Year: 2025

On the Indus Water Treaty Being Held in Abeyance by India after Pahalgam Terror Attack

Harpreet Uncategorized , , , , , , , , , ,

Note: This chain of thoughts was first shared on Twitter on the night of 06 May 2025, barely a few hours before Operation Sindoor launched by the Indian Armed Forces

Folks, sharing some thoughts on implications of the GOI decision to hold Indus Water Treaty in Abeyance in the aftermath of the Pakistan Sponsored #PahalgamTerrorAttack. The immediate trigger for the thread is this notification by the IRSA of Bhikharistan 👇.  Here goes ..

I would find it very insulting to my Motherland when people would proudly say the the Indus Water Treaty continued to be respected by India even during the wars with Pakistan. This is purely and simply, a lack of शत्रुबोध on our side.

The enemy, on the other hand, is very clear.
India is the eternal enemy for them. Always has been, and always will be.
Yes, they will mooch off us and our generosity, but at the end of the day, they won’t hesitate in destroying us, given even half a chance

Ironically, opening paragraph itself says that the Treaty is signed in a ‘Spirit of Goodwill and Friendship’.

I think that spirit got buried under the sands of the Indus Basin over and over again, in 1965, 1971, 1987, 1999, 2002. Various terror attacks by Pak only helped even more.

I will not go into the technicalities of the Treaty, except for just saying that it gave way more to Pakistan, at the cost of the interests of our own people. So much so that even the then J&K CM said so in 2014 :  J&K suffered losses due to Indus Water Treaty: Omar Abdullah 

So, coming on to what has been happening thus far, and what happens next ..

First and foremost, going far beyond the world of Surgical Strikes and Balakot Airstrikes, the impact of putting the IWT on hold is nothing short of a nuclear strike on Bhikharistan, IMO!

Let me elaborate..

Here is how it went previously:

Surgical Strikes : Paakis responded by blatant and vociferous denial that any such thing happened!

Balakot : Paakis responded by losing an F-16 to a MiG 21 and then being scared shitless by Indian threats into releasing Abhinandan ASAP!

Further, during both, the Balakot and the Surgical Strikes, India took great care in ensuring no collateral damage or harm to the non-military & non-terrorist Pakistani citizens. Of course, they were & continue to be ungrateful bastards, but that is a topic for another day!

In this particular instance of putting the IWT on hold, Pakistan has practically no answer except for huffing and puffing!

And this time, the action has hit home to practically each and every Bhikharistani that inhabits those lands of the Sindhu river that they stole from Bharat.

The Brown Panted Ones were anticipating another military strike (which, frankly, SHOULD still happen). They even mobilized their derelict pieces of military hardware towards the Indian borders amid much public fanfare!

But India?

Well India just yawned and didn’t mobilize at all!

Instead of moving its military, India just turned off the tap to the various rivers that had till recently, been flowing unimpeded into Pakistan! And then .. after a few days .. India opened the taps fully!

 

Poor Bhikharistanis .. they have absolutely no idea what to expect next!!

Basically, what India has done is something which the Brown Panted Ones had never thought of even in their wildest of dreams when giving the go-ahead for the Pahalgam Terror Attack. India introduced a paradigm shift in which, instead of uniting behind their army, Paaki population is cursing them! Moreover, this time they are also DIRECTLY feeling the impact of their wholehearted endorsement of the Pakistani terror infrastructure : ‘India can starve us’: farmers in Pakistan decry suspension of crucial water treaty

^^ So now they cry that they will starve.

Why?

Because in their (beautiful) minds, they believe that India overreacted to Packie terrorists killing 26 innocent Indian after confirming their religion!

I kid you not.

THIS is what they mean in this article screenshotted below!

Summary: INDIA CHEATED!!

 

 

Here is the link to the above article. Do read : Abandoning a legacy treaty

But if you want a crisp summary, then this tweet 👇 says it all!

Yes, Indian simply cannot stop the flow of water into Pakistan. But what India CAN, and IS doing is to regulate the flow as per our desires & our requirements instead of foolishly adhering to the terms of a treaty with an enemy which in any case was blatantly biased in his favour. We may not have the capacity to store all the water for perpetuity, but we do have the means to decide when and how much flows into Pakistan.

A few weeks’ delay and a ‘little’ bit of moderation into inflows to Pakistan can ruin an entire sowing season out there. This is what is causing so much concern in that terrorist country at this moment!

It would be safe to assume atleast double the official estimates given below as the true figure, I’d say :

And in case you feel even an iota of sympathy for those people, do try and read this article below :

If you STILL feel sorry for them, then I have a small exercise to help you get over it:

Step 1 : Take a deep breath.

Step 2 : Hold it for 26mins 11secs!

So what happens now, you ask?

Well for one, Sindh gets worried.

Why?

Because with India withholding water, Paaki Punjab will ensure that Sindh dries out first! There already were some reports of protests in Sindh about this some days back!

Mind you, even in the best of the times, Paaki Punjab has been stealing waters from Sindh. And now when the going gets tough, it is only fair to assume the ‘tough’ Punjabis will only hoard more of Sindh’s waters!

Which brings me back to the visuals of Pak Army mobilization that I talked about earlier in this thread. Did you notice that almost ALL such videos are about their mobilization in Punjab, and almost NONE in Sindh?

Interesting, no?

Just as the Brown Panted Ones gave up East Pakistan for the sake of West Pakistan in 1971, if they give up Sindh for the sake of Punjab in the next round (whenever that happens), I won’t be surprised at all!

After All, Sindh, Balochistan and KPK are all meant to serve Punjab!

What about China, where Indus and Sutlej and Brahmaputra originate, you ask? Well, firstly there is no water sharing agreement existing between India and China. Secondly, bulk of the inflows into these rivers happen on INDIAN side of the Himalayan watershed.

And lastly, even if China decides to temporarily ‘regulate’ flows into the Indus and the Sutlej, they would, in effect, be cutting off Pakistan’s water because India can just withhold outflows into Pakistan for that much longer!

Pakistan is well & truly fcuked, I’d say. Which also brings us to the possibility of a potentially bombastic/desperate measure from their Govt. They already tried the UN route & got shown their true aukaat earlier today as per this report :

Further, they have been told to ratchet down their nuclear sabre rattling that goes off the moment any hint of Indian retaliation to Pakistani terror attacks comes by. Life for them gets more and more interesting each passing minute!

What India has done is that they have turned the threats of Paaki nuclear blackmail on their head, by mobilizing the population and the administration into doing Civil Defence Drills! Not only are these necessary for a potential nuclear flare-up, but they are also equally an exercise in signalling to the world at large that this time is not like the last so many times. The Indian narrative/info warfare this time has been top-notch, I’d say.

Unfortunately, for the Brown Panted Ones, who are the true rulers of Pak, (regardless of Shehbaz Sharif prancing around as if he is the actual PM!), the only way out is to either accept defeat which their egos will never permit.

Or to strike India, which only brings more pain!

Of course, the threat of an Indian military strike still remains.

And right on cue, comes this report! 👇

The Brown Panted Ones have been testing India’s limits of tolerance since 14 Aug 1947 itself. It is only now that India is returning the favour, and that too with added interest. On a side note, here is why they are called Brown Panted Ones!

One other way out for them, possibly, is an internal coup within the Pakistan Army, something similar to the one that happened after their humiliation in 1965 wherein the self-styled Field Marshal Ayub Khan was forced out by Yahya Khan.

I am sure that atleast one section amongst the Brown Panted Ones might consider this to be possible way out, i.e., offering to remove Asim Munir by (rightly) assigning all blame for the current fiasco to him.

But even if .. and that is still a BIG IF .. that happens, will some such thing be acceptable to India?

Will the IWT be restored by India?

Will the three western rivers flow unimpeded as before?

Well, the short answer to all these questions is a BIG NO!

The Brown Panted Ones have overplayed their hand this time, and given a golden opportunity to India to do the unthinkable. A line has been crossed, that will never be reverted to now. The rules of the game have been changed for good.

The Indus Water Treaty, as it existed for past 65 yrs, is well and truly dead.

If the Paakis have any sense, they will sit down to renegotiate. Come to think of it, they don’t have a choice in this matter. Either they renegotiate a new, more balanced treaty, or they lose it all!

It is a Lose-Lose situation for them.

The only choice they have is to decide HOW MUCH are they willing to lose.

And knowing them, they will lose much more by being obstinate instead of pragmatic. It is their true nature, just like it is the nature of a scorpion to sting.

To be honest, I do not feel bad for them at all. After all, they are a country that teaches their six-year olds this 👇

Then these very six year olds grow up and ask the religion of innocent Indians and kill all who call themselves Hindus.

There is only one solution to this disease called Pakistan that has been festering on our lands since long. The sooner it is taken care of, the better it is.

Yes, there WILL be pain in the short term, but for sake of long term peace, it should be acceptable.

With this, I conclude this chain of thoughts. Hope you found it interesting. I shall just leave 3 prior threads on the Indus Water Treaty since it is so much in news currently.

Thread 1 on #IWT :

Thread 2 on #IWT :

Thread 3 on #IWT :

In the end, I will just leave this iconic photograph here without any further comment!

On the Original Names of Rivers / Places in Kashmir Valley and Jammu / Ladakh Regions

Harpreet Uncategorized , , , , , , , , , ,

Folks, sharing some data points on the traditional names of various places / rivers in the Kashmir Valley and the Jammu / Ladakh Regions .. names that are slowly but surely being erased from our collective memories. That, and a bit about the Kashmir Valley in the Vedic Era.

Here goes ..

During the Rig Vedic Period, Kashmir was under the SatiSar lake, created by Lord Shiv for Sati Mata. Within it resided the demon ‘Jalodgar’ who had a boon from Lord Brahma that he couldn’t be killed while he lived in the Satisar Lake. He terrorized inhabitants in & around the lake.

Fed up with his tyranny, Rishi Kashyap prayed to Lord Vishnu and with his blessings, drained out the Satisar Lake from a place that came to be known as ‘Varah Mool’, or the Molars of the Boar (Lord Vishnu as Varah dug up an exit for the lake).

Varah Mool is present day Baramula.

But with the lake drained and the Varah Mool Pass now open, the area was devoid of water. Thus Rishi Kashyap once again prayed to Goddesses Parvati, Saraswati and Lakshmi and urged them to incarnate in the form of life-giving rivers.

Devi Saraswati & Devi Lakshmi descended as Rivers Rumbiara and Veshaw respectively.

Devi Parvati descended as the Vitasta River into which these first two rivers drained.

Vitasta was renamed by invaders as the Jhelum. She is Ma Parvati herself, flowing and nourishing these lands.

The source of River Vitasta is said to be Vernag, where Lord Shiva struck the ground with his Trishul, creating the source of the River Vitasta.

Vitastā, means “the spanning one” or “the river that extends widely”. It is still revered & celebrated on the Vitasta Festival, that was recently revived by the Govt.

(Painting by Bishan Singh, 1872 : Kashmiri Hindus performing Sūrya Namaskār at the banks of the Vitasta)

The name Kashmir itself is said to have been derived from the name ‘Kashyap Meru’ as it came to be known after Rishi Kashyap established his ashram there once the three Goddesses descended down as the three key rivers in the valley.

Baramula itself was called the Varahamulaksetra or Varahaksetra, after the incarnation of Lord Vishnu that helped create an opening for draining the Satisar Lake.

Coming on to the original names of the other rivers in the region .. I got hold of this map some years ago. Took a while before deciphering the current names of these rivers mentioned here.

Sindhu, in the initial part, was called the Rasaa River. It was also called as the Vaajinaavati in Ladakh before becoming the Rasaa and thereafter the Sindhu River as it cleared the Himalayas.

Shyok was called the Trishtama.

One of the tributaries of the Shyok River was called the Anitbha .. or the one with a dull colour.

Gilgit River is said to be the Shwetyavari River, or the one that is white in colour.

Zanskar River is said to be the Oornavati River, while the Shigar River is the Susartu River.

Silaamavati was the original name of the Suru River.

Of course, many know that Chenab was the Chandrabhaaga River.

Kishanganga has been renamed as the Neelum by Pakistan because of obvious reasons.

Name of Sarayu River got corrupted over the ages to become present day Haro River.

Chenab is Asikni.

Ravi is Parushni or Iravati.

Sutlej is Sutudri/Zatadru.

Beas is Vipaasa.

Kabul River was known as the Kubha River.

इ॒मं मे॑ गंगे यमुने सरस्वति॒ शुतु॑द्रि॒ स्तोमं॑ सचता॒ परु॒ष्ण्या।

अ॒सि॒क्न्या म॑रुद्वृधे वि॒तस्त॒यार्जी॑कीये शृणु॒ह्या सु॒षोम॑या ॥

O Ganga, Yamuna, Sarasvati, Shutudri, Parushni, follow my praise! O Asikni Marudvridha, Vitasta, with the Arjikiya and Sushoma, listen! – Rig Ved

In fact the Sutlej was called the Sutudra till as late as 18th Century. Guru Gobind Singh Ji concludes the Chaupai Saheb as: भाद्रव सुदी अष्टमी रविवारा तीर सतुद्रव ग्रंथ सुधारा (This book was competed on the banks of Sutlej on Sunday, the eighth Sudi of the month of Bhaadro)

Now coming on to the original names of towns / villages / other places in Kashmir.

Tithwal was called Teerthwal.

The full name of the Dal Lake was the Sureshwari Dal, after Ma Durga.

Gulmarg was Gauri Marg where a temple for Lord Shiva and Ma Parvati existed. The temple was destroyed by Yousuf Shah, who ruled Kashmir in 16th century. He renamed the place as Gulmarg. Maharaja Hari Singh built a new temple there for his queen, now called the Maharani Temple.

Pampore was Padmapura.

Bijbehara was Vijayeshwara,

Here is an excerpt from the book ‘Ramanand Sagar – An Epic Life’. Apparently, Vijeshwar was established by Mahadev during the Treta Yug!

Ganderbal was Gandharapura.

Anantnag was the land of Nagas with King Ananta as their ruler.

Bhaderwah was BhadarKashi. The town is variously referred to as Bhadarwasa, Bhadarkashi, Bhadar Avakash and Bhadar Pura. Here is an extract from the Wikipedia page on Bhaderwah:

 

Kishtwar was KashtNiwar / Kashthavata.

Pir Panjal was Panchaldhar.

Mattan was Martand.

It is Hari Parbat, not Koh ‘e Maran.

It is Shankaracharya Hill, not Takht ‘e Sulemani.

And it is Martand Surya Mandir not Shaitan ki Gufa, as christened by some Bollywood idiots! It was the zenith of Kashmiri architecture, constructed by the legendary King Lalitaditya Muktapida. Of course, the invaders destroyed it too.

Then there is Pahalgam, which is very much in news these days. It means the First Village, i.e. the beginning of the Shri Amarnath Yatra. Interestingly, here is what the late Rishi Kapoor had to say about Pahalgam in his Autobiography :

Some more names, though not part of Kashmir are: Ghaggar used to be a tributary of Sutlej (Satadru). Its original name was Drishdvati.

Peshawar was Purushpur.

Afghanistan itself was Asmavraja.

Of course, Delhi itself was Indraprasth!

As I bring this thread to a close, let me ask you a question – Can we go back to OFFICIALLY naming these places / rivers back to their original, Sanskrit names?

An addendum for those who think it will cause some issues – Do you talk about Burma, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras or Ceylon by their old or new names? Heck, even Turkey has become Türkiye!

Food for thought, no?

In the end, I will just plug this Twitter thread here. Parts of it give some more context to what I wrote above:

:fin:

On the Pahalgam Terror Attack

Harpreet Uncategorized , , , , , , , , ,

This chain of thoughts was first shared on Twitter / X on the night of 24th April 2025.

Folks sharing some thoughts on the #PahalgamTerrorAttack. Here goes ..
 
To begin with, I think this visual of a newlywed couple on their honeymoon shall remain forever etched in my mind whenever this incident in particular and the name of Pakistan in general comes up.
 
 
By now we all know what happened.
 
Tourists were asked their religion & those who were adherents of the ‘wrong’ faith were killed without second thoughts by those who follow the ‘correct’ deen. The first thought that came to my mind upon hearing this was the speech by Asim Munir:
 
 
Of course, with the benefit of hindsight, this was not just hot air and bluster from the Brown Panted Chief, but a ‘Call to Action’ to stir up the terror pot in India.
 
But then, I find it amusing that many of our own people were aghast upon hearing this.
 
If you think Munir was out of his mind in talking this trash against Hindus, then I have a white coloured building in Agra to sell to you!
 
Don’t believe me?
 
Well, here is what a top Indian diplomat came to hear from a six-year old girl in Pakistan:

Yup.

‘H!ndu Kutt@’ is the way these Paakis define you and me. Do note the spontaneous laughter from the audience on this ‘joke’ in a popular show in Pakistan:

You and I may go to town professing our love for the Paakis, light thousands of candles on Wagah-Atari Border in ‘solidarity’ with them and go gaga over their actors in Bollywood movies.

But to them, we were, we are and we always will be the enemy.

Period.

What we lack is ‘शत्रुबोध‘ against the ones who have sworn to annihilate us not just physically, but also as a civilization.

These people revere marauders who raped and killed / converted their own Hindu ancestors.

Sadly, these bastard children of their great grandmothers’ rapists have allies within Indian borders as well – wittingly or unwittingly.

These people see their history as starting from when Mohammad bin Qasim conquered Sindh. Nothing before that is relevant. And if you think it is their Madrasas that teach this to their kids, then you couldn’t be more wrong. This what their schools teach : State Sponsored Radicalization in Pakistan’s School Curriculum: Part 2 of 3

So what come next?

How do we get rid of this rabid entity called Pakistan that occupies what were our own lands less than a century ago?

Short answer – HUMILIATE them at every given opportunity, militarily or better still, psychologically.

Even if it does not kill their hatred towards you and me, it will scare them enough to keep them at bay for some time atleast. Remember, after the humiliating Battle of Bahraich, the invaders didn’t dare look towards India for over a century.

Closer to our times, the humiliation of 1965 was not digestible for them and thus, they came back for yet more humiliation in 1971. After 1971, the Brown Panted Ones have never dared confront Indian Armed Forces face to face in open war.

Yes, they tried Kargil. But in their own words, they never thought Indian Armed Forces would react so violently to it.

Bottomline: HUMILIATION is what keeps them at bay, till the time they forget their aukaat & come back again at you.

Keep humiliating them, & there will be peace.

Which is why the decision to put Indus Water Treaty in abeyance has rattled them so much!

They could react to Surgical Strikes by denial. They could react to Balakot by ‘Swift Retreat’ & losing an F-16. But to this, they have no counter, except shout WAR!

Btw, talking about ‘War’, this is what their erstwhile Brown Panted Chief had to say about their famed Brown Panted Army!

Just watch this video from the 3-minute mark.

This was their CHIEF speaking!

Coming back to the IWT, I have written a bit about it in the past as well. Shall share those threads at the end of this thread. But one thing that merits attention is the wording used in the very beginning of the text of the Treaty. It is this :

Yes, IWT was signed under a smokescreen of ‘peace and friendship’ that has cleared off now. There is not much that Pakistan can do except cry, or if they dare, then to take military action. And we all know how that has ended for them, each and every time!

But, something tells me this is not all that is coming their way.

No Sir!

Not when Indian Prime Minister switched to English in the middle of a speech to a non-English speaking audience.

Why?

Ask those who heard it & understood in the Western Hemisphere.

If this is not an announcement of much worse headed the way of Pakistan, then I don’t know what else it is.

The Paakis overplayed their hand in #PahalgamTerrorAttack.

They thought they would sour the visit of Vance, just as they did during Clinton’s time :

The Paakis thought they would hide behind ‘indigenous freedom struggle’ by using local terrorists.

But to their utter surprise, GOI never bothered with such technicalities. Instead, they acted swiftly and decisively by targeting the IWT and Paaki Diplomatic Staff straight away!

It was almost as if the GOI had already made plans for any such provocation long ago!

Mind you, I say this not to belittle the lives lost in Pahalgam. But instead, to point to the fact that Pakistan just cannot be expected to NOT come and kill us at every given opportunity.

That said, I think they miscalculated wrt to this terror attack – Either in the sheer numbers of casualties that the yahoos inflicted, or in the response from the GOI. I’m sure there would be a LOT of nervous discussions going on within Pakistan since then.

So what comes next?

And more importantly, what is the likelihood of further punitive actions by India?

Well, in my opinion, the likelihood is high.

When and How, is what needs to be seen.

Why do I say this?

Well, because of the extremely strong actions thus far and the extremely harshly worded statements from the Prime Minister, Raksha Mantri and Home Minister.

Then there are the visuals of the Home Minister paying respects to the departed souls. The similarity with the Prime Minister doing the same in the aftermath of the Pulwama Attack is unmissable. Feel free to disagree.

This has been our trajectory thus far:

A war/near war every decade:

1947-48

1965

1971

1984/87 (Siachen/Brasstacks)

1999 (Kargil)

2002 (Parakram)

2019 (Pulwama/Balakot)

This decade still awaits one. Judging by the way things are panning out, the wait may not be for very long.

How the next part of Indian retaliation comes about, is anyone’s guess.

It may be military retaliation. Or it may be through other means.

But one thing is for sure – It will have to be something that cannot be hidden away or wished away by Pakistan.

Retribution will not only have to be served, but also be SEEN as having been served.

THIS is what will get you to the humiliation of the Brown Panted Rulers of Pakistan that I talked about in the beginning.

It doesn’t only need to be SEEN, but I would want it to be SPECTACULAR as well.

Spectacular enough to drown out the horrific visuals of Pahalgam Spectacular enough to keep these self-styled successors of Saiyyad Salar Masud away from my lands for atleast a decade, if not a century.

After the Army (Surgical Strikes) and the Air Force (Balakot), will it be the Navy that will do the honours this time? Remember, they were raring to go even in Feb 2019!

Unfortunately, I cannot see the future and don’t know what will happen next. But what I surely can say is that this war has been going on since the day Pakistan begins its history from, i.e. 8th Century AD. Any lull is bound to be temporary. Period.

Unfortunately for us, we’ve been conditioned to seek instant gratification instead of looking at things the way they actually are – A never ending battle for the very soul of our civilization (Fortunately, there’s a mute button on Twitter for such 👇 idiots!) 

As I try and conclude this chain of thoughts, I will share this tweet 👇 from four years ago before moving ahead. I still stand by it. Once again, feel free to disagree.

A word on how Pakistan is reacting to it. In one simple phrase – Like a headless chicken!

They have banned India owned airlines from using their precious airspace!

But interestingly, they DARE NOT ban airlines from other countries because every other country in the world is a potential donor to this beggar nation!

I don’t think we will need to wait too long before a prominent Pakistani politician or military man (serving or retired) will make the first mention of nukes.

THAT is how rattled Pakistanis are currently.

We have shown them the other cheek far too many times even in my living memory, what to talk about our history since 1947 or even before that. I say it is time to stop that now. It is time to grease the wheels of history with the blood that makes them move.

This is what I wrote about 11 years ago. Still holds true. There WILL be pain over the short term, but in the larger scheme of things, it won’t matter much.

I am of the firm opinion that with a Pakistan that is subdued in whatever form, quite a bunch of our internal issues will also take care of themselves.

And the Pakistan that I look to see subdued includes the terror central in Rawalpindi.

With this I conclude this particular chain of thoughts. Remember, the enemy is a coward. He runs away at the first hint of a strong reaction. For example, just count the number of terror attacks in India outside of J&K since 26/11 Mumbai Attacks.

Pakistan has been testing and pushing our redlines since 15 Aug 1947 itself. Thus far we had been willing to turn the other cheek. But that window passed about a decade ago when the BSF pounded the hell out of Pakistan Rangers in Oct 2014.

Deep down, Pakistan knows it as well. But their ego prevents them from acknowledging it. Hence my insistence on HUMILIATION, because nothing else will work on such an enemy.

Read your scriptures and ‘mythology’. Notice that destroying asuras was a bounden duty for the sake of preserving your Dharma. 

With this I conclude my thread.
Hope it made some sense to you. If not, well .. so be it!
I look fwd to seeing what comes next.

I shall just leave 2-3 threads on the Indus Water Treaty since it is so much in news currently.

Thread 1 on IWT :

Thread 2 on IWT :

Thread 3 on IWT :

And a real-world manifestation of what I see as the only way to get lasting peace in our lands 👇👇

Missed this one regarding Paaki ‘artists’ working in Indian films 👇

:fin:

On the Movie Chhaava

Harpreet Uncategorized , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Folks, sharing some thoughts on the movie ‘Chhava’. I watched it about three weeks ago with my elder one. The Missus and the younger one had watched it a few days earlier. I normally stay away from films, however this one pulled me. Glad that it did.

Let me try & explain ..

Before moving ahead, just a gentle reminder that earlier this month was the 336th martyrdom anniversary of Sambhaji Maharaj. Here’s a tribute thread in his honour. May have a look : Dharmveer Sambhaji Maharaj

Coming back to Chhaava, I don’t intend to talk about the movie itself, except for exhorting you to go & watch it with your kids It is one part of our history that they will NEVER learn in their school textbooks unless GOI makes a concerted effort to do so.

Instead, I intend talking about the use of the popular medium of movies to subtly and at times, blatantly, peddle narratives and shape opinions. To that end, @vivekagnihotri hits the nail on the head here.

(Link to above tweet : https://x.com/vivekagnihotri/status/1902359513438810554 )

If you think the Indian film industry has NOT been used as a tool to peddle propagandas / narratives, then I have a white coloured building in Agra to sell to you!

Btw, if the movie poster in the above tweet looked to you like reinforcing my statement in the tweet, they you are perfectly right!

For those who missed it, let me introduce you to the film ‘Youngistan‘! (Wiki Link : Youngistaan)

Check out the film plot in the Wiki page.

Check out the release date – March 2014.

Now check out the hero.

Tell me if he doesn’t seem based on a Youth Leader who was leading a major national political party in the elections that were due shortly after the release of the film!

Of course, if you say I am reading too much into what is a matter of pure coincidence, I won’t blame you. In fact, I will share yet another piece of pure coincidence with you. It is popularly called ‘Chennai Express’! (wiki link : Chennai Express)

Release date : 09 August 2013.

Key Dialogue used widely in promotions : Never Underestimate the Power of a Common Man!

A wonderful dialogue indeed. Especially when later that year, the Common Man Party contested Delhi elections and came to power!

Of course, the above two examples can be dismissed as benign coincidence. I won’t contest you if you say so. I might even agree with you to some extent. But then, the element of doubt will always remain.

Now let us look at some movies based on nationalist / patriotic themes made some two decades ago, that came to be really popular. What immediately come to mind are Border, LoC Kargil, Lakshya and Gadar.

Of these, Lakshya was the last one, released in 2004. After that I don’t recollect any films on such themes that gained popularity till the time Uri and Kesari came about in 2019.

Check out the years mentioned in the above tweet and relate them with the political winds prevalent within the country in those times. I won’t say more on this because aim of this blog post is not to make any political statements, but instead, concentrate on the topic of narratives.

The thing is that the battle of narratives and counter-narratives is well and truly underway, with Bollywood being a major medium being utilised. Of course, commercial considerations will always be there due to the huge amounts of funds required for producing a film.

That a @vivekagnihotri could make films like Tashkent Files and Kashmir Files and make profit out of it as well, speaks volumes about the times that we currently live in .. times where talking about parts of our history hidden in plain sight are no longer taboo. On the contrary, I would even say that there is a huge, emerging demand for such stories to be told by popular media. And going by that, I am pretty sure there will be more movies such as Kashmir Files and Chhaava that will come by in the months and years ahead.

Along with that will also come the ‘outrage’ by those who will take it as a personal insult for movie makers daring to tell the truth without coating it in political correctness, just like Chhaava.

The ‘liberal’ ones will continue to beat their chests on every such occasion, while defending violence committed by the ground soldiers. @NAN_DINI_ Ji puts it in perfect context, so instead of writing more on this, I’ll just leave this tweet here.

(Link to above tweet)

As @NAN_DINI_ Ji says in her tweet above, ‘they’ don’t want our kids to know our unvarnished history. And they will go to any extent to make that happen. Talking about ‘them’, I just remembered this tweet of mine.

As per the biography of Ramanand Sagar Ji, Shri Bhaskar Ghose Ji wanted him to ‘reduce Hindu content in Ramayan and make it more secular’. Yes, that is what the son of Ramanand Sagar Ji writes in the book! Check out the screenshots in the tweet above!

In fact, telecast of Ramayan and Mahabharat in the late 80s spurred the political movement that ultimately resulted in current day leadership steering the Motherland today.

‘They’ know the power of narratives.

Hence they try to scuttle unfavourable narratives either thru bureaucratic means, or else by street-level violence, even if the ‘narratives’ are merely about people daring to tell the true history as it happened. Talking about the lengths ‘they’ will go to obfuscate truth, I’ll just leave this video here. ‘Yudhishthira got idea of renunciation From Ashoka’, says the ‘renowned historian’ Romila Thapar Ji.

No wonder they don’t want our children to know about the evil side of ‘Great’ Dynasties. And they will relegate truly great indigenous rulers who actually fought these ‘Great’ dynasties to barely a paragraph or mere footnotes in history books, if at all.

Heck, they don’t even teach our kids about the contemporary military history of our Motherland. Shared some thoughts on that as well some weeks back. Replugging that thread here all over again :

In fact, Battle of Saragarhi is taught in France of all places, as a story of exceptional valour while our own school textbooks remained (and continue to be) perfectly silent on it.

The movie Kesari that told the story all over again, but then, the coming generations will still have no idea about it. Unless we as a Nation make a conscious effort to tell these stories to our future generations, that is.

(Link to above tweet. MUST watch the video embedded in it)

I want my kids and my grandkids to know about Lachit Barphukan, Rani Tarabai, Ram Prasad Bismil, Banda Singh Bahadur, Rani Abbakka, Kakathiyas, Satavahanas and the countless other heroes and heroines who have fought fearlessly for the sake of our lands.

As I conclude this thread, I’ll plug this chain of thoughts here as well. Left to ‘them’, Shivaji will never be ‘The Great’ and instead be relegated to the nomenclature of ‘Mountain Rat’ in the textbooks our kids study from.

Coming back to the movie Chhaava, I made both my kids read this blog post of mine before going for the movie : Dharmveer Sambhaji Maharaj. The violence visited on the captive Sambhaji Maharaj was depicted in all its evil ‘glory’ by the director, yet it remained greatly underplayed in the movie. I take it that any more gore / violence and the movie might not have been cleared by the censors.

Yet, it depicted enough and importantly, unapologetically and without trying to colour it in secularism.

THAT is what seems to have riled the ‘ecosystem’ – this hard-hitting and unabashed telling of truth.

The movie is a MUST WATCH, if you haven’t seen it thus far.

As for my kids, the younger one was silent at the end of the movie (just as he was when he watched Kesari). From the theatre, my wife and he had already planned to go to a nearby Shiv Mandir and they did so. The elder one too was moved. Yet, being the young adult that he is, he merely said in his typical understated, ‘cool’ way – Ekdum Badhiya Movie Thi.

The entire theatre was dead silent towards the end of the movie, which says a lot about it.

With this I conclude this chain of thoughts. I hope it made some sense. If not, then .. well .. so be it!

Thanks for your patience.

Go watch the movie if not done already!

A Visit to the Maha Kumbh

Harpreet Uncategorized , , , , , , , , ,

This chain of thoughts was shared on twitter on the night of 17 Jan 2025. Link to the thread on twitter : https://x.com/CestMoiz/status/1880267596702052855

Folks, Sharing snippets from my trip to Prayagraj to witness the Maha Kumbh earlier this week. Missus and I spent four days and five nights in the city, reaching there on the night of 11 Jan and returning back home on the night of 16 Jan.

Here goes ..

First and foremost, MUST plan a trip to Prayagraj for the Maha Kumbh!

It is a once in 144 year event and we are blessed to be alive at this point in time to be able to witness it. For so many people, a Maha Kumbh won’t ever be even a once in a lifetime event.

As we drove into the city, we could sense magic in the very air. The entire city was in an upbeat mood, despite waves after waves of humanity descending there. Thankfully, we had booked our stay in the month of October itself and were comfortable that way, unlike many others.

Having parked our car, we just let it remain there for the next four days. This was partly due to us not quite knowing the city and partly also because of the traffic restrictions put in place by the police in order to facilitate the floods of pilgrims that had come for the event.

We realized later that the massive crowds were there because the first two days of the Maha Kumbh, i.e., 13th and 14th Jan were for Shaahi Snaans of Magh Poornima and Sankrant. After Sankrant, the crowds visibly thinned down. Will come to that in a while.

Morning of 12th was our first day in the town. We took a rickshaw for the Ganga Ghat near Naag Vasuki Mandir. Thankfully, the rickshaw driver lost his way and we ended up across Maa Ganga, at the entrance to the Mela Grounds!

We entered the area & were pleasantly surprised to see the arrangements put in place by the administration. The various ‘shivirs’ were very well laid out. The entire area is divided into a vast grid with lanes criss-crossing each other at right angles, making it easy to navigate.

The pathways are paved with metal boards for ease of driving for vehicles permitted inside the Mela Grounds. The various ‘Shivirs’ too are fairly well decorated, depending on how deep the pockets of the organisers are!

Sharing one particular camp that I found really interesting!

And of course, it being UP, Shri JCB Ji was there as well, though this time for a very benign purpose!

The sheer Bhakti and Devotion that the crowds from all over the country brought along with them was something that could be felt in the very air we breathed. I kid you not when I say that it was almost as if one could actually ‘see’ the beautiful vibes in the air.

The first day was spent volunteering at a Shivir where tea / bhandaara was a continuous affair from 5am till 11pm every day. Three out of our four days were spent volunteering at this Shivir, in fact. Such was the bhakti, that the person managing the Shivir had actually quit his job to be able to spend the 50-odd days there, managing and serving for nearly 18 hours a day, along with his wife & kids. They all and some more volunteers were in fact staying within the camp itself.

Serving food to folks from different strata of society was a strangely spiritual experience. One could see that devotion in even the poorest of the people. And also see how content many of them actually are. They took extra care to ensure not a morsel was wasted, and only took just as much as they needed. This included packed meals for a parent or a child or even a sibling who wasn’t able to come for the Bhandaara. All prasad was gratefully and smilingly accepted and consumed.

Talking about the prasad, the first day’s fare was kadhi-chawal. Once again, I kid you not when I say that even though cooked in bulk, it tasted heavenly. The only reason that I can fathom for that is the Bhaav with which the cooks were preparing the prasad. They worked round the clock, but with the same energy throughout the four days that one saw them, regardless of the time of the day.

This brings me back to the arrangements. Each ‘Shivir’ had an electricity connection and atleast 4-5 tap water connections with water supply at good pressure throughout the day. The sheer logistics of it all are actually mind-boggling.

Then there were the Safai Karmachaaris. I had read somewhere before coming to Prayagraj that nearly 10,000 Safai Karmacharis were employed. While there, I could actually see them in action, working without supervision and ensuring cleanliness of the highest order.

Hats off indeed!

They would invariably form a decent chunk of those coming over for the Bhandaara as well.
In fact, it was an eye-opener for me to note that the entire city of Prayagraj is amongst the cleanest ones that I have visited thus far.

And I say this after having seen Indore as well.

There were more than adequate sanitary facilities as well for both genders that too were being cleaned almost round the clock by dedicated safai karmachaaris.

By the evening of our first day in the Mela Grounds, it became a bit cold and there was a light drizzle as well. This had me a bit worried.

Why?

Because next day was the first day of the Maha Kumbh and we planned to take a dip in Ma Ganga in the morning!

And I was already shivering!

So here is how the next day went ..

But before that, a quick word about the local police. They are on duty everywhere, as are thousands of additional policemen requisitioned for the duty. They stand on their posts in bitter cold, amidst a sea of humanity out there in full force. Yet, each and every policeman that we stopped by to ask for directions or any other information, was really polite and actually happy to help. Not just us, but the 100s more that would have stopped to seek guidance from them.

As I said before, the entire air was alive with Magic!

Coming back to the morning of the 13th.

It was the first day of the Maha Kumbh and we planned to take a dip in Ma Ganga at the Dashashwamedh Ghat instead of going to the Sangam that day. We got up early and moved out.

Btw, this time I was wearing a newly purchased chappal instead of the leather sandals that I wore the previous day because they had given me a shoe-bite! Looking back, I think it was only appropriate because I dared to wear leather in the holy Mela Grounds!

So we hailed an e-rickshaw and he promised to take us as far as the police would permit!

This meant alighting about 2km before ‘Daaraganj’ and commencing our walk as part of the large throngs of devotees headed that way. This pic was clicked by the Missus that morning. It perfectly captured the faith and devotion of folks who travelled that way from each and every part of the country. I’ll just leave it here without any further comment.

Thankfully, we were able to find an e-rickshaw after walking for about a kilometre. Apparently, some were voluntary ‘stuck’ on the other side of the barricades and would only ply within that area because once out of there, they would not be permitted back in!

Thus we reached the Ghat. Heartbeat grew faster as the moment of the snaan came closer.

It was partly due to anticipation of the event that had build up over the past 7 months when we had decided to visit the Maha Kumbh, but partly also due to the cold winter morning of that day!

However, a snaan had to be undertaken and so it was.
The waters were cold, no doubt, but the snaan was so beautifully invigorating and cleansing that one cannot describe it in words.

I will try to do so as I talk later in this thread about the snaan in Sangam the next day.

Let it suffice to say that the day just became even more beautiful after the snaan.

Once again the ghaat was really clean and being continuously cleaned all the time as well. There were good facilities for the ladies too to change after the snaan.

And then there was the famous ‘Nimbu-Chai’ as well as my weakness – Cotton Candy. Both were consumed before we walked across Ma Ganga via Bridge 15 – one of the many temporary bridges constructed for the event. The bridge took us straight to the Mela Ground.

This was when I remarked to my wife – ‘Now I understand why it is called a Mela!‘

The previous day, we had entered the grounds from the other end, where there were all the Shivirs. This day, as we entered from the Ganga Ji side, we realized what a beautiful Mela was underway!

There was pure festivity in the air, along with the unmistakable aura of bhakti. So we stopped before going to ‘our’ shivir and had steaming hot bhuna hua chana, with a cocktail of masalas adding to the flavour. Sheer Bliss, I tell you!

As we turned towards the Shivir, a speeding SUV suddenly screeched to a halt. In it was a ‘V.I.P Babaji’ (Copyright for this term rests with Shri @cestmoiz Ji! 😁🙏). The driver was in a rush, even as I signalled with my hand for him to slow down, lest he run over some poor soul!

I made eye contact with the ‘V.I.P Babaji’ while doing so and he politely smiled at me.

But the driver glared at the walkers for daring to slow him down!

Two different sides of a coin, I’d say.

While on the topic of ‘V.I.P Babajis’, on our last day in the Mela Ground, a vehicle crossed us from behind at great speed, with sirens blazing. I thought it was an ambulance, till the time I saw it to be a private vehicle, followed by yet another SUV of yet another ‘V.I.P Baba’!

Anyhow, back to the Mela on day two of our trip which was also the day one of the Maha Kumbh. Once again, the day was spent serving food to folks who came visiting the little Shivir that we were volunteering at.

It was sometime in the midst of this that I had an epiphany of sorts.

Where we had spent months and weeks agonizing over planning our trip, where to stay, how to commute etc, many such simple folks had just gotten up and reached Prayagraj, trusting fate to take care of them.

That day the Bhandaara lasted from 11 am till 5pm & was still on as the Missus & I left the camp. On the way out, I couldn’t help but think of all those stories in the movies about kids getting separated in Kumbh ka Mela. It seemed very unlikely that day, seeing the arrangements.

But as luck would have it, at just about that time my wife and I got separated!

Thankfully, she called up on my mobile and we could find each other again, without having to wait for so many years as might typically happen in a bollywood film!

Next day we had planned for a dip in Sangam on the occasion of Sankrant. Sadhus and various Akharas had already taken the dip during the early morning hours of between 3 and 5 am that were reserved for them. We commoners started from our lodgings at about 8:30 am.

This day, traffic was halted nearly 7km from Sangam. Crowds too were massive, even when compared to the day prior. However, crowd control was excellent and there were one-way lanes for pilgrims in order to avoid any ‘dhakka-mukki’.

And unlike the crowds in say, Karol Bagh Market of Delhi, these crowds didn’t make me perturbed or short-tempered. We were all one in our pursuit of the spiritual experience at Sangam.

All energies all around us were pure and blissful as the sea of humans snaked thru the streets.

The crowds were really thick, but one never felt claustrophobic. Space and traffic management was excellent and never once did we encounter a ‘traffic jam’. Such was the beauty of the traffic management, that we were even able to halt in the middle of it all and take this video!

The police were very ruthless in restricting access to even fellow policemen in uniform who wanted to reach their place of duty on their motorcycles!

We decided to take a boat to Sangam from the Qila Ghaat. Looking back, this turned out to be a great decision!

For one, the views were fantastic!

The Qila Ghaat is situated on the banks of the Yamuna River. From here, it took about 20 minutes for us to reach Sangam by boat. The boatsmen charged a mere Rs 400 per passenger for the 80-90 minute round trip instead of attempting to rip us off.

There were eight of us on the boat, including four women and a guy from a Gujarati family. They were in great spirits, joking around with each other, with us and with the ‘Kevat’ as well.

Once again, there were hundreds of boats in water and yet, a perfect method to the madness.

At the Sangam, we were taken to an area where there was a sandbar on which water was about chest deep. Once again, a snaan was done, with this time one extra dip devoted to all those who had outsourced their own ‘Paap-Dhulai’ to me upon hearing of my trip!

Once again, the snan was pure bliss. The body and the heart felt so warm after the snan that I cannot describe in words. One could actually sense the changed mood in the boat during the return journey, as the same Gujarati family, after some minutes of chit-chat, started off with Hanuman Chalisa followed by bhajans, with rest of us too joining in.

The walk back was leisurely. The Missus was, however, tired.

And as if on cue, two young guys appeared and offered to drop us off to wherever we wanted, on their bikes which they had managed to bring in!

No price was negotiated and no demands were made. They just said that we could give them whatever we wanted. Naturally, we got on the bikes.

My driver talked all through the ride about doing this as a seva (it wasn’t a taxi!), and offering me advice for rest of my stay there. We reached a few minutes before the other rider reached with my wife. While waiting, he saw I was carrying a pitcher with water from Sangam. He asked for some of it and performed a ‘Panch-Snan’ by sprinkling it on his head, face and feet.

Once the Missus too reached, we paid them what we thought was a fair price, plus some more! Thankfully, they were happy with it.

This brings me to another aspect about the public transport in Prayagraj. Mind you, this is purely based on my anecdotal experiences, so feel free to disagree. I felt that the e-rickshaw drivers too were polite, helpful and not at all overcharging despite so much clientele.

In fact, the entire city of Prayagraj is currently seeing major disruptions in their daily routine. On days of Shaahi Snan, a large chunk of locals cannot even go about their business/jobs or even take out their vehicles Imagine such a thing in Delhi & the chaos that would ensue!

I have no hesitation in saying that entire citizenry of Prayagraj are earning so much Punya merely for hosting the Maha Kumbh and the Kumbh every time they happen.

Then there are the security personnel who continue to be on duty and yet may not be able to have a snaan themselves. In fact, I actually asked one guy on the Qila Ghaat whether he had had the opportunity for a snaan in the midst of doing his job and he was happy to report that he had gone by boat at 3am itself and had a snaan!

So much Bhakti all around ..

That day we couldn’t go to do seva in the Shivir because of the sheer amount of time it took to go to Sangam and come back. The evening was, instead, spent visiting temples outside the restricted zone.

Our fourth and sadly, last day in Prayagraj was the 15th of Jan. It started off as a bitterly cold morning and I half-jokingly mentioned to my wife that instead of a dip, we should only do a ‘Panch-Snaan’ in Ganga Ji. Anyhow, we took an e-rickshaw to go to the Dashashwamedh Ghat.

To one’s surprise, the rickshaw took us right till the Ghat!

There were no traffic restrictions this day, they having been lifted last night after the Shaahi Snaan was over! To add to the surprise, the crowds too had massively thinned out!

We enquired from our rickshaw guy and he told that towards Sangam too, the walk this day would be barely 1-1.5 km! (Note: this was later corrected by someone on Twitter who said that rickshaws can go as close as 200m to Sangam.)

Anyhow, the morning was still bitterly cold and we were already on the Ghaat! However, once there, there was no question of not taking a dip!

This time too, the cold only lasted till one took a dip. After the snaan, it was once again as if it was a different world altogether!

This was our third snaan in three days.

Truly blessed.

Yet another cup of ‘nimbu chai’ and yet another cotton candy was consumed before we made our way across Ganga Ji and into the Mela. This time there were a few announcements for lost kids / companions on the PA system by the administration, as were on the day of the Shaahi Snaan.

We reached the Shivir for seva at 9:30am & left at 8pm. Truth be told, we did not want to leave at any cost.

Yet, life had to go on.

Goodbyes were said to those lucky enough, or resolute enough, to continue to serve, while we left for our lodgings that night.

With a heavy heart, we started back for Delhi at 8am on the morning of the 16th and reached home by evening. The Missus has already decided to go back later next month and is planning to stay in the Shivir itself. I, on the other hand, have a job to go to!

We are told that more than 1.5 Crore devotees took the holy dip on Sankrant. Locals also say that atleast 3-4 times as many will come on the Shaahi Snaan on Mauni Amavasya.

Now THAT would be a sight to behold for those lucky enough to witness it!

Speaking with the locals in the Mela Ground and elsewhere as well, one got the sense of pride they feel in hosting this mega event every 12 years. They were also all praises for the Govt and local administration for making arrangements like ‘Never Before’ in this Maha Kumbh.

As I close this thread, all I will say is JUST GO THERE! Kumbh comes once every 12yrs and a Maha Kumbh once every 144 years. One absolutely must make use of this blessed duration to perform this teerth yaatra while one can. That’s all I will say.

Thanks for your patience. 

:fin: