Sunday, February 25, 2018

Pune - Bijapur (Vijaypura), Pattadikal, Badami, Hampi and Bangalore Road Trip - Self Driven - Trip day wise blogs coming soon

After a long break from long distance Car driving and visiting a new places, we are soon embarking on a Road trip on this circuit in the Month of March. The programme stands as follows:-

10 March Pune to Bijapur - Night Stay at Bijapur
11 March - Bijapur - Pattadikal - Badami - Hampi - Night Stay at Hampi
12 March - Hampi - Night Stay at Hampi
13 March Hampi - Bangalore - Few days stay at Bangalore
16 March Bamgalore - Hubaali - Night Stay at Hubali
17 March Hubali - Kolhapur (Darshan of Ma Mahalaxmi) - Pune

Short trip reports of every day of the trip would be posted. Dear readers, do look forward to the postings

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

India Post - nostalgia that it is

When we talk of India Post, first image that comes to our mind is that humble foot borne or cycle borne lovable figure (seen ourselves in our villages or shown in the movies) in his (those days there were only males in that job) Khaki uniform, lovingly (and also by his designation in the department) called "Postman"

Here was this character, who was lifeline to families of Soldiers posted to remote, unknown and unheard of places, Old parents whose children were working somewhere else in India, newly wed Brides who could spent barely few days with their husbands because he had to leave in search of a job, relatives who are anxious about the health of their near and dear ones in some other place and the list is endless.

There were others who were waiting for some one to tell them the news around their town, some waited for him to readout news paper for them (may be the postman was the only one who could read and write), some waited to ask the postman to write a reply to their son, husband, brother and who else for the letter they received some days ago (which also was delivered and read out by the same man).

People in the countryside might have waited for the Monsoon rain to arrive once in a year but they all waited for this vital character and a reliable one, their Postman, daily, for all 365 days (excepting Sundays).

The feeling in the town and cities has not been very different. Many a people achieved great sanctification when they sent a Money Order (New generation may not know about it and it might have been discontinued) back home and got the receipt as also letters written on a five paisa Post Card (Another thing along with Inland letter which young generation may not know) to inform them as to how they derived happiness by that meager money that was sent through Money Order.

The reliability and religiosity (Treating this job as a religion) in executing the task of delivering mail to people were (and even todate are) the hallmarks of India Post. Way back, when I was doing my BE at Bilaspur in MP (Now in CG), I have received letters where the address was just Harshad Datar, Bilaspur. It must be remembered that even those days Bilaspur was a big city.

When I asked the postman as to how such letters reach me, he explained that there are limited delivery zones in a city (Bilaspur had two, Rly Zone and CIty Zone). When a letter is received with incomplete address, all the postmen of the zone are asked if they have a person of that name in their beat. If the answer from one of the postman is yes, the letter is given to him. If the answer is no, the letter is transferred to another zone where this process is repeated. SOme postman in some zone recollects the name and delivers the letter, How wonderful.

Yet another time a letter posted by me with incomplete address (with out house no and lane no, left blank by mistake) for a Bandra East resident was still delivered. All this for a meager cost of two rupees (that w as the required postage for an envelop those days).

 Another great thing was, if any of the letter posted had less amount stamps then required, then it was termed Postage Due letter (and stamped accordingly) and was definitely delivered. The due amount was collected from the receiver. Such letters were termed "Berang" in Hindi. Knowing this habit or procedure of India Post, many a businesses intentionally posted their letters "Berang" i.e. with less postage stamps than required,, knowing fully well that due to postal procedures those letters would be definitely delivered.

There were some wonder employees of Posts. When I was at Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, Ooty, we had a postman, if I remember his name correctly, called Ranga. Every year about 400 hundred officers used to join. Each was allocated a locker number and within few days, Ranga knew each officer, his name and locker Number (all mail was delivered into the lockers). He did this years after years. I am not sure if he is still around, but this humble postman received praise and high respect from each of the officer attending staff course. Similar was the story in many bases where looking at your face the Postman would tell you if there is a letter for you or not.

Post Offices were old, dusty, run down, ramshackle but the service that they provided were first class, personalized, always delivered with smile and at very meager cost. They were just superb. The Nostalgia of the Post Office and its simple, sincere and  humble postmen who toiled each day serving all, rich and poor alike. Even other things like Post Office Saving Scheme were wonderful. Some poor people new only Post Office Saving Scheme as their first and mostly last bank.

Today post offices have somewhat modernized. Importance of the Snail Mail has diminished (not gone away), personal touch of postman (at least in big cities) is also somewhat reduced but India Post Nostalgia lingers on. What an Nostalgia India Post was an it continues to be.

May "Parmatma, Supreme Being" bless all those wonderful India Post Staffers who brought solace and happiness to millions, who shared peoples grief and consoled them, who were the hopes of millions and their only medium to be in touch with their near and dear ones who were far away for various reasons.

I love India Post and may they flourish with each passing day.




Monday, February 5, 2018

Tides, Depths and Safety on the Beach - For Everyone

Visiting a beach somewhere on west or east coast of India is one of the most popular recreation of Old and young alike. The call of waves and surf, the sand and the sunshine and the music of light wind, coconut and palm trees is impossible to resist.

Add to that the fun of lounging around in the waves and water on sea beach and all the fun that one has with the sand of a beach, making castles. playing Volleyball. etc. and the combination is too much. Who does not want to enjoy all that.

However, it does pain me to read the news of some or the other person loosing his life at a chilling regularity on some or the other beach across India. When I say this, I am not referring to accidents. Accidents do happen and even the best swimmers loose their life despite having all the knowledge. What I am referring to is the common people who land up on the beach with a very naive presumption of firstly the beach is like any other play area and secondly that they know all that is needed to know.

There are many things one needs to find out even before being on the beach. There is no guaranty that despite having found out everything about a beach one will be 100 % safe (there nothing called 100% in real life) but if attempts are made to find out vital things before venturing on to a beach, the chances of being reasonably safe while enjoying everything that the beach has to offer, increase very greatly.

This blog post is an attempt to inform people of all the things that matters while going to a beach. Here is the list:-

Gradient of the beach - The continental shelf (how the depth of water increases as one gets deeper into the sea) on the west coast of India is very gradual on most of the beaches. When talking of beaches on the East coast, the situation is entirely different. The increase in depth of water for initial few meters is gradual but then the continental shelf just dips by few tens or hundreds of feet. If one is careless, after walking for few meters into the sea, that person may just find the ground beneath his feet missing. It is therefore makes sense to tread very carefully on the beaches of Visakhapattnam, Puri, Konark, etc relative to west coast beaches.

To see the depths at various places, you can see the charts (similar to maps of land areas) on the internet for west coast and east coast of India.

Tides at that Place - Tides are the periodic increase and decrease in water levels on the beaches, caused by gravitation force of moon. It is a rough cycle of about six hours. That means twice in a day High Water (Rise in water level on the beach) and twice a day Low Water (drop in water level on the beach) happens. What is important is to understand that when Low water time occurs, flooding starts. In simple terms flooding means water flows from sea towards the shore (beach) and that throws anything that is at sea towards shore. When high tide occurs, ebbing starts and the water (and every thing that is in the water on the beach) starts flowing into the sea.

I am sure some of the readers have understood the implication of Flooding (after Low tide time has happened) and ebbing (after High Tide time has passed). In any case let me explain. Whenever Flooding occurs, it is safe to venture into the water on a beach with reasonable precautions as even if you are in difficulty, you would be propelled (thrown) towards the beach. When it is Ebbing, it is reverse. If you venture in to the water on a beach, the water would try to drag into the sea and if you have gone deep, extricating (rescuing) yourself towards shore would be very tough. 

Then what should beach goers do? Go to https://www.tide-forecast.com and check the tides for the beach being visited. Here is an example for Murud on Kokan coast:-

MURUD TIDE TABLE:

Tuesday 6 February 20183:13 AMIST3.29 meters(10.79 ft)High Tide
7:09 AMISTSunrise
9:43 AMIST0.89 meters(2.92 ft)Low Tide
11:26 AMISTMoonset
3:56 PMIST2.79 meters(9.15 ft)High Tide
6:34 PMISTSunset
9:40 PMIST1.38 meters(4.53 ft)Low Tide

Looking at the tide table, it is safe to venture into the water on this beach between 09.43 AM and 03.56 PM, between Low tide and high tide. It is unsafe to venture into the sea after 3.56 PM to 9.40 PM, between high tide and low tide.

Shifting Sands (Bottom quality) - At many places on the beaches, the bottom is very unsafe with shifting sands. Now you stand on the firm grounds in the water and in the next minute the ground either vanishes or you get few inches under the sand. This happens because of unstable bottom.

Internal/ Circulating Currents - This phenomenon is prevalent in enclosed areas of a creek or a cove. There are internal currents and while the depth may not be much but the currents make swimming difficult and very tiring. One such place is Marve Beach at Malad (West) in Mumbai. Here, qualified deep sea divers who are generally very strong swimmers find it tough to swim across the creek. In such places, venturing in to the sea beyond keen depth should be avoided.

Seek Advise of Locals and Abide (follow) with it - Locals (or if Life Guards are there)know the sea and the beach well. Take their advice about where and when to swim on that beach. It is important for your own safety to follow their advise. If they tell you not to venture into the water, do not venture in.

This post is to add to your enjoyment while at a beach by making you aware as to what all you need to know before you step in to the water.