Tour Diary - Diwali 2011 in Akola

2007 was the last Diwali I had celebrated at Akola and it was very grand since it was the first Diwali after marriage. Thereafter the Diwali's have been Global: 2008 - Singapore, 2009 - Beijing and 2010 - Raleigh,NC. And the frustration of having such a dry ones had worn me down completely.

So, I was hell bent that come what may 2011 Diwali has to be at Akola. Enough of the "Visit in Dec during Christmas" stuff..

S & S had already gone month and a half ahead to India and by the time I boarded the 15 hour flight from EWR to BOM they were at Akola. Flight landed fine but thanks to the Naxals, the train from BOM to Akola got delayed 8 hrs. What lay ahead was 8 sleepless hours at definitely the worst railway station ever - LTT. I bet even Akola station is 10 times better than it. Took Chetan Bhagat's book as companion for time pass but was more pissed off by the pedestrian writing. With all the hiccups finally reached Akola to a grand welcome.

First week of the vacation was meant for all travel. First visit was to "Ambejogai" our "Kuladaivat". Again it's been 4 years that a visit was due but 700 Kms in a day was little tough given the terrible road conditions.

Next lined up item was "Javla" function of my bhacha at Indore. And it was also the first time I was to see the 10 month old jewel. We decided to drive ourselves since the public transport facility to Indore have gone worse. And indeed it was a pleasurable ride with lots of Dhaba food along the way. Nothing in the city hotels can beat this raw taste on the dhaba.

Function was awesome and we had a special "Dal-Bafla" traeat for it, speciality of the Malwa region. Had some more visits to the relatives for rest of the time before finally catching some time at Indore Sarafa for some delicious street food in the late night.

After being back to Akola, had a visit planned to Nagpur and Durg. I had to visit my cousin sister since she is getting married few months later and I would be away in US during that time. It was a two day dash, first to Nagpur and then to Durg. Found Bhilai to be very interesting, quiet, clean and well planned town.

After all these rides, finally in Akola for the Diwali days. Nothing gets bigger than those 3-4 days at home. Pure fun, great food, excellent time with family and friends. It's really the place and time where your heart really belongs rather than all the superficial fanfare elsewhere. And we were joined by my sister and her family to add more sugar to the celebrations.

Sounds relaxing but Diwali days are also quite hectic but had a nice buffer of 3-4 days after the Diwali days to get relaxed and really charged up. And after that left for the last leg of the India tour which was Pune. My parents also accompanied us as they always do to Pune and Mumbai.

Reached Pune and had couple of days planned there. Caught up with some friends and also had some pending work to be get done.

Uncle who stays in Dombivli is the last destination on the route before the taxi rides to the Airport. As you are in Pune and Mumbai the rush is very crazy and hardly you find the time and peace to even talk at length. But that's how the life in urban cities is.

Finally the tour concluded as we boarded the same 15 hour rigour flight to US ..

Meritorious Child, Failing Value System and Hippocratic People

Many events in life made me think on this topic to a great deal. It's more related to parenting and how discrimination happens knowingly / unknowingly amongst children.

It's a common consensus that a child who scores 90% in exams is intelligent. Surely it's true. But the immediate interpretation is that it is talented in every aspect of life. This is where things start going wrong.

Now, whenever an opportunity is presented to learn news things which are not study it invariably goes to the meritorious student first. And if there is possibility for others then only they get the chance.

Another thing that happens is that parent themselves start promoting the bright student and thus inadvertently shun the others. That's where the other kids start losing confidence and gets the feeling of being neglected.

As a matter of fact, they slowly go so low on confidence that they start to bank on their siblings to perform their work.

I surely believe meritorious child is the one who doesn't make their parents to look down because of their deeds or choices. And our mindset is such that, even if meritorious student has done a wrong choice, parents instead of rebuking them tend to accept it. But had this been done by the other sibling they would just thrash them up.

It's indeed a deep rooted discrimination.

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I myself have gone through many of failing relations .. be it friends or relatives. I am just talking about personal relations here.

People have such a short sight and impatience that they make compromises uncalled for and thus devastating the relationship.

I believe every relationship is based on trust and being part of one side of it I expect consistent and truthful behavior.

But I had terrible experiences wherein people have cheated, plotted and abused the relationship forcing for extreme decision of shutting door on them.

And believe me, all these had been of planned behaviors and not plain unknown mistakes.

Very same people have seen better days very shortly but only after taking toll of a beautiful relationship. I hope that they had seen better situations because they most likely had improved upon their follies. Had they been patient and honest about things great relation could have been saved.

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In recent past, I have seen from close quarters that people have become Hippocratic very much like the politicians.

They blow the trumpet and express great spirit about different virtues like religion, caste and language. But fall flat when tested against these barometers.

In short, I believe people use these things just for their comfort and if conditions are favorable to them.

It's really upsetting that they compromise on such spirits carried over the years and settle for some sort of crap.

Why people can't be consistent in their approach instead of taking such U-turns.

If you carry these sort of spirits then stand by it even if it calls for harsh decisions else face the rightful wrath of people who are observing it.