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An Icon and an Icon

2010-04-14T21:25:00.012+05:30

If Steve Jobs made a device for the team at Hustle, he would have named it i-Con.

There are thousands of jargons which have been created by the digital revolution of the last 2-3 decades. In absence of the revolution, the english language would have probably added a couple thousand words lesser. Meatspace, Egosurfing, Screenager and Cyberslacking have been recently added (in the past decade or so) to the Oxford English Dictionary. These are, however, meaningful literary words. Most are associated with an activity related to digital usage.

There are other words which are completely foxy to the meaning they hold in English literature and hence should be a little difficult to find space in common vocabulary. However, due to repeated usage, they have gained a remarkable stickiness to their digital connotations. Mouse, icon, drive, shift, extension, application, apple, surf. It has become increasingly important to present things in context, or an icon could be an iconic object or a thumbnail for an application or another iconic device by Steve Jobs - iCon.

Indian Cinema

2010-03-31T21:23:00.004+05:30

Indian cinema's coming of age.

Not so long time ago, we were at our professor’s place at IIT, getting our final year party, savouring moments of equity on drinks and food. And the discussion started. Arguing that Indian cinema is stuck with such an archaic blend of commercialism and social values, I potently remarked on why it can never compete with world cinema. This, after we had Lagaan and others already competed for the big prize at the Kodak Theatre. In my view, there was something in Hollywood, which made alien subjects more comfortable. Quite possibly the colour of the skin. We were neither whites nor blacks. And that made us accept whatever happened in those movies. Quite amicably, I was trounced upon by vicious arguments of excellent cinema making in – be it Rang De Basanti or Lagaan or others. Although I agreed at that moment, I wasn’t quite convinced.

Since that fateful discussion in 2007, my agreements have grown stronger. Although I still feel that to pull off a Scorcese, Tarantino or Kubrick is beyond, there is some fascinating home-bred talent which has given us excellent cinema in the past three years

Anurag Kashyap
Gulaal
Dev D

Sriram Raghavan
Johnny Gaddaar

Dibakar Banerjee
Khosla ka Ghosla
Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye
and the latest - Love, Sex aur Dhokha

Strand Book Festival Mumbai

2010-02-20T18:24:00.012+05:30

Went to Strand Book Festival at Nariman Point today. People were buying carts full of books. Searched and re-searched sections for two and half hours. Shortlisted 12 and bought 6.

Strand Book Stall at Fort, Mumbai is one of the most famous book stores of Mumbai. Although being much smaller and rather lacklustre than the present day crosswords or oxfords or landmarks, it has a distinctive appeal in its humane scale and excellent collection. The founder of the store, TN Shanbag, was awarded Padmashri for 'enlightened book selling' in 2003. He died last year at the age of 85.

The Web of Life by Fritjof Capra
Right Hand, Left Hand by Chris McManus
When Genius Failed - The Rise and Fall of Long Term Capital Management by Roger Lowenstein

The Undercover Economist by Tim Harford
Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar... by Thomas Catchcart and Daniel Klein
Basic Writings of Nietzsche by Friedrich Nietzsche and Walter Kaufmann

Michael Jackson dies and hits a platinum

2009-06-26T20:26:00.003+05:30

Michael Jackson is bad and dangerous
Michael Jackson is a smooth criminal
Michael Jackson beats it
Michael Jackson cares about us
Michael Jackson heals the world

Michael Jackson is history

For a teenager who was growing bit by bit everyday, MJ was an icon of ultimate thrill in life. I started listening to his songs only after his India visit in 1996, at the age of 11. He was all over newspapers, his songs being played on the television. I remember that when he left India, he also left a note on the pillow of the hotel room he was staying in, which came on the frontpage of Indian newspapers.

I graduated from MJ to Pink Floyd, Doors and Led Zepp in my college. But, still in college, I remember watching his music videos again and again; the agony, the spirit and the dancing style amazing me each time. I agree I don’t listen to his songs now. It has been a year since I saw any of his videos or listened to any of his songs.

Each generation has their stars. Some had Beatles, some had Presley, some had Madonna, and we had Michael Jackson. It just amazes me how a star like that can decay so soon. They say he was to have a comeback tour. Now he has just gone back in silence.

And even in his silence, he is scoring platinums of hits in Google and Twitter.

Gay rights in India - Are we civilized?

2009-05-19T00:19:00.005+05:30

A celebrity cause is often too exaggerated to interest me. However, this one particularly caught my attention. Celina Jaitley asking for LGBT Rights!

I am often surprised that how societies as rational in thinking like USA could have segregation laws on the basis of race till 1950s & 1960s. After five decades since the last Jim Crow Laws were overturned, it is almost taboo in America to talk about race and speak the work ‘negro’. Although many whites would have found nothing wrong in the segregation policies of that era, it is almost impossible for them to speak of that today. Gay rights are human rights. It is the right of a human to choose his or her sexual orientation and preferences. I believe that a day would come when speaking of gay-ism ‘as an abnormal disease’ or ‘a menace to society’ would cease. And the then generation would think that what kind of people were they who thought gays are not normal people.

A few days back in a party, I overheard this single mother talking to a few friends about her son. Her younger son was too possessive of her mother and would delete the SMSs of her male friends. Her friends would joke saying that his son is a gay. However, recently, she came to know that her son had Katrina Kaif all over his room - the posters, the cellphone wallpaper, the desktop. And she was relieved that he was not a gay.

I don’t find anything alarming in this at all. It is just the concern of a parent similar to that of another one who feels his daughter might be fooling around with wrong boys. But, however similar this seems like, it is quite different. A father would prefer his son to hang around with boys but fool around only with girls. A boy fooling around with a boy is definitely not a part of our so called ‘civilized society’.

How much of it should be criminal?
I am definitely not gay and don’t know what are the underlying biological changes that leads to one becoming attracted to similar sex. Neither have I come across a person who has declared himself a homosexual openly. It is just that I feel it is criminal to criminalize homosexuality, if it is the mutual consent of two adults. Like we have laws against sex with minors or between minors, I believe a law against a sexual relationship between minor gays is justified. Also, forced sodomy should be punishable by law similar to a rape. However, if two consenting adults want to pursue a life of a particular sexual orientation, they should be given every right to live. It is ridiculous to think that a happy gay couple would be a menace to society, and hundred other distressed man-woman couples would not be.

Homosexuality is against the basic life creating mechanism
While reproduction is definitely a mechanism to create life and keep the spirit of life going, the argument against homosexuals that they don’t form a family and they don’t give birth to a child is against the basic life creating mechanism is baseless. The anti-gay activists say it is abnormal for them to not follow the process of reproduction.

Why do we hold saints and brahmacharis, who abstain from sex in the highest esteem in a society? Do they follow the basic life creating mechanism of reproduction? If they can live their life abstaining from sex, are they normal? Should we label them a menace to civilized society? Not only saints and mahatmas, we find many people who have not married their entire life.

The closet gays
As Celina Jaitley points out in her appeal that there are many individuals who live a life of obscurity fearing ostracism from the society. These closet gays eventually have to live a life of disguised identity. Imagine a straight person like you, who has to go to party, kiss a boy, go to a pub, sit with guys all around you and come home. A gay, who lives a disguised identity throughout his life, has to possibly go through this everyday. He goes to a party, kisses a girl, goes to a pub, has to sit with girls and come home. It might be as disgusting for him to be with girls as it is for you to be with guys. I don’t know.

The problem with illegalizing homosexuality might lead to people to masquerade their lives so much, they begin to lead abnormal lives.

“I am Harvey Milk and I am here to recruit you” was the cry of Harvey Milk in his campaign which led him to become the first openly gay man to be elected in office in California. It was his assurance to the homosexuals that despite them coming out of the closet, their jobs would be safe.

The Archaic Laws of Article 377
We should rethink it.

I am definitely not a gay but proud of Indian democracy which has given the right of expression to all its citizens. It is our right and duty to use it in the most responsible way.

The caste factor

2009-05-13T08:01:00.001+05:30

De-Caste-igating Names

I went up to my father and asked, “Which caste do we belong to?” He laughed and said “We are Indians.” When I went back to school and said to my friend that I am an Indian, he laughed. I was 7 or 8 years old.

My family named me ‘Himadri Mayank’. It was a newfound tradition in our family to name kids with difficult names. My elder sister was named Nupur Nishith and younger sister Surabhi Sonam. A generation ago, another innovation had taken birth in our family and possibly hundreds of other families in India. The family surname was removed from the children names. My father’s name is Vijoy Prakash, and the two chachas – Prabhat Ranjan and Mihir Ranjan. All this was done by Baba, my grandfather who had a very traditional name – Bhuvaneshwar Lal Das.

If my name was ‘Himadri Das’ or ‘Mayank Das’, that kid in my school would have never bothered to ask me that question. He would already know.

I have a lot of friends from Bihar today - Varun Kishore, Narendra Bhushan, who have not retained their family surnames. There is a set of other people who have kept Kumar as their surname to disguise their caste identity.

Categorisation of castes

We had read in our history textbooks about the four varnas codified in Manusmriti – Shudra, Vaishya, Kshatriya and Brahmin. When I grew up, I came across hundreds of subdivided castes within these varnas, further divided into thousands of clans within these castes.

These castes, by the constitution of India, are now categorized as General Category, Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

There are even more categories of castes emerging within these – one of them EBCs or the Extremely Backward Castes (Mahadalits).

Do people cast or ‘caste’ their votes?

Casting votes in India and in my state of Bihar are popularly held in belief to be actually ‘caste-ed’. People tend to vote for candidates of their castes, rather than the more deserved candidate. A few of the times, their candidate is the more able one. There might be just one reason for this – TRUST. When you play a soccer game, do you trust your teammates or the guys playing against you? It is a similar feeling to vote for candidates of your caste as he would ensure the safety and development of your caste-mates.

The Indian electorate is gradually beginning to understand the missing point here. Continually betrayed by their elected caste-mates, they are now looking for parameters other than trust - like development.

Indian General Elections: Hope . On . Phoney . Elections

2009-04-08T00:51:00.007+05:30

Hope . On . Phoney . Elections
I never go out to vote. I don’t know who does? Very few people I know voted in the last parliamentary elections. Are we phoney, are these elections phoney or are we just hoping on phoney elections?

I am to blame.
In the last parliamentary elections, I had just turned 19. I was not a voter in the elections I followed so closely. That fateful morning, results started pouring in and the fractal became visible that NDA was being ruled out of power. For the first time I saw someone giving one of his finest moments of life on media camera - Pramod Mahajan facing the defeat of an election campaign. It did occur to me that I had not voted and that caused one-vote damage to BJP. Had I gone to vote and voted for Congress, I would have caused two-vote damage to BJP. My one-vote or two-vote damages could not have bailed out NDA, but possibly there were others like me who did not vote. And that matters.

I am again to blame.
Sometimes I argue with me, who should I vote for? Should I vote for someone because they were good or against someone who were bad.

Can I vote for a party which imposed emergency in a democratic India? Can I vote for a party which did not stop the anti-Sikh riots? Can I vote for a party which can do such an irresponsible act of destroying a mosque? Can I vote for a party which was possibly a party to Gujarat riots? Can I vote for a party which holed our economic backbone with such a socialist infiltration that it might not recover? Can I vote for parties who are so enamored with populism that they propagate that reservations and only reservations can help communities? Can I vote?

Possibly yes. I should vote someone I feel is better, not necessarily the absolute ideal and the best. Abstaining from voting can not justify my stance on democracy. Why can’t I vote a less corrupt person and at least save the country from the extra corruption the other guy would do? Why can’t I vote a person who is comparatively less communal, less hypocrite? When I abstain from voting, I possibly harm the country as the more corrupt, more communal person gains a vote.

Hot on paper, loose on product
I say it is hot-on-paper, loose-on-product when something looks very good on paper, but will come as a dud when built. It is the same with my ideas. I am not voting for anyone again. Even with the Jaago re or the Lead India or the numerous other campaigns, I am stuck. I am stuck with my own laziness.

And I just Hope . On . Phoney . Elections that NDA will be brought to power. Yes, we can. That is the only thing my kind of people do. We HOPE.

And Barack has helped it immensely.

Tata Nano : To be launched

2009-03-22T09:33:00.011+05:30

Killing the iPod mini series rather abruptly, Apple has replaced them on the
very same day with the introduction of the iPod nano, an ultra thin
full-featured iPod that can hold up to 1,000 songs…

While Steve Jobs would be credited with bringing ‘Nano’ from Physics to popular consumerism with Apple’s series of iPods, the name really would occupy brand territory with Ratan Tata’s car, soon expected to hit Indian roads in March 2009.

Tata's Nano, dubbed the "people's car," was introduced amid much fanfare.
Tata intends to sell the four-door, pod-shaped car for the equivalent of
$2,500, the lowest price in the world for any conventional four-wheeled
automobile. In Indian terms the price is one lakh, or 100,000 rupees.

January 10, 2008

While I was at IIT Kharagpur from 2002-2007, Tata Motors assured the organizers of our Tech-Fest of sponsoring at least one event – CarMach. The problem statement was ‘to design a 1 Lakh Car’. For designing the 1 Lakh Car, they were giving away lakhs of Rupees as prizes. Students participated. A few of my friends, among them Imran aka Immu, were even offered an internship at Tata’s design establishment.

The significance of these events might be small in comparision to the design life cycle of Nano. But to me as a student, the idea had far reaching implications in society at large, while demonstrating an extremely important breakthrough in technology-economics.

The achievement of an idea

Why is it that Hindustan Motors, which has been rolling out the Ambassador car since 1957 not been able to diversify its design to produce better and cheaper cars? Tata motors, although a commercial vehicle maker since the same period rolled out its first passenger car – the hugely successful Indica in 1998.

When I went to see the presentations of the car design competition at IIT, I had a feeling within me that it might not be possible. The nearest competitor in the market – Maruti 800 was tagged at twice the price of the aim of the competition. The possibilities of breaching the 2 Lakhs or 1.5 Lakhs for a four-door vehicle seemed abysmally low. If Maruti Udyog, which has more than 50% share in the small car segment in India, could not conceive the concept of Nano as a profitable segment, why is Tata thinking of doing so?

Automobile major Maruti Suzuki India today said the company has no plans to
enter the nano car segment or become a competitor to the existing
player.
“Maruti has always been in small car segment and we have always
concentrated on that category of up to 1200 cc cars. But Nano is something which
is a totally different segment and we are not venturing or competing in that
segment," Maruti Suzuki India Chairman and MD R C Bhargava told reporters on the sidelines of the 48th SIAM Annual convention here.
September 4, 2008

An idea of capitalism within socialism

Ratan Tata follows a list of largely popular people, who were at the helm of the giant company. Although he did some largely popular acquisitions recently of Corus, Jaguar and Land Rover, they might not be termed as the best business decisions.

It is the dream of a company to give cars to millions of people who do not own them, and make profits on the economies of scale. The idea of Nano is to provide cars to people who can afford a two wheeler, who can compromise space for the value for money and for families who already own one or two vehicles but want more. While Indian Government should ideally be cautious about giving them a tax subsidy on the car, without it, it might not be possible. After all, it is better than a politician’s promise of providing laptop at 10,000 Rs to all, which never actually happens.

Gulaal Review- A masterpiece of abstraction

2009-03-15T11:05:00.009+05:30

Hain.. Phir Gulaal lagaane ka faayda hi kya hua?

Gulaal is a masterpiece of artist director Anurag Kashyap. While the dialogues are often with deeper meanings and open to interpretations, the dark mood which is built up is intoxicating. As a lover of abstract art, the cinema hits me at the right points, with its theatrical rendering coupled with unconventional characters.

The lyrics are true to dark societal miseries associated with pride, often weaving a satire around it. Piyush Mishra might be one of the finest lyricists in India today. He occasionally borrows stanzas from yesteryears poetry – “Rashmirathi” and “Sarfaroshi ki Tamanna”. The soundtrack has a commentary feel to it, with “Yeh Duniya agar mil bhi jaaye toh kya hai”, “Sheher yeh sota hai” and “Aarambh hai prachand”.

Dileep [Raj Singh Chaudhary] comes to Jaipur to study. Here, he comes in
contact with Rananjay Singh Ransa [Abhimanyu Singh], Jadwal [Pankaj Jha], Anuja
[Jesse Randhawa], Dukey Bana [Kay Kay Menon] and Kiran [Ayesha Mohan].

Dukey Bana convinces Ransa to contest the college elections on behalf
of the Rajputana party; Ransa and Kiran battle it for General Secretary's post.
The rivalry between the two gangs intensifies and Ransa is forced to withdraw,
which he resists. Eventually, this leads to his murder by Karan [Aditya
Srivastav]. Dileep is compelled to contest elections in Ransa's place and made
to win.

After losing the elections, Kiran tries winning Dileep's trust, gets
close to him and pretends to fall in love. As he tries to fit into the shoes of
the General Secretary, an insecure Dileep gets emotionally dependent on Kiran.
Dileep finds himself trapped in political manoeuvres. It dawns to him that he is
being used by Dukey.

Dukey Bana is masterminding a Rajputana movement, to have a separate
state ruled by Rajputs. In a gamut of red faces [gulaal is put over the faces to
mask their true identity], Dileep sees the truth behind Dukey and his actions.

Kiran takes charge as the General Secretary. As soon as in power, she
refuses to meet Dileep and tries to get close to Dukey using her feminine charm.
A lovelorn and rejected Dileep gets more and more frustrated, abusive and
violent in desperation. Blinded by his love for Kiran, Dileep goes into a
frenzy, becoming a sorry and inevitable victim of circumstances.

The plot outline has been taken from http://www.screenindia.com/news/gulaal/434065/ as I did not want to write the plot.

Heights of symbolism – Watch out for these acts!

*** ALERT: Spoilers below

In a scene, Prithvi Bana (Piyush Mishra), who plays both the satire and the conscience of Rajputana theory in the movie, comes to Dukey Bana (Kay Kay Menon) looking for something. He can not explain what he is searching and Dukey is visibly irritated. Lurking in the background is a character of Ardhnareeshwar (a half painted body of man as a woman), who plays the inner conscience of Prithvi. As he is being scolded by Dukey, the Ardhnareeshwar character sheepishly moves in and out of the room. Prithvi finally pretends to search something in the waste bin and finds what he was looking for. A map of Rajputana. Symbolism at its best. Dukey is so obsessed with the concept of Rajputana, he meanders to illegitimate ways, which are not even helping the cause. Prithvi wants to highlight this and has his own way of showing that the idea of Rajputana which was so glorious to begin with, is now in “Kachre ka dabba” (Waste Bin). He gets a slap in return.

Whenever Ransa (Abhimanyu Singh) goes out on a fight, he does not take a bike helmet, but a soldier’s helmet. In the end, Dileep Singh (Raj Singh Chaudhary) wears Ransa’s jacket and his soldier’s helmet, when he goes for the kill.

When Dileep and Ransa are ragged in the college, is not only the ragging of two guys. It is the ragging, which was felt by the entire Rajputana community, when their privy purses and other benefits were reduced by Congress. It was a ragging felt by the minor Swatantra Party in the Lok Sabha and the Assemblies. I do not support any view here as being just or unjust, and neither the movie does so.

The neon sign above Dileep and Ransa’s home says “Hello there, Democracy Beer.” It is a satire intended at democracy, by linking it to a trivial intoxicant - beer. When Karan (Aditya Srivastava) comes to Dukey Bana’s party after the elections, he asks for a drink “Republic”.

Karan and Kiran are the illegitimate children of an erstwhile His Highness of Rajpur, who never get their father’s name for obvious reasons. Karan, in Mahabharat, was also denied a legitimate father.

Association for Promotion of Creative Learning

2009-03-13T15:29:00.003+05:30

APCL or Association for Promotion of Creative Learning is a non-profit making society established to promote creativity and creative learning in Society. It has developed unique teaching/ learning methodology and evaluation technique based on modern concepts but drawing from ancient Indian wisdom.

Although I have been working with this organisation since its inception in 1997, I became life member in 2007. Visit www.creativelearning.in for more details.
Association for Promotion of Creative Learning

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Education Brochures & Catalogs apcl underprivileged

Nai Duniya : Rat Farming

2009-03-13T10:10:00.009+05:30

Coverage of rat farming in Nai Duniya.

Visit the recently launched blog : http://vijoyprakash.in/

Stupid and Wise

2009-02-25T19:42:00.011+05:30

This is sourced from the front page of "Hindustan", a news daily in Patna, India.

Papa's idea on rat farming was ranked above Obama, McCain, Hillary, Sarah Palin, Oprah as the "world's stupidest statement award" of 2008.

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS99512+02-Jan-2009+PRN20090102

Dennis Avery considers his idea on "rat farming" to be the best "non-science" solution to issues of global food scarcity. Dennis T. Avery, is a senior fellow with the Hudson Institute in Washington. Dennis is the Director for Global Food Issues. He was formerly a senior analyst for the Department of State.

http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/4523

Many find it disgusting. I find it liberating.

See my post. "Why popularising rat eating will help Musahars of Bihar?"

http://hmayank.blogspot.com/2008/08/why-popularizing-rat-eating-will-help.html

Long way to go. Long way to go.

Mumbai Attacked: Leaving Mumbai

2008-11-29T01:36:00.002+05:30

After 48 hours of aching in my head, I am leaving Mumbai. The cure for the itch is still not there. There will be a lot of answers in the coming week. Who did it? What should we do? Why they did it? But nothing can justify one fact we have to live with. We don’t have one of our friends among us today. If life is such a chance, why do we live?

A month back, I had contemplated moving to the rented rooms above Leopold’s Cafe. It was just a chance, that I liked my present place so much, I didn’t move. The problem with the whole episode is that I had been to all these places in the last week.

I had gone to the Colaba Main Market to shop for my shoes on Sunday. I and Mitro had seen Death Race in Metro Adlabs on Saturday. I was to go to the Taj Hotel for a presentation on Thursday morning. On Wednesday evening, I had a long stroll on the Marine Drive in front of Oberoi for more than an hour discussing how I will fish out my little sister, trapped in her college, for my elder sister’s wedding. If I had done any of these things at the time when the terrorists were there, my story could have been different too. The dice god played for me was heavily tilted in my favour.

But, then I think. Today, more people die on Indian roads than in terror attacks. When you cross the road, it is also just a chance that the driver is not drunk. That doesn’t mean we stop crossing roads.

After virtually being at home for 2 days, when I walked on the road in free air, it was amazing.

One of our friends is not with us today. May his soul rest in Peace.

2008-11-27T23:29:00.003+05:30

Mumbai Attacked: It is hate

2008-11-27T23:24:00.001+05:30

Its not Islam, Its not mujahideen, its hate.. and if you can feel it, its winning.

I read this somewhere today. Yes, it is HATE.

I can’t forget the closing line of the movie, American History X - Hate is a baggage. Life is too short to be pissed off all the time. It’s just not worth it.

It is hate. Like in the morning when my 85 year old landlady told me that if she was 10 years younger and had a gun, she would have gone there herself to shoot the terrorists. Or the guy who fled from the shootouts at Leopold and stayed at our place in the night said, “Give me a gun. My shooting would be better than them.”

Today, there was a lot of discussion in the living room, on the streets, in the cafe on why they did this?

It might be hate.

Mumbai Attacked: It is not over yet

2008-11-27T11:03:00.004+05:30

It is not over yet. Infact, it has just begun. Fear has a story of its own.

It is morning. I have been advised not to go to the office or the Taj. Rightly so. The German Expatriate whom I was to meet is missing. He was dropped at the Taj lobby yesterday at 7:30 PM. I got the most terrible news in the morning that one of my seniors is no more. Another one is probably shot and is at the hospital.

I try to make some sense out of it, but I can’t. Till yesterday, whenever I used to walk to the office in the morning, I used to really see the Air India Building closely, where they had put a bomb in the 1993 bombings. It still shivers me after 15 years. Now that I have been terrorized once again, I would definitely go for a stroll on Marine Drive or Taj or Oberoi or Colaba the same way I walk to my office every morning. It is definitely living life with a probability.

It was heartening to see people still on the Marine Drive for their morning walk. I try to make some sense out of it, but I can’t.

Mumbai Attacked: Just a few minutes after

2008-11-27T01:41:00.004+05:30

The terrorists are possibly still there with their hostages in a hotel a few blocks away from where I live. We have shut down the television. Three of the guys have already slept in the living room. And we two, I and my roommate are eating Haldiram Tasty Nuts. Life is not yet normal, but we have tried everything to make it normal.

After many calls of “Bach Gaye”, we have finally retired the cell phones to their charging docks. We have decided to switch on the television again tomorrow morning to see how the situation is. Possibly my meeting at Taj tomorrow is cancelled. But then it is okay. We will have it some other day. If there are no more blasts tomorrow, I will possibly go to office in the evening, thinking that they already have attacked once. So, the probability of another attack in Mumbai during my stay here is greatly reduced. After all, they come in cycles. The next turn for Mumbai might take some time. I should be ashamed that I am living my life with this probability but I am not.

And then I feel about those people who have to toil tonight, fighting those terrorists, or those who lost someone, or those who are in hospital. For them, this might not be over as yet. Their journey might begin right now.

Mumbai Attacked: A few minutes ago

2008-11-26T23:52:00.005+05:30

A few minutes ago, I heard three explosions. The television calls it the terror attack in Mumbai.

I had returned from my stroll at marine drive and the evening round of calls with my sister and papa and friends. I was watching Friends 605-The one with Joey's Porsche on my laptop and my roommate was packing things for going to Osho Commune at Pune tomorrow. It seemed like just another night of boredom. Someone knocked at the door. Vishal went to open the door and cried at me “Mayank, Kuch bawaal hua hai!” There was this friend of his who had just returned from Colaba. A shootout had just occurred near Bade Miyan where he was eating. And as we were discussing and dialling random numbers on the cellphone, we heard three explosions within seconds or minutes of each other. The ground shook. This was not just another night.

We switched on the television. And the firing still goes on outside, in batches of 4-5 rounds. As I am writing this, there are sirens of vehicles, police vehicles echoing in my ear. There are 6 people in my living room now, watching the news. Two of them were sitting at Leopold, where there was a shootout earlier. One is a broker, and another one his friend. I am here, my roommate is here. Aunty is in her room, Babloo is cursing everyone to disturb his sleep. And We are together. Only unity can fight this.

Of beating children and studying a lot!

2008-11-25T22:29:00.006+05:30

When I was in school, the English teacher asked us once to write our Resume assuming an age of 25 indicating what we would have done by then. And I wrote my Resume indicating my designation as “Protector of the Earth”. I was spared a beating only because I was one of the favourites in class and the pretty lady wasn’t reputed for punishing.

School was always a crazy place, where you could do everything and escape the stick because the teachers were not allowed to use it. I remember the lines by Russel Peters, “Somebody gonna get hurt real bad.” But that never happened.

And then I went to this boarding school for 2 years, where kids were beaten black and blue with sticks & pipes of all sizes. And I always thought that the more we were beaten, we were inspired in strengths to do mischiefs.

Imagine a prayer hall, where 300 dhoti clad children are meditating in dark, with a lamp burning in the front. Dignitaries are also sitting, at the end of the hall, watching the kids do keertan and then meditate in the dark. A surreal uneasiness hangs in the air. A poor child coughs. A few seconds later, there is cough at the other end of the hall. Soon, the coughs resonate in unison and the entire pack of 300 students is coughing their hearts out. Someone did not like it.

Shakti Maharaj, who was the chief hostel warden (warden of all hostels, protector of the earth) of the school, suspected that the coughing started from our hostel. Known for beating children black and blue, he comes to our hostel night meeting. Geeta Paath is going on in full fervour. Every kid sits confidently pretending that he was not involved. A slight look of fear could lead him to the guillotine. Maharaj picks up the first guy, beats him with the dreaded plastic pipe, making criss-crosses on his back. While he lies on the floor, another guy is picked up, beaten and then the third guy. And he leaves. Not a word spoken, not a name given. Possibly, no one knew who started it.

After about 10 mins., we hear laughter from the other hostel. Maharaj had visited that place too, where one of our friends had to pee in pants to prevent him from getting beaten. And Maharaj laughed. He could not continue with his onslaught and we won.

I left that school, not because we were beaten, but because we had to study a lot.

Truth prevails and only Truth prevails

2008-11-21T23:03:00.002+05:30

Truth prevails and only truth prevails. Satyamev Jayate. As a child, I have been taught to speak the truth. I didn’t learn.

I was famed for my notoriety. Whether it was breaking glasses or making myself dirty in the garden, I was the unwanted kid of the household. My reputation was such that even if I had not committed a certain crime, in the eyes of the law, I was the culprit. I had to tell a lot of lies to confess to crimes I had not committed. I just did it because there were no other suspects. And then I realized the importance of truth. Speak truth only when it helps others and not you. There is no harm in telling lies if it doesn’t harm anyone but you.
I have been following a part of it.

When did I lie?

A few days back I was late at office, came back home and was hungry. My dabba which was supposed to be my dinner was already eaten by the help at home. So, I just politely said next morning to my landlady that I already had food when I came back home last night. That hunger in my stomach was of a lesser pain to me than making an 85-year old lady feel guilty of such a trivial thing.

A few months back I had lied to me. I had this certain opportunity of going to USA and settling there which I politely refused for an option in India. Probably within me I understood that life in the US would be much better than being in India. I would earn more, be with the same pack of friends and enjoy a great deal. But, I spoke lies and weaved a web of lies around me that I don’t want to go to US. It is not long after I left that firm and came to Mumbai to learn something different. Those lies with me were a struggle. But I didn’t cave in and today, I think I did the right thing. I am learning what I wanted to learn, I am becoming what I wanted to become. Yes, life is tough and it will be. But I will be happier than what I would have been there.

Lying helps. Even in small numbers, at the right place, it is the only instrument truth can’t fight. For everything else, truth prevails and only truth prevails.

When I got scared

2008-11-16T16:16:00.006+05:30

In the summer of 2006, I was in California working as an intern architect. We were three of us Indians, enjoying the sun and breathing clean air the American way. One evening, the other two had left early from work. After leaving office, I was sitting at the Bus Stop to catch my bus back home with lot of ideas in my head. My thoughts were interrupted by a car screeching to a halt near the stop. And I saw a man inside waving at me. I waved back trying to recollect, whether he is from the same office, or if I had met him in any meeting. None. His wave of the five fingers soon turned into one finger and he said to me “F*** You”.

I am now working in Mumbai. Last Saturday, I was returning home after watching a movie with friends at around midnight. I left Mitro at his station and boarded the local train to Churchgate. Churchgate is the last station on the route and there were just two people in the entire compartment. One was me and the other guy was drunk. In the entire journey of about 20-25 minutes, he continually abused “Biharis” and “Lalu” saying all the slangs he could, shouting at all the people at the stations the train passed by. I crept into one corner which was not visible to him. Around the middle of the journey he came towards me, stared and then went back to the gate shouting at the people on the station. I quickly thought about all the languages I could have spoken, I thought about “Jai Maharashtra”. I thought about how I would muster strength to either throw him out of train or throw myself off. When the train halted at the last station, I took the other gate and started brisk walking. Atleast, between him and me, there was a big train now. A few people from other compartments who had also overheard him complained to the policemen on the station. I kept walking till I merged with some crowd on the street outside the station. For the first time in my life, I thought trains should be crowded.

The first incident might be the frustration of that individual, who possibly lost something to the colour of the skin. The second one made me an outsider in my own country. When I chose India over going to America, I really thought I can call this place home. Though not as serious as it looks today, we might see a form of terrorism taking birth in form of the north and south divide these politicians are doing to the country. I was reading this Khushwant Singh’s article Good Things to the Raj Times in Hindustan Times yesterday which says

The British Raj made us conscious of being Indian. We were Punjabis, Awadhis,
Biharis, Bengalis, Oriyas Andhras, Tamils, Malayalis, Maharashtrians, Rajputs —
also Hindu, Muslims, Christians and Sikhs. We remained all these but also became
Indians. All of us had one passport — Indian.

And that might be true. We only have a passport which says we are Indian. I try not to believe in that and want to fail miserably.

Random: The Patriot

2008-10-31T21:41:00.007+05:30

Hai preet jahan ki reet sada
Main geet wahan ke gaata houn
Bharat ka rehne waala houn
Bharat ki baat sunata houn

These lines from Purab aur Paschim are the echoes from the heart of a patriotic. While the paragraph preceding this chorus is essentially nationalist in nature, the theme without dispute is patriotic. It elaborates on the great inventions which were contributed by India to the world (Zero, Decimal etc.).

A nationalist and a Patriotic

A nationalist is one who loves a nation on its virtue of being great. If the nation stops being great, its value in the eye of a nationalist might dwindle. So, he tries to create an illusion around him to keep feeling great about his nation.

A patriotic on the other hand is one who is a less aggressive nationalist with inclinations toward positive community building & social responsibilities.

Jana Gana Mana before movies

When we were in school, we used to sing the National Anthem everyday. Because of singing it so often, it perhaps lost its shine of patriotism in our still impressionable minds. Before coming to Maharashtra, I had never thought of an idea of playing Jana Gana Mana before every movie screening, so that people are at least reminded of the struggle and compromises this country has made to be united. It is a feeling I got when reading about the struggle for Independence. As the Anthem is played for 52 seconds (in some movie halls more than that), I feel that same adrenaline rush. There are some who have written at lengths why Jana Gana Mana should not be played before the screening of movies.

Punjab Sindh Gujarat Maratha Dravid Utkal Banga

I have been staying in Maharashtra since 1.5 years. In this land of the patriotic Marathas, I am equally shocked to find a greater sense of sub-nationalism. This cultivated mass phenomenon might rot an entire generation of free people who can never dream how it was before independence. Probably back then, there was a collective sense of unity towards a common cause, Independence. Now that the cause is gone, people are forming groups to achieve lesser goals. The condition is similar to a batch of freshers who are united in their first years as they are being ragged. However, when they come out of the oppression, they gradually go on to form lesser goals and get divided into groups.

It is good to take pride in your belongingness but it is dangerous to be blinded
by its illusion.

Yesterday, they were against Malayalis from the south; today, they are against biharis from the north. Tomorrow, they might go against their so called own people, the marathi manoos. However, when I talk to the people here, I find their versions quite different. A bai (domestic help) from the east is preferred and is less troublesome than the marathi Bais. Bhaiyas from Uttar Pradesh are much better craftsmen at making furniture than the Marathi ones.

Some people do feel that Marathis are not getting employment. Is it because they don’t have the opportunity?

I wonder why there have been no RTIs to find out whether the Railway Examinations in question were advertized in marathi newspapers or not?

The terror these so called street ideologists want to create will be a dangerous one. But, I have deep faith in this land of people called India, which has seen even larger games of terror and has still lived cheerfully with its varied pluralisms.

Smoking is injurious to your friend's health!

2008-10-07T01:41:00.006+05:30

From Gandhi Jayanti, 2nd October this year, another Ramadossier has been on rounds all over India. Smoking has been banned at all indoor establishments. Only parks and roads are allowed as smoking zones for free.

It's mantra is

Smoking is injurious to your friend's health. Don't kill him.

Implications of this noble idea

Smoking zones with a fine.
There is no “No smoking Zone” in India. All designated as “No Smoking” are actually Smoking Zones with a fine. Because people will smoke and they will be ready to pay fine.

India will move up to become one of the least corrupt nations in the world.
People will be ready to pay the bribe when caught at non-smoking places. However, the bribe for a 200 finer would be so less that it will be a shame to give and accept it. So, people will be honest and so would be authorities. No Corruption.

Smoking ban will create surplus funds for the treasury.
The credit crunch for India is gone. This smoking ban claims itself to be a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) as it reduces emissions. Hence, Indian Government will earn carbon credits per ton of Carbon not produced. This is a gift of millions of patriotic Indians who have given up smoking for the sake of country’s treasury.

Office Lease Rates will lower as we go up an office tower.
Historically, all office towers in Mumbai charged the same INR per sq ft for leased space. Maybe at a few places it was higher for the floors as we go up. Situation is going to change. Office spaces at upper floors will be higher than the lower floors. None of the companies want to lease up space at upper floors fearing that the productivity will fall. If the company is on a higher floor, the employees take that much time to go down for smoking and hence waste a lot of productive time from their schedules.

However, the demand up high might as well be high.
After a certain number of floors, the higher you go, it will be a psychological barrier for you to think of coming down to smoke. This will become a highly researched paper funded by the companies who would want to take up space at such floors, so that their employees give up smoking and earn carbon credits for the company.

Changes in Office Architecture
A few frustrated individuals might jump from the upper floors of the tower to smoke. This would result in the municipal corporation demanding a 10’ protective net on all sides of the building after a particular floor to prevent people from falling down on pedestrians below.

Vegetarians/Non-Vegetarians to Smokers/Non-Smokers
Whenever we used to go for a party, picnic, outing, we usually took a count of people who were vegetarians/non-vegetarians. However, with this ban, the admin guys would be more interested in taking a count of smokers and non-smokers as that has become more critical now. Separate facilities have to be considered.

Doctors have advised to chew tobacco.
Due to the sudden fall in nicotine intake of several Indians, Doctors have advised them to chew tobacco. All underworld dons and heroes in movies chew tobacco. Chewing tobacco has become a worldwide phenomenon. Nicotine patches are at all reception counters incase someone wants to get some kick urgently.

(I have never smoked in my life. But I have been smoking passively for years now. Maybe my lung is worse than of a smoker.)

2007 Reprint Edison

2008-10-06T21:43:00.002+05:30

Did you hurt him?

2008-09-15T22:42:00.003+05:30

Did you hurt him?
Oh yes you did.

He used to walk that line every night
Making the earth shine
Clearing the dirt with every footstep.
Yet the filth of hatred, he could not carry
And left on the pavement.

And on that pavement
Walked a hundred souls
Never caring for the shine or the filth
That lay untouched on the road

For it was the duty of that man
To make it the best pavement on this earth

And he died that day
For the filth he could not carry
Poisoned his lungs.

Even that impartial bomb did not see
Whether he was a hindu or a muslim.

The next night another man came
And walked the same line
Cleaning the dirt the same way
And wiped that filth of hatred.

Can you hurt him?
Oh no you can’t.

This is a list of those who died in the Delhi Blasts on September 13, 2008.

1. Vinod Kumar
2. Prithviraj
3. Subroto Mandal
4. Ganga Prasad
5. Pooja
6. Vikas Anand
7. Raju
8. Hanumandin Singh
9. Ram Lal
10. Babita
11. Kamini
12. Hari Chand
13. Chander Bhan
14. Saroj
15. Amit Saxena
16. Master Kishan
17. Ashok Bhatti
18. Bhaskar
19. Unknown, 35/M
20. Manoj Singh
21. Tejender Singh
22. Pawan Kumar
23. Kishen Bhatti
24. Nepal Sarkar
25. Manoj Singh
26. Rajni Gupta

May their soul rest in peace.