Sankshipta

Rahul becoming Gandhi!

2010-02-02T12:08:00.000-08:00

It really pains to see how this 'Mumbai for Marathi' issue is playing out.

Just when I was thinking Rahul may bring some luster to political filigree I am getting convinced otherwise. Rahul asked at a public meeting, 'who killed terrorists during 26/11?' pointing towards the NSG commandos.

Well its pity that such potential young leaders can not differentiate between National assets and National integrity. By no means Raj is equitable to Rahul, and so I don't think Rahul should have dug that deep, but no matter who is digging National-Integrity is getting buried!

Sense of responsibility.. lesson for others(?)

2010-02-01T11:30:00.000-08:00

What a typical case of Nooriya havelliwala! 27-year old damsel was partying on Saturday night, not so late.. just until 1 am. But at 2 am she finds herself locked-up! For she mowed down 2 people, seriously injured 4 police-men on duty by ramming her SUV into their car, at the speed of @150 Kmph!

The police report said she was drunk heavily (9 times of allowed limit; 450 ml) and that's what made her loose control of her car. Beer cans were found lying on the back seat of her car, oh sorry not beer cans, but 'Open' beer cans. She was charged with culpable Homicide amounting murder. As expected her parents have come out in her defense. The most audacious argument by her father is, the instrument to check alcohol content that was used, is broken! He was/is trying to make it a point that one who drink 450 ml of alcohol cant even walk and his daughter was even wearing high-heels. What a ludicrous argument is this. Icing on the cake comes from her mother, where she claims that her dear daughter doesn't consume alcohol really, just drinks beer once in a while. I am so upset on these comments that less said better.

I have really grown suspicious these days about the parents only! I don't believe that these are well behaved kids, and mostly due to their parents. The kind of freedom they are enjoying could easily astray them into the wonderland. This is not out of any jealousy but out of sheer pity for them and concern for victims.

I had an argument with a good friend of mine and he was vociferously against my stand of anti-parents. I agree that not all the kids are like that but I feel we need to analyze it case by case basis and extend the gamut of law to include even parents/guardians or those who are mostly responsible for the life style of the person. That way at least others will get serious about their kids. Its when your own a** is on fire only will you 'Think' about what has happened.

I strongly vote for infusing some sense of responsibility into the society and even if it means by coerction I am for it, for I sincerely believe that we are very near the point of total collapse of social responsibility structure!

My Name is, Indian!

2010-01-25T07:21:00.000-08:00

Three years ago, at the beginning there was lot of uproar about IPL but once begun, although in infancy we been nurturing it as an adored child! We also have made a successful international tour with it!

But now its the time for some maturity I suppose. Scars of 26/11 are deep and none needs to be convinced of the stubborn stand India is seeking against the scar-inflicting nation. Just when I was to get convinced that Individual nationalism is a thing of past for India, I was awoken from this nightmare by recent IPL players auction.

Purportedly none of the Pakistani players were selected by any of the IPL teams. Now I am not too naive to believe that those team owners were exercising divine love for their country. I am sure those were mostly business driven decisions, but realize that if they think that by hiring those players their business will be impacted, it certainly means that they were aware that public opinion is much against those players. Nonetheless political controversy could also be motivating factor but I guess they were too unlucky to avoid that quagmire. But at the end as of now there are no Pakistani players playing in IPL!

Just about when the fire was getting doused, few heads are calling it a foul play. Mr. Khan, Shahrukh Khan, thinks that IPL did wrong thing. Alright Mr. Shahrukh, so you think that no matter what other country does to your country, we must abide by righteousness. What a hypocrisy Mr. Khan!

I think what IPL did, for whatever reason they did it, they did it right. They need not be sorry about it at all and they can always throw the 'Business reasons' to pacify those barking mongrels. I feel that this is a chance that Indians can exhibit their nationality and it should not be intrude upon or toiled with. Mr. Khan better keep mum when Mr. India is speaking!

Beaware H1-bs!

2010-01-21T13:17:00.000-08:00

Today a dear friend of mine notified me of this news - http://www.murthy.com/nflash/nf_h1conc.html

This initially infuriated me, I mean what is wrong with USCIS? Why is it sending legal contract workers back to their native country (OR India!?) all of a sudden? But then I thought, from American perspective, that actually is a right step. I mean if their economy is in shambles I do not see any befitting reason why they should entertain foreign workers. This by no means exonerate anyone who have misused this system to its full stretch. In conclusion I suppose, both the sides were right and wrong. USCIS offered this system and then turned their blind eye to its misuse so long as they were getting profits out of it. Go Capitalism! We Were using this system because we were getting monitory benefits from it. But since USA's own house is in disarray they are turning the knob on H1-bs and I guess we should byte the bullet.

But then, is government of USA doing right for the native business? Would big clients in USA like IBM, Bank of America Or Walmart can afford to loose this workforce? I am pretty sure they will start talking back to the government about this worrisome attitude of theirs! After all are they not capitalists? Also, another practical matter is, if a consultant is re-entering into USA what a mess it is for him to get turned away! All his liabilities and personal items just go unaccounted for. I think if USCIS really cares for these people (which I personally don't think they do) they should let them into this country and put them on leash and ask them to leave in a amount of time.

'A decision is made to assure a fair probe...' said the spokeperson.

2008-06-16T12:22:00.000-07:00

I have read quite a lot ironical statements, but the one in the title takes the cake!
This is in context with the Haryana rape case (http://www.ibnlive.com/news/cbi-to-probe-haryana-rape-case/67244-3.html). In a very shocking ('shocking' not by value, but by number of incidents) incident, a lady in Haryana was supposedly raped by two constables. The lady, to my surprise, ran to police and lodged a complaint and (I am pretty sure) not to her surprise, no action was taken. But then she takes a very bold (and perceivably unfair for her young daughters) step and inhales the poison. Wait, that's not what bold is referring to, the bold step is yet to come. The lady then runs to police-station and gives her apathy to the police officers in their face and ends her note sharing that she has already taken poison. Unfortunately care-takers of society failed to take care of this lady! May her soul rest in peace.
The lady ended her embarrassment with taking the most difficult decision; but we (you and me) are left with the MOST embarrassed face, especially when we face those little two girls!
And as if that's not enough for us, one of the spokes person goes on records to say that,
'A decision as been taken to assure a fair probe into the matter....' What the hell? now Judiciary has to take a decision to assure fair probe, doesn't it actually stands for it?

Becomming Jane

2008-06-05T08:29:00.000-07:00

High expectations always disappoint you and no expectations always surprise you! I recently got a chance to experience the second part of this. I was strolling through the lanes of Hollywood movie rental, and a movie name ‘Becoming Jane’ just caught my eyes. There was something about the face of Jane (played by Anne Hathaway) that just forced me to pick it up. When I came home after running that evening, lying on sofa when I was about to doze off I thought I might just keep this movie playing and so I did.

To my surprise the movie turned out SO great! First of all, I am always thrilled by Vatican style English (or actually any language in classic style, to put it in general). Then the cinematography of the movie was stunning! The 18th century style studio sets they had installed were just perfect and were greatly complemented by the immaculate performance by the crew! Few shots, like when Jane and her sister Cassandra are walking on the sea-shore OR when Tom is walking behind the stagecoach while Jane is leaving him for good.. a wonderful direction, Master-piece of art I must say.

It would be a gross error to call it a romantic movie, but the fist part of the movie certainly leaves that chocolettee, romantic taste on your palate to survive through the agony coming its way. The screenplay is just nice too… everything is jelled so well that you have to be conscious to complement the dialog writing skills!

All in all it’s a great experience to watch that movie. I loved it and I would recommend it to everyone, although make sure that you are not in haste…. It’s a movie which runs at its pace and if you don’t get involved into it, it’s a waste of your time.

Kudos to Julian Jarrold!

Sex Education in schools.

2008-04-23T07:32:00.000-07:00

I am supporter of having sex-education in schools. But it is critically important that we think through what we going to offer before we start passing on any judgments.

Sex education is a need of time. The kind of society we are developing into is probably not the best one that we should offer to future generations. So bracing our forth-coming generations against our wrong-doings is our moral responsibility. BJP is vehemently against introducing it in schools with the argument that it is against the culture! What a lame argument. Even if I am to buy into the supplest definition of ‘Culture’, I don’t think sex education goes against it. Ramdev baba, the Yoga guru also passed out a statement that instead of teaching sex-education, government should teach Yoga. What a pity! I would have been much happy if he would have used ‘and’ in place of ‘instead of’. I do not under-estimate the power of Yoga or challenge his knowledge about it (when he says that Yoga can put sex-anxiety in teens at rest), but I don’t think Yoga is a ‘replacement’ in any sense.

I understand that there are infinite things to think about before to actually introduce it. The age of students when we want to introduce it is equally important with what contents are to be introduced. We have to consider from the stand point of teachers as well! It wouldn’t be surprise or unexpected if the present teachers are un-comfortable teaching that to students. Either we will need to have separate task-force for this OR we will need to train fresh Teachers about how to teach it. The techniques of how one should teach material in class are also worth pondering over. Students are not going to take anything serious, let it be sex-education or political history! Besides, they are quite likely to embarrass the teacher than to not pay any heed.

So we certainly need a well-thought solution in place, but turning the option flat out down is not the way.

Entertainment show for people, which no one is allowed to attend...

2008-04-16T07:42:00.000-07:00

With today’s world with such a political diversity, you never know what will make news. Olympics have been a BIG event for last many years, but this time more than Olympics, the Olympics Torch is making rounds in the news-room! The Torch which represents Freedom, Sportsmanship, and Individualism together with communism (You bet 'Pun' is intended) is being hosted by a country which is being accused of oppression and imperialism in Tibet. As if world was running short of ironies, our Government wants to showcase another one.

The torch will be running in New Delhi, capitol of largest democracy on this Thursday. Government has been notified of possible threat to this torch-run by Tibetan protestors (which actually got realized in France). Chinese ambassador expressed concerned over this, but the paternal Indian government assured China that the run will be successful. And how are they going to make sure of that is,

The run will be shortened to half of its regular length (2.5 km), there will be VIP level security around, the Rajpath, where this torch will run, will be closed for that time, all the building surrounding that Raj-marga will be closed. Imagine; there has been a dictum even to close all the windows and doors opening towards that Raj-marga. If the need be the torch will also be placed inside a vehicle. What more could be done?

But does this represent the real spirit of Sportsmanship? Why don’t we just run that Torch inside some military bunker?

I can understand the pressure on Indian Government from diplomatic point of view, but there could have been other ways.... closing all doors is just like closing your mind to new ideas and Freedom!

There are 5 letters between 'A' and 'G'!

2008-04-15T06:19:00.000-07:00

Empty mind is a Devil’s den and nothing could be a better example than what ‘Face the Nation’, a talk show on CNN-IBN, recently conducted. The title of the talk on 15th April 2008 was – ‘Ambedkar’s legacy last more than Gandhi’s?’ (link - http://ibnlive.com/news/ambedkars-legacy-lasts-more-than-gandhis/63317-3.html)

What are they doing? Why do we have this obsession of pitching one person against another? Did we run out of people, who are alive, that now we are doing it posthumously? And more so over, why are we comparing apples with oranges anyway?

For me, with whatever little knowledge that I have, I think Gandhi and Ambedkar dealt with completely two different ideas! Gandhi is pre-independence era and Ambedkar is post-independence. Gandhi was concerned with emancipating India from shackles of foreign rule, where as Ambedkar was trying to infuse the idea of ‘Equal Humanity’ into the newly born baby. Yes, no doubt they did clash! But we have to acknowledge the different domains they were borrowing their experiences from. Besides their goal and ideals were different, their sufferings were different, the era in which they were born was different, the History they witnessed was different and the palpability of realization of ‘Independent India’ they both felt, was different!

They both are the legends for all the population of India! They both did a daunting and out-of the world job. If we compare them for the petty small political mileage we are doing nothing but bringing shame to us! Have we first realized their dreams? NO! India is still under imperialism; Then it was ‘British’ now it is ‘Politics’! We still have Casti’sm, Then it was upper cast who was practicing it now its Indian Government!

Politicians dont only speak, they do some concrete things too!

2008-04-14T08:05:00.000-07:00

Blowing your trumpet is a past thing, pouring in concrete is the ‘In’ thing now.
BSP leader Mayawati, recently unveiled a statue of BSP founder Kanshi Ram, Dr. Ambedkar and supposedly another profound leader of BSP, none other than ‘Mayawati’ herself! (Is that a surprise look on your face!?)

She didn’t just stop there; she went out in public blowing her own trumpet and justifying how it is right! There have been statues of leaders inaugurated while they were still around; but those were not inaugurated by them-selves and above of all, all the leaders were humble to that respect! M. Karunanidhi is one of them.

Unfortunately, the whole Cast issue is still not dead in India, but playing national level politics with it is what something that bothers me. Why it is that, ‘I’am a Dalit!’ draws votes and ‘You are a Dalit!’ draws scorn and contempt? I know it’s a vicious cycle but both sides will need to give up and grow! I once again repeat, if you don’t know the right direction, at least don’t follow the wrong direction! Status-quo is preferred to regress!

Black magic

2008-04-04T11:53:00.000-07:00

I think we end up having most interesting conversations almost un-intentionally. An afternoon coffee gibberish with your colleagues can at times actually turned out to be a very thought provocative (naah… not about work-issues!). And I just lived up to one such conversation recently.

A colleague of mine was talking about some magician (David Copperfield he was I think), and was explaining me how amusing his magic is. I was very obstinate that no magic can impress me because it is all slight of hand or hypnotism after all! The argument just dragged along and somehow we ended up talking about this show on TV, in which a Black-magician was challenged by the host, to show his skills on the host himself! To such an extent, that Host was even ready to get himself killed if magician succeeded. Needless (is it really? I wonder) to say, host won! The poor magician couldn’t perform at all. Now that disturbed me a little. I felt sympathetic towards the Black-magician!

Did you notice the irony! I wasn’t buying into the mundane magic but I was little upset (?) to see black magic fail. After pondering over it for long I found one word staring right at me, in my face, ‘Faith’!

I think it has got all to do with ‘Faith’. In the black magic there is involvement of God, in whom I don’t only trust, but I have Faith in Him! Because of that, I know anyone who calls for him sincerely, He will answer to him. There is no breach in that contract. It’s very hard where to draw line between your faith and superstition (, and I certainly don’t want to address that here because I know for a fact that I will not be able to do that at all). But if we don’t confuse faith with superstition, then Faith is a necessary ingredient of your life. You have Faith in your body and so you know that you will live for tomorrow. You have Faith in your family and so you try to provide for them. You have Faith in your religion and so you try to follow the customs! Isn’t it amazing how Faith works!? You never get any doubts about what you have Faith in. You always know if something failed; then that must be you or your efforts or your intentions, but you don’t doubt your Faith.

5 letter word and that can turn your beliefs upside down. Being a firm believer in God, I somehow ended up having faith even in black-magic, OR to be precise I had faith in ‘the faith black-magician had put in his God’. Deep down somewhere I thought, if He can answer my wishes, why not his! If He fails the magician, He will fail me too!

So it boils down to; I wasn’t upset because the black-magic did not work; I got upset because his Faith was not answered. I realize that his intentions were wrong and so I am not terribly sorry for the magician, but I believe that, were his intentions have been right and constructive, may be we could have seen some White-magic!

To the friends of mine,

2008-04-03T14:10:00.001-07:00

Today we had gone out for a cup of coffee in the noon. On our way back there is this right turn which takes you into my office building.. and recently I have been driving little brash on that curve. Everyday there is no one in the car when I take that turn, today there were few friends of mine ridding along with me.
I ended up driving fast on that curve which put my friends in a bad mood. It even almost hurt one of my friend!
This blog entry is to give an public apology to them! I understand that it was irresponsible on my part to drive like that and its not only my life but also their life which I was jeopardizing. I sinserely and truely apologize to both of them.
Guys, forgive me, please.
Hope you can understand.

Bending your principles!

2008-04-03T09:21:00.000-07:00

I am completely against capitol punishment! I don’t think we, the humans, have any right to finish anything that we didn’t start.

But after reading the news about this 12-year old girl being raped, I will not mind bending my principle! These guys should be tortured to death; a quicky is not for them.
All my condolences go out to that girl. I hope she can resurrect herself back from this pathetic unfortunate torture. I apologize to her on behalf of the society.

I hope that the Supreme Court doesn’t surprise me by showing leniency to the main culprit; just because he has confessed his crime. Supposedly there are other two accomplices whose information is available with the police department.

Aaaah.. I am just too scared if the dead-slow judicial system (its for right reason,) of ours is going to meet out the justice to her!

Aarj hain,

2008-03-26T13:07:00.000-07:00

Sirf punya-ki batein hi na kitabon main karo,
Kuch gunaho se bhi ye duniya hanseen hoti hain!

Gifted solution to a gifted problem!

2008-03-26T06:54:00.000-07:00

As much as exciting flying could get, it could also get depressing! And if you are a frequent flyer in states, it is more depressing and rarely exciting (for wrong reasons!). The other day I was flying out of Frankfurt airport to Philadelphia. Being late March, I was worried about weather and Mother-Nature did not put my worries in vain! It was nice and sunny until like an hour before we started boarding, but then it just suddenly turned gloomy and temperatures dropped to 20’s (F). The inevitable just got realized, it was all icy out there! Then to my surprise Airlines still boarded the flight and we were waiting to be towed to the air-strip, when I heard that most unpleasant voice of our Flight-commander. ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, this is flight 426 to Philadelphia and this is Jim, your flight commander speaking. As you could see outside the weather is not really complying with us, we will need to wait for Ice-crew to help us clear the air-strip. I will update you as soon as I hear back from them. Until then, please use our entertainment system to your pleasure and have a leisure time.’

Now I was sure that this is going to be a run of a mill flight! After a while another Public announcement declared that flight is delayed by an hour. So, I picked up conversation with few fellow passengers and we were having some ‘gala’ time. I didn’t notice that weather outside has improved in last 45 minutes of our conversation, but someone did! PA (Public announcement) buzzed all of a sudden, and then there was this funnies announcement I have ever heard,
‘Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Jim again. We waited long enough for Ice-crew, but we waited so long that the problem has disappeared in itself! So we no more need any crew and we will be on our way shortly.’

I guess the world has decided to tackle the 'Global warming' problem the same way, but I am sure we are fooling ourselves….. as they say, you cant be lucky twice!

Its been a long night......

2008-03-18T01:11:00.000-07:00

Few things are inevitable and no matter how you want to evade them, these things will catch you. They say that mob does not have a conscience, but surprisingly enough I believe the society as a whole from the beginning of this universe has always travelled in the right direction. Some factions may lag the development but sooner or later they will catch up. (I must admit that society also develops few Ulcers, but we will nip them off!)

One proof of what I am saying is from as recent as yesterday. All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board (AIMWPLB) proposed a regulation of marriage certificates and voided the age-old ‘tradition of Talqh’. They want to empower women and this is a step in right direction. They are presently facing least to say fierce opposition from different Muslim boards, but willingness to change is the biggest hurdle crossed for development.

I am all with AIMWPLB and I wish them good luck with that.

Opportunity looming on horizon.....

2008-03-17T01:44:00.000-07:00

Not even a single US based NRI is unaware of ubiquitous comparison between west and India, which dominates his everyday conversation. I don’t form an exception to this rule. I am from the group of opinion who believes that this comparison is invalid in itself! Although the problems manifest themselves in similar ways; the dimensions of those problems are different! Culture, Economic and political stability and population are to name a few.

So, if you buy into that, is there really any yard-stick against which India can be compared? Yes, China! For the dimensions those I mentioned China fits into pretty well. And more so over, there is an excellent opportunity for India this year.

China is proudly hosting 2008 Olympics. They are facing n-number of problems and eyes of the world keep fixating on that! China has to overcome those problems and conduct these games successfully. They have problems starting from drinking water to accommodating so many tourists. India can observe Chinese actions closely and learn from them. Obviously India would need to alter those steps to fit to India, but if nothing else we can at least avoid to commit same mistakes those Chinese will do!

I think India should send a delegation of burocrates while China is grappling with all sorts of problems. This delegation can brings us back an experimental report, based on which Indian government can start executing projects on smaller scale, which in turn will feedback to the report itself.

Bottom line is if you don’t know how to approach the problem, at least start compiling Do’s and Don’ts list. The solution will take shape by itself.

An Irish prayer..

2008-03-07T00:45:00.000-08:00

May those who love us love us,
and those who do not love us,
may God turn their hearts,
and if He cannot turn their hearts
may He turn their ankles
that we may know them by their limping.
~Irish Prayer

What can I say! (borrowed from one
of my distant friend's orkut profile.)

Government civil services as rewards!

2008-03-06T09:29:00.000-08:00

Not Religion, not Secular, not Developing neither Culture can single handedly define India, the way word 'Cricket' can! We recently won the Australian tour and now our dear cricketers; the national heroes are again in center stage for right reasons!
Everyone is in best of their mood! BCCI declared price of Rs 10 Cr. to the team... bravo...The heroes were offered a great welcome, specially arranged in a cricket stadium in Delhi. It was worth it (was it really?). Keeping this 'is it worth it' issue aside, what grabbed my attention is Meerut Commissioner (and for the wrong reason!)

Praveen Kumar; an emerging star is from Meerut. Praveen showed his magic in this tour and really helped us to win. Great! So everyone is flocking to his little house in this little town to give their regards and wishes. Devendra Chaudhari, commissioner of Meerut was not to feel left out. He joined the bandwagon too! But he crossed a line when, reportedly he declared that – “Inke ghar ke saamne main road par cement ka road banega (It's a matter of pride for us. We will construct a cement road on the approach to his home)," (http://www.ibnlive.com/news/goodies-wedding-proposals-follow-stardom-for-praveen/60627-5.html)

I don't care if they really build the road or not, because I am pretty sure it will not get built, but what baffles me is how a comissionar of a city could ASSUMES the power to declare that development!? That too, as a reward! Is he sure that there are no other preferred places where cement road is required in Meerut? This attitude needs to be nipped off in the butt! People of nation pay their taxes for the development of society, and the money needs to flow on priority basis. This announcement is completely invalid especially considering BCCI has already announced their reward (do I agree with that is again a different issue, but Skeptical once will always be one!)

So I guess I should not be surprised if tomorrow Defense Ministry of India, declares houses of cricketers to be VIP places and decides to guard them too!

Should 'freedom of speech' question the 'respect'!?

2008-03-03T10:29:00.000-08:00

It’s rightly said that there is no Right History!

History is usually your interpretation of events (or your borrowing of interpretations from someone else) based on information 'made' available to you. Everyone needs to be aware that there is always something that 'you don't know'; either on purpose or because no one else knows it (yet!).

There are two ways to get to history; one is academic, which is based on evidences and other is ‘Popular history’. Popular history is the actual remark that an historical event has left on the then existing society and the way it was interpreted for rest of the generations! It’s no surprise that at times these two sources/interpretations may differ simply because the domains in which they are nurtured are completely detached. Issues arise when these two domains try to interact.

For example, (not so) recent controversy of Shivaji! For years there has been some research going on about debating who Shivaji’s father was. Popular history takes it to be Shahaji where as few historical sources are challenging that. Populace has immense respect of the king Shivaji for the right reasons. Its tough on them to accept anything that they think denigrates their hero. There were seen some violent, vandalizing protests against sources which tried to portray this as a part of popular history! That (protest) was bound to happen.

Popular history always has some emotions attached to historical events. Populace has suffered through this history and so they are committed to one opinion about certain event. Any new introduction to old acquaintance is now heart over head; where as academia is objectively interested in trying to find out whatever they could. Their approach tends to be head over heart!

And therefore, any media, may it be print-media, motion-picture media or plays; they need to take into account the emotional attachment of populace to that event. They need to respect the other-side. But this also does not mean that media should be banned from sharing what they are finding. Just like populace deserves the Respect, media deserves the Freedom of speech; and both the sides needs to acknowledge the presence of the 'Other'!

New face old acquaintance!

2008-02-28T20:56:00.000-08:00

I used to think that different countries have different cultures different attitudes; but again and again I get proved wrong! (Lets excuse me broader meaning of culture here).
For example, today I visited the German Embassy in Washington DC to get my Business visa done. I can not help but notice the 'stereo typical' expressions of those people working there. Always stubborn, ridiculing and as much inhuman as possible! They Will make you feel (and believe me, they will make sure of that) neglected and 'at their mercy', while you are at there.
This an invariable experience; no matter where you go. I have been to US embassy in India and Canada, been to Canadian embassy in US and now the German embassy in US! You would think that these countries being from different parts of the world will exhibit differences; but you are nothing short of being proven wrong. You can not evade that Smugness, just like you cant evade those politicians during elections!
And this attitude is infectious! I had an appointment at 1.30PM today. In the confirmation letter, the embassy makes sure to note that 'You can not be more than 10 min late, or otherwise you appointment will be considered as canceled!'. Now after reading that, I left my hotel like 45 min before, considering that after taking a cab and considering noon traffic (if any) I will still reach there in time. Guess what!? I reach there well in time only to be greeted by the security guard who simply whisked my away telling me that I am too early! Its darn cold wintry weather outside and this fellow is making a wrong choice between 'too hyped' security concerns and basic human ethics! Believe me, I felt the apathy to be colder than the wind-chill, in my face!
Come what may, I am pretty sure it will take a long way for me to change my opinions about these government officials!

Jodha and shailabano.

2008-02-23T21:24:00.000-08:00

Jodha-Akbar is a recent release from Bollywood. The story is about a 15th Century Muslim ruler of India who married a Hindu rajput princess. The marriage was a contrived relationship established for political harmony amongst different then existing kings; which later on grows to bloom as a inexpungiable exemplary love-story! The relation was, although intended to be a trendsetter, it was one of very few genuine attempts to establish friendly accord between Hindus and Muslims.

Bombay, another 1995 classics from Bollywood, whose story is set against the backdrop of riots those took place after Babri masjid demolition. Shailabano is a small town girl who gets attracted towards Shekhar a well educated wanna-be journalist from Bombay. The plot is same, a Hindu boy and a Muslim girl trying to stand their ground in the hot political arena.

It was really a co-incident that I ended up watching both the movies on the same weekend! It doesn't take a Real smart person to notice the congruence of the plot! Tying a nuptial knot across religions. Jodha, a Hindu girl gets married into a Muslim family and Shailabano, a Muslim girl gets married into a Hindu family. Jodha takes an idol of lord Krishna with her when she moves to Akbar's palace where as Shailabano takes her Koran with her when she elopes to Shekhar's apartment. Both families preserve their own religions in married life (,although Jodha later on got converted to Muslim religion there was no forceful proselytizing.)

As mentioned earlier, Jodha's story starts with political tinge and then evolves into a love story where as Shailabano's case is a love story in the beginning and then gets engulfed into the religeo-political war! Ultimatum is, both relations survives the turmoil. Back in 15th century Muslims were ruling India and in 20th century, although labeled secular, Hindus are leading the political arena.

Similarly there are differences in stories as well. Akbar is the King where as Shekhar is a middle class common man struggling at times! What Akbar did was an exemplary thing for religious harmony, where as Shekhar was reinstating social faith in love!

So is it like no matter when the storyline is set, India the oldest religion-melting pot, has been embracing cross religion harmony!?

Smoking the smokeys!

2008-02-17T18:32:00.000-08:00

Traveling is not so rare a hobby and it becomes quite exciting depending upon how the journey is (company matter critically but in that case life in itself is a journey!) One of my friends is one such travel crazy person, but before calling him travel crazy his much well known obsession is driving (and) cars! He recently achieved a mile-stone in this, when he bought himself a brand new BMW. Owing to the reputation of BMW lesser I say about it better it is. I was one of the privileged invited 'accomplice' to bring his BMW back from Spartanburg, South Carolina. The trip was fun and it ended as quickly as it all started.

We started on Thursday evening by taking a flight to Raleigh, NC from Philadelphia. The flight was reminiscent of ST travel in Maharashtra in all respect; right from finding you a best seat to getting to the destination unexpectedly early! The flight was smooth though. Driving Pontiac GP from Raleigh to Spartanburg was not too bad. It’s very interesting the way GM has designed dash-boards in this car. They have made every effort to make the passenger feel that he is the neglected 'Object' in that car. The complete dash-board is pointing towards driving seat. Thankfully it was not a long journey and a stop over in Charlet, SC for dinner helped us a lot. We tried Mexican restaurant that day and believe me I was completely wrong in guessing how hot Tabasco sauce is. I had to pay my wrong guess by loosing all my senses for the rest of the dinner. I can now confidently assert that cartoons are not out of the world drawings... you can see people almost exactly like that if you are at the right place at right time. The desserts for the day were served as a stay in an excellent hotel arranged by BMW for their esteems customers.

Next day started pretty early morning (although I am sure my friend may not have noticed it, owing to his excitement!). BMW offers their customers test ride in testing cars, making them experience the power of the car they are buying. We had a slalom drive, ABS testing, DTC testing and x-5 off-road drive. Driving slalom on 335 was fun, you don’t get to turn and twist the car otherwise. ABS, Antilock Breaking System was a challenge for me. You are asked to drive the car at the speed of 45mlh to 55mph (drivers didn’t follow the speed limits even there) and when you reach at certain predefined point, apply the breaks as hard as you could. The screeching noise assured me of the speeding violations! Third ride was REAL fun; it was the Dynamic Traction Control. You drive the car on the skid pad and you get to test the DTC capability of BMW and stunning they were.

One interesting thing was, before this all ball-game started, we were taken into the room and the expert drivers of BMW educated us on how to drive. At one point, Marvin was explaining us how you can take a sharp corner turn. While explaining the speed-limits; he made this interesting remark - 'If you enter a sharp corner turn where prescribed speed limit is 35mph at the speed of 100mph, all we can say is 'Then Physics takes over''. I wonder how thoughtful that remark is. It exactly tries to capture what human endeavors are all trying to do. It was the most less words anyone could have used to express what our race is trying to achieve. The day ended with an off-road drive of x-5 preceding the actual delivery of black-beauty.

Because we were in the vicinity of Smokey Mountains, we also drove there and stayed there for a day. It was not the best season to travel there but we had our fun, after all hiking on frost trails is not something that you can plan on. It was 3 mile long trail and both of us were pretty exhausted by the time we were done with it. Next stop was Gatlinburg, TN. It’s a nice small little tourist town where we enjoyed 'Brownie Obsession' at TGIF. Enjoying chocolate fudge with ice-cream in dead cold whether really speaks for your addiction to chocolate. After that we drove to Virginia and stayed near the National Mnt. Roger recreation area. Although we were planning on visiting that park, early morning blues helped us to conveniently skip on that plan. The big gawking thing next was driving back to Delaware, a 10 hour long drive, eased by driving pleasure of one of the best cars I have ever been into.

On our way back home we decided to take the Blue-ridge Parkway, the part of Appalachian Mountain trails but unfortunately that road was closed. So we had to take a d-tour, which did not disappoint us at all. The d-tour was as good as a racing track with banking to it. It would only take a fool not to take all the (undue) advantages of that road; and my friend wasn't ready to be called as fool.
Reaching back home after that long journey was not as exhausting as it was to think about the next working day! Another thing that I came to know on this trip was you can still go to sleep with a 300hp twin turbo engine vrooming in your ears and a dark blue sky with frost trails on your mind and a busy next day at your hand!

Photo-album link -
http://good-times.webshots.com/album/562442968IoOHQp?vhost=good-times

Raj ka Raj.

2008-02-14T07:47:00.000-08:00

Raj Thakare, is certainly not a new name anymore! But all for the wrong reasons. In todays post I dont really want to go into the debate of Outside Vs. Insiders but yes I certainly abhore the manner in which Raj is handling his business right now.
He apologised for a death of a Maharashtrian and it was quoted that he made sure his apologies are restrained only for that person. He is NOT SORRY for all the mayhem HE is causing. Rajdeep Sardesai is not wrong when he expressed his opinion -
http://www.ibnlive.com/blogs/rajdeepsardesai/1/50119/the-legacy-of--goonda-raj.html
Yes; no matter what you say, you will always find followers and so will Raj; but I do beleive in todays generation and expect them to show their maturity (and you bet they are).
I close with wishing good health to Mharashtra and happy valentine's day to Raj Thakarey!

Appreciating diversity in India.

2008-02-01T04:58:00.000-08:00

As mentioned before I beleive India is thriving on almost every aspect, and many of us want to gauge the measure of this development. To quench that thirst we have all sorts of quotients, main one being GDP (9% GDP growth rate for successively 5th or 6th year, can you imagine!?). But for few people, they want more; and so we come up with different statistical figures of total educated woemen, Child labour etc etc.

But are we really understanding these figures? Indian society strata is REAL diverse. There are people who make it into the Forbes world's rich list and still India's face known to many people abroad is the face of old poor street-hosted family looking for some food! And thats REAL! (if you dont beleive it, visit Mumbai.. the facts are there on the streets.) It's not out of the world for any nation to have such a diverse society stratas, but by far India hosts one of the most healthiest of them.

Accepting this, does it really make any sense to come up with one figure representing any damn thing across nation? Well may be coming up is fine for some purpose, but to beleive it and be proud of it or be ashamed of it does not make any sense. Few years back when Mani shankar Iyar was Minister of Commerce & Industry, he mentioned this exact point. He said (and I paraphrase), "Dont just say that GDP is 9%, concentrate that its 9% just because of one [IT] sector. May be we need GDP's per sector."

Bharat-Ratna award

2008-01-26T15:50:00.000-08:00

Recently there has been lot of Hullabaloo for the heighest national award in India, Bharat-ratna! Too many names were thrown on the table and Government was wathing all this with folded hands. The outcome was; this year also, consecutively 7th year, the award goes unclaimed!

What does it really mean? India does not have anyone, not even a single person in 1-billion population who could claim this award!? Not really I guess. The problem is there are just too many personalities who have equal share in the award. To understand this, we have to realize that India is growing too fast (they say around 9% is the GDP growth). There are so many development happening in there. So its hard to single handedly identify one person as a champion for this award. Besides the growth of India is happening on all the sections, Industrial arena, Business, Marketing, Journalism not to mention politics and many more. Every part is contributing equally to the GDP, and if we agree to this, its hard to confer the award to one person.

So this year we have lot of Padma-awards but Bharat-ratna still awaits its beholder, but I guess the wait will be worth it.

2008-01-22T12:46:00.001-08:00

Recently watched a movie named 'Mukkam post London'. Suposedly the first Marathi film ever to be shot abroad! It was a moment of proud untill the titles were gone and the movie started taking shape!
I dont know what Kedar Shinde was thiking while doing that movie!? It almost falls as run of a mill typo. One can see those desparate failed-attempts to identify with marathi culture. Failed not for their intention but for their asthetic values! You will have to read a LOT between the lines to assure yourself that you are following the movie.
It was an excellent subject to make a film on, but Kedar could not decide which genera to choose, Comedy or Emotional! He fell flat on face while trying to walk the thin line between that.
Bharat Jadhav was good at times but was almost predictable, but credit for that goes to Kedar again. In conclusion, I will say 'nice idea wasted' (a very apt comment, one of my friend once used for Om-shanti-om).
Hope to see some good marathi films in line.....

Afzal Guru.

2008-01-16T08:14:00.000-08:00

So it looks like Government is taking some stand on the Afzal Guru's case. This case was much in news earlier last year with people divided on opinions of whether Guru should be hanged!

The way I saw the debate was much like this; there was major debate of whether he should be hanged or not. People in favour of hanging him didnt have any subgroup; but people who were not, can be divided into subgroups. One part was trying to convince that he should not be convicted (for the charges made against him) and the other was saying he should not be Handged (may be lifetime imprisonament is ok!). But Hanging Guru was such a heavy weight Headline that no body realized that there are these subgroups!

From my point of view, both the debates are unnecessary (unless you are not buying into the suprem-court's ultimatum).
The first group which was trying to portray that Guru should not be convicted; well the decision was already given out that he IS convicted. So whatever efforts those are being put after he has been convicted, may should have been used before the judgement was out! (The only rationalization I can think of they doing it now is to seek sympathy!)
The second (humaneterian) group which was trying to alleviate his punishment, should not really be concern about Afzal Guru! They should speak only for what should be state's capital punishment. If you are aginst hanging of Guru, you should be against hanging of any other human being! And if that is the case, I have never seen such a humdrum on a rapist being awarded a capital punishment, why is that?
In conclusion I think the decision was already been made, Guru should be given capital punishment. Now he will get what your state has decided the capital punishment to be!

Finally all who are in favour of hanging Guru; I think these people only know that Guru should be hanged. They think so because of the context they know about his case. If all these people are of opinion that Capital punishment of state should be 'Hang untill dead', then these guys have a point otherwise not.

What is Selfishness!

2008-01-15T11:03:00.000-08:00

Just came across a comment from Chankya -
"There is some self-interest behind every friendship.There is no Friendship without self-interests. This is a bitter truth."
Aaah.. how true, you think! but then is it really depressing to read this? I do think so!

Selfishness needs to be seen in right light. 'Getting involved into an action expecting some denouement in your favour' does not completely define Selfishness. There is an adendum which often get neglected and that is, 'if the denouement is only for you'.

So now once you have some context it doesnt sound that depressing! Society (an instituition) is selfish but is it a derogatory comment, No. Its a factual, lexical truth; but with the predominant meaning of 'selfishness' it takes up a negative connotation.

Guess I will need to keep that adendum in mind before I read that word next time.