A collage of photographs of Gurgaon

It is not about vindictiveness but forgiveness!

It seems somewhere, down the road we have become rather vindictive, revengeful,spiteful and yet we call ourselves Christians. We are baptised as infants, and then as we enter our teens we are confirmed. Confirmation becomes more  of a grand social event, and our entry into the club is guaranteed. It is a lifelong membership! But then the moot question is, are we fit to be called, “Christians”? Do we remember the vows made by our parents on our behalf during baptism, or, do we remember the statements of re-affirmation made by us during the Confirmation Ceremony? The answer is, no! We go on with our lives, school passes by and then comes college,and after college, we enter into professions of our choice! Somehow, down the road we forget all the vows we made before the alter and become as vindictive, revengeful,and malicious as ever! Even highly educated and enlightened professionals become vindictive and malicious towards those who they think are trying to, “Cross Swords” with them. Once this feeling of insecurity of the feeling of being threatened enters their minds they become the most malicious and spiteful of all Christians!”

The motto of of a school where I once served reads, “With Love Serve One Another!” Somehow we have forgotten the message of Christianity which is to serve one another with love,and instead we have started serving our own selfish egotistic selves forgetting the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross specifically for the forgiveness of our sins. By being spiteful and vindictive towards one another we are only crucifying Jesus Christ again and again, and how heartless we are to prolong his suffering on the Cross! We keep forgetting that New Testament is all about a forgiving God, God who sent his only son so that he could suffer for the forgiveness of all mankind. Instead we seem to favour the angry God who cast out Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden with the following words: Genesis, chapter 3:16,17,18,: “I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception (To Eve) – cursed is the ground for thy sake (to Adam) – Thou shalt eat of the herb of the field”. In Genesis 3: 23-24 we are told, “Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden – So he drove out the man”. The book of Hebrew 12:29, refers to God as a, “Consuming fire”. The message seems to be clear to all of us human beings to beware of being vindictive, revengeful and malicious towards each other lest God should consume us in a fire of wrath, if we are vindictive towards each other then how much more wrathful would God be towards us! But then we forget that in the New Testament, he is a more forgiving God: Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Spitefulness and revenge do not become us as Christian Stewards, and everyone has a mission today and this includes the laity! So many of our Christians are holding responsible positions in the society but  they do not take up their roles as stewards seriously, and this is because they get mired in the material world of intrigue, crossing of swords and even moon-lighting! Every Christian professional should set an example of humility, and forgiveness as exemplified by the life of Jesus Christ! Going to Church on Sundays is not enough to make us Christians, nor just boasting about our knowledge of  verses and lines from the Bible! We need to meditate and introspect to see where we have gone wrong.Unfortunately, the higher we progress professionally, the more vindictive and revengeful we become! Little do we realise that the higher we progress professionally, the greater is our responsibility as Stewards to exemplify the true spirit of forgiveness, salvation, redemption, and  love as enshrined in the New Testament. We should not be spiteful and revengeful towards each other lest we should draw the Wrath of God on to us! Instead of serving one another with love we are jealous and vindictive towards each other, and full of malice towards each other! It seems as if our motto has become, “With Malice Serve One Another!”

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Gurgaon, the city that never sleeps!

The once sleepy town of Gurgaon has come a long way from what it was once upon a time!there is no looking back for the Millennium City as Gurgaon is now referred to! What were once farmlands and covered with acacia trees and scrub have now come up with some of the most well designed buildings! Today Gurgaon looks particularly fascinating at night, what all those lights and neon signs. In fact, some of the advertisements come to life at night when the neon lights are switched on.

                  

It is amazing how this town which went off to sleep early now remains awake till late at night, what with street vendors continuing to sell their wares till late at night. Apparently, as more and more professionals work on late night shifts, especially in call centres, it seems as though pubs, fast food joints, and street stalls will continue to do brisk business. As it is, Gurgaon seems to be more peaceful at night because their is less of that mad rush that we have during the daytime, when their is hardly any space to walk!

                  

     

Of course the roads are still crowded with commuters zipping on to homes from places of work. There is always a great rush on the roads of Gurgaon even till late at night!

Gurgaon is also an entertainment hub with a large number of PVRs. or cinema halls, and of course you have the famous Kingdom of Dreams open theatre which hosted the famous play Zangoora! The hotels offer sumptuous buffets which include drinks. The visitor can gorge himself on the unlimited servings of Gourmet foods till dawn!

                 

From a sleepy town of many years back, Gurgaon has now become a city that never sleeps!

                 

No wonder with all the famous brands setting up show rooms here, it is clear that Gurgaon is the city to be in!

                         

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Money Talks-Money Matters!

Of all things that can motivate people to change, Money seems to be one such catalyst which prompts a sudden and rather distinct transformation of character! This change can be seen mostly in upstarts and those who have never had a surplus of this essential element! A few common jokes doing the rounds in Gurgaon are related to some folk who had sold their farmland for a huge sum of money and really did not know what to do with it. A few bought Mitsubishi Pajeros, BMWs. and a host of luxury cars whose ground clearance is so low that the underside always scrapes against speed breakers and humps on uneven surfaces and roads! There is also this interesting story about a village Uncle, Taou who goes around in a premium S.U.V. smoking a hookah with the A.C. running and one of the windows lowered!

The effect of a sudden flow of lucre on lesser educated people can be understood, but then its effect on the more educated and so called, “Enlightened” people is even more intriguing! I have observed how a sudden turn of favourable luck, and the promotion thereby to a higher and more prestigious position has changed the character of a person I have known for not less than fifteen years! The prospect of earning more money and the greed for more makes such people more and more ruthless, so much so that old acquaintances are passed over for those who can offer better monetary benefits! I have observed how such people begin to ignore even those friends who might have saved their lives from deadly diseases like dengue!

Unfortunately, the wearing of premium Tag Heuer watches or Rhodium based designer jewellery or driving a premium S.U.V. or an expensive suit doesn’t really cover up the defects and weaknesses in one’s character! The other day I was amazed to see a tall handsome man getting out of a swanky premium car. He had put on  premium clothes with designer labels and was wearing some expensive jewellery! what astounded me however, was that when he began talking to his female companion it was in a rather rustic and crude guttural tone! I doubt whether he could say even a few words in English!

But then to come back to my acquaintance of so many years, well, I have observed that in place of his humbleness and patience of yore, he is today restless, overbearing, impatient, rude, lost in his thoughts, conceited, and very proud! This rather sudden turn of luck has brought him the opportunity to mint more lucre in the form of commissions(because his salary is meager), and he has already bought some premium property!

What of the rest of the family members of the upstarts? Well she passes her time in the respectable pass-times of the rich and the famous, going to the parlour to get those pimples out, visiting the gym to get those bulges shrunk, spending time shopping for knick-knacks, and generally never wearing the same clothes twice! They nod at you with a rather haughty acquiescence, but then you see them as they were many years back, and no amount of make-up or wearing of designer  labels will ever change them for you!

Ah, well, I guess I will continue to be humble and modest, and still try to drive a bargain, and see if I can perhaps save a few Rupees, because a few Rupees saved means saving for the rainy day! Not for me would be that long car(more difficult to handle) you know, like in, “bring me the Caaaar”, I’d rather drive my modest hatchback and let upstarts be upstarts! If they return my greeting with a smile so would I, but if they ignore me, so be it, all that swank and swagger will not change what you were and will always be! Ah well ah well, I don't think that money can change the essential character of a man or a woman. A rustic will remain a rustic albeit a more polished one after attending personality development classes and a person with a guttural voice will continue to talk in a guttural tone!

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Damdama Lake-Gurgaon-A lost Haven?

Many years ago, when I used to study in college,  Damdama Lake used to be a wonderful picnic spot. It used to be a lake full of water, and boats that could be rented, and also a few hovercraft, an ideal place to unwind after a hectic week for picnickers and  anglers who could catch a large variety of fish.  This time when I visited the lake after nearly 12 years, I was surprised to see the famous Punjabi Singer Mika’s signboard proclaiming the boundary of a piece of land, no doubt a future farmhouse! What was not very surprising however, was the lack of water in the lake. Instead of rolling stretches of green, there were endless stretches of a fine kind of sand, the signs of an advancing desert!  Time  seems to have come to a stand still in Damdama,  there has not been any visible infrastructural development in the area. The fish-farm ponds were dry, the road leading to the complex was crumbling and not much excitement was visible in the visitors.The tents which were given out on rent are missing, and so were the hovercraft, although some boating was indeed taking place! Of the few photographs taken by me, I have pasted some.

                

Well, I guess, this expanse of scrubland, and the lake bed on which my brother is standing were once upon a time covered with water! The soft sand that now covers most of the area is very dangerous as we came to know when our car got bogged down, and we had to huff and puff till some of the local people came over to help us out!

                 

The boys in the photographs study in colleges in Gurgaon. Their common complaint was the poor connectivity of public transport between Damdama and Gurgaon. They have to go to Sohna, and then from there catch a bus to Gurgaon. The poor supply of electricity, old and literally crumbling electricity lines, and poor village roads and lack of a proper drainage system were some of the problems faced by them. Thus it is clear that not much has changed in Damdama in terms of infrastructure!

A spot of liveliness was provided by some of the water birds we saw feeding on fish guarded by the dog in the foreground, a perfect and balanced relationship between bird and mammals!

                 

This beautiful picnic spot is falling victim to desertification and unless something is done to save  it, it will soon disappear under advancing sand dunes!  The large variety of fish that used to swim in the pristine waters of the lake will all be things of the past!

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