When will this end???

Two blasts rocked yesterday in Modasa, Gujarat and Malegaon, Maharashtra. First Bangalore, then Ahmedabad, Delhi, again Delhi and now Modasa and Malegaon. While police remains busy with solving puzzles of number 13 and decoding the mission name BADLA/BAD/BADMAN; politicians are busy with fighting over who is responsible for all this. I think only terrorists are the ones who are doing their job with great coordination, speed and accuracy.
I never imagined life would be so cheap in India. Security has become a joke. A person, when leaving in the morning for work, cannot guarantee his family whether he would return home safely back in the evening. How long we would keep on telling people to maintain calm and carry on with their lives as if nothing has happened? How long the politician would keep on repeating the cliché to deal with the terrorism strictly but they never do it. When the day would come when we would actually be free of terrorism?
Terrorism is the enemy that has no face. You never know the person sitting next to you in a bus; train or a shop may be from ISI, Indian Mujahiddin or Al Qaeda. Earlier they were just few extremists who received education in Madressa about the Islam but now they are qualified professionals like engineers. They aren’t concerned who is dying. Religion is not their criteria. Destruction and loss of lives are their ultimate motives. Who will stop them and how???

When Capitalism fails Communism comes to rescue...

First Lehman Bros, then Merrill Lynch…. Luckily AIG got rescued by Fed, otherwise it would have been the worst time in the history of Wall Street. The aftershocks were felt in Europe as well Asia with markets falling considerably. Now Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley gave up their status as investment banks to survive in the financial storm that is gulping the US companies as they come.

Had the US Central bank not stepped in, AIG would have become history just like Lehman Bros and Merrill Lynch. Had the central banks around the world not united and build up the US$ 180 billion fund, the stock markets across the world would have been bleeding on failures of big giants.
When capitalism fails, communism (read government/central bank) has to step in to rescue them. The big question of degree of regulation is back since the same people who hated the state intervention and regulation in their business are now begging for the help after their bets failed to make money.
The coming time would bring more stringent regulations since it has been proved that capitalism cannot survive on its own. The state has to keep a check in order to see that interests of all sections of the society are taken care of.

Border

Nope, I am not gonna talk about the JP Dutta film.

Since last few days I have been trying to answer few questions in my mind. Why do we have borders? Why cannot the mankind move around this beautiful world freely? Why do we have visas? It is truly said that sometimes you cannot realize the pain of others until you yourself do not suffer through that.
I went to the Police prefecture (the administrative department that handles the visa issues) in Paris to know if it is possible for me to go to Netherlands to meet uncle and his family.
It was really amazing to see that to meet my near and dear ones, I need the permission of police, but that’s life. The present visa for France doesn’t permit me to move out of France (visa office fears that if they let me move out, I might start working outside France. Why the heck???). Also I cannot apply for Schengen visa since I cannot have another Schengen visa if I already have visa from a Schengen country. So, the only option left for me, as suggested by Dutch Embassy in Paris, was to request the police to provide me the document saying that I am going there just for holidays and would return back.
But administrative people often make you realize that you’re not the master of your destiny; be it India or France, doesn’t make a difference. I was totally knocked for six when the prefecture refused to not even provide me the document. What kind of rule is this? Cannot go out of the country on the current visa and cannot even apply for a new visa.
Suddenly I was able to realize the pain of the families who were separated during the partition. I recalled the news item, broadcasted several years ago, showing long queue of people for visa to Pakistan when the bus service between Delhi and Lahore was started. The borders can separate the two countries but it cannot separate hearts. The pain of partition cannot be compared to this situation. It’s far more painful and unfortunate.

Tablet # 2 – Do you speak English?

This is generally my statement but spoken in French, “Vous parlez anglais, sil vous plait??” But less frequently used now since I am catching up some good French these days and prefer to start the conversation in the opposite person’s beloved language.

The other day, I and Sahil went to SUBWAY for a lunch with especially me in a hope to find some great veg sandwich there. McDonalds here disappointed me big time with not even a single veggie burger. After a few mins deciding on the sandwich (as if I had a pool of choices), I approached the beautiful lady for the order. Perhaps she was so smart enough to notice my struggle with the language in very few words itself and asked me “Do you speak English??” Too tempting an offer to reject. With rejoice, I nodded positively. Perhaps the best statement made to me after coming to France.

In India SUBWAY used to be an elite and expensive place. Here it’s my favorite food station. Love started from London and continuing in Paris.

No mistakes of my life.....

It’s been three weeks since I completed my first book that was started as well in Paris. The first one was Rich Dad Poor Dad which I started from India in mid-February, continued dead slowly in London to the extent that I became famous as a book lover that never reads a book more then one page a day (a week to be more abusive!!!), and finally completed when I seriously started reading it in Paris metro trains to kill my time on my way to office and back to home.

I was aware of the latest release by my favorite Indian author, Chetan Bhagat, but never thought Maa would send me the same in the parcel (the next best thing after Lord Ganesha and Maa Saraswati). I received the book before I completed RDPD and so the book remained in the category of untouchables for some days. Inauguration happened on my way back from The Hague to Paris on 17^th August which fortunately happened to be a day journey due to unavailability of tickets on Sunday night. Besides enjoying the beauty of Netherlands and Belgium (I swear France is nothing in front of them w.r.t natural beauty), I also enjoyed my book reading. After completing half of the book, I realized the importance of being futuristic and stopped in order to save pages for my “metro time killing program”.

The book is quite different from the earlier two ones in terms of its seriousness and maturity level of the topic. Portrayal of Amdavadi lifestyle in the book makes it more interesting for Gujaratis in general and Amdavadis in particular. The time period selected for the fiction covers all the major mishaps happened in Gujarat and worldwide. I won’t divulge much of the information here and spoil the fun of first time readers.

But while I was reading the book, one of my friends asked me a simple question, “How many mistakes you have made in your life?” Well, that’s like asking Sachin how many runs he has scored through cover drive. The same answer I responded, “I never counted!!!” But that night on my bed, I went to flashback and tried to see if I ever made that degree of mistakes that were portrayed in the book. Perhaps it’s very difficult for me to judge. The level of intellect necessary to analyze these things has not been developed into me. There are still so many questions unanswered to me. Perhaps I will find their answers to the WHY part of the questions in the years to come. Then perhaps I would also be able to write a book ‘n’ Mistakes of My Life.

Tablet # 1

1. Lehman Bros., 159 year old company, finally files bankruptcy after refusal from the potential buyers Bank of America and Barclays
2. Merrill Lynch bought by Bank of America for $50 billion. Another company wiped out.
3. Oil prices fall below $100 a barrel
4. World’s largest insurance company American Insurance Group (AIG), beset by the record stock slump, seeks $40 billion loan from Federal Reserve. Also in process for major reorganization.

Last moments of Lehman...

Bollywood everywhere..........

What connects India and France? That was the question I was thinking in my initial days at Capgemini. I was desperate to convert my physical presence at the lunch table into actual presence. It was no pleasure listening to language you don’t understand and smiling at every end of the statement without any reason. All work (even on the lunch table) and no play make Jay a dull boy. My house hunt was already talked much about during the office hours itself and now I even had succumbed to my expectation of some help.

Yes, sports connect the world but perhaps not true for these two countries. Ever heard of a match India v/s France in any sport??? Cricket is religion in India while French people wonder why the two men with pads run to and fro on a muddy surface and rest, without the pads, are all after the ball. While India just watches football but never ever heard of word like “Indian Football Team”. In France, it’s football everywhere.

Like an angel, my friend Shreya comes to my rescue. Accidentally she answered the question when I was at her place. After hearing her description of disastrous presentation in the Marketing classes on the topic of Indian movies, I knew what to discuss with my colleagues.

The other day, it was time to shift gears and throw some nice topic to discuss. Guillaume (my earliest friend in Capgemini, young intern, from France, spend one year in India for studies (so knows some hindi stuff like chalo, kaise ho?, bahut mehnga hain bla bla bla including MC and BC which he said was important to make sure nobody insults you!!!)) and Ahmed (half Moroccan half Canadian, elder then both of us, big fan of Big B) were with me on the lunch table. So, I pulled the trigger and the rest of the show was carried on by both of them. Never imagined in a foreign country like France, Indian movies would hold the talk for next half n hour.

Ahmed, an avid fan of Big B, didn’t remember the name of even a single movie (is Hindi so tough???) but description and initials of some famous songs helped me. He is always impressed by the display of emotions and family values that are portrayed in Indian movies which is a part of Muslim family culture as well. The depiction of such values becomes the connecting point to the Arab and North African world.

Guillaume, already mesmerized by Indian beauty while he was in India, loves Aishwarya Rai. He likes the masala movies which are typically Indian having comedy, action, suspense, thrill, romance and now even sex (Bollywood is catching up with their US counterparts!!!).

However, both of them showed concern about the westernization of Bollywood which they feel is detrimental to Bollywood itself. Perhaps Indian movies might lose its market in the non-US/non-UK world. This blind race to be Hollywoodish is not at all necessary. Why should we always imitate the western world, especially USA? Why Indians always benchmark themselves with US/UK? Western world didn’t even exist for us before Vasco de Gama discovered us. We were much happier then. We had those unique values that gradually vanished in the course of time as we became more westernized. I am not against development. But why do we lose our core competencies (sorry for using business jargon!!!) when a large portion of the world likes us because of who we are?

Suraj Barjatya would be a classic example here when his movie MPKDH boomeranged not only because of poor story but also unnecessary special effects and sex shown in the movie. His earlier two movies did far better and successful then this one and the reason we all know.

Found a house....

Finally….. After a month long search for a roof for us in the most romantic city of the world, we finally found our romance. My closed ones (don’t ask who!!!) have always accused me for making a BIG DEAL out of everything…. Be it my CAT examination, my admission into MDI, all the visa applications (sleepless nights worrying about possibilities of rehection), internship hunt, house hunt and almost everything.

My house hunt gained a significant publicity all over in the office where I work. But publicity failed to convert into any useful help. Internet was my only tool which I used to maximum. However, the problem of our short stay in this Sarkozy country made the job difficult. Plus love of French people for their voice mails (next to their language) added to this frustration. But sometimes even if all the circumstances are against you, there is a faith that someone somewhere is playing a game with you but he (she-depends upon your faith) will not let anything wrong happen to you. Perhaps this is why I told mom to parcel a Lord Ganesha and Ma Saraswati idols to keep with me. Personally I also believe that Lord is always with us and inside us but idol gives you that extra faith which helps you survive through the tough times. May not be true for others but faith and belief are always subjective.

Today at the lunch table, Thierry (my French colleague, 9 years in Capgemini, karate player and very jovial) asked about my apartment. The positive reply after a looooong time gave him another reason to be happy but the statement that followed it made me go to the height of annoyance. Thierry - “So, you found a house for yourself?” Me - “Yes” Thierry - “That’s great”. Me - “yeah, after a month long hunt……….finally”. Thierry – “Month long??? That’s really quick!!!” Me – absolutely dumb thinking of what to reply…… Perhaps he needs to go to some foreign country where it’s the time when people are coming back from holidays; all the hostels are booked; he just needs the house for 4 months; no landlord is willing to rent for less then 6 months and those are only 10% of the landlords who have advertised on the city apartments listing sites while the rest all are on their voicemails.

Perhaps one month was more then a century for me since I had a ready made house for 21 years and the “honeymoon” experience of finding a house in London in just 3 days. But like it said, “ANT BHALA TO SAB BHALA”.

Come back....

This is my comeback blog.

Especially after losing my passion amongst the worldly matters this blog means a lot to me. I wish I would be able to rejuvenate my passion and come up with something interesting every time. Although I have nice established blog in the Windows Live Spaces but I think a fresh start needs a fresh platform and removal of all the old memories.

However, if you want to see that, you have the address: http://mehtaworld.spaces.live.com/

From now I think blogspot would be my workstation.