Note:
This is translation of my previous post. Original Marathi post can be found here: http://sumedhdhabu.blogspot.sg/2013/04/12.html. I did it because some of my non-Marathi
friends requested the translated version and many of my Marathi friends can’t read long articles in Devnagari. I have put the Marathi words in italics. I don’t know
how to translate them! I have tried to convey the meaning wherever possible. I have tried to translate, hope this attempt is successful and conveys the meaning and intentions properly.
Shalivahan
Shake 1935
Shuddha
Pratipada
Gudhipadava
Wish
you all a very Happy New Year! :-)
You
all must have celebrated the Padava with ‘shreekhand-puri’
and other traditional dishes. Being away from home, I missed my regular program
of helping mom in preparations for shreekhand
and kadunimb chatani. Today (Thursday)
evening I, along with my friends Sumit, Rohit and Akshay, went to ‘Shree Laxminarayan
Temple’ in Little India. Before that I purchased shreekhand and rajgira vadi
in Datar’s famous shop ‘Peshwai’. Then we went to a new hotel ‘Mumbai 2 Goa’,
which had this offer of shreekhand-puri
as complementary dish on every meal. So had shreekhand-puri
on the occasion of Padava. :-) The hotel is ok ok – not many
options for vegetarian people but the menu looks real good for seafood lovers.
Note
to all relatives and friends in Pune: when you will visit Grahak Peth on the
occasion of Ramnavami, take panhe and
sunthavada on my behalf too! :-)
Now
I will come to the main topic of this post.
I
was actually not sure of what to write today, as all the stories of why to
celebrate Padava and other related stories will already be there in newspapers.
All those stereotype columns will have been published in every newspaper. All
these articles regarding festivals and traditions are becoming like the ‘dekhave’ or decoration and plays during
the Ganapati Festival (dekhava is a short
theatrical play created with statues and is supposed to be source of entertainment,
sometimes addressing the current situations or historical events). This mandal’s (group’s) dekhava can be seen at some other mandal next year and that mandal’s
dekhava is put at some other mandal (of course some mandal’s are exception, e.g. Gavalivada
mandal). Similar to this, recently it has been observed that the same articles
with the same contents are being published in various newspapers with very
minor changes. All the editors discuss the current affairs (of course the ones
which won’t be politically unsuitable for their owners) and in almost every
article one can notice the sentence ‘we all should come together and take initiative
regarding - -’ (put some virtues and current affairs here).
We
have this great tradition of ‘bomb marane’
(officially speaking ill words on the day of holi). This tradition has been incorporated in our great culture by
our great ancestors to allow the otherwise civilized and good mannered people
to have the ‘special drinks’ and then speak the way they want to without anyone
judging them! Of course our - - political leaders do not fit this group (insert
the adjectives honorable etc. etc. in place of - -). One (self-proclaimed ‘tagya’ - goon) political leader recently
vomited some unspeakable words about drought affected people. This may be
because his hangover from the day of holi
is not over yet! The political history of Maharashtra has seen so many speeches
with loads of censored contents of such bad levels (interested people can check
the speeches of one of the late Marathi actors – the real Dada and a recently deceased great political leader – of course use
headphones! These will be available on YouTube) that this specific speech was
just the plain speech compared to them. But still the intention was so wrong. How
you dare to mock the drought-affected people who expect some help from you (not
because you are great or something but simply because you are in power and in
position to help)? There is no water in dams, these political leaders say. How is
it possible that there is no water only when it is required for farming and household
purposes? Water is available for all other purposes – IPL, holi, constructions and palaces of rich and eminent people,
wineries and other water exhaustive factories and activities of political leaders!
We must ask these questions! What happened to all those multimillion projects
for water harvesting? They are trying to suppress their wrongdoings and
mismanagement with this issue (reference: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/other-states/maharashtra-drought-manmade-analysis/article4577079.ece). There had been a multimillion
project for artificial rains few years back. What happened afterwards? Of course
the newspaper and TV channel people won’t say anything about this, because of the
political and monetary relations of their owners!
Another
main point is current MP of Pune! He has spent more time in courts and jail
than he spent in his constitution! We should show such people their real place.
The parliament elections will be held within a year now and we all should take
them down from power. Whether the current MP will get another chance or not is
not fixed yet. The ‘clock people’ might also push forward their candidate, but
we should unite against them. The ‘clock’ is now dysfunctional and must be replaced!
Other political parties are also not good but they are at least less bad.
But
what more can one say about the politicians! These people generally have their followers
(goons), so one must be beware of them. The article by one of my friends
describes the situation I described in the last two lines (Ameya Sawadkar: https://www.facebook.com/notes/ameya-sawadkar/of-saving-money-for-things-essential-for-living/10151340163946835).
Being
a true Punekar, it is my duty to give you all some advice after all this talk
against these people. I have already written some articles which will give you
some good laughs. Also in my second post I wrote a poem about historic person. But
this time I want to advice you all and make an emotional call for the
betterment of Pune!
So
am telling you all what has been in mind for more than a year. According to me,
currently there is only one person in Pune who can be a true leader and represent
Pune. But it seems that he has taken voluntary retirement from politics. Some people
might not approve of him because of his past unsuccessful affiliations with
some political parties, but this person has very good experience of actual governance
and he also had contested for MP elections as an independent candidate. He has written 'Aswastha Dashakachi Diary' and really cares for the society. I think
there is no need to tell his name, his qualifications speak for him! Great orator;
well educated; very famous and popular in youth he is! We need such a leader! If the people in Pune take initiative and do something, we
may be able to change his mind. It is the need of time to end the tyranny of
the current dada’s and bhai’s and have our own candidate for elections!
I am sure that many NGOs and other
organizations will be ready to back him as he is the person with very good reputation.
The common man and especially youth will surely support him. I will write a
separate article about this sometime.
It is my
wish that well educated, same minded, good people from Pune should come together
and do something about this. We all rant about the current political situation
on internet or privately, but now is the time for action! There are many non-political
organizations in Pune. As a Punekar, I wish that all of them should come together,
discard their agenda of remaining non-political and take initiative for
betterment of Pune. Our Pune has always been the center for all the historical political
activities and I wish that this time we should try this novel experiment for
the upcoming elections and should be the pioneers of new revolution!
I expect all of you to think about this and spread these thoughts as
much as possible!
Note:
all the thoughts expressed here are personal and if similar thinking people
come together and undertake something, I will be very glad.
-
Sumedh Dhabuरत्नाकरधौतपदां हिमालयकिरीटिनीम् ।
ब्रह्मराजर्षिरत्नाढ्यां वन्दे भारतमातरम् ॥
