Communication-basic to human existence

Communication is the core of human existence
and the need to communicate is stronger then of food or water.

It’s been real long that I wrote anything on this blog. But today out of the blue this feeling of writing entered my mind and 'Utha liya laptop'. Though, I know what I want to write but still like always craving for the best start point. Writing in itself is a very phenomenal kind of exercise. You start writing and sometimes within a couple of minutes, when you failed to get the perfect starting, you give it up and feel a bit frustrated often. But if everything goes well it’s no less then ‘Yoga’ or 'Pranayam' . 

The motive behind me writing this piece today is nothing like proselytization  or preaching but it’s the need which has become stronger than what Mr Maslow considered the foremost and basic i.e. food or water and this need is – to communicate. And today, may be because I was thinking about it or something else, I am feeling this need to communicate, strongly and thus writing this as new media is an extraordinary aid in this regard. We do not need to travel every nook and corner where our acquaintances are to get our message across but we just need an internet connection and mighty technological marvel – the computer, and we are there omnipresent. I deliberately write in the last line ‘to get our message across’ as I wanted to exclude the ‘feelings’ part from it as I am doubtful about the ability of the new media to convey feelings perfectly. Anyways, I was discussing about this need to communicate which pulled me from bed and put me in front of this 14” Toshiba.

When I was a kid and had disagreement with my sister, I used to make a tick sound to her face with the help of my right thumb and teeth. By using the thumbnail as a hook and when pulled outside with gentle pull the unique ‘tick’ sound would be produced. The sound was followed by the word ‘Kutty’ (kΛ’ti:) that was proclamation of termination of future communication till she doesn’t apologise or agree to my demands. By ceasing communication I used to punish her and the same she used to do. I never pondered over the hidden logic behind this punishment and it’s only when I read Abraham Maslow; I came to know the real fact behind that conduct of ours.

Communication, as I have observed is more important than even the basic needs. It is the power to communicate with other human beings, nature, animals, trees and the social circumstances, that we are able to get our food. If we do not communicate we are dead for sure and only dead bodies do not communicate and rather its we who communicate within when see a dead body and that would be a very different kind of communication involving several aspects including natural, supernatural, social and personal.

If we do not communicate with the nature how would we know what to eat? How would we know when we need blanket and when we need refrigerator? If we do not communicate with animals how would we know what animal is friendly like dog and what animal is dangerous like a snake? After centuries of constant communication with these entities we are in a position to make better adjustments critical to survival.

Man vs. Cam: Showing Crisis or Creating It

Some time ago, I had been watching a news channel. There was a special news feature on Kargil war. It was about the role of Parvez Musharaf in the whole episode. After watching it I had a question in my mind, whether I hated Musharaf or I hated Pakistan, or I hated some particular group of people? There are people in Pakistan who like Amitabh Bachhan, Shahrukh Khan, and who admire the beauty of the Taj Mahal, same as we do here in India. Then what is the reason behind our hatred for Pakistan? Do we hate an ordinary citizen of Pakistan who is living there because he is born there and who has never been to India. He has never troubled us. How can we hate him? Virappan killed hundreds of people, we have our own people killing each other for silly reasons; do they all belong to Pakistan? No they do not. But we have more information about what harm people from Pakistan are doing to us than what our own people are doing. This is rather the handiwork of media. They make us form opinions, which are entirely influenced by the content or information provided to us by them. They twist, mould or modify it according to their agenda which is used by them to catch more eyeballs and raise their TRP’s.

Ayushi murder case was a just another murder case, neither was it the first of its kind nor the only of its kind but still there are news channels that considered it a crisis situation and gave 24X7 coverage to it. Not only the coverage, but they gave it as many angles as possible. They added spice to it and in this case the media also mocked at judiciary, police and agencies as well. It’s not wrong if I say, it was a crisis created by media.

Should I not term a situation a crisis situation where several media persons are positioned with their cameras, microphones and other apparatus for many days without any break? Yes, I should and I did that but I was wrong as they were waiting for Mr. Amitabh Bachhan, who was admitted to a hospital!

The recent crisis was the Mumbai Attacks. Everyone agreed that it’s a crisis situation, but our media got one step further and made it one of the worst by showing live footages which incidentally proved the greatest aid to the terrorists. They are so shrewd and courageous that they give justification that they showed what the people demanded. I don’t think there was even a single person who called up a news channel and dictated to inform him as soon as NSG team arrive at the Taj or tell exact number and position of commandos there.

The main lead story of Hindustan Times on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 disturbed me. It read-“Go score, India told”. I couldn’t figure out why it got published. Let’s assume this was the only important story according to them, but why on the front page, why the main story? What message do you want to convey to the budding cricketers? Instead of sweating out at nets do they need to spend time between the sheets?

In India there are many crises, for instance poverty, unemployment, corruption and many more. Media is supposed to raise issues and play a pivotal role to find solutions. On the contrary, media is adding one more kind of crisis which can be termed as ‘media crisis’. We are showing snakes getting married, full-fledged interview of a criminal’s girlfriend by a senior journalist (Interview of Charles Shobhraj’s girlfriend by Deepak Chaurasia), we also show “Gajraj” (an elephant) killing man brutally, and we also show which stone will get you a new job. There are innumerable examples of such irrelevant programs being shown by our national news channels. This is the time for our media to contemplate; no doubt it has immense potential. But we need to understand how to use our potentials.

Apples save lives

“Seyb” (Apple), which is pronounced almost similar to save in English, is the fruit which saved lives of four people, including me, stuck in the perilous hills of Himachal, in the fall of 2004.

‘Jindal & Company’ was the name of the firm for which I worked for four long and crucial years of my life. Collection of arrears was part of my job and I used to cover Shimla District of Himachal. For me it was the most learning face of my life. I experienced almost everything there which is usually written by writers to enchant their readers. This incident, I am going to share, is part of these experiences.

At ‘Jindal & Company’ we used to trade apple packing material to orchardists in Himachal. We used to book the orders over phone and deliver the required goods to them by trucks. After the apple season we had to go to them and collect the amount overdue. During the fall of 2004 we went to Chirgaon, a small village near Rohru in Shimla, by Maruti Zen. I had been there twice before.

This time it had been raining heavily for three days when we reached the village. We had to cross the village and scale towards the peak of a hill nearby, as the orchardist we were going to meet, shifted his dwelling from the village to his farm. This was almost thirty kilometers but three and half hour away from the village by car.

The road leading to this farm, at that time, was a stigma on even the worst roads of the world. I would name this road if someone asks me the way to hell. But I think I had committed some ghastly sin which earned me the opportunity to scale this road. Walking on this road was impossible. By car it was an act of foolishness which we performed due to the ignorance about the hazards and the immature age. None among four of us was more than twenty three. None of us belong to the hills and neither had any experience of such roads. I have a long list of excuses but I know it won’t interest anyone as we all are somehow stung by the “NOT MY FAULT” virus and expert in blaming circumstances.

The road was made by farmers who had their farms in that area. It was made of slate, as this is commonly found and used as building material there.When you drive on this kind of road the chances are fifty-fifty for anything. Our car was not fully able to follow the instructions given by the driver. At times when he steered it right it turned left. He couldn't apply brakes even because that could've been proved fatal in that situation. It could lead us off the road. The clay and water took shape similar to a top class lubricant and got spread all over the road. It was trying its best to push the car towards the edge of the road which looked like the doorstep of hell at that time. The car was floating instead of moving. We three were sitting at the backseat and were trying our best to avoid the glance of the edge of the road which sometimes appeared dangerously close.

The struggle between the road and us continued, meanwhile, we reached a spot where the road was rather broad and there was a space to park. The sunlight was getting dim, the rain slowed down and we were waiting for a suitable spot to get ourselves relieved of the waste water in our body, we parked the car beside the hill. There was an apple farm upside the hill. We saw the trees loaded with export quality apples. It was still drizzling and the farm looked very beautiful. The apples were hanging in bunches to the thin branches of small plants. These small plants looked very tired, but full of proud as if they boast of their beauty and richness.

We stopped there for a while and when we were about to move, an orchardist came with his laborer and asked us where we were going. He told us that we are almost thirteen kilometers away from the farm, but the road ahead has been damaged and it’ll take at least one day for the repair. There was no place to stay till next day thus they had put up a tent there. We decided to stay in the car only as the tent was chilled and muddy. We had nothing to eat. So for dinner we got the best quality apple from the nearby farm. That variety of apple is very rare and thus very expensive.

Somehow the night was over. The morning was devastating. Three kilometers back where nothing was visible last night due to the dense forest, now there was nothing except enormous stones. We were stunned. We heard no sounds nothing during the night, as we were packed in the car covered with blankets. The Gorkhas in the tent told us that last night there was a cloud burst at five kilometers behind our spot. We thanked the god for the new life and started thinking to return. The road ahead was damaged and the road behind got washed away. The scene was crystal clear and we thought God didn't plan a death by flood for us, rather it’s by starvation.

For the breakfast we again had apples. The same export quality apples we had last night. Due to constant raining all the possible alternate ways were blocked. Next two days we had that expensive export quality apple for all the three meals. These export quality apples saved our lives there otherwise it was impossible to survive in those conditions without any edible. On third day the road ahead got repaired and we made a move from there to our destination.

Life...is beautiful?

Life is like a girlfriend. It has the weird tendency to shock you at any point of time. You may get ditched while you were busy making plans. You may have plans for tomorrow, day after tomorrow, next month and so on. But you can never have absolute control on your life. For instance, you are going somewhere driving your car you may be good or expert driver and you may driving very safe but still it is possible that you get hit by someone who is frustrated and desperate to vent out his frustration, especially by making others frustrate.
This may sound very negative or depressing but unfortunately its life. In fact if you want to live like living being, you must take all these things positively otherwise you’ll end up becoming a zombie.
It’s true that you lose people when you need them most. But this truth is partial; it’s absolute only when we mention that we also get people at a time when we need them most. We have more significant people around us but we consider those more important who are departing. In the process we hurt those who take care of us and always make efforts to keep us happy.
Life, like time, has a very rigid velocity. Whatever happens, it moves on till the last breath. Sometime you feel like – this is the end. Instead one must recognize it as the opportunity to start again. The end point always followed by a start point. The advantage here is that at this start point you have more experience and you are less vulnerable. It’s true here also that you don’t have full control over your life. But you can anticipate the path; you can give it a direction and make efforts to move on it. The chances of success will be brighter this time. You don’t repeat the mistakes you had committed earlier.
The problems are the accoutrement of life, with the help of which, it teaches you all lessons. These problems come in different outfits. Most of the time they are received with anger, frustration, annoyance or irritation. This is obvious as they disturb the smoothness of your life. The angrier the reception for a problem makes it the more difficult to handle. Thus the wisdom is to welcome the problem. Keep your calm and get as close to it as you can. Now you can see the very root of it and can pull the root.
If this formula is implemented the damage is slightest for sure. If implemented accurately this formula has the potential of turning the problem in to fruit.

Development at the cost of life

Chandigarh is a city known for greenery and natural beauty. It is also known as city beautiful among residents. But I doubt this beauty will be persistent in the future as administration seems to pay any cost in the name of development. Trees are being cut down to widen the roads and construction scenes are very common. Almost every road is being modified. Administration is spending more on development than maintenance. Maintenance here means maintenance of the environment, its greenery and its natural beauty. Development is vital but not at the cost of other vital things. Nature is responsible for the existence of human beings and ironically is harmed by humans other living beings hardly ever harm the nature rather they are also geting

“HE IS MY SON”
For anyone under the sun, the most important figures in this world are parents. They can never think wrong for their child. wether he is a criminal, ugly, loser, dishonest or any unacceptable person, it doesn’t matter to his parents, they will love him in all conditions. These lines for us are like preaching of a saint or lecture of an old man. And we all are completely agree to these lines, and if anyone tells us these things we certainly get irritated by the monotonous talk. But these became only thoughts going on constantly in my mind for last two days. Day before yesterday I went to see my cousin at Panchkula. I stayed there for two days. On day one at midnight I heard somebody shouting outside. I was in the bed on that time, I got up and went outside, there was a man around 40 years old. He was drunk and shouting at the closed door next to my cousin’s house. My cousin was also watching the whole scene with me. I asked him about the matter. Then he told me this shocking reality of the family living in his neighborhood. A retired PSU employee living with his wife. They have two sons and both are living separate. The younger one is working in some private firm. He has two children and the couple work hard to make both ends meet. The elder one is a drunkard and does nothing. His wife died from cancer a month ago. He has two daughters. Both are engaged and waiting to be married. The father of the drunkard man is retired and more than sixty five, but still working to earn his livelihood. He has tried every way to get his son settled. But all went vain. He spent his all savings to build two houses one for himself and one for his elder son and to buy one for the younger one. Recently he purchased a four wheeler goods vehicle for his elder son so that he earn sum money for the bread and butter of his family. But the son is good for nothing and always quarrels with his father. It was shocking to hear that he has beaten up his parents at number of occasions. Still his father is ready to look after his daughters. His mother cooks for him even if he comes late at night, drunk and always abusing his parents. He has sold the house his father made for him. Now his father is trying to earn more so that to mary his grand daughters.

Smoke “free” city
On May 15, I was on my way back from Pinjore. When I entered Chandigarh I saw city beautiful covered with banners with a picture of bamboo plant on them. City beautiful had become smoke-free. It was a really pleasant surprise for me. The first utterance was- "WOW". I started thinking about its consequences, benefits and all. Then I remembered the case when Bhutan government imposed a ban on tobacco. Even after the ban was imposed cigarettes were easily available at any small pan shop. The only difference was that they cost double after ban. This thought converted my pleasant surprise in to worry and I thought that if the administration fails to enforce the ban efficiently, it may harm the rapport of the city. Although I was arguing with myself that Chandigarh administration is better than any other when it comes to law enforcement. For instance; for two wheeler riders wearing helmet is mandatory everywhere, but it's in Chandigarh only where people don't ride without helmet and all credit goes to the administration for its firm attitude towards the law violators. This thought relaxed me a bit. But then the picture of my home state appeared in my mind when our then CM imposed a ban on liquor which proved to be a complete failure. It just provided the opportunity for smugglers who mushroomed in the state during that period. I was curious to see the consequences, effects, and the administration's capability in particular. And now it's been quite long and the flamboyant administration has failed this time. If it were for far flung corners of the city then it may not have been termed as failure but sector 17, which is known as the heart of the city beautiful is still coughing due to the stiffness of the smokers and failure of the administration. I was thinking that cigarettes would be still available on higher costs but I was wrong cigarettes here available at same costs and at any panwala (any small shop). It is easiest thing to get a cigarette there. Weather it is sector 15, 11 or any other so called posh area the story remains the same. Even men in uniform were seen smoking freely in public places. Are we helping the administration for successful enforcement of the ban? Is this SMOKE “FREE” CITY?
-Radhe.