Arundhati’s most important gripe seems to be that the people in the movement are raising slogans like – (a) Vande Mataram (b) Bharat Mata ki jai (c) India is Anna, Anna is India (d) Jai Hindi. Would she prefer if they said (a) India Hai Hai (b) Indian govt murdabad (c) Jeeve-jeeve Pakistan, when they come out on the streets to demand that the Indian government creates a better system for our people?

She’s lying when she says that the slogans are the answer you get when you ask questions about Janlokpal. The team that’s running Janlokpal has made every attempt to talk to anyone who is concerned about it, and to alleviate all their doubts. For months there was a public referendum on the provisions of Janlokpal, very openly, and lots of provisions were rejected, modified, and adapted according to the inputs of the people. This is a fact, not what Arundhati is saying.

Even now Anna Hazare and his team has announced that they are open to any public debate on Janlokpal and they will answer all the questions that anyone might have on any issue. Yesterday Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan did just that on a popular television network. There are videos of the team members speaking on different aspects of Janlokpal and why we need them that have been online for months.

Arundhati, lie one caught.

Her second claim is that Janlokpal seeks an overthrow of the Indian state. Lying again. For almost an year now the Janlokpal team has been working with the government, with all the members who care, to frame a strong law against corruption. They’ve met the current government leaders, opposition leaders, chief ministers, individual MPs, talking to them, and telling them why the country needs a strong anti-corruption framework. Is that working to overthrow the state?

They sat on a very hostile government panel and tried everything they could to push their proposals forward in the way government wanted them to. After the government panel wasted the nation’s time and failed to include even one, repeat, even one important proposal of the Janlokpal bill, and instead sought to push their own Jokepal which would prosecute the victims instead of the perpetrators, they decided to sit on a dharna asking the government to make a strong bill.

Let me remind Arundhati that this was done in a perfectly legal and non-violent manner, and Anna is asking this administration to implement Janlokpal, not seeking a new government. Are you trying to tell the people of India that demanding a strong anti-corruption framework amounts to overthrowing the government? Let us hear that again more clearly.

Arundhati, lie two caught.

Next she proceeds to tell us that Anna Hazare is a ‘freshly minted saint,’ which should suggest that he has no right to speak against public injustice as apparently, only stale saints are allowed to crusade for India.

Wait a minute though, this freshly minted thing doesn’t sound true at all. Anna Hazare took voluntary retirement from the Army in 1978 and started his campaign to transform Ralegaon Siddhi. All through the next decade he worked hard for the villagers campaigning for things like liquor prohibition, grain banks for the poor, better milk production, creation of more schools (he sat on a fast for this), against untouchability and for collective marriages. In 1991 he started the Bhrashtachar Virodhi Jan Andolan. What was Arundhati doing then? Oh wait, she hadn’t written her first book yet.

Anna Hazare has led many movements against corrupt officials and politicians. Powerful people. People who’ve maligned him, filed false cases against him, and even sent him to jail. He has borne the worst of what the powerful and the corrupt have to offer, unlike Arundhati whose only achievement seems to be making radical statements. It’s a shame that someone like her should call a fighter like Anna a ‘freshly minted saint’.

Arundhati, lie three caught

She is also giving a distorted version of the sequence of events that unfolded during Anna’s stay at the Tihar jail. She’s saying that Anna remained in Tihar as a ‘honored guest’. If you are looking for honored guests Arundhati look for Suresh Kalmadi, Kanimozhi, A Raja, Manu Sharma, or Vikas Yadav, maybe even Afzal Guru. Anna isn’t one of them.

Let me remind you that Anna Hazare was picked up from his residence by the Delhi Police. He hadn’t been on the streets murdering people with a gun the night earlier. He was at Rajghat where he sat for an hour in meditation.

The police sent Anna to Tihar in 7 days judicial custody. To prevent what? A non-violent protest against corruption in India. On 16th August nearly 15,000 people of New Delhi and Mumbai courted arrest. They went to JP Park, Azad Maidan, or whatever the venue was in their city, asking the police to arrest them. They did not burn buses, break glasses, or set fire to homes. I have a photograph of the special jail at Chhatrasal Stadium for you here.

The people brought to Chhatrasal Stadium after their arrest.

The government was counting on their belief that no one would come ahead for Anna, and that they would be able to dispose him the way they disposed Baba Ramdev. Unfortunately for them the people of India had had enough. Anna was made an ‘honored guest’ in your words because of all the people who were in the jail, and outside the jail for him.

Why didn’t Anna come out? Because he was asked to (a) go home, (b) leave town. When Anna Hazare asked whether he would be allowed to hold an unconditional protest the Delhi police refused. Anna said that if they release him he would lead the protest and they would have to arrest him again, so it’s better that he remain in jail until the government agrees to let him protest.

Usually when a protest is organized, the people who run the protest have enough time to make preparations. There has to be enough room, and proper arrangements to make sure that the thousands collected are managed properly and without harm. If Anna had gone to the protest before the arrangements were made it could have resulted in utter chaos that might have had serious repercussions for the people gathered. Do you realize that Arundhati?

She also said that Anna’s team whizzed in-and-out of prison and it is a privilege that no one else has. Anna’s team came out when the individuals chose to be released, and when Anna refused to budge Kiran Bedi and other team members were invited by the government to try and negotiate with Anna. How does that compare to Kalmadi having a nice tea-biscuit brunch with the Warden a few days ago? Or Manu Sharma being surreptitiously paroled? Did you hear about them at all?

Arundhati, lie four caught.

Her next claim is that MCD worked hard to prepare the grounds. Is that right? I will bet anybody that Arundhati didn’t go to the grounds to inspect the preparations, and she’s talking out of her head again. I went to the ground and saw the state it was in. Here is a photograph for you Arundhati. Do you see the MCD here? Or do you see young people who are rushing to clean the wet mud, trying desperately but in union, to make the place better than a pigsty so that the people could stand.

They dug a little canal to channel the water from the ground into the drains

She’s mopping the carpet so that it may become fit to stand on

Even if they weren’t, and even if MCD had sent all their workers to prepare the grounds for Anna Hazare’s protest, would there still be a reason to complain? What MCD did there was its job. The Ramlila Ground is supposed to be maintained by the MCD for massive gatherings. When MCD doesn’t do its job and the grounds is water-logged and mosquito infested, it creates a serious health hazard for everyone who’s there. MCD prepares the grounds for all public protests too. It did the same for Sonia Gandhi’s rally just a few months ago. Arundhati, you want the MCD to not do its job because this protest is not organized by a political party?

Arundhati, lie five caught.

She’s upset that the Lokpal has wide-ranging powers of investigation, surveillance and prosecution, and then she uses her amazing writing skills to suggest that Lokpal will practically have everything except their ‘own prisons’. I am on the verge of losing my breakfast!

Arundhati, one would expect someone who questions the Indian legal system so openly to have better knowledge about it. The police has the powers of (a) investigation, (b) surveillance, and (c) prosecution. So does the CBI. How are Lokpal’s power different? The only thing that Anna is asking for is that the Lokpal be a specialized body against corruption and that it must not need to seek permission from anybody to prosecute a corrupt office holder. Our present system puts severe restrictions on the investigative bodies. That’s why a CBI under the prime minister could not file a charge-sheet against A Raja, but when the supreme court took over the investigations A Raja was brought to jail.

Arundhati, I know that you knowingly did not make the point that the powers of Lokpal are limited to investigation, collection of evidence and prosecution. The Lokpal can bring a case to the court, and the judge will then decide on the basis of the presented evidence whether the person is guilty. How is that radically dangerous?

Arundhati, lie six caught.

It’s really amazing to see how Arundhati Roy can go to ridiculous lengths to fill the reader’s mind with garbage against Janlokpal. If you didn’t know about her problems with the Indian government, you could easily imagine she has been paid by it to write the article. She’s actually suggesting that the hawkers who pay the beat constable to set up their stalls might have to pay the ‘lokpal representative’.

Lokpal representative? Now she can frame those words and hang them on the Red fort for all to see and it still wouldn’t become true. The Lokpal is not a policing body. They can’t go and collect ‘hafta’ from the hawker.

When land-owner’s land is grabbed illegally and a mall is built there, or when a poor person’s store is unjustly removed, or when the beat constables or MCD representatives, or other government agency officials unjustly seek bribes from the people, that is corruption. The Lokpal is built to take care of that.

According to the provisions of the Janlokpal Bill, a citizen can make a complaint against an office holder, and the lokpal will investigate the complaint. If it is found true action will be taken. Lokpal is not going to send beat lokpallers to collect hafta from the poor. That’s downright ridiculous and only a fancy imagination could have conceived it.

Arundhati, lie seven caught.

She also says that the choreography, and aggressive nationalism seems to be like that of anti-reservation. It’s a clear attempt to draw the dalits away from the fight against corruption. And how inappropriate an attempt it is! It is the deprived, the dalits, who have to the bear the worst of corruption. The rich and the influential are filled with upper caste people who can actually use the present system to their advantage because they have money power, influence, and contacts.

The dalits don’t have the same advantages, that’s why when all other things being equal, it is the dalit who stands to lose when they compete with the upper caste. All due to corruption!

Now coming to the choreography. What sort of vague word is that? ‘Choreography’, what are we supposed to understand from it? If she’s talking about the slogans, we’ve already dealt with that. What else could she be talking about?

The anti-reservation protest was fraught with street violence and self-immolations. The people who opposed reservations closed down schools, colleges and offices, burnt buses, had violent clashes with the law, and burnt themselves to death. That hasn’t happened in Anna’s movement. This movement is perfectly peaceful and organized. Even when people are on a march, they stop at the red lights and crossings to let the traffic pass before continuing. What the hell is Arundhati trying to imply with her ‘Choreography’ then?

Arundhati, lie eight caught.

The next bit is very cruel. She craftily tries to separate Irom Sharmila, Bastar, Jaitapur, from the fast and implies by extension that Anna Hazare does not oppose Posco, or the farmer deaths in Maharashtra, or any of the other myriad problems that our country is battling right now. This couldn’t be furthest from truth.

Unlike Arundhati, Anna Hazare has recognized that too many of the problems that our country is facing are a direct result of corruption. That’s why a Madhu Koda is able to earn thousands of crores in graft money directly depriving the adivasis. That’s why Yeduyarappa is able to give illegal miners a free hand. That’s why Bastar and Irom, and Niyamgiri exist. Because of corruption.

If our framework made the responsible people accountable, it would create a huge difference in all of these issues. Imagine a bastar free of poachers, miners and land grabbers, a maharashtra village where the government’s benefits schemes are truly implemented. Forget all the other instances, just imagine what Manrega can really do for the people if it is implemented honestly.

You’ve also claimed that Anna doesn’t care about the farmers in Maharashtra, or in other places, even though he has spent his entire demonstratively in fighting for the poor and deprived villagers and farmers. Maybe you didn’t hear about this because you were too busy hobnobbing with India haters.

Arundhati, I believe that fighting corruption is fighting on behalf of all the people you’ve named, and not against them. If you believe otherwise, give me your reasons.

Arundhati, lie nine caught.

The next slander if of course the ultimate weapon that anyone can hurl at Anna. That he supports Raj Thackarey or Narendra Modi’s alleged wrongdoings. This is a joke, specially in sight of the fact that many of the hardliners aligned with the BJP, the hindu-brigade, and Narendra Modi are up with cudgles against Anna Hazare. They’re making the claim that Anna Hazare is an agent of Congress, propped up by Congress to facilitate the crowning of Rahul Gandhi.

The communists have no love for Hazare, the right wingers have no love for Hazare, and the Congress has no love for Hazare. My God! He must be awesomely right!

Answering your gripe, Anna Hazare has said it publicly multiple times that he is against any oppressive actions targeted against any community and that he supports a system that gives equal rights to all citizens irrespective of their religion.

And if you think you were succeeding in your nefarious scheme to distance the muslims from the movement, you’ve failed. Muslims as a community have lent their support to Anna Hazare in a massive way. Many Imams and Maulavis have made public statements, and the Dar-ul-Uloom, which is the biggest body of Muslims in India has said that it is the duty of every Muslim and citizen of India to support Anna Hazare. If they are wrong, then you must know something that they don’t. Care to share?

You’ve also brought the ‘Youth for equality’ into this. So what if Anna’s movement is supported by the Youth for Equality? It is also supported by the All India Youth Federation. Let me show you a pic of AIYF activists who marched against corruption for Anna. Lest you’ve forgotten the AIYF is the youth wing of the Communist Party of India.

They supported Anna because they want a corruption free India

Do you realize that when it comes to this fight against corruption Anna does not choose who supports him. He gratefully accepts their support. Of course he doesn’t give them anything in return except a law that’s strongly against corruption.

That’s why the Gyan Das Akhara of Ayodhya, and Hashim Ansari, the famous anti-temple litigator have jointly expressed support for Anna Hazare. Do you have the courage to rise above your own pettiness?

Arundhati, lie ten caught.

You are also very misinformed, or maybe you choose to present wrong information to the people. You have said that ‘Kabir’ is an NGO run by Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia. Actually Arvind Kejriwal does not run Kabir. He is an executive member because Manish Sisodia is an old associate from Parivartan, but he does not manage it, or intervene in it. It is managed by Manish Sisodia. Arvind Kejriwal’s foundation is the PCRF. They have received no donation from Ford. Their balance sheets are available on their website for public inspection. Have a look at all the money this foundation has.

Arvind started this foundation with 14 lakhs, the money he got with his Magsaysay Award. He used it for public cause and to support RTI in India.

The PCRF maintains complete accounts for the present anti-corruption movement too. Details of all incoming donations are available on the website of India Against Corruption, and expenses are detailed too. You should have a look at that.

The amount Kabir has received as donation from Ford is $200,00 and not $400,000 as you claimed. This is verifyable form the website of the ford foundation (http://www.fordfoundation.org/grants/search). You could have done well to note that this donation has nothing to do with the present movement, but you did not. I will do this for you here. This donation was made in 2011 to Kabir to promote the use of RTI in India, and not to support the India against corruption movement.

Arundhati, lie eleven caught.

You say next that the present bill fails to bring the corporates and the NGOs against the ambit of Lokpal. Does our present legal system allow that? Does our present legal system allow surveillance of the functioning of privately funded NGOs or corporate bodies in the same manner that it allows the surveillance of government organisations? The legal experts have said no, and this is the reason according to the team that they are not proposing this at the present time.

What you’ve forgotten is the fact that it is the government system that’s the worst offender when it comes to corruption, because it allows its misuse by the private sector resulting in the problems you’ve mentioned. There are already checks and systems to prevent and prosecute the wrong-doings of the private sector, but they are compromised because the investigative bodies are in the graft, or their masters are.

If we can make this start by creating a law that forces the government systems to work properly it will undoubtedly lead to better handling of the private sector too. Can you imagine the telecom companies benefiting from 2G the way they did if they didn’t have A Raja working for them? Or the various private companies making huge profits from CWG tenders if Kalmadi and Sheila Dikshit didn’t back them so brazenly?

Anna’s team has given the commitment to keep fighting, to further the cause, and take fresh measures to rid the people of corruption once the Janlokpal bill is in place. By making the Janlokpal bill an excuse to talk about all the different malaise we have you are attempting to short-circuit the anti-corruption drive itself. How is fighting government corruption any less holier than fighting corruption in private organisations?

Arundhati, lie twelve caught.

The only sense you are making is in the last paragraph when you say that Anna’s movement is the result of the failure of the legislature which is filled with criminals and millionaire politicians who have ceased to represent their people. You know, that’s exactly the point that Anna Hazare has been making. Our MPs are totally living in denial of the people’s needs and aspirations. They believe that 9% growth of GDP is an achievement worth having 11% food inflation for. It is their corrupt mindset and disconnect which must be challenged, and that’s exactly what Anna is doing when he mobilizes people in such a massive manner against corruption. The fact is, we should all be thankful to Anna Hazare for reminding the MPs that a democracy is not just made up of the parliament, but also of the people.

Note: This article is copyright free. You can share it wherever you want, you can post it on your fb or twitter profile. You can put it on your blog, even with your own name if you want. You can translate it and use it. You can add to it, trim it. Just don’t change the facts and the purpose. Thank you guys for your overwhelming response.

Note : Not a piece of mine. Took it from here. This article is copyright free. You can share it wherever you want, you can post it on your fb or twitter profile. You can put it on your blog, even with your own name if you want. You can translate it and use it. You can add to it, trim it. Just don’t change the facts and the purpose.

As already stated by some economists that if education sector is enlisted as an industry it will shadow many corporate behemoths in terms of abundance of money. The gigantic middle class is hell bent on providing higher education to its siblings, the demand is immense and is being met by mushrooming private colleges all over the country. I have elaborated in my previous post that how AICTE grants permission to run an approved institute in India. It has stated many statutes to operate a quality institute in its handbook but yet it does not seem that it further checks the institutes if they are providing the same quality education and infrastructure after getting recognised.

Most of you must be quite familiar with the marketing strategy of these institutes. Almost every one claims to be number one institute in entire republic of India prophesying a cent percent placement on the completion of course. Along comes the numerous unique features common to each institute like state of an art infrastructure, class rooms with ‘modern’  audio visual equipments, fully WI FI air conditioned campus and a multi coloured brochure with pictures of good looking girls with a laptop on the lap and a flattering smile on the face. Brochures also carry pictures and names of students who have been successfully placed through campus recruitment. I advise you to pick up the previous 5 year brochures, chances are that most of the pictures would never have changed. A brand new method of roping in students is to ensure an all expense paid foreign trip along with a free ‘laptop’. Those of you goodfellas with a common sense know that hefty fee paid for admission includes all the expense paid for ‘free trips’. An SMS forced under my nose even claimed to stage a freshers party in Bangkok and later with 3 months internship in Europe. Well if only had to opt MBA for party purposes!

A list of colleges offering MBA (not exhaustive) I compiled from This source. Do visit to verify all the data. The data is only till year 2009-10.

I have been under a relentless barrage of SMSs from many god-forsaken institutes each one of whom claims to ranked among best 10 in India. I don’t know who sold my personal Information and allowed them to encroach my personal space with so many SMSs. Don’t know how one can fit two thousand odd colleges in top ten colleges of a country. Each one of them is accredited A++ or high as A+++ by AICTE. Placements are cent percent, the rampant unemployment figures are lying all along. For some colleges I had become eligible for appearing in GDPI even the results of CAT and XAT whose scores they claimed to accept had not been declared yet. One Bangalore based college even tried to stage a telephonic interview and told me in the end that I had made it through. Ah! If only I had to throw two years of my life away.

And God-Damn IIPM guys. The institute is not even affiliated to AICTE and has been lambasted on multiple occasions for the mendacious games they play. These fellows called me two times a day from November till first half of January and asked me most silly question “Have you ever heard about IIPM?”. Of course I am not blind not to notice your advertisements which dare me to think beyond Hardworking. One gets admission into IIMs after devoting entire months for preparation. Only the cream of intelligent fellows get through. Honestly speaking you can’t transform dumb people by making them swim into your five star swimming pools or either by hosting quiz shows with Sharukh Khan. IIPM needs to grow beyond the cheap publicity stunts.

The AICTE needs to tighten its noose around the sick colleges for whom a student’s career does not matter. Indians have valued education since ages. The focus must be entirely on quality instead of quantity while what is happening is precisely vice versa. In the light of truth that Indian has most number of young people on earth it must be kept in mind that they must be properly educated otherwise instead of becoming an economic powerhouse Indian will become a reservoir of largest number of unskilled and underemployed people.

Image as seen on : julliengordon.mvmt.com

It was only a few days ago that a Wikileaks announced that they are going to make public information on “over 2,000″ high net worth tax evading individuals who have stashed their money abroad. In the process of notifying that whistle will be blown Julian Assange has sent a wave of terror all around the world. The most profound effect of the Wikileaks sponsored  tremors was felt in India where since this notification the term “black money” has been regularly appearing in mass media.

The times are not good for the UPA government whose image has already been tarnished by the multi million dollar scams last year. A casual look at the performance of the government last year shows how complacent government has been when it comes to corruption. It is an open secret that Kalmadi and Party siphoned off large chunks of money from the CWG funds. More abominable is the gigantic figure that the A Raja’s 2G swindle is. Now comes the third large amount that is going to push UPA further deep in the mire of trouble.

It has been said that morality and politics never go hand in hand and UPA government has proved it word to word. Only a week ago the clamour began when government came under attack over the ‘black money’ stashed abroad. In the wake of imminent Wikileaks disclosure government desperately tried to affirm that process of bringing back the money from the Foreign banks is under way. But the most ridiculous part was when government decided that the names of the people will remain secret from the public. This is the instance of the most corrupt government Indian ever had. As a citizen of the republic I would like that these people who steal money which could have been used for the betterment of the country must be whipped and spanked in the public. Their must be fair and fast trail of such people so that an example is set for the crooks who will have to think million times before depositing even a penny of black money abroad.

Well it is irresponsible and idiotic on the part of government to shamelessly announce that the name of black money hoarders will be kept secret.It appears that Mr. Manmohan Singh is more inclined to pass five years on his chair rather that bringing a change. Why it took Wikileaks to make UPA ponder about the black money whose presence was speculated by many since ages? It does not take an Einstein to figure out that black hoarders are the reason that 28% of Indian people are below poverty line. Sooner or later Wikileaks will unravel the names and the UPA government will have to face the music. Instead of  playing a pointless drama they could have taken a stand and proved that some scruples are still intact in their administration.

It is message sent out to the hurriat people that we people are not as weak as the government that heads us. Also we are in no mood to bear non sense in the name of human rights. The Gandhian philosophy of non violence looks good only under the cover of dust stricken books.

If any of the Kashmiri Pandits and VHP activists who did the honors are incarcerated then it will be a dire mistake by the local authorities. On one wide our tenuous government states that Kashmir is an integral part of India and on the other side they allow separatists to spew venom on the mainland. The problem is not terrorists crossing over the border, but the separatists who was allowed to bloom on Indian soil. Isn’t our government aware of pro-pakistan statements issued by Mirwaiz during last months? Isn’t it an open secret that hurriat wants kashmir for their own selfish gains, to turn it into a talibanised islamic state?

I have a message for the TIMES OF INDIA guys calling the protesters ‘hecklers’. The Times of India newspaper has been reduced to a senseless newspaper which only looks good when used to make paper bags. When was the last time when your paper came up with a editorial which talked sense and stirred some staunch thoughts of patriotism in the minds of clueless readers? You people can’t even stand up to the common people. Whenever the infamous stone pelters get to the streets there is never a story in your sheets that tells us about the crimes committed by them against the Kashmiri Pandits. How can you call these people ‘hecklers’? They have every right to settle scores with people like Mirwaiz, after all this is Democracy.

My father was posted in Kashmir and he has told us horrid stories about the planned extermination and exodus of Lakhs of Kashmiri Pandits. The gash on his head from the day he was hit on head by a stone is still visible. Yes, kashmiri separatists have been pelting stones since 80s. It is well known that kashmir belongs to Kashmiri Pandits who had refused to surrender to the wrath of Muslim rulers until 1980s. Everyday mosques announced the names of individuals who were to be murdered. Life was made hell for Kashmiri Pandits and they were forced to flee leaving all their beloved heritage behind. The congress government has always tried to hide its fault by a old trick, offering Kashmri Pandits reservation. The people responsible for it were never brought to justice, instead they were allowed to venture freely in rest of the India. The treatment meted out to the morons was absolutely appropriate.

No wonder today 2 years have passed since 26/11 and still Kasab has not been brought to justice. I take it as an insult that on the eve of anniversary of those horrible days our government allowed anything so anti-indian to deliberately lift its head.

There may be many reasons that some temples are held sacred among others. For Vaishno Devi it is the resolute faith and love for the power along with will to complete painstaking 14 km uphill pilgrimage that carries the devotees to the shrine. People from different background, different states, different cultures walk together knitted alike by the tenacity of eternal faith. The pain in the journey is overcome by the determination emanating out of love for the supreme power. What a miraculous thing faith is!

The small town of Katra which is around 40 km from Jammu serves as a base camp for the journey. The height of the town above sea level is on a median of 700 m. The shrine of Vaishno Devi is nestled on the big mountain facing the town at a height of 1584 m, you can imagine the terrain suddenly shooting up 800 m above the base camp. The scenery is breath taking and in the night if you look at the Yatra path from Katra it looks as if somebody just plucked stars from the sky and studded them of the canvas of the mountain. The town is thronged with multiple hotels and dhramashalas. There are many good hotels with good service but you are planning to visit during Navratras I advise you to book a hotel beforehand as the crowd is colossal due to festive season. Before commencing your journey you have to get a Yatra ticket for your entire ‘group’. This yatra ticket is costless and is checked at the starting and ending point of the journey.

Charan Paduka - The vaishno devi Entrance

The whole place is heavily guarded by CRPF due to security reasons and every individual and the accompanied luggage is throughly frisked. Don’t carry unnecessary things while on pilgrimage to avoid any kind of problem with the officials and road alike. I must add that for the people unable to travel on feet have the option to hire a horse or a palki and those who can afford can get air lifted via helicopter to ‘Sanjhi chhat‘. One fit enough to walk this much distance must not go for these alluring options as visiting shrine without walking the whole distance is futile. You’ll never get the true essence of the visit.  The pilgrimage is what makes this place so special.

There are some things that are unarguably extraordinary about this journey. The Vaishno Devi shrine management has ensured that poor people visiting the shrine are not harassed by the greedy vendors. Right from the beginning of the foot journey to the shrine there are numerous food courts charging minimal rates. The menu has a variety of food enlisted to suit the interests of variety of people visiting the shrine. The food is strictly vegetarian. There are sheds made for people to relax momentarily on their way to the shrine. There are also plenty of rest rooms and water coolers on the way. The journey is magical, yeah there is no other word for it. As if some one has conjured a single idea of faith and determination in the minds of people going up and coming down the path. People with different languages, clothes and social stature all become equal on that 14 km stretch. The magic is added up by the cries of ‘Jai Mata Di‘ in a infallible unison. First big stop is AradhKunwari which is at a distance of 4.5 km from Charan Paduka, road bifurcates here. Those who want to skip this cave where deity is said to have passed 9 months and carry on to their journey to the main shrine can take a different path which is about 1.5 km shorter than the other. Whole flora and fauna changes as you climb up the path, the bushes give way to coniferous trees and rhesus monkey gives way to lemur. The town of Katra is visible at the foot of mountain as you compare your elevation with the surrounding mountains. It is the ongoing churn of thoughts in ones mind that compounds the conjuration and one becomes more and more determined to behold the sacred deity. This why one breaks the tedium of routine to satisfy himself spiritually and morally.

The elation that one feels when Shrine buildings come into sight is unique. Once you get to the temple you have to deposit your valuables in the lockers at the very gates. The lockers are quite reliable and you are issued a token to maintain their identity. Don’t try to pass something undesirable through the gates, the frisking is so heavy that you will never succeed. There are about 8-9 check points guarded by CRPF right from gates to the main cave. Taking a bath before visiting the sanctum will be good. For people wishing to stay good arrangement is there and a provision of issuing blankets is there. Lastly it is the wonderful feeling of accomplishment that one feels while stepping into the threshold of the cave, it can’t be explained in words. Tears flow down the cheeks when you walk inside the cave with your bare feet feeling the moist carpet.

The temple of Bhairav Baba

Those who have got their wishes fulfilled must visit the temple of Bhairo baba which is about 2 km uphill from the temple of Mata Vaishno devi. I can never forget the time when I had climbed to the threshold of Bhairav Baba. It was evening with sun at the horizon, the temple was glistening in the last but bright rays of setting sun. The sun was glowing on the high peaks of the range above the carpet of clouds shrouding the valley and the whole view was extremely fabulous. Who so ever said that paradise lies above the clouds was true. The ecstasy had not even slightly dwindled in magnitude when I walked my way down. The beautifully lit town of Katra grew in size and finally engulfed me as I stepped out of the paradise with a relieved mind.

If you are giving a thought to visit this wonderful place then don’t stop and go for it. May Vaishno Mata fulfill all your wishes.

Jai Mata Di

Just after listening to conversation between the alleged Ms Radia and Mr Sanghvi I was surprised by the tone of the latter. As if he had transformed from a lion into a chihuahua. Mr. Sanghvi’s staunch rants against the corruption are still at display on his website. It turns out they are probably not even his his thoughts, now everything seems to be dictations taken from corporate lobbyists who have long been controlling the flow of the information according to their client’s interest. Vir Sanghvi acted just in a manner opposite to his name in meaning.

I had wondered many times that why congress spokesperson Manish Tewari who has always been an irresponsible and outspoken person was frequent on talk show hosted by Barkha Dutt called “We the People”. Manish Tewari does not represent common people and his frequent presence certifies the fact that big media guns are impotent puppets trying to act smart. There has never been a show with more ironical name than ‘We the People’, it is not even closely related to the ‘people’.

By blacking out the whole issue the media is hiding its dark areas. The aim is that the heat must not reach down the pyramid as the people in knowledge of the issue are too few and will satisfied after making fun of Barkha Dutt in 140 characters. Thanks to clueless Indian People, they’ll be successful.