Friday, June 17, 2011

Managing Transients

So you have had your share of rides. Extreme highs and extreme lows. It has made you realise actually the things that matter and the trivial ones, which should not. And you then see people fretting around you over the trivial ones and kinda wonder, just why ? Things like ratings, boss's, money someone else is making etc.
And then you go back in time and recollect a phase of your own life when you were the other person. And then you start accepting things as they are.

Now you are this guy for better or for worse who kinda knows the things which matter and so you make plans, like everybody else. Long term plans, something which is not your specialty. And then accept the fact that everyday life will be a humdrum affair and you will just have to wait for the evenings in the mornings, the fridays on  the mondays and the next week in this week. And you realise also that generally you are wasting your time.

And then the transients hit you, the humdrum of daily life. You try to tell yourself, these are only transients. Over a sufficiently long time frame, transients die out and are forgotten. But what the hell do you do when you are right in the middle of a transients, doing silly things, realising that you are wasting your time. It is like your head wants to explode, sometimes you fall from your path, are rude to people around you, snap at people for unnecessary reasons.

No, I have not yet found answers as to what to do then. The simple answer is trivialise things, learn to laugh at problems, understand that they are not the biggest things in this world.

But when it is your own bloody life in which these things happen, it makes you think.

And thought is the most dangerous device.     

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Delhi Darshan

In my numerous visits to Delhi before, mostly as a transit halt, I had not bothered to discover the city itself. But this time I took a day extra from my official visit and took some time exploring stuff.

1. Paranthe wali gali, chandani chowk
2. Lotus Temple
3. Iskon temple
4. Humayun's tomb
5. PVR Saket and DLF Saket mall
6. Lal Quila
7. Jantar Mantar
8. Airport Metro

Though I abhor malls, sometimes with people around, you just cannot help it. PVR saket has been thoroughly deserted these days. The last I went there was I guess in 2005. Now it's as good as a graveyard.

Delhi is a historical city, unlike Mumbai. The most impressive was the semi museum outside Humayun's tombs, which explains the same. Apparently there have been attempts to found 7 cities in and around Delhi all along Yamuna's course.

Also discovered the Ho Ho Service but could not get in as I was travelling in a direction opposite to it's. It is a good idea for Rs 350 a day and the convenience of taking your own time at a place. Link here. 

The airport metro is pretty fast and sometimes way too high,but a pity that it starts from New Delhi. CP would have been a better option. Though with so many terminals,(T1, T39 no T2 ?) one of these days I am going to miss a flight by ending up on a wrong terminal.

Lotus temple is affiliated to the bahai faith. Another religion/ sect.

Hand Rickshaws still ply in Delhi, and chandani chowk is not as bad as people in delhi make out. The natives generally do not seem to prefer going there. Too congested, the sophisticated snobs say.

The next time I am there would like to explore Humayun's tomb a lot more, as that was the most interesting thing I saw. The area around it as well. The narrow road which goes past the main entrance. 

Friday, June 10, 2011

Some Old, Some New

I woke up early in the morning and walked towards the Dam Park to have some poha and tea. In some time I realised that a lot of people were going further up the road of my guest house.Carrying cocunuts and other pooja items.On further enquiry I was told about a ghat further down the road.
I changed my plans of hitting the bridge and headed towards discovering the ghat. Due to the zigzag contours of the lake, I could not see this ghat from the Dam park.

Took a boat ride on the Ghat, where a 10-12 old girl was rowing the boat.After some thought, took a bath as well in the water. After that, I came back to the guesthouse, packed my belongings and walked towards the bridge, which people say has reduced the travel time between khandwa and bhopal by a few hundred Kilometers.

From there I took a ride in a truck upto Moondi. Harsud is about 30 Km from Bondi, and though Google Maps shows a road between the two, actually there is no public transport between the two. I guess a few of the roads stand partially drowned due to the lake. So I took a bus firsk to Khandwa, about 30 KM from Moondi, and from there another bus to Harsud, which was a further 62 KM.

The place I landed up was Chanera. I had my lunch there and struck up a conversation with the dhaba owner. He was originally from Harsud. He said, this is the 7th year since he has been relocated.

After having my lunch , I wanted to see the sectors and the manufactured structures of New Harsud, so I Asked a tangawala to drop me there. I asked him, I wanted to go to Harsud, He thought I wanted to go to the old one and redirected me to take a tempo from down the road.

A tempo is suppose to leave from that junction once every half an hour and I suppose I am lucky that I get into the tempo at around 3:25 PM. But there is a rider, a tempo if left unfulfilled can call off their turn. So with Murphy on the side the tempowalla calls it off at 3:30. Ditto at 4. Finally the tempo leaves at 4:30 and I reach old harsud around 5 PM. The tempo walla promises to come back to pick me in half an hour's time, but ditches me.

I am left at a road leading to no where and the tempo takes a u turn. A few other folks get down who live in the fringes of what is left of harsud. And I walk into Harsud, the destroyed one.

It feels like a deserted town, but more than that a broken and deserted town. I guess all the structures except the religious ones were broken down manually so that people could not return. And all of them have a serial number painted on them.

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