Letter to the Prime Minister

Honorable Prime Minister,

Our deep regrets to all the fellow citizens in this moment of national grief. The Mumbai attacks have thrown up emotions alike any other calamity – grief, helplessness, anger, frustration, and fear – however, indifferently though I must say; this ruthless act of terror for the first time has brought in a sense of realization, empathy and accountability into all of us.

In an attempt to act and not just - pass the buck, criticize leadership and blame the system -  enlisted are some points which if politically can be implemented would do democratic good for India.

Unfortunately Indian politics despite having many able men lacks sanity and accountability. Leaders propagate populist measures, dwell on regional/communal agendas to attract vote banks - judiciary, legislature and defense are chained amidst bureaucracy and corruption – its time we had accountability!!

 

1.      Regulate Elections - Let us get done with the age old qualification(s) for being a politician (above 40 years and be an Indian citizen) and re-define the criteria – some of which could be - intellect, relevant experience related to the ministry, philosophy and societal contribution etc. Nomination of the candidate for a particular post should only be allowed if he/she satisfies the above parameters and the election commission must govern the same.

mMore so every party must announce more than one candidate, and then leave the candidates to debate amongst themselves in public forums, political forums and corporate forums with their agendas to fight for their party seat. The media again shall play an important role here in acting as an interface between the people and the government. Having multiple candidates would ensure competition within parties themselves and as has been the case in industry, competition shall ensure that excellence is achieved.

2.      Corporatize governance – When a political party is sworn into power, every minister handling each portfolio drafts an agenda and presents to the public with a timeline. The media shall act as an instrument between the public and the system; agendas shall be debated across public forums, industry forums, and political forums and finalized with sorted time lines for each point.

 

The minister at the helm is responsible for the mandates being achieved according to deadlines; else the public has the accountability to vote him out for not having delivered.

 

3.      Appraise and Audit – I can understand the sensitivity of the data that the cabinet carries, however, there must be a department - given exigency authority to audit the finance and economics on which every ministry works. Just like a corporate undergoes an information security audit, a system audit, infrastructure audit, income tax audit, operations audit, financial result and statement audit etc – A independent governmental node must be formed to conduct periodic and random audits across these areas, across ministries and these should be reputed IAS officers manning the organization.

 

They also must rate each ministry, quality ratings – budgets and performance of the ministry must be linked to the evaluations and so should be the perks and incentives of the ministers to the same. Every ministry must also have an annual performance appraisal of each minister, official working by measuring his actual performance with the drafted agenda agreed to while he/she was sworn in and the ratings must be made public. These ratings and the score cards shall serve as a benchmark for the voter to mark his performance and cast his vote next time.

 

4.      Incentivize democracy – all this would only work, if people, who ultimately rein the system, would vote and take ownership of mutual governance.

 

A positive impetus to vote would be to make the voters’ id an important cum mandatory identity proof. Voters ID must be made the primary key of an Indian – link driving license, ration card, passport, life insurance, bank accounts and one’s existence to the ID – just like what a SSN does in America.

 

Secondly with electronic voting these days, its easy to record and log in the voters turn out. If any voter id goes blank without casting his/her vote – have strong amendments to penalize him/her. You could also may be cancel his/her licenses and insurances and call him/her for an inquiry to justify his/her decision to not vote. If the justification is valid, like say a personal emergency which is proved by submitting hospital bills, death certificates etc the case can be considered.

 

India having a big rural electorate would also need to do a fair bit of teaching to the rural voters. They would have to learn to vote based on parameters like rating of the politician, his outspoken agendas on television and his score cards. We can have campaigns and debates and all the literature posted in Hindi and other regional language. Election commission and the media largely can again take care of that.

 

At the end of it however, one can always find loop-holes in the system – the system can never be full proof until people own morality and responsibility. This is the difference between us and the America’s – may be now is the time to change and manufacture our Obama’s

 

Helplessly yours, 

An Indian Citizen

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE APOCALYPTIC GLOOM

Times have never been kind, deeds have never been righteous and fate has never been hopeful – albeit despair has never struck with such brute force and cataclysm – questioning men and their esoteric greatness, haunting prophesies of their distinction, not only crucifying economies but vandalizing dreams – tragic as it may sound, the apocalypse announces its arrival – impartial and all-pervasive!!!!

Nostradamus would probably give me a kick on my ass; however given the state of affairs, may be he counted a year too many and 2012 is a touch too far!!

It’s his domain of specialization and my proclamations might just not be qualified enough – however I don’t intend to create a revolution nor attain a legacy for having foresight – my interpretations see men pre-maturely retire, banks running out of liquidity and owning nothing but tarnished reputation, employers filing bankruptcies, crumbling stock exchanges, plummeting exchange reserves, depressed growth rates, and collapsing economies

Doom - If not here, is inevitably near!!!

It is not something that is unknown/unseen to this world, we have had our share of previews before – 1929 was a prime evidence of how close exhibits can get to reality and 2000-2001 was a perfect example of how encapsulated a trailer can be – however, with such magnanimous references being proclaimed to be mere clips, one wonders how treacherous and malignant eventuality could be!!!!

Being ambitious, I always wanted to work with an employer who operates on a large scale, a glamorous business model and on the most expansive markets. Of course, little did we know that ambitions if not chained amidst rationality, prescience and objectivity can turn into abject extravagance.

Some of my friends have already been sacked, worthy candidates – committed if not extraordinary, able if not enthusiastic, talented if not gifted and employable only if there were reasonable opportunities.

No-one is blaming the employers, they need to maintain green balance sheets and feed their stomach bags, charity would only prove to be a hindrance and blessings unfortunately cannot be valued monetarily.

When both the individual and the world together live in a state of melancholy, societies at large feel paralyzed, more so - civilizations fear extinction!!

If you suspect me of indulging in euphemism, scratch your heads and snap your fingers – if its not jogging at the corners of your memory then read your newspapers again – I know at least 5 countries, independent nations inhabitated with billions of people on the verge of declaring themselves bankrupt – Zimbabwe, Argentina, Iceland, Pakistan and the latest shocker being Japan!!!

Probability is a very loosely used word but carries a very meaningful definition – which would what keep us in this moment of despair all alive. The likelihood of something happening - something good, path-breaking, inspiring, magical, employable, scalable and sensational!!!

Agony, this time is not only loud in terms of arrival – it’s quite penetrative too!!

As I turn 20 something, I go through a phase in life where I can sense an era passing by.

If being a little unsure of our career graphs and braving the vagaries of economics was not enough, our emotions too, for reasons known best to ourselves today stutter – unsure, uncertain and seeking support – in whatever shape or variant it comes, most of us are living alone, fighting multitude battles within thyself, at times stable – at times insecure, at times controlled and at times uncertain and unsure, fighting – isolation, stress, need for belongingness – parental aspirations and societal obligations.

20 – Something is by no means a walking -stick age; but I still feel a lifetime passing by - not only cause of companies (also read as Lehman brothers/General motors) that I swore by while shaping my intellect have ceased to exist now, only to be case studies for the generations coming by but also cricketers (Kunble, Ganguly) who have modeled my character are fast hanging their boots signaling that probably my time and its ripeness is now over!!

In all this that has happened both microscopically as well as around the paraphernalia, we shall look forth with trust, belief and confidence and place our faith on the Obama’s, Bernake’s, Manmohan’s and Chidambaram’s. They are men of honor and increasing accountability; they are no more governing a framed constitution but together amidst this crisis are expected to stabilize the preamble of our economics.

As has often been the case amidst adversities, let our leaders ignite the revolution, let followers tread the path less travelled by and let men not sweat but perspire the pangs to redeem the world back to normalcy!!

Our survival tomorrow would be on the thresholds of our ANTICIPATION and only in HOPE shall we seek inspiration!!!

For all those who believe in the Gospels – WE SHALL OVERCOME; for all those who don’t, WE LL PROVE YOU WRONG!!

Every day is a WEDNESDAY!!

My dad is a journalist, and he has never been so busy in his entire 35 years of tenure in the industry.

 

I remember – the editor of Indian Express and my dad’s erstwhile boss, cum close friend – told once over a dinner, that when a journalist finds it easy to get his stories, when he gets busy with having too much to cover, edit, report and telecast within no time, things tend to get a little eventful around us!!

 

While Shekhar was being a little subtle, politically correct and euphemistic in his statement, I d say things for sure get a little eventful, but more often than not they tend to get a little ugly, tragic and depressing!!

 

Journalists are a peculiar breed - intellectual, artsy, eloquent – non temperamental, erratic, moody, unpredictable – sincere, honest, sensitive – likewise to the juggled chronology of adjectives, they are contradictory but constitutional!!

 

A lot of good would happen to us – to the world, to not keep the tribe occupied, not let the ink spill - the cameras roll and not sensitize their job descriptions.

 

Alas!! Contemporarily, the demons have been maliciously busy, and the institutions have been found wanting amidst lethargy and ineffectiveness.

 

17 major terror attacks, all bomb blasts, across the length and breadth of the country in the last 4 years – causing irreparable damage to life, emotional depression across the country, a sense of insecurity amongst citizens and most importantly depreciating the value of a surviving a human life – doesn’t make a rosy headline, but believe me a lot of copies would sell on this.

 

To bomb and to explode was never difficult, but to kill in genocide has never been this easy!!!!

 

All through this, the one’s who have eaten their bread in peace are the one’s who are making and detonating the bombs – the one’s who have brainwashed the executioners and architected the venom - the one’s who have had their stories to ramble about – the one’s who have had no problems searching for prime time to advertise their products – and the one’s who pride in calling themselves the parliamentarian opposition and cash upon the tragedy to enact political opportunism.

 

While all these stakeholders are busy going through their motions religiously, there is another sect, equally a witness to this tragedy – busy making phone calls – some out of undoubted worry and some out of business like courtesy and artificial concern to folks of theirs, who if were victims of fate would have had a fractional chance to be one amongst the affected.

 

These calls are hung upon quite often breathing a sigh of relief and by paying thanksgiving obeisance’s to the lord for keeping their acquaintances alive and away from the tragedy.

 

Now that nothing about the tragedy is personal, this sample of mankind does not bother to dwell much into the mishap – it aint related to them anymore, it deserves no attention, no afterthought and no concern – they continue living life amidst ignorance and bliss until the next bomb explodes and the telephone calls are again answered in tune to their anticipation and prayers!!!

 

 

Before we miss them, there is another party – participant - to this chaotic and woeful calamity.

 

The 11 year old child, as humane as you and me and as anyone blindly picked up from that large chunk of mankind – who would start making calls – watch news channels – and forget about the incident with the passage of time – the moment this tiffin box, that he shall pick amidst kiddish anxiety and innocence -  explodes, butchering the young body, skull and flesh apart in red, ending a promising life – abrupt and sudden!!

 

How I wish one of us could empathize – with the already dead child, with the now half living – half dead mother/father and the frustrated kith and kin. None of us would be able to empathize – None will, until it happens to us!!

 

Amidst trauma, shock and disbelief – as the family makes its attempts to seek justice for their dead child, the police turn’s a blind eye to their misery, claiming that a case has been lodged and that they are not the only ones who have got affected. They have many more to attend to !!!

 

The politicians visit the family and the victims showcasing articulated concern and man-made sympathy. Ensuring that they get media space and their political image gets an impetus, they give templated speeches which condemn the attack, blame a jehadi party that is on top of their mind and announce a baseless compensation figure for the killed and injured.

 

Courts log sessions for months, years and decades, only to add woes to the already grieving family. They have lost their child, they face the wrath of an insensitive investigation, await the judgment of an impassive judiciary and fall prey to the promises made by a corrupt, communal, villainous and opportunist leader.

 

All this while, they are being observed by miscreants who architect and breed terror!!!

 

They brainwash an already gullible and worn out mind, they sensationalize a heart already overwhelmed with emotions, they sow the seeds for revenge and in turn use them to architect terror, The mantra, The motif - kill more11 year old’s, they did it to u and u shall do it to them and keep the cycle alive!!!!

 

We need more sensitive and reactive systems – a proactive one would be even better. However, even a reactive one would be enough to clean up terror!!!!!

 

Terror can only thrive, until people start believing the system – and people shall only believe the system, when the system reacts in their favour. If in an encounter, the owner of that exploding tiffin box is killed the next day, we can jolly well stop another terrorist reproducing. If and only if, the system can react, transparently, intelligently and effectively!!

 

However, our case is even more severe, blatant and incurable.

 

The honorary leaders and managers of the system themselves are a primary cause for terror. Either through their communal ideologies or intolerant, insensible and barely scholastic and intellectual political wills and ambitions. Terror outfits fight for their creed and fanatic fundamentals, these are quite often cemented by the fall outs of a tragedy – an isolated tiffin box bomb explosion is less risky – but communal riots and massacres that have happened in our country – their scars are indelible and permanent!!

 

Jinnah, his desire for power coupled by a sense of insecurity amongst a hindu dominated country – desired for a different Muslim country, which fundamentally created animosity amongst the sects which is still bitter and alive. Riots followed the great partition, bitterness of which is still alive, hurting people’s conscience even today.

 

Indira Gandhi’s operation blue star, gave birth to the bhindranwala and the fundamental creed causing her own demise, which resulted the 1984 riots. The massacre had Sikhs butchered, orphaned and murdered. People still await justice for the same!!

 

L.K.Advani s rath yatra, triggered the babri masjid demolition, which in turn graduated the local Mumbai mafia to a jehadi Islamic fanatic outfit. Bombay exploded in 1993 – hundreds orphaned, and the cycle of revenge, fight for venom has never ended since then.

 

Narendra modi’s camouflaged kar sevaks attack on the godhra train let Gujarat burn for no reason. A man wailing for his dead child held in his arms was the TIME end of the year cover picture. Who knows what all has the helpless father done to avenge the loss of his child?

 

With elected leaders such as these, what does a common man like me do, but write such briefs and record his impotency!!

 

To survive in a country, anesthetized by a useless system, one needs to either behave tolerant and paralyzed or take the reins by ones hand and bring about change.

 

Me and my dad were discussing things over a casual talk today, a Sunday – on how the world looks peaceful and less paranoid when the media takes a day off – he immediately retorted back saying  - I wish I would get to cover a nasseruddin shah in reality someday!!

We d be busy for the right reasons, and not everyday will be another WEDNESDAY!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Communication and Brand(a speech at a corporate forum)

Following is a speech written for a corporate discussion at my work place:

If not professionally yet, my academic grades qualify me to be called as a ‘Marketer’ and on the same grounds, I shall key some thoughts of mine here!!

To me the concept of marketing is simple – We all conduct businesses in a crowded market, where the customer has the liberty to choose his options and businesses need to break the clutter, to differentiate and then deliver quality to ‘woo’ the customer again!!!

To do the same, one needs to talk to the right customers, needs to reach out to target them and hit them with messages, visuals, symbols, logos, pictures, credentials, testimonials and what not - conveying ‘what’ the product/solution/idea being offered to them is and ‘How’ would it be useful to ‘Give’ them some benefits.

The above paragraph captures the essence of this write-up, cause it explains nothing but the process of ‘Communication’ [albeit one-sided] and talks of the mediums which when registered as an identity in the mind of the customer is promoted to be called a ‘Brand’.

Creation of a ‘Brand’ is the ultimate property of a Marketer and it’s an outcome of a strategic psychological process involving mind games between the marketer and the customer’s targeted.


One of my favourite examples has always been FAIR & HANDSOME

Fair and lovely – the first variant of the product was positioned only for female’s, however, marketers failed to realize that Men also wanted to look fair and stealthily used/bought fair and lovely – to wade away from the embarrassment of using a feminine cream!!

Consequently, they marketed the same product (not many changes in terms of ingredients and the basic product manufactured) differently, renamed it as Fair and Handsome and positioned the product for MEN.

The message was communicated through mass-media as Shah Rukh Khan (Credential, testimonial) shouted to all men in the world, that finally we have realized your underlying ‘need’ to look handsome (WHY), we have made an exclusive product for you (HOW) and you can buy that facing no embarrassment and look – ‘fair and handsome’ (Benefit)!!

Fair and Handsome – The name in itself was the Brand and Shah Rukh – the ambassador. The message was clear and convincing and so were the sales figures later!!

Creation of a good brand begins from the marketer, establishes with a customer and ends with a manufacturer!!! If the product does not stand up to the hype, hoopla and expectations created by the marketer, then the product would never-ever be able to recover!!

Imagine if after all the marketing, fair and handsome ended up ‘Tanning’ and ‘Darkening’ people – be it Shah Rukh Khan or Sachin Tendulkar – the product would not sell !!!

Like all cricket captains after losing a match say – that the captain is as good as the team. A marketer and his Brand is also as good as the product itself!!



Branding is a philosophy and not an entity! It has its constituents that encompass its beliefs and convey a message.

People, who share the same philosophy, vouch for the brand and are willing to pay a premium for it!!

The exercise of Branding involves complements like; Brand Identity/Logo/Picture etc, Brand Name, Brand Ambassador, A Punch line etc

Taking the case of Infosys – the trademark logo calligraphically written as INFOSYS is the Brand Identity. The logo is nothing but a representation of the company – but the company’s positioning as a quality and ethical IT business partner exudes the philosophy of being a righteous and successful business entity.

It is only because of this philosophy that customers are ready to pay a premium to us; it is only because of this philosophy that resources want to be part of the company. It is this philosophy – built successfully over a period of time – that represents Infosys – at large and is identified by that logo!!

It is this philosophy that I call the philosophy of Branding!!

Other examples that I can think of are – ADDIDAS identified by its calligraphic logo along with the parallel stripes is positioned for high spirited, passionate performers and people high on octane. The slogan matches the same philosophy as it shouts ‘Impossible is nothing’.

Nike – Swoosh (Tick) is a famous brand identity underlined by the caption of ‘Just Do it’ philosophizes the art of challenging oneself and accomplishing the impossible.

The process of branding would be rendered ineffective if it is not executed with the same vigor as it was thought of, strategized and planned.

‘A blemish that often stains most branding exercises is the marketer’s bias towards strategy and planning, than towards its execution and communication’

Marketers quite often spend a lot of time, thought and resource on strategizing the entire exercise of branding i.e. to identify the segments, articulate the positioning of the product, design the brand identity, and carve its philosophy – however, all this would only make sense and effect, if and only if – it is communicated in the appropriate manner.

It may sound a little exaggerated, however to my understanding, the act of designing the branding strategy is so involving and overwhelming that in the mix of it marketers deem the process of communication to be a mere activity and not an integrated process of the entire philosophy.

One needs to chose an appropriate medium for the message to be communicated, a medium that can articulate the message well, a medium which has a good reach, desired frequency, suits the budget and importantly hits the right audience and creates an impact.

Ariel once released a global print advertisement across the globe – in leading local country journals. The advertisement showed a storyline (an advert jargon) wherein the clips ran from left to right. Left – first, showed a transparent bucket full of soiled- dirty clothes, Left-Second, showed Ariel detergent being dropped into the bucket and the dirty clothes and the final clip from the left showed washed, neat clothes dried on a rope string.

The message was simple and clear; the detergent was being positioned as a powerful cleansing agent, the medium (print) and the story line designed - created an impact; however the execution failed especially in the Gulf and Middle East part of the world.

Marketers did not pay attention to detail, in the gulf and other Muslim countries, where people read from right to left and not from left to right as is the common practice.

This meant that the advert to them conveyed that ‘Ariel is a powerful detergent that could grease and soil your neatly dried clothes’!! The advert bombed and boomeranged to create a negative impact as Brand Ariel ended up getting de-marketed.

Disney, worlds most popular cartoon maker, amusement park operator and owner of some of the most recognized brands such as Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and other cartoon characters – could not establish themselves in Europe and to a large extent even in China.

The reason again is a communication strategy failure – they failed to localize their marketing messages and customize their branding exercise to the local lands from where they were operating. They represented themselves an icon of the Americas, communicated the same aloud amidst envy and pride.

Lack of subtlety in communication led to their failure in two of the world’s biggest markets – again establishing a classic case of how communication of a brand is of supreme importance!!

As markets explode and customer’s purchasing behavior matures, the relevance of brands and their existence transpires!!

Hence, as products compete for space and attention in the crowded, global markets – the one’s who would pass Darwin’s law of survival – would be the one’s who would carve an identity; the one’s who would be known, recognized and philosophized by the customer.

The one’s who would be branded; marketed and communicated would be the one’s to stay alive!!

India – free but fractured!!!

One of my colleagues had recently returned back to India after a 7 year stint in the US – and as I conversed with him – I found him quite often saying that “it is quite difficult for one to get used to the way of life in India, given that you are so pampered by the organized, methodical and systemized life abroad”

I failed to empathize with him, because I am yet to cross the oceans myself, however – his repeated accusations against my country (it was his too!!) and its way of life created a sense of discomfort and uneasiness in my mind.

I couldn’t debate with him, because I was uneducated, unexposed and did not know a thing or two about his land. I was also subdued in my talks, cause all those accusations made against my country and its paralytic system’s, were in actual correct and true to their existence!!

I am one amongst those many young people who have these momentary propels of patriotism that exist until the feeling is ripe in thoughts and the stimulus vibrates within the mind. Once you get over it, the country man within you dies a hibernating death and waits for further external instigations like a patriotic movie on the cinemas or a conversation with a rebel (such as this one with my friend) to come.

However, I long debated within myself as to what would it take for India to be not always mortified, to be not on short of good comparisons, to be benchmarked, to be sought after and to be a good place to live life in!!

Infrastructure, Sanitation, Hygiene

Pune, my current city of occupation is a new, young, vibrant city, being showcased as the face of the new emerging India – the window to the same, the rail station certainly did not do any good to its reputation!!!

As I waited for my train to Mumbai - the drenched station with pools of stagnated rain water, smeared with algae and mud welcomed me into the platform. Human and animal excreta – feasted over by flies, bees and bacteria smeared the rail tracks and beggars flocked the station semi-naked, scarred, burnt, and begging with mal-functioned bodies. The only reason why I survived the nausea in the air was that I was aghast, shocked, numbed and equally amazed at my fellow citizen’s ignorance and their ability to survive in such insane living conditions.

I did not blame anyone cause I had no rights to do so – people could question my contribution towards the country’s causes as much as I could question them!! However, at least people had the tenacity to survive in ignorance; I seemed to lack that too!!!

People, Poverty, Education and Righteousness

I boarded my train and barely had sat on my seat, when a young boy just slipped a post card into my hand. Young kids have always been my weakness and I immediately fell for his innocent smile. As I read the note, it said that the young boy wanted to continue his higher grade school and he needed money for the same.

I observed that my co-passengers had no sympathy for the boy and hardly seemed to go through any feelings even after reading the well crafted emotional note. I must confess, I fell for it – moreover my conscience shrieked inside to showcase some nobility, towards the people and the poverty of the country!! In an attempt to get rid of my guilt, I called the boy and asked him to recite a poem for me, which he did up to fractions of my satisfaction and I handed him a 10 Rs note!!

He was courteous enough to thank me and the next I knew was that, 10 other similar looking kids came running towards me from no-where carrying similar paper postcards and their depressing stories!!!

I realized that the young boy would have gone and told his team of boys/girls, that there is an emotional fool, sitting in coach B1-10 who shall fall for all our tricks and is a virtual jackpot for today!!

I can understand their state of poverty; however, I also can understand the inclination of their thoughts – negative, ungovernable, untoward, compelled, frustrated and helpless!! They were young at heart and this is the age when one shapes his/her conscience; it already had been programmed by the men who they work for with deceit, guile, and deception.

They would comprise of the masses, the mob, and the people of tomorrow and their thoughts would manufacture the outlook of our country and to me, they did not look very promising!!

Governance

Arguably, every kid’s first insight into imagination and foresight is an answer to the common question asked in school – ‘kiddo, what is your ambition in life’? Most of us in India, influenced by our parent’s talks or occupation give clichéd answers ranging from a doctor to an engineer to a teacher.

Kids abroad want to become a fireman, a senator, a soldier and if any little one says doctor – trust him to have an Indian ancestral connection!!

True to the answer, if my son in the days to come tells me, daddy – I want to become an Indian Politician!! I might as well forbid him for life….The designation is an embarrassment to the philosophy of employment!! The occupation has lost its meaning, the title carries no compunction and the work has no virtues!!

How I wish I was wrong – however, with barbarians sitting in the parliament, hardly carrying any proficient qualifications or intellect in their minds to analyze complex foreign policies, study the cycles of economies, strategize defense warfare and formulate progressive ideologies!!

We have selfish goons ruling the country, who know more about dividing people on secular issues, propagand populist measures and go to the cheapest level of accusing each other of grave crimes (such as bribery, ghotala’s, scandals etc) in the very august house of parliament, the nucleus of the country!!

A few days back, I saw the rulers of the country being accused of buying votes from the opposition members by the members of the parliament to prove their majority over the nuclear deal. I do not know, who was right and who was wrong – However, was ashamed to know that I am under the governance of a bunch of jokers and they wouldn’t realize that by committing such acts for individual materialistic selfishness, they are letting the country to be doomed!!

I Hope….

I only hope that things change in the coming future!!
Country Men, including me develop a sense of obligation towards society, people, and the country at large!! Individualism paves way for societal happiness and development is routed transparently across sectors, cities and classes of society.

I hope in the days to come, Railway Stations and Bus Stands become monuments of the country and people visit them with pleasure!!

I hope kids on the roads maintain their innocence, recite their rhymes to bring smiles and not to earn money in deceit.

I hope my son becomes a successful politician and in turn that makes me feel proud.

I hope my NRI colleague and his tribe ceases to exist……..

I HOPE MY COUNTRY IS NOT DOOMED!!!!

The Obsolescence of Innocence!!

Once, as I returned from work – I offered a hitch to a bunch of kids (studying in a municipality school) who were walking across the road with their shoulders loaded with an oversized bag!!

They jumped into my car, sat admiring, the otherwise ordinary upholstery, pushed themselves out of the window, waved their hands to the passers by with pride and announced whole-heartedly to the whole world that they had attained momentary status quo and were honoraries of the services offered to them by a four wheeler automobile!!

Amidst disappointment at the conclusion of the overwhelming voyage, each one of them gave me a gratuitous wave and a flattered smile – an expression showcasing abundance of indebtedness and gratitude towards me - created a unique feeling that has stayed with me since the moment it was manufactured.

As I drove further home, I felt I had rediscovered a forgotten emotion – I had witnessed Innocence, humility and sensitivity at its purest form – and I sang a silent prayer for the fast endangering trait to be preserved and the tribe showcasing it to live a long life!!

As a kid when my family had limited means, I would always wait for rich friends and relatives to come home and a couple of rounds on the scooter within the colony would make it easy for my mom to feed me her food!!

Those kids had made me realize and remember that. Those days, it was very easy to smile, to feel appeased and to stay contended. You had limited rationality, short-lived ambitions, humble dreams and a docile character. You found happiness in small things (like a ride in a scooter) and your smile was sincere, was innocent!!!

My mother is a school teacher for the last 25 years (in Delhi) – and owing to her connect with kids, upbringing, academics, school and everything related to them – I couldn’t help but share this experience with her. She couldn’t agree more and confirmed my thoughts by saying that there is a humungous difference between the kids of yester-years and the kids today and she suspected the validation of my observation.

She said those kids instead of showcasing the explained behavior should have instead examined your car – asked me as to why would you use a Kenwood stereo instead of the latest SONY available in the market and also should have explained me as to how the wheel alloys do not go with the car model and design.

In my defense I could only explain that possibly these were small town kids (Lingampally, a suburb in the outskirts of hyd) studying in a municipality school (where the fees is appx 12.50 rs per month) and not like the one’s in Delhi or Mumbai where most of them are from rich families having a legion attached to their name since birth, living in plush houses/appts and brought up wearing imported nappies, walking on silky carpets, breathing only conditioned air and motored on expensive cars by their nanny’s to their international schools!!

As a child, I had the luxury of seeing both the sides of life!!! My ambitious, aspiring, emulous parents, like every parent thought that they had reproduced a son – equal on competence, intellect and faculty like themselves and hence wanted to offer me the best of education, if not anything else given the limited means that we were living upon!!

Owing to this endeavor of theirs, I did my primary education in ‘Ryan International School’ – A colosseum like building, air conditioned classes, designer uniforms with a suffocating bow tagged along with the tie and prickly cufflinks – my school was more of a display of childhood fantasy than an academic authority.

My friends used to talk about the new car that their parents purchased last week, they used to talk of the new pizza variety that they had tried at Nirula’s the other day, and how they cart-wheeled their remote controlled GI-JO (toy maker) with their cousins.

I felt suffocated whenever they asked me as to why I came in a cycle rickshaw to school everyday – I felt, by telling them that my father did not own a car, I would let him down – I did not have the courage to do so

They would ask me – why I never came to the canteen to buy a snack during lunch time. I again would not tell them that my father could give me only 10 rs daily and that it did carry much purchasing power when the others carried currencies in multiples of 100.

I wouldn’t go to the weekend school picnic to Nepal and I would also not know of the latest track that Micheal Jackson was playing!!

It was easy for me as a kid – amongst innocence, given the schooling I was going through – to term my parents to be a failure – but I would not do that, cause when ever I went home, my mother would daily explain to me while she put me to sleep that both of them are toiling hard, and that they are burning their sweat and blood to achieve all that we don’t have and that my other friends have.

I learnt very early as a kid – that comforts are best valued when earned!!

I learnt very early as a kid that embarrassment is inevitable in life – and needs to be accepted with honor and that only on its experience does one find reasons to live for.

I learnt very early as a kid – that the world is divided into two, the one who’s got a famed blood-line to inherit and the one who conceives and constructs everything from dust!!

When as a grade 3 student, I couldn’t make much sense of the SHERLOCK HOMES compulsory supplementary offered as a part of the pedagogy of Ryans, my father decided to shift me to a different school.

I crash landed to a municipality school – where the monthly fees was in the teens, broken chairs, dingy class-rooms, uniform comprised of a white shirt and a blue pant – could be torn and be worn with anything else meaningful or aint. The school had a worn out building, last white-washed 35 years before and could only boast of a huge water tank which had my fathers name mounted on it – cause he was the one who had donated to it being the chairperson of its PTA members trust.

The same 10 Rs in DTEA (new school) was worth in gold and I could buy the whole canteen for it, coming to school in the scarcely populated school bus was a honor. I was one amongst the few who could afford to have lunch while most of them starved.

My 7th grade class teacher asked all of us to introduce ourselves, by telling our name, our ambition and our father’s occupation.

Instead of I am Arpit Singh – I want to be a business man and my father is a industrialist, I heard I am Babu M, my father is a driver and I want to be a teacher!!

Someone said, I am venkatesh – I do not have a father, my mother is a house-maid and I want to be a landlord, another fellow’s father was a cook and he wanted to open a restaurant.

I told them that my father was a Journalist; I came from Ryan International and that I want to join the Navy (A huge ship on the latest Limca book of Records, that dad had recently bought had caught my imagination those days)

I got those stares of admiration from all of them which I once upon a time used to give to my ex school mates. I later thought as I was going back home that I should have probably lied myself. I told my mother that I should have as well told in the class that my father is a peon or a clerk. I could understand what they would have felt, but how would one explain how a peon could construct a BIG WATER TANK for the school!!!

I then learnt that in life everyone in life enjoys their unique existence – be it fortunate or unfortunate. On comparison you d find superior to some and inferior to other.

You are always in between, never at the bottom nor at the top. For a beggar, the one who s starved to death is an inspiration and for the rich, the interest on his money is an inspiration!!

However, amidst all these materialistic comparisons and analysis – we have somewhere lost our innocent identity!!

With time, age, education, work, responsibilities, competition, and greedy ambitions, I realize that the same innocence has died a slow death. There aint space for its existence, cause it acts as a hindrance to materialism and causes immediate satisfaction, rendering the scope of living life to be very limited and narrow.

Resultantly, it has over the years been abandoned; forgotten, suppressed and today it’s depreciated and obsolete!! Only repeated rewinds into the past like the one in this blog could bring about its rebirth!!

Signing off

It aint flat anymore, it’s punctured!!!

Most writing’s do not begin with a disclaimer, but this one should!!!

Cause, the domain of the conversation is high on cerebellum and intellect and it’s an area where great minds, with unmatched credibility, expertise, qualification and persona have commented upon, researched, advocated and agreed!!

I am no-one, I do not carry any profound qualifications, nor do I speak on the evidence of specimens gathered by doing any kind of a research or investigation. I lack SHAME, but let me be BRAVE, and speak purely on the grounds of my AUDACITY.

Ladies and gentlemen, please reverse your thoughts!! Men with big stature and esoteric greatness are not always right!!

THOMAS FRIEDMAN, got it all wrong, “This world aint what he believes it is”. Even if he d make some sense, it lacked in vision and longevity and ALAS, let me declare that his conclusions have served their momentary periods of existence.

The world isn’t flat today, in fact it is punctured!!

Albeit that trade is happening on the global front, the rich, prosperous and wealthy are secreting the pulp out of the less fortunate ones. And agreeably all this is possible today because we are all well connected; we needn’t be there in person and we v invented gadgets that almost substitute us!!

Friedman got the virtual connection all right but forgot to prolong the notion, foresee and visualize over it.

As things arguably stand today (or seem to at least stand in near future), there isn’t any country that is greater; there isn’t any economy stronger. The scales are almost even and only look to further balance out in the coming future. Yes, it’s a globalized market but over a period of time, it would reach stagnation. Trading beyond borders for profits would soon become a fallacy; indulging in Outsourcing would be termed as an executional sin, and leaders would have to go on expeditions & treasure hunts to work out a cost advantage business model.

The world and its dynamics are fast changing; hence you got to be ‘LUCKY’ than be ‘PRAGMATIC’ to make correct ‘PREDICTIONS’, you must be a believer in ‘FATE’ and ‘FORTUNE’ than to trust ‘INTELLECTUALS’ and their ‘analytical OPINIONS’ (Friedman was influenced by Nilekhani, blame him as well!!)

I work for an industry which operates in the world of virtuosity, driven by the Global Delivery Model across geographically spread markets in this supposedly flat world!! We have had our momentary pleasures and have savored the buoyant instances of our prosperity.
We have hailed the nilekhani’s and the friedman’s to have thought of something so marvelous and profitable, but now we have begun to feel the jitters, the floor slowly tearing apart and the roofs seem to be caving in. We see the graph’s sliding down, the utilization percentages drooping down and the resources being chopped out.

We sense the decline, the downfall, if not understand the magnitude of the annihilation!! We aren educated enough, aren overtly astute to discover a means to recover. We are helpless and in the process slowly begin to believe – Where we wrong – to have believed these men? Have their visions proven to be myopic? Isn’t it flat anymore?

How we wish we could have been born in the Columbus’s era!! Though his discovery was more of an accident, it at least had a sense of immortality associated to it. We couldn become leaders, we at least would have become prudent followers!!

We would have lived under the belief, that the world aint flat – it’s a globe and that one wouldn plummet down if at all you d reach the end (you wouldn’t in any case!!)

Someone please explain it to them (Thomas and Nandan), let sense prevail in their head –cause theirs are the one’s that matter!!!!

Christopher wasn from the Oxford, but for God’s sake he was right!!

The world shall remain a globe forever, your gadgets and intellect made it flat – albeit momentarily – Please move on, do not bask under the shadows of your short-lived glory.

It s not flat anymore now, It’s punctured!!

'Weed' out the Aussies- Obnoxiously!!

I hope that the inspiration behind me selecting the title for this blog shall stay a secret; I however pray that I am proved wrong!!

Over the days, a game that I have followed as passionately as a devout pilgrim would preach his favorite god has fallen in repute and grace only to have been reduced to a sport of outrageous jesting, grave ridicule and ugly banter.

The gentlemen are fast getting replaced by wild hounded dogs (ala peter roebuck) and the malice and sportsman spirit has been substituted with the spit of venom and abuse. The lush green seems to be a battlefield where players aren’t stroking shots or crafting deliveries; instead they are indulging in obscene verbal volleys and hurling censured taunts!!

This isn’t the same game which I bunked my school to watch and this isn’t the game which I would want my son to watch either from now on!!

I have been quite fortunate to observe this evolution of cricket on field ‘Chatter’. What began as an occasional mock was taken to a strategic level by the Aussies to be called as ‘Mental disintegration’ and later termed as ‘Gamesmanship’. Today since it has grown ugly and unparliamentarily, people have derogated the terminology to give it a negative connotation by calling it ‘Sledging’.

It truly deserves the demotion cause its an ‘Obnoxious’ (No, I am not related to Mathew Hayden!) thing unfortunately started and mastered by the ‘Best in the Game’, let me not name them, but to give u enough clues they wear only ‘Baggy Green’, are indifferent to the animal breed of ‘Monkeys’ and I am sure would one day ‘Murder’ their opposition players to avenge their defeat.

This summer has seen more exchange of words than matches being played and of course all this has meant that cricket has lost its focus somewhere. Ponting, Symonds, Hayden, Clarke and Harbhajan have all behaved like eloquent hooligans, showcasing neither the virtues of being ambassadors of their country nor the dignity of being custodians of the legacy of the game.

The Aussies sure may play their game tough, hard and aggressive. We connoisseurs know that, recognize and appreciate that!! However, this time around they have been arrogant, reckless and butchery!!

To the credit of the Indians, they have played the game as no other team has played ever in Australia. If not matches they did win everyone’s hearts (With umpires around, winning matches these days isnt easy anymore!!) and in the process also massaged and punctured the great Australian Ego.

The Aussies have found no answers with the bat and ball and hence have resorted to seek the mercy of the ‘Biased’ and ‘Foolish’ match referees and the seemingly ‘Blind’, ‘Overtly Patriotic’ and ‘Selfish’ Australian media.

Barbarians like Hayden, Ponting and Symonds - pampered by victory’s all through their life - have failed to showcase any kind of diplomacy and decorum that a player representing his country, its culture and its people must do. It won’t be a surprise if people associate these snobbish traits showcased by the Australian cricketers with each and every Australian and in turn tarnish the reputation of the country, its citizens and every aspect associated with it.

It’s a shame that such a great cricket team heralded for its victories must hear such accusations, but it’s a “Scar” that shall stick on to the ‘Baggy Green”. Cricket Australia shall be recognized for breeding competent cricketers fit to win a lot of cricket matches but shall always be denounced for showcasing inability to rein them to behave like well mannered sportsperson playing within the spirit of game.

I am confident that nothing would change and it cannot, cause people like Ponting, Hayden and Symonds cannot be subdued. They carry big ego’s which obliterates their conscience, restricts their vision to themselves and prevents from accepting their fallacy.

And consequently, calling 'ON-AIR' a fellow cricketer as an obnoxious weed or challenging a 19 year old debutant for a fight in the ring shall be deemed polite, right and perfectly legal to them, while hearing someone call them a ‘Monkey’ would send them into ruptures like cry babies howling in front of refrees, authorites and who knows even their 'Grand Mommies'!!

They are victims of a disease, a cure for which would require them to crash down from the pile of victories on top of which they currently are sitting and I shall only pray that more countries like India tour this country and get under the skin and character of these savagic Aussies.

Amen!!

Signing Off.

Unanswered Questions !!

Last night I indulged in a bed-time conversation with my friend, the talks were quite absorbing, scary and mysterious. We talked about things that extend beyond pragmatism, defy rationality, annihilate the theories of science and bamboozle the imagination of human kind.

We talked about ghosts and gods!!

We admired at our intellect and taunted at our imagination, being educated one’s (reasonably!) we at times also laughed at our foolishness to have started a topic that comprised of no worthy logic and was humanly insane.

Despite all this, we both continued only to start by openly admitting that we were adherent followers of science and being so sacredly scientific, we in-fact, questioned the very existence of wandering zombies and the honorable almighty.

Discussions alike always turn to be very interesting, they are engrossing because, you often end up asking yourself a barrage of questions, and while you scrub every part of your imagination to search for an answer, you feel to have reached the hilt and experience a vacuum to realize that the answers are yet to be discovered.

I could not sleep last night because I was caught in a web of thoughts, a volley of questions were being discovered, anxiety crept in as both of us realized that these would remain unanswered till we stay alive!!
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I look at things that surround me and admire at the visualization that exists, a mosquito, a flower, a cow and the flying bird!!

I hear myself say, that, to have created such antiquity, such specimens of existence and artifacts of matter would require talent and work beyond any man’s capacity and then I am quick to believe that there exists no man who would have such heightened imagination and hence, I reluctantly confirm the existence of someone, supreme, unknown, unheard but heralded enough to be known as the GOD!

Despite this realization, I am not much of a follower of a religion (am a Hindu-Brahmin), I sing no prayers daily and I do not remember when I last wore my sacred thread…But quite often I find myself swearing to the Lord, I turn to him in times of grief and desperation, I have this discomfort but I hesitantly confirm to the belief that there exists something supreme above us all who commands our lives and controls our living.

My friend, my partner in thoughts last night, had lost his father recently. The agony and pain that comes along with the tragedy reverberated in his voice as he spoke, though he wasn’t very overt about it.
I was quite young when I saw a dead body for the first time (Grandfather passed away in 1993, I have seen many deaths since then). I remember that post my grand father’s funeral (which I had attended amidst the innocence and fear that a boy of 8 years would have), I would be haunted with the scene of my granddad burning on the pyre. Let alone sleeping, closing my eyes would inadvertently bring back the images of the body burning and for close to a month I took my bath, with the soap burning my open eyes.

As my friend talked of the same feeling, I could only empathize. I questioned the idea of the ritual and my friends answer was the body is a rented shelter for the innate soul, burning the same, leads to its escapade as it wanders into a journey of its own.

Some are lucky enough to find another rented possession (human body) while some wander till eternity to be labeled as ghosts!!

I hate to recollect this, but its worth a mention, I had lost one of my friend quite recently – young, handsome, intelligent and immune – A person who had every reason to breathe and stay alive.

Until the moment of death he was cheerful and bustling with life, death just grabbed him by both its hands and we (my friends) would not do anything but mourn and helplessly cry.

I was to be by his side till his last journey of life, In police post mortem records, I was the, Last one to see him alive and the First one to see him dead

One standstill truck and a speeding bike, the crash happened in a second and a promising life died.

It all happened in an instance, it all ended at the same time!!

How could he leave us and go? Where has he gone? What has happened to him? Only if these could be answered…..

Death is so beyond control, that it takes away a person and his lifetime of associations along with him beyond himself, beyond all of us to an unknown undisclosed location in isolation and transverse.

The very fact that it all can end any moment, any time, irrespective of contexts and conditions is all the more spooky, bizarre, and scary.

As we discussed all this through out the night, we realized that the answers to all these things would come alive, only when we all die!!

Artifacts of the human mind

The last few months have been quite inspirational!!

As i sulk in the monotony of my employment and struggle to find avenues within my occupation to showcase any kind of enthuthiasm, intellect and creativity....People whom i admire in life (Benazir bhutto, Amir Khan, Anil Kumble ) have stamped a class of immortality to their craft and have further subjugated me to the depressing feeling of living a useless, under-utilised and fractured life !!

I have always fought a trivia within me all through my life; day in- day out i have questioned these complexities - For i am a man who wants to live like an"Achilees" admiring "Gandhian" ideologies (mark my words, 'admiring' not 'adorning').

Achilees conquered his craft, perfected his skill and achieved an arrogant immortality over his work and he did all of this only to earn unprecedented selfish fame and attention.
Gandhi was a total contrast, a selfless servant of a nation but a convict of his own rigid ethical conducts, validating all through his life the existence of his principles and not living a life of his own.

Both men,though resemble a comparative contrast, lived a life of fullfillment - they lived for their wit, their thoughts and every thing that they wore on the sleeve of their mind !! They lived for the Artifacts of their human mind !!

Let me drive the point home now, Every able and sane person in this world lives his life only till the point that he/she finds a stubborn reason to live it. Think twice and then you would realise that every puff of air that you breathe calls for an incentive, each beat of your heart is driven by a purpose and the blood gushes through ur body owing to a defined reason.

Reasons defined becasue of profound thoughts, wit and humour..Reasons articulated by your mind. if you still dont get what i am saying, be brave and try this exhibition - Imagine that your parents/spouse/brother/sister/everyone close in your family dies together due to an accident. Why and for whom will you breathe again !!!

Men who stand out in character are who find a reason other than emotions to live for. Men who live for their craft, Men who live for the society and Men who live for all those articulations of their mind.

Men who live for other subtle things in life are far less imaginative, explorative and cowardly to experience life (alas, i am one amongst the same tribe!! )