An Indecisive Indian

  One would expect that a firm plan for the Indian Railways’ (IR’s) rolling stock (coaches, wagons and locomotives) to be manufactured and procured over the next decade, and a lucid picture of how our trains should look like, say in 2035, is an important aspect of IR’s overall planning. It is certainly not something so complicated or orphic that a member of the Railway Board, the Member (TRS), has to be sacked to make a meaningful headway on the subject. Strange though it may sound, that is what happened recently in a meeting taken by the Minister of Railways on the subject; apparently the gentleman in question came totally unprepared and was shown the door. I do not know the gory details but it certainly weighed me down, and amused me, both at once. So, here I am, trying to unravel something which has unnecessarily become ‘rocket science’? The exercise would usually need going thought the mammoth data of passenger preferences and patronization, which is easily available from IRC...

  Is money God? Or is it trash? Permit me to begin with mock solemnity, almost scriptural in gravity, head bowed, voice lowered, sackcloth firmly in place. This piety, however, will not last long. Very soon, the discourse is likely to descend into inanities, and, not long after, into profanities of a distinctly unholy kind. For the moment, money pretends to be a lofty abstraction, discussed gravely over coffee by people who insist they are not materialistic. Wait a little. Very soon it clears its throat, rattles its coins, and asks who exactly is settling the bill. We publicly scold it as vulgar, privately chase it with remarkable agility, and when the landlord knocks, discover a sudden, sincere, and deeply devotional faith in its divinity. Sad jalva rū-ba-rū hai jo mizhgāñ uThā.iye tāqat kahāñ ki diid kā ehsāñ uThā.iye ( Sad jalva: a hundred grand  appearances, spectacles,  rū-ba-rū: face to face, mizhgāñ: eyebrows, diid: sight, ehsāñ: oblig...

  If you have not read it, do go through this piece: “Indian Railways' major policy shift: Vande Bharat is back, and on fast track” in The Economic times of October 9 th 2021:   https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/transportation/railways/indian-railways-major-policy-shift-vande-bharat-is-back-and-on-fast-track/articleshow/86894808.cms   Let me forward some comments on what it says. That Indian Railways(IR) would   quickly build 75 indigenously designed, semi-high speed Vande Bharat trains by August 2023, referring to the PM’s statement from the ramparts of the Red Fort, that and during these 75 weeks of the Amrit Mahotsav of Independence (March 12, 2021, to August 15, 2023), 75 Vande Bharat trains would connect every corner of the country. That may be a tall order but I am not complaining as the intention is noble. It goes on to say that IR had decided to distribute their production among three factories- 24 in ICF and 10 each in Modern Coach Fac...

  Shakespeare and Ghālib: Beauty,  Desires and  Love Shakespeare aur  Ghālib:  Husn, Khvāhisheñ aur Ishq Shakespeare’s deals various angles, aspects and situations of love, like tenderness and yearning in his plays but it comes out more beautifully in his sonnets. Poets before him articulated the lover’s sincerity and depth almost as if in supplication, or worship, building up their case based on the core emotion and ardour of true love. Shakespeare broke free from this mould and his expression and delivery were not merely persuasive but also argumentative, often  a proposition which overcomes all objections. Given a situation, a colourful argument is also presented to reverse the proposition, highlighting the contrast, even as doubts and questions about the lover’s own disposition also abound, building a truly enjoyable synthesis.   The word “love” appears thousands of times in his collected works, besides hundreds of “loves”, “loved” “lov ing ” and...