AnswerTips: Double-click any word

Rajeev was reading the ‘Thai plane crash story’ on CBSNews a coupe of days ago and found something ‘cool’. He accidentally double-clicked somewhere and a small JavaScript pop-up opened up. The window had definition/meaning of the word Rajeev double-clicked. He showed me and I got interested immediately. It’s AnswerTips from Answers.com. I have installed it on this blog, test it by double-clicking anywhere on the page. If at all, you are interested, copy and paste the following JavaScript code anywhere on your page and your site is AnswerTips enabled too.

ICICI Bank responded unexpectedly fast

It’s just one month when I had all complaints for ICICI Bank. But today I seem to have differing views. I won’t say there isn’t any problem, but yes, the problem was handled like never before.

Actually my credit card’s last month bill was some Rs.27120. I paid Rs.27,000 in two part payments and couldn’t notice that Rs.125 are still to be paid. I was shocked when I noticed the statement. I was charged Rs.1300 as interest. I called up customer care and they declared that no matter how much is remaining, interest will be calculated on entire bill amount! Insane it was, 1300 rupees interest for 125 short-payment. Nothing on this earth can justify this calculation. Was already upset about something, hence accepted what that guy said and came home.

Past night, when came to office for a while, I found a mail from ICICI Bank reminding me for the current due to be paid. I became furious then, wrote a mail to ICICI customer care saying ‘why didn’t you send me a mail that sir, please pay 125 rupees otherwise we will charge you interest on entire bill amount’. I was so pissed-off that I warned that I will get rid of this card as soon as possible.

Withing 12 hours, I got a call from ICICI saying sorry for the act and promising me that they will reverse the interest charges. Just saw my online statement, they have really reversed the charges!

They made a mistake but this time they handled it in a wonderful way. I expect the same from every vendor in this world. Everybody makes a mistake but you can still remain good if you handle it well.

News of the day, CarWale.com is one of the top 100 in Asia

Well. it’s official now. CarWale.com is among top 100 Asian companies, Red Herring declared this in its Red Herring 100 Asia 2007 event today in Hongkong. Mohit sir was present in Hongkong to receive this honor.

I am on a high, finishing the post as well as the day’s work right away. It’s time to party!

Read complete news at CarWale.com Blog.

Alert!!! Renew And Secure Your Internet Banking Account Immediately

I was surprised when I received a mail from ICICI Bank (customercare@icicibank.com) with title Alert!!! Renew And Secure Your Internet Banking Account Immediately. The mailer had a ICICI Bank logo and the mail format was quite similar to what ICICI has. Below is the complete mail body:

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Security Update for Online Users

Currently, you are on the ICICI Bank Company Mailer

The internet has become widely accepted for banking online. While we have taken all the possible measures to ensure security and confidentiality of our online banking systems, as we are providing you 128-SSL Secured Server which is highly protected to store your passwords.
Now we are updating our 128-SSL Secured Server to 256-Encrypted SSL Secured Server which is highly sophisticated server to maintain your personal information as our prior service to you.
Important: Due to concerns, for the safety and integrity of your online banking account we have issued this warning message.

During our regularly scheduled account maintenance and verification procedures, we were unable to verify your account information. It has come to our attention that your account information needs to be updated as part of our continuing commitment to protect your account and to reduce the instance of fraud on our website .We demand that you take 5 minutes out of your online experience and renew your records to avoid running into any future problems with the online service. However, failure to update your records will result in your account suspension. Once you have updated your account records your internet banking service will not be interrupted and will continue as normal.

If You Have ICICI Bank Personal Account , Click here https://verification.personal.icicibank.co.in/verify1.jsp

If You Have ICICI Bank Corporate Account , Click here https://verification.corporate.icicibank.co.in/verify2.jsp

Sincerely, ICICI Bank Security Department

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I didn’t think much and clicked the ‘Personal Account’ link and landed on a page that was quite similar to what I see almost daily (oh yes, I use Internet banking too frequently). But when I was about to fill it, I noticed it is asking me for somewhat suspicious information like ATM pin and all. Then I had a look at URL. Hell! It was anything but ICICIBank.com!!! The URL was

http://www.iikii.com/bemarket/imgs/save/3/rbc3/www.icicibank.com/Login[1][1].jsp.html

Then I went back to mail-box, saw mail headers and found that mail has been sent by sd1967.sivit.org. So, I was about to become a victim of phishing! Trust me, it could have been a disaster. I remember well that a few months ago someone trapped me and took away my orkut password. He looted two of my communities which had over 4,000 members. Though it gave me a shock and I left orkut the same day but it gave me a lesson also and I am wary of such things now.

If any mail asks you your email, username, password, ATM pin, credit card information or any such thing, please make sure that you are not being trapped.

Isn’t ICICI Bank going Indian Government way?

I am an ICICI Bank customer for a long time now. I also have a credit card with them. Trust me, having an Internet-banking-enabled bank account and credit card of same bank is a blessing. You don’t need to worry about anything, keep on spending in malls and repay sitting in your office chair. I appreciate ICICI Bank’s Internet/Phone banking capabilities (and fantastic security too), I really don’t remember when I visited my bank branch last!

But unfortunately I have had a few highly disappointing incidences with the bank. The latest was horrible. Here I go:

I had ordered some gifts against my reward points on 25th of July and I received them on 28th or so. I was to give some of them to Sudha. Before I could give her these, someone from BlueDart called me asking if I have opened the box? I answered in positive. The guy on the other side said, ‘Sir, ICICI has asked us to take the parcel back! There is some problem in the delivery’. I was surprised as if there was some problem why didn’t ICICI call me? Anyways, I asked the guys to come and collect the ‘opened’ box. I couldn’t do anything but to apologize to her!

Today is 12th August and there is no news about the gifts or my reward points! Mess!

Is this the way a bank like ICICI should behave? If there was some problem they should have called me regretting for what they have done and should have asked me for a balanced solution. Or were they supposed to ask some third-party to take the gifts back from my hands? Can you imagine, how humiliating it is? At that moment I thought of suing the bank literally but cooled myself off thinking, this is the way we all are. And ICICI is no exception.

Another bad experience I had was when I contacted them for a small personal loan sometime back. I contacted three banks i.e. ICICI, HDFC and Citi. Among them HDFC and Citi were more than desperate to give me the loan, in fact Citi committed to hand me over the cheque within 2 days. But since I bank with ICICI, I thought it would be better to get loan from these people but ICICI didn’t give me a damn even after receiving all the desired papers. They didn’t even bother to contact me since then.

Anyhow I don’t need a loan anymore but the practice was a lesson to me that DON’T SEEK ICICI FOR ANY SERIOUS BUSINESS! They have got enough mullahs and are happy with that. ICICI is happy to be what it is today and doesn’t have intention to expand.

In nutshell, I think ICICI is overall a great bank until everything is a success in one go, but if something needs a second attempt, you will have tough time with them.

Tesu and Jhainji in Bundelkhand

A fellow-Ambahite sent a mail in Ambah group a couple of days back. The mail contained something very special, well to me and every person belonging to Ambah or Chambal. The mail had a few Tesu and Jhainji songs written in Devnagiri script. All original bundelkhandi/brij dialect ones. Those songs and much more is composed by Mr. Mushtaq Khan and is available at this URL. All the stuff is in Hindi/Bundelkhandi language/dialect.

A quick overview of Tesu and Jhianji: As the Deshahra/Vijay Dashmi finishes, Chambal starts to celebrate a very interesting ceremony. Almost every chambal family takes part in this ceremony but at individual level. At least one boy (5-15 years age) in the family buys a Tesu ( a three-leg statue, resembles a king/prince) and girl (of similar age group) buys a Jhainji (a pot made of mud, resembles a queen/princess). Now boys and girls roam in streets in groups, singing Tesu-Jhainji songs. They go to every door-step and ask for money (usually 25 paisa to 1 rupee). This goes on till Sharad Purnima (15 days prior to Diwali). On Sharad Purnima, the Tesu and Jhainji's marriage takes place. It's just like normal marriage. All major events take place in this marriage. Even a pandit is hired to perform the pooja. I had performed pooja in a few such marriages and could be able to get some 15-16 rupees ;~) Parents of the children too participate in this and enjoy the event. After marriage, Tesus and Jhainjis are broken by hitting hard on floor. Crackers, sweets, songs are all around to celebrate this mega-event.

Well, I should have described all this in past tense as nothing happens now. Chambal is modern now, unfortunately! Trust me, Sharad Purnima used to be a bigger festival than Diwali at my place. It's all over now. Thanks to technology for providing TV, CD players, mobile games...

Anyways, I don't know Mr. Mushtaq Khan but I sincerely thank him for making so much efforts for us. And yes, I am thankful to Deepak as well to bring up such a great thing.

The Kite Runner by khaled Hosseini

Great book! I am away from books for at least three months due to extreme busyness in office and at home but I managed to complete this book by sleeping late at night and awaking very early in the morning. It was really a pain, I won't do this exercise for anything but I just got hooked to the book. It was worth all that pain. :-)

The Kite Runner is a story of Amir, son of a very rich businessman of Kabul, Afghanistan. The Kite Runner is Hassan, a servant-cum-friend of Amir. Hassan is son of Ali who was given shelter by Amir's grandfather. Ali served Amir's father, serving Amir was duty of Hassan. He served Amir well, amazingly in fact. Hassan never disappointed Amir and always thought Amir agha (sahib) is a friend of his but Amir didn't think the same for even a second. In some very dramatic political conditions, Amir had to leave Afghanistan. Ali and Hassan couldn't come with them. But some very unfortunate incidents in Afghanistan brought Amir back after all twenty-two years. Hassan's son was waiting for him...

Novel has pre-taliban background of Afghanistan, mostly. After reading the novel, I came to know really good details about Afghanistan, its people, culture and economy. I also came to know a special type of muslim community, Hazara and their relations with muslim (shia, sunni) families in Afghanistan. A little description of Taliban's effect on Afghanistan is also provided by Mr. Hosseini.

Overall, a very thrilling, moving, genuine story written in really wonderful way. 9/10 from me.

'The Wanderer Thinks' shifted to my own website

Happy News! 'The Wanderer Thinks' has got a new address: www.BanwariLalSharma.com/Blog/. :) Site doesn't have anything apart from this blog as of now, I will try to upload a few pages in a while.

Well, if you have been redirected from http://banwarilal.blogspot.com, then I am sorry for the inconvenience. The information you are looking for, can be found in the archives. Notice the URL you clicked on, there is a date format e.g. /2007/04/. It says this post was written in 04 i.e. April of 2007. Browse relevant month to read the post. :-)

A bad day...

A bad day began when I left to office without breakfast. It was hardly one hour in office when I burnt motherboard of Rajeev's machine. While coming from hardware shop, tyre of bike got punctured! Got a repair shop around and got the tyre repaired for 40 rupees. Yes, fourty rupees for a puncture-repair! Just 400% costlier than Bhopal. It wasn't enough, I felt worst when I saw a Palio S10 in this condition...


Luckily, day didn't end this way. Got news that Arun sir's marriage has fixed. Had a quick party, took two samosas and one-and-half glass of Pepsi. :-)

My sweet Bhopal and its sweeter Bhopali language

A few days ago, Mohit sir asked me to search 'Bhopali Bakar' in wikipedia. Though I am very much comfortable with the meaning of the term, I was wondering what will it come up with. Searched and found a page with Bhopali Bakar title. Went through it and found myself laughing like anything. I had been in Bhopal for around seven years and I enjoyed this special Bhopali-style language a lot then. This page just reminded me old sweet days. Thought of sharing the same...

Maniratnam is the Guru

Watched Guru last Sunday. Though I have a lot to say but considering that fact that I am at work and that too it's morning, I am keeping it short.

What an acting! What a direction, cinematography, music! What a movie! Maniratnam, A. R. Rahman, Abhishek Bachchan, Mithun Chakravarty... Everything is so good about the movie. A big thumbs-up to junior Bachchan and Mithun Da for their class-leading acting. I think, it's time for Mithun Da to do second-round of mind-blowing acting.

Indian cinema is growing and growing like anything. So many great movies in such a short span... Rang De Basanti, Lage Raho Munnabhai, Dor and now Guru! It seems every new movie I am watching now is making an entry in my all-time-favourite list.

I watched Guru in R Adlabs, Mulund. Happened to visit Nirmal Lifestyle too. Apart from the great movie, what amused me most was this dance event for children at Nirmal Lifestyle. Despite of the fact that photography is strictly prohibited there, I managed to click a quick snap there. :-)

Is it Modernization or Westernization?

I and Rajeev were standing on a tea-stall behind our office. It's almost a routine for me and Rajeev to visit the tea-stall at least twice-thrice a day, no matter how many teas we have in office in a day. ;-)

There is a private college with some Tilak... name. I am not sure about the courses offered by the college, but I saw MBA/MCA written below college's name on a wall nearby. Every-time I go there and see the students, I find myself thinking unnecessarily. There is always a debate going on in my mind. Topic? Westernization vs Modernization! Every student has got something different as far as looks and outfits are concerned. Take example of their pants, they wear pants those are so bizarre in looks, it seems they haven't washed them for months. They are so low at waist, it seems they can fall anytime. Underwear are apparently visible and if they bow in front direction by 30-40 degrees, you can consider yourself one of the people who got a chance to see private parts of this gentleman/lady!

One young gentleman was shouting abuses at someone on phone. His opposite-sex batch-mates were standing very close to him and were giggling all the way. This guy was center of attraction for everybody passing by. I would rate those abuses below C-grade, only a sadak-chhap drunk moron can abuse this way. We Indians use incestuous abuses and we (men) can digest them but the abuses seemed alien to me, felt like approaching the guy and slap very hard. The only thing I could think was, 'These are under-graduate students. Future of India! What happened to their manners?'

Suddenly, many questions seemed to blow up my mind! Is abusing aloud a sign of being contemporary? Wearing highly obscene/vulgar clothes a symbol of being modern? Are they modern? Or are they going Western? Or are words Modern and Western synonyms? One part of my mind says, Banwari, beta, you are too much traditional to digest this. You have come from a very small place and these young fellows have been living in the fastest Indian city for their entire life, and this makes a difference. But another part of my mind is not able to accept it and keeps me bugging, always. It says, 'Mumbai is going towards Westernization, not Modernization!' :-)

New Year, New Resolutions... New Blogger!

Another year passed finally and I am in 2007! Unlike every other year passed, this time I have set some goals for myself. There are some new year resolutions. Most of them are very much personal and I don't want to bore anybody with my personal life. One resolution I can talk about here is 'I will try to blog more. At least 5 posts per month.' Well, I seem to fail at this resolution of mine. 17 days have passed and it's first post of the year. Blogger has come out of Beta stage and have provided some new cool features (still figuring out, what are those?).

I have many expectations from 2007 and myself. Will have to try hard to live up my own expectations. So, 2007... I'm coming. :-)

Chiken Munia: An epidemic or fantasy?

I visited my home-town (Ambah, Morena district, M.P. India) during Diwali festival and found something strange there. The instant I entered my home I came to know that almost every member of my family has pain in their hands, legs/feet. They had fever too just a few days back which vanished over time. My mother, who was on bed told me that we are not the only victims of this strange disease but entire district is struggling. My father added that not only Morena but people in almost 500kms range are suffering. He concluded that its Chiken Munia, an EPIDEMIC!

Chiken Munia starts with very high temperature and ends up leaving pain and swelling in hands/legs which seems never-lasting. There was no medicine available in the market for the disease, doctors were recommending people to have good rest and patience. They said, it will go on its own. However, no one could believe them and people were taking pain-killers, injections in order to reduce the pain. I saw my mother's right hand which she could barely use for any work in last couple of weeks. She took injections on alternate days but in vain. Visited a few friends/neighbors and realized that almost every Ambahite is suffering or at least have suffered! In nutshell, none at Ambah seemed 100% fit, doesn't matter how good or bad at finance s/he was. When I went to Bhopal (which is 450 kms far from Ambah), Auntie told me that she too had suffered from Chiken Munia and still have some pain in hands.

I was wondering what Indian government, doctors did in this regard. There was no medical camp held, no special medicines provided, no precautions aired, virtually nothing happened. It seemed that there is no disease/epidemic named Chiken Munia. My brother took me back to reality, reality of Indian government, Indian politics. He told that there was some statement in newspapers/TV by some health minister that "Chiken Munia is no epidemic. Its merely a fantasy which is originated in idle minds in order to create some buzz around." I couldn't stop myself from smiling at my brother's declaration and thought, 'Wah minister sahib, how true you are!'

Goli by Acharya Chatursen

You must be thinking where do I find these books? Its quite possible that you are completely unaware of the fact that there have been a good Hindi writer in India, Acharya Chatursen, reading his work is out of question. Including this one, I have read three books from this writer, Vayam Rakshamah (the best among three) and Vaishali Ki Nagarvadhu. And I am sort of fan of this writer. Sometimes I wonder why Mr. Chatursen is so forbidden? After reading his works, I find him good enough to be considered in good Hindi authors. Mohit sir/Priya didi once suggested me Vayam Rakshamah and I was wary of the title/author/book. After reading that book I realized that I have no idea of Hindi literature, how can I miss such good writer. Later I came to realize that it wasn't me who didn't know about him, it was he who is not so popular. A few months back, Google search for Chatursen used to return absurd/irrelevant results. Today when I searched again, I got this Wikipedia article and got a reason why Chatursen must have been forbidden.

Goli (a term for females, for male, its Gola, plural is Gole) is (or was, no idea!) a caste/subcaste in Rajasthan. Golis are bound to become concubines of kings, they live in king's Rangmahal the same way as queens live. They get everything except for the proper respect. Everybody in kingdom knows what and who Golis are. In nutshell, they get every possible luxury in life but at the cost of dignity. Kings don't marry them, produce children with them and in order to give those children father's name, kings marry these females to some similar caste person or Gola. Gola takes care of his wife (so called, he cannot even touch her!) and children. Kings play with these females, enjoy, humiliate and throw away, if Goli has got some brain then King makes sure that she is killed silently.

Goli is based on a true story of such a female, Champa (virtual name. Chatursen hasn't revealed identity of any character or place). Time period of story is around 1900-1950 (India was ruled by English people then). In a 242-pages novel, Chatursen has elaborated the story quite nicely. Entire life of Champa from birth to elderly-age is narrated in her own words. Unlike Vaishali Ki Nagarvadhu, characters are not in huge numbers and are prominent. Hindi too is not as hard as Vayam Rakshamah or Vaishali Ki Nagarvadhu. Since the background is recent enough, Acharya ji have used Urdu and English words very often (you can starve for one such word in most of his books).

Story seemed genuine and in a sense it touched me. Overall I liked the book, 7/10. Now I look forward for more Chatursen literature, I'm lovin' it! ;~)

Book Details:
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Goli by Acharya Chatursen,
Publisher: Hind Pocket Books,
Pages: 242 (paperback)
Price: Rs.90

Durgeshnandini by Bankimchandra

Picked up this book along with Goli by Acharya Chatursen from Jhansi railway-station while coming back to Mumbai. Just wanted to read a book of Bankimchandra, didn't have much expectations, started reading and found it good. Writing style is different at one particular point. What I found amazing is the fact that Mr. Chattopaddhyay interacts with readers, he asks questions, he firstly created doubts then he himself clears them. He calls readers Tum, I think it might be a bit awkward for elderly, senior readers... actually am not sure :(

Its a love story of Jagat Singh, son of Maan Singh (his sister was married with Akbar) and Tilottama, daughter of a thikanedaar in Bengaal. Jagat Singh meets Tilottama and her caretaker Vimla in a temple. They had to take shelter in this temple because of thunder and heavy rain outside. Their eyes meet and they fall in love with each other momentarily. They decide to meet at the same place after 15 days, Vimla comes instead of Tilottama and takes Jagat Singh to Virendra Singh's (Tilottama's father) fort. Meanwhile Katlu Khan's (a decoit Pathan) men attack on fort in the leadership of Usman. Katlu Khan attacks Virendra Singh because he refused to support Katlu Khan in battle. Virendra Singh went with Akbar/Maan Singh. Jagat Singh was here in Bengal to vanish Katlu Khan's terror. Now Usman and Jagat Singh were in front of each other swords in their hands. The only difference was, Usman was with thousands of his men and Jagat Singh was alone...

I found writing style similar to Acharya Chatursen or a few others. Story was very much concise and was involving. Story seems historical rather than fictional. I knew a few characters already. I have read a couple of books in which Maan Singh, Jagat Singh were there. But in those books I didn't like them. But this book has created a spark inside me and I now look forward to explore more about Maan Singh and Jagat Singh.

Story might seem like a typical Hindi movie but yet you can appreciate it for its originality. Bankimchandra has done a good job of writing the story beautifully. I give story a 8/10 and book a 6/10 overall. A good quick read! :-)

The Story of My Experiments with Truth or An Autobiography by Mahatma Gandhi

Was searching for this book for a long time. No online store had it, searched it in some local book-stores but no luck. Actually I was under impression that Gandhi ji wrote it in Gujarati and Hindi originally and later he only translated it into English. So I was looking for Hindi original, however I didn't find it in any language! Went to Priya Didi that night and she handed me over the Hindi translation! Yes, then only I realized that Gandhi ji wrote it in English originally. I thought like saying NO to didi and find English one now but couldn't resist myself, picked up the book as soon as I finished Shalimar the Clown.

I was always very much curious about Gandhi ji's life, in fact I must say I didn't have very good views about him. Sometimes it happens with me that even if I don't know anything about something I start making prejudices, same happened with Gandhi ji. However even after reading his autobiography I am not able to prove myself wrong for what I used to feel about him. I still don't have good views for him and I need to read more books/articles on him to know more about him. In fact my research should start where Gandhi ji finished his autobiography i.e. his role in Indian independence and after-independence politics. But still this book gave me a fair idea about Gandhi ji's life.

I must say, I am pretty much impressed with this guy. No doubt he was a genius, not born, not god-gifted but he made his fate himself. He dominated in his magnificent personality. While reading the book sometimes I tend to compare myself or people around me with the protagonists, other characters, same happened with this book. Until Gandhi ji crossed 40 or so, he seemed very much disappointing to me. Not a single sign of great (or should I say, good, educated?) human being. He acted very cheap at times, he did what a person with good sense of humor is supposed to do. He stole money, ate meat to build his personality, went to prostitute (well, just went!), suspected his wife and many other small-big things. But the good thing with him was his determination, genuine/pure thoughts, desperation for going ahead, care for others and above all truth. Whatever he did, he knew he did wrong, he confessed and corrected it. Whatever he has confessed in his autobiography is not an easier thing to do.

He was very common, dull student in the class, who was afraid of failure in Indian college, just to skip this hard study, he went abroad. He did what every common man is supposed to do. He followed others so that he can be considered more civilized there, he wasted money on things that a wise man will never do. In nutshell, his personality didn't reflect anything that could be predicted as this person will become father of a nation. But he did it and did it very well. I guess, this was his truth, his genuine thoughts, his helping hands for everyone and determination.

I always wondered why this guy got so much hype, I realize now that that wasn't hype. He deserved whatever he got. Its no easy task to help others while your own future is on stake, you have a family to take care of. I don't know what I learned from Mahatma Gandhi ji's autobiography but I can say one thing for sure that if Gandhi ji can go this ahead, anyone in the world can go even farther. The only thing you need is determination and truth in your life. Harishchandra could have been a virtual character in Indian mythology but I think Mahatma Gandhi is no less than him. Whatever I think about him, will write later but as of now I am feeling very good that I read his autobiography. I will buy the original English version and will keep with me as inspirational book.

Shalimar The Clown by Salman Rushdie

I always wanted to read Rushdie's Midnight's Children, in fact I was planning that I will start Rushdie literature with this book only but its unfortunate that I read Shalimar The Clown first and now I am not sure whether I will read Midnight's Children or not. Was wandering through the books, asked the shop-guy about The Kite Runner, he answered in negative and handed me Shalimar The Clown, saying 'Sir, you will like it.' I picked the book, had a quick glance and thought, lets check Rushdie out.

I finished the book last week with mixed feelings. Salman Rushdie writes first-class literature, no doubt. Writing style was quite different for me and I guess I liked it. Research? Its fabulous, he seems to know everything around and put it very beautifully. You can prepare for UPSC GK test by reading his books. But story... I think story couldn't bind me, it seemed highly elaborated and distracting. Story seemed to cover entire world. At times I was wondering, what is Mr. Rushdie up to? I started the book considering it as murder mystery, poor me, and ended up realizing it was a plain, straightforward, literature book. It seemed the book was written for literature students only. Typical course book! It seemed I read the book in wrong age or maybe at wrong time at least, my mind is not stable these days, so maybe I spoiled the good reading anyhow. Anyways, I won't be reading Midnight's Children or any other Rushdie book until I find myself very much dedicated for it. I think, you just cannot dare reading Rushdie while doing some other stuff, you need to be a dedicated client of it.

I am not rating the book as it will be injustice to it. Am not blaming Mr. Rushdie for making me sleep earlier while reading the book, am blaming myself that I didn't give the book my hundred-percent.

Chambal-Division - Yesterday and Today; Myth and Reality

Apart from writing book-reviews and other minor-major things, I am seriously considering writing on Chambal-division now on. (If you are new to the term Chambal then hold on, I will be explaining it in next two paragraphs.) I simply love this place. No, its not pure chauvinism. I agree that I belong to this place and its quite inevitable that I love this place but there are many other solid reasons for loving it.

If you have gone through my profile, homepage and some previous posts you might have well realized that I belong to a very small place Ambah which is there in Morena district of Madhya Pradesh state, India. Despite of the fact that my native place Ambah and its surroundings are wonderful places to live in, irony is that they are highly notorious in India. They are considered to be Bihar of Madhya Pradesh. (people from Bihar should not get offended here as they share the same fundamentals that these places I am talking about have.) My objective of writing about Chambal is to make people aware with the realities of these places. I have a lot to tell and I want to tell it aloud so that every single person who have heard about Bhind, Morena, Ambah should realize that these are not those places they have been reading or listening about. They are quite simple, normal and friendly places like the ones you are living in.

If you have been interested in Indian Civil Services or any GK-based exam, or like to read newspaper or have watched old Indian daku (Dacoit) movies then you must be well aware with Chambal ghati, Chambal beeharh and or Bhind-Morena. Yes, I am from same notorious place that you have worst thoughts about. What you have been told by media, movies and all is a bit different than what I will be telling you. If it surprises you or you need further clarification of anything, please do let me know, I will try my level best to come up with a solution.


Its just a preface, I have a lot to talk about, like people, place, agricultural status, education, dowry system, caste system, poverty, festivals, revenges, disputes, killing, and every other thing that I know and you should know too. Will begin with it very shortly.

Vipradas by Sharatchandra

I had read Sharatchandra's Devdas, Parineeta, Charitraheen and Baikunth Ka Daanpatra earlier and I liked them very much. This was the only reason that made me and Rajeev jump over Jabal's (Arun sir) collection of Sharatchandra. I picked up Vipradas last week. As you must be expecting, its a Hindi translation of his Bengla book with same title (I hope so, I don't have an idea about the original book.) Publisher of the entire collection is Raja Pocket Books. The books are quite different from they are expected to be. These books look like more of station-chhap books, with shiny names and all. Price is quite economical, 50 rupees per book. Paper quality is above average and there are not much printing errors etc. There is one major problem, you don't know who the translator is. Book doesn't talk about the translator at all.

This novel too, like maximum Sharatchandra novels, has very much influential, mostly Brahmins, jamindaars and well-educated people. Like Premchand, poverty is not an issue with Sharat Chandra. Our protagonist, Vipradas Mukhopadhyay is the eldest son of Dayamayi, jamindaar of the village Balrampur. He is well educated, has enormous physique, is very much influential and is very kind. Villagers, his family persons respect him from bottom of their hearts. He is step-son of Dayamati but is the main person of the family, looks after all the property and business. Story of the novel rotates around him only mainly, though his younger brother, his wife, his wife's cousin sister etc are other people in supporting roles.

There is not much to talk about the story, its small, straightforward but involving. Its written in typical Sharatchandra-literature-style, a complete family drama, love story with very good depiction of society, its values, its narrowness and peculiar rule-regulations. What I feel about authors like Sharatchandra, Premchand and other authors of their time is that they were not completely fictional. They presented us a real picture of their time, society and people. They tried to solve many of traditional, superstitious problems, they tried to move people by their work. They didn't write bull-shit just to make people feel good. Perhaps money wasn't on top of their minds. I feel very good after reading such books, believe it or not but they influence me a lot. Sometimes I start feeling like if I am doing nothing for my country, my people. This book wasn't revolutionary like Godan of Premchand or Ganadevta of Tarashankar Bandhopadhyay.

Overall a satisfactory read. Would say nothing was great, but everything was above average. 6/10 would be my bid for this book of Sharatchandra.

Book Details:
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Vipradas by Sharatchandra (Hindi Translation)
Publisher: Raja Pocket Books
Binding: Paperback
Pages: 182
Price: INR 60
ISBN: 8176041149