Spare a thought...

On this 63rd Independence Day, much as we hope for India's prosperity, let us spare a thought for that man guarding our nation's borders in the uninhabitable Siachen glacier; the man in Vidarbha who feeds us regularly but commits suicide out of fear of not being able to feed his own; the old and helpless who have been disowned by their children and left to the mercy of this evil world; the street urchin for whom Independence means struggling for a decent meal every single day; As the lucky few that we are, let us vow to give back something in return for what this country has given us and may Independence stand for freedom and liberty for all.

Siachen Glacier Anthem Video :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_RGzJzhLnE

Jai Hind !!

A warm, tight, final hug to Engineering...!!

The full text of my Convocation-cum-Farewell Speech today in the august presence of my batch-mates. A big thanks to Tanya Sarna for giving me this opportunity which I grabbed with both hands and an even bigger thanks to the lively audience who supported, clapped, rejoiced (probably hooted too) and makin this otherwise dull day come alive....


" It was 4th September 2006, technically the first day of college for our batch and I dunno how many of u remember but we had our Orientation seminar on that rainy day. unless u bunked on that day too… we were made to listen to the history and geography of this institute where today we complete 4 full years of our course that have enriched us on various levels, given us so many memories to cherish for a lifetime, given us amazing friends wid whom we have spent the best times in these years; these 4 yrs hav given us practically everythin except a slightest idea abt the logic behind our course syllabus..

We meet on this day where we are all decked up to accept our Graduation certificates from the very University that we hav unitedly hated irrespective of caste, creed or language barriers. For some of us, these 4 yrs may also remind us the emotional grind we went thru when we got unexpected KTs on one or more than one occasion. For some, these years may define the absolutely unadulterated fun we had spendin a whale of a time doing practically nothing but sitting and chattin in the college canteen.

For some, these years have been transformational too.. Such was the classroom experience here that even sincere, hard-working pets have transformed into habitual defaulters.. or even vice versa for that matter…

Irrespective of what we gathered individually, the one thing that will probably remain on top of my college memories will be the I.V. days in Shimla-Manali. I’m sure many of u share that view.

This last semester ensured that many of us have our future course charted out in the form of placements. Many among us here have enjoyed Engg so much that they hav opted for an MS. On the other hand, some have hated it so much that they wont mind sellin Dabur Amla Hair Oil and call themselves MBAs. Some of you will join ur family business, some will take the unconventional route and opt for totally different careers. For the undecided ones, I’m sure better things are coming your way too…. But wherever you go and whatever you do, Make Yourself Count ( ok that was cheap advertisement of my personal blog but sorry I cant help it )

Now that I suppose I am famous because of this speech, I hope to be invited to your engagements and weddings whenever they take place. There’s a brand new hall right here so I m sure discounts will be offered to ex-students.

As I conclude, I wud tell u to admire the institute you study in, especially ours. Very rarely will you get to see a defaulter deliverin a convocation-cum-farewell speech 2-months in advance when he has no 'beeping' idea what the next week holds for him.

THANK YOU & ALL THE BEST… and 3 cheers to all of us....!!! "

Incredible India !!

No, I am not launching a new series of commercials for the Ministry of Tourism, certainly not. I don't even think this is an appropriate title to what I wish to write. But still, Incredible India !!

How many times have we basked in the glory of our successes (or excesses) in varying fields only to stand witness to its equally glorious downfalls? How easily we have converted individuals from humans-to-paranormal achievers-to-demigods and then easily brought them down to the rank of frauds and criminals? The vice versa is equally true in my beloved country.

Naming a few will clear the clouds as to what & who am I talking about. Take for instance, Lalit Modi. Not too many days ago, this ugly little duckling was a sapphire in a coal-mine for all of us. He had achieved the impossible. He wrapped the same old popular game of Cricket in a nice little package and promised us an entertainment bonanza every year. Bonanza for you, overdose for me. This alpha-male showed us that nothing is insurmountable if you are driven; even kissing, hugging, hi-fiving beautiful bolly chicks and cheerleaders is possible inspite of being ugly, unkempt and soda-glassified...... STOP --> PLAY CURRENT TRACK and you find the same name Lalit Modi today also stands for kidnapper, drug peddler, fraud, misdirected genius and what not. A typical case of an otherwise irrelevant past coming back to haunt your present. Success is difficult to achieve, but even more difficult to digest. Modi is a victim of his own ingenuity. I will not mention what the media says about him because news-reporting has transformed itself into a beautiful showbiz providing prime-time entertainment like any other over-the-top reality show. Meanwhile, you and me are busy rooting for our favorite teams.

But politics beats it all. Here we have a sophisticated, 'proper'-English speaking, career diplomat and ex-MoS Shashi Tharoor who loses his job as well as an untarnished reputation for mentoring a commercially profitable consortium (a punishable but excusable misconduct even by the strictest standards) whereas on the other side we have career-scamsters who manage to orchestrate a humongous scam even in cattle fodder and still be ministers for full terms. Not just that, they also qualify themselves as chief guests at our top B-schools lecturing the young bright future entrepreneurs on..... MANAGEMENT, if you really get what I mean. How on earth was a person who did not spare animal food allowed to look after the largest rail network in Asia that employs millions and earns millions too? The answer is by Management, my dear, management.

The Satyam fiasco, the match-fixing scandal, the Indira Gandhi story, the Narendra Modi syndrome, the Rajiv Gandhi persona (from best PM to tainted ex-PM), the Naxal issue ; have all been examples of pendulum shifts in perception. The have cost the nation its image on the international front. Worst, they have challenged our ideals and work ethics and exposed our people, our governments whom we looked upon as our saviours, our heroes. We, as mute spectators, aren't left much far behind in our contribution to the chaos. We worship them at our convenience and we also go hammer and tongs when it suits us. 'Yeh public hain, sab jaanti hain' is the most clever sentence aimed at fooling the public itself. We think we matter even when we know we don't. India and Indians are incredibly incredible indeed.

As for the actual 'Incredible India' campaign carried out by our Tourism Ministry, you just need to google to find out the rapes per month of foreign nationals that take place on Goa's beaches and I bet you will hate that term for the rest of your lives. Btw, Goa is the smallest state of our Incredible India.

Pak Infiltrates, China threatens, Aus attacks : Welcome to India's Century

The 21st century belongs to India. It sure does. We're in the news all the time. And for all the wrong reasons. First things first , 14 months and we still haven't managed to get a single person convicted for the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai. Gone are the days when Pranab Mukherjee (then Foreign Minister) sounded the war bugle on Pakistan in response to the cowardly attacks but ended up taking instructions from them on how to proceed legally to secure convictions for a crime that was documented LIVE on World Televisions. In UPA-2 some divine intervention told him about his advancing age so he conveniently shifted himself to the more cosy Finance Ministry leaving the Foreign Ministry charge to a docile SM Krishna 'ably' supported by his assistant Shashi 'Twitteroor'. I'm sure they both got to settle a lot of other differences first before they start taking their jobs seriously. Meanwhile, Pakistan has played its side of the game smartly. Rarely do we see a country come out unscathed after inflicting such macabre humiliation on its neighbor. Even the pea-sized Palestine bombed the mighty Israel when challenged.

China, on the other hand, badly cuts us down to our size, both physically and diplomatically. Physically; by claiming Arunachal Pradesh & Aksai Chin. Diplomatically; by vetoing crucial treaties and accords against us in International Bodies, investing money and manpower in mineral-rich Africa and oil-rich South America, gaining political clout in countries like Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh which have traditionally been India's friends. The Chinese economic growth story is a result of their own hard efforts. The political arrogance is just an expected consequence. Unless we keep them in check and learn to expand our own base, we will be to China what Canada is to America. Living under fear is bad but living under denial of it is worse.

The newest hot-spot for Indians for education and tourism, Australia, is in the news too. What started as stray street attacks on brown people with the motives being robbery or sexual assault has transformed into full-fledged racist attacks with Indians being singled out for special treatment. Before we even discuss the reasons behind it, I strongly believe that the job of the Australian government is to protect its people (citizens, tourists alike) from such brutal attacks and not get philosophical about job losses and domestic unemployment being the reasons behind these acts of sheer cowardice. India, on the other hand, has taken 3 months just to request the Australian authorities to set up a committee to look into the matter. Parents have lost their young children, some have been lucky to settle with a permanently disabled young man in their house, some plan to return soon, many have cancelled their plans of going. If the govt had guts, it would have issued a strict travel advisory prohibiting Indians from touring Australia in the near future and banning any visits by Australian ministers or industry tycoons. But our policy of pliability prevents us from taking decisive steps. Instead, we had the Australian Foreign Min, Dy. PM and PM himself as state guests recently who either conveniently avoided intrusive questions on the racist attacks or gave textbook answers that would keep the diplomats happy. An Indian is probably running for his life or being beaten to death on the streets of Melbourne even as I post this blog.

Push has come to shove, and the shove to a Tombstone Piledriver, but we lay bare and naked knocked out without putting up a fight. Unless we stand up and be counted, the world will dismiss us as just another over-sized country that is too busy with its one-dimensional growth to care for the life & property of its citizens or diaspora. The way things are going, we must count ourselves lucky to even co-exist in this world amidst some fiercely self-respecting countries that will not give up an inch of land or let go a single drop of blood without making the aggressor pay heavily for it.