The appaling state of affairs: Step 1 police reforms

watch this video





Here Ratan Tata says that Tatas will now have their own mechanism to handle terror.
In this action, I could see the desperation, frustration, and resignation of a very patriotic group (Tatas do one of the most wide spread philanthropy I think).

Today Tatas actually said that they could not trust the government machinery to protect them from terrorists. So now, they will have to enter a domain that is an additional strain on their pockets. The money that they would otherwise be using to grow further across the globe. This is a sorry face of Indian Government machinery.

Tatas might have the money to open an anti terror process costing crores of rupees. What about the common man? What about me? you( if you don't belong to Tata group). Are we going to be killed by the terrorists, or by carelessness of Indian Government? Do we all have to now fend for ourselves and carry guns with us every time we venture out?

The Police laws we have were written in 1861, around 4 years after the revolt of 1857. Not only were they written by the british, but they were almost undoubtedly written to prevent from uprisings like 1857 from happening again. Needless to say, not only were they tyrannical, but also are totally irrelevant today. I am told there is a law that prohibits opening of road side dhabas!

This set of archaic laws, and their much needed reforms have been debated for the past 30 years! And add to this the fact that Politicians (Yah I know u r thinking there he goes politician bashing) use the police as they deem fit (for security, even getting milk in the morning), because police and law and order is a state subject. Constant patronage to specific officers and punishment others

On the other hand, opposite systems create, and mismanagement of them, create similar problems. Delhi Police for example, is not under Delhi CM's. When the girl was killed in the early morning hours, she could not do anything. There are many other similar cases where total control, or absolute lack of control over police have led to deaths, serious loss to us, the common people.

And yet the debate goes on, coz it is not in any minister's benefit to let go of their control over police. To top it, there is very little awareness in public about this issue. Unless general public takes this as a serious issue no party will want to work on it against the wishes of their ministers.

One of my professors here in US, Indian by origin, left India coz he thought nothing could be changed there. I am not justifying his cynicism but there is a point there. Every time we talked about India, and he is as passionate about India as any Indian I have seen, he said two things.

1. We must have a good enforcement mechanism (read police) to ensure smooth functioning of almost everything a common man deals with.
2. A few generations of Indians need to die and wash away before we can see a new vibrant India.

We live in a society where a person thinks he can get away from police after a crime, be it high profile like Manu Sharma, or Biti Mohanty, or road side goondas-turned-politicians like Arun Ghawli, or even the goondas in the streets of lucknow, or corrupt government officials demanding bribes, or even lazy police themselves totally ensured of patronage. When anyone of us thinks that a hundred rupees (500 in some cases) can get us out of 'trouble', the backbone of an orderly society breaks down. This again comes back haunting us in form of delayed police in terrorist attacks...

I think through all that I've written, I have tried to bring about the urgency needed to have police reforms. It is the common man's interaction with a constable that needs to be perfected. And thats the best way to reform a society. From within. From the basics...


I found this article too have a look...

the comma called Bombay

First of all, the reason I wasn't blogging for a while was that I did not have anything to share. I actually started my job (no biggie), changed the city(no biggie), changed apartment (again, no biggie), went to relatives for Thanks giving (again)...

But then happened the stuff in Bombay (Mumbai for younger generations). 3 days, and the intervening nights like most other Indians I was glued to either TV, Laptop, or phone (while traveling) to get updates about the latest news. I was kinda sure that I won't have immediate relations involved (that was wrong), but the sheer fact that we were being killed was obviously a grim feeling. It was a feeling of helplessness, where we couldn't do anything but just sit and wait for this to get over, leaving us scarred forever.

Time magazine says that Indians shrug off a bomb blast like mosquitoes. Sad but true. 200 odd people were killed. sad but true. People from foreign land could come in and roam our cities in hijacked police vans, and fire on Indians. Sad but true. A normal Indian just walking on the road then would have his leg and arm ripped off. Sad but true...

But when Chidambaram says Indian security apparatus was faulty, that's inexcusable.
When BJP starts election campaign on it, that's inexcusable. When police arrives 30 minutes after the first bomb blast in Cama Hospital (Here), that's inexcusable.
When Deputy Chief Minister R.R. Patil says that this is a small thing, that's inexcusable.

The list will go on, and we will keep bleeding. After all, the status of Indian administration comes from Indian society, far too busy in earning their bread and if lucky, enjoying their movies, coffee at baristas, eating at Taj, or where ever. Most of the families I know have at least one of their relatives somewhere abroad. I meet some of my bangalore classmates in buses here in the US!. Many of my classmates(including me) are somewhere in US on 'Onsite' earning dollars, converting them to rupees, buying swanky houses, skodas, BMWs, fords (wrong company in current financial scenario).

One of my friends was kinda surprised when she learnt that I was very upset about Bombay. She asked me if I had someone related in that attack. I didn't know what to say. Do I only care about blood relations in India? Was every Indian Gandhi's/Bhagat Singh's relative? But most of us are that aloof from the area that exists beyond our offices and nearest malls. And unless a bomb blast or a gun shot happens next to our doors, we will always be listening to 'comfortably numb' (because we are) on our ipods, watching movies, and going on holidays on election days

A callous resignation. I guess that's the best way most of us can be described. If we can get away with a 100 rupee 'tip' to the traffic cop, we would (who wants to go to court). We all are fine with the world as long as we get our cup of coffee/beer and get to buy the cars we want.

What's wrong!!!! are we a bunch of random entities forced in to a box called India, when we'd rather be away from each other? Isn't there a value system that the whole nation could adhere to? are we all that cannibalistic?

We cannot stop foreign countries from hating us. We cannot stop a global recession. We cannot stop international politics against us. We can however work towards a collective response on it. We can create a social structure where locals don't help in such acts. We can create an environment where our state institutions work efficiently. Nehru in his book dreams of an India as great as it was in history where free thought, without any prejudice prevailed all over the country. Tagore mentioned the same in his work ('Where the head is held high...' remember?)

Just to clarify, I am not here to ramble on about the problems from a far away land. I have a bunch of action points too on it. This post has become far too long for that... I will put the problem from my perspective, and possible solutions, in my humble opinion, on it.

A bleeding fellow Indian.

MUSHKIL HAI APNA MEL PRIYE

read this poem... its long, but very much worth your time. take my word on it.

mushkil hai apna mel priye, ye pyar nahin hai khel priye,
mushkil hai apnamel priye, ye pyar nahin hai khel priye,
tum MA 1st division ho, main hua matric fel priye,
mushkil hai apna mel priye, ye pyar nahin hai khel priye,

tum fauji afsar ki beti, main to kisaan ka beta hoon,
tum rabadi kheer malai ho, main to sattu sapreta hoon,
tum AC ghar mein rahti ho, main ped ke neeche leta hoon,
tum nai maruti lagti ho, main scooter lamreta hoon,
is kadar agar hum chup-chup kar aapas me prem badhaenge,
to ek roz tere daddy amrish puri ban jaaenge,
sab haddi pasli tod mujhe bhijwaa denge vo jail priye,
mushkil hai apna mel priye, ye pyar nahin hai khel priye,

tum arab desh kee ghodi ho, main hoon gadahe ki naal priye,
tum deewali ka bonus ho, main bhookho ki hadtaal priye,
tum heere jadi tashtari ho, main almunium ka thaal priye,
tum chicken-soop biryani ho, main kankad waali daal priye,
tum hiran-chaokadi bharti ho, main hoon kachue ki chaal priye,
tum chandan-wan ki lakdi ho, main hoon babool ki chaal priye,
main pake aam sa latka hoon, mat maaro mujhe gulel priye,
mushkil hai apna mel priye, ye pyar nahin hai khel priye,


main shani-dev jaisa kuroop, tum komal kanchan kaya ho,
main tan-se man-se kanshi ram, tum maha chanchala maya ho,
tum nirmal paawan ganga ho, main jalta hua patanga hoon,
tum raaj ghaat ka shanti march, main hindu-muslim danga hoon,
tum ho poonamka taajmahal, main kaali gufa ajanta ki,
tum ho vardaan vidhata ka,main galti hoon bhagvanta ki,
tum jet vimaan ki shobha ho, main bus ki thelam-thel priye,
mushkil hai apna mel priye, ye pyar nahin hai khel priye,

tum nai videshi mixi ho, main patthar ka silbatta hoon,
tum AK-saintalis jaisi, main to ik desi katta hoon,
tum chatur rabadi devi si, main bhola-bhala lalu hoon,
tum mukt sherni jangal ki, main chidiyaghar ka bhaalu hoon,
tum vyast sonia gandhi si, main v.p.singh sa khali hoon,
tum hansi madhuri dixit ki, main policeman ki gaali hoon,
kal jel agar ho jaaye to dilwa dena tum bel priye,
mushkil hai apna mel priye, ye pyar nahin hai khel priye,

main dhabe ke dhaanche jaisa, tum paanch sitara hotel ho,
main mahue ka desi tharra, tum red-label ki botel ho,
tum chitra-haar ka madhur geet, main krishi-darshan ki jhaadi hoon,
tum vishva-sundari si kamaal, main teliya chaap kabadi hoon,
tum sony ka mobile ho, main telephone waala chonga,
tum machli maansarovar ki, main saagar tat ka hoon ghongha,
dus manzil se gir jaaooga, mat aage mujhe dhakel priye,
mushkil hai apna mel priye, ye pyar nahin hai khel priye,

tum satta ki maharani ho, main vipaksha ki lachari hoon,
tum ho mamta-jailalita si, main kwara atal-bihari hoon,
tum tendulkar ka shatak priye, main follow on ki paari hoon,
tum getz,matiz, corolla ho main Leyland ki lorry hoon,
mujhko refree hi rehne do, mat khelo mujhse khel priye,
mushkil hai apna mel priye, ye pyar nahin hai khel priye,

main soch raha ki rahe hain kabse, shrota mujhko jhel priye,
mushkil hai apna mel priye, ye pyar nahin hai khel priye.

Stumped!

Stumped! googlied! run out! (Inzamam Ul Haq style where u had no idea how could you get run out!) %^&*( %^&*( *()_+ ....>!!!!!

I mean, I am speechless it feels like I've grown in a Truman show where I was asked to believe in a particular world, and it turns out absolutely opposite!!!! OK. I will try to explain as much as I can, but beyond this I cannot do anything. Use your imagination, logic, background knowledge or what ever you want to use to get decipher what I want to say.

Hmm. clue number one. remember the moral science class? remember the course we covered? and remember the course we did not cover???

So the thing is, that the course we never covered was always assumed that we will cover by ourselves. Although, there were expectations all around you to know the course and score well in it, if there was a question asked.

Where were the questions asked? Right here!!! in real life!!!!!! God Damn!!! And what used to happen?? The questions were always ALWAYS out of course!!!! So there you are, who was not taught some particular chapters earlier, and then was indirectly told that everyone assumed that you knew the chapters and not only that, they also told you that every one in your batch knew the same stuff and therefore was expected to behave the same way. That was at least an assumption that you took with a sigh of relief, that the playing field is level.

5 years hence. You are in the real world with the education imparted to you at school, and home (most importantly), trying to find your place under the sun. To elaborate, now you are out there, (clue number two) trying to live your life socially, professionally, biologically, and ethically. And while you are trying to balance yourself on all the above mentioned ...ally's, you have nothing but those lessons you learnt in school.

So here is the meat. The lessons that you are using to balance your ...ally's with, include the lessons you never learnt in the first place!!!!!

So one fine day I am out in the big bad (really?) world, and I suddenly realize that other peers from my generation aren't even following the same rules!!!!! WHAT??? am I like the biggest C***** in the world to have believed what the 'others' wanted me to believe????

U know what it feels like? it feels as if u were fined a fortune by a traffic cop for having the wrong design of number plate (yes it happens), who later you found out was a fake!!!

I hope the clues helped you find out what I am talking about, or when u do find it out the hard way, lemme know... :(

A fellow late-realizer

Changing tunes of the world?

I was just reading the news report in Wall Street Journal about US senate approving the India nuclear deal. (The news article). I have been closely observing the tone of the news reported on this matter till now. WSJ and NY Times, both have been reporting on this, though not as highly as Indian media, obviously because there is a more serious issue of the financial crisis, election, blah blah to report on..

But till now, all news reported was highlighting that India is the 'needy' and US the giver. Not that this is not true, but have a look at this or this...

Although there were other stories that bordered on reporting without prejudices, but I get a feeling that sometimes it is hard for American press to see their govt bending backwards to bag new orders for their companies. The bottom line is that this deal will get US lots of jobs and lots of money! accept it! that's why US Govt. is all after getting the deal done. As they say, In politics there are no permanent friends and no permanent enemies, just permanent interests. I think they don't want to see the fact that it is indeed a time of reckoning for other nations to see eye to eye with US...

What do u think?

घुलता हुआ एहसास

All right, before people label me as a forlorn lover, I am not! So read this as an artistic creation as compared to a 'felt' one :P

सोचता तो था की शायद उसको याद करता हूँ
पर अहसास अब कुछ कम होता है

कुछ समय पहले चाहता तो उसे बहुत था
पर महसूस अब थोडा कम करता हूँ

कहीं से कुछ कम हुआ है या खुद ही ख़त्म हो रहा हूँ
पर कुछ बातों को याद करके मायूस अब थोडा कम होता हूँ

सूरज को देखने की आदत तो नहीं पड़ी है,
पर चाँद को अब कभी कभी ही देखता हूँ

किसी और का नाम तो नहीं आया है अभी जुबां पे,
पर उसका नाम ज़रूर कम लेता हूँ

देर रात तक जागना तो अभी शुरू नहीं किया है,
पर रात में अभी भी कम सोता हूँ

आँखें अभी तक सूखी तो नहीं है
पर शायद अब थोडा कम रोता हूँ..

Whose fault is it anyway?

Off late, or maybe its an exponential function of getting older, I've begun to see more shades of gray in our lives. Not to mention I have a huge trouble differentiating between greens and grays ( I think I am colourblind), but that again, is digression.

The grays I am talking about are absolutely divergent from the simple problems as we used to face. much like the transition from 11th standard's finding forces of friction between two cubes, to finding the forces of friction between all bodies in a moving cycle.

Earlier it was so simple to point the good vs the evil. God Ram was good, Ravan was evil! it was simple. But then IBN live ran a story saying that in south India, some people actually worshiped Ravan and thought Ram was evil! Even that could have passed off as an exception, if it wasn't for a wiki article on Indo-china war in 1965. Before that, as most Indians, I thought that the fault was all Chinese. After reading that article, it wasn't clear who was wrong. Chinese, according to that article, were just trying to protect their territory. Whose fault was it then?

Then I watched Devdas (new one, again). Obviously the hero in the movie, Devdas, was loved by everyone. Poor guy, because of the pain he went through because of Paro leaving him or his father punishing him for everything, he got into drinking problems. Although otherwise a drunkard is considered bad, in this case Devdas won all the sympathy because we all 'knew' why he became a drunkard. So then, something becomes despicable only when we judge the act. But as soon as we get to know the reason behind the act, the whole picture turns itself on head, and the character become a hero of a Rs. 30 crore plus movie.

There was this character in this movie. That of Devdas's bhabhi (sister in law). She comes out in a very sinister portrayal. But I now think that was because the movie doesn't get into the details of her character. If Devdas had his reasons for turning into a drunkard, she must have hers for turning into a bitch. Maybe if those reasons were shown in the movie (like a disturbed childhood, early rape or whatever is heart wrenching enough), we might not have considered her evil. Assuming her part of story was shown and we looked at her with the same sympathy as Devdas, who was responsible for all the fracas? Whose fault was it anyway?

I think the point that comes out is that there are so many shades of gray that I am bound to get confused in between them (and I almost thought I was colourblind :P) Most of the people in the world are living in the various shades of gray. Let's be a little more careful the next time we point are fingers 'knowing' whose fault it actually was after all.

Fevicol Bond?

The story is like this... I met a Kenyan guy here. So, we got talking about each other's culture and stuff...

His name is Kevin, and we (me and my roomy) will be going to his place on saturday for exchange dinner. Kevin and I have met every now and then in the bus we take to the campus. He is a very eager listener. The last time we met, we again got talking about India, Kenya, and the similarities...

He told me about a lot of interesting stuff like how Kenya was kinda put together by colonialism into one country from among 100s of tribes (a word he said was derogatory), and we talked about the Indian population in Kenya and the stereotypes that Kenyans have of Indians settled there... It was also not a very pretty sign that every where people confine themselves to their own backyards. People in Kenya, ethnic Indians and Kenyans don't usually mingle with each other much.

Then came Indian story.. unity in diversity, 22 national languages, 28 states, caste system, 1.1 billion population etc etc.. I was trying to sketch the picture of big India. India where so many people live together despite the differences and still we are growing!

Then came his one line question. "What holds you together?" And I went blank. Was there something? I was just reminded of the Fevicol ad where 100 people were sitting on a tractor and the tractor was still moving fine! But I guess thats when it struck me... We are stuck together... by what, is a question open to all...

Layoff in the middle of the week

That's the best way to describe it I think... Today was my last class at MsBA at U of I. But the feeling is not that of sadness. Although yes, I would ideally have wanted a little more time here, but then I guess, this is human nature to want just a little but more than what you have.

So what all did this one year education give me? For one, I am looking forward to the next step (my job) with a sense of eagerness. It is prolly through this tumultuous one year that I realized that change IS actually a part of life. And after coming 10000 kms away from home, away from family and maybe even life, well, how worse can it get :P Besides, just let go... One year with quality professors instilled this faith in me that I am now ready to move forward in life.

But yes I am gonna miss the campus, which was refreshingly different from what I knew. Add to it that Americans don't quite say it on your face, but they do consider themselves the best country to live in (umm not so sure, but nvm). With the shake up that I went through, both academically, and emotionally, I kinda have a clearer path to follow (thanks Prof Jay P Kesan)

What I do have a clear picture about is that happiness is not as defined by west :P. No matter how they paint India (or other non US/european entities) but happiness is actually where your context is... For me, it is in India... But yes, with this degree, I will go back as a better prepared person.

Thanks U of I, u did end up making me a better person. 'Loyal to you Illinois...' as goes our song...

A perfect smile

It has been a while since the last time I had that. An honest, from deep within my heart smile.

After watching this video, I got transported to that time when I used to stand at the same place as the guy who made this video. And as that moment came alive within me, I had a perfect smile :)



I don't know how many times have you done that, but almost every time I traveled in trains, I used to stand at the door, and used to let the gush of air breathe me in, as I breathed that in to me. There was a sense of freedom, a feeling of being one with God's creation... Almost like a real time movie with you in the balcony seat.
And when I traveled 24 hours in trains, I could actually see the day pass through and night settle in. I am sure in our daily lives not many times do we pay attention to this. It was simply awe inspiring the way a totally different aspect of life presented itself. As my cousin says, simple pleasures of life...

And now as I saw in the US, the train doors are closed. What they end up closing is the whole set of experiences I mentioned above. I guess whats missing here are those small openings in our otherwise packaged lives through which, every now and then we could be transformed into a totally different world. One where you could actually observe a day melt into night. Where you could watch a movie where the landscape changed its countenance every now and then. One where when it rained, you could just stretch ur neck out and feel the drops on ur face.

One where you were .... you...

The 'fish' girls

No I am not talking about mermaids. Although that is a great topic of another blog, but maybe some other time. For now I am talking about a special breed of girls who have been given prior education, most probably in convents to use a special word 'fish'.

You see, they are kinda special. You can pretty much single out the 'fish' girls out of a group very easily. They usually have very pretty face, more often than not their legs are chiseled by Michelangelo, they are interested in the same sports which you are crazy about... In short they are every thing you want. The trouble is that some times their resume has a few 'skills' far too much for your palate.

So what is this fish thing? any been-there-done-that guy will know what this stands for. In the male bastion, where there are pretty much no rules about using a particular 'f' word in a friend circle, I guess women folk kind of observe a self constraint. Add to this the general perception that girls are 'usually' the more 'appropriate' folks around and will definitely purge the group from its oral misadventures. So when a girl wants to use the 'f' word, she replaces it with a 'fish'! And they think they have kinda swept it under the carpet. What they don't kinda realize is that for most guys using an 'f' word among guys is way more exhilarating than actually trying to avoid saying it, coz now not only you are pretty, awesome and lovely, but you are bindaas, approachable and cool to be with! what a combination...

So here is the deal. Here is this awesome femme fatale, she has a very pretty face, she seems to have a good head, and boy she loves the same activities like I do, and she uses the 'fish' word too! And that's when all guys in the group begin their 'moves' to bag this prized possession. What adds fuel to the fire is that the actions are not exactly rebuked.

And there I am in the crowd, but kinda better off than other guys, and seem to have made the moves better than them. She and I have been talking for a while now, and we exxactly share our likes and sense of humor. Infact it is going soo well that her 'fish' utterances are coming out now more so often and I am reveling in the fact that she is so much one among us, that I could really think about the next step with her. And maybe a little down the road, decide upon a longer road with her too!

She is wearing a beautiful dress. (Oh! what the hell I think anything will look good on her) Although I never ever notice this stuff on girls, but even her jewelry stands out on her. Her cute little ear rings, her thin and elegant necklace just make their presence felt and simply increase the beauty I have in sight. Down in her arms, her red bangles covering just a little area, enough for them to sparkle just like her eyes, make the road I was thinking about even more impelling.
And there is a ring in her fourth right finger on the right hand.

It is then that the final 'skill' on her resume shows up. She is taken. As have all other such fish girls been in the past. As they say, that no matter how quickly you approach a 'fish' girl, there is always a faster son of a gun, smirking somewhere at you.

over a cup of coffee

On this lazy Saturday, after having done monotonous laundry, eating rather dull lunch, watching a very average movie and then taking bath, and chatting with my cousin in India, I really didn't know what to do to live rather than merely exist.

So I got up and a brewed a cup of coffee, in the most elaborate manner I was ever told, coz after all, it is a lazy Saturday! It was during the making that I realised that the coffee was indeed turning a delight. It had been a while since the last time I took my nose over the brewing coffee to fill the brewed air deep into my lungs. And with a heavy breath, I lost myself into that aroma... It smelt just right.

It was with that coffee that I came out into my balcony, just to melt into the surroundings. I guess God is smiling at me today. What I saw, felt, heard, sensed, smelt around me was as if the whole world was conspiring to invigorate me from within. There is someone playing beautiful guitar just nearby. Sun is almost about to set, and the ground in front of me has turned golden yellow. There is a cool breeze that the trees and I are swaying to. Every sip of coffee I take in simply melts away on my tongue, leaving behind its aroma... I can see coulds up in the sky. They aren't covering the whole space, and a few of them shrug a drop or two of rain on me, sometimes on my feet or sometimes on my forehead. My glasses have become moist by the vapours coming out of my cup.


It could just be the coffee playing on me, but I remembered that prayer that we were taught when we were toddlers...

Thank you God for the world so sweet... Thank you God for the Birds that sing... Thank you indeed God, for everything.

Satirical truth..

I got this forwarded email just now... Although it is a satire and overly critical of social activists, it does bring out the problems as they stand..

As Spiderman movie said, that with great power comes great responsibility, which I think the media in India grossly misuses, especially when Ekta Kapoor makes a serial on Arushi's murder even when her family is grappling with the trauma, or when half informed celebrities make their dull lives more interesting by staging protests that they do not understand the nuances of.

I guess we are developing at a rate much faster than what Indian society can swallow. For it's not about having the latest, swankiest car, it's about reaching a place on time. Or, it's not about having a nuclear family, but about giving people around you freedom of their own...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An Ant works hard in the withering heat all summer building its house and
laying up supplies for the winter.

The Grasshopper thinks the Ant's a fool and laughs & dances & plays the
summer away.

Come winter, the shivering Grasshopper calls a press conference and
demands to know why the Ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed
while others are cold and starving.
NDTV, BBC, CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering Grasshopper
next to a video of the Ant in his comfortable home with a table filled
with food.

The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor
Grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the Ant's house.

Medha Patkar goes on a fast along with other Grasshoppers demanding that
Grasshoppers be relocated to warmer climates during winter .

Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticize the Indian Government for
not upholding the fundamental rights of the Grasshopper.

The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the
Grasshopper (many promising Heaven and Everlasting Peace for prompt
support as against the wrath of God for non-compliance).

Opposition MPs stage a walkout. Left parties call for 'Bengal Bandh' in
West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry.
CPM in Kerala immediately passes a law preventing Ants from working hard
in the heat so as to bring about equality of poverty among Ants and
Grasshoppers.

Lalu Prasad allocates one free coach to Grasshoppers on all Indian Railway Trains, aptly named as the 'Grasshopper Rath'.

Arjun Singh makes 'Special Reservation ' for Grasshoppers in Educational
Institutions & in Government Services.



The Ant is unable to cope with the Reservation, and having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes ,it's home is confiscated by the Government and handed over to the Grasshopper in a ceremony covered by NDTV.



Arundhati Roy calls it ' A Triumph of Justice'.

Lalu calls it 'Socialistic Justice '.

CPM calls it the ' Revolutionary Resurgence of the Downtrodden '

Koffi Annan invites the Grasshopper to address the UN General Assembly.

Congress takes the credit for always caring about the AAM Grasshopeer.




Many years later...

The Ant has since migrated to the US and set up a multi-billion dollar company in Silicon Valley,

100s of Grasshoppers still die of starvation despite reservation somewhere in India,

..AND


As a result of losing lot of hard working Ants and feeding the grasshoppers,

.

India is still a developing country…!!!

Vegas Vices

First the disclaimer: Any family member should read this only at his/her own risk, and always pretend that they never did.

Man I so wish I was born at the times of Khajuraho Temples. The reason is either too obvious or it will most definitely be in the due course of this post.

All this while I was struggling to find the right way to sum up my Vegas trip. But intoxicated as I was, it was only now that I could re-gather my senses ( it took 2 days of day long business meetings to get me out of that) to come up and gather my thoughts.

The best way the whole Vegas trip can be summed up in two words is "confused dilemma". At least for me. No let me correct that. I can safely say that for a good number of people from India. Dilemma of what? You see, there is this historic side of India all Indians so proudly brandish and brag about. Well at least we think that out past was glorious (if not the present) and that we proudly follow those traditions in our daily present day lives. In one of my first blogs, I had talked about the great Indian divide. That exists between us the eligible guys and them the eligible-yet-no-where-to-be-seen girls in India, coz their fathers keep them away from us. A very well made documentary film on this by a musician called Ishq Bector is here. (go to the link only if u wanna know how Indian parents 'mind' their kids :D )

So how does this all link to each other? I mean the topic is Vegas, and I've talked about Khajuraho temples, Indian culture, contemporary Indian parents, and then the acclaimed (eh?) new age Indian musician? hehe so at least the 'confused' part of the problem is clear.

So now the other 'dilemma part'. Despite the assurance by the Americans : "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas", poor Indian graduate students, who haven't even ever been to a dance bar in India ( trust me!) are left to the mercy of, shall we say 'ladies' in 'non-indian' dresses.

Have you ever observed your tongue become so long that it blasts it way out of your mouth? have you ever felt your neck crane over 180 degrees trying to help your eyes dig deep into certain things that are usually never to be seen? Have you ever had anatomy lessons in the middle of a casino? Have you ever had guys on the roads selling phone numbers of the other sex, instead of T-shirts? Have you ever sooo wanted to be behind a certain curtain, or behind a certain door that the only way you could take your mind off it is by concentrating on another similar curtain and door? How many times the truck in front of you carries a larger than life ad of something that you would want to give your right hand for? and that too at 50 Dollars an hour? :D

If all this happens in Vegas, how can a poor Indian graduate student forget it all in Vegas... But thats exactly where the dilemma starts. The point is, despite all that happening to me, I couldn't do anything but stay/stand/walk on... Call it a culture shock, or sheer cowardice, but anytime such opportunity arose, I couldn't take the dive. For better or for worse. Be it a girl asking me to merely stick my tongue out for a picture, or a guy on the road asking me to just look at the card and the picture on it, I couldn't stand up to the moment. Why? coz we as Indians aren't supposed to do that stuff!!. Damn! now I am confused.

In one of the pubs there, I was standing upright and uptight (God knows why) and just then someone brushed beside me. Her hand came into mine and she held it tight for a split second. In that moment, that split second, I sooo wished it was in Madhya Pradesh at the time of Khajuraho. Just so that I could follow my traditions and glorious past :P

Sorry! everything is reserved

In DDLJ, SRK says to Kajol's mom that shortcuts might lead to immediate results, but they are never long lasting. Instead, the longer, harder route might be time taking and more difficult, the result will always be everlasting.

So when everyone might have watched DDLJ, why am I talking about it? coz the Gujjars are now on the roads (again) demanding reservations for them. Rajasthan is in a mess, and today Delhi is under siege. whoa. It was only recently that Supreme court had allowed the OBC reservation for higher institutes of learning. Mandal was not that long ago. I still remember the day Rajiv Goswami died of self immolation. There was a time a few months back when Sardars were contesting the revoking of their minority status in Punjab!


I was talking to my cousin sister once about this, and she said that given the amount of discrimination that was dealt out to some sections of the society, it actually makes all the sense to go with reservation to help these sections.

I took that point with a pinch of salt. Not because i don't agree to that, but because it seemed to be a very short term solution to a long standing problem. A section of people were already shouting foul coz there weren't even enough seats for the 'general' population.

The amount of money allocated to education in national budget has been 3% this year . I looked up more and found out that US has approx 1/5 of our young population and spends 5 times more on education. India lags behind even latin america and carribean and east and south east asia. That leaves us with the middle east, africa and central asia... click here for more details..

All this when we are touted as the next big thing in the world. We are really being messed around beyond words by our politicos. I dunno what we should do about it, but we really must do sumthing... Something like an Indian Political services on the lines of IAS.

The point is, reservations is a very myopic thing to do especially in a diverse culture base like ours, where if we divide even only the Hindu groups, all communities will become a minority. I also remember a talk about making kayasthas (my community) and OBC somewhere... In no time all communities will begin asking for reservations and blocking roads and burning traffic lights.

The better way i guess is to make govt spend properly in education. people like us must spread awareness about this among others and force the govt (ideally and technically).

Lemme know what u think, and I will add it to this page for everyone to read..

Oh My GAWD

hehe this post was to be about my vegas trip... but that can wait..

u have to watch these videos!! I wonder why did we sell off our premier padmini car!!



and watch this



as they say, old is gold! Go Premier Padmini!!

MS Technology Management : Decoded

It might be a late night with no action in Las Vegas that has prompted me to write this, but, I wanted to put this up for many reasons..

1) Frustration
2) Information
3) Education
4) Entertainment

Like our Marketing professor taught us, I am trying to segment, and then target different audiences of this blog: prospective students for MS Tech Program, bored internet blog visitors, and fellow people looking for jobs :)

So first the history: I was working rather well at naukri.com (India's biggest jobsite), when my boss kinda motivated me to quit my job. Alongside, I was very enamored by the product team at naukri, for it seemed they had the best of both the worlds. There was also a person called Sujith Nair. He was a dynamic project manager at naukri, who was someone I usually looked up to. But being the Taurean that I am, I didn't wanna take that much time (which was anyhow short) to get to where Sujith Nair was. Simultaneously, there were these new chaps recruited from ISB into naukri at seemingly ridiculous salaries... (grrr) and above all, I wanted a change!!!

So came into picture Technology Management.  My research on the internet for Technology Management (on  edulix.com, etc ) showed me a bunch of options, including MBA in Technology Management at Berkeley, MIT, EPFL Lausanne, and MS - Technology Management at UIUC (with one year course duration). I liked MS Tech at UIUC because the College of Business was ranked at 38 in the world (financial times), the program was at UIUC (a campus which has GREAT reputation), and this was a quick one year program (so I could get to earning money sooner). At that time ISB wasn't ranked in the global rankings (now in 2012 it's somewhere around 11 in the world), and IIMs were somewhere in the 100s... (plus I flunked CAT more than once :) )

I applied, kinda after the deadline, and made it in. I was very ecstatic about it!  And then the program started... The fact that MS Technology Management was a one year program made it a very intensive course work. And before we had even unpacked our bags, we ran into our first and most critical Fall career job fair. I did my part of selling, and got interviews from many great companies like Yahoo, Microsoft, Facebook (which I couldn't attend, and it turns out to be a VERY expensive mistake :) ), Expedia, Cashnet USA, Capital IQ, ZS Associates etc, and got great feedback from all of them. It seemed they were very interested in the Technology Management program and what it had to offer...But there were 3 things which stood out after this:

1) They weren't sure about what this Technology Management program was all about, and consequently there was a confusion about what profile they wanted me for.Some even asked me 'So where do we place you'!. So some companies interviewed me for a software engineer position and some did for pure marketing... a major mismatch.

2) I wasn't prepared enough with the MBA (which is what Technology Management is wrapped around) training to handle the interviews as yet. After all, it was just 4 weeks since we had come in, and were thrown in to compete with the one year MBAs... I was given a case interview when I didn't even know what that was...

3) I wasn't prepared even for the interviews where I thought I had a good chance. It takes at least 6 months ( in my opinion) to crack interviews at top companies, and I had only 1-2 months of clueless preparation effort. What I learned from this was that you MUST find out the 'what to dos', and 'how to dos' of interview preparation. Use career services, including engineering and business, your contacts and alumni to find that out.

As the program progressed into Spring semester, the whole course started to make sense. It is a great program in terms of what it teaches us... The bigger picture of technology and its management became clearer. I could now see the business value in the code I wrote, which till now I evaluated only on how smart it was and what cool things it could do... The holistic picture of Technology from Innovation, Supply chain, Process Management or financial perspective (like how should we value a dotcom) started appear clearly.

But sadly, there were more things happening in the 'happening' world, and the problem was multi-pronged:

1) some greedy people borrowed too much money and built houses with it, and caused the sub-prime crisis. (why does it always rain on me!!)
2) The fall semester job fair was gone and spring was mostly for internships (which we don't have scope for, unless one goes out of the way and extends the program)
3) The career services department seemed as clueless about this program as the companies were :p

so 'long story short' as a speaker in marketing class said, we have to search for companies, educate the companies about the MS Technology management program, fight the recession (by praying to God) and keep looking for jobs everywhere... The final thing I realized was that this is NOT an easy job.

But with all that said, we went to HP Labs for a visit and made a presentation about commercializing a technology they had developed. They were really impressed with the multidimensional analysis of the technology we presented. So I think we are on the right track... what we need is a lil bit of hard (harder) work, and a lil bit of luck...

For all the people who want to come in to technology management stream, ( from anywhere in the world) please make sure that you have a good amount (around 5 years) of technical experience, so that u have the technology in ur head before coming here to see how to manage it. It also depends on what u wanna be after you graduate from the program (don't join this program to 'enter' the management line). Also ensure that you understand what you want from the program, coz this is NOT a regular MBA and if you want to get into finance, accounting, marketing etc, this is NOT the program for you. this is simple and pure general management with a 'technology' focus (especially at MS Technology management- UIUC). So ur expertise will still be the technology u came from. Next, use UIUC's brand image and network. Make sure u make great contacts in fall semester, coz I m not sure how many would land great jobs then. Use these contacts later when u r ready to take the technology management interviews. Job hunting is mostly going to be a year long exercise, and u must start as soon as u get here. You will get better with time, but start making those contacts as soon as possible.

Good luck. (pray the recession gets over soon)

PS: I did land a job by the end of the may :) I joined this company after my OPT was processed, rather dramatically (But that needs a blog post of its own :) )
 

Confessions of a commitment shirker

This is my dedication to all those ppl who can never get to committing to sumone and then later crib about it :D enjoy!!


I think I have never done the romantic thing
A dozen roses and a diamond ring
many times I have been peeled and pricked
but I really couldn't feel a thing...

So is that a hormonal imbalance or a psychological one?
that I just cannot settle with anyone?

from 'Boys 2 Men' to 'Alanis Morisette'
Their lyrics never really conveyed any sense
Although there were those who 'waited and waited' for me to ask them out,
but got no returns for their perseverance..

heh.. so what on earth is wrong with me?
for she ain't good enuf, whoever she be?
well on second thoughts that isn't quite true.
coz I usually repent when the moment passes through

I guess I vindicate what my teacher once said,
'Oh my child u have an empty head'.... :P


And this is what our fellow commitment shirkers added:

"There was once a time when it was commitment i was afraid of
But now it seems it was actually me the pretty ladies were scared of"

A full lifecycle

One of my fish died yesterday... I did feel bad, but since this was not the first time my fish had died, I was kinda ok with it... So I did the required thing of taking the fish (named Gabdu after the Billoo comic character) out of the fish bowl and burying it out in the ground somewhere...

And today it is raining crazy! I can actually imagine that place where Gabdu is buried, and see the rain water falling on it. slowly nature will start re-transforming Gabdu into itself and after sometime, forces in the nature will use the same matter (of which Gabdu was made) to form another fish in someone else's bowl...

Life always comes a full circle...

And we are growing the fastest in the world...

this video talks about the sorry state of our cities. In which we live under stressful conditions, and eventually die young and unhappy... But I don't think we do anything to solve this... All this when unqualified, incompetent leaders (??? really leaders?) are elected time and again and suck our blood. We do retaliate via comedians who take a dig at them. And we watch this all in our apartments on inverter generated power, and go to sleep by 1 am and get up at 7 am to leave for office early due to the traffic jam...

Did we vote the last time???