A traveller can’t explore in the comfort of his home

A actor won’t get applause acting his way in a bathroom mirror

A child can’t grow without letting go of his safety pedals

An idea doesn’t become reality inside your own head

Life is full of risks and mistakes

Missteps make your move ahead!

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As with all my visits, I grudgingly get ready and get going. The parking is a painful affair. And while I prefer to park at the end of road and walk back, my mother goes “could have parked closer”. I say to myself “Something’s never change”

I ask her if she wants to buy a garland as I can park my slippers with the flowerwala. She starts examining the freshness of the roses – she bargains and decides to just go with the jasmines she already had in hand. While I try to tip the good man for his patience and for his hopeful security to my shoes – she pokes me whyyy. Some things never change. 

While I always favour a place of worship that takes least amount of effort to reach. She is an expert at finding a new temple that will take the whole day. But I was lucky today, it was a closeby Murugan temple which was in the long-time-no-see list 

Once inside I lose her attention and I follow her as she makes me way to the sannidanam. She looks at the long queue and looks at the paid dharshan queue and looks back at me. Whether it was 500 or even 1000 there was no bargaining here. It was for our devotion. While I make strong points for equality in dharshan as usual – she makes points about us being blessed to afford and it was our duty and moral right to use it. And  this ticket is nothing but repayment for his deeds. Some things never change. 

The priest is whipping out Vibuthi in distance as we make way through the line. As we get closer she gets into her Pooja bag emptying its contents- as I empty the content of my shirt pocket where I have neatly rupee note in all denominations. She pulls away the 50 swiftly for the Iyer while he enthusiastically attends to the patron before me who offered 100 bucks. While am done with praying – she meditates for a minute while I look around hoping no one asks us to leave the space. And cut to the Hundi on the way out – I again empty my pocket. This time she picks up the 500 rupee note justifying this goes directly to gods pocket. Somethings never change. 

I realised something – you cannot expect rationality in a religion, otherwise there wouldn’t be a religion in the first place. Let’s agree to disagree with the mothers!

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Countless lives lost and families in mourning among us

As the unseen virus puts up distance between us

People walk miles and miles to their safe abode before us

Yet let us not lose hope and stay thankful for

For the nameless souls fighting the faceless virus

For the white clad ones caring for the rest of us

For the men in khakkis marching with just a mask

For the milkman, kirana chacha and delivery men

For our human spirit willing to keep us in existence

For being human and alive!

The post THIS TOO SHALL PASS appeared first on Quarter Mile Journey.

Even news outlets who make scathing attacks on the government(or I should say made) are conveniently mute on affairs of the court. When an affidavit was filed accusing Ex CJI Rangan Gogoi of sexual harassment, it was only the digital publications like wire and quint that ran it. It was delegated to middle pages and short snippets on most outlets.

Even when four senior judges of the supreme court held a press conference saying then CJI Deepak Misra was arbitrarily assigning sensitive cases to junior judges(stopping short of accusing him of fixing judgements) – there was noise which again got fizzed down. These were voices raised for probe into the suspicious death of Justice Loya hearing Sohrabuddin Sheikh case against Amit Shah among other things. The case was again given to a junior judge in SC and was dismissed – and as always our memory faded away. Even the recent handling of the transfer of Madras Chief Justice by the collegium had no transparency to it. 

Any institution is not above criticism. It’s ironic that when the court has enough time to debate playing national anthem in theatres, but it chooses to delay the matter of CAA. While the streets are filled with protestors, the court chose to wait after December vacation to yesterday and now another 4 weeks. I remember the directors for CBI, NIA and IB being called the next day for a “he said-she said” harassment case, and that case was closed even faster. The SC is not open to criticism of its judgements even by a ex-colleague – slapping Justice Katju with contempt notice.

Let’s not act like no judge has been corrupt or impeached – we have seen rogue judges right from Sikkim Chief Justice resigning over land grabbing to a Calcutta high court judge passing orders against his own arrest and shooting letters against CJI to the government. Or forget the insenstivity judges show towards petitioners – saying “If you are facing threats, there is no safer place than jail” to a journalist appealing for bail in Odisha. While the court is overtly progressive mindset on social causes it maintains a cautious tone on cases involving government policies. 

SC is not a holy grail. When political leaders chosen by the will of people can be criticized. No court is above it.

While it’s true that the Indian judiciary is overworked, understaffed; their salary hiked just 4 times since independence. It’s also true that is fair in most instances and nobler among the three pillars of government. Though opening the court to RTI is a welcome act, but much needs to be done and soon. The court needs more judges like Justice Khanna who delivered the dissenting opinion during emergency or Judge Radhabinod Pal who is still idolized in Japan for his opinion on Tokyo trails!

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What better way to start a vacation than by strapping yourself to a random stranger you met moments ago and jumping 13000 feet in 5 minutes. Skydiving Dubai is one of the busiest with divers and instructors coming from all over. Every instructor around was fit enough for Mission Impossible stunts – mine was Dave from Ukraine who does 17 jumps a day (lost my dream job status here) – who was fun to be around poking fun on what to do if the parachute fails or if forgets to lock me. They have two dropzones – one in dessert away from city which is a tad cheaper and the one in palm island costing around 41K which is the choice of most jumpers for views of the Palm Jumeriah. Make sure you book the first jump of the day to catch the sun behind the skyline and don’t wear shorts thinking its middle east – it gets freezing on the way down (foolish of me i know)

Website: https://www.skydivedubai.ae/ – the website pretty much says everything you need to know before you take the leap

Cost – 2199 AED with photos/videos

Dune Bashing

This one here is a crowd favourite. And it just as exciting as what you see in the videos. Unlike skydiving its mostly Indian drivers (Indians are 51% of the population here aren’t they) – not your usual taxi drivers but with special license am told. Though there are plenty of players to take to the dessert around Oman border for one long afternoon – its better if you choose a premium players as the dinner service in most of these places are mediocre. I hear Platinum heritage has some fine tours – though I was not able to try them. Don’t miss out on riding the buggy at the end of the day – I was a little apprehensive when it was getting late for our turn but it was a unexpected thrill driving in the dessert at night with no roads no lights as long as you can see.

Website: https://www.platinum-heritage.com/platinum-desert-safari/ – these guys also offer hot air balloon ride if you are interested

Cost – 1750 AED

Ferrari world

Our obvious choice among 3 theme parks in Yas Island – with warner bros being too kid centric and Yas waterworld well having too much water. Its got rides for the family audience too but what make it interesting are its 5 roller coaster rides. Formula Rossa – the fastest roller coaster in the world reaching 240km/h or my personal favorite Flying Aces with unending swirls and loops. Its not as expansive as the theme parks in India and you can complete all the rides in half a day on a weekday – with no need for the queue skipping priority pass. Plan to reach in the morning and complete the rides to take lunch (unlike my brother who had a early lunch and retired)

Website: https://www.ferrariworldabudhabi.com/

Cost – 295 AED

Hero Odysea

There are lot of boat rides that take you around the Burj Al Arab and the coastline line – but here you get to ride your own boat. The boats aren’t exactly speed boats but definitely fast enough to give thrills. Best to take up the sunset tour circling towards the horizon and the world islands. And this spot is very close to the Emirates mall – in case you want to club these.

Website: https://www.hero-dubai.com/

Cost for a 90 min ride with one rider- 590; two riders – 790

Indoor Ice skating at Emirates mall

We did not personally try this – any sport that calls itself indoor is just half the fun. The snow park though has some fun stuff especially for family. It has slope rides, Zorb ball, cable car and also has an introductory lesson for someone just looking for a good time. Also, you have live penguins if you want to pet them there.

Website: https://www.skidxb.com/

Cost – they have different packages from AED 190 offering just basic rides to All Inclusive Snow premium plan for AED 490

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Otha Seruppu Size 7

Shabby erratic and talkative Parthiban (playing Masi) manages to keep us glued to the screen for 100 mins with just him in a 10 by 10 room with a few voices in background. I fooled myself into thinking the movie would be a psychological thriller from the trailer but it come out to be one unassuming murder mystery. But he doesn’t bring in unrealistic situations to do that, instead just portrays the struggle of common man stuck in a low income household. Even his characters are run of the mill – whether it’s the cops with different faces, the psychologist who understands him, or even his child Mahesh who he keeps bringing up, the characters are not far from reality. Merit goes to the background score by Sathya and Resul Pookutty’s sound mixing for making us visualise the characters just hearing them and get dipped in storyline; making every situation and time of day heard.

You can’t miss the cinematography standing out – especially in the perspective shots of the unseen faces and the scene where Masi is seen through his glasses. Well you can’t have Parthiban with his quips, but he keeps them minimal to not take our mood away. You have to also admire that he makes no political dig even though he could have gone away with a few and handles the audience as adults not reorienting us with details every time a knot is revealed(which every other movie does these days). Parthiban thoroughly stands out in this one person act as a director, scriptwriter and actor, in watch is a must watch of the year.

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Pliable media

Elections are no more won just by the rallies or your local poll workers calling on you; it’s won on the 9 o clock primetime and social apps that reach the large growing base of Indian middle class. The corporate media has been very benevolent to Modi, not asking him any serious questions or countering his narrative. In the very few interviews given to friendly channels he gets away with scripted answers and questions on his favorite foods. Add this with his fondness of not addressing press conferences and one way communication through Man ki bhaat, he never has to be answerable.

Unlimited war chest

Lot has been spoken about the three M’ in elections – money, media and muscle. With increased booth monitoring awareness and EVMs the issue of muscle power and booth capturing has been managed. But electoral funding has a step back from transparency, with the introduction of electoral bonds the BJP has found itself with a 989 Cr war chest while Congress comes a distant second with 143Cr. Ofcouse we know they spend a lot more on the ground, but most TV newspaper and google ads that you see come out of this. So does running your own Namo tv. Not to mention the enormous spending of around 5000 Cr of public money on advertising government schemes. Yes those billboards you see in fuel stations and highways cost money.

Age old hidutva

When Vikas fails for the BJP there’s always a falling pad of Hindutva to appeal to its core base. He went a step ahead from placing Yogi Adityanath to nominating a terror accused Pragya Thakur as a candidate. He didn’t win the elections solely on this plank but for the grassroot workers and the RSS sevaks this makes all the difference on ground. Even when Pragya Thakur called Godse a patriot, he went to do a lip service but stopped short of sacking her.

Docile Institutions

Far from crying about political vendetta and interference by CBI while in opposition. Modi government took the role of caged parrot to whole new level. Countless raids on opposition leaders, reopening old cases like the Bofors only to close it again; it doesn’t matter if there evidence behind a FIR, the mere act of filing an FIR and the publicity behind made it look the leaders are culpable. He even made it away with a midnight dismissal of CBI director.

Clueless Opposition

The opposition has always been on the backfoot, atleast since the Balakot attack. BJP took the narrative to new heights that only BJP’s army would win a war. Suddenly people forgot the last three Indo-Pak wars. Add to this the opposition always had some leader putting foot into his mouth questioning the army. The fact that fiasco of Demonetisation, lacks of jobs, the high fuel prices, crony capitalism in Rafael deal, farm distress or the flawed implementation of GST – any one issue could have brought down the government. The fact that the opposition was not able to build over it, made all the difference.

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