My Inner Self

Picture clicked at TYDA, Araku Valley,Vishakapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India.

Earlier  in my post Unity in Diversity I vented out my feelings on breaking a state into pieces. Those who are following Andra Pradesh’s political scenario from past few weeks should be able to relate the current situation.

After seeing and being a part of the current situations in the state or should I say “Telangana”? I am worried about the future consequences; What will be the state’s state in the hands of these maniacs? I am not sure what they are going to get, putting thousands of people in trouble by the name of Bandh’s(Closure of businesses and all activities) and rasta/rail roko(blocking of roads and railways). All I know is that, it is a stupid gimmick to blackmail the Government to come down and agree to their demands. I am not sure if I would be able to see a government which will be strong and which holds on to its point and close such matters forever. Seriously, I wish and hope to see one…after all hope is the one which will take us forward.

What I have been witnessing from my childhood is when ever some group / union has to show some strong aversion on the State Government, first thing they do is to damage and burn the local transport buses which act as means of transport of lacks of people, causing inconvenience and trouble to common man. The reason, these are easily available on the roads and damaging those will increase the trouble caused to people exponentially putting pressure on Government. I guess the recent Bandh which was called upon by a local party there was destruction of private property to a huge extent causing a lot of trouble to people showing the lack of basic common sense.

Why do people not understand the disadvantages of smaller states? I know that there is a fair argument that smaller states means better manageability, but that case is when the politicians are considered to be “ideal”. On this note, I would like to know if there is anything such as “an ideal politician” and I want to see how many of them are there in the current agitation which is going on. How many of you politicians have earned everything you have now just with the salary you are getting? How many of you did all you can to improve the literacy, health and life style of common man in your constituencies? How many of you politicians stood by your statements in your election manifesto and fulfilled those after winning? How many of politicians visit your constituencies regularly to know its how about’s when elections are not round the corner? How many of you politicians give the projects/contracts by fair judgment and not to your related/known ones?

And all the above questions are not just only for politicians but also for us ‘people’ who vote for them and give them the position they have now. Let’s ask our self all the above questions and I am sure that we will have ‘none’ to name. I know that’s unfortunate but it been always ‘pick the best from the worst’ case for us and I guess we need to take the best judgment by going into the past and judging the best from the lot.

If you ask me, my personal opinion would be to stay as one and concentrate on the over all development. On the other hand, if at all it is inevitable for the state to break, I will be the first person to be happy ‘provided’ there is any such ‘ideal’ politician who is going to take the complete responsibility of the newly formed smaller state by not only promising but showing results in its development. And for all the people who want different state , my question is ‘do you find any such leader in the current political scenario?’. All I see is money hungry, power monger politicians who want to divide the state on its sentiment for their own benefit.

Anyways, we have to wait and watch what is going to happen. I am hoping for a best ending (for which there are thin chances) to this drama and there is peace and happiness to everyone.

I am very much disappointed with the current political scenario in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India where agitations are going on for breaking it into smaller states. I seriously hope that it stays as one and shines as one benefiting everyone within.

The structure seen is 500 year old  Charminar which is synonymous to Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh. I clicked this picture from Mecca Masjid which is right beside Charminar on a beautiful Sunday morning.

P.S: I cant help with the billboard over the right

Before anyone else including me forget that I was in Goa, below are few glimpses that I caught from my camera and as Vivek did a detailed write up on the trip religiously , I am pointing to his posts day wise on our trip. Click on the respective day’s hyperlink to get a detailed writeup.

Day1

Having nothing to do outside in the rain at the middle of the night and being a person who does not sleep much, Veeru posing for me for my first attempt at light painting shots, time flew by easily.

Day2

The road was in pretty bad condition, we navigated through the flooded / damaged roads with the help of Google maps. Refreshed at the dhaba, clicked portrait shots of a dog and had a heavy dhaba food ..yummy!

Day3 ————————————————————————————————————  Day4

Reached Goa, hit the bed and as the morning struck we got refreshed and hit the beach and another and another and the day passed on …

Over all it was more like a informative road trip getting to know the crappy rules of different State Government’s.

Waiting for a proper pleasure trip to Goa  some time in the future… Shankar are you reading this?

Three of my buddies entered  into wedlock last week, I  congratulate all three of them and wish them and their better halves wonderful life ahead.

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I have written in detail about the Friday the 13′th couple of  years back, and its back again, 13′Th of Friday – Today. If you want to know why 13′Th of Friday has been popular please read my earlier post.

For today, beware! some one might be lurking in your wardrobe, your book shelf or at some corner where light barely falls and that something will not be visible to naked eye.  So take our your camera and shoot every possible place in your surroundings. You might find something like I did Muhaha ha ha ha…

If you don’t have a camera handy, call me;-), I will help out with some Ghost Busting .

OK.. jokes apart.. either if it’s Friday the 13′th or not, just shoot your surroundings and view it on the camera screen on even better on your computer screen, you can see how different the same place looks when frame is freeze state. I can say once you get the hang of it(photography),  even viewing from a camera view finder will give you a new perspective.

Hopefully, I will get some good shots this weekend.

Happy Weekend everyone…!!!!!!!!

I see Pain,

I see Fear,

I see Hunger,

I see Despair,

I see Concern,

I see Helplessness,

I see lack of freedom,

I see a need for Better Governance

I see  something missing called LIFE

On November 08, 2009, my another school buddy Deepesh entered into a wedlock with Bhargavi

Guys,

May you find every day, sweetly lying awaiting
All you’re dearest sweetest; dreams yet come true
While sharing a lifetime jointly, forever on today
May endless happiness ever pursue the two of you

Anna means whatever you say or you desire and varam means boon, hence whatever you desire will be given as boon by the deity. The most distinctive feature of Annavaram is the shrine to Lord Veera Venkata Satyanarayana Swamy on the hill top. As I hear, the popularity and importance of the temple is  second only to Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh.  Lord Veera Venkata Satyanarayana Swamy is considered to be very powerful in fulfilling the wishes of the devotes and Lord Satyanarayana Swamy’s Vratam(worship) is done by the newly wed couples, during House Warming and during many other ceremonies.

I got a chance to visit this shrine for time first time last weekend with Amulya, Twinkle and my in-laws and my experience is a mixed one.  I am sorry if this post hurt’s anyone’s religious beliefs; what you are about to read is what I have seen and experienced first hand…read on…

The location is beautiful, temple on hill top on the banks of river Pampa. The temple overlooks the rivers reservoir and surrounded by typical greenery of East Godavari District. We reached the temple around 7 PM and it was 8 by the time we checked into the cottages.  The vratam was scheduled for next day so we thought we will have a darshan(sight) of the lord as we had much time.

As we entered the temple compound(the   one you are seeing over the left), one of the temple staffer came to us and offered to take us to darshan via short cut directly into the temple skipping all teh Q’s and in return he asked for Rs.100 or so. I was very much disappointed with the fact that the person was drunk; drunk enough that I was able to get the smell from a distance of 6 feet.

As it was Karthika Masam (Auspious month for Hindu’s) there were lot of events being conducted. That day was ‘tepaotsavam’, meaning the lord will be taken on a boat which is beautifully decorated  in the form of swan and taken for 3 rounds ride in the river adjacent to the hill. So, most of the devotees were on the river bank.

The crowd was a bit less in the temple and we decided not to go with this person as we talked to some person higher and told this guy the same. He apologized and requested not to disclose our interaction to anyone and left. At that time I did not knew this was just the beginning of the quenching of thirst for money by the temple employees. From there every temple we visited the priests were directly asking for money and most of them were specifying the amount and some were particular about it, anything less they were not pleased.

Few FYI’s… (this is to help you with few terminology and concepts which I use later) Most of the Hindu temples doesn’t have only one god in there, with the main temple there are numerous other small temples  of other(mostly related) gods as well and usually at every temple there will be ‘Hundi’s‘ spread around here and there. ‘Hundi’ is a  box type secured enclosure where the devotees offer money / gold / silver  to God as per their affordability.   Garbha Gudi – the innermost sanctum of a Hindu temple where resides the murti (idol or icon) of primary deity of the temple. Literally the word means “womb chamber” from Sanskrit word garbha for womb and griha for house. Only ‘priests’ (pujari) are allowed to enter. Prasadam – Anything, usually edible, that is first offered to a deity or the Avatar and then distributed in His name to the devotees. Most of the times the prasad is eaten after the God’s darshan sitting in the temple premises it self.

The temple employees, who direct the devotees in the Q’s, security personnel, guards…  for me it looked like every were money was involved, because at some places in the Q they were randomly picking few people and sending them via short cut and into the Garbha Gudi and later asking for money. I was also sent the same way, when asked would you like to go into the Garbha Gudi, I said I was already there yesterday so I am not interested and moved further into the Q. I even witnessed priest’s putting garlands directly from the lord’s statue on to devotees necks and taking considerably more amount of money from them. I don’t know what good fortune it’s supposed to bring to the devotees but it did not give good vibe to me. The Vratam is held in groups with the priest directing/conducting over the mike and the devotees following his instructions. I was shocked when the priest announced in the mike that “people like you(that means who paid Rs.500 for the vratam) usually give Rs.251 and upwards as dakshina.

After the Vratam and Darshan we were sitting on the temple steps having prasad and one of the cleaner comes and asks for money and coconut pieces asying she cleans all the stuff which falls down here. Every were it’s the same story, when checking out the rooms, the boy and cleaning maid came for tip which is common and I was not any more surprised after seeing the extreme.

I am not that religious person; but over all, not a pleasant experience I usually get after I visit a religious place. I mean I have been visiting temples since I was born, to my conciseness, I have never seen such behavior in any of the temples and neither did I expect from such a popular shrine. After coming back to Hyderabad, I have discussed the same with many of my friends and I was surprised to know that some of them knew that such things are normal at Annavaram and everyone knows about it.

Not sure how to continue further or how to end…..

On October 21, 2009, my school buddy Rameshwar entered into a wedlock with Sarvani. I wish you guys all the happiness and prosperity in life.