That's not the point though... I recently was on a long train trip and had an awful lot of time for myself and I thunk up some thoughts. And here they are...
10 Years! An awful lot of time, it seems like. In the grand scheme of things, maybe not, but living in a time where one moment, your note is worth 1000 Rupees and the next moment, nothing; a time when all your plans for the world are tossed out courtesy of a pandemic or war, one begins to rethink 10 years...
That's not the point though... I recently was on a long train trip and had an awful lot of time for myself and I thunk up some thoughts. And here they are...
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Dreams are funny. Dreaming small is a crime, said the Late President Kalam in a speech not long ago... But to dream big is to be privileged mentioned none. Here I am, cooling off after yet another uneventful day, at the temple square. Looking at people hustle about left and right during a festive time. The outskirts of the temple or church are the busiest at such a time and playing mute spectator to this much activity brings me an inexplicable calm. Thoughts run amok, and soon I find myself thinking about what could have been if things went according to 'plan.' I've always been a loner. Well, I might get a few frowns if I say that out loud. I am what would seem to be a friendly person who would get a conversation going from a rock. A tad bit chatty, one might say, but that's not what I mean. As much the centre of attraction that I am, I almost always find myself alone. I bailed yesterday citing that I'm keeping the excitement for tomorrow and shall not disappoint. Vipesh, Aseem and I, after the meeting grabbed our towels and soap and made our way towards scores of other sleeping Yatris through all the bogies and into the Bathroom compartment. It was a thing of ingenuity. I have written about it in my previous blog, and heard about it from Samarth a couple of months ago, but this was the first time I'd seen it. Vipesh and Aseem were there a few minutes before I was and they'd begun. I flicked out my phone and asked their expert advice and put it on social media before getting in myself.
As the train chugged past the rugged landscape of Maharashtra, plains and streams greeting us as we sat there our gazes transfixed on the many beautiful things India had to show to us, many new faces greeted us. For better or worse, our compartment was the first one on our bogie. That naturally meant, everyone passed by us in order to get to the Chair Cars where the sessions took place, or to use the wash and the toilet. This was the good part. We could meet everyone. This also meant that we would have people opening the doors at stations and popping out for the security to chide us for opening up the doors... That, and the fact that sometimes, some genius would not flush the bioflush latrine properly, or leave the door open and our olfactory senses would wish they'd had a cold. I otherwise would have skipped this, but as I write, I am greeted by the smell, so...
What makes an entrepreneur? What's the philosophy behind which he operates? Today, 'entrepreneurship' is a buzz word, although to be honest the first time many (in my circles, atleast) heard of it was in Sridevi's English Vinglish...
Gandhiji is known to have said, one sees the true India when one travels the countrin a train as he did on the instruction of Gopalkrishna Gokhale. How true is it, no one is there to confirm for sure, but it is as Prof Varadesh often says - the quote may not be a Gandhian principle... But it surely is Gandhian in principle.
We're into the last week of 2019, and as we bid adieu to the year that was filled with highs and lows, I am to embark on one of the most exciting journeys in my life so far! 15 days in a specially charted train, with more than 500 like minded youngsters out to explore Incredible India on a journey of a lifetime! As the saying goes, to seek to 'build India through enterprise'! Not long ago, I read a story on The News Minute that Prajwal had written about the efforts being made to support and coach some of the elite sporting talents that were robbed of proper training owing to their humble familial backgrounds, by an NGO in Uttara Kannada. |
The Mango TreeMildly entertaining, occasionally funny and something pretentious coz the first two are too mainstream Archives
December 2020
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