Living a dead life

Sitting here by the lonely window,
I think of those hustling days,
And the beautiful colours of rainbow,
when happiness was scatter on all the ways.
The life which was happening and cheerful,
And the days when we made the sun glow,
We inspired the life to look meaningful,
And made the time pass just like rivers flow.

Now the reason has taken its toll,
The real me is dead long ago,
Every one have to find a suitable role,
But the only thing left is a dead shadow.
I am moving all along for no reason,
Traversing down the difficult lanes,
But why am I is an unanswered question,
And purposelessness of life still remains.

(my own creation)

Insanity Unlimited

I have always marveled at the functioning of Indian system, I mean whenever I think that what could be the driving force, which is making it run from so many years, my brain goes wild. I always find everything going on in a very smooth equilibrium and you can find all the antagonistic things living side by side. You can find corruption and honesty living side by side, as if they were some lovers who were born to live like that. You can find both intelligence and stupidity intermingled so closely to each other that go to any work place, you can find the difference in black and white. You find people supporting and praising talented people at one time, at other time you will find people calling them as a symbol of elitist oppressors.

In India everybody is moving on without knowing why they are moving or where they are heading but all of them know one thing for sure "We have to keep moving". You read big stories covering the grand success through which Indian Economy is going on or great thing regarding equality and democracy that India is preaching at international stage but I am sure noone ever noticed what a mockery of these two words is being made in the country.

State is imposing a ruthless discrimination in the name of upliftment of downtrodden. Reservations are imposed without any data collection or proper reason being given. Supreme court is shouting at the top of its voice that "how can Govt. of India first play the game and them make the rules". Supreme court has time and again suggeted our HON. DEMOCRATICALLY elected govt. to remove creamy layer from the ambit of reservation but the penchant hypocracy prevailing in the democratic setup itself doesn't allow OUR govt to listen to the reasonable voice. As I already mentioned, in India people learn to live very easily with the vices and virtue without creating much fuss, they also accepted reservation as the their fate. Protests died down because protestors knew that nothing other than demographic count can put any reason into the head of Head of State in India.

I feel that Indian leaders has got a contagious disease to show that they are very considerate of poor without knowing actually how to do that. Few days back only I saw one advertisement in Hindu published in public interest by Govt. of India saying " I am prepared, I have my boat ready, and lots of stuff ready and a fisherman was shown there and at the bottom it was written I am empowered". Now the basic question, which came to my mind, was "can a fisherman read English"? I am sure not many of them will be able to read English, then what is the point of giving this ad. in Hindu.

The reason is clear, DEMOCRATICALLY elected Govt of India doesn't go by reasons. They are not concerned who is getting benefited from its policies; all they care is votes, so that they can come back. Using Hindu (most widely circulated paper) they want to give the impression to middle class that they care for the people and by giving reservations they make sure that they can appease about 50% of the population. Cheap tools like caste, religion, bottle of local wine and some cash can easily lure poor.

The stage is all set for the enactment of George Orwell's ANIMAL FARM...

oops!!! sorry stage was always set here in India, I guess George Orwell must have taken the inspiration from India :)

Incredible India - The Good, Bad and Ugly

Once I saw the caption line used by the Tourism Department of India "Incredible India".I really could not understand the implication of those two words. I thought it to be a good caption line but what is so incredible about India. After all this also just another country spread across the globe, though unlike others, Indians were able to increase their count to one billion.After so much of the strain on my grey cells, I found that indeed India is incredible otherwise where you will find hundreds of religions, thousands of languages (including dialects) and millions of tourist places but if you thinks that is all about India then you are grossly mistaken. There is much more in India which makes it really incredible.

The country with millions of square feet of sprawling IT workspaces spread over its fast booming metros, living side by side with the biggest slums of the world.The country which claims to become the Guru of world in art, religion and literature is now fast headed to become the IT super power of the world. This is not the only good part that can be spoken about India, there is also a long success story related to revival of manufacturing sector and green revolution, which can be narrated infinite times. So i guess that give a very good picture of GOOD face of "Incredible India" but I think BAD face is more horrible with millions and millions dying of malnutrition, high corruption (70th place out of 162) and a fracture country divided along the lines of religion, region, language and caste.

But in this blog, my aim is not to focus on either the good or bad face of India. Here want to bring into attention the UGLY face of "Incredible India" The face which stinks beyond imagination like a gutter and make you ask one question again and again, what is so incredible about India?

In the fast commercializing world, when most of the people don't prefer to make literature as their living, the ones who have proved their mettle are struggling to earn their bread. Everybody raised hue and cry (in India also) when Mohd. Ali threw away his gold medal in the river against the racial discrimination but no body bothered when the person who was once part of Olympics hockey gold winning Indian squad and had to sell his gold medal to get the treatment for his wife and children. He died while selling ground nuts on foot paths. The goverment instead of doing anything to save the dying literature/art/sports in the country are busy trying to save their chair. The help is given to those who really don't need any.Yesterday I read one story in Hindu about a State Sahitya Academy award winner poet who is struggling hard to make is living. I am pasting it below and I am sure reader can't do anything to stop this story in hovering in his mind for a long time.

The poet as fishmonger (K.P.M. BASHEER) Source: The Hindu

IT was a monsoon night. The village was soaked in rain. The tiny thatched hut leaked. The kerosene lamp struggled to fight off the wet winds that tried to snuff out its pale light.

Hungry and lying in his grass mattress spread out on the floor, Pavithran listened to the night's wail. His mother rose, and came close. "Child, there's a treasure trove hidden in a bamboo grove a little distance away," she whispered in his ears. "I am going out to get it. Be a nice boy and go to sleep."

Vivid memory

Leaving him alone in the hut, she walked out into the rainy night.

The mother returned by midnight. She had no treasure trove with her; only a wet five-rupee note in her hand. Tears in her eyes, she dried it against the flickering lamp.

More than a quarter century later, Pavithran Theekkuni, the celebrated young Malayalam poet, still vividly remembers that tortured night. It had scorched the innocence of his boyhood.

His mother had gone treasure hunting again on many nights — for, she had to feed two young stomachs, Pavithran's and his sister's. She could never get him the promised treasure trove, but her nocturnal travels left a deep scar on Pavithran's mind. Years later, their burning memories echoed in his poetry. In the widely admired poem "Nidhi" (treasure trove), the poet scoops out the molten lava of that painful experience into his readers' hearts.

For a five-rupee note, Pavithran's father had once "sold" him when he was a little boy. The insane father has lived on the street, almost naked, for the past three decades. All his childhood, Pavithran suffered the ridicule, "madman's son".

Basis of his poetry

"My experiences formed my poetry," Pavithran tells his interviewer. "With my 32 years of life experiences, I can probably keep on writing poetry for the next 10 lifetimes."

Sitting on a rock near his home in Aayancherry, 60 km from Kozhikode, his shirt and hair and hands reek of fish. He is just back from the village market where he makes a living by selling fish. Eight books of poetry and several poetry awards (including a State Sahitya Akademi Award) later, selling fish is his only reliable source of income. Earlier, he used to carry the fish basket on his head and sell door-to-door; now, from a wooden board raised on the road's edge.

"I make upwards of Rs. 150 a day," Pavithran says. Mackerels, sardines and seer fish help feed three stomachs — his wife Shaantha's and two children's — who live with him in a rundown one-room thatched hut that has no electric light.

"There is no poetry on my mind while I sell fish; all I care about is to sell out my ware." That was why he asked the interviewer to wait until sundown.

Hawking fish has helped end his years of wandering across Kerala picking up odd jobs — as restaurant waiter, digger of phone-cable pits, newspaper vendor, coconut plucker, barber, chef, stone-cutter, headload worker and occasionally as beggar. And writing poetry in between. "It was poetry that kept me going during those days of pain and hardship."

Driven by extreme poverty and debt, Pavithran and his family had, at one time, attempted suicide. On the 1999 Onam night, the four-member family laid down across railway tracks near Thrissur awaiting a train to end their worries forever. But, a few minutes before the train arrived, Pavithran's three-year-old daughter got up and cried out for water. At this, the one-year-old son got up too, and both refused to lie down on the tracks again. Then, the family went back to life. That night, as rain poured, they slept in a shed.

While his wife and the son were in hospital, Pavithran, holding his daughter's hand, begged in the streets for days to keep the family alive. But even during those days, he used to scribble poems in his notebook. In one of those poems, Pavithran asks: "Is death harder than starvation?"

Emotional support

Pavithran married his wife Shaantha at the age of 20 while he was still in college. She was from a poor family and was practically illiterate and her father had died of mental illness. "I married for money," Pavithran admits. "I was keen on marrying off my sister in order to rescue her from my home." With the little money he got as his dowry, the sister was married off. But the marriage didn't last long.

"But for Shaantha, I would have ended my life long back," he says with gratitude. "She stood by me in all my travails." He sold off her only piece of gold jewellery to get his first book of poetry, Spring of Wounds, published in 1994, when he was just 20. (He got his second book published by raising Rs. 20 each from 500 people.) After marriage, he dropped out of college.

Pavithran had started writing poetry when he was in high school. "Poetry just came out of my hardships," he says. "It was my only weapon against life's assaults." He was not a great reader, and had skipped all the must-read classics of Malayalam poetry.

He was a bright student. Working on holidays, and even during intervals between classes, he supported himself. Poverty, the "insecurity of the home" and the bad reputation brought in by his parents had forced him to drop out of school and college many times.

His free verses use simple, short words which are deep and intense. Some read like Zen poems. Not for him the high-flung, flowery poetic language. The imagery comes from subaltern lives.

Most of his poems first appeared in magazines. "Those editors who once rejected me are now seeking out my poems; I send the same poems they had once rejected," Pavithran says with a chuckle.

Critics' responses

"Pavithran's poetic sensibilities come from his lived experiences," the late Dr. Ayyappa Panicker, the well-known poet, observed in a review of his poems. "His mind and poetry are full of fire — but they do not yell out, just smoulder."

So far eight volumes of his poetry have come out in print. But they offered not much of a financial relief. The latest, Thekkuni Kavithagal, was published by DC Books recently. Leading literary critics rank him high among the young poets. His poems are referred to as "poems born out of fire" and "poems smelling of scorched lives". Some critics have accused him of "having brought in the stench of fish to Malayalam poetry".

Pavithran says he has no intention to quit hawking fish in the near future.

Ref: http://www.hindu.com/mag/2006/11/12/stories/2006111200350700.htm

A wake up call for Feminists

I have always wondered how people manage to find some trivial issues to raise and then fight for them. Take the case of north south divide, the whole issue rest on the difference in language. People are going mad about it, fighting with each other but in turn leaving out the core issues i.e. the widespread poverty which prevails everywhere in the country.Then can't help but to think about the fight going on for over a century between communists and capitalist. The whole issue being who should own the enterprise i.e. the top bureaucrats or some capitalists. In the end it has to be none other then the poor labor class people who will suffer in both the systems.I don't deny the fact that it is suppose to be this way only. In the food chain, somebody gotta to be on the top. Not every one can be at the same level.

When talking about struggles, how can anyone miss one of the greatest revolution to happen in our century. Yes, you guessed it correctly, I am speaking about FEMINISM. The movement claims to fight for the upliftment of fairer sex who has been oppressed from the times of Adam and Eve. Even I agree that these poor creatures bears so much throughout their lives but for no reason but this movement never meant to address the core issues ( just like any others movement).Rather this movement started to focus on issues like why can't women smoke, drink or go out naked etc just like man!! Now my question is do you really think that women's main suffering is that they are not allowed to smoke or drink or going out naked. So I thought (not actually but got the idea from the movie "Before Sunrise") that "feminism must have been a men's idea" and I think somewhere behind this movement are men only. Of late I don't see any funny issues from these feminists, so thought that I should suggest them a few and I do promise that as a mark of respect to their movement's grand history I won't suggest any issues which may remotely help the needy women. Here are the few issues which should be taken up in the near future:

1) Few days back I was passing by a construction site, there I saw one warning board "Men at Work, Please Go Slow". Now the question is why "Men at work" was written though there are so many women also working. Don't you think that this warning message is a conspiracy of men against women to devaluate their hardwork?

My suggestion is that government should pass a legislation enforcing all the contractors to put the board mentioning "Women and Men at work" (though there is a risk traffic jams after putting these boards :D ). Considering the gravity of crime, the contractor not abiding by this should be given life imprisonment.

2)I also see that in public transport busses, seats on left sides and the rear are reserved for women and the ones on the right and the front (just left to driver) are left unreserved. Again its clear that by reserving the back seats, men want to subjugate them they way they have been doing for generations.

My suggestion would be to reserve every alternate seat for women (not to mention starting from seat no. 1 :D).

I will try to come up with lot more issues to help (wo)men from time to time. :D

Should I celebrate?

One more independence day is on its way to put some more burden on the government exchaquer and to make us feel better by emphasizing that at some moment, we were even worse then this. I think the whole purpose of this excercise is to convey one simple message "Dear countrymen, please don't worry if you find the situation in the country very bad because few decades back we were worse". The honourable PM will give a very long speech (written by some else, edited by another) while standing on Lal-Quila which will be more of a philosophical sermon on how citizens should behave (without bothering what politicians are doing). In this speech, he will tell what was the contribution of the great leaders, what great deeds they did without thinking it important to focus on his own contributions. I know few of the so called patriotic guys will call me passimist and rude, but I think it is the high time we should start worrying about present also. I think just remembering the past is of no use, if we can't make use of it to improve are present. Country is divided on the lines of religion, caste, language and what not. You think of a reason for conflict, you can find in India. People are dyng of hunger but government is busy reserving seats IITs and IIMs on the basis of caste for people of particular castes. Every now and then bomb blasts are happening, people are dying but government is busy giving high pitch statements. So called saviours of oppressed are busy fooling them over and over for all these decades. Parliament never works properly, with no business ever done on serious matters. The fastest bills to be passed are those in which there is a proposal to increase the emoluments of MP's or the bill's like reservation to which no party dares to oppose. Democracy has become a poor joke. I don't know why west wants democracy everywhere.People are stupid eough first to elect stupid people and then crib about them. If this is is what we call democracy, then please don't enforce democracy around the globe.

The one who knows everything......

one of my senior told this incedent, when his parents asked his 8 year old son a simple question and got an amazing answer. The question was simple, who is the one who knows everything (omniscient)? The old couple after realizing that kid was confused, gave him a hint. Hint was "first two letters in his name are G & O". The kid replied instantaneously, is it GOOGLE.

I don't know wether this incedent suggests us to feel happy about the intellectual development of today's kid or feel sad for them receding away cultural values shared by the mankind for so many years.

Traversing Down the Memory Lane

Today I have finished one month in job and training is finally over. So soon i will be working on a real project but when I look back, I don't think it was that horrible experience about which my seniors use to warn me but still can't be compared with the IIT life. I know there is no point in brooding over the past and as Agent Smith said "everything that has a beginning has an end". So its better that IIT life ended and ended smoothly but still when I sit here and look back I can still see the live images of my days in 4th wing Godavari Hostel, IIT Madras. The images in which we are sitting idle and chatting for hours about anything ranging from discussing insti girls to absurd philosophy of Nietzsche. Within one month, I think, I am out of that mode of life but still there are few people who still hover in my memory lanes. I thought of writing few lines about each of them and after so much of the wait here it goes:

Niloy: I am surprised that this person is alive after so much of tragedy in his life. The most important tragedy being born in Bong land (W. Bengal). So definitely its not his fault if he criticizes all the Bengalis collectively and even prefers to stay as bachelor throughout life in Chennai, rather then settling in Kolkata after marrying a hot Bong female.[:D] I think it was not only god who was against his happiness but to some extent his parents also. They killed all the joys of his life by sending him to a boys school and then again god did whatever he could to make sure that he even stays from the evil shadows of females [;)]. After passing out from boys school he got an admit into NIT Rourkela's metallurgy branch, the only branch where females are not allowed. Our man had read somewhere that man is creator of his own destiny. So he decided to work hard for a branch change and finally succeeded to get into electronics, which had 40% females, but he forgot that reality is a lot different then those motivational things written. Same year our man unwillingly cracked JEE and entered into Mech. Engineering, IIT Madras again a no-female zone. The strongest contender of greatest PJ god title, who may end up suggesting you robbing a bank with a chick, if you ever ask him how to cash with a chick.

He is not expected to cash in next several years.

Chintu: I am sure that this name gives an impression of a cute, small and simple boy but after seeing this guy you will realize how misguiding these impressions can be. This man is not small, not cute (only females find him cute) and by no means a simple guy. He is a man who can even teach Osama Bin Laden how to kill people without guns. This man can kill people with his non stop unjokes by first cracking a joke and laughing himself and as Gutkha says may be he closes his eyes while laughing and doesn't know if others are laughing too. The arbitest guy who ever wandered on this poor earth. A man, who can shout all of sudden while laughing and laugh while shouting. He pretends to be a country bugger but when it comes to talking to female he somehow gets refined all of a sudden and that's why he has a great female fan following but he is still struggling with is DAILY life.

He is cashing in Chennai but heading to Techspan, Bangalore.

Gutkha: I think to describe him one word is enough i.e. absurd. This man is a complete waste of his potential and has decided to gradually dissolve himself into smoke. He has already lost several inches on his waist. He has decided to defend the most unacceptable arguments like if rickshaw puller spents majority of his income on Booze he his right in doing so. Despite of all this he is really true to heart and speaks what he is thinking without any fabrication.

At present he is crashing in Room 222 without working.

Bhaiya: I think if there is someone whose parents have done somewhat comparable injustice then Niloy's parents then definitely it is Bhaiya. Bhaiya was instantly declared as the brother of all fraternity when he got a surname Bhaiya from his parents. This man was definitely the most sensible and practical person in our wing. This man pretends to be just like us but the inner news is that this man is cashing hazaar with chick especially whose names starts with 'S'. He is known to be cashing with at least 10 chicks though the typical ending of his love story is that girls call him with his surname: D

At present he is cashing in Bangalore while working in Modelytics.

To be continued

Jaago (Man) Mohan Pyaare

From the past few years I have been suffering from a mild insomnia and consequently I have developed a constant jealousy for those people who can sleep like a log. My first target of envy was definitely bihadi who can sleep even while standing in a crowded running MTC bus. I used to wonder how can one sleep like that or its just that he is somehow related to Kumbhkarna, the younger brother of Ravana. Whenever you wake him, he will say only one statement "arrey yaar thodi der aur sone de". This jealousy was not to last too long and it rather changed into a feeling of sympathy for bihadi when I saw our PM Manmohan Singh. I rather felt that may be Bihadi doesn't know that he is also suffering from insomnia and need some treatment. When I saw Manmohan Singh, i felt, yes here is the man who slept two years back and still sleeping.Normal people complain of missing the schools/offices by snoozing the alarm clocks in sleep but our PM cannot be woken by even RDX blasts, forget about snoozing.

Just like Bihadi, whenver anyone tries to wakes him up he also repeats the same statement which he has been using over and over again. His common statements include "This is a ghastly attack on humanity, they are trying to divide us but we Indians won't kneel in front of anybody. Pakistan should dismantle terrorist infrastructure from its soil". When it comes to do something against terrorists the main steps taken by Manmohan Singh government includes repealing POTA and letting them do whatever they want.

When we look into the performance of Manmohan Singh government i can remember only these achievements:

Dismissing 5 governers because of their political background and then appointing genuinely neutral governors in those states. These governors include politically neutral people like S. M. Krishna, Buta Singh and Smt. Pratibha Devi Patil etc.

Counting the Muslim population in Army (I doubt if there is any need for LeT to try and divide the country)

Providing the reservation to OBCs in Central Universities without even specifying properly the need to do so. ( I will say why LeT/Pak are wasting their time in trying to divide the country, we Indians are self reliant now and can do things ourselves).

Repealing the POTA and doing nothing after bomb blasts one happening on after the other as if India is celebrating a year long Diwali this time. No culprits were found be it Delhi blasts on Diwali, Varanasi blasts, Srinagar and recently Bombay blasts to name a few in the list.

Made severe blunder in the Kashmir related foreign policy by giving a proper third party status to Huriyat and accepting their claim that they represent Kashmiri people which was never the case till now.

Kept the economic policy to sabotage under the pressure of Left and all the talks of economic growth and disinvestment are lost somewhere.

I don't know where this country is heading under present UPA government. If the most educated PM in the history of country is unable to run this country properly I will lose faith over the effectiveness of education itself. I can think of only one song when I think of our PM "Jaago (Man) Mohan Pyaare" and I will buy an alarm clock if you don't have one otherwise I dont' know how many more people will die before you wake up.

My Favorite Poem

छिप-छिप अश्रु बहाने वालों, मोती व्यर्थ बहाने वालों
कुछ सपनों के मर जाने से, जीवन नहीं मरा करता है

सपना क्या है, नयन सेज पर
सोया हुआ आँख का पानी
और टूटना है उसका ज्यों
जागे कच्ची नींद जवानी
गीली उमर बनाने वालों, डूबे बिना नहाने वालों
कुछ पानी के बह जाने से, सावन नहीं मरा करता है

माला बिखर गयी तो क्या है
खुद ही हल हो गयी समस्या
आँसू गर नीलाम हुए तो
समझो पूरी हुई तपस्या
रूठे दिवस मनाने वालों, फटी कमीज़ सिलाने वालों
कुछ दीपों के बुझ जाने से, आँगन नहीं मरा करता है

खोता कुछ भी नहीं यहाँ पर
केवल जिल्द बदलती पोथी
जैसे रात उतार चाँदनी
पहने सुबह धूप की धोती
वस्त्र बदलकर आने वालों, चाल बदलकर जाने वालों
चँद खिलौनों के खोने से, बचपन नहीं मरा करता है

(गोपालदास 'नीरज')

Vanished Friends

I got this poem in a forward and found it very touching, so thought of putting it here.

Around the corner I have
a friend,
In this great city
that has no end,
Yet the days go by
and weeks rush on,
And before I know
it, a year is gone.

And I never see my
old friends face,
For life is a swift
and terrible race,
He knows I like him
just as well,
As in the days when
I rang his bell.
And he rang mine if,
we were younger then,
And now we are busy,
tired men.

Tired of playing a
foolish game,
Tired of trying to
make a name.
"Tomorrow" I say! "I
will call on Jim"
"Just to show that
I'm thinking of him."

But tomorrow comes
and tomorrow goes,
And distance between
us grows and grows.
Around the corner!
yet miles away,
"Here's a telegram
sir" "Jim died today."

And that's what we
get and deserve in the
end.
Around the corner, a
vanished friend.
Remember to always say what you mean.
If you love or like
someone, tell them.

Don't be afraid to express yourself. Reach out and
tell someone what they mean to you. Because when
you decide that it
is the right time it might be too late.
Seize the day. Never have regrets. And most
importantly, stay
close to your friends and family, for they have
helped make you
the person that you are today.

Our Education System: Where are we heading?

Of all the things on the earth the most difficult thing I find to unerstand is our culture. It's complexity has resulted in many other complex issues one of them being our education system. I asked many people for their views on our education system and read many things but no clear answer was ever given by anyone. I met few people who spoke about cultural nationalism and claimed that our education system is far too westernized than we require where as I met few liberals (!!!) who believe we were never better than uncivilized animals and we desperately need western education system. These people (including our PM Manmohan Singh) claims that we learnt a lot from western powers and they were the ones who gave us a great education system. Now the question arises is our education system great? My answer is definitely not. During my graduation I opted for two economics courses and thru'out the course we were never taught anything written in Indian context. We totally concentrated on American and Euro economies and its problems. I opted for a literature course where I wasn't taught a single text from India. All we were taught was Shakespeare and Keats.Does that mean we never produced any quality literature or we don't need to know anything about it. Ask any educated person in the country(including me :( ), they will definitely know about shakespeare, keats and Frost but its very unlikely that they will know about Kalidas or Maithilisharan Gupt or Nirala or several others. We are living in an education system where people are ashamed if they don't know english properly irrespective of their proficiency at many other Indian languages. English has become a status symbol and if a person is not good at it, he doesn't deserve to get good job and good school. I came across one of the speech made by Lord Mccauley in british parliament about india:

I have travelled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such calibre, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation.

-- Lord McCauley in his speech of Feb 2, 1835, British Parliament

the same person who designed the education system that we still follow.

This speech clearly states that India wasn't all that bad at that time as projected by some self acclaimed intellectuals.

So now the question is can we get away with the present education system and revert back to the old one. My answer is no. Now we can't revert back, simple reason being that our economy where service sector is so important, relies totally on our capability to speak english and which gives us an edge over China and other asian country in this area. So i still feel that though this education system is not the best but still it is unavoidable. So the does that mean we should blindly follow the path once carved out by Britishers. I'll say we should redesign the path where stress is laid on english but importance of our cultural heritage and languages is not undermined. Simply speaking we shoud not consider an english speaking person as great intellectual at face value and a native language speaker as a dumb fellow just because he can't speak english that well. We should lay more stress so that quality literature is available in native languages of the country also and the courses should be structured more in an Indian context rather teaching in American context which has become fashion of good universities in India.

Politics Explained

FEUDALISM: You have two cows. Your lord takes some of the milk.

PURE SOCIALISM: You have two cows. The government takes them and puts them in a barn with everyone else's cows. You have to take care of all of the cows. The government gives you as much milk as you need.

BUREAUCRATIC SOCIALISM: You have two cows. The government takes them and put them in a barn with everyone else's cows. They are cared for by ex-chicken farmers. You have to take care of the chickens the government took from the chicken farmers. The government gives you as much milk and eggs as the regulations say you need.

FASCISM: You have two cows. The government takes both, hires you to take care of them and sells you the milk.

PURE COMMUNISM: You have two cows. Your neighbors help you take care of them, and you all share the milk.

RUSSIAN COMMUNISM: You have two cows. You have to take care of them, but the government takes all the milk.

CAMBODIAN COMMUNISM: You have two cows. The government takes both of them and shoots you.

DICTATORSHIP: You have two cows. The government takes both and drafts you.

PURE DEMOCRACY: You have two cows. Your neighbors decide who gets the milk.

REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY: You have two cows. Your neighbors pick someone to tell you who gets the milk.

BUREAUCRACY: You have two cows. At first the government regulates what you can feed them and when you can milk them. Then it pays you not to milk them. Then it takes both, shoots one, milks the other and pours the milk down the drain. Then it requires you to fill out forms accounting for the missing cows.

PURE ANARCHY: You have two cows. Either you sell the milk at a fair price or your neighbors try to take the cows and kill you.

LIBERTARIAN/ANARCHO-CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull.

SURREALISM: You have two giraffes. The government requires you to take harmonica lessons.

(Original source unknown . . )

Warning Labels

Came across these warning lebels in a blog somewhere and thought that it will help those who wish to persue their career in marketing or systems.
In case you needed further proof that the Human Race is doomed through stupidity, here are some actual label instructions on consumer products:

1. On a blanket from Taiwan:- NOT TO BE USED AS PROTECTION FROM A TORNADO.
2. On a helmet mounted mirror used by US cyclists:- REMEMBER, OBJECTS IN THE MIRROR ARE ACTUALLY BEHIND YOU.
3. On a Taiwanese shampoo:- USE REPEATEDLY FOR SEVERE DAMAGE.
4. On the bottle-top of a (UK) flavored milk drink:- AFTER OPENING, KEEP UPRIGHT.
5. On a New Zealand insect spray:- THIS PRODUCT NOT TESTED ON ANIMALS.
6. In a US guide to setting up a new computer:- TO AVOID CONDENSATION FORMING, ALLOW THE BOXES TO WARM UP TO ROOM TEMPERATURE BEFORE OPENING. (Sensible, but the instruction was INSIDE the box.)
7. In some countries, on the bottom of Coke bottles:-OPEN OTHER END.
8. On a packet of Sunmaid raisins:- WHY NOT TRY TOSSING OVER YOUR FAVORITE BREAKFAST CEREAL?
9. On a Sears hairdryer:- DO NOT USE WHILE SLEEPING.
10. On a bag of Fritos:- YOU COULD BE A WINNER! NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. DETAILS INSIDE.
11. On a bar of Dial soap:- DIRECTIONS - USE LIKE REGULAR SOAP.
12. On Tesco's Tiramisu dessert (printed on bottom of the box):- DO NOT TURN UPSIDE DOWN (oops too late)
13. On Marks & Spencer Bread Pudding:- PRODUCT WILL BE HOT AFTER HEATING.
14. On a Korean kitchen knife:- WARNING: KEEP OUT OF CHILDREN.
15. On a string of Chinese-made Christmas lights:- FOR INDOOR OR OUTDOOR USE ONLY.
16. On a Japanese food processor:-NOT TO BE USED FOR THE OTHER USE.
17. On Sainsbury's peanuts:-WARNING - CONTAINS NUTS.
18. On an American Airlines packet of nuts:- INSTRUCTIONS - OPEN PACKET, EAT NUTS.
19. On a child's superman costume:- WEARING OF THIS GARMENT DOES NOT ENABLE YOU TO FLY.
20. On some frozen dinners:- SERVING SUGGESTION: DEFROST.
21. On a hotel provided shower cap in a box:- FITS ONE HEAD.
22. On packaging for a Rowenta iron:- DO NOT IRON CLOTHES ON BODY.
23. On Boot's Children's cough medicine:- DO NOT DRIVE CAR OR OPERATE MACHINERY.
24. On Nytol sleep aid:- WARNING: MAY CAUSE DROWSINESS.
25. On a bottle of a Aquafina water bottle:- NUTRITION FACTS (all of which are rated at 0%).

Similarity in Diversity

Few days back I was having a walk in the night with Chintamani and Bihadi near Hira-Nandani we started discussing the topic, which only few psychomaniacs of our age could discuss on that pleasant place, and it was underworld. During discussion Chintamani told me that Mumbai Police is much better than other cities and was solely responsible to eliminate underworld. It was really shocking for me to hear that statement. Mumbai police is different from other cities. How’s that possible. All my past learning went into vain. The small chapter on “Discovery of India” written by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru in our CBSE text books was looming in front of my eyes, in which he clearly mentioned “kos kos pe badle paani, chaar cos pe badle waani” but still there is some thing that holds this nation together, that is the way Indians think. He wrote, we Indian however different we may look, whatever be the number of languages we may speak (its surprising that we have around 1600 languages and dialects) or whatever religion we may follow but the basic nature is same. We are still the same but if it is to be true than what trash Chintamani was speaking. Mumbai Police is different from other cities. I was really shocked to see that a particular city police is behaving in a way, which is not the characteristic of we Indians. My perception about India was under question. How can a group of people in a particular city have different attitude for work, so different that people start saying that these people are different from others as if they are not part of our great Indian tradition?
Though I was shocked at my recent discovery about the vast diversity, even in terms of work culture we have, I wasn’t sad. After all may be Chintamani might have proved my notion wrong at some place but why be sad if it is for good. So I acceded to Chintamani’s
Statement but I was anguished over the nature’s injustice for other parts of the country which desperately need good police force to bring law and order into the place. But this anguish didn’t last long as the very next day circumstances forced me to visit the police station for that first time in my life and that too the police station of most highly efficient police of our nation. Reason of the visit was some one flicked a cell phone from the Bihadi’s pocket and he was able to catch this person. So we had the culprit but he managed to pass the cell he flicked to his daughter who got down in the running bus. We tried our best to get the stolen cell from him but failed, so finally we took him to the nearest police station. We told our whole story, they listened meticulously each and every event and I was impressed and remembered Chintamani’s great words about the police here. Then came the a question which brought me back to this world and that was where this incident occurred and we told them that it happened near Powai lake and by the time we could think of what to do, we were already at a place where this was the nearest police station. Then came the most unexpected and wise answer from the other side and that was that since he flicked in that area it is under Powai’s jurisdiction. I told him that why he care about jurisdiction, we have the culprit with us, somehow get our mobile out of him but who cares and he sent us to Powai Police station, where I found equally learned and devoted SI who told us that though you have the culprit also it highly unlikely that you will get your mobile back. Everyday 8-10 cells are stolen in Mumbai and they are never found again he said in a sense of great pride as well grief (actually I am confused what he was really trying to convey, our stupidity that we went to police station or his helplessness) Even someone stole my mobile few days back and could not recover it till now, was his statement of wisdom that sent a jerk across my nerves. We tried to register the complaint but that required even more documents and proofs than what is required to get the passport in the country. Finally I gave up and came out of the station and hired the same bus (bus no. 396) and moved on to work but all the time I was thinking of one thing, how right was Nehru realizing that all the Indians are same irrespective of their region, religion and culture.

SOMEWHERE OUT THERE

Came across this romantic poem somewhere and felt like putting it here, so here it is:


Somewhere out there
Beneath the pale moonlight
Someone's thinking of me
And loving me tonight

Somewhere out there
Someone's saying a prayer
That we'll find one another
In that big somewhere out there

And even though I know
How very far apart we are
It helps to think we might be wishing
On the same bright star

And when the night wind
Starts to sing a lonesome lullaby
It helps to think we're sleeping
Underneath the same big sky

Somewhere out there
If love can see us through
Then we'll be together
Somewhere out there
Out where dreams come true

We get what we deserve

Yesterday on the dinning table I was sitting with my friends and suddenly a topic started on India's present condition, where you can't find even a few national leaders without any corruption or criminal charges. As usual, I and kullu were of the extreme opinion that for this only masses of biggest and most successful democracy are responsible. They are the one who lie in the root of the problem. Take the case of corrupt leaders. We see that all this leaders are elected by the people and they are the ones who are sending them. We find people sitting in jail and having charges of murder and rape winning the elections by huge majority just because either they belong to some specific caste or religion or region etc etc and the list of all these crapy reasons goes on. In India, I feel its really very difficult to get votes on the basis of issues like development etc. and it is proved time and again. Take the case of the last year's assembly elections when all the results were dictated by sentimental issues and all the CMs ,who were the face of development, lost their chair just bcoz their opponents raised some sentimental issues and the public got swayed by that. So this really raise a question i.e. are the Indian Citizens mature enough to decide who should be ruling the nation. I know this is a tough and arrogant question to ask but a genuine one.
Now Ghalib came up with possible reason of this behavior of Indian public which predominantly focus on illiteracy and lack of education etc. Now my point is, how does a higher degree helps you to decide what's right or wrong. It’s a simple discretion power given to every one by the nature. Take the case of cat, it doesn't have any educational degree but it still knows that it has to stay away from Dog or a deer without any degree knows that it should stay away from a Lion. So why can't this apply to human beings. Why can’t they simply reject the politician who is distributing money openly or asking for all those crapy reasons? Why can’t they figure out that if a person is raising sentimental issues and asking votes on the name of these crapy reasons doesn't deserve to win?

The situation becomes even worse when the people who understands that things are going wrong takes a very apathetic attitude and don't even go out to vote. The lame excuse being what difference one vote will make. Still the worst part is that you will find every Indian citizen cribbing about the corruption and anarchy prevailing in the society and holding politicians responsible for that but this is the attitude which I hate the most. They can litter anywhere they want, they throw garbage in middle of the road, and they will not vote or vote stupidly for some crapy reasons, spoil the public property and still hold politicians responsible for this. To me it seems that citizens of independent, democratic sovereign republic of India are mostly concerned about the fundamental right but fundamental duties, ah! Who cares?

So now it’s clear as I already mentioned "you get what you deserve" and leaders are one of them. So stop cribbing about them and start thinking what you are contributing for the improvement of situation.

(Don’t get hurt just because I have written something harsh about Indians (I am also a proud Indian). I have limited my comments to Indians only because I don’t know much about the behavior of other nationals. So my comments are not restricted to Indians and may be applicable to others too. )

"EQAULITY IS NOT THE ESSENCE OF NATURE"

Throughout my life, I have been hearing the word equality, though at different places. The very first time I came this word was in algebra when I was a kid but never realized the importance of this word until I read my civics book which told me right to equality is our fundamental right. I was really impressed by the statement but still didn't know how to react because i was sure of only one thing and that was that it is impossible in this real world to do anything to bring equality. I am saying this not because I am a pessimist or something but the only reason is that I feel "EQAULITY IS NOT THE ESSENCE OF NATURE" and I have enough arguments to support this statement. First of all when I look around our solar system I find that not all the planets are made equal. As we always say that our earth is unique planet to have life. So still no equality. Now look in the earth it self, we find there are places which have very high mineral contents etc. but on the other hand there are places which don't have even sufficient amount of water to survive the vegetation. So still no equality. Now coming to various species living on the planet, I still find that there is no equality and we will have to accept the very fact that Homo sapiens are definitely more privileged then any other species. Now in the Homo sapiens it self we don't find equality and some are born with extra ordinary talent etc. whereas there are people born with congenital diseases. So still no equality. So now the question is how real this concept of equality is in practical life . Is it really possible to achieve equality?

Most of people will call me passimist but still I feel that this concept is really good on paper but bringing it to reality is seriously a difficult task, where difficult means almost impossible.

"Reservation in Private Sector"

"Merit is not the only criterion for employment" these are the words of our great visionary prime minister Man Mohan Singh, who is supposed to be the visionary who brought India to present state we are daring to challenge the whole world then, how can he change so much within few months of attaining power, so much so that he has decided to pull back India to the same state what it was 15 years back. Now before discussing the impacts of Reservation on country’s growth first of all let us see the concept of this greater equality among equals. It says that few seats (few can be as many as 65% of total) in every job opportunity should be reserved for socially and economically deprived people. I don't have problem with the very concept but let us analyze what is a socially deprived. Does that mean that a person carrying a particular surname is socially deprived? Does that mean a well to do man whose ancestors were not allowed to enter a temple or wasn't allowed to take water from a village well 300 years ago should be given preference over a poor Brahmin who don't have enough to have two time meals in the present? Should he be punished throughout his life for what his ancestors did? Is it wise to reserve some seats in medical/engineering/civil services etc. on the basis of caste, when we know that the socially and economically person whom we are portraying in our mind to give reservation, can never reach to that stage, where he can enjoy the benefits of reservation? One more flaw i find with this system of "greater equality among equals" is that if this system was so successful that it needed to extend to private sector also than why couldn't it produce results in past 54 years of its existence?

Now some of my friends will definitely ask what it has to do with country's growth, so let’s think over the reasons which forced us to move towards disinvestment. The biggest reason was definitely the inefficiency present in the PSUs and suddenly all those PSUs which are privatized has started producing profits. So its clear that quality of management and work force definitely has a very strong impact on the performance of the organization, then how can we compromise with the quality of man power and even force those private players to do the same. Now some peoples keep raising question of social responsibility of the private players, but does that mean in the name of social responsibility they should compromise with their basic business values and pay those from a reserved class an equal amount what they would have paid a more deserving candidate.

The main essence of our constitution was to give a right to equality and eliminate all these caste-ism and differences in our society by giving them equal opportunity but it seems those things are already forgotten amidst all this bull's fight for power and in pursuit to please the minorities. A person can't contest from a particular constituency from where he belongs just because this constituency is reserved for a particular section of the community (or for a particular sex, as the case may be in the years to come) then what happened to the fundamental right of "right to elect" (which is already lost in present day's booth capturing etc.) and "get elected". So this means that we are doing discrimination in reverse direction in the name of social justice. The arrangement of reservation was meant for 10 years only but still it’s continuing because political parties don't want to loose their minority votes especially those so called secular forces, though they are the ones who force the constitution to differentiate between an upper caste and lower caste. So the obvious question is what should be the criterion for reservation. So as far as the essence of constitution is concerned it’s not wrong to be liberal for the downtrodden but the criterion has to such that it doesn't become a puppet in the hands of politicians. It’s quite obvious that we can't say that if a person carries a particular surname he is the needy. So the only solution that seems viable is to fix some seats on the basis of economical status and give free primary education etc. to every one so that their are no difference in the opportunity for anyone.

Nobody will do it?

Once there were three Indians Everybody, Somebody and Nobody. Out of those three only Nobody was a bit serious and righteous person devoted to his duty. One day all of them got a piece of work to do. But Everbody said that he wont do it because it won't make any difference even if he don't do the work because Somebody will definitely do it. So as it turned out to be, Somebody was also not very dedicated so finally Nobody did that. Finally as always happens, once Nobody does a work Somebody will raise the issue and Everybody will start fighting for the cause, but the question is Everybody is so concerned about that work why don't he himself do it but still Nobody knew the answer. Everybody knows that in India, whatever may happen Nobody will do the work but still he will wait Somebody to do that work . That is the main hinderance to country's progress but Nobody cares. So who will take India on the path to glory,answer is still Nobody because EverybodySomebody will atleast give the solution than also you are wrong because as I told you Nobody will give the solution.So what's the solution to the problem. Its simple stop looking for somebody (especially if you consider me in to be somebody :) ) to work, start working yourself.

Survival of the fittest

When Charles Darwin had proposed the theory of survival of fittest, it is highly unlikely that he might had thought about its implications in philosophy. When he proposed the theory the only thing he intended was to study the anthropology but that theory not only solved the mistery of human evolution but the behaviour of human. The human was more apt for the conditions of that time so he survived the challanges amongst all those species of that time but i don't know if we can call the success of some human being in the society where as the failure of others as the sequel to the same theory. In the present day world just see around, the only thing you will find is the immense competition amongst the same species homosapiens over the others. Take the case of anything from day to day life to something very specific like education or business, it seems the only aim of the man is to prove himself superior over the others. He will do almost anything to prove that, I have always had a doubt that if a person can perform well at a specific time that proves that he is a better huaman being. If human survived the drastic changes of climate at that time where as few reptiles could not, does that make huaman being a superior species. I do have some reservations about that conclusion because that only indicates that man was good enough to face the changes of climate but that doesn't prove that he is superior in every aspect. So coming back to competitions prevailing in the society I will say that the better performance of a man in a perticular moment only indicates that he is better in that particular field at that particular instant but saying that he is better than the others who could not perform equally well in that test will be wrong. So we do need to change the notion " survival of fittest". Its not correct to say that only fittest survives because we can't define fittest without taking one more dimension i.e. time into accout. So if we want to apply Darwin's theory in the real world, we will have to remember great Albert Einstein also, to reach at any conclusion. So the more apt version would be to say that only those who are fittest at a particular time when they are tested will determine their survival not their absolute strengths.