Bihar and The Holy Cow! of Indian politics

It is interesting to see so many celebrating Bihar's verdict, are in fact celebrating BJP's loss than JDU's victory. You have all the right to do what pleases you, so your fun is well deserved. Now that Delhi and Bihar have given you enough satisfaction of BJP bashing, lets look at the good, bad and ugly.

I don't mean to disrespect the choice, the people of Bihar made for themselves- they have all the right to do so. But this is an appeal to all the logical thinkers out there to look at the things in the right perspective.

The Good:

1. BJP's arrogance is rewarded

Following the news debates, it is pretty obvious to me that they became arrogant. They tend to go into Idolizing Modi mode, or Congress bashing mode, more than addressing the issues at hand. It serves them right that they have to face the humiliation.

2. Its proven that Muslim bashing will not work, for BJP

India has the 3rd largest muslim population in the world. It doesn't work to a policy to bash them as a community, as a whole. There has to be a way to address radical elements by not targeting an entire community. Pakistan, as an enemy state to India will celebrate, if India looses its development narrative, is a valid, politically incorrect statement. It is paradoxical that saying so in itself is an undoing of the cause.

3. Nitish Kumar will get another chance to drive his agenda (or really?)

Nitish Kumar was will always be remembered a leader that showed hope to the sad state of affairs of the state of Bihar. But by teaming up with the very person who is the reason for the failure in the first place, will he be able to maintain his sanctity- time will only tell.

The Bad:

1. The hypocrisy of the elite is pampered

Some of my friends complain that I use this word a lot. But what do I do, if I can see it more clearly than others. BJP is bad because they incite religion, but what about inciting caste for political gains? I agree that the BJP has become Arrogant, but that is nothing compared to the Arrogance shown by the elite, stereotypically represented by the top journalists. The way their faces light-up when they get a chance to bully a BJP spokesperson shows how grateful they are to the very system that fed them all the while, on the expense of the real people of the country.

2. India is forgotten

We want to prosper economically, stable and secure. Build a country that can stand on its own. Make agriculture more profitable. Indian culture should get a global recognition/respect. Values should be built, respected and protected in a way that corruption becomes an ethical outlaw. But instead, all that I hear is, lets punish Modi, because he is not as good as he claimed to be, or he has some people in his party with loose tongue. Saying that will make a Bakth, because that is what tolerant people do.

The Ugly:

1. A lie spoken 100 times becomes the truth

The intolerance is on rise when Beef is banned. But when is it really banned? The media makes it a sensation, and we fall for it, we debate it, we believe it. Porn is banned (for a couple of days). We outrage. Alcohol is banned, we celebrate. Why not? its not by BJP. A crime happens in a village in UP (Google says that India has around 638,000 villages), we return awards.

Lalu rises the issue in the election campaign, we celebrate him. Him, the Lalu Prasad Yadav- I have a point to make about him, which I will do a little later.

2. Ignorance

We are celebrating the victory of a team of three, two of whom are the very people we wanted to save the country from. Who am I to say, who is good or who is bad. I have 1 in 1.25 Billion right/share to decide what is right. But I tend to believe the philosophy that congress has become too corrupt to even resurrect, and I am representing that viewpoint in this blog.

Lalu and Congress, now share power. If that makes you happy, you have a real reason to celebrate. But if you are just celebrating because BJP lost, think again!

For someone who got into politics, hijacking JP's platform of social justice, became the epitome of corruption and misrule, made a public joke of the system, by running this sate on his wife's name, Lalu has his last laugh on the Indian people. He knows that he has the right to bring cow to the electoral fray, and BJP will have to/would ride that to defeat. He knows that he can publicly bash specific castes and that his victory would make the country more secular. He knows that he can stand tall on the platform of development, for which he himself destroyed to the core foundation, and the intolerant Indian's will tolerate.

This is my view on what happened, and this is what I think will happen next:

1. The radical voices in BJP will start taking over, now that Modi, Shah have failed twice. The irony is, that will give the hungry elite some more fresh oxygen to do some more Modi bashing.
2. The political equations will rally around UP and Punjab. Tamil Nadu elections will not see the glare in the national media.
3. Given that Caste and Indian Politics are inseparable and is an accepted thing, we have to see if BSP and BJP can come together. I think that depends on how well, Lalu and Nitish will get together. That tells us whether the congress can come back to its glorious dark past.
4. It will be interesting to see if AAP and Congress will come together for a pre-poll alliance, given that it is slowly being fed to us that corruption is a non issue and the real issue is secularism, tolerance or something else that will come up in an year from now, in these lines.

Anything else? Let me know in the comments, as well as your views on how you see these elections/results.

To my fellow Bangaloreans

This is with a disappointment and rather a sense of guilt that I am writing this post. All my attempts to get my voter enrollment bombed, thanks to my crazy travel schedule among other things. I am not voting this time :(
So it only makes sense for me to appeal to those of you who have a chance to vote, not to miss that opportunity. And since, I have declared my loyalties long time ago, I will not make one of those sweeping statements.

Do your bit to give a strong and stable leadership to your country. Vote for BJP.
I will not be writing a long post this time, just a few very important points.

Misconceptions you should get over:

1. Don't be boxed into the 'secular vote' nonsense. Those asking for 'secular vote' are posing a threat to our secular fabric by bringing religion into elections. BJP is as secular, if not more secular than Congress (or its B team AAP).
2. Congress and BJP are not on the same plane with respect to corruption. Kalmadi's (A small fish in Congress's pond) corruption is bigger than all the corruption charges of all leaders in all the BJP ruled states put together.
3. AAP is just a spoilsport. Even AK said winning Varanasi and Ameti is his only priority. Don't waste your vote there.
4. You don't have to vote for NOTA, just because it is introduced (or because you are disillusioned with AAP). You will have more elections where that might option become relevant (like the assembly, local body elections etc or even national elections at some point). Now is not the time.

Real Issues:

1. Jobs - you may be employed. But think about all those people who are graduating every year, and the companies doing fresher drives for 2012 pass-outs till date. Even your jobs are not so much secure, with our very own Nandan Nilekani pitching for reservations in private sector.
2. Inflation and price rise- The fact that "NO AMOUNT OF MONEY IS SUFFICIENT FOR YOUR RETIREMENT" may serve the insurance companies well. But that is a real scary thought with the inflation rates that are on the cards now.
3. Development - it matters. The only person/party talking development is BJP/Modi.
4. National Security (and pride) - if not pride, security cannot be ruled out. 26/11, kargil for profits, INS Sindhuratna, Serial Bomb Blasts in Bangalore in 2013. Those are not emotions for a day.

Think about all these for a moment, for a day, because others may not be thinking about any of this. They may just be taking their 2000/- and a liquor bottle for voting.

After all this, if you are:

1. Not voting like me, who couldn't get your name on the list or if you are not in town or if you are voting elsewhere- spread this message, in your own way.
2. Not voting, even if you have your name on the voter list (may be because you hate lines or you have work or you hate politics), don't claim that you care for your country. Seriously, your vote matters- go and vote.
3. If you are voting, but voting for congress- you will have to live with this decision for another 5 years. Don't think that you are voting for your MP (or something else) and rest of the country will somehow magically get Modi to power.
4. If you are voting for AAP or NOTA, your vote is worth more. Think about it.
5. If you were anyway voting for BJP, go ahead.
6. If you were doing something between 2 to 4 and ended up voting for Modi (BJP) after this post- you are helping me repay my sin of not voting this time!

BJP and secularism

In this post, I want to talk about the perception that we carry about BJP. And by the way, this perception not only talks about BJP, it teaches us what secularism means. It tells us that the India is a developing country. It tells us India as a county has no hope. Hope can only be given to sections of society by treating them differently, at the cost of the others. A zero sum game essentially.

"Vajpayee is good, but the party is not" was the general perception. "BJP is good, but Modi is not" is the perception we are being sold now. Advani, who couldn't become the PM, because of this perception, suddenly becomes a saint. But I think in reality, it is not so much about people.

"They did stupid things before coming to power, but they did really well after coming to power", a friend of mine was saying. The stupid thing was obviously a reference to the Ram Mandir. I do believe that the evils of the past should be left to rest. I do believe that religion is a private affair that will look ugly if not silly if brought to road. In fact I did also believe that the exploitation of the Islamic innovations on India are just a paragraph in history books, that are rightly followed by tones of good they did. I did also believe that the epics are just myths and fiction has no relevance in real world. Things like an existence of a bridge to Lanka or an underwater city near Dwaraka are just a coincidence. My younger cousins go a step further. They believe that Harry Potter is more real than Ramayana (since the former is written later and by a Brit, may be) and (Chota) Bheem is a cartoon character. It was hard for me to understand why my grandfather stopped following sai baba, after his statement on Ram Mandir.

But my biggest surprise was the Allahabad High Court verdict on the very issue of Ram Mandir, when even a right wing liberal like me has given the judgement that there is no place for a temple there.
May be there is a reason that these thoughts find more validation in real courts. May be there is a reason why Modi gets a clean chit, and Lalu gets punished in these real courts. Or may be Salman Khurshid is right when he said in London that courts and EC are overdoing.

I would like to believe that secularism doesn't mean you reserve yourself from speaking for yourself if you are the majority. If I have so many apprehensions talking and writing about these, I don't blame Muslims or other communities, to carry this negative perception and a few conservatives either getting offended or exploiting it.

If there was an easier way, and this could be done away with a BUT, like, BJP is communal, but they are the only alternative, I could have left this to rest. If Vajpayee can talk about Bhagawan Ram in the parliament, and deliver a corruption free government, I think it's an 'and' not a 'but'. If Modi can work for 15+ hours a day, not to make money for his next 15 generations, I think it's more than just his ego.

Its a simple 101 that a riot or a communal clash happens when two communities are involved, and how come, it is always one party that represents the wrong. On the other hand, if there is a political party that you treats different religions differently, or treats different castes differently, that represents secularism or pluralism for us. Even a party like 'All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen' is not communal, forget the parties coming to power taking their support. But a party that allies with Bhartiya Janta Party have to think twice. Such is the state of affairs, and we are too very righteous to call it hypocrisy.

Did you notice that, you don't see BJP showing favoritism a lot, in their manifestos or otherwise. That is the reason they talk about development, and not communalism. Did you notice that Vajpayee's government built roads, not temples. Did you realize that the tough decisions taken by NDA are things like Kargil war or Pokhran tests, not dividing a state though a parliament blackout.

And yet, we see that BJP has to fight these perception battles, while we are happy to buy everything that is sold to us about this very perception. Finally, I believe that religion should be left as a private affair. And I see that it is the congress (including this B Team of AAP)  that is not letting us do that. They to be are the biggest threat to the secular fabric of our country, not the BJP.

Are you also 'boxed'

Its hard to explain how and when it started. But how far we have come as a country in supporting the things that do not matter - is shocking.

Source:
https://www.facebook.com/RevolutionCartooning

India is probably the only country people fight to be (called) backward. Reservations etc, have successfully turned India into a bunch of vote banks. And they will keep doing so! I always thought that this populist polarization is the worst thing that can ever happen to the country. But last couple of months/years, our negligence has allowed the political parties to take this absurdity to a whole new level. Here are a few examples-

Vote banks have become such a norm that Congress has given a new state (Telengana), on a verbal promise from TRS (who can get some 10 MPs), that they will merge with them. After the shameless division, the congress has audacity to float the pitch in the rest of the Andhra Pradesh, that they will include a (kapu) community in BCs. This would apparantly give them 20% of the votes. Taking hint I guess from the blatant act of malice, recently one of my friends has been hinting the idea of starting a political party that would voice the (sizable number of) Telugu's in Karnataka.

Oh, wait - its not just one state. Jayalalitha, is all set to release the assassins of the former prime minister- just before elections. That will give her the much needed people's support to take the same chair whose honor she is happy to let go off. The ripples are felt up north, in JK there were protests demanding an explanation for hanging a Terrorist that attacked the parliament.

A riot 12 years ago, is still the biggest thing when it comes to how we vote, even though that was the last time a riot took place in Gujarat. How much did we care to understand the steps taken by this person we blame to control those, and make sure they never happened again?

Even a match of cricket is not left alone, when it comes to political gains. "Everyone has a right to support a team they like", Sashi Tharoor goes on record to lick the boots of a few extremists who control a some votes. (Celebrating when your country looses apparently is not provocative)

If you are a normal Indian news follower, at this point, I am pulling our the communal card or at the best being one sided, ignoring the BJP that is sitting on the other side of the fence. So let me give you one more. AAP, who says communalism is the biggest threat, has wakf board promotion in their agenda and backs khap panchayats.

But guys, frankly, if any of the points I made above have hurt your sentiments, its only because you have been successfully 'boxed' by the 65 years of evolution of the 'divide and rule' doctrine, our own guys adapted from the colonial rule and eventually mastered. For those of you who are not offended, you don't have a good news either. You are also boxed as 'the rest'. They know that we have to solve every *other* problem thrown at us (most of which do not matter). We have come to a point that, any fringe issue can become a mainstream. And rest of the mainstream just doesn't care.

What about corruption that is been happening every year? (Yedurappa - check. Lets move on?).

Talking about national security is out of context, so let me not even mention it. The terrorist attacks are like bad monsoons, lock ourselves down in our house, watch TV, eat popcorn, make a few phone calls. When were they ever an election issue? (But we watched 'The Wednesday' - check. Lets move on?)

What about our own jobs (forget that of our children)? We are good as long as Uncle Sam and his country can get some cheap work done, without actually saying so. What next?

Should we always be happier giving alms to a beggar than not having to have one in the first place. Shouldn't our mindset towards what is right be altered, if not changed? Its either that someone is super smart, or a lot of us are just dumb. But the subtlety at which our thought process is being manipulated should be admired. This quote from 'The Matrix' sounds so apt - isn't it time that we wake up?
Have you ever had a dream, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world? 

To my fellow Andhraites

The biggest state of South India breaks into two. The local media and the national channels have made amply sure that this news is not missed. While the international media got a chance to see the new lows of the biggest democracy in terms of the disruptions, national media did not miss a chance to expose the rowdyism of the Andhra MPs. For the 17 seat stake the Congress bought from TRS at a price of forking out a new CM seat, whatever happened is the party. Irony it is - while the people of Telengana have no reason to celebrate in this political ploy, Chidambaram who must be doing Lungi Dance in his Madras Cafe, is shying away from partying!

Most of these are just pass time politics. But what concerns me (and probably many others) is the fate and fortune of Andhra Pradesh and the dignity of Andhraites. For the Telugus who fought hard to establish their identity in 1953, things seem to be at square one again after 60 long years. While it appears now that the Andraites are parasites claiming unlawful stake on the beautiful Nizam city, everyone conveniently ignores the fact that Andhra never wanted Telangana to be merged into Andhra State, in 1953. It was the other way round.

So they were never meant to be together. And the division is just - right? Yes, but there are only 3 problems.

While Hyderabad gave the poor country a few buildings to run the state government, in 1956, a lot was paid back. 13 governments, of 175 MLAs from the Andhra region (along with 119 MLAs from Telengana) built the state centered around the capital city of Hyderabad for 60 years. [Don't give me that argument that Hyderabad is developed by people for all places. No MLA from a different state passed any resolution towards development(or otherwise) of Hyderabad].

"When Money is lost, Nothing is lost"

Gandhi already said. (but who can take that high moral ground!) But then he also said, 

"If Health is lost, something is lost". 

How much is something? Hyderabad will the common capital for both the states for 10 years. Really?? Its like having your bedroom in your neighbors house. A hostile neighbor I should say. I am not even talking about the bigger problems of water, electricity, the government/bank jobs etc.
Well, this can also be a temporary thing. Turbulence is expected when great things happen and some of these could be induced fears.
But the perception that was created by the Telangana movement, supported by the paid media (when Congress choose to support it), hits me the hardest

"If character is lost, everything is lost"

"Its a tale of one city, not a tale of two states" one of the prominent Congress men was spotted saying. It does appear so from what I've said so far - isn't it? Hell, no! It much bigger.
Did KTR (another Raj Thackeray) forget the rampage they created (including breaking the statues on Tankbund) while he is giving these austere speeches on national media debates these days?

The real problem is, Andhra strategically victimized, orphaned and ignored. To all those Sharukh Khans of Chennai Express, Arnab Goswamis, Kumar Viswas-es, and all those who think South Indians are all Madarasis, how would you explain the costal culture of telugu speaking, intelligent and industrious people that has its own identity, different from the Pepper Spraying, spicy foodie, disruption-ists fighting to steal someone else's city. (since I have taken pain to write such a big sentence, you better read it one more time ;) )
But why even blame them, as if own house is in order. We have elected leaders who would do anything to grab Hyderabad (even for a short period), but couldn't ask for a tax holiday for the Andhra after the division. But they have given free money- right? Caste based politics are still more important. Its a shame to see the congress men fighting for the CM post (in the present situation) with election in 3 months. What you pay is what you get!


This post however, is not to just vent my frustration out, even though that is what I have done for the most part. Is it not time that we wake up, and realize that we need to awake the pride and dignity of Andhraites? Like 3 things that were wrong, lets talk about 3 things that can make things right.

May be asking of people to choose the right political leader is too much. But should we not begin there? I don't vote in Andhra, but if you do think about it. Or if have someone who does, can you not ask them if not persuade them to consider this. Should our MP at-lest not talk fluent english/hindi when they represent us, Andhraites in the parliament? Do we not need MLAs who want to grow with the state instead of growing in the state?

Then comes my second point. I have friends who have started small businesses (like Dairy, poultry etc) in Andhra. Please encourage them. Invest with them/in them, if you can. Most of us have very short term goals. Have you ever decided where and how you want to spend your life after retirement? If you are an Andhraite, you should consider returning back- that is the only way you can keep your stakes alive in the building of the new state. My personal stand is, I will move to Guntur, whenever I have something substantial to do (at this point, it looks like its either when that region gets IT opportunities or when I get to a point where I rise enough capital to start my own firm)

The most important thing though is, keep talking about it. For long, we have been told that all talk is not good. But not talking is worse! If you talk, may be 5 others will. If 100 people talk, may be 1 person will do (something about it). If 100 people do, 1 might succeed. We need at-least a few 100 success stories, to get the dignity back! You start by talking about it.. Share this post if you think it makes sense, comment on this to let me know your thoughts. And one day, we will deliver!

If an Andhraite can become the 'next Bill Gates', how practical is it (not) for Andhra to become the next Silicon Valley? Wanted to leave you with this positive thought!

Blogging till Elections 2014

2014 is here! India is going to elections, this very year. And I want to get back to blogging. The amount of time I spend on news channels these days, I definitely need a channel to vent my views out. And this blog has, for so many times in past been a good friend to my mine, listening to all that I had to say. Frankly, Facebook hasn't been the best place, at least without making me feeling guilty of polluting my friends' timelines! And of-course I can feel like Arnab Goswami, in this own little blog of mine!

For as back as my memories go, I always did have an active interest in politics. My grandfather is a graduate (hons.) from BHU, Varanasi, 1948. If there is a reason I can think beyond what the mainstream education/media constantly prescribed me into, he probably has the largest contribution. As much as it is true that social media has given me a voice for promotion of my views, of late, it felt cluttered and unstructured. And that probably is the main reason I want to construct my view in a series of blogs that go till the general elections at a minimum. And after that, lets see where it takes us to! (Long story short, I am trying to prove my credibility to even write something as tiny as this, and you better be convinced)

And whatever I write in this blog, I completely understand that, it is 'a' point of view and there can be other points of view that are equally valid. And I encourage you to read my writing as a argument towards that point of view I am representing and give it a fair hearing.

Now that I have beaten enough around the bush, let me come to the political views I represent/support:

I am a believer of BJP. This is not so much because of Modi (exclusively). Nor is it because of the fact that Congress Govt. sucked big time. I will hopefully be able to explain, in enough detail as to why BJP stands closest to the ideologies I believe in- but that is for another time. All that I wanted to say at this time is, I am pro BJP and not anti-congress.

As many of you might have known, one of my very good friends, Rakesh, has joined BJP  recently Here is the 'yourstory' article, for more details. Having seen him closely in BITS, Pilani as Gen Sec and otherwise, I can see the value he can bring on to the Indian politics. For me, promoting him, is the closest I can get to, in claiming my contribution to the greater good of the Indian governance and politics.

The cultural identity that we are happy to let go of, is actually alarming. It is true that the urbanization has its own impact in terms of making us culture neutral. But if you keep that aside, as Indians, we are programmed to disown our cultural roots. So much so that following our traditions is considered ethnic in our own land (Dictionary meaning of Ethnic: Associated with or belonging to a particular race or group of people who have a culture that is different from the main culture of a country)

India, as of now, is growing despite government. Its high time that we have a government that can help the growth and development. Loosing the smartest of the people as brain drain or to unemployment has to stop. And that can only happen through a strong stable government and a political will.

There are many more, but these are the primary ones, and the reasons for me to start putting my political thoughts on this glass pane of yours! Trust me, politics can be more interesting than many other things that you do not probably know (like- lets say ice skating) and is as rewarding as the plant that Ashoka planted in our history books. Looking forward for your comments.

My experiences with Apple

It was how my English education began– ‘A for Apple’. And I asked my teacher, ‘What is apple?’ The fact I was more curious about Apple than the letter A, pissed him off. And thus, Apple entered my life, way too early.

And a little later, my mom started reading books for me, “An Apple a day keeps the doctor away.” Since I would listen to her when she was teaching, she thought that I believed her. But I hated that fruit. Not until recently did I figure out that some lobby of over-ambitious apple farmers around the world invented that statement. (And if you ask me on how I knew, it was a personal enlightenment, out of the blues)

I never believed that statement, but my personal experience is- the inverse of that statement is true. One of those unfortunate days, when I was lazy and hungry at 11 in the night, I ate an apple. After I woke up in the morning, I had such a severe throat infection that I had to go to doctor and take medication for 7 days. The doc told that it was because I did not drink any water after eating the apple. Again, he thought that I believed him and left apple acquitted. But that is the last time I ever ate an apple. Damn that fruit.

So, Apple as a fruit sucks. But how can I start my education with such insanity. Only after a long wait came the answer. Those were the times when I almost believed that- restarting my computer is the solution for all the problems in the world. When India was loosing the cricket world cup finals to Australia, I would restart my computer in hope of better things.

It was after a few months into my first job, that I saw a Mac book pro. One of my colleagues got a new Mac, and the whole company was going gaga over his achievement, an Apple. And so it began – the new definition for the Apple.

And the rest of it moved very fast. Got my first Mac, apple released iPhone, got an iPod touch. By the time I bought my iPad people started looking at me as an apple fad, and I enjoyed every word of their mockery as a compliment.

And somewhere in between all of that, saw the Steve Jobs’ Stanford commencement speech to become his fan. Starts with “3 stories, no big deal”, and delivers a speech, most of which is now treasured as inspirational quotes. “Stay hungry, stay foolish”, “Connecting dots”, “Even those who want to go to heaven, do not want to die. Yet…”, “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today…” - no words to describe the inspiration this man has left behind on this planet (I am not talking about this speech alone, but about all his life). In fact I started blogging (something I wanted to do from a long time), after watching this speech. If you feel like watching it (again), here it is for you.

Then I started following all his public presentations. Each one is a masterpiece. Little do I know about public speaking, to even attempt talking about the elements of his speech that leaves long lines before the Apple stores? “One more thing …” every time he said that, my heart went light, and the stocks soared high! I will be honored if I see another talk like those stevenotes in my life, and a dream come true if I can deliver one of those (dream big, my dad said). Remember the iPod Nano launch – the way he pulls the amazing iPod with from his small pocket. My personal best is the iPhone launch event.

It is already 4 years since I started taking any comments on Apple as pure ignorance. It is not by accident that they create stuff that rest of the world copies, and selling cheap is the only way they would overtake the original. 

In one of those mocking session a colleague of  mine mentioned about a research that said- when you talk to apple fans about apple, it is the same part of the brain that responds when you talk to people about religion and god. Of-course he has a point, Steve Jobs is the god, if technology is a religion. And apple will remain divine, for all the technology that touches people’s lives – in one way or the other.

What would have happened if Apple did not fall on Newton? A far fewer chapters to read in physics of course; but the world wouldn’t have known gravity!

And the state of affairs is not very different in my case if I haven’t met Apple. I would have saved a lot more money of-course, but my creativity quotient would have stayed far behind. Some of my fond memories wouldn’t have been possible without the apple products.

May be the day will come when I tell my son ‘A for Apple’, he will ask me 'Dad, is Apple the company that makes <the coolest gadget of the time>?' After all I want my children to be more intelligent than I am, but I can still claim that I walked on earth the same time Jobs did.

 Yours, 

Morus 

P.S1: Started this blog on the day Steve Jobs stepped down as CEO, but the day has come too early, where it makes no sense for me to delay its completion.  

P.S2: A few more blogs are to follow. I have way too much to say about this guy.

The Heart

What is the most complicated thing in the world?
The heart probably; but this post merely tries to engross myself into amazement on what the size of this complex thingy should be/would be.

Having spent 4 prime years of my life in BITS, a part of my heart lies there in Pilani, in some corner of VK QT. Am sure that there will be many others who would agree with me that their parts of their hearts are also roaming around rent-less in FDs or some other Reidis of the campus.

But here is the point; Pilani is not the only place that a part of my heart has ever set up a permanent camp. How about Guntur, my domicile? Not sure if bigger or smaller than Pilani version, a part of my heart stays there too.

And the lists of places continue- Bangalore probably holds the greater part of it, with some part shared by Bay Area. And not to forget Vizayanagaram, the place I was born or Jangareddy Gudem – the place that brought me up and took my dad away from me!
So many pieces; aren’t they?

And whatever piece remains in me - its overloaded with a hell lot of stuff. Remember the iPad that is there for a long time now (and never actually came to me). And all those cool looking shirts, SLR cams, laptops, bikes, cars, and (OK, let me stop here). Ufff, should be Very Very Very much stuffed.

And this is after we throw away our hearts on all those good-looking girls of the planet and given it completely to that one special person* after a lot of trail(s) and error.
And how can you downplay all those friends and family that have a special place in there.

'I Love APIs', and if you are like me, your heart should have been by now, full of XML, Java, or all those crappy looking circuit diagrams or flowcharts. Technology and work I mean, an ocean by itself.

And now what should be the size of this heart - should be pretty massive to fit the above requirements description in logical terms.
But if it is, how many liters of water would be required to fill it up with tears or how many kilos of happiness would be required to fill it with joy? Somehow all that it takes is a little praise/compliment.

So what do you think the size be?
Scientists say - the size of a fist!
Can't be… Can it be? It does feel very very heavy sometimes…

eNjoy,
Morus

*PS 1: If you still remember where you saw that *, it was just a generalization.
PS 2: Tried to, but couldn’t avoid the psenti part.

Khaleja - My Review :P

I am no reviewer of movies, no not at all. But this one time, I felt like reviewing the reviews of this movie that I liked a lot, that is judged to be un-likable by the authentic sources of the universe. And I got a classic case to strengthen my view that these professional movie reviewers are a pile of crap.

Is anybody else as curious as I am on what these reviewers do, after they get up in the morning every other day? Will they look at the calendar and say, “Yeah, today is the day. I can bitch a little more about Sharukh Khan. Where is my dictionary of urbane vulgar adjectives?” Or will they just open the book ‘Reviewing for dummies’ to revise the basics elements and say, “Oh yeah! Almost forgot about the concept – surprise element. Should see if Trivikram pulls the surprise element that I read the other day on surpises-database.com.” And is there a closed group-networking site where they will post, in the last 20 minutes of the movie “I am giving 3, what is the community opinion?”

Anyways, this is a topic for a different post, and I invite the radical movie viewers to pick it up from where I left it. But I had to bring it here, as I was about to tell that I was not at all surprised that there are no good reviews of this movie. And may be, it is meant to be that way. After all, what do you expect of those people to say of this movie, when they are trying hard to compare it with all the good things they ever knew about movies. The comedy was good, music okay; are all that the reviews have to say positive about this one. But I am sure that this is not what the makers of the movie wanted to hear about the movie.

I don’t remember how many times the Telugu moviemakers have really gone out of the box in making a movie like this. I felt the movie inspirational. It may just be my weirdo, but liked to see a movie like this made in the main stream. The core of the movie runs of the prophecy of a village priest that the God will incarnate to save their village. And the paradigm that God is not a distant omnipotent substance builds the solid foundation to the story. The converse would be that- the limit of human ability is infinite, as infinite as the God himself. I personally feel that the director/writer would have been blown off attempting to bring this concept to screen.

The concept was tried in the novel “The Immortals of Meluha”. Though I did not like the quality of writing or plot as much, I am amused by the sheer story line of the novel. Exploring the possibility of anew point of view, contradicting all that the infinite morass has taught us our entire life; isn’t it so amazing a source of optimism?

I was thinking that is just my own intellectual absurdity that I find the movie and book similar, may be because both of them talk about Lord Shiva in mortal terms. But this video is what made me realize that the moviemakers have hit the bull’s eye.

Watch the video, and think about it. And if you have watched the movie just think of what the hero is for those villagers – a god. But is just a cab driver for the rest of the world. And if the concept were legitimate, so can you be a hero for some cause/somebody but still be the same stinking you for the rest of the world? Doesn’t that make things simple and more importantly things possible?

Well, again- there is no rule that movies have to be realistic. Since reality in itself is just a point of view. And if there are more people like me who find these professional reviewers funny, join me in taking a digg at them.

eNjoy,
Morus

PS 2: I am not a fan of Mahesh

PS 1: If you did not like the movie but liked this post, think about me if you have some venture in mind and are looking for print marketing help

PS3: 2 coming before 1 - it was intentional

The Species Called ...

Note 1: This is THE post that I was giving heads up about, in my previous posts
Note 2: There are always exceptions. If you stay abroad, you are exactly the exception I am talking about. But there is a small quiz at the end, if you like to take.
Note 3: Famous or infamous, any controversy adds popularity. What is the best way to gain overseas popularity than taking a dig against them?
Note 4: All the people living abroad are mature enough to laugh at themselves, and still feel good about it
Note 5: No one throws stones at fruitless trees. Only those full of then get hits.

That’s it guys, I ran out of comments that can pacify ‘The species called NRIs’
Long long ago Darwin classified the life on earth - called them reptiles, mammals etc and gave the gold to humans. And even before that, the men self-divided selves in whatever way possible (race, country, religion etc). But somehow everyone left it to the genius of Morus to classify this most superior species called NRIs

The term is first coined by Indian government and called it "Non Resident Indians". (For some reason, they are called NRIs even if they come back). It's only after the release of Swadesh, the real meaning was brought to light by Ashutosh Gowariker - "Non Returning Indians". Well but they do return to India, at-least briefly. But probably, since they can never return to being Indians, this definition holds true. Dodge this – ‘you will never see a day that they don’t speak about abroad, when they are in India.’ (And if there is, it is most likely that they are alone in the house that day.)
I think this is the funniest reply I’ve seen from a 2 months old, 3rd generation NRI. "Typical California Weather." The question is irrelevant, but 2 months to judge a typical California weather, and certifying that California in-fact has California weather qualifies it to top the charts.

“I am not complaining”, is how these conversations start but the rest of the conversations will be nothing but complaints on why India is not like US or doesn’t have tubes like London etc.

The optimist part of me used to think that it is just their concern for their motherland that they complain. But the water cooler discussions are what enlightened me to the fact that it is just an attention war (Ex: Walk on the Manhattan road, you will realize San Francisco is just another laidback city). And hence this post is to certify that they win the war and they are in-fact the most superior species that ever lived on the sub-continent.

Like any other species, NRIs also affect the ecosystem around them. If you are an Andhraite, you would definitely have heard a comment or two on this NRI hype; from their agents (also called family) left behind on this less privileged place. With all the sophistication they have somehow they are the best selling item in the marriage market. People who crib about the Indian corruption/bribes take the highest dowry (for me, both of them are not very different.)

Who knows, may be this time around I will comeback with a "I heart NY" in Bangalore, cursing the luggage delay and boasting about the difference between (read as greatness of) Hong Kong airport and San Jose airport to my comrade NRI (remember the water cooler discussions?).

But here is a small test if you want to measure the NRIness in you. Will put the answers in comments in a while.

All the questions start with “In India:”

1. iPhone or Android , who do you think the people will support?

2. What is the flight fare from Bangalore to Chennai?

3. What is the max speed you can do on Mumbai - Pune freeway?

4. What is the federal law for audio piracy?

eNjoy,
Morus

PS 1: Nothing... really...

Ruthless Verity

I really did not want to write this post. But writing is something that has kept me sane, for a few years now. So I thought that I will write this one but will not post it in public. Few call it expression and some call it completion. But the bottom line is- if something has been bothering you a lot, you cannot be your self unless you cast those feelings out. So here it comes this post (probably purely for myself).

Weird the life is - I can write pages about things I've seen in a day. But words veil when I try to put my 25 years on paper - that is what describing this man would be. That is probably why these 2 letters in Kannada remains my favorite and most uttered word till date: Appa (Father in English)

I used to wonder why my success small or big is a bigger celebration for him than me. But thinking about it, all those sleepless nights of his about setting up the finances for my education or those restless thoughts he had in teaching me the right attitude- are the rightful owners of my success than I am. And now I wonder what any of this success or achievement would mean.

And I think, that is also why all the things I do now - as small as opening a key or as big as talking to my boss, take conscious effort from me. I am learning all these things again, all the things that he taught me, and all the things that he made me with. It is definitely a new life for me, as life can never be the same without him in it.
How I wish that all of this is a dream and I wake up to hear his voice at least, but only I do not know how to end this dream or wakeup for good.

I know that no one is here to set up a permanent camp. And life has to move on. But I think it is not my complete self, but a part of me that was he and will always be him- that is still orphaned as it is seeing the world for the first time, and cannot even budge as if 2 calendar months is no time at all to accept this ruthless verity.

Though I miss him badly ever now, since hatred is something he never taught me, ‘Thank god for giving me the worlds best dad. And thank him for me, for he is with you now’.

My dad used to tell me that - from gravest of pains comes the greatest of strengths. Though I wish to forgo any strength that I could get at this cost, I will now wait to see what it is, for that is what I think will define that part of me that is headless as of now.

The Great Bangalore JAM

Just a few months back I was claiming that I enjoy the commute to office, as my Apache RTR would be waiting every morning to zap me through the 12 KM outer ring road stretch in 20 mins, taking a brief break at the few signals that would let me overtake the fast moving 4 wheelers. But this day, it took me 2 hours to reach the office. When I told my friends about this they said that this 10x* delay is nothing when compared to their best scores. But getting drenched both in sweat and drizzles in the same commute, I have my due rights to crib. And here comes this post: on the great Bangalore Traffic JAM

The traffic was fun as I could manage to drive through the small gaps the SUVs would leave for the bikers like me: to have the excitement of leaving the rich commuters behind with their morning radio, the fun that bikers alone would understand and appreciate. And when the theory of particle moment decided no more movement of liquid particles, I stopped.

A moment latter a vibrating tummy stopped next to me, as the scooty carrying it could move no further. The engine stopped when the burning petrol was no longer a global warming concern, but his monthly budget consideration. As global warming and overloading of poor vehicles were not the interesting of the topics, I decided to move ahead to a trail that will take me to the next signal. Apparently there are many more like me on the road, trying to advance. But amazingly the collective effort by all the individual drivers has an inverse effect of the traffic as a whole – it won’t move an inch.

The only cheerful things were the forward jokes on traffic Jams that I could memorize. I remember one of my bro’s friends telling me that he used to take a newspaper with him on the way to office, and would finish reading every corner of it by the time he reached office. If the traffic remained like that for few more days, I would have to think about some innovative idea – a new company till work (female of-course) or a new company to work for (closer to my home)

Am not sure if it’s the weather that responded to my mood or vise-versa, but both of them turned irksome. The sun should have read some twitter update. He came all his way pushing the clouds aside to check out this JAM and bless us with some free vitamins. After what looked like an era the traffic finally started moving. And then the auto guys who were standing on a perfect 45-degree angle to cross the road from the closed drains managed to do the honors. The traffic stopped again, almost– moving at a speed of 2 kmph (~ 1.25 mph for all you NRIs)

The immediate signal finally came within an hour. It’s not just the lack of basic needs of food and shelter; even the frustrating traffic jam drives the senses off people. The rich - poor, educated - illiterate, student - professional, to - fro commuters everybody started squeezing into the small junction – my social teacher john appeared of thin air saying “unity in diversity” to the classroom- me sitting in the second bench. And the realty stuck me “Holy crap! Hallucination – I needed some shade soon or I will faint”

I sure have some powers, within hours* the gods heard me. The sun vanished – probably some other topic was trending on twitter, and soon the clouds took charge drizzling some tears at our apathy.

“Remember SRK’s ‘I DO’, I AM the traffic jam” I said to myself and started steering my bike into the ruthless signal, leaving other poor souls in the back to think about their social teachers.

What was a boring 2 hours in JAM, turned out to be the exciting 15-minute finale. A truck guy with just beard and teeth (if I am to believe only my eyes) started forcing me toward the pavement of the road with his stupid truck blocking my way on to the road. He should be feeling good about helping me- by showing an alternate route he just discovered.

There lies the real reason for the traffic JAM, the fly over under construction. And I am right in the middle of that fbeepng construction. I wonder how these intelligent people think that the red ribbons that they put can really barricade the people entering the site – especially the mini truck terrorists from cross-border.

I turned back furiously to this truck guy and he was gesturing me to go with one hand while his other was on the horn ready to honk if I disobeyed. His only visible white teeth were assuring me that “I am behind you my boy, go ahead”. And few more vehicles followed this Columbus. “Now I can’t really block the innovation”, I convinced myself and moved on.

The road got narrower and the gap between the pits (dug for the pillars of the flyover) smaller as I went on. I turned back, and to my horror, the truck guy wasn’t there. The squander should have found his way towards the Hosur road leaving me in the middle of the construction.

The only spectator was a guy standing at the construction site- should be one of those TV9 Journalists thinking about the right abusive words to blame govt for my death. But to his dismay I managed to cross the patch, thanks to the servicing the previous week, the tires did not skid on that damp scrap.

A twitter post saying “frustrating traffic jam” would have been good enough. But 140 letters are hardly sufficed to let my frustration out. For true, traffic JAM is one of the instances where you realize that it is a myth that you can be in control of your life (circumstances at-least)

eNjoy,
Morus

* PS 1: Time is measured as per Einstein’s theory of relativity "Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute.”

PS 2: The ending comment is more to keep my mark of giving some gyan with every post of mine.

PS 3: I know traffic jam is not one of the fascinating topics, but wanted to throw a challenge at my writing skills (if I can call it a skill yet). Love to hear your comments

PS 4: The NRI comment is the pitch for my next blog

Did I Win?

Read an interesting news article recently - the list of top failed countries. Pakistan as one of the top failed counties in the world. The first reaction to the news is a subtle happiness, for some reason that I don’t know.

May be this is the success of all the news hungry media/politicians and the so-called patriotic movies that stole a part of my hard (not really) earned money. For whatever reason, this country is my enemy and the first reaction to the news that it is in the list of failed countries is my victory, even though I have no role to play in its success or failure.

And then when I talked to few of my friends about this news, they too share the same happiness. So I am not the only one who is thinking iniquitous

A little more research on the same topic suggested that few other countries – Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh are also in the top of the list. God all our neighbors failed. Now is this a good sign. May be not.

And then I am confused, not because I have to rule India and talk to all these countries every week and day, but because of the weird correlation that came to my mind – the competitiveness in me. And I think all of us at different levels; share this attitude – fervor to win. And along with it comes this mysterious happiness on others failure, if we consider them as competition.

It’s more like this – all the while you struggle to reach the top. But when you succeed to reach there, then it will become all the more difficult to celebrate it, because you might have lost friends in the journey who would otherwise cheer you. And then you will keep wondering why you are not on cloud 7 at-least if not 9 at your victory.

Well it is not as worse too, but sometimes, a little exaggeration is required for your eyes to see the truth. But seriously, many a times the concept of victory looks dappled – especially if it comes because of other party’s failure. The only thing that can keep your sole at bay is the conviction that you played fair.

eNjoy,
Morus

With the Present - one more time

“It's already late. The traffic of the outer ring road will be insane. And the 3 signals! I am surely to miss the train.” This used to be part of the travel packages almost all the time. Well, you can read that almost as certainly.

But this time it is a little different. Letting 3 buses go at 1 AM, drinking the tea from the platform vendor is not something that I generally do. Just to be transparent to my usual self I chose these reasons - the first bus was crowded, the seats of the second bus were not good and the conductor of the third bus was not shaved properly.

While these reasons will not satisfy my usual self that has mastered the world of reasoning, today I choose to enjoy my journey.
No advance booking, no enquiries of the routes. But this time, the time is spent on all the important unimportant things like copying all the new songs to iPod, thinking about the book to read on the journey.

Part of the excitement is that I am going into the deeper parts of Karnataka to spend time with my dad - the same place that my dad took me when I was 2 feet tall. Now both my Kannada knowledge and my height grew alike (meaning not enough). Nevertheless I can understand if not talk a little more Kannada now.

It feels great to set your foot in a place that you know nothing about - nothing but the fact that you have been there in some distant past.
Yo man! Life is long. (Or I am old!)

This feeling is close to what I used to have back then - the distant past. The magnetic chessboard was all that I cared about and some company to play and loose the game against me, watching the bright round light of the coramandel express.

I think the similarity is that I am living in the present - in both the cases.

Of course it is true that even if I take bike rides, I will reach the 180 odd kilometers by tomorrow morning. But the point I am trying to make here is that I generally loose the charm in life because I am more concerned about the uncertainty of the future, taking it for granted that the present that has not gone wrong is in fact a stage for celebration. (Err, curse my English for yet another long sentence!)

Let me leave you with this thought -
Did you ever have this urge of forwarding all the songs in your play list expecting the next song to be better; while all of them were in-fact the songs chosen by you and your favourites. I have it often - more so when I’m psyched. But now I've been using iPod only to write this blog, enjoying all the songs in my play list.

eNjoy,
Morus

What managers expect...

Am a lil busy guys, these days.. Will catch up with you soon.. and will be something big this time...
(not getting married, of all the things)

meanwhile, dont want you guys to miss the best appraisal fwd mail i got....

What managers expect.... (feel free to use it in your self appraisals, short term/long term goals). A picture is worth 1000 words, if not more :P

It is not my story

Refer to the ‘Wattha Hell Series: The introduction'

It is not my story

If not for that not, the above sentence is heard a lot these days from the India’s best selling author Chetan Bhagat hereinafter called CB. The term of CB means and includes his respective names, nicknames, pen names and extra hyped publicity. (if you want to know more about the controversy, this is your hot stop)
My interest in the topic this time – for a change is not because it managed to reach the top of the crap news that Bangalore Times sells. But because I hold high regards for both the parties involved in the controversy. I am a big fan of direction/plot/screen play of the Munna Bahi series (and 3 idiots just took that regard to the new level), and the other guy for his speeches and columns (I personally feel that his books are crap)

I read this on CB’s blog "I don’t need anything. Even if I have no more movies made on my stories or nobody wants to read my books and columns, I’ll happily join ISKCON and dedicate my life to Krishna. But I will not shy away from the truth – ever." and I felt, what a guy – all the logic in his blog is unquestionable! India needs politicians like him. And then thought about it for a while and felt, what a crap – no surprise if he becomes a politician soon. If this guy talks so much of logic now, what stopped him from using a pitch of it during his involvement in the whole project?

Well, but let’s not take things too seriously. These guys - both CB and 3 idiots team are doing their job – to keep people entertained and give media a bone to bite.
From his blog, looks like CB (along with his fans) has moved on, without getting any of the credits - for what he fought. But what he got is a percentage increase in this fan following, increase in sales of his book and his popularity. I was doing a Google search for some “check” and when I typed “che”, it suggested chetan bhagat (while chess. check, cheap all start with che). Look at his whuffie bank stats for a visual clue of that he achieved – popularity. His books are there for 5 years and he is aleady FAMOUS. But the stats say differently. ( i mean not just this analytics bit, but how often did you hear him in the media pannel discussions before this issue?)




“Read my book, watch the movie – and then you decide” is what he has to say. In the gusto of being a judge, looks like junta are doing both – reading book and watching movie. The sales of his books have been shot up by 30% apparently and 3 idiots movie is crossing breaching all the box office records.
I’ll not be hesitant to believe any rumor saying that this is a self-created melodrama – after all he is an IIM alumni and ex-Investment Banker, who has to now live solely on writings.

By the way, if CB gets his due credit for the movie - will the title be changed to 4 idiots?

eNjoy,
Morus
P.S 1: Since I borrowed most of his dialogues (not sure of the percentage), not to create any controversy, I am giving this post’s credits to CB (that too before any other end rolls)
P.S 2: Did not include 3idiots team, as they don’t take this credits funda seriously

Happy New Year!

Let me start this blog and the year with my status message on IM

History will remember 2009 as the year of slowdown... but lets forget it while we are marching into 2010... Happy New Year

I just closed the 67 open browsers in firefox, safari, and sea monkey and quit all of them before I opened this window to pen down this post.

The 30 minutes rain drive back home locked me at home for the remaining part of the day (not that I had plans otherwise). So decided to take a step back and plan on how I will welcome the New Year now that partying is ruled out.

Not a difficult task at all, looking at my room that was like the Xerox store - full of papers and the white marble floor self decorated with the dust that got accumulated for ages.
Definitely I needed to clear this mess before I plan of my welcome to the New Year.
But before that there are other things that I had to address in the list of my personal mess, like my hair (that falls more than it grows), that needed a haircut for more than a ... (don’t even remember for how long) and by the time I am done with these basic un- screwing up, I realized there is a little time left to plan or execute anything.

But then, when the clock stuck 12 and 2009 mentally departed from my mind I needed no more thinking or planning about this welcome party! I am not partying, not even watching TV exclusive New Year realty shows (that sucks anyways). But I liked this, conscious effort to clear the mess of the past and welcoming the future with a clean board to write upon. Closing these 67 tabs was one such effort.

And that in itself filled me with energy that was long concealed in the pretest of busy life!

For those of you, for whom occasions like New Year are just another day, try this – just try to complete something(s) that is (are) long pending and just wait for it to come. You are sure to make it a special day!

Stay tuned… a lot is to come into this space in 2010

Happy New Year!

eNjoy,

Morus

P.S: Just got myself a pen name – Morus (not sure how long it’ll stay though)