Santosh

  • What I read in 2007

    Though I could not read as much as I did last year and left many books half finished, or just untouched on the shelf. These are books I did manage to finish, apart from the compulsory reading required by my job.

    Fiction

    • Alchemy of Desire by Tarun Tejpal
    • Wild Fire by Nelson DeMille
    • The Righteous Men by Sam Bourne
    • Snow by Orhan Pamuk
    • The Innocent Men by John Grisham
    • The Broker by John Grisham
    • The Last Song of Dusk by Sidhart D. Sanghvi

    Non-Fiction

    • Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubner
    • The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford
    • The Fortune at the Bottom of Pyramid by C K Prahalad
    • The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
    • The New Earth by Eckhart Tolle
    • The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins
    • The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
    • The way of the Sufi by Idries Shah

    I bought several books last year and many of them are still waiting to be finished. I read a few pages and somehow could not finish them. Hope to finish them soon this year.

    Half Read / Unfinished Books

    • Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra
    • The Road by Cormac McCarthy
    • The Cuckold by K Nagarkar
    • The Moral Mind by Marc Hauser
    • Foucault’s Pendulum by Umberto Eco

    Let see how much time I get this year to satiate my desire to read. Getting Thinds Done by David Allen and The Perfect Mess by E Abrahamson and D Freedman are the two books which I am finishing this month. Two books advocating completely contrasting approach to manage your work-life.

    Technorati Tags: Books, Reading, 2007

  • A trip to Kanha National Park

    Kanha National Park/ Tiger Reserve was always a part of discussion whenever we discussed anything about wildlife management or national parks during our coursework at IIFM and if it is Prof. P C Kotwal’s class, no class was complete without mention of Kanha.

    A few days back, got an opportunity to make a quick trio to Kanha National Park and it was really an experience. Though the forest safari was not that fruitful, we missed the tiger sighting by a few seconds (our vehicle was second and by the time we could spot the tigress, she was out of sight and we could only manage to view her pug marks) the experiences of being inside a lush green forest, watching deers grazing in open without being bothered by the intrusive safari vehicles and not so civilized visitors, were amazing. 

    But it was also a glaring example of inefficiency and lack of planning by MP Tourism. We started our journey from Raipur in a rented Tata Indica (a bad choice for this trip!) and the driver informed we would be covering the distance form Raipur to Kanha (225 kms approx) in about 5-6 hours. We had chosen this driver as he had been to Kanha earlier also (as claimed). The journey took almost 9 hours and the ‘road’ to this famed National park can only be called a ‘road’ if Rakhi Sawant or Paris Hilton can be called ‘an actress’. How can you talk about promoting tourism and attracting international visitors if you do not have basic things setup first?

    There were no signboards to indicate where you are heading once you are inside Kanha and if luckily you find some signboards, they only indicate the destination and do not provide any information on how far that place is. We spotted a signboard for a Resort 25 kms away from the resort and without any indication of distance. There are no milestones to tell you whether you are moving in right direction or not. And the roads in side  Kanha are so bad that it will take an expert driver and lots of courage to move ahead.

    Peacefully grazing deers

    We had listed out a couple of resorts for our stay there, but did the grave mistake of not doing advance booking. Then it became really task to find a resort (a good one) and start for safari.

    Based upon my experience I am listing out a few precautions and preparations you need to do, in order to enjoy the Kanha.

    • It is not advisable to travel in small vehicles, prefer SUVs like Safari, Sumo, Bolero etc. Small cars are not suited, especially if you are traveling from Raipur to Kanha, the roads from Jabalpur to Kanha are in somewhat better position, but even then I would advise to go for big wheeled vehicles.
    • Take a route map and look for a drive who has been there recently.
    • Take a lot cash with you. Kanha is a very small place (you will not find any ATM in 50 kms radius) and most of the resorts, restaurants do not accepts credit/debit cards.
    • Make an advance booking in the resorts if you are planning to stay there and I think you must plan to stay there at least for a night so that you can have two trips of Safari. There are two safari trips one in morning from 5.30 am to 12 noon and second from 3 pm to 6.30 pm.
    • You have a number or resorts available at village Mocha, but the road to that place (via Raipur) is really pathetic. Try to bargain at the resorts and you will make a good deal. 20-30% is the normal discount you can easily ask for.
    • Take a pair of good binoculars (we missed ) and a good camera, even if you do not spot the tiger, there is enough worth clicking.
    • Once you are on Safari, make sure that your vehicle is the first one on the trail, or you are just behind the first vehicle, otherwise the first vehicle is bound to devoid you of any sighting.
    Technorati Tags: Kanha National Park, Wildlife Tourist Spots in India, MP Tourism

  • Seven Children Magazines That I loved

    1. Chandamama – We were waiting more eagerly to get this magazine from newspaper wala then our results. Beautiful stories of Kings, stories from ancient epics with written with clear motive of promoting values and culture in children made this magazine immensely popular among kids.

    Recently, Chandamama’s last 60 years issues have been digitized, so those who want to gift their children a good read, devoid of gory action and violent fantasy, this is a great option.

    1. Champak – Loved it. Cheekku (the rabbit), Meeku (the mice) and their adventures were superb, since 1968 this magazine has established itself as the number one Children’s Magazine of India. A part of Delhi Press Group, they followed their group policy of not promoting any superstitious or bhoot-prate stories, but clean healthy entertainment for kids. Even today, I get my hands on any issue of Champak, I make sure to find Cheeku’s column and read it.

    3.Lotpot – Full of laughter and great comic strips. The stories were invariably successful in bringing laughter and making you go ‘lotpot’ . No advertisement and reading material from cover to cover at price of Rs. 2 (At present it is being sold at Rs.5). Though the paper was not great but stories were. Motu, Patlu and Ghasita’s always used to find themselves in trouble in whatever they did. Though Ghasita was not the main hero of the Motu Patlu strip but his hair style and Haryanwai accent made him my favorite character.

    1. Nandan – Unlike many children’s magazine of that time, this one has backing of a one of the leading media house of country Hindustan Times Group and has some of the biggest name as its contributor. Edited by Jayprakash Bharti (one of the biggest name in Children’s literature), it had/has strong focus on indian mythology and presented stories from Puranas and Upnishads. It was more structured and well presented compared to its competitors in 80’s, there you had Crosswords, Find the Difference (Kaun Kitna Buddhiman), a very popular Tenaliraman. The Pari Katha Visheshank was its eagerly waited special issue by its readers. Vishwa Prasidha Kahania provided its reader the best of childrens literature from world over translated in hindi.

    At the moment, it has gone numerous changes and is being edited by Mrinal Pandey, I just recently checked one issue from my brother, and found that the new avataar is no longer as fascinating. Earlier Nandan used to be full of stories and stories only. Now, they have started putting articles (probably following other mags), interviews and other pieces but somehow it doesnt reminds one of the old Nandan we were fond of.

    1. Madhu Muskan– If anyone of you have read it, you would vividly remember, Daddy jee, Chustram Sushtram.. Great comic and great mag. I dont know whether it is being published today or not but it was really one mags I wanted to read again and again. I even had a collection of around 5-6 years of Madhu Mushkaan, but some of dear friends loyal to borrowed reading, betrayed me.

    2. Suman Saurabh – Aimed at teens and probably only magazine in Hindi in late 80s and in 90s which went beyond storytelling and provided useful articles. Again from the stable of Delhi Press Group, I loved its Jasoosi Katha Visheshank (Detective Stroy Specials) and Vigyan Katha Visheshank (Sci-fi Specials). It is still going strong.

    3. Balhansh – Though this was quite new compared to Champak, Chandamama and Nandan, but it can be categorized as more balanced reading experience for kids. Published by Rajasthan Government, it kept the allround growth of its reader in mind. While Kavi Aahat made people go hither and thither fearing his poems, Havaldaar Tholaram was no less then a mixture of Sherlock Holmes and James Bond with grey matters borrowed from the likes of Kaanti Shah and Raakhi Sawant, taking care of goons and evildoers as well as problems of common man. It has some great informative articles which were not very common at that time in children’s magazine as most of the mags provided only stories and comic strips, the focus was not there on interesting or informative articles.

    Now let me know, which were your favorites …..

    <

    p class=”wlWriterSmartContent” style=”display: inline; margin: 0; padding: 0;”>Technorati tags: Nandan, Champak, Lotpot, Childrens Magazine, Books, Magazine

  • Understanding Economic Behaviours of Farmers

    Uttar Pradesh

     

  • No mercy

    I always wondered why people turn violent, why they want to kill somebody, knowing very well that it is going to ruin their life as well. Life gave me a first hand experience to explore the answer or should I say that enlightened me with answer.

    As usual, I went to my home town on weekends and after spending weekend I was returning by Gwalior Mail (From Barauni to Gwalior). The train was already 10 hours late when I boarded it. But since I had reservation in it and could not manage to get reservations in other trains, I was helpless and had to board this delayed train. Though most of the trains were running full, this train was empty (at least the AC coaches). Probably due to its history of late running for me it was always an option  when I dont have any pre-reservation made and have to go home, as I easily get place in this train.

    So we were only three persons in whole AC three tier coach. We reached a small station called Bhatparrani, a station near Gorakhapur. Though the train was not scheduled to stop there, it stopped and seemed stopped for eternity. Hours went by but the train did not move. I asked my coach attendant, what’s wrong?

    He replied ” There is some problem at the next station, so train will go once the problem is cleared. Actually, people are burning train at Gorakhpur Station in protest of arrest of Jogi jee.”

    My heart sank. How can people do this?

    I asked “What happened to the passengers?”

    “They were asked to vacate.”

    My conversation with attendant was going on and we heard loud voices near by which were coming to us filtered by closed doors of coach. We looked out of window. A crowd of around 40 people was coming armed with sticks, swords and what not. Mostly in the age group of 12-30 years, but the biggest section was of 12-20 years old.  They were shouting something, which we could not figure out. Hurriedly I put the curtains on the window and even before I could finish putting on the curtains a big stone crashed on the other window of our coach. Then come another.

    We three just made ourself safe from these stones by moving away from window. We looked at each other. Me, a student of Scindia School who was going to attend his school at Gwalior after vacation, and a person accompanying him.  They started knocking the doors. Luckily the attendant has locked the doors. They tried unsuccessfully. We gathered our luggage and decided to move to AC 2 tier coach, where we had around  6 more passengers. We moved to AC 2 tier. A six-eight month old baby was crying endlessly, probably sensing his mothers uncomfort and panic.

    The mob went on crashing windows of the standing train. It went on for around 30 minutes. After that there was a pause, for ten minutes. But we could not muster the strength to come out of train and look for something for drink or eat (the train was standing there for more than 4 hours and it didnot have any pantry car.)

    Then again the noise began. Same people returned and starting banging our doors again. Probably passengers traveling in AC coaches were easy meat as our windows had no protection only glasses and that too were broken, shattered by them.  We were standing in one of the corners. All together. Praying. Suddenly a sword came through the window. Looking for something. Now voices were coming clearly to us after the glasses were gone.

    “Arre phunk dente hain salon ko.. darwaja nahi kholte hain to..” (Lets burn them, if they dont open the door.) Somehow I managed to get a glimpse of this brave man who wanted to burn us alive. A boy of 13-14 years old. With a big stone in one hand and a flag in another. His opinion was supported by many.

    I badly wanted to have a gun, one shot and you are dead. To make tomorrow morning headline. An innocent kid shot by an irritated passenger. Innocent!! I was becoming restless. No future, no ideology, no compassion everything was taken over by this pang of hatred. Suddenly I saw a person (around 30 years old, dressed in Khadi, I wondered if Gandhi could see his Khadi being donned by these maniacs). Here in the coach, the baby was crying endlessly. And his parents could do just nothing. Probably he needed some milk or water.

    While the person was talking to the mob, stones were coming to the train.. suddenly some men in Khaki appeared and crowd started to move hither and thither. Shouting slogans. We got some relief.

    After 30 minutes, the people were no where to seen. I looked at a tea seller on platform. Invited him in the coach, as we were too afraid to step out of the train. He came in and we got some tea for us and lots of question for them. We came to know that the idea to burn the train was dropped as some politician ask them not to burn the train.

    I was shocked, so they were being controlled!! Controlled by some politician. The guy who wanted to bomb our parliament, should have been successful.

    Now look at the picture published in Dainik Jagaran, one of the leading dailies of India. The caption given is “ People protesting ….” Look who are the people. We should be proud how our kids have become mature, the have developed strong sense of political and social scenario and now actively participating. If you look carefully, you can figure out who are the people at front and equipped with stick and stones. Invariable in mobs the theory of “Leading from the back” applies.

    Windowslivewriteriwantedtokill a689pic17

    Consider if police tries to control the crowd and in order to control them if they have to resort to laathi charge (they have to, if not to control the crowd then to protect themselves). What could be the morning headline is anyone’s guess.