Death to Democracy

Its been a long time since i blogged.My abstinence can be explained by lethargy,nothing stimulating to write on and of course getting caught up with the daily mechanical routine that any metro city is characteristic of.In short,i have become a droid.But,this week's incidents in Delhi have shocked me beyond anything else.It has woken me up to a disturbing reality.It is an insult to a democracy i live in,the air that i breathe is no longer safe but vested with lewd elements.The culture that we uphold on a pedestal has taken a back seat.Offenders are walking on the street free as ever.What has happened to our judicial system?what is this country becoming to be??Our foundation of democracy and the constitution that we take great pride in have been shattered.

Delhi is not new to atrocities like this.Time and again it has ranked at the top of the list for incidents such as this.Remember the Jessica lal case.It took a media circus to put a politically influential goon behind bars.There have been debates,there are lengthy discussions but where is the action?Why arent we introducing a fast track judicial system for rape cases such as this,not to mention the psychological trauma the victim goes through?Mumbai is not far behind as more and more cases are emerging here as well.This affects not only our image but also our economic position.The congress introduced some remarkable reform in the name of FDI in retail and all that jazz but who would want to invest here if the safety of our fellow citizens are not ensured.Delhi has become so sexually deprived to such an extent that,an aaj tak reporter was verbally taunted when she was reporting about this rape case at 11 30 pm.Its safe to say that we can no longer walk on the streets after dusk.

The only thing that can save us from this misery is our spirit to fight,our persistence and hopefully someday that poor girl who is fighting for her life at safdarjung hospital gets her justice.

Olympic Glory

Its been 2 whole months since i wrote on this page.I don't know how many of you missed me or how many of you were relieved that there were no page updates on Facebook, but its been long and i decided to give it a shot and see what i could write about.
With the Olympics around the corner and the usual noise about India winning one or two medals(which we did with gagan narang hitting the bull's eye)While we are going gaga over one bronze medal,North Korea bagged 3 gold medals and the country heard the news through radio which is unbelievable as frequencies of other channels are not allowed.The point being, what is so great about winning one medal??How sophisticated are our sports training facilities???Have we at least reached the league of the Tier 2 nations??The answer to all of this is unfortunately a sad NO.There is talk on the street about the ongoing India vs Srilanka matches.We are an apathetic nation to sports other than cricket and no one seems to give a damn about the ongoing Olympics when our fellow countrymen need us the most.The first dent in the wall is the lack of moral support and there is no tangible support either from the sports ministry or in terms of the advanced sporting infrastructure.When are we going to change our attitude??Our sportsmen are demoralized even before they go there.The word is abhinav bindra went on his own expenses and training was taken care of by his "rich" dad.How many of our sportsmen have "rich dad's" to take care of them!!!A shocking story of the Indian hockey team residing in an abandoned railway compartment as they were not provided with basic lodging facilities tells the story.On the flipside there are our "brat" cricketers whose culinary needs are taken care of and we go to such detail to wash their asses(excuse me for the crude expression).We need greater awareness about other sporting activities happening in the country and cricket matches should not be scheduled then and the viewer has no choice but to watch them.This way we at least generate some interest and encourage our fellow countrymen who are fighting for a shot at glory..They are all born with a fire in the belly and all of them fought against odds to go to the london olympics.These are inspiring stories,lets respect them and give them the credit that is due to them.Peace.

Satyameva Jayate

After careful introspection and retrospection i have realized that our's is a very funny country and we can probably be awarded for apathy to our fellow countrymen.On the one hand a social messiah brings up contentious issues of national importance on a sunday morning at the tap of a button and on the other hand we have a billion people watching the IPL final and cheering for their respective franchises assuming that supporting which implies patriotism to your state.But there is a deeper meaning to the word patriotism and unfortunately we here in india just dont seem to get it as of yet.There is one thing which most of us dont understand,whether a team wins or loses, the owners make their money anyways ,but, all of us have wasted a few hours of our time and yet, most of us say we dont have time for people.I dont see any reason to blame our politicians,we need to blame ourselves for what our country has become.As aamir khan put it in his show we need niyaat.

Having said that,satyameva jayate truly needs to be lauded for its crisp presentation covering issues such as dowry,female infanticide and the more recent topic on doctor's corruption though i believe it is more of an autocratic belief.(more on that)within a miniscule period of one hour(excluding the ad parade)It definitely brought out the grievances of the aam aadmi to a stratospheric record viewership of indian telivision audience(statistics suggest that the viewership has exceeded the times of the ramayana and mahabharat series of the 1990's by B.R Chopra).But the questions that need to be asked are how has it changed society??Have the victims of the atrocities afflicted on them been given any justice??Have the viewers(including myself) been affected by this??(It certainly makes your follicles stand during the show and emotions run high,Aamir khan works like a ringmaster and takes total control of your head.)The answer is sadly a big NO.

Satyameva jayate should become a case study in all the IIM'S and b schools across the world.There is a simple explanation to this(some of the die hard fans will object to this),if we dissect it as a pure marketing exercise,aamir khan has explored a niche market of viewership and has exploited it to the hilt.The show lacks glamour(except for himself)and it covers nothing but the harsh truth but yet has become one of the most viewed shows of the country(TRP'S have touched the roof).So once again he has differentiated from the herd and explored a market which was ventured earlier but never fully exploited.He needs to be applauded for that too(who cares if he charges 3.5 crores,airtel and a parade of fmcg ads are making sure star plus is laughing away to the bank).But again,this is pure pessimism talking.He deserves all the credit for being the voice of the show.

Although,i am a little perturbed by the way the last episode was handled.The message that went out was misguided and totally biased targeted against one section of the society.The medical profession(out of personal experience by interacting with doctors and no offense to anyone)is itself  a very sensitive case and definitely needs to be handled with care.I have no problem with the issue of bulk drugs being brought up,as he said more governments should open up bulk drug stores like rajasthan but insulting doctors for being crooks is a very serious allegation.A doctor unlike engineers,mba's and other professions is not made in a day.He doesn't get paid as soon as he gets out of a med school(the salary after a mbbs is a princely sum of 15000 pm)Do most of us know that doctors have to serve 3 year bond with the government services after their pg (when they have already gone bald studying)or end up paying something ranging from 20 lakhs to a crore depending on the state.Do the engineers or mba;s need to visit rural areas after their pg??If so why is the government allowing brain drain from IIT'S and IIM's??Why should the doctors of this country be noble and charitable?If that is the case then why is aamir khan charging at all?It would have been nice if the private colleges which were charging huge capitation fees were brought into the limelight.There is a major nexus between private colleges,politicians and the medical council of india.It is unfortunate that only those issues were highlighted which suited the convenience of the research in question.Friends,these opinions are not only of my own but many medical students and doctors who had reacted after the show.There is no doubt that some doctors need to be penalized but not all.All said and done this show has the potential to change things(like many such exercises in india) if ,as aamir khan said niyaat(intention) ki jaroorat hai and not just a pure marketing exercise.Satyameva Jayate.Jai hind.

PS:The opinions mentioned here are purely on observation.You are more than welcome to object.

Bombay Blues

I am sure most of us have read so much about this city that we practically feel we live there.But to me bombay(changed for political reasons but aptly named,anyways getting to the point)represents a city of hope,inspite of the filthy roads,congested traffic and the liberty to inhale all the listed poisonous gases by the pollution control board.I was there for one whole week and now i am going to be deployed there for another 2 years.I had a chance to observe the lifelines and the lifestyles of mumbai at close quarters and i have gathered quite a lot(some of it might be opinionated,no offense to u,my dear fellow mumbaikars),on the one hand there are the local trains which is symbolic of the great indian middle class and on the other hand u have the posh suburbs of bandra,vile parle,juhu and lokhandwala where driving a small car might actually give u a complex.There is a certain charm to mumbai which is magnetic and infectious in its own way.If there has to be a commercial made on national integration i would say this is the level field.I would like to take a cue from my own life, my roommates are from 3 different parts of the country(kashmiri,sindi and gujarati) and so is an entire class of 60 students coming to pursue their mba here,a complete pan india(though there is some bias from one state,gujarat)

Mumbai surely matches up with New York as far as the lifestyle is concerned. Accommodation is as scarce as water in tamil nadu and power in andhra pradesh.The available space goes for exorbitant prices.Rents here range anywhere between 10,000 to 45000 for a one bhk.The rates for a 2bhk are best left undisclosed(no point even getting there).But there is a striking paradox to this shock,u can eat at the taj end up spending a fortune(hopefully by selling off the neighbor's place) or eat at the road side tella making the same food(who knows taj might have outsourced it from him)and it remains the same.The roads here can be awarded for the maximum optimization of space(even a truck gets in with ease and no sense of guilt).Filth and slums go hand in hand and so does bandra band stand and couples making out publicly.All in all a city which is full of paradoxes,surprises and great food.There is probably more i would describe in the coming months.For now i would like to stop with this bird's eye view.Peace

Rejection

As i write this post today i am filled with a bundle of emotions,a sense of hope and a great deal of excitement mixed with remorse.It is a night which will be the toughest night to pass through for some time to come.I cant explain nor put it on paper how i feel at this moment.

I write this post with a great sense of anticipation and a great deal of nostalgia associated with it.The reason i chose to write about rejection today is i am hoping that my rejection marathon ends tomorrow or someday.The past few months have been a great deal of burden and stress on my relatively sensitive and shock prone heart.I would say 2012 is the year of rejection,the numbers are awe inspiring,i have got rejected from every damn thing i ever wanted to apply or do.I was confident and exhilarated haughtiness in great amounts at the end of last year,told my folks that my actions would do all the talking.But 2012 has brought me back to mother earth with a thrashing blow.I was initially disappointed.My friends and family took the brunt(i am glad they were patient and believed in me for this last few months)I cant thank you enough.There is a great deal i learn't in these past few months and i am sure people who are going through a similar phase would be on the same page as i am.The CEO of Sanofi-Aventis(which is a fortune 500 company and one of the fastest growing industries),told all of us one thing constantly at annual sales meetings,"Friends,no matter what adversity u face or whatever hurdles come your way,WE NEVER NEVER EVER GIVE UP".He used to say it with such rhetoric that we used to have goosebumps.I have started believing in it and i have become an eternal optimist.Now,i feel i want as many rejections as i can at the earliest phase of my life,the premise being that i dont have to deal with it later.But,there will be one day where opportunity and acceptance in tandem strike my way and that will be my fate.I am still waiting for that day.Hope all of you reached there.Peace

God's Own Country

Well i have got some very mixed reviews for my very first post over the past few weeks,some felt like disowning me on the spot,some wanted to applaud at my self derogatory methods,some were just depressed and said-"dude get a life",some said it lacked content,some needed sleeping pills and some were just nauseous.I must thank you all for such wonderful responses.I also apologize for my short absence.The past few days haven't been exactly jobless as i imagined.

Anyways sometime during  last week marked the 250th day of me being unemployed and finding innovative ways to pass time(which was exactly the reason why this blog started off in the first place,not that all bloggers are jobless)I had a quite celebration in the dusty streets of Gods own country.Before you get any ideas,it is not kerala,but something that starts with the same letter,Kakinada(the place where i was christened).If you want to stop time in its tracks,this is the place to be in.The most unambitious,lethargic people are found in these parts and some live and die here without making any difference to the fiercely competitive world out there.It is not that people here don't do business well,but their business models are as outdated as the museum here.Hygiene and sanity are considered as an inconvenience in these parts.But,this is where i was born and this is where i sought solace during my vacations and it was pretty nostalgic when i arrived there 4 weeks back.Our town is known for pigs,buffaloes,a famous sweet named after it(kakinada kajja),bajji ,a beach and of course lots and lots of complimentary sweat and dust.I can safely say this is a haven for people who want to retire.There is lots to talk about this town and the memories i have here at 64-2-7(my grannys house) which is located near a gigantic tank called pratap nagar(which is host to a number of beehives).It is definitely a botanist's disneyland.There are trees of all kinds which surround the house(half of dem dried up due to lack of maintenance).As far as i could tell,there was a jamun.coconut,rubber,mango(both fruit and pickle)nd lots of flowers.I remember growing up with them.It was definitely a trip i could never forget.Well more on kakinada as in when i recollect something.Peace.

First Blood

Over the past few weeks there has been a gargantuan effort by my friends and family to inspire me to start blogging or write anything for that matter(god knows what you guys saw in me but you are treading towards unfriendly waters)So after all the budging i have decided to finally blog and i am sure i will have to take this down in sometime(once everyone starts disowning me)but not without a fight.I,hereby declare that i have no intention of exhibiting any form of literary talent here(not that i have any)nor have any intention of proving a point to anyone or attaining stratospheric fame.This is just to pacify all those people who are under the intention that i have some magic wand which weaves extraordinary stories(they will come back to ground realities very soon)

Well every blogger deserves an introduction in his first post at least,before he becomes unworthy of any introduction.So here it goes.I am a 23 year old guy,perfectly average in just about anything,passionate speaker,voracious reader,film lover,loves criticism of any kind(directed to me only),a social geek and  keen observer of various trends.My dear friends would probably add a few more attributes there,few of them would feel i have fudged all of this from someone else like college times(i would say you are right to a certain extent)and most important of all a constant jabberer(as you can already see i have no discipline in my editing)

There is a lot to write about and learn from a lot of things.A wise man once told me this-"If someone is good at something,copy it shamelessly".Unfortunately we have copy right infringements and other governing bodies who watch you.Yet,here in India we follow a cardinal rule,Copyright,implies"right to copy".Anyways bad analogies apart i would like to assure to all those who read this that i am not going to vent my thoughts here or tell them how i feel about love,politics or any of that sort.This blog is going to be as abstract as it possibly can be(i have no personal intention to detest you all from this page).This blog is still in its infancy and being the inaugural post you have the misfortune of seeing my design choices at work.Anyways i can yap on and on but more in days to come.

PS:Some of you might be wondering why i have named this post First Blood,nothing really specific,I was scratching my head for a heading while i was watching Rambo on star movies(yet another proof of my negative creativity).Peace.