Sir Francis Younghusband and Johnny Walker

Just finished reading the biography of Sir Francis Younghusband by Patrick French. I guess very few people would remember who he was and what is his claim to fame even among trained historians. In fact even for me it was a geat discovery of sorts. All I had read about him in all my years of "doing" history can be summed up in a this subtitle "Younghusband's Expedition to Lhasa". Till now I was much impressed by the fact that at the turn of the century an Englishman with troops had acutally marched to Lhasa walking across the formidable Himalayas.
After French's excellent biography, I realised that the man was much more daring, verging alomst on insanity, than I had thought him to be. The famous expedition to Lhasa started at the far end of Himalayas in Sikkim consisted of a large troop of Sikh and Gurkha soldiers and coolies [8 coolies per soldier] lead by Brigadier McDonald. Old McDonald was a soldier while the title of Colonel was conferred upon Younghusband, and by some machination the civilian had forced the senior army officer to report to him [civilians always have their say, even today!].
But the fascinating part of this story was not this trek through areas which were sometimes 30 degrees C below freezing, but there were no existing maps.
If you are impressed by this, it may interest you to know that Younghusband had practiced well for this trip and in his younger days as an officer of the Raj had walked from Manchuria to India [Kashmir] through the dreaded Gobi desert. And also crossed most of the impossible passed in the Pamirs. If you look at the distance between manchuria and kashmir through gobi desert, you will realise that the expedition to Lhasa was a small change for him.
Amazing character.
I wonder what the Johnnie Walker guys were doing those days, they could not have got a better model for their slogan "Keep Walking" that Younghusband.
In case you are interested the book is titled Younghusband and would be available in any large second hand book shop in Delhi. I do not lend my books.

Rediscovery of Railways

Yes, recently, after a few unpleasant experience in mid air caused by bad weather and my intuaitive fear of flying, I have taken to travelling by trains. Not fully true because there are still places were trains can not take you or can not take you first enough. But I have really taken to travelling between Delhi and Mumbai by trains and I have to make the following observations;
1. It only takes 16 hours to travel from Mumbai Central to New Delhi and the timings are very decent. You can almost finish your day's work in Mumbai and reach Delhi early enough to join office by 930 in Delhi. If you are travelling by Rajdhani you can be sure that in 90 per cent of the time the train would be on time. If you are travelling first class in that train you can be assure of a) a good night's sleep in airconditioned comfort b) great breakfast c) a shower so that you are fully prepared to rush to office in the morning.
2. In a sixteen hour journey you get three full meals which are much much better than whatever they serve you in planes and you can actually choose from a wide menu [at least in first class]. And those cutleries that have now disappeared from airlines, you still get to see them here with real plates, bowls and forks and knives. Food is served to you and not thrown at you. I was amazed to see once that they also carry sugarfree sachets as well as extra chocolates and icecreams, addressing both youngsters and oldies like me.
3. The toilets are cleaner than the normal airline toilets and if you find them to up to your standards of cleanliness you can get someone to clean them for you. The first class coach also has a shower. Toilet papers and mugs both are provided:)
4. You get to sleep on a berth which is six and a half feet by three feet and someone actually makes your bed for you. In addition there is an attendant to respond to your call, a bell being provided in each coupe. If you are an early riser you get bed tea too.
5. Sight seeing is free: You will be amazed to see Neel Gais and Peacocks at dusk while travelling from Delhi in addition to quaint little villages; while entering Mumbai the scene is not so attractive, though:)
If you want to enjoy this journey all you need to do is to book yourself once [you can do an online booking and travel with a printed ticket with your id from the irctc website] and enjoy the experience, I am sure you would be hooked.

A word few words of caution though:
1. Sometimes you will get stuck with the wrong type of co-passenger [ask the conductor to change your seat] I had once been on a 9 hour non stop flight with a pubjabi gentleman who was very talkative and was convinced that Punjabi is the national language of the world and he was shocked that I did not speak the language, that of course did not stop him talking with me all the way]
2. When the waiters come in the morning with saunf post breakfast you are supposed to tip them. 50 Rs in the first class is fine.
3. Most importantly, be careful at dusk and dawn. People standing by the side of the track are neither a welcoming party nor have they come to watch the train. If you watch carefully each one has a water container in their hands. Shakespeare said "world is stage" they say "world is a bog". So do not disturb they with your curiosity.

Bon Voyage

An Englishman in New York

This is the chair on which sat the "writer" of the Indian Constitution when he handed over that bulky but a watershed document to the first president of India, Dr Rajendra Prasad. I am not sure many would know who the write of the constituion of India was although most of us would be aware of the importance of that document in defining our national lives and our freedom and democratic principles in the last. Some of us who are a bit older would of course know Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar or Babsaheb Ambedkar as the father of the Indian Consitution.
It was almost by chance that I happened to visit the small and rather quaint museum at Pune which has a few of his personal belongings such as his books, working table, dining table, crockery and cutlery, clothes, walking sticks etc. To me he looked a more western than many of his contemporaties and I did not anywhere see the hideous blue suit and the red tie which is most of his statues and calendars are painted. Instead there were some very elegant white shirts and dark grey suits. The museum itself is small but well kept by the Symbiosis Management Institute and happens to be on the main Senapati Bapat Road across the passport office.
Finally, for those of you who would be wondering why this entry is titled the way it is: Poona is traditionally the land of Peshwas and brahmins:)

What's Wrong With Our Kids

First there was this series on television - not the saas bahu but more ominous type of children dropping left right and centre in borewells and manholes. One day I sat all evening and nearly whole of the night watching live coverage of a kid being rescued from a borewell in Hissar or Hastinapur, I forget which. A few days back, the other child was not so lucky. Then another one fell through a manhole in Ghaziabad, yet another one in some part of Madhya Pradesh. The series, it seems, is far from being over.
In the meantime, we have a new series of abandoned babies being miraculously rescued here there and everywhere. Then there was this remarkable story of one child who was recovered three days after he was abandoned by a milkman. This series too continues.

Then of course there is the penennial series of children [both boys and girls] getting raped and molested in every part of the country with remarkable regularity. And finally there are the usual stories of children getting killed as collateral damage everywhere from kashmir to assam.

What is wrong with you kids? Can't you behave? Don't you know your sixty year old mommy is now decked in a new western outfit with a smear of maybeeline and a hairdo from bblunt is parading herself in front of a global audience flaunting her newly reconstituted figure much to the envy of many other younger global mothers? And daddy dear as usual is drank out of senses basking is her reflected glory. Can't you kids give them some piece of mind and some space to do what they wish to do? Can't you grow up on your own, after all we are 60 now, let us glow one last time before we are snuffed out.

Jai Hind