Religion or Culture

After seeing The Pianist, Kapil exclaimed "Why would these oppresed ones really believe in God during those times? Where was God at that time? Do these people really didn't believe in God? I am ashamed of being human!"
This was not the first time I heard these questions. I have myself questioned my faith and logic I don't know how many times. But Khalil rightly says "Faith is an oasis which cannot be reached by the caravan of reasoning".

The same day, I received a mail from a friend of mine in Malaysia who is an ardent follower of Sikhism. A few excerpts of the mail......I would like to share here -

" Its a very rare that a religious leader of one faith has laid down his life
for that of another religion. Principle, practices and rituals of Sikhs are
totally different than those of the Hindu religion, but even so Sikh
believed in the FREEDOM of people being able to practice whatever religion
was their choice.

Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji gave his life for the existence of TRUTH and JUSTICE.
The Martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji showed people that fear must not be
allowed to come between man and his love for freedom, justice and
God.....

Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Ji scarified his life but had not bowed against any
tyranny.

[Give up your head, but forsake not those whom you have undertaken to
protect. Says Tegh Bahadur, sacrifice your life, but relinquish not your faith]

Sawed alive and boiled alive and those who made sacrifices in the service
of the centres of the Sikh religion the Gurdwaras but never wavered in
their faith and remained steadfast in the cause of Sikhism to the last hair
of their body and to their last breath,
O, revered members of the Khalsa order, concentrate your minds on the
glorious deeds of those, and utter, glory to Waheguru."

I thought over the words in the mail again and again for Religion and God is the domains I really love to explore to their intriguing depths.

In my article http://msaini.blogspot.com/2006/09/is-it-possible-to-live-without.html sometime back, I had organized a few thoughts of mine which always cropped up now and then. But this mail helped me arrange my thoughts together once again.

300 years back when Guru Gobind Singh ji laid the foundation of Sikhism, he believed that Religion is a very powerful means to unite people for a cause.

But I strongly believe that in time this line of philosophy has been utilized more for notorious reasons than for any good. This has sent people commenting that “Religion is the Opium of the Masses today"

As I have said and as people also believe that Guru Gobind Singh ji lay the foundation of Sikhism as a religion– This is actually wrong. I am sure, that a person of his stature and vision would not have wanted this because he knew and had seen that what had happened to the religions. And this is the only reason that he said that from every house the eldest son would serve the Guru and his People.

Moreover, in my previous article I have said - "None of the people who are “Supposed” to have started a religion wrote down their analysis (which people term as preaching today); they merely shared it with others verbally. These analyses were merely based on empirical study and the validation was always in progress during their lifetime."

The last sentence of the previous paragraph falls under this category. Guru Gobind Singh ji always wanted humanity to follow the "Culture" of "Truth, Justice and Sacrifice". He never asked everyone to become a SIKH.

These tenets are stressed and re-stressed again and again in every Vaq of Guru Granth Sahib.

This holds true not only for the 10th Guru, rather all the Gurus propagated the same thing. So when we say that "Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji gave his life for the existence of TRUTH and JUSTICE", it is a perfect statement but when we say that "Its a very rare that a religious leader of one faith has laid down his life for that of another religion", we definitely missed on the teachings of the Gurus.

I still believe Sikhism to be a culture.....and not a religion. At times when it becomes difficult for me to find a guiding path in the Hindu philosophy (which is because, the continuous exposure of this philosophy to interpreters over more than thousand years has diluted it badly making it difficult to differentiate between the truth and the interpretation of truth), I turn to the Sikh culture to find my way.

Thank God that I am still born at a relatively earlier stages of a wonderful culture which is in a process of becoming a full fledged religion to be played with and exploited by the majority very soon.

Glimpses of this transformation you can see right now in the political struggle at the Takhts and pure commercialization of devotion (please visit Huzoor Sahib to see it).

I was very pleased to see one of the Temples going to the basic tenants of Hinduism - Faith and truth; and shunning off the wrapper of religion from itself in Hyderabad. Chilkur Balaji Temple, 35 kms from Hyderabad would be a good place to understand what I have tried to express.

Manish Saini

Farewell is not an easy word!!!

Separations from anything known is always difficult coz you would be treading into an unknown territory from there on. Am going through a similar psychological upheavel right now as I have had a number of times earlier - when I lef Lucknow to settle in Hoshiarpur, when I left my school and joined college, when I left my engg college to join a job, when I left my first job to prepare for CAT and then when I left Indore to join Infosys.

As all knew associations bring in opportunities unexplored by you, the separation also creeps in the feeling of uesasiness for what you are going to miss there on. Though the feeling is not new but surely the differences in opportunities and the sources of uneasiness.......always make it a unique experience.

As I once read -

"To survive separation of loved ones-We must have no regrets,Because when the ineffable comes,Guilt-free memories are our only salvation. "

When I contemplate my 7 months in infosys, I am sure I am really going to miss -

1. Ganesh's Simplicity and Passion
2. Vijay's attitutude and aptitude
3. Nitin's experiential Observations and learning attitude
4. Arun's killer smile and soft hands
5. Krish's innocence and RFID-GTIN mania
6. Nandita's maturity and "I-will-talk-only-through-messanger" syndrome
7. Sunandan's patience and argumentative style
8. And Yeah, Blogging for sure..........am not going to get so much of free time as I did in Infy

This post is a special thanks to all those wonderful people who made working a real pleasure for me in Infosys. Am surely going to miss the guys a lot.......

Normally I would never write something so senti-mental; But surely Nandita's mail did provoke me to do so. I am sure right now I don't fit in the words she used to describe me but surely I am going to try to be one.....for the words are really wonderful -

"You were born to walk the road less traveled
You knew you were born to be different
From the time when you lay on your back and stared at the clouds
Biding your time before you touch them
You knew you were born to be different
When you travel the roads and paths
On your machine
When the world make way for you and your bullet
Ride away my friend, Ride away to your dreams"

- Nandita aka Ayn Frost

Thanks a lot for all your love and support......

Manish Saini

Understanding our Indian Railways

Coming straight to the point as Indian Railways don’t need any background, Indian Railways Pricing structure though not very transparent (because of the lack of information) is quiet easy to understand (analytically).
The various trains are divided into the following categories for pricing –

1. Passenger trains
2. Express trains
3. Super fast trains
4. Rajdhani
5. Shatabdi / Janshatabdi

Further these trains will have different coaches of different classes out of the following nine –

1. 1A = First Class air-conditioned (AC1)
2. 2A = 2 Tier air-conditioned (AC2)
3. 3A = 3 Tier air-conditioned (AC3)
4. FC = First Class NOT air-conditioned
5. EC = Executive chair class, air-conditioned (Available only on Shatabdi Expresses)
6. CC = Chair class, air-conditioned
7. SL = Sleeper Class, NOT air-conditioned
8. 2S = Bookable second class seat, NOT air-conditioned
9. II = Unreserved 2nd class, NOT air-conditioned

Now the charges for a railway ticket which one has to pay are divided into following headings -

1. Base fare – Based upon the category of train and the class, a constant factor has been decided which when multiplied with the distance to be traveled gives the base fare. Furthermore, the constant changes if the travel is above 1000Kms for the same category of the train in the same class.
2. Reservation charge – They are levieied on every reservation made, however, Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains have the reservation charge included in their fares. Logically I think that reservation charges are to cover the infrastructure cost of getting a ticket i.e. manpower, stationary and other resources.
3. Supplementary charge = Super Fast (SF) charge - SF charge is added to all trains that average more than 55 km per hour over the whole of their journey, (any Mail or Express train whose train number begins with a 2), however, Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains have the SF charge included in their fares.
4. Safety surcharge – They are levied on every ticket (including Rajdhani and Shatabdi trains), though the cost will not be shown on the ticket (the reservation and SF charges are), Actual distance rather than chargeable distance is used to work out if your journey is above 500 km.
5. Tatkal Charges – These charges have been included under a Tatkal scheme especially designed for an unpredictable travel plan.The booking under this scheme opens 5 days prior to the trains departure. Further more details on this scheme can be got over here.

These charges discussed above are levied if one purchases the ticket from the reservation counters of the Indian Railways. Four years back they came up with the online Reservation system and thus a few additional charges were born alongwith (to the consumer's plight) –

1. Internet Service charge – Rs 20 for sleeper and lower class while Rs 40 for upper classes per ticket. This seems to be the charges for their infrastructure for facilitating the online transaction.
2. Courier Charges – These charges are levied on only i-tickets and not e-tickets against the courier of the booked tickets. Normally it’s Rs.20 per ticket and is included within the Internet Service Charges.
3. Transaction Charges – Depending upon the mode of payment (Debit Card / Credit Card) and the Bank through which the payment is being done, the customer pays a transaction charge per ticket to the Bank. Either it is some %age of amount being transacted or a fixed amount per ticket.

Example – For a ticket in an express train (A.P. Express) from Hyderabad to New Delhi, the charges I had to pay for an I-ticket are as following –
Base Fare – 1220
Reservation Charges – 25
Super fast Charges – 30
Internet Service Charges – 40
Courier Charges – 20
Transaction Charges (ICICI Bank Debit Card) – 11

Total = Rs. 1346

Manish Saini

Longing for an Irony of Time.......Hampi

(The visual pleasure of the Journey can be enjoyed over here.)

"There is a third dimension to traveling, the longing for what is beyond. "
– Jan Myrdal

Riding is about more than freedom and adventure. It’s about a heightening of the senses. And no season has more to offer than this time of the year. The vibrant greenery of the fields that greet you around each curve, to that sweet smell of the soil after the rain; the riding season has arrived.

A week end followed by 2 breaks had already set a stage for my Bull’s first excursion since its purchase 2 months back. (Hey………this 2 seems so omnipresent).
New to the place, I had no preferences of any sort as for a destination coz as Robert Louis Stevenson quotes –

"I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move."

And with the Wanderers around, I was sure to get some experienced company to explore this country side.

The wait wasn’t very long when SreeKumar proposed a destination which I had promised myself to visit the day I read about it (in class 8th) – Hampi; Now reduced to The Ruins of Vijaynagar (We will come to it later). With the venue decided, the final arrangements were made at a quick meeting (my first with the Wanderers) on the Friday evening.

Fact – Bloddy Hell!!! I am completely clueless about the spares that I need to carry and Machismo is no game for an ordinary mechanic.

And the Journey Begins………..

Wanderers –

"The great difference between voyages rests not with the ships, but with the people you meet on them.” - Amelia E. Barr.

The Wanderer Enfield 1979 for the rider Sreekumar

The Wanderer Machismo 2006 for the rider Manish Saini

Fact - The difference in the age of the 2 Bullets is my age.

The ride there……

415 kms is quiet the sort of distance in the Indian context which can make ones drive as eventful as one can dream of. And ours was no different. Even before we could start we were lost J. Guided in the wrong direction we had to traverse around 60 kms extra before being put back on NH7 (Thanks to the AP road map I had bought the previous evening). But I guess we were better off by missing the rash and irresponsible traffic on NH7.

No sooner had we finished off our breakfast at Mehboobnagar and moved further that the beauty of nature started unfolding its wings. I can’t suppress my admiration for the omnipresent designer seeing the incredible unstable equilibrium of the huge rocks, all round our way.


Almost half way into the journey, we crossed the Krishna before entering Raichur and came across a riveting site.

The ingenuity of the architecture of this Thermal Power plant project on the border of the city is really worth an applaud.

A journey on a bullet without a problemo is an oxymoron (he he he….). The older bull had its odometer wire off the tire’s axle which we got repaired from what seemed to be the only Bullet mechanic at Raichur. (I guess this is the state of affairs in most of the cities across India)
Leaving the Thermal Plant city, I could see a huge black cloud rushing towards us from the West as we rushed towards Gangawati. However hard we tried to cross the patch which seemed to lie under the cloud’s impact area, we were unable to beat it. And this sudden burst of torrential shower which threw me from the centre of the road to the side walk separated the two riders which were to regroup again at Gangawati.

On rides like these, when for a long stretch you are all alone with yourself, you can’t resist being philosophical. Thoughts like life, death, purpose, dreams, achievements, losses, human nature, religion, God………all cross your head at one time or the other. It’s not the ride which wears you off; its ones own mind which continuously plays a tug of war of logic with itself which ultimately pushes you to take a break on the next crossing under the huge Banyan tree.

Fact - Refueled my Bull which by now has run 2500 kms and is running at an average of 43 kms per litre. Hard to believe but Sree’s 1979 Bull is still giving an average of 37 kms per litre.

By now we had already lost more than 2 hours of our journey and were now very eager to reach the destination. But the worst part of the trip was still to start from here on. The road from Gangawati to Hampi which is merely 70kms, is a riders nightmare with 53 speedbrakers (What the……..Is this road made for cycles or what?).

Fact – The complete journey of 415Kms has around 161 speed breakers.

The positive side was experiencing the real flavour of the beauty of the Tungabhadra valley. I simply could not resist capturing the coinciding of the human made beauty with the natural one - The Tungabhadra Dam

Hampi

Someone very rightly said “Your feet will bring you to where your heart is.”

Around 6:15pm, as we thumped passed the ruins of the Vijaynagar Empire, the moon light dancing over the remains gave us a peek into its glory. Man…….how eager was I for the sun to rise that evening. It’s been the place I had dreamt of visiting so many times and VOILA…..I was there now.

The weariness of the 10 hour drive seemed to drop off as we entered the ‘Hampi Dwaar’. Unlucky to be a bit late to go across the Tungabhadra into the Hippie Island, we checked out into the cozy Ranjna Guest house and soon checked out the small Hampi Bazaar.
Interestingly, no ‘Proper’ restaurant, hotel or eating joint can be found in this tourist’s heaven. The Bazaar is with dotted with a few Dhabas, the cook of which is the lady in the family of the owner. But take my word these dhabas offer cuisines would make one leap off the floor for such cusines one would get only in specialized restaurants in big cities (and ohh my my……few of the dishes were simply amazing……check out the clips).

Fact - A decent accommodation in Hampi can be easily availed for 250 to 350 Bucks depending upon the tourist traffic. Best time to visit would be between October to March.

The Exploration -

Virupaksha Temple, the Centre of the city, around which the Bazaar has come up has an awe-inspiring Gopuram, the trademark of the south Indian temples. The architecture inside is quiet ordinary as compared to other monuments. I believe that the possible reason might be that this temple was for the public of Hampi because the King’s palace was at some distance from the place. And there were other more beautiful temples around his living place.

Fact - Sree very rightly pointed out that in any place of historical importance, its only the temples which have survived till date while everything has been razed to the ground either by the invaders or time. And Hampi is no different.

Exploring Hampi on foot would have been fun given the beautiful weather. But due to lack of time we were devoid this luxury.
The picturesque location of Vitthala temple just takes your breath away. And the beauty of the temple is an icing on the cake. No wonder, the sculptors chose to suffuse music in every stone of this place (the temple has its uniqueness in the musical pillars).

Fact - We were ENJOYING the RUINS. An Irony which only time can create.

One finds himself at loss of words in front of these beautiful temples, palaces, Baths or the huge sculptures; but the most magnificent thing of the place lies within the ASI museum in Kamlapur – The Plan of the Vijaynagar Kingdom

Almost 2kms the kings complex, the Tungabhadra (Lifeline of Hampi), act as a natural guard while on the two sides the huge rocky mountains eliminate any sort of surprise from the enemy. The only attacking zone lay right infront of the complex which was guarded by 7 walls. And to capture a glorious and well guarded kingdom like this…..boy………..what an army would it had been? Sitting over the side benches and discussing the layout with Sree…….i just wondered what a devastating battle it would have been man!!!

Fact - In Hindu Mythology, Hampi was Known as Kishkinda, the kindom of the monkey kings Bali and Sugriv.

The Journey Back -

Tired of the day’s escapade, back in the room ..And……Voila…..we made another discovery of the day.

Fact - On Reliance phones you cannot set alarms if there is no signal and both of us had a reliance connection only.

But luckily both of us woke in time to reach Gangawati by 8:30 am.
The drive further towards Raichur became a beauty with light showers now and then and the sky completely covered with clouds in the middle of the afternoon.

An exchange of the Bulls on the way gave me a peek into the power of the 79’ model over which I had laid my hands for the first time. On the other hand, Sree had only one word for mine – ‘Remarkable’. A Bullet enthusiasts since late 70s, he was almost overawed by the improvements that Enfield has come up with in the new generation Bulls.

Fact - Bullet Machismo (my Bull) won the TNS automotive award for the best cruiser bike in 2004.

If you have driven a Bullet, you would realize that Bullet does a make a difference to your personality. The Bulls Personality is like someone who has the real ‘Power’ (metal as well as Physical). With Power, responsibility increases and unarguably majority of the Bull riders have lived upto it. Undoubtedly, one can see his confidence levels go up with the Power, and synonymously with Bullet.

After handing up my Bull to the Afzal in Raichur again, we went down to grab a bite around two squares away. On the way back to the workshop, a traffic police cop stops us and seeing recognizing us as tourists (seeing the Andhra number) tries to pull us into a trap to pay him a bribe. I am sure it wasn’t Sree, it was the Bull that stood there and took his stand against the cop. Soon, as people gathered, he took to his heals.

Fact - With a Corruption Perception Index of 2.9, in 2005 India is ranked 88 among 158 countries surveyed by Transparency International.

Full credit to the Rain Gods for making it a day worth registering in our diaries for us. And 3:30pm, back on my bed I was having my lunch exploring sites to fix a date with the next destination. But for now, my Bull needs a small service visit to get it back in shape for the upcoming exploit.

"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."
- Saint Augustine

Cheers
Manish Saini

Hyderabad to Hampi

The Route
There are three different routes which a rider can pick up depending on his convenience.

Route 1
Hyderabad – (20Km) - Shamshabad –(30km)- Shadnagar –(33km) Jadcherla –(16km) Mahboobnagar –(104km)- Raichur –(135km)- Gangavati –(25km)- Hampi (Hippie Island)
Distance - Total (363Km)

Positive –
Shortest route

Negative –
Gangavati to Hampi is real Bad route which might take an hour or so to cover.

Route 2
Hyderabad – (20Km) - Shamshabad –(30km)- Shadnagar –(33km) Jadcherla –(16km) Mahboobnagar –(104km)- Raichur –(135km)- Gangavati –(53km)- Hospet –(17km) Hampi
Distance - Total (408km)

Positive -
Route is perfectly smooth with a beautiful Landscape from Gangavati onwards.

Negative –
A bit lengthy; marred by 53 speed breakers from Gangavati to Hampi and another 71 from Raichur to Gangavati.

Route 3
Hyderabad – (20Km) - Shamshabad –(30km)- Shadnagar –(33km) Jadcherla –(13km)-Buthpur –(43Km)- Kottakota –(25km)- Pebberu –(49km)- Kurnool –(33km)-Veldurti – (18km)- Dhone –(43km)- Gooty –(28km)- Guntakal –(98km) Hospet –(17km)- Hampi
Distance - Total (450km)

Positive –
You don’t have to leave the National Highway till Hospet which make the route quite safer.

Negative –
Lengthiest of all and NH63 which starts from Gooty, though has beautiful Landscapes, is an awful road to drive upon with huge potholes at regular intervals.

Petrol Pumps -
HPCL,BPCL and Indian Oil petrol pumps have a constant frequency across the whole strech. The Reliance Petrol pump, can be found at approximately every 50 to 80kms, One or two pumps from Essar have also come up on the route.

Caution For the Ride -

1. The road though smooth can be dangerous because of the villagers drying their grains on the road side. (see picture below)
2. Wear a Fully covered helmet to protect your face and eyes from insects which are in abundance due to a heavily cultivated area on the sides.
3. Do take a raincoat for sure.

The Hampi Valley - (in the words of ASI)

Places to Stay -
Hampi is a very basic township. There are just two small populated areas in this township separated by a river where one can look for stay-

1. Hampi Baazar
2. Hippie Island

In the former, People have made guest houses within their houses. Though a whole range of guest houses are available, decent rooms would range from 250 to 350 bucks. We personally found ‘Ranjana Guest house’ as quiet a comfortable place.

The latter is on the other side of Tungabhadra River and the transportation to the island stops after 6 in the evening. For a comfortable stay I would recommend this part of the town where people have made comfortable cottages available at the same cost as a room.
Places to Eat -
I warn you not to get carried away by the looks of the place. Thanks to a heavy traffic of foreign tourists that the cuisines at this place can even make a city like Hyderabad shy. Though you would find mere Dhabas marking the geography of the place, the food overall is well hygienic and consumable for the mere fact that even these Dhabas operate within a house. And yeah, they also match the prices of Hyderabad. Places to Visit -
The photograph below gives you a list of all the 81 places of Tourists interest. Most of them are just next to one another and hence try visiting only the following place in the given order (if you have a vehicle, else take a two-wheeler on rent (150-200bucks)) to make most out of the trip

1. Virupaksha Temple in Hamp Baazar
2. Archeological Mueseum in Kamplapur. The model of the city in the veranda of the Mueseum gives you a top view of Hampi. It implicitly explains the strategic location of the city which was guarded on the back by the Tungabhadra and on two sides by the Rocky Mountains, eliminating the element of surprise from the enemy.
3. Vithalla Temple which is 2km east of Hampi Bazaar on foot and 5 km by road. It is one of those Archeological Geniuses of the medieval India, the ruins of which narrate the
   Queen’s Bath, which is on the way back to the Hampi Baazar
4. Hazaara-Rama temple
5. Lotus Palace and Elephant Stable
6. The Narsimhan Statue

All this can be covered in a day after which you can spend a quiet and peaceful evening on the banks of Tungabhadra and a rave night on the Hippie Island.

But as a warning, let me remind you what a famous author once said -

“A traveler will see what he sees, a tourist will see what he has come to see.”

Cheers....
Manish Saini

The harley Creed

We believe in going our own way no matter which way the rest of the world is going
We believe in balking the system which smashes individuals like bugs on a windshield
Some of us believe in the man upstairs….All of us believe in sticking it to the man down the earth
We believe in the Sky and we don’t believe in the sun-rough
We believe in Freedom

We believe in dust, tumbleweeds, buffaloes mountain ranges and riding out into the sunset
We believe in Saddle Bags, and we believe in that cowboys had it right
We believe in refusing to knuckle under to anyone
We believe in wearing black coz it doesn’t show any dirt or any weakness
We believe the world is going soft then we are not going along with it
We believe in motorcycle rallies that last a week
We believe in roadside attractions, gas stations, hot dogs and finding out what’s over the next hill
We believe in rumbling engines distance of the size of the garbage cans,
Fuel tanks designed in 1936, freak train size hand bikes, chrome and custom painted
We believe in flames and skulls
We believe that life is what you make it and we make it one hell of a ride
We believe that the machine you sit on can tell the world exactly where you stand
We don’t care what everyone else believes
.......Amen

And if the words don’t draw you close to the passion which millions of riders across the world share then watch this amazing video.

Yesterday Vijay sent me a link to one of the threads on the Pagal Guy. Post number 53 read something like this –

"I've been a little pensive for the last couple of days. Loads of things bearing upon me, but then tonight was at my friend's place who came back after an extended weekend hike and trek. I asked him what he did in the last couple of days. He smiled and answered.

1. 2 x 6 hours treks
2. Drove a car in an empty parking lot
3. Flew an aircraft with the instructor sitting besides him.

Surely no mean feat for a Wharton dude eh .. This friend of mine is completely blind and is attending Wharton. If these people dont inspire you to be a bigger and better person - I doubt nothing else will. I take one look at him and I feel small. My worries are small, my concerns are small and heck my shortcomings are smaller. Run baby .. run.. ”

Hats off to the Guy. Incidents like these just reinforce my faith in a pledge I had taken log back – I had decided never to hand out alms to anyone at any point in time.
Since then I have always tried to help people not by money but by showing them opportunities or encouraging them towards earning a respectable living. A few incidents which I can recall, I would definitely like to share –

1. In 2004, Chandigarh, outside PT - Irrespective of the fact that I had polished my shoes 2 hours back, I get them polished again from a kid who requests to do that for me for 5 Bucks. I happen to be standing with a few friends whom I encourage to do the same.
2. Indore, café Coffe Day – After a hot cup of coffee, as Jassi put his hands in his pocket to hand out alms to a kid, I scold him and make him talk to clean my bike if he want to earn money. And he sincerely does so to my and Ravi’s bike.
3. I buy towels and even balloons on red lights which I always feel are better than handing out 2 bucks to a lady begging in front of your window with a child on her side.

There are two basic reasons for which I feel what I am doing is better than most of the people around me do –

1. It is a outrage (forget insult) to people like my friend in Wharton who overcome all odds to make a carve out a place for themselves in this world. I am not arguing that every specially abled person goes to Wharton. My simple argument is that whatever be the odds every man/woman must earn his/her place in this world. Inspirations are everywhere; we just need to open our eyes to it.
2. Handing out alms discourages people towards working hard.

Incidents and news like these strengthen my belief that I am working in the right direction.

Though this begging population in India is small (according to Indian census beggars are merely half a million) but if people like us can help them realize that their existence can only be realized through hard-work and not by their cries for alms; I am sure we can change the face of India and this world for better.

Is it possible to live without a Religion?

Yesterday, I happened to read an article by Dilip which made me go into the philosophical mode. I concur with Khalil when he says –

“Thought is a bird of space which in the cage of words can unfold its wings but cannot fly”.

but still instead of letting the conversations which I had with myself die down, I thought of penning them down.

Thought 1 –

Is it possible to live without a religion?

Thought 2 –

What is a religion?

- Till date, the world is struggling in finding out an appropriate definition of religion. But I believe a religion to be a set of thoughts, principles, facts and behavior which guides a person to overcome his fear of the unknown.

Thought 3 –

Why do people fear the unknown?

- Fear of the unknown can be used interchangeably with the fear of change.

Thought 4 –

Then why do people fear from change?

- No one fears change by birth. Rather a child is the best explorer. His sense of exploration is overcome by the feeling of fear by two things –

o When his explorations yield results in form of physical agony which for a child is a disincentive to further explore the source of his agony e.g. when child touches a heated press.

o Unknowingly parents would induce this fear within the child through punishments e.g. the child is scolded when he picks up a sharp tool like a razor or knife. Even though it might be for the good of the child; but a child is a very fast learner. When he finds no reward in exploring things like “the burning effect of fire”, “pain of a cut by knife” etc and instead is always garlanded with punishments, he gradually stops his exploits to please the ones who give him comfort – his parents. He starts depending on his parents for an art which they have long forgot – “Exploring the unknown”.

- As an individual starts depending on others to tell him what is good for him and what not - he starts fearing the change and the unknown whenever he has to face them by himself.

- Whenever needed, he would turn to someone for advice who has been introduced to him as an expert in that field.

- In the event of a lack of any expert (Guru), he turns to the set of thoughts, principles, facts and behaviors which someone spoke of at some point of time and which are now encapsulated in the form of a religion. These thoughts and principles act as a lighthouse for him not only for his day to day fears but also to his gravest fear – “Death”.

- We get introduced to a religion normally by our parents and peers. Some get chance to explore them and some don’t. But ironically, majority is formed by those who haven’t even explored the first religion they were introduced to. They simply rely on others to tell them that this religion is right so follow it.

Thought 5 –

This means that the purpose of every religion is the same?

- Yes.

Thought 6 –

Then, why so many religions?

- Years ago, someone must have sat down and done some kind of philosophical and psychological analysis and derived a few facts shortlisted a few principles to follow. Some of them we know; like Buddha, Mahavir and other learned men of their times. Sharing these analyses of theirs might have benefited quite a few men who shared them further. If you take a closer look into the history of most of the religions, you would find two common things across them –

o No two religions originated at the same place and around the same time period. Moreover, the same religion took time to spread in the region within the vicinity of its origin. The major factor can be attributed to the lack of the highly sophisticated communication network as the one we have today. (Man...., thats why I love this add).

o None of the people who are “Supposed” to have started a religion wrote down their analysis (which people term as preaching today); they merely shared it with others verbally. These analyses were merely based on empirical study and the validation was always in progress during their lifetime.

- As people slowly realized that these thoughts and principles are a panacea to all their worldly problems, they started following them in a dutiful manner. Herd mentality is not the problem of this century. It’s been there for long enough to get supporters for any new religion.

- Now as times were different, people (Preachers) were different, places were different and there was huge communication barrier in terms of geography - thoughts cannot be shared. This meant that someone with a set of analysis in India would not know that a similar analysis had been done in China by someone else. And hence religions kept on increasing.

- There is another reason too – As no one took the responsibility of the propagating the religion formally, it was a kind of mass movement which brought people together. History tells us that gradually as leaders, kings and politicians realized the power of these movements; they tried to use this power in their favor. This is how a religion started to corrupt and divide. The growing corruption made people loose faith in the movement they originally belonged to and started switching to the relative new ones which were relatively free from the evils. And thus the vicious circle just continued forever.

- The involvement of the powerful persons of that time in a particular religion, helped propogate it to far of places because of which some of them have survived e.g. Ashoka endorsed what Buddha had said, Constantine supported Jesus’ preaching, and Aryans supported what was written in Hinduism and so on. I am sure, there were more such religions started but being not endorsed by powerful men and due to the lack of enough masses behind it, they became extinct. Whatever religions we follow, see and hear of today are the ones which at some point in time found a mentor in the powerful men of their times.

Thought 7 –

But with the presence of the huge communication network, if you can share all your thoughts, ideas and principles with every living being-

Would this corruption go away?

Would people realize the real meaning of Religion?

Would the number of religions decrease?

Would there be no more new religion hereafter?

- This is quiet a troublesome question for me and I haven’t got any logical answer to even after pondering over it for quiet a long time. I believe the answer to the last question shall give me an answer to all the others. It is a very high probability that I might not get the answer in my lifetime if the answer has to be positive.

- But one thing I am sure of that Dilip might have got disillusioned by religions because of the corruption that crept in with time but I am sure that living without a religion is out of question (assuming my definition of religion)

My Long Awaited Tryst with STALIN

Every time I used to hear about a South Indian Superstar (I am of strong belief from today onwards that Superstars are in South India only) movie getting released under tremendous fanfare, I tried to capture their mood in my imaginations. So, today it was a sort of ‘Dream come true’ when I went to watch “Stalin’ (1^st Day 1^st Show), the Chiranjeevi starer Telgu movie even though the ticket cost me a hefty 400 bucks.

I could already feel the adrenal rush in Ganesh (my colleague) who normally does not drive his bike more than 50Kmph but was beating my Bullet today morning.

The Experience -

I hope I will be able to post the photographs tomorrow, but, what I saw was more than what I had expected.

Even before the movie started, the fans of the superstar had started the celebrations by offering their prayers beneath Chiranjeevi’s posters, Garlanding him wherever he (his poster) hung and celebrating the event (release of the movie) as if it was Ganesh Chaturthi or Holi.

And when the movie started, paper pieces were raining all across the hall. When you pay 400 bucks to see a movie you expect to see it amongst the die hard fans only. And this thing I realized just today.

When the moment of truth came (Chiranjeevi’s introduction), the celebrations reached their peak. With deafening shouts, whistles and clapping, people gave a dancing welcome to their hero. The ceiling of the theatre was nowhere to be seen. Only paper pieces were floating in the air. (I wish I could capture this moment in audio-visual to present it here.) But this tempo did not die down. The fans danced whenever their hero danced, they shouted with him, they cried with him and jumped from their seats clapping whenever he hit a catchy dialogue.

But what my friends who went along tell me is that this is just a glimpse of what happens in the mass theatres like ‘Vishwanaath” which sent me wondering.

The Movie –

As a movie critic, I am of the firm opinion that Language is no barrier for understanding a movie. I remember one of my communication professors explaining me that words merely form 8% of the communication.

I would first of all like to appreciate the basic message which the movie tries to convey – “Don’t pay Back…..Pay it forward”. Some of the scenes of the movie were completely heart rending and well handled -

1. Through the race of the specially abled children in the first half the director was able to convey his message in a very straight forward and a very hard hitting way.
2. Towards the end when the director tries to depict how a simple message turns into a silent revolution, he is able to catch the viewer’s interest through the magnanimity of the revolution.
3. Among the numerous action sequences, the handling of the one in where, Chiranjeevi burns a petrol tanker from within a well takes you to the edge of your seat.

But apart from these few things I have little appreciation for the movie and its crew.

To me, the movie seemed to be utterly confused.

Was, it for conveying a social message? Was it a hardcore commercial massala movie? Was it a movie only for the Chiranjeevi fans? Or Is Chiranjeevi trying to set a stage for his entry into the politics?

Though the last question is highly debatable, I found the movie confusing for it has tried to be everything I have questioned. The uselessness of Trisha’s character, irrelevance and improper timing of the songs and dance in the movie convey its commercial nature. Through the unbelievable stylish action sequences like the one where Chiranjeevi single handedly thrashes the hell out of 200 people the director has tried to please Chiranjeevi’s fans. While depicting the trash in politics points to my fourth argument; the loud and clear social message endorses my first question.

Answering all these questions in different ways, the director seems to have lost his originality of which I have heard a lot. Though we get to see the glimpses of his talent in the movie in a few sequences I had appreciated above.

Chiranjeevi –

Its definitely blasphemy to speak anything against him in Hyderabad and as I am ignorant of the rise of this star I cannot comment on the overall talent and potential he holds, I would merely comment on him with respect to this movie.

He seems to be less believable in the role of a Major with a bulging body with lesser of muscles and more of fat; He seems to have failed to manage himself physically unlike the Bollywood stars. This single weakness makes the character in this movie a little unbelievable in the romantic as well as action scenes.

Though I would admire his talent in acting of which I got to see only a few glimpses here and there in the movie, overall he seemed to have overacted (May be it’s the ‘Please the fans’ effect which carried him away).

Overall I would rate the movie as 4.5 on a scale of 10.

Next, I await to capture the mood in Chennai when Rajnikant movie releases in the 1^st Day 1^st Show again.

Manish Saini

Religion and School

The media today sells only if it can create confusion and whole lot of hulla boo around a minor event happening in some corner of the country.
For the record – it is very difficult to make out what actually happened in the first place but during a regular assembly prayer at more than a century old school in Lucknow – Loreto Convent, over a dozen students fainted after what can be called as–“manifestation of Lord Jesus Christ in physical form”.
Strangely enough people seem to be discussing the separation of Religion from school which in Indian context seems to be absurd for -

• Name a subject from which you can take away the 'Concept' of God and hence 'Religion'. –


• "Maths" - Try Explaining the divine Ratio "Phi".


• "Hindi" - What would it be without 'Kabir and Surdas'?


• "Science" - One cannot have a conceptual understandig of the subject at all without questioning the beliefs and superstitions which are part and parcel of one's religion. This only subject raises student’s interest in validating the theory and Concept of God and the only place which deems fit for this research is Religion.


• India has been known to be the land of origin for the famous "Gurukul" (Parampara) style of teaching. This style of teaching which is highly respected and still followed in India had the roots of religion deeply ingrained within it. When the media raised hue and cry on Professor Sabbarwal's death, the only question it targeted was the "Guru-Shishya" Parampara, which itself had its genesis in the aforementioned style.

In the absence of data, when the media raises questions like – “Are these schools centres of conversion?” it degrades the century old image of such institutions for cheap publicity. Instead it should thoroughly probe into the history of the School and find out the total number of cases of conversions in the school in the past.
Religion is a personal choice and not a society imposed thing. Parents sending their children to schools like Loreto Convent are themselves quiet educated and aware of the schools teaching methodology. Rather, they have to share the load of the studies of their children and hence are involved in the day to day activities of the school themselves; resulting in a automatic third party monitoring of the school activities. They do not require the Bajrang Dal Vandals for this purpose. If the school is resorting to any sort of mischief, all sane parents would withdraw their students from the institution.
Learning under the shadow of multiple religions does not result in students converting from one religion to the other, rather it cultivates “Tolerance” within them; the absence of which is the root cause of world’s biggest problem today – Terrorism.

Still Thinking

Well, how do they start a war?

Well, one country offends another.

How could one country offend another? You mean there's a mountain over in Germany gets mad...at a field over in France ?

Well, stupid, one people offends another.

Oh, if that's it, I shouldn't be here at all. I don't feel offended.

It don't apply to tramps like you.

Good. Then I can be going home right away.

Ah, you just try it.

Yeah. You wanna get shot?

Somebody must have wanted it. Maybe it was the English. No, I don't want to shoot any Englishmen. I never saw one till I came up here. And I suppose most of them never saw a German till they came up here. No, I'm sure they weren't asked about it.

Well...it must be doing somebody some good.

I think maybe the Kaiser...wanted a war.

I don't see that. The Kaiser's got everything he needs.

Well, he never had a war before.

Every full-grown emperor needs one war to make him famous. Why, that's history. Yeah, generals too. They need war.

And manufacturers. They get rich.

I think it's more a kind of fever. Nobody wants it in particular...and then all at once, there it is. We didn't want it. The English didn't want it. And here we are fighting.

I'll tell you how it should all be done. Whenever there's a big war coming on...You should rope off a big field...And sell tickets. Yeah. And on the big day...you should take all the kings and their cabinets and their generals...put them in the center dressed in their underpants...and let them fight it out with clubs. The best country wins.

-All Quiet on the Western Front

Bhaarat Ki Baat Sunata Hoon

“Itni Mamta Nadiyon Ko Bhi, Jahan Maata Kehke Bulate HainItna Aadar Insaan To Kya , Pathhar Bhi Pooje Jaate HainUs Dharti Pe Maine Janam Liya, Yeh Soch Ke Maein Itraata HoonBharat Ka Rehne Wala Hoon......”

Every city and every village in India is filled with these stones which have been worshiped for years. Reason??? Faith, devotion, Love!!!
141 Kms of trek to 3888mts, just to pay their obedience in front of a stone……Ask anyone and they will answer the reason for this pilgrimage to be their enormous Faith and Devotion.
But ironically, I can hardly recall a single pilgrimage or famous temple in North India where people don’t face harassment in the hands of people maintaining the place. They will allow you to take a shortcut to a ‘Special Darshan’ in case you can shell out a hefty amount as a ‘Seva’. Safety, hygiene and convenience are of least concern for the authorities as well as the pilgrims.
At times I do wonder whether people do have faith in what they believe or is it just that infamous herd mentality.

A firm believer, I went on to test the people of Hyderabad in the small but very famous ‘Chilkur Balaji Temple’, about 31.5 Kms from my house. And when you are riding a BULL, believe me even this small journey becomes eventful (
A small stone idol in the centre and hundreds of devotees literally running around it, scrambling on paper is what you see on this lake side temple.
But this temple in many respects stands as a guiding pillar for all the religious institutions operating in India. Maintained by a trust headed by 3 people, the temple has moved away from the philosophy of an inni minni human serving the God. Rather, it has maintained the sanctity of the temple by ensuring that the only thing in mind of anyone entering the premises of this holy place is worship. And yeah, God does go to rest over here after 8pm unlike any other place.
Be it hygiene or be it a simple management of the ever increasing crowd, this small temple and its management has infact set benchmarks insurmountable by any other such institution. You need to visit it to believe me.
But like any other typical Hindu worship place, the temple also has a nick name – “Visa Balaji” for the simple reason that visiting this place has resulted in processing of many visa applications.
Now…….is this the reason you really pray to God……..to leave this country???

…… Itna Aadar Insaan To Kya , Pathhar Bhi Pooje Jaate HainUs Dharti Pe Maine Janam Liya, Yeh Soch Ke Maein Itraata Hoon
May God Bless Everyone with a Good Head over their shoulders!!!

Core Competency Revisited

I am sure that among the various jargons which we used and exploited extensively in the past two years in the B-school, “Core Competency” was ahead of most of them. I can safely assume that in the times of an outsourcing boom, it was bound to be. Interestingly, with the passage of time the frequency f its use continuously decreased for “concentrating on the core-competency” became something as a commonsense for the business.
But these past two and a half months in Hyderabad has made me revisit this common notion we used to hold. Among many others, there were three very interesting encounters I had with different companies –

1. For a HUTCH mobile number in Punjab, I deposited 1000 bucks in one of their Hyderabad extensions in Madhopur after confirming the availability of this facility from them. But even today i.e. after 40 days of my payment, the account in Punjab has still not been updated after my repeated requests to them.


2. Riding high on the technology wave, we got ourselves a broadband connection and a wireless router for 4 laptops in the house. After having a very bad experience with the local broadband company, “Beam Cable” we decided to go in for the Brand “Airtel”. At first, it took us two complete weeks after depositing the money to coarse the Technical agent to deliver the connection. Over and above it, when approached for another connection, we were told that not more than one connection could be given in one house. And if a bachelor, forget about the connection at all.


3. ICICI was going to be my default option for the credit card as i have a salary account with them. Almost 2 months have crossed and I am still struggling to know the status of my application after submitting all the required documents 3 times.

There are still many more such incidents which happen day in and day out with us and I can just go on cribbing. But this weekend it became a topic of hot discussion among the four of us.
Towards the end KD very rightly pointed out that the operations of most of the companies have proved to be non scalable. When I get three different calls from three different persons verifying my personal information for the credit card, I am sure there is some major internal communication failure in the company.
I am sure a more practical analysis of the problem that how companies are loosing focus of their “Core Competencies” will serve a much better purpose than evaluating the movie ‘Krish’ as a business case study.

An Update

An update on what happened in the past month –

Good things first –

1. Am working on a wonderful project which ‘if’ successful would definitely give me a lot of experience and boost to my career.


2. I am in love with Hyderabad. The place is picturesque and climate is too lovely for the month of June and July.


3. Have rented a lavish flat and am fully enjoying this stay.


4. Fully utilizing the internet connection(s) at home. Have downloaded 12 wonderful movies in the past 20 days apart from 14 episodes of Lost season 2.


5. Got two pay slips from my new job and both of them lavishly spent. Dad is really happy that his son is earning


6. Am finally buying a Bullet next month. ‘A dream come true’.


7. Have learnt how to play pool and am now trying to expertise it. It’s a beautiful game. Only thing is, it is not a cheap hobby.


8. Watched a Telgu movie ‘Nandanvanam 120 Kms’ last Sunday and am going to watch another one ‘Ashok’ this weekend.


9. Have started building up a taste for good wine.

And now, not so good things –

1. Got too busy with my work and the time now seems to be running mighty fast for me to catch up with.


2. Haven’t been able to read anything. There are 4 half finished books waiting to be done.


3. Haven’t blogged for over a month.


4. Even after coming up with the unique concept of starting a blog – ‘The X-factor’, and discussing it out with lots of guys, have not been able to put up a single post.


5. Am not able to do anything to loose weight in this busy schedule.


6. Haven’t been able to watch the most awaited movies of the year – Da Vinci Code, MI III, X-Men III and Superman returns.

But the best part is that I am back to blogging again.

Proof that Reservations in BITS is necessary

Attacking the symptoms of any problem never solves it. Simple commonsense tells us to attack the root of any problem if you want to finish it.
In MBA we were taught a tool for finding the root of any management problem - ‘Root Cause Analysis’ – a tool to identify the root cause of a problem. Complete Medical profession is based on this simple commonsense principle. Engineering is null and void if one does not follow it. Not even a single invention could have been possible without this principle.
But there is still a profession where you will succeed only if you disobey this principle. Yeah no points for guessing……its Politics.
As Rashmi points out that BITS Pilani has considered merit as its admission criteria for its courses, I would like to point out that this university picks up toppers from all the state and central Boards.
And how do you top in a Board??? Only if you have access to quality education and infra in the primary, matric and higher secondary levels.
Well, if politicians rectify the problems at this level, won’t they loose the core identity of their profession???
Hence reservations in BITS.
QED.

Its more than a fuel hike.....look at a wider picture!!!

Kiruba goes to office daily on his bicycle. Among other reasons he mentions the increasing prices of fuel as one. Read his interesting post here.
By this logic....the prices of Bicycles are bound to increase, for the demand would definitely explode and increasing exponentially and the current capacity which hasn't taken the fuel price in consideration would fall short. Companies establishing their base in India will have to procure licences and Quotas shall be provided for each company for the manufacture of bicycles. All this in the name to prevent the nascent Indian Bicycle industry from the onslaught of the American, Japanese, Chinese and Korean companies.

Gradually the markets would be opened up with restricted FDIs and slowly moving towards a competitive market resulting in a slight decrease in prices (what the stock marketers say to be price correction).

Furthermore the government would find out someway to tax this rapidly increasing industry. Andhra Pradesh government would levy road tax on bicycle up to 50%. Licenses would be issued to cycle owners. New traffic and challan rules for the bicycle ‘drivers’, pillion riders and ‘rod’ riders (those who sit in the front, on the rod) would be determined (Yaar, Government has to think for the police also!!!).

Then being a natural unreplenishable product steel and iron will get short in supply and the input cost for a bicycle would increase. There would be another ‘tire for iron/steel’ scandal. And Tatas would lead again from the front by making a Rs. 1 lakh bicycle.
Some time later the uncontrollable hike in prices would make people walk to their offices and then another vicious cycle would start.

He he he…….
Written on a lighter note…….
Manish

P.S.: I am definitely going to buy one bicycle with my each months pay (investment) for the current prices are very low. Will also design a new financial instrument - "Bicycle Futures".

My first brush with Hyderabad

Well its over a month since I am here in Hyderabad but haven't been out much except for the few same old tourist destinations. I happened to shift from the hostel to the new flat yesterday and had to do a lot of buying (thanks to the handsome first pay). And believe me i am already in love with this city of Nizam. But yesterday's outing enriched me about this city more......

First lifetime experience happened when i boarded the bus. I had already read and heard a lot about ladies being conductors in buses in this area of the country and everytime the reaction was - "Gud. India is changing." But you have to experience this change to really believe it. The first reaction when she asked me for a ticked was, I just stared at her for a moment (oops I did it again). But as soon as i gained senses, I was filled with respect for the woman, a respect beyond bounds. And before I could cope with all this, as soon as I deboarded the bus.....voila...there were more like her all in almost every second bus.

The first thought which struck my mind was to have an interview with these amazing people sometime in the future. Wud definintely publish it over here.

I was also struck with the a small confusion. Now ladies who take up jobs have numerous reasons - independence, career, necessity to name a few. Now what are the reasons which push some ladies in profession like 'dancing' in beer bars, being a sex worker and to profession like this one ....... being a conductor? Is it the greed which pushes you into the former and necessity into the latter or is it the background of the people? I am not at all demeaning one profession of the other. My only reason to ask this question was that the feelings which rose in me after meeting ths lady working as a conductor were vastly different when i met a bar girl and a sex worker.

Well moving from one end of the city to the other we reached the place we were looking for the whole day...the furniture market. Short of money in cash.......couldn't find an ATM around. No doubt we had an option to swipe the card at the vendor's. But it was gonna cost us 2% of the whole amount. (People in service industry are u listening) This smart salesperson had a option for us. He simply brought his bike and took me along him to an ATm 4.5 Kms from the place to draw the money.

Man....its not that Service industry has arrived here........the culture of "Service" seems to have deeply ingrained in the People of this amazing city.

The Invisible Cloak

Every now and then scientists have tried to take the human existence to the next level. And with this report Amit tries to explore what could happen to our society in case the invisible cloak becomes a reality.
Reading the comments by other bloggers one thing is for sure that the cloak serves no purpose except for ‘spying’ (the reasons may vary). The only check on the owner of the same that I can imagine is ‘Moral’. Hence the dangers from this wonderful product are undeniably huge.
For keeping these weirdo scientists busy, I guess better idea would have been to experiment on–
1.) Eliminating the concept of hunger from human life i.e. one basic need is completely taken care of before moving to the next.
2.) Eliminating sleep and thus increasing human productivity.
3.) Ways to improve the efficiency of the brain.
4.) Increasing the radius of earth, thickness of the ozone layer for improving human life.
5.) A low cost fresh water generator from the natural gasses like Carbon Dioxide etc.
6.) A low cost substitute to plastics.
The list is endless………
I am surprised on the selection of this invisible cloak experiment. I hope someone can clarify more.

An Inspiring Story

I found this story posted by Gursharan on the infy's personal blogs. Worth reading.....

A 10-year-old boy decided to study Judo despite the fact that he had losthis left arm in a devastating car accident. The boy began lessons with anold Japanese judo master. The boy was doing well, so he couldn't understand why, after three months of training the master had taught him only one move."Sensei," the boy finally said, "Shouldn't I be learning more moves?" "This is the only move you know, but this is the only move you'll ever need to know," the sensei replied. Not quite understanding,but believing in his teacher, the boy kept training.Several months later, the sensei took the boy to his first tournament.Surprising himself, the boy easily won his first two matches. The thirdmatch proved to be more difficult, but after some time, his opponentbecame impatient and charged; the boy deftly used his one move to win thematch. Still amazed by his success, the boy was now in the finals. This time, his opponent was bigger, stronger, and more experienced. For a while, the boy appeared to be overmatched.Concerned that the boy might get hurt, the referee called a time-out. Hewas about to stop the match when the sensei intervened."No," the sensei insisted, "Let him continue." Soon after the match resumed, his opponent made a critical mistake: he dropped his guard. Instantly, the boy used his move to pin him. The boy had won the match and the tournament.He was the champion. On the way home, the boy and sensei reviewed every move in each and every match. Then the boy summoned the courage to ask what was really on his mind. "Sensei, how did I win the tournament with only one move?" "You won for two reasons," the sensei answered. "First, you've almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. And second, the only known defense for that move is for your opponent to grab your left arm."

The boy's biggest weakness had become his biggest strength.

"Sometimes we feel that we have certain weaknesses and we blame others,the circumstances and our self for it but we never know that our weaknesscan become our strength one day. Each of us is special and important, sonever think you have any weakness, never think of pride or pain, just live your life to its fullest and extract the *best* out of it!"

Narmada bachao "creatively" like Managers

This post by aadisht reminded me of “A beautiful mind” – John Nash whom we admired a lot in the college for his amazing thesis. There were two reasons for this –

1. ) He talks about ‘win win theory’ – the basis of Nash’s quest which ultimately won him the Nobel Prize.
2. ) He proposes an amazingly creative solution (to the Narmada Bachao Andolan issue)using very basic and simple concepts which are taught in the first term of an MBA course.

He proposes –

“What if you compensate the people whose land you are acquiring with call options on the land which benefits? The option can have an exercise price equal to the current price- or perhaps with a modest premium- and it can be exercised on a date after the development is expected to be complete.”

No doubt the solution is wrought with some inherent flaws. A few which I can think out of my hat are –

1.) The development of the dam has already taken 30 years and might take another 10-15 years or so. Majority of the people who are being displaced fall in the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category and require a relief package which can bring their life back on track as soon as possible. They will definitely benefit from the solution after 10 years in case they are able to survive under the current scenario.

2.) Who is going to take care of the disbursement of the call option and that too of a land which will really benefit from the new dam? Of course we will have a government body. But what is the guarantee that this disbursement would be free from the problems against which the complete ‘Andolan’ has been started. I am sure to see “NBA part II”.

3.) Poor people understand only give and take and a call option is beyond their comprehension which again leaves them completely vulnerable in the hands of government officials, real estate agents and other greedy hawks.

I am not saying that the solution is impossible to implement rather its one of the most creative solution to the problem I have seen by far.

Moreover no solution is ever perfect. Just take the example of a telephone invented a century back as a solution to our communication needs. But the improvements are still on.

And this is my small contribution to what Medha started and people like Aadisht are carrying forward.

Hats off to you Aadisht!!!

THe Quota Issue

Disclaimer – The write up is completely a personal opinion of the write and is ripe with a lot of assumptions implicit and explicit.

Lot has already been said, debated, scientifically analyzed, contemplated, fought and even blood spilled over this critical issue which has taken this country (especially the youth) by storm. While writing/speaking over it, I am still to see a single person who does not get emotionally charged (for whatever reason) and I am no exception to it. Reading through all their reasoning and arguments, I have tried to present my take on the issue.

The Intention –

1. Among the first ‘Reservations’ introduced in India by the British were to the Muslims to woo them to fulfill political intentions. And no one can deny the disastrous effect of this division in the society.

2. Under Gandhi’s guidance and Ambedkar’s leadership, India decided to experiment with a similar, already failed system to uplift the socially outcast, “Harijans”, but with some really good intentions backing it up.

3. Generations changed and so did the intentions. The experiment had opened up a Pandora’s Box, for the Politicians to manipulate over the next half of the century which took a monstrous shape first in 1991 and then in 2006.

4. No rational and sane person can deny the fact that backward caste people are still socially discriminated in this IT hub of the world. At heart we all agree that poverty, untouchability and illiteracy need to be rooted out to make this country a better place.

The Problem –

1. The Legacy: In this land of Hero worshiper’s we cannot accept the fact that our heroes are also humans, liable to make mistakes. Gandhi’s and Ambedkar’s experiment failed and it failed for the same reasons which lead to the making of Pakistan. But no one dared pull the plug. Why??? Because, how can ‘Gandhi’ be wrong? How can ‘Ambedkar’ go wrong? Faltering of heroes is equivalent in India is equivalent to blasting off of the Bamiyan Buddha or Public burning of Quran – a sacrilege. And thus in 60s ‘Reservations’ were made permanent.

2. Politics: Unfortunately, India’s problem today is its own leaders who are no longer the leaders of the citizens of this country rather are leaders of castes. A country marred with 36% illiteracy and 26% population below poverty lines (BPL), backward caste is a huge vote bank to be exploited. And even this recent move of the UPA government of increasing the Quotas in the election season is nothing more than a shameful example of the deteriorating Indian Political system.
Most depressing thing is that ….if put in the Parliament, the bill for increasing Quota would be passed unanimously without a national debate. No marks for guessing the reason!

The Effect –

1. The pro-reservationists argue that qualification brings the backward classes into the mainstream. The implicit assumption here is that ‘Good Qualification’ fetches a job with handsome money; which literally means social upliftment of the backward as no one bothers himself about the caste of a rich. But in India, good education (from IITs, IIMs, AIIMS and other reputed institutes) comes at a cost (not the admission fees; rather the investment required to prepare for the entrance in these institutes). This results in ratio of people coming from metros (people who can afford costly education) to those coming from backward/rural areas (with a meager per capita income) is astronomical (As almost 40% of India is poor). Thus the vicious circle of education is making rich even richer.
Conclusion –The lower passing marks for ‘Quotaites’ is errorneous as only those who can invest in preparation give entrance tests for the reputed institutes. This policy just deteriorates the quality of education.

2. In colleges there are two kinds of groups students tend to make – one based on the region they belong to and the other is caste centric. While the former happens because of the comfort of language (As India is a country where language changes at every 100 Km), the latter happens either because of a shared feeling of inferiority, complex and discontent ( as the relaxation in entrance gets directly reflected in the scholastic pursuits of backward class people especially in institutes with relative grading) against the higher class (Recall the reasons for India’s Partition-they were no different).

The Solution –

Increasing the number of seats in no way solves the problems I have tried to point out in this write up; rather they only aggravate an already deteriorating scenario.
Everyday, one of the factions proposes something and the other disposes. The problem requires a well devised long term plan to be implemented under a tightly monitored time frame. Three components of this plan which I strongly feel would be the soul of this plan are –
1. New Education Policy (System) – Almost every section of the society has proposed and debated over the pos and cons of revamping the education system of India for making it a real medium (and not a dummy one as it is now) for the upliftment of backward classes. And this is merely one module of the whole solution package.
(Empirically) Number of students from government colleges making to the best higher education institutes in India (IITs, IIMs, AIIMS and others) can be counted on ones fingertips. As argued earlier, the majority is still of the people who can afford costly education from the private schools (Even here Cost is associated with Quality for the reasons described later). What we require is
a. A sincere overhaul of the complete education system which is long overdue now.
b. Subsidizing quality education for the backward classes’ up to class 10th/12th & let the merit decide the future of this country.

2. Learn-Pay-Earn: IITs, IIMs, AIIMS pass-outs education is subsidized by this country’s taxpayers. A simple financial logic asks for a pay back.
Devise a “Rational” policy (which is next to impossible in India but its future is still dependent on it) through which these passouts directly/indirectly return back the favor, before they move on to carve a golden future for themselves. Hence, let the Learn-Pay-Earn (LPE) principal replace the Learn-Earn(LE) principal.
(I support this argument as there are countries in which youngsters have to undertake defense training and serve the country for a minimum period)

1. The Infrastructure: Even if all these policies are in place, would the benefit reach the deserving living in places where there are no schools for many kms, no quality teachers and nothing to motivate them???
Hence there are a few pre-requisites we need to take care of even before all those policies are even thought over. The foremost among these would be an intensive infrastructure laid out across the length and breadth of the country.
Even today in Bihar, Jharkhand, UP, Chattisgarh, Himalyan states and many other parts of the country are completely inaccessible.

Quality education asks for Quality teachers who require a Quality incentive to share their knowledge, which refers to an infrastructure which provides a sufficient standard of living for which they have slogged throughout their lives. Basic economics teaches us that infrastructure attracts industries, Industries require manpower, to attract manpower schools, hospitals, parks come up which improve the standard of living – attracting Quality scholars resulting in better education which would help us achieve the desired objective. Examples of this are all around us from Bombay to Bangalore and now Baddi. Even China achievements today are the result of its investment in the infrastructure.
Putting the effect of infrastructure more simply in the words of my friend N.H. Krishnan – “A road in a village means a bus stand, which means another hanging place for children, means observing people of all classes and creed and thus a brush with a whole new world. This in turn lights a desire in them to explore more of this ‘New World’, motivates them to know more which is an incentive enough for them to learn and gain knowledge. Development automatically follows.”

A Thought – The world will provide you with stones every day. What you build out of it is your outlook ---- a BRIDGE or a WALL.