LOFTY PROMISES AND ZERO DELIVERY..........

While there is certainly no doubting the intentions, motives, determination, resolve and innovativeness of the three intrepid entrepreneurs who have come together to launch Hyderabad's very own "auto at your doorstep" service "Auto Hona"; does this newly launched venture truly deserve all the media space being covered by it and the encomiums showered on it????????
Our very own sorry and futile ordeal with the folks at Auto Hona began on Friday August 22, 2014 when my better half decided to log on to their website and register the details sought therein as we were in need of an auto on Sunday August 24, 2014 as we were to commute between out modest abode in Janapriya Utopia Apartments, Attapur and the GVK One Mall, Banjara Hills on that day...........
As the same failed to elicit any kind of response whatsoever from the folks at Auto Hona, my better half deemed it fit to call them up at around 8 am on the fateful Sunday morning and make a telephonic booking for an auto between the two afore mentioned locations at 11:30 am on the very same day; the female call centre executive who received her query confirmed the booking and said that the fare between the two places would be Rs. 88/-.........
Despite the assurances given by the concerned call centre executive; the two of us continued to be plagued by doubts about our booking and took the conscious decision to call up the call centre once again and verify the status of our booking..........
We were aghast when the male executive who attended to out call informed us that their system did not throw up any record of our booking and at his behest we made a fresh booking for an auto at the afore mentioned hour of 11:30 am; with the only notable difference being that the fare payable in this instance was Rs. 110/- instead of the earlier touted Rs. 88/-.............
As promised this time around we received an Sms containing the details about the requisite details about the said auto, it's number as registered on it's number plate and the mobile number of the concerned driver; taking the executive at face value, the two of us donned our finery and eagerly awaited the promised call from the said auto driver...........
The promised call did materialise at around 11:15 am or so and the driver informed us that he would reach our main gate at around 11:35 am or so as he was at a destination which was around twenty minutes away from our location; alas 11:35 am soon turned into 11: 40 and then 11:45 am, but both the elusive auto as well it's driver failed to materialise as promised..........
Growing frantic with worry and concern ,we repeatedly kept calling up the driver's mobile only to be informed that the concerned mobile had been switched off; after a further wait of about 10 minutes or so; my better half called up Auto Hona's call centre at around 12 noon and found an ever willing to please female executive at the other end who offered to send a second auto to our doorstep within the next 20 minutes and even went to the extent of profusely apologising for the gaffes committed by her colleagues.........
However, the two of us had more than enough of our fill of Auto Hona's hollow and false ringing platitudes and lofty pronouncements and thanked the concerned female executive for her patently false ringing assurances and proceeded to hire an auto from outside our apartment's main gate at a cost of Rs.130/-
All one would like to say in conclusion is that there is no doubt whatsoever about noble and altruistic initiatives being the crying need of the hour as the same would go a long way in obviating or putting to an end the unpleasant experiences that have become a part and parcel of the everyday existence of those hapless commuters who find themselves at the receiving end of unscrupulous auto drivers acid tongues, whims and fancies..........
But one really wonders whether the folks at Auto Hona would indeed be equipped to handle all the traffic coming their way with a self professed strength of around 2,500 autos or so which is approximately around 2.5% of the 1 lakh autos or so that ply their trade within the twin cities on a daily basis.............
Auto Hona would be better advised to narrow down certain core competencies or areas based upon the geographical area where a significant majority of the auto drivers registered with them reside and whether or not they can reach the customer or commuters destination within the promised 15 minutes as they would be in a position to provide their avowed fans with quality and timely services instead of spreading themselves thin and promising services that failed to materialise like in our case as we have sworn of this venture for life after our futile and frustrating experience at their hands..........

ONE MORE ADDITION TO UTTAR PRADESH'S HALL OF SHAME AND INFAMY...........

Government Hospitals have once again reinforced their dubious credentials about them being a thriving destination for rape, unnatural sex, sodomy and the like what with a sweeper sexually assaulting a 12 year old minor within the supposedly "hallowed" precincts of the same.........
According to the victim's sorrow ridden mother the gruesome fate befell her darling daughter when a sweeper who answers to the name of Ramdheer firstly sexually assaulted the hapless girl within the precincts of the Police Lines Hospital in Allahabad's Colonelganj locality on August 19 and compounded his cardinal sin by inserting a sharp object in her privates on the fateful morning of August 19.........
Discharging the age old duties of a "caring and nurturing" wife, Ramdheer's better half Pinki who also happens to be employed in the very same hospital forcibly got the victim to ingest a fistful of painkillers that knocked the girl (victim) out for the next 16 hours or so; so that she could cover up all traces of the grave error committed by her husband.........
Matters however came to a head on the afternoon of August 20 when the disoriented and the incoherent victim started slipping between spells of coherence and gibberish while constantly complaining about a sharp pain in her abdominal and nether regions..........
Deeply concerned about her daughter's condition, the mother rushed her to another government run hospital on the morning of August 21 where the doctors attending on her hinted at the possibility of the girl having been sexually assaulted..........
On being questioned by her mother, the victim broke down and tearfully narrated her tale of woe to the disbelieving mother and also disclosed the fact that she had suppressed sordid details pertaining to the gory incident thus far as Ramdheer's wife had threatened her with deathly consequences if she as much breathed a word to any third person about the sexual debauchery that had been wreaked on her..........
Incensed beyond words, the victim's mother proceeded to lodge a written complaint against the duo on the evening of August 21 at the Colonelganj Police station and the conniving couple were arrested from their dwelling in the early hours of the next morning (August 22) by the police personnel from the very same police station............
Cases under section 376 and relevant sections of the POSCO act have since been lodged against the husband; while the wife has been booked for the lesser crime of aiding and abetting her husband while the victim has been admitted in a super speciality hospital for the much needed care and succour.............
One is eagerly awaiting Naresh Agarwal, Abu Azmi, Azam Khan and Akhilesh Yadav's rambling explanation and justification of the same......... ;

EXIT DHONI ENTER Mr. X..........

One has had more than one's fill of the BCCI's recent shenanigans pertaining to salvaging the plummetting test fortunes of a bedraggled Indian test team; but what is really galling is the stupefying silence about a certain Mahender Singh Dhoni...........
Any which way you look at the scenario; Dhoni is certainly well past his expiry date as India's test captain, his tactics were rather eccentric, inopportune, inappropriate, baffling and defied every laid down tenet of age old cricketing logic..........
His obsession with a leg slip even when Bhuvaneshwar Kumar was bowling outswingers ending up close to the seventh stump certainly left yours truly scratching his noggin' in consternation and will Mr. Dhoni kindly explain his repeated proclivity for using his "pet project" Ravinder Jadeja as a defensive bowler was a telling testament of his wholly negative and increasingly hapless mindset...........
Will captain Dhoni and the other members of the team management take the time out to explain why India's premier spinner by a distance Ravichandran Ashiwn was warming the benches with the latest best seller keeping him company while a club level spinner like Jadeja (no offence meant to any club level spinner) was rolling his arm over and allowing the opposing batsmen to firmly entrench themselves at the crease..........
And last but not the least; will Messrs Dhoni and Fletcher explain why either one of them did not take the time out or make a sincere and dedicated effort to sort out Kohli and Pujara's batting related issues and woes with timely and efficacious solutions as reports emanating from the Indian dressing room more than hint at the two being squarely left to their own devices...........
Krishnamachari Srikkanth was unceremoniously sacked as India's test captain after returning from Pakistan with an unblemished series score-card while Saurav "Dada" Gangluly was deposed in a dressing room coup engineered by Messrs Greg Chappell, Rahul Dravid and Anil Kumble; so what is so special or extraordinary about Dhoni that he still continues to cling onto his post despite having led his men to 14 test defeats outside the sub continent...........
Is it simply because of the indisputable fact that one Mr. Narayanswamy Srinivasan who still continues to lord over the Indian cricketing scene with an iron fist despite having donned the mantle of the ICC's first ever "Chairman" has his hand firmly ensconed on Dhoni's hand and both Dhoni and he are of the belief that deposing Dhoni as India's test captain would considerably undermine the standing and box office ranking of their IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings............
All one can say in conclusion is that Dhoni needs to go lock, stock and barrel; yes Dhoni did certainly embellish or enhance his reputation of a test batsman of some standing but on the other hand he only reinforced the long standing belief about him being a tactically naive captain who shows a remarkable proclivity to let the game drift and taper off every single team the chips are stacked against him..........
A new captain, coach and team management are the crying need of the hour, but alas one is saddled with a bunch of Srinivasan cronies who never seem to hear, see or speak of any evil or wrongdoing..........

"MARDAANI" CERTAINLY MEASURES UP TO THE EXALTED EXPECTATIONS AND MORE........

Singham step aside cause' "Mardaani" is here to steal your thunder; the female version of Singham (if one can call her that) all but beats her male counterparts in the fisticuffs department with considerable elan, chutzpah and flair..........
Surprise of surprises, gritty, edge of the seat and rivetting are not words or terms that your normally associate with a Aditya Chopra and Pradeep Sarkar production; but in a welcome change from the Chopra stereotype, "Mardaani" not only takes your breath away but also gives you an adrenaline rush of stratospheric proportions..........
As far as I am concerned, Casting Director Shanoo Sharma is the real heroine of "Mardaani" notwithstanding Rani Mukerji's sterling effort as she has single handedly given birth to the most convincing, spine chilling and menacing villain of recent times in the form of newbie Tahir Bhasin aka Karan who embodies the very definition of menacing though he does tend to go overboard in an effort to imbue his effort with the elusive "coolness" and "panache"...........
Like the movie's punchline says, "every war or more precisely battle is intensely personal" and this one certainly is as Shivani Shivaji Roy (Rani Mukerji) is seemingly obsessed with the idea of rescuing of freeing a teenager who is seemingly abducted and held against her will by a conniving and marauding bunch of human traffickers........
Add to this her passion for ridding the earth of the scourge of an educated, suave and sophisticated anti hero (Karan) whom she condescendingly refers to as the "12th man of the under 19 team" and the sum total of the two perfectly encapsulates "Mardaani's" much hyped plot in a nutshell...........
A review of this stupendous and somewhat path breaking effort by Pradeep Sarkar who is better known for directing social tear jerkers like "Laaga Chunari Main Daag" and "Parineeta" will not be complete without a paean or two in the glory of Rani Mukerji who seems to be getting better with each passing day like a pedigreed vintage wine and imbues this potboiler with it's heart, soul and a lot more besides..........
Though both the pace, thrills, chills and adrenaline rush considerably slacken off or tend to flag considerably post the interval; "Mardaani" is still a winner because it sends out the unequivocal message about Indian woman having to step out and take matters into their own hands as the system that is supposed to protect and empower them has proved to be nothing more than an abysmal and abject failure.........
RATING: 3.5/5, do watch this one if you are one of the vanishing breed of self respecting Indians who want to do their bit and more about rectifying a hopelessly skewed and hopeless system hopelessly inclined towards the powers that be............

IS OUR SOCIETY REALLY CIVILISED, URBANE AND DIGNIFIED??????

Sex or more precisely forced sex; sleaze, blackmail, extortion, coercion, threats or then should I say death threats and last but not the least omnipresent threat of disclosure have all but become a way of life in our so called "civilised" and "urbane" society off late...........
A 17 year old female resident of Rajasthan's Jodhpur city was allegedly raped by her male tormentor over a two year period and her utter humiliation and depravity was captured on both film as well as a mobile for posterity in an effort to both blackmail her as well as to ensure her silence and complicity.........
One Sohan Lal Bishnoi a long term resident of Jodhpur city's Kankani village initially befriended the innocent and gullible damsel a student of the city's Industrial Training Institute led her to a secluded and isolated spot; forced himself upon her and proceeded to record the sordid act on both a video camera as well as his mobile so that he could do as he pleased with the victim...........
Bishnoi then took undue advantage of the victim's piquant and heart rending situation, threatened to upload the sordid details of the victim's ordeal on both social networking and pornographic sites and continued to rape her at various locations in and around Jodhpur city for a little over two years..........
Matters however came to a head a month or so ago when the victim stumbled upon the startling fact that she was carrying Bishnoi's offspring in her womb and began pleading with him to marry her; Bishnoi on the other hand started coercing her to terminate the pregnancy and his two siblings Hanuman, Pappu and a male friend by the name of Kishan Rao threatened the victim with dire consequences if she failed to honour Bishnoi's diktats pertaining to the termination of her pregnancy..........
At the absolute end of her tether and literally clutching at a few straws of succour and comfort; the long suffering victim somehow summoned up the courage and temerity to wander into a Jodhpur based police station on Tuesday evening and duly record her heart rending tale before the senior inspector stationed within the same...........
Bishnoi was duly arrested on the same night from one of his numerous hideouts and cases under section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as well as relevant cases of the POSCO act were lodged or filed against him while a massive manhunt has been launched the other three accused who still remain at large..........
So much for a so called "civilised" and "dignified" society that continues to train it's guns on it's hapless women and justify the nocturnal and seemingly bizarre antics of it's menfolk by oft repeating the dictum about boy's being boys and hence they should be allowed to enjoy their moments of fun and fancy..........

BROAD TO UNDERGO KNEE SURGERY ON SEPTEMBER 4.............

In what must surely come as both a resounding dampener as well as massive blow to their chances of blowing team India away in the five match ODI series slated to begin on August 25; rampaging medium pacer Stuart Broad will be going under the knife on September 4.........
Broad who formed the second cog in the wheel of a marauding two man incisive pace attack comprising of himself and James Anderson has been plagued by a persistent tendinitis problem for the last couple of years and had put off impending surgery till the conclusion of the test series despite sage medical advice to the contrary............
A comprehensive curative and rehabilitation problem will determine the precise date of his return to England duties though the 28 year old has set a personal deadline of January/February 2015 i.e. right before the World Cup gets underway in Australia/New Zealand in early 2015.........
Here's wishing this marauding speedster the very best and hoping that he will continue to hound opposing batsmen for a long time to come.........

ON DUTY DOCTOR JOINS THE RANKS OF WANNABE GROPERS AND MOLESTERS..........

As if cases involving teachers, educators and others of their ilk were not enough of a source of embarrassment and ignominy; here comes along a case where a doctor allegedly tried to outrage the modesty of a teenager in his chambers or office premises..........
An 18 year old girl was allegedly molested by an on duty doctor at around 3:30 am or so on Wednesday morning while she stepped into his chambers at the MY hospital in Indore (Madhya Pradesh) on the pretext of beseeching him to administer an injection to her ailing grandmother........
In a written complaint filed before the Santyotigitaganj Police Station; the teenager alleged that Doctor Deepak Keswani who was the duty doctor at the time tried to misbehave with her and outrage her modesty when she stepped into the room occupied by him on the hospital premises so that she could convince him into administering an injection to her grandmother who had been admitted to the hospital's orthopaedic ward around ten days or so ago..........
In her written complaint the victim said that she was initially taken aback when the said doctor questioned her at length about her boyfriend; "he then proceeded to grope me and feel me up at certain prominent and sensitive parts of my anatomy following which I sternly warned him about the repercussions of his amorous actions and rushed out of his chambers post haste"..............
She further went on to say that she subsequently proceeded to send a text message to her male friend describing the unsavoury episode in detail and filed a police complaint against the erring doctor at his behest and urging...........
In his defence, the accused Dr. Keswani said that the allegations were nothing more than the end result of a massive misunderstanding and said that he had only patted the girl on her back, comforted her and requested her to proceed to the nurse's station as administering the injection in question was the nurse's job and nothing more or less occurred while the alleged victim was in his chambers.............
A case of molestation and attempting to outrage the modesty of a woman has been registered against the doctor based on the victim's written complaint and further investigations into the unseemly episode are being conducted by a senior police inspector...........

IS AN AVOWED "YES MAN" THE ANSWER TO TEAM INDIA'S PROBLEMS?????

Is loyalty to the BCCI and it's head honchos more desirable than loyalty towards team India and the sport or game that all but gave you your identity name and fame; well the answer certainly lies in the affirmative as far as one Ravishankar Jayadrith Shastri is concerned..........
Shastri was recently appointed as the Director of team India for the forthcoming five match ODI series and one off T 20 international against a rampaging English team that is hell bent upon rubbing copious amounts of salt into team India's already festering wounds and will be helped in his endeavours to salvage team India's sagging or rather calamitously plummeting fortunes by former Indian medium pacer Bharat Arun and all rounder Sanjay Bangar..........
One may do well to recall the fact that the very same Mr. Shastri discharged a similar role way back in 2007 in an ODI series against minnows Bangladesh after the then team India coach Greg Chappell's unceremonious exit and was showered with plaudits and encomiums for ensuring that team India emerged triumphant in a series that they would have anyway won with one hand tied behind their backs..........
Shastri is a sworn "yes man" of the thoroughly discredited and disgraced cricket establishment that continues to rule the roost despite severe strictures being passed against it by the Supreme Court more times than one can count and the Mudgal Committee in the process of unfolding or unearthing a can of worms that will leave many a BCCI bigwig scuttling for cover and Shastri's utterances more than prove the charge about his being nothing more than a "glorified chamcha" of Messrs Srinivasan and his cronies...........
One may do well to recall the fact that Mr. Shastri famously dubbed Lalit Modi, the creator and brain of BCCI's most famous and pre-eminent property the Indian Premier League or IPL a "Moses and Pariah" who had brought untold shame and misery unto the supposedly fair name of Indian cricket with his alleged acts of omission and commission, may one ask Mr. Shastri how his benefactor, mentor and "Annadaata" Narayanswamy Srinivasan is any different or better than the now disgraced and isolated Lalit Modi??????
The very same Mr. Ravi Shastri has also been guilty on the charges of blindly toeing the BCCI's increasingly ludicrous and irrational stance pertaining to the allegedly sacrilegious Decision Review System or DRS that has been wholeheartedly endorsed and adopted by the rest of the cricketing world despite it's numerous flaws (in the supposedly informed and sagacious view of the BCCI mandarins) and the omission of the same only cost team India dear in the recently concluded test series against England where many an erroneous decision made by the on field umpires could have been reviewed and overturned only if the DRS had been in vogue............
A "dyed in the wool" Srinivasan acolyte is not the answer to team India's plethora of problems; rather what team India requires is a man at the helm who answers to none other than the interests of the avowed Indian cricket fan who has placed this glorious game on the pedestal that it graces and given it the exalted status it enjoys and more importantly a three year plan exclusively devoted to redeeming team India's standing as a test team of some stature and substance but this will never happen as long as men like Srinivasan and Shastri who consider their own narrow, bigoted and selfish interest over and above that of Indian cricket and the paying public who is still willing to back a beleaguered and disjointed team wholeheartedly and without any reservations.........
A revolution is what Indian cricket needs most at this crucial juncture of it's cricketing history but for that to come about all right thinking former cricketers and administrators will have to come together on a common platform and depose the current dispensation.........
Harsh reality or then a pipe dream????well your guess on this one is as good as mine............

IT CERTAINLY TAKES ALL KINDS TO MAKE THIS WORLD..........

One has only read, pondered over and conjectured about the bizarre and macabre practice of morgue attendants having sexual intercourse with deceased female bodies in the precincts of the same; but this startling and hair raising claim by a Ohio (USA) based morgue attendant should definitely remove any doubts one had in this regard........
Kenneth Douglas, the said morgue attendant and a long time resident of the city's Hamilton area candidly admitted to having sexual intercourse with well over 100 female corpses or so during the period between 1976 when he started out on the job and 1992 when he was taken off the night shift at the city morgue............
Douglas in his macabre and bizarre deposition before a local court admitted that he exclusively had sexual intercourse with many a female corpse whenever he was high on a heady cocktail of alcohol and drugs; "I would simply strip off my pants and get on top off the nearest female corpse when under the influence", he went on to say.............
"The same never happened if I was neither drunk nor intoxicated when I went to work, but the same almost always happened every time I reported for work while under the influence", Douglas told a aghast judge and jury who listened to his every word and utterance in almost reverential and awe struck silence..........
According to his wife of two decades and more, "Kenneth would reek of sex almost every fourth time or so I picked him up from his workplace in the early hours of the morning just after he had completed his shift and would remark that he had masturbated in an effort to alleviate the boredom and monotony that was an integral part of his job profile"...........
Douglas's game was however up late on Monday night when he was arrested by the local police after the DNA from his semen was found within the private parts of a murder victim Karen Range during the course of a clinical examination of the murder victim............
David Steffen (Page's long time boyfriend or lover) who was arrested on the charges of having murdered his long standing girlfriend had appealed his conviction for rape and murder and beseeched the court to clinically re-examine Page's mortal remains and the same investigation led to the arrest of this morgue attendant with eccentric sexual proclivities.........
All one can say in conclusion is that it certainly takes all kinds to make this gargantuan entity called the WORLD........

ADD ONE MORE TO THE COUNT..........

What's with modern day educators and their incessantly growing proclivity to either grope, molest or then brutally rape them as and when the fancy besieges them.........
A private school in Chhattisgarh's Durg district has become the latest addition to or then newest statistic on this rapidly growing list of serial offenders what with him being arrested by the district police on the heinous and grave charges of allegedly molesting two girl students from the very same school on Wednesday morning.........
According to police sources, Father Licho (50), the principal of Nirmala Rani Vidyalaya in Bhilai Town's Khusipar Zone-2 was arrested from the school premises as soon as the school opened on Wednesday morning on charges having molested two girls from the very same school as an official complaint was filed at the area's police station by the irate and incensed parents of the two victim's against the principal.........
Father Licho was arrested following written complaints lodged against him by the parents of two girls studying in classes 7 and 8 of the school alleging that he had continually molested, groped and indecently touched the two girls (victims) over a three month period or so.........
According to the parents of the victims, the first written complaint was filed against Father Licho well over a fortnight or so ago but as has become the prevalent norm, the police thought it best to prevaricate and procrastinate over the complaint instead of initiating stringent action against the said principal according to the tenets of the existing laws in this regard..........
Matters however came to a head on Tuesday morning as a group or rather congregation of more than 1,000 or so incensed and irate parents firstly protested and raised slogans outside the school premises and followed up the same by raising similar slogans against both the principal as well as the local cops outside the local police station thereby forcing the police to initiate the much desired action against the erring principal.........
Justice of some kind has been meted out in this case but what about the instances involving those girl students and parents who are for reasons best known to them unable to muster up the requisite courage and temerity to lodge a police complaint against many such monsters masquerading as educators because of the omnipresent threat of social ostracisation and isolation.........
Will a so called "civilised" and seemingly "enlightened" society change it's colours and hues at long last or then will the victims continue to be at the receiving end as per age old norms, practices and trends????well your guess is as good as mine in this regard..........

RITUAL KILLING OR A CRIME OF PASSION?????

One wonders what the world has come to these days; what with thirty year old men being found with their private parts mutilated beyond recognition in the National Capital Region..........
Bewildered and befuddled Faridabad police personnel sheepishy admitted to the fact that the body of a 30 year old man was retrieved from just outside a tea shop where he was gainfully employed for the last two years and more early on Monday morning..........
What however has sent the police sleuths into a tizzy is the fact that the said body was found with it's private parts crudely and demonically hacked off and even a minute search of Faridabad's sector 27-C where the body was found failed to throw up or find the missing private parts of the victim..........
According to initial estimates; Rajendra Kumar (the victim) was mercilessly hacked to death in the wee hours of Monday morning and the initial needle of suspicion points towards one Nepali Bahadur who used to share the same space with the victim every night but has been untraceable ever since the body was found.............
For whatever it is worth, the Faridabad police has registered a case of murder against both the afore mentioned Nepali Bahadur as well as persons unknown and duly constituted four teams to scour both the state's climes as well as neighbouring areas in an effort to trace and arrest the culprits at the earliest..........

WILL THE BCCI'S LATEST MACHINATIONS STEM THE ROT IN TEAM INDIA?????

Trust the Board of Cricket Control for India (BCCI) to do the wrong thing at the wrong time and confound the confusion prevailing amongst the rank and file of team India after receiving a resounding drubbing from the rampaging English team in the just concluded test series..........
In a knee jerk, totally inexplicable, unwarranted and completely baffling reaction the powers that be have appointed former Indian test captain Ravishankar Jayadrith Shastri as team India's Director (whatever that means); Sanjay Bangar, Bharath Arun and R. Shridhar as the batting, bowling and fielding coaches or then assistant coaches for the five match ODI series and one off T 20 fixture between the two teams..........
While there is no doubting the credentials, pedigree, acumen, commitment and dedication of the above mentioned gentlemen; one wonders how much of a difference these newly appointed "fire fighters" can make in the short term and more importantly whether the BCCI mandarins will allow these note worthies a free hand in running a thoroughly disjointed, dishevelled and dejected team in the manner they deem fit...........
What is even more disturbing is the murmurs escaping from the team India dressing room about there being a thorough disconnect between Messrs Dhoni and Fletcher and the team being thoroughly confused and confounded with the two sets of disparate and disconnected sets of tactics and strategies emerging from the hearts and heads of the two men entrusted with the onerous responsibility of managing a team that is struggling to reassert itself on the world stage............
And pray will some BCCI mandarin condescend to tell me or then comprehensively describe the exact or precise role that will be assigned to Mr. Duncan Fletcher once these four above mentioned gentlemen assume their newly assigned roles and what is so special or extraordinary about Messrs Dhoni and Fletcher that they have escaped the purge while the current bowling and fielding coaches have been made the scapegoats for team India's latest debacle.............
I for one, am absolutely sick and tired of the oft repeated tales about there being no replacements for Dhoni as captain at this stage; the fact of the matter is that Dhoni has been an exemplary captain in the shorter forms or versions of this glorious game but at the same time has been nothing short of an unmitigated disaster as team India's test captain what with him having achieved the dubious distinction of having led team India to 14 teat defeats at various venues outside the subcontinent during his tenure as team India captain...........
For god and team India's sake throw both Pujara and Kohli in at the deep end and provide them with sufficient opportunities and time to prove their mettle and credentials as leaders as captains of the Indian test team (Pujara) and shorter formats (Kohli); Dhoni has proved to be team India's second most successful batsman after Murali Vijay and I have no doubt whatsoever that he will render yeoman's service to team India as a "pure" batsman once he is freed from the burdens of captaincy..........
Doubting Thomases and Dhoni apologist might baulk at the very idea of letting Dhoni go and cite the recent dip in Pujara's and Kohli's performances at the highest level as reasons enough to retain Dhoni as team India captain; but may I kindly remind them that England's most successful captain Mike Brearly barely averaged 30 as a test batsman and also that one poor series does not mar or tarnish the credentials and reputation of team India's best two batsmen by a considerable distance.............
Will the BCCI mandarins bell the cat at long last or then grab the bull by it's horns and proceed to make the much desired and required changes in team India's ranks; well your guess on this issue is as good as mine..........

HERE WE GO AGAIN.........

Deja vu, disappointment, disenchantment and disillusionment seem to be the order of the day for legions of team India cricket fans what with their favourite team putting up yet another pathetic and spineless display on the third morning of the fifth test match underway at London's iconic Oval Cricket Ground..........
England began the day on a bright note with Messrs Root, Broad and the rest rubbing copious amounts of salt into the already festering Indian wounds and notching up a little more than hundred runs in the ten odd overs sent down by the besieged, bruised and battered Indian bowlers this morning.........
Staring down the wrong end of a gargantuan or rather mammoth barrel and 338 runs in arrears at the beginning of their second innings in this make or break test match and the marauding James (Jimmy) Anderson only exacerbated or heightened team India's collective misery by sending back India's most successful batsman Murali Vijay back to the pavilion with a masterly inswinging delivery to which Vijay had no answer.........
Messrs Gambhir and Pujara put many a tailender to shame with their inexplicable calling, judgement of a run and penchant for yes, no and misery what with their start stop tactics sending a miserable Gambhir back to the pavilion what with his frantically flailing bat being a good yard short of the crease when a measured throw by Chris Woakes ended up clattering both the stumps as well as Gambhir's bid to make a comeback at the highest level.............
Both Kohli and Pujara are missing more often than playing the ball from the middle of their bats even as I finish this piece and forgive me for sounding like a prophet of doom; but I firmly believe that team India would have done both itself and it fawning fans a huge service by taking the current test match into the fourth day what with Anderson sending Pujara back to the pavilion and reducing team India to a rather sorry looking 30/3.............
Time for a wholesale purge in team India methinks; please do let me know what you think...........

AJAY DEVGN ROARS AT THE BOX OFFICE...........

Ajay Devgn is roaring at the box office and how; his latest release Singham Returns has only reinforced the "hit" credentials of the Ajay Devgn/Rohit Shetty/Kareena Kapoor Khan triumvirate and the "hit machine" Rohit Shetty has added one more feather to an already overcrowded cap........
Singham returns released to packed houses across a little over 4,000 screens all over the country on Independence Day (Friday, August 15,2014) and made the optimum usage of the extended weekend accorded to it with Krishna Janmashtmi being celebrated on Monday........
According to both Koimoi as well as Trade Guide; Singham returns amassed almost Rs. 21 crore on Saturday thereby comfortably crossing the Rs. 50 crore mark within the first two days of it's release and trade pundits are of the informed opinion that Singham returns could cross the much coveted 100 crore mark either on Monday or Tuesday and even end up surpassing Salman Khan's Kick of a blockbuster if it maintains the very same momentum............
All one would like to say in conclusion is that the so called critics can take a walk as the audiences have given Singham Returns two thumbs up thereby leaving Messrs Ajay Devgn, Rohit Shetty and the rest of the cast and crew of Singham Returns with Cheshire cat like grins on their faces and the untold satisfaction of a job well done..........
Even more importantly the eye popping success of Singham Returns reinforces the widely held belief about 2014 being the best ever year for the Hindi film industry in the last two decades and more and the going can only get better what with Shahrukh and Farah Khan's magnum opus "Happy New Year", Sanjay Leela Bhansali's "Mary Kom" and Hrithik Roshan's "Bang Bang" waiting in the wings...........

YET ANOTHER BLOOMING HUMAN LIFE SNUFFED OUT IN IT'S PRIME.........

Human life certainly seems to be becoming cheaper with every passing of fleeting day and minute what with a husband of recent standing callously snuffing out the life of his better half and all for a few pithy Rakhi gifts........
Yes you did certainly read it right; Paramjeet Singh cold bloodedly murdered his wife of some fourteen odd months vintage (he got married in May 2013) simply because she steadfastly refused to part with Rs. 1,500/-and the other gifts bestowed upon her by her doting brother on the occasion of Rakhi which was celebrated across the country on Sunday August 10, 2014...........
According to inconsolable and disconsolate family members Ravneet Kaur (the victim) was constantly being plagued for additional dowry in both cash and kind by her husband and in-laws as her recent husband Paramjeet Singh incurred heavy losses in his travel related business and had even gone to the extent of shutting down his travel agency a little over two months ago as a result of the overwhelming losses.........
A deeply distressed and perturbed neighbour called up the adjoining police station and informed the SHO about the fact that she had witnessed Paramjeet Singh assaulting and throttling his wife early on Friday morning and also mentioned that she had seen or witnessed Ravneet falling down in an unceremonious heap as a result of her husband's murderous assault on her..........
Alerted and alarmed by her telephone call; the police personnel on duty rushed to the spot and rushed Ravneet to a nearby hospital post haste where the doctors pronounced her dead on arrival; according to the investigating officer Ravneet was throttled to death and the initial needle of suspicion pointed at the husband as both he as well as the couple's two month old daughter had fled the spot before the police teams arrival on the murder scene..........
According to the investigating officer, Paramjeet and Ravneet had a particularly heated and acrimonious quarrel between themselves as soon as she returned from her brother's house in the wee hours of Tuesday morning and there were hostile undercurrents between the two of them ever since..........
Matters however came to a head a little after midnight on Thursday early Friday morning when Paramnjeet once again picked up a quarrel with Ravneet and threatened her with dire consequences if she failed to hand over both the afore mentioned Rs.1,500/- as well as the other gifts to him immediately.........
Incensed by his wife's refusal to do so; Paramjeet proceeded to throttle his better half to death and then fled the spot in the company of his infant daughter; he then for reasons best known to him decided to return to the murder spot on Friday afternoon after leaving his daughter in his parent's custody little knowing that the cops were lying in wait for him........
The cops arrested Paramjeet the very minute he was spotted outside his marital residence in East Delhi's Geeta Colony and Paramjeet broke down and confessed to his crime after relentless pressure was exerted on him during the course of a sustained interrogation..........
A case of murder has since been booked or registered against Paramjeet and he is currently cooling his heels in judicial custody; further investigations are underway in order to ascertain whether or not his parents and other family members were actively or tacitly/passively involved in the hideous crime.............
One only hopes and prays that people come to their senses after the prime minister's impassioned plea on the nation's 68th Independence Day and accord long suffering women their due status in a so called civilised society.........

YET ANOTHER FAMILIAR BATTING COLLAPSE..........

A now familiar, nauseating and now habitual tale unfolded as the marauding English pacers sent the much vaunted or fancied Indian batsmen packing with their tails between their legs and bowled them out for a paltry 148 on the first day of the fifth and final test match of the bilateral series at London's Kia Oval.........
Forgive me for being a sentimental and naive fool but I for one expected a minimum of one batsman to stand up and make himself be counted (notch up a century); beleaguered skipper and oft ridiculed batsman Mahendar Singh Dhoni did come close with a valiant 82 which will go down as one of the most heroic knocks that one was privileged to witness in recent times...........
A sterling 58 run partnership between Messrs Dhoni and Ishant Sharma for the last wicket did not only prolong the Indian innings but also add some substance to it; but the English batsmen soon put paid to whatever little hopes the Indian team had about defending their meagre total as they not only put up an undefeated 62 run partnership for the first wicket but also negated the so called wiles of the Indian pace triumvirate..........
What baffles the mind and raises the blood pressure is the fact that almost all the Indian batsmen seem to be outdoing each other in the quest to locate their long lost off stumps; the so called best young batsman on planet earth Virat Kohli looked like a fish out of the water and ended up shouldering arms to an incoming delivery that would have clattered into the top of his off stump........
While, the so called master tactician and technician Cheteshwar Pujara once again left a gap as wide as the grand canyon between bat and pad; in fact, I for one would venture as far as saying that one could have ended up driving a truck through the gap with space left over for half a dozen cricket balls or so..........
Ajinkya Rahane once again failed to gauge the pace of the pitch and ended up thrusting his bat so far in front of his pad that he ended up scooping a return catch into the waiting hands of under pressure English all rounder Chris Martin who ended up accepting the gilt edged offering with consummate ease...........
Be as it may, team England hold all the cards going into day two of the ongoing test match and team India might soon find themselves facing the ignominy and insult of yet another 3-1 scoreline unless they conjure up a superhuman effort and dismiss the dominating English batting line up for a sub 250 total.........
Will team India buck the trend and redeem both themselves and their flagging fortunes by coming ups with a superhuman effort; well I for one will certainly be praying and hoping for one..........

THE LAST THIRTY ODD DAYS OF MY LIFE...........

The last month or so has been hectic, chaotic, topsy turvy, tumultuous and a lot more besides what with week long trips to Delhi/Gurgaon, good old Bengaluru and dry and desultory Chennai..........
A Day long trip to Warangal and it's surrounding areas was also an integral part and parcel of this whirlwind vortex; but the best thing about the trip was that one got to set one's sights on the revered, respected and adored "Thousand Pillar Temple" which in my humble opinion is a living testimony to the architectural heights achieved by the Kakatiya rulers during their reign........
Gurgaon reunited me with long lost friends from the Unitech Country Club after a decade and more and it seemed almost as if those intervening years had vanished in the batting of an eyelid as I was welcomed back into their midst with warmth, sincerity and heart warming camaraderie and the six odd hours spent in the company of those close to your heart only left me thirsting for more such reunions.............
Rakhi has always meant receiving my beloved sister's Rakhi's and getting them tied on my wrist by a surrogate sister or some such but an entirely on the spur of the moment three day trip to Bengaluru (between the morning of August 8 and evening of August 10) not only gave me the god send opportunity of spending quality time with my mother, sister, niece as well as my eight month old son (a pug who answers to the name of Mr. Pebble) but also brought back a plethora of long suppressed memories as my sister tied a rakhi on my wrist after almost two decades or so...........
Can the pride of the Indian Railways; the much vaunted Shatabdi Expresses reach their ultimate destination two hours and forty odd minutes after their scheduled arrival time; yes they can certainly do this and a lot more besides as one arrived in Chennai at exactly ten minutes past the witching hour rather than the designated time of 21:30 hours thanks to the antiquated engine breaking down five odd kilometres after it had passed the climes of the Bangarpet Railway station..........
In fact, none of the three trains that yours truly had the pleasure of travelling by: namely the Kacheguda-Yeshwanthpur Express; Mysore-Chennai Shatabdi Express and last but not the least the Chennai Egmore-Kacheguda Express managed to reach their destinations on time what with each of them running twenty, two hours and forty minutes and ninety minutes behind schedule; will Narendra Modi and his railway minister Sadananda Gowda ensure that the so called super fast expresses run on time before holding out the pipe dreams about bullet trains and the like...........
My sincere and heartfelt apologies to all the friends whose birthdays I missed out on in the interim; I am not in the habit of carrying my laptop whenever I travel out of Hyderabad and you will have to be patient and bear with me until I get into the habit of lugging around my laptop with me like I do with my beloved books.........
One is back in good old Hyderabad a little wearier, careworn and afflicted with the odd niggle and sprain; but would I change this experience of travelling at the drop of a hat and enriching myself in the bargain; certainly not, not even if all the money on planet earth was offered to me on a platter..........

RAILWAYS UNDER NARENDRA MODI..........

Notwithstanding the tall claims made by the Railway Minister pertaining to safety and security on prestigious trains like the Rajdhani's, things only seem to be going from bad to worse as these two women commuters learnt to their dismay and consternation.........
Journeys on the supposedly ultra prestigious Rajdhani Expresses are meant to bring a smile on the commuters faces and force their hands ...into travelling on the same times without end but these two women whose purses, credit and other cards and last but not the least were stolen while on board the Delhi-Mumbai Rajdhani found that there was little or no help coming their way from the railway officials meant for this express purpose on the fateful Thursday afternoon........
Satya Rajmohan (45) and Neeta Bokaria (51) firstly went in search of the Railway Protection Force personnel who are to be found in plenty on these trains but were flabbergasted when they could not locate even one such despite spending the best part of 45 minutes or so in trying to locate at least one such notable who would file a complaint about their stolen belongings...........
They then went in search of the train superintendent, only to find the gentleman firmly ensconed within the confines of his official workspace in a seemingly sozzled or inebriated condition; seemingly chastened by the nightmarish experience they decided to wait until the train had reached it's ultimate destination (Mumbai) so that they could register their complaint with the station master of the Mumbai Central Station..........
Lo and behold, the train wound it's way to it's designated platform at the Mumbai Central Station and the ladies made an immediate beeline towards the office of the station master in order to register a complaint about the missing RPF personnel and inebriated train superintendent only to be brusquely rebuked and turned down by the said station master........
At the end of their collective tether, they finally made their way to the RPF outpost at the station where they were finally paid heed too and their complaint against the train superintendent Sunil Parihar , missing RPF personnel and station master who inappropriately brushed them off.......
Taking immediate cognizance of their written complaint, the senior railway officials proceeded to suspend the infamous Sunil Parihar and launched a departmental enquiry against him, but these stray crumbs of comfort failed to mollify the women who were incensed at the callous and indifferent attitude of the railway officials who were expressly meant to help them in the first place,,,,,,,,,
Satya Rajmohan in particular was particularly incensed by the loss of a pen drive that contained her mother's medical documents and squarely blamed the railway officials for her sorry plight constantly bemoaning the fact that the same could have been retrieved if the concerned officials had even shown a modicum of consideration...........
As things stand at the present moment, Satya, Neeta and their three fellow travellers who similarly lost their belongings but did not lodge an official complaint about the theft until the two women coerced them to do so are crossing their thumbs and hoping and praying that the said authorities do their bit and retrieve their belongings from the unseemly clutches of the unscrupulous elements who laid their hands on them..........
Ladies and gentlemen; welcome to the era of the Indian Railways under the seemingly caring and worrying prime minister Narendra Modi; an era where callous officials who couldn't care less rule the roost while you curse your fate and the very moment that you set foot on the train that was supposed to ensure that you got off at your destination with a smile on your face and a song on your lips........... See More

BRIGHT AND REWARDING CAREER NOSEDIVES BEFORE TAKE OFF........

A 22 year old Engineering student of Kolkata's ultra prestigious Jadavpur University succumbed to the pressure of not measuring up to his family as well as peers exalted career (job) related expectations as he hung himself from the ceiling fan in his hostel room..........
Manish Ranjan the 22 year old student in question originally hailed from Bihar's Siwan district and was reputed to be a star performer in every examination conducted by the university as part of it's much vaunted engineering programme.........
According to his friends and confidantes, Manish was devastated by the fact that his room mate had cleared the final round of placement related interviews carried out by Amazon while he was unsuccessful in doing the same and had been berating himself for not having fulfilled the desires of his parents and other fellow members..........
Incidentally, Manish had just about finished writing an online recruitment test for software giants Microsoft as an integral part of their college placement procedure and was unanimously tipped to join the same with a starting salary in excess of Rs. 17 lakhs per annum..........
In the words of a devastated batch mate Manish had just finished submitting his online recruitment test and made his way back to his room in an absolutely shattered and crestfallen manner; we rushed to his room at around 7:30 pm or so on that fateful Tuesday evening with the welcome news that he had cleared the said online recruitment test with flying colours and was now a part of the mammoth Microsoft family only to be confronted with the earth shattering spectacle of Manish hanging down from his room's ceiling fan...........
Three of us immediately proceeded to cut him down and rush him to the campuses MI room where the on duty doctor pronounced him brought dead on arrival..........
Oh! the follies of youth; tarrying for a few moments would have ended Manish's misplaced self belief about being a failure for eternity and boosted both his self esteem as well as long lost belief in both himself and his abilities in an inestimable manner..........
And so, yet another promising and bright engineer who could have gone places in his chosen work succumbs to the age old malaise of peer and societal related pressures due to inherent flaws in his mental make up.......

DRUNKEN MAN MOLESTS WOMAN FROM NORTH EAST IN NATIONAL CAPITAL..........

Will the pain. ignominy, trauma, terror and sense of shame experienced by women from the north eastern parts of the country and residing in the national capital ever end...........
In the latest instance of outraging a women's modesty a 22 year old Manipuri women who happens to reside in East Delhi's Malkaganj area was allegedly grabbed from behind and unceremoniously groped (molested) by a drunken man at around 10:30 pm or so on Tuesday night..........
The woman who incidentally happens to live with her brother in a modest dwelling in the afore mentioned area was on her way from back from work from the call centre in which she is employed and had stopped to buy a few vegetables from a roadside vendor while on her way back home.........
She (the victim) was in the process of paying the vendor for her purchases when the assailant abruptly grabbed her from behind and initially passed a sexually laden remark or two before asking her to fork over a few of the tomatoes purchased by her in a sozzled baritone........
Summoning all her wits about her, the victim somehow managed to extricate herself from her tormentor's grasp and began running down the road towards a somewhat distant police post while screaming for help all the while with her attacker in hot pursuit...........
Alerted by her cries for help and confronted by the unsavoury spectacle of a seemingly drunken man chasing her; the cops caught hold of the man and bundled him off in a waiting police van to a nearby medical facility where test carried out on him only reinforced the fact that his blood alcohol levels were far above the legally permissible limits...........
His plight only got worse when he was produced before a judicial magistrate who duly sent him to 14 days of judicial custody on Wednesday morning and the area police has initiated the welcome process of significantly increasing the number of personnel on night patrols owing to the burgeoning number of students from the north eastern parts of the country residing in the area............

ELUSIVE QUEST FOR PERFECT PROFILE PHOTO COSTS YOUNG MALE HIS LIFE.........

Narcissistic tendencies and the incessant quest for the elusive "perfect" selfie ended up costing a 21 year old Mexican male his nascent life.........
According to a despairing neighbour, Oscar Otero Aguilar a vet hailing from Mexico city accidentally shot himself in the head while trying to upload a picture of himself posing with a handgun on his facebook page........
The very same neighbour said that he was initially startled out of his wits when he heard the reverberating sound of a gunshot and only came to his senses when her heard somebody cry out in immense pain; he then proceeded to call up the local police who arrived on the crime scene in a few moments and made an attempt to rush a still alive Aguilar to the nearest hospital in their car.........
Alas, Aguilar breathed his last on the way to hospital and passed into the great big void or next world before any kind of medical assistance could be provided or made available to him..........
According to the investigating officer; Aguilar was messing around with the gun in an effort to create that much desired "perfect" profile photo when the same accidentally went off and ended up causing him a grievous head injury that went on to become the cause of his untimely and utterly needless death.........
A search of Aguilar's facebook page revealed scores of photographs of Aguilar and a series of women in various stages of undress and many a graphic sexual pose or position in both his car as well as multiple other locations.........
So folks do keep it simple and bottle up your narcissistic tendencies or else you might just end up going the Aguilar way even before you begin to know it.........

FATHER AND SON MERCILESSLY HACK ERRANT NEIGHBOUR TO DEATH..........

In a scene reminiscent of many a Hindi potboiler a father son duo gave themselves up before the Naroda (Ahmedabad) police personnel late on Monday night with bloody swords in hand and blood soaked clothes adorning their bodies.........
Mahendrasinh and Gajendrasinh Chavda constantly kept repeating that they had literally slaughtered their neighbour Bharat Patel at Vatva's Rajiv Park owing to his age old tendency of making obscene and suggestive gestures at Mahendrasinh's long suffering wife...........
Recovering from their initial shock and stupor; the startled cops immediately rushed to the spot referred to by the father-son duo and found a profusely bleeding Patel writhing in pain and feebly calling out for help.........
They immediately rushed him to the nearby Civil Hospital where he passed away owing to the 25 odd stab injuries inflicted on him at around 3:30 am on Tuesday morning despite the valiant efforts of the doctors to revive him and save his ebbing life......
Preliminary or initial interrogation of the two accused has thrown up the fact that Mahendrasinh and Bharat Patel were also co-workers at the city's Arvind Mills apart from being long standing neighbours and that Patel was in the habit of making sexually laden and highly suggestive gestures to Mahendrasinh's wife and refused to refrain from this highly offensive tendency despite being warned about dire consequences on numerous occasions.........
Fed up with and highly perturbed by Patel's nefarious tendencies; the father- son duo hatched a plot to do away with him and lay in wait for him near the said canal at around 10;30 pm or so on the fateful night; they set upon Patel as soon as he happened upon the spot on his way back from work; stabbed him 25 times or so and then proceeded to wend their way to the afore mentioned police station where they surrendered before a group of utterly disbelieving policemen.........
The father -son duo have been arrested on the basis of a written complaint filed by them against the deceased son's Kapil and murder cases have been filed against the two of them...........
Vigilante justice or just dessert for one's sins of omission or commission I will step back and let you take the final call on this one..........

BHUVI'S INJURY CAUSES TEAM INDIA MANAGEMENT SLEEPLESS NIGHTS........

As if the news surrounding Ishant Sharma's non availability for the fourth of a five match test series between the Indian and English cricket teams was not enough of a dampener, hot on it's heels comes the news of India's pace bowling spearhead Bhuvaneshwar Kumar sustaining an injury that could keep him out of the forthcoming test match.......
According to sources close to the Indian camp Bhuvi is down with a swollen ankle and has hence been skipping training sessions for the last two days prior to the commencement of the fourth Test match slated to be held at the iconic Old Trafford Cricket Ground between August 7 and 11, 2014.......
Team India which is already staring down the wrong end of the barrel following it's resounding defeat in the recently concluded Southampton test, team India is now faced with the prospect of picking between two rookies namely Ishwar Pandey and Varun Aaron if Bhuvi does indeed pull up short on the morning of the test match...........
While Ishwar Pandey is known to swing the ball prodigiously at paces varying between 130 and 135 kmph in the domestic circuit; Varun Aaron is known for his sheer pace and ability to terrorise batsmen with his pace and ability to get the ball to rear of a good length.........
But what must be causing Dhoni and the rest of the team management sleepless nights is the fact that Aaron has shown the remarkable ability to break down as frequently as an infamous public transport bus and both him and Ishwar Pandey have never ever been tested or exposed to cricket of this level and intensity...........
As the wise men preceding us have sagely remarked there is always a first time and team India will certainly have to bite the bullet and plump for an under performing Shami as it's pace bowling spearhead if Bhuvi does not recover in time for the fourth test...........
While I do join legions of Indian cricketing fans in praying for Bhuvi's speedy and complete recovery in time for the fourth test, I am also at the same girding my loins up for a test by fire for the young and inexperienced Indian speedsters at the hands of a marauding English batting line up that must surely be licking it's chops in anticipation at the likely prospect of being confronted by an Indian pace bowling attack that boasts of some 12 odd test scalps to it's credit.........
Like the English economist Hobson once famously remarked, "you need to pick the best one out of two lame horses if the same is the only choice offered to you" and team India definitely seems to be confronting the same prospect if it's most successful fast bowler Bhuvaneshwar Kumar does indeed pull up short.........
Here's hoping that Bhuvi does indeed make it in time and he and his comrades in arms succeed in putting the fear of god into the hearts and minds of the English batsmen on a pitch that enjoys the reputation of being a haven for all pedigreed pacemen.........

900 YEAR OLD PEEPAL TREE ACQUIRES "GODLY" STATUS.........

At certain times one really wonders whether Indians or to be more specific parts of India still continues to cocoon itself in a time warp and derive untold pleasure from existing in the 15th century..........
Now here is certainly some food for thought; the Kota tribe which is synonymous with the Niligiris district in Tamil Nadu for reasons best known to it continues to persist with it's nocturnal habit of worshipping and revering a supposedly 900 year old peepal tree as it's "GOD" and presiding deity.........
Boasting of an impressive strength of a little over 3,000 denizens including some 1,700 odd women, the tribe takes immense pride in performing prayers and such other rituals on all occasions deemed to be "auspicious" such as weddings, house warming ceremonies, births of children and completion of construction of new dwellings..........
To crown their idiosyncratic behaviour; the villagers/tribal folks also make all their pledges and take all their vows in the presence of this supposedly sacrosanct and hallowed tree located in the Kunda Kotagiri village of Nilgiri's district...........
According to awe struck tribal folk; the revered tree was planted some ten generations or so ago by one of their respected ancestors and has acquired such a gargantuan or mammoth girth or span over the centuries that more than fifty tribal folk standing hand in hand form a human chain in order to encircle the same..........
According to the very same folks; the Kotas worship and revere fire, the sun, moon and nature and hence they take immense pride in offering prayers and performing their very own quaint rituals in front of the "blessed" tree on any and every given occasion and all festivals associated with the tribe..........
They also go to great lengths to protect and preserve their so called "GOD" and shoo away all gawking tourists in a mere matter of seconds so that they do not defile the tranquil and pious atmosphere pervading in the immediate vicinity of this sanctified tree........
Ladies and gentleman; I give you the Nilgiris district of the 21st century; the Kota tribe and it's tree worshipping tendencies..........