I’ve heard a few cynics retort ‘Why do people celebrate birthdays .. ab bache thodi rahe?! ’. But ...there are a few good things about birthdays... some people try to make you feel special no matter who you are. A lot of people atleast acknowledge you existence and according to their priority list and where you stand - deal with you accordingly. In a few rare occasion you might even get a gift ! If your friends are insistent and you are gullible, you might even end up throwing a party. In the end you have good time for atleast a day for sure !
These days Facebook has made it very convenient to wish people on their birthdays and you don’t even have to worry about remembering their dates. The person being wished also knows that you might just have logged into your FB account !
I have noticed that people maintain a certain pecking order in dealing with birthdays:
1. If it’s a BFF or someone you have been trying to impress - they take the trouble of selecting and sending a gift !
2. If its a good friend - they might even call you to wish
3. In most of the other cases - they just copy paste ‘Happy birthday’ from the previous post on your profile
4. Since there are atleast 3 - 4 birthdays on most of the days - they are now posting Happy birthday X ,Y,Z in a single post - X , Y , Z are expected to go to their profile and thank for the wishes !
Since we have talked about wishing on phone i have also noticed a strange behaviour. Most of the times people tend to thing its rude / uncomfortable to say ‘bye’ and disconnect the phone. I have noticed weird ways of saying ab bahut ho gaya .. rakhte hai . Among my friends a few are below:
Sunil - What else dude (after every sentence)
Shanti - Oye .. mere boss ka phone a raha hai ( on a sunday ??? !! )
Sagar - Mera balance khatam ho gaya hai - tu call kar (after college who uses a pre-paid ... gawd!)
Vikas Soni - Aur sir sab badhiya .... ?
Arpit agarwal - Lagi padi hai yaar !
Shabda Raaj - Chal gaana ga / Ma_ _i se baat hua ?
Ankit Varshneya - Oye ..... ‘uska’ call a raha hai .. main baad mein karta hun !
Bikash - KK .... Shadi kab kar raha hai ?
Manik - Aur kaise chal raha hai (main itni der se kya bata raha tha ? ! )
Dev - $#@%^ (inappropriate for a public forum)
Sasanka - inkenti mama .... ? !
Past few months: I had been longing to blog for quite some time but kept away due to sheer laziness! Over the past few months I have travelled into the interiors of rural Mahbubnagar in Andhra Pradesh and lazed along the beaches of Goa and ‘Raved’ till 4 am , I drove along the highway from Bombay to Pune and finished the 2009 with a visit to Ganapati Phule a beautiful beach some 350 kilometers from Bombay.
Past few years: It was a happening year which happened pretty fast and as many (mostly older people) people around me keep saying that since mid 90’s time has been flying. I guess it’s due to the advent of recreational facilities in which the cable TV saw us gluing to the idiot box and with the onset of late 90’s the internet / mobile took us by storm. So there’s hardly any time to sit and stare... In the coming years when the entertainment revolution really reaches its zenith it will change the way we waste our perfect Sundays or vacations!
What I thought: All along these travels I had been wondering about many people I met … more so during my internship when I was wandering the rural areas in the bus mostly sitting alone … (the rattling makes it strainful to read anything over a long period of time) There was a myriad of people I met throughout mostly because of my constant shifting of cities and schools every 3 years!
I felt that we can identify most of people we met into 3 categories, mostly because most of things in life are in black, white or most popularly in grey. The middle category is always the heaviest! I wonder why I find it easy to categorize everything into 3 !!
3 kinds of people! The wild and maverick types mostly seemed to be highly individualistic in whatever they do … the other bunch seemed to be of nice wand warm people, but I mostly found that it is a tad tiresome to be with nice people! They are the ones who would stick with you through your thick and thin, but they aren’t exactly the lot you would like to hang out with when you want to have some fun! The wild ones are good to party with and have fun, but they do not prefer to be weighed down by strings attached!
I was always confused as to which group do I belong more. I felt that I’m the nice and boring type when I’m with the wild ones … and I feel that I’m the outrageous and adventurous types when I’m with the nice and docile types! Thus I mostly settled for the people in the middle … who tend to be nice and a tad adventurous at times as much as their traditional sensibilities would allow them.
Among these 3 kinds of people there are varying shades of narcissism. Predictably the wild ones are the sometimes the most self centered with the shades varying sometimes with predictable patterns and sometimes with more exceptions than rules! The line between self-centeredness and selfishness is too damn fine! I find the selfish variety to obnoxious to handle, and consciously stay away … but sometimes you can’t have all the choices in this world. You have to bear with the other people’s idiosyncrasies, just as they bear with yours!
With this I remember one line from The Departed which I watched again yesterday … The wedding ring shows people that at least one person can put up with this SOB apart from few other things!
Sometimes people just love shooting in their foot. Once in the past Advani had done that to prove that he is a moderate. He confused both Pakistani’s and people back home. But since he is a major leader he got away with it as one rare mistake. He is 81 years of age and has lost his last elections and also the chance to become the Prime Minister of Indian Republic. This started the power struggle among the BJP senior leaders to become the next head. Jaswant Singh has long been in the waiting and got a feeling that he is being sidelined by others like Sushma Swaraj, MM Joshi and others who are close to the Sangh.
He was desperate and wanted to do something drastic which would swing things in his favour. Both of which could force a man to abandon his reasoning abilities and act with emotions. He took the radical step of writing a book on Jinnah and went to the extent of repeating Advani’s mistake, but also went ahead to criticise Sardar Patel. He not only shot himself in his foot, but also hacked it, and threw it away! BJP is without in a self destruct mode, now unless Congress really messes up this term or some wonderful leader comes to the rescue of BJP ... I guess we are heading on a road to becoming a unilateral party!
As far as Muhammad Ali Jeenah(this was how he used to sign his name) is concerned, he was a sorry and confused guy. He was jealous of Nehru and felt that he is not getting his due. The britishers were successful in nurturing his inferiority complex and self doubts. They planted the idea of two nations theory. It was initially turned down by the Mahatma and Mr Jeenah too! Gradually he was convinced that the only way he can become the ruler is to split India, else Nehru would sideline him after independence. So he was essentially he was a liberal to some extent, but his ego and selfishness dominated his senses. Had he been a selfless man like the Mahatma, history of the subcontinent would have been different.
As to why Nehru and Sardar Patel supported the partition, im clueless for lack of information!
So after partition, Jeenah got what he wanted hence the Quaid-e-Azam announced in the constituent assembly of Pakistan that people can practice their faith and their religion is not the business of the state.
If you had seen the Lion King you would remember the pack of jackals who surrounded the Lion King, used to influence his thoughts and finally led to his death attempting to save his son Simba. A similar thing happened to Jeenah. He was sidelined after the partition. But Jinnah wanted to organise plebiscite in Kashmir, and if they wanted to go to India, he was willing to agree. But others (the jackals) were against the idea.They wanted to separate Kashmir from India.
His trusted man Liaqat Ali Khan was killed. Jinnah was suffering from TB already, then complications in Lung cancer also developed and wanted to return from Quetta to Karachi. Quaid-e-azam was denied even an ambulance, and timely medical attention which could have saved his life. Since he was becoming an ideological threat to the jackals and was aiming at making Pakistan a softer state. Thus, he died a sorry death and could not enjoy the fruits of the separatist state he created and is misinterpreted widely.
His life is an example of the line “I slogged for it. I got it. Shit!”
Are you confused whether I like Jinnah, Well I think I pity him. I am fine with his ideology, but hate him for partitioning my happy country. I will never forgive him for being a weak man and misleading the muslims into believing they are insecure in India and leading them to live life of a Mohajir in Pakistan - a 2nd rate citizen! But my respect for the Mahatma has certainly increased over time. Though I disagree with him on few ideas … but then he was born 116 years before me… so Generation gap!
“One should visit places abroad … It opens you up and will be an interesting experience. We are Argumentative Indians … we like to talk a lot, but when it comes to actions.. .everyone shies away. We are very good in strategy and ideas …. What we lack is execution!” The person who had come to deliver a guest lecture as part of IMC course said this to me over coffee today.
I remarked … true probably.
Yesterday we had an interesting experience. We have to create a commercial for a marketing course as part of our curriculum at SP. It is one of the regular assignments. We decided to take an extra step. Most of the surveys we conduct are of people within our campus or friends we know. So we end up having a view as that of a frog in a well.
This time we decided to shoot a real video and hit the Santosh nagar slums near Goregaon. It was a different experience. Watching people live in those teeny weeny houses .. I peeked into a house and saw a little girl trying to do her homework with book toward the light coming through the door. Her mom was cooking in the same room and her little brother was playing nearby! For quite sometime I got habituated to seeing people in malls, reading about shining India and dreaming of owning a Porsche when I see it in the showroom on WE highway! This was a slight kick in the ass.
We probably do not understand the other communities as well as we think we do.
We met a lady in the slums and proposed our idea of promoting quality food in small sachets … not really a brilliant and new idea.. as the sachet revolution is everywhere around you in India. Our intention was to provide the quality food to people who purchase in small quantities.
She replied that .. “it’s the mindset of the people that if they can buy a low quality for 2 rs less, they would do so and probably buy some masala or vegetables with that money.” How can you consume such customers to buy a product based on promise quality? Here we should get closer to the bottom side of Maslow’s pyramid!
In the end our video ditched us in the last moment .. didn’t work. But nevertheless A drive to realities of life in the rains of Mumbai on my favorite bike with my great friend ….. I felt that it was one evening well spent!
Moonwalking MJCoalition politics will doom India someday!
India is a country with a billion problems and a billion possible solutions. Hence even the simplest things are complicated to a great extent. In such conditions it is in the best interests of our country to have a definite government.
Economic recession, Terrorist attacks, acute shortage of infrastructure, frequent natural calamities, increasing energy demands and four neighbouring countries which are in a pretty bad state. …
In face of all these we need a decisive government which can take a firm stand and work in the best interests of the country without a compromise. With due respect to the intellect and stellar academic qualifications of our prime minister, I feel that the post of a ‘Prime’ minister is primarily a role of leadership. He should be able to guide the party and also the coalition in a direction. He also determines the government policies to a large extent. He not only needs to have a command over his cabinet, but also needs to command their respect! Unfortunately this does not seem to be the case.
Gandhian National Congress:
Indian National congress is a party full of typical Indians – constantly bickering among themselves, full of internal coteries and politics, extremely sycophantic ( Who can forget ‘Indira hi India, India hi Indira’ .. and the drama of every leader crying and begging a reluctant foreign lady, who is refusing; to become our prime minister ! ). However as days passed my hatred towards junior Mrs G turned gradually into admiration. She conducted herself quite gracefully, accepted India and its ways and has managed to silence all her critics.
I am still however quite sceptical of the capabilities of Rahul Gandhi. He has not demonstrated any maturity and comes across as a person too dumb and shy to become our premier. His surname can make him say ‘Prime ministership is my birth right and I shall have it!’ He gives out quite confused statements, and has failed to impress us by his intellect.
Left is no more left!
Left parties have shot themselves not only in their foot but all over! They had managed some 50 odd seats by chance in their previous elections. Instead of consolidating their hold, they have displayed horrible political sense. The fiasco over Tata motors put a permanent dent on the image of Bengal, and by opposing the nuclear deal vehemently; they have alienated the urban voters too. Though the communism has collapsed all over the world, they still cling to the ancient ideologies and threaten to push India back to pre- liberalisation era!
‘Haar’tiya Janata party:
This is one party which is an epitomy of brand confusion. In the beginning years the Hindu card had worked to an extent. But in this rapidly changing era how can they focus their agenda on hindutva still!
They should vehemently deny being a communal party and sue anyone who says that again. They should totally focus on development front. They should now also give a rest to the Sonia being a foreigner – We won’t buy it anymore!
Its tough for a person like Advani whose image is firmly in people’s minds as a Hindutva spearhead to become a prime ministerial candidate. It’s a pity however that India’s best administrator and orator is tainted with the paint of Godhra! I hope we will see him as a PM someday. However he too should totally shun the Hindutva agenda and project his developmental activities. To win in Rural areas – Now BJP really needs to do its homework here!!!
I hope congress speeds up the reforms and acts tough on terror, asserts India on international forums well, and provides a stable government for next 5 years. I swear I will vote the next time!
Andhra assembly elections:
There have been two biggest shocks. One is congress winning clear majority and PRP losing horribly. In the beginning of establishing his party Chiranjeevi claimed that he would win 160 + seats by himself and become the chief minister in NTR style. Alas, there were a million problems which led to his downfall:
1. NTR rode on a telugu pride when there was no regional party. He drove home the telugu sentiment due the congress chief ministers acting as puppets to the congress govt at the centre. This was totally missing in Chiranjeevi campaign.
2. There were many internal tussles within the party and the party cadre was not motivated enough.
3. There were no right candidates in PRP to stand for elections.
4. Times have changed and the voters have too, it’s not so easy to con them, and film stars can’t directly become the kings anymore.
Congress will again perpetrate corruption to a level never known before. YSR will write the remaining half of the state onto his son’s name. They will hunt down the remaining few rural cadre of TDP.
But they must now be repenting for burning all the files in the secretariat, as they might not have expected to come back to power and face this situation!
