Germany bids farewell to Angela Merkel

With six minutes of warm applause, on the streets, balconies, windows, the whole Country applauded for 6 minutes – spectacular example of leadership and defense of humanity, chapeaux !

The Germans elected her to lead them, and she led 80 million Germans for 18 years with *competence, skill, dedication and sincerity*. *She did not utter nonsense. She did not appear in the alleys of Berlin to be photographed. She was dubbed “The Lady of the World” and who was described as the equivalent of six million men.*

During these eighteen years of her leadership of the authority in her Country, *no transgressions were recorded against her. She did not assign any of her relatives to a government post. She did not claim that she was the maker of glories. She did not get millions in payment, nor did anyone cheer her performance, she did not receive charters and pledges, she did not fight those who preceded her*.

Yesterday, Merkel left the party leadership position and handed it over to those after her, and Germany and it’s German people are in the best condition ever.

The reaction of the Germans was unprecedented in the history of the Country. *The entire population went out to their balconies of their houses and clapped for her spontaneously for 6 continuous minutes. A standing ovation nationwide*.

Germany stood as one body bidding farewell to their leader, a chemical physicist who *was not tempted by the fashion or the lights and did not buy real estate, cars, yachts and private planes*, knowing that she is from former East Germany.

*She left her post after leaving Germany at the top. She left and her relatives did not claim advantage. Eighteen years and she never changed her wardrobe. God be upon this silent leader.*

At a press conference, a female Journalist asked Merkel : *We notice that you’re wearing the same suit, don’t you have any other? She replied: “I am a government employee and not a model*”

At another press conference, they asked her : *Do you have housemaids who clean your house, prepare your meals and so on? Her answer was: “No, I do not have servants and I do not need them. My husband and I do this work at home every day.*

Then another journalist asked : *Who is washing the clothes, you or your husband? Her answer: “I arrange the clothes, and my husband is the one who operates the washing machine, and it is usually at night, because electricity is available and there is no pressure on it, and the most important thing is to take into the account the possible inconvenience for the neighbours, thankfully the wall separating our apartment from the neighbours is thick. She said to them, “I expected you to ask me about the successes and failures in our work in the government??”*

Mrs. Merkel lives in a normal apartment like any other citizen. *She lived in this apartment before being elected Chancellor of Germany. She did not leave it and does not own a villa, servants, swimming pools or gardens.*

Merkel, the now former Chancellor of Germany, the largest economy in Europe!

In the footsteps of Thane’s most active dog-feeder

Text by Raju Bist
Photographs by Nimesh Bhandari

Some kind of sixth sense tells them she will be at the Vasant Vihar Circle any minute now.
When she does, the stray dogs excitedly congregate around her. Yet, they patiently wait for their favourite aunty and her two helpers to spread out the plastic bowls on the footpath. They receive her green signal and only then attack the rice, soyabean and chicken combination with gusto.
It is 8.35 pm and Namita (Call me Nams) D’souza is out on her fourth – and last – round of the day. Her energy level is perceptible, even though she has been up since early morning, overseeing in her row house the daily cooking of 25 kg of rice and 15 kg of chicken for 150 strays. She has been doing this for the last 12 years now.

The next stop is Tulsidham. Here, she has to only blow her Honda car’s horn and at least five dozen strays flock around her, their tails wagging incessantly. By now Namita is a familiar figure in many Thane localities and a passing lady tells her about a stray hit by a speeding motorcycle. It is lying injured and unattended outside a garage near Hyde Park.
Apart from feeding strays, Namita also looks after sick and injured roadies, often nursing them back to health in her house. There are four of them staying with her right now. “One of them has recovered fully but he refuses to leave. We keep him outside the door and he comes back right in,” she laughs.

Namita looks up the injured dog at Hyde Park and then proceeds to Hiranandani Meadows, her last stop of the day. At the garden here, she first feeds a litter of five cute puppies, born a few weeks ago.
For a long time, Namita lovingly looks at them slurping on the food.
A warm smile spreads over her face.
Rice donations are welcome. Please contact Namita on +919892844076

Asli nationalism

“Throughout my life, I have been asked why I have a Hindu name,” says childhood friend Jawahar D’Souza.
A group of us old school buddies are whiling away time at the monthly breakfast meet at our regular Udipi adda.
Jawahar, a hoarding contractor, is the eldest of the D’Souza siblings, followed by Ashok, who is in the Merchant Navy. There is a girl next, and then a set of male twins. Yes, the three also have Hindu names.
“To everyone who asked why he had kept Hindu names for his children, my dad would say, `They are not Hindu names. They are Indian names,’ ” says Jawahar. “My dad believed in nationalism long before the term became fashionable.”

NOA Salutes: The independent-minded octogenarian

First-born, just back from a trip abroad, on her chance meeting with a fascinating, 89-year-old Sindhi widow:
“I was waiting for my flight, when I saw this very old woman slowly pushing her airport luggage trolley towards where other passengers were seated. I rushed towards her and asked, `May I help you, aunty?’

​​​​`​N​o, no. I can manage,’ she almost shouted back. `I don’t need any help.’
She sat next to me and immediately said, `I am sorry but I hope you didn’t find me rude. It’s just that I always like to be independent.’
Then, while we waited for our flights, I heard her wonderful, inspiring, life story.
Rani aunty’s parents had migrated from Pakistan to Pune after partition.
She got married and shifted to Kampala, Uganda. `My husband was a sweet guy but very weak. He was very emotional,’ she revealed.
He had a shop which he had built up, bit by bit, over 15 years. He was very attached to the shop. There were riots in Uganda and her husband’s shop was burnt down. `He never recovered from the shock. He died,’ Rani aunty said very matter-of-factly.
Since then, she has been travelling all over the world, all by herself.
`I have a house in the United States since the last 15 years. I have many relatives in South Bombay. One of my sons has settled in Britain, another in New Zealand. They are always fighting among themselves. Each wants me to stay with him for long stretches of time. Then I have friends in many places, friends I made during my travels. Whenever there is a wedding or some other important occasion in their families, they call me over.’
I asked her what life advice she had for me, someone nearly one-third her age.
`Two things.
Be fearless. Take chances. You should not regret anything later. Try out new places. That way, you may end up making new friends.’
Secondly, it is your happiness that ultimately matters. Family, friends, colleagues, all come later. Think of your happiness first.’ “

NOA Salutes: A Road, a Bike and a Biker Girl

There are biker girls on Insta. And then there’s @gatacdo7. You won’t find a more cheerful girl than her, her posts bubbling with humour, often self-effacing. She always looks forward to a weekend – or public holiday – to hit the road from Mumbai, where she works as a techie. Her zest for life – and motorcycling – must have got more converts to the sport than all motorcycling magazines put together (Okay, that’s an exaggeration. But you get the point).

“I was never much of a ‘motohead’,” she candidly admits. “Had no such influence in my family or any raging motorcycle enthusiasts around me.” But having made motorcycling her passion, she is lucky to have met some incredible beings and souls. “I made lasting friendships and honestly had a supremely positive experience. Men and boys have been so kind and patient – always teaching, always encouraging, forever teasing and always ensuring that the world may burn but we are always being silly and having fun. A lot of motorcycling and accompanying components are things that I would’ve never tried or assumed would become a huge part of my life.”

More about our Biker Girl:

Name: Priyankka Dutta aka Prianca ‘Gata’ on social media (the nickname Gata [Brazilian Portuguese] was christened by her master of capoeira of which she was a student and part-time instructor).
Been riding since: June 2016.
First learnt on: A Honda Maestro scooter.
Bike: Triumph Bonneville T100 and Bonneville A3. Both have been converted to Scrambler with 2*1 Arrow pipes.
How it all began: She had been riding pillion for quite some time. But in late 2014 she walked past Keerthi Triumph in Bangalore (India’s first ever Triumph dealership), saw a Triumph Bonneville and went completely gaga over how gorgeous it looked. She went home and feverishly Googled the brand and its bikes. It then hit her that a) she wanted to ride motorcycles and b) she could not share her bike with anyone else. It had to be hers alone. “I think in all fairness what added fuel to the fire was seeing images of women riding the bike alongside those of men,” adds Prianca.
Biggest attraction: The travel, the potential to explore and just knowing that she is doing something she would’ve otherwise never done. Falling, scraping, being foolish, enjoying, getting all mucked up and getting home to clean up – a child-in-a-playground kind of feeling. “I always think of the bikes as the various instruments of amusement in a children’s park and the highway and dirt trails as my playgrounds. We are doing exactly the same things, except now as adults with bigger, badder machines.”
On women motorcyclists: “Female bikers have been around for a while. However, social media presence and publicity boost has made them and their stories more accessible and visual in recent years. Seeing them on 650cc+ machines is not only inspiring but also empowering. It is true we don’t need to gender-define this activity. However, truth is that women on bikes (an avenue ruled primarily by the opposite sex) is a refreshing breath of O2.”
Longest ride: “By my personal standards nothing I have done so far has been long enough. Having said that, a lot of south-bound rides spanning 2500-3000 odd kms have been among the longest.”
Quote Unquote: “Head in the sky, feet in the mud, fingers in all cookie jars!” essentially meaning I have big bloated dreams that almost make me float but then my feet are firmly planted on the ground acknowledging reality. The fingers in all cookie jars are a testament to my nature to try every damn thing. Like at a buffet, har cheez mein haath daalna hain.”

NOA Salutes: Why we like Kumaoni Aunty

We don’t know her real name. We just call her Kumaoni Aunty.
She is 80 plus. We don’t know her actual age (and we don’t ask ladies their age).
She inspires early morning walkers decades younger than her because:
1) She is the first one out walking, much before 5 am.
2) She walks to the vegetable market twice every day, picking up stuff for her extended family.
3) It is up to her to drop her grand-daughter to the school bus stop every morning.
4) Good-natured, she is always smiling.
5) You will never hear her complaining about anything. One meeting and you will conclude that she is the most optimistic person you have ever met.

NOA Salutes: The Snow Queen of Ghatkopar

Meet Navalba, resident of Ghatkopar, a suburb of Mumbai.
She and her extended family are just back from a holiday in various parts of Himachal Pradesh, where she enjoyed the snow in Solan.
Perennially smiling and with a positive outlook to life, she is always game for adventure.
She stays on the fourth floor in Ghatkopar with her son and every day, steps down to feed a cow and some pigeons. Saturdays are reserved for kirtans at the local temple with her son.
People are astonished to learn she often travels alone by train to Ahmedabad in Gujarat where her other son stays.
And did I say she is only 97 years young?

NOA Salutes: The award winner among us

Local boy Money Sharma – yes, that’s his real name – made headlines some time back when he won the Nat Geo Moment Awards 2011 for his photograph of a Ganga Aarti ceremony in Varanasi. The 25-year-old brought home a professional Nikon D300S with AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200 mm ED VR II lens. Sharma, who calls himself a “journalist by profession and a photographer by choice,” shot the Thane Kite Festival at Hiranandani Meadows on Makar Sankranti yesterday.
Here are a few vignettes from the event.

Senior photojournalist’s slide show at Thane Kala Bhavan

I have known Mukesh Parpiani since the last 31 years, from the time he freelanced at my first place of work, SOL Features, the Mumbai-based collective of freelance journalists. Later, he went on to become the Photo Editor of Indian Express, The Daily and Mid-Day. These days, he is the Head, Piramal Gallery at the NCPA, Nariman Point.
Parpiani is the last of a dying breed – the gritty, diehard professional photojournalist. In fact, his interesting slide show this evening at Thane’s Kala Bhavan, ended with the message “Let us revive photojournalism.” He ran an appreciative audience through 250 of his photos. Each of them reflected Parpiani at his best – alert, artistic and knowledgeable about current events.
I remember one incident which clearly showed that Parpiani has that one other quality that separates the also-rans from great photojournalists: perseverance.
Indira Gandhi was visiting the BNHS (Bombay Natural History Society) head office in south Mumbai for a function, a little before her death. For some strange reason known only to bureaucracy, photographers were not being allowed to shoot. As her entourage entered the BNHS main door, Parpiani suddenly shouted, “Indira Gandhi, yeh log photo leney nanin de rahe hain!”
The prime minister turned to the event’s organiser and in her calm voice, told him, “Let them take any photo they want.”
Thanks to Parpiani, the pack of press photographers got to shoot the prime minister outside as well as inside the BNHS.
Here, downloaded from the Internet, are some memorable shots by Parpiani.

 

 

NOA Salutes: Mrs Mathkar goes trekking

When other women of her age are taking morning walks or participating in laughter sessions in parks, Mrs Mathkar is trekking to some difficult destination in Maharashtra with boys and girls half her age. Those who have been with her on treks talk of the Dombivali resident’s enthusiasm and her knowledge of nature. Not for this grandmother any paraphernalia associated with regular walkers. True, she wears walking shoes but is always dressed in a colourful saree. Her son Bhupendra is also a skilled trekker. But when his mom is trekking all eyes are on her as people exclaim: “Wow! If you have the zeal, then age knows no bar!”
Photos: Ajit Satam