Tushar Arora, Dera Gazi Khan, Pakistan

Last week I met an old man. On conversation with him, I got to know that he was a refugee from Pakistan and like others; he too suffered huge loss during the transition from Pakistan to India. He had hard feelings for the people responsible for the separation. Because according to him, he had to suffer because of some other people’s decision and their personal interest (his feelings).

As per him, on 14 August, as Pakistan got independent, terrorists started converting people from Hindu to Muslim. And if anyone refused, he/she was cut down. A similar scene, which we must have seen in the movie ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’. He was 12 years old at that time and had 1 younger brother and 3 younger sisters. All the memories of that day are still fresh in his mind. He was on tears while he was narrating this to me. His father was shot dead in front of him. His mother leaving behind his husband’s body took all her children and moved towards the station to board train to India. At the station, he and his brother were given poison. One kind man, who was also trying to escape made them ate flies so that they both puked and get rid of the poison. They all escaped and moved to India, where they settled in Meerut.

 They left all their earnings in Pakistan, buried in and around their house. His mother started working in India and brought them up. Feeding 5 children alone must have been tough task for her, that too in such state of mind. 

On my further questioning to him, he revealed the name of the place he belonged to. It’s Dera Gazi Khan near Multan in Pakistan. I opened Google maps to look for the place and all what he remembered about the place still exists – ‘Committee Chowk’, ‘Jhampur Road’, ‘Mandi’ etc. He was too happy to see the images of the place and its development.

The mother of the old man is my Great Grandmother, whom we use to call ‘Amma’ and the old man is my Grandfather. If she would not have showed courage on that day, I may not have existed in this world. 

This post is my small effort to say thanks to her for all the love and blessings she has showered on our family.

3G Video Calling - for the deaf and dumb people??

The title says it all. Still, it you are not able to figure out what this blog post is about. Be patient and read incidence below:

All Delhi Metro travellers must be aware of the flood with which people get in and out and travel in metro. These people don’t have much time to bear for others, however, being Delhiette they can’t leave peeping into each other's life too. One of such passenger is me. 

One morning I was travelling in Metro from Tagore Garden to Patel Chowk in metro. The metro was over-loaded with people. After missing couple of metros I was finally able to enter into one. As I was somewhere near Karol Bagh, the phone of the person standing in front of me ringed. He picked up the phone and put it on video call mode. I was like what show-off he is. You don't have space to talk and this guy is crazy enough to make video call. Next moment I saw him making signs with his hands in front of the phone. I tried to look into his phone and I saw that the person on other end of the call was also making signs with his hands. I realized they were not just making signs; they are deaf and dumb and are rather talking with each other in sign language. I felt bad for making such baseless judgement about them. Felt sorry. 

However, post doesn't ends here. I tried recalling and was not able to recall if such an idea was ever used by any mobile operator to market 3G services. Being it Airtel or Vodafone with their puppy running behind these people or zoozoo in their need or Abhishek Bachann saying 'what an idea sirji'. Maybe there is some law which abide these operators from marketing this way. Or their population is so less that revenue short mobile operators don't want to spend any extra money on them. However, I feel it’s such a nice way to make connect with people and also letting all Dumb & Deaf people know that technology is advancing for them also. Distance is no more barriers for them. They can enjoy video calling service more than couple sharing love moments or businessmen attending business meets.

I am waiting for the day to see such an advertisement.