Based on real life incident, names and places
changed to protect privacy.

Long time before Munna Bhai series was
released, long before most of the ilanders were born and ages before the birth
of internet technology. There was a small Indian Air Force base located in a
sleepy town of undivided Uttar Pradesh.

This incident is of mid 1960's when cycle was
the pride of urban Indians and buying this luxury was still out of reach for
many. To make the life of our airmen better in those days in Forces, big bosses
decided to provide interest free loan to buy the cycle. Once the loan was
sanctioned whole amount was paid to Cycle Company by defense government and
employee paid back its loan in easy installment of princely amount Rs.10 per
month. Nice n easy.

But getting the loan sanctioned was a tedious
task. It means endless amount of paper work and rounds of accounts department
to know the fate of application. One young recruit named Mr.Sidhu applied for
loan four times. Every time he applied he was told to wait as either quota for
the month was over or budget wasn't approved yet and so on. Mr Sidhu was
working in technical (read Engg) branch. He observed somewhere non-technical
branch people was favored, their applications were approved quickly where as
most of people from technical branch met nearly same fate.

Next time when it was time to apply for another
loan application, he wrote to his senior officer to be granted permission to
keep a donkey to commute from his barracks to office and back. Reading this
unusual request of permission Mr.Rao seriously thought iss sardar ka dimag main jaroor koi problem hain.

He called Mr.Sidhu in his office. "What is this
Sidhu", asked Mr. Rao. This is application sir replied Sidhu.

I know that, but what it is about. How can you
ask for permission for a donkey said Mr.Rao.

Wahi to bata raho hoon sir, it is difficult to commute sir,
kuch to chageye na. Aur phir wo office ke ass pass ka ghass kha ke peet bhar le
ga aur mera bhee kam chal jaye ga. Mali ka
karcha bhe bach jayegaa.

(That is what I am trying to say, it is
difficult to commute sir, I need something to commute. And he will eat the
grass and I will have something to commute. Other benefit will be we don't need
to pay for gardener. Mr Sidhu was in habit of saying sir with every word and
try reading Mr.Sidhu's Hindi in Punjabi accent).

But why don't you buy the cycle asked Mr. Rao,
who was losing his patience with Sidhu now.

Whai to bata rahan hoon sir, I am a poor person sir, I have
six sister an I am only son sir, old parents sir, very poor sir (everything he
said was a lie; he was only son of a landlord family). How can I buy a
cycle..sob..sob...

But why don't you take the loan said Mr.Rao
trying to calm him down

Wahi to bata rahan hoon sir, our poor government is getting
bank corrupt. Where is the money sir. I have to think about country as well
sir. We should find the ways to save money sir.

Listen Sidhu, stop this nonsense and apply for
your cycle loan, right now. Write your application and I will sign it for
approval said Rao, who was by now thinking kya yeh sardar fit bhee hain forces
ke liye.

Whai to bata rahan hoon sir there is no budget
sir. I have applied so many times, said Sidhu.

And this lead to through investigation of what
is happening with Mr.Sidhu's loan application. As a result Mr.Rao passed the
orders till he is posted there all technical staff loan applications will be dealt
with paramount. Non-technical staff application for cycle loan will sanctioned
only after approval of all technical staff application.

Needless to say Mr.Sidhu was the first to get
the beautiful, shinny, black bicycle. Though his application for donkey was
never approved.

Reading newspaper today I found an
article on movie Devdas. Was amazed to know that movie was made in 50 different
languages and have been made couple of times in Bollywood. I am not against the
movie or its presentation, but I could never understand why we celebrate losers.
Mr. Dev in my opinion was all time loser. Well educated, had best of everything
in life and he never valued life. He wasted all his life for a lady who was
married to someone else. Is it a good example of not moving on with life, not
accepting what is handed over to you.

Or was it case of never letting
your self over grief of lost. Is it love to drown your self in alcohol and die.
I may be naïve or die hard optimistic to say that what ever comes we should
always look forward to achieve something. If we are blessed with all the
resources in life then let us do something worthwhile for those around us. And
if we are not as lucky to have all what we want then we should work hard to
achieve it. Last year I worked with people having Autism. It was sad to see how
come some humans are made so unequal by nature in terms of capabilities. But
what was interesting was their spirit to live. Their zeal to complete some
little tasks by the end of the day, and feel happy and proud of doing it. Their
sense of achievement and ability to restart again when they felt they failed.

When I first started working with
them I was frightened, how I will cope with them. But being a oversees student
I had no option but to do it, because it was most well paid part-time job, I could
get. My challenges was very different from what was portrayed on screen movie
Tare Zameen Per, but basics were very similar. Their ability to withdraw or
present themselves with challenging behaviours when hurt. Today I feel privileged
to be associated with them, helped them with what ever little I was able to do.
Real life experiences have taught me never to give up or spend too much time
over your loss. Maybe this is the reason I can't understand how we can
celebrate the story of life of a young able bodied man for giving up his life
to alcohol.

Last
week I went to France. I visited a small place in southern France called
Castres. I was staying in old castle converted into hotel, keeping the old
tradition of place as it is. I was excited as well as scared to go to France, as I
have heard many stories about French people being rude to English speakers and
make their lives miserable. Trust me it happens a lot in Paris, where most of the
tourists go.

The
place where I was staying had a tradition of no locks in there rooms. When I
came to know about it, my heart skipped a beat. What if I lost my passport (it
means going rounds of Indian embassy office). What if I lost my money, mobile
phone, camera, cloths etc. In panic I went to the manager and explained her my
fears. She laughed it saying in last twenty year, since we have converted this
little castle into hotel there hasn't been a single theft. Not only in this
castle, but in their tiny village there hasn't been a reported theft in past 10
years. Honestly I couldn't believe her. How can that be possible? Later on I
came to know she was the countess daughter running the family business. Her
polite manners and warm nature is worth appreciation.

Another
thing I noticed there wasn't any CCTV camera's monitoring the main roads or
place around. I am so use to of CCTV camera's on roads, supermarkets,
university campus etc, you name the place and it is there every where in UK. Still
theft, burglary and crime rate is pretty higher here. It was unbelievable.
Another shock was to find people buying fresh food from local market, all home
grown vegetables. Supermarkets didn't look much in fashion. Canned food,
microwave food was missing form most of the local shops. Secret of people
living near Mediterranean, longer and healthy lives.

Living
in modern world where security and protection is most talked thing, Security
camera's, secure schools, protection from terrorism, and god know what, I went
to another part of western world where life was relaxed and free from nity -
gritty of today's world. It was a
wonderful experience.

I wish all ilanders happy holidays and hope
every one get a chance to explore the world around.