It's High Time!!!

Finally, Shiv Sena has let the Australian and Pakistani players play in the IPL. While Pakistani players will not be able to play anyway in this edition of the T20 extravaganza, Australian players in the IPL will add a lot of excitement with the likes of Matthew Hayden, Adam Gilchrist and Shane Warne (all veterans) to play for Chennai Super Kings, Deccan Chargers and Rajasthan Royals respectively. In their last three movements, Shiv Sena found itself all alone in the agitation with almost zero public support.

The first agitation came against Rahul Gandhi’s Mumbai visit on the issue of North Indians being tortured in Maharashtra. While the Sena chief challenged the young Gandhi to visit Mumbai, RG not only visited the city but also traveled in the local train, speaking with the local people and providing open views regarding the issues. The Sena lost the battle to bite the dust.

The second one started when SRK made a statement regarding the inclusion of Pakistani players in the IPL. Shiv Sena took this issue to ban the forthcoming film of the King Khan, My Name is Khan. However, the Sena found itself alone in the agitation as the multiplex owners screened the movie after receiving government assurance with respect to security and movie lovers too came in flocks to watch the most awaited movie of the year. While the cinemas went houseful, the Sena chief Bal Thakery took out the fury on public saying, “Let those who love Pak-lover SRK watch MNIK”.

The third defeat came as Sena finally agreed to let the Pakistani and Australian players play in IPL-3. While the Sena chief maintained that concerns regarding the security of Indians in Australia made him terminate his agitation against Australian cricketers, it is public now that Sena is finding itself isolated in its agitations. However, the Sena supreme didn’t fail to lash out his agony saying “Let Australian cricketers come here, let Pakistani cricketers come here. Let trained terrorists come here. Sena will do nothing”.

It is time when Indians have shown that they are tired of such jingoism or narrow minded nationalism. In today’s world of globalization, stopping innocent foreign people from entering your country on the basis of some stupid narrow minded ideology is not at all acceptable, let alone stopping your own countrymen from other regions. It’s high time when such anti-social elements in the country understand that such chauvinism is not going to work anymore.

Once again...

It happened once again….. the thing which I would have wanted to avoid at any cost. Don’t know how but I ended up sounding stupid once again. Often when I recollect my 2 years stint at MDI+ESCP, I don't see myself having made any significant contribution to the class or the school. Probably the worst two years or the worst set of friends I have made in my life.

Two days back, I replied to the post by Vabs regarding a small mention of our batch in Business Standard. I couldn’t resist myself replying to the mail after seeing people go “Oooo… la la” over the article. While, on the first look, I found my argument perfectly valid with a slight indication over the possible batch bias happened in the article. However, once again the argument was collectively dismissed. I don't know how do I always end up on the wrong side of the table in every debate I have with the batch.

I haven’t been replying to the group mails since long. However, this time I replied, just to end up sounding stupid once again. While this doesn’t happen on a routine basis but with MDI batchmates, it has happened almost everytime. And the tragedy is that I cannot digest the fact that I could be wrong all the time.

Today when I read the actual facts about the article I could not believe myself to give a judgement like that. While wisdom demands a strong knowledge of facts before passing on a judgement. I don't know how did I missed out this time. Or is it just the destiny that I would keep on sounding stupid in front of my MDI batch?

Grown Up (supposed to be posted in October 2009)

This Diwali was one of the best Diwalis of my life. Back home is always fun. But it becomes even more fun when you meet all your near and dear ones. And Diwali is the time when you expect everyone to be at home. While I met all the family members back home, meeting friends is always special. Especially the ones with whom you’ve shared your childhood. I was really excited to meet them all. Especially Javed, Anjali, Nirali and Krupali with whom I’ve remained regularly in touch. Unfortunately Chinmay and Anvesh weren’t able to make it otherwise it would have been even more fun. Anjali got added to the non-attendant list later on. We all have spent some of the best time of our lives together at Don Bosco School. The school, where I spent 10 years of my schooling life or I should say 71.42% of my schooling life from 1st standard till 10th.

This time, two great news made me more excited to meet them. First one, Nirali was getting engaged to a guy in the US who was doing his PhD there. Secondly, Anjali was also getting engaged to a guy in Ahmedabad, about to complete his CA. This made me realize how fast the time has passed. Yesterday, you were playing with them in school and today, they have grown up to get married; to dedicate their life to that one person called “husband/wife”. They’ve grown up so much so to take up the responsibilities of their own. So matured in their behavior. Never realized where the time went by!!!

Yesterday, we used to get worried about homework, class tests, terminal and annual examinations and today we are talking about job, marriage, settling down n all. 10 years down the line the topics will change again. What will remain the same would be the strength and the sweetness of the friendship.

At New Home!!!

After a week long search, we (me, Uma and Chheda) finally landed up in a 4BHK flat; barely 5 mins walk from our office, which was largely empty since it was semi-furnished with only wooden furniture i.e. cupboards. We ordered pizza for the dinner, since we were all dead tired and had no energy to go out and look for restaurants. Since internet wasn’t there in the new flat, waking up till late night was out of question. So went on a calling spree to all the people whom I thought was important and spend my time talking to them on phone. However, it was the night which became memorable; and now all the more memorable since I would be writing it down.

Dreams are often weird since there you see some of the weirdest things which could never happen in real life. You see people from different parts of your life jumbled at one place you would have never visited. The first night at my new flat became memorable because of the same weird dream I saw during sleep. The next morning, I kept thinking about it. I wanted to sleep again to watch the dream ahead but the clock was ticking and suggesting me to wake up and get ready for the office. I don't remember the dream completely as of now but still can recall a good part of it.

It started with me roaming around in Amsterdam, looking for house to stay on rent. While moving around I crossed signal after signal and don't know when but landed up in an Indian majority area in the city. Although the layout of the locality didn’t prompted anybody from even guessing that it can be Amsterdam but nonetheless, we do see such weird things in dreams, right? It was largely a filthy area. I don't remember what happened in between but I went on a scooter with someone on the highway. Now we jump directly to that part of the dream which made me thinking about making that thing happen in real life.

In that part of the dream, I saw myself sitting in my 5th standard classroom of Don Bosco with my Nirma class of IT. And in that class I saw everyone in the class with whom I don't speak today (although I haven’t been in touch with most of the people but there are some with whom I don't speak deliberately). Mainly it involved Bhoomi, Khushboo and Rucha. My 5th standard teacher was taking the attendance. While the class is going on, Bhoomi is moving around in the class to the rest of the boys for some or the other work (her usual habit of getting things done from boys). Khushboo and Rucha come directly to the class from airport with their luggage since they arrived from US. While Bhoomi is roaming around, she suddenly turns around and hits a boy on head with her file. That boy is Rahul Gupta as he and his friend Kartik (both are my MDI classmates) laughs out loud.

I don't remember clearly what happened after that. However, when I woke up, the thought of the dream made me think that what will happen if our entire Nirma IT class meets up again. Since passing out, equations of many friendships have changed. How would people react on seeing each other? How would the class configuration go about? It’s interesting to think about. But the big question is how this could happen? It’s practically impossible, let alone a wonderful thought though.

New Currency

During my last days at MDI, once I came across a news item that reported launching of a new 10 rupees coin by RBI. Surely, life in India is becoming more and more expensive as the years pass by. I still remember Rs 4 Vadilal ice-cream cup at Kankaria when we were staying near Maninagar. Today the same cup might be costing anywhere above Rs 10. Earlier, my father’s salary use to come in the bundle of Rs 10 notes. 100 rupee notes were used on rare occasions. Today we see 500 bill more often then before. At times Rs 1000 note also gives its glimpses. So, no wonder we have phased out 25 paisa and 50 paisa coins. In few years, even Re 1 coin would also be an antique item.

So, why don't we just replace the lowest unit of Indian currency by Rupee instead of paisa? We can even rename the Rs 100 note with something indigenous. Some new name for Rs 100 note. Re 1 would be equivalent of the lowest unit of the currency just like 1 cent in Europe or 1 pence in UK. While Rs 100 would be called 1 “something”. RBI can even introduce a coin for that 1 “something”. RBI can even introduce a competition for the public to suggest a name for the new currency just as it did for the symbol of the Rupee currency. The new currency with a unique symbol can become India’s identity in the international arena just like Dollar and Euro are for US and Europe respectively.

Change

It is said that “The only thing Constant in life is Change”. Pretty much true!!! Last two years has brought a lot of it in me. Last week, in an interview, I was asked the same thing. “What is the difference between the Jay Mehta of 2007 and Jay Mehta of 2009?” Ofcourse the conventional interview answering wisdom dictates us to beautify all our answers and this beauty is often at odds with the actual facts. Nonetheless, the question remained in my mind for the rest of the evening, thinking about what Jay Mehta was in 2007 and what he is in 2009.

Certainly, a lot of changes have occurred to me in these two years. And situations have played a prominent role in bringing out these changes. Being away from the family was the biggest situational change that has happened over these two years in which I have been with family for some 20 days only. Rest all has been either in Gurgaon or in Europe. I have become more mature in understanding with respect to my outlook towards life. There are many harsh realities of life which you don’t realize until you face them. These two years brought me to the darker side of the world, which is not as perfect as we see. As Kalpanafoi told me, very correctly, you don’t get good people everywhere. You have to be careful, alert and smart. 

I came across people who never missed any opportunity to rip you off. There were people who took the advantage of my goodwill to get their work done. There were also people who helped me but then showed it off everywhere. It is better to be in a poor position then to accept a help at the cost of self-esteem. These experiences taught me that at times you would be all alone to help yourself. There might be people who would be in a position to help but then you have to see post-help consequences as well. And it is always better to achieve a small height on your own then to surmount the Everest with the help of rope-way. At the same time you also have to see whom you are helping or doing a favor and does that person deserve that help or not. Being always good doesn’t help you as people ought to take undue advantage of that. As Chaanakya said, “A person should not be too honest. Straight trees are cut first and honest people are screwed first”. 

Another major change that came was accepting the failure as a part of life. Every person in this world has failed at some point or the other. But it is how you take that failure decides your fate ahead. Since I hardly saw failures in my pre-MBA life (got admission in my favorite engg college in my favorite discipline, 8 pointer till the second last sem, excelled in CAT, cracked both the interviews of MDI… where’s the failure???), it became difficult when they started hitting me regularly during these two years. And the biggest mistake you can do after the failure is to misjudge your abilities which most of the people tend to do. These two years have taught me to accept the failures as a part of life and believe that something better is always stored in future. As they say, “Success is never ending, failure is never final”. There is also something called luck that plays a major role behind your success. Most people are scared to accept that but it is true. My previous article titled “Luck” elaborates more on it. 

These two years also made me more conscious with money since I always made it a point to track my expenditure; be it Gurgaon or London or Paris. While in Ahmedabad, I never really cared for my expenditure which, perhaps, was the reason I wasted a hell lot of money on unnecessary things. But after I started tracking the expenditure I now understand how Mom managed our home with the limited salary of Dad. Although still not much disciplined, I certainly believe, this independence has brought in some kind of responsibility as well. 

Besides the one mentioned above, I also thought to ask someone else as well to tell me what changes he/she has observed in me over the past two years. And who can be the better person then the very own Pranay. He has been the best friend of mine since the first year of engineering and knows me the most. The same day during our regular chat on yahoo, I asked him the same question and he was all set to reply. He said that compared to 2007, I am more responsible and sensible now. The way I talk and the way I present myself has brought a paradigm shift in my personality. 

Now our talks don’t just revolve around girls. We talk about everything from national issues to religious extremism and societal problems to family matters. Although every time, it doesn’t matter which topic we start with, we end up discussing job scenario which is why we finally move towards discussing the chicks since that’s the only topic that can cheer us up. Nonetheless he says that there has been a lot of maturity in the way I bring out my views even with respect to the future life post-marriage since over the past two years I realized that the rosy world of love, which I had in my mind during engineering, isn’t indeed that rosy and sometimes realities can crush your dreams. So, it better not to have any dreams at all. Besides that you have to take into consideration your family wishes as well and have to be very thoughtful before entering any commitment. 

Change is inevitable in life and more so during the early life when you come across most of the life experiences for the first time. The two years has definitely helped me a lot to evolve myself into a little better human being and I’m sure the coming years would help me evolve further.

Biofuels – not so green fuel

Biofuels have been largely regarded as a greenest alternative to solve the world fuel problems. However, the recent studies have revealed startling facts that suggests that the green fuel is not really that green. When we talk about biofuels, we are essentially talking about ethanol, used after mixing with petrol, as well as biodiesel. Discussed here are the five major problems that have occurred due to increased use of biofuels:

 Deforestation to support global demand for farm lands to produce crops for biofuels

 Global food crisis because of diversion of food crops to produce biofuels

 Depletion of ground water level

 Extinction of Endangered species

 Creation of “Dead Zones” in Gulf of Mexico

One the major sources of making biofuels is farm crops mainly maize and sugarcane for ethanol. Vegetable oils are the major source for biofuels in Europe while corn in US. To support the global mission for biofuels, large amounts of forest lands are getting converted to farm lands so that they can be used to grow crops like maize to produce ethanol. As the global demand for such crops increases, more and more forest lands are getting converted to farm lands.

Earlier the plant-based fuels were considered better then the fossil fuels as the calculation was done that the carbon emitted by burning plant-based fuels was absorbed back when the new plants grow. However, the emission did not include the carbon emitted during the process of converting the plants into fuels i.e. refining and transporting etc. Destroying forests for biofuels pumps in more CO2 in atmosphere then they could save possibly as replacement for fossil fuels. The fact that farmlands absorb less CO2 than rainforests reveals a serious accounting error as the calculation totally overlooked the land use change in the analysis. According to Joseph Fargione, scientist at Nature Conservancy, clearance of grasslands releases 93 times the amount of greenhouse gases that would be saved by fuel made annually from that land. The destruction currently taking place, especially in the rain forests in the tropics and grasslands in South America, has tremendously increased the carbon emissions into the atmosphere since these ecosystems are planet’s natural sponge for carbon emissions. 

Besides this, there is also direct linkage between the global food crisis and increased acreage of crops that are being used to produce biofuels. As farmers get government incentives to produce crops that are used to produce biofuels, more and more farmers switch to crops for biofuels rather then to feed the nation. In US, the recent government subsidies have ensured that around 30 million tonnes of maize have been diverted to produce ethanol. This can lead to increase in global food crisis, particularly wheat since more and more crops get diverted to production of biofuels instead of going to consumers. Taking the example of US farmers, earlier the US farmers used to rotate crops between soybeans and corn in alternate years. Now they have stopped and produce only corn for biofuels because of government incentives. This increases pressure to produce soybeans elsewhere which is Brazil right now as it produces most of the world’s soybean presently. The price paid is by jungles of Amazon which are being cut for this reason and the consequences of this deforestation have been already discussed above.

In the Indian context, if we talk about biofuels, sugarcane is the primary source of ethanol in India. Although it is a fact that sugarcane is not a food crop and thus doesn’t pose such problems that are in West, but one should not forget that sugarcane is a water-intensive crop. Increased production of this crop would lead to greater absorption of groundwater and thus depleting the water level which is already dangerously low. 

Another major problem which is indirectly linked to biofuels but directly linked to the deforestation currently undergoing to make way for biofuels is the extinction of several species that reside in the forests. Amazon is a home to around 30% of the world species with some of the rarest ones like pink river dolphins, jaguars, pumas, snakes, butterflies and innumerable insects. The rate at which it is getting deforested fears some environmentalists that it may be totally gone by 2050. In Borneo - Indonesia, the rainforests are home to Orangutan, Sumatra Tiger, Asian Elephant and Sumatran Elephant. It is believed that at the current rate of destruction, Orangutan would be extinct in next 10 years. Increase use of biofuels would only add pressure to the rapid deforestation that is currently undergoing.

Lastly, the increase pressure to produce crops for biofuels is dangerous for the marine life as well. Reportedly, there are “Dead Zones” that are created in the ocean of Gulf of Mexico. “Dead Zone” is an oxygen starved patch in an ocean and is caused by decomposing algae that exhausts oxygen and suffocates marine life to death. According to June edition of National Geographic, one of the major reasons for “Dead Zones” in Gulf is because of increased use of fertilizers that farmers use to produce corn for biofuels. The fertilizer runs through Mississippi and mixes in ocean to lead to death of marine life.

Thus, it is seen that although world over people are getting positive about bio-fuels, the fuel is not so green in reality. The government and the organizations world over should instead concentrate on alternative energy sources like Solar Energy to run automobiles. There is a need for extensive research on solar cars or electric cars that can run longer distances on a single charge. Innovations are also going on for the cars that can run with hydrogen fuel. Besides that another dimension that government could work upon is to develop biofuels that do not require raising crops like the ones made from agricultural waste products. Such options would be far greener then the biofuels.

Luck

The man who said "I'd rather be lucky than good" saw deeply into life. People are afraid to face how great a part of life is dependent on luck. It's scary to think so much is out of one's control. There are moments in a match when the ball hits the top of the net, and for a split second, it can either go forward or fall back. With a little luck, it goes forward, and you win. Or maybe it doesn't, and you lose.

-          Chris Wilton

 

Yesterday night, after a long long time (in terms of days), I planned to watch a movie just to get a break out of my boring routine. So I picked up the movie “Match Point” which was the resident of my computer since long and awaited its turn.

The above dialogue is with which the movie begins. The movie is centred on a former tennis star, Chris Wilton (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), who falls in love with Nola Rice (Scarlett Johansson) who is his friend’s fiancée. Later on that friend becomes his brother-in-law but the lust for that lady makes him enter into an extra marital affair eventually making Nola pregnant. He plans the murder of Nola, projected as a burglary, to end the story. Generally, in movies, it is seen that the one who does the evil eventually gets punished. However, Match Point is different. Luck favours Chris and he escapes the murder and lives happily forever with his wife and family.

The point here I ponder is that how many times in life we would have said (or even thought), “Gosh, had this not happened I wouldn’t have made it”. The fact is that in life most of things happen with sheer luck. As told by Chris, people are scared to admit this. When I look back to my life, in lot many things luck has played a major role. Hardwork is mandatory but if something goes wrong; all the hardwork goes in vain. For example, you work really hard for your next job interview but while on the way you encounter a traffic jam and reach late and lose the opportunity. Who will you blame?? Your luck?? Yes, exactly. You break a traffic signal but exactly at the same time another guy breaks the traffic signal too. Police cop can catch only one of the two. If you’re lucky you’d escape. If you’re not, you’ll get caught.

We have been so obsessed with hardwork and when someone doesn’t succeed we quickly assume that the person didn’t work hard (same holds for our perception when a person succeeds). But the fact is that there is a thing called LUCK that plays a major part in what we are today and what we gonna become tomorrow. 

Provoked

It was a repeat night for me as I was still working on my dissertation after getting an extension of two days for submission from my mentor professor. Being a “normal” MBA student, it is impossible for me to concentrate on my work beyond few minutes. So, I was talking to Pranay as we do it daily. 

With parallel processing (text chat with Namrata + Pranay + dissertation work) on the way, Pranay suddenly gave me shocking news about his school friend who passed away today. She committed suicide. He was highly upset since she was one of the closest friends of him (I wonder who is not from Daman!!!) and had been in touch since last 17-18 years. Initially aunty thought not to give him this bad news (which I believe wouldn’t have helped) but eventually she thought better to disclose it to him. Already depressed from the job scene in US, this was totally uninvited trauma for Pranay and I would pray this need not happen but reality often defies wishes.

I wonder why that girl took this level of extreme step. This has been so far the second suicide incident in my friend circle after Chaitanya who did the same little more then two years back. Why people do this? Don't they think about their parents, friends, siblings or near and dear ones before terminating their lives? Suicide needs huge amount of guts and unless pushed hard, nobody reaches this extreme. But no reason on earth justifies such suicidal acts. Human life isn’t so cheap. There are so many lives attached to every single life (otherwise we wouldn’t call man a social animal). 

My previous post with the same title talked about provocation in positive spirit. But here I question, what provokes people to take such extreme steps?

Helpless

After completing my mid-night (2am IST) fiesta at Arcus, I return to my room to complete my dissertation report. Since this has to be my last trip in the campus today, I put on my night clothes so that only two activities remain on board. Complete the report and sleep. However, as always, I tend to check my mails and updates on social networking sites (gmail, yahoo, orkut, facebook and mandevian) to make sure I don't miss something important. But today, before that I checked the yahoo messenger where I left Pranay on hold to go to Arcus. But he left with Sanjay and Adarsh to go to see the Empire State Building in NYC (something which they were planning since ages).

No updates on gmail or yahoo. Nothing new on orkut or facebook. So I reach for mandevian ID which includes all redirected mails from my MDI mail ID as well. Today there was one really important mail. More important then perhaps any Placecom mail as well. A girl called Aparna from PG08 batch called up for help from the MDI community. A 22 year old friend of hers is suffering from a lung cancer and has to undergo a surgery (BMT – Bone Marrow Transplant) in the Apollo Specialty Hospital in Chennai. Coming from a middle class family, the poor parents cannot afford this 12-15 lakhs surgery after already spending about 7-8 lakhs on the chemotherapy treatment over the past one year or so. So now the family has decided to go to public for help in terms of donations. 

Sometimes I wonder how cruel the life can be to someone. Truly spoken, if you want to know how fortunate you are, listen to someone else’s misfortune. Chemotherapy is one of the most painful treatments of cancer. Besides that BMT is one of the most complex surgeries in the medical domain from the knowledge so far I have known. That 22 year girl would probably not have done anything bad to anybody in her life but still she has encountered such ill fate. More frustrating is the inability to help her in financial terms. By no means can I fathom the agony of her family. Sympathy won’t treat her. This is another occasion where in I feel so helpless not been able to help someone to come out of his/her miseries. All this MBA+Engineering renders meaningless.

When I used to donate blood two years back, I used to get some sense of satisfaction of having done something good for the society. But in the past two years, I don't remember a single incident when I have done something for my society, for my nation or least for my family. I wish to get back my pre-2007 life but the whirlpool created by this job scenario doesn’t allow me to do so. The more I want to come out of this vicious circle, the deeper I penetrate into it. But I try… and try until I succeed.

Dreams

“Sapney mat dekho… sapney kabhi sach nahi hotey. Mera baapu kehta tha. Lekin maine sapna dekha”. The famous introductory dialogue of the movie “GURU” had a lasting impression on my mind. Since my high school, I have grown up with dreams and the same coming true as well. 

Be it dream to score big time in 10th grade or getting admission in Nirma IT or excelling in CAT and getting admission in MDI, Gurgaon. I learned one thing that if you dream hard and work harder to achieve that dream, it ought to come true. Whenever I used to dream and work hard for it, I saw the dream realized and that’s what made my conviction even stronger.

But suddenly since last one year I saw the trend changing. The dreams have stopped realizing. The principle, on which I lived my entire high school and engineering, has suddenly started shaking. Although I am not able to stop the habit of dreaming big, but the pain of shattered dreams is becoming unbearable. It’s perhaps that this is the first time I have got exposed to defeats and not achieved something I have really wanted from my heart. I don't have any idea of what to do but just keep working to pursue my dreams in a hope that one day one of them will come true. As said by Lord Krishna in Mahabharata, “Karma kiye jaa, Fal ki chinta mat kar”

This is perhaps the first time I have felt so vulnerable although people around me keep reminding me that I am from the land of Sardar Patel, DHirubhai Ambani and Narendra Modi (although I don't have even 1% of the three aggregate!!!). And this is perhaps the first time I believe I need real good time to establish myself and develop myself as a person ready to take the responsibilities of the world. The earlier euphoric dreams of an amazing love life (especially during engineering) has already busted and as the life comes harsh at me, I realize that it will take a good amount of years to actually become responsible enough. 

But right now the thing that is pinching me is why my dreams have suddenly ceased to realize? What is going wrong and why?

Return

The more the job scene becomes dull, the less frequent is becoming my appearance on the blog. It’s been 42 days (less 4.5 hours of time difference I lost while coming to India from France!!!) since I posted my last blog.

It would be dishonest to say that I did not get time to write the blog in these days but the thought that I have larger things to do yet then just writing the blog, kept me avoiding this hobby of mine. And this is not the first time this has happened to me. However, this time it’s my conviction to prevent abandonment of blogging. So after enjoying 4 days of holiday when its time for me to seriously start something on the dissertation front, here I finally decided to make at least a small contribution to the concealed part of my life (I haven’t shared the link of this blog with anyone… gosh!!! Why am I writing this here??).

Although on the job front the status-quo has been maintained, but a lot of traveling has happened in these 42 days. Paris-->Hague-->London-->Gurgaon…. But that’s only in the initial 19 days. It has been 23 days in Gurgaon so far. I met lot of friends at MDI and planning to meet more as the day comes. But the people I am dying to meet are distant away from here waiting for me in Ahmedabad. Every alternate day I call up at home and the unspoken question is asked to me by mom that when would I return home? After initial spoken inquiries, the questions have ceased to be asked by mom since every time the answer remains the same. I don't know when the moment will come. But I pray to God that it comes soon.

Indian Extremism

Yesterday I came across a news item (http://ibnlive.in.com/news/shiv-sena-forces-lawyer-to-back-out-of-kasab-case/80619-3.html) that stated that some Shivsainiks people coerced a lawyer, Ashok Sarogi, in Mumbai who volunteered to play as a defense lawyer to Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab, the only terrorist caught alive in the 26/11 attack.
Indian constitution gives right to every accused to have a defense lawyer and unless he/she has the defense lawyer, no trial can execute against him/her. The motive of Lawyer Sarogi was not to defend Kasab but to help complete a legal formality so that the perpetrator of the attack could be brought to justice. However, “budhhi kam, haath zyaada” fame Shivsainiks didn’t understand this simple logic and attacked the lawyer’s house till the lawyer gave in writing that he will not defend Kasab.
This leads to delay in punishing the Kasab but who cares?? Political parties are always in an attempt to take advantage out of everything whether it is Shivsainiks in Ashok Sarogi incident or Mamta Banerjee in the Tata Nano incident or all the parties over Sardar Sarovar case. Sometimes I do not understand why some people are so bloody difficult to convince about the logic. And unfortunately Indians are so damn emotional and the political parties take the advantage of the same and misguide people to the issues that are not so important. Right now what I see important is that the terrorist should be hanged to death as soon as possible, no matter how it happens.
People say extremists are in Pakistan. But what about India? Aren’t they here as well? BJP/VHP who first destroyed the Babri Masjid and now wants to build a temple at the same place (as if India is running out of land for temples; or for that matter India already have so less number of temples). Or the Shivsainiks who destroy properties worth lacs every 14th February. Or the Bajrang Dal who felt that few Australian tourists are trying to convert Hindus into Christians and so burned them alive in their car. Also the local Muslims of Godhra who helped in executing the Sabarmati Express carnage.
Sometimes I do feel that before blaming Pakistan on the attacks we need to first put our house in order. We have a huge military force to fight with Pakistan, but who will fight with these people???

Chaanakyaniti

I guess it’s true that history can provide the mankind, answers to the many questions regarding the present and the future. I realized this while reading Chaanakyaniti. Statement after statement, one realizes the richness of Indian intellect that established the rules of political ethics hundreds of years back but very much functional even in the contemporary politics. Although I have just started with the book, every single word strikes my brain and tries to retrospect to see the consequences if I followed the Chaanakyaniti in a particular incident.
I had a similar experience while watching Mahabharat as well. Our ancestors laid a rock solid foundation of our culture that even after so many foreign invasions; it is still intact and alive within us. Every statement cited by Lord Krishna in the holy Bhagwat Gita, provides direction to the human life and tells us about the purpose of our life. It gives us the precious knowledge of life cycle and how to break it. It tells us the difference between soul and body. And besides these, lot of invaluable knowledge that western countries didn’t even think of at that time.
These are just two instances. The more one explores the Indian history, the more he comes to know about the rich unexplored heritage India carries that needs no external help from US to solve its problems.

Shahrukh Khan interview on 26/11 on NDTV by Barkha Dutt

One of the best interviews of Shahrukh Khan I have seen. The amount of sagacity the person carries with him is just amazing.... Loved to listen to the views of the person.

Source: NDTV....

Indian Police

Our Police, whom we have always cursed.... This video is a must watch...

Thank you NDTV for this special edition dedicated to the brave policemen who are seldom appreciated for their work.

Lost in time

It’s been 32 days since I wrote my last article in this blog. Ever since, I became so busy and so tensed about my work (not the office work!!!) that writing an article on blog seemed to be a waste of time for me. Every time I thought to write something, the Jay inside me reminded me of some important work that was pending and needed my attention (more then attention, the action).
This allegation of being very passive and dormant eats me from inside every moment. It’s like every time, there’s a battle going on to prove myself. Every time I think to write something on blog, the voice comes from inside, “There’s whole life at your disposal to write blogs. But you cannot afford to ignore the work you have in your hand”. In the last days of October, it was all visa issue on my head. Every moment, I just had various scenarios running in my hand with respect to the visa extension issue. After getting the visa successfully, it was all relaxation period at Nitinkaka’s place till 10th November during which I tried to avoid internet as much as possible. When I came back, it was all the job thing and internship report stuff that kept me busy all the time.
Even today, I had the rescheduling of the flight thing in my mind and to do it ASAP. Also the issue of job here was also pending and I have been waiting for my department VP’s reply on it since a week. Fortunately, today morning when I opened my outlook I saw his reply and got relieved. When I opened my gmail, I saw Rajeeta’s mail (my travel agent) regarding the rescheduling. So this issue is also solved. So, now there are no major issues pending as far as I remember. Then I thought to write at least a short article so that the month of November doesn’t go blank on my blog. But now I realize that I need to revise my definition of short article!!!

Whirlpool

Sometimes when you are trapped in problems you think why my life is so hell? Why God has given me all the troubles in life? Why only me? But it is when you talk to other people, you realize it’s not only you. There are thousands and millions of people in this world who has more serious problems then you. It is then you realize you have much better life then so many people in this world.
Yesterday, I was talking to Nidhi. I realized that life has not been fair to that girl at all. Every time I talk to her and know about her problems, I forget my problems. Coz after listening to her, it seems that my problems are no problems at all. She has three surgeries pending, two of which are very important and to be done asap while for the third one she has still to wait till seven months. Since her accident she has undergone several surgeries and her body has not been responding that well to medicines. Her study expenses are souring even though she has managed to extend her scholarship. Mama cannot support her for long and it’s high time she would have to seek help from her family who are already preparing for her sister’s wedding in which major amount of money is being injected. She has problems with her students’ visa in Mexico for which she has been fighting a legal battle since months. Aunty is again not doing well since she has lost much of her weight and has problems with her WBC count as well as hemoglobin level which is way below sufficient. Nidhi suspects cancer but no tests can be performed on her since the present body condition cannot withstand any test. Amidst all the problems Nidhi is fighting all alone with no support from anyone. Emotional support cannot materialize into anything significant.
After coming back from office, there was another shocker to me. This time from London people when Nitin forwarded us all, the mail her received from the Program Office of London ESCP-EAP telling that all the non-EU students who are with the students’ visa in London have permission to work for internship no longer then 12 weeks. Anyone found breaking this rule would be deported. This was a shocker to all the London people as most of the janta there had already completed their three months in September and were now on the verge of completing their forth month as well. School took their hands off this matter telling that they would not be responsible for anything that would happen to students. Some companies already told the interns to stop coming ever since they received this mail. London people are more worried about the monetary losses they would be making rather then the fear of being deported. Especially when the figure is in six digits when converted to INR, anybody’s heart would sink. No body knows what would happen. Vaibhav has already confirmed his return flight while Parul would also be more or less returning back. Rest all are fighting.
Yesterday night, while on my bed I thought about all this and complained to God that why I don’t have such a tough life? My problem seemed no problem at all after all this. Today morning, instead of chanting the shlokas in the morning prayer to God, I used the plain Gujarati asking God to clear all the troubles from my friends’ lives and give them what they truly deserved. I hope God will listen to me and take out my friends from their whirlpool of problems.

Tablet # 5

“Deepak did so many sins; I gave him a fire bath to wash his sins. I did a prison pilgrimage to wash my sins.”
- Kiranjit Ahluwalia to her mother-in-law in a letter written from jail

"I never intended to kill him; I just wanted him to stop hurting me.”
- Kiranjit Ahluwalia to Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/apr/04/gender.ukcrime)

Provoked.....

As a last part of my weekend activity, I decided to watch a movie yesterday night before sleeping. Since I wanted to see something meaningful (I had an idea of what is called meaningless after watching “Raffu Chakkar” for 10 minutes the earlier night!!!), I opted for “Provoked” which seemed to be reasonably good movie when I glanced through it during the day.
It’s a 2007 Aishwarya Rai flick based on true story of Kiranjit Ahluwalia case of 1992 that shook the British judicial system of that time. The theme was of woman’s revolt against domestic violence in which Kiranjit Ahluwalia, an oppressed wife and victim of domestic violence burns his London-based husband down to death. However, after the initial judgment of life sentence was challenged on the grounds of diminished responsibility of a mentally, physically and sexually abused person, the British court freed the lady. Not only that, but this case became a landmark in the history of British Law and changed the definition of “provocation”.
Domestic violence has been prevalent in the male dominated Indian society where women are considered physically weak and metaphorically slave of her husband. However women are also burdened with dual responsibility of maintaining the dignity and respect of two families even if she has to sacrifice herself. Things are pretty much the same today even if we say we are a part of more developed country where women are more independent and modern. The education has to come from home itself to teach men to respect women and zero tolerance to domestic violence. Only then no women would have to go through the suffering like that of Kiranjit Ahluwalia.
Sometimes I wonder, of what matter these human beings are made of. From where do they gain so much courage to fight out the society; to challenge the absolute; to question the doctrine; to be so fearless to kill someone and then justify it? I would like to meet such people (Currently she is Slough near London, roughly 500 km from where I am currently) who took the lead in their fight against the devils of society. In the past, Raja Rammohan Roy, Rani Lakshmi Bai, Saraswati Chandra and many others fought against the devils of the society. During Jessica Lal case, media played a very key role in getting justice. I would like to know, what provokes this infinite audacity to go all out for a cause.

The toughest part.....

I was just thinking what to write in my blog, next. Just then, I recalled a statement made by my Nirma friend, Rushin. Although not that great friend but we had a great time in Nirma. He was in Computer Engineering while I was in Information Technology. So technically we were kind of cousins. We met indirectly via Mohit Malhan (to whom I met via Bhoomi, my classmate), who was also studying Computer Engineering at U V Patel College of Engineering. We had a yahoo group called “technocrats” (later on “tech_crats” and what not!!!) on which Rushin along with one of his friends Mitul Choksi, used to post articles on MWMS (Mishaps With Microsoft).
I met Rushin, face to face, for the first time in the night-bus (not the one of Happy Potter!!!) of Nirma when we were all returning from our computer labs after completing some research. After that we started meeting regularly discussing topics from all the corners of computer world. Once the trio (Me, Mohit and Rushin) met to discuss about the project and as usual we drifted away to the topics that were not at all in the agenda. Hopping from one to another we entered the MWMS zone. While praising Rushin’s work, Mohit asked him how tough it would be writing an interesting article every time. Rushin asked a self-answered counter question, “Do you know what the toughest part of writing an article is?” The obvious answer was “No”. He answered, “Deciding the topic”.
Today, when I have seriously started writing my blog, I realize this thing. Although, here I am not bound to write something interesting every time but still I should enjoy what I write. But the toughest part is to decide what to write so that I enjoy the most. Everyday there are plenty of things happening around (even if we say our life is routine) and you have to write some of the most interesting ones out of them.
I just wonder how fiction writers are able to conjure up so much innovative thoughts and create entirely new world which nobody has imagined. And they are able to do it every time.

Tablet # 4: MBA

MBA equips us with the skill to speak faster than what our brain can actually process!!!
By Prof. Mukul Gupta,
Professor – Marketing, MDI

What is right???

Sometimes human beings enter into the whirlpool of confusion where they cannot decide what is right and what is wrong but still they have to make a selection. As said by Shri Krishna in Bhagwat Geeta, “Life is not possible without Karma”. You will do something or the other at any given instant. Even if you are idle, you are doing something; you’re doing “nothing”.
Thus, selection is inevitable. Time does not wait for anyone. And sometimes, selection has to be made instantly. You don’t have time to think. I have been into such situations several times and unfortunately in crisis, I have mostly found the wrong bank of the river. But previously, I never used to wait for time. Now it’s the other way round. Even if I want to think and make the selection, I cannot do. Quick decision making is a virtue I have lost confidence upon. But thinking like a McKinsey Consultant is not possible in “lifely” matters. You have to strike the right balance between thinking and doing.
I don’t know whether the decisions that I have taken in last few weeks are right or wrong. I don’t know what implications it has on my life on a long term. I am not able to visualize that far. But it certainly does have some implications. But the short term implications are certainly better. Life has gone through radical changes. I don’t know if these changes are right or wrong. But that’s my selection. Even if it would be wrong then it would be my mistake. At least that’s the good thing that my mistakes have always been mine. I have taken my decisions on my own.
At the end, karma is all about selections. Do it right or wrong, but it has to be done anyway.

Hamburger with knife and fork!!!

The canteen of my company makes some of my most favorite dishes almost every week. This week it happened twice. But unfortunately they add a little thing called meat/beef/ham into eat with makes it uneatable for me. Earlier this week it was pizza once but with small chicken pieces on the top of the melted cheese. I ended up eating rice and vegetables while plunging down into the memories of Uncle Sam’s pizza back in Ahmedabad. I had the opportunity to eat at Pizza Hut once but to everyone’s surprise I didn’t like the pizza as much as that of Uncle Sam’s.
Today it was my favorite burger which reminded me of my best days in Ahmedabad at McDonald’s. Almost everyone, except a few, had the burger in their plate. I went to flashback recalling countless parties and time-killing at McDonald’s during my engineering. The party when I and Dharam got into Cognizant with me, Pranay and Dharam entering the restaurant just when it was about to close. The one when Baba was in Ahmedabad and we spent three hours there with just a Mc Aloo Tikki and conversing on topics ranging from girls to World War 2. The one party with six sigma and discussing the future professional as well as love life of everyone. The evening with my Endeavor A1 batch which again ended up at the same Mc Donald’s. And numerous other occasions which I don’t remember.
Just when I was sailing in the sea of my beautiful history, I saw something absolutely amazing, strange and hilarious in front of my eyes. One of my colleagues (whose name I don’t know coz that guy apparently never bothered to speak English) took a knife in his right hand and fork on the other, cut the piece of hamburger and took it in his mouth. And he ate the entire burger like that. I wanted to laugh out loud but for some reasons avoided this offense. At that time I thought, if these guys come down to India they all would start vomiting when they would see us eating almost everything with our hand. From rice to pizza to burgers.
India is truly amazing and totally different from France (for this matter, from the Rest of the World as well).

My mom....

Today I called up my other mom, my Kalpanafoi (or bua as they call in Hindi). She was so happy to hear my voice after a long long time. Although she was not able to express her joy in words but her voice told me everything. I asked her about her mother-in-law who again was very nice women at heart and considered me just like her grand son. She was hospitalized when she fell down in her house and was injured because of that. She was discharged only few days back and so I phoned in order to ask for her (mother-in-law) well being and also to talk to Kalpanafoi since it had been a long time since I talked to her last time.
She asked me regarding my internship and how am I staying over here in Paris. She was happy to know that I am doing well and planning to come back India in January. Dad has always been a topic of discussion since she has always been the most compassionate and considerate to Dad’s health and his life. She was describing how happy Dad was ever since he knew that I have started my internship finally and that I have started earning on my own. He was happy that I realized his dreams into reality.
Dad sacrificed his life for his family. While he was doing his M.Sc. in Zoology after completing B.Sc, he got a government job. At that time the financial condition of the family was not so well and the elder brother, Bipin bapuji, was pursuing his masters after Mechanical Engineering while the younger brother, Nitinkaka, was still studying. Also getting a government job in those times was considered as a fortune. Finally he dropped his M.Sc and started with job to assist the family to come out of financial troubles. However, he always had that grudge of not able to do what he wanted. So he wanted me to realize the dreams he saw for himself. Even though my family was not doing that well financially, he never let those financial devils touch my career. He has played a big hidden role in whatever I am today.
After discussing about Dad and later on the most obvious person, Krutika (since she is in the Kurukshetra fighting the Mahabharat of 10th standard), she repeatedly told me to hang up as she was worried about my phone bill. I told her to relax and not to worry since the call is very cheap and also that it’s not that often that I talk to her. Actually, I am developing the habit to forget about the bill when I talk to my most beloved people. The time is now that I talk only to the people who matter to me the most and so every penny spent is actually every penny invested for the right cause. And one should never worry if his/her money going for the right cause. Volume just doesn’t matter. Its relationship that is important. I have already wasted a lot of money for the people who did not matter at all and the money was not worth spending on them but now is the time when the right people need right attention in my life.
Sometimes I feel very lucky that I received so much love from my family that I never felt that I have only one parent. Jigneshfua, Bhartifoi, Atulfua, Kalpanafoi, Nitinkaka, Chetnakaki, Kiranmasa, Jignamasi, Mukeshmasa and Parulmasi. These all have always overwhelmed me with their love and care. These are the people who gave me their unconditional love and have been most proud of me. Their joy sees no limits when they talk to me. Their blessings have always been with me, whether or not I take that explicitly. I have always learnt some thing or the other from them. Another person whom I admire very much but unfortunately had a very little opportunity to know about him is Ashishmasa. He is running his family business successfully in Alang (the place which is world’s largest ship breaking yard) and has been through many hardships. He has been one of those people always admired me and motivated me indirectly. He has seen lot of hardships in life but has never let it get revealed to the outside world.
Finally after a short talk (20 mins is short according to my standards), I hung up the phone promising to call up on the weekend to specially talk to Atulfua since he was in the office when I called up and by the time I reach home in the evening, he is asleep there in India. So weekend is the best time to talk.

Bounded Rationality

The other day, I was watching “Mahabharat” on internet. I started with episode 66 which was just six episodes before the actual Bhagwat Geeta and was showing how the stage for the greatest battle in the human history was setting up. Every single warrior known in the country was participating in the battle from either of the sides. The only exceptions were Krishna’s elder brother Balram and Rukmini’s brother Rukmiya who did not participate.
However, choosing sides was the most difficult task for the family members. Especially the elder ones since on both the sides they had their own sons. The mothers, Kunti and Gandhari, were in dilemma to whom to give blessings for victory? Bheeshm Pitamah, Acharya Drona, Kripacharya and many others were in the dilemma to fight from which side. Where they should go? Dharma was with Pandavas since Krishna was with them. However, they had their own compulsions and obligations.
Bheeshm Pitamah was bounded by his pledges he took decades ago for the protection of Hastinapur and so he had to fight from Kauravas. Unfortunately he also had to accept the designation of the Chief Senapati of Kaurav sena. Acharya Drona also had his own compulsions and attachments with Hastinapur.
However the most terrible plight was that of Angraj Karna. Just few days before the Mahayudhh, he came to know that he was Surya-putra (Son of Sun) and Kaunteya (Son of Kunti). Also that Pandavas were his five younger brothers and he was the eldest Pandavas. He knew that Duryodhan was going to lose in this battle since Krishna was with Pandavas and where there is Krishna, there is Dharma and where there is Dharma, there is victory. Also that if Pandavas come to know that Karna is their eldest brother, they would give away anything for him and it would be only he, who would be receive the crown of Hastinapur after the victory in the battle. However, he was under the obligations of Duryodhan since Duryodhan was the only person who supported him when the entire Kshatriya samaj maligned him for being “Sut-putra” (Son of a fisherman) which he was actually not. He lost all his aspirations from life and his life was now completely under the obligations of Duryodhan.
King Salya, who was Nakul-Sahdev’s mama, was also under the obligation of Duryodhan as he mistakenly accepted the hospitality of Duryodhan thinking of it as Yudhishthir’s. So, earlier he was from Pandavas side but under the burden of Duryodhan’s obligations, now he was forcefully made to fight from the side of Kauravas.
So many people had to go against their will because of some or the other reasons in this greatest battle of the human history. I just wonder how it would have been if everyone had a chance to choose his side without any compulsions or obligations. What if Bheeshm Pitamah, Acharya Drona, Kripacharya, Salya, Karna and so many others would have been on the other side of the battle field? It would have been a totally different Mahabharat otherwise.
I feel similar logic applies to our human lives as well. Everyday, every hour, every minute and every second some or the other person in this world is making some or the other compromise in his/her life. Just try and recall the instances when we decided to go against our will because of our compulsions, debts (not necessarily financial) and responsibilities. There are set of constraints within which we live our life. Some people excel, some manage to do reasonably well while some make a disaster. Our life would have been different if those constraints would not have been there. However, that is life.
But there can be a different angle to look at these constraints. Things which we consider as constraints; are they constraints actually? Or is it just our perception? Can we break the so called shackles and do what our heart says? What will happen then? I tried it a few times. There’s no significant difference. However, when I listen to my heart, I feel better. For a moment I also realize that guilt feeling of deviating from the righteous course of action but then what is right? It is a very subjective term. What is dharma? Where there is Krishna, there is Dharma. So you have to find either of them to know if what you are doing is correct or not. Finding Krishna (in physical form) is impossible for mortals like us so we assume where there is Dharma, there is Krishna or visa versa. But how do we decide where is Dharma? At the end it brings me back to my own perception of right or wrong since there is no objectivity in Dharma. It is beyond the understanding of a normal human being. Only Krishna knows the meaning of Dharma. Rest all has just the perceptions and interpretations.

Tablet # 3: Welcome TATA NANO to Sanand

Finally the flight of Tata Nano landed in Gujarat after facing a massive resistance in Singur, West Bengal. Industrialists do not have time to get involved in political controversies and rightly done by Ratan Tata (although very late), he said Ta-Ta to Singur and was warmly welcomed by Narendra Modi. It’s interesting to see what was road to destruction for West Bengal was road to prosperity for the farmers in Gujarat. The way Tatas were portrayed as predators in WB, it became very difficult for them to even think of starting any new venture for them in future in WB. In Gujarat, not only the ministers welcomed Tatas but even the farmers went on the extent to give their land for free to the Tatas (however at the end they sold their land much below the market price to express their gratitude to Tatas).
This car project would not only bring development to the auto industry in Gujarat but also to its ancillary industries in Saurashtra. It would put Gujarat as a major player in the auto industry and would also send a positive message to other industries regarding the positive approach to industrial development and next to zero red tape currently in the state.
Hail Tatas and Narendra Modi.

Who matters??

The other day I was listening to the song Laree Chooti from the movie Ek Chaalis Ki Last Local sitting on my office desk (I cannot live without music even during my office hours!!!) and I went in past to recall the incidents of my life in last one month. Things have changed tremendously in the past 30 days. Lot of equations has changed.
The friends whom I thought were truly mine in fact were not so. Once again I made mistake. To be honest, mistakes. Lots of them. Today I have to think thousand times before calling them. Would they like it? Am I disturbing them in their so-called overloaded busy schedules? Few days back my subconscious asked me a question, “Why are you so bothered coz of this? Who are the people who matter to you the most?”
Probably right to some extent. The people who matter to me the most are happy with me. They are proud of me. It’s their efforts coz which I am what I am today. It was all their sacrifices coz of which I have reached at the stage which I never dreamt of. Mom gets worried if I don’t call her for two days in succession. She won’t bother for the phone bill even while calling from Dad’s cell to my cell which costs like a height with a country so rare like France. Krutika is ready with her stories of two days when I talk to her. Dad may not say anything but I know he has the world of things to tell me. Perhaps I never bothered to know him when I was in India since I was too much occupied with my own stuff. Now it’s the time. Better late then never.
Besides them, there are so many people who would be so happy to know about me and would love to talk to me. Not that others won’t, but there is a list of people who has played a significant role in my life and I would be indebted to them for my life. Jigneshfua, Bhartifoi, Kalpanafoi, Atulfua, Kiranmasa, Vivek Sir, Monika Madam. These people have taught me lot of things in my life and no matter to what heights of success I reach, I can never better them.
But then why do I get so bothered when my friends turned their backs to me? Does it matter so much? Not like I don’t have a history of betrayals. During engineering as well I wasted my time, money and everything possible on the people who did not care for me at all while I kept distant from people who mattered the most. Wrong selection of friends? May be. Or may be it’s just a part of life. You are ought to make mistakes. What matters is how much you learn from your mistakes and do not repeat them in future. And I have a history of learning (although very little) from my own mistakes rather then from others.
So, now I have decided to be the least attached to the people who are does not matter me the most. The moment I involve emotions into my friendship, expectations increase and spoil the friendship. And I cannot afford to spoil my precious life moments on this. Perhaps what should matter to a person the most is his own happiness till its not detrimental to the people around him/her. I know who matters me the most. Is non-attachment the key to happiness??? I don’t know but would definitely like to give it a shot.

Tres Happy

It’s Krutika’s birthday tomorrow and her happiness is finding no bounds from today itself. His brother sent her a very memorable gift on her 15th birthday and that too for the first time from his own money.
I was having a routine in the office nearing to my lunch time (which apparently is the best time of the office hours!!!). Suddenly I see “(1 unread) Yahoo! Mail, mehta_world” on my Firefox tab. I prepared myself to press the “Delete” button as I expected it to be just another spam mail (not technically) from a whitepapers provider website. But to my surprise the sender name appeared “Krutika”. And then everything happened as expected. She sent me a THANK YOU card for the gift I send her on her 15th bday blast.
I called up home instantly (Thank God, NONOH was working fine). Mom picked up and her voice told me everything. Words were just a formality after that. Krutika’s joy was at peak. Tears started their way out from her eyes while she opened the gold plated Titan Sonata ladies watch. Instantly she went to the watch shop near by to adjust the strap. She put it on instantly.
I felt like for the first time I gave my family some real happiness. Krutika’s one smile outshines all my achievements till date. I wish I would have been there to celebrate her birthday. Today I miss my family the most.

Height of co-incidence

The other day, just to add some spice to my boring weekdays, I decided to have a film show on my laptop. Early dinner was the key to the completion of the task which also extended to timely sleep in order to prevent myself from being late to my second home, the next day.
However, it was a rare day for me as everything went according to my planning and finally I sat in front of my lappy to decide which one to see. “Rock On” was my first choice but I could not afford to lose time while waiting for buffering to complete (while I am writing this, “Rock On is getting buffered!!!”). So I ended up with “Welcome to Sajjanpur” which had a better and, more importantly, faster streaming. It was while watching the last part of the movie that I decided to go for a break and discovered that Nitin and Sahil (my housemates and good friends) were also watching the same movie on their laptops. All the three were amazed to know that all of us had been watching the same movie but none of them knew about that.
The next day, I updated my gtalk status message: “Height of co-incidence... Three people watching the same movie at the same time in the same house on their individual laptops and none of them knew about it.....” Sometimes we enclose ourselves in our shells of “computer based life” so much that we don’t even know what’s happening in the next room. We can say it as Height of Ignorance as well!!!