Pick of the Week - 2

My Dear CATS,

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Continuing with the chain of thoughts started last week with the Tagore Theatre incident, I am throwing yet another pebble in the pool of conciousness, looking inwards this time.

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All of us have been forwarded an email umpteen number of times where images of malnutrinioned children, some even living skeletons are projected at you, in a hope to evoke a sense of apathy in your soul, encouraging us to either to make a monetary donation or at the very least thank the Lord for giving us three square meals a day.

We skim through these emails, feel truly bad for these 'poor' children and then get busy with our life within minutes, forgetting their hunger in seconds.

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Worst is that not only ae we all guilty of forgetting about them, we actually go ahead and do something which should be considered a crime at the level of conciousness atleast.

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We go home, put food in our plate, eat what we want and then leave the leftovers for the bins! At times, the left overs are enough to feed a hungry belly. It becomes worse when we attend a social function, such as a wedding or a party.

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Given below are the photos from just one table at a wedding I attended last week.

You may say that there is not much left in this plate.

But what about this one?

Since we have paid our dues with a gift or a 'shagun', we feel that we have all the right to plunder through the food tables, even if our bellies are protesting and the seams of our shirts start giving way. Is overeating not a type of wastage as well?
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Trying out new cuisines is great, enjoying your food is even wonderful. However, could we make a concious effort to put only as much in our plate as we can comfortably consume?
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Basic idea is to stop wastage of food. If you do have any food left, it is much easier to feed someone who is hungry and would appreciate a little nourishment.

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The mother of a fellow CAT of ours, puts all the leftover food in a bowl every night outside their house, for the stray dogs and cats. Someone else I know takes along left over chappatis and bread with her on her morning walk, which begins by feeding the cows and the birds.

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If this leftover food can serve a few bellies of all shapes and sizes, imagine what cooked food could mean to a few hungry bellies?

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I am not asking you to start a community kitchen or a 'langar'; just a little thought for the food which you will be wasting by piling onto your plate, the food which could fill a belly. If having a party at home then ensure that you distribute the excess food either amungst the guests and the maids/servants. If having a party outside, then arrange with the organisers that you wish all leftover food to be delivered to a local orphanage or a community kitchen etc.

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You may have some other practical ideas to make food work for all.

CAT Supreet

Pick of the Week

My Dear CATS,

Since most of us have been born and brought up in our City Beautiful, we have probably become immune to the degeneration that is taking place around us. Just because something has been happening for a long time and just because no one has objected to an activity in the past, does not mean that it is correct or should become acceptable.

Can we, CATS, not break the so called behaviours and norms? Can we, CATS, not challenge inappropriate actions taking place around us everyday?

I am not talking about moving mountains, flowery speeches, court arrests or a nationwide revolution. I am thinking more of a small ripple which begins in a river by throwing a little pebble. That ripple creates many more counter ripples to create a little wave, a wave which eventually reaches the shore.

I am talking about basic human behaviour working towards appreciating what is around us and help improve our City by bringing about a change in our own behaviour. I am thinking of basic human courtesies we must extend to others, for we expect these in return. We can not enjoy the luxury of rights without being responsible.

I was enraged when yesterday at The Rock Garden put together painstakingly over a number of years by Mr Nek Chand, I found an empty bag of chips left by the board which read, 'Please do not litter'. The bin was merely 2meters away from the board! Tiny terracotta balls of 2” diameter had either been stolen as souvenirs by the couth visitors; the rest had graffiti written across their tiny bodies. Ram Sundars and Madhus had encouraged even Daves and Alishas to deface these tiny balls, shamefully so.

This callous behaviour has to stop, somewhere, eventually.

From this week onwards, indignantly I throw a small pebble into the moving waters which bind CATS together, hoping to create a little ripple of thoughts which would help create an improved life for everyone, in Chandigarh at least.



This hazy photograph was taken by me at Tagore Theatre on 25th of Mar’09 just when the Hassya Kavi Sammelan organized by Rajasthan Society of Chandigarh was to commence. What the basic camera of my old mobile phone in a dimly lit Tagore Theatre was trying to capture is, a young woman whilst sitting seat no.23 of row H holding up her toddler by the thighs after pulling her pants down, so that the child could pee in the aisle itself of our newly refurbished Tagore Theatre.

At first I could not believe what my eyes were seeing, then I felt enraged but before I could actually get up and piece this woman a piece of my mind, she disappeared. When I shared with a few of my fellow CATS, suggestions soon started floating in to check this kind of behavior. One suggested that management of Tagore Theatre should leave a bin liner on every seat. Another wanted me to get up and ask for the address of this woman so that we could follow up with much more appropriate response – A baby diaper from each CAT delivered to her house perhaps! I personally felt like going up to the poet Surinder Sharma and let him handle this situation in his own comical way.

I am sure you have your own stories to share. Do send me a photograph of an incident which gets your goat, with a write up of about 100words. We will publish it on our blog. I can’t promise any overnight positive change, if at all, but let us at least raise our voice against unacceptable behavior. If not in others, let’s at least inculcate values within, which we wish to see in others.

If you have any doubts what such thoughts is going to achieve, then allow me to give you a practical example. Since inception CATS has followed a single focused motto, 'Do not litter'. Over the last 18months, I have come across numerous examples of CATS actively following this motto. During the heritage walk that took place in October of 2007, CATS were the only people who were seen picking up litter from the road we were walking and ensuring that we clear our litter after having breakfast at the War Memorial. During our trip to Leh last July, we stopped foreigners who apologized to us, after we had spotted them throwing rubbish bag out of their taxi on way back form Khardunga La. CATS also went around Tikkar Taal and literally bullied people who were found littering the beautiful lawns. Regular CATS are known to have cans and paper tissues floating inside their cars as they wait to reach home to deposit the rubbish in the bin. It may be operating at a very personal level, but we can not but acknowledge the fact – It is working.

Let there is a word of caution though, this is NOT a civil policing initiative. It’s merely to kindle a sense of responsibility towards other human beings and towards our environment.

CAT Supreet

Moment of Celebration... MEOW

Hey CATS,

We are growing by leaps and bounds this year.

With meowful delight, I hereby declare that our very handsome CAT Vasu is no more an eligible bachelor as he has been spoken for his lovely fiancee Swapnil (lovingly called Deepa).

Deepa has already taken her 'joining vows' with our CATS family by donating blood with us during our November Blood Donation Camp. Har ghar ke apne osool hote hain aakhir ;-)

Aawwww - What a sight :-)

CAT Vasu went down on one knee to ask for Deepa's hand

before slipping the ring on her finger...

Yeh baaqi eligible billiyan zaraa dhyaan dein ;-)

Don't they make a smashing couple CATS?
Allah buri nazar se bachaaye...


The Happy Family on the engagement night of 14th Mar'09...

**can you recognise our gorgeous CAT Gopika in pink saree??
Yeh bachhe barre pata nahin kab ho jaate hain!!!
....abhi kal hee to nikkar main ghoom rahi thi ;-)

Heart felt wishes for a deliriously happy life ahead to our new CATS Couple.

- CAT Supreet

Photo Gallery - Shimla Heritage Toy Train Journey

My Dear CATS,

Let me tell you a story.

Once upon a time, there were 3 CATS who met on a Saturday evening over coffee. Having worked their socks off during the week, CAT Ashish A, CAT Paramjeet and I desperately needed some serious 'chilling out'. You can well imagine how tired we must have been feeling, given that energy was low and the morale was down even in the CAT Ashish A!

With long faces we decided to shift base to yet another coffee bar. Immediately upon arrival there, CAT Ashish A declared, 'Maine kal Sunday ko Chandigarh main nahin rehna. Kuchh karo Sue.' At first we thought of packing our night bags and spend the night at a hill station. We nearly reached for our car keys, when suddenly sanity prevailed. It was past 8 at night and there was no way we could leave town before 9. Even if we went to Barog, we would reach quite late at night (read, too tired to enjoy the bonfire et el.).

At this stage, a spark of inspiration struck me and I suggested that we all went to Shimla for lunch on a train, rubbing shoulders with other passengers. Everyone immediately pounced upon the idea. CAT Navpreet and CAT Neerja R soon joined this silly gang chalking out Sunday lunch in Shimla.

As the word spread over text messages and mobiles, more CATS and their friends meowed to join in and the plan also became more elaborate. Since about 9 more people wanted to join us, we decided to hire the Toy Train that we had chartered for our Shimla-Shali Peak trip 15 months ago. Luckily for us, Kalka Railway Station confirmed that the 14 seater Toy Train was available. Voila, we were on a roll. From a mere lunch in Shimla, it turned into a heritage train journey.

However, as soon as we finalised everything and had started moving towards our cars since we had to go and do food shopping for our Shimla CATS for the following day, a very dear CAT family rang up around 9.30pm to say they wanted to join us for Shimla too. Thud!

Again calls had to be made to the Kalka Station to find out if the 18 seater Toy Train was available for Sunday or not. Lady Luck indeed was on our side as within 15mins it was confirmed that we could travel from Kalka to Shimla in the chartered Toy Train and travel back from Shimla in the luxury Rajdhani Express. With everything finally in place and car pool decided, CAT Ashish A and CAT Paramjeet went food shopping for CATS. Rest of us went home to grab a quick dinner and get ready for a rocking Sunday :)

CAT Ashish A made up for being late for Tikkar Taal trip by being the first one to reach Beckons on Sunday morning at 4.10am. Since we were running a few minutes behind schedule, we literally raced to reach Kalka.

17 CATS all set for a delightful toy train journey reached Kalka Train Station at 5am. This day out for CATS would have been quite impossible to organise at the 11th hour, had it not been for the assistance provided by Mr Rohtash Sharma. He not only booked the train for us, but also allowed us to park our cars for the day in the safe compound of his residence.

The Toy Train that we had chartered was waiting for us at the platform.

Though we reached Kalka Station in time for 5.30am flag off, the lure of a cuppa cha in kulhar meant that we had to wait till 6.20am to get a clear run on the narrow gauge track to Shimla ;-)

With green signal finally up...
Shimla - Here we come :)


Only to stop in the tracks a few minutes later... You see since its narrow gauge track, safety demands that your train has to be about 20mins away from the train ahead and behind of you.


Every pit-stop an opportunity to explore the flora and fauna..
and ofcourse pose for the camera :)



We hopped on the Toy Train again for the next leg of the journey...
utilising the journey doing whatever captivated our interest.. playing antakhshri with gusto and even if it meant taking hold of the kids games as CAT Sandeep and his bro did ;-)

Mesmerising views from the front of the Toy Train...
This century-old rail route was accorded the World Heritage status by the UNESCO in July last year. The 96-km-long rail line passes through 102 tunnels, 988 bridges and 917 curves, many of them are as sharp as 48 degrees.

As we were rolling into the hills, station at Koti meant another halt to stretch the legs and go exploring the tunnel... just to check out the bats!!!

Our Sleeping Buddha catching up on his 40 winks :)

The only scheduled stop of our train journey - the picturesque Barog Station.
Red tiles for the roof, wooden verandah hanging over the station platform with hanging baskets; this over a century old Gothic style structure literally takes your breath away.

Now add delicious breakfast served with utmost care at the station, CATS could not eat enough!!!

With more meadows to traverse.... Soon it was time to say goodbye to Barog... but not before we had checked out the menu to be served for dinner to us on the way back ;-)

Soon thereafter we reached Bridge No.541, the four storey stone arch bridge near Kanoh is indeed an engineering marvel.

Constructed in 1898, this bridge is 52.9mtr long and 23mtrs high. This is the highest arch gallery bridge in Indian Railways and consists of 34 arches in four storeys. This bridge is on a reverse curve of 48 degrees.

Young CATS were allowed near the open windows, only under the strict supervision of CAT Rachna, our First Aid Officer of the day as well as Incharge of the kiddie brigade :)

If you thought it was not possible to play chess in a moving train... then take some lessons from our young CATS!!!

With Shimla visible across the valley, CAT Aman and CAT Ansh enjoying their juice at our last pit-stop on the way...

CAT Maharaj and CAT Navpreet taking a stroll...

Need any further proof that CATS easily make any place their home :)

We reached Shimla station where we were greeted by Mr Negi under instructions from our fellow CAT Rajesh based at Ambala Railway Station. Coolies were disappointed that these well dressed passengers had not brought along any luggage. Taxi drivers were dismayed that CATS were insisting on walking their way to the Viceregal Lodge. Some even tried to dissuade by saying, 'But it is on a hill.' Everyone kept quite when I told them that even the little ones had done Shali Peak amongst us not long ago...

Little did I know!!!

On the Observatory Hills is located the Viceregal Lodge. Also known as Rashtrapati Niwas, it was formerly the residence of the British Viceroy Lord Dufferin, was the venue for many important decisions, which changed the fate of the sub-continent. It is quite befittingly the only building in Shimla that occupies a hill by itself.
This rambling Scottish baronial edifice was designed by Henry Irvine, architect to the Public Works Department of the colonial government in India. The south facing entrance portico sees the visitor into the reception hall. The hall is marked by a grand staircase which springs from the right and spirals up three full floors. Facing the main entrance is the grand fireplace. A gallery with well-appointed teak panelling is the central space of the building around which the other rooms are arranged. The state drawing room, ballroom, and the wood-panelled dining room - decorated with coats of arms of former Governor-Generals and Viceroys - lead to the gallery at the lower level. Verandas and terraces surround the entire building at different levels. Those at the lower level link the lodge to the magnificent grounds while those on other floors provide superb views of mountains.
Way back in 1888 this Lodge had electric light – when nobody else in Shimla did – and, would you believe it, an indoor tennis court! The lodge had extensive facilities including huge kitchens; separate rooms for storing table linen, plates, china and glass; laundry; an enormous wine cellar; a room for empty cases; boilers for central heating and running hot and cold water in the bathrooms. Pretty much as in Delhi’s Viceregal Palace, the Viceroy hosted lavish parties and entertained the royal princes and nawabs in style.
Several momentous decisions were taken in this building. This was the venue of the Simla Conference in 1945. In 1947 , the decision to partition India and carve out the states of Pakistan and East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) , was also taken here.
After independence, the Lodge remained the summer retreat of the President of India. In the early 60s the President of India, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, a leading philosopher and writer, and the Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru decided to make it a scholars’ den where the best minds would find an ideal retreat. That’s when the Indian Institute of Advanced Study moved into the Lodge in 1965.
Obviously enough, some of the interiors had to be changed to accommodate the needs of the Institute. The state drawing room, ballroom, and dining room, for example, have been converted into a library; the Viceroy’s office is now the IIAS Director’s office; and the conference hall is now a seminar room for research scholars. Without the large contingent of Viceregal attendants and the resources, the ambiance of this large estate is very different from what it used to be in the days of the Raj. The institute seems like the perfect setting for lively intellectual debates and discussions. The list of Fellows of the Institute includes names the Burmese Nobel peace prize winner Aung San Sun Kyi, who was a fellow here in 1986.
Source: (hpshimla.nic.in/sml_heritage. htm)

Sadly, the guide does not tell you all this.. as even we found out about this detailed info much later :(

The entrance Hall with wooden panelling, stone fireplace, beautiful wooden furniture, delectable brass chandeliers... hmmm... Everything was quintessentially British!!

If the interiors left us speechless, this one bowled us over even more. This steel plate dating back to 1930's has a skeleton map of Shimla and its surrounding peaks engraved 'to-scale'.

Apart from giving precise directional information and geographical placements of various peaks, rivers across the whole range visible from this point, this steel plate deserves to be appropriately labelled as a Heritage Piece of Art. What surely needs to be done immediately is to preserve it from graffiti scrawled by insensitive hooligans and perhaps display it in a glass cabinet.

and in case you are wondering what is happening here, please be advised that we are doing nothing more than adhering to CATS policy of 'No Litter'

JAI HO :)

With mice running amok in the bellies... CATS made their way back to the Mall in search of food... Good old solid punjabi food at Sher-e-Punjab was decided upon, since we were all famished... Unfortunately, man proposes and God disposes... The tried and tested 'Sher-e-Punjab' served us the worst possible food with atrocious service and certainly did not deserve to be paid!!!

CATS wish it to be known to everyone going to Shimla -

DO NOT EVER VISIT SHER-E-PUNJAB

even if it's the last place on earth where you can get food...

With growling bellies, the vegetarian CATS decided to find another decent place to eat. Infact, we were so afraid to eat anywhere that when we did walk into 'Baljee's' I demanded that they show me what they are going to serve to us, BEFORE we place the order!! ...the food served at Baljee's was SO DELICIOUS and the service was so great that perhaps we overate!!!

THANK YOU Baljee's :)

With grub in the belly and a quick run to the train station to catch our Rajdhani Express at 5.40pm.. it was time to say goodbye to Shimla :)

CATS settled in for the return journey whereby dinner was to be served to us at Barog Station....

There was no stopping the fun during the way back as well...
Whilst one gang was having their own little party at the back, game of UNO kept everyone occupied in the front...

CATS finished their impromptu heritage train journey

with memories in our hearts... and smiles on our faces...

- CAT Supreet

(22nd Mar'09)