Have you ever realized that when you woke up today on a rainy Sunday morning in India, you became older than yesterday ?

Did you see your face in the mirror ?

If not then I will kindly suggest that you leave reading this blog and see yourself in the mirror. Watching oneself in mirror is a pleasant activity. It would be better if you use a concave mirror instead of plane mirror as concave mirrors in bathrooms enlarges small features on face and minute observation becomes possible.

In fact, mirrored wall or full-length mirrors are good for soul searching. Some people use glossy bedroom mirrors to see themselves in their birthday suit. It’s good. But, not everyone is comfortable in this state. We have become obsessed about curves/flats/biscuits/washboard appearances.

Are we talking about human bodies or commodities on shelf of a shopping complex ! I hate Facebook , Instagram, WhatsApp status feature or any other similar apps for this narcissistic feature. How can an actor look good even when he/she is sweating profusely in a gym ?

Gross ! Sick ? Stop this nonsense !

Why do they post such videos ? Why do they want me to exercise and work hard when I can sleep peacefully away from worries of a boring life ? Laziness is a virtue in our times. If you don’t agree then going to a medical professional may help you.

Mark my words.

No one is important.

Earth will not stop rotating if you will sleep for some more hours. Many of our important ancestors are sleeping peacefully in their graves.

Has world ended after rise and subsequent collapse of Roman empire or for that matter any empire in any part of the globe ?

But, coming back to mirror –

So, what do you see in mirror ?

Is it lying ? Are you a better version of yesterday’s image ?

If not then start thinking about yourself.

It is a proven fact the majority of people attains the peak of physical or mental fitness around the age of 30 years. So, what happens after you have rotated 30 times around the Sun ? Where will you go now ?

Can you prolong this process ? Science says yes and people have prolonged their fit life beyond 30s. Sport stars are living example of this phenomena.

If you are interested in tennis then Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal on men’s side and Serena Williams on women’s side look fighting fit even in their late 30s. I will not take into account fitness status of movie stars or common man as looks can be deceiving and seeing always is not believing.

Older Sportsperson are fighting duel with teenagers and beating them regularly so by that logic they signify the supreme fitness.

But, everyone can’t become a Federer and life is more than a bloody sport.

So, most people peak around 30 years and then the decaying process commences.

Greying hair, baldness, poor vision, body pains, weak heart and other body parts symbolizes ageing process and organs start decaying. It is more or less like ripening process of a mango. When the time comes , mangoes fall off the branch and end it’s life. Sometimes it goes in stomach of a living being or many times it just rots away on the earth.

You can maintain a healthy body and live 100 years or more by applying science in your life but think about quality of life.

What is the goal of living ? What is the purpose ? What makes you happy ? Why are you living and for whom ? If you go today, who will cry for you ?

People die of natural or man-made causes daily.

I still vividly remember the death of a former news anchor in Mumbai last year. She was on her regular morning walk, a perfectly normal-looking coconut tree fell on her and she died on the spot. It was captured on camera and you won’t believe the freakish nature of this incident unless you see it with your own 02 eyes.

Nothing to panic. Freak accidents keep happening time and again.

But, does ageing gracefully and dying suddenly has any connection.

Deep questions with no definite answers.

So, life is strange. But , what matters is how you live life.

Happiness is a state of mind. Do you know how to become happy ?

I wonder, if we can discover a happiness pill one day ? You feel sad, feel lousy, feel tired, feeling worse, de-motivated – pop a pill.

You become happy.

So, now onwards, don’t think about anything. Sunset is not in your hands, even of your life ! Worry less and let the life flow like water. It will go on , no matter how many stones are lying in it’s path.

Nothing matters. No one knows, what happens when you die ?

Stay happy. Do anything and everything. Nothing in this world is good or bad.

Stop ageing process. See yourself in mirror everyday and start laughing.

Do not try to find logic in my blog, there isn’t any !

It seems like a silly question at first and you may think about stupidity of this brainless question. But, it’s a legitimate question considering the degeneration of what we call human values.

Few days back, I saw a video (online) where a Brown bear falls off a cliff near Drass in Kargil district of Jammu & Kashmir. You can ask , so what ? How does a bear falling off a cliff is surprising ? Bears are normally fat and stupid animal and many other wild animals also fall off cliffs in natural course of their life and die ?

It’s plain and simple – survival of the fittest theory.

But, in this case , bear gets pelted by a stone in it’s head and tumbles off the cliff. Stone-pelters are heard cheering and laughing on this macabre sight. I feel sorry for humans who did this.

Animal -humans conflict are increasing in all parts of India especially in vicinity of forests or mountains or in plains where we are encroaching their territory. At least, we can behave like humans and show some sympathy to our ancestors.

Yes, our ancestors ! Because, we have forgotten them ! Ancestors of Chimpanzees and humans are same. Nearly, 04 million to 08 million years ago, we diverged and became a little bit different from each other.

In fact, even today around 98 % of our DNA is same.

Hard to believe , but yes it means Chimpanzees and humans are more or less similar. See, theory of 98 % genome by me in earlier paragraph.Don’t look for it in Google.

It will only prove that you are better than others and may even have 100 % similarity with Chimpanzees.

It is like percentage of marks obtained by our youngsters in class 10th & 12th Board exams. But, unlike fake marks, genome of Chimpanzees are real. I call percentage of marks fake because, how can you get 100 marks in a Social Science subject or in Language papers ? If students are getting 100 % marks in subjective answers , it only proves that either their teachers or Board officials are acting like Chimpanzees. You have to decide the answer for yourself.

I always had this doubt that some humans behave like apes and now I know that why they do . Again , don’t look for difference between apes and Chimpanzees , they both belong to our family and therefore you must pay them proper salutation wherever they happen to cross your path.

But, Chimpanzees are only found in some parts of Africa being their natural habitat, so for us Indians, going to nearby zoo will help immensely.

Now, coming to the question of humans being better than Chimpanzees.

Like those noble souls in Drass, Chimpanzees can also throw stones. They can use a variety of tools for inspecting dangerous things. They even drink water by using leaves and wipe their body. So, the concept of toilet paper has been taught to us by Chimpanzees. They are also intelligent and can solve many puzzles if trained properly. In this respect, they are better than humans, as a trained human mind is a dangerous thing.

They also have a social life but unlike humans they don’t have a social media life. They normally walk on all fours but have the ability to stand erect and walk on 02 legs. Here also , I find fascinating resemblance between some people and Chimpanzees. Though, people can walk on 02 legs but some of us prefer to bend and use all fours to interact with superior humans. I am not talking about some Indian or US media persons or what we call paid media houses, to please their masters.

But, there is one difference, Chimpanzees haven’t still learnt about the WhatsApp phenomenon. Nearly , 01 billion people i.e. almost 1/6th of human population is using Facebook-driven social media applications.

So, in the course of this blog , I have found the most vital difference between Chimpanzees and humans.

We are connected and they are not !

But, I have a doubt ! Are they happy without being connected ? What will happen if they get connected and bridge the 02 % difference between us ?

Answer was given in 1963 by a french novelist namely Pierre Boulle in a science fiction book aptly named “Planet of the Apes”. He visualized a futuristic scenario and I believe the future as described by him has already arrived. Because, nowadays humans are behaving like apes.

Wars, terrorism and self-destuction are symptoms of a decaying civilization. See all around the globe, where is the good news ? Monkeys are running around everywhere and doomsday is not very far.

But, that is the topic for a different blog.

Don’t again think about difference between monkeys and apes ? Remember the logic given in preceding paragraphs and stay happy.

But, still the question remains……. Are we better than Chimpanzees ? If you know the answer then let me know. We will spread the happiness all around.

Bihar is famous for many things but it obviously doesn’t include tea in any form.River plains of Ganga & it’s tributaries as well as weather system are unsuitable for tea plantation. Therefore, we get to drink cheap -quality dust tea brought mostly from large tea estates of North-East. Some connoiseurs may prefer export -quality Darjelling Tea but cheap tea brands of Tata Tea or Brooke Bond are most popular brands in North India . I personally prefer Wagh -Bakri Tea(Tiger- Goat Tea), not because of the aroma or flavour but for the sole reason that this brand name sounds exotic or should I say out of this world.

Imagine that Tiger & Goat cohabiting in Tea Plantation of Assam !

However, it is a great idea and it gives the impetus to the brand because may be manufacturers of this brand are saints and they believe in equal co-existence of all living beings on the earth.

Nevertheless,tea is a crucial morning drink meant specifically for starting the day by stimulating your senses. It helps you in morning chitchat with family members and neighbours. Some people get addicted to this morning routine and realize that their morning rituals depends upon potency of this milky brown-coloured brew. In Bihar, people also add a dash of some form of tobacco after gulping down few cups of tea to speed up the process in lavatory.

And when it comes to tea, one cup is never enough.

Bachelor student living in various lodges of Patna city prefer few cuppas of nukkad chai (strong-flavoured tea made on street-side shops) in morning which sets the tone for the study pattern of the day. Students all over India prefer to bond over tea in Canteens throughout the day or mostly night time. I even heard a rumour that some IAS -aspirants of Jiyasarai (a small village ensconced in midst of boundary wall of IIT-Delhi) swear by the magical effects of tea brewed in congested lanes of this suburb which will make them crack civil services exam conducted by UPSC. Therefore, many of them keep drinking this strong tea at unearthly hours in the hope of being a bureaucrat and some become one by the the sheer logic of probability. So, the myth of tea in student’s life persists.

But, coming back to the Handi Tea. I must confess that I have never heard the term before yesterday though I count myself among the nosy connoiseur of tea having lived and tasted tea from around the country. I also believe in the institution of bed tea. Whoever discovered this great tradition was an innovator of highest order as drinking tea while sitting under the quilt lazily in winter season is one of the greatest pleasures of life. If you have to move your legs even before gulping hot cup of tea , then the fun of well-deserved night sleep goes out of the window.

I discovered this well – known local variety of tea-making by sheer luck. I was travelling on the newly black-topped four-lane highway connecting Anisabad(Patna) to Bakhtiyapur. This nearly 50 Kms. part of NH-30 is one of the finest examples of development in roadways sector of Bihar. However, the fun of driving on this shiny road flies away when you think about the journey ahead on Bakhtiyarpur – Barh stretch of NH -31 which faces unending hours of traffic snarls and poor quality of road designing. So, you come back to realize that why some parts of India are shining and some live in dark ages. This section remains the same since last 30 years or more while traffic on NH -31 has seen exponential growth as it is one of the most vital links connecting Rest of India to North -Eastern states.

So, I wished to have a break before embarking on the driving on this horrendous stretch of NH -31.

03-04 large tea/snacks shops are situated near the junction of NH -30 & 31 and tourist hotspot of Rajgir/Nalanda are not far away from this place. So, this pit stop of few rustic-looking tea shops sees large number of footfalls of tourists also. All shops look identical and flashes large flex-signboards advertising the Handi tea. I ordered 01 cup and it was delivered to me in Kulhad(handle-less clay tea cup) within seconds. Delivery was so quick that I verbally abused swanky fast food chains or Coffee Shops for their inordinate delay in delivery of items. Sometimes, I wonder that Coffee shop people ask for permissions from Coffee Plantation owners in various parts of India or may be from far corners of South America for delivering a hot Latte/Cappuccino to me.

Now, coming to the taste. My goodness !!! What is this ?

It was the strongest ever tea made in deeply-baked high calorific-milk poured into the Handi(Clay pot) or terracotta- like pot straight from the udders of a a big and bulky jet-black coloured buffalo ! I may have even looked for her but good sense prevailed !

The aroma of deeply-baked tea brewed with generous amount of milk & sugar was overpowering the senses. I must say that this tea is not meant for weak people. You may get heart attack if you prefer the tea in a delicate English manner. The sensuous and erotic mix of clay with brown milky tea can even arouse the senses of a gentleman. I immediately ordered few more cups and gulped 04 cups in succession as Kulhads are normally very stingy in matters of quantity as they contain lesser amount of liquid than their regular counterpart bone china tea cups. Don’t ask me about origins of bone china but these are normally white porcelain cups definitely containing some amount of animal bones. May be now, craftsmanship has improved and we can be using vegetarian cups.

Thereafter, I did a small research and talked to tea boys and owners and they sweared on the record that this is the best tea brewed in Bihar. I agree with their opinion as the taste of pudding lies in eating the cake and I did so. I discovered that they slowly cook the tea on coal-ovens over an extended period of time and their recipe is simple but unique to them.

When , I was taking photographs, one chirpy young lad suggested to me to put the tea-making boy on the internet and made him famous. I didn’t promised him anything but loved their care-free attitude. A tea-maker boy is more happy than many of us reading this blog. I became happy for him and wished him well. But, now in hindsight, I regret that I forgot to ask their names. May be in my next trip, I will sit with them for longer duration and ask for names.

But, I must recommend that if you wish to be in the vicinity of that location, go and drink the elixir called Handi Tea in their shop. It works like poison on your senses but what is life without a small dose of poison. Hopefully, you will enjoy it.

That’s it for today.

So, if you have anything to say , write it down and let others see what you think of Bakhtiyapur School of Tea.

Today, India is celebrating  72nd Independence Day by hoisting our tri-coloured national flag in all corners of the country. Hoisting and unfurling Tiranga is a happy sight to behold.

How does Indians celebrate it

There are normally 02 ways of celebrating it.

First one is official hoisting ceremony which is held on the pattern of Red Fort ceremony. At the Red Fort, the Prime Minister of the day hoists and unfurls Tiranga which is given weaponised salute by joint command of 03 Defence Forces of India & Police of our capital city. It is followed by speech of the PM and other related ceremonies.

This ceremony at 0730 hrs. in early morning of 15th August is attended by high and mighty of our country and sets the tone for similar ceremonies in all capital cities of India. This ceremony travels to the Panchayat and village level officials even in the remotest part of the country. It includes all offices of Central or State government and all educational institutes and every other government and private organizations in the country. Defence and Police forces follow this day as per protocol in their own campuses based upon availability of resources.

Over a period of time, cultural programmes depicting nationalist themes and prize ceremonies highlighting the contribution of individual in nation-making or high achievers of organizational goals have become an established norm.

Sweets have a special place in these ceremonies, especially for kids and persons,young at heart. Hot jalebis and colourful ladoos are part and parcel of such ceremonies.

The 2nd way of celebrating the day begins at home. Citizens of our country, having the resources, hoist and unfurl flags at lawns or courtyards of their home. All family members get together and do it in a private ceremony. Mostly, it is done by eminent citizens. In the same way, youths and persons,young at heart, pool their resources in the community and celebrate Independence Day at a public  or private place. Such ceremonies also includes senior citizens and respectable persons of the community.

3rd way of celebrating Independence Day

It is actually through a lens. But, this lens was not available to our forefathers. Actually, our great men/women belonging to an earlier era were not privileged to have it.

It is through the lens of social media-savvy common citizens many of whom have no idea about the solemness of the occasion. This independence day is celebrated on virtual screens. There are 02 ways of celebrating it on social media. You get a good photographer or give your camera phone to a friend and capture the flag and yourself in the same frame and post it on Facebook , Twitter or any other website with a catchy slogan. I agree with this spirit. It is indeed a noble gesture.

However, there is another way of doing it. I have some strong reservations about it. Some kids or persons, young at heart, try to stretch their arms and twist their faces to impossible angles to take a selfie with flag.

Now, tell me, is there a normal way to take selfie with Tiranga flying on a high flagpost ? But, seeing is believing and I agree with spirit of boys.

Continuing on the social media celebration of Independence day, I must acknowledge the contribution of Whatsapp freedom fighters. They keep forwarding colourful I-Day messages to each and everyone in their contacts list. I agree, this phenomenon is not exclusive to I-day and people do the same thing on every festive occasion, but does it make any sense ?

If you wish to greet happy Independence Day to anyone then go to their home as I-Day is a declared holiday in all parts of India. Talk to them in patriotic tones and on some national issues. Eat sweets at their home and spread the joy of Independence all around.

Same things, I wish for our news anchors or should I say neo- freedom fighters. Do not just wear ethnic Indian wear on I-Day only. Talk about some sensible topics in a civilized way. Let everyone peeping from your screen talk freely. You have called guests (by inviting them) to your show, let them enjoy some freedom on this Independence Day.

Freedom means the ability to have individual choices. All souls must be given freedom to let them be in their pristine state. Freedom means no boundaries, no conditions, no if’s and but’s. But, if wishes were horses……

We need to value our freedom more. I shall quote my brother today that social media has made us unsocial. Is it so ? We need to think deeply. In the end, everything boils down to common sense. But then I remember the prophetic words of a thinker of bygone era.

I wish to quote Voltaire today –

   “Common sense is not so common”

That’s it for today. Cherish your freedom till it last as the world is bound to come to an end some day in distant future. This journey of earth will end some day. No one knows, when ?

If you like it. Share your views on this page. If it provokes you to say something, do not hold back. Remember, you have the freedom to say it.