Dr. Anil Kumar Agarwal

In Hindu mythology there are twelve ‘Jyotirlinga’, dedicated to Lord Shiva. It can be said that these are the Shiva’s temple where every Shiva devotee should visit once in his life time. Even most of the Hindu’s have desire to go there for the ‘Darshan of the Jyotirlinga’. There is a Jyotirlinga, known as Mallikaarjuna Jyotirlinga at Srisailam in Andhra Pradesh. It is two hundred kilometer away from Hyderabad. The convenient route to go to Srisailam is via Hyderabad as it is connected with other big cities by road, train and air.

I also got an opportunity to get Darshan of this Jyotirlinga when I was on tour on Delhi – Nagpur – Hyderabad – Delhi. I along with Mira was on this tour in the middle of October, before Diwali festival, on Advani’s Jan Chetna Yatra as we were invited in it. Before going there I did some home-work on this tour and found this Jyotirlinga. I made program in such a way that I could visit this place easily. We reached Hyderabad in the afternoon. Some of our friends were also with us, who were to stay in a hotel named Taj Krishna that was the palace of Nawab Hyderabad at one time but had now been converted into a hotel. They invited us to take lunch with them in Taj Krishna. We couldn’t help refusing their invitation. We all went there for having lunch. After that we all went to see Golconda fort that had some peculiar attractions too. Reaching there I told them if I had seen the whole fort from inside that required minimum one and a half hour I couldn’t have been to Srisailam that day. I apologized to them for not accompanying them inside the fort. They also showed their approval of my plan.

I and Mira went back to our car to go to Srisailam. We got into the car and drove to the destination. After about two hours journey it was dark and there was a single as well as zigzag road though it was in a good condition. I found one very attractive thing on the road that there were reflectors at the every curve on the road so that the driver can drive his vehicle at the curves even in the dark. We enjoyed a lot on the crisscross road in the dark without getting any fear of mishap.

On the way there was a check – post on the road where every vehicle’s number that drove ahead had been noted down by the check-post officer. From this point deep forest starts where even tigers also habitat; it is also called tiger reserve. For going to Srisailam, every body has to cross this eighty kilometer stretch. This stretch has a beautiful single road without any dig or patch work so we cross it with great pleasure. Mira felt little nausea as we were continuously on move for four hours. At the end of this jungle road there was again a check-post where the officer-in-charge noted down our car number in his file. We came out of the car to relax. The ten minutes rest provided us new energy. Mira also got relief from the nauseated feeling. Mean while I talked to the officer who gave me very useful information about the temple and the hotels.

It was about 9 in the evening when we arrived at Srisailam. The driver suggested me a hotel that was good to stay there for a night. I took an AC room there and got ready to go to the temple by 9.30. Within five or ten minutes we were before Lord Shiva in the temple. There were very few devotees inside the temple as the temple was about to close. After getting the Darshan of Jyotirlinga we took the Darshan of Goddess Durga. The temple of Durga is considered a ‘Shakti-peeth’ as per Hindus’ belief. We were about to leave the temple when we saw that the Pujari and some devotees were going to somewhere along with the statues of God and Goddess in the ‘Palki’. Some people were playing musical instruments. They reached near one room inside the temple premises where they laid the statue down on the bed. The moment they laid them down the light had gone and rest of the rituals were performed in the light of oil lamp. Immediately after the act the light had come back. I couldn’t understand that the light had gone out by chance or deliberately. We returned to our hotel and had dinner. Soon we went to bed and slept as were tired.

Next day in the morning I got up as usual and got ready after cleaned my shave as well as took bath. My better half wanted to relax more but I didn’t comment on this issue. By eight she had also got ready and we went to temple again. Now there were some restrictions that one has to follow before entering the temple as you can’t go inside the temple with your camera and mobile phone etc. There were two type of lines for devotees i.e. paid and unpaid line. We chose the unpaid line. There were about one hundred people before us in the queue. It took about an hour to reach before the Jyotirlinga. We got Darshan of the Lord Shiva. When I was standing in the queue I saw a board hanging on the wall that depicted the story of the temple and stated a place where people used to sacrifice their some parts of the body like hand, finger, leg and even tongue. The place where people used to cut their parts of the body is called ‘Mandap’ and it was built by one of the kings for the ‘Punnaya memory’ of his younger father. When I read it, my mind stuck to the word ‘younger father’; I thought the word indicates that ladies at that time might believe in polygamy.

After Darshan we had had breakfast at two places as on the first place it was not in our taste. Mean while our driver came to us as I had already phoned him. We left the hotel, kept our baggage in the car and drove to Hyderabad. On the way we stopped in the middle of the jungle to go deep into the forest to see tigers but people told us that there was no guarantee of watching tigers. So we left the idea and enjoyed in the permitted are of the jungle. We saw the dam built on the ‘Patal Ganga’ river for making electricity that is supplied to Srisailam city. On the way to Hyderabad our car got punctured twice and it wasted our one and a half hour.

After arriving at Hyderabad city we first visited Char Minar, a historical monument, and on its first floor we enjoyed the scenic beauty of the city around it. Before reaching Char Minar one event happened that I forgot to mention here though it was a new experience and was read only in jokes. We stopped at a petrol pump to get the tank of our car filled. Getting the petrol we went ahead and after covering some distance the driver wanted to tell Mira something about the Minar. In this course the driver turned his face back and found that Mira was missing. We both were shocked and surprised. I phoned her on her mobile phone and asked her where she was. Mobile phone had solved our problem in some seconds; it is really a big invention. If it hadn’t been invented how this episode would have been managed.

We went to the famous museum of Hyderabad, called Sallarjung museum. Sallarjung 3^rd. was the last Nawab of Hyderabad as he had no child. The museum was really worth to see. There was a cafeteria inside the museum and we filled our tummy with some snacks as we were feeling hungry. By the time it was 5 in the evening and the museum was in the process of closing. We came out of the museum and visited some shops. Now the watch told us to move to the airport as we were already running short of time. We came back home with some pleasant memories….

A pair of pigeons has been coming to my house for the last one week. They enter from one hole that is located in the middle of the house and go out from the front door. Last Sunday evening I saw one of them for the first time inside the house. I was afraid that it might not be hurt as the ceiling fans were on. Immediately I turned all the fan switches off and opened the front door so that it would be able to get safe passage. We all were at home as it was Sunday. I thought and told we should take some measures to stop their entry into the house. The lady of the house commented on this issue that all the creatures  in the nature had equal right to live though it was quite evident that this thought was only after excluding humans and very harmful animals. Rest of the members in the house felt that it was better to leave this matter at this point and let them do their activity freely. The moment we concluded the discussion, one more pigeon was seen in the room and it too flew out of the room after finding the way.

Now they have been acquainted with the route and enjoy this game by entering and going out of the house. We also feel as if they were really happy by doing like this.

Today, in the morning when we were sitting in the living room, we saw them again doing the same act one by one. We are still not clear as to whether they are two in number or three. Our most grown up young chap in the house said one day it would be killed when trapped with the running fan. The lady retorted why he didn’t take some precautionary steps to stop their entry in the house. We all replied in one voice that earlier she suggested us not to disturb their activity and liberty. She replied as if amazed with our answer that in the last that day she gave her consent to close down the hole and even said she could hang a scenery herself there. After a few minutes I recalled her sentence and favored her. Any how every thing is in status quo as at present but only time or the pigeons’ fate will decide the next action.

Metro – a life line of Delhi:

Metro train is the latest mode of transport in Delhi that has been functioning efficiently for more than a decade. It has rendered a new hope to Delhi people as the roads have been over congested and no other solution is being evinced. At one point, Metro passengers are confident that they will definitely get another train after a few minutes if their first train is missed. Secondly, as it is air-conditioned so the journey is always comfortable. Thirdly, it is clean and tidy as far as coaches and stations are concerned.

To keep it clean, the metro authorities always warn of the commuters not to make it dirty by any means, even sitting on the floor and spitting are punishable. If you think they warn the travelers just for the sake of warning, you are wrong at this situation; they have punished seventeen thousand four hundred and sixty four passengers for breaking the metro rules inside the metro premises in about last three years.  The maximum commuters were challaned for spitting in the metro empire and they were six thousand and twenty six in numbers. On second count, people who rode in to the ladies special coaches were punished and were three thousand and eighty four. Coaches reserved for ladies were introduced in the metro during October, 2010. Two thousand and seventeen passengers who damaged the metro property were fined. One thousand three hundred and twenty four metro users who created nuisance were also penalized. Even drunkards were also charged.

Many rules which are not mentioned in the list were also busted like breaking the queue, not returning the travelling coins, etc. But metro authority has also punished these people. In the last three years, the metro has collected revenue of rupees thirty six lakh and thirty thousand by fine. Laws are not made to harass the people but they provide us harmony and comforts, provided they are implemented effectively and honestly.

Chitrakoot is a sacred place for Hindus because Lord Rama along with his wife Sita and younger brother Laxman lived there for some time during his exile period. Therefore every Hindu wants to visit this place at least once in his lifetime as a pilgrimage. In the same row of thought I also wanted to visit the place. The program was planned many times but matured only in the last month, in May 2011.

I and Babu, a friend of mine, were sitting in my office where we chalked out this program. We were five in numbers who were ready to visit the place. I searched out the train that goes to Chitrakoot directly. At Indian Railway site on the net I got the train that ply between Delhi and Chitrakoot, Samparak Kranti. We got the reservation of berths in this train by a travel agent. After an hour he phoned us to inform that the tickets had been confirmed.

On the scheduled date we reached Hazarat Nizamiuddin Railway Station to board the train. The coach was quite cool and comfortable from inside. The train departed at right time and after an hour we opened our dinner box for having it. It was quite delicious. Finishing our meal we started talking on the issues that were coming in the mind at that time. After about an hour all of us went to our allotted seats. In the morning when we got up the train was about to reach Chitrakoot.

Reaching Chitrakoot we hired an auto rickshaw to go to Chitrakoot Ghats where people take holy dip in the river named Mandakini.  At the Ghats there were many boats and people were hiring them to go to different temples that are at the verge of the river. We also hired a boat. The boat was reasonably good in appearance and there were two rabbits inside. We played with them until the boat reached at the place where we had to take the holy dip in the river. We got ready after bathing in the river. The boat man took us to some temples to get the Darshan of different Gods.

After that we hired a taxi to visit some other temples and tourist attraction places. We went to a temple, named ‘Gupt Godavari’. It was quite far from the place where we hired the taxi. It was really a beautiful as well as a big cave. About more than a hundred people can sit inside the cave at a time. On the other side of it, there was one more cave in which water was flowing and coming out of the cave. The origin of the water was not clear inside the cave that is why it was called ‘Gupt Godavari’. The place had a charming scenic beauty. The time was about 2 o’ clock so we had had our lunch at one of the ‘Dhabas’. The food was not according to our taste but reasonable for filling the tummy.

Having visited it we went to ‘Sati Ansuia’ temple where she meditated many centuries ago and did many work for mankind with the help of her meditation power; it was the reason that she is still famous and is worshiped by sacred Hindus. It was also said that Mandakini River appeared there only with her divine power. Mandakini River has been the life line of that area even till today. Her temple was quite big as well as tidy too. Seeing it we visited the place called ‘Sphatik Shila’. There was a small temple in front of it a stone platform. The stone platform was glazed and was made of ‘Sphatik’. It was considered that Lord Rama punished a crow for its crime by making it blind with one eye at this place. The story is also depicted in a book known as ‘Ramayana’.

There was a hill, it is said that Bharat met Lord Rama on this hill when Rama was expatriated from Ayodhya. People have a faith that if a man takes the round of this hill on foot his desire will be fulfilled. Two of my fellows were also keen and so persuaded us to do the same but our scheduled program was the main obstacle.

We sat in our taxi and drove to a restaurant for getting some food packed for dinner. After that the taxi left us at the railway station. After a short while the train arrived at the station and we boarded it to go to Delhi.

Yesterday, all of a sudden my office electricity behaved strangely. The main line indicator was showing that the power supply was there but tube lights and fans stopped their functioning. I asked my assistant why the electricity was not functioning well and inverter was also not working. I thought the voltage of the electricity had dipped down suddenly so that tube lights and fans had stopped functioning but inverter was not getting signals of power brake as very low voltage power was still there.

I told my assistant to go to enquire about the real position of the power supply. He returned after some time and said, ‘The other shop keepers and offices were enjoying full voltage power supply.’ Then I realized that there was a fault somewhere in my office. I cut down the inverter circuit from the main power supply and to my surprise the power supply was restored immediately. One thing I forgot to mention here that I first switched on my stabilizer of AC to check the input voltage of the electricity which I found within normal limits. After that I did the above mentioned task. I repeated the above said procedure and got the same result. Then I realized that the inverter might be faulty.

I sent my assistant to call the mechanic. He left the message at his shop and came back. Today in the morning, the mechanic came to check the inverter. Checking it he told me that there was a fault in the connector of the inverter. I suggested him to replace it with standby. So he returned after sometime with another inverter. When he installed the standby it also behaved the same as the original inverter did. He got puzzled as I was standing there. I smelled his some wrong doing but didn’t say to him anything as I had no other option to call some other one. He promised me to install it back by the next day. Let us hope for the best.

Recently I went to Rohtak, a district of Haryana state in India, to attend a seminar on Homeopathy. Haryana is not a rich state as far as Homeopathy is concerned but two renowned speakers from Mumbai were coming there who might have made the seminar valuable. When I along with my four friends reached seminar place, there was a lively atmosphere which was showing that the seminar would be successful.

Getting our names registered, we were served breakfast. After that we went to the auditorium which was well cooled by ACs. Organizers were waiting for the chief guest to start the program. It was 1, o’clock when the opening ceremonies had come to an end. The delegates had been impatient and annoyed due to this mismanagement but they showed their disapproval only by their facial expressions.

Immediately after that they introduced one of the speaker named Dr.VS (Later on, I will call him only VS). VS started his lecture in a very stylish way with the aid of computer. He explained many things which were related to classical literature of Homeopathy. Some of the thoughts were not accepted by some audience as these were being presented either in a distorted manner or in such a way that couldn’t be digested. It was clearly shown that VS wanted to present the simple things in a complicated form so that the audience would feel that he was quite learned. He showed a statement which was written by Dr. Hahnemann, in which Hahnemann accepted that Homeopathy couldn’t provide you encouraging results. It was semi true as he concealed the real context why and when Hahnemann used this sentence. It was difficult to understand what the speaker wanted to present in front of the delegates. In a nutshell it could be said that his show was not worth attending though he continued his session till late evening. Organizers provided the delegates a good lunch as well as a delicious dinner. They tried their best to show a good hospitality.

Next day the seminar began in time after the breakfast. That day speaker was Dr. A.S. (short name). One of my colleagues in Delhi is her great fan after hearing her one lecture in some other seminar. That time she really performed well; I was also present at that time. She started her lecture by showing some audio – visual aided case records. She tried to explain them with some new idea that was not at all convincing. Some learned delegates asked her to explain the new idea which she couldn’t express properly. Hearing many cross questioning she was about to go in fit of irritation but at the eleventh hour one of the organizers managed the situation by saying that question- answer session would be kept in the last. Two of my companions had become bored with her lectures and were insisting us on going back home. Considering their request we returned to Delhi after having lunch. If her fan had also attended the seminar what would have passed in his heart.

A friend of mine, Dr Khurana, an allopathic doctor, has retired from a Govt. hospital a long back so he is quite aged and well experienced. He has three sons; all are settled abroad in two different countries. His wife died a few years ago so he also passes his most of the time abroad with his sons. He enjoyed travelling frequently from one place to another. When he comes to India he usually comes to my clinic. I have been treating him for his ENT trouble which had been worsened after surgery but now he is in a comfortable zone as far as ENT is concerned.

This time he returned from Australia about a week ago. He came to my clinic today to see me as well as to collect his medicine from my clinic. I always welcome him warmly and he also tries to respond in the same fashion. He told me that he was going to Moscow just after three days. I gave him his due medicines and offered a cup of coffee too. We were discussing the present situation of India as well as comparing Indian living condition with Australia and some European countries. I told him that British had given us nothing. Then he replied that they gave us one very precious thing without disclosing the name of that valuable. Having heard his comment I asked him about the thing. Then he said in one word, ‘English’.

Now I enquired of the meaning of English from him; I said, ‘Do you mean it English as a language.’ He nodded his head positively. I was amazed hearing his reply. I told him that my views were rather different from him. He tried me to convince that without English how we could get education and our country progress. Now I have understood about his superficial thoughts. I asked him a question; Can you tell me how Japan, Germany, Russia and even China have developed their countries rather better than English speaking countries. Now he was obliged to think on my thought and said, ‘I have never thought at this point; now I feel that English is a curse for us rather than boon. No country can do its development without using its own language.’

Khajuraho is a place, situated in Madhya Pradesh in India that is admired by most of the Indians as well as the foreigners. It is popular for its temples which were made say about more than ten centuries ago. These temples are superb and show how Indian culture and science were so much rich even at that time. This is the perfect evidence of the advanced India. Due to its ancient value it has got the status of ‘World Heritage’. I had the strong desire to visit this place a long since. Last month the desire had been fulfilled as I got the chance to visit it.

Khajuraho is quite far off from Delhi. There was no direct train for Khajuraho from Delhi till some months ago. Now the Govt. has started a direct train for Khajuraho from Nizamuddin railway station, Delhi. Previously people used to get down at Mahoba or Harpalpur station when they took the train from Delhi. From either of these two stations, people hired a taxi or took the bus to go to Khajuraho. Presently, there is an air-port also which provides people another mode of transport.

I and Mira took the train, U P Sampark Kranti, which departed at right time. In the morning, at about 8 o, clock, the train arrived at Khajuraho. We got down from it. The station was small but rather neat and clean. Khajuraho is a small place so that people of the area know each other well. They were polite in behavior as I felt. We visited most of the temples by auto-rickshaw. The temples are divided in three or four groups. Out of them western group had the maximum number of temples and were at the same campus while temples of other groups were scattered. The houses in the town were mostly single story but quite tidy; which give the impression that the residents were fastidious. Most of the sculptures were ruined. The gardens around temples were also well maintained so they were also enhancing the beauty of these monuments. Some of the sculptures were erotic as the place is more popular for this world wide.

In the evening, we left Khajuraho and went to Jhansi by train. We arrived there at mid-night and went to the hotel which was already booked for us. Next day in the morning, my friend, Dr. Srivastav along with his friend came to our hotel to take us to Orcha. Orcha is a popular place for its temples. There is a popular Ram temple where devotees pray Lord Rama in the form of King; this is the only temple in India where God Rama is worshiped as a king. The temple was attractive and there is an interesting story behind it. Seeing it we came back and told them to drop us at Jhansi fort.

The fort was surrounded by a thick stone wall and the area of it was about fifteen acres as was told. We saw every spot of the fort. It rained while we were visiting it so the weather became very pleasant and cool. We enjoyed a lot there and admired too. We also visited the museum that was equipped with audio-video help. We came back to the hotel and after half an hour my friend came to take us to his house for lunch. His wife welcomed us warmly and served a delicious food. We did a lot of gossips and saw his library too; it was rich with some rare collections. We went back to the hotel to take some rest.

In the evening, Dr. Srivastav took us to Datiya. It has a popular ‘Devi’ Mandir’. We visited it and took the ‘Darsan’ of the Goddess. The temple is called a ‘Sidh Peeth’ too. We came back to Jhansi. My friend and his wife again insisted us to take dinner at their home. They invited us so affectionately that we couldn’t refuse their call. Having had the dinner we returned to hotel, took our luggage and went to the station to take the train for Delhi.

Yesterday, in the afternoon at 5 I sat on the couch and was reading a book. I felt as if I was oscillating along with the sofa. Experiencing it I told Mira in high volume that there was an earthquake. She thought that I was telling it to her just as fun as my voice was quite calm. So she didn’t pay much heed to my information. After a while I turned the TV on, a breaking news was flashing at the bottom of the TV screen. She then realized that I was telling her truth. Later, the same was confirmed by Vaibhav and Sambhav, my sons.

Vaibhav works in a company where all are Indians and even the MD of the company is Indian. When the earthquake was experienced by the employees in the office, their boss suggested them not to come in panic, just sit at their respective seats and do their work as they do usually. On the other side, Sambhav works in a multinational company where they have set norms for every hue and cry. When the employees of his company experienced earthquake a siren started buzzing and all the employees came out of the building.

These two different types of behavior in the same situation show that the culture of the Indian and the foreign company is quite different. It is difficult to say which one is correct. Only time proves that at one time one is correct and at the other time second may be correct.

There are so many farmhouses scattered all over Delhi. They may be in hundreds and the real figure is not available even with the Govt. There are about thirty farmhouses registered for commercial purposes. Here the meaning of ‘commercial’ is that it can be used for performing marriages and functions. Some of the farmhouse owners have converted the land in a beautiful garden along with a boundary wall around it. A concrete structure has also been erected with a big hall which is used as a dinning hall or performing other events as per the needs. In the open ground, a huge temporary ‘Shamiana’ is also installed for meeting the demand of the host. In nutshell, it can be said that a farmhouse land is used like a banquet hall.

In reality the farmhouse means that a place which is used for growing crops and rearing animals. If farmhouses in Delhi are not being used as for its specific purposes, they should be closed down. If the farm house owner use it for some other purpose, he must first go to the concerned authority to get the land use changed. After getting the NOC from the competent authority, he is eligible to use the piece of land for some other purpose.

According to MCD, only 38 farm houses are registered for commercial activity. A question arises whether the MCD is competent to change the land use or not. It is evident that the majority farm houses in Delhi are being used for marriages and other type of functions that is really illegal. The Govt. must take some concrete steps to stream line them.