By Manuwant Choudhary
Delhi journalists are going crazy and they all want to quit their jobs to write Sonia Gandhi's book !
But with 44 seats (43 according to Mani Shankar Aiyar since he does not consider Shashi Tharoor a Congressman), one wonders if the book will do well.
Remember, Narendra Modi's book flopped !
I would say let the Mani Shankar Aiyar's write for Sonia.
Actually I have never really cared for VIP culture so when I saw this shiny black ambassador with a red beacon waiting for me at Jaipur airport I nearly looked for another vehicle.
But a red beacon looks so much better than blue...after Supreme Court orders even senior IAS officers cannot use the red beacon.. Patna now looks like its full of flashing ambulances!
The only books that sell are the one's on sex and religion...
Leave the crooks, India is a land of sufis and sadhus.
And the dargah of Sufi saint Moinuddin Chisti at Ajmer is uplifting.
I had visited Ajmer many years ago..it has a lovely lake and the view from the hills is amazing... yet I never thought I'd visit again.
But here I was..all VIP arrangements made...phone calls to the dargah..our car allowed to take the narrow lanes right upto the gates.
Then we see some commotion as to who would take us in...some white kurta-pyjama clad...men stood and spoke softly...then a young man...with perfectly stitched kurta-pyjama...a pony-tail and a skull cap over it...took us in...
There was something about him...the way he walked...his shiny brown-black hair, his soft eyes and he looked straight at you...
We were taken first to buy the chader....and offerings and we were accompanied by enough men...but suddenly our guide placed the chader on my head.
But I do wonder why even Akbar , the Mughal Emperor, walked from Delhi to Ajmer to worship here.
The story is that Moinuddin Chisti was born in 1141 in Chist in Herat, Afghanistan.
His parents died when he was 15 and he inherited a windmill and an orchard.
One day a revered Sufi saint Ibrahim Qunduzi visited him and he offered fruits from his orchard and in return the saint gave him a piece of bread.
The khwaja entered a strange world after eating the bread.
He disposed his property and distributed the money to the poor...and went towards the middle east for higher learning.
On enlightenment he was called `Gareeb Nawaz' or Benefactor of the Poor. And the Prophet Mohammed appeared to him in a dream and told him to come here...
The Khwaja promoted understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims.
For him religion meant helping those in distress and every human being should `develop river-like generosity, sun-like affection and earth-like hospitality'.
Our prayers over, our guide left us at the gate...giving his visiting card he says "You see, phone calls don't matter here..the Khawaja already decided that we were to meet...."
His card said he too was a Chisti, a descendant of the Khwaja....
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