Last month and for the last few days of this month...i encountered varying time zones for numerous reasons. Today during a conversation with my uncle, this topic of time zones got me thinking....
Monday, April 6, 2009
Time zones & us
Thank God i cud log into my account ;)
Phew!!! its only by coincidence and yet another reminder from my uncle (to write something here) that i decided to come back on this day...the 7th month of my 'Blog Neglect' Anniversary
Its been such a long time....i know...some of u missed me...some thanked God that i wasnt around ;)
But your lucky days are over...cos am back :D
I wasn't sure if i would remember my account details...and unsurprisingly...my first attempt to log into my account failed...lol
But here i am and i will try and continue to bore/entertain u with ramblings of my heart and mind :)
Where was i? Bhy this loooong break?
Probably because i was busy with certain things...or just plain lazy...or mayb u need to revisit one of my blogs wherein ive described myself and this habit of mine...i honestly dont have an answer...
Anyway...now that i am here....i hope to restart my writing and introduce over time some new really important people in my life....afterall theyve resulted in maximum ramblings (primarily of the heart) over the past few months ;) :p :)
Saturday, September 6, 2008
How is this a democracy?
It took me some time to start this post and finish it...a lot has changed in the meantime...The NSG approval came a couple of days back...but that in no way clarifies my doubts...I expect this post of mine to draw a lot of flak...even if that happens i've made u think and that serves my purpose...
A few days back i asked this question (how is this a democracy?)to my roomie...and...like a lot of us, he had no answer...
Much before the lie behind the nuclear deal was exposed, there were questions in my mind regarding the way numerous issues were being dealt with in the highest corridors of power.
I don't remember such blatant misuse of power ever before...
And its not just about the tactics being used(domestically) to have the deal cleared, but issues like dissolving an ethically elected government in Bihar, waiver of loans, miniscule pay rise for the armed forces, the reservation of seats in educational institutes and obviously the newest tactic of opening up IIT's in every nook and corner of the country, turning a blind eye to the tentacles of terrorism that have spread to every part of this nation, so that certain sections of the country remain strong vote banks; all credit goes to this secular government elected in a democratic country.
To be frank, when news about the N-deal was a raging topic (about a year back), i cudn't form an opinion about the deal, whether it was good for India or no...and i was pretty confused until last week.
It was only when the contents of a document that were made public in US I realised that our entire country was being taken for a ride. The fact that a non-Indian power made me understand the intricacies of the deal is in itself a shame...
The leader of this nation did not mind lying in the House of the people. Can there be a bigger disgrace to a democracy?
I know, there are arguments saying that India still reserves the right to conduct N-tests(this is what the government has been saying all along). Yeah right, just like anyone can commit a crime but then face the consequences.
There may be people who feel that there is no need for N-weapons and India does not need any more N-tests, but in a neighbourhood like ours and the double standards of a nation like USA, that may not be such a good idea. The role of China in trying every possible move to scuttle the NSG waiver(all this even after its leaders promised full support to our PM) is just a refresher for those who have forgotten the back-stabbing nature of our friendly neighbours.
Nobody knows the future...we may eventually never conduct a nuclear test....but that is not the issue...The real issue is...
How can we as a nation take the blatant lies of our leaders as yet another parliamentary statement and allow them to continue? It has also shattered my belief that educated leaders are the cure to our maladies...its really disappointing when they end up being mere puppets...
And can we really do anything about it? We see there is wrong being done, but we can only sit back and watch...so much for democracy...
Yeah...We can go out and protest on the streets (the way we tried to stop Arjun Singh from taking casteist politics to a new low) or we can wait for another 5 years to elect a new government...but why do we have to wait so long? why cant we the people veto a government that divides us on the basis of caste & religion and still has the balls to call itself secular? Why can nobody do anything when the highest court of law in the country makes known its disappointment with the government's flawed policies? Why can we do nothing when even the PM's scientific advisor expresses his disappointment at the way new IIT's have been opened up...?
The opening up of new institutions is welcome, but giving them IIT status is in no way going to improve the quality of the output...a better strategy would have been to upgrade the NIT's that have created a strong reputation for themselves to IIT status and opening new NIT's in their place...
I'd rather not touch the issue of terrorism or it will take me another week to complete this post...
If our policies are to be dictatorial, we might as well adopt a communist form of government...whats the point of having a democratically elected government?....maybe its a hip term that we enjoy...
The only commendable work that i can remember is the Right to Information Act that was passed a few years ago...don't be surprised if even that is repealed one fine day...just bcos Madam wants it so ;)
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Oops! We just missed the last local
A couple of days back i was feeling the urge to get some fresh air ( a rare commodity in mumbai :p) ...not knowing what to do, i asked my flatmates if they would be interested in travelling to south mumbai at 11 in the night in a mumbai local...2 of them (anant and karthik) agreed...pranshu as always was busy gtalking (in his defence he says he was workin on a project...but i know better ;))
Anant wasn't very keen but seeing our enthu he decided to come along. We took a 11:30 pm local to churchgate, not knowing where to ultimately get down. And although there was space to sit (yes yes there are seats...u probably cudnt see them during day time ;) , karthik and i decided to stand at the gate to enjoy the cool breeze...
At marine lines (this is the second last station on the western line), we decided that it was better to get down at churchgate...so we got down and just to be on the safe side, enquired about the last local which we were told leaves at 1 am.
So we had approx 45 mins to watch the sea...all this while we discussed our placement anxieties and also our plan to have a lavish dinner at the revolving restaurant that we had just passed, on gettin placed...(there is no service tax on planning as of yet in India...pls dont remind the govt ;)
Now this is where the fun begins :) ...although we knew that the last train would leave at 1, it wasn't until 12:50 am that we made up our minds to start walking back to churchgate station.
All this while anant kept pleading that we take a cab...lest we miss the last train. The reason y we never felt any urgency was probably bcos, somewhere at the back of our minds we (I) felt that 1 am is too early for trains in mumbai to stop running and also the torcher of Neha Dhupia's movie - Ek Chaalis (1:40 am)ki Last local was still fresh in our minds.
So on our way back we kept making fun of Anant, calling him lazy and pulling his leg; we reached the station at 1:02. Guess what?...The 1am train was actually the last one and obviously it had left(Indian trains will always be on time...when u dont want them to). Our jaws dropped, the look on Anant's face was definitely a Kodak moment. Thankfully all that he had in his hands was his newly purchased canon camera...nobody throws a 20K camera...no matter how angry he is...:p
Now came the big question...what do we do? How do we get back?should we wait for the next local at 4 am?
No one had any answers...so we decided to implement what we had learnt at our b-school for making quick decisions....
1. Search an eatery,
2. Grab a bite and
3. then worry bout the return journey
(i kno u xpected some mgmt theory...lol...all misconceptions bout MBA). Unfortunately, the vendors had already called it a day :(
The streets were deserted but this part of mumbai is completely different...its so beautiful...the British architecture is really breathtaking....at Flora fountain we found a coffee vendor on a bicycle...we all had a cup of coffee, clicked some pics and then decided to walk all the way to Gateway of India...
It took us approximately 45 mins to reach there...now overlooking the sea is TAJ, on seeing it, we cudnt resist the idea of including it in the list of the places where we were to have a dinner post placement (this list also includes Mariott, Leela, Sun n Sand and the remaining 5 & 7star hotels in mumbai :p)
It was 2am and we still had 2 hrs at hand....so next we decided to go back to marine drive and chat away the rest of the time...but anant wanted to visit Chowpatty...i think that was the only place left in this part of mumbai & we didnt want chowpatty to feel let down :p
So the taxi driver was given the coordinates to the new location ;)...it cost us 55 bucks to cover this short distance (at one point we were considering the idea of taking a cab to go all the way back to santacruz...lol)
The beach was absolutely empty and it was being cleaned at that time....so we picked up a clean spot and spent the remaining two hours chatting on nonsensical topics....
On our return journey the local was absolutely jam packed (since it is the 1st local after 3 hrs)...
Thanks to a misconception created by bollywood, the mumbai that I saw that nite was the best that i can remember...i think i've begun loving this city after midnight....Now that's some progress...;)
Anant wasn't very keen but seeing our enthu he decided to come along. We took a 11:30 pm local to churchgate, not knowing where to ultimately get down. And although there was space to sit (yes yes there are seats...u probably cudnt see them during day time ;) , karthik and i decided to stand at the gate to enjoy the cool breeze...
At marine lines (this is the second last station on the western line), we decided that it was better to get down at churchgate...so we got down and just to be on the safe side, enquired about the last local which we were told leaves at 1 am.
So we had approx 45 mins to watch the sea...all this while we discussed our placement anxieties and also our plan to have a lavish dinner at the revolving restaurant that we had just passed, on gettin placed...(there is no service tax on planning as of yet in India...pls dont remind the govt ;)
Now this is where the fun begins :) ...although we knew that the last train would leave at 1, it wasn't until 12:50 am that we made up our minds to start walking back to churchgate station.
All this while anant kept pleading that we take a cab...lest we miss the last train. The reason y we never felt any urgency was probably bcos, somewhere at the back of our minds we (I) felt that 1 am is too early for trains in mumbai to stop running and also the torcher of Neha Dhupia's movie - Ek Chaalis (1:40 am)ki Last local was still fresh in our minds.
So on our way back we kept making fun of Anant, calling him lazy and pulling his leg; we reached the station at 1:02. Guess what?...The 1am train was actually the last one and obviously it had left(Indian trains will always be on time...when u dont want them to). Our jaws dropped, the look on Anant's face was definitely a Kodak moment. Thankfully all that he had in his hands was his newly purchased canon camera...nobody throws a 20K camera...no matter how angry he is...:p
Now came the big question...what do we do? How do we get back?should we wait for the next local at 4 am?
No one had any answers...so we decided to implement what we had learnt at our b-school for making quick decisions....
1. Search an eatery,
2. Grab a bite and
3. then worry bout the return journey
(i kno u xpected some mgmt theory...lol...all misconceptions bout MBA). Unfortunately, the vendors had already called it a day :(
The streets were deserted but this part of mumbai is completely different...its so beautiful...the British architecture is really breathtaking....at Flora fountain we found a coffee vendor on a bicycle...we all had a cup of coffee, clicked some pics and then decided to walk all the way to Gateway of India...
It took us approximately 45 mins to reach there...now overlooking the sea is TAJ, on seeing it, we cudnt resist the idea of including it in the list of the places where we were to have a dinner post placement (this list also includes Mariott, Leela, Sun n Sand and the remaining 5 & 7star hotels in mumbai :p)
It was 2am and we still had 2 hrs at hand....so next we decided to go back to marine drive and chat away the rest of the time...but anant wanted to visit Chowpatty...i think that was the only place left in this part of mumbai & we didnt want chowpatty to feel let down :p
So the taxi driver was given the coordinates to the new location ;)...it cost us 55 bucks to cover this short distance (at one point we were considering the idea of taking a cab to go all the way back to santacruz...lol)
The beach was absolutely empty and it was being cleaned at that time....so we picked up a clean spot and spent the remaining two hours chatting on nonsensical topics....
On our return journey the local was absolutely jam packed (since it is the 1st local after 3 hrs)...
Thanks to a misconception created by bollywood, the mumbai that I saw that nite was the best that i can remember...i think i've begun loving this city after midnight....Now that's some progress...;)
Monday, August 25, 2008
An Encounter with a Human Rights Activist
This is one incident i can never forget...
It happened during one of the numerous guest lectures during my first year of MBA. As part of our CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) course we had one such lecture by an old Parsi lady who was a lawyer.
This much hyped term 'CSR' has become the buzzword today, but if one has to attend 30 hours of lectures harping on just one basic idea, then it looses all its sheen pretty quickly. Not that i am against CSR but i am definitely not in favour of the way it was dealt with, add to that a guest lecture and a speaker who will fall to any level to just prove her point and win a debate with a classroom filled with 120 MBA's and what u hav is a potentially explosive situation and that is just what happened...so here it goes...
The lecture began with the customary introductions. Until that day,i had only heard these activists on TV, so when i was party to such a discussion myself, i was shocked...
She started by blaming the government (much like all of us :p) ...but soon she dragged the media, the police and the judiciary into her list of useless instruments of state and society...(this was just the build up)...so ofcourse it meant that the only saviours of mother India were these human rights activists...(God knows where they disappear immediately after terror attacks..but they are definitely around to save the terrorists from being hanged)
She made many points some were acceptable but most others were not appreciated by the class...but people kept quiet and just looked at each other and scoffed at this lady who in her attempt to prove herself right equated Bhagat Singh and the Naxals. The only reason why I had kept quiet for so long was because i didn't wanna get into a verbal duel with a college guest.
Then she picked up the issue of Mumbai slums and unfortunately for her she asked us if we thought it was right to ask slum dwellers to vacate their shanties.
This was the opportunity and i am glad i siezed it...i said it was right and that just because someone had illegaly squatted on a piece of land, that in no way entitles him to own the land and by accepting his wrong doing we were only encouraging others to do the act & the fact that most of these were Bangladeshis who had been given all these privileges just because they were easy vote banks for political parties. There are definitely exceptions but they are definitely miniscule in number. Where do you think the 12 lakh Bangladeshis (these are only official figures of Bangladeshis who entered India as refugees) disappeared??
She hadn't expected anyone to oppose her so bluntly, so she tried to kickstart a debate....but ma'am u dont get into a debate with a classload of MBA's who got into this institute by preparing for 100 such burning issues and who are here after fighting a much tougher battle every time they entered a Group Discussion room (this was in a way our means of earning a livelihood).
Thankfully my classmates jumped in at this moment...i think they were waiting for this opportunity and with such well read colleagues u really hav nothing to worry about...soon facts and figures from the leading dailies and magazines and news channels started pouring in from every corner of the room to prove her wrong....obviously she did not accept any of these as she had already discounted the existence of media at the beginning of the session.
What followed was a really heated discussion and a complete disapproval of her school of thought.
I know she has the right to have her opinion but so do I and although even i personally do not accept the impartiality of media, i definitely cannot accept the freedom fighters of my country being equalled with some criminals who are being funded by the enemies of my nation just because some activist wants to portray herself as the next Mother Teresa.
I can only imagine what a debate with Medha Patkar would be like...;)
It happened during one of the numerous guest lectures during my first year of MBA. As part of our CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) course we had one such lecture by an old Parsi lady who was a lawyer.
This much hyped term 'CSR' has become the buzzword today, but if one has to attend 30 hours of lectures harping on just one basic idea, then it looses all its sheen pretty quickly. Not that i am against CSR but i am definitely not in favour of the way it was dealt with, add to that a guest lecture and a speaker who will fall to any level to just prove her point and win a debate with a classroom filled with 120 MBA's and what u hav is a potentially explosive situation and that is just what happened...so here it goes...
The lecture began with the customary introductions. Until that day,i had only heard these activists on TV, so when i was party to such a discussion myself, i was shocked...
She started by blaming the government (much like all of us :p) ...but soon she dragged the media, the police and the judiciary into her list of useless instruments of state and society...(this was just the build up)...so ofcourse it meant that the only saviours of mother India were these human rights activists...(God knows where they disappear immediately after terror attacks..but they are definitely around to save the terrorists from being hanged)
She made many points some were acceptable but most others were not appreciated by the class...but people kept quiet and just looked at each other and scoffed at this lady who in her attempt to prove herself right equated Bhagat Singh and the Naxals. The only reason why I had kept quiet for so long was because i didn't wanna get into a verbal duel with a college guest.
Then she picked up the issue of Mumbai slums and unfortunately for her she asked us if we thought it was right to ask slum dwellers to vacate their shanties.
This was the opportunity and i am glad i siezed it...i said it was right and that just because someone had illegaly squatted on a piece of land, that in no way entitles him to own the land and by accepting his wrong doing we were only encouraging others to do the act & the fact that most of these were Bangladeshis who had been given all these privileges just because they were easy vote banks for political parties. There are definitely exceptions but they are definitely miniscule in number. Where do you think the 12 lakh Bangladeshis (these are only official figures of Bangladeshis who entered India as refugees) disappeared??
She hadn't expected anyone to oppose her so bluntly, so she tried to kickstart a debate....but ma'am u dont get into a debate with a classload of MBA's who got into this institute by preparing for 100 such burning issues and who are here after fighting a much tougher battle every time they entered a Group Discussion room (this was in a way our means of earning a livelihood).
Thankfully my classmates jumped in at this moment...i think they were waiting for this opportunity and with such well read colleagues u really hav nothing to worry about...soon facts and figures from the leading dailies and magazines and news channels started pouring in from every corner of the room to prove her wrong....obviously she did not accept any of these as she had already discounted the existence of media at the beginning of the session.
What followed was a really heated discussion and a complete disapproval of her school of thought.
I know she has the right to have her opinion but so do I and although even i personally do not accept the impartiality of media, i definitely cannot accept the freedom fighters of my country being equalled with some criminals who are being funded by the enemies of my nation just because some activist wants to portray herself as the next Mother Teresa.
I can only imagine what a debate with Medha Patkar would be like...;)
Monday, August 18, 2008
A strange day
Its 3 AM. At the moment I am on my way home (Mehsana). The ride today in this coach is really bumpy, I can’t understand how everyone around me is fast asleep. I tried sleeping too, but in vain. So here I am blogging in the train as I listen to some of my favorite songs. You should have started expecting something so ridiculous; I’ve been blogging for quite some time now ;).
Well, last day was really strange or you could also call it interesting. Depends on which part interests you. There are 3 parts to it. One is related to a dream that I had, second – since it was a Saturday, I had my Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC)class (I have already written a blog on this special lecture before) and the third is a lucky escape from death (phew!!!).
First the dream, I dreamt that my 10th standard class teacher was in NMIMS, and that I had taken Hindi as one of my subjects (she used to teach us Hindi in school and was a very strict teacher). So on this fine day, she decided to take a surprise test, and as I am not the one to study in advance, I couldn’t answer anything. Obviously I wasn’t gonna give up that easy, so I copied :p. But there was another surprise in store, she had seen me copy and therefore instead of getting a zero, I got a negative score and the dream (nightmare) finally came to an end. More on this a little ahead….
It was 9am, time to get up for my IMC class, which although was scheduled for 9am, was unofficially supposed to start at 10 am. But if getting up at 12 noon becomes a routine, a 9am start to the day can be a really demanding task. So obviously after numerous failed attempts by the alarm to get me out of bed (even an alarm can be such a motivator, despite repeated rejections, it does its job dutifully), I rescheduled it for 11 am (just like last week :p). Later in the day, I learnt that the class was eventually cancelled as the faculty had failed to turn up. J
The coming four days, will start with my mom scolding me on this habit of getting up late, I really miss her scolding so much ;).
The next lecture was of Production Planning and the faculty is pretty much similar to my 10th std class teacher. And guess what, there was a surprise test and just like my dream, I hardly knew anything :p. Now that’s some freaking coincidence….(the surprise test was a coincidence…me not knowing anything was expected ;))
Finally it was time to get back to my flat and get ready for my train journey. On my way back, I was talking to a friend from NITIE about a case study competition entry (on ‘save the environment’ theme) that both of us had sent; as I was about to enter my building, I heard a loud thud…A coconut had fallen from the tree at the building’s entrance and landed just 5m ahead of me…Guess nature wasn’t very appreciative of my feeble attempt to save it and chose this way to let me know ;)
An emergency trip to the hospital in Mumbai can be a real nightmare at any time of the day, its so common to see ambulances getting stuck up in traffic jams and obviously nobody has the time to spare and let another vehicle pass by. The feeling is sickening, it makes me wonder, what this much talked about ‘Spirit of Mumbai’ is all about…:(
Thank you God for saving me the trouble and letting me write another blog ;)
Well, last day was really strange or you could also call it interesting. Depends on which part interests you. There are 3 parts to it. One is related to a dream that I had, second – since it was a Saturday, I had my Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC)class (I have already written a blog on this special lecture before) and the third is a lucky escape from death (phew!!!).
First the dream, I dreamt that my 10th standard class teacher was in NMIMS, and that I had taken Hindi as one of my subjects (she used to teach us Hindi in school and was a very strict teacher). So on this fine day, she decided to take a surprise test, and as I am not the one to study in advance, I couldn’t answer anything. Obviously I wasn’t gonna give up that easy, so I copied :p. But there was another surprise in store, she had seen me copy and therefore instead of getting a zero, I got a negative score and the dream (nightmare) finally came to an end. More on this a little ahead….
It was 9am, time to get up for my IMC class, which although was scheduled for 9am, was unofficially supposed to start at 10 am. But if getting up at 12 noon becomes a routine, a 9am start to the day can be a really demanding task. So obviously after numerous failed attempts by the alarm to get me out of bed (even an alarm can be such a motivator, despite repeated rejections, it does its job dutifully), I rescheduled it for 11 am (just like last week :p). Later in the day, I learnt that the class was eventually cancelled as the faculty had failed to turn up. J
The coming four days, will start with my mom scolding me on this habit of getting up late, I really miss her scolding so much ;).
The next lecture was of Production Planning and the faculty is pretty much similar to my 10th std class teacher. And guess what, there was a surprise test and just like my dream, I hardly knew anything :p. Now that’s some freaking coincidence….(the surprise test was a coincidence…me not knowing anything was expected ;))
Finally it was time to get back to my flat and get ready for my train journey. On my way back, I was talking to a friend from NITIE about a case study competition entry (on ‘save the environment’ theme) that both of us had sent; as I was about to enter my building, I heard a loud thud…A coconut had fallen from the tree at the building’s entrance and landed just 5m ahead of me…Guess nature wasn’t very appreciative of my feeble attempt to save it and chose this way to let me know ;)
An emergency trip to the hospital in Mumbai can be a real nightmare at any time of the day, its so common to see ambulances getting stuck up in traffic jams and obviously nobody has the time to spare and let another vehicle pass by. The feeling is sickening, it makes me wonder, what this much talked about ‘Spirit of Mumbai’ is all about…:(
Thank you God for saving me the trouble and letting me write another blog ;)
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
A Nation's envy.....owner's pride
We are all going ga-ga over the first ever gold won by an Indian in an individual event at the Beijing Olympics 2008 at the same time there have been news articles about Abhinav Bindra's private shooting facility.
No doubt, it is a great achievement and it speaks volumes about the dedication and perseverance of this sportsman who had to earlier win a battle against a severe health problem and therefore 'ALL CREDIT GOES TO HIM' literally. Thats 'owners pride' for you.
Yes we did have the ceremonial statement by our esteemed PM, congratulating Abhinav on his remarkable achievement and hoping that his performance will inspire the youth to take up sports and bring laurels to India...blah blah blah.
And how can i forget that more than half the people in my gtalk list changed their status message to something like - 'Abhinav does India proud'...
But since this is my blog, you will have to read my opinion guys :).
I hope that his victory DOES NOT inspire Indians to take up sports, not with the current state of affairs atleast. I know you think that i am crazy....but i never promised that my words would represent sanity ;).
Why do i say so??
This guy was lucky to have had the money to pump in and ofcourse he himself put in as much hardwork as he possibly could, to achieve this feat. If Indians were to be inspired to take up sports, not many would have the money to finance their dreams and ambitions. Mind you, there is no lack of sincerity and talent in this country, but sports is not just about talent. Technology and training play an equally vital role in shaping a sportsman and edging out ones opponents.
Imagine if a not so rich sports enthusiast was to put at stake his career for something like this, and then realise that, all that the top corridors of the government and their leader are good at, is making statements to suit public mood, then how disgusted he would feel. And it is then that he would feel envious of the fact that had he been in Bindra's place he too might have won a medal. Thats 'nations envy'.
I read about the miserable state of the practice shooting range at Tughlakabad near Delhi and it makes me feel that it would be better if the government convinced the big business houses in India to push their children into sports, that way, the government need not do anything for improving the pathetic condition of Indian sports and we may also get some medals. And yes, in all this celebration we forgot the dirty politics that was played with Monica Devi and the fact that this year our Hockey team has not even managed to qualify for the Olympics.
Maybe we could take a cue from the Australians, who after their Olympics debacle and shameful performance in the 70's, decided to have a dedicated policy towards sports and sportsmen, that has today yielded startling results. Unfortunately we feel no shame and are happy with our own daily bickerings and quarells.
The only consolation point is that some business houses like Laxmi Arcelor Mittal, have launched their own initiatives to lend some support to an otherwise outcast arena called 'Indian Sports'.
I hope you understand the title of this blog, no doubt we are all happy for this 25 year old lad who did us proud, but what role has anyone in this country played to be a part of his achievement??
No doubt, it is a great achievement and it speaks volumes about the dedication and perseverance of this sportsman who had to earlier win a battle against a severe health problem and therefore 'ALL CREDIT GOES TO HIM' literally. Thats 'owners pride' for you.
Yes we did have the ceremonial statement by our esteemed PM, congratulating Abhinav on his remarkable achievement and hoping that his performance will inspire the youth to take up sports and bring laurels to India...blah blah blah.
And how can i forget that more than half the people in my gtalk list changed their status message to something like - 'Abhinav does India proud'...
But since this is my blog, you will have to read my opinion guys :).
I hope that his victory DOES NOT inspire Indians to take up sports, not with the current state of affairs atleast. I know you think that i am crazy....but i never promised that my words would represent sanity ;).
Why do i say so??
This guy was lucky to have had the money to pump in and ofcourse he himself put in as much hardwork as he possibly could, to achieve this feat. If Indians were to be inspired to take up sports, not many would have the money to finance their dreams and ambitions. Mind you, there is no lack of sincerity and talent in this country, but sports is not just about talent. Technology and training play an equally vital role in shaping a sportsman and edging out ones opponents.
Imagine if a not so rich sports enthusiast was to put at stake his career for something like this, and then realise that, all that the top corridors of the government and their leader are good at, is making statements to suit public mood, then how disgusted he would feel. And it is then that he would feel envious of the fact that had he been in Bindra's place he too might have won a medal. Thats 'nations envy'.
I read about the miserable state of the practice shooting range at Tughlakabad near Delhi and it makes me feel that it would be better if the government convinced the big business houses in India to push their children into sports, that way, the government need not do anything for improving the pathetic condition of Indian sports and we may also get some medals. And yes, in all this celebration we forgot the dirty politics that was played with Monica Devi and the fact that this year our Hockey team has not even managed to qualify for the Olympics.
Maybe we could take a cue from the Australians, who after their Olympics debacle and shameful performance in the 70's, decided to have a dedicated policy towards sports and sportsmen, that has today yielded startling results. Unfortunately we feel no shame and are happy with our own daily bickerings and quarells.
The only consolation point is that some business houses like Laxmi Arcelor Mittal, have launched their own initiatives to lend some support to an otherwise outcast arena called 'Indian Sports'.
I hope you understand the title of this blog, no doubt we are all happy for this 25 year old lad who did us proud, but what role has anyone in this country played to be a part of his achievement??
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Civic sense...what nonsense!!!
On a recent trip to Malshej Ghat, a friend recounted an experience that is worth mentioning....what reminded him of this story was the fact that some of us were trying to convince the others in our group (we were 10 in all) to not throw any waste here and there on our way to this beautiful place in the Sahyadris...
This is what he said - 'During my engineering days, once it so happened that as i was walking on the road, i threw a wrapper on the ground...a foreigner came up to me and asked me to pick it up and throw it in the dustbin...i found it annoying...how dare he ask me to do so??..so i said 'What is your problem? it is my country and i can do whatever i like', to this the foreigner replied,'I know it is your country, but i live in it and so i can ask u to keep it clean'. I realised my mistake, picked up the wrapper and threw it in the dustbin. This man then thanked me and went away. That day i decided that i would never again throw waste around.'
I wish there was one such foreigner allotted to reprimand every Indian who threw waste without any care or concern for the filth that this habit creates (I don't understand why we always need an external force to make us realise that what we are doing is wrong)
However, I feel that the new generation is changing and that it is a lot more aware of its responsibilities...i say this out of my own experience...
During my third year of engineering, i decided to do a part time job during the Navratri season, i was at the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad for 9 days. On some days entry was opened to outsiders and they could bring along their families & on some days only college students were allowed.
I would reach my place of work at 7pm much before anyone else and leave at 2 am after almost everyone had left...what i noticed is that, although the ground was cleaned everyday, on the days when people were there with their families, they would leave empty plastic bottles and wrappers everywhere on the lush green ground, but when only youngsters were permitted, the ground was visibly clearer...this gives me the hope that this once extinct civic sense is making its way into the hearts and minds of young Indians ( God pls prove me right)
I remember when i was a kid, we would visit Juhu beach and it used to be absolutely dirty...the government on its part has taken cognisance of the issue and has started cleaning up the beach almost every night...but believe me the sight of this beach at 12 in the night is pathetic, people just don't understand...during our occassional football sessions on the beach at midnight, we have witnessed the beach being cleaned employing both men and machines only to be dirtied again the next day...it seems like a never ending cycle...
I think the only solution besides imposing fines (if even this was done sincerely, half the problems would have been solved) is recruiting foreigners who can reprimand us cos there is no other language that most of us seem to understand...
I Hope that people would be willing to change their habit like my friend did...I am an Indian but i don't mind being considered a foreigner if that helps you to kick this habit of littering :)
This is what he said - 'During my engineering days, once it so happened that as i was walking on the road, i threw a wrapper on the ground...a foreigner came up to me and asked me to pick it up and throw it in the dustbin...i found it annoying...how dare he ask me to do so??..so i said 'What is your problem? it is my country and i can do whatever i like', to this the foreigner replied,'I know it is your country, but i live in it and so i can ask u to keep it clean'. I realised my mistake, picked up the wrapper and threw it in the dustbin. This man then thanked me and went away. That day i decided that i would never again throw waste around.'
I wish there was one such foreigner allotted to reprimand every Indian who threw waste without any care or concern for the filth that this habit creates (I don't understand why we always need an external force to make us realise that what we are doing is wrong)
However, I feel that the new generation is changing and that it is a lot more aware of its responsibilities...i say this out of my own experience...
During my third year of engineering, i decided to do a part time job during the Navratri season, i was at the National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad for 9 days. On some days entry was opened to outsiders and they could bring along their families & on some days only college students were allowed.
I would reach my place of work at 7pm much before anyone else and leave at 2 am after almost everyone had left...what i noticed is that, although the ground was cleaned everyday, on the days when people were there with their families, they would leave empty plastic bottles and wrappers everywhere on the lush green ground, but when only youngsters were permitted, the ground was visibly clearer...this gives me the hope that this once extinct civic sense is making its way into the hearts and minds of young Indians ( God pls prove me right)
I remember when i was a kid, we would visit Juhu beach and it used to be absolutely dirty...the government on its part has taken cognisance of the issue and has started cleaning up the beach almost every night...but believe me the sight of this beach at 12 in the night is pathetic, people just don't understand...during our occassional football sessions on the beach at midnight, we have witnessed the beach being cleaned employing both men and machines only to be dirtied again the next day...it seems like a never ending cycle...
I think the only solution besides imposing fines (if even this was done sincerely, half the problems would have been solved) is recruiting foreigners who can reprimand us cos there is no other language that most of us seem to understand...
I Hope that people would be willing to change their habit like my friend did...I am an Indian but i don't mind being considered a foreigner if that helps you to kick this habit of littering :)
Coffee with ex-roomies at 1am
Until april this yr, i was stayin at G R Jani hostel. The only good thing worth mentioning here is that i met 3 new people, who were my roommates (yes 4 ppl in a room big enuf to accomodate 2 ppl...at double the cost for such a facility in that area). Alok alias kola( he insisted we call him so...cos everyone else did in his engg clg...lol), vishal (tripathi) and ashish (hashish) and obviously me bharat (bachcha-name given by my roomies as i am d youngest among them)
This academic year i shifted with another set of friends to this flat in santacruz...but it is only now that we ex-roomies realise how much we miss each other...y we didnt shift to a new place together is another long story...we'll save it for some other time...
Coming back to the title of this blog- 'Coffee at 1 am'; now that we are spread in a radius of 1.5 km from each other (all 4 of us are stayin in different places), kola tripathi and i meet for a cup of coffee at Barista or CCD or Mocha every once in a while...ashish is busy learning french from a french lady teacher ;)
However, wats interesting is the way we plan it...
Kola generally gives me a call at 12:30 am (he's a nocturnal creature :p) and i can't say no for a meet wid my ex-roomies and then calls up tripathi...
The first time we tried CCD at Santacruz S V Road, but they shut too early for lukkhas like us...so we went to Barista Juhu...thankfully they stay open till 1:30 am...we spend most of the time discussing general issues...theres usually some hot babe havin a cuppa coffee with her brother ;) so our sleepy groggy eyes open up wide before the drive back home (we completely believe in road safety ;))
Last time we met at Barista knowing CCD would be shut as they believe in d saying 'Early to bed, early to rise...makes a company healthy, wealthy and wise)...sorry but u r not gettin any of my money to get wealthy cos u down ur shutters too early...
But Mr. tripathi had some other plan in mind...so we drove to Mocha opposite Juhu beach at 1am and were happy to know that they would serve us before shutting down..we ordered cappucinos and sat down discussing a business idea on tripathi's mind (he really wants to be an entrepreneur)...
We had just started when the manager at mocha told us that he had to shut down the place cos the police would trouble them otherwise...so we left hoping to catch some space on Juhu beach...
We went to the entry point near tulip star hotel hoping we wont b chased away by the beach patrol...but we were wrong, not only were we asked to leave...but the patrol waited for us to start our bikes and go beyond their line of sight...guess finding a place to spend some time with friends at 2 in the nite is not so easy after all in mumbai...
But we weren't gonna give up that easily...so we went to the one place that we cud call our own...NMIMS...
It felt so strange to find our ever crowded quadrangle almost completely empty...so we sat there chatted for almost another 1.5 hrs and finally decided to leave...
Today i tried fixing up a similar program and called up kola at 9:30 pm so that we cud meet earlier...but thats not how it works u know...
It only happens in an instant when kola calls us and i rush to spend another memorable evening with friends i can call my own...
Waiting for your call kola :)
This academic year i shifted with another set of friends to this flat in santacruz...but it is only now that we ex-roomies realise how much we miss each other...y we didnt shift to a new place together is another long story...we'll save it for some other time...
Coming back to the title of this blog- 'Coffee at 1 am'; now that we are spread in a radius of 1.5 km from each other (all 4 of us are stayin in different places), kola tripathi and i meet for a cup of coffee at Barista or CCD or Mocha every once in a while...ashish is busy learning french from a french lady teacher ;)
However, wats interesting is the way we plan it...
Kola generally gives me a call at 12:30 am (he's a nocturnal creature :p) and i can't say no for a meet wid my ex-roomies and then calls up tripathi...
The first time we tried CCD at Santacruz S V Road, but they shut too early for lukkhas like us...so we went to Barista Juhu...thankfully they stay open till 1:30 am...we spend most of the time discussing general issues...theres usually some hot babe havin a cuppa coffee with her brother ;) so our sleepy groggy eyes open up wide before the drive back home (we completely believe in road safety ;))
Last time we met at Barista knowing CCD would be shut as they believe in d saying 'Early to bed, early to rise...makes a company healthy, wealthy and wise)...sorry but u r not gettin any of my money to get wealthy cos u down ur shutters too early...
But Mr. tripathi had some other plan in mind...so we drove to Mocha opposite Juhu beach at 1am and were happy to know that they would serve us before shutting down..we ordered cappucinos and sat down discussing a business idea on tripathi's mind (he really wants to be an entrepreneur)...
We had just started when the manager at mocha told us that he had to shut down the place cos the police would trouble them otherwise...so we left hoping to catch some space on Juhu beach...
We went to the entry point near tulip star hotel hoping we wont b chased away by the beach patrol...but we were wrong, not only were we asked to leave...but the patrol waited for us to start our bikes and go beyond their line of sight...guess finding a place to spend some time with friends at 2 in the nite is not so easy after all in mumbai...
But we weren't gonna give up that easily...so we went to the one place that we cud call our own...NMIMS...
It felt so strange to find our ever crowded quadrangle almost completely empty...so we sat there chatted for almost another 1.5 hrs and finally decided to leave...
Today i tried fixing up a similar program and called up kola at 9:30 pm so that we cud meet earlier...but thats not how it works u know...
It only happens in an instant when kola calls us and i rush to spend another memorable evening with friends i can call my own...
Waiting for your call kola :)
Monday, August 4, 2008
My blogging habits are so much like me...
For the past few days i've been blogging and i've realised one thing about myself....If there is something i like, i go crazy after it....there's no stopping me then...
I wanted to start blogging long time back...when i finally did, and logged into my account, i would post one blog after the other on the same day...guess there's no stopping me then...u wud say blogging is addictive and there's nothing new...mayb u r right...i thot the same...but then i pondered over my actions over the last few yrs and i was convinced that it isn't just addiction in my case...
And more than that i just cant continue something if i dont get a feedback or a response...the response need not be in my favour...its just that i need to kno that i am not banging my head against a wall and wasting my time....
2 years(long time huh??) i chatted with someone on the net whom i had known since school...and made clear my feelings (some serious leg-pulling is comin my way ;))...but i felt that there wasn't a complete loop and now i feel that things are almost over (not that i would have ever wanted them to turn out this way)...some guys would have persisted....and my friends still tell me to give it another try...but i can't do it beyond a point...
On a lighter note, i and my flatmates have been planning a B-plan now for more than a month...but there's hardly been ny progress... i had an idea in mind which they agreed to...( toughest part got over quite easily..phew!!!) and even now my roomie is trying to make me read a case for a competition as i write this blog....
When i was in engineering, i and my friend Anirudh were completely into paper presentation competitions..and thankfully we won quite a few of 'em. We were just crazy bout goin to a clg and presenting our paper on Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)...thats d backbone of WiMax (we did not invent it...just presented it :p)...3G is being implemented in India, OFDM is a much better technology than that too...
Have been waiting for that urge to win for quite some time now in MBA...unless that feeling comes in...no amount of pestering by my roomie is gonna help...that feeling had crept in for some time during december 2007 and we won a few events around that time...but somehow it faded over time...
Am desperately waitin for that feedback loop to once again work its magic...hope it engulfs me soon...which feedback loop from the ones posted above??
I don't know...cos i have stopped expecting things in life...
P.S. No queries on identities of undisclosed characters will be entertained under any circumstances so pls dont bug me ;)
I wanted to start blogging long time back...when i finally did, and logged into my account, i would post one blog after the other on the same day...guess there's no stopping me then...u wud say blogging is addictive and there's nothing new...mayb u r right...i thot the same...but then i pondered over my actions over the last few yrs and i was convinced that it isn't just addiction in my case...
And more than that i just cant continue something if i dont get a feedback or a response...the response need not be in my favour...its just that i need to kno that i am not banging my head against a wall and wasting my time....
2 years(long time huh??) i chatted with someone on the net whom i had known since school...and made clear my feelings (some serious leg-pulling is comin my way ;))...but i felt that there wasn't a complete loop and now i feel that things are almost over (not that i would have ever wanted them to turn out this way)...some guys would have persisted....and my friends still tell me to give it another try...but i can't do it beyond a point...
On a lighter note, i and my flatmates have been planning a B-plan now for more than a month...but there's hardly been ny progress... i had an idea in mind which they agreed to...( toughest part got over quite easily..phew!!!) and even now my roomie is trying to make me read a case for a competition as i write this blog....
When i was in engineering, i and my friend Anirudh were completely into paper presentation competitions..and thankfully we won quite a few of 'em. We were just crazy bout goin to a clg and presenting our paper on Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM)...thats d backbone of WiMax (we did not invent it...just presented it :p)...3G is being implemented in India, OFDM is a much better technology than that too...
Have been waiting for that urge to win for quite some time now in MBA...unless that feeling comes in...no amount of pestering by my roomie is gonna help...that feeling had crept in for some time during december 2007 and we won a few events around that time...but somehow it faded over time...
Am desperately waitin for that feedback loop to once again work its magic...hope it engulfs me soon...which feedback loop from the ones posted above??
I don't know...cos i have stopped expecting things in life...
P.S. No queries on identities of undisclosed characters will be entertained under any circumstances so pls dont bug me ;)
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