ChinmayC Blog

It’s no longer implausible now. It’s happening everywhere, it’s rampant everywhere and it’s not imperceptible. We need to retain some of the humanly senses to understand it and to think about why it’s being so. They prominently exhibit brutality, but emotionless. They are like programmed entities guided by machines, gadgets and devices. They act on instant impulses taking those to the final realization. Like the professional executioners. Totally devoid of feelings, they demonstrate their skill everywhere, on the streets, in the highways, in the hotels and within four walls of the homes. They seem to indulge in human activities only, but not as humans. The emerging species of the zombies, if you take it as natural you do indeed belong to them. The programmed beings react immediately to impulses provided in-built by a wide variety of sources. Some of them quarrel in public places; someone, still not programmed and a rarity, comes up and tries to mediate to bring peace. They disperse, bu...

It has been there all the time—maybe sporadic in the past, but consistent in the last few years. We encounter intolerance at every step of our existence. At home, the random husband does not tolerate certain aspects of his wife’s personality while the random wife does not tolerate certain ways of her husband—this is excluding the serious concerns of infidelity or disloyalty. In-laws are hardly tolerated by many particularly in matters relating to money. Children do not tolerate parental ‘advice’. Step out of home and it is worse. Everybody out there is just obsessed of surging ahead of others—does not matter even if it involves pushing or thrashing. Vehicle drivers grimace bitterly at pedestrians for their supposed ‘indulgence’ on the road while the pedestrians lash out at the drivers for their supposed ‘monopoly’ over the roads. Why road rage cases are increasing all the time? Root cause of this is only intolerance. If you only brush against a car in a genuine case of accident withou...

He was probably the most famous Sikh comedian ever in Indian Television and movies. He gave us a taste of a comedy show in the early years of National Network telecasts in Doordarshan. That time Doordarshan was the only television media and we were used to watching foreign comedy shows. But this brilliant comedian-writer-director enthralled us with indigenous doses of humor, wit, satire and fun in his comedy shows for the first time in Indian television. Jaspal Bhatti, the innocuous looking Sardar with a disarming smile whose one dialogue is enough to make you laugh out.   And his insightful storytelling was capable of making you cry too.  Jaspal Bhatti made his appearance in Doordarshan in the eighties with his TV Series Ulta Pulta and Flop Show . The shows were instant hits and he became a household name in India. His actor-wife Savita Bhatti appeared with him all the way and they were inseparable and one of the most loved couples. Later in the nineties when other channels...

You have to drive around in this city of Mumbai , particularly after nine in the evening, to witness rampant breaking of traffic signals. And the unabashed leader in this would be the Brihan Mumbai (Greater Mumbai) Electric Supply and Transport ( BEST ) Undertaking or Corporation—the state-run city bus monopoly service since 1947. If you are a strictly law-abiding citizen driving your car you will wait patiently till the red signal turns into green, But you are likely to be stunned by BEST buses zooming past you in gay disregard of rules. Once that happens there will be instant followers and if you still insist on observing rules you will be rudely honked out the way making you break signals howsoever loath it is to you! Not only that, the bus drivers often tend to forget the actual size of their vehicle in trying to squeeze through giving you the shivers. To make matter worse for you, they also give you the left indicator light if they want to turn right! As is their habit, if they co...

People die in natural disasters, bomb blasts, madmen firings, accidents of all kinds including the weirdest ones, road rages and so on. They keep on dying almost on a daily routine. Yet, there is no end to the puzzle of ‘how they are going to die next’. What happened in Pune, a cultured, peaceful and lively city of Maharashtra , today is another example in continuing with that ominous puzzle. One normal driver reported for duty in the morning at the state transport corporation terminus in Pune and was scheduled for a trip. Everything progressing normally, apparently with no hidden surprises. And suddenly… mayhem !  The driver took hold of the empty bus and went berserk. He drove the bus into the street…on the wrong side. He went on hitting, crushing and maiming whatever came on the way…cars and other vehicles, auto-rickshaws, helpless pedestrians and so on. He seemed to be in spell or stupor and was absolutely unmindful of what was happening as a result of his mad act. In the ...

Cases of road rage have been on the rise in almost in all parts of the world specially India . We see or hear or read about them regularly. There have been verbal fights, fisticuffs and even deaths. Why? There is a basic mentality involved due to which accidents happen too. Based on observations and experience we can list out the following main reasons: People are always in a great inexplicable hurry. They look as if a loss of even few seconds would cost them their life. Vehicle drivers and bikers get restless and agitated the moment something obstructs their smooth way. Curses, abuses and slandering come spontaneously leading to fights and even deaths. They love their vehicles obsessively, irrespective of if they are proud owners or just chauffeurs. They cannot tolerate even the slightest brushing by another vehicle and get ready to kill instantly it happens. They think they are always right and the other party is always the wrongdoer. The...