To be more un-common & unique

I was reading one article in magazine on our ancestor’s wisdom for spices. It was describing that India was known for this specialties in other countries. Each part of India has its own uniqueness in spices for its flavour, colour and aromatising food.  Many historians say that spices are one of the major reasons that Portuguese, Spanish and other foreigners come to India.

On the same topic, I got a chance to discuss with my Granny, who is currently octogenarian, and want to listen more facts from her life experience.  She said, “It’s very true that we are so unique in preparing this spices and different part of our country has its own expertise.” Every season each household blend and temper these spices according to their taste and store it for the whole year. Also, those who were travelling outside India, carry this spices with them as necessary companion and also as gifts for their relatives in foreign country. It has to be known as precious gift for their relatives. But, than she compared with today’s scenario and found it little upsetting to her, as she saw that how we all have become so used to with processed and package based spices and not even preparing for their unique taste. She was not happy of accepting that each one of us has become so common that everyone shares same taste.

That particular thought actually triggered me to write this post. I was asking myself, “Are we becoming so common?” If you see Indians are known for their diversity, different regional/religion culture and rituals, foods and festivities, and their unique lifestyle. With this rapidly spreading shopping mall culture, super-store, eating fast foods in dinner and having burger and pizzas, we are becoming more and more common with global traditions or lifestyles. We are losing our unique identity in every possible way. The way you eat food by sitting on surface/floor or the way you speak local/regional languages with unique dialects, the way you wear clothes, everything is just entering into commonness.  I was totally surprised, shocked and scared now with this inference which I got from my Granny’s one statement and overall thought process. It is not exaggerated but as after effect to this incident, I have spent my whole day thinking and contemplating on my or our family’s lifestyle in comparison with commonness between now and before. Though, I have described above message was exemplified on group or community, but it contains equal weight for applying to individual’s thinking and mindset as well. Being a common is spreading like virus in every society and community underneath our consciousness. Being victim of this, I am just sharing my observations and understanding to bring awareness.

            
            While writing this post, it is just a coincidence that today is the last day of this year - 2014 and tomorrow will be new beginning for another new year – 2015.  I would like to wish you all a prosperous and happening new year ahead, with the message that to be continue with your utter stubbornness of being unique and avoid acceptance of this spreading virus of commonness. At the same time, be more open to ideas and take conscious decision while accepting them, which are good for humanity and contribute in overall well-being. At last, be more sustainable and more humane..!.!

આપણા ઘડવૈયા બાંધવ આપણે

આપણા ઘડવૈયા બાંધવ આપણે 

આપણે આવળ બાવળ બોરડી,

કેસર ઘોળ્યા જી !

ઝાઝેરો ઝૂક્યો છે આંબો સાખથી ,

વેડે તેને આવે હાથ જી.

આપણા ઘડવૈયા બાંધવ આપણે. 

પંડની પેટમાં પારસ છે પડયો ,

ફૂટલાં ફૂટે છે કરંમ જી,

વાવરી જાણે તે બડભાગિયો ,

જળહળ એના રે જિવન જી

આપણા ઘડવૈયા બાંધવ આપણે.

                          - રાજેન્દ્ર શાહ    

Jaisalmer - desert Jeep Safari..!!

Desert Camp near jaisalmer

It was very early morning in coolest and silent desert camp which was located at 40 KM from Jaisalmer – known as golden city of Rajasthan. We were almost in half sleep ready for desert jeep safari settled in our jeep. I was on the front seat of one of the jeep. Jeepwala was totally covered in shawl and covered his face with muffler. I couldn't see his face at that time except her eyes with ‘kajal’, and our safari has started.

After almost half an hour of jerky and bumpy ride, we have reached near to sand dunes. It was all desert and you can hardly see a single tree in your sight in every direction. After climbing one of sand dunes, we were all waiting for sunrise to happen. 

Sunrise in Sand Dunes

Suddenly that Jeepwala was started greeting us in English and acting like guide by telling many facts about sand dunes. It was very surprising for all of us when he was speaking in English with fluency and not just greetings only. After seeing sunrise, we started towards one of last village near border for visit which was also part of safari and I was on the front seat started interacting with him. We got to know many things about village and difficulty they face in their daily life. Also we got to know that he didn't get any education in school or rather he has never been to school. He has learned all this by himself while traveling with tourists in desert and interacting with them. We were totally amaze when we saw him doing conversation in French as well. He learned all this out of his curiosity, interest and to serve his tourists well. For their living, they mostly depend on tourism and cattle business. It was really glad to know about him and some part of his pastoral life.

Meeting such people we realize that if there is interest and will to learn something, you will not see any obstacle in your way in terms of lack of resources…!!!

Below are some of the pictures taken during trip:

Rajasthani Folk dance

A villager at border village

Guard at our palace - mucche ho to nathulal jaise..!!

Jaisalmer Fort

About time..!!

We all have a limited time in life and  that sometime build a pressure on us to do our best what we can with this particular moment of life, because we only get single chance with that. Many times we can't make best out of a moment showcasing our best performance. That might generate resentful feeling in us because we know what went wrong and we are helpless to change it. Also, many times we have not lived that moment with our expectation. Usually most of the self-help books which I happened read and advises from our elders based on their conventional wisdom point us to change future rather regret on your past doing.

Few days back I saw a movie name "about time" - a very simple story line on person who holds some extra ordinary power to go back in time and improve his mistakes for the situations which he had messed up in past or the one which he has not lived up to the mark. After movie, I was contemplating about my life that even I get such powers than what will I change and I ended up making very big list (of course it is not inclusive of doing some extra-ordinary thing but just improving my livings in some situations). I guess it is true for me, i am sure many of us having willingness to seek such powers to change our past with big to do list. Many times even if we understood our mistakes and we don't want reiterate the same again, very unlikely that we get into such situations again because some events or situations occur only once in lifetime and they are very unique. Such regrets are always burning somewhere in corner of our heart even if we try to focus on future using our conventional wisdom.

Another aspect which this movie pointed was to live these old moments instead of just cherish - which can be time spent with your family or any other moments - by going back in time. Because these moments are precious and we can’t capture feelings associated with them in some photographic memory or some video clips. There is no way we can digitize such experiences of situations we have lived in past. They are so unique and not so easy for us to put them in words.

If possible, many such situations which i would like to live again - a wonderful walk with my dad holding his hand or playing cricket with him or saving a chocolate for my younger brother whenever I used to receive it from my school because of someone's birthday during our childhood days or spending wonderful summer holidays with all my cousins at grandpa's place...!!

Life is very precious gift given to us with very limited in time.We all should live carefully with showing out our extra ordinary performance in each life’s situations and at the same time enjoying them utmost.(until such time travelling machine invented and handed over to ordinary people like you and me..!!)

excerpt from An Ecological Approach to Sociology

Excerpts from essay entitled "An Ecological Approach to Sociology" published in American Journal of Sociology in 1930 explained very well about human and nature's relationship.

“This is a balance between the natural and the vegetable and the animal environment, including human, in which nature delights. It is maintained by chain of actions and interactions, which link man with the rest of his living realm, reaching up and down and all around as his invisible biological and social destiny. Such a balance assumes great significance in old countries like India and China. Here we can discern, especially in the mature, densely populated plains, every stage of the process by which the regional balance is kept stable and how it is upset both by natural fluctuations such as are caused by cycles of rainfall or changes of landscape and river, or by long continued human actions such as the destruction of forests, non-conservative agriculture, and artificial interference with natural drainage...

    Human, animal and plant communities are subject to similar rules, though shifting ones, which maintain a balance and rhythm of growth for all. Each community cannot appropriate more than its due place in the general ordering of life, from which nothing can be obtained without influencing everything else. Working symbiotically, they represent interwoven threads of a complex web of life. No one thread can be isolated. None can be snapped or removed without the whole garment of the life of nature and human society being disfigured. The warp and the woof of the garment have become increasingly coherent as organic evolution has advanced. The inter-linkages of a fig tree, an earthworm, a rat and a bird are many, but the threads make such more intricate patterns as we reach the social economy of man. Though man often tears asunder the fabric through ignorance or selfishness, social progress no doubt consists in consciously weaving the forces of nature and society into finer and finer patterns of correlation and solidarity. It is the knowledge of and respect for the intricacy of the web of life that will guide man to his highest destiny".

તું તારી રીતે જા.

કોઈ જાતું હળવે હળવે કોઈ ઘાએ ઘા 

તું તારી રીતે જા 

તને ગમે તો આ પા જાજે , અથવા પેલી પા 

તું તારી રીતે જા

બંધ ઓરડા કદી ન ઝીલે કો શ્રાવણની હેલી 

ઊલટ થાય તો ખોલી દે તું તારા ઘરની ડેલી 

દોર મૂકજે બજાર વચ્ચે દેહ ઉઘાડો મેલી 

ને ફરી ફરીને ન્હા 

હોય અજાણ્યા કે જાણીતા - છતાંય મલકે હોઠ 

રોજ ધૂળેટી ઊજવીએ માગી નજરની ગોઠ 

હળ્યા મળ્યાં તો ઘેર ઊતરશે અવસરની કૈ પોઠ 

રે ઉતાવળો કાં થા ?

કોઈ બાળકે ફૂલ ચીતરતાં મ્હોરી ઉંથી ભીંત 

પતંગિયાને કોણ શીખવે છે ઉડવાની રીત ?

કોયલને ક્યાં કહ્યું હતું કે ગા ફાગણનું ગીત ?

તું મન ફાવે તે ગા 

તું તારી રીતે જા.

~ મનોહર ત્રિવેદી  

My Income-Tax Money and its Disappointing Returns..!!

With financial year ending, few days back we have received our form 16 to file our income tax return. Today when i am going through form 16, I am feeling literally disgruntle about my tax money payment to Indian government.

This disappointment is not because a lot of money going as tax, but there is no/enough return benefit or services from the government. I am just questioning to myself, is this money going to help in development of my country or help needy people through government funds or help in creating better services for people or it is just going in some corrupt politician’s Switzerland bank account?  I am filing my tax return as this month’s end dead line approaching with a feeling that I am throwing this money in gutter of corrupt politics. I am wondering what else we can do and come up with few suggestion to this problem, why government can’t provide a detail summary of investment they have done using my tax money. Don’t you think so people who are paying tax right to know where this money going?  Another approach will be tax payers should have rights to say or select to put his/her tax money with break ups in this particular areas/scheme of development from government or may be development of sustainable technologies? Never know this will help or not, but at least I feel that this will reveal out exact usage of money and reasons for lack of services which we face as problem from government.

There is another point to highlight about number of people who is paying taxes in India. From the article in economic times, I found that the number of income-tax payers are just about 35 million (2.9%) in a population of 1.2 billion. These 2.9 % people are mainly salaried people who have no choice (trying to hide earning from government) because employer has to cut their income tax. Looking at the number do you think that this taxation money will be enough to help out or give benefits to all 1.2 billion people? We sometime blame government for corruption, but first reason to get this corrupt government because we are corrupt. We, as in buyers, are responsible for buying things without any bill in all transactions and hence these retailers don’t pay any tax on it. So this money turned in as black money.   

At least to improve this, we as in people must buy things from mega retail store and use credit card/debit card for payment instead cash payment. This way money directly credited into bank account of retailers. So that at least whenever government/Tax Dept. wants to check the account of retailers, they can see transactions in store keeper’s bank account. Another approach what government can take is that, buyer’s needs to file all bills of its spending over the month to income-tax dept., so income-tax dept. know transactions of every shopkeepers from buyers submission and force them to pay right amount of tax and there is no way of hiding money here. Make more and more services online, so people don’t have to ask for favors to agents and government officers. This will give choice to people to avoid corruptions and favors. Making an online application for passport and Indian railway reservation is some of the big example which government has taken to improve situations and many more is in pipeline. Give extra/different benefits to the people who are paying taxes beyond some amount, this will help in encouraging to those who don't pay taxes at all.

At last file your tax return on time, pay right amount to tax on your earnings, question government about where did they spend our tax money?, and provide help in improving this country...!!