Thanks to Cyberabad Police

We have this temple of Durga called Sri Kanaka Durga temple across our street. Though originally it is a Durga temple during last couple of years they put multiple other gods and make it one stop temple for all kinds of gods. During dasara season they do play mantras, devotional songs, bhajans etc with loud speakers in high volume which is unbearable.

We requested them multiple times individually, tried to reason with them the affects of continuously subjecting people to such cacophony. Please note that I'm not calling the songs/bhajans etc as cacophony but the loud and unbearable sound. Those interested can refer to this link for more details of the affects of noise pollution.

I can understand lack of common sense, had they have any they won't do it in the first place. But, can't understand insensitivity to people's requests about the problems caused by their misdeeds. I went to them once to ask them to stop the loud speakers, one of the members of temple comittee said they would reduce the sound a little bit but won't stop the speakers. When I tried to reason with him, told me to complain to whomever I want. And one gentleman was trying to preach me that I should understand and bear the brunt of that cacophony :(

We had enough of this nonsense and decided to complain. I started with online complaint to cyberabad police and also sent mails to station house officer of KPHB , ACP of Kukatpally division and DCP. There were no responses from any even after my follow up mails. Then my apratment members and I decided to talk to people on phone. We called pollution control Sr. Environmental Engineer, task force, who informed us that this should be handled by police.

I called station house officer, KPHB, whose prompt sarcasm is whether they should not allow the temple management to perform pujas. I patiently explained him that performing pujas doesn't need loud speakers to which he said he would talk to the temple management. I offered to give a written complaint to which he agreed. Then we went to the station with the complaint/request written on our apartment's letter head. The station house officer (the inspector) wasn't there so we talked to the sub inspector, who was expecting us. After going there we learned that my online complaint was checked by the police but couldn't act upon it nor acknowledge my complaint. It was another story why they can't acknowledge, hopefully I could make another post about it :)

This gentleman, the sub inspector, was trying to find fault with us. To start with he complained how we won't say a thing when other religious customs disturb public life. Also, was telling the reason why temples play loud speakers at 4.00 AM in the morning. Try this, 4.00 AM is 'Amrutha Ghadialu' and the temple management is trying to wake the people up so that we earn some 'Punyam'. He went on and started accusing the younger generation how we become lazy sleep late at night etc.

I had to cut him short to explain how we work whole day, try to catch up with some sleep, again raise early in the morning, get ready and get the kids ready, drop them at schools and go to offices. Also, I had to shed him some light on how kids, senior citizen, and people who work in different shifts, etc., get affected with all this noise. This gentleman is sensitive enough to understand the problem, received our complaint and promised to take necessary action.

Guess what, from evening the sound was reduced to a bearable level and we are at peace. I was expecting them to seize the loud speakers but no such thing happened. Nevertheless, the issue is solved and hopefully remains so.

My alltime favorite prayer in telugu by Sri. Devarakonda Balagangadhara Tilak. Courtesy... http://www.eemaata.com/em/issues/200509/65.html

దేవుడా
రక్షించు నాదేశాన్ని
పవిత్రులనుండి పతివ్రతలనుండి
పెద్దమనుషులనుండి పెద్దపులులనుండి
నీతుల రెండునాల్కలు సాచి బుసలు కొట్టే
నిర్హేతుక కృపాసర్పాలనుండి
లక్షలాది దేవుళ్ళనుండి వారిపూజారులనుండి
వారి వారి ప్రతినిధులనుండి
సిద్ధాంత కేసరులనుండి సిద్ధులనుండి
శ్రీ మన్మద్గురుపరంపరనుండి
దేవుడా
నలభై కోట్ల మనుష్యుల నిజమైన ప్రాణం వున్న
మనుష్యులతో నిండిన దేశం నాది
ఆకలీ బాధలూ ఆందోళనలూ సమస్యలూ
విరివిగా వున్న విచిత్ర సౌధం మాది
కడుపునిండుగా ఆహారం గుండెనిండుగా ఆశ్లేషం
బ్రతుకుపొడుగునా స్వతంత్రం
కొంచెం పుణ్యం కించిత్‌ పాపం
కాస్త కన్నీరు మరికాస్త సంతోషపు తేనీరూ
చాలు మాకు తండ్రీ
సరదాగా నిజాయితీగా జాలి జాలిగా
హాయిహాయిగా బ్రతుకుతాం
మాకు నటనలు వద్దు మాచుట్టూ కటకటాలు వద్దు
గొప్పలూ గోసాయి చిట్కాలు వద్దు
దేవుడా
కత్తి వాదరకు తెగిన కంఠంలో హఠాత్తుగా
ఆగిపోయిన సంగీతాన్ని వినిపించు
మానవ చరిత్ర పుటలలో నెత్తురొలికి
మాసిపోయిన అక్షరాల్ని వివరించు
రహస్యసృష్టి సానువులనుండి జారిపడే
కాంతి జలపాతాన్ని చూపించు
మమ్మల్ని కనికరించు
చావు పుట్టుకలమధ్య సందేహం లాంటి
జీవితంలో నలువైపులా అంధకారం
మంచిగంధంలాగ పరిమళించే మానవత్వం
మాకున్న ఒకే ఒక అలంకారం
మజిలీ మజిలీ కి అలిసిపోతున్నాం
మలుపుమలుపికీ రాలిపోతున్నాం
ఆశల వెచ్చని పాంపుమీద స్వప్నాల పుష్పాలు జల్లుకొని
ఆదమరిచి కాసేపు విశ్రమించడానికనుమతించు తండ్రీ.

Kids

Chinnu elder one on right and Deepu younger on left side. Each one is naughtier than the other!!

Herd mentality part. - 2, general openion.

Getting carried away with public opinion:

Not related to part-1, but another incident which made me realize about how one gets carried away with the general public talk. I used to have this room mate, Raja Sekhar,  during my early career days. He used to have a Yamaha RX 100cc bike and is very fond of it. I used to ride an age old Yezdi with friends during college days and had a Bajaj Chetak but was not into the then current bikes yet, so no clue about the Yamaha or others. Whenever friends discuss motor bikes he used to brag about his own bike singing its qualities like the pickup and the engine beat etc. During one such discussions I found myself praising the Yamaha about the engine beating etc. Later while I was reflecting I tried to memorize the engine sound of a Yamaha 100cc bike. Then I realized that I never observed it in the first place. Then why am I telling this as if I knew and admired it? I did observe that in the next opportunity and I really didn't like it. It sounded like a auto rickshaw (a three wheeler), such an irritating noise. May be my room mate really liked the sound and other features, but without any idea I too started liking/talking the same. Yes, it is herd mentality.

Most of us comment, even worse, some of us judge everything. Be it people, politicians, celebrities, movies, or any other without even bothering to take a look, study or experience them. Just as someone else expressed her/his openion, we own that as if it is us who made that remark originally. The other person might also be doing the same mistake.

Herd mentality part - 1, public talk.

How I realized that each is entitled to have their own opinion.

A small incident during college days made me realize that each has a right to have their own likes and dislikes. When in college we have this friend, BT Anil Kumar, who is a huge fan of the then Iraqi president Mr.Saddam Hussain. Those are the days where USA was trying hard to project Saddam as the BAD guy. Most of our friends used to tease him, rather rag him, about his admiring Saddam Hussain. I went further and did the unthinkable, I tore the poster of Saddam hanging on his wall into two. Anil was furious, shaking with anger, tears in his eyes and trying to control himself. Immediately after tearing the poster I realized the mistake I committed, who the hell am I to step into his private space and take liberty to destroy his property? May be I didn't like Saddam but that doesn't give me any right to act in that manner. I never saw him so wild before, normally he is a chilled person. I apologized profoundly and I guess he sensed the sincerity in my apologies, forgave me. But even today I feel guilty about my behavior on that day. Thought of presenting another poster to him, but never got a chance or opportunity :(. It might look dramatic if I did :)

After few years since this incident happened I realized that I didn't even know who Saddam Hussain really is. It is just the word of the mouth I heard. Never observed or studied him to make an opinion on him. I just got carried away with the propoganda. Typical herd mentality.

First one

Well, this should be the original first post. The first one went out even before I figure out where to write ;). So let us treat this as the first post..


The sole purpose of these posts is to improve my writing skills and be more articulate. So nothing serious would be discussed here, at least, hopefully nothing serious or important would be discussed ;) With that desclaimer, I remain with one question, what to write about? Setting out to write something with out any idea what to write is the biggest challenge. Almost as big a task as public speaking without any point or no knowledge of the point of discussion.

Well, let me start with an erstwhile interesting topic of mine. This captivated me, made me feel like I've conquered the world (well, almost..) for quite sometime. I used to beam proudly with the thought that I could achieve it.Yes, I'm talking about one which is perceived to be world's most arduous and daunting things to do.. stop smoking. Don't worry :) I'm not going to discuss how to stop smoking not how did I achieve it. But now, after few months if I look back at the whole thing it looks like quite trivial thing to do in life. Recently couple of friends, erstwhile smoking partners, inquired about how long I quit smoking I had to calculate, yes I've already forgot how long it has been since I smoked my last. It was close to a year. I've almost forgot the fact that I was a smoker once, of course it was not a great thing to remember.

The point is a problem looked so big and almost an unattainable task once, seems to be quite a simple and natural thing to do now. Someone said correctly that life of problem is quite small compared to the life itself.

By the way I'll try to post few public comments and thoughts I posted on smoking and quitting before :)

- Thanks,
Sreekanth