What the Stars don't Fortell

I have spent 40 years looking up my stars (and also looking up to the heavens), hoping for a change ‘next week’. The more I read, the more my respect for the fraternity thickens – for their creative writing - and not the fact that these stars have never come true till date.  These star writers must be the most intelligent humans, a creative writing community, repeating week after week, the same thing for different stars in different writing styles – masters of English language really.

Last Sunday, one of the esteemed dailies wrote this for me, a Virgo. “Your emotional Moon (whatever that means) brings a passionate aspect to your sign this week, placing an undeniable accent on frivolity and friendship that have often been in short supply in the past. Why not take advantage of a more relaxed mood at work to defer irksome tasks until later – but not for too long”.

Well, the passion is still very much alive, and I have always been passionate about everything. Frivolous? Yes, at times. But to say that ‘frivolity and friendship have been in short supply in the past’ is factually wrong in my case. As for taking ‘advantage of a more relaxed mood at work’, the stars fall flat as neither do I have a work place, nor anything akin to 'work' at the moment!

Perhaps, the ‘irksome tasks’ the writer refers to must be the domestic assignments, and work delegated to me by the females at home!

More forecasts.  ‘You will have a surprise from your past friend of opposite sex’. I am absolutely delighted. But I am confused and yet, full of suspense! I had, and continue to have, so many girl friends. Those from the past do keep in touch off and on. But, what surprise do I expect? A mere appearance or something more tantalising?? I do not want to clarify my confusion any further lest some people blame me for being sexist!

And finally, ‘Romance is in the air’! Wow. Does it smell? Or does it feel? Well. The thrilling part is that mere expectation of these things actually happening soon, and the tingling suspense, helps in ticking the minutes by. Brilliant writers I say!

Whatever it may be, words, deeds and actions as mentioned by these starry-eyed writers should better come true for me. I can't wait.

Meanwhile, I have time to do some extra domestic chores. Oh, I have got to go down again for an irksome task. My wife wants chillies and coriander and ginger and.. . These items were not on the list of my previous excursion to the veggie shop just minutes ago. No blame game. Just go, get it!

Brilliant they may be but the dream-sellers can never forecast the beauty, the complexity of such micro-moments in a particular week and activities within.

Either that or the media should carry a statutory warning sign on the relevant page:

“Not Valid for Senior Citizens”.

Haritika: Confluence of Destinies

In 1990, I was in a team that conceptualized a unique, intensive programme called the Training Programme in Environment Education (TEE), a nine-month long, residential module that covered the science and socio-economics of Environment; Development, and Communications. I facilitated the same at the Centre for Environment Education (CEE), Ahmedabad for 9 long years. In August 2013, I visited one of the several development specialists that TEE hoped to produce. This inspired story is an illustration of how, unknown to most of us, our past actions done routinely, out of duty or ’job’ years ago, can actually have a massive impact on lives of so many today.

Preamble

The year is 1993. Avani Mohan Singh of Jhansi is one of the 15 post-graduates from all over India to have made it to the TEE. He has joined the training programme to have ‘a change from the boredom’ of his earlier, mundane job in pharma industry.

Around the same time, the poor in the drought-prone villages of Bundlekhand region of Madhya Pradesh were living a hopeless life. The water was either not available or not fit for consumption. The hand pumps did not work and the wells were dry. Men and women had to walk miles to get drinking water. In some tribal areas, they had to literally scrap the drying streams after walking 2 kms first; there was hardly any other activity nor was there any time for it! Survival was priority!

As the 9-month capacity building module got going, visioning processes started to develop in Avani’s confused mind; ideas emerged and crystallized, and soon, he had made up his mind what to do next - with utmost clarity of detail.  Lives were about to change forever– dramatically!

Events unfolded as if the destiny of Avani and those of the people of Bundlekhand were entwined without the knowledge of each other. In October, 1994, Avani registered his organization called ‘Haritika’ at Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh. And so began the journey towards transformation.

The Story so far…

Avani firmly believes in, and is actively involved in promoting dignity and gender equity through poor people's social, economic, political and human capacity building. As he went around scouting, he found that Bundelkhand district in north Madhya Pradesh (MP) is one of the most poorly endowed regions of the State as far as natural resources are concerned.  It had a very low agricultural productivity, characterized as it is, by hard rock with poor top soil cover and low ground water availability. Given the largely undulating topography of the area, the main problem faced in the project area is the soil erosion and shortage of water for irrigation and domestic purposes.

What struck Avani the most was the fact that the communities and populations un-served by water and sanitation services mostly belong to socially disadvantaged groups which have their separate hamlets usually located on the periphery of a village. Women and girl children were generally found to be among the poorest groups in the region, suffering the most from inadequate water supply and sanitation coverage.

After a few successful but tough initial attempts in Rund karari, a village in Uttar Pradesh, it was in 1995 with the support of DPAP (Drought Prone Area Programme) of MP Government , that Haritika constructed several hundred structures such as stop dams, check dams, tube-wells and dug wells, and storage tanks. After that Haritika worked on Integrated Water Resource Management and focused on NRM (Natural Resource Management) through partnerships, collaborations and networking. The activities included soil and water conservation, and intensification/diversification of agriculture.

In 1998, Haritika spread its activities further in Uttar Pradesh villages with support from the World Bank, and later, it established its Head Office at Nowgaon in MP on an acre of land. They also established several field offices including one each in Uttar Pradesh and Rajashtan In Madhya Pradesh, Haritika started first with engineering solutions, those that directly addressed the basic needs of people in the 39 villages of Nowgaon block of District Chhatarpur through its drinking water projects. Large areas of the region had underlying hard rock formation and remain uncultivated, primarily due to shortage of irrigation water. Haritika therefore adopted what is known as the ‘watershed approach’ for treatment of land in the project area.

Avani explaining the watershed approach

A school block with toilets & Water storage tank

What impresses a visitor is the fact that Haritika has synergized funding from several sources, and used them for different components of its model of sustainable development. This has water at its focus with inter-linkages to renewable power generation, toilet blocks, agriculture, horticulture and improved cropping patterns and practices. For example, in a single village in Nowgaon block, one can see 24x7 water supply (unheard of in cities) possible because of a stop dam, storage tank and solar energy; toilet blocks with water supply, and three crops in a year plus fruit bearing trees in thousands. Village committees operate and maintain the infrastructure so created, and the communities pay for operation and maintenance willingly. One can sense the dramatic increase in incomes and improved quality of lives – a feeling of total security, peace and of well-being.

At Patna tribal village: A Reservoir of Hope!

A visit to 90 tribal families in Patna village in Bijawar block is a lesson for intrepid entrepreneurs in development sector. It is a region where no one would possibly venture. The tribals were once steeped in poverty and prone to violence; their occupation was gathering wild plants of some medicinal value; there was little water in the drying streams. Today, they have two stop dams with huge water storage reservoirs, a bore well, and fence-protected farms with at least two crops plus vegetables. What more can these people ask for! And yet, Avani pursues them relentlessly, giving them ideas in an effort to create more demand which he says Haritika can easily meet.

In summary, Haritika has adopted a right-based approach for integrated planning and implementation of water, sanitation and hygiene in the backward districts of Bundelkhand. Availability of piped water supply has not only saved the time of the women that can be gainfully utilized, but also the availability of safe drinking water has saved many lives from diseases and disabilities caused due to polluted water. Besides, appropriate water recharge structures like check dams and stop dams have been erected along the water sources. Considering the erratic power supply in many of the villages, Haritika has developed models of solar energy operated water supply schemes.  These interventions have helped in improving the health status, and quality of life for the people in rural Madhya Pradesh.

For its absolutely commendable efforts, Haritika continues to receive financial support from NABARD, Coca Cola Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation, just to name a few. Small funding often comes from private trusts in UK and USA.

In Conclusion

The route to transformation had its own challenges yes, but looking back, and after all the hard work by Team Haritika, success could never have been so sweet, so fulfilling. Over past 19 years now, Avani Mohan Singh and his Team, have entrenched themselves in the hearts of grateful villagers and tribals in Bundelkhand.

Recollects Avani, “The 9 months spent  in Ahmedabad were incredibly full of practical lessons. We learnt something that we did not learn in the 9 years of formal education. That inspired me.” It was never easy though. “I must acknowledge the cooperation of fraternity of the Indian Administrative Services of Madhya Pradesh who extended their support and cooperation during the tough, initiation phase”, he adds gratefully.

Recognition has come in the form of ‘World Water Prize’ from the Japan Water Forum, and FICCI (India) NGO Awards. However, one can easily discern a sense of restlessness in this once calm, quiet person. He knows that as an NGO, he has just entered an equivalent of adolescence. Adulthood will surely follow as nothing spurs like success tasted. Haritika, with its pioneering efforts, will surely make the difference to enhanced quality of life as their model continues to replicate itself among the poor of Bundelkhand.

What a visitor learns is simple. Dreams do come true but only if one envisions goals, and then, honestly puts in dedicated hard labour to achieve them. Haritika is a modern-day proof of that maxim!

A Stop Dam..

40,000 lit capacity water storage tank..

A Solar Farm..

..and 24x7 water supply!

One of the agri-hoticulture bounties

Bombay not Mumbai!

Bombay not Mumbai!

As the BEST Bus Route No. 123 turned the corner at Chowpatty in Mumbai one evening in March 2013, I got deeply nostalgic and even emotional. This happens regularly whenever I re-visit Mumbai at least once a year, sometimes twice.

There were two good reasons for this mental rejuvenation as I would like to call it. As Route 123 was waiting at this corner to get some space to take a left turn on this crowded Sunday evening, on one side was the hallowed Mackichan Hall, my hostel, now celebrating its centenary year. This is where I grew out of my childhood of Africa over a period of 4 years - unwittingly assisted by my friends!

And on the left, of course, was the great Wilson College, glowing in the arc lights installed by the civic authorities, the college being a heritage property – and one in which I spent the most glorious 23 years of my life, both, as a student first, and later continuing as a lecturer in Biology. And so, you can imagine the nostalgia, the flood of sentiments and reels of memories.

The bus finally took the left turn and moved on.

What I noticed was the slow, leisurely pace of the bus; the traffic was thick, the crowds even thicker. Why, this was never there in Bombay, I told myself. All over Chowpatty beach were throngs of families; the Arabian Sea was at low tide. Lost in swirling thoughts, I almost missed the still beautiful Queen’s necklace. Rolling on and on the left, there were some new glitzy restaurants with long Qs but the Cream Centre is still there albeit in a new avatar. All along Marine Drive, I could see people sitting on the parapet on the sea, enjoying a stiff sea breeze and of course having their favourite snacks. Not an inch of sitting space was available on the parapet for almost two kilometres of the Necklace.

As the bus rolled past Wilson Gymkhana on the left, I noticed a floodlight cricket match going on there. This again was a novelty to this Bombayite! One more left turn further down, and I got down opposite Brabourne Stadium and began walking towards Flora Fountain. It was 7.30 pm. There, that is Gaylord having survived the onslaught of time since 1987 when I left Mumbai. Churchgate station is same except that there are underpasses for throngs of passengers to spread out on the other side of roads. I had to join them towards Flora Fountain, walking down another hallowed place, the (formerly Royal) Institute of Science where many more friendships blossomed, and where I was elected “Mr. Institute” after a hectic electioneering campaign by my team! Walking past and turning towards Kala Ghoda, I cast a rather mournful glance at Regal Cinema on the opposite corner. We used to walk back to our hostel at Chowpatty after a night show here, not listening to the pleadings by Victoriawallahs; the Rs. 100/- shared ride between 4-5 of us was too costly at that time, with most of us forever broke! Seriously.

This visit however, I had no time for Colaba Road and for having a meal at Olympia that offers the finest of surti moghlai khana. Finally, I was at Flora Fountain. This area looks so different at night. It is uncannily peaceful! And I always visit Flora at night, alone. Being Sunday, my favourite Irani restaurant was closed. But I discovered its neighbour, Anku. It is a cute, padded thing with just a family having their Sunday dinner; lovely atmosphere, particularly for those walking down the memory lane in Mumbai that was once Bombay. I had a chilled beer and after a quick chat with the owner, walked back to Churchgate to have my dinner at Satkar. Alas, its menu has changed over time; the South Indian thalli is missing and so also the puri-korma and an unusual Russian Salad.  I settled for the next best – sev puri (yummy) followed by a crunchy Ghee Rava Dosa.  Soon, it was time to leave for Ahmedabad.

Many friends and relatives in Mumbai find it difficult to believe that I come down to a place that is ‘so dirty’, and overcrowded to ‘enjoy’. What is there to enjoy, they ask. But how can one explain that what is Mumbai now was once upon a time Bombay?  How do I describe the rush of feelings, the sum total of which is nostalgia, of a Bombaywallah to a Mumbaikar? How, how can one explain the youthful romanticism of once-Bombay flavoured with great Hindi films and even greater film music? I simply can’t.

Nor would my Mumbaikar friends understand the joys (and pains) of life those days in Bombay, reflected in this famous song of our times from the film ‘Anari’ –“banke paanchhi gaye pyaar ka tarrana, mil jaaye agar aaj koi saathi mastana, aur jhume yeh dharti, aur jhume aasmaan”.

Thank you Mumbai! Were it not for you, where else would I re-live Bombay?!

Come, Come Back to Nature

Globalisation. World is a village. How often do we hear such words and phrases! Our spirits soar. For such phrases ultimately mean economic gain, foreign exchange to be precise! All those wonderful essays on the components of the process that is globalization are unwitting attempts at deluding ourselves and we keep doing this ad nauseum. I say delusion because, we know exactly as to where this unstoppable process is leading to.  Extinction?  Of course not.

Disaster? Ummm..perhaps, yes!

The cost of runaway development in a developing country that is India, is our degrading environment, our precious natural heritage and the country’s innate beauty. This world may be a village thank you but mother India has lost its villages. Environment? It’s globalization, dear and we really should not bother about it, should we? Well, this attitude is understandable coming from a no-holds-barred businessman but, to the misfortune of us Indians, it has percolated down to the common man, the misled, deluded villager.

Now, now. Don’t get me wrong. I am neither an environment activist nor a doomsayer! In fact, my generation can proudly say that they are the products of real development. Today’s crowd including young baby-boomers, fail to – rather, refuse to - understand the real meaning of ‘enjoyment’. As a product borne out of globalization and the resultant fast pace of development, their enjoyment means material life, fast buck and ‘have fun’ attitude. Well! Why not? Development in the good old days had a feeling for nature’s bounty. Without begrudging the attitude of the youth today, can we also take care of our natural resources? The answer is an emphatic ‘yes’. Yes, we can!

It is a universally accepted fact the India is the only country in the world to have a range of ecological, biological and cultural diversity. Be grateful to God for this gift. A developing economy like ours needs both, the businessperson and the environment educator (as against environmentalist - no activism please!). While the businessperson provides all the basic needs plus material things in terms of goods and services and pumps cash into an ailing economy, the environment educator keeps him/her on toes so that all of us breathe easy. This is technically defined as 'sustainable development'.

However, no amount of International conferences on the hole in our ozone layer or Save Tiger rhetoric or World Environment Days can do anything to stop homo sapiens’s vulgar encroachment on our national, natural heritage – unless, we, in our individual capacities, feel and empathize with nature; one regrets to say this but we just don’t.

The result: we have forgotten to even appreciate nature; the proof lies in the black comedy that unfolds everyday at ‘tourist’ places, in the hordes that go to ‘points’ to watch sunsets and sunrise; the cacophony of sounds emanating from a massive human swell is incredible. The loud crunching of wafers for example, the drinks, the games, the percussion instruments, the ubiquitous tape recorder (that too blaring pop music) – the list is endless. The climax (or anti-climax, depending upon how one views it!) comes when you hear loud, bawdy comments like,”..so what was so beautiful ?…We wasted our time!”. The unfolding tragedy ends with terrifying and polluting noises from departing diesel ‘package’ buses hurrying the tourist to the coziness of ‘its’ un-natural habitat. And that too, after visiting another temple nearby and offering prayers! This particular tribe does not ‘feel’, does not empathise; they don’t care. And yet, they ‘enjoyed’, they had ‘fun’. Nothing can be funnier than that!

And so, for the umpteenth time, the sun just set, without anyone realising it, without anyone appreciating it. If appreciation of Nature is a forgotten art, this little event demonstrates it with tragic brutality. ‘Little’ it might be but the implication of the drama is mighty big! If there is any learning from it, it is this: we fail miserably, on a daily basis, to experience the whole gamut of emotions that natural phenomena offer for us to appreciate Nature; globalization has brainwashed us into taking Nature for granted, taking it lightly.

The use of capital ‘N’ is important and very necessary in today’s times. To be with Nature and appreciate its all-encompassing beauty is to be with God, no less. One just does not have to go to any temple, for heaven’s sake! And if you do so without being with Nature, then, it is sheer hypocrisy; worse, you are committing a sin that no amount of sacred waters or confessions can wash. Yet, we continue to move on this path deluding ourselves that we are happy and contented in doing so; and, we continue to offer prayers even as we throw the skins of the very fruits that we offer, out on the streets.

Somewhere along the way and in our sub-conscious is a germ of anxiety, may be unhappiness; something is amiss; there is ‘incompleteness’ about life. Just think about it. There is an inkling of fulfillment not happening despite our ‘happy’ life, our ‘higher’ standard of living, our overall ‘Gross’ domestic product (economists love GDP, don’t they?).

Unknowingly, the problem lies with the total absence of anything like an attitude towards Nature; the irony of it all is the fact that our vedas, shashtras and puranas form the very basis of what the rest of the world labels as ‘environment education’. We had it all these millennia and yet, we have forgotten it; our children don’t even know about it and we the elders care two paise for it. Extend this aspect further and it should be explicitly clear why there are no audiences to appreciate even our arts and culture, our dances and our music. The reason is simple; you don’t appreciate Nature and you don’t understand our folk and classical performing arts – for they are based on nuances drawn straight out of the very environment which, once upon a time, we used to inhabit - and, hold sacred.

Now, we have only a few places left to be there and quietly, be with God; it is in solitude even as we are in groups that we can experience the beauty that Nature still offers, albeit grudgingly - because we have almost destroyed it, have’nt we? Fulfillment, happiness, rich and poor, religious and atheist – at least to me, these words are as meaningless as a dead stump of a tree minus its once beautiful canopy. No, surely it is not development. It is stark naked retrogression if development is without understanding our very basis of life, mother Nature.

So, let globalization take a path that is consciously tempered by our prayers to Nature. Come. Come back to Nature! Feel it by heart and internalize it. And you will be a complete human being once again. Even as you experience a refreshing, newly found compassion for God, it is a promise that, of all the issues bothering the society today, bread and butter will certainly not be one of them! 

Madurodam: Marvel of Miniatures!

Drs. Uma & Yashesh Anantani were on tour to European countries in 2012. Visiting the marvel that is Madurodam was one of the most thrilling highlights. This replica of The Netherlands truly proves the famous innovative, engineering genius of the Dutch.

Fact File

Madurodam is a miniature of Holland located in Scheveningen, The Hague, in The Netherlands (Holland) and a 40-min drive from Amsterdam. It is a model of a Dutch town on a 1:25 scale, composed of typical Dutch buildings and landmarks, as are found at various locations in the country. This major Dutch tourist attraction was built in 1952 and has been recently reconstructed from a scratch.

The miniature 'city' was named after George Maduro, a Jewish law student from Curaçao who fought the Nazi occupation forces as a member of the Dutch resistance and died at Dachau concentration camp in 1945. In 1946, Maduro was posthumously awarded the highest and oldest military decoration in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, for the valor he had demonstrated in the Battle of the Netherlands against German troops. His parents donated the funds necessary for the Madurodam project.

The models are exact replicas of real buildings in Holland. Some outstanding miniatures are of Utrecht Cathedral, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, Schiphol Airport, Rotterdam harbour, the canals of Amsterdam and the Central Railway Station, the Stadium, the Dutch Houses of Parliament, palaces, historic houses and castles, et cetera.

The models are so beautifully and accurately constructed that it blurs any differences from the original; the grounds are landscaped with lawns and gardens and hundreds of bonsai trees, many of them 6o years old but only 1/2 metre high! The detailing and its craftsmanship is superb and faultless.

If you are a child at heart and like moving model trains, traffic on highways, planes and ships and other miniature objects and want to feel like a Giant surveying a tiny city at your feet, the fantastic Madurodam is the place to visit in The Netherlands!

Mother India!

Women Power to Empowerment:   Fiction and Facts

'And God Created a Woman' !

It was a lovely film with Gina Lolobrigida, the Italian legend, a woman so beautiful, and the beautiful woman that she portrayed amidst a classy, extravagantly staged milieu. That is the imprint I am still carrying from those impressionable childhood in Africa.

Almost around the same time, even as I was entering the romantic adolescence dreaming about the beautiful Ginas, ‘Mother India’ happened!

And the beautiful woman again - Nargis this time!

However, what Nargis portrayed in Mehboob’s classic magnum opus, was a transition, from a demure village belle in love, to a young poverty-stricken widow surrounded by her two dirty looking, grieving children, and finally, to a politically empowered lady. What she assayed was a rural Indian beauty with an unforgettable expression of pain on her mud slapped yet beautiful face, stuck with thick brown streaks of wet, disheveled hair.

What was only a transition, turns to transformation, as Mother India undergoes the drudgery of daily life in a village full of antagonistic elements and a villainous money lender who eyes her lecherously - a classical situation in a society where caste, class and widows are taboos. For a short while that she is happy even as the transformation towards the old aging mother continues subtly, she enjoys life with her two sons and their lovers - until the moneylender invites trouble, and one good son turns a murderer.

And Mother India, the innately powerful rural woman comes alive! On the screen that is!

The old woman as portrayed by a beautifully young Nargis, is by now a bent figure with wrinkles, gray hair and with a couple of teeth missing. Her drooping eyes showing the venom of justice despite her personal social predicament, she picks up a heavy rifle, and shaking with rage,  manages to mount it on her drooping shoulders. And then, she takes an unsteady aim at her murderer son with one eye closed, the grey eyebrows twitching with a momentary rage.

The close-up remains unforgettable, the whole range of emotions, quite simply, heart rending - her unseen yet surely broken heart and her visibly angry determination to bring her son to justice and that too, in spite of her very social constraints that he fought to demolish.

The trigger did work and there is one last transition. The innate but benign power of Mother India transforms her to a genuine political leader of the village even as she sees, or so she imagines, the blood of her son, flowing into a canal that she has just inaugurated!

But, that was a celluloid fiction, a visual feast for the masses. What are the facts today in agrarian mother India? Transition, transformation, social biases and evils, poverty, isolation, attitudes; the oppression and neglect; decision making, conflict/resolution; the daily drudgery, the innate beauty and the tenacity of the beautiful Indian woman, particularly in a village; the things she can do if only empowered. That for us is the rural Indian woman in a predominantly male bastion that is supposedly proud of its villages with a diverse set of traditions and culture, set amidst our fast degrading natural heritage.

Well! Be it a fact or the fiction, some sensitive, creative souls gave us a beautiful rendering by Gina and the ugly-yet-beautiful Mother India. We are forever grateful to them.

‘And God created a Woman’ – yes. But whosoever created the subject of 'Gender and Equity, it was certainly not Him!!

Gender? Now, what's THAT??

Gender Shredder

Let me first make a statement of fact - I love women and admire their God-given gifts including temperament, tolerance, etcetera and etcetera. Quite naturally! After all, it is God who created a woman, right?

And, we men are all sensitive - sometimes too sensitive - to women, physically, emotionally, psychologically. If I sound defensive or, if you feel that something is cooking, you might just be right. Let me assure you that we are not about to witness a battle of sexes and yet, it just might turn out to be a rather sexy, internecine war!

A rather silly question: if H, E is 'He' and S, H, E is 'She', what is G & E ?? Oh, gee! Okay. A hint. We the NGOs in development sector always, always associate the word 'sensitivity' along with G&E, a word used so often that some of us have lost the nerve endings! Got it? Come on, be a man!

Okay. We have the word 'issues' used as often. Aha! Got it. G&E refers to children. Well well! You men are all one-track mind, aren't you! 

G and E acronyms for Gender and Equity, silly – a subject of great interest when it comes to sustainable development! If I may further explain to the best of my knowledge, it is all about sexuality and equality. Cute!

It is likely that by now, some of you guys, whims and fancies are getting irritated; worse, you might be as confused as a bisexual. I don't blame you. After all, how do I explain to the common man/woman, the misled villager, the poor tribal and lastly, the sexy urbanite as to how, sexuality has nothing to do with sex, and equality should not be interpreted as anything akin to homosexuality?

However, entrepreneurship is such a wonderful gift. You see, they always create a need first. Then, they will make you feel the need and, call it a 'felt need'! The guys and gals will then tell you that they have this thing that satisfies your felt need! It is you who are sold, not the product! We were always thirsty, weren't we, and always drank water. But nowadays, we are made to feel thirsty because someone told us so and keeps on reminding us. And so, when we feel thirsty, we should now drink anything but refreshingly yours insipid water!

The subject of Gender and Equity is one such product manufactured by God-alone-knows who! We are certain that God created the woman and all along, everything was just fine, for heaven's sake. Suddenly, a fumbling-for-funding dude created the subject of 'Gender and Equity', never heard of by our forefathers (and mothers, sorry!).

For me the male, supposedly 'expert' in environment and development sector, life has never been the same thereafter.

God, why did you create at all!?

PS: 

I had entered this phase of my career in 1991 at age 40 when I first heard the word 'Gender' used by a high-profile lady consultant giving a seminar on the subject. What I noticed was that the lady, obviously from high-end economy, had actually lost her femininity  associated with Indian women. She walked, talked and generally acted like a man. It sounded so incongruous - the man-nny talking about rural, underprivileged women and their problems with men folk. So specialised she had become in verbal bashing of men, that she herself had become, not only biased against men in general, but even looking like one.

I was angry, confused  at that time and then in 2001, I wrote this little piece that had remained in my archives.

Leisure Trip to South-East Asia

Unabashedly yours...Singapore!

Did I read somewhere that the world economy is in shambles, that there is Eurozone crisis, that the economy in USA is in trouble, that the fuel crisis is leading towards conservation, that high inflation is causing home budgets to crash? Who says all that rubbish? At least to this wide-eyed tourist roaming around in these 700 odd square kilometres of an island-country called Singapore, life is hunky dory like in my good old days!

About the only thing Singaporeans care about is drinking water. It is for all wasteful Indians to know that after all, drinking water has a cost, and it cannot be treated simply as nature’s gift - and therefore free. Indian tourists, please note.

That apart, in between the wide, clean roads and islands of green (some natural and some artificial) are thick, very tall islands of concrete; the lighting effects at night are beautiful. However, if you are an educated tourist, a silly question arises: why waste so much energy? Pat came the answer: we make double the money that goes towards energy costs or for that matter, the costs of fancy high-rises. Ok, fine, says me glumly. The huge luxury car models that zoom around give a whirring effect in the head; there are good answers to that whir-whir in your head. Everything expensive, including the currency or profligacy in spending has perfectly logical answers!

So is Singapore the ultimate in urban utopia? No, said the Chinese guide, adding that she will tell us about the flip side of the visual beauty that is Singapore. She never told me, despite a polite reminder. Why, she could not answer me regarding the source of Singapore ‘river’ that is just 3 km long - and whether it is a sweet water river or having sea water mixed!

Let me stop raising stupid questions and be a normal wide-eyed tourist! I will rest this case and have a look at this city-state about which late Mukesh crooned, in an old Hindi film of same namesake – ‘yeh sheher bada albela, khubsoorat hasino ka mela...’

'Songs of the Sea’ at Sentosa Island

This 30-minute show is simply mind-blowing. They have smartly used the idea of musical fountains by scaling it up to one on a beach using sea water. To top it all, the huts on poles serve as beautiful background as technology goes in top gear to create one, happy blend of music, songs and laser-on-spray sea creatures also participating. Like Singapore, Sentosa island, and this show in particular, makes you ‘feel’ happy; you forget the sad aspects of your life – even if temporarily so.

Imbiah Nature Trail, Sentosa

Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur, Genting and Penang (Malaysia)

Thanks to our charming guide, we now know how a Chinese boy of 14 left his home town in search of job about 50 years back, squeezing himself into a dirty crowd on board a small ship and landed in what was then Malaya. He started with small jobs, developed vision, became a business tycoon, thought of giving Malaya its only Casino, 40 km away from Kuala Lumpur, envisioned and built Genting and went on to become a proud owner of all Star cruise ships. Amazing legend! What I did’nt know is that Chinese are some of the greatest, and sometimes compulsive gamblers in the world.

I fell in love with Penang straightaway! It gave me nostalgia of my chidhood days in Dar-es-Salaam, East Africa. It smells of the colonialism by the British who have left behind some lovely architecture so typical of those days. In fact, Penang is a UN designated World Heritage city. There is the sea breeze and sea-ish smells.  It was here that we boarded Star Libra for a fantastic 4-day cruise to Phuket and Krabi in Thailand.

PUTRJAYA

War Memorial at Kuala Lumpur

War Memorial at Kuala Lumpur

View from Genting (above);  and as we come down (below)

The Buddhist Temple at Penang

On board the Star Libra - Penang to Phuket

The Festive Atmosphere - Welcome!

Libra at Night

Moonrise over the Andaman Sea

Approaching Phuket the next day

Anchored off Phuket

The Buddhist temple at Phuket

The Beach Scenes at Phuket

 Simply Awesome: Krabi Islands, Thailand

The 'Chicken 'Island

Resting at Phi-Phi Island

Au Long Beach

..and Snorkling

Sailing back - into the Sunset

Thank you!!