सुगंधी रातरानी

सूरज डूबा, सांझ हो गयी
हरियाली कोहरे की चादर ओड़ी
रातरानी अंगडाई लेके नींद से जागी
मेरे चेहरे पे ख़ुशी छा गयी
चाँद निकला, रात हो गयी
चांदनी धरती पे छायी
ठंडी हवा खुशबू लुटाके आई
में नशीली खुशबू में डूबी
तारे बिखरे, आधी रात हो गयी
सारी जगह खुशबू महकी
पलकों में नींद छा गयी
में कोई सपनों में खो गयी

The Colours of Nature

The universe is phenomenal, Nature is colourful. The colours of Nature have been set up in a particular way that our eyes can endure. If the cosmos was colourless; if the sky was any other colour instead of blue; if the soil was pure white across the earth in stead of the existing neutral colours; if the greenery was brownery (though that word doesn’t exist) it would look weird. Green colour is the symbol of fertility, it absorbs light; blue reflects. Green and blue are cool colours. While the blue sky acts as a reflector, greenery absorbs the strong sunlight. Thus it neutralizes. Otherwise, reflection of strong sunlight would be harmful to our eyes. Mountains look blue; ponds look green; the sea looks different coloured in each place though water has no colour. Water blends with the surface colour but what we see is not surface colour in the ponds and sea.

Trees and plants, animals and birds, fruits and vegetables all are coloured. But we are not coloured like other creatures. We have got colours of the soil. Perhaps, Nature has given it knowingly that we can make colours. Look at the trees, you can see the tree trunks are different in colour and texture, yet there is not much difference. Likewise, our skin colour is also different but there is not much difference.

Mother Earth is bedecked with different kind and coloured flowers. Colour of flowers varies according to the season. For example, the Gulmohar (flame of the forest) start flowering in April, which is the zodiac sign Aries. You can see red coloured flowers everywhere in april. So the colour for the zodiac, Aries is red. The end of April, in the cusp of Aries and Taurus, Hibiscus like deep red cloured flowers bloom. In May pink and deep pink flowered plants start blooming. In the end of May royal purple and yellow coloured flowers can be seen. So the colours for Zodiac, Gemini are purple and yellow. By the June end flowers become pale yellow and purple. In July flowers that bloom will be white. White flowers always bloom in the evening so as to see at night. There is nothing in pure white in the cosmos unless it is man-made. Blue and orange coloured flowers are for August. But in August, all coloured flowers will be seen together. For September, flowers will be light yellow and light purple. In the end of September, flowers with red and yellow combination can be seen. In October, flowers will be red and white as in April. In the end of October magenta coloured flowers like cock’s comb start flowering. Flowers will be pink and deep pink for November. There will be plenty of roses in November. December flowers will be purple and yellow as in September. Flowers for January are bright red and white. Pink and deep pink roses will bloom in plenty in February. And for March flowers will be deep yellow and deep purple. Not only flowers but also vegetables and fruits have got colours according to the months. If the season is not favorable to you that season’s vegetables and fruits also will not favourable. Certain vegetables and fruits may cause allergy to some.

The black and white era has gone behind. Films, TV, Computer and news papers changed from black and white into colour. People realized the value and elegance of colours only recently. We create colours artificially and make everything in colours. Colours can bring positive or negative vibes to your life. All colours don’t suit everybody. You can select colours for clothes, jewellery and accessories according to the flower colours for each month or zodiac signs that I have mentioned above. We can see colours because we have colour sense in our brains. There are seven colours in the Sun’s rays, so in the rainbow. Can we think a world without colours? Without colours life will be colourless.

Life is a Marathon Race

Life is a Marathon race,
Set the finishing point at hundred
The track to be run is full of stones and thorns,
Fate and fortune are equally to be challenged
Some leave it at the very starting point,
Some get tired and collapse in the middle
A few fortunate ones can reach the target,
One or two run beyond the finishing point
Fortune, forbearance, fettle and mettle are needed to complete the race.

Fire, Fire, Everywhere

I put down these fire incidents to bring it to your notice. I had noted down them as I got information from newspaper and TV. I knew it would happen. :-(

Fire incidents of January-2009—5 infants burned to death in incubator. Fuel tanker explosion kills over 100 in Kenya. Fire in Russia care home, 22 die. 15 dead in bar blaze in China. These incidents had occurred same day on 31-1-‘09

Fire in February—Fire at Juhu hotel. A fire broke out at the record room of the Regional Transport Office (RTO). Australia’s deadliest bushfire killed 76 people, as the inferno engulfed entire towns of Melbourne. Fire broke out in Bandra slums. Fire works set China hotel ablaze, 1 killed. Two days’ fire sweeps Gir forests. Fire broke out in chemical factory in Kolkata. Fire iin Marriot hotel in Islamabad. Bombay Talkies in Malad caught fire. Blast in crackers factory in Mathura.

Fire in March—Blaze in Bhiwandi godown

Fire in April—Fire broke out in slums. Fire broke out at toy factory in Gurgaon. Vagon caught fire in Eta—Kashiram Nagar. Fire broke out at American centre in Delhi. Crackers factory caught fire at Parola in Jalgaon, 50 people died.

Fire in May—2 workers killed in factory blaze in Thane. Santro car caught fire, 1 died. Two floors of Andhra Pradesh secretariat were gutted. Two killed, nine injured in blaze at Turbhe MIDC industrial zone—Navi Mumbai. 35 children killed in Mexico day care fire.

Fire in June—a fire broke out in Patna Sachchivalay. Mathura/Patna express tain caught fire. Bandra slum fire—Behrampada—biggest fire in 25 years—fire men say. 15,000 homes, workshops destroyed. Wild life sanctuary in Himachal Pradesh caught fire. Fire at go down in Gurgaon. A truck carrying chemical goods caught fire near Mumbra Retibunder road.

Fire in July—15 killed and 50 burnt as gas train derails in rural Italy. Fire at Sewri industrial estate. Plastic go down caught fire. A BEST King Kong bus caught fire on LBS marg. 5 die in cracker factory blast in Shivkashi. A forest fire rages outside Cueves Del Valle in the Spanish Province of Avila—Spain.


Fire in August—infernal blaze—some 5000 British Columbia residents were forced to flee their homes and more than 2000 others were put on alert as wildfires plagues the western Canadian Province. Fire in Angola crackers factory—2people died. Fire broke out at Chemical factory in Gudgaon. Two wildfires spread in California. A fire broke out at MTNL office. A car parked outside the Thane sessions court burst into flames. School bus caught fire in Navi Mumbai. As wildfires consume 150sqaure kilometer around the Greek capital, locals say that efforts by fire crew are not enough to battle the blaze.

Fire in September— A car caught fire at Sea-Link in Mumbai. Forest fire in New South Wales—Australia. Around 12 new born babies miraculously escaped a fire at the government general hospital at Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh. 38 die in fire at Kazakhstan hospital. Fire guts first floor of Electronic Niketan. A car caught fire on Peddar road. School bus catches fire in Kharegaon near Thane. Fire in building at Lower Parel in Mumbai.

Fire in October—Jet Airlines’ bus caught fire at Mumbai airport. Fire broke out at WCR mall in Ghaziabad. Forest fire in Australia. Six fire men trapped in lift died in Thane. Petrol pump caught fire. (Bus caught fire in Patna. Fire in a shop in Meerut. A car caught fire in Surat. Pooja pandal caught fire. Fire breaks out in Bandra slums)—these incidents occurred in the same day. Major fire at Indian Oil Depot terminal, four killed.

Fire in November—Goods train caught fire. Furniture shop caught fire. Fire in chemical factory in Meerut. A fire breaks out at mill at Byculla in Mumbai. Fire breaks out at Commercial Complex in Chembur. Fire breaks out in building at Chembur.

Fire in December—running CNG bus caught fire. 111 dead in Russia night club blaze. Fire in a bar in Indonesia. Fire in DTC bus. Another DTC bus caught fire. (A car caught fire. Fire at IPL chief Lalit Modi’s Juhu banglow. Fire at chemical factory in Taloja. A car caught fire at Peragari flyover. DTC bus caught fire)—these incidents were occurred in the same day. Another DTC bus caught fire. Fire in building at Andheri in Mumbai. A fire broke out at actor Pooja Bedi’s production house. Fire at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) lab kills 2 PhD students. Low floor bus caught fire in Delhi. Gas tanker caught fire in Kerala.
Many more fire incidents were reported.

Prediction for 2010

Happy New Year

My prediction for last year (2009) proved right. I had put down my prediction on Amitabh ji’s blog.
My prediction was—“According to the Chinese Lunar calendar, 2009 is the Year of The Ox. Political situation will continue to be grim all over the world. There will be more fire related problems and explosions.”

2010 started in dark phase with a lunar eclipse and an overcast sky. According to the Chinese lunar calendar, 2010 is the year of the TIGER. Whether it is going to be a happy or sad year or will it be like the tiger, wild!?

Last year was an awakening year and full of calamities. The world saw more evil, heard evil, and said evil. The world didn’t follow the rules of Lord Buddha—see not evil, say not evil, hear not evil—that’s why. But Lord Buddha forgot to make a fourth monkey for ‘do not evil.’ Last year swine-flu scared the world. This year also an outbreak of diseases such as chicken-pox, measles and meningitis are possible. We can expect a moderate rain this year.

President Barack Obama will bask in the glory till 2012. Thereafter, he will struggle to complete the term. The souls of all those whom he got killed will be after him. He received the Nobel Peace Prize as a ‘war president’. Does he want to be titled as war president? Does he get peace after war? If so, he is a war and peace president.

PM Manmohan Singh will continue without trouble till 2012. Thereafter, hindrances will come on his way.

Emissions in Copenhagen

Leaders from across the countries gathered in Copenhagen and ignited the element, fire in them and caused emissions there. Did they come up with any solution? There will be different opinion on anything and everything. This Kyoto Protocol is quite mind-boggling. How would they cut emissions?

Our life-style and negative emotions are responsible. Actually we are born to live in the woods among animals. Instead we cut the food chain and make shelters to escape from carnivorous animals. We make shelters more and more comfortable and luxurious. But we don’t want to share our shelters with more members. Because of this attitude, ‘hum do hamaare do’ we multiply into nuclear families. Gone are the days of ‘hum do hamaare dus’ and many more living together under one roof. We are getting more and more selfish. So we have to build space-saving high-rises. Concrete buildings cover almost all the space. Soon the earth will become a concrete ball. When concrete buildings heat up in the Sun they generate more heat, whereas, soil heats up to a limit because soil has moisture. Human beings are land creatures but they want to fly in the air and float in the water. so we have made planes and ships to travel through air and water.

To cut greenhouse gas emissions we will have to give up everything we do now. Stop wearing clothes, stop using electric and electronic machines, stop electricity generation, close all mills and factories for ever, stop manufacturing vehicles and so on. Can we stop all these things? If we wear clothes the mills have to work with smoking chimneys and we need detergent to wash clothes, which needs a factory. All these things are interlinked. All works depend on electricity now. The only way to cut emissions completely is to wipe out the industries that provide a livelihood and go back to the Stone Age.

We will have to stop even eating. If we eat we will emit. All creatures on this earth eat and emit. It is natural. Nature can tolerate what is natural. What Nature cannot tolerate is man-made things. We need fuel and fire to cook food. Mumbaikars eat more junk foods—batata vada, vada pav and all that and emit more than others. No wonder if Mumbai’s atmosphere is remain smoggy. All those junk food produce emissions go into the air; the rest goes into the ocean—just kidding.

Don’t blame villagers, who live in a natural way, for global warming. Some city people think burning firewood is the reason for global warming. Emissions from burning firewood are a fraction of smoking chimneys of mills and factories. Actually city people are responsible. Mumbai’s temperature is always higher than that of interior Maharashtra. The reason is concrete buildings, vehicular traffic, excess usage of electricity and lack of greenery. Improving infrastructure means making the city a concrete desert. Temperature varies from place to place across the country also across the world. Then how can they reduce temperature rising to 2 degree. There is no concrete proof to what cause global warming. And there is no instant solution for the same. Nature itself causes disasters. Human beings make it more disastrous.

See, how greenery is helpful to us. Greenery absorbs the Sun light; absorbs the rain water; regulates the wind and help binding the soil. Thus it controls these four elements, fire, air, water and earth. We use these elements changing their particular course.

Village Life

Though village is a better place to live in environmentally, life is tough there. Daily household chores will drain your energy. There is no tap water, no gas for cooking. If you want to have three square meals a day you have to work hard. Drawing water from the well, cutting fire-wood, burning fire-wood to prepare food, grinding spices with grinding stones, washing utensils outside the house and washing clothes outside or in the pond are a tough task.

I am from a joint family. My grandfather had a large joint family where more than 20 members were living together. My grandfather had a farm, here a moo, there a moo, everywhere a moo, moo instead of here a bow, there a bow. Cattle are needed for farming. There was only one female dog which lived for about 25 years. His joint family had vast acres of farm land and a house made from stone and mud and a large compound around it. Now I feel it was only a dream. Our family tree is uprooted by the bad weather of the household. The seeds are shattered here and there. It was not because of family feud. There was no one willing to continue the family profession. When educated generation migrated and settled elsewhere family members reduced to 3-4. When those few members, who came in a stage that they cannot manage the farming, sold the house and land property. There were many servants for farming and household chores. Servants were honest and dedicated then. Now we don’t get workers for farming. They also want to be educated or go for works that yield a better wage. It happens, when all want to be educated and a better life. Educated young generations don’t want to become farmers. Agriculture is not a cheap profession. Agriculture sense is needed, more than that is how lucky you are. There is no way to protect the open farm lands. Anyone can lay hands on them. Fortunately it didn’t happen to us. People were honest then. To protect the crops from pests, locusts, birds, rodents, cattle and bad weather is a tough task.

My grandmother had a separate house with a 50 cent plot where I spent my school days. I had to work hard. I had to make even cow-dung cakes. It was a boon that there were fruit bearing trees and plants in our house compound. And we grow vegetables. We would get the grains sufficient for a year from our farm. So we didn’t have to buy these things from outside. We had to buy only groceries. My mother would manage the household with an income of mere Rs.50 in the 60s and 70s. What will we do with 50Rs. now? I had to shuttle between my grandparents’ separate houses as a messenger almost all days. I missed the organic food ever since I left my native village to Mumbai. I would get to eat a lot of fruits—custard apple, guava, jack-fruit, goose berries and a variety of mangoes. I would eat even berries of neem tree. A dip in the pond at dawn would revive me. Only large houses like my grandfather’s were illuminated with electric bulbs. All other homes had dark nights. I had to study with a kerosene lamp. However, life was peaceful then.

A century old one or two storied mud houses withstand weather because we will not do any alterations once they are built. We don’t allow any activities on upper floors; don’t even let children play there. Upper floors are only to sleep. Houses are located at a distance because every house has at least a small piece of land around it. So what? You just sneeze, the entire village will hear. In other words, you cannot do anything without the consent of neighbours. They will stay ears pricked and eyes wide opened. Though houses had no proper bolts and locks we didn’t have to fear robbers. There were no daring robbers then. Now the situation has changed. Crimes started in villages too.

Early to bed and early to rise’ is the villagers’ habit that makes them healthy and wise. No one will dare to go out after nightfall. Dimly-lit lanes would remain isolated till dawn. Street lights that have 15 w. bulbs don’t make any difference in the pitch darkness and that too only for main lanes. The lamp posts stand on the lanes gloomy throughout the nights without seeing anyone. People return from movie will be the last ones to sleep. Most of them are workers. Though they don’t have three square meals a day they will spend money for film. Women from respected family might have seen a few selected films in their life time. There were make-shift sheds in a 5 mile radius as theatres. Some entertainment loving people would organize a stage show once a while. A few would gather to watch. Dimly-lit stage with gasoline lamps wouldn’t fascinate anybody much. Shops for essential things were a few but there will be country liquor shops everywhere. One thing good is there are no garbage hills or overflowing drains. Villagers have Nature sense. Though they are aware of the natural disasters deaths rarely occur by snake-bites or drowning. Villages are gradually developing. Because of the arrival of TV, computer, early to bed and early to rise is changed in to ‘late to bed and early to rise’ so wisdom also goes out of them. Village life totally depends on agriculture. Converting farm lands into residential plots is something inappropriate that they do. Since food is the main resource it should not be done. A dream house will give only day dream, not food. Development of villages means destroying landscape and greenery. Villages should be developed without spoiling its beauty. At least villages should remain as it is.