The way to Bylakuppe was full of greenery & environment was very peaceful. In 10-15 minutes we reached Namdroling monastery and started clicking few photographs & took a round of nearby places. Monastery is open for visitors from 8 a.m. - 5 pm. In the meantime we got opportunity to talk to few monks & local canteen owner inside monastery and we got to know that there are few more monasteries nearby. Inside Namdroling Monastery we saw Golden temple, with colorful paintings and three huge golden statues, well maintained gardens with beautiful plants, trees and birds. We clicked many pictures there, met few monks, students and then took our breakfast. After spending around one and half hours in monastery we decided to skip other monastery and took auto back to Kushalnagar. But if you have sufficient time and your own vehicle, spend more time there and cover all places.

From kushanagar we took bus for our next destination Nisargadhama which is hardly 2 km away from kushalnagar. Nisargadhama is an island formed by river Cauvery; it is a kind of picnic spot. It has a deer park, Elephant Park, cottages & off course river Cauvery. Although the island is not well maintained according to its potential of prospective tourist spot, one won’t be let down after capturing the astonishing flow of river and its surroundings. With some more time you can also enjoy river rafting and elephant ride at Dubare elephant camp 10-15 km away from Nisargadhama.

From there we boarded bus to Madekeri, the City Headquarter of Coorg, which is around 32 km away from Nisargadhama. The journey to Madekeri became more exciting with beautiful landscape, curved roads, green hills & small villages on the way. Someone has rightly said the soul of India exists in our villages, geographically I was around 2500 km away from home but it all felt like home. The 45 minute long journey got over in Madekeri town, which looked much commercialized from the time I got down the bus. We were neither tired nor hungry so we decided to catch up the main attraction of madekeri, the Abbi falls. We bargained with an auto driver George for to and fro visit to Abbi falls with 45 minutes and hired the auto for Rs 150. Abbi falls is around 8 km away from town and way to falls is full of flourishing greenery and narrow curved road. I was so fascinated by the beauty of the nature that I was forced to stop & capture it. You can clearly hear the sound of water falling even from a km away. The splendid view of Abbi falls was the best part of this whole journey; surrounded by giant trees, water running down on black rocks and creating froth was just amazing. After a long photography session and admiring the beauty of falls we moved back to town. On the way to town comes Raja’s tomb, I had read a lot about it many articles while collecting information. It was quite disappointment to see lack of maintenance of tomb and its surrounding. Without wasting time we moved to Madekeri fort cum museum where again we didn’t find anything special except elephant statue to click a few snaps.

Now the Sun was also shining hard and we were hungry also, so we decided to have a lunch break and we decided to try out food at nearby restaurant. After finishing the lunch and taking rest we moved to Omkareshwar Temple which again has nothing great to offer. We decided to move to Raja’s seat which is very popular for amazing view of the madekeri, sunrise & sunset. Few meters before Raja’s Seat the climate again changed its mood and heavy rain started. The weather became so pleasant with clouds all around complimenting to the lush green hills of madekeri. Raja’s Seat has a well maintained beautiful garden and sunset point with ample space for visitors to capture the nature’s beauty. One can see the awesome view of clouds playing with the mountains on any rainy day. After spending hours & clicking many snaps at raja’s seat, we moved to Bus stand to our joy one Volvo bus was ready to depart. Thus this amazing trip came to its end; I still regret missing the opportunity of house stay and local food in Coorg.

If any of you plan for trip to Coorg, I would recommend go with a group, plan for minimum 2-3 days and enjoy the stay in Coorg.

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What is important Worship or place of worship ?

These days everyone is talking about Ayodhya and its upcoming verdict, but sad part is most of us are bothered about Holiday on the day of verdict, rather than gravity of issue and post verdict concerns of the issues for a common man. It is a political & power game issue and a common citizen from any religion has no interest in custody of Ayodhya land.

Recently during few conversations I realized that many of us aren’t even aware about the facts on the issue. Without being biased and without any intention to hurt sentiments of others, I would like to throw some light on this issue.

Ayodhya issue is related to piece of land which has a disputed structure as its center. This area of land known as Ram Janmbhumi (Birth place of Lord Rama) is considered to be a sacred place according to Hindu belief and had a temple from the ancient times. According to many historical notes during Mughal invasion of India in early 16^th century the temple was demolished/ modified and a mosque, now known as “Babri Masjid” was built in the same place, which was named after Mughal emperor Babar.

Before 1940 the place was known as Masjid-i-janmasthan and it is been said that Hindus and Muslims both use to worship together in disputed structure till mid 19 century. In year 1885, Mahant Raghubar Ram moved the courts for permission to erect a temple just outside the Babri Masjid premises but District Judge dismissed the case citing the passage of time. Hindus in the area were claiming that the Mosque had not been used by Muslims since 1936, and they took over the 'unused' mosque in 1949.

In 1984 Vishwa Hindu Parishad (a religious Hindu association) launched a movement to reclaim the site for Hindus who want to erect a temple dedicated to the lord Rama. During 1989-90, inauguration of a proposed new grand Temple with Government permissions, led to politically motivated religious unrests in many parts of India and Government moved court. The temple movement took momentum with Karsevaks (Hindu volunteers) pouring into Ayodhya. Many political parties, religious leaders from both communities made situation worse by national calls, rallies & remarks on disputed structure and thus provoking the religious sentiments.

On 6 December 1992, a mob of karsevaks demolished the structure despite a commitment by the government to the Indian Supreme Court that the mosque would not be harmed, which led to riots & unrest in many parts of country killing over 2000 people. On 16 December 1992, Government set Liberhan Commission to probe the circumstances that led to the demolition of Babri structure. It has been longest running commission in India's history with several extensions granted by various governments.

On February 27, 2002 around 58 people were killed in Godhra, Gujarat, in an attack on a train believed to be carrying Hindu volunteers from Ayodhya. Riots followed in the state and over 1000 people were reported to have died in riots.

God only knows how many people have lost their lives, home, livelihood and their loved ones. Time & again this issue is raised for personal interest by national leaders and common men who do not have any interest in the issue suffer. Both religions have sentiments with structure in Ayodhya, so a common solution is required.When GOD IS EVERYWHERE and FOR EVERYONE, then why so much confusion? Why a hospital or a public facility center cannot be built at the disputed place, which can serve people in need rather than serving religion.

It’s my sincere request to you all “please don’t get provoked or influenced by any political & religious speech. Worship is valued with intention with which one prays not with place where you pray”.

Amit