Showing posts with label Society. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Society. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Voices

The turn of events this morning have not at all been pleasing. Sadness to anger to shock. All in the span of a few hours and about 25 Kms.

Dr. Narendra Dabholkar, a leader who fought against supersition and ill-beliefs that made the society regressive, was shot at right in the heart of Pune. There are witnesses who have given the details of the motorcycle-riding assailants. Surely, the police would be tracing them out. The extreme shock will be lingering for a few days. People who are aware of the area where the crime took place will be scared and worried about their safety. Politicians will speak out and try to win brownie points by making this a political issue. (People like this writer would be wording their thoughts.)

Then, after a few days, Business as Usual. Apathy.

The people who Dr. Dabholkar was fighting for will remain just as clueless, illusionary, and under control. By the powers that want them to be downtrodden. By the office bearers who look at masses not as people, but as votes. The political class has to keep their vote banks under control, not let them progress, thus keeping them far away from rational thought. Far away from making them think beyond their basic needs. Making them dependent on the favours of local politicians and scaring them using the local goons.

On the way to work I saw a painting on the wall where it was written "Vishwaratna Dr. Ambedkar". Vishwaratna roughly translates to An International Jewel meaning a personality of that stature. Something that transcends, at least on the word-level and phonetically, the highest civilian award given in India - Bharat Ratna, the Jewel of India. Trapping people in illusions. Making them believe that the man who actually wanted people to educate themselves and rise above their social prejudices by educated thoughts and rationalism, is just a symbol for fighting class repression. In this modern age. Where the world is moving towards an era where such boundaries are more or less non-existent. Do I need to stress on the irony on calling Dr. Ambedkar as "Vishwaratna" in this case?

Your life is decided by people who have nothing to do with you apart from indirectly enslaving you and indirectly making you vote for them.

While the Police is busy handling Chief Ministers and Deputy Chief Ministers, Ex Presidents of India like they are the Royal Babies of England, actual people are suffering to a degree that will never be known.

India needs a revolution. But looking at how it is smartly divided but the ruling people by brain washing the interests of the people, there is not one single thing that we all can stand up for. Patriotism is defined differently for different people. Unity in Diversity is just a understanding more than a larger-than-life concept. Religion is a whip to control you. Anything else is just an opportunity to make money.

What do we look forward to? What about the coming generations?

Monday, June 24, 2013

Lohagad Trek

Reaching Lohagad:
We took the Pune-Lonavla local train from Pune station and alighted at Malavli (We missed the 5:45 am train so boarded the 6:30 am train. The journey till Malavli takes about an hour.), which is the penultimate station towards Lonavla. It's a small station located in the very close to Lohagad and Visapur.

Malavli

From the station, we had to cross the Mumbai-Pune expressway using an overbridge and walk along a road that took us to Bhaje (or Bhaja) Village. To my surprise, there is ample parking available at the base village.

The only catch is that you have to reach early as Sundays draw a lot of crowd from Pune and Mumbai. Sometimes to annoying, despicable crowd of drinkers who come around to visit the waterfalls and create nuisance to folks around.

From Bhaje village, there is a fork of which the left leads to Bhaja/Bhaje caves and the right towards Lohagad. I would say that about 75% walk is along the kuccha road that leads to the very base of Lohagad. There are some resorts at the base. Apparently, there is a motorable route that leads to his base directly from Lonavla.

Walking route from Malavli

At Lohagad base, there were a couple of eateries and we were happy to see omlette bread and such. From Lohagad base there are steps that lead towards the main gate of Lohagad. We were amazed to see the main gate and the surrounding fortifications. The construction and overall  attention to detail left us spell bound. Remember this fort was built centuries back, with minimal technology to assist the construction. Considering that rain is abundant in this area and the structure has stood the fury of nature through all that time period just makes one think about the ingenuity of our ancestors.

Fortifications - Lohagad
The wiki page talks about the other structures seen on the fort. From the top we started the walk towards the "Sting of the Scorpion." This, according to me, was the best part of the trek. (Takes about 30-45 min.)

Towards the Sting of the Scorpion
The little thrill involved along with the lush green surroundings was splendid. We reached the "sting' and made ourselves some yum sandwiches and spent some time before returning. The sun came up by this time and it started to get hot so we decided to climb down.

Difficulty:
Lohagad is a trek of moderate difficulty. While some patches are walking along a road "kuccha", you can take shortcuts (akin to Sinhagad) that are a slightly difficult (than the normal route) in monsoons. The best part of course is from the top of the fort towards the Sting of the Scorpion.

General observations:
Near the base village, there are some waterfalls that attract horrible crowds. We saw 2-3 cars full of drunkards who made a space for themselves near the waterfalls, all the while shouting and cat-calling, and started drinking right there in public place. They also played (tharki) music via some low quality speakers that added to the annoyance.

Be careful around such people. They annoy at times just to pick up a fight.

On asking the person who collected "toll" whether drinking is allowed and does he know what is going on beyond the gate, he just couldn't answer and decided that being rude is the best option that he has. These local goons are backed by the local politicians. Their symbiotic relation proves to be a parasite for the society.

I just wish I had a shotgun with me. So did a friend of mine.