ChinmayC Blog

If you are honest it's only by exception, because corruption is now the overpowering rule! That you are honest is only a personal feeling, that you are proud of the fact at your heart, 'Oh! I'm honest! I'll always be honest! I may suffer all my life, but I'll live with my head held high!' Yes, that's the only thing you'll achieve being honest apart from undergoing all the stresses, dismay, tension, shame and anger involved in the honesty paradigm! If you are offered a bribe in your own office the honest you will definitely and indignantly decline it. But the fact is bound to remain forever with you only. Because, you won't be able to share it with anyone in your office for the simple fact that you are never sure who is how much in it! You are only likely to antagonize the system and the system will retaliate by making you a scapegoat. You cannot even take it to the top, because at the top level corruption combines with power making it lethal and omin...

Today I just happened to read a news item regarding a Mumbai railway canteen which is serving only biscuits and samosas due to policy decisions. And, suddenly all the nostalgia came surging back to me! Call it fate or coincidence, in the late eighties and early nineties I used to miss the connecting trains on my journeys from Mumbai to Guwahati almost always getting stranded at Howrah. But during my nights at the second class waiting room floors I used to have sound sleep, Because, I always had the sumptuous thali (rice plate) at the Howrah railway cafeteria. All the varieties were there--vegetarian, fish curry plate, egg curry plate or the chicken thali . The food was homely, innocent and always tasty. To make matters ecstatic, I was ravenously hungry on all the occasions! Not only at Howrah, all of the railway canteens anywhere in India appealed to my gastronomic mind hugely. They looked so welcoming and appetizing. It was a comfort zone, almost a home where you can barge in with all...

Well, are you intrigued seeing the fish? Fish is almost a staple diet in Assam, but don't worry, I am not going to promote eating fish! This comes in a hilarious context only. And the context is anyway Assam! We finally arrived in Guwahati on 6th May afternoon thanks to Air India! For my ten days the trip had been really hectic. Just everything was done and accomplished. Attended from funerals to weddings involving travel, Ragini had two one-hour interview programs on different news channels-the second one being on the day I left, Ragini also had hugely appreciated concert of devotional music at the beautiful premises of Balaji Mandir (Temple) and I managed to meet my best friends and also spent valuable time with an eminent poet-writer of Assam. So, then, I thought of celebrating Assam with a good joke about 'fish'! In certain areas of Assam fishermen are very smart and sharp. They believe that they are giving a most wanted service and they want to be respected and trusted...

We were scheduled to leave for our hometown Guwahati on 4 th May, 2011. It was my homecoming after more than year and of course some events and programs of Ragini fixed earlier. As I had very limited leave and events were fixed we could not afford to either cancel of postpone our trip. We booked or rather had to book with Air India (AI) long back because I , curse my decision, took the leave travel concession (LTC) offered by the Government of India every two years. With 8 days left for the journey the AI strike of greedy pilots began, but I never thought it would go on till then. When the strike seemed to be endless I got a little tense because if it continued and our flight got cancelled in the last minute I would not be able to book due to LTC compulsions and exorbitant private airlines prices. So I started taking advice from knowing people, sought permission to no avail and finally on 2 nd May decided to book refundable tickets on private airlines for safety. Meantime I kept on i...

Today, the 2nd of May 2011, is a historic day in the global war against terrorism. And the war hero is President Obama . There are celebrations all around USA singing the praise of Prez Obama who said justice done to the 9/11 victims. Justifiably and significantly so. Osama Bin Laden , the greatest terrorist evil of the millennium had been found in Pakistan and killed by Navy Seals in brutal precision keeping the Pak government spectators..or not even that. Because nobody could even witness what happened. If the greatest terrorist could hide in Pakistan what about scores of others about whose whereabouts the Pak government always acted ignorant. There are too many questions, too many suspicions involving both Pak and American authorities. And for India, this is both good news and frightening. Because many of the terrorists targeting India including the 26/11 Mumbai attack perpetrators are now proved to be in Pak's safe custody and till Prez Obama exterminates them all the threats...