Time Machine!

When I was born, the refugee tag still existed on our family. After partition in 1947 my granny was migrated to Calcutta. By the time I was born our family moved out of Ballygunge refugee camp to our house in Kolkata. Granny built a house on the land given by the Government. My Father was the second after my aunt and was only male child in the family with another two female younger siblings.  After lots of struggle the family settled their own term. Elder aunt got married to Jamshedpur, as my uncle was a Tata employee and my father too followed the suits. My second aunt was a nurse by professions and younger one was working in Telephone and then transferred to Rationing Dept. It was semi joint family with too many guardians but it was a perfect childhood anyone can dream. So, I was having privilege of growing up along with two previous generations. In early days Granny used to teach us and she was gifted with lots of knowledge that was rare on those days.  

When I am very young father decided to take the family to Jamshedpur. I always considered my life in Jamshedpur was picture perfect. We had nothing compare to today’s kid yet we had everything which was incomparable.

Then out of blue I saw my not-so old folks standing in the queue. No, it was not first-in-first-out basis but sorted out randomly. Slowly, they departed and one too fast. My elder aunt was the first to go. She died somewhere at the end of 60’s. Thereafter, got the most painful blow that I yet to recover. In the end of 1971 I lost my mother. That incident changed my life completely, it was a 360 spin. Over four decades lost all of them one by, my Grandma and then second aunt. My father died 1999.

It is said unless you loss you don’t know the price.  My youngest aunt was the sole survivor from her generation. Somewhat, last man standing or last line of defence to guarding the younger lot.  She was childless and after my uncle death she used to stay alone.  She was very temperament and so we tried to avoid her, never realized that she had none except handful of us. Lately, she lived like any other unwanted old people. Only, difference was, people around her could not ignore her completely due to her money and property she earned with lots of pain and hardship. A year and half back she decided to handover her house to promoter and shifted to a rental apartment. Finally curtain fell on Monday 24^th February, 2014 when we lost her. Her only wish was to get back to the new apartment built on same land remain unfulfilled. According to her last wish her body donated to the hospital. A journey that commenced in pre-independent era and that saw rare happiness and more turmoil but it fade away within a moment.

Today, while sitting on my desk with loads of guilt, we made thousand mistakes but cannot forgive a small one committed by others. As past generation wiped off, finding myself in the queue and can visualize the finish line but I know that one is a visual mirage.

!!!Hope, a time machine is a reality, only to turn around the time and tried to erase the errors that I committed.!!!

 

The Fire Within [Modified ]

Mumbai is a city that respires with an overdose of glamour, having every kind of allurements for people from all four quarters of the globe. Mostly people fail to differ between the reel and the real and consequently fall victim to vicious trap of this hiatus. Mumbai is a city where the affluent becomes more affluent, living in the charmed world of tinsel-town, almost developing a cocoon all around themselves and thereby get de-linked from the real world outside. Behind the glitz and glamour, in the dark alleys - almost every moment a new conspiracy simmers up. A lethal combination actively works behind it - the faceless underworld, the immaculate white clothed politicians and the men in khaki. The bourgeois of Mumbai, who save the grace and face of the city, are actually caught between the horns of the dilemma, in the eternal tussle between the Mumbai of daytime and the Mumbai at the dead of night. The worst sufferers are the needy. Yes! They do ascend from the road in their pursuit of their dream. But alas! They get lost into the oblivion even before being noticed by anyone. Lisa Dias was one such underprivileged girl. But it is yet to be seen if she too is heading towards the same fate or is she going to survive and come out of this cruel ensnare.

Characters

Lisa Dias: After losing her mother and brother in a mishap, Lisa comes to Mumbai with her father. Being a Christian, it is easy for her to get an admission in a reputed convent school. Nevertheless, poverty ridden, Lisa has to fight hard against all odds to keep her education uninterrupted. Unfortunately, things take a dismal turn with sudden demise of Lisa’s father. Lisa, then seventeen years old, all alone, penniless and sans a roof over her head has to protect herself from preying glares. She finds herself on a dark lane of Mumbai. Finally, with no options left, she is impelled to pacify the carnal lust of men. Lisa Dias, a woman with a mature and much preyed upon body but with the heart of a child, is an inimitable combo.

Ronnie Fernandez: Ronnie’s father is a lawyer while his mother is a teacher. While at school Ronnie meets Lisa. After completing school, Ronnie moves to Bangalore. However, after two years, he comes back to Mumbai in order to be enrolled at a law college. This is the time when Ronnie meets with an accident which takes away his parents and he is left desolated - handicapped. While studying at the college Ronnie tries to find Lisa. Much to his astonishment, he finds a new building coming up at the same location where once Lisa used to stay and nobody can tell him anything about Lisa’s whereabouts.

Bhiku Sawant: At the age of fifteen, Bhiku comes to Mumbai from Sonurli, a village in Sawantwadi Taluka, Maharashtra. He works as a Mathadi, mostly carrying fruits and vegetables from Masjid Bunder. Bhiku stays in a slum near Dhobi Ghat, Colaba. He is married and has two daughters. When nearing fifty, Bhiku finds it difficult to continue with his occupation and finally lands up at a well to do Guajarati businessman’s house as a household help. Here Bhiku comes face to face with an eighteen year old girl, Lisa Dias.

Jean Fernandez: Twenty-five years old, Jean Fernandez is a happy-go-lucky girl from the Mumbai suburbs. She is an architect by profession and employed in a very reputed real estate developer’s firm in Mumbai.  Jean and Lisa come to know each other while travelling in a local train. But apart from exchanging smiles and a few hi’s and bye’s, there is nothing more between them. Astonishingly, Jean occupies a very special place in Lisa’s life – something which even herself Lisa is not conscious of!

Suhash Patil: Twenty-seven years old, Suhash Patil is the only son of a Real Estate giant from Mumbai. Despite being a spoiled brat and a serial offender he always manages to emerge unscathed, thanks to the loopholes in the judiciary system. Albeit he tries a couple of times to break into Lisa’s flat, he has to bite the dust every time owing to Bhiku’s presence. In his attempt to extract his vengeance, once even tries to kill Bhiku.

Plot Summary

After nine long years, while waiting for a train, Ronnie and Lisa meet each other at a railway station. Subsequently, during one of their frequent meetings, Lisa reveals to him the truth about her profession and beseeches him to distance himself from her. However, they keep encountering each other by coincidence and as a result, become more attached. A year later, it is time for Ronnie to go out of Mumbai for a few days. Just before leaving, he proposes Lisa. Although she is a little hesitant initially, eventually she accepts it. While awaiting Ronnie’s return and looking forward to their new and blissful conjugal life ahead, in a cold rainy December night Lisa herself walks towards the loutish man named Suhash Patil. What compels Lisa to do so?

Kanhyakumari!

On 17th October we left Trivendram and set for Kanyakumari, it was the last stage of our tour. On our way we stopped at Narayan Swami Temple. It took us to three and half hour to reach our destination. After lunch we went the most visited destination of Kanyakumari, the Vivekananda Rock. We had the chance to spent over four hours and the stay was worth more than we thought.

Kanyakumari is a town in Kanyakumari District in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is also known as Cape Comorin.  Cape Comorin lies at the southernmost tip of mainland India 

Swami Vivekananda & Vivekananda Rock

Swami Vivekananda,  when first visited the temple of Kanyakumari  and prayed and meditated for a while. He then came out and stood on the oceanside, gazing at the sea. Some two furlongs away he saw two large rocks. According to the Puranas, the larger and farther of these two rocks is the one that has been sanctified by the blessed feet of the Divine Mother. Swamiji was seized with the desire to reach those rocks. He asked a few boatmen whether he could be ferried to the rock. They were ready to take him. Without much ado, Swamiji plunged into the roaring waves and swam across. The experienced boatmen were shocked to see him do this and screamed out to him to return to the shore. They warned him of the stormy waves and the sharks in the ocean. But Swamiji swam safely across and stepped onto the rock. He spent three days and three nights mediating on that rock.

Vivekananda Rock is about a hundred meters from the shore and a regular ferry service exists between the mainland jetty and the rock. The tickets are Rs 30 for a ride. Normally you will find a lot of people waiting in the queue during holiday season, so there's a legitimate way of by passing the queue by paying Rs 150 , they take you directly inside the ferry, no waiting. The Rock has two halls; one belonging to Swami Vivekananda and the other belonging to a Holy Foot. The Holy Foot is a foot shaped carving found on the rock and is believed to be the footprint of Goddess Kumari who stood on this rock on one leg and performed the penance. The Rock memorial has a tall statue of Swami Vivekananda whose photographs are not allowed to be taken from inside the hall. Below the statue was mentioned the year of death of the Swamiji and the "probable" dates when Swamiji attained Samadhi on the rock. Here you can see both sunrise and sunset and it is one of the main tourist attractions here. Golden Hues of the Horizon are very impressive with a silhouette of the Rock Memorial.

Thiruvalluvar Statue

Thiruvalluvar Statue is dedicated to arguably the greatest Tamil poet, philosopher, and saint Thiruvalluvar. The rock supports a huge statue of the saint carved out of many rocks that were then joined together. It was inaugurated fairly recently. The view from this point is quite breathtaking! It is a very entertaining and enlightening piece of work and inspires one to lead a very principled and moral life. It is a must read for anyone who visits this place and it is advisable to spend at least half an hour specially dedicated for this exercise. Such is the beauty of Kanyakumari that a lot of people find themselves attracted to it. Mahatma Gandhi too could not resist its charm, and there is a place here dedicated to him called Gandhi Mandapam. This is the place, where one could witness the confluence of the three oceans.

On 18th, I decided to rest and finally on 19th at early morning we boarded the train, after 2 days on the wheel we back to the pavilion.

!!!No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow. – Lin Yutang!!!

Trivandrum [ Thiruvananthapuram ]

Next morning we started early for Trivandrum. It took us around 4 hours to reach the destination. Our bus directly headed for the famous Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple. The temple was in news recently for it billion dollar treasure that discovered from the secret vaults. The hotel name was 'Rais' where we stayed. Afternoon after lunch we headed for famous Kovalam beach. We were exhausted by constant travelling yet at the evening myself and my niece tried our hand in little bit shopping. We were at famous shopping mall 'Pothys' and purchased a few sarees.

Trivandrum

Trivandrum, the capital of the state of Kerala, the God's Own Country, now known by the name.Thiruvananthapuram, literally translates into the "abode of Lord Anantha". The Sri PadmanabhaswamyTemple, a highly venerated temple for Keralites, in the heart of the city is devoted to the deity Lord Anantha. The city of Thiruvananthapuram is located in the South of the state and bordered by Tiruneveli in the East, Kanyakumari to the South and Kollam district located to its North. The city is a must on the itinerary of any visitor to the South India.

The city being the capital is the center spot for the political activities of the State. The people of Kerala known for their leftist leanings have always supported the Marxist precepts of the CPI(M) or the Communist Party of India. The city is the hub of all the political upheavals in the state and is considered to be the most politically active. No wonder polls draw more than ninety percent of the polling percentage on a regular basis.

Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple

Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple is a Vedic temple dedicated to Lord Vishnu located in Thiruvananthapuram. Temple was established on the first day of Kali Yuga (which is over 5000 years ago). The legends of the Temple are handed down through the centuries. One such legend which finds a place in the old palm leaf records of the Temple, as also in the famous grantha entitled “Ananthasayana Mahatmya”, mentions that it was consecrated by a Tulu Brahmin hermit named Divakara Muni. On the 950th year of Kali Yuga a reinstallation of the idol was done. In the 960th Kali year King Kotha Marthandan built the Abhisravana Mandapam.

Last summer, archaeologists opened the underground chambers of the 16th century Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, located in Kerala province in southern India. They discovered six chambers, labeling the vaults A through F, with the help of temple priests. What they found was startling, according to initial reports: Sacks of diamonds and gold, coins dating back hundreds of years, crowns and other antique jewelry, precious gemstones wrapped in silk, and so on. The value of treasure consisting of thousands of kilos of gold, diamonds, gems and Silver ornaments, found concealed in different cellars at Sree Padmanabha swamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram, capital of South Indian state of Kerala, is estimated to cross over a mind-blowing Rs 1,00,000 crore ($10 billion).

!!!One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things. – Henry Miller!!!