lionbikash

1.Qutb Shahi Tomb
2.Faluknuma Palace
3.Hussain Sagar
4.Charminar
5.Golkonda Fort

Today I will tell you the story of Bhagmathi. Did someone ask, why Bhagmathi? Because without Bhagmathi you do not have any Hyderabad. Surprised? Well, Hyderabad was earlier called Bhagyanagar, and Bhagyanagar was named after Bhagmathi. Hence you see without Bhagmathi you cannot talk about Hyderabad.
Before I tell about Bhagmathi, I must tell you about Hyderabadis. When you come to Hyderabad you should behave like a Hyderabadi ( when in Rome you should be Roman).
Now how do you find out a true Hyderabadi. I am giving you some tips to identify a true Hyderabadi:
You have come to Hyderabad, on the road, searching for an address. You ask anyone on the road, the answer invariably will be ‘Seedhe chale Jao’, whether you ask direction for Moosapet or Moosarambagh or Mojamjahi Market.
You will find people on the road able to speak Hyderabdi Hindi, Hyderabadi Hinglish, Urdu etc. fluently, except Telugu.
Any street you take, there is at least one mobile kiosk that serves chinees delikecies such as vegitable soft noodles, Navrotten Kurma, chicken manchewrian or American chompsee.
You will come across tailor sporting the board, immediate delivery, in two days only.
Seating in a five star hotel you find people asking for mangoe pickle while having lavish continental banquet dinner with exotic Chinese, Mexican, Italian and Lebanese dishes.
You will find people ordering for tea just after having finest desert after a lavish dinner.
Within a square yard you will meet at least One Srinivas, one Raju, one Reddy, one Venkatesh and one Prasad.
You will find everyone having at least one cousin, friend, collegue or acquainteance in the US in software.
Every time somebody gives any good news, the first response he/she receives, ‘ Party kab hai?’
“Parson” the word you will find used extensively for any past act, whether it happened day before yesterday or long before. For example don’t get surprised to hear ‘ Birla Mandir? Oh to parson parson bana.’ Actual date of construction should be some where in seventies.
In a fixed price shop you hear, ‘Dene Ka bhav bolo’.
You have an appointment at 5 P.M. and at 5 P.M. you start thinking at your residence what dress to wear.
You end up buying Salwar Kameez, whether it is in theatre, workshop, food mela, consumer expo, designer jewelry show, science show or an automobile convention.
Your response to any sane advice. ‘Kya dimag kharab hain?’

Well, I have again taken you to a wrong path, digressed from Bhagmati. Quite natural, after all, I am a true Hyderabadi.

I am on my monthly pilgrimage,
on my monthly pilgrimage to watch;
an eighteen year old widow and mother
sitting in a corner of the medical camp,
waiting for some rice and dal,
and medicines.
She looks up as her name is called,
I look at her eyes,
blank eyes, as if asking,
What is my fault?

It’s only two years of that fateful night,
the most memorable night for any girl,
Her wedding night.
She was at her best, bedecked with Saree and jewelry,
waiting for her GOD, her husband.
How she would have known?
her GOD has given her the wedding gift
The deadly HIV virus.

It is only two years.
Her husband, her GOD
left this world
left her alone to be condemned
by the society,
left her with a child, also infected
left her to die
A most cruel death.

I look at her eyes,
silently asking for her forgiveness
on behalf of all the human race,
on behalf of the cruel Almighty,
who has given her this wretched life,
for none of her fault.

This is my pilgrimage,
to give them a sense of life,
to share with them a few laughs,
to give them some solace
and a better dignified death.

Here below, I am reproducing my October communication to the lion leaders of my Region.
Dear Lion Leaders,
I wish you and your family happy Dusserah.
We, Bengalees celebrate Sree Sree Durga Puja during Dusserah days. Like every year, we are celebrating the festival at Keys High Schools, Secunderabad from 10th to 12th October. It is an occasion for us to meet friends and for socializing. The religious ceremonies are mixed with cultural activities. I hope you have received my invitation. Please join us in the celebrations.
Now the administrative responsibilities for the month of October.
You have to submit your audited Balance sheet for the year 2004-05 before 31st October.
You have to publish your quarterly club bulletin. Please give the full information of your club activities in the Bulletin. Send a copy to the Dist. Governor.
Start your permanent projects immediately.
I thank you and compliment you for your involvement in making campaign ROSHNI – 50 (under which we are conducting eye check up camp and will distribute spectacles to the children of 50 Govt schools in and around Hyderabad) a great success. All the clubs of our region have taken up the program in right earnest
We have inaugurated the ROSHNI-50 program at Addagutta Govt.Upper Primary School on 1st October. District Governor Lion P. Suryanarayana, was the chief Guest. Lion S. Manohar Raju, multinational Co-ordinator for Sight First II, Lion B. R. Rao, convenor, World Sight Day celebration, were the guests of Honour. Lion Ramesh Kosuri, Cabinet Secretary, has graced the occasion. Most of the clubs were represented by their Presidents, Secretarys, Treasurers and other members. In their speeches all the dignitaries lauded our effort in celebrating Lions World Sight Day in such a befitting manner. Lions club of Secunderabad Millennium, under the dynamic leadership of Lion B. Muralidhar, organized the inauguration function. I thank all the fine members of LC Secunderabad Millennium and the PSTs for organizing the program. I also thank all the lion leaders of other clubs for their enthusiastic participation. It gives me immense happiness that we will be able to contribute in removing eyesight problems to so many poor students.
The idea of this program came to my mind from my experience of last year’s eye check up camp conducted at Cheryal village, some 120 kms from Hyderabad. Lion M. Ramanaia, President of LC Secunderabad Diamond conducted the eye check up camp for villagers there. Till today I cannot forget the smiles on the faces of the old villagers when we distributed spectacles to them. They were profuse in their show of gratitude to the extent of embarrassment for us.
I take this occasion to urge you to extend the ROSHNI program to a new activity.
Diwali is fast approaching. Diwali is the festival of lights. We, Bengalees celebrate Diwali by worshiping Goddess Kali, the destroyer of the evil. We are celebrating the Puja at Bowenpally Cantonment playground, at Hyderabad Kalibari, Sainikpuri. I extend my invitation to join us in the celebrations.
On Diwali Day, I have decided to spend a couple of hours along with my family with the inmates of old age home, distribute some sweets to them and fire some crackers with them. I invite all of you to join me. You also can make this a club level activity by spending an hour or two at old age home or orphanage with your club members. This small gesture will really bring light to the heart of the unfortunates. Let’s give ROSHNI a new meaning – bringing light to the hearts of inmates of old age homes and orphanages.
Wishing you and your family – Happy Diwali.
Lion Bikash Ch. Deb
Region Chairperson

Today I was supposed to tell you the story of Bhagmati. But there is more interesting news and I could not keep myself away from the new story.

I count myself as one of the countless asses, who has a peculiar habit of spending at least a couple of hours every morning going through at least 3 newspapers and at the end cursing myself for wasting my valuable time.
This morning I encountered with a real surprise in Times of India; It seems sometime back renowned novelist Vikram Seth (famous for his book ‘A suitable Boy’) said,’ I often feel newspapers are just filling up space. And sometimes I do wonder about the priorities of newspapers.’ The editorial board challenged Seth to take up editorial task of TOI for one day. And the result is today’s edition of TOI, which is edited by Mr. Vikram Seth.
No doubt a novel piece of publicity for both the author and TOI. Let’s see the impact.
In today’s edition the front page carries the following headlines:
- Dalits (untouchables – lower caste) see nirvana in conversion; the story about a planned mass conversion of dalits to Buddhism at Nagpur, the headquarter of Rashtriya Sayam Sevak Sangh, (the right wing Hindu outfit) is situated here to coincide with 50th year of Ambedkar’s conversion to Buddhism.
- EC wants union minister’s kin re-arrested; a story about Election Commission asking Bihar Govt. to re-arrest Vijay Prakash, candidate for assembly election and brother of union minister Jaiprakash Narain Yadav a RJD candidate of Lalu Prasad Yadav
- Narayan Murthy ( The Chief of Infosys – the IT giant) in a sulk, quits airport body
- Rahul Gandhi ( son of Sonia Gandhi) to visit city today
No doubt notable change from the standard headlines of murder, rape, Tarannum (the bar girl, infamous for her supposed role in cricket betting) etc.
There is a detail account of activities of Mr. Seth as Editor on Page 14 of Hyderabad edition from which I give here a few quoted lines:
‘Seth wasn’t impressed with our decision to put a story about Cristino Ronaldo being accused of rape on the front page’
On creating a special page Bird flu – Seth was worried about creating needless panic, but also said it might not be bad idea to make readers aware of the threat and remedial action.
On trial of Saddam Hussain – an editorial ‘trial is not victor’s justice’.
An account of Karva chauth - a festival of married women on Kartik Poornima (Full moon Day) - ‘Dalits splurge on Karva Chauth’
the Google story – google earth – ‘a fascinating tussle between territorial claims and the information technology’
“How’d Sourav do in his comeback match?” And we saw a real sobering reporting on Sourav’s play instead of the regular criticism that we got accustomed with in recent days
His advice to the TOI
1. ”That way you’ll be taking a proactive approach to news rather than just reacting when it happens” – GOD save us.
2. “Remember, the great man-made famine in china took place only because they didn’t have free and fair press, which could highlight the extent of human suffering”
In my mind that is the real issue. The editorial board of all the media need to remember the golden rule ‘free and fair press’. The emphasis should be on both the words; FREE and FAIR.

I have kept our tryst with Bhagmati for the next edition. Do come back soon.

Hyderabad the city of Qutub Shahis, the city of the Nizams, the city of Koh-i-noor diamond, the city of Charminar, the city of folklore of Bhagmati, the city of Golkonda fort, the city of Salarjung Museum, the city of pearls, the city of Ramoji film city, the city of Hitek city………… the list is endless.

I am your guide to this beautiful city on the occasion of All India Lions Meet. From now on, till January 2006, I will take you to virtual trip to all corners of Hyderabad. We will make our journey through 400 years of history of Hyderabad, through the lanes and by lanes of Charminar, Ladbazar, koti, Husaaini Alam, commiserate, Kingsway. We will walk down memory lane, sometimes with real history, sometime with folklore.

From where should we start?
Let’s start with Golconda.
In telugu language Konda means hillock and Golla means shepherd. The story goes somethiong like this; a shepherd boy came across an idol on the hill. Hence Golkonda is a shepherd’s hill. The then Kakatiya rulers of Warangal constructed a mud fort around the hill. Nearly 200 years later in 1364 Bahmani rulers of Bidar took possession of the fort. In 1463, Sultan Mohammad Shah Bahmani dispatched Sultan Quli Qutb-ul-Malik to the Hyderabad region to quell disturbances. Sultan Quli conquered Golconda. He strengthened and expanded it considerably and ruled from Golconda as the Subedar of Telangana. The early years of the 16th century brought the internal squabbles within the Bahmani Sultanate to the fore. Sultan Quli enjoyed virtual independence from Bahmani sultanate. In 1518, he declared formal independece from the Bahmani Sultanate and established the Golconda Sultanate under the title Sultan Quli Qutub Shah.
Over a period of 62 years the mud fort was expanded by the first three Qutb Shahi Kings into a massive fort of granite, extending around 5 Km. in circumference. It remained the capital of the Qutb Shahi dynasty until 1590 when the capital was shifted to Hyderabad. The Qutb Shahis expanded the fort, whose 10 km. outer wall enclosed the city. The Qutb Shahi sultanate lasted 171 years until its conquest by Mughal emperor Aurungzeb The fall of the fortess is a saga of bravery and treachery. Aurangzeb laid siege to Golconda in 1686. Golconda held fast under months of siege, and Aurangzeb had to retreat in frustration. Aurangzeb returned in 1687 and laid siege for 9 months camping in the Fateh Maidan (victory field). The fortress held on, but the gates were opened at night by a saboteur who was bribed by Aurangzeb. Sultan Abul Hassan Tana Shah, the seventh king of the dynasty, was taken prisoner. Thus ending the glorious chapter of Qutub Shahi dynasty.
Let’s get back from history and go to the present Golconda fort, which is in ruinous state. We are entering through the ‘Fateh Darwaza’(Victory gate – the gate through which Aurungzeb’s triumphant army marched in). Can you see them with studded spikes – they are to prevent elephants from battering them down.
Enter and encounter with the fantastic acoustical effects designed and constructed hendred of years back. Let me held up the details for your personal visit. Don’t forget to notice the engineering marvel of piped water supply for it’s residents in those day. Let me act villain again and keep the other details of the fort for your physical visit.
The fortress city of Golconda was famous for it’s diamond trade. The world famous diomnd koh-I-noor, the regent and the Hope are said to belong this fort.
A visit to Golconda is a must for a visitor to Hyderabad. Don’t forget to enjoy the light and sound show at Golconda fort, where you will get a more intimate taste of the history of the city of Hyderabad.

Let’s stop for today at Golconda. Do come back again to a guided tour to other places of this city. I will tell you the story of Bhagmati in the next episode.

This is in response to a blog on 25% increase in abortions in the few months after Navratri in India.
Statistics is a very funny thing. So is the tendency of all of us to convert a non-issue to an issue. For a sobering effect let me give one figure: only increase of 1 to 4 is a 25% increase. Hence I don’t think we should jump to the conclusion that a revolutionary or a great moral degrading phenomena is occurring. We may need to find out the figures to come to any conclusion. And as any statistician will tell, practically, the maximum percentage of growth happens only at the initial stages. In that sense we also may conclude that the moral degradation or permissibility or whatever we call it, are still in initial stages and not so alarming.
In the lighter side, I also am not able to figure out where do they do? In the crowded cities how they manage?
This remind me of my old experience of may be of early seventies. On the occasion of Gajan Utsab which falls on the last day of Chaitra month (mid april)I happened to visit one village fare at an Adibasi (tribal) village somewhere in the border of Orissa, Bihar (Now it should be Jharkhand) and West Bengal, in India, the nearest railway station being Dhalbhumgarh on South Eastern Railways.
Since afternoon hundreds of girls and boys were gathering wearing their best of dresses and jewelry (boys with their weaponry of Bows and Arrows, some of them even with their country made guns). At dusk, the girls started dancing forming a ring around a banyan tree accompanied by music of various instruments. The whole place did not have any lighting. Groups of boys were moving around. Some of them carrying even petromax lights. I was a bit surprised as none of them were hanging the lights anywhere to lighten up the area, they were only looking at the girls with the lights. As the night progressed so the crowd. After a couple of hours I noticed that the crowd was getting thinner but could not reason out why or might not have bothered as I was thoroughly enjoying my first encounter with a Adibasi festival and off course I was a kid of may be 17 or 18. By around 10 or 11 p.m. I was fully exhausted with the fatigue of walking some 20 odd kms to reach the place and fell asleep under the tree. Waking up early morning I found that the crowd have vanished. As I was proceeding to my host’s hut on a village road, guess what I encountered with – couples enjoying themselves here and there behind the bushes or any other place they could find.
Later I was told the local custom is something like this: boys and girls meet on this occasion and choose their partners. They stay together for three days during the festival, enjoy themselves and after 3 days, if they continue to like each other, marry and start their married life.
(I always have a longing to go back there again to find out whether the custom prevails till date or not. But I think, I will never go back again to see that the paradise is lost, Rather, I will keep the wish lingering in my mind and cherish the sweet thought.)
I narrated the story for the prudes to remind that the love and physical relationship between Adam and Eve are going on since the advent of humanity and there is nothing immorality in life as long as we don’t dirty it by calling so.

The Iraq exit plan released by ‘Center for American Progress’ simply stinks. The basic aim can be summarized as follows:
Remove ground troop thus saving precious lives of American military personnel.
Keep US interests intact by keeping a small contingent to protect the US interests (read oil installations, Offices of US companies, embassy etc.) protected.
Use only air strike from Kuwait or other nearby military bases to destroy any militant hideout or base (Take a leaf from Israeli experience)
Forget about democratic values, or making the world free from terrorism, or the lives of Iraqis who foolishly sided with USA. (Who is bothered about them anyway?)
Force or cajole US allies from neighboring countries to take the burden.

Now let’s analyze the report (the paragraphs under ‘quote’ are from the original report):
If we try to understand the suggestions, they can be termed as:

1. ‘The redeployment of U.S. forces should take place in two phases. Phase one would take place in 2006, with the drawdown of 80,000 troops by the end of the year, leaving 60,000 U.S. troops in Iraq by December 31, 2006. Phase two would take place in 2007, with most of the U.S. forces departing by the end of 2007. United States troops would immediately and completely redeploy from urban areas, with Iraqi police, troops, and militias, like the Kurdish pesh merga, taking responsibility for security in these areas.’
- Let the Iraqi police, troops, and militias, like the Kurdish pesh merga die, why should we?

2. ‘It will also free up the remaining U.S. forces in Iraq to dedicate their efforts in 2007 to high-priority tasks related to our core mission.’
- the core mission ? Can we get an honest answer

3. ‘Phase two of the drawdown would begin in January 2007. By the end of 2007, the only U.S. military forces in Iraq would be a small Marine contingent to protect the U.S. embassy, a small group of military advisors to the Iraqi Government, and counterterrorist units that works closely with Iraqi security forces’.
- to protect the US interest.

4. ‘This presence, along with the forces in Kuwait and at sea in the Persian Gulf area will be sufficient to conduct strikes coordinated with Iraqi forces against any terrorist camps and enclaves that may emerge and deal with any major external threats to Iraq’.
- only air strike from safe distance.

‘Strategic Redeployment also means placing more focus on other elements of American power – including its diplomatic power. President Bush must personally lead a
diplomatic initiative in the region to create a cooperative security and intelligence network aimed at securing Iraq’s borders and taking down terrorist networks.
The redeployment of U.S. forces from Iraq requires that Iraq’s neighbors play a more active role in supporting stability and efforts to fight terrorist extremists. Therefore, President Bush should convene a meeting of the heads of states in the region to discuss measures aimed at securing borders, taking down terrorist networks, and enhancing cooperation between military and intelligence services in the region. Working with
Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, Iran, and other countries in the Gulf’
- force or cajole the US allies to take the burden.