Screech !!

I landed sitting upright after a somersault in the air. People ran in from around to check how well I had done the stunt. It took a while for me to figure out things in my mind and two things quickly called for attention : my bike and the guy who helped me have that leap.It was 6 AM and the city was just waking up. I was on my way to class when this man carelessly made use of half the road to make a casual U-turn and stumbled on seeing me approaching.

Everything happened so fast that the only thing I remember was sitting (after the land) with my hands over the head. I had travelled atleast 5-6 feet without my bike. People came upon to do the damage check and I got up with anger for the erratic man. I looked around for my footwear which had also flown across to the other side of the road with the impact. After glancing at the culprit, I began inspecting my bike which had minor scratches on the handle, a cracked speedometer and dented engine guard. It had just met with its maiden accident. The people around prompted me to first check myself. I had miraculously escaped with minor bruises. The Abercrombie Hoodie gifted by sis insulated my torso and the jeans played its part to minimise the bruises. The ripped gloves took the friction and protected my palms. But still it was miraculous for the fall I had - Thank you Lord for your grace !!

What followed was a series of interactions with people and I had to miss my class. I dragged Sabharish out of his sleep to help me in conversing with the people and he helped settle things.

Drive slower is what you would always conclude/realise at the end of the day and it definitely helps to have a steady head over your shoulders, but then the fact remains - Accidents are Accidental !!

A milestone for my buddy !!

This post has been in the mind, waiting to see light for quite sometime now. Wanted to write a bit about my good buddy for one year now - My Red Beast - My Avenger !!

Its been my companion in rain and in sun; in joy and in sorrow; in long lonely journeys and happy moments alike. Guess that seems too much of a patronization for an inanimate object - my friends often complain this too.. but I cant help my feelings 

Frankly speaking, I was not in much for this muscular monster when I was on the lookout for a bike. My bro had been influential partly in me finalizing on it. I had zeroed in on Honda Dazzler and had even made the bookings for it. But then, he convinced me that it was small and not quite suiting my personality. He wanted me to go for Karizma rather (his dream bike). I took his first advise, cancelled Dazzler and booked Avenger instead. The excessive plastic body as in Karizma or a ZMR did not appeal me much.It was then that I laid my eyes on this metallic beauty. Solid body, cool cruiser style and unique on the road - Feel like God - as the caption goes (I hesitate to use this caption here as it sounds blasphemous)

Needless to mention the bike has been tastefully made and I have grown to like and admire it over the period. The drive quality is great and I have realized that even a small hiatus of couple of days makes me long to drive. I had slight apprehensions about control on busy roads and parking in crowded places but thankfully, all it requires is a bit of hands on to get used to :)  Monsoons are what my bike dislikes the most - puddles of water, bumpy roads and the consequent risks of rusting. Though it has the luxury of getting a wash once every two days when it rains. 

I remember the first days last year when it was still a small baby, there were heavy monsoon rains and it inadvertently got wet. To my despair, I suddenly realized there were specks of rust on the silencer and in my desperation, I had washed it (with water again) only to see the specks grow in size and area. Experts came to my rescue and prescribed anti rust sprays and solutions which helped me in preventing the situation going from bad to worse. Henceforth, it has come a long way from its baby strides (at speeds <45 kmph for around 2000km) to now tearing the winds apart. I have had a couple of memorable rides to Mahabalipuram, and to Pondicherry and innumerable short rides within the city. With 4 services done (3 free and one paid) and having clocked 10000 KM, my friend keeps getting better and continues to amaze with a 40 plus mileage. Way to zoom buddy

A date with a date

Make a wish - we have an auspicious moment at hand which would never come again!! Is that really so or do we tend to look too much into ? We have always given special importance for things which occur rarely or events which have an interesting pattern. The "tootatha taara"  or the falling star which often prompts our Bollywood actors to 'make a wish' is one such instance ( I wonder how many stars our directors have successfully brought down though !!).

Today we have both of them i.e a rare event and a interesting pattern - At the eleventh second after the eleventh minute and the eleventh hour we have a 12 digit palindrome - 11:11:11 on 11/11/11. So what's special - The new millennium has thrown many such mathematical numbers which were palindromes ? The palindrome at hand really stands out as it has the same number for all its digits and would only occur after 100 years. Hence, our only moment in life. (findings courtesy : Tom Meltzer)

Science doesn't play down our interest in the date either. It says that the human mind has an affinity for patterns and delights in finding them. So folks, we have more than one reason to take a note of this day which stands out. You could either make it memorable by hanging out with your friends and loved ones or make an event of your life memorable by planning it on this special day. Venues for social gatherings have had an increasing demand and were booked well in advance. People planning to get married off of late did feel that they would not have a better day to exchange rings. Interestingly, over a 1000 couples became man and wife in a mass marriage ceremony in China. Expectant mothers wished to give their babies an exceptional date of birth and the hospitals were queued up. I too would do my part in having this date go down my memory lane by making it a point to have this blog published at that moment (though I am not sure if I could be precise to the 11th second).

Tughluquine Instincts

I am more than perplexed and frustated with the attitude of the present day government of Tamil Nadu. One could expect a school going kid to have better sensibility; let alone wisdom. Having said this, I do not take a political stand nor do I have a priority for one political party over the other.

I am just venting my feelings on a social or rather a personal platform from an "Aam aadmi's" perspective. The recent decision of Jayalalitha to shift the Anna Centenary library from its current location and to convert the existing building into a Pediatrics hospital was arrogance at its heights. The library built at a cost of around 200 crores is deemed the largest of its kind in South Asia. The Civil Engineer behind its construction obviously wouldn't had made the building flexible enough to accommodate varied set-ups.

The conceptualization for a library would have incorporated tailor made specifications for its layout, ventilation, drainage among other things. So converting it to a hospital would result in both unwanted and excessive expenditure apart from a 'not so efficient' end product. Thankfully, we have our dutiful Judiciary - the High Court which stayed the move.

Another high point of the self proclaimed "Amma's" tomfoolery was conversion of Secretariat to Multi speciality hospital - yes a hospital again - she is apparently very concerned about people's health and has a personal target of creating World Class Hospitals in Chennai. No complaints against her targets but why at the cost of meddling with BUILT buildings ?? The reason quoted for dumping the 1100 crore worth building was that it could not accommodate all the 36 government departments and the two km distance between the Assembly (Block A) and Secretariat (Block B) would make it difficult for the Ministers to function. At least that way all of them would have something concrete to do everyday i.e. travel to and fro. Sorry, I know this was a rather rude joke which the entire Executive doesn't deserve !!

Political vendetta could never have been more obvious. She had gotten 15 partymen of DMK arrested within 100 days of 'swearing in'. On this note one cannot fail to recollect the midnight drama a decade ago where she had Karunanidhi arrested as soon as she had stepped into power. This apart from the arrest of a dozen other Union Ministers.

How healthy would it be if politicians quarreled by trying to outdo each other rather than undoing what has been already done. By targeting the dream projects of her opponent, viz. the Secretariat and the Anna Library she proves how less she cares for people and their money when it comes to quenching her thirst for revenge. It also shows how directionless an administrator could get moving around things ala our great Emperor- Muhammad bin Tughluq.

P.S. : Tughluq was a Sultan of Medieval India whose over thought foolery of shifting the capital from Delhi to Daulatabad and then back is legendary.

Disclaimer : The views expressed here are strictly personal !!

http://theviewspaper.net/tughluquine-instincts/

A ray of light

As I write this, I have been in anticipation of a call from a Business Analyst who would be interviewing me !! It all started with talks with my supervisors for a Business role. I had requested for it a year back (was not given then) and more recently a couple of months ago when my promotion was at hand. The point to reflect was that 'Market Research' was a niche domain for a Business Analyst to thrive once he leaves Nielsen. Both Jinu and Mohan held the same opinion(both BA's themselves) and I was convinced .

But why do I see myself here then ? My agenda and my interests ended up being in the same direction after a ROLLER COASTER ride of decisions with my future (self inflicted and tumultuous). I was always keen for Business stuff and Management was where I had always placed myself at whenever I thought of my career in future. So I zeroed in on GMAT with the right amount of experience in my kitty. Typically a B School looks out for people who stand out with varied experience and I am here with four years of pure technical background. So I thought functional experience would be the right icing on the cake !!

Well, I now stand here expecting the second promotion (after IT Analyst) and the coveted chance promised by my Manager which would help me considerably in making the most out of my last chance to make a difference in my life !!

The Lokpal and Anna

The Anna craze has caught up big time and Jan Lokpal suddenly seems to be the magic wand which could get the ordinary man out of his daily quota of cribbing against Corruption. With the ocean of supporters that Anna has, he also has critics who play down his techniques. Intellectuals like Arundhathi Roy and other Polictical Analysts are of the opinion that Jan Lokpal would be a threat to democracy. Here, I would like to voice my opinion from whatever little knowledge I have. 

I am keen on seeing a BALANCED Lokpal being implemented which doesn't see itself sitting over and above the three wings of our Government namely Executive, Judiciary and Legislature. Change is what everyone craves and justifies the mad mass appeal our Anna has. It is on similar lines as the governments of TN and AP. People simply vote for the OTHER party !!

With great power comes greater responsibility !! But with it also comes great greed !! The futuristic Lokpal should be made accountable and shouldn't be vested with more powers than it can handle. It is rather evident that ANNA is not an intellectual in the way he bluntly says 'My way or no way' but he definitely is a Hero !! He has given a platform for people to demand a Better Living.

History says that great changes were brought in with street battles. You got to fight out your way on the street whether it is overthrowing a ruthless dictator or staging a protest against injustice.

The Janlokpal Bill is AMBITIOUS in having the President the Supreme Court and the entire bureaucracy in its ambit. But the govt Lokpal on the other hand was TOOTHLESS which would serve nothing in being incapable of dealing with CWG, 2G spectrum or the cash for votes scam.

The great powers vested with the Lokpal body is the single biggest threat which should be taken care of with the ongoing negotiations to shape up a competent authority !! It shouldn't be left from where it has reached.

India's Crusade against Terrorism - Time for a reality check !!

We continue to be the mute spectators we always are, as terrorists continue to rip India apart year after year. After the gory triple bomb blasts in Mumbai on 13th of this month, our honorable Home Minister wastes no time in putting his point across that every city in India as much gullible and that the blasts have actually come down in count. PC couldn't probably be more blunt. 

"India's post-26/11 police reforms painted stripes on a donkey — and passed it off as a tiger" - screamed a title from the editorial in Hindu. With the media acting as a window to our world around an average man doesn't need to stay with the presumptions of a complex constitution or an even more complex govt. and pass off for not even being intellectual enough !! At least in matters where the govt has promised and even boasts of things which it never desired of strongly. Not to forget the millions disbursed for such reforms.

A lay man's google or a casual browse over papers would give statistics which would make our honorable HM feel guilty after his heroic claims of modernising India's Mughal-era police. For instance, the Ministry of Home Affairs, year after year boasts of exactly the same achievements in exactly the same language in its yearly reports as if they were new achievements !! There's no fault in promising to achieve and then only achieving partly. But when it blatantly over states its achievements, its definitely worth criticism. 

Government has failed with the transponders it promised on merchant fleets. It is still short of bullet proof jackets, communication kits, training on intelligence and so on if what we need is statistics. The officials who came to visit the CWG games pointed that a very few of the thousands of police personal even appeared to hold automatic weapons !! A joke of sorts !!

We have a serious situation at hand, we have the funds, we have the personnel who could be recruited and we have the govt which boasts it has done things but the patchy reality stays that the funds don't materialise at every point.

Its not about the present govt. or the past govt. Its only about the attitude the ruling body has for an individuals safety. Life is deemed cheap and easy !! It's a mere statistic for a person at power, but life indeed is man's integrity. Even a person dying of cancer would want to live that one extra day and go for the inflicting chemotherapy. The question is why has life got so less importance in our country !! Its heart rending and ever so silly to even imagine that ATS chief Karkare was killed because of a spurious or duplicate bullet proof jacket.

One might find solace when he compares our situation with that of our neighboring Nations (where terrorism is creating greater havoc). But why should we even look at countries which still strive for the true meaning of democracy we have achieved decades ago.We aspire to be a part of the Security council at UNO. We dream of moving ahead to become a developed country from our persistent tag of 'developing country'.  We have already shed a lot of blood to reach where we are already. The collective GDP of many such nations together (which we think are more fortunate) would comprise India's GDP. Why should we look back when come a long way towards a better living ??


We should ideally look at Nations which are better off !! In 3 years after 9/11 the US FBI has the raised the number of its trained counter terrorism agents to double their number for a population which is only 3 times Maharashtra. India's pompous Investigation Bureau and Analysis wing together have less expert resources. 

 
This is where we should self introspect. Its not only about cursing your authorities when terror strikes. Little has materialized since the murderous 26/11 and is a reason for debate and the reason for a Crusade in its actual sense. Corruption hardly matters to a person who rarely gets a square meal once a day. We have a crusade waged against it !! We need a crusade against terrorism and it is by no means justifiable for the government to lend a blind eye to it !!