An Indecisive Indian

I love Lucknow. But can I deny that it has been one helluva overrated and exaggerated city? Yes, there are no equivalents of gunjing, tunde kabab, chowk thandai,  avadhi biryani, aminabad kulfi, cock fight, Loretto girls, Modern Novelties, men with sunken chests, kali mirch ka murgh and the Lakhnavi zaban, nazakat and nafasat ...... I also revel in: Daawa zabaan ka Lucknow walo  ke samne, Izhaar  boo-e-mushq   ghazalon  ke   samne At the same time, would you find in any equivalent city, such pathetic traffic, unmetered autos, non-existent public transport, extremely dirty Railway station ( both inside and outside), non-functioning traffic lights (or when they do function, the mamu at the centre has his own rhythm totally oblivious of the so called signals),  paan  stains in staircase corners and so on......... For a change, let me quote a Hindi poet, Dinkar: लो अतीत से उ...

Bite and kill, if you can, India, or shut up and hold your peace.   Pick up the newspaper. Watch TV. What’s up?   Not much of a reader of Hindi poetry but these lines are so befitting today.......   क्षमा   शोभती   उस भुजंग को जिसके पास गरल है उसका क्या जो दंतहीन विषरहित विनीत सरल है लो अतीत से उतना ही जितना पोषक है जीर्ण शीर्ण का मोह मृत्यू का द्योतक है   Make your judgement!!

Rediscovering the wheel after inventing it! I said in in the last post that our mind was made.   And how? The wheel is one of the earliest inventions of man.   And isn’t it fascinating that it’s still a work in progress. The ultimate wheel is still to be designed These huge steam locomotive wheels are displayed in our factory.   Namma Wheels and Namma Wheel Makers It started with a rather pedestrian idea. Using abandoned cycle stops of a stillborn “cycle around the factory” experiment, our wheels were displayed.   And we came across some of our staff, who had a very interesting sense of Art.   Wheels after wheels              we are a proud part of this ongoing wheel saga     Amazing ideas from our wheel makers Not trained formally in Visual Arts, but endowed with a great aptitude and more importantly, sensitivity. They would be our precious Art sol...

Reinventing the wheel   (among wheels within wheels)          An experiment with Art in our industrial purlieus     Why?       Because,   It uplifts, It exhilarates, It enriches, It refines, It binds, It connects, and above all, It raises spirits, and more so if many roll up And who says it is not an engineer’s domain? We are the ultimate creators!!   we conceive, we design, we perspire, we scream, we toil, we cry, we simulate, and, yes, we create!! And so Art must imitate    our     lives   And what a life……. Manufacturing a wheel is like giving birth to a baby. Figuratively, yes, but almost literally. The cope & drag as parents;   their union begets a wheel. Cope nurtured for cleanli...

It all started with a heated debate among some senior Railway colleagues about the state of our employer, the Indian Railways. Everyone had a view. Some were sensible, some stupid, a few downright insipid. But what struck me was something far more fundamental: almost everyone had a prescription, and in almost every prescription, they had to do nothing. Why should they? Even many senior Railway officers have a convenient acronym for these situations: ‘PTB’, or the ‘Powers That Be’. It is deployed with an air of authority while delivering an idle discourse on what is wrong. I always had the temerity to ask directly: who, exactly, are these PTBs? The replies were somewhat evasive. I have, however, reached a conclusion. PTB does not refer to anyone in particular. It refers to someone who ought to do something to set things right. And that someone, almost invariably, is at least a grade higher than us, certainly not us. That sums up much of our problem. Which brings me to Bob Dylan. Dylan...