was fortunate / unfortunate to be a part of a corporate delegation of CII working on India -Africa partnership towards development. there were over 1000 people in taj palace delhi wherein over the two days people exchanged ideas and projects which can be done together for mutual benefit and combining competencies. all looked fine and professional until, i attended a session with non other than our ministers of external affairs and industry ....Mr. S M krishna and Mr. Anand sharma addressed all of us .................
they talked at length about the importance of development , role of mahatma gandhi !!!!???, and the need for india africa to come together for setting up standards for the future generations ... ( for over an hour )
my mind raced back and forth from the images of africa i carried from my past visits .. and the resemblance of the same to our rural territories..... the similarity is alarming. only difference is in the attitude.
most of the african nations like ivory coast, senegal, congo, ghana..etc etc have been riddled with crime, civil war and corruption.
we in india would like to believe that ' India is shining' .. and refuse to accept we are also in same situation... thing maoists, bodos, kashmiris, naxals, muslim extremists and last but not the least the our own elected jokers.. the politicians.
India is not just delhi, mumbai, bangalore and chennai.. India is also gadchiroli, maldah, bastar ghowa ..etc etc .
our government talks of millions of dollars support for under developed african countries.. but if you see the last budget
what was offered to our own under developed areas was comparitively miniscule.
some times being a big country is a great disadvantage !!! i see more and more smaller countries tightening up and holding the politicos accountable and responsible.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Monday, March 1, 2010
stranded at a beach on HOli..... day !!!
Yesterday was a rather eventful day. when the Shende family (shaantanu, neelima and your truly) decided to celebrate differently.
off we went at 7 am to our destination .. Gorai beach.
the empty roads, speeding skoda and rocking music added a special ambience to the much anticipated day long picnic.
just past 9 am we were thru the ritual of an omlette bread and tea breakfast .. and the lovely shore, with the high tide just picking up beckoned. we took the car on the beach and found a small shanty restaurant to park.
the next few hours were full of incoming high tide, a game of cricket and playing in the raging water of the sea.
at about 11 we thought , we have had enuff and much against a ranting and non co-operative shaantanu , we decided to head back home..... then we realised that how can we take the car back to the road as the shore was now being washed out by the high tide. the hotel manager shook us to reality by announcing that ' we can go only by 4 pm' as thats when the water level will ease out enuff to let the car pass. that was a blessing in disguise..
we found a nice spot under some coconut trees , laid out the multi purpose picnic sheet and out the came the car pillows, water bottles and all other amenities in the car to enable us to last out the next 4 hours, stranded !!
more cricket, chatting, some beers and lemonade amidst 1000's of dancing bhang intoxicated celebrators (remember 'rang barse'), barbeque mutton being cooked and smelly wild horses. !!!!!
the time just flew until we suddenly realised that the tide had indeed gone by ...
we packed up .. and off we went back tired, tested and with a part of the minds' RAM etching the
events of the last few hours .... to be saved permanently in memories of an eventful holi !!
off we went at 7 am to our destination .. Gorai beach.
the empty roads, speeding skoda and rocking music added a special ambience to the much anticipated day long picnic.
just past 9 am we were thru the ritual of an omlette bread and tea breakfast .. and the lovely shore, with the high tide just picking up beckoned. we took the car on the beach and found a small shanty restaurant to park.
the next few hours were full of incoming high tide, a game of cricket and playing in the raging water of the sea.
at about 11 we thought , we have had enuff and much against a ranting and non co-operative shaantanu , we decided to head back home..... then we realised that how can we take the car back to the road as the shore was now being washed out by the high tide. the hotel manager shook us to reality by announcing that ' we can go only by 4 pm' as thats when the water level will ease out enuff to let the car pass. that was a blessing in disguise..
we found a nice spot under some coconut trees , laid out the multi purpose picnic sheet and out the came the car pillows, water bottles and all other amenities in the car to enable us to last out the next 4 hours, stranded !!
more cricket, chatting, some beers and lemonade amidst 1000's of dancing bhang intoxicated celebrators (remember 'rang barse'), barbeque mutton being cooked and smelly wild horses. !!!!!
the time just flew until we suddenly realised that the tide had indeed gone by ...
we packed up .. and off we went back tired, tested and with a part of the minds' RAM etching the
events of the last few hours .... to be saved permanently in memories of an eventful holi !!
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