To The God!!

Do you believe in God? One of the topics of discussion that I’ve always avoided is “The existence of God”.  Having grown up in a devotional Brahmin family, morning alarms for me have always been the chants of my parents in a mini-temple inside my home. I have been taught to believe in God. The almighty. But isn’t it always difficult to believe in something that you have never seen or experienced or something that can’t be proved. But like any obedient son, I also started “believing” in God without questioning the existence and then started avoiding any discussion.

You doubt the existence of God when you see so many poor people around, so many wars and killings of innocents, natural calamities and there are many questions that you would like to ask that phenomenon (or person?) called “God”. To be honest, there was always a voice inside me that kept annoying me about my surrender to that belief of God till the time I encountered pretty weird coincidences in my life. This blog is about those two coincidences that answered all my doubts.

First one happened in May 2006. I was working as an Assistant Manager at one of the leading MBA entrance institutes in Pune. A typical cycle of getting into MBA is to prepare for written exams till November and then attend GD/PI till Mar-April. I cleared many written exams but I was screwed in interviews. After getting clobbered at all the interviews of elite MBA institutes of India, I went back to my hometown for 15 days for refreshing myself.  To be away from the Pune world. I had no choice but to start preparing once again. During my stay there, I went to visit one of my friends’ homes, upon my mother’s insistence, despite knowing that my friend was not in town. His younger brother welcomed me and was very excited to show me the games he has uploaded onto his new DC. I was doing my time pass when suddenly he said “Bhaiya, why don’t you check the speed of Internet?”. I thought, “yeah, this might be the only best thing of this visit”. I checked the Internet and my jaw dropped after seeing one mail. It was a “written test” call from Infosys technologies. And the rest is history.

Second one happened in June 2008. I had just come back from the marriage of  my elder sister from Pune to Bangalore. She had left Bangalore few months back after being with me for around one and a half years. I was feeling devastated at that time because I had again screwed my MBA entrance exams (I had even stopped collecting my mails from the watchman knowing that no MBA institute is going to give me an admission this year so late), I was working in a hostile environment (I was handling the responsibilities which were designated for a person with at least 6 years of experience in IT sector) and the worst was that my supporting pillar (my sister) has left the town. I didn’t have any option than to continue my pursuit of MBA and keep working in that environment only. Then one day, I thought of taking half day leave and came back to my flat. I was sleeping when the doorbell rang. I woke up cursing the possibility of having a salesman as a visitor. But to my surprise, it was an admission offer from IMT Ghaziabad. And the rest is present.

Many times I wonder what if I would not have obeyed my Mother and not visited my friends place? I would have got the information about the written test after at least 3-4 days of written test. What if I would not have taken that half-day from work? I would have got the information about my admission after at least one month of due date.

Two incidents that changed my life. Now many would call them mere coincidences. Maybe its human tendency to attribute everything that is un-understandable to the God. But I find it hard to believe them as coincidences. Too many right things happening at the right time (Right time because I was facing the worst time). I think there is someone up there who pulls the strings at the right time for you. That person can be of any form or may be even shapeless. You just need wait for your turn. My belief in that entity has increased since then. I’ve found His form in the Gods my parents have introduced me to. 

I need His coincidences in the next few days more than ever. And my colleagues too. Hey are you listening up there??

 

It's in the air now!!

The reasons given to everyone were- “will help me to grow in longer run”, “will help me to get identified”, “will help me to understand business side of the corporate” and blah..blah..blah. The above are the reasons why many of us joined MBA. But every damn person knows that the main reason is- “Will help me to get a FAT cheque salary”.

The mauj-masti, gaaje-baaje,  dhol-dhamake, night outs, bonfires, and yeah some times studies kept us busy for almost 17 months. Now the time is for the real thing. Placements. Our very reason for investing so much of money. The only criteria on the basis of which every single b-school is rated by the aspirants (though many would say infra, quality of faculty, location etc. but all that is a lie and that too a big one). Why cant people state that simple thing – “I came here to get a good salaried job dumbo”.

 If you get a chance to live in different parts of the country, you live with different kind of people in different surroundings, then you become a good observer. Yeah you really become one. Don’t believe? Meet me sometime.

So nowadays, I’m using my “observing” skills around the campus. People are behaving in really different manners. People are discussing the possible questions they are going to face in the interviews. And believe me, after so much of brainstorming, those questions are still unanswered. The other thing all of us are doing is trying to figure out why we wrote those subjects as “areas of interest” in our CV’s and now trying to really make them interesting. I’ll give you some other examples.

Many of my friends are telling all of us -“I’m expecting PPO anyday” from the day they have finished their summer training. But that day has not arrived yet, unfortunately and those poor guys have also picked up a book from their “areas of interest”. Hope that their ordeal ends sooner and they get the “PPO”.

Some are trying to figure out why they left their company early and joined MBA because they feel this is the first question the visiting company is going to ask. Some people have really started “preparation”. You can find them completely immersed in their book and laptops in the library.

There are many other kind of ways in which people are behaving but the most dangerous ones are those who don’t want to talk about placements. The moment you utter the dreaded “P” word, they will say “Placements ki baat mat kar yaar” in a very low-heavy voice, with a lot of facial-muscle movements, which actually sounds funny but they feel if they use the correct modulation, they will enforce a greater impact. To hell with that. In the placements season if one is not going to talk about placements then are we going to discuss “Rakhi Sawant” or the winter of Delhi?

Now what am I doing? I’m continuing my daily routine of harassing my friends. Wishing that the company does not keep an upper cut-off for work experience. And trying to study daily, but not been able to read a single page.

Anyway, jokes apart, I sincerely wish everyone gets the job they hoped for before joining the institute. As the economy is recovering, it seems possible more than anytime in last one year. Amen!!

A Salute to the Master

A very common saying is that we should not expect anything from anyone. It’s said to be one of the ways of not getting hurt or disappointed. But is it possible for anyone of us, and also for the one who said the above saying, to not to expect anything from anyone? We all in life want to fulfill the expectations of many people we know and, in the same manner we expect many things from other people. The main question is how many people’s expectations ride on our shoulders? 10? 20? And honestly, we have buckled many times because of the pressure of these expectations. Ever thought of the pressure on the person who has carried the burden of one billion expectations on his shoulders and met those expectations with dignity for 20 years?

In next few days you will read and listen a lot of things about this person: Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. When I started writing this blog, I thought what is there that I can write that has not already been written about this maestro? But I think my blog will miss out something if I miss this golden opportunity to write about Him.  You’ll find Bachchans, Khans, Gavaskars of the world praising this man. So may be, I can write about him from a common man’s perspective.

I belong to that generation of viewers whose interest grew in cricket as Sachin’s stature in the world cricket grew. I can say that I started watching cricket because of Sachin only.  And that is still my reason to watch cricket. I, as a kid, loved to watch a short-tiny guy sending the fiercest of the bowlers out of the grounds. I’ve grown watching this short-tiny 16-year old newcomer to a 36-year old mentor of the budding cricketers. Everything has changed in cricket but Sachin. Whether it was his demolition of NZ in world cup ’92 or his heroics on Nov 2009 against Australia.

My favorite scores in One-dayers is Ind: Anything for no loss and in test cricket it is Ind: Anything for 2 wickets. Because these scores are assurances that yes, he’s still there. There are many cricketers who will equal his records (as ponting is approaching in Tests) but one thing about him that is unmatchable is the dignity with which he has carried himself.

When our new generation cricketers go over the top after hitting one century, imagine how much effort this guy needs who has 87 centuries to his name. But he denies that he needs some extra effort. It’s his upbringing that helps him to remain humble. And that is what he has been a symbol of. He is an icon not because of his runs and centuries. He is an icon for hard work he has shown. He is an icon for the humbleness he has shown. He is a symbol of honesty. He is a symbol of middle-class aspiration. He has given courage to all the people who want to do something in life.

I remember when I used to stick to the TV even if India is 9 down but Sachin is there. And turn off the TV when Sachin’s out. No one can command this power over the audience. I wish that he gets the only feather that is missing from his crown- World Cup Victory. I know he’ll retire from cricket someday. But he will always be remembered for more than his runs and centuries. How I wish that he can continue playing cricket forever. I thank God that I have seen God of cricket playing. I salute the God. Of Cricket.

A Festival called LIFE!!

Remember that essay that we used to write on the topic of favorite festival and the essay always started with the line “ India is a land of festivals”? Well, India indeed is a land of festivals. As a kid, festivals meant holidays, sweets and presents. Those were the days when we literally used to thank “India” for truly being a land of “festivals”. 

And, of course, like every other kid, my favorite festival was also Diwali. I can still recount the ways in which we used to prepare for this festival of “light”. The preparation used to start 15-20 days before the festival. Just like anything else, the preparation was more fun than the actual celebration on the day of Diwali. Diwali meant painting the whole house, buying new clothes, buying sweets and crackers and many other things. Diwali really was the essence of all the festivals being celebrated in our country.

But that was Diwali of childhood. We changed and so changed the meaning of each and every festival for us. At least for people like me who had to move out of their hometowns early in life. Either because of studies or because of jobs. I have lost the count of how many festivals I had to celebrate away from my family. But that is the bitter truth of life that we had to swallow.

I feel lucky if I’m at my home for any festival. Now, festivals do not automatically mean all those beautiful things they used to mean during our childhood. Whether you are going to enjoy any “festival” as really a “festival” depends either on the phase your current project is in or on the schedule decided by your college administration. How dependent our life has become on others?

But I think that’s the way life is and it is up to us to find ways how to enjoy maximum of it. The important thing today is to be with your loved ones. So now, my definition of festivals has changed big time. A festival for me now is none from the list that I used to write in one of those essays. A festival for me is anytime of the year when I get to be in my hometown with my loved ones. A get together with family and friends is the best thing that I look forward to. And that is my way to say “Cheers” to the festival called “life". I wish that every one gets to celebrate this festival and then I’m sure that no one will ever miss any of those other festivals.

Wake Up You Media

There is always one city that reminds you of many things close to your heart and those things can be your first job, great friendships, your first love and many other lovely memories. For me, that city is Pune.

Pune. The city that is popularly called as cultural capital of Maharashtra and Oxford of the East. One of the best cities of India. Of the world if you ask me. Its been exactly 38 months since I left that city but the memories of my stay there are very much the same today as they were on the day I was leaving Pune. I’ve been a frequent visitor to the city since then. But I’ve not gone to Pune from last one year because of my studies. But this month, I got a week away from my college and a golden opportunity to visit MY city. So, the reservations were done, friends were informed, even a detailed schedule (and a tight one for that matter) was made and what not. But I wish life were that simple and predictable.

The fourth estate played the spoiler. The so-called fourth pillar of Indian democracy – The Media.

Actually the main reason was my parents not allowing their son to set a foot into a city that is suffering from a pandemic called “swine flu”. Pandemic?? At least that’s what people like my parents understood from media attributing any death in Pune to swine flu. And its not parents if you can’t be afraid of the possibility of only their son catching the disease out of 3.6 million population of Pune. So I succumbed to the demands or rather fears of my parents and cancelled the whole plan and apologized to all my friends.

This whole episode once again raised the question on the accountability and credibility of all those 24X7 non-stop news channels of our country. There’s no denying the fact that swine flu was a potential threat but so is anything else like a road accident, pneumonia etc. But the magnitude by which media blew this whole swine flu paranoia out of proportion really makes one ask the exact business that media is in- News reporting or News creating?

My guess would be the second one. I asked my friends about the situation on the ground level and all replied unequivocally – its all media hype. Yes, we need to be careful when there’s a possibility of a deadly disease’s infection. But do we sit at home because there’s a possibility of a road accident? No. We choose to drive carefully. And this is what media could’ve done. Giving more information and advising the ways in which a person can avert a possible attack could’ve been more useful rather than blaming a poor swine for the death of even a diabetic!! One of my friends told me that people in Pune are going for a morning walk, with their puppies, wearing the protective masks as if they are giving a fashion statement.

But this is not the only instance when media went out of their way to make juicy headlines and increase their TRPs and finally the ad revenues. Be it 26/11 Mumbai attacks, Attacks on North-Indians in Maharashtra, Aarushi Talwar murder case- media has let millions like me down who believe that media can play a very constructive role in the country’s affairs without even compromising on their business.

It’s not that media has not done anything good at all. We also have the examples like Jessica Lal murder case and Teach India campaign where media has done an exceptional job. But it mostly indulges in activities or news that do more harm than good. Media made a lost, forgotten, rejected hooligan into a hero of the cause of sons-of-the-soil!! I wish and hope that our fourth estate will deliver what was expected from it by the founding fathers of our constitution.

And hey, no one can stop me from visiting Pune coming April.

Happy Birthday To You India

During school days, first two weeks of August were my favorites. One reason for this was that my birthday used to bring me many gifts and that was my day to be the cynosure of all the people around me. It was my day to feel the boss of the world. The other reason was the Independence Day. And honestly, it had nothing to do with the patriotism.

As was the tradition in the schools all over the country, everyone at my school used to switch to the ‘preparation’ mode. Everyone was preparing for something from Principal to teachers to students. Be it the welcome speech for the chief guest, extra curricular like dance, drama, group songs etc. And these preparations were a welcome break for people like me who detest studying (even today). But there was a catch. The ‘break’ was meant only for people who were ‘ performing’. So it eventually led to my participation in almost every other performance. This also justifies my liking for all these extra curricular till date.

You can be sure of reading many articles about the state of the country today, few black n white clipping of Britishers beating Indian freedom fighters, those old patriotic songs and movies, a detailed analysis of what we have achieved in last 62 years, prominent figures distributing alms to the poor, PM giving speech from the Red fort and many other things which I cant write here because of the paucity of space.

The point is, do we want to ‘celebrate’ our Independence Day by seeing/reading all the above things that are repeated every year? Do we want to again listen to someone on the television about his take on patriotism? Or do we really want to do something different this year? But before anything else, do we want to be patriotic citizen or a responsible citizen? Are the terms ‘patriotic citizen’ and ‘responsible citizen’ different?

To me, they are same. Patriotism includes, of course, fighting at the border, doing charity for the society, helping poor, and maybe joining politics or any government agency where we can take decisions to take our great country forward. But these are not the only ways to be patriotic. These are the popular or mostly known ways to be patriotic.

But the one way which is comes closest to my definition of patriotism is being a responsible citizen. Now being responsible is very subjective and can vary from person to person. But there are certain qualities that apply to every Indian. Being responsible is to throw your garbage in the dustbin and not on the street. Being responsible is to switch off the bulbs and fans before locking the door. Being responsible is to close the water tap tightly (come on, it takes half turn more to the right in less than a second). Being responsible is pushing your chair under the table after you’ve finished your meal in the mess. Being responsible is stopping at the red signal behind the zebra crossing. And there are many other ways to be responsible.

These things are those that I see daily in my college. And these are not the ones that are visible in my college only. Its everywhere you go. I’ve worked in one of the best software companies of India. The condition was same there as well. And literally, my heart bleeds to see so-called “literate” and “highly-qualified” people failing to follow the basic etiquette of being responsible. I refuse to accept that these people don’t know or understand their responsibilities. The same people who use to throw their coffee cups in the street will become well civilized when they will go to a foreign country. You can’t dare to spit on the road in US because that would cost you $100. So you follow ‘rules’ there. If you can do that in a foreign country then why this ill treatment towards your own country? 

Yeah I know I got a bit carried away. Everyone today glees over the fact that they can do what they wish. But I think we are not able to understand the cost that our forefathers had to bear to attain what we fall “freedom”. With freedom comes great responsibility. And let us not forget that. I’ve made a simple resolution this year again – to be more responsible. And that is best gift I can give to my country. My love.

 

Dedicated to Friendship!!

Remember that painting of a deer standing near a waterfall in a jungle with a beautiful home and two kids playing with their puppy in the background? I had one such lovable painting hanging in our drawing room. It was the essence of our drawing room. I was in love with that painting so much that I tried my hands at painting for the first time in my life. Of course I tried to paint a replica of that painting but whatever was the outcome, my love for my hand-drawn painting overwhelmed my love for that scenic beauty hanging on the wall. At that time I didn’t realize why I was enthralled more with my creation but after a few years, I got my answer. Because it was MY creation. I worked on it from scratch. And I remember protecting my painting till the time I got involved in more worldly things.
But there was a lesson from that entire episode. It’s in human nature to be partial towards their own creation. And that’s true for the relationships as well.
We have got two kinds of relationships. One is by the virtue of the fact that we are the children of our parents. And second is the one which we created on our own. And that’s called Friendship.
Enough has already been written about friendship but that enough never sounds good enough. Adjectives fail and nouns and verbs go into sabbatical when we try to describe that relationship called Friendship.
Friendship is just like that seed which we have sown, nurtured with care, protected from every evil and then seen it grow into a shadowy tree providing fruits of comfort, warmth, care and love for our whole life. Maybe, I used some adjectives from my limited vocabulary and my pathetic narration should be pardoned. But the whole point is that friendship is that one (and the only one) relationship which is not gifted to us because of our bloodline. We make it happen. We make it work. And we make it worthy enough to live our whole life for.
It was friendship when you shared your school lunch boxes. It was friendship when you wanted to be on the same team with few special people. It was friendship when you wanted to do what some other special people were planning to do for graduation. It was friendship you looked up to for money when wanted to buy an expensive gift for your first crush. And it was again friendship when you needed a shoulder for comfort after breaking up with some one you thought was love of your life. And it has been and it will again be friendship when you’ll need to make an emergency call at 2 in the morning.

The only relationship which comes closer to friendship is Love. But I don’t think Love can stand on its own. I would say its just an extension of friendship. And yeah..friendship is always older than love. There’s no love possible if you don’t have a friendship.

I’m lucky enough to have celebrated every friendship day with, touchwood, an ever growing list. And I hope that this will continue my whole life. Friends are like jewels in your crown and you are the luckiest person on the planet if you have even one jewel. So, how many jewels you’ve got?

Happy Friendship Day

Living life...Musically!!

God has created this Universe. Humans included. And since the time of Adam and Eve, humans have also created many things. I’ve studied and heard umpteen numbers of times that the greatest invention by human is the “wheel”. Sorry. I disagree. Ok..Ok..There are many uses and inventions that followed the invention of wheel. But neither as a kid nor as an adult the wheel has amazed me ever.  I feel world would have been a better place to live without it. If you doubt my argument, ask the environmentalist. I’m writing this blog to share my amazement over that one invention (or discovery?) by (of?) human. Music.

Music is the essence of life of most of the people in this world. I can say for sure that no one can survive without actually loving music in some or the other form. Nothing else has the power to arouse the kind of emotion that music can. And the impact becomes more tangible and visible when lyrics are intertwined with music.

I remember, as a kid my favorite songs were those that can make me dance. We used to go to the birthday parties of our friends for cake and sweets but no birthday party can finish without having dance performances from all the kids. And who can forget all the marriages in the family? Can anyone imagine any marriage without music? Music played at high volume use to put some extra energy in our veins!!

Then we became teenager and we started understanding the type of music and started categorizing music on the basis genres. Those were the days of puppy love and crushes. We started making more sense out of the songs we listened. We started making collection of songs and greater the collection, greater your esteem among your friends.

Adolescence is the time when we actually live the music. It flows in our blood. There are songs that remind us of that someone special. If you are still with that someone then you are listening to love songs and ghazals with deep meaning lyrics. And if you’ve broken up with that someone then sad songs come to your rescue. But whatever state you are in, music is there in your life as your companion.

And this goes on and on for your whole your life. Don’t you listen your parents often suddenly singing a song when that song comes on TV or radio? When it comes to music, age is no bar. It represents the celebration of life. Celebration of life becomes sweeter when it is done musically. I can’t even imagine life without it. Music can make you experience all the emotions. Love, happiness, sadness and many more. Hang on…one of my favorite songs is coming on radio. By the way, your favorite song is?

 

 

It's Rain Time!!

As a kid, my favorite season was summer season. We, as children, always believed that the best thing in the world is the holidays and the vacations. So, summers automatically raced ahead of any other season by a long distance. Summers were the time of enjoying in our own world, reunion with cousins, swimming, mangoes and what not. We never bothered about the temperature at that time. What mattered at that time was that we don’t have to worry about the homework and all the boring routine. I never actually understood the logic behind the inclination of grown-ups towards rainy season.

For me, rainy season was that part of the year when you are supposed to start a new academic session, again the hectic school schedule, you can’t play cricket, you can’t go swimming, you have to be mentally prepared for unforeseen cancellation of any outings. So in all, I hated rainy season.

But time changed and so changed my outlook towards the seasons. It all started when I started understanding the fact that beauty of this earth is mostly because of the rains. It provides respite from long drawn summers to Indians. Many parts of India witness mercury shooting up to 48 degrees during summers. So rains are always a welcome relief.

Last week, I tasted the first rain of this year. The fragrance of maiden drops of water on soil is unmatchable. You want to get soaked in those messengers of greenery even if that means catching cold. You can actually spend hours looking at the rain from your window with a cup of coffee in your hand. You actually want to do a rain dance!! Rains bring a green blanket for earth with it. Now I also realize why all the good Indian sayings have taken rains as the example: “Khusiyo ki baarish” or “Dhan ki varsha” etc.

But rains are not about only the scenic beauty. Rains means happiness. It also brings in prosperity. Good monsoons are always a cause of joy for farmers. It’s the source of ground water. Our necessity of using (or may be wasting) disproportionate amount of water is also fulfilled by these rains. But I fear for the day when there will not be enough rains. And the effects of that are already visible. Human greed has resulted in imbalance of things. We hear about floods and draughts more often now. Blessings don’t take much time to turn into fury. So rains also remind us of our responsibilities towards the nature.

Lessons of Life

We all dream a lot. Dreaming with eyes closed. Dreaming with eyes wide open. Dreams of career. Dreams of a beautiful spouse. Dreams of high social status. And then, we try our best to make those dreams come true. It’s not an overstatement that we, most of the times, dream of things which are unrealistic. But it’s not human to not dream. But while dreaming, we unintentionally tend to disconnect with people who are real. Our parents. Our friends. Our loved ones.

Life, in some or the other way, keeps reminding us of the people who are worth dying for. And I got one dose two days back. One of my best friends lost his mother to cancer. He tried his best with money and time and care. He even sacrificed a seat in one of the country’s best b-schools for his mother. But at the end of the day, everything was not in his hand. But then everything is in no one’s hands.

This whole thing makes me wonder what wrong he ever did in his life to deserve this? To lose his mother so early?  These are those frustrating questions that no one has answers for. It’s all destinies and nothing is in our control.

But we can do one thing that is in our control. Love the people who are close to us more than ever.

I think we don’t need these examples to change our outlook towards important people in our lives. But these examples help greatly to remind us that we should not lose our chance to enjoy life and spend some special moments with them. While they are here. We are here.

Hail Bangalore!! Hail India!!

I’m an avid blog reader. Actually, I started writing blogs because I’ve, myself , followed many blogs for years. Just continuing my habit of reading blogs, I recently read a blog on Obama’s outburst against US companies that are involved in outsourcing. So, I got an idea of writing something on the same topic.

Our politicians can really take a leaf out of Obama’s intentions of fulfilling promises, which he made during his election campaign. One such promise was to stop job loss in US because of outsourcing. This man is taking each of his promises one by one and this is really commendable. But all his moves to counter recession smell of highly condemned socialism. And this is coming from the self-proclaimed champion of capitalism who has been teaching the whole world how to do business since time immemorial!!

This policy of protectionism is not new. It has been followed by the capitalist countries whenever their own share has been in danger (remember the time when Japan flooded US market with its small cars??).

 Mr. Obama’s recent remark against the companies “which are creating jobs in Bangalore, India and not in Buffalo, NY” has its own set of supporters and critics. The supporters consist precisely of the general public of US that, like any other country’s common people, has been lured by populist measures. The accusation of Obama against companies, which are indulged in outsourcing, as tax evaders holds little water. Can it be possible for companies to outsource just because they don’t want to pay taxes? And all that talk of low-cost-high-skilled human resources and improved efficiency doesn’t seem logical to the policy makers of Obama administration. And what about many other indirect advantages of outsourcing like creation of more jobs for the home country citizens by the way of giving companies room for more expansion and investment through the cost that has been saved?

But its politics to talk of populist measures even if they are illogical. In this whole episode, Obama has done one thing unintentionally and that is – he has given Bangalore the kind of publicity which would have taken many more years if would have done only by Infy’s and Wipros of Indian silicon valley. Now, the name “Bangalore” has been firmly pasted into the minds of many people across the globe. He has proved himself to be the best ambassador of the Brand Bangalore in particular and Brand India in all.

Indians have often been accused of being xenophobic. It’s heartening to see as an Indian that accusers have now become the accused. The statements made by Obama are not going to affect India at all (courtesy: Narayana Murthy and other dignitories) but it will, in turn, create more business opportunities in India. We hope that the corporate world in US will make the policy makers to see the benefits of outsourcing and stop this policy of unwarranted protectionism.

Morning Blues Are Here Again

They have come again. The same feeling. The same resistance to wake up in the morning. The same old habit of extending the alarm by brief-10-minutes durations. Yeah..yeah..I’m talking about the morning blues!!

It has only been two-weeks since my academically-compulsory summer training started to give me (along with 419 other students of my college) a hands-on-experience-of-the-real-world. But hang on!! Why do I need this experience? Having already spent good five years working, I don’t see any value addition for myself. But, as they say, not everything in life happens the way you want it to happen.

So, I was forced to make a compromise with my destiny (but isn’t that something everyone does many times in life?). The day starts with a rush to reach the company amid the question in my mind - “What am I gonna do the next 10 hours??”. The same question comes with brutal consistency everyday. But thank God, I’ve Internet access. And the day ends with a relief of passing one more day. I can bet that many of my colleagues are definitely missing DLP, Amphi, BBC, DC etc the same way I’m missing.

I remember the day when I got selected to do my summers in this company. The ONLY reason I decided to participate in the selection process of this company was the promised location - Indore. 

Indore. The city of cultures, festivals, and most importantly, the food. My usage of ‘THE ‘ before ‘food’ itself tells the whole story. The city is famous for its wide range of cuisines. The menu includes mouth-watering stuffs like patties, garadu, hot dog, bhutte ka kis, Rabri-jalebi and what not. You can see the malls mushrooming everywhere like any other metro or fast developing city of India but the real differentiator here is that while looking at scenic beauty or modernity of the city, you can feel the religious chants penetrating your ears. People here might be very fluent in english but the tone in which they speak hindi is very unique. I must say that Indore presents a very good example of a city which is competing with the modern world while firmly keeping its roots intact. Hats off to the spirit of Indore.

I’m waiting desperately for my summer training to end but at the same time, I can feel the pain of leaving the city I love the most. And one question still persists. Despite being the only city in India which can boast of having both - an IIM and an IIT, more than 30 engineering colleges, reputed colleges in the field of medicines and commerce etc does not have industry big-shots? This question actually pinches me. May God give some good brains to the politicians here and may they create an environment which can bring big MNC’s here and my dream of living here can be fulfilled. Amen!!

I Want To Be The PM Of India

I’m very fond of enriching my vocabulary. I love learning new words and their spellings. I never faced any difficulty learning spellings of words till 1st June 1996. The news of that day announced the new PM of our country - Honorable Shri H.D. Devegowda. Now, I was struggling to learn his name’s spelling. But there were many other intriguing things that I came to know about, later on. It was the government which was formed by the party of a person with a strength less than 10% of the total seats in parliament. I took some time to understand the concept of coalition governments and politics in India, in general.

Few days back, EC announced the dates of general elections in India. Attention world!! The great Indian “Tamasha” will commence in April. The world will watch this “Tamasha” with its eyes wide open - wondering (and applauding) the magnitude of this whole political drama. Many foreigners want to come and witness this grand event when second most populous and the largest democracy on the planet will choose its next government. 

Gone are the days when general elections were considered to be a one or two party shows. Coalition politics is the order of the day where many parties (having weird abbreviations!!) will contest the elections and eventually choose the person who will be at the helm of country’s affairs - The Prime Minister. And no, we are not in the era where the PM’s post is the prerogative of a famous surname. Its not the prerogative of the leader of the largest party in the parliament either. Today, anyone can be the PM. The names which are cropping up till now are - Manmohan singh, L.K. Advani, Sonia Gandhi, Sharad Pawar, Mayawati and the list goes on. I just want to add one more name to the list - Amit Kumar Sharma. I thought when everyone is joining the race of “me too - me too”, why should I stop myself from saying “ME TOO”.

This is not an impulsive decision. A long thought process is behind this decision. I started with identifying the qualities required to be the PM. First one which crossed my mind was the education. And no, I’m not talking about the degrees one can accumulate from (possibly fraud) universities of our country. I’m talking about the education of our country’s people, culture, problems etc. These are very much required for anyone who aspires to be the PM.

Second one is the vision. A person should be very clear about where he/she wants to take our country from here. And no, I’m not talking about the list of grandiose lies which every political party comes up with. I’m talking about the realistic vision. The vision should be to take our country to the next levels by tapping all the talents and resources available. The vision should be to attain growth that should be inclusive in nature. We don’t want a PM to make rich richer and poor poorer.

Third is the outlook. The outlook towards all the communities of our country. The outlook towards communalism, regionalism, ethnicity, linguistic issues etc. We cannot afford a person who is capable of poisoning the social fabric of our country. The person should not be biased towards any community - positively or negatively.

Last one is the Honesty. I’m talking about the honesty in intentions. The person should have the honest intentions of serving the country and its people. Politics is and should remain a thankless job. It is not for those who are seeking power and money.

Now, you’ll wonder whether I possess these qualities or not. Maybe I do or maybe I don’t. Maybe the urgent thrust to complete my education and to earn a fat salary is the biggest hurdle, not only for me but for many young people who dream to have the politicians having above mentioned qualities. We all have been brought in the environment  where every person thinks of having a Bhagat Singh who will sacrifice his life for the country, but he should take birth not at our home but at neighbor’s home. We all have other big plans for ourselves.  Good qualification, good job, big house, cars, beautiful and smart spouse and many other things are our targets. And when we’ll grow old, we’ll tell our spouse while sitting in the garden - “Darling, the level of politics has gone so down that no one can save this country”.

I may not become the PM of our country and I may not be able to choose the PM but I’ll make sure that the MP for whom I’m going to vote have the above mentioned qualities. People who don’t vote forfeit the right to criticize the politicians and politics. Actually they deserve what they are getting in terms of leaders. But I’ve made a resolution. I’m not going to be a silent spectator. I’m going to get my voice heard. And I’m going to make a start by making sure that I vote on 23rd April (date of vote in my city).  By the way, when is the voting in your city?

India and Slumdog Millionaire

I was 6 or 7 years old when my class teacher asked us to listen to english news everyday. It was her way of reminding us that we were studying in a convent school. And for once in my whole student life, I obliged my teacher. That was the time when english news was telecasted on DD, daily at 10:00 in the evening. I somehow managed to remain awake till the news. I followed the news very enthusiastically. I mean how many times in your student life you get a sense of finishing homework by watching TV? So, I obediently finished my homework. But, I was stuck at one phrase - Third world country. I asked my mom what is the meaning of that and whether India falls under that category or not. No prizes for guessing what answer I got from my mom.

I'd just been introduced to another India. I mean most of us, the one who's writing this blog and the ones who will read this blog, belong to that strata of society where mentioning a wish is equivalent to getting your wish fulfilled. Since then, that "third world country" tag attached to my country has pinched me. But I'm now used to this tag and I've made a compromise with my mind. But that compromise seems to be severely affected by recent events, particularly the movie - Slumdog Millionaire.

SM is a movie made by a foreigner, for the audience which is foreigner and has won the awards organized by foreigners. No, I'm not taking any credit away from the director. I give my heartiest congratulations to all the people who won the awards but what pinches me is the whole fuss created around and the whole "self-congratulatory" atmosphere. Why do we, as Indians, are more conscious about the western recognition? Its good to get recognition from the world for your talent but this unnecessary beating of drums from roof tops seems to be childish. The film depicted the slums, hindu-muslim riots, underworld and all those things that has already been shown in many Indian movies and believe me, in a much better way (Watch Satya, Company, Bombay if you doubt me!!). And I can say for sure as an ardent Rahman fan that he has given much better songs than Jai Ho!!

It would be unfair to talk about only SM. Certain Sunita Williams, who has never put a foot in India, goes to space and India erupts in joy!! Certain Bobby Jindal, who thought it was necessary to change your religion to succeed in US, wins the election of a governor, and Indian media never gets tired of the headlines and editorials about him. Fine. These are the "individuals" who have been very successful in their respective careers but do we, as a nation, need to congratulate ourselves for these accomplishments which are truly individualistic in nature? What is the contribution of India in their successes? Or, other way round, what these people are going to contribute for India?

My whole point is that we need to stop being silly. We are a third world country and there is no doubt about it. But if some foreigner shows it on the canvas to the foreigners and bags some awards, do we need to enjoy it? I would better enjoy Rahman's and Resul's awards because they are really been given for personal excellence and talent. 

One of my professors recently said that we don’t have pride as a nation. This statement never seemed truer before!! We need to understand the psyche of the so called “first world” countries that they are never going to do anything for us. I would love to see the headline " India has decided to do this to Pak" instead of "US acknowledges cross-border terrorism". They just love to see the streets with cows, snake charmers and beggars. And face it. They are the most biased and selfish people you can ever think of. We’ve to fight with all our miseries ourselves. I know its better said than done but at least we can start thinking about doing something for our country. We need to remind ourselves that we can really teach others many great things (I don’t want to mention those things because of paucity of space) which we’ve inherited by the virtue of the fact that we are INDIANS.

What's your category?

So its again that time of the year when you start thinking about roses and presents. Not, in all cases, because your inner self makes you to do that but mostly because wherever you see, you find ads begging you to express your love using the medium being advertised. The feeling should be contributed more to the Archies and Hallmarks of the world. Hail the new world of “capitalism-consumerism-materialism” !! But hang on....I’m not writing this blog to attack this new world order but I want to focus more on the subject line of this blog. I just want to share my thoughts on the way different people view this time of the year.

First and the one which has maximum number of people is the one called “Single”. People in this category have never been able to gift any roses and even if they have gifted, it has not been accepted. People in this category live in the hope of getting someone in the near future and some of them mostly spend this time of the year cribbing about the “uselessness” of such a brouhaha over an alien tradition till the time they find someone. This category is a major contributor to the so called moral  brigades like Shiv sena, Ram Sene etc etc.. Single people often retort with the usual answer “I’m OK with being single” but they know deep in their heart that they are lying big time. They wait and long for the love of their life.

Second and the most coveted one is the category of “Engaged”. And yes, this category is special and contains very lucky few. People in this category spend most of their time thanking “Reliance Communications” and ,of course, talking with each other. They feel that they are the boss of the world and they have every right to feel so. But some of them, who’ve seen some hollywood movies dubbed in hindi, shamelessly show their affection publicly. There are many in this category who at some point of time feel “Is this the person I’m going to spend rest of my life with?”. But everything said and done, this category is the one in which everyone wants to be in. And simply these are the target customers for the companies selling cards, gifts, heart shaped balloons and all.

The last one is of “Single Again”. These are the new Dev-D’s of world who have been betrayed or dumped or taken wrong decisions earlier. People in this category are the ones because of whom the beer bars can claim to show profits irrespective of the recessions. These people, most of the time, become unsolicited advisors or love gurus. These are the “experienced” chaps. They will advise people not to fall in love and that love is a waste of time etc...etc... They are big fans of “Atif” and will have the hello tunes of songs like “Tere bin kaise jiya main...”. They have memories of their valentines day and they remember them by boozing a bit extra on 14th Feb.

Now the question arises that which is the best category? There is no straight forward answer to this question which any person can give you but if you ask yourself, the best thing, and not the category, is to fall in love with someone. It doesn’t matter whether you reach the dreamed destination or not or whether your love has been accepted or not. Unlike birthdays and other anniversaries, you don’t need a fixed date to express your love to your beloved. The only day which matters is today. The only time which matters is now. The best gift that you can offer to anyone is a promise to be together for your whole life. It’s a feeling which no one can explain in silly blogs but can only be felt. You should fall in love. It makes you a better person.

Finding relief during the times of recession

These are the bad times. I read somewhere that "our greatest hopes and our worst nightmares are seldom realized". Now, when I read the daily newspapers, I read about gloomy economic scenario everywhere. Even our PM has said that the coming times are going to be tougher!! So, I ask myself whether our worst fears have been realized or there's still something unseen-and-unheard of which is about to happen??

The severity of the "global meltdown" is now more visible in every industry of India as well. Daily, we hear or read about one or the other company deciding to "downsize" or "lay-off" a few thousand employees. Even the "mass-recruiter" IT firms of India have put the brakes on their hiring spree!! It makes all of us to pray for better times. The reasons for all this (downturn) are getting published everyday in the newspaper and I do not wish to write anything about them here in my blog.

Now the subject of the blog is self explanatory but you'd be thinking what solutions do I have and why don't I just sell those solutions to the big-wigs of industry?? Seriously, I don't have any solution and we all know that the solutions, that the governments all around the world are implementing, for this recession will take time to show the results. But the main question here is what can we do or how do we find relief?? What to do when every other thing sounds depressing??

Well, I'll tell you what I've decided to do and I think many of you would like those steps that I've taken.

What I did was, I made a list of things that can bring smile on my face or a sense of joy or can entertain me during any time (war or peace:))

So, the first thing I've done is that I've stopped reading the articles that give gloomy outlooks of the economy. I just read the articles that have something about the steps to be taken or something positive only. Though my preference is reading about the recruitment plans of the companies but anyway...Yeah, yeah I know that there are not many articles nowadays that gives the news that can help to bring an upward curve on your face but if these kind of articles are not there, then you at least save time!! So you are the winner in any case and puh-leese..GK improvement can take a break for a while!! No one wants his/her GK to be full of tragedies!!

The second thing,of course, is talking to my family and friends more often. This seems very obvious or a very simple suggestion but believe me it works. I thank all these telecom companies who have made life easier for people like me who have lived most of their life outside their native place. Though the preference is meeting family and friends but talking on phone will also do.

The third thing is watching videos of some of the best innings of Sachin (here, I assume that many of you are a cricket fan and if not then you can watch any of your favorites sports' ties). My favorites are back-to-back tons against Australia in sharjah, '98 or the one against pakistan in world cup, '03 or the one against Australia in '08 in Austarlia. The list can go on and on but this gives you the idea. It's not for nothing they say "Sports is a big healer" and yes it is!!

The fourth thing is watching some of the classical movies again and again. My list includes Andaz apna apna, DCH, Golmaal('79), Lakshya and some of the Amitabh movies. My list includes either a comedy or a sort-of morale boosting stuff. 

The last thing is go for any of your greatest passions in life. Mine is learning guitar. So, in bits and pieces though, I've started troubling my jammed fingers. But the credit goes to my classmate Ankit for accepting me as a student (I think my fear worked!!).

They say that when in trouble, a person always turns to the best he has got. I've turned to the things that I know are good enough to bail me out from any kind of trouble (though bailing out the economy might be a bit difficult task:)). These are just the bad times and they will pass. The need of the hour is to keep ourselves motivated enough so that we don't loose out in the race which will go on our whole life (irrespective of the downturn or upturn!!). And believe me, we will win for sure because I believe, now, its the turn of our greatest hopes to get realized:)

These days will not come back

I've been so lucky in my life that I've always felt that the present days are the best days of my life and then the same story goes on and on. I've always been blessed with some truest friends that one can imagine. And that's why life has been so easy and entertaining. In fact one of my friends just wrote me a testimonial where he said that " keep joking with life and life wont dare to joke with you"...So true!!!

When I got a call to join one of the best colleges (If i dare to say..) of India, I was very apprehensive of the fact that incoming to my bank account will stop and then there's no end to the outgoing:( But, anyway, I decided to join the college (after troubling my friends for their advices). Everyone who heard the news was wishing me along with a word of caution. Now the caution was to be taken while roaming around the city because the city in which my "prestigious" college is located tops the crime charts every year!! I was thanking my stars because not many people get a chance to relive that life called college life. And for me it was more special as I was again wearing the student shoes after five years!!

I had decided that I'm going to make sure that I enjoy these twenty one months of my life up to the maximum and I must say that the first six months have been up to the mark:) Day ,for me, here starts one hour before the first class. The class scene can actually give David Dhawans of the Bollywood few ideas (which they badly need) for their movies. Out of the sixty students, few are busy with laptops, few with newspapers, few are sleeping and the ones like me are making life hell for the unfortunate ones sitting in the vicinity!! And ,ah, there are few (mind you.. "very few") who are actually listening to the poor prof. And then the same scene gets repeated at the rate of twenty lectures per subject per term!! But this is what I wanted to do or should I say do again?? Because the scene was not very different from what it was during the engineering days. But then at that time we were unspoiled kids. This envied "exposure" to the "global world" has made many of us manipulative. We even manipulate our emotions and feelings!!

So again joining the college life was like a dream come true. Because I know I will again go to that world where everyone is involved in some kind of rat-race and there is no time for oneself (forget about the family and friends) and that's why I'll compensate for all those coming damn years in the next fifteen months. And thats a promise which I've made to myself.

I just want to forget about the outside world and the CGPA's (though mine is not that bad!!) and keep living the life on my own terms for this golden period because I know these days will not come back!!

My first brush with blogging!!

First thing which came to my mind was do I really need to own/write a blog?? Because, my friends will agree with this, I speak a lot. So is there something which I specifically need to write? Is there something that I can write that has not been already written or said umpteen number of times? But at last I thought there are many things which I can write and share and then its free too!! Or maybe it can help me in improving my pathetic writing skills!! So move away you bachchans, aamir khans, and sardesais of the world!! Here's a new kid on the blog to give you a tough competition:)

Will surely come up with something great next time. I know the first few people who will read this are the ones I'll force!! 

Love,

Amit