Spread Unconditional Love

एक जिज्ञासु बालक और नदी किनारे संत - ईश्वर, बुराई और ब्रह्मांड के सबसे गहरे प्रश्न

2026-05-06T19:44:10.133+05:30

वह समय था जब दिन शाम में मुड़ रहा था। नदी — चौड़ी और चाँदी जैसी — बिना जल्दबाज़ी के बह रही थी। सारस अपने घोंसलों की ओर पंक्ति में लौट रहे थे। लगभग ग्यारह साल का एक लड़का, अब भी कंधे पर बस्ता टाँगे हुए, घाट के किनारे धीरे-धीरे चल रहा था। उसके भीतर अपनी उम्र से ज़्यादा सोच चल रही थी।

पानी के पास एक चपटी चट्टान पर एक बूढ़ा बैठा था। उसके वस्त्र मिट्टी के रंग के थे। उसके पैर नंगे थे। वह न कुछ जप रहा था, न समाधि में था। वह बस नदी को देख रहा था — जैसे कोई पुराने मित्र को देखता है।

लड़का कुछ कदम पहले रुक गया। बूढ़े ने मुड़कर मुस्कुराया, जैसे वह उसी का इंतज़ार कर रहा हो।

संत:

बैठो, बेटा।

लड़का बैठ गया।

संत:

तुम्हारे भीतर कोई प्रश्न पल रहा है। पूछो।

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एक — क्या सचमुच कोई ईश्वर है?

बालक:

महाराज... क्या सचमुच कोई ईश्वर है? मेरी माँ रोज़ शाम को दीया जलाती हैं। मेरी दादी व्रत रखती हैं और पूजा करती हैं। पर मैंने कुछ किताबें पढ़ी हैं — हिचेन्स साहब, डॉकिन्स साहब — वे कहते हैं यह सब बस कहानियाँ हैं। कि ब्रह्मांड केवल परमाणुओं का खेल है। और मैं सोचता हूँ — अगर कोई दयालु, सर्वशक्तिमान ईश्वर होता, तो इतनी पीड़ा क्यों होने देता? छोटी-छोटी लड़कियों को बुरे लोग चोट क्यों पहुँचाते हैं? ईमानदार लोग ग़रीब क्यों हैं और क्रूर लोग अमीर? एक प्रेमपूर्ण ईश्वर यह सब क्यों होने दे? इसलिए मुझे समझ नहीं आता कि क्या मानूँ।

संत ने तुरंत उत्तर नहीं दिया। उन्होंने एक छोटा पत्थर हाथ में लिया, उसे तौला, और नदी में फेंक दिया। पानी में लहरों का एक छल्ला बना, किनारे तक पहुँचा, और मिट गया।

संत:

तुमने वही प्रश्न पूछा है, बेटा, जो ऋग्वेद के ऋषियों ने चार हज़ार साल पहले पूछा था। दसवें मण्डल में एक सूक्त है — नासदीय सूक्त। सृष्टि का वर्णन करने के बाद वह यूँ समाप्त होता है: ‘यह सृष्टि कहाँ से उठी — शायद इसने अपने आप को बनाया, शायद नहीं। केवल वही जानता है जो सबसे ऊँचे आकाश से इसे देखता है। और शायद वह भी न जानता हो।’

लड़के ने पलकें झपकाईं।

संत:

देखा, बेटा? हमारा सबसे प्राचीन ग्रंथ किसी ठोस उत्तर से शुरू नहीं होता। वह इस साहस से शुरू होता है कि कह सके — ‘हम नहीं जानते। शायद वह भी नहीं जानता।’ तो जब तुम संदेह करते हो, तुम अच्छी संगति में हो।

बालक:

पर यह उत्तर तो नहीं है।

संत:

नहीं। यह पहला पाठ है — कि प्रश्न उत्तर से बड़ा है। अब आओ, धीरे-धीरे इसमें उतरें।

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दो — आइंस्टाइन ने ईश्वर के बारे में क्या सोचा?

बालक:

हाँ! यही तो मैं पूछना चाहता था। मैं आइंस्टाइन के बारे में पढ़ रहा था। उन्होंने कुछ अजीब बात कही थी। उन्होंने कहा कि वे ‘स्पिनोज़ा के ईश्वर’ में विश्वास करते थे, पर किसी व्यक्तिगत ईश्वर में नहीं। महाराज, इसका क्या अर्थ है?

संत की आँखें चमक उठीं।

संत:

आह! तुम सही चीज़ें पढ़ रहे हो। आइंस्टाइन सौ साल पहले हुए थे, पर वे हमारे ऋषियों के बहुत पास हैं — कई पंडितों से भी पास। ध्यान से सुनो — मैं तुम्हें बताता हूँ कि उनका क्या मतलब था, क्योंकि यही हमारी बातचीत का हृदय है।

बहुत समय पहले हॉलैंड में एक शांत दार्शनिक रहते थे — बारुख स्पिनोज़ा। वे काँच के लेंस घिसकर जीवन चलाते थे। युवावस्था में उन्हें अपने ही समाज से धर्म-विरोध के आरोप में बाहर कर दिया गया, क्योंकि उन्होंने मानने से इनकार कर दिया कि कोई ऐसा ईश्वर है जिसे चापलूसी से प्रसन्न किया जा सके, रिश्वत दी जा सके, या जिसे ठेस पहुँचाई जा सके। पर वे डॉकिन्स की तरह नास्तिक नहीं थे। उन्होंने और गहरी बात कही। उन्होंने कहा — ‘Deus sive Natura’ — ईश्वर अथवा प्रकृति। दोनों एक ही चीज़। एक ही सत्य के दो नाम।

स्पिनोज़ा के लिए ईश्वर ब्रह्मांड के बाहर बैठा कोई व्यक्ति नहीं था जो हमें देख रहा हो। ईश्वर भावनाओं वाला कोई सम्राट नहीं था। ईश्वर वह स्वयं तत्व था जिससे सब कुछ बना है। नदी ईश्वर है। ऊपर उड़ता सारस ईश्वर है। यह पत्थर जो मैंने अभी फेंका, ईश्वर है। तुम ईश्वर हो। मैं ईश्वर हूँ। इस मूर्खतापूर्ण अर्थ में नहीं कि हम उड़ने वाले देवता हैं — बल्कि इस अर्थ में कि हम सब एक ही अंतर्निहित सत्य के अलग-अलग रूप हैं, उसके चेहरे हैं। उसके बाहर कुछ नहीं है। उसका कहीं और होना संभव नहीं है। लहर को समुद्र खोजने की ज़रूरत नहीं — वह स्वयं समुद्र है, जो थोड़ी देर के लिए लहर का रूप ले रहा है।

जब तुम यह बात — सच में — समझ लेते हो, तो तुम ‘क्या ईश्वर है?’ पूछना उसी तरह छोड़ देते हो जैसे पानी में तैरते हुए तुम ‘क्या समुद्र है?’ पूछना छोड़ देते हो। प्रश्न ही घुल जाता है। तुम उसी में हो। तुम उसी से बने हो।

आइंस्टाइन ने स्पिनोज़ा को पढ़ा और गहरे प्रभावित हुए। उन्होंने एक बार एक रब्बी को कहा था कि वे केवल स्पिनोज़ा के ईश्वर पर विश्वास कर सकते हैं — एक ऐसा ईश्वर जो ब्रह्मांड की व्यवस्थित सुंदरता में प्रकट होता है — न कि ऐसा ईश्वर जो छोटे-छोटे मनुष्यों के भाग्य की चिंता करता हो। समझे? उन्होंने भौतिकी के समीकरणों को देखा — कि एक ही नियम सेब को गिरने पर मजबूर करता है और चाँद को कक्षा में बाँधता है — और उन्हें विस्मय हुआ। उन्होंने महसूस किया कि ब्रह्मांड नियमबद्ध है, सुंदर है, समझा जा सकने वाला है। और इस अनुभूति को उन्होंने धार्मिक कहा। उन्होंने इसका नाम दिया — ‘ब्रह्मांडीय धर्मभाव’।

बालक:

पर — यह तो बस प्रकृति की प्रशंसा है। इसे धर्म क्यों कहें?

संत:

बहुत बढ़िया। प्रश्न करो। यही तो ठीक प्रश्न है। सुनो।

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तीन — तीन प्रकार के धर्म

संत:

आइंस्टाइन ने एक बार कहा था कि एक विचारशील प्राणी के लिए सबसे गहरा अनुभव रहस्य का अनुभव है — और यही सच्ची कला और सच्चे विज्ञान दोनों का स्रोत है। जिस व्यक्ति में आश्चर्य करने की क्षमता मर जाए, वह किसी अर्थ में जीवित रहना बंद कर चुका है। यह बात याद रखो। यह एक मशाल है।

अब सुनो — दुनिया में तीन प्रकार के धर्म हैं, और आइंस्टाइन ने तीनों के नाम बताए।

पहला है — डर का धर्म। जब आदिम मनुष्य आँधी, बाघ, भूकंप और मृत्यु से डरते थे, तो उन्होंने माँगने के लिए देवता बनाए। ‘प्रभु, मुझ पर वज्रपात न करो। पानी भेजो। फसल बचाओ।’ यह बच्चों जैसा धर्म है। जब जीवन छोटा और अनिश्चित था, तब काम चलता था। पर यह गहरी जाँच में नहीं टिकता। यह गुफा का धर्म है।

दूसरा है — नैतिकता का धर्म। यहाँ ईश्वर एक महान न्यायाधीश है। ‘अच्छे बनो वरना दण्ड पाओगे। अच्छे रहोगे तो स्वर्ग पाओगे।’ यह आज के अधिकांश मंदिरों, मस्जिदों और चर्चों का धर्म है। यह मूर्ख नहीं है। यह छोटे बच्चों को दया सिखाता है। यह समाज में व्यवस्था लाता है। पर यह अधूरा है। क्योंकि — जैसा तुमने स्वयं देखा — संसार सच में अच्छों को पुरस्कार और बुरों को दण्ड देता हुआ नहीं दिखता। ऐसा भरोसेमंद ढंग से नहीं होता। बहुधा होता ही नहीं। तो जिसका धर्म इसी पर टिका हो, वह धर्म कभी न कभी टूट जाएगा। तुम्हारा टूटने लगा है, है न? इसलिए तुम मेरे पास आए हो।

लड़के ने आश्चर्य से सिर हिलाया।

संत:

तीसरा — और आइंस्टाइन ने इसे सबसे ऊँचा कहा है — ब्रह्मांडीय धर्मभाव। यह तब आता है जब तुम ब्रह्मांड से माँगना बंद कर देते हो, और बस यह देखते हो कि ब्रह्मांड ‘है।’ कि शून्य के स्थान पर कुछ है। कि वही गणित जो आकाशगंगाओं को घुमाता है, फूल भी खिलाता है। कि गुरुत्व का एक ही नियम चाँद को कक्षा में रखता है और मेरे फेंके पत्थर को धरती पर लाता है। कि कुछ तारों का प्रकाश दस अरब साल चलकर आज रात तुम्हारी आँख में प्रवेश कर रहा है। कि तुम — एक छोटा बालक नदी किनारे — प्राचीन तारों के भीतर बने परमाणुओं से बने हो। तुम्हारे रक्त में जो लोहा है, वह कभी किसी मृत होते सूर्य का हृदय था। यह जानकर अप्रभावित रहना संभव नहीं।

यही अनुभूति — इस ‘है’ के क्रम, गहराई और अद्भुतता के सामने झुक जाने का भाव — उसे आइंस्टाइन ने धार्मिक कहा। एक प्रसिद्ध निबंध में उन्होंने इसी सच्ची धार्मिकता को परिभाषित किया था: यह जानना कि ब्रह्मांड में गहरा कारण और दिव्य सौंदर्य है, जिसे हम केवल आरंभिक रूप में ही समझ पाते हैं, और इस तथ्य के सामने हृदय में जागने वाली श्रद्धा और विनम्रता ही असली धर्म है। इस अर्थ में, और केवल इसी अर्थ में, उन्होंने स्वयं को गहरा धार्मिक कहा।

तीनों धर्मों का अंतर समझे? डर का ईश्वर कहता है — ‘मुझसे डरो।’ नैतिकता का ईश्वर कहता है — ‘मेरी आज्ञा मानो, मैं तुम्हें पुरस्कार दूँगा।’ पर ब्रह्मांडीय ईश्वर — स्पिनोज़ा का ईश्वर, आइंस्टाइन का ईश्वर, उपनिषदों में जिसकी ओर इशारा है — कुछ नहीं कहता। उसे कुछ कहने की ज़रूरत नहीं। उसका होना ही पूरा भाषण है।

लड़के ने नदी की ओर देखा। एक चमगादड़ झपटकर निकल गया। वह बहुत देर चुप रहा।

बालक:

पर महाराज, यह तो प्रेम जैसा नहीं लगता। स्पिनोज़ा का ईश्वर मुझसे प्रेम तो नहीं करता।

संत:

ठीक है। वह तुमसे उस तरह प्रेम नहीं करता जैसे तुम्हारी माँ करती है। वह भीड़ में से तुम्हें चुनकर अलग नहीं करता। कर ही नहीं सकता। क्योंकि वही भीड़ है। वही तुम्हारी माँ है। वही तुम हो। प्रेम वहाँ से यहाँ नहीं भेजा जा रहा। प्रेम स्वयं यह तथ्य है कि ‘वहाँ’ और ‘यहाँ’ दो नहीं हैं।

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चार — तो फिर कृष्ण और राम क्या हैं?

बालक:

पर महाराज, कृष्ण? राम? उनकी कथाएँ हैं। उनकी पत्नियाँ हैं। वे सच हैं ना? मेरी दादी कहती हैं, हाँ। वे कहती हैं — राम अयोध्या में रहे, धरती पर चले, रावण से लड़े। कृष्ण ने माखन चुराया, गोपियों के साथ नृत्य किया, अर्जुन का रथ चलाया। दादी विश्वास करती हैं।

संत:

तुम्हारी दादी एक तरह से सही हैं — पर उस सीधे अर्थ में नहीं जो तुम सोच रहे हो। सुनो — और अब हम और गहरे जाते हैं।

हमारी परंपरा में एक शब्द है — ‘उपाय’। इसका अर्थ है ‘कुशल साधन’। शिक्षिका जब छोटे बच्चे को ‘अ’ अक्षर सिखाने के लिए अनार का चित्र दिखाती है, तो वह उपाय का प्रयोग कर रही है। चित्र अक्षर नहीं है। अक्षर एक आकार है, एक भाव है, एक विचार है। पर बच्चे के लिए विचार कठिन है। चित्र सरल है। तो शिक्षिका विचार तक पहुँचने के लिए चित्र को द्वार बना देती है।

अब सोचो — किसी मनुष्य को पूरे ब्रह्मांड से प्रेम करना कैसे सिखाओगे? बच्चे को ब्रह्मांड के क्रम के प्रति श्रद्धा कैसे जगाओगे? यह बहुत बड़ा है। इसका कोई चेहरा नहीं है। तो हमारे ज्ञानी पूर्वजों ने एक अद्भुत बात की। उन्होंने ब्रह्मांड को चेहरे दिए।

बाँसुरी बजाते कृष्ण — यह ब्रह्मांड का खेलते-नाचते स्वरूप हैं, उसका खिलखिलाता पक्ष। धनुष लिए राम — यह ब्रह्मांड का व्यवस्थित, धर्मनिष्ठ, न्यायी पक्ष हैं। ध्यान में बैठे शिव — यह ब्रह्मांड का विश्रांत स्वरूप हैं, सब हलचल से पहले और बाद का। सिंह पर सवार दुर्गा — यह ब्रह्मांड जब अव्यवस्था से अपनी रक्षा करता है। वीणा लिए सरस्वती — यह ब्रह्मांड का ज्ञान, संगीत, विद्या रूप। विघ्नहर्ता गणेश — यह ब्रह्मांड का वह मित्र जो हर नए कार्य के आरंभ में हमारे संग चलता है।

ये झूठ नहीं हैं। ये साधारण अर्थ में कहानियाँ भी नहीं हैं। ये द्वार हैं। ये वह तरीका हैं जिससे एक सीमित मन — तुम्हारा, मेरा, तुम्हारी दादी का — एक असीम सत्य को अपनी बाँहों में ले सकता है। तुम समुद्र को आलिंगन नहीं कर सकते। पर तुम एक चुल्लू पानी ले सकते हो, उसे देख सकते हो, और उसमें समुद्र को महसूस कर सकते हो। चुल्लू सच है। समुद्र और भी अधिक सच है। दोनों में विरोध नहीं है।

कट्टरपंथी की भूल यह है कि वह चुल्लू को ही समुद्र मान लेता है। वह कहता है — ‘कृष्ण मथुरा में फलाँ तारीख को रहे, और दिव्यता केवल उसी रूप में प्रकट हुई।’ यह छोटी सोच है। हठी नास्तिक की भूल यह है कि वह कहता है — ‘मथुरा में कोई कृष्ण नहीं था, इसलिए श्रद्धा करने योग्य कुछ भी नहीं है।’ यह भी छोटी सोच है। सत्य इन दोनों के बीच है, या इनसे परे है। कुछ है। वह केवल मथुरा में नहीं रहता, क्योंकि वह सब जगह है। उसके पास बाँसुरी नहीं है। पर तुम्हारी दादी की बाँसुरी बजाने वाला रूप उस ‘कुछ’ की ओर हृदय को मोड़ने का एक उत्तम साधन है। आइंस्टाइन का समीकरण भी एक साधन है। यह नदी जो हमारे सामने है, वह भी।

इसीलिए हमारे पास अनेक देवता हैं। एक चित्र काफ़ी नहीं था। इसलिए हमने दस हज़ार बनाए।

बालक:

तो कृष्ण और राम जैसे... एक ऐसी चीज़ के चित्र हैं जो बनाई नहीं जा सकती?

संत:

हाँ। और जो विवेकी है, वह जानता है कि चित्र चित्र है — और फिर भी उसे प्रेम करता है, क्योंकि चित्र हृदय को उस ओर खींचता है जो हृदय कभी सीधे नहीं देख सकता।

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पाँच — परम सत्य क्या है?

बालक:

महाराज, आप ‘ब्रह्मांडीय ईश्वर,’ ‘अंतर्निहित सत्य’ कहते रहे हैं। क्या इसका कोई स्पष्ट नाम है? दार्शनिक इसे क्या कहते हैं?

संत ने नदी की ओर बहुत देर देखा।

संत:

इसके अनेक नाम हैं। अलग-अलग परंपराएँ अलग-अलग शब्दों में उसी एक चीज़ की ओर बढ़ती हैं। पश्चिमी दार्शनिक प्रायः ‘The Absolute’ — ‘परम सत्य’ कहते हैं — वह सत्य जो किसी और के सापेक्ष नहीं है, वह सत्य जिसका सब कुछ अंश है। हम भी आज रात इसी शब्द का प्रयोग करेंगे — परम सत्य। यह शब्द उपयुक्त है।

बहुत समय पहले दक्षिण भारत में एक महान दार्शनिक हुए — आदि शंकराचार्य। वे केवल बत्तीस वर्ष की आयु में चले गए — हाँ, बत्तीस वर्ष — और उतने छोटे जीवन में उन्होंने पूरे उपमहाद्वीप की पैदल यात्रा की और सत्य के बारे में लोगों के सोचने का ढंग बदल दिया। उन्होंने जिस दर्शन की स्थापना की, उसे ‘अद्वैत वेदांत’ कहते हैं। ‘अद्वैत’ का अर्थ है ‘दो नहीं।’ ध्यान दो — ‘एक’ नहीं, ‘दो नहीं।’ यह अंतर महत्वपूर्ण है।

शंकर ने कहा — एक सत्य है जो बस ‘है।’ उसका न आरंभ है, न अंत; न खंड हैं, न परिवर्तन। उन्होंने उसे परम सत्य कहा। वह अनेक सत्ताओं में एक सत्ता नहीं है। वह ब्रह्मांड में रहने वाला कोई देवता नहीं है। वह स्वयं ब्रह्मांड का ‘होनापन’ है। जब तुम हर वह गुण हटा दो जिसे नाम दिया जा सकता है, जो शेष रहता है — वही है। वह बिना विषय के चेतना है। वह हर देखने के पीछे का द्रष्टा है।

और फिर उन्होंने कुछ कहा जो आज भी लोगों को चौंका देता है। उन्होंने कहा — ‘तत् त्वम् असि।’ तू वही है। तुम — चट्टान पर बैठा यह छोटा बालक — तुम वही हो। तुम्हारा शरीर नहीं। तुम्हारा मन नहीं। तुम्हारा नाम नहीं। तुम्हारा सबसे गहरा ‘तुम’ — वह जो जानता है कि तुम्हारा शरीर, मन और नाम है — वही परम सत्य है। अंत में केवल एक चेतना है, जो आठ अरब आँखों से देख रही है, आठ अरब कानों से सुन रही है। अलगाव का भ्रम व्यवहार के लिए सच है। पर अंतिम सत्य नहीं।

देखो यह स्पिनोज़ा से कितना मिलता-जुलता है? स्पिनोज़ा ने कहा — एक तत्व है, हम सब उसके रूप हैं। शंकर ने कहा — एक परम सत्य है, हम सब उसमें प्रकट होते हैं। शब्द अलग। दृष्टि एक। दो विभिन्न परंपराएँ, हज़ार साल और सात हज़ार मील की दूरी पर अलग-अलग रास्तों से एक ही तट पर पहुँचती हैं — यह ध्यान देने योग्य है।

बालक:

पर महाराज, यदि मैं वही परम सत्य हूँ, तो मुझे इतना छोटा क्यों लगता है? मैं बुरे अंक आने से क्यों डरता हूँ?

संत हल्के से हँसे।

संत:

क्योंकि लहर जब उठ रही होती है, तब उसे समुद्र होने का एहसास नहीं होता। वह लहर बनने में व्यस्त है। समुद्र होने का अनुभव उसे तभी होगा जब वह गिरेगी। तब तक तुम लहर हो। और लहर का काम है — एक सुंदर लहर बनना। लहर होने को छोड़कर सीधे समुद्र मत बनना चाहो। यह बोध कि तुम समुद्र भी हो — वह अपने समय पर, अपनी साधना के साथ आता है।

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छह — फिर बुराई का क्या?

लड़का चुप था। नदी अब अंधेरी हो चुकी थी। कुछ तारे निकल आए थे।

बालक:

महाराज, मैंने बहुत प्रश्न किए। पर सबसे कठिन प्रश्न का उत्तर अब भी नहीं मिला। यदि ईश्वर सब कुछ है — स्पिनोज़ा का ईश्वर, आइंस्टाइन का ईश्वर, आपका परम सत्य — तो ईश्वर वह आदमी भी है जो छोटी लड़की को चोट पहुँचाता है। ईश्वर भ्रष्ट नेता भी है। ईश्वर कैंसर की कोशिका भी है। तो फिर ‘ईश्वर नहीं है’ कहने में और इसमें क्या अंतर है? या और भी बुरा — क्या ईश्वर राक्षस है?

संत:

यह तुम्हारा सबसे गहरा प्रश्न है। मैं तुम्हें छोटा-सा उत्तर देकर अपमान नहीं करूँगा।

पहली बात — हाँ। यदि परम सत्य सब कुछ है, तो उसमें पीड़ा भी सम्मिलित है। उसमें क्रूरता भी सम्मिलित है। उसमें बलात्कार, हत्या और रोग भी सम्मिलित हैं। हम इस सच्चाई को छिपा नहीं सकते। हमें इसे बिना चकमा दिए सीधे देखना चाहिए, वरना हम गंभीर लोग नहीं हैं। जो तुम्हें कहे ‘ब्रह्मांड शुभ है,’ वह कुछ बेच रहा है।

दूसरी बात — वह धर्म जो वादा करता है ‘ईश्वर अच्छों को पुरस्कार और बुरों को दंड देगा, इसमें कोई संदेह नहीं’ — वह धर्म, मेरे विचार में, झूठा है। प्रत्यक्ष अनुभव से झूठा है। संसार ऐसे काम नहीं करता। संतों के बच्चे मरते हैं। राक्षसों के बच्चे फलते-फूलते हैं। अच्छी फसल बेईमान ज़मींदार के पास जाती है, और ईमानदार किसान भूखा रहता है। हमने यह सब देखा है। जो तुम्हें इसके विपरीत कहे, वह या तो मूर्ख है, या झूठा, या व्यापारी।

तीसरी बात — तो जब हम यह सांत्वना छोड़ देते हैं, तब क्या बचता है? ध्यान से सुनो। दो चीज़ें बचती हैं।

एक: ब्रह्मांड अन्यायी नहीं है। ब्रह्मांड उदासीन है। यह बारीक अंतर है। अन्याय का अर्थ है — कोई बेहतर का पात्र था, उसे नहीं मिला। उदासीनता का अर्थ है — वहाँ कोई न्यायालय ही नहीं है। बाघ हिरण को ‘अन्याय’ से नहीं खाता। भूकंप बच्चों को ‘अन्याय’ से नहीं मारता। ये बस घटित होते हैं। प्राकृतिक संसार में कोई नैतिकता नहीं है। नैतिकता वह है जो हम मनुष्य संसार में लेकर आते हैं। हम वे आँखें हैं जिनके माध्यम से ब्रह्मांड पूछना शुरू करता है — ‘क्या यह उचित है?’ यह एक छोटी आग है जो हमने एक आकाशगंगा के एक कोने के एक ग्रह पर जलाई है। यह कीमती है — दुर्लभ होने के कारण, ऊपर से किसी ने इसे थोपा है, इसलिए नहीं।

दूसरी: यदि नैतिकता ऊपर से लागू नहीं होती, तो उसे नीचे से जीना होगा। तुम्हारे और मेरे द्वारा। ब्रह्मांड बलात्कारी को सज़ा नहीं देगा; हमें देनी होगी — न्याय, क़ानून और सामाजिक प्रयासों के माध्यम से। ब्रह्मांड भूखे को भोजन नहीं देगा; हमें देना होगा। ब्रह्मांड शोकाकुल को सांत्वना नहीं देगा; हमें देनी होगी। ब्रह्मांड कैनवास है, पर चित्रकारी हमें ही करनी है। और कोई आ नहीं रहा। केवल हम हैं।

मेरी समझ में, यही गीता में कृष्ण का उपदेश है। दूसरा अध्याय ध्यान से पढ़ो। कृष्ण अर्जुन से यह वादा नहीं करते कि सही पक्ष जीतेगा। कृष्ण कहते हैं — लड़ो क्योंकि लड़ना धर्म है, और जो भी फल हो, होने दो। ‘कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन’ — कर्म पर तुम्हारा अधिकार है, फल पर कभी नहीं। यह स्वर्ग के वादे से कहीं कठिन है। यह कुछ नहीं देने का वादा है — सिवाय एक गरिमा के, कि तुम सही काम सही होने के कारण कर रहे हो।

तो बेटा — मैं ऐसे ईश्वर पर विश्वास नहीं करता जो बलात्कारी को रोके। मैं ऐसे ईश्वर पर विश्वास नहीं करता जो भूखे बच्चे को खिलाए। ऐसा ईश्वर, यदि होता, तो जैसा संसार दिखता है, वैसा देखकर वह या तो अक्षम होता या क्रूर। मैं विश्वास करता हूँ एक ऐसी विशाल और सुंदर सत्ता पर जिसमें भयानक चीज़ें भी हैं — और मैं विश्वास करता हूँ कि एकमात्र ईमानदार उत्तर यह है कि उसी सत्ता का वह अंश बनो जो शुभ करता है। उन आँखों में से एक बनो जिनसे ब्रह्मांड अपनी पीड़ा देखता है। उन हाथों में से एक बनो जिनसे ब्रह्मांड अपनी पीड़ा हटाता है। ऐसा करते हुए हम उस चीज़ में सहभागी होते हैं जो शायद ‘पवित्र’ शब्द के सबसे क़रीब है।

लड़के की आँखों में आँसू थे। उसने उन्हें छिपाने का दिखावा नहीं किया।

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सात — भारतीय जो ईश्वर पर विश्वास नहीं करते थे

संत:

और एक बात तुम्हें जाननी चाहिए, क्योंकि तुम पुस्तकें पढ़ने वाले बच्चे हो। तुम सोचते हो कि भारतीय परंपरा और नास्तिकता विपरीत हैं। ऐसा नहीं है। हमारी परंपरा अपने भीतर नास्तिकता को खुलकर समाहित किए हुए है — बिना किसी कांड के। क्या तुम यह जानते थे?

लड़के ने आश्चर्य से सिर हिलाया।

संत:

प्राचीन भारत में दर्शन के ऐसे संप्रदाय थे — जो विस्तृत संवाद का अंग थे — जो किसी भी सृष्टा-ईश्वर पर विश्वास नहीं करते थे।

एक थे चार्वाक — जिन्हें लोकायत भी कहते हैं। ये कठोर भौतिकवादी थे। उनका कथन था — केवल वह सच है जिसे प्रत्यक्ष देखा जा सकता है। आत्मा शरीर का गुण है — जैसे लौ दीपक का गुण है; दीपक बुझा, लौ गई। न परलोक, न पुनर्जन्म, न आगे चलते कर्म, न ईश्वर। उन्हें इसके लिए न देश से बाहर किया गया, न जलाया गया। उनसे शास्त्रार्थ हुए। उनके अधिकांश ग्रंथ अब लुप्त हैं, पर अन्य संप्रदायों ने उनका उत्तर दिया — इसका अर्थ है कि उन्हें गंभीरता से लिया गया।

दूसरा था सांख्य संप्रदाय। बहुत प्रभावशाली, बहुत प्राचीन — गीता स्वयं इससे आधार लेती है। सांख्य द्वैतवादी है पर ईश्वरवादी नहीं। उसके लिए वास्तविकता दो तत्वों से बनी है — प्रकृति (पदार्थ, स्वभाव) और पुरुष (चेतना)। पर कोई सृष्टा-ईश्वर आवश्यक नहीं। ब्रह्मांड अकारण है; वह बस है। मुक्ति विवेक से आती है, ईश्वरीय कृपा से नहीं।

तीसरा था मीमांसा — वह संप्रदाय जिसने धर्म और कर्मकांड का सबसे गहन विश्लेषण किया। मीमांसा की कुछ धाराएँ खुले रूप से ईश्वरवादी नहीं थीं। उनका कथन था — कर्मकांड अपनी अंतर्निहित शक्ति से काम करते हैं, किसी देवता की कृपा से नहीं। वेद नित्य और अपौरुषेय हैं; किसी सृष्टा की आवश्यकता नहीं। शुद्ध धर्म, बिना देवता के।

और इनसे आगे — बौद्ध और जैन धर्म, दोनों उसी बौद्धिक संसार में जन्मे, अपने मूल रूप में ईश्वरवादी नहीं हैं। बुद्ध ने स्वयं सृष्टा-ईश्वर के बारे में पूछे जाने पर शिष्टता से उत्तर देने से मना किया। महावीर के ब्रह्मांड में कोई रचयिता नहीं है।

तो जब तुम्हारा हठी नास्तिक मित्र कहे ‘धर्म मूर्खों के लिए है,’ तब उसे विनम्रता से कहना — चार्वाक, सांख्य और बुद्ध इससे असहमत थे, और वे यह काम हिचेन्स साहब से ढाई हज़ार साल पहले कर रहे थे।

और जब कोई बड़ी-बूढ़ी कहे कि गंभीर मनुष्य होने के लिए व्यक्तिगत ईश्वर पर विश्वास आवश्यक है, तब उसे और भी विनम्रता से कहना — हमारी अपनी परंपरा के पूरे संप्रदाय इस पर विश्वास नहीं करते थे, और हज़ारों साल तक उन्हें पूरी गंभीरता से लिया गया।

हमारी परंपरा एक वन है, बेटा। उसमें मंदिर बनाने वाला है। उसमें गुफा में रहने वाला है। उसमें बाज़ार में तर्क करता भौतिकवादी है। उसमें मौन योगी है जिसने शब्द छोड़ दिए हैं। भूल हमेशा यही होती है — एक वृक्ष को पूरा वन समझ लेना।

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आठ — दुनिया भर में — एक ब्रह्मांड, अनेक नाम

बालक:

महाराज — एक बड़ा प्रश्न। अमेरिका के लोगों का अपना ईश्वर है। अरब देशों के लोगों का अपना। मेरा एक सहपाठी ईसाई है, वह कहता है उसका यीशु ही एकमात्र सच्चा ईश्वर है। मेरी एक मित्र मुस्लिम है, उसके लिए अल्लाह ही एकमात्र सच्चा ईश्वर है। मेरी दादी कहती हैं कृष्ण। सब निश्चित हैं। पर सब सही नहीं हो सकते। यह पृथ्वी ब्रह्मांड में इतनी छोटी है — तो ब्रह्मांडीय सत्य, यदि वह है, तो सबके लिए एक ही होना चाहिए ना? तो फिर सब लड़ क्यों रहे हैं? धर्म के नाम पर इतनी हिंसा क्यों है? क्या यह कभी रुकेगी?

संत ने आकाश की ओर बहुत देर देखा। पहले तारे अब चमक रहे थे।

संत:

यह सबसे महत्वपूर्ण प्रश्न है जो तुम कभी पूछोगे। बहुत ध्यान से सुनो — क्योंकि हमारी प्रजाति का भविष्य इसी पर निर्भर है कि अगली पीढ़ी इस उत्तर को सही ढंग से समझे।

पहली बात — हाँ। परिभाषा से ही ब्रह्मांडीय सत्य एक है। पृथ्वी एक साधारण तारे की परिक्रमा करता एक छोटा-सा धूलकण है, और वह तारा एक साधारण आकाशगंगा के किनारे पर है, और ब्रह्मांड में दो ट्रिलियन आकाशगंगाएँ हैं। परम सत्य चाहे जो भी हो, वह भारतीय नहीं है। वह अमेरिकी नहीं है। वह अरब नहीं है। हो ही नहीं सकता। ब्रह्मांड तेरह अरब वर्षों तक यहाँ था इससे पहले कि किसी मनुष्य का कोई धर्म हुआ। ब्रह्मांड किसी का पासपोर्ट नहीं देखता। तो यदि सबसे गहरा सत्य है, तो — हाँ — अमेरिकी का सबसे गहरा ईश्वर, अरब का सबसे गहरा ईश्वर, तुम्हारी दादी का सबसे गहरा ईश्वर, और चिली में बैठे एक नास्तिक खगोलविद का सबसे गहरा ईश्वर — एक ही हैं। होने ही चाहिए। और कोई जगह नहीं है उनके होने के लिए।

अब इसे ध्यान से सुनो — और तुम कुछ ऐसा देखोगे जो बहुत कम लोग समझते हैं। यदि तुम हर परंपरा के सबसे गहरे संत-दार्शनिकों को पढ़ो, वे सब एक ही बात कहते हैं। इस्लाम के सूफ़ी पढ़ो — रूमी, इब्न अरबी, हल्लाज — वे ऐसे ईश्वर का वर्णन करते हैं जो हर नाम से परे है, हर चेहरे में उपस्थित है, जिसके साथ साधक एक हो जाता है। ईसाई संत-दार्शनिक पढ़ो — माइस्टर एकहार्ट, जॉन ऑफ़ द क्रॉस, हिल्डेगार्ड — वे एक ऐसे दिव्य तत्व का वर्णन करते हैं जो ईश्वर से भी परे है, जिसका व्यक्ति-यीशु एक मुख है। यहूदी रहस्यवाद पढ़ो — कब्बाला — वे ‘ऐन सोफ़’ का वर्णन करते हैं — असीम, हर नाम से परे। चीन के ताओवादी पढ़ो — वे उस ‘ताओ’ का वर्णन करते हैं जिसे नाम नहीं दिया जा सकता, जो दस हज़ार वस्तुओं का स्रोत है। अपने ही उपनिषद पढ़ो — वे परम सत्य का वर्णन करते हैं — सब गुणों से परे, हर हृदय में स्थित। प्राचीन यूनान के प्लोटिनस को पढ़ो — वे इसे केवल ‘द वन’ — ‘वह एक’ कहते हैं। बौद्धों को पढ़ो — वे इसे ‘तथता,’ ‘शून्यता,’ ‘अनुपाधिक’ कहते हैं।

अब देखो वे सब मिलकर क्या कह रहे हैं। वही आकार। वही गहराई। वही दृष्टि — कि एक ही सत्य है; कि नाम उसकी ओर इशारा करते हैं पर उसे पकड़ नहीं पाते; कि साधक उसे अपने ही गहरे अस्तित्व के रूप में पाता है; और कि उसका एकमात्र उचित प्रत्युत्तर है — श्रद्धा, विनम्रता और प्रेम।

इसे ‘शाश्वत दर्शन’ — perennial philosophy कहते हैं। हर परंपरा के संत-दार्शनिक, समुद्रों और सदियों से अलग — सहमत हैं। वे एक ही पर्वत पर अलग-अलग रास्तों से चढ़ रहे हैं। शिखर पर पहुँचने पर वे एक-दूसरे को हाथ हिलाते हैं और हँस पड़ते हैं। यह झगड़ा धर्मों के बीच नहीं है। यह कभी धर्मों के बीच रहा ही नहीं। यह झगड़ा धर्म की सतह और धर्म की गहराई के बीच है।

बालक:

तो फिर इतनी लड़ाई क्यों है? लोग ईश्वर के नाम पर एक-दूसरे को क्यों मार रहे हैं?

संत:

क्योंकि अधिकांश समय अधिकांश धर्म ‘सत्य’ के बारे में नहीं होता। वह ‘पहचान’ के बारे में होता है। ध्यान से सुनो। दो बिल्कुल अलग चीज़ें हैं जिन्हें हम ‘धर्म’ नाम से पुकार लेते हैं।

एक है — खोज के रूप में धर्म। संत, ऋषि और साधक का मार्ग। यह व्यक्ति कहता है — मैं नहीं जानता कि अंतिम सत्य क्या है। मैं जीवन भर इसे ढूँढने का प्रयास करूँगा। मैं ज्ञानियों को पढ़ूँगा। मौन में बैठूँगा। पड़ोसी से प्रेम करूँगा, क्योंकि यदि कोई गहरा सत्य है, तो मेरा पड़ोसी भी वही है। ऐसा व्यक्ति जैसे-जैसे बढ़ता है, और विनम्र होता जाता है। उसे किसी को धर्मांतरित करने की आवश्यकता नहीं। वह बहुत व्यस्त है — खोज में। वह हर परंपरा के साधक का सगा है, चाहे साधक किसी भी नाम का प्रयोग करे।

दूसरा है — पहचान के रूप में धर्म। जनजाति का मार्ग। यह व्यक्ति कहता है — मैं इस समूह में जन्मा हूँ। मेरे समूह की ये कथाएँ हैं। दूसरे समूहों की अलग कथाएँ हैं। इसलिए मेरा समूह सही है, अन्य समूह ग़लत हैं। यह सच में ईश्वर के बारे में है ही नहीं। यह ‘जुड़ाव’ के बारे में है। यही मस्तिष्क-यंत्र है जो हमें अपनी क्रिकेट टीम की हौसला-अफज़ाई कराता है। यही यंत्र था जो आदिम जनजातियों को अपने अलाव के पास खड़ा कर अंधेरे में दूसरी जनजाति की आग देखता रखता था। यह बहुत प्राचीन है। यह हम सबमें है। और यह ख़तरनाक है।

लगभग सारी धार्मिक हिंसा दूसरे प्रकार की है, जो पहले प्रकार का स्वाँग कर रही है। जो भीड़ कृष्ण के नाम पर मारती है, वह कृष्ण को नहीं समझती। जो भीड़ अल्लाह के नाम पर मारती है, वह अल्लाह को नहीं समझती। जो भीड़ ईसा के नाम पर मारती है, वह ईसा को नहीं समझती। गीता में कृष्ण आसक्ति रहित और समबुद्धि की माँग करते हैं। क़ुरान में एक आयत है — सूरह 5, आयत 32 — जो कहती है कि जिसने एक निर्दोष की हत्या की, उसने मानो पूरी मानवता की हत्या की। ईसा ने कहा — अपने शत्रु से प्रेम करो। हर परंपरा का संत-दार्शनिक हर दूसरी परंपरा के संत-दार्शनिक के अधिक क़रीब है, बजाय अपनी ही परंपरा की हिंसक भीड़ के।

बालक:

तो साधारण धार्मिक लोग क्या नहीं देख पा रहे? मेरी दादी हिंसक नहीं हैं। मेरा ईसाई मित्र हिंसक नहीं है। फिर भी दोनों मानते हैं कि केवल उनका ईश्वर सच है।

संत:

तीन बातें, बेटा। तीन साधारण-सी बातें — और लगभग हर मानव सभ्यता की समस्या की जड़ यहीं है।

एक — उन्हें सतह और गहराई का अंतर सिखाया ही नहीं गया। बचपन में उन्हें सतह दे दी गई — उन्हीं लोगों के द्वारा जो उनसे प्रेम करते थे — और उन्होंने सतह को ही सम्पूर्ण समझ लिया। दादी ने कृष्ण को आकाश में सोने का बालक बताकर दे दिया, और किसी ने बैठाकर नहीं समझाया कि कृष्ण द्वार है, अल्लाह द्वार है, यीशु द्वार है — और द्वार के पार का कमरा एक ही है। जब तक यह नहीं सुनेंगे, द्वारों पर ही लड़ते रहेंगे।

दो — उन्हें एक ही पर्वत पर चढ़ने के अन्य मार्गों के बारे में नहीं बताया गया। उन्होंने केवल एक रास्ता देखा। इसलिए उन्हें यह समझ नहीं कि दूसरों के रास्ते भी ऊपर ही जाते हैं। वे सोचते हैं — दूसरे कहीं नहीं जा रहे। यदि बचपन से हर हिंदू थोड़ा क़ुरान पढ़े, हर मुसलमान थोड़ी गीता, हर ईसाई थोड़ा ताओ ते चिंग, हर नास्तिक थोड़े उपनिषद — और हम एक-दूसरे को खंडन के लिए नहीं, बल्कि सत्य खोजने के लिए पढ़ें — तो आधी धार्मिक लड़ाइयाँ इतिहास में होतीं ही नहीं। तुलनात्मक ज्ञान की शिक्षा सबसे शांतिप्रिय आविष्कारों में से है, और हम इसे करते बहुत कम हैं।

तीन — उन्होंने धूर्त लोगों को धर्म को सत्ता के लिए हथियार बनाने दिया। ऐसे राजनेता जिन्हें वास्तव में किसी पवित्र चीज़ से कोई सरोकार नहीं — उन्होंने सीख लिया है कि वे एक समूह को दूसरे समूह से डराकर चुनाव जीत सकते हैं। टीवी चैनलों ने सीख लिया है कि क्रोध बढ़ाकर वे अधिक विज्ञापन बेच सकते हैं। प्रचारकों ने सीख लिया है कि स्वर्ग का प्रलोभन देकर और नरक की धमकी देकर वे चढ़ावा बटोर सकते हैं। मूल संत-दार्शनिक इस शोर में लुप्त हो जाता है। बच जाती है — पहचान-धर्म की हथियारबंद रूप — जिसे चलाने वाले न ईश्वर से प्रेम करते हैं न मनुष्य से। उनका प्रेम है — वोट, धन और सत्ता। यह धर्म का सबसे गहरा, सबसे पुराना, सबसे विश्वसनीय भ्रष्टाचार है। और यह तब तक नहीं रुकेगा जब तक साधारण लोग इसके लिए ‘उपयोग होने’ से इनकार नहीं करते।

बालक:

इसे रोका कैसे जा सकता है, महाराज? सच में। क्या किया जा सकता है?

संत:

यह जल्दी नहीं रुकेगा। हम यह काम हज़ारों वर्षों से कर रहे हैं। पर इसे काफ़ी कम किया जा सकता है — और हर पीढ़ी पिछली से बेहतर कर सकती है, यदि वह यह काम गंभीरता से ले। पाँच चीज़ें हम कर सकते हैं।

पहली — बच्चों को सबसे छोटी उम्र से शाश्वत दृष्टि सिखाओ। उन्हें कहो — अनेक परंपराएँ, एक पर्वत। उन्हें रूमी की कविताएँ, ईसा का गिरि-प्रवचन, गीता, ताओ, बुद्ध की शिक्षाएँ — साथ-साथ दिखाओ। उन्हें अपनी आँखों से एकता देखने दो। बच्चे धर्म में जनजातीय होकर पैदा नहीं होते। उन्हें ऐसा सिखाया जाता है। हम उन्हें अलग ढंग से सिखा सकते हैं।

दूसरी — संत और भीड़ का अंतर पहचानो। अपनी परंपरा के संतों का सम्मान करो — कबीर, मीराबाई, तुलसीदास, विवेकानंद, गांधी, टैगोर — और हर अन्य परंपरा के संतों का भी सम्मान करो। उन धार्मिक नेताओं से प्रभावित होने से इनकार करो जो दूसरे समूहों को कोसते हैं। पहला संकेत कि किसी ने मूल बात खो दी है — वह बाहरी लोगों पर क्रोध करता है। संत बाहरी से प्रेम करता है। भीड़ बाहरी से घृणा करती है। यह अंतर याद रखो और उसी के अनुसार जाँच करो।

तीसरी — उन लोगों को वोट देने से इनकार करो जो धर्म को सत्ता के लिए इस्तेमाल करते हैं। यह छोटा-सा नागरिक कर्म, बहुत बड़े परिणाम लाता है। वह राजनेता जो तुम्हारे कान में फुसफुसाता है कि तुम्हें दूसरे समूह से डरना चाहिए — वह तुम्हारे जीवन में मिलने वाला सबसे आध्यात्मिक रूप से ख़तरनाक व्यक्ति है। उसे पहचानो। उसे वोट देना बंद करो। जिस दिन पर्याप्त नागरिक यह कर देंगे, उसकी रणनीति काम करना बंद कर देगी।

चौथी — चुपचाप साधना करो। शांत साधक — जो दीया जलाता है, मौन में बैठता है, धीरे-धीरे पढ़ता है, और किसी और का धर्म बदलने की चाह नहीं रखता — वही उपचार है। ज़ोरदार धर्म विभाजित करता है। शांत धर्म जोड़ता है। अपनी भक्ति में शांत रहो और दूसरे शांत साधकों को भी अपनी भक्ति में शांत रहने दो। शांत लोग एक-दूसरे को हर सीमा के पार पहचान लेंगे।

पाँचवीं — ब्रह्मांडीय दृष्टि अपनाओ। जब हो सके, रात के आकाश को देखो। याद रखो — सच में याद रखो — कि पृथ्वी एक अकल्पनीय विशालता में एक धूल का कण है। जो भी इस विशालता के हृदय में है, वह किसी देश, भाषा, पुस्तक या मंदिर की संपत्ति नहीं है। वह सबका है, और किसी का नहीं। उस दृष्टि से, उसके नाम पर लड़ना — बिल्कुल वैसा ही दिखता है जैसा यह है — छोटा और दयनीय। बुरा नहीं — दयनीय। लोग एक चीज़ के टुकड़ों के लिए लड़ रहे हैं जिसकी पूर्णता को वे सब भूल चुके हैं।

क्या यह काफ़ी होगा? मुझे नहीं पता। निराशावादी कहेंगे — नहीं। निराशावादी कभी-कभी सही होते हैं। पर मैं तुम्हें यह कहूँगा — यदि हर पीढ़ी में कुछ बच्चे यह बात समझकर बड़े हों, जो हम अभी समझ रहे हैं, तो संसार धीरे-धीरे, सदी दर सदी अधिक शांत होता जाता है। मानव चेतना का चाप लंबा है, और बहुत धीरे-धीरे, एकीकरण की ओर मुड़ता है। तुम उन बच्चों में से एक हो सकते हो जो उसे और मोड़ते हैं।

लड़के ने ऊपर देखा। आकाशगंगा अब नदी के ऊपर अंत-से-अंत तक दिखाई दे रही थी — एक धुँधली चाँदी की लकीर, जिसमें वास्तव में दो सौ अरब तारे जल रहे थे, हर एक पूरी मानव कथा से भी प्राचीन।

बालक:

यह तो बहुत बड़ा है, महाराज।

संत:

हाँ, बेटा। बहुत बड़ा है। और जितना अधिक तुम इसे अपने मन में बड़ा होने दो, उतनी छोटी होती जाती है धरती पर हर लड़ाई। यही असली औषधि है। रोज़ लो। रात का आकाश मुफ़्त है।

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नौ — फिर हम पूजा क्यों करते हैं?

बालक:

महाराज, तो मुझे पूछना ही पड़ेगा — यदि कृष्ण द्वार हैं, यदि परम सत्य अव्यक्तिगत है, यदि नास्तिकता हमारी ही परंपरा में सम्मिलित है, यदि हर अन्य परंपरा भी उसी सत्य की ओर इशारा करती है — तो मेरी माँ रोज़ शाम दीया क्यों जलाती हैं? आप, महाराज, गोधूलि में नदी किनारे क्यों चलते हैं? साधना का प्रयोजन क्या है?

संत मुस्कुराए — गहरी मुस्कान, मानो यही प्रश्न उन्हें सबसे अधिक प्रिय लगा हो।

संत:

बुद्ध से किसी ने ऐसा ही प्रश्न पूछा था। उन्होंने कहा — जब प्यासा कुएँ तक पहुँचता है, तो वह किनारे खड़ा होकर यह नहीं सोचता कि कुआँ सच में है या नहीं। वह पीता है। कुएँ का कुआँ-होना पीने से सिद्ध होता है, विश्लेषण से नहीं।

साधना भी ऐसी ही है। हम दीया इसलिए नहीं जलाते कि कोई स्वर्गिक हिसाब-कीताबी उसे एक तालिका में जोड़ ले। हम इसलिए जलाते हैं कि दीया जलाने का कर्म स्वयं हम पर कुछ करता है। एक मिनट के लिए वह हमें ‘ग्रेडों, बिलों और चिंताओं वाले छोटे प्राणी’ के शोर से बाहर निकालकर रहस्य की उपस्थिति में रख देता है। दीया जादुई नहीं है। दीया जलाने वाला हाथ बदलता है — यही जादू है।

ऐसे सोचो — एक संगीतकार रोज़ रियाज़ करता है। रियाज़ संगीत नहीं है। कोई भी कार्यक्रम में रियाज़ सुनने नहीं आता। पर बिना रियाज़ के कोई कार्यक्रम भी नहीं। रियाज़ हाथों का तरीक़ा है — अपनी विस्मृति को ठीक रखने का।

पूजा हृदय का तरीक़ा है — अपनी विस्मृति को ठीक रखने का। हृदय बहुत आसानी से भूल जाता है — कि वह छोटा है और ब्रह्मांड विशाल। हृदय भूल जाता है कि जिनसे हम प्रेम करते हैं वे मरेंगे, और हम भी। हृदय कृतज्ञता भूल जाता है। हृदय विस्मय भूल जाता है। हृदय भूल जाता है कि यह क्षण — यहाँ — ही एकमात्र क्षण है जो हमारे पास है। हज़ारों छोटे पूजा-कर्म — दीया, नमस्ते, कुछ क्षण मौन, एक श्लोक का पाठ, नदी के किनारे चहलक़दमी — ये हृदय के दैनिक रियाज़ हैं। ये हृदय को उन क्षणों के लिए सुर में रखते हैं जो असली होते हैं।

आधुनिक विज्ञान भी यह बात मानता है, यदि तुम चाहो। अनुसंधान — व्यवस्थित अध्ययन, नियंत्रण और मापदंडों के साथ — दिखाते हैं कि ध्यान-साधना तनाव घटाती है, प्रतिरोधक क्षमता बढ़ाती है, अवसाद कम करती है, आयु बढ़ाती है। किसी देवता के पुरस्कार से नहीं — साधक स्वयं अधिक सम्पूर्ण होता जाता है, इसलिए।

तो दीया जलाओ, बेटा। या न जलाओ। पर यदि जलाओ, तो लेन-देन की तरह नहीं। एक सुर में लाने की तरह जलाओ। एक छोटे दैनिक स्मरण की तरह — मैं किसी ऐसी चीज़ का अंश हूँ जिसके किनारे मुझे नहीं दिखते, और यह तथ्य रुककर ध्यान देने योग्य है।

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दस — मैं जीवन कैसे जिऊँ?

लड़के ने फिर तारों की ओर देखा।

बालक:

एक अंतिम प्रश्न, महाराज। मैं जीवन कैसे जिऊँ?

संत बहुत देर तक सोचते रहे।

संत:

मैं तुम्हें पाँच वाक्य दूँगा। कंठस्थ कर लो। ये पर्याप्त हैं।

पहला — विस्मय। इसकी क्षमता कभी मत खोना। जो व्यक्ति आश्चर्य करना भूल गया, वही असल में मरा हुआ नास्तिक है — और यह अच्छे अर्थ में नहीं है। तारों को देखो। पत्ते को देखो। अपने ही हाथ को देखो — और उससे क्या-क्या हो सकता है। ब्रह्मांड में कुछ भी असाधारण न हो — ऐसा कुछ नहीं है, यदि तुम पर्याप्त देर देखो।

दूसरा — अपना धर्म करो। वह काम जो तुम्हारा है, उसे ढूँढो, और अच्छा करो — और संसार की तालियों पर निर्भर मत हो। कुछ दिन संसार ताली बजाएगा। ज़्यादातर दिन नहीं बजाएगा। काम के लिए काम करो, तालियों के लिए नहीं। यह गीता का पूरा उपदेश है, पाँच शब्दों में — कर्म करो, फल के लिए नहीं।

तीसरा — दयालु बनो। ब्रह्मांड दया लागू नहीं करता। तो हमें करनी होगी। दया का हर कर्म एक छोटी ज्योति है — एक विशाल उदासीनता के सामने। उन ज्योतियों में से एक होने की गरिमा को छोटा मत समझो।

चौथा — हर परंपरा में वही गहराई देखो। किसी और की ईश्वर-खोज को केवल इसलिए झूठा मत कहो कि शब्द तुम्हारे शब्दों से अलग हैं। तुम्हारी परंपरा का संत और उनकी परंपरा का संत — एक ही पर्वत पर चढ़ रहे हैं। इस पर हर्षित हो। तुम भी सहयात्री बनो। किसी की ‘कबीला सेना’ में भर्ती होने से इनकार करो।

पाँचवाँ — ‘न जानने’ के साथ शांति बना लो। तुम मरोगे — यह निश्चित जाने बिना कि क्या कोई ईश्वर उस तरह है जैसे तुम्हारी दादी मानती हैं। मैं भी ऐसे ही मरूँगा। हर संत और ऋषि ऐसे ही मरे। ‘न जानना’ हार नहीं है। यह जिज्ञासा की भूमि है। उसमें आराम से बैठो। नासदीय सूक्त चार हज़ार वर्ष पहले उसमें आराम से बैठा था। तुम भी बैठ सकते हो।

लड़का खड़ा हो गया। उसने बहुत गंभीरता से नमस्ते किया, और संत ने उतनी ही गंभीरता से नमस्ते लौटाया।

लड़का घर की ओर मुड़ा। फिर मुड़कर बोला —

बालक:

महाराज — एक और बात। क्या आप परम सत्य हैं? क्या मैं हूँ?

संत हँसे — एक मृदु, स्नेहिल हँसी, जिसमें नदी भी हँसती सी लगी।

संत:

घर जाओ, बेटा। माँ से कहो कि तुम उनसे प्रेम करते हो। भोजन खाओ। पाठ करो। परम सत्य का प्रश्न — तुम उसमें जीते-जीते उतरोगे। आज रात इसे हल करने का प्रयास मत करो। यह स्वयं तुम्हें — अपने ढंग से — अगले साठ वर्षों में उत्तर देगा।

लड़का घर चला गया। संत कुछ देर और बैठे रहे — तारों को नदी के अंधेरे दर्पण में एक-एक करके निकलते देखते हुए।

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एक छोटी शब्दावली — आगे पढ़ने के लिए

परम सत्य (The Absolute)

वह सत्य जो किसी और के सापेक्ष नहीं है — वह सत्य जिसका सब कुछ अंश है। इसे ‘द वन’, ‘अस्तित्व का आधार’, ‘अंतिम वास्तविकता’, ‘निरुपाधिक’, ‘स्रोत’ भी कहते हैं। अलग-अलग परंपराएँ अलग-अलग शब्दों में इसकी ओर बढ़ती हैं। यह कोई सत्ता नहीं है — यह स्वयं ‘होनापन’ है — जो भी ‘है’, उसका ही ‘है’ होना।

अद्वैत वेदांत

आदि शंकराचार्य (लगभग 8वीं सदी) द्वारा प्रतिपादित अद्वैतवादी दर्शन। ‘अद्वैत’ का अर्थ है — ‘दो नहीं’। यह सिखाता है कि अंतिम सत्य एक अखंड चेतना है, और संसार की प्रतीत होती विविधता उस एक सत्य पर माया का आवरण है। ‘तत् त्वम् असि’ — तू वही है — इसकी केंद्रीय शिक्षा है।

आत्मा

वह गहरा ‘मैं’ — शरीर और मन के पीछे का साक्षी चैतन्य। अद्वैत का साहसी कथन यह है कि यह आत्मा और परम सत्य दो नहीं हैं — सबसे गहरा ‘तुम’ और ब्रह्मांड का सबसे गहरा सत्य — दोनों एक हैं।

स्पिनोज़ा का ईश्वर / Deus sive Natura

17वीं सदी के दार्शनिक बारुख स्पिनोज़ा का ईश्वर। न कोई व्यक्ति, न कोई सृष्टा, न संसार से अलग — बल्कि वह एकमात्र शाश्वत तत्व जिसका संसार अभिव्यक्ति है। ‘Deus sive Natura’ का अर्थ है — ‘ईश्वर अथवा प्रकृति’ — एक ही सत्य के दो नाम। पूरब के अद्वैतवादी दर्शन के बहुत क़रीब।

ब्रह्मांडीय धर्मभाव

आइंस्टाइन के द्वारा दिया गया नाम — डर-धर्म और नैतिकता-धर्म से परे — धर्म का तीसरा और सर्वोच्च रूप। यह वह श्रद्धा और विनम्रता है जो विचारशील प्राणी ब्रह्मांड के क्रम, गहराई और सुंदरता के सामने अनुभव करता है। विज्ञान के साथ संगत। विस्मय से अविभाज्य।

चार्वाक / लोकायत

प्राचीन भारत का कठोर भौतिकवादी संप्रदाय। मानता था कि केवल प्रत्यक्ष ही प्रमाण है, चेतना पदार्थ से उत्पन्न होती है और शरीर के साथ समाप्त, और कोई सृष्टा-ईश्वर, आत्मा या परलोक नहीं। यह व्यवहार में नास्तिक था और भारतीय दार्शनिक संवाद का अंग था।

सांख्य

भारत के छह शास्त्रीय दर्शनों में से एक। द्वैतवादी पर ईश्वरवादी नहीं — वास्तविकता दो तत्वों से बनी है — प्रकृति (पदार्थ) और पुरुष (चेतना) — कोई सृष्टा-ईश्वर अनिवार्य नहीं। मुक्ति विवेक से, दिव्य कृपा से नहीं। गीता पर इसका गहरा प्रभाव है।

मीमांसा

भारतीय दर्शन का एक और शास्त्रीय संप्रदाय — धर्म और कर्मकांड के विश्लेषण पर केंद्रित। इसकी कुछ प्रसिद्ध धाराएँ खुले रूप से ईश्वरवादी नहीं थीं — मानती थीं कि वेद नित्य और अपौरुषेय हैं और कर्मकांड अपनी अंतर्निहित शक्ति से फलदायी हैं, बिना किसी देवता की कृपा के।

नासदीय सूक्त

ऋग्वेद 10.129 — संसार की संभवतः सबसे प्राचीन अज्ञेय कविता। यह सृष्टि की उत्पत्ति का वर्णन करते हुए इन पंक्तियों पर समाप्त होती है — ‘यह सृष्टि कहाँ से उठी — शायद इसने अपने आप को बनाया, शायद नहीं — केवल वही जानता है जो सबसे ऊँचे आकाश से देखता है। और शायद वह भी न जानता हो।’

उपाय

‘कुशल साधन’। शिक्षण की वह विधि जिसमें एक असीम और सूक्ष्म सत्य को सीमित और सरल रूप दिया जाता है ताकि साधक उस तक पहुँच सकें। हर परंपरा के व्यक्तिगत देवता (कृष्ण, अल्लाह, यीशु, गुणयुक्त बुद्ध, गुणयुक्त ताओ) को उपाय समझा जा सकता है — मनुष्य के हृदय के अनुकूल द्वार — न कि अंतिम सत्य का अंतिम बिंदु।

कर्मयोग

गीता का उपदेश — कर्म पर अधिकार है, फल पर नहीं — फल की आसक्ति से मुक्त कर्म का मार्ग। यह उपदेश ब्रह्मांडीय न्याय पर निर्भर नहीं है — यह उस ब्रह्मांड के लिए ही है जिसमें ब्रह्मांडीय न्याय भरोसेमंद नहीं।

शाश्वत दर्शन (Perennial Philosophy)

यह अवलोकन कि हर परंपरा के सबसे गहरे संत-दार्शनिक — सूफ़ी, ईसाई, यहूदी, ताओवादी, वेदांती, बौद्ध, आदिवासी — एक ही सत्य का संगत वर्णन करते हैं। नाम अलग। कथाएँ अलग। पर अंतर्निहित दृष्टि — कि एक ही असीम सत्य है, कि नाम उसकी ओर इशारा करते हैं, कि वह अपने ही गहरे अस्तित्व में मिलता है — एक ही पर्वत के अनेक मार्ग।

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लेखक की अंतिम टिप्पणी

यह संवाद किसी को किसी विश्वास में बदलने के लिए नहीं लिखा गया है। यह न धर्म-समर्थक है, न धर्म-विरोधी। यह केवल यह दिखाने के लिए है कि ‘अंध-भक्त’ बनाम ‘कट्टर नास्तिक’ — इन दो विकल्पों के बीच एक बहुत व्यापक बौद्धिक भूमि है। और यह भूमि किसी भी देश, किसी भी परंपरा के व्यक्ति के लिए खुली है — जो ईमानदारी से सोचने को तैयार हो।

यदि सोच-विचार के बाद आप आइंस्टाइन और स्पिनोज़ा के ब्रह्मांडीय धर्म की ओर खिंचते हैं — ब्रह्मांड के क्रम के सामने एक गहरी श्रद्धा, बिना किसी व्यक्तिगत दिव्य पुरुष के — तो आप अच्छी संगति में हैं। और शायद बिना जाने आप उपनिषदों, सूफ़ी संतों, ईसाई चिंतकों, ताओवादी ऋषियों के मूल भाव के बहुत क़रीब भी हैं। नदी वही नदी है — चाहे आप उसे ब्रह्मांड कहें, परम सत्य, प्रकृति, ताओ, या केवल नदी।

और यदि आप, अभी, उस कमरे में बैठते हैं जहाँ माता-पिता दीया जला रहे हैं, या उस कमरे में चुपचाप खड़े होते हैं जहाँ कोई मित्र किसी अन्य भाषा में किसी अन्य नाम की प्रार्थना कर रहा है — और आप उस छोटी ज्योति, उस अंधेरे कमरे और बीच के प्रेम को महसूस करते हैं, और तत्व-मीमांसा पर एक भी शब्द नहीं कहते — यह भी संसार में रहने का एक उत्तम ढंग है। दीया आपकी सहमति की माँग नहीं करता। वह केवल आपकी उपस्थिति की माँग करता है। उपस्थित रहो। दयालु रहो। विस्मय करो। यही पर्याप्त है।

पुनश्च: यह विचार मूलतः मेरा अपना है। मैं पिछले 18 वर्षों से अपने ब्लॉग पर इस पर सोचता और लिखता रहा हूँ, परंतु AI की सहायता से ही मैं इतना विस्तृत ब्लॉग लिख सका। AI के बिना मैं अपनी भावनाओं को इतनी गहराई से अभिव्यक्त नहीं कर पाता। निस्संदेह, यह ब्लॉग केवल एक दृष्टिकोण है — मेरा अंतिम विचार नहीं। मेरी जिज्ञासा अंतिम साँस तक समाप्त नहीं होगी।

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A curious child and the Saint by the River - God, Evil and Cosmos

2026-05-06T19:39:26.802+05:30

It was the hour when day folded itself into evening. The river — wide and silver — moved without hurry. Cranes flew home in single file. A boy of about eleven, with a school bag still on his shoulder, walked slowly along the ghat. He had been thinking too much for a child his age.

On a flat stone by the water sat an old man. His robes were the colour of soft earth. His feet were bare. He was not chanting. He was not in samadhi. He was simply watching the river, the way a person watches an old friend.

The boy stopped a few feet away. The old man turned and smiled, as if he had been expecting him.

Saint:

Sit, child.

The boy sat.

Saint:

You have something inside you that is asking a question. Ask.

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One — Is there really a God?

Boy:

Sir… is there really a God? My mother lights a diya every evening. My grandmother fasts and prays. But I have read books — Mr Hitchens, Mr Dawkins — they say it is all a story. That the universe is just atoms. And I think — if there were a kind, all-powerful God, why would he allow so much terrible suffering? Small girls hurt by bad men. Honest people poor. Cruel people rich. Why would a loving God permit it? So I do not know what to believe.

The saint did not answer at once. He picked up a small stone, weighed it in his palm, and tossed it into the river. A circle of ripples spread, met the bank, and was gone.

Saint:

You have asked, child, a question that the rishis of the Rigveda asked four thousand years ago. There is a hymn in the tenth book — the Nasadiya Sukta. After describing creation, it ends like this: “Whence this creation arose — perhaps it formed itself, perhaps it did not. Only He who looks down on it from the highest heaven, He knows. Or perhaps even He does not know.”

The boy blinked.

Saint:

You see, child? Our oldest scripture begins not with a confident answer. It begins with the courage to say: we may not know. Even He may not know. So you are in good company when you doubt.

Boy:

But that is not an answer.

Saint:

No. It is the first lesson — that the question is bigger than the answer. Now let us begin to walk into it. Slowly.

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Two — What did Einstein think about God?

Boy:

Yes! That is what I was going to ask. I was reading about Einstein. He said something strange. He said he believed in “Spinoza’s God,” but not in a personal God. What did he mean, sir?

The saint’s eyes lit up.

Saint:

Ah. You are reading the right things. Einstein lived a hundred years ago, but he is closer to the rishis than most pandits I have ever met. Listen carefully — I will tell you what he meant, because it is the heart of what we are talking about.

There was once, in Holland, a quiet philosopher named Baruch Spinoza. He polished glass lenses for a living, and he was thrown out of his own community for heresy when he was a young man, because he refused to believe in a God who could be flattered, bribed, or insulted. But he was not an atheist in the way Mr Dawkins is. He said something deeper. He said: “Deus sive Natura” — God, or Nature. The same thing. Two names for one reality.

For Spinoza, God is not a person sitting outside the universe, watching us. God is not an emperor with feelings. God is the very substance of which everything is made. The river is God. The crane flying overhead is God. The stone I just threw is God. You are God. I am God. Not in the silly sense that we are super-beings who can fly — but in the sense that we are all expressions, modes, faces of one single underlying reality. There is nothing outside it. There is nowhere else for it to be. The wave does not need to find the ocean. It is the ocean, taking the temporary shape of a wave.

When you understand that — really understand it — you stop asking “Does God exist?” the way you stop asking “Does the ocean exist?” while you are swimming in it. The question dissolves. You are in it. You are made of it.

Einstein read Spinoza and was deeply moved. He once told a rabbi that the only God he could believe in was Spinoza’s God — a God revealed in the orderly harmony of what exists — and not a God who concerns himself with the small fates and actions of human beings. Do you see what he meant? He looked at the equations of physics — at how a single law explains the falling apple and the orbit of the moon — and he felt awe. He felt that the universe is lawful, beautiful, intelligible. And he called that feeling religious. He called it the cosmic religious feeling.

Boy:

But — that is just admiring nature. Why call it religion?

Saint:

Good. Push back. That is exactly the question. Listen.

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Three — The Three Religions

Saint:

Einstein once said, in essence, that the deepest experience available to a thinking being is the experience of the mysterious — and that this is the wellspring of both true art and true science. The person who has lost the capacity to wonder, he said, has in some important sense already stopped being alive. Remember that. It is a torch.

Now — there are three kinds of religion in the world, and Einstein named them all.

The first is the religion of fear. When men were afraid of thunder and tigers and earthquakes and death, they made gods to beg from. “Please, lord, do not strike me. Please send rain.” This is a children’s religion. It works when life is short and unpredictable. But it cannot survive close inspection. It is the religion of the cave.

The second is the religion of morality. Here, God is a great judge. “Be good or you will be punished. Be good and you will be rewarded.” This is the religion of most temples and most mosques and most churches today. It is not stupid. It teaches small children to be kind. It builds order in society. But it is incomplete. Because — as you yourself noticed — the world does not actually reward the good or punish the wicked. Not reliably. Not at all sometimes. So if your religion depends on that, your religion will break. Yours has begun to break already, hasn’t it? That is why you came to ask me.

The boy nodded, surprised.

Saint:

The third — and Einstein said this is the highest — is the cosmic religious feeling. It is what comes when you stop asking the universe to serve you, and you simply notice that the universe IS. That there is something rather than nothing. That the same mathematics that governs a galaxy also makes a flower bloom. That a single law of gravity holds the moon in its orbit and pulls the stone I threw back to the earth. That there are stars whose light has been travelling for ten billion years to enter your eye tonight. That you, a small boy on a riverbank, are made of atoms forged inside ancient stars. The iron in your blood was once the heart of a dying sun. There is no way to know this and remain unmoved.

This feeling — this awe in front of the order and depth and strangeness of what is — Einstein called religious. In one famous essay he described real religiosity as the awareness that there is profound reason and radiant beauty in the universe, that we can only ever glimpse it in its most primitive forms, and that the awe and humility we feel in front of that fact is what genuine religion actually means. In that sense, and that sense alone, he said, he was a deeply religious man.

Do you see the difference between the three religions? The God of fear says: be afraid of me. The God of morality says: obey me and I will reward you. But the cosmic God — Spinoza’s God, Einstein’s God, the one named in the Upanishads — says nothing. It does not need to say anything. Its existence is the whole speech.

The boy looked at the river. A bat flickered past. He was silent for a long time.

Boy:

But sir, that does not feel like love. Spinoza’s God does not love me back.

Saint:

True. He does not love you the way your mother loves you. He does not pick you out from a crowd. He cannot. Because he is the crowd. He is your mother. He is you. The love is not a love sent from there to here. The love is the fact that here and there are not two.

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Four — Then what about Krishna and Ram?

Boy:

But Krishna, sir? Ram? They have stories. They have wives. They are real, na? My grandmother says yes. She says Ram lived in Ayodhya, walked the earth, fought Ravan. Krishna stole butter, danced with the gopis, drove Arjuna’s chariot. She believes.

Saint:

Your grandmother is right in a way you do not yet understand. But not in the simple way. Listen — and now we go even deeper.

In our tradition there is a word: upaya. It means “skilful means.” A teacher uses upaya when she shows a small child the picture of an apple to teach the letter A. The picture is not the letter. The letter is a shape, an abstraction, an idea. But for a small child an idea is hard. A picture is easy. So the teacher gives the picture as a doorway to the idea.

Now imagine: how do you teach a human being to love the whole universe? How do you teach a child to revere the order of the cosmos? You cannot. The cosmos is too big. It has no face. So our wise ancestors did something brilliant. They gave the cosmos faces.

Krishna with his flute — that is the cosmos in its playful, beautiful aspect, the part that dances. Ram with his bow — that is the cosmos in its orderly, just, dharmic aspect. Shiva in deep meditation — that is the cosmos at rest, before and after all motion. Durga riding the lion — that is the cosmos when it must defend itself against chaos. Saraswati with her veena — that is the cosmos as knowledge, music, learning. Ganesha removing obstacles — that is the cosmos as the friend who walks beside us at the start of any new thing.

They are not lies. They are not even stories in the simple sense. They are doorways. They are how a finite mind — yours, mine, your grandmother’s — can put its arms around an infinite reality. You cannot embrace the ocean. But you can scoop a handful of water and look at it and feel the ocean in it. The handful is real. The ocean is more real. They are not in conflict.

The mistake of the fundamentalist is to confuse the handful with the ocean. To say: “Krishna lived in Mathura at a particular date, and that is the only way the divine ever appears.” That is small. The mistake of the militant atheist is to say: “There is no Krishna in Mathura, therefore there is nothing to revere.” That is also small. The truth is between, or beyond. There is something. It does not live only in Mathura, because it is everywhere. It does not have a flute. But your grandmother’s flute-player is one perfectly good way of pointing your heart toward it. So is Einstein’s equation. So is the river in front of us tonight.

That is why we have many gods. No single picture can be enough. So we have ten thousand.

Boy:

So Krishna and Ram are like… pictures of a thing too big to draw.

Saint:

Yes. And the wise person knows the picture is a picture and loves it anyway, because the picture pulls the heart toward something the heart can never see directly.

❖ ❖ ❖

Five — What is the Absolute?

Boy:

Sir, you keep saying the cosmic God, the One, the underlying reality. Does it have a proper name? What do philosophers call it?

The saint looked at the river for a long time before answering.

Saint:

It has many names. Different traditions reach toward the same thing with different words. Western philosophers often call it the Absolute — the reality that is not relative to anything else, the reality of which everything is a part. We will use that word too. The Absolute. It will do for tonight.

There was a philosopher long ago, in the south of India, named Adi Shankaracharya. He died at thirty-two — yes, only thirty-two — and yet in that short life he walked the entire subcontinent and reformed the way people thought about reality. He taught what we call Advaita Vedanta. Advaita means “not-two.” Not “one,” mind you — not-two. The difference is important.

Shankara said: there is a reality that simply is — without beginning, without end, without parts, without change. He called it the Absolute. It is not a being among beings. It is not a god in the universe. It is the very is-ness of the universe. It is what is left over when you take away every quality you can name. It is consciousness without an object. It is the seer behind every seeing.

And then he said something that startles people even today. He said: “Tat tvam asi.” Thou art that. You — the small boy on the rock — you are that. Not your body. Not your mind. Not your name. The deepest you, the one who notices that you have a body and a mind and a name — that is the Absolute. There is, in the end, only one consciousness, looking through eight billion pairs of eyes, hearing through eight billion pairs of ears. The illusion of separation is real for practical purposes. But it is not ultimate.

Do you see how close this is to Spinoza? Spinoza said: there is one substance, and we are modes of it. Shankara said: there is one Absolute, and we are appearances within it. Different vocabularies. The same insight, perhaps, expressed by two different traditions a thousand years and seven thousand miles apart. When two minds reach the same shore from different oceans, it is worth paying attention.

Boy:

But sir, if I am the Absolute, why do I feel so small? Why am I afraid of getting bad marks?

The saint laughed softly.

Saint:

Because the wave does not feel like the ocean while it is curling. It is busy being a wave. It will feel itself ocean only when it falls. Until then, you are a wave. And the wave’s job is to be a beautiful wave. Do not try to skip over being a wave. The realisation that you are also ocean — that comes in its own time, with its own work.

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Six — But what about evil?

The boy was quiet. The river had turned dark. A few stars had appeared.

Boy:

Sir, I have asked many questions. But you have not answered the worst one. If God is everything — Spinoza’s God, Einstein’s God, your Absolute — then God is also the man who hurts the small girl. God is also the corrupt politician. God is also the cancer cell. How is that any different from saying there is no God? Or worse — that God is monstrous?

Saint:

This is the deepest question you have asked. I will not insult you with a small answer.

First — yes. If the Absolute is everything, then it includes the suffering. It includes the cruelty. It includes the rape and the murder and the disease. We cannot pretend otherwise. We must look at this without flinching, or we are not serious people. Whoever tells you the universe is good is selling something.

Second — the religion that promises “God will reward the good and punish the wicked, you can count on it” — that religion is, I believe, false. Empirically false. The world simply does not work that way. Children of saints die. Children of monsters thrive. A good harvest goes to the wicked landlord and the honest farmer goes hungry. We have all seen this. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either a fool, a liar, or a salesman.

Third — what is left, then, when we take this comfort away? Listen carefully. Two things are left.

One: the universe is not unjust. The universe is indifferent. There is a difference. Injustice means something deserved better and was denied. Indifference means there is no court at all. Tigers do not unjustly eat deer. Earthquakes do not unjustly kill children. They simply happen. The natural world has no morality. Morality is something we — we humans — bring into the world. We are the eyes through which the universe begins to ask: is this right? It is a small fire we have lit, in one corner of one galaxy, on one planet. It is precious because it is rare, not because it is enforced from above.

Two: if morality is not enforced from above, then it must be lived from below. By you. By me. The universe will not punish the rapist; we must punish him, through justice, through law, through social action. The universe will not feed the hungry; we must feed them. The universe will not console the bereaved; we must console them. The cosmos is the canvas, but the painting is on us. There is no one else coming. There is only us.

This, I believe, is what Krishna teaches in the Gita. Read the second chapter very carefully. Krishna does not promise Arjuna that the good guys will win. Krishna says: fight because it is right to fight, and let the result be what it will. “Karmany evadhikaras te ma phalesu kadachana” — your right is to action alone, never to its fruits. This is more demanding than a promise of heaven. It is a promise of nothing — nothing except the dignity of doing what is right because it is right.

So child — I do not believe in a God who stops the rapist. I do not believe in a God who feeds the hungry child. Such a God, if he existed, would be either incompetent or evil, given the world we see. I believe instead in a reality so vast and beautiful that it includes terrible things, and I believe that the only response — the only response that does not break under examination — is to BE the part of that reality that does the good. To be the eyes through which the cosmos sees its own suffering. To be the hands through which the cosmos relieves it. In doing so we participate in something that may be the closest thing to holy that there is.

The boy’s eyes were wet. He did not pretend they weren’t.

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Seven — Indians who did not believe in God

Saint:

There is something else you should know, since you are a child who reads books. You think the Indian tradition and atheism are opposites. They are not. Our tradition contains atheism inside itself, openly, without scandal. Did you know this?

The boy shook his head, astonished.

Saint:

There were schools of philosophy in ancient India — fully accepted within the wider conversation — that did not believe in any creator god at all.

There were the Carvakas, also called Lokayatas. They were strict materialists. They said: only what you can directly perceive is real. The soul is a function of the body, like a flame is a function of the lamp; when the lamp goes, the flame goes. There is no afterlife. There is no rebirth. There is no karma carrying over. There is no god. They were not exiled or burned for saying this. They were debated. Their texts are mostly lost, but other schools answered them respectfully, which means they were taken seriously.

There was the Samkhya school. Very influential, very old — the Gita itself draws from it. Samkhya is dualist: it sees reality as two principles, prakriti (matter, nature) and purusha (consciousness). But it has no creator god. The universe is uncaused; it simply is. Liberation comes from understanding, not from divine grace.

There was Mimamsa — the school that gave us the deepest analysis of ritual and dharma. Some Mimamsa thinkers were openly non-theistic. They said the rituals work because of their own intrinsic power, not because a god grants the result. The Veda is eternal and authorless; no creator was needed. Pure dharma. No deity required.

Beyond these — Buddhism and Jainism, both born in the same intellectual world, are also non-theistic in their original forms. The Buddha himself politely refused to answer questions about a creator. Mahavira’s universe has no maker.

So when your friend the militant atheist tells you that “religion is for fools,” please tell him very politely that Carvaka, Samkhya, and the Buddha disagreed, and they were doing this twenty-five hundred years before Mr Hitchens was born.

And when an aunt insists that one must believe in a personal God to be a serious person, please tell her, even more politely, that whole schools of our own tradition did not, and were taken perfectly seriously for thousands of years.

Our tradition is a forest, child. It contains the temple-builder. It contains the cave-dweller. It contains the materialist arguing in the marketplace. It contains the silent yogi who has stopped using words. The mistake — always — is to confuse one tree with the forest.

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Eight — Across the World: One Cosmos, Many Names

Boy:

Sir — one big question. People in America have their God. People in Arab countries have theirs. My friend at school is Christian, and he says his Jesus is the only true God. My other friend is Muslim, and her Allah is the only true God. My grandmother says Krishna. They are all certain. They cannot all be right. Earth is so small in the universe — surely the cosmic reality, if it is real, is the same one for everyone? So why is everyone fighting? Why is there so much violence in the name of religion? Can it ever stop?

The saint looked up at the sky for a long time. The first stars were now bright.

Saint:

This is the most important question you will ever ask. Listen very carefully, because the future of our species depends on whether the next generation gets this answer right.

First — yes. By definition, the cosmic reality is one. The Earth is a tiny pale dot circling an ordinary star at the edge of an ordinary galaxy in a universe of two trillion galaxies. Whatever the Absolute is, it is not Indian. It is not American. It is not Arab. It cannot be. The cosmos was here for thirteen billion years before any human had a religion at all. The cosmos does not check anyone’s passport. So if there is a deepest reality, then yes — the deepest God of the American, the deepest God of the Arab, the deepest God of your grandmother, and the deepest God of an atheist astronomer in Chile, are the same. They have to be. There is no other place for them to be.

Now hear this carefully — and you will see something that very few people understand. If you read the deepest mystics of every tradition, they all say the same thing. Read the Sufis of Islam — Rumi, Ibn Arabi, Hallaj — and they describe a God beyond name, present in every face, with whom the seeker becomes one. Read the Christian mystics — Meister Eckhart, John of the Cross, Hildegard of Bingen — and they describe a Godhead beyond God, a divine reality of which the personal Jesus is one face. Read the Jewish mystics — the Kabbalists — and they describe Ein Sof, the Infinite without limit, beyond every name. Read the Taoists of China — and they describe the Tao that cannot be named, the source of the ten thousand things. Read our own Upanishads — and they describe the Absolute, beyond all qualities, present in every heart. Read the Plotinus of ancient Greece — he calls it simply the One. Read the Buddhists — they call it suchness, emptiness, the unconditioned.

Now look at what they all say together. The same shape. The same depth. The same insight: that there is one reality; that names point at it but do not capture it; that the seeker discovers it as the deepest part of their own being; and that the only proper response is awe, humility, and love.

This is called the perennial philosophy. The mystics of every tradition, separated by oceans and centuries, agree. They are climbing the same mountain by different paths. When they reach the top, they wave at each other and laugh. The fight is not between religions. The fight has never been between religions. The fight is between the surface of religion and the depth of religion.

Boy:

Then why is there so much fighting? Why are people killing each other in the name of God?

Saint:

Because most religion most of the time is not about reality. It is about identity. Listen carefully. There are two completely different things that go by the same word, “religion.”

There is religion as inquiry — the path of the mystic, the rishi, the contemplative. This person says: I do not know what is ultimately real. I will spend my life trying to find out. I will read the wise. I will sit in silence. I will love my neighbour, because if there is a deeper reality, my neighbour is also it. This person becomes more and more humble as they grow. They do not need to convert anyone. They are too busy looking. They are kin to all other seekers, regardless of the names those seekers use.

Then there is religion as identity — the path of the tribe. This person says: I was born into this group. My group has these stories. Other groups have different stories. Therefore my group is right and other groups are wrong. This is not really about God at all. It is about belonging. It is the same brain machinery that makes us cheer for our cricket team. It is the same machinery that made caveman tribes circle the campfire and watch the dark for the other tribe’s fires. It is ancient. It is in all of us. And it is dangerous.

Almost all religious violence is the second kind pretending to be the first. The mob that kills in the name of Krishna does not understand Krishna. The mob that kills in the name of Allah does not understand Allah. The mob that kills in the name of Christ does not understand Christ. Krishna in the Gita asks for non-attachment and equanimity. The Quran has a verse — surah 5, ayah 32 — that says whoever takes a single innocent life, it is as though he has killed all of mankind. Christ said love your enemy. The mystic in every tradition is closer to the mystic of every other tradition than to the violent mob of his own.

Boy:

Then what are the ordinary religious people missing? My grandmother is not violent. My Christian friend is not violent. But still they each think only their God is real.

Saint:

Three things, child. Three simple things, and they are at the root of almost every problem in human civilisation.

One — they have not been taught the difference between the surface and the depth. They were given the surface as a child, by people who loved them, and they confused the surface for the whole. Their grandmother gave them Krishna as a real golden boy in the sky, and no one ever sat them down and said: Krishna is a doorway. Allah is a doorway. Jesus is a doorway. The room beyond the doorway is the same room. Until they hear that, they will keep arguing about doorways.

Two — they have not been taught about other paths up the same mountain. They have only met one path. So they cannot see that the other person’s path leads up too. They think the others are walking nowhere. If from childhood every Hindu read a little Quran, every Muslim read a little Gita, every Christian read a little Tao Te Ching, every atheist read a little Upanishad — and we all read each other not to refute, but to find what was true — half the religious wars in history would never have happened. Education in comparative wisdom is the most peaceful thing humans have ever invented, and we under-do it terribly.

Three — they have allowed cynical people to use religion for power. Politicians who do not actually believe anything sacred have learned that they can win elections by frightening one tribe about another tribe. Television stations have learned that they can sell more advertising by amplifying outrage. Preachers have learned that they can fill collection plates by promising heaven and threatening hell. The original mystic disappears in this noise. What is left is identity-religion weaponised by people who do not love God or man — they love votes and money and power. This is the deepest, oldest, most reliable corruption of religion. And it does not stop until ordinary people refuse to be used.

Boy:

How can it be stopped, sir? Really. What can be done?

Saint:

It will not stop quickly. We have been doing this for thousands of years. But it can be reduced — significantly — and every generation can do better than the last if they take the work seriously. There are five things we can do.

First — teach children, from the earliest age, the perennial insight. Tell them: many traditions, one mountain. Show them Rumi’s poetry, the Sermon on the Mount, the Gita, the Tao, the Buddha’s teachings — side by side. Let them see the convergence with their own eyes. Children are not born tribal about religion. They are taught it. We can teach them differently.

Second — tell the difference between the saint and the mob. Honour your tradition’s saints — Kabir, Mirabai, Tulsidas, Vivekananda, Gandhi, Tagore — and honour the saints of every other tradition. Refuse to be impressed by religious leaders who curse other groups. The first sign that someone has missed the point is that they are angry at outsiders. The mystic loves the outsider. The mob hates the outsider. Memorise this difference and apply it.

Third — refuse to vote for people who use religion for power. This is a small civic act with enormous consequences. The politician who whispers in your ear about how you must fear the other group is the most spiritually dangerous person you will meet in your life. Recognise them. Stop voting for them. The day enough citizens do this, the strategy stops working, and they have to find another.

Fourth — practise quietly. The quiet practitioner — the one who lights the diya, sits in silence, reads slowly, and does not need anyone else to convert — is the cure. Loud religion divides. Quiet religion unites. Be quiet in your devotion and let other quiet people be quiet in theirs. The quiet ones will recognise each other across every boundary.

Fifth — take the cosmic perspective. Look at the night sky as often as you can. Remember — really remember — that the Earth is a fleck of dust in an unimaginable vastness. Whatever is at the heart of all that vastness is not the property of any country, language, book, or temple. It is everyone’s and no-one’s. From that perspective, fighting over which name we use for it looks like what it is — small and sad. Not evil. Sad. People fighting over fragments of a thing they have all lost sight of.

Will it be enough? I do not know. The cynics will tell you no. The cynics are sometimes right. But I will tell you this — if a small number of children in every generation grow up understanding what we have just discussed, the world becomes slowly more peaceful, century by century. The arc of human consciousness is long, and bends, slowly, toward integration. You can be one of the children who bends it.

The boy looked up. The Milky Way was now visible from end to end above the river — a faint silver smear where, in fact, two hundred billion stars were burning, each older than the entire human story.

Boy:

It is so big, sir.

Saint:

Yes, child. It is so big. And the bigger you let it be in your mind, the smaller becomes every quarrel down here on Earth. That is the real medicine. Take it daily. The night sky is free.

❖ ❖ ❖

Nine — Why, then, do we pray?

Boy:

Sir, then I must ask: if Krishna is a doorway, if the Absolute is impersonal, if even atheism is allowed inside our tradition, if every other tradition points at the same reality — why does my mother light a diya every evening? Why do you, sir, walk this riverbank at dusk? What is the point of any practice?

The saint smiled — a deep smile, as if this question pleased him most of all.

Saint:

The Buddha was once asked something similar. He said: when a thirsty man finds a well, he does not stand at the edge analysing whether the well is real. He drinks. The well-ness of the well is proven by the drinking, not by the analysis.

Practice is the same. We do not light a diya because some celestial accountant will tally it on a scoreboard. We light it because the act of lighting it does something to us. It pulls us, for one minute, out of the noise of being a small striving creature with grades and bills and worries, and places us in the presence of mystery. The diya is not magic. The hand that lights the diya is what changes.

Think of it this way. A musician practises scales every day. The scales are not the music. No one comes to a concert to hear scales. But without the scales, there is no concert. The scales are the hands’ way of remembering what the hands forget.

Worship is the heart’s way of remembering what the heart forgets. The heart forgets, very easily, that it is small and the universe is vast. The heart forgets that the people we love will die, and so will we. The heart forgets gratitude. The heart forgets wonder. The heart forgets that this moment, here, is the only moment we actually have. A thousand small worship-acts — a diya, a namaste, a few minutes of silence, a verse read out loud, a walk by a river — are the heart’s daily scales. They keep the heart in tune for the moments that matter.

Modern science even agrees, if you want it to. There are proper studies, with controls and measurements, that show contemplative practice lowers stress, improves immunity, reduces depression, and lengthens life. Not because some deity is rewarding the practitioner. Because the practitioner is becoming more whole.

So light the diya, child. Or do not. But if you do, do it not as a transaction. Do it as a tuning. Do it as a small daily reminder: I am part of something I cannot see the edges of, and that fact is worth pausing for.

❖ ❖ ❖

Ten — How should I live?

The boy looked up at the stars again.

Boy:

One last question, sir. How should I live?

The saint thought for a long time.

Saint:

I will give you five sentences. Memorise them. They are enough.

First — wonder. Never lose your capacity for it. The man who can no longer be astonished is the only true atheist, and not in a good way. Look at the stars. Look at a leaf. Look at your own hand and what it can do. There is nothing in this universe that is not extraordinary, if you look long enough.

Second — do your dharma. Find the work that is yours to do, and do it well, and do not depend on the world to clap. Some days the world will. Most days it will not. You do the work for the work, not for the applause. This is the Gita’s whole teaching, in five words: act, but not for fruits.

Third — be kind. The universe is not enforcing kindness. So we must. Every act of kindness is a small flame against an enormous indifference. Do not underestimate the dignity of being one of the flames.

Fourth — see the same depth in every tradition. Refuse to call any other person’s sincere search for the divine false, just because the words are different from yours. The mystic in your tradition and the mystic in theirs are climbing the same mountain. Be glad. Be a fellow climber. Refuse to be recruited into anyone’s tribal army.

Fifth — make peace with not-knowing. You will die without knowing for certain whether there is a God in the way your grandmother believes. So will I. So has every saint and sage who ever lived. The not-knowing is not a defeat. It is the ground of the inquiry. Sit comfortably in it. The Nasadiya Sukta sat comfortably in it for four thousand years before you. You can too.

The boy stood up. He namasted, very seriously, and the saint namasted back, just as seriously.

The boy turned to walk home. Then he turned back.

Boy:

Sir — one more thing. Are you the Absolute? Am I?

The saint laughed — a soft, kind laugh that the river seemed to laugh with.

Saint:

Go home, child. Tell your mother you love her. Eat your dinner. Do your homework. The question of the Absolute — you will live into it. Do not try to answer it tonight. It will answer you, in its own way, over the next sixty years.

The boy went home. The saint sat for a while longer, watching the stars come out, one by one, in the dark mirror of the river.

❖ ❖ ❖

A Small Glossary, for Later Reading

The Absolute

The reality that is not relative to anything else — the reality of which everything else is a part. Also called the One, the Ground of Being, Ultimate Reality, the Unconditioned, the Source. Different traditions reach toward it with different vocabularies. Not a being among beings; rather, the very is-ness of all that is.

Advaita Vedanta

The school of non-dualist philosophy taught most influentially by Adi Shankaracharya (c. 8th century CE). Advaita means “not-two.” It teaches that ultimate reality is a single, undivided consciousness, and that the apparent multiplicity of the world is a kind of perceptual layering (maya) over that one reality. Tat tvam asi — “Thou art that” — is its central teaching.

Atman

The deepest self, the witnessing consciousness behind the body and mind. The radical claim of Advaita is that this deepest self and the Absolute are not two: the deepest you and the deepest reality of the cosmos are the same.

Spinoza’s God / Deus sive Natura

The God of the 17th-century philosopher Baruch Spinoza. Not a person, not a creator, not separate from the world, but the single eternal substance of which the world is an expression. “Deus sive Natura” means “God, or Nature” — the same reality under two names. Strikingly close in spirit to the non-dual philosophies of the East.

Cosmic Religious Feeling

Albert Einstein’s phrase for the third and highest stage of religion, beyond fear-religion and morality-religion. It is the awe and humility a thinking being feels in front of the order, depth, and intelligibility of the universe. Compatible with science. Inseparable from wonder.

Carvaka / Lokayata

An ancient Indian school of thoroughgoing materialism. Held that only direct perception is reliable knowledge, that consciousness arises from matter and ends with the body, and that no creator god, soul or afterlife exists. Functionally an atheist school inside the Indian philosophical conversation.

Samkhya

One of the six classical philosophical schools of India. Dualistic but non-theistic: reality is composed of prakriti (matter/nature) and purusha (consciousness), with no creator god required. Liberation comes through discriminative knowledge, not divine grace. Heavily influenced the Bhagavad Gita.

Mimamsa

Another classical Indian school, focused on the analysis and interpretation of dharma and ritual. Notable strands of Mimamsa were explicitly non-theistic, holding that the Vedas are eternal and authorless and that rituals are efficacious by their own intrinsic power, without any deity needing to grant the result.

Nasadiya Sukta

The Hymn of Creation, Rigveda 10.129 — perhaps the oldest agnostic poem in the world. It describes the origin of the cosmos and ends with the lines: “Whence this creation has arisen — perhaps it formed itself, or perhaps it did not — only He who oversees it from the highest heaven knows. Or perhaps even He does not know.”

Upaya

“Skilful means.” The teaching method of giving a finite, simple form to an infinite, subtle truth so that learners can approach it. The personal gods of every tradition (Krishna, Allah, Jesus, the Buddha as a person, the Tao with attributes) are best understood as upaya — doorways suited to human hearts — rather than as the metaphysical end of the road.

Karma-yoga

From the Bhagavad Gita: the path of action without attachment to the fruits of action. “Your right is to the work alone, never to its fruits.” A teaching that does not depend on cosmic justice; it is, in fact, a teaching for a universe in which cosmic justice cannot be relied upon.

Perennial Philosophy

The observation that the deepest mystics of every tradition — Sufi, Christian, Jewish, Taoist, Vedantic, Buddhist, indigenous — describe the same reality in compatible terms. Names differ. Stories differ. But the underlying insight — that there is one infinite reality, that names point at it without capturing it, that it is found at the depth of one’s own being — converges. Many paths, one mountain.

❖ ❖ ❖

A Final Note

This dialogue is not meant to convert anyone to anything. It is not pro-religion or anti-religion. It is meant only to show that there is a far wider intellectual landscape than the simple binary of “blind believer” versus “militant atheist” — and that this landscape is open to anyone, in any country, in any tradition, who is willing to think honestly.

If, after thinking carefully, you find yourself drawn to the cosmic religion of Einstein and Spinoza — to a deep awe at the order of the universe, without any need for a personal divine being — you are in good company. You are also, perhaps without knowing it, very close to the spirit of the Upanishads, of the Sufi mystics, of the Christian contemplatives, of the Taoist sages. The river is the same river, whether you call it the cosmos, the Absolute, Nature, the Tao, or simply the river.

And if, in the meantime, you choose to sit in the room while a parent lights a diya, or stand quietly while a friend prays in a different language to a different name, and feel the small flame and the dark room and the love between you, and not say a word about metaphysics — that is also a perfectly good way to be in the world. The diya does not require your assent to any theology. It only requires your presence. Be present. Be kind. Wonder. That is more than enough.

PS: The idea is originally mine. I have been thinking and writing about this on my blog for the last 18 years, but with the help of AI I could finally put this long version together. Without AI I could not have expressed my feelings in so much detail. Of course, this blog is just one perspective — not my final thought. My curiosity will not end till my last breath.

❖

Why enterprise SaaS companies (like Salesforce, ServiceNow..) are not going to die any time soon!

2026-04-14T09:56:00.003+05:30

Last week, I updated my portfolio website http://ashishkumarjha.com/ without writing a single line of code in few hours. Later, I used Claude to build a working CRM web application. Java backend, PostgreSQL database, React frontend. It has Leads, Accounts, Contacts, Opportunities, Quotes, Orders, Products, Pricebooks, line items. Lead qualification that auto-creates Account, Contact, and Opportunity. A dashboard with pipeline charts and an opportunity funnel. Custom entity creation. Custom fields of any type, including lookups.

I deployed it on a cloud VPS. It works. It was publicly accessible. I am not a developer. I have been a tester my entire career. Imagine what a few matured developers can build? Claude could build a working driver for a old model printer on MAC for someone in few hours!

Now, a reasonable person would look at this and say: "If a non-developer can build a CRM in 3 hours, why would anyone pay Salesforce lakhs of rupees per year?"

It is a fair question. Let me walk through why the answer is not what you think.

Think about a company like Apollo Tyres. They are a manufacturing company. They purchased Salesforce Manufacturing Cloud to manage their dealer network, order management, account planning, demand forecasting, and everything that ties their sales engine to their production floor.

Now imagine someone walks into their boardroom and says: "We can build this ourselves with AI. We will save crores annually."

Here is what actually happens in each scenario.

Scenario 1: Apollo Tyres builds it themselves

Their engineers know tyres. They know rubber compounds, tread patterns, curing processes, and dealer distribution networks. They do not know database schema migration strategies, OAuth token refresh flows, or how to handle a race condition when two sales reps update the same opportunity simultaneously.

So they hire 5-6 developers. The initial build goes well. The demo looks impressive. Management is thrilled.

Then month 4 arrives. A developer leaves. The replacement takes 6 weeks to understand the codebase. Meanwhile, the forecast module has a rounding error that is silently misattributing revenue across regions. Nobody notices until the CFO sees numbers that do not match the ERP.

Month 8. They need to integrate with their SAP system. Their ERP team says the API changed in the last upgrade. The CRM team says they were never told. There is no integration middleware, no event bus, no retry mechanism. Someone writes a cron job that runs every 15 minutes. It works until it does not.

Month 14. A security audit reveals that their custom authentication module has not been patched in 9 months. The PII of 30,000 dealer contacts is sitting behind a single API endpoint with no rate limiting.

The CTO is now spending 40% of their time managing a CRM project that was supposed to save money. Apollo Tyres is a tyre company. They are now also, unwillingly, a software company. Their institutional knowledge, their competitive edge, their decades of manufacturing wisdom - none of that helps them here. Every hour the CTO spends on CRM firefighting is an hour not spent on what actually makes Apollo Tyres money.

Scenario 2: Apollo Tyres hires a boutique software firm

This is the one that looks smart on paper. A 10-15 person company. Hungry, agile, affordable. They promise delivery in 3 months at a fraction of the Salesforce contract.

And they probably deliver something decent. The first version.

But here is the structural problem with small software firms: they are fragile.

Their lead architect gets poached by a bigger company. Their project manager goes on maternity leave and the replacement does not know the client's business process. Two key developers decide to start their own venture (because, as we established, everyone can now build software).

Worse, they have 5-6 other clients. When Apollo Tyres calls with an urgent production issue during quarter-end close, they are also fielding calls from 4 other clients with their own urgent issues. There is no bench strength. There is no escalation matrix. There is no SLA with teeth.

And then the real nightmare scenario: the firm folds. It happens more often than people admit. The founders disagree. The cash flow dries up. A key client does not pay. Suddenly Apollo Tyres has a mission-critical system with no one to maintain it, no documentation (or documentation that only made sense to the people who wrote it), and a codebase that a new vendor will need months to understand.

Apollo Tyres is now in worse shape than before. They have a system that sort of works, no one who fully understands it, and a quarter-end pipeline review in 2 weeks.

Scenario 3: Apollo Tyres hires a mid-size IT services company

This seems like the middle ground. A company with 200-500 people. Established, but not expensive like the big consulting firms.

The problem here is different. These companies survive on volume, not depth. They staff projects with whoever is available, not whoever is best. The architect who designed the system moves to another account after 3 months. The developers who replace them follow the documentation but do not truly understand the design decisions behind it. Why was this particular data model chosen? Why does this workflow have that specific exception handling? The answers left with the architect.

These firms also have their own institutional incentives. They bill by the hour or by the resource. Fixing things quickly is not in their financial interest. A problem that should take 2 days somehow takes 2 weeks. Not out of malice, but because their delivery model is optimized for utilization, not velocity.

And when something truly breaks - a data corruption issue, a failed migration, a compliance gap - they point to the scope document and say it was not covered. The change request process begins. By the time it is approved, scoped, staffed, and delivered, Apollo Tyres has already lost a quarter of clean data.

Scenario 4: Apollo Tyres stays with Salesforce

Here is what they actually get, beyond the software.

They get 25+ years of accumulated knowledge about how sales organizations actually work. Not how they should work in theory. How they actually work. The edge cases, the exceptions, the "but our process is different" scenarios that Salesforce has seen thousands of times across thousands of companies.

They get three releases a year, automatically. No migration projects. No weekend deployments. No rollback plans. Features just appear. Some are useful, some are not, but the platform moves forward without Apollo Tyres lifting a finger.

They get a security team that employs more people than most of their vendors have in total. SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR, HIPAA - not as checkboxes on a sales deck, but as continuously audited, continuously monitored compliance standards.

They get an ecosystem. 5000+ apps on AppExchange. When they need CPQ, they do not build it. When they need e-signatures, they do not build it. When they need marketing automation, they do not build it. They configure it. And if the first app does not fit, there are 4 others that might.

They get a consulting partner ecosystem. If their current SI is not performing, they switch. The new partner already knows Salesforce. The ramp-up is weeks, not months. The knowledge is in the platform, not locked inside one vendor's head.

They get a talent pool. There are over 4 million Salesforce professionals worldwide. When Apollo Tyres needs to hire a Salesforce admin or developer, they have candidates. When they need to hire someone who knows their custom-built Java/React CRM, they have no one.

Most importantly, they get to stay a tyre company. Their management does not have to understand why the nightly batch job failed. Their CTO does not have to arbitrate between the frontend team and the backend team about API contracts. Their CFO does not have to explain to the board why the "cost-saving" CRM project is now 3x over budget.

Salesforce is not just software. It is an institutional shock absorber. It absorbs the complexity of building, maintaining, securing, upgrading, integrating, and staffing enterprise software so that the customer can focus on what they actually do.

Now, back to my 3-hour CRM. (Actually, it took several more hours to reach a decent level, but initial AshishCRM was ready

It works. It genuinely works. And that is precisely the danger. Because it works well enough to fool someone into thinking the hard part is over.

The hard part was never building version 1. The hard part is version 1.1, and 1.2, and 2.0. The hard part is what happens when 200 users are on it simultaneously and the database locks up. When the audit team asks for a complete trail of every field change on every record for the last 3 years. When the European subsidiary says they need the system in German with GDPR-compliant data residency. When the CEO wants a board-ready forecast report by tomorrow morning and the data is spread across 4 systems.

The hard part is the next 10 years, not the first 3 hours.

AI is making it spectacularly easy to build software. And that is wonderful. It is democratizing creation in ways we have not seen before. But building software and running a business on software are fundamentally different activities. The first is a creative act. The second is an operational discipline.

Every enterprise software company - Salesforce, ServiceNow, SAP, Oracle - should look at what AI can build in 3 hours and feel more confident, not less. Because the gap between "I built a working prototype" and "I run my business on this" is where their entire value proposition lives. And that gap is not shrinking. If anything, as the ease of building V1 increases, the number of people who will discover the hard way that V1 is not enough will also increase. And they will come back to the platforms that were built to handle what comes after V1.

The moat was never the code. The moat was always everything around the code.

बदलते रिश्ते, भागती ज़िंदगी और दिल की बातें

2025-04-28T10:29:00.003+05:30

आजकल के समय में अपनापन वाले रिश्तों में एक अजीब सी खालीपन घुलती जा रही है। ऐसा लगता है जैसे यह सबके साथ हो रहा हो। पहले जहाँ बिना किसी कारण के दोस्तों या रिश्तेदारों के घर जाकर मस्ती करना और बातें करना सामान्य था, आज वह लगभग खत्म हो चुका है। अब फोन पर भी ज्यादातर बात तब होती है जब कोई काम हो या कोई खास मौका हो।

दिल की बातें किससे शेयर करें, जो ना तो हमें judge करे, ना अपनी convenience के हिसाब से सोचे, ना अपनी thinking हम पर थोपे, बस pure अपनापन से हमें support करे? ऐसे लोग अब बहुत कम हो गए हैं।

आजकल दिखावे वाली life बढ़ती जा रही है, और दिल से मिलने वाला सच्चा प्यार कम होता जा रहा है। करीब 30 साल पहले, जब कोई बड़ा function होता था, तो खाना बनाने से लेकर उसे serve करने और मेहमानों की देखभाल करने तक हर जगह 10-20-50 लोग अपनी इच्छा से मदद के लिए तैयार रहते थे। आज यह दृश्य बहुत ही दुर्लभ हो गया है। रहने के लिए अब लोग पड़ोसी के यहाँ जाने के बजाय होटल या टेंट arrange करते हैं। खाना तो पहले ही हलवाइयों को दे दिया जाता था, अब तो serve करने के लिए भी caterers रखने पड़ते हैं।

रिश्तों में आई मिठास की कमी का एक बड़ा कारण आज का materialistic सोच है। हर किसी को बस दिखाना है कि वह कितने 'successful' हैं। आज के समय में एक simple lifestyle maintain करना भी मुश्किल होता जा रहा है। Government या secured job मिलना बहुत कठिन हो गया है। Private jobs में लोगों के पास सांस लेने तक का समय नहीं होता। हर रोज एक invisible डर सताता है — कहीं job न चली जाए। इसके अलावा महंगाई का extra pressure भी है।

हमारे समाज में इतना ज्यादा social pressure है कि बच्चों को government school में भेजना एक तरह से 'status' के खिलाफ माना जाता है। दुख की बात यह है कि कई government schools भी expectations पर खरे नहीं उतरते।

Education और Health का खर्च दिन-ब-दिन आसमान छू रहा है। Health तो अब भगवान भरोसे ही है। जहाँ देखो वहाँ अस्पतालों में भीड़ ही भीड़ है। और अगर पैसा न हो तो इलाज कराना एक बहुत बड़ी चुनौती बन जाता है। पैसा होने पर भी अच्छे और timely इलाज की guarantee नहीं है। इंसान किसी तरह सस्ता खाना खा लेगा, छोटा घर ले लेगा, लेकिन health और education में compromise करना बहुत मुश्किल होता है — और आज सबसे ज्यादा exploitation इन्हीं दो fields में हो रहा है।

एक संतुलन ज़रूरी है — दोनों तरफ से। मेरा मानना है कि government schools और hospitals पूरी तरह free नहीं होने चाहिए। जिनके पास BPL (Below Poverty Line) कार्ड है, उन्हें special छूट मिले, बाकी लोगों से एक reasonable fee ली जाए, जो private institutions से competition में हो। लोग खुद decide करें कि उन्हें कहाँ पढ़ाना या इलाज कराना है। जब government facilities अच्छी होंगी, तो लोग private institutions को लाखों क्यों देंगे? अपने आप government services का फायदा उठाएँगे।

Government services में भी थोड़ी nominal fees होनी चाहिए — बस कम। Schools और hospitals 'no frills' model पर हो सकते हैं, जैसे airline industry में अलग-अलग carriers होते हैं — economy और business class type. Govt schools और hospitals में basic सुविधाएँ हों — जैसे AC न हो, luxury school buses न हों, बहुत सारे security guards न हों, swimming pool या horse riding जैसी luxury चीजें न हों — ये सब न भी हो तो चलेगा। Main focus रहे अच्छी पढ़ाई और अच्छा इलाज।

BPL selection बिल्कुल fair और actual economic situation के base पर होना चाहिए। यहाँ Information Technology की बहुत important role है। हर citizen का Aadhaar से linking हो और cash transactions minimum हों। और developed countries की तरह एक solid Social Security System भी हो।

मैं सालों से लाखों रुपये income tax, property tax, vehicle tax, service tax वगैरह pay करता आ रहा हूँ, फिर भी अगर मैं अपनी नौकरी खो दूँ, तो government से एक रुपया भी मदद नहीं मिलती। यही डर Indian corporate world में exploitation को बढ़ाता है। लोग insult और harassment सहते हुए भी job में टिके रहते हैं — options ही कहाँ हैं?

और सच कहूँ तो जो दूसरों को harassment करते हैं, वो खुद भी किसी ना किसी डर या pressure में जी रहे होते हैं। तो फिर solution क्या है? क्या सबको socialist बना दिया जाए? सबकी property बाँट दी जाए ताकि कोई भूखा न रहे और कोई करोड़ों खर्च न करे? नहीं, यह practical नहीं है। सिर्फ एक balanced capitalist society sustainable है। जो जितनी मेहनत करे, जितना intelligent हो, उसे उतना ही reward मिले। उनके सपने पूरे हों, उनकी luxury बढ़े — यही तो wealth circulation है, जिससे job और business भी चलते हैं। लेकिन साथ में society के weaker sections को भी government और citizens का support मिलना चाहिए। अगर वे मेहनत करें तो उनका भी time आएगा। luck का भी इस journey में role होता है।

बस यूँ ही कुछ बातें दिल से निकलीं, आपसे शेयर कर दीं। आप सब हमेशा healthy, happy और prosperous रहें। जितना हो सके, लोगों को pure love दीजिए, और अपने health का खास ध्यान रखिए — especially preventive care पर।

— आशीष कुमार झा, Panorama eHomes, पूर्णिया, बिहार, भारत

Sharing my life's experience about success at my 45th Birthday (Certificate/Official b'day!)

2025-04-13T22:44:00.005+05:30

Disclaimer: Enriched by ChatGPT, but soul is written and lived by me!

On 5th April 2025, I became 45 years old (Officially! my actual birthday is 17th Feb 1980). Sharing my life's experience about success.

We often measure success by titles, income, fame, or how “far ahead” we are in life’s race.
But somewhere along the way, many of us discover a quieter truth — that success isn’t always visible.
It’s not always rewarded.
And it’s rarely about just ourselves.

On 13th March 2002, I had a moment that changed me forever.
It felt like something divine whispered,
“What is life if you only live for yourself? Spread Unconditional Love!”

Since then, I’ve tried—imperfectly, humbly—to live with that in mind.
Not because I have power, or money, or influence to change the world. I don’t.
But because I believe even a small act done with love is far greater than a big act done for applause.

There were moments where I had to choose between ambition and compassion.
Like skipping an important meeting with a leader visiting from the U.S.—a meeting I had waited weeks for—because a friend needed to get to the hospital.
I knew I might not get another chance with that leader.
I still went to the hospital.
And I don't regret it.

There was a time my house help said she'd lost the money I gave her just a day before.
I gave it again. A small amount, but it mattered to her.
I simply said,
“Then the lost money was mine.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
Mine did too.

Once, I was driving home late from work when a stranded family asked for help.
I didn’t know if they were genuine.
But something told me they were.
I dropped them to the station, gave what I could.

Another time, I stopped at 11 p.m. to help a colleague surrounded by a crowd after a road accident.
We ended up at a police station till 2 a.m.
It wasn’t convenient.
But what is life, if not this?

“We can’t help everyone. But everyone can help someone.” – Ronald Reagan

I'm not here to boast.
In fact, most times, I can't help the way I wish I could.
I'm just someone who eats what my family cooks, travels however life allows, and learns whatever life teaches.
No fancy needs. No hunger for spotlight.
Just a quiet wish:
That someone, somewhere, breathes easier because I existed.

I moved from a megacity back to a small town to be with my parents.
I lost financial growth.
I lost a few “career milestones.”
But I gained 3.5 years with my father before he passed.
I gained peace.
I gained a sense of fulfillment no job title could offer.

At 45, I know many peers doing far better by society's standards.
But I’m at peace.
I still strive to grow, to learn, and to improve — not to compete, but to contribute.

“Don’t aim to be the best in the world. Aim to be the best for the world.”

Every day is a chance to try again — to be kind, to be useful, to be human.
If you're running a race in life and feel like you're behind, maybe you're actually ahead — just running a different race.

And if you've ever made a choice that felt right in your heart but "wrong" on your résumé —
Trust me, that’s the kind of decision you’ll be proud of forever.

I will turn 40 tomorrow. Sharing 20 facts in my life and 20 opinions based on my experiences.

2020-02-16T01:09:00.002+05:30

Tomorrow (17th Feb 2020), I will turn 40 years. I am sharing 20 Facts about me and 20 opinions I have about several issues. This is a summary of my learnings in last 40 years.

Disclaimer: This blog post is completely my personal view and there is nothing official about it. Your views might differ, and I respect that.

A. Facts

1. Birth date and Name

I was born on 17th Feb 1980 at my Village Bhatotar, Purnia, Bihar. While applying for my 10th board exam, which happened in March 1995, Due to some maximum age requirement suggested by someone (which I later came to know was incorrect information), my certificate b’day was changed to 5th April 1980. So officially, I am still 39, but I celebrate my B'day on 17th Feb.

My certificate name is "Ashish Kumar", but I prefer to be called as "Ashish Kumar Jha". Jha is my family surname and its kind of differentiator as where ever I worked, there were many "Ashish Kumar" and people used to get confused.

2. Hostel, Hostel and Hostel

My both parents were middle school teachers and we were 3 siblings (Myself and two sisters). I got admitted to residential school when I was in class 3. I used to do most of the daily chores myself at the age of 8. My mother was teacher in same school, so it was not much of a problem. In class 8, I got admitted to a small city school (and hostel).. and after completing my 10th, I came to capital city, Patna for my 12th and apart from a brief time staying with uncle’s family, I stayed alone in hostels and then for engineering I stayed in hostel and then till I got married, I stayed away from parents/family.

3. School education

I used to be topper in my village school till class 7, then in my high school, I used to be in top 5 students. I passed my 10th with 56% marks (Only two students got above 60%, Bihar board was infamous in awarding lower marks). With some connection’s help, I got admission in good college in Patna (College of commerce) and I did 12th (In 1997) with 60% (Yes, I got First division!)

4. Typhoid is bad!

I used to be a hard working student and apart from college, I used to attend coaching (Premier coaching, B.M. Das road) and was doing good. In August 1996, there was a competition (by a IIT coaching institute) in which I secured 3rd rank and due to that my fees (6000 Rs) was free. I started preparing for IIT. It was 8 hours class daily and some college work. I was doing good in coaching and teachers used to say, I will crack IIT for sure.. then in October I got Serious typhoid. My parents had to come to Patna to bring me home and I was bed rest for 1 month. Was rarely studying. I forgot many things and I had my 12th board exam in few months. I stopped the coaching and started preparing for 12th. I managed to get 1st division!

5. Missed opportunity

In 1998, I wrote several engineering entrance tests like IIT, Roorkee, Bihar combined engineering and UP engineering.. I qualified for UP engineering with rank 2400+ and I had counselling in Lucknow.. I took money from parents to go for counselling and everyone around me knew that I have gone to attend the counselling, but I went to my friend’s home in Patna itself and stayed hidden for 3 days and then came back to hostel and lied to everyone that I didn’t get a good college. Though, If I would have gone, I should have got average college for sure. I lost 3 years of my life because of this decision. I was thinking, I will get into IIT or Roorkee only.

6. Engineering college

In those days, there was no engineer in my relatives and knowns, and the culture of bihar was such that, wasting years for preparing to get into engineering/medical was not such a bad thing and there were students, who kept on trying for upto 5-6 years also. Anyways, I didn’t qualify in 1999 also. My family started to get worried and in order to have a backup, I took admission in B.Sc (Physics honours) in Magadh University (RKD college) in 1999. In parallel, I was still preparing for IIT. In 2000, IIT and Roorkee changed the testing pattern, and there was a screening test first, in which they will select 15000 candidates and then there will be main exam, in which final ~3000 students will get selected. At that time, there used to be only 5 IITs and Roorkee used to conduct its own entrance. IIT Screening test was on 2nd Jan 2000 and once I came out of exam hall, I had told my friends, I am going to be selected for sure and I did. Same in Roorkee. I had got good hold on Physics and Maths, but my chemistry was weak and because of chemistry, I was not qualified in Mains. In 2000, I was qualified in UP engineering, M.P engineering [I had not applied for south India yet, I had not even thought to go so far], but people motivated me to try one more year for IIT.. I did start again .. But I got into some bad company of people and almost stopped studying.. and an year passed.. In the meantime, I had passed 1st year of B.Sc and I was in 2nd year. In 2001, I didn’t qualify for IIT or Roorkee screening also. Later in April 2001, one of my friend forced me to apply for Karnataka engineering (CET), which was considered easy. I did qualify for CET Karnataka with low rank (5500+) and I took admission in Vijaynagar engineerings college, Bellary, Karnataka in Electronics and Communication Engineering. This was 2500 KM away from my home.

7. Something unreal

I got 68% marks in 1st semester (my rank might be 50+ in my branch) and I was kind of careless, watching several movies, wasting time whole day.. bunking classes. I got serious scoldings from Papa.. but I didn’t change.. On 13th March 2002, something happened .. I felt someone (like God) came in front of me and told, you can do better.. Focus. Be good to everyone and somehow I got these 3 words imprinted in my mind “Spread Unconditional Love”.. My attitude changed in a moment.. I stopped going to movie (Took a oath, that I will not watch movie, will not play cards during semesters, later I stopped drinking Tea, Coffee and Cold drinks also).. All my friends went to Goa, but I didn’t.. and focussed on studies and result came .. I got 82% marks in second semester and I got 84% in 3rd (I was not only branch topper, but the college topper), 85% in 4th semester and so on.. Overall I got 81.3% (Average of 8 semester).. 10th June 2005 was my final year project test and my project demo didn’t work, and my team was scared that, we might fail, but there was a twist..Our project (Password protected CPLD based Switch) was liked so much by my department that, a day before, there was a demo planned by department for all students, where me and my team gave presentation and demo, and it was all video recorded. My respected guide, showed the video to the external examiner and somehow we were passed. No one left the college on 10th June except me. Everyone wanted to enjoy for few days before they start their job hunting. I left Bellary the same day to Bangalore (We were already staying in Bangalore for our project work) and on 11th, first thing I did was that, I took admission in NIIT Vijaynagar for Application development using Java/J2EE/SQL.

8. My first job

I had written detailed blog on how I got my first job here. In short, it was tough, very very tough for me to get a job. Gap in education, Communication skill, not from a famous college, Being from electronics branch and project done in hardware side etc were primary reasons for my struggle to find the job.

9. Job hops

In Afila, I used to write C, TCL, Expect code to test network protocols. I was average performer. Lot of parties, fun activities used to be there, but I was not feeling very happy about myself. I was looking for better companies, but I was getting into same trap as fresher. I kept on trying, and finally I got a job (Well paying!) in Novell after 1 year at Afila. I had 2 other offers, but Novell used to be dream company. Employee perks were awesome. Free food, free transport and several other things.. For the new comers, Novell’s Netware was the first network operating system and also IPX protocol was developed by Novell. People say, Windows NT was heavily influenced by Netware. In 1990s, Novell used to be comparable with Microsoft. The culture of Novell was great. Most of the parties used to be with family and strictly no alcohol. Work was decent. I used to do Load and Performance testing for identity management products. I used to be part of fun committee in Afila (More team) as well as Novell (Had organised several team outings including trip to Masinagudi). I was happy at Novell. But, after 4 years, there were some changes in company (It got acquired by Attachmate), and I got a call from Oracle (I had not applied though) and then I joined Oracle in 2011.

10. Marriage

It was an arranged marriage (For non-Indians: When a guy can not find a girl himself for marriage, his parents finds out one! I think, this facility is available only in Indian Subcontinent). Sharing one fun story - In our culture, Its not common to have engagement (Now trends are changing though). So by March 2010, marriage date was decided as 28th June 2010. I was in Bangalore and my spouse used to study her PGDM (in Human Resource) at Bhubaneswar, Odisha. I planned to surprise her, so I went to Bhubaneswar and informed her (once I reached Bhubaneswar on 8th May 2010 late evening) that, I will come to meet you tomorrow morning. She thought I am lying. On 9th May, 2010, I booked a car for whole day, went to her hostel, had breakfast in some hotel and then went to Nandankanan zoo, had lunch and then asked her to call all her friends for a treat at Cafe coffee day. My cousin used to stay in Bhubaneshwar and he along with his 4-5 friends had already booked half of Cafe coffee day, A cake, and I had purchased a ring for her and I had received a ring from her family (Reuse!) , Baloons etc.. She had no idea what’s plan..

In the meantime, I called my Sister-in-law (Bhabhee ji, Wife of my cousin brother) and in discussion, she asked how is Arti.. I said, let me make a conference call to Arti, you can also talk .. and in reality, we were together talking on same phone, but acted like we are on conference call.

In CCD, her 12-13 friends came and there I announced that, we will have engagement now.. We exchanged rings.. It became late evening and her hostel warden was not allowing to get inside, then I talked to the warden saying we are getting married and then she let her in.. So we got engaged like this. Till our marriage, no one in our family knew this.

11. Kids

My son Akarsh Keshav was born on 24th August 2011 and Daughter Arshita Arghya was born on 25th October 2017.

There is interesting reason behind both my Kid’s surname. Akarsh was born during Krishna Janmashtmi, hence the surname Keshav (I had made a video of Akarsh when he was between 0-1 year). Akarsh is interested in Rubik’s cube. One of his rubik's video is here.

Arshita was born during Chhath festival (Celebrated by Biharis across India and world wherever they are), and the most auspicious thing in this festival is to give Arghya to Sun God, hence the surname Arghya. I had made a video for Arshita (Till her ~2 years)

12. Life in Oracle

Before joining Oracle, I had asked my would be manager that, can you please let me know the future plans for this product “Oracle Beehive”, in which I was going to work. In fact, before joining Oracle, I installed (It was complex install) and used Beehive to asses, if this will be a good move. In fact, I had another offer, who was paying more than Oracle, office was closer to my home compared to Oracle and 90% of my friend and family wanted me to join that company (It was McAfee, already acquired by Intel by then), but considering the product and their scope and Oracle brand, I joined Oracle. And I was happily testing Beehive...

One fine evening (after 2 months), there was a meeting and project Beehive was put in cold store and in the meeting, it was told that, you will get to know what happens to you tomorrow.. It was a tough night.. barely slept.. Next day, came to know, Oracle has got a Cloud strategy and some of my team members will move to that team.. This was great news for me.. I was part of a central component whose work was to orchestrate the cloud subscription, order management etc..I was new to Cloud computing and it was a great learning experience. Used mostly Perl and Java.

13. Joining Microsoft

One fine day in Feb 2014, I got a call from Microsoft HR (I had not applied as such, they got my contact from Naukri.com which had older resume!) for a telephonic interview next day. I said, that I am not prepared and I can not take a chance with opportunity at Microsoft, so I need 2 weeks time for preparation, if I may get? HR said, fine. He confirmed in email that you will get interview call after 2 weeks and I did get the interview. I was in Bangalore and I got telephonic interview call from Microsoft, Hyderabad on 26th Feb. Same day HR called me and said, you need to come to Hyderabad for interview. Can you come on Friday 28th? We will send you flight tickets etc.. I had said, I am bit occupied with work and can we have that over the weekend.. I got flight ticket for Saturday, 1st march afternoon ~3PM. I missed my lunch somehow, so when I boarded the plane, I was feeling hungry. I saw the price in menu and decided, its costly, so I will eat in Hyderabad itself.. But, after few mins, air hostess came and asked, what would you like to have sir? I said, no I don’t want. She smiled and said, its included in your ticket.. Any snack and any drink! Wow, Microsoft was winning me.. When I got down at Hyderabad airport, there was a driver holding my name’s placard.. I had never seen my name in placard (And after that, I never saw till today).. Driver took me to Jubilee ridge hotel where everything was free for me! Those who know me, knows that I am a foodie.. But believe me, I ate very less thinking, I should not get ill tomorrow and I had to revise few things before I sleep.. :)

Next day morning, there was a cab arranged for me to Microsoft office. I interacted with the Cab driver, and he wished me good luck for the interview. First round was coding round - I did it. Second round was coding round - I did mistakes, but corrected and finally was able to get to the expected result. 3rd and final round on that day was by a senior manager. He asked few testing question and few puzzle type question. One coding question and then final question was, why should we hire you? I said, because of two reasons 1. I will get the things done - what ever it is and whatever it takes. 2. I ask questions - lots of questions, which will make the product better. I told him about how I asked 2 weeks time for preparation, and how I disabled my Facebook to focus on preparation. HR didn’t tell me clearly whether I am selected or no, and I came to Bangalore same evening. I was positive. Next day, HR informed me that, there will be one more telephonic round, and it happened.. A very senior person interviewed (Grilled) me on psychological questions only.. It was easiest round for me, as I was honest.. my conscience was clear. I was offered on 7th March.As always, there was a twist! In the mean time, I did attend a day-long interview process at SAP labs, Bangalore and there was another day few more rounds, and I was offered before Microsoft had offered. It was clear to me that, I will join Microsoft, hence within few days, I informed SAP HR (and Hiring manager) via email. I didn’t hold both the offers and SAP HR though unhappy, was appreciative. Hiring manager called me and asked the reason, I said, I have got another offer where I will join. He asked me where — after a bit of hesitation, I said its Microsoft. Funny enough, He said, I came a month back from Microsoft only.. Let me know if you need any help in finding house in Hyderabad :) Onboarding at Microsoft was very smooth.. They had arranged packers and movers (who will keep the stuffs for a month in warehouse in Hyderabad), Flight, Hotel for a month and a daily (Including weekend) cab with driver for a month. I was supposed to go to office for 1st day on 14th April 2014 from hotel. While having breakfast, my son touched a fancy light, which broke (Yes, this happens with me only!) and in order to manage that with waiters, I was getting delayed.. But the hotel manager intervened and said, no need to pay for this (Not sure, but it might be ~5000 Rs).. You will not believe this.. This happens in films only - The cab driver was same as who took me from Jubilee ridge hotel to Microsoft for interview .. He didn’t recognise me, but I did.. I thanked him for his wishes .. I was late for first ever onboarding training! Later in the day, I got a call from Microsoft onboarding support team, asking if my son was hurt .. and said, you need not worry about the damage.. We have taken care.. Wow.. every weekend, we used to roam around Hyderabad for finding house or seeing places.

14. Leaving Microsoft

In 2016 July, my designation SDET-2 was changed to Software engineer -2 (In fact, entire engineering organisation was made hybrid engineering, so every one was developer as well as tester as well as customer support).. But my work remained similar, though with more focus on test automation and involvement in customer issues. Some of the testing was getting done by Vendor companies like TCS, Wipro etc.. I used to lead testing effort for Enterprise Sales and SMB Sales. I was considered a high performing lead. Me and my 7 member team had raised 2000 bugs in 10 months :). In parallel, I started learning development skills.. I gave interview internally to become developer in July 2017, but I was not selected.. Later tried again in December 2017 and I was selected this time and from Feb 1, 2018, I joined another development team. There my role was to fix bugs, and resolve customer issues. I did fix few bugs and I did resolve several customer issues (ICMs).. but the pace of my resolution was slow compared to others.. and in July - August timeframe, I was told that, my skills are not matching and I am struggling.. hence it would be better if I look for a job outside.. They said, they will reduce the work load so that I can focus on job search.. Even I realised after initial setback, that, they are right. Considering my seniority level, I was not matching up with similar experienced developers. So while searching for the job, I was looking for QA/Automation role only. Most of the people close to me knew about this issue and were helping and motivating. There were few, who demotivated me as well - saying at the experience of 13 years, who needs testers, No company will be able to match up the salary of Microsoft, hence no one will even call you for interview.. why don’t you try something else?

I was broken for few days.. My family and close friends stood behind me as a rock.. Coming from a family where most of them were govt. employee, it was a shock to them.. But I knew, I can pull it off.. Time is the only thing.. And the demotivating people were kind of right.. It was tough to get interview calls.. and whoever was calling, when asked about my salary, they used to not call again.. :) But slowly I started getting calls.. Some of the calls were because of friend’s referral.. I gave 10+ interviews, but was not getting through.. I came very close in Amazon (7 rounds spanning across 4 days) and VMware (4 rounds), but was unsuccessful again.

Then came an interview call from a company from Noida (I am not taking the name, but I am indebted to them for life)..In the first screening round, on the question of why do you want to leave Microsoft, I said everything honestly.. and I was later called for interview in Noida. They had arranged a hotel stay a night before.. Had a grilling interview (5 rounds).. Interview was over by 6PM and I had the flight at 8.30 PM.. and it was a Cab strike.. People there helped me a lot to reach the airport by 8.10 PM. Anyways, they offered me.. and they gave decent hike (Yes! They not only matched Microsoft salary, but gave more than that!) .. I was getting interviewed by another company in Hyderabad (With the help of my previous company's senior’s referral) and I got the offer from that company as well. But I informed 2nd company that, I will not be able to join (Have no words to thank my senior who helped me and the company).

I was all set to join in Noida (Considering, my home, Bihar, is closer to Noida - I had a mixed feeling). I was enquiring about schools, house etc in Noida.. Only thing bothering me was that I had to keep my Hyderabad flat on rent and secondly both me and my son are asthmatic, and the pollution level in NCR is bad. Based on Noida company, I had already resigned in Microsoft and 17th December was my joining date at Noida. But as always, there was a twist.. I got a call from Salesforce.. It was a half day interview process.. and after few days, I was offered. I informed Noida company immediately. They felt bad..I kind of cheated them, but only thing positive in this episode, which they will also agree is, I didn’t delay it and in fact my joining was still 2 weeks away. So Microsoft episode ended with positive note. On the last days, there were team outings, cake cutting and farewell as usual like how people resign.. It was a mixed feeling.. Microsoft gave me a lot. Thats a great company with great culture and values.

15. Life at Salesforce

Salesforce is a different company. It’s different than most of my previous companies. Its so open culture.. There is no cabins.. everyone is equal.. Entire Salesforce’s vision and goal per year is shared to everyone using V2MOM (Vision, Values, Methods, Obstacles and Measures).. So company has a V2MOM, which trickles down with specific details at each level and finally the individual contributor needs to write specific objectives with measures clearly defined and everyone’s V2MOM is visible to everyone .. This is so unique.. Secondly, there is strong focus on employee’s morale and health.. My higher management said to team that, if I see anyone working late, you will get negative points in appraisals.. Ever heard that? One of my very senior executive said in a team meeting that, we should try our best to deliver in time, but if team feels even in last moment that quality is not good, lets hold that feature..It’s ok to catch the next release vehicle. Trust is the number one value at Salesforce.. Thirdly, company’s focus on giving back to society. Our 1-1-1 model is unique ( 1% employee Time: everyone gets 7 paid leave for volunteering activity and its kind of negative thing if employees do not spend 7 days volunteering! - 1% Product licenses to nonprofits and 1% revenue to community).
Apart from these there are several things which makes this company so loved by its employees and its customers.
I am happy here. My current role is primarily do two things 1. Product quality champion (Making sure that product works as expected) and 2. Customer advocacy (Even though a product works, but will customer like it? Will customer feel the usage is simple? Will customer be able to integrate with existing solutions?).

16. What if I die suddenly?

In October 2019, I decided to decrease my weight with very strict diet. For 2 months, I used to eat only Salad in lunch, was not eating sweets and used to have light or no dinner and I had lost ~4 Kgs (Still I was overweight) and was determined to lose ~10 kg in next 6 months. I was going to gym almost daily. I was feeling good about my health, but my life and no twist! How can that happen..

On 5th Jan 2020, I had non-veg in lunch around evening time. It was bit spicy, so by evening, I was feeling uncomfortable in stomach. I thought, drinking Eno will solve the problem.. But no.. It didn’t.. Stomachache kept on increasing.. It became unbearable by midnight.. I was literally crying in pain.. My wife was trying all sorts of home made medicines but nothing worked.. At 2 AM, I said I am going to hospital. My wife wanted to come with me, but having two small kids sleeping it was difficult. She called up a friend, but I disconnected the call in few rings saying why to disturb others. Doctor will give some pain killer and I will be back in few hours.. I drove to the hospital.. Doctors in emergency started with pain killers, antacids etc.. By 6AM, they tried several medicines, but none worked. Then one of my friend was informed, and he came to hospital. Several blood tests, Ultrasound, CT scan, X-ray happened and doctors concluded that, I have a 20 mm stone in my Gall bladder and it should be operated immediately (Removal of Gall bladder). In the meantime, some of my colleagues also came to hospital. I called my brother-in-law. He had to leave an important official engagement at Delhi. He thought to have a second opinion from other hospital..we were about to drop the plan of operation immediately (Pain had subsided by then).. There is an important point I wanted to make here, hence gave the details. My brother-in-law met the main surgeon and asked, is there a problem, if we operate after few days, by then we would like to take a second opinion? Doctor said that “He might die”. From my limited understanding of medical science, I don’t think people die from gall bladder stone pain, but in rare case, someone might die. Just imagine, If I had already died? I have not even shared all my financial details to my wife yet..What would have happened to my ambitions, my career, my family… Ya its exaggerated, but that was one possibility. So my brother-in-law agreed to have the operation (he asked to me, and I was not in favour to go to other hospital, as there again all the tests will be done and I was confident that there also doctor will suggest the same thing)..So I was operated under general anaesthesia on 7th afternoon, and I left the hospital by 8th evening. It costed ~1.4 Lacs for 2 days though company sponsored insurance paid the entire amount. So that was a big relief.

My office said me to take rest as long as I want. No conditions applied. After a week, I worked from home for a week and there after I joined the office. Doctor has suggested to not eat oily and spicy food [I used to eat lot of spicy food, especially non-veg] .. Also, I can start gym after 2 months.. I have gained back the lost 4 kg and likely to gain some more.. But I will work on this from March.

17. Travel outside India

No. I have never been outside India. Not even Nepal, which is 3 hours journey from my home. I was supposed to travel to US once in 2008 from Novell, for its yearly BrainShare event. I had got company sponsored B1 Visa (I had travelled to Chennai for Visa Interview), which was valid till 2018, but due to recession, BrainShare was scaled down and my travel plans were cancelled. I wish to travel to Europe sometime when my kids grow up a bit.

18. Education after B.E

I did my M.S (Computer science) in weekend executive program by Manipal University in 2011-13 batch. So, I am alumni

of same university as CEO of Microsoft, Mr. Satya Nadella :) Doing Ph.D is in my wish list, But has not got time, and sufficient motivation to do the same. I had written a blog comparing executive M.S course of Manipal university and BITS Pilani here.

Note that, this executive course by Manipal university was stopped after 2014 or 2015 due to some changes in UGC rules.

19. What delights me

When I hear Music (Not very loud music), watching group dance (Synchronised ones), Seeing happiness on the face of family, Getting the work completed, Getting appreciation, Watching laughing people (Uncontrollable laughters, real laughters), Learning something new, Driving car on highways, Able to help others, Making others smile, Salary hike, Playing cards with friends.. There are 100s of things.. little ones..

20. What pains me

People who behave badly with people below their financial status or junior in their domain - One thing everyone knows that they are not indispensable, still they feel and behave as if they are entitled for something forever. Your life itself can go in a minute, forget about you designation, money and status... People fighting on superficial things like religion, region, caste and other things. Thought that people close to me will leave me one day..

B. My Opinions

21. Spread unconditional love

It is the ultimate route to absolute happiness - I know this, but unable to practice myself. I get selfish. I get worried about self and close people around. Trying to be as less selfish as possible. I believe, every one has their focus area and territory defined for helping and caring.. some people keep on growing that territory.. People like Swamy Vivekananda or Mother Teressa makes the entire world as their territory and people like me keeps on having a smaller territory.. I wish and pray to one-god give me (and us) strength and willingness to help everyone.

22. My views on Religion

Religion was created for better management and making sure people follow certain best practices. It's like how different country and states were created same way different religion were created. Having said that, I believe in One God.. that there is some force (Which most likely does not have any Shape) similar to gravitational force, which is not known to human yet. Like 500 years ago, people were not knowing that there is a gravitational force, similarly people are not yet aware about this God-Force.. There is something which is making life possible. Heart beating .. running the universe.. Making us feel better when we meet family, making us feel sad when someone else suffers.. For now, I can call God as Humanity, though God-Force might be bigger than humanity..

Luck? yes, I believe in luck.. Actually, its mathematical probably like tossing a coin. It is possible that you toss the coin 10 times, and every time head comes. This luck/probability depends on several environmental factors. Say you practiced few questions y'day and the same was asked in interview, so you got lucky. Though luck can play only a part (Fortune favours the brave). As this is probability, it can range between 0 to 1. 0 means unlucky and 1 means pure luck :).

I would like to follow the process defined in my birth religion with equal respect to all other religion. I believe in process of my religion.. Its like joining a company and following their process honestly.. and we should be flexible to change the process based on newer facts and experiences.. Few things, I do even though I don’t believe in that.. for example, Process of touching feet of elders - I like it and believe, its a way to show respect.. whereas, killing animals on the name of god, I don’t believe in that but still I do participate in that in order to respect the tradition.. But if my religion will have a process to trouble other humans, I would like that process to change! (No religion teaches that in my knowledge.)

23. Reservation and casteism

It would have been better that there was only only one religion in world.. But we have few. Now inside my religion, there are 100s of division on the name of Caste. Though, we have come a long way and there is very less discrimination based on caste (Any form of discrimination should be a punishable offence), but there is reverse discrimination using reservation. It has become catch 22 situation. People want to remove the casteism, but do not want to leave the benefits of reservation. I never discriminated with anyone based on caste, but I was discriminated because of my caste. Here is how. Me and my friend used to prepare for IIT entrance exam in Patna. He used to go for individual tuitions for Physics, Organic chemistry, Inorganic chemistry, Physical chemistry, Maths. He used to stay in bigger room more lavishly. His father was Bank manager. He solved lesser problems in IIT than me, but he was qualified and I was not. Now, If at all, some fore-fathers in my caste had discriminated against my friends fore-fathers 50 years ago, why should I suffer for that? What is my fault.. and what is my children’s fault? Now, my friend’s son will again get reservation, and my son will not get. This is not fair. No logic can convince me that its fair.
Yes, there were caste/community specific issues, and in order to alleviate the poverty and making it level playing, we had reservation based on caste, but there should be a vision for future, at least a discussion should start on the modification of reservation policy. Earlier, there was no mechanism to figure out financial status, but now we have all the means to figure out who should be eligible for reservation and who should not. In fact, rich people from reserved category should come forward and say that, our family has now come out of poverty and we do not want to take reservation anymore. In fact, I know few friends, who didn’t take reservation.
IMHO, reservation should be gradually removed and replaced with explicit care from childhood for health and education for deprived (irrespective of caste) families. Though I know it’s almost impossible to remove reservation. No government can dare to even talk about abolishing reservation. Its point of concern that some of the leaders are talking about imposing reservation in private sector.

24. Government vs Private job

Both has pros and cons. It depends on risk appetite. Private job is risky (Job security) but is more rewarding. Though, If I had got a chance, I would have worked in Govt. Sector. I did try several govt job openings, but could not qualify.

25. Future of testing jobs

Doing just the testing as a job will vanish in few years. Testers will need to learn and do portion of development, own up automation completely, perform devops tasks, Interact with customer and be frontline in resolving their issues. Testers will need to be aware of several solutions used by customer and they should be able to test integration with those systems. Testers will need to learn Machine learning to perform intelligent testing in lesser time and also testers will need to learn RPA technology. These all work will get combined in few years, and then name might not remain as test engineer..

26. Health

Health is the most important than anything else. Sadly, I didn’t do justice to my health, and ate carelessly and didn’t do exercise regularly. Now I am realising and wants to do, but still lose focus. But I can’t stress enough on this. If you can, you should take care of your health. It’s more important than work.

27. Communication skills

This is most important skills for advancing in professional career. What to speak, when to speak, the tone, the gesture, understanding the audience, listening carefully, talking confidently etc.. There was a time, I was unable to speak in English (I studied in Hindi medium till 12th) but I slowly learnt. I have stammering problem from childhood, which I have overcome to an extent, but now also, I sometimes stammer. This happens more, when I am stressed. Usually, no one notices this, but I have felt embarrassed because of this many times, as I could not speak the starting word of a sentence for few seconds.

28. Software Testing versus Software Development

There is always a debate on which is better. One keeps hearing that testing is an easy job, which anyone can do. I would like to not compare these two. These two are different type of jobs. There are people who are earning by working in a factory year long, and then there are income tax people, who just do a verification of whether that person has filed correct income tax or no. Should you compare these two? Every job has its own importance and every job should be respected equally. I have worked for small stint as a developer, and it seemed to me, there is lot of small small things one needs to be careful while writing an enterprise grade software application (Like telemetry, debuggability, testability, localisation, extensibility, conformance to several compliances like GDPR, security etc…). Testers do not really take care of these many things when writing test automation (Ideally they should, for example, will my test script work in all languages? In RTL language? Is it extensible?), but there is analytical side, where tester needs to be very good on reading between the lines, understanding the customer from end to end perspective, which many developer lack (usually, developers has a narrow focus on their component). Having said these, the lines between developers and testers are blurring and now every one needs to know development, testing, automation, devops and customer support.

29. Boy vs Girl

There need not be any comparison. Except for few natural things, there is nothing a boy can do which girl can not. India needs to do lot of work in the space of gender equality. Mentality needs to be changed.

30. News channels in India

Most of the news channels in India are biased. Most of the channels are pro-government. There are few who are biased against government. It is rare to see unbiased reporting in Indian news channels. This is a sad state for the fourth pillar of Indian democracy.

31. My home state Bihar

Unfortunately, my state bihar ranks lowest in almost every aspect of development. There are several reasons for this. Natural reasons - Every year bihar gets flood, which wastes lot of resources every year. No industry - Bihar has almost no industry like how Telangana and Karnataka has IT industry, Gujarat has Chemical industry.. Political - Most of the politicians lacked grand vision for the state, the fire to do something for Bihar is not there, No unity - If all political parties talk in one voice to make Bihar great again, its not impossible, Inequality among states - rich states are becoming richer and poor state is becoming poor, as most of the investment goes to already developed states.. Not having very strong regional love in NRBs - In some South Indian states, people wants to stay in their state, as they love their state but that strong connection is not there in many Biharis, and we (Including myself) do not feel any pain in moving out of Bihar, this is actually related to the almost no opportunities inside Bihar.. But I feel, that we must do something for betterment of Bihar. I had very high hopes from current chief minister Shri Nitish Kumar, but, I do not see much progress. I will give one example of the so called road development in Bihar (Which govt boasts a lot).. 11 KM road (Only available road) connecting Dhamdaha and Barhara kochi is always broken in my 40 years of life. Even if its made 3-4 times, the quality used to be so bad that, road gets back to its glory in few months. It takes 1 hour to cover 11 Km.. There is no benefit of remaining in denial.. I wish to see my lovely state prosper once again.

32. Humans living on other planet

Elon musk..what a brilliance.. what a vision.. I am sure, human will go and stay for several days and months on other planet in my life time.. There are few major issues like converting CO2 to Oxygen on Mars, an easy and cheaper way to stop effect of radiation and a guaranteed safe transport to/from Mars.. But I am hopeful, these issues will be resolved.

33. Bangalore versus Hyderabad

I stayed 9 years in Bangalore and I am staying in Hyderabad since ~6 years. (4 years, I stayed in Bellary, Karnataka). I feel Bangalore has got over populated. Roads are congested with many fold increase in vehicles. Hyderabad is lot better in terms of traffic. Even though people speak Hindi in Bangalore, it is more common in Hyderabad. Apart from traffic, the cost of living is more in Bangalore. Hyderabad is paradise for foodies, especially non-vegetarians :)

34. South India versus North India

I am stying in south India since 19 years. So half my life I stayed in North and half in south. The food habit, clothing, marriage customs, festivals etc are bit different in these two regions. Places are cleaner (on average) in south. Trains run on time (compared to north). There is lesser crime in south. There will be extreme cold and extreme hot in North, where as most of south remains not that hot or cold. Pollution is worse in North compared to south. Temples are of different design in South. There are many things common across India - respect for elders, arranged marriage, respect for guests and Cricket! I personally like South Indian food more than North Indian food :)

35. Population in India

This is scary. We are going to surpass China in few years. The developmental index of China is way better than that of India. Infrastructure is better. We must control our population. This should not be politicised, but a strict rule of 2 child will help.

36. My root - Mithila culture

Goddess Sita was born in Mithila, hence, she is also named Maithili. Mithila is a region in Bihar’s north-east side where people speak Maithili language (a portion of Nepal also speaks Maithili). The culture is slightly different than other major language based regions in Bihar (Magahi and Bhojpuri). I have written about festivals and rituals in Mithila here

37. AI and Quantum computing

These two are the future. We have already seen glimpses of what AI can do, but quantum computing needs few more years to show their use case. It is going to be huge shift in the way huge data is processed and stored. This is needed for expected huge data generated from IOT.

38. Own house versus Rented house

Both has pros and cons. People staying on rent in my area in similar apartments pay ~30K as rent. I pay the same as EMI. In few years, house will be mine but rented guy will have to pay more rent every year without any return. I have no problem if my daughter colours the whole house, but if you do the same in rented house, it might be a problem! But, my office is 13 km away, If I stayed in rented house, I could have changed the house near to office and would have saved on commute time as well as transport cost.

39. Saying sorry and not expecting sorry

At times, there happens to be conflict between our own people, who are actually very close, but due to anger or ego we do something which we should not have done. When usual conflict resolution does not work - as no one is ready to buzz, I will buzz. Now in order to make peace, I say sorry and patch up even if I know I am not wrong. If I know I did mistake, I will say sorry. This facility is available for only those, whom I consider my own or till the time I give up on the person due to repeated wrongs.

40. School education in Hyderabad (Especially in new city - close to Gachibowli)

It costs a fortune these days for education. There is no government regulation. We parent also get into peer pressure to put our wards in best (Perceived) schools. Most of the schools in these area call themselves international, and charge anywhere between 2-5 lacs per year. I hope better sense prevail and schools do not increase their fees by 10% (with additional jump on class 1, class 5 and class 11) .. IMHO, there should not be more than 3-5% increase per year.

C. What’s in future for me

I would like to have stability more than higher salary. I will keep learning newer skills relevant and required for current and future tasks. I feel, I will be more comfortable in technical role architecting overall quality. I am focussing on Python (Data Science, Machine learning), Java (with Selenium, Rest API testing, Appium), Performance testing (I did this in past) apart from regular update of technical innovations and solutions used by customers. I will try my best to remain in Salesforce for foreseeable future. I know, in order to be relevant anywhere, I will need to up-skilll and re-skill myself everyday. As of now, I have no plans for any other career. Teaching is one profession, which is in my blood (My grandfather, my father and my mother were teachers!), so that would be an option to explore later in the career, though that usually needs a Ph.D and getting a job as teacher/lecturer in private institutes is not very transparent.

Its obvious, company will see the value addition versus cost to keep the resource. If they get same or better quality of work with lesser experienced guys, why should they pay more to me? Thats a big challenge. Now a days, learning has become so easily and freely available and students are so well prepared - Engineering students in 2nd year or 3rd years are participating and winning coding competitions like ICPC, Google Code Jam.. (During my college days, there was no youtube!) and there are plenty of engineers in India.. So there is a huge competition out there. Apart from skills and hard work, luck too plays a part in deciding where will someone be in future! So let’s wait for another 10 years and I wish, I will write similar blog on my 50th B’day!

Chhath Puja 2018 at Nallagandla lake (Close to Aparna CyberZon)

2018-11-14T09:29:00.001+05:30

Usually, I go to my native place (Purnia, Bihar) for Chhath puja, but this year, I was in Hyderabad. We wanted to see Chhath puja and get blessings from Chhatthi maiyya somewhere. Two years back, when I was in Hyderabad, I had gone to Hussain Sagar lake (Near Sanjeeviah park), there Chhath puja happens on grand scale. I think there were 5000+ people there with excellent light, music, and all other arrangements. But this time, I wanted to visit some nearby place (I stay in Manjeera Diamond Towers, Gopanpally, Hyderabad).

Inquiring with friends, I came to know that some people do celebrate Chhath at Nallagandla Lake. So we asked few other family friends and we all visited the place in evening as well as morning. we had arranged music (Chhath geet) and even though there were less number of people (~50), we all did Puja with all rituals.

Kids were enjoying the most :) So if you are staying nearby Nallagandla, Gopanpally, we can connect (I know some people in different societies near by) and in coming year, we can celebrate Chhath with better arrangements.

Jai Chhatthi Maiya!

Festivals/Rituals in Mithila culture

2015-01-18T02:15:00.000+05:30

I belong to Mithila region of Bihar, India. Mithila is land of Seeta mata, who is also named as Maithili. Maithili (One of three major languages spoken in Bihar, others are Bhojpuri and Magahi) is our mother tongue. I am proud of Mithila culture. Though every culture has its own beauty, but As I have seen all the festivals since childhood, I am writing this post, so that world knows about our culture, tradition and rituals.

Disclaimer: All the details are from my own perspective and for most of the festivals, I have used example of my family and my village (Some festivals may be specific to a particular caste/community within Mithila). Festivals dates are approximate and may not be exactly right and these dates changes every year as it depends on Hindi calendar (Chaitra, Baishak... Falgun month)

Let me mention that, these festivals and rituals are going on since 100s of years, though many of these are either scaled down on grandeur or people stopped celebrating them, as people have moved out of villages and have comparatively less time for so many festivals.

You will notice that most of Mithila festivals are focused on two objectives
1. Relationship and bonding between family, friends and society should increase.
2. Have delicious and variety food.

In my village, just 25 years back, there was no TV, no Phone, no news paper. There used to be Radio, that too not with every family, so the means for entertainment was nothing like today. They used to have these festivals quite frequently, and people used to celebrate these with full enthusiasm and with proper (as per documentation or as per Pandit) procedures. Today things are changed quite a bit.

Let me explain the festivals and rituals which is part of Mithila's life.

1. Makar Sankranti (15 Jan).

In this festival, there will be some puja (Means Worshiping God. I will use word Puja several times below) done and then elder ladies (Like Mother, Grand mother etc..) will prepare a mixture of Til (Sesame seeds), Chawal (Rice) and Gur (Jaggery) [Called Til-Chouri], and keep in a bowl and all younger people (In village - actually not entire village, but our tola - i,e part of village based on a particular caste) will go to them, will keep their hands in front of them, and then the ladies will ask "Til Til Bahbee?" (Meaning, "I am giving you this Til-Chouri, will you respect this? meaning Will you care for me when I get old?"). This question will be asked for 3 times (We know the trick!), so we (Naughty kids) will say No for 2 times and Yes for the third time.. even the naughtiest kid does not say No in third time.. But decent people will say Yes for all three times..

Later everybody will eat Dahee (Curd), Chura (Flat rice), Kela (Banana), Sweets, Achar (Pickles), Tilkut (Special sweet made out of Til), Sabji (Vegetable curry). I remember in 2002, we were in 1st year of engineering, and we (some 20 North Indians), prepared Dahee, and Alu-Gobhee sabjee. Some of our south friends were also invited for lunch.. They were not aware that Chura swells and increases in size in stomach after some time and if you ate Chura for full stomach, you will start feeling uncomfortable after some time. Some of our South-Buddies couldn't eat dinner!
There will also be several different types of Laay/Ladu (Like Til ke laay, Chra ke laay, Murhi ke laay, Chaur ke laay etc..) prepared and stocked for coming days.. Til is very healthy in Winter season. Later in evening, they prepare Khichdi for dinner

2. Narak Nivaran Chaturdashi (19 Jan)

I never did this, but its like a day's fasting kept by both Men and Women. This fast is done to not get into Narak (Hell) after death.. There are many recurring fasts (Like every Sunday some do, Every Thursday some do - they wear yellow cloth, Some do every Monday for Lord Shiva's worship), but this fast has special status.

3. Sarswati Puja (25 Jan)

This festival is also called Basant Panchami. This festival is for mainly for Students (But everybody celebrates). We do Puja of Goddess Saraswati (Vidya kee devi, Goddess of Knowledge). Its 2 day festival.
On day 1, Idol will be placed with some Puja. Students keep few books beside the idol, and they do not need to study this day, even Parents and Teacher do not force to study this day ..

There will be Prasadam given (specially sweet Bundiya) to all who comes to visit the Puja stall. In that night there will be Jagaran and next day, there will be Idol immersion into nearest river or pond.

4. Maha Shivratri (17 Feb)

There will be fasting for God Shiva. This fast is kept by both Men and Woman. I remember, In my village Bhatotar, we used to celebrate this festival at Shiv Mandir (Near Barhara kothi railway station). There used to be non-stop Keertan/Bhajan for 24 hours (We call it AshtJam), along with in-between drama/play.
One interesting thing about AshtJam is that it must be continuous (Hare Rama / Hare Krishna / Hare Shiva chanting) and even one second matters, so what happens is when One group is singing (say since 2-3 hrs) and then second group (Keertan Mandali) has to start now, the second group gets in along with 1st group, and sings together for 5-10 minutes, and then 1st group leaves the Mandap. They take some rest and join back again after 2-3 Mandali's are done the rounds.

5. Holi (5-6 Mar)

This is 2 day festival. 1st day is DhurKhel, where in we play with Dust. Mud etc.
As a kid we used to be spoilers (He he he .. sorry).. Like we used to put dust/cow-dung in milk vessel (for milk sellers), which used to almost get into fight most of the time .. Or used to throw mud on running train .. But essentially its to put some dust/mud to friend/relatives to make them dirty and nobody cares and get angry (As long as there is no much damage)..

Second day, we play with color (Wet color) and Abeer (Colored powder).. There will be village people marching whole village singing Holi songs..They play musical instruments like Dhol, Jhal, Majeera etc.. At every home (We call it Dwar, So most of the home in our villages, has two portions, one is Angan -Backside and one is Dwar. - Front), this group sings the song and it is host's (That Dwar's family) responsibility to arrange for some Tea/Paan/Bhang (as per their financial status) for all. Group will sing 1-2 song and the last song will always be "Sada ananda rahe ehi dware.." meaning "We pray that this home should remain happy always.". There are Sara-rara songs, songs of love, song of God/Goddess, song of patriotism..

During my childhood, we used to sing one song (Though bit offending) "Haan haan, Kutte nahin samajhte Gandhi Jayaprakash kee bhasha, Bina maar ke nahin badalti englishtaani chaal, bhagat singh jaaga hai" Meaning "These British dogs will not understand the language of peace proposed by GandhiJi and JayaPrakash, rather they will not understand without beating, because there are people like Bhagat singh emerged" .. and it was like so much passion and energy.. Probably this song was written when we were fighting for independence, but people continued to sing even after independence!
There was another song "Jhanjhar Jhanjh Jhamam Jham Jhankee, Jhahrat Jhora Jhori Guyyan, Aju khele Holi, Ajun khele Hori guyyan, Aju khele holi.."..
There were few of my villagers who used to write Holi songs quite innovatively (Based on recent political atmosphere or other societal issues).. Essentially, what Holi meant is to become at good terms with all families, know each other.. so even if two families are not at good terms, they play Abeer/Holi and go to other's Dwar for singing..

Later in the evening, every younger person takes blessing (puts Abeer on elder's feet) from all elder ones. This is a sign of respect.. and then elder person will put some abeer on younger one's fore-head.
There will be special dishes prepared. For day time, we have MalPua (Prepard from Maida, Milk, Banana, Sugar - fried in ghee) and in evening, we used to have Mutton (Goat meat).

I also remember, for few years, we (the younger ones, aged between 10-20) get music system with sound boxes, and dance in Holi, which old people did not like and shouted on us.. but we didn't listen!

Another interesting thing was Pre-Holi singing. Every night (Which starts some 15-20 days before Holi, till holi day), after dinner, villagers gather to one family's Dwar and sing holi song.. That host serves some snacks, tea and Paan (beetle leaf), and at the end, some other family (This singing group used to consist mostly Male) head will propose to have the next day holi gathering at his home.. and cycle continued..

6. Dora (7 March) - This festival happens on next day of Holi. All families will gather at one particular woman's home (This lady is considered well respected as She performs Dora for all families). Every family will bring some home made sweets, fruits etc in some kind of bowl (Made by bamboo's thin peelings ).. The old lady will say a story (And it is same story every year) about some King and queen who got some Shrap (Curse) and King became very poor and queen also became very poor and they somehow meet after 12 years of painful separation..

7. Ramnavami (28 Mar)

This is a festival for the worship of Rama.. In some places there will be Ashtajam. In my home, there will be Ramacharitmanas path, in which my mother (and in between, My father, or If I am there, sometime I read too) reads entire Ramacharitmanas (Only Doha, its ~800 pages, 7 parts namely Bala-kand—77 chapters, Ayodhya-kand—119 chapters, Aranya-kand—75 chapters, Kishkindha-kand—67 chapters, Sundara-kand—68 chapters, Lanka-kand—128 chapters, Uttara-kand—111 chapters) ) in one go (No discontinuity, remember from above?).

So If I am supposed to take over reading, I will sit beside my mother and start reading and then my mother will leave the place.). This generally starts by 7-8AM and goes on till 11 PM. There will be Ramayan Arti at last and then only we will eat something (For all those who are going to read the holy book, must remain on fast since morning)

8. Satua pawan/Jurisheetal/Sirwa/Biswa (14-15 April)

This festival has different names in different parts of Bihar, but essentially what happens is we fly the kites on these two days (and after this day no kite flying till next year Makar sankranti). People eat Tender-Mango, Sattu (Gram flour), and there will be some Puja..

9. Akshaya Tritiya (21 Apr)

There is a trend in India to buy some Jewelleary on this auspicious day, but I didn't know this until I came to South India in 2001.
In my village, there was a tradition to call entire village (I mean part of it, because, most of the villages are divided based on Caste and religion - though Sad, but that is how management is easier, and there is harmony between all caste and religion in most of the villages) to their home (This is not done by all families, but only very few designated voluntary families, reason will be obvious in a bit :)) to have Sharbat..
So you have some 50-100 people standing/sitting at one place (Dwar of one particular family), and that family prepares lot of Sharbat (Water, Sugar, Lemon and some flavors like Ruh-afza) and serve to all (Unlimited) .. because this is hot summer time, having a nice Sharbat refreshes everybody, but can you have it again after some time on same day? May be once more? Fine.. hence there were only 1-2 families which used to host this Sharbat party..

10. Ardara (10 June)

This is a festival for Sun God .. There will be some Puja done and there will be once again special food.. like Rice kheer and Mango (In our region, there is a famous mango named "Maldah", which is called King of mangoes in our side - and I had not heard the name of Alphanso mango till I came to South India.. And I still like Maldah more than Alphanso..:))

11. Guru Poornima (31 Jul)

I don't think there is special food attached to this festival..But kind of some puja happens ..

12. Nagpanchami (1 Aug)

In this festival, we worship Snake God.. and leave some milk and Lava (Its like popcorn of Paddy) outside our homes (bit far) and we believe Snake comes and eats Lava and drinks milk.. Though most likely its rats or some other reptiles :). In our village, there is a Vishahra temple (temple of snake god) and there will be some special puja done there..
Here I want to add two small stories around how this temple.was made .

1. One fine day (some 25 years ago), one of my Uncle, who were doing some farming work in his field, got a clay (like brick) which had snake shape made on that.. Uncle conveyed this to villagers, and some one suggested that, we should do some Puja (Called Bhagait).. so there was some Bhagat (One person, who was probably drunk, and spins his head round and round and utters some things like a crazy person), what ever he says is like word written on stone. People used to believe that during Puja, God will get into his skin and at that particular time what ever He says is the order by God. (Not now, its 25 years ago :) )

He said, there should be a temple built over here (Where Uncle found that stone/clay).. so be it .. But who is going to fund it? read second story for that

2. So now, villagers put a sign board at that place mentioning, "Site for building Vishahara temple. Please donate 2 bricks, whenever you carry bricks in tractor or donate some money" .. and we kiddos used to play cricket nearby in high school play ground.. so what used to happen, if there were some tractors carrying bricks, they used to throw 2-3 bricks on that site voluntarily, but some tractor were not and we (or if there are other villagers seeing someone not honoring) used to request (or even force) to them to throw bricks.. also there was donation box.. and with the help of many villagers, we built the temple in some 10 years) and now this is the temple, where every people come to take blessings after all important rituals like Mundan, Marriage etc..)

13. Raksha Bandhan (10 Aug)

This is the well known festival, where in Sister ties the Rakhi (Made of Silk threads) on the wrist of brothers.. Sister does some Aarti of brother, gives sweet to brother after tying the Rakhi.. Later who ever is younger touches feet of elder one.. Many a times, Brother gives some gift to sister..
Now a days, most of the brothers and sisters stay in different cities across the globe.. so Sister sends Rakhee by Post/Courier to brother.. Both Sister and brother keeps fast till brother ties the Rakhi (and they confirm on phone) after taking bath.. There is a famous story of Rani Karnavati sending Rakhi to Humayun (Who was a Muslim emperor, and Karnavati being Hindu-Rajput). and Humayun saved Karnavati by respecting Rakhee..). In childhood, I had seen a Hindi movie "Saajan ka ghar" in which a brother "Depak tijori" met with an accident and when Sister "Juhee chawla" comes to meet in hospital, she comes to know that Deepak's one hand is chopped off..and then Deepak says, sister, Look this hand is saved in which you had tied the Rakhee..and he says, Alas, there were customs to tie Rakhee in both the hands.. and everybody watching cries at this scene .. :) ..

14. Krisna jamastamai / Jhoolan (18 Aug)

This is a festival in which we celebrate the birth day of Lord Krishna.. We put idol of little Krishna (Nanhe Gopal) in a Jhoola (Cradle) and it will be regularly be moved by PanditJi..
At many places, there will be fair (Mela) organized. This was getting celebrated nicely at our nearby villages Barahara kothi and Sukhsena.. There used to be some Drama/Arkestra (Musical event) in evening.

15. Chaurchan /Ganesh chaturthee (29 Aug)

This festival is done in groups. a bunch of related families comes to one home, where in One lady does the Puja.. All other families keep their home made sweet bowl and Curd (in clay pot) near place of Pooja.. There will be some puja of Moon god.. and after this every body will take some fruit in their hand and see moon (Many a times it takes quite some time to see the moon, as it is rainy season). There are some villages in which there is a tradition of throwing Dhela (Small stones) or Kadamb fruit, having objective to break curd pot.. This is naughty thing to do, but in my village it was not quite prevalent..

15. Ananat Puja (8 Sep)

In this festival, also all families gather at one home, where in one old lady says some story, and then there is one band (named Anant, which has 14 twists, made from special thread), and everybody wears this on their hand (between elbow and shoulder).. they keep this band for at least few weeks..

There is something interesting.. This festival relates to Samudra manthan .. so the old lady will search something in the pile of flowers and fruits and other people will ask "Anant bhetla?" meaning "Did you get Anant?" and lady will say No..for many times and lastly She will say "Haan bhetal" i.e "Yes I got.."

16. Jitiya (16 Sep)

This need special mention. I don't think there is any similar festival anywhere in India.. This festival is to showcase the love and sacrifice by mother for their son (Sadly, this is done for Son only.. if some lady does not have Son, still they do in hope to get Son in blessings by God).
In this festival, family members (especially younger ones) eat Chura, Dahee, Cheeni, Khaja etc.. in the wee hours (around 4 AM). I remember, after this early breakfast, we used to play Gulli-Danda or Budhiya kabaddi..
Later in the morning, Mother prepares a basket full with fruits, flowers, sweets, Gram, Some leafs like bamboo leaf, Maina leaf etc.. and cover it with some cloth and tie a knot.. And then do a Nirjala fast (i.e Fast without even taking water) for around 36 hours (Depends on some Muhurtam)..
Its quite difficult.. And after the time ends, Son opens the knot tied earlier to uncover the fruit basket..
Mother does some puja after that .. and every body takes the Prasad and then only Mother eats something..
Its suggested to first drink something hot just after long water-less fast like Tea/Milk, If someone drinks cold water, there are chances to have throat problems.. Its been like 20 years I am not there at my home on Jitiya, but still my Mother (and all mothers does that) does this Fast and I call to her and inform that I have taken bath and please ask some one else (my cousins) to open the knot..

I request to all mothers out there (In my community), If you do not feel well in between, please do take some fruit juice or hot milk (And generally, Juice and milk do not break the usual fast :) )..

I have seen one incident which is not good.. but let me share that.. My neighbor Aunt in Patna used to do this Fast.. she was very weak by health and still she used to do.. and after doing fast for some 36 hours, on the morning (after few hrs she was supposed to break the fast), she was preparing Tea and she got unconscious while she was holding the Pan (having boiling water) and unfortunately their only son (Who was 5 years old, and for whom she was fasting) was holding his mom, boiling water fell on the son and he got severely injured. Immediately both Mom and son were rushed to hospital.. Luckily there was no long term impact..

17. Biswakarma Puja (17 Sep)

This is a festival to worship Biswakarma (Who is engineer God i.e who keeps machines safe!). We worship our vehicles (By cleaning and putting garlands), factories clean their machines and all workers have celebrations (I think mostly no work on this day!).. Also businessman starts a new Bahee-Khata (Registers to maintain the business finances, applicable to small businessman and in today's computer age, this is becoming irrelevant).

18. Dashahara (Kalash sthapan to Jatra) (25 Sep - 3 Oct)

This is a 10 days long festival, which starts with Kalashsthapan (i.e one earthen pot filled with water is kept on a heap of soil, and on this soil Jau (Barley grain) seeds are thrown, so that in 10 days it grows some 3-5 inches long grass, which is called Jayanti).

There will be Durga sapta sati (a holy book consisting of 13 chapters) path (reading), i.e someone will read the book (Either read this book daily which takes 2-3 hrs or can read few chapters every day and finish it off in 9 days).

There will be large Pandals prepared at many places having large idols of Goddess Durga and few other Gods/Goddesses. and there will be Mela around that Pandal..
On Ashtami, Nawami and Dashami, there will be some special puja done.
Dashmi is also called as Jatra (Yatra or travelDay). Essentially no body travels to other places between dashahra, and its considered auspicious to travel on Dashmi after the Puja is done in morning).
Every Male has to tie the Now-Grown Jau grass (Called Jayanti, 2-3 strands) into their Tikki (or Chutia, u might have seen on the head of Chankya.. These days we don't keep chutia, hence just tie in some hair).. Do Pranam (Touch feet) to all close elders.. So even if we do not generally go to to home village in Dashahra and do not tie Jayanti, we do Pranam to all elders (Close relatives) on this day on phone at least

19. Dhanteras (21 Oct)

On this day there is a tradition of buying some useful house hold thing like utensils or some vehicle or some Jewellary etc..

20. Deewali (23 Oct)

This is again special in our Mithila culture.. On this day, We prepare (or buy) Kandeel (a box type of structure made out of bamboo sticks, and pasted with colorful papers). (Earlier we - our family, used to prepare aeroplane structured kandeel as well, but that was stopped some 15 years back, as it was quite time consuming and laborious task to maintain/repair it and cover it with colored papers).

Later on the day we prepare Ukka-Paati (This is made by tieng bunch of dried Santhi (Joot/Patua tree), which looks like a cross (Christ's Cross!), and catches fire quickly.. We throw one-each Ukka-Pati on each house (in the family) and to nearest temples. Later in the evening we lit many-many Diyas, Candles to lighten all the places, roof tops .. Hence this festival is also called Festival of light..

Then in evening we burst crackers.. and around 7-8 PM, we gather at one place to have Ukka-Paati (One person will bring the fire in one long Ukka-Paati from our Bhagwati-Ghar - which is like a small temple inside our house..; and then rest all (Male only again) will put their Ukka-Paati on that fire, so it seems like a large bon-fire, and everybody holds their Ukka-Paati .. so at times the hand feels the heat..

Earlier (some 40 years ago), there was dangerous trend to jump over this bon-fire across by young people .. this used to be considered brave and good.. But there was a incident, where in two person jumped at the same time from opposite side and the flame was so high they could not see each other, and both of them had a clash and fell in the fire (Not much harm though).. and since then this tradition is stopped.. In place of we jumping across the fire, we just cross the small fire (only my fire, not everyone's fire), then take 5 strands of burnt Santhi (Joot tree) and then everybody comes to Bhagwati ghar .. They keep these strands in temple, and do a Jayakara (Chant slogan - Bol de kaalika maharani kee jay.. and everybody says Jay) of Goddess Kaali.. And there after happens the tradition, for which most people come to their village/home from anywhere in India they might be residing in ..

I have missed 5 such occasions in my life time [during my engineering days (4 times) and once After my marriage (In that year, all my vacations were exhausted, as there are so many rituals.. it was like a month for Marriage :) ) .. Anyways, essence is everybody tries to reach home on Deewali.. All younger (Male/Female) touches the feet of all elders.

First Male group will start from Bhagwati ghar, do Pranam to many people and then start by houses in sequence..Do Pranam to all elder ladies.. and in between any elder male comes (and not yet done Pranam), then do Pranam .. What happens is this removes all the bad feelings towards others .. even if two families had fight few days ago, both family members will forget their enmity and do this ritual and mostly forget the fight (Until it happens again).. so in a way cleaning up the hunted feelings within society.. Finally everybody will reach to one common (Big famous temple in my village) Kaali mandir and there will be multiple Jayakaras..

At 12 mid night, there will be special Puja in Kaali temple..

21. Kaali Puja (24 Oct)

Next day to Deewali is Kaali Puja, in which we worship Goddess kaali by doing Bali pradaan of goat (Though not favoring the cruelty on animals, but this is long tradition, and anyway goats are getting killed for usual meat eating - and veg versus non-veg is a seperate blog post!, so I neither condemn this ritual nor support this)..

In our village there will be football match and in the evening there will be some musical events..

22. Bhai Dooj (25 Oct)

This is also called Bhardutia. This is a festival of brother and sisters.. In this festival, Brother is supposed to go to Sisters place (If married) or do the ritual at their home.. So the ritual is to put 5 beetle leaf in brother's hand, put some Pithar (Paste made of rice), Sindoor (Vermilion), 5 nut (Beetle nut), 5 one rupee coins .. then sisters put the folded hand (With beetle leaf etc..) into a large bowl of water and clean his hands.. Later who ever is younger touches elder's feet.. Sister gives some sweet to eat to brother.. Brother may give some gift/money/sweets to sister.

23. Chhath (29/30 Oct)

This festival is celebrated to worship Sun God.. this is done in two parts.. One in the evening (Sunset) and one in the early morning (sunrise).

What happens is there will be one or more big basket (having Sweets, Fruits, Coconut, Sugarcane etc.) which needs to be carried from home to the nearest water-body (a pond or river) on head.. Here Chhath Vratees (People who does chhath fasting, and this is also quite tough fast. I skipped mention of Kharna and other related rituals) get into the water in evening time (say around 3 PM) and stay in there until sun sets.

After that, all these baskets kept on the river pond bank (Decorated with banana tree) is given in hands of Vratee, and He/She dips the portion of basket into water and then gives back.. and we take these baskets back to our home (We do not open the basket).

Later at around 3 AM, we all wake up and then take the basket back to same river/pond bed and again Vratee gets into the water. This time it will be colder (as compared to evening time), and stay there until sun rises. After the sun rises, each basket is again given in the hand of Vratee, and other family members put Milk into that basket (This process is called "Arghya dena" and is considered essential).

There are people who has this mannat (votive) to go to the water-body from their home (few 100 meters to even few kilometers) by measuring the distance by their body (Like how Hydra moves). It means a person standing, then sleeps on the road keeping a knife or stick to mark by his hand till he can reach, and then stands up and walk to the mark drawn, and again stands there, sleeps on the road and repeat the same until He/She reaches to water. In fact they get into water like this only, so there will be slope at the end, and one needs to be very careful. This ritual is not done by all, only very few people does this. I was seeing Chhath festival at Bangalore and Hyderabad, and here also there were people doing this ritual.

24. Devuthan Ekadashi (3 Nov)

Some Puja - in this also some people do Ramayan Path..

25. Shema Chakeba (8 Nov)

In this festival people (girls/ladies especially) make different birds, animals (Like elephant) using clay and color them nicely. They also make Chugla (Meaning a person who speaks bad about others behind them)..

In night (say around 8PM), ladies and children goes to nearby field, and they break all these clay and also burn Chugla.

26. Lawan (25 Nov)

This is a festival for new paddy crop.. (Also called Navanna meaning new grain). In this festival people worship fire (Agni) God by giving some portion of Chura (Made out of newly cut paddy), Dahee, Mulee (Radish) etc.. Also people eat Chura/dahee/Cheeni.

Some more festivals and rituals

Apart from above festivals which is generic and happens every year for everybody, there are few other Rituals/festivals which happens once in life time (Again depends on Male or Female) as mentioned below.

1. Chhatthi
For newly born kid - on 6th day from birth

2. Barhi
12th day from Kid's birth .. after this day, mother can do house hold work, till then take rest new mom !

3. Mundan
Only for boys - Between 1 to 5 years.. Head Hair will be cut (Not shaved) - Huge celebration..

4. Upnayan
Only for male - Between 10-20 Years. Head Hair will be shaved and Gayitri Mantra will be taught. Again huge celebration

5. Tushari Puja
Only for female. Girls when get into marriageable age, they do this Puja .. hoping they will get better husbands!

6. Vivah
So many rituals in Vivah (Marriage).. There are two important Mithila specific words for arranging the marriage. One is "Ghatak" (Bride's family who comes to discuss for marriage with Groom's family, and One would-be groom has many Ghataks and One set of Ghatak visits many would be groom!) and second one is Agua (One/Two person who knows both Groom side and Bride side, which takes the initiatives and has very important role..) Role of Agua is decreasing day by day but they were the only means to introduce Bride and Groom family back when there was no matrimonial websites :)

7. Vat Savitri
Only for married woman. For the first year after marriage, this is a big function.. Woman continue doing this festival every year, though in simple manner.

8. Kojagra
This is a one time festival, wherein, Bride's family distributes sweets to Groom's society/village.

Specially Paan and Makhaan is must.

9. Dwiragman
For Married couple - After marriage, bride does not go to groom's home immediately, rather She goes after few months or may be after few years!.. and that time again there will be function.. But now-a-days, this ritual is done few days after marriage itself, as most of the family members stays at different places., and its tough to gather again and again. 30-40 years before, most of the people used to do farming or small business and used to stay in village only, hence they had plenty of time :)

10. Madhushramini
Only for recently married woman (Within an year). This is 15 days festival, in which bride is not supposed to eat salt and do puja everyday. On 15th day, Groom is expected to be there to perform some puja.

After marriage, people have kids and same cycle repeats for Son/Daughter and GrandSon/GrandDaughter .. and as its Sashwat Satya (universal truth), one who is born will die one day.. So some rituals are done for the departed soul, by their relatives.

1. Shraddh
This is 13 days ritual post death, in which, 11th day, all close relatives will shave their head (or do a hair cut, if Upanayan is not done). There will be some rituals performed for peace of departed soul and there will be feast, where in 100s of people get invited.

2. Barkhi
Fom 1st death anniversary to 5th death anniversary - There will be Head shaving (Called Nakh-Baal) and there will be some puja/rituals followed by feast for villagers.

3. Ekodisht
After 5th death anniversary (Barkhi), every year, till the family can do.. They invite few people for eating on that day ..

Note: As mentioned earlier, it is all my personal view and the intention is to let the world know about our culture/tradition. There may be something incorrect as well, as its been 15 years, I was not there at village for any festival except Deewali/Chhath. Please let me know if something needs to be corrected or enhanced.

Three memorable journeys in my life

2013-01-29T02:03:00.000+05:30

These three journey were,
1. When I was in 9th std.
2. When I was preparing for Engineering entrance tests, after 10+2
3. When I was in 7th sem of engineering

Disclaimer: As the stories are quite old, I might have missed some of the things exactly. Also, this blog post is just meant for fun and should be taken lightly. No offense meant to anyone..

1. When I was in 9th std.

I was studying in a residential school, High school, Dhamdaha, Purnia. I used to stay in hostel, which was in the same campus. It used to take 2-3 minutes to reach school from hostel. This place Dhamdaha is a small town (subdivision) 11KM from my village Bhatotar (Nearest bus stop at Barhara kothi, 1 KM from my village). From Dhamdaha, mainly there are 3 roads. One goes toward Barhara (11 KM), one goes to Bhavanipur (14KM) and one goes to Purnia (32 KM). I used to be good student in my school, and was one among top 4 students in classes. In dhamdaha, there was only one cinema hall named "Ashish chitralaya". This cinema hall had unusual show timings (Generally in Purnia, show timings were 12-3, 3-6 etc), but in Dhamdaha it was 11-2, 2-5 etc .. This was probably done to cater the need of students. How? Well our class used to start at 10 till 1.30; and then 30 mins break then 2 to 4PM. The classes in my school had three exit doors, one at front, one at middle and one at last, i.e someone can make attendance at 10.30AM, (sit in last bench) and when teacher turns towards black-board, run out of the class and reach to cinema hall, which had back entrance, and used to take 2-3 minutes from my school. Though, this had to be done by only risk-takers, as if teacher or some other staff sees going out of class, then God save him (I think, I did this dare once or twice in 3 years, influenced by some of my back bench-er friends :) ). After movie, one can come back by 2PM and attend rest of the classes. This was also important, as the attendance used to be
taken in first class (at 10.30) and post-lunch, first class (2PM). If you are absent in 1st class, fine was 10 Paise, but if u r present in 1st class and absent after break, fine was 50Paise. I used to visit my home once in 2-3 weeks. Catch a bus, and reach Barhara in 1 hr (yes, for 10KM, it used to take 1 Hr, as there was many stops in between and road was bad). The bus fare was 3 Rs, but students used to pay 1 Re only after having occasional arguments with bus conductor. As Bhavanipur was 1 Hr journey and has 2-3 cinema halls (SriRam talkies, Janki talkies), many students used to go there to watch movie by bunking classes or on Sundays. Well, this was the background for the story. Now the real story starts..

One fine day, when I was about to go to school at around 9.45AM, my friends MXX and VXX called me and said "Do u want to watch movie in Fourstar?" (Fourstar is a famous cinema hall in Purnia), I said no man, I have to go to school, and No I can not go to Purnia at any cost .. If we go now, we will be back by 6 PM, and we may miss evening attendance (at around 5.30PM), and if we miss attendance we will not get dinner at hostel mess. But Vxx tried to convince me that, what man, always study study.. come no, for one day, whats big deal.. we will be back by 5PM.. I thought he was asking to come, so he will bear all the expenses for travel, movie etc.. I got convinced.. :)

I left my books in room and came to bus stand with these two guys. Got a mini bus for Purnia. I wanted to sit inside the bus, but Vxx told that, hey come, we will sit on Bus-roof-top, and in that case we will not pay the bus fare.. We sat on bus roof.. After few KMs, conductor came and asked money. I was silent, thought Vxx should pay. Vxx says, we are students and we don't have money.. After bitter argument, He forced us to get down.. We were again waiting for another bus.. We got another bus in some time.. We again climbed to top, and this time after little argument, the irritated conductor didn't force use to get down, but we didn't pay the fare (It was 10Rs per person). We reached Purnia bus stand by 11.45AM. We rushed to Fourstar (which is close by), and we got into ticket queue. At this point, Vxx asks me give me 20Rs, I said why? He says, I don't have money now, I will pay u later. I became angry, then He asked to Mxx. Mxx said, He does not have a single rupee. Vxx did not have any money. He had thought, I usually have money with me, so it should be ok. I searched my pockets, and got 11Rs. Now the ticket rate was 4Rs and 6Rs, and we were short of 1 Re for even the from tickets. We went to counter and asked for 3 tkts in 11Rs, counter person didn't agree. Now what to do..? Vxx says, hey we will go to Roopwani cinema, where the minimum rate is 3 Rs. Those who know Purnia, can imagine Fourstar and Roopwani distance, it is around 2KM. we ran like athletes and reached Roopwani by say 12.20PM. We took 3 tks in 9 Rs. Movie was (I think)- Meharbaan
(Mithun chakraborty). We sat in the first row as the movie was already started. In interval, we were hungry, but there was no money (except, I had two rupee note). At 3PM, we came outside and walked towards bus stand. In between, roadside, there was one robot-astrologer (which has many lights glowing on a robot type machine, equipped with many headphones). I said, I want to hear my future. It was 2 Rs for one person. I had not seen this earlier, so I was interested. I got the headphone and listened my future, and while listening I took out 2 Rs and gave to the person. After this we moved again towards bus stand. Then Vxx says, we will eat some Jhaalmurhi (Rice flakes with some spices), I asked how, He says, that 2 Rs, u gave to astro person, actually, in place of him, u gave to my hand, and we can have that in 2 Rs. I said give me 2 Rs. I took it and ran to astro person, and gave 2 rs to him and said sorry.

Now, we are hungry, have to reach school, no one knows about us, we have bunked classes, next day class teacher will ask to me for sure, as I was normally not missing class, and that too class teacher knew that I stay in hostel. He will say this to hostel warden as well. Then hostel warden will say this to my father.. all sorts of fear is going on my head. We reached bus stand. There is a bus for Dhamdaha, but normally from bus stand (from where bus starts), conductor takes money before hand only and not on the way. Now
what to do.. We tried to get into bus, but was not allowed without tkts, we said, that we lost our money, and we have no money at all.. please let us get in .. no mercy shown to poor fellows.. And bus left in front of us.. After long time, there was one mini bus (Maxi). We got somehow on top of this. When conductor asked for ticket, Vxx said, we don't have.. That fellow was not agreeing and wanted us to get down.. But miracle happens sometime.. There was another conductor of another route bus, who was from Vxx's village. Vxx went to him and explained things to him. This villager talked to our bus's conductor, and we were allowed to sit on top of bus. (To have seat was not even thinkable inside the bus). So bus started at around 5PM.
Only we three are on bus-roof.. these two friends knew that my Father's school (A govt. school teacher at Amchura, near Kajha kothi) comes in between Purnia and Dhamdaha, and he travels everyday from Kajha to Barhara (via Dhamdaha, and many a times, he gets down to Dhamdaha to meet me, and then goes to home). Mxx jokes that, what if your father sees u on top of the bus at Kajha kothi? I said, no way.. We will reach Kajha kothi by 5.45 and my Papa leaves by 4-4.30 PM... so no chance and that too we are on top ..right? And miracle happens.. When we reached Kajha kothi, I see my Papa standing near bus stop. He didn't see up to me.. but these friends are making fun of me, that I will tell to uncle that Ashish is here.. Somehow I begged them not to shout, as My father may recognize them as well..I was hiding On top.. My Father got into the same bus.. I thought that Papa had come to meet me few days back only, so He will not get down near Dhamdaha, and I can quickly get down and go to hostel. When we reached Dhamdaha, I got down from bus, and as soon as I have put my feet on road, my Papa calls me up .."What are you doing here? this is the study time in ur hostel?" It was around 7PM now.. I had no words .. stunned.. Somehow I managed and said, I had come to take some vegetables (like Onion, which we used to use for evening snacks, evening snacks was not provided by hostel, we had to manage ourselves).. He looked on me .. had suspicion, but bus started to move, and He go into the bus, and said me to go to hostel immediately.

Oh my God!! .. Anyways, now moved towards hostel..we had missed the evening attendance.. At 8PM, dinner bell was rang.. before dinner, we used to gather at temple and we used to sing a prayer (Bhaye pragat kripala deen dayalaa) followed by one chaupayee of Ramayan every day. Let me mention that, there was no electricity in hostel (and in most parts of Dhamdaha), and we used to have our Kerosene lantern in order to study. Though, we knew we are not entitled for dinner today, we went considering, we will keep hiding from
hostel warden.. We started our dinner.. suddenly Warden Mr Shxx shouts on me, Where u had been the whole day? U bunked the class, you missed the attendance, You were not present when I came to round (he used to come very silently and vigil the students, and used to punish if we are not studying.. we were also very intelligent, we had made small holes in all rooms, If some room fellow sees the warden, he used to inform through this little hole not to play or talk, as warden is on rounds.. ).. So we didn't speak anything .. He asked several times .. threatened to tell to our Parents.. But we didn't speak.. He knew we three had been somewhere.. May be he say us somewhere while coming to hostel.. Anyways, we were not speaking.. He calls Muxxx's younger brother Suxxx (who was in 8th) near to him, and asks tell me, where your brother had been? He said, I don't know.. On this Warden became very angry and said, Oh trying to save brother.. let me see how much u can tolerate for him and he puts lantern glass on Suxxx' leg, Suxxx started
crying, within few seconds, Muxxx stood up, ran to warden, threw the lantern away by snatching from warden's hand.. He started shouting on Warden, that how dare you punish my brother for my fault.. By now other teachers also gathered there and asked us to have dinner.. They also scolded the warden..
Possibly, warden also got fear that we may complain to Principal that he burnt Suxxx with lantern, He didn't say anything on that day.. Though I was in constant fear that He will say this to my Father.. next morning, I went to his room and apologized (Said, we were watching movie in Ashish talkies Dhamdaha 2-5, and then roaming around.. ).. I am sure He never said this to my Father .. :)

2. When I was preparing for Engineering entrance tests, after 10+2
I used to stay in a single room in Kankarbagh, Patna after my 10+2 and was preparing for IIT/Roorkee etc.. Here on 1st floor, thee was one more student, who was in 10+2, from Nawadah, named IrXXX. He became very close to me like my younger brother. Later I left that house and came to Musallahpur area and IrXXX shifted to Kolkata for his higher Commerce related study. Time passed.. We were in contact through letters.. There was no mobile phone those days.. somewhere in 1999.. There was a phone in my house owner's home, on which sometimes
parents can call and they used to call us inside their home and one could talk. Another communication medium was "Tele-post (Taar)", which used to be per word 50 paise and it was very fast i.e in 1-2 days the message used to reach to intended person. One day, I got a letter from IrXXX that you come to kolkata for Durgapooja. Here in kolkata, there is huge celebration. Stay here for a week and then return back to Purnia.
Well, I got interested. But every year, I used to go to home for durga pooja. This time also, I was supposed to go home. I forgot the exact date, but say 1st pooja was on 1st November and 10th pooja was on 10th November.. My mother had already asked me to come home max by 6-7.. In fact, one day in October, Papaji called me on phone and asked to me to come home, but I had other plans!!, I said, I won't be able to come to home this time.. I will come in deewali.. As I will miss my tuition classes (Generally all tuition
classes will be closed in Patna during DurgaPooja.. But I lied :( ). Papa said its OK .. u concentrate on studies.. I had already sent the letter to IrXX that I am coming on 2nd November.. and after that IrXX had sent me the plans on how will I come to Kolkata.. He didn't send his exact address (I used to send letter at his Uncle's kolkata address, and I knew he stays nearby only).. He had informed me that you come by poorva express (Its 550 KMs from Patna to Howrah) to Howrah (I had never been to Kolkata, in fact I had never been outside Bihar till now). I will be there on platform. You do not go anywhere, we will search you.
Ok then.. All set .. I didn't even though to reserve a seat .. I went to Patna station , got the general ticket, and got into Poorva express.. There was huge rush in general compartment, but somehow I got a seat. In between, I didn't move from my seat, as there was chances of losing the seat. I reached howrah at around 5PM. I waited at the platform for 30 minutes. I didn't see my friend. Later I got worried, now what to do.. One option was to go to his uncle's home directly.. after searching for another 30 minutes on platform, when I didn,t find my friend, I came out .. Had to asked many times to people around to reach to Park street and then to locate his uncle's house, but some how I reached at right place.. They knew me.. but Uncle said, He along with one more friend has gone to Howrah to pick you up.. Waiting waiting there till 9PM.. IrXXX came with sad mood to his uncle's house (He had not thought that I will reach here, rather he had thought that I didn't come).. When he saw me, He was so happy that I can't describe .. Says, Bhaisaab, I and my friend (Gave him your photo) and I was standing near engine and my friend was standing near last bogie, we searched you 2 hrs there .. we lost hope to find u and then came here .. wow .. too happy .. I went to Irxxx house, where He used to stay with his friend .. Don;t know when he ordered the cold drinks, As soon as we reached his room, cold drink came.. Later we went to a restaurant for Dinner..
Next day, we went to some ghaat, and some other places .. next day we went to Nikko park.. and then another day we went to Science museum.. We had great fun.. Full masti.. and no one knows in my family where I am.. I had got my Canon (Prima DX2, with roll) with me, and everywhere we took some snaps. I didn't know that there is a train named HaateBazare express from Sealdah (In kolkata only) to Katihar (Katihar is 40 Kms from Purnia, 1 hr journey then 2-3 hrs to reach my home). Some body asked my home, and when I said Purnia, then he said, you go by HaateBazaare express? I thought why not go to home only from here (Its like triangle, having one point as Patna, one as Kolkata and one as Katihar). So I decided to go to home on 6th evening, so that I will be at my home on 7th. On 6th noon, I had two finished camera rolls. IrXXX said, its possible to get the photo printed in 1 Hr. I said ,, really? Then we went to studio, and we got two sets of photo printed for these two rolls .. Like 70+ photos in two Konicka albums .. IrXXX
came to drop me to Sealdah (8PM).. I had taken general ticket. There was so much rush in train,, that I almost gave up, and said I won;t be able to go home .. I remember IrXXX had said, you think this is your IIT exam and somehow get into the train.. once you get in you will reach home.. I tried my hard to get in and was succeeded with constant push by Irxxx.

Next day morning, I reached Katihar. Outside the station, there was a mini bus for Purnia. I got into that. As soon as I sit, I see my Maternal Uncle (Mama) is entering into same bus. He asked me, how come you are here? I had no words .. I can;t say that I am coming from Kolkata.. I said, I am coming from Patna (There are many trains from Patna to katihar).. I said I came by Capitol express. He exclaimed, Capitol reached before time? Then he says without me asking him, I had some work in Kolkata, just now came by Haate-
Bazaare express.. Well you know how I might have felt.. I reached home by 12PM on 7th.. Parents are amazed that, I had said that I will not come, but came.. I said, tuition was closed for last few days, so I came..

In evening times, my sister got the photo albums from my bag.. I was talking to my cousin MaXXX, and my sis came with the album, whose album is this? We started seeing this album, and I said, these pics are from Patna. My cousin says, I didn't know if there is any Nikko park in Patna? where is this ..I said, its newly opened in Baily road.. Somehow managed .. Till this date no one knows that I had been to Kolkata ..

3. When I was in 7th sem of engineering
I joined VEC bellary on 27th August 2001. My room number 54 (along with Rxxx and Bxxx) was most famous room for all masti and noises made by around 20 North Indian guys in our batch. One of my classmate G.Aditya Kalyan was very multi talented person. He could speak good English, had become friends with even seniors very quickly.. Though he was not very good in studies, He was one of the good friends in our group. I remember, One day he said, I can do anything for friends.. I asked am I ur friend, he said yes.. Can u do anything what I say? He said yes.. I don't know why, but I said can u break ur watch now (He had a nice golden color watch), I didn't even complete my sentence, and he threw the watch on wall in front of me .. watch was broken .. though I think, it was repaired later.. I personally had many differences with him as well, But missing you man .. Where r u..? I lost all contact with him .. Anyways, It was merely 1 month in campus, One day he came up with idea to do some one-act play (drama) for VTU youth fest 2001, to be held in KLES Belgaum for 3 days. It was going to be nice time .. no classes.. hotel stay .. good food.. So many events including singing, dance etc .. 120+ colleges to participate..

I got interested.. Pulled in Rxxx also.. But there was condition that only 25 students can participate from one college at max And there were many students who wanted to have this fun.. all free of cost.. So there was a selection process.. We had to parctice for the drama and show to lecturers (Who will come with us to Belgaum). Also, they wanted every candidate to try to participate in at least two events. Hence we three (Me, Aditya, and Rxxx) took part in Mime (In which whole body is covered in black, hands and face is
painted white and lips and eyes are painted red, and we need to demonstrate something meaningful story type, without touching anything, anybody Else's body and not even touching our two hands and do not open mouth). Well we gave our names.. Aditya came up with some script, wherein a drug dealer is trying to make students habituated of drugs, and then later using them for illegal activities.. The two students who gets involved heavily in these, one tries to stop using drugs, but other friend did not .. what happens to them .. there were other family members etc.. and what role I got was .. Drug dealer.. I did quite OK, and I heard some claps on my dialogues.. but we were not even in competitions.. There were so much better One-act plays done by other colleges.. Similarly I did mime, in which I was a thief (Not sure if audience understood that I am thief, but I knew that I am acting as thief.. He he .. ) Anyways, even this was not in race for the top three prizes.. We used to roam around and see various events and whenever our college was participating, we being fresher were making lot of noise.. One day there was small fight also with host college guys over one song "Who let the dogs out.." So after full 3 days of masti, we returned back to college.. Later I could not go to VTU youth fest, as I was not interested to go and also didn't wanted to spent time on practice. In
4th year (7th sem), we were the seniors.. Most of the classmates, Many juniors, lecturers knew us by now.. I don't remember exact date, but I think it was December 2004, There was another VTU youth fest in Bapuji college, Davangere. I and Rxx (yes same Rxxx, Aditya was not there in Bellary by then) saw the notice regarding this. Once while on the way to college we met Dxxx sir (Who is in-charge of the youth fest along with Sxxx sir), we said to Dxx sir, We heard this time fest is in Davangere.. We also want to go in that (It
was some 1 month before actual event). Sir said that, If you want to come, give your application with which event u want to come, form a group, do practice, show to us on a fixed date, and then we will see whether we can take u to fest or no .. I said, What sir, even for seniors, do we have to go through all these process, he had said yes.. That evening, we came to know our two class junior (close to us), Abxxx is taking part in the youth fest.. We said him, that we are also coming.. when he asked, which event, I said no idea.. This was 1 month back .. I had to go to various interviews outside bellary at times and was busy with studies.. Completely forgot about this event..

One fine day, We were celebrating birthday party of one of our friend Sxxx in some restaurant near Royal circle Bellary. I was present there along with Rxx, Mxx, Jxx and few others.. We had ordered lot of items for main course and many starters .. Starters were about to come, I got a call from Abxxx. He says, bus is about to lave from girsl hostel (fort area), where r u guys? U had said u r coming for VTU youth fest.. ? I saw Raxx, We both saw others, and said, we are going to Davangere.. Others said what about so much
orders.. We didn't listen anything and immediately we came to hostel (some 5 KMs). Fortunately we had NiXX's bike. I and Rxx came to room (We were roommates for all 4 years in college, and most of the times we stayed only two in triple bed room .. :) ) .. anyways, we didn't had a minute.. We were in chappals, Saw in cub-bard, there were few washed (unironed) clothes, put that in a bag, shouted to Pxxx (he has scooter) and DiXX (NiXX's bike) to drop us wherever we say. Now on bike, called to Abxxx, where are you, He said, we just now crossed Cantonment (almost outside bellary), we said to drive fast, and We almost did race with our college bus and stopped our Bikes close to bus. Bus driver knew us (Manju). He stopped the bus. We got into the bus, said thanks to Pxx and Dxx for dropping us..
Now we were in bus and we were going to Dvangere.. Both our lecturers didn't say anything.. Our names was nowhere mentioned (A list had to be sent to Bapuji with names of student, so that they can arrange the logistics accordingly).. Entire bus having 20+ students were stunned for quite some time ..They were thinking, we never saw these two guys practicing, how come they came directly.. No one is talking .. We only had to push to play antakshari.. Asked Driver to play loud music.. we did little bit dance as well.. It
was around 200+ KM drive. We reached Bapuji college at around 9.30 PM. When we reached, we were getting down with others.. Dxx sir stopped us. He said, Look I think you guys wanted to see the youth fest on your own, this was our college bus, and there is not a big deal if u used this to come here.. Now you need to make your own way.. you both can not come with us.. This was expected.. isn't it? I said, sir, we came in hurry, and we missed to take money with us. we thought we will take part in some event. Sir was not
agreeing and were very angry. We said, sir let us stay with you people at least for today night, tomorrow we will see. No No .. its not possible, He said. We were really not having much money (may be 100+ rs, Though we could have asked to other students).. We followed the group, sir is seeing us, but didn't say anything. Bapuji 's volunteer said, We were expecting your college to be here tomorrow morning (Some communication gap there), hence we can arrange the accommodation in our hostel dormitory, but we have noarrangements for dinner. You need to manage by your own. We were very hungry (Remember, we had missed the lunch party also). Our group went to one small restaurant. There, Sir ordered veg fried rice for everybody (Only this).. We went inside, took some other stuffs like some some Manchurian cold drinks etc .. and said to the person there to count in the group.. When sir saw us having cold drinks, He thought we will pay for our bill, but we didn't .. Sir saw the bill asked about cold drinks.. saw us.. but paid the bill ..
We were silent .. Came to Bapuji's hostel.. we were front runners in choosing nice bed to sleep.. and slept nicely ..

Morning there was nice breakfast arranged by Bapuji college .. We also had along with the group.. After this we reached to Dxx sir.. We said, sir please see, if we can be accommodated in any event. As we had good (studious) reputation otherwise in from of Dxx sir, He said, Ok let me see .. but you guys should have told us earlier.. Anyways, there was two teams in quiz possible, and we had only one team. So we formed another team of three and wrote our name in the list. Also Raxxx was given role in dance (side artists, who picks if some props are thrown by dancers on stage).. Later, we went to registration counter, we managed to convince to enter our names in their already printed list.. and we were given an Identity card ..

We didn't had any event for our college on that day .. we roamed bit .. had lunch (For lunch, for all students, coupon was given to sir. In place of giving all three days of coupon at once, he used to give one day's coupon in morning. He said, If I give all coupons to u guys, u will not even meet me in coming three days..) We were given stay at another hostel, which has 3 beds in each room. Each room's two keys were given to sir. Sir later distributed the keys, 3 person in each room. I and Rxx were in same room, but there was this third person. We asked him to adjust with another room (why he asked? because, we will be coming late in night and also u have ur friends in other room..) He took the bed, put on floor in another room (4 guys in one room) and we both got one room.. Now we were free.. had got food coupons for one day, no need to worry about roommate.. We were roaming all over Davangere.. We got our clothes pressed..
next day, we had our quiz.. I tried my best, but was disqualified in qualifying round itself..both our college teams were disqualified.. Now it was the debate competition.. From each college two participants were selected.. One had to talk for the topic for 5 mins and other had to speak against the topic.. Our college code was 44 (No one knew which college is which code, and it was kept anonymous till award ceremony on last day) Also, in I cards, in place of names, a,b,c,d were mentioned for a college. We got to know that our classmates Pxx and Jxx were participants.. but I heard both these guys having hot discussions . Due to some communication gap both of them had prepared in favor of the topic. and the topic was "Violence is not the solution for terrorism in Kashmir".. Both of them in favor of this, saying yes, there should not be any violence and peaceful talks are the only solution.. Now one is saying to other that, you talk against the topic. but no one is ready.. and suddenly Jxx says, I am leaving, you do whatever you want.. We tried to stop him, but he didn't stop and went outside the venue.. And it was announced that, next college is 44, be ready. So it meant we had 10 mins. First thing I did was, went to organizer and said, Sir, one of the participant is on the way, he will be here in 20 mins, could you please move our college code 44 by one. He agreed.
I said to Rxx, Bhaijee, you are good in English, why don't you go and say something for 5 mins, saying violence is the real solution.. Rxx says, you only go no.. We tried to push each other for 5 mins, and then I agreed to play the role of other participant, who as to speak agaist the motion. I took a paper and pen and jotted down few things like Ramayana-Ravan, Mahabharat-Kouravas, Indira Gandhi- operation blue star etc .. many things came in mind.. When our college turn cam, One Pxx said in favor.. Later I went on stage .. in front of me there are 100+ participants, 3 judges and many other people.. I forgot what all I had written on paper.. Started with "Lets say I don't understand French and you do not understand English, can we communicate, No .. These terrorists are like that only.. they do not understand the language of peace, they only know language of bombs and bullets.. They must be asked to surrender in a day, If not kill them all.. kashmir is ours and will remain ours .. I talked in high pitch and there were many applauds in the room.. When it was warning ring at 5 mins, then I remembered what I had written. But I concluded.. Though we didn't get any prize, my initiative was appreciated by all including lecturers. Later we had lots of masti..in another two days .. While coming back, we didn't had our college bus, so we had to go by public transport.. I and Rxx took charge of booking the tickets/seats in bus. We all came back to college happily..

Wow!! what a trip .. so many twists and turns.. It felt good to share these journey details.. Hope you enjoyed the journey along with me.. :)

My stint with interviews and my first job ..

2012-08-10T13:41:00.002+05:30

In our college (VEC Bellary, now renamed to RYMEC Bellary), mostly, there was no On-Campus interviews, but we were called to other college for a combined off-campus selection. The first ever campus for which, our college was called was Infosys (@PDACE Gulbarga), and I was not eligible (I had 56% in 10th).. In that campus, 7 of my friends got selected .. There after, In most of the off-campus, I was eligible and I attended all of them .. remembering those days ..

Note : Some of the dates/happenings may be slightly incorrect, as its been almost 8 years now ..

1. Subex @ BVB Hubli (July 2004) : I along with many friends reached BVB Hubli (from Bellary) in early morning.. Place was bit crowded, so where do I take some rest?.. I got an idea.. I went to boys hostel, and asked someone, is there anyone from Bihar? And got referred to Sxxx and I rested sometime in his room.. and guess what? He knew one of my brother in Patna :) and Now He is friend of one of my colleague as well .. Well, I didn't know much about Pointers in C, and that is what was was asked in first round.. I was not selected, but one of my friend Rxx was selected there ..

2. iGate @ BVB Hubli (August 2004) : Was selected in aptitude test but later got rejected in interview. I think, no one from my college was selected...

3. Polaris @ Bapuji Davangere (October 2004) : Many of our friends went there .. Three of us were selected in 1st round.. later 2 of us got selected in GD .. and I was rejected in last round (interview) .. Interviewer asked, you are from ECE branch so why do you want to join software company? I had said, sir, actually there are not much job in hardware/vlsi/embedded domain, hence I am trying in software industry as well :) Sxx was selected there ...

4. Mascon @ Bapuji Davangere (November 2004) : I was selected in first two rounds along with one of my friend .. In interview round got rejected .. I thought I did very good .. my friend (Pxx) got selected.. I later talked to interview panel, and said, I answered all the question, but then why did you rejected me?.. I said, there is partiality going on between Bapuji students and VEC Bellary students..They considered and said, actually there was a tie between you an another student from Bapuji, and as he has better academics, he was selected, But let us take one more round for you both .. And that guy was called back, and was asked to go for another round.. To me, interviewer asked very tough questions on Java (He had complete reference in Java handy and was asking questions from book).. I was not selected .. The HR person gave me his business card and said, you come to Bangalore and meet me.. let me see If I can do something .. and for doing these all process, I had to stay one more night in Davangere..

5. Mistral @ Bapuji Davangere (December 2004) : I was selected in first two rounds (I think I was only one selected from my college), but again got rejected in interview.. I remember one funny thing happened during interview.. He asked me about some law, for which I said the overview (round about answer) and then added, sir actually, it was one year back I had studied this subject, hence forgot the statement.. He said, boss you studied this subject in 6th sem ..few months back .. :)

6. Integra micro @ BEC Bagalkot (December 2004) : This was interesting .. There was 5 day state level VLSI training workshop by Sandeepani/Xilinx in my college, and I was active volunteer (Arranging the stay for various faculties from various engineering colleges across Karnataka and other help required). Along with volunteering, I was also taking the course as well.. On 4th day around 12 PM, I got this info that there is campus in BEC bagalkot (Had no idea how to go there) tomorrow morning .. I rushed to bus stand, and somehow reached to Bagalkot .. I was selected in first round along with one of my senior (Sxx) .. It was late evening, when I had second round, where in I could choose between Java and C++, and had to write 1 big program..I selected C++ and it was gone .. both of us were not selected ..

7. Sutherland @ VEC Bellary (Jan 2005) .. Yes!! this was in campus .. I was selected in 1st round.. second round was to give speech for few minutes on some topic .. I was rejected.. I think my friend Hxx was selected ..

On 19th feb 2005, I came to Bangalore along with Tilak.. searched room in one day, and next day my other project mate (and room mate and my best buddies Rajesh and Dinakar) also came.. We had to do project in BHEL bangalore, and also one more project on VHDL/CPLD in BCE(?) consultancy in Mathekere, Bangalore .. And here comes few more interview failures ..

I do not remember, If I gave 1-2 interview till my engineering got over on June 10, 2005 ... We used to travel to Bellary in between for few days for various assignments, seminar, project, internals and main exams.. I joined NIIT Vijaynagar for J2EE course .. and the classes were started on 14th June 2005.. I met here with Ramesh and Fatima .. Also, few other friends like Vishwas, Rohit, Vijay were doing course here, but in different batches.. I had to change two bus from Srinagar to reach Vijaynagar..

There was a south India C++ competition (for NIIT students only) and I was second !! (Wow C++ ? ..). There was another competition to design two Java projects 1. Calculator 2. sql query analyzer .. I got second prize in that also.. I remember working whole night for this project (Yes!! whole night and then next day class ..) .. My course got over in August 2005, and as promised, NIIT had provided few campus interviews.. In between I wrote few other PSU exams.. I don't exactly remember which interview was provided through NIIT

8. NTPC @ Bangalore (March 2005) - Was not selected in written test..

9. UPSC (IES) @ Bangalore (June 2005) - Was not selected in prelims...

10. ISRO @ Bangalore (June 2005) - Got selected in written test (for Scientist post) and there was only one interview, which if selected I could have been a scientist and could have been part of Chandrayan !! but alas!! There was something very interesting here also ..

I had my interview in ISRO office (in August 2005) @ Airport road Bangalore at around 11 AM.. In morning I had prepared all the documents in a file folder and I had kept interview call letter in my pocket .. When I reached the venue (@9.30 AM), I realized I forgot the file in home only .. fortunately, my friend Rajesh was at home .. I called him and asked to bring the file ASAP (It takes 1 Hr+ to reach airport road from Srinagar) .. He reached in 1 hr.. and then when I was about to enter for interview, I was told I need to submit few document photocopy, (which I didn't have!). I got it from ISRO office only (You can imagine how hard it would have been to convince and get a photocopy in so secured ISRO office !!) .. Earlier, I had inquired and found one of my distant relative's relative working in ISRO bangalore, I had got his number and had asked him about interview format .. But still, when I saw 10+ people in big interview room, I was probably frightened by the bombardment of questions and could not answer satisfactorily .. and I was not selected here also ..

11. Sonata @ Bangalore (July 2005) - I think I was rejected in second round here ..

12. HP @ Bangalore (August 2005) - Was rejected in interview round..

13. Texas @ Bangalore (August 2005) - Was rejected in second round .. I vaguely remember, they had offered Free Lunch @ Texas, Bagmane tech park cafeteria ..

14. iFlex @ Bangalore (August 2005) - Was rejected in first round (Don't remember exactly If I was selected in first round here)

15. AztecSoft @ Bangalore (September 2005)- Was rejected in second round ..

16. IBM @ MVJ college, whitefield (was provided by NIIT) (October 2005) -- Was selected in written test along with Bishwas, but I was rejected in interview round, and Bishwas got selected ..

I am missing two other companies for which I wrote the test .. then there was 19th Campus interview by NIIT @ Richmond road for Afila Tech .. Before this something very important .. just to understand my situation and context ..

It was in Feb 2004, I had gone to my home (Purnia, Bihar), after 5th sem exam. and because off-campus was supposed to happen between the semesters, I didn't go to home till October 2005.. It was very very frustrating period (I being one of the top 3 student @ my college, and doing so much hard work in Java/J2EE, is not getting job and that too getting rejected in last round..)

My family asked me to come home for Deewali (on 1 Nov 2005) and I had taken ticket to go to home on 26th October .. I was sad, that I will be going to home after 1.8 years without a job .. and then suddenly, there was this off campus from Afila on 22nd October..

19. Afila @ Bangalore (provided by NIIT on 22nd October 2005) : I cleared written test .. and then was called fro GD (It was next day!! I remember arguing with Mahesh - who also got selected later on the topic given "Should the compiler fix the errors as well in place of just reporting it?)" and you know what was my argument "No... somethings should be left for humans to do .. If everything will be done by computer then what software engineers will do !! .. and also added, computer can never be as intelligent as human.. whereas most of the candidates were supporting it, by saying it can be done ..its benefit and how it can be achieved.. One more funny thing happened .. our CEO Amar mutt (I didn't know that) had announced the successful candidates name (Of course, I was one of them, You know that!!).. and after that, I asked him, Sir, May I know your name.. He said Amar, I asked, May I know your designation, and He said He is CEO of this company with big smile :) ..

Well, offer was not made on 23rd, as HR round was left .. HR round happened on 24th Where Rxx (HR Manager) took my interview and offered me ... I simply took the offer letter and went to bath room and cried a lot .. I didn't bother about salary offered as 8500 (stipend for 2 months), didn't bother that its testing role in networking field, didn't bother that joining date is 26th October (When I had to go home after 1.8 Years!!) .. Came out, called my mom and informed .. called Vineet and Rajesh and informed .. when I reached room, I see Vineet has already come to my room with sweets.. I was very happy .. But then suddenly I realized, I want to go home now.. I was fearing that, If I will ask to extend the joining date (I was scheduled to come back in Bangalore on 13th November), they may hire someone else and I might get rejected .. But somehow I called to HR (Rxx) and said this story .. she said, not a big deal . but don't delay it by mid Nov, you join on 7th November .. I said Fine .. And luckily I got the return ticket, so that I could reach Bangalore on 6th Nov.. and then I joined Afila on 7th November 2005 ..

It was a great day !! Thanks Amar .. Thanks Afila .. Without you, I have not been here, where I am today!!

Comparison of correspondence course M.S (Software systems) from BITS Pilani and executive M.S (Computer Science) from Manipal University

2012-05-29T13:24:00.000+05:30

Disclaimer: Though I am a student of 2nd Sem Executive MS-CS at Manipal University, these are completely my opinion, and may be wrong also, and hence I do not recommend anyone to follow blindly what I say, Do your own research. If something mentioned is wrong then please let me know ASAP through comment and I will correct it.
Sl. No	Basis	MS distance from BITS Pilani, in Software Systems	Executive MS from Manipal University in Computer science
1	Qualification to get admission	B.E/B.Tech (B.Sc/BCA is not allowed). Only for working professional having 1+ yr of exp. Http://www.bits-pilani.ac.in/university/wilp/WILPProgrammes	B.E/B.Tech + B.Sc/BCA, but they need to go for 3 years course. Only for working professional having 1+ yr of exp. http://www.executiveprograms.manipal.edu/
2	Company approval is must?	Yes, Company needs to mention that, this employee is funded by the organization and also He/She can use the resources of company for project/assignment purpose	No. One need not be funded by company and only thing they ask for is a proof that you are working (Offer letter is sufficient)
3	Fees	http://www.bits-pilani.ac.in/university/wilp/AdmissionFeesStructure 15000 + 32700*4 = 145800	1,70,000
4	Can take break between the course?	Didn't find any such info, Looks its not that flexible	There can be short and long breaks, very easy to take breaks and also very transparent in their policy.
5	What type of course is this?	Fully correspondence course	This is also not full time course, But I heard there is no difference in degree awarded between this course and that done full time at Manipal campus.
6	Maximum duration of course	2 years	4 years
7	Can fees be paid in installments	Each Semester, hence 4 installments	6 installments
8	Is real time classes conducted	No, only online tutorial available, or some online counseling	Regular 9 Hrs classes on every Sunday, 3 subjects, 3 hrs each
9	exams	http://www.bits-pilani.ac.in/university/wilp/OperationalHighlights 1 assignment/quiz (10% weight), 1 mid-sem open book exam (30% weight), 1 final exam (60%)	Similar to engineering exams in VTU, u have 3 internals (Exams mostly on 3 out of 4 Sundays every month from 8-9 AM and then classes of 9 hrs)- Internals for 20 marks, and best two is considered, i.e 40 marks Assignment – 10 marks, Term paper – 100 Marks (You need to submit hard and soft copy of research paper on related subject) + Main closed book exam (No books allowed in any of the exams)
10	Syllabus	http://www.bits-pilani.ac.in/uploads/WILP_Programmes/MS%20Software%20Systems.pdf Has 4 subjects in each sem	Similar syllabus, but covered in 2 sem only, Has 6 subjects in each sem. Another year is for project only.
11	Theory classes duration	3 semesters	2 semesters
12	Need to visit university?	Yes, for project submission, you need to visit Pilani, Rajasthan	Not required.
13	Approval from AICTE?	No.	No.
14	Approval from UGC?	An institution deemed to be a University estd. vide Sec.3 of the UGC Act,1956 under notification # F.12-23/63.U-2 of Jun 18,1964	Manipal University the first private sector deemed university, Status given by UGC and Ministry of HRD
15	Can do Ph.D from any govt. university?	I think yes..	I hope yes, as not many have yet tried this ..
16	Any benefit in IT industry?	Not much benefit, unless you r in service industry (like Infy/Wipro/Tcs etc..)	Not much benefit in terms of promotion or salary hike.
17	Will help in becoming lecturer in Engineering colleges?	yes, More priority is currently given to MS rather than B.E (But M.Tech from classroom course is given most priority)	Yes, It should help, not much data available, as this course is comparatively new
18	Administration ease? Like taking any info or applying for break etc?	Not very easy to gather information/ Website looks less informative	Better/Clear information available in their website
19	Since when this course is running?	Long long ago .. Will update exact year later, But this course is running since 25+ years	2005
20	Roughly how many students are there in these course?	Thousands (Not sure .. may be 5000 +)	Few thousands now .. (2000 +)
21	Industry tie ups?	Yes, with many companies, Infact many companies run their own course with help from BITS pilani at their own campus like Wipro offers WASE program ..	Yes, but comparatively less corporates
22	Recognition world wide (If you want to apply for Ph.D from foreign university?)	BITS pilani is India's 5th-10th Rank college hence is world renowned .. No doubt about the name of BITS Pilani, But not sure how reputed correspondence course is	Manipal University is also world famous, but may be little less than BITS Pilani.
23	Do u get to meet/interact with your classmates/batch mates?	No, You don't get to make friends	yes, you get new friends
24	Do u get the feeling, that you are really studying in college?	No .. No college feeling ..	Yes
25	Classes conducted at various cities?	No classes	Yes, classes happens at Bangalore, Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Kolkata & Pune
26	Mentor required?	Mandatory while applying for this course , I think mentor should be from same company, and mentor's qualification is also seen	Not required while taking admission, In second year, you need one mentor as project guide.
27	My rating : In terms of flexibility	7	9
28	My rating : In terms of How useful this course would be	8	7

Why people think, they are right.

2012-05-14T20:26:00.000+05:30

Similar to me, most of the person in the world thinks "He/She is right". Its quite logical that why most people thinks He/She is right, isn't it?

It becomes difficult to manage the situation when someone is trying to put on his/her thought on you, even though you think He/She is is wrong. We face it everyday, many a times..

Suppose my views on any particular topic A is "In the situation of A, one should take steps a,b,c", and for same topic other person might have different views like "In situation of A, the steps to be done is b,d,e". Now when we discuss on this, I will say and try to prove my points based on my existing knowledge, which I might have gathered by reading books/websites, taught by teachers/parents, Inner conscience or have experienced in life or by other means, and the other person will try to prove his/her point.

Now this sometimes gets converted to heated arguments and may have other severe side effects. If the other person could prove to me or I got convinced through other means that my steps a,b,c is incorrect and I AM REALLY WILLING TO LEARN, IMPROVE AND MAINTAIN GOOD RELATION, (Few people don't want to learn as they think they know everything, Few people don't want to improve as they think they are best, and some people do not really value the relation with the other person), I should admit it and change my understanding to "Yes, I was incorrect till now, the steps are b,d,e".

So next time somebody else starts discussion on topic A, I will know/feel that I am correct with steps b,d,e but the other person can say "No, the steps are x,y,z", and again, I SHOULD BE WILLING to listen to other person and try proving my points.

Its quite possible that 100s of people are wrong and one person is right on some topic, also some things does not have very clear distinctions between right/wrong, but, If one really think from "Ideal Human's" point of view from the perspective of the their environment, right or wrong can be decided or at least can be agreed upon.

--Ashish Kumar Jha

My views on issue raised by "Satyamev Jayate" and other social issues.

2012-05-07T14:58:00.001+05:30

Aamir khan!! Whatever he does, does it different .. Taare Jameen Par, 3-Idiots .. wow man!! What a show!! .. I would have been disappointed, If he had hosted a show like KBC or had become judge of Indian Idol. Shows like these do not match the image and personality of Aamir Khan. Aamir, I salute you for this dareness and great initiative ..Yes, its true .. similar to many people, I also cried while watching this show. (I saw this show at 10 PM on start tv. On Sunday 11 AM, I was, and will remain in college till August :) )

This post is not concentrated on issue of female foeticide only, rather many things I have seen/analyzed in last several years. This is totally my personal view, and does not intend to hurt anybody, but in case, it hurts somebody, my apologies.

I knew about the issue .. many educated people know about it, but the way it was presented touched my heart. There was nothing new as such .. People hear about similar stories everyday in news .. What is the single biggest reason for all these inhuman negative happenings around the world? The biggest problem is "materialism". I have done enough research, watched 100s of videos, listened to many people, talked to all levels of people, from nothing to powerful persons, uneducated to highly educated people, but everybody is addicted to this "materialism"

What is the issue? Mostly husbands and their family does this heinous act. Do these husbands and their family not have their sister/daughter? Heard one mother-in-law kicking her grand daughter so that she is killed? It would have been better, If somehow Aamir could talk to those husbands and in-laws that "Tell me honestly, why did you do this?" Why somebody wanted to kill their own blood relation? That lady might be thinking about future, that if girl comes, we will raise her, and then she will go to other family, and for that also, we have to struggle so much and pay huge dowry, hence in place of going through so much problem later, remove the root of the problem now itself. I can not agree that, All those "criminals" are really that bad in other aspects of life. They got threatened by the future .. What would have happened, If you could not have managed to get nice cloths, education, and husband for that girl in future? Actually people fear from future .. Oh My God .. how will I do this?.. Did you know that 100s people die everyday in India in Road accidents and Suicides? http://ncrb.nic.in/ADSI2010/ADSI2010-full-report.pdf And once life is over, there is no pain, no debt, no second life. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_rdYiLAz38 There are many people in world who does not have single rupee balance after their dinner (May be something thrown in dustbins?). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNr4tgTEOMs  In fact one well educated person is living life pennyless (I do not endorse or support his way of life though) and write about their life from public library https://sites.google.com/site/livingwithoutmoney/ and http://www.zerocurrency.blogspot.in/ ..

Its all about how much we really need and how much we want. I heard Mukesh Ambani spent 1 Billion dollar on his home in Mumbai and they are not shifting in that house because of some vaastu problem. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2053231/Worlds-expensive-house-Antilia-Mumbai-lies-abandoned.html) and in same Mumbai lacs of people do not have shelter .. The problem is having good house (decorated by famous interior designer and boasting about this in front of friends and relatives), good car, spending crores of rupees in Marriages has become so important that people die for these every moment. One of my friend said to me, "I never ever wear unbranded clothes, Will use only woodland/reebock/nike (etc) shoes, and yes I work hard for these" .Great, I am not a pure socialist, but do not endorse Capitalism in current form (Whatever I understand about socialism and capitalism) i.e I do not say Mukesh ambaani to not make 27-story building for 5-6 family members nor I say do not spend money in marriages and in place of this divide the money equally to every body in the world so that no body dies out of hunger, frustration and depression. No!! that will not work out, in that case competition is gone, and people will become lethargic, What I am saying is "Having only Mercedes car" should not become motto of life and "can do anything for that thing" attitude.

Everybody is obsessed with "log kya kahenge i.e what others will say" and this RAT race is going on in dangerous speed. One of my friend had said to me in school days "If I could not get food for my family by right means, I will opt for wrong means and snatch food from others", What he really meant is, its no harm to do bad things (Which society at large believes is bad), as he is doing for his family. But tell me why does IAS couple Arvind and Teenu Joshi were involved in corruption ? http://news.rediff.com/report/2010/feb/05/mp-govt-suspends-ias-couple-for-it-raids.htm I am sure an IAS gets enough salary to lead a decent life, then why did he wanted to earn crores of rupees? Just because he was pure materialistic. He felt happy in big bunglaw, kids studying abroad..

In India, there is no concept of government sponsored social security (absolute no). In US, there are many government run kids orphanage, old age homes, efficient police, medical facility, Social security after a job loss etc.. Again American way is not the way, in which world can get better, there are many personal problems in USA (as far as I know from internet and news, like kids shooting in schools, high rate of divorce etc..), But there are strict rules for everything and life is much simpler, In fact I feel that life is much simpler in Bangalore compared to my home town Purnia).

Aamir khan and Amitabh bachhan are not ideal, even they have several known personal life issues, But we should try to see positive things. Lets think about Mahatma Gandhi. There are many who criticizes him, but his idea of "Non-violence" is so powerful that it can change the world if followed. Having said that, non-violence will not work with those hardcore ruthless terrorists, who do not understand the language of peace. We all witnessed the huge people support for Anna Hazaare, for his idea of "corruption free India", May be in future people will criticize him, but his idea can never die.

The only solution to these problems are "Spread Unconditional Love", Yes the same words I am saying since 10 years now, which is my twitter page background image, is my Tagline in all social networking sites, Blogs, website (ashishkumarjha.com). Words may be different in the solution suggested by anybody but main theme boils down to "Live life for others, Have your needs bare minimum, Do the work as hard as you can, Stretch yourself beyond comfortable zone, and do not expect equal help in return of what you did for others, Do not lie, Be good human being etc..".

In one TV show, anchor asked the guest "Why there is so many divorces in West and now catching up in India?" The reply was so touching. He said "In India, earlier we used to tell our wife, Ardhangini, i.e half part of body, and If some disease happens to our body, we do not throw away that part of the body, right? Hence If one really believes in "Ardhangini" concept, then whatever may be the qualities, one needs to accept other, and that was the reason, there was less divorce, Now a days, people do not love others, but love themselves that too materialistic love .. I want this, I want that.. I wanted you to behave this way, I want you to earn more money, I want you to make better food.."

You see all these Nirmal/SatyaSai/Nityananda babas boasting about their extraordinary powers? They are exploiting on the fear of humans. I am 100% sure, no BABA (and for that matter, no Paadri or Maulana or anybody) has any eternal power (May be some sort of yoga make them stronger eye contacts, or they can stay without food for months, but nothing that special, that no one else can do).

I have seen and observed about few Doctors (Mind you, there are few doctors like these) in last few years, that even though they understand life can end at any moment, and its just biological entity having billions of neurons which control our thinking and behavior, they are materialistic and just to get some money give unnecessary prescription for various tests, try to let them admit into hospital etc... In fact  my brother said that in small town Purnia, there are many rackets of people who stands near railway station, bus stand, and persuade patients to go to a particular doctor, and in turn that doctor gives these "Health brokers" money. What these doctors do they write so many tests and recommend to go particular pathology for tests, and they write the medicines from a particular company and also recommend to buy medicines from a particular medical shop and many have their own medical shops. I have seen, doctor change the medicine, If the nurse standing near to doctor says, that this medicine is not available in "our medical shop". They too are exploiting "The biggest truth and fear of human kind i.e death".

Naxals kidnapped Sukna collector Alex paul menon, and media made so much hue and cry, but there was almost no coverage of two body guards who died while performing their duties, and when Alex paul were freed by Naxals, people were bursting crackers? that was height of insensitivity. He must have first visited the body guard's family for consoling them. God forbid, even if one IAS dies, his family will get the job and pension, but families of guards may die out of hunger.. No support system for poor or powerless .. Why can't army/police combined can give a deadline to Naxals for 30 days and say "Remove all your arms and join mainstream, otherwise, after 30 days, If you killed even one person, We will bombard and kill you all." and do strategic attacks if required. Look, I personally do not like force to be used, but the problem is they are killing innocent people, that should be intolerable.

One last thing, We do talk about patriotism, If I talk against Pakistan then I am patriot? Then what is wrong in telling "Raj Thakrey a Patriot", He is very well patriotic about his state. I ask, who has created these boundaries, humans right? What if few of our states make another nation XYZ, should we start hating them?. Borders of any level is just for better management. Our old civilization says "Vasudhaiv kutumbakam i.e Whole world is a family". Having said that, my analogy would be like "I work for team A, hence I should do my best for team A, and If there is positive competition between teams for better performance, I must stretch myself for better result for my team, this does not mean, If team B needs some favor, which will not harm my team, I should not do it."  Hence what will work out is, We do our best for ourselves, our family, our village, our state, our country and our Planet earth, in the decreasing order of priority, because there are others more responsible for their family, their village, their state, their country, but we all are equally responsible for Humanity. Yes, I am proud that, I am from Village Bhatotar, I am proud that I am from district Purnia, I am proud that, I belong to state Bihar, and I am proud to be Indian. If I will have to choose (only one option for life time) from Bihar and Karnataka, I will choose Bihar, If between India and USA, I will choose India, because I was born here, I have got some duties for here.

Bihar day 2011 celebration at Bangalore

2011-03-23T15:33:00.002+05:30

On March 22, 2011, All the people of Bihar celebrated Bihar day with happiness, enthusiasm and Pride. There were functions organized at several places inside Bihar and Outside Bihar

In Bangalore, there was a huge ceremony organized at Hockey Stadium, Nanjappa road, Bangalore. Other details at Facebook page. This event was Organized by Bihar Foundation - Bangalore Chapter

Function started with the Lightening of candle by Chief guest Member of Parliament Syed Shahnawaz Hussain I.G Amar Kumar Pandey and other dignitaries.

It was followed by Karnataka State song, Vande Mataram performed by Hardik Melodies (A band started by folks from Bihar in Bangalore)

Then welcome speech was presented by Shri Amar Kumar Pandey IPS. Chairman, Bihar Foundation – Bangalore Chapter. It was very energetic and enlightening words, which made all of us very proud of being a Bihari. He said, there was time, Biharis outside of bihar used to hide his native information and at several instances, poor Biharis were physically assaulted, But the perception of World is changing about Bihar and Biharis. He also shared one instance when, a person from Mauritius met him in South Africa and wanted desperately to talk to him in Bhojpuri as that person's fore-fathers were from Bihar and still his Mother speaks Bhojpuri.

Later, the gathering was addressed by Bhaskar Rao, I.P.S., Commissioner for Transport & Road Safety. He basically belongs to karnataka but has great respect for Bihar.

This was followed by enthralling speech by Syed Shahnawaz Hussain. He said, Bihar is on growth track under the leadership of Nitish Kumar and Sushil kumar modi. There were various lighter moments he shared with us. He explained various initiatives taken by state govt. in order to improve the life of common man in Bihar and brand image of Bihar. Also He said that, Bihar does not have many resources after separation of Jharkhand and Bihar should be given special state status.

There was various songs performed by Hardik melodies. After this we had nice Buffet dinner arranged. We all enjoyed it.

Happy Bihar Day .. Jai Bihar .. Jai Karnataka .. Jai Hind ..

Some of the events pictures.

Chhath Puja 2010 at Sankey Tank, Bangalore

2010-11-13T23:37:00.000+05:30

This year, I could not go to my home for Chhath puja. Chhath puja is celebrated very nicely in bangalore @ Sankey Tank. Sankey Tank is near to Mekhri circle. I think there were around 3000+ people present there. I could not go for evening Puja, But for morning Arghya, Left early at 4.45AM and reached at Snkey tank at 5.15AM (From C.V. Raman Nagar, 15 KM). I felt very nice. The event was well organized by Siddhartha Samiti. There was Prasad distribution after the puja. Though, I(actually We, Me and My Wife) would never want to stay at Bangalore on Chhath Puja, But by any chance, If we have to stay, we will go there every time.

Bihar Day: 22 March : Celebrations in Bangalore

2010-03-23T00:43:00.002+05:30

Bihar as a separate State was formed on 22nd March 1912. Before that, Bihar was Part of Bengal. Initially, Orissa and Jharkhand were also part of Bihar. On April 1, 1936 Orissa was formed out of Bihar, and On 15th November 2000, Jharkhand was separated from Bihar. We Biharis Celebrate, 22nd March as Bihar Divas. There is 3 Day long (22-24 march) Celebrations happening in Bihar.

Happy Bihar Day !!!

It is said that, After Bihar-Jharkhand Separation, Bihar was left with 75% Population and 25% Resources. Well, Today Bihar's GDP growth is 11.5%, Second after Gujraat. Bihar received No. 1 e-governance state award in 2008, and Nitish Kumar received, Business icon of year 2009 award. Bihar had a great Past .. Chanakya, Ashok, Koutilya, Gautam Buddh, Rajendra Prasad and many others are renowned personalities from Bihar.

Bihar was ruined in last 2 Decades .. But Now, Bihar is changing in every aspects, Governance, Law and Order situation, Roads, Electricity, Health care, Education .. Though it will take some more years to get Back its glory . But its possible .. We all need to be goodwill brand ambassador of Bihar and Send the Positive Waves about Bihar's Change to rest of the world.

On 22nd March, There was Huge Celebration on Bihar Day, Organized by Bihar Foundation - Bangalore Chapter, in Hotel Lalit Ashok, KumaraKrupa Road, Bangalore. Eminent personalities, Including, IG of Bangalore, Tathagat Avtaar Tulsi (Wonder Kid, Who is the Youngest PhD in Asia. He completed His PhD from IISc Bangalore at the age of 21) were present on this occasion. I had the opportunity to meet Tathagat, in person, after 5 Years. It was great pleasure to meet him.

There was Music and Dance programs by Various artists. They performed Various Indian Dance Forms Including, Karnataka's Yakshgana, Maharshtra's Lavani, North East's Kathak, South India's Bharatnatyam etc..

And Lastly, we had great great Dinner @ Lalit Ashok, The Pioneer 5 Star Hotel of Bangalore.. It was great time there .. Enjoyed a lot .. Some of the Event's Pics

Configure Beetel 450BXI wiFi Modem with BSNL

2010-03-14T00:09:00.000+05:30

Initially I had Airtel Broadband connection with Wired Modem (Beetel 220BXI). AT that time I had 2 PCs. Later when I got my Dell Lappy, I asked Airtel to get me a WiFi Modem. They had two options, either purchase or take it on rent. I purchased it. So I had another Modem, Beetel 450BXI.

Some time back, I removed Airtel and got BSNL broadband connection, and they gave one Wired Modem UT300RTU. I had asked to BSNL Technical person who had connected this modem in my house about my existing Beetel Modem, He said, he needs to change the Firmware (?) and which can be done by written application only. [Believe me, to change my Broadband Plan, I had to visit BSNL office and submit an application for that, whereas with Airtel, it was just one call to customer care]

Well, after few days, I thought, lets try to configure WiFi Modem. It was so simple.. below was the steps ..

1. Connected The BSNL Line cable to 450BXI, and connected network cable from port1 (This modem has 4 ports) to my Laptop.
2. In Browser, Open 192.168.1.1 [Catch, BSNL default credentials are admin/admin, whereas Airtel has admin/password, and I had to use admin/password]
3. Click Advanced Setup -> WAN. Delete all the rows by selecting all Remove option and clicking Remove.
4. Click Add. Enter VPI=0, VCI=35. Service Category= UBR Without PCR Click Next.
5. Connection Type : PPPoE, Encapsulation: LLC/SNAP , Click Next ..
6. PPP username= hk80XXXXXXXX@bsnl.in [80 is Bangalore STD code, and XX is my landline number], Please ask to Customer Care for ur username, But ideally, It should be same. Password is password. Service Name = DataOne . Authentication Method = AUTO MTU=1492 , Nothing else to select. Click next
7. You may/may not Enable Firewall. Enable NAT. Enable WAN Service. and service name = pppoe_35_1 Click Next. Save.
8. Now in Left side pane, Click Wireless. Select Basic. Check Enable Wireless only. Give SSID name as your name or something [When ur wifi device will search, u will see this name listed as available wiFi network.] Country India. Max Client 16 or less. Do not check Enable Wireless Guest Network. Click Save/Apply.
9. Click Wireless->Security. SSID=as mentioned above. Network Authentication=Open. WEP encrytion=Enabled. Strength=64 bit. Current network key=1 Network Key 1= Your Password. This will be asked, If u try to connect to this Network using ur WiFi Device. Save/Apply
10. Click Advanced Setup. Click Save/Reboot.

That's it !!! .. Now after Modem Reboot, You will be able to use WiFi.

It worked for me, and I thought to share this with world Hope this works for you as well..

Also, I believe, the default firmware supplied with any Modem should work with any Broadband service provider. Only their configurations are bit different.

Keep Spreading Unconditional Love !!!

Kudos to NDTV Greenathon Initiative

2010-03-08T01:40:00.000+05:30

Till sometime back, This Project (Toyota NDTV Greenathon) has received Donations to Support 155 Villages for Lighting and raised ~4 Crore.

Priyanka Chopra being part of this project is great and She Deserves applause and Thanks by the Indians.. She Stands as per her Stature..

We can also contribute in various ways, both financially or Non-financially .. We can donate to the project (More details @ http://green.ndtv.com/ Or we can at least do something in our home.. Like not wasting water .. Switching off extra lights..

Bangalore used to be one of the Greenest City.. Some 20 Yrs back, I hear, Most of the roads had Trees on both sides.. Now, Its not the case .. many construction works, Metro, Road-widening has resulted in Cutting of trees..

Lets do our bit .. Its logical.. isn't it .. We must think about our future Generation .. :)

NDTV, Keep up the good work and Keep inspiring us ..

Do You Really Want To Be A Better Software Tester?

2010-02-14T01:02:00.000+05:30

This is my thoughts .. You may/"may not" agree ..You may comment ..This Post is for existing Software tester, who wants to get better .. and feel better ..

I am a software test engineer and I love this now since few years .. I have my Vision and Mission And I am on track till now.. :)

Though, I had good Engineering score, I struggled for 4 Months to get a job after my B.E in Electronics and Communication Engineering. I was looking for Java Developer job [I did course in Java/J2EE from NIIT and had done 3 projects in J2EE/Oracle], But ... Something else was in my Luck(?) . I became Network Protocol Test Automation Developer (I used to write Tcl/IxTcl/Expect code for Layer 2 protocol Testing). Initially, I was thinking, I should change my job, but could not get another job in Java for few months and how one year Passed, I didn't notice.. Later I changed my job to a product development company ..as a Software Test Engineer.. My responsibility is to test an enterprise server software .. For Non-functional quality factors like Reliability and Scalability.. This company, has taught me so many things .. I would like to share some of the learning's ..(Again my perspective :) )

I asked "Do You Really Want To Be A Better Software Tester?". So in order to asses yourself, You should answer below questions .. I Keep asking these questions to myself ..

1. Why do I live ?
2. Why Do I work ?
3. Why do I work as a Software Tester ?
4. Do I like the work ?
5. Do I work as Tester just because, I have no other work?
6. Does company really require me ?
7. Can company live without me ?
8. Can I live without company ?
9. Can I live same life, If I don't work in Testing? What about in IT?
10. Is my Technical Skills really important ? Do I really Have some ?
11. What I am doing, can a fresher also do the same in same time and with same efficiency?
12. Company is paying me huge money, Is company getting return on investment?
13. Do other stake holders think, testing is really important?
14. Do stake holders (Development, Upper management, Sales, Customer Support, Customers) think, I am doing good job?
15. Am I doing something which will lead to improve quality of software?
16. Can I convince Customers about their expectation of quality?
17. Once I test a product, can I guarantee (Or at least try to.. ) That customer will not face any problem in their day-to-day use of this product?
18. Do I do anything repeated .. which can be automated ?
19. Do I talk business and profit ..?
20. Do I understand the testing process ?
21. Do I respect testing profession ?
22. Do I think I can do development of same product, Which I am testing?
23. Do I think, Developers are superior ?
24. Do I ask to developer more often about the product features and usage?
25. Do I understand Technology and Domain In depth ?
26. Can I develop a software to test the software from scratch ..?
27. Do I work well in a team ?
28. Do I have Ego ?
29. Do I see good future in testing ?
30. What is that, (without any training), Which I can do but Developers not?
31. What is that (without any training), which Developers can do and I can't ?
32. Do I take ownership/responsibility to get the things DONE ..
33. Do I get emotional when things does not work out the way I want ?
34. Can I get the product requirement written from scratch by talking to customers directly.. ?
35. Can I architect the product ? Can I design it High level ?
36. What all computer languages Do I know..? Am I perfect in any few ?
37. Is it really difficult to code, once you have detailed requirement document ?
38. Can I elaborate the requirements in PRD (SRS) and understand fully?
39. Can I question the product? Why this and why not that?
40. Do I understand the business of Software ..?
41. Do I understand the customer environment ?
42. Who is going to use the product ..? Is it our Direct customer? Or his Customers or the customer of his customer ..?
43. What would be the usage pattern ?
44. What is the expertise level of the end user ?
45. Do I respect seniors and their experience ?
46. Do I praise myself always ?
47. Am I an active listener? Good analyst?
48. Do I have positive attitude ?
49. Do I talk more and do less ? and Do I talk non-sense?
50. Do I have good sense of humour ?
51. Do I feel cheated ?
52. Do I feel I am at wrong place?
53. Do I know whats happening in world?
54. Do I enjoy on weekends or worry about the job security?
55. Do I procrastinate work to do?
56. Do i understand and do good detailed estimation?
57. Can I prioritize the work at hand properly?
58. Do I know my weakness ? and My strengths ?
59. Do I have many friends at work place and apart from work place?
60. Do people like to be with me or they get irritated when I talk ?
61. Am I selfish? Do I worry about others? Other's success ?
62. Do I get sad, when somebody else gets appreciation?
63. Am I financially sound? Do I have good cash in Savings?
64. Do I have several liabilities?
65. Am I managing my time wisely?
66. Do I stretch at work place everyday?
67. Do I fear while talking to stake holders ?
68. Am I confident of what I say, what I do and what I believe?
69. Am I a Fun loving guy ? Or Boring guy ?
70. Do I read blogs? News regularly ?
71. Do I participate in extra-curricular activities?
72. Do I take up new initiatives?
73. Can I control my emotions and Nobody can get that from my face and behavior?
74. Am I satisfied?
75. Am I interested in music? Cooking ? Painting ? Reading ? Writing? anything else ?
76. How is my relationships?
77. Does my view point matter and get implemented?
78. Can I test anything ?
79. Am I a fast learner?
80. Do I Plead/"Do Buttering" to anybody to get benefit ?
81. Am I physically fit ? Do I do exercise?
82. Do I take discussions as argument ?
83. Do I take criticism positively or Start fighting/Defending?
84. Can I take immediate and correct decisions?
85. Am I flexible to take up new activity at any point?
86. Can I work with global team?
87. Can I communicate well with anybody and be understandable to the audience?
88. Do I take Risk to improve something ?
89. Do People believe me?
90. Do I understand, Really why am I doing what I do?
91. Do I complain about the problems faced in completing the task or solve the problems and get the task Finished ?
92. Do I lie @ Workplace and @ Home ?
93. Does somebody hate me @ Work and @Home ?
94. Do I help others to accomplish their task? Professionally? Personally?
95. Am I credit hungry? Appreciation hungry ?
96. Do I appreciate/thank if somebody helps me ?
97. Do I accept my mistake, and Do I apologize and take this as learning?
98. Do I participate in Customer calls, Forums ?
99. How many people know me in person @ Work @ Society ?
100. Last question for Now .. Am I spreading "Unconditional Love" ?

You may feel, some questions are repeated.. Well may be ..

I know my answers.. You may also get your answers..You should first answer what you are really without thinking what the answer should be for an Ideal situation..Now Once you got your answers..Revisit the question and Consider yourself a Judge, and think logically/Rationally for an ideal, and I am sure most of the People will have similar answers.. And the theme would be Love/Respect You work and people around you, Keep on learning and Be Responsible .. If you further abstract It, All leads to one word "Humanity" .. Just think .. think about "Geeta Saar".. We all are just biological things, which will Decay one day ..

If you see a huge difference between what you are (Or would like to become) AND What you think the Logical answers should be, Then May be you are not going to be happy ..

For Me, I do see the gaps, But the gaps are not such a big that, I can't fill it.. Well, This may take Years or whole Life to get even closer to Ideal situation, but Student who will try for 100 marks, He only Has a chance to get 100.. right ?

Well .. I started sounding philosophical .. :)

Happy testing .

7 working phone numbers just for me ..

2010-01-11T00:13:00.000+05:30

Yes! Its true that currently there are 7 phone/mobile numbers, which belongs to me and I am the only Person who can answer call on these. I wanted to recall my journey with phones.

I got my first mobile phone in 2003, when the incoming became free. It was Nokia 3315 with Airtel connection. I was very excited to own a mobile. Those days, Call was bit costly, so I was not making many calls from the mobile, rather I used to call from PCO. Later, In 2004, Reliance CDMA was launched with 501 Rs Postpaid scheme. I got the new white LG mobile, which had R-World feature, with which I was able to check my mails as well. I gave old Nokia mobile to one of my friend.

I came to Bangalore in 2005, Got a job in Nov. 2005. I had a dream to own a Landline phone in my name. So I applied for a tata-indicom Landline phone. As I was staying bachelor, the agent said, better you get this phone in ur room owner house, and say He is your uncle and you are staying with him. I did the same, and got Landline phone. There was a scheme, that along with Landline phone, one mobile was given, and till one year, the call from my landline to my mobile was free. So In December 2005, I had three phones. Later after few weeks, I gave Reliance mobile to somebody.

I was working in Afila, sometimes in shifts 3PM-12AM, and there was a cab drop after 12AM. In the office, after 9 PM, I was getting sleep, So, I used to call my roomates and, they used to keep my Land line phone connected to my mobile and near Computer playing Songs and I used to enjoy free. If any friend visit my room and I am not there, they used to call me from my landline. It was absolutely free. So till yet I had two phones. I still have these two phone with same number.

In 2006 November, I joined novell, and got a Direct Phone number,, My third phone. In 2007 December, I applied for BSNL broadband connection, but after few months, they said, as there is no Line in that area, they can't connect phone and asked me to get back the refund which I had paid while applying for connection. I never went to BSNL office for the refund.

As I didn't get BSNL broadband, I applied for airtel broadband in Feb 2008 and got the connection with a phone .. My Fourth phone which is still with me ..

One of my close friend works for Reliance, and He said me to get a Reliance number so that he can call me free. I said him, Give me two hours and I will call you from my new Reliance number. I went to Reliance Office with all required document and got Reliance prepaid number activated withing\ 2 hours, This phone is still with me. Initially I used to talk with my Reliance friend hours together, But now a days, we both are bit busy and talk once in a while. I still have this phone with me, but I don't carry this phone with me, and it remains off most of the time, unless I want to talk to my friend -- This was my fifth phone ..

In 2009 September, I wanted to get a new High-end mobile, But thought not to go for CDMA phone, so I had to drop tata-indicom mobile which is since 4+ years with me now and many places I have given this number, My Banks, Insurance, Investments, Credit cards and many friends.. So It was bit difficult to drop this number. So I decided to keep this phone as well and Got a new Nokia Express Music 5800 Mobile along with Airtel connection .. My 6th Phone..

On 31st December, I saw the same BSNL lineman in my area who had visited me 2 years before, I asked him, what happened, I had applied for the BSNL broadband 2 years back, I have not yet got the connection. He said, still the connection has not reached that area, But I can do something. He came to my room and proposed to connect from a far distant apartment directly, which He said is not allowed officially, But He said, I want your New year to be happy and you should talk on this phone on 1st Jan. I will connect the phone today and It will start working from Jan 1st. He did connect a long wire (around 200 Meters) but the phone started working only on 4th Jan 2010. Later on 6th, I got my BSNL broadband working too. This was my 7th phone.

So today I have 6 Phones in my house .. 2 Tata Indicom Postpaid, 1 Airtel prepaid, 1 Airtel Postpaid, 1 BSNL Postpaid, 1 Reliance prepaid and One Airtel Landline in office.. Now, I am going to cancel Airtel Broadband, so that I will be left with 6 phones only. :)

Similar to phones, I have 3 computers as well :) (Actually I wanted to setup a client server Lab with wireless connectivity and was trying to setup a Private Web server, File server and Mail server just for learning purpose, though I have not yet done this setup, But its in my To-Do list) .. 2 PCs and one laptop .. Both the PCs are connected with single monitor, single KB and Mouse using KVM switch. and one Dell Studio laptop.

:) Bye Till My Next Post .. Thanks for visiting my blog ..

India in last Decade..

2010-01-01T21:59:00.000+05:30

Wish You All A Warm, Happy And Prosperous New Year..

Last 10 years wrote a history for India and most importantly the IT sector has done tremendously well.. After Dot-Com boom, It was Indian IT services companies which reached to new heights in last 10 years. Many Indian IT companies got listed in NASDAQ. The job opportunities in IT sector made many people prosperous.

Apart from IT, it was Telecom sector, which changed the way we used to communicate. from merely 5-6 Million Mobile subscribers in 2000, Now India has 450 Million mobile subscribers. The Teli density is increased hugely. The Internet has reached to masses, Still lot more needs to be done in internet space, considering almost nill penetration in rural India.

Also, Reality sector wrote good success story .. Many Indian Builders are now contending for overseas projects.

Still, Farmer suicide, widening gap between Rich and Poor, Food insufficiency, price rise etc.. are major concerns.

India has great potential to get into league of world leaders in coming years.

Wishing a peaceful world!!

Testing job is inferior and less innovative compared to Development job? Huh ..

2009-12-03T14:19:00.000+05:30

This blog post is inspired by (With few addition by me) this post.. Thanks to the author ..
http://geektester.blogspot.com/2009/10/do-you-have-it-in-you-technical-skills.html

Somebody Said, QA/testing job is less innovative and inferior, they get less Salary (Mostly wrong statement) and they can't code (Well, they can but they won't)..

I believe QA engineer should be able to code, But may not code ..

Lets see what Development engineer innovates while He Codes .. U see Business Analysts Says "What is Business requirement for customer", Product manager says "What all features will be developed" and Architects Says "How to modularize the product development".. and once Dev Engr knows, what specific has to be done (Like Validate the username/pwd taken from login page), he translates his modules functional description written in English language to another language say C/C++/Java ..

So I don't think there is much scope of innovation to Dev Engr as well .. One may say, Dev Engr has more chances to become Architect, Similarly testers have more chance to become Business Analyst and Consultant, As they have Bird's Eye View and Domain understanding and more closeness to Customers..

You Testers (Including me), Beware, You Must and Must understand Technical things (Architecture of the product, Module flow diagram, Languages used, Debugging skills, Middleware and backend understanding) and at least one General purpose language and one Scripting language, and the best bet would be C++ and Perl .. Also, Good understanding of Internals of RDBMS is required... Become the Domain expertise .. and Learn Testing Tools and Automation ..

I believe, whatever I said above is not very difficult to achieve.. We can do it, If we focus ... But, If you want to just learn Record/Play Tools, which any 10th Pass student can do, Forget about Job security and Bright career in Testing .. Life is gonna be tough .. In Past few years, many Testing jobs is moved to India (Main reason being Low Cost labor) and If we do not focus, Jobs may move to Nepal, Bhutaan, Srilanka, China, South Africa etc.. (For the Same reason, of curse)

One May Ask, Developer can only test, He knows, In and out of the product, so he can better Test..So Why testers are required..? Well, Ask to IT industry experts and they will say u something like "Separation of Duties" and "Conflict of Interest" .. Its like, if A Doctor has Medical shop also, he will/may prescribe only those medicine, which He has in his medical store right now, Even when there may be better medicine for the same Disease.. Or If an enterprise makes the Financial Auditor and Accountant the same person (See what happens..)

I was always topper in my Engineering College (BE/2005/ECE), I had received 2nd Prize in C++ South India Competition conducted by NIIT and had designed Mail-Client/Server in just a week using java servlet, JSP, Oracle, and J2EE as part of NIIT Course for J2EE after I finished B.E. Initially, Even I wanted to become Dev. Engr, But, I am here since 4.1 Yrs.. Its like, No profession is Bad, and every profession has some Pros and Cons .. Lets highlight Positive things and Be Happy ..

I am quite happy now with my career...

No Offense to anyone.. I just felt, Lots of negative talk about Testing is floating around, and why not encourage Testers.. Happy testing .. :)

Completed 3 years at Novell on 29/11/2009

2009-11-29T00:57:00.000+05:30

Today I completed 3 years service at Novell.. Let me share you my first day at Novell.. It was very funny actually ..

Before Novell, I was working with Afila for 1.1 Yr, which was a service company, and we used to wear mostly formal dress. There was no rule as such except on wednesday, we had to come to office in formals only with full sleeve shirt, Formal Pants, Formal shoes..

On First day, to get good impression or whatever.. I went to Novell in Suit/Tie/Formal wear, and I was amazed to see, nobody in the office was in formals.. almost everybody was in Jeans/T-shirt. Well, I had to fill several forms and it took around two hours for that .. Later, I was introduced with my team.. and one colleague couldn't control to say to take off my suit/tie. It was very funny for others.. not for me though..

There were some other funny incident on the same day, which my team and myself can never forget .. But I am not gonna share those for now.. :)

In last three years, Novell has given me a lot.. Lots of happiness, job satisfaction, many friends and lots of weight (Kidding..) But I can say that, I have not returned Novell that much. I owe a lot to Novell snd I promise myself to work even smarter, and do my work more effectively, and contribute towards Novell's success..

Thanks Novell ..

Most Important Learning In Software Testing

2009-09-27T01:15:00.000+05:30

"Customer Focus" .. Yes the answer is Customer Focus .. Everything else come after that.. You see as a tester, You have the responsibility to make sure, Once the product goes to customer, He is able to get his business done.

Let me give one example.. You are testing a VOIP software for a call center. it generic software which can be customized by Call center company based on their usage.

You have to think from Customer point of view..

1. Direct customers: Like Airtel CIO, IT Heads of Call center companies. He will talk about Reliability, Scalability, Support etc..
2. Indirect customers: Call center executives, Who will operate this software.. You must know, Their IT skills will not be as equal as IT Head, Or Yourself.For them its the features .. How quickly he can get the caller information.. ?
3. Customer's customer: Callers.. General public .. What they would need is quick resolution of problems, Voice Clarity etc ..

You as a tester should wear different customer Hat and question to software like that .. Are you reliable .. Can I measure your reliability?

You might be knowing that, 20% of Features of a product gets used 80% of the time.. So Identify those functions.. and test them thoroughly..

You should participate in Customer Beta Feedback, Forums etc.. To understand Customer's issue and try to have testing for them ..

My Journey through Multi Level Marketing (MLM) ..

2009-07-21T18:41:00.000+05:30

I would like to share my views on Multi-Level-Marketing Or Networking Business Or eCommerce Business(?) ..

I had heard about AmWay some 12 years ago..Some of My Villager had joined AmWay and was trying to influence/convince others to join in this business.. Most of the People used to say, its not good .. In this business, You need to Plead to others .. you need to Lie .. etc.. etc .. I was student ...had no Money and never thought to join..

Later, When I joined Engineering in 2001, I heard a lot about Conlif Pvt. Ltd (Headquartered in Kolkata) through my friend. He wanted me to join the business. Again, I was student, and I didn't join .. the strategy for this business was that, the New Joiner has to pay 2500 Rs. and can choose one Product (TV, Fridge, Oven, Washing Machine etc.. Manufactured by unbranded companies) and get the product after you add few members in your leg(?) as you might have earned money by that time.. In this business, One of my friend could earn few Lacs Rupees .. Yes I saw that from my Eyes .. He had some 3000+ Members under Him in the Business .. I was later thinking I did mistake by not joining the business..

Later, When I got the job, and after few Calls by UXL Pvt. Ltd. (Kerla Based, But Branch in CMH Road, Bangalore), I thought to attend the Session (?) by few High Ranked (?) Person .. And Person@UXL was able to brainwash (+ I got Greedy) and I joined this business .. let me say what was my State of mind, when I had joined this business .. I thought ..

1. Its just 3000 Rs., and I am getting a Juicer, Mixer, Grinder (I was erroneously thinking that price of this must be in this range only) ..lets grab this..
2. I am quite friendly guy ..and I have 100+ friends in Bangalore itself, and my friends will join this Happily.
3. I will get an account in UXl site, and I can sell the product (Even if some body is not joining the business)
4. I was thinking, I can go to any group of people and start lecturing about the same benefits which was told to me and Its quite logical that people will join this..
5. I don't see any Cheating in this ..whatever the business needs and does is transparent and Hence I am not going to cheat People.
6. I know, I will not be able to work as Hard as others in this company, but In any means I will be able to earn few thousands a month .. just like that ..
7. What will I do anyhow on weekends .. Lets enjoy this.. I will get to know many people in this business ..
8. Even If I do not get a Rupee out of this, Its just 3000 Rs, and I have got a Mixer as well, So I am not gonna waste much of the money so the Risk is less but gain is very very huge (As in the first session, It was asked repeatedly to me to write down my dreams ..and I had written I want to have BMW in 5 years, and They had ready examples who had achieved that..some Gold/Diamond winner ..)
9. I saw other people from all walks of life joining in this business..

.. And Many more ..That I am unable to recall now.. I was very much excited about this .. I started this Idea sharing with my close friends . They politely refused to join this business ..and then I started talking about this in my company ..to my teammates ..and They started making my joke .. and Later, I was talking about this to common public in the Bus sitting next to me, Chai-Coffee walas, Other people in my area .. But no body was interested.. Few seniors (@ UXl suggested, not to talk to prospective clients directly, rather influence/convince them to join the Session by Seniors and They have the capability to Brainwash .. I did this also .. But All in vain .. I had given My friends/colleague's contact number to that Girl who had called me for first time .. She was quite good on talking .. And She was able to get few of my friends to Session but nobody joined the business .. In One Month, I was feeling like, I did mistake.. This is not for me at least .. People started Hating me..They thought, I am a greedy person.. People said.."You had never called me since 1 year but now you are calling for this business .. Huh .. Go To ...." And It was all over .. I decided to stop working for this .. And that's it .. Some counter view (by UXL colleagues) why I failed in this business
1. I attached business with emotion.
2. I could not lie properly.
3. I could not influence others.
4. I didn't work hard, I was not attending meetings regularly ..
5. I was not following the process of not saying anything directly to Customers.
6. I didn't understand the business properly.
7. I could not make new relationships (And later play around with that !!) Blah..Blah..

.. But I was happy by not thinking about that any more ....

Later in 2006, One of my close friend, was again able to convince me emotionally to invest 1500 in RCM MLM business, here I would get some RCM Cloths and same Left-Right mechanism .. What my friend said that, He has to get a leg anyhow by this date .. I offered him the money directly, But He said, I should Influence people in Bangalore to join this .. I clearly denied this.. I said at the max what I can do is, I will send you money, and You do the business in My name .. and I don't want a single rupee out of that ..But I don't want to hear about RCM again .. and hence I was part of RCM ..My Friend had given my Bangalore address in the Form, and Hence I had received few Posts about this Business .. I didn't even talk to any of my friends about this ..

In 2008, few people tried to convince me to join Quest International MLM business, where lots of Software Guys were joining.. It required 30000 Rs to invest initially and I would get one Limited Edition Gold Coin whose value will become huge after few years ..I should make Left-Right etc etc ..and there was potential to earn upto 7 Lacs a month (Was this a weak? I forgot).. This Company had international Presence (HQ: Malaysia?)(and This is banned in Few Countries e.g SriLanka) and lots of High-End (Like IAS officers, Doctors, Engineers) People were Part of this business already .. I had seen few close people to earn upto Crore Rs. with this business in 2 Years .. But I refused to even come for a session ..

Later in 2009, One fine evening, somebody called me (I don't want to take his name, As He is a good Person, and Just trying Hard to get more money for his family) and said, I saw your profile in Networking site (Like LinkedIn) and would like to know, If I am interested in a good Part time job on weekends..There is a eCommerce project coming up in India..First time in India .. People have not understood this technology (?) yet in India .. there is an International Seminar on this project in Chennai on next week, and We are looking for somebody capable to represent that seminar for our behalf .. Also, In my team IITians and IIMians are there.. I asked him, See I am not in Software Development..And Also, I am not looking for any monetary benefit to start with.. rather, I want to socialize with these High-Class People and understand the new technology .. Also, I will come to venue and You may later decide, Whether I am eligible for that .. This Person didn't say anything .. He said..We will be pleased to have you in venue ..somewhere in Koromangala ..
I went to the venue..It was some body's two BHK house with a small White board in the hall .. After few minute, I could feel whats going to happen here (I was thinking People from IIT and IIM will surely offer some Tea/Snacks [as I am coming by driving 15 KM] as soon as I Reach there ..But only water was offered in a Bottle) .. later somebody from IIM Ahmedabad started the explanation of so called eCommerce business .. He said

1. You purchase something in 100 Rs, which is getting manufactured in only 30 Rs, Rest 70 Rs is the distribution/advertisement cost. Why not get the same thing in 30 Rs by Direct Marketing.. [I objected, is it same thing .. Can You give me Colgate paste with MRP 100Rs in 30 Rs, If I join this business .. He said No..this all depends upon Marketing .. You see people Sell Maaza .. There is mostly water with very less fruit concentrate, and We pay for the transportation of water.. but Our Company gives the same (Sorry Similar) thing in concentrate form .. Initially only I asked, Please let me know, If you are finally going to say this is Multi-Level-Marketing, If Yes, I would like to leave now, as I have no time for that, This Gentleman Said, 'Neither Me!! So Please Listen for few minutes and I will answer all your queries"

2. Then He started with, Why do you need to add other fellows in this business (Once I objected saying I don't want want to involve my friends, He said, If you are opening a company, to whom you wall make VP-Sales, VP-Marketing, VP-HR ..Friends/Family only right ..? I said..The VP-sales is an Employee, here you are saying to Hire a customer ..and Hence you can't compare "Making your Friend as VP-Sales in your business" To "Making partner/customer in this business, where I, myself is a customer"). During Some conversation This gentleman said, I did MBA from IIM not you..I understand Business More than you and I am earning a lot out of this business ..I Calmed down .. Also, He said, If You think like this You can never become entrepreneur with this attitude ..(Well, This Future will tell :) )

3. There were other things like, With this business, You get other branded products like Shirts etc..with 50% Discount (I was amazed why John Player [Or something Similar to this Brand] will give 50% Discount to This Customer ..and also, If somebody purchases this shirt, everybody else in the Organization will get a commission .. I was already angry/sad to myself for wasting my time.. I wanted to leave ASAP..So I didn't ask this question .. )

Even after saying straight that, I do not see any rational behind this type of business, People were explaining me about 1100 Crore rupees of Yearly turn Over in India Alone.. Operation in 100+ countries .. etc etc .. I asked, is this company listed in NASDAQ? No..There is no debt on this company .. Its not owned by somebody .. Its company of all ..

Again there was comparison with traditional business model, Franchisee business like McDonald, and Direct Sales marketing .. I could get a sense of correctness in the word of the person who had called me .. Like, In traditional business also, Customer talk so rashly to Vendors, and vendors needs to be in receiving end .. Its same here .. In Traditional business also, You are not forcing customers (In fact you can't), here also same .. In Traditional business, You need to have good contact and Huge money to start with, But, here its not required.. And He said Regarding the Emotions that, Relations will break.. Its not correct ..

Well, I must admit, This person was very cool, Intelligent, Had good position in reputed Software company and Was not talking nonsense .. What ever I asked, He was trying to answer.. But Finally My Fear to lose Relationship and Dignity (I don't know, If I am right, But this is my perspective) won over..and I refused to join this company ..and You guessed right ..This company was AmWay ..

I asked, why did you lie to me Y'day about So called Technology Product, He admitted, Otherwise, I might not have come for the Session (Remember this word?)

Also, I apologized for the Heated questions asked during Presentation and Said I can't join this for now .. But He gave me one CD to see that, how This business changed Life of an IIT Engineer who was thinking same as me and Now Has everything He once dreamed of..

Conclusion: In my humble opinion, There is no problem in this type of business, Only If, people don't Lie and Show/Proof transparently how the profit is made by Company and Investor (Customer).. Answer all the Questions on Grey areas publicly. Make good product .. and Sell it without much of advertisement and Directly to Users .. Make this Left-Right thing bit flexible .. and Create positive awareness about this business in Press/Media/Advertisement.

Note: I neither recommend to join or refuse to join any of the MLM business. I just wanted to share my thoughts on this.