Monday, December 26, 2005

Land's end

Had written this way back in Mumbai.......Never got around to post it
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Have you ever stood at the beach staring at the vast expanse in front of you? Did that last sunday...At the utterly detestable Bandra Seaface....why detestable?? Well for one.....when you are alone in this teeming city..you do feel odd staring at the sea, while being surrounded by couples in different stages of embrace. But that is the thing I love about this city. People are not bothered about what you do as long as it doesnot affect them. The city lets you keep your peace. But this also breeds a kind of lonliness. The one I am facing. Surrounded by people...but still alone.

Living here has made me realise one thing...after four years in the hostel.....adjusting anywhere is not a problem...but bonding is...you may share a drink or two...party all you want but office colleagues need a marked boundry...a boundary you never cross....It's not that with the RIT junta...here there is no line....you can do anything and nothing will be said...adjusting and bonding has already happened...you are in your comfort zone...

Land's end....at the threshold of a new dawn...have to move away from the comfort zone....move into the unknown....the wilder side of things...maybe then I will start loving this city also...

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

The big deal about Manjunath

The last couple of weeks have seen a flurry of coverage in print and television media about Manjunath.

Details about his life are many, but the fact that people are aware of are that he was an engineer from SJCE and an IIM grad. So far so good. He joined IOCL. A job that many grads like him would be willing to give an arm and a leg for. He met a gory end on the 19th of November 2005...And that's from where this blog starts.

I have nothing against Manjunath...I never even met him...and if not for his death I would never have know him....This is not a tirade against him...This is a tirade for him and for all like him...

An IIM grad who could have got a job in any MNC of his choice, yet he choose to serve this country. Joined a public sector...not any public sector but one of the richest ones. I have just one word to describe his act 'foolish'.

it is indeed foolish to give up your life for honesty in this country. The biggest mistake made by the oil mafia was to kill Manjunath. If they had only beaten him till he was half dead, this fracas would have been avoided. Yes, I don't find anything wrong in the Oil Mafia's act. To put it bluntly it is this:

Manjunath wasted his talent in fighting the oil mafia. The best thing to do would have been to put his papers and walk away. What great outcome did we have of another brilliant chap, Satyendra's murder. The media treats it as a nine day wonder. The public write eulogies about the person. Except for the vacuum amongst the person's kith and kin is there any action. "IIM demands strict action" - one head line reads, ya sure...demand all you want...like you are going to get the killers punished. Trails will drag on for years. The killer in Manjunath's case will not languish in jail...he will be treated like a king at our expense, at my expense, at your expense- look at Abu Salem's treatment.

Worst case, Satyendra's case, no one is caught. The media loses interest, it has other fish to fry and the family is left on it own. We the intelligentsia recline at our work station and sigh and say, the country is going to the dogs.

Yes man, the country is going to the dogs, why shouldn't it? You and me and all of us in between have contributed to it. If voting is considered infra dig, if politics is for the corrupt, then of course there will never be a leader we can look up to. We have to be content with aging stalwart and greatness thrust upon dynastic heirs. Till the time that we let the Manjunaths and the Sathyendras battle it out while we sit at home sipping lemon tea, while bribing the traffic cop to avoid paying the fine, nothing will change. We have accepted that nothing works without grease. We have accepted that we have to pay to get work done. And the worst thing is we are ready to pay.

Maybe it is time to teach our future generations, that Satymeva Jayate is passe...Money rules is in.

Saturday, December 03, 2005

To be or not to be

To be or not to be that is the question.......Hamlet taught by Gopa Bose and Mrs. Browne....I have forgotten everything except for this line....and this is the question I ask myself...everyday. Incredible though it may sound, I have been in Mumbai for about a year now and the only thing I have seen till now is the Bandra Sea Face. What am I doing here?

The crux of the problem lies in the janus faced title that i hold..Software Engineer....The workload doesnot permit me the luxury of loafing around on weekdays and the salary doesnot permit me to stay in a place accessible to the city.

The question in front of me is to continue this wretched existence or cut the cord to this profession and embark on an I love life mission?...Doesn't work.. I am no revolutionary...I love that feel of warm money coming out of the ATM on the first of the month..so what if I am dead broke by the 20th..Dead broke...thats a joke..Dead people are buried with goodies atleast...i dont get the luxury of that...Okay coming back to the point....I am not going to cut my cord..cant cut it...need the smell of fresh cash...then I shall continue...maybe ask my PM for a transfer to Timbuctoo...(Pune)

about night owls and parties

When I joined the software industry, I was given to understand that life would be all about working hard...very hard and party. Now here I realize that working hard...very hard...very very hard is the norm...what I miss out seems to be the parties...not that this project doesn't have its share of parties...it has more than its share...about once in two months...but some how I always end up in the night shift during those parties...and tell me which owls survives the night with a loaded stomach and a fogged brain....

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Musings on the first blog

After spending nights reading blogs and musing on how can some one put his personal thoughts on the cyber space I decided to ditch being an ostricah and come out in the open...keeping you head in the sand is not too good for your health you know....anyways...now that I am here the world has to hear more about me from me....