Why do we need stimulants always..!!

Why do, we, the people always needs to be reminded of things. Things as small as our basic duties towards society, that we are not supposed to frown on everyone we see around, that a small smile is lot more contagious and welcome than show off of money. We always tend to forget the small pleasures of bringing smile to people whom we don’t know. We start feeling like god in our pseudo power centres of cubicles and it simply vaporises out of our brains that, nothing lasts forever, no power no slavery, no dispute and no loyalty.

We tend to forget things and then get awaken by small things like a simple movie or a statement by a not so smart street kid. why can’t we learn to respect people even before they call it a day, why can’t things be smooth, why can’t everyone have their own share of respect without demanding it in a wrong way.

Someday, I believe this will be taken care of by one who is supposed to get this done..an I will keep walking with that faith..!!

Usual games..!!

This was bound to happen sooner or later in India. Our government has always been lax when it comes to cyber crime and cyber law irrespective of which party was ruling. They always believed that Army is the only requirement to defend the boundaries of this great country.

When IT boom came to India, under pressure from other developed country IT security act was introduced in 2000 and was again amended in 2008 but nothing concrete in it. All the crimes were bail-able in that. Like present laws, this was also made and never enforced. One of the finest excuse was all the social networking sites are based out of USA on which Indian law has got no control. Oh come on, take a cue from China, if you really want it, being a government you can have it anytime. No one in power ever thought that the incident which happened two days back with people of north-east can even happen. And now when the situation goes out of control, the action taken are usual expected one

• Block SMS for few days
• Blame Pakistan for everything

Can they explain that just by blocking the SMS what can be achieved now, damage has already been done and if Pakistan was the originator of this rumor, who helped in propagating this within India. no one from Pakistan came here to forward these SMSs. Now even Pakistan denies its involvement in this incident and asks for a proof, we too are waiting for that proof.

Now one senior politician says, all Indians have got right to work and live anywhere in India. Oh yes, we know this is our right as per our constitution, can you just ensure that this is being followed across country keeping aside your political interests and vote politics. Please do not wait for something big to happen and then declare this from some podium, work on a daily basis to ensure this.

I am assuring you, if your party can do this, you don’t need to ask for votes in any election.

My dear politicians, if you all can grow up from fights of caste, religion and vote, we would appreciate your efforts in controlling law and order situation in country, controlling the shooting prices of commodities, providing the tax payers a quality life.

Can we have freedom to live in our own country please??

How about this..??

After living within the confines of a six-day work week during last few years, people started working in five-days week and now there are instances of  four-days week. It’s became possible while one is ready to work for ten hours a day, then he gets three full days as holiday. I was just thinking what if now companies who provide their employees annual leave of around one month, gives them an option of mixing their these paid holidays with a flexi-working option of four-days a week. Although I am not a HR specialist, but just give this a thought, what all can be an outcome of this.

First, let me explain the “why” behind this concept by beginning with a very important aspect of the “people” portion of any business – the “company culture.” Believe it or not, many aspects of our culture are directly related to this special perk. Here are a few of the reasons for that statement and perhaps a few questions you should ask yourself as an employer:

1. How much more innovative and exciting would the business be if every single team member spent one full day each week devoted to research/innovation? What insights, new ideas and energy would be pumped into the business? isn’t this something which pulls talent to all the startups ?
2. Such a perk is an amazing draw in the age of recruiting the best in talent to your team. Like a hit song, HR department needs a “hook” to snag the cream of the crop. It will make an incredible difference!
3. Correlated to the above point, the employee retention rate literally soars! Who would ever want to give up three days at home, only commuting four days a week and the cerebral exercise of weekly research?
4. Even though the team is working 10-hour days, the sense of urgency brings a high level of energy, and in my opinion, focused collaboration. It is a joy to watch and to be sucked up into this flow of energy and enthusiasm
5. The extra time for research makes for a well-informed team and the high self esteem level realizing they have something unique. (Plus, meeting a repairman on a Friday or planning numerous three-day getaways is never taken for granted …)
6. In many cases, Thursday nights after work become an even bigger chance for team socialization and fun. This also seems to be vital to retention rates. A recent study indicated the No. 1 reason for a person not to change jobs is based upon having a close friend at the same company. Sort of makes sense, right?
7. A drastic decrease in reporting sick to office cases (since things could now be managed in these extended weekends or weekends supplemented by flexi leaves)

Obviously, if you have a large customer service component to the existing  business or if you must be open for retail hours, it takes huge amount of ingenuity and near perfect scheduling prowess to adjust to this type of schedule.

For me these above few points may help the decision makers in reaching the conclusion that the extra focus, energy, teamwork and dedication resulting from a four-day work week supplemented by flexi leaves will drive your productivity skyward! 

Not a bad outcome for a simple idea Sirjee….!!

Feelings of being at India gate..!!

I completed my two years of existence in this walled city few days back. Out of whatever which fascinated me most over here, the most prominent is India Gate. Now even I don't remember how many times I have been to this place.  One of my friend calls me "Mangal Pandey of 21st centuray" because of my habit of being at this place so many times.

My first visit there left me speechless and I was standing there for hours in front of Amar Jawan Jyoti. I always wanted to be there and I finally was there just looking at it.

 Then from that day started the story of me being at India gate whenever I feel like getting away from everything around.

Now whenever I go there, I can feel myself much better connected to it, better than the previous times. Every time I see this Amar Jawan Jyoti, it looks different to me, although I doubt if now people really give importance to it.

Normally I had seen people going there for partying and dating, I wonder if this is the place for them to be there? These people are the reason for the mess they leave behind every day at India Gate, which pains a lot to anyone who visits that place for its magic and importance. Also these types force Delhi police to be rude to everyone because they treat that place just like another picnic spot.

 

PS: Like always special thanks to Devesh Singh for allowing me to use his pictures :)

Bhopal..a bleeding story..!!

Those who died were lucky to die, those who survived are still suffering, crawling towards a painful death. This case is a perfect example of how Indian politicians can screw up lives of their country men just to please a country like America. The CM that time helped the main co accused to flee from country instead of catching him and producing that culprit before court. Now the Congress says they will do their best to bring justice to all who suffered. It’s the same Congress which tried their best to help DOW stay safe out of any problem. I don’t want any justice, just bring back those guys and put them in a gas chamber with MIC gas for just few minutes with their family members. I wonder how America which invaded Iraq fro no reason can live happily with what DOW did to India and how our so nice politicians can eat up money and aid given for the victims to build up their empire.

 

I feel ashamed to be part of this democracy for what they did to people of Bhopal…!!

PS: all rights of above videos lies with their respective owners

Cry for only bruises and stitches....!!

In this lovely journey called life we meet so may people. I am not including parents and siblings as they are out of scope here in this. We know them by many names such as friends, good friends, best friends, neighbors, colleagues, people you come across while travelling to and fro to office etc etc. Many like to help anyone and everyone in as much as ways possible. So are the people around who take to advantage of these as much as possible. They will come to you, befriends with you, use you to their best and then part ways as if they never met you. Unfortunately this breed of users are now in abundance.

Although people should take lessons from every incidence like this, but there are fools who tend to keep on helping people even after being backstabbed. I would name these kind as emotional idiots who are not learning anything from whatever happened to them in past. I would never say that stop helping people and stop being reason for a little smile on their faces (I know it feels great to see that smile) but one should slowly and gradually learn to read people and their wicked minds. Remember not everyone who smiles is your well wisher, it can be and it is most of the time a devil waiting to kill your soul and suck humanity and kindness out of your heart.

One should learn to leave people in their pain and try not to hop every time to help them out. If they are in pain, its mostly because they are worth it. This may not be true all the time, but why to take risk and screw up your own life for someone one else’s happiness. Just be selective even while trying to help any freaking person around. Gone are the time when you will do good for others and receive at least a smile. In today’s world you could be branded as a moron even for helping others. So learn to be selfish and be safe and happy. With all due respect (whatever they deserve) to everyone around (as if I really do care)

This reminds me of one of the beautiful lines I am loaning from one of my friend…

Cry for only bruises and stitches....not for bastards and bitches..!!

Mockery of Education…!!

I was reading today’s newspaper and the big news of the day was “cutoff of 100% at LSR college”. My first reaction was, what the hell, is this some kind of joke? If the cutoff is this, what is going to happen to rest?

As one of the speaker pointed out in one of the discussions on this topic, its mainly because of students who are suing this just as a base station so that they can prepare for their IIT dream, killing the options for the real student who wanted to pursue this stream. See even today in top B Schools, most of the students are from Science background. Few blames CBSE for distributing numbers so easily, but I know that anyone who passed out from CBSE will vote against this. CBSE never distributes marks, they are earned by students.

If the college thinks that 100% can be taken as a cutoff, then I believe that very soon they should decide that this holds valid even for reserved category candidates or else it would be highly unfair on the candidates belonging to general category on scoring 96 % and still not being able to get into that college. Also the need to enforce that anyone from Science background student to get admission in Commerce stream, unless the student is there for the entire course duration.

Now even I doubt if the university administration has even considered this fact that not all students applying for admission are from CBSE. There are states like UP and Maharashtra where getting such high percentage is next to impossible, even if they get something around 80%, its an achievement by itself. This really looks a ridicules step which surely is going to increase pressure on general students. Either the administration/ ministry should put in force once education board across all the states or they should not play with future of innocent students.

Even if they say that this step is taken to match the demand supply, I would trash this as rubbish. If demand is rising, its responsibility of system to provide the supply of enough opportunities for studies and quality in education. Only god knows what will happen to next generation of students and how are they going to study or they all are going to end up like teenagers of developed nations where most of them don’t even cross the step of being a graduate.

Amazingly this laid down process in no way considers other aspects of student’s life, their co-curricular activities. Are we again going towards producing just clerks or we want a well educated human being to emerge out of these temples of education.

Why can’t we take a common entrance test by giving the kids a fair chance to perform and compete, is that so difficult?

Well, I don’t think so…we all really need to think and come together to achieve basic motto of education system “ ज्ञानार्थ प्रवेश, सेवार्थ प्रस्थान...!!”

Working for a small setup helps you grow..!!

Ever since organisations were formed and global spectrum was implemented for corporates, it is believed that employees should go through processes and practices to enable them learn new things to scale up fast. This on paper translates into getting involved in planning, training, development, taking new responsibilities and initiatives.

One popular conception is that to be nurtured as a leader, one must need to understand the dynamics of the profession in a well established set up where processes and scope are well defined. What they fail to see is that there are very limited opportunities to put such learning into practices at these places.

The reality is while one is working with any of these big, well established corporates, they never get a chance to take risk as they are designed in a way to reduce the risk factor to the minimum. Only the young entrepreneurs give fair chances to an individual by giving him opportunities to take risks and succeed. Google and Amazon are few of the biggest available examples. Because if one thinks within the defined frame of the traditional setup, there are very less chances to innovate and execute. The priority will always be to follow the rules and processes.

In the present complex business environment, anyone who gets an opportunity to grow in terms of technical, managerial and humanitarian expertise, emerges as a leader. In big organisations you have a structure in place which helps in you getting into all these roles, but if you are working for a startup or a small organisation, you need to think and act like an entrepreneur and constantly be on the toes to look out for new opportunities in all the areas. One should always remember that success also depends upon individual skills, appetite for success and how one aspires to be in life.

“There is no point working as a small fish in big pond after a while”

I know people who moved on and left their comfortable jobs from MNCs to join comparatively smaller firms and are happy learning things at these places. Although this decision must have impacted their perks and pay cheque, but what they have today is the pleasure of being able to put forward their ideas and implement that to be “The One” for changing the ways of working in their new firm. Moreover, these smaller firms do give flexibility in terms of working hours and working from home as compared to the big organisations.

Also, it is also not very difficult to move up the ladder in small firms, as every person from the top to the bottom knows you and your work, and whenever an opportunity comes by, it is very easy to put yourself forward. Whereas, in large firms, you are working as a hidden employee, which would result in some key members of the management not knowing you.

Since large organisations have a good amount of budget that can be used to buy and manage latest in resource and technology, it has some negative sides as well. As each person has a defined role in his area making it very difficult for a person to gain knowledge of other areas in this kind of environment. On the other hand, despite providing immense opportunities, small organisations have a limited budget for these things and which results in more and more efforts to learn and innovate instead of just going and purchasing the readily available services.

More importantly, to make yourself dependable even in the best of times, one needs to be aligned with the company’s processes, culture and ethics, and should be able to set the right expectations and manage expectations of all the stake holders to grow as a leader.

“It’s not the pond but the quality of fish that matters in a longer term”

Stanleys and Ishans of our world…!!

Watched the movie Stanley ka Dabba today, initially the movie reminded me of my good old days at school, the fun we had at school leading a very carefree life with no tensions of project deadlines and presentations. I was missing my school life all through out the movie but was also shaken a bit towards the end of the movie. I know we are in position so that we can choose our food and delicacies, but it really hurts when a kid has to struggle to get his food and is forced into child labor. I know everyone will say what am I doing for them, just by writing something is not going to change anything in their lives. But since I am not here to explain anything to anyone, I would like to keep my mouth shut on this, I am very well aware on what I am doing and I know from the core of my heart that it gives peace to my mind. But think of this, if we can really spare a bit of our leisure time to help them learn something about real life, that will really help them in being someone. the best way to do this is to do it anonymously and never expect a return from all this.

There are lots and lots of these kids around us losing their innocence of life in struggle of mere existence in this highly paced lives around them. Least we can do is to at-least stop and think about them even if we can’t so anything right now. If we start doing this now, who knows one day we may really do something to help them.

We the strange bunch of people..!!

We fellow Indians are really strange bunch of people. We may celebrate a cricket match win but will be skeptical in celebrating festival of other religions. We can question the quality of our teachers but will have full faith in our politician, just because he or she belongs to our own caste.

We can spend crores on safety and stay of a terrorist but can’t think about spending a single rupee on street child education. We would never go out of our comfy homes to vote but can sit and blame our government for hours over drinks. We can tolerate hundreds of Osamas but get irritated by one Medha Patkar.

We blame our politicians for all the mess around but never hesitate to go to one to get something done out of way. We may raise our eyebrows over garbage lying all around but will never give a second thought before throwing an empty water bottle out of our car window. We may reach office late due to our urgent work but other’s urgent work looks like lame excuse to us.

 We are hesitant in going to religious places but can have cocktail parties on every festival holiday. We love to speak English but feel a bit shy to speak our own mother tongue. We may not know what happens in our country but are aware of each and every bit of What happens in Vegas. We complain all the time about traffic jams but will never hesitate to drive in wrong lane beat it. We can complain about always rising price of petrol but can’t switch off our engines at traffic signals even if it means keeping engine on for more than few minutes. 

Although we as general public are still struggling for basic facilities like water, road and basic infrastructure but still we are happily paying our taxes without any resistance. We pay fine for late payment of our dues but are least bothered to fight back if we are charged by our service providers wrongly. We pay for an unlimited Internet connection but still accept the “fair usage policy” enforced upon us once a specific data limit is crossed. We pay full charges for booking a flight ticket at last moment but never demand any explanation if airline is delayed by few hours.

We really are a uniquely strange bunch of people…!!

Delhi nights and early mornings…!!

Any city always amazed me at nights. You can see the true colours of that city, the people inhibiting that place and if lucky you are in a position to praise both. This is my experience of several night outs and my experiments with Delhi, the capital city of India. And yes I am considering Delhi NCR while writing this.

 

Although I am a nomad but by far I was never able to appreciate the infrastructure of this city during the day time due to clutter and mess across the city and the food joints and places which are either too much fussy or too much crowded.

 

This myth of mine was broken when I started to venture out during late nights and early mornings in this city. The parathas, maggie and tea at roadside stalls near Ship building, Convergys building and near to Machan on Golf course road. Equally tasty was the food available near to CP. You can see people from everywhere eating it without any complains and enjoying the taste of it, the same people who would not even look at it during the day time.

 

These places are open till wee hours every day and are always full of people having fun there. I enjoyed these places across all the seasons, in the rains, in foggy nights and in windy summers seamlessly.

The roads which made me loose my temper everyday during day time looked very smooth and peaceful all of sudden at night. they looked more colourful and much more lively to me as if they were inviting me to explore them more and more.
Although there was not much of change in the scenario at both the toll gates on NH-8 (which became even worse due to that strange hike of Rs. 01 in toll fee) but still who cares when you are loving the city :)

Only thing which continued to irritate me was the manner in which people drive here. Somehow they love to drive on the wrong side of the roads (efforts to control those is again in progress by installing devices to deflate the tyers for these special breed of people) and those who are either impatient at traffic signals and are happy to jump the read lights risking their and everyone else’s lives.

 

But still the city kept on moving with its admirable pace. Even at 6.00 AM in the morning people were in rush to reach somewhere. To the airport, to their jobs or to meet someone special in their lives.

I met several people during these trips of mine, some drunk to the core, some sober, some rude, some careless, some in their own world, policemen who were rude, some who were happy to help . In all till date my experience encourages me to explore more and more of this mysterious city and know it better.

And the ever inviting roads remind me of these lines…
I have miles to go before I sleep again….

PS: Special thanks to Devesh Singh for allowing me to use his pictures :)

Corporate chain..!!

Disclaimer: With all due respect to Mr Shashi Tharoor  (for using his Cattle Class words) and every single corporate entity I came across in my professional journey, irrespective of where they worked, if ever we interacted or not, this is just a funny try and interpretation of  whatever I saw and felt :)

Corporate life has always made me think in different verticals. It has been a funny, stressful, lame, witty, exploring, hilly and sloppy feeling traversing through various corridors of different powerhouses of our ever growing economy. Few I was a part of and for others, few of my friends facilitated me to have this enchanting experience.   

I saw different types of people working with these organisations, some always fighting,  some always shouting,  some reacting to even a whisper, some never ever reacting to anything, some always busy, some always fuzzy, some working hard, some hardly working, some capable of frustrating anyone just by their sheer presence and some capable of making you understand that "a  gearbox is full of gears" by taking you through a 100 page presentation on that. 

I was reading somewhere about food chain, that reminded me of my good old school days and I could easily convert whatever I saw in my professional life to a corporate chain. Although in food chain, everyone is eaten by someone, here in this corporate chain, everyone reports to some one and works for someone. Everyone has got some job to complete and has got something in queue but no one gets killed in literal senses.

There are few who do the job and remain unrecognised and their are few who take credit of everything happening around them. There are few who cannot put their voice through the proper channel and there are few who can ensure that even their sneeze is officially attended to. But since everything is supposed to be running smooth, the proper mix (as per industry standard) is required of these people. I came up with these classifications and role assignments as shown in picture below.

Again I would reinstate that this is a just a funny interpretation and is never meant to hurt or blame anyone and should be taken on a lighter note. I am just trying to add humor to our busy lives :)

Feeling a Feel . . .!!

How good it feels to be alive,
and to appreciate and enjoy life.

How good it feels to wake up every day,
and to watch the little ones play.

How good it feels to dream at night,
and then wake up to beautiful sunlight.

How good it feels to have good friends,
who will be with you until life's end.

How good it is to have the support of loved ones,
and be able to go out and have fun.

How good it feels to hear, touch, smell, taste, and see,
and live in a time in which we can be whatever we want to be.

How good it feels to breathe in air
and to be able to recognize my happiness and share . . .

Ex-CM Traveling cattle class..!!

Looks nice to see ex chief minister of Madhya Pradesh traveling cattle class with wife and his son. Power shuffle plays around too quick in Indian politics. The so called Diggi Raja traveling economy somehow gives a little hope to the rotten political system of second largest democracy of this world. I think and firmly believe that this guy must be entitled to several free flights but still if he chooses to opt for economy class that too in a private sector carrier, it gives me absolute pleasure to share this. I would not comment on how he was as a chief minister but if this travel of his is to be considered, he looks as a sensible guy and an above average politician.

Although this thinking was not extended by his family members. The son was in his own world where every one around was reporting to his dad and madam was feeling lost due to lack of her assistants. After trying several times to put tray table back, she was forced to ask for assistance and in the end she couldn't resist to take along with her the in-flight magazine :)

And we as young citizens of this country are looking forward to this breed of politicians.

Nomadic viewpoint....!!

I don't remember exactly when I decided to change my life and become a nomad. A nomad is someone who does not possess nor is tied to a particular location and are commonly known as itinerants in modern-day contexts. There are nomad communities of people who move from one place to another, rather than settling permanently in one location. There are an estimated 30-40 million nomads in the world. Many cultures have traditionally been nomadic, but traditional nomadic behavior is increasingly rare in industrialized countries. Nomads are sometimes also referred to as perpetual travelers/ tourists.

I wished I could do this full time , but unfortunately earning is the other side of story which now takes over in terms of importance when compared to nomadic view. You need to earn to support your nomadic thought process. Whenever I am outside, traveling I forget everything about my profession, my work pressure and the targets and deadlines for project delivery (this can also be a reason for me being more interested in being a nomad). I feel like being part of everything which is happening around myself (this feeling I am not able to achieve till date in my professional life) where no everyone is ready to come to me, listen to me, talk to me and have a simple cup of tea for no visible financial benefit. People who never care about how much I earn, which car I drive, which brand I wear, which watch I have, which mobile phone I use. 

All they want to know is if I liked the tea or samosa I had with them or what I feel about them or their place. I can see that everyone is running after money, negotiating for higher salary, planning to purchase one more house from bonus and still not satisfied with what they are possessing.  The couple who is working, but still  hungry for more and more money. There is very thin line between need and greed. Need can be fulfilled but greed is very difficult to satisfy. I wonder why they never see what they have got already and maybe that is  much more that what they are capable of. Just because they got more doesn't indicates that they are capable of having all that. People fight for the basic needs of life and are still much happier than those who are earning in huge amounts. 

How much does anyone needs, what can be considers as fulfilling, which thing can ensure peace of mind or a sound sleep, how much land will be enough are few question which are and will remain unanswered for ever. People go for vacations to various hotels but I keep on wondering what can be different in a hotel room from my own room apart from few cosmetic goodies. In my view if someone really wants to enjoy a vacation, he/she should try to get closer more and more to mother nature. I strongly believe that this vacation will surely change, enhance or boost the inner self of anyone taking that vacation. The basic purpose of vacation should be to re-invent and explore inner self and not to experience more and more artificial world around. A vacation at a natural habitat will for sure help them evolve better as a human being.

 

A luxurious five star is not the only thing that can make a place entitled to be categorized as travel destination  or any place worth being called as exotic. Its the connectivity to nature which makes you feel it as an exotic or vacation destination. 

All the can be treated as completely a nomadic viewpoint on vacations or life and may feel absurd and useless characters to may of the readers, but that's what differentiates me as a "Nomad" in the crowd of hundreds and thousands of people around me and I am absolutely fine if you do not like it this way. You have got your life and its completely your wish on how would you like to spend it and how would you like to remember in years to come.

Who should be blamed ?

The incident of a building collapse at Laxminagar, Delhi again opened a Pandora box. The blame game started among the authorities, media became active all again with all late night discussions dedicated to this topic. 

All the tall claims of Delhi chief minister of the city being world class went for a toss. What was shown to world as Delhi is just the plastic part of city.  Still 30 % of city's population lives in slums and shabby areas. the roads are in pathetic condition. Huge amount was spent on CWG on building stadiums and hostels for the athletes. But there as nothing for general Delhi public. The roads taken by President Obama were the best one. 

But in reality Delhi is an aging city, with rotten infrastructure, clogged roads, increased crime rate, insecurity for women and politics making it worse day by day.

Even in case of building crash, the blame was given to Yamuna river. I wonder why people can't see that Akshardhaam temple which is much closer to Yamuna river stays there proud and tall. If the building which was constructed was illegal, how come they managed to get water and electricity connection from government. No one is concerned about all this. Only thing which they can say that, it aall happened because of Yamuna river and heavy rains. 

Its all in the game........

Corruption....!!

You are getting late to office, lost in your thoughts about the presentation to boss and you accidentally missed the red light at traffic signal. Cop catches you and you get away by paying hundred rupees to him. Is this a bribe ?

You are desperate to go home for festive vacation, but could not get a ticket. You paid few extra hundred rupees to the ticket checker and manage to get a berth in the train. Is this a bribe ?

You go for a vacation with your friends, but entry to a public place is closed. You had a talk with the security guard, gave him one hundred rupee note and got the entry to that place. Is this a bribe ?

You applied for a passport, but don't have time to go through complete verification. You go to a broker who charges you for his service and your Passport is delivered at your place. Is this a bribe ?

You got your driving license without even appearing for a driving test because you applied through an agent. Is this bribe ?

If all these above does not look like bribe to you, who do you think gave you right to blame Raja, Kalmaadi or any of the politicians. tey are all elected by us only. So if they are into corruption because we want all of them to be at that place taking part in corruption on our behalf.. 

I strongly believe that "Every time you spend money, you're casting a vote for the kind of world you want....." 

What is all this about Kashmir..??

Ever since I remember, Kashmir was an integral part of free India. But in recent past few years, I am forced to believe that India is trying to acquire Kashmir from some other country. Why are our politicians listening so much from separatists like Mirwaiz and Yasin Malik. If they are entitled to this special attention then why do we treat separatists from Orrisa and Andhra Pradesh differently ? Why can't we give some special powers as Article 356 to these Maoists too ?

Why so much hype for Kashmir? If its an Indian state why can't we treat every one in that state as per normal rules of India ? With due regards to suffering of people of Kashmir, I still believe they are responsible for what they are suffering from. If they really want to get away from India, I would personally welcome that move as this will ease up lives of everyone involved. We can hope that there will be no more bloodshed, no more firing on the roads and people will live there lives peacefully.

I think either it should be dealt by giving complete control to Indian Army or allowing people of Kashmir to choose their options. Too much of media focus on this case hence creating more problems for people involved. Media too act a bit responsibly and handle this case more delicately.

I used to love rains....!!

I, like any small kid loved to go out and play in rain pours. Those days I prayed to god, not to stop rains. Then I started going to my school and the ordeal started. I wished the showers to come down only during nights, so that I don't need to get messed up while going to school. This continued for years and I landed up in my college. At that time I was never bothered about rains. Who cares even if it was raining like hell. I could still sleep peacefully in my room at college hostel.

Then I moved to my job and the worst part started. Whenever it rained, the life became hell. I can't take leave and since I didn't had a vehicle, by the time I managed to reach office, I was completely drenched. I moved from that city to another with shift in my job. Again that city used to get converted into river in rainy times. Even the cab guys refused to take me to office. The pain continued. Somehow I managed since during that period the rain god was too moody to oblige.

One more shift in job and I landed at my current city. This was something unbearable. Although I managed to get my "Nomad" partner vehicle, but the roads were worst ever. You cannot guess, if you are driving or sailing through the roads. If it was potholes on the roads or as if I was driving through craters leveled with the help of water. Every time it rained, the traffic on the road goes for a toss, I really wonder why ? Although our members of parliament managed to get a hike in their salary, which none of poor guy ( irrespective of where he/she may be working ) can expect in their life, I don't see any better future prospects. I am clueless why am I required to return a file, when I get my salary post tax deduction. Anyways, I know how it feels to drive on such roads with your brand new car cursing myself for putting my car through all this and cursing every other errant, rash driver around me.

So. now where I see it raining, I feel shivers down my spine and now sadly I don't love to see rains pouring or for that sake ever drizzling....!!

A to Z of Kolkata..!!

Pl. note: This is just a funny observation, with no intention to hurt anyone....

A is for Awpheesh (as in Office). This is where the average Kolkatan goes and spends a day hard at work. And if he works for the 'Vest Bengal Gawrment' he will arrive at 10, wipe his forehead till 11, have a tea break at 12, throw around a few files at 12.30 , break for lunch at 1, smoke an unfiltered cigarette at 2, break for tea at 3, sleep sitting down at 4 and go home at 4:30. It's a hard life!

B is for Bhision. For some reason many Bengalis don't have good bhision. In fact in Kolkata most people are wearing spectacles all the time.

C is for Chappell. Currently, this is the Bengali word for the Devil, for the worst form of evil. In the night mothers put their kids to sleep saying, 'Na ghumaley Chappell eshey dhorey niye jabe.'

D is for Debashish or any other name starting with Deb. By an ancient law every fourth Bengali Child has to be named Debashish. So you have a Debashish everywhere and trying to get creative they are also called Deb, Debu, Deba with variations like Debopriyo, Deboprotim, Debojyoti, etc. thrown in at times.

E is for Eeesh. This is a very common Bengali exclamation made famous by Aishwarya Rai in the movie Devdas. It is estimated that on an average a Bengali, especially Bengali women, use eeesh 10,089 times every year. 'Ei Morechhey' is a close second to Eeesh.

F is for Feeesh. These are creatures that swim in rivers and seas and are a favourite food of the Bengalis. Despite the fact that a fish market has such strong smells, with one sniff a Bengali knows if a fish is all right. If not, he will say 'eeesh what feeesh is theesh!'

G is for Good name. Every Bengali boy will have a good name like Debashish or Deboprotim and a pet name like Motka, Bhombol, Thobla, etc. While every Bengali girls will have pet names like Tia, Tuktuki, Mishti, Khuku, et cetera.

H is for Harmonium. This the Bengali equivalent of a rock guitar. Take four Bengalis and a Harmonium and you have the successors to The Bheatles!

I is for lleesh. This is a feeesh with 10,000 bones which would kill any ordinary person, but which the Bengalis eat with releeesh!

J is for Jhola. No selfrespecting Bengali is complete without his Jhola. It is a shapeless cloth bag where he keeps all his belongings and he fits an amazing number of things in. Even as you read this there are two million jholas bobbling around Kolkata, and they all look exactly the same! Note that 'Jhol' as in Maachher Jhol is a close second.

K is for Kee Kaando !. It used to be the favourite Bengali exclamation till eeesh took over because of Aishwarya Rai (now Kee Kando's agent is trying to hire Bipasha Basu).

L is for Lungi, the dress for all occasions. People in Kolkata manage to play football and cricket wearing it not to mention the daily trip in the morning to the local bajaar. Now there is talk of a lungi expedition to Mt Everest.

M is for Minibus. These are dangerous half buses whose antics would effortlessly frighten the living daylights out of all James Bond stuntmen as well as Formula1 race car drivers.

N is for Nangto. This is the Bengali word for Naked. It is the most interesting naked word in any language!

O is for Oil. The Bengalis believe that a touch of mustard oil will cure anything from cold (oil in the nose), to earache (oil in the ear), to cough (oil on the throat) to piles (oil you know where!).

P is for Phootball. This is always a phavourite phassion of the Kolkattan. Every Bengali is born an expert in this game. The two biggest clubs there are Mohunbagan and East Bengal and when they play the city comes to a stop.

Q is for Queen. This really has nothing to do with the Bengalis or Kolkata, but it's the only Q word I could think of at this moment. There's also Quilt but they never use them in Kolkata.

R is for Robi Thakur. Many many years ago Rabindranath got the Nobel Prize. This has given the right to all Bengalis no matter where they are to frame their acceptance speeches as if they were directly related to the great poet and walk with their head held high. This also gives Bengalis the birthright to look down at Delhi and Mumbai and of course 'all non-Bengawlees'! Note that 'Rawshogolla' comes a close second !

S is for Shourav. Now that they finally produced a genuine cricketer and a captain, Bengalis think that he should be allowed to play until he is 70 years old. Of course they will see to it that he stays in good form by doing a little bit of 'jawggo' and 'maanot'.

T is for Trams. Hundred years later there are still trams in Kolkata. Of course if you are in a hurry it's faster to walk. There are no fast trains from Kolkata.

U is for Aambrela. When a Bengali baby is born he is handed one.

V is for Bhaayolence. Bengalis are the most non-violent violent people around. When an accident happens they will fold up their sleeves, shout and scream and curse and abuse, "Chherey De Bolchhi" but the last time someone actually hit someone was in 1979.

W is for Water. For three months of the year the city is underwater and every year for the last 200 years the authorities are taken by surprise by this!

X is for X'mas. It's very big in Kolkata, with Park Street fully lit up and all Bengalis agreeing that they must eat cake that day.

Y is for Yesshtaarday. Which is always better than today for a Bengali (see R for Robi Thakur).

Z is for Jebra, Joo, Jipper and Jylophone.