Cradle of Indo Gangetic River System

River Bagirathi ( 3042 m ) descending out of Gomukh glacier ( 4000 + m ) in the background   

Spotted The Great Indian Langoor / Hanuman Langoor 

Meandering through the Himalayas :) 

Life Goes on 

Fresh Snowfall @ Yamunotri Glacier 

Source of Yamuna River 

Beginning of the Trek at Janki Chatti 

On way to Yamunotri ( 5 km trek from base ) 

Food ... trek to Yamunotri Temple 

DSLR Selfie ... what do you when your phone gives up

Sole companion during the 1000 kms in Himalayas 

Add caption

First Sight .. Bhagirath Valley ( Uttarkashi )

Bhagirathi ... valley 

Gangotri Temple 

There will be a day..........

There will be a day, when nations will not be known by the might of their armies; not by the splendour of their cities; not by the numerous sky scrappers and the trade towers; not by their economic indices – be it GDP growth rates, market capitalizations of stocks or simply the number of billionaire businessmen.


There will be a day when nations, so called superpowers stop fearing individuals. There will be a day when USA no longer fears likes of Osama or Saddam or their non existent WMD’s. There will be a day when the anniversary of “War on terror” would be marked by an official apology and remorse of the Americans for the sheer belligerence or for the sheer economics of oil. There will be day when CHINA doesn’t get nightmares over the remotest possibility of Dalai sabotaging the Beijing Olympics.

There will be a day when nations would mean “an empowerment of people”. An empowerment that guarantees health; an empowerment that constitutes sanitation; an empowerment based on meaningful education; an empowerment that embodies the right to information and the freedom to dissent. An empowerment that moves out of governmental schemes moves out from singular stories of certain brave men who fight the mighty system, an empowerment that is debated not only in intellectual discourses and policy discussions in elite circles but is redeemed in every facet of national life.



There will be a day when

“GROSS NATIONAL HAPPINESS” would replace “GROSS NATIONAL PRODUCT.”

Bhagat Singh, Rajguru n Sukhdev…………

I have wondered what these people would have been……… Its only in their words that I found answers. Reproducing here some lines …By them…..

The lines down under are a must read IF U ever THOUGHT how futile a sacrifice , if u ever thought how hopeless at 23 , if u ever thought what difference did they make , if you thought it was just a rush of blood in the youth ..…These lines written by Bhagat Singh will certainly give you an insight about what Freedom, Democracy, Sacrifice and love meant to them…I request you to please read them and to remember their great sacrifice in the service of this potentially great nation.

Like any other youth but certainly beyond any genre, Bhagat wrote ….
“I emphasize that I am full of ambition and hope and of full charm of life. But I can renounce all at the time of need, and that is the real sacrifice.”

Perspective , clarity and direction……
The aim of life is no more to control the mind, but to develop it harmoniously; not to achieve salvation here after, but to make the best use of it here below; and not to realise truth, beauty and good only in contemplation, but also in the actual experience of daily life; social progress depends not upon the ennoblement of the few but on the enrichment of democracy; universal brotherhood can be achieved only when there is an equality of opportunity - of opportunity in the social, political and individual life." — from Bhagat Singh's prison diary, p. 124

About himself and his comrades……
“Let me announce with all the strength at my command, that I am not a terrorist and I never was, expected perhaps in the beginning of my revolutionary career. And I am convinced that we cannot gain anything through those methods. One can easily judge it from the history of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association. All our activities were directed towards an aim, i.e., identifying ourselves with the great movement as its military wing. If anybody has misunderstood me, let him amend his ideas. I do not mean that bombs and pistols are useless, rather the contrary. But I mean to say that mere bomb-throwing is not only useless but sometimes harmful. The military department of the party should always keep ready all the war-material it can command for any emergency. It should back the political work of the party. It cannot and should not work independently.

“We humbly claim to be no more than serious students of the history and conditions of our country and her aspirations. We despise hypocrisy.”

“...by crushing individuals, they cannot kill ideas.”

Their strength of purpose
“What hope should I entertain? I know that will be the end when the rope is tightened round my neck and the rafters move from under my feet. To use more precise religious terminology, that will be the moment of utter annihilation. My soul will come to nothing. If I take the courage to take the matter in the light of ‘Reward’, I see that a short life of struggle with no such magnificent end shall itself be my ‘Reward.’ That is all. Without any selfish motive of getting any reward here or in the hereafter, quite disinterestedly have I devoted my life to the cause of freedom. I could not act otherwise.”

It’s Inclusive ……..
“We become pitiable and ridiculous when we imbibe an unreasoned mysticism in our life without any natural or substantial basis. People like us, who are proud to be revolutionary in every sense, should always be prepared to bear all the difficulties, anxieties, pain and suffering which we invite upon ourselves by the struggles initiated by us and for which we call ourselves revolutionary.”

About Love, Che wrote a marvel and this comrade has been as prophetic……
Love always elevates the character of man. It never lowers him, provided love be love.

‘The Gandhi’ in him ………

'Revolution' does not necessarily involve sanguinary strife nor is there any place in it for individual vendetta. It is not the cult of the bomb and the pistol. By 'Revolution' we mean that the present order of things, which is based on manifest injustice, must change.

This one is a beauty ……..
Crush your individuality first. Shake off the dreams of personal comfort. Then start to work. Inch by inch you shall have to proceed. It needs courage, perseverance and very strong determination. No difficulties and no hardships shall discourage you. No failure and betrayals shall dishearten you. No travails (!) imposed upon you shall snuff out the revolutionary will in you. Through the ordeal of sufferings and sacrifice you shall come out victorious. And these individual victories shall be the valuable assets of the revolution.


This is an effort to remember “the men”, to pay a tribute and to rekindle the fire of inquilab in our lives. These men envisioned FREEDOM for their people. Their ideas far descended the realms of political independence that India achieved in 1947. We claim such a rich heritage and beyond doubt the freedom struggle gave us the sages of modern India.

Saluting them all …..

Friday festivities - Celebrating plurality.....

Holi, Navroz, Good Friday and Eid-e-Milad – Hindus, Parsis and Iranis, Christians and Muslims, by a quirk of incidence , have all these religious observances on the same day, Friday(21st mar2008).

A festival of revelry and colour Holi is a main festival especially in north india, among the Hindus.

Navroz, the first day of the Zoroastrian calendar, will be celebrated in a big way by Iranis and Parsis.

Good Friday will be observed by the Christians to commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. This will be followed by the Easter celebrations on Sunday.

Eid-e-Milad, observed by the Muslims, is the birth as well as the death anniversary of Prophet Mohammad.

”It's nature's way of bringing together different faiths" ......... Subanallah..........

MOBocracy

I hope that when you read this, the cricket fever and the frenzy, that we as Indians had plunged ourseleves into, after the Twenty Twenty victory would have subsided. A new leader, young and assertive players with an ability to handle the crunch with some bit of luck have all added to the new look of team India. The cult of aggression and dominance is in the air and I just hope that our team plays with similar zeal and vigour in the times to come.

But lest we forget, it was only six months ago that we made the unceremonial exit from the world cup after the ignonimous defeat at the hands of Bangladesh. Today's 'mobs as fans' were yesterday's 'fans as mobs'. Fixing allegations, vandalism against player's personal properties, a critical media lamenting shame and what not. And today, the same people lined up for their welcome at the airport, in the streets; the same media that conducted a detailed post mortem of men in blues had now captured each and every moment of theirs; the same BCCI which then had axed a few today went overboard in rewarding them. Politicians were not to be left behind, respective state governments rolled out cash prizes from the otherwise empty coffers.

This is the problem with us; we can neither handle victory nor defeat. Our national reactions are mobish, very often on frivolous issues. Three weeks ago, people in Delhi, acting on the LIVE INDIA channel's report, attacked Delhi school teacher Uma Khurana, torched two police vehicles, injured policemen, destroyed public property and achieved what? Moreover it was stimulated by unverified allegations and aired because the content had something to do with prostitutiion.

That was not all and the last week was full of the Ramsetu controversy. And look at the way we have reacted. On the roads,damaging public property, rioting, breaking law and order,attacking fellow citizens, making outrageous and provocative statements.Our faith in our age old morals, values, beliefs and ethics, to say the least are blasphemy resistant. Mr Karunanidhi, is a product of the DK movement of the 1940's and his statements only show the kind of political and spiritual parochiality in which he has grown up, lived and even at this age still not having come out of it. Its a pity. But that doesn't give the right to the so called Hindutva forces who in various places seeked to disrupt the normal peace and harmony, attacked his daughter and tried to recreate the atmosphere of 1992. The devotee's of Lord Rama give no right to mahants like Vedanti who issues such blood thirsty dictats. These people do lot more harm to us than the odd provocative statements.

I am reminded of Winston Churchill famous jibe of "half naked fakir" for Mahatma Gandhi who had attended the Second Round Table Conference of 1931 in London. I wonder how we had reacted , if this was said today. A british reporter asked Gandhi after he met the King that didn't he feel under dressed in front of the king , mahatma in his characteristic wit replied " No ! Infact the king had worn enough for both of us " . The strength of the man lay here , to react to the issues that confronted us and to brush off the one's that needed to be.

On his birth anniversary when the world celebrates the " International day of Peace and Nonviolence " it becomes important that we reclaim the man from the currency notes, intellectual debates, library shelves and place him in our hearts. Gandhi was the only Gandhian ever born on this earth and we would do better if we can realize even fraction of his essence in our hearts.

He is there within us.

Chak De --- INDIA !

My day started with our prime minister's flamboyant, futuristic exhortations. A pledge, towards a self reliant and a progressive India. 15th August 2007 had dawned. India was 60 ! Reasons enough to celebrate and ponder about our past, present and future.

A vision for India , to lead the world. A nation, under whose sky, every tear from every eye , as Mahatma once said, would be wiped. An India, whose caged spirit would roam free and script new tales of human social development. A nation, which has by and large conquered the basic problems of illiteracy, health, sanitation and unemployment; where barriers of caste and region no longer sway the masses; a place of peace, tranquility and brotherhood; a torchbearer of the world for realising the vedic goal of " Vasudev Kutumbakam" . With all these dreams , amidst the singing of jana gana mana, for a while, i was catapulted into the future; where a billion people or may be more were cherishing nature's choicest gifts and had discovered solutions to their problems.

Dreams are dreams . I was shaken out of these holy thoughts , by someone patting my thigh. I realized that it was a small child. My auto rickshaw had stopped at the traffic signal. I realized the place was Rashtrapati Bhawan. And on those plush and beautiful roads of Rajpath, with Indian tricolour fluttering high, here was a boy , in tattered clothes, barely aged 6, selling the very tricolour, symbolic of his freedom and fundamental rights, to the seemingly well off segment of the society, for making his ends meet. Why not ? He has been guaranteed - democracy , freedom , liberty, equality of opportunity, social justice and above all the right to live.

His eyes spoke , there was no future in them , no hope whatsoever. Every moment was a struggle to live , a battle against odds. Sixty years after Independence, " Brand India" fetched him Rs 30 a day. Within a span of hours , i had experienced the elite optimism and the ground realities. The irony is that, while the world is going gaga about the emergence of India as a major super power, its discussing our strides in IT , services , our SEZ's and our space research capabilities, we ourselves are talking about corruption, daily problems of power and water shortage, poor hospitals, roads , public amenities , blaming politicians , cribbing electronic media.

What is the real face of India , what is the reality is perhaps a very complex question. This nation has shades of hope and despair .

( to be continued .......... )

The BREAKING NEWS

The Vedas describe “Chita” as a fundamental human desire “to know”. No wonder then that man’s curiosity to unravel the mystery of this universe has taken him to the moon and will surely take him further. But that’s not the reason why I am writing this and neither is that a reason for your curiosity to read this piece.

I guess, it has been the title of this article that brings you here. And yes ladies and gentlemen the breaking news is that “Monica Bedi boarded the flight back home”. That doesn’t enthuse you. Right! Doesn’t enthuse me, either! Ok then picture this one “Dr Haneef arrives in India” or say “Ganguly misses his ton”. Bizarre. Isn’t it? Yes, these were some of the “breaking news” that many of our news channels flashed. On a day when some perpetually brooded over the so called ordeal that Dr. Haneef had undergone yet others unendingly debated with former cricketers about how unfair were umpire Samuel taufel’s decision was for Ganguly and Tendulkar. Thank God! India won the test. What a waste of time and energy, debating the repercussions of an inadvertent error that in all finality didn’t matter a bit in India’s convincing win.

From the word go, action on the next day shifted towards Mr Sanjay Dutt. Right from the morning, every news channel started speculating about his fate and within some hours, when the sentence was pronounced, there were these hyper-excited reporters who so painstakingly described each moment, each emotion and each word uttered in the court. From miniscule details of his branded shirt being white instead of the usual blue to his becoming blood red, his eyes getting wet and signs of nervousness and shock on hearing the quantum of sentence, it was all being ridiculously sensationalized and packed for the unsuspecting viewer. And that’s not all, frantic efforts to contact his relatives to get the so called “exclusive reactions” followed. Within a span of some minutes we had “first reactions at the verdict”. A host of telephonic interviews with his friends, neighbours, colleagues of the industry, retired police officers, politicians, with anybody and every body started and coupled with this were the ubiquitous sms polls; all this to judge the fairness of the punishment. Give me a break, I cried. May be there isn’t anything else happening in the country today which was noteworthy. To my surprise while I was toggling through other channels, BBC world ran a detailed news item about the devastating floods that had marooned so many people in Bihar. The national news channel carried a larger variety viz remembering the great Rafi on his birthday,the probable impact of the new credit policy initiatives to sania’s rising status. All this and a lot more, in a half an hour comprehensive news bulletin, devoid of any unnecessary sensationalism.

Pertinent Questions

How do these news channels decide the weightage to be given to a particular news item? Are there any objective criteria to discern the news worthiness of a particular story in terms of how it affects the larger societal or national interests or is it that some hidden agendas or vested motives work behind it? Why are stories which have even the remotest connections with the three letter word “sex” accorded prime importance instead of other real issues? Why and how do people like Dhananjay, Zaheera Sheikh, Mhmd Afzal, Abu Salem and Monica Bedi become media’s heartthrob? Why do media try to generate a sympathy wave for the criminals? What right has the media to debate the fairness of punishment when a man is convicted and sentenced under a due process of law and when he has the right to approach competent authorities for the redressal of the wrongs? And yes why doesn’t anyone shed a tear for an army jawan or a police man’s family? Why is there a general tendency to breed contempt for the institutions of this country? Does the industry lack professional people and therefore has every tom dick and harry who can just about speak well become a journalist?
Anyone would have noticed these disturbing trends that have set in, for long now. Mindless aping, unnecessary sensationazation and needless titillation have become the order of the day. For Mahatma Business without ethics was a sin. Media is big business and lot of commercial interests are woven into it; but it can’t simply let itself be ruled by it , top to bottom. The unfortunate part is that there are certain covert vested interests at play which are sabotaging the whole process of news making. The way media has shaped out there are some agendas that are being carried where in frivolous issues get majority of time and coverage and real issues remain away.

Self Regulation

The electronic media has for long resisted any attempt by the government to appoint a regulator. The politicians and the government officials who have been the worst hit by media’s “sting” activism, have toyed with the idea of tightening the noose around these channels but the larger opinion and rightly so has favoured the self regulation route. Attempts to control and censor the media have been a feature of totalitarian regimes and our democracy would do well to ignore it.

The electronic media industry especially the broadcast medium has seen an unprecedented growth in the recent times. But there has been a dearth of good educational institutes running comprehensive media courses with internship training and thereby imparting sound overall media knowledge to augment this demand. News making is an art and it has suffered due to this lacuna. The industry must take intiative and collaborate with various educational institutions to design a curriculum which factors these concerns and addresses them. This would be doubly beneficial as it would not only ensure a quality supply of well trained journalists but would also provide a platform to widen and sharpen the skill set of the senior staff ,to achieve highest standards of excellence. In a developing economy like ours, every industry has to constanly evolve and improve. And thus the centrality of R&D to the media industry can’t be overstated. The bottom line remains – “Journalists are made, not born”.
While there is no doubt that as a powerful medium it has become a bulwark of democracy and effective governance. Its potential to mobilize public opinion has brought positive checks in the functioning of all most all the public organs of the state. Who can forget the ‘Cash for Query’ expose, Tehelka’s efforts at unearthing corruption in defence ministry or even the landmark role played by the media in getting the justice for Priyadarshini Mattoo and Jessica Lal. But having said this, it can’t escape from admitting its share of mistakes and making necessary amends for the same. “Is good journalism bad business” the topic of the debate at the Indian express RN GOENKA Awards was a step in the right direction. It is high time that media barons and professionals debate these larger questions and therefore clearly delineate and spell out a policy that subtly balances the profit motive with the framework of working for larger public interest. There is a nebulous line that the media has to tread and therefore it needs to be priority driven to eliminate issues which only have a nominal value. Also it has to understand such simple things that everything can’t be sensationalized and blown out of proportion. News can’t be manufactured every moment. Every news is not ‘breaking news’. Last but not the least only good journalism survives.