Castes in India

Read an article related to castes in India and why they prevail in politics,  most importantly, unlike other countries.  There were several surprising facts in that article. In India people of different castes have different cultures and this has significant effect on individuals. For example, if you list down the top ten rich people in India they mostly belong to Baniya caste(8 among 10!) . There is an honour element in every caste. Jats consider murdering their daughters, who have deviated as an honour so they do it ,but in case of Baniyas it is not considered as an honour so they don't see any point in doing it. In a similar way Brahmins take honour in studying hard and becoming a good employee instead of becoming an entrepreneur like a Baniya. Modern society has overshadowed certain aspects related to castes and made it difficult for some castes to follow certain rituals.  They no longer hesitate to dine together, which was considered as becoming polluted in earlier days. But the matrimonial aspect mostly remains intact as people of one culture(similar habits etc) tend to get attracted(families). If it is a love marriage, it is entirely a different issue(Love is Blind, remember!). In a similar way, in politics castes have played an important roles in India.  It is because of the fear that leaders create among people through media. They brain wash people saying they will be doomed if a guy belonging to another caste gets elected. Using this fear factor, leaders in India succeeded in rallying people belonging to a caste by showcasing themselves as their friend because of the many similarities between them and they end up winning if they belong to a majority caste group in a region. This practice cannot be eradicated abruptly. It will take some time for the modern society to overshadow the caste system completely in India. May be 50 years or more! I hope I will live long to see that!

Random Travels and Thoughts!

I was reading a book "Brothers at War", which describes the life experiences of Humayun and how he regained his throne after being reduced into a leader of band of soldiers by Sher Shah Suri. As I was reading this book suddenly  an idea flashed through my mind. I wanted to go and visit Humayun's Tomb alone so that I can take my own time in admiring the architecture and sit there for sometime peacefully. I didn't want to postpone it so immediately I got ready and took a metro to Pragathi Maidan(nearest metro station as far as I know) and then took an auto to Humayun's Tomb. On my way, I came across purana Quila, which is the inner citadel of the city of Dina-panah, founded by Humayun. After around 20 min drive,I reached Humyaun's Tomb. I didn't expect it be crowded as it is not very famous. But, to my surprise it was little bit crowded with people from all over the world. Ticket price is 10/- for an Indian and 250/- for a foreigner. As I entered, I came across a tomb of Isa Khan, an Afghan Noble, which is 2 decades older the Humayun's Tomb(built around 1547-1548 A.D, as I was reading stuff related to it some guys came and started reading along with me, one of them started interpreting things for others and he explained the meaning of A.D to them as AND DEATH, 1547-1548 AND DEATH!). As I went further,I came across a big arched entrance and from there one can see the majestic Humayun's Tomb at the other end of the boulevard with trees on either side. I just kept walking towards it ignoring the smaller tombs on the way. It is a splendid building and not at all a bad resting place for an emperor.It was commissioned by Hamida Begum,widow of Humyaun, and took over eight years to build.It was also placed in centre of a 30-acre (120,000 m2) Char Bagh Garden (Four Gardens), a Persian-style garden with quadrilateral layout and was the first of its kind in the South Asia region in such a scale(info: wikipedia).It was very spacious inside with lot of windows (mihrab) to allow sufficient sunlight. They are not exactly the windows which we know of, they perfectly hinder most of the sunlight and allows enough wind inside to keep the interiors cooler. As it was built using red sand stone and white marble I am sure it will be cool inside even during summers.It is a perfectly symmetrical building and it looks the same from all the four directions. This place also happens to be the place where Dara Shikoh was executed(elder brother of Aurangajeb). 

His execution goes like this: Dara lost a decisive battle against Aurangajeb and was imprisoned in Humyaun's Tomb. One night, gaurds enter Humayun's Tomb where they found Dara cooking lentils with his little boy, prince Salim. His son clung desperatly to his father's legs, but was dragged away. Dara was overpowered and they cut his head off and sent it to his brother. He sent Dara's head in a box to Shahjahan, their father, in prison in the palace in Agra. Jahan opened it at a table while he was eating,  collapsed fainting, broke his front teeth. Dara's little boy was given a draft of opium and then was strangled to death. The father and the son were buried here in the Tomb of Humyaun. Along with them overall 160 Mughal's graves are here. It is often called the graveyard of the Mughals! How different history would have been if Dara has ascended the throne. He was very liberal and he embraced all religions. He even wrote a book describing the ideas of Hinduism and Islam. He quoted in his book The meeting of Two Oceans "even though the ideas of two religions differed verbally they all meant the same!".
 I sat there in the garden surrounding the tomb. It was so peaceful sitting there without being disturbed.I came across an old muslim man with long beard collecting dry leaves, probably a gardener there. How many of his ancestors  would have been gardeners here, I thought. There were two wells, which were filled with plastic bottles and filth. I went around and came across smaller tombs and quarters of servants, if I guessed correctly. There were names and love symbols all over the walls. Oh! I hate these people! They and their pathetic love! Why can't they write these symbols in their houses rather than  on monuments! Everybody speaks philosophy and try to look educated, but when it comes to simple things like this and littering away stuff they act like mindless people. I calmed myself after that and went to one more tomb near by, the Afsarwala Tomb(meaning officer's Tomb) and went to a exhibition there describing the facts related to this place. It has been identified as world heritage site in 1993 and it is good to know that the Archeological Survey of India has taken an initiative to renovate the whole site.

Saket mall

This weekend was spent mostly hanging around with my old friends. It was fun remembering all those things we did when we were in college. We went to couple of malls in Delhi and Noida. The crowd in Banglore was multi cultural mostly belonging to India. It was multi cultural in Delhi too but belonging to all over the world. We went to Select City Walk mall near Saket and it was like running into a group of models all the time. Never experienced that in Bangalore. Even though it was very far it took half-an hour to reach my house because of the metro.Had nice dinner at my friend's place and it was good!Watched Batman Begins movie too and I liked this particular sentence said to Bruce Wayne by his trainer: It is not the training, it is the will. The will to act!

split personality

I booked a cab to a near by place 4 days before my journey.Hearing my conversation one of my friends freaked out and shouted how can you forget your atm card pin and at the same time book a cab before 4 days before to a near by place! Well, split personality may be!

Fastrack! move on!

I have moved to Noida from Banglore today. It is always difficult to adjust to new conditions once your are happily ensconced in a place. It takes some time to leave some good friends you have already made in the previous place and to make some new friends in the present place. Though I stayed in Noida for one year before I feel nostalgic leaving Bangalore. I felt the sameway when I left Noida one year back too. This is true with most of the people, I guess. Surprisingly, I started getting philosophical thoughts after landing here. I feel our life is just like a train where people get in and get out we just have to move on even if it is difficult sometimes. The best thing, according to me, that  can be done is to keep ourselves busy by concentrating on  the present and simultaneously keeping in touch with people you liked. I already made few friends here in a matter of hours!