30th Nov.

Venita attending a memorial lecture in IIC, organized by Arsipso, on 25th Nov. 

In the Supreme court in the afternoon.
Arun-Sunanda arrived for a 4 day stay with us. They will celebrate their 40th anniversary during the period.
Quotable Quotes :"He who lives in our mind is near though he may actually be far away; but he who is not in our heart is far though he may really be nearby." Chanakya

28 and 29th Nov.

28th
Madhurima went back to USA by KLM flight at about 11 pm to catch it early morning on 29th.
Met the senior physician in Apollo clinic at Noida, who had seen Venita a month back and prescribed some tests. He saw all her reports today and removed a couple of medicines from the earlier prescription as he thought these were not required. Except for her diabetes, she is fine.
In the Supreme court in the afternoon.
29th
In the Supreme court in the afternoon.
                            With President of Arsipso on 25th Nov.

Quotable Quotes :"The wise man should restrain his senses like the crane and accomplish his purpose with due knowledge of his place, time and ability." Chanakya

26,27th Nov.

26th
Attended lunch along with Venita at Habitat Centre at poolside in 5th floor today.It was hosted by children of Venita and Prabhat Mehrotra, a close friend, on their parents' golden anniversary. Coincidently Prabhat's wife's name is also Venita. Spelling of the  names is also the same. About  thirty/thityfive people, his friends, relations and batchmates with their spouses joined in. There was cutting of cake too. A photograph,taken by me is given below :

After lunch walked in for some time in the the Time's Lit festival in the ground floor of the Habitate Centre. A discussion on the need for Sensor board's certification in the context of Padmavati row was on.
27th
In the Supreme court in the afternoon. Madhurima is to come today  ,stay overnight on way back next day to USA.
Quotable Quotes :"If one has a good disposition, what other virtue is needed? If a man has fame, what is the value of other ornamentation?" Chanakya

23,24 and 25th Nov.

23rd
In the Supreme court in the afternoon.
24th
In the Supreme court in the afternoon. Venita went to Noida to look-up Sangita.
25th
Attended Shravan Tondon Memorial  lecture on ' Challenges to Governance in a Democratic Society' at IIC by Shri Prakash Singh IPS(Rtd.), a reputed senior Police officer. An enlightening talk. He dwelt on the roles of police,bureacracy, media ,politicians, and judiciary  in Governance in a Democratic Society' . He said that rampant corruption had eroded governance. I spoke about indifference in judiciary towards disposal of court cases and their pendency for years. Indifference appeared to be mainly due to erosion of values in general.  I told about how CBI officers worked out cases and later were much frustrated as their disposal in courts took years.
Quotable Quotes :"Never make friends with people who are above or below you in status. Such friendships will never give you any happiness. Chanakya

20,21 and 22nd Nov.

20 and 21st
All diagnostic tests of Venita as recommended by a senior physician of Apollo clinic at Noida were completed.
22nd
In the Supreme court in the afternoon.
 Shri VP Singh and his wife Neelam, resident of the top floor of the block where we too have our flat in Arunodaya society in the second floor, hosted a get-together for their son Rohit, daughter-in-law Autumn and granddaughter Urvashi at SDG officers mess in old JNU campus. Their son has come from USA along with his American wife and  daughter to meet  parents and other members of the family in India. 40/45 people joined in, mostly residents of Arunodaya society.
                      Venita with Autumn,Rohit,their daughter Urvashi and Rohit's mother, Neelam

Quotable Quotes :"The earth is supported by the power of truth; it is the power of truth that makes the sun shine and the winds blow; indeed all things rest upon truth." Chanakya

18 and 19th Nov.

18th
Left Shillong at about 8 am. A decent restraunt is set up near Nongpoh. Had coffee. Left Guwahati by Jet airways at about 1.15 pm. On way witnessed Himalayan range. Engrossing sight. The Range with its snow capped mountains on the northern side gave a golden sight. A view of the sight taken from my cell on the day : 
                               Himalayan range

Landed at Delhi,4 pm,15/20 minutes late.
19th

Quotable Quotes:"A man is great by deeds, not by birth." Chanakya

14,15,16 and 17th Nov.

15th
In the Supreme court in the afternoon.
16th
Left for Shillong in the morning. From the plane i saw the Himalayan range and glimpses of its different peaks after a long gap. There is a peak called 'Gauri Shankar 'among them. When Venita had seen this peak from a plane in Kathmandu (especially flown for a close view of the peaks for the tourists) few years back ,she told that this was how Shiva and Parvati had appeared in her mind when she prayed to Him for long life to me after angioplasty in Escorts hospital in 2004. In the peak you see a tall block of ice and another lying in front of it. The tall ice block looked like Shiva and the other one like Parvati to her. Venita felt at that time that I would recover soon due to Shiva's 'Darshan'. When I narrated this to a western over-sixty lady (looked a widow), a fellow passenger in the Kathmandu aircraft, i saw a drop of tear trickling down the corner of her left eye.
Visited Herbert Syiem, former Chief Secretary, Govt of Meghalaya.
17th
Attended meeting of the Security Commission. It was the last meeting of the Commission during the tenure of the present government, which ends in Feb. 2018. Now the Commission will sit after the new govt. is sworn. General elections  are scheduled to take place in the state early next year.
Had dinner with Atiar at his father's house at Shillong.

Quotable Quotes ;"The biggest guru-mantra is: never share your secrets with anybody. It will destroy you." Chanakya

13 and 14th Nov.

13th
In the Supreme court in the afternoon.
14th
In the Supreme court in the afternoon.
Quotable Quotes :"A man is great by deeds, not by birth." Chanakya

11 and 12th Nov.

11th (Sat)
On 26th August we invited about 35 people including couples,others and children. Six could not come: a couple due to sickness and another four for bereavement in the family. The lunch has set a trend : two from them have too invited their friends. Tonight we dined with a large group in CISF mess  on an open lawn, CGO Complex, invited by Surekha/Rajiv Mathur. Invitees were mostly from IB. It was quite cool evening. Another lunch follows by PK Mehrotra on 26th Nov.with his friends. As winter sets in more will happen during week-ends.
12th(Sunday)
Quotable Quotes :"Test a servant while in the discharge of his duty, a relative in difficulty, a friend in adversity, and a wife in misfortune." Chanakya

10th Nov.

Venita went to look-up Akshat. He was down with fever and loose motion. He is better now. Neha too is under treatment for quite sometime.Venita returned VV in the evening.
Attended  a presentation of the activities of 'Samarth', a company floated by Anuradha (Radhi), Asha's daughter. 'It is very helpful, well-thought through, and well-intentioned company which offers services for senior citizens'. Asha wrote to me,"Over and above their services, what also stands out to me is that they aren’t transactional - they have ‘care managers’ who are encouraged to think like a son or daughter or a close friend would. In fact, I was struck by this description of their services very early on. They lay emphasis on the importance of trust and also are quite focused on making sure that the job gets done. The fact that their intent has an institutional back up to ensure quality reduces the dependence on one person and also helps in handling exceptions/emergencies." 
I told the company to suggest me a part-time PA as also someone who can edit my statement, recorded  by a research assistant of Nehru Museum after questioning me for quite a few hours over a period of six months. The statement runs in over 125 pages.

Quotable Quotes :"Once you start a working on something, don't be afraid of failure and don't abandon it. People who work sincerely are the happiest." Chanakya

8,9th Nov.

8th
In the Supreme court in the afternoon.
Met Dr AK Aggarwala, a senior physician, at Apollo clinic, Noida along with Venita and showed her blood and other reports. He advised to obtain some more reports.
9th
Quotable Quotes :"The world's biggest power is the youth and beauty of a woman." Chanakya

3rd,4,5,6 and 7th Nov.

7th
Visited IIPA. In the Supreme court in the afternoon.
6th
Venita drove back to VV in the afternoon from Vikaspuri after about a week.
Attended interaction with H.E. Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, Chairman and H.E.Maqsoud Kruse, Executive Director, of the Steering Board of Hedayah, International  Centre of Excellence for Countering Violent Extremism (a NGO,established in Abu Dhabi in Dec.2012 ) at IIC along with other members of Policy Perspective Foundation, a local think tank. Hedayah professes control of extremism by debate. It says that a bad idea cannot be destroyed/dusted under the carpet. It can be won/changed only by a superior idea and till we have such a superior idea, we should continue to debate. It was refreshing to hear such a logic for a change from a NGO of the Middle East.
5th
Got so much lost in some tricky accounts work that missed to attend an interaction with Ambassadors of India and Afghanistan at CSOI in the evening as planned.
4th
Held detailed discussion with Shri Rana ,who is reprinting Late Sharad Chandra Varma's book on Guru Nanak. Shri Rana's daughter is a University student. She came along with him and requested for guidance in her research work on designing of a police complaint. I told her to go through chapters on 'Complaints' in  the voluminous Recommendations of Indian Police Commission, 1978-79. and then come up for detailed discussions.
3rd
Met Dr A.k. Aggarwal,a senior physician, at Apollo hospital, Noida , and showed  blood and other reports for routine check-up. No new developments.

Quotable Quotes :"Books are as useful to a stupid person as a mirror is useful to a blind person." Chanakya

















































































































































































































































































































































































































































3rd, 4th 
Printer of late Sharad Chandra's book on 'Guru Nanak' came on 4th in the evening along with his daughter, a student. We discussed details. He said he would come later this month with proof of final print of the book for a view.
5th
Attended an interactive session at CSOI with Ambassadors of Afghanistan  and India in the evening.
Quotable Quotes :"A person should not be too honest. Straight trees are cut first and honest people are screwed first." Chanakya

1st and 2nd Nov.

1st Nov.
In the Supreme court in the afternoon. Attended a talk by Ramchandra Guha, a reputed historian and writer of famous book 'India after Gandhi', on Patriotism vs Jingoism in IIC in the evening. Enlightening talk. He said that there is no Constitutional patriotism in the world as enshrined in the Indian Constitution in terms of values. It is jingoism all over. It has three features: 1. It advocates one religion, 2. one language and 3. has one common enemy. According to him at present in India it is Hindutva, Hindi and minorities, mainlly, Muslims and Christans as common enemy. I think that his analysis of situation in India is not true to facts.  We have some kind of Constitutional patriotism or at least there are  sincere and serious  efforts to achieve it.
Advocate Digvijay Singh came from Fatehpur and discussed filing of acase in appeal.
2nd Nov.
In the Supreme court  in the afternoon.
Quotable Quotes :"There is some self-interest behind every friendship. There is no friendship without self-interests. This is a bitter truth." Chanakya