A Chat To Cherish

The city, which has some lovely large gardens like Bund Graden, Saras Bag, Empress Garden, Sambhaji Park, Kamla Nehru Park etc is however devoid of smaller parks for the children. Not many societies have them.

Fortunately, there is a beautiful park bang in the center of our society. It also houses a small Ganesh temple. Come evening, small children with or without their grandmas really swarm the whole place. Their clamour is not deafening, rather, is soothing to ears. The park becomes their playground and it's a joy to behold, and I behold that joy quite frequently.

Yesterday evening, I had an experience which made all my visits worthy many times over. I was sitting on a bench, where this cute little girl stood forlorn watching others play. When our eyes met, I just playfully waved at her. Little did I know what was to follow. She smiled and waved back, and soon she was sitting alongside me.

Before I could pop any query, she asked "Akely Kyun Baithe Ho?". I was a bit flustered, though I did say something vague. "Waise Mera Naam Ananya Hai" and as I was acknowledging her nice name, she added "Mai Apni Mummy Ke Saath Aayi Hoon". By now I had overcome hesitation, and was beginning to enjoy the conversation with this chirpy girl.

The only problem was that her answers were coming before my questions. "Waise Abhi Mai School Nahin Jati, Per Mujhey School Bhejne Ka Socha Ja Raha Hai." I laughed aloud with this one. This girl was damn smart, and had a heart melting smile. Every sentence she spoke, was accompanied by gesticulating by her hands, like a DaadiAmma.

She went on to tell me which building she lives in, where as I told her my name, and the building in which I stay in. I came to know that she comes to park daily, and has a lot of friends. She was not playing that day because "Mai Thak Gayi Hoon". This conversation might have gone on and on, but her mother decided to leave.

We exchanged good byes, and she went away in half trot-half jump sort of gait, chirpy like ever. Probably she was telling her mother what small talk she had with a stranger almost 25 years elder than her. I was again a kid for those twenty minutes.

It's always been difficult for me to break easily into conversation with ladies. But this time the lady herself was forthcoming. I enjoyed every bit of it. That's why I love female kids. Exceptions like Harsh are rare and welcome.

Born Manager

When he left our school, in class VI and shifted to Kanpur, I never thought we would meet again. We were not exactly langotia friends but I always some how remembered him. There were many reasons for that.

To begin with, we shared something thing very important - the name. And to add to that, he had the one of the most rarest of the surnames I had ever heard of. Also, he was the part of shortest brigade in the class. Finally, till a year before his house was bang opposite to the school.

As destiny would have it, our paths crossed once again. We both cleared IIT-JEE same year. Through grapevine, we already knew about each other's selection, and were looking forward to meet again after seven years. He found me first. More rub of the luck, as his room was five rooms across mine in Hall III.

I still remember the day we met again. There was no electricity in the campus, and we were being ragged by a senior. He expressed his desire to open a chemicals related company. He had only the faint idea how, but definitely yes. The senior rubbished his claim, I smiled but realized in coming four years that he would own a company for sure, much sooner than later.

The Festival Coordinator of Antaragni ,1998( IIT-K's cultural festival) today jointly owns the wonderfully doing Qualtech Consultants with the third guy who was being ragged alongside us that night - Anant Mishra.

Of course, his fixation for slightly younger girls than his actual age comes to an abrupt end now, as he has found his soul mate who would soon be his life partner. Though to be fair to him, he has always claimed that he is as young as those pretty-young-things, which we firmly refuse to believe.

A very Happy Birth Day to Manish Kankani.

Shopper's Stop

Went to buy a Juicer on busy Tilak Road(Sadashiv Peth) in old Pune area. The experience with shopkeepers was quite interesting.

The first one went straight down from 1895 /- to 1395/- when I expressed my shock at the initial price quoted for a 250 watt Maharaja Juicer. Bid him a prompt "Bye Bye".

Another one showed me a packed 400 watt Inalsa Juicer perched at a rack three feet above my head, and went on to inform about the cost, warranty and related stuff. When I asked him to open up the box and show me the actual thing, he groaned - "Andar Se Bhi Exactly Aisaich Hai, Jaisa Cover Per Photo Hai".

I smiled at him and replied - "Dost, Sirf Photo Dekh Ker Shadi Kerney Ka Jamana Gaya. Please open up."

But it was a singular experience for me. Had a good laugh for quite a time after that. Never heard any such thing before from a shopkeeper, and as my friend Manish Manke would say, it added another dimension to the famed Sadashiv Pethi attitude in Pune.

Another thing which I noticed was that whichever shop I visited, as soon as I expressed my desire to buy a Juicer, the whole shop crew would start giving me a definite step motherly treatment. The fish was not probably big enough, they immediately guessed. And yes, no window shopping in old city area.

God help their business.

Muskaan - Sada Muskarati Raho !

Have a very Happy First Birthday - Muskaan.

This was a year back when she was born. One sleepy look, and she haves you.

Analyze This

Tendulkar has another record to his name, while Pakistan has the match.

He is now the top scorer amongst Indian Test Cricketers now, leaving behind Sunil Gavaskar.

Incidentally, this team has the Captain(Sourav Ganguly) who has won the most number of Test matches for India. He has also won the most number of Test matches abroad.

This team has the player(Virendra Sehwag) who has scored most number of runs in an innings for India; the player(Rahul Dravid) who has scored second most numbers of runs in an innings; the player(VVS Laxman) who has scored third most numbers of runs in an innings; the player(Sachin Tendulkar) who has the most number of centuries in the world; the player(Rahul Dravid) who has most number of double centuries for India.

In addition to that, we have the player(Anil Kumble) who has taken the most number of wickets in Test Cricket for India.

Despite of all this greatness bestowed upon Indian Team, Pakistan won this test by 168 runs. India lost to Pakistan, the each and every day of this test , all the sessions except one. That tells some story of the fact that how misplaced the performance evaluation criterion in India is.

And even when all the arguments would fail, we would have highly cliched statement ready - Form is temporary, Class is permanent. Who cares if India lost the match !

The Heat Is On

At Banglore that is. They are fighting every tooth and nail.

Some how, I get reminded of another Test Match at the same venue 18 years back, Sunny Gavaskar's last. India chased some 210 odd on a dust bowl that was spinning square on fifth day. Gavaskar made 96. Local hero, Roger Binny made a late charge with a couple of lusty hittings in the end. But Pak spinner Tauseef Ahmed spun Pakistan to a close victory with India losing by 10 odd runs.

It was very disappointing for a very young myself. Like every kid, I hated to lose, and more so by Pakistan. And I would hate it today as well. Unfortunately, likes of Laxman are disappointed only when they miss a century.

Aaj Biraj Mein Holi Hai Rasia ....

Holi is one festival, I suppose, which has as many different manifestations as no other festival. Different parts of India or even a region celebrate it differently. Not only the style, the number of days of celebration also vary quite a lot.

For example in Brij (Mathura city and there abouts), the festival is celebrated for ten days. No other place can beat the zeal with which Holi is played here. There is Ladduon Ki Holi( played with sweets), Phoolon Ki Holi(played with flowers), Latth-Maar Holi( played with sticks). Of course, Abeer-Gulal is also used on the actual day.

In Kanpur it goes on for seven days; on seventh day, the day of Ganga Pooja, it's played with more enthusiasm to the surprise of unaware visitors. Some of the guys even use mud. I had a lucky escape once.

In Pune, Holi is largely conspicuous by its absence. Here they play on fourth day with a little more intensity but not intense enough. Some people are even coming to office.

In Lucknow, we use to have a Chhoti Holi, the day of bonfires; the day Holika was burnt. It is also known as Dulhendi. Next day, the Phalguni Poornima, is the day of colours. Sikhs also celebrate a three day Hola-Mohalla.

On personal front, I must admit that I am not very fond of colours. I hate the tedious washing part. My school friends use to collect and move around in a group(called Toli) visiting each and every member of the class, and even some of the teachers. Our young Geography ma'am used to have nice time playing Holi with her pupils, much to the chagrin of her conservative mother.

But I love eating, and visiting part of Holi. The Goojias(especially the fresh & hot ones), Papads( both Sabudana, & Potato ones), Sev( Besan strips) etc are fun. Eight days after the Holi are the days of Holi Milan, visiting friends and relatives and enjoying the goodies. During the last few days, we would know which one of the friend's stock of Gujia still wasn't exhausted. Then we made sure it got exhausted !

Good old DoorDarshan never failed to show Hasya Kavi Sammelan. Kavi Sammelans on TV. They were like Eid Ka Chand those days.

All and all, loads of fun. Ab Waise Din Kahan. Na Waise Holi Khelney Waley Log, Aur Na Hi Waisi Holi. Only been once to Lucknow for Holi in last five years, and that too not in very perfect circumstances. No fun this time either, but wish you all nice time with the festivities.

Happy Holi, & Happy Hola-Mohalla.

Bura Na Mano, Holi Hai !

Now in the true spirit of Holi, here is a naughtier side. So enjoy the humour, and have fun in Holi.

Happy Holi !

Happy Holi To All.



Previous Poem - Vachan

Let's Hail The Martyrs

On 23rd March 1931, Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev, and Rajguru were hanged in Lahore Jail. They have made a supreme sacrifice for us.

My homage to them.

Search Engines

I have been noticing this for a past few days. When I had written this post, I didn't have the faintest idea what would follow.

The post made me realize that "Rahul Vaidya" of "Indian Idol" is one of the most hot keyword in the internet, because search engines have been virtually pouring people to my blog. Till date, more than 125 searches have already reached to the above mentioned post.

Even otherwise, "Indian Idol" and it's contestants are very popular. Surprisingly, "Abhijeet Sawant" is not as much in demand, but it's popular. "Amit Sana" is also hunted. Rarely, I could see "Prajakta Shukre" and "Rahul Saxena" as well.

So if you guys want to improve upon your blog's TRPs, pen down a post on Indian Idol, with Rahul Vaidya clearly mentioned some where, and it shall happen.

Loaded Crap

Close on the heals of Sunny Deol dishing crap on Sholay, here comes another one, this time by Indian Express talking loads of hogwash on Amitabh Bachhan.

Please read this article - Is SRK the greatest ever? written by some Harsh Dugh. Like their award ceremony - Screen Awards, their journalists and articles have also gone insane.

Shahrukh's better than AB ? Comparison never starts. It's one to ten simply Amitabh. King Khan plays Sharukh in every character, while Amitabh playes the character. Tell you what, I personally think even AB's baby is a better actor than Shahrukh. Before you head for my throat, just compare these two performances on similar characters and you would agree.

Abhishek's portrayal of a migrant UPite/Bihari in Yuva and Shahrukh's portraying of a Bihari in Karishma Kapoor's starrer Shakti( Ishq Kameena, remember?). Former was so real life while latter was so ridiculous. He couldn't even get the accent right.

And yes, please enjoy the comments as well. They are funny and insightful. One thing is sure - the newspaper has been successful in getting hits it wanted. Shame Shekhar Gupta, shame.

Heard this on television. Sunny Deol, in his glorious tribute to his dad - Dharmendra, said something like this. Please brace yourself for the worst.

"Now coming to Sholay. If dad wasn't there in the movie, Sholay would have been a very 'dry' movie".

My ears could hear nothing else for a short while after that. Why? Kyunki Mere Kano Se Dhuan Nikal Raha Tha.

I know Deols is a very closely knit family. They all have nothing but praises for each other. And I love to see such a close binding together between father and sons; although dad's bigamy, and elder son's adultery is highly despicable. But tell you what, even I couldn't imagine such a blinding love. Even fabled Shrawan Kumar would pale in comparison.

There is no doubt that Veeru did a fine a job, but how come such a senior actor who has given some really fabulous performances in Arjun, Ghayal etc can give such a irresponsible, shooting-from-the-lip stuff. I mean this was not some petty dialogue from Gadar, it was suppose to be a serious statement.

Tomorrow Javed Jaffery might pitch in - "Leave aside dad Jagdeep, Sholay was a drag" or some grand son of AK Hangal might make public his take that "Without Dadoo, movie was bland".

Didn't Idiot box have enough idiots working for it or watching it that they are feeling need to import more of them from Cinema ? Yeh Sannata Kyun Hai Bhai!

If Wishes Had Wings ...

If ever I were to produce a movie,

My cast would definitely include Amitabh Bachhan, Irfan Khan and Konkona Sen.
My Script/Dialogue Writer would be Javed Akhtar.
My Director would be Farhan Akhtar or Vishal Bharadwaj.
My Assitant Directors & Editors would be Vidhu Vinod Chopda, and Sudhir Mishra.
My Cinematographer would be Sanjay Leela Bhansali.
My Music Director would be some one new as both Madan Mohan and Roshan are dead.
My Songs would be written by Gulzar, as Sahil Ludhinawi is dead.

I know most of those wishes seem to be preposterous, but as they say - if wishes had wings, I would fly.

Mai Na Kehta Tha

Circinfo reports: Umpire Bucknor raises him finger after deliberating for a long time! Tendulkar walks away shaking his head, tv replays clearly indicate that the ball swung away after passing the bat, Bucknor gets it terribly wrong on this occasion.

I had already forewarned about Bucknor. Its his 100th match. Bucknor wants to have fun. And he shall have it. Or is it the Pakistani cake which Bucknor had cut on the eve of his 100th Test which has done the trick ?

There is not much to add to the point that this guy(Bucknor) is as low a human being as a slut. Never seen the mockery of the game of such proportions. Loosing mental faculty is one thing, while deliberate hounding and vilification is another.

Qatil Ada

At the end of the first day, Sachin Tendulkar sat for the daily press conference. Amongst other things he spoke about, there was this particular quote which I found very interesting. It was in the yesterday's edition of The Times Of India as well.

On his 10000th Run, Sachin says : I did not realise it. All of a sudden, the crowd reaction was different. I asked Rahul (Dravid) what happened. He said, ‘You want me to tell?’ I said, ‘No. I know now.’

Reading this, I scratched my head. Is our Tendlya so naive ? I don't believe so. Nor did Abhishek. Even if we believe he was naive and forgetful, there are facts which contradict his statement. Here is the proof given by Abhishek.

These two things happened well before Dravid went up to him to congratulate.

- He raised his bat after scoring that run.
- And exchanged hand shakes with Pakistani players.

Also,
-crowd's reaction did not become "different" "all of sudden". They had been applauding everyball after his 15-16th Run.
-There was a countdown to 10000 runs being displayed on scoreboard.
-He was visibly shaky & stranded way too long before that run.
-Attempeted 2-3 very horrendious shots for that run.
-There was a phenomenal jump in the scoring rate from 0-27 to 28-52.

Judge yourself. May be he his naive, but we are not. That's the perfect example of putting one's foot in the mouth.

March Blues

Keeping up the 'March' afloat, I think not only the Ides, but the whole month of March is generally a scary one. In the larger part of the country, the weather is changing with the squeamish ones running with perpetual running noses.

It's time for income tax deduction as well. Okay, I agree that all private sector organizations and many government sector ones now adhere to monthly tax deduction at source, but still many of them do not do it, including the largest employer in the world under single administration - Indian Railways.

The worst nightmare, if one actually manages sleep at night, is during exams. Higher and senior secondary students have their board exams; graduates, post-graduates have their yearly exams, while rest of the classes have their annual ones. Not only the students, it's virtual examination for the parents as well.

First board exams are special. People keep telling you it's make or break. Our History teacher had begin the count down even when we were in just VIII standard. All this built an anticipation, though a negative one. And as the luck would have it, I had an interesting experience on the very first exam.

Traditionally, as it happens in ICSE examinations, the first paper was of English Language. The chief invigilator was a certain Mr Chauhan with the built like that of a battle tank, and a copious moustache on which one can graze a cow. He was from St Paul's School in cantonment, and seemed to rank no less than a major himself.

He sat on a raised platform, and my seat was plumb in front of him. Soon, the question papers arrived in a packet, and to my shock he suddenly called me to the parapet. He was huge, and seemed even more when I stood beside him. I was relieved when I realized that he had called me to break the seal.

He first showed me the package and confirmed with me if the papers were properly sealed. Then he asked me to open it. I thought it would be easy. It was a pain! First layer was an ultra thick polythene covering. The scissors given by my school were blunt. They won't have cut a butter cake, leave alone that polythene.

Luckily I found a blade, so I began criss-crossing it on the cover. My hands were so sweaty due to tension that I was finding it very difficult to hold together both blade and polythene. After innumerable attempts, an opening was created, I tore it with some attempt.

Now there was a parchment-cum-gunny sac covering. I cursed my luck. Again the whole process of blades and scissors started. It was more difficult than ripping up the polythene. I had already taken considerable time, and by then papers should have been distributed. Mr Chauhan was also in considerable discomfort now, so he started helping me. Together, we tore opened that seal as well.

By then, the whole class was wondering what was happening. I sighed with relief when papers were distributed in a jiffy. It was a bad beginning, but at least that ensured one thing. Mr Chauhan never called me again to open the seal. It was always the girl sitting next to me.

Beware Of Ides Of March

The soothsayer warned Julius Caeser. Latter didn't pay any heed to it and paid with his life. In a queer quirk of fate, life was in jeopardy for us(myself and others living in Maharashtra) too on the very 'Ides Of March', and more so on its eve.

Earth shook, rattling all and sundry. Luckily, I was outside the main building of my office, chatting with my ex-Project Manager. We were so involved in our conversation that I didn't feel any vibrations. Though I did feel some strange sensation in my head and nose which I ignored.

It was only when people started rushing out discussing about the quake then I came to know about it. Of course, for the rest of the day, there were discussions only on this topic. I thanked to God for it could have been worse. The danger for us was doublesome. I will tell you why.

The epicenter of the quake was in Koyna, which is in Satara district, Maharashtra. This place houses a huge dam. A slightly stronger quake might have meant not only disaster due to collapsing of buildings, but also a Tsunami like disaster.

The damage would not only have brought havoc to Satara, but also to Pune whose twin(Muthu-Mula) rivers extract water from Panshet dam, which is not very far from Koyna. Already, there have been floods in Pune in 1962 due to Panshet dam. There have been an even bigger quake(in fact strongest ever in Maharashtra) in Koyna in 1967 which created havoc in the region.

Strangely, some bright dudes think that dams themselves bring earthquakes. Incidentally, this Koyna quake and resulting floods found mention in Manmohan Desai's Amitabh, Shatrughan, Rishi starrer - Naseeb. It brought a major twist in the story, though movie itself was a bad attempt.

Hope everything remains fine. There were 11 aftershocks till yesterday evening. The major Koyna quake was preceded by two minor ones in 1962 & 1965. Could there be another major one in future is anybody's guess.

Dandi Yatra

Guess what would be the BJP's response to Congress' hijacking of Mahatma Gandhi's Dandi Yatra ?

BJP would hijack 1942's Quit India movement, and chant:
Angrezon( read Sonia), Bharat Chhodo !!

Time To Infuse New Blood

Time is ripe to induct some new blood in Indian Cricket team inorder to bring some dynamics in middle order. This post might appear to be a panic reaction, but believe me I am writing this after much saner deliberations.

First phase of dynamics was set in when Virendra Sehwag was brought in Test team, more so when he was given the job of an opener. And look what he has done for India. After the century on debut, he has had some big scores like 147, 130, 195, 309, 155, 164, 173. All these runs were scored in double quick time helping the team to press for the win.

Middle order is stagnating, though. There you have Rahul Dravid playing his sort of game, although he is consistently improving; A much injured and subdued Sachin Tendulkar either keeps returning from injury or bad form. He has now closeted himself into a shell from which only he can find his way out. And then there are records to pursue.

Let's skip Ganguly for good, because he is in the team for his management skills rather than cricketing ones. How-much-ever his stay in the crease is, it's a painful one for himself, his team, and public. Laxman will keep trying to prove his come back making excruciating half century which would be of no use to the country.

So middle order is rusty, which is plain from last many outings. We need the guys who are waiting in the wings i.e. Yuvraj, Kaif etc. Yuvraj made a debut century against Pakistan, while Kaif had put up a brilliant show against Australia.

These guys are young at feet and heart. They want to win, and have the ability and confidence to do it. If that wasn't the case, then the chase at NatWest Final would have ended when England had put up 324 or later when India had lost half of it wickets when more than half the overs and runs were left.

In bowling also young guys have changed the script. They are aggressive, and can bat too. Harbhajan, Pathan, and Balaji are roaring. Today, if Balaji can hit a six to Akhtar, then Pathan does that to Lee, and Harbhajan to Murli and Warne. They are not Maninder Singh or Narendra Hirwani. At such a young age of their carrier, they don't have any records to pursue, any baggages to carry.

The bottom line is: We can not let the things to drift the way they are. The changes should not be reactive. They must be gradual, and in rotation. One senior must be rotated at a time. Otherwise, there won't be any difference between the dour drags played during Gavaskar's time and what we have been witnessing today.

For Mr 'X' From NY/Chicago

Mr 'X' in his comments to my previous post had enquired "more about how slow his(Sachin's) innings of 193 was" & "more about how slow his 194 at multan was". I well tell you more than that.

Tendulkar's 193 in Headingly was scored in 330 balls, 431 minutes, when at the same time Sourav Ganguly scored 128 runs in just 167 balls and 261 minutes.

In Multan, Sachin scored 194 in 348 balls in whopping 493 minutes, where as Sehwag scored 309 runs, in meager 375 balls & 531 minutes. In the same innings, Yuvraj Singh had scored 59 runs in 66 balls.

In Sydney, against Australia, Tendulkar scored 241 in 436 balls & 613 minutes where as Laxman scored 178 in 298 balls & 403 minutes. In second innings, when India needed fast runs, Tendulkar scored 60 runs in 89 balls, when Dravid scored 91 in 114 balls and Sehwag 47 in 50 balls.

I think this information is 'more' than enough to open up your cataracting eyes. I am leaving the arithmatic for you. It just requires a few divisions and substractions now.

However, this might not be enough to give you some sense in comment writing. If you had a different of opinion, then state it with reasoning, like what Khandu did. But that's the part of the upbringing.

What's Wrong , Sachin?

If media is to be believed, whole nation yesterday exhaled a collective gasp of disappointment (source TOI). If Sehwag could be believed, whole Indian team was dejected(source SIFY). All these heart aches are due to our much adored Tendulkar's missing his two records.

By missing century, he couldn't exceed Gavaskar's tally of most centuries in Test Cricket, and by scoring 121 runs, he could have reached his, now much elusive, 10000 runs.

I was neither left gasping, nor dejected because I don't give a damn about it. I don't miss his record, I miss his game. The truth is that this is happening much too often. He takes too much agonizing time on the crease these days; more so, whenever he is reaching a milestone.

I am not sure, but some considerable time back a few petty idiots had blabbered that Sachin doesn't play Test Cricket as it should be, and lo, he begin to grind at the crease, curbing his natural instincts. This is leading him no where, but he is not learning from it. I am not giving any advice, but this is a fact.

This had happened when Dravid had to declare even before he could reach his double century just because he was marooned for quite a long, inexplicable time in 190s against Pakistan. His previous two innings against Aussies were similar too(241* & 60*). Ditto was the story against West Indies at Kolkota an year earlier( 176), and against England another year earlier( 92 & 193).

The last time I saw him playing his natural game was against West Indies(, the fifth Test) at Kingston in 2001-2002. He scored a swashbuckling 86 in second innings, and that too had come after a looooong time, and there has been no repeat performance since then. It is so unfortunate that with the ascent of Sehwag in Test Cricket, we have seen great master's descent.

He must realize that these tennis elbows, crushed toe bones, and trouble some backs won't allow him a very long run in Cricket now; so whatever opportunity he gets, he must make a full use of it. Mustn't leave it for next time. Till then, I won't care for records. I just want to see him play his natural game. Records are besides the point.

Back After A Brief Hiatus

I might just sound like an Englishman talking weather, but my absence has got to do with yet another visit to my home albeit an emergency one. Had to leave in a giffy, without any notice, not even to my employers. I promise more meaningful posts will follow soon.

Boojho To Janey

This photograph is roughly about 23-24 years old. These kids have grown into men & women, some having their own kids older than they themselves are in this photograph. And yes, I am also there.

Shot when I was into my second year of Kinder Garten. Our lovely class teacher Ma'am Waahi is proudly flashing her 1000 watt smile. Later she herself became the principal of another branch of the school.

Had this been a coloured photograph, you would have noticed bottle green pant, white shirt, and green tie, which were later changed to steel grey, white, and a grey-blue striped one, respectively .



Now the game. You have to guess which one am I ? Of course, you have never seen me, so I will give subtle hints. Here they are.

- Small unkempt hair( which many have).
- Slightly large, staring eyes( so do many have).

Ok ok, I know these clues are not enough, but they are significant. Come on, there should also be some fun filled guessing invloved. If you will find it difficult, I will give you a few more clues.

Of course, who already know should not spoil the fun. If you have forgotten, then you can also join.

FOR LARGER PICTURE CLICK HERE

Legal Extortion

Our dear old PC has done it again, but this time, many times over. 0.1 % tax on every withdrawal above Rs 10000. Reason?

As given by PC - To curb black money transactions which are usually cash. As given by "experts" - To move more away from cash regime, and endorse cheque and credit culture.

The argument given by PC screams back at his face. Which dare-devil-black-money-holder has the audacity to put his money in the bank. In bank lockers, yes but never in bank accounts. Now days, they don't allow to open an account without PAN or Income tax return. They don't allow to file Income Tax return without PAN or PAN application. So every thing is linked together.

No cash allowed on first deposits. More importantly, every account which exceeds the consolidated sum of Rs 25000, it's obligatory for the banks to send the details of the account to local income tax office. Then how the hell can black money come into the banks? One doesn't need to be a Chartered Account to see that or does PC thinks we all are damn fools.

Now the second argument i.e. moving towards credit regime. How many government institutions accept credit card or cheques? In metros, the situation might be better but what about smaller cities, towns, villages. Government does not even have proper cheque defaulting laws.

Their own institutions are not accepting cards or cheques. Their own house is not in order, and they want us to force into it. It's like throwing a person in water in order to make him/her learn swimming.

Now you would say "How many times you need to withdraw that amount? I am safe." No you are not. It's not as simple as it appears. First of all why should we pay this second tax on my already taxed income at all. And there other hitches as well. Even the encashment of a Fixed Deposit or request for Banker's Draft above the given sum is taxable.

What happens in hospital bill, school donations, buying stamp papers for property deeds, jewels, marriage expenses -almost everything comes under taxation. This is nothing but legalized hafta vasooli or bribe as we may call it. I hope better sense prevails on him.

Anubandh Likhun

Came across this poem, Anubandh Likhun by Ram Swarup 'Sindoor' . Never heard about the poet, but found the poem worth sharing.



Previous Poem - Ankhey Nahin Bhari