Happy New Year

Year is not ending. Your life is..!

Two ways of seeing it :  Feel awe that you made it so far (many arent that lucky, two of my school mates commited suicide and my batchmate martyred) or Feel frightened that wax in your life candle is melting faster than polar caps due to global warming.

And why do people  make such big thing about New year. Its just like any other day. Sun doesnt shine brighter nor moon glows more nor govt gives tax breaks nor someone gifts me a merc. Only people who profit are restaurants n bars n clubs n alcohol shops. Nothing changes.  One can do party n dance anyday except if u wanna shell more money on New year's eve. Morever you dont need special day or wait entire 365 days to celebrate.?

People who say "New year-New life-New resolutions". Dude, no single day since earth was created was same as previous day or even previous moment. Every day/moment was new day. And a Opportunity to Succeed or Screw it up. Or atleast make effort to rise

If you wonder what i do on new year Dec 31 or Jan01?. It would be same as any day.


" Eat-Read-Sleep"

BREAKING LIMITATIONS-(RANDOM THOUGHTS)

RANDOM THOUGHTS

Well, its been ages since I blogged. Maybe last time I blogged was when Dinosaurs dominated landscape. I ve been quite occupied with my day job that several  of my side obsessions have been pushed to remote corner of globe …maybe as remote as Madagascar or Mongolia or Siberian gulags (Wonder how many heard of Madagascar till film had that title.) Here I write some thoughts that randomly hit my mental screen. Hope you enjoy it.

#Thinking Big:

One of my friend recently was telling me that Reliance JIO investment was 2 lakh crore! That set me thinking. Lakh has 5 zeros & crore has 7 zeros. That means 2 lakh crore means 2,000,000,000,000 /-....

I cant even imagine such a huge amount, forget the part doing business with such monstrous amount.  What possible Gigantic mindset must Ambanis must be possessing that makes them think so big and act so big and audacious? ...and where are we?...can we even think so Big? How about Jio's impact which added a new customer every second? it changed entire nations habits. it revolutionized how we communicate forever. Indian Telecom age can be divided Pre Jio and Post Jio.  

#Thinking Different:

Next, i was reading about Elon musk, man who sees future coming with SpaceX, Electrical transportation, hyper loops. He is revolutionizing world we are living. He is dreaming London to New york transport complete in half an

hour(Crossing Atlantic in half an hour).

There, for him, seem no limitations for his imagination and word impossible doesn’t exist even in remotest sense. The very minimum bench mark they have is something like skies for mere mortals like me.

# Thinking Creative:

Have you folks seen films like Interstellar, Inception , Memento, Lucy, Matrix ? All these Sci-Fi films challenge intellect. Its sheer wonder how writers of films and director ever come with such grand creative ideas?. And on other hand , even we challenge intellect when bollywood churn same routine masala love story films in tons and tons and never get bored. Interstellar had lots of emotions yet had such a strong plot. Memento was loop with no beginning or end same as Inception. (Gazini being its BPL cousin off Urban Memento), Lucy and Matrix had ancient yogic shades yet firangs were better exploiting our ideas than ourselves (Remember, Gandhi was made by Attenbourgh and Matrix had Sanskrit sloka as rock song in credits)

What makes Ambanis, Elon musk or Abdul kalam or Christopher Nolan so different that Gods of wealth and fame embrace them? Even they are humans like any of us yet they are way superior. Its sheer amazing!! That might be magic of thinking big..Very Big!! Very different and Creative!!

Here we are worried about daily humdrum and bicker about tiny things when these are trying to break the frontiers andThese same people who have ability to see beyond their lifetimes, who are audacious to have vision beyond human capacities. Well, should that inspires us or terrify us? The common mortals!!

 Some thing worth pondering!!! isnt it ?

NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE (NDE)

(Dedicated to my “Older-Self”  which I gave up as snake sheds its skin)

I want to ask one question. How many thought over their deaths especially when in prime of their lives. Not to those who crossed 50 or in 80s . When drowned in zest of full life how will life become if that person comes to know that he will die soon? People say when death stares at you, entire life flashes by! How many can take death calmly. People of Socrates or closer home, Bhagat singh happily embraced death in full awareness. Here iam talking about aam admi.

Topic of death or dying is taboo in our societies. Always hoping it’s the other person who will die. Deep down we feel we are eternal though we know it’s otherwise. Death is great equalizer. Very Democratic and Impartial . Rich or poor! Healthy or sick! Indian or Pakistani.! Celebrity or Cheap chap!!  Ultimately everyone has to take one way ticket to grave. No one is spared. Everyone wants to go heaven but ironically no one prefers to die.

I was strong and Able . Agile as reed and strong willed as stone! Fountain of unending reservoirs of energy, Love and zest for life n unconquerable spirit. Like anyone else even I thought iam immortal and will live forever until one fine day, I just collapsed. Without going into finer details like whys and how n where when etc, lemme come to post event. I collapsed and in between for few moments I opened my eyes and I remember seeing chopper rotors above me as my ears catch Chop chop sound of those rotors. That’s the last memory. When I opened my eyes I found myself really fresh as if I woke from deep blissful sleep and I find multiple tubes passing through nerves; oxygen tube, IV drip, and other medical tech . Suddenly I see nurses getting ecstatic, everyone calling my name. (I was thoughtless to wonder why they were screaming). They shoot questions in frenzy, do you know where iam ?, how I came? etc etc .( They were ecstatic as I was back from dead in their opinion)

 I didn’t remember anything.  Absolutely anything!

 Friendly nurses, colleagues, friends say that I was in coma for last 2-3 days and I was almost dead and its sheer miracle that iam alive. “Its second chance God has given”.etc etc unending verbiage .

I wasnt either grateful nor thankful as I was yet to comprehend what’s happening or going on. I was just too numb. No feelings at all. No Emotions. Just utterly dazed. Too much steroids made my mental faculties incapable and hopelessly confused. There was total time lapse and judgmental loss.

 I could notice there was massive psychological shift within me. I was no longer my older self. What all education/opinions/views collected over a period of time got totally erased. All good and bad in my mind got wiped out. I was like, back to factory settings. Back to basic primitive features iam born with. Almost like I reversed evolutionary process and I am back to caveman mental standards. Physically I am totally reduced to bone but that I knew could be regained. But I was surprised how my mind functioned. All my ideals vanished. All ideals and hobbies just vanished.( I am incurable bibliophile but post hospital, I completely stopped reading for an year). I was hyper cheerful and very friendly but later I became snob and crude with incontrollable temper (all loved ones suffered bcoz of this, but again, I don’t regret it)

This really set me wondering. Maybe this is what might happens when u die. Your entire data would be wiped out from ur soul. Maybe or may not be.

I remembered one video I saw some time ago. A muslim man falls into tiger enclosure in delhi. (You tube it, iam not gonna paste the link.)  And tiger corners him and what he does is heart breaking. He keeps pleading and begging tiger to spare him. He keeps offering namastes in sorrowful manner.  What follows was that tiger holds him by neck and takes him over. Wondered what could have gone through him. His entire mind must have gone blank..zero…zilch... He must have lost everything. Given up hope ! forgotten his own religion (he was doing Namaste to tiger), probably even he must have forgotten his gender. He was reduced to mere what we can say “Life..piece of life!!” . Not male or female or rich or poor or hindu or muslim etc) all his borrowed identities must have got erased. Only his LIFE existed and that too under threat , soon to get blown off.

Well coming back to my NDE, Its been exactly an year since this event happened. It’s almost like yesterday.. My uncontrollable blazing red rage came down back to normal. Can’t say iam as agile and strong as I was. Certainly there was fundamental shift deep in me. I can’t say I am the same person again. Like seed breaks earth to sprout , a new personality broke out from my older self. Somehow i am not able to bring myself to read any fiction genre anymore. Somehow I am rooted to Reality more , that fiction pales intensely in comparison to Reality. My moral compass has become more flexible and I became more relaxed devoid of baggage of memory or morals. Iam no longer able to play superfluous roles society created for mankind. I find it silly and artificial.

Looking back I don’t claim iam lucky or iam I happy or sad that I am alive ( as most of my dreams are fulfilled and i became incapable to look back) . But it definitely gave me a perspective and a sneak peek into deep life and myself.. I got sense of my mortality and consequently Identities and bonding got loosened ..sticky identities we so fanatically tend to carry on.  And funnily knee ache (remnant of delhi minor accident) that I bore for last 3 years mysteriously healed and it reminded me of prediction I laughed at by some amateur astrologer 4 years ago who said I wud touch death and return.

Well iam writing this blog as reminder lest it escapes my already loosened memory ….!!!!!

TEETLE TALES OF INTOXICATION FROM DESI DARU TO VIDESI SCOTCH

This blog was written around decade ago..but somehow delayed in going online due to myriad reasons that includes hormonal surges to Demonetization to surgical strikes to other censored reasons n excuses. Dedicated to "Guru of my Daru" Senior


TALES OF INTOXICATION FROM DESI DARU TO VIDESI SCOTCH 

 This blog is dedicated to a man who is 75 percent pure cranial grey cells+20 percent of alcohol( vodka+beer+tequila in varied proportions each fighting for monopoly)+2.5percent hydi biriyani +2.5 percent paunch(Let us call him TEETLE, not turtle, its teetle, the dot on ‘I’) Now tat acc 100% but we should another c another 99% of him with another equally awesome gal(let us call her SRAVZ) who is as well practicing wife of this guy physically and 1% by hyper voluptuous femme fatale(let us call her PC ) who dominates his imagination 24/7…now I guess this is how maths and myths works in love 

 Now this Man …The machine… Our relation goes back to Jurassic era where senior barbarians taught their juniors everything about survival from dinosaurs that dot the topography, including hunting mates in jungle and other rigmarole . Here our Jurassic park was cbit engg college where u get find antiquated brains n nerds and people like TEETLE and myself each out doing and showing off our Artificial intelligence in Natural settings. Here is where he was my senior ..senior in all sorts(except in height ;))     Back in college I was famed fer my purity and absolute abstinence from all aerated and hot drinks esp in college where there is more alcohol than water, now maintaining purity in midst drinking hordes is no joke.(I guess I was more into Woman than Wine, once again its same good old voluptuous femme fatale PC, Senior n me his Junior sharing the same fantasy girl) Infact an unofficial bet that ran amongst “ Professional college Pro Drunkards Association” was to get me drink by hook or crook. No one won the bet till date in college. The reason was simple.i was more into woman than wine. 

Myself With Overrated Underestimated Sri Sri Guruji

This is where again where our interests converged where good old voluptuous femme fatale was centre of undivided attention to both of our minds ..here s where I scored a point over him. I have her phone number, email id and she has my phone no, and home address given to her bulky All body-Zero brains boyfriend. With her bulky bf coming occupying more space in her body ,mind and heart than our senior-junior jodi. I think that’s where Devdas in me rose involuntarily and my senior like any good senior , Teetle rose up to the circumstances was more accommodating to be my Chunni Lal . Like Krishna ,He used to give his sermons about Life, Wife, Knife and how all are synonymous . 

And our famous haunt used to be Blockbuster pub in secunderabad where we both used to console each other for loss of voluptuous femme fettle PC. Now with gal gone, now came glass in my hand. Now my Senior plus Chunnilal plus Krishna all rolled into one was topper in fluid mechanics and dynamics of everything fluid, no wonder he is connoisseur of bars and pubs. First he would get intoxicated only then his mastery over subject and pedagogy begins. We then start with Gandhian philosophy that India is in villages. To show how he practiced what he preached ,We shoot to outskirts liquor dens and get intoxicated with desi daru the country side cheap liqour ,this would really blast ur neurotransmitters which actually helps u to realise Darwin was right that the fact that ur born out of chimps. Next step in ideology was how man evolves .Next class on Darwins evolution will continue in pub where now we Chimps-Evolved-Homosapiens wear clothes and have nations unofficial drink of youth and masses THE BEER followed by lessons on Indo-Russian friendship by toasting vodka along with all the junk chicken(There goes my vow of being vegan ) . and this where my martial arts flexibility comes into picture where I gyrate to all latest item songs dished out by DJ but my senior keeping his age and paunch in context sticks to his seat downing another beer over haunting tunes of Hotel California , Evolution is human birth right n probably that includes us as well. So we evolved in a single night from desi daru adda to Yippy pubs and finally end in Star hotel each trying to behave like gentlemen over a Scotch. By end of his sermons on gandhian village philosphy in desi addas,darwinss evolution in pubs and star hotels…I emerge victorious.

 Hemoglobin replaced with strains of scotch. Gal out of mind. Spirits high. Purses low( His purse obviously, juniors never pay..Last time i offered to pay..he was like since when did u become so big that u will pay...so overwhelming haha) and Experiment that glass of few litres of alcohol can keep gal out of mind is grand success.Patent awaited. Teetle ready to be in race to Nobel prize That was during college days. How long can I be junior in his fluid dynamics , gandhin philosophy of scotch in pubs?..Recently we have been to 10D pub in begumpet. He lost all his curves on his stomach which appears soon to be liken 6 packs,,,over many litres of beer and few shots of teqila..i had ,my moment under the sun,,err under the disco laser lights…What Buddha got under Bodhi tree, Mahavira under sal tree., Archemidies in bath tub..My eureka moment came in 10D albeit with clothes on. I realized true freedom comes only in pubs like Blockbuster which reeks with nostalgia than suave 10-D . Blockbuster allows our raw natural wilderness to find its ultimate expression than intelligent idiotness and we display in places like 10-D . What do you say Boss..???

AFFAIRS THAT I NEVER HAD

This blog was lying mentally pregnant for more than 4 years. Deferred and delayed for multiple reasons and excuses. Now I think every story has to reach its logical end. Hence this blog.

We get meet so many people in our path. Some are like lines on water, disappear immediately, and some are scars etched on rock, and they cast long shadow in crevices of mental landscape. This blog is of such two unique individuals I happen to encounter. Russia and Bongie.  Forget the names as all names in my phone are coded and this is how I saved their names. Bongie and Russia. Someone who appealed my heart and other who challenged my brains.

[PRIOR PERMISSION HAS BEEN TAKEN FOR THIS BLOG]

To start with I am incorrigible passionate lover. Iam always in love, either with a person or event or job or book or life in general. Eternally in love. Like any other human I had my share of affairs, some successful and some damp squib. But never can I say it was boring. My quench for excitement never ceased.

I had all kinds of gfs. Millionaire gf to ordinary. Femme fatale to plain jane. Nubile to cougar. Innocent to gold digger who 4 timed. Celibate to nymphomaniac. Some are too good and benevolent and some  dangerously self destructive. Friends with benefits, North Indian to South to extreme north east. Mother theresas to Mata haris . Sometimes all rolled into one. Seen all!! Kya kare , like any piscean yeh dil tho pagal hai.

Here are two lovely souls worth mentioning who caught my 100% 24/7 attention to maximum. “Russia and Bongie”.

 Lots water passed in Thames and Ganges since I met them hence recollecting finer details is difficult , hence had to adjust whatever residue remains in my heart and head and adding dollops of fiction to make blog yash chopra like dramatic.

My Intelligence: Russia: This girl is like real mirchi. Absolute femme fatale with razor sharp intellect. She can really intimidate man with her sheer grey cells…all the time with her was like iam facing Russian chess genius. It was battle of wits .

Pure un titrated adrenaline rush I used to experience. I had to think twice before I need to lie to her as chances are very less I can actually pull it off convincingly.

How I met her? No 6 degree connection or common friends . I happen to meet her in AOL. Cant say beginning was sweet. All guys wooing her n there I lack even confidence to approach this delhi based femme fatale. Finally when I spoke, I thought ..ok, maximum one week or a month , not more… look at fate. Now its 4^th  or 5^th year n end is nowhere in sight.

She has such a Royal suave impeccable polished linguistic skills N here I am rustic crude fumbling for words (Pretty girls can either make tongue freeze or I become blabbermouth). Conversations with her was so thrilling, almost like 10,000 volts electricity running through cranial nerves. Sometimes we used talk from 5pm to 5am.Dusk to dawn. Wonder what I spoke, she is such an awesome conversationalist that she can speak on almost on any topic. There wasn’t a day we haven’t communicated.

Her humour is infectious and clacking . whats so unique about her was her eye for detail…she sees simple things in general life that seemingly ignored or forgotten . like , she screams in her trademark shrill voice “praveen I saw a post man thought they never existed any more..or tv antenna of Doordarshan days..or something like that”

Its so challenging to be on par with her.  She is like , seen all-done all. Iam like…still bookish. I had to work hard to be atleast be half good as she was. She can jog 10 kms and ride cycle 30-40 kms…well I did my best to run 5km, and just buy a bicycle.(lying in dust in my home). Every day was new day with her around. She always had something new to say. The best time I had was chatting with her at 5am lake side. Very divine and ethereal! Never I knew she looked more lovely sans makeup (till dat time I thought she was just a boy in girls body)

We share same level of madness pulsating at same frequencies of insanity. Probably she is the only person who can understand my madness.

We both share a comfort level that we can talk almost anything under the sun. she has her own mood swings. She can sulk, turning her nose to cherry red in colour. She can cry, always during vampire hours (midnight) , her tears can be acerbic that can make me run in middle of nights to Bangalore..some one teases her racially in london..here i pick a londoner in india (Tit for tat..no one messses with my pple) . she can be funny, at her hilarious best. Her voice has its own charm that can make any guy heart go jelly. I have tons of her voice recordings somewhere. All said n done , she has another life that I never took part of: “Social service”!!  

Her pictures here speak what I meant. Its amazing and iam proud of her.

My Heart: Bongie: Life was a beautiful song when I was associated with her. Good old mellifluous melodious song. Life felt sooo sweet and lovely. My name never sounded so lovely till she called me out. Listening to her smile was first thing in mornings I did and it just made by day more vibrant. I literally used to float on way to work after speaking to her. Smiling at strangers, being nice to colleagues ,for that matter, even blade of grass appeared live and ooze beauty, allowed mosquitoes to suck my blood(such a great mood I was)..This was the charm bongie did to me. Never my life was so beautiful. I began to feel younger and like college going teen I used to blush. This bongie made my life more sweeter than all rosogollass and roshomolai of bengal .

How did I meet her? Nothing short of filmy scenario. During my sabbatical wanderings, I happen to see her fb profile.

 One look at her pic, I was like..

“Coup de Forde”, (loosely translated it means hit by thunder lightening). For a moment time seemed frozen, here in front of my eyes is most innocent looking fabled beauty with almond eyes. I felt like ancient memory being woken, like life is futile if I don’t talk to this unknown magnetic  personality. What followed was making plans (I actually drew a flowchart J),drawing and re drawing strategies to come in contact with this IITian Bengali girl. I just knew, come what may, iam going to win her. I was unstoppable and drawing wits fom deepest crevices of my intelligence . And finally one day destiny swung in my favour. First contact through fb, later phone , finally culminating in flesh and blood.

When I first met her ,It was like my ancient soul finally intersected with most peaceful soul. I felt so fresh and peaceful. All zigzagging thoughts came to standstill. It was so magical. Moment that I hold so dear despite nostalgia is not my strong point. Such an earthy beauty, down to earth holding all qualities that are so contrast to mine yet I find such a deep connection with her of lifetimes.

My Soul :

Being in love is soo lovely. Life becomes suddenly poetic . At times poisoned by jealousy and inferiority complex. Now with plenty grey hairs and grey cells underneath , iam more wiser and patient.

what’s my take on love?  Well I don’t wish to be truthful as my honest view is too drastic and diametrical from world’s opinion. My soul has great clarity on this topic.I don’t think many out there will actually understand it .

Like my dear Russia whatsapped me recently “we all have unique relationship with each person and it will be personal and unique to only that person.” I guess she is right. I like to talk to some, love to trek with some other, laugh with another , cuddle with someone else…

 However iam all grateful to the Existence that I came across such a fantastic people in life. Creation is truly benevolent & magnificent. 

MEMOIRS OF MARALAND

MEMOIRS OF MARALAND

Its been two years to be precise when my boss told me that my job location would be Siaha aka Maraland. One look at map speaks it all. Its at remote corner of Mizoram. I laughed to myself. From south India to extreme south of North east India (Maraland) , that’s a helluva journey.  Many wondered how long would I last in such far off land esp with my background of being hopelessly choosy and pampered.

But two years down the lane, I can say with sure confidence that this is the best place I ve been and best moments stacked into two years of my life time. Every day, every moment was nothing short of jaw dropping awesome. I just enjoyed every experience that Maraland has to offer.

FIRST SIGHT OF MIZORAM: LENGPUI AIRPORT

As I looked at my transfer order . I foolishly thought it will never come and good times in Maraland will go forever. But here it is , in my hands. I hardly hoarded any personal belongings except lots of books and memories. I decide to write down my PERSONAL experiences (nothing official about it J) n dedicate it to all  my friends of maraland who made my life absolutely beautiful . The following blog will not be linear , is not any political anthropological economical historical educative narrative. It will be just my amateur observations on myriad topics which caught my attention. This blog is just a gossip from outsider point of view.

Like I said this blog is no linear narrative. I will crisscross across time and space from my mental memory touching the few out of millions of topics that touched me.

Dedicated to my close chums and colleagues ..n several nameless people who has touched me,who kept me day dreaming in dead of nights.

Abhinav,akhil,benji,jerry(n his cute daughter Hilma),Gracey (gentle ssoul and awesome singer),mary, Mc D (Fantastic family), atlua (Smile that reaches his eyes), vijay(NE Expert),mango (Cutest),Andy (JFK of Mizoram),Lodu (My strongest connection), NaughtyNaku,Ngolee(no way related to bruce-lee;)), lovelyFlo n many govt officials whose name I cant take for obvious reasons. There are tons of other names I didnt include for some reason or the other, be it strategic reasons or memory lapse at the time of blogging. I seek their apologies.

Maraland is land of tribe called Maras. They are spread across India and Myanmar. In Mizoram , maraland is quite distinct in culture language,dress habits etc I believe mostly this unique distinct identity is attributed to kolodyne river which cuts off maraland from main Mizoram..Unique feature of mizoram is concept of Tlawmngaihna . Well I cant pronounce it but it cant be literally translated into English. It can be said as code of ethics which knit the society. Its like dharma of tribe which puts welfare of society above others

What did I do in Mizoram?

In brief I can say I made great life long friendships, enjoyed wonderful experiences. I befriended almost everyone in my town. Everyone , from Important to Insignificant. From chai walla to Churches to Cops. bureaucrats to Burmese to  beautiful females to battle hardened army wallas to autorickshaw wallas. Some of friendships will endure forever. Some relationships will be surreal memory for all time to come. I climbed tallest mountain of Mizoram(Blue mountain), swam in rushing streams in valleys, trekked in dense jungles, learnt many skills, read tons of books, enjoyed local culture, lived life to the peak.

Terrain: 

CALL OF MYSTICAL MOUNTAIN

Mizoram is blessed with tons of virgin forests and all major cities and towns are on top of hills. I used to wonder why cities are built on top of hills when its common for civilizations to form around rivers streams in valleys. I guess in ancient days tribes built dwelling on top of hills for strategic reasons. Before advent of Christianity, inter tribe wars were rampant. Probably its easier to keep an eye on coming enemies from top of hills.

Tata SUMOS: 

Tata Sumos are most popular four wheeler vehicles in state of Mizoram , others being Mahindra Bolero and its variants SUVs. Sumos are lifelines of Mizoram just like in delhi its Metro railway. They connect all remote corners of Mizoram. There was time I used to think that Tatas must have kept Mizoram in mind when designing Sumo suvs. Sumos not just ferry passengers to all ends , but also goods and services. They act as super fast post men collecting packages and depositing to waiting recipient. Also I saw them collecting money from rural business men to give it to main wholeseller in bigger towns. If only we know the language , travel in sumo would be great experience. Drivers are dollops of gossip and their driving skills in negotiating the circuitous roads are worth the experience.

CAPITAL AIZAWL

CHURCH: 

Mizoram and Nagaland are Christian states : meaning all natives are Christian. Another most common thing we would get to see in Mizoram are churches. There is a church in each and every locality. We can say there are more churches than schools in Mizoram. Church dominates every mizo life, no wonder mizos r devoted. Churches keep buzzing with activity all day viz Sunday attendance, tithing, youth clubs, choirs, youth groups almost daily..

BLUE MOUNT SUMMIT: HIGHEST MOUNT OF MIZORAM

Women: North east women are most beautiful in India. And Mizoram houses awesome women. Women in Mizoram are not only hyper beautiful but they are also very hardworking compared to men. One peculiar sight I witnessed was most of shops are manned by women. You seldom find a guy there. Beunknownst to men of Mizoram, several local ladies confessed to me that their men are utterly lazy, good only for hunting and boozing around. Despite of all, Mizoram culture like any place else is Male dominated. I observed, often my lady friends hesitate to have booze with me in presence of mizo man. The reason they say is that women are made to believe that they all should be in good books of men.

IF NOT FOR MY PALS, LIFE WUD NEVER BE THE SAME

Inner Line Permit(ILP): For any outsider to enter Mizoram, they need ILP. Some colonial vestige but very contentious issue. Some people hate such system and some love to have it. For people coming from mainland , taking a visa-like-ILP in their own country to enter a state is like insult. Personally I don’t care as I don’t need it. But in my opinion such a small population (mere 10-11 lakh), its natural for natives to fear losing identity and inundation by outsiders either culturally or economically .

However how effective ILP is enforced , that’s matter of debate. Quite often NGOs use excuse of ILP for extortion of money. Despite of having ILP system, illegal migration of tons of Bangladeshis and Burmese into Mizoram is witnessed.

Cuisine :

Yes , Mizos like any other north eastern are heavily

Non-vegetarian. Yes they eat dog apart from pork beef etc. But no big deal! I remember an incident from my college days. A gentlemen asked my mizo pal, how can they eat dog when its mans best friend? To which he replied, you don’t say you love hen or goat when u slaughter it nor we do when it comes to dog. To my experience mizos don’t slaughter pet dogs.

I believe food and culture is decided by geography. Geography decides and dictates  colour, body , food,dress habits etc. Mizoram is hilly state and naturally agriculture was not viable option and ancient people had to depend more on meat for sustenance .

Mizos generally have heavy breakfast and slight snack for lunch and heavy dinner by 6 pm. I am of opinion (Which maybe wrong) that this habit are vestige from tribal days where they involve in heavy working in forests and walking in hilly terrain at crack of dawn only to return in evening. Food timings depending on natural light hence early breakfast and dinner.

The food which acted as energy muscle booster in past ,now appears to reason for diseases. Mizos now don’t do such labour though eating style is same. They chew kuwa(Betel nut/tamul), tobacco water, zarda , smoke all heavily and hopelessly addicted . No wonder diabetes and cancer is plaguing Mizoram unfortunately. Other problem is drug abuse. But for some farming/village communities opium is cultural. It acts as relaxant after hard day labour( This is true for most hill tribes of NE and Myanmar)

Communal harmony: Mizo people are highly endogamous. Rarely marry out of their tribe. (Guess their gene vitality must be coming down). Entire village remains highly united. Every one is related to everyone (almost). Once one high rank bureaucrat commented on my saving habit : Praveen, I really admire you mainlanders saving habit. We mizos never save. Iam trying to inculcate that habit among my staff but they refuse to comply. I replied : Sir, we save coz our future is insecure and we fear tomorrow . we fear no one will take care of us in time of need. Money is our security. Mizos never need to fear this. In any calamity , entire society will stand by and help each other. You folks dont have selfishness and cunningness of mainland and that’s really worth emulation by us. You people live for today, celebrate today and enjoy your lives ..but we save for tomorrow which never comes.

Racism : Yes , Racism exists. Discrimination exists. Just like North East folk are subject to snide remark and few cases of assault in places like delhi Mumbai etc, even mainlanders (Non mizo)are often subject to some harassment. But my experience in north east made me more mature. Now I strongly believe that Humans always finds a reason to discriminate. Be it colour or tribe or nationality or sex or whatever, Humans discriminate. Its also amongst themselves. Like Main mizo tribe(lushai) consider themselves superior to Lai and Mara tribes and viceversa.

Once my mara friend remarked that mizos are cheap and spendthrifts And main mizo friend say Maras are thieves and unpatriotic. Most of mizos say mainlanders are rogues etc. but again its perspective. Like one intelligent lovely looking Nurse I met telling to her friend who threw choicest racist slurs at me: “People are good and bad, its not their colour or region that decides. Some have good hormones n some bad””

Wow impressive. !!

Epilogue : I wrote this blog long ago but failed to upload due to million of reasons. Now sitting in mainland sometimes listening to mizo music or seeing through old pictures, Mind tend to get nostalgic ( which is never my strong point).

When I was studying in Hyderabad I used to have many mizo friends ,to whom I used to tell that I wanna visit Mizoram. Ten years down the lane when I visited Mizoram, surprisingly I met 06(Anthony nohro,VT,Momo,Phosa..Never knew they were maras when I was in hyd with them) of them at most unlikely places. Wow , Life took complete circle.

I , ME, MYSELF..!!

I wonder if I will ever visit these mystical mountains again which I have special bond. I guess next time if I come again , what all transformation will this place experience. Maybe more connection with mainland I hope and better facilities et al. Wonder when destiny will call me back to these Zo-Land(Land of Mountains )

Hopefully !!