53. It's too Far !!!

600 light years away. That is some distance. Isn’t it ?

According to some latest news, that is the distance at which another planet similar to earth has been discovered. It revolves around a star similar to our sun. The star, a G5 star, has a mass and a radius only slightly smaller than that of our Sun, a G2 star. The planet orbits the G5 star with an orbital period of 290 days, compared to 365 days for the Earth, at a distance about 15 percent closer to its star than the Earth from the Sun. This results in the planet’s balmy temperature. It orbits in the middle of the star’s habitable zone, where liquid water is expected to be able to exist on the surface of the planet.

Liquid water is necessary for life as we know it, and this new planet might well be not only habitable, perhaps even inhabited.

Well, all that was good to know. If ever we did horrible things to our mother earth and it became not fit for living anymore, we might plan to migrate to another live able planet. But this blog is not about the possibilities on the other planet, nor indeed is it about when to go there. The question is how?

Since this journey to the next earth might be extremely long (Read 1000 years), it might be worth-while to discuss and imagine a few road-blocks that we might face in order to reach the distant planet. We will discuss these issues in two categories – Obvious and Not so Obvious.

Obvious

• Vehicle : What kind of vehicle or space craft can take us to such a far distance? It would need to be extra special since it might need to journey for a few centuries at the least. There is not enough scientific acumen or knowledge with me to discuss this issue further, so we will move on.

• Fuel : What fuel could be self sustaining so that it can carry to space ship with humans across 600 to100 years ? Yet again, lets not spend time on the issues which need research.

• Food : Assuming science miracles have provided us some vehicle and fuel, it might still need to dig deep to come up with some form of “generative food” which can be generated on a daily basis in space from the heavenly bodies.

Not so Obvious

• Who will go? Do you think only humans will be travelling on the space ship? It would make more sense for the space ship to carry atleast one male and one female species of most creatures on earth, like the Noah’s Arc suggests. How else can we expect for life on the new planet to continue? Unless that planet already has a host of delightful species.

• How many humans? Contrary to some mythological stories and common sense, it may not work to send just one pair of male and female humans on the space ship. Consider this. If we want to sustain human beings for the next 1000 years, do you think just one couple is enough? Scientifically, for human race to sustain one thousand years, they need to reproduce healthy humans to ensure human beings on the space ship continue their life. All this without factoring in contingencies such as accidents and gays.

• What are we doing? Now comes the most important and perhaps at the most underestimated problem. Do you believe in what was said 1000 years ago? Do you follow every word of it ? In all likeliness, one thousand years later, the whole journey of this space ship as a search for another living planet might disappear. Five hundred years later, people on the space ship will have no idea about what an earth is or what it means. Everything will be lost in time. So the person in the space ship 500 years later is free to assume, imagine and interpret whatever he wishes about their journey and destination.

Time transcends everything. Thousands of years ago whoever wrote our most sacred religious books had good intentions and strong ideals in mind apart from a clear picture on what is the way to lead a life. Cut to the present day and everything is just a “myth-o-logy” today. Look around to see how many people really believe what was said thousand years ago.

The question that needs answering for reaching a planet 600 light years away is, “ How do we write, store and preserve something, that can be passed on to people in 3012, so that they can safely reach the other planet?”. Otherwise people would just land their space ship on a planet like Jupiter and say “Mission Accomplished” !!.

52. The Quality of Life Survey

On a whim, I decided to interview some of the living species on the earth and came up with some startling data. Presented below is the top 5 and bottom 5 in the list of species in terms of their quality of life.

Top 5 in quality of life

1. The Hippo: With a gigantic body for a mammal on earth and amphibious nature, the Hippopotamus enjoys one of the better lives on earth. Besides enjoying their time on water and land, the sociable Hippos are a very happy bunch. The survey ranks them as the topmost in the quality of life just edging the Crow by a few points.
Famous depictions in human world: Gloria from Madagascar.

2. The Crow: With the freedom to fly to any part of the world to an open range of appetite, the crow is a close second to the Hippo in its happy lifestyle. When quizzed, most crows accepted to a comfortable and hassle free life compared to other winged creatures on earth. The only issue plaguing the otherwise care-free birds is their not so great appearance which ranks poorly.

3. The Cat: Not ranked highly amongst other creatures thanks to their sneaky nature, the cat is otherwise a very satisfied and happy being. Skillful and adept at various skills like jumping, scratching, sneaking, rolling and staring, the cat leads an enviable life on earth.
Famous depictions in human world: Puss in Boots.

4. The Fly: Omnipresent and joyful, the fly characterized by its multiple eyes and devil may care attitude lives a very happy and aggressive life on this earth. Hardly a few millimeters in size but with strong wings, the fly does pretty much whatever it wants and goes wherever it wants. Life is fun. The only complaints in fly’s life was their relatively short lifespan.

5. The Crocodile: Ah to be a crocodile. They are only of the laziest creatures on earth. Basking in the sun all day and relaxing in waters when they can, all they need to do in order to eat is wait. Wait for the right time and pounce on their pray. They don’t have to go search for food, food comes to them. It can’t get better.

Worst 5 in quality of life

1. The Turtle: Life can’t get more unfair. With one of the longest life-spans on earth, a little too long to be comfortable, coupled with a surprisingly slow physical capability, the turtle is one of the saddest beings on earth. An average interview with the turtle lasts for over three months. That’s why this post took so long to write!!

2. The Ant: Spend a few minutes with the ant to realize how lucky your present life is. They spend on an average three-fourth of their day working for the queen ant and the remaining time complaining and arguing with each other. With a very strict regime and loads of work everyday, the quality of life for the ants is easily one of the poorest ones on earth.

3. Blue Whale: When god provides, he does so sometimes in bulk. And bulk is an infinitesimally small word in front of the blue whale. Imagine the proportion of food required to feed it every day. Top this with the fact that it is a vegetarian and think of the misery. It is hard enough to look for food under the water let alone looking for vegetarian food. The Blue Whale easily finds itself on the sad list.

4. Banyan Tree: The banyan tree is one the most helpful and happy trees on earth. But if you are wondering how it found itself on the poor quality of life list is because of its unbelievable life span. It’s just too long. The banyan tree on an average spends 10 generations of life compared to other species on earth- meaning everything else is born and dead ten times, before the banyan tree dies once. Pretty long I say !!

5. The Human Being: Unfortunately the human being finds himself on the poor quality of life list. Surprising given the fact that he/she is the most intelligent, dexterous, capable and thoughtful creature on earth. Equipped with the mysterious sixth sense and inexplicable agility, the human being was primed to be the most advanced and happiest creatures on earth. Alas, it was not meant to be. Despite the perfect length of lifespan and numerous abilities, he is plagued by the problem of engaging his mind.

Perhaps the only species on earth which bothers about the purpose of life and ends up giving different interpretations to it such as money, fame, power, religion and desires, the human being has a tedious and sad journey through life unraveling the reason for his presence on earth.

Something all the other living species on earth are oblivious of.

51. Pharmoola

                                    A Humsar Nagar Folktale

Tarun’s interest in Formula 1 goes back a long time. Ever since he laid eyes on his maternal uncle’s BMW, he was hooked to cars and eventually racing. Unfortunately fantasies like car-racing did not gel well with the folks of a small town called Humsar Nagar in the interiors of a remote state in India. Children of Humsar Nagar played Gilli-Dhanda and Lagori but did not often discuss the nuances of a formula 1 race.

Keeping his interests close to heart and raptly following any updates in the local newspaper for racing updates, Tarun ensured that the fire to witness a formula 1 race live did not die inside him. As destiny would wish, Tarun ended by growing to be an entrepreneur. Armed with good speaking skills and a MBA degree Tarun had a persuasive persona and a determined demeanor.

Years of witness and enjoying Formula 1 races around the world made him a racing fanatic. He would never miss a race. While he enjoyed the races to his heart fill, he would secretly nurse the hope of enjoying and witness the race in the warmth of his hometown Humsar Nagar.

His meteoric rise in business saw him rub shoulders with some of the biggest entrepreneurs in his generation and he often shared a good rapport with them. Everything changed one fine day, when Tarun read his morning newspaper about the Buddh formula 1 circuit built on the outskirts of New Delhi. As Formula 1 generated extraordinary interest in the minds of young and elite crowd in the big cities in India, Tarun could not help but wish it would turn out a huge success.

And success it did turn out, as millions of people in India thronged the Buddh circuit to witness Formula 1 giants from all over the world compete in their very own backyard. School kids to teenagers and some young people, everybody was talking about Formula 1 racing and how they wanted to see this all their life.

As Tarun sat in his VIP enclosure watching Sebastin Vettel running away with his prize, the brainwave stuck him. He decided to open a formula1 race track in Humsar Nagar. He knew that pulling the right strings with the right people, could make his dream a reality. Spending some time with some liquor companies for sponsorship and ticking people in the right spots, Tarun convinced that a competitive race track with enormous interest in racing could be achieved in his beloved hometown Humsar Nagar.

Two years later in 2013, everything was ready for the inaugural launch of the formula 1 race track in Humsar Nagar. Fewer racing giants turned up, but the race was on. While Tarun had successfully visualized and conceived the racing phenomena in his hometown, he had missed out a couple of key points. The Minister for Sports in the state always had a keen penchant to inaugurate any sporting events in his territory. Obliged by political constraints and processes, Tarun was forced to not only invite but also entertain the ruling party to witness a sporting spectacle in his hometown.

What ensued henceforth is not what you would expect, nor indeed what Tarun expected.

An hour in to the race, there was a dozing sound in the VIP enclosure. Not surprisingly, it was the minister who had dozed off. Keen to avoid this embarrassing view and discouragement to the sport, Tarun jolted the minister out of his slumber lest the cameras should focus on this event. The rudely awoken minister mumbled something in his sleep before realizing where he was. Not soon, lot of media personnel thronged the enclosure wanting to know what the minister felt about this spectacle.

The minister frankly stated his opinion. “Bhats the Youuuse?”. Not exactly on the same page, nor indeed on the same book, the media asked the minister to elaborate on this unique remark. The minister quipped, “ Costly cars go round round, make noise, but bwhats the youuse? No India superstar, no interesting controversy, we cant even watch continuously for one minute. Car comes vroom, car goes vroom. Some foreigner winning and spraying alcohol. Bhats the yoose?”. The media people as well as other party members in the booth listened with rapt attention as the minister unfolded his acute views. “You tell me, just going round and round, what is to be gained? Atleast if you rotate around temple, some punya (blessings) can be achieved. Otherwise, it is just time waste.”

Tarun watched open-mouthed as the minister continued, “ In our poor country, rich people already finished earning money and now wasting time on some else driving car. We have lot to achieve, why see these guys running around with competition. People of our state see this and drive fast on roads and kill other people. Why all this?”

All the points were taken and dutifully reported in the local newspapers in the state. The racing event was termed as a lukewarm success and Tarun had received a jolt to his dreams. Soon after a month, the minister had ordered that a Durga Devi temple should be built in the center of the track so that people can go around it and collect blessings.

With the help of state government tax money and some religious activists, a beautiful temple was built in the center of the track. The racing cars which were once used for racing, now donated by the racing teams formed the refurbished vehicle for devotees to go around the temple and earn blessings.

Within two years of the race at Humsar Nagar, Shanti Devi formula one race track had got converted to a pilgrim location where devotees from all over the country thronged to go visit the serene temple and go around the temple 50-100 times in the remodeled cars to earn blessings. The popular chart outside the temple premises read. “ Pharmoola Rates Rs 100 for 20 rounds, Rs 200 for 50 rounds and Rs 500 for 100 rounds around the temple. Come earn Mata’s blessings.”

While this was exactly what Humsar Nagar wanted, it wasn’t exactly what Tarun had wanted. A dejected and sad Tarun sat with his mom as she pestered him to take her to the temple. “I hate what happened here, I will never come back here again”, said Tarun as he loathed the day the minister came for the race. Tarun’s mom explained, “ Beta, this is our country, here people live their life based on belief rather than free will. I know you have travelled a lot of countries around the world and seen many different things. But beta, you will realize that this is what our people want. Tell me, if your race track succeeded, how many people would come to see? 300-500? But see now, whether you did it by chance or purposefully, there are 5000 people coming there everyday to worship. All this will add more goodness to your life beta. You can always go anywhere in the world to see the race. But here, you will always get to see smiling faces returning from the temple. So don’t regret and be happy for what has happened.”

Although Tarun was not exactly on the same page as his mother, he could see the gleam in her eye. It wasn’t anything he had seen before. She was proud of him. As he escorted his mother to the Shanti Devi temple and entered its gate, an old lady called to him. “Beta, mera pharmoola kar do.”(Please take me around the temple). As he took the crumpled bunch of 10 rupee note from her hand, he realized, this trip around the race track was not a race for her, but hope for her whole family.

Smiling to himself, he bought her the 100 rounds around the temple, for the 50Rs that she had given.

50. Dabbler Town

An imaginative representation.

  

In a world skewed by people with umpteen degrees and technical expertise, there are also a huge number of people skilled and talented in other art forms such as wood carving, singing, painting and plumbing. Not surprisingly the world is also skewed in terms of people with lot of money and those who hardly make their ends meet.

 

Hi, my name is Johannes Duphous and over the last sixty years, I have worked hard and toiled ceaselessly to build, what is now an empire of rubber industries. My current job is to overlook, sanction and approve new projects and attend monthly meetings. This means that I have a lot of time at hand to indulge in whatever else I deem interesting.

 

With a huge financial base at my disposal and withering age, I realized I needed to do something that would not only bring me satisfaction but also provide this world with something new and innovative. While I did spend quite some time thinking what that might be, I realized what needed to be done. Build a new world based on equality and skill.

 

Welcome to Dabbler Town. Established in 2004, this is a town created on the outskirts of Hertfordshire, about 70 miles from the nearest Railway station. With a population of about 18,000 people, this town has a long way to go in terms of establishing itself as a city, but it has taken giant leaps in to the future of humanity.

 

I conceived this concept a few years back when I had my present home renovated. Two skilled carpenters were redecorating and creating new furnishings for our house. Within a matter of few weeks, they had created what is now one of the best home decors across Easter Isles of British Island. While they spent hours sweating it out cutting, carving and re-shaping the wood in to a beautiful coffee table, my technical consultant with a degree from Oxford was typing a couple of emails and making an odd phone call as he clinched a million dollar deal with another company. The disparity of effort hit me. Using his brains, technical acumen and oratory skills my consultant had just made fifteen times more money than my carpenter in one-thirtieth(1/30) of time. Why was this even possible?

 

It was then that I came up with the idea of Dabbler Town. Using up my share of the company’s stocks, I created a town which I later named Dabbler. The rules of this town were as simple as they were unique. Every living person above the age of 21 is called a professional. Every individual’s life between the ages of 21 to 35 is to follow a set pattern. Above 35 however, it is more predictable and relaxed. Here is how the town is planned:

 

• Whenever a young man or woman turns 21, he will be set in to what is called the dabbler phase of his life. This means that every year the individual will spend each year in different jobs.

 

Every year,

 

! two months will be spent in any choice of college studying for any degree of choice,

! two months will be spent in a choice of physical work such as construction labor, sportsman, newspaper delivery, bus driver or industrial worker.

! two months will be spent as a skilled worker such as wood-work, painting, carving, acting and cooking.

! two months will be spent in the financial sector with jobs as chartered accountants, banks and insurance related work.

! two months will be spent in technical expertise like software companies, research labs, hardware jobs and innovation driven objectives.

! one month will be spent working for the Government and helping with administrative work and getting trained in the army.

! and last and definitely not the least, one month will be given off as vacation period to every professional.

 

• Now comes the biggest twist of the whole set-up. Each and every job gets paid – the same. Yes, no matter what work the professional does, he will be paid the same, thereby eliminating the preference for any job due to financial constraints. The only increase in pay will be with experience.

 

• The second phase of the professional’s life will be beyond 35 years of age where he free to choose any job he prefers to continue based on the time he spent. This ofcourse would be subject to availability and requirement. On non-availability of one’s favorite job, he might have to choose the second best in its absence and wait until the job of favor becomes available.

 

This concept of dabbling in various jobs and thereby learning new skills and temperance towards other people and jobs is at the very heart of the idea. Every day when a person wakes up, he looks forward to newer challenges and a novel lifestyle. Nothing ever remains the same.

 

Everybody will be given a chance to understand the nuances of jobs like the newspaper delivery, to the demands of being an actor. From the subtle additions that make recipes in to delightful dishes to the alertness of a traffic policeman. People will be given umpteen chances to not only appreciate art but also to experience and think like an artist. Learning discipline from the military to deducing logically from technical engineers, being precise as a scientist to learning approximations like an accountant. One’s life will have all flavors of being a professional not just one.

 

As with every new idea or concept, this particular idea has also had its share of criticisms. From being labeled as a Jack of all trades, master of none to hampering a person’s skill. All criticisms I must say have been fair and offer significant problems. But like I say, life is meant to be experienced in all its forms. To be able to explore, understand, empathize and perceive everything around us would make us, truly alive.

 

Hopefully more Dabbler Towns can be seen around the world in times to come. Maybe you can discover an artist in you, or maybe a sculptor. You would never know….until you tried.

 

Image Courtesy: http://kristiriley.com/relationship-advice/live-your-life/

49. Swiss Paris Delight

Ude……khula aasmaan mein khabon ke parindey….

When dreams merge with reality, you might be in Switzerland. After seeing umpteen movies with heroes and heroines dancing around in lush green outfields and hearing numerous times about the fashion capital of the world and the one of the romantic cities- Paris, we decided to pay a visit to these places.

Our Swiss Paris Trip

After three months of looking forward to the trip, we embarked on the journey on the 7th September midnight. Our flight was at 4.30 am and we spent our time in the airport eating at Pizza Hut in eager anticipation of what lay ahead.

Our first impressions of the name “Qatar Airways” were not the best. But all that changed when we spent close to 10 hours in two flights from Bangalore to Doha and then from Doha to Zurich. Doha is the capital of Qatar, a small country in the Middle East. As we landed and took off, we got a glimpse of the vast dry expanse which was the desert. The temperature at Doha was 30 degrees centigrade at 6.00AM.

Day 1

The desert sands and the dry nature of Doha were not pleasing to the eyes, but within 4 hours, we saw the exact opposite as we landed in to Zurich. Lush green grass, mountains and lakes greeted us as we saw the aerial view of the country often called as “heaven on earth”. Collecting our baggages in a hurry, we sped out of the airport to see who was waiting to guide us through the tour.

At the time of meeting, we knew little about the person from MakeMyTrip - Mr Manish, but all that would change. We got in to our home for next five days- the Volvo bus, better known as the Orlandi Coach. A lot of people got in to the coach with us, but we didn’t know them. As our coach sped towards our first destination of the tour- Lucerne, we observed with rapt attention every little detail that was Switzerland. Uniform roads, green fields, model houses, winding lit tunnels and organized cars. We had had little to eat until then, but that didn’t deter us from enjoying what was happening.

The first town that we went to in Switzerland, Lucerne was a treat to the eyes. A small town with lots of shops, a lake and picturesque background. We got acquainted with another couple – Srikant and Swati, who were to become our companion for the trip. Together we ventured out and took pictures after pictures of us with the artistic town. There was a wooden bridge across a lake with flowers lined on its outside. There was the Lucerne lake with mountains in the background. There were happy and calm people strolling, laughing and walking along the banks. To be at this place was something else.

After cautiously buying a few chocolates, ice creams and some souvenirs we headed back to our hotel for the night- Hotel Terrace in Engelberg. The bus trip again was indescribable. The mountains, grass, wooden houses, train tracks, water streams and all that we find in wallpapers were in front of our eyes.

Hotel Terrace was a unique experience. Perched on top of a mountain, we need two elevators to get up to its lobby. All the windows the in the hotel overlooked the valley. A good Indian dinner later, we were back to bed dozing off.

Day 2

The second day began with the view of the Alps, from our hotel French window. Rushing through the continental breakfast we headed in our coach towards Interlaken. The drive to Interlaken was breath-taking. While, I was travelling, I decided, I could not do justice to the scenery in words, so I will not write more about it. Even pictures couldn’t do justice. It was so beautiful.

Interlaken was yet another small town. It gave us just enough time to walk through the Swiss Town and collect more souvenirs. It was a small break before heading to the Trummelbache falls- a unique spectacle.

Trummelbache falls were a series of ten waterfalls falling inside a cave draining water from three mountains – the Eiger, the Jungfrau and the Monch. The melting of the snow caps provided this cascade of waterfalls its abundant supply of water. Watching a waterfall inside a cave was as eerie as it was beautiful.

The next thing on our agenda was a train trip to the top of Europe. All of us got in two a small moving cog train which took us from a small station called Lauterbrunnen to a place called Kleine Scheidegg. The trip on this first train was bliss. With vegetable biryani in our hands, an open train window and a pleasant uphill drive on the Alps was the best one could expect. We gulped the food in no time and waited eagerly for our next train at Kleine Scheidegg.

Along the way we started getting acquainted with the other people in our group. Two telegu couples, one Bengali couple, one delhi couple and a few families. The train from Kleine Scheidegg to Jungfraujoch, the highest railway station in the world was once again – unique. I have run out of words to describe all the new things I saw and experienced. It went through a 45 minute tunnel uphill, with two stations in between. Two stations inside the tunnel with huge windows overlooking snow glaciers awaited us.

Snow, white cold wet and serene. It brings out a joy in the viewers eyes the first time they see it and Jungfraujoch had plenty of it. At more than 11,300 feet, we spent time in a weather observatory viewing nearby snow covered mountains sitting atop clouds. Then we went out and just had fun. Playing in snow is fun and there is no two ways about it. Hitting snowballs, posing for pics, singing songs, we just had a great time. After some more time spent in an ice cave, it was time to head back.

Needless to say, the journey back through the tunnel, the second train and the long bus journey from Lauterbrunnen to Engelberg was less enthusiastic the way up. But we did make friends with more people. Yet again we had the best dinner of the tour yet, an Indian buffet at the hotel, thanks to MakeMyTrip.


Day 3

The third day was a mixed affair. The first of the day was a trip to yet another mountain peak- Mt Titlis. This time the way up was through three cable cars. The first cable car was a small one, enough to fit six people. As it gained its height, we held our breaths. The scenery was becoming beautiful by the second. The second cable car was a big-bus sort of a cable car which held close to 40 people. The third one took the cake. It was again a biggish cable car holding upto 25 people, but it not only went up, it also rotated. The worlds first rotating cable car giving 360 views of all places nearby.

Atop Mt Titlis we did four things.

1. We took a picture in studio dressed as Swiss villagers.

2. We had Movenpick icecreams

3. We visited and Ice cave

4. We went on a ride called Ice flyer.




The funny thing about the ice flyer ride was that it was an open cable car ride giving us view of the glaciers. After nervously enjoying the ride, we got out to remember we forgot our camera in the cable car. It was an open car so there was 99% probability that the camera would crash to the depths of the glaciers. But the 1% prevailed and it completed its journey intact. We were lucky.

The way down through the same cable cars was less scary as we got used to the height by now. After another Indian buffet lunch, we sat in our coach and headed on a four hour drive to Geneva.

Geneva and United Nations waited for us as ambled across its entrance. Not only did we click the umpteen pictures posing in front of the United Nations, we also did a dance in front of it much to the amusement of all the people around us.

Next we went to the lake Geneve which has one of the tallest fountains in the world. A humungous fountain gushing 500 litres of water per second. After admiring the fountain, we walked around in the lanes of Geneva enjoying a beautiful Swiss evening. Not surprisingly, we had an Indian buffet dinner in Geneva as well and crossed the border in to France at night.


Day 4

Hello France. After having some French breakfast, we stared in our coach for a long bus journey. The eight hour bus journey from Geneva to Paris was made interesting by the rest of the folks in our group. A sardar family with a girl kid who only said one word – no. Another family of four with two cute girls. Yet another family of three with a smart boy and finally and big group of 5 people which included three sardarjis. Everyone made the journey interesting by singing songs or telling more about themselves. Along the journey the scenery changed from the lush greens of Swiss to more dull green outfields of France. The outdoors did look as wallpapers any more. On a low note, the lunch in one of the French towns was pathetic to say the least as it was cold salad and dubious looking pizzas. That’s life for vegetarians.

We did as much things in one and half days in Paris as we did for the past two and half days in Switzerland. We had reached Paris. Big city traffic blocked our way and delayed us by an hour as we entered the city and went to straight to the most popular structure in the world – the Eiffel Tower.

Eiffel Tower has two forms. We saw the first at 6 pm in the evening on our fourth day. It is every bit amazing as it is made out to be. Made of wrought steel and standing at an imposing height, it is a delight to watch. We had our first contacts with it when we went up the structure in elevators. The view from the second floor of the Eiffel Tower left us gasping. The whole city of Paris was seen as was the river Seine (pun intended).

After a lot of pictures, we quickly descended and went around the tower taking pictures from strategic points trying to imbibe this memory of Eiffel tower in our minds forever. Hopefully its etched. We were to see this steel beauty in its other form later today. As we left the Eiffel tower and headed for our dinner, we did what most people do when they visit the tower, buy its replica souvenir.

The dinner yet again was a wonderful Indian buffet much to our delight. We ate fast and embarked on yet another spectacular trip. The illumination tour of Paris where all famous monuments are lit as beautifully as our Rashtrapati Bhavan on Beating the Retreat. We saw with rapt attention the Arc De Troimphe, Champs De Elleyses, the Louvre Museum in the wonderful lighting.

Now comes one of the highlights of the tour – The Eiffel Tower at night. Its just surreal. Yet again, I am at a loss for words to describe the best monument of the world in all its grandeur. The fully lit Eiffel Tower – see it to believe it. To enchance the experience, we saw a glitter show at 11pm.

Completely satisfied, we hit the beds.


Day 5

The fifth and for all purposes our last day of the trip started with a trip to Disneyland Paris. Having been to Disneyland before, I knew what to expect. But to see it with my wife was something else. We had the most fun in all days going on all the rides along with Srikant and Swati.

Be it the colorfulness of “it’s a small world ride”, or the wonderful sets of “Pirates of the Caribean”, everything was pure art. Just when we thought Disney was all colorful beauty we came across one of the scariest indoor roller coasters in the dark- the Space Mission. We almost lost our heads crying out. Our visit also included a ride though the Haunter Manor and a beautiful flight called Peter Pan. I almost forgot to mention the quick Biryani we had for our lunch. By the time we left, we were all ready for the river Seine cruise.

The River Seine cruise is a must-do in Paris. It takes you on the river Seine on the banks of Paris and the Eiffel Tower and runs under 44 bridges that run across it. Each bridge is unique in a different way, the most famous being the Alexandria bridge which connects the church of Invalids to the rest of city.

At this time of the river Seine cruise and my blog post, I was tired and I am tired. The descriptions are coming out lesser and weaker. It was time to head back.

After another view of Paris in daylight, we went for dinner again at an Indian restaurant in Paris – Bhojan. A sumptuous dinner later, we were back to bed.


Day 6

It was time bid good-byes to all our fellow travelers and and to our wonderful guide Mr Manish. Besides being extremely knowledgeable and witty throughout the tour, he was also a very nice person. We were lucky to have got him as our companion on this trip.

As we started back in Qatar Airways from Charles De Gaulle airport, we knew we had a wonderful trip. We spent our time in the plane watching an assortment of movies from Something Borrowed to Chalo Dilli to Chikku Bukku to Kung Fu Panda 2.

 Bangalore as always was waiting for us. Our Swiss Paris Delight concluded as a trip, but continued to remain as a memory forever.

48. South America

This is not a geography lesson. It is just a collection of thoughts and research, organized out of curiosity.

The fact that there are seven continents in the world is known to all. But for some reason, Europe and North America seem to garner the top honors by the sheer number of advanced countries and technological advancements. Asia tends to be in the news because of the huge landmass and population. Africa always finds itself on the bottom of the totem pole because of the relatively poor standards of living.

But amidst the top rankers and low lying continents is a continent which is diverse, colorful, vibrant and mystical – South America.

How much does an average person know about South America. ? It is actually exactly in the middle of landmass sizes. Below Asia, Africa and North America, but ahead of Europe, Antarctica and Australia. It is made of twelve unique, vibrant and colorful countries, the biggest of them all being Brazil.

Ask anybody about Brazil or Argentina and they will tell you the names of some soccer greats. But is that what the whole place is about? Surely there’s ought to be more.

Without having actually ever visited or spent time in any of the South American countries, I wanted to take the liberty to list out some unique and interesting facts about the continent.

Machu Pichhu

Remember the “Kilimanjaro” song in the movie Endhiran/Robot. It really was a mystical place. That was Machu Pichhu. Few people know that it is one of the seven wonders of the modern world – From the Lisbon Seven Wonders of the World convention. It is breathtakingly tantalizing place with some structures back from the days of the Incas. This is a place in a country called- Peru. Also on this earth. This wallpaper has been copied from the Wikipedia page. It is a breathtaking picture.

Angel Falls

Have you seen the Pixar animation movie – Up? It is a beautiful rendition of a man in search seeking to fulfill the promise made to his wife after her demise. The dream for that couple was to visit “Paradise falls”. The old man, overcoming all odds tries to visit the paradise falls and keep his home there. Along the way he meets with a dog, a boy and a bird. The rest of the movie is about their adventure. Not many people know that the paradise falls being mentioned in the movie is really a falls called “Angel Falls” at Canaima National Park, Venezuela. A place worth visiting in one lifetime – I hope.

Easter Island Heads

Surely we have seen these images below. These are called easter island heads. Located at an island off the coast of Chile, these are monolithic human figures which were placed here between the years 1200 and 1500. They are called “Moai”. There is very little knowledge on why and how these figures were placed. In fact they used to be called one of the unsolved mysteries of the modern world. There are many theories suggesting the root cause of these heads to appear. But none can truly justify their unique shape. Might be a nice picture to stand amidst them- perhaps.

Rio

What do we know about Rio? That it is the capital of Brazil. That a colorful bird called Rio sang and danced in a recent animation film. Or the magnificent Christ Redeemer statue that was nominated as one of the wonders of the world. You only need to take one look at the picture below to be bedazzled. It is definitely a place worth visiting. Not to mention the amazing history of football, the Mardi Gras and the beaches. The place does not need a second invitation. Welcome to Brazil.

Salar De Uyuni

The worlds largest salt flat located in a country known as Bolivia. What is a salt flat though ? I am not sure but from what I read, it is a prehistoric lake covered with lots of salt which is remarkably flat. Coming to the most important fact. When this place is covered with water – it becomes the largest mirror on earth. I included this place as a must visit out of the sheer magnitude of white land and the thought of seeing the whole sky on the ground. Truly one of nature’s wonders.

The Amazon

No we are not talking about the website which brings out amazing deals on items to purchase. The Amazon represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests, and it comprises the largest and most species-rich tract of tropical rainforest in the world.The Amazon rainforest was short-listed in 2008 as a candidate to one of the New7Wonders of Nature by the New Seven Wonders of the World Foundation. The amount of flora and fauna present in this rainforest is unimaginable. Sadly a lot of them are dwindling thanks to our contributions to world’s pollution. The Amazon ofcourse is also the name of the second longest river in the world behind the Nile. The river is famously known for its carnivorous man-eating fishes – the piranha.

Apart from the interesting places, South America is also the home to the worlds longest mountain range – the Andes. Not to mention some of the lesser known’s but definitely by no means lesser coutries such as Uruguay, Paraguay, Ecuador, Guyana, Colombia and Suriname. Ofcourse people familiar with FIFA and the football will find these names common. South Americans are god gifted football players and no one needs to back that.

The journey through South America is a beautiful one. Hopefully you can embark on it sometime soon.

Until then, dream on…

Image Courtesy:
Machu Pichu : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:80_-_Machu_Picchu_-_Juin_2009_-_edit.2.jpg

Angel falls : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_falls

Up : http://previous.moviehabit.com/reviews/up_e809.shtml

Easter island heads: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AhuTongariki.JPG

Christ Redeemer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Christ_on_Corcovado_mountain.JPG

Salar De Uyuni : http://www.atlantisbolivia.org/tunupagallery.htm

Lowry at Amazon : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ara_macao_-_two_at_Lowry_Park_Zoo.jpg

47. The Delhi Times

Last Weekend I visited Delhi. It was the last time I could go there and still say “it’s my home”. My parents decided to wrap up their 30 year-odd stay at Delhi and move to Bangalore thus ending our long association with the capital of India. As I spent time visiting places where I grew up, the school that I attended and a few shopping places we frequented over the years, I noticed how life and things in Delhi had changed over a couple of decades. The following is a small chronicle of things that changed and things that didn’t over the years…


Things that Changed :

1. City of wealth

The days of middle-class Delhi life are all but over. There aren’t many 4-membere families travelling on scooter. There aren’t many scooters for that matter. Everybody has a car, almost. When you go to cinema theatres, you can feel the stench of money in the hands of teenagers who hold five-hundred rupee notes as if they were wrappers of some chocolate. The bhel puris and golgappas have been replaced by nachos and kaati rolls all over. The city is rich, filthy rich and its easy to find out. The poor don’t survive for long.

2. Roadways

The outer ring road and the inner ring road minus signals are a treat for drivers. The flyovers literally fly you over all major intersections in the city. To top it off, you have underpasses and U.S- styled intersection which traffic flying around in all directions. An aerial view of the city should be a treat for the eyes. Not so much for the nose or ears as pollution levels have increased mani-folds.

3. My friend

From being a chubby-stocky partner in my classroom who seldom spoke girls to being a father of a eight month old baby, Saurabh has changed leaps and bounds. It was endearing to see my friend as a responsible father of a wonderful baby. Times change and so do people – for the good sometimes.

4. Celebrations

Back in the days when internet and computers were not common, people celebrated every function with lots of effort, happiness and devotion. Be it the elaborate decorative sets on Janmashtami, or the colorful gatherings of Holi, the bright and gaiety diwali or the bonding raksha bandhan, festivals were always a time when families and friends got together and spent meaningful and wonderful times with each other. Alas the times have changed, now the festival celebrations have been taken over by midnight parties, online emails, gift bouquets and tv serials. The once colorful Delhi now wears a bleaker look.

The new Delhi Terminal 3 welcomes people...*

Things that didn’t

1. Shopping

If you want to go to a world of shopping bliss, all you need to do is to enter a Sarojini Nagar or a Lajpat Nagar and you will be transported to a place where 250-300 rupees can get you whatever you want. It is not limited to clothes, even tasty food is available aplenty. The age old aloo-chat shop in Sarojini Nagar which was devastated in a bomb blast a few years back still continues its business albeit with a new owner, wooing those who enjoy the chaat.

2. Friend shop

Over all the initial 11 years of my life, we used to visit an Arora General Store for any provisions that we needed. The shopkeeper Mr. Arora became a very close friend of ours and my parents always referred to him as “friend uncle” whenever they mentioned him to me. Every time I visited his shop, he used to give me his aam-paapad and sweet saunf for free. I used to look forward to visiting his shop everytime. Now, 16 years later, amongst big malls and market chains, Mr Arora with white hair and drooping shoulders still still maintained his store with the same calmness. We visited the shop yet again, not to buy anything but to meet him. Yet again we were treated with the same aam-paapad and fanta this time round. Mr Arora and his hospitality were still the same.

3. Ram Temple

When you use the word temple, or god, the first images that come to my mind are the gods present in Ram Mandir at Lodhi Road at Delhi. The two-storey temple with all south Indian gods such as Srivivasar, Ranganathar, Ramanujam, Lakshmi along with the popular Ganeshji, Hanuman and Ram-Laxman give every visitor a feeling of calm and peace. Across the years the temple remained the same. The priests came and went, the devotees changed from south Indians to north Indians, but the gods remained the same, quiet, watchful and gallant.

4. The Weather

Summers are unbearably hot, monsoons are extremely humid and winters are freezing cold. The weather pattern in Delhi has remained the same over all the years. The different set of clothing needed for every season is still needed. Global warming or not, Delhi is always a place for extreme temperatures.


Things come and go, years pass by, but in our hearts Delhi will always hold a special place which cannot be replaced. The land of Sehwag, the city of golgappas, the powerless summer nights, the gatherings of holi, the late night weddings of friends, the musical tinge of hindi, the tourist's paradise, the bahai temple, the qutab minar, the jantar mantar, the lal qila, the jama masjid and the style of being a Delhihite. We will miss it all. But then, the Bangalore charm awaits us- the all-welcoming garden city.

Its time to move on … from Delhi times to Bangalore times, or shall we say, Bengalooru Times.

Image Courtesy : http://www.thehindu.com/

46. The Lawyers Intuition - concluding part

This post is a story. The first part can be found here : 45. The Lawyer's Intuition

Continued ....

The drive back home was a long one. My mind was racing over some missing pieces of the puzzle. How did the police arrive so soon after the crime. They had mentioned that they were tipped off by a well-wisher. So it meant someone knew, this was going to happen. Also the missing security person was critical. Why was he hiding ? What was his role in this whole deal ?

My mind had been immersed in this case for the past couple of weeks. I had hardly spent any time with my family and my wife was growing irritable by the day. It was 8 p.m already and I was just driving in to my house. I noticed that all the lights in my house were switched off. This was weird considering we all woke up until 11pm on most days. I quickly looked around to see the neighborhood to see if there was a power failure, but that wasn’t the case as lights shone on nearly every other house.

Mystified and a little worried I came to the front door and rang the bell. There was no answer. Where was my wife? And why didn’t she inform me if she had gone out ? I tried calling her, but there was no answer. I grew more worried by the minute. My mind started racing again. Was there a killer who unhappy with the case judgment and wanted some revenge on me. But I tried my best to save Smith. Was this something to do with the missing security guard? I then realized that I had a spare key in my bag. With growing concern, I opened the house door and walked inside. I groped in the dark for the light switch.

I turned it on, only to be greeted with a loud “Happy Birthday To You” banner, cake and confetti as my wife came running towards me to wish me. I was overwhelmed with relief on seeing her that I had the first piece of birthday cake before realizing…..it wasn’t my birthday at all. This was the month of June and my birthday wasn’t until November. My relief and happiness started turning into an ugly irritation as I held my tone, “ Why the hell are you mocking me with a birthday cake when it isn’t my birthday until 5 more months?”. My wife just smiled back and said “Well, since you cannot remember mine and wish me, I thought I might as well mock you and have a birthday celebration anyway”.

My face flushed in embarrassment. I had always forgotten to wish my wife on my birthday and I had done it yet again. Every year, she would call and remind me and we would head out for dinner. This year, she wished me, mocking me and making me realize my lack of attention to detail. I wished her a very happy birthday and spent some time with her before heading back to my study room.

I sat a few minutes in silence looking at a picture of my wedding and thought back about the evening. “Well, since you cannot remember mine and wish me, I thought I might as well mock you and have a birthday celebration anyway”. Ingenious, yet effective I thought.

That is when it stuck me. All the pieces of the case were falling in place. What a weird yet effective solution this was. I knew the solution to Pavon murder case. All that had to be done was, to find the security guard.

Finding the security guard took some time. He had gone in to hiding until the case was resolved. Now that Smith was sent to the prison, the security guard came out of the hiding two weeks after the judge sentenced Smith. Under the pretence of a businessman in need of a new security guard, I met up with him and asked him to come by my house. I had my hidden camera ready. The lure of a big monthly pay brought him to my house. In midst of the conversation, I asked him “ Where did you work before?” in reply to which, he said, this was his first time as security. I was prepared for this.

I called in a couple of policemen and threatened to arrest him on charge of the murder of Chapple Pavon. That did the trick. The security guard blurted out the truth.

One week later, on accounts of new evidence which proved Smith was not guilty, the case was re-opened. Succinctly I summarized what had really happened in the case.

“The fact that Pavon and Smith were partners in business has been clearly established. Unfortunately Smith under a fit of greed decided to swindle Pavon of all his share and invested money leaving Pavon in a huge loss with plenty of debt. Pavon most definitely had the motive to kill Smith, but alas, it is not Smith who got killed but Pavon himself. So the question arises, as to who killed Pavon?


For long we were forced to believe that Smith was the real killer as he was the one with the knife. We were in a scenario where we could not trust Smith as he was the accused. Pavon could not give us information as he was dead. The only other person who was in the vicinity of the crime was the security guard, who mysteriously vanished after the incident.


The truth is, that given our circumstance, we were forced to think this way. In fact this was the intended way for us to think. So what really happened was…..


Pavon wanted to extract revenge on Smith. But that would not help him clear his debts and financial problems. He sought the easy way out to commit suicide. But he had a clever idea. He decided that he would commit suicide and also extract his revenge on Smith. So, Pavon called Smith and asked him to come to his house. Just before Smith could come home, Pavon called the security guard and paid him to vanish and stay away for two-three weeks and not show up anywhere in the city. He paid the guard well and also asked him to run away the moment he heard a shriek from Pavon. The security agreed to this strange request because of the fact he got a lot of money.


As soon as Pavon heard Smith entering the house, he stabbed himself on the ribs, ensuring that he would die eventually and let out a yell. Smith hears the noise and goes to see Pavon. The security guard, unaware of any murder or suicide, starts running, giving Smith the impression that someone else is the killer. As soon as Smith enters the room, Pavon pretends to ask for help. In the moment of crisis, Smith responds by trying to pull the knife out thereby planting his finger prints all over the place. What Smith also didn’t know was the fact that Pavon had already placed a phone call to the police for his own murder.


Pavon dies as he wanted to, gets Smith in jail and kills two birds with one shot.”

With the new evidences and testimony of the security guard, the court acquitted Smith of all charges and sent him home.

I felt relieved at having won another case – the case of framing someone for your suicide.

45. The Lawyer's Intuition

As the judge read out those damning words, my heart sank. In all these years that I had been practicing law, I had not felt this way. “After reviewing all the given evidences, the court has decided that Mr Smith is found guilty for the murder in the second degree of Mr. Pavon and hereby sentences Mr Smith to a lifetime of imprisonment.” Smith looked crestfallen. As he was being escorted by police to the prison, his eyes met with mine for a brief moment. I have not been able to forget that look till now.

My name is Walter Though and I have been an attorney at law for the past eight years. My job has been to defend and sometimes prove guilty men and women who have committed crimes. For most of my tenure, I have tried my best to win all my cases with at most honesty. I have to admit that on a couple of occasions, I have failed in cases where guilty people were let out without prosecution. But on the whole, I have been satisfied with my job profile. But this case baffled me. It left me with a hole in my head.

It was two weeks ago, that I had been asked to act as an attorney to Roger Smith who had been accused on counts of murder. I spent eight hours talking to Smith getting each and every accurate detail of what had happened on that fateful afternoon when Chapple Pavon was killed.

The summary of the case was that Pavon was killed on the afternoon of 5th of June by a deep stab wound on his ribs. He died of excessive loss of blood and the murder weapon, the knife was also available, in the hands of Smith on the site of the crime. That Smith was the only person at the crime scene with the murder weapon on hand and no other finger prints on the knife other than his and Pavon’s left little doubt in the jury’s mind that Smith was the cold-blooded murderer. Smith, though never confessed to the crime and pleaded not-guilty throughout. The following is his testament:

“Pavon and me knew each other through an meeting held on global investors meet two years ago. Both of us spoke to each other and shared some idea for new businesses. We pooled in all our life’s savings and Pavon even borrowed a hefty sum of money on account of starting the new business. With time, our business stabilized and we were on the verge of making our first huge profit. I admit with shame, that in a fit of greed, I swindled Pavon of the entire share he had on the business by having him sign on the no objection clause to shifting the entire property rights to me. This left Pavon extremely distressed and angry with him. We had not spoken for a month since this happened. I did feel guilty after a couple of weeks and thought of calling him and making up for this misdeed, but I resisted, after all, the money was huge. Surprisingly last Tuesday, I received a call from Pavon. He sounded weak but he said he wanted to talk to me. Partially out of guilt and partially out of curiosity I decided to visit him at the time he called me – Tuesday afternoon.

Caught Red Handed

The first thing I noticed when I reached his apartment was that the usually present security was missing. I surmised that he must have headed to his usual bouts of tea breaks and headed upstairs only to find the door to Pavon’s house open. I stepped inside and called out…Pavon ….are you there? I was met with silence for a while, before a blood-curling shriek made me shiver. I ran towards the bedroom farthest away. As I was about the open the door to the bedroom, I heard some noise outside the house. I opened the bedroom door to find Pavon lying on the floor with a knife on his right rib. He was bleeding profusely and in extreme pain. He shouted out to me…”help me”. Immediately I knelt down and tried to remove the knife from him. I succeeded shortly but by then, Pavon was slowly losing his consciousness and his life. In a matter of a minute, Pavon had died. It took a couple of moments for me to realize what was happening. Before I could get up on my feet, I could hear lots of foot-steps outside. The police surrounded me in no time and I was taken to custody. This is what really happened and I did not kill Pavon, neither intended to harm him!”

This narration of events by Smith left me speechless. He sounded very truthful, yet the story was so weak. If someone else had really killed Pavon, who was it and what was their motive? The murder weapon and post-mortem also did not reveal any significant clues. Pavon was indeed stabbed and Smith’s finger prints were all over it, obvious considering that he had it in his hands when he was caught – “red-handed”.

One important yet vague fact about the case was that the security guard for the building was missing since that day. Could he have killed Pavon? If so, what was the motive ? There was no apparent relation between the guard and Pavon. Was the guard trying to steal something? Did Smith arrive just before the guard could steal what he wanted? But then, why did he kill Pavon, that too with a knife? On enquiring nearby most of the other people in the building confirmed that the guard was a simple but greedy young man, always looking for opportunities to get some quick money. But everyone knew him, his face, his name. Surely he couldn’t hide for long. He would be found soon.

There was the question for Smith’s motive. There was no obvious motive for Smith to kill Pavon. Though, the fact that their relationship was extremely bitter due to the money swindling was well known. Could Smith have killed Pavon in a fit of anger as the court had deemed it, or was he really innocent.

Whatever the truth was, Smith had to go to the prison. The evidence against him was too overwhelming.

I have handled a lot of cases in my career, I may not be adept at winning all cases, but I surely knew when a person was innocent and all my instincts told me that Smith was not guilty.

I had to dig deep to understand what could have happened. Or, was I merely being …..whimsical?

Surely, I was missing something, some perspective….maybe…..

To be Continued - Part 2/2

image courtesy : http://rollercoasterdieting.blogspot.com/2011/04/caught-red-handed.html

44. Thank God for Conveyor Belts

I recently happened to visit Tirupati to have a Darshan of Lord Balaji sitting atop the seven hills. Having purchased a short-cut VIP Darshan ticket, I embarked on the quest to see and pray to the lord. Thanks to the VIP ticket, I managed to get the Darshan within two hours. But not before I was jostled, pushed, pulled, squeezed and carried forward in the extremely busy “sea of people” called the queue for the Darshan. That is when it stuck me.

We know for a fact that religious places in India are always going to be crowded. The swarm of devotees visiting places such as Tirupati, Shirdi, Sabari Mala or Vaishno Devi are not going to dwindle. They will increase multi-folds every year if not two-folds. Why don’t we come up with a solution which will help the devotees to meet, pray and visit these places with lesser tension and more peace. It was only when I was inside the main shrine of lord tirupati when I felt it. The number of people had exceeded so much, with each person trying desperately to get a glimpse of the God, that people out of sheer magnitude pushed everyone ahead. There was no need to move. I was being carried. It was almost as if I was on a ……conveyor belt.

That is the jackpot idea. Why don’t we set up a conveyor belt like the “travellator” in airports which helps people walk from one place to another without using their legs. Why not have a huge conveyor belt which starts from two kilometers away and moves forward at a constant speed. The devotees with paid or free Darshan can get in to the conveyor belt at different locations and just…stand. Its as simple as that.

Imagine how simple it will be to have a good Darshan at comfortable speed, without pushing, running and getting crushed in a crowd. The conveyor belt will ensure that everyone gets a comfortable visit for the same amount of time. Each and everybody will get to have 20 seconds of uninhibited Darshan besides avoiding all the tension before reaching the shrine.

Get a ticket, enter the travellator, sit or stand on it and wait for one hour or two hours until you reach the shrine. Pray to your hearts fill and go out happily. On the way collect your ladoos or prasadams and head back happily. Think about it.

Of course there are issues like no rubber or electronic equipment in the temple are allowed etc, but they are be worked out with, using some other materials to cover for the same.

*********************************************************************

Corollary to the travellator idea…..

I got this idea when I was walking around at the Red Fort in Delhi. It was a poor visit. No information was written about any of the structures, the building itself was almost in a dilapidated state. It looked as if it won’t last another ten years. The tourists were just ambling around walking goal-lessly, talking pictures next to almost anything that was standing oblivious about the great history this structure possessed. That is when I asked myself, what am I doing here? I wanted to see Red Fort to know about its past, relive the experience from ages ago. But what was I getting, just a walk in the park with a strange monument. It was a deplorable situation.

This is the same situation at a Taj Mahal, or any other heritage site existing in India as of today. My mind immediately jumped to the Jurassic Park ride in Universal Studios. Why cannot the Government of India spend some of our tax money to build a ride. A small wagon which goes on a track. Take ten people in every ride along with a guide. The wagon will go at a constant speed and visit every location of the fort or monument. Along the way, the guide will explain the history of the monument and keep the people entertained. Not only will the people enjoy the guided tour sitting, they will also be able to appreciate the grandeur and culture the monument possessed. How difficult was this?

Imagine this. A 45 minute guided tour of the Red Fort or the Qutab Minar, with people acting out small sections of history along the way. Pausing at critical points for pictures as group and continuing forward will make the tourism a success.

It is a win-win situation. People will get the money’s worth when the go on the ride. The Government will have its kitty filled with the tourists money who will throng to the places of interest with a new found interest and energy and last but not the least, create employment opportunities for conveyor belt companies, technicians, tour guides and food stalls around India.

Think about it.

Image courtesy:
Travellator - New Delhi Terminal 3 airport.

Jurassic Park - Universal Studios Hollywood