A Leopard, a road and a memorable walk in Ramghar Uttarakhand

I've often been asked why, from walking 10,000 steps a day, I can increase it to 20,000 in Himalayas where the terrain Is rough. While I hate using the walking machine or thingjamay  in the gyms. The answer is simple: the view, my dear, the view. This is the road to Dak Bungalow, and the best part was when I saw a leopard cross the creek below me. He seemed more shocked than I was. We exchanged glances. He was rather young and inexperienced, seemingly out of place and apologetic, with a grin that said, "Oh hi, we weren't supposed to meet. Please don't report this to the forest department."

I was simply admiring the bees and flowers. I chose not to mention that I knew the Chief Conservator of Forests for Uttarakhand. Name-dropping rarely ends well, especially when a leopard, tired of forest trails, wanted a stroll on the nice tarmac road humans had built in his territory. Plus, he was quite friendly with me; with my physique, I could have fed him for a week or two. So, we decided to avoid involving the Uttarakhand Forest Department. Besides, who knows how that would end? Government officials are notorious for their excessive paperwork. My father, a government employee, had a file on me filled with health records, birth certificates, academic records, clothing purchases, school fee receipts, and even telephone and electricity bills. To keep it short, both his and my experiences with bureaucracy led us to conclude that discretion and non-disclosure were the best options. With a brief exchange of glances, we continued our respective journeys.

I refrained from offering him any advice. Young people today tend to react violently to unsolicited advice on civility and gentlemanly behavior. I suppose it was my father's tennis racket and powerful forehand and backhand that kept me from becoming the kind of thug the current generation seems to want to emulate. So, we ambled along, with me gaining wisdom about the attitudes of young people, while the leopard might have been contemplating his near-miss. Had he used the word "uncle," I might have been compelled to give report him to the forest ranger. But like a good, old-fashioned gentleman, he simply ambled away and jumped down a steep incline without injury. I made a mental note to mention this to his parents if I ever met them. After all you never know who you will meet in the Himalayas from Saint to sinner, all have made their abode here plus Indian parents have a knack for humbling their children, and they would undoubtedly pull him down a peg or two . "Call me uncle, will ya?" I mused.

As the sun began to set, I took out my torch and continued my walk, encountering a cow or two. Along with a few idiots who seemed to have learnt how to drive their motercycle  viabvideo games and were trying to set land speed records on Village roads. I beleive you call them politely as Morons of the first order of Bharat

Then, I received a call from my nephew warning me not to walk on the road below due to roaming leopards. I decided not to tell him about my pleasant encounter with the young leopard, as unmarried nephews with younger sisters have a tendency to preach. It made me wish he were married, as then he would understand the power of  woman's words, which even a passionate missionary can't match even though his faith Christ might be as much as St.Peters which is not saying much since they did denying knowing Christ but then you get the general idea.

Oh, what a tangled web we weave when we get married... But that's a story for another time. Dedicated to R.C. Dikshit, IPS who always had a new story to share.

when your past catches up with your present and memories bring a smile to your face

Many eons ago (or "A long time ago") on a cold and rainy afternoon, a boy read a story about a shepherd who would guide crippled planes back over the dark and foggy North Sea. The rain was pattering on the tin roof. A glass of hot tea, quickly turning lukewarm, was in his hand as he read and reread the story. He mused that his elder brother, Adarsh Nath Segal, had told him the story.

Then, he walked out of the school library into the warm sunlight and walked up to his house. He saw Nainital and the plains stretched out like a postcard just behind the Government House. As he looked out, he fell into thought and enjoyed the warm sun.

Years later, on a lazy Saturday afternoon, the same boy turned on the TV, put on Disney Hotstar, and found the same story as a movie there:

https://www.hotstar.com/in/movies/the-shepherd/1260154875

In a perhaps coincidental turn of events, he was going to a meet at 7:00 PM with some 20 of his old school students. Is the world round, or is this a coincidence? Is there even such a thing as coincidence? If only we knew... the  paheli puzzle called life. Perhaps Longfellow (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) said it best 

I shot an arrow into the air,

It fell to earth, I knew not where;

For, so swiftly it flew, the sight

Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,

It fell to earth, I knew not where;

For who has sight so keen and strong,

That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak

I found the arrow, still unbroke;

And the song, from beginning to end,

I found again in the heart of a friend

But the story does not end there riffling through the pages of an old edition of Reader Digest, guess what I found ?  The same story. The story is called The Shepherd is a 1975 novella by British writer Frederick Forsyth(I am a great fan of his works ) The Shepherd relates the story of a De Havilland Vampire pilot flying home from RAF Celle in northern Germany to RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk on Christmas Eve 1957, when his aircraft suffers a complete electrical failure mid-flight.

However, if my memory serves me right, the story as told to me by my elder brother was much better, the way he would add sound effects, the man deserved to be on the radio. Unfortunately, the world never got to hear him. I can still hear the way he told me the difference between a jet engine and a twin-engine propeller aircraft made of wood. My elder brother was Google even before Google was aware that it is Google. Suffice it to say, the sound brought my mother into the room to see what we were doing, but that is another story. The art of storytelling in an era when elder brothers taught you how to ride a cycle, walk, and bullied you into buying books they wanted. (Reader, don't worry, I have spent the last 30 years gifting him things that want and then keeping them. All my mobile phones are a gift to him:-)), apart from taking you on scooter rides where they banged up the scooter and both of uS were supposed to hide it (a blog on this later). Ahh, what a time it was, what a time...

Woman Empowerment in India is actually going back to the cultural Bharat had before invasions and rule by both Islamic and Christian invaders

Indian National Army, fighting against the Allied forces in World War II, had an all-woman regiment, the Rani of Jhansi Regiment, established in July 1943. Unfortunately, due to the short-sightedness of the military at the time of Independence, it did not last. India had to wait until 1992 when women were granted Short Service Commissions under the Vajpayee government during the Kargil War. Women pilots flew in combat zones from 2015, and more branches were opened up. Then, in 2021, under the Modi government, the NDA was opened up for women. Today, we have reached a full circle with an all-women battalion that will even engage in anti-terrorist operations. In the next five years, we might once again see a women's regiment.

Ironically, the first woman warriors in India date back 4,000 years to the Sinauli archaeological site. Years of repression under Islamic rule, followed by Western stereotyping of women's roles under British rule, led to the suppression of women's rights in India. However, mighty as the Islamic or British Empires were, India still managed to produce a Razia Sultan, Noor Jahan, and Chand Bibi, who led and ruled even during Islamic rule in India, where traditionally the role of women is not very strong. I am not counting the Hindu queens who ruled and fought Islamic rulers here, as there were many, and Islam was not able to subjugate all of India completely.

When the British arrived, they found they had to fight women rulers like Rani Chennamma, Ahilyabai Holkar, Rani Lakshmi Bai, Begum Hazrat Mahal, Rani Velu Nachiyar, etc. Eventually, the Victorian British norms curtailed women's rights and repressed them. The British influence destroyed many matriarchal societies in India, like the Nairs. Women's education suffered but was protected in places under Indian rule, like the Baroda Gaekwad State, which made education universal in 1906, while the first girls' school was set up in 1875. These notable exceptions existed.

The British, due to the 1857 First War of Indian Independence, saw women fighting and leading armies against them. Like typical Europeans, they shamed and called out the character of such women, especially in the North, calling them all nautch girls (dancing girls), even going so far as to say that prostitutes were instigating their troops against them! The repression that followed destroyed women's rights in India, which even the Islamic occupation was not able to do. The British took women away from leadership positions, even then it was the Indian Ranis who were among the first women drivers in the world. In 1905, we had a woman driver, and the Maharani of Bhavnagar, Nandkuvarba, in 1910, took the British Governor of Bombay for a spin in her car, which made front-page news for the British!

It has taken us over 77 years, but women are once again rising in India. Of course, the Western world likes to tell you otherwise. They, who destroyed women's rights in India, claim to have brought civilization to a nation that existed even before the Greeks did. We had covered drains before King Solomon's time and open drains under the British Raj! Remember your heritage and remember that you come from a nation that has considered women as Shakti. What you are seeing in the CRPF Battalions is a return to our roots. After 77 years, we are finally removing the dust of centuries of slavery and rising once again. Diversity and women's empowerment existed 4,000 years ago in India; we are today trying to reach the same levels we had before the invasion of this nation! This CRPF Battalion is just the first step to regain what we lost!