Dreams and Realizations

India - Media reporting and repercussions

2013-01-26T12:13:00.002+05:30

There are two distinct parts of India as we see today -

one that dreams of becoming a superpower some day, one where the daughter of an auto rickshaw driver secures first rank in one of the most coveted exams, that of the CA, one where we proudly see some sort of slow and staggered development, one where analysts still maintain that we have a chance of surpassing many of the biggest economies of the world by 2050....

And there is another part of India that consists of separatists, losers, sex maniacs who are hellbent on deriving the pleasures of the moment with no regard whatsoever for the dignity of individuals or unity and integrity of the nation. UNFORTUNATELY, not many people know the name of the girl who topped the CA exams, but ask anyone - "Who raped the girl in Delhi?"... everyone knows!

THIS IS THE PROBLEM we have! We are making our villains famous and forgetting our heroes! When the US gun fire incidents occurred recently, Morgan Freeman had an interesting take. He said that we are making a sad nobody famous by flashing his names everywhere. Not many people know the name of the teacher who hid her students and saved them from the gunman! But everyone knows that gunman! Same with our media. They are hellbent on sensationalizing news and deriving more viewership. A news on rape probably grabs eyeballs right away, but a news on a patented invention by a certain IITian may be ignored by an average reader. At least that's what our media houses think!

That is something that even APJ Abdul Kalam mentioned in one of his speeches. This is what he said -

Why is the media here so negative? Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements? We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why? We are the first in milk production. We are number one in Remote sensing satellites. We are the second largest producer of wheat. We are the second largest producer of rice. Look at Dr. Sudarshan , he has transferred the tribal village into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters.

And we are also falling into the same trap someway or the other. Negativity has its own blunt force, a ripple effect. It brings out more negativity. The Delhi rape and all repurcussions after it - candle light vigils, protests unfortunately did nothing to stop the brutal acts. WHY? Because, people who actually did it felt immortalized! People who have no potential of becoming heroes would rather become villains and be famous nationwide than live their whole lives like a loser and die like a sad "no body"! I do not say that is what they think before committing crimes, but that, definitely is one of the driving factors.

How about this?

Let our media report all incidents, but not flash the name of the criminal. Let the victim only be immortalized and the names of the criminals as well as all details about them be hidden, made classified information. If a Times of India article prints 3 bad news articles on the front page, let it also print 5 good news articles on the front page itself and not move to page 5 or 6.

We do need positive vibes!

And friends... lets not feel ashamed of being an Indian due to all of these saddistic incidents.

We do have a collective responsibilty to rectify the situation!

Let me become an audiophile for a moment and do some filtering on the "sound"... amplify the "purest of notes" and minimize the "noise." Keep doing it, till the "noise" causing elements feel demotivated and stop creating "noise" altogether!

No, we do need all criminals to be punished, but lets not give them any sort of limelight and media attention. Trust me, they do not deserve it!

My email to Justice Verma

2012-12-31T23:32:00.000+05:30

From: Chiranjib Mazumdar
Date: Mon, Dec 31, 2012 at 12:40 PM
Subject: Reference to public notice - suggestions on amendments to criminal laws relating to safety and security of women
To: justice.verma@nic.in

Dear sir

This is with reference to the public notice given by you on Indian newspapers "inviting suggestions on amendments to criminal laws relating to safety and security of women".

Please note that I am a simple citizen of this nation and am shocked beyond words seeing the brutal nature of the crime and the horrific after-effects. No wonder it has generated the attention, it has.

Please find below my suggestions -
1. Rape cases need to be solved decisively within a month. If needed fast track courts should be established with eminent judges and jury as panel members. Women representation is a must in the panel.
2. Simple imprisonment and fine for the culprits who are proven guilty, is not enough, simply because in India, there is a social stigma attached to a person who undergoes such trauma. Punishment should be exemplary so that it serves as a deterrent and makes prospective criminals think a thousand times before committing such crimes.
3. While I think death sentence should be the minimum punishment awarded, chemical castration may be a more apt form of punishment that would remind the criminal of the guilt for the rest of his life.
4. There should be adequate provisions to ensure that any changes in existing law are not misused and innocents do not get trapped.

5. In case of the victim's death, death penalty should be made mandatory for the culprits.

6. If juveniles are involved in the crime, they should still be treated as adults.

7. The victim's family should be provided with all support and protection as needed, to prevent them from being harassed and blackmailed.

As I mentioned earlier, I am a member of the civil society and bear no connections whatsoever to the Lawyers' association, so my suggestions may be perceived as crude, but I hope I do echo the voices of millions of Indian citizens who are equally shocked as I am, with the recent incident.

It is high time that a strong stand is taken to prevent such incidents, because, for all you know, this has brought down the reputation of India in front of the whole world. I see tourism industry clearly getting affected with the negative publicity this incident has generated.

I sincerely hope that among the millions of emails you might receive, this email does get 2 seconds of attention.

--
Best regards,
Chiranjib Mazumdar

Rants - useless? :-)

2012-11-15T23:13:00.000+05:30

In case if you are wondering why I do not post much these days. Well, the reason is - most of the thoughts are too personal and fit for my diary...

Sometimes, it is good to stay in a dormant state. When I started blogging, there was a time, when I would write upto 4 posts in a single day!!! Can you imagine? ;-) And nowadays, I pick up the pen (read cursor), may be once in a few months.

Thoughts fail me... nothing really to write about.

For the reader, if you think there should be something for me to write on, do let me know!

Lol..

Has it ever happened to you, when it seems as if life came to a standstill.

Imagine yourself as standing neck deep in a pond filled with cold water... surrounded by mountains all around. Not a soul around. Fall has long gone.. The trees are barren.. The sun prepares to set behind the mountain range close-by. The sky displays an amazing aura befit only for a painter's imagination. There is beauty all around... a fiery beauty... a beauty that does entice you, but does not necessarily make you happy.

In spite, you are standing neck deep in the pond.... and then you close your eyes...

Nothing to worry about.... its so peaceful out here.... so so peaceful....

It almost reminds me of my favorite tune from Enigma - Mea Culpa -
"Take a deep breath, close your eyes..."

Miles to go...

2012-08-23T21:27:00.001+05:30

Been away from the blogosphere for some time now and I decided to give it a shot today.

The reason was a dream I had in the afternoon today. I saw that I had walked to the cremation grounds and intended to speak to the officials for my own cremation. There was no one with me. It was just that I was to die in a few minutes and I was negotiating with the officials so that they can arrange volunteers to carry out the ritual. There were a heap of bodies lying nearby with family members of the deceased wailing relentlessly. At a distance, few people were singing hymns in praise of the all powerful.

A pungent smell was emanating out of the nearby electric burners where two dead bodies had been cast into. Was the smell of burnt flesh and skin in the red hot burners.

In any case, I was waiting for my time and suddenly I experienced death approach me and I was terrified. Felt a strange kind of suffocation and that is when I woke up.

I believe it was a one-off dream and probably a left over of a recent cremation I attended. I do not intend to read much into it.

I still have "miles to go before I sleep..."

Lull before the storm

2012-07-01T21:07:00.002+05:30

I do not need to generally write in third person, coz. views expressed in this blog are public and I do appreciate and respect that. I have my own diary, which is a blog too, to which only one person has access and that is ME! lol! :D

So, matters too private, are left for that blog.

Now, you may have opened this post after reading the title "Lull before the storm". Well, why did I choose such a title? :-)
To be frank, the weather outside is bright and sunny here at King of Prussia, my current place of stay. So, it is more of an internal feeling, an intuition if I may say so.

You know, when I was a kid, I used to react to situations instantaneously, sometimes without thinking. And often I paid a heavy price for it. As I grew older, with time, I realized that one should never do or say things in haste, without thinking thoroughly each pro and con. In the process, decisions may get delayed, but chances are more that I would not make a wrong decision. When I look at myself today, I do try to maintain that.

So, whenever there is a situation that tends to provoke me, I try to stay calm, keep a cool head on my shoulder and then decide. Silence does help too, as I am able to do much soul searching and introspection.
In today's age of social networking, people tend to stay busy, looking at home pages, friend's status messages, 'liking' stuff, commenting etc. But in the process, we probably tend to think less. We do not invest the much needed time. Its as if OLTP (Online Transaction Processing) only and not OLAP (Online Analytical Processing). My friends from the Data Warehousing background would know well the difference between the two. LOL :D

Sometimes I feel, life was simpler during the pre-social networking era. Relationships tended to be less complex. People had lesser chance to peep at each others' personal lives, so everyone tended to be content.
Times have changed.

A study recently published said that people who spend maximum time on social networking sites tend to get more frustrated over time. You can read through the article with the hyperlink I provided.

Anyway, it seems that solitude would be ideal for now...

Sorry, I thought I could explain my title more in this post, but figured, it would best be left for my private blog.

Until next time...

Lets not expect :-)

2012-06-06T22:20:00.001+05:30

Hmm... in a mood to write something down. Not sure what... lol

Well, the thing is, I wish to stop expecting. But "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride."

So, I am trying to write myself a dummy's guide on how to stop expecting.

First and foremost, let us do away with the idea of give and take. Life is not a trade, is it? Most of the times, the issues arise because, we are trained to expect favors in return for favors. When that does not happen, all hell breaks loose.

Second, let us have this notion that the grass is not greener on the other side. Come on! Look closely. Each one of us have problems - one way or the other. Even the ones who think they do not have problems are in the illusion that everything is good. Its a fact - NO ONE IS HAPPY. So, let us try and appreciate the qualities others have instead of giggling over shortcomings. Let us be empathetic towards each other. Here let me point out I am not talking about sympathy, I am talking about empathy. There is a marked difference between the two.

Sympathy is what we feel when we see a homeless begging for food on the street. We look and move on, forget the feeling after a moment.

Empathy is what we feel when we imagine how it would have felt had we been in that person's shoes... begging in the scorching heat, hunger burning inside, perspiration taking a huge toll, countless glances towards us which show more of hatred towards a germ of society, rather than love. Yes, if you have ever felt that, that is called empathy.

Anyway, the third point would probably be in being complacent with what we have. Yes, in developing countries like India, the difference between "haves" and "have nots" drive people crazy. They compete against each other fiercely trying to be the first to hit the jackpot. However, one fine day, we realize that while we were busy merely running after an illusion, we forgot to live life. We forgot to have fun. We forgot to appreciate what we had. Our hair turned grey and we lost precious moments of our life.

So, it is probably important to be complacent at times, being happy with what we have, rather than brood over what we do not have.

In short, let us not expect. Let us plant a seed each day, rather than dream of reaping dividends.

At peace with myself

2012-05-25T20:33:00.000+05:30

Hmm... a gradual home coming to the stability of my thoughts, feelings... a feeling of settling down... going back to my roots, going back to where I belong... the feeling of being grounded... accepting adversities to be a part and parcel of life... Its like that illusion of an obstacle I saw in a movie many years back... You see an obstacle, get terrified, limited by it... But someone tells you - go ahead, there is nothing there.. its only an illusion... The protagonist walks ahead, circumspect at first... But then he just transcends through it unaffected...

Obstacles in real life are just like that. They are obstacles as long as we make them as such. The moment we take them head-on, they let us pass through unaffected.

So, was there an obstacle that I faced? Probably not... probably yes.

My sense of justice and being fair to everyone does get the better of me at times, does leave me drained and strained. But that's how I am. Take it or leave it.

At the end of the day, the only feeling that I sincerely hate is the feeling of guilt - the feeling of doing wrong to someone. I would rather take the blow, than give it... :-)

I am finally at peace with myself...

Trying out mobile blogging

2012-04-09T02:25:00.001+05:30

Hey, just got this blogger app that lets you blog from your phone, thus increasing your ability to make the most of your laziness... Lol. So far so good. Life is changing thick and fast for me and probably for the better. I have been feeling pretty strong off late and developed a habit of keeping myself busy with a variety of myriad interests, trying to develop self reliance more than anything else. So far so good... But gotta admit that blogging from phone is cumbersome... But it works lol.. Until next time... :)

My experiments with past life regression - 02/12/2012

2012-02-13T06:51:00.003+05:30

Past life regression has been my area of research for a long long time and I am someone who frankly believes that our actions in this life are hugely influenced by what we did (or were) in our past lives. I am open to criticism, but, well that's what my belief is. Few years back I procured media files of renowned past life hypnotherapist Dick Sutphen and began my work on knowing myself better - why I do what I do... I believed some of the behavioral answers could be hidden in how we spent our life in the past. I had been trying self hypnosis for a long long time, but although I had minuscule visions of places, events... they never really took concrete shape, until today when I was hell bent on doing it and it seems to me, I was successful.

I am recording all of these in detail in my blog, not for people to read (although I'll appreciate you reading and commenting on it), but rather for my own records which I could refer to in future.

As the self hypnotherapy session began, it was a very very slow process. Slowly my body went completely numb and I was unable to even move a single finger unless instructed by Mr Sutphen. Gradually I entered into an altered state of consciousness where I could hear each clock tick in my room, but I did not have the capability to even scratch my back.

Here is the vision I had.

I found myself to be a girl of 15 years around the year 1927. The place appeared to be somewhere in Bengal, India. As far my dress was concerned, it was a simple saree worn in traditional bengali way as in earlier days. I was bare-footed. The location appeared to be a vast field, lots of greenery and trees.

When I scanned my life for important events, I found it difficult to find any, probably as I had been a simple bengali house wife in those days. The only vision I had was that of my husband standing alongside me in front of a mirror and I was beautifully dressed up in a saree and ornaments. He appeared to be a zamindar or someone from the royal family.

Upon further scanning my life, I found myself to be a widow, seemed a lonely elderly woman with white saree. It seemed that her last stage of life was spent in spiritual thoughts. She did not appear frail, rather a bit on the plump side.

Well, that's all I saw.

I would leave it to you to believe this or not to believe this.

As far as I am concerned, I have never ever dreamt of anything similar or even close, so this was a new experience for me. I shall continue researching on this subject as there are many questions which need answers. I am not sure if this particular life was the immediate past life before my present life or I had an intermediate life in between.

Also, I need to validate whether this vision repeats itself or if I am able to get more details out of it.

In closing this article, let me tell you, I am a man of flesh and blood in this life and neither I behave like a woman, nor I am a gay. So, please do not make fun of me only coz I saw myself as a woman in an earlier life.

Criticism, comments, questions, suggestions... all welcome.

Juggling with my life...

2011-12-10T22:27:00.001+05:30

Hello World

I am back after quite some time. Lately I have been juggling around with my life, trying my hand at a variety of things to keep myself busy and engrossed. But as they say, you go round a full circle, so I ended up with my old blog once again. I am pretty sure. Much have changed by now. Most of my blogger friends have forgotten me. Vimmu was supposed to get married, he might have had a kid by now. ROFL! Nikhil had a blog titled "Mirror Cracked". He may have created a 9th version of it. Indyeah... well not sure, what she is upto. Alice may have wrote hundreds of more poems. And there are few whom I forgot lol! Shweta, for example, has forgotten that her name was preposterous girl. :D hmmm....

Anyway, so how have I been! ...would be your question. Well, I have had lots of ups and downs in life. At one point in time I was at the pinnacle and then hit the rock bottom and currently I am hanging somewhere in the middle. Now, please do not get ideas or do not assume things. And, I won't explain further.

I think I have lost a bit of flair of my own writing. But I'll catch up. Few days of blogging will churn out the best of me once again.

Enough for this post after such a long long time. I am off to see what others have been up to, while I had been away.

PS. A few comments would inspire me to write more. So, please feel free. Spammers, please find another site and spare me! LOL!

......................................................

2011-09-19T03:22:00.000+05:30

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrfZUSFGRLs

Same here ;-)

2011-03-12T18:53:00.007+05:30

We use "Same here" every day - spares us the agony of repeating the other person's mannerisms or words all over again. We preserve our energy. Its almost like using a pronoun instead of a noun.

View this: Mohan had to go to Mohan's friend Sohan's birthday for which Mohan decided to buy Mohan's friend Sohan a beautiful umbrella!! [err... umbrella because I could not think of a better gift... brain jam, you know]. Anyone who has been to elementary English classes would know that use of pronouns would improve this sentence.

Now, view this: The use of "same here" or "same pinch" or "same to you" goes on similar lines. We wish someone Happy New Year and he/she replies... "Same to you". Yeah, right, it would have taken much more energy to say.. "Wish you too a lovely new year ahead" :-)

So, energy conservation is the order of the day. Personally I never liked "Same pinch". Oh come on why the hell would you want to pinch me only because I tried to wear a colorful shirt today and as luck would have it, you happened to wear the same color!! Then there would be a "New pinch"... why coz. I had made the mistake of wearing a new shirt as the old shirt was stinking already. I mean - Do you want me to stink even more by continuing with the same damned faded old shirt? :-D And not to mention -- "Ooh it hurts!" During the school days, people used to look for opportunities for "Same pinch" and "New pinch". If the opportunity was to pinch the guy who had complained about me to the teacher a week back, NOTHING LIKE IT!!! :-P :-P :-D

[don't think I did it... :-P :-D]

Now, back to the topic "Same here"... imagine the following conversation between two people...

A: How are you?

B: Good and you?

A: Same here.

B: You know something, I watched the movie "Gili gili foo" yesterday and absolutely loved it.

A: Same here. Lets go to the nearest coffee joint and sit and discuss. Need some coffee... had a hectic day today.

B: Yeah... same here.

A: Arreh I did not notice you are wearing the kurta I gave you on your last birthday!! New pinch!! **pinches B hard**

B (almost numb with the pain inflicted by now): Ahh.. yeah.. hmm.. ok..

Now... why do we need a same here, here? We could replace Same here with say, alpha. Only Oxford dictionary would need to define Alpha as :

Alpha(n/v): Implies 'same here'. When a person notices his emotional state or dress or belonging is same as the person to whom he or she is speaking. So, the same conversation would now look like:

A: How are you?

B: Good and you?

A: Alpha.

B: You know something, I watched the movie "Gili gili foo" yesterday and absolutely loved it.

A: Alpha. Lets go to the nearest coffee joint and sit and discuss. Need some coffee... had a hectic day today.

B: Yeah... Alpha.

A: Arreh I did not notice you are wearing the kurta I gave you on your last birthday!! New pinch!! **pinches B hard**

B (almost numb with the pain inflicted by now): Ahh.. yeah.. hmm.. ok..

However, in the good old days of 20th Century, when "same here" had not been invented (in all probability), the conversation would have gone in the following manner:

A: How are you, B?

B: I am doing good. How about you?

A: Yeah, I am doing all right too.

B: You know something, I watched the movie "Gili gili foo" yesterday and absolutely loved it.

A: Yes, "Gili gili foo" has a wonderful story. The acting and direction were simply top class. Lets go to the nearest coffee joint and sit and discuss. I badly need some coffee... had a hectic day today.

B: Yeah... it is terrible these days. The work pressure gets onto you and often, you find it difficult to handle.

A: Oh I had not noticed before. That's a new Kurta that you are wearing tonight. And how lovely! Is it not the one I had gifted you on your last birthday?

B: (with a mild smile) Yes, it is..

PS. The movie "Gili gili foo" does not have anything to do with Adam Gilchrist's retirement from Australian International Cricket! :-D

PPS. Let me tell you a secret. Someone once wished me "Happy Birthday" and I replied "Same to you" in the flow, although it was not his birthday that day! :-)

Note: If you thought this was an entirely useless post, well, you are not alone, I too think on similar lines. In fact, "Same here". :-D

Rakesh and Priya

2011-03-10T07:03:00.005+05:30

...Rakesh was loving the feeling. He had a whale of a time with the girl he met online. Both seemed to like each other very much. She had something in her past which would not allow her to settle in the present. Memories seemed to haunt... haunt forever... yet whenever she visited Rakesh's awesome blog, his energetic posts, she felt rejuvenated. Priya had always been a bubbly chirpy girl. She could not keep feelings to herself. Feelings are to be shared - was her motto in life.

...blood... blood was spattered all around... darkness, melancholy, a deep sense of loneliness captured the scene. Priya woke up. Panting... deep breaths... tears in her eyes... oh.. what a nightmare... is it something that was inevitable... is it her past? ..her present? or her future?

After a moment taken to compose herself, she sat up straight on her bed, eyes set on the ticking wall clock... no, her present was happy.. she had happily forgotten her past... cast it into oblivion.. oh gosh, she was late. Again she would be late for her classes, but who cares. The same professor, the same blackboard, almost the same notes... She remembered Rakesh. Oh she likes his posts so much. The stories relate to her. It seems astonishing how one could write something where the protagonist of the story and the writer had never met and yet knew each other so well. Was she the protagonist herself or was the protagonist her clone? Rakesh would not reveal. She had only become addicted to his blog so much that each of his posts had to be commented on. She felt he was the only person in the world who could understand her... but alas, did he feel the same about her? She could not tell...

...there was a seminar in progress at the renowned Taj Hotels, Mumbai.. the speaker had so many charts and diagrams to present... but he could not concentrate. Why oh why had a girl occupied his mind? He thought he was immune to feelings.. Love was of course not for him. He empathized with the girl he had been interacting with daily. Her past was not the best. He tried to provide her with the cushion so that she may feel better.. that was it. But was that all? They had recently exchanged cell numbers as well. And the smses seemed to flow freely. He had so many female friends before. Is she different? No.. why the heck... he is happy in the corporate sector. He has his own gamut of friends.. he loves the life he lives... why should he get involved in something at this juncture in life? beep beep.. he looks at his cell phone.. one more message.. "Sweet heart, what are you doing? I loved that story you wrote.. related so much to me.." Rakesh's fingers automatically went to the "reply" button...

Time and tide wait for none... so this went on and on and on... till the time Priya felt - was this relation taking them anywhere? Is it only about blogging and commenting and chatting... would there be a culmination of this relation? is this infatuation? is this love? Yes, this is love... how would one otherwise define the ease with which both of them mingled... the understanding was profound... the intellects were shared... the likes and dislikes... no doubt she loved him... she loved him so much... passionately... but would he ever reciprocate? Was the "sweet heart" and "love" and hugs and kisses exchanged on messages only for the paper... was he so adept at flirting with girls? No.. not at all, he loved her... oh she was sure he loved her... but, wait how could she be so sure? Is there a difference between infatuation and love or flirtation and love? She needed him. She needed him to support her. Afterall he was the one who helped her come out of the deep emotional crisis she had before... he was the one who gave her the shoulder... who knows what she could have done, had he not been there... she would be indebted to him lifelong... but still, she wants to repay the debt... yes she wants to marry him... she wants to have a fulfillment that she had been longing for such a long time... will he? will he reciprocate? No, she won't propose him. Not at all. Let it be the way it is... every relationship does not have names... not every relationship needs names... let it be the way it is... let there be the soul connect that is there... for ever... and ever... and ever...

Life here and the life there...

2010-12-13T09:49:00.006+05:30

Life goes on...

I just wonder why everything is reverse out here.

List of things that are reverse (ultaa):

1. The chauffeur's seat is on the left side in a car.

2. The zip of jackets are attached to the right.

3. The switches get turned on in the reverse direction.

4. The plug sockets and pins are of a different kind altogether which ensures that gadgets bought here have to have a converter for them to work properly there.

5. These people need to save day light and all, which means that the difference between IST (Indian Standard Time) and EST(Eastern Standard Time) which was 9.5 hours till November mid, is now 10.5 hours. This will continue till around March next year.

However, I am really happy with the courtesy sense of people in general. Whoever, you meet, never mind you know or not, will greet you with a smiling face and say "Hi", "Hello". This really leaves you with a happy state of mind and you never feel that you are an alien.

Onsite life isn't easy by any stretch of imagination. You are in charge of your own life and be assured, your sense of responsibility will be thoroughly tested. If you have a tendency to be lethargic, all I can say is "Best of luck", coz., then only luck can save you.

I came to know after coming here, why USA is considered to be a developed nation while India (in spite of being a nation to watch out for) still has miles to go.

Let me jot down few of the points:

1. Work Ethics - People are not really bothered by what you wear. You do not need a costly suit to show that you work. But what matters is - how efficiently you work and how dedicated you are. No one knows the definition of a strike. Work needs to be done and that's it. Full stop. Time management is vital.

I wonder in India, when will people understand the importance of this. We still hear - strikes being called - no one knows why! Does it really make an impact? Ambulances are still being smashed. Office windows are being broken. Doctors are taken out of their vehicles and beaten up only because they wished to attend the need of an ailing patient on the day of strike!

Our so called 'leaders' - excuse me, I call them 'dealers'... most of them are pure illiterates, with scant regard for the common mass.

logon ko burbak banaye rakhne mein hi bhalayi hai -- their motto! And man power available for cheap. Throw cash, hire goons, buy power. Simple, eh?

2. Discipline - Law is a law - not meant to be broken. But, when breaking law is fashion, who can help! Burning buses, mob lynching, burning the national flag... we do have a long way to go. People respect law and order here, and there are far fewer mishaps and vandalism. Police is feared. I do not say, there is no corruption. Everywhere, there is.... But the extent of corruption is far lesser, which is why the whole system is far more organized. The only catch is -- too much system dependency sometimes come in the way of common sense.

3. Population - This should have been the first point. Hum do, humare do... is still not working for a humongous part of the population. The result - geometric growth of population. Add to that - the growth of illegal immigrants. Whatever be the GDP growth, every penny is being eaten up. USA does have stringent immigrant rules and they DO implement them properly. Not so in India. Bangladesh, Nepal especially have extremely porous borders - not to mention Pakistan and China.

4. Education - Let me give a simple example. If you go to a Big Bazaar or City Center in India, or any of the shopping malls, go to any section and start looking for items. In no time, you would see a sales 'associate' appearing from nowhere. Even if you don't ask for help, he or she will continue to notice your every movement. Come on, are we all kleptomaniacs? Besides, this is so disrespectful. However, it happens only in India. The reason.... mishaps happen, things are stolen. Remember? ...breaking law is the fashion. So, normal people bear the brunt of a few miscreants. Not so in the US. You are left alone. Do whatever shopping you want. They do have technology (read spy cams) to take care of the monitoring part. But at least, it is not disrespectful. The trust is very much there. Now, why did I write all of these under Education... because education alone instills moral values. When you have moral values, when you know - snatching and stealing things is immoral, everything has a value and needs to be paid, these things do not occur. I don't care - how many million graduates pass out every year. What I wish to see is - those disrespectful glances should not hinder me, when I am trying to decide which shirt would fit me better. Way to go.......

Back to onsite life. The good part is - I can cook confidently now! So, you won't understand how happy that makes me feel. I always felt handicapped, when my friends used to boast of their culinary abilities. I can confidently match them now. :P

However, all said.... do I miss my country? Oh yes, I definitely do...

Journey to US

2010-11-14T05:32:00.008+05:30

Friends, it has been a long time, since I posted last. Actually the shift from India to US ensured that I did not have time for many of my favorite pastimes including 'blogging'. Its not been too long that I have landed here. Whereas the onsite life has its own challenges, it does present in front of you a gamut of opportunities. So, from here on, till the time I reach India again, every post would detail out my life here.

To start, let me tell you friends, that this was my first flight. haha!! Never ever did I fly before and that too a complex route - Kolkata-Dubai, Dubai-JFK, JFK-Philadelphia. Being alone, with two huge trolley bags and a hand luggage, it was quite a challenge... made worse by the fact that I was an absolute novice. Prior to this, I had hardly left my state West Bengal and here I was leaving India altogether for the land of a certain Mr Obama.

I would detail some interesting pieces of my journey - which I hope you people would like.

1. Air-hostesses of Emirates
Emirates is worth flying not only for the hospitality that they provide but also for the beautiful air-hostesses. Irrespective of the race, each one of them were special. Right - They are taught to smile, their profession demands it. But the beautiful aura exuded by them cannot be taught by any institute. From the Kolkata airport, I boarded the flight and was pleasantly surprised by the gadgetry. It took me some time and some sideways glances at other co-passengers to figure out how each of the devices worked. (Remember I was a first-time flier). A certain friend had suggested me to find the washroom first as that is the most important place to go while on air. As I could not figure that out, I had to ask one of those maidens as to the exact location of the place. She readily showed me the way. Incidentally there were two foreigners (not sure which country) sitting right in front of me. The lady gave me a look which suggested I had made a cardinal sin in asking that question! Any way... was good fun otherwise. The food was delicious - not too much, not too less, just what was required. The rest of the trip till Dubai - I browsed through the numerous playlists available and slept the rest of the time. Finally I arrived Dubai.

2. Ordeal at the Dubai airport
Dubai Airport is probably one of the best in business throughout the world. Not only because of the huge area but also because of the glitz and glamor associated. I was lucky enough to have a guy walking with me who incidentally hailed from Kolkata like me. Given the complexity of the route, it was only because of him that I could figure out the correct terminal within a short span of time. While at the Dubai airport, we strolled a little bit and admired the sales expo in progress. The local time was 2AM, but it was difficult to interpret seeing how busy people were.

3. Dubai to JFK
In the flight I had pre-selected a window seat, but had to give it up when an elderly man requested me through an air-hostess that he needed that seat as his old mother was seated next to me and was a first time flier. I agreed reluctantly and got placed in the middle seat in the next row in between a middle aged lady and a Thai guy. The seat had been swapped alright - but my lunch and dinner? This I found out later - My meal preferences were actually tagged to my seat, Since it was a completely unofficial arrangement, the beautiful air-hostesses completely forgot that the seat had been swapped. Resultant - My meals were being delivered to him. By the time, someone found this out - the guy had already eaten 2 puris out of the slotted 4 that the airline provide. When asked if he had touched the food, he said, "No" and I, in the spirit of sportsmanship said, "No probs, mate" :D. Later some extra delicacies were also served to my seat number (old) and I drank some water instead.

4. At the JFK Airport
After a hugely time taking journey of around 13 hours, I reached the JFK airport. Complied with the essential requirements - immigration checks etc etc, collected the luggage (as it was the port of entry), handed the luggage back over to Delta as they would transport them to my final destination and called home. I had bought calling cards from Kolkata. So, calling home was not supposed to be a big deal. However, I was unable to find the right telephone which would accept the calling card. Finally I was able to detect one and called home. Satisfied that an important task had been done, I decided to go to the terminal from where my flight to Philadelphia would commence. As I found out, I needed to board an air train which took me to the required terminal. By that time, I was already feeling something in my stomach (I was hungry, silly). Once I reached the terminal, I decided to have some snacks from Starbucks and water. Snacks was okay, but when I asked for water the lady handed me over another snacks and billed me. I was surprised because I had asked for water. Later when I looked for the label - the pronunciation of the thing was similar to 'water'!!! I had to actually finish the food, go back there and this time, I pulled up a bottle myself (didn't risk telling her again) and asked, "How much?"
I was back at my seat, waiting impatiently for when the flight would show up on the charter. The bottle was meanwhile stranded in my hand. I was extremely thirsty, but could not quench my thirst, because (you won't believe the reason), I was unable to open the seal !! Two elderly ladies looked at me and one of them commented, "You would need to open that.." ..(as if I did not know that). Bisleri or Kinley bottles in India are easy to open. But here it took me quite a while to drive a nail in between the seal and flip it open. Finally satisfied, I sipped into the water...

5. Reached Philadelphia airport.
The plane was hardly on air for 35 minutes, when the pilot announced to tie the seat belts again.
Everything was fine at the airport... only MY LUGGAGE HAD NOT ARRIVED!! It drove me crazy figuring out where to complain. First I knocked at the Continental Airlines office and they were surprised to hear about Emirates. Seemed they heard the name for the first time!! Then I found out Delta office (I was sweating profusely by then... after the numerous carousal checks and all) and reported the issue to them. They took down my complaint and as I was returning, I asked them, "Is there a point in looking for the luggage one last time?". One of the ladies replied, "Yes, please go ahead." And voila! It was there. My trolley bags were looking at me and smiling. :))

I took a cab and came to my apartment, where a certain gentleman was supposed to receive me and hand over my key. Unfortunately he was not there and a letter stared at me, titled "WELCOME TO THE US". There were directions for me to visit to a colleague's place nearby and I pulled the already worn out luggage (and worn out myself) to his place. Later I shifted to this place, after staying over for 3 nights at 2 different hotels.

Bits and pieces

2010-07-23T03:29:00.009+05:30

Hello World

I have been bad! I have been irregular! I have neglected my blog!
Curse me... and when you are through, let me pause and then start afresh with a brand new post.

Not sure if that would interest you, but I work in weird hours these days. Skeptics love to call me the watchman!! LOL :D Yeah.. that's my work on demand for now.

I may look rusty in this post as I have not been writing since quite some time now. So apologies upfront.

Being awake till 3-4 AM every day does take its toll, although the watchmen of my building won't complain. They have a new colleague in me, for free that is. More sincere (seriously) and more alert.

Let me brush up on few of the updates which needed my comments:

1. The surprise wedding of Mr Dhoni with a certain Sakshi
2. "Meow"ist uproar all over India
3. Rise of Paul - the octopus

Well, there are many more, but these caught my attention and probably of most of you.

1. The surprise wedding of Mr Dhoni with a certain Sakshi:
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, after a string of pseudo-affairs and hush hush media coverages hurriedly took position beside the bride in Sakshi Singh Rawat. The whole affair was done in such quick time, that the Indian media was literally caught napping. Since enough have already been said about the wedding, I would shut my mouth and let you read through the links.

One can only hope that the Indian Cricket Captain's fortunes take a correct turn after entering this new phase of his personal life.

2. "Meow"ist uproar all over India:

This is not the cute 'hulo' I am talking about. This is a fierce member of the cat family which has sharpened its nails so much that the security forces are biting the dust. With all kinds of arrangements and 'booby traps' (as they say in the army), the ratio of police personnel killed with respect to the cats is still close to 1:1. Blame it on the politicians and their lack of foresight, which contributed to the situation. Today they are as powerful as some of our paramilitary forces. What is happening is not good for the nation, however why this is happening can probably be attributed to the mismanagement of people and resources at the grass root level and the ever lasting politics.

3. Rise of Paul - the octopus

Hail the king! Hail the king! - They say. They are not German for sure. They are the Spanish crowd. As an octopus is being given credit for correctly guessing the results of 8 out of 8 matches in the just concluded World Cup. One thought Shakira was the biggest attraction in this World Cup, but an octopus has overshadowed her popularity in a matter of few days. Scientists say that 8 out of 8 guesses is not that big a deal if we take into consideration the probability theory of mathematics. But the common men wish to believe the uncommon. So from Bipasha Basu to Maradona, everyone was left stunned.

I could not resist myself from sharing this image of Maradona with the legendary Paul, albeit a cartoon, is very realistic. [Photograph courtesy: Facebook]Finally: The latest joke doing the rounds in India
Someone asked Paul: "Will we see India play in any FIFA world cup in our lifetime?" Hearing the question, Paul faints."

There is a humorous article on this @Faking News. Read on and enjoy!!

Brand value

2010-06-23T19:53:00.000+05:30

Brand is nothing but a name. A name which has fame. A fame which ultimately provides 'value' (perceived or actual) to the followers/customers/stake holders.

Brand can be an apparel, a tech tool, could be just about anything. And we can also be brands - the way we project ourselves. I have seen people known by organizations. "Oh you know that guy is from 'so and so institute' "... or "Oh he is bound to do it, since he had such and such background".

Ok. These are perspectives. A classic case of reflected glory.. whereas the truth is organizations and institutions of repute would be mere structures of brick and mortar, had it been not for the people who make them special. So, who are they?

There comes the question of brand. If an organization is a brand today (think about it - a mere structure), why can't we be?

I had written in an earlier post that a certain TITAN is so much more revered than the HMT, but there wasn't much technological difference between the two (when they started off). Its just about the way TITAN projected itself, that today we are prepared to shell out substantial bucks to have one.

It would be interesting case study to see what TITAN did differently from HMT.

In line with that famous statement, "Winners do not do different things. They do things differently"..................

....friends, can you tell me what they did differently?

Rants

2010-05-22T07:49:00.003+05:30

Hi friends

Once more cut off from the blogosphere.. it had to do more with the work pressure, lack of time, lethargy and the addiction to Facebook. However, afterall a blog is a blog! No social networking site can ever replace it. So, am back!

Much have happened in the interim! The IPL saga and the T20 disaster have literally put a stop on any cricketing interest that I may have had till date. Not sure whether it would be resurrected. To say bluntly, the BCCI and Mr Modi have ensured that our boys do not have any energy left when it comes to playing international cricket. Its amazing to note how money and politics can ruin a fabulous game. People who do not know anything about cricket are at the helm of affairs, making matters worse!

On my personal front, its been like a breeze. Routine work mostly and many ad-hoc tasks. Nothing more to share really. Searching for stories do not help. So, let me stop right here.

Until next time...

Please donate for a good cause!

2010-03-20T20:34:00.001+05:30

Hi friends

Please visit this page and donate for a good cause.

http://www.giveindia.org/give/pledgepage/chiranjib

Give India !!

2010-03-20T19:53:00.002+05:30

When was the last time you provided food to an orphan?
When was the last time you gave clothes to a beggar?
When was the last time you fed ailing babies on the streets?

Well, the volley of questions above was not to baffle you, neither is in a bid to write something off-beat! Rather, the aim is to turn the attention towards something we forget while running through our daily chores - CHARITY! We forget that we, indeed, are more fortunate than many others. At least, we do not need to think about two square meals a day, a shelter over our heads, pieces of clothes to keep us warm in times of chilling winter. But believe me, there are people in this world who struggle for these BASIC necessities. Pity, we cruise through our fashionable clothes donning sunglasses ad what not! We feel overawed by a guy who just bought a brand new car, wishing, "Oh! I could not achieve that!". It is really good when we look up, strive for betterment, strive to achieve bigger goals. But, in a bid to do all of these, we often forget those people, who also had a dream - who dreamt for a shelter, a bowl of rice... those children, we couldn't care less about, still work in the roadside dhabas - to hell with the child labor laws and all - who cares! Yet, we never protest! Even, myself, the self proclaimed blogger and writer - I write, yet do not have enough capability to drag that child out of that damned dhaba and give him some food and water.

The question is - how much can we really do! Readers may argue - "We are busy with our jobs" "Careers take away most of the precious times" "But how can we help?"
Exactly so - I was indeed waiting for that last question. How can you help! Well, I just received a mailer from Indiblogger to write blogs for the cause of charity and I thought - why not!

Here is what needs to be done.
1. Visit the Give India page. What is Give India?

"What is GiveIndia?

GiveIndia is a NGO that raises funds for the poorest of the poor in India by helping you donate money to 200+ trustworthy charities. All NGOs on GiveIndia have been screened for transparency and credibility."

Please go to this page. Here is the url in case the click does not work.
http://www.giveindia.org/default.aspx
2. Register to the site. Go through the links. You would find plenty of Indian NGOs associated.
3. Login and find the links to donate. Options include getting an amount deducted from the payroll every month through your company payroll. Several companies are listed there which could be found in the drop down menu.
Last but not the least, this donation for charity comes under the purview of Income Tax benefits under section 80G (50% tax benefit). Yes, you would receive receipts.

Friends, let us come together! Say YES to charity! We would earn lots, but donation towards needy ones would really go a long way in putting a smile on some of these faces.

The Fat regime!

2010-03-18T09:29:00.005+05:30

I was browsing my Igoogle page for the daily updates this morning and decided to add a new frame - guess what! The Fat Loss window! However, I am pissed off on seeing the tips! Whatever I love to gorge on are a strict NO NO! It's something like window shopping that I am doing right now - seeing the tips, appreciating it wholeheartedly, however I am apprehensive about trying them out.
Indian cuisine as such is very spicy and when we consider the subset Bengali cuisine which I am so fond of, things get hotter and spicier. Take the instance of the simply 'machher jhol' or fish curry in English. My mom is an artist when she cooks it for me. But take my word, it is spicy! Indian restaurants worldwide are a favorite destination for people from almost every nationality. However, many of them are either run by a Pakistani or SriLankan. Of course, food, in this part of the world is almost the same. Yet the name is in favor of "Indian" cuisine.
In a bid not to divert from the topic, today's tip in Igoogle tells me:
"No carbs after 9 p.m. Eat no bread, cereal, or pasta until morning. Extra carbs eaten at night often convert to fat."
Ironically, we follow sort of a reverse order. Our breakfast is the most light and this is the order.
BreakfastLunch>Dinner
We should have a heavy breakfast, then the body is able to burn out the calories gained during the entire day of movement. When we have a heavy dinner, and go to sleep immediately or sometime later, our body hardly gets the chance of burning down the calories, instead they get absorbed into the body and turn into fat.
With an work culture, such as mine, I hardly ever get a chance to exercise apart from the regular 20 minutes of walk that I do daily while getting back to home. Ahh.. I should not give an excuse, but really, that's the way things stand at the moment.

The Blogo-gloom?

2010-03-17T09:44:00.004+05:30

Recently Alice commented on an earlier post of mine on the growing blogo-gloom! Now, what is that! For those who are not very accustomed with the term, well, it simply means 'a gloomy atmosphere in the blogosphere'. By gloomy, we mean, more and more people are feeling more and more reluctant than ever to write full fledged blog posts. Why is that? Let me take this opportunity to scrutinize it a bit further.

With the advent of high tech social networking sites and micro-blogging sites, are people more inclined to write within a sentence or two, whatever they feel like?

Facebook and Orkut, the two premiere social networking sites have n-number of features which make it easy to share thoughts, comments, pictures, videos, articles and what not! With the age of less time-more work, more and more people are hooking on to them. And yes, how can I forget Twitter. Of course it is the mother of micro-blogging!

The resultant, writing a long blog post and meticulously placing relevant photographs, making the content catchy and beautiful is not exactly the order of the day, any more!

However, there is a different kind of flavor in full fledged blogging and helps to bring out the true writer in you, which can never be accomplished through bits and pieces commenting and status updates.

Regarding the intermittent gloom in blogosphere, well, I am pretty sure that this is a temporary phase. Everyone needs varieties. [At least I need]. Life usually goes a full circle and would be true in this instance as well.

So, when the phase of Facebooking and Twittering is over, blogging will return. For me, it has already... that is exactly why, you are seeing this blog post.

Alice, I broke my jinx. Let us see when others break...

Khichdi...

2010-02-20T11:08:00.003+05:30

Hi friends

How are you all? I regret not have written for quite some time now... guess it had to do with those 'trough' phases when I would just love to stay within me. Well, to compensate, I did paint two graffitis on Facebook, not the best you would see, say in a Public Gallery. But well, it felt nice to see that some creativity is still left, after the daily chores.

What about you all!! Recently Preposterous girl told me that my comment page is disabled. In fact those two graffitis had played havoc on my entire blog layout - a reason in part for me writing this post! ...to set this straight!

The last week:
Packed with work and training! I did find my solitude after a tiring day at work through social networking and chatting up with old friends and acquaintances and most importantly, music!
I have recently been listening more to the likes of Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and western evergreen music of Kenny G and Yanni!

The ideal way to listen to Music:
Here are the steps I follow (and you should :P) =>
1. Switch off all the lights. Make the room dark.
2. Tune in to the music you want to listen to.
3. Keep the volume low so that it soothes your soul, rather than pounding on your ear drums.
4. Close your eyes
5. Picture beautiful scenes in connection to the tunes and feel lost.
Before you know, you would fall into a silent sleep. Ahh!! the much awaited rest for the eyes, for the soul!!

Graffiti

2010-02-16T22:00:00.000+05:30

Straight from my facebook profile... :)