Pairokar

All Courts, right from the lower court to the Apex Court, have been dithering in pronouncing any judgement on Ayodhya and, in a way that is the correct approach also. In this context, it’s relevant to recall the obiter dicta of the former Chief Justice of India JS Khehar, who had suggested during one of the hearings of the Ayodhya case that all parties to the dispute must make sincere efforts to settle the issue amicably out of court. Therefore, those who were expecting that the Supreme Court would start day-to-day hearing of the Ayodhya matter were extremely disappointed when the Chief Ranjan Gogoi led bench did not take even a minute to adjourn the case till January 2019. He also did not tell about the composition of the bench whether it would be headed by him or any new bench would be constituted to hear the case. The previous Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra had fixed the date of the 29th October 2018 for the day-to-day hearing. So all hopes of the early decision in the case fro...

While going up from Haridwar to the heights of Badrinath and coming down from there to Haridwar, journalists Hemant Tiwari, Siddharth Kalhans and I spent nearly 30 hours travelling in the same car. Obviously, we talked and discussed on a range of issues and topics. We all marvel at the entrepreneurial skill of two persons- Baba Ramdev and Mahashaya Dharampal, who has passed a few days back at the ripe old age of 100 years. Mahasha ji. as he was called, was just a literate person with no academic degree. He was plying Tanga in old Delhi after migrating from Pakistan. He started grinding spices at his house to supplement his income. In due course of time, he became the shahenshah of masalas. His MDH brand spices are now sold all over the world and enjoy the status of uncrowned king.  I have met him twice with a leading lawyer HL Kumar, who recommended him to engage me for some legal cases. There has been a striking similarity in both personalities. Both have been a...

My recent visit to Badrinath, one of the holiest shrines of Hindus, after a gap of eleven  years  has been highly reinvigorating, mentally satisfying and spiritually uplifting. This time I was in the company of Hemant Tiwari and Siddharth Kalhans, two talented and gifted journalists of Lucknow, who have razor-sharp analytical mind and possess wonderful information about politics, history, religion, spiritualism, society and social mores. It goes without saying that Uttarakhand is amazingly beautiful; replete with high hills, deep vales, dense forests and breath-taking scenic places. It can be made the most attractive and alluring tourist destinations in the world. If necessary facilities and infrastructures are provided, Uttarakhand itself can generate many times more money from domestic and foreign tourists than even Switzerland. It can be the haven of trekkers’ delight. Lakhs of pilgrims visit the four most sacred places of Hindus, known as the ‘Chaar Dham...