Aap karen to Chamatkar.....Hum karen to.....

Well deserved.....Hail to the Bravehearts who did this...

Up yours NDTV......

NDTV....and more precisely the great Ms. B. Dutt have decided that since they cant do a proper job of reporting, they shall behave like the R Sena and the S Sena and beat up anyone who point out their mistake. Aside: Try explanining to RT or BT that their take on Marathi Manoos and Valentines day is against the Fundamental Rights of the Citizens. So here it is. Reproducing Mr. Kunte's blog word for word. Let NDTV know, that if you believe in the freedom of press, if you believe in the power of your reach, you should also know that with great power comes great responsibility.

To the lawyers of NDTV, look up Article 19 of the Indian Constitution.


[Update] looks like quoting the post might lead to more trouble for Mr. Kunte. For interested people here is the Google’s cache of the post (scroll to the very bottom)

with media like these, who needs spies and informers???

Long long time ago, in a certain age of innocence, I was a fan of 24X7 news reporting. I used to be awed by the courage showed by these men and women as they reported from the front line. But then some where down the line, that awe started to vanish. And over the last two days, as Bombay faces its worst invasion, that awe has given way to disgust.

I mean how stupid can you get? If NSG commandos are carrying out an operation, you are showing the helicopters coming in with the commandos? The terrorists sitting inside need not even look out of the damned window. He just has to switch on the TV and watch a damned news channel. He will know approximately how many commandos are coming, which way are they coming, what is happening much better than if he had an informer in the crowd below.

Get a life, 24X7 news channels. In your quest for TRP, you are blurring the line between honest reporting and actual playing into the hands of the enemy.

And as for the questions....I used to adore Barkha Dutt.....but sorry lady....your lame questions have really put me off.......one fan less for you....

In memoriam.... Mumbai 26/11

Cry my country!! Cry!!!

rambling post.....

An invasion from the sea. And a President who is only fit to cook for an ex-Prime Minister says, "hum ghatna ki ninda karten hain" Madam, how about coming back to India? A Prime Minister who stays in bed. A Home Minister who shouldn't resign....rather should commit suicide.......body count mounting.....and terror hits home

Police Officers are corrupt, police officers take bribes, their salaries shouldnt be increased....350 police officers should protect one corrupt Chief Minister.....police officers should be used to keep roads clear in peak hour traffic so that neta log can travel in speed......then the same police officers are asked to fight well armed terrorists with vintage equipment, and lay down their lives.......... where does my tax money go? When I am paying taxes why cant you furnish proper equipments for those who are responsible for protecting me?

Army Officers are grudged their canteen facilities, they are grudged their orderlies, they are grudged their salaries.....and today when you need them to fight these invaders, you ask them to step in. They step in, a collective sigh of relief goes up.....we are safe......but when they ask for an increase in pay.....Ohh no!! we cant do that......the Maj. Gen. should go inside the Oberoi only when there are terrorists inside, other wise he is better confined to his Mess.......

Cry my country.....Cry for the leaders you elect are spineless scums of the worst kind....Cry my country for you could never recognise a hero even if he came in front of you.....cry my country for all you can think of is you and your immediate family........the rest are just statistics......cry my country for anyone can come to rape you and your sons can only stand by saying intelligenc failure and your daughters stand around with questions "How does it feel that your dad is a hostage?" .......cry my country.......for you dont deserve to be a nation at all.......

How about the citizens asking for a general election? How about dismissing this government? How about military rule? How about removing this concept of universal adult franchise? I think that concept has been raped beyond recognition......we need a new system to give voice to the poor and rich alike......democracy just doesnt work here.....

On a sad note......the entire XL family grieves today as they have lost a son-in-law a week before the wedding....my the Lord give strength and forbearance to the Bride and both the families as they cope with this loss......

On a sad note......the country weeps for 14 of her sons who lost their lives defending her honor......

And a note to Madam President and the Congress (I).......rubber stamp president is a word....spine less is another word.....but when there is an attack on the Country, the Country expects its leaders to be there.....if they want to be called leaders.....

Obama...

Was watching the frenzied support that Obama has in India. And the applause when he won. Wonder whether his so called supporters in India have any clue on his policies, views, background or track record???

Wouldn't it be better if these supporters decided to vote in India instead of worrying about the election in US??

The Jet saga....

Lay Off: (Sec 2(kkk) Industrial Disputes Act 1947) "lay-off" (with its grammatical variations and cognate expressions) means the failure, refusal or inability of an employer on account of shortage of coal, power or raw materials or the accumulation of stocks or the break-down of machinery or natural calamity or for any other connected reason to give employment to a workman whose name is borne on the muster-rolls of his industrial establishment and who has not been retrenched

Retrench: (Sec 2(oo) Industrial Disputes Act 1947) "retrenchment" means the termination by the employer of the service of a workman for any reason whatsoever, otherwise than as a punishment inflicted by way of disciplinary action, but does not include - (a) voluntary retirement of the workman; or

(b) retirement of the workman on reaching the age of superannuating if the contract of employment between the employer and the workman concerned contains a stipulation in that behalf; or

(bb) termination of the service of the workman as a result of the non-removal of the contract of employment between the employer and the workman concerned on its expiry or of such contract being terminated under a stipulation in that behalf contained therein; or

(c) termination of the service of a workman on the ground of continued ill-health;

Today the airlines industry are unable to give employment to the workmen due to shortage of passengers, who are the one of the raw materials for the aviation/services industry. But they have not laid off their workers. They have retrenched them.

Till a few months back, employees never had it so good. They could jump ship at the slightest provocation, sometimes for as much as a INR 2000/- ($41) increase in salary. HR managers at high attrition companies worried their hair out, about whether they critical resource walking out of the door every evening would be back the next day. The Gen-X did not know what it was to be without a job.

The bad news is out. Jet laid off close to 850 people and are planning to lay-off more. AI has announced that 1500 people will be asked to go on leave without pay for 3-5 years. While laying off people is not illegal, nor is it a subject matter of political debate, there are ways of doing this without unnecessary heart ache. Nor is it true, that the PYT who just jumped abroad from Kingfisher without waiting to complete her due notice period just because the going was good, has got what she deserved. Here we are talking about lives. Young lives who for better or worse have no other training. They followed their dreams and their dreams led them to this.

Very soon we might see the same thing repeated across IT/ITES sector, given the fact that Obama is leading in the popularity poll. The BPO worker is specially vulnerable. They hardly have any other training or experience to do any other work. At that juncture is it proper to ask the Government to bail out the sick companies? Even if the Govt. pumps in cash into the ailing companies, how long will the company survive on crutches? But then, we are used to giving crutches to all and sundry instead of trying to involve them in the mainstream. Now the question is how do we cope in these times? Increase spending? Increase the Gross National Debt? That is just pushing today's problem to tomorrow. Anyway here I am dergressing from the topic.

CITU and MNS are waiting in the wing to jump into the fray to be seen as the saviour of the poor. They are asking for a bail out of the aviation industry. If the government bails out the aviation industry today, is it prepared to bail out the IT/ITES industry tomorrow? There are dharnas and morchas asking Jet to take back the employees. Is it fair to ask the industry to keep excess workers on roll while they are bleeding? Have we forgotten the Bombay Mills so soon? Aren't we ever going to learn from history? I don't have the answer. I don't know who has the answer. But I have a question for Mr. Naresh Goyal.

Mr. Goyal, you knew your company was bleeding. You knew that you might go in for a code sharing agreement with Kingfisher. You knew that when the going got tough, you would have to let go a significant number of your people. You are a businessman and not a social activist. I respect all that. But Sir, would you please stand up, look at those young faces you axed, look them in the eye and tell them that you did this to save the company? Could you cross your heart and do that? I have only one problem with this retrenchment. Why have you done this in such a shady manner? You could have gone ahead and fired everyone, no one would have said a thing. It is your company after all. But why in a way that makes it appear so shady, so cheap? And when you did this where was your HR manager Mr. Goyal?

To the HR manager of Jet Airways, You are a scum and people like you bring the entire profession of HR into disrepute. You know your numbers. You know which way the wind is blowing. You know who you need to retain and who to let go. And you know the law. More importantly you know your employees. You have been trained in soft skills. If you don't you don't deserve to call yourself a HR manager. You deserve to bloody shoot yourself. Where was your training when you needed it? If you had to go ahead and nuke people, you din't need your degree in HR. Do you Mr. HR Manager of Jet Airways, suppose that though this retrenchment is legally justified, it is morally justified? What were you thinking when you pulled off the cowardly act and sent retrenchment letters to the employees by courier? Remember Mr. HR Manager of Jet Airways, you wouldn't have lost a fortune if you had spent some more time on framing your plan of action before shooting off those letters.

To all industry leaders and head honchos out there. You might have to lay off people, you might have to retrench them; I don't say Don't do it, rather I say, GO Ahead!! Do It now. But do it in a humane way.

This is my request to all you HR managers and CEOs out there, when you retrench or lay people off do it, but follow these guidelines:

1) Retrenchment as a last resort: Sometimes, it is a better solution to propose a across the board pay cut to save jobs than to retrench multitudes. First cut off the fancy office, give up the company car, stop those small expenses everyday. Send a message to the workers that you are serious about cost cutting

2) Lead from the front: Not in the Shady way that Jet has done it. Look at the employees in the face. Tell them that we are facing a problem. We need to let people go. And tell them they will be welcome back when things improve. Then lay-off, retrench people fast. Within a few hours of making your announcement. Don't let people find out when they are ready to go to work and the cab doesn't turn up

3) Provide support: What prevents you from providing support to the retreched employees to obtain another employment? They deserve it from you

4) Don't hide behind closed doors: Walk around. Be available to the employees. They have doubts. They have questions. They are shocked. Now is not the time to retire to your castle. Be with them

5) Once and for all: Don't retrench 50 people today, then another 100 tomorrow and so on. This creates tremendous insecurity among people who survive. Once you are done with removing your excess employees, assure the rest that you are not going to fire them. They will be forming your core group on which you will build your future.

Well, one long post. But then this is the time when we all do a reality check. And ensure that we are ready to go back to school and pick up more skills that would be valuable in this market.

The Good, the bad....the M

Well, Gujarat it is. West Bengal's loss is Gujarat's gain. Don't know if Nano will still remain the 1 lac car, or if the price will escalate. The fact remains that again the ordinary bespectacled, fish eating bong will have to step out of West Bengal in order to earn a living. And what will remain back would be the shadows of a golden past. Hats off to Momotadidi and co...

A Pyrrhic victory

Late and long post.....

Well, RNT has decided to pull out of Singur. Momota Banerjee is celebrating Durga Pujo at Kalighat and has proclaimed that she will start an agitation after the Pujo to return the land to the farmers. Nice thought. But Ms. Banerjee or her advisors, in their infinite wisdom, haven't given a thought on the state of the land. Agriculture flourishes on land which is fertile. Not land which has been levelled and graded. Dug up and concrete poured into it. The Singur area was a marsh land, so quantities of fly ash have been dumped on it to make it fit for construction. Have these intellectually superior people given a thought on how are those unwilling land losers going to start farming again?

My guess is, as part of her election ploy, now that she knows she has rocked her best boat for an election victory, she would ask the Tata's and the the govt to return the land in the condition that it was taken. Meaning, that all the clean up operation etc would have to be done. She has to try this plank now for her election. And public memory being as short as it is, Momota didi will be the Messiah for those whose land was forcefully acquired and then forcefully returned.

Land acquisition has another dimension. How will you return the land of those people who willingly parted with their land? They got their compensation cheques, which they encashed and spent the money. Will they again have to forcefully buy back their land? Or will they see their land going to someone else. If the latter, then it is nothing but a ploy by the Tirnamul to grab land. Good land. And vast areas of it. Which they will later deem to be unfit for agriculture and sell at a much higher rate for industrialization. Do I smell a rat somewhere? Or is it only me who thinks that this is a ploy?

As for the buy back policy, how will a poor farmer who suddenly got a windfall amount and spent it on a new house, a daughters marriage or a new bike, gather that amount required for him to get his land back? And if the Tirnamul pressurizes the government to give the land back gratis, it is the tax payer's money which is being used. Why should you and I pay for a folly that is entirely Momotadidi's? Will the govt. have the guts to bill the Tirnamul Congress and Momotadidi for the land and then return it? Or even better, ask Momota didi to come up with the money and then transfer the land to her. She can then return it or keep it as she chooses. If she is such a champion of the poor she would return it gratis. The same way she expects the govt. to do so now, difference it would be her money, not yours or mine.

And for the people of Singur, and West Bengal, when was the last time any politician did anything that was good for the people?

Why it makes sense for Tata's to shift out of Singur...

The impasse over Singur continues and there seems to be no headway. In this scenario the best option for Tata's seems to be to close shop and move out. Contrary to the sentiments in West Bengal, this would actually be a very good move. Here is why:

1) The project is getting delayed due to Momotadidi suddenly realizing that a lot of the farm lands that were acquired for the project was acquired from unwilling farmers. The story here is a bit different. In a previous post I had talked about the compensation that was being offered, a whopping 30 rs a sq ft. But then the story in West Bengal is unlike any that in any other state. Not all the farmers actually own the land that they farm. They are share croppers, and even when the original owners have willingly given the land to Tata Motors, the share croppers are with Trinamul. An increased package is not going to offer them any benefit. Their best bet would have been if the Nano plant came up and they got work there. But, no....they are too used to the life that they have been leading. If they had been employed at the plant, at the first disciplinary action for not reporting to work or some other misconduct, they would have declared a strike and anyway work would have come to a halt. You see, the average Bengali is very aware of his rights but not his duties.

2) A strong message gets sent out to all such aimless politicians who take up people's issues when they find that the going has just gotten tough. This will also discourage the so called leaders who take up the cudgels on behalf of the minority for those projects that benefit the vast majority. This is nothing new in this country. Under the grab of socialist, secular, democratic republic, we believe in throttling the majority opinion to pamper the minority opinion.

3) Ms. Banerjee's Chief Ministerial hopes are effectively dashed. Can you imagine the rot that would have happened to Bengal if Ms. Banerjee becomes the CM ever? If the Tata's continue now, it would have just added to her armoury. She would have become the messiah for the poor. Now hopefully she will be wiped off once and for all.

The only flip side:

Tata's lose out on a source of educated cheap labour. Well, that has to be taken in while calculating the cost of the nano.

Another Blast....

Yet another blast in Delhi.....what is the world coming to? Are we actually a weak state? These blasts demonstrate that terrorists are able to strike anywhere at will and all our political and governance machinery have failed. There has to be a solution to this....maybe a "Never Again" campaign.....Its the citizens who have to stand up and say "Never Again". It doesn't take much. If all of us pledge to not take things lying down. If the death of even one of our fellow country men causes outrage and a demand for justice, if we don't try to get away from our mistakes but accept them and try to overcome them, if instead of always having an external locus of control we look at ourselves we may be able to stop this.

These blasts are not the handiwork of Pakistani terrorists, these blasts have been done by us, The Common Man of India. Yes, each of us, you who are reading this blog, the man on the street, the cop sitting idle at the police station, the so called government, the I-banker, the Dalal Street share broker, the media covering these blasts, the PYT partying away to glory and also me writing this blog is responsible for these blasts.

Do the Self appointed critics of the failed governance machinery every wonder where do these quantities of explosives come from? Every time you encourage the sale of goods and services without a bill, you are creating a loop hole that these guys can exploit; every time, you walk away when you notice something suspicious, you are creating a loop hole; every time you bribe to get ahead of the Q or to cover up a broken rule you create a loop hole.

Gandhiji started the Civil Disobedience movement, but unfortunately failed to stop it. It is still going strong. And till the time this keeps on going strong, there will be blasts, and terror attacks. Will it really need one person of every family to die in this country before this country wakes up? We are in a slumber since we woke up for a few minutes on the midnight of 15th August 1947 to hoist a flag. Damn it people, you are the damned government, the damned police, the damned everything of this country...how long will you keep depending on external agencies for help? If we are to become a superpower ever, we need to set the trend. Can we have a "Never Again" campaign? Will each of you who is reading this stand up for the law as it is instead of trying to evade it?

Do we have the balls for it? Or are we a bunch of losers who deserve to die? Who will die anyway? and the survivors will carry on as if nothing happened? What is needed to shake these bunch of people awake?

Can he be tried for treason?

Enough is enough.....this guy makes arbit statements against every non-maharastrian and gets away with it.
He writes to the cops asking them not to discharge their duty
And we dont have a law to charge him with treason against the Indian Union? How is he any different form the moderate terrorists who are asking for freedom in J&K?

How is MNS different from the ULFA? Just because ULFA uses bombs and bullets and this guy uses speeches? Some one tell me please.

What is the relation between.....

Both are pictures of popular leaders who refuse to acknowledge the birth of a new era that has come.

One did not recognize that the Manchester of the East was looking at a bleaker picture and proceeded to call an 18-month long strike that hastened the demise of an already sick industry. Datta Samant, a massive strike, at the beginning of which an estimated 200,000–300,000 mill workers walked out, forcing the entire industry of the city to be shut down for over a year. As the strike progressed through the months, Samant's militancy in the face of government obstinacy led to the failure of any attempts at negotiation and resolution. Disunity and dissatisfaction over the strike soon became apparent, and many textile millowners began moving their plants outside the city. After a prolonged and destabilizing confrontation, the strike collapsed with Samant and his allies not having obtained any concessions. The closure of textile mills across the city left tens of thousands of mill workers unemployed, and in the succeeding years the most of the industry moved away from Mumbai, after decades of being plagued by rising costs and union militancy. The result.....you just have to walk around the mill areas of Parel and Worli. The mills stand there like ghosts from another era. And those that have been redeveloped are now housing posh offices and malls.




























and the other.....Didi as she is called by all, refuses to let industrialization come to West Bengal. Somehow she thinks that returning the land that the Tata's acquired from unwilling farmers is a solution. Does she really think that the unwilling farmers would be able to return to agriculture in the then fertile now barren land? Surrounded by paint shops, forging shops and assembly line? May be Tata Motors will have to create a new designation, Farmer, Farm Labourer for those who will be farming in those areas that are within the gates of the factory.

And what makes the farmer unwilling. Well to look at it one way, the Govt. acquired the land paying a price of about 13-17 lacs an acre. ($32500-$42500 an acre) thats about Rs. 321/sq m ($8 a sq m) or 29.8 a sq feet. The price paid to the farmers for a plot of land in the middle of nowhere the size of a tile in your room is about 30 rs. That is huge amount by any logic. Now the unwilling farmer contents that in any case if the factory comes up, the land has to be acquired. The price of land will shoot up. So the farmer has the opportunity to sell the land at 3 times the present price. No wonder such large numbers are supporting didi's protests and her intelligent argument that Tata's need only about 600 acres, return 400 acres to the farmers. Left to her, the factory will have a paint shop, then a rice farm, then the body shop, and forge, then maybe another farm.

What if Tata's move out of Singur? West Bengal gets tagged with an industry unfriendly status. The only thing left for educated, unemployed youths is roke bose adda maraa aar prem kora....after all who needs industrialization....we are happy, lazy beings.

Of Mumbai Meri Jaan, Bihar Floods, and others

Watched मुम्बई मेरी जान this weekend....thanks to AM who tagged me along. Well whatever the reviews said, this was a movie worth watching if you are a part of Mumbai. For those who haven't watched the movie yet this is what the synopsis is, "On July 11, 2006 the local train service, known as Mumbai's lifeline, was struck by a series of bomb blasts. Bombay Meri Jaan explores the impact of this devastating incident on the lives of the people of Mumbai. From a brilliant broadcast journalist to a patriotic corporate man; from a retiring policeman at the twilight of his life to a rookie cop at the dawn of his career; from an angry and xenophobic unemployed young man to a coffee-vendor struggling to survive and belong: Mumbai Meri Jaan follows the lives of people from all strata of Mumbai's bustling society as they tackle the aftermath of a fatal incident that brings out the best and sometimes the worst in them." (courtesy UTV site)

The movie laced out well and the acting was good. Madhavan was brilliant, so was Irfaan Khan. Paresh Rawal portrayed the retiring cop so well that today morning when I saw a constable with grey hair at the naka I really wondered if he was the inspiration behind the role. On the other hand Vijay Maurya got too much into the skin of the character......or was he not given enough lines?? A new cop, who chooses to ask his senior what his achievement was, questions the system that exists does not pull the trigger on himself without enough reason. Also, Kay Kay Menon I felt overdid his part of being a Hindu Fanatic....and Soha Ali was not genuine enough.....

Maybe because you connect with the places and the people you connect with the movie. I doubt how much a person from lucknow or chandigarh would connect with this movie.
The personal drama did not look to personal for anyone other than Soha and Madhavan. And the usual Hindu-Muslim bashing and then bhai-bhai preaching. It is a tribute to a city, a tribute to the people, but it could have been handled better. Maybe it was not possible to compress this in cinematic time, but a tragedy that 7/11 was, deserves something more than this.

At the same time, one is forced to ask some serious questions. We talk about the Spirit of Mumbai but is it something more than spirit? I think it is desperation that forces people into the Spirit of Mumbai thinggi. Truthfully, who would want to travel in overcrowded trains? Except for the fact that the only other option is at least 2-3 times the train journey time. The most chilling scene in the movie, when Madhavan's friend from the US tells that maybe the next generation will become used to terrorism. To me that is a stark reminder about what life is going to be all about. Survival. And like MM says in her post, that how much longer can we create gated communities and pretend that we are safer just because we chose not to look at the world around us? Isn't it time that we decided that it is important for us to be responsible for our own security. That we cannot keep blaming the police and the government for everything? This brings me to another recent event, the calamity in Bihar. One recent TV report, said that policemen where saving all they could and moving to higher ground and another showed an interview with a villager that prasasan kuch nahi kar rahi.

I know it is the easiest thing to find a scapegoat, but then do we realise, that we are the prasasan, the administrators? The IAS officer is just a representation of the society we live in. He is no superman to save the people. He wants his cut like everyone else. Everyone in this country is out to get his pound of flesh. And by everyone, I mean everyone. We are all cheats and thieves in private and saints outside. Sarkaar kuch nahi karti is our favourite statement. But, the same statement makers will bribe a govt official who pulls you up for breaking a law, will cross the road at anyplace, will spit and dirty the city, you see for us, as long as it doesn't affect us, we are fine. We will rave and rant at the unfairness of it all and then go back to being the way they are.

Where are all these related? Bomb blasts, terrorist attacks and bihar flood.....they are all the product of our apathy.....apathy born out of not trying to be a country.....we are not Indians.....we are hindus, muslims, brahmins, dalits, maharastrian, bihari, everything but not Indians......when we start bribing the cops to let us go for small offences a precedence is created that says that the more money you pay the bigger offence you can get away with......when you pay to get your work done without standing in a que, you start a trend which says it is easy to ignore the rights of people who have been waiting before you......and that is the tragedy from which all the bigger tragedies flow......question is can we say "Never Again" or will it just be another movie being made on another tragedy?

Why Tata Sky and others should start worrying...

Two new news items have generated world wide attention. This and this . In addition by the year end Reliance ADAG is going to launch its Big TV. RCom has also reportedly placed orders for 5-million Set top boxes (STB).

Till now the cable tv scene in India has been that people were at the mercy of their cable operators. The cable scene in India is unruly at best and a gangster's paradise at worst. The introduction of set top boxes and the entry of big players like the Hindujas (Incable), Subhas Chandra's Zee (Siticable) and Rahejas (Hathway belongs to Rajan Raheja Group) has cleaned up the scene a bit. But the last mile connectivity is still provided by the local cablewaala. That is where DTH comes in. You dont have to deal with the local cable operator. You deal with a reputed company. Either Government (Doordarshan), or Zee (Dish TV), or Tata (Tata Sky). Now with the entry of Reliance the customer has one more choice.

This is precisely why the existing operators should be worried. RCom has the pockets to survive the initial years till it breaks even. It with its deals with Steven Spielberg and Bachchan ADAG has in its kitty the power to give the viewers the choice to view just released and yet to be released movies. The average viewer will get to watch the latest movies without having to shell out huge amount for the multiplex experience. That is big bang for the buck.

Lets us face it, most of the viewers have a few chosen channels and that is what they watch. The operators on the other hand have to ensure that they offer something different from the run of the mill to get more people on to their network. The cable TV market is growing at 8-10% in India. With many state governments taking a cue from Karunanidhi, free color TVs will be distributed amongst a lot of people. With just two channels on terrestrial broadcast, these people will increasingly turn towards cable. That is where value packaging comes in. The distributor who can offer maximum value for money will rule the roost. And reliance with its deep pockets can afford to take a hit on the price of its equipments to lure customers. This is what was done when RCom launched its mobile service.

It is time to be worried for the other players. The big hulk is coming. Either adapt or perish. Let us now see which way the wind blows.

An alternative perspective on Reservation

I know its been long since my last post....and with that my resolution to post regularly goes out of the window.....lot has been happening around...convocation (Pappu pass ho gaya :))- will have a detailed post on that later- sitting at home, lazing around, nothing too exciting....in the meanwhile the reservation debate continues to make headlines....was planning a post on that, when I came across, this. Brilliantly put by none other than Mad Shuks.....you gotta love that man.....enjoy this till I come up with something to blog about....

I need a home

In the wake of the recent controversy unleashed by Mr. Raj Thackeray, here is my take. I am leaving this post open for comments. Help me find an answer.

I was born in Ranchi in erstwhile Bihar, now the capital of Jharkhand. My schooling was in Ranchi and in Bangalore. My parents have settled in Bangalore for close to 18 years now. I studied and learnt Kannada while in Bangalore at the same time out of my own initiative I learnt my mother tongue, which is Bengali. I learnt Hindi as I loved to read the literature in it. I did my engineering in Jamshedpur in Jharkhand. I met my dream girl there who is Oriya settled in Pondicherry. Then I went to work in Pune and subsequently that company transferred me to Mumbai. I got through one of the top B-Schools in the country located at Jamshedpur. The offers from various companies are mostly based out of Mumbai, with a rider that I should be mobile. I am a gourmet and love to eat food from various parts of the world. I love life. I love celebrations. I love to gorge on sweets and burst crackers during Diwali, but come December I eagerly wait to decorate the crib and eat plum cake and pudding. I wait for sewai during Id. I bow down before a temple, a church, a mosque, a gurdwara. My passion is stirred when I see the tri-color. I lustily sing Jana-gana-mana. My best friends are a Punjabi from UP, a Hyderabadi from Orissa, a Malyalee working in Jamshedpur, and a Malyalee from Delhi. I give my identity as an Indian. I love the vastness of this land. Unity in diversity. That is my country to me. It is my country. It is where I was born.

Till date I was never afraid of being an Indian. I dint know my caste till a few years back. I dint care. I was an Indian. I was a son of the soil. Does it mean that to be a son of the soil, I need to be born in the village? Is there any group that I belong to? What if I dont want to be part of any region? What if I say I am an Indian. This is my country. Mumbai blasts shocked me as much as the Nandigram issues. I volunteered to serve my people when the Tsunami hit Tamil Nadu. One of my best friends who is a TamBram started a drive for educating and enriching the lives of orphans in Pune. Should he not do this and stick to his work in TN? Why are you taking my country away from me? I dont want a state. I want the country. It is MY country. India is my Mother land. Should I stop being an Indian and stick to being a Bengali? Or perhaps even that is not acceptable as I was not born there.

Arundhati Roy makes a case for Afzal...

Ofcourse Ms. Roy, your heart beats for the poor terrorist. After all the Union of India has not been able to prove his guilt with conclusive evidence. It doesnt matter that people laid down their lives as a consequence of his action, it doesnt matter that our soldiers fight on a valiant battle so that you can sleep in peace. Tell us Ms. Roy, other than that Booker of yours, have you done anything which has wiped a widow's tear or brought the smile on the face of an orphan?

Ms. Roy, you were not abroad IC 814. Ms. Roy, remember Rupin Katyal? They are the nameless people who have lost their lives because of people like you Ms. Roy. You come out on the streets demanding Human Rights for these terrorists. But, ofcourse; a Rupin Katyal, newly married, going back from his honeymoon has no Human Rights, our army men on the freezing mountain tops have no Human Rights, the 7/11 blast victims did not have Human Rights, a Priyadarshini Matoo has no Human Rights.

All animals are equal, some are more equal than the others.

Private Public Property

There is an unusual phenomenon I have noticed in India. Especially in the cities. There seems to be unusual amount of Private Public Property (PPP). This PPP can be anywhere and anything. The most common ones are the roads and the state transport buses and of course Indian Railways.

Just last evening, I had the experience of trespassing on one of these so called PPP. The trespass went like this. In Thane, where I stay, there new Eastern Express highway crosses over the railway lines on a swanky new bridge and this ends at a place called Teen Hath Naka. Now, since it is an express highway, there are no gaps in the Median in between and one has to go till the Naka if one wants to turn. There is an easier route, which is the service road next to the highway. Now, last week being Ambedkar Jayanti and all, this service road was completely taken over by members of a local club and they had put up pandal, yes pandals, also know as tents, that too in the middle of the road. If this was not enough, they had the nerve to question our driver, why he chose to come through that particular road leaving the express way. Hell, I chose which road I go through. After all roads are public property aren't they?

Roads are public property when it comes to throwing your garbage on it. People who go to great lengths to keep their homes spotless, will nevertheless nonchalantly spit on the road and walk on. And when it comes to digging up a perfectly well laid road, the aam junta are no better than the government bodies. Any occasion is an excuse enough to put up a pandal and that calls for digging up the road. You ask them and they say, 'chota sa gaddha to hai'. What we don't realise is that small pit in the road will grow to become a nightmarish pothole.

Speaking of PPP, have you ever noticed how certain people make the suburban trains their private property? Just recently one lady was pushed out from a running train in Mumbai, because she dared climb into a local which had not originated from her junction. How stupid can you get? You kill some one for that? I know no action will be taken. As usual, people will escape under the guise of the mob. And some one else will pay for life, with life.

Sometimes I really wonder, is this a relic of our colonial past. Saala, sarkarri hai. Aapna kya jaata hai? People expect that the government will provide good roads, clean drinking water, high speed rail network etc. etc. "It is our fundamental right", it is said. But what about duties. Do we only have rights and no duties? Is only the government which is responsible for creating a nation which reflects the prosperity that it actually has? Are we not the citizens of this nation, or are we citizens of only our homes? Maybe we are neither, but a bunch of selfish, narrow minded individuals, who think we are the best in the world.

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.