Tranquility

FDI In Retail - Regressive Indian Policy

2011-12-07T14:03:00.001+05:30

About a fortnight ago the central govt initiated a big reform & that was in the booming retail segment. It was decided that India opens up its domestic markets for global retail majors to invest directly. Until now foreign players could only enter India either through a joint venture where the Indian company had major stake or enter as wholesaler, But not sell directly to customers! As a major step forward, the central govt was all set to change this policy! Though I am not big fan of the UPA & its functioning, yet this news really made me feel, finally there was something good! for once I felt after all, there is most respected Mr Manmohan Singh & Mr. Chidambaram in the govt who were instrumental in opening the Indian economy to the world in ealry 1990's. The result is here to see, today if there is any respect to India or India being the part of BRIC (Brazil. Russia, India, China) that is because of that reform in 1990's. The 4 economies (BRIC) were touted to be the emerging economies & the 21st century was said to belong to us :)

But then, it was not how it was supposed to be! The ugly politicians of India in their dirty wisdom feel otherwise. There was a huge hue & cry against this move. Everyone was the harbinger of hope of the next door kirana store, the saviors of the farmers! Where were these politicos when the farmers were committing suicides due to bankruptcy & failure of crops? The result was the non-functioning of more than the half of winter session of the parliament & the U-turn by the ruling govt. The FDI reform was put on hold!

What happened when India opened its economy some 15 years ago? there were detractors then too. But today probably I am writing this thanks to that reform. The developments are inter-linked. when the multi-nationals come, they need resources, they bring expertise & employment. when there is need for skilled people, there is demand & when there is demand, naturally people catch up & get educated in streams that's eventually feed into the MNC's. so who is benefiting eventually? If people are employed & there is enough spending power in people? It is India. We must realise India is not like oil-rich gulf which can just survive on oil-money. The gulf countries can survive even without taxing their citizens & yet live with flamboyance. Can we? If people can not pay taxes, India will be up for grabs! Can we afford to keep our borders safe? Can we deter the infiltrators? We have to remember that we're anyways blessed with such wonderful neighbours from every side! :)

coming back to retail reforms, imagine the expertise & organized trade that companies like Tesco, Carrefour, Wal-Mart, Target can bring into India? The efficient supply chain, distribution, choice to consumers & value to suppliers (read domestic industries - farmers, textiles, etc). Why is Indian farmer resorting to suicides? because he is taken for a ride by the middle-men. The farmer never gets his due. He is always poor. Have the so called Kiraana stores who are claimed to loose out in this, done anything to farmers? They still source the goods through middlemen who make all the profits. Anyways the local Kiraana shops or mom & pop shops will never loose their customers. Competition always enhances efficiency & never hamper the growth. The likes of Walmart & Tesco anyways are not competing with 10x10ft shop next door. They come with stores spreading hundred thousands of square footage. You'll still have to hit your store next door for quick pack of milk or cigarette or can of coke. The major retailers buy directly from suppliers & farmers, this has been their practise world-over. I bet they wont make an exception when they come into India. They will also bring in expertise in efficient distribution , stabilise prices, employ thousands & also eventually be instrumental in setting up of support industries like consulting & analytical solutions which is crucial to run operations of this scale & yet be efficient. Do the detractors of this policy even know the scale at which these MNC's operate?

In my opinion, these MNC's even will contribute to lesser corruption. I believe so. Imagine the corruption involved in when an individual gets the permission to set up the kiraana store. From bribing the munciple corporation, trade associations, the beat cop to the local rowdy! Imagine Wal-Mart or Tesco with such bargaining power & status can get things done legally & a local hawaldar or goon can do nothing against them. Isn't that nice? Also they are more efficient, a visit to any supermarket/hypermarket will open one's eyes to level of customer service, cleanliness & hygiene & choice they offer. When you visit local kiraana store all you get is a huge rodent sitting next to the cash counter enjoying his share of food :)

The govt by holding back the policy reform has just shown how regressive its policy making is. The politicians have proved yet again that India is an investor friendly economy, but a nightmare to do business here! The govt & politicians have let down the corporate India.

The sentiment of the world is summed in words of O'Neill who oversees almost a trillion dollars in assets at Goldman "All four countries have become bigger (economies) than I said they were going to be, even Russia. However there are important structural issues about all four and as we go into the 10-year anniversary, in some ways India is the most disappointing. They shouldn't raise people's hopes of FDI and then in a week say, 'we're only joking'," O'Neill said. "India's inability to raise its share of global FDI is very disappointing," he said.

Cricket vs. Hockey In India

2011-12-06T15:00:00.000+05:30

I read about an interesting logic recently as to why these days Cricket is popular in India than Cricket which is relatively new to India. It quite amused me and to an extent could well be the reason.

It all has to do with media attention. Today the entertainment media is mainly dominated by Television. And this very media probably is the reason for this divide...

India won the cricket world cup in 1983 and the whole country rejoiced and such an unprecedented event and sporting victory Kapil Dev's team. Naturally India began showing interest in Cricket, to be precise the Indian Public. In 1984 color television was introduced in India by the Doordarshan. This was the time of Commonwealth (if I am not wrong) games in 1984 held in Delhi. Later on all broadcasts were in color and the era of black & white picture ended. Naturally this revolutionized the television culture in India and people began being glued to the television. Cricket was followed by a larger section of India with this broadcasts and this made the game a public madness.

At the same period if we see the situation of Indian Hockey, it was a gloomier picture. India began seeing the dusk at the horizon for Hockey. India won its last gold at Olympics for Hockey in early 1980's. It’s in 1982 if I am not wrong. Later on it was only down slide for Indian Hockey. When India was its zenith of performance in '60s & 70's Indians had least access to viewing it. It was never a possibility to be broadcast to the public. So the inspiring performance of eight consecutive gold at Olympics hardly could excite the public in India. And when the public had the access to broadcasts, free fall for hockey had begun.

Naturally people would like to cheer and associate with the winning side and deserted the loosing side. from early 1980's it was the uprising of Indian cricket and so was the people following it. 1990's saw likes Sachin, Saurav bringing glory to cricket while old hero's Gavasker and Kapil reined on.

While Hockey in 80's & 90's saw defeat after another. We saw the Indian team even fighting and struggling for 8-9th position in a tournament. This continued for decades which was a complete turn off. Youngsters never picked up a hockey stick nor did they cheer the ones who picked it!

So can you see a link for the popularity of two games? I guess I can see. None is to be blamed. When India was at its glory that never touched us and when it did, we hardly touched the glory! An irony or a bizarre twist of fate!

Reservations on Reservation

2011-12-06T13:58:00.001+05:30

There is yet another reservation debacle... The ruling UPA govt. at the centre in India is considering adding Muslims to the 27% OBC reservations! The govt is doing everything it can carve out a share in the existing 27% reservations for Other Backward Classes (OBC) in the central govt jobs. Notice the timing of such enforcements! Uttar Pradesh & Punjab are soon to go for general elections! Though this reservations bill may not have major impact on Punjab elections, It will have a huge impact on the UP elections. The ruling Congress-led govt is trying to woo the vote bank by such populist measures. It has to be already noted that Muslim population already enjoys the "Minority" population quota/reservations. The govt plans to reserve about 6% to Muslims in the 27% OBC quota/reservation! This quota-within-quota concept is definitely baffling...

The whole point I am raising is about vote-bank politics & divide & rule policy along with the whole idea of need for reservation! The political parties in last 60+ years have only tried to divide the country by regional / religious sentiments. Is there really a need for a quota / reservation? The ones who want seldom use it & incompetent people use the quota through malicious ways. The reservation-less class of people loose out in the race because their merit is of no use against many who come with a reservation certificate (probably fake). The people with merit who have reached the selection process through hard-work & efforts feel totally dejected & may turn against whole system in the long run.

there has been huge outcry against the reservation itself. Though this is a contentious subject, what is true is the the benefits do not reach the one who it intend to serve. Once this is implemented the govt too is least bothered to effectively administer it. It is just worried about milking the benefits in the elections. Already there is a huge set of so-called intellectuals & politicians who find it fashionable to turn a blind eye to anything minority community has done, be it crime, anti-social activities, but do not think a second before shouting over the roof over any minor issues against the "minorities". There are thousands who are homeless, had to abandon their livelihood & live as refugees, but none is bothered. But there is huge cry over human right violations, withdrawal of army, fake encounter case, some govt's involvement in a riot. There are couple of states in the North-East of India which the ruling govt seems to have forgotten. Forgotten that they even are part of India. How else any sane person can explain the 120-day shutdown in Manipur? Fuel had reached a price point of Rs 300/litre during this economic shutdown. There was no essential goods, medicines/ food, transported to Manipur! Yet there was no action of any sort to resolve this issue. I am sure several lives were lost in 120 days due to starvation, lack of transportation, lack of essential good/medicines! But do we care? We have the general election coming up next year & UP election date will be announced in a fortnight. I bet this is more important than the poor Manpipurians dying! Anyways Delhi is too far away Imphal for the stench to reach!

It is time India woke up, the strength of India is the youth who constitute the majority in the population. But how many care? There is a youth Mr Rahul Gandhi making scripted drama before the media & hailed as the next PM candidate! He is busy staying in villages , posing for pics with the most fragile village folks they can find. I am sure Congress does lot of pre-work on this & has a team to identify such photo-appealing people So that Mr. Ghandi has good PR profile.

Time to say enough is enough. Stand up & get counted. Say no to reservations. Even Muslims who may seem to be ones benefiting must realise that this is purely a gimmick & not fall prey such populist measure. In the end none comes to save us, but us! It we who have to fend for ourselves. Wake up India , wake up!

What Do I Want?

2011-11-30T15:19:00.001+05:30

Life has been confusing these days... I always thought I was in control & 'mostly' knew what I wanted! However past couple of months things have been 'weird'. Not even sure if that is the word I can use.

There have been pleasant times, unpleasant times, times when I have felt I need to break-free. Yet nothing really drastically changed, not atleast to the 'external world'. They all saw the same old happy-go-lucky guy busy in travelling & clicking GB's of pictures :)

Yet in mind I have fought battles.. The battles over my day-to-day things, what should I do with my present & future! Past is something i though brood over at times, just let go. I know it is hard, but then I really have no other choice! I have thought what I wanted in my career, is this is the job I want, is this the place I want to be. How good or bad the place was, will it take me to the place where I want to be?

I have no answers to these questions yet.. I do not know if I ever will have answers. As always I will do what I feel right at this point in time. May be I will regret them in future .. May be not.. The time will tell.

Red-rumped Swallow

2011-06-22T10:31:00.001+05:30

Red-rumped Swallow, originally uploaded by Prashanth.Dengody.

Black Drongo

2011-04-25T22:17:00.001+05:30

Black Drongo, originally uploaded by Prashanth.Dengody.

The Black Drongo (Dicrurus macrocercus), also known as the King Crow, is a small Asian passerine bird of the drongo family Dicruridae. Previously considered a subspecies (Dicrurus adsimilis macrocercus) of the African Fork-tailed Drongo (Dicrurus adsimilis). It is a common resident breeder in much of tropical southern Asia from southwest Iran through India and Sri Lanka east to southern China and Indonesia. It is a wholly glossy black bird with a distinctive forked tail.

Feeding on insects, it is common in open agricultural areas and light forest throughout its range, perching conspicuously on a bare perch or along power or telephone lines. The species is famous for its aggressive behaviour towards much larger birds, such as crows, never hesitating to dive-bomb any birds of prey that invades its territory. Smaller birds often nest in the well guarded vicinity of a nesting Black Drongo.

The Landing

2011-03-03T17:45:00.001+05:30

The Landing, originally uploaded by Prashanth.Dengody.

Little Black Cormorant

Spot Billed Pelican In Flight

2011-03-03T17:41:00.001+05:30

Spot Billed Pelican In Flight, originally uploaded by Prashanth.Dengody.

Pelicans being larger birds fly quite low. Another reason here it is flying very low is, its fishing :). Thanks to this, the light reflecting off the lake has created nice effect on Pelican's Belly!

Determination

2011-02-20T23:46:00.001+05:30

Spot-Billed Pelican, originally uploaded by Prashanth.Dengody.

Morning News :)

2011-01-29T08:32:00.001+05:30

Morning News :), originally uploaded by Prashanth.Dengody.

This was shot in Lalbagh Botanical garden, Bangalore during a morning walk around this park.

I saw two women resting on the benches by the path in this park. The huge tree behind & sun rays through the tree braches gave a beautiful morning perspective

P.S: The title is in a lighter note as we can notice these two deeply engaged in a conversation.

Arasinagundi Falls

2011-01-29T08:26:00.001+05:30

Arasinagundi Falls, originally uploaded by Prashanth.Dengody.

Remember The Time - 26/11/2008

2010-11-26T10:51:00.001+05:30

Exactly 2 years back we were all jolted & a nation suddenly faced a rude shock! It is 2 years since the 26/11/2008 Mumbai attack happened. Said to be one of the worst terrorist attacks in the world.

Recollecting the day, i was flipping channels in my apartment in near London & saw this news. Then we know all know what happened. The next few days I closely kept a tab on this news & my colleagues in UK were all concerned if I had a family back in Mumbai. I said - Fortunately i stay more than thousand miles away from Mumbai & I do not have many connections in terms of people in Mumbai. Not all were as fortunate as me. Dear Mumbaikars many who lost their near & dear one's or the "immortals" uniformed as Mumbai Police or the NSG commandos, army. They were not fortunate enough to be ending their life in such heinous manner facing bullets of a few psychopaths!

I do not want to take names the men who lost their lives defending Mumbai because i might miss some names & that is disrespect to the brave hearts they are! They fought against all odds, against months or years of meticulous plan, executed to near perfection by terrorists. It took a while for the commandos to take control of Taj or Trident hotels which were in control of these terrorists. The world media, I remember back then took note of it. I heard the people (my office in UK), channels, questioning the efficiency of Indian commandos. It was heartbreaking to listen to that. All that I could do then was to go in great lengths to explain how difficult the situation was for these men. Like Taj or Trident hotels are not tiny few room buildings. They have thousands of rooms & they had guests & terrorists. Combing those clean & eliminating terrorists was like searching needle in hay that too blindfolded! Yes it was literally that way. I still believe that they did their best! In the end they made it, on the ways sacrificing many lives.

Today with all official apathy, Mumbai has moved on & so is India. However, it would be a crime by all of us if we do not acknowledge the sacrifice of these brave people. Remember our heroes & never let another situation arise. If it does, futile is they giving up their lives for us!

They lay down their Today for our Tomorrow, two years back. Salute them & their families who lost everything they had, A life...

Remember our Heroes.

Ranganatittu Bird Sanctury

2010-11-18T23:08:00.011+05:30

Shot with Auto Mode, F5.6, Shutter Speed 1/500, using 70-300mm @ 300mm, ISO 200

Shot with Program Mode, F5.6, Shutter Speed 1/320, using 70-300mm @ 300mm, ISO 100

Shot with Shutter Priority Mode, F5.6, Shutter Speed 1/500, using 70-300mm @ 300mm, ISO 200

Shot with Auto Mode, F5.6, Shutter Speed 1/80, using 70-300mm @ 300mm, ISO 400

Shot with Program Mode, Aperture 4.64, F5, Shutter Speed 1/30, using 70-300mm @ 300mm, ISO 320

Diwali Lights

2010-11-18T22:24:00.006+05:30

Shot with Shutter Priority, F5.6, Shutter Speed 1/10 using 70-300mm lens @ 300mm, ISO 1400

Shot with Shutter Priority, F4, Shutter Speed 1/250, using 70-300mm @ 82mm, ISO1600

Saina.. Saina.. Saina..

2010-10-14T15:53:00.005+05:30

Elated, exalted & short of words for a feat of Saina Nehwal .. Millions of hopes rested on a young shoulder and she carried it all & won in style for India. A befitting Gold…

19-21, 23-21, 21-13 what do these numbers tell you.. A story of fight back, sheer spirit & taking the bull by the horn. Mew Choo Wong is no ordinary player and is current world no.1 badminton. Saina held her nerve, bounced back from her first set loss & rode on to the glory.

I was tracking this common wealth game 2010 last medal hope game online. I could see the passion of surfers online forums - praying, cheering & wishing only the best for Saina. Truly stood by her. Even when she trailed behind in points, surfers kept stressing that she could & ultimately will win! That is what a sportsperson of Caliber like Saina or Sachin can bring to the game. I saw one surfer ’dmishra’ on NDTV social forum, praying that he’ll offer a coconut to the shiv mandir this eveing for her victory. That is India & Indian fans. Saina Rocks..

P.S: Our prime minister Manmohan Singh would have been more happier & have lot more to cheer in this match than the Hockey final .. ;) I am sure he would have been in the edge of his seat like all of us

Indian Hockey.. Yet Again

2010-07-28T10:29:00.005+05:30

Yes I am writing about Indian Hockey again. Sadly there are no accolades, successes to cheer about this time. I have been a supporter of this game, though i never had a chance to play this wonderful game. I hold this game with high regard because it is our National Game! A game that a billion-plus strong country should probably be supporting. But.. Are we?

This morning i heard over the radio of a discussion - Is a Indian Hockey a National Shame or Game? The poll, the RJ said was poised @ 50%! I am not talking about the 50% who said it is Game. But the other! I even heard some say over the show that it be changed from the national game! Gimme a break.. Then what? Put cricket in its place? Or maybe we should try baseball? How about that?

If Indian Hockey is in sad state of affairs, then it is due to sheer blunders, apathy & neglect. I do not blame the players or the game. But US [Not United states ;)]. We do not want to support them, we do not fund the game, no sponsorship & no facilities to train! What do you expect the game to be. Our dominance of the game is long gone down the drain. We fail to even qualify to the major tournaments these days. The numerous scams, corruptions, public spats are worthless to discuss. Not to forget the sexual harassment the women players complained a week ago! Yet none is bothered, we are not in hurry to even form a federation or hold elections & be represented in the world hockey. Result of which is going to cost us dearly & the team may be disqualified because we do not have a board of control / committee running the game in India!
We have elections starting right from primary schools, college, university, Municipal Corporation to the President of India. Millions & billions are spent in this democratic (!?!) process year after year! But we are unable to hold one for our national game! Does this need more explanation?

The ball rolls down to people support. We do not watch / support it or even remotely relate to the game! - corporates do not want to invest in the game which is not followed - no funds / money to attract talent or get great coaches - shabby performance in the international arena - supporters complain of bad game & hence no people support! Did you notice we came back to my first point? No People Support!

Only thing now we can do is - may be shot in the arm for game by the government. It should infuse some funds for the game, training & recognition. Do not expect overnight results, but a couple of years and we will be out of the vicious circle! For people until then, please bear with the game with patience & it will not disappoint you! I am waiting for that golden day, the era of unbeaten 8-Olympic gold medals, the game of sheer thrill and crowd going gaga over the game. Hope I get to see it soon!

Laud the Spaniards

2010-07-12T13:16:00.002+05:30

A well deserved win & Spain is the Numero Uno in the World Football.

World Cup Final - 2010

2010-07-12T00:52:00.009+05:30

By the time of half time of 2010 world cup, i was yawning away to glory... A goal-less half, 4 record yellow cards. So it all seems like only the person who was busy on the field was the referee who was flashing his collection of cards ;), not the Spanish team or the Netherlands.

The players were all trying punch & kick each other. Both teams were using to intimidate opponents which unsporting manner. It really seemed like the world cup final tension had sunk into the players. Except for couple of attempts to net the ball, the final was NOT a nail-biter. With another 45 minutes of battle on cards, I am hoping it is!

Cricket to Football – A Focus Shift

2010-07-08T10:13:00.002+05:30

The FIFA world cup has possessed the world and everyone’s talking about it. Interestingly, India a Cricket crazy world too embraced this in a big way. This is very evident from the shift of focus of media from cricket to football. Finally something different, otherwise boring good-ol stories... It is no wonder that not many people today can remember what happened (good of course) in Asia cup or the India’s disastrous debacle at Zimbabwe tri-series tour!

I get Times of India news paper and for years the sports page always had cricket news always. Sick & tired of it and now a welcome change! Its Footballlll… Even the Asia cup victory of Indian cricket team was pushed to second pages! Earlier even a Wimbledon, Grand prix, be it any sport, always was a second priority after Cricket for TOI.

However, not all is lost.. ;) MS Dhoni’s wedding still managed to push Football to second page in sport section. Can you beat it! This is India and media exactly knows it :D

What an IDEA Sirji - Shah Rukh Khan & IPL 3 Auction

2010-01-31T12:13:00.008+05:30

It always surprises me when people always want 'OTHERS' to be cleaning the 'MESS', while they will sit up there & pass comments... The will never dirty their hands.. But are extremely eager to wash the dirty linen in the public!

This is exactly what I think Mr. King Khan is doing! He is screaming from the roof top over non-selection of any Pakistani players in the recently concluded Indian Premier League T20 auctions. No franchisees have opted to pick any of the Pakistani players inspite of they being available. Whole of Pakistan & its board, including government made lot of noise over the humiliation. All the franchise owners have given a statement that uncertainty of Pak player's availability was the reason for the 'no preference' for the Pak players.

Coming back to our Mr. Khan, he went on to say that it is unfortunate that no one picked pak players & it was sad.... blah, blah... I think he suffers from 'selective memory loss'! :) Because for a moment I guess he forgot that he was owner of one of the IPL teams. And his team too had participated in the IPL 3 auction and they spent their $750,000 on Shane Bond and that exhausted their budget! Also does it need to be reminded that all the Pak players were very much available then & formuch more less than Shane Bond!

Or he seems to be thinking that his dear Bollywood friends like Shilpa Shetty, Priety Zinta would buy them. Or he expected Tina Ambani and Vijay Mallya to! But he was very sure he wouldn't! He was also sure that he would try to gain some advantage by commenting on it & being Mr. Nice Guy who is so concerned about such things.

Wake up Shah Rukh.. Good old saying, when you point fingers at others, three point at yourself! Do your bit & then complain!

Looking Deep In...

2009-03-23T04:53:00.002+05:30

Whole nation is going gaga over Varun Gandhi’s outrageous comments. All the news channels have been broadcasting the same speech that he made. Definitely they were derogatory and being well educated, one the torch bearer of the youth brigade in India’s politics should not have gone down the beaten path of using communal sentiments to get votes.

And I don’t think there are any buyers for his backtracking saying that the tapes were doctored! Come on kid, who are you trying to fool?

Indian election commission has come strongly against him. However EC is like a toothless cobra! It can only hiss and not bite! And rest of the political parties are sure to make this an issue to gain political mileage!

I feel Varun Gnadhi had more pressing issues that he should be concentrating! He could raise any of them and try convincing the voters to vote for him or the BJP. There was economic problems, outsourcing is on the verge of backfiring, Terrorism, etc.

What Varun must learn is wisdom and learns to carve his own path in politics and not play dirty politics which has ruined us for years now!

However this issue rings a bell in my memory. There is one Mr. Bukhari of Delhi Jama Masjid who opens supports Pakistan! Yes I am talking about Syed Ahmed Bukhari, Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid in New Delhi. He has made several speeches openly against the very own nation which he is speaking in! However none dared to speak a word against him, no channels made hue & cry!

This is something I do not understand!. Why is this selective criticism? Criticize the wrong from wherever it comes! Do not see if it is a Muslim, Hindu, Parsee, Christian who is committing it! However we have put a big goggle which makes us selectively blind! Most of the intellectuals can not see the problems created by uneducated; unemployed youths of certain so called minority community take arms & fuel terrorism. Nobody speaks of it as they fear of being called being against minority...

Unless we stop being hippocrates there is no end people who would use the opportunity to gain advantages of it! Wake up and make a point!

Terrorism - A pain in The ....

2009-03-04T04:44:00.002+05:30

A bunch of heavily armed masked men attacked the bus and showered showers of bullets, grenades and rockets! No I am not describing some elite commando operation but a terrorist attack!

Today is another attack! On the Sri Lankan cricket team! Srilankan Cricket team was travelling to Gaddaffi stadium in a bus in Pakistan and the above incident happened. Resulted in death of half dozen police men and injured many!

I saw various news bulletins saying sports & sportspersons’ are being targeted and stuff. Tell me something, does it really matter to those terrorists if it was cricket team, soccer team or equestrian?

This incidence could have been very well with our own Indian team. This was the tour that India declined to go on after the Mumbai terror attack. Similar to India’s decision most nation’s cricket team’s declined to travel to Pakistan for this tournament! Unfortunately the politicians in Sri Lanka thought it is time to show some political goodwill.. ! That is how Sri Lankan cricket team landed in Pakistan! As goodwill gesture and here we see what they had got paid with!

Pakistan is tasting a bitterness of its own medicine. The vicious seeds of terrorism it sowed! Pakistan has been waging rivalry and proxy war since its independence in 1947! The latest acts of terrorism in various parts of India were all masterminded in Pakistan! There is a clear hidden agenda behind the terrorism. However probably Pakistan never realized that the tricks would backfire! But it did. Now Pakistan’s backyard which housed these terrorists is burning with fire the lit! Even the government has failed to control it.

It is high time that a stand is taken against terrorism and teach a lesson that the terrorists understand!
I think its worth remembering a line – God will punish the terrorist, however we must ensure that we arrange their meeting with God at the earliest :)

Slumdog Millionaire - Did we Win?

2009-02-27T02:51:00.001+05:30

Oscar Fever has hit India. There is bunch of new channels or every channel available on the television forcing you to only watch oscar related stuff and ‘so called’ India’s triumph!

But is it really a victory, how much do we have to rejoice at it? Yes recognition to AR Rehman is no less ordinary and we must admit that all of us as a nation are proud of him. He is gifted with music & has been making right noises for decades now!

Slumdog Millionaire was not an Indian movie as it is being portrayed! Danny Boyle adopted a story by an Indian author & diplomat Vikas Swarup. Being a story based on india, it bound to have Indian actors as it would have been funny for a Hollywood actors to act as a Mumbai cop or American/British kids playing slum kids of Dharavi :)

I personally felt Slumdog Millionaire I mediocre movie and not a super duper movie worth all the acclaims that it is portrayed. However, this is my individual opinion and not necessarily of many. I feel it is the initial reaction of few strong media reports that decide movie to be good or bad. Once few acclaimed media reviews write few good things of any movie, what follows later on is a pure mass hysteria.

I am not saying this movie is not good. The Oscars and accolades that it received is more of being ‘Politically correct’ by the Oscar jury. Probably the global economic meltdown prompted an undergog stories to be liked by all! AR Rehman has his closet full of far superior musical gems than his Jai Ho musical score!

Yet we all are submerged for days, weeks or may be even months in “Indian Triumph at the Oscars”!

The Royal Bengal Tiger!

2008-11-11T03:06:00.007+05:30

The day finally has come when our Dada hung up his boots and called it a day! It is hard to belive that we will not see Saurav Ganguly, the royal Bengal tigher, the Maharaja of Kolkatta will not be playing again for India. Yes his did not come as surprise as it came from Anil Kumble. Yes when it finally came today, yet it was absolute shocker. It was just not easy to accept a sunset of such glorious cricketing legend, a captain who wore the attitude high up in his sleeves, showed what it was to be aggressive and defeat the opponent in their own game!

One of the finest middle-order batsman the test cricket has seen, master of the offside, one of the most successful captains of India and showed Indians how to be world-beaters! With his retirement we are searching for successor who can bring that dominance to the game, but sadly I don’t see anyone in the near horizon. He knew what it takes to beat Aussies in their own mind game. Do you remember back in 2000-01 when he made Steve was made to wait indefinitely for toss? Or the latest Bangalore test where dada forgot to wear his thigh pads? No wonder Aussies & the Aussie media hated him any less :) But only such unforgettable things have made Saurav special and won lot of games to India.

A hero was born when he made his debut in Lords and had two tons in his kitty. The world bowed when he swung his shirt in air in ecstasy and celebrated. He behaved as if he didn’t care who owned the world when he carried the mantle for India. And success was all that we remember since then.

He had his own share downs, controversies as anyone else did. Who can forget the spat with Greg Chappell which almost doomed his career. But what that made Saurav different was when he rose like a phoenix from the ashes when he made his stunning come back. He pushed his way into the team from the humiliation he went through. That led to tribute to him back then.

So probably we wanted a ton to wind his career in style. He was literally there, just 15 runs away to that magical number. It evaded him as it did many times. So we thought it is obvious in the last innings. But it was never there. He walked back even before it all started :( Nevertheless he was not shattered. He walked away as a winner as legends are not made in one match. He had his glorious years to fall back to.

This is the tribute to Saurav Ganguly, one the greatest cricketer I truly admired and to one of his big fans, whose fan I am!
Saurav, we will miss you in the Indian Cricket team!

Down The Memory Lane

2008-11-08T18:04:00.004+05:30

One fine Saturday morning I woke up early to meet my dear friend. But I could not. So was just sitting idle browsing through my pictures on one of the social networking website. Not sure why I was kinda nostalgic when I went through. I always treasured the pictures as that were one way of I connecting to people involved. Then I started going through each of my college pictures stored and arranged painstakingly in early 2000, when still the film roles dominated and prints were taken & stored in albums. I had a whole lot of them, right from the beginning of my engineering days in 1999 to 2003. This period was one of the best times in my life.

Looking Back....

As I browsed through some the pictures of college functions I saw myself hugging few of my friends and trying to play fool around. When I though back, I could still exactly remember that day & it is still green in my memory. But people? I could not take some of the names of the people in those pictures! I was taken aback. It is been 5 years since I came out of that college and having been chasing my dreams since then. I didn’t care if there was someone waving at me by the path when I was chasing my dreams or there was someone leading me towards my dreams or even coming in between me & my dreams. But I ran, chased and achieved some of them; few were shattered, while the few are in the horizon. Now I realize this race is never gonna end and I will be running forever behind the dreams, aspirations.

But how can I forget the classrooms, campus, the teawala next to college the professors, seniors, juniors and my own classmates? I am feeling highly nostalgic. It all began in late 1999, somewhere in early September! The journey called Bachelor of Engineering and aspiring to be a computer professional (CS&E) I walked into college with my dad after selecting KVG College of Engineering, Sullia in my CET seat selection. Finished all formalities and we came back as college was due to start sometime later. I was in section-D. I had no clue on what basis it was formed, may be I didn’t bother too. I was amongst the mechanical engg students with few CS&E students in that section. There began the remarkable journey of 4KV99CS050 (My reg no. which has special in its own way)

The group of CS&E students in D section along with few more people from other sections together formed a bond that is been so strong and even now not having spoken to them for years, I can boldly call them at 2am & ask bluntly on face – are you sleeping? :) (I bet I can do it with at least few guys)

The journey was not smooth. Had its own roadblocks. If first year went in showing off, the bikes, knowing each other. While boys tried to show that they don’t really care for girls while secretly go behind someone, girls with their regular attitude of who the **** is bothered :). We had our own ways of taking revenge. Kiddos now I feel. Can you imagine, we used to dirty the benches & desks where girls used to sit? Hide their bags, books in breaks? Not sure what fun we had in them.. Yet we did.. With all this I with 3-4 other guys(Pacha, harsha, Mithu, Deepak) used to sit in the bench right behind the girls. We were considered bold while many other guys were shy & secretly envied it :) it was our permanent place for one year :) I can still remember some of the silliest things we did sitting there. Pull their hair & act as if it was an accident, keep dots on their dress with pen (Plz 4give us). I still remember playing with one girl’s really long beautiful hair (which I admired the most all 4 years, I wont take the name, but if she reads she will know). She had such lovely long hair that, even when I touched it she didn’t not realize it.
Last confession with D section girls, mostly from Pacha & I is, pardon us b’cos we have dusted off our shoes many times with your dupatta sitting behind you! We used to do it so professionally that the girls never realized it. Thinking back I feel that is the grossest thing we did. Forgive us. I know you are searching for a gun or trying to acquire a license now :)

By the second year all CS&E were combined who were distributed in various section in first year. It got our group some more people who just enriched the group or I must say were icing on the cake. Then came the CENSA & College Union election. It was fought vehemently like it was US presidential elections. We had the filmy fights, backstabs, betrayal, politics, goons! Although our group could not do much in college union elections, the CENSA was ours. Then began the fun or organizing events, planning! Wow, we had enough reasons to miss classes for weeks in the excuse of arranging an event like fresher’s party, farewell party, project exhibition & what not. The bond was growing stronger and stronger and that is when we went for IT trip( to IT.com in B’lore). That was the final ring in the shackle that tied us permanently together. The amazing efforts Prasad & Omi made to make it successful, and then there were spoilsports who just would not make things work. We hired our Dakota express, we had to buy diesel in black market at middle of night, push it 100’s of mts to start it. Gosh.. Yet we enjoyed the cabin ride which showed us what it means to have friends in tough times. At the pub in residency road we christened our group “The Bunkers” in honor of the pub during this trip. The Bunkers pub still exists in residency road & when ever I pass through it I feel nostalgic.

Then came third year where we were all stronger together, had amazing time in a small place where we didn’t have much options as well. Yet we made the best of it. We even taking small trips out when it was not allowed to take girls out for trip from hostel. Basically the restriction was that the boys and girls should not travel out together. We had our own ways to bend the rules. So emerged trips to bekal fort, the numerous bike rides to hanging bridge, Coorg trip, St Mary’s island to name a few. We even risked of being suspended from college if noticed by authorities about these boys-girls trips. Not just college, even our parents would have fired us. Yet that was the thrill about it. Third year also formed the so called project groups which now looking back, brings giggles. We had our own strange ways of forming groups & even now I don’t understand few of them :)

If something changed my life altogether it was the fourth year. The time we hosted CSI state level technical seminar in 2002 October end. Something that inadvertently did to taunt someone or teach lessons (my definition) changed my life, how it was and what I became later. It has left a lasting impression and probably made me what I am today, good or bad, however! The two days was fun by a guy’s definition, but never thought would affect me so much. It has a left a scar in me even now. But I am glad I realized something which probably would have never been said unless those 2 days happened in my life. I met two souls in that two days which although were right before me for 3 years, yet meant not much or at least what they were after that. It fills my heart when I remember the hiccups incident that happened on the second day dinner time of the function. Never thought I meant something to someone till then. The picture was rosy to me then, picture perfect & any guys envy. But what went through to be there I alone know. I still respect the two souls the same as I did then or even more for showing how it is to be important in someone’s life and to maintain it. I do not regret anything in my life but consider that as a period when I was in the best of two worlds. Hmmm…

Sandwiched between these 4 years were the perfect drama which can be made a movie :) it had the romance, song & dance, villains, exotic sceneries, heart-breaks, crushes and what not :). We had numerous trips, breakdowns and accidents! One in particular again showed what The Bunkers were made of! I still remember the afternoon when we were having a party in restaurant Vinay when we got the news that Harsha, Mithu & Deepak met with an accident in Coorg. The party froze the second we got the news and everyone emptied their wallets, whatever they had was pooled in. Believe me none knows how much each one paid or what was collected or anything. Dhanesh & I set off in the rescue mission on our bikes to coorg straight from restaurant. While the rest dispersed to arrange for more cash. I know each one borrowed from all possible sources and kept no count. That was how we were. This accident became an issue with deepu being badly injured and police case was registered against Harsha. Means, we had everyday trip to coorg to settle the case for next 15 days. No class, no project, nothing was ever considered. All that was in our minds was to set things right, get the damaged vehicles repaired. Mind you, all without informing any of our families. Prasad who had the most damage stood there as rock for support us. Hats off man! Imagining that gives me goose bumps and a feeling of greatness for standing together. That’s Bunkers!

It is not that we did not have silly fights, ego clashes. We did, but the togetherness with my group overpowered all. I had my own fair bit of academic struggles, ego problems, fights, heartbreaks! With academics again each one helped each other while I must admit the help I got from the two souls I mentioned before. I owe my engineering degree to you guys! I mean it. It’s sad that I can not say it to now! I can not keep a count of memories that made the 4 years. Each one is green in heart, but it’s impossible to put them in words. Then came the final time when we had to set off on our own. Lead lives on own. Get out of college as an engineer with a degree. Those final days were again so special and if I write will run out of words. We cried in each other’s arm as if we will never meet again. Probably some of us did not meet in fact. We were sad that the life we spent together in 4 years ended.

Then began the job hunt. Trust me each one honestly rejoiced when one of us was placed, but at same time insecurity of our own future used to taunt us. Yet sooner or later everyone picked up opportunities and I am proud that each of us has significantly made a mark, May be in our own terms.

Now I sit back & think in last 5 years of my struggle and race, I forgot that some of my friends were running with me too. I probably had an excuse saying everyone’s busy in lives or let them make the first move. Now I feel someone must make a move else the thing suffers is the relation. Else how could I forget some of my classmate’s names? Or I must be giving too much importance to something that I must have not or to something for which I may not be important? It is no point struggling to find answers to these questions, rather, stand up and make a change from my side. At least I can feel good I made a difference.