Mhadei River Water Issue - my reaction to some developments.

Since yesterday my mind is occupied by this Mhadei water issue.

First, I saw a recording of the press conference by the Progressive

Front Of Goa, where speaker after speaker blasted the union

minister for Env & Forests, Sri Javadekar for his back stabbing

and U turn.  

Then came the news paper where the headlines said PFG

demands resignation of CM of Goa and  also mentioned almost

everything that I had seen in the video clip. 

Today’s newspaper says that Congress Demands contempt of

court case to be filed against Sri Javadekar. 

After seeing all these, I was curious to see where the U turn and

backstabbing took place!!  I wanted to see blood stains if possible.

Thanks to our bollywood, and Whatsapp, we are now addicted

to seeing blood. 

I had nothing much to go by other than two letters which have

been in circulation amongst all whatsapp groups in goa for the

past few days.  

I searched for and found them. 

One letter is dated 18 Dec 2019, signed by the Deputy director,

some division of Ministry of env & Forests,  says, “Subsequent

to learning that the river water dispute between Goa and

karnataka is in SC, the letter issued on 17 Oct 2019 (Probably

the letter giving environmentl clearance to Khalsa Banduri

Canal work ) is kept in abeyance.” 

The second letter dated 24 Dec 2019, Signed by Minister for

Env &Forests Sri Javadekar, says, “Government of India has

not kept in abeyance, the EIA notification of 2006 or the rule

that drinking water projects do not need environmental clearance”

It goes on to say that Karnataka can start the work once the

water tribunal verdict is notified in the gazette. 

I was very disappointed that I could not find any backstabbing,

U turn, or blood stains anywhere !! 

Any sensible person reading and understanding the two letters

can make out that the letters are written by two different people,

pertain to two different enquiries and refer to yet two more

different matters.  

And if the Minister says that Karnataka can start the work,

subject to notification of tribunal verdict in the gazette, he is

again right because the tribunal has awarded certain share of

Mhadei water to Karnataka. And gazette notification will come

only after SC takes a stand/ decides on the case. 

Now the petitions in SC, their outcome,  misinterpretation and

misuse of letters are all entirely different matters. 

I tried to contact people directly connected with the issue for

clarification but no answer is forthcoming. 

I don’t see anything wrong anywhere and I don't know If it is

because I have missed something, Confused, Stupid or because

I can only read what is written and

have no ability for thinking crooked.

Now that I have written this, my mind is free. This writing doesn’t

serve any purpose but I can concentrate on other matters like

dentistry, my pension arrears, tax liability, new number plates

etc etc which are waiting. 

My wife says “why do you break your head about all these things,

why can’t you keep quiet and attend to your work”.  Well, I don’t

know. I think I should heed to her advice.  

Merry Christmas 2019

During the last month, the onion prices skyrocketed, there was the very

un fortunate  affair of rape and encounter killing at Hyderabad and

following that was the nationwide disturbance because of CAA, which

is still raging. 

All troubles and disturbances born out of human greed, ill will, wickedness

and in general, human nature.  

One has to think a hundred times before accepting any other human being

wholeheartedly, unquestioningly, completely. And we are still not sure !

I think that’s why we have our gods and our beliefs. To provide us with

an entity which we can wholeheartedly accept, without any hesitation and

a mental frame to  do so. 

And our festivals are there, to probably reaffirm and remind us about it. 

Also, to provide us with a time space during which we can put aside the

irritations created by us, temporarily. 

Christmas, is a festival with a very nice feeling. Rejoicing the arrival of a

divine power  amidst us. Believers revel in the festival spirit. Others may

enjoy the festive atmosphere ! Sri D V G, a philosopher/poet says,

“to be able to enjoy other’s happiness is the greatest of virtues”!

My neighbours have prepared for Christmas with lot of enthusiasm.

My daughter in law has added to the spirit with a  Christmas decoration

in our waiting room ! And the Christmas cake gifted by a kind patient is not

 a cake but the proverbial icing !!

Merry Christmas to everyone ! 

Serendipity Art Festival - Panaji - 2019

I first heard about the Serendipity art festival four years back. I remember

that there was a music programme and an exhibition of paintings in the Panaji

Municipal Garden. I remember having seen the exhibition. My knowledge of arts

(and everything else) is poor and I don’t remember much about it.

I have been hearing the name of the festival every year since then. Last year

there were some very large and artistic (ugly to my eyes) sculptures which were

displayed all over the city during the festival and one of them, a hen in a bag,

(I think it was a product of the festival and not ordered by PMC for ‘beautification’ of

the city - I may be wrong) was given a permanent space on the footpath next to

D B Road. It occupies a major part of the footpath and I hated it and people

responsible for it, for that. Very thoughtless, irrespective of the beauty of the

sculpture. (My opinion, obviously, not of PMC)

This year I got to know of the Serendipity Festival in little more detail and registered

for few performances. I attended the River Raaga and the Yakshagana on the 18th

and was stumped by the punctuality, performance, arrangements, facilities, attention

to detail and - the most important - toilets ! I was told the arrangements were equally

good in many of the programmes my family members attended.

The festival includes dozens of programs and workshops in various art forms and also

other activities like cooking, gardening, city walks etcetc.

I plan to utilise it fully next year, if it is held in Goa !

👍👍 to Serendipity arts festival.

Uttarakhand - Woodhouse farm - Ramgarh

I visited the sacred temple of Sri Badarinath some 10 years back. That was my

first experience with the hill roads of Uttarakhand and I had decided that it would

be the last. I loved the place. The steep cliff on one side, the deep gorge on the

other side with the rushing river at the bottom and the view of the snow capped

hills. But I hated the roads. Winding narrow roads battered by landslides and

feeling like they were made entirely of loose mud and gravel. You keep moving

with difficulty fearing a landslide or loose boulders falling from the top. You witness

vehicles ahead of you getting crushed/pushed into the gorge by falling boulders.

And there is no chance to turn back ! We managed to complete our trip without

disasters and I decided not to go there again. 

But my family zeroed upon Uttarakhand for a short holiday and my son assured

me that it involves just about two hours of road travel. And that this terrain was

not as threatening as the ‘Chardham’ roads.  We were to take a flight to Delhi

and then travel by train to a small city named Khatgodam. From there, the village

Satoli, where we were expected to stay, was about two hours by road - if you

knew the exact location of your hotel. Add half an hour if you were depending

entirely on Google. Because, google urges you to take some interior road which

is barely 5-6 feet wide and you have to (as I did) get down and walk ahead to

confirm that it leads somewhere and that there is a provision to turn back,

if required. 

Anyway, the flight to Delhi and the journey by Shatabdhi express to Khatgodam

were fine, if you overlooked our stupidity of getting into compartment C1 instead

of E1 and the struggle of getting out of C1 when others were trying to get in ! 

Our destination ‘Wood house farm’  in satoli village was a cosy cottage of four

rooms, out of which we occupied three and one remained empty. We spent two

days there and shifted to the Neemrana Hotel at Ramgarh for the next two days.

An old British bungalow having four rooms, located on top of a hillock. No sight

seeing trips, no shopping and no other activity. Weather was splendid, surroundings

beautiful and service good. Best suited for lazing and reading and that is what we

did. As is my practice, I am maintaining an account of our trip on my blog through

pictures and captions. www.dentaldiaries.blogspot.com if you have patience for more. 

It is a pain to arrange pictures in order while posting on the blog and hence I have

left them in the random order that they appeared. I liked the shape of pine trees

and their effect on the landscape and hence there are a lot of pictures. Kindly bear.

Difficult to find level land in the hilly terrain. One such place, a clearing, next to my walking path at Satoli.  

The cottage at Satoli had a wonderful selection of books. Many, to my liking. Found, started and finished a book by one of my favourite authors Ruskin Bond. 

 Our group at Khatgodam station. 

Sitting and breakfast area - front of cottage at Ramgarh

Example of the Interior roads

Entrance to the cottage at Ramgarh

The looping road, photographed from a higher

point during my walk.

The common space at Wood house cottage 

My favourite corner for reading. One of my best reading experiences. 

The Cottage at Satoli 

One of the many 'hill view' pictures 

Took pictures of anything that looked good to me. Pine trees on a slope.

One of the many more !

Caption not required 

Ramgarh. The building with green roof was the place where we stayed. 

Warm morning sun and my chair, facing the Himalayas at a distance. 

The Himalayan Range, as seen from the cottage at Satoli

Picture taken from a height. Gives an idea of the terrain in general, at Ramgarh