We talk a lot!!!! don’t we????

If you are an avid follower of the latest happenings in the world of Indian politics or current affairs and are in the category of following them in the internet, then you will not be spared of one temptation, The temptation to comment on each news, to write your own thoughts on the happenings and to answer the question why that had happened at that time.

We can see a south Indian commenting on the status of politics in Bihar( when the only place he has seen Bihar is in the Idiot box), We can see a politician commenting that the business is not properly run by the Ambani brothers, We can see men commenting on the quality on the fairness creams and old women commenting on the fitness on Yuvraj Singh. We can listen to people commenting on getting recommendations to educational institutions and proudly taking their son to an MP for a medical college seat, and funniest of all we talk all sorts of non sense to explain why God is Holy.

Of course, living in the world’s largest democracy and still believing that our democracy is going to save us, we have the right to fall in to that temptation. As, Democracy is meant to be and as it is in India, we have the right to express our views in every matter, however vague it is to us.

But!!! The question is, are we depending more on our mouth than our souls??? Does our speeches match our deeds, in any way??? When we say, that politician is corrupt and the Government mechanism is poor, have we stopped giving bribe??? When we comment that the government has not taken steps to alleviate poverty, have we taken any steps??? When we say there is too much violence in the country, have we stopped our fight with the neighbour??? When we say Indian sports is ruined by recommendations, have we stopped recommending our children to educational institutions???

It is nice to listen to the news and react to it. Actually it is great to get involved in the happenings of the world. But!!! If we stopped only at the point of talking and forget to implement that, It is actually better had we stopped talking in the first place.

It is so easy to ask people to stop talking and to write in a big essay why talking is not good!!!!!

P.S:- The author has given bribes to escape the police and to get the passport and has decided to have his next essay on why corruption is sin!!!

Please parliamentarians.......

The building shook, and as usual everybody walked out......Everybody spoke, Everybody shouted, Everybody banged and finally everybody walked out. Welcome to the Indian Parliament, the place where Intellectuals bang their heads, people's representative defend their wealth, dramas enacted live, and sadly millions of money wasted......

Common Wealth Games was the issue being discussed.........Need not study rocket science to tell that corruption had a part to play(Oops!!!! sorry the main part). Two months to go for the finish of the Common Wealth Games, which for sure will be the worst games ever (Did I get that wrong, Mr. Suresh Kalmadi????) and even the games village is not ready yet. Like all Indian weddings, last minute preparations will be inevitable in this country.

Yet!!! in all these tragedies is this the time for a debate on conducting the games???? Is this the time to discuss corruption???? Please, Let the games go on!!!! The country's pride is at stake, (As if it is still there). People from world over will be visiting your country, Great sportsmen of the world will be vying for glory, The world will be watching...........Please, at least now concentrate on the games, Concentrate on our sportsmen, Give them practice kits, Give them money, the environment to practice, Concentrate on finishing the unfinished roads, Concentrate on the leaking roofs........

Punish the corrupt......Hang them in front of the red fort........ Debate whether conducting the games did us any good........If you still think it is worth it, then bid for the Olympics.......Analyse, where everything went wrong in conducting the CWG..........But, please wait till the games get over. Attend the games......support our countrymen......Be good hosts to the guests........and please stop debating in the parliament till the games get over........

And when you debate, please let the other person speak!!!! I know you cannot stand corruption..........But, Please for world's sake, Don't just shout and walk out!!!! there are two sides of a debate.........We all know that you are masters of the first one. Try the other side also, it is quite easy.........You have to just shut up and sit down!!!!

MISSIONARIES, YES!!!! BUT CHRISTIANS??????

Missionary is a word which denotes the person “Following a mission”. Before the christian perspective of the mission came in to existence it would just have been another word in the old oxford dictionary. Christ's Mission was so profound and so wonderful that the entire word missionary now resonates the christian perspective of missions.

When Christ said, “ Go ye in to all the world and preach the Gospel”, he gave us the direction for our mission. The Gospel, is so wonderful that it loses its essence if we preach it without fully understanding and living it..........This brings us to mind the great missionaries of yesteryears, from the father of it all “Paul” to the modern day “Stains”.

They had Christ radiating in them, HIS love overflowing from them, that it is difficult to separate them from Christ. Missionary is what they are …....... Christianity is what they lived out. It was difficult to separate those two words, “Christianity” and “Missionary” in their lives. They lived what they preached and preached what they lived........But, are the modern day missionaries different??? or are they missionaries after all??? or has the definition of christian mission has changed???

It is very true that the modern day, computer man has lost the love...... but as modern day missionaries have we lost that love as well??? or has the mission work is so much that we forgot what love is??? When Christ went on HIS mission trip people were won over by HIS love......People thronged HIM not just because He healed them but also because they saw HIS love. Do we(supposed to be modern day missionaries) show the same love which Paul showed, which Moody showed, which Ida showed or is mission work becoming more important than that love.......The LOVE which he showed us on the cross......

I don't consider myself a missionary and I am not......I don't consider myself worthy to comment on any missionary and hope I don't.......but I have a nagging feeling that tells me that modern day missionary is trying to replace, mission commitment and success in missions for Love and that cannot work........Since you have to be a Christian first to be a missionary......You cannot be a christian if you don't have or show that love.........or else, we can be hard working missionaries working towards a mission.........but that is not Christ's mission.

Still we might be able to prove what the old oxford dictionary tells.......

An Insipid emotion - Independence

God!!! it was a Sunday, I proclaimed......This year Independence day has come on a sunday........I felt bad missing out on another holiday. I called my dad up and informed this sad news.......Oh!!! Independence day has come so fast!!! came the reply.........I thought what would have been my brother's reaction and it could not have been any better and for my mother the fact that tomorrow is an independence day in itself will be an information.

The reaction of an ordinary Indian family about “Independence” does not invoke any emotion..........It does not even invoke any reaction, leave alone an emotion. Yes, it has been 63 long years since we got independence. All four of the family were not even born when we got independence. Yes, We as a family does not care much for the country, We are ordinary citizens thinking only of personal stuffs and forgot the country as a whole.........But!!!! even then, aren't those reactions too ordinary for a word so big as “ Independence”????

Is this all the architects of this “Independence” had in mind when they won that??? or have we lost the sanctity of that emotion along the way??? Is that emotion, so narrow to be brought about by the film stars and the cricketers giving interviews on their sacrifices??? Is that emotion, so shallow to be brought about our own saintly politicians??? Does this mean anything at all to me, an ordinary citizen of this vast country (The much talked about aam aadmi)???

When Mahatma Gandhi and his colleagues fought hammer and tooth with the arrogant British and won us the “ Independence” , it was everything for them.......It was their passion, It was their life, It was their breath.......They believed that the country is a part of them and somebody ruling over it is like snatching their heart from them......The very fact that we live in our own country ruled by ourselves gave them goosebumps.......It was their life and they gave everything for it.........

Yes!!! it is not possible to generate the same emotion 63 years later.....and that, by ordinary citizens is humanely impossible said my logical mind!!!!! But, I really do believe as a country we have kept our priorities horribly wrong and that has been one of the strong reasons for an emotionally insipid independence........

Debating in the parliament about the worth of conducting the Common Wealth Games just before the games itself, says it all!!!!!

THIS IS INDIA MAN!!!

The most used word by an average Indian in the entire last week was IPL. Even those who has never heard about a man called Sir. Donald Bradman, knew who Lalit Modi is. Suddenly he was in the front pages of all news papers, covering all the editorials and the news channels.......Of course with that “Heaven knows what” smile. IPL suddenly meant Indian Public League with almost everyone having a opinion on it........Of course we have opinions on even rockets sent by the US to the sun!!!

What made it all that interesting??? Of course the third edition of the league had everything going its way.......Jam packed stadiums, (Of course it is in India!!!) The great man stamping his class and becoming the best batsmen and the highest run getter (as if both are different!!!), For the first time an Indian was lifting the trophy as a captain and that too our talisman, The much talked about future Tendulkar reinventing himself after a long hiatus, and definetly yes!!! The Bolywood, the glamour and the after match parties were there..........But!!! is that all enough to make Lalit Modi headlines???

When the IT raids happened in the BCCI office for the first time in history ( Sad, the purest had been contaminated), we came to know that there was something wrong in the BCCI or was it in the IPL ??? (There has to come an IPL to tell us that). We came to know that BCCI was a non tax paying, non profitable organization. We came to know that BCCI deals with crores and crores of money which are spent entirely on the development of sports in the country (That is the reason why BCCI is surrounded by politicians, just their interest in the game, Nothing else) and of course we came to know that Lalit Modi has brought disrepute to the game which was till now run by saints.

Yes, Like everyone of you, I am very much interested in the future of Indian cricket and the future of IPL. That, is what had made Modi headlines........As it is a must in a democratic country, I have my opinion on its future........Next year, IPL will go on, of course with more money.......There will be another person running the show, for whom the difference between cricket and “T” ball is the “Tea” being served.........Saintly politicians will run the non profitable BCCI......Court cases pitted against the findings of the IT raids will go on........The Shah Rukhs, the Shilpas and the Zintas will dance to every tune....The step daughter and the step brother in law of modi will continue to have a chance in IPL ( The “step” denotes our cultural, family values).........and the disgraced, corrupt and the black horse of IPL will stand in elections 5 years from now and talk about developing the nuclear physics in the country.

YES!!!! Of course Sachin will be scoring runs and Dhoni will be leading India to Successes and the Rayudu's will come of age...... Cricket will still be my passion and IPL will go on just because of its cricket and nothing else........But, I really do hope none of my prophecies in the previous para come true and at least some sense prevail in this country...........They say faith move mountains, let us believe hope moves hillocks........BUT!!! you know what, “ This is INDIA man”.........and in our country everything moves very fast only in headlines and news channels........

WHY THIS HATRED

We were both born of the same women, Of course at the same time. Lived together for thousands of years. Fought our enemies together. Built monuments together. Held up traditions together….. In fact, did whatever, for almost two thousand years together. Then, that happened. In the name of religion we were separated. When the twins were separated it bled…… It bled profusely that even after 60 long years the marks of the separation remain. Yes!!! The marks of the greatest migration that ever took place after Moses led Israel out of Egypt, still remain in the face of the twins. INDIA and PAKISTAN were separated and bear the marks of separation.

But, Why the separation….. Can’t we live together??? After all we were born from the same womb…. We learnt to walk holding each other……Can’t we dine together again??? After all we drank the same milk. Can’t we celebrate the same team again….After all we represented the same team not long back……Some where down the line we decided to part ways, ways which never met after that, even for brief moments. India and Pakistan went on their own ways stating reasons, which remarkably were never logical and never reasonable even for the tiniest of brains like mine.

Then one day this happened……For once the paths met….For once India and Pakistan were made to support one team. One cricket team. India’s further progress in that tournament depended on the victory of Pakistan. India’s Cricket captain asked the Indian public to support Pakistan. The whole country watched with bated breath as Pakistanis went down in a nerve wrecking thriller to the Australians. For once, Both Indians and Pakistanis were waving the same flag and held hands together for the same team. For the first time, (really the first time) in my 15 years of watching cricket my hands trembled because Pakistan as a team is losing.

Is this a big issue??? After all we celebrated a Pakistan team playing cricket and never really wanted the country of Pakistan. Cricket is just a game, and it should be kept as one. Celebrating a Pakistan cricket team is very different from celebrating the country of Pakistan said my mind. But the truth is Cricket as a game is our only unifier and for the first time after the separation people from both the countries have come out openly and supported the same team.

My Innermost heart said, it was very selfish on the part of the Indians to support a Pakistan team. After all we supported them because we wanted our team to take further part in the tournament. I also have a doubt in the sincerity of the Pakistanis in the efforts put in that match against the Australians. I had a feeling that they wanted to keep India out and did not give their everything. Both the Pakistanis and the Indians never wanted the other team to win, Even if it is cricket, we only celebrated together for selfish reasons.

Why this hatred??? Deep down I know we are off the same blood. They are my brothers. When I hear about an explosion killing hundreds of people in the fast bankrupt state of Pakistan, My heart misses a beat. When an Australian umpire called the Pakistanis cheats my blood boils and when the terrorists hit the already bruised Pakistan time and again I cry for them….I am sure that there are people in Pakistan who has the same feeling for us….. All these hatred are developed by the terrorists of the world. We are one country, one people, and one blood and though all these can be mere words, we are for sure, close neighbors. If we fight for all the petty things of this world, we will not survive long. We are to join hands to fight the terrorism of the world, not to fight each other. The world needs both of us, and it need us to be together.

Who are you, after all???

I was walking down a lonely road. It was dark, so dark that the next step is a step in faith. You could almost hear the silence......I looked above to see the night sky. What a fabulous sight!!!! Like a black crown decorated with diamond studs all over it. The moon was at its brightest......Shining like a silver sun.

Even as I was walking I thought of the words, GOD tells JOB in HIS famous defense.......

What is the way to the abode of light?

And Where does darkness reside?

Can you take them to their places?

Do you know the paths to their dwelling?

What words!!!! Words so pointed, Words so sharp.......As if, asking man, Who are you, after all??? Or is that what he really meant??? That question kept haunting me......Who are you after all???

Living in a village, which even the GOOGLE does not bother to put it in its map, You sometimes think like a ruler.......Aren't you??? You sometimes mock at the happenings of the world.......You sometimes, think the world is not properly run.........You sometimes, think that the world would have been a better place had you been doing that.........Who are you, after all??? GOD laughs at our thoughtlessness, or rather at our thoughts.

There had been greater people in this world and there will be still greater ones. There were many who conquered the world, or at least tried doing it. There were people, who made the entire world stand up and applaud. Some of them left marks which even the might of time could not wipe out and some of them sacrificed their lives for greater causes......Greater people had lived in tougher conditions. YET!!! still you sometimes say, “GOD I have done the greatest sacrifice in this world, and some times you don't even consider mine”.........Who are you, after all??? God's words are sometimes pungent.......

You know how big the world is??? The sun powerful enough to turn white skin bronze and to coax oxygen from every plant on earth, ranks fairly low by galactic standards. If the giant star Antares were positioned where our sun is – 93 million miles away – the earth would be inside it! And our sun and Antares represent only 2 of the 500 billion stars that swim around in the vast, forlorn space in the Milky way. From our hemisphere only one other galaxy, Andromeda is large enough and close enough (a mere 2 million light years away) to see with the naked eye, twice the size of the milky way and home to half a trillion stars......and these two are only 2 of the 100 billion galaxies likewise swarming with stars.......and yet you sometimes feel like, if you stop, universe will collapse........Who are you, after all??? God repeats the question, again.

Probably, yes!!The world is so big, that GOD has many other duties to do, other than looking at me......Probably, yes!! There are so many in the world who have done much greater deeds than me!!! But, Why should GOD, come down if I am a nobody, my mind still struggles.........And that is not because you are an anybody, but because HE, The maker of the big, perfect world is.........  

WHERE IS THE RESPONSIBILITY

One of our famous ministers uttered these words when asked about why Indian football has not grown.. “I cannot build a stadium of [Rs.] 50 crores neither can the Prime Minister. Where is the money? Where is the responsibility? Where is the scheme?” These words kept haunting me again and again. What a statement of responsibility from the senior statesman. Did he not think for a minute that he was the person selected to be responsible. Ah!!! These politicians have even forgot that they are in a position where they are Responsible of something.

Where is the money???? 50 Crores cannot be spent to build a stadium and we are talking about conducting Olympics in the near future. For a country as large as ours and with the booming economy, I always thought 50 crores of money is pittance when compared to the large tax we spend, especially at a time when you have a chief minister having spent 1000 crores to install her statues all over the state. Where is all the money going…….The roads, the schools, the villages and almost the entire India remain the same and we have a minister here saying that he has not done anything worthwhile for the want of money……..Sinister, Very sinister. We, as people have gone awfully wrong that we cannot even question our own elected people…….

The next sentence is even more annoying. Where is the responsibility? What on earth is he talking about? Is he not supposed to be the person responsible for sports in this country? Has his responsibility changed to raking in more money that he even forgot that he is supposed to be the honourable minister of the large country? The problem with our country as always stated has been the “chalta hain” attitude. We accept and sometimes even absorb everything that is thrown at us and walk with our heads held high saying we are Indians, We adapt to anything. I often think that was the greatest attitude one person can have……I thought if we can adapt to any situation we can live happily there after….but there is a clause attached to it, We cannot shirk away from our responsibilities and say I will adapt to whatever that is done. That is exactly what has happened and is still happening in this county, our very own INDIA.

Now comes the third sentence. Where is the scheme??? A brilliantly worded statement. A very natural statement to come after the previous one. We have all along lived in a place and in circumstances where nobody needs any structure. We drive our vehicles on the wrong side of the road, We have our roads laid and then broken again to keep the cables inside, We throw our wastes every where except where it was supposed to be thrown, and we have all along lived knowing that once we enter the courts that is the end of it all. The whole system is so corrupt, so poor, that we have thieves and murderers sitting in the parliament talking about the growth of nuclear physics of the country, when the only thing they know about that is the spelling of nucleus ( If they had learnt the alphabets of English). To be abrupt and to be very frank, we can do anything, anywhere in this country and get away Scot free because there is no Scheme and the ministers forgot that they were supposed to make them.

I love my country. It has given me so many things. Of course all my life I have lived here and loved whatever it has given me. I have traveled to a large part of the country and seen some remarkable people. It is so colourful that I am sure God created so many colours and tested everything here. We have so many traditions that we will be 90 if we try to look at them all, So many gods that some times the number of people worshipping looks smaller than the number of Gods themselves, we speak so many languages that even if the whole world put together, we will speak more languages than them, we follow so many calendars that every day of the year there will be a new year celebrated, we follow so many leaders, that if you stand up with a flag and will have 10 people following you and yet amazingly, when we play a cricket match or when an Indian gets hurt somewhere or when some other country is against you, there is a sense of oneness and a sense of belonging which can never be reproduced anywhere.

But, the only thing we have lacked all along, and the one thing that has kept us poor, though we have had so many things going for us is we have lacked the basic honesty……….the honesty to accept that we “have” 50 crore of rupees to build a stadium, Honesty to accept the fact that “I am” responsible for this, and honesty to have a system and follow them………As a country if we lack that honesty, our former presidents dream of a developed country by 2020 will never ever happen, even till the end of this world…….

What was her mistake!!!

That was the time when Sachin Tendulkar was becoming a national Icon, When the Beep – Beep sounds of the Pager were still being heard, When the IT industry was still finding its feet in India......It was way back in 1997 that this happened.........Due to some strange reason, these people were sent out of their own state. State which took care off them for so long suddenly felt they are not needed.......Not being welcomed by their Neighbors also, they settled along the forests that separated the two states.....

Sachin Tendulkar has now been a national Icon for so many years, Pagers??? Not many even remember them anymore, and the IT industry in India is the buzz word of the world..........The world in the last 13 years has moved very fast. But!!!! Sadly for these people the world never changed......The state that sent them 13 years back has not looked back and worse still chucks out the remaining few.......Neither their neighbors like to look at them......They still live in the forests......

What was this girl's mistake??? My colleague thundered a question..........It really pierced my heart......Even as I saw groups of people lying in shambles there, having no food, nowhere to take cover, no jobs, no money,no nothing, my heart pounded that question again.........What was this girl's mistake??? There was this girl, should not be more than 15, half naked, sitting almost in the road (Sadly they said that was her house- Difficult to use the word “house” when I say mine a room) and crying over her dead mother.......800 Families, almost 2000 adults, so many children and young adults lying all along the refugee camps not knowing what their future is.......not even knowing what their present is all about....

As I saw the people lying there in shambles, many questions kept coming to my mind again and again...........What is happening in my country???What is the government doing??? Where are the news channels??? Where are the human right activists??? How can a government send out their own people??? Why is man behaving so cruelly??? Did not anybody notice them in all these 13 years???The question marks are many...........But I feel two questions are extremely important as I kept thinking of them........

1. As a country are we really serious about the poor???
2. Does man still have a heart???

Even as a country proudly presenting itself as one of the fastest growing economies, Sending one rocket after another to space, planning to conduct olympics in the near future, are we getting our priorities right??? Even as the News channels, showing Aiswarya Rai's Neck pain, IPL's big bucks and Politician's hungama, are we getting our priorities right??? Even as human rights activists, protecting a terrorist from another country and speaking a lot about human rights, are we getting our priorities right??? I really think, if at all we want to grow, we have to set our priorities right.....The politicians should concentrate on eliminating poverty, the news channels should concentrate on bringing the people's problems and the human rights activists should fight for human rights.........Are we serious about the poor???? This question needs to be answered to get our priorities right......

Even in this dark picture, there still was some light.....An 80 year old man and his 68 year old wife from a place more than 2000 km far, not knowing any of their language, are living in the refugee camp along with these people trying to help them in whatever way they could..........Probably man still has something wet in his heart..........That might still be the reason GOD is postponing HIS coming again.......

WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO THE WORD SORRY

I watched a movie where a group of commandos risked their lives to save the country from the self proclaimed saviors of their religion and the so called terrorists of the world. Through out the movie I had tears in my eyes. The commandos were all lovely looking young men….. Could just get a job near their homes and settle down nicely…….but something in them made them do all this…….Probably the love of the country, Probably the love of the adrenalin……whatever it is, I cannot but stand up and salute them for their lives….But,

You cannot stop a paragraph with a but, Do you???? BUT the tears I had were strangely not for the commandos but for the militants. What on hell is making them live like this??? What is their pull??? What is their push??? What is driving them on??? My mind kept asking questions. I cannot give a logical answer for all their madness, Except one thing, that as mankind we have gone awfully wrong. Awfully. I don’t think anybody could sit across a table and give a logical explanation to all this. Nobody, not even their chief….. Nobody could explain the brutal killing of 40 young school children without even a tinge of concern on their faces. None could explain the arrogant shooting of their own men because they refuse to come with them…..Minds of this world cannot find an answer to this……….but somewhere deep inside, My heart seemed to be saying something……. Something remotely related to this. The word “SORRY”.

The word SORRY??? What has this to do with all the mayhem we have created on this world??? Yes, My heart kept saying that word….. It has a whole lot of meaning attached to it…..I decided to analyze…..

I think “SORRY” has become one of the most misused words at this point of time. When one of India’s honorable ministers was caught lying in the camera, the whole opposition asked him to come in front of the world and apologize, and to my horror the minister never wanted to come out in the open and say “SORRY”. Has it become such a bad word that you never want to utter that from your mouth and the opposition wants to hear that from your mouth……Is it disgraceful on our part to come out in the open and accept our own mistake??? Have we all become perfect human beings that we never do a mistake??? Ah, some where down the line we have made “SORRY” such a bad word that the toughest thing in the world for a 6 year old is to apologize.

Yet, how does a terrorist shooting indiscriminately ever relate to the word “SORRY”, even remotely??? I may be wrong, but I think, as a child if we realize that we are fallible human beings and there is no wrong in apologizing and learn to forgive, terrorism would have been a thing of the past. For once had the terrorists thought that what they are doing is wrong, and had they been forgiven for whatever they had done, we would have saved millions of lives. Even if they realize that and if their ego is not allowing them to apologize in the open, the problem will not stop. I am in no way trying to defend the terrorists. What they do is wrong. But if they could accept the mistakes, and say “SORRY” we did this and will not be doing it again the world will be a better place to live in.

I say this with a fair degree of conviction that if the whole world could learn to accept their mistakes and could forgive the others the world will be free of killings. When our inner hearts says forgive, let us forgive and when our inner hearts wants others to forgive, let us come out in the open and ask for forgiveness. Some times, we need to listen to our HEARTS too!!!

It does not cost much to forgive and ask forgiveness!!! Or does it???

THE WAY TO THE TOP MANAGEMENT INSTITUTES IN INDIA :

I was early from bed that day, though it was a saturday. I am going to write the famous CAT exams. Nearly 3,00,000 people are scheduled to write those exams in the next one week, which for the first time is going online. I am not the one to get excited or tensed for exams. I was my usual self that day, though I know that day can very well decide my future. One of my dreams was always to study management education in a reputed institute and this might very well be the day that fulfills my dreams.

I took my car out and drove to the college I was posted in. Being a Saturday the college had a blank look, nothing was there to suggest any examination of this magnitude happening. After asking the security I reached the place. As usual the queue was very long……..This is INDIA man!!!! Though only very few people were there compared to the last year the processing was unbelievably slow. Everybody was checked rigorously and everything from pens to wallets to wrist watches were taken off. We are known for our HONESTY!!!! Aren’t we???? We were made to sit in our places and it was around 9:30 when everybody settled down.

Time went by, It was almost like eternity when one guy came to us and said something, which was not even remotely audible. Before us reacting to him, he went away…….Another eternity started. The same man came again and said,” I am very sorry, due to some technical glitches we are not able to conduct the Tests today. You will be intimated soon, about your rescheduled date…….I was angry!!!! But being a software engineer myself, I know some things cannot be prevented and I went home in a flash. That evening we had a small prayer meeting in our home and so when the Exam officials called me I could not pick up the call. Once the meeting got over, I called them back and the security picked up the call and said “Sir, I am the security here, I can’t do anything now, The office is closed. A message will be received by you and follow what is given there”..... Office is closed ah??? Weren’t the call centre’s supposed to work 24x7????????.(Are they not serious of the problem today!!!! Is this something related to our integrity at work????) I thanked him, and thanked the heavens, for he could speak English………Of course!!! I got a message saying, tomorrow is your exam and the centre has been changed. I inquired about the exam centre to my friends and got the route clarified.

It was another early morning rise for me……I have a long way to go. Got ready fast and started my journey to the outskirts of Chennai. Most places the roads were under construction and it was a bumpy ride (Our Indian roads!!! No need to repeat that word again- Corruption!!!). After reaching the place called Avadi, where I was supposed to ask for directions, I parked the car near a police kiosk and tried to ask the police there…… He was not found in his place and so I asked a person standing there and he showed me the way…….He asked me to take the turn there and go straight. I got back in to the car and turned right happily. The moment I turned right, the policeman came out of nowhere and blocked the car…….You cannot go this way!!!! Can’t you read the board??? He shouted. I was asked to go back and park the vehicle……..Sir, I said!!!! As if there was nothing wrong in going in a ONE WAY ( I am an INDIAN after all), The guy showed me the way, I searched for you and you were not found. The police man did not agree with all my explanations and asked me to pay the fine. You will have to pay 350 rs, if I put a fine, he yelled. I know what he is up to. Need not study rocket science to know that. I said, “ Sir, I have only hundred rupees” and the next moment he said , fine give me the hundred and keep moving…….I gave the only hundred I had and started my journey……Knowing that giving bribe is wrong and still happy that I saved my 250 rs……

After reaching the college, to my horror saw the college having nothing in it to call itself a deemed university…..Having a single building, that to under construction does not give a great sight for an engineering college, leave alone a deemed university Does corruption have a role there???)….. But, I know this is how it is in my country. After standing in the queue for some time I was told that candidates who were rescheduled have separate queues. So after changing lines I was shown my room……..Another queue….., there I stood till 9:45, (Remember I am supposed to start the exam at 10). Then I entered the room only to find that my voucher number was not there in their systems and they will have to register it now. So they asked me to wait, till the others start the exams. Then a photo of mine was taken and my voucher number was registered and by the time I was seated the time was 10:02 (What is there in 2 minutes???). After that I switched on the system, only to find out that the system is faulty and again they asked me to wait till they got it right……..It was 10:40 when a guy came to me and said, “ Don’t waste time “. I was shocked. I turned at him and said “ What do you want me to do “. Then, he translated that in his vernacular saying the lost time will be given to you……I was happy that atleast I could understand his vernacular……After that there were no interruptions…..I finished the exam and returned back happily as Indians have lived all along through all the technical and systemic failures………

When I look back, I have been fortunate to at least write the exams. Many could not write because their system hanged after starting the exam…..After all I come under the category who has the chance to at least apply for the top B-Schools in the country. There are still youngsters there on the streets who just cannot afford to study, loitering around for the daily meal. I know I cannot complain, I should rather be counting my blessings…………but the bottom line is INDIA as a country has not gone much from the day we have got the Independence…….and to grow we need to get our integrity right first.

India – An independent nation

It has been 62 years since the INDIAN tricolor flew in red fort, Delhi for the first time. It was a proud moment of victory for the brave heroes who fought with the mighty British. Though, the country bled due to the partition, We also celebrated our independence. For, over a century they had fought for this and they deserved to celebrate. As an Indian, though born only 40 years after that great day, the very fact that we have got our freedom from the throngs and hammers of the English men without touching the gun makes me proud. The very word INDEPENDENCE means so much to me.

But ???? What does this word really mean to the common man??? Is a question that should be answered. Is this the right to voice his opinion? Is this, the right to choose the way he wants to live? Is this, the right to go wherever he wants and do whatever he can? Or Is this, the right to select your leader and track him. All these are supposed to be the freedom, each having its own clause attached to it. But is there something called freedom at all in this largest democracy for the common man? Does he have the right to voice his opinion? Does he have an option to live life the way he wants it to be? Does he have the option of choosing a leader and keep track of him? Or all these mere paper made rules?

The question marks are many. To be really frank, the common man (The much talked about Aam aadmi) never has the freedom or the rights given above. In a country where whoever has a mike can talk whatever rubbish he wants, The voice of the common man is never heard. He neither has an option of making his voice heard. The only way to make your voice is through your leader and what will he do if the leader visits him once in five years and that to only to talk and not to listen.

When he cannot even voice his opinion, I don’t think it is possible to live life the way it should be, leave alone the way he wants it to be. The only thought that fills the common man is the next day meal for him and his family. When looking for the food in itself is a very big deal, the common man lives life only in his dreams. The daily monotony of getting the food for his family is made even tougher by everybody around him and more so by the so called leaders of the country. Wherever he goes he is robbed of his money and more often he is made to cry by the government workers.

The greatest freedom was supposed to be the right to choose your own leader. What a statement of lie this has become. How many of the common man willingly, and for his own sake vote? Only the worst stand in the elections and everything goes haywire at the start itself. From then on it is selecting the safer of the two evils. Even if he does not want to select a leader he is not given the option and somebody else votes for you. If that is not the case and he decides not to vote the only loser is again going to be him…………..Tracking your leader is out of question in democracies.

If he cannot voice his opinion or select his own leader or even live the way he wants to live, What on earth is all these independence these guys keep talking about year after year. Only if the corruption becomes zero and the political leaders’ at least try to live a life worthy of living, the word independence has some meaning else it will be only a word found only in the dictionaries for most of the INDIANS. We can celebrate 100 years of independence, Have a great march of the soldiers, Wear the tricolor and say Jai Hind, Be proud that we are the largest democracy, Remember all the martyrs and the great leaders who fought for the independence and do whatever you want to show the independence, the sad reality is for more than half of the Indian population the independence is a day to sit at home and have a break.

Till as a nation, we can promise in front of the world, that we as the people of the largest democracy will be honest in whatever we do and in Whatever we are supposed to do and till the political bigwigs decide that enough of what they have done and it is time to repay, INDEPENDENCE will always be a thing of the books and that is not what it was meant to be………..

GOLD – NEED NOT ALWAYS GLITTER

It was a Saturday morning, so I was in my bed till 7. When the sun came out to wake me up, I awoke with my mind fixed on the ASHES. It had started two days back and the previous night I could not see the score since I was very late. I switched on the NDTV not knowing that GOD was planning to teach me an age old adage “All that glitters is not gold”.

The NDTV showed two pictures which was played in my mind again and again throughout the day. One, a beautiful young lady covering her face from the camera, the other, A small girl whose face is blurred by the camera to hide her identity. The story goes like this. The young lady, must be in her late twenties or early thirties, Mother of two small kids, a television actress; she had promised the small girl’s parents that she will make that kid study. The kid’s parents anticipating a brighter future for their child accepted the lady’s offer and there stands the small kid, her face half burnt, eyes red, legs trembling and hands with her skin peeled off. It was tragic to watch that sight. Absolutely tragic. The lady had tortured the girl for six months. What exactly had happened, nobody knows, except of course the girl and that television actress. But what came out was that the girl was not given food for a long time and in her hunger the girl tried to open the refrigerator and take some food. The lady seeing this threw hot water on the girl and beat her with tongs. I have heard such things happen in the ancient India and in some parts of the world where slavery was rampant…………but such an incident happening in the ultra modern world, that too by the modern day woman and sadly by a mother of two!!! I just could not comprehend where we have gone wrong. Freeze that picture in your mind…….

The day after that I met another character………An old lady, should be in her 70’s. She is the first wife of a drunkard…….First wife!!!! That man has married three times. He always beats his wives so much every day after drinking. That man’s third wife bore him a daughter and she was a mentally retarded girl. To rub salt on the already swollen wound, the mentally retarded girl was raped and bore a son. Now comes the hero of the story. The old lady started looking after the small boy, the grandson of her husband’s third wife. When all that she had done all her life is to get beatings from her own husband, after seeing her husband marry two other girls, after living in absolute poverty for almost the entire life and by the time most would have given up on life she decides to grow up a small boy, by no means a simple job. She stood up and said “I will help this kid to be a good citizen”. I will give him everything so that he will be a better human being………My mind refused to accept. The old lady was not supposed to do this??? Wasn’t she??? I have heard tales of children being harassed by step mothers……….but this lady??? Is she not living among the same poor women who sell children to live??? When she stood up I know I cannot sit down……..that picture of that frail old lady taking an oath that she will produce a good human being for the world was frozen in my mind…….

Two characters crossed my mind those two days. One is beautiful, a television actress living in the hub of Mumbai in a posh apartment. She could afford everything she wants, in the peak of her career, having two lovely little children. The other, a old lady, having lived all her life in a broken village in the southern part of the country, seeing her husband marry two more ladies, getting beaten physically day in and day out. On any day I will want the first one……but guess what???? The old lady is growing a small child teaching him, that one day he should serve the nation and the beautiful young lady beating a small girl just because she could do so……….I don’t want to say this, and I don’t want this to happen either………but I believe the two small children of the Television actress growing up with whatever they had wanted in the High rise buildings of Mumbai are going to do as much harm to the nation as their mother has done………And I say this with a fair degree of confidence, that the small kid growing in the village hut having nothing to boast about will do more good than harm….

I know “All that glitters are not gold”. But on that day I learnt that “GOLD – Need not always glitter”. The young lady glittered but…….she is not the real gold. The “REAL GOLD” is the old woman, who actually had never ever glittered. 

Fuel your Passions to celebrate our differences..........

A young man from a southern village of Tamil Nadu travels to Australia planning to join as a cook there. Not knowing a word of English he meets the Australian customs officials. The officials understanding his problem invites a Punjabi to translate for them. The Punjabi not understanding what this man is talking, points him to a Sri Lankan. The Sri Lankan could understand our guy. The bemused Australian officials ask the Punjabi, How come you are from the same country but not able to understand him, but though the Sri lankan is from a different country he is able to understand him........The smiling Punjabi replies “ Mere Bharat Mahan”. On seeing this my friend made a fascinating comment which made me write this article.........He said “ India's diversity is so diverse”..........

After some discussions we agreed on the fact that “diversity” is one thing and “diversity being diverse” is some other thing. I have traveled to most parts of the country and I really acknowledge my friends statement. When we were discussing this topic, four of us were sitting around and all four of us had different mother tongues. All four of us had different cultures, different traditions and different backgrounds. All of them talked about their surroundings, their festivals and their brought ups and I know I am very different from the other three........ Yes!!!! I am from the same country...........We stand up for the same National anthem but I eat entirely different food from them. I dress up differently, I have different festivals and almost live my entire life differently.

I have worked with people who are technically brilliant, speaking in impeccable English and having everything they want and the very next year I saw people who wash your feet when you enter their homes, living in places where not even a cycle could enter. I lived in places where air conditioners work 24*7 and then I saw people who have not seen electric current yet. I have gone with people in Mercedes and then lived with people who walk twenty kilo metres to save 2 rs. I lived with groups who don't touch meat and then lived with people who does not leave a single living organism alive. Some times the differences are so big that, you might even start to wonder whether we live in the same planet.......

India has so many gods that sometimes the number of people worshiping them seem small, so many languages that can even confuse Gods, So many functions that 365 days of a calender is not enough if we have one a day, So many cultures that the whole world put together cannot count the same number. I have heard people saying, had Adam been a Chinese he would have eaten the snake rather than the fruit........I thought of the same joke with Adam as an Indian............But!!!! Which Indian???? One would have eaten the snake and the other would have built a temple for that..........One would have run at the sight of a snake and another would have made the snake dance.........We have so much variety that even a snake will get confused if there are four different Indians at the same time, I thought.

I feel nostalgic when I think of this diversity, but!!!!!for me India's greatness does not lie in its differences alone,but also in the strikingly similar emotions of people....YES!!!! as a country we have a whole lot of differences, but when India beats the Pakistanis in cricket or when A.R Rahman plays a mind blowing rendition or when tragedy stuck those posh Mumbai hotels or when an Indian is abused in Australia the emotions are so strikingly similar in the whole country. The people of this country have been looted right from the time of the muslim invasions to the British rule, but the resilience they have shown through it all have been strikingly similar. …........and even politicians across the country show a lot of similarities.........

But!!! Are our “supremely diverse diversity” and the “strikingly similar emotions”leading us to where it should be??? Are our worldly differences and our in built passions stimulating our growth??? True!!!! Our diversity can make the world look stunned, can confuse the snakes and give us a lot of pride..............Very true!!!! that our strikingly similar emotions can be a great asset........But!!!! Unless we know to celebrate our differences and control our emotions, the much talked about “ diverse diversity” and our “raw emotions” can make the world out there use this, to divide us. Are there some people inside the country who does that too????

We are one country!!!! One India!!!! We can speak 500 different languages and worship 1000 different gods, but our differences are there for us to celebrate and our similar emotions are there to fuel our celebrations.............Listen World!!!! We are ONE Country. One beautiful Country........ and none can separate us..........Are the insiders listening?????

“MERE BHARATH MAHAN”

Are we becoming more Christian than Christ like?????

Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity says Wikipedia. Christianity is the monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth (Christ) is what Wikipedia says about Christianity. The words Christian and Christ have a kind of linear relationship I reckon. But!!! Is this linear relationship becoming increasingly curvy??? Is the difference between Christ and Christian becoming more pronounced??? Or to be more precise, Are we becoming more Christian than Christ like??? is a question that kept coming back to my mind again and again.

In an increasingly monotonous world where the only way to reach your neighbour is through electronic signals (The same way used to contact our friends abroad), it is becoming increasingly difficult to show Christ. The easiest way of course is to be a regular in the Sunday morning services, which of all things, has given way to this new concept of “Christ less” Christians. Attending the Sunday morning Church services half an hour late has given us the token for the entire week to live life as if, Christ as a person never existed. By writing about Sunday morning services I mean the great “Christian traditions” and in no way I am against going to Church on Sunday mornings. The problem with Christ always has been his inability to live within the traditions. He was often found performing miracles on the poor and the wicked, when he was supposed to dine with the clergy and do no other thing. He did his miracles on Sundays and encouraged his disciples not to Fast when he was around. He was always far off the target set by the clergies which made them run after him in anger.

As Christians of the modern world we are also facing the same problem which Christ faced in his days. “To embrace what Christ did” or “To go along the river of traditions to show that we are Christians” (after all Christ himself wanted us to show that, Didn’t he?) are the options God has given us. Two weeks back, I was showing some photograph of my sister with a small Kid (2 years) to my younger brother (10 years old). He flinched his eyes and said “Ah, that is a Hindu Kid. What??? I asked myself!!! A Hindu Kid!!! My mind said there was something fundamentally wrong…… No, No, My brother is too small, I comforted myself. After a week, some colleagues of mine joined together and planned to go to an orphanage and spend some useful time there. One of my colleagues (A Christian) said to me, it would be nice if that is a Christian orphanage. Ah there it goes again……I asked myself this question when I went to an orphanage not run by Christians and to be very honest I preferred being at a Christian orphanage on Sunday evenings rather than something else……We are more comfortable in the presence of Christians, Which sadly Christ never did, nor was he more comfortable in presence of the clergies. We, often without our knowledge are more comfortable with the Christian tag than the Christ like tag. Christ wanted us to go in to this world and live among the people of the world, the sinners, the down trodden, the lost, the sick, people with varied traditions, cultures, values, and principles, and live should we, as people showing the LOVE that he showered on us.

The Christian tag is nice and beautiful. I love wearing that and roaming around. I am proud if some body calls my name and asks me whether I am a Christian. I really love calling myself a Christian. But, if that is what is preventing me from mixing with people around me, in the same manner in which I mingle with other Christians, then I prefer people calling me a non Christian. Christ never carried that tag around and I am sure he does not want me to carry it around as well. I prefer being Christ like than to be a Christian.

A Lasting Legacy

“I care about playing for my Country. It is a passion and I have been absolutely privileged to play for India for so long. It is my dream and I am living my dreams” – Sachin Tendulkar

I was busy in my work, shuffling between the window screens, reading documents, preparing a presentation and of course following the scores. India is playing the Aussies and Australia has scored a huge 350 runs. Having been an avid cricket follower for almost 15 years, I know it is going to be chasing the wind from here on for our guys. We have always been very poor chasers, and my mind said today is going to be no different. So I carried on with my work and as always having an occasional look in the internet for the scores. Sachin was settling down slowly and Shewag had begun ferociously, when I left office. When I started on my long travel back home news came that Sachin is looking brilliant but all others around him are falling like nine pins. That is it!!! Sachin can’t win this match single handedly, I told myself.

Having seen Sachin scoring runs day in and day out for 15 years, I have no doubt that he is the best in business. For me, “He is the only batsman is the world, All others can bat”. Every inch of my batting in my school days, is modeled on sachin. When he hits those straight drives I have touched his feet in my dreams. I could even recollect the commentator’s words when Sachin scored that desert storm classic. I cried when Sachin clutching his back got out in the famous unfinished chase in Chennai. Though India had a comparatively weak team those days, I always hoped against all hope that Sachin will take us home. But, For once, after almost 15 years, for the first time my mind said “Sachin cannot do it alone”. He is too old for chasing such big scores, though my heart as always wanted Sachin to win the match single handedly.

By the time I reached home, Sachin was still batting on 120 and with Raina has brought the team to a near improbable victory. Then, in a moment of madness after scoring 175, Sachin got himself out and India lost again. Nothing new!!! You cannot expect a team to chase 350 runs against the Aussies. India deserves to lose my brother said. They should not have given 350 runs in the first place he said. But for me, the whole match was about one man, one great man. Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar.

The man was 36 when he scored that magnificent innings. When most, almost all of his contemporaries have retired and switched professions, he soldiers on. When the world said, he is not good enough, not anymore, he soldiers on. When even his ultimate supporters like me said he could not do it on his own, he soldiers on. What has kept him going??? What is his pull, rather the push??? What is the one thing that has kept him going the same way when he started two decades back??? Surely, it cannot be money, because he already has earned so much!!! Surely, it cannot be name or fame, for he is compared to God’s here. What is the one thing that has made this man he is, fight twenty long years, amidst controversies, injuries, criticisms, heartbreaks, and above all else mediocre under performing, and sometimes even corrupt colleagues??? I decided to analyze…….

He gave a small view of his mind, after the match when asked the question. He said it had been a dream to play for my country and I am living my dreams. Dream ??? Dream to serve the country for so long??? Yes!!! He dreamt of making it big. But, Hasn’t he made it big already??? He dreamt of becoming the best batsman of all time. But, Is he not the best batsman of his generation yet??? I have no doubt in my mind that he is the greatest batsman who has ever touched the bat. Of course, I have seen only the last 15 years of cricket. But, I don’t think anybody before Sachin, had to withstand the amount of pressure he went through. From the time he was sixteen (Yes!!! 16 with curly hair and real boyish looks) he had delivered time and again for his Country which he so dearly loved. Many, started young and withered away not able to handle pressure, many built up monuments very early, only to fade away in the heaps of accolades. Many, started late, flourished for some time, and then declined with the vagaries of time. But he withstood them all. He has played with the Kapils, then the Kumble’s, then came Dravid’s and ganguly’s, then the Yuvraj’s and now the Jadeja’s and the Kohli’s.

Two things crossed my mind, when I asked myself that question. One, is a remarkable word. PASSION is what I meant. Only very few people can harness such raw PASSION and Sachin for sure was one of them. Every individual can understand what Passion is watching Sachin bat in that innings. He wanted to do it for his country and no matter what the target is he will go for it. Some call it determination. May be, yes. But, for Sachin the word Passion suits him much more than determination I think. Every drop of sweat on that day was drenched with passion for playing cricket for his country, the country which he so dearly loved.

The other thing is even more remarkable for me. Probably, even without this quality, he could have scored the same number of runs. Yet, his ability to remain down to earth and very humane in spite of his godly status is what sets him apart. He never reacted badly when he was on the wrong side of bad umpiring ( When counted he should be the person having most number of wrong decisions). He never showed faces when his bowlers and fielders let him down badly. He never criticized the media, or his colleagues, or even his opponents. This ability of his, to keep grounded has not only enabled him to keep going but also has given such high stature among his followers.

I know a day is coming soon when Sachin has to hang his boots. He is human indeed. The next generation will have heroes to celebrate for and Sachin will soon be a forgotten entity. His records could also be overtaken. After all records are meant to be broken. Age will soon overtake and a time will come when Sachin will be bowled by his grandchild.

But, Sachin has left a legacy. A legacy which will never be forgotten by the people who are privileged to watch him play. He sure has captivated the minds of millions of Indian of his generation and the next. I sure will follow cricket after Sachin retires in the same way as I had followed for the last 15 years. But, I will really, really miss the way Sachin played his cricket and the lasting legacy he has given us all. There can be many, who could bat the way he did. But, there can be only one Sachin and only he can play cricket the way he did.