Pursuit

If you live in India or have ever traveled to India in the second decade of 21st century, you would have found a lot of places having fancy street foods, specially, in the metropolitan cities like, New Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.

If you exclude the posh areas of New Delhi and NCR(National Capital Region), and then walk on a very normal street/roads which connects welfare housing societies, you are likely to easily spot the following roadside options like, Ice-Cream tricycles, Open roof stalls of Sugarcane Juice, roasted corn and maybe the push-truck(thela) tickiwala(also called, Chaatwala).

An addition to this group is the roadside “Gol-Gappe”(also called PaniPuri). Now, what’s PaniPuri? It consists of a round, hollow puri, fried crisp and filled with a mixture of flavored water (known as imli pani), tamarind chutney, chili, chaat masala, potato, onion or chickpeas. The complete setup on which Gol-Gappe, Pani and other spices are placed is very easy to carry and move, and also can be quickly placed anywhere and can start selling it back. Now you are thinking, why I am writing about all this stuff? Here’s why.

Every evening when I am traveling back home from work, in the last part of the transit I have to make a 20 minutes walk to get to my apartment. In these 20 minutes, starting from getting down from the auto, finding the Panwari(guy who sells Paan, which is made up of betel leaf with areca nut) and cigarettes(which is sold more than the paan these days), interestingly, his wife also sits during late hours to keep the business up. Some 200 steps ahead, I find the Ice-Cream tricycles from Vadilal, Kwality Walls, Creambell and newly famous Havmor, which is expensive to my pocket. 😛

After 5 minutes, I find a little boy selling Gol-Gappe at the corner of the right turn of the road. I walk towards him, and ask for the rates. He replies, “4 pieces for 10 bucks”. I said, “Can I have it?”, he offers me a dona(which is a paper bowl). The Panipuri tasted amazing!! 😀

Yesterday evening, I left early from work and while getting back home, I met the boy again. He is 3/4 of my height, considering I am not tall, so he looks short. He should be around 10-12 years of age. I asked him, “What’s your name?”. He replies with a smile, “Vansh Gupta”. I asked him if he goes to school, he replies “Yes, I go to school”. With a thought on how he gets time to study, I asked “When you study or do your homework?”, he says “during night, after having dinner”.

I asked him if I can take his picture which I will share on internet with my writing. He shakes his head with a smile. 🙂 I said “Okay, can I take picture of your setup?” And he says “Yes” this time. I also checked with him, “So, where are you from and who else are you in your family?”, to which he replies, “I am Mirzapur(in Uttar Pradesh), and here I have my father and brother who also sell Gol-Gappe, whereas my mother lives in hometown(Mirzapur)”.

He has friends of same age. They also sell Gol-Gappe. One is Rajkumar and another is Komal. I have ate Panipuri from them too. 🙂 Komal is the smart one, like a leader among these boys. I think he likes momos because I have found him eating momos a couple of times. Whereas, Vansh is the good-looking one. But they all are very simple and happy going boys. 🙂

At the age of 12, helping family to earn enough so as to get one time meal is really unbelievably appreciable. Just think about the sacrifices they have been making, like missing their mother, not playing outside in evening so that they help their father and surely not able to spend enough time to learn and study so that in future they don’t need to sell Panipuri.

The least you can offer is a Smile 🙂 to them, do not see them as someone lesser than you and just be good and motivate everyone around you. Life is not easy for everyone.

Tweeting: @thebrokenspecss

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Dear Daddy

Hi 🙂

I hope you are doing great at your end and having an awesome holiday season. 🙂  The year 2015 is about to bid adieu, time to thank for everything it gave us. So, before you get ready with your resolutions for year 2016 and plan out the party for New Year’s eve, I would like to share something similar to what I shared starting this year (Post: Slap Her!).

Recently, I came across a video which depicts how the society and its culture encourages violence against women.
In the five minute video, a unborn baby girl tells her father about all of the harassment and abuse she will suffer at the hands of men during her lifetime.

I won’t go into details and would like to share this video asking you to just give your valuable 5 minutes.

Warning: It’s about boys.

“One thing always leads to another. So please stop it before it gets the chance to begin.”

Tweeting: @thebrokenspecss

9/11- Ground Zero

September 11, 2001. A day the whole world will never forget.

Do you remember a world when September 11th was just another day? It’s hard to believe, but this year marks the 13th anniversary. It’s been 13 years since 9/11, 13 years since terrorists hijacked several airplanes, flying two in the World Trade Center in New York City and one each into the Pentagon and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

World Trade Center(WTC) New York 2001, International space station pictures from space.

 

Jumped from the tower

Even in impending death below, 2 people give some solace to each other. “You’re not alone!” No, none of those who were in those unfortunate upper floors of the Towers “deserved” what happened to them, but a couple of people here & there (there were 200+ people who fell from the burning buildings without any hope of rescue) held hands to help each other.

 

9/11 Memorial

A decade after the 9/11 attacks, two gaping voids still sit in the ground where the twin towers of the World Trade Center once loomed. But today the towers’ footprints are filled with reflecting pools and waterfalls, in what is now the 9/11 Memorial. Bronze parapets engraved with the 2,983 names of those who perished in the ’93 WTC bombings and at the hands of terrorists on September 11, 2001 wrap around the pools. The names of the victims are listed not in alphabetical order, but in “meaningful adjacencies” that reflect where they were, their affiliations, or personal relationships (as requested by their surviving loved ones).

 

Robert Peraza, who lost his son Robert David Peraza in 9/11, pauses at his son’s name at the North Pool of the 9/11 Memorial.

After 13 years gone by it still brings goosebumps when we see the documentaries which are telecast. The people who lost their life’s may not be from the same blood but it still feels like they were no different.

Today, tomorrow or 10 years from now – we will remember 9/11, for the husband who told his wife ‘I love you’ one last time before his plane went down. For the wife who stopped in the stairs to call her husband to say ‘I will love you forever’. For the mothers and fathers who kissed their kid goodbye the morning they died. For the policemen who rushed in with the fireman to help others only to die themselves. .

“We lost a lot, but we gained more. United we stand. We learned freedom isn’t always free..”