tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46331490944281581042024-03-06T12:13:19.986+05:30A Rational MindPranjal Waghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08152240660360102153noreply@blogger.comBlogger50125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633149094428158104.post-79430692146871952432009-10-29T18:39:00.002+05:302009-10-29T18:41:07.103+05:30We have shifted....Hi Friends,<br /><br />I would like to inform you that 'A Rational Mind' has now shifted to wordpress at the address www.rational-mind.com<br /><br />You can find all the previous articles on this new location plus many more new write-ups!<br /><br />Do visit us and leave your comments!<br />Thanks,<br /><br />Regards,<br />Pranjal WaghPranjal Waghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08152240660360102153noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633149094428158104.post-23696522043820029542009-09-08T00:35:00.003+05:302009-09-08T00:58:36.530+05:30Fighting over Food in the bachpan!*********<br />Hello dear readers! I am back after almost two months of running after the admissions in MBA colleges, sleeping, falling sick, recovering, falling sick again and then finally getting back to the routine! I am back to college life now and also the the world of blogging! <br />I am happy to see that the blog has kept up its readership in my absence. Thats a big thank you to all of you!<br />Ok, Lets get back to the blog posts now!<br />*********<br /><br />Everyone of us who is lucky enough to have a sibling, be it elder or younger, is also lucky enough to learn the importance of sharing. Sharing food, sharing sweets, sharing clothes and even sharing the scoldings and beatings of parents, we siblings do it all! <br /><br />I remember certain instances from my childhood days when we used to buy certain food items from hotels to have in the evenings. The food items would be exactly enough for the family members and me and my brother would always get into altercations like India and Pakistan over 'kisko jyada mila hai'. He has got more than me! How can you do like this? (to our mother!) Ultimately we would throw daggers at each others like South-Indian heroes via our eyes and still manage to enjoy our snacks.<br /><br />I also remember telling my aunt one fine evening when one of the Mahabharats over the division of snacks (which were incidentally Venky's Chicken Nuggets!), " Me motha jhalo na ki me ekta ek packet vikat ghenar aani ektach akkha packet khanar!" (" When I grow up, I will buy one whole packet only for myself and have it alone!")<br /><br />The reply that she gave to me was, " You will not enjoy it as much when you eat alone as you are enjoying it now while fighting over the food with your brother!"<br />Being a kid, I ridiculed her reply and did not quite understand the depth of the statement.<br /><br />But today, when my brother is not here and is thousands of miles away from me, I get plenty of opportunities to have delicacied all on my own here. Chicken Sandwich, Mithais, Chocolate cakes, Samosas, Vadas all are at my mercy. I get to have them alone! What I had said one fine evening was indeed coming true! I was getting to have food all alone without sharing it!!<br /><br />But then why was I not enjoying the food? Why was the chocolate cake not so delicious and tasty? Why was the chicken sandwich not that juicy and yummy as it used to be when we fought over food?<br /><br />It was then that realization dawned upon me. The wisdom of the reply that my aunt had given me several years back hit me like punch in the nose. My brother wasn't here...<br /><br />To fight over the food, to share it and always get the smaller share, being treated 'unfair' by the parents and him being preferred all the time, I getting more scoldings and he being let off lightly my brother was not here. The main ingredient which made the food that I ate after fighting and yet sharing it so tasty and fulfilling was not here!<br /><br />And hence what our parents never said but inculcated in us from our childhoods - the habit of sharing- is so important in life. Sharing increases the love between siblings. It binds them so tightly together that even if they are thousands of miles away they are still bound together by that bond that they 'share'.<br /><br />And that is why I do not enjoy the delicacies so much nowadays because of the absence of the very factor which made them worth fighting for! <br /><br />Aamir Khan has rightly said in Andaz Apna Apna, " Arre, Do chai kyu? Ek chai vapas, Ek chai vapas! Do Dost ek pyale mein chaai piyenge, isse dosti badhti hai, isse pyaar badhta hai!"<br /><br />So my only message to all the people would be to share! Because sharing your things with others increases the friendship and love!<br /><br /><br />-Pranjal Wagh<br /><br /><br /><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/88x31.png" /></a><br />This <span xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text" rel="dc:type">work</span> by <span xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" property="cc:attributionName">Pranjal A. Wagh</span> is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/">Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License</a>Pranjal Waghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08152240660360102153noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633149094428158104.post-876201535571699372009-07-01T17:10:00.002+05:302009-07-01T17:43:01.383+05:30पाऊस गप्पा...<p>मी बोलू लागतो, <br />त्या पावसाबरोबर. <br />माझ्या एकटेपणात, <br />तोच माझा मित्र असतो.</p> <p> <br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj39wsI96XjKXyac0HyMKEyFCw1GS4yRV87xDxdUJJj_FRUY22OM2kyDopfIq_z9rUY39GKnq-ZyjeE4yHkuFEI9aw0jb21s0CO3GhKBMdSNwi8ZsFwr-1bDPbz0GquWNfq9WXGUJEfTrY/s1600-h/5273493.jpg"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj39wsI96XjKXyac0HyMKEyFCw1GS4yRV87xDxdUJJj_FRUY22OM2kyDopfIq_z9rUY39GKnq-ZyjeE4yHkuFEI9aw0jb21s0CO3GhKBMdSNwi8ZsFwr-1bDPbz0GquWNfq9WXGUJEfTrY/s320/5273493.jpg" border="0" /></a></p> <p> <br />थेंबाना विचारतो मी, <br />तिच्याबद्दल. <br />थेंब मग तिच्या आठवणी होतात <br />आणि हातावर त्यांना झेलतो मी.</p> <p> <br />त्या टप टप पावसात मग, <br />तिच हसू ऐकू येतं. <br />दाटलेल आभाळ, <br />तिचे केस होतात.</p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikX7UWfTM32BUTUgRqolyiFafYAUk19JJLdKc84g4ZBmNIgSZrEE5g8VnjqKffzMcd4_d3xtFRlZGOuCctizTFjiwYNgmtoS5HkLAsdMI6awjX6GKrXZi48jdB2gPgH-fJ1o0xVFqSSTY/s1600-h/Pic+174.jpg"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikX7UWfTM32BUTUgRqolyiFafYAUk19JJLdKc84g4ZBmNIgSZrEE5g8VnjqKffzMcd4_d3xtFRlZGOuCctizTFjiwYNgmtoS5HkLAsdMI6awjX6GKrXZi48jdB2gPgH-fJ1o0xVFqSSTY/s320/Pic+174.jpg" border="0" /></a></p> <p>वारा मग, <br />त्या बटा उधळून लावतो <br />आणि त्या सागरात <br />मन तरंगत राहतं.</p> <p> <br />जुन्या आठवणी अचानक, <br />मन आठवू पाहतं. <br />हरवलेल्या भेटी, <br />पुन्हा शोधू लागतं.</p> <p> <br />त्या आठवणी , <br />मी पुन्हा जगू लागतो. <br />पावसाच्या सोबतीनं, <br />मी तिला भेटून येतो.</p> <p> <br />माझ्या हास्यात पाऊस, <br />हसू होऊन बरसतो. <br />ओघळणारे अश्रू , <br />आपलेच समजून पिऊन टाकतो.</p> <p> <br />पाऊस थांबला , <br />की मग वाईट वाटतं. <br />मित्र दूर गेल्याचं , <br />दुःख होतं.</p> <p> <br />पण मग परत, <br />ढग जमा होतात. <br />परत आभाळ फाटतं, <br />परत पाऊस येतो.</p> <p> <br />पुन्हा आम्ही बोलू लागतो. <br />कारण, <br />माझ्या एकटेपणात, <br />तोच माझा मित्र असतो.</p> <p> <br />-प्रांजल वाघ <br />१ ज्ञुलै २००९</p><p><span><br /></span></p><p><br /></p> <br /><br /><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/88x31.png" /></a><br />This <span xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text" rel="dc:type">work</span> by <span xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" property="cc:attributionName">Pranjal A. Wagh</span> is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/">Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License</a>Pranjal Waghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08152240660360102153noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633149094428158104.post-75508396623865512692009-05-18T13:16:00.000+05:302009-05-18T13:18:02.171+05:30Broken News - 1There is an old man who once was a young man. During his college days, he thought his name was carrot. Then he saw the posters on his Left and noticed that they were red, just like carrots. Swept away by idealism and the pride of having such a great name, he joined the gang.<br /><br />Years later, he realized his blunder, only to think that it's carat. So he went for broke, and literal struck gold. Now he's filthy rich, but alas! You win some, you lose some. He says he and his wife have decided not to have kids for the 'greater good of the gang'. We all know the real reason.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633149094428158104.post-59325762492984593552009-05-16T21:37:00.002+05:302009-05-18T18:05:40.355+05:30Pseudo-psephology<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-style: italic;">Left nahi, right nahi, chalo centre hi sahi.</span> It's almost out now, and it does seem like an increasing number of voters have decided to <a href="http://ibanov.blogspot.com/2009/05/grin-bear-it.html">grin and bear it</a>, and settled upon the Grand Old Party as the least of all the evils that compose our political system. But since anyone and everyone is a psephologist nowadays (who, like the humble journalist who also happens to be the head of one of the major news networks, distance themselves from their predictions the minute they start getting things wrong), I'm going to do some post-poll analysis of my own.<br /><br />A couple of my classmates claimed to have gone for the bow and arrow - one, because he claims that those are the guys who actually show up at non-poll times, and two, because he preferred Advani over Manmohan. This second guy's naive chain of thought catches my fancy - as much as it is known that this is India and not the US, where it's a straight fight between the Democrat and the Republican, that's what the thought process seems to have been behind a significant number of voters. So even though it is but obvious that the chances of a two-party system being implemented are slimmer than the success of philo-anarchy, many voters went into the polls knowing that there were only 2 real contenders for the top job.<br /><br />Moving on, if one notices the number of votes in each of the seats where MNS contested from, in particular the Mumbai-Thane region, one thing is clear: Congress n Co. were on their way out, but for Raj. Clearly, some flowers are due here. I'm yet to look at the detailed voting figures for states like UP where the mandate is greatly fractured, but from the looks of things, splitting of votes has played into the hands of the Congress. The pessimistic way of looking at the Bombay figures is that the local majority is easily swayed and has complete faith in the regionalistically divisive forces. The optimistic way is that the people voted for the alliance (i.e BJP), and by analogy, a victory for candidates from the UPA meant a vote against the divisive forces - of course, there are certain pockets among the business people for whom saffron is a friendlier colour, but though they managed to pull it off in Gujarat, the infamous Mumbai South was a different story altogether.<br /><br />Then again, the much-publicized youth vote, however insignificant a percentage it might have formed (more later), seems to have gone to Rahul Gandhi and his peers - other than the 'crown prince', Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Naveen Jindal, Milind Deora, etc. all contributed to the image of Sonia & Manmohan's party as a youthful one, which had the young vote unless one was particularly attached to the opposite camp. One more name springs to mind - Omar Abdullah, who again is currently a friend of the party of the aforementioned. Little wonder, then, that the sub-35 votes were consolidated.<br /><br />Of course, social equations were, are and will always be in place unless something drastic happens, but they were majorly re-written. So the rat-eaters and the other really low castes of Bihar voted for Nitish and against the Lalu-Paswan combine; the middle class mostly Punjabi Delhiite continued to repose their comparatively recently found faith in Congress; UP was spoilt for choice but the Muslim vote did not entirely go to Mulayam, while Mayawati seems to have lost the Brahmin votes she toiled so hard to get; Orissa went with Naveen's BJD; as is always the case, no one gives a damn about the few seats in the North-East and the UTs, but broadly it can be said that the regional parties shared the spoils with, yes, the Congress.<br /><br />And finally, the Left. The continuous upgradation of ideology has finally got voters in 2 of their 3 states (Tripura being a north-easterly is a national non-entity) to wake up and smell the coffee - in the name of welfare, the states, one with the highest literacy rate and the other which is home to some of the most famous intellectuals over the ages, have been fooled over and over again. Especially West Bengal, whose Left leaders are from amongst those very intellectuals but who were a tad smarter than the rest and who in the name of social welfare and upliftment of the downtrodden were able to maneuvre the naive idealists and the sufferers. Only now, the traditional stances of the Left and its main opposition have switched - and while the socially backward continue to stand by those who seem closest, the urban populace seems to have fallen for the change rhetoric. As for Kerala, the less said about it, the better it is (if you want to know, major internal bickering and fatally wrong tie-ups).<br /><br />So there you have it. The big businesses believe that the Manmohan-Chidambaram combine is as good if not better than the industry-friendly BJP; the youth loves its ilk namely Rahul & Co. These and the splitting of caste, regional and poor people's votes have all meant that Congress alone hovers around the double century mark. The good thing about it is that one-party can take charge and actually take decisions; the bad thing is that it that very party which has had that opportunity oh so many times and failed to capitalise. It doesn't take much to be a political analyst, does it? Or did I miss something major here?<br /><br />PS: I missed out on a couple of things. Good governance over anti-incumbency? NREGA, loan waivers and pay commissions notwithstanding, I don't think so (the why of it later). And among past governments, neither has been particularly effective in combating terrorism. Also, both the large parties have major stains on their peace-loving credentials and clean sheets, except that our present single largest party hasn't majorly goofed up ever since the anti-Sikh riots and Bofors of the 80s, where the opposition-cum-opposition-to-be's recent track record springs to memory. The only counts on which the former has failed in the past 20 years are Babri Masjid and numerous terrorist strikes, which hardly matters since the latter didn't get Mumbai, in spite of all the hoopla, to care anyway.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633149094428158104.post-17738903913266457432009-05-15T21:46:00.000+05:302009-05-15T21:47:25.644+05:30Grin & bear itLong time ago, a certain someone with a highly romanticized view of the agrarian life proposed that the Indian National Congress be dissolved with the coming of Independence, and that free India be composed of self-contained colonies of people who keep to themselves and farm their way through life. Such philosophical anarchy was dubbed impractical by the realists who wanted to make sure they guide their motherland through the initial turbulent phase of freedom.<br /><br />These realists, though, were themselves split down the middle - some were pally with the industrialists, while others believed that the only way forward for everyone was a state-controlled economy. The internal tug-of-war of what was independent India's defacto party made sure that certain things got completely overlooked - the North-East, north-south divide, aspirations of the religious majority, etc. Over sixty years later, and while Kashmir is atleast acknowledged internationally as a troubled hotspot, the problem with the North-East remains - it never gets to bask in the reflected glory of its turmoil. Southern India is in the vice-like grip of half-a-dozen regional parties; western India is similarly possessed by regionalism. And the strict practitioners of the majority faith have a clutch of saffron-coloured outfits to choose from, all of whom descended from the supposed perpetrators of that certain someone's assassination. The policies for tackling socio-economic inequalities were never enough for the Congress's oldest detractors, who in spite of having always lived in the national shadows, have taken a stranglehold over 3 states; elsewhere, such disparities have been taken advantage of by the various caste and religious based fragments, most notably the elephant which seems to be continuing its slow march towards a steadily increasing national vote-share.<br /><br />Of course, none of these things directly affects me. Or at least they should not, but they do - and they anger me. I see a couple of my peers proud to call themselves Marxists - one, because he wants to be a part of the political system, and the other who, while shunning romanticism, indulges in the same. And when this "other" is being real, he is a victim of knowing small amounts about a lot of things while having not lived through any of those. This is the problem of 2 classes of people - the youth, and the pseudo-intellectual middle-class Marxist. And the intersection of these two classes has meant nothing but trouble since 60s Calcutta. For one, being a middle-class Marxist has meant that one hasn't seen abject poverty and most if not all of one's knowledge is theoretical hence ideal and impractical; secondly, being young means one just hasn't lived through enough or had enough experiences to fall back on, and as in the first case, most of one's knowledge is limited to books.<br /><br />It is still understandable when a bunch of rural youngsters give up on democracy and take to arms to get rid of the tyranny of the landlords themselves. In an ideal world, all such oppressors will be wiped out and the available resources shall be distributed equally amongst all who deserve. However, as with all revolutions, somewhere down the line some chink is developed in its armour, mostly the leaders' lust for power - so, what started out as a noble albeit violent alternative to a failing democracy is now a pure insurgency which is spreading like a menace, sparing no one, not even the lumpenproletariat who, again I use the word ideally, should be the beneficiaries.<br /><br />Karat's party was formed as a result of a split between the revisionists and the hardliners; of course, by now everyone who's sane has realized that either way, the goals were too idealistic, so of course, everyone's revising, so much so that the Left's main opposition in Bengal is doing almost exactly what the Left themselves did when they sought to gain power three decades back. It might be true that they're the only ones with any semblance of ideology, but it is truer that their ideology is totally confused, or worse, warped - all the so-called Bengal Leftists did was to create a mafia to secure their immediate interests while fooling a state full of people in the name of social good. So it's easy for those who have nothing to do with Bengal or those who are in power there to walk the Red line - since they are the very same people who don't deserve to talk.<br /><br />At the other end of the spectrum are a bunch that, again, angers me when in fact it doesn't have anything against me. By birth, I'm a Hindu and that too, a Brahmin. So what am I worried about? If I think about it from my own selfish position, I'm worried about the fact that if these people are allowed to wreak havoc, there'll come a time when there won't be a single good place to have authentic, delicious <span style="font-style: italic;">biryanis</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">kebabs</span> or a single good <span style="font-style: italic;">darzi</span> left; if I look at it from a less narrow-minded perspective, I'm scared that my great nation's glorious and colourful (even if the darkest shade is the red of people's blood) history will be stained by its (possibly) even bloodier present. A bunch of thugs who slaughter people on the basis of religion, who bring down historical structures and who come to power by taking advantage of the naivety of the faithful do not deserve to run this country.<br /><br />And in any case, who do they run it for? A select bunch of already filthy rich people who don't care about the welfare of the people as long as their coffers are overflowing. And with whom do they run it? All possible divisive forces, be it in Assam, northern Bengal, Punjab, Haryana or possibly Andhra. And of course, their friends in the western part of the country, who are exemplary of xenophobia at a micro-level. Such groups are multiplying, whereas they should've been outlawed right at the outset - a failure of the nation's Grand Old Party. Neglect by the Congress in the thirty years starting from independence has over the next thirty years culminated into the current mess. The solution? I would like to think anarchy, not necessarily philosophical, but it would require revolution, and aside from the fact that it's not just going to happen without some major push (clearly, terrorist attacks are not), revolutions start off as idealistic, somewhere down the line become impractical and frustrating and finally end up being the profit-making machines of its powerful few, which is not majorly different from our democratic parties.<br /><br />There we go - the full circle from anarchy to democracy and back is complete. The only plausible solution is a whole gamut:<br />* to introduce election by absolute majority at all levels, be it civil, legislative or parliamentary, which would require a French-style Round 2.<br />* anyone with a proven criminal charge or any case pending in a criminal court should be debarred from contesting<br />* the model code of conduct should ensure that the use of caste, religion, gender or economic status during campaigning should result in immediate disqualification of that party from contesting that seat<br />* a certain number, preferably half the seats in both legislatures and parliament should be according to vote-shares. The candidates should be allotted according to a precedence list declared prior to the elections (of course, for this the no. of constituencies have to be halved)<br /><br />Of course, the above measures will never be put into place, primarily because it will be detrimental to both the national as well as the regional parties. So there we have it - right, left or center, nothing works, and anarchy is for the poets. So what do I do, but do what the title says?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633149094428158104.post-39554016652685282009-05-15T14:56:00.004+05:302009-05-17T18:08:33.328+05:30पॉलिटिक्स मिक्स - 2<span style="font-style: italic;">Part 2 of the Politics Mix series. </span><a style="font-style: italic;" href="http://thoughts-of-a-rationalmind.blogspot.com/2009/04/blog-post_10.html">Part 1</a><span style="font-style: italic;"> was published on 10 April 2009.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">( "याव याव खमौ ब्येब्स</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">डू द बीट्स नाउ</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">पंप अप द बेस डॉग!" )</span><br /><br />सकाळ झाली सूर्य डोंबल्यावर आला,<br />म्या बी उठलो न आलो की ओसरीवर.<br />पाहतो तर काय,<br />आमचा आजा, होता फेरी घालीत.<br />दर दोन मिनिटांनी हात जोडीत,<br />न हात उंचावून शांत करण्याची नक्कल करीत.<br /><br />मला वाटल म्हातारा वेडा झाला,<br />वयाच्या ऐंशीज मध्ये काय खूळ घेऊन बसला!<br /><br />म्या म्हनला आज्याला,<br />"काय र आज्या, हे काय करून राहिला रे तू?"<br />"अस खादी घालून, ध्वॉतर नेसून,<br />एकटाच नमस्कार करीत काय फिरतोस?"<br /><br />आजा नमस्कार करीत म्हनला (चिरक्या आवाजात),<br />"देखिये....हम इस बार गावाच्या सरपंच पद के लिये निवडणूक लढ रहे है"<br />अगदी श्वाकच बसला मला!<br />"आर आजा, तुझा वय आता ऐंशी, तू कशी काय लढणार विलेक्शन?"<br />"ह्या वयात हे जमणार कस तुला?"<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">(मनातल्या मनात म्हन्लो, " म्हातारा बहुतेक झालाय खुळा!")</span><br /><br />आज्याने आपला थरथरणारा हात हळू हळू उचलला<br />न माज्या गालावर मायेने ठेवला.<br />म्या म्हन्लो, " आर, लाड कशापाई करतोस?"<br />"बोल, माज्या प्रश्नाच उत्तर कधी देतोस?"<br /><br />तर वैतागून आजा म्हन्तो कसा,<br />"ए, भुस्नळ्या, म्या लाड न्हाई क्येले,<br />म्या तर तुझे मुस्काट फोडले!<br />माझे हात थरथरले म्हनून<br />तुला नाय कळले!"<br /><br />"म्या असेन ऐंशी<br />पण अजुन पन जवान हाय,<br />परवाच उंदीर मारला,<br />म्या निडर हाये!<br />ट्वायिलेटला कदी जायाच<br />हेची तुझा बा न्हाय आठव करून देत,<br />म्याच ठरीव्तो!<br />म्या निर्णायक हाये!."<br /><br />" म्हातारा झालो म्हुन काय झाल?<br />मला बी सत्ता ट्येस्ट करायची हे!"<br />म्या चक्रावलो, म्हन्लो,<br />" आर पण, गावातल्या यंग उमेदवारांच काय?"<br />आजा आन्खी वैतागला, " ए शान्या, गप र्हा की!<br />म्या विलेक्शन लढणार म्हंजे लढणार!<br />जास्त बोललास,<br />तर माझ्या <span style="font-weight: bold;">'लाल'</span> छ्डीने <span style="font-weight: bold;">'आडवा आणी'</span> उभा फोडून काढीन!"<br /><br />म्या म्हटला " स्वाँरी आजा, माफी असावी!"<br />तर आजाचा थरथरणारा हात परत गालावर फिरला!<br />म्या वैतागलो, " आता कशापाई मारतो?<br />आजा आपले खोटे दात दाखवत म्हनला,<br />" म्या तुझा आजा, माज्या राजा!<br />म्या लाड केले नाही मारली मुस्काटात!<br />चल आता रुसु नकोस,<br />गाडी काढ आपली,<br />रथ यात्रा काढली पायजे,<br />ह्या यंग गावाला<br />म्या ऐंशी वर्षाचा तरुणच<br />नीडर नि निर्णायक बनवू शकतो,<br />हा नि चा पाढा पढवला पायजे!"<br /><br />-प्रांजल वाघ<br /><br /><br /><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width: 0pt;" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/88x31.png" /></a><br />This <span dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text" rel="dc:type">work</span> by <span cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" property="cc:attributionName">Pranjal A. Wagh</span> is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/">Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License</a>Pranjal Waghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08152240660360102153noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633149094428158104.post-60270093150392358382009-05-08T14:11:00.008+05:302009-05-10T01:55:08.944+05:30Our Benevolent Netas<span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >Imagine a day when you turn up the page 3 for the latest gup-shup of your favourite star and to the surprise you end up reading the content of our politicos, you are just shell-shocked and might turn to the last page and few may even give up reading, well that’s the content many keep track off. All and all you see a hot blonde shedding off clothes and keep up cool in the summer; yeah photographers do click the very moment. But instead you end up seeing our sexagenarian or hepta or even octogenarian neta taking up his dhoti and hat and those glares, ohh la la, with a tag ‘this is how they keep themselves cool in summer.’ Oh Shit, just can’t imagine, eh?<br /></span><br /><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" ></span><br /><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >Yup the heat is on, everyone in India or rather the world is looking up the IPL, sorry not the Indian Premier League but the Indian Political League. Jagore.com is on march waking up each and every youth, asking them to vote. The Times of India is giving daily updates under pages ‘Dance of Democracy’. Every form of public, private medium is used to put forth the election campaign of respective parties. ‘Jai ho’ the Oscar winning hit by A.R has been taken up officially by Congress to strategize its win. In the meanwhile the counter competing party, BJP has put it down, that if this continues, the song has to be changed to ‘Bhay ho’. Well one thing is there, people are best and experts in how to pull others down.</span><span style="font-family:arial;"><br /><br /></span><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-size:85%;">Elections, Elections, Elections.....whole day the same thing, new stories, war of words and in a way fun. Take up this: exactly what must be the case for those who lead the parties, definitely a big task at hand. Keeping up with the party members, meetings, rallies and whole lot of business, yes they got to win; a do or die situation indeed. Just imagine what all would be there in the secret diaries of our Leaders...</span><br /><br /><strong><u><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></u></strong><br /><br /><strong><span style="font-size:85%;"><u>Sonia Gandhi:</u> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWbESsDSZqGuNVTqGWn3aPHFYPFW0Beb3FjjQtwONwK51vG-vhGEbCOcH5J3d9isC_yIP9-sqX_JweixIMPOBQpuv01iUsLmwF9dmQhr5669off76D0t_G8NuTm35XGDfqxHI-h2JuEFo/s1600-h/2153243741_489b62563a.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333376649620231682" style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; float: right; width: 143px; height: 200px;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWbESsDSZqGuNVTqGWn3aPHFYPFW0Beb3FjjQtwONwK51vG-vhGEbCOcH5J3d9isC_yIP9-sqX_JweixIMPOBQpuv01iUsLmwF9dmQhr5669off76D0t_G8NuTm35XGDfqxHI-h2JuEFo/s200/2153243741_489b62563a.jpg" border="0" /></a></span></strong><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">With everything up close and even the third phase of polls out, indeed I liked to contest 2009 elections and yes it’s been different from 2004. So much so that I changed the ringtone of my cell phone to ‘Jai ho’, even the alarm in the morning rings up ‘Jai ho’. In addition I kept A.R photo as a deity and I pray Him, just not taking any chances. Surely each day is different. Sharadji has been giving a distant nudge and my eyes are wide open to see which signal blows up every day. I heard that Sharadji’s alarm rings PM, PM in the morning and because of that I wake up early just to check if Jai ho is well set or not, God when all this will end! Scratching my head even hints me that possibly Sharadji might have gone to Greg Chappell for advice and the least I expect is, as always Greg must have shown his ‘proper’ finger. That chills me again. Being a cricket head he’s learnt how to spell a googly at least. Laloo on the other hand is thinking his buffalo would be parked at 7 Race Course, hell with that for now as Nitish is doing his homework well, my lessons after all. Really Mulayamji is heading for stardom, thanks to SC that Sanju is out or else Munna would have created trouble with his Jhappi-pappi. This says things are quiet in my purse. Oh well, I can’t forget the bravo, 82 yr old hero Advaniji. Who can forget him, I heard he’s got an orkut account & is adding friends to vote him. I think I should get one on Orkut and one on Facebook too, that will help. Modi has always been an irksome guy, but my daughter is trained to treat him well. When will this Southies learn? I made them eat Idli, dosa & even took a bath in Sambar but seem everything is hitting me badly. For that matter I even told that Uthappam was a precursor to Pizza, yet the issue still remains Italy first then India. You see so many things in 10mins, wish me luck, vote me, Jai ho.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><strong><u><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></u></strong><br /><strong><u><span style="font-size:85%;">Manmohan Singh:</span></u></strong><br /><strong><u></u></strong><span style="font-size:85%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333374210584860802" style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; width: 231px; height: 324px; text-align: center;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS5OjnNa4pWWSuawKBSQxZauPufI9gTZ0JqEr5cLUhsx_N5DBeXCZBSnv3J57gUla1OcaMJhXau2Kc34cnboN5483sqgkdQGV7BqEaPG1sdF8BC1v8A6RUpZwBwWtjbqnqhVUaozldZnk/s320/026-shetty.jpg" border="0" /></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">‘Wahe guru de Khalsa, Wahe Guru de Fateh’</span><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">I checked with myself the other day when Advani pointed out the ‘<em>Weak</em>’ aspect. To fight back I think I should wear a Turban with a three colours, saffron (not for BJP ofcourse), white and green, hmm yes this will make it cool? Or may be a pair of Jeans and say it this way, hey whats up Sonia? No No that was hilarious. Pranab soothed me and reminded me of my birth date and told me you are a PM, ah 'I said yes I know'. But following day I said I can juggle 5 balls at one time. Economy, US-N Deal, Af-Pak (Fak-Ap), election-09 & will make one ball to fall down, Advani. </span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Lately my family, are keeping their shoes well away from the door, maybe an indication that these days ‘shoes’ are the best gifts. To this I reviewed my Eco books, may be a nano level study is to be made on '<em>Shoeconomics'</em>. The other day I checked how the leather industry is doing and it was bad(not actually) to see that recession has affected them too, hope May 16 + 100 helps them out with more shoes in production. I could go on indeed, but I need to put on the gloves to fight in the ring, EC has blown the whistle. If not now the boot will be under Advani’s foot. </span><br /><br /><br /><strong><u><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZLGvhL040CPYMfu2brnkqZhE1wu1qfKP3iej1_6u6a5ieE4vQkqCacjo6D8kOxKa0sXn3azOPy5LJvKLJvESkwzSxFnGfAEUTtBa0nGKLT7nhGnEf-EGHTiE95j3g9V01z0PFp2UoAjw/s1600-h/advani_.jpg"><span style="font-size:85%;"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5333375427252875922" style="margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; float: left; width: 118px; height: 200px;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZLGvhL040CPYMfu2brnkqZhE1wu1qfKP3iej1_6u6a5ieE4vQkqCacjo6D8kOxKa0sXn3azOPy5LJvKLJvESkwzSxFnGfAEUTtBa0nGKLT7nhGnEf-EGHTiE95j3g9V01z0PFp2UoAjw/s200/advani_.jpg" border="0" /></span></a><span style="font-size:85%;">Lal Krishna Advani:</span></u></strong><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">On joining Orkut I found out that I have grown quite old, well indeed yes? So what if youth needs a youth leader. BJP is ‘Bulaya, Jamaya, Pa-diya’ what say? To say the least this year’s inspiration to fight elections was a ‘spider-man’ at my home. Yes he has made webs all around the walls, my very own spiders. Tried, tried & succeeded. Recently I learnt some new ways to high-five people. The other day I met Rajnath, he was flabbergasted to see this and asked me, planning to join congress?? There I recalled it was the symbol of Congress, nothing much to this but I put this again and again on myself ‘<span style="font-size:100%;">???????</span>’ My PR has got a big job to make me young, every day I get tips that make me younger. The day is not far when you will see my photo with a guitar in hand, & yes it would be of Saffron color with a lotus-shaped plectrum.<br />‘Oh Man’, this Modi is doing his home work. ‘Oh Man’ Varun has slipped of a steep slope. The other day I was hit back when the same ‘style’ I mentioned to Shushmaji, to this my PR hit himself on his forehead, well did I do something wrong? I even sought that calling by nicknames would add more spice and make it even more cooler, Sush and Mods, oh wow that sounds great. Recently my vested interests have changed a lot, these days I read India: Crime Report 2004-2009 instead of reading India 2020, changed my homepage from BJP.com to Swissbank.com. </span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">You see I have changed a lot; this is the least to mention. My diary would be updated. Do Vote me.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"></span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><em>‘The above mentioned are just mere secrets and result of multiple jumping thoughts. Hope you have voted for the LS '09 election.’ </em></span><br /><em><span style="font-size:85%;"></span></em><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Regards</span></span>Chaitanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03485079323061539687noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633149094428158104.post-86070686413849471972009-05-05T23:56:00.003+05:302009-05-06T00:08:24.229+05:30सर्जेकोटाचा राजा!<p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-u4cZHFyZiiwTJeWm31qJEbBUfSCCBod05b8ONgNTUJYswmSO8zB73VuOWaVTsprI3LJaHVpJsWjPnXpuW-pvllxMahMPx5eCTs_duDZWowHX__8-ac-B4qoZ9KqUzMGpOyX2jpHk0E4/s1600-h/Copy%20of%20DSCN1245%5B2%5D.jpg"><img title="Sarjekot" style="border: 0px none ; display: inline;" alt="Sarjekot" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixK-Pho2ATKqcbcXYi9t_L3BDXAYhfF9hyphenhyphenFqdkI_ZICOWSVGnm0NycLafU86fezD6aZvXGNhRVyT-Z80e6NXN3RCWUBbwEEzUxmsKxiEZdG2VnGHno2-O2ycUz3xC5JRZyTc_SyPqmDak/?imgmax=800" width="244" border="0" height="184" /></a><span style="font-size:85%;"> <span style="font-weight: bold;">सर्जेकोट</span></span><br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"> </div><p>***** <br />सर्जेकोट हा अलिबागच्या कुलाबा किल्ल्याचा शेजारी. खरे तर हा कोट नव्हे एक मोठा बुरूजच आहे. कित्येकदा सर्जेकोटाला कुलाब्याचा अठरावा बुरूज म्हटले जाते! <br />हा सर्जेकोट बांधला गेला तो संभाजी महाराजांच्या कारकिर्दीत. त्याला कुलाब्यचा अंगरक्षक म्हटल तरी चालेल. तर असा हा सर्जेकोट, ह्याच्या भक्कम भिंती आजही शाबूत आहेत. दरवाजा तेवढा नाही आहे. <br />***** </p> <p align="center"> </p> <p>महाराष्ट्र दिना निमित्त मी एकटाच निघालो फिरायला. मी ट्रेकिंग करतो ते मज्जा मारण्यासाठी नव्हे. मी गड पाहायला जातो. त्यामुळेच मला लोकांना सांभाळत बसायला आवडत नाही. मी काहीसा एकटा असण्यात आणि ह्या किल्ल्यांच्या सहवासात हरवून जाण्यात आनंद मानतो. मला इथला इतिहास मग जाणून घेता येतो आणि मुख्य म्हणजे प्रत्येक गड बारकाईने पाहता येतो. त्याचा अभ्यास करता येतो! </p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXUp4ZCUohsJ-BZcztpd7bDB8RlVdqPhC2AOOdxOv72P_Oj356d8gwmumU4csuPNk1_uNuyarCXBK6aMJlHMMdhdvUVjDQipW5jhqaoRD2l-0lHuwFl-PvpwtVY6e1qO0ZUNSi_t7ukSo/s1600-h/Copy%20of%20DSCN1244%5B2%5D.jpg"><img title="Kulaba from Alibag" style="border: 0px none ; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" alt="Kulaba from Alibag" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpGqC8pn_ThjlZfGGU_DHCG82GLAdY9y61nPZ7XQ4efvbptjB2Wj4Ooou94Ym-mJsnMJ6RBFV2zr5KNBJIFPihopt7oMls92NqBDJjoqG5RzBdR9eUIGdFXfQRLFIpmP9hMqI6xxdLVKE/?imgmax=800" width="244" border="0" height="184" /></a> </p> <p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" ><span>कुलाबा</span> <span>किल्ला</span>, <span>अलीबाग</span> <span>वरून</span>.</span><br /></p><p>जेव्हा मे अलिबागच्या किनार्याला पोहोचलो तेव्हा ओहोटी लागलेली होती. त्यामुळे कुलाबा हा भुईकोट झाला होता. कुलाब्यचा अगदी बाजूलाच उभा आहे तो सर्जेकोट. आपल्या मोठ्या भावाला सार श्रेय देऊन निवांत उभा. </p> <p>लोकांचा ओघ होता तो कुलाब्याच्या दिशेने. सर्जेकोटाकडे कुणी ढुन्कून देखील पाहत नव्हत! आणि ही मंडळी कुलाब्यावर करत काय होती? एकमेकांचे फोटो काढणे, गप्पा मारणे ह्यात रममाण. करा ना गंमत, काढा ना फोटो, मी कुठे नाही म्हणतोय? पण इतिहासाची काही जाण? का सत्य माहीत नसेल तर खुशाल काहीच्या काही फेकायच? आणि सगळ्या थापा मारुन पुढे एक शिवाजीच नाव लावला की ते सत्य होत? </p> <p>असो. </p> <p>मे जेव्हा तिथल्या एका माणसाला विचारल, की बाबा, सर्जेकोटवर जाता येत का? तिकडे कुणी जात की नाही? तर तो म्हणाला की तिथे जाता येत पण तिथे फक्त एक विहीर असल्यामुळे तिथे कोणीच जात नाहीत! ही तर माझ्या साठी एक मेजवानीच होती जणू! संपूर्ण सर्जेकोट माझीच जणू वाट पाहत उभा होता! </p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4LYBCTrLf-8gvxh5jmTuct0WVkBpWKubaANwryHY_HVblpe50nupFdSauq5WZ1JsfqrFUqpxrt6D6kNX7u9ACNdqMvBZvRf6_p8G4U4BEjmR1q4GAGwcImc3-_amAVpki4knBeqLGuA4/s1600-h/DSCN1318%5B5%5D.jpg"><img title="Sarjekot from Kulaba" style="border: 0px none ; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" alt="Sarjekot from Kulaba" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_ls1kUtpqiflm91j9t2j8ykBdxJPHXHLF0Gn83XLWbeLegDov2-Tqf8cGgmNLvvKUonLxBlDSb0zq5hjCAqxqIl7yQ98ZA-hRIMznyGrxS8CeOUMqEvI7C_69y7mCrSb6cBSKr1gDkmg/?imgmax=800" width="244" border="0" height="184" /></a></p> <p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">सर्जेकोट</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">, </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">कुलब्याहून</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">!</span></span><br /></p><p>माझा कुलाबा पाहून झाल्यावर जणू कुणी हाक मारुन बोलवल्यासारखी पावल आपोआप सर्जेकोटाच्या वाटेवर पडली. कुलाबा आणि सर्जेकोट, ह्या मध्ये एक दगडी सेतू आहे. तो सेतू ओलांडून मे सर्जेकोटाच्या द्वाराकडे निघालो. </p> <p align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihZTQQMY9iETtp1w7EIvXwkBFu9yT4PJtQbFJYaVEo-JgwhxzYmvyPmi-2CsbvO0jLbWfBzSPJG75OMTIRrfbySljQW4WHhDa4pKuNNbnQeIJDXwiEc5OHcbKp02qjyveXOVbXGLNSv_w/s1600-h/DSCN1320%5B2%5D.jpg"><img title="Doorway of Sarjekot" style="border: 0px none ; display: inline;" alt="Doorway of Sarjekot" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigEOXxVZp6gcZYJEZH2TmRdtyI6sQI3BNVvV_gvF8apCpgTqw3CNS_vGgCte8HP8cNECkMnZXS0lA94jyWfq3OZI5xVRqyH4yO_idTu9wTiGjHTxvZRsRPekTTl9xsLsEGbO0OGkohKx8/?imgmax=800" width="244" border="0" height="184" /></a> </p> <p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">सरेजोकोटाच</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">पडलेल</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">दार</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">.</span></span><br /></p><p>सर्जेकोटाच द्वार कधीच पडून गेल आहे. त्याचे भक्कम बुरूज मात्र तसेच उभे आहेत. असंख्य लाटांचा मारा थोप्वित! सर्जेकोटमध्ये प्रवेश केल्यावर सर्वात प्रथम नजरेस पाडते ती एक विहीर आणि त्यावर उगवलेल एक सुंदर फुलांनी सजेलल चाफ्याच झाड. </p> <div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8yib6dvc6aMODd4W-S-hLjI-JffMeiOWSUSaf0X_fq2srFgE3xBu6Gl6j0p_1WObBdmM9loLwKNTMDNaIzYF0UuJF-ED_M52gTAsJSXdR_XXOrYWpxMiiw_1dbqJWYfgjiGUWBYfyEXE/s1600-h/DSCN1332%5B2%5D.jpg"><img title="Wild Chaafa" style="border: 0px none ; display: inline;" alt="Wild Chaafa" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDPEv3nvwBxxT_HKXbN7wo-tuXU-am46PP7FNrxd9Q8iHpG8LVbMX0hYyIIWr7jHmZa2F8r747fGCmYeRq4sLbPXKf1GAaoSH_D5gUTx_lrdaxtIwcdJLgfAqkrZv-w4D1xePsyTa9Toc/?imgmax=800" width="244" border="0" height="184" /></a> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhS0RQvPkZ0dO6RwBw5BwodPX3QcxTMrq87KNVcZnaKNjUmFTw8XgJ1RurVMPh9qXaXB9mDdhT67vUrBO74dw2nzqEWCDY0pqvngLIxCTSYFfyKSx8QMYcv6tWoozIPLKtCRAVRgPD03sM/s1600-h/DSCN1322%5B2%5D.jpg"><img title="Dried up well" style="border: 0px none ; display: inline;" alt="Dried up well" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS8KdvsTs6f72a1NdnARzH24dTezcle39Smh16HO1cMqp9SeIfwATd9GnYYBDEvecOEQTZGzyHyFUM8DXJgyWZDWWeugWcb1S8ghklgsEcReiVfUxjh8a1Xcef_SvV2KDu5aE4upKk5ds/?imgmax=800" width="244" border="0" height="184" /></a></div><p> </p> <p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">झाडावर</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">सुंदर</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">चाफा</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">आणि</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">विहिरीत</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">गाळ</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">!</span></span><br /></p> <p>झाडाला फुला खूप आहेत न सुंदर आहेत पण विहिरीत पाणी कमी आणि गाळ जास्त आहे. शेजारीच तटावर जाण्यासाठी पायर्या आहेत. पायर्या मात्र अगदी सुस्थितीत! <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxJ51galGRyHDQhsoN_LtCAfa1kaskVAPJy9s37VIfBPyO18Buk2VeGcBo4ij8ztguLSU1lsTVFfwCbrqkV8YnUm3W0HuzZ4_hPe_zjxsddLrYLJAeHBdJIiIU1pEGUNekMQEqKodVYCI/s1600-h/DSCN1335%5B2%5D.jpg"><img title="Steps in excellent condition" style="border: 0px none ; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" alt="Steps in excellent condition" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGW2B7l5sOVQVuggcVM-Yk8RvLxUW9YdBbZ3I2kN6jcPiR2z0opwCk0AmLzRJtnHDtjkKkO5SkxwpFncaxPdaHWv2Jx8Jl8KCCZ-pOvCq32yLin8uZiXFvJgbKviLJl5BhBc_fQo12XDQ/?imgmax=800" width="184" border="0" height="244" /></a> <span></span></p><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">अत्यन्त</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">सुंदर</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">आशा</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">पाय्र्या</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">!</span></span><br /></div><p><span></span></p><p><span>मी</span> तटावर चढलो आणि सार पाहून घेतल. उत्तरेस खान्देरि-उन्देरी ही जोडी पहिली.सार झाल्यावर मी आलो आणि तटावर बसलो. त्या उष्ण वातावरणात देखील एक थंड हवेची झुळुक आली आणि मन सुखावून गेली. </p> <p> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdWyN12kxmxNWKGGNvWD4S6_IeAd92AFp6JBjwMLcDME2WPwbkec-uPmdxkWVYDGYhnGgD-b9E0o7-scojAFdoIyd7lZr_HOypUsjYdHqyj2O0Aka9GYB1peLQRxbYqGDuQSpBY3p7Vf4/s1600-h/DSCN1323%5B2%5D.jpg"><img title="The round fortifications of Sarjekot" style="border: 0px none ; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" alt="The round fortifications of Sarjekot" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFlEi2TY81O2E4drskzilntgOUys3Itn3_xFzWBzX-DboBPVth_0x14yLJ8vFV2J9JeDiOM-l6wlsdozOdDQDdlMeiPkA34XPGwLfSLIAuGMsaP2BZmlOBX6JO4oLgjrgQcGKi-RoXoUw/?imgmax=800" width="244" border="0" height="184" /></a> </p> <p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">सर्जेकोटाचा</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> तट </span></span><br /></p><p>लहानपणी एक गोष्ट वाचलेली, ती आठवली. गोष्ट अशी होती की एका रिकाम्या गढीचा ताबा घ्यायला एका शिपायाला पाठवल जात. त्याला एकट्याला पाठवतात कारण शत्रू त्या गढीवर चालून येईल अशी मुळीच अपेक्षा नसते, तो शिपाई तेथे पोहोचतो खरा पण शत्रू चालून येत असल्याचे त्याला कळते. </p> <p>जराही विलंब न करता तो लगेच गढीचा दरवाजा लावून घेतो आणि शत्रू जवळ येताच त्यावर बंदुकींचा मारा करतो. एका बंदुकीचा बार उडवून लगेच धावत जौन दुसरी बंदुक उडवण अस तो करतो आणि शत्रूला अस भासवतो गढीवर भरपूर सैनिक आहेत. शेवटी तो थकतो आणि गढी शत्रूच्या स्वाधीन करतो तेव्हा कुठे शत्रूच्या ध्यानात खरी गोष्ट येते. </p> <p>माझ अगदी तसच झाल! गडावर मी एकटाच. बसल्या बसल्या मनाला एक विचार चाटून गेला. कधी ना कधी कान्होजी आंग्रे स्वतः ह्या तटावर आले असतील.ह्याच मातीमध्ये त्यांची पावले पडली असतील! इथली धूळ पवित्र झाली असेल! तटावरून आपली जाणती नजर त्यांनी फेकली असेल. सभोवतलीचा परिसर न्याहळला असेल. गडातील अधिकार्यांना सूचना केल्या असतील....अंगावर कसा रोमांच उभा राहिला! </p> <p>आज इथे फक्त मीच होतो. कुलाब्याला येणार्या एकाही व्यक्तीला इथे यावेसे वाटत नव्हते. इथे गडकरी मी, शिपाई मी, गोलंदाज मी, सार सार काही मीच! जणू काही सर्जेकोटाचा राजाच झालो मी! आज जर सर्जेकोटावर कोण चाल करून आल तर तो दरवाजा लढवण्याची शर्थ मीच छातीचा कोट करून केली असती! आणखी कोण होत तिकडे? </p> <p>म्हटल, "अरे सर्जा, तू एकटा. तुला सार जग विसरून गेल, कोणाच्या ध्यानात देखील तू नाहीस. मी देखील एकटाच आलो आहे तुला भेटायला. तू एकटा आणि मी देखील एकटाच! सार जग आपल्याला विसरून गेलय. तुझ्या ह्या दगडी अस्तित्वात काय रहस्य दड्ली आहेत कुणास ठाऊक? कधी ते कुणाला कळणार देखील नाही! माझ्यासारखा एखादाच वेडा असेल जो तुला भेट देईल! आजतू माझा गड न मे तुझा गडकरी! राजाच जणू एका दिवसाचा!"<br /></p><p><br /></p><p>-प्रांजल वाघ<br /></p><br /><br /><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width: 0pt;" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/88x31.png" /></a><br />This <span dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text" rel="dc:type">work</span> by <span cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" property="cc:attributionName">Pranjal A. Wagh</span> is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/">Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License</a>Pranjal Waghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08152240660360102153noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633149094428158104.post-79542805749608058062009-05-03T02:43:00.002+05:302009-05-03T02:46:45.769+05:30Marathi Saunskruti Sangraha is online!!<p align="justify">************* <br />Marathi Saunskruti Sangraha or MSS, a venture of which I am proud of being a part launched its website on 1st May 2009 that is on the auspicious ocassion of Maharashtra Day. The sentiments and the reason behind the foundation of MSS and the website is what Ojus Narawane attempts to tell you through this article! </p> <p align="justify">Visit the website and do give us the feedback!! <br />*************</p> <p align="center"><strong>मराठी संस्कृती संग्रह</strong> <br />लाभले आम्हास भाग्य बोलतो आम्ही मराठी!</p> <p align="justify"> <br /></p><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.marathiss.com/"><img style="margin: 0px;" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrtfBZv527wDhsVBgc49j0JvZyppFMOpXM6KgboqPAdATs3_vNnRl3UQEUGqPF2KTkcTFZdlcvzFoP6Cv9pVvD1iboDsDD9ZlOpnPWdAyb5N0kSLF_fI-w0ZPhSmHIfqiU1HLVxeRiozs/s400/mss.bmp" /></a></div> <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIBY6_s1SfD8iYRxMrUi8lKOxqeaGxMconHGjv44kBeP1WyH6jU6SYoqbLiKyUYGPJmMka0dVgCEFnmKGHdqKwgOeZP78sSNNF8Drl5w1ijzToqkm3UX3spCG8n9BnBnrIhkhGxC1bUo0/s1600-h/mss.bmp"> <p align="justify"> <br /></p> </a> <p align="justify"><em>Namaskar Mandali</em> <img alt=":)" src="http://blog.marathiss.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" /> ,</p> <p align="justify">We are extremely delighted to announce the release of our website, <a href="http://www.marathiss.com/">MarathiSS.com</a>; that’s right, we have our own home on the web now. It also gives us great pleasure to tell you that we are particularly lucky to have Maharashtra Day as the auspicious day of our site release :).</p> <p align="justify">After going through the <a href="http://www.marathiss.com/vision.html">Vision and Mission</a>, you must have recognized the reason we are pushing for more and more text being written in English script, but of course in Marathi Language. This site chiefly aims to promote other Marathi Sites, which beautifully capture the essence of the rich and varied Marathi culture.</p> <p align="justify">I felt there was a need to have something that provides a snapshot, as well as a doorway to the Marathi Culture online, especially for people like me … an average Marathi youth disconnected in many ways from Marathi Culture, yet proud of being Marathi, based on whatever knowledge I have about Marathi culture :). I felt that a website, especially something like File hippo, a directory that would point to all interesting sites grouped into various categories would serve the purpose.</p> <p align="justify">So, thus began my discussion regarding the site, with Harshad, who is an expert when it comes to knowledge about Marathi culture. Having grown up in the Culture capital of Maharashtra, Harshad is, especially very well acquainted with anything that is related to Marathi Food, Theatre and Music ;). Ok, after brainstorming for a few weeks we had a few plans in mind now, but then who was going to put them up online in a proficient way, so that people actually felt like visiting the site again and again ;). The answer obviously was, Amey. Amey is an expert when it comes to web designing and related technologies. The entire site’s beauty is attributed to none other than him.</p> <p align="justify">So thus began the journey of MSS…</p> <p align="justify">After facing few restrictions in terms of creativity at the <a href="http://marathi-saunskruti-sangraha.wikidot.com/">wiki dot site</a>, we decided to buy our very own domain, and <a href="http://www.marathiss.com/">marathiss.com</a> sounded so perfect and beautiful ;). And thus began the process of collecting interesting Marathi sites and grouping them in their relevant categories. We also have a forum which serves as a platform for members to discuss anything regarding Marathi culture. Just recently, Pranjal has joined the MSS team. We now have a professional blogger and experienced trekker with us to give a boost to MSS .</p> <p align="justify">You can consider this site as hobby work done by four youngsters who are passionate about Marathi culture. We feel there needs to be greater representation of budding Marathi Culture talent and entrepreneurship on the World Wide Web as well as the real world. This idea was basically born after facing certain situations in the very capital of Maharashtra. To be precise, we usually have had situations where we have gone to the extent of organising weekend food trips to cities like Pune, cause there is a severe non availability of Marathi Food when it comes to places like Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. This is perhaps because Maharashtrians are not that enterprising or business minded as compared to other communities of India :). Which is why it’s sometimes sad to see an extremely rich and varied culture not receiving the appreciation and visibility it deserves. Through this site, we wish to promote Marathi Culture in our very own small way and also appeal to people to be a little more enterprising when it comes to publicising and promoting a product, an item ,a foodstuff or a bit of Marathi culture, however small or tiny it maybe. Just like Vada pav, Pav Bhaji, Misal Pav, Veg Kolhapuri are popular, wouldn’t it be nice to see Sabudanyachi Khichadi, Thalipeeth, PuranPoli, Varan Bhat, Piyush or Basundi or even Faral items listed in a regular restaurant menu along with the regular North Indian and South Indian cuisine? There are many small specialities which are linked to specific regions of Maharashtra like Konkan, Varad, Marathwada and their availability is limited to that region only. <em>Kai Majja yete when naatevaikankade gelyavar kadhi Kokanatali fish curry khayala milate, kiva Varadaat ani Kolhapurat jaun masta tikhat jevan and thecha milato</em>. It would be even nicer to see <em>ashya chotya mothya goshti</em> commercialised and documented on the World Wide Web before the knowledge base is lost in the coming years. The best way to start this is, I feel, through the medium of the internet, which is the first choice of seeking information for the present generation … I mean, wouldn’t it be nice to see a greater representation of Marathi Culture in a Bollywood Film, when it’s possible to have every alternative song in Bollywood, in Punjabi <img alt=":)" src="http://blog.marathiss.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_smile.gif" /> ; or isn’t it high time we have a entry about Music Directors like Ajay Atul featured in Wikipedia? By stating this example in a blog entry, we are basically trying to explain our feelings behind having such a site online. In fact there are many aspects to this, which can be discussed here, not restricted to Food, Movies and Music alone. We don’t mean to show disrespect for any culture or demean anyone; we have tremendous respect for cultures of all other states and regions and also for their peopleJ. It’s only that, we are simply fans of Maharashtra, its Culture and its simple and loving people, just the way you are, and are very happy to be involved with a project that will promote ‘<em>Aapala Marathmola Culture</em>’ in our own special way :).</p> <p align="justify">We encourage well wishers to support the site if they like what we are doing. Our aim is not content creation, but to simply promote the already existing or newer content on the web and put it forward to the world, in the form of a <em>Sangraha</em>. Great efforts have been taken by the members of The MSS Team to gather information about sites which can be listed, but I am sure you too have a lot more suggestions regarding interesting sites which can be added in the <em>Sangraha</em>. So, do get your sites, personal WebPages, Picasa albums and blogs and help us promote you in our own small way. We have even made a forum for you to have discussions with likeminded individuals in your area of interestJ. Your comments and suggestions and praises and even curses are most valuable and will only help us improve. Do report dead links, incorrect classifications or any other mistakes from our side. We will try to rectify the errors as soon as possible. Finally, we would like the <em>Sangraha</em> to grow and take the shape of something like a Google or Yahoo online web directory…</p> <p align="justify">Hope you have a wonderful experience throughout your time spent at MarathiSS.com :).</p> <p align="justify"> </p> <p align="justify">Regards, <br />Ojus Narawane <br />Team MSS</p>Pranjal Waghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08152240660360102153noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633149094428158104.post-74572161002079040762009-04-17T12:43:00.001+05:302009-04-17T12:43:34.383+05:30A Wild day at the Stock Exchange!<p>Here is something I picked up from the Internet. This cartoon was published in the International Herald Tribune on October 27 1989.</p> <p>Have a look and a laugh!</p> <p> </p> <p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQpv_-nNbX6PXlI8PCLda4VFHGS7_wgwQ3jVjZx4tygSH1uRHrMNW0cjH4_ohAjer0eJmuV6381eYcRxB1TYfiDax2uXyCHXUfRzCegErM7R2dPmJdadQ_c0k6vfbgNROYrrIzvn2tavA/s1600-h/Stock%20market%5B9%5D.jpg"><img title="Stock market" style="border-top-width: 0px; display: block; border-left-width: 0px; float: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; border-right-width: 0px" height="460" alt="Stock market" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeUbaKhbaad_iEW462IP5yeC5VHIQFsApxHiFJv-V9_IUVgXXkXJkQMTWS5bCFSgbrW4qjtwezUMVoUyBCm5Knk0B3cB40ApwM6JwmNiy2EvpsYhvLfexnBnkCzCKiN4RqebP7JZW9ko0/?imgmax=800" width="485" border="0" /></a> </p> <p>Cheers!!</p> <p>Pranjal Wagh</p> Pranjal Waghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08152240660360102153noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633149094428158104.post-76041873695466533982009-04-14T12:15:00.005+05:302009-04-19T16:22:29.973+05:30Right To Information Act, RTI 2005<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyeQlx3c0769z6TukLwFJiyvZuikQ8DeSTFVCoZBqknfRB9z3JYpIpFyKOPd2AgLUtcJp42oiXrqY1NfPcHhmHEGPCY0ByuoopV1ZVU4IH34eRSsh5YSBdp3Tm3AYGFD65xvihX4-0Rps/s1600-h/ssp.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 175px; height: 54px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiyeQlx3c0769z6TukLwFJiyvZuikQ8DeSTFVCoZBqknfRB9z3JYpIpFyKOPd2AgLUtcJp42oiXrqY1NfPcHhmHEGPCY0ByuoopV1ZVU4IH34eRSsh5YSBdp3Tm3AYGFD65xvihX4-0Rps/s320/ssp.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326353353695226722" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSRfXIvuFnmsBPgafAwjovlI-PaLe7v-5f1NYqb7NNduKoVayj2H536ssp43s96V5SJNy6EgvP7g5rAngJSnjKFb-tgFh-A4XzYwFNLTsWZx5SQcffC16tMuZV5Mj7KFK8Co9YJs6uYKk/s1600-h/0-12-rti.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; float: left; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 230px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSRfXIvuFnmsBPgafAwjovlI-PaLe7v-5f1NYqb7NNduKoVayj2H536ssp43s96V5SJNy6EgvP7g5rAngJSnjKFb-tgFh-A4XzYwFNLTsWZx5SQcffC16tMuZV5Mj7KFK8Co9YJs6uYKk/s320/0-12-rti.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324437695503519922" border="0" /></a><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;" align="center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic; line-height: 18px;font-family:Arial;font-size:13;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Be informed....</span></span><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">We Indians always live and look up forward to be the most successful as a democratic nation & as a whole always seek for ‘Right of Righteousness’ in every sphere of life.</span><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">‘Democracy’ is not defined anywhere but in short all can be said is that democracy is a form of Government which is indirectly run by citizens, this being the most fundamental definition seen in the civics textbooks, although quite meaningful. Well there might be bit surprise as to why Democracy is being defined, if yes then there’s a simple answer that with every issue we face in India, we bring democracy into picture.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Why was it needed?</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">There in backyard lies the way to achieve this right of righteousness.</span><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">To seek this, constitution laid down many fundamental rights for citizens and made it suited for people from the most diverse culture. The primary aim was to setup a People’s Government, although practical stories are rather lunatic and nowhere close, but anyways any elaboration on that part being fruitless.</span><b style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">There is a long chain of problems in India prevailing among masses. I found this chain of problems the most logical way to express the hierarchy of problems. Each problem depending on the predecessor and giving birth to a new problem.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Population </span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Wingdings;" ><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">à</span></span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> Masses Illiterate </span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Wingdings;" ><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">à</span></span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> Rich and poor difference/fissure </span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Wingdings;" ><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">à</span></span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> A mass competitive world </span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Wingdings;" ><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">à</span></span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Rat Race </span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Wingdings;" ><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">à</span></span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> Crime </span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Wingdings;" ><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">à</span></span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> Corruption </span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Wingdings;" ><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">à</span></span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> Ambiguous system </span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Wingdings;" ><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">à</span></span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> Frauds </span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Wingdings;" ><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">à</span></span></span><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> & many more.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">This is not the complete chain. On the contrary this all led to a sense of insecurity, injustice, & corrupted the minds of the common man. Then there emerged this fundamental right, though entrusted quite late, Right to information act, 2005.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Back to the topic again</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">RTI, the acronym for Right to Information is one of the indispensable acts passed by the Parliament and approved by the then Hon President of India in 2005. June 15</span><sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">th</span></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">, 2005 was date when this was given the approval. The aspect here is to provide for setting out the practical regime of right to information for citizens to secure access to information under the control of public authorities, in order to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority, the constitution of a Central Information Commission and State Information commissions and those all related matters.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">It falls in the 56</span><sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">th</span></sup><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> year of our nation being republic. All lies in the vested interest of the general public and boon in the process of harmonising the democracy and nation building. Successively this led to win people’s heart and confidence in the system was reinstated once again.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">However the act does not apply to the state of Jammu and Kashmir unless endorsed by the State’s Legislature. Now as per the act General Public has the right to get the information of almost every ministry affairs, appellate affairs, those all falling under the Union Government i.e. Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha, the Indian embassies over the worldwide, Indian Parliament. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Hereby for the General Public, PIO’s(Public information officers), APIO’s(Assistant Public information officers), CIC(Central information Commission), SIC(State information Commission) acts as a interface and are appointed to help cordially and provide the needed information.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><i style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Who all are these people? A brief description:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><i style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">PIO(Public information officers):</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">PIOs are the officers appointed by the public authorities appointed in administrative units or offices under it to provide the information the citizens who requested for it. PIO seeking for the needful information must get all the kind attention and also the concerned officer whose assistance is sought should render his/her duties, as per the act. The officer entrusted with this duty is recognized as a PIO.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><i style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">APIO(Assistant information officers)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Every PIO is essentially designated with a APIO and forwarding the requisition are some of the duties entrusted upon him/her.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><i style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">CIC(Central information commission)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">This appeal is made through a Gazette Notification (Leading Newspapers do publish this). On the appointment of the Commission every time a Chief of information commissioner is appointed by the President of India and not more than 10 information commissioner’s are appointed at the same time. The eligibility to get appointed is to have an intellect in various fields of administration, commerce, economics, Science and Technology, Law and Government affairs. The office is centrally located in New Delhi but other offices for IC’s are sorted out with the permission of Central Government.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><i style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">SIC(State information commission)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The same way as CIC, the appeal for SIC is made through a Gazette Entry. The Chief of Commissioner is appointed by the Governor of the State. Along with that several IC’s are also appointed, the number not exceeding than 10. The same way, office locations are decided by the State Government.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The Common rules are set for both the commissions. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">An Eligibility criterion is set, and is same for officers of both the Commissions.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Term of office is for 5Years and no officer is entitled to get re-elected.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><b style=""><i style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Salary</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The salary in case of CIC is the same as that of Chief of Election Commissioner.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">In case of SIC, the salary is same as that of the </span><span class="apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Chief Secretary of the State Government.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><i style=""><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The CIC/SIC hold due powers of governance:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-indent: -18pt; line-height: normal;"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">1.</span><span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></span></i><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The Central Information Commission/State Information Commission has a duty to receive complaints from any person - </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> <table class="MsoNormalTable" style="width: 81%; margin-left: 36pt;" width="81%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 7%;" valign="top" width="7%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">a) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 93%;" valign="top" width="93%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">who has not been able to submit an information request because a PIO has not been appointed;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 7%;" valign="top" width="7%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">b)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 93%;" valign="top" width="93%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">who has been refused information that was requested; </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 7%;" valign="top" width="7%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">c) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 93%;" valign="top" width="93%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">who has received no response to his/her information request within the specified time limits ; </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 7%;" valign="top" width="7%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">d) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 93%;" valign="top" width="93%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> who thinks the fees charged are unreasonable ;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 7%;" valign="top" width="7%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">e)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 93%;" valign="top" width="93%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">who thinks information given is incomplete or false or misleading ;and</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 7%;" valign="top" width="7%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">f) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 93%;" valign="top" width="93%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Any other matter relating to obtaining information under this law.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-indent: -18pt; line-height: normal;"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">2.</span><span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></span></i><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Power to order inquiry if there are reasonable grounds.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-indent: -18pt; line-height: normal;"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">3.</span><span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></span></i><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">CIC/SCIC will have powers of Civil Court such as - </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> <table class="MsoNormalTable" style="width: 81%; margin-left: 36pt;" width="81%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 7%;" valign="top" width="7%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">a) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 93%;" valign="top" width="93%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">summoning and enforcing attendance of persons, compelling them to give oral or written evidence on oath and to produce documents or things;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 7%;" valign="top" width="7%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">b)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 93%;" valign="top" width="93%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">requiring the discovery and inspection of documents; </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 7%;" valign="top" width="7%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">c) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 93%;" valign="top" width="93%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">receiving evidence on affidavit ;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 7%;" valign="top" width="7%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">d) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 93%;" valign="top" width="93%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> requisitioning public records or copies from any court or office </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 7%;" valign="top" width="7%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">e)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 93%;" valign="top" width="93%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">issuing summons for examination of witnesses or documents</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 7%;" valign="top" width="7%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">f) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 93%;" valign="top" width="93%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> Any other matter which may be prescribed.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt; text-indent: -18pt; line-height: normal;"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">4.</span><span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></span></i><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Power to secure compliance of its decisions from the Public Authority includes-</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> <table class="MsoNormalTable" style="width: 81%; margin-left: 36pt;" width="81%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"> <tbody><tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 7%;" valign="top" width="7%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">a) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 93%;" valign="top" width="93%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">providing access to information in a particular form;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 7%;" valign="top" width="7%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">b)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 93%;" valign="top" width="93%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">directing the public authority to appoint a PIO/APIO where none exists;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 7%;" valign="top" width="7%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">c) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 93%;" valign="top" width="93%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">publishing information or categories of information;</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 7%;" valign="top" width="7%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">d) </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 93%;" valign="top" width="93%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">making necessary changes to the practices relating to management, maintenance and destruction of records ; </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 7%;" valign="top" width="7%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">e)</span></span></i><i style=""><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 93%;" valign="top" width="93%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">enhancing training provision for officials on RTI;</span></span></i><i style=""><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 7%;" valign="top" width="7%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">f) </span></span></i><i style=""><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 93%;" valign="top" width="93%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">seeking an annual report from the public authority on compliance with this law; </span></span></i><i style=""><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 7%;" valign="top" width="7%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">g) </span></span></i><i style=""><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 93%;" valign="top" width="93%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">require it to compensate for any loss or other detriment suffered by the applicant ;</span></span></i><i style=""><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 7%;" valign="top" width="7%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">h) </span></span></i><i style=""><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 93%;" valign="top" width="93%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">impose penalties under this law; or</span></span></i><i style=""><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> </tr> <tr style=""> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 7%;" valign="top" width="7%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center; line-height: normal;" align="center"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">i) </span></span></i><i style=""><span style="font-family:'Times New Roman',serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></i></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 93%;" valign="top" width="93%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Reject the application. </span></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Well, let’s summarize and take it cut-short way. </span></span></i></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">RTI, 2005 </span></span></i></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: -18pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family:Wingdings;"><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Ø</span><span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></span><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The application procedure is also simple and can be taken in stride by almost anyone. </span></span></i></p> <p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: -18pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family:Wingdings;"><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Ø</span><span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></span><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The application is to be made on a Plain Paper writing the details of the information that is needed, however it is not mandatory to explain the reason for seeking the information.</span></span></i></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: -18pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family:Wingdings;"><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Ø</span><span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></span><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">A subscribed fee is to be submitted. Usually it ranged around Rs 2, Rs 3-5 as per the medium of information reception requested.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"> </span></span></span></i></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-indent: -18pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family:Wingdings;"><span style=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Ø</span><span style=";font-family:";font-size:7;" ><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></span><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">It may include almost every type of information transmission, electronic, prints and almost every document can be scrutinized.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"> </span></span></span></i></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Such is the significant act passed by our Parliament. As per internet source, around 42000 people have applied in 2005 and requested for the information covering various areas of ministry.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Lastly, this blog-entry is meant to provide some inputs about the act and also make the general people aware about our rights. </span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">People should approach the authorities and make the system transparent and apparently reduce the flaws to put our nation at a Stead-fast growth.</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">For more on the Act and regulations visit </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><a href="http://rti.gov.in/">http://rti.gov.in/</a></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">Regards,</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;">Chaitanya Wakhale<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><a href="http://rti.gov.in/"><br /></a></span></span></p></td></tr><tr style=""><td style="padding: 0cm; width: 7%;" valign="top" width="7%"><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></o:p></span></i></p> </td> <td style="padding: 0cm; width: 93%;" valign="top" width="93%"> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><i style=""><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></o:p></span></i></p> </td> </tr> </tbody></table> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;" ><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></o:p></span></p>Chaitanyahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03485079323061539687noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633149094428158104.post-77750464572099836042009-04-13T23:10:00.005+05:302009-04-19T16:34:48.130+05:30Save the Olive Ridley TurtlesSupport Greenpeace in its campaign to save Olive Ridley turtles.<br /><br />Tata is building a port in Dhamra, Orissa which if completed will result in endangering the Olive Ridley turtles there.<br /><br />Mr. Ratan Tata is not paying attention to Greenpeace's demands of stopping the ongoing construction that will affect the turtles badly nor is he ready to move the port elsewhere.<br /><br />I just hope Mr. Tata starts paying attention to the planet that we all are obliged to protect and conserve and just for one time keep aside our businesses and think about the how the earth will profit from our actions. Moreover he will be setting an eco-friendly example for other Indian industrialists.<br /><br /><br />Here is how the media is helping out Greenpeace:<br /><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" id="IBNLive" width="450" align="middle" height="380"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="movie" value="http://features.ibnlive.in.com/videos/embed/84155/C1520A46F5A03B820B85FADC2E7111C8385B6EFE0E8D09D692202B007C9F6465250AF9776187481B42E0EC7A9A0B83F19C6669118A745B72F748D35DA7C37F761736986A74091AF17170C1154F06FED025954C87F3C5/01_2009/citizensforearth-1701-313.jpg"><param name="quality" value="high"><param name="bgcolor" value="#ffffff"> <embed src="http://features.ibnlive.in.com/videos/embed/84155/C1520A46F5A03B820B85FADC2E7111C8385B6EFE0E8D09D692202B007C9F6465250AF9776187481B42E0EC7A9A0B83F19C6669118A745B72F748D35DA7C37F761736986A74091AF17170C1154F06FED025954C87F3C5/01_2009/citizensforearth-1701-313.jpg" quality="high" bgcolor="#ffffff" name="IBNLive" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" width="474" align="middle" height="392"></embed></object><br /><br />Here is an advertisement that Greenpeace had published in ET and The Herald Tribune, papers that Mr. Tata reads,<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoCZGkOVlmm_xAiJnlU4GWCC7vDb4uP0iduY5G2wNlP-axZ31TEnDGlXrK8yaUdFZLgaPAn0W5qXADQuEIUc2wT9_xK208AHUPU6ASDWjFkFxOEZayBfNgv0-M-0tMFA077KcT5m8mVQc/s1600-h/mail.google.com.jpeg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 202px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoCZGkOVlmm_xAiJnlU4GWCC7vDb4uP0iduY5G2wNlP-axZ31TEnDGlXrK8yaUdFZLgaPAn0W5qXADQuEIUc2wT9_xK208AHUPU6ASDWjFkFxOEZayBfNgv0-M-0tMFA077KcT5m8mVQc/s320/mail.google.com.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5324235154460211042" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">The details of this campaign can be seen <a href="http://greenpeace.in/turtle/"><span style="text-decoration: underline; font-weight: bold;">HERE</span></a><br /><br />Please expect more blogposts from me supporting this issue.<br /><br />Pranjal Wagh<br /></div></div>Pranjal Waghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08152240660360102153noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633149094428158104.post-80808297102602341992009-04-12T15:52:00.013+05:302009-04-14T11:32:38.827+05:30The Power of Ideas<span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-family:arial;" >Encouraging and empowering young entrepreneurs... </span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" ><br /><br />Wednesday , 8 April, 2009</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">We at, <span style="font-weight: bold;">A Rational Mind</span>, were surprised and overjoyed when we received an invitation from <span style="font-weight: bold;">The Economic Times</span> to cover the second phase of their event, <a href="http://www.ideas.economictimes.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Power of Ideas</span></a> as a part of Online Social Media. We jumped at the opportunity and were present at St. Andrews Auditorium, Bandra for this event.</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" ><br /><br />The Initiative</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The Power of Ideas is a joint initiative by <span style="font-weight: bold;">Economic Times (ET)</span> and <a href="http://www.indianangelnetwork.com/">I<span style="font-weight: bold;">ndian Angel Networks (IAN)</span></a> for inviting new entrepreneurial ideas from young minds, testing them and providing them the necessary financial support. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">This program is divided into four <a href="http://www.ideas.economictimes.com/initiative_programme.aspx?ran=171"><span style="font-weight: bold;">phases</span></a>. </span><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Phase 1</span> called for business ideas and received an overwhelming response with the panel receiving a massive 12000+ ideas. Over 1000 ideas were <a href="http://www.ideas.economictimes.com/initiative_shortlist.aspx"><span style="font-weight: bold;">shortlisted</span></a> for <span style="font-weight: bold;">Phase 2 – Group mentoring and Elevator Pitch</span> where the participants will present their detailed business plans to the investor panel.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Phase 3</span> involves One-on-One mentoring with senior mentors via phone/email and candidates selected hereafter will be presenting their mentored ideas in <span style="font-weight: bold;">Phase 4</span> to a gathering of investors wherein suitable participants will get the required funds.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" ><br />The evening begins</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The evening began with <span style="font-weight: bold;">Mr. Vinod Mahanta, Corporate Dossier for ET</span> delivering the welcome address. He emphasized that in times like today when most CEOs have lost hope it is the hopeful young minds with good ideas who will make a difference.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">He then introduced the panel which consisted of established entrepreneurs who were members of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Indian Angel Network (IAN)</span> and invest in potential business ideas. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Mr. Mahanta </span>then invited some of the members of the panel to share their experiences with the entrepreneurs-to-be.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" ><br />Entrepreneurial journey shared</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mr. Harish Mehta</span>, one of the founder members of <a href="http://www.nasscom.org/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">NASSCOM</span></a> and owner of <a href="http://www.novell.com/home/index.html"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Onward Novell (I) Pvt. Ltd.</span>,</a> shared with us the highlights of his entrepreneurial journey and emphasized that entrepreneurship is the way to <span style="font-weight: bold;">get paid for brains and not sweat</span>. He expressed his opinion that not large companies but entrepreneurs will be the agent of change in the society.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mr. Rehan Yaar Khan</span> then took the stage and guided us through his journey in the floral retail business which ultimately led to the foundation of <a href="http://www.flora2000.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Flora2000.com</span></a> which delivers flowers worldwide. He shared with us the mantra that team building is an important and lengthy process but once the team is built it is then that things start happening. He stressed that whatever your product may be it is the cool marketing idea that you implement that will appeal to the investors and the customers.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The evening was a very good learning experience for the entire audience. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Mr. Krishna Jha</span>, co-founder of <span style="font-weight: bold;">ITfinity</span>, a member of the panel and an IAN investor, kept the audience smiling by doling out funny but wise statements. When he was asked whether “It was the right time to start” he replied <span style="font-weight: bold;">“ The right time to start is NOW”</span>, quickly adding <span style="font-weight: bold;">“irrespective of when the question is asked!”</span>. The importance of having a partner in a business was also stressed upon. However, one of the most wisest things from him for the evening was <span style="font-weight: bold;">“ One has to face rejection often in business. It is the ability to overcome rejection and succeed that makes the difference. The money made from this success pays off the trauma of rejection!”</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >A new entrepreneur’s tale</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Mr. Krishna</span><span style="font-weight: bold;">n Madhabushi</span>, <span style="font-weight: bold;">co- founder</span> of <span style="font-weight: bold;">Kwench</span>, an online library for Corporates, was recently granted funds by<span style="font-weight: bold;"> IAN.</span> He was invited to share his thoughts with the audience. He said that the inputs from the investors helps in the evolution of the company and looking at the business model from a different perspective is made possible only due to investor interest. These tips were really very helpful to the future entrepreneurs in the audience.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >The format of submission</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The panel was then engaged in a <span style="font-weight: bold;">brief Q&A session</span> by Mr. Mahanta. <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ms. Padmaja Ruparel</span> of <span style="font-weight: bold;">IAN</span> then explained the format of submission for the Elevator Pitch phase. The slides would cover important aspects of a business plan like <span style="font-weight: bold;">Product & Services, Market Analysis, Sales Strategy, Team, Financials</span>. The panel also expressed their own views about what the investors would expect from the participants in their presentations.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >The Q&A</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Ms. Ruparel then opened the floor for an i<span style="font-weight: bold;">nteractive Q&A session</span> between the panel and the audience. This was a very fruitful session where the audience aired their queries and got good explanatory replies from the panel. There was even a funny situation wherein a man had submitted many ideas and was shortlisted but could not find out for which idea he was selected.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">One of the questions discussed the reasons for failure of new startups. It was said that <span style="font-weight: bold;">“ Startups die not because of starvation but due to indigestion!”</span>. Mr. Rehan Yaar Khan emphasized that high expenditure often kills startups and savings should be done till <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">it hurts</span>.</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">All-in-all, this was a very educative session both for us and the audience. It just showed the gold mine of talent that is Young India and the bright examples set by the entrepreneur-investors for us to follow.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">We would like to thank <span style="font-weight: bold;">Ms. Priya Kapadia, Asst. General Manager-Brand Team, ET</span> for showing faith in us and inviting us over to cover this fabulous initiative. This was not only a learning experience for us in covering an event but it taught us much about what the investors & customers expect from new entrepreneurs. We learnt from her that one individual had submitted six different ideas and all of them were shortlisted for Phase 2.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">These shortlisted candidates will now be undergoing the Elevator Pitch session after which they will be shortlisted for Phase 3. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-family:arial;" >We wish them all the best of luck for their bright futures!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">The <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/geekonnet/sets/72157616453681337/show/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">photos</span></a> for this event were clicked by members of <a href="http://www.geekonnet.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">GeekOnNet</span></a> team. Our sincere and full thanks to them for sharing them with us and allowing us to publish them! Click to see the <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/geekonnet/sets/72157616453681337/show/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">slideshow!</span></a></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:arial;">Pranjal Wagh</span><br /><br /><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width: 0pt;" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/88x31.png" /></a><br />This <span dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text" rel="dc:type">work</span> by <span cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" property="cc:attributionName">Pranjal A. Wagh</span> is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/">Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License</a>Pranjal Waghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08152240660360102153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633149094428158104.post-33866432020714069442009-04-10T01:46:00.004+05:302009-04-10T17:21:20.870+05:30पॉलिटिक्स मिक्स - १<span></span><br />आमचा 'सोन्या' हाय नव्ह,<br />अमरिकेचा,<br />त्यो येनार हुता हित, कायमचा!<br />म्हनून त्येला आणाया गेल्तो इमान्तळावर.<br /><br />त्यो आला तवा त्येला ओळख्लाच न्हाय!<br />एकदम खादी मध्येच अस्सा समुर आला,<br />म्या म्हटला " देवा, सोन्याचा असा काय झाला?"<br /><br />सोन्याला विंग्रजीत म्हटला<br />" काय सोनोपंत, ह्यो काय केलय ध्यान?<br />कुठली तुमी तलवार आणि कसली घातलीया तुमी म्यान?"<br /><br />त्यावर सोन्याने घेतला लाम्बलचक पॉज़,<br />खिष्यात हात घातला, नि काढला एक कागुद.<br />कागुद वाचीत म्हन्तो कसा?<br />" मी ठुम्च्या गावात निव्हाड्न्युक लॅडनार आहे"<br /><br />सौरव गांगूली बॉल लागल्यावर उडतो<br />तसा मी बी उडालो!<br />लेका तुला न्हाय इथला काय माहीत<br />ना भाषा, ना काही, तू फॉरिनर,<br />आन् तू कसा काय उभा राहणार<br />इंडियाच्या विलेक्शन मधी?<br /><br />विंग्रजीत सोन्या म्हन्तो कसा<br />(आता सगळाच कागुदवर असता व्हय, मराठीत बोलाया?)<br />"काळजी नसावी. आपल्याच गावचा 'मोहन' हाये,<br />त्येच 'मन' तयार केलय,<br />मी जित्लो तर त्यो र्हाईल माझ्या जागी<br />मी फकस्त पाठिंब्याचा 'हात' द्येतो,<br />हुबा राहतो मागी मागी!<br />सत्ता आल्यावर हाती,<br />काय बरा-वाईट झालाच<br />तर फोडू खापर मोहनच्या माथी!"<br /><br />म्या चक्रावलो, म्हनला,<br />"असा कधी व्हतय काय?"<br />सोन्या दात दाखवित म्हनला<br />" गोष्ट न्हाई ही पूर्वीची फार,<br />तुमच्याच कंट्री मधी<br />हुतय हे सिन्स दोन हजार च्यार!"<br /><br />-प्रांजल वाघ<br /><br /><br /><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width: 0pt;" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/88x31.png" /></a><br />This <span dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text" rel="dc:type">work</span> by <span cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" property="cc:attributionName">Pranjal A. Wagh</span> is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/">Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License</a>Pranjal Waghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08152240660360102153noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633149094428158104.post-17557870025007513342009-04-08T11:23:00.003+05:302009-04-08T11:44:16.916+05:30For all Voters...The polls are nearing.<br />I do not think I have a chance to vote because the voter's card hasn't come yet.<br />But for all those who get to vote I have one suggestion (or advice if you may call it that!)<br /><br />Think only about the candidate in your constituency.<br /><br />Do not vote for a particular party just because you like their prime ministerial candidate.<br />After all who you vote in your constituency will ultimately matter to you. Not the head dude/dudette in the PM's chair.<br />Check the records of the candidates running for the LS polls. Make sure they have good records, that they are not criminals and that they keep the promises they have made.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.mumbaivotes.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">www.mumbaivotes.com</span></a> is an excellent site to check on your candidates credibility (although limited to Mumbai). I would like to thank <span style="font-weight: bold;">Mr. Satish VijayKumar </span>of <a href="http://www.bombaylives.com/">Bombaylives!</a> for this great information.<br /><br />Start thinking from the grass root levels. Remember one thing <span style="font-weight: bold;">" Drops make an ocean"</span><br /><br />When you select good candidates at constituency level, in my opinion, the whole nation will be benefited.<br /><br />Pranjal Wagh<br /><br /><br /><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/"><br /><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width: 0pt;" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/88x31.png" /></a><br />This <span dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text" rel="dc:type">work</span> by <span cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" property="cc:attributionName">Pranjal A. Wagh</span> is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/">Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License</a>Pranjal Waghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08152240660360102153noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633149094428158104.post-42672824878925893312009-04-07T14:36:00.002+05:302009-04-07T14:40:05.715+05:302000 Hits!!Just 4 months 7 days and 33 posts later.....<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjggyht0zju8zvksG14NfIGwMbsRYpwmupXdWLq3BLOuYF6GTMqZrchykzI2lht0V-s_dj7g9jOIvPvSQhErengbKaF6xpRTR3PuS7Wki33dSdVCXHEKCVhhJDI8V9mpTZR5R5HEnqkqNY/s1600-h/2000.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 253px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjggyht0zju8zvksG14NfIGwMbsRYpwmupXdWLq3BLOuYF6GTMqZrchykzI2lht0V-s_dj7g9jOIvPvSQhErengbKaF6xpRTR3PuS7Wki33dSdVCXHEKCVhhJDI8V9mpTZR5R5HEnqkqNY/s320/2000.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321874080644293298" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></div>Thanks a lot to all our readers for their fantastic and wonderful support and response!<br />Please do keep reading our blog in the future!<br /><br />Regards<br /><br />Pranjal WaghPranjal Waghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08152240660360102153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633149094428158104.post-64324134719168599282009-04-06T16:12:00.003+05:302009-04-06T16:23:08.182+05:30महाराष्ट्र माझा!<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">This article was written by me for www.marathimati.com and can be viewed </span><a style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" href="http://www.marathimati.com/Maharashtra/Maharashtra.asp">here</a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNU3VDnW2cIKam3VRzZAznMuQJ7iMkyWFcWHtj811t32X2T2Oya1RWuTWRJEXOkFznV0z9Ka3gNWlGaKrsuXzta_bi-VvxndROUraDwcZlLWq0gDl7Fhldl5uBauQ-3QEHH3PADJby794/s1600-h/untitled.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 217px; height: 170px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNU3VDnW2cIKam3VRzZAznMuQJ7iMkyWFcWHtj811t32X2T2Oya1RWuTWRJEXOkFznV0z9Ka3gNWlGaKrsuXzta_bi-VvxndROUraDwcZlLWq0gDl7Fhldl5uBauQ-3QEHH3PADJby794/s320/untitled.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5321529278177278162" border="0" /></a><br /></div><span><br />महाराष्ट्र</span>....<br />या नावातच सारं काही आलं!<br />महा राष्ट्र!<br />या राष्ट्रात विवधता अगदी ठासून भरलेली आहे!<br />इतिहास, निसर्ग, कला, साहित्य, पाककला ह्या सगळ्यात इतकं वैविध्य क्वचितच जगात आढळेल!<br /><br />ह्या राष्ट्राची माती पवित्र आहे! ह्याच मातीतून शिवाजी, संभाजी जन्माला आले! ह्याच मातीत स्वराज्याचे बीज परले गेले! इथेच ते फळाला आले! इथेच अनेक अनामी वीर स्वराज्यासाठी लढले आणी कैक धारातीर्थी पडले! इथली माती त्यामुळेच लाल असेल का?<br />जेव्हा मुजोर औरंग्या ३ लाख सैन्य घेउन टीचभर स्वराज्यावर चाल करून आला तेव्हा संभाजी नावाच्या एका 'पोराने' पहिली नऊ वर्षे आणी नंतर इथल्याच संताजी-धनाजी ह्यानी मोगली बकासुरास इथेच गाडले!<br /><br />पुढल्या काही वर्षातच त्याच मोगलांच्या दिल्लिचं तख्त काबिज़ करून ह्या महाराष्ट्राचा भगवा अगदी अटकेपार फडकला! ही ताकत आहे इथल्या मंगटातली!<br /><br />जितका रंजक इथला इतिहास तितकाच इथला निसर्ग वैविध्यपूर्ण!<br />इथला कोंकण किनारा,इथला समुद्र, इथले सह्याद्री पर्वत, इथली घनदाट अरण्ये...<br />इथली वन्यजीवसृष्टी देखील विविधतेने नटलेली आहे! इथली फळ ही जगप्रसिद्ध आहेत! सार्या दुनियेला वेड लावणारा फळांचा राजा हापूस आंबा देखील महाराष्ट्राचाच!<br /><br />हा राकट, कणखर महाराष्ट्र कलाकारांचा देश देखील आहे! ह्या मातीला कलादेवतेच वरदान आहे! सतार इथेच जन्माला आली! वारली कला, बिद्रि कला, सावंतवाडीची लाकडी खेळणी, कोल्हापुरी चपला हे सारे प्रसिद्ध तर आहेतच पण महाराष्ट्रातील वस्त्रोद्योग हा अगदी पूर्वापार चालत आलेला आहे! पैठणी, नारायणी पेठ ह्या साड्या म्हणजे इथली शान आहेत!<br />इथली झणझणीत लावणी, खडे पोवाडे, कोळी गीत, भारुड हे सर्वांना भुरळ घालतात! इथली रंगभूमी, इथली नाट्यगीत सारी जगावेगळी!<br />भारतातील पहिला चित्रपट देखील ह्याच भूमीत तयार झाला!<br />अशी आहे महाराष्ट्राची कला परंपरा!<br /><br />मराठी साहित्या म्हणजे रत्न-हिरे ह्यानी खचून भरलेली खाण आहे.<br />पु.ल. देशपांडे,कुसुमाग्रज, आचार्य अत्रे, रणजीत देसाई, शिवाजी सावंत, कवी ग्रेस, बालकवी ही ह्या खाणीमधली काही रत्ने!<br />विनोदी, ऐतिहासिक, विडंबनात्मक .... जी जी श्रेणी तुम्ही शोधाल त्या त्या श्रेणीत तुम्हाला मराठी पुस्तक सापडतील!<br />700 पेक्षा अधिक वर्षांचा वारसा लाभलेली ही आमची मायबोली ह्या प्रचंड साहित्य परिवाराने आणखीच खुलते!<br /><br />महाराष्ट्रीय जेवण म्हणजे तर स्वर्गाहून सुंदर!<br />इथली पुरणपोळी, थालीपीठ, चकली ,चिवडा, श्रीखंड सगळ्यांना तौक आहे पण इथल्या प्रत्येक शहराला आपली एक पाक संस्कृती लाभलेली आहे.<br />मुंबईचा वडा पाव,नागपूरच्या सावजी समुदायाचे तिखट जेवण,वडे-भात, कोल्हापुरचा तांबडा-पांढरा रस्सा,मिसळ, सातारी क्न्दी पेढे, पुणेरी मिसळ, कोंकणी आआणी मालवणी जेवण....अहाहा! पाणी सुटल तोंडाला! हे तर फक्त मोजके नमुने आहेत!<br /><br />तर असा आहे आमचा महाराष्ट्र! कणखर आणि राकट तरी सार्याणा माया लावणारा आणि जपणारा!<br /><br />प्रांजल वाघ<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width: 0pt;" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/88x31.png" /></a><br />This <span dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text" rel="dc:type">work</span> by <span cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" property="cc:attributionName"><br />Pranjal A. Wagh</span> is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/">Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License</a>Pranjal Waghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08152240660360102153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633149094428158104.post-72054856519128388572009-04-05T00:08:00.007+05:302009-04-05T00:19:27.162+05:30Just some "creative" thoughts....<span style="font-style: italic;">Some thoughts in my head at the barber's..............</span><br /><br />Day before yesterday I had been to the Barber's Shop to chop off my long locks (Oh! How I<br />miss them!). Mind you, it was the heat that forced me to climb the steps to the barber's, I<br />would never have voluntarily done that!<br /><br />As usual I told "Crew cut banao!" and what do I see? In a matter of a few minutes my beautiful hair was gone! Chopped off like the trees of the Amazon rainforest!<br /><br />सफाचट!<br />खेल ख़तम!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Game over dude!</span><br /><br />The hair which I had very patiently grown over the past 6 months had been easily cut off<br />by this barber in a mere 6 minutes! The process of deforestation had taken a few measly<br />minutes and I could see my scalp again....<br /><br /><br />It was then that a thought struck me. This was something that I had learned in my childhood while reading some fiction novel but had been lost somewhere in the depths of my<br />mind.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">The process of creation takes infinitely longer time than the process of destruction.</span><br /><br />You can take a hell lot of time to build a sand-castle but a careless step or a deliberate<br />jump can crumble your castle. All your hard-work down the drain.<br /><br />It takes thousands of years for Nature to develop a balanced eco system. It takes not even<br />hundred years for foolish man to topple the ecological balance.<br /><br />Patiently, forests are grown, rocks are ground into soil, flora and fauna flourish.<br /><br />Enter man, enter the beginning of imbalance.<br /><br />The beginning of the end.<br /><br />This is not just the case with nature, it applies to all aspects of human life.<br /><br />It takes years for parents to nurture their child with love and care and try and make them<br />into responsible citizens. Right from the birth of the child, they give everything they have<br />so that the child will have a bright future.<br /><br />It takes the squeeze of a trigger, a push from a running train, a rioting mob to end the<br />dream of those parents.<br />A snap of the fingers and the life is finished.<br />Dead.<br /><br />It must have taken the buddhist monks a long long time to patiently carve the gigantic<br />Buddha statues at Bamiyan in Afghanistan. They must have been proud of work when they<br />were finished.<br /><br />The Taliban took down the statues in a couple of days.<br /><br />Empires, dynasties need lifetimes to take shape. It takes a matter of days to tear them<br />down.<br /><br />A lot of time and effort went into making the World Trade Center in New York.<br /><br />It took justtwo planes to bring them down.<br /><br />The point I am trying to make is,<br /><br />It takes a hell lot of hardwork from someone to build something, this something may be<br />anything, a life,a building, a machine anything, so before thinking about destroying anything one should always, always think about the efforts of the person who has created that thing.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Creation, not destruction should be our aim.</span><br /><br />-Pranjal Wagh<br /><br /><br /><br /><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/"><br /><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width: 0pt;" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/88x31.png" /></a><br />This <span dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text" rel="dc:type">work</span> by <span cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" property="cc:attributionName">Pranjal A. Wagh</span> is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/">Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License</a>Pranjal Waghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08152240660360102153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633149094428158104.post-56339347905666921942009-03-26T22:09:00.007+05:302009-04-03T00:58:28.897+05:30The Mega problem that is the Nano..<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-size:100%;"><span style="font-style: italic;">A list of head-aches that will probably be caused by the small Nano....</span></span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioMazU3f76zcGx5UueGuDuBe4Y1-q_hlog1FSYAj-Tn-8KvptcxfkQsHIKNOeGSI9pDOcUaPAr17ldraVI9FWbvWRENi_tkRd-ug9uA_wF6UFFz8RX5DOHTMk0J1taCm72yscHnI62Q5I/s1600-h/800px-Tatata_Nano.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 224px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioMazU3f76zcGx5UueGuDuBe4Y1-q_hlog1FSYAj-Tn-8KvptcxfkQsHIKNOeGSI9pDOcUaPAr17ldraVI9FWbvWRENi_tkRd-ug9uA_wF6UFFz8RX5DOHTMk0J1taCm72yscHnI62Q5I/s320/800px-Tatata_Nano.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5317557024145383170" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br />When Tata Motors displayed Nano publicly for the first time, Ratan Tata had said that he " saw middle-class families riding 4 at a time on a scooter (no doubt a Bajaj!) " and he thought that he should make a car that would be affordable to a common family. The 1 Lakh Car! <span style="font-style: italic;"></span><br /><br />Commendable vision or just some Marketing Bullshit. We may never know!<br /><br />But the stark reality is that the pint sized Nano comes with a Mega package of problems. Both for the infrastructure and the environment.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">1. The problem of safety:</span><br /><br />The Tata Nano lacks airbags and ABS (anti-lock braking system). Putting these two in Nano would have instantly doubled its price. Hence these essential safety measures have been omitted from Nano.<br />Tata has said that later versions of will have these features. But the price will definitely be doubled and who would want to buy a 2 Lakh Nano car when you have other better cars starting at 3 lakhs?<br />Also there is the question that when this variant will be coming out!<br />In India where almost 90000 people are killed/crippled in road accidents every year will it be advisable to flood the roads with a car that lacks airbags and ABS?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">2. The problem of Traffic:</span><br /><br />Major metros like Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi are already facing bad traffic problems everyday. Small cities and towns are not equipped to handle a sudden increase in traffic(By the way neither are the metros!)<br /><br />In such situation is it advisable to dump a low-cost car on the middle class which looks at a car as a status symbol? The middle class will definitely jump at such an opportunity without thinking about the consequences.<br /><br />The Tata's wont stop marketing it since it is their business, the middle class won't stop buying it for the sake of owning a car at low price and the government(!) even if it opens its mouth a wad of money will be put in it and the mouth will promptly close!<br /><br />Although it is said that Tata has conceived a scheme for crowded metros like Mumbai to offer Nano only to those individuals who do not have a vehicle already, I doubt how much this scheme will succeed regarding the implementation of it and also how many people will try to bypass this scheme!<br /><br />A counter argument doing the rounds is that, once Nano enters the market the sale of two-wheelers will go down. Honestly can you imagine a college-goer going to college in his Nano? What about the parking problems then? In the college as well as on the roads?<br /><br />Is a boy likely to take his girlfriend for a ride in Nano?<br />And when Tata has released Nano will the bike companies sit back and let Tata eat their share of market?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">3.The problem of pollution</span><br /><br />Although Tata Nano is a low emission car, is it emission free?<br />No!<br /><br />A simple logic I apply is ,<br />Normal emission from 1 car = Low emission from 10 cars<br /><br />Now if people are going to buy Nano like anything wont the 'low emission' of many Nano's eventually be equal to the normal emission of some cars?<br /><br />With global warming already showing its drastic effects ( you noticed the sudden rise in heat-levels, the untimely rains, the warm winters - all side-effects of global warming!) is it advisable to market the Nano?<br /><br />When are we going to learn to keep our managerial and business sense aside and care for the earth rather than for ourselves?<br /><br />Is it so difficult to understand that if the ecological balance stays, we stay, else we are dead?<br /><br />Tata has promised an electric variant, a variant with compressed-air as fuel. I do hope these ventures succeed and that they be better than the current Nano. I just don't want them to end up as REVA the electric 2 seater car did! A total flop.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">4. Enter the rivals:</span><br /><br />Market rivals like Bajaj have already started with their attempts at their own 1 lakh car in collaboration with Nissan & Renault and is called Bajaj Auto-Renault-Nissan ULC.<br />Other giants like Fiat, General Motors have expressed interest at developing a cheap car like the Nano.<br /><br />Imagine the amount of traffic and pollution when these cars too make their entry into the market!<br /><br /><br />A solution to this problem would be replacing the existing old taxis (Fiats in Mumbai, Ambassadors in Kolkata, don't know about the other cities!) with Tata Nanos. Of course the Taxi replacements should be offered at a discount.<br />But if the taxi is a CNG one then I do not see any point in replacing it.<br />The same thing goes for the autorickshaws.<br />Infact, a cheaper variant of Nano could be introduced by removing the doors of the Nano to make it look like an auto!<br /><br />It is upto us people, the common people to think, not only for ourselves but also for the sake of our cities, our nation and our planet whether buying a Nano would be really advisable or not!<br /><br />Pranjal Wagh<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">PS:</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">1. This article although is based on the Tata Nano and the problems that it may cause, we need to use public transport to the max. Maximising use of public transport will reduce the number of cars on the roads directly leading to reduction in traffic (and also pollution!)</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">2. Any counter argument is always welcome. If I, in any way have erred in the above article please do comment on that!</span><br /><br /><br /><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width: 0pt;" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/88x31.png" /></a><br />This <span dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text" rel="dc:type">work</span> by <span cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" property="cc:attributionName">Pranjal A. Wagh</span> is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/">Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License</a>Pranjal Waghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08152240660360102153noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633149094428158104.post-89484279287278857172009-03-20T12:46:00.003+05:302009-03-20T13:43:25.398+05:30New kid on the BlogI must admit. I am not a 'blogger'. I'm almost a noob to the blogosphere. I am not as adept with words and penning down thoughts as you would expect contributors of this blog to be. But my buddy Pranjal feels I've got some elements that could make me a good contributor to this blog.<br /><ol><li>I continuously check my Facebook notes and album for any comment.</li><li>If people compliment me in person about a post on facebook, I tell them go and add a comment in my facebook profile.<br /></li><li>I am complete internet junkie (quite clear from point 1.).</li><li>I need a vent for my pathetic sense of humour and poetry.<br /></li><li>I am totally free for 3 months (atleast).<br /></li></ol><br />So 3 days and a million "Ive got nothing to post"s later, here I am, posting actually <span style="font-style: italic;">nothing</span>.<br />But indeed, its a pleasure contributing to a blog that just won 2nd place in the <span style="font-weight: bold;">'Best Mumbai Blog' </span>competition!<br /><br />Oh! Forgot to introduce myself! Hi! I am Amey Sakhadeo. A self confessed computer obsessed geek. Excuse me for the nuances between my kinda of writing and that of Pranjal's. But I solemnly pledge to keep my post as less nonsensical as possible.<br /><br />As for the topics of my posts, I have no idea (or maybe I want to keep you guessing). But perhaps some technology updates, cool hacks, my thoughts about current happenings and some light hearted poetry, maybe!<br /><br />I hope I wont (or haven't already) let the readers down.<br /><br />Cheers,<br />ASUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633149094428158104.post-13337198593273198692009-03-17T22:48:00.005+05:302009-03-18T13:43:15.955+05:30The Results are out !!!!<span style="font-weight: bold;">Hello All,</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The results for "Best Mumbai Blog" are out!!</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Your favourite blog "A Rational Mind"(ARM) has secured 2nd place!!!</span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIREAYr5XvJRG07D5tUwNxQLetrxiAaDCJBc9Ko-B4tjbGPRH3LMKtIohE9iyLuWpMgfCHm-G1T1NwoNtq9DzMQPgdhIpmVfbq_RYT3o4NlxFppU8fYKz-bXUWyZSJJIjTzH3a4qSAHgw/s1600-h/26613.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 277px; height: 277px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIREAYr5XvJRG07D5tUwNxQLetrxiAaDCJBc9Ko-B4tjbGPRH3LMKtIohE9iyLuWpMgfCHm-G1T1NwoNtq9DzMQPgdhIpmVfbq_RYT3o4NlxFppU8fYKz-bXUWyZSJJIjTzH3a4qSAHgw/s400/26613.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314210336564710290" border="0" /></a><br /></div><br /><a href="http://www.mumbaibloggers.net/2009/03/the-results/"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Here are the results!</span></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Although our blog has come in second place, it is a big thing for me as my team is just a baby in this huge blogger's world!</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Thank you all for your votes and support!</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Please keep reading the blog!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Regards,</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pranjal Wagh</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Team ARM.</span>Pranjal Waghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08152240660360102153noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633149094428158104.post-89133357331349175002009-03-13T20:54:00.010+05:302009-03-13T23:56:30.648+05:30Remember The Titans!<span style="font-style: italic;">The lessons to be learnt by Indians from an American flick.........</span><br /><br />My sir, Capt. Vanjari says "No movie is bad, all movies have a lesson to teach us!"<br /><br />I believe it. I do not hate any movie. There is always something that can be learnt from any movie. Be it any 'B' grade flick or a high-budget mega project, each and every movie has something or the other to teach. Maybe we already know that lesson, but it does remind us that that lesson has to be revised ;) Look carefully and you'll learn something from each movie!<br /><br />Anyway, I'll go straight to the main topic now.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdg9GA08jivqXXvsTkJawq-bqjo80sNHbTt-dwawN5E2zLsaa-z8B3D8e3Wo1wyYo1Ezx_QFDFNm0RzZFarC-Lvwx9RX4DZwvJCfbIMwD8OgIkEyI__4LvxDl7KcrkQZDUIxHZb118YnA/s1600-h/remember_the_titans.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 179px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdg9GA08jivqXXvsTkJawq-bqjo80sNHbTt-dwawN5E2zLsaa-z8B3D8e3Wo1wyYo1Ezx_QFDFNm0RzZFarC-Lvwx9RX4DZwvJCfbIMwD8OgIkEyI__4LvxDl7KcrkQZDUIxHZb118YnA/s400/remember_the_titans.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312724785195338770" border="0" /></a><br /><br /></div>I saw 'Remember the Titans' about 2 years ago. I saw the relevance of that movie to the Indian scenario back then but thought of writing a blog-post about that relevance now.<br /><br />Remember The Titans (RTT) is a movie based on a true story back in the 70's when a law indicating co-education for 'blacks' and 'whites' was passed. The story is set in Alexandria,Virginia where (American) football is a way of life! A new coach is appointed, who is black, Coach Boone (Denzel Washington) by removing the current white coach, Coach Yoast (Will Patton) for the T.C. Williams High School football team (a.k.a The Titans). His job is to integrate both blacks and whites into the Team and make it a force to reckon with, a united team. He has to do this against the wrath of the white townsfolk, the authorities who are against a black-white football team and the mixed education system.<br /><br />The movie's ending lines are by Sheryl, daughter of Coach Yoast.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">"People say that it can't work,<br />black and white;<br />well here we make it work, everyday.<br />We have our disagreements, of course,<br />but before we reach for hate,<br />always, always,<br />we remember the Titans. "</span><br /><br />Such a simple statement but such deep meaning!<br /><br />Indian society may look integrated on top. But remove the top layer and you will see the harsh reality in the division of the society.<br /><br />Religion, Caste, Sub-caste, Region, Language, Appearance.<br />You name it, we got it!<br /><br />Friends become enemies, unknown and known people are beaten-up,burnt,killed, women are raped. All in the name of caste, religion and other petty factors that differentiate between humans. Two good friends do not hesitate to slit each others throats just because of the difference in their religion.<br /><br />Two young lovers are not allowed to marry just because inter-caste, inter-religion, inter-region marriages are considered taboo. A pure emotion like love is not allowed to flourish. The ambitions and dreams of the youth which are the life-blood of this nation are dashed to death. People even do not know why they oppose such marriages. It is just because it has been told by their parents to them. Why such blind beliefs? Where is the rational man?<br /><br />A turning point in the movie, RTT, is this scene where Coach Boone takes the team on a midnight run to a ground where the historical battle of Gettysburg was fought in the American Civil War.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc9SJg88e-g9YT-rVFfLOA09fcY7CjT5Ck36KGIRe_T-LWPeAU2iAGCtqd0t-_RSZ2SySOGkj8Qk4HOfenRUA4q2SggL7fhX3Id59BevT0Mx-3TBk4j-69KdA_VXFtk_mfYPxKMzvam3E/s1600-h/rememberthetitansgettysburg.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 250px; height: 126px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc9SJg88e-g9YT-rVFfLOA09fcY7CjT5Ck36KGIRe_T-LWPeAU2iAGCtqd0t-_RSZ2SySOGkj8Qk4HOfenRUA4q2SggL7fhX3Id59BevT0Mx-3TBk4j-69KdA_VXFtk_mfYPxKMzvam3E/s400/rememberthetitansgettysburg.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5312724796035248738" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-style: italic;"></span></span><br /><br />Have a look at this video:<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" ><span style="font-style: italic;">The Gettysburg Speech</span></span><br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyJo4lyWTefyn7FlvoTp7ZrhQeP9OVqbDoQuJE8nggLIkI6o3rR4olYxXALzkhzANmAsIsLSRmYmrhbvhDUIg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br /><br /><br /><br />Coach Boone's Speech:<br /><br />"This is where they fought the battle of Gettysburg. Fifty thousand men died right here on this field, <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">fighting the same fight that we are still fighting among ourselves today</span>.<br /><br />This green field right here, painted red, bubblin' with the blood of young boys. Smoke and hot lead pouring right through their bodies. <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><br /><br />Listen to their souls, men</span>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">I killed my brother with malice in my heart</span>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Hatred destroyed my family</span>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">You listen, and you take a lesson from the dead</span>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">If we don't come together right now on this hallowed ground, we too will be destroyed, just like they were.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">I don't care if you like each other of not, but you will respect each other</span>. And maybe... I don't know, maybe <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><br /><br />we'll learn to play this game like men.</span> "<br /><br />This statement is very much relevant to the Indian scenario. It may not look relevant, but go a little deeper, exercise your brain and you'll see the identical situation.<br />I can see the relation to India can be seen in each and every line!<br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;"><br />"...fighting the same fight that we are still fighting among ourselves today</span>."<br /><br />1947 Hindu Muslim riots<br />1984 Sikh riots<br />1993 Mumbai riots<br />2002 Godhra incident and Gujarat Riots<br />2008 Anti-Christian violence<br />and still more to come.....<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">"....I killed my brother with malice in my heart</span>. "<br /><br />Neighbour killed neighbour. Citizens of the same nation killed each other. Sons of same mother India killed their brothers and raped their sisters.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">"Hatred destroyed my family</span>....."<br /><br />Countless families were uprooted and destroyed during these religious riots. Houses with entire families locked in them were burnt to ashes. Their screams still echo in the air.<br /><br />" <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">You listen, and you take a lesson from the dead</span>.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">If we don't come together right now on this hallowed ground, we too will be destroyed, just like they were.</span> "<br /><br />If we do not come together as Indians by keeping aside our castes and our religions we shall be destroyed.<br /><br />History is witness to this!<br /><br />All the Indian rulers were strong but they were not united. So when an invading force much stronger than them attacked no one helped each other until all of them perished.<br /><br />If we continue to divide the society on the basis of caste, religion then outsiders and external enemies will destroy us one by one.<br /><br />Politicians, anti-social elements, religious fanatics are exploiting the nation and its resources by dividing it on the basis of caste, religion, language to satisfy their interests. For their small interests they are destroying the dreams of millions, throwing away lives like a rich man throws pennies for beggars.<br /><br />They are selling our country to salesmen of terrorism for money. The country is going to the goons, dacoits, thieves.<br /><br />Fix this in your mind.<br /><br />No politician today wants to work for the nation. They are only interested in progressing their bank balance, not the country. We are a nation with 54% youth, but it is this youth that is not allowed to grow, their wings are cut even before they can spread them and fly just on the filthy basis of religion, caste ,and language!<br /><br />When politicians tell you to exercise your right of voting it is not because they want to make you aware of your right or that they care for the nation. It is because there is a possibility that you will vote for them because they have told you about right to vote.<br /><br />Some great politicians have now started beating up people just because they do not belong to a particular region or do not speak a particular language. All this under the false reason of saving the local culture and such bullshit. Creating a rift among the citizens of the nation and winning favour from a certain section of the society and hence winning their votes is one of their new pass times. And the worse part is, the youth are being attracted to these parties!<br /><br />A person from the North-East states is teased and is called Chinese just because of his looks resemble the Chinese. Is he not Indian? Does he not love India? Does adrenaline not flow in his veins when he sings "Jana Gana mana..."? Why?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">It is high time that we begin to trust and love the soul of a man rather than the look, the religion,the language and the caste of him!</span><br /><br />All I can say to my Indian brothers and sisters,<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">"People say that it can't work,<br />Religions,Regions,Castes,Colour;<br />well here we should make it work, everyday.<br />We may have our disagreements, of course,<br />but before we reach for hate,<br />always, always,<br />we should remember the Titans. "</span><br /><br />One thing we should remember,always.<br /><br />As Coach Boone says to his players before their first game,<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">"Tonight we've got Hayfield. Like all the other schools in this conference, they're all white. They don't have to worry about race. We do. Let me tell you something: you don't let anyone come between us. Nothing tears us apart. In Greek mythology, the Titans were greater even than the gods. They ruled their universe with absolute power. Well that football field out there, that's our universe. Let's rule it like titans. "</span><br /><br />India is a diverse land with equal diversity in regions, languages, religions. Keeping all these factors united is a difficult job. We have to do it as the educated youth of this country. Other nations may not have to worry about this diversity.<br /><br />We do.<br /><br />We should let <span style="font-weight: bold;">nothing</span> come between us.<br /><br />In Greek Mythology, the Titans were even greater than the gods as they ruled their Universe with absolute power.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">That country called India out there is our Universe. Lets rule it like the Titans.</span><br /><br /><br />Regards,<br />Pranjal Wagh<br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">PS:<br />1. Although the movie Chak De India highlights some of the aspects I have mentioned in the post. Remember the Titans is much much closer to my heart and is a much better movie.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">2. This is a true story. You can check out the details on the Internet.</span><br /><br /><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width: 0pt;" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/88x31.png" /></a><br />This <span dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text" rel="dc:type">work</span> by <span cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" property="cc:attributionName">Pranjal A. Wagh</span> is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/">Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License</a>Pranjal Waghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08152240660360102153noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633149094428158104.post-18087013736963947552009-03-07T01:20:00.007+05:302009-03-07T02:28:12.167+05:30The horrible head-on collision at midnight!<span style="font-size:85%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Witnessing a head-on collision between a bike and a bus at high speed at midnight.........</span></span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />07 March 2009</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Approx. 0000Hrs.</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Siddhivinayak Temple Junction</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijkevQtG2CgT3TMU91QTAJ-6O94fK8zqDK4ntI7hTLjQeLeH8uI_8bx6ODfnHkP1k6KQQ8AmbLtnbLh7tP24o5_DAOU1Gd-NlUzrq02KHj6GUVVnHOdCj3oupbrzmu5hV-vYrjht0waA4/s1600-h/map.bmp"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 277px; height: 294px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijkevQtG2CgT3TMU91QTAJ-6O94fK8zqDK4ntI7hTLjQeLeH8uI_8bx6ODfnHkP1k6KQQ8AmbLtnbLh7tP24o5_DAOU1Gd-NlUzrq02KHj6GUVVnHOdCj3oupbrzmu5hV-vYrjht0waA4/s400/map.bmp" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5310178343473822818" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">(Map gives approx location of accident)</span></span><br /><br /></div>Me and my friend were standing near HDFC Bank, Prabhadevi (Opp. Siddhivinayak Temple), chatting, when we heard a loud crash. Turning around we find a huge cloud of dust and flying human bodies, a bus speeding away and a bike thrown away!<br /><br />My instant reaction was to phone the emergency ambulance helpline and call for the ambulance. The helpline guy assured me that the ambulance would soon arrive.<br /><br />By now the police near the Siddhivinayak Temple had got to the spot. The bus driver had fled. The two bikers were lying stone-still knocked completely senseless by the speeding bus.<br /><br />The Police and the "extremely" helpful public first tried putting the two injured bikers into a Taxi. But when attempts failed they were put in a police wireless van and sent off to the hospital.<br /><br />Luckily for the two injured guys that they were involved in an accident at a busy junction with good police presence that they got immediate and prompt help. Due credit must be given to our police for being ever so helpful! And we must not forget the ever awake Mumbaikar! We are the city that never sleeps...the city that is always ahead in offering a helping hand!<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Kudos to the public and the police!</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">07 March 2009</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Approx 0015 Hrs</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Siddhivinayak Temple Junction</span><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br />Our investigation begins....<br /></div><br /></div>When all the crowd cleared and normal traffic resumed, we moved towards the smashed bike that was parked on the roadside to do a little investigation of our own.<br /><br />The entire bike was in good condition except the front part. The headlight of the bike was gone, so was the fancy 'face' of the bike. The handle was twisted and the key was still in the bike! From the looks of the bike, we drew the following conclusions about the nature of the collision:<br /><ol><li>The Bus and the bike collided head-on! The bike was obviously no match for the monstrous bus.</li><li>The bikers never wore any helmets. There weren't any helmets lying nearby nor did we see any on the biker's heads when the accident happened.</li><li>The bikers nor the bus driver ever must've thought of slowing down. Even though they saw each other approaching. I wonder why?</li><li>The impact was of such great magnitude that the chappals that one of the biker wore were found atleast 20 ft apart,the front portion of the bike was smashed beyond recognition and the human bodies were thrown with such violence that when they hit the ground they lay like the dead on the road.<br /></li></ol>The bikers never wore any helmets!! That was one thing that could have reduced their injuries! Its by sheer luck that they have survived a head-on collision with a speeding bus but what they should have done was worn helmets and slowed down when they did see the bus approaching at<br />high speed!!<br /><br />The bus driver could have also slowed down. Why the bus drivers drive like their rear is on fire only they know!!<br /><br />A little traffic discipline can go a long way in saving lives!<br /><br />Regards,<br /><br />Pranjal Wagh<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">PS: And all this time the "Emergency" Ambulance hadn't even arrived!!It was approx 0022 Hrs when we left the accident spot and the ambulance was not even there! Emergency ambulance, my foot!</span><br /><br /><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width: 0pt;" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/88x31.png" /></a><br />This <span dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text" rel="dc:type">work</span> by <span cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" property="cc:attributionName">Pranjal A. Wagh</span> is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/">Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License</a>Pranjal Waghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08152240660360102153noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4633149094428158104.post-668627929586590112009-03-06T04:13:00.008+05:302009-04-24T17:00:45.586+05:30Vasota...a stairway to heaven!<div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUY4MHCJlLekCljJJENVSRCR6Bh0yAG6-zgPiqPeCRQ3dgq-2eg7sbooNrkdD51QKYvBZNf-Ofw9DX9nFDWhgsKGrsPmCw6WzFgwZERYPsBV27IqTRQTtSxkorlpx6gn-DBr_5su4JMlI/s1600-h/ssp.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 175px; height: 54px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUY4MHCJlLekCljJJENVSRCR6Bh0yAG6-zgPiqPeCRQ3dgq-2eg7sbooNrkdD51QKYvBZNf-Ofw9DX9nFDWhgsKGrsPmCw6WzFgwZERYPsBV27IqTRQTtSxkorlpx6gn-DBr_5su4JMlI/s400/ssp.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5311066628325888882" border="0" /></a><br /></div><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >A trek to nature's wonderlan</span><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;font-size:85%;" >d and back!</span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /></div> <div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size:85%;">**DISCLAIMER</span><span style="font-size:85%;">**</span></div><span style="font-size:85%;">This is no travelogue and does not provide accurate directions to visit Vasota. It is just a web weaved with words by a lover of nature and history. It is the ranting and raving of a mad </span><span style="font-size:85%;">poetic hear</span><span style="font-size:85%;">t. Technically, it is the output of a machine whose input is the haunting Vasota. T</span><span style="font-size:85%;">his is what I feel it is. For pro-accuracy peop</span><span style="font-size:85%;">le, this is my interpretation, go take a hike (literally and that too, to Vasota!)</span><span style="font-size:85%;">.</span><br /><span style="font-size:85%;">Even after this, you consider this a travelogue, its your loss or gain, as you see fit!</span><br /><div style="text-align: center;"> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------<br /></div><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">" If any task is difficult then it is worthy of being done.Anyone can do a simple task"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">This legend left on a metal sign by Giribhraman Sanstha tells you the importance of trekking to the lofty heights on Vasota. Although not a difficult trek, it is one of the most thrilling and enchanting treks in all of Maharashtra.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;font-family:times new roman;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNkV7BGI9XClFQTj3T_6CBjNTbUARUJShnjQ32DY7tUca1Xny3bDCkooCBetkNKLBaHRh7pTs2ly83cRbiocdEplhm6ACt1oOaxyhI7V_nQEi9UrgQ-frRRvPlmGyvSVPj3GF49tWBQZU/s1600-h/DSCN0618.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNkV7BGI9XClFQTj3T_6CBjNTbUARUJShnjQ32DY7tUca1Xny3bDCkooCBetkNKLBaHRh7pTs2ly83cRbiocdEplhm6ACt1oOaxyhI7V_nQEi9UrgQ-frRRvPlmGyvSVPj3GF49tWBQZU/s200/DSCN0618.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309786219256430498" border="0" /></a><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" >Vasota Fort</span><br /><br /><br /></div><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Vasota....<br /></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">The first glimpse you catch of Vasota is when you are approaching Bamnoli by S.T. Bus. Its spell binds you. As the bus twists and turns on the road down to Bamnoli, Vasota makes you twist and turn in your seat just to continue getting that one glimpse of it.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Vasota stands tall amidst the evergreen forests of Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary and mesmerizes you with its beauty. Each contour and fold of the Vasota mountain enhances its beauty many times over. It looks like it has broken free of the shackles of the earth and it is intent on kissing the blue sky.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Beside Vasota you can see the grand old fort of Old Vasota. Now rendered inaccessible by dense forests and vegetation and also due to presence of carnivores Old Vasota is much taller than New Vasota fort and is even more mysterious to a curious cat like me. The standing fortifications can be clearly seen from Vasota and they call out to you to come and explore them. Old Vasota is like an old man who is never visited by relatives and friends and never taken care of! Well, all forts in Maharashtra are like that, courtesty our great leaders who love Shivaji Maharaj so much that they have no time to look after his forts! Anyways...</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">The boat ride to Vasota is engaging and bewitching.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;font-family:times new roman;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRTX-ey1YP_JEGImBCWmd8mcKqP_2JZ7s6ZhE_TXspXbHf6ZdGlJ8D1wv_JbiVrpkfnRxgEeZ0DAAWCs6iiXaJ62rYy9G4hmbtfhX44JFpNKqcsqH2s4h07B3Ogr32I_jTP_U74eECBqw/s1600-h/DSCN0821.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 168px; height: 126px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRTX-ey1YP_JEGImBCWmd8mcKqP_2JZ7s6ZhE_TXspXbHf6ZdGlJ8D1wv_JbiVrpkfnRxgEeZ0DAAWCs6iiXaJ62rYy9G4hmbtfhX44JFpNKqcsqH2s4h07B3Ogr32I_jTP_U74eECBqw/s200/DSCN0821.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309827910493937442" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguQv_6l7mqtTkfMk_kNsGkkWjszvykqzGGF6K3xysyTS6kooAVPXlo8QGsZ0JbWog_D_TfDI_EQsytHpc_Y4HtpID9HRZg_thMBPinxGMofGXV8vbFnYyibbK89QVKUuiIkSEf7dNrr4g/s1600-h/DSCN0600.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 171px; height: 127px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguQv_6l7mqtTkfMk_kNsGkkWjszvykqzGGF6K3xysyTS6kooAVPXlo8QGsZ0JbWog_D_TfDI_EQsytHpc_Y4HtpID9HRZg_thMBPinxGMofGXV8vbFnYyibbK89QVKUuiIkSEf7dNrr4g/s200/DSCN0600.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309829763460225458" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9-MKte4uO95isYz_8DkFEfSpNLuV4fSgHAejIj4cG4Xj-SvbhluhHzV-2Bq-aKapjzok8Dfr6b1XICASdcRYYIAAYBlhU6uY9Ja1Bc8uOiFJa8JhzgJDj_SpWziBXVIcv0QiVRP1zazs/s1600-h/DSCN0591.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 171px; height: 128px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9-MKte4uO95isYz_8DkFEfSpNLuV4fSgHAejIj4cG4Xj-SvbhluhHzV-2Bq-aKapjzok8Dfr6b1XICASdcRYYIAAYBlhU6uY9Ja1Bc8uOiFJa8JhzgJDj_SpWziBXVIcv0QiVRP1zazs/s200/DSCN0591.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309827915714431234" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9-MKte4uO95isYz_8DkFEfSpNLuV4fSgHAejIj4cG4Xj-SvbhluhHzV-2Bq-aKapjzok8Dfr6b1XICASdcRYYIAAYBlhU6uY9Ja1Bc8uOiFJa8JhzgJDj_SpWziBXVIcv0QiVRP1zazs/s1600-h/DSCN0591.JPG"> </a></div><div style="text-align: center;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Shivsagar Reservoir of the Koyna backwaters</span></span><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">The blue-green expanse of the Koyna backwaters makes me want to jump off the boat to swim and splash in its cool depths. But I know that if I jump in the others will want to jump in and then I have to keep my appointment with Ms.Time too!The water is covered in ripples at times while at other moments it is glass-smooth and makes you marvel at the wonder called wind.</span><br /><div style="text-align: center;font-family:times new roman;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCsGkOGrv5mnuq3799TrJTRq8fmg-yyUM0QMNI-pmlo2yJLueoHJjdKwD2f_mu-VeM7xyOv81_3vhsXcr4RuFKVwIiEhitrRYhNhVKI9SD-fRWLwpITHlfdf8zjdpWkH8WQcNEyZDIEck/s1600-h/DSCN0613.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCsGkOGrv5mnuq3799TrJTRq8fmg-yyUM0QMNI-pmlo2yJLueoHJjdKwD2f_mu-VeM7xyOv81_3vhsXcr4RuFKVwIiEhitrRYhNhVKI9SD-fRWLwpITHlfdf8zjdpWkH8WQcNEyZDIEck/s200/DSCN0613.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309829763279965106" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinCfkN-O4l3QSUiPesytdx0-cqBcUqofUgGtRh5fhAqyoQWMY7kvvGwKwsGhSh5Us3kJ2HSCQ98EiUqe2GaYgxMKI_MmfRf8Cupzdbi2OHvwzi1TVQ4C8qt8Au40272w41LGsVltGaj34/s1600-h/DSCN0610.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinCfkN-O4l3QSUiPesytdx0-cqBcUqofUgGtRh5fhAqyoQWMY7kvvGwKwsGhSh5Us3kJ2HSCQ98EiUqe2GaYgxMKI_MmfRf8Cupzdbi2OHvwzi1TVQ4C8qt8Au40272w41LGsVltGaj34/s200/DSCN0610.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309827925819384210" border="0" /></a><br /></div><a style="font-family: times new roman;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinCfkN-O4l3QSUiPesytdx0-cqBcUqofUgGtRh5fhAqyoQWMY7kvvGwKwsGhSh5Us3kJ2HSCQ98EiUqe2GaYgxMKI_MmfRf8Cupzdbi2OHvwzi1TVQ4C8qt8Au40272w41LGsVltGaj34/s1600-h/DSCN0610.JPG"></a><div style="text-align: left;font-family:times new roman;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">At times the water is glass smooth and again it has ripples the next instance!</span></span><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIyhnsSqoVux4TyLvdMMMYHSV3aTyS_x3-DcHRPc6cwp0A4L2bx7VUe-WSoQDDvtXhPjpIsjK3oRkHrF6HpOO2BnUW6o3Hu0fc8B_6PF3md1hiWMCvHsYRPilklBbG0bldVDc75UFWKpc/s1600-h/ATgAAAB8ptAbi643Q8RPbQGap07M1AVJ4EOIbETjFGSeZqVrUi1muzyYUzsGwXfw_4qm2zQy6x7UiULy8WQn4ra5FKYRAJtU9VBUgauBNnR3LOQJNFe-AXwhQb_90g.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIyhnsSqoVux4TyLvdMMMYHSV3aTyS_x3-DcHRPc6cwp0A4L2bx7VUe-WSoQDDvtXhPjpIsjK3oRkHrF6HpOO2BnUW6o3Hu0fc8B_6PF3md1hiWMCvHsYRPilklBbG0bldVDc75UFWKpc/s200/ATgAAAB8ptAbi643Q8RPbQGap07M1AVJ4EOIbETjFGSeZqVrUi1muzyYUzsGwXfw_4qm2zQy6x7UiULy8WQn4ra5FKYRAJtU9VBUgauBNnR3LOQJNFe-AXwhQb_90g.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309791865364345954" border="0" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">You are greeted by scores of butterflies when you reach the banks of Met Indavali. I have never seen so many butterflies at one place before. All sizes and all colours in one place!</span></div><br /><div face="times new roman" style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcMlWBCuZ8AJp9mFx_PR5evXGOaYPqIqHxPqONGnCweSgnxjeAmCZYzsytvysRYakk033rZRvJ1DYIZQbhi9QafboSI7xtBm5TqqI6oBxGCrmBChsrZ7bDZqkopqb1KC97XVOBOEIG3og/s1600-h/DSCN0769.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcMlWBCuZ8AJp9mFx_PR5evXGOaYPqIqHxPqONGnCweSgnxjeAmCZYzsytvysRYakk033rZRvJ1DYIZQbhi9QafboSI7xtBm5TqqI6oBxGCrmBChsrZ7bDZqkopqb1KC97XVOBOEIG3og/s200/DSCN0769.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309791872064198946" border="0" /></a></div><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Walking up a small path you come to a camp set up by the Forest Dept. It is complete with tents for tourists and trekkers like us. Some of the tents do resemble those that were shown in the movie Border and have taken on the red colour of the earth but we got a huge Shamiana at our disposal which reminded me of a military camp right out of any periodic TV serial.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">One of the attractions at Vasota is the Shiv Mandir in a cave inside the Nageshwar Pinnacle. Water drips on to the Shivlinga here from a crack in the ceiling throughout the year. No source of water at the top of the pinnacle but its just the rain water which is rationed by nature to drip all year long!</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">We opted to visit Nageshwar before Vasota contrary to others who normally proceed to Vasota first. On the way we first came across a Hanuman & Ganesh temple which is recognizable only because of the two carved idols and the plinth on which they stand.</span><br /><br /><div face="times new roman" style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzilQHpne8WvUes6HLb8OPB9RpxpuFfZ71ysveddd22YE_SavNJBHBZKh37m4A2pIcPSimXKlbbE9CXIviekOyMxQqxSZKc9DFDi6_czCtDGvLgtIIiWMxNqKqzH3A7koW_XnUngqq8JI/s1600-h/DSCN0631.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzilQHpne8WvUes6HLb8OPB9RpxpuFfZ71ysveddd22YE_SavNJBHBZKh37m4A2pIcPSimXKlbbE9CXIviekOyMxQqxSZKc9DFDi6_czCtDGvLgtIIiWMxNqKqzH3A7koW_XnUngqq8JI/s200/DSCN0631.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309791876609697410" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div face="times new roman" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Hanuman & Ganesh Idols together. The only other place I have seen this phenomenon is Kalavantin Pinnacle near Panvel</span></span>.<br /></div><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">No walls and no roof remain. Once you enter this area it is like you have come into an air-conditioned room! It becomes cold and shields you from the searing heat of the Sahyadri sun!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">To the right of the idols is a dried-up stream. Although it is dried up now the stream must be a roaring-monster during the monsoons. All the greenery in and around the stream makes this evident!</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;font-family:times new roman;"><span style="font-family:times new roman;">There are some pools in this stream which offer you naturally refrigerated water.</span><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfQ8pWYW3WpBndo6Ufr-ngIbRETn3f7B7H-HrgTOyZQFr26Po00m_zJfxSCm-35hPomWvIqrl785T0a2A2ZFOPY69q1HyE74hO1sfsvQy1xTUWhxa1l3iYp9MnkdA91bM5mvZ1ZF8kvig/s1600-h/DSCN0636.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfQ8pWYW3WpBndo6Ufr-ngIbRETn3f7B7H-HrgTOyZQFr26Po00m_zJfxSCm-35hPomWvIqrl785T0a2A2ZFOPY69q1HyE74hO1sfsvQy1xTUWhxa1l3iYp9MnkdA91bM5mvZ1ZF8kvig/s200/DSCN0636.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309791880869420658" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Pool for Cool water</span></span><br /><br /></div></div><span style="font-family:times new roman;">When you fill your bottle you get condensed water droplets on the bottle! Buy any of the most modern refrigerators you won't get this chill and thirst-quenching property in that water.Such clean and pure water that your filters at home are useless here. They are better-off at your house cleaning contaminated city water!This water is like the ad-slogan, just modified "No one can drink just once!"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Follow this rocky stream and you feel like you are walking through nature's own wildlife exhibiton!</span><br /><div face="times new roman" style="text-align: center;"> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9w6tUDxRrRzZgOChn_EbQtemkwKHBEUYFOqwwxOdNaCW4_aP6BQ7bJp5-Cs0VBlIP8nCq2zAL6dWkLn02PSnKLJj7eVW5RbHl43i-fe7zZCf6_88kGpPRdqXTGvmdUKxCYichCQb10UY/s1600-h/DSCN0641.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9w6tUDxRrRzZgOChn_EbQtemkwKHBEUYFOqwwxOdNaCW4_aP6BQ7bJp5-Cs0VBlIP8nCq2zAL6dWkLn02PSnKLJj7eVW5RbHl43i-fe7zZCf6_88kGpPRdqXTGvmdUKxCYichCQb10UY/s200/DSCN0641.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309791888048176530" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Just one of the thousands you will see on the trail</span></span><br /><br /></div><span style="font-family:times new roman;">I even saw an Asian Paradise Flycatcher, which ofcourse disappeared before I could shoot it (through my camera, ofcourse! :P). I did catch a fleeting glimpse of its flowing tail thought and it still is fresh in my mind's camera! We also found a skull of a Barking deer (Bhekar)</span><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">and lots of other funnily shaped rocks and boulders! (Ofcourse they were eroded by the water in the rainy season!)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">As we proceeded through the path of the dry stream we came to one point where (you are not going to believe this!) we found butterflies in thousands and lakhs! They were like 100 butterflies per 1 cubic metre (to be technical). I found a dried up branch on which so many butterflies were sitting that I mistook them for leaves of the tree! And beyond the stream, in the jungle the air was thick with even more butterflies! That is a vision to be treasured and I have treasured it in my mind! No matter how many words I write I will not be able to describe the beauty that I saw that day!! That vision, I guess, will die with me! (Unless, ofcourse any of you also has seen it!)</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">After much walking we reached the base of Nageshwar pinnacle and from there we get a breathtaking view of Vasota and Old Vasota.</span><br /><br /><div face="times new roman" style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsc463vjbeT7r78wbW0aXKtTYd8oimAXTEX9o62yqFB2A8FBizJob4hNMu89FrcSyMKKNdvOLPpDoxwuxOwBRNn6DuGS-gxU0gXQDUSFb9dC80RjNCv9qdIJFzvrkptoxmYybpsAM5WWE/s1600-h/DSCN0661.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsc463vjbeT7r78wbW0aXKtTYd8oimAXTEX9o62yqFB2A8FBizJob4hNMu89FrcSyMKKNdvOLPpDoxwuxOwBRNn6DuGS-gxU0gXQDUSFb9dC80RjNCv9qdIJFzvrkptoxmYybpsAM5WWE/s200/DSCN0661.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309795333204791506" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Vasota from Nageshwar base</span></span><br /><br /></div><span style="font-family:times new roman;">The folds and contours on the mountain of Vasota coupled with its sheer cliffs give it the look of a muscular warrior!!</span><br /><br /><div face="times new roman" style="text-align: left;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjqU-BpLupSgZYUL9MSWML4Lam1R92IbEriw0ENypEC2KWm8fAs_K819j23Yc5JBCczB0lR5nfSDibSeLvB9n7vp_HhbLV0ZZaO1_0jrlAd7VWcAjzfe7a_dkRf1zcq5s-4APcrwts1Jo/s1600-h/DSCN0668.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 191px; height: 143px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjqU-BpLupSgZYUL9MSWML4Lam1R92IbEriw0ENypEC2KWm8fAs_K819j23Yc5JBCczB0lR5nfSDibSeLvB9n7vp_HhbLV0ZZaO1_0jrlAd7VWcAjzfe7a_dkRf1zcq5s-4APcrwts1Jo/s200/DSCN0668.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309797674479730306" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBxgPe1TPSW8-Gitz8vt4rtK3-33fGrWd4SfAq8gv7FLgYQnZb3bOBR5OW7kWh2M-KVYiTM8iWLVHZcE9kptPX9EW0tI8M-lUh81cR-gZXkSXe-_QFHhyphenhyphenVmjA4UNvcAgM95HF-1vCsvtg/s1600-h/DSCN0664.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 150px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBxgPe1TPSW8-Gitz8vt4rtK3-33fGrWd4SfAq8gv7FLgYQnZb3bOBR5OW7kWh2M-KVYiTM8iWLVHZcE9kptPX9EW0tI8M-lUh81cR-gZXkSXe-_QFHhyphenhyphenVmjA4UNvcAgM95HF-1vCsvtg/s200/DSCN0664.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309797670634485490" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKLKMZqA45IEzG8BEwE6MicnzdCxgKK6r-cc_MRpVm8K4YbwBl9ZZFidBpq6RqWF1aW0EzQfiYSo49GGlv-SNJ9lpzAoILUq1rQOEhOoVAjioiJH64d3TfZDukfuJ9stUMqFF2-hEJg3c/s1600-h/DSCN0663.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 190px; height: 142px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKLKMZqA45IEzG8BEwE6MicnzdCxgKK6r-cc_MRpVm8K4YbwBl9ZZFidBpq6RqWF1aW0EzQfiYSo49GGlv-SNJ9lpzAoILUq1rQOEhOoVAjioiJH64d3TfZDukfuJ9stUMqFF2-hEJg3c/s200/DSCN0663.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309797657965487746" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: left; font-family: times new roman;"><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Vasota from Nageshwar, Nageshwar Pinnacle ,The Konkan region seen from Nageshwar</span></span><br /></div><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span></div><span style="font-family:times new roman;">The view of Konkan from the point was also awesome! After climbing a few steps we reached the Nageshwar Cave temple. Cool breeze greeted us as we reached the temple. It is a hot favourite spot for pilgrims during MahaShivratri and one can clearly see the incessant drop by drop dripping of water over the Shivlinga.</span><br /><br /><div face="times new roman" style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMpxXuBlxC9gQHE4igrcrMt4ZhmJxE474t_8PUu6AsHbP_ex8138KEGI0MZUnrB5N7X6deEM5MKBFrNEq5T-FTw_Re-JR67u63r29sNr15hNIQZuUvcPRjwuzIb7vHxvXORaAfQU5KeEs/s1600-h/DSCN0672.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMpxXuBlxC9gQHE4igrcrMt4ZhmJxE474t_8PUu6AsHbP_ex8138KEGI0MZUnrB5N7X6deEM5MKBFrNEq5T-FTw_Re-JR67u63r29sNr15hNIQZuUvcPRjwuzIb7vHxvXORaAfQU5KeEs/s200/DSCN0672.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309799750779782274" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO-nmsgQOOfFSUTY8rOpWxw668gonAlLrswXQlMv1scO305cEZWMNA9c_kbIj8KMdVF88XGlEqnNRQo7l0xg0v48hoPSA3jz7XG0fpFh3hyphenhyphenlXFFayU7sUjraWsQS7J9Q6ReD6AerTCXlI/s1600-h/DSCN0674.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO-nmsgQOOfFSUTY8rOpWxw668gonAlLrswXQlMv1scO305cEZWMNA9c_kbIj8KMdVF88XGlEqnNRQo7l0xg0v48hoPSA3jz7XG0fpFh3hyphenhyphenlXFFayU7sUjraWsQS7J9Q6ReD6AerTCXlI/s200/DSCN0674.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309799756407405186" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div face="times new roman" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> Vasota from Nageshwar,Moving towards Vasota </span></span><br /><br /></div><span style="font-family:times new roman;">The path from Nageshwar to Vasota is a flat path and one can enjoy the sight of the straight drop to the right into the Konkan region. This is real fun, walking on a narrow path where one wrong step spells instant death! I particularly love such paths more than any climb in the world! They have the ability to thrill the walker without making him use any of his energy and all the while he can just enjoy the relaxing cool breeze!! :)</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">It was getting dark and we had to use torches for the last kilometer or so but the more thrilling part of that last mile (or kilometer i must say!) was when we switched off our torches and stumbled and found our way out of the jungle!!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Our night-time was pretty much occupied by the regular food-making operations and other such things.</span><br /><div face="times new roman" style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiouOqswlHvgIzyw1W3-dJLpyJ8UTIXwMXfXJF6EUI8h7EVpZAaznLZWlwzfXYSKv2W3a-q5EHq8R9O7abcNedD0Ere2kPps9vPj4nrrt2pymNUayT5FGbbzfKo4KGqO_WT4oWO4WJTbAs/s1600-h/DSCN0698.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiouOqswlHvgIzyw1W3-dJLpyJ8UTIXwMXfXJF6EUI8h7EVpZAaznLZWlwzfXYSKv2W3a-q5EHq8R9O7abcNedD0Ere2kPps9vPj4nrrt2pymNUayT5FGbbzfKo4KGqO_WT4oWO4WJTbAs/s200/DSCN0698.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309799763793006498" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNXEco4hFbLri4WbIkaXuCF6Eu2PwWsJd29YDWNJ7XkuzWVLyClMT-VoLnE3Naw2aOeMJBZWkLOHWPWZFHNh1SRpZTHEAFfz0h9kA4Q-EbizZDnpWDi44OHhxYdHgpK7ntKfZpOYuH3Q8/s1600-h/DSCN0701.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 192px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNXEco4hFbLri4WbIkaXuCF6Eu2PwWsJd29YDWNJ7XkuzWVLyClMT-VoLnE3Naw2aOeMJBZWkLOHWPWZFHNh1SRpZTHEAFfz0h9kA4Q-EbizZDnpWDi44OHhxYdHgpK7ntKfZpOYuH3Q8/s200/DSCN0701.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309799765707972786" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div face="times new roman" style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Enjoying by the fire , Ambience of our tent</span></span><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">But the highlight of the night was the camp fire where we had our dinner, told dirty jokes aloud, laughed raucously like wild, bearded stone-age men and then dozed off to snoring equally fast!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Next day we had scheduled a lightning fast climb to Vasota and an equally rapid descent from the fort, the reason being time again! The climb was once again awesome and never ever tired us because the entire path has forest cover over it! There are some patches where the vegetation over-head is so thick that the sun-rays refuse to touch the forest floor!!</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-family: times new roman;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQiG2-N9nzziVwuoWhvN4WSp6XMKFLk3BtLDr7WiDXi8NRNnhdvVgFzMtEdzK2CK_56YGmy_CG4zAYsxe2YHdPPpRiaJPpDw1Ki7ScF1ftJlT85f6NxeEl5qBViy1akH1aa3FKPamVWMg/s1600-h/DSCN0713.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQiG2-N9nzziVwuoWhvN4WSp6XMKFLk3BtLDr7WiDXi8NRNnhdvVgFzMtEdzK2CK_56YGmy_CG4zAYsxe2YHdPPpRiaJPpDw1Ki7ScF1ftJlT85f6NxeEl5qBViy1akH1aa3FKPamVWMg/s200/DSCN0713.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309802690634217602" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTKojTNHiFge6SU5ZxyWWsmXrbv-fFl9hwXu4-Y-kF2OXWbofKMU3-ZLDicZLqC23zU1HfzzRLTsMY35XVLhGXglgjVoPqw9BFhtDl9PnBOFj__cMo5EzuczMlqiIjbRFP2kx6rC9iKio/s1600-h/DSCN0716.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTKojTNHiFge6SU5ZxyWWsmXrbv-fFl9hwXu4-Y-kF2OXWbofKMU3-ZLDicZLqC23zU1HfzzRLTsMY35XVLhGXglgjVoPqw9BFhtDl9PnBOFj__cMo5EzuczMlqiIjbRFP2kx6rC9iKio/s200/DSCN0716.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309802695684689026" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg86dlZYpmQyCqABJjBvx3-mkOBPvaXF-lVrJ19VB_br0EMzlY9zJnLWYERZdUE7MJuYXo1ooHlCsAudUCAfRvsr7zyWn1_RCuHnNXf5WVDLUbg3rathYeUQELav6UlzVTYlE1-MV-ZSTo/s1600-h/DSCN0705.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg86dlZYpmQyCqABJjBvx3-mkOBPvaXF-lVrJ19VB_br0EMzlY9zJnLWYERZdUE7MJuYXo1ooHlCsAudUCAfRvsr7zyWn1_RCuHnNXf5WVDLUbg3rathYeUQELav6UlzVTYlE1-MV-ZSTo/s200/DSCN0705.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309802684773615970" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The dense vegetation in Vasota forests</span></span><br /><br /></div><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Once we reach the top of Vasota we come across a Bhagwa Flag fluttering in the wind.It fills you with energy!! It makes you even more enthusiastic to climb the remainder of the fort and explore it!</span><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-family: times new roman;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7EY5B-8XT7Z73Z6vc_LM196WhMn_8MYx_aS3ELpMPpUKLJjsvvfr5V3ibaxXCkzwOyIWd8tIBRjidDQMkBOcfYChBqMh7YMEQ3DP3SJk_hjuABXqstm09RUVDeP8bks6lKh6LBZRZMV0/s1600-h/DSCN0724.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7EY5B-8XT7Z73Z6vc_LM196WhMn_8MYx_aS3ELpMPpUKLJjsvvfr5V3ibaxXCkzwOyIWd8tIBRjidDQMkBOcfYChBqMh7YMEQ3DP3SJk_hjuABXqstm09RUVDeP8bks6lKh6LBZRZMV0/s200/DSCN0724.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309802707676032354" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Bhagwa Flag</span></span><br /></div><span style="font-family:times new roman;">As you climb the steps of Vasota's main entrance you cannot help but feel sad for the bad condition of the fort neglected by people and the government in general. The bastions and gates destroyed by the Britishers when they captured the fort still take you back to those days.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: left; font-family: times new roman;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwGKO9ZnOpX0bulVlRauU1CdUbCLfKV7wbyPvIgy2eGm1d6apTnbSJU32BX0CEXVHIiMoM4wH2zzvxiijKxYRFhwDloUu939aPLionp-bCFFaHicxtPgfi9PVCRnwfxozPHh0Y3rORoko/s1600-h/DSCN0731.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwGKO9ZnOpX0bulVlRauU1CdUbCLfKV7wbyPvIgy2eGm1d6apTnbSJU32BX0CEXVHIiMoM4wH2zzvxiijKxYRFhwDloUu939aPLionp-bCFFaHicxtPgfi9PVCRnwfxozPHh0Y3rORoko/s200/DSCN0731.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309825360330502370" border="0" /></a> <span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Hanuman Temple on Vasota with no roof left</span></span><br /><br /></div><span style="font-family:times new roman;">We come across a roof-less Hanuman Temple as soon as we enter the fort where one finds this legend:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;font-family:georgia;" >" If any task is difficult then it is worthy of being done.Anyone can do a simple task"</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">It spurs you on! Makes you feel you are the King of the world! Makes you proud of yourself and gives you the satisfaction of having achieved something!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">The forests on top of Vasota are thick and have grown over the ruins of the fort rendering access to the interiors of the fort almost impossible. But one can still see the foundations of many mansions on the fort.</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-family: times new roman;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcNCxwB5K7wAF9hhsjv9sdDPaxDn_WQyvqRnBHHLQf5C-_YO27MqMBc42iwGodqWZkvQAyaaRn0rFis09YtylPNCt908ymW3f7H8TxeKu_3atS0e85hWzSWnVpXrNMXCYohgO2WR7XFUU/s1600-h/DSCN0752.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcNCxwB5K7wAF9hhsjv9sdDPaxDn_WQyvqRnBHHLQf5C-_YO27MqMBc42iwGodqWZkvQAyaaRn0rFis09YtylPNCt908ymW3f7H8TxeKu_3atS0e85hWzSWnVpXrNMXCYohgO2WR7XFUU/s200/DSCN0752.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309825366660803522" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfxDNLN8g_nYIh6wokSBH6CM46iPoSDydAXAB1b12rb-gL8LWcp6_fQs1CeM4LnBg9RQPGxSZvIjP5wxdWRtENCTNbPbxnoAxtyAfQAiQzn_O0qeUgR3vwuBKtLVpLUD_d5U9k1c-gt08/s1600-h/DSCN0762.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 123px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfxDNLN8g_nYIh6wokSBH6CM46iPoSDydAXAB1b12rb-gL8LWcp6_fQs1CeM4LnBg9RQPGxSZvIjP5wxdWRtENCTNbPbxnoAxtyAfQAiQzn_O0qeUgR3vwuBKtLVpLUD_d5U9k1c-gt08/s200/DSCN0762.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309825351804713986" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"> The only entirely standing structure on Vasota</span></span> <span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:78%;" >& Nageshwar pinnacle from the Temple</span><br /></div><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">The only completely standing structure on the fort is a Mahadev Temple. It has a photo of my god, Shivaji Maharaj, inside it. From here a splendid panoramic view of the Konkan region can be seen along with the Nageshwar pinnacle!!</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">The other end of the fort joins Vasota to Old Vasota via a narrow ridge and of course, the famous Babu Kadaa! Babu Kadaa( unlike its baby-ish name!) is a steep and tall cliff which reminds you of a very strong stone wall, only that it is natural! Babu Kadaa is the second steepest cliff in the Sahyadris, the first being Konkan Kadaa! The view from Babu Kadaa makes you speechless!! Just speechless!!</span><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-family: times new roman;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW5ugjEgWXR5UTCtFapqyNynsHQkbvwW6c70eCTDTITuNGqSKINAh5RxsUckkwYyo1jAzRAp8QIoMrr0OKcZk8GCNOQl-aDHG0SVs7NQoTtWCqcpYDT3r2imo4LP14DGzdfDkfqmFOny4/s1600-h/DSCN0750.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW5ugjEgWXR5UTCtFapqyNynsHQkbvwW6c70eCTDTITuNGqSKINAh5RxsUckkwYyo1jAzRAp8QIoMrr0OKcZk8GCNOQl-aDHG0SVs7NQoTtWCqcpYDT3r2imo4LP14DGzdfDkfqmFOny4/s200/DSCN0750.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309802713585080690" border="0" /></a> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp4Zq7fiBY5MUk-JxKjsNXuBm_2fdJCXloNCE-XlSUj77ebX6goAJ2qnxPaTXHzAABIQuq-KJxjV0a34ST2yWvUttrc8BiX1b6xPZv3ocggDt_-pJUjNxyG1YsQ4OAE2GF8G63W_5OQQU/s1600-h/DSCN0738.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp4Zq7fiBY5MUk-JxKjsNXuBm_2fdJCXloNCE-XlSUj77ebX6goAJ2qnxPaTXHzAABIQuq-KJxjV0a34ST2yWvUttrc8BiX1b6xPZv3ocggDt_-pJUjNxyG1YsQ4OAE2GF8G63W_5OQQU/s200/DSCN0738.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309826852444979522" border="0" /></a><br /></div><div style="text-align: center; font-family: times new roman;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Old Vasota fort on top of Babu Kadaa</span></span><span style="font-weight: bold;">, </span><span style="font-size:78%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The view from Babu Kadaa point</span></span><br /><br /></div><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Old Vasota sits like a king on top of Babu Kadaa. It has been stated as being out of bounds by the Forest Dept. We are like grown-up children. Denying anything makes us want it even more!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">Old Vasota laughs at you. It taunts you! In your face pathetic human!! You cannot conquer me! The way to me is lost! You cannot walk on my sacred ground and defame me with your pathetic name writing and plastic garbage!!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">I stare at its old fortifications covered in vegetation. I feel helpless, frustrated. I'll be back old man! With more time and more people! And I will find the way through to you because I know it exists! And whats more I will bring you to your knees by walking on your sacred grounds! I will unveil your mysteries!! You cannot deny me entry, I am born of these great old mountains. I will come to you!</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">We finally descend Vasota and return to base camp.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">As we bid adieu to this grand old fort duo we find it difficult to move our eyes away from them until the boat turns and the forts disappear behind a hill.</span><br /><br /><a style="font-family: times new roman;" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Ne7VRU4OvIib0aAmxHyJBiybDbTYqlo7se9SeMtm4uMUISr-s5_XjmvjEcXVJ1bxtiygRc0yt0h0IekmPcb9HXHrkx8IC77ndvvLLnr0b7ldjgW63tjR4WrnXJVYGbqorqmqhDBJy0s/s1600-h/DSCN0827.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 150px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Ne7VRU4OvIib0aAmxHyJBiybDbTYqlo7se9SeMtm4uMUISr-s5_XjmvjEcXVJ1bxtiygRc0yt0h0IekmPcb9HXHrkx8IC77ndvvLLnr0b7ldjgW63tjR4WrnXJVYGbqorqmqhDBJy0s/s200/DSCN0827.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5309825345365149090" border="0" /></a><span style="font-family:times new roman;"> </span><span style=";font-family:times new roman;font-size:78%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">The last time you see Old and New Vasota</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">They do make a re-appeareance when you are travelling to Satara but that is for only a brief period of time, just to say a final good-bye! Until next time my old friends! We shall meet again, I say!</span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family:times new roman;">-Pranjal Wagh</span><br /><br />PS: Please click on the photographs for an enlarged view. Trust me, its worth clicking on them!<br /><br /><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width: 0pt;" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/88x31.png" /></a><br />This <span dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/Text" rel="dc:type">work</span> by <span cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" property="cc:attributionName">Pranjal A. Wagh</span> is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.5/in/">Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License</a>Pranjal Waghhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08152240660360102153noreply@blogger.com7