Small act of courage

On saturday 5th Febraury while coming back from gym I realised I had forgot my wallet at office. I stopped at wanowrie junction to decide if I should go to office or just go home. Here a traffic hawaldar stopped me and asked me for my licence. I told him that I have forgotten my wallet at office and dont have a licence. He took my bike keys, I had no way to get the money. Finally after much pleeding he agreed to give me 50 rs to get my wallet from office.

In office I searched for the rto fine laws. I found that you have to pay 300 Rs for driving without licence. I decided that I would rather pay 300rs to goverment and get a receipt than pay 200Rs to the officer.

I browsed more and found a Times of India article "http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/pune/Traffic-dept-cannot-fine-motorists-without-PUC-papers/articleshow/6253890.cms".

It says :-

According to the traffic department, no drives or actions are taken specifically to check driving licences. "One needs to produce one's license only in apparent cases of traffic violation like more than two persons riding on a two-wheeler, signal jumping and so on,"

I was very angry on reading this. The traffic police was trying to rob me of money.

I browsed and got the contact number of traffic incharge of Wanowrie. I called him to the police chowky to help me out with this case.

The traffic incharge was very helpful and heard my case.

He asked the traffic hawaldar why my bike as detained, but he was not able to give any clear explanation.

Realising this, the traffic incharge gave over the bike to me and let me off without any charges.

I knew I had not done any mistake and did not want to pay money for it. I was very happy that I fought for my rights.

Its also good to know that we have honest officers like P.M Kakade (traffice incharge for wanowrie)

Lessons learnt :-

1) Never forget your wallet

2) Know your rights and fight for your rights

GOD

I went to Tirupati last week. They said God resides in Tirumala hills. People from all over the world come here in search of God. This undoubtedly makes it the richest trust in India. But does God really reside in Tirumala? I personally did not feel the presence of God there.

But yes I have experienced His presence, not in the Golden temples and royal poojas but in very simple experiences of my life. Here I am listing those experiences.

A stranger guides me to remote native village in Mangalore

My mom was not well and I had to go urgently to Mangalore overnight. Since it was very late in the night all the busses to Mangalore had left. The tour guys told me to go to Hubli and then take a local bus to Managlore. I reached Hubli bus stand, however I could not read the bus routes and there was no one who could speak in Hindi or English. Luckily I met a man who was going to the same village as I was. He was a localite and could understand Hindi. We traveled together, changed two busses, had lunch together and I reached my mom’s native place safely. I felt that man was God; otherwise there was no way I could have reached that remote village in Managlore.

A friend cheers and motivates me for cycling

Somesh and Priyaranjan invited me for cycling ride to Theour. I had not cycled more than 20 km before that, but I was very excited about cycling so I went for it. We were going to cycle around 100 km that day. The night before the ride I practiced on the cycle a few rounds near Priya’s house just to get a feel of things. I was pretty confident and excited that I would make it. However riding in the night and riding in busy roads is completely different. I was very much afraid that I would be hit by the vehicles traveling. Priya, somi , and Mahesh were experienced riders and could ride easily. Somi could sense my nervousness, and he ride besides me , cheering me up and giving me confidence. He could have just gone ahead speedily but he instead stayed with me. At this point I could see God in him :)

In Sahyadris

I see God in the beautiful ranges of Sahyadris such as HarishChandraGad , Salher, Dhodap which continue to attract and inspire me.

In Beauty

I see God in amazingly beautiful ladies like Pronomika Abraham. I get intoxicated every time I see them :)