The Story of the Garbage and Open Sewers | iJanaagraha

The Story of the Garbage and Open Sewers | iJanaagraha

A piece that I wrote. Check the link.

Score: Me=100, them=0

Dhud-dhud-dhud-dhud-dhud..Drrrrrr rrrrrrrr drrrrrrrrrrrr...thudd thud thud thud!!!! Enough I screamed. My head was being drilled into and smashed at the same time. My ears continued to ring..first far and then slow, louder and then softer. I put my hands over my ears but I couldn't shut out the feeling. Even with eyes closed I could see the drill entering my head.
Opposite my home, 2 cranes had made my life a medley of obnoxious sounds since the past 3 weeks. Days and nights I was dragged to their horrid party. Our request to stop the drilling after 10 p.m. fell on deaf ears.  Blatant violation of the law and a cocky attitude was their modus operandi. I bet that people must have suffered sleepless nights but not one had the thought of stopping them.
So here is what happened next:

11.45- Dialled 100. Phone rings.On the 8th ring the phone was answered.
Him-Hello
Me- Hello. Main Wanowrie se bol rahin hoon. Mere ghar ke paas roz raat ko construction ka kaam hota hain... petrol pump ke samne.
Him-Aaarey madam. Te road construction asel. Te allowed aahe.
Me- Nahi! Te road che kaam nahi karat aahe. Ani te pan 10 nantar allowed nahi aahe!
Him- Okay Madam. Tumcha phone number ani naav sanga.
Me-Pranietha Mudliar ani phone number **********
Him-Okay madam. Thank you.
Me- Tumcha naav kay aahe?
Him (Long pause)- Bagha Madam. Tumhi police control room la 100 dial karun majhyashi boltat aahe. Fakta he garjecha aahe. Baaki sagla soda.
Me (Rolling eyes)- Okay. Thank you.
Now I was restless. I paced my room like a caged lion.
00.00-Voila! They came! I ran to the window. Saw them wield their power. Within seconds the crane shut itself off. Now the only sound I could hear was the men and the police talking. A group gathered around the police with a bunch of papers. The police gave some damming instructions I think because nobody dared to say anything.

Police at work

00.12- The police sat on their bike and zoomed off. The silence persisted. No sounds now, just men moving in the dark that looked like stunned shadows.

There has been no drilling today. One crane is not to be seen. Everything is peaceful and quiet once again.
Normal? Just need to wait and watch now.

The Rajasthan Chronicles-Day 7 (Ranthambhore-Tiger Country)

After reposing in the bed we went down for breakfast and finger-licking paranthas were laid out. I lost count of the number of paranthas that entered my stomach. One friend and me kept our grinding machines (read mouth) working non-stop. (He was so intent upon eating that he refused to keep count). It was a lazy morning and the first that we got to do as we wished. We sunned ourselves in the cold chill and then caught sight of mental boys jumping into the chilly pool.

Time passed quickly enough and we were then en route to meet India's Tiger Man-Fateh Singh Rathore. He looked like he was from a different day and age. A cravat around his neck, an impressive moustache adorning his face-he looked everything that I'd imagined him to me. But I had also thought of him as ferocious which turned out to be way off mark- he was gruff but very very kind. He spoke to us about park management issues, the need for rehabilitation of people who used to inhabit the space within the park, the threat to the park due to tourists, obstacles in conservation efforts due to dearth of ministers who understand the importance of ecology and wild life. He was pleased with the steps taken by Jairam Ramesh and called him 'one good minister who understands the importance of conservation'. Well more ministers like him and at least we would be on the path leading to success stories. He shared a lot of his hunting stories-he would organise hunting expeditions for the Britsh Royal Family and other Indian Royals but somewhere down the line he turned towards saving the hunted-The Tiger.

A search on Fateh Singh Rathore pours out bazillion results on this great man. My friend had specifically asked me to meet him and it was a thrill when he granted us an hour of his time. Widely known as the tiger authority in India, he is credited with successfully carrying out tiger conservation work in the Park. I guess this link will provide more accurate information on this living legend.

 At the end of our time we gheraoed him clamouring around him for his autograph and more information. I asked him something about having zero experience and yet wanting to volunteer for the various projects being carried out by the park. He gave a good-natured laugh and answered that from zero he would transform all of us into heroes. He then went on to pull my cheeks-apparently he was inquiring whether I was  chora or a  chori.

He being so old harbours the conviction that conservation will bear fruit despite corruption, apathetic officials, ignorant tourists all because he believes in the youth. Spending time with him was something that left a smile on my face and hope in my heart that with collective efforts change is happening for the good- slowly but surely. However, they don't make people like Fateh Singh Rathore no more.

Roacher Pics

Click here to see Roacher and the cockroach.

P.S. It's not for the fainthearted. I couldn't eat my fish for dinner after I clicked these pictures.

Roacher the Roach Ranger!!!!

Well I have one smart and hungry lizard to write about. It's the same lizard that woke me up a couple of days back from my slumber. Today it invited me for tea and snacks!!

I was trying to bang my head against my books in the evening at 4.30 when again the mysterious thudding started. It didn't occur to me that the same lizard was at play. At first I ignored the sound and tried to study but the sound persisted. I had to spring into action. I shifted the wardrobe and Roacher was at work again. (I've named the lizard Roacher) It had just caught a cockroach and this time I was prepared. I lunged for my camera and I photographed the lizard patiently eating the cockroach while the cockroach made desperate bids to escape but to no avail. The jaws of the lizard are really strong. Roacher took 45 minutes to consume the cockroach and now as I write this it is resting benignly at the side of my wardrobe. 

Will upload the entire sequence of pictures tomorrow :)

Lizard's Breakfast!

The morning got off to an interesting start today. I opened my eyes from deep slumber to a sound that seemed as if a bird was trapped and was fluttering it's wings in desperation in a bid to escape. I thought that I was dreaming but when the sound persisted I had to get up and play detective.

I first checked my window to make sure that no bird was trapped there. Pigeons usually visit my window as it gives them a good perch. While I was checking I felt that the sound was coming from inside my wardrobe. I thought that to be very very strange. No bird could land up inside the wardrobe. And curiously enough, the sound seemed to be emanating from way inside the wardrobe. "Ghost bird"- I muttered.

Then I heard loud thuds from the wardrobe. I really thought at this time that the bird is going to die. Then some intelligence visited me and I shifted the wardrobe a little. I was expecting to see a tiny bird there but lo! behold! what a sight awaited me!!

I was shocked and being drowsy, initially I thought it was a snake. After my eyes adjusted to the darkness this is what I made out.

A house-lizard facing vertically downwards with a cockroach halfway into it's mouth!! The lizard banged itself against the wardrobe to push the cockroach into it's mouth. The eyes of the lizard glowed eerily black and then red. I scrambled to get my camera but couldn't capture the sight. After 10 minutes the lizard turned itself vertically upwards and incessantly opened and closed it's mouth. I could see a part of the cockroach coming out and going in.

Anyways my camera started working later and I got a potshot of the lizard now digesting the cockroach.

The lizard is on the back of the wardrobe, the white part is the wall.

Sariska Tigers set up bar. Serve Cold Beer.

Well well what do you know the things tigers in Sariska Reserve are up to now-a-days? Why they obviously lead a jolly good 'ol life and their preferred drink to lead a jolly good 'ol life is of course cold beer.

Three cheers to that. Seems like some people out there are

a) getting broad-minded about serving hard drinks to tigers

or

b) conducting some 'tiger-gone' crazy experiments on the tigers

I think what they are doing is hiding cold beer in secret and mysterious locations, hoping that their wives will not find out that they are drinking on the sly. But the willy tiger is outfoxing them. The smart tiger finds the cold beer and sets of on a jolly good roller-coaster ride.

"The Tiger prefers to hunt large deer specially sambar, chital, nilgai and omnivore COLD BEER."

Check the poster.

Link

Pune Not Good

The holidays have come at a very inconvenient time. University had just begun and we were finally settling in with the schedule and within 3 weeks time Swine Flu struck and vacations were declared. Pune has come to a virtual stand-still. The entire student crowd is cooped up at home. The roads were a dismal and dull look. And the handful who are brave enough to step out have the green masks tied firmly around their faces. Everyone is frightened. The kids in my apartment don't go down to play anymore- the reason being one positive case among them.

And the gloominess coupled with the water cut that the city is once again facing. The prospects don't look very bright on the cards. The rains are heavy and intermittent but there is no rainfall in the catchment areas. The water levels in the dams continue to dip dip dip. Now the PMC decides that the time is ripe to dig 350 bore-wells. That's how much the city needs.

People are storing water in tanks and now a new demon is raising it's ugly head- Dengue. The stored water is becoming a perfect place for mosquitoes to breed.

People are dying everyday, the numbers are climbing, the clock is ticking.

What is going to happen next?

Monsoon-Disappearing so so soon.

Oh let it rain. Oh please let it rain- That's what everybody has been wishing since the past fortnight but the Raingods don't seem to be impressed with all the wishing and hoping going around. Makes me want to caper around like Calvin, closing my eyes, hopping on the ground and pleading to make the skies open up. And all the grey clouds do is hang around in the sky tantalisingly, promising untold joys but still withholding their gift. Even the North-East has not yet received it's quota of rain this year.

It is said that the wars of this century are going to be over water. It is so awfully true. Putting up with the water tasks is making life unpleasant. We are so used to the routine, timely 24/7 water supply that if newspapers would mention about places in India parching under the heat of summer it would hardly take up an iota of my attention. Now not a day goes when we don't hear someone or the other shouting in the society for water.

Now the water comes to our society in tankers. Suppose these tankers are unable to procure anymore, how will it be to get up in the water and face the prospect of no more water. I can't even begin to think of facing such a scenario. What will the Government do to ensure that water is delivered to every household? From where will help pour in when other states are undergoing the same crisis? Is there any substitute for water? Ha! Will we just die out slowly, one by one and perish? Tick tock tick tock.
Can things like these happen? Oh no it can't happen to us, can it? Something will happen. It will rain. The dams will fill. We'll get water and normalcy will return. At least all the time, money and energy put into the yagnas should now bear fruit (rain). This is what we have to turn to in times of dire hope.

The last three years we were faced with inundations where all low bank settlements were wiped right off. Now is it drought? Why has the climate become so erratic? Is the monsoon really disappearing?

P.S.- Floods in Assam are again. Floods in China. Floods in Europe.
Will write more on this.

Into The Wild

A leopard died in Mysore, all thanks to the gross misconduct and negligence by citizens. The means that were used to capture it proved to be fatal for the animal.

People in their fear, sometimes hurt too badly. It's always a way of proving one's bravery.

Another leopard had died recently in Pune which had strayed in a residential area. After the post-mortem was conducted, grass was found in it's stomach. It was a hungry leopard, a starving leopard. That poor leopard in it's task of foraging for food found itself in a civilised area which then brought about it's untimely death.

Officials who are supposedly supposed to know the right method to deal with these strays are quite clearly doing an awful job. What makes one decide that animals are worthless and that it is okay if they get hurt and die?

The leopard obviously had no need to present itself in an inhabited area; but ultimately it is us who have signed it's death certificate . No reasons need to be given for that.