Cruising with Life

On the night of 30th January ;I set out along with my wife on Honeymoon to the Nainital ;Hill Station of Uttarakhand, a North Indian state . It was quite cold in Delhi and expected to be colder in Nainital. Why I choose it then ? Probably ; I would have choosen some warmer place . But I like going to Hills and even stayed for some time in a few places in Himachal Pradesh . I am specially fond of the Signs marking how much a particular place is above Mean Sea level - say 1500 Metres above Sea level or 2200 Metres above Sea Level and so on . We boarded a Train to Kathgodam which is kind of gateway to many of the Kumaon and other Hill Stations . Even when we got out at Kathgodam,it was quite chilly . The interesting part was the presence of some Europeans (or may be Americans ) in the 2nd class A/C Compartment of the Train . I even commented to one telling him: "Quite an International presence ! " . Whether he liked my one-liner or not is another thing .Ha ha We then hired...

14 Feb 2008 New Delhi / Noida : While waiting for my private Cab Colleagues at ISBT Delhi today ; I saw this Man -around 25 years of Age . He was sleeping with a blanket on one of the Pillars supporting 1 of the Flyovers (probably a Construction worker.) I could see a sense of grief in his eyes. He woke up and I could see he was walking barefoot . How difficult is for such people - with just a blanket under an open sky in such a Cold Weather. At least this Man had a Blanket . Many poor people do not have even this . You would think that I could give a few blankets or do some charity work . But such a thing would only be localised . Can't there be a big revolution in our country to provide all such people with Houses / Shelters as well as more means to live ? May be I am getting idealist but then what I saw today provoked me into thoughts on this . More in my Next Blog Entry .