Light denied

When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodg’d with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide,
“Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?”
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies: “God doth not need
Either man’s work or his own gifts: who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best.
His state Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed
And post o’er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait.”

Plain Platitudes

Colors of the North East

The Transition zone between the Indian, Indo-Malayan and Indo-Chinese biogeographic regions.
Located between 22 and 30 degrees North and 89 and 97 degrees East
The North East India spreads over an area of 2,62,370 square kilometers.
Surrounded by a length of about 2000 kilometers of international border.
Home to 3.24 crore people of which the tribals constitute about 1.8 crore
Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura
There are about 483 different tribes, classifiable into about 130 major groups in the states
The North East India presents a myriad of cultures and colors.
The depth of green from the tea gardens, much like the cultural richness of Assam
Is beyond expression even from the tip of Bhupen Hazarika’s flute.
The smoky blue hills, splendid white Churches and students converged in Shillong
Are struggling to find expression even in the melodious chorus of the Shillong Chamber Choir.
Gentle and sparkling in orange in the glow of the evening sun, Tripura’s Neermahal Water Palace
Is a legacy of the kingdom of Tripura, a story of splendor and opulence.
Watched over by the Kanchenjunga and the Himalayan ranges Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh
The seat of the Karmapas and the Mahayana form of Buddhism
The temples and monasteries spiritually dazzle in yellow, green, orange and blue
Beyond the heavenly peaks of Naga hills and gently rolling hills of northern Manipur
The wide expanse of valley is home to an amazing array of exotic cuisines and traditions.
You can waste time marveling the white kurta clad men and women painted in cream.
The most fascinating items are still tucked away in the hill side.
Popularly known as ‘song bird of the north-east’ Mizoram prides itself of her singers
Reverberating the silent music of the foggy blue mountains
To explain the true dimension of North East India
That prides itself of the Cherapunji, the Keibul Lamjao, the Ras Lila
The Siroy Lily and the 550 varieties of orchids and of course the Horn Bill
It’s said that no adjective is appropriate enough and no picture expressive enough
In view of the rich flora and fauna and certainly lack of preservation effort
Conservation International (CI) a body that strives to ensure a healthy and productive planet for us all.
Has identified the region as one among the 34 Global Biodiversity Hotspots on earth.

May God Save the Japanese!

If there is no island called Japan, if there is no race called the Japanese, if there is no fortitude, a car or an LCD TV might still remain a distant dream. Even as the Indian middle class parted with a bulk of their savings in exchange for inefficient cars, bikes and electronic and household goods, destiny had planned a different fate. May be that’s karma. May be not. A new age had dawn on the Indian sub-continent. And that was the early 1980s.
The coming of Suzuki with its flagship model, the Maruti 800 has revolutionized the traffic scene in India since 1985. That year is more a landmark in the history of empowerment of the middle class Indians, than in automobile history. The erstwhile traffic scene lorded over by the ambys (ambassaddor cars) of Hindustan Motors Company, peppered with the Bajaj Chetaks, Bajaj Supers and Lambretta scooters was steadily dominated by the more efficient and affordable 800 cc cars. A new club of confident and happy middle class thrown up by the Maruti-Suzuki partnership was born. The possibility of owning a four wheeler at affordable price continued to inspire Government servants in India thenceforth. One day I was riding my Yamaha gladiator when tiny drops of rain began to lash me. I reached home completely drenched. I checked out from a car dealer the price of a cheapest car in his show room. He politely chose to hang up the phone and call me later. Meanwhile I checked all my sources for a possible amount I could gather up at short notice. Then a call came and I was told that I could own Maruti-Suzuki 800 at an amount slightly more than two lakh Indian Rupees. Suddenly I realized that a car is within affordable range. That was 20 years since the coming of the Japanese car maker in India.
The value for money offered by the Japanese Company had since thrown the erstwhile car makers on the defensive. As they didn’t have the courage to launch a competition, they watch! Even the western car makers, who had been casting hungry eyes on the Indian market, became thoughtful. At last they decided to fine tune their engineering skills and reason with the Indian middleclass. Thus the General Motors, the Fiat Company and even the Ford Motors started to roll out low budget cars albeit with so much skepticism. And as a net result, there was a bloodless coup in the Indian market; the Indian consumer overthrew King Amby. Today partnership with a Japanese automobile company has become something like a pre-requisite to have a place in the Indian Market. A segment of Indians that has benefitted from such equation is the youngsters which had called off the longtime friendship with the Yejdis and rajdoots. In fact the youngsters who had been charmed by the sleeker, sportier, more efficient and cheaper bikes from Japan, had since considered products of Hindustan Motors or Bajaj as relics of the past. On the other hand the Hitachis, the Sonys, the Panasonics and a host of other Japanese companies with their electronic goods products made the voices of favorite singers like Lata Mangeskar and Keshore Kumar more melodious. Even movie stars like Padmini and Mithun Chakraborty appeared even more glamorous on the screens of a Sony or Panasonic television sets. And all the credits go to the Japanese ingenuity.
The number of staff working in the companies operating in the country had been more or less fixed. But the coming of the Japanese companies apart from offering highly efficient goods at affordable prices, has since thrown up a myriad of opportunities for skilled and unskilled labor.
I have been praying for new innovations and breakthroughs in car making business before my car has outlived its utility. If the west has something to offer, well and good, but I have a feeling that something better should be there in the East.

I never knew that the tectonic plate of the Pacific was so fragile. And following the colossal earth quake on that fateful Friday, waves of dreadful tsunamis rushed toward the shores of the island. The next moment all you see was the multitudes of dexterous hands that had been working tirelessly in the making and packaging of the much coveted automobile parts lifelessly sticking out amid the horrific tangle of wood and rubble, no complaints! Even shipping containers obviously destined for harbors in developing countries like India piled up disorderly along the devastated coastline. My God!

Pillars of Glory

When a Magi Sees No Sign

A Christian website has characterised Herod as-
Herod was a crafty individual with a silver tongue. This type of person is common in every business, government, and church. He or she is someone who is sweet and polite but decaying on the inside. Now that Herod had discovered where the child was to be born, he set the trap.
Even as many a Herods rule the world on a permanent basis, instances of Star shining forth are few and far between. Historians put Christian revivals that happened so far under certain broad categories such as Contents [hide]
1 17th century
2 18th century
2.1 American Colonies
3 19th century
3.1 Britain
3.1.1 Australia
3.2 Scandinavia
3.3 United States 1800–1850
3.4 Europe: Le Réveil
3.5 1850–1900
3.5.1 1857–1860 Revival in America
3.6 Britain and Ireland
4 20th century
4.1 Wales

The ironny is that scholars find it convenient to study revival efforts of missionaries as a component of empire expansion of Contemporary kings and Governments.
Thus the apostle Paul in his second epistle to Timothy has written:
...But continue thou in those things which thou hast learned, and which have been committed to thee: knowing of whom thou hast learned them;

And because from thy infancy thou hast known the holy scriptures, which can instruct thee to salvation, by the faith which is in Christ Jesus.

All scripture, inspired of God, is profitable to teach, to reprove, to correct, to instruct in justice,

That the man of God may be perfect, furnished to every good work

Blonds and the Biharis

You are witness to the never ending spectre of Biharis milling in every industrial and construction site, every railway station, every city and everywhere across the globe. Even as speculations about possible extinction of people with the beautiful blond hair is making headlines, the population of Bihari speaking people are swelling like the river Kosi in monsoon. It is estimated that the number of Biharis in India alone have crossed a whoopping 82 million as per the 2001 census. Besides the Bihar Industries Association is said to have estimated the number of Biharis outside India at a staggering 20 million, which is almost a quarter of the state’s population.
There is no estimate of the blond population in the world. But the blonds seem to have by nature preferred small family and in certain cases, no child norm. Speculations about extinction of the blonds may not be true. But one thing is clear. The blond’s population lags behind in one crucial aspect-multiplication. Compared with others like the Biharis.
The blonds are naturally beautiful. The world may have millions of efficient, intelligent and able-bodied Asians, Blacks or Hispanic. But a blond is a blond. The only competition comes from another blond.
Ironically the bonds population is not multiplying like others like the Biharis. A stagnant population means that the level of inter-blond competition will either remain stagnant or come down eventually. A time may come when a blond hair is preserved in museums. If you have the nerve, imagine the day when a black man will take the role of a 007 top British Spy in the Hollywood thriller series.
And if such a day comes, your brothers from Bihar may become even more assertive than merely being a bhelpuri seller in Mumbai streets.
Someday you may hear a Bhojpuri accent from some barefooted Bihari lasses in James bond movies. Or some progenies of Shatrugan Sinha might be contesting for the role of the British top spy. After all reports from some British tabloids have never rubbished such a possibility.
And if a Bihari plays a leading role in a James Bond movie, even a Zomi from the far eastern corners of India might as well grab a role in the next movie. Yes there is no dearth of talent and determination against odds like ‘discrimination’. You have world champions in boxing and MMA, which is short for maximum martial arts, if I am not mistaken.
If some day a Zomi MMA champion takes the role of a villain in a bond movie, he is most likely to invite bond to an exotic locale in the banks of Tuivai. A game of cards between heroes from East and the West.
In India, a 90 mm frame with a casino, aclub hall or a bar seldom discounts an item number.
So, you will find a thatched roof hall well adorned with light works of Uptown cable and a bollywood item from a scantily clad punjabi girl descending the illuminated steps with a Chaiya Chaiya remix with toppings in traditional mizo by some Aizawlian.
Then only commences the game. James Bond on the one side and a Zomi kungfu master on the other, eclipsing the rest- a Chinese noodles tycoon, an Arab businessman, mafiosos of Italian or Russian origin, etc. gracing the desk.
The dialogue may easily be like “a putting (not ‘a put’)” if James Bond is a Bihari.
The villain, in deep trouble would be asking, “Exkiuuse mee?”
“Putting, Putting,sunna? you hear?” repeats Bond.
This'd hardly clear the confusion. The Zomi has to ascertain if that’s a put.
“Do you meeen a Put mister Bawwn”. Suddenly Bond'd lost Patience.
And he would say, “Arre same yaar, put ya putting. Mung dekta saala!”
…
Thus an era of Indian Istyle commences in the world post blond domination.