The long journey to my hometown

While I have been travelling all over India no journey has been as exciting or different as the one to my hometown. I was at a site for commissioning near Ariyalur for around a week till 12th Jan. Ariyalur is around 50km from Trichy, the nearest airport. Though I had completed most of my work, there was still some work pending. Now Pongal festivities-the most important festival of Tamil Nadu was to start on the 14th n go on till the 16th leading to an extended weekend till 17th. That meant idling till 18th or flying bak to Bombay on 13th n then returning to Ariyalur on 18th. Both were crap options.

This lead to a brainwave 'Why not go to my hometown which is across the Bharatapuzha river from Ottapalam? I would have to travel to Trichy first which would take 2 hrs, from there take a bus to Coimbatore-6hrs, then Coimbatore to Palakkad-1hrs, then Palakkad to Ottapalam-1hr n finally cross the river to reach my quiet little village. Phew! However things don't work out as planned. By the time I got the MoM signed with the customer it was already noon and I would have missed the last bus at 10pm from Palakkad to Ottapalam. I decided to hire a taxi to Coimbatore n then proceed from there-It would have saved atleast 2 hours. So I booked a taxi to pick me from the Ariyalur Gueshouse at 2pm. In the meantime one of the plant engineers requested whether he and his top boss could accompany me in the taxi to their hometowns which were on the way. Naturally (since I had to go back there!) I acceeded to their request.


Well as the taxi that was supposed to come at 2 didn't turn up till 2.15pm I repeatedly kept calling the cab service. Well the taxi owner kept repeating his standard line that the cab would reach in 10 minutes. Finally after 8 rounds of 10mins it arrived at 3.35 n guess wat he told me at that time- Sir since you are late I have arranged 2 cabs for you. I didnt have any answer for that. The plant engineer and his boss-the plant manager got in and we started our journey- an hour and a half already late!


We first drove through NH227 towards Trichy- a two lane road where you would see corns of rice being laid out in the open for drying and threshing. We really make good use of our roads! The driver and the plant manager kept chattering continuously and he was hardly able to touch speeds of 55kph. On the way we crossed 2 really long bridges over the Kaveri. It also seems Trichy is an educational hub- there were many schools and colleges notable among them being St. Joseph's College where APJ Kalam was said to have completed his graduation according to the plant engineer At around 4.45 we stopped at the outskirts of Trichy city for snacks (sponsored by the Plant manager for his pal-the driver) in front of a Bangalore Iyengar Bakery (you keep seeing them all over south India)- the veg puffs were good but the Badam Kesar milk left a lot to be desired!. By the time we started our journey, it was 5.15- loss of another half an hour!. We then entered Trichy city to drop the manager- well his house was not exactly on the way so we had to go out of the way n drop him! The good thing was I got to see the famous Rockfort temple from a distance.

With the decibel levels having gone down considerably now, I was trying to understand the processes inside a Ciculating Fluidised Bed Combustion (CFBC) boiler until we were rudely interrupted by a bleating sound-our car had just managed to avert running over a flock of goats crossing the roads. When we looked out we found that the entire hamlet had gathered around the car- one of the goats had bruised its leg.Then the driver got out and found that mudguard of the right front wheel had come loose. What happened for the next 20 min was straight out of a movie! The owner of the goat started demanding a hefty compensation- to the tune of 2000 or more claiming then the goat was mortally wounded! The driver haggled with him and ultimately they settled for 200 bucks. In the meanwhile there were claims and counterclaims being made and of coursee the perpetual name dropping of police officers in the nearby police stations!

Well with another half an hour wasted we resumed our onward journey by 7. From there on it was a pretty smooth ride. After dropping the plant engineer at Puliyur which thankfully was 'on the way' we proceeded towards Coimbaotre with another 140Km to go, by 8.15pm. The highway ahead in most parts was four laned- it meant we covered the remainder of the journey in around 2 hours. So we reached Coimbatore by 10.15 n realised that the last bus to Palakkad had already departed.

As I was contemplating the option of checking into a hotel, my bro gave me this brilliant idea- of taking the 6381 Kanyakumari Express to Ottapalam. Now this was the train we used to board to go to Kerala during our summer vacations until the Konkan Railway happened, so it has a sentimental value attached to it. I bought a Second Class Ticket and waited for my first journey in the General Compartment- the train would arrive at Comibaotre only at 12:05am. It was crowded as hell and I just about managed to get inside.The next hour and a half I spent standing in various uncomfortable positions till I got down at Ottapalam.

As the dam upstream had been opened, the river had got flooded considerably in the past two days. So I was advised not to cross the river on my own. The next 3-4 hours I spent in the waiting room unitl the break of dawn when my cousin arrived and we crossed the river at 5.30 in the morning. The water was more than waist high in many sections of the river and I needed alomost half an hour to cross what with trying to ensure that the laptop doesnt get wet under any circumstances. I reached home by 6.15 and almost immediately dozzed off to sleep.

And thus ended my long journey from Ariyalur to my hometown which took more than 14 hours!

Demolishing the Nation-State

Hmm I haven't written anything since a long time
Well I thought i would make some use of my extended weekend

Elections are in full swing in India n we have all talks abt nationalism caste religion community blah blah.Sometimes I wonder why do we place religion n nation-state-both of which are man made institutions like the others, on a higher pedestal.

UN and other human rights agencies have rightly recognised discrimination based on race caste creed as a crime against humanity.However to even question the nation-state or religion is considered blasphemy.

I thought I would talk about nationalism which has been accorded a sense of legitimacy that is unparalleled in modern history
Isn't nationalism also to blame for many of the international problems plaguing us? Isnt it really the root cause of all military aggression that we see in the worldIsn't it absurd that you can't question the excesses committed by the nation-state 's legitimate aggressors- the miltary just because that would make you a traitor?
Aren't the the 2 world wars, nuclear weapons race, the cold war, the Indo-Pak standoff... all of them the bitter fruits of nationalisitc chauvinism?
n yet we have people demanding unswerving unflinching loyalty to the nation-state...

As Max Weber rightly said nation-state is a agency that monopolises the legitimate use of force. The definition lends itself to the fact that it is not a divine concept. It is a by-product of imperialism n colonialism. Sorry to say this but the concept of russia US or India did not exist 5 centuries ago. n frankly speaking all those lofty ideas of "it is not what the country has done for you but what you can do for the country"- I conside it a lot of crap
The origin and the legitimacy of the nation state lies in the social contract between the people n the state as espoused by Rousseau. If the nation-state fails to deliver then the individual has every right to disown it, terminate the contract.

Humans have always migrated in search of greener pastures. In fact isnt human civilsation's progress marked by periods of migration? Free movement of labour and goods was the norm until nationalism came along and now we are again trying to re-discover it through globalisation. For the same reasons I believe that every individual has the right to change one's nationality if that leads to better standards of living.

There is nothing remotely divine or absolute about any nation. No nation is superior or inferior. An individual's nationality is not something he or she chose but inherited through accident. In every nation right from childhood a systematic propoganda is unknowingly unleahed to make him / her have a dogmatic belief that he/she is part of the best nation-state, to make one look

The nation-state is presently one of the better systems of governance that we have at our disposal. Hence even if it is grudgingly one has to swear allegiance to a particular nation-state irrespective of whether its one's choice or not. However it is imperative we perpetually strive to find alternative means of governance. Change is eternal and it is absolutely essential that we do not lull ourselves into a false sense of belief that the nation-state is the best thing to happen to humankind. As Einstein rightly remarked "Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind."

Little drops...

I was watching the various programmes on news channels regarding the terror attacks.
It was heartening to see people comin out in large droves and express their opinions. The overwhelming theme was CHANGE- an idea which suddenly seems to be romanticised since Obama's Campaign.

I am from Bombay and I have seen that people r really scared this time around. But I wonder why should this attack evoke more concern than all the other bomb blasts or even more specifically the train blasts. Is it the choice of locations or the the fact that the it was a sustained operation?
Forgive me for sounding rude but its just the primordial feeling of insecurity, the urge to live that has made us react the way we have. Bcoz now we feel that it is highly probable that one of us could be the next target. We always used to feel that as long we get a good degree then a good job take care of our health we r assured of a life atleast till 50 or 60 yrs.

Our typical attitude was Naxalism- oh that happens in chattisgarh n MP, cyclones- Orissa, ULFA-Assam, farmer suicides- rural India.

I don't know whehter there is any quick fix solution to it but what I do know is that we as citizens hav failed not now not when the train blasts took place we hav failed in the small things that make us good citizens of India, a good Bombayite.

We all including myself have indulged in politician bashing. But is security the only issue on which politicians have failed us or more importantly have we not failed the system ?

Recently there was also an article about a flyover at Kandivli. It mentioned that every year 300 lives are lost while crossing the tracks there. Why doesnt that outrage us? It doesnt need NSG commandos or bulletproof vests to save those lives
How many of us can actually claim that they have never crossed the tracks?
I think its these little things that define us.

Do we away throw those small BEST tickets on the street or in a dustbin?
How many of us have reprimanded the rickshaw wallah for jumping a signal?
Do we always walk on the right side of the road?
Do we realise that we might have already lost a thousand Obamas because of one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world?
How many Kalpana Chawlas n Sudha Murthys we might have already lost because there were no proper toilets for girls in their schools forcing them to drop out?

These matters may seem trivial but I think they define us a Society.

When Guiliani took over as New York mayor , crime was on the rise. One of the first things he did was to stop the unsolicited wiping of car windshields at junctions. It seems a harmless thing but by stoppin it he gave out a message he wouldnt tolerate any crime.

We all blame politicians for being corrupt but can u really put ur hand on ur heart n say ur organisation is not corrupt? or you have not been part of it in any way?
When i lost my phone a year ago i had to file an FIR. I went to the police station where the first thing I was told to do was buy a bundle of A4 size papers. I bought only a sheet at first but then the cops didn't agree n then I had to buy a bundle. I admit I did NOT have the GUTS to say a NO. I wanted that FIR

My blog seems to be gettin a bit too long

All i want to say is introspect n change yourself. thats the best we all can do. The rest will have to follow. Change is a constant but it is gradual. No overnight miracles are possible.

We all have to understand that we as ordinary citizens cannot become PMs or CMs overnight. To overthrow the well-entrenched power of the privilged political class would take years if not decades
We have to work on a bottom-up approach. Start with filing RTIs , questioning your ward councilors, etc etc.

Be the change you want to see in this world
Bcoz its not just about whether you are ready FOR a change but whether you are ready TO change