The largest continent!

I'm not a big fan of gyms; but recently I was contemplating joining one primarily for diversion from this world of computers that I'm living in. As usual, the Libran in me chipped in and I was confused if I should make use of the apartment gym/swimming pool - though they look more like a store room and a water tank respectively - or I should pay like 30 bucks a month and drive 10 miles to get to the cheapest gym around. I didn't come to a conclusion, quite as expected; but I had an interesting experience.

Anyone who's spent some time in US, especially the US gyms would be able to tell the difference between the way a desi guy works out (I'm not talking about fitness freaks here); and an American works out. Most of the desi guys hardly have a clue as to what they should do next and they most often end up in the next available equipment! :)) It's kind of weird to describe but extremely funny to watch - like a pregnant cat trying to decide the place where it's going to deliver! When I went to the gym to do my case study, there was another desi guy there looking around and trying to figure out the best workout strategy. That made two of us and I was happy to know I had company... You know... You don't really feel all that silly when someone else is also doing what you are doing; even if you are doing the dumbest thing on earth! A feeling of being with the community :D

So I ended up in one of the treadmills (just so I don't like like I'm picnicking there :D) and started to walk at a snail pace; quietly observing the other guy. There was a TV at the far end of the gym and some night mode shots and a sand boa were combined in an attempt to scare the viewers. I decided not to look stupid and I stuck to my treadmill while this guy was cycling, weight-lifting, walking and jogging within 15-20 mins; and just as it goes with desi guys, we hardly exchanged smiles or names.

After a while, I felt I walked too much (the meter almost approached 0.5 miles which is too much :D) and I was just about to start back home when this guy started a conversation...

"Are you in C block?"

"No... E block"

"There are many desis in C block"

"Oh..."

"Which part of India are you from?"

"Tamizh Nadu"

"I am AP" (like Gounder saying I yaam Mekanikal bullet jaaki) "My name is Raju"

"Oh..."

"Where are you working"

...Told my office name...

Which technology, which client, how long have you been here and all other de-facto questions followed and I had no choice but to answer them all. Then came the most interesting part of the conversation.

"Did you see the program? They were showing big big snakes"

"Yeah" (Paamba paatthu dhaana bayandha)

"What was the name of the program... Big konda... no no Megakonda" (Konda = Mountain in Telugu :D)

"Yeah"

"Here they have big big snakes..."

"Yeah! African snakes are quite large" (Thinking that he was talking about Anacondas)

"US and Europe snakes are also big."

* continues curiously *

"In Africa, is it big?"

"Yeah. Those snakes are supposed to be the largest"

"No no... I'm asking about the size of Africa"

"Yeah... It's quite big. After all, it's the second largest continent in the world"

"The largest is Europe?"

"Err... No Asia" (I thought Geography was mandatory till X grade)

"Oh... Next"

"Africa" (Adhaan sonnaenae da)

"Next..."

"North America and it goes all the way till Australia" (vittaa paadam nadattha cholluvaainga paola irukku)

...A short pause...

Me: "How long have you been in US" (out of curiosity and badly wanting to change topic)

Him: 6 years (Super la :D)

On a normal day, I would've extended the conversation to have fun; but I was in no mood the other day and the entertainment session ended there. I know that a vast majority of the American people (no offense meant) are ignorant of such basic facts; but for the first time I met an Indian who thought Europe was the largest continent in the world.

You better die...

Recently, I heard a news or rather a rule that instantly got on to my nerves. In India, a kidney transplant isn't legal unless the donor belongs to the same family. I'm pretty sure this would be the case with other organs as well. Let's take a moment to think about the implications...

People who have kidney failures have three options - first one, obviously is to die; second - to do dialysis on a regular basis and almost everyone will know the cost involved in the process (which means a poor man will have to resort to option 1). The third option is to get the kidney transplanted from a dead/brain dead patient; and the best part about this is that every hospital has about 1000 kidney requests in queue. You know what's even better? Every hospital has a tentative "wait time" for a request. In other words, they have their own mechanisms of guessing when 1000 persons would die! Looking at this matter from the other side, this is actually a survival race where every patient is waiting for another to die! How pathetic!

The scope for social evils is another point to be considered. Reminds me of a dialog in "The Untouchables" - "People are gonna drink! You know that, I know that, we all know that, and all I do is act on that." Anyone with a survival instinct will try to get the organ transplanted at any cost. Then what is the whole point in making it illegal and opening a black market? The only logical counter-argument could be that this prevents the poor and needy from selling their organs for money. But there is no way to prevent this from happening illegally! Is there?

Hail Democracy!

Well... I'm not sure how to start this one, to be honest. I just couldn't digest the fact that India has chosen THE WORST party to the nation one more time. 60+ years of independence and the nation has moved from good to bad to worse; completely under the spell of this party; with the heights of its impotence reached on December 26th, 2008. No development whatsoever is possible under (pardon my language here) a bunch of old brats lead by an Italian!

I can keep writing pages and pages about this without any reduction in my irritation; but let me share a few points that are quite interesting and annoying.

1. Election malpractices reached a historic high this time; including rigging, bribing the voters and rejection of electoral rights for lame reasons. For instance, in Madurai (my home town), Tamilnadu; the polling % was 70+ when many of my friends and acquaintances didn't get to vote; and out of that Azhagiri (the corruption king's son) won by a margin of 2 lakh votes (the entire constituency has only 7 lakh voters). Further every home in Madurai was given 500 Rs per vote.

2. The polling % in Mumbai was in the lower 40s. Probable reason - Long weekend; and everyone planned trips to Goa and other nearby spots. In one simple sentence 'Shame on you Mumbaikers'. It's not sufficient to just talk and compose sentimental emails about blasts, insecurity and the loss of lives. What did you actually do to save your butt? Nothing! Even worse, Congress has won all the Mumbai constituencies; while the home minister shrugged his shoulders and told you that he has no idea about the nation's security.

3. I can't think of any improvements in the past 5 years; and in my view this was one of the worst Governments India ever saw. Corruption was at its peak; and in Tamilnadu alone thousands of crores were swallowed by MK and co.

4. Rahul Gandhi, except for his surname has no business whatsoever in Indian politics. IMHO there are a million other deserving youngsters fit to rule India better than him.

5. This is an illustration of how stupid the system of democracy can get. Reminds me of Hitler's lines in Mein Kampf where he says democracy will never allow a great person to raise up to power, purely because of the impedence mismatch between the brilliant few and the masses. This result just testfies every word of that sentence.

In a nutshell, I sincerely hope that the sanity of the Indian masses improves in the future; and that they get out of this silly sentiments of electing a party just because it has been ruling us for a long time. My dad's history book read "India is a developing country" and mine did too; but even if my son's book doesn't read "India is a super power"; let it not read "India is an underdeveloped, poor nation in the clutches of hunger". May God bless Indians and save the country from this destructive path. Jai Hind!

P.S: The ONLY thing I like about this election result is that the commies have got a nasty blow; and they've been castrated this time. At least one news to be happy about. :)

Elections...

Elections - One term that will be lingering in Indian hearts (at least in those of the politically active/responsible citizens) for the past month or so. With the final phase of elections happening today, the fate of the nation for the next few years would be decided in a few more days.

I'm not a political expert per se; and given that I'm in US now (and that the Indian Govt provides no options for people like me to cast their votes), I don't even have my name in the electoral list. But I just wanted to share a few thoughts about the way things are poised; and I'd also like to take this chance to cross verify my ability to analyze political strategies depending on the similarities/differences between my analysis and the actual proceedings.

Congress doesn't have anything to boast of as an achievement save the fact that a puppet PM compelted his term and that they signed the nuclear deal. Whether the deal is good or not in itself is a mystery and a highly debatable topic. That said, the Govt has a lot of negatives against it, primarily lack of internal security and absolutely no development whatsoever. In Tamilnadu, its allies (DMK) have taken corruption to a new level and they are setting role models for how one family can loot thousands of crores of taxpayer's money by controlling and distributing power among its members.

So does that mean the BJP will sweep the polls? Definitely not. Several reasons can be attributed for this fact. 1. Single party majority is almost becoming out of question in the current decade. 2. National parties, though known across the nation, aren't particularly strong in all states. Classic example being Tamilnadu; where the the Dravidian parties take the lead role in controlling politics. 3. The pseudo secular media (almost all the Indian news channels are under this category) and parties have always tried to portray BJP as some Hindu fanatic organization that will gun down everyone from the minority if it comes to power.

Personally I feel (1) is going to be the deciding factor in this election. BJP doesn't have a real strong alliance in the southern parts of India; and almost in all four states save Karnataka (where BJP actually commands some vote bank) BJP is almost deserted. In the north, I feel BJP will do quite well especially in states where it is in power. Even otherwise, there isn't anything that prevents people from voting for BJP; unlike congress that has a bunch of negatives tailing it. So assuming that the BJP does well in the north, all it needs is some solid support from the southern states; and I believe they have a plan in place - the third front. The third front in my view, is more or less like a short term parking place and honestly speaking, it has absolutely no sense in it because the parties cannot contribute to each other in anyway! So the whole point of the third front is to get some MP seats and then trade them on either sides depending on individual interests and profits.

That said, ADMK in TN and TDP in AP are likely to join the NDA; and the notable point there is BJP didn't even contest in many constituencies just to make sure that the anti-congress, anti-DMK vote is not split. With ADMK+ winning a large number of seats in TN; and TDP winning at least 50% seats in AP, added to the fact that BJP itself will get something out of Karnataka, the party doesn't really need to struggle very hard to cross the magic number. If at all my assesssment is right, Advani has taken this political game into a new level of post-election competition, which is kind of new to our setup. The party is seemingly very weak in the south (encouraging the opponents and giving them a relaxed mindset); and down the line when everything is finalized, all the silence might pay off and the lotus might bloom in the center. Let's wait and watch :)

Earth hour!

One of the most hilarious things about west is the way they come up with these days and hours... No no... I don't mean they 'make' days or hours; but they name them one thing or the other, while completely forgetting the ultimate solution. For instance, they broke the close-knit family system long back and now celebrate mothers day, fathers day, brothers day, sisters day and so on... But not once do they attempt to get back to a close-knit system... They just can't stand it.

Now this earth hour... Oh man... Give me a break! In Tamizh there is a famous saying -- "Padikkiradhu Ramayanam... Idikkiradhu Ramar kovil" which means that the activities and preachings are just the opposites of each other. That'd apply excellently well to the west. You should look at their consumption of power... It'd leave an Indian dumbfounded... When the homes in India remain in darkness because of want of power, empty parking lots here have dozens of flood lights turned on all the time. No no... I'm not this communist conservative who cannot stand anyone living prosperously; but just a neutral onlooker awestruck by the hypocrisy. Below are a couple of snaps from my workplace... I'm not going to mention which city or which company, for that is not my intention! But just imagine the level of stupidity/hypocrisy it reveals...





(This was on a Saturday and I was the only person in the office for some urgent work)

Am I a 'West bashing racist from Asia'? No! I'm not that either.People say that Asia accounts to most of the world's pollution; but isn't that logical given the fact that 1/3rd of the world lives in India and China alone? What I'd like to see is a lot of pollution free vehicles being introduced in India and the subcontinent; and as much as this is happening at a gradual pace these days (pollution free buses, BSIII standards mandated for new vehicles, etc) there is still a lot that India and Asia could do towards establishing a greener environment. But given the greatly functional political system there, there is nothing good that one could ask for. Things will happen when they ought to unless a lot of political activists chip in and change the system for the good.

The Recession Effect...

Ah... Sometime to blog after a short break. Time is a required condition to blog; but it's in no way sufficient. I mean you could have a whole day of free time, but you might not feel like writing anything at all. Off late, there have been quite a few instances like these that reduced my blogging frequency and also put our movie script on hold for a while. (Did I tell you about the script? If not, I will... but in another post :))

There used to be days when every Indian street had at least 10 Government officers... These days, there are at least 10 people from every Indian street currently residing in the US and this is true at least in the metros and cities. So quite naturally, news about US easily sells and has a lot of demand too. For those from the previous generation who still feel computers are too tough to cope up with, news papers and magazines combined with TV news makes their breakfast, lunch and supper. The magazine editors have noted this demand perfectly, and they make it a point to publish some news about the trend in US. When there is no news to publish, they make up one! :) Man... These days, the second part of it is getting slightly overboard and as much as it irritates me, it's funny on the other side. Now that clouds of recession are surrounding the US the news that they come up with become all the more interesting and hilarious! A few interesting headlines that I could remember:

"Mortgage industry topples in US... Houses available for 1000$"
(Mind voice: Err... Did you mean dog houses?)

"Despite reducing prices to 500$ none is buying a home"
(M.V: Will you please give me a call when you find one such 'real' house?)

"Obama has planned to ban H1B employment"
(M.V: Are you by any chance the secretary of state? :))

"Giving privilege to citizens and workers is against business ethics."
(M.V: EKSI. Had this been India and there are so many foreigners employed; while millions of Indians are jobless, we would've gone on an indefinite strike! That is democracy but this is Bureaucracy?)

The most interesting part of this is the attitude of 'ponna petthavainga' (parents who have a girl ready to be married). Sometime back I wrote a short story (since this is my blog, I take the liberty to call it a short story :D) on how computer engineers were considered hot cakes in the matrimonial market. Now that there is some level of instability in the US market, the trend has completely reversed. "Software Engineers excuse!", "Prefer Indian groom" and statements on these lines aren't too tough to hear and see. If there's something that pisses me off big time, it is this attitude from the Indian parents. I mean somehow they tend to lose their rationale and end up in this extremely conservative outlook. IT is not the only sector that is affected by recession and not all persons from core departments get work in their respective departments. IT companies have a lot of civil, mechanical, textile and production engineers too... At the same time, if someone is working in some other field it doesn't mean that he is inferior (as they thought before) or superior (as they are thinking now). It's just a question of the individual's potential, aspiration and interest. I sincerely hope that the parents who pressurize their kids, to choose a branch of their choice and always go with the popular beliefs to get a groom for their child realize their mistake and let their children live!

P.S: Recession is indeed threatening a lot of jobs in the US. The Govt is in the process of enforcing the regulations as much as possible; causing a lot of desis (specifically manavaadus) return home. Most of them would've been here under the banner of a non-existent company or a staffing agency in the name of a company. There are many others whose projects came to an end and had no choice but to return to India; but hey... that's the way the system was supposed to work. If a foreign national who came into the US for work, lost his job and couldn't find an alternate job in 2 weeks time he is supposed to go back to where he came from. Till date, these rules were taken lightly and now it's being enforced thoroughly. That's what the difference is!

Mumbai attacks - time to wage a war?

First of all, my heart felt condolences for those who were killed or injured during the inhuman attacks carried out at Bombay.

Everyone who has been following Indian affairs for a while would be aware that terrorists trying to instill fear in Indians is nothing new and that these attempts have never been successful. But this time, the attacks have taken unusual dimensions including firing on the streets, setting hotels/luxury spots ablaze; and every act of terror that people would've seen only in action movies. Quite naturally, this has given way to a lot of discussions; and I felt that this topic deserved a second post.

I felt a bit annoyed to see this post in one of the blogs that I landed upon. I completely agree that the situation is grave and anyone who was on the venue of the demonic activity, would be upset to the core. But is leaving the country a solution? Isn't that called escapism? Our country is like our body... Just because some virus attacks it, we don't shed it or run away from it. If finance is your problem and you are really finding it hard to make some good money at home, you may explore the possibilities outside and plan to come back at a later point. But giving reasons like 'life if too busy' in my opinion is BS. If that's the case, one can always opt to settle down in a second tier city where life is peaceful and they get the space and style of life they need. When we fight for abstract things like community, language, religion, etc why don't we fight to eliminate the pressing problem of the locality? Running away from problems is never a solution! I hope and pray these people understand that...

Next is the attempt to attribute these attacks to 'Hindu terrorists'!! I was tempted to write a post on that one, but this post saved my time and words. Hats off to the author.

The last and the most important part that I wanted to talk about was about the motive of the attacks. As I said in the beginning of this post, this attack is completely different from what India has seen before. This could mean one of the two things...

1. The Indian Intelligence, Police, Government and all single security enforcement official are really, really dumb.

2. The scary alternative - the Government/intelligence planned it.

I'm pretty inclined towards taking up the second option as the more acceptable version because I don't believe that Indian security has become so bad that terrorists holding ultramodern rifles can wander on the streets as if they are in some Cuban Naxelite camp. Before you say WTF you mean the government planned it, let me explain why I feel so.

I believe that the strongly convincing videos in Youtube about the involvement of FBI/CIA/US Govt on the 9/11 attack would've got your attention. In case you are completely unfamiliar about this, please visit this site. I'm not dumb enough to say that India did this because US did that; but I had some points in my mind that got me into this suspicion and it's up to you to decide if that's worth considering or sheer crap!

1. The operation on the whole is highly sophisticated. We have never seen such an orchestrated terrorist attack involving ultramodern weapons in the history of Indian crimes.

2. Everyone seems to be surprised including the Intelligence. The incidents that happened before were carried out on a large scale with trivial hand made grenades; which sounds practical. But AK 47 in public and the intelligence being clueless?

3. India's recent stance with the US. I'm not sure if our intelligent Congress men are borrowing some wicked ideas from the US.

4. In the current state of affairs, congress has absolutely no scope to win the upcoming elections and a war on Pakistan could be a life line for them.

5. The opposition parties have not made any great issues out of this incident. Perhaps BJP doesn't want to stop a war against Pakistan?

6. Pakistan expresses its condolence as if this is the first terrorist attack on India.

7. Police cars being a part of the gun fire. Where did the terrorists get the chance to seize a Police car? They just ran out with their guns, shot a senior official and took the jeep?

8. The particular interest shown on the foreign nationals staying in the luxury hotels and the way it is projected as a matter of importance to the US and the UK too!

9. The ATS head who was shot, as reported by media was not targeted; but he was caught in some random firing! An expert not knowing how to hide from bullets?

10. The news was the cover story today in almost all leading news channels in the US; and at least to my knowledge they don't give so much importance to news completely unrelated to the US. And on top of it, US extends its 'Support' to all decisions taken by India.

I could go on stating my suspicions but I don't know how true these could be or even if I'm putting up a sane argument. But this is what I strongly feel at the heart of my hearts. Iff (mathematical notation) this is true, I feel it's a really bad political stunt from the Indian government. After all, we've been having problems for a quite long time; but we were always in a position to say 'Meraa Bharath Mahaan' with pride and complete spirits. Let's settle our issues between us and our enemy; and let us not allow the hypocrisy of the west to enter our veins. Jai Hind!

Mumbai blasts - Shame on the Government

Statement 1: India is the 3rd most popular foreign investment zone in the world.
Statement 2: On 26th November, a bunch of goons opened fire at public and pulled off granades. They showed particular interest in the cozy areas of Mumbai and their special interest was in threatening foreigners.
Statement 3: The Govt of Maharashtra and the Govt of India are on red alert about attacks on major cities

Logical inference: There has been a plot to spoil India's reputation; and the non-functional state and central Governments have let innocent public and foreigners suffer because of their ignorance and inefficiency. Hail Congress!

The part that disturbs me the most in such attacks is the victimisation of public. After all, what does a commoner has to do with political issues and why should s/he punished for no fault? At least in the future, let these dirty political games be played on a humanitarian basis.

The end of IT era?

Following the trough in the US economy, the much sought after IT sector faced/faces a great blow in India. Many companies stopped promotions, started indirect firing, reduced the pay to benchers and indicated their economic vulnerability in a lot of ways; and this brought a few interesting questions to my mind. How stable is the IT industry? If $ falls tomorrow (after all they are all paper bills and carry no real significance), will the IT industry still survive? What will happen to the 'elite-society' of today?

Honestly, I feel if $ falls, it's surely going to take down IT with it. We all know there are projects outside US... Indian market itself is worth billions of dollars and all that crap. But US plays a very significant role in keeping the industry alive for two reasons - 1. As with any other commodities, they are THE consumers of IT services. There are other consumers too but relying on them for minting money isn't going to work because their volume of consumption put together, is not even 1/10th of US and 2. The profit margin is not going to be as high. The exchange rates might be better than USD but considering the volume of operations, it is going to yield only insignificant profits. Perhaps reason 2 is a derivative from reason 1. The industry will not obviously vanish; but maintaining the lion's share is out of question.

The worst nightmare for the Indian government would be the day this happens. Imagine thousands and thousands of educated jobless youngsters in the society. Perhaps 10% of them might be smart enough to switch fields or start their own business or do something that works to survive. But what about the rest? It reminds me of my high school days when I used to write civics exams where the most common question would be "What are the economic problems of India" and point #1 would be population and point #2 would be unemployment. We never gave upon #1 but #2 might take a new dimension if IT goes for a toss.

Pudhiya thatthuvam 100020: Kannaa vaazhkai oru vattam maadhiri... Innnaikki maela irukkuravan naalaikki keela iruppaan... Innaikki keela irukkuravan naalaikki maela iruppaan! :D

It's time to see the moon! :)

Every patriotic Indian would be extremely happy today as India's mission to reach the moon is a success and the tricolor flag now adorns the moon. It is a moment of pride to the Indian scientists and quite obviously another feather in the cap to the subcontinent.

Without a greatly organized Government, without the state-of-the-art infrastructure, without getting much help from other countries, India has crossed this milestone which in my view is a remarkable achievement. Let the success story continue and let the 'developing' crap come to an end bringing us to the dawn we have been expecting for years together. Jai Hind!

Economics

For a change, I'm not going to write a lot today. I saw this interesting video on world economics... I'd reserve my opinion for now and let you enjoy the speech...

LHC and India

The Large Hardon Collider (LHC) has been the talk of the town for quite a while now, at least among the educated mass. An extremely simplified explanation of this experiment is that it is an effort by a bunch of nerds to identify ('try to identify' to be more precise) what has been happening after the big-bang. So what the hell is big-bang? That is the way most of these nerds would like to explain how the universe came to a state it is in, today. One particle of extreme energy and density exploded (the explosion is called the big bang) and poof came the elements in this universe. Text books that were prescribed to me back in the higher sec days used to tell that this theory is intended to explain the creation of the universe. But actually there is no theory till date that explains how the universe was created! These theories rather assume that 'something' existed to begin with and then they explain what could've happened in that 'something' that resulted in the evolution of this universe. Okay... enough on the theories part! Let me get to the point that I wanted to get to... :)

As much as I appreciate the efforts by the scientists to really know and understand what happened/happens in this universe, IMHO these experiments eat up way too much funds. When millions of fellow humans are dying out of hunger, poverty, thirst and malnutrition every year, spending billions of dollars on experimentation and research seems really weird. People who were ready to spend so much money just to know how universe was when it first came into existence are not ready to spend as much to make sure none in the world dies for the want of food. In a way, aren't these 'developed' nations responsible for the underdeveloped status of African and Asian countries? Isn't their past jingoism responsible for the extreme underpricing of the African, Asian currencies in the international market today? But I'd partly agree with people who say "Yeah! It's my buck. I decide how to spend it" because as much as it doesn't make sense in the humanitarian view, it does make sense at least from a commercial and practical point of view. So let me set aside the countries with surplus budgets for now.

India as everyone knows has never seen a surplus budget in the recent past and when I see that India has offered 1000+ crores (1 Crore = 10 Million) for this LHC, I was dumbfounded to say the least. We don't have sufficient power to keep our houses bright. We have a considerable chunk of the population that earns well below 10K a year. We are running deficit for the past 50+ years. The infrastructure is horrible to say the least. But we are offering 1000+ crores to know how the universe was when it came into existence!!! Reminds me of a comic quote in Tamizh - "Pullayaarae perucchaali la paoikirukkaaru... Poosaarikki bullettu kaekkudhaa!!". I guess you could make out what that could mean based on the previous statements! :)

Black swans?!

"There is no culture out there", "They don't value relationships", "What kind of a living style is that" are some common phrases that one could commonly hear from Indians who have never been out of the country. If you are wondering whom they are commenting on, it's none but the westerners which in Indian dictionary means US for about 75% of the time and UK for the rest. Trust me... the world map has only a very few countries in the Indian perspective :)

But let's see how much truth is contained in the aforementioned opinions... Perhaps these opinions are based on the "My kids and your kids are playing with our kids" part of the western life. A few days at the Indian metros would clearly indicate that this culture has started spreading its wings in India too! With the traditional Hindu culture vanishing pretty quickly especially in urban India, we are no longer the source of the beautiful and unadultrated cultural light. That apart, do we have any great plus points that we can boast of?

Suspicion, lack of respect for others, fraud, needless hurry and so many other flaws can be easily spotted in us but still we claim that westerners lack culture. People might object this view especially mentioning that it's subjective but to be honest, I've seen the proportions blowing out in our people than the others. Hindu mythology says that a swan can extract just the milk out of a milk, water cocktail; leaving behind the adulteration. It is often quoted as a sign of being selective; and selective in a positive manner. But I strongly feel that we are being negative selectors just getting what we aren't supposed to get and forgetting what we need to get. Physical fitness, empathy for others, discipline, honesty, harmony and a lot of other qualities are out there in the west for us to learn or rather re-discover. But in reality we insist on seeing the black dot on a white sheet.

If we fail to understand our culture or their culture completely; and get into this coccoon of artificial cultural supremacy, we are not too far from facing the bitter reality and when we do, the impact would be much more negative than we expect it to be.

Independence day!

Before I start my gibberish, let me wish you all a Happy Independence Day!

Independence has continued to be one of the 'self-esteem' needs of a human being long before the Maslow's pyramid was even forumulated. I couldn't imagine a life without the feeling of freedom, the feeling of having the right to make your own decisions and the right to pursue what you feel is right!

But if we closely think about how independent we are, it's roller coaster ride in a dark tunnel of thoughts. How much independence do we have in deciding what is good and what is bad? What kind of independence will make us run like mad dogs after the western culture? What kind of independence will let our own people betray the fellow Indians and make a corrupt living? What kind of independence will leave educated Indians yearning for the Forex rates to manage the inflation rates? What kind of independence will let us think about a thousand ways to divide ourselves and ensure that a fellow Indian belonging to the other group suffers? Questions are just endless...

The apparent foreign exploitation and monopoly could've gone long back. But like a handicapped kid in a deserted land, we've been limping around for a long time now, letting others name us a 'developing' nation. The dream of becoming a 'developed' nation has been in the minds of Indians for ages now! Let's forget our differences, unite towards that cause and make sure we get the real independence pretty soon and that day the world would turn back and salute to our flag!

Let's get to work

One prominent advantage of being in IT industry is that it offers (arguably) the most colorful work atmosphere that is a cocktail of people from various backgrounds who are notably different in many aspects including accent, behavior, appearance, character, approach, political view and almost everything human, you could imagine. Perhaps IT is the true Bharatha Vilas that has a sample of thousands of diversified Indians in one location and quite obviously any one with a moderate sense of humor will have a good time herel at least with the work place. (Projects suck though :D)

You could see clean shaven, formally dressed, extremely sincere, highly talented... ok I could've made it simpler saying 'nerds'... who exist for the computer, by the computer and of the computer and his immediate neighbor would be the one who spends most of the time talking to his girl friends, reading news sites (inpormation is wealth :D), checking stock prices and playing ping pong (I no longer call it TT coz I'm in the US ;) :D)! Ironically this guy would be sent onsite (the biggest dream for anyone who enters the industry afresh and a requirement for someone who has been around for a while) while the nerd would still be venting out his hard feelings to his wife a.k.a the computer. You could invariably see someone at the cafetaria or the coffee vending machine irrespective of the time and the most commonly discussed topics would be the cruel attitude of their managers, useless nature of the project and of course girls... (guys if it were girls holding the tea cups)

With almost equal number of guys and girls, that too youngsters, you would be never short of Romeos and Juliets (at least they think so :)) out here. Murphy's law somehow holds good for most of the guys and those who are handsome and/or looking out for girls will invariably end up in a dry-project (no girls) and they will be the only ones to remain in that project forever when everyone else gets released from the team due to downsizing or ramp down as they call it. However the normal distribution curve takes the shape of a sort inclined at 10 degrees (counter-clockwise to be more accurate) when it comes to the probability of finding a good chick. If you ask a girl she might tell the same thing about guys too but the degree of inclination will not be as low as 10 degrees for sure :) But that's not the worst part. The worst part is when an average looking girl who was admirable in simple dresses will suddenly be promoted to the 'pigar op the project' status resulting in diametric changes in behavior and importantly dressing style. Like Surya says in Kaakka kaakka she always walks with her head held (too) high and will start wearing dresses that would scare the s%^t out of Ramarajan.

The sampling technique of India is even fine tuned when it comes to sending resources on deputation (typically to US) which results in a even better mix of varying cultures. Andhra guys use 'aa' as a universal question tag (the movie is good'aa', had good food'aa'), Tamizh guys form sentences that are literally translated from their mother tongue (I'm saying that only no), Mallu guys specialize in providing a German tone to English (Ee said ee wond be kamming to the Oooofees) and Northies are known for their accents (thaharty {30}) and sentence formations (Now only I'm saying this that I won't be able to come yar); and they are all a part of this ecosystem and many a times the species co-exist (as roomies) doubling the fun to anyone who watches them converse.

But the best of the lot is to see a bunch of girls working for the same project on a US deputation. All of a sudden they'll all turn into Annalakshmis adorned in trousers and a bright colored shirt. Not to mention the cosmetics and the pink colored lipsticks :D They come very early to the office (I mean seriously) around 8 AM and go out to get a cup of coffee. By the time they come back (around 9 AM), everyone would start coming to office. They go to their cubes or 'offices' as they call it here and start checking their mails. Then comes a flurry of meetings and if you want me to describe what happens in a meeting, I remember my friend's way of defining it - "Feeling lonely, Getting bored, Wanna feel important - call for a meeting" . More or less that is how a meeting is and they'll have continuous meetings from 9 - 12 (lunch time) and you should look at them when they switch between meetings carrying loads of paper work, heaving a sigh of despair, walking faster than someone who is running... Honestly you would be damned if someone says they are not having much of a work load. 12 - 1:30 is the lunch hour where everything happening in the world is brought to the table; and by the time they come back to their cubes it will be about 1:45. The second round of mail checking begins and 3 PM sharp they break for tea which lasts for about 30 minutes. Upon return they take a power nap before the 17" monitor and the first one who wakes up gives a wake up call to everyone and off they go at 5 PM. If something seems to prevent their routine, they often visit each other's offices just so that someone visiting their office would think they are out in a meeting. Trust me... It's unbelievable fun for someone who observes them carefully. But the best part is the manager will never know anything because he comes in my 10 (and everyone in the gang would be in by then) and will leave at 4 (when these people are sincerly taking their power naps). But a poor guy who asks for a vacation or comes in at 10:05 would be called for a one-one; which means abusing a person without using the slang! :D

All in all, IT has not been an enjoyable experience to me once I crossed the initial few days where I learnt a lot; and since then the only good point I could think of as being offered by IT industry is this entertainment and honestly it deserves a special recognition... :)

P.S: This is purely based on personal experiences and if you are a girl who is on a deputation and working hard all along (chances of which are pretty less), please understand that the article has been written in a generalistic and light sense. Exceptions are not examples! :)

Bomb Blasts - The Bigger Message

As Al Gore mentioned in his speech that I saw earlier today, technology on one side contributes to the development of the human community but on the other side, it has led to some of the most destructive and suicidal inventions that question the existence of the human race! Certain inventions leave us puzzled and we often wonder if they are really boons or banes; and to me explosives are the most hypocritic inventions of mankind. While they are extremely useful in 'destruction for construction', they also contribute to the 'non-constructive destruction' that is illustrated at Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Turkey, Sri Lanka and a lot of other places where people are killed and massacred just so that some senseless group communicates its message to the world! But the real message that is being communicated by every bomb that goes off is just one - the death of humanity!

No one is going to live forever. We don't even know if we would be alive tomorrow; or for that matter if earth would be existent 100 years down the line. Then what is the point in fighting over abstract concepts and killing each other in the most undiplomatic fashion? What sin did a two year old kid waiting for her dad's arrival do; to have her innocent and affectionate father permanently taken away from her just so that someone else communicates a message to the Government?! Where would we end up after killing each other in the name of religion, caste, creed, race, nationality, hatred, greed, politics and a million other ways we have invented to divide ourselves? Do we really want to stare and stay away from every other human being, fearing if there is a belt of RDX that surrounds him/her? Is this the kind of insecurity that we would like our kids to have? Do we really want the next generation to live like rats fighting predation day after day? Nobody would be left even to fight if we keep killing each other at this rate...

Anything good will not prevent a man from valuing another human life and anything that makes a man ignore the value of another life cannot be good. The world is our home and the least help we can do to each other is to ensure peace to our neighbors and fellow human beings. Let's join hands, awaken the humans in us, make this world a better place to live in and let humanity live longer!

Gandhiism - Will it work today?

The reason behind the topic is a movie again but I didn't want to write a hat-trick review and the movie (Aayudham Seivaom) didn't deserve one either... :)

Let me put the story in a nut-shell before I start with my view of the whole thing... A rowdy who believes in violence to get things done, meets a staunch Gandhiian and develops belief in that ideology. He starts his fasting to get justice in a murder case that has no evidences whatsoever and he gains public support due to the course of action he has taken for the struggle. This becomes such a huge issue that in the end the villain himself realizes his mistake and surrenders. Ahimsa wins...

My question is, is this an accurate prediction? Is Ahimsa a great weapon in itself today too? Let us see...

First and foremost, Ahimsa is a beautiful concept in itself and it'll surely make this world a much better place to live in. Hinduism considers this as one of the highest virtues that a human being can possess. So ahimsa as a concept in itself is beautiful and if everyone follows it, nothing like that.

Now that said, let us come to the applicability of Ahimsa as a weapon. Let me refrain from talking about Gandhiji for a moment here and talk only about Ahimsa, since my views on Gandhiji as a person have been quite controversial. All said and done, at least as a father of my nation, I have to respect this man and so will I.

Hinduism believes in one basic concept. The dharma or the rules that govern people will differ between the Yugas (the eras) and what is applied in one era will not be completely suitable in the other because of the changing human attitude and the (negative?!) evolution that humans undergo. In the same way, if we are talking about the 1800s or the early 1900s, the Indian society was extremely different and people led a liesurely life where they had time to cooperate and coexist with each other. In that kind of a setup if a person goes on fast, the news spreads and people become concerned about the person and may be they will help him accomplish his mission, depending on the validity in it.

Let us look at the India today (don't ask me which publication of the 'India today' magazine :)). Population has literally exploded and people have become more and more self-centered. You cannot blame them for that because they have the basic need to exist and survive in the maddening crowd. In this setup, if someone tries to follow ahimsa to get his justice, he wouldn't even be noticed no matter how long he sits on the street. And if it is a protest against someone in power, a sniper would aim the guy's head as shown in the movie but unlike what happens in the movie, the bullet wouldn't hit his shoulders but the center of his forehead.

If everything could be done in the Ahimsa way, why does Indian Penal Code (Section 302 if movies are right :)) have capital punishment as its integral part? Quite equally violence is not the answer to everything and it is disastrous. The answer to this question comes from Chankya in one simple line "Saama, Dhaana, Baedha, Dhandam". Try to talk... If it doesn't work, go for bargains... If bargains don't work, try to divide and conquer... Only when the entire sequence fails go for punishments. To me, this is the only rule that can be universally applied to any problem and any situation.

What makes a great movie?

Like everywhere, films are a major source of entertainment in India but the scale is much different. Many are die-hard movie fans and there had been quite a few incidents where the fans even sacrificed their lives for their favorite stars. What began as a mass entertainment medium, has grown in the depth and the technology; and today it is not an overstatement to say India is making world class movies (though less in number).

The moment I say world class, the comparison starts. We have too many film industries to compare with - hollywood movies, French movies, Russian movies, you name it... That said, it is not uncommon to find this educated, hi-fi, cosmopolitan dudes (I didn't quote dudes, so no second meaning intended :)) and their encomiums about unknown faces in unknown film industries. Weird names like 'Vandiserslkjao Eroiolklasnsd' (God knows how their parents name them) fill the air and Indian movies are bashed, slandered, abused and equated to mud. The common reasons mentioned - no great actors here, screenplay is not at 'the genius' level, stories aren't so strong. As much as I don't disrespect the unknown talents of the unknown artists, I find it hard to accept that there are no 'good' films produced in India.

Now comes the tricky part. What makes a 'good' film? The common conception is movies that are extremely tragic, slow moving and on a very deep subject; making the audience sob and providing the scope for the artist to demonstrate all that s/he is capable of. I beg to differ here. Unlike filthy rich people who spend a million dollars to get a wall hanging in auctions, a commoner (most often) doesn't look for heavy themes and amazing performance in a movie. His ultimate point is entertainment and if he comes over to the theater to watch a movie, he shouldn't look at his watch every now and then. That is what he considers solid entertainment and the value for his money; and this is not a trend restricted to India alone. Movies like 'x'man where (x = super, spider, bat, etc :)) are all illustrations of this reality.

Personally, I like movies with a heavy subject, crafted screenplays and amazing flow but I'd say the three items below are the basic qualities of a good movie

(a) The audience never look at their watches
(b) The movie doesn't impart any evil into the minds of the viewers
(c) The movie doesn't try to justify something at the cost of entertainment/screenplay

As long as these criteria are met, anything is acceptable as a good movie. What makes a good movie into a great movie is the performance of the actors/actresses, the screenplay, the way the director handles the subject and to an extent the music. When these combinations work out well, the result would be an excellent movie like Shawshank redemption, Tare Zameen Par, Bommarillu or Mozhi. Every country is different and so is its culture. The beauty about movies is that they can transcend these cultural barriers and impress anyone who loves them. I wouldn't accept nullifying this beauty by comparing two movies from a completely different cultural background, with a motive of degrading one of them. A true movie lover would spot and appreciate the beauty in every great movie without any prejudice!

Business mind...

Everyone has some kind of aspiration, goal, liking, areas of interest or however you call it and to me one of them is business or trade to prevent any polymorphic references (okay... I'm a techie and I have to show off somewhere :D)! And that exactly is one of the features that I like in the Americans/US. Their ability to do business with nothing has got me dumbfounded on many occassions. The SSN system they have in place, the speedy judicial systems and high end infrastructure has drastically improved online marketing experience and naturally the nett sales have sky rocketed over the past couple of decades.

But an ad that came up in 102.1 KDFC FM a couple of days back took me by surprise... It was an advertisement given by a funeral agency where you pre-pay for your funeral and decide how your funeral should be conducted. It also added, 'don't depend on anyone and be unsure of your final sendoff'... Business mind is good and that is what made the British explore the world and control all the way from west to the east. But is this an acceptable level of commercialization? I seriously doubt it.

When a human being is being forced to accept loneliness and death; and in the name of independence and liberty if everyone tends to be a self-centered individual (without even the 'Colgate circle'), of what good is all the wealth and prosperity? An Indian laborer who works 12 hrs a day toiling and sweating all along has a basic assurance that there is a family to call his own, there are people who care for him and he is an integral part of the society. To me the second option is way better than minting money and rolling over it all alone shedding tears (I heard Michael Jackson does it)!

To make a long story short, India might not have the infrastructure, online marketing might not be as good, tourism is yet to be developed better but the bottomline is you are not alone there! To me that matters more than anything else in the material world...

East and the West

I had two different topics to write today and since the other one was into philosophy, this one scored better.

I watched this amazing video in YouTube and as much I was fascinated by the performance, I was also drifting into thoughts comparing the Eastern and the Western dances.



If I compare this to Bharatanatyam (see video below) or any other classical dance forms in India or even the eastern countries, they are diagonal ends... The former concentrates on precision and the perfection while the latter focuses more on the expressiveness, the vibrations and the color. In other words, the former is more formal and latter though formal has an entirely different approach to dance. Now a simple relation of this dance to the attitude of the people would reveal that these differences are bound to occur.



A place where ethics and culture is defined by fake smiles and false courtesies, develops a dance that is actually more formal in nature while a place where an illiterate widow, completely new to politics and lacking a single quality to lead could sit on the road, grieve for her husband's death and win an election, develops a more expressive and emotional dance. The important difference made by the East in this aspect is that traditional forms of dances are so closely knit into the life and religion of its people. Discussions and debates were filled with arts and the pride of the Indian parents once resided in the artistic abilities of their kids. Until the recent ages when Indians have got the disease of shunning away their identities, tradition was a part of every Indian home. In one way or the other, every kid would be exposed to some form of dance and some form of music that completely originated in India. With globalization shrinking the world and bringing the west and the east closer (afterall the world is round and the west and the east are already close!!), I'm not sure if it eliminates the negatives on both sides but I could certainly say that the tradition that was developed over hundreds of years is being lost really fast in India.