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!!!

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.