I leave by flight day-after tomorrow to New Delhi. I will stay there a night with a classmate from way back when, from Timpany, Panduri Srinivas. It will be good to meet him after so long. Then on a train to Pathankot in Punjab. Get off at Pathakot and go to a small town/settlement called Siddibari. This place is a Chinmayananda mission and my parents are currently there (or just reaching) for a retreat of a few days. I will join them towards the last part of the retreat, but won't actually take part, will wander about a bit on my own. The place is close to Dharmasala and Mcleodganj where the Dalai Lama has his residence so it would be great to wander around there for sometime. On 11th, with my parents (and a large group of other Chinmaya folks) we will be heading to Vaishnodevi to climb to the top of the mountain and see the shrine. A little bit concerned about this part as its going to get quite cold and I am also quite out of shape. From Vaishnodevi we go to Amritsar and then back to Vizag with my parents via Delhi. I will stay in Vizag for a few days and want to spend some time with my nephew who is studying for IIT and engineering entrances. Hopefully I can help him in some of his preparation. I also am hoping to meet a Mr. P.D. Kameshwara Rao, a social worker who works a few hours outside Vizag. My friend Balaji, spent some time during his own exploratory stint, and came away full of affection and regard for the man. He continues to keep in touch with him. I haven't got PDKs contact info from Balaji so a little dicey on that front.
Overall, quite excited :-). It will be great to spend some time travelling in north India where I have hardly spent any time so far, and also go to Vizag which has been on the agenda for a while. Perhaps a cautious rapproachment with my mother with whom I am not currently on the best of terms is possible.
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This is the 99th post on this blog ( I am trusting blogger counts correctly). Mentioning it now, in case I forget to mention it for the 100th one :-). Its been great fun.
2 comments:
The spineless newspaper that you admire - the hindu has taken no noteworthy stand on the AIIMS issue or the reservations issue nor actively exposed the rampant corruption in TN.
The newspaper is mainly meant for useless pontification on matters that they cannot control or influence - such as US/Europe foreign policy, or on utterly irrelevant editorials such as the the world cup football or indian cricket team.
The rightful place for the hindu is a dustbin. As far as I can tell, there is really only one newspaper worth its salt in India and thats the express.
So what about the hindu do you like - its inability to think clearly and take a stand and influence public policy. Every day, this newspaper masks its intellectual impotence and its utter lack of courage, under the garb of "presenting both sides of the issue."
Arvind
Useless pontification
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