First They came - Martin Niemöller

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

- Martin Niemöller

Heard this poem on 'Boston Legal' and realized the relevancy of this poem. I was watching the cleansing of Mumbai by MNS and somewhere in the back of my mind I tried to ignore it, even rationalize it thinking hey, I am a Mumbaikar.

I am a Maharashtrian by birth but there was a time when my Grandparents too were immigrants. Mumbai gave them an opportunity and they did in parts repay it. My paternal grandfather with his social work and my maternal grandfather with the school he helped build. My dad helped Maharashtra win the Santosh trophy and I did play a role albeit a very small one in securing Mumbai the Maharashtra level trophy.

My best friends from Jr, Kg have been Maharashtrians and at that time I never even realized that. We had every possible language, religion, caste that you could find in this country and we were the best of friends and fiercely loyal to each other.

Today my choice of remaining silent is an injustice to the thousands of Mumbaikars who came in as immigrants and helped make this city what it is today. Be it the Tatas, the Birlas, the Mahindras, the Bachhans, the Khans, etc etc came to this city with just a dream which was made true by this city and they have repayed their debts and much more.

Mumbai belongs to all of us who have made Mumbai what it is and we who have done much more for this city, this state believe that this city is for all. If success for a group of people could be achieved by persecuting the rest then the Nazis and the Klu Klux clan would have been the most successful people today.

Let us not make some poor people the excuse for the lack of infrastructure and/or jobs in this state. There are enough people in this state who reside outside of the cities where no immigrant has arrived and they are in a much worse state.

Jaago Mumbaikar Jaago

- P.R.

Poem: Save me a piece of heaven

She looked sadly towards the cot,
There were two big tears in her eyes.
The elderly gentleman turned towards her,
He could see her thoughts full of Hows and Whys.

He gestured to the nurse beside him,
And asked her to take off the oxygen mask.
He had done all his duties in time,
What was left was this little task.

Her mother put her up near the bed,
And he lovingly stroked her hair,
‘Granpa Is it true that your going away?
If you are, can you tell me where?’

He took a deep breath and held her little hand,
‘Darling, Grandpa is going to Paradise,
A place for all those who believe in god
A place for all who are sweet and nice.’

‘Granpa will you come to meet me,
Will you drink tea with me and my teddy bear?’
‘Sure, You just need to close your eyes and think of me,
And I’ll be there sitting by you, rocking your little chair.’

That was all she wanted, for the smile returned to her face,
Her grandpa took his towel and wiped her little nose.
‘Granpa, Can you please tell me what heaven is?
Mum says it’s more beautiful than even Grandma’s prized Rose.’

‘Heaven, my dear is the most wonderful feeling;
It’s even more beautiful than the village swan lake’
Then seeing that she was still not assured he said,
‘Heaven is so sweet, that it’s sweeter than your Mummy’s cake.’

She smiled and said ‘Paradise must be very beautiful
It sounds so nice that it must be a nice place to be.
But do one thing Grandpa and promise me that,
When you reach there, you’ll save a piece of heaven for me’

He hugged her while he tried to hide the tears in his eyes.
And kissed her gently and placed her on his bed sheet;
God knows that heaven was where he wanted to go,
But he wondered whether even heaven could ever be this sweet’

He thanked God for his life, for his happinesses untold,
Thanked him for all the love that he received that final night;
And he knew that all he needed was right beside him;
Death could be a bother but life had turned out quite all right.

- Pranay

Light at the end of the tunnel

DSC02404, originally uploaded by Pranay Rao.

This is the photo of the Shimla toy train emerging out of a tunnel. Clicked in the August of 2006, this photo took a few tunnels to emerge and even then the effect was not obvious till I put it on my laptop.

I made quite a few friends on my trips through Himachal. On this trip I met the fashion designer turned air hostess from Chandigarh and the Belgian lawyer who wanted advice on one of his clients entering the Indian Optic Industry. On the bus journey I met the taxi operator from Dharamsala then the group of ladies from Iceland planning to have some fun in India. I consider myself somewhat of an expert on himachal, but was flumoxed on the enquiry about where in HP can you get a massage.

Then there were all the hotel managers across Himachal. My AE was pleasantly surprised when I got us a 50% off on stay at some hptdc hotels, though the killer stroke was the 4 room log cabin in Manali which I got for 1400 bucks per day because I became pals with the manager. I still remember this extremely sweet receptionist at my Kullu hotel, who would ensure I got the room I wanted even during peak tourist season. That is the deal with people from the north (i.e. North of Delhi). If they like you, they will do anything for you.

Conversely, I haven't made that many friends on a plane. The urban legend about the cute lady who sits next to you has never come true. And considering the rate I've travelled, I can say it is statistically untrue. Though there was this semi-cute lady who was a co-passenger on a night flight from Kol - Bangalore. She was quite chatty but considering that the flight was 3 hours late, I promptly went to sleep. On hindsight, that would have been one of the few opportunities I had to meet an interesting lady in the recent past. But by the time I realised that, it was time to land.

I did meet this minister from Kerala and the manager from a major Indian Dairy business who taught me more about dairy supply chain (very very interesting) than any article I've read but all in all not too many people. Blame it on the short durations or the wierd timing of the flights or just the basic tenet that the higher up the SEC chain you go the less is the inclination to be friendly unless obviously your quite the chilled out dude.

Maybe it is these friendships you make that is the light at the end of the tunnel during our journey though life.

Luv,

P.R.