To the Chief Minister of Karnataka

Dear Chief Minister of Karnataka,

I am scared and worried writing this letter to you. I am worried that, after this letter is received, if I will be beaten up or harassed by the custodians of Hindu culture. I am worried if BJP/Shree Ram Sena/Bajrang Dal/MNS or any other "messengers" of god will harass me or my family.

But nevertheless, I will write believing Shakespeare who said " A coward dies many times before his death. The valiant never taste of death but once".

As a responsible citizen of India, I am disturbed by what has happened in Mangalore recently. I am horrified to see the violence on women who were peacefully having a good time. The so called custodians of Hindu culture not only proved they are uncultured rowdies, they also brought a despicable reputation to this country in front of the whole world showing how narrowminded they are. The world will think how narrow minded India is. Fortunately, Hindu religion has faced several brutalities throughout history and came out triumphant purely because of its all emcompassing kindness and love. I am proud to have embraced hinduism that teaches love and kindness. And these hoodlums cannot taint it.

But, as a responsible citizen and an incumbent of the government, it becomes your responsibility to ensure safety to your citizens and and deliver justice to the victims. You cannot wash your hands off by making token arrests. The onus is on your government to prove to your citizens that your government and your party are indeed different.

The hoodlums of Shree Ram Sena have broken the law and it becomes the responsibility of your government to ensure that they are quickly tried according to law book. If they had organizational support, it becomes your reponsibility to ensure that their organization is tried according to law book.

You may be happy that you came to power. Please do keep in mind that you did not come to power because it was your prerogative. It was because people were tired of hopelessness from the previous government. They wanted a change that would give them hope.

It is your actions that are going to define who you are , what your party is and what your government stands for. If no action is taken, it will be construed as pure incapability and connivance and people will be justified in considering BJP as nothing but a rowdy party. Even if BJP has nothing to do with Shree Ram Sena, if history is anything to believe in, then people are justified in associating any violence happening in the name of Shree Ram with BJP's role in it. And the onus is on your government to disprove it.

If you think you have done whatever is possible and give up without concretely ensuring that we bring closure on this issue, please be sure that people of this country will have no other option but to think that BJP is an endangered party and will ensure that they will never vote for BJP. That will have impact on the national scene as well. The whole country is watching. And Indians are not fools. As for me, I am pretty sure that I am never going to vote for the party, which, until a few years back was a refreshing change for me. And that is BJP. Just imagine how many like me you might be creating who are just fed up with narrowminded religious banality.

I will finish this note with a quote from Swami Vivekananda :

"All nations have attained greatness by paying proper respect to women. That country and that nation which do not respect women have never become great, nor will ever be in future."

And then they came for me

And then they came for me

Last Thursday, Lasantha Wickramatunga, who was fifty-two-years-old and the editor of a Sri Lankan newspaper called the Sunday Leader, was assassinated on his way to work by two gunmen riding motorcycles. The Leader's investigative reporting had been fiercely critical of the government and of the conduct of its war against Tamil separatists; Wickramatunga had been attacked before.

Cellular Silence Day

This is a very valuable petition on petiononline.

http://www.petitiononline.com/30JAN09/petition.html

I would definitely support this petition.

If you do, then read the petition, support it, and turn your cell phone off.

I still cannot believe how a country can so carelessly let go of a carnage ? Was it any less than a genocide?

pointReturn

Good News India always used to give me a lot of inspiration. Here is an update from Good News India to Point Return

Why is Good News India Not Updated?

point Return

Beautiful Sunday

What a beautiful sunday december afternoon today
Sweet gentle breeze is blowing all around
Doesn't feel like a winter at all
I stand outside my balcony and look at the sky
It is azure! It is serene !It is clear
I close my eyes and feel the wind
I feel the serenity around and the peace
I feel like going by the lake side
And just meditate!sit quietly and do nothing
It is such a heavenly feeling
Makes me think
That nature has always been beautiful
It is onto us to maintain it and nurture it
And keep it beautiful
In return it keeps us peaceful
creative and happy

3 days of choking and now outrage

They may not be my relatives. They may not be my best friends. But still they were my friends, my brothers and my sisters. We were all related by our country, our motherland India. And when I heard their horror stories , their trauma, their suffering for three days, I could feel it. I could feel the pain within me. At moments, my throat would choke. My eyes would fill with tears. Why are these beautiful, peace loving innocent people of this beautiful country going through such a traumatic punishment?

I saw the story of the son calling his father and asking him to turn on TV to see what is happening and then bidding him good bye.

I saw the story of little Moshe being rescued only to be informed a few years later that he was orphaned during the bloodiest terror strikes on the beautiful Indian soil.

I saw a choked person explaining on NDTV how he has lost six members of his family while he went to park a car in the parking lot at CST railways station.

And there are many more stories. Initially there is pain in everyone’s hearts. And then comes the outrage, the anger that says enough is enough. Is it surprising anymore? Is it surprising that people have completely lost their faith and hope in the establishment that is responsible for their security so that they can do well and pay taxes and take the country forward? People have tolerated it for too long. For too many times. The anger and outrage were quite evident this time. And it was clear that people will tolerate, rhetoric and routine bullshit from the establishment. Those who tried the routine rhetoric and playing down exercise had to face the heat and will face it much more strongly if they do not understand. Shivraj Patil, Vilasrao Deshmukh, R.R. Patil et al.

Is the whole political establishment getting mindless?

How mindless can you be to say Badi Badi shehron mein chhoti baatein hoti hai?

How mindless can you be to announce Rs. 1 crore for soldiers died fighting the terrorists while their families and the whole country are still mourning?

How mindless can you be to achieve political mileage by visiting the house of Late Sandeep Unnikrishnan? So is it surprising to see the behavior of Sandeep’s father? My father would have done the same thing.

Even as we are struck in the middle of an awful security crisis, our politicians are behaving worse than children. And they are blaming the media for antagonizing the people against them?

As a citizen of India who was excited to vote, I am no longer interested in voting at all. Because I do not see alternatives. I do not see anyone worth my choice. It will be an insult to my judgement. What were Mr. Advani and Rajnath Singh doing by not attending the all-party meet? Campaigning? Don’t they realize that they have completely antagonized the people with their behavior. That was such a foolish move. People were expecting them to show up and reassure their citizens that we are all united in this difficult hour. They could have shown their camaraderie by being constructive and suggesting concrete changes. They could have shown their leadership. These were the real moments where they could have displayed leadership and responsibility. But they didn’t. Because they didn’t care. Is that the behavior of a leader that L.K Advani claims himself to be? And they expect our votes?

Hence, here we are, the people of India, in a quagmire. Left with no options to vote. Because no one deserves our vote.We are outraged, we are angered. We are kind of feeling hopeless unless we take concrete action where a common citizen has more role to play than mere voting.

This is the moment, may be, when we think of redefining our constitution. Where, we make sure that our vote goes to one who well deserves it. The one who shows to the world, our love, our might and our pride.

This is the moment, may be, when each one us starts thinking each of us as a part owner of this country, beyond tax paying and voting. And the first ownership we should display begins from who we choose to head our country and thus demanding accountability on a very determined and regular basis from them.Thats a pledge we must take.

I hope this really is the beginning of a movement, a people’s movement where each one of us will participate in.

I hope I really do not forget and get into my comfortable 8 hours job.

I hope I start dedicating a part of my life towards a better India.

I hope whenever I am disappointed I will get back my motivation by thinking about the great sacrifices that the heroes have made.

And every one is asking : How can I contribute? How can I get out of my cocoon? How can I make sure things are not taken for granted?

I am thinking too.

Perils of Street Advertising and Their Impact on Me

"Shaver Set Sir..."
"Imported Leather Purses..Imported Leather Purses..."

"Can I have a minute?...I am not a Sales Person Sir..."

This is what I face every day while walking up and down road between my house and office. And my response is similar :

"Sorry... I am in a rush..."

And everytime I tried to listen, it has been severely disappointing.

But it seems, that has made a negative impact on me finally. Or rather was about to make an impact that I always wanted it not to. About to because, I finally did not commit the grave mistake. The grave mistake of not helping a person who was genuinely looking for help.

This morning while I was walking to my office, I was approached by a person carrying a similar file that those representatives carry. I thought to my myself "Damn they are starting so early huh." Because it was really early in the morning at 7:30 a.m. And in my typical response, I said " Sorry I am in rush." Was I in rush? Absolutely no. But that is my only way to avoid hearing the crap.

And after I said I am in rush, he did not try to pursue and started walking away. And to my horror I realized that he was not someone advertising. He was merely looking for direction. I sincerely apologized to him and gave him the directions. After giving the direction, I again apologized to him for the my mistake.

I kinda goofed. But I was also happy that this event reminded me of my own commitment that I will deal every event on a case by case basis and not generalize and not act on a general perception ever.

I was happy that I did not commit the mistake. Otherwise I would have felt really upset.

Moral : Do not generalize ever. Always listen before making a decision.

Can 21st Century India throw up an Obama?

Well!! That was the question posed on IBN Live news channel yesterday. A very interesting question indeed. Suddenly Obama is a role model that every country wants to produce and every channel wants to discuss and debate upon.

Oh by the way I have been myself thoroughly impressed and inspired by the kindness, humility and openness of Obama movement who quite expectedly became a phenomenon by touching the hearts of the people where it soothes and reassures the most.

Coming to the question, I feel every nook and corner of India has produced Obama at the grassroots movement. The problems and intricacies of India have produced several Obamas.

There are so many names that come to my mind.

Who in this country does not know Kiran Bedi? She touches the same chord when people think of her.

How about Aruna Roy? The architect of Right to Information
How about Medha Patkar?
How about Baba Amte?
And there are several others.

There are several leaders in this country tirelessly working for the oppressed.

Our political system is so established that you have to work in a party system and it is such a catch 22 quagmire. Number one is, you cannot join any of the existing parties because they are so rotten. At this moment, when the elections come, good God, I cannot even think of who to vote? BJP? Congress? JD(S), CPI(M)? I just cannot think of anyone. I am pretty confident that there may be good people in these parties like some diamonds in the ocean. But they hardly make a difference.

And then, when someone thinks of starting a party, do they get money backing? people backing? encouragement? Rarely. The first question that comes to mind is, "ahh!! why the hell do they want to start a party? must be some evil intentions". This is because people are tired of the filth in the politics in India. People are tired of divisive politics. Tired of caste politics. Tired of language politics. We ask, are we moving towards a mature democracy or an immature one?

And the real leaders of this country today rather work in the small pockets and make real differences there without entering the big picture of politics.

So, I feel we have several leaders. I will not call them Obamas. Rather I wonder if Obama got inspired by them. The bottomline is, I get inspired by both.

There needs to be a movement and an upheaval and may be there will be one when the cumulative goodness that believes in no separation, that believes in unity, that believes in inclusion, that believes in healing, to stand up and take on the onus of cleaning the filth.

And when we will be proud to say : We are Democratic!! We are Mature. And many Seema Goyals need not have to go on record on TV saying "I am not proud of my country".

Happy Durga Pujo and Shubho Bijoya

Wish everyone very happy pujo and shubho bijoya. This was my 2nd year in Bangalore celebrating the pujo in a small way. Nevertheless, I got the chance to do 2 pandal hopping and enjoy some yummy hot Khichudi, Alu-Potol, Bandhakopi, Tomato chutney and paayes. The pujos were small in grandeur when it came to comparing with those in Bengal but still sweet experience. There were some nice little cultural events around.

But what makes the pujos so special is the excitement with which we wait, and the openness with which we enjoy the 4 days. Oh yes the food plays the most significant role.

So here are pictures from Bangalore Pujo.

Blogging back

Just came back from a trip to Austin, TX and Savannah, Georgia. Was in the middle of different things (not necessarily important) and was also not sure on what to blog. Hence this extended delay in the posting. Well, I will make it up with some cool pictures from Savannah where I was attending a conference of the Institute of Navigation.

Amazingly Motivational Story :: A Guy who got into Google

Read this :

A Guy Who Got into Google

NY Times Article :: End of Black Politics?

I was reading this article on NY Times. Pretty intriguing and displays some unusual complexities. As I read through, I felt how just a different perception can add a complete new dimension of complexity.

Is Obama the End of Black Politics?

Very interesting read. Pretty Long though.

Using Plastics for Waste:: Work of Dr. Alka Zadgaonkar

I read this very interesting article on goodnewsindia.com. If this is so successful, I wish it comes to every corner of the country and the plastic is taken away as soon as it is dumped down.

Alka Zadgaonkar Wrings Plastic Waste for Profit

Advanced Management Courses

Watch Chak De India
Watch Swades
Lalu Prasad Yadav's Railway Success

The above can easily run into semesters with students' perspectives etc.

OK!! Apologies for being sarcastic. :-) But it caught my attention this early morning when in a TV channel it was being shown that some management institute had screening and group discussion on Chak De India as part of curriculum.

Remember "Yeh 75 minutes tumse koi nahin chheen sakta..." ? a.k.a "Nobody can snatch these 75 minutes from you.." ?

Its Uncertain I tell you

We were all working peacefully this morning and the discussion was still on about why the heck is this diesel crisis and power crisis and will the Air conditioner stop working in the completely closed room. As usual, the possibility of conspiracy theories behind the power and diesel crisis were also being discussed.

And then there you go. Someone comes and says there were couple of blasts at a stone throw distance from our workplace. And the whole focus shifted. There were 9 low intensity blasts this afternoon in Bangalore and quite a few were pretty close (< 1-2 Km) from my house and my office. And then there were discussions, a little panic and little philosophy. To be honest, I was the philosophically boring one. I am sure my colleagues were like "Oh no not again" :-) Buts that's alright.

But I guess its high time we throw that panic out of door since its no help getting panicked. Its just a sense of excitement unfortunately. We should get this straight. Our lives have become uncertain. We might be here today. We may not be tomorrow. The home minister may condemn. Critical IT establishments may be brought under Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). Great fine. But, you cannot guarantee where a trigger may go, from a common man's security perspective.

I was having this discussion with a few colleagues some time back and they were not definitely satisfied with my point when I asked , is it better to die suddenly with a sense of security until then or is it better to live every day without any sense of security and fearing that some mindless attack may happen? I think I would go for the former.

Unfortunately, a common individual must get this that we must live life without panic and be ready to accept that one never knows when they may be at a wrong place at a wrong time. That's what happened with two unfortunate souls who died today in the blasts.

Buses, railway stations, malls, movie halls etc. are so many soft spots. Will we stop going to those places? Ofcourse not. We believe that the people in charge of the security of the community have done their pre-emtive job.

Until then blasts will happen. Innocent people will keep dying. Our ministers will keep condemning and promising not to spare the guilty.

It must have been a normal morning for the poor woman who had no clue that a blast was in store for her. It could have been you. It could be me. And we start taking these things as part of life.

Unfortunate!!

Diesel Shortage in Bangalore

Today, we got an email informing us that there is a severe diesel crisis in Bangalore. And as you know, power cuts are a common phenomena and hence many times, the offices are working on generators. And these generators work on diesel. So, diesel cut means, the generators cant sustain for long and if they cant, well!! then your guess is anyone's guess. Thats right. The work in Bangalore can come to a halt.

These so called modern offices are built with nice looking windows only to be not opened. I wish they could. That way we could turn off everything in day time and opened the windows. Its anyways fabulosly pleasant in Bangalore. But alas we cant.

We have already gotten emails asking us to shut down our systems when we go back home. And guess what !! I forgot :-) :-(

Is it possible that all offices in Bangalore might come to a halt if this crisis grows? What other ramifications can this have?

Unimaginable crisis!!

Ex-VP of IBM/HP Facing Charges of upto 10 years in prison

This is absolutely scary. If you are wondering what the heck I am talking about, then go to google and search for the keywords "Atul Malhotra", "IBM" or "HP". The news article will pop up.

Now, coming to the brief intro and the analysis, Atul Malhotra was with IBM for almost 7 or 8 years. While at IBM he gets some document containing sales strategy etc. The document was sesitive. He was not supposed to share it with anyone. Then he moves on HP. He shares it some VP at HP. Lands in trouble. HP fires him. Reports him to cops. He pleads guilty of leaking IBM trade secrets. Faces a prison term of upto 10 years in prison. Also faces a fine of $250000.

When I was reading the article on some news website, I also saw lots of comments so eager to see him punished etc. And then there some comments citing racist politics.

No doubt this guy has done something wrong.

But this issue seems to have been blown leagues and bounds out of proportion. I think, this guy never realized that what he might be casually doing might land him in such a huge trouble. Is HP trying to show, through its action, that it is some kind of honest/altruistic organization believing in complete transparency? I am sure that will be too nice a music to the ears. Several questions remain unanswered (or may be there were answered in court) :

Why was this guy so badly cornered?
Why wasnt he just warned and told that this is unacceptable and that document destroyed right there?
How does one ensure that the document is not destroyed now?
Is he being made a scapegoat? Could he be a victim?
Could it be possible that there was this casual meeting and he just casually shared the document that he thought is pretty innocuous and based on trust?

While I accept that he has done soemthing wrong, but he for sure does not deserve such a inhuman punishment.

I am pretty sure that in today's world, the organizations are structured in such a way that, some folks act in a way, buckling under the pressure of their superiors, which might land in trouble. In such cases, should those poor folks be severely punished?

Reminds me of a classic Cadence-Avanti case few years back.

These stories for sure scare the hell out of any corporate employee because they are never sure whether what they are doing is right or wrong, to be honest.

Being Busy

An interesting point is "We are always busy".

Why are we being so busy?
Is it normal to be busy?

By being busy, are we in control?
By being busy, are we exploring what we are made for?
By being busy, are we just being a machine ?
By being busy, are we taking time to introspect?


I want to be less busy :-)

BJP Claims Karnataka

That was the headlines in the morning when I turn on CNN-IBN. That has been the headline in all the channels since then and much to the chagrin of my wife, I have been glued to my TV since then. It is definitely the fun time to watch the TV. Complete Entertainment.

As usual, media predictions went which way I do not know. But definitely not the right way. And if you notice, there is a trend here by the way. Media exit polls have been going horribly wrong since quite sometime that I remember. To many this might be coming as a surprise but somehow to me, this is not coming as surprise. Because, as I watch more and more of CNN-IBN and NDTV these days, the analysis seems to be significantly lacking in objectivity. Conducting loud mouthed debates not letting everyone speak, coming to own conclusions have been some noteworthy observations that I have made. Finally, Sagarika Ghose puts it that Media has things to learn. I ask, Isnt it obvious Sagarika? Watch your own folks in debates in your channel where you do not even let people express their opinions completely. And what opinion polls are these? What basis are these being conducted? Has this been asked?

To clarify before I begin this next paragraph, let me be clear that I am not at all a BJP sympathiser. In fact, I used to be long time back. But after what happened in Godhra and how things have been handled since then, it would need some miracle for me to ever vote for them unless some other good deeds of them convince me. Inspite of that, it was so obvious to me since the beginning that this has to be BJP in Karnataka this time. How could it be not obvious?

Does that mean, people have suddenly started loving BJP? Absolutely not. And that is something, the master craftsman Arun Jaitley, the CM to be Yediruppa etc. need to keep in mind. The bottomline is, people had nothing left but to choose someone and turns out BJP was the best in the rotten lot. Forget about Congress. Dharam Singh did all his best during his tenure to ensure that a common man would never vote for Congress. Then comes the Betrayal saga. After that, it does not need too many experts, expert opinions and judgements to figure out that majority is never with people who they cannot trust. This is a fundamental philosophy of life that will stand out for ages that once you lose trust you will lose everything. That is precisely what JD(S) got.

Congress can say several things like secular vote got divided, BJP won on caste vote, BJP won on sympathy vote etc. The bottomline is, BJP is the winner and the Congress is the loser and the JD(S) is the super loser.

While this is an amazing opportunity for BJP to again prove that it is indeed a party with the difference and does not belong to the same breed of high promises and low executions.

Arun Jaitley should stop making comments like Congress is on the decline. Venkaiah Naidu and Rajnath Singh should stop making comments that BJP will rule Karnataka and India. The "rule" itself sounds like monarchy.

Infact, Yediyurappa displayed lots of humility. I hope he continues to be humble and gets some good work done fast, not only in Bangalore but in the whole of Karnataka.

In the run up to the general elections, it is completely in the hands of BJP to either capitalize on this opportunity and lose it by their own immaturity.

I hope BJP does not get swayed away by caste politics, reservation politics and religion politics. By focussing on simple things like development, infrastructure, convenient life for every individual, ease of access of everything to every individual, they will for sure ensure they will win the hearts of the people of Karnataka.

And then they will not have to rely on Expert Opinion Polls. They can be sure then that Expert Opinion Polls will predict their failure. And that will mean, they will win :-)

RTI Directory

Take a look at the following website :

http://www.rtidirectory.in/


There were two basic ideas which spurred the starting of this website.

1) The idea that two persons within close proximity to each other and
not knowing each other might file an RTI for the same piece of
information. In that case there would be some wastage of energy and
time.

2) Once a person finds information through an RTI, which is of public
importance then very few people actually get to see that information
since there is no means to disseminate it widely.

The Right to Information Directory is open for uploads from any city
and town in India. We look forward to an enthusiastic response form
applicants and browsers alike and look forward to your feedback.

The website is started by Mumbai based civic and environmental
activist Rishi Aggarwaal and developed by Wherrelz IT Solutions

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