Free!! Free!! Free!!

Being an Indian it’s my right to provide free advice. Follow them in all walks of life for best results.

• Don’t wait by the door of your life for someone to walk in. Go and sit on the sofa. If someone has to come in through that door they will anyway, if they Don’t you will at least be well rested.

• Don’t try to improve your image. It’s like changing someone’s invisible glasses from which they see you. If they Don’t want to change these glasses, you can’t either.

• Don’t argue unless you are saving lives. There are many means to get education. If you shove that down someone’s throat when they don’t want it what is the difference between you and schools :D.

• Don’t find faults with yourself. Seriously do a task which no one else is doing. Why do something that the whole world is already working on.

• Don’t make excuses. It takes the fun out of sitting on a couch if you have to think of reasons why you are not getting up of from it or from spending that money if you have to think of why you are not saving for uncertain tomorrow.

• Don’t follow rules. The problem with rules is that if you follow them no one notices, but if you break even one people start questioning, preaching and teaching. Better set expectations upfront.

• Don’t take life seriously. Being mature, somber and serious is good, if you are selling insurance.

• Don’t just work. Imagine what will your epitaph read “He worked long hours” or “She never took sick days off”. Na. Do something crazy to stay interesting, dead or alive.

• Don’t talk sense. Seriously, why you want to think before you speak. You think people are listening to you, they will think after you finish speaking your mind and follow you… huh!! You optimist :P

Use the Abuse

Parents are good... uhhh actually great but they don’t preach and teach perfectly all the time … They were dead wrong when they told you not to abuse.

Abuse is the best way to relieve stress. You don’t even have to say it out loud and be foul-mouth, you can just think it in your head and be a foul-head :) or write it down and be a foul-finger :D … But there is no better feeling then calling an A**H***, an A**H*** even if it’s in your head.

Plus you can come up with your own adjectives and spellings. When I meet a real jerk, I call them a “Jerk with a G“, makes no sense but I express perfectly to my self :)

Don’t feel guilty, people deserve it like a team member who takes your personal number because he is also a friend and then call you for work issues when you are at home. Tell me the best way to express this without “the therapeutic words” yes these are not bad words but help words …

Key words like hate, murder and phrases like “chop and fry” in reference to people and “land mine” in reference to work can be added to the vocabulary to help express the bitter realities of life.

Life is F***ed up and you are s****ed…Its easier to live through the same by admitting :D

Where is the Honor?

“Love is life. And if you miss love, you miss life.”- Leo Buscaglia

Those who read the newspapers regularly would differ, Love is the new death. The surge in the number of cases of family members performing “honor killing” is disturbing, inhumane and reprehensible, very much contrary to the name.

Prejudices and intolerance are expected to blur in the light of education. Family and parents are expected to be the source of unconditional love. Caste and communities are expected to strengthen the society.

Nothing happens as expected. A father kills his daughter for eloping with a lover and not staying married to mismatched man 15 years elder to her. A young journalist smothered by mother for falling in love. A whole community affirms murder of men and women who seek relationships with individuals outside their Gotra. A maternal uncle on TV supports his niece’s murder. Khap, the modern day tyrants exist as groups of incompetent, ill-informed, inconsiderate and intolerant individuals who advocate murders.

For heaven sake, we are civil society where even capital punishment is not given without deliberation in court of law.

It’s irrefutable that our society is full of uneducated literates. Paradox reign supreme. We can converse with stranger in a train with obnoxious familiarity; we can advice strangers in hospital with idiotic authority; we can bond with anyone standing with us to watch cricket match in front to a TV shop; we can compete in class without qualms; we can work and coexist in a society of individuals from different caste and religion; we can admire a movie star or cricketer paying no heed to his/her religion or caste; we can even worship a cow … but we kill our own offspring. This has to be the rock-bottom of rationality.

If we as a nation are moving towards development and growth, I am sure we are taking a long detour because we are not even close.

Are you married?

I don’t know if I am the only one, but I find this question offending.

How can an acquaintance, a friend or a colleague be impacted by someone’s marital status? And how does something as personal as relationship become an acceptable introductory or lets-catch-up question?

Marriages or relationships are not an achievement or symbol of progression in life….Also if you are involved with someone’s life you will be aware of such status, if the individual finds it important for you to know you will be informed of the same… but why ask…

By the way questions do not stop at marriage....there is a sinister series… if you confirm you are married you are asked if you have kids; if you confirm you have a kid, you are asked when you will complete the family … and then people wonder why India has a population problem.

There seems to be masked intolerance to anomalies of the established norm of matrimony and procreation. And more then that, a right to provide unsolicited advice on the matter.

I know I sound weird. But in my humble opinion individuality and privacy needs to be respected. Regular probing is irritating. The offensive part comes from the recognition that its not only idle relatives and nosy neighbors but contemporaries; people who have a life to live, world to discover, truth to find and answers to seek … answers to questions bigger then “Are you married?”.

Self Help Books are Effective

My second speech at Toastmaster's, Another best speaker ribbon :)


How many of you believe in the effectiveness of self help books???
So do i.

I was exposed to the world of self help books by my brother in law when I was in college. He handed me one on anger management because of my then infamous temper. Before I started reading the book I assumed it will right away tell me the solution for my problem
A well researched, effective but elusive solution like counting 1 to 100 backwards including the decimals or breath in and out six hundred and thirty seven times. But it was nothing as per my expectation.
It generally described the general demerits of short temper. It did not assume that the seeker of anger management book was already aware of them.
For any one who knows a short tempered person you would know they are short of patience too. By the end of the first page I was disappointment, end of second page agitated and furious by the end of third page.
I never went beyond the third page but I experienced my lack of patience first hand and realized what it meant. Yes the book helped me.

Probably because book helped me in a subtle and unexpected way, it took me many years and a rather desperate situation to seek help again from books

My first job was not going very well. The fact that I lived away from family added to the stress. I bought the best selling motivational and self help book of those times "you can win"
I read the book this time with the determination to finish it.
I was so determined not to miss the point, that I read with a pencil, ready to mark and underline the solution as soon as I found it.
I completed the book though without a single pencil mark. When I looked at the unmarked book, my first reaction was ‘wow!! I can reuse it by gifting it to someone’.
But then it dawned upon me that when I can come from work and read a self help book, which did not even seems to help me… I should rather show similar dedication to prepare for interview to get a new job.It worked.

In my humble opinion this is how the self help books help.
When someone identifies a need for them and decides to read them. This proves that there is an awareness with the problems
And solutions are easy … difficult to implement but in themselves very easy. To reduce weight “eat right and exercise”, for time management “prioritize” even the mantra for something as big as world peace is extremely straightforward “to live and let live” ….
So these books tease the readers by staying at the brim of the solution while again and again referencing the problem, so that the reader can find their shade of solution
May be that is why they call them self help. whichever way, but Self help books do help

Fundamentally against Fundamentalism

Intolerance breeds in many ways….literally …

The uniqueness of my country is in its diversity. Regions, religions, languages, traditions, customs and many such features create enormous beauty, obvious complexities, evident friction and immense pain.

I feel blessed to be born to a Christian mother and Hindu father as secularism comes naturally to me. Caste has no significance once the omnipresence and omnipotence of one single abstract god is established. Regular visits in temple and church reveal that rituals are there only to create a divine atmosphere in an attempt to define the undefined power.

What perplex me is how beliefs which are personal by definition, are used to build strong enough prejudices to take lives and hurt people

I also believe the boundaries of my country are sacred and are already under attacked from all sides, in this climate fighting over region, new states and languages is a foolish proposition.

In fact any viewpoint which does not go by the principal of “live and let live” is sacrilege for my diverse country.

So I detest when some of my countryman say “I hate Hindi”, “Biharies should not study in Dehli and work in Mumbai”, “Homosexuals have polluted blood”, “Valentine day celebration pollutes the culture”, “Unmarried girls a liability for their parents”, “AIDS is a social stigma”, “Same Gotra marriages are not accepted” …

I am cringe when the leadership of my country use Lord Ram, castes, sympathy with Hindu and Tamil extremists, indecision on border disputes, inaction on naxalites … to get and then stay in power

I get depressed when I see the future generation not questioning the irrationalism … and I can never understand that though incredibly populated, how can human life be so cheap in my country?…

By the way I am also guilty of intolerance … at times I question my own fiercely radical thoughts, my idealism, my own inflexibility, my inability to fake the acceptance of reality, my oversimplification of problems and their solutions, my arrogance at my good intent, my lack of circuitous approach and my obsession with harmony …

I guess I am nothing but a fundamentalist against fundamentalism …

Beginner’s Luck

I recently joined Optima Toastmasters. The first prepared speech of a new member is called an Icebreaker speech. We are expected to introduce ourselves through this speech. I did mine on May,20 2010 and won the best speaker ribbon.



Madam President, members and guests…

Today is my icebreaker speech and i am confident i will do very well ...why? because i believe I have got beginner’s luck.

When someone new or naive achieves better than expected results it is referred to as beginner's luck. The belief that i have been blessed with this came rather early in my life.

My first play happened when I was in forth grade for a school annual function. Our class was divided into two groups. One group was of the students who were perceived academically oriented were handpicked to create charts and models for exhibition , and the other group to which i belonged were enrolled for a play. At such young age almost every one is shy; no body wanted to speak their dramatic dialogues....but i found them very intriguing. After each rehearsal and ended up with more and more of them .... by the time we performed on the D day my part was the biggest.
So even though I was not hand-picked to start with …I ended up with most of the recognition …

This good luck continued over years

My friend who is wannabe movie director enrolled in a short film competition. He had some male actor waiting to act in the movie, but as luck would have it …his draw of category sought him to create a movie on the female oriented subject.
I was at the right place at the right time to offer my friend to work in his movie ...My first short film came easy.

Another friend who is a musician had nine songs of his debut music album ready and needed someone to write a soulful English song...before he met me.
No kidding but people wait for years to get their song sung and released but it took me twenty minutes to write my first song that became part of an album. Hearing my song play on the speaker of music stores... is one of my fondest memories

I feel blessed.

Very honestly, the beginner’s luck does not work each and every time. There were many times when my experiences were not very good. But each time I had ended up learning a lot from such experiences …

when I came to US for the first time. I lost my connecting flight , this was first time i missed my connecting flight... being in a foreign land... i had no idea ..how will i get my next flight and how much it will cost ...and if my only contact in phoenix will wait for me at the airport
from this experience I learned to approach people for help when I needed one

Another time when my beginners luck went wrong was …After college i wanted to live independently, against the advice of my protective parents ...and got robbed by the landlady.
this bad experience was also great teacher.. it taught me to listen to my parents ...

when I look back at these good and not so good experiences I realize that how the leap of faith taught me so much. My life would have been without so many interesting learning’s ... if I had not tried .....

I also think that the beginners luck is not just a perception. When we go ahead to do things for the first time we do not have over bearing expectations. Our mind does not play tricks and scare of the worse, because we really don’t know. For example if you will walk for the ramp for the first time you will not fear falling down as you will be mesmerized by the cameras

Beginner’s luck is not the genie that grants only one wish; but a key that opens a door and allow us to pursue a whole new avenue in life

Armed with my conviction I draw courage to do new things and make most of the life .... and i can proudly say I life has been enriched by my faith in beginners luck

The Ripening…

A friend asked me my views on old age; to be honest this is a subject that stays in the back of our minds but seldom crosses it …here it is ...

The act of getting old is not a voluntary one. Old age neither holds the celebrated charm of childhood nor the enigma of youth. Between the busy mornings and cluttered evenings, appointments and deadlines, work and family, springs and autumns, happy times and prayers…we grow old.

Like the end of a unfinished novel or movie, it’s widely speculated and dreaded.

In reality, old age is marred by the time that erodes the body; convoluted relationships and experiences breed opinions and complications of adjusting in evolving societies. But I believe that the most excruciating thing about old age can be regrets. Life by definition cannot be perfect and most are left with doubts about the decisions on the years lived.

We can speculate and extrapolate but like life old age and its passage, in fact its encounter itself is uncertain; one more reason to live each moment of life to the fullest. In my humble opinion, besides planning for financial stability there is nothing more we can do in preparation of the dawn of senility.

There is a quote that “We Never Really Grow Up; We Only Learn How to act in Public”. I also believe “We never really grow old; we just loose our youth to our experiences.”

Heartfelt Future Obituaries …

Behen Mayawati: The esteemed leader of the poor and backward who on seeing no progress on the economic front for the downtrodden, swung into action and accumulated wealth in her name on their behalf. We will miss you, oh!! Humble leader!! Every landscape in UP reminds of you, as we see one or the other, of your thousands of statues in the backdrop. Only if we would have not made such a heavy garland this time and only if you would have not insisted on wearing it with out help… you would have still been with us…

Shashi Tharoor: Twitter will never be the same without you dear sir. You were not only a great writer, a respected spokes person on international affairs, a politician who believed in austerity but also a path breaking brand endorser. As a mark of respect, hence forth all policies and decisions by Indian parliament will have to be tweeted before they are implemented as laws.

Amitabh Bachchan: Sir!! You achieved immortality as an actor during your lifetime. But who knew you will be remembered more dearly for your contribution in altering the social fabric of India. You rewrote the role of Patriarch. Now all fathers must not only provide for their family but should also start a blog defending themselves and each member of their family. In your fond memory we will always remember that Aishwarya rai bachchan is a virtuous lady with no health problems; Abhishek bachchan is a good actor and Delhi-6 should have been a hit; Jaya Bachchan is a charismatic leader who should be taken seriously and Amar Singh is a saint.

Mulayam Singh Yadav: We will miss a visionary and an activist for social reforms. You were a champion in cause of women empowerment and their standing in the society. Sadly, you were also misunderstood. Many people are not even aware that you gave ticket to your daughter-in-law when your son won from both seats he represented in the assembly election. People though you were against family dynasty and giving tickets to undeserving women, but those ignorant masses did not knew you were only against these issues outside your own family. As you worthy wife take over as the leader of Samajwadi party we hope your ideologies will live on…

Rahul Mahajan: At such young age you revolutionized the society. Earlier most women were expected to marry under social pressure. But since you appeared on TV as most eligible bachelor, most parents had a change of heart. They encourage their daughters to stay single lest they end up marrying a man like you. Your death also provided a valuable lesson that mind altering substances, like all things in life should be used in moderation.

Bal Thackeray: Our news papers would have been empty and “fundamentalism” a difficult word to define, if you would have not graced the earth. You enlightened us about Mumbaikars and Mumbai lest we thought of the former as Indians and later as an Indian city. Though most mumbaikars still think they are just Indians and feel very proud of the fact, but you knew better. You also brought unexpected reactions from people. My conservative dad became an advocate of rights for people to express themselves on Valentine day seeing your workers condemn the same so harshly. By the grace of God you gave us visionary leaders like Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray to carry on your legacy.

Swamy Nityananda: We always knew only a man with such high morals connected to the higher powers will be able to solve the biggest problem of the country. You showed us the way Godman!! It was so simple, it was right there in front of us, but it took a Godman like you to show us… you taught us the lesson if we deliberate , debate , hold discussion, go to Haridwar to reflect after every…ahmmm … it will definitely apply breaks to the growing population. Swamy ji ki jai ho!!

Why So Serious? ...

As a kid I always believed that job was the perfect redemption for studies...

People with jobs like my parents, were not confined to uniforms, had flexible timings, were not bound by home work or exams, relaxed during evenings & weekends and enjoyed the ultimate perk of getting salary at the end of the month

But by the time I grew up someone changed the rules of the game…

Today earning money has become a stressful, nerve-racking, overwhelming and uncomfortable exercise. There are teams like “Work Life balance” aboard. When work is the application of ones education and experiences assisted by his/her aptitude and attitude, then how can it be any different from life? But it is…

Recruitment is a bond of slavery and Pink slip is the end of the world. Between them you find Work hours which refer to the maximum duration you can work without breaking down and Deadlines which are the unrealistic expectation set by others that must be treated as indisputable laws.

Competency is how much you can make yourself uneasy while easing lives of people around you. Sincerity is your ability to take calls from the hospital where your ailing father is admitted. Promotions refer to an overrated change in your title which gives you a false sense of progress. Pay hikes are the only way to keep you enticed. Caffeine is now a necessity and retirement is the age, most of us may not reach. Job satisfaction is definitely a myth.

What happened to creativity, expression, signature, individuality, empathy, sensitivity and sensibility at work? Why is a wrong sense of competition inculcated to extract more then plausible performance from an individual? Why accept a term called “Human Resources” and dwarf a persona to a profit generation aide? Why your boss can look you in the eye and say “Don’t think about quitting, it’s same everywhere.”? Why this mad rush to burn ourselves from both end for the proverbial “successful career”?

… And why I relive the same feeling of relief as I walk out of my office, that I used to feel at the end of my classes at school…

India’s Changed Sur

Well I am one of those who grew up watching “Mile sur mera tumhara” on the Indian television since the year 1988…It was a new concept for the then, monocular television and captured the imagination of the audience.



Which has been now rehashed to…




Two cents of my imperfect observation:
• IST: Time has never been of essence in Indian culture. Also Population has increased in the last 22 years, enough to evolve an almost 6 min feature to 16 min 30 second song
• Family Values: You only add value to the society (and such features) if you belong to the right family :)
• Real and Reel: In India what shines is Bollywood then who wants to showcase the makers of India: the brains behind aerospace, agriculture and medical research, metro creators, the politician, human right activist, NGO managers, IT CEOs who placed India on global map, armed force personal, martyrs, policeman, educators, engineers, doctors, business person, sportsperson and the common man
• Skills: Bollywood actors can’t act when provided with two soulful lines. Give them three and a half hours of masala movie and they bring it to life.
• Transition: Clothing, music instruments, music (... nothing else was showcased) seems to show transition( read confusion, why else will someone wear a short designer dress to a local water body or a vest to school)

Why can’t we have following scenes in an “Indian” song?
• A gynecologist delivering a baby.. Figurative of our enriched human resources .. :)
• Metros, malls, luxury apartments, hotels and flyovers
• Map of Complete India :(
• Traffic
• Kid picking up his bag for school
• Students checking admission list
• Old parents showing on map the city in US where there kids stay
• A common man handing out 500 Rupee note to the vendor for a bag full of vegetable
• Taps without water and jungles without wildlife
• Widespread mobile usage
• Car dealers and laptop salesmen working over time
• Wedding celebrations
• Cutting chai and barista
• Roadside hawkers
• Sea of Commuters
• Interiors of the branch office of Global brands
• Street cricket

And say what we mean …

The Flaw called Humility …

In life at any given point of time there is something you treasure, something you loathe, the one thing you really long for, something you wish would never change, something you feel is unfair, something you fell blessed about, something you know you have and something you don’t, something you dream for, something you accept and something for which the denial prevails forever…

The ability to sieve the encouraging from the ugly is what is called the positive attitude...

In more cynical words it is also the ability to dodge reality and see what you want to see…

In school, a girl with fizzy hair, in my class got a new haircut and proudly stated how her mom thought she looked like Madhuri Dixit.(Madhuri never had fizzy hair…). I remember the day very well as the same morning my mom refused to add sugar to my milk as she thought I was gaining weight. The two extreme reactions from the two moms left me confused…

Later I met some not so pretty, not so bright and not so accepted people who believed the contrary; these people are laughed at or ignored but the fact is they are actually blissful. We on other hand also demonstrate the same deficit and willingly accept in the hope of sounding smart, but are we?

The hue of life changes with the lens we see it. Then what harm can possibly dawn upon us for not calling a spade, a spade. Any way all of us are loved/hated, appreciated/criticized, detested/celebrated, so there is little difference in both state of mind except that one promises euphoria

If the fool’s paradise, is by definition a paradise then why not try it over the bed of thorns called reality

--From the World’s Best Blogger ;)

Four Bewdas and Me

Before coming back to US again on assignment, I indulged. I did this extravagant act of flying to Bangalore to meet my friends, who have supported me in pretty much everything. Life is always easier with them around …

You know there are moments that you want to live so much that you imagine them again and again in your head. Like if you are an actor who is getting an award, you will think about the evening, the way people will react to you, the way your name would be announced, the way you would grace the podium and what you will speak. And when it actually happens, it is so different from the version in your head, that you are not even sure … this is the evening you were dreaming for. It’s not better or worse, but different … as different as fiction is from reality.

The Bubbly and the Quiet one picked me up from airport as planned. My humble demand of a Aloo tikki burger at McD for dinner was shot down and we headed to Samarkand. There the Virtual (I know him for 4 years but met him for the first time) and The Sodexho joined us there. The Sodexho is called so, as all he had were a bunch of these coupons and no cash and he proposed to pay from dinner bills, to coffee bills, to parking tips using them… and of coarse never parted with them … hehehe .

After couple of breezers, beers and vodkas down the throat, they challenged sanity like never before. Serious thought provoking and soul stiring comments were made like “Uske pati ka naam husband hai –(Her husband’s name is husband)” ,”I always though that kheera was the male version of kheer” – hahaha whatever that means , “Havn’t you heard the famous dialogue, in kutton ke samne mat nachna gabbar!!” or the insight that Mr Sodexho provide us in the car while ruining all the soundtracks by singing along, he told us "I am a guy, I can only sing along with the male playback singer" ... phew was never aware of such compulsions …

It was a beautiful evening with its different interpretation for all of us. Bubbly struggled to let go of the bad workday while Virtual constantly lived in the dilemma to hangout for some more time or return to work. The Quiet one struggled with his undefined turmoil’s while Sodexho caused turmoil by singing … for me it was emotional, nostalgic, crazy, intense, aching, alive … all at the same time …

It was a lot like life …

Why they will never hire me as a Love Guru on Radio City….

The Local FM channel boasts of this two hour program everyday where people call in this dubious sounding fellow and seek advice for their love problems (eeeiiikkkksss). He answers these obtuse questions with a very obvious fake concern and seriousness but plays some good music.

I will never get this job, if I ever do …. Picture this..…

Question: Love guru I am a twenty year old boy, I met a girl at a party. I can’t stop thinking about her. Is this love? What should I do?
Me: You are dialing to the wrong show, please call and talk to a career consultant; he will be able to address your real problem.

Question: Love guru I am in love with my friend, but I am scared to tell her that I love her as I am afraid to lose her as a friend
Me: Ok. So you are scared of a friend, who by definition is your buddy, what will happen if she accepts your love and marry you. You may go underground into hiding. Bad idea, forget about her

Question: Love guru I am in love for last three years, I have never met him. We chat a lot. I also requested him to share his pics many times but he never did. I am love him very much. What should a do
Me: This Dubai guy he is actually not a he. He is a 70 year old shriveled widow who chats with you to bring entertainment in her mundane life and make fun of you with her friends.Dump her, i mean him

Question: Love guru I am in love with a married man. He says he loves me too but will not leave his wife and marry me. what should I do?
Me: See lady it is not appropriate to expect or force a man to make the same blunder twice. Forget about him.

Question: Love guru I am a twenty-four year man. I want to fall in love.
Me: Look if you are looking for such a voluntary action than falling in many other places will be much easier.

Question: Love guru what is love
Me: Let me explain with help of an analogy, you heart is like a hotel room and you are the hotel owner. You have a problem when the room is empty. You get cynical and critical when a person stays in your heart for too long. You also have problem if people frequently enter and exit your room. You definitely have an issue if more than one person stays in this single room. When the person staying loves the room too much, you seek detachment. If the person thinks of it objectively as just another room, you seek affection. If the person wants the room for less duration, you seek commitment and when he/she seeks it for lifetime; you get jitters.

iiiiiisssshhhh!!!

Advantage India !!

When my Working-Visa in US ran into trouble and my return to India was inevitable; a friend called to console and said ‘he was so sorry’. The usage of this expression which is used as commiseration at a grave loss was offending to my patriotism.

After this incident I was gripped with the fear that I will behave like many others who stay in US for a very short duration compared to the number of years spends in this country. Yet, they come here and click photographs of cows sitting in the middle of roads, weird English names of small shops, dangling electric wires, poor kids depicting the language of deprivation and post them on facebook. They go to vegetable market and faint. They search for the shops and seek gol-gappas made in mineral water. They cringe and flinch, to separate themselves from the less fortunate never-have-been-to-foreign men and women. Hunh!!

All such fears proved baseless. It was home coming. I remember my cousin asking why I fold my hands when I say ‘namaste’ even now; I have stayed in US for too long for this ethnic and humble greeting. I took it as a compliment.

All said and done when another friend asked me the advantage of being in India, the salient good features… I was dumbfounded. I could not think of one.But then I realized India is a way of life, a thought process, a feeling. In fact, I find the cliché good and bad about us that they show in movies like ‘Outsourced’ nasty.

Back in Jaipur, at the railway station, dad left me and mom with luggage to go and check the reservation list. When I realized his reading glasses were with me in my purse, I ran after him. When I reached the notice board I saw some three men looking hard at the list, trying to find ‘Sankhla’ for an old man who forgot his glasses. And I knew I was back in my land. It’s a hard to describe sentiment.

It’s a warmth or comfort or feeling of home turf or confidence of finding my way through, I am not sure.

And yes, I crib and complain. I whine and huff. I refuse to agree and comply. I find the need of change. I see evident avenues for improvement. I find some facts appalling.

I am still a very proud Indian.
Happy Independence Day!!

Spicy Experience..

The flight back from home to Pune taught me new psychological classification of people… Misplaced Assertive and Counterfeit Assertive

I flew back with spice jet, the low cost airlines. The no frills airline took a step forward in cost cutting and decided not to keep the engines running while on ground to save fuel. The result was that there was no source of cooling, which is not really an option at Jaipur.

The guy sitting across the aisle in same row as me was Mr. MA (Misplaced Assertive). He decided to make enough noise, as the flight attendants surrounded him making excuses like the AC was not working on ground and how it will start working (miraculously)when the plane is in air . While most seated where using the instruction card to fan air, some making up their minds not to fly with the airlines again. Mr. MA liked the attention. If the ground AC system (if there is any thing like that) had a technical flaw or the obvious that the airlines was saving on fuel, blasting the flight attendants was ineffectual in solving the problem.

Next to him was seated Mr. CA (Counterfeit Assertive) who agreed vociferously with Mr. MA whenever he turned to his co-passenger for support, even though it meant chanting the same words again and again. Mr. MA steps out and the pretty air hostess with very apparent north-eastern looks came to the, by now, infamous row 24. She starts the uncanny explanation in a polite tone, this time in Hindi. Mr. CA was pleasantly surprised, actually he was floored. He asked starry eyed “You know Hindi?” Ha ha ha… the lady was totally confused; the burning (or heating) issue was no longer the issue. Mr. CA found the communication of a pretty woman in Hindi more delightful then his discomfort in the aircraft.

By the way, I have utmost respect with people who are assertive and now I know that such variations of the trait are affable too, for the entertainment value.

Priti Almighty !!

I finally saw the movie “Bruce almighty” and my imagination ran untamed, as it always does on seeing something so creative.

So if I were to be GOD for a day (I am pretty confident of an extension); some drastic changes can be expected. Of coarse I will not be working on petty or selfish issues but towards greater good of mankind and World Peace. (The fake, well rehearsed beauty pageant smile and pose)

• People will be allowed to make plans and I will honor them if they are reasonable, in contrast to what happen now.

• Like heart and soul every one will also have a dream.

• People will hear music in the background when they fall in love to help them understand this complex phenomenon and distinguish it from similar incidences like crush and infatuation. In fact, I may just give life a background score to make it more interesting.

• They will get life lines to help them keep their relations.

• Life will have a fast forward and a rewind button.

• All money and assets will self destruct themselves every year to help people notice their ineffectuality.

• Traveler’s miles will be calculated for frequent travelers and considered for perks to encourage people go around this beautiful planet and meet new people. Traveling assists to gain knowledge and appreciate different people and culture, one of the best ways to facilitate growth of tolerance and eradicate prejudice.

• I will disassociate myself with all rivers like Ganga to do my bit for pollution control and environment.

• Six packs will be bone structure in all Homo sapiens. (I assume GOD can interfere with science and evolution). And abdomen will have no curvature or flab.

• To maintain law and order punishments would be part of nature. You do a crime and will be punishment. These will be for all types of crimes, be it heinous or petty. For example if you ogle at women your eyesight will become weak.(ummm ahmmm …bad example… may have to reconsider this one, otherwise all Indian men will go blind in no time.. whatever you got the concept)

• Like Pinocchio, people’s nose will increase length if they whine. (No. This one is to bring optimism in the most grumbling creatures in this world and not to make my small nose big. Hunh!!)

• Will definitely develop life in few other planets, Back up and business continuity is important.

India today!!

If you return to India after a considerable period of time you are bound to notice the following:

• If you wouldn’t know what Indian flag is like and that faces can’t be flags, Dhoni’s face is so frequently seen that it can well qualify as the symbol of our nation.

• Once existing small currency denomination problem has been resolved. Now everything cost a hundred bucks or more.

• There is still no right hand driving or left hand driving, it’s the good old ‘I own the road’ driving.

• You will see a new form of child labor on Indian Television, portrayed as singing/dancing prodigies and new form of dramatic genius in the form of judges of talent hunt shows.

• Pink is the new blue for men (eeeeiiikkks)

• Free incoming calls on cells, abundance of print media to substitute for high-speed internet and local shopkeepers for GPS/Google maps are a welcome change.

• You will be reminded what complications innocent rain can bring to your life, from power outage to cell phone connectivity to no cable TV to traffic jams to flooding of roads to no local trains. There seems to be a Rain Demon and not a Rain God.

• There is no parking place left anywhere.

• The Aloo Tikki burger at McDonalds, shopping for Indian dresses and the look on your parents face when they see you will be three of the many highpoints of your stay.

The theory of Life!!

It’s the pep talk, the rationalization of apprehensions, the trivialization of concerns and the normalization of stressed nerves.

Heart tends to break, issues with job & life pop-up every now and then, relationships go sour and decisions are not always easy to take & live with … and this is the time we speak and are spoken to the over-simplified fundas of life.

Some of the commonly said/heard words of wisdom are:
· Tension would not help resolve issues
· Future is not known, past cannot be changed so enjoy the present
· Everything happens for a reason
· Do your best and leave the rest
· Time will resolve everything
· Live each moment to the fullest
· Good things happen to good people

Its like you are standing in chemistry lab with a beaker full of chemical mixture which was supposed to change colors long back, and they still haven’t… and while you are freaking out of your nerves… people are still preaching the disconnected theory of your failed practical.

This affable, over the phone or over the coffee, cost free but heart felt bucket of incoherent advice from friends is still the silver lining to the grey clouds of life.

Bountiful Beauty

Yellowstone National Park primarily located in the state of Wyoming, was the first ever national park created in the world. Of course, beauty like that was bound to create ripples in the inspired minds.

I have never seen such diverse and unadulterated nature’s treat to eyes.

Frozen Lake

Colors of the Hot Geyser

The Emerald Reflection

The Marbel Slopes

One of the Creations of the Master

The place seems to be created by an erratic, genius painter who took unconventional colors and patterns and created magic. Thank you GOD!!!

Indian Elections '09

So the elections are over. An exercise with this magnitude and importance do have a few lessons to learn; actually it can be mapped to the existing wisdom in form of phrases.

• Over the Top: 15th Lok Sabha elections
• Go lay an egg: 47% votes casted by mumbaikars
• Your Guess Is As Good As Mine: the analyst who claim to know the mind of Indian voters, are proclaimed wrong, again
• By hook or crook: Varun Gandhi use hate speech to win elections
• Turn Over A New Leaf: India elects 226 MPs who are less than 50 yrs of age
• Actions speak louder then words: Sheila Dikshit delivers a perfect score
• Count one’s chickens before they hatch: Hopes of the, India’s regional party leaders had been hoping to play kingmakers is dead.
• From Rags To Riches: Rahul Gandhi once flayed for dynasty politics, is now being applauded and celebrated as a catalyst in UPA victory.
• Don’t Burn Your Bridges: The likes of Lalu Yadav, Amar Singh, Ram Vilas Pawan said they will not unconditionally support Congress/UPA before the elections, fearing the anti-incumbency factor. Yes, now the roles of seeker and seeked have reversed,
• Dead Duck : Blooming trouble, BJP can't get its leader right
• When It Rains, It Pours: Indian Rupee, Bonds, Index Futures Gain on Election Victory

Adding up...

We can readily count what we want!
To bring peace we count, what we have!
The count of what others have is always more!
In plenty we count as what we deserve!
Its always disturbing to count we were denied!
We never loose the count of our hurts!
We count the memories to swing between emotions!
The try not to think that the future breaths have their count too!

The Curious Case of Varun Gandhi

In a country where divisions are plentiful, and usually underlined and used by the power seekers; the election times are notorious for the blatant display of the ugly face of unethical people who seek to rule the democratic India.

So why should Varun Gandhi’s idiocy be a reason of such discomfort?

Because the hope that many Indians have had in the youth of the country is damaged. The hope of a nation with leaders and citizen one day will take care of the real issues rather then diverting us took a beating too. The hope that the likes of Sachin Pilot and Omar Abdullah gave us is dented.

A young moron with nothing but a legacy decides he wants to do nothing, try nothing but play the communal card to get the ticket to parliament.

If you look from another perspective, it’s a slap on the face of the seasoned, people dividing politician. It’s like a child who put stethoscope around his neck and thinks this is all what his dad did to become a doctor.

Varun is just a reality check.

Oxymoron

A liquor baron bought Gandhi's five personal items which went under the hammer in New York for USD 1.8 million

Seriously?? India’s leaders think we need his five belongings… the nation of his dreams today rubbishes his ideology , that it so desperately needs… and its his physical possessions that we need???

Today violence occurs and erupts in this nation on most mundane events… From lyrics of a song to a road accident to petty criminals caught by public…everything gives a reason for mob frenzy…

The caste divide he fought is today stoned by laws that force caste based reservation. No body pays heed on his vocational oriented education. In fact today Indian education system not only failed its citizens by not equipping them to easily get all kind of jobs but also fail to build rationalism. The education system imparts mere literacy and not education. The effect is that petty politicians like Raj Thackrey find new ways to divide country.

Women empowerment, economic self-reliance, easing poverty, simple living and many other of his ideologies are all so relevant to India, buy are pushed under the carpet by power hungry politician … and all they feel a sense of achievement in getting his five simple assets …

But for those who can even use Lord Ram as an excuse to kill for political gains …Gandhi was just a sane voice..…

I support Ram Sena!!

Since most members of Ram Sena are behind bars…I feel the urgency to express how much I am aligned with them…
Most of the Valentine day rituals are WRONG (trying to use strong words to mix-up with my fundamentalist co-thinkers) and is against Indian culture (oh! This expression is mandatory)

Flowers: Papa taught me as a kid not to pluck flowers, and so true. It’s not at all environment friendly that you demand a particular flower (red rose) more then others. Think about genetic diversity man!!

Chocolates: Mouth watering and mouthful choclates one day and she will starve herself for next three weeks. Bahut na-insaafi hai. (it’s just not fair)

Candle-light Dinner: The pain she went through by getting her eyebrows plucked for you, was for a reason; to look pretty but how do you intend to look at her in that dim light. There can be other issues if only one of you is vegetarian and you order both kinds of dishes.

Gift: Selecting gift is an art. Being able to afford a gift is luck. Keeping gift a secret is intelligence. But accepting gift with grace is an extraordinary ability. The closer she is to you the more chances of her disproving your choice.

Stress/Depression: Not really a ritual but a commonly found side effect on those who do not have a true love already identified. But the catch is, if you have identified your love, you struggle to unite in holy matrimony. And those who embraced matrimony their woes are unspeakable… So basically the trauma continues in one form or other, at times due to absence of love and more so once you find it.

Moral of the Story: Celebrate Love and Life each and everyday to the fullest!!
Happy Living!!

Emblematical News…

Superman emerges from the horizon to save the troubled world…
Obama takes oath of office …

School kid who takes a scrapbook to school, bully kid at school tears it off…so our good boy comes home make another scrapbook and take to school each day and each day the evil boy rubbishes his efforts
India provide the proof that Kasab is a Pakistani and of coarse Pakistan is the bully

Village elders over hukka, sit and talk…gossiping and giving opinions around those who toil for a living…
Discussions on TV channels…

Ineffectual individuals throw stones on other’s fruit laden tress..
Some people protest to remove dog from the much acclaimed “Slumdog Millionaire” movie

Prasad distribution at temple
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan get Padma Shri award

The great unarmed robbery
Ramalinga Raju Admits 7000 Crore Fraud

Pest Control
US not to hesitate hitting Al Qaeda targets in Pak

Wikipedia: A confidence trick or confidence game is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence
Sanjay Dutt says Amar Singh is like an elder brother and convinced him to fight for MP seat from Samajwadi Party…

Sowing precious seed on barren land
Ashok Chakra for the 26/11 martyrs but no legislation or law against terrorism

Good and Bad Compulsions

I have always opposed the time bound approach to life, as it brings artificial compartmentalization to something as natural as life

For example, you should have a defined career path by a certain age and if you explore an unconventional career and take more time to get “settled” unlike your peers, it is assumed you are not serious about earning your livelihood. Similarly, you should marry by a certain age and have kids even if you are contended being single or wants to plan your family as per your preference and not based on when your cousins/relatives/friends plan their babies. This approach makes life a time table and peer pressure lasts for a lifetime. The joyous, life defining moments are reduced as events for completion of the template of life, and after one event you worry about the agenda for the next to stick to the schedule.

But I still like the forced clichéd rituals of celebrations like New Year Celebrations, birthdays. There is nothing to it; really, it’s just another day of the year.

I believe that each day in life needs to be lived to its fullest. These forced celebrations at least ensure some days of life are set aside when enjoyment is actually planned and we do not sleep-walk through them like many more potential but lost opportunities to be alive.

New Year celebrations also provide a psychosomatic boundary to time. All the sorrows and joys magically turn into memories and we feel empowered to start all over again. The mostly ineffective practice of New Year resolutions, also provide a glimmer of hope of a life without some of our recognized vices.

So let’s celebrate, enjoy and live life on our very own terms; today and for rest of the days of our lives.

Bitter times and Better times...

Well, bad times are a better teacher then good ones…

Though none of us can even question the sweetness of success and will never trade the same with failure…we need to agree that success is the bright light in life which with its brightness, conceal the crevices of the soul.

You never come home and introspect after winning. We never explore alternating paths or approach as ours get already qualified with success. Also the one who has stumbled down once will never laugh on any other.

So is failure as bitter as it is portrayed or is a forced scenario to evolve…

Barbed Times

One of the toughest things to do is to fight a loosing battle…

It’s like you are in middle of running for Presidency of United States. During the Campaign, close to the elections the support turns heavily against you, for whatever reason. So the two options out of you misery as not really options you can exercise because if you walk out of the situation you succumb to defeat before it happens and you cannot really envisage victory to motivate yourself because you know unlike a Hollywood sports movie nothing will change a few seconds before the finish line.

So at some point of time even if you make peace with your potential defeat, you still have to work towards your all elusive victory…

Even as most of you I meet on a day to day basis counsel me to be unruffled by work issues, I cannot as I am living through my loosing battle.

Excerpts from Raj Thackeray’s Diary…

“I sit in this dark and stinking jail cell and I can’t, just can’t help smiling…

I was the right hand man of my uncle Bala Sahab Thackeray and expected him to let me become heir to the Shiv Sena. But when he choose his son over me, his nephew, I did not give up. I created MNS called Maharashtra Navnirman Sena but actually it stands for Menace and Nuisance of the Society.

In Shiv Sena I learned how fascism works, how it catapults you into limelight. But today I have outperformed this ideology of my former party that axe me.

I had it easy. Everyone wants more then they deserve. I target the poor. Tell them their poverty is not their inability to earn better but the fault of a more hard working north Indian. They also listen to my gibberish.

Not all get convinced by my tactics but I have found enough “Marathi Manoos” to be a known face in dirty poliics. The media has given me required focus. I did use the name of Bachchan family and took offense by their non-offensive statements to get media’s attention. And they started writing Nike and prorogue in hindi on showrooms because of me …

I finally became a known face, folding hand while getting arrested was a little filmy but I am sure they must be showing the same again and again on the news channels.

I have already made enough arrangements and instructed my people to create enough impairment and violence to make people realize that a popular leader is in jail.

Soon I will win in elections and get my aim of becoming the chief minister. To reach their soon I will have to soon change sides woe North Indians as their votes need to be harnessed too. I have nothing for or agaisnt marathi manoos … they were just meant to serve a purpose and they did …”

A Good Life...

I have not seen poverty, hunger or dearth. But I work hard everyday for a good life. Good life for me is to have a bigger TV, bigger car and more amenities then what my parents enjoyed.

For five days a week
• I cringe every morning when the alarm rings and drag myself everyday out of bed for a job I hate.
• I work with people I don’t want to be like
• I don’t see a value add in doing what a do
• I take many coffees to keep up my attention.
• I miss meals or eat while attending calls
• I miss gym because of the long hours I work.
• Stress ensure I don’t sleep very well
• I crib at the first opportunity I get about anything related to work.

I work for good life, losing five days of a seven day week. I work for good life where the sum of my weekdays is the paycheck I earn at the end of the month. I work for a good life which enables me to not worry about day to day survival and allows me to dream, but it also detaches my from my dreams…

Earning a livelihood is the imp but need to redefine a phrase “A Good Life”

80-20 Rule Changed

The Pareto principle (also known as the 80-20 rule, the law of the vital few and the principle of factor sparsity) states that, for many events, 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.

This rule has changed. Now it is the 99.99 - 0.01 rule, probably called the Destructive Rule or the law of irrational few.

Examples
• A handful of people defaced the “Brand Bengal” in name of social justice. After the Tata’s many company’s pulled out of West Bengal giving a big setback to the state’s economy. These people got the political mileage but what about millions of unemployed youth.
• A handful of MNS member (or I should say hooligans) changed the face of the most cosmopolitan city of India, Mumbai. The nuisance element is so high that International brands write the store names in hindi and the big & mighty apologize in public, lest they may have to fight unreasonable people.
• The so call moral police whose issues range from New Year celebrations to discotheques to school uniforms while hunger, poverty and exploitation persists.
• Few want to be politicians are the ones who throw Taslima out of the country, who rage at Hussain’s paintings, who make Sania take a decision not to play tennis in India to hide from controversies.
• Some people who hurt Indian economy by jamming transport between Jaipur and Delhi to earn reservation for their community. And a handful of politician who erode the social fabric of India to exploit the reservation law to win elections.
• Some people who create a strom when a celebrity hunts a black buck, but don’t even comment as many lions and tigers are hunted at times for profit and at times because of ignorance.


• The coward terrorists… who hide and kill innocent people to get their whimsical demands noticed, who bind the whole world in mourning and pain.

Complex Chemistry

I somehow got addicted to Big Boss Season 2.

It is not very cool to walk into the house after hours of toiling in office, keep coffee in microwave with restless hands, fight guilt pangs of postponing gym and search for the day’s episodes on youtube. Though such obsession seems childish, I have my reasons. This may sound like a cover-up but I think the program talk’s volumes about human psychology, the chemistry of human interactions and the gospel art of living.

Following are of my observations of people, based on this show which incidently match well with my day to day interactions with other Homo Sapiens....

• Everyone believes he/she is right.
• Everyone believes that in a confrontational situation irrespective of their role, that they have been wronged.
• If someone doesn’t like you there is nothing you can do to change their mind.
• Complexes define personality.
• It is easy, almost innate to take bad relationships on a downhill path, immensely difficult to redeem it.
• Crying is a weapon for women that ensure undivided attention.
• Revenge is best served cold.
• You have to practice a lot of silence to earn value for your spoken words.
• Looks matter.
• Only winners can be graceful.
• Life is not a game of chess where your winning or losing will matter. Life is a takeaway food joint with a long queue where your moving smoothly without creating a hassle counts.

Finding Prito

They say it is better to take a wrong road then wait at forever at the crossroads. But the fear of being wrong is enormous. As I struggle in the quest to find myself, I worry that my confusion will be evident in my writing… this results in many uncompleted and unpublished posts…

But the weight of unspoken words is weighs down the soul; add another worry of losing my skill to my palpable anxiousness.

So I promise to myself to write every single day for next 14 days…and publish

Bloody turn of events…

Once upon a time news was made by the mundane statements... of the people in power…

Next came the age of political scandals and kickbacks, highlighting the loss of character in the politicians and government officials…

Now all channels and online newspapers are filled with stories of crime, that too most heinous in the eyes of law; murder.

Statistically now India top the number of murders as compared to other countries. Practically, everything from a love triangle gone wrong, greed of property, uncompromising marital differences, one sided love stories, families refusing to accept relationships… all seem to lead to murder.

Each culprit has confidence of dodging the criminal investigator and law, each time. They now plan to get alibis and remove proof of the crime with a stoned heart and unfathomed mind. In 1995, when Sushil Sharma was accused to murder Naina Sahani and try to erase proof by burning her in tandoor, it was branded as inhuman. But now many of the recent murder stories force us to change the perspective of these words.

Indians shown as the family oriented, high valued individuals in patriotic Bollywood movies in 1960’s and 1970’s are at the nadir of relationship mess and crime.

I believe being intolerant and emotional can be lethal. As control and support of the society decrease, the fear for consequences of a crime has decreased. Now each person and family feels alone and trapped in its circumstances and feels solely responsible to resolve it. Obviously, they choose to take the easier option of removing the opposition then facing it.

I feel important …

For long the Indian middle class was supposed to be not a great place to be. These were tax payers who had moderate means but great dreams. For them getting their children to good school was a status symbol and their kids getting into good college a definition of their life’s success. As most Middle class Indians believe, this is the strata of the Indian society that embodies Indian culture.

Education has paid high dividends as always and India at prime in the outsourcing culture is growing leaps and bounds; lot of focus has come on the middle class. Most have seen their parents save and stash, and they now want to spend. They are now a confident regular income class whose consumerism is throwing India’s economy in spin.

It seems the my mundane middle class is creating waves…worldwide

Already hit by the subprime and infuriated by India’s agricultural policy, America and Miss Rice are making unkind comments on the food grain consumption of the “affluent” Middle class. And Prime Minister of India tells repeatedly that paychecks and purchasing power needs to be kept under check for the neo-rich. The inflation is in bad state and the new manta of “Living Today” a norm.

I am not very sure how this will unfold. But I somehow find it very interesting that the law abiding, moderately rich,tax paying, education oriented families, fixed deposit creating strata becoming a nightmare for economist…” Fate, It Seems, Is Not Without Its Sense Of Irony” …ha ha ha

Whose country is it anyway?

I was born in India. Although not as make-believe as Karan Johar expression of patriotism, I indeed love my country. Even though democracy prevails in my country there is nothing that reflect my views and visions.
The issue is that with the substantial fruits that political office yields in India, all involved are ready to stoop at any level, overlooking logic and humanity to hold on to the chair of profit. So even as I have a right to vote, I don’t have any one echoing my thoughts, to vote for.

Is there anyone who thinks the following?

• Taslima Nasreen should be allowed to stay in India. As a writer she should not be harassed to appease any community. In fact, all artists like M.F. Hussain, Salman Rushdie should neither be witch hunted because of their religion and extra-ordinary intolerance existing in other religion nor any creative artist be allowed to kick-up controversies to sell their work. The person who created controversy by asking “Aaja nach le” title song to remove a paragraph that says “mocha bhi khud ko sunar bole”(for being derogatory for backward classes) should be given life imprisonment for having a sadistic and narrow minded approach and wasting resources of a nation on such misinterpretation.

• Raj Thackray should be removed from the face of earth, without media coverage and fan fare like any traitor is vanished. Any one like Shiv Sena or MNS trying to highlight regionalism should be handled without intervention of media.

• Cricket is a sport. It’s heartening to look the way commerce has spun around it, by noticing the IPL actions. But other sports need help. I wonder what is happening of the commonwealth games India plan to host in 2010. I believe it should be taken seriously as a matter of national pride and keep it clear of corruption and controversy.

• As US face economic recession, and has pulled down the economy and stock market across the world. Shouldn’t it at least now focus on its home affairs, instead of telling China how it should deal with Tibet.

• The education system has three most coveted career paths viz. IITs. IIMs and IAS. Its disheartening to see the controversy surrounding them. The merit list have been quashed for IAS by yet again on giving reservation candidates a rough deal.

• Media is the new necessary evil for our country. But someone should lay rules of what story they are making. Aaj tak making a one hour news program on film actors with no chest hair is acceptable then the media quoting people who create divide in name of religion and region. They actually stood in front of Raj Thackray’s house to take his pictures as if he was some celebrity.

• Can somebody please take notice that the world is actually cracking a joke when they say India would be the next superpower. No country can be unsafe for their women and be a superpower. And India will lose any and all tourism if tourist women are continued to be attacked at the rate they have been in the recent past. And the attack on these foreign women is only because of the general disrespect Indian men have for the women kind. For any riots and display of religious intolerance women like nuns are often attacked. Instead of seeking 33% reservation for women, may be we can try making India safe for them and they will not need any such artificial assistance to bloom.

Lead India

Lead India according to me was a very well thought initiative. Not that I believe that the participants will change the future of my country or that youth will choose politics and community service as its mission from this day; but because we are exposed to many rational views and thoughts.

As Mumbai, is held at ransom by political aspiration of a nobody called Raj Thackray, this show became voice of the people living in cities who unfortunately are not a vote bank. In fact many of them, like me cannot vote as we are born and living in different cities. And that may be one more reason why we abhor regionalism and communalism; hence Nanavati lost to Mishra.

We heard people rationalizing on SEZ, reservations, capital punishments for rape culprits and foreign relations with Nepal and China.

The prime time TV looked beyond regressive serials created in the name of family and culture, and brought to reality that you can go to a slum and place a fire alarm system or get justice and hope for someone who meets with an accident. Though these tasks will be a little difficult without the camera and crew, they are still achievable.

Brain Dump again ...

Writer’s block is a deceptive concept. You get Writer’s block not when you run out of ideas or inspirations to write, but when there are too many ideas seeking your attention. Following are few of the waves in my brain

Wave 1: How can one talk about sports? There is nothing more action associated and spontaneous then it; then how can one do a pre & post analysis of the same.
Wave 2: Why anything that we seek and we get, seem so mundane?
Wave 3: In case when a situation goes wrong, like partners splitting, roommates fighting etc; how come all sided sound equally wronged and aggrieved?
Wave 4: It is difficult to subjectively access a creative work, is this why taking up a profession dealing with creativity, so difficult?
Wave 5: Do people who are focused have lack of communication and articulation skills? Or because people lack these skills they do not waste time and stay focused?
Wave 6: Why India emulates US without considering the population and its Attitude? Just came back from Reliance Fresh, the lines at the cash counter are unusually long as people peep into the computer used for billing to confirm the rates and offers…
Wave 7: Why movie makers experiment so little more? It has been more than a month to a movie hall. :(
Wave 8: Why is there an urge to proliferate?
Wave 9: Why now celebrities are denied vices like smoking also, along with a personal life?
Wave 10: Do you love some one more by tattooing his/her name on your arm?
Wave 11: Why do we only talk about irrigation, when another imperative duty of the rain gods is to save my cricket team from a defeat?
Wave 12: Why marriage is the only time bound relationship? Never heard people saying that I should have had twelve close friends by this age …

Landmark …

Movie sangharsh has a dialogue “Sapne soch samajh kar dekhne chahiye, kabhi kabhi sach bhi ho jaate hain” … This dialogue defines my day on 28th Jan, 2008.

My composer friend Manu created a music album, in which I was fortunate to participate as a lyricist. Today the album was launched at the music world, Brigade Road, Bangalore. As I climbed the stairs, I heard my song being played. It felt so special, never thought a song that holds lyrics penned by me will be played in public as till date most of my creations stay with me or find way to friend’s mailboxes.

Few lines for the people who worked with the album…

My first voice is a prelude
And is the sign of a song on it way
My first words are the beginning
As my heart has so much to say
My first work is the sunrise
And I know I have the day

But sense of accomplishment is less then the new found restlessness as I itch more then ever before to write and express, as a possibility has unfolded in front of me because of God's grace.

Not a Nano Issue

The Ratan Tata 1 lakh car, brought joy of the common man.
But why?
Because prosperity is associated with owning a four wheeler? Or because a developed country is the one with many & only cars on the road?
The problem is not the nano car, the congestion on roads and not even the threat to the environment. It’s a mindset and lack of foresight of Indians. With the kind of population India has, the best and most prosperous mode of transformation can only and only be the public transport.
An efficient and safe public transport is very fuel efficient, control damage to the environment with access fuel emission. It also prevents the government from spending disproportionately on the big cities in the name of infrastructure development.
India and Indians need to stop looking towards the developed countries to define development and affluence. Different set of positives and negatives define us, population being the one most important deciding factor.

New Year Wishes ...

Augment … laughter

Ignore … pains and tears

Rekindle … zest

Forget … failures

Reinforce … confidence

Decorate … dreams

Embrace … forgiveness

Express … care

Replenish … hope

Celebrate ….life



Welcome … Time



Wishing you and your loved ones, a very Happy and Successful Year Ahead!!

Knowing Right and Doing Right!!

Last few months have been crazy at work. There have been no date and time, just deadlines. I understand and acknowledge the concept of work-life balance, sharpening the axe and all that… but just some more effort, one more milestone and some more learning … thoughts that still drives or misguide you…
Knowing what is right and doing things the right way is so different, almost always. For example
• Eat healthy
• Exercise :)
• Positive thinking
• Think before you speak
• Don’t react in anger
• Don’t get angry for that matter
• Don’t let ego rule relationships
• Accept people, no ones perfect
• Etc, etc, etc ….

The ideal way is a tough way…or honestly …I think the abandoned way, know nobody taking it …he he. May be because it’s the way of mind…which is never alluring ….

Life is to be lead and lived by heart.

That is probably why even in life without exercise, sporadic proper meals, lack of sleep, bursting stress level and growing coffee addiction …writing is still therapeutic.

A big thanks to everyone who has read my writing and special thanks to ones who have dropped their comments, to my blogs…This happens to be the fiftieth :) ..Thanks again!!

Benazir Bhutto Assassinated!!

The terrible news brings two threads of thoughts to my mind…

One that this lady has seen in her life time what most people take many incarnations to even know. She was born the daughter of President of Pakistan, Zulfiqar ali Bhutto…but she was only in her twenties when coup against her father was done by Zia ul Haq. She was jailed and her father killed. She had mentioned the pain of knowing the inevitable end of her father and expecting the bad news at any point of time, in her jail cell. She was allowed to leave the country after her father was hanged.

She came back after several years and won election in huge majority. These were the elections where she was supposed to face Zia ul Haq who however died shortly before facing the elections, in a plane crash.

As ruler of Pakistan though she was recognized as the pioneer of democracy, she and her businessman husband were accused of ramped corruption. She lost elections to Nawaz Sharif and her husband was also put to jail on corruption charges

After Parwez Musharaf seized power, he offered a safe passage to her and Nawaz Sharif and their respective families to leave Pakistan. She left Pakistan again.

She moved to London, but her efforts to come back to Pakistan and establish democracy never ceased. She was accused to have got in a Deal with President Parwez Musharaf which facilitated her comeback to Pakistan.

Greeted with a bomb blast on arrival to Pakistan at Karachi in October,2007, she continued to talk about elections. Though her approach towards Musharaf changed everyday, her pursuit for democracy only ended with her life.

Second thought … We should stop cribbing about Indian Politics. We still have democracy.

Indian Women!!

As per the UNICEF report titled ‘Progress for Children’, Fifty-four per cent Indian girls and women aged between 15 and 49 said that a husband or partner is justified in hitting or beating his wife under certain circumstances.
The circumstances enlisted in the UNICEF report are: Wife neglects the children, wife goes out without telling her husband, wife argues with her husband, wife refuses sex with husband, and wife burns the food.
“In the context of gender inequality, women’s response to abuse reflects their relatively fewer options to change or leave the relationship and their assessment of how best to protect themselves and their children,” the UNICEF report also stated.


These findings are unfathomable for some of us. It is very difficult to comprehend a mindset like this. We may believe that violence against women as outrageous. We may even call it primitive or oppressive and feel superior for our modern outlook.

But it is worth taking a stock, as to in how many layers, does the Indian society exist? There is no comparison of attitude, aspirations, visions and needs of Indian women across various strata. In India some marriages break as the women seek more space and some marriages/relationships persist despite physical abuse.

And population sporting the later attitude is in majority.

And people talk about India being the next superpower!!! Duh !!!

The new Indian Society!!

India was always been divided by various factors… religion, caste, regions, language, ethnicity, economic status …and many others. Yet India was always known as hub of culture and literature, known for non-violence and tolerance and essentially looked upon by the world.

But now Indians are divided on by a single reason into two categories: the powerful and the powerless.

The powerful have money and connection and hence the spirit to shoot at people serving them drinks at party (Jessica Lal Case ), murder the love interest of their sisters(yadav brothers), murder their son-in-law (todi’s), rape and murder (priyadarshani mattu case) and make mockery of justice. I wonder what would have happened if media had not highlighted these cases. While the powerless are on the receiving end of justice, long court cases kill both seeking and receiving justice. A convict in Maharashtra spent 13 years in jail as an under trial before he was given a sentence to serve 10 days for giving false information in his passport.

The powerful hold the right to be offended. They can get offended by what M.F. Hussain paints, Mira Nayar films, Taslima writes and Madhuri dances to. Of course at appropriate timing like when BJP needs votes , kolkata government wants to divert attention from Nandigram and UP government is scared to loosing dalit votes.

The powerful can insight riot and kill innocent men and the system including CBI protects them like accused of 1984 riots. They can be associated with murder an heinous crimes, still hold important public offices, amass inappropriate wealth and practice evident nepotism.

To take the focus away from this divide and stay powerful, these men and women again and again bring to focus on the earlier prevailing divides of religion caste etc, making mockery of humanity.

This is why hue and cry is made over one line of a bollywood song, calling it derogatory for dalits while crime against them is on the rise. Who can forget the crime done against a dalit family in the village of Khairlanji near Nagpur on 29 September 2006.

Inciting religious hatred is now an official way to grab a vote bank. A very very mutilated picture of fundamentalism has surfaced reaching epitome with the heinous murder of family of Graham Stains, Demolition of babri majid, Gurjat riots and many such black days.

Terrorism reigns and continue to kill the powerless as money and personal guard the powerful.

India is now a nightmare for artists; superstition and fallacy represent culture, and the frustration of common man manifesting as mob violence.

Saawariya Songs

I was the first to get warnings about saawariya, as my friends knew my love for movies and faith on Mr. Bhansali. They cited examples, recited dialogues and ridiculed the ending. It seemed my favorite creator of aesthetics had gone wrong.

No…I watched the songs today on youtube…. He rules… He rocks...

“Jab se tere naina” : The song is romance. Each expression and every movement remind of the madness love creates. How one loose control over sensibilities and yet enjoys the thrills of the fall; the fall in love. When even loneliness gets embellished by the thoughts of some.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UviVAk392Nw&feature=related

"Masha-Allah" : The song talks about a guy mesmerized by beauty of a lady. What a way to generate admiration of a lady. I loved the way masha-allah words come in when her dupatta falls from her head, when he sees her through the glass and when she bends close to him under the bridge. Breath-taking indeed!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WvMu5wT4Dk&feature=related



“Thode badmash ho tum” : The song was not my favorite, before I saw it. The song is about companionship, with expression, expectations and relations very clear depicted.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56Zsvx6eF7w&feature=related

So absolutely charming!! Some of the best picturized songs ever created, on equally spectacular music. How I wish I could view life and love, the Bhansali way.

I am a Shahrukh Khan fan…

If addicted to TV, movies, news and happening events; it will be clear that there is a dearth of hero’s in this second most populous country of the world. Here becoming a hero is easy, but staying a hero very very difficult.

But I believe in one hero of today and that is Shahrukh Khan. An actor man who was no a star son and with no godfather in industry became a hero, who defied the cliché and entered the TV route, the man who defied the past debacle superstar’s had as producers; he is more of a entrepreneur then actor.

He has no known enemies in film industry or Politics. He is known to be close to both Sonia Gandhi and Atal bihari Vajpai. He must be a very level header charmer.

Being of this stature, he came to a reality show to promote his movie. Before his movies he is all over the place, from interviews at various channels to fashion shows, from cricket matches to stores inaugrations; no one markets like King Khan.

When the Manoj Kumar controversy struck, he was quick to apologized with great humility. He admit his mistake or not, he definitely apologize like a gentlemen.
Known as a family person, respected by all, a person with great sense of humor who do not shy in making fun of himself but talk wisdom most of the times when he is not cracking a fast one.

An actor who can do Chakde India and OSO in one year... a producer who mint money ... if not loved and respected, definately talked by all ... what if he is not a heart throb, he is a Hero.

The Un-reality Show

There was an era of Saas-Bahu serials. Today even though they exist, the limelight today is on reality shows and talent hunts. Indian Idol, Sa re ga ma pa, Star Voice of India, Jhoom India, Jhalak Dikhlaja, Nach Baliye… the list is endless.
At times the participants are celebrities and at times common people. High drama along with finely tailored singing & dancing ensures high TRP rating. This drama comes from participants and judges. Participants cry, laugh and share their aspiration and at times even their family problems to win more support; to add drama while judges fight with each other while favoring a participant and at times questioning their ability. The show conductor is the most neutral.
But the highlight is using SMS to decide the winners. This ensures great profits both to the service provider and the channel. Sympathy and support of participants and popularity of the celebrity’s participants used to ensure high inflow of these.
The judges fight and grumble over decision of the public taken by these SMS, ensuring more drama, more polarization of sentiments and hence more votes.
So in this new avatar of the Indian Television, the audience pays out of their pockets more directly. :)

Redefining Apathy …

Five years ago a state and humanity burned in the name of religion. Unsaid and unfathomable crimes were committed. The government and administration was accused for assisting this barbarism. The government retains power for five year after that incidence, even when the whole system viz the government, the law makers and the law enforcers were the main accused.

Five year later, when a large section of the population of the state still simmer in the pain of injustice and vandalism faced by them, an sting operation with the confessions of the barbarians and the talks about involvement of the administration in the roits. is captured by the media.

The timing is convenient, just before election.
Just when you feel nauseated about using the pain and death as instrument of gaining votes, there is more. The state government bans all channels showing this sting operation.

They want to blackout the past and not repair it. No ones mourning the death of humanity.

I am sure today Allah and Ram hugged each other and cried … did it rain in Gujrat?

Baffling Bulls and Bears!!

Once upon a time Sensex was a mirror of the Indian economy. Instability in government, terrorist attack and during the run-up to the budget the Sensex used to nosedive. There was a predictability of the market that gave confidence to the investors. The small investors were most affected with the ups and downs.
Now the scenario is very different as foreign investors take over the market. The Sensex in last few days soared madly, oblivious of the sentiment of Indian Economy. The reasons of such huge investment were the appreciating rupee and speculation on the stability of the US economy. But though this brought huge profits to the big players, most small investors were sidelined as they were taken aback by the market mahem.
Finally SEBI proposed to act against P-notes, lets see if this brings a proper correction and allow small investors to be play their part in the economic growth of their own country.

Vivah per Nibandh

Vivah jeevan mein mahatavpurn hota hai. Jab tak nahin hota hai, tab tak mata-pita aur rishtedar kisi aur vishay per vichar nahin karte. Un ke saath kiye hue kisi bhi vartalap ka aant vivah ke vishay mein chintan per hi hota hai.

Vivah kai prakar ka hota hai. Var vadhu ke vivah mein adhik log aate hain. var-var aur vadhu vadhu ke vivah mein jyada log, aur kabhi kabhi to parivaar bhi nahin aate..

Adhiktar log vivah ke pehle, vivah ki aor atiutsuk rehte hain. Us ke vichaar mein vivah se akelepan ka aant hota hai. Kintu vivah ke pashtyat vo vivah na karne ki salaah dete hain aur sawam ekant dhoondte hain.

Vivah per kai filmein bani hain yadi film ke aant mein vivah hoga hai to sukhmay hota hai, kitnu agar shuru mein hota hai to kai jhagde hote hain.

Indian Sports

I was ecstatic when India won the Twenty20 world championship. Leaving office early on a hectic Monday and hitch hiking to reach home in time, seemed so worthwhile when Sreesanth took that catch.

I wanted to express the euphoria the very next day in my blog because I was scared of the India-Australia ODI series and worried that my emotions will sound irrelevant very soon.

I was sure it would happen and it happened.

Listening to the entire discussions of our esteemed commentator’s, experts and coffee room chit-chat, I have come to a definite inference. I know what is wrong with the India Cricket Team, for sure. The only problem is that a billion people watch them too closely, just too closely. It’s a sport to enjoy. Sadly people don’t realize that it all ends there. They blow hot and cold at the poor cricketers(not financially :) ).

The victory rally that happened in Mumbai, I believe was misplaced. It would have been more deserving, for the two army Major’s who died in Jammu Kashmir yesterday.

Cricket is awesome, unlike many other games, it is easy to understand; hence the mass appeal. But in India it is like that huge tree which takes the air, water and sunshine away from all other sports and not allowing them to flourish, even exist.

In recent past, the stars of Indian sports are dazzling. Be it Nehru Cup in Football,
Anand becoming the World Chess champion, Asia Cup in Hockey or World School Rugby Championship…it’s undoubtedly a party in Indian sports scenario, except we are adamant not to join it.

Public Madness

A lot of people believe that India qualifies to be a next super power just on the basis of its population. Others believe that the arguably great Indian culture rest on the community dynamics of the society. This dynamics give the Indian society its unique flavor and conscience.

But lately, this same “Society” is, holding India at ransom. Earlier the mob was seen as the main villain in riots, destroying people property and humanity in the name of religion. But lately their presence has greatly increased.

They block national highways to seek reservations, murder and burn public property to protest accidental deaths, attack and kill policemen, take law and order in their own hands by punishing criminals and even the ruling of panchayat of murder and rape being executed by the mob.

The mob, part of a society is going against it.

This could be more detrimental for India then the terrorist attacks.

Nehru Cup

India wins the Nehru cup for the very first time. A glorious victory in football after five years for India. A great performance of an Indian team, in a game other then cricket. And not a single news article in any newspaper/bulletin of any channel, that talks about this victory, miss the words “Chak de India”.

I love the bond between us and movies!!

Underdogs

As an addict of movies every time I watched a Hollywood movie featuring a bunch of misfits going ahead to win a match of football(the longest yard), basket ball (Glory Road), ice hockey(Miracle) or boxing(Rambo Series of movies)…. I wondered why like Hollywood, Bollywood do not repeat this formula instead of love storey with father playing the villain formula.
It finally happened and Chak de India released.
There is something about this formula that touches the heart, in real life and in reel life. I remember vividly the finals of Wimbledon in 2001, when I witnessed Goran Ivanisevic win the title. He was the only person to win the men’s singles title as a wildcard.
Movies, which talks about, how success is close to you anywhere you stand on the rating chart of life are appealing. It’s the wisdom of life …that something’s like hard work, focus, honesty and some madness…almost always work to get you anything; you set your heart at.

Happy Independence Day!!

In many sections of Indian society, couples on their sixtieth wedding anniversary, get married again. Along with, a generally extended family, a lot of mixed experiences of life and earned wisdom, they redo their vows.

I believe that’s exactly what India should do on the Sixtieth Independence day.

I believe the real threat to India is not from the terrorist but the fundamentalist; not from the criminals but those who resort to destroy public property as a mark of protest on any and every issue; not from law-breakers but from people who have made finding loop-holes in law and manipulate witnesses; not from the corrupt bureaucrats but those who do not raise a voice against them; not hideous politicians but those who refuse to vote out of the despondency of the situation.

I think the seven vows that we need are, based on the experiences of last 60 years.

Vow 1: First and foremost we should safeguard the most precious thing called democracy. All political party should be made to follow rules like not inciting violence, respect secularism and law. Any violation to these laws should result in dissolution of the party by the election commission.

Vow 2: The judiciary, which on more then one occasion have proved as the sanest and most unbiased institution in the company, should work to come up with a process to dispose the cases at the earliest. Because we have seen over and over again that justice delayed is justice denied.

Vow 3: The education at schools should be overhauled to prepare students for self-employment rather then university education. The current system of education is single handedly responsible for the blooming service industry and crashing agriculture.

Vow 4: We should do everything to stop the rise of caste-based divide. This divide was caused by reservations in modern times, hence they should be discontinued immediately, except for reservation in education institutions and jobs based on physical (and if possible, few types of mental) disabilities.

Vow 5: Women need to be empowered. I strongly believe, the way to empower them is not be any reservation but by making the society very safe for them. Neither their parents nor they should miss opportunity because some job, some area or some city is not safe. The laws to safeguard them should be strictly implemented and any case involving crime against women should be solved with in a year, to help the victim carry on with her life.

Vow 6: Growth of population need to be addressed with punishments like loosing promotion and loosing government jobs, some incentive for girl child can also be planned. Not more then two children should be allowed per family baring exceptions.

Vow 7: India in my view took a great decision in the past of being member of group of non-aligned nation in the past. It should once again lead the world, in terms of opinion and guide the world away from the big brothers who are immature and whimsical and patronize nations and they only damage the peace of the planet.

Some one thought, motivated, worked, suffered and even died for the freedom with which we live, think, dream and express today. Long live Independent India!

Happy Independence Day!!

Lajja …

When India became independent, she decided to be a secular, sovereign, republic. And when the world got polarized during the cold war, she decided to be part of the group of non-aligned nations. She was known to be immensely tolerant in temperament.

But attack M. F. Husain & other painter by Hindu extremists, court case on every song lyrics/film scene that reflects on any faith or rituals, controversy on history books, hue and cry over even voluntary conversion of religion and recent attack on Taslima Nasrin shows how a handful of fundamentalists with the motive of getting political mileage and spotlight, can cast a shadow on creative arts and make a non-sense of unimportant events, even when there nation is suffering through population explosion, lack of education, national calamities, ignorance and low standards of living for majority of population.

Choose your friends …

Its funny how politics teaches you to choose your friend’s and foe’s with wisdom…

In 1982, during the Iraq-Iran war, America candidly helped Saddam Hussain with financing, intelligence and military. The same man which was later target of the witch hunt conducted by the U.S., after being casted as the sole enemy of freedom, democracy and humanity in general.

The U.S. is also known to have helped Fidel Castro and his revolutionaries with arms against the regime of President Fulgencio Batista. The man who later dodged American-sponsered-assassination attacks, exported refugees to U.S. and got the world almost at the brink of nuclear war in 1962.

Similar is the case of Dawood Ibrahim, who seeked shelter in Pakistan, and managed to live a luxurious, fearless life for years. The passport of his happiness in Pakistan was the fact that he had greatly hurt India. But now as U.S. seek his arrest, he is in a very uncomfortable position as Pakistan is very keen to wash their hands off him; may be reclassifying his friend's and foe's.