अमरीका के चोर

शायद मेरी इस पोस्ट का शीर्षक बहुतों को अजीब लगे, पर यह सत्य है कि अमरीका में बहुत ही ज्यादा चोरी और उठाईगिरि है। खासकर न्यू यॉर्क और दो तीन अन्य बड़े शहर तो इस काम के लिए बहुत ही कुख्यात हैं। मैं जब भी अमरीका जाने की तैयारी करने लगा, मुझे मित्रों ने, जो वहाँ से परिचित थे, विशेष कर अमरीकन मित्रों ने, बार बार सावधान किया कि मैं अपने समान और रुपये पैसे का बहुत ही ध्यान रखूँ क्योंकि वहाँ के चोर अपने काम में इतने निपुण हैं कि पलक झपकते ही सामान गायब कर देते हैं। 

       इस बात का अनुभव मुझे 1995 में हुआ। हालांकि मैं इससे पहले भी दो बार अमरीका जा चुका था। उन दिनों मैं एक अमरीकन कंपनी के लिए काम कर रहा था। मुझे मीटिंग के लिए सैन फ्रांसिस्को बुलाया गया था। इससे पहले न्यू यॉर्क मैं एक बार 1984 में भी जा चुका था। वह अमरीका की मेरी  पहली यात्रा थी। तब मैं वहाँ सात दिन रुका था और न्यू यॉर्क के मैनहट्टन भाग में खूब घूमा था। तब मुझे न्यू यार्क बहुत ही अच्छा लगा था। इसलिए मेरी इच्छा हुई क्यों न एक बार फिर न्यू यॉर्क घूमने का आनंद लिया जाये। इसलिए कंपनी से मैंने अनुरोध किया कि मेरा वापसी का टिकट न्यू यॉर्क होते हुए बना दिया जाए ताकि मैं दो दिन वहाँ रुक कर मैनहट्टन की गलियों में एक बार फिर घूम फिर सकूँ। उन्होंने सहर्ष ऐसा कर दिया।

       मैंने सैन फ्रांसिकों में अपने जीवन का पहला वीडियो कैमरा “सोनी हैंडीकैम” खरीदा और इससे मैंने सैन फ्रांसिस्को में खूब विडियो बनाए। एक सप्ताह वहाँ रह कर मैं न्यू यॉर्क के लिए आया। सैन फ्रांसिस्को से न्यू यॉर्क पहुँचने के लिए कोई साढ़े छह घंटे लगते हैं। फिर इन दोनो स्थानों में समय का भी तीन घंटे का अंतर है। इसलिए सैन फ्रांसिस्को से सुबह चला व्यक्ति शाम को ही न्यू यॉर्क पहुंचता है। न्यू यॉर्क में मैंने वांडरबिल्ट वाईएमसीए होटल में, जो दूसरे और तीसरे एवेन्यू के मध्य 46^th स्ट्रीट पर स्थित है, अपने लिए कमरा बुक करवा लिया था। इसी होटल में मैं अपनी पहली न्यू यॉर्क यात्रा के दौरान भी ठहरा था। यह शहर के मध्य भाग में स्थित है और यहाँ से न्यू यॉर्क के लगभग सभी दर्शनीय स्थलों पर आप पैदल ही घूम सकते हैं। न्यू यॉर्क बहुत बड़ा शहर होने के बावजूद भी घूमने के लिए बहुत आसान है। एक तरफ 11 लंबे एवेन्यू हैं और दूसरी ओर 228 स्ट्रीटस हैं। नया आदमी कहीं भी सुगमता से अपने आप ही पहुँच सकता है।    

       अगले दिन मैंने सबसे पहले ब्रिटिश एयरवेज़ के किसी समीपस्थ दफ़तर में जाकर अपना दिल्ली का टिकट रिकनफर्म कराने की सोची। उन दिनों अपनी वापसी की टिकट को एयर लाइंज से रिकनफर्म कराने का नियम था। सो मैं किसी ब्रिटिश एयरवेज़ के दफ़तर की तलाश में निकल पड़ा। मुझे ज्यादा दूर नहीं जाना पड़ा। उसी स्ट्रीट में एक ब्लौक के बाद मुझे ब्रिटिश एयरवेज़ का बुकिंग ऑफिस मिल गया। मैं दफ़्तर का रिवोल्विंग दरवाजा खोल कर अंदर दाखिल हुआ। दरवाजे के ठीक सामने एक भीमकाय वर्दीधारी नीग्रो सिक्योरिटी गार्ड बैठा था। वहाँ 2-3 यात्री और भी बैठे थे।

       मेरे पास मेरा बैकपैक था जिसमे मैंने अपना नया विडियो कैमरा, पानी की बोतल और और कुछ खाने की चीज़ें रख ली थीं। न्यू यॉर्क में बाज़ार में खाने पीने की चीज़ें बहुत महंगी मिलती हैं। इस लिए अच्छा यह रहता है की आप किसी deli से, जहां खाने पीने का सामान मिलता है, अपनी दिनभर की जरूरत के लिए ये सामान खरीद लें और फिर जब भी आपको भूख लगे तो खाते रहें। इस तरह आप आधे पैसे बचा सकते हैं। इसके अलावा मेरे बैकपैक की अंदर की जेब में 2800 डॉलर के ट्रैवलर चेक भी रखे थे। मैंने सावधानी के लिए कुछ कैश अपने बटुए में और कुछ कोट की जेब में डाल रखा था।     

       मैं दफ्तर के एक काउंटर पर अपनी टिकट ले कर गया और काउंटर पर बैठी महिला फ्लाइट को रिकनफर्म करने के लिए कहा। मैं काउंटर के आगे खड़ा था और और मैंने अपना बैकपैक नीचे फर्श पर अपने पैरों के पास रखा था। मैंने काउंटर पर बैठी महिला से 2-3 मिनट बात की होगी और वापिस जाने लगा। जैसे ही मैं अपना बैग उठाने के लिए नीचे झुका, बैग वहाँ से गायब था। मेरे लिए यह अत्यंत ही अप्रत्याशित था और मैं स्तब्ध रह गया। जब मैंने काउंटर वाली महिला को बताया, तो वह बहुत ही रूखेपन से बोली कि ग्राहकों को अपने सामान का स्वयं ध्यान रखना चाहिए।

       मुझे उसका यह उत्तर सुनकर बहुत गुस्सा आया। मैंने उसे डांट कर कहा कि क्या मैं कोई सड़क पर खड़ा हूँ? आखिरकार यह दफ्तर है और यहाँ आप लोगों ने सुरक्षा के लिए यह गार्ड भी तैनात कर रखा है, फिर यहाँ इस किस्म की चोरी कैसे हो सकती है। मुझे गुस्से में देख कर वह महिला थोड़ी घबरा गई। सिक्योरिटी गार्ड और अन्य 2-3 लोग भी वहाँ आ गए। तब वह महिला कहने लगी कि यहाँ पास में ही एक पार्क है और अक्सर चोर लोग बैगों में से सामान निकाल कर खाली बैग वहाँ लगे कूड़ेदानों में फेंक जाते हैं। चलो वहाँ चल कर देखते हैं। ऐसा कह कर वह महिला मुझे उस पार्क में ले आई। हमने सारे कूड़े दान देखे पर बैग कहीं भी नहीं मिला।

       तब उस महिला ने मुझे सुझाया कि मैं बैग के बारे में भूल जाऊँ और पास की किसी सिटिबैंक की शाखा में जाकर अपने 2800 डॉलर के ट्रैवलर चेकों के बार में तुरंत रिपोर्ट कर दूँ ताकि वह चोर कहीं धोखे से उनको न भुना ले। अब मुझे भी इसमें ही समझदारी नज़र आई। सौभाग्य से पार्क के सामने ही सिटीबैंक की एक शाखा थी। और मैंने वहाँ जाकर उनको इस चोरी के बारे में सूचित किया। मेरे पास ट्रैवलर चेकों के नंबर थे। सिटी बैंक वाले बहुत ही सहायक साबित हुए और उन्होंने तुरंत मुझे 2800 डालर के नए चेक दे दिये।

       मुझे ऐसा लगता है की वहाँ ये सब लोग एक दूसरे से मिले हुए होते हैं। वरना वह महिला मुझे उस पार्क में ना ले आती।

       ऐसी ही एक घटना मेरे साथ लंदन के हीथ रो हवाई अड्डे पर भी हुई थी। पर वह किस्सा फिर कभी।

 

पर्यटकों में न्यू यॉर्क एक बहुत लोकप्रिय स्थल - का टाइम्ज़ स्क्वेयर

THE SWEETEST FRUIT ON EARTH

Luohan guo is the sweetest fruit on earth. It does not contain any sugar.  This unique fruit is native to Southern China and Northern Thailand.  With time, the plant also travelled to a few more countries in South East Asia.  But still it is not known to most parts of the world.  In fact, the outside world came to know about this fruit barely a hundred years ago.  This is also called arhat fruit or monk’s fruit. 

Luohan guo, whose botanical name is Siraitia grosvenorii, belongs to the botanical family Cucurbitaceae, to which belong some of our popular vegetables like lauki, kaddu etc.  Luohan guo is, however, a perennial plant and not a seasonal vine like its Indian relatives.

The sweetness of luohan guo is due to a chemical mogroside in its pulp.  Mogroside is 300 times sweeter than the sugar.  The pulp of luohan guo contains around 1 percent mogroside making it the sweetest fruit on earth. 

Luohan guo plant:

Luohan guo is a vine.  Being a climber, it requires some kind of support to grow.  The vine reaches a height of 3-5 metres.  It has 10-20 cm long, narrow, heart shaped leaves.  The vine is a vigorous grower and a prolific bearer.  However, for getting optimum yield, it has to be provided right kind of support and made to grow on trellis or bowers. The plant lives from 5-7 years and has to be replanted after that.  Propagation is by seed.  The cultivation is simple and does not require any specialized skill.

        

Luogon huo fruits are round, measuring 5-7 cm across.  The fruits are green in the beginning but turn slightly brown at maturity. Each fruit contains numerous seeds.

Uses:

The fruits are not eaten fresh.  They also do not keep long and start rotting very soon.  So after harvesting, these are dried slowly in the oven.  They turn black after drying.  The fruits are sold in shops only in that form.

For eating, the dried fruits are cut it into half and put into a bowl.  Then boiling water is poured on them.  The water is decanted after 2-3 minutes and then drunk like a juice.

The dried fruits are also used as a sweetening agent in various preparations.  Chinese believe that the fruits have a highly beneficial effect on human health and increase age.  That is why this fruit is also called a “longevity fruit” in China.

        

In addition to being a general health tonic, this fruit is also used to cure respiratory ailments and sore throats.

Use in industry:

The real scope for utilization of luohan guo lies in the pharmaceutical industry.  Though a number of products are being prepared from these fruits, the real potential lies in the manufacture of non-sugar sweeteners, whose demand is increasing day by day all over the world.  Plant based sweeteners have been rated better and safer than the synthetic chemical sweeteners.  One of the multinational companies, Procter and Gamble, has already standardized and patented a technique for mogroside extraction from luohan guo fruits.

Prospects in India:

Luohoan guo should be able to grow successfully in North India.  In fact, one of its relative species, Siraitia sikkimensis, already grows in the Eastern Himalayas.  The plant grows from seed which can be imported at a very low cost.  The bearing starts in a few months.  So there will not be a long gestation period.

Therefore this fruit should be introduced and tried in North India at the earliest.  As the initial cost will not be much, so even some enterprising private farmers can also try it.

Luohan guo v/s Stevia:

At present, Stevia is being promoted in India for meeting the demand of plant based non-sugar sweeteners.  It is being done for the past few years.  But cultivation of Stevia has limitations in Haryana, Punjab,and HP.  Stevia is a tropical plant whereas this area has a subtropical climate.  The target part in Stevia is leaves. However, leaves are not formed by the plant round the year in these regions due to unfavourably high and low temperatures prevailing during few months.  This does not happen in tropics where the leaf formation goes on through out the year.  So the yield is quite low and Stevia growers of North cannot compete with growers from South.

         But luohan guo is not a tropical plant. The target part in this case is fruit which are borne normally in subtropical climate.  So in case of luohan guo, there is not going to be any yield problem like Stevia.  Therefore it should suit more to our climate.

 Fruits of luohan guo

THE "VERY GOOD" WEATHER OF ENGLAND

I visited England first time in 1984. So it was a matter of great excitement for me. I was on my way home from Liberia, West Africa, after completing my two year teaching assignment with the University of Liberia. 

One of my old friends, Balraj, lived in England. He had migrated to UK in 1965 and was living at Reading, a city about 70 km north of London. I had decided to spend a few days with him and also to see England.

Our flight landed at Heathrow airport at about 10 AM. It was the last week of March which is still cold in England. The first site to catch my attention inside the airport area after disembarking from the aircraft was the Punjabi women moving about the airport with brooms in their hands and cleaning and dusting the area. These women were wearing shalwar kameez. Though they had nicely made up faces with lipstick and rouge, but still one could judge from their dressing up and talks that they hailed from Punjab villages.

Balraj had come to Heathrow to receive me. Somehow, we missed each other. So I took a bus and reached his home at Reading. As the home was locked, so I started waiting outside. It was a nice bright sunny day. Fortunately, I did not have to wait for long as Balraj also reached back from the airport. We were very happy to see each other in England.

Balraj opened his home. His wife was at work and children at school. He asked me to keep the baggage inside and freshen up in the shortest possible time so that we could move out. He said, “Weather is really fine today. So let’s go out”. I got ready in 6-7 minutes. We sat in the car and after driving me around for 15-20 minutes, he stopped at a pub in the outskirts of city. The pub had large open area all around with beautiful old rustic style wooden benches and tables placed there. Most of the benches were occupied by English people taking beer. Everyone seemed to be happy and enjoying. Balraj said again that fortunately the weather was very good.

Now I started wondering about his repeated comments about the weather. After all what was so good in the weather on that day. I could not help asking Balraj about it. He immediately said that it was a very good sunny day. I still could not follow his point. After all what was so special if the day was sunny. We have such days in India atleast for nine months in a year. So I asked him again what was so special in weather.

Now Balraj realized that it was my first day in England. So he explained that it was very rare to have such a sunny day in that part of England. That is why he could not help saying that 3-4 times. And that was also the reason that the customers at pub were in so much jolly mood.

I was in England for 8 more days. But there was no day like that after that. It was always cloudy, dark and cold. They mostly have this kind of weather in area about 100 km around London. One cannot see sun for days together. In London city, it is fogy too, nearly same as we have at Shoghi and Shimla during the rainy season. In London, one always needs to use flash for taking pictures even during the day time.

Later many other friends including some British told me how much they crave for sunny days which were really rare in that part of England for nine months during the year. Some even told that we in India were lucky to have a sunny weather.

Balraj also told me that sometimes when there was a sunny day after a long gap, the English people felt so happy that they would apply for a day’s leave and enjoy that “very good weather”. 

 Myself and Balraj enjoying the "very good" weather of England at city centre of Reading

 English families enjoying the "very good" weather at a pub at Reading

PAY PACKETS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF BAGHDAD

I worked as Assistant Professor of Horticulture at the College of Agriculture of the University of Baghdad in 1980-81. Incidentally, this College was located at the infamous Abu Gharaib, about 35 km outside Baghdad. However, the prison did not exist at that time. It was probably the peak period of prosperity for that country. The price of one Iraqi Dinar used to be 3.3 US dollars, probably the highest ever (Now one US dollar in Baghdad is reported to fetch 2500 Iraqi Dinars). The war with Iran had just begun two months back. All things of daily use were not only available in plenty but were also very cheap. Here in India during those days, a good cassette player used to be a dream possession for most university teachers. So Iraq used to be a highly sought after destination for foreign teaching assignments.

Iraqis paid very well to their foreign faculty, 400 dinars for a teacher with a Ph.D. degree plus five dinars for each years experience after Ph.D. My salary was fixed at 435 dinars, equivalent to 1450 US dollars. Here at Solan I used to be paid only 1136 rupees by my university. The Iraq Government allowed its expatriate employees to remit home 75 per cent of the total salary. There was no income tax. Life was quite cheap at Baghdad, even if one stayed with family. Most people could easily save half of the salary. Many even managed to save 75 per cent.

Salary used to be paid in the middle of the month, i.e. one used to be paid for January on 16th of January. The system of salary disbursement was very new and unexpected for one like me from India. I had heard the term “pay packet” before that. I always thought it to be just a business term. However, it was at Baghdad, I could see this pay packet for real.

The teachers and other staff members were asked to collect their salaries from the Accounts Office which they called MEHSABA in Arabic. This office was located at the first floor of a building in the College Campus. There was large verandah where a big table of the size of a table tennis table had been placed. Brown, letter sized paper envelopes containing fresh currency notes were placed on this table. Each envelope had the name of payee written on it. There used to be another smaller table nearby with a register placed on it. The payees were required to look for their name in this register and put signatures against their names. Then one would look for the envelope made for him in heap of envelopes and take it. That was all. No cashier or watchman on you.

The whole system was a great surprise for me. Of course the people would take out the cash from the open envelopes and count to verify the accuracy of the amount. I also did it. I found my 435 dinars intact. I asked an Iraqi colleague that what happened if the cash was found to be short. He replied that in that case one could walk into the cashier’s room and get the money found short. I said, though with a little hesitation, what if someone lied. He said that nobody did that in Iraq. I did not stop and said, “What, if some money has been stolen from the envelope.” He said that it did not happen in Iraq. It really did not happen so long I stayed there. 

College of Agriculture, Abugharaib, Baghdad

University of Baghdad building.  It was at Baghdad only.