Unanswered Questions

This is a tale of my cousin’s great grandfather, Late Shree Mathura Prasad Agnihotri. They say that he had some super natural power of seeing the future. It’s said that he acquired those powers through sadhna (spiritual practices) offered to Goddess Chandrika, a temple based in outskirts of Lucknow. He did mention once or twice about the toughness of this spiritual process to his close ones. He said that he had fractured all his bones, went food-less for endless number of days, etc. The process was really tough but what he was awarded was special, it was one of its kinds. He could see the future. He didn’t predict anything on his own, instead a girl child, who was a helper at his home, used to utter the predictions he made. She is a Parliamentarian today. He was famous, even the Bollywood stars- Rekha & Jitendra visited him. Some of today’s industrialists and bureaucrats are said to have flourished under his supervision. It’s said that he was to pay a visit to Indira Gandhi on 31^st October 1984. Indira ji made arrangements for his visit. My Tau ji was to accompany him to Prime Minister’s Residence at 1, Safadarjung road in New Delhi. My Tau ji did all his packing and reached his home to pick him up but then to his surprise ‘Dadda-ji’ cancelled the visit. No one used to enquire the reasons behind any of his decisions. But on 31^st October the reason was clear, he knew about Indira Ji’s assassination. Now the question arises, why didn’t he try to stop the assassination? He could have saved the life of 8000 or more Indians.

If it’s true that he could see the future, it means that the future is pre-decided. Now this implies that we are mere puppets in the hands of some supernatural power. Today, the world’s population is 7.14 billion as estimated by U.S Census Bureau. Then there are 8.74 million species ‘known’ on earth. So now if the future is decided, the super natural power has to mange and record every life event of (7.14 billion humans + 8.74 million * x + y*z) organism, where x = average population of all the species, y= the number of unknown species, z = average population of unknown species. This really is a hectic work. All the supercomputers of the world combined, may fail. Then if someone like my cousin’s grandfather hacks the logic and changes the code, the system of that Supernatural power may fail too. So this might be an answer as to why didn’t he reveal Indira Ji’s assassination plan, so that the Supernatural Power’s system may not crash. But then again the question arises, if we are the creation of some Supernatural power, how can he be so in-human & barbaric to have caused incidents like Delhi gang-rape, massacre, riots, 9-11, 26/11, etc.

Dadda Ji had three sisters, all of them unmarried till date. The reason being, Dadda ji’s prediction of their short life if they get married. So now the question is as to why was he partial? Did he not exploit the loop-hole in supernatural power’s code now? If he could save his sisters life, why can’t he save Indira ji’s life? Then there is this question, how & why was Dadda ji blessed by Chandrika Devi. Was this too pre-decided? Chamdrika Devi is one of the 330 million Hindu deities. Do all the 330 million deities have such great powers to offer? Is Hindu religion above all religions? What about Gods of other religions? Do they too have such powers to offer?

Now, if we are being controlled by some supernatural power, what is it that he wants from us? Why has he created the earth, its atmosphere, the sun, the moon and other elliptical bodies? Why has he chosen earth for creating life on it? Why is everyone different from each-other? What is the purpose of our life? What is it that he wants from us? There are far too many questions to be answered for us to justify wading through this endless labyrinth.

Well, I think that it’s the power of humans that can make them do anything they want. In my opinion, it was meditation that led Dadda ji decipher the God’s code. I believe in one supernatural power, ie., God. I believe in one-ness of all religions and humanity to be above all.  

Festival of Brotherhood- The Bada Mangal

Bada Mangal, dedicated to Lord Hanuman, is observed on every Tuesday in the month of Jyeshta (May – June). Bada Mangal is mainly observed in Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh and nearby regions. The origin of the festival is traced back to 400 years.

The story goes as, the child of the Nawab Mohammad Ali Shah fell ill and doctors were unable to cure the child. Nawab Saab ran from pillar to post but to no effect. Their child was unable to cure. It was then that the wife of Nawab Saab, Begum Rabia, coincidentally met the priest of Aliganj Hanuman Mandir, who directed them to accompany her child to the Hanuman Mandir and offer prayers. With the blessings of Lord Hanuman, the child started recovering and was soon healthy. Happy with the results of their prayers,  Begum Rabia, decided to organize Bhandara on Bada Mangal as an offering to Lord Hanuman.

Since then the tradition of observing Bada Mangal is followed. On the eve of Bada Mangal, people of Lucknow, offer free food, drinks, sweets, ice-creams, etc on every crossing/galli/muhalla.

This also is an exclusive case of Hindu-Muslim unity.

When the air is filled with animosity and hatred across the Nation, can't we take example out of the this event and reflect it in the country as a whole.

Like the international Yoga Day, can't we celebrate Bada Mangal across the country/globe on which the able could offer free food, with a vision of no-one
sleeping empty stomach on this day.

After all we Indians believe in the psychology of:

ॐ सर्वे भवन्तु सुखिनः
सर्वे सन्तु निरामयाः ।
सर्वे भद्राणि पश्यन्तु
मा कश्चिद्दुःखभाग्भवेत् ।
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः ॥

Cometh the hour, Cometh the man...!!

The man is Andriy Kobolev, the new CEO of Naftagaz. Kobolev, only 36, is one of the youngest CEO with the toughest job at hand and he is already making his critics run for their money.
Kobolev, the successor to pro- Russian Yehven Bakulin, who was framed in corruption charges, has the job of supplying gas to 45 million Ukrainians when the company is over shadowed with corruption charges, the counterpart Russian Gazprom has indicated to cut off the gas supply if their debts are not cleared, the economy of the country is down.
At this juncture, Kobolev has to produce, import and distribute natural gas to Ukrainians at a discounted price. The difference though will be paid by the kiev but the economy of the country also depends on Naftogaz performance.
Now in this tough situation, kobolev has a vision to transform Naftogaz to a profitable venture. He already has managed to loan 18 million$ from IMF. Moreover, he plans to increase gas price up to 50%, increase transparency in Naftogaz processes, privatize Naftogaz by launching an IPO, also he plans to transfer the subsidies directly in accounts of the Ukrainians so as to save the wastage of gas and last but not the least has to convince the counterpart Gazprom to supply gas to kiev in winters.
The man seems confident of flaring with distinction in fulfilling his goals but we would need to wait and watch as to how far Kobolev would be able to transform his conviction to reality.

It’s better to be late than never.

It was 24^th of December 2009. I was studying in my 1^st semester of B.Tech Computer Science. Exams were to begin from 28^th of December. As usual, I had prepared nothing for the upcoming exams. It was afternoon, when I went to my cousin’s house, who too was a student of same college as I was, to discuss about the upcoming exams. I met Amit and the discussion started. Soon, the discussion was drifted to the topic of Aamir Khan’s new movie, which was to be released on 25^th of December. Aamir was to release a movie after a year long gap, so the movie was quite an anticipated one. Therefore it was obvious that the movie must be houseful at least in its first week of release. The movie had some premier shows too at some selected venues. The concept of premier shows was new to Lucknow in 2009, so not everyone in Lucknow knew about it. I asked my cousin if he wants to go out with me for watching the movie. To this he said that the shows must be houseful. I said lets go out and see whether the tickets of the premier show were available. We then went to Inox on my bike. Hopefully the tickets were available. We bought 2 tickets and then headed back to our respective homes. It was then decided that we would meet at my place at about half an hour before the show begins.

I took a light shower, poured some deodorant on myself wore clothes and was ready to leave. I told my mother that I am going out to study at my cousin’s house and will be a little late. Similarly, my cousin gave the same excuse, the only change being the venue of study that was my home in his case. I called my cousin half an hour before the show was to begin and ‘sir’ was in bathroom. Finally, he arrived 15 minutes before the show timing and handed over the keys of his new bike and asked me to drive and told me that he didn’t want to be even a minute late to the movie show. I told him that it’s his bike, his hands are set and he should drive but then he said, he is a bit tired. So, without wasting much time I sat on his bike and we drove-off.

His bike’s 4 stroke single cylinder 150 cc. air cooled OHC engine was responding well to my handling of the accelerator throttle. The bike’s speed was gradually increasing and it touched 100 km/hr as we moved from the road adjacent to the Governor House towards Lohiya Path. We were moving behind a Maruti car which too was speeding-away at about 105 km/hr. The forward view was totally blocked. I moved towards the right to overtake the car. My speed was 109 km/hr. The moment I moved right I saw two 6 by 6 ft. barricading with no space in between them, 10-20 mt. away from us. I applied both the front disk and the rear drum breaks as hard as I could but the distance was too less to stop the bike at such a speed. I was not wearing the helmet. I struck head-on to the barricading.

I have been a resident of Lucknow for over 23 years but I have never seen a barricading on that high-way road apart from 24^th December 2009. The accident seemed to have been engineered for us. My right eye was swollen badly. My cousin had little pain in his left hand but he was fine. He checked my vision by asking how many fingers I see. It was fine. Even after such an accident our spirit was on the higher side. At one moment I even proposed to watch the movie and then call home but then we decided not to act smart and let’s call home. Soon the help arrived. I was first taken away for an eye check-up, it was fine, and I read all the characters properly. Then I was admitted to the hospital for X-rays, CT-scan, etc. I had two fractured bones just above the right eye. It was to be operated and my exams were to begin from 28^th of December. It was almost confirmed that I won’t be able to write the exams.

The neurosurgeon  told that my head was first to be shaved, then will be hammered to break the skull for a vent from where they will lift the broken bone to right position and then stitch back. My mother went crazy after listening to this scary process. Then we contacted some more neurosurgeons and also plastic-surgeon and orthopedic surgeon too, to take their opinion on this case. The head surgery could be done by anyone of these. It was the plastic-surgeon, Dr. Himanshu of S.I.P.S., Lucknow who gave the right opinion. He said that the bone will automatically settle down. The operation is only for the sake of looking alright and having no marks on face. The only ill effect of the broken bone was to make the concerned sinus narrower. So, we decided, not to go for operation and once the swelling was gone there was little or no mark left on my face.

During all this process I didn’t had time to even touch my books. I reached my home just an evening before the actual exam date. So all I had was few hours to study and it was Engineering Mathematics-I exam. I managed to study the concepts of last year’s paper and I secured 59/100 in the mathematics paper and 71.8% in semesters.

Though I managed to come out of this difficult situation but it could have been avoided if I hadn’t cared for reaching the theatre on time. Therefore it’s always ‘better to be late than never.’    

Two Idiots

It was 2009 when my friend Abhishek secured 42nd rank in A.I.P.M.T. medical entrance. I visited his home to congratulate him on his success. It was then when a thought came to our mind, it was to sell the rank to a coaching institute. It was just a thought and such thoughts are bound to come up and also get washed away soon when two friends meet. But then, the very next day, Abhishek visited my place and re-ignited that thought. I also encouraged it and we soon decided to pay a visit to some premium coaching institutes in our native place. I had a fractured hand at that time, so I asked Abhishek to drive my bike and then we sailed off. We visited 3 or 4 coaching centres but everywhere our offer was rejected. We then decided to head back to our home, empty handed. In our way back to home, there was this coaching by S. Ahmad, so we decided to pay a final visit to this coaching. We went to the coaching centre and demanded a meeting to be fixed with S. Ahmad, the owner of the coaching insti. We were asked to wait for about half an hour until S. Ahmad was free from taking a class. During this time we decided what amount to ask for and how to initiate the conversation. We agreed at 10,000 INR among ourselves. We were finally called in by S. Ahmad and we went in with a little fear of what could be Ahmad's reaction to our proposal. He asked us to sit and then I initiated the conversation by introducing him to Abhishek and telling him about his rank in A.I.P.M.T. and then I tabled my proposal to sell the rank in an extremely polite manner.He first checked the rank online and then asked for our demand. I thought for a while and said 20.000 INR, To this Abhishek hit me on my leg as the amount which I said was double the amount we decided. But then we were shocked to hear Ahmad's reply. He said, he will give 25,000, paused a little and said, he will give 50,000, paused again and said 50,000 + mobile, paused again and said 1 lack + mobile + laptop and then he started signing a post dated cheque of 1 lack INR. We were in complete shock. After a little pause I asked, what will we have to do. He then explained that if Abhishek's rank is 42nd all India then it must be under 10 in U.P. To this Abhishek replied that he is expecting 175/200 marks and couldn't guess the rank. S. Ahmad  said that 175 would be enough for the rank to be under 10 as the last year's topper scored 178 marks. So the date that was mentioned in the PDC was the date of result declaration of U.P  P.M.T. He then explained that in U.P, there is more craze for U.P. P.M.T. than A.I.P.M.T. He then directed us to a room where there were photos of top rankers in medical entrance exams conducted in different years and told us that these all were bought by him. He finally noted down my contact number and told me that he will give me a call on U.P P.M.T result declaration day.

Finally the day of the result declaration of UP PMT arrived, S. Ahmad gave me a call and the moment I told him that Abhishek has secured 144th rank, he disconnected the call. We didn't give up, rather we decided to sell the rank somewhere else. So we went to Kishore Tripathi, the chemistry teacher. We bargained with him and settled at 10,000 rupees. He chalked out a meeting with us the very next day. We decided to look poor so that he might give us more money. The following day we met him at his coaching centre from where he took us to radio city office. We met RJ Supriya there. She looked awesome in her sleeveless top. She asked us to remove our shoes outside the office and then offered us espresso coffee. She then took us to the recording room. It was again awesome. The whole of Lucknow was visible from the transparent glasses of that room. The view was really awesome. Supriya then asked few questions from Abhishek about his preparation and how Kishore Tripathi was helpful. He said all lies. She then bid us good bye & we were off the radio city office. Kishore Tripathi then gave us 5000 and promised to give the rest later. Then some how Kishore Tripathi came to know about Abhishek being a student of Aakash Institute so he cancelled our next installment. We earned 5000 rupees by selling the rank.

Today, 5 years later whenever we think of this incident, we laugh at it. There are many more such incidents, I will post them in near future.