KAHIHI

1. According to unconfirmed reports, there is a 200m long, undersea/underland tunnel from the fort to the palatial Dhulap house in the village. Supposedly, the roof of the tunnel has been pinched to protect it from landslides and it is also well ventilated. Now the tunnel is partially blocked. If the presence of the tunnel can be confirmed, and the tunnel cleared, it could serve as a tourist attraction of historical and architectural interest.
2. Recent oceanographic evidence supports the existence of an undersea wall, constructed out at sea at a depth of 8–10 m depth undersea. Made of laterite, the wall is estimated to be 122 mtrs long, 3 mtrs high & 7 mtrs broad. Attacking ships often met a watery grave after colliding against this wall.
3. 1.5 km from the fort up the Waghotan Creek, exists the remains of a naval dock carved from rock. This is where Maratha warships were built and repaired. The ships built here were of the 400-500 tonnage capacity. This 109*70 mt dock faces the north side and is an achievement of Maratha naval architecture.

Notwithstanding, my joy was double.

Kith and kin feel entering their hypothesized heaven

As not vitiated by a speck of ‘herdship mentality' that Mumbaikars borne, I took a robust Bolero and marched towards the western ghat segment in Satara district. No. Not to Mahabaleshwar or Panchgani that have amused Mumbaikars for long or assumed Mumbai suburban look; they are no less crowded than Borivli or Dadar.

We took the other way.

One IT professional, a young lad, took the route which was as inspiring as the weekly program that featured hills and forts by Milind Gunaji, the debonair actor, model and basically a trekker. The route required masculine leg muscles, in the least.

Recently, I came across an outwardly fragile and ill man, an aam aadmi, with inherent mental guts.

Weather being comfortably cold, it is a touring time in south peninsula. Highways are jammed with thousands of public, private buses and vehicles – a good sign of financial progress the ruling party is boasting about.

It was a lavish seven-seater on highway number 17. Little after crossing Panvel, a dhaba appeared. It was 8.30 p.m. The vehicle driver got down for his dinner. He was atypical. Unlike other drivers, generally with an expected look of having it from the hirers of the vehicle, this driver took his seemingly usual corner. His confidence while marching towards the table made it apparent.

He ordered his pint and started his evening session with an added confidence.

Our aam aadmi who had hired the vehicle didn’t approve the act. What we do at such times? Keep quiet? Discard the behavior?

This bold aam aadmi took out the visiting card of the two-car-fleet owner and rang the office from his cell phone. He narrated the story and asked to order the overconfident and apparently victorious highway sarathi of the vehicle for a retreat. The Information Technology & Telecom revolution benefit.

The sarathi with his unyielding face was initially reluctant to accept the defeat. However, he finally succumbed to his master’s orders.

Further story in a nutshell is common. The liberalization has liberalized few people in strategic positions more than others. They earn money in excess and finding difficult to cope, invest in such adventures without thinking whether it’s worthwhile or not.

Such kind of miniscule transport business with no worries for the returns or carelessness about expansion is always leading to loss as one has to hand it over to the other man who can’t be under anyone’s control and vigil. There are several possibilities of parting your money by under filling of petrol, repairing costs, thefts, imaginary bribery amounts and toll. Forget the death toll in case of drunken driving. Highway laws are different than the written ones, one has to experience himself.

The tour operators of this kind may have sought all the permissions necessary. But how can one assure the behaviour of the driver on the highway? And who is responsible of the mishaps in such cases?

Or whether we have to spend this life like the kind of deers in the jungle scared of the tigers and lions every moment on these shoddy highways that our rulers have constructed?

This man has shown the courage. Everybody can’t do that. And why everybody should do it?

Such kind of careless behaviour has led to accidents causing deaths a few times of the worshippers visiting religious places with a faith in their minds that the deity would provide them a happy life ahead!

This is an irony.

Initially I was not much enthusiastic of the taxi services of two new fleets, Meru and Easy Cab, as being carried away by the above kind of impression. But recently they have changed my opinion. The taxis are present in your porch dot at time. Their preconditions are well defined. The drivers are well behaved and in between the fleet owners’ representatives keep on enquiring about the status of the travel and finally your feedback specifically about behaviour of the drivers and the time schedule.

I hope they keep up the spirit and their upcoming small followers also do the same, liberalizing us from that Stone Age fear of the deers.

Sunk into the scams the ruling party is patting itself for the financial achievements constantly; their two leaders’, party and executive, mouths shut and paralysed during the session time though! It’s the time they take a lesson or two from the of aam aadmi of the above kind and behave with firmness when the scam scum is visible everywhere else.

At such a time a little care and concern shown for common people if exhibited by the rulers may appease us like that of the fleet.

Maharashtra has a ved (mania) for celebration. Of any kind! Come September or August, people of Maharashtra are charged for ten days. They don’t do anything but sing songs in haphazard manner with no mercy to rhythm, they play loud speakers defying 50 decibel limit to express their joy with delirium. Come October and they are ready to repeat the fruitless act. Then Diwali and other single day celebrations follow. Joy one should take, but not to the extent of wasting huge time and expense of keeping one’s career waiting.

Obama came to the city. Far away from the city of Illinois his media managers might have chalked out the itinerary of his India visit. However, imagine Michelle Obama mingling in the crowd of boys of an English medium school in Fort and straight heading to dance to the tunes of an ethnic Koli Marathi song – you’re under loss of state of mind.

It’s never so with Americans at the upper hierarchy and I’m grieved to say, always so, with Indian political counterparts. A fresh like pomphret example of Common Wealth Games in Delhi!

So they planned from a distance that is exactly on the opposite of the globe and executed the plan in filthy Mumbai without a wrinkle on the face. Soon our shameless politicians, with their crest fallen faces, may visit US to study how to reciprocate the gesture in a comparatively clean city. However, let us keep aside the political analysis by the analysts with crooked and favourable angles expressed as a running commentary.

Michelle’s dance! The scene kept cheering the mind. Michelle is a good dancer. She caught to the tunes immediately with Madhuri Dixit’s ease. It’s in their blood. To catch the rhythm. But Barrack was not at ease. Doesn’t matter. In last few, about 20 seconds he tapped on the tunes. That was a symbol of humility. How many of our politicians with their dogmatic face and vain pride could have shown this gesture?

That achieved two purposes. It tickled the hearts of rich and at the same time created a feeling of pride among the original tribes of Mumbai. Bichchare Bhandaris and Pathare Prabhus, other original tribes! Would have the tour planners thought of this? Congress the ruling party of Maharashtra may be able to draw a benefit from this gesture.

Owing to sincere and persistent requests, Obama danced with his sleeves folded and with fastened necktie.

We were taught to button the sleeves while meeting seniors. To fold full shirt sleeves was supposed to be uncouth. The British tight upper leaps are able to gulp the morsel? The Korean and Chinese taken over the garb of dark suits would be able to digest it?

Our Marathi entertainment channels don’t care of President of India and new chief of the state who is a M.S. from California. The dissuading Marathi entertainment channels thumping hideous programmes in the name of humour on the face of the Marathis evading the intro and life portrait of a so educated chief minister. They were accompanied by relatives, the journos in high places, like that in Adarsha Society. Are they not equally sinful in their act?

I had regards about the British stiff upper lip. But in Bush’s time that was burned out by Tony Blair.

It’s said that: a true American never accepts anything for free. He pays for it and pays for best quality. Despite their depleting resources they’ve not given up the habit. Prima facie Obama has made a provision for 50 thousand jobs. BPOs are not affected as the fear loomed a month ago. Go, grab them.

Analysts are not catalysts. Throw them in the recycle bin.

Though so, we have our own iconic example, still intact. Years ago Indira Gandhi danced to the tunes of folk songs of Adivasis in a remote village. She sincerely believed to be a daughter of an Adivasi in her earlier birth. With her grace and a little smile, the impression is as live in my mind as then was.

I’m not a health conscious person and as such not a calorie or weight conscious. Having been able to maintain constant weight proportional to my height, I don’t have any ailments either. It happens naturally in my case. I don’t make any efforts for that. I have a sweet tooth and eat as much sweet as I feel like, without a trace of fear for diabetes. I don’t do any exercise but to walk in the evenings. I can’t get up before sunrise though I’m no more a nocturnal creature now. I read till late nights instead. There is no restriction of any kind on my eating habits. I can easily gulp couple of vada-paavs or deep fried samosas without any fear. Only thing is that I’m strictly choosy about the friers, the calorie sellers and their selection of oil pulls.

In short, I can be labelled as more of a careless fellow than carefree due to the façade of my behaviour. For all this, I am grateful to my genes. There isn’t a single case of obesity in any of our generations of the past.

Even so I thank the University of California, Davis and the National Center for Food Safety and Technology, Illinois Institute of Technology for their research that people can include potatoes in their diet and still lose weight. This research was presented at the Obesity Society’s 28th Annual Scientific Meeting held during October 8-12, 2010.

The lead researcher Dr. Britt Burton-Freeman, PhD, MS. said, ‘There is no evidence that potatoes, when prepared in a healthful manner, contribute to weight gain. In fact, we are seeing that they can be part of a weight loss program.’ Forget about the research process and the high glycemic index. You’d read it soon when it starts appearing in the newspapers.

Covered on three sides by creek and fourth by sea shore, our childhood was blessed with wholesome diet of fresh fish and red rice that infused in us rich quantities of proteins. It suffices till date, I presume. Mumbai made me vegetarian due to its stinking fish. I feel the stink because I’ve eaten fish lifted straight from a creek or sea unlike the stored frozen sea food eaters of Mumbai. My mother and her brother never ate fish in Mumbai even when it was Bombay and though Bombay duck was famous and not available in our coastal village on the Goa-Maharashtra boundary. I pity the boaster fish eaters, especially in Mumbai. The sea water is polluted everywhere far beyond Mumbai shores and fish get injected with the stink.

It can be deciphered like this – Those who haven’t seen “Lawrence of Arabia” and “The Secret of Santa Vittoria” carefully, will always think Sholay to be a great movie. Or those who have not seen Al Pacino in “Scarface” will always fancy that Amitabh Bachchan as Vijay Dinanath Chauhan in “Agneepath” is great. Such illusions have developed over years and now have taken a form of truth.

Quite similarly, it’s never possible for those who have rejoiced on ice-stored dead stuff to know the real savour of the fresh water fish.

Now what other than a potato can a vegetarian can eat? In any form – boiled, cooked or fried. I am a have been a potato bhakta since ages.

In Irani hotels I’ve eaten dishfuls of potato finger chips with ‘as-much-as-you want’ tomato sauce in college days, with a pani-kum chai after that.

In Kulkarni’s hotel, in Girgaon, I’ve gulped down plates of potato bhaji served without anything; just plain simple bhaji. It’s generally eaten with chapatti or puri. But not so with the Kulkarni’s. He served batata bhaji as a special dish like bhajji plate or batata vada, unwaveringly. Those who ridiculed him before tasting his obstinate dish gulped their words along with the batata bhaji silently. With second dish they started loving Girgaon’s Kulkarni.

And who’d forget the most loved and popular Sunday morning Maharashtrian special dish. Batata-poha. I’ve been cherishing it since I was a toddler. Miss a Sunday and I’m uneasy like an addict not getting his intoxicating dose at a certain time. But crown on this all, is my home made batatyachi kaape. It is somewhat similar to potato finger chips, except that kaape are small round slices instead of long chops, and of course tastier being fully wrapped with red chilly masala powder. I can eat one hundred slices fried like this easily at a go without anything else with, I bet, any time.

Cut the washed raw potatoes without peeling and cut them horizontally into two millimeter slices. Apply rawa (grinded rice powder) mixed with red chilly masala powder with a small sprinkle of salt. Fry both sides like a fish on tawa in a suitable dose of oil you like.

He’s an octogenarian! You won’t believe. His ecstasy could shy you away. He talks about futuristic plans. Always! Not about the achieved (archived) past. He has spelled his charm for four generations. And he is ready for the fifth. He has uncountable honours and awards to his credit. He doesn’t think much about them.

The cubs in journalism ask him about his past. They don’t know enough. The generations know him though. They loved him. He is pensive to face such cubs. He doesn’t decry. Next moment he regains. He talks about his next film.

He has tasted success. He has digested tantamount flops. He never grieves though. He never gives in either.

He projects himself as a lower middle class white-collared lover. He deviates from this image at times. Rarely though. Like a jewel thief or a doctor or a vagabond at times; a sober one or a cinema ticket black marketer. Yet at the end he is sober. Not a bit more than a gentleman. Not less.

He sings on screen. He doesn’t show his expertise. In fact, he doesn’t know how to dance. Doesn’t mind. He jumps in any manner. Again sober. He runs after the heroines. He orbits around them. He never jostles them, however. Earlier he did not touch them even. He loved them at a distance of five feet.

Audience of four generations loves his actions. The camera loves him too. It’s a gift. He doesn’t have a left side molar. The smile seeps through the gap. He knows that. Audience knows that. They like that. He knows that. He allows the smile to ooze abundantly.

He is at ultimate ease. Never differentiates among audiences. A tycoon, a ruler, an artist or a general cinema-goer; all are same for him. He behaves in a friendly manner with every one. He is a showman making no show of him. Whatsoever.

His younger brother Vijay Anand alias Goldie knew his brother’s magnetic strength. He defined role for him. He suited into them like a jewel in the throne.

He would not act in a movie without songs. He refuses flatly movies sans a song for a hero i.e. him. Without a pause. Goldie wrote song for him, apart from writing screenplays and directing. Movies for Navketan, his production house. Songs, he made immortal on screen. His screen presence was numero uno. Camera gave full justice to his image. Songs he portrayed on screen have visual perception par excellence.

Watching his song rendering has a recurring value. One can watch them a thousand times in a single go. A couple of music channels sustain on this repetitive value of his songs.

In Kala Pani, Nalini Jaywant is dancing the immortal Mujra – “Najar Lagi Raja Tore Bangley Par”. He shouts, like say an unintelligible hitherto, ‘yaak’. The public catches the moment and shouts with him.

In Jewel Thief the incidence repeats. Vaijayantimala dances her unique cobra dance – “Hothon Mein Aisi Baat Main Dabaake Chali Aayi”. He enters the floor playing a dhol (drum). ‘E..e..h..Shalooooo…’ – he calls her in between the dance. This is Goldie’s brainwork. His rendering. The full theatre breathes in. Catches the exact moment. Joins him.

Theatre of delight! Any Indian orchestra’s most favourite song. Audience of hundreds in a closed hall or thousands on open ground. They chorus – ‘E..e..h..Shalooooo…’

Tere Mere Sapne. He and Mumtaj on bicycle. Double-seat. “Eh Maine Kasam Lee, Eh Tune Kasam Lee…” – song. His face covered under the hair spread of Mumtaj, in a daffodil field. Recreating a wish to watch thousand times. They sit on bicycle again. This time, Mumtaj on backside carrier. He sings a line, looks back, sings a line, looks back, sings a line…You gaze. What else.

‘Only Indian Face with International Features’ – is his introduction around world. All kind of spectators is another introduction.

Prakash alias Pakya is a hawaldar (police) in Lalbaag. Old SSC passed. Hawaldar because he never got a job. Not even through employment exchange. Jaihind talkies in Kalachowki near Lalbaag. Pakya is on duty there. Guide is the movie.

To cope the rush owner of Jaihind talkies adds one more show in the morning at seven. Pakya buys few tickets and distributes them to his friends. Often he does so for other movies of him. The public in the morning show come putting on striped lenga, brushing their teeth.

Radio talkies near Manish market around Crawford market. The owner loves him. So he shows only his movies. A movie is started. You are late. A group of four or so. You have missed the start. The operator notices the late comers. He stops the running reels. Reverses them. The movie is restarted. The early birds get a bonus. Title song once more.

Khodad Circe of Dadar. Starting point of the road to Tilak bridge passing over Dadar station. A boy stands every evening near the signal. Looks ditto him. Smiles too. Calls himself Sevanand. He removes his molar. Tries to transude smile through the gap. People appreciate. They waive hands to him. Sheer delightful scene.

Such a hero, such fans.

He is Dev Anand. Who else.

God’s own delight!

Chidambaram’s ‘saffron terror’ has scared him and the Congress too, though he is putting a show of bravery. He has thrown the weight of his difficult-to-shoulder phrase on others, as his wont is; presently on Digvijay Singh, saying that patent of the phrase is not with him. That’s sufficient to prove that he can neither create patentable products nor can he make a proper use if they exist.

Lawyers don’t make good “quotable-quoters”. Take the top five lawyers in India and you’d realize.
 
The reason is simple. The inborn arrogance, fused in or developed among them makes them feel that they are also the “lords of words”. They nurture a false secret ego that they could win the cases connected with words. It’s because they take any issue as the cause and fight for that.

Language and words that shape a language have to be handled with care, not rough hand (foul mouth in the context) but soft tongue.

Politicians have the history to make good quotes, like Winston Churchill, John Kennedy, Indira Gandhi and like. However, they were far away politicians from the present ones.

Nowadays, all similar thinking minds are making efforts to hone their word power. Small minds too, think alike! They however do not know that they require copywriters for that. Some semi-buddu politicians know that!

In case of ‘saffron terror’ they have lined up for the comments in the order of their weight.

Sharad Pawar, the weightiest of the politician threw the first colour. He is a politician connected with green the most. He moves with or makes them move with him the green revolutionists and the portfolio he is in charge of has mainly the colour green shade.

He may argue on that saying wheat, maze are not green but yellow and try to crush my claim as he did once asking Uddhav Thackeray, executive president of ShivSena in the time of his padyatras for the cause of suiciding farmers, bilking him whether he knew, the onion grows above or below the ground.

Congress has the habit of entering troubled water by employing ministers like PC, though they have a long list of good claimants for any portfolio. After his FMship magniloquence Congress is again in a mood to avoid PC. It’s obvious as the party general secretary and media department chairman, J. Dwivedi has indicated sundown signals by saying the colour of terrorism is black. How else the black colour could signify terrorism?

ShivSena and BJP have thrown the ruling party on the back foot for certain. But they don’t have the debaters who could send PC also along with. Bharat Kumar Raut MP (ShivSena) is consulting editor to Times Group as quoted at the bottom of his articles. However, he cannot face with tenacity any issue. He takes more pleasure in Marathi channels as obvious it is easy for him to be long-winded in Marathi than in English.

In my opinion Gopinath Munde, though unable to speak in English is witty enough to disarm Congress and PC. But it seems BJP doesn’t want to project him. It has happened in past too.

The national party in search of power to rule would have to give up this parochial set up of mind; sooner the better.

Bhagwa, Keshari, Kesaria or Haldi (in Kannada) is still lagging behind as far as the revolution is concerned in India. We’ve seen Green revolution (agricultural), White revolution (milk), but where is the Keshari revolution?

In Marathi Haldi means turmeric. It’s applied to heal wounds due to its medicinal quality.

Marathi MPs of opposition party are busy applying haldi to their wounds including those in the mouths from inside made by the likes of PC and by the Haldi co-walkers in Karnataka. They suffer in silence due to vocabulary lesions. Or like beautiful girls they can’t apply it to the outsides of their faces to add to the beauty.

The wounded civilization has lost the sense of colours that are meant for festivals and beautifying.

One method of making Hyderabadi biryani is to cook the mutton and rice separately and mix them with skill on the dining table. This is not much palatable at least to Maharashtra as the Punjabi method has taken over that mixes every plant and flavour.

'Chandrababu Naidu is not a good political chef and hence he made a Khichdi of it. Birbal’s Khichdi, where he kept a fire at one place and the cooking pot at other, thereby the heat did not reach. Chandrababu exactly did the same by trying to cook khichdi of Telangana in the state of Maharashtra.

Logic and Chandrababu Naidu reside on North and South Pole respectively. Who instigated him to go to Babhli and protest against Maharashtra government is none of a thinking man concern.

Chandrababu himself should care for it. He has been sent to the political graveyard due to the suicides by the farmers of his state, Andhra Pradesh; nobody could deny. When they were committing suicides this chief minister was running to Delhi to welcome Bill Gates or Bill Clinton.

His enthusiasm over flew in doing so, more than Krishna water. He should have tried to block his ecstasy, more than the water Maharastra is trying, to according to him. The work is going on as per instructions of the Supreme Court. Already 200 crore are spent and no orders of the court are violated.

Chandrababu has never probably exhibited soft feelings towards Telangana. And suddenly this issue has been pierced into his head. The place where he wants to protest for the cause of Telangana is wide of the mark.He is not an expert in leading mass. He himself perhaps doesn’t understand what he talks. He whispers. He is a table-shrewd politician. He was successful in getting the special status to his state in NDA government by giving support from outside. He drew his pound of flesh by negotiating with them.

So now with a wrong cause he came to a wrong place at wrong time.

He forgot that rehabilitation of the farmers and people residing near water resources is never done or ever completed in the history of India. Many issues intermingle in the process that is beneficial to a very few. They are necessarily rulers and rich.

On the next day of the protest for the farmers of Andhra on the land of Maharashtra his supporters complained that they were not provided with food and water. As if they were guests of Maharashtra. I’d like to remind one incident here. When Lalkrishna Advani with his infamous Rathyatra was stopped by Laluprasad threatening him to put behind bars had he entered Bihar.

The home minister of Maharashtra is a gentleman. He won’t go to that extent.

However, to expect food from him in exchange of protest is too much. Food was provided by the people there. But Chandrababu wanted hyderabadi biryani perhaps! Why should they complain about water along with? It was plentifully available there in the river opposite. Or they wanted the oxi-rich mineral water?

Maharashtra has always been a soft target by all the states and the centre. It’s crushed under the North and South hating it due to the glorious history, the progress and the modernity.

There is nothing spectacular about Chandrababu. South states are progressing fast. He wanted to do that only through information technology. YSR knew this limit and concentrated on the poor and farmers that Chandrababu never envisioned. Unfortunately YSR is no more. A split of support to different parties is widening. Opportunist as he is Chandrababu is trying to make a place.