New ventures and Smart Phones

In my last class of Entrepreneurship, there were seven different groups presenting their ideas for new firms. All the teams were given four weeks of time to come up with an idea that can be successful in the present economic environment. It was interesting to notice that out of seven presentations five were based on technology. Moreover four out of five technology based ideas were either for smart phones or had a potential to be used as smart phone application. All the teams recognized the growing power of smart phones while doing the brainstorming over the new firm creation ideas. No doubts smart phones are gaining popularity increasingly and playing a huge role in accessing information and providing entertainment. There is a prediction that smart phone downloads from all app stores will reach 6.7 billion per year in 2014. The most sellable point of this kind of business is the low cost to entry. One needs only two-three software professionals, servers and a little space to start the business. Non-capital intensive businesses were center of attraction during dot com period and same is happening now. All these facts can work like a magnet for any entrepreneur to try this new space. However I have some doubts over the long term sustainability of these ideas because technology changes are happening not within few years but few months. Some of the brilliant ideas may sustain the business in long term but majority of ideas will either burn out while matching the pace with rapidly changing technology or will be bought out by bigger players. Entrepreneurs entering this sector with short term goal of selling out their idea to bigger firms within five years will be in better situation because of vulnerable nature of the business. Those who are targeting to remain in this sector for a long term have to strategize their business in such a way that people keep using their applications without getting bored. This will be an interesting phenomenon to watch in next five years.

Hollywood-Bollywood

I just came back after watching Bollywood movie “My Name is Khan” which has broken some box office records by any Bollywood movie in North America. It is interesting to notice how Bollywood movies are moving closer to Hollywood movies in terms of story line up, editing, background score and most amazingly music. In MNIK, all the songs were in background which is not usual in Karan Johar’s (movie director) typical movies. This trend has been followed by many movies in recent past and it seems that Indian audiences are also accepting this format. Even Hollywood movies have accepted Indian actors and you can see many movies either having Indian background story or Indian actors in lead roles. This confluence was strengthened by the major success of “Slumdog Millionaire” last year. This movie was not only popular but also won Oscar awards for best movie and background score. This relation has been strengthened since then and even common people in North America are accepting the power of Bollywood movies. It is interesting to listen to students’ as well as professors’ point of views about this huge industry in my MBA classes. However Bollywood has still to cover a long path to match the technical quality and tight story line of Hollywood movies. I don’t see a day very far when people from both industries will work together to make great movies.
PS – Still MS word is showing red underline for Bollywood word. Strange.

Mr. Pinto is “really” angry

Mr. Pinto came back from office, totally tired and angry. He was trying to check his Facebook account today in office and could not believe that his company had blocked Facebook in office. Oh god !! How will Mr. Pinto now interact with his “So called Facebook” friends and how will he play those interesting “Love and horoscope” quizzes? Life is so cruel.

Mr. Pinto is angry again today. One month back, he discovered his new real love on Orkut. She was so good looking in her photos and she used to send such cute teddy bears and friendship messages that anyone could fall for her. Mr. Pinto is 32 now, but she made him feeling like 16. Life was going so good and Mr. Pinto had even changed his status to “committed” from “single”. And today, his friends told him that it was a fake profile of a guy (he is also a friend) who was enjoying his time chatting with Mr. Pinto. Oh !! that is bad.

Mr. Pinto is in bad mood. He was highly enthusiastic about his career opportunities from LinkedIn. He added his senior managers also in his profile who could recommend him for new jobs. Poor chap, somebody hacked his account and now selling Viagra and porn material using Mr. Pinto’s profile. His bosses are quite curious to know about his new business (some bosses asked if he wanted testimonials for his new “value creating” business for discount offers on these “materials”). Mr. Pinto is never going to leave this guy.

Mr. Pinto is boiling and can kill anyone today. Last week he went to a party and got drunk. Someone clicked his photos while drinking and dancing with girls(it was not an “ordinary” drinking and dancing) and posted on Facebook. Other than posting, he tagged Mr. Pinto in all photos and then Mr. Pinto’s friends wrote some “teasing” comments. Since Mr. Pinto has his company name in profile, senior management saw an alarming situation of company’s brand value getting spoiled by such acts. Mr. Pinto has been given one week of time to explain the situation.

And then we ask “Why does Mr. Pinto get angry while hearing three words ....Social ....Networking ...Site.”

PS : Hows Mr. Pinto's picture ??

"Ethics" - I heard about you somewhere Mr. Ethics

“Ethics and values” was always an interesting topic for me and when I entered into Schulich MBA program, first lecture was on how to respect ethics and values as an MBA student. My intention here is not to discuss that lecture but after completing my first two terms, I realize that ethics play big role while making decisions in business world. However there were many times when some of the courses forced you to think twice about the priority between money and ethics. I faced such a dilemma when I participated in one of the mock exercises in “Negotiation” course. I was a manager and I had to negotiate about the incentives with an employee who was planning to quit the company. This employee had employee stock options and company share prices were quite moderate. However I had internal information that stock prices could go high in few months. This employee’s performance was not satisfactory so company also wanted to get rid of him. Now the biggest dilemma in front of me was whether to tell the employee about the stock price going high or not. I decided to keep silence and offered the employee share prices way below it was expected to be in January. Employee accepted the offer happily and we signed the deal. When the professor revealed the full information about the case, the student who was playing the role of employee was annoyed with me as she thought that I didn’t play ethically.

Although I still think I was right in that situation, how many times managers think about ethics before making a decision. Most of the MBA education’s focus is on making money and generating profits for the companies. Students are so busy in studying balance sheet, income statements and cash flows that they are not left with much time to think about the social responsibilities. So this leaves a very good question on the face of B-School course directors, are the MBA grades more ethical before entering B-schools? Recent economic crisis has been discussed around this issue numerous times and every time the conclusion was that highly qualified and brilliant investment bank managers were making decisions to boost their bonus without taking care of common mass. Interestingly some of the CEOs and CFOs were getting million dollar bonus when employees were fired on the basis of cost cutting.

Theoretically long term vision should take care of social responsibilities to create overall value for the organization but in practical world profit making decisions overshadow the long term planning. Although it is very difficult to measure the ethical and social values added to any organization as compared to monetary profits, major B-Schools should take initiative to come up with a study plan that can help the students to understand the ethical responsibilities as well while making decisions to generate profits.

PS - interesting question to all readers, what would you do if you were in my position in the "Negotiation" course mock exercise ??

Love and MBA

Just now I read one comment on a site asking “why does one fall in love”. I tried to link it to many courses I am learning in my MBA. First comes economics – if there is no love, there would not be any demand of valentine cards, roses, songs, CDs and other crappy gifts people exchange. This will cause in more unemployment and less GDP. So love plays a big role in economic balance. From Accounting point of view, love is an asset which everyone wants in his/her life. Everyone wants a profitable love where one can increase his/her stake in his/her lover’s heart. From leadership point of view,falling in love is very important. Every leader needs a supporting spouse (Bill Clinton to Obama and Mahatma Gandhi to Rajiv Gandhi) who can bring love in his/her life. One who cannot love one’s partner, cannot love one’s country. In organizational behaviour, love is one of the major pillars for any organization. If there is no love, people may leave organization more frequently and there would not be any affection assessment required in the next semester courses. More over if there would not be any love, there would not be any sustainability course. Sustainability is all about love with the human being and environment. I don’t know what will happen to sustainability professors’ families if there would not be any love.
So love is very important for any MBA course. If there is no love, many Professors will be unemployed and students will be bored in the class without facebook. So please let love live and give us a chance to complete the MBA course falling deep and deeper in love.

Its dark out of the window,
And you feel even the twinkling stars are feeling bore
Fear, ambition, perseverance become your armor
And you stretch your arms to write some more.
When you learn two and two is no more four
While saying all the time “it depends”
Sometimes you feel like a leader in line
Even when you think – low grades, who repents.
A plane flies over the building
And the only friends are the yellow walls
You touch your dry skin to feel alive
And say aloud – a winner never crawls......

Khundas

Khundas Khundas !!

Aaya hai mauka khona nahin

Utha hathiyaar, aaj mita dushman ko

Maar daal, phaad daal , cheer daal

Dikha rasta jhannum ka aaj dushman ko

Khundas Khundas

Aaj ghar mai ghus chuke hain

Kaante ye jhaad ke, bin soche kaat daal

Bahut hua samman jahaan ka

Rakh dharti par sar inka, phaad daal

Khundas Khundas

De hunkaara, baja shankh, chamka talwar,

Kar tandav ki gidhdho ki dawat ho jaye

Pe lahoo chad dushman ki chaati per,

Khada khada har shatru bhasm jo jaye

Khundas hai to khundas hai

Haan haan jaha bhar ki khundas hai

Ab to ho jo bhi anajaam, kaun darta hai

Jab lahoo baha hai to lahoo bahane se kaun darta hai

Mumbai going through all the terror. Disturbing series of events and now this is the time to react. We can not forget 26/11.

NAJAR

“This is the poison that you have to use”, Kareem was not looking into Sameer’s eyes. He was trying to avoid an eye-contact because he knew that it would not be easy for Sameer to complete the job this time even after 5 years of experience. Sameer took a deep breath and looked at the big hoarding, flashing the red and blue light over Kareem’s left shoulder. How desperately Sameer wanted to punch Kareem’s face and run away. Run away from all this to a place where he can sit and scream loudly. He wanted to go to a hill, to jump from it and to dive into the water with the splash converting into a Tsunami and flooding the whole world. “Oye!! You are lost again!! Janab come back to earth”, Kareem shouted and Sameer realized that he was standing again at the same place. The hoarding was still showing lights. Red, blue, red, blue. Why not yellow. Sameer wiped his forehead with his white handkerchief. Kareem had been his assistant for 3 years and this was their 4th operation in this short period. Now they were very good friends and Kareem was more like a younger brother to him. Sameer recalled the memories when Kareem visited his home, “Arrey Miyan!! We are RAW officers but it doesn’t mean that we don’t have human emotions. We have to keep a low profile, we don’t have to speak much but that can’t stop me to have parathas made by Aunty ji. It seems you would not even call me in your marriage”. Sameer smiled dryly in this tense moment and shook his head as if to drop all memories. He took the bottle from Kareem and looked at it. “One single shot and the person will die in 15 minutes. No sound at all. Used by KGB and Mosad in many operations.” Kareem was telling Sameer as if he didn’t know about it. But Kareem also knew that Sameer was thinking about only one person right now. Najar.
“Sameer, I have been talking for past 15 minutes and you are not listening to me. I am not talking to you anymore. Bye”, Najar took her purse, pretended to stand but Sameer took her hand and made her to sit again. Najar was pretending to be angry but was smiling in her heart. She knew Sameer was going to propose her and she wanted this to be memorable for always. Sameer was looking at her continuously and when she looked into his eyes, he said “will you die for me?”, Najar fell back on her chair and started laughing hysterically. “I thought you were going to say I love you and you are talking about death and life. Yes Sameer, I can die for you because I love you so much. If you want then I can jump from this building right now.”
The taxi honked again and Sameer crossed his legs nervously and saw out of the window. One couple was laughing, holding each other in arms and trying to gulp the ice-cream as fast as they could. Sameer rested his chin on his hand, now he was alone as
Kareem had asked him to meet at the airport after finishing the job. He saw the silver ring he was wearing and rolled it once. He wanted to get rid of it but could not. “This one is for you, Sam. I hope it will always remind you of me. Never ever forget me otherwise I will kill you. ” and they started laughing again.
The door bell was loud enough to be heard outside the house also. Najar opened the door and Sameer smiled forcefully. She also smiled back and moved sideway to signal him to enter in the room. Sameer knew that her family was out for next three days so he just went inside and made himself comfortable on a wooden sofa. He looked around, the house was warm and he liked it in very first look. “You want water or tea?” Najar asked. Sameer shrugged and Najar understood, it was a signal for tea. Sameer rested his head on sofa and closed his eyes. He felt a pain in his chest and wished it could be a heart attack. Najar shouted, “Do you want snacks also? Mom has made some good snacks.”. “Bring it”, Sameer slipped his hand in his coat and saw the bottle once again. He dropped his coat on the sofa and stood to keep the tension away. “I am using your restroom.”, somehow he spoke out and almost choked in the end. “Sam!! Just let me know if you find something unwanted in the rest room”, Najar cracked a joke and laughed. She always laughed like a small baby after teasing him. Sameer locked the door behind him and opened the tab at full pressure. He stood in front of the mirror and saw his face. Kareem’s voice was still in his head, “You have three options, kill her or kill yourself or betray your country. This is a war man!! Nobody loves anyone. ” He could see a line of tear in his left eye and removed it. His legs were trembling and he was not able to breath and he let out one small shriek. He took the support of wall and stood there for some moments. Now he could not hear any sound from kitchen also. He even did not remember for how much time he kept standing like that. Slowly he gathered his all energy and unlocked the door. His head was spinning and he knew that it is a matter of minutes only. He opened the door and tried to see clearly. Somehow he felt like everything was a blur and focused again. He reached drawing room and saw Najar sitting on the sofa with her head resting on it. Tea cups were on the table. Sameer sat beside Najar and took her hand in his hand. She didn’t respond as usual. He saw her face and thanked God once again to bring her in his life. He stretched his legs and saw Najar opening her deep beautiful eyes. She saw him with all love and touched his face. Her hands were cold, her eyes were sparkling like always and she smiled as if she was in a great pain. Sameer took her other hand and realized that she was holding something in her fist. He opened it and felt like some one stabbed him. It was the same poison bottle, Sameer could not believe it and almost tore apart the coat in search of the bottle. It was not there. Najar’s big eyes were only shedding tears and she was not able to speak. “Najar, talk to me, talk to me Najar. I can’t let you go like this. Why did you do this? You stupid, idiot. I could have found some or the other way. Open your eyes. ” Sameer was screaming in anger. She was now in his arms and almost lost her body balance. “I will take you to hospital. Come, get up you bitch. How dare you to do this without my permission. No, no, no, I am sorry!! …you are very good girl. Best one in the world. I will not let you die.” Najar took a strong hold of Sameer’s shoulders and saw directly in his eyes as if she wanted to talk to him for all her life. Her lips were trembling but there was no sound coming out of it. And finally she loosened her grip and her neck went back swinging freely.
There was a little white cloud in the blue sky, otherwise whole sky was clear. Sameer had never seen such sky in his entire life or he was noticing it for the first time. Past few hours were like a movie and then he realized Kareem sleeping on his seat with seat belt loosened in grip. He didn’t remember how he reached airport, how he ran out of Najar’s house when Kareem entered the house, how he dropped Najar’s hand last time. He felt some heaviness in his heart and took out a letter from his pocket. He slowly read it again.
Dear Sameer,
I know this is a difficult decision but I have to take it. I knew that you were a RAW agent and wanted the secret file from me. In ISI, we also have contacts and agents list, and you were there Sameer in the list. You wanted to serve your country as much as you wanted me to be a part of your life. I can not betray my country as well as I can’t see your state of confusion. I know you have to finish this mission with my life, and you think I can’t read in your eyes that you can never do this. This has to happen some day, so I am just waiting for this day to do it myself. Being the opponent country’s secret agent did not stop me to love you and now even death can not stop me to love you. I am sorry for this step but there was no other way. The moments I shared with you, are still the best ones and I want to sleep in my graveyard with this treasure. I know it will be difficult for you to forget and forgive me but never feel guilty for all this.
This was my decision and you don’t have any role in it. Would you not do the same if I was in your position? You can always find a new love in your life and I am only repeating your lines, you find some one and you loose some one but life moves on. Destiny was not in our favor for the entire life but I am lucky enough to find a love like you. Mamma always told me that some people spend their whole life to find a soul mate and look at me. I found you and in this last one year, I got all the love which I had never imagined.
Promise me that you will safely go back to your country and start a new life. Promise me that you will find some one with whom you can share the same thoughts as you did it with me. Promise me that you will live each and every moment in the same way as we lived in past one year. And promise me that you will never forget me.

Love
Najar

Sameer folded it back and noticed that there were more white clouds making different shapes. Kareem slowly whispered “I am sorry mate, you were correct. She really loved you.” Sameer blinked and saw out of the window again. He tried to find Najar’s face in one of clouds but he could not find it.

This is my first short story ...I am naming it Armaan according to story line and my wish ....please read it and leave comments ..


The bus took a turn and I woke up again. The person sitting beside me also bent towards the window and his head almost hit the window. “Are you alright?” I asked him. “Yes, I am fine”, he replied. After one minute of silence, he asked me something, I removed my earphones and apologized for not listening him. He smiled and again asked “so, are you living in Dehradun?”. I thought what a typical question to start any conversation and replied affirmatively. He said “ohh!! Good! We are from Raiwala; you must know that small town near Dehradun. You are of my son’s age, he is also very fond of music.” He was reminding me of my father who came to drop me at bus stand along with my mom. I became silent again and tried to listen to U2 song but somehow didn’t feel it. The old person asked me again “So you are a student?”, when is he going to leave me alone, I thought. “No, I am working as a software engineer.” I replied back quickly so that he can cut short and don’t ask what exactly I am doing.. He said “oh!! So you are a computer wizard. Nice to meet a person like you.” I thought what the heck, “it is not like this sir. I am not a computer wizard, just know some software and some times I do coding stuff.” He smiled and cleared his throat “Hmm..My son also likes all these technical things. Once he made a transistor and went around showing it.” I nodded as if I was very much interested in listening to his story. I wanted to say “yes, yes, I know your son, didn’t he get the Noble prize last year”, but remained silent. “He always stood first in his class, and played brilliant cricket. His mom always called him the fortune of our family and called him Raja.” I could sense him smiling while looking out of window. Even I could imagine a small kid next to any door running here and there and his parents calling him. The old man carried on “His wishes to become a great man made him so excited that he used to ask me, Papa, who is greater, a pilot or a scientist? And I always told him that it is not the designation which makes a person great, but it is a person who makes a designation great.” The bus passed through a village on the way. Some small kids were waving their hands at our bus, some were poking their finger in their nose and some were gazing at the passengers as if they were zoo animals. “Raja did not want to go to college to help the family by working in a factory, but I wanted him to finish his B.A. . We managed somehow to pay his fees and he also started taking tuition to help himself” the old man rested his head on the seat. The bus stopped and the conductor shouted, “This halt is for 20 minutes. If you want to have snacks then come out”. I saw the old man as he stood to come out with me. It was a bright day with winter sun right above our heads. We had covered the half distance and now I was listening to this man even when his story was a normal one. We sat on a bench and ordered for two teas. The motel was quite crowded and the waiters were running here and there to bring the orders. “Raja did good in his studies in first year. He made some good friends also and they all came to our small house. Sometimes I asked him to concentrate more on his studies than to roam around with his friends but he assured me that everything is fine. I had great expectation from Raja and I didn’t want him to be in any trouble. He always told me to calm down as he was looking far in future. One day he told me that his friends are starting a business of woods. He told me that they will deal in woods and will supply it to the furniture makers in various cities. His eyes were sparkling like pearl and he was not able to hide his excitement. I asked him to get away from this business as I didn’t feel something good in it. He tried to explain me but I was not agreeing. He then shouted that I can’t see him growing from a lower middle class to rich man. He went out and I thought of him like a small baby arguing for a small toy when he was 4 years old. He accused me to stop his growth, to jealous of his success and what not. That evening our family ate in silence, nobody talked at all”. “Arrey, chalo re !!chalo re, it is the time to start the bus, otherwise we will be late for Delhi ”, it was the bus conductor. I started moving towards the bus and we sat down again on our seats. The old man took out a pan-supari from pocket and put some of it in his mouth, just below the lower gum. He offered me also but I refused it. He started again “Raja did not talk to me for few days. He was always avoiding me and talked in a low tone with his mom when I was there. I did not like his behavior and sometimes shouted at my wife to conspire with her son against me. She asked me to sit with Raja and sort out the issue but I did not listen to her. One day Raja came home with packets in his hands. He gave us all new clothes and told his mom that he has got his first profit in business, he was still not facing me and just put a bag in front of me and left. I opened it and there was a piece of fine winter suit. I took it in my hands, felt the warmth and put it back in the cover. This kept on going for few more days, Raja was making good money and now everyone was happy with him. Even my relation with Raja has come to a new point and we were not avoiding each other any more. One day he came with me to hospital also when I felt pain in my chest. All over the life was good.” The old man shifted a bit on his seat and bit his lip while starting again “then one day my neighbor came in running at 10 in the night. I just had my food and wanted to sleep but his nervous face made me fully awake. He told me that police is asking about Raja. My heart was on my mouth when I heard it. I wore my slippers and came out. Police constable was in front of my door. He was careless as usual and smoking a cigarette. He was talking to a person whom I didn’t know and then he saw me coming. He shifted his weight from left to right leg and asked me if I was Raja’s father. I nodded in yes and then he asked me to come with him. I excused and asked to change and take some money with me. My wife asked me what happened, I told her that it was because of her son that police has come to out door. I was cursing the day when Raja joined this business. Now I felt how come he was earning so much money. I saw my all honors coming down to earth which I earned in past 50 years. My fear was turning into reality and I could sense my heartbeats. I sat down with the constable in his jeep. I was holding tightly the seat and all bad thought were coming to my mind. I was sure that police would have caught Raja for smuggling case as I was reading it all in the newspaper. Then the jeep took a right turn and I asked the constable where is he taking me as the police station was not on that road. Constable asked me to calm down and told me that we were going to hospital. I skipped two or three heartbeats. I asked him what was the case but he was not ready to tell. He told me to calm down as my son was all right. I was not ready to accept this fact. That 15 minutes journey looked like a journey form heaven to hell. I stepped on the hospital steps and saw some more police persons. Their leader was reading a hospital document and then he saw me. He came to me and asked if Raja was my son. I said yes and then he sighed and said that my son was in ICU. Raja was undergoing an operation for critical injuries. I was not able to speak. I felt like my legs were not supporting me. I took the support of the wall and asked him, how it happened. I was sure it must be some gang war of wood business man which had shown my son the face of this hospital. The police inspector told that even they didn’t know the exact incident but Raja was out with his friends in wood yard to do a deal. Some wood smugglers attacked them all of a sudden and Raja and his friends started running. One of Raja’s friends had come with his kid who was 3 years old. The gangsters took a hold of this kid. If Raja would have wanted, he could have run for his life, but he didn’t. He stayed back and brought the kid back. The gangsters surrounded and charged Raja with sharp weapons. His all friends ran away and he was alone there. He fought bravely but he was out numbered by the attackers. He was lying there for two-three hours and then someone brought him to the hospital. Police inspector told that Raja and his friends were opposing the wood smuggler, that’s why smugglers attacked them. His chances were less but I didn’t know what my feeling at that moment was. My son always asked me, how to become a great man and he showed why he was a great person. My eyes were full of tears but these were not only of fear and sadness but also of proud.” The old man stopped for a moment and I saw a line of tear falling from his eyes. I was numb and could not speak for a moment and then asked “what happened then?” the old man sighed heavily and said “Raja survived but injuries were deep enough to damage his nervous system. He uses a wheel chair and can not speak properly. He needs a person to take care of his needs. When ever my eyes meet his, I can see some repent there but I told him that I am proud of his acts. He did what he wanted and that also in a pure manner.” The bus started to slow down and I could feel the Delhi bus station approaching. I was still imagining Raja running in the streets with a kite in his hands and showing it to his father. The old man said with a heavy accent “I have come to Delhi to meet the doctors to consult about my son. I have faith in my god and I will see soon my Raja walking and doing his work again. This time I will not stop him.” I shook hand with him and somehow managed to say “I have never seen a father son relation like this. I wish you and Raja best of luck for future.” Then we took our bags and started to out destination. I turned back and could see the old man’s slowly walking image in the darkness of the bus stop. I took a deep breath and I don’t know why I was missing my parents badly.

Jai Ho .....

So Raj Thackeray is out of the jail and MNS activities are burning the crackers and distributing the sweets. Lalu Parasad Yadav is asking to take a strong step against Raj Thackeray and some political groups are demanding to ban MNS. MNS workers are beating the north Indian “Bhaiyya ji” and Bihar people are burning the trains going to Maharashtra. One poor father lost his son who went to Mumbai to appear in the railway exam and another one from Rajasthan is struggling for his life. So total chaos and who is suffering from all this is common man.
Present scenario is the best example of how Indian politicians play dirty politics to raise regional or communal issues to gain a small position in society. Raj Thackeray was just a cousin of Bal Thackeray when he broke off from ShivSena and started his own MNS(Maharashtra NavNirman Sena). He was quite unknown until he started his movement against north Indian residing in Mumbai. The simple reason he gives is that these “Bhaiyya log” are taking away the livelihood of local people. When the matter calmed down he turned his vocal missiles towards big shots like Amitabh Bachchan and his family to appear in the news headlines and this time the reason was even more ridiculous. “What Amitabh Bacchan has done for Maharashtra in his entire life even when he is earning his bread and butter from Mumbai film industry” or “Jaya Bachchan is supporting Hindi Language rather then supporting Marathi”. Again the Bachchan family apologized to get away from the controversy. Now he is back with his blind bhakts and attacked with full force on the student appearing in the railway exam. Police arrested him but released just after a night.
Like any other politician, Raj Thackeray is also taking the advantages of liberal Indian law policies and even when everyone, from Supreme Court judge to police constable, knows that he is the culprit, he is enjoying the flashes of news reporters’ cameras. Since Parliament elections are nearing, Congress and NCP are eyeing to take advantage of this situation and keeping mum on such a grave situation. Bihar politician are already asking people to block all the transport services to Maharashtra. All in all it is like a party and every one wants his own champagne sip.
We demand government to fight with terrorism but who will fight with these terrorists, who are the part of Indian democracy. Terrorists are hurting India by exploding the bombs but these politicians are shamelessly walking freely displaying the blood stains of innocent people on their white kurta. Raj Thakeray never says Jai Hind, but always Jai Maratha. Why does he think of the benefit of a special community before the benefits of India as a nation? He might be correct in thinking that if one community progresses, it is in the favor of nation but how can he ignore the fact that this gain is hurting the feelings of other people and moreover killing the sense of integrity of India.

Dil Bole Boom

Boom Boom Boom Boom

One more time I heard boom

The grass is red and trees are shaken

All eyes are confused, minds are blank

No one speaks, till the siren come to life

Boom Boom Boom Boom

Bng, Ahmdbd, Del, Mum

Which is the next to fall

Kill him, kill her, kill those also

Kill everyone and enjoy the world

Boom Boom Boom Boom

Crying crying and crying

And no one cries anymore

They put it here, put it there

Put it every where you go

Boom Boom Boom Boom

Tic tac tic tac tic tac boom

Pick his ankle, pick her broken hand

Just a second and life changes

And the very next day it’s the same

Too tough to smile……….

I had a discussion with my friend about the smiling factor. He was asking me why does it happen in India that a person whom you know by face, whom you would have seen regularly at workplace, gym or some where else and both of you know each other by face never smiles seeing you. He recalls when he was in UK, he used to exchange smiles even with the strangers. Then how come in India, a person who knows you feels so much anxious to exchange smile. I could not answer that time and after a lot of contemplation I am writing this blog.

I believe every country has a particular way of living in society and every society has its own positive and negative points. India is a big country with a great population where people have a lot of worries .Every where everyone is fighting to win every moment in this race of life, and this feeling of insecurity takes away the feel for human values and principles. For example in a common Indian market, how many people care to be in queue? Leave alone smiling to strangers, people sometimes ignore the known ones. Although we are taught from childhood to respect elders and say “Namaste Uncle/Aunti”, what is our reaction when we see an old person is standing in a crowd to snatch his/her share.

US, UK and other countries are very less populated and have a good infrastructure. People have better facilities and they enjoy even waiting for the bus or the traffic single to become green as it is comfortable for them. People greeting with smiles to each other is very normal there.

Smiling is a nature’s gift to human being but in India smiling at opposite sex person means you are hitting on her/him. Moreover if a male does this on a public place like a bus stop, the very next day you can see his photo in news paper getting a nice mass beating. If a girl smiles at you, people start talking about her character. What a fun when we are misunderstanding the gift of nature.

We talk about passing smile seeing some stranger in India but when a stranger asking for help after an accident, how many hearts melt. Everyone knows the consequences of involving in strange person’s matters. My point here is the value of human emotion, life and morals is relatively lower in India. When there is a single bus coming and people have to rush to take seat, who cares to smile to a stranger or ask someone to catch the bus who is in his/her world. Even our life is not affected by the bomb blasts and people trade on the same spot to earn a livelihood on the very next day. When Indians/Asians go to UK or US or any other country, they try to find out some one whom they can recognize. There only they realize the importance of people with whom they can talk and walk. After all man is a social animal and to be in society one has to create some space and the ways can be to smile seeing a stranger or help some one from the same origin. Since in India, people have already a big society/friend circle/family to share everything, everyone feels very strange to see some one stranger smiling at us. All in all we take every human for granted and ignore them. We hate to be in crowd even when we are a part of it be in market or traffic.

Reservation - what are we looking for ....

Supreme Court has given its verdict and there will be 27% reservation for the OBC category people in post graduate courses also. So again a big chaos, students lamenting for the decision and again this result will be accepted by the public.
I started feeling the heat of reservation policy for the first time when I appeared in engineering entrance test. Then I thought that this policy is totally wrong and should be abolished in order to provide a fair chance to everyone. Even Ambadkar ji(the father of Indian constitution and reservation policy ) asked to follow this policy only for 50 yeas and said if there will be any need, this should be extended. I know that no political party in India has so much of guts that it can pull out this policy as people from backward castes are a big part of vote bank.
In my college time, I saw many people from multiple backgrounds. I realized that still people are there who needs reservation. There were some of my batch mates who could have never made to any college if there wouldn’t have been any reservation policy. Some were so poor that they were not able to pay the initial fee and one of my friends’ father helped them. For the first time I saw people like that and realized the importance of bringing these people forward to match the pace of the society.
Then I met some of the people coming from OBC/SC/ST category, who were somewhat different from the above mentioned students. New castes were included in this category that year only. Some of those guys were from very good family as their family earning was 5-6 times the Indian average salary. There was no need at all for a reservation for them to survive in the highly competitive Indian society, especially when education comes into the picture.
Now Supreme Court says that it will check the creamy layer to come under the reservation category in OBC criteria. I say, why not only these criteria should be applied for all the reservations. How can one differentiate a poor general category student and a poor OBC category student? If someone is poor, then he is poor. There is no question of his belonging to some or the other caste or religion. If people need help to come out of their isolated world then there is no question on caste basis.
I accept that the situation was quite grim when India got independence. All better places including temples and religious places were prohibited for the lower classes. But today the condition is improving. It will still take some more time to bring all the people at the same stage but why should we keep on increasing the distance between these casts by bringing the reservation policy.
I suggest the reservation policy to be modified in two ways.

The reservation policy should be applied to poor people only. It should take care of all the backward casts specially in order to bring them at the same level as other casts.
Reservation should be provided once in a life time only. I strongly believe that a person needs a platform or launch pad once in a life time and after that success depends upon the performance of the person. Right now a person is benefitted at various levels like engineering entrance, then government jobs, then promotion and other things. . Providing a quota to candidate for the whole life time makes the person handicapped in terms of performance and he/she looks upon to the authority for going ahead in life at every turn.

The basic point is to create some unanimity in society regarding the castes. Politicians are taking full advantage of people’s ignorance, avoiding attitude, illiteracy and lack of positive attitude to dig the ground deeper. One can see why still the Indian politics is so much affected by the castes factor.
Government really needs to address these issues as soon as possible. Implementing these suggestions is a herculean task and one party which will implement this policy will face some serious consequences but still some sacrifices are needed to change the direction of wind.

When Pearl talks to the Ant. ….

A white pearl was dropped from the necklace,

In a hope to join the thread with full of its grace.

Moving and bouncing on the marble floor,

Lonely in crowd like a dust particle at sea-shore.

It felt itself dusty and dirty,

Still glowing to show the world its bravery.

Very disappointed but holding the ropes,

Keep saying - just sustain the hopes.

Full of tears on its eyelids,

Missing its love “Sum” where far in swiss,

Lying on the marble floor totally jobless,

Looking at some ants building a fortress.

One small slow walking ant asked the reason,

For pearl’s restlessness in all the season,

Holding its breath, pearl told the whole track,

The Ant smiled balancing the sugar on its back.

“Life is your and the choice is your,

Learn from the past and welcome the future,

Some time wait, some time struggle and some time just keep walking,

Even a year sees three seasons summer, winter and spring,

Look at the shell you have come from,

It faced the whole sea to give you comfort and home,

Patience is the key and struggle is your armor,

Positive attitude will make future even brighter.”

One hand came and picked up the pearl,

Put it in the pendant shaped in swirl,

The Ant smiled at the pearl’s higher position,

To build the fortress, again joined the motion.

PS- Dedicated to one of my very best friends.