Never Mind(Happy New Year)

So another year is going to say our good bye to us and what a year it has been for me ,for you and maybe for the whole world(we say this thing every year and miraculously it sounds true every time ..ne' ?).

It was a year when this world saw the final verdict on Saddam Hussein (he is going to be executed soon, at some secret place) ,never mind George Bush & Osama are still alive(even Saddam too for that matter).

Another Booker prize came India's way, never mind me and many other like me still din't felt enthused enough to read the book.

Bollywood went berserk , delivering monster hits one-after another with great stuff like RDB,LRM and Omkara, never mind KANK and FANAA were also among these monster money churners(in fact among the top 4, if i m not wrong).

India Inc. saw a landmark year, with monster Mergers and Acquisitions(with 2007 expected to overshine even this ),never mind our great whole Indian IT story is still only the size of a General Motors Subsidiary or a little more than Warren Buffet gave away this year as charity(a whopping 37 Billion $ !!).

Indian government ,ran as usual, they planned ,left objected, they went with it anyways ,left still supports the government(that is If there is not a breaking news 'breaking' while I am writing it and you are reading it... ah!..I miss those 13 days governments and trust me so do these news channels)

This year we saw, prince’s struggle broadcasted live, Jessica lal got her long due justice, never mind there are still lacs of cases pending in the Indian courts.

On a personal note :

I got 4 haircuts in the whole year, never mind the later half of the year saw just one and that too in August!

I made 4 new friends this year (Isn't that a world record for a single year?),never mind I also lost one very dear one (Don't worry that person is very much alive).

This year I saw 3 new places (Bangalore, Pondicherry and Kodaikanal), never mind I went to home only for 4 days in the whole year!

This was the first year I paid Income Tax(Oh K.... it is my company which did that but on my behalf ),never mind I intend to be jobless very soon(Amen!!).

And this was indeed a long year, I saw many ups , many downs,....downers far outnumbering the cheers but it was the year when I again started seeing dreams(after a long time )....they will take time to realize ..but I know ..they will....they most certainly will !!!


Wishing you all a very happy New Year....
May you all remain healthy and keep increasing my blog hit count… ;-)

Stay Beautiful!!

What is Beauty ?

When I realize while reading a book the reason why Author chose to write a sentence in this way and not some other.The order and the choice of certain words which he decided upon while writing to convey a certain meaning and not some other,and the fact that I got it; That is beauty.

When I see a guitarist performing on the stage, his head tilted down to see the fretboard ,his fingers moving faster and faster to reach other chord or node, he himself oblivious to the world around him leave alone the audience.When to him the whole world is reduced to his guitar.This picture of a man oblivious of the world,his head tilted, with a slightly bent knee to support the guitar; being in front of our eyes still in some other world.He might be a novice in his PR gimmicks so typical of rockstars, his other worldiness simply makes me gasp for breath.That is beauty.

When I sit on the stones beside the river in my hometown.I hear the sound of the flowing water, looking at the soothing green of the mountain forest in front of me.I can feel the coldness of the stones, an effect of being so near to the river and for so long.I look at the most beautiful blue of the sky and I shudder with my desire for somebody to be sitting beside me there at that very moment.It is neither the blue sky nor the soothing green of the forest, it is neither the clear water flowing beneath me and nor even that 'somebody', It is the plain and simple desire that I had at that moment..that is beauty.

The fact that everytime I try to grasp the meaning of beauty, decide upon something common between all the things beautiful,I fail miserably because I always find something,somebody beautiful in its own way ....that my dear friend is BEAUTY.

Stay Beautiful(I like orkut ;-) )

Munna Meets Mahatma

"I'm back" says our Desi Arni aka sanju baba aka Munnabhaai & guess what ?? Circuit is there too to take us all on a "journey of a lifetime"(fitting, despite of being such a cliche).
Last Saturday ,I finally watched Lagey Raho Munnabhai (LRM) & I admit I was late in doing so.Reason being no time and no tickets on weekends so typical of Bangalore(in Munnabhai lingo ,"Timeich nahin tha apun ke paas aur uper se Ticket ka much much).Lucky as I always am(no pun intended),I got a ticket for the 10 PM show.I was a little concerned about getting back home at such late hour after the movie..but anything for Munnabhai :-)

Now something abt the movie : wonderful script,brilliant direction,outstanding performances(Circuit still rulz !!) and overall an honest effort to make a good movie.Is it better than Munnabhai MBBS ??..well I guess any such comparisons will be unfair.They both are different movies ..wonderful in their own ways.Nonetheless both are result of dedicated ,genuine and honest hard work.

When you work hard and honest, it shows and when you pay fashion designer and stylists you end up with KANK(Can't hold my disgust over that piece of crap any longer).2006 has been a good year for Bollywood.Both in terms of revenues and in terms of good movies(mind you,there is no correlation between the two).So far we have seen movies like RDB,Omkara,"Krissh"(no eyebrow raising here, please ;-) ).I am not counting FANAA and KANK ,because they were hit more because of the pre-release hoopla they generated and less because of their being any good .Both movies were crappy and dull like a silver fish in an old book.I mean how many times do we have to bear SRK stuttering to say 'Sh**' before we die with frustration ?

Now after leaving all this 'critique'(big word..nahin ?) behind and forgiving me for a digression let me tell you honestly & loudly,I loved LRM.We laughed at Circuit and Munna's evergreen repartee,paid attention to meaningful(beautiful too) words of the old Mahatma, felt morose with the old men's troubles of the old age,felt cheered up with them when Muna came to their rescue and before we knew ..the show was over.It was magic.Magic of simplicity, honesty and of a benevolent desire to tell us something we don't want to know.LRM is a good movie ,but what makes it a great movie is its attempt to reincarnate Gandhian values.Gandhi is 'KOOL' again.Munna is again the Mr.Fix-it-all,but this time no ghoda(gun), no connmanship and no lies, just the good ol' values of love and truth.

All the solutions to our problems are very simple and staight in the face, it is our refusal to see them that makes them so complex.In the words of Rishikesh Mukherjee,"It is so simple to be difficult,but it is so difficult to be simple". Baapu just reiterates this simple truth to us in LRM.LRM doesn't preaches, it just reopens the age old debate of Violence v/s non'violence.It does not passes any verdict rather it tells a sweet story of a gold-hearted goon dabbling with gandhian values. But you learn something along the way, atleast feel that Gandhi wasn't as outdated as we like to think.

So simple are these values, you commit a mistake ,say sorry and MEAN IT.Speak the truth ,it is the real shortcut to whatever you want.Be Honest.Isn't that something we already know.But it is the hardships of growing up that made us oblivious to the goodness(or badness) of these values.Take it easy and sab chalta hai is our attitude.I guess we learnt very fast and unlearn these simple things even faster.

Gandhi is not outdated.It's us who have chosen the seemingly easier and wrong path.It is our inablity to withstand against the corruption that is very in'dated' but it is leading us all to a precarious situation. Even I am feeling a little guilty while writing these lines.Am I any more true to Gandhian values than you ?? Well...my mortified conscience won't be able to answer this embarrasing question.Still the answer is out there ...blowing in the wind.But I suspect if anybody else is in better situation than me .We are all the same and that's such a pity.

Does LRM serves any higher purpose than making money for its producer and tickling some of our funny bones ?? Maybe yes ,maybe no..but if it stimulates you enough to even read or to know more about Gandhi and his ideology....Then I bet it does.

I have seen the movie...and now I m looking forward to read a book called 'My experiments with truth " by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi.I am certain now ..it will be worth it.

stay beautiful !! [Orkut.com's signature ..but I guess I can use it without any copyright issues...
:-) ]

PS:
On a lighter note,Vidya Balan looks like a million bucks as always.I couldn't help feeling a little lost when she was onscreen.

Ah ! the same old inexplicable mystique of female beauty (...sigh...)

Sing Song

Once upon a time, we used to sing a song ,
In the morning assembly, with the sound of a gong.

we hardly knew what it meant,and never did we care,
everybody sang it ,nobody was spared.

'Hail the motherland' it said, all that we knew.
nobody objected ,neither me nor you.

Some of us sang it,some simply stood,
we weren't bothered if it was for bad or for good.

when the assembly broke ,we ran for the game,
and again as usual we became all the same.

Nobody was applauded for the way he sang,
and everybody of us was just one simple gang.

I see it now ,we were such a fool,
That song wasn't a song but it was a tool.

it will tell us who love the country and how much is his love
and care not for a moment ,if it kills the white dove.

Travelling Thru'

This is a beautiful song written,composed and performed by Dolly Parton as an Original Soundtrack for the Movie "Transamerica".In the movie it symbolizes the journey of a Transsexual going through a Gender change in more than singular ways.But if you keep aside the movie for a while, it won't take much to realize that there is something for everybody in this song.

It befuddles me to see Dolly Parton(An architypal dumb looking blonde..that too with cosmetic surgery done all over her face), and then read this song ,with such depths of meanings.How she managed to write something sooooooooo GOOD ?? Well..Maybe Agent Smith was right when he said "Appearances can be deceiving at times ,Mr.Anderson" in "Matrix Reloaded".Lemme shut up now and just read on....

Travellin' Thru:

Well I can't tell you where I'm going, I'm not sure of where I've been
But I know I must keep travelin' till my road comes to an end
I'm out here on my journey, trying to make the most of it
I'm a puzzle, I must figure out where all my pieces fit
Like a poor wayfaring stranger that they speak about in song
I'm just a weary pilgrim trying to find what feels like home
Where that is no one can tell me, am I doomed to ever roam
I'm just travelin', travelin', travelin', I'm just travelin' on

Questions I have many, answers but a few
But we're here to learn, the spirit burns, to know the greater truth
We've all been crucified and they nailed Jesus to the tree
And when I'm born again, you're gonna see a change in me

God made me for a reason and nothing is in vain
Redemption comes in many shapes with many kinds of pain
Oh sweet Jesus if you're listening, keep me ever close to you
As I'm stumblin', tumblin', wonderin', as I'm travelin' thru

I'm just travelin', travelin', travelin', I'm just travelin' thru
I'm just travelin', travelin', travelin', I'm just travelin' thru

Oh sometimes the road is rugged, and it's hard to travel on
But holdin' to each other, we don't have to walk alone
When everything is broken, we can mend it if we try
We can make a world of difference, if we want to we can fly

Goodbye little children, goodnight you handsome men
Farewell to all you ladies and to all who knew me when
And I hope I'll see you down the road, you meant more than I knew
As I was travelin', travelin', travelin', travelin', travelin' thru

I'm just travelin', travelin', travelin', I'm just travelin'
Drifting like a floating boat and roaming like the wind
Oh give me some direction lord, let me lean on you
As I'm travelin', travelin', travelin', thru

I'm just travelin', travelin', travelin', I'm just travelin' thru
I'm just travelin', travelin', travelin', I'm just travelin' thru

Like the poor wayfaring stranger that they speak about in song
I'm just a weary pilgrim trying to find my own way home
Oh sweet Jesus if you're out there, keep me ever close to you
As I'm travelin', travelin', travelin', as I'm travelin' thru

Education Ho !!

British left us almost 60 years ago.They gave us a lot of things, some good, some bad.The red tape culture of bureaucracy was bad,using meritocracy to select a bureaucrates was good.Giving us a judicial system which will take years to punish the guilty was bad but which will make sure that an innocent is never punished was good.It might be queTheir intentions of giving it to us might be questionable but the benefits that we Indians have reaped out of it are undeniable.

If an organization is an auotomobile, communication is the neccessary lubricant to make the ride smooth.Because of a significant English-speaking population, India has this lubricant in plenty and hence proved as an ideal answer for big organization's ever increasing human resources needs.Here the Macauley's system of education gave Indians a crucial edge over any other developing country.Macauley wanted Indians to learn english so that they can be employed effectively in Indian affairs of British administration.He understood that communication will be a crucial factor in governing India.He never speculated about how this will affect India--after independence, for the simple reason that 'Independent India' was to him an impossibility.

Education is instrumental for an individual to gain wealth and respect in Indian society.This reason made our parents to give education of their children utmost priority(here i am counting only those parents who had the means and enough sense to think about their child's welfare).When most of the world was busy producing managers, artists, fashion designers, musicians etc.Indian were busy teaching their kids Maths, Science and English as they believed it is the only way to get a prosperous and stable future.Getting into an IIT is like a dream coming true to any Indian student even today.

We invested a lot in having many institutes with particular stress on science and engineering colleges .Now every year we see lakhs of engineers coming out in the market.Their quality is not so consistent but what matters is that they all have dreams in their eyes and will do almost anything to make them come true.And what may seem to the world an underpaid job, in India, it still is somebody's dream coming true.

And finally all this investment and plans are paying off in India becoming World Brain mine.Indians are now considered a talent pool that is as smart as their western counterpart, if not better and at the same times, is ridiculously cheap and speaks the language of the world. So if i am business man, it makes a lot of sense to hire and train Indians if it is feasible.

So.. where do go from here ? where lies the future ? My best guess would be to say 'some place nice' but ONLY IF we plan today and face the challenges that need our immediate attention.The picture is still not as rosy as we all would like to believe.The fact that 3/4 th of the professionals we produce every year are coming from only 1/4 of the total population indicates that there is still lot to be desired from the present situation.Until ,unless we work for a better educational infrastructure ,making education accessible to every section of the society, the dream of India Shining will remain only a mirage to us.The good news is that, if we stick to the fundamentals we can do it.They may vary a little here and a little there but following points broadly sums them up( i hope so ) :

1.Invest more in primary and secondary education , providing compulsory education to underprivileged classes should be priority.More participation will only increase quality and quantity of the human reasource.It will also provide the social equality that provides any economy the political stability it requires to bloom.

2.Start paying your teachers more, make teaching a lucrative profession as a teacher may decide finally the fate of hundreds of our children.

3.India's core strength lies in teaching their kids Science and Maths ,stick to it .This world will require far more engineers than we will be able to produce.Quality higher education and enough infrastructure to meet industry demands needs to be the call of the time.

4.Increase the focus and funding for the R&D projects going in industry and educational institutions.It won't be reaping immediate benefits but research projects of today becomes outrageously successful product or technology of tommorow ,so essential for any stable and booming economy.

5.Increase the industry-academia participation, it will be a symbiotic relationship beneficial for both.

I admit it is always easier said than done, but a blog can only help you in putting forth your opinion.Rest is upto the people who read it and who wrote it in the first place.If we want to do something we will always find a way.But BEING AWARE is the first step for any worthy cause and I feel elated to say that we have taken that one CRUCIAL step.

Aufwiedersehen!! ( Until we meet again in german)

Four Wedding and a Funeral

Funerals are overwhelming affairs.Ironically ,it's at a funeral you are reminded so dearly of a loved one and not when he is alive and kicking.You realize the substantially reduced meaning of your life without him, you are caught off guard.It is at a funeral, you become aware of the fact that their are things in Life you can not control, no matter how badly you want it.You look back at your own life and find that doing something was invariably a better option than doing nothing and just wishing.The pointlessness of your daily life stands right in your face, while you are trying hard to overcome the unbearble grief.

Recently I saw 'Four Wedding and a Funeral'.A spectacular movie without a second thought.Short,sweet,heartfelt and certainly made by person who is an avid observer of people and life.See it and you will understand what I mean by that.The attention paid to little nuisance is clearly a work of a virtuoso.

Here is a scene in the movie, the 'mad old man' is dead and this is his eulolgy.A poem by W H Auden, rarely in a movie you see a sequence so heartfelt, you mourn along with the people on the screen:

Funeral Blues

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead
Scribbling on the sky the message He Is Dead,
Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,
Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last for ever; I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;
Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;
Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood,
For nothing now can ever come to any good.

W. H. Auden

Life!!: An Article U shouldn't miss!

I Feel Good !!

I rarely write anything upbeat on my blog. Most of my posts are either satirical or plain contemptuous commentary on the sad situation of the world and ppl as I see it .Let me break that monotony not just for the sake of it but because recently I came across something that made me optimistic about our future. Insignificant though it may seem to many, it is a crucial and pleasant developement .

I was leafing through the pages of Outlook magazine and I came across an article titled as Sudama’s Children (You may have to register online with OUTLOOK india though ,don't worry it is for free ... :-) )

Since now you are back to my blog after reading the whole article (if you haven’t …finish it first ,it’s worth it ),we can talk about how I felt about it.

Being brought up in Tanakpur (a far fetched place at Nepal Border in Uttaranchal, India), and after studying in government schools till my senior secondary education, I can’t help having a feeling of kinship with these children. After my intermediate examination I went to Delhi to prepare for IIT-JEE and got admission in a prominent coaching institute. So Barely 2 months after passing 12th exams from a small town I was sharing class room with people from country’s most reputed schools, (most of them being from DPS RK Puram and Ranchi,Bokaro and all the St.XYZ in Delhi).It was difficult at first and at the same time confusing .As if preparing for JEE alone wasn’t daunting enough, I suddenly found myself amongst these people having an IQ >200 and talking in a language which I I initially thought as French. Thankfully, only thing that was needed to garner respect in the class was one’s proficiency in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics which I had in sufficient supply. Still I had felt so many times like an absolute dork whenever I have to clarify a doubt in the class because of my unease with English as a medium of communication.

Somehow I survived through that period of my life and got admission to a decent engineering college (after bidding adieu to all my dreams of being an IITian). And again I found myself pitted against that convent educated junta that I always found so unbearable. This time around, I knew my Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics won’t help me and finally I took refuge in the protection of a language I hated for so long.( That hatred was nothing but my anger at my insufficiency at the language ).I did that only to survive, and now I am glad to tell you that I did.

The problem with Indian mindset is that we still associate English with the elites (after all it was once our rulers’ language). One’s social status (or ‘kool’ ness or ‘hip’ factor) is still largely decided by his proficiency in the language. In fact, without English your chances of success are very limited in conventional professions (engineering, medicine, banking and many more).Even top Hindi movie actors today prefer to speak English most of the time. I am not an anti-English activist and I know that much of Indian economic success owes itself to the large section of English speaking population we have in India. I am only saying that English is a MUST to be successful in India and more so if your father was not exactly a rich man. This is a bitter truth that most people in India are aware of, consciously or unconsciously.

All these elite schools are there to take advantage of this fact. English as a medium of instruction is used to increase one’s ease and proficiency of the language. Speaking in English in mandatory in many schools and use of regional language in most such school is a punishable offence. They have the support of the elite class of the society who believe that the school of their kids determines their social status and hence are willing to pay handsome amount of money to achieve that. Most of these schools charge monthly fee more than the monthly income of a common man. These schools no doubt provide quality education to all their students, only problem being they are out of reach of an ordinary Indian.

Government initiative to make quality education less elitist and more inclusive is welcome in all senses. It’s really difficult not to feel euphoric on seeing little kids splashing in swimming pool and realizing simultaneously that finally we are able to see a classroom without having classes of its own. Had it not been for the Government’s initiative, some of these kids would never have got the chance even to see a swimming pool, leave aside the possibility of being in one.

I know it’s too early to become hopeful, I know it’s too naïve to believe every word of this news item as it is , but I know for sure that this thing is for the good of society and its many less fortunate members. This is the ray of hope at the end of the tunnel and I am sure there is light there. Education is the power of new world order and quality education equips you to fight your own battle against injustice and misfortune.The more access the people will have, the better our future will be.

I also know it won’t be easy to overcome the biases of the elites about the poor, I know it will be difficult for some of these kids to cope and compete, but I also know that a chance of seeing them coming out from the purgatory of poverty is worth it all. They know it or will realize it soon.

This gives me hope of better and more equal society, again I know I am being naive in saying so.Nevertheless I feel this ephemeral naivity with hope is far better than the hopeless cynicism that I normally dwell into.

Hope, they say is a strange thing, it doesn’t cost you anything but worth a fortune. It is not the society with most money that will survive; rather it will be the one with HOPE, however little it may be. Period.

Being Amitabh

My name evokes seemingly unforeseen but actually very similar responses.Infact i have come to the conclusion that similarity of responses to my name prove the utopian belief that we all are basically the same.The word Amitabh has been imprinted on Indian mind along with the indelible 6 feet image of Mr.Bachchan.So anybody with the same nemesis and barely 5 feet 6 inches tall invariably transalates into disappointment.They all try, very hard to cover it, but end up being more obvious than usual.Unsettled as they are,most of them end up mumbling somthing about Mr Bachchan, as if i m not aware of the STRANGE coincidence !!

Sample this one (a very normal response..47.94 PERCENT !! of the ppl i meet for the first time have said that...yes i make sure to keep a count every time i meet a new person.Didn't I tell u that ? ) :

NEW GUY/GAL :"AMITABH".......bacchan ?? huh !!
Me(saying): "I'd love it to be ..but unfortunately it's YADAV...AMITABH YADAV."
Me (thinking):Darn right !!.Ah..finally somebody recognized the REAL me.You know, it's just that these days i m shooting for Latest RGV production which is psycho-quasi-comic-romantic-horrer thriller where i m playing a character one-third my age and what you are seeing in front is nothing but special effects to make me look like this.Don't you want an Autograph or something ?? huh ?

Sample Another(constitute 23.86 perccent of the total respondants):

NEW GUY(only guys no gals): "Jaya bhabhi kitthe hain ??"(Where is Jaya ?)
Me(Saying):"Kash Hoti"(i only wish)....(with a deep sigh to give it the desired effect).
Me(Thinking):Where else she will go ? Cooking Aloo Paranthas for me at home.Won't u join us for dinner ? Abhishek is dying to meet you.

There are many other reactions but i will spare you and me both from the agony of going through them all.

Until we meet next.

PS:Contrary to the popular perception, I like my name very much.

Why Reservation is Right ?

• Because constitution is a pact which we all agreed upon .It is not a document of convenience as we all may like to believe.Sometimes a section of the society may have to suffer for the greater good of the country.Reservation is a tool of achieving social equality clearly mentioned in the constitution.

Because the idea of utopian society without caste,creed and religion based biases is only wishful thinking.For a complex society like India, caste is a fundamental reality and reservation has been the most effective of the tools to counter inequality in eduaction and employment.Crying out loud about " perpetauating casteism ' may sound appealing but fact is that caste system is an integral part of Indian society like it or not.Just try to tell your mother that you are seeing a SC boy/girl to underastand the basic reality.
Nevertheless, integrating economic status with caste system will make this system more effective.

Because the belief that merit is a monopoly of certain elites is false. It somehow smells the same as Hitler's Aryan's race concept.The fear of diluting the merit or exellence will be alleviated by the example of Tamilnadu state where reservation for OBCs is their in place for some 10-15 yrs.The only dilution seems to be in the upper caste contribution to the toppers in public exams, merit and the average marks obtained by an student has remained very stable so far despite of reservation.

Because the most ridiculous gesture to your own ideology is comparing the anti-reservation movemnt to RDB (Rang De Basanti ) effect.The moment you say it , the seriousness of the issue is tossed to a dustbin.A sensitive issue like this deserves a serious debate which seems to be the only absentee so far.

Because holistic development of any society depends upon its education sytem.An education system becoming more inclusive of all the segments of the society ( because of reservation) will only help and not derail the progress of Indian society as we like to believe.

Because a child obtaining 40-50 % marks without any facilities(like tutions, convent school environment, access to quality education practices ) is atleast as intelligent as a child scoring 80-90 % with all these facilities at his service.Merit in exams alone can never be a true measure of intelligence.A doctor without compassion and will to serve will never be a good doctor even if he is a topper from AIIMS.

7 Things to do to be INDIA SHINING

1. Invest more on higher education while making sure that more ppl have the opportunity to do so.
2. Pay your teachers more ,if right talent is attracted to teaching profession the country will never become short of skilled people.
3. We have to do more about the abysmal research situation of this country.Economy sustain for a long time only on improved product quality and increased customer satisfaction achieved by focussed R & D.Manufacturing quality product also provide employment to millions of uneducated workers .These employes workers will create a new market when they will spend the money they earned thereby generating more revenue and more jobs.
4. Do something about the sad situation of infrastructure especially power sector.Try to reduce dependency on middle east countries like Saudi arabia and Iran.For that we need to find alternative resources of energy and fully tap their potential.
5. Do something abt the basic living condition of the coutry.If half of the population doesn't have access to clean drinking water ,trust me dreaming abt becoming a superpower is nothing but an exercise in futility.
6. No need for all the communal tension at this time , religion can take a backseat for the moment and that will only do good for the country .
7. Keep strengthening the family bonds as u will need some support while racing to the top.

India Shining ? You Bet !

Brothers are shooting brothers......

People are being burnt alive .

Despite of all this Sensex is touching new peaks day after day and as they say India is still shining.I personally feel that sensex has a penchant for heightening the irony of the situation.Last time it was touching new peaks everyday , India was hit with Tsunami --the worst natural disaster that we ever faced.One thing is for sure - sensex has nothing to do with the prsoperity of the country .So those who always make haste in going gung-ho about how a new sensex peak means stronger or wealthier India should come out from their self-created virtual reality .They should try to rub their eyes hard.. and try to realize that this country is not a picture of heaven they believe it is.Let me try to put all these abhorring nonetheless real things in a perspective one by one.

Prominent BJP leader Pramod Mahajan was shot recently by his very own brother.Now his soul is resting in peace after almost a 12 days struggle against death.I refuse to buy the story of his angry brother shooting him only because he used to scold him a lot.And when a person(Pravin Mahajan) have a whole family behind him than it only adds to the increduality of the situation.He must be hallucinating something at the time he shot his brother.Definitely there is more here than what is meeting the eyes.Maybe some uglier facet of politics( how more disgusting will it get from here) which is still uncovered.And now be prepare for all that drama that comes with anybody's death.Now ppl will claim that Pramod Mahajan was the one stalwart of the politics that we all are going to miss.They will also discuss the possibility of him becoming a PM one day ( How ridiculous ! ). But the truth remains that since sometime he was losing his grip in his OWN party BJP let alone Indian politics.But for the time being let the bygones be bygones and may his soul remain in peace.And meanwhile let our India shine....

Right at this moment when i m writing these lines, people in Vadodara,Gujrat are living in the hope that the nightmarish events they are going through, will get over very soon.I read the news of a Muslim youth being burnt alive in his Tata Sierra by a mob of 2000 people. His fault ? well..to start with he wasn't a hindu and at the same time a muslim.He was also foolish enough to believe that no matter what... the city is of Humans.He forgot that religious fanaticism turns humans into a cannibalistic creature which doesn't have a face .He forgot that in the times of riots, 'might is right'.Whenever people's so called 'religious sentiments' got hurt they automatically get a license to kill, to burn, to rape, and to loot.These licenses are issued by some bastards(pardon me for cursing but nothing else was more appropriate) who know that vote banks are built on the blind rage of the mad crowd.And than these same bastards will give a formal statement which is nothing but some politically correct mumbo-jumbo which no body means and nobody believes.But it is recorded on the paper, and it is the only thing that will matter one day, if somebody approaches the courts.You might feel that what i m saying is a little exaggerated only for the purpose of making it more interesting, more readable.Maybe u are right or maybe u are simply wrong.Let's dwell on it some other time.And meanwhile let our India shine.

And did i forgot to tell u that Sensex recently crossed the "historical landmark " at 12000 points ???....great going isn't it ??

Let Peace Prevail !!

The word 'Taliban' makes me sick to my stomach .How in the hell these barbarians are alive in this modern world ? George Bush should try his hands at acting because that's all he is good at. Running a country is just not his kinda job let alone trying to be a 'crusader of peace'.What he did after 9/11 was a job half-done that had not made much impact on terrorism.And now we are seeing the consequences of a job half-done.

Last week Taliban held Suryakant-an Indian and threatened to kill him if all the indian will not leave Afganistan. They did killed Suryakant and what we did ? I think the latest 'breaking news' i got is that they trying to identify the dead body. pardon me if i m not so updated with the so many 'breaking news' breaking simultaneously.

The problem is why these reckless hooligans are able to do anything they and get away with it. Who funds them ? Who provide them ammunition and all other things they require to execute their plans ? Since they HAVE all these things, they are able to do what they are doing.The truth remains that their are people in this world who seems to be as normal as us are secretley supporting them.Why ? The answers is Religious Fanaticism.

In the coming time this politics of religion will again overtake this world as it has done successfully in the past.I m no prophet but anybody can see that the more somebody try to supress it more it grows.It's a vicious circle. You condemn them ..try to supress them ..they feel they are being unduly supressed because of their religion ...some idiots are always there to fan this fire more..and again they do something as an act of revenge ..and again u try to supress them.Circle complete.

It is never going to end until we see the light and realize that religion is a very personal thing.It is meant for individual's communion with God(though i m an atheist,let me assume i know the basics).All these religious institutions serves no purpose and mean nothing if all they do is nurture hatred for other relgions and their followers.

Education should be our religion and schools our temples( or church,mosque etc).They will give us a better understanding of things and nobody will ever be successful in misguiding us .We all will become our own guide.

But Alas !! It remains nothing but a wishful thinking .People of this world have this great inclination of attaching so much undue importance to something as inconsequential as religion.Hope to see a world as John Lennon imagined before i leave for my heavnely abode [ as i would like to believe ;-) ]:

Imagine there's no countries

It isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion too

Imagine all the people

Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will be as one .

-John Lennon


Till next post ....just hope that peace will prevail if not today maybe one day.

chao !!!

6 Ways to Improve Hindi Movies :

1. for chrissake !! read the script atleast once before making a movie.(how else can u justify ,Kyun ki, Saawan, Shaadi se pahle etc etc .)

2. Give Mallika sherawat her due ..on any given day she is a better actor than likes of Kareena and Esha who gets roles because of their MOMS.She definitely deserves better scripts.

3. Some movies are flop from the time u see their promos..don't allow to release them..I hope everybody knew that Saawan-the love season and any aaftab shivdaasani starer is going to get flop anyways.

4. We can always do with minus 2 songs per movie.

5. Amitabh Bachhan is a powerhouse of talent ...use him only for meaningful pupose like Black or Sarkar.Movies like Lakshaya are a disrespect to his talent .

6. Shahraukh Khan should only be directed by karan johar and aaditya chopra and that too only in 'out and out' romatic roles.No more attempts for change of image ..i mean don't u think it is little too late for that ?

I have often told you stories
About the way
I lived the life of a drifter
Waiting for the day
When I’d take your hand
And sing you songs
Then maybe you would say
Come lay with me love me
And I would surely stay

But I feel I’m growing older
And the songs that I have sung
Echo in the distance
Like the sound
Of a windmill goin’ ’round
I guess I’ll always be
A soldier of fortune

Many times I’ve been a traveller
I looked for something new
In days of old
When nights were cold
I wandered without you
But those days I thougt my eyes
Had seen you standing near
Though blindness is confusing
It shows that you’re not here

Now I feel I’m growing older
And the songs that I have sung
Echo in the distance
Like the sound
Of a windmill goin’ ’round
I guess I’ll always be
A soldier of fortune
Yes, I can hear the sound
Of a windmill goin’ ’round
I guess I’ll always be
A soldier of fortune

-Deep Purple

It was never about the Candy

Why it happens that most ppl grow old in the manner they never wanted to ? I believe that everybody of us has hated at some point or other,our elders for being so mean or rude or selfish or just strict(reason is inconsequential here) as a little child .We all swore that when we will grow up we will be the one person who will treat everybody nicely and in a just manner.(again what we meant by justice is of no significance).We all believed and did what our moral science teacher taught us .For sure we all tried hard to achieve those noble standards atleast once before most of us failed to do so and stopped trying.We all realized(or believed) while growing up that a good guy rarely wins the race and most of the times its a bad guy who by hook or crook takes the winning cup.These moments of glory for the bad guy were our moments of disillusionment from the moral values of being honest, speaking truth, working hard and wishing well for others.Let me try to explain it in terms of what we all liked once a lot " a candy".

A candy means a lot to a child ,sometimes a world.He likes it a lot and is willing to do almost anything to get it. In my childhood days if you had beahaved yourself there was a fair chance of u getting a candy .So I tried to do good and 'behaved' and if i succeed i get a candy ,simple enough .My best effort was enough to get the candy .The moral lessons and all the 'do right' preaching was important to me as long as i get my candy.

With time this candy is replaced by some other things which becomes important to us through the passage of time.Since these things are not as trivial as a candy therefore sometimes we end up not getting this 'new candy' despite of our best efforts.Frustration follows.. and we can not help feeling that this world is not governed by these simple rules of morality but a little cheating ,manipulation ,deceit ,chicanery ,bootlicking and God knows what, is also required to get our "candy" apart from a little stroke of luck.

Since it was always about the candy, we throw these moral values in a dustbin and set out to get it(the candy) with everything that is required(good or bad) in our bags and fight the battle again to get our candy and sometimes we get what we wanted .But we lose so many things along the way .We don't believe in good anymore .We suspect almost everybody around us of being same culprit that we ourselves are.We lose faith in the innate goodness of human being .We start seeing only the bad things in people and most importantly we forget that life is indeed beautiful.What we see around us is nothing but a mere reflection of ourselves.

Now u say : Hey !! now i have my candy but still i m not happy .Is something wrong ?

Actually there is ,if u haven't realized by now then let me tell you --it was never about candy ,dear !! The candy was there to give u a motivation so that u will do right things.Candy was there to train u to do right same as a ringmaster use meat chunks to train tigers.

Have u ever wondered why it feels so good when we help somebody or speak the truth in face of difficult situation.Our ancestors always knew that the source of any feeling is always there-- up in your head .If u don't have guilty u will always be happy and when we do so called "right things"-- take it or not, u do feel happy. You were supposed to realize the meaninglessness of candy on your own but u didn't .That finally made u the person u never wanted to be in first place when u were a child.

So Dear friend !! Doing right is the right thing because ,It was never about the candy.

A Suitable Boy : Review

Published in 1993, written by an internationally acclaimed author Vikram Seth, 'A suitable Boy' is unconventional in many ways. First and foremost being its length, it has roughly 1350 pages and nothing short of a tome. Other factors being ,a preface written in verse, verses used for chapter titles in the index, the family trees( given to facilitate understanding for those poor people who can never understand that how a nephew's niece is related to the uncle's cousin, which are quite simple for us Indians) and these are just to quote a few.

The book starts with the marriage of Savita Mehra in 1951 to a English Lecturer Pran Kapoor. Lata is the younger sister of Savita and since Savita is now married, it is high time now to find a suitable boy for Lata. The whole book revolves around this one liner plot. Seems quite unexciting...huh !! wait ! haven’t we overlooked something ? It is 1951, a time when a nation had general election for the first time under its own constitution, a time when the scars of partition were still not completely healed, a time when the rosy dreams of Independent India were withering away and most importantly a time when some Indian felt for the first time that British India was not that Bad. Just like Salman Rushdie's "Midnight Children" the time period in this book is highly significant. Set mainly in the north of India, this book is a definitive guide to the Indian culture and values for anybody who is curious about it. For those who are already aware of them, it is a journey back down the forgotten memory lanes.

Vikram Seth takes you through a pan-Indian journey (as he himself termed it in the book) in the search of a Suitable boy for Lata. On the journey you meet many people, some suitable, some not, but all carved out with such a rare finesse that they almost seem at a touchable distance from you. The amazing storyteller that he is, he also commands a deep understanding of human psychology and emotions. His characters are real, made up of flesh and blood. It seems as if you are reading about your neighbor next door. He strictly adheres to the old rule of storytelling that great stories are simple stories. And with this simplicity he dwells into the minds of his characters, which makes them so special. He is an amazing researcher and you can see that in the amount of detail he provides about a shoe cobbler, lawyer, judges, shoe trader, politician, courtesan, Calcutta socialite, Godman, mathematician and what not. His hard work pays off in the consistency of all of his characters.

This book is about Lata's dreams, her Mother's expectations, Maan's (Pran's brother) escapades, Savita's love for unattractive but understanding Pran, Kabeer and Amit's unfulfilled desires(two 'suitable' boys), Pran's struggles with his disease and college politics , Indian politics and about its perception through a common man’s eye and many other innumerable characters. But most importantly it is about a journey of Lata from being a girl to becoming a woman. She changes partly because of the circumstances around her but mainly because of discovery of her true self along the journey.

This book never preaches anything but teaches you so many other things. It is actually a love story in a very unconventional sense. It rarely talks about the fairy tales; rather it talks about the unpleasant things happening around. We never want to discuss about these things when we are in love but nevertheless they all have their own undeniable significance. It talks about a love that grows slowly and steadily, the one kind which is good enough to be true, the one kind we all wish to have one day in our life. This unusual romanticism gives the book a universal appeal, which is a hallmark of a timeless classic.
Words are only used as a means of storytelling and are not an end in themselves. You keep on reading this book seeing the unread pages thinning away day by day and before you realize, Lata is finally married and leaving for her own home saying farewell to her mother and maybe to you also. You close the book and wonder to yourself "Was it me who just completed this 1350 page book?" and somewhere deep in his subconscious, Mr. Seth smiles and says "thank you my dear. Thank you very much."

I'd rather be a Cowboy:John Denver

Music is music because of some individuals,those who had been gifted and motivated enough to contribute their genius to give us all a song, that we all can hum whenever we feel like.The simpler the song the better it is.Contrary to the popular belief i have always been of the opinion that good music does not require much except a sweet melody and meaningful lyrics.All these mixing,techno,remix and electronica stuff only makes it more unpleasant(i Admit ,exceptions are always there,no offence to Rahman fans ..i m also one).But if "soothing melody and beautiful lyrics" seems like your idea of music then John Denver's music and you, are made for each other.

"John Denver (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), born Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr., was an American singer-songwriter and musician who was one of the biggest selling artists of the 1970s.
Denver's songs were suffused with a deep and abiding kinship with the natural world. Songs such as "Take Me Home, Country Roads", "Leaving on a Jet Plane", and "Rocky Mountain High" are popular all over the world. His songs are characterised by sweet melodies, elegant guitar-strumming, and his soulful rendition of the lyrics." (source: wikipedia)

His musical journey started when his grandmother gifted him with a 1910 Gibson guitar.Soon he found himself playing in local clubs simultaneously attending Texas Technical University.Here he also adopted the surname "denver" after his favourite city.He dropped out of college in 1964 and went to Los Angeles,California to join a folk group Chad Mitchell trio but didn't stay long with it.He left it in 1969 to pursue a solo career and released his first LP "Rhymes and Reasons".It wasn't a great hit but it had the famous song "leaving on a jet plane", his first claim to fame.His first real big break came with the second album "Poems,Prayers and Promises" which contained the cult song "country roads ,take me home" which made him a household name in America. After that he kept on delivering one bestselling albums after another. At the end of his career his tally was an astonishing 14 gold and 8 platinum albums .According to Sony records he is one of the five top selling artists in the history of the music industry.

John always fought hard for environmentals issues and his natives will always remember him for what he did for them apart from millions other fans.He died in a tragic plane crash in 1997.As he promised "he indeed left us on a jet plane" .

Artist : John Denver
USP: Country Rock artist , guitar based melodious songs with beautiful lyrics.
Some Famous Songs: Leaving on a jet plane,
Take me home ,Country Roads,
Annie's Song,
I'd rather be a cowboy,
Sunshine on my Shoulders,
I'm Sorry,
Thank God I'm a Country Boy,
Rockey Mountain High,
Different Directions (My favourite !!! though not that famous)

The Great Indian Software Industry Show

A quarter of a cabin, with a personal computer, a ergonomically designed furniture which includes a revolving chair,a table with a cupboard( meant to keep documents in properly arranged fashion ) ,no life and height of boredom, not exactly cubicle in shape ; is how i would describe my office cubicle .

Sitting there i realize how a young, bubbly soul turns gradually into a jombie.A nerdy creature which is known better in societal parlance as software professional.
I understand that by being born in poor country like India, i made myself disadvantaged to people who lived in a rich country.I will do the same and sometimes better work than them but still i'll be paid less since the wretched cost of living index of a country decides my pay packet. I sometimes wonder about my middle class values of hardwork and sincerity.These
are the values that all these software companies thrives upon.As a paid labour ,i m entitled to fair working hours.But since i have been tought right from my childhood that to be successful , i need to work hard ,harder then the most of the ppl arnd me; i work ,work like an idiot,at times like a dog.But what is end result of this taxing endeavour ?? My project leader delievers a project to a company owned by the rich of the world (most likely some MNC) ,within deadlines ,surpassing all the quality standards and the customer is happy.My Project manager pats me on my back,says something complimentary to me (which at times may be accompanied by some meagre monetary appraisals) and hands me over another project.Since by then i m little rejuvenated and little less tired,partly because of rest that i have been bestowed with recently and becasue of PL's pats on my back(Afterall it's not everyday tht ur PL says nice things abt u);i start working with a renewed enthusiam in a hope that all i need to achieve immortality is sincerity and hard work.Needless to say i feel highly disllusioned not before long.

Indian software companies thrives on their least cost philosophy.They offers such an irresitible prices to their customer that, had size and risk factor of a project won't have to be taken into account they will land up with almost all the software projects under the Sun.The only reason that they can offer such prices is the cheap labour they have at their armlength.The wage differential between indian companies and other companies is a very important factor in tilting the decision in their(indian companies) favour.But the question remains ,who ultimately pays the price for this bargain ? who else but the poor fellow who writes the code.He work under the pressure of ridiculously tight deadlines and as a result ends up working for inhumanely long hours.The plight of the situation is that he rarely gets anything more then peanuts for his
efforts when compared to the profit his company generates because of it.His personal life suffers tremendously and all he can hope from the situation that one day this will change which in the normal course of things rarely happens.

This is the story of almost every software engineer working in India.I can not help but seeing similarities between this system and the old slavery tradition.
Earlier a slave used to work hard in a vain hope that one day when his master will be happy of him ,he will set him free.A slave wanted a happy end to his otherwise tragic story.
These days a programmer works hard in a hope that one day he will stop coding and will be told to take some managerial responsibilities and his gloomy days as a programmer will be put to an end.

Seems like the business has only grown bigger in terms of number of people and amount of moneyinvolved.The basics, however remain the same-- the one who has the money uses the people who don't have it to have some more money in his wallet.Who cares for the penniless afterall !! But since these are the days of democracy ,perks and paypackets are provided, unlike the slaves but just sufficient enough to keep the mouths of people shut.(Money, however little it may be; has been the greatest sedative afterall from the start of human civilization).

And the Great Indian Software Industry show goes on.

Something Nice

God is crazy about you.

He sends you flowers every spring and a sunrise every morning.

Whenever you want to talk, He'll listen.

He could have lived anywhere in the universe, but He chose your heart.

( and though i m an atheist still i liked the very thought )

Who will cry for the little boy

This is one of many silver screen moments i truly relished..
It's honest ..at the same time poetic..
How he managed to pull it off .. i still remain clueless..
In the movie Antwone Fisher(based on a true story) directed by Denzel Washington.
Antwone ( who never had any parents) recites a poem to his psychiatrist.
Maybe text doesn't have that effect compared to moving images but still the poem is beautiful and pain striken...


Who will cry for the little boy, lost and all alone
Who will cry for the little boy, abandoned without his own

Who will cry for the little boy, he cried himself to sleep
Who will cry for the little boy, who never had it for keeps

Who will cry for the little boy, who walked on burning sands
Who will cry for the little boy, the boy inside a man

Who will cry for the little boy, who knew well hurt and pain
Who will cry for the little boy, who died and died again

Who will cry for the little boy, a good boy he tried to be
Who will cry for the little boy, who cries inside of me

Cry of a guitar

when i see skeletons,those who are living;
when i see dead,those who are walking;
when i see people living who do not have soul;
when i see a heart with nothing in it but a hole;

Then my guitar cries.....

people die because they have to;
people live because they are supposed to;
soldiers kill because they have to
innocents die because they are supposed to
but when somebody looks st the sky
with tears in eyes

Then my guitar cries....

but how does it matter
and why should u care..
after all you are what you are ..
and it is nothing but
..........just a cry of a guitar..