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