I always love to write diary,  inspired since childhood by The book called "The Story of My Experiments with Truth" Written by Mahatma Gandhi (the father of my nation)  and by my eldest brother who has always been my role model. I wrote diary almost everyday until i came USA. Life was so hectic here first in California and then in New York  that i could not keep my habit for quite a while. Today when i was planning for my upcoming India trip (the first trip since i came in 2004)  i suddenly thought to read my old diaries and in the memory lane it took me to a February day of 2004 in Bangalore that i feel i can share here.

 Here i quote....

" A Shock to My Morals  

**********************

Silk Board Junction is the main traffic on my way to office.  This early morning at rush hour while going office, i saw the green signal at the junction from a distance. So i thought i would cross the signal, my thought led me to speed up the bike, put the accelerator at the highest point and was about to cross the checked line, suddnely the light became red; yet i didn't stop, flew ahead. Just as a bolt from the blue, the Traffic police jumped infront of me , i was almost to bump him. but fortunately i  could control my speed. I stopped and he charged Rs 400/-.  I opened my wallet and thanked God that i had only Rs 50/-. The traffic police was satisfied with that much. But he did not give me any receipts. I went happily thinking that i didn't have to pay a lot. But this incident was paining me a lot during the day..I was repeatedly asking myself sitting at my desk in office... Why did i cross the line though i saw its yellow at the moment i decided not to stop ? Why did i bribe the police ? Why didn't i collect any receipts from him ?

This was the third time  i broke the traffic rule since i bought my bike. First time i paid Rs 200/- (with receipt), second time Rs 80/ (with receipt)- and this time Rs 50/- ( a perfect bribe).  Hope the fourth one will never come...

Dated: 04th February, 2004   (Signed ...Piyush ) ...  "

Wishing to see the new faces (especially those new over bridges) of Bangalore soon :)

My First Deepavali in the New York City was much fun. Queens, NYC, A Place where with in a half mile of walk you can find people from 130 countries; with such highly diverse environment, one can hardly expect to find some own people. But i had real fun of having a great Deepavali, with some Indian Families get together; lot of Diyas, Prasad, And a 3 hours of Bhajan Program (Of course No Crackers, who dare to go against the administrative rules).  Well i started feeling like i am at home :)  But i missed my parents’ way of celebrating “Diwali” as i have been missing for last couple of years.

This celebration just refreshed my memory that i am from such a rich and diversed culture, every minor part of which bears a significant role in day-to-day life. Here is the Deepavali wish for you and little bit of background if you do not know and you are curious to know what really it is. 

Yesterday i got "Raakhi" by post from my sister who is residing in Chennai. This Raakhi reminded me my childhood days when i used to have lots of Raakhis on my hand and roam around the village showing all my friends. Lot of Raakhis, because i have four sisters and each of them ties at least 2 Raakhis on my hand. But i always loved most the Raakhi tied on my hand by my number 4 sister. Her choice of Raakhi is always special. And this time she has sent me a yellow long one which is having lot of decorated knots in it (Above Pic). I think i can't wait till 9th August, the day of

                             " Raaksha Bandhan " to put it on.

Raaksha Bandhan is a major festival of Hindu culture. This festival not only symbolizes the love between a brother and a sister but also reverberates the brotherhood in the society imbued with the spirit of

      "Sarvepi sukhinassantu, sarve santu niraamayaah |

      Sarve bhadraani pashyantu, maa kashchit duhkhabhaag bhavet ||"

(Let everyone be happy, let everyone be free from all ills, let everyone behold only the auspicious, let no one be afflicted.)

Having this originality as its back drop the festival carries the true message of Hindu idols Swami Ramakrishna paramhansa and Swami Vivekananda who emphasized the poor people as the true God.

This occasion reminds me couple of stories.

Alexander’s wife was scared of her husband's life and so approached the opposite Hindu almighty Pururavas and tied a Raakhi on his hand. She prayed him not to kill her husband in the battlefield. And the  great Hindu king, in the true spirit of Raakhi and in the traditional Kshatriya style, responded; and just as he raised his hand to deliver a mortal blow to Alexander, he saw the Raakhi on his own hand and restrained from striking.

The other story: the Indra (King of heaven and rain) fought with the king of demon on this day and before going to the battlefield he had Raakhis tied on his hand by his beloved wife and the guru of Gods, the Brihaspati. And this made him win the battle and save the gods and truths from the evil spirits.

Each of the two stories carries a value of Raaksha Bandhan. One tells the love and the other tells the love to strengthen the will to fight against evils. As antibodies unite and fight together if any part of the body is hurt or injured or bled, similarly the society should contain the mutual affection, love and amity during the internal or external crisis and strains. These crises may vary from nation level political, economical issues to the world wide fundamentalist activities.

To summaries, Raakhi goes beyond brother sister relationship to a pure brotherhood relationship. All the members of the society should look upon each other and be proud of themselves as children of a common motherland, the mother of all, the Love.

Its almost 60 years we got independence and its almost centuries since the Aryans arrived in India and fortified the very slender social groups to an well established cast system;  its almost decades since the religious conversions endangered one of the world's finest religions and weakened the India's core value of humanism; and its almost every now and then people of my country are suffering from the evil powers of superstition and corruption.

Castism started with the fair skinned Aryans who were the think tank of the creation of Varnas, jats and the untouchables that led to a solid four category of castes like Khyatrias (The King), the brahmins (The Priest), the Vaisyas (the traders) and the sudras (the artisans or the lower caste doing the polluting professions). Since then India has never looked back in progressing this so undesirable progression. The successive British rules made this stronger. And after the independence the indian rule makers made it much stronger by the legendary Mandal commission and the amendments like OBC and SBC. And lately this has caught up to the reservations in top institutions like  IITs and IIMs. Are you not wondering that this is 21st century and one has to prove his own competitiveness ? Surely i do wonder, but not about the reservation but about the start of this discrimination.

I was in class 8 when one day at school, my friend (whose family is very poor and he never got money to wash his school uniform) wore a new pair of uniform with a good pair of slippers. I was happy to see him so well dressed but the same time i was wondering how he would all get this. Well lately i discovered that his family which was a lower caste Hindu family had been converted to Christianity. Well that time it didn't sense me much but now it does matter to me. Because i can see he himself has converted so many of his kins and kiths and friends to his path. Don't you think that this is something a serious problem in the name of giving the basic necessities to the humanity ? Surely i do think but not because Hinduism is being attacked but because the way Hinduism is being attacked.

Superstition and corruption are two other major problems which india faces in ever walk of life. Sobha De in one of her articles in Times of India once said that When high profile people don't bother to go public with their beliefs, then there is inherent danger of sending out the wrong message to a largely gullible nation. And the perfect examples would be Sachin tendulkar recently performing puja path at Kukke Subramanya temple in Mangalore for regaining his form and the king of Nepal, Gyanendra killing animals for his yagna. And as far as corruption is concerned i can see the Indian administartion and governement body is on the top. Well, am i putting the things in a most ill-famed manner ? Oh i am just trying to be critic.

Lastly the social reform in the society of india is always man centric. Man has made the rules and man has dominated woman. So there comes the Woman quota and woman bill. And nevertheless, an woman always wants to have a baby boy just to counter balance the doers and the effects. Few days ago I was reading news online and there was a news like " 10 abortions after having 4 daughters to have a son"...

Well this makes me feel that no matter what, the social reforms will just change the forms but will not be rooted out.  And i wish i could discover a panacea for all these deep rooted social elements of the country of a billion people.