Proud to be an Indian !!!

You know what I am talking about? Recent rift between the Shiv sena chief and the cricket supremo. Sorry, can't even call it as a rift - a mere, one sided, cheap political stunt created to regain name in local politics.

Can't help comment on it, especially Sachin is the role model for millions like me. Someone who tries to bring perfection and passion in whatever he does. Even if I was not a cricket fan, I would still be a great Sachin fan.

Okey, lets come to the point. So what has this "loved by all" man done to invite the sarcastic tone? because he said he is an Indian? or is it because he said mumbai is for all Indians? I am sure the later should have provoked the politician.

Another example of the dirty politics played, eyeing on the vote bank. These politicians know exactly how to use the emotions of common people.

One of the argument is something like this. "Why people from other states comes to Mumbai instead of developing their own states?". As if all the development in mumbai has happened without the contribution of non-mumbaikers and people from other states comes only to enjoy the benefits. It is true that mumbai, as the financial capital of India gives ample opportunities to young professionals like me and other non-professionals also. We are really grateful to this place and people for this. But one thing to be remembered is, the evolution and growth of mumbai has happened because of these opportunity seekers. Many of the business units here are initiated and run by these so called "intruders". Just take the example of Reliance, the company which largely influence even our country's economy. Result of an emigration from Gujrat to Mumbai by the late Dhirubhai Ambani. Had he not come here to fulfil his dreams, history of indian economic growth would have been something else. Today , a major part of mumbai depends on Reliance Energy for the electricity supply. This is only one example. There are endless to say.

Another accusation is that, people from other states causes increase in poverty, non-employment and slums here. They 'snatch' the opportunities from the local people. Is it true? Are we utilizing the available resources properly here? Instead of blaming the non-mumbaikers, can we ask whether mumbai is giving proper education to the children here? Why there are not enough schools and hospitals? I'm not talking about the hash-posh kind of schools. Those for the common man. Rich people, of course have all facilities. Is the government answerable or the non-mumbaiker? Dear fellow beings, there are people who manipulate the answers to these questions and point it to people like me, who have come to make a living here. If it is out of love for Maharashtra or Mumbai, they would have never made you feel ashamed by all their deeds.

It is time to realize.

As Shashi Tharoor rightly pointed out, if Maharashtra is for Maharashtrians and Kashmir is for Kashmiris, where is India for Indians?

Happy Diwali

Its diwali time here. All are enjoying. flashy lights, sweets, new dresses, fire crackers.. all adds up to the happiness. Really happy to see these smiling faces. But I get sick of these crackers. Too much of noise. Do we require all these sound to enjoy? can't we switch to more light and less sound.

Diwali is the festival of lights and not sound. Just think of the little kids, infants. Their eardrums can't bear this much decibel. (Even I can't bear). Nowadays crackers have become an integral part of all festivals. not only diwali.

It is hazardous to burst crackers in small lanes during crowded rallies or such events, and that it is bad for the environment to burst crackers so often. Please think about our mother earth also. Let us not pollute her with all these gun powder and phosphate.

By the way, I am going to Lonawala tomorrow. (Diwali vacation)

Happy diwali !! Enjoy!! (but consider others too..)

The Magic Cup

They say it takes 21 days to cultivate a habit - good or bad, but no idea how long it takes to get rid of one. I am talking about my own laziness. Its the prime reason for not writing a single line for more than a month.

I was reading a good, emotional book, "The Kite Runner", written by Khaled Hosseni. He is an Afghan writer. The plot of the story spans across US, Afghan and Pakistan. A very touching story. But I am not talking about the story here.

Mention of a small tale in the book prompted me to write this. This story is written by the main character of this book during his early days of story writing.

It goes like this. There lived a man who found a magic cup and learned that if he wept into the cup, his tears turned into pearls. But even though he had always been poor, he was a happy man and rarely shed a tear. So he found ways to make himself sad so that his tears could make him rich. As the pearls piled up, so did his greed grow. The story ended with the man sitting on a mountain of pearls, knife in hand, weeping helplessly into the cup with his beloved wife's slain body in his arms.

Doesn't it have a striking similarity with most of the people's life? People weep their entire life to be rich and happy. What an irony !! They fight their life to climb the ladders of their career. To get better job (again, again and again... it goes on..), a nice car, posh house, etc etc..during the course of which, they forget to live in the present and enjoy the goodness of life. I am not talking against achieving all these materialistic possessions. How good it'd be to feel the chilling touch of rain, warmth of sun, beauty of a butterfly or the singing of a bird. The nature is filled with so many such beautiful things. How many of us have noticed any of them lately?

Right now its raining heavily outside my flat, with thunder storm and lightning. I can do two things. As it is near to midnight, close the window, shut down my laptop and slide under the coziness of my blanket or keep the window open and listen to the poem "Rathrimazha" ..
I am choosing the later.

Flu Flu go away...

That was the title of one of the mails I received from a friend recently !

Yeah.. it is really a thing to be concerned. Nowadays u see many people moving around wearing those masks. At least one in five persons u see outside - railway stations, roads, malls - are in masks. Mumbaikars have become so cautious.

Another thing noticed is the unnecessary panic created by the media. Even though the disease spreads fast, it is not very fatal. There are other epidemics which are more dangerous than this. Please don't go completly the way those media drives you. Think and evaluate yourself. Go by the facts and don't panic. Even if you get it, treat it like any other disease.

My colleague, who sits besides be is very scary of this flu. Nowadays my time pass activity is to make her more frighten.. which is very easy with the kind of news u get. The problem is, I can't genuinely cough also.. she give me a "please, don't do this to me" kind of look :) Its almost same outside the office also. If you unknowingly cough or sneeze, people start giving u odd looks...

Its past midnight now, and my laptop battery is giving me an alert signal. Okey.. I'm not going to plug it now.. let me get some sleep. By the way.. lets all be cautious about the flu.. masks may not help but don't roam around highly crowded area. Eat and live healthy, after-all we all have loved ones ;)

Kasab Need Mutton !!!!

Mohammed Ajmal Kasab wants to eat mutton biryani. Apparently, he does not like jail food.Yeah.. we are talking about the same man who massacred so many indians on that unfortunate day.

Just think about it. A cold blooded terrorist, caught at the middle of an unforgivable crime, is able to make such a demand. What are we doing with Kasab ? Even though all of us, including the defence lawyer and the accused himself know what has happened, we put that person through all these trial drama. An AC tunnel (worth 2 crore) from Arthur Jail to the court to ensure the security. Periodical check of his health. All these, using the tax payers money.

After the trial ? It is obvious that anything less than the capital punishment would cause a public outrage. But is it what Kasab deserve? In my opinion, hanging would be the smallest punishment for him. He shouldn't be allowed to escape from life so easily. Why not make him live his entire life, bearing the same pain as that of the people, for whom the life is spoiled after 26/11 attack.

In such a situation, I wish we had a judiciary which allows to chop the hands and legs of the culprit. Even if I sound like spreading a lot of hate here, I don't care at this moment.. I'm not a saint.

Smart Kids

Thanks to my friends who read and comment on my writings. In fact, I'm just surprised to get such an early response. Is it called the beginner's luck?

Yesterday my TL was talking with me about his young niece. While playing with the kid, he gave a crayon pencil to her. The child, without any hesitation, handed it to her younger sister and asked her uncle for another one. Now her uncle (my TL) told her that he had only one pencil. He told that she should have asked about it before giving the pencil to someone else and probably do not hand it over if there is only one.

My TL was telling, with that incident, the child should have learned a bit of cunning lesson from him. Probably, yes. In today's world, we need our kids to be smarter. But are we forgetting something good, which will fade away due to these cunning lessons? I am talking about the innocence/childishness.

Although, the outer world is of "no more chance" kind and the kids have to be smarter while growing up, wouldn't it be more cute if kids are kiddish, rather than being smarter? wouldn't it be good if they show the "ignorance" by sharing things with others without giving a second thought..?

A joke:

Girlfriend: Will you love me when I am old, fat and ugly ?

Boyfriend : Of course, I do.

:-)

Experience with "The alchemist"

Have been reading a lot these days.. especially after started staying alone...
Good.. finally im happy...sometimes, can't stand the "ga..ga's " of so called fast/modern life..

The Alchemist, written by spanish writer Paulo Coelho, is an outstanding one. A book written from a different perception. Not at all like any other fictions. I haven't read anything like this before.. Its the story of Santiago, a spanish boy, who travel in search of his destiny. I heard that there is a place also in Spain, with the name Santiago.

In fact, all of us have a destiny, just like the treasure Santiago hunts. But some factors pull most of the people back from achieving the goal. Factors like fear of failure, love, etc..
Of course, love..Love prevent people from doing things which actually could be their passion. Any disagreements?

I will share an example, from the book itself
A sheperd boy would like to wander all the fields on earth with his flock. But at some point, he finds a girl in some village/city he visits and falls in love with her. Now his visits to that place becomes more frequent and probability is that he marries that girl and settle down somewhere. They start living happily and eventually the quest for exploring the other part of the world dies out ...

Back again..

After a long pause.. I've stared writing, this time in blog. In fact, there was a blog previously but got expired because of my laziness in accessing and using it..
There is always the urge to express... in each and every one of us. I feel blogging is a best way for people like me, who don't actively socialize much....