Hope we don't accept it this time..........

When the recently laid road in front of my house was washed away in the very first week of monsoon, it was neither the worst moment of science nor was it the failure of PWD department. It was simply the reiteration of the fact that nothing is permanent, and I personally accepted it as my misfortune and steered my bike though the potholes. “What can I do?” I asked thousands of time I moved on that road and my friends said, “Chalta hai” whenever I discussed this with them.

We read in private schools, because govt teachers don’t bother to attend schools. We would say,”yaha kaa yahi system hai.” There is no electricity and we would happily buy inverters or generators. There is no transport system and we would proudly own car. “Privatization kaa jamaana hai bhai” said the local chaiwaala whenever he saw long line of cars caught on road, in traffic.

This is the way we behave and that’s why we deserve such governments which are high on promises and low in delivery. We are bunch of selfish people who think of society and nation when some personal interest is involved. And what am I? Worse...wrote this piece thinking, “main kya kar sakta hoon”

Terror Threats: They are Real, I am worried

Hockey World Cup, IPL and Commonwealth games. Three major sports events are scheduled in India in next 1 year. Whole world looking at us, a little worried, a bit scared. Terrorists are planning their strike, meticulously and innovatively. Our government is working full time, agencies are on high alert. But one more terror strike, even of minor intensity, will put India in the league of Pakistan, a pariah where none of the foreign teams are ready to play. This will eventually affect business opportunities. Companies vying to come to India will start thinking twice. There is much on stake for India. I am scared. Hopefully we pull them off well and safely, not one but all three of the tournaments. I hope. I pray.

As Chidambaram remarked, “We need to be successful every time but they need to be successful only once”. He knows the threat. He knows the repercussions.

But what is the solution? We are surrounded by failed states from all the side. Is Israel like strikes only option left for India? We want a developed and prosperous Pakistan, but they themselves don’t allow that. We wanted to help Afghanistan but Pakistan does not want our involvement in Afghanistan. What should we do now? US is playing its own game...China is keeping its card closed. We are left alone, bruised and dejected but definitely not defeated. What should we do? Diplomacy is not successful, not yielding any result. Is Military the only answer?

I had written on the same subject in 2008 also, titled 'Safety First', http://mukulpriyadarshi.blogspot.com/2008_09_01_archive.html

CSE: Centre for Science and Environment

I was going through Sunita Narain's profile on wikipedia and eventually landed up on CSE's website. CSE is the Centre for Science and Environment. It is a public interest research and advocacy organisation based in New Delhi. CSE researches into, lobbies for and communicates the urgency of development that is both sustainable and equitable. (http://www.cseindia.org/node/214).

Sunita is current CSE director and was in news for pesticide in cold drinks issue.

Just started wondering, can there be any such similar organization looking into government policies related to primary education, women health and other social policies. A watch dog sort of organization........always keeping the government on their toes and rejuvenating the masses.

Just wondering........

SATYAM: Nothing 'Satya' about it!!!!

I was least expecting that sort of news when, today, I went to www.timesofindia.com for my daily dose of news, just after logging in the system.

It has been my routine for last two years and hope so for many of you. The first thing I do daily once I login in is to visit news sites like www.timesofindia.com and www.ibnlive.com and then open my inbox to start my professional obligations.

Today a small red rectangular window flashed “B. Ramalinga Raju resigns from Satyam Computers Board, admits fraud”. I could not resist the temptation to know the full story and clicked on the URL that promised to feed me with more details.
Hmmmm…..One article…..related articles….another news sites….some more articles…I kept flowing in the sea of information, so called truths, letters and stories about misconducts of a Chairman. Finally…I was done….sat in silence….felt shocked, dejected and cheated.

My heart goes to all those stakeholders who lost their money, employees who may be left with no job in this volatile market and international client who lost their trust. This was the last thing we were asking this year.
I don’t want to write today……….will analyse it later in full detail. For now below are some links for you to get more details:

Times of India:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Satyam_chairman_Ramalinga_Raju_resigns/articleshow/3946088.cms

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Business/India_Business/No_loss_of_faith_in_Indian_IT_due_diligence_to_go_up_Infosys/articleshow/3946729.cms

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Business/India_Business/Unedited_open_letter_from_Satyam_interim_CEO_Ram_Mynampati/articleshow/3947139.cms

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Business/India_Business/Satyam_a_failure_of_governance_Narayanamurthy/articleshow/3947534.cms

IBNLive:
http://ibnlive.in.com/news/company-didnt-know-of-rajus-fraud-ceo/82258-7.html
http://features.ibnlive.in.com/special/web2/satyam-fiasco.html

TheHindu:
http://www.hindu.com/2009/01/08/stories/2009010860840100.htm
http://www.hindu.com/2009/01/08/stories/2009010859941500.htm

Right to safety be my fundamental right

I wrote an article titled “Safety first” in the month of October’2008 hoping terrorism mayhem to stop in India. I had also listed down some actions items for government and security establishments to follow to eliminate terrorists’ attacks on Indian Territory.

Today again I write on the same topic….down and dejected…lost in my own world. Yesterday was 26th November 2008….there came 20-30 odd frustrated and lost individuals who once again brought India to a stand still…..caught it by collar…looked into its eyes and without a blink made it cry.
India is great…We are super power…We would rule the world…We as school students always boosted these lines in our friend’s company. How good were those days of child innocence? Today as a young literate individual, I, myself, question those lines.

Mumbai was not made target for first time. It has already been targeted in 1992 and 7/11 bomb blasts in local trains in 2006. Sea route was not taken for the first time, it was the route preferred in 1992 also to transport weapons. India was not targeted for the first time but in last six months Indian metros had been targeted one after another. Then again, every time we are caught off guard. Who is responsible? No one is ready to take blame. State Government is pointing finger towards central government….Centre looks in blank…Home minister is more worried about his shirt colour and freshness of his hair. Police says it has got outdated weapons that do not stand a chance against high quality weapons of terrorists. Army blames that it was called late and even NSG takes hours to bring the situation under control.

No one is ready to take the responsibility. Spineless India every time is pushed on the ground and we forget the incident after a day or two. It’s back to normal for us as well as those responsible for our security. Today as a law abiding and tax paying citizen of India I ask a simple question,” Who is responsible for my security?” If state, centre, police and defence are not ready to be accountable. I am left alone on my own for my safety. I refuse to pay the tax and demand weapon licence for myself.
All those politicians sitting in decision making positions look within yourself….what promises would you make to us in the next election when my basic requirement of safety is not meet. A common man for whose rights you boost to be fighting, demands right to safety to be included in my fundamental rights. Officials approving fake passports, ration cards and other documents for terrorists, if proved, to be booked under terrorism law.
and for India....it needs to shed the burden of being a soft nation and soft target. Indian needs to shed their dishonesty and selfishness. We allow these Pakistanis and Bangladeshis to come into our country, get ration cards and other proofs etc by money, become a resident and burden on our country and finally strike at ourselves at the first opportunity. Lets take pledge together not to felicitate their entry and stay in our country even if they pay large some of money. It is better to die of poverty than being killed on road by some crazy b****** of neighbouring nations.

Safety First!!

Delhi-Varanasi-Mumbai-Hyderabad-Ahmedabad-Jaipur-Bangalore-Delhi!!!! This is not anyone’ orkut profile mentioning their location. This is the terror map of India depicting all the targets of terrorist for last one year (Phew…..add Malegaon and Gujrat in the list as they were targeted while I write this piece). What is happening around us? I have no answer. Do you have?

Newspapers and News channels are all blaming home minister of India, Intelligence Bureau and local police. Neither this blame game have stopped nor the attacks. How far will it go? How many more lives will it take? Who are responsible?

As I sit and think of ways to curb this menace. A lot of idea flow through my little mind and I put some here to share with you:
It’s not the time to blame anyone but plan for the future so that these attacks are not repeated.
1) Let’s start with a security week all over India. All schools, Offices and public places will be filled with messages, lectures and road shows explaining individual’s responsibilities, safety measures and related laws.
Our tough and challenging life has made us immune to our surrounding. We even don’t know our neighbours. Let’s shed our inhibition and take social responsibilities…get involved. We need to be aware about our surrounding and inform police helpline as and when we get suspicious about anything.
2) A toll free and easy to remember number of police’s terrorism cell in each of the major cities and state capitals, working 24*7.
3) A central terrorism cell (on the lines of CBI and IB) coordinating with all the terrorism cells of the major cities and state capitals with free access to information and latest weapons even of defence for specific purposes with prior permission.
4) Stringent terrorism law with special courts hearing those cases….speedy trails and execution of court’s decision.
5) Rewards for all those involved in informing police about terrorists and their plans. Rewards should be monetary as well as promotion in their rank in their professional life.

Even if we implement all these suggestions, the implication will only be short term. These attacks were not carried out by any external agencies. All these so called terrorists are Indians who are not happy…who don’t believe in Indian secularism. A long term plan needs to be planned for these brothers of ours who have moved away from mainstream and started believing in death and destruction. Onus is on us now to make every Indian believe India is of all of us. All religion, caste and creed are equal and have equal rights. We need a national leader who could unite all of India and lead us on the right direction.
For me I only want to do my job as an Indian and leave behind a better and safer India for generations to come. Aameen!!!

Indian IT: Bull’s leg shaking after the run

“This is all to do with big and rich people. We never get affected by major financial policy decisions and fluctuations in share markets” said my grandfather and would repeat it time and again whenever I would curiously ask about any financial news while we watched news together.
That was the time of government jobs and what mattered the most in news was political news. That was early nineties and the benefits of opened Indian market were yet to be seen.
India has changed a lot over last couple of decades and so has the topographies of each individual’s family. Single earning joint families have transformed into each working nuclear families (at least the middle class is moving in this direction). Working not in any government department but private firms and growth of these private firms are closely (or better call it directly) related to major financial policy decisions and fluctuations in share markets, a clear contrast to what had been my grandpa’s time.
Last week’s development in financial circle shook US and aftermath was felt in India and each IT professional’s heart. Rising Dollar had already put Indian IT firms on back foot and developments of last week made the situation worse. The fall of esteemed Leman Brothers, acquisition of Merrill Lynch and problems in AIG coupled with credit crisis in US is expected to hit Indian IT firms hard. Banking and Financial services constitute on an average 40% of their business and US market dependence is also close to staggering 45% (which has reduce over a period of time due to corrective actions taken by these firms after slowdown in 2002-03).

So what is the future now? I take the positive out of this situation. It had been a bull’s run for last couple of years, uncontrolled hiring and uneven growth. Its time to sit for a while and consolidate upon whatever we have gained over a period of time. It’s an opportunity to plan for the future and fix any loop holes that could have crept in our systems and processes. Re-iterate each individual’s responsibility, slow down the hiring, create opportunities in Asian markets which has largely been left untouched by IT surge( though the margins are going to be low ). Indian firms and government departments (central and state) remain untouchable to best practices followed all over the world and IT. Indian IT firms by working with most reputed of organisations all over the world have expertise to transform Indian industries by providing consultancy as well as IT services.

If these firms could stand 2002-03 debacles, there is no point to think that they would not swim this tide also. I am a little sceptical but also optimistic and confident.
“It affects us” I said looking up to the heaven, hoping my grandpa would hear it.

Me and We

It had happened in past and occurred again recently. I watched them unfold the mystery, sitting in the comfort of my home with “It happened in India-A biography of Kishor Biyani” in my hand. Didn’t you get it??….I was watching the proceedings of Lok Sabha, the sacred sanctorum of Indian Democracy, during recently concluded “Confidence Motion” discussion brought by honorable Prime Minister Mr. Manmohan Singh. I have a habit of keeping a book or newspaper in hand while watching TV to utilize my time during ad breaks and this time I had “It happened in India”. Luckily there were not many breaks during lok sabha proceedings and I didn’t get much time to indulge in the book or else I would have been torn between the ideals and risks of a man who changed the face of Indian retail and the activities of our elected MPs who stooped to the nadir.

The pre-voting days were mysterious and every hour brought a new ‘BREAKING NEWS’. If Devegowdas, Ajit Singhs and Shibu Sorens were undecided (or better call if waiting for the best deal), ruling alliance was nervous and opposition hurried sensing its time has come. That was the follow up stage for the real battle and all those aaya rams, gaya rams and new found paltu rams made it the most awaited event of the year. First day of the session was a normal one with PM bringing in the confidence motion, leader of opposition starting the debate and others following him. I missed the old days and speakers like Atal jee, Sushma Sawaraj, Pramod Mahajan, Rajesh Pilot and many others who were not there in the lok sabha this time. Speeches lacked the spark and oratory skills but second day was different. If Chidambaram attacked left and NDA, Lalu brought in humorous freshness and Rahul Gandhi opened his heart but it was the other thing that caught the attention “Cash on the centre table”. Opposition bought cash which they said was paid to them to change their vote. The whole parliament went into its toes and speaker hurriedly asked the camera to stop the live telecast of the proceedings. TV Screen went black and I started reading the book.
Kishor Biyani, don’t you know him? He is the man behind pantaloons, Big Bazaar, Food Bazaar and Central retail chains. A small time business man who made it big only on the shoulders of determination and rare but very small business ideas. He didn’t hire big advertisement agencies and consultancy firms but observed Indian consumer‘s habits, emulated small nukhsaas that our mom and daadi had and localised each store according to the regional preferences. He gives the credit of his success to India and adeptly called his auto biography “It happened in India”

Proceedings were back on TV screen and what I was watching shocked me to the core. MPs were purchased for their votes, some voted against their own party’s whip and some ran away before the vote and abstained themselves. I asked myself,” Had it not happened in past?” Yes…it had happened. What is the reason behind it?.........hmmm…many…….maybe money……..greed……..society………no no……..it’s the lack of moral values. Leave alone MPs…it’s all of us……we have lost the moral values. It the naked race for money, money & money, even if it means losing one’s own conscience.

I gazed on those blank walls of the room and thought, “My life is the same…..living each day, I didn’t do anything substantial….maybe won’t do anything significant in future as well. But so had been many generations, so am I and so would be coming generations. We are the arm chair critic who comments on all but does nothing. I looked back on the TV screen….results were announced and Ruling Coalition had won it. I saw them celebrating while I cried for the loss of human values, though I was happy that nuclear deal will now pass through and maybe ten years from now, India would be a better place. But the loss of values is eminent. The values got eroded with time. It had been a gradual journey. Every individual have lost a part of values that he inherited from their preceding generation and it is the unlucky MPs whose loss is on display and we as individual are lucky to keep it under wrap. “Ohhh..leave these thoughts” I said and envisaged my son doing the same 30 years from now. Nothing will change but for some like Kishor Biyani. I was back to “It happened in India”.
You are welcome to comment.................

THE SPHERICAL WORLD:WHATEVER THAT SEEMS TO BE MOVING AWAY, IS ACTUALLY COMING BACK TO THE ORIGIN.

It was nothing unusual for that day. It was not a festival, no one was getting married and I didn’t come first in the class. But our house had a festive look. The scent of newly painted walls was present all over the place. It was neat and clean everywhere. The bed wore new bed sheet, window curtains were clean and the room was dust free. The dampness of the soil made it cool all around. The whole family waited anxiously in the open varanda of our ancestral home. We were waiting for my grandfather who was coming home after a long time from his work place, kolkata.

This was a routine affair for most of the families in our village. This was the day when we would anxiously wait for the head of the family to return to our ancestral home after every six months or so. It was a common norm in those days that the earning member would be living in the city and the other members of the family would remain in village itself.
Situation changed with generation and when my father moved to the city, he brought us along with him. We would visit village during vacations and festivals.
The life of village was totally contrasting to the city life. The silence of the village, the loving neighborhood, the nights spent on daadi’s lap, days spent in fields and summer in mango orchards……………list goes on. There was no electricity, no TV, no pizzas and no cinema hall. But those were the best days of my life. Daadi’s stories were more enjoyable than the TV serials, Ramlal’s samosas were tastier than pizzas, the starry nights on rooftops were cooler than ACs, and the hand pump water was warmer than the geysers. That pure and serene beauty of a typical Indian village mixed with the innocence of childhood makes those days quite irresistible today.

I have been living in cities for some decades now,. With the time, the life of cities has changed a lot. It has become quite costly. The population has increased quite considerably. Indian cities have become the most populated cities in the world. In addition to that increased living standards of people here have led the land prices to skyrocket. The two room flats that were affordable for middle class families are out of range for a well paid citizen today .The loan facilities provide a helping hand but the high interest rates make sure that we remain in their clutches for quite some time.

If this shooting of real estate prices continues, I foresee a future where we would be forced to move our family back to our ancestral homes in villages and live single in cities to save money and sustain family. I can imagine my next generation waiting for me as anxiously as, I used to do for my grandfather.
I pause and think for a while:
Are we moving away from our past or getting closer to it? Is History repeating itself?
I must say this is a spherical world: Whatever that seems to be moving away, is actually coming back to the origin.

WITH BROOM IN MY HAND, I MISSED MY MOM ON THE TIME SAND

It was a weekend day and I rose early. The morning was lovely with the sunrays intruding slowly into my flat through the windows and the birds singing the rhymes of God. The room was silent and the environment soothing. I never felt such freshness and calm. Was it different from the other days or was I missing it everyday? I was enjoying every bit of it and went on to complete my morning chorus.

The next thing to catch my attention was the dirt which had became a part of my life. The sound of newspaper flying in the room, the dust stored over TV, computer and Utensils and the stack of books lying all over the room made wonderful scenery which made sure that I never missed the natural surrounding of my village in the concrete jungles of the town. But the stillness and silence of the surrounding made me realize their true colours. I decided to clean it. Ohh..it took minutes to even locate the broom in the small flat of mine. When did I clean it last? Do we need to clean our rooms everyday? Ohh…God! What am I doing? I was standing still with my entire brain cells working actively and the images of past rushing through my eyes.

I never saw the dust on TV, papers flying and the stack of books earlier. How the things got changed so drastically? Had I changed? The only difference was that I never got to see those misadventures of mine. There was an angel who cleaned my room, who kept money in my pocket before I could anticipate that I had no money, who knew my marks before I got my results, I never felt hungry, I never experienced pain. An angel who never asked for any return, who never shared her pain, who never called me by my name. I was standing still.

I sent the same angel to old age home last week. I found the same angel to be a burden on my young shoulders. I found her to be an intruder in our privacy when she was the one who was happiest to see me married to a girl of my choice. I found her expenses created a hole in my pocket when she made sure that I never had an empty packet. The dust and dirt of mine reminded me of her. With broom in my hand, I missed my mom on the time sand.

WAITING FOR THE RAIN TO WET MY SOUL

Patience and perseverance are told to be the two of the greatest virtues of any human being. Wait..everything will be alright. Wait…there is always a silver lining. Wait …future holds good for you. These are some of the lines which we keep on listening from our parents, teachers, peers and well wishers. We keep dreaming about the better future. When we are in mid-forties and all our hope vanish. We pass the baton to our children. Wait for their better future which in turn will make our own shinning….then the baton is passed to the Grandchildren…and it becomes a chain.

The wait never ends…….it just takes away different shapes. I wonder why we need to wait. Why can’t we live in the present unbothered by the past and unworried about the future? Why can’t we accept the simple fact of today however hard it is? Why do we need to console ourselves with the unknown sympathy of a better future? The very nature imbedded in us from the childhood days makes us a personality asking for excuses at every step later in our career and a day dreamer. I quote some lines of Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee:

“ kal kal karte aaj haath se nikle saare
Bhoot bhawisyat ki chinta me wartamaan ki baaji haare”