Amrit Rays Blog

A taxi ride through a remote village road in Kolkata West Bengal

admin@amritray.com — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 21:45:00 GMT

Recently I visited my birth place in Kolkata. I recorded this video when I was travelling through a remote village road in Kolkata goring towards Andharmanick in North 24 Parganas West Bengal. It was drizzling throughout the day and weather was quite damp.

Communal violence in Maharashtra – violence against North Indians

admin@amritray.com — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 20:11:00 GMT

It is outrageous to see there is so much hatred amongst the Marathi’s (Maharashtrians) towards the North Indians particularly the people of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. There has been continued violence towards the North Indians in this state of Maharashtra in the recent past and I am amazed that nothing serious is being done to avoid it in future. All the politicians can do right now is just talk and talk and do nothing in fear of losing their vote bank.

India and Its Street Animals

admin@amritray.com — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 19:04:00 GMT

The first thing you notice when in India is its street animal population. It’s huge; where ever you go you see them everywhere. You see cows, bulls, buffalos, dogs, donkeys, cats, monkeys etc. This is of course not an exhaustive list but these are the most commonly seen animals on the Indian Road. They eat off the garbage dumped besides the road by people or the left over that people throw everywhere on the street.

A Visit to the Taj Mahal in Agra during summers

admin@amritray.com — Sun, 18 May 2008 20:52:00 GMT

Last Sunday (April 27th, 2008) some of my relatives came to visit us in Delhi and I decided to take them to visit the Taj Mahal in Agra. We drove all the way, it is around 200km from Delhi and it took us around 4 hours to reach there. You are supposed to take your shoes off when you start to climb the steps for the Taj Mahal. Now we did not realize that the marble floor could have become so hot under the sun. It was burning the bottom of my feet. Believe me it was very painful. We all started running towards the shade and when we reached it, it seemed like eternity. (The picture of the Taj Mahal on the left was taken by me on the same day)

Now I really wonder why on earth the people who take care of the Taj do nothing about it? I can see the remnants of some sort of carpet that was once laid out for the people to walk on. Nothing is left of it and surely the care takers can see that. They used to put water on the carpets too to make them cooler, but I don't know what has happed to all that now. It is such a famous monument and people all over the world flock to see it. I saw so many foreign tourist jumping around with pain when they tried to climb the stairs.

Another bad experience that you may face while at the Taj is at the entrance gates. And I am talking about the behaviour of the policemen at the gates. Their rude behaviour with the tourist puzzles me. Serious hospitality training needs to be imparted to these rude policemen and hope that they may become a little bit more sensitized towards human feeling and emotions.The problem is that they have never interacted with other cultures and fail to realize that the way they behave may be considered inappropriate by others.

The Indian Government has started initiatives under the umbrella of Incredible India! to impart education on such issues and I hope things turn out for the best in the near future. It is said that the most difficult thing to change in a society is the mind set of the people.

But the sheer beauty of the Taj can make you forget all this and make you want to come back again and again. It can mesmerize you.

The Great Indian Population

admin@amritray.com — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 14:47:00 GMT

I always wanted to write something about the Great Indian Population. How in my opinion it is affecting India and its economy. Is there any way to deal this it? Only God knows.