Thursday, July 21, 2016

Life Around Kutchery - Unique style of 2 in 1

Unique 2-in-1 style of Mr Ashok Ram,
The Paan Seller
                  In every district, the life around Kutchery is very interesting as I have mentioned in the last blog, but there are some vendors who are unique and you will not find similar characters in other places. Mr Ashok Ram, the "Paan" seller, is exactly such a unique person whose look-alike is hard to find. Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) is in the neighborhood of Ranchi Kutchery. Just outside the boundary of RMC is Mr Ram's shop. He knows well how to attract the attention of passersby, and for this he has taken a bold step of keeping himself and his things in two contrasting styles at the same time, i.e., half portion is just opposite in style to the other half. He has one color for the right leg of the pants and another for the left leg. The same is for the shirt. Most daring is the style of his mustache and beard because it is only half on the right side, while on the left it is clean. 
Mr Ashok Ram on his 2-in-1 scooter and his shop
                  Even his old scooter has different colors on each half. Whoever sees him can not remain without smiling, and everyone notices him. It is a strong attraction of attention, which is the motto of his advertisement. He has another shop at Vardhman Compound, Ranchi, and he mentions it in a banner hung in front of his shop. Even his banner is unique. On it is God Shiva in the "Ardhanarishwar-अर्धनारीश्वर" form to support Mr Ram's style because "Ardhanarishwar" is half Shiva on the right side and half Parvati on the left side, i.e., half male-half female. Besides God, "Ardhnarishwar" is his own photo in his unique style. Then there are different slogans, one of which says,
"पान है मर्दों की शान / 
गुटखा करता है माता, बहनों और बच्चों को नुकसान /
 यही है 2-इन-1 का ऐलान"
(Paan (betel leaf) is a style of a man while Gutkha harms ladies and children, thus declares 2-in-1)
There is also a 2-in-1 dog in the banner sitting on a 2-in-1 scooter in the banner. Due to the two colors of the dog, its name is Chhotu the  'Duranga' (दुरंगा). Below is a slogan visibly said by the dog as follows:-
"हम हैं छोटू दुरंगा /
हम नहीं पहनते अंगा" 
(I am Chhotu the Duranga, I do not wear clothes)
Visiting card of Mr Ashok Ram
                 And then there is Mr Ashok Ram's stunt picture on it in which he is riding in his 2-in-1 style clothes on five 2-in-1 scooters. He has even printed his mobile number on it. The whole picture of the banner has been printed on his visiting cards, which he happily gave us when we visited his shop. I snapped a pic of his shop and asked to pose for his pic. He posed smiling for the picture.
                  Mr Ram is an interesting and unique person around the Ranchi Kutchery. 
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Sunday, July 17, 2016

Life Around Kutchery - Interesting world !

            In every district, Collectorates and courts (generally called Kutchery) are the places where public has to visit either for necessary documents or for cases in which they are involved. The government offices and courts have their own rules for the work and most of the time a person has to visit many times to get a work done. Poor people who do not own a vehicle  and come from distant villages have to rely on private transport services but these transport services are not available frequently if passengers are few. In such cases generally a mini bus or Jeep would bring people at the district headquarter around 10:00 AM and return back around 5:00 PM in the evening. People coming from these villages have no option but to remain around the Kutchery till 5:00 PM even if they have no work after 11:00 AM. This time without work is boring but there are sellers around Kutchery who attract these people to sell their items. Apart from eatables of a variety of items one can see people selling peculiar items that are hard to find elsewhere. 
Selling "Pahadi Imli" near Kutchery.
Tamarind from the mountain
               Different types of homemade medicines or parts of unseen plants from the forest are sold, claiming their miraculous healing properties and curing effects for common ailments like joint pains, gas, piles, diabetes, blood pressure, and even sex related diseases. Another group of sellers takes advantage of the uncertainties in the lives of people, and many such people are among those passing the time. Many of them are involved in lengthy cases in courts that may last many, many years or even into the next generation. This makes them superstitious and easily attracted towards roadside 'Fortune tellers' (Jyotishi). These Jyotishi tell futures by reading palms or selecting cards. Card selecting Jyotishi may be further eye-catching due to his trained parrot that sits inside a cage, and when its master opens the cage, it comes out, selects a card among many, hands it over to Jyotishi, and simply goes back to its cage. On the basis of this card, the Jyotishi tells the future of the person sitting in front of him. Another type of Jyotishi sells miraculous rings to be worn on the fingers and "Tabij" (Amulet). They claim that these things protect the owner from evil eyes or fulfill wishes. They also sell old iron horseshoes (Ghode ki Naal) and iron nails of boats (Naav ki Keel) or rings made of this iron. 
                       Then there are some vendors who exchange old currency notes for new ones for a commission. The commission varies according to the extent of the damage. A few vendors make and sell stamps called "Muhar" in Hindi. There are plant and seed sellers who grow in numbers during the Monsoon. 
                    One may find an 'old coins seller' who will show small and big coins from days more than a hundred years ago. Coins of British periods and coins of small kingdoms or "Jamindaars". Even coins of about 40 years ago, which we had used but are now not in use, include 1 p, 3 p, 5 p, 10 p, and yellow coins of 20 p having a lotus flower on them.
                       Sometimes people need urgent passport-size photos, and they get them within minutes from digital photographers who keep small printers operated by batteries. Before these digital cameras came, photographers used a box-type camera with a black curtain. These were very basic cameras with ordinary lenses and cap-type shutters, and photographic plates. The customer had to sit like a statue for a few moments in front of the camera when the photographer would open the camera shutter for a few seconds and develop a negative inside the camera. Then he would place this negative near the camera lens on a stand and repeat the process to make photos. It took more than half an hour to deliver the pics, and the quality was also not good, but the whole process looked very funny. 
                   In those times, there happened to be one more thing, which was the play of "Monkey, Jamura, and Madari". The crowd called "Majma" would encircle them and see the act of the three with a lot of interest. The most interesting happened to be the dialogues between the "Jamura and Madari," which related to light moments from daily life to satire on politics. Now these shows are not seen, perhaps due to the "Animal Cruelty Laws". The same is the reason for the vanishing "Snake Charmers"; otherwise, they were an integral part of the life around the "Kutchery".
                   So, as a whole, the life around "Kutchery" is very interesting and a good time-pass for people without work who also become buyers in this process and give "Roji-roti" (Employment) to these interesting sellers. But this interesting world is not without danger because "Pickpockets" and "Thugs" also roam there, and it is better to be careful when in such places.
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Tuesday, May 24, 2016

What is in a name ?

              This heading reminds me of a story that we read in our childhood. The summary of the story is like this:- 
               A person was not satisfied with his name given by his parents. Ultimately, he went to a Mahatma to tell his grief. The Mahatma laughed and said, "Go and find the best name of any person, I will rename you". He saw a person named "Nayansukh" (meaning-enjoying through eyes), but found that he is blind and can hardly move himself. Next, he saw a person named "Sudarshan" (Means- handsome to look), but he was very ugly. He moved on and saw a dead body being taken to a funeral, followed by a procession of mourners. He asked a person in the procession, "Who died?". The answer was, "A person named Amar has died". "Amar" means - one who will never die. He again asked, "How can Amar die?". The person saw him from head to toe and rudely answered, "What is in a name?" He felt that the name of a person has no relation to his looks or virtues and knew that his search for the best name was useless. He thanked the Mahatma and came back.
                The people in rural India understand it. So they name children on common things like -Gendalal, Chhedilal, Gulabo, Phoolmati, Chameli, etc. The tribal people in Chotanagpur named children on the day they were born, like Somra, Mangra, Budhwa, Etwari, etc. 
              But some people who are religious-minded in the Sanatana Hindu Dharma named their children after the Gods. Like - Rama, Krishna, Vishnu, Shiva, Durga, Parvati, Sita, Radha, etc. The thinking was that when they call their children by name, they will earn "Punya," and if they call them when breathing their last, it will give them "Moksha," the ultimate wish of a religious Hindu. This type of naming gained popularity, but after some time, these names became common and parents of the new generation changed them with synonyms of God's name like Ramesh, Suresh, Mahesh, Dinesh, Maheshwari, Jaya, Haripriya, etc. 
                Then came a generation that wanted to name their children something new and unheard, but still, there were some Sanskrit words not in daily use. Like- Ananya, Aparajta, Anal, Soumya, Aniket, etc. Now, naming a child is good mental work, and to help such parents these days, some sites on the internet are suggesting names for children. I recall an interesting incident that I came to know through my friend. His relative's child was born in India and they named the child "Anal" which means fire in Sanskrit. After two years, the child's parents had to shift to America. But this child when started going to school there, all his classmates would tease him because 'Anal' has some vulgar meaning in English. To change the name of the boy, his father had to come to India to make an affidavit. 
              As Indians have a tendency to copy English culture, it was hard to resist the English names for Indian children. One can find names like Rose, Tulip, Shiny, Sherlyn, etc. 
                One of the latest ideas in naming a child is that both parents give half of their names to make a new word for naming. Obviously, such a new word has almost no meaning. For example, a couple in my neighborhood has names, Namrata and Harish. They did this =>   Nam[rata + Har]ish = Namish. Since this name sounds like a male name while their baby was a girl so they named her "Namisha". I do not know whether it means something or not, but a name does not require to have a meaning.                       

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Friday, May 13, 2016

Swachcha Bharat Abhiyan ?

              A year ago, "Swachcha Bharat Abhiyan" was a hot topic. Celebrities were holding brooms, and we saw their pictures in Newspapers. Do not know how much they cleaned the road. We do not expect cleaning roads by them, but surely they tried to convey a message to the public that they should take an active part in cleaning their locality. The government did its own favorite work - an extra tax on public expenses. A "Swachchata cess" was imposed on tax-paying public. Nowadays, we do not find it discussed anywhere. And not much has changed. 
              The mindset of the public is still the same as it was then. May the person is from less lower-income group or from the big businessman community, their habits are still the same as it was a year ago. If he liked cleanliness, then he still likes it. If he did not care about it then, he still does not care. 
                Though the municipal corporation had provided small colorful dustbins in a good number, and small vendors made use of them but the main problem is the behavior of some people, which is simply offensive. Even if the government gives good and clean roads, these people do not care. One of the very bad habits in Bihar and Jharkhand is spitting. Use of Paan, Khaini (Raw tobacco with lime), and gutkha is abundant here, and it results in spitting. Some of the people who care spit at places meant for it, while some others just seek corners and roadsides. One can see such disgusting corners in the stair halls of public buildings. In despair, authorities at some buildings have placed ceramic tiles with images of different gods to prevent the spitting, but perhaps it is not the foolproof way. So in many buildings, they have put flower pots with sand to spit in them. But what is most annoying is that a few number of people are habitual dirt spreaders. A few days ago, when I was returning from a morning walk from the dam side park in front of CMPDI, I saw three friends talking in the vegetable market there. They were in the age group of 35-40 years. This vegetable market has been made pucca and wider by the government because it is also an approach road to the Dam side park, which is under renovation. It is also cleaned regularly. What I saw was that one of them was munching 'Paan' spit in the open in the middle of the road in front of the whole public in the market, while he could have turned his head and spit in the roadside drain. Nobody dared to say a word to him, and in fact, nobody cared. That person had no guilty feelings. Everything remained as if nothing had happened. These three friends were grown-ups and seemed like small businessmen.  
                   Even some people in the high-income group do not care much about the locality just outside their boundary wall. An example is in my neighborhood. This big businessman has his house on Kanke Road beside a temple. It is a posh area. The plot is in acres, and a beautiful garden has been maintained like in movies. But it is not visible to the public on the road because of a 6-foot boundary wall. The boundary wall is unplastered and not painted. The rainwater from many seasons has made the color of the surface poor. Even the iron gate is not colored, and it remains closed all the time. Clearly, it has been done not to attract public attention. OK, it is good for him to think about his safety, but what I am talking about is that he does not care to maintain the cleanliness just outside his boundary wall. Three years ago the Kanke Road was widened with divider and lights and it is regularly cleaned by the agency, but the servant of this businessman daily brings the dogs out of the gate makes them to poo on the clean road just in front of his boundary wall. The temple is only 50 feet away from this dirty made spot, but even the priest has no objection because the businessman is one of the patrons. 
                   So, to make the "Swachh Bharat Abhyan" successful, only creating the hype will not help, but penalizing such bad-mannered persons is also necessary, irrespective of their status. But the sad part is that in our society, status matters a lot.
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Saturday, May 7, 2016

Tasty foods on slow flame- स्वाद की बात !

           The taste of food is not only due to its ingredients and different spices. One may add different ingredients and costly spices to make tasty food, but in the end, it may not taste great. Not everyone can make good dishes. Why?
Deep-fried fish on a slow flame

            Some people say that cooking with love makes food great. I have observed it minutely over the years and found that good cooking needs patience. And good cooks make it a habit. Patience is required to make dishes over slow flames, which is the key factor to great taste. It takes time, and sometimes it is boring. I have seen my grandmother cooking. She burnt straws (पुआल) as fuel, which were in plenty there. Straws burnt quickly, and she used to push them at regular intervals into the oven to keep them burning. Its flame was slow and took time to cook food, but the taste was awesome, be it pulses or vegetables. 
              Even without many ingredients, slow cooking enhances the taste. For example, take the case of fried potatoes. With some mustard oil and salt, cook it over a slow flame, keeping covered and stirring at some intervals. In the end, you will find tasty fried potatoes (आलू भाजा / भुजिया). 
                   Though some dishes require many spices and ingredients but sometimes too many different flavors mixed together do not have the expected result.
                Another factor in great taste is fresh vegetables or spices. It is even more desirable to have organic things.
Slow-cooked poached omelet

                Apart from being great-tasting, foods cooked over a slow flame are healthier. If using less oil for health reasons, slow cooking is a good option. Cook slowly but cover it to make the vegetables soft. Check regularly so that it does not stick to the pan. Stir regularly.
              Not only vegetables, you may try it with omelets. Cook it over a slow flame and cover it fully with a steel plate. You will get a tasty and fluffy omelet. 
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