The Game Drive of Mobula

After having worked for a week... day and night in Joburg, it was more than required to have a break in real African wildlife.

I also wanted my new Nikon D80 to start its score from wild environment and compare my earlier Canon stuff with Nikon. So, we decided to go to Mobula for Game Drive... a must try in South Africa.

In South Africa a Safari is known as Game Drive...a trip into the wild to see animals in their own habitat.

We chose to go to Mobula..almost 200 KMs from Johannesburg, owned by UB group. Mobula Game Drives are spread in about 1200 Hectares. They have got all Big 5 there- the lion, the African elephant, the Cape Buffalo, the leopard and the rhinoceros. They are called big 5 not because of their size, but because it is difficult to tame or hunt them.

Mobula had almost freezing temperature in Game drive...when we were returning from the drive in the evening, our friends had real tough time in resisting to the cold winds. In the morning drive, we could see a white layer on the grass all over the Game Drive. But we braved the cold waves and apart from enjoying wild life, we also witnessed lovely sunset and sunrise in that wild Mobula Game Drive.

We got to see four out of Big 5 in our two game drives..the leopard could not be traced, because they move very fast and their whereabouts cannot be traced by footmarks, as in the case of lions and elephants.

Apart from these big 5, we got to see the herds of zebras, hippopotamus, giraffes, antelopes and many more wild species.

I also got to capture some of the lovely birds chirping all through the Game Drive.
Our Game Lodge was also typical African experience of living...this experience got enriched with typical powerhouse dance performance by young South African Bafnas (boys...for this very reason South African Male football team is called Bafna Bafna) and Banyas (girls).

It was no doubt a wonderful experience, but I wonder why could not we develop such infrastructure in our country, where we have better habitats of wild animals and have better climate and unique palate of culture too...

Indians: neither White-enough, nor Black-enough

The world is dealing only in Black & White these days.

We have seen the treatment of Indians in the white world..be it in Australia or Europe. The colour was not in our side. Indians face all kind of discrimination in all walks of life. Having earned all kind of pride and honour at NASA, Silicon valley and all other places, Indians could not earn the due basic respect of being an Indian.

But the fate of Indians in the black world is also not any different. Contribution of people of Indian Origin in the war against apartheid in South Africa and other parts of world is recorded in history, but all this is not enough to get appropriate space in new character of governments in countries like South Africa.

After Nelson Mandela, people of Indian origin have deliberately been marginalised in all spheres of public life. You do not read as many names (familiar to Indians) in politics or bureaucracy, which used to be there in post-apartheid era of South Africa. People of Indian Origin are targeted as bad as whites.

We are not white enough to be respected by white world and not black enough to get sympathy from the world fighting for the respect of black world.

I think now this is the time for Indian to really do serious introspection and listen to the call of the time. We need to rise and come out of proud passive history..We need to let world know that Indians are Indians...neither dressed in white arrogance, nor lost in black excuse.

Let the Indian enterprising skill overpower the inherited culture of co-existence, harmony etc. for time being and show the world a face never seen before- the aggressive face of vibrant India. If we can invent chips for computing, we definitely know the skills to fight any aggression towards our Indianness.

Nalanda and Cambridge: different stories of 800 years

Cambridge University is celebrating 800 years of its existence this year.

It was around same time (1189) when Bakhtiar Khalji, a Turkish invader, destroyed one of the oldest heritage seat of learning at Nalanda in India.

And, thus, the fate of East and West started changing in two different ways...the west which always looked towards east for everything...from pepper to paper and philosophy to scientific wisdom...they were now all set to reverse the gear...

Along with Oxford (established in 1167) Cambridge, as great seat of learning, started making base of scientific and industrial revolution in Europe.

After the downfall of Takshshila, now in Pakistan, Nalanda became most important international seat of learning in that era, where students from different countries were taught without any racial and other discrimination. (It has become so rampant in modern 'white' world). It is also very important to mention here that students from other countries not only came to learn Buddhist philosophy there, but also subjects like Astronomy, Mathematics, Medical Science and Linguistics. Nalanda was renowned seat of learning much before Buddha who had visited this place. Even after Buddhist dominance of this seat of learning, it remained as seat of learning for secular studies as well.

Although both Oxford and Cambridge focused on non-scientific subjects initially, but later people with scientific temperament made these institutions include scientific and non-religious subjects in the curriculum.

When Indian Kings, Nawabs, Rajahs and Samants were settling scores with each other and European companies had started infiltration in India, a Cambridge scholar Isaac Newton came up with the great book 'Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica' in 1687.

When India was fighting its first war of independence in 1857 with British 'Company' Army; another Cambridge scholar Darwin came out with his famous book 'On the Origin of Species'.

When I was in the campus of Cambridge this year with my friend Prashant Nikam, I was amazed to see the architecture of college buildings of Cambridge, very similar to Nalanda and Takshshila. You feel nostalgic when you imagine the life of these two oldest seats of learning of India...

Had not Hoons destroyed Takshashila and had not Turks destroyed Nalanda, the fate of East and West and the relation of East and West would certainly have been different...

Let us try to rebuild the knowledge tradition of India, which will form the base of real eco-friendly development with the social base of equal opportunity...

The best ritual to perform

Religion is no more a private affair and no more a way of life too. It has become a connotation of few rituals, that too glamorous, expensive and also means of sheer entertainment.
On the eve of Ganga Dussehra lakhs of people from all over India reached Haridwar to have holy bath in the river Ganges. People from neighbouring state of Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh drove down to the city by pressing horn more than the accelerator..showing the skills of overtaking and overspeeding apart from the skills of tongue.
When these 'God-fearing' people reach Haridwar, they buy tons of plastic sheets (industrial waste) for seating purposes and when they leave the city they leave their mark by leaving those sheets. Loads of such sheets can be seen in the river Ganges. They buy flowers, they buy fruits and the milk all in plastic bags and when they offer 'Patram-Pushpam' as mark of respect to River Ganges, they also offer these plastic bags to the holy river as bonus gift.

Sometimes I feel like singing- Ram teri Ganga maili ho gayee Bhakton ke paap dhote-dhote...

On the very same day I noticed an ederly couple reaching the banks of this holy river and planting the sapling of Peepal and Pakad. They did not take holy dip in the river, they did not offer fruits, flowers and milk to the Goddess, but what they offered must have been the best offering of the day for the Goddess Ganges.

Why cannot we all practice this kind of rituals on the holy occasions like Ganga Dussehra? Instead of carrying other offerings, if we can carry some plants to plant on the shrinking banks of the rivers or the barren lands of temples, that will be best 'Tarpan' for the forefathers.

Bam-Bam Bholey..Har Har Gange...

Ek sada aur aayi hai sarhad ke par se..ise bhi sun

Pakistan has been in the news in recent times for all the wrong reasons...

The recent wrong reason was nod for Shariat Laws in the north-west region of Pakistan to appease Talibanis. It attracted criticism from all corners of world including Pakistan. These development also led to displacement of minorities from this region.

Now the Supreme Court and National Judicial (Policy Making) Committee of Pakistan has planned a series of reforms in Judicial system of Pakistan.

Most of the states in South Asia have failed in their duty to ensure speedy and affordable justice to the people. Whatever may be the constraints of Judiciary, right to justice has not got its due. Millions of people in the region have lived and died with the 'Tareekh' given by the HONOURABLE Courts of Law, but the trials keep living like soap operas of television channels..not reaching to any end..

Recently, the Supreme Court and National Judicial (Policy Making) Committee of Pakistan has issued guidelines for courts at all levels to ensure speedy clearance of old cases and has also stipulated timeframe of basic issues of courts e.g. grant of bails etc. In proposed system all bail applications shall be decided by a magistrate within three days, while criminal cases punishable with imprisonment for 7 years or more, including death cases, shall “preferably” be decided within six months. This committee has also decided that the chief justices and judges of the superior courts will not accept posts of governor or any other office in the executive. To tackle the menace of corruption in judiciary the committee has devised a system of reporting corruption and also the system of surprise inspection of lower courts by superior courts. Mr Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, the Chief Justice of Pakistan's Supreme Court has definitely tried to pay back to his countrymen who stood behind him strongly, when he was thrown out of his office by the President.

Apart from ensuring and generating jobs for rural and urban people and creating infrastructure for overall development, a well planned roadmap for improving the justice delivery system is also much needed in South Asian Region, especially in Pakistan and India. Pakistan has definitely raised hope in common man.. now it is for all to take notice of it and encourage this process of reforms in this terror-affected country by all means of diplomacy.

InshaAllah Insaaf milega..aur bawaqt milega..