Vikram Pyati's Thoughts

BLACK AND WHITE

2012-02-11T12:20:00.000+05:30

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 24; the Twenty-Fourth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. The theme for this month is BLACK AND WHITE.

Is Love always Black or White or is Love always grey ? Or is Love sometimes Black or White and sometimes grey ?

Even if you break someone's heart whom you dearly love, for reasons you have no control over, why do you feel uneasy when the person is happy with someone else ? Does it mean your love was not pure, not white ? It had shades of grey ?

If someone you love breaks your heart, why does your sadness increases if you see them happy with someone else ? And if they are as sad as you, why does it cheer you up ? Does it mean your love was not pure, not white ? It had shades of grey ?

Coming back to the question again, does Love have to be White ? If your Love has shades of grey, is it not Love at all ? Is it just an illusion which your ego wants you to believe ? If so, have I never, Loved at all ?

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Anna Hazare, Corruption and Us

2011-08-18T08:32:00.002+05:30

The other day I was watching a debate on Anna Hazare’s fast on the popular talk show “We The People”. One of the panelist, who called his fast a farce, asked, “How many of you have read the Jan Lokpal bill advocated by Team Anna?” Only a few raised their hand, to which the panelist gave a look which communicated something like, “See, you guys don’t even know what you are supporting”.

But then, that is not really the right question, is it?. I think more than 90% of people who are supporting Anna don’t completely know what is a Jan Lokpal bill, what is the difference between the government’s draft and Team Anna’s draft, how is Anna’s draft better and so on. All of them ( including me) are supporting Anna Hazare because we are fed up with this government; a government which allowed so many multi-crore scams to happen right under its nose, a government which tries to undertake smear campaign against a gandhian just because he criticizes it, a government which even though has a comfortable majority in the parliament has done nothing of note in last 2 years since it came to power for the second time (the last point was made by Narayana Murthy, one of the most respected thinkers and business leaders of India, in an interview) .
So the question is not really whether Anna’s bill is any better than the government’s. No one cares. Anything is better than this government (or the opposition, for that matter). Supporting Anna is supporting a crusade against corruption, supporting a movement which can be a defining moment in the history of India or as Anna told in his speech – a second freedom struggle.

People are also criticizing Anna’s methods, saying he is blackmailing the government and that he has no authority, as parliament has the ultimate right to create a bill. This is ridiculous. India has waited patiently for 43 years for the lokpal bill to pass in parliament (it was first introduced in 1968). What do you want? That we wait another 50 years for the bill to pass? If no action is taken now, the government (this one and the one after this) will sleep on it forever.
Let us support Anna in these testing times. It is not a question of Lokpal bill; it is a question of fight against corruption. Anna Hazare is a ray of hope. Let’s not waste this opportunity and do every bit to support him.

Having said that, even if the bill is passed I doubt anything will change significantly for the common man. The bill passage, whenever it happens, will be great start for sure, but will be just that, a start. That is because we ourselves (including me), the common men, are one the most corrupt species in India. How many of us have not paid a bribe to get the driver’s license? How many of us have not paid a bribe to get the house registration done? While travelling in train when we find our name in the waiting list chart, how many of us have not tried to bribe the TC and get a seat? How many of us have not bribed the police constable who catches us without proper vehicle documents? I am sure most of us have, at least once. (I for one have definitely done that)
Unless and until each one of us decides that we will not bribe anyone to get the work done, that we will not take advantage of the system, Anna Hazare’s campaign will not be a success. If we are supporting him now, let us also make a commitment that we will neither give nor accept bribe.

Let’s hope that Anna Hazare’s campaign is indeed a second freedom struggle - a freedom from corruption.

Free

2011-08-15T00:00:00.002+05:30

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 23; the twenty-third edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. The theme for this month is FREE.

This post is a 55 fiction - 55 Fiction is a form of micro-fiction that refers to the works of fiction limited to a maximum of fifty-five words

Amit saw his name in the facebook "friend suggestions"
"Shall I call him?"
"What will he think?"
"Will he even talk to me?"
"Would I look smaller?"
"It wasn't entirely my fault"

"What the hell"

He picked up the phone and dialled
"Dude, I am sorry!"

And just like that, he was free.

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton. Happy Independence Day!

Revenge

2011-07-23T22:43:00.001+05:30

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 22; the twenty-second edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Balakrishnan, Bala to his colleagues, walked past the crowded corridor on the way to his cubicle. The corridor was jam packed with job aspirants. Crater Inc, the company where Bala was a program manager, was hiring for the position of network assistant and Bala was supposed to interview the candidates.

"Yes, I have....yes, yes. I will get that. Hopefully I will get this job. This is my last hope", a tall, lanky middle-aged man was talking on his cell phone.

Bala stopped momentarily. "This voice is familiar", he thought. He turned around and was surprised to find Vicky, his classmate from college. Bala entered the cubicle and threw his bag at the table; a smug smile emerged on his face. "How times has changed", he thought.

"Hey Balu, come here", ordered Vicky as he sat with his friends, feet up on the table, in the center of college canteen. Bala did not look up and continued reading his book. His blood was boiling, especially since Simran was also sitting beside Vicky.
"Come on man, this is canteen, you should eat some food here, not the pages of your "Network System", shouted Vicky amidst a roar of laughter.
"Shut up guys, leave the poor fellow alone", pleaded Simran
This was adding insult to injury. Simran calling him a poor fellow? Bala couldn't take it anymore. He picked up his book and quietly left the canteen. As he was walking out he heard another round of laughter.

Bala was startled by the knock on the door.He felt a stinging pain in his palms; without his knowledge he had clenched his fist so hard that the nails had cast deep marks on his palm.
"Shall I send in the first candidate?", asked Sujata,Bala's secretary, slightly bemused by his abnormal reaction.
"Yes please", replied Bala drinking a glass of water.

One by one the candidates came and went, but none of them were a perfect fit for the job. If they knew about meshwork port cards, they did not know about multiparous gateways and if they knew how to utilize multiparous gateways they were ignorant of CIFS. And by any chance if they knew all of them, their communication was poor.

"Have you shortlisted any of them? Only one more candidate is remaining"
"None of them are upto the mark. Send in the last candidate"

"Hey Balakrishnan, how are you? Remember? I am Vicky. We studied together in college", said Vicky excitedly on seeing Bala
"Oh.. did we? Which department were you in?" Bala replied, almost nonchalantly.
"I was in Computer Networks. You, me , Simran..."
Bala became even more serious on the mention of Simran's name.
"Oh yes, I remember. Long time. Please sit, we will start the interview process"

"What role are you playing in your current company?"
"Actually... I parted away from my last company about six months ago", replied Vicky, a little embarrassed
"Parted away? Were you fired?", asked Bala, with an unnatural stress on the word fired.
"Yes.... kind of", said Vicky, sheepishly

Bala was enjoying every bit of this. He remembered all the times when he was humiliated by Vicky and his coterie. He asked extremely difficult questions to Vicky which were completely unrelated to the area of work and made it a point to rub it to him that he was hopeless. Slowly, the expression on Vicky's face changed.It became more and more gloomy. Finally, after about half an hour, Bala put Vicky out of his misery.

"Listen Vicky. As much as I want to hire you, you know, for old times sake, I cannot, as we have an extremely critical project and any incompetency will create a lot of problems. Why don't you give me a call, say, after 15-20 days? I will see if there are any other openings in less critical projects".

Vicky was lost in deep thoughts. He did not speak for couple of minutes. Bala did not mind it. In fact, he couldn't believe his luck. After all these years he had got a golden chance to hit back at his tormentor. After a long pause, Vicky responded.

"Thank you Bala. That won't be necessary". Vicky got up, shook hands and walked out of the room, without any hint of the deep discomfort he was in just a couple of minutes ago. It was as if suddenly he had found a solution to all his problems.

Bala was happy. He stood near the window sipping his evening tea with a satisfied smile looming large over his face. Just then he saw Vicky crossing the street next to the office compound. Vicky abruptly stopped and turned back to see something, unaware of the fact that a speeding bus was approaching him. Bala's eyes widened with fear as the bus came closer to Vicky and he was still standing on the middle of the road. Finally, the bus driver applied the break; the bus came to a screeching halt, but not before it had knocked off Vicky. To his horror, Bala saw Vicky lying amidst a pool of blood. He immediately called the watchman and asked,

"Watchman, what happened to the person? Is he alright?"
"No sir, looks like on-the-spot death. I have been telling everybody hundreds of times to be careful here, the sharp turn makes it difficult for the drivers to see the pedestrians, but who listens to me, they say I am old, but one day.......... ", the watchman went on and on, but Bala was not listening. He dropped his phone and thudded on to the chair. After couple of minutes of blackout, he started thinking.

Did he deliberately stop in the middle of the road? No, it is just a job. No one will commit suicide because of this.... But he was talking over phone that this is his last hope....... People talk like that all the time, they don't mean it literally....

But did he?

Bala stood motionless for couple of minutes.

But how is it my fault if he did not get the job? Clearly he was incompetent..... But I never asked him any relevant questions, he might have been a good fit..... No, he was fired from his last job...... There could be many reasons for it, not just incompetence, I never bothered to even ask.....Still, everyday there are thousands of people who don't clear interviews, they don't commit suicide.... I humiliated him over and over again, that might have pushed him over the edge........

Did it?

Bala closed his eyes. He wished all these thoughts would somehow go away. He wished he would fall asleep. He wished Vicky had not come for the interview.....

Bala did get his revenge, but at what cost?

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

You came.....

2011-07-01T04:36:00.000+05:30

I was angry
I was sad
I talked without reason
people called me mad

I was hopeless
I was depressed
I wandered aimlessly
even I thought I was possessed

I was down
I was out
I held my head
was about to shout

Then you came,
And then you came,
The world as I saw,
was a better place again.

The Journey

2011-04-03T09:32:00.001+05:30

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 19; the nineteenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

I went for a jog in a park nearby
everyone seemed happy and I let out a cry

I started jogging,looking at things left and right
the set-up was eyecatching, resplendent and bright

Someone then told me, run as fast as you can
you will win a medal, so strategise and plan

I started running, putting down my head
knocked down a few on the way,my hands turned red

Some people wanted to join me, I took them along
but promptly warned them, its a journey very very long

I got tired, but I wasn't going to stop
there was a medal to win, a clock to watch

Finally I made it, had the medal in my hand
I looked for someone to hug, but couldn't find a man

I looked back for my companions, but they were left far behind
They could see me no more, or perhaps they just did not mind

I sat on the bench, unable to stand anymore
had a relook at the park,boy,did I see something more?

There was a fountain, with a stream of water so pure
I could have taken a bath, enjoying its magnificence

There was a field, full of exotic fruits
I could have tasted them all, relishing their sweetness

There were toddlers, playing in mud without care
I could have become a kid again, shedding my inhibitions

There were a thousand other things, that I could have done
but I left them all, for the most important one

Yes, I went for the medal and I successfully collected
looked at it one more time, but the feeling wasn't the one that I expected

As I walked out of the park, exasperated and drained
I tried to convince myself, the medal is the one that I cared

But then a thought striked me, it was never meant to be a race
All I wanted was,a pleasurable jog with a smiling face

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

The Mystery

2010-12-04T23:47:00.011+05:30

“Oh god, its Monday again”, thought Samanth. He reluctantly got off his bed and got ready to go to office – the one place he hated the most. Samanth was a salesman working in a company which sold computers. He was toiling hard for the last 3 years in hope of a promotion to the assistant manager’s position, but to no avail. As he got down the bus and headed to his office, he saw a sign board – Know your future – only 10 rupees.

Samanth had broken up with his girlfriend, his professional career seemed to have nosedived and he was not getting a job anywhere else. “Let me check out where my future lies”, thought Samanth.

“Baba, can you please tell me how my future is?”

The man, whose face radiated a mysterious energy, looked at Samanth and said, “Why do you want to know the future? You anyway cannot change it.”

“Yes, I cannot change the future. But it will at least save me the misery of thinking about it. And anyway, I will pay your 10 bucks. Isn’t that why you are sitting here in the first place?”

“Oh, this sign? This was here before I came.”

Samanth was disappointed. Hearing that the guy was not an astrologer, he started towards his office. The bearded man saw his disappointment and called out.

“I don’t disappoint anyone who comes my way. You only want to know your future, right? I will tell you what will happen to you today.”

“Really? Please tell me, baba.

“You will get a promotion today”, declared the man authoritatively and closed his eyes for meditation.

Samanth had mixed feelings as he walked towards his office. On one side he was happy that the guy told he will be promoted, but on the other side he chided himself for believing the words of a man who did not even have a proper place to live. He gave another look at the man, let out a sigh filled with self-pity and continued towards the office.

“Sir, bade sahib wants to see you”, blurted out the peon as soon as Samanth walked in.

“It must be about my quarterly targets. I was on sick leave for 10 days but still the takalu won’t decrease the targets. God, please save me.”

“Oh Samanth, come in. I have something important to talk to you” said the boss.

“The company is very happy with you work and we have decided to promote you to the post of Asst. Manager. You will have two persons reporting to you”

Samanth couldn’t believe his ears. These were the words he had hoped to hear for the last three years, and now, he was actually hearing them. Samanth thanked his boss and came back to his cubicle. He thought of the old man who made the prediction about the promotion and rushed to the window to see him. The old man was sitting there, still meditating. He quickly went to the old man.

“Baba, I got promoted. I thought you were a fraud, but you are a genius. Thank you very much”. The baba smilingly approved with a slight nod of his head.
Meanwhile, greed got the better of Samanth. He thought if the baba can predict something like his promotion so accurately, then he can also tell what will happen to him in the next week, next month, next year and next decade.

“Baba, please tell me my entire future. I want to know everything”, pleaded Samanth.

The face of baba suddenly became serious. He thought for a while and said, “You would not want to know that. Believe me; you are better off not knowing your future.” Hearing this, Samanth replied nervously, “Why baba, is the future so bad?”

“No, on the contrary, you have a much better future than an average person. But knowing the future is a dangerous thing. This will only add to your misery.”

“No baba, I still want to know the future. You told nobody goes disappointed from your footsteps. Please don’t disappoint me.”

Baba paused, took a deep breath and after a little shake of his head told Samanth “Okay, if you wish so. But remember, you cannot change your future, you can only see it. Whenever you want know about the future, just close your eyes and think about the date, all the events on that particular date will run before your eyes as if they are happening right now.”

Samanth was confused. He had expected a traditional soothsaying where the person tells what will happen to him, when he will get married, about his career prospect and so on. This was different. He closed his eyes and thought about all dates of the past. To his astonishment he saw his entire life playing out before his eyes once again. He thought about the current date, but saw everything except the old man and the new power.

“Why am I not able to see you or any of my encounters with you?’ asked Samanth

“Even I cannot answer all questions. Perhaps, our meeting was never meant to happen.” Baba looked at Samanth, smiled and said, “Even God’s software has bugs!”.

As Samanth headed home, he was exhausted with the turn of events. But sleep was the last thing on his mind. He quickly thought of all the dates in the next month and found out what will happen to him.
Next day he went to the office and sat in his new cubicle. The receptionist called to inform him that the client has asked him to meet at 2 PM. Samanth smiled as he already knew it; he even knew the outcome of the meeting. The client will give him a big order and his boss will give him an increment.

This became a daily routine. He knew beforehand what would happen. One day he saw that the client will be very angry with him after a meeting and the order will be cancelled. The night before the meeting he prepared meticulously and paid attention to everything. But the client still found some grave errors and cancelled the order.

Things were happening exactly as he saw them. He got a new girlfriend, broke up with her, fought with his best friend and lost his IPOD. He slowly realized that he was totally helpless against the turn of events. Though he liked it when good things happened to him, he hated it when he knew that things would go wrong and still could not do anything to stop it.

He realized that life had become so predictable that nothing got him excited. He did not laugh at his colleague’s jokes as he already knew it, he no longer felt happy on a new business deal or unhappy when the deal could not go through, nobody could give him any surprises anymore. He knew them all. It was like watching the recording of an India-Pakistan cricket match; a match which went down the wire and India won on the last ball. But if you watched the live match, ball by ball, and are forced to watch the recordings as well, the excitement will no longer be there. The gravity of the situation slowly dawned on him. He had become a machine who had to go through the motions. He was totally helpless. Many a times he thought he will not think about the future. But try not thinking about something and that is exactly the thing you think! He tried to look for the baba and ask him take back the power, but the baba was nowhere to be seen.

One day he thought about a random date and saw a blank. ”Hmm... probably I am dead by then”, thought Samanth. Ironically, this thought actually made him happy, a feeling he had stopped experiencing a long time ago. He traced his “death date” by the trial-and-error method and began the wait of the inevitable event. On the way, he took part in all the ‘mandatory’ events like his marriage, his job-changes, death of the loved ones and many more; having the same experience as watching the recorded India-Pakistan match. Finally, his death-date arrived and he was released from the miserable life he was leading. On his death-bed, he remembered Baba’s words – “Knowing the future is a dangerous thing. This will only add to your misery”. As Baba had told, he did lead a life which, in normal circumstances, would have been much better than that of an average person, but in actuality he was probably the saddest person on earth.

Baba, who had been watching Samanth's story all along, looked at the unfortunate soul one last time and thought, " The greatest mystery in the world is tomorrow. Nobody knows what will happen in future. Its the hope of a good tomorrow that keeps pushing the men to strive hard. Once the mystery is solved, life is not worth living". Indeed, as Samanth found out.

Sadharan insaan

2010-12-03T12:24:00.001+05:30

paed, paudhe, mitti, pathar
kya inse alag meri pehchaan
mein to ek sadharan insaan

kal tha nahi, par aaj sahi,
aaj sahi, kal phir nahi,
kya badalega isse koi parinaam
mein to ek sadharan insaan

arabon ki manav sena mein,
chala ja raha ek tinke samaan
mein to ek sadharan insaan

************************************************************************************

पेड, पौधे, मिटटी, पत्थर
क्या इनसे अलग मेरी पहचान,
मैं तो एक साधारण इंसान

कल था नहीं, पर आज सही,
आज सही, कल फिर नहीं,
क्या बदलेगा इससे कोई परिणाम
मैं तो एक साधारण इंसान

अरबों की मानव सेना में,

चला जा रहा एक तिनके समान ,

मैं तो एक साधारण इंसान

Simply Fly - A Deccan Odyssey - Review

2010-11-28T23:29:00.000+05:30

In the small village of Gorur, located in the interiors of Karnataka, the headmaster asked a bunch of school kids if they were interested to write a competitive administration exam for a novel military training school called Sainik School. An 11 year old boy raised his hand, even though he did not know the real meaning of ‘military’, or had any idea of what he would be doing there. He only had a dream of stepping out to the unknown. It was this adventurous trait of him that would go on to define him in the future. The boy was G.R.Gopinath, the father of low cost airlines in India. Simply Fly is a remarkable story of a village boy’s journey through life, the challenges he faced, the ups and downs he experienced and the unbridled optimism with which he approached every event of his life.

The early parts of the book talk about his childhood, the time he spent in his native village of Gorur, his move to the Sanik School in Bijapur and finally his experiences in the National Defence Academy (NDA) (some of them are quite humorous!). Further, he describes his stint in the Indian Army, where he fought the Bangladesh liberation war. After the war he was posted to some challenging locations, one among them a picket called 4752, where the maximum summer temperature hovered around minus two degree Celsius!

Though Army life had been wonderful for him, it was, in his own words, “too regimented and predictable” for his liking. He was not enjoying his stint in the Army and thus one fine day he quit and came back to his village.

Though he quit the Army, he had no idea what he would do for a living. At the same time the government was building a dam on the Hemavathy river which would submerge Gopinath’s ancestral land. As compensation the government had provided 10 acres of land each to his father and his three brothers. The land was largely barren, with patches of jungle and scrub forest and without any proper access route. That is why when the Captain declared that he would start living there and set up his farm, his father could only utter two words, “Ningenu Huccha?” (Are you mad?) Almost everybody tried to dissuade him from taking to farming, but the Captain was adamant. He had a vision for the farm and he would not stop until he achieved it.

His struggles to set up the farm are some of the most inspirational parts of the book (along with his setting up of Deccan Aviation). To begin with, he only had Rs 6000 with him and needed capital to set up the farm. But the banks where he went to take the loan were rude, apathetic and indifferent. On top of that he also had to face the hostility of the nearby villagers who were not too happy with his arrival as they were using the land earlier for grazing their cattle, which obviously they could not do any more. There were innumerable other roadblocks like lack of electricity, floods and drought But Captain Gopinath, through sheer grit and determination and single minded focus on the goal, was able to cross each one of these hurdles and went on to set up the farm successfully. He was eventually awarded the Rolex award for Enterprise for employing eco-friendly ways of farming. Along with the farm he also dabbled in other businesses like a motorcycle dealership, opening a hotel business, working as a stock broker and setting up an Agricultural consultancy!

Soon thereafter, Captain Gopinath took a plunge in politics and stood for the election on the ticket of BJP. His “can-do” spirit is further evident here as he faced a lot of challenges on account of him being a first-timer and also because BJP was pretty much unknown in the state at that time. Particularly interesting is his duel with Deve Gowda, one of the strongest leaders of the state, where Gowda had to eventually retreat! Though he lost the elections, it did not sadden him. As he writes, “Yes, there was disappointment, but there was also a curios sense of exultation. I had discovered a strange power within me”.

Gopinath soon shifted to Bangalore where he began socializing with his old Army friends. One of them was Captain K.J Samuel. He was a freelance pilot, flying helicopters all over India. One day he suggested to Captain Gopinath, “Why can’t we do something with the helicopters?” The seed of Deccan aviation was planted on this day. Sometime later, with Samuel’s words in his mind and inspired by the newspaper report of a Vietnamese girl who flew investors and aid workers in a helicopter over Vietnam, as the infrastructure in the country was totally devastated due to the war, Gopinath thought, “If helicopters can work in Vietnam, so can they in India, where the infrastructure is as bad!”. He decided that he will start a helicopter company and Deccan Aviation was born.

As Captain has mentioned in the book, setting up the new venture was similar to setting up his farm; only that this was at a much bigger scale and the challenges much tougher. His ordeals with the bureaucracy and his successful way past the labyrinth makes for a very inspiring read. Like the instance where just to get a NOC from the government for the new company, he had to toil hard for two long years! Gopinath’s experiences convince you that if you have the will, have decided in your heart that no matter what, the goal has to be achieved, then no one can stop you from achieving it. After years of relentless pursuit, hard work and sacrifices the helicopter business was firmly established. It’s a tribute to his vision and courage that starting off with such meager resources, he was able to establish the business in a capital intensive industry like aviation.

Upon the success of Deccan Aviation, Gopinath decided to enter the airline industry – by starting a low cost airline, Air Deccan. If anything, this was a much bigger risk. For all its challenges, one thing in his favor when he started Deccan Aviation was that there was very little competition, but here there were established players and the sector was notorious for its cut throat competition. There were also suggestions that the low cost model will not work in India. But the Captain had complete conviction in his business model and had a novel dream – to make the common man fly. The airline experienced exponential growth and within a very short time it even overtook the national carrier.

However, new challenges emerged which throttled the growth of Air Deccan. The challenges, among others, included poaching of its pilots and engineers by the rival airlines and the collapse of its IT system. Gopinath had no choice but to seek external funding, even if it meant ceding control of his say in day-to-day running of the company. Eventually the company had to be merged to Kingfisher airlines. The last chapter talks about his new venture – Deccan360 – which he funded by mortgaging everything he had, his house, his shares and his stocks. He started all over again!

A couple of the things that stand out from the book are Captain Gopinath’s unflinching optimism and his courage to follow his dreams, even though they may look implausible and impractical at first. Couple of years ago, I read the popular book The Alchemist. If I call Simply Fly the non-fictional counterpart of The Alchemist, it would not be entirely wrong.

Simply Fly is a must read. It motivates you to flap your wings and take the flight to the unknown island of your dreams.

Na jaane aaj.....

2010-10-07T11:44:00.000+05:30

न जाने आज, दिल बहुत खुश है
कल की चिंता नहीं, कल का गम नहीं,
बस आज की लहरों में बहा जा रहा हूँ मैं

न जाने आज, हर गीत सुरीला है
गायकी में कशिश है, हर शब्द में एक कहानी
संगीत के सागर में डूबा जा रहा हूँ मैं

न जाने आज, सब दोस्त अच्छे हैं
किसी में इर्षा नहीं, किसी से इर्षा नहीं
बस सबके गुण गाता चला जा रहा हूँ मैं

न जाने आज, बहुत अच्छी नींद आयी है
दिल पर बोझ नहीं, किसी की सोच नहीं
इन बादलों में तैरता चला जा रहा हूँ मैं

कल तो ऐसा न था, कल शायद ऐसा न हो
क्यों न आज जी भर के जी लूं
बरसों से आँखे मूँद जिया जा रहा हूँ मैं

Goodbye

2010-08-07T00:00:00.002+05:30

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 13; the thirteenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

She came towards me
With that sweet little smile
I wish I knew my life
Would forever be futile

A bit shy, a bit excited
She giggled all the time
She had something to say
Her eyes were the first sign

She was hesitant to tell
Something held her back
She talked of all the world
But nothing from the prepared stack

Then suddenly, she stopped talking
A fleeting glance came my way
With her eyes still pointing down
Slowly, she began to say

I think I am in love
I think I found my soul mate
This is the moment I longed for
God has answered my wait

My heart beat faster
Faster than ever before
I waited for her next word
Like a fish on the shore

She took out her wedding card
And stoically handed to me
Was the heaviest thing I ever held
Down it fell, but did anyone see?

Silence engulfed us
The eyes replaced the mouth
Those little things never lie
Then why am I north and why is she south?

The eyes closed gently
They couldn’t take it anymore
Up flew the mind, into the past
Away from this silent uproar

The sound of footsteps brought me back
There she was, walking behind
My outstretched hands couldn’t stop her
Cos they moved, only in my mind

Still, she stopped momentarily
Perhaps, she felt my invisible hand
Then trudged ahead with watery eyes
Breaking to pieces, my castle of sand

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Flying time....

2010-07-24T14:01:00.000+05:30

Does time have wings? Apparently yes. The other day I saw employees joining my organization from campus and my thoughts went back to the time when I joined MindTree(from campus). It was 5 years back. 5 years? Has it really been that long? It just seems yesterday when I came to the rumbustious Bangalore, leaving the relative calm of my hometown Hubli. There were so many hopes and aspirations that I carried along with me. Some have fulfilled, some have dropped off and some new ones have been added. But the most striking feature of the last 5 years have been how fast time has flown.

I remember the time when as 'freshers' we were treated more like kids than IT professionals. Everything was new to us; the work environment, the people, the work. It was a dramatic change from the carefree college life where nothing was to be taken seriously to the professional life where we had to behave more maturely and where we had to wear 'formals' on four days of a week

Recounting my last 5 years, the only thought that comes to my mind is - if the last 5 years can pass in a flash, so will the next 5 years and the 5 years after that. Did I really do what I wanted to do? Will I keep postponing the stuff I really want to do and one fine day find that I don't have any more time left? Do we overestimate the time we are left with?

Wish

2010-07-10T16:22:00.015+05:30

The time was around 11.30 PM. Prabhath was dejectedly walking along the sleepy road thinking about the meeting he just had with his clients. He had completely screwed up. In spite of his best efforts, he had forgotten to collect some key data points which the clients were expecting. After the meeting his manager had yelled at him, “When will you start taking responsibilities? I had not expected this from you. You are good for nothing!”
There goes my promotion, my new house and my new car, thought Prabhath. He was planning to take an apartment for the last 2 years and a promotion was his only hope. Now even that was gone.

At the corner of the road he saw an unusual green colored bottle. He picked it up and thought, “Wouldn’t it be great if this was like Aladin’s chirag and a genie come out of it on rubbing; all my problems would be solved.” He rubbed the bottle gently, hoping against hope that something magical will happen.

As soon as he rubbed the bottle a white smoky substance dissipated out from the bottle. Terrified, Prabhath dropped the bottle and ran a few yards away. The white smoky substance took the shape of a fat man with an extremely small head on a big body, which floated in mid-air. The structure had five legs and it looked as if someone had inserted a big balloon between the head and legs of an octopus. Slowly it dawned to Prabhath that a genie had indeed come out of the bottle; he couldn’t believe his eyes. He pinched himself hard to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. It hurt; he wasn’t dreaming. Finally, he thought, I will be a successful man, all my problems will be a thing of past. I will have a big bungalow, the most expensive car and I will travel all over the world.

The genie looked almost annoyed that someone had woken him up from his sleep. In a dull monotone he asked Prabhath, “As you might have guessed by now I am a genie and I will grant you three wishes. My master, please tell me what do you wish for?” Prabhath was overjoyed. These were the exact words he had hoped to hear. But one doubt kept surfacing in his mind and he finally asked the genie, “Can you grant me anything I wish? I mean, anything? What if you are not able to grant me my wish?” On hearing this, the stoic genie suddenly started laughing hysterically. He rolled on the ground over and over again, still taken over by the hysterical laugh. This continued for couple of minutes. Then he stopped laughing, as abruptly as he had started, and returned to his stoic self, looked Prabhath straight into the eyes and said, “There is nothing in this man-made world that I cannot do. I can move the mountains. I can move the sky. I can make a king a pauper and a pauper a king. I can convert the mighty sea into an arid desert and the arid desert into an evergreen forest. I can dive into people’s mind and see what they are thinking, control their thoughts and control their actions. I can do anything I want; you just have to make a wish.” Prabhath was extremely happy hearing the answer and just when he started to think about his wish, the genie added, almost as an afterthought.”However, for any reason, if I fail to grant you your wish, I will burst into flames and I will be destroyed. But don’t worry, that hasn’t happened in the last 100 million years and is not likely to happen in future. You make your wish”.

Prabhath thought for a while;” Shall I ask him for an apartment? What about an independent house with a garden? No, I can ask him for a big bungalow with a beautiful garden which has multi-level car parking, pre-parked with latest cars. I can also ask for a private jet. But there are only 3 wishes, how can I ask all these things. Oh yes, I know what to do. I will simply ask for an inexhaustible bank balance through which I can buy anything I want.” And so he makes his wish. He gets an inexhaustible bank balance and he buys himself and his family everything which money can buy. He starts enjoying his new life; he travels around the world, stays in the most expensive hotels and spends money without caring a damn.
However, he soon realizes that the thrill he experienced in spending money, traveling to a new place and driving expensive cars kept on decreasing and after couple of months he no longer enjoyed them as he once did. As he no longer needed to earn his livelihood, he stopped going to work. He spent days and nights in his monstrous bungalow alone without doing anything worthwhile and after six months since the fulfillment of his wish he realized he was in a much worse condition emotionally than he was even during the night he had screwed up his meeting.

“What is the use of all this money if it doesn’t make me happy? I just wanted to enjoy life and be happy. Is that so hard?” thought Prabhath. Suddenly, his eyes flash up and he started smiling. “What I wanted was to be happy. Earning money was just a means. I still have two wishes left. Why not I call the genie and make my second wish.”

“My second wish is that I should always be happy”, wished Prabhath to the genie. As soon as he made the wish he found himself surrounded with a beautiful and understanding wife, two cute little kids and some genuine friends. He was now a much respected businessman whom the world admired for the success he had achieved at a relatively young age. He had a vision of making his company the first to reach $500 billion revenue mark, which experts predicted he was not far from achieving. He had everything which one can ask for; good family, good friends, a dream which kept him going. He was now, a happy man.

But as with money earlier, he realized that as time went on the happiness he derived from life became less and less and after a certain point he no longer felt happy on seeing his wife, his kids or his ever growing business empire. The sheer monotony of all these things not only failed to excite him but rather made him unhappy. “What is this irony? I made a wish to be happy and now I am sad. Surely, the genie failed to fulfill my wish.” He called the genie and questioned him “Hey genie, you have failed. I wished to be happy and look at me now. You have betrayed me. Why did you lie to me?”

“My master, I did not lie. You are indeed happy”.

“What? How can it be? I am not.”

“No master, you are. It’s just that you don’t value happiness anymore. Okay, let me explain. What is your favorite dish? ”

“Hmm.. my favorite dish..rosogulla”

“I will give you one rosogulla every week. Will you enjoy it?

“Yes, surely”

“Now imagine eating a rosgulla every five minutes. How long will you enjoy eating them?”

“I would probably stop after one or two hours”

“Right. As you stop loving rosogulla when you have an abundance of them, you stop valuing happiness when you have it in excess. For the last 6 months, you have been happy every second of your life. You don’t value it anymore.”

Prabhath was devastated now. Exactly a year ago when he met the genie he thought all his problems would be solved. He wished for money, it did no good to him. He wished for happiness, again the result was the same. He was back to square one. Just as he was immersed in his deep thoughts, he looked at the genie and said in a forlorn manner.

“I wish I know what I want in my life”.

As soon as Prabhath uttered these words, he saw a bright streak of light which completely blinded him. He could hear cries of help and when he looked towards the dazzling light with his half closed eyes, he did not believe what he saw. The mighty genie, the one who possessed infinite power, the one for whom nothing was impossible, was burning. He had failed to fulfill Prabhath’s third and final wish.

As the genie vanished, so did his magic. The clock turned back. Prabhath found himself exactly at the same place where he met the genie one year ago. The only difference was that there was no green bottle this time. For some strange reason, Prabhath felt very light. He felt as if a weight of 100kgs was off his shoulders. Just as he was coming to terms with the situation he saw a car stop nearby. Inside the car there was a 1 year old kid sitting on his mother’s lap. On seeing Prabhath, the kid started laughing and clapping. Prabhath smiled back. Prabhath had not been happier in a long time.

Book Review - The Kite Runner

2010-02-21T16:45:00.008+05:30

The Kite Runner is one of those novels which take you to a different world altogether, where you empathize with characters as they are your best friends. You revel in their happiness, feel their pain, laugh with them, cry with them. And finally, when the novel ends, it’s as if you are parting away from a dear one, knowing fully that you will never meet again. I have cried after watching movies before, but this must be the very first novel which gave me a lump in the throat.

The novel starts in the Kabul of 1960’s, capital of Afghanistan. It is narrated as a first person account by Amir-the protagonist of the story. The initial chapters explore the friendship between Amir and Hassan(some of the best part of the novel) and Amir’s rather uneasy relationship with his father. Amir’s father - who once wrestled a black bear with his bare hands - wants Amir to be more like him, someone who stands up for himself, likes sports and do other stuff which he considers ‘real men’ do. But that is precisely what Amir is not, and Amir himself knows it too well. That is why when the annual kite flying competition is announced – one of the very few interests shared by the father-son duo- Amir decides he will ‘redeem’ himself before his father by winning the kite flying competition. Though he wins the competition, he also does one thing, rather ‘does not’ do one thing, which not only shatters his and Hassan’s lives, but which will haunt him for the rest of his existence. Soon after the Soviets attack Afghanistan and Amir, along with his father, is forced to flee to San Francisco, America.

Two decades later, Amir is married, is a successful writer and has more or less exorcised the ghost of his Kabul years, when Rahim Khan – his long deceased father’s old friend – calls and asks him to come to Kabul; a Kabul taken over by Taliban. And just before he hangs up, Rahim Khan, almost as an after-thought, tells Amir, “There is a way to be good again”, which gets Amir thinking. Why did Rahim Khan say this? What is the real reason for Rahim Khan to call him up? Does Rahim Khan know what he ‘did not’ do that day? Amir’s return to Afghanistan and answers to these questions forms the rest of the story.

The Kite Runner is a sensitive story which truly touches your heart. I was thinking how to end this review with a summary, when my eyes fell on the one line review by THE TIMES on the back cover of the novel, which I think best sums it up.

“Hosseini is a truly gifted teller of tales... he’s not afraid to pull every string in your heart to make it sing.”

Of Ranchos and Farhaans

2010-01-30T21:48:00.006+05:30

In Rajkumar Hirani’s latest blockbuster 3 idiots, Rancho is a genius who knows what he wants in life and how to go about it. He achieves what he set out for and makes it big in life. Farhaan - Rancho’s friend - also knows what he wants in life (wildlife photography), but under pressure from his parents joins an engineering college. But finally, with a little help from Rancho, convinces his parents and pursues his passion.

What distinguishes Rancho and Farhaan from the rest is that they know what their goal is; what they want from life. In real world, many realize their passion well after they are settled in life, after which it becomes impossible to turn back. Most don’t realize it in their lifetime. Why do we not know what we want in life? It should be simple, isn’t it? Let me go back a few years and try to answer this.

It was a Sunday morning, sometime in the month of April, 1998. Our ninth standard exams had finished and we had assembled in a classroom for the tenth standard tuition. Our teacher, an overweight man with a well rounded belly, was waiting for the class to settle down. After a while, he wrote the number 85 on the board and circled it. He spoke, “If you want to get admission into P.C.Jabin College , you should at least get 85% in the board exams. So study hard. This is the make or break year for you; if you don’t get enough marks, you will have to settle for Kaadsiddheshwar.” P.C Jabin was the best science college in my city at that time and Kaadsiddheshwar was an Arts college. Going to a science college was the default option and only those who couldn’t make it to a good science college, choose commerce or arts. The question – why science, why not arts? – never crossed my mind, even though I had no particular affinity towards science or any dislike for arts. We were like the carriage horses whose eyes are covered so that it looks only in one direction. It just doesn’t know there are other directions as well.

After passing the tenth standard, I somehow got admission into P.C.Jabin science college. The first lecture was by the Mathematics professor. He started, “You are entering the most critical phase of your life. You should be far-sighted now. Don’t think about your 11th standard exam; think about your board exams which are scheduled for April 2001, think about IIT-JEE entrance, think about CET (the common entrance test for admission to engineering and medical colleges in Karnataka). If you don’t get a rank below 300 in CET, you will not get admission to a good engineering college.” Again, we were expected to go to an engineering college. Not that anybody complained. We faithfully followed the given instructions, thinking that this is where our future lies. After all, most of us were aiming for a good engineering college. A sheep in a herd doesn’t know where it is going; it just goes where everybody else goes.

No wonder we don’t have many Ranchos and Farhaans among us. When you are not allowed to think outside engineering, when you are made to believe that only engineering gives you a secure future (it doesn’t matter if your career gives you joy or not, as long as it gives you a secure future), how will you know what you really want? God has given us brain to think, but until we use it, it’s just a lump.

I only hope that the society gives more scope to the students to choose the careers of their choice. Otherwise, countless unfortunate souls will keep singing away:

Give me some sunshine
Give me some rain
Give me another chance
I wanna grow up once again!

मेरे विचार

2009-12-19T20:26:00.000+05:30

उदास है यह रास्ता, या हूँ मैं उदास
यहाँ कांटे भरे हैं या है यहाँ मेरा एहसास
ये जगह वीरान है या कोई नहीं है मेरे पास

बस इसी सोच में दिन ढल जाता है,
बस इसी सोच में सवेरा हो जाता है,
बस इसी सोच में फिर दिन ढल जाता है |

Job Satisfaction

2009-12-06T11:45:00.003+05:30

I find a lot of people complaining that they are not satisfied with their job. They don’t find the work challenging or that they don’t deserve to do the work they are doing. It reminds me of one incident which took place when I first came to Bangalore.

I had joined MindTree and along with two other friends rented a two bedroom flat. The flat had only one wardrobe, which was not sufficient for all our clothes. So we asked a carpenter to fix a metal rod between the two walls of the bedroom to enable us to hang our clothes. The carpenter came around 12.30 p.m and started his work. He took measurements and fixed the wooden pieces on both sides of the wall, between which he was going to fit the metal rod. Suddenly he realized that the two wooden pieces were not in a straight line. The piece at the right was about 1 cm below the exact place, although you really needed to look carefully to notice the flaw. He told he will remove the wooden piece and fix it in the correct place, which would take another 20 minutes. It was already 1:10 and I was hungry. I told him there was no need for this as you could hardly make out any difference. But he insisted and told me that he believes in doing things perfectly. He started the work and after 40 minutes when he was totally convinced that the final product is perfect, he let me go!

If something like carpentry -which we think mundane and uninteresting- can give such satisfaction to the carpenter (I unfortunately did not ask his name), then why can’t we be happy with what we are doing? I think it’s not the job which satisfies us, rather it is our attitude. With a right attitude, we would find joy and happiness in whatever we do. This is not to say that we should keep doing the same job throughout our life. If at all we want a change, the reason should be a strong liking for the new job, rather than a dislike for the current one.

What motivates people to earn money ?

2009-11-14T19:25:00.005+05:30

I sometimes wonder what actually motivates people to earn money? Rather, earn more than they are earning now. The obvious answer is to improve the standard of living. To buy a car, to buy a new car, to buy a new expensive car and we are still at car! Human mind never ceases to dream. We always dream of the things we want to own.We always dream of a new house, of the latest car,of the latest cellphone. But do we really need all the things I mentioned above ? May be not. Do we really enjoy them ? Occasionally. After buying the latest cellphone - which has so many features that it is difficult to tell whether its a cell phone or a computer - how long do we use these new features?. Most of the things we aspire for are neither needed nor enjoyed by us, still why do we keep running behind them ?

Lets try to understand this by considering some exceptions.Most actors would be happier if their performance is praised, rather than say, a foreign holiday.Amitabh Bacchan will be more happy to get critical acclaim for his acting in BLACK than get 1.5 crore per episode for Big Boss.For a sportsman, the ultimate glory is performing in front of his fans, not the millions of dollars he might earn in endorsement money. Sachin Tendulkar will be more happy to scores a 60 ball hunderd and help India chase a target of 350 in a world cup final, rather that sign a multi million dollar endorsement deal with Nike.An author will be more happy to see his book getting good reviews than half a million dollar advance on a new book. A common factor in all the above instances is the preference for recognition over money. To gain an acceptance among others that you are indeed a special one. This is a feeling not restricted to actors, sportsman and authors, but is pervasive in all human beings. As Chetan Bhagat, the investment banker turned writer, writes in his blog "I no longer work in the bank, as I felt I had to get over the lure of money and go after what I really cared for".

How does a common man fulfill this inherent desire for recognition ? The most obvious way is to earn money and buy things which attract others envy. Money allows you to become The-one-who-has-mercedes or The-one-with-the-big-bungalow. Its not what we do with the money that gives us satisfaction, but what others see us doing with the money. Also, people's perception of a person's capability is directly proportional to the amount of money he earns; more the money, better is the perception.This in turn motivates us to earn more money.

Again, this is not true for every 'common man'.Money is the topmost thing in the minds of only those who don't have a goal in life. Since without achieving anything worthwhile, it is difficult to get recognition (the ultimate aim of any human being), people fall back on gaining respect by earning more money. Once we have a goal,an ambition in life, something to show others what we are capable of, we would find the lure of money slowly decreasing.

The Joy of Reading

2009-09-18T21:31:00.006+05:30

I have always been interested in reading books; but till some time back there was one small difference between me and the other book lovers – I was interested in the book only till I started reading it. After that, it seemed incredibly boring and I struggled to finish it. In short, I found no joy in reading books.

I picked up books which I thought would interest me – like mystery novels, science fictions etc. In fact, I also searched the top 100 books of the century through internet to find some good ones. One of the first books which I seriously started reading was, The silence of the lambs (which was one of the Google results). The book had around 250 pages – it took me almost 10 days to complete the first 120. The second half of the book was more interesting, though, and I finished it quickly; but I still did not find any “joy” in reading the book. If at all, I was “relieved”. (I still don’t know why I even tried reading books; why I was so desperate to read and “enjoy” the book, even though I did not like one).

Two months back I joined an online library (again, I don’t know why) and borrowed a book, India after Gandhi, authored by Ramchandra Guha – the remarkable intellectual from India. When the person from the library delivered the book, I was almost embarrassed. The book had 900 pages and was at least 5 times the size of any book which I had even attempted to read. Since he had come all the way to my office, I found it hard to send him back. I took the book and thought of returning it the very next week.

While at my house, I started reading the prologue – just did not feel like returning the book without reading even a single page. I was surprisingly refreshing. It talked about how different India is from the other nations of the world and how very few non-Indians actually believed India will stay united even until 10 years after independence. I felt a sense of pride and started reading the first chapter. The chapter ended with the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi. I casually looked at my watch. One hour!!! It was one hour since I started reading? It easily beat my previous record of continuous reading – by 59 minutes. As I read the further chapters, I got sucked into the book and perhaps for the very first time I did not care how many pages I had read and how many were left. I just read and if I may use the word – enjoyed. After finishing the book, again for the very first time, I was a bit sad. Not happy, not even relieved to have finished a 900 page book, but sad. Since then I have read a few more books including The Wings of Fire and Alchemist and I must say I certainly have experienced joy while reading them.

I am a new entrant to the readers club, but I think to experience joy while reading, the choice of the book is very important. I may not enjoy reading a book which my friend enjoys and vice versa. In past, perhaps my choices were incorrect and hence I did not enjoy reading. Now that I have tasted blood, hopefully I will continue hunting the right prey and keep satisfying my thirst!

Thank God for BSNL !!!!

2009-08-28T19:41:00.022+05:30

India started economic reforms in the 90's and since then the economy has consistently clocked growth rate of over 6%. The clamour for dis-investing the PSUs is increasing and disinvestment itself is considered a panacea for all economic problems faced by India. Till sometime back even I considered private ownership to be the one and only solution; it increases efficiency and accountability and is beneficial for the stakeholders. A small incident made is rethink my take on the subject.

Last year I shifted to Kathriguppe, Bangalore - a relatively developed area ( It has Pizza hut, Dominos and Pizza Corner all within a radius of 100m! ). I contacted Airtel to get a broadband internet connection. The executive from Airtel arrived at my house within 24 hours of my call, installed the phone and modem and in less than half an hour I was ready to interact with the world! I couldn't help but admire the blue-turbaned Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh - the architect of India's economic reforms. I could picture him smiling smugly at his achievement.

Recently I shifted to another area called C.T.Bed - around 2 km from Kathriguppe, and as usual the first thing I did was to call the Airtel executive for the broadband connection ( Air, Food and Internet are the three most important things in my life nowadays - and not necessarily in that order!). The airtel executive took my address and promised to come the next day to set up the connection. To my disappointment he did not turn up. I waited for another two days before calling him. He politely told me that he could not give the internet connection as there was "no connectivity" in my area. Wary of sounding stupid, I did not ask him the meaning of "no connectivity" even though I had no idea what he meant. On inquiring with few people I found that "no connectivity" is not really a telecom jargon and colloquially it just means that it doesn't make any "business sense" for Airtel to invest here. There are not enough people in the area with airtel connection and in near future the number is not expected to grow rapidly. Unsurprisingly, the only company providing the connection there was BSNL. I applied for the BSNL connection and bang after 25 days, I got it!

The process may be slow in a public enterprise - as in my case, 25 times slower - but at least it reaches a wider population. SBI branches are ubiquitous across the country, where as you will find private banks like ICICI and HDFC heavily located in big cities with limited or no presence in smaller towns. The raison d'etre's of private companies is to make profit - by all legal means (and sometimes even by illegal means).

Before you conclude that I have graduated from Prakash Karat school of economics, let me tell you that I am not against private ownership or disinvestment.But before privatization, the government should ensure that all regions have an equal chance of benefiting from it. The government should lay the groundwork ( in some cases literally!) before giving the reins to the private companies. It should build the necessary infrastructure to encourage private investments. Only then India will be able to utilize the full potential of disinvestment. Otherwise, a part of India would be the new Singapore, but to get there you have to cross miles of Sahara desert.

The Blank Receipt

2009-07-20T17:29:00.005+05:30

This incident took place around 2 years back – on my first trip abroad. I was going to San Jose, California and was obviously very excited. Even though the itinerary was very hectic – I had to change 4 flights in 30 hours – I enjoyed every bit of it, as it was my first trip ever by air! I landed in San Jose around 6’oclock in the evening. I got out of the airport and took a cab to my apartment. The driver was a friendly fellow; he volunteered to put my luggage in the cab rooftop and smilingly asked, “Hey, how are you”? I was taken aback. It’s definitely my first trip to America and it looked highly unlikely that this guy had traveled to India. Then where did we meet before? Anyway I managed a confused smile. Handing the apartment address to him, I asked, “How much time will it take”?
“Half an hour”, he replied casually.

As the driver told, we reached the apartment in another half an hour. I took out my luggage and asked the driver for the cash receipt so that I can reimburse it back in India.
“Oh, Just a sec”.
He handed over two blank receipts to me and again smiled. This time though, the smile was a bit different. I did not understand why he gave me two receipts and that too blank ones. I returned them and asked him to give me only one, with the exact fare and his signature. He did as I told. I assumed that he had given two receipts by mistake, but I still couldn’t decode his smile.

A couple of days later, I told my fellow roommate about the cab driver’s incident. He laughed and replied, “Oh… he might have realized that you are an Indian. Many Indians ask the cab drivers 2-3 blank receipts to submit fake reimbursements”. For a moment I went blank, I couldn’t decide whether I was sad, angry or humiliated or a mixture of these. And yes, that explained his mocking smile and a There-You-Go-Again look in his eyes.

Breaching integrity is never a good idea, especially in a foreign country. Every Indian in a foreign land is a cultural ambassador of India and he/she should behave like one. Having started my career in Mindtree which lays much emphasis on integrity, it was particularly painful to know how foreigners perceive Indians. Though at one end of the spectrum Indians are considered smart and hardworking, at the other end they are looked at as a bunch of people with loose integrity. I sincerely hope the latter is proved wrong in course of time. For this every Indian abroad has to realize that they are not only representing themselves, but the whole country. Their every action will be generalized to 1.1 billion people of India.

I hope next time when I travel abroad , instead of giving blank receipts, the cab driver asks, “Hey, How are you? Are you an Indian? Tell me something about India. I have heard great things about that country.”

Arzz kiya hai....

2009-06-15T11:35:00.006+05:30

क्या बताएं तुम्हे हम अपनी दास्ताँ,
अब तो आँसू भी धोखा देने लगे......

I want to be....

2009-04-27T11:18:00.008+05:30

The other day I asked my neighbor's son - who is studying in 10th standard - about his future plans. He looked a bit concerned and said "I wanted to be a computer engineer, but now that there is no IT boom, I am thinking of studying M.B.B.S and become a doctor."

Most high school students and surprisingly even their parents know of only two career options, engineering and medicine. Students are not even aware of career opportunities in other fields like economics, journalism, science etc. They choose their career not based on their interest and aptitude, but on parental pressure and herd mentality. This has to stop if India has to fully utilize the potential of its human resources.

To start with, students have to be made aware of the career options in different fields. This can be done by changing the academic curriculum in such a way that it focuses more on the practical applications of the subject. The teachers also have to play an important role in making the students cognizant of the career options in their subjects.

Secondly, it must be mandatory for all schools to have a career counselor, who can work with the student to identify his/her strength and weaknesses and help in making an informed decision about their career choices. Though some schools do have career counselors, a majority of them don’t have one.

Thirdly and perhaps the most important of all; the parents should encourage the child to pursue a career of his own interest. Most parents either realize their dreams through their children or are just ignorant about the career opportunities in their child’s interested field. In the latter case, the counselor has to proactively interact with them to remove their any of their misconceptions.

Human resources are the most important asset any country can have; India is fortunate to have it in abundance, but their utilization leaves a lot to be desired.

Should Capt.Gopinath contest ?

2009-04-20T16:58:00.011+05:30

Captain Gopinath is contesting for the Lok sabha seat from the Bangalore south constituency. Opinion is divided as to whether he should contest at all? Even if selected, will he have sufficient clout to effect any policy decisions ?

I for one believe that Gopinath should contest. If he wins, it will be a watershed event in Indian politics. Politics has always been considered a dirty game, especially by the educated elite. It is something which is discussed over a cup of coffee and forgotten even before the cup is over. Gopinath's victory will prove that being an successful businessman doesn't stop you from entering politics, it doesn't alienate you from the common people. The entrepreneur community consists of some of the shrewdest brains in the country; their entry into politics will immensely help India in addressing some important issues before it like poverty, unemployment etc.

Many argue that even if Gopinath is elected, as an independent candidate he will not have the necessary clout to influence any major policy decisions. This may be true, but lets not take such a myopic view. He may not be able to influence any major decisions in the next five years, but as an MP, his point of view will be heard and more importantly it will inspire more and more people to enter politics. Someone has to start somewhere and we should think of it, as just the beginning.

Eminent personalities like Narayan Murthy, chief mentor of Infosys, have openly advocated the candidature of Gopinath. A victory for Gopinath will not be just for him, but for an entire community disillusioned with politics. I sincerely hope that Gopinath wins and pave the way for a new breed to people to enter politics.

Arzz Kiya hai....

2008-11-06T18:22:00.001+05:30

जिंदगी की राह पर चल पड़े थे मंजिल की ओर,
हर मंजिल के बाद, मंजिल मंजिल न रही,
हम हम न रहे

***********************************************

हम तो चले थे बांटने लोगों में प्यार,
लोग हमें प्यार की कीमत पूंछने लगे

**********************************************

Deal or no Deal ?

2008-07-21T20:44:00.001+05:30

Deal or no Deal ? This is the question in everybody's mind before the crucial vote of confidence for the UPA government. Several people have been exposed and several have been a revelation in the events preceding this crucial vote.

For once, the Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh, who was described as the weakest Indian PM ever by the opposition leader L.K Advani, did not look so weak. He demonstrated a tremendous political will by not only taking the Left head on, but also in his efforts to save the government, through his hitherto unknown political acumen.

Everybody expected this from the Left, didn't we ? I sometimes feel that Prakash Karat has just woken up from coma after 30 long years. His thinking, idealogies and actions, all seem to be from the period of cold war. His hatred for America even makes Ian Botham and Ian Chappel seem as lovers.

If at all there is an award to be given for the most oppurtunistic political party, there will be a very close race between SP and BSP. Seeing its powers getting diminished in its home state of Uttar Pradesh, SP has once again tied up with its old foe Congress.How long this alliance will last, is a question which only time can answer. Mayawati, on the other hand has found a small opening to fulfill the ultimate dream of any politician, to be the Prime minister of India. Though her dream may be far from reality, she definitely has made her intentions clear.

The one party which has probably disappointed the most is BJP. L.K Advani has realised that this may be his last chance to be the Prime minister of India and thus they are opposing the deal which even they know is good for the country. When BJP first got into prominence in the national politics, they were seen as the party with a difference. Now, the difference has finally vanished.

The nuclear deal fiasco has again brought the dirty politics into fore.But again, rather than blaming the politicians we show ask the question, who sent them into the parliament ?

Bombaat- Mano Murthy shines again

2008-07-15T08:56:00.002+05:30

Mano Murthy has been instrumental in doing a face lift for Kannada film music in recent years. Be it "America America", "Amritadhare" or the peerless "Mungaru Male", he has done some of the best works in Kannada film industry.

Mano Murthy has again hit the right notes with Bombaat. It has some truly melodious songs sung wonderfully well by Sonu Nigam and Co. "Mathenalli Helaranenu" is my favorite song from the movie sung by Sonu Nigam. The lyrics by Jayant Kaikini are superb, as usual. The female version of the song is sung by another Mano Murthy favorite, Sherya Ghoshal. She has sung it beautifully and with some subtle variations from the male version, it adds a different flavour to the song. Rajesh and Supriya have sung the song "Strawberry Kenne". With simple lyrics and simple music, it is a sweet innocent song which you will definitely enjoy listening to. "Chinna Hele Hegiruve" and "I am so Bombaat" complete the list of the songs.

All the songs are enjoyable and I hope the film is equally good. Great work Sir, you are really doing a great service to Kannada music.