Thotlakonda and Bojjannakonda budhist sites

Thotlakonda: Vishakhapatnam was once upon a time a great hub for budhist activities. We can find many ancient budhist sites nearby. The most famous being the Thotlakonda site. It is located on the very scenic sea side drive towards Bheemli. The ruins of the stupas and the quarters of the monks are located on a hill with a splendid view of hills on one side and the sea on the other.

Bojjannakonda rideMost of the travels i have been doing lately in coastal andhra were in cabs / buses / trains. I had been longing for the rush of freedom which only zooming my bike can give.

I located Bojjanna konda which was around 50 kms from Vizag. The pics on the net looked a little promising. So i just picked my jacket and got onto my bike.

The usually crowded highway was clear and i could happily cruise on 100 kmph without many breaks. The site is located just before entering Anakapalle from the highway near a village called Sankara which derives its name from Sangharam.

The ruins are believed to be dating around 4th century AD. The site acutally comprises of two adjacent hills called Bojjannakonda and Lingalakonda. That was the peak of activity, and historians believe after that era it decreased due to the rise of hinduism.

The main stupa is rock cut and encased in a brick structure.There are many rock cut caves which were possibly used for meditation or as a center of learning. There are many miniature Stupa like structures on the hill adjacent to Lingalakonda.

During the excavation they found many coins and earthenware dating to that era. One would expect them to be displayed near the site in a small museum, but despite being a protected site by the ASI... there is hardly anything except a board mentioning about the site briefly.

These sites were discovered in late 80's and pushed the history of Vizag back by 2000 years. Some even say that Vishakhapatnam derives its name from an ancient but very famous Budhist monk.

Sitaron se aage jahan aur bhi hain : Meaning

Sitaron se aage jahan aur bhi hain
Abhi ishq ke imtehan aur bhi hain
Tahi zindagi se nahin ye fizayen
Yahan siakdon karwaan aur bhi hain

Khana’at na kar aalam-e-rang-o-bu par
Chaman aur bhi aashiyaan aur bhi hain
Agar kho gaya ek nasheman to kya ghum
Maqmat-e-aah-o-fughaan aur bhi hain

Tu shaheen hai parvwaaz hai kaam tera
Tere saamne aasmaan aur bhi hain
Isi roz-o-shab main ulajh kar na rah ja
Ke tere zameen par makaan aur bhi hain

Gaye din ke tanha tha main anjuman mein
Yahaan ab mere raazdaan aur bhi hain

A loose translation is given below:

Beyond the stars there are more worlds
Our quest yet has more tests to pass
This existence alone does not matter
There are boundless journeys ahead

Do not rest on what you have
There are many more paradises to explore
Why worry if you have lost one abode
There are a million worlds to claim

You are the falcon, flight is your passion
And you have higher skies to transcend
Lose not yourself in the cycle of days and nights
There are many more deeds within your reach

Gone is the day when I was lonely in the crowd
Today those who resonate my thoughts are around me



Mohammed Iqbal
Naujawaan ke Naam, Bal-e-Jibraeel, 1908

Birthdays. Facebook. Telephone

I’ve heard a few cynics retort ‘Why do people celebrate birthdays .. ab bache thodi rahe?! ’. But ...there are a few good things about birthdays... some people try to make you feel special no matter who you are. A lot of people atleast acknowledge you existence and according to their priority list and where you stand - deal with you accordingly. In a few rare occasion you might even get a gift ! If your friends are insistent and you are gullible, you might even end up throwing a party. In the end you have good time for atleast a day for sure !

These days Facebook has made it very convenient to wish people on their birthdays and you don’t even have to worry about remembering their dates. The person being wished also knows that you might just have logged into your FB account !
I have noticed that people maintain a certain pecking order in dealing with birthdays:
1. If it’s a BFF or someone you have been trying to impress - they take the trouble of selecting and sending a gift !
2. If its a good friend - they might even call you to wish
3. In most of the other cases - they just copy paste ‘Happy birthday’ from the previous post on your profile
4. Since there are atleast 3 - 4 birthdays on most of the days - they are now posting Happy birthday X ,Y,Z in a single post - X , Y , Z are expected to go to their profile and thank for the wishes !

Since we have talked about wishing on phone i have also noticed a strange behaviour. Most of the times people tend to thing its rude / uncomfortable to say ‘bye’ and disconnect the phone. I have noticed weird ways of saying ab bahut ho gaya .. rakhte hai . Among my friends a few are below:

Sunil - What else dude (after every sentence)
Shanti - Oye .. mere boss ka phone a raha hai ( on a sunday ??? !! )
Sagar - Mera balance khatam ho gaya hai - tu call kar (after college who uses a pre-paid ... gawd!)
Vikas Soni - Aur sir sab badhiya .... ?
Arpit agarwal - Lagi padi hai yaar !
Shabda Raaj - Chal gaana ga / Ma_ _i se baat hua ?
Ankit Varshneya - Oye ..... ‘uska’ call a raha hai .. main baad mein karta hun !
Bikash - KK .... Shadi kab kar raha hai ?
Manik - Aur kaise chal raha hai (main itni der se kya bata raha tha ? ! )
Dev - $#@%^ (inappropriate for a public forum)
Sasanka - inkenti mama .... ? !

R.I.P - Indian Cricket and Indians

The naxals are blasting away the policemen to hell and back. The terrorists are blowing up our markets, gunning down unarmed citizens at will. After more than 20 bomb blasts in just 3 years, there are not even 2 convictions with one certain Amir Ajmal making a mockery of our judiciary demanding transcripts in urdu and non vegetarian food in the cell. The Prices are zooming with the inflation threatening to rival that of Zimbabwe. The financial crisis seems to take the W shaped recovery. The exporters are badly hit by the global recession. Countries like China and the US are building up oil reserves and grabbing rights all over the world for the precious few resources. There are millions of unemployed, whose energies if not channeled properly with due opportunities, might turn against our nation state. There are major scandals erupting implicating the ministers at union level itself. The chief ministers like Mayawati and Madhu Koda are swindling public money in not less than thousands of Crores.

These are probably 1 % of the problems staring in the face of India, in no particular order. With so many issues plaguing our country which has succesfully been a 'developing nation' for over 65 years now … there is one thing that we are majorly concerned about… The Indian Premier League!
The naxalite issue was discussed in the parliament for one day with no particular conclusion … but the IPL muck is dominating the news channels, the parliament, discussions in local trains, school / college / office canteens. We don’t give a damn to any of the above glaring problems, but are concerned if some Sunanda Pushkar was given sweat equity for free.

There is one particular phrase in Sanskrit - “Yatha Raja tatha praja !” but unfortunately has been phrased in reverse … it should be “Yatha praja, tatha Raja” !
People get rulers they deserve. We certainly deserve no better than Lalu yadav , Mayawati, Sharad Pawar etc … etc !

Even if you look at the IPL from sporting perspective, the T20 format is more entertaining and good, but there ought to be some restraint, even from business perspective ... it is being overdone and the public interest will burn out in a few years.
The IPL is held every damn year and it runs over 2 months. The T20 world cup is held every 2 years and add to that the random cups and T20 tournies that are held every year. Whatever happened to the one day internationals and test matches where there was a proper contest between nations? The franchisee owners are raking in millions of dollars and also everyone is eyeing the money making machine. And the public will feed on anything related to cricket. We just don’t give a damn to whatever is happening in the background as long as we get our daily dose of entertainment. You could possibly blame the horrible programs and soaps dominating the TV that people are desperate to see anything different, which IPL succesfully provides in ample, nevermind the "I'm Dashing .. I'm Karbonn" kind of commercials after every ball instead of between overs as before.

So for million problems, what is the solution?

India is still a developing nation and our parents generation is probably the first which could provide good education and all modern day comforts to their children. Our generation will be more encouraging in terms of sports / entrepreneurship / other adventurous career options.

We don’t have in us to change the world, we care more for our comforts than changing the world… all that is fine, but can we atleast behave as responsible citizens.We need to be responsible as citizens, journalists, and do atleast our part!

Pretty random post meandering about many things? … ya I’m a lazy guy who just believes in comfort of armchair philosophy :D .

i want to be ....

On a lazy afternoon sitting in the cozy cane chairs in our college library, we were going over the magazines and papers saw that Morgan Freeman had just bought a private jet worth 36 Crore rupees for himself. One of my friend remarked ' I wish my name was Sunil Nusserwanji Tata ' another said ' I wish i would have still been a maharaja of my now erstwhile kingdom'.
I was trying to think about whom i would want to be ... with every name i thought of, there was some struggle involved in early days, or some problems associated with the present. Few were born with a platinum spoon and just got to chill all their lives... if they did they turned out to be psychos like Uday and Qusay Hussein. Can I conclude that human lives are ephemeral and are condemned to Sisyphus like endeavors?

I can’t refrain from quoting Tyler Durden ‘Our lives are devoid of any passion, no great war, no great depression to fight, our lives are our great depression …. When I look at the clock, I see my life ending minute by minute’.

Then it just struck me … What if im not a human being … I wouldn’t like to be time, because it’s a mute spectator doing nothing, not beginning anywhere, and not seeming to end any time sooner!
I wish I am God.
I would enjoy looking at the world. Look at how tensed you people get at silly things, how you undermine yourselves in things you could have done very easily. How you give up before even taking a start. How you resign to your fate without putting a fight.
How fragile egos rupture longstanding relationships. How you dream about a million things and complain you don’t have them, instead of taking a tiny step towards achieving them. How you are prisoners of what you perceive are your limitations.
It would be like watching 6 Billion movies together … on a giant screen! I can even change the stories in the middle if they get boring. I would enjoy putting twist endings and laugh at the exasperated expressions on your faces. I would enjoy putting tiny obstacles in your paths and smile at seeing you give up so easily.
It would be funny to see some of you doubt my existence, some fighting in my name about things I never said, defending the faith they themselves they don’t have. It would be amusing to see some of you taking pride in believing that they don’t need me. At the same time it would be sad to see people reposing total faith in me without caring to put their own efforts, don’t they still understand that I let people do what they want, intervening rarely if ?
I wouldn’t need to worry about pleasing anyone, putting up a fake smile; I would simply make people I don’t like disappear. After all ... I’m god! The infinite power wouldn’t be too bad either, cause who will complain even if im infinitely corrupt! :p
It would be great fun to be god … coz it would FEEL LIKE GOD!

A stranger once taught me something!

Once in a while there are incidents which keep coming back to you, mostly when you are alone. Either you were too stupid in that episode, or you were too smart, resulting in a smirk or ending in a smile!

One such incident happened to me while i was returning from my office more than an year ago! It was a long day and the next train to my place was around 45 minutes away. Unable to wait on the dark and mosquito ridden platform, i decided to board a train which goes close to my home so that i can catch an auto from there.

It was around 9:45 p.m. and apart from me another middle aged gentleman got down at the station. As we walked out , there was one solitary auto standing at the entrance. I was walking ahead of the gentleman and was thinking that i would have a long walk if i miss this auto.

Just when i was considering this, the other man broke into a sprint and caught the auto and sped away, leaving me feeling like a total loser! I was apprehensive that running for that auto might looka little uncivilised, just the way we contemplate a second helping of the dessert, at the place of an acquiantance we don't know too closely!

His sprint made me wonder, why was i bothering of what that stranger would think of me. I would never have met him again! He reminded me that it is ok to be a little self centred, as i have seen only those people being smug and in comfort while the altruists suffer in silence! Coming across such people who don't even flinch once in name of decency have forced me to reconsider my stance.

Just when i decided to get meaner and make the 'sprint' in the future, i come across those rare people who don't mind letting other people scramble and don't even complain about them. They don't mind sharing their pie, even to those who wouldn't share theirs with them!

Like always im again confused as to whose stance is right, so i keep meandering between the two paths, i sprint when i badly need it, i let go when i feel its ok to!

3 kinds of people

Past few months: I had been longing to blog for quite some time but kept away due to sheer laziness! Over the past few months I have travelled into the interiors of rural Mahbubnagar in Andhra Pradesh and lazed along the beaches of Goa and ‘Raved’ till 4 am , I drove along the highway from Bombay to Pune and finished the 2009 with a visit to Ganapati Phule a beautiful beach some 350 kilometers from Bombay.

Past few years: It was a happening year which happened pretty fast and as many (mostly older people) people around me keep saying that since mid 90’s time has been flying. I guess it’s due to the advent of recreational facilities in which the cable TV saw us gluing to the idiot box and with the onset of late 90’s the internet / mobile took us by storm. So there’s hardly any time to sit and stare... In the coming years when the entertainment revolution really reaches its zenith it will change the way we waste our perfect Sundays or vacations!

What I thought: All along these travels I had been wondering about many people I met … more so during my internship when I was wandering the rural areas in the bus mostly sitting alone … (the rattling makes it strainful to read anything over a long period of time) There was a myriad of people I met throughout mostly because of my constant shifting of cities and schools every 3 years!
I felt that we can identify most of people we met into 3 categories, mostly because most of things in life are in black, white or most popularly in grey. The middle category is always the heaviest! I wonder why I find it easy to categorize everything into 3 !!

3 kinds of people! The wild and maverick types mostly seemed to be highly individualistic in whatever they do … the other bunch seemed to be of nice wand warm people, but I mostly found that it is a tad tiresome to be with nice people! They are the ones who would stick with you through your thick and thin, but they aren’t exactly the lot you would like to hang out with when you want to have some fun! The wild ones are good to party with and have fun, but they do not prefer to be weighed down by strings attached!
I was always confused as to which group do I belong more. I felt that I’m the nice and boring type when I’m with the wild ones … and I feel that I’m the outrageous and adventurous types when I’m with the nice and docile types! Thus I mostly settled for the people in the middle … who tend to be nice and a tad adventurous at times as much as their traditional sensibilities would allow them.
Among these 3 kinds of people there are varying shades of narcissism. Predictably the wild ones are the sometimes the most self centered with the shades varying sometimes with predictable patterns and sometimes with more exceptions than rules! The line between self-centeredness and selfishness is too damn fine! I find the selfish variety to obnoxious to handle, and consciously stay away … but sometimes you can’t have all the choices in this world. You have to bear with the other people’s idiosyncrasies, just as they bear with yours!

With this I remember one line from The Departed which I watched again yesterday … The wedding ring shows people that at least one person can put up with this SOB apart from few other things!

Are we really Shining ?

This is the slogan which ruined a party and crashed the hopes of a PM hopeful. There have been a million theories that when a country is doing good in sports it means that it has arrived economically.

There's a reason for it... when a country has enough for its basic needs and a majority of its people are doing well, they start thinking about sports, different career options. They encourage their kids to play more sports as the pressure to take a job and start earning decreases. I know people who have performed at national and international level for India, but have taken the academic route and are my batchmates @ SP. This happened due to lack of availability of funds and the pressure to get a job.

But seeing that India is doign a very decent job at the international arena in al sports, i have a feeling that we started developing few years back, as such changes take time to manifest.

But still we have a lonnnng way to go!