MAD!!!

Date- December 18,2009 (this post was lost among thousands of documents and web pages in my documents, I found it today :) )

It has been months since I last contributed to this blog. Not that I did not have time but of course, it is hard to manage it. Kudos to those people who really have a hell lot to do, who not only do their studies properly but also devote time to their hobbies. I am not a blessed one but I wish I had a hobby too-something to nourish upon when I am all alone in a pool of useless and unproductive thoughts,
making way for darkness. It is said, " khaali dimaag shaitaan ka ghar hota hai". But, the question is- when is the mind devoid of thoughts? I mean, if I am asked to compare mind with body, I would rather compare thoughts to oxygen than to food. A mind cannot live without it, perhaps brain can. Brain is the entity, mind is the consciousness, the state of presence- swifter than everything else in the world. My
thoughts can be vague but as every article carries the disclaimer, " views given by the author is personal"; its my personal view and I am no authority to say that whatever I am writing is sensible and not crap.

Today I read an article by Vir Sangvi (being here at Patna, I miss Hinduatan Times, Delhi edition just like I miss home made food in Delhi.So, i download editorials to read). The title was "There's a method to their madness". It talked about the Cold war, Kissinger and Nixon, doctrine of MAD(Mutually Assured Destruction), the mad politics and our favourite dinner table hot item of discussion "India and Pakistan". He mentioned how Kissinger used this mad strategy to convince the Russians that then President Nixon has turned mad and can anyday push the nuclear button. Of course, no one in his good senses would ever take such a big step which will affect the health of the country for centuries to come. But, for a madman like Nixon, nothing is impossible. Same goes with the relationship between India and
Pakistan. None of the Pakistani leaders want violence, terrorism, attacks. They know, they cannot afford a war with India. They all want peace talks just to convince India that they want peace but they do not have controlled over factors like public opinion, jihadis, ISI, army, etc. etc. etc. (all those who work against India are not under their control).

After reading the article, I have just two questions in mind. One, where is the sense of presence of democracy in Pakistan? How can they claim to be democratic? Who does the government rule? Handful of public who likes to be guided like a herd of cattle. Who has given them authority to make big talks in World forum about things they cannot take control of? Is being unstable or weak a mere excuse, declaration of defeat of democracy or a strategy?

The second question in my mind is, why do we even bother to value the opinions of those who do not have the power to control, those who have let their minds sleep and asked the brains to work, like a madman. I have not read much about it so, I do not have enough knowledge to discuss it further.But, I am glad I wrote something after months of slumber :-D

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All I wanted to say is this......

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1 Idiot, 3 Legends. Gotta see who's who.

A double trip to Patna book fair got me three books to chew upon this training sem.

1. Forster's Passage to India

2. Gandhi's 'My experiments with truth'

3. The biography of Karl Marx

Apart from that, I am gnawing 'The God of small things' and 'Atlas Shrugged' at full pace these days. Will share my experiences as I go on completing 'em all. A fetish with books even after surviving for 4 years in a place they call IIT.

Well, some habits are never meant to be changed.

Alok.

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यूं ही कुछ कवितायेँ निकल पड़ी

कभी बैठा रहा जो मैं

ज़िन्दगी से निराश,

सोंचा कुछ भी करने का कोई मतलब नहीं

व्यर्थ हैं सारे प्रयास

खाली बैठे जो मिला एक कागज़ ,दिखी एक कलम

यूं ही कुछ कवितायेँ निकल पड़ी

कभी तोड़ डाली जो

सारी बाधाएं मैंने,

दिखा दिया जाकर आगे

सबकी अपेक्षाओं से

एक पल के लिए जो खिल उठा मेरा मन

भरे उत्साह के थामी मैंने कलम

यूं ही कुछ कवितायें निकल पड़ी

कभी दिखी जो मुझे तुम

कभी पास आती हुई

कभी होती दूर ,नज़रों से ओझल

अपनी ही इच्छाओं को तोड़ते माडोड़ते

पकाते हुए कुछ खयाली पुलाव

हाथ में जो आई मेरे कलम

जो जी में आया लिख दिया

यूं भी कुछ कवितायें निकल पड़ीं …

पिछली दिवाली यूं ही घर पे खाली बैठा था ,की तभी छोटी आई और कहने लगी "भैया,कोई काम नहीं है ना आपको??!!,जो ये सब लिखते रहते हो...!!" मैंने भी सोचा की बात तो सही है ,खाली समय में ही दिमाग इधर उधर भागता है और अगर कलम हाथ में हो ,तो उस पल का कुछ लिखा हुआ ,अपने पास रह जाता है |

अभी जब शिवी ने ब्लॉग का रुख थोडा सेंटी कर दिया,तो सोंचा ये पोस्ट कर दूं |

प्रणव ...

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better?

I walked a mile with Pleasure
She chattered all the way,
But there was nothing
I could learn From all she had to say.

I walked a mile with Sorrow
And never a word said she;
But, oh, all the things I learned
When Sorrow walked with me.

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Google the word you last said....

look, what I got....

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JEE, CAT... and Gtalk chat.

Pranav: Dude..

Pranav: Entrance exams like CAT should be banned.........Ping n Talk 2 me over this!!.

Alok Kumar: hi Pranav.

ssup?

Pranav: evething fine man..

agar free ho to have 2 discuss a thing

Alok Kumar: ya sure

shoot

Pranav: Entrance Exams like CAT shud be banned

for /against ??

Alok Kumar: against.

Pranav: hmm.....totally with my feeligs..

Lets talk over this a bit

As far I can recall JEE was the last thing

we faced like this

Alok Kumar: yeah

and?

Pranav: and the enthu,the willpower

and the overall stuff that one develops

while preparing

is worth

Alok Kumar: guess what, jee was the first thing tht taught us to be prepared for life

Pranav: hmm..

Alok Kumar: to come out of our cocoons and face the music.

cat and jee have multi faceted traits

for one,

they provide a flow to the student life

and other thing, given the polulation of india, the institutes have got to develop

some kind of mechanism to screen students

otherwise money will do the rest

agree?

Pranav: well ya...

Alok Kumar: i totally agree tht

many students who are toallly worth entering the hallowed institutions

are sometimes denied thru this cat and jee thing

but se the nos. of those students who actually get the chance which they would never have got otherwise

Pranav: haan....nd basically we don't have anything sensible

to suggest

If not JEE

then ?

if not CAT then ?

Alok Kumar: exactly. if not jee, then how do u give the talent the chance to show themselves.

passing or failing is a different issue altogether

given the infrastructure of india

especially the social one

its all about giving a chance

and also, education system of india is not at all tht robust tht it can provide equal opportunity to all the youth, you cannot deny competitions

and lets say, if we actually give all the students a sure shot entry to equal status institutions,

then things would be taken for granted, and even in tht case

some ppl would evolve as better than others

you see, competition is in human spirit, and the spirit would develop ways to get into onw

one

Pranav: totally...

even if not these exams,jo kuchh bhi ho....that vague thing can't kill the

basic human nature of competition

Alok Kumar: right. the thing here is nothing but very basic rule of economics. demand and supply. the demand (students wishing to do well) is huge, and the institutions are very less.

now how do you meet the demands wid limited supply

u gotta develop a mechanism

jee and cat are the mechanism as for now

abolishing them solves no purpose.

Pranav: haan...

waise I just wanted

Alok Kumar: though some solutions include increasing the quality of the other institutions which are in a state of total mess.

continue..

Pranav: haan was trying to discuss

the solution part

the increase in number of

instis

is another

controversial issue

as such

and India needs more ppl to be equipped with

Alok Kumar: yeah, it is, but the controversy here is using the name of the existing well known institutions ,

why not create a series of new institutions all together

and make them equally efficient, giving better facilities

one very strong example is the current state of iim shillong.

just bcoz it got the name iim, many students took admission there

and now news are coming tht

its a total mess out there

this is doing nothing but further diluting the existing ones' reputation too.

totally not worth it

Pranav: haan...

but yahan bi ek

prob hai

U see it took arnd 30 yrs or so

for IITS to start producing

talent that can serve the country

eshtablishing a new series

of insti

which can start giving thr IIT IIM ooutput

Alok Kumar: you 've got a valid point too, but then things can not be changed overnight anyways.

even if we increased the no. of iits or iims

then students will start fighting

for geting into a particular set of iit or iims

you see

this was the basic spirit of competition i was talking about

we can do away wid exams, but we can't do away wid the basic spirit of competition from the studets' mindset

and well, its not a bad thing at all.

Pranav: hmm..

waise yahan par agar kuchh stats daalne ho to

what stats can help me here

I think

for waale log

'll put the point of suicides and other shit that these exams do...

well the number of those

who suceeded

even after they weere not able to crack a particular set of exam

is also good...

Alok Kumar: well, yeah, but how about stating the fact that the maximum no. of suicides happen because of failed love relationships. does that mean tht every love relationship should be converted to marriage by some act of spreme court?

abolishing the exam is not a solution, educating the studets' about their other options is

.

I agree tht many students' commit suicide and undergo deep depression. here comes the role of govt. and ngo orgs.

how about starting local councelling centers at college level

telling students about the other career options

and an awareness programme can be run through pprint media about making the parents aware of their childrens' potential even if they were not able to crack some arbit exams

Pranav: haan..

Alok Kumar: things can be donee, and are being done bout delaing this issue. Kapil Sibbal abolished 10th board coz. it actually didnt serve any purpose at all. You don;'t get admission to any reputed professional institution of india just coz

you came with flying colors in xth bpard

but here the situation is differrent

and ppl who compare cat or jee with xth board, should better start developing a cocoon for their children and put them there, until the cocoon itself collpases.

Pranav: hhehe yaah.....the ppl who talk of avoiding competition

are the one

who hate to compete

aor sumwhere fear

that they ll not be abe to stand up to the point

Alok Kumar: yes man, and life ain't just anyways. think about this. A student who never competed through his life

would be the first to fumble

at the slightest pressure

are we talking bout avoiding suicides?

we are actually gonna create a bunch of morons who would take life for granted, and the day they don't get their share bcoz of any arbit thing, they would find tht they no longer can survive.

then the rate of suicides would be bigger. beat that.

Pranav: yao//

see

there are too things that being in a competition creates

the winner rejoices..

and the looser

looses of course..

but the thing

is that we are not talking abt exams

competitions where

if you loose your life is gone

CREATING OPTIONS

and MAKING the ppl

who follow

JEE and CAT

as a rat race

aware of them

yahan par kaal kar sakte hain..

kaam8

nd other than that...I am planning to enumeratesome facts from the very own book man "Psycology of success in IIT -JEE"

wahan se the spirit that developed within us..

hey ALOK..

one more thing...

Alok Kumar: yeah

Pranav: basically we here are trying to suggest that

we shud keep the

fighting spirit on

but at the same tyme

don't be single minded

like JEE /CAT is not only the thing to live or die for..

Alok Kumar: yes, exactly

Pranav: yahan par sensible dedication

ki baat utahunga

yahan par the role of mentoring...

Alok Kumar: options are always there. you just have to choose the right option

dude, wait

can you tell me

why am i talking bout this issue right now?

( i still dunno)

Pranav: hehehe....I have to speak about it kal

at the CAT insti

Alok Kumar: :P

hmmm

Pranav: there were other topics like "Google vs WAllmart" nd all

but ye waala sort of

I felt close to me

and ispe kuchh accha bol paunga

Alok Kumar: I think I am gonna post this conversation on out joint blog. It must be an interesting read.

our*

Pranav: HAAN....bilkul

Alok Kumar: unedited

:P

Pranav: yups...

:)

editing ll take out the fun...

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Here comes Winter, again.

Rain and mist bring winter chill to Delhi (IBN Live, 13th Nov. 2009)

I read the internet version of this news piece and was taken back to the sweet reminiscences of my equations with winter. Penning something on winter is not new for me, and in my other blog I did express my feelings and expectations from winter, when I was in my second year of Bachelors. ( For more reference, click http://reflectionsalec.blogspot.com/2007/10/who-says-spring-is-best-i-go-for-winter.html )

Well, Winter has arrived again. And this time it has rains to accompany itself. Rains make me feel melancholic. When you have had enough of drenching around in the showers, you have to come back, change your clothes and sit in the room watching the continuing rains pelting hard on

the roofs and parapets of your life. It feels as if you have been made to sit in a small room, feeling claustrophobic and all, and no one cares while the action continues in your life, nonchalantly.

But rain brings with itself a strange clarity in the environment. After it stops pouring, you see everything sharper and clearer. Like after the tears flow, one can see the true image of the world. The winds become even more chilly, the intoxication of the winter night escalates further. The longing for someone dear, snug and close becomes excruciatingly evident; and the sweet nothing gossips with friends become more comfort giving. The chillness of winter defines the degree of comfort one can get out of slight warmth. In temperature, in emotions, in relationships. Every thing has an inherent duality, I guess.

But even this clarity doesn't perpetuate. As the evening arrives, mist starts to surround the horizon, and the soul. One can't see neither one's own hands nor one's own thoughts. The paradigm changes only to get even blurrier. The soul craves for something, gets sad on not getting it, becomes happy to see the brighter side of it, only to find the limit of this forced happiness and ultimately finds solace in the sadness.

Two winters have passed since I last wrote on winters. It indeed is a strange season for me.

Ignites some kind of thinking lamp of my

soul, only at the expense of taking away my peace. And I normally don't mind my peace taken away except in the winter season. Back in my playdays, the ball struck us hard when it was winter.

And guess what, it still hurts hard when its winter.

Alok.

Nov. 17, 2009 (Incidentally, Pranav's Birthday)

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Irrgularity

The word mentioned above,if practiced,can lead to pissing off friends,even the best ones..

Plz do'nt do it...

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Gears,Garba n Gays

These mornings,I learn how to drive a four wheeler.Its more or less a simple job but has its own complexities with it.Leave apart the technical n responsive adjustments you learn while driving a car,the most difficult part of the learning process for me is to reach the driving school as early as 7 am.Hostel life has made me nocturnal.I remember myself as a morning person in my school days. I always messed up exams for which I continued preparing till late night.The place has changed me.Most of the times I am busy with some group gossip,sumtimes its work ,and sumtimes its just my act of lying down over my bed and staring at the fan that keeps me awake at least upto 3 am regularly.The point is I am a regular late comer to the driving sessions.Here's a snippet of conversation btw me n my trainer..

me : Sorry bhaiya,15 minute late hoon,but phir bhi time pe pahunch gaya na (shameless giggles..)

Trainer : Kya bhaiya,aap log engineer ban rahe ho,time ka kuchh to khayal rakho..

me:Aree bhaiya,samjha karo na ,hostel mein neend aaate aate 3 baj jaate hain,phir aap subah subah class laga dete ho !!

Trainer : Arre bhaiya,Aapki 3 baje tak waali classein hum bhi samajhte hain ..waise bhi navratron ka time hai,kahan se subah uthoge aap.....

Now this one hits .Infact hits hard.You know what ,the general opinion here is....If you are staying awake at nights during navratris,people feel that you are getting lucky these nights.Just one word as a thought in reply to this popular opinion "IRONICAL"..Be it the graphs appearing in newspapers showing a peak in condom sales or the reports talking about the hotel room rates per hour ,all of it sounds just a bit uncool to me.

What??

Say that again.....sex does'nt seem cool to you??
The answer is yes...and I have got something to say about it.Compare the amount of "garba sex" that happens and the talking that is done about it,the difference is magnanimous.Just to earn the advertising revenue,the news is flashed over n over.And no guessing who are the ones to suffer.

Its the parents who somehow feel unsafe about their children to the extent that they take up services from private detective agencies to keep an eye over their daughters.(something called gender inequality pinged me at this moment.but I ll talk abt it later...) As a child too,it seems awkward to imagine your parents to feel so unsafe about you.

Just now I scrolled up to read whatever I have written about Navratri and I could'nt help myself but compare the way with which I celebrated it some years ago at home.Probably "Durga Pooja " is the term to which I can connect more.I have memories of waking up as early as 3 am to bring flowers for pooja . With Durga Saptashati path in mornings and Ramayana Path during evenings its the time of the year when everything around seems to be purified .
The comparison though is not between the way we celebrate it at home and the side of the festival that the newspapers show to us.Last night I was at Indoor stadium .I was with a bunch of friends of mine and of course we enjoyed the presence of hotties around.But with all the hot property that the place promised there,something else was clearly visible there.The spirit of the festival that makes thousands of people to dance ,that makes them dress up this funny(No offences,Gujju bhais n bens ,that's a personal opinion..Leave the female costume apart,the males costume seems goofy to me).Dude,there's got to be something that makes people this much happy at this time of the year. Let it be the festival or with a tinge of sex in it,who cares??At least painting newspapers over this is simply useless...

Moving on to the gays,todays newspaper flashed something about acceptance of boys doing garba with their boyfriends.The world for this community seems to be changing after the 377 thingy.I stop myself from talking furthur as this post is going a wee bit too lengthy(AAh..U bore a**,U realised that now!!).Neways signing off with some related read n loved stuff here.

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Those good old days……..

Date: 07-09-09 (Arpi’s syaahi; Post-8)

The best experience of reading a newspaper is reading the editorial. Well, this is not because it feeds one with some intellectual matter but because it gives a gist of all that is going around, whether obvious or not. It saves time and gives an insight into the matter. Some people start reading from page 1, some from sports page while some turn to page 3. I like reading newspaper from the comment page.

Like every morning, I started the day with newspaper and to my delight (read to my surprise), the editorial did not deal with BJP, J&K, Doha and all. It was talking of All India Radio (AIR FM Rainbow). To my friends who are not based in Delhi may not understand or connect to this topic of discussion but will find the relevance in some other aspects of entertainment (say, the mushrooming TV Channels). In the article, the author was talking about the old, melodious and beautiful English songs from seventies and eighties that are played only by the AIR and less interference by RJs and advertisements. Author comments that tough there are many radio channels in the city which adopt all kinds of stupid mimicry and scoops, contests and long discussions to lure more and more listeners; the n number of radio channels are only adding to the cacophony of radiowaves traveling in New Delhi. AIR on the other hand is following the same format as it had followed decades ago. If you visit the website and try to listen to any of the program, you will be disappointed. Still, AIR FM Rainbow is picking up among the music conscious people of Delhi.

Wednesday is 09-09-09. I am excited for ten years ago, on 09-09-99, I decided to remember everything that happens on that day, jott it somewhere and read after ten 09-09 have passed. But alas, it never happened, I forgot to write it in my diary. Now, the only things I can remember is that I did not have computer or cable connection at my home. My radio played only vividh bharati and I remember how I waited eagerly for programs like chitrahaar and rangoli on DDI and chitralok on vividh bharati. DD Metro was an entertainment package and made my life colorful. Educational programs by UGC and NCERT taught me many things. Those days when discovery and NAT Geo were infants, I yearned to watch those programs but one day, when my wish came true; there were other things too. Several channels for serials, movies, music, reality shows- TV for education? The purpose was lost.

We are of course spoilt by choice now. Earlier, when our need was limited, they were answered. Today, need is less or more same but desire has increased manifold and the correct services have to be fished out of a pool of lucrative claims. Entertainment industry is manufacturing by a push system in place of a pull system. This can anyday lead to congestion and compel the viewers and listeners to turn off the radio. So, mann ka radio ……………. bajne de zara.

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An arbit celestial conversation recorded.

Was lying on the bed tonight, and saw a lonely star in the sky. And then from somewhere came a comet, approaching the star speedily.
I recorded their one sided conversation, star being the talker here.

मैं स्थिर हूँ , और तुम गतिमान। तुम मेरे पास से गुज़रोगी। शायद मैं तुम्हे छू भी लूँ। पर मैं चाह कर भी तुम्हारा पीछा नही कर पाऊंगा। तुम्हे अपने इतने पास से दूर जाते देखना ही मेरी किस्मत है, और मेरा भविष्य भी, क्यूंकि मैं स्थिर हूँ और तुम गतिमान। पर तुम्हे अपनी और आते देखने में बड़ा सुकून मिलता है। और इस से भी ज्यादा खुशी होती है यह सोचकर की तुम बस मेरी एकान्तता मिटाने के लिए इस ब्रह्माण्ड का सफर करके मेरी और बढ़ रही हो। पर काश तुम यह समझ सकती कि तुम्हारा यह सफर मेरे पहले भी जारी था, और बाद में भी जारी रहेगा।
क्यूंकि मैं स्थिर हूँ, और तुम गतिमान.

And then the recording stopped. I couldn't understand a word of what the star said. Maybe someone reading this blogpost might understand something. If you can make anything out of this recording script, please comment.


Alok.

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Why a fuss over English? (Post -7)

Date: sometime in June, 2009

It had been years since I wrote my last essay. Perhaps, it last happened during my 10th boards. Now that its time to pull up my socks for appearing in CAT and other MBA entrance exams, I am really worried about my knowledge and usage of English. English was the subject responsible for limiting my board exam aggregate marks to 94.4%. I have never liked the language much but I don’t agree to say that I dislike it. The worst experience I had with this language was during one interview for a scholarship by Singapore airlines. I missed free education in Singapore just by few well structured English sentences. Poor me! Never imagined how a medium of speech can take such an important role in shaping my future. Anyway, I never regretted. If I don’t like it, I don’t like it; its as simple as that. I am really grateful to my English teacher during my schooldays to be kind enough to put some extra hard work in me. He could see I was great at literature. I could easily delve into the toughest emotion and get the gist of the story but he shuddered to read my poorly structured essays. He just managed to put a smile on his face and said, “alright, it can be taken care of.” Well, today, after blogging for two long years, I feel I can write as much as I like but I am really doubtful about the quality and semantics of my writing. My friends say I am really cool and successful at expressing through my poems and prose but unfortunately, Hindi is my forte. I uttered the word unfortunately because when I typed the word “hindi” , it wasn’t auto-corrected (the h wasn’t converted to H unlike the e of English ,see).

The truth is Hindi is really losing ground despite of being our official national language. Messages like save Hindi, serve Hindi ,use Hindi at railway stations in India don’t do any good to us. I have been writing in hindi for last two years but unluckily, I don’t have many readers in my friend circle because they find it too heavy to connect themselves with my creations. I remember how I bunked my English classes during my 11th-12th days to learn some extra lessons in hindi. I preferred hindi over English and why not? It is my first language. I think, dream and react in it. But, things are changing. A fraction of Indian citizens have English as their first language. There are people among them who never went abroad but, still they talk 24 X7 in English. Few weeks ago, I was having an evening stroll in one of the parks nearby when I came across two little children, hardly 4-5 years in age. They were talking in English so fluently that I would have mistaken them for foreigners were they not standing in front of me. Their mother was now trying to teach them few hindi words so that they can communicate with the domestic help. Foreigners in their own country, are they? May be, but it will help them in future in any interview where everyone expects the candidate to be glib at spoken English. “At least, they wont be denied a Singapore airlines scholarship “, was all I could think.
The renowned writer Shobha De in her book Superstar India, admits that English is her first language and there is nothing wrong in that. Everyone has a right to choose his/her language. Why make a fuss? If English opens the way to interact with the world then, why not embrace it? But, on second thoughts, isn’t it a way to appease the West? Please give us the job, we are good at your language. English rules the world but despite speaking the language, we are ruled over everywhere. Its nice to speak in the language your customer speaks. We must not be as rigid on our languages as the Chinese are but, learning the language their way and trying to copy others’ accent is not acceptable. I remember last time, when I spoke to my old friend who works at a call centre, I was taken aback to sense the change in her tone and accent. Leave English , even her hindi had a tongue twisting tone!! Why cant we have our own accent. Why not the Indian accent? Why is it so uncool? May be, I have become too pro-indian or it’s a hangover after I read the book Superstar India but, I don’t like this debate on hindi or English. The writer of aforementioned book emphasized on this contemporary Indian ideology that learning English as well as learning in English secures the future. Children are moving out of hindi medium or regional schools to fancy English schools. They find it really cool and modern to use the F-word in public whereas, in hindi language, usage of such abusive words imply how uncultured we are. I come from a very decent background , brought up in a middle class environment, in a nuclear family but under a strong surveillance of my housewife mother. I never watched any MTV, FTV or Star Movies. I don’t know anything about Hollywood, Bryan Adams or Enrique whom my college friends nearly worship. Recently, I caught grab of some English novels and I am really trying hard to improve upon English knowledge and usage.

Today only, I got to read a column in the newspaper that Mulayam Singh Yadav, a well known Indian leader, is against English and English education. The very same column has inspired me to write this essay. He says that its against our culture and a major threat to hindi and other languages. I again thought, why make a fuss? French is also a widely used language with so many people using it. We adore that language. Few months before, we had a new student in our class. She was a French and she came to India for a semester on exchange programme. She was bad at English and hardly, few people in class knew French (that too to a meager extent). She had a tough time indeed. It would have been easier for her if she would have learnt English. Same is the plight when a hindi speaker goes down south of the country. People are too stubborn to interact in English or hindi. Such is their love for their language.
Not falling into this debate because I am a very confused person and really worse at taking a stand, I have a question to ask. Why do we love English? Is that because we were ruled over by Brits for hundreds of years? Had we been colonized by some French or Latin speaking country, are there chances that we would have been speaking some other language. Interesting thought to ponder over. Isnt it?

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Recession (Post-6)

I wrote this few months back....

(from 4 Ps- 24th April-7th May)

Nothing like a ganne ka juice in a hot recession hit summer morning…. He he, why, recession is in. I guess it’s the word of the year. No news column is complete without it. People joke, everything nowadays is caused by this recession. It’s a fraught, a plague, a tsunami, an earthquake, a WTO attack, a terrorist, or GOD himself. We have to fight back, to restore our economies. Since, one of my earphones is not working properly; I am often compelled to drop my ear into the conversations of other joggers, usually gentlemen in their late 50s-60s. They love to discuss the pros and cons of recession and debate on the future, at the same time, flaunting their remarkable knowledge of current affairs. But, this word recession is a household hero, I guess. Even the juice maker, tailor, helpers know it and they are more vocal about it.

Last Monday, when I was groaning in disappointment to see the fate of my newly bought kurta, the tailor tried to appease me by dragging the word into conversation, “Madam, I tell you, this recession hasn’t hit me a bit. I am doing well in the business and I feel it’s just a hoax.” I resented, “but, our placements have been badly affected.” However, he was adamant to give his verdict, “This recession is bad for those who do clerical work. I tell you madam, there are less number of people in India who are technical, most of the people are clerical. Now see, we are technical, we won’t face this recession ever.” This conversation could have worked more, had I not freaked out to see the puckering in my kurta’s seam.
To speak truly, even I am a layman regarding economic terms (macro and micro, that’s all I know). My mother, being a post graduate in economics, tried hard to convince me to take economics as an extra during my +2, but for me, it was a complete no no. Now, guess, what my latest hobby is- to collect business magazines, from all the publications, they are so cheap and colorful, they add color to my room. Yesterday, I supposed to read the editorial issue of one of the magazines in which Mr. Arindam Chaudhary, the author and editor, talked a lot about recession and how it will prove a boon for developing countries like India.

I have always been abject in my school-time essays when talking about India and its growing population, blaming all the growth retarding activities on it. I was quite surprised to know that we are a country with 50 percent of the population below 35. We are the young people of the old world. Few months ago, I flipped through a book on Toyota Production System which gave the manufacturing world the concept of lean manufacturing. I came to know, before the Japanese recession, most of the Japanese manufacturers followed the American concept of mass manufacturing given by Henry Ford. This was a push system. When Japanese recession set in and Toyota retrospected, it found there was not much demand in the country for the product. Mr. Arindam Chaudhary says, business are much influenced by the culture of a country. One system that works for one country may not work for other. Combining both the readings I have done, I can understand what the author wanted to convey.
Japanese families are mostly followers of Buddhism; satisfaction is in-built in their culture. They buy less and they buy only when they need to. So, they don’t create a market. Push system in this case will obviously lead to failure. At the same time, a delegation sent to America by the company to study the Ford system came across the pull system used in the departmental stores where goods were replaced on the racks as soon as they were sold. Then, came the lean manufacturing system into existence. Now, some more words about the American market and people’s buying power. Products were mass manufactured and pushed into the market. People were given more purchasing power, in terms of credits, loans, etc. They were encouraged to buy more and more even if they already have those things working in their full potential. When a saturation point reached for the people, when their future income was bind to pay back the loans, the financial firms eased out the pay back terms facilitating even the noncredit worthy people to take loans. Now, the ratio of average house-hold debt to disposable income is around 140% in US and 180% in UK. Since, many countries are involved in business with these developed countries, they also feel the waves of recession. But, according to the author, these countries pose the new market. The only thing we need is to be given the purchasing power, the same way Henry Ford gave to his employees by paying them more so that they can buy his products.
So, now that the American markets are super saturated; the industries need to create and search for more and more markets in countries that were till date, under developed or developing. This opens a new opportunity for us because to buy something, we need to have purchasing power. We can get this purchasing power only by nice packaged job placemnts . Hence, world is turning its eyes towards us; we just have to dance on the chance.

But, I have a fear- Fear of being westernized. Yes, westernization is transforming the urban part of the country and drifting it apart from the root traditions. Now, the issue is, one can say, why is westernization always seen as a negative impact on the society? May be, its because it makes us materialistic, which doesn’t go with the spirit of India. We are people of several beliefs, home to several religions and theories, all zeroing down to teach us unity, simplicity and love. These thousands of brands and their 4 Ps are driving us crazy for more and more money. We need money; we need to purchase more and more- just to quantify our achievements. Thanks to credit cards, which act like an appetizer to our hunger. Now, my question is- wouldn’t this boom in the sales of credit cards and loan schemes leading us to a situation similar to America? Are we really enjoying an opportunity or repeating some blunders?

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The ghost of my country’s past ……. (Post-5)

Date: 23-08-09

I had always believed in the existence of these non-existent creatures called ghosts particularly, when some dada or bhaiya used to narrate stories about white saree clad women with long hair sitting on the back seat of their scooters, chuckling frequently and disappearing in air. But, the influence a ghost can have is surely evident in the recent episode of expulsion of Jaswant Singh from BJP. The way a lamp flickers before going off, the party is gasping for air before drowning. It has been almost a week; the editorials are almost flooded with views and reviews concerning the book, the author, his expulsion and his revelation. Now, I guess it’s time the newspapers must also switch over to something new.

After reading all authors and critics…. there’s only one word I would like to say….. farce!!! I feel the thing with which our country is most obsessed with, is “history”. Ask any third person in the country or outside the country, what’s so great about your nation? He would answer, “our glorious past”. We are more interested in digging up the earth than conquer the sky and even if we do so, we never mention until it becomes a part of the golden history.

Why can’t we learn living in the present? Who would ever believe the party, at present, behaving like a captain-less, aim-less, direction-less amidst a sea-storm where the stupid boarders are throwing away fellow passengers instead of bulky, age-old loads of orthodox ideas and beliefs (that too in the most distorted manner); was once the ruling party of the country. Why this craving for connection with past?

What glorious past does America hold? A country won out of a civil war, with poverty and chaos as its primary residents- now, is the ruling nation of the world. So, why cooking up or digging out all these stupid stories about Jinnah, Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabbhai Patel? They performed their duties when they had to and now, they are resting in peace. Let them enjoy their peaceful slumber; they are not the horses pulling the current government, neither can they comment in front of media, “We actually never told what the truth was now, we want to do so.”
The whole affair is like a Priyadarshan movie, one confusion leading to another and all the circumstances finally pooled into a complete mess- It’s confusing, and hilarious. Confusion,… is in the air and climax… lets wait and watch.

Arpita

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Des Rangeela….. ;) (Post 4)

(based on an article in Outlook, August 24 issue)

Date: 23-08-09

India is a land of celebrations. We have a myriad of opportunities for holidays, eating more and shopping without need. If asked to describe the positive side of it, I would say, it gives a number of reasons for a family to meet and celebrate together. While our country is in the process of westernization where the value of family, culture, tradition, etc. is slowly fading away; thanks to the retail and advertising world who is renovating these festivals into the new brand India image. Now, even small family puja like akshayatritiya is incomplete without special discount offers by jewelers and car dealers.

“You have a reason to celebrate, we give you the means to celebrate”- says each and every shopping complex. They celebrate with us coz this is what makes them earn the most. The same Archies shop sells heart shaped pillows for Valentines day, “U r d best teacher” card for teachers day, and cards with rakhi on Raksha Bandhan and what not. The numbers of festivals just don’t reduce; the list is getting populated more and more. The glamour added to the Indian festivals and ceremonies by television and movies has globalized these occasions and the events that were localized earlier can be found in every part of India now.

The nice thing about it is that it has minimized the feel of regionalism. If one sees his neighbours celebrating, how can one stop oneself from rejoicing. Personally, I feel great to celebrate festivals of both Orissa (to where I belong) and Bihar (where I am born and brought up). The negative side to it is that it burns a hole in the pocket ;) After all, we need to look special and feel special on such hundreds or two hundreds of special occasions in a year. ;D

Arpita

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The country of "No"

"India is the country of No. That 'no' is your test. You have to get past it. It is India's great wall; it keeps out foreign invaders. Pursuing it energetically and vanquishing it is your challenge."- excerpts from Maximum city - Suketu Mehta.
To pursue the challenge and start living with a little more enthusiasm in a country where every 'no' seems easier than 'yes', it is very essential to analyze everything minutely.
Consider a hypothetical yet a typical day in a grown up person's life residing in any city of India. Early morning he wakes up-alarmed and disgusted, yet another day to start with!!!!Prepares himself to face the world ahead. He puts up a mask on his face which would protect and hide his real true self from the world. He wears a plastic smile-in accordance with the concrete surrounding around him. People will recognize him, socialize with him, if he has some material wealth stuffed in his pocket or bank, try to be good for him. Otherwise they will ignore! ignore him for being too modest in spending, a miser -till the time he is considered a bankrupt, and then left to live on other's benevolence. Rather, even if we avoid such extreme hypothesis, he dresses up elegantly-he knows that he has some shortcomings that cannot be hidden under wraps of power dressing, yet he does that because the confidence fostered due to this is sufficient to keep him alive and rocking! He ties up his shoe laces and has an inner wish to keep all world tied onto it.
For a simple telephone/mobile connection ,he knows he will have to encounter innumerable 'no' before he is actually granted one. Everywhere he is faced with a long queue, whether he goes for a Gas cylinder, milk, grocery, or the water from Kuwait," Petroleum” ! Sometimes, his pocket size doesn't allows him to do things at the first instant, and some other times the wide mouthed giant of price hikes.
Whatever the case may be he goes on putting up that mask, To the whole world he seems to be a perfect gentleman with a nice home-be it built on a high interest bank loan, a high salaried job-be it nominal with loads of debts to pay, nice lifestyle- to support which, he will one day sell himself, and a happy family-who can never remain at peace with their half fulfilled dreams and aspirations.
But the question is what is that ,without having which his life is as incomplete as a flower without a bee to hover upon it. Is it money? No, something like that is out of question since money is so deliquescent in nature that it can never remain static in a single place, it flows and flows on. Then is it ignorance? No, even that can be got rid of by being in constant contact with the outside social world, then what is it?
May be it is the ambition or the ever prosperous desires that were or rather would be never hit by any type of recession. It increases, day after day, moment after moment, it makes the man awe and gasp for the un-achieved! This awed reverence results in creation of further more dreams and aspirations along with unavailability of resources to suffice the needs.
So, here comes the urge, the necessity to wear a mask, to have a deception point, wherein his simple being is underneath layers of social pretentiousness. He needs to show off and flaunt something that he doesn't actually have.
Consequently, a vigor to live originates, although the whole building is built on a null and void base yet, the building starts taking shape, and the person is considered fit to survive in forest of social dogmas. He has successfully created his niche place ,who knows how wide a hiatus has he created between his natural soul and the outward appearance.
Now he can breathe in the free air which replenishes his nostrils every time with fresh air of rights to continue living in a country like ours!

-Shivi

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A cup of strong coffee

From Arpi’s syaahi…… (Post 3)
Date: 18th August, 2009

hmmm..... its 2:30 am and i am wide awake. the application i was developing took another of it's snail step and i decided to treat myself with a cup of hot coffee. I wanted to keep working all night so i decided to make a strong one. While juggling with 3 milk powder and 2 coffee powder sachets, i searched for my long forgotten saucepan and prepared the strongest coffee i ever had. I just couldnt sip it. So, i just called my angel, sugar to help me out. it worked and i had a delightful strong but sweet coffee.The same must have happened with delhi on this independence day when Ms Sheila Dixit, H'ble Chief Minister of Delhi promised to make Delhi a slum free state. Now, the way i couldn’t reduce the strong bitter taste of my coffee but hid it under the sweetness of sugar, the same is being done here. Just to make the city beautiful and give a feel good factor to the citizens of Delhi, the CM of Delhi has promised the city that within few years, there would be no slums in Delhi- hmm…. a feel good factor indeed… a treat for the eyes atleast.


However, a question still arises… what about the people dwelling within the poor walls of tin, polythene, paper etc.? What is going to happen with them? We think, the government must have thought of something but the truth unfolds when we see more and more people sleeping on the footpath, beneath the flyovers, beside the ATMs. Slums can vanish; slum dwellers can’t vanish in a blink unless and until there’s no substantial plan for their settlement. They only shift their homes like nomads in a civilized jungle. It takes months of savings and a lot of courage and compromise to erect a new hut for those under BPL but it takes merely an order and a bulldozer to ground it.


Of course, it is not a good picture to see little kids who have hardly seen 4-5 Independence days in their life, selling flags made of paper, plastic or clothes. They might know what things diwali and holi mean but I don’t think they know what Independence Day and Republic Day means. They still live in a before-independence India, under the foreign rule- of the Indians, for the Indians and by the Indians. They do not have the rights to live where they want and are left on the mercy of government.


Another question- is contesting an election and winning in India a day dreaming competition? How high can you build a hawai mahal assuming that there’s nothing like an earthquake? It’s so easy to set targets, shout them out and forget later. Do you remember the Bollywood movie Nayak? Not taking into account the overly done things, I liked one thing in the movie…. the interview part. The protagonist had the perfect questions to ask each and every Indian politician. Why can’t we have all the candidates sharing the same stage, debating and chalking out a plan for a better future? Why is only government and not the opposition responsible for the country’s development? It doesn’t have power but it does have opinion. Why does it have to use its vote against the government and not in the support of development? It takes years to assemble experts and make them work together to device a perfect plan to implement something new. How can we trust some leader with a bag of dreams and no vision?


During the course of internship, we had to prepare a two page document to propose some projects with a brief about the projects, methodology, benefits and observations. These are the stuffs that make you believe the feasibility of a project. Now, who has the time and seriousness to shape those big promises into great plans? And, why should we believe what we are asked to believe without any SOP or plan? An old saying says : “Beggars can’t be choosers.” This is what we are undergoing, we are being offered coins of 1 paisa, 2 paisa, 3 paisa, 4 paisa and 5 paisa – different in magnitudes but all useless.
Now, my coffee is cold and I almost forgot it. The sweetness and bitterness still co-exist.


Arpita

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Does PM’s attention cost 21 lives?

From Arpi’s syaahi………. (Post 2)
Date: 16th August, 2009

There had been 21 suicides in Andhra Pradesh. I, being a casual reader of newspaper, have often overlooked such news but today, I couldn’t. Few days ago, one of my friends asked some of the questions from his talk show. One of them was: You are a person from metropolitan. Can you connect yourself with the poor farmers of Andhra Pradesh who had committed suicide? I thought for a while, it was very mean and heartless to say no but I really couldn’t feel the pang. Finally, I tried to give a diplomatic answer, “ Well, the effect of drought can be seen on the aate daal ka bhaav . It affects every household. Although, we are on the other side of the world but we are also on the other side of the supply chain. So, we are affected.” Thank God, he changed the question.


Now, this is unbelievable. I belong to a farmer family. My grandfather is a farmer. Every year, when I visit my village back in Orissa, I watch my ba (I call my grandpa ba) wake up at 5, clean the cow shed and set for the fields (though we are not left with much). However, the thing is, belonging to a village with 35 small and big iron and steel plants, part of a developing colony Kalinganagr, a village with 24X7 electricity, airtel and reliance towers and Tata Sky cable connection in televisions; I can’t imagine farmers suiciding here. Most of the farming activities have ceased as industries are setting up. My chachu is a contractor and is doing well in his business. We also faced drought and scarcity of water in past but we were luckier, no one ever died or committed suicide.


Sorry, I just got deviated but wanted you to know that there are prosperous villages in India too. Coming back to the topic of 21 suicides, the first line in the Times of India article is……Its official. So, what’s non official? Lives come so cheap in India. I remember the book, The Holy Cow in which author Sarah McDonald mentions an earthquake toll as quoted by some newspapers…. only 110 deaths, a small casualty. But, there’s no prevention, no cure. Government is only trying to apply a balm on the dead. 21 farmers had to lose their lives to get 1.5 lakh rupees as compensation and relief on loans. Is this a price a man should pay for his family to afford two meals a day? I think, there should be something more than relief and compensation. May be, employment generation but, it would lead the farmers to move away from the farming activities that is so uncertain and risky nowadays. I guess, there must be some temporary methods to earn money while one is out of work though this idea is pretty vague. What’s your say?

Arpita

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Time Machine

From Arpi’s syaahi…… (Post-1)

Date: 14^th August,2009

“We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they are called memories. Some take us forward, they are called dreams. – Jeromy Irons

Just fell in love with these lines. Time is the greatest healer, people say. I find time the best story teller. Seriously, today becomes yesterday and tomorrow becomes today. It is lovely though I hate the grammer part of it i.e., tenses. Jokes apart, just rotate your eyeballs and choose the saddest person around you. He might be broken, disheartened at this time but you won’t find him the same way after one year. Somewhere, time has a major role to play.

Now, after a nap of one year (its not such a long time, is it? J), I am back, kicking my busy schedule hard (busy for nothing J) to manage few posts a week. On this Independence Day, I am just using my freedom to imagine right. Now, while writing this, I feel like a much awaited columnist back from a long period of hibernation. Here, I am with my stupid thoughts and ideas, weird style of writing and poor English (the best combination to pull more and more comments J). Keep reading, keep commenting and watch out for more……… God bless!!!!!

And, one more thing…….. I don’t know if it’s the right place but I would like to thank Shivi (my alter ego J) for motivating me to write again. Thanks a lot Shivi…. luv u….

Arpita

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Tied Up In Knots

Islam and Polygamy................

The editorial peeps into the matters of the pious teachings of the religion and the rules which are applicable over the society through it.The Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 enforced monogamy over almost ever other sect except Islam.And as the passage seemed to be clear,cases of sham conversion to the religion,for the sake of a second bi-gamous marriage happened.

Take for example,an Indian army physician serving in Afganistan temporarily converts to marry a girl there,and a few years later ,returned to his family in India ,leaving the Afgan girl in lurch.

Everyone of us is able to see the injustice,except the laws who govern us.

All of this makes us think of the true Islamic rules that govern polygamy.

Going back to the 7th century Arab society,when unrestriced polygamy was rampant,Islam subjected the precondition that the man should be capable of treating his co-wives absolutely equally in every respect.Throwing away the first wife without divorce for a new one was not what quran had envisaged.Quran talks "Monogamy would keep you away from doing injustice".

Prophet also added a deterrent warning "A bigamist failing to treat his wives equally will be torn apart on the day of judgement." Sounds like an attempt to gradually route out the practice in talk from the society. Does'nt it??

Talking back to the times now,even the commission governing over marriage,being conscious of the religious sensitivity of the Muslim society in respect of personal law has been acting ignorant.The belief of the circles that despite being the clear distortion and misuse of the personal law is outside the power and function of constitutional organs of the state seems naive.

The Islamic law in India has been dealt with all due respect and best has been done to accomodate with the religious sensitivity of the community,yet the situation remains vague still and it seems no one is willing enough to even think of a solution.

Polygamy simply does'nt sound just 'coz i can't imagine it being a one way affair,in today's scenario.Be the best of the polygamists man,satisfy all your wags but think of the the day you spot your girl with some other, and you yourself 'll not be liking your holy buisness being practiced .

Also if a particular community is allowed to practice it ans others not,the basic law of equality of all the citizens of the state is threatened.

And if the need of change is felt this much about a thing,which is incorrect in all senses,Why NOT CHANGE IT??

History Humour: Lemme tell you the story of one the crowned head kings of all times.Raja Dashrath had the capabilty of driving ten rathas at a time.Mighty to the extent that single handedly defeated the army of "Asuras".

Lemme tell you he landed up quite screwed in his last days,'coz of the idea called"polygamy".

So,if can't do anything,let history teach you.

Pranav

16th Aug '09

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Scared swines....

Swine flu fear is encapsulating every human move into a masked, cautious one . Like an epidemic it is spreading and infecting more on Psyche of the masses. More than 1,100 people worldwide have died from swine flu since it emerged in Mexico and the U.S. in April, according to the latest figures from the World Health Organization.

Somewhere , sometimes ago I read a prediction by an ancient man[like Nostradamus-I cant recall the name now] He prophesied:

"When blacks rule, Pigs will fly"
Obama and Swine flu hoax happened in the same decade as predicted, now who is responsible for this?...the racial comment on blacks made centuries ago, the powerful black himself,the petty swines or we-the commoners who can never know what form will the next catastrophe will come wrapped in.

- Shivangi

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मैं अकेला ही चला था जनीबे मंजिल की तरफ़, लोग आते गए और कारवां बनता गया....

A text message yesterday revealed that we're gonna have two new members in our review contributing team now. The more, the merrier, indeed. (Waitin' for them to join us.)

I have been a great fan of Arpita's poems and short stories. Let's see what this thoughtful girl has to offer, after a year long writing hiatus.
And as for Shivangi, well, hers is one of the very few blogs that I constantly follow. Check her blog out... http://shivi-shivangi.blogspot.com Its quite interesting.

Welcome to this Arbit speculations thingy, girls. The objective, you know. We are reviewing news dailies for sheer fun as well as enhancing our general knowledge. No need to follow strict review writing norms, coz' we don't follow any. No restrictions on using fuckin' unconstitutional words, coz' tht ain't a big deal.

Write what you feel like. It's your blog.


Alok.

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Of droughts and floods in the Indian economics...

'Drought of Justice, flood of funds' - The Hindu, august 15th, 2009

Hindu normally doesn't use a mocking language in its leading editorials of the day, but this one clearly was an exception. P. Sainath talks about the NREGS (National rural employment Guarantee scheme), the recent historical hikes in Tur dal, Tata Nano, the fiscally imprudent farm load waiver and the generous revenue foregone in indirect taxes to the Indian corporate mob in one go.
And never once in the article the reader feels out of sync.

He's right. The Indian government is very quick when it comes to blaming the drought for the price hikes. But as one must have noticed, the prices had begun to hike since 2004 elections, and not all of these years we had bad monsoons. We again saw quite a price hike just before 2009 elections. The recent unprecedented hike since the last three months is just a natural progression of the sequence, and it has got very little to do with the oncoming drought, if any. Its all about planned speculation.

The writer also talks about monsoon management. Sure, its no where to be seen in Indian agriculture right now. Months receiving more rainfall do not provide proportional increase in the buffer stock, and the govt. doesn't care much as long as the production is crossing the bare essentials for tht year. And it cries along with us when the droughts come. Development of a pond on every farm is also a nice idea, but i doubt the feasibility of it, given the economical status of our farmers and the extremely small farmland divisions we have back in the fields.
But yes, having ponds on a co-operative basis can help. It would definitely reduce the dependence on rain.

Sainath also talks about the immense share of concessions received by the Indian corporate giants, and mocks the hue and cry over the government's right step of farm loan waivers.

Penny wise, Pound foolish. Are we not?

Anyways, I'm impressed by the writer's ability to relate things. In his words, " We celebrated the delivery of the cheapest car in the world and the costliest Tur dal in the Indian history, within the same 31 days.".

How ironical.


Alok.
August 15th, 2009.

p.s. let me take this opportunity to thank every freedom fighter and every soul that got burnt for achieving the Indian Independence. Had it not been for you people's sweat and blood, I might not have been writing this blog right now. This post is dedicated to you all.

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Dividing the multiples.

'To divide is to multiply in northeast.' (The Hindu, august 12, 2009).

Well, logically speaking, dividing something actually creates multiples. That way, you are actually multiplying (increasing) the number of the sub products. So the inherent semantic irony is itself universal, and not local to any particular domain. Never the less, it sounds cool.
But let's not talk maths here. Let's talk north east.

The problem -: Rising number of pro action military outfits in the north east.
Govt's solution -: Banning the rebel outfits.

The backlash -: Disintegration of one outfit into two or more smaller groups with slightly
different ideologies, which within no time, become as big and as active as the
parent one.

The effect -: Two rebel outfits in place of one; more militant activities, more headache for the
government.

The writer has rightly pointed that self determination, sovereignty, independence, autonomy, territoriality, language and culture are the buzzwords that animate such militant struggles, and there is no end to them. In my view, Banning a rebel outfit might give an air of legal dominance of the government over the area, but it actually does two things. Instead of logically talking to the militants, or at least raising a strong public opinion against them, it single handedly tries to suppress the people, acting exactly as the militant organizations think it does... the suppressors. And the militants start considering themselves to be anti government revolutionaries.
Two, it makes the outfit more popular and controversial. The same popularity hunger that makes outfits like al kayda to accept the responsibility of some devastating bomb blast.

Solution: Not touched upon in the article. May be generating a strong public opinion against the militant outfits, and showing how the government is working for the public while the militant outfits are destroying the resources can help. But it definitely would need far more ground work and dedicated planning than sheer issuing of a ban notice from the air conditioned government offices.


Alok.
Aug 12, 2009

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मेरा भारत महान....

बचपन से ही पढ़ते चले आए... भारत अनेकता में एकता का देश है.

पर जब पिछले दो साल के अन्दर पांडिचेरी के समुद्र तट के किनारे बनी गाँधी की विशाल मूर्ति, बिहार सचिवालय के शिखर पर लहराता तिरंगा , दमन के एक अनजान ट्रक के पीछे लिखा 'मेरा भारत महान', दिल्ली की ऑटो पर लिखा ' I love my India', अहमदाबाद में स्थित अतिव्यस्त नेताजी सुभाष चंद्र बोस उपरी पुल, बंगलोर यह धड़कन महात्मा गाँधी सड़क, और दादरा नगर हवेली की दमन 'गंगा' नदी को देखा तो विश्वास हुआ।

भारत वास्तव में अनेकता में एकता का देश है। हम सब भले ही अत्यधिक भिन्न हों एक दूसरे से, पर भारतीयता सबमें उतनी ही है। ये बातें पढ़ने में बहुत सामान्य लगें, पर अनुभव करने पर रोमांचित करती हैं।

आलोक.

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Joint ventures Inc.

I normally prefer to work alone. Managing a team is a different issue; working side by side with team mates is a different one. Its quite frustrating at times.

Unless you have some really good understanding between the team mates. And thats precisely why I accepted this offer of starting a joint blog with Pranav. This guy is my alter ego. My thoughts progress into his writings and his thoughts influence mine. So this blog is just an electronic representation of the interaction that keeps on happening all the time.

And then, reviewing the newspaper editorials is a win win situation for me. One, I get to rediscover my lost lust of reading newspaper articles. Seriously man, otherwise I dont find enough time to browse through the Hindu, which keeps on piling on my side table all unread. Two, I get a hang of what's happening outside this egg shell called iit. We normally don't discuss the world affairs out here... coz' we already have a lot of local affairs to deal with. ;). And three, I get new topics for blogging. Writing is a following a chain. Once you get the starting then it can go on and on. So, this reviewing editorials things would help me to overcome the dearth of topics worth blogging. (Frankly speaking, I am a little sick of posting routine emotional stuff on my other regular blog.)

Ah, I missed on another benefit. i also get to regularly read the parallel thoughts of Pranav, who I actually think, writes better than me.

Okay. Enough of prologues. Let's get going dude.

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Pilot

I always wondered ,what it feels to think of a great idea.Well no shortge of the stuff called "idea" in this crappy brain or whatever God filled the top 6 inches of me with(I consantly wonder,whats inside there,that makes me live this kind of crap..). Okey ,so leave me n my wondering there only,but the idea of coming up with a blog with Alok seemed hell of a great idea.

Talking about writing,its sort of involuntary .We feel zero,we write,we feel one we write.That too is sort of a celebrated quality indeed.You see,not many people I know ,realise the importance of scribbling a high or low moment over paper.Blogging provided us a huge amount of world to share our moments with.With Alok's reflectionsalec over blogger and mine the curve of thoughts over tumblr going on,we had our spaces of sharing.And suddenly there comes an idea to start a new blog together..

So,why a new blog??

Have'nt you put up enough of shit out ur head over this holy place called internet??

Well yup,though we had our spaces,lately we realised there's a bit or two about our blogging that need some correction .

Let me just drift away for a moment to make my point.Say these days ,I like a girl ,who on the luckiest days of mine wears purple and passes me a smile or two.And when she does,I try to get away from the crowd,imagine things about her and pen down some real melodramatic stuff.

Do you see my point now??

Yes....No.....Whatever??!!

Dunno if U are seeing it or not ,from my side I can say,I see no way how you can see it.

And that's simply b'coz ,there is no point in all of this.Like my "purple girl" is nobody to everyone else out there, its clearly defined,there are ideas that do matter and there are ideas that don't .

So last time,when me and Alok conversed over phone we discussed about the GD /PI's that we will need to clear for assuring that we are having our management studies at some real good place.(Spoiler Alert :We want to do it at IIM-A and nowhereelse in the world!!!) We discussed the need of talking to the world and in order to do so,we realised we must talk over things that are more related to the world.The need of growing up,the need to get involved in the worldy affairs is pretty obvious now as, its not much time left,when we people will be getting off this simulation thing at our colleges and will be exposed to the real working world. And surely be a narcissist or hell of a self critic,it does'nt really matter ,in order to do the talking you have to have some thought about the things happening around you.

The idea with which we are starting this blog is that ,we will be covering the editorials of the two dailies that we get,with me taking over the "Times of India" and Alok will be dealing with "The Hindu" editorials.Covering the editorials means we will be giving our views what we think of the subject that these dailies are discussing and if not anything else,it will surely provide us topics more relevent to the happening world.

So,I guess I talked enough about the talks that we will be talking here.The pilot ends here with the message to those who read it to feel free to develop an opinion about this webspace and feel free to comment .We give you the right to correctly spell the word "FUCK" when you feel like it.We don't really appreciate if you care to misspell.

Let there be some posts!!

PS. :- And even after talking in this much of a committed tone towards this blog,I promise to respond to the Pablo Naruda ping that you give me purple girl,every time you pass me a smile ,that's how the other blog is gonna continue ;)

Pranav

15th Aug '09

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