Kush Kochgaway has something to say!

Move from US to India - final thoughts

2012-01-29T17:05:00.000+05:30

It’s getting close to 3 years since we moved back to India and there is an urge to share my experiences with whoever is interested in listening! I had shared my reasons for moving back to India on this blog - Bye Bye America, Namaste India! and the first impressions of this move in this blog – First update from India. I also get calls from people who are contemplating a move and want to get my inputs before they take a decision.

I have not been able to update my blog as frequently as I would want to primarily because I don’t have that much time to myself here in India as I used to have when I was in the US. It’s a busy life here with work, travel related to work, time spent with wife & kids and socializing with friends and extended family etc.

OK, coming back to the intent of this blog which was to share my experiences of settling down in India one more time after a log gap of 10 years. When an anxious NRI who is intending to move back or has recently moved back asks me about my experience, I sum it up in one line – “If you survive the first year and your reasons for moving back are still intact then you will be OK”. In rest of the blog, I will elaborate on why I say that and some “lessons” for NRIs contemplating a move.

Lesson No. 1 – It will not be a “Homecoming Fairy Tale” that you have been contemplating
I had written in March 2009, just before the move that I know that my homecoming fairy tale will not be exactly a fairy tale, but by no means had I contemplated that it will be as hard as it turned out to be. After the initial euphoria of moving back to India subsided and the reality of India kicked in, my honest confession is that there were several occasions during the first year when I thought that maybe I have made a huge mistake – it was so frustrating. Not for a single day in the 10 years I stayed outside India, the thought of settling down in a foreign land crossed my mind – I was so clear on what I wanted to do in my life, but here I was questioning my decision several times and wondering what should I do next. Whenever in doubt, I thought to myself if my reason for moving back was still intact or am I questioning that as well. My reason was to be closer to family and that was very much intact and their support was unconditional and overwhelming. That gave me the strength to solve all other issues to stay on course and today I can confidently say that the adjustment issues are behind us and we are proud of our decision to relocate to India. It was worth it.

Lesson No. 2 – Job could be the biggest adjustment that you will have to make
Most of my issues in the first year were related to my job. It will not be proper to get into the specific issues in a public forum but after a while I got convinced that if I have to be happy, job satisfaction was a big part of it, and for that I will have to part ways with the organization that I had admired and worked for a very long time. So, I chalked out a plan to make a career move and after 13 years of association with Infosys, I quit the company after exactly two years of my move to India. I carefully evaluated my options - I chose the one where my past experience would become valuable and where I thought I would enjoy going to work every morning. Before I moved back, my hypothesis was that since I was not changing my company and I was just changing location and business unit, job related adjustment will be easy. Very soon this hypothesis got busted and job became my weakest link which I had to take care of. So, my advice to a reader contemplating a similar move is to look at your job profile very carefully – you may want to change job even before you make a move and also be mentally prepared that you may have to change job after the move if things didn’t turn out to be the way you had anticipated. As far as career options are concerned, I can confidently say that there are numerous options in India and if you are patient with your search, you will find a job of your liking – of course, that will also depend on the City and Industry you are associated with, but in general because India is growing economy, options are very diverse and you will need to carefully select the right job for yourself.

Lesson No. 3 – Cost of living is not as low as you would think it is
It may be just me, but I hadn’t anticipated that cost of living in India is as high as it is – and like I said, it may be just my own ignorance. The “wasteful” expenditure habits that we get used to in the US will require to be curtailed a little bit but this will usually be not become an issue that will bother you as much. My only advice is to do a notional monthly budget calculation in consultation with a close friend or family member before you accept your relocation package or your job offer and ensure that your compensation package doesn’t become an issue after the move. It takes a few months to readjust to the fact that purchasing power of a rupee is not as high as the dollar!

Lesson No. 4 – Based on your priorities; select the right City to settle down
For a long time, my plan was to move to Hyderabad for a very simple reason that my professional connection with people within Infosys was at Hyderabad location. I had liked the city and it’s infrastructure very much during my visits to Hyderabad. I was all set by buying a property there where I would move in. But, when I started my discussions to move back, I was given the option of Mumbai or Delhi for the role I was coming for. I had always thought the Delhi will be a bad option from professional career perspective but Delhi excited me because of the fact that several of my family members are based out of Delhi and so I chose Delhi. Now, after the move, at first I took an apartment in Ghaziabad because that would be very close to my brother’s place and of course he was incredibly helpful in ensuring that we settle down properly. However, very soon staying in Ghaziabad became an issue because my office was in Gurgaon and commute was a big headache. So, after about 8 months, we made a move again and shifted to Gurgaon. It is after this move that we got some sanity back in our lives and we started to feel a bit “settled”. Travel outside Delhi also reduced significantly because of role adjustments.

We liked Gurgaon much more than Ghaziabad as this city was much closer to our lifestyle in the US. Now we think that for an NRI, Gurgaon is probably the best place to make a move for several reasons – (a) somewhere I read that 300 of the Fortune 500 companies have some kind of a presence in Gurgaon, so from career perspective there are a large number of options; (b) apartments and independent home societies are world class – since this is a new city most of the places to live are very decent, but of course that comes with a high price as well; (c) healthcare facilities are world class – some of the best hospitals of NCR are in Gurgaon – Medanta, Artemis, Fortis, Max etc., and that too within 15-20 minutes drive from most parts of Gurgaon; (d) schools are very good and relatively easier to get admission as compared to New Delhi; (e) India’s best airport – T3 of New Delhi airport is less than an hour drive from most parts of Gurgaon. At night when I land, it usually takes me 1 hr from touchdown to my home, which is in one of the interior sectors of the city; (f) it’s now well connected with Delhi Metro and Gurgaon intra-city metro construction is in full swing.

Negatives of Gurgaon are (a) cost of living and (b) road infrastructure, which was a missed opportunity as this city got built from scratch about 10 years back. Connectivity to the Expressway is not well planned and is usually clogged during peak morning and evening traffic time. Cybercity, from where many Fortune 500 companies operate is a huge campus with just one exit and sometimes it takes an hour just to get out of the campus. I personally don’t face much of the traffic problem because my office is not located there.

Before I close on this particular topic, I would like to mention that personally I would have had a major issue in settling down in Bangalore because every time I go there I get very irritated with it’s appalling infrastructure.

Lesson No. 5 – School Admission
This topic requires a whole chapter in itself and so I will write about this in my next blog!

Lesson No. 6 – Domestic Help
I don’t want to elaborate on this topic – it’s a sensitive topic for my wife!! J I will just share a joke with you which was told to us by a friend who had shifted from US just like us, but about a year later than we did.

One Maid to Another: My mam does a lot of parties and spends a lot on such parties. Guests come on very fancy cars and they are very rich. But you know what, after they all get together, they always talk ONLY about us!

Hope you get my message!

So, net net, like I said in the beginning, settling down in India will take one full year and will be very frustrating but if you are able to sustain through this ordeal, it will be worth it.

Hope my experience helps you make a decision, in case you are contemplating a move.

Rot in hell Bin Laden

2011-05-04T23:52:00.002+05:30

For me, two facebook updates from my two American nephews summed up the general emotion / reaction of the world after President Obama made the big announcement earlier this week:

First said, "Justice prevails. Rot it in hell Osama."

Second, "Rip Osama. Rot in pieces."

These two kids were about 10 years old on Sept 11, 2001. Can you imagine how many kids across the world had the events of 9/11 embedded deep in their psyche?

Few thoughts related to this week's events:

1. We have always criticized US for taking stands which have helped them meet short term goals but has created long term problems for this world. Bin Laden was a creation of such policies. Given that context, my respect for Bush is increasing by the day because he took some hard decisions which acted as catalyst to long term changes happening in the Arab world - uprising in Egypt, Libya etc are good examples. Hopefully Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan will NOT be failed states in future and thanks to Bush, who started the clean up in a BIG way.

2. Full credit to Obama for a very meticulously executed plan to eliminate Osama - hats off to him. Very well done! BUT, let's also acknowledge that it was during Bush's regime, because of the means he used (including torture) to extract information, CIA got the leads that enabled Obama administration to zero down on Osama's location in Pakistan.

3. Obama had repeatedly said during his campaign that if he received credible intel on OBL's location in Pakistan, he will go in and take him down. He was ridiculed at that time for such statements but he did EXACTLY what he said during the campaign. Well done!

4. Obama's approval ratings have jumped up significantly this week, but economic policies of Obama is a huge issue in my opinion and being in s/w industry I see first hand how he is doing dis-service to competitiveness of US corporations through his protectionist policies. Well, even Bush failed on the economy front - so that's a very serious concern for US and to some extent I understand why many Americans are concerned about his second term, which BTW I think is INEVITABLE after this weekend's development.

5. Pakistan is at a very dangerous juncture right now and that should be a very serious cause of concern for us in India. Pakistan is at the edge and could head towards a civil war kind of situation, given the kind of jokers they have in their society - dysfunctional government, miserable President, all kinds of fundamentalist groups active in the country and ISI support to such groups. India/US may have to intervene in Pakistan next with military action to first take down their nukes and then prevent anarchy - that will probably be the toughest phase of war on terror.

Hope peace and justice prevails!

Regulate Real Estate Industry in India - Part 2

2011-03-05T13:44:00.002+05:30

Watch me raise the issue and trigger a debate on this NDTV show. If you do not want to watch the entire show, go to the 9th minute of the show.

The same appeared on this prominent business daily as well - http://www.livemint.com/2011/02/27205858/Make-life-easier-for-honest-ta.html.

Regulate Real Estate Industry in India

2011-02-04T17:07:00.004+05:30

Times of India ran an article on 3rd Feb on how real estate companies are taking customers for a ride. I am sure many of the readers who have made real estate investments in India will relate to this. If you think about it and put a number to it, this could be the largest scam in India, larger than even the so called 2G scam – if you take the number of associated with it to be the true size of the scam!! I think that number is a joke, but let’s stick to real estate for today. BTW, isn’t it sad that SCAM has become part of our daily vocabulary in India.

I will not go into the issues with real estate industry in India because the TOI article pretty much captures it – although that article is for Gurgaon market, I think it will hold good for any part of the country. The only additional thing I would like to add is by sharing something I know about another very interesting industry in the US – Death care industry, and then comparing that with real estate industry in India. Death care is a huge organized industry in the US with the largest player (Service Corporation International) being a $2 bn company. We Indians will probably find it funny but most people in US make prearrangements for their funeral and also pre-pay for it. The death care companies take money for goods (coffin, burial site etc.) and services (funeral) that will get delivered sometime in future. Now compare that with real estate in India – here also the builders are collecting money in advance for goods (house) that they will deliver in future. Even in the construction linked plan, they take significantly more amount of money upfront – something like 95% of the amount when construction status is 50%.

BTW, in case you are wondering why didn’t I compare it with the real estate industry in US – I think in US builders cannot take money in advance from customers anyway (I am not sure though…) – they usually build properties and then sell it.

Now let’s see the difference from regulation perspective. In the US, death care companies are bound by regulation to keep the money collected in advance in a Trust account. The company is bound to give investment options for the money in Trust to the customer – that means, if I have made prearrangement for my funeral and have paid money in advance, I decide where it gets invested and gains from that investment are mine. Under no circumstance can a death care company take control of that money or recognize that money as revenue. In the event of death of the customer, goods are services are delivered to the family and only then can the company take money out of the Trust and settle accounts.

What do builders in India do? They take that money, delay projects by years, invest that money in future projects and pay a miniscule penalty to customers for the delay. Some even close shop or run away with the money. It’s almost like borrowing money from a bank for no interest. In fact, one way to look at it is that the customer is actually funding the builder and also paying interest to the bank on behalf of the builder because most of these investments have a loan component.

So, why aren’t politicians and babus doing anything about it? Well, if they regulate the real estate industry, where else will they park their black money and recirculate when needed!!

I think I will instigate media to run a sting operation on this scam. Prannoy Roy, Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai, India TV… whoever else has a livelihood on sting operations, hope you are listening!

Vote for Nitish Kumar

2010-10-26T22:16:00.003+05:30

When Nitish Kumar won the election defeating Lalu in 2005, on that particular day, we were at Grand Canyon along with Mom and Dad during their first US visit. It meant a lot for all of us as it meant great hope for Bihar to get out of the Jungle Raj and the mis management of the state for several decades - yes, I say several decades because even the Congress government in the state before Lalu's 15 years of Jungle Raj was no good - Lalu just took it to levels we could have never imagined! Coming back to that particular day in 2005 - we were all very happy, but Mummy was so happy that she decided to celebrate by wearing her best Banarasi Sari for the Grand Canyon tour! Later that morning, we took a helicopter ride to get a view of the magestic and beautiful Grand Canyon!

5 years after that, very proud that the man on which we had put all our hopes has not let us down. Now that the state is going through another election, I hope we Biharis will help ourselves by appropriately rewarding the man who didn't let us down.

Come on Bihar, let us make the best use of the most fundamental right that we have, let's give Nitish one more chance because 2nd Term to Banta Hai Boss.

CWG Mess

2010-09-21T21:43:00.002+05:30

Someone save India from national embarrassment! Watching the CWG officials on TV today trying to justify the mess - you know what, that was so repulsive that I want to hand them over to Taliban and encourage Taliban to go medieval on their asses!

My God, come on guys!!! It's really shameful! What could have been India's show to the world has turned out to be exactly opposite.

BTW, why the hell is India part of Commonwealth anyways! Why to we want to keep the british legacy alive? If anyone can enlighten me on that, I will appreciate....

My most amazing movie experience

2009-10-19T17:35:00.000+05:30

It was sometime in the year 2000 or 2001 that I was visiting my good friend Sumit Singhal in Omaha, Nebraska. I used to live in Kansas City, Kansas at that time and since Omaha was just 3 hrs drive, we were able to meet each other every now and then. Sumit and I share one passion for sure - Hindi Movies and so in one of my visits to Omaha, we were watching the all time classic - Sholay - on DVD. Like most Sholay fans, I had watched the movie umpteen number of times and this was the umpteenth + 1 and so I probably remembered each and every frame of the movie by this time.

Remember the last sequence where Viru is beating the crap out of Gabbar and when he is about to dabao his tetua with a danda - Thakur plays spoilsport with "Viru, Gabbar ko mere hawale kar do..." and uses Jai's waada to finally persuade Viru to handover Gabbar to him...

Watch this sequence - if you are a true Sholay fan, you will know what I am talking about when I say this is the most amazing movie experience I have ever had!

Just in case you haven't realized - Gabbar dies instead of the cop turning up to play spoilsport one more time!! This was the original Sholay climax but was later changed when censor board objected to it - can you believe those times in the 1970s. The censor board objected to a scene where a hard core criminal like Gabbar was crushed the way he should be crushed! Well, Indian censor board doesn’t control the US market and so we were able to watch this version by accident.

I specially like the part of the sequence where Thakur breaks down in Viru's arms - showing the immense pain burried in his heart - getting some sort of closure with Gabbar's death.

This was the most amazing movie experience that I have ever had – I was just short of pinching myself to figure out if what I just saw was for real. Later doing research on internet, I figured out this is the way Sholay’s climax was supposed to be and all this while we were watching “an alternate ending”!

After a long time.....

2009-09-21T17:13:00.003+05:30

..... coming back to my blog. Believe me, every few days I get the urge to write something on my blog but time has become an extremely precious thing for me after coming back to India. Job demands significant travel and time and so couldn't write that often.

Today is a happy day for my family with a new addition to the family - a baby boy - my fourth nephew! Welcome my little one - cannot wait to see you. May God bless you with a long, healthy and a very fulfilling life.

For those of you wondering where I had disappeared - was very busy trying to balance between "settling down" and "travel related to work". A full 6 months after coming to India, life now feels like a bit settled down.

It was a nice long weekend in most parts of India and guess what - next weekend is also a long weekend and so is the weekend after next! A colleague told me that 8 of the 10 declared holidays in my company this calendar year was either on a Friday or on a Monday!! WOW! Much needed break from a very hectic schedule!

More later, will try to be a bit more regular - assuming atleast one person cares to read what I write here!! :-)

Airlines & Airports of India

2009-06-07T00:15:00.002+05:30

After joining work in India, I have been traveling a lot and wanted to share some experiences with respect to Airlines and Airports. To start with, let's talk about of the Maharaja - Air India!! Last weekend I was in Pune attending a conference and was returning back to Delhi on Sunday, May 31 on Air India flight IC850. The flight was delayed by several hours, but I didn't mind that much because it gave me time to catch up on my reading and I finished almost 100 pages of Post American World by Fareed Zakaria, waiting for the flight at a restaurant within Pune Airport. Then finally boarded the flight at around 9:30pm and it was terribly hot inside the cabin - it usually is when you board an Air India domestic flight. Maybe they try to save energy, damn the passengers - anyway, that was also ok and I can live with that.

The aircraft itself gave a look as if it was atleast 30 years old, if not more, with real poor maintenance record - dirty seats, white tape patches on the floor carpet, worn out tray tables, white interiors giving a dirty yellowish look.... overall raised my discomfort with the flight! Then the flight took off and I got busy with my book again. For brief moments the flight was turbulent - I have realized that in India flights are more turbulent than what I have been used to in the US - so, even this didn't bother me a lot. Maybe there is a good reason for this pattern I see - or let's say, I hope so. The close to two hour flight was coming to it's end and we were about to land at Delhi airport.

Then came the most horrifying experience - just when the flight was about to touch the runway, there was some more erratic vibrations in the aircraft, which was pretty scary, and then the pilot aborted landing (just a few feet above the tarmac) and took off again! The sound of engine of that old aircraft was almost as if it was fighting hard to follow the instructions of it's commander. Then we ran into some more rough weather (I had not realized that we were trying to manouver around a thunderstorm during this landing attempt - maybe I was too engrossed in my book) and we could see the lightning and clouds outside the window. Putting the book aside, with all kinds of weird thoughts in my mind, I started praying! After a good 15-20 mins, the pilot announced that they had to abort landing because of rough weather and you know what - they are going to make another attempt to land at Delhi airport! Well, this time around, after 45 mins of the first aborted attempt and well past midnight, he did manage to land safely! While I am extremely thankful to the pilot for saving us from a potential disaster, I also wonder if Air India, Delhi Airport ATC and the Pilot commanding the aircraft made a wrong judgment call by trying to land under such weather conditions. The aircraft itself gave a worn out look and sound, for sure. Somehow, I didn't see this incident making news the next day or the day after, but there was another news about another Air India flight in Mumbai - AI and Jet planes in near collision at Mumbai airport. I was tempted to call up CNN IBN and report this incident at Delhi airport, but I didn't find time - I should have.

When I returned to India from the US in early April, I flew on the direct Air India flight from JFK to Delhi and on that flight, my experience was absolutely marvelous. Brand new plane, great interiors and ambience, excellent cabin crew, TV monitors on every seat with great entertainment options, landed before time etc.... But what's wrong with the domestic sector? If you are wondering why I am getting cynical based on one experience, consider this - an Air India agent at Delhi airport asked me for bribe to allow my excess baggage on the plane! This was the very first week I landed in India and was traveling along with my family from Delhi to Patna. The modus operandi was this - there was a guy at the baggage x-ray screening area, who was more than helpful to me, took care of my luggage and helped me take all of that luggage to the checkin counter after x-ray screening. Grateful to him, as I really needed help with my baggage, I tipped him generously for his help. Then the agent, who was an old man probably close to his retirement, told me that I had excess baggage and will have to pay for that. I requested him to allow it without additional payment as I had international connection (Air India used to allow this in past). The guy took his own sweet time as if he is trying to figure out a way but later I realized he was mustering courage to ask me for a bribe!! In a feable sound, he said "500 rupya us ladka ko de dijiye jo aapka samaan laya tha"! Amazed at what I just heard, I shouted back at him pretty loudly - "Kya"! I wanted him to say that again to me and make sure that I didn't misinterpret him. He was asking for Rs 500 as bribe for allowing my excess baggage which would cost me around Rs 600 - unbelieveable!!! Anyways, in a loud voice again, I asked him to charge me whatever needs to be charged and give me a receipt for it! I didn't do anything more than that because the old man looked embarassed and somehow I didn't want to create more problems for him.

There was one more 'not so pleasant' experience on that same flight, which I will reserve for now.... I think I have made my point. In one of my past blogs, I had mentioned that I will not write about the 'not so good' things about India and I stand by that. I am writing this experience because I am worried that if Air India operates the way I have seen it operate, then it could lead to loss of lives.

I will avoid flying Air India for sure. While we are on this topic, I hope that Manmohan Singh government's disinvestment plans include Air India on priority because clearly all the issues related to Government trying to run a business, still shows up with Air India. Same comment on airports - what an awesome job done by private companies on Bangalore and Hyderabad airport!! Well done guys, well done! Hyderabad has been the best so far - can compete with any world class airport anywhere in the world. Next is Bangalore - when I first landed in Bangalore, I had not seen Hyderabad airport until then and was very impressed with the airport and even the road that connected the airport to the city. It didn't look like India. While Hyderabad and Bangalore are green field efforts, Delhi's existing IGI airport is undergoing a major overhaul and even they are doing a pretty decent job. Very encouraging! So, this is how private sector has shown it's mettle.

Then comes the Airport Authority of India's effort to renovate Pune's airport - while the effort is commendable and they seem to have tried their best - but the end product is no where close to Bangalore, Delhi or Hyderabad. Another metro - Chennai - looks like they are not even making an effort. Now that the communists are off Manmohan's back, I really hope that there will be more action around disinvestment and infrastructure, followed by some amazing results.

Coming back to Airlines - pleasantly surprised by IndiGo Airline. Somehow they manage to be on time, all the time! Very professional cabin crew, brand new planes, good plan for corporate travelers - we get special treatment with a free (and pretty decent) meal, while others have to pay. Nice! Kingfisher - have taken flights on Kingfisher Red (erstwhile Deccan) so far, and the service continues to be good, although the aircrafts of Kingfisher Red are not as modern as that of Kingfisher. "Fly the good times" continues to impress. Jet - again no major change since last time - continues to impress. The same issue as Kingfisher Red with Jetlite (erswhile Sahara). Somehow the airlines have not been able to do a good job of integration after Merger/Acquisition.

The Maharaja - Air India (which merged with Indian Airlines) - has IC Flight Codes as well as AI Flight Codes. The website clearly has not been integrated well. They still ask the user to go to different areas for AI and IC flights.
Jet and Jetlite - they still have separate checkin counters and flight codes and probably maitaining different brand names because of loose integration
Kishfisher and Kingfisher Red - similar issues but least evident.

Wonder how much of synergies (and so savings) have they been able to realize as a result of the mergers / acqusitions.

Overall, significant improvement in aviation sector since my last experience in India 3 years back. Safety remains a concern for me because most airlines are not making money and I suspect that they are probably cutting corners somewhere. I wish I am wrong and it wouldn't take a disaster before regulators have a hard look at this.

And Air India - I hope I am not forced to fly on your flights given your level of connectivity and the number of flights you opetate. I know I cannot avoid you completely, but I will do my best to minimize the risk of flying the Maharaja!!

18 years - how did they go by so fast!

2009-05-22T11:26:00.000+05:30

When an event is so fresh in your mind and you suddenly realize that it has been 18 years since then, it starts to sink in that you are getting old!

Large number of advertisements in today's newspaper paying homage to Rajiv Gandhi, reminded me that today is 18th anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi's assasination; and that day 18 years back is still so fresh in my mind. Early in the morning I was getting ready to go for my Physics tution lesson and then news spread that Rajiv Gandhi was killed the night before. Maybe the event is still so fresh in my mind because something unique happened that day. On a sunny summer morning in Patna, suddenly there were dark clouds in the sky, lightning, heavy rains and almost a thunderstorm - as if the heavenly bodies were also in a state of shock, disbelief, anger and were mourning this senseless violence and as if the entire universe was crying. This storm on that sunny summer morning of May 22nd, 1991 lasted for only a few minutes; about at the same time, when the news broke in my town of the tragic event of previous night; and then it was bright and sunny again.

18 years later, what a week for Rajiv Gandhi's family!! What a week! Sonia, Rahul and to some extent Priyanka have orchestrated a major comeback for the Congress Party and that too on merits and not through dirty politics.

Not so long ago, this country (including me) had written off Congress Party and had embraced BJP as a viable alternative. Hats off to Sonia Gandhi for providing great leadership to this party and for bringing it back to it's old glory. Hats off to her for standing behind a decent and capable man like Manmohan Singh, and for giving up the most powerful post of India. It's hard to believe that in this era of coalition politics, Manmohan Singh is the only PM after Jawaharlal Nehru who will become a PM again, immediately after a 5 year term. In one of my previous blogs, I had said that people like Manmohan Singh can become the PM of India only by accident and you know what, I was wrong. Sonia Gandhi and Congress Party proved me and many other skeptics out there wrong by boldly projecting Manmohan Singh as the PM much before the elections, and then winning the elections by a handsome margin.

Hats off to Sonia Gandhi for the way she has ensured that Rahul Gandhi is not thrust upon the Party just because he is Rajiv Gandhi's son. She ensured that he works at grassroot level and won respect of citizens of India as well as his colleagues in the Party. Few years back, Rahul appeared as a underconfident young guy who was nowhere close to his father's personality and charisma. He appeared as if he is struggling to make his presence felt. From there he has come a long way under the able guidance of his mother. Amazed to see that this week Indian media compared him to his father and declared that he is probably a notch better than his father! Today, Rajiv Gandhi must be so proud of his family - a family which was heartbroken 18 years back and decided to stay away from politics forever after that sad loss. What a gradual come back - full credit to Rajiv's wife, Sonia Gandhi.

This very week, Prabhakaran was killed and finally the mastermind of Rajiv Gandhi's assasination was brought to justice. Not that they were wishing for this event to happen, but hopefully this would bring some sense of closure to the family.

I wish them well and hope they continue on the right path and achieve new heights through hard work, merit and capability and not because they come from a royal family. This week is yours and hope that you all will have much better times ahead.

Indian democracy seems to be working

2009-05-16T12:42:00.000+05:30

Oh, what a decisive verdict for UPA!!! I think, this time the elections results have been significantly impacted by the middle class and educated population of India who made it a point to vote in large numbers. I don't have data to back it up, but I have seen the ink mark on fingures of majority of the people I met during the election season. Even my mother made it a point to make her vote count this time and went out of the way to ensure that her name is first added to the voters list and then making efforts to find out which booth had her name. Hats off to her and all the middle class educated people who ensured that their voice is heard.

Coming to the election results I think these are the primary reasons for UPA victory:

1. Manmohan Singh - he has immense respect of the middle class population and he is one of us! We want someone like him to lead this country. He is the one who has been the architect of modern India and it is because of him that today people like us have such immense opportunities in this country. There is a notion that he is ceremonial PM and shots are taken by Sonia Gandhi. Well, I do not know the insider story but from whatever I have seen and observed so far, I find that very hard to believe. Such arrangements work for people who have the lust of power and I don't think Manmohan Singh is one of them. He has a mind of his own and from what I hear he is always ready to resign if he hits a wall - just like he did during the Nuclear Deal crisis. He reminds of Lal Bahadur Shashtri's persona.

2. BJP and L K Advani made a huge mistake by targeting Manmohan Singh and making personal attacks on him. Such attacks could easily be seen as an attack on the common man because that is what Manmohan Singh is. And that too, such attacks coming from a person like L K Advani!! What moral right do you have Mr. Advani? Was Manmohan Singh instrumental in the death of a single person? Just because you have been instrumental in getting thousands of people killed doesn't make you a powerful and decisive leader!! Mr. Advani, hope this blow is the final one for you and we will not have to see more of you!

3. BJP made a huge mistake by opposing the Nuclear Deal. That was extremely repulsive. Here was a man and government who had worked so hard to get the deal that had the potential to transform an entire nation of more than a billion people and Mr. Advani and your band - your priority was to somehow get into power and not to ensure that lives of a billion+ Indians improve. That was very repulsive and you probably lost a good number of middle class educated people's vote for that reason.

There may be many more reasons, but I think these three were the most important ones! Whatever it may be, today is a historical day for India because finally our freedom and democracy seems to be working!! Finally, people like me have decided to make a difference.

Manmohan Singh Ji, CONGRATULATIONS and hope this time nuisance factor of small parties reduce for you and you get to work more independently for the common man of this great nation!

Let us all enjoy this day!! I AM HAPPY!

First update from India

2009-05-12T22:18:00.001+05:30

Looking at the steady page hit on the blog after my last post, I would conveniently like to assume that a handful of followers of my blog are probably waiting for my next post on my experiences after moving back to India. Well, whoever asks me about it, I summarize by saying 'So far, so good'!

At the outset I want to make it clear that I have consciously chosen to write about only the good experiences of India. Actually for that matter, I have consciously decided to enjoy the good things of India and not get bogged down by the problems of India. If I get hung up about the 'not so good' aspects of India, it will defeat the whole purpose of moving back home.

OK, so here is the first experience which I would like to share with NRI's because this is fresh in my mind as this is today's experience. Do you all remember relishing gunna (sugarcane) juice from the roadside thela waala? I am sure you miss that abroad and when you come to India, you can no more dare to drink that roadside thela waala gunna ka juice. I have good news for you. Now the good old gunna ka juice has been corporatized and we have a joint called Cane-o-la where you can enjoy a fresh glass of sugarcane juice in different flavours (see I have made a quick transition to british english). I enjoyed the chaat masala flavour today!!

This is just an observation - in India, Honda and Toyota have decided to not compete with each other! Honda is happy minting money on Honda City, Toyota has not yet bothered to launch a car in this segment. Toyota is happy minting money on Toyota Innova and Honda has not yet bothered to launch a minivan to compete in this segment. They do compete on Civic/Corolla segment where volumes are not that high in India.

In the telecom sector, it seems there is an all out war - the sector is on steroids! My hometown, Patna, is painted red, blue and yellow with cellphone ads of Airtel, Vodafone, Aircel, Idea and what not. Everyone in the world wants to do cellphone business in India and are spending insane amount of money on marketing to get the eye balls of customers.

I came right in the middle of elections in India and am pleased to see that election campaigning happens in much more sane way now! No loudspeakers at all - this used to be such a headache for the citizens in the good old days. The political parties are now doing more sophisticated campaign using television ads, vinyl hoardings etc. Go Congress Go!! Hope to see Manmohan Singh as our Prime Minister again. With less than a week to go, Congress and BJP are at their best wooing the chotu motu parties! And what the hell is going on with Amar Singh, Jaya Prada, Azam Khan and Mulayam Singh - it's a hilarious drama! :-)

Now that I can almost call myself a Dilli waasi (along with Bihari and Texan) I have new appreciation of the beauty of this great city. It's amazingly beautiful. There is so much greenery in the city, it's unbelievable how we managed to pollute the city. I started driving and realized that the damn british did an excellent job in planning the city - the roundabouts still help in keeping the traffic moving. The moment you get to the outskirts where there are no roundabouts, you will start seeing traffic jams. Architecture of old goverment buildings - absolutely marvelous. Sometimes when I drive from Ghaziabad to Airport through India Gate, I get the pleasure of experiencing all this. Then there are these huge mansions on Akbar Road, Aurengzeb Road, Shah Jahan Road etc where the 'Who's Who' of Indian Government live. Suddenly you will see a house with the name plate of a very powerful and prominent person of India. No wonder, they do anything to become an MP - who wouldn't if you get to stay on such mansions at the heart of such a beautiful city! The road names will take you back in history of India! There is significant amount of investment happening on improving infrastructure of the city. The city often reminds me of this song from Delhi - 6: Ye Dilli Hai Mera Yaar!

Coming to driving - I surprised myself when I took out the car for the first time in Patna in the first week of landing here. I drove like a champ as if I have always been driving in India! Then when I came to Delhi, I first hired a driver because I wouldn't know my way around. Luckily found a good young guy by the name of Kuldeep. He not only knew inside out of the city but turned out to be a good teacher as well. For the first week, I let him drive and I tried to observe the roads and directions. The second week, I asked him to sit while I drove, and help me with directions. He happily helped me understand my way although it would have meant that he may lose his job and you know what, by the end of second week, I could pretty much drive independently in Delhi! My bhaiya is still surprised about this! Kuldeep was on trial with me and I had not given him a longer term visibility for a job, so he was smart enough to get another job with more visibility. For now, I want to enjoy driving my new car but as soon as it becomes a burden, I hope to hire a driver for myself and enjoy the back seat of my new car. Back seat reminds me - cars in India now comes with a remote for the music system. At first, I found it amusing but I was immediately reminded by my brother that this is not America where you have to drive your car. If you can afford to buy a good car, most probably you will hire a driver as well and when you sit on the back seat, you will need a remote to listen to what you want to listen.

Was very delighted to see the improved conditions of my home state Bihar. After 15 years of Lalu's jungle raaj, Bihar was not at all a safe place to live or to do business. In the last 3-4 years when Nitish Kumar has been the Chief Minister, he has definitely improved the law & order situation of Bihar. I could again see people on the road even at midnight. A good guage of law & order for alcoholics like us is to see the daaru stock at Roshan Brothers on display. In the 'bad old days', the display would be empty because the goons would come in and take away bottles for free. Few years back the owner used to lament on his conditions when we visited him. This time when I visited Roshan Brothers, I was pleased to see the display full with all kinds of alcohol bottles. I smiled at the owner and made a comment that finally things seem to back on track for him - he smiled back in acknowledgment!

By chance, I met one of my school friends while I was at Roshan Brothers buying daaru for a party that Mom & Dad had thrown to welcome their kids! He is probably the only one who never left Patna and doing well for himself in Patna himself. Was very happy to reconnect with him and get an update on all my childhood friends with whom I had lost contact. Hope to get connected with some of them soon.

And Patnaites, if you had given up on Bankipore Club, I urge you to visit during your next trip to Patna. You will be pleasantly surprised - brand new swimming pool, brand new gym, brand new restaurant with LIVE GHAZAL!

Staying with my brother, Sameer Bhaiya for now. It has been so many years since we stayed together and so enjoying every bit of it. Getting to know my nephews (who by the way, have grown so fast in the last 3 years) and loving the fact that finally, I am part of their lives and they are part of my life. Also met my twin brother's 2.5 yrs old son for the first time. The kids are having a blast with their grandparents - this is what I came back for and so am very happy about that. It's amazing how kids adapt to any condition.

On the work front, it's a new world and new set of challenges and I am liking it so far. But of course, Uday if you are reading this, I know just liking the job will not help, will have to quickly deliver results and so intend to work very hard towards that!

That's it for now. Again summarizing 'So Far, So Good' and also reminding everyone that I have consciously chosen to enjoy the good things of India and not get bogged down by problems!

But before I close, one more thing I am enjoying - listening to the FM channels of India while driving - it's fun!

Bye Bye America, Namaste India!

2009-03-16T10:13:00.001+05:30

How did a decade fly by so fast! 5th March 1999 - the day I landed in the US for the first time and have been here since then. Finally doing something that I always wanted to do - moving back home for good on 3rd April 2009.

The great dilemma of every potential immigrant to the US - "To Stay or Not to Stay" - somehow has never been a dilemma for me. People find that weird (and may be it is weird), but not for a single day in these past 10 years did I get tempted to settle down in this great country. Yes, the US is a GREAT country but it is not HOME for me and I always wanted to get back home - finally making that happen and very excited about it.

I know my 'fairy tale' of homecoming will not be quite that... and it will not be easy to settle down in India after a decade of US lifestyle and comfort, but I know that once we are settled down in India again, it will be worth it. I have been lucky to find an interesting job within Infosys itself. Will be based out of Delhi and that should make it a bit easier as my brother and many from extended family and friends are in Delhi. It's proximity to my hometown (Patna) and the possibility of meeting Mom and Dad more frequently is also very motivating. I will admit that the hardest part of this is that I am moving away from my sister's family settled here in the US - that is indeed very difficult. Will also dearly miss my first cousins who are here in the US.

Many people probably think that I am nuts for doing such a thing - get the typical questions - "Why?"; "Is there a problem with Green Card processing?"; "Is there a problem with the job / boss?"; "Is your project over?"; "Have you thought about your kids future?"; "Is your wife ok with this?"..... what doesn't get asked but is implicit is "What's wrong with you, what's going on up there?"!! :-)

Trust me everyone - it's very simple - I just want to get back HOME and it was always planned to be this way! And I have nothing against the US or people who decide to stay back here. This country is indeed GREAT; and there is so much that I have learnt about life from this country in the last 10 years that if I start writing about it, I would not know where to stop. I hope to take all that back home and contribute in whatever way I can to my own country.

So, INDIA, here I come with a new set of dreams; and America - THANK YOU for fulfilling one set of my dreams!! Thanks to all my American friends for being so nice to me and my family - your hospitality will always be cherished by us. Thanks a lot to all my colleagues who also became very close friends and almost family to us - will miss you folks.

"I chose love over hate and here I am..."

2009-02-24T10:32:00.000+05:30

WOW! What a day at the Oscars for India! A R Rahman, of course deserves every bit of the recognition that he is finally getting now on an international forum (in Indian subcontinent, he is anyway a GOD!). I think he had a message for his universal fan base in the Indian subcontinent when he said that he had a choice and he chose love over hate which brought him to that stage! What a wonderful message delivered with so much grace and subtlety.

Rahman, all of us want to see you achieve more and more and make us proud over and over again! Hope to see you win the Grammy in future!!

You Rock, PERIOD! What else can anyone say - anything said or written about you will always be an understatement and there are no words to describe your genius!

Congratulations Rahman, Gulzar and Resul! Resul - your acceptance speech was very gracious!

Here's to many more years of Rahman's music.... One of HIS favourites!

World's Largest Democracy v/s World's Smartest Democracy

2009-02-05T12:00:00.000+05:30

Over the last few years India and the US have emerged as strong allies. Usually a reference to World's Oldest Democracy (US) and World's Largest Democracy (India) is made to justify why India and the US should have always been natural allies.

Having watched US elections and politics so closely for the past few years I have been thinking that a better way to compare Indian democracy and that of the US is World's Largest Democracy v/s World's Smartest Democracy. Here's some of my reasons behind this thought -

I like the fact that US citizens directly get to choose the head of government and head of state (same person) as against the Indian system where the citizens get to elect only the MPs who in turn elect the Head of Government (PM) and Head of State (President). I like the Indian system where we have two different people as Head of State and Government but would want to have a direct say in electing the Prime Minister.

In the US, anyone who is a citizen by birth, can decide to run for President and I like that. In India, you are at mercy of some powerful politicians to get a ticket even for an MP seat - forget the PM's post! You can become a PM only by luck or when there is a technical complication like the one we had with Sonia Gandhi, or when there is no one party as a winner and you have to agree on a consensus candidate like Deve Gowda or I K Gujral or Chandrashekhar etc. I consider P.V.Narsimha Rao as the best Prime Minister of India and even he got a chance to become the PM only because Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated. He was not a powerful politician and did not get enough credit for his contribution in shaping modern India. In most situations, the most powerful politician of the winning party walks away with the PM post - that explains 38 years of Nehru-Gandhi family rule. If we had the US kind Presidential system, successful business leaders like Ratan Tata, Dhirubhai Ambani, Narayana Murthy, Azim Premji and Nandan Nilekani, who are (or were) probably itching to play a bigger role in shaping the future of our nation, had a real chance to become head of government - wouldn't that be amazing!

In the US system, even to become a nominee of the party itself, you have to go through a gruelling and very public Primary season. The Presidential candidates have to go through a gruelling 2 year process and there is a very decent chance of only real qualified candidates emerge victorious - I know, I know - you must be thinking how W emerged victorious and that too twice! Well, even the US system is not perfect and no system will ever be. My point is that it's a better system.

In the Indian system, the only qualification to become a minister and head an important government function is that you should be an MP and many other factors like coalition government, seniority of politicians etc become important. Forget the most important question - does he/she has the qualification to head this ministry? What the hell, who cares about that, people become ministers to earn as much as they can for themselves and many generations of their families, and not to make a difference for that ministry! So, why should qualification matter!

Compare that to the US system - buck stops with the President that citizens have directly elected. Then it's the Presidents prerogative to nominate Secrataries to head government functions. There is no requirement of the Secrataries to be elected members of the legislature but there are checks and balances which allows Legislative Committees to grill the nominees in confirmation hearings before the President's nominees are confirmed. The entire process ensures that the nominated person is well qualified for the job. The system works pretty well.

The point I am trying to make is that I like the clean separation of Executive and Legislative branches of Government in the US. It's pretty neat and works well. In India, we have significant overlaps in Executive and Legislative parts of Government.

I also like the fact that every State of the US has 2 Senate seats which ensures that interests of the smaller states are also protected. If we had such a system in our Rajya Sabha and if the upper house had more powers, states in North East like Assam, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh would have been as important as UP, Bihar, AP etc.

I also like the system where a particular US President can hold the office for a maximum of 8 years - even if he has been the best President till date. That reduces the political considerations in governance and helps in right decision making. If the President wants to drive a reform, he can easily do that without political considerations because his political career comes to an end after 8 year term and the political parties cannot assert much pressure on the President.

Isn't it great that elected members of the Congress in US don't have to take orders from powerful members of the party when they vote on a bill! Indian system forces all members of a party to vote the same way! This is again related to the same problem that power in Indian political system is with a very small group of politicians which results in less checks and balances in the system. Meritocracy goes out of the window in such systems.

Next is the level of local governance in the US which I like. Mayor of a city is all in all as far as the city is concerned. In India also we have Mayors, but what the hell do they do? Nandan wrote a nice piece about this on his blog. In India, theoritically our local governance goes all the way down to Panchayat but the whole system is rotten. I am not too familiar with the structure of local governance system of the US at city or county level but as a resident/citizen, I can see that it works pretty well.

Final point I would like to make about local governance is the role that our IAS officers play doesn't make sense at all. I just do not understand why we need this layer in Government. One of my cousins is of the opinion that IAS should be abolished in India and only State level Adminstrative Service should be retained and I think it makes sense. How can a IAS officer who is originally from Tamil Nadu understand the issues of Bihar and vice versa. Many IAS officers dont want to serve their home state where they can make a real difference. Also most of IAS officers are not even tied to a particular function in their careers - they keep moving from one ministry / department to another. So, there is no Horizontal or Vertical stickiness and I fail to understand how they are able to add value to every department or region. Suhel Seth has pretty strong words for this system in India in his blog at IBNLive.com.

I am sure there are many more reasons to prove my point that US is a smarter democracy but I have written some of the top reasons that come to my mind. It's amazing that US Democratic System and Constitution is more than two centuries old and how people at that time had the vision to create a system that has worked so well for so long and that too with minimal changes! There is a reason that this country is such a great country!

As an extremely proud Indian, I am very proud of the fact that India is a democracy and that too the largest one, and it is working democracy showing results - I just think that our democracy could have been smarter and citizens of India could have had more power to bring about a real change in Indian politics. This was most evident in the helplessness of our citizens after 26/11. We want to make a difference but our democratic setup gives us very limited flexibility. The political parties and politicians leading those parties have way too much power in the system.

Would love a debate on this - please do write your views on this topic. I know it can be a very intersting discussion!!

I could have made a fortune if I was a bit smarter!

2009-02-04T10:13:00.000+05:30

You know guys, while I was whining on this blog on Jan 7, smarter people in this world were arranging for money to buy Satyam shares at less than Rs 10 on Jan 9. People who bought the shares at it's lowest price (Rs 6.30) are close to getting a 10 times return in a month, if they sell the stock when it gets to Rs 63! Check this out:

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/hp?s=SATYAMCOM.NS&a=00&b=07&c=2009&d=01&e=5&f=2009&g=d

Why was I not thinking about making money in that situation! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Pakistan!

2009-01-23T23:54:00.000+05:30

Looks like Obama is on the job as promised during campaign. Today is the 3rd full day in office and there is already news of missile strikes to take out some specific targets. Check this out:

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/01/23/pakistan.missile/index.html

On a lighter note - check this out. :-)

Bihari Boli Ki Jai Ho

2009-01-19T05:56:00.001+05:30

I have not written this - got it as one of those interesting email fwds! Don't know who has written this, but whoever has, teengo cheers to that man!

Bamakiye mat, say teengo cheers to hamra boli ! LE BALAIYA, ee ka hua ? Kahe albalaye huye hain ? Etna narbhasane se kuchchho nahin hoga ...

The inveterate linguist may scream at such an apparent contamination of Hindi language but the average Bihari simply loves to throw all narrow parameters of grammar to the winds. For them, the funnier they are, the better their adaptability is into their inimitable lingua franca.

Over the years, Biharis have invented a language, which has an unmistakable stamp of their own. In recent times, its popularity has travelled far and wide beyond the borders of the State and many screen heroes, including Amitabh Bachchan, have mouthed Bihari cliches with characteristic élan - a far cry from the days when it was thought to be an infra dig of sorts for anybody other than country bumpkins and unscrupulous politicians to perpetrate such "verbal atrocities".

All that, however, is passe now.

Bihari Boli is sweeter than honey now not only in Bollywood but also on the campuses of prestigious universities and IITs across the country.

Words like harbaraye, garbaraye, bargalaye, thartharaye and dhanmanaye which would have sounded Greek to outsiders earlier are being used with gay abandon by the hep youngsters there.

Sobriquets laced with double entendres like garda, bawaal and dhuan denoting the varying degree of a girl's beauty and sex appeal can be heard not only in Patna University colleges but also faraway Ferguson College in Pune.

Moreover, a-go, dugo, teengo and chaartho type of numerology which was a matter of disdain not long ago is being accepted even by the stiff upper-lips without any qualms.

So, notes sarka do, batti buta do, Principal ko harka do, burbak kahin ka, hum to biga gaye and Hum to huan thebe kiye the are some of the expressions which have conveniently made their way into the otherwise prim-and-propah St Stephens, New Delhi.

Similarly, expressions like dhakiyaye, mukiyaye, and latiyaye are the current rage. Hiyan, huan, kahe, enne and onne are some typical words, which are spoken rather nonchalantly by so-called educated lot in the State. One, therefore, does not get surprised if one hears tanikke for little, nimman for good, anhar for darkness and ejot for lights. For them, colloquial language need not be tied to any narrow rules. Eee topicwa par maatha khapane se kuchchho nahi hoga!

Among many characteristics of this language are its terms of endearment. Seldom does one hear people on the streets calling each other by their real names. Raju automatically becomes Rajua, Pappu turns into Pappua, Manish to Maniswa, Rajesh into Rajeswa and Shatrughan at best Satrohna.

Biharis have also coined new terms for human anatomy which would baffle an FRCP - gor means legs, moori is head, ongree is finger, thor denotes lips and kapar is forehead.

This language also has more onomatopoeic words than probably any other.Words like tapak se, gapak se, and japak se can be understood by listening to their phonetical sounds. No longer is Bihari language associated with a few howlers like eskool (school), teesan (station) and singal (signal) only.

There are certain words which carry the precise meaning but which cannot be properly substituted by any word in other languages. Machchar bhambhor liya is one such. Bhambhorna is a super word, which means the collective assault of mosquitoes to bhambhor you.

There is another all purpose word which can mean anything - ethi! It is a saviour for those whose vocabulary fails at the crucial momment during conversation. It helps the person who stammers also - wherein he says ethi and cuts short his dialogue. The beauty of it all is that whilst the speaker for want of the precise word says Ethi the listner promptly understands what the speaker means and says theek ba.

The time has certainly come to raise ekadhgo (one or two) toast to the longevity of the Bihari language.

Teengo cheers to that!

Would love to have your COMMENTWA!!!!!

Free Market

2009-01-17T22:40:00.000+05:30

A friend forwarded this interesting comic piece - enjoy!! Click on the image to enlarge.

Slumdog Millionaire - Jhakaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaas

2009-01-14T10:45:00.000+05:30

This past weekend watching the Golden Globe, I was jumping on my seat when Slumdog Millionaire won 4 top awards for Music, Screenplay, Direction and Best Movie. What a treat for a billion+ Indians across the world!

I had watched two concerts of A R Rahman (first in 2003 and second in 2007) in Houston and you know what, now I have the bragging rights to say that I have watched two wonderful shows of Golden Globe Winner, A R Rahman!!! Not only that, I can also brag that I have seen Golden Globe Winner, A R Rahman's Musical, Bombay Dreams! I am so happy for him - he deserves every bit of it. I hope he wins the Oscar also - I will be dancing on the streets, if he does that! Go Rahman, Go!!

The first show that I watched in Houston had his full troupe of singers with him - Sonu Nigam, Hariharan, Udit Narayan, Sukhwinder Singh and a few others as well. In that show, Rahman himself sang only one song in the end - Dil Se Re. In the second show, he sang a lot more songs because the number of singers in the troupe were less. Both the shows were absolutely fabulous - 3 hours of non-stop Rahman music and a very meticulously arranged show - nothing can match that! For the second show, I had bought one of those expensive tickets which allowed you to walk all the way up to the stage! The guy was so apologetic to have started the show about 30 mins late that he apologized for that several times during the show..... such a humble guy! Loved his acceptance speech after winning the Globe when he said that this is for a billion Indians! Go Rahman Go!!

Once I saw an interview of Rahman and the interviewer asked him to comment on why in most A R Rahman movies, the best songs are the ones sung by Rahman himself. Well, I don't remember how he responded to that and he probably didn't have a good answer to that question.... but that's not the point and is not important - that interviewer did make me realize that she was absolutely correct. Most of A R Rahman's best compositions are also sung by him - be it Dil Se Re in Dil Se or Ye Jo Des Hai Tera in Swades or Khwaja mere Khwaja in Jodha Akbar or Jaage Hain in Guru or....

I was hoping to hear a 'Jhakaaaaaaaaas' from Anil Kapoor while he was on stage, but that didn't happen - so here it is for Slumdog Millionaire - JHAKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS!!!!

Hoping for a repeat performance at the Oscars! Good Luck guys!

Taare Zameen Par didn't make it to the final five in foreign movies category at the Oscars - sad! It truely deserved to be out there. Marketing and worldwide release does make a difference at these awards! Aamir Khan - you made a superb movie and I hope you will not boycott the Oscars as well!!

An A R Rahman treat for you before I close - this is one of his favorites and he conceptualized the music of this song roaming on the streets of London, missing his beloved country - India.

Crazy world - Part 2

2009-01-08T09:35:00.000+05:30

On Sept 15, 2008, I was very disturbed by things happening around me and wrote a blog "Crazy world right now!". If I look back so much of crazy stuff has happened since then - it's just mind boggling. The world is much more crazier than what it was on that weekend of Sept 15, 2008. Some of the things that come to my mind immediately are:

1. US Financial crisis deepened to an extent that no one could have imagined - I have lost count of how many financial institutions have failed since then. The crisis spread across the world and there is hardly anyone who is not affected in some way.

2. Stock market tanked and I lost 40-50% of my asset value related to equity shares - of course I am only one among many millions. Retirement is in distant future for me, so I am not that worried, but wonder how old people who just retired or were planning to retire are coping up.

3. Millions of people around the world have lost their jobs and are struggling to make ends meet.

4. On that dark weekend of Sept 15, I was disturbed about the bomb blasts in Delhi, but since then, there has been a horrendous terrorist attack on Mumbai, which has shaken the core of my country and the international community. It was a national shame to see how unprepared and vulnerable we are. Good to see some steps in the right direction by our Government - I just hope that the momentum is not lost as time passes by and also hope that Media will keep them honest and accountable by asking our politicians difficult questions. And please, every sane person in India and Pakistan - please stop the war mongering - will not help anyone. Hope we can work together to solve this common problem. Pakistan's response has been extremely disappointing until now but hopefully India, the land of Chanakya, will be able to win the diplomatic game and get them to play ball. This same government has shown it's diplomatic mettle with the nuclear deal - I am counting on them. I am happy that Congress et al showed decent electoral results in the state elections, even though they were doubts because of recent spate of terrorists attacks. I am very skeptical of the current set of leaders in BJP - specifically their PM candidate - Mr. L. K. Advani - honestly, I think he should be in Jail for Dec 6, 1992. He has no business being a PM candidate - he is should be in the list of terrorists because what he did back then was also a form of terror and resulted in thousands of Indians getting killed in the name of communal violence.

5. Then there was this guy Bernard Madoff in New York, whose very high profile $50 bn Ponzi scheme was exposed. Sad part of that story is that many charitable organizations got caught off guard and had to close operations.

6. A new war has started in the middle east - Israel is kicking some butt - good for them! Their situation is very different from India's. They can afford to kick butt and that's the only way to deal with the situation there. I hope they do a good job this time, and finish only after they achieve their goal of bringing Hamas to their knees.

7. And of course, the event that compelled me to right another crazy world blog is the Satyam news that broke today. Yesterday after mid night when I woke up for some reason and turned to my obsessive compulsive habit of checking my blackberry (come ooooooon, you also do that if you have a blackberry!) - saw the news of Satyam. Horrified at what I saw, it was a very disturbed night and woke up early in the morning to catch up on the CNBC TV18, prime Indian business news channel - also broadcasting live on the internet. It's just unbelievable! I was always skeptical of Raju's business acumen after he had bought Samachar.com for Rs 500 crore in 2000-01 but never in my wildest dreams had imagined that he is such a crook. When the Indian market had started to show signs of some recovery, this nut case, sociopath and a pathetic loser had to come out and show his true colors, and in the process bring the entire market down. Wonder how he will live for the rest of his pathetic life with the burden of screwing around with the lives of so many employees, investors and other stakeholders.

When I see such things, I feel so proud of my own company - Infosys. The internal checks and balances and the systems supporting those are very strong (and sometimes very frustrating when we chase deals and make certain decisions) and will ensure that Infosys remains a long term and a very successful player. Our annual report is one of the best in the world. When our founders say that they want this to be an institution that is around for 100 years and beyond - they really mean it and they walk the talk. I am indeed proud to be part of this institution - yes an institution, not a company. I hope the vision of our founders are realized by next generation of leaders as well.

I hope this episode makes customers who buy services from companies like Satyam, who in my opinion are willing to do anything and everything for peanuts and agree to all kinds of contractual clauses to win deals, realize that they will get what they pay for, and there is a fundamental problem with risk mitigation in a company which agrees to anything and everything and is one of the cheapest - do you want to have such companies as strategic partners? I guess Indian IT Sector will have interesting times ahead - not saying good or bad but saying interesting for a reason. I think Infosys, Wipro and TCS will emerge stronger but they will have to go the extra mile to convince clients and prospects that they do not have any hidden skeletons in their closets. For Infosys, I am confident that it will not be difficult to convince clients on corporate governance and we will gain from Satyam's fiasco. For the Tier 2 players like HCL, Cognizant, Tech Mahindra, Patni et al, I think life will be much more difficult - let's see how this game plays out now. Let's also see if this shakes up the Indian IT industry and make only the real credible players survive.

Something interesting today is that the CFO of Satyam is mysteriously missing from all the action but I am sure that he is somewhere in his hole waiting for his fate to be decided. He must be a spineless bugger taking Raju's orders instead of challenging Raju on his 'creative' ideas. Read somewhere that under Indian laws Raju can go to prison for a period of 7 years - sounds awfully low to me for such a crime which will affect so many employees and investors. Compare it with Enron - the CEO got 24 year prison time. It's amazing coincidence that just today this news resurfaced to remind us of Enron. Jeffrey Skilling, the ex-CEO of Enron lost his appeal today to reduce his sentencing. Raju, his brother and the CFO should go to jail for life! They are very dangerous for society at large.

PWC - their auditors - let's wait and see your story. Looks like you haven't learned the lessons from Enron and Worldcom and the fate of some of your competitors. This is really sad. I suspect that it's not oversight, there may be someone in there who conspired with Raju and Co.

As far as the fate of Satyam is concerned, I think the possibility of the company surviving is very bleak. No company in the right mind will try to acquire Satyam and help it clean up the mess - who knows what else is out there to clean! NRN made it very clear in an interview today that Infosys will not touch a tainted company like Satyam - that comment itself will shape up some opinions in the industry. The financial situation will need some immediate cash inflow and no one will be willing to do that either - about one third of the investors sold their stocks today - wonder who bought so many shares! Client and employee exodus will start immediately even though the interim CEO and whatever is left of the Management Team will try to prevent the exodus , but sorry guys, you are in deep shit - it ain't happening. Feel really bad for the 50,000+ employees and wish them all the best - don't think their company is going to survive.

Grrrrrrrr! This development is likely to further hit the already difficult real estate market of Hyderabad - and I will lose some more money. Raju - hope you will rot in jail and in hell for doing that to me and much more horrible things to your employees and investors.

There is already a class action suit against Satyam here in the US - so if you have bought Satyam ADRs anytime after Jan 6, 2004 - you may want to get in touch with these lawyers - you can easily find them on the internet. Incidentally I had bought some in late Jan 2004 (don't remember why - but it was a small amount and was sold in less than a year at marginal loss - I usually don't sell shares in less than a year, so my doubts on Satyam would have compelled me to do that) and intend to take part in the class action.

I was hesitating to write a blog for sometime because I wanted to write about something +ve but looks like that will have to wait for some more time. Don't get me wrong, I am NOT a pessimistic guy - but times are tough right now and I am skeptical of 2009 as well.

The best new year wish I received was - "Wish you, your family and your money a very safe 2009" - this was from one of my colleagues. Want to pass on the same wish to readers of my blog.

Hope you will have a decent 2009 - thank God 2008 is over! It's a rocky start - let's hope for the best and be prepared for the worst.

And of course - there is a reference about my company Infosys in this blog - but the views expressed here are my personal views and doesn't represent my company's views. For Infosys views, please look out for comments given by NRN, Nandan and MD Pai to media today.

हिन्दी लिखने का प्रयास!!

2008-10-31T11:15:00.000+05:30

आज हिन्दी में लिखने का बहुत मन कर रहा है - देखता हूँ कि हिन्दी लिखना कितना मुश्किल हो गया है अब. वैसे शर्मनाक बात है कि ये देखने की ज़रूरत पड़ रही है, लेकिन सचाई तो ये है कि स्कूल से निकलने के बाद कभी भी हिन्दी में लिखने की ज़रूरत नहीं पड़ी. कॉलेज की पढ़ाई पुरी की पुरी अंग्रेज़ी में, सॉफ्टवेर का काम अंग्रेज़ी में, हाँ घर वालों और दोस्तों को "हिंगलिश" में ईमेल ज़रूर लिखता हूँ. एक वजह था ये सब का - गूगल जैसी किसी भी कंपनी ने इतनी मस्त सुविधा नहीं दी थी कंप्यूटर से हिन्दी लिखने की. दूसरी वजह ये हैं कि कलम से लिखना लगभग ख़तम ही हो गया है कंप्यूटर की वजह से.

कॉलेज में मेरे दोस्तों को ये बात बहुत हास्यपद लगता था कि मुझे स्कूल में हिन्दी में बहुत ज़्यादा अंक मिले थे. ८८ आया था १०० में - दसवी के परीक्षा में. मेरी शिक्षक (मिस महेश्वरी) दुखी हुई थी मेरा अंक देख के क्यों कि उनको विश्वास था कि मुझे और मेरे जुड़वा भाई को ९० से ऊपर आएगा. सोच रहा हूँ कि मिस महेश्वरी अगर ये ब्लॉग पढ़ेंगी तो कितना अंक देंगी! ज़्यादा तर मेरे BHU के दोस्त दिल्ली के या उत्तर प्रदेश के थे. उनको ये लगता था और अभी भी लगता है कि उनका पंजाबी और हिन्दी का मिश्रण असल हिन्दी है. हम बिहार के लोग भी, बोलने में शुद्ध हिन्दी तो नहीं ही बोलते हैं - भोजपुरी और हिन्दी का मिश्रण है हमारा हिन्दी. लेकिन हमलोग शायद लिखित हिन्दी थोरा ज़्यादा अच्छा लिखते हैं बांकी भारत से :-) क्या बोलते हो दुआ, टिन, खंडू, पंडित, भानु और मनु? ;-)) मुझे लगता है कि दिल्ली और उत्तर प्रदेश के लोग स्त्रीलिंग का इस्तेमाल कुछ ज़्यादा ही करते हैं और उनको लगता है कि हम बिहारी लोग पुलिंग का इस्तेमाल कुछ ज़्यादा करते हैं. मेरे ख्याल से शुद्ध हिन्दी में दोनो ही ग़लत है. और हाँ, हम बिहारी लोग 'मैं' को 'हम' बोलते हैं - इसपर कुछ रोचक टिप्पणियाँ मिली है हम बिहारियों को. जैसे कि जब हम ये बोले कि "हम आ रहे हैं" तो हमसे मज़ाक में ये पुछा जाता कि तुम तो आ रहे हो लेकिन तुम्हारे साथ और कौन आ रहा है!! :-))

अभी हमारा त्योहार का महीना चल रहा है. दुर्गा पूजा, दिवाली, और आज चित्रगुप्त पूजा हो गया. अब दो दिन में छठ पूजा शुरू हो जाएगा. शब्दों में लिखना मुश्किल है कि इस त्योहार के महीना में मैं घर पर रहना कितना miss करता हूँ. पिछला साल सौभाग्य से इस दौरान मेरे माता पिता और सास ससुर जी मेरे यहाँ आए हुए थे. वो भी दिन क्या थे जब हम तीनो भाई और Daddy मिल के चित्रगुप्त पूजा करते थे और Mummy और Dolly गोधन कूटती थी. अब सब कोई अलग अलग शहरों और देश में अपने छोटे छोटे परिवार के साथ पूजा करते हैं और वो सुनहरे दिन याद करते हैं. एक दूसरे से फ़ोन पर बात करके एक दूसरे कि कमी को पूरी करने कि कोशिश करते हैं.

इस बार मेरी माँ बहुत साल के बाद ख़ुद छठ पूजा कर रही है. सूर्य भगवान् का पूजा होता है छठ में. क्या माहोल रहता है बिहार के शहरों में छठ के समय! बहुत सारा काम होता है इसलिए बहुत लोगों की सहायता की ज़रूरत पड़ती है पूजा की तयारी करने के लिए. हम लोग को बहुत मज़ा आता था वो सब कुछ खुशी खुशी और भक्ति पूर्वक करने में. ४ दिन का है ये त्यौहार और पूरे शहर की खूब सफाई की जाती है ताकि जब जनता और पूजा करने वाले गंगा घाट पर जायें तो उनको किसी तरह की गन्दगी नहीं मिले. वैसे आजकल गंगा घाट पर जितनी भीड़ होती है, बहुत लोग अपने घर के आँगन में या छत पर एक छोटा सा कृत्रिम घाट बना के पूजा कर लेते हैं. मेरे घर में भी ऐसा ही होता है. घर में भी जिस कमरे में पूजा होती है उसके दीवारों पर नया रंग या चुना डाला जाता है. हम बच्चों को एक बहाना मिलता था एक साथ पूजा में काम करने का और साथ में खूब मस्ती करने का. पूरा दिन काम करने के बाद हम पूरी रात जाग के कुछ खेलते थे. या फिर गप मारते थे. सब के माता पिता थोरा देर कोशिश करते थे की हम सो जायें और सुबह के पूजा के समय जागे, लेकिन फिर वो भी छोर देते थे हमलोग को मस्ती करने देने के लिए. सुबह के पूजा (अरग) के बाद हम सब थक हार के दिन भर सोते थे!!! एक बात हमेशा याद आती है - हमलोग छठ के समय खूब पटाखे छोरते थे और बड़े लोगों को धमाके से डराने में ख़ास मज़ा आता था. सबसे ज़्यादा डरती थी मेरी बड़ी मौसी और डांट सुनती थी मेरी माँ. बड़ी मौसी अपने अंदाज़ में बोलती थी "बीना, तोरा छौरा सब बड़ी बदमास है" :-))

हिन्दी में लिखने का मन था इसलिए छोटा ही सही लेकिन कुछ लिख डाला. कभी फुर्सत में फिर से विस्तार में कुछ लिखूंगा हिन्दी में. फिलहाल सब लोग को दशहरा, दिवाली, चित्रगुप्त पूजा और छठ की शुभकामनाएं. भगवान् से प्रार्थना है कि आप सब की ज़िन्दगी में खुशहाली आए. ये भी प्रार्थना है कि इस दुनिया में शान्ति आए और हिंसा न हो वो सारे परिवार जो हिंसा के शिकार हुए हैं, वो लोग को भगवान् शक्ति दें कि वो अपने दुःख का कोई मतलब निकाल सके और अपनी ज़िन्दगी को समेट पाएं.

धन्यवाद्, आपने अपना समय निकाला मेरा ये ब्लॉग पढने के लिए.

कुश कोचगवे

Some early childhood memories

2008-10-05T09:25:00.000+05:30

There is something special about a person's earliest memories in life because of which it keeps coming back to you over and over again.... not sure about others but it does happen to me. I was thinking about writing on this for quite some time now... finally getting to it. I know my Mom will love this and I write this for her.

My earliest memories is of a small town of Deoghar in Jharkhand state of India for some reason it keeps coming back to me every now and then. Deoghar or'Dev ka Ghar' means House of Gods - the town got this name because the famous temple of Lord Shiva, Baba Baidyanath Temple is located in the town. It's unbelievable that they have a website now - just found this while Googling to get some information for this blog! You can even do an online puja using this website - this is one kind of polution which was not there when I was a small child growing up in that town! It was a pure and pristine town with very simple people living there - well I was too small but I know that the people around me were really very simple and pristine. Deoghar was also called 'B. Deoghar' or 'Baidyanath Dham'. We were in Deoghar for about 4 years because Dad was posted there in Government of Bihar (it wasn't Jharkhand then).

My mom finds it difficult to believe that I would have such clear memories of that place because when we left Deoghar, I was just 6-7 years old. I surprised her by telling her exactly what our rented house looked like and by describing the layout of the house to her - I was able to even tell how the furniture of our house was arranged and what was kept where. She was really surprised, I am not sure why... maybe some of you can throw some light on this... wouldn't every one have memories of that age? There were three independent units in this house - our landlord used to live in one of them (probably ground floor) and then I guess there was another tenant who was on the first floor. Our unit was also on the first floor.

Deoghar was a really nice little town and at that time in the late 70's, it was not polluted and crowded the way we have it today in every town and city of India. There was a large open ground just next to our house which was clearly visible from the two tall windows we had in our rooms (vaguely remember some construction happening on that ground later... not too sure). There were numerous cotton trees on the road side and it used to be beautiful in the season when those trees were laden with cotton and cotton balls would be all over the ground. I remember that we used to collect lots of those to take back home! Also remember Mummy using that to make new pillows for us - isn't that really pristine - cannot get better than that. Now, we have to go to large superstore to find a soft, medium or hard pillow for ourselves and none of those can be as comfortable as the pillows Mummy used to make for us!!! During rainy season, lots of mushrooms used to come out on it's own from the ground by the road side.

Also remember having a lot of 'taad' trees - not sure what's it called in English - but these are very tall trees with just a few large leaves on the top. The unique thing about these trees is that they were capable of producing 'taadi', which is an alcoholic beverage for the adivasis (tribal people) living in that area. Everyday they would climb up the long trunk of the tree using a very efficient method of tying themselves a bit loosely around their waist to the tree trunk and using that support to climb up the long branchless trunk. At the top, they would uninstall a container and install a fresh one to collect 'taadi' for the next day. Every day we (myself and my brothers and sister) used to marvel watching this. Pure natural wine, no processing, no aging required!

Another very interesting aspect of Deoghar was that there were a lot of monkeys in the neighbourhood. Monkeys of Deoghar had a black patch on their face which is similar to the appearance of Lord Hanuman in hindu mythology and for that reason monkeys of Deoghar were called Hanuman. Very often those monkeys would sit on the parapet outside our windows and we could see their tails hanging! We used to be very scared of those monkeys and would dread coming across one when we were on the road!

Just a few yards from our house and on the other side of the road was the house of Daddy's friend and colleague Mr Purkait. He had a Fiat car which he used to park in his portico and it was always visible from our room's window. His daughter Anindita (aka Annie) was same age as us and a good friend. I am not sure but I think she was also in the same class in school as me and my twin brother. The three of us were very close buddies for sure. Mr. Purkait was senior to Daddy and as a little kid I used to think that probably had much more money than we did as his house was better than ours and he had a car!! I remember that they had a Swing in their house and we used to particularly enjoy that. Annie had a brother (don't remember his name) who was in boarding school (probably R K Mission) and sometimes on weekends we used to accompany them to meet him at the boarding school. At that time I was unable to understand but now I think that some of those trips were very emotional for Aunty as I can remember she taking her son to a quiet place slightly away from us and talk to him and sneak some home made food for him to eat (maybe he was not allowed to take it back to his hostel)... I have some vague memories around those lines. I also remember a dream that Purkait uncle was somehow stuck under his car, which was upside down!! I am sure it must have been a disturbing dream for me an that's why I still remember it.

Then there was this period when I was down with jaundice and one of my school exams came during that period. Since I was down with jaundice, I was in complete bed rest and was not even allowed to put any strain on my eyes by reading books. I was in Class 2 at that time. Mummy was particularly careful about our studies and never could allow us to fall behind in our studies. She asked my twin brother to recite chapters infront of me while he was reading and getting prepared for the exams, so that I can hear and get prepared myself and do whatever best I can to pass the exams. I was able to appear in the exams in a private room in the school - not sure if I actually wrote the exams myself. I think I just verbally answered the questions and someone else took notes. To everyone's surprise, I stood first (we used to get ranks based on our examination report cards) in the class that time - probably that was the only time in my student life that I was able to achieve this. It was a special moment for me and I felt good about it for a long period of time. My brother must have been very angry with me because he did all the hard work and I got all the accolades! It probably speaks volumes about his thoroughness in studies which stayed with him for rest of his life. He was always better than me and more hard working than me but for some reason my academic results were always slightly better than him. Then I took the easy path of becoming an Engineer and he took the hard one of becoming a Doctor and finally he got his due because he left me way far behind on academics and is such a wonderful Doctor now. I cannot even imagine that I could have put in the hard work that is required to become a Doctor. Even if I had somehow made it to a Medical College, probably I would have dropped out in between! Actually, my brother was one of those few people who was shortlisted on both Medical and Engineering entrance exams but he chose to pursue Medical because he had appeared in Engineering entrance exams just for the heck of it! Coming back in time to the days when I stood first in the class - I also remember that Aunty (Annie's mom) gave me a story book as a gift and one night while I was still recovering from Jaundice, Mummy recited that story to me!

That reminds me of my school - St Francis School - a Catholic English medium school in the town. As soon as you entered the gate of the school, there was this huge tree with a concrete platform surrounding the trunk, where parents used to sit waiting for their kids to come out of their classes, to either pick them up or feed them during lunch. I do remember that sometimes when we didn't take our lunch boxes, Mummy used to come to school during lunch time and that was usually our meeting point. The school building was a large L shaped building - so if you started walking the corridors from one end of the building, which was on the right side of the main gate, you will walk all the way to the end of that corridor and then take a left to reach the other end. I think that the principal's office was at the other end. In front of this building was a huge playground and adjacent to this main playground, was another one which also had a Basket Ball court in it. The gate to this playground (which had a Basket Ball court) was close to the Principal's office. The classroom where we appeared for the entrance test was somewhere where the two corridors met and my Class 2 classroom was somewhere midway on the first corridor (towards the right of the main gate). From whatever I recollect, it was a very good school. I do not recollect any of my teacher's or principal's names.

There was a major road crossing in Deoghar called Tower Chawk which was a rather small tower with a large clock on top of it. We used to cross that tower everyday while going to or coming back from our school. There was probably a cinema hall somewhere close to it or maybe there was place where the elder kids on the school bus used to look out for, to see which new movie poster in on there. I remember my seniors on the bus getting particularly excited when they saw the poster of Manoj Kumar's 'Kranti'! It's unbelievable today that Manoj Kumar was such a popular actor of that time.

There was one particular month when we used to have Srawan Mela when pilgrims from all over the world used to come to Deoghar. The pilgrimage is called 'Kanwariya' where hundreds of thousands of people dress up in saffron colour, and walk from Sultanganj to Deoghar (105 kms) with water from the holy Ganga river. When they reach Deoghar they worship Lord Shiva at the Baba Baidyanath Temple. All the pilgrims recite 'Bol-Bum' incessantly. We enjoyed watching the pilgrims in hundreds walking on the road reciting 'Bol-Bum' and carrying vessels of Ganga water tied to a long bamboo shute on both ends with the shute on their shoulders. It was a wonderful environment in the town - it is so rightfully named 'Deoghar'.

Another memory related to Baidyanath Dham temple are the 'Pandas'! They are the ones who help you perform Puja at the temple. I remember hearing stories from our family members that even if you go to the temple after a very long time or for the first time, the Pandas will be able to figure our which one of them has been serving your family. They maintain ancestry records in such an amazing way that if anyone from your family has ever visited the temple, they will be able to figure that out by asking a few questions about yourself and your family. The Pandas are very possessive of their clients and respect each others ownership of clients! Sometime in rest of my life, I will definitely go to Deoghar and will see if this still works! Somehow I do not have a warm and fuzzy feeling about the Pandas - probably because they were so hawkish about getting business from the pilgrims and worshippers - something that you don't expect from religious priests. One more reason could have been this - at this temple there used to be the ritual of cattle sacrifice. A pilgrim or worshipper would pray to The Lord for a wish to come true and promise that if it does, they would sacrifice a cattle for God. I just don't get this concept - I didn't understand it then when I was a little kid and I still don't get it. Why would God want you to sacrifice cattle in His name! Anyways, it is what it is... and I remember that the Pandas used to play the butchers role as well and would take the goats head inside the temple! Cannot ever forget that repulsive scene and that's why I don't have a warm and fuzzy feeling about the Pandas.

Another thing associated with the temple is 'Peda'. No where in the world will you get Pedas as delicious!

And of course lots of memories of my first cousin Dipti Di and her family, who still lives in Deoghar. Her daughters Shalu and Lovely were a little younger than us and it was strange for us that even as little kids we were Mamas (Uncles) to them. I think her other two children - Appu and Lucky, were born after we moved out of Deoghar. And then we had Kusum Mausi and we used to go to her place quite often. I am not sure how we were related to them.

Deoghar was very close to Dumka - which is where our ancestral house is. My Daddy was born and brought up in Dumka and we still have our Chacha's (Dad's brother) family living there. We used to go to Dumka very frequently and Chachi (Aunt) and Daadi Maa (Grandmother) used to visit us in Deoghar as well. Some day I will probably write about Dumka as well. There is a very special bond with Dumka because that is the place we call HOME and that is where we should be - although most of us have migrated to bigger towns and cities within and outside India. Someday maybe I will also write about Chachi... she is such an amazing woman and she is God's chosen one for a very difficult life although I have not seen anyone who is more dedicated to The Lord than her. She used to pray multiple times a day and used to eat vegetarian food without onion and garlic for religious reasons. Because Chachi lived with us for many years she has shaped a lot of my faith and religious believes. I am sure she had a major influnce on Mummy's as well. She is no less than our mother and it's so unfortunate that I have not been able to meet her for so long now.

Finally, I want to write about my Baba (Grandfather) who used to live with us. He was 90+ years old but for his age he was extremely fit. He used to live such a disciplined life. Early in the morning he would have his bath and then recite some religious verses loudly. I guess one of those was Hanuman Chalisa and another which started with something like 'Ya Devi Sarwabhutesu...'. Then Mummy would serve breakfast and tea for him and with his old eyes he would try to read that day's newspaper, keeping it very close to his eye. He would go on a walk every evening - I am not sure if we did this in Deoghar, but when we moved to Patna, very often one of us used to accompany him on his evening walk and it used to be a long walk. He was a very curious man and would stop on the way to read sign boards. Baba was a very silent person and didn't speak a lot. He was one of the most loyal customers of Dabur Chawanprash - probably the secret to his long life. Only if we had a fraction of his discipline.... Baba lived for another 8 years after we moved out of Deoghar and at the age of 99 he passed away on March 20th, 1989. He would have lived longer if he had not had that fatal accident where he somehow slipped on the floor in Dumka's house and broke his hip bone. He was a fighter and didn't go without a fight but after 3-4 months on bed, he passed away. Daadi Maa couldn't bear Baba's demise and passed away on May 8th, 1989, 49 days after Baba's death; most probably suffering with immense grief of the fact that Baba left this world before she did. Just a few days before she died, Daadi Maa had come to live with us in Patna. She used to sleep in the same room as us kids. She always kept a hand fan with her on bed. That fateful day on the morning of May 8th, 1989, when Daadi Maa did not wake up at her usual time, my brother got curious and tried to wake her up only to realize that her body was stiff and she was probably not breathing - her hand fan still in her hands and no signs of any pain or struggle. He rushed to Daddy and immediately we realized that she had left us to join Baba. Sometime during the night she passed away very peacefully - she always used to dread being on bed with some kind of illness during her last days and fortunately for her, she decided to leave on her own terms - she really did. It was almost like she decided on go rather than somebody else deciding for her. She must have been in her late 80's and she was also very healthy for her age. I will write about Daadi Maa in more detail some other day. She was one amazing woman.

Zardari hits on Palin in New York

2008-09-26T10:50:00.000+05:30

You will have to see this to believe it! Pakistan's new President was in the US to attend UN General Assembly and met the US Republican Vice Presidential Candidate, Sarah Palin. While Sarah Palin is having her own issues on proving her foreign policy credentials, it must have been a comic break for her to meet Zardari! This guy is unbelievable and hilarious.... Wonder what would he have to say when he meets Sonia Gandhi!!! :-)

Bachchan Fans - You will love this!

2008-09-26T08:23:00.000+05:30

I really loved the father son chemistry here!

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4