One That Got Away
I am not sure how many oldies remember the movie "One that got away "
It is 4.30 am and I am already at the key board. Something seems to be bothering me about this Super Power Thing that is being discussed amongst IITians.
Money, Power, Greed, Lust, Crime all for what ?
We come to this world with empty hands and leave with hands just as empty.
So what makes man chase Money, Power and Sex
Is this what we want for India ? I don t think so.
Happiness is within all of us and cannot be bought with money. I do not want my India to be a Super Power ever. I just want my India as a better place cleaner with no corruption where every Indian has three reasonable meals to eat and a genuine health care and education system. We have a society where youngsters are encouraged to become doctors because the can make a lot of money. If only we could change these attitudes and try to serve the society India would be a much healthier place.
Physically I am sitting here in Sydney. Just Physically I should say and I do love my wife and son and dog family and friends in that order.
My heart and my thoughts on the other hand are constantly thousands of miles away "back home in India". A phrase most Indians embrace with passion. Yes most of us left India seeking better futures for ourselves and our families and we did succeed as well.
I have no regrets at all about this move.
At my age I have spent half my life time in India and the other half in Australia having landed here in 1976. Australia has been a fabulous place for education, career, bringing up a young family. A great multicultural society where no one is above the law and every one is equal. A country where there is dignity of labour and where my plumber makes more money annually than my doctors.
Like any society there are successful people and also great many failures. I am happy to consider myself successful and lucky. The last 30 years have been Golden Years and I will always maintain that Sydney is the best city in the world giving the best of the East and the West being truly multicultural. Hey Chinese food in Sydney is better than in Singapore. How about that ?
We perhaps have the best medical system in the world called Medicare this was founded by Labour PM Gough Whitlam in 1975. His dream was to give every Aussie a Free education and a Free Health cover. I benefited by doing my masters without paying one cent to Sydney University. Despite being a land of Honey and Milk and a small population of 21 million these were not sustainable as the systems were collapsed by the vultures of society who exploited every loop hole for private gains. Doctors rorted the medicare system and now the costs are soaring and every one is encouraged to take out private medical insurance. In spite of all this we are miles ahead of the rest of the world.
Unless one is an absolute looser and ends up on Hyde Park benches with a bottle of sherry in a brown paper bag as early as 10..00 am, this country I should say is Heaven on Earth.
Having lived in my heaven for 29 years I keep thinking as to what my life would have been had I not made the move to come to OZ. I do not even know if I made the move or it all happened due to sheer circumstances.
In 1974, I was shunted to Rameswaram as a punishment for standing up to corrupt officials in Tamil Nadu Highways. My experiences were no different to Dubey as I was part of a National Highways project and was the Junior Engineer for the Pamban Bridge at Rameswaram . Funny I have in fact worked at Transport Bhavan in Delhi for six months, believe this is where the National Highways dept is located now. And this is perhaps where orders to eliminate Dubey may have come from. We do not know the truth now but one day the truth will come out. Truth triumphs and never dies ever.
I was cornered on the streets of Rameswaram by three Gundas who put a knife to my throat and warned me they would bury me alive in the sand dunes at Rameswaram. My own Exec Engineer was behind this as I blocked the corruption that was rampant then. I was approving all the genuine bills for work executed by subcontactors mostly labourers who carted sands from the dunes to form the approach roads to the proposed Prestressed concrete bridge with a navigable span.
Funny my salary was Rs 450 those days which was enough to feed myself and my peon yummy biriyanis and parata kurma plus a bottle of what ever. It was my peon Muniayya and the Road Inspector Madasami who came home one night and grabbed all my belongings and put me on a train to Madras. They had come to know that rumours were going around that I was going to be bumped off.
I somehow used all my pull and connections in Madras to worm my way back into the designs cell of the highways dept. That night in 1974 on the Train from Rameswaram to Madras these two men said to me Saar get out of India ASAP.
Believe it or not I found my way back to Rameswaram in 1998 and met Muniayyah and Madasamy and my favourite guest house watch man Muthiah in his 80's by then. I then realized that I had never really left India. My heart was always there and is still there.
It is time for me to give back as much as I can without asking WHY ?
I am the Dubey that got away and that is perhaps why I am so angry that Dubey was murdered.
Had I not escaped and stayed on I would have been bumped off and fed to the sharks at Pamban.
I am the lucky One that Got Away at age 26.
A few months ago Rajah my dog was bleeding from the ears profusely. Just would not stop. Rushed him to the Vet for treatment and just the consultation and bandage cost me $240 which works out to Rs 8400. I am sitting here and wondering how many Indians may have died because they could not afford medical treatment and surgeries etc etc.
Yeah Apollos are great to serve the rich and upper middle class. What about the have not s ??
That is what Jeevodaya is all about. It may be just one small institution helping the terminally ill die with dignity.
Something is better than nothing is it not ?
Have a look at www.jeevodaya.com if you care and can make the time. Be my guest and sign my guest book.
Now my dream would be to create a jeevodaya in every state in India but have no clue where to start
I am not sure how many oldies remember the movie "One that got away "
It is 4.30 am and I am already at the key board. Something seems to be bothering me about this Super Power Thing that is being discussed amongst IITians.
Money, Power, Greed, Lust, Crime all for what ?
We come to this world with empty hands and leave with hands just as empty.
So what makes man chase Money, Power and Sex
Is this what we want for India ? I don t think so.
Happiness is within all of us and cannot be bought with money. I do not want my India to be a Super Power ever. I just want my India as a better place cleaner with no corruption where every Indian has three reasonable meals to eat and a genuine health care and education system. We have a society where youngsters are encouraged to become doctors because the can make a lot of money. If only we could change these attitudes and try to serve the society India would be a much healthier place.
Physically I am sitting here in Sydney. Just Physically I should say and I do love my wife and son and dog family and friends in that order.
My heart and my thoughts on the other hand are constantly thousands of miles away "back home in India". A phrase most Indians embrace with passion. Yes most of us left India seeking better futures for ourselves and our families and we did succeed as well.
I have no regrets at all about this move.
At my age I have spent half my life time in India and the other half in Australia having landed here in 1976. Australia has been a fabulous place for education, career, bringing up a young family. A great multicultural society where no one is above the law and every one is equal. A country where there is dignity of labour and where my plumber makes more money annually than my doctors.
Like any society there are successful people and also great many failures. I am happy to consider myself successful and lucky. The last 30 years have been Golden Years and I will always maintain that Sydney is the best city in the world giving the best of the East and the West being truly multicultural. Hey Chinese food in Sydney is better than in Singapore. How about that ?
We perhaps have the best medical system in the world called Medicare this was founded by Labour PM Gough Whitlam in 1975. His dream was to give every Aussie a Free education and a Free Health cover. I benefited by doing my masters without paying one cent to Sydney University. Despite being a land of Honey and Milk and a small population of 21 million these were not sustainable as the systems were collapsed by the vultures of society who exploited every loop hole for private gains. Doctors rorted the medicare system and now the costs are soaring and every one is encouraged to take out private medical insurance. In spite of all this we are miles ahead of the rest of the world.
Unless one is an absolute looser and ends up on Hyde Park benches with a bottle of sherry in a brown paper bag as early as 10..00 am, this country I should say is Heaven on Earth.
Having lived in my heaven for 29 years I keep thinking as to what my life would have been had I not made the move to come to OZ. I do not even know if I made the move or it all happened due to sheer circumstances.
In 1974, I was shunted to Rameswaram as a punishment for standing up to corrupt officials in Tamil Nadu Highways. My experiences were no different to Dubey as I was part of a National Highways project and was the Junior Engineer for the Pamban Bridge at Rameswaram . Funny I have in fact worked at Transport Bhavan in Delhi for six months, believe this is where the National Highways dept is located now. And this is perhaps where orders to eliminate Dubey may have come from. We do not know the truth now but one day the truth will come out. Truth triumphs and never dies ever.
I was cornered on the streets of Rameswaram by three Gundas who put a knife to my throat and warned me they would bury me alive in the sand dunes at Rameswaram. My own Exec Engineer was behind this as I blocked the corruption that was rampant then. I was approving all the genuine bills for work executed by subcontactors mostly labourers who carted sands from the dunes to form the approach roads to the proposed Prestressed concrete bridge with a navigable span.
Funny my salary was Rs 450 those days which was enough to feed myself and my peon yummy biriyanis and parata kurma plus a bottle of what ever. It was my peon Muniayya and the Road Inspector Madasami who came home one night and grabbed all my belongings and put me on a train to Madras. They had come to know that rumours were going around that I was going to be bumped off.
I somehow used all my pull and connections in Madras to worm my way back into the designs cell of the highways dept. That night in 1974 on the Train from Rameswaram to Madras these two men said to me Saar get out of India ASAP.
Believe it or not I found my way back to Rameswaram in 1998 and met Muniayyah and Madasamy and my favourite guest house watch man Muthiah in his 80's by then. I then realized that I had never really left India. My heart was always there and is still there.
It is time for me to give back as much as I can without asking WHY ?
I am the Dubey that got away and that is perhaps why I am so angry that Dubey was murdered.
Had I not escaped and stayed on I would have been bumped off and fed to the sharks at Pamban.
I am the lucky One that Got Away at age 26.
A few months ago Rajah my dog was bleeding from the ears profusely. Just would not stop. Rushed him to the Vet for treatment and just the consultation and bandage cost me $240 which works out to Rs 8400. I am sitting here and wondering how many Indians may have died because they could not afford medical treatment and surgeries etc etc.
Yeah Apollos are great to serve the rich and upper middle class. What about the have not s ??
That is what Jeevodaya is all about. It may be just one small institution helping the terminally ill die with dignity.
Something is better than nothing is it not ?
Have a look at www.jeevodaya.com if you care and can make the time. Be my guest and sign my guest book.
Now my dream would be to create a jeevodaya in every state in India but have no clue where to start
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