Where India falls back as a Tourist Spot

 

What can we do for Tourism as a Nation and its citizens

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon. I met an elderly couple in the lift of a Hotel in Paris. They were friendly and easy to talk. They were from Egypt and very proud of their cultural ethos, pyramids and hospitality. They invited me to visit Egypt. They gave me their number and asked me to make a call when I reach Cairo. If they wished, they would have taken me through the overnight flight to Egypt. I was a bit surprised to see their high level of eagerness and excitement to tell about their country. I could see the glow in their eyes while talking about their country.

France has a population of approx 70 million and it welcomes more than 100 million foreign tourists almost every year. Tourism is one of the biggest pillars of their economy. Even though it’s a non English speaking country, it is able to manage such a huge rush of tourists speaking different languages. The tourism sector opens employment in multiple sectors. Restaurants, hotels, museums, airlines, taxis, public transport etc are few of the prime sectors that get benefitted from tourism. In addition to these sectors, there are additional employments like hawkers selling food items, souvenirs etc around tourist spots.

Countries understand the importance of global tourism and they prepare themselves on war footing for that. They focus and work a lot to improve their infrastructure, branding of their country and on the overall civic sense of their citizens. Each citizen represents their countries as the host. In last one year of my stay in Paris, I can figure out why France has such a huge inflow of tourists. Government has worked a lot to improve the infrastructure like clean air, pure water, better metro connectivity and law and order. One of the striking features I noticed, was the optimum use of technologies across different sectors. Detailed information about each of the major spot is available on mobile apps and websites. There are facilities to book online tickets and plan hassle free. Real time online information is available regarding public transport. Roaming late night is also safe. Sponsors , organisers and government have worked together to give tourists an amazing and memorable experiences. That makes France as one of the favourite tourist destination though majority of French people are a bit egoistic and not overwhelming friendly.

Now I am coming to one of the most ancient civilisations of the world and currently the most populous country, India. I don’t think any country can match up to the diversity of India in terms of attire, languages, cuisines, paintings and even dance forms. Each state has its own unique list of festivities which is wrapped under interesting stories. From Kashmir in the north to Kanyakumari in the south and Dwarka in the west to Itanagar in the east, there are abundant historical monuments and numerous ancient temples embellished with notable architecture signifying the rich cultural heritage. It’s not only history which makes India rich, the landscape, geography and diverse weather conditions also make it unique. Within the same country at any moment, you may need Air conditioner ( AC) at one place and a blanket at another corner of the country. From snow capped Himalayas in the north to Arabian sea at the west and the Indian ocean on the east coast to pristine islands in the south, it has too many natural spots to offer and to explore.

Being home to the highest concentration of Hindus in the world, the Western and the Arabic world comes here with lots of curiosity. It’s a completely different world to them. In addition, it is also a unique country which hosts many other religions and people coexist on the peaceful note. So India comes up with the prospect for a great destination for tourism. But unfortunately we are getting only approx one fifth of what France is getting in terms of international tourists. That’s a grave matter, we should be seriously concerned about. Despite our hat adorned with so many colourful feathers, we are not living up to our potential in the field of tourism. Adorned with such a treasure, we can not let it rut when we really need to grow as a developed nation.

So what can we do as a nation as well as a citizen to be a great host of a great and ancient nation??

I start with the government first. Government has to work on the law and order and make it a safe place for its citizens as well as guests where women can also roam around at mid night. It also has to work on clean air and pure water. Many of our big cities are highly polluted. Urban planning should not only focus on building roads and buildings but making it greener, removing dirt and dust and improving the AQI. Common people should be able to drink water from the water tap directly without any filter. I have never used water filter while residing in USA, UK and France nor on my visits to Portugal, Spain and Belgium. Why can’t we do this in India when we have so many rivers and lakes spread across the country? The whole nexus of RO companies and corrupt officials should be abolished and common citizens should be able to drink pure water from the tap directly. Infrastructure should be built keeping in mind old, visually impaired and handicapped people. Let them also explore the beautiful places of India. Tourist information centre should be many and easy to approach.One silver lining is Bollywood and it’s superstars global reach mainly to Arabic and African world. I met few people from Sudan , Kenya , Morocco and interestingly , they know Shahrukh Khan , Amitabh Bachchan, Salman Khan.

Now as a citizen of the country, responsibility of each one of us is equally important as that of the government. We should respect the freedom of our guest and make them feel home. First and formost , stare less on them , they may get scared. Of course , there is a vast cultural difference , language , color and way to dress up. We should be taught in our schools about these differences as early as possible. Don’t litter and use the nearby dustbins to trash the waste. We should be proud of our cultural legacy and respect the legacy. If that sense of pride will be inside us, we will respect our monuments , tourist spots and natural places like rivers, mountains and sea. Every city of India has its own unique taste, attire and history, We should brand them well and give it a lift up. A small beginning of few will inspire many and many will inspire the rest of the nation. Let’s make ‘Incredible India’ feasible and worthy to explore and experience for the people of the entire world. A real ‘Vashudev Kutumbakam’ will be achieved when we will practise in reality and not just words..

Air Water and Food

 

Air Water and Food

Right from the human inception and its million of years of progression, it has survived on its brain but mostly on clean air, clean water and food, good enough to support the nutrient demands of the body. Even after million years of journey, these are still the primary yardsticks of any developed country and overall human development index. Suddenly why I have thought of these basic ingredients of human life, has got a background.

Over the past few weeks, news which compromise on these basic ‘tatav’ of our life are scary and more concerning as they are coming from the most affluent cities of India. The air of national capital has drawn global attention since the last decade. Kids have reluctantly relinquished firecrackers during Diwali, a festival of light and hope which comes once in a year. Instead they are using battery operated bat to kill mosquitoes and the sparkling light and ‘put pop’ sound gives them a new pleasure of fire crackers. Their joy has not just narrowed by ban on fire crackers but also the untimely closure of schools due to the bad air in the city. Hospitals get overcrowded and olds and weak people find it difficult to survive. Now the rich and affluent old leaves the city for a quarter to go to their kid’s homes in other cities or sometimes out of the country also. But not many have that luxury. They remain enclosed within their houses or gated societies. Even going to lush green Delhi parks is a risk to their lungs during the peak of pollution mainly the months of November, December and January.  Contrary to the common belief, Delhi has highest number of green zones and trees. I believe it’s more green zones than that of any big metros of the country. But a decade of inept policing and lack of political will and coordination among states has failed millions of Delhiites, young and old alike.

So Delhi was for air, if we move to another big and bubbling metro, Bangalore, it has got water crisis.   Post covid and the rise of IT companies by leap and bounds have pushed Bangalore to new heights of growth, inflation and urbanisation. The sizeable increase in number of IT companies and Bangalore’s pied piper charm has drawn millions of youths not only across the country but outside the country too. The magnanimous growth has put heavy load on its natural resources, water being the prime one. The heat wave and temperature in the month of April has beaten records of May and all the previous years. I remember the month of May in Bangalore more than couple of decades ago, there was no fan in the school classes. I was so surprised to see that. It was not because they had no funds but they didn’t need fans. Bangalore was cool, moderate and congestion free. But now a day’s even the ministers of the state are struggling to get proper supply of water in Bangalore. This is indeed a pathetic situation and put a huge question mark on our development trajectory. I am not even asking about the pure drinking water supply to our water taps, it’s just the water supply which is in shambles in Bangalore. The supply of pure drinking water without the need of RO and filters is another big issue which needs another big article. I can’t accommodate it here.

So we have seen air and water. Air and water alone can’t feed us. We need food too. The adulteration of food, fruits, spices and vegetables in India is a huge and old problem. The desire to earn quick money by greedy business people and ghastly corrupt and inept government agencies has hugely disappointed us. They have no concerns for human general wellbeing and health. They don’t bother whether the adulterating agents can cause cancer or compromise immunity of our kids. The recent news of top spice brands of the country has got cancer causing agents and that too investigated by agencies of Singapore and Hongkong is a matter of national concern. We are known for spices for ages. It’s one of our biggest PR brand. If we are faltering it, it will dent our country’s image globally. Why our govt agencies never bothered to check or investigate these samples before?? Recently we heard of raids on spurious drug companies selling medicines critical for life. Even foreign brands, like Nestle take us granted. They get a free hand in adding extra sugar in baby products which makes immune system of our babies weaker. This has also been revealed by a foreign agency not our lazy and corrupt government agencies which find everything is in rosy condition. The role of media is also questionable. Is the media doing enough to expose the nexus between these corrupt ‘babus’ and greedy business people??

In the blind push for development, which is undoubtedly the need of the hour, are we doing enough to sustain the basic ingredients of life? Sorry if I sound like a crying baby but I wrote it because not much noise is heard on these basic amenities in public discourse. The talks are more on reels, IPL and elections. I don’t think only roads and bridges make us stronger. We as a human and citizen of the country have basic rights on the core ingredients of life: air, water and food. Isn’t it?

Sometimes tremors are good

 

Sometimes tremors are good

Couple of days back , there was a strong tremor in Delhi NCR. People were getting ready to go to bed. The strong jolt forced people to get out of their homes. As anticipated the epicentre was in Afghanistan. Few interesting things happened because of this jolt:

• I saw people clutching different things in their hands while coming down. Few carried their passports, they have dreams of going to Canada. Few carried their college certificates. They might be eyeing for job switch or higher studies. Few carried snacks and water in case spending night or next morning out of their house. Few carried their wallets and car keys prepared to spend night in car and to have some money to purchase essentials in case. Few carried their baby diapers and food. Everyone had different priorities and what they carried, spoke volume about their priorities in their lives.

• We came to know how many people are actually living in the colony, who are our neighbours and their family members. There were peals of laughter and friendly banters exchanged. Many people talked to each other for the first time. People were confident that tremors were no longer coming back and no more trouble to their lives and houses. It’s rightly said that strangers are friends not met yet.

• Almost everyone told me the first thing they did was to go to balcony when they felt the tremors. We don’t want to waste our time going down. We wanted to make sure that those were the real tremors. This is our old habit. Whenever there was power cut in my house, I used to go to balcony to see if there are power cuts in our neighbours house also. This is not only me but almost everyone’s habit. We don’t panic to see our misery unless the same is happening in our neighbourhood.

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  Many people had to come out of their houses through stairs even from the 40th floor. Nowadays buildings in societies are mostly skyscrapers in Delhi NCR. Lifts were stopped. Few had nightmares of the lifetime while getting down through stairs because of old age and comorbidities. Many people had on the spot fitness test of their lungs and hearts.

I remember a similar earthquake tremors were felt in Delhi NCR a decade back and people had to come out of their houses in the middle of the night. These memories are few of the lifetime moments and we remember them always. It’s rightly said the fear brings people closer to each other. It gives opportunity to meet and know each other specially the people in our vicinity. In our hectic life spiked by ego and arrogance, we don’t bother to give even a harmless smile to those living on the same floor. Sometime these tremors not only shake the foundation of tall buildings but also shake the mountains of arrogance in us and make us more like human.

How does Chocolate taste on Everest

 

If someone asks you , “ what is the greatest thing you want to do in your life?”. Few will say having a big house or a latest speedy sports-car or a plush foreign vacation. Few will like to settle down in one of the developed countries . Few will settle down with big roles in their respective departments. But giants will say scaling Everest is the greatest thing they want to do in their life. And greatest of them can dream for it without having their eyes. Yes, it has not only been dreamt but have been achieved by the three great dreamers so far.

Erik Weihenmayer , an American athlete and the first blind to scale Everest will be celebrating 21 years of it on 25^th May 2022.While reading an interesting book,’ How does chocolate taste on Everest “ to my son, I came to know of Erik and his great achievement. The different stages of Everest climbing come with different levels of difficulties where oxygen level is very low, your taste buds are gone at that altitude, whereas there are few crevices where you have to climb through wobbly suspended ladders. Imagining such scenarios itself can shake many strong will powered people and how about a person who can not see what is he climbing up to or what he has just climbed. A slip and you are thousands of kilometres

 down.

When Erik returned to base camp after scaling Everest , his team leader said a very interesting line. “Don’t make Everest the greatest thing you ever do”. Erik could not understand the motive of the quote at that time but he realised it after reaching USA. And he went up to complete all the seven summits of the seven continents and also did more than 400 kilometres of Kayaking in one of the most dangerous white water in Grand Canyon. He wrote three books and is working to help and inspire people with or without disabilities.

The story of Erik has rocked my mind and crossed many times since I read about him. If anyone becomes hopeless and have no courage to achieve his/her target, just think about Erik and his journey and chin up.

If you have courage to dream , you have hope to achieve it.

चाटना

 चाटना

ये एक ऐसा शब्द है जिसका प्रयोग हिंदी साहित्य में सामान्यता नहीं होता है | पर ये बड़ा ही मज़ेदार और असरदार शब्द है | ऐसा कौन होगा जिसे आइसक्रीम , लॉलीपॉप या चटनी चाटना पसंद नहीं होगा | आप अगर किसीको ऐसा करते देखते हैं तो आपको भी चाटने का मन करता है | आधुनिक युग में इस शब्द का प्रयोग एक और प्रक्रिया की तरफ इंगित करता है | इसका साहित्यिक शब्द है 'खुशामद ' करना और कई मौकों पर अत्याधिक 'खुशामद ' करना | आज के युग में चाटना और चटाना एक स्वाभाविक प्रक्रिया बन चूका है | यह छेत्र ,जात ,धर्म से उप्पर जा चूका है | इंसान को अपने निजी स्वार्थ और उसकी प्राप्ति के लिए 'चाटना ' सबसे कारगर साधन दिखता है | हाँ, इसके कुछ अपवाद भी रहे हैं जब अदद 'चाटने ' के बावजूद भी इंसान चूक जाता है | कई बार होता ये है की चाटने वाला इंसान 'सही' इंसान को परखने में भूल कर जाता है और गलत आदमी को चाटने के कारण उसका काम लटक जाता है | खैर चाटना भी एक कला है और ये अनुभव से और भी निखर के आता है | कुछ लोग स्वाभाविक रूप से इस कला में पारंगत होते हैं , ख़ासकर वो जिनके अंदर और कोई प्रतिभा नहीं होती

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चाटने की दुनिया में उतरने से पहले कुछ बुनियादी जरूरतों का ख्याल रखना पढता है | आपको अपनी शरीर की चमड़ी को गैंडे की चमड़ी के बराबर रखना पड़ेगा | दो कानों के बीच हवादार सुरंग का निर्माण करना होगा | अपनी जिहवा को मखन , तेल , घी से मालिस करना होगा | क्यूंकि बहुत सारे लोग आपको हिकारत की नज़रों से देखेंगे | पहले तो आपको आपका स्वाभिमान भी धिक्कारेगा | कुछ सामने से तो कुछ पीठ पीछे आपको ताने भी देंगे और आपको भला बुरा भी कहेंगे | वस्तुतः उनको आपकी अप्रत्याशित सफलता हजम नहीं होगी | इसके कारण कई हो सकते हैं जैसे ईर्ष्या,उनके पेट के अंदर नैतिकता के बैलून का अत्यधिक फूलना , आपसे स्पर्धा , उनकी पत्नी का आपकी पत्नी से ३६ का आँकड़ा इत्यादि इत्यादि | ये तमाम अरचन आएँगे | पर एक बार अगर आपने चाटने की कला सीख़ ली तो आपको आगे बढ़ने से कोई नहीं रोक सकता है |  

इस प्रक्रिया का दूसरा भाग आता है 'चटाना' | सामान्यता जिस इंसान को 'चाटा' जा रहा है वो ऊँचे ओहदे पर होता है | ऊँचे ओहदे पर होने के कारण बहुत कम लोगो से उसकी बातचीत होती है और वो अकेला हो जाता है | उसके नीचे काम करने वाले उससे भयाकुल रहते हैं और उससे बात करने से भी हिचकते हैं | यहाँ पर वो इंसान जिसने चाटने की कला सिख ली है , अपना सिक्का जमा लेता है | अपनी कला के बदौलत वो अपनी चिपचिपी बातों का जाल बुनता है और बॉस को फाँसता है | बॉस का भी एकांकी दूर हो जाता है और उसे अचानक अपने 'महान' होने का अभूतपूर्व एहसास हो जाता है | चाटने वाला इंसान इस बात को भलीभांति जानता है | अगर बॉस ने सड़ा हुआ सा भी मज़ाक किया तो वो उसे एहसास करा देगा की उसने मशहूर हाँस्य अभिनेता 'जॉनी वॉकर ' को पीछे छोड़ दिया है और बॉस के साथ कोई दुःख वाली बात घटित हो तो खुद 'रुदाली' बनने के लिए तैयार हो जाएगा | अगर बॉस ने मुँह धोया तो उसके लिए रूमाल लेकर खड़ा हो जाएगा | बॉस के पसंद नापसंद का पूरा ख्याल रखा जायेगा | बॉस के फरमाइस करने से पहले उस चींज को हाज़िर कर देगा जिस चीज के बारे में बॉस ने शायद सोचा ही हो | कई बार बॉस जिसको चाटा जा रहा है ख़ुद अचरज में पड़ जाता है की इतना ख्याल तो उसकी माँ या बीवी भी नहीं रखती | हिंदी गीत 'मैं दुःख तेरा ले लूँ , तू सुख मेरा ले ले ' यहाँ चरितार्थ हो जाता है | 

कुछ समय के बाद चट चट के बॉस खुद ही सफ़ाचट हो जाता है और चाटने वाला आदमी उससे भी आगे निकल जाता है | शायद ही कोई छेत्र हो जहाँ चाटने और चटाने की प्रक्रिया न चल रही हो | इस प्रक्रिया में काफ़ी स्पर्धा भी है और अपार अवसर भी हैं | तो भाईयों , 'चतनम शरणम् गच्छामि ' करें और आगे बढ़े | 

नोट- इस लेख को पढ़ते समय अपने ऑफिस या कार्यछेत्र के सबसे बड़े चाटने और चटने वाले व्यक्ति का समरण करें ,इससे लेख पढ़ने का दुगुना लाभ मिलेगा | 

कृत्य - कुणाल

A tight rope walk in Bihar

 All the flashlights are hogged on two elections that are going to  be held under COVID 19 pandemic. One is US presidential elections and the other is the Bihar assembly elections. One of the most interesting political circuses is to be ushered in Bihar. Bihar elections looked one-sided till last week but a lot got changed since then. It makes it interesting. My candid take on this:

a) Voter turnout is going to be lowest in many and many years not only as Corona is in the air but also not much enthusiasm is in general public either for the govt or for any alternative to the govt.

b) In few segments there is anti-incumbency against the current regime and Nitish being head of the govt, JDU will have to face it bluntly. Lack of jobs in the state and rampant migration to other states are the major fire brewing factors. Corona has added more fuel to this.

c) Many voters are looking for alternative parties and right candidates. In absence of that, there will be a good number of ‘NOTA’ votes. Others and independent candidates will also gain in this election. Winning margins will be very thin on many seats.

c) Bihar elections have widely spread into five blocks: NDA , Mahagathbandhan , LJP , Upendra Kushwaha led block and the public. While kushwaha block is more of ‘vote katwa’ what is called in local political language than the real winners and it will damage more to JDU than any other parties.

d) LJP maneuvering to contest solely is not what meets the eyes. The induction of leaders from BJP and Sangh cadres into the LJP is a well-thought strategy of BJP to keep JDU within the limits. It can not rely on Nitish any more after the 2015 assembly elections. There will be sympathy votes for Late Ramvilas Paswan and it will help LJP at least on few seats for sure.

e) BJP is in pursuit of crossing 90 seats and will help LJP to cross 30 seats at least. It will give BJP the magic number to cross with the help of a few independents or others. BJP wants to be in a position to take a big brother seat in the alliance or maybe the driver seat if needed. Few names that are doing rounds in BJP circle for CM candidates are Ravi Shankar Prasad, Nityanand Rai.

f) BJP is relying on Modi’s popularity and the work is done by the central govt rather than state govt. But the voters of Bihar will vote differently in assembly than what they did in 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Caste arithmetic, local issues, candidates' credibility will be more important than the rest of the issues. BJP does need wholehearted support of Nitish caste-based voters to sail across.

g) Elections will be tightly contested as educated and middle class the core votes of BJP and somewhat JDU also, will not turn up in droves to vote for them. In addition, the large scale unemployed youths will add salt to the wound of the current govt. Bihar has the highest number of young voters in the country.

h)A major advantage Nitish enjoys is the support of female voters, young as well as old cutting across the caste and creed lines. They will definitely help him. Ban on alcohol, old-age pensions, water taps in every house, scholarships for 12^th, and graduate girls are popular schemes among the female voters. Nitish hold on ECB ( extremely backward castes ) and distribution of lots of tickets to Yadavs to breach RJD vote bank may also help him.

Many words and lines can be written in election speculation But in short the path of BJP as well as JDU does not look very smooth but they are still in advantage thanks to inexperienced and incredible RJD leadership as well as the fear of the return of ‘Lalu Raj’.

Parle G - The Hope G

Parle G - The ‘Hope G’

Most of the kids belonging to the middle-class families of 
80’s - 90’s may have loving memories of eating Parle G biscuits from its yellow paper wax pack with the photo of a lovely kid. Years passed, cookies took some space of biscuits, kids of those era became parents of kids but the importance and presence of Parle G in the biscuit world remain intact.The same Parle G still entices those kids as well as stray dogs of metros. People started feeding Parle G to puppies because of its low cost. Few because they love pets and few just out of sheer fashion.

The same Parle G turned out to be life savior for thousands and thousands of migrant workers and their families who hit the road in desperate move to reach their villages during the corona lockdown. With few packs of Parle G and water and never-dying hope , they traveled more than a thousand kilometers. Few just on foot, few on cycles and bikes. People mainly migrant laborers from prosper states mainly Tamilnadu, Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat started to travel towards their native and labor-intensive states like U.P, Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal etc within a week of the lockdown. They were walking days and nights on road, railway tracks in a desperate move to survive, and even ready to die among their own people. With hotels, roadside Dhaba, restaurants closed , they had to rely on ready-made or packed food to survive during their long journey. A small pack of low-cost Parle G from any corner stores or from generous ngo , individuals came handy to them. It gave them a hope to have something in their stomach to carry on their desperate and ardors journey. The old and nostalgic Parle G became a new panacea for them and became the ‘Hope G’ for them. Though having lots of biscuits is not considered good for health because of the presence of refined white flour in biscuits. But when there is a race between hunger and fear, hunger has an advantage, forget about nutrition values.

The front line medical staff, transporters, grocery stores, sanitation workers, ngo, and individuals helping people to survive with their services during the uncertain Corona period were termed as ‘Corona Warriors’. It had got one very unusual addition in the list, the ‘Parle G’ as another ‘Corona Warrior’. It indeed helped many to survive a very unusual and difficult times arouse because of Corona and subsequent lockdown.

Around Oct-Nov 2019, people were gauging the health of the Indian economy by the sale of biscuits. Economics pundits predicted signs of the dwindling economy as people were not buying biscuits particularly ‘Parle G’ especially in rural India. Biscuit shelves of grocery stores were almost empty in March - April 2020 during the Corona lockdown. The same Parle G registered its highest growth in its history in the months of March-April 2020, but the market still does not look very green even though the biscuit industry is flying with colors. May be economics pundits will come up with some other yardsticks to gauge the pulse of the economy if not biscuits.

There is another story of Parle G nostalgia. At one end it had become food for puppies in India’s metros because of its cheaper price, it is sold three to four times costlier in countries like the UK, the USA, etc. Sometimes demand is too high in those countries to meet the supply. Those kids of the ’80s-’90s who have come abroad wanted to live their childhood memories with each Parle G dipping in their morning cup of tea. They wanted to relive those moments of sharing Parle G biscuits

 

with their siblings and friends when they had a limited capacity to purchase even Parle G.

Though having many biscuits are not good for health, even the plastic packaging of Parle G like other brands of biscuits is not healthy for the environment. The company should look back to its old paper wax pack to help nature to revive itself with less plastic pollution in the coming days and years. The company which was named after the place where it was started in Mumbai, Ville Parle has seen more than seven decades of its journey. With around 1 billion packs of Parle G biscuits consumed every month, the plastic pollution by it can not be simply ignored.

In the meanwhile Parle G, the new ‘Hope G’ broke all records of sale and rekindled hopes of not only migrant workers but thousands of its staff and their families when there is a real shortage of job opportunities in the country because of the Corona pandemic. It’s time to have a couple of Parle G with tea.

Post Corona World - Revitalised

Will the world be same Post-Corona??

I had written this article in March end and publishing it on 11th May and looks like predictions are on track:

Amid all the chaos, lockdown, and siren of the ambulance coming from the window of my house in the UK, I tried to visualize the ray of hope in the post-Corona world. Nature will rebalance its verticals and horizontals. It will take no less than three months from now, say 28th June for the world to recover and stabilize. What will happen on 28th June, just try to imagine:

 We will be out to see the clearer blue sky, will breathe more pure air and water of ponds, rivers, and oceans will be clearer than what we had seen when we were a very young lad or few had ever seen in their lifetime.

b)Few of us will have large bellies, fairer skin, or sunken eyes or few will be more fit than before. But We will be so delighted to see each other: our friends, neighbors, relatives or even strangers with glitters in everyone's eyes.

c) We will get so much obsessed with screens be it TV, Mobile, I Pads, etc that we will just want to talk and see each other and no inclination for the screen anymore.

d) We never thought there would be a time going to the office will be a pleasure. This is going to happen.

e) We will understand the importance of not only our lives but others too. There will be less road rage, less anger, and more care not only for our fellow human beings but for mother nature also.

f) The hegemony of 'Made in China' will be broken forever. Local economies will spurt and thrive. The habit of purchasing cheap products will take backstage and the importance of local products will be recognized.

g) Each country will focus more on research, hospitals, parks, library, education than on arms and ammunition. Because your ballistic missiles and nuclear arsenals could not defend you from an invisible virus. The mightiest and the bulkiest are at their knees now. There will be a united initiative worldwide for such pandemics.

h) How we will behave, how kind we will be, how generous we will be in these three months will be remembered for many months and years to come.
Hold on your nerves. The battle has just begun. And only the luckiest and the smartest warriors will emerge as victorious to see 'the upcoming magic' say on a date, 28th June.

तथास्तु!!

The Lost Nest

Migration is a natural and a century-old process and is practiced not only in humans but in birds, animals and even in plants also. Sometimes it is driven by natural circumstances like flood, drought, cyclone and other natural calamities and sometimes it is man-made because of govt policies, ethnic conflicts, unequal distribution of wealth, lack of opportunities and proper infrastructure. The migration does not just carry an individual, its skills and its luggage but its culture, memoirs and its longings for its native place.

Migration is prevalent in developed as well as in developing countries though the volume is a quite higher and prevalent practice in developing countries as compared to the developed countries. In developed countries, migration is for the short term and for specific purposes like for academic, research, medical, etc not necessary for money always. But in developing countries, it may be a combination of all the above with money and livelihood being the prime factor. People tend to migrate from one district to another within a state, from a state to another or from one country to another. All the major commercial hubs, facilities are it education or medical are concentrated in few metro cities which are bloated with population exodus and facilities are already strained out in most of the developing countries.

In the UK which is one of the few developed countries in the world, I find most the people tend to work where their parents have stayed, where they have done their schooling or were they born. They might have to commute everyday for an hour or less to reach the workplace from their home. They need not to move out of their native place in search of jobs in most of the cases. There are few factors that help them. The industries, commercial hubs are well distributed over the entire country. Even a small town or suburb has at least a few small or medium scale companies, shopping hubs, and recreational centers. The infrastructure and basic facilities like education and medical are also at arm’s length. Even though if there is any workplace, college or hospital which is a little far away from their home, it can be covered shortly and comfortably because of high speed and punctual trains and buses running on modern rail tracks and well-maintained roads respectively. It does not add hassles to commuters. In fact, it gives them wings to fly and return to their nest in the evening.

In India, interstate migration is higher in north and east regions than in south or west regions. There may be historical, geographical or political reasons behind this. People from western and southern states tend to migrate to other countries than to other Indian states. Most of the industries and prominent medical and educational institutes are located in the west and south region. There are many villages in northern and eastern states where many houses have no young male available as they had to leave the place in search of either education or livelihood. These are houses of young women with babies and old parents. They patiently wait for their young lad’s phone calls and messages as well as the money they send from distant places be it Baroda or Bangalore. The migration is rampant not only in black collar jobs but in blue-collar jobs too.

The cycle of migration is mischievous. First, it forces you because of your need then it makes you habitual of the metro lifestyles and its busyness. Sometimes luxury becomes a necessity. Sometimes the cacophony of metros sounds like the cuckoo’s song. Similarly, the ‘migrated human birds’ tend to make their new nest in those metros. Most of the time these new nests are much smaller and restricted ones than the ones which they originally left when they had no choice. But we become used to these new nests. Erstwhile unknown face of the metros gradually becomes part of it. The already bloated metros keep on swelling over and over again. Government and policymakers continue to keep their primary focus on the lively and bubbly metros and it’s overcrowded busy inhabitants. Whereas the old and decrepit nest continue to wait for their young birds before it will finally go to ruins.Yes, the nests which are in our villages.

Let's play 20-20 in Delhi

Let's play 20-20 in Delhi

2020 Delhi assembly elections are over and Arvind Kejriwal is going to take oath on Sunday. There are many takeaways from the high voltage election and its outcome. Few points which I feel are very important and crucial takeaways:

a) First and foremost, it is squarely unfair to term voters of Delhi as a traitor, Non-Hindu, etc as they have been called since exit polls. The same set of voters had given all its seats to BJP in 2019 Lok sabha not even a year ago. Why were there no similar questions raised to people of Jharkhand, another smaller state where the son of a tainted politician became chief minister a few months back where BJP was defending? Even BJP chief minister lost in his own constituency in Jamshedpur. But not many of us know this. It is crystal clear that voters know what they are voting for, be it for Lok Sabha, assembly or MCD. Voters in the north region vote differently in state and central elections than their counterparts in the south. I firmly believe if voters of Delhi are asked again to vote for Lok sabha now, they may give at least 6 seats to BJP.

b) Now coming to party-wise. (C-B-A). Congress: I had mentioned about its blunder to tie up with RJD. All the four RJD candidates lost their security in this election. Either Congress itself made a self-goal or they intentionally wanted to lose badly to help AAP.

c) BJP -- BJP gave a spirited fight in the last 2 weeks. If it had planned a strategy earlier with an honest and young credible face for chief minister candidate, there might be a good chance of coming back. It unleashed all the man, minister, media and money power in its disposal. It helped BJP which managed to increase overall vote share by 5% and got gain in 63 seats from last assembly elections. Pravesh Verma, son of one of the most honest leaders of BJP, Late Shaib Singh Verma may have become chief minister if BJP managed to get enough required seats.

d) Now on Aap - The crushing defeat of 2017 MCD elections changed the game for AAP. Kejriwal understood it well not to take the name of Modi any more and concentrate solely on work. It helped Aap and so the people of Delhi. Kejriwal did not take Modi's name at all in elections and maintained a safe distance from Shaheen Bagh protests. It helped him. The over-ambitious Kejriwal will try to come to the national diaspora in coming years if he managed to perform again in Delhi.

e) Finally a quick look at 3 assembly seats which are very important. Sanjiv Jha from Burari won by the highest margin. Burari has the highest concentration of Purvanchali voters.Manish Sisodia sneaked a narrow victory in Patparganj. He should say thanks to Uttarakhandi candidate of Congress who split vote of BJP candidate Mr Negi, another Uttarkhandi. Patparganj has around 20% population of Utarakhandi and they vote in consolidation. Mustafabad where AAP won and gained increase of 23% vote share (highest increase in any assembly seat). BJP had won here in 2015 amid AAP's tsunami. Muslim consolidated vote and loss of congress traditional vote helped AAP to cross 50 seats.

Elections are a frequent exercise in democracy, so the dignity of voters must be respected. Because you never know...

Plastic and Pakistan

Plastic and Pakistan

There is a growing concern about the use of plastic for the last few years. Similarly, there has been a sincere concern on the conduct of Pakistan as a responsible nation. There was a time when both these words were darling of the world’s most powerful and the richest. We can see plastic everywhere. Right from kitchen shelves, fridge to bathroom buckets. When I travelled to the western world for the first time, the first thing I observed was cleanliness and the second was the large scale use of plastic in everyday life.

I could see large scale use of plastic there as compared to developing nation like India. Milk in a plastic can, so is curd, cheese, butter, even a cucumber is wrapped in plastic and so is cauliflower. Back home in India, most of the people in rural or urban mostly use steel vessel to purchase milk. Vegetables like cauliflower, cucumber are not wrapped in plastic. I can see even packets of biscuits and potato chips have nested multiple plastic packs in the UK. In order to give customized handy products, the use of plastic is rampant everywhere. In short, thinking life without plastic looks next to the impossible.

If I go back in history, around 25 years back, very few people were using plastic water bottles while travelling by train or bus or for daily commutation. People used to refill their thermos at railway stations or bus stations. Water available there was considered quite good to drink and there were no reports of people falling sick after consuming such water. With the passing of time and advancement of modernity or overreach of the global economy, carrying thermos became old fashioned and a sign of being not prosperous. Instead, people started buying water bottles of Bisleri, Aquafina with pride and it became a social status to buy packaged water bottles. Celebrities, sultry models and their ads on television did the rest of the damage.

The influence of the corporate world and subsequent weakening of govt commitment to provide clean water to its citizens at appropriate junctures made the use of plastic bottles a need. It has become a menace now. Plastic pollution has reached the bottoms of oceans and to the core of solid glaciers of Siberia. The fragile world life in sea, earth and mountains are at risk. Per person, plastic waste in west is 3 times that of the

east. Thanks to the increased clamour on climate change in the western world and social media upheaval, people are turning back to the use of their thermos and started refilling it during travel. I have recently seen refill water joints in London zoo and London railway stations and was much happy to see it.

Any idea who is the biggest supplier of plastic as well as of Pakistan ?? it’s the red dragon. Most of the plastic toys, plastic kitchen wares, electronic parts, bathroom and garden parts are ‘made in china’ and so are the weapons, ammunition, missiles of Pakistan army and as well as its terrorists. At the time when India is sending advanced satellites to Mars and Moon for the welfare of mankind, Pakistan is too busy to launch its well-trained terrorists to India to create mayhem with weapons supplied by dragon king. The world is too much concerned about plastic and Pakistan nowadays. Its impact is huge on the dragon king’s economy. Restrictions on the use of plastic will shut down many factories of Guangzhou, China. Similarly a very poor and alienated Pakistan will impact China’s economy as China has got lots of vested interest in Pakistan for money or military.

But as there is a saying, ‘ there is time for everything’, the time has come to explore new alternatives of plastic if we want to save mother earth. Similarly, the time has come for the world to be very strict against Pakistan’s modus operandi to use terrorism to support its economy. As Pakistan is home to around 200 million people, it can not be wiped out but it’s very basic mentality on terrorism in the name of religion must be wiped out. Time for action on plastic and Pakistan which are bounded by a red dragon.

स्विस वाली चिड़ियाँ

स्विस वाली चिड़ियाँ
बचपन में  सुनी हुई कहानियों में अक्सर एक राक्षस का जिक्र आता था | कहानी कुछ इस तरह होती थी की राजा अपने पुरे सैन्य बल लेकर जाता और राक्षस पर हमला करता | राक्षस को भारी नुकसान पहुँचता पर फिर भी राजा उसे मार नहीं पाता | बार बार हमला करने के बाद राजा निराश हताश हो जाता | तमाम चाटुकार मंत्रियों के चाटने और एक से बढ़कर एक नृत्य देखने के बावजूद भी राजा का

मन निराशा के बादल से उबर नहीं पाता| ऐसे हालत में या तो किसी ऋषि का आगमन हिमालय से सीधे राज दरबार में होता या राजा किसी ऋषि के गुफ़ा में चला जाता और समस्या का निदान पूछता | ऋषि पहले उसे डाँट कर उसके अंहकार को चकनाचूर करते और राजा के बहुत विनती करने पर उसे बतलाते की राक्षस की प्राण आत्मा एक बहुत उच्चे पहाड़ पर स्तिथ एक बहुत उच्चे कटीली पेड़ पर बैठे एक छोटी सी नीली रंग की चिड़िया के अंदर है | अगर उस चिड़ियाँ को मार दिया जाए तो राक्षस खुद मर जाएगा | अच्छा हुआ मेनका गाँधी उस समय नहीं थी वरना राक्षस का मरना और मुश्किल हो जाता | शायद ऋषि को कुछ और उपाय बताना पड़ता |
ख़ैर राजा उपाय सुनकर खुशी से नाच उठता और ऋषि के चेलों के लिए एक फाइव स्टार आश्रम बनाने का आदेश देता | तुरंत सुरक्षा समिति की मीटिंग बुलाता और सुरक्षा सलाहकार को चिड़ियाँ मारने का आदेश दे देता | फिर 'न स जी ' कंमांडो के  विशेष दस्ते को भेजा जाता चिड़ियाँ को मारने के लिए , बिना बरखा दत्त को बताये हुए और राजा इस तरह राक्षस पर पूर्णत : विजय प्राप्त कर लेता | हम बच्चे कहानी सुनकर बहुत खुश हो जाते |
मैंने भी बचपन में अपने दादा दादी से इस तरह की बहुत कहानी सुनी है | इस बचपन वाली कहानी को याद करने के पीछे एक कारण था और वो भी बचपन से जुड़ा था | मैं अक्सर सोचता की राजनेताओं की चमड़ी किसी विशेष पदार्थ से बनी होती है या इनके दिल के ऊपर लोहे का भारी कवच लगा होता है , की इतने आरोप ,लांक्षन , हाय और बद्दुआओं के बावज़ूद ये लम्बी उम्र तक ठाठ से जीते हैं | मैंने तमाम लोगो से सवाल पूछा ,खोज करने की कोशिश कि पर कुछ हाथ नहीं लगा | फिर एक दिन अचानक एक समाचार पढ़ा की 'अक्षय तृतीया ' के समय स्विट्ज़रलैंड जानी वाली फ्लाइट्स के टिकट के दाम बढ़ जाते हैं | थोड़ी ख़ोज बिन करने पर समझ आया की उस समय तमाम राजनेता और राशुकदार लोग स्विट्ज़रलैंड के स्विस बैंक जाते हैं पूजा अर्चना करने | स्विस बैंक में वो जादुई चिड़ियाँ - 'स्विस चिड़ियाँ ' अवस्थित है जिनके दर्शन को ये लोग जाते हैं | इन राजनेताओं की प्राण आत्मा उस राक्षस की तरह ही उस स्विस चिड़ियाँ में बस्ती है | इसलिए तो इंसान की तरह दिखने वाले इन राजनेतओं का कोई कुछ नहीं बिगाड़ पाता | कोई कोर्ट , कोई जाँच एजेंसी इनका बाल न बांका कर पाता है | ये स्विस चिड़िया बहुत गर्मी पैदा करती है इसलिए उसे भारत से काफी दूर बर्फ से ढककर रखा जाता है |उसकी सुरक्षा का पूरा ध्यान रखा जाता है | अगर स्विस चिड़िया के बारे में कोई अख़बार कोई खबर छाप दे तो तमाम 'राक्षस गण ' तड़प उठते हैं | इस तरह की खबर छापने वाले पर गाज गिर जाती है | सत्ता पर कब्ज़ा किसी भी पार्टी की हो पर स्विस चिड़िया की रक्षा में कोई कटौती नहीं आती | अब मुद्दा ये है की इस चिड़ियाँ पर हमला कौन करेगा और यहाँ राजा कौन है ?
न तो राजा को कोई फ़िक्र न मंत्री को | राजा निराश भी नहीं है की उसे ऋषि की सलाह की जरुरत पड़े | शायद ऋषि भी अपने आश्रम में निश्चिंत हैं | और बच्चे कहानी के अंत का इंतज़ार कर रहे हैं |
कृत्य  - कुणाल

सांता की घर वापसी

सांता की घर वापसी

२४ दिसंबर की रात थी | सांता जापान होते हुए भारत में प्रवेश कर रहे थे | उनके हाथ में भारत से प्रकाशित होने वाले कुछ अख़बार के पन्ने थे जिससे वो यहाँ की ताज़ा जानकारी ले रहे  थे | चुकी भारत एक विशाल देश है , उन्होंने सिर्फ ३ राज्यों में घूमने का मन बनाया था | पहला राज्य था - पश्चिम बंगाल। सबसे पहले  वो हावड़ा  ब्रिज के पास उतरे | वहाँ उन्होंने अपने नियम के अनुसार कुछ बच्चों को चॉकलेट बांटा | वहीँ उनकी नज़र सफ़ेद साड़ी पहने एक नारी पर गयीं जो पेंट  ब्रश लेकर एक पेंटिंग बना रही थी | नज़दीक जाने पर उन्हें समझ आ गया की ये 'दीदी' ही हैं | उन्होंने दीदी को नमस्कार किया | दीदी भी उन्हें तुरंत पहचान गयी और उन्हें एक कुर्सी पर  बैठ्या |  दीदी ने सांता का कुशलछेम पूछा, फिर बोली ,' तुम सब को कुछ न कुछ देते हो इसलिए हम भी तुम्हे कुछ देगा |' फिर एक ड्रेस का पैकेट देते हुए बोली ,' सांता तुमने ये लाल ड्रेस क्यों पहना है ?  कहीं तुम मार्क्सिस्ट तो नहीं हो ? लो ये हरा ड्रेस पहन लो |वैसे भी हमारे राज्य में हरा रंग काफी लोकप्रिय है | ' सांता ने बिना कुछ कहे वो ड्रेस अपने पास रख लिया | दीदी फिर बोली ,'मैं तुम्हे एक और चीज दूंगी | ये लो मेरी शानदार पेंटिंग |' सांता दुविद्या में थे | पेंटिंग को ध्यान से देखकर बोले  ,' दीदी ये आप किसी कलाकार या बड़े व्यापारी को देना , मुझे ये समझ में नहीं आता | ' दीदी को गुस्सा आ गया पर सेक्युलर होने के नाते वो शांत रही | फिर बोली ,'सांता हमारे यहाँ का संदेश खाओ | ये बंगाल का प्यार है | ' सांता फिर दुविद्या में आ गए | थोड़ी  हिचकिचाहट के साथ बोले ,' मीठा देना और बाँटना तो मेरा काम है| आप क्यों मीठा खिला रही है ? डॉक्टर ने मेरे बढ़ते वज़न को देखकर मीठा नहीं खाने को बोला है | ये आप किसी गरीब या छोटे बच्चे को दे दीजिये | ' अब दीदी का पारा चढ़ चूका था |पेंट और ब्रश फेंककर  बोली ,' सांता तेरा दिमाग ख़राब है जो दीदी का दिया हुआ मिठाई नहीं खा रहा | भाग जाओ यहाँ से |  नहीं तो तुम यहाँ दंगा फैलाएगा | अब कभी यहाँ मत आना | ' सांता जान बचा कर भागे वहां से |
उनका अगला राज्य था उत्तर प्रदेश | दीदी के व्यवहार ने सांता को थोड़ा चौकना कर दिया | वो उत्तर प्रदेश की जानकारी इकट्ठा करने लगे | उन्होंने किसी से केसरिया ड्रेस ले लिया और चॉकलेट की जग़ह लड्डू रख लिया | उन्होंने सोचा दीदी तो खुद सफ़ेद साड़ी पहनती है फिर भी मुझे हरा ड्रेस पहना रही थी फिर यहाँ का तो मुखिया खुद केसरिया पहनता है , इसलिए केसरिया ड्रेस पहन लेने में ही भलाई है | सांता ने यहाँ हनुमान की भी चर्चा काफ़ी सुनी थी इसलिए उन्होंने चॉकलेट की जग़ह लड्डू रख लिया | सांता सबसे पहले अयोध्या सरयू नदी के घाट पर पहुँचे | सुबह होने वाली ही थी | उन्होंने अपने थैले से लड्डू निकाल कर बाँटना शुरू ही किया था की उनकी नज़र केसरिया वस्त्र पहने कुंडलधारी केश रहित छोटे कद के इंसान पर पड़ी | उन्हें थोड़ा संदेह हुआ की योगी हैं की नहीं पर आसपास बंदूकधारी कमांडो और ३-४ गाये को देखकर समझ गए की ये तो राज्य के मुखिया ही हैं | सांता भागकर गए उनके पास | उन्हें लगा केसरिया वस्त्र देख 'योगी ' जी खुश होंगे | हुआ भी वैसा ही | कमांडो के रोकने के बावजूद भी योगी जी ने उन्हें अंदर बुला लिया | योगी बोले,' आओ सांता , आसान पर विराजो | देखो, कितना अच्छा लग रहा है ये केसरिया ड्रेस तुम्हारे ऊपर | तुम्हारे रुझान को देख मैंने तुम्हारे लिए कुछ स्कीम सोचा है | मेरे हिसाब से तुम 'घर वापसी' कर लो | जिस जाति में घर वापसी करना चाहो हो जायेगा | आजकल मैं जाति प्रमाण पत्र भी तुरंत दे देता हूँ चाहे भगवान ही क्यों न हो |' सांता काफ़ी उलझन में पड़ गए | थोड़ा हिम्मत करके बोले ,' योगी जी, मेरा घर तो यहाँ है ही नहीं , मैं तो ठण्ड में कुछ समय के लिए यहाँ आ जाता हूँ | और देखिये मैं इस बार लड्डू लेकर आया हूँ | मुझे घर वापसी के झमेले में न फँसाये | ' योगी जी की आँखें क्रोध से लाल हो गयीं पर सांता के केसरिया रंग और लड्डू को देखकर शांत हो गए | कुछ सोचकर फिर बोले ,' अच्छा सांता एक काम करो,कम से कम अपने नाम की ही वापसी कर लो | अपना नाम 'संत कैलाश' कर लो | तुम्हारी दाढ़ी भी संतो की तरह ही है | यहीं सरयू के घाट पर एक कुटिया बनवा देता हूँ | अच्छे संत बन जाओगे तो एक ५१ फ़ीट की स्टेचू भी बनवा दूंगा | तुम वाजपेयी जी के जन्मदिवस पर आते हो इसलिए उन्ही के स्टेचू के बग़ल में तुम्हारा स्टेचू रहेगा | बोलो क्या कहते हो ?' योगी जी मुस्कुरा कर बोले | सांता फिर दुविधा में पर गए | थोड़ा सोच कर बोले ,' योगी जी, पूरे संसार में लोग मुझे सांता क्लॉस के नाम से जानता है | बच्चे इसी नाम से मुझे बुलाते हैं और मुझे अच्छा लगता है | मुझे माफ़ कीजिये | ' अब योगी जी का चेहरा , कान और यहाँ तक की कान के कुण्डल भी क्रोध से लाल हो गए थे | बोले ,' सांता तुम बहुत जिद्दी हो | तुम्हारा स्नेह हिंदुत्व के लिए नहीं है | तुरंत निकल जाओ हमारे प्रदेश से | 'ये कहकर योगी जी गाय के पीठ को सहलाने लगे |  सांता समझ गए ,आगे कुछ बोलने से फायदा नहीं है और थोड़ा और रुकने पर एनकाउंटर की सम्भावना भी हो सकती है | वो निकल गए तीसरे  और अपने आख़िरी राज्य की तरफ |
वो पहुँच गए देश की राजधानी | सांता थोड़ा अच्छा महसूस कर रहे थे | उन्होंने पढ़ा था की दिल्ली का मुखिया पढ़ा लिखा है और काफी मेहनत कर रहा है | सुबह लगभग हो चुकी थी फिर भी कोहरे के कारण अँधेरा छाया ही हुआ था | तभी सांता को बिजली के पोल पे चढ़ा एक आदमी दिखाई दिया जो चश्मा लगाया हुआ था , नाक पर मास्क और गर्दन में मफलर  बाँधे हुए था | वो पोल पर कुछ बाँध रहा था | सांता ने उसे आवाज़ दिया | उस आदमी ने टोर्च मरकर देखा तो सांता दिख गए | आदमी नीचे उतर आया और सांता से हाथ मिलाने लगा | ' आओ जी सांता जी,कैसे हो आप ? दिल्ली में आपका स्वागत है | आपने नाक पर मास्क नहीं बाँधा ? कोई नहीं जी कोई नहीं | मैं अभी मनीष को कहता हूँ आपके लिए मास्क ले आएगा | ' मनीष का नाम आते ही सांता समझ गए की ये तो अरविन्द जी ही हैं | सांता बोले ,' अरे नहीं अरविन्द जी , इसकी कोई जरुरत नहीं है | पर आप इस पोल पर क्या कर रहे थे ?' अरविन्द जी बोले ,' अरे वाह सांता जी ! आप तो मुझे पहचान गए | इससे पता चलता है की हमारी सरकार के चर्चे रोम तक हो रहे हैं | वाह ! ख़ैर वो मैं ऊपर कैमरा लगा रहा था और मनीष स्क्रीन पर कैमरा को चेक करने गया था | सांता जी , हम दिल्ली और पूरे देश और पूरे दुनिया के लिए बहुत काम कर रहे हैं | अगर जनता ने चाहा तो अगले  ५ साल में १५० देशों में आम आदमी पार्टी की सरकार बन जाएगी | आपको यकीन न हो तो मनीष से पूछ लेना | ' सांता थोड़े अचरज में पर गए,१५० देशों में सरकार | फिर सोचा की इनका दोष नहीं है ,दिल्ली की हवा ही ऐसी है | सांता बोले ,' अच्छा अरविन्द जी, मैं चलता हूँ | आपसे मिलकर अच्छा लगा| ' अरविन्द जी भड़क गए , बोले ' अरे सांता जी , अभी अभी तो आप आये हो , कम से कम एक बार मोहल्ला क्लिनिक तो हो आओ | मुफ़्त में इलाज़ करवा लो , मुफ्त में टेस्ट करवा लो , मुफ़्त में दवा ले लो | मनीष आपको ले जायेगा क्लिनिक | सांता परेशान हो गए और बोले ,' अरे नहीं , मुझे कोई बीमारी नही है | मुझे नहीं करवाना इलाज़ | ' अरविन्द जी को गुस्सा आ गया | बोले ,' अरे ये क्या बात हुई |  अगर इलाज़ नहीं करवाना तो आपको तीर्थ यात्रा करना पड़ेगा | आपको मुफ्त में वैष्णो देवी, अमृतसर ,अजमेर की यात्रा करवाएंगे | वैसे भी आप सीनियर सिटीजन हो | आप चिंता मत करो , मनीष आपको बस से ले जायेगा | वो तो मोदी जी हमें काम नहीं करने देते , न तो आम आदमी की सरकार दिल्ली को रोम बना देती | ' सांता अब काफी परेशां हो गए थे , फिर बोले , ' अरविन्द जी , मुझे अब लेट हो रहा है , मैं चलता हूँ | मुझे जल्दी है | ' अरविन्द जी का पारा चढ़ चूका था | मफलर को ढीला करके बोले ,' सांता तुम तो बहुत जिद्दी हो | तुम्हे दिल्ली की परवाह नहीं है | मुझे तो लगता है तुम्हे  मोदीजी ने भेजा है हम पर नज़र रखने के लिए | तुम सब मिले हुए हो जी | सब मिले हुए जी | मैं अभी मनीष से कहकर तुम्हे पकड़वा दूंगा | ' ये कहकर अरविंद जी मनीष को कॉल करने लगे | सांता समझ गए की इससे पहले मनीष आये यहाँ से निकल लेना चाहिए | मनीष ने शायद अपना मोबाइल स्विच ऑफ कर रखा था |