Sojourn at Mahabaleswar

Recently was in Pune visiting a friend who has been pressing for sometime to visit his place... With about 3-4 days in hand (which is again a luxury in my current position), we decided to visit Mahabaleswar and Panchgani... As our car wound its way through the hill with the mighty western ghat rising in the distance, it brought back fond memories of my earlier days there....

The photographs below are taken during the visit....

Circa 2004 February, at TISS Campus in one of the classroom...

The faculty was about to brief the MHA batch of 2004-06 about their final placements. It has been a very stressful and exhausting final semester for the students with academic rigour coupled with the final campus placements.

The final internship was always with the Directorate General of Health Services of state in the country. The previous batch had it in the hill state of Uttaranchal. Chances were bleak that the current batch would get the same place again. rumors was agog that either it would be with the state of Gujarat or Maharashtra....

A silence fell in the class as the teacher approached the podium...

"Maharashtra it is" she announced... Sighs of dejection can be heard throughout the class...

"Your district of posting would be Satara" she announced gravely... "A group will be at the Wai block and the other will be at Mahabaleswar block"

A rapturous shriek of delight went through my batch mates of MHA-2004-06......

Of the lucky half who were assigned to Mahabaleswar taluk, I was one too....

We started one morning on what happened to be a moderately cold Mumbai morning on a state transport bus. By mid day we were at Satara and reported to the DM&HO at the district hospital where we were again briefed about our assignment and stay...

From Satara onwards the group split as we took the bus to Mahabaleswar. the entire road was dotted with scenic beauty with the mighty western ghats rising majestically on the side...

The breathtaking and proud western ghats

The road was serpentine and wound its way up the hill... We reached the rural hospital at Mahabaleswar by sundown....

Rural Hospital, Mahabaleswar

Here at the rural hospital we met the medical officer in charge and the Gynec surgeon Dr. Tadas.. We were shown to the guest house (which was actually the quarter of the surgery specialist who commuted from Satara). It was a small quarter and had a 'sarkari' feel to the whole place...

This was to be our home for the coming 3 weeks......

Guest House for internship at Rural Hospital, Mahbaleswar

Daily routine at Mahabaleswar used to be a rigorous and a monotonous one... We were 4 of us together... Rising from the bed was an early affair at 6 a.m... It used to be very cold and chilly at that hour of the day.... Daybreak used to be a good 1 and half hour later.. The hospital attendant used to boil water for our use...

Two of my friends were in one PHC nearby where as myself along with another batch mate were posted in Panchagani PHC...

We used to have early breakfast in the Mahabaleswar main market place which used to consist of 'poha' (a spicy preparation of dry beaten rice) and 'sheera' (a sweet dish prepared from much akin to the sujisuji halwa)

By 9 a.m we used to be present at PHC, Panchgani reporting in for duty. The M.O and the Deputy M.O at the PHC were cool customer and helped us quite a lot in our assignments... We also got to attend the birthday party of the deputy M.O the cooking of which was outsourced to the nurse in charge. The preparation was a local dish and till today the memory of the chilly laden food sends shivering chill down my spine... ;) However the dish was very tasty and we ate to our fill despite the chilly only to realise our folly later....

By 6 P.M we used to be back to our solitary quarter at the rural hospital.. Evenings used to be very boring and a never ending affair.... We used to stroll around the market place which used to be full especially with honeymooners and couples.. This used to frustrate some young men in our group to no end... ;)

Mahabaleswar Main Market

The food at Mahabaleswar apart from being very spicy used to be an expensive affair and the money of each of us from home got exhausted almost at the mid way of our internship...

The only other solitary confined person apart from us was Dr. Tadas who was a bachelor and lived life king size.... He had a bullet motor cycle and a car...

Dr. Tadas' residence. Still the bullet motorcycle stands proud ;)

He took us around Mahabaleswar and showed us almost all places of tourist attraction (Mahabaleswar has 12 such points part from the temple, numerous strawberry firms, lakes etc)

Our friends from the plain (Wai was a place at the foothill leading to Mahabaleswar) used to visit us some time during weekends and public holidays... In turn we also visited them at Wai...

Boating in the Lake at Mahabaleswar

The memory of Mahabaleswar remains etched in our memory till date and when we left I made a promise to come back to this place sometimes in future...

The current trip was like a walk down the memory lane... I visited every single place and location that we visited during our internship and was like a local guide for others with me....;)

The high point of the trip was when I visited the rural hospital... after my wife was totally exhausted taking snap at the various places we used to stay, hangout etc etc... we were about to exit.. Thats when we saw some staff of the rural hospital siting in the early morning sun and I thought I recognized a familiar face... Suddenly I recognised him to be Dr. Tadas and I gave my introduction to him.. He still remembered and reminiscences the happy day which all of us had as a group.. He also lamented the fact that the rural hospital has been in a very bad shape since we were last here.. The IPD previously was closed but now the OPD hardly functioned.. A typical and universal grief of the public hospitals in India... After sometime of chatting thus I stood up to take his leave....

With Dr. Tadas at the Rural Hospital

After wards we visited Pratapgarh fort... During our internship we had stayed in a small lodge called Kailash lodge when we visited the fort...

Kailash lodge near Pratapgarh

The majestic view of Pratapgarh Fort

By afternoon we had completed Mahabaleswar pilgrimage and were ready to leave for Pune and as we left with the sun setting in the back, I fondly looked back and bid the beautiful land adieu for one more time with promise to return once again....

Bidding adieu with a promise to yet meet again.....

Warrior of light

Another pearl of wisdom from Paulo Coelho in his regular updates "Warrior of Light" of which I get a mailed update.

Word such as Paulo's is what keeps me focused and inspired. This inspiration is with a believe that whatever I am doing and the way I am doing it helps me grow as a person and learn from my victories and failings.

Here is the excerpt from the great man's thought....

"The Warrior of Light is always trying to improve...

Each blow of his sword carries with it centuries of wisdom and meditation. Each blow has to have the force and the skill of all the warriors of the past, who still continue to bless the combat. Each movement of the fight honors the movements that previous generations have tried to transmit through tradition.

The Warrior of Light enhances the beauty of his blows. Although he behaves like a child.

People are shocked, because they forget that children need to enjoy themselves, play, be a little irreverent, ask inconvenient and immature questions, say silly things.

And they ask, horrified: "And this is the spiritual path? He isn’t even mature!”

The warrior feels proud at that comment. He keeps in contact with God through his innocence and joy, and acts in this way because at the beginning of his fight he affirms to himself:

“I have dreams.”

After some years he realizes that it is possible to reach where he wants to go. He knows that he will be rewarded.

At that moment the great joy that filled his heart disappears. Because on his travels he has discovered the unhappiness of others, the loneliness and frustrations that afflict so many people. The Warrior of Light then feels that he does not deserve what he is to receive.

When he learns to handle his sword, he discovers that his equipment has to be complete – and that includes armor.

He goes out to look for armor and hears what some vendors propose to him.

"Wear the breast-plate of solitude," says one.

"Wear the shield of cynicism," answers another.

"The best armor is not to get involved in anything," suggests a third.

The warrior, however, does not listen to them. He goes serenely to his sacred place and dons the indestructible cloak of faith.

Faith softens all blows. Faith changes poison into crystal-clear water.

His angel whispers to him: "Yield everything." The warrior kneels down and offers his victories to God.

This deliverance obliges the warrior to stop asking silly questions and helps him to overcome his feeling of guilt.

And if, even so, he still feels unworthy of his reward, a Warrior of Light always has a second chance in life.

Like all other men and women, he was not born knowing how to handle his sword. He makes many a mistake before discovering his Personal Legend.

No man or woman can sit down in front of the fire and tell the others: "I have always acted properly." Those who claim this are lying and have not yet learned to know themselves. The true Warrior of Light has already committed injustice in the past.

But during his journeys he realizes that the people to whom he has acted unjustly always cross his path again.

That is why the Warrior of Light has the impression of living two lives at the same time. In one of them he is obliged to do everything that he does not want to do, fighting for ideas that he does not believe in. But there is another life, one that he discovers in his dreams, readings, and meeting people who think like he does.

The warrior lets both lives draw close to one another."

"There is a bridge that connects what I do with what I would like to do," he thinks. Little by little his dreams take over his routine, until he realizes that he is ready for what he has always wanted.

So, a little bit of daring is enough to transform the two lives into just one.

This is his chance to undo the bad that he caused. A chance that he always seizes without any hesitation.

A decade past and a decade to look forward to

The 1st decade of Y2K has come and gone. I still remember the hype and hoopla that Y2K brought on its wake... The whispered conspiracy of the invisible hand hijacking the entire Internet highway with the Y2K bug... or the forecast of Doomsday with the advent of the year 2000... I think all the forecast, foreboding and misgiving was proved to be yet another mild tremor threatening to derail normal life in the long history of mankind...

The last 10 years have been eventful in the history of the world, more so in the case of India and more so for me individually...

The last 10 years has seen the world come more closer due to information and technology and the axiom of Global Village has never been truer than at present... where distances have been compressed in to kilo and megabytes of data flying through the information super highway at the speed of light... bringing lives closer... making sharing of joy as easy as a click of a mouse or a button... never ever man has felt so close and so loved as in the last decade.. it was also a decade which stirred the fear of self and that of others in man.. as terrorism raised its ugly head and manifested itself with all its fury globally... people huddled close to each other and those affected leaned on shoulders of strangers to cry on and trusting them to provide them succor... bringing home the truth that there is none bigger a religion than humanity and none better unifier than human empathy and love for each other... we have learnt to be patient, empathetic, willing to understand each other and the individual perspective... all along willing to prove to the minority of those who nurture hatred the fact that its love, compassion and understanding which sways the majority of humanity which indeed shall ensure the survival of human being as a race...

Closer home, India as a country matured and graduated gradually to claim its rightful position in the league of nations.... its maturity as a democracy and a secular country has been phenomenal in the last one decade where the silent billion have again proved to the world that it has the capability, the resilience as well the will power to hold itself together as a country which was written off time and again by all and sundry as the most unlikelihood in the concept of a nation... but time and again the nation as a whole has risen to the challenge and proved why this glorious country continues to exist since time immemorial in the face of such adverse force and circumstances which it faces from time to time.. as a nation in the last one decade we have not only been able to consolidate our economic growth but also we were able to redefine the extent of equity in the shared wealth of a nation more emphatically.... we saw our political geography and context undergoing a paradigm shift and a nation opting people as leaders on criteria which was purely based on performance and the ability to deliver setting aside narrow consideration of caste, religion, regionality etc aside... we also saw our political leaders more candid and forthcoming in admitting to their failings and willing to reform... true the transition has not been perfect or ideal but augurs well for the time to come when we will hopefully have a clean political system...

On the personal front too I saw myself transition from a world of fixed opinions, narrow perspective and possibilities to one of wider opinions, empathetic perspective and an energy which saw a wider array of possibility that I can do with my life and in the process the improvement I can bring in the lives of others... Post TISS I developed the habit of listening and empathising along with the habit of understanding others perspective and context before jumping to any conclusion... I also see a paradigm shift in the overall development of various people skills in me as I reached out to people from various walks of life and worked with them with ease and comfort ensuring result oriented outcomes... I realised that it is still possible to be good and finish first and also the fact that we do not need to step on people on our climb up the ladder... As I achieved satisfaction at professional front, I was blessed at the personal front in providence helping me to find a life partner who is not only caring, understanding and lovable; but also finding in her a soul mate who is a true companion in the journey of my life...

As we at a global, national and personal level look forward to the next decade with hopes and aspiration, we must remember that it is the indefatigable nature of human spirit combined with a spirit of compassion, understanding and love which will keep us all going in years, decades, centuries and millenia to come..

For Oceans Rise, Cities Fall but Hope Survives.......