Sachcast

Riding a motor bike is a pleasure. For me, learning a one and also getting used to one has always been pain. But not anymore, as I have seen the pleasure in it. Coincidentally the make of the scooter which I ride these days is also called Pleasure. The best part of riding is listening to the vehicle and then going further accordingly. You can make out the speed as well as the disturbances. It's like a music, if you know it at the core, you can also make out the minutest discordances. Many people go after the speed and many more go for the show. I doubt how many go for riding for the sake of pleasure of riding. Even I have found it recently. All of my earlier affairs with various kinds of vehicles have never been the ones which I have loved. This time however it's different, as I have started out again keeping all of my past experiences aside. I am giving due consideration to all rules of the ride and not hurrying myself through. I don't let myself get much bothered by di...

It was a damn tough decision to leave a job at a large sized philanthropic organisation in India and going to a village with confirmed intention of settling oneself there. When I started to let people know about it openly and after finally putting in my resignation at the office, the reactions I received for this update were mixed, but not too mixed to get really surprised. After starting for my native village leaving Mumbai for good, I posted about it on facebook. That was also to say final bye to Mumbai, the city which has given me so much in my life. The status update got flooded with likes and comments wishing me well for my future endeavours. Had this been even about 10 years back, I doubt whether reactions would have been that positive. Majority of my close and older relatives who have lived a secure life with government jobs have always been against my getting into private and insecure world of low pay non profits. But now scene seems to have changed. I was actually surpr...

“थॅंक गॉड, मी मुंबईच्या बाहेर आहे.” एखाद्या माझ्यासारख्या नास्तिकतेच्या जवळ जाणारे विचार असलेल्या माणसाच्या तोंडातून हे शब्द ऐकून माझ्या आजुबाजूच्या आस्तिकांना अत्यानंद झाल्याशिवाय राहणार नाही. पण हे शब्द सहजच तोंडी येतात. हे सांस्कृतिक आहे, वैचारीक आणि मानसिक नाही. हे माझ्या मनातले विचार माझा गणेशोत्सवादरम्यान काहीतरी दिवस जिथे गोंगाटापासून दूर राहताना होणारा आनंद दर्शवणारे आहेत. “मुंबई मुलतः मराठी माणसाची आहे आणि इथे मराठी भाषेलाच प्राधान्य मिळाले पाहीजे,” इ विचारांपासून मी दूर गेलो नसलो तरी ज्या पध्दतीने इथे आम मराठी जनता तिचे मराठीपण जपण्याचा प्रयत्न करत आहे त्याचे गणेशोत्सव हे उत्तम निदर्शक आहे. हे निदर्शक मला सांस्कृतिक अवनती होत असल्याचे जाणवून देत आहे. दोन वर्षांपुर्वी एका प्रवास विषयक इंग्रजी वाहिनीवर एक अमेरीकन सूत्रधार मुंबईचा गणेशोत्सव सादर करत होता. त्याचे सुरूवातीचे वाक्य माझ्या कायमचे लक्षात राहीले आहे. तो म्हणाला होता, “ही मी बघितलेली जगातली सगळ्यात मोठी स्ट्रीट पार्टी आहे.” ज्या गोष्टी पाश्चात्य जगामध्ये एका बंद खोलीत आम जनतेला त्रास न होता केल्या जातात त्या येथे धर्...

While in the office at 1:00 pm on 4 th of April, I received a call from my brother in the afternoon informing me that my Grandfather had died. I rushed home and then went to his place which is just on the floor above us in our apartment building.  His body was lying there on the bed and his body was straight and stiff. People had started to gather. We needed to put a shirt on him as his body needed to be covered and prepared for the funeral. Ajay, the young man who did the job of taking care of him during the day time was there. My grandfather’s face was still looking fresh and alive except for the mouth which was open. I thought of closing it and felt the coldness and stiffness of the body. I could not close it. It was like a truth hitting the core of the heart, he Keshav Janardan Patwardhan was not going to return again to the life, at least not in this life, if one believes in the rebirth. As his body got cremated on the funeral pyre, in a flash of thought almost all of h...

I like to observe how people dress and keep themselves. Though it is one of the basic necessities of human life to protect body, wearing clothes and other accessories have become an elaborate art over the centuries. It is an integral part of the human beauty. For women as well as men, when, what and how much do you show and or do not show of your body can give different messages. While this is true in general there are people who don’t care about their dressing in general or at a particular occasion or moment in their life. I always like how people create their impressions through their dressing and body upkeep. I look at those political leaders. They wear those perfectly white kurtas and pyjamas but keep them not so perfectly ironed. If one is from a pro Hindu party, a red tilak on the forehead is found but worn with sharpness not blurred like the one that gets while performing rituals. Does it give the impression for us common folks that they are there with us but almost always a...

काही गोष्टींबद्दल जरा बिचकत, हळू आवाजात, कोणाला ऐकू येईल न येईलसे बोललेले चांगले असते. लिखाणातसुध्दा स्पष्टपणे रोखठोक न लिहीता आपला मुद्दा जरा आडूनच मांडलेला बरा असतो. अश्याच विचाराने चालण्याचे दिवस आहेत. सर्वमान्य आणि लोकप्रिय ते लिहा, वाचा आणि बोला अश्या टायपाचे वडिलकीचे सल्ले सहज फुकट मिळू शकतात आणि त्यासाठी घरातच कोणी मोठे असण्याची गरज नाही. पण जे जाता येता सहज दिसतं त्याच्या बद्दल खूल्या पध्दतीने लिहीले तर वाचायला कोणाचीच ना नसावी. पार्ल्याच्या पुर्व भागात एक पिंपळेश्वर महादेव नावाचं देऊळ आहे. देवळाच्या जवळच दोन पिंपळाचे वृक्ष आहेत. त्यातल्या एका वृक्षाच्या बुंध्याशी अनेक देवाच्या जून्यापान्या तसबीरींची भाऊगर्दी आहे. गणपती, लक्ष्मी, सरस्वती, मारूती असे सर्व देवदेवता सुखेनैव एकमेकांच्या बाजूला बसलेले दिसतात. पण सर्व तसबिरींवर प्रचंड धूळ बसलेली आहे. त्या तसबिरींमध्येच अनेक प्लास्टीक पिशव्यांमध्ये निर्माल्यासारखे दिसणारे बरेच काही भरून ठेवून दिलेले आहे. जुहू्च्या समूद्र किना-याजवळ एक निर्माल्य टाकण्यासाठी सार्वजनिक शौचालयाच्या जवळच एक मंगल कलश ठेवेलेला आहे. ते प्रचंड मोठे प्लास्टीक...

--------------------------------------------------------- This is the first ever English story written by me. One might find it too bold by the Indian standards. --------------------------------------------------------- Sameer and Ajit were best friends. When they were attending college they came close to each other due to their common interest in nature. They started to make long walks on the streets of the city identifying plants and birds. They started to visit parks and forest reserves. Their friendship had grown from their common interests to such a point where they had started to share their joys and sorrows. It was relationship of deep understanding and trust. Their class always used to talk about them that these guys see themselves as special as they were always together and never mixed in the group. They finished college; started hunting jobs and eventually entered into them. Their lives changed. With the stress and pressures at the work front, they started to lose on their...