Late to work

I have been working 8 to 8 since the time I started work and many a times on Sunday also till I went for my surgery in mid November. Since then I go late to work and come home early.I have to go through my physio therapies and exercises. I am doing yoga and pranayam and walk. All this takes up lot of my morning despite getting up at 6 AM. After almost four months of taking this routine I have though not seen the physical advantages but am blessed with the mental peace that most of us, running after targets and goals, miss.

I now have breakfast and dinner with my family. Of all these routine, the best part of the day is my breakfast with my grand mom. Its impossible to describe her. Her compassion and care towards others is to be felt then written about. I am not a competent enough writer to pen about her. Such a marvelous lady she is. Blessed are all who have come in contact with her. Our breakfast talk veers around old days. I try to dig out from her memories of the golden days. The cows we had, the time when I was born, Her children ( my father and aunt), my grandfather, anything and everything which I can learn and know before the curse of old age cleans the memory. That 40 minutes to an hour breakfast is the best time of my day. It takes me off from the hustle bustle and fast life the new generation lives. Over hundred channels bought to them by the sat TV channels have just left them changing stations on the remote more then watching them. Individual TV sets have cropped up to cope up with individual tastes. I still recollect not just our family but the whole neighborhood used to assemble at our home every Sunday to watch the Sunday movie on our black and white Televista TV set. It was so much fun and bonhomie. I pity Sameep, Divyansh and other kids of this generation as they watch TV sitting all alone. When we travel in our car the kids continuously flicker with the many FM channels not letting you listen a complete song. We still remember Amin Sahani's Binaca Geetmala coming at 8 PM on Radio Ceylon every Wednesday. The excitement that rubbed every Indian when they got their 20 year back booked Bajaj Scooter, their first HMT watch - it's all gone. My 11 year old son already has purchased 6-7 watches. We were the only family in the neighborhood who had a refrigerator. So we had neighbors coming many times in a day to take ice or keep their milk in our refrigerator. In fact my grand mom bought a second refrigerator to service them. That’s what I meant compassion and care I wrote above. This way we were meeting our neighbors everyday.I don’t recollect meeting my neighbor these days for weeks. We were the only ones in those days who had an ambassador car. When my aunt used to come from her home to us the honk blown some miles back could be heard and we knew she is reaching. With 5 million plus vehicles in our city – u can imagine the pollution we live in. A Bata shoe was a pride possession to be worn only on special occasions – now Sameep must have bought 20 Nikes and Addidas in the last 2 years. All things ‘phoren’ is the new trend now. But the good old swadeshi things gave more peace and joy which unfortunately and sadly I could not give to my children. As Mukesh sang “ Jiyenge magar mushkura na sakenge, ki ab jindagi me mohabbat nahin hai (I will live but not smile any more, For love has gone…..). Don’t miss each moment that you can wrap up with elders in your family.. they will not be there for ever.

If only our media were sensitive......

The 24 hr Breaking News culture has really made a mess of broadcasting and made people whom nobody knew and doesn't want to know famous. How many of us knew one Mr Muthalik before the uninterrupted broadcast by the TV Channels and all willing to take credit for the action the cops took. Rarely any one knew him and his goondas in the garb of Ram Sainiks till a fortnight ago. Muthalik was an unknown identity before his gang of goons beat up girls in a pub in Mangalore. Muthalik himself had not dreamt of so much publicity and his objective of doing what he did was successful. There are now thousands of people on various blogs(including me) , pink chadi groups on facebook making him famous every day.He is basking in his new found glory.

Who will forget more than 50hrs of direct broadcast of Prince falling in a 60 feet pit. There was two day broadcast of Kareena kissing Saif in a restaurant or Nithari or Arushi cases. The bundles of currency notes in Parliament,our respectable parliamentarians throwing mikes and all this is such a humiliation and mockery of our great democracy. There are thousands of such negative issues which should not have been on TV or newspaper. The commercial compulsions have made them forget the basic values of good journalism. The newspapers carry so much of absurd news that it becomes a challenge to start your day positively. I prefer to call it a media scandal. The coverage of these events has a controversial effect on our society and culture.

Though regulation is not the solution but the broadcasters need to be counseled and motivated to highlight positives about our country or the world. I think the good old days of Doordarshan is better when there were no Breaking News culture and News was News and not Tamasha.

Blame it on Rio

We had a terrible project failure at work last week. I am not going into the details here but the ultimate result was that the products didnt reach the customer in time. We had a Corrective and Preventive meeting to discuss this. And not surprisingly the blame game was there. Every body was trying to shift the blame on the other and justify that the other guy was the reason for this debacle. I found it so funny.

But then if we look around everywhere we keep on blaming others. We blame the municipality for not keeping clean our streets but bribe to pay less house tax. We shout at them when the park looks dirty but we ourselves litter there. We shout for potholed roads but don't want to pay our taxes fully and look for ways to manipulate it. This can be a long list. We blame Pakistan for terrorism where as its our duty to keep and defend our country. We should be more bothered and concerned about this failure then whats Pakistan going to do about stopping terrorists.

Why do we try to pass the buck?

I believe its in our upbringing. I have seen hundreds of parents do it and have done the same with my kids. If the child hurts himself falling while walking or accidentally hurts himself from the corner of a table we invariably would tell the child " chinti mar gayi" or "table ko hap kar de" ( I dont know how to express this in English) etc etc. Instead of telling the child to take care in future when walking, we teach him to put the blame on the table or floor. And we do this hundreds of time during his growing up period.

As the dialogue in the movie Blame it on Rio says for an illicit relation between an middle age guy with a young girl " You can blame the night, blame the wine, blame the moon in her eyes, but when all else fails.....you would better.......Blame it on Rio." What a way to justify your wrong act?

Jai Ho - Celebrating India

It was a great and proud Evening when the Oscar this year had 10 nominations for Slumdog Millionaire - a predominantly Indian movie. The best news obviously was Rahman getting triple nomination. The two music directors whose music has always made me happy and relaxed are him and RD Burman. The most played songs in my ipod are from these two folders only.

Couple of days back I read in the newspapers about Amitabh Bacchan not comfortable about poverty being shown in India for the western world. There is a huge debate going on as how only poverty and hunger attracts the western world etc. etc. Today I read that some one in Patna has filed defamation suit against the film for calling slum dwellers names in the movie. I think this is all bullshit. The fact is - the movie is so much India - based on book by an Indian Vikas Swarup, shot in India, cast is Indian and music is Indian. And though I am yet to see the movie but I am sure what ever has been shown is actual India and this movie is all about hope. Anyway I am not a critic and never like them , I prefer to enjoy the moment. I am proud of it and all of us should celebrate this moment.

Lets hope and pray that Rahman wins the Oscars when they are announced in February. In any case we have enough to be proud of at this time with his Golden Globe award - the first for an Indian.Lets all celebrate India.Jai Ho.... By the way have you visited Rahmans website - http://www.arrahman.com - wonderfully done.

I have a dream

It was fascinating and exciting to watch Barrack Obama take oath as the 44th President of United states yesterday evening. It was a well organized inauguration and impressive. Impressive not because of the grandeur of the event or history being created with the first black President being sworn in but because of the hysteria, hope and belief President Obama has created - not just amongst Americans but the whole world.


When he spoke, "We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions -- that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America", it must have inspired millions of Americans take that one extra step, one extra effort to reach the goal. More than 2 million people braving the freezing temperatures chanting Obama Obama was for real. It must have come naturally to the people present there as they see hope in their leader specially during these low times.



When was the last time we felt the same in India? I dont recollect a single moment in my life. Since the last thirty years that I can recollect from my memory - I dont remember any leader in this country who has created so much hope and awe. Yes, in history we have. Gandhijis Non Cooperation movement, Netajis call of " Give me blood and I will give you freedom", Indias first Prime Minister Nehruji's independence speech "At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom" India's Second Prime Minister Shastrijis call of " Jai Jawan, Jai Kishan" during the 1965 war with Pakistan are some moments in Indian history which must have inspired all Indians.



Where has all that gone now? Why don't our leaders inspire us any more? There must be many reasons because of which our leadership has deteriorated over the years - castism, corruption, lack of education etc but I feel one of the major reasons could be the age of our leaders. For a country with more than 2/3rd of population below the age of 35 - the Prime Minister and President are above 75. The leader of opposition is above 75 and two members of his party are fighting for the post, in case the party comes to power are above 80. Major cabinet ministers are senior citizens. There is an age limit in almost all jobs. We start questioning Saurav Ganguly for his age despite him scoring the highest run in the year. Why dont we have the same rules for our politicians and leaders?



I am no Martin Luthar King but I also have a dream. Dream of being inspired by a dynamic leader, dream of living in a just society and corruption free country. Where people fear and abide law and don’t buy it. A place where there is no discrimination based on caste, creed and religion. A " SONE KI CHIDIYA" . Love you India.

No place for the dead

I am sharing with you an Associated Press release pubished in newspapers today.

One family buried a slain son over his grandfather. Another bundled up the tiny bodies of three cousins and lowered them into the grave of long dead aunt. A man was laid to rest with his brother.

More than two weeks into the Israeli offensive that has killed over 1000 Palestinians, Gazans are struggling to find places to bury their dead. "Graza is all graveyard", said grave digger Salman Omar on Tuesday as he shovelled earth in Gaza City's crammed Sheik Radwan cemetery.

At Sheik Radwan on Tuesday mourners pulled away the slabs of concrete covering graves of long deceased relatives, pushed the bones aside and lowered in the newly dead."You have a martyr. You need an immediate solution"said Omar, 24, "You look for where your grandmother, Uncle, or mother was buried and bury them there," he said.

Even the pathways in the hilly cemetery were filled with graves.The older ones had marble slabs. The newly buried just have a tile.

Is this we want our children to inherit?

Is this what we want our children to inherit?

Its been quiet some time I have been off the blog for my recovery process. Slowly and gradually I am getting back to my normal life. I had a wonderful holiday to Kolkatta few days back an it was relaxing and fun.

The world I believe is going through one of its most challenging times with economy and distress. There is so much of tension and mistrust all across the globe. Every day as we read newspapers and watch television - we see so much of innocent lives being lost to unwanted wars and terror attacks. Whether it is war and terror at Israel, India, Pakistan, Gaza, Afghanistan, Iraq, US or any country - the biggest loser is humanity. Innocent lives are being lost. It does not matter which part of the globe or religion they belong to. I think the sight of innocent dead children being carried out on Newspapers should ignite the world to fight against war and hostility. Should we merely watch it thinking we are safe in our houses and forget the terror. I dont think we are safe. Today its somebody else, tomorrow it will be us. Lets revisit our own conscious and ask ourselves, " What are we doing to bring an end to this?" I dont think we can read, forget and sit idle waiting for our turn to get killed. This has led to so much of distrust amongst nations, families, neighbors etc. The society is getting disintegrated. Is this what we want our children to inherit. I am sure all of us will agree in one voice "NO".