Delhi Diaries :: IIFT and all ...

Post Written in Nov-Dec2011











Long time , I have not gone outside . I was acting like mechanical guy . Go to class , sleep there , come to room , sometime study 'N'th subject and sometimes pretends to do so. Its getting regular , I was getting regular but like we say , " change , is the nature " , I could not stick to this , last weekend I broke the sequence . On sunday evening , I was at the same Chandani Chowk , whose memories we memorised for such long time . No change atall , just missing Delhi crowd. Crowd was there but not at par . Compared to last time, Haldiram was also deserted. Bearing last times experience we have taken light snacks there and then went to Jama Masjjid. On the way, we could glimpse India's most powerful , blooded red , Red Fort. In the night, its reddness was more lightened. But due to time restriction , I could not get into Red Fort. So we moved to Jama Madjjid through Meenw Bazaar . I could sence the road , still after 11 months , still today. Jama Masjjid was closed after evening prayer so we prayed from outside . In the moon light, Jama Masjjid was also looking beautiful . Then we went ahead to our real destination , Karims. KARIMS. Asea's best kabab house by Times Food was really worth. Taste is still in on my tongue . . That day was real good ;-)


Two days then, I am at IIFT. Its really big, its magnificant, abd real internarional trade.


We came here at 3 pm , and have targeted only few of the halls to maximise output within minimum time frame that we have . I.e. 2 hours.


We started with a general handlooms , then we entered into International hall , chatted with Pakis , seen bangladeshi, myanmari , turkish , arebi , nepali , vietnami and many more .. Pakis hd put emphasis on crockeries, arts & crafts and Mutton masala. Bangs hd jute silk , myanmaris and vietnamis hd bamboo crafts ...


But what impressed too much , is our India, and her States. India , its impossible to unveal her lands, its beauties, cultures , rituals , traditions , arts : in one go. But , through IIFT organisers, . And they are substantially successful .


I have never seen such a huge fair offering such large variety of goods , varies from electronics to metal , beverages to food , arts and crafts , rock to metal sculptures , paintings every thing ...


But what impressed me most is , handlooms and handicrafts. Especially from cornermost states or deprived states of India. NE states have offered large variety of Bamboo items and other states offered all types of other wooden materials. Every piece was unique and was very attractive. Many of things were very new to me. Or else , things were same , but carved , presented in such a manner that I feel they are diff. Many of the items were worth to buy but .... First time , I felt bad that I am unemployed . But still I selected few unique items to buy while leaving.


Then I visited other halls , Chattisgad , Hariyana , Uttarakhand, MP , Zarkand have secured seperate halls . And yes , they utilised them very well . I was quite impressed with the way these states were presenting themselves. By 5 pm I could manage to complete only 3 halls. Soon, I was tired and hungry and my sole friend hs to go to attend class so we took some food , Halwa from Pakistani stall , and Idli from kerala.

Later , my friend went to class and I was alone . Now I am the king of my breathe...


First thing I did is , I went to Maharashtra Food Court , I ate Thepala with Dahi and allo bhaji ( ekdam mast masaledar ) but Missed puranpoli as stock ended. Food was good , and joy of marathi food in Delhi is never less than joy of getting an Oasis in desert.


After food , I got recharged , I visited SAJAG ( all state stalls , including those who secured seperate one ), there again many new things. But this time , I was not that worried about things and prices since by this time , I madr sure that my pocket is dry . But , viewing gave me pleasure. Then I visited all seperate state stalls. The real thing is yet to come ... Two celebrations Kerla day and Manipur day celebrations. This gave me chance to get introduced to , " Gods own land Kerala and golden land ... Manipur"


Kerala , bounded with rich culture , started witb traditional kathhak ( nt sure ) then martial art , then singing by Chitra Iyyar. After half , I went to the other prog. Manipur day celeb .


Manipuris started with Rasleela of radha- krishna

In their traditional practices. But what impressed me most is Fashion show. Highly professional show , with theme of Fashion with Economy . They presented it in 5 sub themes Adivasi , semi modetn , modern traditional mix and then complete modern , then Indian Women and last Manipuri silk. This ws my 1St fashion show so ... And also with real knowledgable beauty glued me till 9 40.


In bet , I hv purchased some of best affordable gifts ... Really beautiful ones ....


Day was really good , just while returning I remembered about study ;-)

Hope this enjoyment will accelarate studies.....


Some more abt Fashion show ....


Manipur economy totally depends on handicraft and handlooms so fashin show was themed with Manipur. And for Manipur,

"Fashion is meetingof two worlds

Evonomy and comfort."


First phase evolution ,

Then second theme ( 2nd round of fashion show )


"Inside beauty"


Then third round,

With theme , Fusion of ancient To modern fashion, with quote

"Beauty lies in beholders eye"


Then 4 th Indian women,

Manipuri women with half saree ""Femate" to "saremate"


5th , Silk ... This part of fashion show is most exotic , rich in culture though westernised.

And end quote was " Start wearing silk to hv silky life."


Programme ended with a gift From Govt of Manipur ....


Really, I got impressed with Manipur. And his its culture and its beauties ....


But , a thing I missed most is Mahsrashtra stalls and my friends ...

A day at Rajpath

written on 1st of February

Its not an ordinary morning . Its not regular also. I was going to live some of best moments of my life. We woke up early in the morning and left our home before sunrise. Within few mins , a reddish Sun is just above horizons coupled with red-orange shades in the clear sky made the picture perfect view. A clear sky is the rarest gift of nature in Delhi winters. Added to this , gentle breeze was gratifying the morning tranquil . After reaching nearest permissible metro station we were on our foot . The busiest Connought Place was looking different , because its not crowded with vehicles . Vehicles were replaced by 'We , the footpathers'. Crowd which comprised of enthusiastic kiddies to equally elated goldies ,and majority of them belongs to 'Youngistanis' . We were not late but looking at the crowd we were also started a walking run , a run directed by crowd. Though this crowd has all the charachristics of crowd it was missing something , yes it was not directionless . Surprisingly crowd was following a direction , and , directors to crowd were none other than some of the twenty five thousand jawans . Yes , that day , Delhi was protected by additional 25k jawans from HomeguardsCRPF , CISF , Commondo's , Sharpshooters , and nonethless Army and DP were having massive presence . Delhi was not less than a Army Barrack . And every jawan was giving helping hands wherever needed. By 815Am I had occupied my seat , we got our seat in just 2nd box opposite to Centre stage. (Thanks to Rohit) After a long time , I was sitting under the clear sky , enjoying Sunbath ( Vit D) ... I was not alone , I was surrounded with thousands of people; including foreigners ;-) . But neither the Delhi beauties nor the glamour of firangies , were attracting all eyes. It was a smooth , road which is more smoother than any chic in the crowd , was the centre of attraction of attraction . All 50000 eyes were glued to a single road ! It was not a regular day , nither it was an ordinary day , but it was a very special day !! It must be special when someone waited for such day for months , years . I was waiting since my childhood . The such special day was , REPUBLIC DAY and the road which is at focii of all citizens was RAJPATH ... We got a place opposite and near to President's rostrum . Rashtrapati Bhavan was right to us and India Gate was to left and we were nearly at centre. As per Official timing to start , we have to wait for one and half hours. But soon empty Rajpath was filled with dignitaries , one after another coming in sequence. It was just a trailor ... Not trailor , pretrailor ...with this pretrailors I just lost sense time .. When annoncement of Presidents arrival with chief guest announced I was surprised with my watch , it was showing 9 50. One and half hours gone like few seconds ... Just couple of minutes later , we could easily see presidents convoy moving towards ceremonial place . This convoy was protected by 46 special bodyguards riding on bay-colored tall , strong horses with full mane. Convoy moved swiftly towards centre stage and we had a glimpse of President Pratibha Patil and Who was accopnied with Chief Guest , Yungluck Shinawatrav, a young , beautyful PM of Thailand. At 957AM they arrived to rostrum. Next minute , National flag was unfurled and Presidents bodyguard paid national Salute followed by National anthem and firing of 21gun salute in respect of Guest PM. After these ceremonial proceedings , comnenced 63rd Republic day parade . cheers , slogans, flags were inherent . Every where I could sense an enthusiasm , an eager , something patriotic ... Parade started with showers of petals from Army Helicopter. Slowly petals took rest on our body it was just like a cool rain showers. This created mood in crowd. After flower showers , it came , award distribution to Paramveer Chakra and Ashok Chakra awardees. Then Army took over the proceedings. 61 Cavalry lead the parade , then mighty T72 tanks follwed by SMERCH , PINACA. But show stealer was AGNI IV Missile. Then comes marching contingents started with Parachute Regiment, followed by Kumaon Regiment , Assam Regiment , 13Grenadiers Rajputana Rifles , Mahar Regiment , Gorkha Rifles . The ocean has come on Rajpath with Indian Navy's "Jai Bharti" contingent and then comes a new history in making , Airforce's Marching Contingent "Air Battle" was led by Sneha Shekhawat . Then came Paramilatery and other Auxilliary Civil Forces. It started with Band and Marching contingent of BFS ,its follwed by BFS Camel division , Assam Rifles , CRPF , ITBP , CISG , SSB , RPF , DU , NSS all of them having their own band. Then comes GenNext .. NCC boys and girls with their marching contingent ... All these Marching contingents have showed their excellence in their salute parade . It was a such unison that Jawans were just like machines , all of them are in perfect syncronization. That was really deciplined . After that , it was Cultural Pageant. It presented a glimpse of our ancient civilisation , cultural diversity and progress. It symbolised both India's glorious past and also reflected aspirations of people. Different schools presented different cultural dances , then came states with their tableaux. An array of colorful tableaux depicted the social , cultural , economic and technologocal facets of India. Then National Bravery Award winner children were taken to a ride from an open jeep. Then for next few minutes Rajpath was empty , a kind of silence and suddenly a lone bullet passed us , then next bullet carrying two people one is below and other is 15 feet above , but the special thing was that they have not touched handle and they were not looking towards front but they were looking backward enjoying with Tea- Newspaper. MotorCycle display by BFS-JAANBAAZ was a showstealer but this was not the end but the climax . Speaker announced , " Ladies and Gentlemen turn your eyes Skyward !!" And it was the real showstealer . Mig29 , Sukhoi 30 made spectacular formations like Trishul in the sky . One of them came for first moment and for next moment it has crossed clouds with crossing sound barrier. Crowds biggest cheers were reserved for this grand finale of the parade. Then IMD made skies more beautiful with Orange -White-Green baloons and Tirangas. Followed to this was National Anthem and then dignitaries left the rostrum. We got another chance to see and say good bye to President and her beautiful guest. This time just from 10 feet away. President and state guest PM Shinawatra waved hands to spectators. Courteous they were . Presidents convoy having most luxourios Mercdes's carrying only State Emblem not any number. VP followef president and then PM Manmohan Singh's all black BMW canvoy . He too waved hands to us. We can't be happier. It was 63rd Republic Day Parade. Still my eyes are glued to Rajpath , still my legs are marching , still my ears are listening tunes , still my eyes are witnessing the glory of India. Still I can sense the vibrations of parade .... I am the one who made AGNI IV , I am the one who was drumming drums , I am the one who is drinking tea on bullet , I am the school boy leading NCC group , I am the who broke the sound barrier to cross the limit of the sky ... Yes , I am an Indian . -ASMIAKASH

A day in PARLIAMENT

Written On 1st Dec 2011

11 months ago , we had planned . But failed . Not exactly unfortunate but felt bad that time . After such a long wait , yesterday we got call from Vilasrao Deshmukh's office conveying , the passes are ready. Since then , I could hardly stop myself from expressing my enthusiasm. I called everyone , I mailed those who are interested , I forcefully told stories to everyone who is not listening to me . But I made sure that , an environment should gets created. While creating this surrounding sometimes I crossed reality also but fortunately not defeated Salim Feku ;-)

But speculations are over as soon as I was at doors of Parliament .Soon I realized that, in reality , reality is such magnificent that its not needed to magnify.

 On 1st Dec 2011, at 1020 AM we entered in the parliament . From the first step only , we started facing security checks. Our eagerness called wrath from a security lady on the very first check post. My bag has got rechecked then only I was allowed . Then we entered into Parliament reception. A round well maintained hall , at distance from main Parliament building. At 10 30 Am , we entered into parliament real compound , in front of us is main entry of Parliament. Many MPs are passing from us. Media is taking bites from some hasty MPs .
 Exactly opposite to the main entrance, A statue of Gandhi ji was there. And just next to them a Kerala delegation was protesting Mullaperiar dam. We got a grand welcome from them. But we just ignored them to favor the reason for which we came here. We had 20 min minimum in our hands so we decided to be wanderer. We roamed every possible corner in search of some big powerful  politicians. We got some but few. At the start only I got an interesting info, a founding stone was laid by duke of Cannought on 12 th Feb 1921. Sahi na ... Parliament compound encircled with statues of greats of India. After Gandhi there are many , Nehru , Madan Mohan Malviy ... Then comes mahatma Fule then we could see Dr Ambedkar but in between these two greats a big , giant and well carved statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj surrounded with water drew our attention. This was a pleasant shock to me. With such a beautiful start we moved towards Loksabha ( LS ) .

After facing stringent security check we could move forward to public gallery. I got seat exactly in front of Meera Kumar. Parliamentry staff was very strict , they made us to sit straight. From there I could see many of the MPs . They were chatting each other, just like friends . No barrier of ruling party , opposition party, nothing... Vilasrao - Munde were seems to be teasing each other. We could see few MPs gathered around Sushma Swaraj and some around Pranab Mukharji. L k Advani , Murli Manohar Joshi was also in fame. Many others like Veerbhadra Singh, Veerappa Moilee were busy with themselves.

 In school days , when class teacher comes she brings pin drop silence. Just like that only , Meera Kumar ( LS speaker)  brought silence. Then next 2 min , silence was held to pay respect to a former MP who expired. Then next two minutes Meera Kumar gave small speech on AIDS as its world Aids day. Then suddenly, silence broke out into voilence ( dnt go by word though u cn ) . Oppositon MPs started shouting against FDI . They were giving slogans FDI hatav , band karo .. And also some one shouting in Marathi,  Band Kara ! Within two minutes LS got adjourned . And we were politely ordered by staff to vacate public gallery. 6 min , only 6 min but. ..it was expected.

Little disappointed but as soon as we came in outer gallery we were happy again. We started making rounds around gallery. We could see many ministers offices , secretaries offices . We took our breakfast at Parliament Canteen. The best food at cheapest price . ( so we decided that we r going to tk lunch here only ) Using gallery , we completed our 1st round around parliament. Then 2 nd , then 3 rd .... Continually we were walking , observing everything possible. I was hungry , my greed to absorb every observation increased minute by minute.  I was collecting everything possible ... At 11 45 , we moved towards RS. With grace of Vilasrao, we had both passes.

This time we know whats gonna happen there , but curious to know how much time RS will sustain. Security checks at RS were not at par LS but enough to maintain status. In RS hall , we could see many known faces , Rajiv Shukla, Ss Ahluwalia , some leftist I cd recognise and Vilasrao Was in RS also. As soon as session started, opposition started protesting against FDI .  This time more aggressively. Speaker started his work but within 3 minutes RS got adjourned for whole day. As we knew , whats gonna happen already , we were prepared with future plans. We started roaming, again. After 4-5 rounds we went to canteen. We took three course meal. After long time I ate such a tasty food . After filling stomach fully we again started doing SHATPAWLI. Then finally we went to downstairs to collect bag and to get special souveniers from souveneir shoppee. But shoppee was closed as its lunch time. So we decided to wait. We have one more hour;-) . 

Now again , same job ... Do round around the rounds. This time inner circle , more powerful leader's offices. This includes offices of Sonia Gandhib, L k Advani , Sushma Swaraj , Sharad Pawar , Manmohan Singh , Atal Bihari VajpayeeShivaji Maharaj. Then we took small rest infront of Jaipal Reddys office. Then at 200 pm , we bought souvenir and there only got to know that at reception also we could have got that. ;-) . But this gave us an extra hour and we used it in best way. its been 2 hours ,  since RS got adjourned , and an hour more than our pass validity. As there were no takers for two bags ( belonging to us ) RS staff had forwarded our bags to seniors . We again need to go to a office to recollect them back . Then after spending 3 hours inside building , we came out to see crowd of MPs giving bites to media. Among them, Sanjay Nirupam, Anurag Thakur and Prafful Patel and many... Then we tried for parliament library , but staff at that place reminded us that our passes expired. So we had to turn back . Then we had completed one more round . Then we came to the place in the parliament from where we started.

We were in between front entrance and Gandhi Statue. With heavy steps we moved towards exit. When I looked back to capture the last moment at that giant structure , I could not resist my emotions . I was heavy with my observations , I was heavy with my experiences . I was leaving the worlds biggest democracy's , most powerful and responsible institution . But I have saved many memories, I will surely preserve them. I should not forget few people , Thanks to parliament staff , security for your very polite cooperation. Thanks VilasRao for arranging passes. Thanks Rohit for making this happened.

जगदीश खेबुडकर ...

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