Rajpath witnesses 60 years of Glory!

It was amidst tight security that the Republic Day Celebration concluded in Delhi. The South Korean President, the guest of honour witnessed India's fineese in every aspect (includes the fog and mist!).The news channels went debating rather doubting India's identity of a Republic country as usual. I just wonder why this question comes up only on certain days; Ambedkar Jayanti included as well!

Twitter saw tweets right from defining the meaning of republic by eminent people to the celebrations by the aam aadmi ('mango man' as put by Saif in Love Aaj Kal). To be open about this, it was yet another holiday for some and a half day for the rest! I felt proud as I woke up at 8 due to the National Anthem being sung in the near by school.The rest in my hostel were sound asleep...

Though the 11 five year plan assures no food security as it did in the ninth five year plan, I found India on the road to self sufficiency and self efficiency. This might be a drop in the ocean but this was the orifice of a new self help protocol.

A poor female beggar, whome we would call a 'mad female' by looking at her attire(not much to look at, she was in rags)inspired me to a certain extent. All that was in her quota for that day seemed to be the 'chapati ka aata'. She had made the pavement her place of rest with her belongings hanged to the nearest fence.

She spit on the atta till she could mould it into the chapati making form and made chapatis in a round shape using the glass for the 'belan'.She had managed to burn a few papers on the road (thanks to the negligence of GHMC!) to make a meal for herself.I was surprised at her sense of discretion! India is growing and so are the people.

On this day, as the Rajpath witnesses 60 years of glory, I saw the Latin definition and the objectives of Republic come true in Golconda.

A Man Of Letters

It was 17 January, 2010; the last date for submitting the applicaiton for Teach India, a Times Of India initiative that aims to provide educational opportunities to the unfortunate by utilising the services of those interested.It was due to certain engagements I could not find time to submit my application in time. But I was happy seeing that a thumping 17,000 applications had already been received.I felt that a few initiatives taken in this direction would help increase the literacy rate of India as a whole!

My thoughts vanished when I was returning home after finding a good harbour for my final year project. It was a satisfying experience as I finally had a platform to apply my engineering knowledge in practical! It was with this joy of fulfilling my duty as an engineer and a stomach aching out of hunger,I noticed a little kid on the pavement.

He was neatly arranging something with great care in an order on the road. A closer glimpse at it made me feel cold. It was the English alphabet!!! The most surprising thing was that the alphabets were chocolates!The colours tempted me and arouse my patient hunger to the maximum. The little boy with great dedication continued to learn the alphabets as directed by his mom.

I smiled and walked on... My thoughts wandered in the inner cells of my brain after all that I could hear from his mother. "If I have to make you a man of letters,I don't feel sorry for not being able to feed you now!" India is learning-was all that I thought as I got into the bus headed for Nallakunta. Teach India was on the run...