India Intolerant?

A lot of flavor of intolerance has been in the air of India from last couple of years.  A fait accompli or a perception incubated by repetitive usage of the term. Intolerance, as the terminology indicates, is the feeling which is deprived of tolerance for any person or a group of persons complemented with a feeling of antipathy towards the same. Is the present India intolerant? Is there not any intolerance anywhere else? If there is any phenomenon of intolerance, then it came into existence with the development of human brain and flourished perpetually. Life sprout out with a follow up principle of survival of fittest triggering the cascade of the intolerance, intolerance against anything harming one’s interest or not complying with one's ideology. Tolerance or intolerance is one of the human psychological attributes malleable enough to be influenced by the patterns of socialization, one’s instinctive behavior, extent of cognizance and level of maturity. Every living being is intolerant against something. A microbe shows intolerance intra-specific prioritizing its needs. Intolerance can be said to have flourished spatially and temporally infinite. Vedic period, one of the enlightened period of Indian history, furcated the society into four Varna leaving the rest as untouchables. The untouchables were so insulated by the elites or the twice-borns that mere their glimpses tainted the latter and was customary for untouchables  to beat the drums before entering the main dwelling areas.  Intolerance started incubating, curse of which haunting the societies hitherto. After the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632,  a dispute over succession to Muhammad as a caliph of the Islamic community spread across various parts of the world, which led to the Battle of Jamal and Battle of Siffin. The dispute intensified manifold after the Battle of Karbala, in which Hussein Ibn Ali and his household were killed by the ruling Umayyad Caliph Yazid I, and the clamour for revenge divided the early Islamic community.

Download MERA VETAN - JK Employees Salary Tracker Mobile App

Free Download MERA VETAN - JK Employees Salary Tracker Mobile App

JKPAYSYS, a web portal for online payment system, was made mandatory w.e.f April 15, 2020 for withdrawal of Jammu & Kashmir Government Employees' salaries. The initiative aims to ease the business and make the transactions smooth and hassle-free. 

In the furtherance of making the system more user-friendly, 

JK Employees Salary Tracker Mobile App - ' MERA VETAN' is now launched by Lieutenant Governor (LG), Girish Chandra Murmu on June 3, 2020.

This application is aimed to provide salary related information to the employees.

The twin web-based systems tend to enhance transparency, accountability and accuracy in government transactions. 

Withdraw discriminatory SRO-202

Daily Excelsior OP-Ed 15 February 2020

After the transformation of Jammu Kashmir from State into Union Territory, a slew of promises made by Union Government to the youth of Jammu and Kashmir and rendered them believe that a dawn would indeed be coming to rejuvenate their lives.
The employees recruited under unjust J&K State policy of SRO 202 of 30.06.2015 have huge expectations from this transformation. Union Government announced that all the JK UT employees would get all the allowances as recommended by 7th Pay Commission like Travelling Allowances, Child Education Allowances, Hostel Allowance, LTC etc. However, there was no mentioning of SRO 202 inflicted employees who were not even getting the allowances the other employees of erstwhile state were getting paid like DA, HRA, CCA, no NPS contributions, no annual increments etc.
The SRO-202 was issued by the General Administration Department with effect from June 30, 2015 running under the Jammu and Kashmir Special Recruitment Rules, 2015. SRO 202 has some inhibitory provisions for employees especially in the form of Rule 8 and Rule 9. Rule 8, which deals with nature of appointment, states: “A person appointed under these Rules shall be initially on probation for a period of five years and after completion of five years he or she shall be declared permanent subject to passing of such tests or successfully undergoing such training provided under the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1956”. This Rule further reads: “The appointee shall have to necessarily work for a period of five years on the post against which he has been appointed and such appointee shall not be eligible for transfer for whatsoever reason during the temporary service of five years”. Rule 9 states: During the period of first five years, the appointee shall be entitled to the minimum scale of the pay along with the grade pay applicable to the post against which he is appointed. “Every appointee after completion of five years period on probation shall be entitled to fixation of pay in the time scale of pay applicable to the post against which he is appointed”. Moreover, in Rule 7 of SRO 202, it is stated that the recruitment to any post via this new scheme would be completed on fast track basis (within 3 months) but most of the recruitment processes took upto 3 years.
The long probation of five years, as scripted in SRO 202, is per se a violation of JK CSR Rules, 1956 which states that the probation of newly recruited employees would be of two years. The culture, of granting the first annual increment from sixth year, it seeks to establish would have long lasting detrimental effect on the aggrieved employees. The Dearness Allowance (DA) paid to government employees is inflation-indexed. How can the SRO 202 employees believed to be immune against inflation? Most of the recruited employees have been posted in hard zones and there is no provision of their transfers for five years. Inspite of rewarding them with incentives to serve in the less-served regions, they are actually being deprived of their due rights.
It is pertinent to mention here that all the posts notified for recruitment after 30.06.2015 have not been put under SRO 202. For instance, recruitment for KAS 2016 (Jammu Kashmir Combined Competitive Entrance Examination 2016) vide Notification No. PSC/EXM/2016/52 dated : 18.06.2016, Assistant Professors for different subjects in Higher Education Department vide Notification No.10-PSC (DR-P) of 2017 dated 27.10.2017, KAS 2018 (Jammu Kashmir Combined Competitive Entrance Examination 2018) vide notification no. PSC/Exam/2018/38 dated: 25.05.2018 etc were not combined with SRO 202. Such exclusions and inclusion of rest of posts, including some of the gazetted posts like 10+2 Lecturers, Medical Officers, Veterinary Surgeons etc, under the ambit of SRO 202 are totally illogical, discriminatory and flawed illustrations of retarded policy making. Such policies by the state would lead to disheartened brigade of employees with lesser efficacy, choleric temperament, higher tendency of drifting towards unethical ways of meeting their ends.
SRO 202 was brought into effect by erstwhile State Government citing the rationale of financial constraints. Annual budget of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir for upcoming Financial Year of 2020-21 will be approved by the Parliament in its budget session and it is estimated that this will be for the first time that budget of Jammu and Kashmir will surpass Rs one lakh crore. During 2019-20 financial year, Jammu and Kashmir’s budget was to the tune of Rs 88,911 crore. With such a hike in Budget allocation for a region of erstwhile state excluding Ladakh, the rationale behind introducing SRO 202 cease to have its validity in new UT set up.
Putting in nutshell, SRO 202 needs to be discontinued so that the employees get their rightful dues. The recommendations of Law Commission once again rekindled the hopes of the aggrieved employees. These recommendations must be implemented in letter and spirit as early as possible. In addition, periodical annual increments should be granted notionally from the date of first appointment. Moreover, if there is still any financial implications involved, the differential approach of keeping some posts like Assistant Professors, KAS etc out of SRO202 needs to be revisited and putting in place across all posts a uniform probation period of two years entitled to the minimum scale of the pay along with the grade pay.

Pay Full Salary to 10+2 Lecturers

Daily Excelsior Readers Write 28/04/2018

On 10th October 2017, the Cabinet discussed the appointments at gazetted level mode in the School Education/Higher Education Departments in terms of SRO 202 of 2015 dated 30.06.2015 read with Government Order No.1377-GAD of 2015  dated 15.10. 2015 and decided that full salary along with allowances shall be paid to these appointees in relaxation of rule 9 and 10 of the aforesaid SRO with immediate effect. However, it has been six months since this Cabinet decision but the formal order regarding the same has not been issued hitherto and new appointees are drawing  mere the basic salary.
Most of the newly recruited lecturers have been posted in  hard zones , far flung regions of the State which lack the basic amenities like proper water supply, power supply, toilets etc. The expenses tend to exceed the earnings. It’s highly unfair to keep them underpaid when all the other gazetted officials enjoy  full perks of a gazetted State Government job. Moreover, a teacher with only secondary level qualification not recruited under SRO 202 is drawing 1.5 times the salary of gazetted lecturers.  It’s a violation of Article 23(2) Universal Declaration of Human Rights, “Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work”.

CPGRAMS - A Revolution in Grievances Redressal Mechanism

Government of India has been making enormous efforts to make the governance citizen-centric and the service delivery to its citizen hassle-free and cost-effective. Digital India is the cornerstone of E-governance which is surely on the right path to revolutionize the bureaucratic system by bringing transparency, accountability, responsibility and thus, emancipating the citizen from stagnation of ill-governance.  In this direction, GoI has launched many services and products (apps and soft wares) online. I recently had a taste of Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) and it's working efficiency. 

CPGRAMS, as defined on its website, is the platform based on web technology which primarily aims to enable submission of grievances by the aggrieved citizens from anywhere and anytime (24x7) basis to Ministries/Departments/Organisations who scrutinize and take action for speedy and favorable redress of these grievances. Tracking grievances is also facilitated on this portal through the system generated unique registration number.


I lodged a complaint regarding the redundant mode of filling CSIR NET-JRF application forms. My complaint read as:

As mentioned in Advertisement Notification No.10-2(5)/2017(ii) - E.U.II, item no. 5.4. "Candidates applying for the Test may deposit their Examination fee, after verifying their eligibility, in any branch of the Indian Bank throughout the country by paying the requisite fee in cash through bank challan OR RTGS/NEFT through any bank (Bank account details are required to be filled in the Indian Bank challan form to be downloaded from online application system", the mode of payment for CSIR-NET JRF/LS application form via offline(challan) and online(NEFT) means are not efficient and time consuming processes. Payment through offline mode is also only through a bank (INDIAN BANK) which don't have suffice penetration in various states. Like, in Jammu Kashmir, it has only four branches i.e. only two districts and long queues can be visible outside bank branch counters. Recently, many candidates faced a cumbersome situation when Indian bank's servers were down for a day at Gandhi Nagar branch, Jammu. Although NEFT facility is available but it doesn't provide the ease and pace that other modes like debit/credit card, net banking, UPI, PSB e-wallets etc. provide. Moreover, the whole process is orthodox and redundant viz. Challan deposition, filing forms and then sending the application forms and challan through post. In the era where digitization (paperless and cashless) has been lauded as the epitome of governance with our PM's flagship idea of Digital India, how much it is justified to linger on such methodology of form submission and let the students waste their productive times in such unproductive processes. It should be made wholly online whether it is payment mode via all the modes possible and discontinuing the tradition of sending the application forms through post. It doesn't seem unfeasible as most of the examination conducting agencies are providing simplified and convenient routes of application form submission to students and further when Rs 1000 is charged as fee. Thanks.

Contacting on phone numbers that were provided to me in this exercise, I was assured that the process would be streamlined. To my wonder, CSIR notified it's next notification  viz. Advertisement No.10-2(5)/2018(i) - E.U.II with all the changes I made concern of. A number of such cases disposed off by CPGRAMS makes it one of the best tool in the direction of a citizen-centric governance.
"An Inclusive Governance comes into being when a representative form of Government lends the platform and the citizen is receptive enough to utilize the same for the overall good of the society."



Procedure for citizens to lodge grievance:
(www.cbec.gov.in/htdocs-cbec/cpgrams-brief.pdf)

1. Grievances can be lodged online by log-in to www.pgportal.gov.in (PG portal) with provision for selecting password and giving email ID to receive electronic acknowledgement. The citizen could also lodge grievance using – link on CBEC website www.cbec.gov.in . The specifics in the grievance may be provided like the right jurisdictional office (if known), details of specific service not meeting Citizen Charter norms and remedy requested with immediate action if any. Citizen may provide additional details as sought by department for effective grievance redress.
2. The system shall generate a ‘Unique Registration number’ for each grievance. This number could be used to check periodic progress and send reminders.
3. On grievance redress, reply is received and can be viewed through the PG portal.
4. Grievances can also be sent by post or hand to Public Grievance Officers (PGO) at field level on a plain paper giving above specific details for redress. PGO shall issue a unique number to complainant for follow up. The grievances could be followed up with PGO for progress or redress quoting the unique number. Details of the PGO are available at the CBEC web-site or could be got by calling the jurisdictional Chief Commissioner/ Commissioner office.

It Himachalised me!

Many a times you feel life is not fair with you, if it opts to be fair then it would be unfair to call it life. The reception, sensation and acceptance of feelings mark the difference between an animated and non-animated. The feelings make you feel the essence of life blessed upon you by almighty. So, stop complaining about life, stop trying to control conditions and people and, excuse an ample of time for you and only you and feel the essence of being a human before it loses its ability to do so. It's time to organize a trip to a place you have never explored before. 

If it suits your personality, go for a solo travel. A solo traveller has certain privileges such as he can roam unplanned, needn't have a poll for consensus, prolong his stays at places which may not satiate others for long, can interact with locals for long. He can self-introspect fathomlessly.

    Beyond the hullabaloo of exhausting mundane chores, there lies a abode of solace.  An abode which pacifies your soul and make you feel the animation you are blessed with. You just need to find such an abode for yourself.  After spending ample of time in three districts of Himachal Pradesh, I headed towards Manali (see more), Kullu, Himachal Pradesh.  I took a bus with a predisposed mindset that in public transport one can actually interact with the locals and may come to know about phenomenon peculiar to that place.  Thanks to the bus conductor, my predisposition was not refuted. Belonging to Himachal per se, he acted more like a professional guide to me professing everything he knew about the places that were coming in the way. The scene being  crafted out of Pandoh valley with Beas river in its cradle and hefty-lofty mountains suddenly attaining infinite kind of elevation  can't be expressed by the colors of a painter, rhymes of a poet, adjectives of a writer, psalms of a singer. It can only be experienced. It reinforces a belief of one's existence which is faded away by the workaday activities. It moved me deep inside filling my lachrymals. Reaching Manali bus stand, thanking for the Japani fruit and apple that he offered me, I bid an adieu to conductor uncle and moved to look for some decent hotels.  

You would get many quality hotels in Hadimba road. Hotel Devlok (see more) with its aesthetic visage attracted my sight. 'Aesthetics may betray unless virtues don't complement them'. The amenities of its super-deluxe rooms, the services, it's cuisine, its location and its staff, especially Chander Mani uncle and Mr. Gourav, add virtues to its aesthetics. They turned out to be advisors and friends in outlandish climes for days to come. A 10 hour bus journey was tiring enough to plunge me into sleep.

According to Devlok hotel’s travel guide pamphlet, Manali tour can be completed in four stages:

Sunrays peeping through the curtains of my room's window stimulated the process which was going to make my day. Rendering the curtains collapsed to one side, the picturesque that welcomed me proved all the lullabies chanted in the praise of Manali not a hoax. Foggy window panes, mighty mountains and the sun spreading the benevolence over all the existence. Having my breakfast, I left my hotel at around 10 am and headed towards the Hadimba Temple which was 1 km away from my hotel. 'Means are more beautiful than the ends'. The curvy and gradually steeping road with the pine trees on both side thrilled me. The Temple is built around a cave where Hadimba performed meditation. Hadimba used to live there with her brother, Hadimb. Born in a Rakshas family, Hadimba vowed to marry the one who would defeat her brother Hadimb. During the Pandava's exile, when they visited Manali, Bhima killed Hidimb. Thereafter, Hadimba married Bhima.

Hadimba Devi Temple

Entering the Hadimba temple premises, my heart dodging my mind made a abrupt statement that one can stay here for days motionless. 

Taking the benedictions of Hadimba Mata, I headed towards Manali Van Vihar Dhungri. Utmost silence,  peace, calmness the ones where you can actually hear the most natural sounds be it the self-breathing  of air, swallowing of your saliva,  churning of  withered pine twigs under your boot or chirping of birds. I humbly and patiently experienced all this. Tourists were coming with all their enthusiasm. Sometimes, I feel quite amusing that how the variations in perception and experience lead to the different presentation of same things presented to different people. I felt it once again after observing the visitors. A bunch of friends in their teens found the place suitable for selfies. Three friends in their late fifties found it apt for sharing their familial affairs. A Russian group was difficult to be judged by phonetics but perhaps they were adoring the place. 

 A solo traveller like me have the liberty off assignments and compulsions and I preferred to channelize my liberty in observing nature,  its phenomenon and its creation, of which human is one.  I saw a couple of newly married couples sitting, under the shades of infinitely erected pine trees, cuddling, roaming around with hands in hands and witnessing the most beautiful moments of their life and assuring each other’s soul that no matter how cold the weathers come and go,  they will never part away rather nothing in the whole universe inherit the potential to dare the act, that they will hold each other in the crests and troughs of life and stay along in the nastiest storms, that they will tell their grandchildren how they made it possible to live continuously for years together accepting each other the way they would have been.  The ultimate solace for them was each other's jocund company. I caught envy being  a solo traveler but I smiled and vowed almighty to bless them with togetherness of centuries so that the warmth a human strive for doesn't need to be looked elsewhere but in the arms of their beloved.  It's the biggest triumph of one's life when one completes a life of togetherness with the one (s)he loves beyond skies. Well, keeping my poetic instincts aside,  I next headed towards Club House situated on the other side of river Beas. The Club House Manali offers amusement and adventure sports activities like boating,  bubble ride, water roller,  bull ride, go karting,  virtual cinema, haunted house,  paint ball,  zip-line, archery, carnival games, Segway etc.   Simple Thali of Neelgiri , a decent quality Punjabi restaurant on the bank of river beas, put out my ever insatiable hunger before exaggerating  it to a threshold owing to aromatic fragrance radiating out from the delicious food. A simple Neelgiri thali offers palak paneer,  dal,  rice,  four chapati, salad all in proportion enough that can satisfy a foodie like me. A kilometer uphill situated in Old Manali is the Temple of Manu, Sanatan Hindu lawgiver and the creator of human race in India.
Actually, Manali is named after  Manu. The name Manali is regarded as the derivative of 'Manu-Alaya' which literally means 'the abode of Manu'. It is believed that Manu landed in Manali to recreate human life after a great flood had plunged the world. Manali lies in the North of Kullu Valley. The valley is often referred to as the 'Valley of the Gods'.

Manu Temple

The road leading to the temple inhabit a market with numerous cafes, handicraft and leather articles selling  shops and it witnesses more foreigners than natives. There you will see travel agencies offering trekking packages, bikes on rent upto Rohtang,  Lahual Spiti,  Leh-Ladakh. Simultaneously, you will experience the essence of a typical Indian village environs if you take any inside short cut alley route to the temple.   This whole set up gives a perfect amalgamation of countryside and exotic vistas.

Old Manali Market

A cafe called Rendez Vous attracted my sight. It's a perfect hangout space for making your evenings worth remembering thanks to a magical ambiance with Bob Marley music played in background.

Vashisht temple

On the advice of Gourav, I decided to took a two wheeler. 

You can get any two wheeler especially Royal Enfield. It just took 10-15 minutes to reach village Vashisht, approximately 3 km from Manali bus stand.

It was named after Vashisht Rishi, who meditated there for years. 

Known for sulphur water hot spring, Vashishth kund attracts many tourists across the globe. It's prevailing lore that bathing in hot spring washes all your sins and remedies any skin problem.
Interacting with Pandit ji and his wife, I came to know the descendants of Rishi Vashisht spread across India, recognized by gotra 'Vashisht'. Interestingly, my gotra is Vashisht. Knowing this, wife of Pandit ji exclaimed with delight, "So you have made it to your progenitor's place." Indeed that was an icing on the cake.
Water was scorchingly hot, seemingly unsuitable for bathing but once you hold your heat receptors for a minute, you would find it very relaxing and worth spending time assigned for next schedulings. But it's said that bathing for long may prompt giddiness. 

Nearby Vashishth temple are Lord Shiva and Lord Rama temple.

Clockwise (from left top): Vashisht market; Shiv Temple; Vashishth kund; Localites outside Vahisht temple premises

Yogini Waterfall (see more)

 Locals suggested me to head towards Jogini temple and waterfall (see more photos) near it.  It was a track of about 1.5 km. It gave me a crude feel of trekking. The falling water off the mountain cliffs vividly seemed uttering a prophecy that feel its present glimpse, perhaps it may not come the same path again. One can sit there and meditate for hours together as you would not get beleaguered by crowds and noises of this artificially ornamental world.

Actually, I sat there for more than two hours right in front of the mighty Fall. It was probably the magic of scenic panorama that handcuffed me in its reticulated yet pacifying spells. The falling water was all bright, excited,  full of energy,  apparently white and it seemed it was not willing to move ahead and give up the zeal it was enjoying. But willingly or unwillingly, it had to move as dynamism is the law of nature.  

Call it a curse or a blessing, it is bound to happen. Obeying the law, I had to move too towards Jogini temple.

The fall is said to be the boon of Mata Jogini devi, whose temple is situated nearby the fall.  A lady in her fifties was sitting outside the temple and keeping a watch on wooden logs being thrown by her grandson from a height distant enough to betray my optical abilities.  I sat along with her until I realized that the dusk would soon gave its way to night.  The conversation plunged me in a state of deep contemplation that what an urbanized fellow define a problem as, is actually nothing but a disappointment over his failure to acquire his ever proliferating expectations. For the villagers like her, meeting the means of sustenance is the real problem. She told me that they couldn't afford any other source of fuel than wood to cook and keep themselves warm during winters. Forest department employees often refrain them from cutting trees. A battle of ideas between preserving the nature and meeting the ends prevails constantly. She enlightened me about many things a tourist would miss unless he spares some time interacting with localites. She informed me that there is a lake called Bhrigu, named after Maharishi Bhrigu, which is reached by trekking either from the Vashishth temple or from Gulaba village (an area of the Pir Panjal mountain range).The sage used to meditate near the lake and hence it has been rendered sacred; the locals believe that due to this the lake never freezes completely. 

Evening was one among the memorable ones at Ram mandir in Vaishishth. There was classical dance-cum-music festival.  Artists from Gujarat performed on the beats of bhajans of lord Rama, Shiva and Krishna.  The frequently changing face expression of dancers, from those of smiling to ones showing utmost anguish, the coordination among them impressed me the most. The singer was an adept of his profession with vocals reaching straight into the hearts of listeners. Violin player not lagging a second in syncing with the vocals seemed to be in a trance who was moving his head and enjoying the sweet sound coming out of his violin. The bhajans were actually story-telling in a musical form that engraved upon the tablet of my heart. The bhajans, soulful music and unparalleled dance triggered a cascade of goosebump inductions.

    An alien traveler must try to find out the characteristics unique to the place he visits.  The best among those are its art and culture.  I visited Museum of Himachal Culture and Folk Art Utopia Complex near Hadimba temple.

Museum (see more photos)

It houses models of Brahma temple, prasher temple, kamro temple (sangla valley), saraji temple (these kinds of temples were used as rest house by devtas while traveling), models of kinnouri, kullu, kangra traditional houses,  chehnai kothi,  and model of Gondia fort.  Model of Saraji devta with musical instruments and puja accessories, palanquin of whom is carried on the shoulders of male devotees from village to village during festivals. Traditional musical instruments like 'Dilruba,  Saarangi which were used in  the king's court for background music, used more abundantly in chamba district and  'Shehnaai' used during marriages,  folk dances and festivals also enhanced the charm of museum.
Finding wooden small dining table traditionally known as 'Soltak',of which I had come to know a day before from lady near Yogini temple, brought a smile on my face and the conversation with the lady got revived.

Soltak (small dining table)

Long wooden serving spoon, wooden containers, wooden curd Malan, wooden water containers, wooden dishes and trays, jewellery and jewellery boxes traditionally known as 'Baksu' made out of copper,  wooden,  and brass,  shawl worn by ladies traditionally called  'Pattu', traditional blanket known as 'Sela' were also present in the museum. 

Slippers of Lahaul made by sheep's skin, goat goat's hair and straw grass, woolen socks made by goat's hair, woolen rope natively called as 'Dora' tied by shepherds around their waist to provide warmth during cold, different types of hubble bubbles (hookah),  axes of iron,  cutters /scissors of iron,  bamboo baskets,  water pot made by clay and alage. Flask made by gourd (any of various hard-rinded inedible fruits of plants of two genera (Lagenaria and Cucurbita) often used for ornament or for vessels and utensils),

Flasks made by gourd

Spinning wheel of Gandhiji

Sickles, wool cleaner brushes, sieve of leather and wood,  spinning wheels especially spinning wheel of Gandhi ji.

Next morning, I hit the Manali-Leh road for Solang Valley (read more) which is situated 13-15 km from Manali. Riding only this short stretch, I realized why this is called the 'Biker's paradise'. It makes one feel satiated and completed even if one doesn't own most of things in his life. It extinguishes every single thought one is often besieged by other than the perplexity invoked out of a question whether to concentrate on driving or keep browsing the landscape leisurely. It should be a time to cheers when a solo rider meets another solo rider. Ankit, from Ahmedabad, Gujarat was also riding solely like me, met me at Leh-Rohtang and Solang Valley juncture. It takes a jiffy to acquaint with ones having interest similar to yours.  We rode to Solang Valley which welcomed us with paragliders scintillating in sky. Calibrating the scale of one's adventurous instincts, one can opt for paragliding, skiing, ropeways, horse riding etc. Following Ankit's suit, I bought ticket for paragliding with doubtful mind and headed towards taking off point along with my pilot via ropeway. 

Adrenaline doing its supposed wonders escalated my pulse manifolds. Whoosh! I was one with the nature, flying with the birds, taking deep breathes, trying to live many lives every minute.  I felt a numbness of calmness. Everything below looked tinier than their actual appearance.

Himalayan Nyinmapa Buddhist Monastery
(see more photos)

I ended my day and Himachal tour with the benedictions of Lord Buddha at Himalayan Nyinmapa Buddhist Monastery, Manali. It houses statues of Sakyamuni, the historical lord of Buddha, Guru Padmasambhava (also known as Guru Rinpoche, was an 8th-century Indian Buddhist master), lord Buddha, Hayagrīva ("having the neck of a horse", is an important deity in Tibetan and Japanese Buddhism.

The only complain I would be having for Manali is its cunning gratifying spells.  Usually, I thought of visiting 3-4 places in a day but reaching one of the spot was rendering me stationary. Thus, spoiling all your plans and leaving you with no other option than prolonging your stay at Manali. 

Life is too short to waste in agonies, regrets, sorrows, hate. A human is so  unfortunate that he won't be able to see all the places existing on this planet and it seems a big gamble if he postpones doing it in his next life because who knows you'll be getting another one. So, move on and explore the unexplored.  You'll find thousand reasons to procrastinate but one good reason that you can't let life going unexplored most of the places.

Moreover, Solo travel makes you believe in "Solitude is the ultimate solace".

‘The Warmest Place on Earth’- Kashmir

A short film titled‘The Warmest Place on Earth’, released by the Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Department, reminds us that Kashmir is not just about strife and conflict – it is also about great hospitality and warm people.These conflicts of perceptions, these disharmonies of predispositions, these bitternessess of ill experiences, these enmities of existences will fade away because in the end, a man attains ultimate solace in the warmth of human essence. A human life is too short to waste in animosity, hatred, hostilities.  The five-minute video has a Kashmiri song penned by Indian Administrative Service officer Shah Faesal and sung by Mudasir Ahmad and Vibha Saraf.

#spreadlove #spreadpeace

Download Sahibo - Kashmir_The_Warmest_Place_On_Earth (MP3)

Download Sahibo - Kashmir_The_Warmest_Place_On_Earth (MP4)

Watch the video:

Towards a less-cash society

Daily Excelsior Op-Ed 10/12/2016

It was not even in the dreams of people in the era of barter system of transactions that a common paper currency would take over all kinds of transactions and would be recognised over a great span of area. Analogy finds perfect match considering the shift towards a cashless society from the current paper based currency and transaction. Many nations around the globe have mastered the art of cashless transactions with proper infrastructure, administrative will and societal acceptance. Scandinavian nations like Sweden and Denmark lead  the marathon. According to Riksbanken, Sweden’s central bank, cash in circulation has come down from 106 million kroner to 80 million kroner in last 7 years with further decline of 50% in next half a decade.  Furthermore, Sweden is also considering a plan to issue a national digital currency ‘e-krona’ in near future. Even developing countries such as Kenya is the one of the most cited success story.
India is undoubtedly moving towards a society which would be dealing in more cashless transactions owing to increasing mobile and internet penetrations. At present, more than one billion Indians are using mobile phones and more than 300 million Indians use their phones regularly for accessing the Internet. Slew of measures doled out to expedite the process of transforming India into a less-cash economy by the Government of India under the flagship campaign of Digital India to fulfill the goals, envisaged by PM Modi, of transforming India into a corruption-free, citizen-centric and a developed state in real sense.

An Independent Judicial Appointment Body

Daily Excelsior Readers Write 10/09/16

A petition filed by The National Lawyers Campaign for Judicial Transparency and Reforms, represented by advocates Mathew J. Nedumpara and A.C. Philip, can  indeed be an optimised solution to the Judicial appointments dilemma prevailing since long in India. The conundrum revolves around the central motif that whether the job of appointment in judiciary be bestowed upon judiciary itself for the adeptness and specialisation engrained in or legislature owing to the mandate they enjoy or executive which is responsible to the Lower House. The petition seeks to mull on genesis of a public, transparent and responsible body neither controlled by the government nor by the judiciary, for the appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and High Courts of the country. Such innovative idea would curtail the chances of selections on the basis of patronage, nepotism and favouritism prevalent in the Collegium system in judicial hierarchical setup or sensitive Legislature susceptible to vote-bank politics. A Commission should be formed which select Judges by inviting applications from all eligible candidates, inoculating the advices of all stakeholders, the Bar Associations, the public at large and finally should uphold the sanctity of such a high profile job by keep it shielded from all the factors that may trigger its formation.

Impact of demonetisation

Daily Excelsior Readers Write 22/11/16

Centre’s decision of scrapping the currency notes of 500 and 1,000 denomination is aptly termed as a revolutionary step. Even Supreme Court upheld the objectivity behind such move and refused to stay government’s decision of demonetisation. While EU stated that this will strengthen Indian economy and spur growth, global economic analysts and financial services are suggesting other nations to take a cue from it like the Swiss financial services, UBS Group’s advisory to Australia. It’s outcome would indeed have multi-pronged benefits for the economy. In India, only 3% (approx) citizens pay tax, demonetisation have tendencies to improve tax compliance by bringing people in the formal banking system neutralizing black and unaccounted money in the country to an extent. Counterfeit money printed and pumped by Pakistan and circulating within Indian boundaries funds terrorist activities. Maoist activities will suffer a setback as police claimed that they have hundreds of crores in cash concealed. Naxals reportedly have 7,000 crore stashed in the Bastar region. Their businesses likely to blown out with this single strike.
One of the key takeaways is it will boost the ailing Banks, which collectively bear an insurmountable non-performing asset (NPA) onus of Rs. 4L crore. Demonetisation will be an act of capital infusion to such ailing banks through two ways. Firstly, through encouraged investment in their shares in stock market. Shares of public sector banks (PSBs) already started surging up on the Nifty PSU Bank Index. Secondly, this would benefit banks through an increase in deposits as predicted by Moody’s. NPA has always been tabled as the reason by banks for the failure of transmission of policy rate cuts by central bank into the bank lending rates. Thus, once banks regain health, lowered lending rates and enhanced interest rates on saving and fixed deposits can be expected.
Without disregarding the short-term inconveniences being faced by common people and a temporary stagnancy in economy, such a bold and decisive step has the potential to bring  more transactions under tax net, both direct and indirect taxes would move up, more digital transactions will take place and reduction in parallel economy will increase the size of formal economy as more people will disclose income and pay taxes. Short term remedial measures like swift calibration of ATMs and more cash supply should be taken care of immediately.

Sports culture in India

Daily Excelsior Readers Write 22/08/16

Up keeping the nation’s pride and rekindling the dwindling hopes,  the daughters of India   have rewritten the history. A history that merely talks of masculine virtues and potentiality in sports and other outwardly professions.
At the time when India has been witnessing the despair of being medal-less at the Olympics 2016, Dipa Karmakar, Sakshi Malik and PV Sindhu came up as whiff of fresh air for the Indians. Though Dipa failed to clinch the medal by few   seconds but the background she hails never was a arena of her game. Sakshi Malik, hailing from a dwelling which considers women as unpleasant omens  and being a daughter of a bus conductor daughter, overcame  all  the roadblocks owing to her dedicated spirits.
Sindhu’s success is a sheer outcome  of hard work, passion, determination and immortal zeal. Their successes should undoubtedly be cherished with utmost rejoice but at the same time it should be deemed that earning medals for any nation requires an  attitude that encourages the worthiness of sports, proper financing and a professional administrative system. Hope these medals and achievements at global podium induce a wave for reforms in Indian sports.

INDIAN NEWS CHANNELS

No one can dare to imagine a world without reporters holding the microphones and radiating the current information among cosmopolitans. Today if we are in a position to capture the impossible is only due to efforts of media. The electronic media has bestowed all their blood and sweat to make us feel informative and awake all the time. The reporters owing their deeds to media never feel jeopardies of their own lives but to walk on burning coals in order to get the information possible for the eyes and ears of their viewers. For instance, the reporters in dire nations like Libya, Syria, Afghanistan etc. have no guarantee of seeing the next day’s sun. Even then they remain standing erectly. Hats  off to them for their chivalric deeds and services to mankind.

But in present scenario, the role of electronic media is somewhat looking to be surrounded under the shadows of doubts and chaos. Electronic media, especially in India, is going miles beneath the optimum level of sincerity. Sometimes, it becomes too cumbersome to keep holding the remote in the hand unclicked to change the channel. The ideologies of media in India, sometimes, seems to be focussed on amassing bank accounts with huge wealth or lusting for TRPs rather than providing the apt information.       

No one can forget CERN’s Light Hadron Collider (LHC) experiment fiasco in Geneva. Every Indian channel could be seen displaying in bold fonts, “Earth Is going to be demolished within one day”. The experiment has not provided any harm to earth hitherto but a number of kids and teenager even attempted for suicide. Even today, these channels have not learnt any lesson from prior mistakes and now they are stressing on Earth’s doom in 2012. Some channels even forecast the exact date i.e. 21^st December 2012 as the last day of this green planet. Are they beyond the Almighty or Almighty has whispered  in their ears. Though Mayan calendar signifies a little possibility but Indian media magnified in a demoniac way. Its a matter of solid moot that upon what dogmata their minds are running.
26/11 Mumbai tragedy showed a miserable face of terrorism plunging in its shadow the lives of more than 180 people. On the same day, we saw a new face of Indian media. When all were vowing for the lives of people who were handcuffed in a no-way situation, the media channels were busy in divulging the strategies of army personnels to the world including the Pakistani veteran communicating with terrorists inside the Taj hotel and hotel Oberoi. Every action of military and NSGs were telecasted by channels but they didn’t think for a while that terrorists inside could also be getting the information. Finally, Government stopped them from telecasting the live footage on air.

Some Interesting Abbreviations

A little toiling to bring for you some pulpy stuff which you may not acquire from even the bulky and ambient books. It's interesting and something that we don't ponder a lot but when read by, quench one of our unknown thrusts. They are nothing but some abbreviations that will please you.
>Channels:

 ZEE: Zee Entertainment Enterprise
 STAR: Satellite Television Asia Region

 ESPN: Entertainment and Sports programming network

 NDTV: New Delhi Television

 IBN: Indian Breaking News

 SET: Sony Entertainment Television

 ABP News: Ananda Bazar Patrika (formerly star news)

 HBO: Home Box Office

 AXN: Action

 CNN: Cable News Network

 BBC: British Broadcast Corporation

 SAB: Shri Adhikari Brothers

 > Tech:

 EVDO: Evolution Data Optimized

 USB: Universal Serial Bus

 CDMA: Code Divison Multiple Access

 WiFi: Wireless Fidelity

 GPS: Global Positioning System

 SIM: Subscriber Identification Module

 NFC: Near Field Communication

 LCD: Liquid Crystal Display

 LED: Light Emitting Diode

 VGA: Video Graphics Array

 URL: Universal Resource Locator

VIRUS  – Vital Information Resources Under Seize

 GPRS – General Packet Radio Service

 3G – Third Generation

 GPS – Global Positioning System

 >BRANDS:

 ADIDAS: All Day I Dream About Sports

 HP: Hewlett Packard

 HCL: Hindustan Computer Limited

 BPL: British Physical Laboratories

 IBM: International Business Machine

 LG: Life's Good
 TVS: Trichur Vengaruswamy Sundaram (Iyenger)

 CBZ: CarBamaZepine

MISC:
ISI: Indian Standard Institute

ISO: International Organisation for Standardistion.
and will come back with a lot more.

Who is "The Greatest" ???

A number of times,when you are down with failures or disappointments,you think what you are? You think you are neither among those who are reigning at top nor among those who are the masters in their fields.You think you are just an underdog & just an onus on earth. At this time, just ask one question to yourself i.e.
    "WHO IS THE GREATEST PERSON THIS PLANET HAS EVER PRODUCED?
Your mind will run to get the best possible answer but i can bet your mind will come back empty-handed because its always difficult rather impossible to predict one as the planet's greatest. Are those getting Nobel Prizes annually are not greatest? Was Mahatma Gandhi greater than Einstein & vice versa? Was Graham Bell greater than Mother Teresa & vice versa? Afterall,who is the greatest irrespective of their fields. No answers. You have your unique de facto identity,but you need to exploit it. Sometimes,your luck boycotts you but you should not loose heart because some day your day will come.Don't be demoralized even if time has rendered everything to go against you.You should dare to challenge the time. When those who glorified the world could not make it to "the greatest" title then why you are weeping.
JUST UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU ARE & WHAT ARE YOU MADE FOR, then you'll see the difference.Believe in God and keep going.