Nobel Peace prize 2009 is being given to a person who made so many

hatred speeches

in this year itself.

This puts question mark on very existence and purpose of Nobel Peace Prize itself.

No wonder why Mahatama Gandhi never took this prize despite being nominated for five times in row.

Here are excerpt from true and motivating story -

Apex court orders Rs.10 mn compensation for medical negligence

 

Nearly two decades after Bangalore-based Infosys engineer Prashanth S. Dhananka became paralysed waist down after a botched surgery, the Supreme Court ordered the Nizam Medical Institute of Hyderabad to pay him a record compensation of Rs.10 million, while praising him for fighting the case himself though confined to a wheelchair.

 

Ordering the compensation for medical negligence to Dhananka, a bench of Justice B.N. Agrawal also asked the apex court’s registry to send the verdict to the victim through registered post at his address in Bangalore.

 

The bench also recorded its ‘deep appreciation’ of Dhananka for his having argued the entire case on medical concepts himself in the apex court with the deftness of a lawyer.

 

Justifying the payment of the compensation, the court said, the sum is justified ‘keeping in mind that a brilliant career has been cut short and there is, as of now, no possibility of improvement of his physical conditions’.

 

Dhananka, son of a Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (BHEL) employee, was admitted to the Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences in September 1990 after complaints of unexplained intermittent fever. Doctors from BHEL hospital referred him to the Hyderabad hospital for ‘further’ tests, which showed a large tumour in his left chest cavity. After an X-ray and a CT scan confirmed this, he was asked to undergo a biopsy.

 

Though the tumour was found to be benign, doctors decided to remove it fearing that it might later exert pressure on his respiratory, cardio-vascular and neurological systems. The doctors feared it could also later turn malignant.

 

A team led by a cardio-thoracic surgeon removed the tumour. In the process, a part of his ribs had to be cut. After the surgery, Dhananka, developed paralysis of the lower portion of the body, including legs.

 

No allegation of medical negligence was made then. But, six months later, Dhananka’s father wrote a letter to the institute in 1991, alleging negligence.

 

In 1993, Dhananka moved the NCDRC seeking damages of about Rs.50 million. The commission held the doctors negligent and directed the institute to pay Rs.1.4 million to him and Rs.150,000 to his father.

 

The institute moved the apex court challenging the NCDRC finding that it was guilty of negligence.

 

It contended that it had not associated a neuro-surgeon in the surgery from the beginning and had not exchanged any opinion with sister institutes in India and abroad.

 

Dhananka also approached the apex court in 1999 saying that the compensation awarded to him by the consumer court was inadequate. The court had reserved its ruling on the two cross-appeals on Sep 17 last year.

 

While calculating the Rs.10 million compensation, the bench accounted Rs.2.5 million for the loss of his prospective earning, anther Rs.2.5 million for his medical care, Rs.1.08 million for his physiotherapy, and Rs.1.44 million for his nursing and care, among other costs.

 

Earlier, the Madras High Court had in May 1993 ordered Apollo Hospital to pay compensation of around Rs.2.9 million to former national table tennis champion V. Chandrasekhar for medical negligence in treating him. The ruling had been upheld by the apex court later.

I believe it as one of the reasons that why Punjab is that ahead of those many states in terms of economy and growth – because people here are more aware and concerned about their rights/duties while states like Bihar (40%) keep asking for special status from centre government so that they can do some growth.

Please cast your vote

After lot of advertisements shown in media and still going on, nation-wide campaigns started by bodies like Tata Industries and Times Of India, I feel quite small to make this request but after reading about just around 50% voting in metro cities like Mumbai and capital Delhi, I feel that perhaps my words might make some difference.

I have been driving everyone in my contact to cast their vote. It is once in five years when you get a chance to correct your mistake and to find what wrong went in the government you voted for, if you give your vote. Otherwise you loose your right to find wrongs in government if you don’t vote at all.

That’s what I believe.

Feels good that if not everyone, some got driven. I am going to my hometown to give my vote on this Wednesday.

In the end, I would request you to please go through this link to find more wisdom on whom to vote

PS: Little disappointment does occur when you know that even in politics, reservation is introduced from back-door and there are seats where candidates only from reserve castes can fight elections but that shouldn’t stop you from thinking about the big picture.

What we didn’t know was that this president wanted to stop war being fought physically by American soldiers but  wouldn’t hesitate from starting virtual wars which might destroy other countries, that this president imagined America as planet ignoring rest of the world, that this president didn’t want to stop but shift the Economy Crisis to other countries.

Obama has been giving hate speeches before he became new American President. He has started hate war “on papers” as an irresponsible president, against India and other countries where American companies outsourced their business.

Being an Indian, I was hurt by those hate speeches and wanted to post my grievance and protest here at my place. Not sure how many people enjoy those words of this man but for me he is the worst president that I have witnessed in my lifetime .

Here is the record of hate speeches delivered by US President Barack Obama with the timelines published in Times Business on May 06, 2009 –

It’s a tax code that says you should pay lower taxes if you create a job in Bangalore, India, than if you create one in Buffalo, New York — Obama, announcing a crackdown on tax loopholes on Monday

 

I understand that the challenges facing our economy have forced children in Raleigh and Boston to compete for those jobs with children in Bangalore and Beijing — Obama at a speech in North Carolina in June 2008

 

At a time when a child in Boston must compete with children in Beijing and B’lore, we need an army of you to become teachers and principals in schools that this nation cannot afford to give up on —Obama at a college commencement address in Connecticut in May 2008

This is the president giving birth to new hate terms like Bangalored and Obamination.

Airtel

This commercial talks about impatient generation of ours. Airtel is kind of promoting that it is good to be impatient just to sell their high bandwidth service i.e. Internet Connection. The truth is that impatience is evil, be it this generation or any others in past (I agree we don’t like to wait for most of the things in our lives as compared to past generations but it doesn’t mean that we can’t wait enough for the right things to happen).

Lifebuoy

(About research of 2 buildings. One building used Lifebuoy and there was 40% increase attendance of in school going children as compared to other building – all credited to Lifebuoy. Was so funny that you can’t even find a video of this advertisement over Internet.)

It shows a research which can be dependent on multiple factors and not just a soap. If such things had worked, we might expect to come across another advertisement next month in which Dettol (another soap company) shows 50% improvement as compared to 40% improvement shown in this ad (refer to parallel war of cold-drink in advertisements in India). Or above that, another ad from a beauty soap can show 45% increase in Beauty Pageant contestants from one building as compared to other – no doubt it will definitely raise the sale for this soap in India!

Kolkata Knight Riders

An IPL team which has failed badly and even today, we all are witnessing it losing deciding match which will make it go out of tournament but thanks to its owner, a Bollywood biggie celebrity which has crafted 4 new team advertisements specially for this year’s IPL when best-bet teams in the tournament like Delhi, Mumbai and Kings XI are playing their last year advertisements. Feeling sorry for what made Shahrukh go for taking such expensive but helpless step.

Nokia

Nokia is airing only those mobiles over TV which have been least profitable for this company. Never happened to watch best selling mobiles like E71 or N85 being advertised.

I am not a regular newspaper reader. Still I insist on a regular subscription of a newspaper – thanks to the habit I got years back from Dot. In this way, I have realized that you and people around you develop another special habit somehow regular in its own unique way for news-paper and you are always benefitted from that. For example, Chunks never misses celeb articles and my knowledge is always increased from what he tells about them. Vinny whenever reads paper, keeps eye on every smallest front-page news item which we might have missed at times. And for me, over the time, I have developed habit of never missing front page and sports page everyday, and read weekly articles in every weekend’s newspaper. I have been big criticizer of Times Of India at home as well as on this blog of flaunting sex and show-off like anything in their newspaper but they always come-up with many distinct ideas, articles and columns which makes me not to unsubscribe it and keep looking for those distinct patches. There are weekly publishing which usually are of great value like one is from Shashi Tharoor and other is Times Life etc. Plus there are Page 2 articles like interviews of ministers standing in this election from same constituency and belonging to two leading parties of India – Congress and BJP. There are few other good things like these which keeps me attached to TOI.

Cutting it short, today when I visited front page of Times Life after reading rest of the paper, once again as per Times specialty, another article on (male) nudism was hanging there which turned me down and I thought of winding newspaper there itself than moving ahead when I had read a really good article in same space, last week (Courtesy Pankaj – it was about Miss India and her rising from ashes). Then unwillingly I turned to second page where this heading attracted me – Mom, I can see you now… and I went forward to read this column written by another Times Of India reader. Here were the lines from a mother written for her son who could never speak to her in his life -

My Child should belong to the entire mankind

and

humanity would be his only religion

Here is the complete article for those interested in reading -

Soul Curry: Mom, I can see you now…

 

That hoary, old diary was an eyesore. I had seen it lying unattended on an obscure shelf at our home at Galway in Ireland, where I was born. I told my father time and again to get rid of the obnoxious diary, but he always turned a deaf ear to all my entreaties.

 

Frustrated, I stopped pestering him, but it remained an enigma why he didn’t just throw away a diary with jottings in Urdu, which were Greek to my father and me, at that point in time.

 

After sometime, I left Ireland as I didn’t get along with my stepmother Annett and went to London and Cairo for further studies.

 

Years rolled by and in that time, I never visited home. By then, I had become proficient in Urdu, Persian, Arabic and Turkish. One day, when I was at the world-renowned Al-azhar University in Cairo, I got a phone call from my father’s secretary Mr Randall. He requested me to come to Galway immediately as my father was pretty unwell.

 

I had to go. The home had undergone a sea-change. Everything had been re-arranged, except for that diary, which was still there in the same position.

 

This time, the sight of it didn’t exasperate me. I picked it up from the shelf, dusted it and started flipping through its well-nigh torn pages. It belonged to a woman named

 

Shagufta, who had penned, at times pencilled, down her stray thoughts in neat and chaste Urdu. I began to read, “I would not like my child to belong to any religion, caste, class or creed. He should belong to the entire mankind and humanity would be his only religion.”

 

All of a sudden, it dawned on me that I was reading the diary of my late mother, who came from Pakistan and was not very educated. That a semi-educated Muslim woman could possess such modern thinking 30 years ago, made me all the more proud of my mother, whom I had never seen and who died when I was just an infant.

 

In no time, that diary became my greatest possession, and I felt a sense of gratitude to my father, who had never dispensed with it.

 

Today, it’s my Gita, Bible, Quran and Avesta. What she wrote in her diary summed up the teachings of all religions and faiths. She taught me to be a good human being and I’ve been striving to justify her lofty ideals in my own humble way.

 

I doff my hat to her. Mom, this is my tribute to you. I don’t even know who you were and how you looked. But, you must have been as beautiful as your thoughts. I love you, mom.

1. Enforce policy in an unbiased manner. "The best ad I’ve seen on TV in recent times is, ‘Malum hai mera baap kaun hai?"
2. Maintain high standards in everything. "Four hours away, in Dubai, the roads and buildings are better finished, because their standards are high."
3. Conduct business fairly. "A level playing field doesn’t seem to exist in India."
4. Corruption has to be weeded out at all levels.
5. Take the long view. "By the time we build an airport it becomes obsolete; when we finish constructing a road, it is already congested."

The discussed fundamentals are quite true about IT Service Industry where the managers follow theory of “false urgency”. The project deadlines are falsified and shown to the team as quite earlier than actual deadline. Then the team is pressurized to meet those deadlines by hook or crook. Most of the times, somehow team happens to meet them while some of the team-members break-down in this process. Although the project is delivered before time and customer is made happy but then customer never comes to know why some of the members shifted to other projects and some others left the org. The outcome of “false urgency” might benefit in shot-span of time but its aftereffects always haunt down the projects and the teams.

Theory of “false urgency” isn’t bad if right measurements are taken to reach at the appropriate shifting parameters and aren’t very unrealistic (which doesn’t happen in most of the failed projects).

These precautious steps can work as miracle for both kinds of projects – maintenance and start-up, if followed properly:

• Assess the business drivers behind the need:
  • Is there actually a fixed time line associated with the need?
  • If there is a fixed timeline, what additional costs can you support?
    • Additional budgetary costs?
    • Additional resource costs?
  • What consequences can you live with?
• If your requirements are reasonably complete, request a conservative estimate from the project manager.
  • Did he ask his technical leads?
  • Did they account for QA and bug fixing?
• If their estimate is unacceptable you have one of three options:
  • From the beginning provide whatever additional resources they need to complete the project.
  • Cut functionality down and plan future feature releases.
  • Start planning for the disaster recovery, because your project will fail.

The reason can be figured out hypothetically as there are never any proofs for such decisions – that there may be clear intention to open new IIM in Rajasthan just because newly formed government in that state is of Congress. There was no proposal for Rajasthan in new IIM list but just this one so called typographical mistake brought Rajasthan in picture and then it had to be included as fifth state in the list which was made for only four states initially Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu.

This all is happening when general elections are nearing. Obvious reasons for all this are to take more credit for Congress party, which all is appealingly very unfair, though. The whole story is covered from very initial stage by Indian Express newspaper and here is the latest news story -

Correcting an ‘error’: IIM for Rajasthan

 

A week after the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry’s typographical error caused the Government to announce an IIM in Rajasthan instead of Chhattisgarh in the interim budget, the UPA Government, even as it admitted to the error on Wednesday, has decided to dole out an IIM for the Congress-ruled state ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

 

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee stated the same in the Rajya Sabha, on Wednesday, in response to a debate on the interim budget and the members raising questions on the issue of setting up an IIM in Rajasthan.

 

“I announced that four IIMs in Haryana, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu would start operation from this academic session but I clarify that it was a typographical error by the HRD ministry. In 2009-10, IIMs will start in Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu. Rajasthan’s name was not there, so I am correcting the mistake in Parliament. In addition to that, Rajasthan will also be included for an IIM,” the minister said.

 

The Indian Express had first reported how an IIM had been promised for the Congress-ruled state of Rajasthan instead of Chhattisgarh in the interim budget, owing to a typographical error by the HRD Ministry. The initial plan was to correct the mistake. But Congress MPs from Rajasthan took up the issue with the Government and insisted that the promise made in the budget speech be kept. The UPA decided it would not hurt to add one more IIM to the list of six IIMs proposed under the 11th plan period.

via

Another good initiative coming from this leading newspaper and of course, I will keep posting more progress on same. Here goes the mail excerpt coming directly from Times Of India director -

Dear Friend,

 

You have often lent your voice and ideas to the issues our newspaper raises from time to time, through initiatives like India Poised. Clearly, you feel strongly for the way things are run in our country, and have a desire to be involved and make a difference.

 

Today, on the eve of the most important general elections we’ve probably ever had, the nation needs a concerned citizen like you. To ensure that we don’t waste this once-in-five-years opportunity yet again, like we have been doing for the past 60 years.

 

The Times of India is set to launch Lead India ’09, a country-wide campaign across all our newspapers, with the aim of ensuring that better candidates are put up and elected in the coming elections. The campaign will first try to put pressure on political parties to feature better candidates, by mobilizing the opinions of lakhs of thinking individuals around the country; and then act as a Voters’ Guide to help voters make a more informed choice, through detailed investigation of all key candidates in 40 urban constituencies.

 

To enable Lead India ‘09 to become a powerful peoples’ movement, it needs a core band of volunteers willing to play the role of catalysts. As a member of this core, your main role would be to ignite the minds of our countrymen – through heart-felt participation in blogs and discussion boards… or indeed by hosting your own blogs on any issue close to your heart. You would also be expected to reach out to friends in various community websites and involve them in the movement through simple pledges like ‘I say NO to criminals in politics’ or ‘I’ll not let my vote go waste’. Therefore, please let us know the social networking sites (e.g. Facebook, Orkut etc) which you are a member of.

 

So, if you want to be a change agent in this historic election, do write back to us by February 23rd and we’ll give you a special pass and pre-registration to the forthcoming Lead India ’09 website.

 

I do hope you decide to come on board.

 

Rahul Kansal

Director, The Times of India

Personally I believe that it is right to stand for a good cause or against wrong incidents, with like-minded people when you grow up enough to be in college. It is the phase when you learn and acquire leadership qualities and also get to know the world better. I got reminded of my univ days, more than few years back when law students were famous for strikes but most of the times, their reasons for strike made sense though more than three strikes in a year by same department’s students is really something to think about. We being Comp. Sc. graduates in making, were supportive enough to be part of those strikes and individually I learned some really hard lessons of life in those days. These strikes make you tough, fearless and brings leader inside you in front of you but of course, they shouldn’t go for really long period. In fact, longest strike that I ever witnessed during my study period of four years was of six days.

Coming back to the college strike, yesterday in morning there were students standing outside the closed entrance but at safe distance from road and in evening I came to know the reason behind this strike when I read those banners pasted on main gate of college while passing in front of it. Those cloth-banners read about the paid seats being offered by management of this college to undeserving students. Also those seats are too costly to be afforded by a really needy student. Definitely it is more about making money from education on management side of ITM college. Here is what my cell was able to grab of main entrance in dark night -

With no offence towards any particular community, I am only trying to point out the the shrewdness of directors Danny Boyle and Loveleen Tandan who made this movie happen which might have resulted into a blast if watched out by mass audience throughout the world.

With everyone singing hosannas to Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, let me offer an alternative perspective.

This film targets the easiest of targets: the average placid Hindu. The hero is, of course, a Muslim in India, whose mother is burned to death by an attack on Muslims by barbaric, fanatical Hindu mobs. No need for subtlety in either dialogue or depiction here; the Hindu mob says: "They are Muslims. Let us hit them," and the hapless Muslims cry as they flee in terror: "The Hindus are coming! The Hindus are coming."
To make sure his point about Hindu devilry is not missed, director Boyle has a shot of a child dressed as Rama, one of Hinduism’s most cherished gods. Imagine the outcry that would have resulted if Boyle had reversed the above: i.e., had a shot of a child dressed as prophet Mohammed or Jesus as Muslims/Christians hurried off to persecute members of another faith! But since Hindus seem oblivious to any and every insult, Boyle has not only gotten away with his blasphemies, but seems well on his way to awards and accolades.

The sledgehammer hits against Hindus and Hinduism does not end there. On the TV show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, the Muslim hero is asked a question by the TV host: "What weapons does Lord Rama bear in his hands?" Our Muslim hero answers: "If there was no Rama, my mother would have been alive." Again, imagine the outcry that would have resulted if the hero was a Hindu from Kashmir (Islamic terrorism has almost wiped out the Hindu population in Kashmir) and he had said: "If there was no Allah, my mother would be alive."

Oracle India staff now get hour-based pay?

The world’s second-largest software products company Oracle is understood to have begun linking the payment of its 20,000-odd employees in India with the productive hours they spend in the company. This has resulted in salary cuts, ranging between 10 and 50 per cent across the board.

Company sources explain that if an employee is a billable resource for 15 days a month, he will be paid in full for that period while for the rest of the period, he is paid a "nominal" amount. Replying to an email query, a company spokesperson in India said: "Oracle does not comment on speculation or rumours."

The company is also understood to have asked all non-billable employees (those on the bench) to get themselves engaged in internal projects, failing which they can explore opportunities outside the company. It is not, however, clear whether the company is asking the non-billable resources to work for outside companies as contract employees while still on Oracle’s rolls, or to use their non-productive hours to make money for themselves.

Initially implemented for the employees of Oracle Financial Services Software (formerly i-Flex Solutions), Oracle India has reportedly implemented this across all its centres in India.

Oracle India, however, has not communicated this decision to employees in writing. The team leaders and project managers in different centres have been informed about the decision orally.

"They are telling us that while many companies are laying off employees, Oracle does not want to take such extreme steps. They are saying that once things start improving, we will be back to all the usual compensation and allowances," said a senior employee of Oracle India on condition of anonymity.

Sources added that Oracle India has cancelled employee travel costs and withdrawn free snacks and food. Despite news that the company has not stopped recruitments in India, freshers who were given offer letters for annual packages of Rs 2.4 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh earlier are now being asked to consider packages of Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 1.8 lakh.

The policy is already in place at Oracle Financial Services Software and personally I have been confirmed about that by an employee of this firm at the condition of being anonymous.

Also other Indian firms are going for serious cost cutting. As per informal news,

- HCL Technologies has given pink slip to at least 50 of its before Christmas asking them to leave by January 5, 2009.

- Wipro has put on hold all the joinings in its technology division and the freshers who were selected for Wipro Technologies are given option to join its BPO center – Wipro Spectrun which means serious downsizing

- Sapient has backed off from paid leave policy and has asked all its employees to consume their all remaining/saved leaves by August 2009 or they will be considered revoked

- Infosys has slowed down its hiring process to all time low

I like to read only those blogs by Indians who write it with Indian mindset and not from perspective of being a foreigner or I consider them as foreigner as such and don’t expect much dedicated Indian stuff from their blogs. And therefore, I had stopped/dropped reading Vantage point long back – a figure which had appeared as revolt figure for Indians at some point but then preferred to go out of this country…

The primary author of this blog is a person named Gaurav Sabnis whom I had been reading before he had made a larger than life decision in 2006 by leaving his org which asked him to change his principals. He preferred to leave his org than hiding the truth. That was good part, rather inspirational for many. Later came to know that he went out to pursue PhD and never returned after more than 2 years. Nor he could keep up with his writing style for Indians. So no more admiration from another fellow Indian for a guy who once appeared to be concerned about the future of this country. Also I don’t think that I would I be reading any IIM Alumni blogs in future, as this one was the last in that category.

Then there are politicians in India who are made State Ministers but don’t know how to spell their name or how to do their signatures. Golma Devi, Rajasthan state minster, learnt signature from her husband who himself is a leader who was denied party ticket from opposition party making him to trigger his wife to stand in elections because it was sure for him/his wife to win in this pure-caste-based politics within the whole state. Here are the excerpts -

Rajasthan minister just learnt to sign

 

"It took three days to teach her how to sign," says Kirorilal Meena about his wife Golma Devi. But the fact that the woman had topractice putting her signature on her oath letter hasn’t come in the way of her becoming a minister in Ashok Gehlot’s Congress government, thanks to caste politics of please and appease.

 

Golma Devi had to be accommodated because she’s the wife of a dissident BJP leader who’ll bring with her the clout of the powerful Meena community, which dominates Rajasthan’s bureaucracy. The woman, elected from Mahuwa constituency as an independent, could barely read her oath card at the swearing-in ceremony on Friday. The 59-year-old homemaker was prompted along by another state minister Ram Kishore Saini.

 

When Governor S K Singh said "Mein", Golma just uttered, "Mein Golma bol rahi hoon (I am Golma speaking)." Her oath was considered ‘read’ along with Saini.

This is one of those few eye-opening news coming from Times Of India that I like this newspaper otherwise there are so many reasons to dislike it.

Such news articles sometimes put me to shame on my decision to stay in India but then there is always a hope and trust to keep thriving towards making this country a better nation.

Also I am keeping track of two seemingly good Indian political parties started by well educated youth of this country – Bharat Punarnirman Dal and Lok Paritran, founders of which are from premier education Institutes of India, IITs. Following open culture, these parties have published their party structures, Ideologies and lot of other very useful information online, which are quite of interest and promising to support them over others.

It has been seen as an attempt by neighbor country to spoil image of India in front of world, prove India as one of the dangerous countries to be visited and in lieu of upcoming Commonwealth games, to divert the happening. It was really very low time for whole country, specially for the Mumbai residents. Must appreciate and commiserate their patience through this tough time and their attempt to rise once again. My whole consolation to those who got affected by this attack.

I wouldn’t blame Indian Intelligence which had already informed and spread the news about this attack few days in advance or the national security forces which played their part as good as they have been playing in past. Neither would I feel angry for task forces nor for the community who is integrated part of this country and is targeted for no reasons. But yes I want to condemn those politicians who played blame game, want to shout at those administrations who didn’t take appropriate preventive steps even after getting information beforehand and want to decry the governmental bodies who have never been able to take control of terrorism in so many years.

I was told about well written article by Mr. Milind Deora published in leading national daily Hindustan Times. For those who don’t know Milind, he is one bright GenNext Congress politician, Member of Parliament from South Mumbai and a volunteer member of many social campaigns and initiatives. Here are the excerpts –

Talk is cheap, lives are not

The last few days have been devastating for every Mumbaikar. All our hearts go out to those who have lost their dear ones. I’ve been awake since 8 a.m. on Wednesday, barring a few hours of interrupted sleep on Thursday and Friday nights, and have witnessed the most horrific yet moving events of my life.

Immediately after the news broke, my partymen and I prevented a mob outside Nariman House from becoming an easy target for a grenade attack, had a narrow escape when a seized police Toyota Qualis vehicle hurled grenades at the car we were in, assisted shattered relatives identify bodies of their family members, and helped government hospitals mobilise resources from other hospitals that weren’t as inundated with dead bodies.

We must never take for granted the efforts of Mumbai’s indispensable uniformed personnel: the police, the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), the National Security Guard (NSG), Army and marine commandos, firemen and the staff of hospitals and others, especially those who are martyrs.

I’m in no way saying that we should stop expecting our state and central governments to guarantee our safety. Intelligence gathering, especially when it relates to threats emanating from abroad, can’t happen effectively if we work in isolation. India is working towards building important global strategic partnerships that will give our intelligence establishment access to the best information. All this will soon give us an edge when it comes to filtering through information and acting upon it decisively. However, these global partnerships would be futile unless we free our security establishments from political interference and corruption.

When I visited The Oberoi Trident Hotel with its general manager and the Union Home Minister shortly after the encounter was over, the scenes were horrifying. I don’t wish to divulge graphic details but I can assure you that it was clear that the terrorists weren’t interested in negotiating with the government. They were cold-blooded murderers. I was very pleased to shake the hands of the NSG commandos who had fought in the encounter.

All this leads to the point that while we, Mumbai’s educated middle-class, must make ourselves heard, we must also study facts before appearing in TV debates, otherwise succumbing to the anchor’s sensationalism. We love to criticise Lalu Prasad, Shivraj Patil, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena campaign, and speak liberally about how terrorism has no religion. Yet on election day, why do we vote for parties keeping our own religion in mind?

Immediately after a terrorist attack, we point fingers at a particular community or country, but when those from the ATS, who died fighting for us, pointed closer to home, why did we refuse to listen to them? While one politician states that India needs a strong national anti-terror law (which already exists), another leader asks each state government to cooperate with the central government in creating a national investigating agency along the lines of America’s FBI.

Do we formulate our opinions regarding which option will benefit India on facts or on uninformed chatter? Sadly, we have allowed religion and politics to enter the terrorism debate. As a result, expecting politicians to put aside their differences and work out a solution requires that we change our old ways. If we can’t get over our prejudices and spruce up our own intelligence before participating in the rumours and politics of terrorism, how can we expect it from the establishment?

For years, we have been witnessing dance of militancy in Jammu & Kashmir, feeling heat of naxalites in eastern states, wistfully observing the southern trauma about anti-national movements but then we were just noticing. We did nothing to stop it until it reached to our metros, be it Bangalore, Delhi or Mumbai. Recent terrorist attacks have proved that the day isn’t far when terrorism will reach to our homes, no matter in which part of country we are residing. It is not just about one state or one region or religion and can never be stopped until we as one India, feel this pain and stand against it.

It is high time when India is being reported as one of the most dangerous places to visit when we, as a country, know that this nation has one of the most powerful forces in world. I would prefer to leave it as an open question to be answered…

I found it quite meaningful.

Inaugural Speech for the new batch at the Symbiosis BBA program, Pune                                 23rd June, 2008

By Chetan Bhagat

Good Morning everyone and thank you for giving me this chance to speak to you. This day is about you. You, who have come to this college, leaving the comfort of your homes (or in some cases discomfort), to become something in your life. I am sure you are excited. There are few days in human life when one is truly elated.  The first day in college is one of them.  When you were getting ready today, you felt a tingling in your stomach. What would the auditorium be like, what would the teachers be like, who are my new classmates – there is so much to be curious about. I call this excitement, the spark within you that makes you feel truly alive today. Today I am going to talk about keeping the spark shining. Or to put it another way, how to be happy most, if not all the time.

Where do these sparks start? I think we are born with them. My 3-year old twin boys have a million sparks. A little Spiderman toy can make them jump on the bed. They get thrills from creaky swings in the park. A story from daddy gets them excited. They do a daily countdown for birthday party – several months in advance – just for the day they will cut their own birthday cake.

I see students like you, and I still see some sparks. But when I see older people, the spark is difficult to find. That means as we age, the spark fades. People whose spark has faded too much are dull, dejected, aimless and bitter. Remember Kareena in the first half of Jab We Met vs the second half? That is what happens when the spark is lost.   So how to save the spark?

Imagine the spark to be a lamp’s flame. The first aspect is nurturing – to give your spark the fuel, continuously. The second is to guard against storms.
To nurture, always have goals. It is human nature to strive, improve and achieve full potential. In fact, that is success. It is what is possible for you. It isn’t any external measure – a certain cost to company pay package, a particular car or house.

Most of us are from middle class families. To us, having material landmarks is success and rightly so. When you have grown up where money constraints force everyday choices, financial freedom is a big achievement. But it isn’t the purpose of life. If that was the case, Mr. Ambani would not show up for work. Shah Rukh Khan would stay at home and not dance anymore. Steve Jobs won’t be working hard to make a better iPhone, as he sold Pixar for billions of dollars already. Why do they do it? What makes them come to work everyday? They do it because it makes them happy. They do it because it makes them feel alive. Just getting better from current levels feels good. If you study hard, you can improve your rank. If you make an effort to interact with people, you will do better in interviews. If you practice, your cricket will get better. You may also know that you cannot become Tendulkar, yet. But you can get to the next level. Striving for that next level is important.
Nature designed with a random set of genes and circumstances in which we were born. To be happy, we have to accept it and make the most of nature’s design. Are you? Goals will help you do that.

I must add, don’t just have career or academic goals. Set goals to give you a balanced, successful life. I use the word balanced before successful. Balanced means ensuring your health, relationships, mental peace are all in good order.

There is no point of getting a promotion on the day of your breakup. There is no fun in driving a car if your back hurts. Shopping is not enjoyable if your mind is full of tensions.
You must have read some quotes – Life is a tough race, it is a marathon or whatever. No, from what I have seen so far, life is one of those races in nursery school, where you have to run with a marble in a spoon kept in your mouth. If the marble falls, there is no point coming first. Same with life, where health and relationships are the marble. Your striving is only worth it if there is harmony in your life. Else, you may achieve the success, but this spark, this feeling of being excited and alive, will start to die.

One last thing about nurturing the spark – don’t take life seriously. One of my yoga teachers used to make students laugh during classes. One student asked him if these jokes would take away something from the yoga practice. The teacher said – don’t be serious, be sincere. This quote has defined my work ever since. Whether its my writing, my job, my relationships or any of my goals. I get thousands of opinions on my writing everyday. There is heaps of praise, there is intense criticism. If I take it all seriously, how will I write? Or rather, how will I live? Life is not to be taken seriously, as we are really temporary here. We are like a pre-paid card with limited validity. If we are lucky, we may last another 50 years. And 50 years is just 2,500 weekends. Do we really need to get so worked up? It’s ok, bunk a few classes, goof up a few interviews, fall in love. We are people, not programmed devices.

I’ve told you three things – reasonable goals, balance and not taking it too seriously that will nurture the spark. However, there are four storms in life that will threaten to completely put out the flame. These must be guarded against. These are disappointment, frustration, unfairness and loneliness of purpose.
Disappointment will come when your effort does not give you the expected return. If things don’t go as planned or if you face failure. Failure is extremely difficult to handle, but those that do come out stronger. What did this failure teach me? is the question you will need to ask. You will feel miserable. You will want to quit, like I wanted to when nine publishers rejected my first book. Some IITians kill themselves over low grades – how silly is that? But that is how much failure can hurt you. But it’s life. If challenges could always be overcome, they would cease to be a challenge. And remember – if you are failing at something, that means you are at your limit or potential. And that’s where you want to be.

Disappointment’s cousin is  frustration, the second storm.  Have you ever been frustrated? It happens when things are stuck. This is especially relevant in India. From traffic jams to getting that job you deserve, sometimes things take so long that you don’t know if you chose the right goal. After books, I set the goal of writing for Bollywood, as I thought they needed writers. I am called extremely lucky, but it took me five years to get close to  a release. Frustration saps excitement, and turns your initial energy into something negative, making you a bitter person. How did I deal with it? A realistic assessment of the time involved – movies take a long time to make even though they are watched quickly, seeking a certain enjoyment in the process rather than the end result – at least I was learning how to write scripts, having a side plan – I had my third book to write and even something as simple as pleasurable distractions in your life  – friends, food, travel can help you overcome it. Remember, nothing is to be taken seriously. Frustration is a sign somewhere, you took it too seriously.

Unfairness – this is hardest to deal with, but unfortunately that is how our country works. People with connections, rich dads, beautiful faces, pedigree find it easier to make it – not just in Bollywood, but everywhere. And sometimes it is just plain luck. There are so few opportunities in India, so many stars need to be aligned for you to make it happen. Merit and hard work is not always linked to achievement in the short term, but the long term correlation is high, and ultimately things do work out. But realize, there will be some people luckier than you. In fact, to have an opportunity to go to college and understand this speech in English means you are pretty damm lucky by Indian standards.. Let’s be grateful for what we have and get the strength to accept what we don’t. I have so much love from my readers that other writers cannot even imagine it. However, I don’t get literary praise. It’s ok. I don’t look like Aishwarya Rai, but I have two boys who I think are more beautiful than her.. It’s ok. Don’t let unfairness kill your spark.

Finally, the last point that can kill your spark is isolation. As you grow older you will realize you are unique. When you are little, all kids want Ice cream and Spiderman. As you grow older to college, you still are a lot like your friends. But ten years later and you realize you are unique. What you want, what you believe in, what makes you feel, may be different from even the people closest to you. This can create conflict as your goals may not match with others. . And you may drop some of them. Basketball captains in college invariably stop playing basketball by the time they have their second child. They give up something that meant so much to them. They do it for their family. But in doing that, the spark dies. Never, ever make that compromise. Love yourself first, and then others.

There you go. I’ve told you the four thunderstorms – disappointment, frustration, unfairness and isolation. You cannot avoid them, as like the monsoon they will come into your life at regular intervals. You just need to keep the raincoat handy to not let the spark die.

I welcome you again to the most wonderful  years of your life. If someone gave me the choice to go back in time, I will surely choose college. But I also hope that ten years later as well, your eyes will shine the same way as they do today. That you will Keep the Spark alive, not only through college, but through the next 2,500 weekends. And I hope not just you, but my whole country will keep that spark alive, as we really need it now more than any moment in history. And there is something cool about saying – I come from the land of a billion sparks.

Thank You

Here is the graph and from it, even a novice in share market can figure out about the period when bid happened -

(directly taken from Google Finance)

It pays to be at higher place and still getting a bidder from someone a level higher…Yahoo! cashed it very well.

Here are few advertisements from Virgin Mobile being floated over TV these days -

And now Virgin Mobile is following me on Twitter . One more Hatke (different) thinking (as they promote) from provider…

Beware the communities and groups you associate yourself with on social networking sites. If your interests contradict how you present yourself on your resume, you could land into big trouble

I don’t agree with that. If you fulfil the job requirements and thrash the interview, there is very minor chance that still any employer would like attention to these details. And Digit devoted 2+ pages over that…

PS: I have been reading this monthly tech tabloid for exactly last eight years and is my favorite tech paper-based magazine.

—————-
Now playing: Maine Tere Liye Hi Saat Rang Ke Sapne Chune (Anand)

The news went like – 36% of scientists at NASA are Indians: Govt survey.

Of course, any Indian will get interested in reading more of this news after going through such interesting title and getting into detailed news, you get to know that there are 34% Indian employees at Microsoft and 17% at Intel. Voila what a feeling you get specially knowing that these all facts are provided by our own minister of state for HRD, D Purandeshwari in Rajya Sabha (Parliament House).

Just imagine, how thrilled you will feel when you will be getting a similar mail with title – Be A Proud Indian with lot and lot of facts listed down in subject. One such mail I had received in year 2005 and along-with many facts, it contained lot of false data. Find the content of mail below with the link over Internet. And after about three years to that, our minister is presenting all those numbers as facts without checking their truthfulness. Three years is quite long time. Even if minister had figured out that it is 3 years old data, he might had refrained from sharing it but looks like he was in very much hurry to share them in defense of the country’s higher education system and the state of research.

I wouldn’t be getting into details about minister even knowing about him more than average but these are we Indians who select such leaders and should be ready to bear with such statements.

Here is the excerpt of news -

 

36% of scientists at NASA are Indians: Govt survey

NEW DELHI: If you thought that Global Indian Takeover was just a hollow cliche leaning on a few iconic successes like Pepsi’s Indra Nooyi, Citibank’s Vikram Pandit and steel world’s Lakshmi Mittal, there is a slew of statistics now to give it solid ballast.

The extent to which desis have made an impact in the US was reeled off in the Rajya Sabha — as many as 12% scientists and 38% doctors in the US are Indians, and in NASA, 36% or almost 4 out of 10 scientists are Indians.

If that’s not proof enough of Indian scientific and corporate prowess, digest this: 34% employees at Microsoft, 28% at IBM, 17% at Intel and 13% at Xerox are Indians.
And the House of Elders also heard some startling facts about a country that’s still stuck with a Third World tag — 20% of gold in the world is used by Indians and nine out of 10 diamonds used in the world are made in India.

The figures of Indian successes were given to the Rajya Sabha on Monday by D Purandeshwari, minister of state for HRD, in defence of the country’s higher education system and the state of research.
Purandeshwari said that although a lot needed to be done to encourage research, it was wrong to run down the country’s higher education system since most Indians who excelled abroad were products of Indian institutions.

He said there was no slackness in research and the number of PhD holders had gone up from 17,898 two years back to 18,730 last year.

It also raises the finger on our media, as how much reliable it is. A newspaper like Times Of India which boasts of being the most read English daily in India prints out such news without any pre-research and next day it publishes the outcome from junta and blames minister for all the confusion. Then I recall the quote from Die Hard 4.0 said by Matt Farrell that all the news are fabricated and shouldn’t be trusted.

You can see the heated responses of newspaper readers from all over the world over comments section of same news.

Here is the news printed by Times Of India next day declaring it as a hoax -

 

India rising in US: Govt falls victim to net hoax

WASHINGTON: It’s an Internet myth that has taken on a life of its own. No matter how often you slay this phony legend, it keeps popping up again like some hydra-headed beast.

But on Monday, the Indian government itself consecrated the oft-circulated fiction as fact in Parliament, possibly laying itself open to a breach of privilege. By relaying to Rajya Sabha members (as reported in The Times of India) a host of unsubstantiated and inflated figures about Indian professionals in US, the government also made a laughing stock of itself.

The figures provided by the Minister of State for Human Resource Development Purandeshwari included claims that 38 per cent of doctors in US are Indians, as are 36 per cent of NASA scientists and 34 per cent of Microsoft employees.

There is no survey that establishes these numbers, and absent a government clarification, it appears that the figures come from a shop-worn Internet chain mail that has been in circulation for many years. Spam has finally found its way into the Indian parliament dressed up as fact.

Attempts by this correspondent over the years to authenticate the figures have shown that it is exaggerated, and even false. Both Microsoft and NASA say they don’t keep an ethnic headcount. While they acknowledge that a large number of their employees are of Indian origin, it is hardly in the 30-35 per cent range.

The story has attracted withering scrutiny and criticism on the Times of India’s website, with most readers across the world trashing it. "The minister should be hauled up by the house for breach of privilege of parliament (by presenting false information based on hearsay). We Indians are undoubtedly one of the most successful ethnic groups in USA, be it in Medicine, Engineering, Entrepreneurship. BUT, that does not translate to those ridiculous numbers that have been presented….this is a circulating e-mail hoax," wrote in Soumya from USA, who said he worked at the NASA facility in Ames, California, and the number was nowhere near what was mentioned in the figures given to Parliament.

"This minister (D.Purandeshwari, Minister of State for HRD)… should be held accountable for misleading the members of parliament and the citizens of India. This just shows how illiterate and mentally defunct the current Indian govt. is," wrote Anand from Melbourne.

Purandeshwari is not the first minister to use the dubious figures in a system where politicians depend heavily on their bureaucrats to furnish facts, figures, and speeches. Former home minister L.K.Advani used the same figures in a speech some years back on a visit to Washington DC.

Here is the original mail (with source) which I had received about three years back (news content in the end) -

Be A Proud Indian

FACTS TO MAKE EVERY Indian PROUD

Q. Who is the co-founder of Sun Microsystems?
A. Vinod Khosla

Q. Who is the creator of Pentium chip (needs no introduction as 90% of the
today’s computers run on it)?
A. Vinod Dahm

Q. Who is the third richest man on the world?
A. According to the latest report on Fortune Magazine, it is Aziz Premji,
who is the CEO of Wipro Industries. The Sultan of Brunei is at 6th
position now.

Q. Who is the founder and creator of Hotmail (Hotmail is world’s No.1 web
based email program)?
A. Sabeer Bhatia

Q. Who is the president of AT & T-Bell Labs (AT & T-Bell Labs is the
creator of program languages such as C, C++, Unix to name a few)?
A. Arun Netravalli

Q. Who is the GM of Hewlett Packard?
A. Rajiv Gupta

Q. Who is the new MTD (Microsoft Testing Director) of Windows 2000,
responsible to iron out all initial problems?
A. Sanjay Tejwrika

Q. Who are the Chief Executives of CitiBank, Mckensey & Stanchart?
A. Victor Menezes, Rajat Gupta, and Rana Talwar.

Q. We Indians are the wealthiest among all ethnic groups in America, even
faring better than the whites and the natives.

There are 3.22 millions of Indians in USA (1.5% of population). YET,
38% of doctors in USA are Indians.
12% scientists in USA are Indians.
36% of NASA scientists are Indians.
34% of Microsoft employees are Indians.
28% of IBM employees are Indians.
17% of INTEL scientists are Indians.
13% of XEROX employees are Indians.

And yesterday, I came across another surprising news – From March 31, one can get money out of any ATM throughout the country irrespective of the fact to which bank one’s account belong to, by paying just Rs. 20 per transaction. This fee will be applicable till March 31 next year after which it will reduce to zero. Also there wouldn’t be any charge on balance checks.

Here is the news -

From Mar 31, pay Rs 20 for using any ATM

NEW DELHI: Customers will have to pay a maximum of Rs 20 for withdrawing cash from an ATM of another bank from March 31, 2008. However, balance inquiries will attract no charge with immediate effect.

The charge for cash withdrawal is only till March 31 next year, after which it will become zero. Aiming to make all ATM usage free from April 2009, the Reserve Bank of India on Monday said banks cannot charge for balance inquiries and capped the fee for cash withdrawals at Rs 20 per transaction, irrespective of the amount and the bank where the customer holds the account.

 
In a circular issued to all commercial banks, RBI also said that banks cannot charge their own customers for ATM usage, with immediate effect.

 

In the wake of the circular, a bank will not be able to charge more than Rs 20 for transactions carried out using the ATM card of another bank.

A hilarious drug infused roller coaster ride from IIM to the
Himalayas to Benares and prison…Delightfully satisfying

Nah I don’t want to go for it. I have developed a very specific taste by now which is very difficult to understand at times, as far as I imagine. Not the novels, at least!

After careful evaluation, the Board believes that Microsoft’s proposal substantially undervalues Yahoo! including our global brand, large worldwide audience, significant recent investments in advertising platforms and future growth prospects, free cash flow and earnings potential, as well as our substantial unconsolidated investments. The Board of Directors is continually evaluating all of its strategic options in the context of the rapidly evolving industry environment and we remain committed to pursuing initiatives that maximize value for all stockholders.

As per Wall Street Journal, it could had been better if Microsoft had priced its shares $40/share instead of just $31/share.

Yahoo directors concluded after a meeting Friday that the unsolicited offer — worth nearly $45 billion when it was announced on Jan. 31 — "massively undervalues" Yahoo, according to a person familiar with the situation. The board plans to send a letter to Microsoft today, spelling out its position.

Analysts have expected Microsoft to increase its $31-a-share offer. But Yahoo is pressing for at least $40 a share, according to a person familiar with the matter. Such a premium would increase the value of Microsoft’s original cash-and-stock bid by more than $12 billion.