LET'S MAKE IT A BETTER PLACE.

This beautiful world is inhabited by different flora, fauna, homo sapiens. These are all living beings. All are beautiful, they have life, they have energy. Trees are beautiful. They give us shade, fruits, the much needed oxygen, the lovely green color and the most beautiful profile of mountains, hills, plains. They are natural and a great resource for sustaining the earth.

Flowers, vegetables, shrubs, bushes, grass are all needed. They all sustain the earth.

Animals are beautiful. They live, they are a part and parcel of our existence. We homo sapiens have tamed some animals for our own use. Some animals are beasts of burden, some are used for transportation, some serve as milk givers, some give up their lives for us to eat. Some give us wool, some give us eggs, and some provide us joy rides, some provide us with company and are our pets.

Homo sapiens are those who have two feet, have a fist, have a thumb and so can grip things. They are the ones with developed brains, they are the ones who have emotions, who have developed language, speech, writing, accounting and what not. Being the most brainy species has perhaps resulted in our developing certain traits which are harmful for the world at large.

We homo sapiens or human beings have deceit, treachery, jealousy, envy, competition, hatred, intolerance, anger, as our traits. We also have very many nice traits, but then the nice traits get over shadowed by the negative traits. A human being emerges as the most dangerous species which endangers the earth.

Why do we have back stabbing, deceit? Why is there incest? Why does a father rape his own three year old child? Why does a father, uncle and brother continuously rape a  daughter, niece and sister? Why do women get raped? Why do these things happen? Why?

Is there something wrong in our upbringing? Are these brutal people absolutely inhuman? Do they deserve to continue to live?

 For a few moments of perverse pleasure and sense of empowerment these ghastly wretched creatures scar and destroy a girls life forever. 

Whenever I discuss this with people and advocate capital punishment for rapists, I am given the argument that the consequence will be that after a rape the rapist will kill the victim. I simply do not agree to this but for want of a better argument I keep quiet.

It is my view that whatever be the consequence the punishment for a rapist MUST be the death penalty. No one should be allowed to go scot free after a few years of punishment. It endangers society to have such criminals with depraved sensibilities let loose once again. They never get reformed. 

This crime against women must get its due importance. Rape is a violation of a person's body. Her will, her being, her entire persona, her belief, faith and trust are all shattered by some known or unknown person. She is left to grieve over her inhuman torture alone. No one can even imagine what pain a victim suffers. It is only she who knows what she has suffered and lost.

I remember so many rape cases, The Geeta Chopra case, the Maulana Azad Medical College student case, Mathura case, Aruna Shanbaug, Bhanwari Devi, Scarlett Keeling, Imrana, the tragedies perpetrated in a number of villages where dalit women are subjected to such rapes, paraded naked, little children, older girls, older women, the list can go on and on endlessly.

We get affected, agitated, angered and ask for the blood of the rapist in a few cases. The Delhi tragedy is the one which has made everyone wake up with a jolt. Soon we will go back in slumber and wake up again when another tragedy happens in an urban place. Why do we not agitate when everyday such tragedies are reported from all over the place?

Please people think. Please do not let such crimes go unreported.

 Please do remember that women need to get their position in society. Please give them the respect they deserve.

If each one of us start treating women folk of their own homes with respect, I do think the next generation will be better off and we will have more men respecting women.

As a beginning could you please stop making lewd jokes about women?

Could you please stop treating your wives like stupid, inferior people?

Could you please start accepting that the world IS a better place because of the women in your life?

Could you please smile and tell your wife that she makes a positive difference to your life? 

Women need to stop belittling themselves.
They need to realize that they are a part and parcel of society.
They need to remember that they are equal, are respectable and not inferior.
They need to see themselves without being patronizing towards themselves. All those humbug stories of being tragedy queens who give birth to children and bring them up, need to be discarded. What is biological is just that. Why glorify it so much and make it such a big deal? Why do we try to give ourselves the tag of being the eternally suffering species?
Unless we take up a stand boldly and demand our rights, we will not get anything. Let us see ourselves as strong and independent beings.

Let us make the world a better place by training young minds. Could you train your daughter to look after herself and not be scared of anything and anyone?Could you also train your son to always treat women as equal beings? 
Let us do our bit for society. Each one of us can make a difference.

LOOK....PARADISE IS HERE!

Whenever I  watch Hindi TV serials I  often wonder from where they bring forth such villainous personalities who do nothing but wreck havoc in the lives of others. Sadly, looking around, I have found that such people do exist in every household. Yes, actually in every household. Don't believe me? Just look around and pay attention and Voila! you will find that each and every house and family has at least one such person who is a total villain. 

We are told to forgive and move on. Is it possible to forgive people who are only  plotters and schemers? Those who play on the emotions of others, use them and then break their spirits?

The world is full of people who are hell bent on painting every other person with a  dark paint brush. Do they really believe that by painting others black they will look fairer in contrast? Why do some people have such a morose attitude towards life? Why can they never accept responsibility for anything? Why? Why? Why?

My why's may ever be answered, but I feel very sad to see the faces of such people. In spite of having everything they are worse than beggars. At least a beggar does not have to plot and scheme because he does not have the time to do all that. The beggar is too busy running after people to beg for some money to fill his stomach.

If only people would be calm, content and happy, they would be able to see the world as the beautiful place that it actually is. The world in which we live is extremely beautiful, with hills, mountains, rivers, meadows, forests, and desert sands. 

The sunrise, the sunset, the moon with beautiful stars. Extremely beautiful animals and birds. The birds flying in formation, the animals in the wild in their regimentation. The musical sounds of the river flowing, the beautiful melody of trees swaying, the wind rushing past, the chatter of the birds, the melody of the cuckoo and the nightingale. 

Nature is absolutely beautiful. Paradise is on this earth, if only we open our eyes and look for beauty, open our ears and hear music, melody, open our inner self and feel the milk of human kindness. The soothing touch of a mother, the firm guiding hand of the father, the gentle smile of an understanding friend, the total devotion of a spouse, the total innocence, dependance and trust of a child. 

Sadly we do not try to feel these, we simply take these for granted and continue to  look for faults. We hear the harsh ravens, we see floods, and the tsunami, we fear earthquakes and volcanoes, we only look for faults. Faults are rare and occur sometimes, but that is what we see and hear and fear. 

We do not appreciate the melody of the cuckoo who keeps on singing continuously, we do not hear the soothing gushing of the river which flows constantly. We only remember when a parent scolded us or a friend was indifferent or a spouse was intolerant, or a child was rude. All the goodness gets wiped out in one stroke. 

That is the story of life. 

If only, we could take faults as faults and an aberration which happens rarely, life would be so much more beautiful, colorful and joyful!

If only!!

4th of November comes again!

Life goes on, only some dates make me wish that they had never come in my life. 4th November 2006 is one such date, I could have done without.
We are born only once, we live only once. This is the only life that we have. This was a lesson I learnt very early in my life.
I was told that it is for me to live this life well. I was told to find a way to reach my destination. If no one had been there before, I was to find my own path and carve my own way.
 N G Uke my father always told me to achieve. I had to be the best. There was no choice, but to be the best. If something had to be done it had to be done in the best way. There could be no compromises.
I know that life does not give us a second chance.
Time also does not stand still. It moves on and time wasted is time lost forever.
Daddy also always said that if a thing was not put back in its place then that thing was kachra, it was useless.

Parents do not last forever, therefore I say that we must make the most of the time that we have with them. Learn from them as they will always teach us well as they only wish the best for their children.
Daddy was a kind, compassionate, honest  and generous man who loved everyone and was extremely forgiving.
He  became the teacher whose teachings will always guide me in my life.
He is no longer in this world, but his teachings, his words, his philosophy are with me stored in my memory.

If I am in a dilemma, I simply have to think of daddy and all my answers come tumbling out from within me.
He actually left a part of himself with me.  I live on with the memory and teachings and guidance of my father.
He remains with me always!

I have faced 4th of November once again in London, on  a night when Guy Fawkes night is being observed and fireworks are going on....I realize life goes on.
We three children of N G Uke carry on the legacy left to us.
We smile and we carry on. We carry the message of being caring, compassionate, kind, forgiving and generous
Tomorrow is yet another day.

What's in a name??

These days I am visiting my son and daughter in law at Nashua in United States of America. They are both involved in a lot of activities therefore we meet a lot of people during some function, get together or party.
Invariably I am asked if I am Jharna's mother. The moment I say I am her mother in law, often the other person says, "Oh but a mother in law is like a mother only".
 After hearing this statement more than once, I began to wonder why this defensive statement had to be made. Is being a mother in law not enough, do I have to step into the shoes of someone else?
All of us in this world are related to a lot of people. The relationship may be good, bad or ugly, but the fact remains that we are related. No mother can name one of her children as her favourite. One cannot actually know if one has a favourite brother or sibling. That sort of a question never arises when we talk of our parents. We cannot say or decipher if we love one parent more than the other. This simply means that love is unfathomable. You can have affection and love for a lot of different relationships. If we love someone from our nuclear family, when an addition is made by way of a marriage, it does not diminish the love for the other original members. Does it?
Why then this justification that you as a mother in law are as good as a mother? Can I not be a mother in law and not be judged for my relationship? These distinctions and lack of understanding or rather inherent fear is all created by us... deliberately.
We all need to start accepting that everyone in this world generally wants good and happy relationship with everyone else. All of us want to live happily and peacefully.  All of us keep on making new friends and also keep on adding to new relationships as we go on in life. Why begin with fear for a monster-in -law? Oh dear ! Did I just write that? Even I, with all my pontificating...still have the fear deeply enshrined in my own being??
Nevertheless, I, a mother in law of two outstanding people of this world, need to be accepted for what I am and not for trying to fit into the shoes of someone else!

Remembering N G Uke on his 88th Birthday.

Memories come flooding back on certain dates. Our calenders are reminders. There are specific dates when we remember people, incidents and events. We celebrate those particular days, we put aside some time to reminiscence and talk about our memories, on those specific days.

People in our life move on, some move away, and some go away from the world. All of them who matter, continue to live on in our memory. Although each person leaves an indelible mark on our lives, yet there are some who mean much more to us. A parent is one such entity to whom we owe our life. Then we owe our living, our way of living, our style, our philosophy, attitude, thoughts, beliefs and understanding of life and its situations, also to them

A parent willy nilly teaches us to eat, walk, sleep and everything else that is needed for us to step out into the world. They also mould everything else without any specific effort. We just grow into those moulds.

We all grow up in the shadow of the personality of our parents. A lot of thoughts get engrained on our minds.

My dad was one such giant of a man who left an absolutely indelible mark on me. The first mark that he left was that I was equal to everyone else. In my world and culture a girl is always treated as the inferior  sex. Even the great Manu who compiled rules of behaviour for Hindus has said that Dhol, chamar, pashu, nari, yeh sab tadaan ke adhikari. This means that the Dhol(percussion instrument), cobbler, animal and women  have the right to be beaten.

What can one then expect from a country where these rules of conduct were laid down?

There have been many social activists who tried to break free of these shackles. Leaders like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, and people from Brahmo Samaj of West Bengal tried to introduce the entity and then the equality of women. Raja Ram Mohan Roy managed to get Suttee abolished from India. Widow remarriage also was introduced and widows were allowed to at least live after the death of their husbands!

A lot of other social thinkers tried to remove the bane of Untouchability. Jyotiba Phule, Dr. B R Ambedkar were protoganists in this area. Practice of untouchability is an inhuman practice which only those who have faced this discrimination, can understand. One could be outstanding, be meritorious and yet face the wrath of the general public as one would be  branded as belonging to the Untouchable or Scheduled caste.

Life in India is not easy. One is not free. We are bound by too many do's and dont's.

In this kind of a society, I saw my father wage a lone battle. He tried to tell people that all people are equal. He always advised women to wear slacks.He said it was decent, easy to walk in and gave us freedom of movement. A saree is usually a very restrictive attire. Running to catch a bus, walking up stairs,walking down escalaters, a woman has to look after her saree or she can easily trip and fall. Now I see most youngsters have adopted this easy, smart,comfortable attire.

Daddy would always shake hands with everyone. He did not appreciate anyone touching his feet. That was another way of subjugation, he said. For dad everyone was equal to him. Women would often shy away from shaking hands, because in our culture women do not allow men other than their husbands to touch them. I say why do we have such thoughts? Why do we think of nothing but the worst? Can a man not be a human being and just a human being? Does he always have to have undesirable thoughts? Are these restrictive thoughts not engrained in the minds of women, making them people who cannot trust anyone?

Religion, beliefs, superstitions, get engrained in our minds from childhood. With our restrictive practices we confine the minds of children to our specific beliefs. We do not encourage questioning of any belief. We tell our children to simply obey what we tell them to do. A questioning child is seldom appreciated as we ourseles do not know the answers to many of our beliefs, We simply followed them blindly and expect our children to do the same. Here again my father encouraged questions, arguments, reasoning and debate. We were never asked to believe without understanding. Dad's motto was "Atta Deep bhava" or be your own light. This is from the teachings of Gautama the Buddha who had told his followers not to believe everything he said just because he had said it, but to believe it only if they understood and agreed with the thought.

My dad believed that we have only this one life. There was no past life and no future life. All that we have is this life. We live once and therefore need to live well. We are neither punished for the sins of a past life nor will we benefit by any acts of this life in the future. All punishments and rewards are what we experience in this very life. Live well, help people, be happy and always be willing to teach people.

The words lucky, fortunate and destiny were taboo in his presence. He said that the moment we start using  these words, we start believing in someone else being at an advantage and then we automatically lose hope and do not give our best efforts. We start believing in destiny and give up working towards achieving our goal. We would have already lost half the battle as we would go into that state where we would think of inequality and the dice being loaded in favour of someone else. Preconceived notions and regressive thoughts found no place in his life.

His thinking and teaching was much ahead of his times.

He was a  positive thinker who believed only in himself. He was a  person who had extreme compassion for everyone. He was  kind, considerate and extremely rational. He was a person who went out of his way to help anyone or everyone without any hope for even getting a thank you!

That my friends was my father. I always remember him with a lot of pride, affection and regard.

Zindagi....there is no encore!

A beautiful winter morning!

Life is lived only once. This life is mine and I am my own master. What I do with it, is for me to decide. I can always look at the half filled glass with sorrow as I do not have a full glass, or feel happy about having a half glass. The choice is mine.
Every day is bright, beautiful and a new opportunity to live the day fruitfully, yet I, like everyone else categorise my days as different days of the week and condemn Monday and look forward to Friday. Actually, every day is the same. A weekend is a time for rest, recuperation, stocking up for the week and clearing the clutter piled up during the week. Weekdays are for earning my living. It is the time to be spent for being innovative, creative, organising, moving forward in my organisation, puling up people, getting pulled up, and so on and so forth.
A child has to learn, youth has to develop skills, adults have to work and retired people have to find ways and means to be heard by all the busy people of the world. Each person has his own goal to pursue.

A busy peacock!...showing off

After a number of years of studying then working, one fine day I retired from my job. I had then wondered what life had in store for me. From a fully disciplined, regimented life I was suddenly going into a world where I was the master of my own time. There were no schedules, no one to whom I would be answerable. No one watching over me and assessing my performance!
So when this time arrived I had to calm myself down and accept that now onwards I would have to decide how my day would be spent.
The evening of the day that I retired I left for a small vacation to Agra. I am fond of History and looking at the Taj has always been a happy experience for me. I therefore spent two days at Agra and came back home knowing that henceforth mornings were no longer going to be rush, rush, rush.
From then onwards life  became smooth. I started enjoying my days, my life and learnt that there is a life beyond the Bank where I had spent thirty years of my life.
Travelling, being with my children, enjoying my time with my grand children became another facet of my life.
I wrote short stories for children, I started writing about life, my travels, my family and even tried my hand at poetry.
As there was no one assessing my capabilities, I took to all these activities like a duck to water. If someone liked to read what I wrote, I was happy, if they did not like it then I tried to improve. There was no competition, no judgement, no rat race. I was simply in an exploratory stage. I kept exploring the different opportunities available to me. I kept reaching out to new things, just learning, trying and honing my skills.
I now love my independence. I love every day of my life. Every morning I wake up with a new anticipation. Every day I look forward to happiness. Being human, sometimes I too have my sad moods, but then I get hold of my thoughts and turn them around to become happy. Just like in a smiley face vis a vis a sad face with an upturned curve of a smile versus a downward curve of a sad face!

View from my window in Autumn or Fall as they say in USA.

I have decided not to allow anyone to sadden my day. No one will have the power to make me depressed. I am master of my day of happiness.

I do not believe in fate, destiny, or karma. I decide here and now what my day and time will be like. Nothing is fore told or written in my bhagya. I go along with time and try to make the most of it.
Having said that, let me share with you my latest adventure. I am now trying to overcome my fear of water. I have always dreaded boating and rowing. I could never swim.  This latest venture of course has not been out of my own volition. During my annual visits to London every summer, I would accompany my grand children to the swimming pool. I mustered enough courage to buy a swimming suit and would sit like a beached whale on the side of the pool. One day my six year old grand daughter came to me and said, "Nani, hold my hand, come inside the pool, it's not scary." This got me thinking. I decided to get over my fear of water. It has taken me two years, but I have taken a decision to learn swimming.

Life is a celebration!

It is an effort,  a tremendous one, but with encouragement from my children, and the constant support and guidance of my grand daughter, I have started taking lessons! I am on the way, and am soon reaching my destination! Life...I meet you with pleasure...always!

who am I?

Sometimes I wonder about what am I seeking. Am I seeking or just living from one moment to another? Is it because I do not know what else to do? I breathe without knowing that I am, I live without knowing that I am. It's only when I see the picture of another stranger as old as I am, that I realize that I too have traversed all those distances and am as withered, old,wrinkled and vintage as the person in the picture. It's just my spirit which cannot be pictured, which makes me live on without a thought. It's the blithe spirit of the free wind, the roaring, frothy movement of powerful waves which come in unison and retreat passively. That, I feel is me. The wind, the wave, the careless free all pervading yet lonely spirit, Which belongs to no one, Not even the earthly creature called "Varsha".

CHOICES!

Life is a game, you win some, you lose some,

The idea is to just keep playing always,

Never give up.

 Accept the good with the bad,

The beautiful with the ugly,

Summer with winter,

Equinox with solstice, 

The glum and sad with the happy go lucky.

Our life is ours to make or mar,

Our decisions,our compromises make life easy or difficult,

There are no short cuts, 

As every action has a reaction,

Yet, as we live but once,

Let's make it as happy as it possibly can be,

If I sow oats, I will reap oats,

Whatever decision I take is mine and mine alone!

This is a game which I play,
Not to lose or win, I  play as I have no choice,
We all live with given circumstances,
The choice is ours to stay and make the most of it,
Or move on and choose to change the situations,
Think well and choose courageously,
Life is ours only once,
Choose and choose to live well.

JHARNA - A SPRING!

JHARNA IN THE MIDDLE

Jharna, the word itself sounds sweet. The meaning of the word is sweeter. It means "spring". No, not the spring season, nor the spring as in a sofa, but the spring of life, as in a small stream of water flowing naturally from the earth. My daughter's name is Chaitali which also means Spring, this one means the Season of spring! Coincidences make life so interesting. A daughter and daughter in law both having names which mean spring but in two different ways! The amazing English language!Interestingly, both the "springs" are as alike as two peas in a pod!

My name is Varsha, which means rain, my mother in law was Saraswati, the name of a river, and my daughter in law is Jharna. We all have names connected with water, one of the essential elements of nature!

Jharna came into my life in that relationship where we allow a person to become our daughter “by law”!  It is a strange way of inducting a family member! Perhaps the nomenclature makes it sound very distant and impersonal. The fact remains that these relations called the 'in law' ones, remain very personal. 

ANURAG,AARIA, JHARNA

Jharna is an MBA from Delhi, who went to the USA after her marriage, and completed an Interior Designers course there. That was the line she chose as per her interest. Now she works as an Interior Designer in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Jharna has found what she wants to do in life. A friend of my son says, we all have a "song" hidden away in our heart. We have to find that song. Within each one of us is hidden a secret desire, a wish. This secret desire is never disclosed to anyone. We are scared to voice our wish. In fact these desires are kept hidden so safely that sometimes even we do not know what it is. Height of secrecy I must say!

Well, so sometimes some of us just stumble upon some thing that we wish to do. Then, we find the time to do it. Very hesitatingly we share those thoughts with someone else. The fear is that other people around us may not be able to appreciate what we wish to do. There is also the question of our own fears.

Encouraging new thoughts and ideas is an art. Very few people appreciate  new ventures of others. Usually radical ideas are frowned upon. Most of us live within well defined norms of society. Deviations, new angles are not accepted easily.

In a world where every movement, action, and life's plan is usually determined by forces of the family or society, Jharna found an interest in raising funds for charitable causes. She has presented programmes on the radio on special occassions. She conducts, organises and manages a  lot of events, even fashion shows, and is an M C for most programmes conducted at Nashua, and its neighbourhood. She  is associated with a lot of fora of the Indians at New Hampshire state. She is totally involved with every activity of interest to Indians. Wherever there is an Indian activity, Jharna is sure to be seen there.

TWO BEAUTIES!

All this while looking after her daughter, taking care of her home as well as her career.

 She reached the Final round in the Competition of Mrs. India International at Atlanta in USA. She was selected in the Top 5 and has been crowned Mrs. India, Nashua! She is as beautiful inside as she is from outward appearance.

For us, both the sets of parents, and her entire family, she is THE winner. Having the courage to enter this Competition, wondering how people would react, facing a number of interviews, becoming a finalist, is a great win. We have a beauty queen amongst us! We are very proud of her!

I and my entire family, all my friends, friends of friends, my colleagues, their relatives and friends, my relatives, their friends, in fact so many people have reached out.  They have voted, sent best wishes, raised our hopes, touched our lives, and shared their concerns. I am extremely touched. My life seems very beautiful. We are all one, we are all together, we are all rooting for our own contestant. The world has become so much closer. The people have come closer. The world seems a better place!

I want to personally thank everyone for taking the time to come closer to us. THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart.

MY LANDMARK DATE!

1ST BIRTHDAY

There are certain dates in every ones life which stand out as landmarks. They are dates which mean a lot to US. 15th of May is one such date which stands out in the calendar of my memory.

Although a long time has gone by, a lot more things have happened, more landmark dates have been created, yet this date stands out as an extremely important date for me.

I remember the events of that date as if they took place only yesterday. In fact my memory is so sharp that I can actually replay the whole scene in my own mind like a film.

NOW

THEN

I love this date and always think of it fondly.

Dates are memories and memories are what life is made up of.

Time passes, we move on, before one realizes it youth turns to middle age, and slowly one moves towards the position of being a senior citizen.

In these days when 60 is the new 40, people of my age actually have to keep reminding ourselves that we are now senior citizens. We keep telling ourselves that we need to slow down. Really? Do we need to?

Those who need to, will feel it in their bones. Those who can walk a mile without a trace of fatigue need not slow down.

As my little son Anurag grew up, I too grew older. It was on the day he finished his 12th class finals, as I was going back home from State Bank Staff College, Gurgaon, it suddenly struck me that my little son was no longer going to be the little boy who would keep asking me things, who would keep seeking permission.

16TH BIRTHDAY

I realized that he was now ready to step out into the world. He would from now onwards be on his own and would be able to take decisions on his own. From now on he was of the world and no longer just my son. My heart actually missed a beat. I had not realised till then that so many years had gone by and  so much time had elapsed.

I had  not realised till then that happy times just fly past very fast. All that remains are memories. I remember all those many years, when feverish activity was part of my life from the 1^st of May onwards. I would be inviting people, arranging the party, buying return gifts, getting new clothes stitched, getting stuff for the party, cooking, decorating, and then waiting for the guests to arrive. Even in the scorching heat of Chandigarh, then the milder evenings of Hyderabad and then the extremely hot evenings of Delhi, Anurag's birthday used to be a big event. We had so much fun. The looking out for gifts and handing over the return gifts and the great excitement to open the gifts, was what fabulous memories are made of!

NASHUA 2011

In the last six years I was always in Nashua and celebrated the day  with Anurag, Jharna and their gorgeous daughter Aaria. Jharna and I would think of gifts to get for Anurag, but this year I and TNN are in Delhi. Although we are separated by thousands of miles, many seas, oceans and land, yet as the mind travels fast, we are with Anurag. 

Our wishes are always with him. Anurag is the best son that one could wish to have, I and Triloki are extremely proud of him. Chaitali his little sister thinks he is the best brother. My mother thinks that Anurag is the ultimate. Indeed Anurag,for us you are the BEST!

Many happy returns of the DAY Anurag. May you live to be a hundred and three, it's a hap, hap, happy birthday, a hap, happy birthday to you. 

NASHUA 2010.

THE CITY OF DJINNS! FEROZE SHAH KOTLA




At the City of Djinns!

 

As I set out for my walk to Feroze Shah Kotla,the 5th city of Delhi,with the Delhi Heritage Walks, I realised that this part of the History of Delhi was practically zilch in my knowledge. I therefore went with great expectations. All that I found were ruins. There was not a single building which was intact. They were surely not that old to be in the state that I found them in! To my dismay I found that  later day rulers had removed material from here to build their own cities. Dust unto dust....and all that came back to my mind!

Sprawling lawns!

Coming back to my own Discovery walk, I found that the present complex is sprawled in acres of land and the lawns are well maintained.

Feroze Shah Tughlaq was actually a chance King. He was not the direct descendant of his predecessor Mohd Bin Tughlaq. Mohd. Bin Tughlaq was in fact the King who had shifted his capital with all its inhabitants from Tughlaqabad in present day South Delhi to a new city called Daulatabad, which he founded in present day Andhra Pradesh. His subjects were unhappy with this movement of lock, stock and barrel, and soon enough the capital with its population was shifted back from Daulatabad to Delhi. On returning this time Mohd. Bin Tughlaq founded the City of Jahanpanah, which is located somewhere near present day Saket and Sheikh Sarai. Mohd Bin Tughlaq was disliked by his subjects and therefore after his death his cousin was chosen as the king. It was expected that the new incumbent would rule as per the desire of the nobility or people who had enthroned him.

True to their expectations, Feroze Shah actually became an appeaser King. He tried to keep everyone happy.Feroze Shah was born in 1309 and died in 1388. He ruled from 1351 to 1388. The entire Tughlaq Dynasty ruled a large part of India from Delhi, from 1320 to 1414.

To appease his subjects as well as the nobles and Umrah, Feroze brought about a lot of improvements and established Institutions, which were for the betterment of all the people. He  instituted economic policies to increase material welfare of his people. He built sarais, gardens, tombs and canals.  He was actually a great builder. He got a Madrasa built in present day Hauz Khas and  encouraged literacy. He built mosques in Khirki and Mohammedpur, which still stand. He repaired two top storeys of the Qutab Minar which had got damaged due to lightening in the year 1368. He set up hospitals for the free treatment of the poor called Darul Shifa and encouraged physicians in the development of Unani medicine. He provided money for the marriage of girls belonging to poor families. He built over 300 villages and dug 5 major canals for irrigation bringing more land under cultivation for growing grain and fruit.   He allowed hereditary succession in the army.  He allowed a nobleman's son to succeed to his father's position and jagir after his death. The same was done in the army, where an old soldier could send his son, son-in-law or even his slave in his place. He increased the salary of the nobles. He stopped all kinds of harsh and barbaric punishments such as cutting off hands. Firoz also lowered the land taxes that Muhammad had raised.  He established the Dewan e Khairat(department for poor & needy people) and the Dewan e bundagan( department for slaves).  Yet Firuz's reign has also been described as the greatest age of corruption in medieval India.

The Ashoka Pillar.

Coming back to the present day Kotla,there are ruins of a baoli or water body, or rather a huge well from which water was drawn to maintain the huge gardens. There is a Mosque, beneath which  are a lot of rooms. The layout is rather strange as these rooms have no windows. They look like black holes. There are thick walls on three sides and there is just a door to enter the room. Even daylight does not enter these rooms and therefore it is pitch dark inside. It is said that Djinns inhabit this place, Djinns are friendly ghosts, I am told. A lot of people visit this place on Thursday and leave their petitions in these rooms. Alas! Ignorance, belief, blind faith, makes us believe in such pathetic practices for wish fulfillment!

Rooms for Djinns!

The next structure in this complex is pyramidical, on top of which stands the "Ashok ki laat", or the Ashoka Pillar made of sand stone. This is a 3rd century BC pillar which has edicts of Emperor Ashoka. This pillar was brought from Meerut by Feroze with a lot of care and intelligent planning so that this massive pillar could be transported without damage via way of the  river Jamuna. The pillar has inscriptions in Brahmi lipi(writing), where Ashoka had written down certain rules. The pillar is beautiful, massive and shines like gold!

One has to make extensive use of ones imagination to think of what the place must have looked like at the time it was called Feruzabad and when this benevolent King ruled from here. Nothing much remains except for very thick walls, and extremely dilapidated ruins. I can only say "Khandahar bata rahein hai imaarat buland thi". Literally translated it means that the ruins tell us that once these buildings were magnificent.

Somehow this visit left me with a lot of reflective thoughts. Nothing remains. Time takes its toll. Historians and those who write are really very powerful. It is how written  material is preserved and interpreted  that after a long time people perceive of what once was! Such huge structures also were ravaged and pillaged.

Where once the River Jamuna flowed, now is a well maintained Rose garden. There are a lot of kites which nest in the trees in the sprawling  gardens of Feroze Shah Kotla.There are a lot of cats too around the place. Djinns, nine lives of cats...city of djinns, ruins.. That for you my friends was Feroze Shah Kotla!

The Rose garden & New Delhi beyond.

I have a personal connection with this place as this is the place where my mother at the age of 19 had selected her life partner from amongst 3 suitors, who had  all returned from England after completing their education!