Sukesh Says...

Life - Satisfaction and Ambitions

2011-09-25T23:40:00.001+05:30

The glass is only half full.
The wisdom lies in letting it be.

Ideated by me, wording courtesy to Jubin Vora

Partition

2011-08-19T02:02:00.002+05:30

It is amazing how four biggest of the giant leaders of our times were instrumental in making the worst blunder of our times

Three because of their actions and one because of his inaction

On
Jinnah - for sowing the seed to two-nation theory
Nehru - for refusing to accept Cabinet Plan
Mountbatten - for nails in the coffin - Balkanization Plan
Gandhi - for doing nothing considering he could

Ends of a Long Stick

2011-06-19T12:58:00.003+05:30

1.
I never intended for that course of life where in the midway I have to have a sense of regret, a tendency to look back, to retrospect that there was a road which I didn't take and to wish that it could have been taken. I had never lost the direction; somehow some sense of right direction was always in my mind. You see, if you are facing right direction, all one has to do is keep walking. But when you don't know the direction itself, even a single step becomes oblivion into delusion. It was for the first time in my life, I think, I had the loose end of a ruined hope in one hand and the vagaries of my fear in the other hand. Whether or not you believe in destiny, it has its own way of telling us that man is a mere puppet in its hand. I realized this when I got a choice, when I had to choose one out of two roads ahead of me.

2.
It is said that the person who can find meaning of his life, can find eternal happiness. But happiness and meaning always have been at odds for me. They happen to be two ends of a long stick, I cannot reach both at same time.
I happened to walk a lonely road; to say it in fact, I liked a lonely life. The other fact is, I was never unhappy about my solitude because I never realized it. Actually the belief that we can only pursue happiness and actually never have it, prevailed strongly in my faith. I never sought happiness, that is why I never longed for any meaning. Perhaps that was a good choice of living a life. You are not unhappy unless you realize your unhappiness. I was comfortable in the hollow sphere of whims, I created around myself. Everyday had been passed in same state of trance and belief that there is no worry.

But a day came when I realized that life is much more than cracking jokes and laughing hysterically. I discovered myself desperately longing for a meaning of the life and wanting to find a moment of happiness that truly can be called happiness. Everyday in the morning I used to wake up with a bad breath of empty, hollow dreams. Now I had a reason, a meaning to wake up. Meaning of life was not difficult to come by, as it was the day when I met the life itself for the very first time.

3.
We used to differ on every little thing. As if destiny had played its role very well, we were inherently contrast, perhaps complementary. She was essentially a feminist, the part of her that I hated most. On the contrary she used to believe that I loved that part most. Perhaps all of it started for all the wrong reasons, but it ended for more than a wrong reason.

She and I had nothing in common except for the chip on shoulder that we both carry to justify our respective egos. Of course and but, the other exception is our egos.
I will have to boast that I was the most unconventional person around her. Maybe she fell for that. Desire is a strange thing. We think we are looking for something and then we find something else. One starts believing that what he found, was more desirous than what he was looking for. Perhaps out of choice, or perhaps out of want. Sometimes what we think we want, is not what in reality we want.

On a cursory look, one will find that she was not very attractive, more so, as a lady from Indian soils generally happens to be. In reality she was more than beautiful. She had an unintended charm about her, but intended ugliness. She was an idealist, used to believe in beauty of soul than body. Her clothes always lagged behind fashion and her dress sense was monotonous. She never wore lipstick, her hairdo was never made-up. She just used to tie her hair with the help of a rubber-band which made her forehead look bigger. Being skinny, her cheeks looked even more amplified than her forehead. But when she used to giggle, facial muscles contracted; everything came into proportion. An absolute angel! She looked like an angel but as if poverty had struck hard on that angel. An angel in rags! I guess if someone saw her naked, he could have appreciated her beauty better than what she used to keep herself. She was one kind of exception in this regard, when a girl places emphasis on individuality than appearance.
But sometimes the essence of feminism used to fail her. Occasionally she tried her hand on those girlish adventures of sartorial make-over but she had barely a sense of fashion. Instead of looking any good she became more awkward. Yellow scarves, red snickers and check sweatshirt were few of accessories in her fashion wardrobe, just to count.

What I seem to be saying is that beauty lies in eyes of beholder. For some, character is sufficient, other want appearance and there are some who want both. But sometimes these things, but anything in fact, really don't count. Sometimes, the yearning takes the place of rationale. I won't call it infatuation as it was not entirely devoid of reason. But calling it rationale will also be as false as calling it foolish. Man is not a slave of desire by choice. It just happens. Even if you want to resist it, it comes back as more of a craving. No wonder, Eve fell for the forbidden fruit.

4.
At some point we both had realized the persistence with which our hearts were failing our brains. Perhaps the only way was to accept it and face it. But not for me, not yet! I was the one who had never taken initiative on anything during my entire life. I never supposed myself to. I was always a follower, and yet; whatever I followed, I pursued persistently. She took the initiative, I should have followed. But I didn't. I couldn't. I would back off from all that when she had said it, was something I never expected from myself.

It did not even take all the words, she wished to say. It is beyond my comprehension how much difficult it would have been to muster the courage and think of those words, which in the end went unspoken. After all, it was not that difficult(or was it?) when she said that she wanted to talk something important to me. The only, plausible and by any of far means, talk could have been talk of which I have feared most in my life. "I don't know how to say this", was all she could say before I found her almost in tears. Perhaps it was her worst fear also. Girls generally have good instincts and perhaps she saw what was coming.

I thought the worst is over. No wonder, hope is opium. She made a second attempt. Perhaps she made a last ditch effort to wake up my courage. But courage is something that comes before fear. If there is fear, there is no place for courage. For once, I too thought that I can overcome my fears. Her proposal was accepted and we met at our favourite place-the shadow under the apple tree.

A respectable person can never understand the tyranny of a person who just lost his respect in front of ten individuals. And believe me the pain of losing respect in front of self is thousand times bigger.
Whatever I like to believe, the truth is I always had a soft corner for her. It was just a matter of mustering courage to come in front, which she managed to take, not me. And that precisely had hurt me a lot because I think that proved me as a coward. And the last look in her eyes had told me so. After that I never faced her. How could I?

5.
And that was it. That was where our road diverged. That was also the point we had to retrospect together and that was where our wish, for dreaming together in future, died. For her it was my cowardliness and for me there was no need of reason, I rationalized my decision in the veil of my fear.
Everyone has his share of burdens. Owning those is half the battle. But there are some people who take refuse, comfortable in running from battle. Whether or not you want, you got to believe in God. One always needs an excuse, an escape from something, some burden, he want to avoid. Believe me or not, the quantum of solace you get in God's refuse is far better than ages of pride of fighting a battle.

What happened to her after that? I don't know. I never tried to know. Perhaps I am afraid of knowing. I am not sure if my scrutiny on her or keeping in touch with her will change the things or make any difference in our lives.

You think it matters? It is not that I will regret this for rest of my life or that it broke me down to pieces that can never be collected together again. And for her part, I am not sure; perhaps she would be stronger now, or perhaps she would not have trust in life any longer. I don't know the answer. Perhaps I don't want to know. I will always like to believe that it doesn't matter; I will always like to believe that some things in life happen to be the way they are...

क़ब्र

2011-05-03T23:18:00.001+05:30

ज़िंदगी की बुनियाद बनाने की कोशिश थी,
बस इंट पे इंट लगाते चले गये!

खुदी की इमारत पे की मोहब्बत कुर्बान थी,
बस रेत पे रेत गिराते चले गये!!

Smear on Democracy

2011-04-09T22:19:00.002+05:30

One of the mistakes of my life has been participating in anti reservation protests. Not that there was any violence involved in it, but by the fundamental truth that in a running and functioning democracy (however imperfect) even the very peaceful protest against government is nothing but a blackmail leave alone the hunger strike. The only correct way to raise your voice is through PIL or any other court of law. Yes one could demonstrate his support for such PIL with candle marches etc. but straightforwardly protesting or having hunger strikes against any bill is nothing but blackmail.

The Gandhian way of protest is a tight rope to say the least. And in India it has been abused over and again equally for wrong purposes as much is for right purposes. It is in this context that I see the latest chaos around Anna Hazaare’s hunger strike.

Two fundamental questions need greater introspection than currently are being given:

Could Jan Lokpal Bill really help eradicate corruption or it would lead to more concentration of power and thus more corruption?
Is Hazare’s way, the right way to protest and making his voice heard or it’s blackmailing in context of a functioning democracy like India?

The answer to both questions has been discussed pretty immaculately by Bhanu Pratap Mehta in his article - Of the few, by the few

Power, divided in a democracy, can often be alibi for evading responsibility. But it is also a guarantee that the system is not at the mercy of a few good men. Having concentrated immense power, it then displays extraordinary faith in the virtue of those who will wield this power. Why do we think this institution will be incorruptible?

There is something deeply coercive about fasting unto death. When it is tied to an unparalleled moral eminence, as it is in the case of Anna Hazare, it amounts to blackmail.

On top of that, what perturbed me most was the response of government. I am not very appreciative of Indian government and Indian people as such, but one thing I have been proud my whole life and have been cherishing is the “democracy of India” (they call it pseudo-democracy, but I believe that’s the true nature of democracy and American way of democracy is pseudo in nature). The Indian democracy is the only ray of hope in the gross darkness of plethora of issues and problems.

“This is a victory for democracy”, said Anna Hazare. Quite oppositely, both, the hunger strike of Hazare and government’s response, in my view, have been a blatant ridiculing of the Indian democracy. I don’t think I need to remind that our government is a representative of 1 billion people if nothing else. It’s world’s largest democracy and having been invulnerable to number of recessions, neighbour countries’ rivalry and the resilience (like coming out of BoP crisis) it shows time and again, only shows the robustness of our democracy. I can’t help but compare this latest gross derision of government’s succumbing to Hazare’s demands to Indo-Pak division on Jinnah’s demands. Though people are putting Hazare in parallel to M. Gandhi but to me his hunger strike is more in parallel to Jinnah’s Direct Action. An important thing to note is that intention behind both has been noble: for one to give equal representation to Muslims while for other it has been eradication of corruption. Except that it’s anti-corruption bill, I doubt if half of people supporting Hazare even knew what Jan Lokpal Bill contains specifically.

In the quest of ‘Founding Pakistan’ and ‘Implementing Jan Lokpal Bill’ (note that I said implementing a bill and not eradicating corruption) the only difference has been violence. Rest all – blackmailing government, blind faith of people in leaders, government’s subsequent response, and inclusion of individuals in governance; has been same. But most of us still would like to believe that Hazare’s victory is democracy’s victory but Jinnah’s victory is the biggest smear on this institution called democracy. The irony lies in ‘our’ thinking.

There are people like me who would say, it’s all system’s fault; our system itself is all screwed up. No, it’s not. It’s not system’s fault, it’s our fault. Fundamentally it’s “we” and “our mentality” that are screwed up. Just take some time to think about how many times have we seen elections and out of those how many times have we voted; take time to think about why the percentage of voters (especially youth and middle class) keeps on coming down with every election.

I know sitting idle and doing armchair discussions and ranting around will not solve the problem. But I still believe one should be pretty clear about the direction a step would lead to, before taking that step.

कारवाँ

2011-02-24T21:50:00.000+05:30

दूर उफ़क से उठी एक हल्की सी लो,
सुरख रेत पर फिर रह-गुज़र ढूँडने निकला एक कारवाँ है!

शायद कोई निशाँ बाकी रह जाएगा इस रेत पे,
बस इसी उमीद से आज हुए हम रवाँ है!!

होठों का तिल

2011-02-11T18:22:00.000+05:30

तेरी यादों की खीज़ान आज फिर जैसे जवां हुई सी है!
दश्त में भी जैसे एक शाख-ए-गुल फिर आबाद हुई सी है!!!

तेरे होठों के तिल ने आज फिर कोई तो हरकत की सी है!
जो मेरे होठों पे फिर एक ग़ज़ल ने दस्तक दी सी है!!!

अनंत परीक्षा

2010-08-15T12:13:00.001+05:30

आज़ादी जो मिली तुझे, आज मांगती बलिदान है!
गुलामी की ज़ंज़ीर थी, आज इंद्रधनुष समान है!!

कर्म जो ना कर रहा, क्या ईशर की संतान है!
ज़िंदगी जो है तेरी, अजीब दास्तान है!!

लिख रहा है वो जो ये विधि का विधान है!
पर आज तू भी हो खड़ा, जो बाहू बल पे मान है!!

वज़ह

2010-08-09T02:51:00.000+05:30

बाज़ारो में हमारे भी अब चर्चे होने लगे हैं!!!
इश्क में हम भी नापाक जो होने लगे हैं!

कि आज हम भी खवाबों के साथ रूबरू होने लगे हैं!
बड़ी मुद्दत की नींद के बाद जागने जो लगे हैं!!!

चोराहा

2010-06-10T17:49:00.001+05:30

पिछली बार जब आया था यहाँ,

तो जाने वाली इक राह पकड़ी थी!

आने वाली इक राह से चल कर,

आज फिर उसी चोराहे पे खड़ा हूँ!!

My Last Day/Goodbye Email

2010-05-31T17:47:00.004+05:30

After a stint of three years in software industry, the time finally came to say goodbye to my company. I am putting here my last day mail (I have edited all names as to take care of confidentiality):

May 31, 2010

Today’s my last day in the company. It’s been a roller coaster time of three years of ups and downs; and the thing with roller coasters is that ‘downs’ are more thrilling than ‘ups’.

More than the fact that this was my first job what matters is that this would be the only job where I worked as Software Engineer. It is as unfortunate as it is fortunate for me to say that it’s time to move on.

Three years, so many people, so many lives, so many moments, so many meetings, so many cafeteria meetings, so many workflows, so many VOBs, so many lines of codes AND just a single mail to sum it up, to confine it into few words!!! To understand just one life, you have to swallow the world. Apologies for a long mail, for the first time I take freedom of not being brief.

Working with first managers was a memorable experience. The most important aspect of that time would be that I never felt working for someone else but for myself. I am thankful to them for giving me that kind of environment and the opportunities. I hope I could do justice to the faith put in me by them.

I could take my work to next level with the opportunity provided to me by ‘second team; I am thankful to them for that. It was pleasure to work in Verizon Biz team and to be a part of great things in making.

As much as I would want to deny this, I know I have been a difficult person to manage. And I am really thankful to ‘the person' for almost always being tolerant and lenient towards me.

Needless to mention (because it is very obvious) yet so important is that I will dearly miss 'person's pongal’. He has been there with me for almost entire period as a constant companion at work and at fun outside work. I am going to miss all those fun filled times with him.

For Via team-members, I just want to say thanks to them ‘for being them’. They have been great team-mates. I was fortunate to work with such people who were my friends more than my colleagues.

The experience with Verizon team has been great. I appreciate all the support and help they have provided me with and want to thank them for it.

There are people who joined with me as freshers. I will miss all the fun we had in Diamond District, during training and in company.

I take this opportunity to thank (which I never did in past) people from rich-GUI team for their blessed company during my travels. The business-travels seemed more like summer-vacations with them; I will miss their company and those vacations.

I really enjoyed the company of many newbie. Working with some younger ones made me realize that I am not the youngest person anymore, which I used to be in any group. Sharing my knowledge and gaining knowledge from them is something which has been delightful escape from my own assigned work.
I have a word of advice also for them: Never ever play safe and never seek blind advices. Always try to do experiments and mistakes. A messed-up-deliverable done on your own is far better than quality-deliverable done by spoon-feeding.

I am thankful to testing people in whom I have found friends and who have been critical in my technical improvement. Their bugs have been inspiration (in form of haunting ghosts) for improvement.

I am thankful to all those whose name I missed. There are lot of other people who helped me through this time and have laughed and joked with me.

I want to apologise if I hurt anyone while discharging my duties. I never intended to hurt anyone personally and I am leaving here with no hard feelings for anyone. I hope you could forgive me if there is anything I did wrong.

In the end I would say that I have had a collection of more complains and few compliments all these years. It won’t be wrong to say that often I myself end up making it hard for anyone to appreciate me. But I will always remember a compliment (I consider it a compliment) given to me by one of colleagues that goes sort of like this, “You are one of few rebels in our team, you should not leave here”.
It said so much in so less…But it’s a ladder called life and it’s not always about stepping up, some times you got to step down.

Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward.
Maybe they have to be crazy.

…
…
…
…
…
Warmest Regards,
Sukesh
(No longer a Software Engineer)

बारिश में आँसू

2010-05-03T18:32:00.002+05:30

हर शै निस्सार होती है आदमी के कदमो पे,
आदमी बस गुरूर को नहीं जीत पाता!
सावन की बूँदें आंसुओ को छुपा लेती हैं,
वरना वो फखर का मारा रो भी नहीं पाता!!

ठोकर

2010-04-28T15:34:00.001+05:30

मदहोश रह के ही सही, ज़िंदगी को बहुत करीब से देखा है!
खुदा को तो नहीं देखा पर सिकंदर को मुक्कदर से हारते देखा है!!
के नसीब से लड़ने वालो को ठोकरों से दोस्ती करते देखा है!!!

IPL's shame

2010-04-17T19:00:00.001+05:30

P Sainath has raised an important issue about subsidies being showered to billionaires in the veil of promoting business and cricket. While IPL is already under scrutiny for its dilution of cricket as sports and political nexus that hounds the big money involved in IPL. But there is bigger issue of public money being at stake in IPL's promotion that has been raised in article.
Subsidy is given to businesses in purview of the risk they are taking for improving opportunity in employment in the given region. In context of IPL’s match hosting the subsidies are contradictory to any sane logic.
The foremost reason of subsidy would be the promotion of cricket as sports in India. IPL is seen as launch pad of talent and emerging players. But in India it is other sports which have danger from the already gained position of cricket.
When tax subsidies are given, generally they are because of the impact of corresponding business on employment. As most of game is revolved around already set-up business of entertainment in form of media and TV and not product or service is being manufactured which could provide employment to common man, this factor nulls itself.
With a big schedule that spans more than a month the individual matches cater to entertainment to particular city apart from media. The argument that it could promote tourism and exposure of the city globally has little validity.

While holding of international events like Commonwealth games can be key factor in bringing good money to a city and improving infrastructure and exposure of the city, the same is far irrelevant to domestic IPL games besides the fact that international players are roped in for IPL teams.
The recent row has brought the lack of transparency in Indian Cricket and BCCI's dealings to the fore. Lest the great showcase event of IPL becomes a national shame, it's time that cricket's financial dealings are made transparent and regulatory authorities be made independent from politics and businesses.

Disrespect

2010-02-26T15:09:00.007+05:30

According the most earliest reports the tax slabs look for year 2009-10 and 2010-11 looks something like this:

2009-10
0 to 1,60,000	No tax
1,60,001 to 3,00,000	10%
3,00,001 to 5,00,000	20%
Above 5,00,000	30%

2010-11
0 to 1,60,000	No tax
1,60,001 to 5,00,000	10%
5,00,001 to 8,00,000	20%
Above 8,00,000	30%

To sum up a middle class family of income 5,00,000 per year will be paying 34,000 instaed of 54,000. Thats huge load shedding from tax payers's shoulders in itself.

And then if, for fiscal consolidation there are steps to increase oil prices, that's not very big deal. Oil prices already are grossly manipulated(lowered, would be correct word) that this step actually is a right step. And as far as first look tells, there is going to be less burden on common man seeing other public expenditures.

But, oh the ironic fate of Indian politics, for the first time in Indian history there is collective walkout from parliament by joint opposition during a budget speech. Here is the point: this walkout is done by politicians who have least understanding of economics, are chosen by Indian public for highest Indian service who managed to disrespect one of the highest Indian institution (parliament), and thus in a way disrespecting themselves, in utterly distasteful media propaganda. How can someone be so dumb as to walkout without first fully understanding the budget to showcase a knee jerk response on just one clause!!

Naxalism

2010-02-18T11:48:00.002+05:30

Sometime back prime minister himself had described the naxalism to be greatest internal threat. But as global markets and share markets once bounced back from recession, even Afghan-Pakistan issue also lost its charm in the euphoria from mainstream media leave alone naxalism. Just before Pune blasts, most recently the blantant showcase of commercialised politics was on display in the from of security to MNIK.

But two recent happenings(Abduction and Killings) have shown that four decade old problem of naxalism is not so easy to be forgotten. In my view, graver is the problem of romanticism with naxalism than the actual problem of naxalism. A lot of folks(intellectuals) I have come across defines it as ideological battle between supressed men and government. The same intellectuals tend to ignore the human rights of common man while shouting loud for the rights of naxalites. But the realities come out quite opppsite way. Take for instance recent abduction, abduction of an innocent officer to free their own people doesn't feel like very humanaly. Killing 10 innocent villagers just because someone didn't adhere to their ideology again doesn't seem to be ways of suppressed men.
I think this is the worst kind of terrorism because when some remote group of people attack on us in the name of jihad, we know it is not our people, it becomes easy to point out someone; but when extremism rises from our own backyards, it is difficult to root out the bad weed without touching the good crop.

कहाँ हैं?

2010-02-09T23:17:00.001+05:30

अगर आपने यह गीत पहेले नहीं सुना हुआ तो ज़रूर सुनिए| रोज़ रोज़ ऐसे गीत नहीं बनते जो देश की नीह को हिला के रख दे| अगर आपको गीत के बोल समझ नहीं आ रहे या अर्थ नहीं समझ आ रहा तो यहाँ पे आपको तथ्य मिल सकते हैं|

आखें - तेरी या मेरी

2010-01-19T13:34:00.001+05:30

तेरी आखें
आखो का दिल से कैसा नाता है यह...
निगाहे कोई झुकती हैं तो हसरतें बिखर जाती हैं!
दिल्लगी करती है ज़ुबान से फिर यह...
जो उठ जाती हैं तो ज़ुबान सिमट जाती है!!

मेरी आखें
आखो का दिल से कैसा नाता है यह...
नज़रें गिरती हैं रुखसार पे, तो हसरतें बिखर जाती हैं!
दिल्लगी करती है ज़ुबान से फिर यह...
की खुद तो नज़्म गा जाती हैं, ज़ुबान सिमट जाती है!!

Cheerleaders

2009-10-27T12:23:00.002+05:30

For the first time in the history of world Sari-clad cheerleaders will perform in a cricket match.

"The girls will not wear short skirts as has been done in many other places because it would be against our culture and tradition. Our audience will not accept it. They will have modest traditional attire. They will be dressed as per our tradition and culture.", Orissa Cricket Association (OCA) secretary Ashirbad Behera told IANS.

Seems like cheer leading is in favor of their acclaimed culture and tradition but 'cheer leading with short skirts' is not. I wonder what he has to say to bikini clad swimmers. If he had his way, Indian women will have to wear sari in swimming events of Olympics.

And what if a cheerleader with sari has to perform this act?

I can totally imagine an Oriya girls lifting her sari up to do the trick.

Remembring Iqbal Bano

2009-10-22T10:25:00.003+05:30

Listening to a song like this, makes you actually realise what 'spell bounding' does mean...

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Track details

eSnips Social DNA

Sung by Iqbal Bano
Title: Dasht-e-Tanhai

dasht-e-tanhaai mein, ai jaan-e-jahaan, larzaan hain
In the desert of my solitude, oh love of my life, quiver
teri avaaz ke saaye,
the shadows of your voice,
tere honthon ke saraab
the mirage of your lips

dasht-e-tanhaai mein,
In the desert of my solitude,
duri ke khas-o-khaak tale
beneath the dust and ashes of distance
khil rahe hain tere pehlu ke saman aur gulaab
bloom the jasmines and roses of your proximity

uht rahi hai kahin qurbat se
From somewhere very close,
teri saans ki aanch
rises the warmth of your breath
apani khushbuu mein sulagti hui
smouldering in its own aroma,
maddham maddham
slowly, bit by bit.

dur ufaq par chamakati hui
far away, across the horizon, glistens
qatra qatra
drop by drop
gir rahi hai teri dil daar nazar ki shabnam
the falling dew of your beguiling glance

is qadar pyaar se hai jaan-e jahaan rakkhaa hai
With such tenderness, O love of my life,
dil ke rukhsaar pe
on the cheek of my heart,
is vaqt teri yaad ne haath
has your memory placed its hand right now

yun guman hota hai
that it looks as if
garche hai abhi subah-e-firaaq
(though it's still the dawn of adieu)
dhal gaya hijr ka din
the sun of separation has set
aa bhi gaye vasl ki raat
and the night of union has arrived
[source]

हवस

2009-09-11T15:39:00.002+05:30

1.
कोई और वक्त हो, कोई और दिन हो, तो मिट भी जाएँगे
तुम्हारे एक इशारे पे

पर आज हाथ थाम लो, और समेट लो बाहों में
आज मेरी हवस है किनारे पे

2.
अश्कों को आज पोछ दो, यह मेरी वफ़ा के टुकड़े हैं
चुभ गए तो, दाग ही लगाएँगे, दामन सारे पे

The facets of YSR

2009-09-04T13:24:00.002+05:30

For long time I believed that defeat of TDP and rise of congress in Andhra was due to resilence of rural mass.
But here is something to shatter the myth.

Some think that only Biharis and other North Indians are naturally violent, and that South Indians are meek and mild. The exploits of YSR show otherwise (as do the exploits of Prabhakaran in Sri Lanka).

Propaganda of congress in the media is particularly noteworthy. Check out the moron-giri here and here.

In 2003, YSR undertook a three month long paadayaatra, of nearly 2000 kilometer across the state. That helped him to become Chief Minister.

Shocked by the sudden and tragic end of their leader, 14 people died in different parts of Andhra Pradesh on Thursday.

Award shward

2009-08-17T16:51:00.002+05:30

I was reading about the Iron Man of India when I noticed that he was given Bharat Ratna in 1991, 41 years after he died. Isn't it ironical that man, who is the reason India stands today as united India, was given this award 41 years while Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi got Bharat Ratna in their lifetime.
And apparently Sardar Patel is not the only one.

Free Electricty and earth water

2009-08-17T13:07:00.002+05:30

As long as this happens:
The free electricity was offered as an election gift to the farmers across state. The decision has been condemned in the past by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh.

that will also continue to happen.

War and Terror

2009-08-17T12:55:00.002+05:30

In India I hear 'Hang kasab' from people, I don't hear 'Bring kasab to justice'.
What is so differetn over there at Uncle Sam's?

Delhi Female Births

2009-08-14T08:58:00.003+05:30

This is the news in BBC: Delhi female births rise hailed.
>>The news has been hailed as a gender revolution in a country that has been struggling to get >>the balance right.

Calling it a 'revolution' and 'being hailed' is height of exaggeration, as calling it a news(for Indians) itself is too much. I am yet to see this news in any major Indian newspaper or on news-websitee. Indian media believes in 'ignorance is bliss' for every kind of news apart from which concerns gays or Bollywood.

On top of that mere growth in female births doesn't coclude anything. Any conclusion on behavioral change of people's mind related to female birth would also need percentage change in female foeticides happened in that year compared to previous year. And to become 'revolution' the trend would have to continue for a few years more. It could be a mere chance that in year 2008 newly-wed males were abundant in X chromosomes.

The Ugly Indian

2009-08-13T12:48:00.005+05:30

"You will feel like sitting in DTC Bus in this flight", humored one of my co-passengers before boarding the flight who himself was an Indian. It was same flight third time in that year and is mostly packed with Indians. I can not deny the fact that Indians indeed are bad travelers.
And no its not a cultural thing as Jason seems to suggest:

“It's a cultural thing,” said Pankaj Gupta, part-owner of Outbound Travels, a New Delhi-based travel agency. “In India, we have servants to do everything in everybody's houses mostly, so people are just sort of used to getting stuff delivered to them.”

It could have been a cultural thing if middle class also would have the same luxury of keeping four maids and five servants. In my travels I have come across mostly middle class Indians or business visitors like me who come from IT industry and mind it, both of them are not affluent enough to have servants who could deliver every little thing at master's bedside.
I guess the hurry, the absence of courtesy, the greed for free stuff - all arise from the fact that India is horribly populated and there are limited resources. Any Indian has to become extremely competitive to survive and live a good life. Whether it's entry into educational institutions or fighting for jobs, Indians need to be fighters of first grade above all. Indians are not born competitive but over time their tendency to competition is fortified by the environment the live in. And this tendency to compete, and to extract every bit of value for one's money is what drives an Indian passenger.

The commercial aspect of Jason's solution will not work in this context:

What's the multicultural secret to a tranquil flight, you ask?
Five dollar whiskeys.

Because 'yeh pyaas hai badi, bhaiaa'

परदा

2009-08-04T11:02:00.000+05:30

परदा था तो कभी वो भी मुस्कुरा के चले जाते थे
हसरत ए मोहब्बत ने परदा गिराने पे मजबूर कर दिया

अब वो भी देख लेते हैं तो कतरा के निकल जाते हैं
बेबाक इश्क़ ने हमको ज़माने की जागीर जो कर दिया

परदा था तो कभी वो भी मुस्कुरा के चले जाते थे...

Wretched State

2009-08-03T12:16:00.002+05:30

First this(Kargil) and now this(Lal Bahadur Sashtry) , and I thought my jokes were bad...
Could any rant justify the wretched state of Indian diplomacy?

Strategy of an Economist

2009-07-30T09:47:00.003+05:30

Perhaps ypu remember when the chocolate hero of INC saga gave the proof of his intellectual shrewdness when he called the Kandhar Hijack drama - buckling in front of terrorists. Perhaps lives of 178 people on the board didn't seem very crucial for India's future.

But then who cared that foreign strategy is not very much a game of an economist. Putting the whole nation's reputation and strategy at stake could be termed as strength of decision making, isn't it?

Or maybe sometimes it becomes difficult to understand simple things.
"A country does not become great by engaging other countries on their terms, particularly when those countries are waging war against it."

Rifts in Religion

2009-05-27T11:47:00.003+05:30

The recent violence in state of Punjab once again has resurrected the issue of internal clash between sikh sects. Just two years back there was huge riot situation due to the controversy of impersonating of Guru Gobind Singh by Sacha Sauda leader Gurmeet Singh.

I believe the basic problem is the political influence on religious institutions and vice versa. The religion itself has never promoted caste or favorism to one kind of people over other. But then again, the influence of religious doctrines has been until the religious line; the doctrines were not successful in impacting the social and economic aspects of religion.[link - Sikhism as a ‘caste less’ religion] There was gap in Sikhism preachings while defining the socio-economic aspects of doctrine. Over the time, this gap has given rise to politcs and power-play between the different sects.

The attempt is to monopolise the master narrative of Sikh tradition, to eviscerate its diverse imaginings, and to concentrate power in organisations like the SGPC. You take all of these aspirations, and align them with religious politics and you will get the combustible mix that we are seeing in Punjab. [link]

The solution to the problem lies in the root of problem itself:

It is a truism that the conditions for generating an enlarged and liberal outlook are less a function of the doctrine of a religion, but more a product of the fragmentation of authority. When any tradition is comfortable with the idea that there is no monopoly over authority, over interpretation, it is more likely to be comfortable with internal dissent. [link]

Punjabi-isation?

2009-04-28T08:27:00.004+05:30

I rarely see Vir Sanghvi's pieces in good air as his writings tend to be of simplistic approach in my view. But I guess he has made a good point in his this piece: A Punjabi-dominated popular culture has swept all of India. The reason might be because he has not made any point, but merely an observation.
When I think about people I meet from south India who know about Bhangra while my native Punajbi people don't know a scintilla about katha-kali or kuchi-pudi, I cannot but accept the fact
"I believe that the change in dress habits is part of the growing Punjabi-isation of India."

Sanghvi is also right in saying that
"But equally, I am not prepared to say that Punjabi-isation is necessarily a bad thing. But it’s worth thinking about, isn’t it?"

I think 'cultures' evolve rather than dominate one another. Like Punjabi culture is a mess of Mughal, Sikh and Hindu culture constantly invoked by invaders who came to India via Punjab. Yes, it is a mess and there exactly lies the richness of culture. Maybe intrusion of Punjabi culture in others is actually evolution of other cultures and that of itself too.

And by the way, the essential Punajbi culture is not about Indian Punjab but the bigger Punjab region.

Happy Vaisakhi

2009-04-14T10:30:00.006+05:30

~~ਤੂੜੀ ਤੰਦ ਸਾਂਬ ਹਾੜ੍ਹੀ ਵੇਚ ਵਾਟ ਕੇ~~
~~ਲਾਂਬੜਾਂ ‘ਤੇ ਸ਼ਾਹਾਂ ਦਾ ਹਿਸਾਬ ਕੱਟ ਕੇ~~
~~ਕਚਹੇ ਮਾਰ ਵਂਝਲੀ ਆਨੰਦ ਚਹਾ ਗਯਾ~~
~~ਮਾਰਦਾ ਦਾਮਾਮੇ ਜੱਟ ਮੇਲੇ ਆ ਗਯਾ~~

~~Toorhi tand saamb haarhi vech watt ke~~
~~Lambrhaan ‘te shaahaan da hisaab katt ke~~
~~Kachhe maar vanjhli anand chhaa gya~~
~~Maarda damaame jatt mele aa gya~~

The above lines are sung by Dhani Ram Chatrik, a great poeat and lyric of Punjab. There was a time when a few words of his, like above verse, could describe the whole of Punjab. Today world seems to have forgotten those people who can be considered father of modern punjabi poetry and father of punjabi publication. I take the festival of Vaisakhi an opportunity to remember him.

Article from Tribune :

A proud legacy lies in dust
Punjabi’s greatest poet Chatrik’s house in a shambles, converted to marriage palace
Varinder Walia
Tribune News Service

Public memory is short. And, Dhani Ram Chatrik, who earned the title of “Punjab’s greatest lyric and poet,” seems to have been forgotten by Punjabi language lovers just after 50 years of his death.

Chatrik was the first to standardise the Gurmukhi type. He had the honour of publishing the first volume of Guru Granth Sahib and Bhai Khan Singh’s “Mahan Kosh” (the first authentic dictionary of Punjabi), by using modern technique at his Sudarshan Printing Press.

He was unmistakably the maker of modern Punjabi poetry. Many celebrity singers have earned crores of rupees by singing his songs. He was one of the seminal figures of the literary renaissance in the country at the turn of the last millennium. And today he’s a forgotten hero!

Chatrik became the founder-president of the Punjabi Sabha, which worked relentlessly to get Punjabi language an honourable status at the time when Urdu enjoyed the official patronage. A versatile and prolific writer, he used his pen in experimenting with different genres of Punjabi language. His vocabulary was fresh, and metaphor, tone and style employed by him were refreshingly new. Unmistakably, Chatrik was a towering personality who lived for Punjabiat.

Unfortunately, the palatial Chatrik House on the Amritsar- Lahore road, which should have been a pilgrimage centre for Punjabi writers, is in a shambles today. A marriage palace — Chirag Palace — has come up on the major portion of the house. The issueless youngest son of the celebrity poet — Prem Kumar Monga (71) and his bed-ridden wife Lalita — now live in the remaining portion of the house. The house itself has witnessed many alterations.

Hardly any literary aficionado knows that the couple lives in the house once constructed by Chatrik. The house is a few yards away from Khalsa College and Guru Nanak Dev University, which were established to promote Punjabi language and Punjabiat. But both these institutions never bothered to invite the couple at any of the literary functions.

It was a chance meeting with Dr Harbhajan Singh Bhatia, Professor, School of Punjabi Studies, Guru Nanak Dev University, that revealed some interesting facts. Dr Bhatia, while expressing his disgust at the construction of the marriage palace after demolishing the major portion of the Chatrik House, said that it was unfortunate that Punjab had failed to exploit the potential of “literary tourism”.

Dr Bhatia, who recently visited the birthplaces of Shakespeare and Lord Byron in the United Kingdom, said these birthplaces attracted a large number of tourists from all over the world.

The poet’s youngest son, who himself could not read the books authored by his father as he had not learnt Gurmukhi, owns the responsibility for having failed to preserve the Chatrik House. He sold the property in a phased manner, unmindful of its heritage value. It is learnt that he suffers from depression. His wife admits that Chatrik would have regretted that his own sons could not read the literature he had produced with painstaking efforts.

All four sons of Chatrik — Mr Balwant Rai, Mr Brij Mohan (both are no more), Mr Jaswant Rai and Mr Prem Kumar — decided to donate their father’s library to Punjabi University, Patiala, after Chatrik’s death. The old couple (Mr Prem Kumar and Ms Lalita), however, still possesses parts of the Gurmukhi letters prepared by Chatrik and some rare pictures. These letters, made of metal, are worth keeping in a museum.

Meanwhile, Mr Joginder Singh Ohri, who had purchased the major portion of the house in 1987, now plans to demolish the remaining part of the Chatrik House, which is in his possession, to expand the Chirag Marriage Palace. Earlier, he had felled more than 50-odd trees to construct the marriage palace. Mr Vivek Kumar, son of Mr Ohri , however, agrees to preserve the remaining part of the house if state or district administration shows any interest. “I know the heritage value of the portion, which could be preserved for creating a museum in the name of Chatrik,” he adds.

Born on October 4, 1876, Chatrik breathed his last on December 18, 1954. At that time, the social and cultural milieu was fast changing. In his biographical note, Chatrik gives interesting information about the Gurmukhi type and his contribution in its modification. He writes that Christian missionaries brought “Punjabi letters” from England in the year 1875 and published the Bible in Gurmukhi at the Mission Press, Ludhiana. But the type, invented by the Christian missionaries, was not up to the mark and required modification.

Lala Hira Nand improved the type with the help of writers from Amritsar and published beautiful books in Lahore by 1880. Later, Munshi Gulab Singh & Sons, Lahore, prepared another Gurmukhi type with the help of a Muslim worker, Munshi Noordin, who was instrumental in introducing the Gurmukhi letters in different parts of Punjab. He was later employed by the Wazir Hind Press, Amritsar, and more varieties of the Gurmukhi type were introduced.

Six BIG drivers of my vote

2009-04-13T15:40:00.002+05:30

1. Indian Democracy:
The Gandhian(rather Nehru, or actually Khan, ok, I don't know) dynasty that runs in the congress is blatant, in-the-face mockery to whole concept of democracy. All the later generations of Nehru(Indira, Rajiv, Sanjay, Sonia, Rahul) have reaped the benefit of family name without having any actual potential of their own. They didn't rise from party heirarchy but they were/are gifted with highest of ranks in party just because they have their family name. On top of that, Gandhi name is sold like a brand in India, making educational institutions, government policies, government schemes on Gandhis' names. The choice will be ours to decide if we want a rule of democratic party in democratic India or a rule of royalty in democratic India. At least I won't encourage any dominance of autocracy over democracy.
Case of Gandhi Nomenclature

2. Political Interference in Indian state:
Election Commission and President are two unbiased institutions of Indian state. If these are politicized, I wonder, in what manner Indian state could be called a free democracy or why cant Indian republic is not a failed one.
The case of Chawla/EC and election of president, politicized by UPA, points nothing but an institutionalized interference of congress in Indian state.
Even though BJP continuously campaigned against Pratibha Patil, UPA went ahead with making Pratibha Patil, the president of India, more so when her credentials were in a fair doubt.
Even after Shah Commission declared Chawla “unfit to hold any public office which demands an attitude of fair play and consideration for others”, the UPA let him continue the most unbiased(should be), critical-for-democracy office.
On the other hand, there is NDA(so called pro-Hindu) nominated a scientist, think-tank, muslim Abdul Kalam as president.
Credentials of Pratibha Patil
Chawla Must Go

3. Economic Front:
Not diluting the phenomenal change in Indian economics brought by Manmohan Singh during Narsimha's government, I have no hesitance to say that it was only congress's pro-communism (allying with socialism in Nehruvian regime) that delayed this much-needed revolution. Lets not awake the dead from grave, but current UPA has done no better job in economic front. Sometimes I wonder if P Chidambram and Manmohan Singh are really worthy of being called competitve economist or is that just an myth created by media. UPA always has been high on its pro-poor governance but when there was chance of fiscal consolidation the UPA missed the mark. And let me tell you that fiscal consolidation is not a small issue. It is the basic reason why India could not fight with current recession effectively and the basic reason of inflation at these times even when crude oil has dropped in to the well from a high ceiling. P Chidambram has his own view of economic policies, and he himself agrees that fiscal deficit actually reduced in NDA's regime. In 2004 elections NDA has fiscal consolidation as its major economic agenda which UPA completely overlooked for sake of minority appeasement.
On top of that again minority appeasement has always been bugging the UPA economic policies in form of expensive useless schemes like 'farm loan waiver'.
Another point to consider here is that BJP has always been pro-development and there are people like Arun Shourie in BJP who have a concrete economic policy for India.
Tough times ahead UPA
India's Need for Fiscal Consolidation
An analysis on PC's deliriums

4. Communalism/Minority Appeasement:
BJP is often looked as a communal party. The reson for that in my view is our minority-biased media. I dont deny BJP is communal but other parties including congress are no less communal than BJP is. Congress is communal in favor of minorities. Take for example, to appease Muslims UPA removed POTA but then again was compelled to bring back POTA(in form of NSA) after Mumbai-attacks. In my view, as much BJP has been communal in favor of Hindus, congress has come communal agianst Hindus. In both of these fights, minorities dont get any benefit except for a false belief of appeasement. If Babri Masjid or Godhra can be counted as BJP communism then 1984-Sikh-riots and Nandigram are congress/left given communism. There is another point to consider here that in India almost every party has a coomunity base. Whether its Akali Dal(Sikh community), BSP(Dalit community), Shiv Sena(Mahrashtra community), BJP(Hindu community), congress(every kind of minority), the political base that these parties have made has been because of appeasement each give to their targetted group. There is absolutely no party who considers India as whole.
In this case I dont conisder any party better than the other.

5. Security and Foreign Policy:
If NDA had been succesful in Kargil War anf Pokhran tests, then UPA also has success of Nuclear Deal and handling of Mumbai Attacks in its pocket. UPA handled Pakistan (post Mumbai) very well through dipomatic pressure and was not provoked into direct confrontation on border. I believe I will have to go with equal points to both NDA and UPA in this criteria.

6. Coalition Corruption:
As I had explained the dilemma of diversity and corruption, UPA has been a fortress of corruption cases in its last tenure. For the forthcoming elections UPA has already seen disappointment from its allies only because allies like Lalu and Mulayam see a better opportunity of negotiating in post-poll-alliance than pre-poll-alliance. In this regard they even dream of becoming prime-minsters. And with UP being the the fort of Indian politics, (to me) there seems to be no chance of UPA coming to majority in its present form, which will only ensure that it will have to succumb to post-poll alliances. If conditions in coalition itself are so aggravated, one can imagine the corruption that will erupt during the tenure. And there will be great deal of chances of disagreement in these parties (kind of congress-left divergence on nuclear deal) the price of which will have to paid by Indian people only.
NDA is not entirely devoid of corruption, but the gap is wide between UPA and NDA.

In nutshell: I view all the political parties in current state are noncompetitive to run a government in India. But we have to accept the fact that for the sake of India we have to make a choice out of these given parties. In my view NDA is relatively better option than others and I would have voted for NDA(if I could have). You should, too, make your choice without bias, on basis what is good for India (not what is good for my community).

Note: I have not considered possibility of third front. The reason being, in my view practically third front as an electoral victory is not viable. Even if third front comes into existence and wins, even then I reject it as an option on the basis that a fragmented(ideological point of view) coalition can not deliver at national level on any(economic, plitical, social) issue. Secondly, any involvement of left is not acceptable to me. I consider left(or any communist ideology) a threat to any kind of progress(I am using word 'progress' not 'development'. Left is anti-development is easily understandble, though.)

Nano and Environment

2009-03-28T08:13:00.006+05:30

This link - Why CSE says ‘NO’ to has been forwarded to me a friend on google reader. I came to know there exists something called Centre for Science and Environment and from this article it seems they are completely dorks living in a whimsical world, how can they associate themselves with science - an institution of logic and reasoning.

A king walking on the road slips on banana-peel, next day he bans eating banana by anyone in his kingdom. Try subverting the irony between symptom and cause.

"Cars may drive growth and aspirations, but they can never meet the commuting needs of urban India. Cars choke cities, harm public health and guzzle more oil."
If Indian regulation for car-pollution are low or the road infrastructure in India is bad it doesn't mean cars can never meet the commuting needs. Cars are the major means of commuting in developed countries whether it's USA, Europe or Japan. If in India cars are not able to meet that requirement then its not cars which are to blame. The blame lies with infrastructure that exists in India. Rather than chalking out need of infrastructure, blame the cars, because that is more like environment-friendly, isn't it?

"as all cars -- small or big -- are heavily subsidised in Indian cities. But the hidden costs of using cars are enormous."
Does car-manufacture put state-governments on the edge of knife, when they negotiate for subsidies? No, state-governments happily shower their subsidies to lure these manufacturers so that state can have another mean of employment, jobs and gross production. If some widget/product price is reduced according to principles of trade then there is nothing wrong with it.

"Thus, we are certainly not paying the full cost of manufacture of our cars, let alone the cost of running or parking them."
Do they even know the concept called business or trade. First of all how are they measuring the full cost? On what parameters do they decide full cost? Just because there is lenience in taxes to manufacturers, reasoning is that it's not full price? To tell you the truth of economics, there shouldn't be unreasonable obstacles and taxes in the first place that businesses in India have to face.

"Public transport, on the other hand, gets a step-motherly treatment: our government penalises buses by taxing them higher than the much-pampered cars."
Public transports pay more because they are in business. How difficult was it to understand? They are making money from usage of buses. Individual cars do not make income from the usage. They forgot to mention the taxes imposed in taxis or cabs.

"Cars of today are truly akin to dinosaurs. They are not part of the solution to the pollution and climate mayhem."
Of course, cars are not solution to pollution problem, they are solution to transportation problem. What kind of statement is that?

"the major car companies are lining up for bailouts worth billions that are forcing Western governments to inject more money into the business – this, in turn, is fanning more greed and greater car dependency."
I was of the view that we were talking about India, how and when did USA enter into picture, is strange. The bailouts are result of bad business choices and dependency of employment on those industries. It has nothing to do with 'fanning greater car dependency'. In fact, the present conditions of bankruptcy to these industries will be a lesson to car-makers to make pollution-efficient cars.

Cities need mobility, not cars. Says Roychowdhury: “We need to re-design public policies to promote mobility for all -- scale up efficient public transport and implement effective tax policies to restrain car use.”
I agree with what they have concluded, but there is a way to reach at some conclusion. The way in which CSE has opted to reach this conclusion is fatally flawed. Cars of course, result in more pollution and more so in India(given the infrastructure). Most of people don't use cars(and stuck in traffic jams) just for funsies, they do it because there is no choice. The present infrastructure of transportation in India is not appropriate enough for a good-earning man who has option for car. The blame lies with infrastructure and improve, it should be.
Just for example, recently Delhi metro system has been a success in transportation. Why is it a success? - Is it because metro system was efficient as transportation or did they banned car-usage for people who lived near metro-stations?

ਜ਼ਿੱਦ

2009-03-15T16:44:00.003+05:30

ਮੁਹੱਬਤ ਦਾ ਬੇਡ੍ਡਾ ਸੀ, ਜੋ ਜ਼ਿਦਾ ਕਾਰਨ ਬਹ ਗਿਆ
ਦਿਲਗੀਰਾ ਦਾ ਦੁਖ, ਖਾਰੇ ਨੀਰ ਦੇ ਬਾਵਜੂਦ ਰਹ ਗਿਆ!!

Retrospection

2009-03-15T16:35:00.002+05:30

ਕਈ ਚੇਹਰੇ ਸੀ ਜੋ ਮੇਰੇ ਨਾਲ ਖਿਡੇ ਸੀ
ਕਈ ਹੰਝੂ ਸੀ ਜੋ ਮੇਰੇ ਨਾਲ ਵਗ ਤੁਰੇ ਸੀ
ਰੋਗ ਕੁਝ ਮੈਂ ਦੇ ਬੈਠਾ, ਕੁਝ ਰੋਗ ਮਨ ਦੇ ਮੈਂ ਲੇ ਬੈਠਾ

ਮੈਂ ਅੱਜ ਵੀ ਕਦੀ ਹਸਦਾ ਆਂ, ਮੈਂ ਅੱਜ ਵੀ ਕਦੀ ਰੋਂਦਾ ਆਂ
ਪਰ ਜੋ ਰੋਗ ਵਕ਼ਤ ਨਾਲ ਚਲੇ ਗਏ, ਓਹ ਮੁਡ ਕਦੇ ਖੁਲੇ ਨਾ

Birth of third front

2009-03-13T07:05:00.002+05:30

Third front is born with Left(CPI) at its helms. Below is how I see Left as a hypocrite anti-development bunch of politicians with no ideology except power hunger.

"He said the non-BJP, non-Congress coalition would stand for the interests of the vast majority of Indians, defend secular values and fight for social justice."
Need I remind of Nandigram

"Perceptions will change. In states where our coalition is running governments much development has taken place and industry has grown. I don’t see why industry or corporates should feel that this coalition will be less favourable or hostile to them,"
"Karat, whose party withdrew support to the Congress-led government in July last year over the India-US nuclear deal, said successive governments had failed to resolve grave economic problems confronting the country."
Resolution of Tata Plant issue is a mockery to above statement

"What does 9 percent growth mean for common man? We still have farmers committing suicide. We have shortage of food items, which makes life miserable for common man"
Talk about suicides(suicide by a farmer or a common man)

"I don't think there is any leader or party in the Third Front who would not want to be PM. When the time comes to select the PM candidate, the Third Front will split," said Ghulam Nabi Azad, Congress leader in charge of the party in Karnataka."
I hope the situation of third front choosing a PM never arises.

News delayed by one year

2009-03-12T07:14:00.004+05:30

This is Mar 11, 2009 news from CNN-IBN:
24 indians make it to forbes worlds richest list [link now removed]
This was the content of the news, anyway.

This is news from BBC on same day:
Rich list hit by economic crisis

These are the actual lists:
Forbes 2009 list
Forbes 2008 list

IBNlive is an Indian news channel. There isn't any mention whether list is 2008 or 2009, but 'now'(as on Mar 11,2009) is mentioned.

Colorful Holi to all!!

2009-03-11T08:41:00.003+05:30

अनेक रंग में जन खेला
तो एक भारत वर्ष बना!!

हरे रंग से उपजी रोटी
मानव का भुज - बल बना!!

सफ़ेद रंग के सूत से
लाखों का संग्राम बना!!

केसरिया सा इक चोला पहना
तो इक जवान, शहीद बना!!

गुलाब एक कली खिली थी
वोह झांसी का नर-सिंह बना!!

लाल लहू ने दी कुर्बानी
तो सदिओं का इतिहास बना!!

नीले रंग की चाद्दर हटा
देश मेरा सवाधीन बना!!

श्याम रंग के वरन लिखे थे
एक अछूत से गणतंतर बना!!

अनेक रंग में जन खेला
तो एक भारत वर्ष बना!!

English Transliteration:

anek rang mein jan khelaa
to ek bhaarat varsh banaa!!

hare rang se upaji roti
maanav ka bhuj-bal banaa!!

safed rang ke soot se
laakhon ka sangraam banaa!!

kesriyaa saa ik cholaa pahnaa
to ik jawan, shaheed banaa!!

gulaab ek kali khili thi
woh jhaansi kaa nar-sinh banaa!!

laal lahoo ne di kurbani
to sadion kaa itihaas banaa!!

neele rang ki chaaddar hataa
desh meraa savaadheen banaa!!

shyaam rang ke varan likhe they
ek achoot se gantantar banaa!!

anek rang mein jan khelaa
to ek bhaarat varsh banaa!!

Diversity and Democracy

2009-03-09T08:42:00.002+05:30

Diversity is important for a healthy democracy. Whether in demographics or in political representation diversity plays an important role. A diverse demographics ensures that there is free flow of ideas. Diverse political representation ensures that people's(minorities and ethnic) rights are being taken care.

The very essence of democracy is changing governance, and this comes as direct result of difference in ideologies. Whether it is change of power from one political power to another or it is change of ministries from one person to another, both are equally important.
Take here example of Pakistan and India. We both essentially are same people (or more appropriately 'were' before 1947). Both are sprouts of one entity. A lot of culture is still shared between Pakistan's Punjab area and India's Punjab and Delhi region. But then came a difference.
Pakistan's demographics restricted to one culture, that of Islam, as a result the political representation and governance also became mess of altering phases of dictatorship and democracy. India celebrates her history of Maurya rule, Mughal rule, British rule and democracy while Pakistan has no such history. Six decades afterward, Pakistan is a failed state while India celebrates its democracy and dream of becoming super-power(dream it maybe, but can Pakistan dare to see same dream).

But the main point is about an additional thing, which if of more to introspect rather than retrospect the history. India is a Federal Parliamentary Republic. Which means there is state-wise government as well as one central government. Some realities in regard to India are that election of MPs is almost influenced by the same lines along which state-government was elected. A single party doesn't have presence in all the constituencies to form central government.
Over time, as influence of congress reduced and there were internal division of congress, these things have given rise to fragmentation of elected MPs to different parties. As a result, in the current scenario, it is difficult for any party to be at power stand-alone without any coalition.
This fragmentation ensures that there is diversity of elected MPs from different MPs. The one thing that can be hoped from this scenario is accountable government as there isn't a single party at the helms. But as it happens in last governement of UPA, accountability was traded off with political benefits. To be in power becomes the sole motivation for main-party and therefore accountability is jeopardized for coalition parties if not for that party. Some examples can be checked out:

Cash for vote - http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/aug/05upavote1.htm
Telecom scam - http://www.indianexpress.com/news/this-is-a-mega-telecom-scam-cries-cpm/400884/
puppet-ism - http://www.dailypioneer.com/155718/Centre-told-us-to-save-Mulayam-CBI.html

In the current political landscape of India, in view of forthcoming general elections, the equations are coming down to impossibility of a single power. Whether it is UPA coalition or NDA coalition or third front(chances for third front look bleak, but nonetheless it has to be counted), the government is bound to be a multi-party coalition at center.

If the next government is dependent to an even greater extent on alliance partners than the UPA, the outcome is a foregone conclusion: ever-greater corruption and much-diminished[link]

Pride and Prejudice

2009-02-25T07:15:00.004+05:30

I just was about to write a post on recent celebrations for "victory of India" (Slumdog Millionaire sweep of Oscars). But someone already has caught the essence - "That foreigner's neologism (“slumdog” doesn't exist in real parlance in India, although gali ka kutta, or alley-dog, comes close) is thought to heap more shame on the land than the slums themselves. And yet when that same film, with that same neo-imperialist title, is fêted by tuxedoed Americans at an awards ceremony watched across the globe, Indians burst with pride."

But as response of media was more or less expected, Indian government also wants the piece of pie. This is simply incredible - "India’s ruling Congress party is seeking to capitalise on Slumdog Millionaire’s Oscar victory"

And here is something for bloggers to worry about - Bloggers can be nailed for views

Faltering Obama

2009-02-19T08:29:00.005+05:30

I have always considered Barack Obama a 'man with words' since he has been in race for presidency. But if he is a man of his word, was yet to see till he becomes president.
As from the recent news, he has been successfully able to push the stimulus package in face of strong opposition, has banned Guantanamo Bay and has increased troops in Afghanistan. That till now proves him as a good resoluter.
But here is the thing: Though he is successful in passing the bill but he himself has contradicted himself in regards to protectionism. His stimulus bill, as I know, is strongly emphasized in favor of protectionism and yet he has always opposed protectionism.
Secondly, though he closed the jail but torture policies in relation to terrorism are same. Closing a jail doesn't mean anything, in the backdrop of same laws and policies thousand new similar jails can be created.
Thirdly, hard they maybe trying in Afghanistan, Pakistan just submitted to Taliban with the surrender of Swat. That directly means US(not Pakistan) has lost war against Taliban. And till now there hasn't been an action from USA.
Additionally he hasn't tried to clear the air about position on Kashmir. Kashmir is still on agenda and position looks ambiguous. I think as a leader, after becoming president, it was his responsibility to make his intentions clear about Kashmir, not with bureaucratic remarks.

I think times have been taking a heavy toll on 'man with words'.

Note: The above facts are my perceptions of news and opinions I read. Those are not opinion of an expert.

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-14T13:15:00.003+05:30

For many of us it is difficult to fathom the difference between love and infatuation especially at the time you are of the age, when you seem to love everyone of opposite sex.
I never believed in such a love whether it is platonic or lewd. The only reason is that if ever there is existence of love, how can such a thing be restricted to such a narrowness of material(not being spiritual) things like sex, age, marriage, degree of platonic feelings.
My friends ask me how can you love songs, music and shayari if you don't believe in love. The point is it does not matter. Its not that I believe in love or not, its futile to give a definition to it and then believe in that. Same is the thing with God, it does not matter if it exists or not but its futile to give a definition to God. Its futile to carve out an entity for God.
I think love is just eternal, its all around us. Its the reason we are, not that, it is between us. Therefore it does not matter whether love exists or not, it does not matter if you have to give definition to love or not.

Maybe I will give definition to love when I find one (lame excuse of losers)

Insinuating article: how to get over breakups (its not really about break-ups)

Correction: 1

2009-02-13T13:58:00.004+05:30

I apologise for the wrong inferences about a formal address of president in my last post. I accept it was written with a little knowledge. I have modified the contents of post so as not to draw any conclusions.
Thanks Vinod for pointing out.

India's President

2009-02-13T09:26:00.005+05:30

I read recent address of president Pratibha Patil to parliament. I drew some wrong conclusions that president is being sycophant. On more inspection I found out, it is actually a formal speech outlining intentions of government, which is identical in nature to a Speech from the Throne.

Though I still wonder why president (the commander of armed forces, above all a neutral body) has to read sycophantic rants of government.

On a more significant note came across this link about history of Pratibha Patil's history(alleged).

Alcohol, Hooligans and India

2009-02-07T10:23:00.003+05:30

They had to what they had to do, after all they are hooligans. But it's difficult to digest the fact even the politicians will call it a day in view of political benefits.[Curbing Pub Culture] But ironically the same politicians might realize the dangers of it[Alleged Kidnapping](It is not proved yet, but is it too hard to realize that this is an easy possibility).

Even an idiot can argue that drinking alcohol is strictly one's own prerogative. Yes, if it harms someone else, then there should be strict laws about that. But the story doesn't end here. Apart from gender abuse, religious intolerance and human right violation, it raises more issues to think about.

Myth of Sanskriti/traditional values -
Rather than irritating, it is more of amazing to comprehend the kind of Sanskriti that these hooligans are trying to protect. Is it the Sanskriti that was innate to Hinduism where Gods like Shiva or Indra used to drink liquor of brand Somaras or is it the Sanskriti of Mughals whose religion prohibited them to touch alcohol and so they banned the consumption of alcohol[source]. Literally every person in India has a different definition of the Sanskriti(tradition). What definition will you choose: definition of a slum-dweller, definition of riches like Ambanis, definition of entrepreneurs, definition of middle-class, definition of IT employees, definition of pesants, definition of Shiv-sena, definition of BJP...it can never end. But to see that, there can be a definition of Sanskriti which instigates folks to use the ways of violence, is amazing.

Come to think of it, Islam ourightly bans alcohol consumption for any Muslim. But in Hindu mythology even Gods like Shiva and Indra consume liquor. Will these moral-protectors of Indian values, adhere that Islam is a better religion in this context?

The consumption of alcohol isn't restricted to Gods in Hindu mythology. Hinduism has been very open about consuming alcohol as a merry-making necessity of life for poor and king equally. And Hinduism is also liberal on precautions in moderation of consumption; punishing the occasional wrong-doers in effect of alcohol with benevolent curses of Gods. But in modern India we have forgotten the righteous attached to alcohol, but have adopted the extremes: either drink of Gods or a drink of uncultured society. Its a shame that we like to call ourselves liberal because it is favored by America and have forgotten our very own culture of tolerance.
On a slightly low note, I read this quote somewhere:

The dipsomaniac and the abstainer are not only both mistaken, but they both make the same mistake. They both regard wine as a drug and not as a drink.[unknown source]

The excuse -
Now for argument sake, lets say that pub culture is ruining the values of teenage girls as well as boys. Lets say there are incidents of rapes, road accidents etc. because of this culture. Now the glitch is to find who is to be blamed about this.
The reaction of moral-parties is to blame the youth, beat them up and lock them in households so that they can come to senses.

It is naive to think that any teenage(or even adult) will go in right direction with alcohol if he/she is not in proper environment. In cities like Bangalore it is difficult to remain unattached to it with loners of IT industry occupying the most part of city. Rather than teaching the moderate way of alcohol, we take the easy way: blame them.
On top of that if there are restrictions/reservation about alcohol in religions of some families, then also, it lies with parents to guide their children about proper way, not with some third party with sticks in hands.

Problem of terrorism -
The gravest problem of all this hooliganism is that this line of thinking becomes the insinuating base of terrorism. First there is intolerance, then there is hatred, then it comes to moral-war and then it becomes Jihad(taking the misinterpreted meaning). Result is bloodshed. This idea cannot be made clearer than by this blogger - Indiacut: The systematic Use of Terror
I wonder what M.Gandhi will have to say about this now - "First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win". Problem is in all this 'they' and 'you' are same people - we, the Indians.

It's the wine that leads me on, the wild wine that sets the wisest man to sing at the top of his lungs, laugh like a fool – it drives the man to dancing…it even tempts him to blurt out stories better never told.[The Odyssey]

Defense

2009-02-02T07:36:00.002+05:30

To fight me, you have to know my fears first
To know my fears you have to know me first
To know me you have to love me first

Vanity of Pakistan

2009-01-30T07:00:00.002+05:30

However impotent he may be as a chief of a country(unofficially/but not really), there is one thing about Zardari to be appreciated: his art of rhetoric. Some quotes from his latest editorial
"...we need no lectures on our commitment. This is our war. It is our children and wives who are dying."
"...The situation in Pakistan, Afghanistan and India is indeed critical, but its severity actually presents an opportunity for aggressive and innovative action."
"...Assistance to Pakistan is not charity; rather, the creation of a politically stable and economically viable Pakistan is in the long-term, strategic interest of the United States."
In a single editorial he tries to convey a threat of militancy, ask for a charity(politically assistance), justify actions of government and army.

On the other hand, there is USA point of view from Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and columnist David Ignatius:
"All countries have armies, but here, an army has a country."
"...the Pakistani army, with its stockpile of nuclear weapons, may include officers linked to a terrorist attack on the country's neighbor."
"...it's much more opaque than it is transparent... ...it can sometimes be difficult to figure out who did what to whom..."

Apart from what has been said in above quotes, there is a lot that can be inferred from these two essays
1. Civilian society in Pakistan is just there to die either in hands of terrorist or in hands of its own army or in hands of USA.
2. Zardari needs to know the distinction between a corporate house and a state. He cannot make difference between opportunity to show talent or need of security to people.
3. Stable Pakistan is in interests of India not that of USA unless USA needs Pakistan for war with terrorism.
4. USA is unable to comprehend the inter-relation between ISI, army and terrorism in Pakistan.
5. USA is happy just to see just a deployment of some troops for USA's fight(not Pakistan's) on the face. It's unable to learn from sixty years of experience of India with Pakistan.
6. USA is still unable to detach Kashmir problem with that of contemporary form of terrorism.
7. I wonder if Pakistan is rogue state or a state at all...
8. India has another worry to add in its list now, US intervention in Kashmir issue.

Ayye Kancha!!

2009-01-15T14:23:00.003+05:30

Come to think of it, if Academy jury sits down to select the one Indian movie out of one fifty [link] movies relesed in 2008 then what will happen. Half of the jury will go lunatic watching the same cliches and same banal stuff over and over in all those three-hour length movies. The other half will join LeT with a vow to annihilate whole of Bollywood (Mumbai) as if 26/11 was not enough.

Big B talks about the entertainment that Bollywood provides,"The commercial escapist world of Indian Cinema had vociferously battled for years , on the attention paid and the adulation given to the legendary Satyajit Ray at all the prestigious Film Festivals of the West, and not a word of appreciation for the entertaining mass oriented box office block busters that were being churned out from Mumbai. The argument. Ray portrayed reality. The other escapism, fantasy and incredulous posturing."

I guess his wits has failed him mercilessly in recognising the true sense of Cinema even after being the legend of Indian cinema(I myself thinks he is the most prestigious entity of Indian cinema). But with all due respect, sir, the problem is not the difference between creating fantasy or portraying reality. Matrix and LOTR and many more are out rightly fantasies but still they are recognised by Academy. But the point here is those are neither cliches nor are those simplistic like Bollywood movies. This is the first point of why Bollywood movies are not recognized.
Secondly, look at the recent choices of Indian entries for Oscars: Paheli, Rang De Basanti, Eklavya, Taare Zameen Par.
Look at the movies which got nominations[link]: Mother India, Salaam Bombay, Lagaan. Now think why those got nominations, were the commercial, or they were stereotypical or those were pieces of cinema free from cliches and commercial aspects.
One movie chosen was Lagaan. Of course it showed a lot of stereotypes of poor India, but think if the movie really was about those stereotypes or was it about the fight a bunch of peasants gave to sophisticated cricket of British. One can think more of Mother India and Salaam Bombay.

The point I want to drive is that if your movie has a potential to become a good cinema which can be watched over and again in coming decades(example Casablanca) then it will be definitely recognized. If you don't have potential to make that then stop quibblling about 'your streotypes' of the world and foreigner's stereotypes. I will say Bollywood industry has a huge potential to make better movies but lure of commercial success and playing safe is the easy refuse for them. But I believe the onus lies with Indian audience itself. Recent example is Ghajini. It is amazing how it created records of 200 crore without having a novel idea in the movie, without significant acting, even without good music and compositions. Anyway commercial escapism should in noway mean that you should expect an Oscar or Golden Globe award for it.

Of course he has a point when he says,"Conditions the world over are so similar. Perceptions differ, but the reality of life and existence, unchanged."
But 25% of the population living below $1/day [link] can not be ignored, Mr. Bachchan.
And by the way, a movie having link with reality or fantasy or stereotypes has no relation whatsoever with it being a good piece of cinema.

He goes on to say, "But look how rapidly all that is changing. Retrospectives in Paris and New York. Dedicated TV channels running Hindi cinema on prime timings. Premiers at Leiscester Square, the home of all Hollywood royalty, thronged by hundreds on the street in cold biting weather."

Another piece!! By all this do you mean to say that Hindi cinema is serving good cinema? Or you are just re-iterating the fact that commercial success of Indian cinema is being taken noticed of (Of course every business man in his right senses would want to be part of it). Or few good movies that come out every year are helping to change the image of Indian cinema.

He is on blog!!

2009-01-12T16:33:00.003+05:30

Most of people might already know. But this should serve as reminder.

Advani has now his own blog. [link]

This is simply awesome. Will got to know the thoughts and feelings of spearhead of BJP on daily basis. Lets see what he has to say...

In defense of Slumdog Millionaire

2009-01-10T13:41:00.002+05:30

Slumdog Millionaire is over-rated as well as misinterpreted.

First of all it is a lovely movie with great drama. It has transcended the usual happy ending scenario movies. It has really delivered a great play altogether to show how a man can win against adversities in this cruel world(not so cruel). But in the end, in my view, as USA is all going ga-ga over it, it doesn't desrve that much also. The rating at imdb, I think, is over-rated. The main reason for being over-rated is I think the dire state of USA right now. Every movie which has been about hope and change has been over-rated. Take 'The Dark Knight' or 'Wall-E' for instance. Both are great movies, no doubt in that, but they certainly have been called more greater than those actually are. Both movies touched top ten in imdb at certain point. I won't give both movies that much rating that they can be in top 10.

Some people have loved this movie for showing a very great 'realistic' visual of Mumbai-slums, well first of all the movie has shown only negative aspects of a metro city of India. Though no lie has been made yet reality is not 'complete' in this movie and on top of that reality is stretched to too extreme. Even for showing slum-life who think this is the best movie, I will point out a movie called Salaam Bombay made in 1988. The genuineness Mira Nair could achieve in her movie, I don't think Danny Boyale could go at par with that even after 20 years.
Some people loved it for being a movie that has transcended love stories. This is what I found really weird. Because as far as this movie goes, it has nothing which can be comparable to Pretty Woman or Titanic in that category and there are classics like Casablanca. And these reference movies mentioned are just Hollywood movies, you can find a lot of Bollywood movies out of thousands of melodrama and love flicks for which Bollywood is most famous and I assure you thousands will be far better love-stories than this one.

Now a lot of people have criticised it for having shown a too much of a dark side of India. Well, as it is, the movie certainly has gone beyond boundary about India. But remember it's a fiction. Fiction almost always have come with an exaggeration of general world events that actually happen to be real. This movie is no different.
The laughter of Audience when Anil Kapoor(host of game-show) mocks our hero is not what happens in reality at Indian game-shows but it does not means that it is made to signify the negative aspect of India towards apathy towards poor. But the essence of movie in showing it such a way is that it is a sarcasm on reality shows where audience does what it is told on sign-boards. It is exaggeration on aspect of game-shows not mockery of poor.
Other a few events like jumping of boy into shit-load to get autograph of Amitabh, also has nothing to do with dark sides of India and such. This is Boyale's signature of taking comic scenes into extreme. If you don't believe me, watch Danny Boyle's 1996 masterpiece Trainspotting, in which Renton puts himself pathetically (yet artistically) into the worst toilet in Scotland for two pills of drugs.

The movie is a fiction but one entagled with truths and facade of reality unlike Bollywood movies which contain plethora of fantasy in scene, dialogue, songs and everything of movie. There is difference between three, you see, fiction, fantsay and reality.

Satyam

2009-01-08T16:26:00.002+05:30

When you are riding a tiger there will always be a risk of being clawed upon by tiger.
Maybe it was conscience or maybe all doors were closed for Ramalinga Raju that he had to resign. Long stories are being written on how a treacherous animal he is and all that. Few days ago the person who was one of biggest stories of Indian corporate success is now a sham on the face of India.
I just want to explain one thing:
Have you ever wondered that was it Satyam trying to rescue Maytas or was it Maytas trying to rescue Satyam?[link] And it turns out later is true. Satyam would have bought Maytas giving a worthless value to Raju's son thus filling up Satyam's blank balance books. His son would have been happy to sacrifice all his hard work but saving his father's ass. And if that is true, it transpires that Raju was actually doing a favor to Satyam with the sacrifice of his son's property.
Imagine if his plan would have succeeded then Satyam would have finally got clean books and diversified assets. Raju would have cleansed his sins and all would have been well with his corporate governance. He would have been success story for many more years to come.
But no, that was not to be. The same investors who reaped benefits for years from Raju's decisions, now interrupted him for the single most right thing he set to do. And now guess what who is regretting most after Satyam has come crashing down - Raju or those investors?

If I am any judge I will give clean chit to Raju for at least showing courage to face the tiger.

Note: In no way I am implying that he did a great job following those malpractices. Following malpractices or not, is not the point.

Religion

2008-12-30T07:32:00.001+05:30

I am not a superman, but I am the child of a man

Top Eight Bollywood Movies of 2008

2008-12-29T11:59:00.021+05:30

Apart from the tortures of a big list of lame movies like Love Story 2050, Drona, Tashan, Singh is Kinng, Jodha-Akbar, Karzzzz to count a few, I believe 2008 have been a super year for bollywood. I sensed an effort towards making serious and sincere movies from film makers. It was a tremendous year for audience like me who watch tons of movies to catch a single moment of transcending pleasure. Though exceptions of regular film-makers will always be there whose instincts are driven more with box-office collections than to present an idea. One example is Shahrukh Khan who again proved his indomitable spirit to make movies which make sense only in dream-lands with movie Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi and another example is Aamir Khan who used to be sage but the race for number one in industry failed him with raw commercialization of Ghajini.

It was unusual year for Bollywood for it scrapped the monotonous old curtains of melodrama and romance. There were movies like Mixed Doubles, Dil Kabaddi, Dostana(lame it maybe) which tried to explore new dimensions into sexuality and there were movies like A Wednesday which gave insight into aspects of terrorism. Some movies like Sorry Bhai emphasised on the opening values of Indian society and others like Fashion tried to show the hidden patterns of a particular sect. And as usual lots of movies with lame comedy like Welcome which come and go but earn good cash on the box-office.
Many of these movies failed in its attempts but a lot of them were successful in delivering a well acted and flamboyant message driven presentation. Message is not important though with good acting, great dialogues and brilliant screenplay if you get a good message then its just a bonus, isn't it? Following is my list of top movies:

Movies which missed the mark: Sorry Bhai, Fashion, Shaurya, Black & White, Sarkar Raj, Tahaan

Note: In the list two movies are included which havn't been made in bollywood but significant in the context of bollywood and India nonetheless. And by coincidence but with ni wonder those two happen to be at the top of the list.

8. A Wednesday
A thrill of cat and mouse game which ends in more than just a game. It is not about picking a gun for a gun, the message is loud and clear. The common man will have to accept the responsibility to clean terrorism because it is common man who is affected most from it. Unless we show what we deserve, we can not demand free candies from politicians and bureaucrats. NaseerUdDin Shah played central role in this movie who is common man but does great deeds of militancy in the form of terrorist. The movie was full of exaggerations on some themes like excessively smooth working of security-forces and politicians and too many deeds from a single common man. But I believe nothing gets hurt if we can live in fantasy for two hours.

. Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Naa
Ah! Finally a good movie about love and romance. What a great relief. This movie has proved that good love stories are not just made with huge cast of stars and big budgets. Beautiful act by all the six leading actors and special credit goes to Genelia Dsouza who played superbly chill teen. Now we can say that Bollywood love stories are not just senseless and predictable, they can be entertaining and funny. And love is not always about crying and being sentimental it can be sophisticated always living in our unconscious selves. And as the tagline suggest 'so when do you know it's love?'

6. Aamir
Another flick on terrorism!! The movie which say we individuals are not Muslims or Hindus and not even Indians, we are human in the first place. That's enough for this movie to count upon. But nonetheless the movie picked the subject with a different approach. An individual who happens to be a Muslim and is well to do is made to do what he never could do. But in the end a man decides himself of his fate. Without any significant budget, without any prominent cast it was a greatly developed movie. Kudos to Raj Kumar Gupta who took such a risk with his first movie and unbelievably caught the moments of secularism, religion and terrorism.

5. Dasvidaniya
Another movie from actor Vinay Pathak and again with central role. Bheja Fry was perhaps a bit superficial in its finish, but not this movie. Before watching this movie I had more expectations from the actor and without no doubt, he has lived up to expectations. The movie is successful in delivering the old flavor of characters, but having seasoned with masala of subtle humor. Loosely based on story of The Bucket List, it has the message of simple man with simple ambitions of his life. It is about those dreams we forget to see, in the rush of life, being mere unimportant to world around us. We must care about people we love, but lets not forget ourselves.

4. Rock On
When I watched Dil Chahta Hai, I liked it. I watched Rock On, I Loved it with a big L!! Movie is similar to many elements of Dil Chahta Hai with similar themes of love and friendships. But more to it was the choices we make, it is about a reson we stand in the whirlpool of fate. Thanks to Farhan Akhtar who succeeded in introducing rock music to Bollywood and that too Indian style. A point here, its a rock music which actually rocks( and not shouts). I guarantee after watching this movie everyone will come with a smile on his face and a spirit to fight for their choices.

3. Mumbai Meri Jaan
This movie is set in the context of aftermaths of Mumbai Train Bombings of 2006. It is story of real Indians depicted through five characters in different professions. Realistic drama has been played by realistic characters with the help of a short stories but all centered around blasts. It is not about academic or political discussions and debates on terrorism, this movie didn't add up to another rhetoric on terrorism; this movie is about a common man in the vicinity of terrorist attacks. Every other day India is bombed at and this movie deals with those emotional trade-offs which come with those attacks. After watching this movie, I understood a(not the) meaning of two-minute-silence, did you?

2. Mithya
It is one of those stories which have umpteen number of layers and you just can not reach the depth. Its characters are such that in every character you will find yourself or a part of yourself. The dark satire about romance, thriller, crime based on the underworld, bollywood, acting makes it all the inclusive. The movie starts with light comedy and turns out to be a thriller as well as a comic tragedy. It is the best Ranvir Shorey had delivered ever. And it is also not a movie like Bheja Fry where whole of movies is centered around one or two characters. Vinay Pathak, Neha Dhupia, Naseeerudin Shah, Saurabh Shukla everyone had there contribution in making of this movie what it is. And finally a great appalause for Rajat Kapoor, the director of the movie. I would have chosen this movie for higher ranking, but being slightly slow, it just missed the point.

1. Oye Lucky Lucky Oye
Not many will agree, but in my view it is the best comic movie of 2008. It is more subtle in humor even than movies like Dasvidaniya, in a sense, that to find the meaning of humor you need to know and understand the cultures and whims of society we live in. A tremendous effort by Dibankar Banerjee after his previous another good movie Khosla Ka Ghosla. And unlike Khosla Ka Ghosla, I will say it will be an insult to call it comedy film. It is very serious movie about love, hate, family, society and most importantly about self. A very simple movie of a simple person but with a complex life who happens to be a thief and expressed in very simple notions of common man characters whom you can find just around the corner of your street or colony. It earned an extra point for adding a very genuine regional flavor in its presentation of language and behavior. At the end of movie, I am sure audience will be come out laughing and will have a thing to think about in their pockets.

Bonus 2. Khuda Kay Liye

Its a Pakistani movie mostly in Urdu and English. It is the first movie directed by Shoaib Masoor and it was the first movie for many of its leading actors. The movie has raised question marks on the issues which are supposed to be forbidden in Islam but are not. This movie really gives a new competitive perspective to Muslims who are follow the religious preachings blindly. The movie has set a viewpoint that even if a Muslim listens to his heart and do what he wants, still he can be a Muslim. People devoid of happiness, guns in hands, Jihad on lips are not Muslims. Why I added this movie in this list? Because this movie is not about Pakistan or Afghanistan. This movie transcends those lines, it is for us. This movie challenges the exterimism whether it is Islamic fundamentalism, Hindu extremism or American way of war against terror. The great thing about this movie is that beside being totally message-oriented it is still beautifully played with a well act, music and regional flavors.

Bonus 1. Slumdog Millionaire
It is not exactly a movie of 2008, its going to be released in January, 2009 in India. But then it will be difficult to count it as 2009 movie just for the sake of release in India. So I included it in the list of 2008.
What more is left to say about this movie? This movie is set in the backdrop Mumbai slums and is about a low class person living in those slums. The movie is about a person who hails from slums of Mumbai and goes onto become a millionaire and finds his love of life in the end. The important thing is that movie is not about India and slums. It is about the victory of optimism in the face of adversities. It won't be wrong to put it in genres of comic, tragedy and love story; but in the end bottom line is that how a man can live his life in this cynical world with nothing but a bit of hope. The movie is beautifully played with a mixture of strong emotions and a sense to send a message to audience through this medium but without forgetting that entertainment is primary objective of this medium. A point to mention here of a negative point, this movie has slightly over emphasised dark side of Indian life, but above nine movies are also not absolutely devoid of some negative points.

The One about IIIT: The Great Institute

2008-12-11T14:16:00.231+05:30

Disclaimer, Fact and Statement: It's not exactly a disclaimer. The fact is I do not intend a disclaimer. And the statement is that my fight has always been with ideas not individuals.
Notes: 1. Post contents are in regular font. 2. Italics are my random thoughts 3. Quoted text is excerpts from other articles. 4. The title is not sarcastic at all. 5. IIIT means International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad. 6. I did my graduate degree from IIIT, Hyderabad.

The Great Society: A Libertarian Critique article by Murray N. Rothbard, which I was reading beholding it in context of contemporary governments and exploitation of poor, which actually is intended by the author. But suddenly the idea struck me that this article and given insights directly link to IIIT also.
It is long since I have left(rather rejected) writing posts about/on IIIT. Actually, I am not good at writing general stuff and apart from general stuff, I happen to have only controversial topics on or about institute, for which, having left the institute, I sometimes think I may not be appropriate person. So even if I press a few keys, my fingers don't press 'publish' button. But I guess, a tree can never leave its roots.

In sum, the most important fact about the Great Society under which we live is the enormous disparity between rhetoric and content.[link]

The state of affairs at IIIT is no different. An inarguable rhetoric of IIIT is that IIIT is the place 'where dreams come true'. But to me, reality seems utterly opposite, as I have experienced. At this point let me be clear that I talk of 'IIIT'(and from here on, unless specified) as IIIT administration and decision making authority. And let me be clear that if not all, most of my dreams that had any link with IIIT have come true also and I am not talking about any kind of injustice to me. Those dreams came true, but NOT because of IIIT. Perhaps because of hostels of the institute, wings and rooms of hostels, or perhaps classes of IIIT institute. To me, IIIT has always been an entity which takes pride in endeavors in which dreams of an individual(happen to be students) are suppressed for the sake of greater good of same individual without his conscious or unconscious consent. There are umpteen number of examples, I will explain in due post.

Before going ahead, first let me note the vision of IIIT as an institution
(courtesy: IIIT website )

To carry out advanced research and technology development in information technologies and their societal, scientific, industrial and financial applications.
To train and educate, at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, engineers of outstanding ability who can become leaders in their profession.
To work closely with industry leaders and to help them in undertaking programmes needed in their sectors.

Research(Idea championed by IIIT): Research is something that IIIT has valued over and above anything else in any case and it is pretty much clear from its vision. The emphasis on research has been on such a scale that the vision seems to look like that of a research firm rather than an institute where education is imparted to students to make them self-sufficient in carrying out research or development. In no way, I am saying that research is a wrong aspect of an educational institute's priorities; an institute can keep research in high terms but that doesn't mean institute should dilute its immediate priority and devalue its other priorities.
The suppression of freedom starts as early as counseling for admissions, when dual-degree courses are offered from IIIT. There will be few who would like to take decision about the MS, when someone's immediate priority is to think about BTech. Most of them at that time, don't even know exactly what a 'research' is. IIIT institute is the one of the most craved for institution in AIEEE counseling because of the quality of education it offers. But IIIT itself takes advantage of this fact by making a certain number of seats mandatory dual-degree and thus trapping intelligent but not so lucky by rank students to serve its own humanitarian ideology. It is not difficult to argue here that giving the choice(as happens to single-degree students) of MS at the term of third year does make a far more flexible way to proceed. This is not the only problem.
Every possible attempt is made to divert attention of even single-degree students towards research. An environment is created where emphasis on choosing research field as a career path is deliberately given, rather than teaching a student to follow his ambitions and decide along his interests. Rhetoric in the name of research in general speeches of professors, lack of development project in comparison to research project, deliberate impositions on placement processes etc. are some of the things which constitute the parts of this environment. A number of conferences and talks are called upon yearly by IIIT related to technology and research. How many(if any) talks are organised from corporate companies or alumni to talk on corporate life or industry-work related topics, considering that 'service in industry' is the career most of the students will be going for, after completion of degree. I am not taking any negative stance against R&D. I am not saying students' interests(lets say placement process) should be given priority over other things but there should be at least workable freedom to pursue their interests(lets say placement process).
The question of argument against any deliberate attempt to create such environment, here doesn't arise as I myself have experienced such an environment and I am sure most of readers also feel the same way. This applies to any interest student want to pursue unless it harms others or sanctity of institution.
Two questions for introspection:
1. Has any under-graduate student ever heard any positive remark about corporate life or job from any professor or post-graduate?
2. How many times have you heard advantages of research life over(emphasis) corporate life from people who are plainly devoid of any experience in corporate life?

In my view research is the most important factor for human development, because research is basically other name for organised experimentation of ideas. And ultimately ideas are the factor which define the prosperity or development of a society or community. But then one should not demean the value of industry. Industry creates the need for new ideas and research caters that requirement. Then again, new researches and new ideas creates new markets and industry. In this sense, both of areas rides on achievements of each other and that is how a progressive society works. The question of comparing the careers in two fields is as stupid as slamming a revolving door. If you are in one field you cannot remain isolated from the other, but the priority should lie with your interests.

Imparting Human Values: The fresher student has not adjusted the environment of IIIT yet, he is made to follow the courses like Jeevan Vidya etc., another blow of humanitarian ideology on young minds.

Does anywhere in its vision IIIT says that it wants to impart 'human values' and 'education in broad sense' to its students? My point is that the primary goal of IIIT is to educate engineers, to make their careers and AIEEE rankers join IIIT for that same sole goal.
IIIT is not a high school so that it has to give human values to students and make good citizens out of them. The idea of giving broad education should lie with schools and if that doesn't happen then we should understand that problem lies with their primary education or system of primary education. Compelling the students those things at an adulthood stage can make matters worse (if matters are bad for example, a student doesn't have minimal human values to qualify him as IIIT-student). The thing is only aggravated by the fact that all such courses are made compulsory for freshers. Even if a set of courses(human values, industry specific, research specific) are provided in the institute by external parties then flexibilty should be given to students to have his own choice.

Then there are activities like Yoga etc which are totally from a different perspective grounds entirely unlinked to education. If something suits to the king of country why is it necessary for the population also to follow same thing? There are a number of Indian/Japnese/Korean/Chinese techniques like this which maybe good for health of mind and body and which can serve a number of individuals' business interests. But how the inclusion of these practices serve the goal of IIIT is debatable.

Extra curricular Activities: IIIT is always eager to pronounce the above activities(human values etc.) in the name of broad education. But the part, which is extra curricular activities, is always forgotten while pursuing the useless activities. The likes of sports/discussions/debates activities are compulsory for any student to evolve as a student. But the only heed given to those is mere for the necessity of compulsory credits. It's not a problem of students, its problem of institution which is impotent in providing necessary framework where students are ready to give favor to these activities over their project works/online games/blogging. The problem is such activities are thought to be pro-management interests which makes student divert from research-work or regular studies. It is time, in my view that institute should stop quibblling that students don't take part in such activities but instead should put necessary faculty and framework in place to enahnce such things.
Another point here comes to my mind that why was Yoga/Jeevan Vidya cannot be put in extra-curricular activities, afterall those things aptly suit the criteria of extra-curricular activities. The problem here again is again humanitarian ideology. Making these extra-curricular will either mean devaluing human-value courses or appreciate the value of other extra-curricular activities. Then IIIT will have to face the contradiction of seeing all the extra-curricular activities with the same eye as that of human-value stuff which will surely demean the basic goal of these activities of imparting humanitarian values.

Food: It would have been an injustice if I did not mention this. Perhaps some readers know the reason, but I hope not. Anyway, the idea of free market is laid waste when it comes to running messes(providing quality food to students, putting it in another way) in IIIT. Considering there are three messes, neither the students nor the caterer is given any freedom so that they can compete with each other so that competition itself makes sure that students will get good food. That anyway, has become acceptable to students I guess and enough has been said on that. On top of that there are contract-free extra mess(es) where supposedly students do all the work. If in anyway students want to work on their own then why can't they work in other messes? Why IIIT is biased towards a particular mess for which there is no contract, no questions are asked if it can run or not, there are no prohibitions etc. etc.? But every effort is made to squeeze margins of caterer of other messes, the result being bad quality of food. These messes need to be regulated(food quality, prices, timings etc.) not ruled by IIIT.

In the end, I would like to note that IIIT should be dispassionate and unbiased towards education. Like a state has no business being in business, IIIT has no business being biased towards one kind of ideology over another. There should be ample space for freedom for mature students of this institution to pursue their own dreams and take their own decisions. Even having a conflicting vision is not the main point. The point is IIIT should not dilute its core goal of creating engineers. The goal of IIIT is to create highly skilled engineer, whether the student uses the skills for earning money for himself or he uses it for greater good of society(research), should be prerogative of the student. IIIT should in noway try to influence the interests of students.
Ultimately, why a community tends to be biased towards truth of one belief over the other is a complex question.
But I guess in context of IIIT, perhaps I have the answer(perhaps - because I could never dig the hole deep enough). The essence of development in context of any community lies in the fact that new ideas are filtered for their usefulness and new innovations are nurtured. In this process, it is very important to have (a continuous flow of) multiple set of ideas and views such that depending upon time and place, most suitable ideas can be nurtured. When there is only one person at the helm of community to make decisions then the ideas are limited and facts are deviated from truth. As a result, progressive development stops taking place. Democracy is experimentation of majority and thus it is bound to progress unless it is unfair, on the other hand, autocracy is dream of one and living nightmare of many.

The humanitarian wishes to be a prime mover in the lives of others. He cannot admit either the divine or the natural order, by which men have the power to help themselves. The humanitarian puts himself in the place of God.
But he is confronted by two awkward facts; first, that the competent do not need his assistance; and second, that the majority of people … positively do not want to be "done good" by the humanitarian…. Of course, what the humanitarian actually proposes is that he shall do what he thinks is good for everybody. It is at this point that the humanitarian sets up the guillotine.[link]

Epilogue: Some individuals never appreciate anything for what it is or what it has achieved, but are always eager to prick out the drawbacks in possibly most obnoxious manner. I apologise, I never learned the art of appreciation. I am a creature of habit with a rebellious spirit. One has to do what he got to do. I got to do honest criticism.
All said, my fight will always continue with ideas and with myself. But it is sad to see people of IIIT not fighting for what they believed in or what they believe in. It is sad because IIIT was the range where I learned to shoot. Seems like Kurukshetra could not tolerate assaults of the realty market. And now Kauravas and Pandavas are both living together happily(ever after) in their respective apartments at 69th floor in Laakshya Mahal(or was it Palash Nivas or something?).(all puns intended)

26/11 Mumbai Attacks: War with Pakistan

2008-12-05T14:51:00.016+05:30

While reading this post from Vinod, I really got confused. I am in dilemma between the question of 'war with Pakistan'.

War with Pak: Yes
There is no way Pakistan govt will help finding perpetrators of any terrorist attacks that have happened in India over the past, forget about current Mumbai attacks. This is shown in their blatant act of ignorance that any terrorist activity even does exist in Pakistan at all. Similarity can defined for Pakistan govt with Taliban which did not take any action against Al Qaeda, and now Pak is reluctant to recognise LeT (and group). Pakistan's behavior in this respect is also criminal, giving refuse to other criminals. It is Pakistan's compulsion or urge, we cannot tell. How to pressurize Pakistan is question which is answered by only taking unilateral military action.
We are left with only military action because over the past, any bilateral or multilateral talks involving India and Pakistan, have been failed utterly in achieving the objective. Though one should not be cynical that if talk has been failed in the past, it is bound to fail again. But going with conditions in Pakistan and attitude of its govt, it is safe to assume.
The other way would have been multilateral pressure on Pakistan with the support of USA(may be Israel also). But here again the glitch is at this point of time, favoring India over Pakistan is not in strategic interests of USA. USA would not want to jeopardize its fight with Taliban on Eastern front of Pakistan, which is its high priority and in which it has already invested.
All India is left with, is unilateral action(not talk) on Pakistan which transforms to war.

War with Pak: No
The solution is not so easy. Lets say we go to war with Pakistan.
First of all that is really not direct solution to India's problem. 'War' means war with Pakistan govt which is in fact supporter of terrorists, not the actual culprit which happens to be LeT and Company Inc.
Secondly there is the mess of Taliban. If there is war between Pakistan and India then Pakistan finds itself in pieces. It will be highly unstable because of war from two fronts - Eastern(India) and Western(Taliban). Now again, unstable Pakistan is highly undesirable for India. India may win one war, but will have to face another war.
There maybe a arguments that Taliban will support Pakistan. Really? The given war will be only platform for Taliban to gain solid stand in Pakistan. After Pakistan goes bust, Taliban will rule the left-overs. Taliban is no mere terrorist group, it has a monumental army gathered(80,000 read somewhere).
On top of that, If India goes to war with Pakistan then it will jeopardize its strategic relations with USA because for USA Pakistan is a crucial ally in fight with terrorism. And in this situation when India is vulnerable from three fronts - Pakistan(west), China(Northern border) and internal threats(like naxalism), it will be a blunder to not have USA as an ally. Because at this point of time, on international front only USA is strong ally for India.

The Question
What should be India's response, as foreign strategy, to Mumbai Terror attacks?
still remain unanswered.

26/11 Mumbai Attacks: In response to NYT

2008-12-03T14:43:00.011+05:30

Dear Gosh,
With all due respect, You are so wrong!! Perhaps you need to analyze the Mumbai attacks with more care. These attacks were even more significant than 9/11 not for world or America but for India. Think carefully if the same perpetrators could have kept the whole nation at ransom for three days if the same incident would have happened in USA. No, we are not talking about America, we are talking about India. We are talking about something which is more than number of casualties. It is about national security, it is about corruption of politics, corruption in security forces, it is about ripping of whole nation. 9/11 is significant to world because it was not about world trade center of America but about the price whole Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan had to pay.
And what else do you expect from a city other than returning to normal life, where life is more tough than anywhere else in India.

But yes, I agree with you on:
"Defeat or victory is not determined by the success of the strike itself; it is determined by the response."

Dear Friedman,
Even with more respect, I ask you to read Zardari's response. USA can invade a sovereign nation(Pakistan that is) to find her criminals but India cannot even make a descent request to hand over perpetrators.

And Pakistan's sincerity towards countering terrorism is shown in their ignorance (act of ignorance):
"if any evidence points towards any individual or group in my part of the country..."

Searching mp3 files

2008-12-03T07:07:00.004+05:30

Google:
“parent directory” mp3/wma/ogg/wav Band/Singer -html -htm -download -links
or
intitle:index.of + "mp3/wma/wav" + "Band/Singer" -htm -html -php -asp

Yahoo:
parent directory” AND (Band/Singer) AND (mp3/wma/wav) AND NOT(”download”) AND NOT(”links”)

MSN:
parent directory” AND (Band/Singer) AND (mp3/wma/wav) AND NOT(”download”) AND NOT(”links”)

ਜੁਗ੍ਨੀ ਆ ਗਇ, ਬਇ!! (Jugni !!)

2008-12-01T14:46:00.007+05:30

'Jugni' has deep penetration into the scales of Punjabi folk songs. Weather it is 'boliyan' or 'tappe' or pop or folk songs, 'Jugni' is always there to greet us. 'Oye Lucky Lucky Oye' had some songs (rather background scores), dedicated to 'Jugni' which when I heard, I realize that I never tried to know what exactly 'Jugni' is. 'Jugni' in today's culture is considered generally 'wandering lady' which can take other forms also. But the story of origin of 'Jugni' is entirely different.

The following is essay taken from some interent-form.

The History of Jugni

By Karamjit Singh Aujla.
Translated by Gurjant Singh.
Originally Published in Punjabi Tribune 24th Sept 2005.

The popularity of Jugni has always touched the hearts of Panjabi mentality. She became a permanent part in the Panjabi folklore right since the ancient times. But who is Jugni? Nobody ever tried to find the veracity and because of it`s simple Jugni-stanzas and simple versification, academic scholars never cared.

Jugni-poetry and Jugni-music took birth a century ago in 1906. Before that time, nowhere do we find any mention of her in history or the folk memory.

Jugni-poetry and Jugni-music was created by two folk singers and most probably its creation was accidental. These folk singers were Bishna and Manda. They were from Majha area and whatever I heard about them is as written below.

According to the late Pandit Diwan Singh, a resident of Khadur Sahib, Manda was a Muslim Mirasi. His village was Hasanpur, Thana Vairowal in Amritsar District. His real name was Mohammad but he was popular with his name Manda. Nobody knows anything about his family.

Bishna was also from Majha and was from a Jatt family. Nobody knew about his background untill 1969 when was asked from a freedom fighter Baba Makhan Singh of village Dhathi Jaimal Singh, he told that their stages were seen a couple of times in Patti and Kasur. Their favourite topics were Mirza and Tappe but they invented Jugni in 1906.

Baba Makhan Singh told that in 1906 when both of them were youths, the Brtish brought Jugni to India. When I asked that how British brought Jugni and what was Jugni, Baba Ji`s answer was that English Queen`s rule was over 50 years at that time. British ruled several parts of the Planet Earth and they thought that they should take a Torche to whole of their Empire. That flame of the Torche was itself Jugni which was taken from city to city in every country under British rule.

Baba Makhan Singh told that that flame was put in a big gold utensil and was taken to the every headquater of the districts. Wherever Jugni was taken big celebration were observed by the Govt. In all those shows Bands, Police department, army, Zaildars,high officials and high society people visited. In these shows Manda and Bishna also held their stage.

When Baba Makhan Singh was all explaining this, then a nearby person who looked a bit more educated, interupped that English didn`t bring Jugni-flame. In fact it was Jubilee which illiterate Bishna and Manda pronounced as `Jugni`.
From that gentleman`s interruption suddenly the mystery of the word `Jugni` was found that the word `Jugni` took birth from the english word Jubilee. It is clear that in 1906 the Jubilee flame was taken everywhere under the rule of Queen Victoria at her 50th anniversary on the throne.

This Jubilee flame was taken to every main city and at the district headquaters celebrations and festivities took place under the charges of DC. On these festivals, Bishna Jatt and Manda Mirasi held their stage where they sang their own composed stanzas of Jugni with the instuments of Dhad and King. Because of the simplicity and easy versification, these verses of Jugni became so popular very soon that many other people started versification of Jugni Verses.

Wherever we find a `Jugni-Verse` there we must find some city`s, village`s, and palce`s name. Wherever Jubilee-flame of the English rulers went Bishna and Manda also went to those places and put their small stage somewhere near the big festivals to perform. Their one original `Jugni-verse` is like this:

Jugni jaa varhi Majithe
koi Rann na Chakki peethe
Putt Gabhru mulak vich maare
rovan Akhiyan par Bulh si seete
Piir mereya oye Jugni ayi aa
ehnan kehrhi jot jagaee aa

This `Jugni`s poetic style and versification later became a traditional method and started taking much more in it`s clasp but the beginning of `Jugni` always remained in some city or place:

Jugni jaa varhi Ludhiane
Uhnun pai ge Anne Kaane
Maarn mukkian mangan Daane
Piir Mereya Oye! Jugni kehndi aa
Jehrhi naam Ali da laindi aa

Manda and Bishna were already used to take part in fesivals of Patti, Kasur, Ajnala and other towns of Majha region. Their Akhara or stage performance was famous. Manda used to play the instrument of Dhad and Bishna played the King. Singing performance was always together. They sometimes had composed stanzas at right while performing. If someone gave them a Rupee, they had composed a stanza linking the donor and his village`s name.

`Jugni` Jubilee flame went from city to city and Bishna and Manda followed. Their popularity also rose to the great level by time. In those days while the movement for freedom didn`t rose but in the mind of the masses anger was there. On many places faminines spead and droughts came. Public was illiterate and the rulers were cruel. So it was sure that the agony and sufferings the public suffered came in their stanzas.

The stanzas of English rule`s criticism and their tyranny were also composed. These new stanzas became so popular in public that now the rulers could not tolerate. Government started banning Bishna and Manda`s shows. Then Bishna and Manda started performing at some distance from the Jubilee fesivals but they gathered hugh crowds there too and many time police lathi-charged those gatherings. In those of their shows, people started talking frankly agaist the English rule on India and their atrocities, had been coming back while singing `Jugni` in revolutionary manner.

Sorrowful End

From city to city `Jugni` alais Jubilee went, Bishna and Manda followed, hugh crowed gathered. Anger against the English rule`s opression rose, public got more restless. In the same manner when Jubilee functions in the city of Gujaranwala became insipid against the Bishna and Manda`s stage, irritated police arrested and tortured them both to death. It is said that police buried them both in the middle of night in some unknown cemetry.

Canes of police had make them mum but their `Jugni` is still there in every city and will remain in the hearts of the people of this sub-continent forever. It comes in mind that something should be done in the memory of these two ignored and forgotten martyrs, some monument should be made.`Jugni` itself is a great memorial of these two worthy artists in the hearts of million but the monuments in the honour of Victorian jubilee are there in V.J. Hospital ( Victoria Jubilee ) in Amritsar and Victoria Terminal in Bombay which remind us the cruelity which faced generations and wiped the creaters of Jugni.

We don`t find any information about the family or siblings of this pair of singers. Neither of them got married in their life time. In 1906 both of them were around the age of 50. Punjab and Punjabis have yet to thank these two greats, next year at the time of century we have a chance to do something important in their memory.

Obama and Change

2008-11-27T17:21:00.003+05:30

After all the discussions and debates about 'Obama' and 'Change', here is a new and wonderful perspective.

Mere Mumbai or India?

2008-11-27T16:23:00.006+05:30

Once again, terrorists can count another masterpiece against the failure of government in standing unto its words. Anything to say is sheer wastage of words. But I felt guilty of not mentioning this terror in my blog which for ages is exploiting the Indian soil.
I feel like shouting loud in all my helplessness. But I will have to be content with small rant.
Some were surmising the damages in vicinity of attacks. Others were updating the sequences of last terrorist attacks from far away.

Just wondering what all politicians(Lalu Prasad, Advani likes) will say on these attacks. What will they have in defense of their words?? But will the defend their words at all or will they achieve new heights of dumbness?? And wonder, where will people like Raj Thackeray find place in all this.

Pleasure

2008-11-24T16:32:00.002+05:30

The great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.
In my view, it is even a greater pleasure doing what you should not do...

Happiness and Meaning

2008-11-20T14:52:00.002+05:30

Somewhere there was mention of following lines from The Interpretation of Murder by Jed Rubenfeld:

There is NO mystery to happiness.

Unhappy men are all alike. Some wound they suffered long ago, some wish denied, some blow to pride, some kindling spark of love put out by scorn—or worse, indifference—cleaves to them, or they do to it, and so they live each day within a shroud of yesterdays. The happy man does not look back. He doesn’t look ahead. He lives in the present.

But there’s the rub. The present can never deliver one thing: meaning. The ways of happiness and meaning are not the same. To find happiness, a man need only live in the present: he need only live for the moment. But if he wants meaning—the meaning of his dreams, his secrets, his life—a man must reinhabit the past, however dark, and live for the future, however uncertain. Thus, nature dangles happiness and meaning before us all, insisting only that we choose between them.

Crackers and Children

2008-11-13T02:13:00.024+05:30

Recently there is debate on child labor in context of Diwali and Crackers.
I already have a lot of arguments on this topic with many of my other friends.

In my view even if children work in Sivakasi factories making crackers using potassium etc., it is not any social or economical 'cause of degradation of their lives'. Notice that I am saying its not a cause, but, yes, it is a symptom of bigger problem called poverty.
On the other hand, in given conditions it is in fact better for those children that they work there and earn their livelihood.

A lot of things need to be clarified(not justified) regarding this.

First of all above point does not mean at all that I want those children to burn in the fire of hell. I am not saying that they should work in contaminated and intense environment. There should be proper measures of their safety like use of gloves, use of overalls, proper distance from chemicals, bearable(regular) working hours. But that goes for adult-workers too, not only for children. The point some people make that those children have to work in very intense unhealthy conditions does not make sense because even if any adult will work in those conditions, it won't still become healthy for him. The point of working conditions is entirely irrelevant to whether children should work or not.

Anyway the thing is livelihood argument, of course, doesn't make sense if you pick up things from scratch; it doesn't make sense if we think of ideal conditions and environment like there will be education at their disposal, some guardian to feed them, government to protect them blah blah.

But think of it when a child has got a father who cannot feed him (whatever the reason, whether he drinks or he is incompetent, blah, blah). If the child cannot get food of two times then what's the use of education to him. Providing eduation doesn't solve any purpose for him in the long run. If I(lets say) really want to help him then I should provide him food, shelter and education and make him competent enough to stand on his own feet, which is no less than adopting him as my child. (Anyway if I really want to see stand on his feet, why I am snatching it from him in the first place, he is already earning his livelihood on his own). If I have to adopt him then it is not a problem of child labor, it is problem of degraded family planning in poor. Once again which is a symptom of poverty and lack of education.

Moreover, I am against creating orphanages and all that(free support). Because I think its charity. And if I(lets say) can give donation out of my income for orphanage then it directly means I have no right to earn that much income in the first place (That, of course, I can not agree upon). Moreover giving donation is basically like giving dowry. It doesn't solve the problem; more you give it, more it will aggravate the problem. Giving donation or charity to someone will neither create long term(not even short term, for that matter unless one calls begging a work) work-opportunity for him nor one, who makes the charity, will gain anything from it. Instead giving someone charity makes them more dependent than ever before. (Yes, if you want to give charity for possible sympathy in your heart, or for all the paap-punya and karma-dharma stuff, or because you hate beggars and don't want to see them rise again or just for the heck of it, then of course, go ahead). The point got diverted from child labor to begging. But it doesn't matter because both are symptoms of same problem.

Anyway, so essentially if I say that child labor is not a cause of degradation but a symptom, then it doesn't mean that it should be left on its own. Of course it is a symptom, but we certainly can help solving the cause.
First of all, children should be provided equal wages to that of adults if an adult would do same work. This will ensure that enterprises(factories) are not biased in exploiting child labor because it is cheap. Secondly work-environment should be hazard-free. Third, working children can be given education after their work-hours. A minimum set of education can be provided ensuring that child can pursue skilled-education if he wants, on its own.

आलम ऐ ज़हन

2008-11-10T04:55:00.004+05:30

हम वहां हैं जहाँ हमको भी,

हमारी खबर नहीं आती!!

पहेले तो वो यादों में रहती थी!

अब तो भूले से याद भी नहीं आती...

By coincidence, part of lines in above has a resemblance with one of Ghalib's composition, which I had not read before composing above lines.
Producing below the composition by Ghalib.

कोई उम्मीद बार नहीं आती
कोई सूरत नज़र नहीं आती

आगे आती थी हाले दिल पर हसी
अब किसी बात पर नहीं आती

हम वहां हैं, जहाँ से हमको भी
कुच्छ हमारी खबर नहीं आती

काबा किस मुह से जाओगे 'गालिब'
शर्म तुमको मगर नहीं आती

Deepawali (दीपावली)

2008-10-27T19:43:00.004+05:30

All the huhu haha...
The all-day-long sizzling excitement of fireworks in stomach, calmed with no kind of sweet...
Colors of ribbons...
All the colors blinking out of series lights...
Candles and Diyas...
The soft chanting of aarti and fake sincerity on faces...
Then gulping down the sweets as dinner...
Uneasiness from listening the sounds of fireworks of neighbors before our fireworks started...
Then, finally, Crackle of fireworks, rockets....
Competition with neighbors, whose rocket goes highest...
Breaking records longest running fireworks...

I miss all that

A very very happy Deepawali to all
आप सभी को दीपावली की बहुत बहुत शुभ कामनाएं

whatever you call it...

2008-10-26T06:01:00.000+05:30

On a long quest, I began
with spirits high for something to gain

I crossed endless river
and went through land of timber

I went on, even deep under the ocean
until I was consigned to oblivion

but couldn’t unfold the secret
at last hung my head in regret

I lost my faith and my trust
I got tired, And laid to rest

I closed my eyes, there I found it

हस्स्ती

2008-10-20T17:21:00.000+05:30

तूफ़ान भले ही समंदर में हो या दरिया में, लहरों के मुकाबिल तो साहिल ही को होना है.....

Hope...

2008-09-19T13:37:00.000+05:30

Filled was I, with hope and joy

Riding endlessly, living on a convoy

And hope was what, kept me going on

But craved at the end, even for my own one

Learnt did I, Thou shalt not hope

Because opium of masses, is the hope

मंजील (Manzil)

2008-09-11T15:14:00.002+05:30

जीनदगी तुझसे कोई शिकवा तो नहीं, मगर तुझे जीने की खवाहिश भी तो नहीं!!
ठीकाना तो रहगुज़र है, मंजिल की तलाश ही नहीं!!

शायरी

2008-06-10T03:38:00.000+05:30

जिसे मैं सच्च समझता हूँ, उसे लोग झूठ कहते हैं!!
जिसे मैं याद कहता हूँ, उसे वो इक भूल कहते हैं!!

जिसे मैं याद कहता हूँ, उसे वो इक भूल कहते हैं!!
मेरी धड़कन क्या कहती है, सिर्फ तू समझती है!!

मेरी धड़कन क्या कहती है, सिर्फ तू समझती है!!
तू मुझे शायर समझती है, मैं तुझे शायरी कहता हूँ...
तुझे शायरी कहता हूँ...
शायरी कहता हूँ...

Mujhe Raat Din...

2008-05-30T10:01:00.003+05:30

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Track details

eSnips Social DNA

Sangharsh - Mujhe Raat Din..., Lyrics of Sameer and music by Jatin Lalit and sung by Sonu nigam...

Mm hmm hmm hmm, eh hey, la la la
Mujhe raat din, bas mujhe chaahti ho - 2
Kaho na kaho mujhko sab kuch pataa hai
Haan, karoon kya mujhe tum bataati nahin ho
Chhupaati ho mujhse yeh tumhaari khataa hai
Aa mujhe raat din, bas mujhe chaahti ho

Meri beqaraari ko had se badhaana
Tumhe khoob aata hai baatein banaana
Nigaahein milaake yun mera chain lena
Sataake mohabbat mein yun dard dena
Mujhe dekhke aise palkein jhukaana
Sharaarat nahin hai to phir aur kya hai
Aa mujhe raat din, bas mujhe chaahti ho

Tumhe neend aayegi ab na mere bin
Mujhe hai yakeen aisa aayega ek din
Khuli teri zulfon mein soya rahoonga
Tere hi khayaalon mein khoya rahoonga
Kabhi gaur se meri aankhon mein dekho
Meri jaan tumhaara hi chehraa chhupaa hai
Aa mujhe raat din, bas mujhe chaahti ho
Kaho na kaho mujhko sab kuch pataa hai
Haan, karoon kya mujhe tum bataati nahin ho
Chhupaati ho mujhse yeh tumhaari khataa hai
Aa mujhe raat din, bas mujhe chaahti ho

खुदी और आरजू

2008-05-28T10:59:00.002+05:30

किनारा बड़ी दूर था, और हम निकले भी बाजुओं के दम पे थे!! या शायद किनारा था ही नहीं बस एक लहर थी जिस पर हम सवार थे!! पर कब दिल ने तम्मानाओं की कश्ती पकड़ ली, पता ही ना चला था!!

आरजू की कश्ती में कभी सवार होना तो ना चाहा था, पर पानिओं और तम्मानाओं की रवानी को कौन रोक सका है!! हमारी बाजुओं में इतना दम ना था कि उस दिल कि दरिया को रोक सकें!!

बेखुद हम, उल्फत के दरिया में बहते रहे, जब तक होश आया तब तक यह दिल दिल्लगी कर बैठा था!! ऐसा ना था कि दिल हमसे बेवफा था, पर फिस्सलना तो इसकी फितरत में है!!

खुदी का किला तम्मानाओं की एक ही चोट से ढेर हो जायेगा, कभी सोचा ना था!! हमारे वजूद को मिटा गया वोह मंज़र जो कभी हमारा अपना ना था!!
गम तो नहीं है पर, हाँ..., उफान उठता है तम्मानाओं की लहर में जब भी, उस दरिया का सीना चलानी होता है, जो खुदी की बूंदों से बना है...!!

Transliteration:
Kinara badi door tha, aur hum nikale bhi bazoon ke dum pe they!! ya shayad kinara tha hi nahin bas ek lahar jis par hum sawar they!! Par kab dil ne tamanaaon ki kashti pakad li pata na chala tha!!

arzoo ki kashti mein kabhi sawar hona to naa chaha tha, par paanion aur tamanaaon ki ravaani ko kaun rauk saka hai!! Hamari bazoon mein itna dum naa tha ki us dil ke daria ko rok sakein!!

Bekhud hum, ulfat ke daria mein bahte rahe, jab tak hosh aaya tab tak yeh dil dillagi kar baitha tha!! Aisa naa tha ki dil humse bewafa tha, par phisalanaa to iski fitraat mein hai!!

khudi ka kila taamnaaon ki ek hi chot se dher ho jayega kabhi socha naa tha!! hamare wajood ko mita gaya woh manzar jo kabhi hamara apna naa tha!!
Gum to nahin hai par, haan..., ufaan uthta hai tamanaaon ki lahar mein jab bhi, us daria ka seena chalani hota hai, jo khudi ki boondon se bana hai...!!

तासीर...

2008-05-25T11:17:00.002+05:30

वोह राही ना था जो रास्ता भूल गया,
वोह तो मंज़र ही था जो मंजिल बन गया!!

वोह परवाना ना था जो शमा में जल गया,
वोह तो साहिल ही था जो लहर से टकरा गया!!

Transliteration:
woh parwana naa tha jo shama mein jal gaya
woh to saahil hi tha jo laher se takra gaya

woh raahi naa tha jo rasta bhool gaya
woh to manzar hi tha jo manzil ban gaya

The one from US

2008-04-24T06:17:00.003+05:30

This is the post from a land which used to be a land far away, to reach where one had to cross seven seas; so it is dedicated to the light of this land. Appreciate the sudden emergence of Paine and his common sense...

Time for Great Words

2008-03-20T17:54:00.001+05:30

It’s the words, my dear, words. The words have that power which can scourge even the monstrous armies of Devil. One pile of words by a pastor could have played havoc on the political ambitions of Barack Obama, but with just one another pile of words he has made a history astounding in the sense that even the greatest of politicians and preachers would be baffled.

The War for Pakistan

2008-03-12T17:25:00.004+05:30

This Paper is ideal insight of how history is distorted to rule over ingenuous mass.
This Video could help wash the myths about Benazir Bhutto's popular image in India.
This Interview could help incarnate an image of Asif Zardari in India. Though what he says is quite unbelievable. Only the time could tell the truth.

War for Weapons

2008-03-11T17:31:00.002+05:30

Here is the much hyped and much revered (of course by some dumb heads) preaching of disarmament by some of the people who themselves are one of the biggest hands in armament of not only US but the whole world.

The significance of arms’ pile and weapon advancement must be understood in context of India’s present situation in world strategy. It is the time when India is confronting with Pakistan on one border and with a burgeoning power Chine on the other border line; not to forget the internal threats of naxalism and separatist politics to security of India. When not only neighbors but family members have become a threat to India’s own security, the emphasis should be on security and not on disarmament which amounts to surrendering before enemy before the war has even started. It will be an utter mockery to Indian strategy if disarmament is being thought of at this point. Though war with weapons are never the only choice India has, there is always a window of Bilateral Negotiations open for issues but what these negotiation will amount to if India does not have a strong hand in the say when negotiating. Even for the peaceful negotiations to be handled on its own terms India will have to show its military prowess.

The article in Times of India has given a great insight on disarmament but I don’t quite think same way as is said about Nuclear Deal with US. When the deal is about and only nuclear issues for civilian purposes, we are in no way jeopardizing our future deterrent capabilities. Moreover it is not that India will have to abide by this deal for eternity. If by any chance India is threatened with imperialism intentions of US then at any time we can scrap the deal.

More has been clarified on security need for India and particularly on Chinese threat at India Retold

Dialogue and Reason

2008-03-04T18:48:00.004+05:30

Here are two pieces of conversations on blogs which are very thought provoking and therefore I decided to share these.

First one is the my dialogue with Atanu Dey in his post of Open Thread
Sukesh:
I almost regularly read your blog and deeply influenced by the reasoning and arguments you present.
But a negative trait is coming out. I find myself unable to reason beyond your arguments. I feel that my faith towards your reasoning is obstructing me to go beyond the scope and find more arguments or counter-arguments. That makes me paranoid.
Maybe it is because of my understandable limitation of knowledge of the field.
Can you tell me any solution so that I can think from scratch with a new perspective?
Atanu Dey:
Reasoning independently is simple if you take care to build from the basics. Nothing that is not consonant with how you perceive the world can make sense to you. So I would not worry if I find myself in agreement with someone whose premises I agree with.
The only, and most important caution, is that you should be totally skeptical of all claims of authority. As the Buddha said, if it does not accord with your reason, reject it.

I agree.

Second one is my dialogue with Vinod Sharma in his post Gauranga Baba
Sukesh:
Before finding answer for "why did I leave him", I suggest you first find answer to "why I followed him" in the first place.
Then you should think of what is the difference between 'following' and 'in agreement'. I mean the difference between "why one 'follows' someone" and "why one is 'convinced' by someone and yet remains skeptical".
Vinod Sharma:
You are very young but have a head beyond your years.

I am flattered.

Quoting Quotable Quotes

2008-02-27T19:29:00.007+05:30

Someone has rightly said: Some rationales transcend rational explanations. The rationale behind a quote being quotable is a scintilla in the domain of logic. But its effect in domain of argument/dialogue (will use argument in rest of passage) is a raging fire in the jungle. It’s not that a quote, by some comprehensive detail or by an apt logic, proves something. For the ‘detail’ part, if someone wants to tell detail why would he resort to a brief quote in the first place? And by its very nature there has never been logic behind someone quoting a quote. I say ‘nature’ because quote by its nature is not a scientific theorem or an axiom, one uses a quote mere to take help of an ‘impressive and convincing’ (though illogical it maybe) external factor in our argument.

To me some of the reasons why one quotes some quote are:

The quote is said by some famous/popular person and big personalities have good impression on us though one has absolutely no idea in what context given famous person said it.
When one has nothing else to say to defend oneself, one just picks up a random quote along with a terrible smile and feels proud of his argument. (I do it, frequently)

By the given reasoned argument we can say that when one builds some hypothesis or logical concept, one should not take the support of a ‘quote’. But the truth is I am limited by my own weakness of limited knowledge and limited ability to conclude something logically (in questions that happen to be relatively tough for my ability). Therefore it becomes essential for me to resort to such petty ways. Anyway who cares!!

There are some I freely and usually refer to in times of emergency of loosing a war of words. These quotes come pretty handy in times of crisis with some smart chap, try these

Ignorance is bliss
Everyone has a mortgage to pay
Choices become the destiny
Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted
There is no right or wrong, its just perceptions
The pen is mightier than the sword
Actions speak louder than words
Doubt is the beginning of wisdom
Wise men make proverbs and fools repeat them
Hey Ram!! (This bit is just to embarrass someone)

There are some purely my own creations also:

God created man and in answer to that devil created wo-man.
Words without action lead no one nowhere
Truth is as much logical as I want to believe
Only in the darkness, one can savor moonlight
The world is not enough, but there is no way you can get more than world. Alas!!
You believe you have seen the entire world, but reality is you don’t have eyes in the first place.

Then there is the plagiarized one:

“My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the universe, why it is as it is and why it exists at all.” -- Stephen Hawking
“My goal is simply complex. It is a complete understanding of the life we live, how do we live, why do we live and why do we have to live at all” – Sukesh Kumar

Counter-arguments and more inputs to quotes are welcomed...

The One Where Advani Shows Up

2008-02-21T17:06:00.002+05:30

Reading the speech of L K Advani has changed my perception of BJP in its entirety. First of all when I read this I laughed my ass off on Advani’s boastings. But when I thought it over and with much inspection I came to realize that it contains more truth than I had imagined.

BJP maybe notorious for its emphasis and handling of Hindutava issue (rather propaganda) but this one issue aside on economic front BJP really has a great agenda. The very thing that is in favour of BJP is that the ideology of BJP is not limited by left or right politics. Their politic behaviour is very much close to realpolitik. Nothing can compare to his reflection that government has no business to do business: “Raja Bane Vyapari, Praja Bane Bhikari”. Apart from that Modi’s win was also not just because of Hindutava issue but good economic policies and governance was also one of the mammoth reasons.

When he talks about GDP he can’t be more true. The intentional over emphasis of UPA ( PM Manmohan and FM Chindabaram) on GDP and Sensex serves only the purpose of alluring Indian people for vote bank and making of an image. I am not saying GDP is bad for Indian economy but the reflection of GDP on Indian poverty is not to be seen. Even the rise of GDP is also not in anyway consequence of government policy; it is all the effect of rising awareness of Indian citizen and liberation of 1991. Well that’s not issue here, it can be discussed separately. The point being that BJP(Advani) at least recognise the problem of lack of good governance.

Congress on the other hand tries its all means to keep the family tradition of keeping the ‘crown of rule’ under its armpit. Congress leadership is not dominated by ideology or politics rather it is dominated by family values of Gandhi-Nehru legacy.

Note: Let it be clear that I do not support any political division or organisation, I am merely concerned with my Bharat. Also I have kept the case of Hindutava just aside and have not disregarded it entirely.

The Butterfly Effect

2008-02-19T13:09:00.004+05:30

It hurts my heart a great deal when a narrow view by masses of people of their identity becomes a danger to themselves. Recent failed attempt of riots by Raj Thackeray is just a passing example in the long alley of Indian history of violence. It is not identity politics that is being played by Raj but it is separatist politics that he is trying his hands on. In a pluralist democracy like India it is not only a setback to see such incidents but it creates insurgence and continuous strengthening of a virus that is crippling backbone of multi-façade India.

Let us get into more details by using mantra of Atanu Dey: Cause and Symptom. The problem is not that Raj Thackeray is playing the card of separatism and state-pride. His ability to play the card is just a symptom of another underlying problem. The problem is that his followers are blind enough to be provoked by a mere statement of their leader and can go to the extent of killing their own Indian brothers. This problem is not only limited to MNS(Maharashtra Navnirman Sena), the problem lies with every political party that tries to amass their troops on the call of separatism. And cause of this blind faith is very simply their ignorance and inability to weigh good and bad by their own judgment. If not this cause the person in concern is compelled to do this because of his unemployment and abject poverty. These both causes ‘ignorance’ and ‘Poverty’ are in turn a symptom of serious problem with Indian social and economical condition. The cause and solution both to these problems is simply ‘education’.

More has been elucidated in Educating the education minister by Tavleen Singh.

The Violent Poise

2008-01-31T18:47:00.000+05:30

It was the time when my senses were engaged in doing the terrible task of fabricating non-sense vagaries. While stealing defeats time and again from jaws of victory I did not realise that I had come to a lonely place full of people. These are the people who happen to be entities of same category of species that I am. But why do I don’t have a bit of ado about them is a perplexing phenomenon that haunts my cells in neural space.

These cells are engaged in a complex process of sustaining life in hostile environment bounded by complex realities and perspectives generated by the complex processes we do at every moment that passes by. The choices we make for ourselves reflect themselves at large in an apparently invisible manner upon the very dynamics of our environment which precisely had us made choices in the first place. The chaos that are underneath this blanket of equilibrium disillusion even an extra ordinary eye but the fact remains that the calm composed sea exhibits its true nature only when tide comes.
The composure of the aggressive nature of human being to be the best continues through eternity which brought me to a shore where I could see nothing but the waves that flooded my soul with blood.

I could see my vision and it struck me like a thought. The thought was an eternity in itself, tempting to the point that one could immerse himself in his own.
Now I know everything is vanity, the vanity itself is.

Round Globe

2008-01-22T12:49:00.000+05:30

The globe was round. Gautam Buddha came and went. The globe was still round. Emperor Ashoka came and went. The globe was still round. Akbar came and went. The globe was still round. Robert Clive came and went. The globe was still round. Rabindarnath Tagore came and went. The globe was still round. Mahatama Gandhi came and went. The globe was still round. Jamsetji Tata came and went. The globe was still round.

The globe was round, it is round, and it will remain round. But one thing will always change shape; that is the “perspective”. The very simple thing that makes one what he is and what he is not, is “perspective”. This so seemingly very little thing drives the evolutionary dynamics of every aspect of environment around us. The point to be noticed is that perspective itself is not a cause. It is just a symptom resulted from a cause essential for its sustenance. The cause of all the conflicts and accords in the head comes down to one thing: “curiosity”. Let Seth Godin take on from here.

Seth Godin has beautifully analysed the state of curiosity

Mirchaan De Pattar

2008-01-12T17:48:00.002+05:30

A punjabi work by Shiv Kumar Batalwi(ਸ਼ਿਵ ਕੁਮਾਰ ਬਟਾਲਵੀ)

ਮਿਰਚਾ ਦੇ ਪੱਤਰ

ਪੁਨਿਆ ਦੇ ਚੱਨ ਨੂ ਕੋਈ ਮੱਸਿਆ

ਕੀਕਣ ਅਰਘ ਚਢਾਏ ਵੇ,

ਕਿਉ ਕੋਈ ਡਾਚੀ ਸਾਗਰ ਖਾਤਰ

ਮਾਰੂਥਲ ਛਡ ਜਾਏ ਵੇ...

ਕਰਮਾ ਦੀ ਮੇਹੰਦੀ ਦਾ ਸੱਜਣਾ

ਰੰਗ ਕਿਵੇ ਦੱਸ ਚੜੱਦਾ ਵੇ,

ਜੇ ਕਿਸਮਤ ਮਿਰਚਾ ਦੇ ਪੱਤਰ

ਪੀਠ ਤਲੀ ਤੇ ਲਾਏ ਵੇ

ਗਮ ਦਾ ਮੋਤੀਆ ਉਤਰ ਆਇਆ

ਸਿਦਕ ਮੇਰੇ ਦੀ ਨੈਣੀ ਵੇ

ਪਰੀਤ-ਨਗਰ ਦਾ ਔਖਾ ਪੈੰਡਾ

ਜਿੰਦੜੀ ਕਿੰਜ ਮੁਕਾਏ ਵੇ

ਕਿੰਕਰਾ ਦੇ ਫੁੱਲਾ ਦੀ ਅੜਿਆ

ਕੌਣ ਕਰੇੰਦਾ ਰਾਖੀ ਵੇ

ਕਦ ਕੋਈ ਮਾਲੀ ਮਲਿਆ ਉਤੇ

ਹਰੀਅਲ ਆਣ ਉਡਾਏ ਵੇ

ਪੀੜਾ ਦੇ ਧਰਕੇਨੇ ਖਾ ਖਾ

ਹੋ ਗਏ ਗੀਤ ਕਸੈਲੈ ਵੇ

ਵਿਚ ਨੜੋਏ ਬੈਠੀ ਜਿੰਦ

ਕੀਕਣ ਸੋਹਲੇ ਗਾਏ ਵੇ

ਪ੍ਰੀਤਾ ਦੇ ਗਲ ਛੁਰੀ ਫਿਰੇੰਦੀ

ਵੇਖ ਕੇ ਕਿੰਜ ਕੁਰਲਵਾ ਵੇ

ਲੈ ਚਾੰਦੀ ਦੇ ਬਿੰਗ ਕਸਾਈਆ

ਮੇਰੇ ਗਲੇ ਫਸਾਏ ਵੇ

ਤੜਪ ਤੜਪ ਕੇ ਮਰ ਗਈ ਅੜਿਆ

ਮੇਲ ਤੇਰੇ ਦਿ ਹਸਰਤ ਵੇ

ਐਸੇ ਇਸ਼ਕ ਦੇ ਜੁਲਮੀ ਰਾਜੇ

ਬਿਰਹੋ ਬਾਣ ਚਲਾਏ ਵੇ

ਚੁਗ ਚੁਗ ਰੋੜ ਗਲੀ ਤੇਰੀ ਦੇ

ਘੁਗਣੀਆ ਵੱਤ ਚਬ ਲਏ ਵੇ

ਕਠੇ ਕਰ ਕਰ ਕੇ ਮੈਂ ਤੀਲੇ

ਬੁੱਕਲ ਵਿਚ ਧੁਖਾਏ ਵੇ

ਇਕ ਚੁਲੀ ਵਿ ਪੀ ਨਾ ਸਕੀ

ਪਿਆਰ ਦੇ ਨਿਤਰੇ ਪਾਣੀ ਵੇ

ਵਿਹੰਦਿਆ ਸਾਰ ਪਏ ਵਿਚ ਪੁਰੇ

ਜਾ ਮੈਂ ਹੋੰਠ ਚੁਹਾਏ ਵੇ

India Shining

2007-12-13T18:51:00.001+05:30

“WE HAVE GROWN UP IN THE DECADE WHERE INDIA ROSE FROM THE ASHES TO THE CENTER STAGE OF THE WORLD, IN A SPECTACULAR MANNER …MUCH TO THE DISBELIEF OF THE WESTEN HEMISPHERE!!!”

These are words of one of my dear friends which prompted me to write the following piece. He might have said this in a wave of passion but it does reflect a collective thinking of common Indian men who want to take pride in them selves unconcerned of what reality is to the eyes of rest of the world.

Most of us in contemporary India believe or want to believe that India has risen from ashes to center stage of world; it is no longer a third world country; we stand side by side to the rest of world in development. But the reality which we do not want to believe differs by a significant amount. In other words there is another perspective to look at things which is hard to consume.

For coherency and better understanding I will make some statements and will then prove those.

We have not risen to center stage in competition with developed countries; rather we attained a meek position at back stage following what west mandates.
We have changed our behavior not exactly to improve ourselves but rather in accordance with west.

Some notes to be made are that development or progress (will use development from here on for such terms) alike terms are abstract in nature, and these depend much on individual’s perception. It’s not my purpose to demean the development we have gone through; my effort here will be only to point to the nature of this development.

Now first of all what I refer to ‘We’ is the common man of India; common man is a major part of Indians who reflect actual India. That includes peasants, the daily wagers, the labour working in factories, a small scale shop keeper, teachers in schools, software engineers etc. ‘We’ is not categorised according to richness, it doesn’t necessarily mean middle class or poor or riches. There maybe exceptions arising from political, intellectual or personal choices.

Secondly, what I am proposing is not a scientific theory which can be logically proved. This is rather an observation based on social (as well as economic and political) behavior of human beings living in India. So I will be giving insights and examples in support of my theory rather than logically proving it.

The 100 year old slavery of British government has made Indians believe that they are inferior to west (I am not saying we are superior either, but to feel inferior is as much setback to the equality as to feel superior). The impact of feeling of inferiority is so profound that even if we are in race for something we race for only second highest position. When we compare ourselves with west, we take pride in ‘next only to US’ position (US is just an example of typical west).

India was always a country with diverse cultures and vibrant life styles. It was the central point of the most of the clashes of civilisations in history. This history is so vast in examples and lessons that we could have set up the entire state on basis of learnings from past. But do we try to retrospect and learn from our own history? No. We try to ignore all that and try to emulate the west in our economical, political and societal behaviour. Lets start with post independence growth of India, because that’s where the story of ‘influence’ begins.

The fundamental pillars of contemporary Indian politics are democracy and secularism. Both of these concepts have been adopted from British state. Do we ever wonder that both of these concepts have been tried in Indian state itself? We tend to accredit these with western notion that India inherited after independence. But we tend to forget Ashoka and Akabar who had founded successful pluralistic states in their successive times. Akbar, in fact, even founded a syncretic religion Din-I-Ilahi while he ruled but the attempt remained mostly unsuccessful. The traditions of arguments and debates of intellectuals even in anarchic states of India kept pluralism alive indirectly if not directly. I am not implying that we did not adopt those behaviours at all, but we do not accredit them properly. Simply putting, we give a heed to a concept only if it is tried by west, but not try to learn directly from our own past. Moreover our democracy and secularism is flawed to its roots. Recent incidents of Babri Masjid and Nandigram are prime examples of this fact. One is a burn on Indian secularism and other on Indian democracy. (Notes: 1. Indian Secularism has its own definition which is ‘impartiality between religions’ rather than ‘opposition of religion’. 2. Democracy does not just amount to fair elections. Fair elections are necessary but not sufficient condition for democracy)

After successful adoption of western politics, we were in race for industrialisation. This Industrialisation was again due to the Industrial Revolution that started in Britain, which spread in other western parts Europe and USA afterwards. We followed it blindly forgetting primary sector which is agriculture. The blind following lead to disaster of agriculture because of not integrating agriculture and industry properly taking into account the large segment that depends on agriculture. Rarely do we take initiatives on our own that could be first of its kind. Even the concept of entrepreneurship got recognition among Indians only after its success in Silicon Valley. It is also not that we followed west here on equal terms. We are the people who carry out only back-end work in BPOs, call centres and outsourcing offices but the front runner in software development or IT industry will be USA only. How much do we take pleasure in our economic progress, we are merely following US. This following is over and above the fact that we try to reject primary Indian sector, agriculture, in the race of industrialisation.

Our whole political ladder from top to down is influenced by west. When government wants to do a nuclear deal, it is to enhance diplomatic relations with west and when left opposes it, it is for fear of western backstabbing. We don’t think it in terms of what is valuable and beneficial to Indian people. At the lower end of ladder also situation is same. When there are elections for Panchayat or MLAs, the issues that are stressed in agenda are construction of roads, water or electricity rather than issues like agricultural improvement or employment which are more fundamental to India.

The bias to west is also seen in our changing societal behaviour. The Aryan culture had great and successful societal system that we inherited generation by generation. There was a definite family hierarchy and joint family system in Aryan culture which was also adopted (or say not rejected) by subsequent civilisations also. But with changing times more and more families are disintegrating and tending towards single family culture as that of west. And this change is leading to our own mockery as more and more people are living stressed and lonely lives.

Not to forget the consumerism and materialism we are adapting more and more vigorously with changing times. The difference between the old imperialism and the new consumerism is very subtle. The country suffered the brutalities of foreign envasions and foreign dominations. But until globalisation, if you look at the Indian culture for instance, its facial aspects remained Indian. Now, with the intensity of globalisation reaching into every little corner of life, even the comedians, the jokes, the rhythm of the music, the very fundamental life-style has started changing. This makes consumerism and materialism deadlier than old imperialism.

The driving point is that the influence of west is not absolute in itself. It tries to dominate domain of our discretion by excluding other references from our viewpoint. For example we don’t try to emulate Japan for its economic behaviour. We don’t try to emulate our ancient culture for its societal advantages. We do not only lack concern for China, Japan etc., our knowledge is actually very less for these countries as compared to knowledge and concern we impart towards awe for west.

In the end I will say that till now this was the trend that we Indians have followed. However optimistically we are climbing up in the value chain, though, to a limited extent and in a limited space. The obstacles are largely because of lack of education and excess of population.

Ek Hi Khwab

2007-11-30T11:57:00.001+05:30

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Kinara - Ek Hi Khwab, Lyrics of Gulzar and music by RD Burman...

Ek hi khwab kai baar dekha hai maine
tune saari main uras lee hai meri chabiyan ghar ki
Aur chali aayi hai
bus yoon hi mera haath pakad kar
ek hi khwab kai baar

Mej par phool sajate hue
dekha hai kai baar
aur bistar se kai baar
jagaya hai tujhko
chalte phirte tere kadmon ki vo
aahat bhi suni hai

Gungunati hui nikli hai naha kar jab bhi
Apne bheege hue baalon se tapakta paani
mere chahre pe chhitak deti hai tu, tiku ki bachhi

Taash ke patton pe ladti hai
kabhi kabhi khel main mujhse
aur ladti bhi hai aise ki bus
khel rahi hai mujhse
aur aagosh ko nanhe ko liye

aur jaanti ho tiku,
jab tumhara yeh khwab dekha tha,
apne bistar pe main us waqt pada
jaag raha tha….

Life is a paradox...

2007-11-26T19:08:00.000+05:30

Life is a paradox, you are damned if you do and damned if you do not

Sometimes contradictions created by human vagaries come across your life now and then, and you get depressed for no reason whatsoever. The situation becomes ironical when contradictions don’t depress you but the fact that you know they are contradictions. Perhaps I am too much overwhelmed by the paradoxical nature of my life or perhaps you are too much ignorant to care about precise irony living in you. May be the case is that you are living in irony. Wait, it may also be the case that you are living irony. See, that’s what irony of the situation is, that you are unable to comprehend the irony of irony.

To an (and any) ordinary eye at first glance it will seem that I am just quibbling because I have no other work. The latter part maybe true but I certainly am not quibbling. It is the hardest of fact to realise, which I have known from my experience, that life is paradoxical in nature at its most fundamental truth. I am talking about life, the life that is being lead by human beings, the life that we have created and we are created from it.

This life revolves around irony (or irony revolves around life?? you know! the situation is somewhat messy). Now if you are thinking that this revolution has to do something with centripetal/centrifugal force, then you are utterly hopeless. ‘revolve’ here simply means that the two things are interconnected with each other to very basic level which are difficult(almost impossible) to detach from each other. I said ‘almost impossible’ and not ‘impossible’ because I consider myself not an absolute expert and there maybe someone who (like God or some great saint or some business tycoon, well) was successful in detaching these. But as far as ordinary man goes and as far as I have seen and conceived no one could escape the jaws of paradox in his life.

I am not going to prove how life is paradoxical, because it will clutter the paradox more. Maybe I am not capable to explain it or maybe this is journey that a man himself has to travel, but to put things more into perspective, we will go through some examples.

Every religion says god is one but then why so many gods exist in our lives after all?

The same men who love each other, they fight with each other for the sake of pieces of land, ideas of religion and for their egos.

Why did India get divided? Why it was Jinnah who won and not Azad and Gandhi?

Why do we think of India as the greatest nation and yet fear to live in it. Why are we proud of India and yet we want to become NRIs with green cards

How much Americans claim to be globalised but yet how local are they when they just think of themselves. Egocentric minds, ready to kill mere for the sake of oil!!

How do we crave for being rich and yet empathise with the cause to uproot poverty.

The list is endless and we have to end somewhere, so be it…

The ironies and paradoxes are not only at macro level but they preserve and live in the most micro intricacies of our life. This I say because macro is nothing but a reflection of micro on a bigger scale.

Well we (in fact, I) don’t yet know the cause of these paradoxes which have entangled our life or rather our life has entangled these paradoxes. Mere ‘the realisation’ that we are living a paradoxical life is a great effort for any human being. This I am saying with all my modesty because we are too ignorant to be blessed with the knowledge. To dig the causes I need more time and more enlightenment; but dig, I certainly will.

The First Post

2007-08-31T18:00:00.000+05:30

After closing the old blog while I was in IIIT, I am once again back for the greater good of blogging world. The closing of my previous blog is also as a matter of fact a greater good for blogging world as well as for the confidential of IIIT, Hyderabad.
Now I have put my foot in a more professional and a more worldly world, its time for my blog also to be as professional as it can be. Lets hope of a good start and a long inning of this blog.