"baastan" (Boston)! whuff ! what a way of pronunciation. But i loved the spirit, after all i just landed from a city similar to "baastan" ; called "dilli" ( Delhi). they even had a line to go with it ' dilli dil walaon ki' (delhi belongs to romantic people).
From being almost a bitter critic of its govt.'s policies to lover of its free spirit, I was always curious about america. my brother had already described (though not in a poetic way, as I would have liked him to be) the beauty of the city. The rich history ( actually the vanguard of free spirit of USA), the charles river ( the natural poem snaking around, taking in the innovative ethos of MIT and Harvard ), museums, art galleries, on-road music fests, finger licking food ( though being desperate to show my adaptation, I only used fork with comfortable unease), polite drivers ( ufff! in contrast to dilli's rude ones) the city has begun to seep inside me.
From the aroma of the natural surroundings ( which compared with delhi's southern district) to perfumed people ( ralph lauren, poison [or is it poission?], to local brands) , permeates and titillates your nostrils to intoxicate you into scintillating songs. sometimes seduce you too!!
River Charles spectacular view from our B-school, the multilingual, multicultural heady mix of students with multitudes of variety yet a common similarity ( of ambition), biking tours, duck tours, walking tours etc is making me feel like a sprint runner in an Olympic on the start line. Exciting!!!
more musings on the way,
love pk
08/10/2007
24/06/2007
Nawaazish!
" ab to samander bhi khaali khaali sa lagta hai,
mann ka sehara hi, yaadon ke baadh mein dooba rehata hai."
mann ka sehara hi, yaadon ke baadh mein dooba rehata hai."
03/03/2007
the divide & colours
hi all!
love!
sometimes i wonder about love and hatred and their infinite forms. but today i was disturbed by images of gujrat. a state known for communal harmony and peace. 5 years have gone by but the demon of hatred has dripped in slowly & steadily deep into the minds. specially the impressionable , soft minds of children.
some cant even relate to other community, either hindu or muslim. as if each of these communities are "not humnas " for the other. muslim/hindu cant takes name of "the other" community as if they live in different realm, age & geography. the bitter fact is they are neighbours!
a child's mind can be easily moulded and the elders in the family , due to their own insecurities , have created their children as potential fission points. children as young as 5-6 talks of religious divide ,hardly grasping its significance. efforts are on. good organizations & samratians are working tirelessly to create a bond; sometimes desperately to weave a fabric in which every thread seems part of the design, using games, classes even cricket teams, yet...
as a part of our india & world lets take actions in whatever form and contribute in some form to the cementing of ties, as if no "partition" existed.
lets play a holi, in which all faces are coloured with colours of life so much that one face cant be diffrentiated with another. all seems one & one seems all. Amen!!
cheers!!!
note: comments underlining divide/hatred and justifying them would be deleted.
love!
sometimes i wonder about love and hatred and their infinite forms. but today i was disturbed by images of gujrat. a state known for communal harmony and peace. 5 years have gone by but the demon of hatred has dripped in slowly & steadily deep into the minds. specially the impressionable , soft minds of children.
some cant even relate to other community, either hindu or muslim. as if each of these communities are "not humnas " for the other. muslim/hindu cant takes name of "the other" community as if they live in different realm, age & geography. the bitter fact is they are neighbours!
a child's mind can be easily moulded and the elders in the family , due to their own insecurities , have created their children as potential fission points. children as young as 5-6 talks of religious divide ,hardly grasping its significance. efforts are on. good organizations & samratians are working tirelessly to create a bond; sometimes desperately to weave a fabric in which every thread seems part of the design, using games, classes even cricket teams, yet...
as a part of our india & world lets take actions in whatever form and contribute in some form to the cementing of ties, as if no "partition" existed.
lets play a holi, in which all faces are coloured with colours of life so much that one face cant be diffrentiated with another. all seems one & one seems all. Amen!!
cheers!!!
note: comments underlining divide/hatred and justifying them would be deleted.
03/02/2007
freshness
Love!
the freshness of the morning mist, the koel's sweet piercing awakening, the melodious singing of "vande matarm, sujalam suphalam..." infuse the serenity yet a sense of pride in me . then the sunrays gently touching my eyes to wake me up like a mother...this is how my start of the morning is!
cheers urs pk
the freshness of the morning mist, the koel's sweet piercing awakening, the melodious singing of "vande matarm, sujalam suphalam..." infuse the serenity yet a sense of pride in me . then the sunrays gently touching my eyes to wake me up like a mother...this is how my start of the morning is!
cheers urs pk
hume tumse pyaar kitna
Humein tumse pyaar kitna, ye hum nahi jaante
Magar jee nahi sakte , tumhare bina....
Magar jee nahi sakte , tumhare bina....
children & future
Love!
The media revolution in the world also brings us the strak realities of "the other world" we refuse to see or maybe ignore calling it as the fate. This fatalist tendencies may actually damge the whole world. we forget that the whole world is connected; more conncted then ever before. !! and what did we think, its just the stock markets. Phew!!! remember the gulf war; the consequent price rise & the cascading effect on the money with the govt., general price rise, lesser automobiles sales; again hitting the economy, loss of jobs & ultimately effecting each one of us, from cities to remotest part of india.And we ourselves sat in a glass house, believing that saddam & bush are far faraway.
saw the state of children living with their illegal labourer parents in the financial capital. the comparsion of weights of children struck me so hard that i forgot about all my information on GDP & tata-corus deal. weisght of a child is reflective of her health in future also. the contrast ; a nine month old child weighed 7.5 kgs in a posh locality of mumbai & not very far away in a jhopri ( shack), a TWO year old boy weighed just 4.7 kgs!!!!! no where the social disparity more evident.
not a moralistic , didactic theory. no morality or oneupmanship can improve the condition of our India or our world. I understand the peopel who read my blog is definetly from upper middle, middle class, educated with english as a medium & well versed with any info on & in the world. so what!??
lets think how can we contribute. its easier said then done, but the first step has to be taken. that may form the base. waiting for suggestions.
cheers pk
The media revolution in the world also brings us the strak realities of "the other world" we refuse to see or maybe ignore calling it as the fate. This fatalist tendencies may actually damge the whole world. we forget that the whole world is connected; more conncted then ever before. !! and what did we think, its just the stock markets. Phew!!! remember the gulf war; the consequent price rise & the cascading effect on the money with the govt., general price rise, lesser automobiles sales; again hitting the economy, loss of jobs & ultimately effecting each one of us, from cities to remotest part of india.And we ourselves sat in a glass house, believing that saddam & bush are far faraway.
saw the state of children living with their illegal labourer parents in the financial capital. the comparsion of weights of children struck me so hard that i forgot about all my information on GDP & tata-corus deal. weisght of a child is reflective of her health in future also. the contrast ; a nine month old child weighed 7.5 kgs in a posh locality of mumbai & not very far away in a jhopri ( shack), a TWO year old boy weighed just 4.7 kgs!!!!! no where the social disparity more evident.
not a moralistic , didactic theory. no morality or oneupmanship can improve the condition of our India or our world. I understand the peopel who read my blog is definetly from upper middle, middle class, educated with english as a medium & well versed with any info on & in the world. so what!??
lets think how can we contribute. its easier said then done, but the first step has to be taken. that may form the base. waiting for suggestions.
cheers pk
north korea & nuclear rights
hey friends
north korea today conducted a nuclear test! US condenmend the test as provoking the "international community". for US of A "international community" means itself! huh! US has been the worst nuclear proliferator. first they US tried ( along with china, which conducted the first nuclear test a few yrs before when Indira gandhi went ahead with first nuclear tests) to pressure India into accepting CTBT & then NPT. The same US of A with intentions of 1) Controlling nuclear energy & " other" programmes of India granted a defacto Nuclear power state to India, 2) Reaping corporate benefits for its devouring MNCs , with tangential pressure applied, in exchange for its defacto status.
Power remains with those who justify its use. US of A has always misutilised it. all the problems which the world suffers is mostly on its head. from nigeria, angola, pakistan's sectarina conflict & corruption , Iran's arrogance, afganistan's total destruction ; emotionally, socially, economically , India's shahshi tharoor deafeat in the race for secreatry general of UN, even bombings briatin & in its partners against "war against terror" are a creation of insecurity of US's polticians & more specifically the president.
is there an end to this cycle of nuclear deterrence doctrine? developing & underdeveloped countries like North Korea have been pushed to conduct nuclear test believeing that this would give them a sense of power & respect in the world. this at the cost of their own population reeling under hunger, mortality rate, languishing education & health care etc.
has nt the time arrived when this Unipolar force should be distributed equally & nations given a chance to work for their own population & contributing to the whole world?
I invite you to think & please comment.
cheers
north korea today conducted a nuclear test! US condenmend the test as provoking the "international community". for US of A "international community" means itself! huh! US has been the worst nuclear proliferator. first they US tried ( along with china, which conducted the first nuclear test a few yrs before when Indira gandhi went ahead with first nuclear tests) to pressure India into accepting CTBT & then NPT. The same US of A with intentions of 1) Controlling nuclear energy & " other" programmes of India granted a defacto Nuclear power state to India, 2) Reaping corporate benefits for its devouring MNCs , with tangential pressure applied, in exchange for its defacto status.
Power remains with those who justify its use. US of A has always misutilised it. all the problems which the world suffers is mostly on its head. from nigeria, angola, pakistan's sectarina conflict & corruption , Iran's arrogance, afganistan's total destruction ; emotionally, socially, economically , India's shahshi tharoor deafeat in the race for secreatry general of UN, even bombings briatin & in its partners against "war against terror" are a creation of insecurity of US's polticians & more specifically the president.
is there an end to this cycle of nuclear deterrence doctrine? developing & underdeveloped countries like North Korea have been pushed to conduct nuclear test believeing that this would give them a sense of power & respect in the world. this at the cost of their own population reeling under hunger, mortality rate, languishing education & health care etc.
has nt the time arrived when this Unipolar force should be distributed equally & nations given a chance to work for their own population & contributing to the whole world?
I invite you to think & please comment.
cheers
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)