Respect, Sachin, Respect

As the cricketing world celebrates the towering landmark reached by Sachin Tendulkar, what can I say about the great man that hasn't been said before?

Sachin Tendulkar is a rich man. He has the honor and respect of his teammates as well as opponents, love of the common man, blessings of those whose lives he has touched through philanthropy. I, today, wish to give him something that he probably does not have enough of.

I want to say, Thanks to you for doing your best, all the time. Thanks for making us believe that we can also win. Thanks for literally carrying the Indian batting for long phases. Thanks for giving us innumerable reasons to cheer. And more importantly, thanks for taking the undeserved brickbats that we keep throwing at you and you continue to take them in your stride.

Enjoy the ton of tons. This one is for you more than anyone else who kept demanding it from you. To quote your own role model, "Respect, Sachin, Respect."

A New Day in India

Once in a eternity, a time comes in the history of a country when an entire generation declares that it has had enough of something. The moment that we witness today stands testimony to the  fact that this is the closest India ever got to a revolution that reached a logical conclusion without fizzling out, fading away or being hijacked. Here, I try to touch up some points seemingly missed by the popular coverage. 

• A system that works: For all the criticism that the movement faced, including the allegation of being an arm-twisting parallel authority, the fact remains that at the core of the agitation was the acknowledgement and understanding that India has a system that works. All that needs to be done is to force those without willpower to do something that is long overdue. 
• The mass appeal: All those who thronged the streets of Delhi and other parts of the nation were mostly unorganized masses, brought out on the street not by any mobilization campaign but by a realization that time has given them an opportunity to be a part of history in making, a chapter which promises to change the civic fabric of India. 
• MY India, MY Pride: The sea of Tricolour was not inspired by any sporting spectacle or external fervor, but by an intrinsic pride in holding the Tricolour high; a pride that comes from belonging and a sense of attachment to the nation. Also, thanks to Naveen Jindal here. 
• Lack of leadership: This was a flip side. At a time when the movement challenged the executive, judiciary and legislature, declaring openly that the three pillars have collectively failed to give the Indians a corruption free society,   those in seats of responsibility fumbled for answers. Even as the drafting committee was framing the bill, all the political parties without exception shied away from commenting. It is surprising that there was not one man from Parliament (which cleared the bill yesterday, unanimously) who could stand up and say "I support the bill and I will get it through". It needed one man to fast for 12 days to beat some sense of purpose in the Parliament. 
• New Thoughts: A generation that is famously quoted saying that "Is desh ka kuch nahi ho sakta", suddenly woke up to the realization that the country demands change and is receptive and waiting for the change.  The movement convinced the youth that they can stand for change, that they can demand solutions rather than excuses. 

Long way to go even now. It will take  lot of willpower and a lot of efforts to reduce corruption before eventually rooting it out from both public and private sectors. But a great beginning made. Finally, after 8 drafts and 4 decades, it took a Gandhian to teach Gandhi's party some Gandhigiri. 

Hoping for a better tomorrow for my beloved Country. Jai Hind. 

Reply to another "open letter" to Anna Hazare, this time by Rajdeep Sardesai

The entire letter does not deserve a reply. Hence i scanned out the key points and replied in red.

Dear Anna,

In every battle there must come a time when you must call a halt. That time may well be approaching. The halt will surely come. In my opinion, It should come if Jan Lokpal Bill is taken well by the polity

The real danger though now is that a peaceful, non-violent movement runs the risk of being overwhelmed by what Dr Ambedkar, the great constitutionalist, described a fast unto death as, by the "grammar of anarchy." It was his opinion. Not necessarily be bought by others. Instead of acting on the matter, the idea is to have him break his fast. This is the problem with polity.

There have been some signs of this in the last 48 hours that are truly worrying. The gherao of the homes of Members of Parliament may be visually appealing, but it encourages an anti-politician 'sab neta chor hai' rhetoric that could further destroy faith in parliamentary democracy. Enough faith loss has taken place due to scams. Let some be restored with taking up of the Jan Lokpal bill because, clearly, that  is what the nation wants. The increasingly strident language being used by certain members of Team Anna - a term which creates the regrettable impression of you being surrounded by a coterie - is to be best avoided at a time when a rational dialogue is called for. Agree

Only two days ago, a colleague of mine was assaulted in the heart of the capital by a drunk biker gang waving the Tricolour and chanting 'I am Anna' slogans. Not related. Hooligans will be hooligans. Their behaviour should not be considered an indication of public sentiment

The sight of gangster Abu Salem's girlfriend Monica Bedi parading Mumbai's streets with an Anna cap should convince you of the dangers of reducing the fight against corruption to a well-choreographed prime time TV spectacle. Now I am baffled. Simply because someone tries to hike its TRP, the movement is bad?

But to ram through a Bill that has been hanging fire for decades within the space of a few days without a sustained and truly inclusive dialogue with all stakeholders would be self-defeating. There has been enough dialogue over the last two months. See where it got us.

Why not, for example, get the government to commit to a special session of Parliament in six to eight weeks on an amended Lok Pal Bill so that a new, well-considered law becomes a Diwali gift to the nation? Let the Government commit to this. Till now, nobody has. Else, there would not have been a movement on 16th August.

Post-script: I have framed a picture of our meeting earlier this week. The caption reads: "When zero met hero!". India is not Anna, nor is Anna India, but you are now an icon for millions. Please don't allow a personality cult to shadow your ultimate gift of common sense. Asking for removal of corruption amounts to loss of common sense? I see a lack of common sense in the statement.

Reply to 'Open letter' to Anna Hazare

I am too small a person to reply on Anna's behalf, but what who cares... here goes... Replies in Red.


Dear Shri Anna Hazareji,

Gandhiji never resorted to coercion to have his way. Coercion is not used even by ana. Yes, Gandhi employed non-cooperation which is similar to what Anna is using



He never used fasting to blunt his opponent to accept his views and ideals. Gandhi sat on a fast even to solve internal problems of congress, leave aside national issues, for which he fasted repeatedly.



He never abused the British whose rule he fought against (except for one odd remark about a ‘gutter inspector').  But you call the Prime Minister a ‘liar' because he has accepted the Cabinet decision not to include the Prime Minister within the purview of the Lokpal.  Point is, was Anna right when he said this? Yes he was



Dr. Singh is a team leader and does not impose his views on his Cabinet. He hardly has viewpoints. He has only post-activity remarks


This is functioning in the true spirit of democracy where the collective wisdom of the majority is respected as against one's own personal views. He is the Prime Minister, for God’s sake. He needs to have views and opinions for the people to know what he stands for. 


Did Gandhiji ever tell the British: “Come on, jail me,” when he went on fast. No, because he did not want to deny the British government its right to action. Jail Bharo Andolan was used many times by protesters including Mahatama Gandhi
Aren't you whipping up mob hysteria and anger just because the government has not accepted six out of your 40 clauses? Those six are core demands. It is not a fraction. 


Do you mean to say that there can be only your thinking and there shall be no alternative? Says who? Everyone says ‘corruption is bad’. Nobody has ideas on what to do about it. Anna clearly has more than anyone else in the country. 


Your silence about the mining scam in Karnataka is baffling. Why to mix issues?


But you choose to vent your righteous ire on the Prime Minister and his government! Don’t they deserve it?


You say you are not against democracy but against the government. The government, elected by the people can be thrown out at the next hustings. This is democracy. If you are in favour of democracy, why are you against a democratically-elected government that is given a mandate of just five years to govern? So we should be gagged in the time in between those 5 years?

You did a yeoman service, pushing the government to table the Lokpal Bill in this monsoon session. But you cannot say that ‘it should be my team's version and nothing else.' Why not? Does democracy have a compulsion on compromises?
You want to bring all three main pillars of democracy — the legislative, the executive and the judiciary — under the jurisdiction of the Lokpal to function as an effective single pillar for deciding on crime and punishment. Yes
The dance of democracy unleashed by you and your team has every danger of destroying our democracy. The protest is more democratic and, by virtue of signing the agreements, has the mandate of democracy. How, exactly, does it demean democracy?

All is not Lost,,,

I remarked a couple of days back that Anna Hazare has dramatically exposed all that is wrong with the Indian society...


Pessimistic public that cries doom at the drop of a hat, blatant politicians (well, we were not able to trace 5 clean ones for the Lokpal committee... The lesser said the better), opportunistic media which indirectly helped spread the awareness to Pappu Yadav and indifferent icons (read Rahul Gandhi)

However, in such a backdrop, a resolute man (known otherwise to have set up a model sustainable village) has taught everyone a Golden lesson in the language known best to the Father of the Nation. The lesson is, 'All is not lost'.

Hope we never lose this lesson. Ever.

Emotional Atyachaar

It has been quite a while since I wrote about anything controversial... So here goes...

This show hardly needs any introduction... And is so predictable now. Lights, camera, action. Girl is a sweet person, comes to test her boyfriend of seven lives, a hottie sets off to trap him, they flirt around and there is a beep-covered breakup.  Cut. Now, how correct is it?

Assuming it is stage managed, which I feel it is. Then, I say its a masterpiece. Public loves senseless crap and hence deserves it when sm1 makes money by serving crap on national television.

But assuming it is not, many questions arise.

Legally, what is bindaas tv's business what any1 does with his bf or gf? They want to do sting operations to improve the society? Do them on bribe takers and publicity fakers.

Morally, there are three issues. Firstly, if sm1 distrusts his/her partner so much that he/she has to resort to a tv series rather than real life as an acid test, is there any point in a relationship in the first place? Secondly, I believe that emotions and relations get tested by themselves in life. If u test them artificially they are bound to fail since somewhere, the basic ingredient called trust is missing. Thirdly, every relation in life is just one mistake away from total disaster. Even if the suspect passes the 'loyalty test', the relationship has failed since sm1 felt the need to do the test. Does it really make any sense for anyone to do it?

I will say just one sentence in closing it. I am yet to see a TV series as sick as this. I feel that the only reason this works is because it has smooches and obscenities raining after every third frame.

But as I said, we the people love crap so much... TRPs will never be a problem for this show...

Indian Politics: Matter over Mind

Just as I had begun to believe that Wikileaks is moving towards an 'alternate entertainment' status, it has led to a national shame for India.

When I first read the Rahul Gandhi wikileak, my reaction ranged from 'misquoted' to 'blown out of proportion', since it is no secret that extremist Hindu thought streams have endangered lives in our country and continue to do so. But what transpired afterwards is simply outrageous.

BJP quickly (and in my opinion, rightly) blamed congress for weakening India's arguement against Pakistan sponsored terror. Rahul helped nobody by choosing to hide behind spokespersons clarifying the matter. And then, Congress went overboard by saying that "roots of terrorism" in India lie in BJP leader L K Advani's 1992 Rath Yatra, virtually absolving Pakistan.

In effect, because of the ridiculous and meaningless politics, a matter of national interest and international significance has been made a laughing stock and a political punchbag. And Digvijay's unsubstantiated claims have only added to Pakis' smiles and giggles.

'Skewed perspectives' is the only thing that comes into my mind...

Random thoughts of a fluttering mind

This has been the title for more than one of my recent posts... seems the flutter is much more frequent here than actual thought processes... Anyways... here goes...

The Asian games have yet again thrown up the unbelievable hurdles that our athletes have gone through in order to reach the stage when they can reasonably expect their name to be read in the newspapers by people other than their relatives and friends. Some lived in 'teen-shades', others had rooms without loos, most used two generation old equipments and almost all had to pay for their Visas and passports in order to win glory for their nation. All this happened as the honorable IOC chairman was busy eating away the money meant to be spent on the betterment of Indian sport, and shamelessly declaring his own 'victory over all odds'.

3 days ago was 26/11, yet again. Indian ministers made hollow promises and rhetorical calls to Pakistan to act against its terror setup, knowing fully well that it is going to be forgotten in a day, yet again. Some Indians paid homage to the martyrs and bravehearts of the fateful day, yet again. Headlines of substandard weapons and non-bulletproof boats made the front page, yet again. I remembered that the key perpetrator has been in Indian custody and continues to make a mockery of Indian Judicial system. Yet again.

We expect Pakistan to act against its friends, when we have been unable to act against our enemy. Ironic.
Kasab used to eat off Pakistani plates. Then he attacked India. Now he is borne by India. Again, Ironic

We expect US to act against Pakistan, but fail to find the will to act on elements within India who threaten to tip apart the fabric of Indian integrity. Yet again, Ironic.

Signing off now... will be back with some more flutter or thoughts, as the case may be.

Another tribute to Sachin!

In 1989 at Sialkot, blood falls on the pitch as the toddler in cricket world takes a hit on face from the fearsome Waqar Younis. Asked by the non-striker Siddhu to retire, the kid says "Main Khelega". Next ball is out of the long on boundary for a four. The hostile Pak crowd is stunned. A gritty fifty follows. A legend is born.


That is my earliest memory of the great Sachin Tendulkar. After that, people said his bat is too heavy for a long career. He carried that, along with India's hopes, for 20 long years. They said he can't score when India needs him. He kept on scoring so much that nobody ever felt there was a need for anybody to score. They said he is worn out. He completed 12000 test runs in 2008, 13000 in 09 and now 14000 in 2010.

We rejoiced with him as he led India through desert storm. We cried for him as he lost a battle to a hurting back and India lost to Pak. We stood in applause and respect as he dedicated his century after 26/11 to the martyrs. We felt our goosebumps as he declared in face of regional politics that "I am Sachin Tendulkar and I play for India".
He was the cutest boy India had ever seen. He became the most loved poster boy. He became the mentor in chief to the teammates. He became GOD to cricket fans.
Close your eyes and think Indian Cricket. Tell me if you don't see Sachin. May the God continue to rule over the followers. We will gleefully give up any sight in the cricket world, just to see one of your drives!

The poster at a test match summed it up as "We have seen God. He bats at No.4 for India."

Ram and Allah

This is going to be my shortest blog. 4 lines in Hindi followed by a closing remark. But I guess it says all that is to be said by me.

मंदिर तो बन जायेगा, पर राम कहाँ से लाओगे? 
उस मस्जिद की दीवारों को, क्या पाक कभी कर पाओगे?
जिस चौखट पर लोग जलें, राम वहां ना जायंगे , 
जिन गलियारों में खून गिरा, मौला क्या रह पायंगे

Ultimately, what we should do? Well, let them fight on what they build... Mandir or Masjid and what they read... Ramayan or Quran. Let us see if we can help the poor build their huts and read ABCD.

Is shame the name of this game?

The hottest topic ever... How could I have not blogged on it? So the games preparation is pretty much as screwed up as practically possible... There are bridges falling, canopies collapsing, false ceiling tiles crashing, beds giving way from under your bums, dogs availing the hospitality of the games village, what all and what not. Crazy. Unbecoming. And frightening. Till now the worst we had heard was the wrong national anthem being played. This has redefined all that was known to go bad. But what I actually intend to address and answer are two basic questions.

First one is moral. As a responsible citizen that I claim myself to be, should I blast open whatever happens that is derogatory to my pride as an Indian? Or should I ignore all that and keep goody goody stuff in the front of my mind and presume that all will be well through the hifi jugaad technology and spread the joy of the games? Well, I think patriotism is tough love. Unless we point out what is wrong in us, how do we go ahead? I would rather face the shame that is very real than indulge in blissful ignorance, 'All iz well' types. If the preparations are bad, so be it. I will hate it and feel ashamed about it.

Which brings me to the second question, which makes more sense to me and my life. Where did we go so wrong that when the pot boiled over, there was no way to plug anything? I feel there are two reasons. Firstly, we are so used to things happening wrongly that we sincerely believe that something or the other WILL be wrong. And we ll fix it at the last moment. Jugaad. We need to learn that the times are gone when it could work. Today's projects are not delivered like that. Second reason is management philosophy. We have all seen that in complex projects, privatization alone works. The public sector machinery is neither agile enough not equipped well to handle them, because the best talent is no longer there.

So far as my blog title goes, no, I don't think that shame is the name of the game. The damage to Indian pride is irreparable but can be compensated if games go well. But the lessons from the debacle are, in my opinion, too valuable to be forgotten. Best of Luck to the games. They need it a lot.

Ye kahaan aa gaye hum

Things I could do better when I was in college
1. Painting / Drawing
2. Slog mentally
3. Play Volleyball
4. Make jokes
5. Manage events
6. Run complex design softwares
7. Write papers
8. Manage people and teams
9. Keep myself updated
10. Have crushes
Most importantly, Enjoy life! College times are best.

Of kidney stones and dear friends

Just came back yesterday after spending two and half eventful days in a nearby hospital for a mini-stone in kidney (if you may) that got easily flushed out without any surgery or even laser.

It was actually a wonderful time spent... idling on weekdays, TV all day, reading to my heart's content, homemade food from frnds' and relatives' homes, calls all day, jolly visits from friends who ran early from office to see me, so on and so forth. The home-made treat continued even a day and a half after I had been officially discharged.

At another level, it made me realize that the real take-away from the last few years of my life is not a degree from one of the best colleges, not my name on the domestic terminal, not the salary that they pay me for it, but the friends that I made in the period.

Love u all... I couldn't have done anything without you. You turned it into a picnic rather than an ordeal. Can't thank you enough.

Why to hang Kasab immediately

7 reasons why Kasab should be hanged without any delay

• Because he dared to change so many lives forever, and leave a permanent scar on the face of Mumbai.
• Because he already has lived longer than he should have. He should have died at the hands of Karkare or ATS.
• Because he and his colleagues were responsible for deaths of so many of our Jawans.
• Because an acquittal will be a ridicule all over the world in general, and in Pakistan in particular.
• Because we already saw what happened when terrorists were not killed immediately and went back to Pakistan through IC814 hijack.
• Because if he is not hanged immediately, he will invite the 'sympathy' of so called 'human rights champions' and ensue stupid ideas of human justice and the like.
• Because he is an enemy of India, and should be given a lesson, although belated.

And one reason why he should not be hanged

• He is the only man alive who knows what happened to the crew of the boat that they came in, and till date their families have not got compensation promised by the government, since in the eyes of law, they are still not dead. Holy Crap!!!

On a different note, the hurt Indian in me wants him to be left out in public for an hour. I know he won't  last an hour, though. 

A true Invictus

There are so many times we feel that we need a reason to be happy, but we become sad spontaneously.  Without any apparent reason.

Then there are people like the one in the below video. 

No arms, No legs, No worries

Please see the full video, it truly deserves your time. 

Celebration of a dream

This post is one week late, attributed to the fact that I left for IIM Indore even as the inauguration ceremony of the new Domestic Terminal at Mumbai Airport was still underway, and got to pen down just now. Took this pic from my mobile camera on the morning of the completion. Looks beautiful, at least to me :)

Even though the euphoria in my heart has died down, I dont think I will ever forget the feeling as I left the terminal building on 17th April 2010, knowing that all those little battles and all those days (and nights) of fighting against all odds have borne fruit.

Below is the same area 20 months ago (The pic will be replaced in better resolution soon...)

Even as I have celebrated the moment, reminisced on the memories, remembered fondly all the sleepless nights and tough days, I dedicate this post to all these feelings, since the photo on top will never be able to reflect any of the things I talked about later. I am surely going to miss the moments I spent on this project.

Of social responsibility and irreverence

Yesterday, 74 jawans were trapped by Maoists and ruthlessly murdered, many of them in cold blood. Print media had accounts of survivors, pointed fingers towards a failed intelligence and  carried statements of national leaders on the matter. TV media, on the other hand, seem so much gung-ho over Sania and Shoaib that 'Aaj Tak' proudly declared that the entire day will be full of that crap only.

C'mon... more people are dying in maoist violence than in Kashmir terrorism. Almost a third of India's geographical area is affected by them. And some part of the world still cares where two sportsmen-in-love went late night to enjoy themselves.

Sometimes I wonder what incentive drives TV channels to put such useless crap on national television. Do they get more money? Higher TRPs? more sense of satisfaction? Whatever happened to the supposed social responsibility of Media? Thankfully, print media has still retained the good sense in a more fitting manner.

Sarfaroshi ki Tamanna

It was this day, 79 years ago, when three brave sons of India walked proudly towards the ultimate sacrifice. Singing 'सरफरोशी की तमन्ना अब हमारे दिल में है' as legend has it.

I dedicate this post to the three of them, as well as an entire generation of lesser known Indians who chose the path of fighting for what they believed was right, against all odds, driven only by a fire fueled by desire to see the country independent.

Also, Bhagat Singh being my idol, this is in remembrance of the maturity, grit, tact and foresight shown by this great leader, visionary and thinker who gave the freedom struggle its cutting edge and brought it to the foreburner of day to day politics. All at an age of 23 years.

I sometimes wonder what it would have been like if he was saved (I believe Gandhi could have) and having a firebrand like him in the first cabinet to run the nation. However, none of this happened and India was deprived of somethings he was definitely capable of.

Signing off with the below lines which I sincerely wish were true but are not. Sadly, hardly anybody remembers our martyrs.

शहीदों की मजारों पर लगेंगे हर बरस मेले
वतन पर मिटने वालों का येही बाकी निशाँ होगा

Of unsung heroes and glamorous underachievers

The Sunday Times of India, March 21 2010 was not a paper I was looking forward to. Mumbai Indians, ‘my’ team simply because it is led by Sachin, had lost meekly to Royal Challengers Bangalore, and that was a reason enough. However, as I read through mechanically to ease off a lazy Sunday morning at home, there was one piece that caught my eye between the loud and glitzy IPL coverage

Milkha Singh, the flying Sikh, has decided to hand over his life story for a movie being made. All for a sum of One rupee. Sheer greatness. Here is a man who in 1947 saw his parents murdered in front of his eyes, hid among corpses in a train to escape to India, ran barefoot in initial competitions, and went on to win Asian Games, Commonwealth and later on an Olympics record. Today also, he stands tall as he runs a distress helpline. 20% of film’s profits will go there.

What a pity, icons like him are hardly known of amidst the shrill and glitz of things like IPL which, at best, is a murky money minded madness with a little bit of sport thrown in.

Hats off to this proud son of the soil, quite literally.

Atithi tum kab jaaoge

Admittedly, I am no movie buff. Back in college, I used to be the last guy to be seen near a theater. Further recently, my movie sprees are limited to 'No other option available' scenarios. Similar was my today's encounter with this movie.

However, this is one impressive movie, though I guess is is not gonna be a respectable hit. With witty references to a common Indian's psyche, the movie goes on to touch pretty much all the unexplored areas that we either don't know about, or are not interested to touch. This includes the self induced aloofness of our lives from our famed family systems, utter disregard for little pleasures and pains of life that go on adding up, and in some cases, sheer indifference towards the values that we pick up and impart subconsciously.

At least in my case, this one managed to inspire some thought and introspection. Must watch if you are looking for light humor and substance packaged into one.