It’s not the end of the day

The verdict of 2009 LS elections is out. All of us, who consider ourselves Friends of BJP, are really disappointed, as are all BJP and NDA leaders.  Though we all were hoping against all hopes that NDA might come to power, but I believe there was always an uncertainty about the final outcome. I’m sure that most of us were disappointed but not shocked or surprised with the outcome. Yes, the numbers of NDA could have been better, but there was lot of odds against BJP or NDA to come to power. Keeping aside the disappointed I think there’s something that we all should feel great about – that’s the air of change and awareness among the voters that have swept this election at many places; and it’s this awareness that’s a very positive sign for all of us.

I’m a Bengali by birth and officially a Bangalorean. Ever since my childhood I, along with million others born in Bengal since the seventies, knew that there’s only one party and that’s the Left. In both assembly and LS elections the results were very predictable – Left used to win a sweeping majority in both places. The Congress and later the Trinamool Congres (and perhaps BJP to a very small extent very recently) have been mere minorities in opposition for almost 35 years. I’ve always hoped to see a day, sometime during my life time, when the scenario would change. But then I knew it very well that perhaps me becoming a billionaire is more feasible thing than Left becoming a minority party in Bengal. Especially the last LS elections made it more clear that the Left is becoming stronger and stronger day by day. Everyone started to accept the reality that they have born and will die seeing the same Left ruling them forever.

This year’s LS has been a stupendous surprise when Left has got just half the seats as that of the Trinamool-Congress combine. That’s a change that couldn’t happen for almost 35 years. That’s a change that was induced by the growing awareness among the common people. It’s a trend that we all should be proud of. At last the day has come when common man has grown up to understand what is what and call spade a spade. He is no longer a blind person. He can see what’s happening around him. He can understand what’s better for him. He can choose what’s better for him. He is for a CHANGE.

This very awareness among the voters is something that can change the political scenario of India going ahead. It’s true that BJP has failed to get majority, but as long they stand for development and prosperity there’s a hope sometime in future.

I’m sure BJP will now introspect about what went wrong this time. But at the same time they should be more convinced that the day is not far when they can come to power with a sweeping majority. All they have to do is create more and more success stories at the state levels and use that to create more awareness among the common people across India about what’s good for them and the country.  Thus election has perhaps shown that it’s the beginning of a Prabuddha Bharat or Awakened India that Swami Vivekananda had conceived of some hundred years back.  From now onwards India will vote only for development and betterment.

Shekhar Gupta of Indian Express has pointed out one more striking thing about this election which is really very interesting for BJP. This is the first election that BJP has fought without Atal Behari Vajpayee.

There’s no doubt that the personality and the image of Vajpayeeji is something that attracts all section of people irrespective of their political or social affiliations. Perhaps after the Gandhis in Indian politics, Vajpajeeji has the mesmerizing and greater than life personality that endears masses of illiterate or lowly literate millions of people of India. The presence of Vajpayee in the BJP had the impact perhaps similar to that of Nehru or Indira Gandhi in the early days of the rule of the Gandhis in India. The first election that Congress fought without the Gandhis after the death of Rajiv Gandhi was a debacle. But compared to that the performance of BJP as a party in this election, first time without Vajpayee, can’t be treated as a debacle. That reinstils the conviction that BJP is not a party dependent on a single person.

Though the impact of the any particular person can’t be ignored, but still the very fact that BJP has passed the litmus test of fighting an election without their most acceptable and popular face is indeed a good thing.

Winnability directly from the association of any particular family or person is always a risky thing in democracy. Even dictatorship fails if it depends too much on a single person.  What will happen to Cuba after Castro is indeed a matter of concern. Nazi Germany collapsed just in moments without Hitler.

Apart from BJP and the Left parties, no other party in India is based on any particular ideology. Most parties derive their existence from singular personalities. Congress is also no exception to that.  So by construction BJP always has an edge over any other party in a democratic setup.

It’s time to introspect and find out what went wrong. It’s not just a mere word of consolation that “failures are pillars of success”. Lot of lessons are learnt in each failure. I’m sure BJP will rectify the past mistakes and come up stronger in the next election. 

Where is the secularism? Part II

Long time back Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, the poet of Vande Mataram, had told, "Tumi Adhom Hoile, Ami Uttam Hoibo Na Keno", which translates into English as, "If you're inferior, why shouldn't I be superior". Prakash Karat might hate this statement, because that speaks against communism and perhaps sows the seeds of inequality. 

There are two ways of bringing equality among these two sides - superior and inferior. One, you improve the 'inferior' and two, you drag down the 'superior'. The first option is hard, but the second one is very easy. It's very sad that many people take extra effort to resort to the second option to downgrade many aspects of India – secularism being one - just to give a feeling that we're also as bad as the rest. 

Well, this has reference to the concept of secularism in our country as propagated by most political parties and the media too. It has become a fashion for a group of people, who think that they are the only secular people in this country and the rest are just a bunch of irrational, insensitive, illiterate, parochial and communal thugs, to dig up isolated acts of intolerance and disharmony and highlight them every time the country sees an act of terrorism perpetrated by a minority community thinking that highlighting some bad things about India or a majority community might make the perpetrators of terror feel happy because that would equate them to the also-equally-bad-Indians.

A classic example is the article written by Arundhati Ray in the aftermath of last year’s Bombay Terror Attacks on 11/26. She has a lot of sympathizers. She and her crusaders want to always bring up Narendra Modi, Indian Army's violation of human rights in Kashmir, VHP, BJP, Veer Savarkar and what not - as if all these can justify a young Muslim to get angry and frustrated to the extent that he finally takes arms and become a terrorist. This not only demeans the stature of Muslims in India, but also brings disgrace to the secular credentials of India. 

No community can be branded good or bad on the basis of a few people involved in acts of violence and terrorism. This holds good for all communities, majority or minority. Any act of terrorism is equally condemnable and can’t be justifiable by any other act of deprivation or intolerance. The isolated cases of violation of human rights of the Indian Army (if at all these allegations are true) in Kashmir or any isolated case of Hindu fundamentalism (media always searches for this) can’t be justified reasons for Muslim terrorism. 

The so called secular parties have to stop calling Muslims minority and start treating them as any other Indian. Factually also, very few Muslims in India are of Arab or foreign origin. They have been Indians all along for thousands of years and suddenly calling them minority is very unfortunate. If most of the terrorists happen to belong to any particular community, let’s not brand that entire community as terrorist, but at the same time let’s also not try to be sympathetic to them just to appease the community they belong to. A terrorist doesn’t belong to any community and nothing can justify an act of terrorism.

Let’s call spade a spade. Let’s take a pledge to bring to book the actual perpetrators of not only the Gujarat carnage, but also that of the Anti Sikh carnage in Delhi. But at the same time let’s also not be oblivious to the statistically biggest ever genocide with tacit support of an elected government (Muslim League) in Indian subcontinent on the "Direct Action Day" in Calcutta on 16th Aug, 1946 which killed more than 4000 people belonging to the minority community, that’s the Hindus in the undivided Bengal province, in just seventy two hours. If we want to forget the past and move on, that’s also a good thing. But then we should forget everything and not selectively things that suit exclusive purposes.

Seculairsm ceases to exist when either there’s an appeasement or intolerance of any community.  Secularism ceases to exist whenever any community is denied a social justice. Secularism ceases to exist whenever you treat a particular community especially with a motive. Secularism ceases to exist whenever you hurt the sentiment of any community knowing that they will never protest. Secularism ceases to exist whenever you take any particular community for granted. Secularism ceases to exist whenever you call an Indian by names like Muslim, Hindu, Dalit, OBC, SC, ST, Bengali, Tamil, Oriya or Marathi. Secularism has a very simple meaning – to feel from within that we all are just Indians and India is just a “vast sea of humanity”.

Today is the 149th birth day of Rabindranath Tagore, the person who lived and wrote and died only for a truly secular (not the other misconstrued type of secular) and unified India. Let’s pay our homage to him on this day to raise above all fragmentation and exclusivity and strive to attain his idea of a secular India, of which he said - "Here I stand with arms outstretched to hail man divine in his own image and sing to his glory in notes glad and free. No one knows whence and at whose call come pouring endless inundation of men rushing madly along to lose themselves in this vast sea of humanity that is India. Aryans and Non-Aryans, Dravidians and Chinese Scythians, Huns, Pathns and Mogols all are mixed, merged and lost in one body" - that's the body an Indian!!

Let’s our mantra be – No Appeasement and No Intolerance. The only thing we don’t tolerate is any threat to the very concept of India!!

Over to Uttarakhand: Peaks

Uttarakhand has some of the highest and most beautiful peaks of the Himalayas in India and we're really lucky to catch perhaps some of the best views of these peaks. Before writing this blog I searched the Internet for the pictures of the peaks that we've seen and captured in our camera. I was delighted and also surprised to find out we got better views than most of the ones published. 

From whatever I learnt I can recognize the following peaks: Chaukhamba cluster of four peaks (highest one 7138m), Neelkanth (6597m), Gauri (Ghori, Ghoda) Parbat (6708), Hathi Parbat (6727), Dunagiri (7066), Nanda Devi (7817), Trishul (7120), Nanda Kot (6861) and Panchchula (5904).

Gauri (left) & Hathi Parbat (right): Seen from Gorson's Meadows, Auli

On the way from Karnaprayag to Joshimath along NH58, close to Pipalkoti the Gauri and the Hathi Parbat are visible to the left. From Gorson's Meadows, the view of both the peaks is much clearer. From what I could understand from our local guide at Auli, Gauri Parbat is also called Ghodha or Ghodi Parbat, perhaps to associate with the close by Hathi Parbat. As can be seen in this snap the two peaks really look like twin peaks. The Valley of Flowers is at the base of the Gauri Parbat.

Dunagiri: Seen from Gorson's Meadows, Auli

Dunagiri, one of the most photogenic peaks of the Himalayas was close to us for three days during which we stayed at the Clifftop Resort in Auli. Though not visible that clearly from the resort, it appears in its full splendour and magnificence within a stone's throw (less than 25km) from Gorson's Meadow, an easy 3km trek from the resort. The view that we've captured here is better than all the snaps of Dunagiri that I could see in the Internet. The green surroundings of the gentle slopes of the Gorson's Meadows and the spotless blue sky provide a mesmerizing ambience for the milk white almost-symmetrical Dunagiri peak which looks like a perfect triangle near the pinnacle. I've learnt that the peak provides a wonderful view along the trek through Kunwara Pass. 

Nanda Devi: Seen from Auli

Like many people I also didn't know that Nanda Devi, at 7817m, is the highest peak of India, if we discount Kanchenjunga (8598m), which is partially in Nepal. It's the most wonderful peak I've ever seen. It has a beautiful sculpted shape with steep slopes, which make Nanda Devi one of the toughest to climb. The shape is so unique that it can't me missed even from a distance. We first saw the peak from Binsar, but not very clearly. The shape is so unique that even my 6 1/2 year old kid identified the small portion of the snow capped peak, hidden behind many layers of mountains, from Binsar. It took us another 2 days before we could get a proper view of Nanda Devi on our way from Garjiya, in Corbett, to Ranikhet. Different sides of Nanda Devi are visible from Auli and Ranikhet. The two views are very much like the mirror image of each other. The view of Nanda Devi from Auli, at an aerial distance of less than 25km, is so serene that it's really trivial to understand why it occupies such a divine status in mythology and ancient literatures. Till 18th century it was the highest peak known to mankind. The Nanda Devi National Park around Nanda Devi along with the Valley of Flowers are inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

As seen from Auli (From left: Chaukhamba, , Neelkanth, Gauri Parbat, Hathi Parbat, Dunagiri & Nanda Devi)

This is a wonderful snap taken from our resort at Auli. 6 high peaks are visible in a line. To the leftmost are the Chaukhamba cluster of four peaks, located to the west of Badrinath. Neelkanth is the peak overlooking Badrinath. To its left are the twin peaks of Gauri and Hathi Parbat. Further east are Dunagiri and Nanda Devi.

As seen from Auli (Chaukhamba cluster of peaks & Neelkanth)

The Neelkanth peak is a pyramidal mountain, at the base of which is Badrinath. As we were some 45km from Badrinath, we never came quite close to Neelkanth. So the view is not as clear as that of Nanda Devi or Dunagiri.

Trishul & Nanda Devi: As seen on the Ramnagar-Ranikhet road

The above snap was our first glimpse of the snow capped Himalayas. We're travelling from Garjiya in Corbett to Ranikhet. We'd already been to Binsar, which is quite famous for its fascinating views of the Himalayas, a few days back. But unfortunately we couldn't get any vew of the snow capped peaks from Binsar. The only snow we saw was of a fragment of Nanda Devi, discovered by my kid. We're eagerly awaiting to get our first glimpse of the mighty Himalayas. After about 2 hours of drive from Garjiya, immediately around a curve on the road, we suddenly got the view of a long range of Himalayas with some of highest peaks of the world - our first glimpse of the snow capped high Himalayas. The route between Garjiya and Ranikhet is quite adventurous. It's not a national highway, and not maintained properly. The narrow road, without any barricade along the open steep valley, winders treacherously along a barren mountain crest. One side of the road always overlooks very dangerously a deep valley. As our Indigo was meandering slowly on the bumpy road we're just too concerned about our own safety and were praying that our driver finally manges to cover the entire stretch without any mishhap. It was exactly during such a not-so-entertaining drive we suddenly got this view. We're mesmerized beyond any description. In a moment we forgot all the tensions of the risky drive and got totally immersed in the beauty of the range. To the lesftmost was the trident shaped Trishul, to its right was the southern part of the Nanda Devi - the peak that never went out of our sight for the next four days. To the east of Nanda Devi were Nanda Kot, Panchchula and many other peaks which I can't identify. We happened to get an uninterrupted view of a range of the Himalayas, stretching for a few hundred kms, at  a distance of some 150-200km from us. This in undoubtedly one of the best views of our entire trip. The summits of the fully snow capped high peaks extend above the clouds at many places, thus making the lower parts invisible. The dazzling snow covered landscape glows like a huge piece of glass floating in the sky.  Even the much closer views of the same range from Auli was not that much enchanting and mesmerizing as that of the first glimpse.

Nanda Devi & Trishul: As seen from Auli

This snap is of the northern side of Nanda Devi and Trishul - an exact mirror image of the previous snap from near Ranikhet. The trident shape of the Trishul is much more clear in this snap as Trishul is within 50km of aerial distance from Auli.

Dilemma of Voters: Candidates versus Party

In each election there’s this classic dilemma among many voters about whom to vote for – the party or the candidate. Even if someone supports a particular party, still he/she might not feel motivated to vote for the candidate who is contesting in his/her constituency for the party of his/her choice.

 The classic example is perhaps a constituency in Bombay where the contest is between a Boston-educated graduate and a SSC-pass-out.  The former has been a professional and the latter’s profession was driving the vehicle of a local right-wing leader.  The former may lead to the perpetuation of dynastic politics, but the latter’s politics has involved an active discrimination and sporadic violence against recent migrants into the city of Bombay.  More conspicuously, the latter has been charged in small criminal acts while the former has been clean and has completed an active term.  In this case the former is from Congress and the later Shiva Sena/BJP alliance. I’m sure even if someone prefers BJP than Congress, but still in this particular case he might be confused with regards to whom to vote for.

Another example is from Bangalore Central, my constituency. The Congress candidate is an ex Commissioner of Bangalore and an IPS officer of impeccable credibility and track record – Sangliana, who had won the last Lok Sabha elections on a BJP ticket and eventually fell out with BJP recently on Nuclear Deal and moved to Congress. The BJP candidate against Sangliana is someone who had lost the last election he had fought in 1996. People of Bangalore have seen what’s the potential of Sangliana and knows very well how much he can do. Contrary to that we know almost nothing about the BJP candidate. I’m sure many such cases would be there across India.

So what should the voter do?

My suggestion would be unless the candidate is a criminal with suspicious track record you should go by the party because that’s what will make the difference rather than one exceptionally good person from a wrong party. After seeing Dr. Manmohan Singh we know very well what can be the fate of a good person in a wrong party.

Also we should understand that when there’s a strong candidate from any party, the opponent party won’t want to take risk and place another strong man. The fight between two strong men is always uncertain and no party would like its strong man to lose. So in most cases you don’t see the popular faces of parties fighting tough battles. This is true for all parties. Indira Gandhi, Jyoti Basu, Jawaharlal Nehru never fought against strong candidates. In this case it won’t have been wise for BJP to place important persons against Milind Deora or Sangliana because then their victory can’t be guaranteed. So we shouldn’t feel awkward to vote for a relatively unknown candidate of our party of choice against a more popular or better one from the other party we don’t like.

Importance of History and Heritage in Indian Politics

There has been a furore against BJP’s manifesto that has spoken much about the history and heritage of India. Though I don’t accept everything that Murali Manohar Joshi, supposedly the main person behind the preamble of the manifesto, says or does. But I was taken aback by the sort of response and reaction, especially from the media, that it evoked. As if it’s a crime to feel proud of my own past and culture. 

Before I say anything in defence of taking pride in cultural and heritage let me quote something interesting.

“Jawaharlal Nehru’s three classics – Glimpses of World History, An Autobiography and The Discovery of India – remain essential reading for anyone who wishes to understand the ideas and personalities that have shaped India through ages, and moulded the character and special genius of her people.... through them runs the common thread of Pandit Nehru’s own vision and ideals – his passionate commitment to democracy and social justice,... and his exuberant celebration of India’s pluralistic culture....”.

I don’t think there’s anything special about these comments about the importance of history and the past of any country to understand her and her people better. What we’re now is always the manifestation of an evolution of ages of traditions, believes, education and culture.  The “exuberant celebration of India’s pluralistic culture” is something that hasn’t only shaped the vision and ideals of Nehru, but has been the source of inspiration of almost each Indian, greater or smaller in any field. History has provided the basic foundation of many successful ideas and ideologies in all countries. Gandhi’s nonviolence is not a theory out of blue. It’s what Ashoka or Akbar had also tried and applied very successfully and became the two greatest emperors of India. Gandhi became the third one to make the best use of a theory which existed even before Ashoka or Buddha understood the importance of nonviolence.  Had Gandhi not been an adept reader of Indian history he won’t have become the Mahatma.

Cutting short the importance of history and past, let me go back to the quotation I’ve used just now. That’s actually Sonia Gandhi’s - in the foreward for the 2004 edition of Discovery of India published by Penguin.  The Discovery of India is perhaps one of the best books about Indian history. Sonia Gandhi accepts very correctly that it’s essential to read these books if anyone wants to know about India, her people and her culture. Isn’t that exactly what the preamble of BJP’s manifesto also says? So why so much fuss about it?

The sad thing is that a part of the intelligentsia and media have made anything related to India’s past a taboo. As if it’s foolish to look back and take pride in things of past. That’s perhaps the case only in India. That’s also the reason why Indian’s are the least proud of their own country.

I always feel elated when I see how much pride an average American takes in his or her own country or heritage despite the fact that they don’t have any past beyond 300 years. Romans and Greeks and even the Persians take so much pride in their past. It’s this pride that instils confidence and self esteem among people and history bears testimony to the fact that only nations with undeterred confidence and high self esteem prosper.

It’s the tremendous self esteem, confidence and pride in his own country and heritage that inspired Swami Vivekananda to go to the Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893 and represent India before the world. He had pointed out to the world, “Three religions now stand in the world which have come down to us from time prehistoric— Hinduism, Zoroastrianism and Judaism. They have all received tremendous shocks and all of them prove by their survival their internal strength. But while Judaism failed to absorb Christianity and was driven out of its place of birth by its all-conquering daughter, and a handful of Parsees is all that remains to tell the tale of their grand religion, sect after sect arose in India and seemed to shake the religion of the Vedas to its very foundations, but like the waters of the seashore in a tremendous earthquake it receded only for a while, only to return in an all-absorbing flood, a thousand times more vigorous, and when the tumult of the rush was over, these sects were all sucked in, absorbed, and assimilated into the immense body of the mother faith.”

It’s indeed a matter of pride to possess the body of an Indian that has “sucked in, absorbed and assimilated” “sect after sect” that arose in India. Here again it’s the all inclusiveness of Indian culture that stands aside. The people who are into the present day politics of appeasement, castes and regions and want to create a number of exclusive and fragmented Indias – one for the Muslims, one for the Dalits, one for the Tamils, one for the OBCs, one for the SCs, one for the STs and so on -  are the ones who perhaps haven’t read much about India’s past and don’t take pride in her cultural heritage. The point when we start taking pride in our past, we’ll also become confident like the Americans, the English, the Frenchs, the Italians and many others – who have made better progress than us.

Did you notice that it’s only in the past ten or fifteen years that India has again started making a mark in the world? And it’s no coincidence that it’s also in the recent years that Indians have again started taking pride in their culture and past. In eighties any young Indian would have always cursed of being an Indian. But same the youth of today rarely curse India. Many people who had left India for better pastures then have already come back in the recent years back to India. It’s not only greater opportunities that have brought all of them back. But it’s also because of the fact that they have also started taking pride in India.

It’ a matter of fact that till 1700 India and China used to be the greatest two economies of the world, contributing to more than 40% of world GDP. Till that time India used to be a prosperous and proud nation. The only thing that the Britishers broke was not the economy, but the self respect and the pride that had driven India to prosperity for thousands of years in the past. All that Gandhi, Tagore or Vivekananda or Tilak and many others wanted to achieve was to revive the lost pride among Indians. Otherwise why would all of them write and speak so much about India’s glorious past. We’re again in the fast track of progress because we’re again proud of our country.

Few notes of Murali Manohar Joshi might be a bit off tune at some places, but that doesn’t mean that the entire symphony is bad. It’s ridiculous to turn a deaf ear to it. It would be really sad if we do that. It would be the greatest irony for India and we would again go back to the dark ages of the British Rule.

Re-opening the uncanny can of worms

I'm sure many ardent supporters of BJP feel uncomfortable when ever the issue of the post Godhara Gujarat riots and the alleged role of Modi and his government come up. Congress and all other self-claimed secular parties always wait for an opportunity to open the can of worms where ever and when ever possible in an attempt to suppress their innumerable social injustices, as if, "I'm better if you're also no good".

No doubt the incidents in February 2002 are dark spots in the annals of the history of India, which has the rare achievement of being the only nation in the world to uphold the tradition and culture of all-inclusiveness and tolerance uninterruptedly for the longest period in human history. I don't think, irrespective of anything, any civilized and cultured person would accept any sort of act of violence against humanity. Any violence against humanity is an act of terrorism and condemnable. There shouldn't be any partiality in choosing whom to condemn or not based on any social and religious affiliation. The condemnation should come from within and should be selfless. The condemnation shouldn't be a shrewd act with something else in mind. The condemnation should come from the genuine anger against the perpetrators of the act and sympathy for the victims. Also the condemnation shouldn't be associated with any hypocrisy.

Every time Congress or any other self claimed secular party condemns the acts of violence in Gujarat I really feel more angry for those parties than I feel against the actual perpetrators of the violence. The entire act of condemnation stinks of selfishness and rot of politics. India is a free country and anyone any where can go to any place. If these people, who always try to point fingers to Modi and his government for their alleged role, are really feeling bad for the victims of the violence from the core of their heart they would have done something by this time to rehabilitate them or do something that could have made their lives better. On the contrary they have alluded with some NGOs and so called messiahs of social justice and indulged in cooking up horrid stories of atrocities and gathering fake evidences. The main aim of Congress was to get Modi into the same controversy that they had been into since their alleged role in anti Sikh violence in the past - as if, if Modi is tainted like me, then I'm also no bad!!

Alleged cases of social injustice against Congress (or for that matter of fact any other party in India) are not just limited to communal riots. The social injustice meted to the victims of the Bhopal Gas tragedy, the victims of violence in Nandigram and Singur, the victims of indiscriminate caste killings and hooliganism by RJD, SP, BSP in the Hindi belt - just to name a few are no less than the thousands killed in communal riots before and after 1984 & 2002. The fact that Karunanidhi sees a friend in Prabhakaran, whose people were involved in killing not only Rajiv Gandhi but also many more 'Aam Aadmi' in the same suicide bomb attack is also a heinous act of social injustice meted to all who were killed. Priyanka Gandhi can forgive a lady terrorist involved in facilitating the suicide attack because she gains a lot out of this benevolence politically. But can the families of the other 'Aam Aadmi' who were killed in the same attack forgive the lady? No. Never. The same way the victims of the 1984 & 2002 riots can't forgive the people involved. Are the people killed by LTTE different from people killed in 1984 & 2002?

As I'd pointed out in some previous articles also, no party in India can be given even the pass marks when it comes to social justice. All these acts of social injustice and the people involved in them should be brought under books. This is not the responsibility of any political party, but that of the entire nation. Had Congress or CPM or SP or BSP or DMK had crystal clear credibility in providing social justice then I don't mind them shouting against Modi or anyone else for their alleged involvement in any acts of terrorism or violence or any form of social injustice. But when they themselves are not clean, they have no right to open the can just for the sake of some political mileage. 

Having said this, I don't want to say that I'm sympathetic to Modi just because I consider myself a "Friend of BJP". Jagdish Tytler was in Rajiv Gandhi's cabinet just after the 84 anti Sikh riots. It took Congress almost 25 years to take any action against him, and that also in the form of not allowing him to contest an election. So why do they want Modi to resign? If finally Modi is convicted by the SC I'm sure BJP would also take a similar step that Congress has taken. But I believe BJP won't allow the Gujarat episode to drag for 25 years.

Mohan's Cafe - An Inspiring Tale of Entrepreneurship

Mohan's Cafe (+91-9412162816), Kasar Devi, on Almora-Binsar-Bageshwar Road, bears the testimony of an incredible tale of entrepreneurship of a very ordinary person with very limited means but big dreams and the tenacity to make the dreams successful.

I bumped on Mohan's Cafe while returning from Almora to our resort in Binsar. It was already late evening and I had a tiring day. I'd visited the 8th century temples at Jageshwar, some 35km from Almora, took a stroll on the Light End Corner, which gives an awesome panoramic view of the far stretching Himalayas and the entire horse-shoe shaped city of Almora, visited the beautiful Ramakrishna Mission campus located perhaps in the most scenic spot of Almora and then getting back to Binsar. I wanted to pack some Kumayuni food, which I used to always prefer more than the conventional food at our luxurious and comfortable resort, for dinner. Little after Almora, at a place called Kasar Devi, on the Almora-Bageshwar road going via Binsar, I asked my driver to stop in front of what seemed to be a restaurant. That's when I saw the board "Mohan's Cafe". To my surprise I found flocks of western visitors sitting idly in open air. It was windy and the dark vast expanse in the front, which, it was clear even in the night, couldn't have been anything else than a valley. The atmosphere was just perfect for a vacation - relaxed people relishing their food, talking casually among themselves or reading books or browsing Internet - something not a very common thing in those hills of Uttarakhand - or taking collect calls at phone booths. To go to the sit out I'd to pass through the cyber cafe, phone booths and also a library well stocked with books, surprisingly, in mostly non English European languages. As I was looking for local Kumayoni food, which I figured out was not available at the Cafe, I went to a neighboring road-side food joint, but decided to come back to Mohan's the very next morning.

Next morning, on the way to Ranikhet, we decided to have our breakfast at Mohan's Cafe. If you're coming from Binsar and proceeding towards Almora, Mohan's Cafe is located little before Kasar Devi, which is a wonderful small hillock covered with deodar trees and with a two thousand year old temple at the top. The previous day I'd strolled up the winding path to the top of the hillock through the deodar forest and saw the temple which is supposed to be mentioned in Skanda Purana and several historical and ancient literature since the past two thousand years. Before taking the Uttarakhand trip I studied a bit about the local history and geography and very surprisingly I found that Kasar Devi and the temple was among the many places frequented by Swami Vivekananda during his visits to Almora. No doubt, Vivekananda had a fantastic sense of beauty that he chose Kasar Devi for his meditation. Looks like Kasar Devi has been quite famous a place for meditation and worship since historical times and it's no wonder that during the seventies it attracted the Hippies. That's when, I learnt from a French couple enjoying their English breakfast at Mohan's, the westerners located Kasar Devi as one of their rustic destinations on the Himalayas. In the past thirty years Kasar Devi became quite a popular spot for the budget western travellers who wanted to stay in Himalayas for months. Very logically most of the local houses were converted into home stays for the westerners, who got everything they wanted - peace, isolation, drugs and adventure - except for good food of their choice. That's when a tea stall owner Mohan got the idea to pitch in.

Mohan had befriended quite a few westerners, mostly people from Israel, and managed to learn their cuisine, all by himself. His customers - whom he used to serve only tea to start with - wholeheartedly taught him all they would like to eat. In due course he became an expert in preparing Indian, English and Israeli breakfast. To be very frank, till date even I don't know what's the difference between an English and Israeli breakfast. He learnt how to make good sandwiches, porridge, grilled toast, pasta and many other things meticulously. His customers were also very pleased to get homely food of their own choice alongside everything else that they already enjoying to the brim.

That's when he tapped another area - that's Internet access and provisions for phone calls. Again he got help from his customers because it's a luxury to access mails in that place. Like a savvy businessman he didn't just think about his profits but also about the fullest customer satisfaction. Otherwise why would he create a phone booth specially for only receiving calls? He had a small piece of ancestral land overlooking a wonderful valley with breath taking views of layers of mountains. He wanted to expand his business. By 2008 he had saved quite some money to invest in a little bit of infrastructure. With his own planning, in his own land, he created a small setup for a cafe with a pleasant sit out, a small covered area , Cyber Cafe, phone booths, grocery store and also a well stocked library mainly of the books left over by his customers. Recently he has also added a few rooms for staying. Mohan told me that his rooms mostly go full throughout the year. The sit out provides one of the best views of the Himalayas and his food is comparable to the best ones you might get in some theme restaurants in cities. It's just awesome to have a grilled toast and Mohan's special sandwich sitting in front of a deep valley surrounded by near and far stretching hills in all directions. Mohan's very simple designing of the entire space, manicured lawns and ethnic decorations are no less than anything designed by a trained interior decorator. Above all is his understanding of the needs of his customers. Each and every on I met at Mohan's are his highly satisfied customers.

It's so fascinating to see someone from no where to take small steps and finally setting up his own enterprise that has created employment not only for him but also for 10-15 other people in a place where sustenance of life is itself a very hard thing. Had Mohan not been an entrepreneur he would have been one of the million tea stall owners who struggle through out their lives to meet their ends. His simple ideas and great dreams made him go ahead of his peers. His conviction and satisfaction show in his face. It was a great humbling experience for me.

Anyone making a trip to Almora-Ranikhet-Kausani side should take some time off to visit Mohan's Cafe, just 6km from downtown Almora.The hill of Kasar Devi and the enchanting surroundings are just bonus!!

Library at Mohan's Cafe - available are books in several European languages

Menu Card of Mohan's Cafe: Complete with Indian, English & Israeli Breakfast, Muesli & Porridge, Pasta, Pancakes, Grilled Toast, Sandwiches & Salad

Over to Uttarakhand: Best Snaps

This is the famous Mall Road in Nainital. Surprisingly Nainital, though a bustling city, has preserved its own charm and beauty. Unlike many other popular hill stations like Ooty, Kodaikanal, Darjeeling - to name a few, Nainital doesn't seem to be decaying under the threat of over-tourism. Anyone who has visited Ooty recently knows what I mean. The Ooty lake maintained pathetically. The beautiful surroundings are just too crowded to be enjoyed leisurely. Compared to that Nainital, though equally crowded, still has a little element of leisure. The awesome Nani Lake surely takes most of the credit for the beauty and the leisure of Nainital. It's quite big and beautiful too. Most importantly it's maintained properly. The deep blue water, the matching sky and the greenery and the mountains around make Nainital just mind boggling. Mall Road runs parallel to the Naini Lake. It looks like a typical European boulevard decked with trees and popular shops, hotels and restaurants alongside. Taking an easy leisurely stroll along the Mall Road is a must if you're Nainital.

That's the view of Himalayas from Ranikhet. Trishul (seen as the leftmost peak in the picture) and the sorrounding peaks offer a spectacular view of the snow capped Himalayas from Ranikhet and many other places.

That's a view of the Himalayas from Binsar. Similar views abound in plentiful around Almora. Binsar is around 30km from Almora on the Almora-Bageshwar Road. This particular view is from a place called Kasar Devi, a place rich in history and religion, on the way to Binsar from Almora. The layers of Himalayas and the sun hidden in the clouds look like a water color painting. Though not on the popular tourist track, the areas around Almora offer some of the best views of the Himalayas. Ranikhet & Kausani (the site for 1942, A Love Story, Krish and many other movies) are also near by.

This is Gorson's Meadows, near Auli - the most popular skiing destination in India. Gorson's Valley is at an altitude close to 11000ft and is very close to Nanda Devi (within 15km aerial distance) and other about peaks like Trishul & Dunagiri. It's a fantastic place, within a few kilometers of an easy trek from the Clifftop Resort near Auli. It looks like a natural golf course with all the slopes and curves surrounded by a gentle forest and the dazzling snow capped peaks. The peak visible in the picture is Dunagiri. Gorson's Meadow is completely covered with colorful flowers around July - something like the nearby Valley of Flowers, though in a much smaller scale. It's a very good place for spending some leisure time with kids.

This picture is taken from the Clifftop Resort, where we stayed in Auli. There's nothing special about this picture other than the wonderful shades of colors that came out. I don't think I was much attracted by the shot when I took. Later when I was viewing all the pictures in my laptop this one appeared to be a wonderful one. Nanda Devi is hidden above the clouds. The construction work is for creating an artificial skiing slope that can be operational even if the natural snow is not adequate.

Over to Uttarakhand: Ranikhet - The first glimpse of Nanda Devi

Panoramic view from Ramnagar-Ranikhet Road

Trishul (extreme left): from Ranikhet

Views from Ranikhet

There's no doubt that we're really very lucky to catch some of the best glimpses of some of the most magnificent peaks of the Himalayas. In fact we understood how lucky we're only after returning back from Uttarakhand while going through the snaps that we'd taken. The experience of suddenly getting a glimpse of the panoramic view of the snow capped Himalayan ranges extending from Trishul in the west to the Panch Chuli peaks in the east - an expanse of around 65km - from a distance of about 110km can't be expressed in words. We failed to recognize at that time how lucky we're to get such an incredible view. Not many people get to see the entire range of Trishul (7120m), Nanda Devi (7817m, highest peak in India), Nanda Kot (6861m), Panch Chuli (6904m) and many more peaks and glaciers so clearly.

After a two day stay at Garjia in the Corbett National Park We're going to Ranikhet - our next destination. We're travelling on the Ramnagar-Ranikhet road, when suddenly beyond a curve the entire range appeared before us as a huge glass structure hung up in the blue sky.

The Ramnagar-Ranikhet is one of the worst roads we came across during the entire Uttarakhand trip. Not only is the road very ill maintained, it's quite dangerous too. It traverses along a barren edge of a steep ridge overlooking a deep valley. Most of the places the road doesn't even have a barricade at the edge. The surroundings are quite beautiful, but the dangerous ride doesn't give much chance to enjoy the beauty. After sometime the journey becomes quite boring because the landscape doesn't change much for miles at a stretch. That's when suddenly beyond a curve appears the dazzling structure of the snow capped Himalayan ranges. We never lost the view till Ranikhet - some 50-60km away from the place we first spotted it.

The view is just mesmerizing. I never bothered to find out which peaks they were. The names and the vital statistics of the peaks or the glaciers didn't seem to be relevant at that point of time. We just drank everything with our eyes for as long they were visible. It's only after we reached Bangalore that I started figuring out which all peaks we'd seen. And that's when I was just blown out to find out that we managed to get quite a rare view which many people would die to get. It requires the sky to be really very clear to get the uninterrupted view of the entire stretch of 65km of the mighty Himalayas from a distance of more than hundred kilometers. Later we went to Auli from where we could see the Nanda Devi at an aerial distance of only 25km. But still the beauty of the panoramic view from the Ramnagar-Ranikhet road is incomparable to anything. I searched for similar views in the entire Internet. But to my utter surprise and pride too, I could find out that our view is undoubtedly one of the best ones. I did some map study and figured out the names of the peaks that we'd seen. Knowing that we saw some of the highest peaks of the world, I wish I'd taken some better snaps. I didn't even bother to take a panoramic view of the entire range. Later I did a shoddy job with merging two snaps and creating a panoramic photo of the range stretching from Trishul to Panch Chuli.

We didn't plan to stay at Ranikhet. But we'd to break the journey from Corbett to Auli at some place. That's when we chose Ranikhet. Now I wish we stayed there more than just a part of a day. Perhaps the place we chose to stay also added more to the enchanting experience at Ranikhet. We stayed at a place called Kalawati Retreat, run by an unusual local entrepreneur who converted his ancestral land in the outskirts of the Ranikhet into a small hotel with very humble ambiance but extra ordinary hospitality and awesome food - among the best we took in our entire Uttarakhand trip. It's located near an Ayurvedic drug factory off the Ranikhet-Ramnagar road, a few kms away from downtown Ranikhet towards Ramnagar. People interested to spend a few leisurely moments in the lap of nature amidst lush green surroundings and the best possible homely food can surely try it out. The contact details for the hotel are +91-5966-220304/220394 (land line) & +91-9411308571 (mobile). It overlooks a valley which provides a wonderful view of sunset on the Himalayas. The color of the sky and the snow attains so many hues and shades in a small span of time that you're ought to keep gazing at it even long after everything gets dark.

Over to Uttarakhand: Corbett & Kaushiki

Within Corbett National Park

Teak Wood Forest in Corbett

The River Kaushiki (Kosi) flows through Corbett National Park

From Binsar we travelled to Corbett, down south and quite far off. The itinerary was off-course not the best one. Generally people travelling to Uttarakhand from Delhi cover Corbett first as that's the nearest. Nevertheless, our itinerary was quite interesting. Had it not been that way we won't have seen Kosi for so long throughout our journey. Among the various rivers we saw in course of our journey through Uttarakhand we got quite attached to Kosi, Alakananda and Pindar because they were with us for most of the times. Kosi first came by us on the way to Binsar from Naukuchiatal at a place called Khairna. She was with us for the entire stretch of the journey from Khairna to Almora. Next she came very close to us during the stay at Corbett, where our hotel, Hideway Resort, was bang in her bank at Garjiya. Again she was with us on our journey back to Binsar from Auli - from Kausani till Almora.

Kosi derives her name from Kaushiki, a river that has reference in the Puranas. This is different from the notorious Koshi that causes flood in Bihar almost every year.

The journey from Binsar to Corbett, a distance of around 150km, can be covered in 6 hours. We took the route via Almora and Ranikhet. The drive from Almora to Ranikhet is among the many wonderful ones that we took umpteen number of times during our entire Uttarakhand trip. The landscape around Ranikhet is beautiful - nothing special, but still fascinating with all the pine trees perched along the gentle slopes of the mountains, the picturesue villages and the high ranges of the Himalayas and the valleys all around us. The road from Ranikhet towards Ramnagar becomes worse more and more you travel away from Ranikhet. Not only is the condition of the road bad, but it's dangerous too. It traverses a barren and steep valley in a precarious way. There's not much you can do than to just leave your life at the mercy of the driver. At most places the road doesn't have any barricade at the edge of the mountain and a small mistake will land you deep into the valley with remote chances of survival. But despite every thing the entire stretch provides awesome views of the Himalayas. In fact it's on this way that we first saw the snow capped Himalayan ranges of Trishul and Nanda Devi - on the way back from Corbett to Ranikhet. The vegetation changes gradually as you travel more and more away from Ranikhet. Nearer to the Corbett National Park you see more of the tall teak wood forests, in place of the pines in the northern sides around Ranikhet and Almora.

Our hotel, Hideway Resort, is at a place called Garjiya, where many other hotels are huddled together within a small distance on the highway going to Ramnagar. Garjiya is close to the Amadanda gate of the Bijrani tourist zone. For better tourism management Corbett National Park is divided into five tourism zones each having a separate entry gate. As soon as the night sets in the ambiance of the entire area changes. The pitch dark night is sparsely lit only with the lights of the few hotels that stand on the highway. The local people say that seeing a tiger is not a big deal there and it's quite common to come across one anytime even on the road during the night. That's why they generally prefer to move in groups, if at all they are required to travel in the night. It's a very thrilling feeling to know that the tigers are not far away from you. The resort abounds with references to Jim Corbett. There are stories from his life and lot of his pictures on walls. The management of the resort left to stone unturned to keep tiger alive in almost all possible ways.

The next morning we went out for the Safari in the Bijrani tourist zone. We'd an open jeep and it was just too cold in the morning at 6am when the jeep was zooming fast on the highway. Our guide joined us at Amadanda entry gate. I told him that I'd been to Bandipur, Nagarhole and other Tiger Reserves in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu quite a few times but never got to see any tiger. I also told him skeptically that I didn't expect to see tiger even in Corbett. He mentioned that the chances of seeing tiger in Corbett is quite high. It seems that one out of every twenty jeeps sight a tiger every day. That's quite a high ratio compared to one in thousand in Bandipur. I took the comment with a pinch and kept on repeating that I didn't believe that sighting tiger would be that easy a thing. To prove me correct we almost came to the end of the two hours safari without seeing much. The guide consoled me saying that had I stayed at the Dhikala Forest House in the Dhilaka tourist zone then he would have guaranteed me sighting of tigers more than once. Anyway, that's sounded quite familiar because people always seem to see tigers at places where you won't go. We're almost coming out of the core area of the Bijrani zone when suddenly the guide asked the driver to turn back the jeep and enter into the jungle. Within a few minutes we're back to the same trail that we'd just covered an hour back, but now the sound of the jungle was quite different. The deer and many other animals were running like mad, the birds were chirping loudly and the entire jungle seemed to be suddenly awake with so much noise. Our sixth sense was getting active, just then we could really feel something heavy moving just behind the bush in front of us. Nothing had to be told to us to feel that we're within a few metres of tiger. That's when my wife panicked and frantically started asking the driver to get away from the place. Only once did the guide ask us whether we'd like to stay back and then even without waiting for our answers he asked the driver to turn the jeep back. After a while when my wife came to normalcy the guide told us that we're indeed very close to the tiger and we'd have seen it just in a few minutes of time. But then he also told that almost every day someone just faints upon seeing a tiger. He knew that my wife would have surely been the one to faint had we seen the tiger. He told us frankly that the driver has to often run the jeep quite fast in case the tiger gives a chase and it's not too safe to do that when someone faints. So that's how our climax ended in a very shoddy anti climax!! Nevertheless, I'll never forget the hustle and bustle in the jungle when the tiger is around, The whole jungle seems to be alerted by the arrival of the big cat.

People interested in staying in the Forest Rest Houses may refer to this link for further details. The rest houses need to be booked well in advance. Apart from that there is no other accommodation available within the forest. It's recommended to stay at Dhikala, because that's where most people see tigers.

Some good sites about information about Corbett National Park:

• http://www.kmvn.gov.in/wild.php - Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam web-site
• http://www.jimcorbettnationalpark.com
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corbett_National_Park - off course the popular wikipedia