The barbaric Indian slumdogs are known to sacrifice humans in bloody sacrificial rites. It comes as no surprise to hear that the subhuman cow piss drinking scumbags and their Hindu Nepalese neighbors have a “fair” in which they brutally behead more than a quarter million buffaloes, goats, birds and other animals. The smelly savages practise some kind of witchcraft, sorcery and bloodcurdling sacrificial rites and defend such subhuman behaviour as a traditional part of their Hindu religion.

The world’s most notorious and bloody mass slaughter of animals takes place every five years at the Gadhimai Hindu “fair” in Nepal in a village that borders shithole India. Subhuman slumdogs from India constitute 75% of the savages that brutally behead more than a quarter million animals at the “fair”. It’s the beastly barbarians from shithole India who are preventing a ban on this bloody ritual sacrifice, according to animal rights activists.

Indians throng Nepal’s Gadhimai fair for animal sacrifice

KATHMANDU: Thousands of Indians from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and other states bordering Nepal swarmed to the Himalayan republic’s southern plains Tuesday to attend a notorious Hindu fair there and sacrifice animals and birds in the hope their wishes would be fulfilled.

While a debate began to grow in Nepal about the Gadhimai Fair in Bara district and the wanton cruelty it inflicted on animals, the festival drew its strength from zealous Indian attendees who have been flocking to it every five years in a bid to circumvent the ban imposed on animal sacrifices in their own states…

…Men, women and children poured in from Bihar, most of them carrying kid goats and roosters, many of which had been smuggled across the porous Indo-Nepal border, bypassing the few Nepali quarantine posts…

…The local Maoist MP, Shiv Chandra Kushwaha, said he had decided to skip attending parliament – which his party had agreed to allow to convene for three critical days to pass the budget – to attend the fair since it was for a bigger cause. “About 75 percent of the people who come to fair to offer sacrifices are Indians. We can’t stop them because it is a religious sentiment. Why blame us? It is not us who are making the sacrifices.”…

…Though celebrities like Maneka Gandhi and yesteryear’s sex symbol French actress Brigitte Bardot raised their voices against the killings, the root of the problem perhaps is that these voices are not as potent in the drinking water and electricity-less villages of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh as the voices of imagined gods and demons…

Times of India

Shameless savage scumbags! Human and animal sacrifice practising perverts! Buffalo beheading barbarians! Female fetus aborting subhumans! Witchcraft and sorcery practising macacas! Filthy perverted pigs! Squalid sons and dotheaded daughters of slumdogs and slumbitches! The uncontrollable wrath and fury of Shiva and Kali shall be unleashed upon your beastly, immoral, unethical, Godless subhuman souls, you curry munching savages!

Kisenji speaks to media 1.5 kilometers from police camp in Lalgarh area.

KOTESWAR RAO, alias Kishenji, is a politburo member of the banned CPI (Maoist) and is in charge of the party’s operations in West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar and Orissa. He was drawn into the revolutionary movement when he was doing his B.Sc. (Mathematics) in Karimnagar, Andhra Pradesh. He became a full-time member of the CPI-ML (People’s War) in 1974.

“We plan to spread our movement to north Bengal, the plains of Bihar, the central districts of Orissa and eastern Chattisgarh,” he told Frontline in an exclusive telephonic interview in which he talked about the Lalgarh movement, the Maoist programme of individual killings and future plans of the Maoist movement.Excerpts:

Do you think the movement in Lalgarh is the fallout of the Singur and Nandigram movements rather than a heritage of the Naxalbari movement?

The movement in Lalgarh is the fallout of the Naxalbari movement, but the movements in Nandigram and Singur also had an impact on the Lalgarh movement and the people of Lalgarh. Such a long and sustained movement on a political issue has never taken place in the history of independent India. The main reason for this is the increase in political awareness among the masses.

At the same time, there is, on the one hand, a worldwide economic crisis and, on the other, Indian multinationals seizing the land and property of the common people. These, too, had a role to play in the eruption in Lalgarh.

And of course the Nandigram and Singur agitations, in which we were also present, are certainly big factors. At present, it is not possible to carry out just a peaceful agitation in West Bengal; along with peaceful agitations there must be huge rallies and meetings involving the direct participation of thousands of people.

There is a view that the Lalgarh movement is a spontaneous tribal movement that became so big that the CPI (Maoist) had to get on to it or be left behind. Your comments.

It is not as if we started doing our groundwork in the region yesterday; we have been doing our groundwork for a long time. The Maoist role and leadership in the area has been a continuous process. But, at the same time, the PCPA [People’s Committee against Police Atrocities] and the Maoist movement are not the same, and it would be incorrect to say that the people of the region have been influenced only by Maoists; they have been very much influenced by the PCPA, too.

But if there were no arrests following the assassination attempt on Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on November 2 last year, would you have been able to build such a strong movement?

Not something like this. It would have developed in a slow process. But the reaction of the people worked to our advantage – much more than it did in Nandigram or Singur. We didn’t have any demand other than that the police apologise to the people, but the State government did not agree to it. We were left with few options.

Did you at any point think that the movement might not need you?

Yes, I did. We expected a movement after November 2, but nothing so big. I expected the strength of the movement to be around 50 per cent of what it eventually became. But the movement itself has undergone a qualitative change over the months. Earlier, when the villagers protested, they assembled in large numbers with their traditional bows and arrows. Then the combined forces entered the region and many villagers fled.

Subsequently, they all returned and now they are not fleeing anywhere. They are standing their own ground and collecting weapons to strike back. So tell me, where do you think this spirit to retaliate is coming from? Whom do you think the villagers are supporting now?

In 2007, it was decided that the CPI (Maoist) would broad-base its activities and not focus only on individual killings like the earlier naxalite movement. But Maoist killings are being reported almost every other day. So in what way is it different from the old programme?

At that time, annihilation of the class enemy was the only form adopted to bring about the revolution. We have changed that. We say that annihilation is one of the forms. This was not invented by Maoists; we have seen in history that the masses have always allowed it. To us, annihilation is one aspect of our total movement.

It was not a regular feature earlier as you claim. It became a regular feature only after the combined forces entered the region. If you recollect, before the deployment of Central forces, we held a Jana Adalat [people’s court] for 30 CPI(M) people in Madhupur [near Lalgarh].

More than 12,000 villagers attended the trial. The public wanted the death sentence for 13 of those under trial. But Bikas [the Maoist commander of operations in Lalgarh], after hours of persuasion, finally managed to convince the public that the time was not right to mete out such a punishment. Finally, the public agreed that those 13 people be just made to wear garlands of chappals and apologise. The other killings took place only after continued disregard of repeated warnings that were sent to the victims both by us and by the people of the region.

The victims were not just police informers, they practically marched with the combined forces. It is not that we killed only CPI(M) people, we killed members of the Jharkhand Party, too, for helping the combined forces and for joining the Gana Pratirodh [People’s Resistance] Committee; and I would also like to add that there is no difference between the Salwa Judum and the Gana Pratirodh Committee.

We killed the main leaders of the committee. Of the six main leaders of the Gana Pratirodh Committee, three were from the CPI(M) and three from the Jharkhand Party. Here again, we killed them after repeatedly requesting them to desist from forming such a committee. They did not listen to us and we had no other alternative.

The annihilation policy of old and what we do today are not the same. Along with individual assassinations, there are also other forms of actions that we undertake – different kinds of mass movements, social boycotts of culprits, and various developmental works.

In fact, recently, in Shankabanga village [in Purbo Medhinipur], we dug a seven-kilometre canal for irrigation. We have done similar work in many villages.

The CPI (Maoist) had announced that it will spread the movement to new areas following the general elections this year. Which are the areas that have been identified?

North Bengal, the plains of Bihar, the central districts of Orissa and eastern Chattisgarh. All these are backward areas where multinational companies are trying to penetrate, and the State governments are signing memorandums of understanding with them. The strategic location of these areas will also help us in our movements.

The movement in Orissa is one of the most upcoming movements by our party and it will facilitate a combined consolidation of our movements in the neighbouring States of Jharkhand, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh, bringing as many as 15 districts under our control.

Tell us something about your plans in West Bengal.

Very simply, to establish a liberated area. We decided in 2007 that this [the Jangalmahal] would be a guerilla area. Since then we have progressed a lot, we have already reached out to more than half the population of the region and made it politically aware. I can tell you only so much. Our politburo does not allow us to divulge the tactical aspects of our programmes.

But is there widespread recruitment into your movement from the region?

There has to be recruitment, or else how will the movement grow?

There are reports of fresh plans by your party to try and assassinate the Chief Minister, and even storm Writers Buildings. Your comments.

The media need sensational news, and the police need to justify their fat salaries. Do I really need to elaborate? As I have repeatedly said, to kill Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was not my decision. It was the decision of the people of Nandigram, the people of West Bengal, and even sections of the liberal bourgeoisie.

Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, who earlier extended her support to the PCPA’s movement, seems to have distanced herself from it. Your comments.

I have been asking Mamata Banerjee for the last three months to make her stand clear. After the general elections her fortune has soared, but what about the fortune of the “Ma, Mati, Manush” [Mamata’s political slogan of Mother, Earth, and People]? Their situation remains the same. What Mamata Banerjee is doing is indulging in opportunistic politics.

With the State and the Centre now planning to launch a much stronger attack, do you not think that your movement, as it stands today will endanger the lives of thousands of innocent and apolitical villagers?

The state should think about that. People like Manmohan Singh, [P.] Chidambaram and Buddhababu are responsible for the situation as it stands today. Ultimately, they are the ones responsible for the killings. We still want peace, it is the government that does not.

So are you willing to sit for dialogue with the government for the sake of peace?

You are probably the 210th person to ask me this question. Chidambaram and Buddhababu have clearly said there will not be any dialogue; they have already arrayed their forces for war, and still you people from the media keep harping, ‘You will all not survive this’. This is clearly to break the spirit of the common people. I do not understand why you all are continuously asking me this question. It really is not possible for me to provide routine answers to such routine questions. I am standing in a battlefield here.

India is the global laggard in reducing measles deaths, with three-quarters of the 164,000 deaths from measles that still occur worldwide annually, according to data released Thursday by the United Nations. The developing world has made extraordinary strides in reducing measles deaths, with Africa cutting them by more than 90 percent since 2000. Vast immunization campaigns have helped save more than four million lives, most of them children, in less than a decade. But India is not planning to use that strategy to control measles next year in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, two poor states where most of India’s measles deaths occur, a Unicef official said in a telephone news conference.

From NewyorkTimes

Abstract

+J striped shirt, a shitty brown belt, GAP corduroy trousers, Paul Smith Bihar boots

COLD.

Yes, exactly a millennium ago.

 Then the whole Indian subcontinent was a conglomeration of small kingdoms. We belonged to a small one, may be the size of Delhi. It was independent, wedged between two powerful neighbors: the Samoothiripad in the North and some principality belonging to the area, now known as Thiruvithankur (Travancore). Our Cochin state was free from corruption. People were generally happy. One English writer described the India of those times as ‘thousands of villages’, each a republic governed by the village elders. None had money. Gold was used only for making ornaments. Wealth was measured in terms of paddy earned by each family (I am talking in terms known to me). The artisans made clothes, agricultural implements, gold ornaments; made tenements out of mud and hay or palm leaves (cobbler was unknown  as none wore foot wear). Brass and bronze works were excellent, as also wood work. Landlords enjoyed leisure and bonded laborers did the work. The latter were fed even when there was no work. All people were known to each other. Even in my childhood, thefts were limited to coconut and plantain! There was plenty of time for any leisurely activity like literature, sports and arts.

 All were happy, even though epidemics took a heavy toll of men but not animals.

Let us examine, item by item, how life was then and what we have achieved now.

1)      Life was secure then. None was worried about his future. Mostly, traditional vocations were followed, the society being caste-ridden. How will my children live after my time? The question never worried any body. Anxiety on this account was unknown then. Today, every moment we are concerned about it (of course, I am not talking about the Ambanis)

2)      All works were done manually. This kept life style diseases away. People were healthy. The rich people suffered from diabetes, B.P and heart attacks. The poor people were spared. Today, the middle class too have become rich as far as life style is concerned. We don’t exert. Remote control ensured that we need not even move. So we suffer from all diseases of the rich.

3)      The vaidyaji took care of health problems. I don’t remember ever going to a doctor. The Namboodri house stood in the middle of a spacious plot of land. We had our own well and at least one pond. No fencing, we never wounded mother Earth with the pick axe or spade. It was like a forest. Things just grew. Village people scouted for medicinal plants or mangoes in the season. They never asked us. In the month of Karkidagam (Sawan) ladies adorned the hair with “Dashapushpam” (ten flowers). After the land reforms, we too became proletariat, when our only source of earnings was taken away. The land was handed over to the tillers. Today land is fallow because none can afford to grow food. Wages are high and labour is not available in Keralam.

     I have digressed. We were discussing medicine. The vidyaji will only prescribe the medicines. If these cannot be had from the land, there is a shop selling them. Medicines, in soup form, were made at home. People may give some gift like plantain. The belief is that if vidyaji demands compensation, he will lose his ability to diagnose and treat the illness.

 When the people of the West were barbarians (say B.C1000) Ayurvedic system of medicine was well developed in India. At Rajgir in Bihar, I was shown the excavated remains of a hospital where the royal families were treated. Even today Ayurveda can hold its head high in certain fields. But the sanctity of the system was violated when it was commercialized. Now, medicinal soups are bottled and preserved, rendering them sometimes ineffective.

 Today, medical treatment is nothing but shameless exploitation of the masses. Multi speciality hospitals cater to the rich. The poor people survive by grace of God. 50% of the medicines sold in the market are absolutely useless. (It was in the newspapers.) All medicines have side effects. Fees must be deposited in advance (pity the vidyaji). As doctors are “manufactured” in thousands, who can guarantee their quality? (Merit is ignored; caste is the basis for selection of students). Each hospital should earn profit. Or else, it will be closed down. So it must be ensured that people fall ill, as frequently as possible. As soon as a baby is born it is given ten injections, to make sure that its immunity system doesn’t develop. The bird flu was unknown then. Today also desi chickens are not affected. Artificial methods have destroyed the capacity to resist diseases.

 To make people fall ill, fast food culture is deliberately encouraged. To the capitalist, a patient is also a consumer. The only aim is profit. To hell with health! We want every citizen to be in the hospital so that profit can swell.

4) Education was totally free of lucre then. I was thrilled to see rows of neatly made hostel rooms at Nalanda which was just a name until Sir Alexander Cunningham traveled in the foot steps of Huen Tsang and saw small hills covered with grass and shrubs. He suggested excavation of the area which was started in 1914. Even today, a few work men may be seen digging leisurely; it may take another hundred years at this rate, to uncover the whole township. More than four hundred years B.C, it was a beacon of learning, attracting scholars from all over the East. They did not come to get a degree and campus selection for lucrative jobs. They just wanted to learn. Among them was a young man. No body knew he was a prince. He came in tattered clothes and was emaciated like a beggar, after wandering in the forest, begging for food. His name was Gautama. He spent several years in the campus, endlessly discussing the causes of pain and misery and suffering of human beings. (At Bodh Gaya, he is depicted as  well fed and handsome- a real prince charming. His devotees want something pleasing to the eye). I admire him. I like to see Takshashila too!

 In the villages, education was the concern of guruji. There was close, personal relation- ship with Guruji and the students who stay with him. Remember the story of Krishna and Sudama who were ordered by guru patni (wife) to fetch fuel from the forest? (I am reminded of an incident I read in a memoir. An English lady accepts an assignment to teach English to the Crown Prince of Japan. She was going through some notes when she wanted the fan to be switched on. She asked the Prince and failed to understand the hesitation in her pupil’s face. Suddenly the realization came. How can anybody give orders to a Prince? Of course, the pupil obeyed.) No tuition fee.  In the end, some guru dakshina (gift) is given. That is all.

 And today? By any stretch of imagination, can you call it education? True learning should aim at liberating the brain power from the shackles of the body, so it can soar higher and higher towards the heaven, scanning the whole universe and beyond. The questions why and how should continuously and intensely torment the inquisitive mind. Learning is tapasya. (Concentrated study). Total detachment from the worldly chores is an absolute must.

 In the present system, children are being hypnotized to believe that every thing written in the text book is absolutely true. The only aim is to secure maximum marks in the examination, by hook or by crook. Whether you like a subject is immaterial. Money is the supreme god. (Lakshmi is worshiped by all, everywhere. Is there a single temple of Saraswati? I think there is one in Keralam) The best brains are hijacked by capitalism and enslaved to make more and more profit. Is there any wonder that educational standards are going down every year?

 In Russia, when capitalism was abolished in 1917, education became free. Science was made number one priority. (Here MBA is made much of because capitalists want them to work for profit).The results are there, for all to see. From the most backward state in Europe, Russia overtook the US in space research. The first man to go up in space was

a Russian. Production of electricity was taken up as the most urgent task. Heavy industry almost outpaced consumer industry. (Indian students who went to study in Moscow found soaps and blades stolen frequently).The all powerful Germans were defeated by Russians in second world war.Without heavy industry backed by S & T, this would have been impossible.

After 1956, the first science city was established in Siberia. From wilderness intended for exiling undesirable characters, Siberia became a treasure of coal, minerals etc. and fully industrialised, an achievement impossible under capitalism. Science is the instrument of this of this revolution.

 Today here we find education being converted into a lucrative industry, in which millions are invested to reap huge profits. Government schools are for the poor- no equipments, no teachers, and no books.

Order of preference of students seeking higher education is somewhat as given below:

 MBA

IIT

Medicine

Info technology

Commerce

Economics

Geology

Pure science

Geography

 Those who fail to get admission for the coveted courses, go for pure sciences. In communist Russia scientists were given maximum salary. They commanded great influence in decision making. Here in Delhi we do not have a science centre where those interested may gather together for a chitchat. Easy access to science literature is a must.

Many of you may think that modern science originated in the west. This is a total misconception .Some of the things our forefathers have recorded in so many words, are stunningly dazzling.

1) That the earth is a globe

2) Earth attracts objects towards itself

3) Earth is rotating: the sun and stars are stationary

4) Shadow of the earth is cause of lunar eclipse

5) Dalton’s atomic theory

6) that the foetus in the womb recognizes sounds and starts learning mother tongue, much before it comes out of the woumb.(Abhimanyu learned strategy of warfare, while still in Uthara’s woumb, according to Mahabharatam.I first read about it in Bhagawat puran.By sheer coincidence, actual scientific confirmation was reported in the newspapers at that period some 8 years back).

These are just a few instances. As all this is written in Samskrutam. People do not even know about it. It is a pity that we have to learn about such things from foreign sources.

Astronomy originated in India at least 5000 years ago. In Egypt too studies in this field progressed at that time. The Malayalam calendar came into existence 1184 years ago. It is based on the movement of the Sun around the equator .The number of days of each month is calculated every year, so that we are not aware of the leap year.

So, before the Malayalam era came into existence, how did they know their age? Each year was given a name. Only 60 years were given names; thereafter the names are repeated.

Each one  must remember the name of the month and Nakshatra (the name given to the group of stars where the Moon appears each day) and also the name of the year of birth , so that his age can be counted. (Like the week. If I am born on Wednesday my age will be the fourth day.) That is why sixtieth birthday is celebrated. The names of the years are repeated, after 60 years.

Two thousand years ago, an European was unable to tell his age. Intellectually, we were far ahead. The Nalanda Vishvavidyala and library were ransacked and burnt by Muslim invaders sometime in fifteenth century. That was the end of a civilization. Knowledge got fossilized in Samskrutam texts to be explored by European Indologists. If these books were available in Hindi or Dravidian languages, history would have been different.

5) Production of food grains, cloths, agricultural implements, kitchen utensils etc. was regulated according to the needs of the village.Transportation was restricted to the bare

minimum. I am not a historian. Perhaps conveyance was restricted to movement of goods.Today production is chaotic. In any society based on rational lines, the requirements will be calculated and production regulated according to the needs. In a market controlled economy, waste is inevitable. Any number of factories are producing cars. Think of the brain power used in designing. If all this is centalised (in this age it is easy) we can have the best model of cars, buses etc. Expenses on advertisement and sales can be saved. Cars will become cheap. Similarly food and other agricultural products can be produced according to requirement.There will be no shortages nor glut. Why can’t we do it? (See my article: Man is the most foolish animal in the world).

6) For sheer joy and entertainment people were engaged in cultural and sports activities. Competition was healthy and without rancour.

Today, what we saw in the cricket world is the influence of money. Before future historians, we will have to hang our head in shame!

Local festivals, drama , music etc were meant for healthy entertainment and people were not glued to their TV sets !

I don’t want to go back to AD 1008. At the same time, I want to change the system to be reorganized along rational lines. Are we not intelligent creatures?

When education reforms are said to be a primary focus of the central government, a HRD ministry document has revealed that nearly 23,000 government schools are running under an open sky.

To be precise, 22,762 schools including 7,827 run by local bodies have no building, while 1,757 others across the country are running from tents.

Students in Madhya Pradesh are the worst sufferers as more than 4,400 schools are running in the open. While 3,424 schools in Bihar are functioning under similar conditions, the same is the fate of over 2,200 schools in Uttar Pradesh.

Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura are some of the states where no school is functioning in such pitiable conditions. However, in Tamil Nadu 300 schools are running in tents, the highest figure among states.

The HRD ministry also said that there are over 8,13,000 government schools in the country of which 6,61,117 havepucca brick and mortar buildings. At least 97,479 schools are partly pucca and over 30,000 schools have kuccha buildings.

“Under Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, grant for major repair was given to 6,483 elementary schools during 2008-09,” the ministry document said.

Source:  Hindustan Times

Last week Anna from New Zealand took me to Munger Raj Mandir on Mathura road. Anna lived there for the first part of her visit to Vrindavan, and had really enjoyed the satsang of the Mahanta, BV Sadhu Maharaj. I first heard about Sadhu Maharaj from a sweet devotee named Tarun Govinda das, when his life partner took initiation from him, and got the name Govinda-priya dasi.

BV Sadhu Maharaj

Sadhu Maharaj has a bit of a unique and varied background. He was born in a family of Bihari Rajas, took diksha in Nityananda parivar, and sannyas in a line coming from Bhaktivedanta Svami Maharaj (ISKCON´s ¨Srila Prabhupad¨). I didn’t know much else about him, but somehow felt inspired to meet him and interview him for this blog. The result was suprising and completely unexpected. I wrote in my journal:

We meet Sadhu Maharaj after arati in the common room where his disciples gather to read and do kirtan together. He responds to our pranam with that warm cordiality he is known for. I ask him about himself and his guru, but he refers me to his website.

He asks who my Gurudev is. When I tell him I am initiated from Pathbari ashram, he beams. “My whole family was initiated from Pathbari,” he says.

His grandfather, Rajarshi Raja Raghunandan Prasad Singh of Mungher, was an eyewitness to the famous “Kukkurer Mahotsav” or feast of dogs. (Sadhu Maharaj´s grandfather told him that the preparations for the utsav went on for two days. Then at the exact time Dadamosai scheduled, he saw how the dogs showed up and sat politely in lines to take prasad). Due to the association of Sri Radharaman Charan Das Dev and Ramdas Babaji Maharaj, Raja Raghunandan became the first in his family lineage to convert to the religion of Sri Chaitanya.

Sadhu Maharaj’s father was a direct disciple of Ramdas Babaji. Babaji Maharaj used to come to Munger to do kirtan, so Sadhu Maharaj saw him several times throughout his childhood. He tells us about a particular incident which occurred when he was only five years old.

Sripad Ramdas Babaji Maharaj

“Ramdas Babaji used to come to our house to do kirtan. I saw him many times. I remember one time he was singing standing up with his hands folded like this (below the chest). There must have been fifty kirtaniyas singing with him. His songs came spontaneously from his heart, and a disciple was writing everything in a notebook. Two more disciples stood at his sides, waiting to catch him if he fainted in ecstasy. Tears were pouring out of his eyes. Not “drip…drip…drip…” like a normal person, but pouring out like a fountain. I was just a child… I thought, “What IS this?” I walked up to him and held out my cupped hands to catch his tears. When the tears filled my hands I put the water on my head as a blessing.”

“I saw ‘Didi’ also,” he says with a grin. I ask, “Do you mean Lalita Sakhi Ma?” He says, “Yes.

¨She was extremely powerful; only kripa… kripa… She was not just dressing like a sakhi, this was really her bhav. This is very high, not everybody can understand this. She got this bhav by the full mercy of Sri Gurudev.” A man next to me asks me the story of how Sakhi Ma got sakhi vesh, and I tell about her dance in Jagannath Mandir, and how she got the sari as Jagannath´s prasad. etc. Perhaps it’s best not to mention such things in public, but I feel compelled to mention that when I said the words, “Jagannath’s prasad” at that very moment someone came in with a big bag of Jagannath Dev’s Mahaprasad. I took it as a sign that Jagannath Dev wanted the story of Sakhi Ma’s sakhi-vesh-ashray to be told. (Soon after, I learned that my respected elder godbrothers Subrata Ji and Sakhicharan Ji had just collaborated on such an article, including details not previously available in the English language).

Sadhu Maharaj says that as far as sacred poetry and song goes, his parents preferred only to read Sri Guru Kripar Dan and Sadhak Kanthamala. “These songs of Sri Guru Kripar Dan are very rare,” he says. “They were not composed. They came from the heart of Ramdas Babaji as he was singing in bhav. Please do the seva of translating these books.¨

Thanks to Sadhu Maharaj for sharing this lovely katha with us.  Jai Nitai, Jai Gaur!

This weekend, instead of combing our usual haunts, we visited the India International Trade Fair currently underway in New Delhi. In our infinite wisdom, we decided to take the Metro rail instead of driving down to Pragati Maidan (Advancement Arena!!). But Saturday was a bad day for Delhi Metro. Trains were running late. The one we took from Dwarka Sector 9 was jam packed by the time we reached Dwarka Mor. “Minding the Gap” was impossible as we stood on each other’s toes, breathed into one another’s ears and cursed. Train attendants rushed from door to door pushing people in and closing the automatic doors. Pictures of my previous near death experiences in local trains of Mumbai flashed across my mind. By comparison, this was mere massage of tired limbs. This attempt of Delhi Metro to bring Indians together irrespective of cast, creed, gender and nationality was laudable. I had no business deploring it. Excruciating circumstances precipitate philosophic resignation. This was enlightenment! Braced against the crushing weight and odour of humanity, I wondered if it was all an illusion, a spell of “samsara”. But the hair getting into my eyes and the elbows ramming my ribs were too concrete to be a mirage. Relief came when many passengers got off at Karol Bagh. We were already late by an hour and half. As a parting shot, the disembodied voice of Metro hoped “we had an enjoyable journey” and looked forward to “seeing us soon”. This bit of sardonic wit was not lost on the passengers.

We had already purchased trade fair tickets at the Metro Station, and passed though security check quickly. Ravenous, we headed straight for the food court. “Bharath Ka Khana” welcomed us with open arms. The food court was littered with people occupying every available inch and digging blissfully into idlis, vadas, puttu, mutton chaps and many interesting yet unidentifiable forms of grub.

Watching mad maws on overdrive only amplified our appetite. The cataclysmic force of craving scattered us in different directions. I landed up at the Nagaland counter and ordered rice with pork and bamboo shoots (Rs.100.00 only). Meanwhile others explored Odisha (Orissa), Bihar, Bengal and Tamil Nadu counters. When we gathered for barter I had a plate of rice with 3 handsome chunks of pork in a near bland gravy and a paste of fish and chilies. Others had come up with Vada/ Ghughuni (Urad Dal vada and Chole)from Orissa, Litti – Chokha (Atta balls stuffed with Sattu [barley] and garlicky potato) from Bihar, Idli – Chutney from Tamil Nadu and fried fish (fillet of unknown fish coated with flour and deep fried) from Bengal. These were rapidly decimated and replaced with Vada-Pav (Maharashtra street food specialty). To drown it all we had tea (Rs. 5.00) from the Tea Board counter. Being used to milky tea, I didn’t like it much, though it was probably more authentic.

More philosophy! To live we all need food. For some, food symbolizes luxury and has ceased to be a necessity. Coffee table magazines and news paper supplements catering to the hyper-gastronomic anxieties of such elite flourish in metro cities like Delhi. Even though I do not belong to that elect category, the gourmet fare that they nibble at has frequently attracted the desperate foodie in me. For others, food is incidental. I do not belong to this category either. Food, to me, goes beyond the survival value and enters the realm of sensory delight, good conversation and companionship. Good food begs good company. A solitary eater, according to me, is a miserable creature. I couldn’t resist that digression. Sorry!

Satiated, we took bearings and headed for the international pavilion. Crowded! There were exhibits from Turkey, Egypt, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and surprisingly Papua New Guinea. Credit cards were not accepted. We ended up buying an onyx candle stand from Karachi, Pakistan and a papyrus scroll of Isis from Egypt. The guy manning the Egyptian counter was peremptory, intent only on money and hissed Anubis, Isis, Osiris, “Balance” replying to customer queries. Entertaining…

The most interesting counter of the Trade Fair belonged to NMBA, National Mission on Bamboo Applications. Apart from promoting bamboo as food, they have innovated various light weight and durable bamboo based wood substitutes and composites, construction and structural applications. A two storey house with steel frame and walls, roof, ceiling, columns, railing, doors and windows made entirely of treated bamboo was displayed at the exhibit. The treated bamboo was termite resistant and fire proof. Installation time was a mere 48 hours and it cost only Rs.13 lakhs. There were bamboo frame exercise bicycles coupled with a dynamo which generated and stored electricity sufficient to light an entire room. Specialty mud kilns for producing high grade carbon from bamboo for use in Tandoors and activated carbon for water treatment facilities were also on display. NBMA also promotes gasification of bamboo which can be an environment friendly source of renewable heat energy and electricity.

There were pavilions from all states of India. We could only visit those of Jharkhand and Kerala besides Techmart India where industrial machinery were on display. The Trade Fair was a wonderful fusion of business and pleasure. It provided a forum for small scale industries from all states to interact with other industries and the larger public.

 My only regret was not being able to visit pavilions of North Eastern States. I was also not able to sample Haleem chicken and other specialty cuisine from Pakistan. All in all, it was an informative, fun and relaxing jaunt.

HPCL Biofuels Ltd, Patna Bihar , has following requirements –

Cane Manager  

•  No of positions : 2  – Unreserved
• Qualification : M.Sc. (Ag.)
• Experience : minimum 10 years experience in Cane department in sugar industry.
• Salary : 4.5 – 6 lakhs pa inclusive of all.
• Maximum age limit as on 01.11.2009 :  45 years

Dy. Cane Manager Operations/Dev,/Trg/Nursary/(Biomass)

• No of positions : 6 , 5 unreserved,   1 – OBC
• Qualification : B.Sc. (Ag.)
• Experience : Minimum 8 years experience in Cane Department in sugar industry.
• Salary : 3-4 lakhs pa, inclusive of all.
• Maximum age as of 01.11.2009 : 40 years.

Cane Officer (Zonal/Biomass/Dev,Trg/Nursary)

• No of positions : 10;   7 – Unreserved, 1- SC, 2 – OBC
• Qualification : B.Sc.(Ag)
• Experience : Minimum 4 years experience in Cane department in sugar industry.
• Salary : 1.8 – 2.5 lakhs pa, inclusive of all.
• Maximum age as of 01.11.2009 : 28 years.

Asst. Cane Officer (Zonal/Operations)

• No of positions : 6,  4 – Unreserved, 1 – OBC,  1 – SC
• Qualification : B.Sc.(Ag)
• Experience : Minimum 2 years experience in cane department  (operations) in sugar industry.
• Salary : 1.44 – 1.80 lakhs pa, inclusive of all.
• Maximum age as on 01.11.2009 : 28 years.

Company Secretary

• No of positions : 1 – Unreserved.
• Qualification : ACS
• Experience : Minimum 5 years experience in relevant field.
• Salary : 1.8 – 2.5 lakhs pa, inclusive of all.
• Maximum age as of 01.11.2009 : 30 years.

Payroll/Account officer

• No of positions : 1 –  Unreserved.
• Qualification : Graduate with PG in finance.
• Experience : Minimum 2years experience in the salary/Payroll administration.
• Salary : 1.44 – 1.80 lakhs pa, inclusive of all.
• Maximum age as of 01.11.2009 : 28 years.

HOW TO APPLY

•  CANDIDATES WILL BE REQUIRED TO SUBMIT THEIR APPLICATION IN THE PRESCRIBED FORMAT (IN HARD COPY BY POST). 
• A candidate can apply for one post only. Candidates applying for more than one post will not be considered.
• Candidates belonging to General and OBC category are required to pay a nonrefundable application fees of Rs. 200/- (Rupees two hundred only) by Demand Draft / Pay Order drawn in favour of HPCL Biofuels Limited payable at Patna, Bihar. SC/ST candidates are exempted from payment of above fees provided they attach an attested copy of SC /ST certificate as applicable, issued by the Competent Authority at the time of forwarding their Application Form. The Application once made will not be allowed to be withdrawn and the fee once paid will not be refunded on any account nor would this fee be held in reserve for future exam/selection.
• A recent passport size photograph should be firmly pasted on the application and should be signed across by the candidate. Without photograph and signature across it, the application will be rejected. Three copies of the same photo should be retained for use at the time of interview. Candidates are advised not to change their appearance till the recruitment process is complete. Failure to produce the same photograph at the time of interview, may lead to disqualification.          
• Before applying for the post, candidate should ensure that he/she fulfils the eligibility and other criteria mentioned in this advertisement. HPCL BIOFUELS LIMITED being the Appointing Authority would be free to reject any application at any stage of the recruitment process, if the candidate is found ineligible for the post for which he/she has applied. The fee paid by ineligible candidates shall be forfeited. No correspondence shall be entertained in this regard.
• Candidates will be required to enclose attested true copies of the following testimonials / documents along with their application:

1. All Certificates / Testimonials in respect of qualifications (all semester/ year wise Mark sheet & Degree certificate starting from matriculation onwards).
2. Caste/Tribe certificate (for SC/ST/OBC candidates as applicable) in the prescribed format issued by the Competent Authority.
3. Document in support of Date of Birth proof.
4. Experience certificates / Documents issued by the Employer in support of experience details mentioned by you in the Application Form.
5. NOC /Forwarding Letter from the employer in case you are employed in a Central/State Government / PSU / Semi Government organization.

• Application duly complete in all respects should be sent by ORDINARY POST (Since post box do not accept registered posts) to     PO Box No 40, Patna G.P.O., Patna – 800001, Bihar,       so as to reach latest by 05.12.2009 in a cover super scribed “Application for the post of (please write the name of post applied for)”. HPCL BIOFUELS LIMITED will not be responsible for postal delay or loss / non-delivery thereof. No correspondence in this regard will be entertained. HPCL BIOFUELS LIMITED will also not take responsibility to connect any certificate / remittance sent separately.

SELECTION :

Based on the scrutiny of the application and documents, the eligible candidates fulfilling all the required criteria will be called for the written test and/or personal interview. Candidate shortlisted in personal interview will be required to undergo medical examination. Reference for a medical examination does not mean final selection, which may be noted. The final selection/offer of employment will be based on the candidate’s score in Personal Interview, Work experience, being declared as Medically fit by HPCL BIOFUELS LIMITED designated Physician and subject to fulfillment of other eligibility criteria with respect of Academic qualification, Age, Caste, NOC, Relieving letter etc as may be applicable.

For complete notification and prescribed application format , CLICK HERE  HPCL Biofuels ltd.

Its Chilled Beer y’all . Not to worry. hahaha

Seeing the cover page of a magazine sporting Raj Thackeray as Hitler, the comparison of the Bihari Community with the Jews became unavoidable for me. What implored me to write this document was the interaction with a taxi driver last year in Mumbai .Although I knew he was from Bihar, I was surprised when he said he belonged to Rajasthan. When I revealed myself of being from Bihar, he relaxed and admitted it was to shield him from violence. It is appallingly oxymoronic as people in their own country are scared of revealing their true identity. India has always been proud to be a Salad bowl, and it is painful to see a melting pot side of it.

Why Jews? Well it’s because of the treatment and hostility they have faced for over the last 2 millennia. Anti-Semitism has registered its existence over a large share of the planet. (Anti-Semitism refers to hostility or prejudice against Jews).Anti-Semitism has its roots deep in European Christianity, apart from the influences by economic and social factors. Anti-Semitism and Anti-Jewish sentiments manifest themselves in many ugly masks. Dehumanizing, demonizing, subversive, verminous , unclean, dirty, scheming, dishonest or stereotypical allegations about Jews, plundering their religious symbols and accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group have been the most ancient instruments of persecuting the Jews.The word Jew found itself in a pejorative context on many pages of history.

Anti-Semitism became more prominent when it was romanced by the Nazis. Six million Jews perished. The ones who survived: deprived out of their family and identity. The world has known the ugliness of Nazi Anti-Semitism. The memoirs of Holocaust survivors and photographs of Dachau and Auschwitz remind us of the lunacy of the Nazis. They will not allow the Holocaust to be a lost chapter in History.

In many instances in the 20^th Century, personal animosity with a “Jewish person” immediately transformed into animosity with “Jewish People”. Displeasure by one rotten apple leads to the abandonment of the entire basket. On a routine basis, I find similarity between the above and the treatment of Bihari people all over the country. Bitter memories that arose due to interaction with one man hailing from Bihar, is immediately generalized as an irreparable trait of Biharis. And it is specific labeling of the Bihari people only, other identities are exempted.

Anti-Semitism was an instrument to settle personal conflicts. Stalin’s adventures of Doctor’s Plot and Rootless Cosmopolitan had all started with his mudslinging with Trotsky. The anti-Bihari, anti- propaganda espoused by MNS is nothing but the seedling of skirmish between his party and others over votes.

I have been into debates with fellow students over the ‘Anti-Biharism’. I find most of them speechless after half a dozen my arguments and it is then that they use the Brahmastra, ”Bihariyon ko hath do aur who poori baah le lete hain(Give bihari a hand and he takes the entire arm). I have however found no rational testimony to this fact and if any one of you has, please publish a validated journal on it. However, I am reminded of Wladyslaw Szpilman’s memoir ( One which was made into Academy Award winning movie’ THE PIANIST’).He states that the Nazi’s favorite slur to ostracize Jews was”Give a Jew a hand, He takes the entire arm”. History repeats itself, indeed.

Next the claim,” Migrants spoiling Indigenous culture and not mingling with them”. Everybody needs time to adjust to newer circumstances. Learning a local language takes timeand practice. Even the claimants of this”non-mingling hypothesis” can master an alien language overnight. Fear that it may offend the native speakers, reluctance, shyness and time factor in adapting an alien language is NOT hostility and demeaning of any culture/tongue. A confluence of two cultures nurtures a healthy, tolerant society. Moreover, in newer, unknown surroundings, humans tend to cluster along with those who have something in common. It is time that wipes off all the lines. Its basic human behavior.

The MNS chief and self-proclaimed guardian of Maharashtrian pride disparagingly commented Chhath Pooja, to be “drama” and a “show of arrogance”. Contrary to his claims of “Biharis are Goondas”, there was only Gandhian opposition to his blabber.

I would take you to Europe of Late 19^th century and to the early days of Third Reich. Jews too were ostracized as non –assimilating and contemptuous to the native lands. This hypothesis had no rational or legal backbone, but the fantasy of some Anti-Semites and political aspirants. Unfortunately, such fantasies bore ugly offsprings of The Dreyfus Affair and The Holocaust.

Many a times, Bihari people are accused of showing “more interest” towards their native place by sending their savings back home. If similar allegation is proposed by the West and the Middle East against Indians, India would be deprived of its foreign currency share. In a democratic country like ours, Peter has no right to dictate Pan’s expenditure. The work by migrants creates the GDP for the state they work in. 40 percent small and medium industries in Maharashtra had been closed down due to the migration after last year’s assault on North Indians. Infosys and other IT firms shifted their bases to other states from Mahrashtra. Instead of rescuing the economy, the rioters sabotaged it.

Bhojpuri films have been attacked, their actors and theatres running them vandalized. I couldn’t help drawing parallels to the destruction of Yiddish theatres and imprisonment of Yiddish Theatre artists and directors during the reign of the Third Reich and Stalin’s USSR.

Shops and Properties belonging to Bihari people most-often bear the brunt of anti-Bihar feelings. Immediately comes to my mind is the picture of uniform clad Nazis inscribing ACHTUNG and drawing the Star of David on glass windows of Jewish Properties and Shops. Strikingly similar, aren’t they?

The accent and attire of the Bihari people becomes another object of mockery all over India. Whether one sports the accent or not, he/she is permanently tagged to it. The media and film industry have contributed more to it. Though accent of Punjabis and South Indians too, has faced with similar reactions, Bihari accent has always been excessively lampooned. Attire is a strictly personal choice and any contempt to it is meaningless.

Despite all his endeavors, MNS failed in its purpose. The city came together at times of Terror attacks and floods. The very boundaries of ethnicity and language cease. The NSG commandoes comprising of 70% Biharis, worked shoulder to shoulder with Maharshtra Police and combated the terrorists. The propaganda of MNS was defeated then and there.

What is lamentable is that Bihari people wining laurels and making to top ranks in Army, Academics, Corporate world and other areas has helped little to dispel the stereotypical perception.

When I see Shivaji Maharaj’s statue or read about his life, courage, honor and self-respect come to my mind. He had been a legendary administrator: a beacon for pride for not only the Maharashtrians, but Indians on the whole. We all have known innumerable Mahrashtrians who have excelled in different fields and have brought pride to the nation. They never advocated violence against non-Mahrashtrians. To be a Maratha one must be a courageous and honorable man. Who is this MNS to pretend to represent Marathas? I guess the answer was given in the elections. The Marathi Manoos rendered a tight slap on opportunistic, parochial and chauvinistic parties like MNS. They steadfastly rejected the very idea of regional jingoism and political hooliganism.

The horrors of the Holocaust have been credited by many scholars to the inaction of the West. They didn’t check on Hitler for they saw Nazis as an instrument against Russians. Idleness of the Central Congress government as well as silence by the Opposition parties makes it irresistible to compare Jews and Biharis again and again. I may be over-worried but even Jews in the early days of Third Reich didn’t see a Holocaust coming. Is the Central Government waiting for another 6 million corpses?

I remember Golda Meir’s government in Israel came up with” Come home”slogan, appealing Jews in Middle East and USSR to migrate to Israel. I have the same message to fellow Bihari people-Come Home, the province needs you. We had bad governance until five years back, our state is prone to floods and things haven’t been the way they should have been, but only we can build a better Bihar. If the Jews could build a modern state out of a desert, we still have rich natural resources to utilize. Come home!!

ML Update

A CPI(ML) Weekly News Magazine

Vol.  12             No. 47                17 – 23 November 2009

By-election Blues: A Fading BJP, a Stunned SP and a Clueless CPI(M)

Close on the heels of the Assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh, we now have the results from by-elections to thirty-one assembly seats and one Lok Sabha seat. The by-elections covered a large part of the Indian political spectrum: Left-ruled West Bengal and Kerala, BSP-ruled UP, BJP-ruled Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh as well as Congress-ruled Assam and Rajasthan. Of the 31 seats, the Congress claimed ten, the BSP nine and the TMC seven. The rest were shared by the BJP, Forward Bloc and independents.

By-elections are often too limited in scale and scope to offer a really representative picture of the developing political scene in a state. But like the recent by-polls in Bihar, the scale of by-polls in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal too has been fairly large and the message too loud to be ignored. 

The UP results have been particularly stunning. Among the eleven Assembly seats that went for by-polls, the BSP got as many as nine, the Congress one and the remaining going to an independent candidate. The BJP and SP failed to retain any of their seats and drew a blank. The decline of the BJP in UP has indeed reached unprecedented proportions. The BJP lost even in Lucknow and whether in Ferozabad LS seat or the ten other Assembly seats that went for the by-poll, the BJP vote plummeted to merely a few thousands. The BJP’s loss has been gain for the Congress, which not only won the Ferozabad LS seat and the Lucknow West assembly seat but finished second in several other seats and significantly improved its votes in almost all seats.

The BJP’s decline and the revival of the Congress have cost the SP dear. The Ferozabad LS seat and many of the by-poll bound Assembly seats were traditional SP strongholds, yet the party failed to open its account. Clearly, with the BJP receding into the background, the SP has lost its pre-eminence as the leading ‘secular’ force in the state and in many areas the SP vote has suffered a two-way split benefiting the Congress as well as the BSP. The BSP has of course emerged as the biggest immediate beneficiary in the state, yet in the Ferozabad LS seat the BSP finished third. The relative gains made by the BSP in the regional context of UP politics must be reconciled with this larger picture of the party’s stagnation and decline nationally or in states like Haryana and Maharashtra where the party had seemed to be gaining ground in previous elections.

The results from West Bengal have not been unexpected in terms of direction, but the scale of TMC gains and the intensity of the CPI(M)’s rout must still have raised quite a few eyebrows. The LF had only three of the ten seats where by-polls were held, and so it may seem that the CPI(M) or LF did not have much stake in the by-polls. But there can be no mistaking the intensity of the anti-CPI(M) landslide. In the Rajganj Assembly segment under Jalpaiguri LS seat, the CPI(M) had led by 50,000 plus votes even in the recent LS election, but this time the CPI(M) lost this seat to TMC. In Kalchini (ST) segment under Alipurduar (ST) LS constituency, the RSP finished third while an independent candidate supported by the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha bagged the seat.  

In the prestigious Belgachhia East by-election, where the seat had fallen vacant following the demise of CPI(M) stalwart Subhas Chakrabarty, the TMC candidate, a former lieutenant of Chakrabarty, wrested the seat by a margin of nearly 30,000 votes. The lone Left Front victory in these by-elections came from Goalpokhar in North Dinajpur district with the Forward Bloc regaining the seat at the expense of the Congress.

More than the margin of the CPI(M)/LF loss, the CPI(M) leadership must be feeling dejected by the fact that its ultimate tactical dream of weaning the Congress away from the TMC over the shared common plank of ‘responsible governance’ (read repressive collaboration) came a total cropper. Jyoti Basu’s appeal to traditional Congress voters to stand by the CPI(M) at West Bengal’s (read CPI(M)’s) hour of crisis just as the CPI(M) had stood by the Congress at the Centre fell on absolutely deaf ears. While the CPI(M) gropes for the next tactical straw on its capitulationist trajectory, it is now the TMC’s turn to expose itself as the new ‘oppositional’ ruler in West Bengal. As the Writers Building finally seems to be heading towards a change of guard, the battle for a real revival of the Left must begin in right earnest on the changing political turf of rural Bengal.

Preparations for Bihar Bandh on November 24

November 24 will mark the completion of four years of the Nitish Government. On that day, the CPI(ML) has called for a Bihar Bandh to highlight the all-round failure of the Nitish Government – on all fronts, be it the failure to implement of the recommendations of the Land Reforms Commission as well as the Common School Commission; to protect the poor from price hikes; to curb loot and corruption in NREGA, ration and other schemes; or industrial and agricultural development.

Towards the Bandh, the CPI(ML) has begun widespread mass contact drives from 10 November onwards, with senior party leaders leading more than 300 padyatra teams which are holding meetings, mass meetings, and distributing leaflets in villages in more than two dozen districts. Sharecroppers and landless labourers in particular have responded enthusiastically to this campaign.

At a Press Conference on 13 November, Party General Secretary Comrade Dipankar Bhattacharya released a booklet published by the party titled – ‘The Nitish Government and the Recommendations of the Land Reforms Commission headed by D Bandopadhyaya.’

Dalit Youth Shot Dead by Landed Criminals

in Punjab:

CPI(ML) Leads Protests 

On 4 October, a dalit youth Jeevan Singh (a brick-kiln worker) was shot dead in public by high caste Jatts for raising his voice against casteist humiliations by the latter in Chuhar Chakk village of Moga District, Punjab. Moga is part of the same Malwa region of Punjab where such atrocities against dalit labourers have grown – such as the assault on Bant Singh Jhabbar some years ago.

Jeevan Singh, 22, had dared to stop Jatts from playing vulgar and offensive songs on their tractor-stereo at loud volume when crossing in front of dalit homes. A gang of powerful Jatts who also enjoy political backing of the Akali Dal, and have often indulged in acts that terrorize dalit villagers with impunity (complaints to Police were not even registered in previous cases) took this assertion of dignity as a challenge to their feudal domination. Around 50 of them, armed with weapons, came on 25 bikes to his house to hunt him out; finding him at work, they left after threats to his life. The same evening, when he was in the market place, the criminals came up openly and shot him point blank and also shot at the crowd, injuring several including some children who were hurt by the shells of the bullets. 

On 6 October, CPI(ML) leaders from Mansa and Ludhiana Bhagwant Samao, Rajwinder Rana and Tarsem Jodhan visited the victim’s family. A fact finding team of RYA lead by Hasmeet Singh visited the victim’s family. On 10 October, CPI(ML) held a press conference in Chandigarh to highlight the issue. The press conference was addressed by the mother as well as the brother of the victim as well as Comrade Tarsem Jodhan, RYA Punjab President Kanwaljit and General Secretary Hasmeet Singh. Jeevan Singh’s mother Kuldeep Kaur demanded justice for her son, having rejected attempts to get her to “settle” the case by accepting land and cash.   

Police have arrested 3 of the accused but the main accused, the gang-leader ‘Dhanna’ is evading arrest due to his political connections with the ruling Akali Dal.

On 12 October, CPI(ML), Mazdoor Mukti Morcha, RYA and labourers of village held a dharna and gherao of Police Station Mehna, under which the village Chuhar Chakk falls, demanding immediate arrest of main accused. The Gherao was lifted only when DSP gave assurance to arrest the main accused within 7 days.

On 13 October, the bereaved family held a Bhog (religious ceremony) for the murdered youth. CPI(ML) CCM and state in charge Comrade Swapan Mukherjee, as well as Punjab’s CPI(ML) leaders Bhagwant Samaon, Tarsem Jodhan, Kanwaljit and Bant Jhabbar attended the ceremony. A joint action committee headed by Hukkam Raj of Mazdoor Mukti Morcha was formed with other dalit and labour organizations.

On 16 October, a deputation from the joint action committee met the DC Moga demanding compensation to the family and immediate arrest of prime-accused.

Security Workers Hold Public Hearing in Delhi

Security workers, employed in various private security firms in Delhi, held a Public Hearing at Parliament Street on 17 November under the banner of AICCTU to spearhead the campaign for the enactment of a special law to protect security workers from the exploitative and insecure conditions of employment prevailing in the sector. Hundreds of security workers from different agencies (IPSS, Elite, SIS, SWIFT, 24 Security, Walson and others) took part in today’s public hearing.

Workers spoke of the negligible welfare measures and rampant violation of labour laws in the sector, and demanded immediate enactment of “Special Act and Board for Pvt. Security Workers” in the state of Delhi to regulate their employment and service conditions and for welfare.

The picture that emerged from the depositions of the workers is as follows:

Security through private guards has become a common phenomenon especially in urban India, especially in mega cities like Delhi. In the last decade, the number of such guards and agencies employing them had grown at an accelerated pace. Delhi is no exception to that. During the last decade there has been mushrooming growth of security agencies in Delhi and other major urban centres of the country. As per one estimate, there are more than 5,000 registered and semi-registered security agencies in Delhi itself engaging more than 2,50,000 security guards. The terms and conditions related to employment are based on very ordinary contract, which leads to continuous oppression and dismissal. In a large number of cases, security guards are not being even provided uniforms by their employers (they have to pay out of their own salaries for uniforms, shoes and transport to and from work.) They work up to twelve hours a day, for a meager salary which is as low as Rupees 2000-2500 a month. They are rarely allowed to take leave even for a day in a month. A single day’s leave in an emergency without prior intimation often leads to dismissal from the service. They are not given any benefits under ESI and PF Act. Before joining an agency, security guards have to pay Rupee 1000 on an average for dress, which has the market price of not more than Rupees 400.

Addressing the public hearing, Comrade Swapan Mukherjee, General Secretary, AICCTU, stressed that the Government was yet to recognise security workers as ‘workers’; the Delhi Government, for instance, had not included this sector in its list of sectors where minimum wages would apply. The biggest struggle, therefore, was one for their identity, dignity and rights. He mentioned that the governments of Delhi and the Centre had been claiming that workers coming to Delhi from the ‘Maoist-affected’ states of Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and the like would be under surveillance. Such propaganda, he said, is a pretext to ensure that the workers in highly insecure, ill-paid and exploitative sectors are prevented from protesting against the enormously exploitative conditions. He called upon the workers to take the example of the Gurgaon workers who united across factories to force the Government to recognise their demands, and to create a united struggle for their rights.      

The Public Hearing was also addressed by CPI(ML) State Secretary Sanjay Sharma, AICCTU Delhi Secretary SK Roy, AICCTU State President NM Thomas, AICCTU Secretary VKS Gautam and Ardhendu Roy, AICCTU National Secretary Rajiv Dimri and others.

Peasants at Chunar on indefinite fast against land grab and repression

The recent events around the J.P. Cement factory at Chunar (District- Mirzapur) are an example so show how the privatization of a PSU is initiated by Mulayam and later Mayawati’s government abuses state power to defend the new owners against the local population. (see ML Update Vol.  12, No. 44, 27 OCT – 02 NOV 2009) Protesting peasants have been brutally lathi-charged, and 26 of them, including a 16-year-old boy, eight dalits and a noted lawyer were jailed under the Gangster Act.

The main demands of the agitating villagers were -1. The new management of the factory was employing contract labour brought from far off places. Employment should be provided to the locals whose land had been acquired for the factory. 2. The pollution from the factory and the newly constructed 38 MW coal based power plant was destroying the crops of the farmers as well as adversely affecting their health. Reckless exploitation of ground water was causing scarcity of drinking water for the villagers. They demanded a check on the pollution and compensation for the damaged crops and 3. A pathway passing through the factory and connecting the outskirts of a village to its centre had been closed by the management of the factory causing severe hardship to the locals. They demanded that it be opened for free transit.

The CPI(ML) decided to intervene in this movement and a Dharna was organized against police atrocity on 21st October followed by a protest march to the district Head Quarter on the 26th Oct. To further pressurize the government for the release of the arrested, an indefinite Dharna and relay hunger fast was started from the 2nd November in Chunar under the banner of Uttar Pradesh Kisan Sabha. Ishwari Kushwaha, the State Convener of UPKS also joined the fast for 72 hours.

With mounting pressure from the movement and all-round condemnation from the locals, bail was finally granted to the arrested. The judge while granting bail had to write in his order that the entire actions of the state machinery had been carried out so as to benefit JP Associates.

The indefinite dharna continues, and CPI(ML) plans to intensify the struggle in the days to come.

RYA Burns Raj Thackeray’s Effigy in Lucknow

Activists of the Revolutionary Youth Association (RYA) burnt the effigy of Raj Thackeray on 10 November outside the UP Assembly at Lucknow, in protest against the lumpen and chauvinistic violence by MNS MLAs in the Maharashtra Assembly. Holding the Congress Government responsible for encouraging the MNS phenomenon, they demanded the arrest of Raj Thackeray.  The effigy birning was preceded by a spirited march by RYA activists led by State President Balmukund Dhuria from their office at Lalkuan to the Assembly.

Initiatives by RYA Punjab

From 27-29 October, RYA Punjab ran a stall selling revolutionary literature, films, etc, at a 3-day youth festival being held at the Punjabi University Patiala. Many students responded enthusiastically; a meeting was held and a committee of the RYA formed.

From 29 October to 1 November, RYA participated in the ‘Mela Ghadari Babean Da’ (Fair to commemorate the martyrdom of the Gadar party leaders – Gadri Babas) which is held at Deshbhakt Yaadgar Hall, Jalandhar every year. A documentary made by RYA on the Mansa struggle for homestead land, titled ‘10 Marla Zameen’ was also released there. RYA teams from Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh and  Punjabi University, Patiala participated in various events at the fair.

From 3-4 October, RYA organised a stall at the Thapar Technical University, Patiala, and was once again received warmly by students.

On 14 October, the new unit of RYA in Gidderbaha District of Muktasar held a Natak Mela (Theatre Festival) dedicated to the Martydom day of Shaheed Kartar Singh Sarabha (16 October.) RYA President Kanwaljit, General Secretary Hasmeet and Joint Secretary Harmeet (who is from Gidderbaha) were present.

On 16 October, a function marking the Martydom Day of Shaheed Kartar Singh Sarabha was held at Punjabi University, Patiala and Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh.

AISA initiatives in Madurai

Private education institutions are making money with the blessing of the Government machinery. In Tamilnadu many minsters, politicians and any other capable criminal or money bag own a Private Education Institution. In Madurai students of a private polytechnic were attacked by police when they marched more than 20 kms from their private polytechnic to Madurai city to ask the District Collector to enquirer into the money extracted by the management in the name of penalties.

AISA issued a poster condemning the attack and held a Student’s Convention on 13 November in protest against commercialisation of education. More than 40 students attended the convention which was presided by Comrades Divya, Selva and Vinotha.

Representatives of many student organizations spoke at the convention. Comrade Usha (SCM,Tamilnadu) addressed the students. The convention decided to launch a campaign against the unholy alliance of the education mafia and the state government and to study and publish a document on the status of exploitation by the private institutions in Madurai district in January.

Workshop in Patna in memory of Comrade Ashok Kumar

On the first death anniversary of Comrade Ashok Kumar on 12 November, the Patna Town Committee of the party along with Samkaleen Lokyuddh organised a Workshop on ‘Current Situation in Bihar and Tasks of the Left.’ Comrade Ashok Kumar was a CPI(ML) leader, member of Lokyuddh editorial board, and in the course of his life, had not only worked as an political organiser in many states, but was also committed to the task of Marxist analysis and response to current social, economic and political developments. He passed away from a heart attack suddenly last year.  

The Workshop began with revolutionary musical tribute to the martyrs and departed communists by Hirawal. Comrade Brij Bihari Pandey, editor, Lokyuddh, then described Comrade Ashok Kumar’s life and values, and outlined the perspective of the workshop. The Workshop was inaugurated by Party State Secretary Comrade Nand Kirshore Prasad. Comrade Saroj Chaubey, Secretary of the Town Committee, presented a report of the responsibilities and tasks of the various branches and committees towards the Bihar Bandh of 24 November on the issues of land.

In the concluding speech, Party General Secretary Comrade Dipankar said that for the Left in Bihar, making land reforms (a precondition for Bihar’s development) a central political agenda in defiance of the spectrum of ruling class parties out to scuttle it was a key challenge. 

BSNL Workers Demand Implementation of Wage Revision

Demanding that wage revisions announced by the Government in January 2007 be implemented without any further delay, around 150 BSNL workers under the banner of AICCTU held a protest at the Ambattur Estate Exchange. They pointed out that wage revisions for officers had come into force 9 months back, but the workers are being neglected. On AICCTU’s invitation, C K Mathivanan, National Secretary of the National Federation of Telecom Employees (NFT) addressed the protesting workers. 

Pricol Workers’ Relief Efforts for those affected by heavy rains in the Nilgiris

Heavy rains in the Nilgiris have resulted in the loss of over 100 lives, and massive devastation of crops and homes. In response, workers of the Pricol factory at Coimbatore, already engaged in a struggle against repression, responded to a call by the AICCTU to contribute 1 kilo of rice per worker by way of relief. Not only workers belonging to AICCTU, but even the minority of workers who belong to other unions responded to the call. In Plant III, where only 73 of the 330 workers do not belong to AICCTU, workers responded across the board, and 500 kiloas of rice were collected as we go to press. In Plant I too the same efforts are ongoing. A team of workers plant to go soon to the affected areas for relief work.

Protest against Fare Hike in Delhi

CPI(ML) held a protest on 14 Nov. at ITO in Delhi against the hike in fares of Metro trains and DTC buses. Protestors pointed out that the Shiela Dixit Govt is on a privatisation spree, and the burden for Commonwealth Games is being borne by the common people. The Govt has reduced the Government-owned DTC into a revenue collecting agency for Tata, and is buying buses from Tata at 2-3 times the actual rate, not to mention paying Tata exorbitantly for the maintenance and operation of buses. The bus fares have been hiked steeply in order to meet this expense. Protestors demanded an end to the commercialisation of public transport in the capital city. A protest and street corner meeting was also held at Kondli on Nov. 11.

If people like Raj Thackray existed even a few hundred years back, Maharashtra would have been deprived of its vada paava, paav bhaji, sarson-kadi patta chaunk and what not. So, any marathi manoos supporting Thackeray’s “Maharashtra for Marathis” should ideally give up potato, bread, tomatoes, onion, garlic,etc. because these things have been brought to the state by their enemy — ” the outsiders”.

MNS’s chief’s ideas are thought-provoking. He talks about a species called marathi manoos. But has he ever tried to define the physicalities, eating-habits, thought-process, culture that makes this species different from the “outsiders”? And believe me, he will never even try doing it because he knows that it will hack the roots of the plant of hatred he has been growing in his backyard.

If you take away the factors of birth and language, there is nothing that differentiates a marathi mannos from “the outsiders”. Both are the products created by the complex forces of Indian history and politics.  What made UP and Bihar symbols of despair and Mumbai — a city of opportunities? India’s financial and political history will throw some useful light on how and why different states acquired their positions of advantage or disadvantage. 

The marathi manoos alone has not made Mumbai a  city where dreams come true. An entire country has put Mumbai on the world financial map and no person can stop an Indian from using their right to equal opportunity in the city.

Look how Gandhi helped to light the lamp of national pride among Indians and made it into an inferno that enveloped the British empire. When British imports was hurting Indian textile industry, this leader had the courage to weave and wear his own clothes.

If Mr. Thackeray has any secessionist ideas, he should come out with them in the open. He has to create a definition of Marathi manoos and then remove all “outsider” influences and factors from the life of that Manoos. This person should disassociate himself from  all kinds of ”non-marathi manoos” establishments, security forces, textile, food, entertainment, festivals, etc.

This is too big a task for such a small man. I am sure he will prefer the eay way out. The Hitler way. Brand the outsider, deny him the right to equal opportunity, create disintegration, win votes and come to power.

That Mr. Thackeray is going the Nazi way is pretty easy to make out. But what saddens me is that like Hitler, this person is also being placated and pacified with a cowardly policy of appeasement. And it will not be long before we see what price we have to pay for this.

# 1 on the ‘Soon 2 B Extinct Species’ – Marathi Manoos – championed by the aptly titled SS and its progeny – the MNS

Both these Sena’s have lots of time. And hate. They also possess lots of petrol, stones, hockey sticks etc. They take me back in time to the Bollywood of the glorious 80’s. But let me not digress.

This MM is frailer than your old grandmother, grandmother, orphan, handicapped who is abandoned, on the road, doesn’t have work or relatives or social support – who begs on the streets, at numerous crossings, tapping on your air-conditioned, frost-bitten rolled-up windows of your XYZ sedan.

The MM can die of hurt caused by talk of all kinds – ‘I like India’ and bingo they lose a tooth…er you lose it.

If you say ‘I love India’ then entire gene structures of the MM mutate. They vibrate at higher speeds than the 2 particles traveling in the ever – crashing Large Hadron Collider.

‘I like Mughlai’ say you? That could possibly be the last words out of your treacherous mouth.

‘I like a Nude’ and and…forget about it.

MM in fact has come as a savior to the entire women species of India. No longer are women considered the weaker of the species. MM has been categorized as the weakest of the lot. And it is reliably learnt that the SS and the MNS are proud wearers of his badge of honour. They in fact want this exalted status to be made permanent so that benefits can accrue to their scared lot.

Meanwhile Indian women groups are busy putting aside their differences and sending a delegation to Bombay to congratulate both the SS and the MNS for giving the final shove in the centuries old struggle.

They are however only worried about 1 thing – giving up the reserved seats on BEST buses to the Marathi Manoos.

MM can’t compete with the illiterate Bhaiyya coming from UP and Bihar. MM cannot get jobs also when competing with some of the literates coming out of the said backward provinces.

In additional news, which is already being confirmed as unadulterated speculation or rumor, the Big Boss evictee motor-mouth KRK has launched his next film called ‘Marathi Manhoos’ to whip up frenzy, polarize his audience and earn money right on the table. He says he has learnt the art of polarizing from the SS and MNS.

Source: PTI on YAHOO
Sun, Nov 15 07:57 PM

Munger (Bihar), Nov 15 (PTI) Four suspected Maoists were arrested and a large quantity of chemicals and explosive materials meant for making bombs were seized in Bihar’’s Munger district. “Three packets, weighing one kg each containing gelatine sticks, one kg potassium chlorate, 145 detonators and a hand grenade were seized from the houses of two hardcore Maoists last night in Banvarsha village,” Deputy Superintendent of Police (Headquarters) Ashok Kumar, told reporters here.

He said a hundred detonators bore the mark of Gulf Oil Corporation Ltd, Hyderabad and the rest were having the mark of Rajasthan Explosives and Chemicals Ltd, Dholpur. Four Maoists – Ashok Paswan, Manoj Paswan, Tuntun Kumar and Ishwar Sah – were arrested and three others managed to flee, Kumar said.

“Ashok Paswan is the one from whose abandoned vehicle 300 kg of explosives were seized at Old Bypass road in Kankerbagh locality on November 7 in Patna,” Deputy SP said, adding they were suspected to have been involved in several incidents in Munger, Jamui, Lakhisarai and Banka.

दिनांक १६.१०.२००९ को पटना स्थित आर ब्लाक चौराहे पर तारा फाउंडेशन एवम हमारा बीज बिहार नेटवर्क के सदस्यों तथा कार्यकर्ताओं ने विश्व खाद्य दिवस के अवसर पर उपवास का आयोजन किया. विदित हो की बीo टीo बैंगन को भारत की प्रथम जीo एम् फसल के रूप में जेनेटिक इंजीनियरिंग अप्प्रोवल कमिटी द्वारा दिनांक १४.१०.२००९ को मंजूरी दे दी गई. जिसका पुरजोड़ विरोध भारत वर्ष में किया जा रहा है. इसी क्रम में उपवास कार्यक्रम के साथ साथ माननीय मुख्यमंत्री बिहार को एक ज्ञापन सौंपा गया.
साथ हीं नेटवर्क के सदस्यों ने संकल्प लिए की “हम भूखे मर जायेंगे लेकिन जहर नहीं खायेंगे”.
कर्यक्रम में पंकज भूषण, बबलू कुमार, अलोक कुमार, अजित कुमार, ब्रज मोहन सिंह, सिंकू कुमार, बहादुर वर्मा, कुमारी मीनू, विनोद कुमार के साथ साथ सैकडो कार्यकर्ताओं ने भाग लिया.

Patna, Nov 11: More than a dozen patients who were admitted to the Patna Medical College and Hosiptal (PMCH) died following strike by junior doctors which entered its second day on Wednesday, Nov 11, officials said.

“More than 500 junior doctors went on an indefinite strike late Monday night Nov 9, demanding payment of the increased stipend they were promised after a round of agitations this Aug 2009,” official said.

“All the patients died during the first 24 hours of the ongoing strike,” an official said

The strike has badly hit the emergency services and dozens of surgeries have been postponed.

“Junior doctors were forced to go on strike as the government was not sticking to its promise,” Naqui Imam, a leader of the junior doctors’ association was quoted by news agency saying.

“In August after an assurance from the Bihar government of a hike in stipend, we withdrew our five-day-long strike. But we were not paid,” a doctor said.

Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry has launched a new programme, Navjat Shishu Suraksha Karyakaram, to train the healthcare providers at various health centres across the country.

Under this programme, health care providers are imparted training in resuscitation, prevention of infections, hypothermia, and , Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad announced this here at the Parliamentary consultative committee meeting . The programme aims to reduce the infant and maternal mortality rate. The Minister said another priority area would be strengthening the government’s resolve to population stabilisation. So far, 11 States and Union Territories have already reached the replacement level of total fertility. The Ministry would focus on Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh in the coming months. These States have high total fertility rates.

“Though achievement of a TFR of 2.1 by 2010 seems impossible, as we were at 2.7 in 2007, we will make all efforts to ensure that we are able to move closer towards replacement levels by 2015,” Mr. Azad said.

This exercise, the Minister said, helped to identify 288 districts that account for 80 per cent of maternal and infant deaths; and Primary Health Centres and Community Health Centres that are geographically remote and difficult to access within these villages and blocks that have a high percentage of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. “For these areas, we are now formulating a comprehensive package of additional incentives to health workers and doctors. We intend to give special focus to new born care, as nearly 23 per cent of the neonatal deaths occur in the first two days of birth,” he said. Asphyxia, hypothermia, sepsis are major causes of such deaths.

“We still have a long way to achieving our goals related to maternal mortality, infant mortality and total fertility ratio, the burden of disease on account of malaria and TB and other infectious diseases, universal immunisation,” he said, adding that heasked the officers to focus on most difficult and inaccessible areas.

Shivraj Singh Chauhan(CM of MP) is wearing Raj Thakrey’s shoes these days and he is also preparing to kick out Biharis from MP using those shoes. I consider the possibility of having 23 more Raj Thakrey in India (excluding Bihar, Jharkhand & UP from having a Thakrey, obviously). Also I Wonder an online help from Thakrey Brothers on “HOW TO KICK OUT BIHARIS IN 7 DAYS”. Thakrey brothers, you must try it, you have one potential client now and I bet your client list will increase.

I dont put full blame on these Thakrey Kind of Politicians who no doubt are trying to play state level politics, but how come the central governing body is allowing such kind of stupidity to happen? How come a state level politician screw the integrity of our country left & right and centre just acts as mock-bird?

One may argue that these Thakrey Acts are lessons to Bihar Government who are incapable of generating sufficient employment opportunities in their state itself. I am also agree with the fact that people of Bihar don’t have much opportunities in their home state, but throwing a Bihari who happens to be a citizen of India fortunately or unfortunately, will remain a big WTF for me.

News in Detail

রোপওয়ে ঃ

এখানকার অন্যতম tourist attraction হলো রোপওয়ে । পাহাড়ের মাথায় একটা বুদ্ধ মন্দির আছে যার নাম শান্তি স্তুপ । গাড়িতে বা পায়ে হেটে সে মন্দির এ যাওয়া যায় না – তার জন্য চাপতে হবে রোপওয়ে । নিচে আর ওপরে দুটো বিশাল লোহার চাকতি বারো মাস ঘুরে চলেছে, আর তাতে তার বেধে সমানে চলেছে রোপওয়ে । কার গুলো খোলা, অনেকটা নাগরদোলার সীট এর মত । সামনে একটা লোহার রড দিয়ে লক করা । আর সব থেকে মজার ব্যাপার হল এই কারগুলো  কখনো থামে না, ওঠা-নামা সব ওই চলতে চলতেই সেরে নিতে হবে… একবার নামতে না পারলে বসে থাকতে হবে যতক্ষন না আবার সেটা ঘুরে সেই যায়গা তেই ফিরে আসে ।

শান্তি স্তুপ  ঃ

শান্তি স্তুপ বলতে দেখলাম একটা বেশ বড় গোলাকার জায়গা জুড়ে একটা বৌদ্ধ মন্দির । শ্বেতপাথরের … আর চারিদিকে সোনালী রঙের বুদ্ধ মুর্তি, কোনটা বসা, কোনটা আবার দাঁড় করানো ! মন্দির এর সামনে কিছুটা খালি যায়গা আছে – মাঠের মত । সেখানে সবাই দাঁড়িয়ে ফটো তুলছে ।

বোধ গয়া ঃ

পরের দিন আমরা গেলাম বোধ গয়া । আর বোধ গয়া বলতে  প্রথমেই যেটা মনে পড়ে সেটা হলো মহাবোধি মন্দির আর বোধি বৃক্ষ ।

দারুন সুন্দর লাগলো আমার এই পীঠস্থান… মাঝখানে বিরাট বুদ্ধের মন্দির , মন্দিরের ঠিক পেছনে আছে সেই বিখ্যাত বোধি বৃক্ষ ! প্রকান্ড সেই বট গাছ, দেখলেই বোঝা যায় কতো প্রাচীন !

মন্দির এর চারপাশে ছোট ছোট বৌদ্ধ বিহার ছড়িয়ে ছিটিয়ে আছে । এখানে অবশ্য নিস্তব্ধতা বজায় রাখার নির্দেশ দেওয়া আছে, তার ফলে একটা শান্ত পরিবেশ তৈরি হয়েছে । এখানে ছবি তোলা নিষেধ নেই । তাই আমার সাধের ক্যামেরা হাতে নিয়ে এদিক-অদিক ঘুরতে লাগলাম । যতই দেখছি, ততই অবাক হচ্ছি ! মন্দিরের গায়ে সুক্ষ কাজ চোখ ধাধিয়ে দিচ্ছে… এক যায়গায় দেখলাম নীল পাথরের কাজ করা ।

দূরে নিরিবিলিতে বৌদ্ধ ভিক্ষুরা বসে প্রার্থনা করছে - পরনে গেরুয়া বস্ত্র ।

আশে – পাশে কোথায় কি হচ্ছে তার দিকে ওদের কোন ভ্রুক্ষেপই নেই !

আর এইসব ছোট ছোট বৌদ্ধ বিহার গুলোর মাঝে মাঝে  আছে সুন্দর ফুলের বাগান । সেখানে একবার বসে পরলে আর উঠতে ইচ্ছে করবে না !

শেষে অনিচ্ছা সত্তেও আমাদের বেরিয়ে আসতে হলো, কারণ আবার রাজগির ফিরে যেতে হবে ঃ-(

পরের দিন ঘরে ফেরা… আর যথারীতি অফিস যাওয়ার পালা…

তবে একটা ব্যাপার ভেবে মনটা খারাপ হতে হতেও হলো না – আর কিছুদিনের মধ্যেই আমার পরের ট্রিপ । এবার যাব সান্দাকফু ……

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