Bar closed!

The man
I had referred “the man” a few times earlier. He is well known esp among the desis(diaspora)..i did propagate about his fiasco as a reality check here sometime ago and some blogste(a)rs also gave more mileage to it..
GNI used to be a fav site of mine and many of u knew about that from those days of mass mail in CH.
Most of us were maha thrilled and happy when ever we saw a new story as another incredible story unfolded. I have not seen a better designed informative site. The flair and style is inimitable. So no wonder he was there high up in my list of people to meet after returning. (its another matter it took so much time to get hold of him, thanks sangeetha)

The Meet:
So it happened atlast last week -a very productive week for me..We all somehow thought may be India was better off and started believing the numbers thrown by CII, finance ministries and MSM on us..add to that what GNI/DVSridharan had additionally to tell us all..and somewhere he thought things were not really as rosy he was projecting..so he is on a New mission. Firstly to convince himself and then the world of his new paradigm.
One can get some early snippets from point return.
For those who were always wanting to know, like me, how he covered so many fantastic stories here is the answer: he travelled in person to each of those projects/sites – either back packed or in his vehicle..stayed there, studied and documented..In spite of his enlightenment, disillusionment, the new mission – he gave us all lots to be happy about. And I thank(ed) him on behalf of all u(s).
I shud admit it was a long interesting meet. For all his views, bombastic statements, vision and observations, oof I just cant relive them all here..but believe me I mean the article “The” in all these titles.

The Mission
The new mission of his is outstanding. After spending some time with him one learns that’s what u expect out of him. He has bought a barren land, that has never been occupied or cultivated since time immemorial, at a foothill near maduranthakam (some 100 kms from madras) and is gonna get it to its natural best- with trees, ponds, some organic agriculture, more flora n fauna and what not...the point is to return as his by line says..return to mother nature? return to our roots? these r questions in my mind.
My op is replication of his self sufficient, nature respecting/reviving campuses wud stop the world from ending up in point of no return!

Bar closed
Ladies and Gmen! This exotic place on the net called GNI will not serve us all any more kick causing magic potion. It shall not have the rare success stories which were getting us all drunk and hence keeping us in dark from the perils that are overshadowing these small accomplishments in India. So u can’t drink that concoction any more. Rather return to point return folks!
I know what that means to many of us: the optimism his great work generated and the mileage it gave to such not-well-known-but-great-achievers will not be around. But may be its real that optimism is really low today..lets all wish for a point of return, soon.

PS: for those of u who skimmed and reached here fast, pl don’t miss that point return
Keep going there (on net or in person) and enrich urself.

Some quotes from the meet:
“All typos and flair are mine and mine alone- u see am a loner, not a team man..but the best part of that is I have myself to ridicule for the mistakes.”
“The biggest folly is failure of primary education. If a nation can’t give proper primary education to its citizens what else can it really bring?”
“what ever u do as a nation ignoring primary education, any number of IIMs and IITs is not going to solve”
“save water where it falls, its that simple..”
“it requires just to harvest water in 10% area and it shall sustain the rest 90%”
“Did u know- we have an average rainfall pf 1100mm i.e. a solid 1meter and more..imagine the whole length and breadth with 1 m water. And what we do? Ok, that falls in 100 days, but what shud a prudent nation do? Save it, simple ain’t?”
“at (age)65 the perspective is totally different. We check for options to ‘currency convert’ time with money” (the last one I thought was prophetic!)

Point is to return!

If god (that is, if one assumes his existence as most believe) were to offer u the most enticing and interesting job on a platter, then it shud be agri for sure. Yeah, no sailing, no hunting..it wud be agri..

Remember the 'bar closed'?? and DV's point return? Did I tell u of the planning of a pond there and that I was lucky to get involved with many other better souls at point return? (see here!)

Its fun to be associated with DV and this project of his. Last week my wify n myself with DV planted some saagavaram (Oh! Am supposed to get the name of it in English..shall do soon) all along the fence.

It was a good exercise and really great feeling..and from now on, during every visit, we shall check how much it has grown and shall exchange proud glances! Am excited to see it grow tall soon..

Then we also used the A frames (oh, remember reading about it in engg course or else where ages back? We got to use it!) to mark the contour lines..its real fun folks..waiting to see the pond cut out and to participate in more exciting activities there..

The point is to return! Gotcha?

This and that..

Hectic days..many hospital days in the last weeks (grand mother, father for cataract, such like - nothing serious) travel, planning for the soon-to-happen long travel..
All this means blogging takes the first beating..infact my mail access itself has been way low in last weeks..so apologies, inconvenienced regretted and all that!

Meanwhile lots of interesting things (many shameful ones included) happened around..
Worst of it all was the IMA getting in to a controversy bcos of endorsing a wrong product. As it is Indian Medical Assn is the only assn in the world to endorse commercial products. And to add more sham to this shame, they have endorsed wrongly! Misleading ordinary folks.
sample here.
They also got bashed up recently for the complain endorsement too apart from this Tropicana and Quacker oats!!
I also want some one to knock the *dash* off the dental assn which keeps endorsing colgate and other carcinogenic pastes..yeah, while on this, avoid any paste that foams up. It aint good at all.

Restore is organizing a community meet program on the 19th sep 2010. More info on the website. if you are in Chennai kindly RSVP and do attend it.

Amidst all this, W & me went to Point return and spent 3 days out there. As always its fun being there and working there infuses so much energy. Else where I had mentioned "Each time it grows on us, in all sense..as a project, as an idea, as a farm and as a rocking oxygen supplier/ body-mind revitaliser.." In the recent past, arrival of Sri & K had increased the fun factor there and now the new addition of Siddarth is a plesant bonus. if you are an IIT / IIM alumni then go settle at Point return;-)
seriously whats with these fellas? The 2 of the 1st 3 settlers out there are IIT, IIM fellas..

Finally, am joining the Kisan Swaraj yatra – a bus tour of 20 states, 12500 kms in 3 months..thats from Oct2nd..am really excited..much of my time these days goes with planning for that trip! Will come back with more stories and loads of experience..i cant wait..can u?

Point Return and other farms

Long time since some farm visit was shared here. I have been lucky to be associated with people who take me to interesting farms and ‘open’ my eyes..Its a great network that keeps expanding and so resulting in many amazing trips..such visits not only infuse hopes but also keep me pepped up.

Regulars here know of the Point Return and our visits there. I had spoken about the measuring for pond there, fencing etc..Each time it grows on us, in all sense..as a project, as an idea, as a farm and as a rocking oxygen supplier/ body-mind revitaliser..


Now DV/PR is a proud owner of 1 million litres of water, if not more..
YES! in such a short time (infact the digging of the pond itself is not complete, had to be stopped due to rains, still what a sight) in the recent rains, the whole pond area is brimming with water and DV is brimming with pride- both are a sight to behold:-)

We also visited the farm of a techie (jaishankar) who quit his CTS job 3 years ago and formed nigh.. farmed this - http://www.swayambhufarm.com/
An hour spent with Jaishankar is like getting an abridged version of an intro to organic farming. His obsession and interest is so infectious, his smile and comments even more..he has an uncanny knack of talking with and simultaneously watching the workers there as well the plants and react to more than one of these at any instant with ease. He has the traditional varieties of rice like kichalisamba/seeragasamba/kullakar, fodder for his cattle (ya, an organic cattle farm too!), orchards, vegetable yard, etc. Ofcourse he is going to be way kind to nature, so he uses gobar gas (link??)and also connects the same to the household of his farmlabors who live nearby!
Then he wud talk about SLI method, then some corrections and adaptations to that and how he overcomes comments, advises, strong condemnations, jealous looks and all from locals. He wud talk of the nitrogen fixers (sun hemp?) and how he goes about them and much more- lots of which just flies above us). The highlight for me was his observation that paddy is always standing in somuch water for so long not bcos it needs so much water, but just bcos it can live in(spite) of that much water where as the weeds cant. Oops, such an overkill? And we all thought it was one of those crops that needed so much water, hmmm..
Come to think of it, that this gentleman was coding mundane stuff not long ago. His views about farming, agri policies in India, the urban run by farmers, industrialization and its take on rural belt, how the non chemical/ organic farming is looked at by his (synthetic)peers, usage of water (or shud be conservation?)can make one long post by itself..
It was a very interesting trip and we stepped out thinking we have many more trips to make here..so more in next visits..

Another farm we visited recently was an exotic one - that of Arjun’s. It was in an ideal setting just beneath a hill, surrounded by great scenery and a lovely ambience. Part created by them, part natural. Francesca, the other partner (or farmer?) has had a great hand in designing this so naturally striking. An outstanding place with well planned house, irrigation etc it’s a beautiful place.

The best part is that all these neo-organic farmers have their own captive market (their friends and wellwishers) beyond which they cant extend their supply of organic products, atleast as of now.

Ideal couple- raghu and Nisha!

This has been happening in the recent past. I hear of good folks, great projects, sooper farms, etc. Many times such people/project/farm is already in my to-do list or I have heard and been mulling going over..
And suddenly some friend, like Arya Bhaskar did that day, will make a call and put me through.
So this happened few days back when I was in Coimbatore. So this is a new ‘back to the land’ couple..ok 1.5 years can be new still aint?
As I talk to them I feel comfy and have a feeling that they remind me of the inimitable couple at point return- Sriram & Karpagam and the mention of a low cost eco friendly house in the lines of laurie baker style I decide to go there the very next day.
As expected we gel as friends at the very sight and casually talk about various stuff..so more common friends fall in line and common idea(l)s also come out..
They have been very closely associated with charityfocus.
Raghu in his inimitable style narrates how charity focus evolved and its founder Nipun’s master strokes..he also touches up on how they both got involved and get sold by the ‘gift economy’ and ‘pay-it-forward’ philosophies.Ragu is the brain behind smile cards. A little more time and we discuss seva café, karma kitchen and some more common friends. They are also big fans of DV of Point return, like me. more brownie points to them.
(correction/update: Nisha says raghu is not the brain behind 'smile cards; but a lead volunteer. So I stand corrected even if they were trying to be modest)
So these two now have chosen a beautiful location – in the outskirts of Coimbatore and are practicing natural farming. So more reason for us to be in touch and visit too!
Their knowledge is amazing..their passion fabulous..involvement absolute..conviction simply great! An amazing couple..full of knowledge and assimilation..great ideas, cool outlook. Time flies when we are with them..so many topics touched..so much shared..
Be it soil or a bore pump or wood or architecture or raised beds or native trees or water conservation or what not?
There are so many quotes one can collect in the process. The best for the day for me was (what his agri contact- a traditional local farmer told him apparently) : This is Agri-culture not agri- business! So it has to be like our culture and tradition. So stop thinking of it as business all along! prophetic words, eh?

another stand out for me was they actually planted tree saplings in the trenches. right in the pits.Normally we see the saplings on the ridges of the trenches, on the piles of soil on the sides. Here they plant them inside. This way they say moisture retention is higher, wind affecting the saplings is lesser and more importantly the saplings that have come from the comforts of nursery cant take sudden torrid sun for long hours. Since the saplings shall be in the pit, for most part of the day the plant isnt exposed to direct sun. another advantage being routing water.That was a Revelation.

Since there shall be more to come from them, for now do with browsing their blog here.
There are some photos, but they come once I download from my mobile.so thats for another day.

one question lingers on though- why is it that the women of these organic couples are far more intelligent and well informed?

update: No post about Ragu and Nisha can be complete without mentioning Om, their cute son. But I had plans to write later about Om, their plans of his education (unconventional style) like many other organic farmers are doing. Though that shall happen later, lemme not be blamed for leaving out Om. He is already freaking out and I can only imagine what he shall become with their plans of educating him in their farm and not sending him to school. N said 'if our training him fails, the alternative is not school but different teacher or mode'. am looking forward.

and we built them with hands!

Oh yeah! We the people were used to building houses with hands, with available materials within our visibility range, with our own kith n kin and how we lived! Hmmm..sigh sigh..
Then we as a race “developed” and so ‘discovered’ so many stuff (esp synthetic and very environment unfriendly) and moved stuff from miles away, burning fossil fuel and happily showed off! In the process not guilty of the carbon footprint or the damage caused to the ecology..
But then its not always like that..some good souls show up, educate as many as possible and more importantly try and lead by example..point return is one such approach as we have seen here on many occasions..among various activities there like water recharge/harvest, off grid sustainable living (wind & solar power to be copiously used), organic agricultural practices etc, Cob building shall be one more exciting addition over there. As mentioned before the idea at point return is to have self sufficient cash with many such activities in the near abandoned land and more importantly to leave behind a worthy legacy!
Cob buildings date back to the ancient ways of house building using sand, clay, straw and water. They are supposedly seismic proof, fire proof and absolutely eco friendly..(an aside: when I mentioned about cob involving clay, sand & straw to a friend of mine the other day, he coolly pointed out sarcastically that I used my brains after a long time!got it? Nothing to write home anyways, he was mentioning clay:-)).
We had to construct a bathroom and a community kitchen (wait! the bedrooms come later). As always DV Sridar comes with so much of researched knowledge, data and his meticulous plans. We were eight volunteers plus DV’s work force! It was so heartening to see such enthusiastic youngsters (ya, including DV and yours truly) come out with such passion for such projects (some of them had come straight after turtle walk the previous night! Amazing energy that!!) We had to stamp the combo with our legs and make it in to a paste, carry them to the venue (a few meters) and then compress with hands and ‘construct’ the wall- feet by feet that is! Hats off to those young turks, for, the whole atmosphere was charged up and ofcourse lighted with so many jokes and giggles..siddarth’s non stop pun, Rathindran’s funny walks, Niraj’s quiet Lendl like work, Maya’s sincere & serious approach, Naveen’s all too familiar enthusiasm- I can go on here..sangee(who couldn’t unfortunately make it) was missed, but we know she wud, like in many events before, suddenly out do all us!
With so much of energy and pumped up action all we could do in a day was just more than a metre of 4 walls in both rooms! Get the enormity?
And BTW any of u interested in joining such outing mail/call me and lets plan..

xcusi

Those of you who had shades of jealousy about my retired life, smile please..am sure I have bitten more than I can chew..man! loaded with so many things to do..am swaggering like the sumo giants with loads of tasks weighing me down..'to do' task list only growing by the day:-(
Those of u who thought I wud be shouting “thangamani ensoyyyy”, no !am going to disappoint big time..
Those of u cussing me for not socialising, not attending some personal appointments or functions just peep in to last few days or my plans for the next days..
2 days in tiruvannamalai, one day to a couple of farms at singaperumal koil, 2 days at Madurai (ofcourse Dhan is the reason)
Next days? 1 day at Kadambai, next at vikravandi then 2 days to Blore, 2 days at Dharmavaram (Timbaktu collective) and 2 days at point return -to build cobs there! howzzat?
so folks, pl bear with such slow blogging!

1800 Kms on the road

In all this melee (anti GM campaigns, Piyush affairs,etc) I forgot to chronicle my long tour. 1800Kms on my scorpio to various places..different farms and meeting interesting farmers..It was fun..
It all started with a visit to Point return enroute to auroville..that nights stay at Sadhana Forest! An out of the world project in auroville where volunteers from all over the world come and volunteer in that extraordinary mission of Aviram & Jorit. That day (wednesday) was a talents night out there and to see so many talented youth from across the globe and showcase them casually in that off-grid campus was a great experience. Then we joined the volunteers of sadhana for one session the next morning and set off to trichy.
There was the agri exhibition out there organized by dinamalar (a tamil daily) and so an opportunity to see many farmer, farm equipments. It was fun bcos I happened to spend time with Ashok, rajasekar and Amit palekar (yes, the legendary, zero Budget fame subhash palekar’s son). So met some farmers in their network. Though my expectations weren’t met by this exhib, it had some purpose.

Then we set out to Kallakurichi, to visit an organic (oh no! zero budget) farm. Those farmers who follow palekar school treat ‘organic’ as a bad word. They will be driven by high conviction and wudnt deviate from their natural farming methods. They wudnt even tolerate a hybrid cow (to a nattu/desi cow)..so its always interesting bcos most of them see agriculture as a way of life..more like a spiritual practice than a livelihood.
So it was not new(s) when I met Chandrabose in the village called Neelamangalam 4km before kallakurichi. Nor was I surprised when I came to know there is no other farmer practicing organic farming in the surrounding. This man also hasn’t sold his produce in the market but only given to his relatives & friends alone and most of them have seen vast improvement in taste and health. Good example is his sister who always had acidity and other stomach problems which hasn’t surfaced from the time she has started taking his rice and grains.
It was a shock when I was talking to some farmer in that area when he said that one can’t extract jaggery on their own without ‘license’. Police can raid it seems! I see that as a sugar lobby’s ploy to stop small farmers from extracting their own jaggery but to sell the sugar factories- at the cost they determine! Hmm, ways of democracy!

Then we proceed to a village some 25kms from Attur (before Salem). We had to take a deviation towards koolamedu right at a foothill. The route was so scenic and this farm surrounded by hills on all side was a treat..so a walk around his farm towards the evening was so delightful.
This farmer was some 70+ agile man with loads of knowledge and energy. There were some very interesting products they had too..the steal was their castor oil..traditionally the castor seeds are milled with turmeric we were told and so the fragrance was fantastic..any amount of sniffing by my friends couldn’t lead to correct answer! It was so different. Among other things they had good amount of traditional paddy varities.

From there to Salem and Dharmapuri. As we were leaving the last of our farm visits (& the eco restoration project of Piyush) near pennagaram, we just saw a sign board saying Hogenekkal 18Kms.. we were scheduled to catch Dharmapuri road and head to Bangalore..
But the lure of fun..so we took left and went to hogenekkal had a good massage and a bath and were about to leave..
And here again suddenly we see a sign board saying denkanikota and Hosur..This is a single carriage way and thru the forests..so lured again we go..rest is history..
As my friend SL who was driving asks me to check the sound in the front bumper, I set out to check that and in the process of all those bending and mending, prolly dropped my mobile..bcos after a few Kms I realise my mobile isn’t there and we hit back searching and rest is history, as all of u know..I was without a hand for a few days- good days though, still the feeling of having lost in such crazy situation lets u thinking of butterfly effect and tracing back to so many unexpected turns that u took and how they affected in a totally diff area, unexpectedly..
Such is life- filled with surprises and losses ;-)

Election scene

phew..actually hardly anything interesting happening aint?
Last time I thought that for the next elections, i should tour North India as always hear it would be very colourful. But I hardly see anything very noteworthy..
the general interest level is so low..one could see that the public have not even been coming forward and voting! the turn out has been so low at most places.
Add to this my busy schedule. Lotsa of touring and I did not even cover many of them here like the trips to point return & solitude organised on behalf of restore and really dirtied our hands and learnt lots. (at restore we organise such farm visits for our volunteers and customers to bring them all to the farm- to get an insight of the amount of work at farm, to have hands on experience, interact with real farmers, see how our produce is grown/ processed, etc). Now I digress, thats for another day.
coming back to elections, the best one that comes from my memory is reserved for Herr. Devi lal! During one of the elections in 80s he had the gumption to address a crowd in haryana that "the central govt is extracting current from our river water(hydel power stations!) and release the water without any power and so we farmers are struggling..". Needless to say here that he won!
Some are ofcourse trying to match that. MK always leads the pack in that. His pronouncements on Srilankan tamils issue has always been non stop nonsense and a good entertainment.
But kalyan singh is leading this time I guess- what with his great secular jump and hand holding with Mr.Secular- Mulayam, he is really freaking out each day with all his talent. He was misled by the top leaders of BJP, he is always for the minority, etc..But remember he did that once already by jumping out of BJP crying wolf and then went back and backed up his majority sentiments and now another flip flop..oh! what wud these creatures do when they see the mirror? ofcourse Laloo as always freaks out and talks bad about the same govt that he was a part of like ramdosses. Pawar always is the only alternative to Deve gowda in such election tamashas..
but still to report of some good one..you see Iam already thinking hard to post another story here..such has the election come to these days..even entertainment value is low..
But all u folks, do exercise your vote, lest someone else does that!

Gurudongmar Lake

The highest point of the trip, not just by altitude- by our expectation, eagerness to do it and after return too! Lake @ 17100 feet on the Himalayas on the tibetian border!
It’s one of the highest lakes in the world, so pristine and fantastic. Only the distance, road and weather can stand in the way. The roads were absolute bad and we were warned by many regarding the weather which cud be hostile esp with severe winds. But we were lucky partly because we started from Lachen (acclimatising place -write up to follow next) very early in the morning so as to beat the weather. Apparently the weather anyway turns bad by noon we were warned. This visit also needs special permission from army and access is very strictly monitored and controlled. We even saw some tanks parked there (may be we shud not be saying that rit?).
Our driver kept saying about how tuff it cud be and how inspite of the stunning beauty people stay there only for 10-15 minutes. He also warned us most wud not talk as we reach top and esp on return. Even my friend sudha who pushed me to include this lake said so.(thanks sudha, u made my day, che life!).
But luckily we passed that with high score, we walked around for 40 minutes and only bcos we wanted to hit back before noon we moved. But we were well prepared with good warm clothing. That day was good too.. But we saw some army guys taking bath there –Man, then they walked bare foot too!what religious faith can do!! that was a sight. This is, like many mountain top lakes/rivers, considered holy, prolly to avoid messing in those days. River Teesta starts here and it’s a sight too!
Such high altitude means very scarce oxygen and ofcourse harsh cold (the lake is fully frozen in winters except a part- supposedly blessed by some saint we were informed) which causes this inhospitable atmosphere but worth all the efforts.
The route is beautiful as u get to see the Himalayan riot of colors in oct/nov (lucky here again) and as u cross the tree line, u get to see only yak, occasional yak minders (yakherd?) and the military gaadi/men. Add to these the mind boggling gorges and falls one chances up on on the way. One enjoys all this inspite of no roads and steep climbs.There is an interesting cafeteria at 15000feet run by Indian army called café 15000! Then on it’s a cold desert, really! We even got to see a house and a big compound built only from the rocks and stones available there and it was a rare and interesting sight. The similarity to Bedouin’s houses in deep deserts of Egypt was striking.
Only experienced drivers like the one we had can even spot the way. No road, just some rough and tuff path to drive on. Suddenly one gets to see snow capped majestic mountains and slowly u feel the altitude.
And serendipity! out of no where u hit on a pristine copper sulphate blue pool of water and the reflections…my life was made..thats a sight folks..pl do it..
Now, see the photos (taken with a simple old camera of the handy cam, still) here
( just in case - http://www.photobox.co.uk/album/6852263)
and u will appreciate what a place it is. yes! Foto no. 22 is edelweiss!
One shud stop at Thangu -12700 feet for breakfast! U get only Maggie but still in that cold and height u will enjoy it like we did. (normally we don’t prefer Maggie noodles). Thangu itself is a nice rustic cold place but one will appreciate the tons of hospitality poured by locals amidst the rustic comforts.
But sorry foreigners! You are not allowed beyond thangu, bcos of its proximity to China, nops Tibet. How can I ever say China, its Tibet folks!

Rating – Soooper
Will I go again- yes! Again and again…
Best time to visit – Oct / Nov. (may be after april one cud see more snow and prolly frozen lake. Lemme try next time)

A small warning:
An amazing place. A must do experience for u all. But please do it when ur body listens to ur brain..with age u might find it tuff..

physically challenged and us..some insights, some education, some info..

you remember this http://ananthoosupdates.blogspot.in/2015/08/differently-abled-our-govt-and-us.html isnt? about differently abled, their issues and our ggovts apathy..i wud say its also publics apathy!
but something interesting and responsible brewed..

a few friends got together to support some physically challenged in south TN, Sivaganga - by helping some 20 of them to adopt a home and run a training centre as well as carry out some activity and make it a functionaal space and also spin some revenues.. along with 2 of our OFM members I had helped in planning as well as collected funds to carry this forward..

They had organized an event inviting the Collector also and made a show (more to spread the word and to get various arms of the Govt like collectorate, puthu vazhvu, local panchayats,  etc) and that was well attended..
I wud have normally said No to such show (atleast in the initial days but to organize one after proving a point afer 8-12 months..still this was important for them)

So we placed a few pleas and requests to the collector and she immly oblidged..Like space for any produce these people will produce in Govt premises to market; a better space for these people for their own set up; setting up of an organic outlet soon, etc..(thanks to the VC of the state planning commission who had spoken to the collector b4 we left and also sprinkled some kind words about us..that shud have helped too!)
it was very interesting to see them all pull off an event like this so efficiently and also participate as well as enjoy this..

Just a few hard truths for us normals who are mostly oblivious to their day to day sufferings:

-          - To find a house for them in general and in this case where there will be so many of the phy challenged together in a place is so difficult..there have been cases where people have taken advance and then bcos their neighbours objected or as an aftermath in knowing abt their background they come back and tell them they cant give the house on rent (citing some vague reasons) and return the advance

-         -  Even this house that they are staying and operating, doesnot have a toilet inside..that means these people have to go down the steps in the back yard and move to the far end..similarly the entrance is steep 5 steps..these people do not even want to ask about constructing a ramp, for the fear that it cud set off the owner who has atleast given them  without problems..

-          - Even buses do not stop for them..atleast a handful were stating their experience of how on seeing their wheel chair or support rod the driver or conductor wud just move on or not stop or abuse them and go..

-         -  Incidentally there was a High court  verdict that demanded the govt buses to have easy access for all phy challenged and the particular judge did not trust the govt to comply and so asked them to produce the bus with solution in the court..the govt did it for a few buses, showed a couple and stopped..and till date no improvement..not even bothered to help them..how insensitive:-(

-          - One of them was telling me how they long for any gathering/event and esp for food bcos they are hardly served food with affection nor any special food..as they are never taken to any public function (even relatives marriage) and so they long for ‘kalyana sapaaad’!

-          - And as a contrast I saw a mother and daughter sitting next to me not going for lunch that was provided that day just after the event ..i pressed them twice and still they wud say “later” and not go....later  pushparaj clarified to me saying ; don’t press them..esp women..if we have to travel, we aall refrain from eating..even water we think so many times and avoid..bcos no public space like bus stands, rly stns will have toilets that are accessible for us..and bus drivers or other authorities are never considerate for us..they wudnt even stop..its all a huge problem..”  (oh! Shucks..was my feeling..how alienated we all have been from all their problems)

-          One of the organizers came up to me and said ‘pl be in touch sir..people esp pepole like u all (I dunno what ever he meant by that!) rarely talk to us..and only when people with better experience and exposure talk us and guide us we will know better things and do better..’ and then added ‘even if we make mistakes, do not avoid and move away, pl correct us..bcos we may be making mistakes without knowing, not after knowing’..the tone was so sincere, I was so touched..

 So much for a days event..but there was lotsa hope..this space that we all collectively supported already is having a machine (given by one of our volunteers- advocate Shiva) and they have been trained to make paper bowls and plates..they will now get in to more such things..
they also have already started some training, tuition for phy challenged and poor kids..this space is put to such fantastic use already..just bcos they didn’t have one space for them all before..

So very proud and happy that our collective effort has been very productively put to use..and its serving more purpose than we thought..and its also going really good strides..

ha ha..

so those fools let us down..they did not bowl well, didnt field well, did not bat well either, that too in that all crucial match..
got it? ya, iam talking of cricket and the failure of indian blue men..but the 1st two lines were about Bermuda. yes, BERMUDA!! if only those guys had played well and beat Bangla we wud hav scraped thru..so once again in same situation as I had said a few posts back- some other team has to fail, another has got to score at 21.5rpo and some one else has to...

now to the point: lets all understand that these demi gods were just over hyped below average performers..i hope they are understood correctly and given the right place/space..
but then the next series is against bangla (ok they are a tuff opposition now, still), then may be bermuda, scotland etc..and all our greats will have bloated average..
If they ever talk of pressure, just spit on them..see how SA or OZ react to pressure..(after a series of falures - much talked about and derided, OZ come back with 372 for a hi pressure game, hmm)..I wish these over hyped (tell me one big tournament they performed and con sistently at that) guys are ignored and this sport moves out of pedestal it has been wrongly showered with..yes, am one of those afflicted with that disease, but still I pray for some sense and wish good..and to top it all may be the betting/fixing is at its best again..how sad..
One positive outcome shall be- productivity of the nation wud increase tremendously bcos of this early return. that shud be welcome by the finance ministry!