Has anything really changed?

One month has passed since the terrorists struck India, but has anything changed??? To begin analyzing this question, i would first like to clarify on why i used the term terrorists attacked India, rather than Mumbai. I did this deliberately so that the people who think Mumbai is theirs alone and not the part of the bigger sovereign country, can also have the exposure to reality.
Now, coming back to the question, there can be many answers to the question. There are many faces to it and different people will see it in different manners. Some optimists would suggest that it has made India stronger than ever before in uniting the people against the ghastly crime committed by the terrorists. Whereas some pessimists would say that nothing has changed and India is at the same point where it was a month ago. And, it is easy to see that such people would be far greater in number than the ones mentioned earlier.
My stance would be something in between these two. It is nice to have an optimistic approach in such adverse times. But when you are struck with reality, you have to seriously consider the other approach as well.
Things have certainly changed here. It was not seen earlier that so many people were unanimously raising their voices against one common cause. One more thing that was not seen earlier was that so many youngsters came forward, realizing their duties towards their nation. Many youngsters were seen voicing their opinions against the bureaucrats of our country. Many of them could also be seen suggesting that they wanted to enter politics in order to contribute their worth towards the well-being of the nation. So, definitely positive signs for India.
One more positive thing that seems to have occurred is that some of our politicians seem to have gone into exile as they should have probably done. The most prominent among them is obviously our great leader, Raj Thackeray. His followers were wondering why didn't he come out and stop the commandos from the northern states from saving the Marathis. Probably, they have got their lessons. But, the worrying factor is that the lessons are very easily and very soon forgotten over here.
When we talk about how much things have changed, we need to consider both faces of the coin. The war fever is running high these days. But, considering the history and the approach of our "noble" leaders, the run of events suggests that nothing of that sort is going to happen. Pakistan, as always has again proved that it is king in talks and zero in implementation. And after all these it is quite clearly visible that Pakistan army is completely in control of the country. And that is the biggest worrying factor for India. With the Pakistan army in control of the Nuclear armor of the country, India has to take a cautious approach before taking any big decision. So, if we consider the war option to be the last option, then what should be the other approach.
Well, i feel that if war is not an option then India has to be strict in all the other actions that it proposes. We have to put all the possible kind of pressures on them. To start with, we should first of all cut all the ties, be it trades or anything else with them (which i don't understand, why has not been done yet). Another important step that we can take is to try to stop the IMF loan to be granted easily to Pakistan, without any conditions. I believe that we can still make them do many things if we take a more tougher approach, be it diplomatically or through military actions.
So, if we see in this manner, nothing has changed and it seems like nothing much is gonna change. Pakistan is going to involve us in the talks and the diplomatic talks are going to lead us to nowhere if our approach remains the same. Everything will die down soon and neither Pakistan or India will gain anything through all these. But, the real winner will be terrorism, which nobody wants.
Hope, our leaders wake up very soon to make the optimistic vision of the citizens, a reality. Then, India will be the true winner.

The BREAKING NEWS syndrome

Media is the greatest prize that India could have got in the post-independence era. It is the only thing that seems to be enjoying the full benefits of the democracy. No, I am not joking. I know it is hard to believe after all the fiasco recently. But just have a look at their work. Just look at the kind of news they show and the way they show it, it is absolutely worth lauding them.
The true responsibility of the media is not to just broadcast the news, but to keep giving their own opinions, to show the people what they believe and not just this, to make the people believe what they believe. And this is what the big as well as small media houses of our country have been doing.
Another task is to do some research activity and show the people the results of the research in the most dignified manner. Just surf through any of the channels, and you will get to know the kind of research activity they carry out in order to extract the news from absolutely nowhere. These kind of researches being undertaken at the media houses will put even the NASA and ISRO scientists to shame. The media people have already found out the answers to the most complex mysteries of life. They have with them, the maps showing the ways to heaven as well as hell. They can very easily find out as to what happens after death. They can even talk to spirits. Yes, this is not an exaggeration. Just have a look at some of the channels, especially the Hindi news channels and you will believe each word of mine.
Now, apart from the research activity, the media people are also doing community services. They can be seen solving the household feuds in front of the entire country. They get the news of some mother-in-law beating her daughter-in-law before it reaches the ears of the police. Now, this is what is terrific about them. Sometimes, they also call the "disturbed" people to their studios so that they can tell their stories to the country exclusively on some of the channels.
The media never stands behind when the environment issues comes up. The news reader will shout at his/her highest vocal point whenever some important broadcast is going on, with the noble intention that if one person from one locality hears them, their neighbors need not switch on the television sets.
And look at the powers that they possess, they can turn the fortunes of any ordinary person in a single night and make him a national hero. If they find out a child drown into a pothole, the entire country has got something to pray for, for the next 3 days or so. So, see how they help the Indians in not letting them forget God and to keep their religious hopes alive.
They can also revive the fortunes of any forgotten hero at their wish. To quote an example, try and remember Saurav Ganguly. The media was the front runner in getting him removed from the playing eleven. And then after a year or two, the media came back and put their entire force together in convincing the team selectors to take him back in the team. The way they showed the presentations on Ganguly with the background music running that can bring get any macho-man to cry out loud, was simply superb. The revival of Indian cricket team can truly be credited to the media.
Then there is a peculiar way in which they entertain the general masses. Apart from showing just the news, they have many additional shows running for the public welfare. Most of the channels can be seen showing the laughter shows daily, almost round the clock, thus teaching people to laugh. And some others can be seen doing marketing of the saas-bahu sops on other channels of that particular group. And if some hit reality shows comes by at some time, the viewers will never get bored watching about them and finding the hidden realities about them, which probably they themselves might not know. How noble of them, really!!!
And lastly, they are at their best when some very tragic event occurs. The journalist risk their own lives to provide the live news to the people. And they are not at all biased in helping people. They consider all the people as same, be it general masses or the terrorists. They provide some vital information to these people as well. It could be seen very well during the recent terror attacks in Mumbai. The media provided the live shots from all the terror affected points. They gave a very detailed analysis of the situation from time to time. The details also included the locations of the snipers deployed by Indian Army, the positions taken by the army people, the rooms in which the hostages might be hiding, etc. Seriously, the terrorists are also humans like us only. So, it was really kind of the media to stand up and help them when the entire world was against them.
Oh, how can I forget the favorite phrase of the news channels "BREAKING NEWS". Whatever the news be, however trivial or anything the phrase is supposed to be shown on the screen all the time. This is a very inspiring phrase for the general masses.

Really, hats off to the Indian media. Its high time now that they wake up and stop all the non-sense being shown and truly live up to the expectations of the citizens.

Wake up yourselves, dont blame everyone else

November 26, 2008 will always be remembered as a black day in the history of India. An event, never thought of and for which India was never prepared, occurred in the most prominent Indian city and that too in the most high profile areas of the city. It was a terrible terrible incident and I, like most other people, have been left stunned by this.

A lot has been said about the dreadful condition of our political system as well as the role of the media in the events, but it can still surely be said that the situation is not going to change drastically here. The tragic incident was compared to 9/11 of the US and most people expect the Indian response to be similar to that of US at that time. But is that going to happen. I don't believe so and I think most of the people here will agree with me. Our great inspiring political class will still look for their votes and would refrain from doing something for the real benefit of the people. People can't even expect these people to provide them their basic right of security.
Whenever such things happen everybody tends to look for people to blame. Everybody seem to be having some or the other thoughts on what went wrong, what should have been done and what should be done. But are these thoughts ever converted into actions. I feel they never are. And that is where the major problem lies in. Everything dies down as soon as the incident goes off air and you start to wonder that something of this magnitude occurred.
I know it is not good to be so cynical, but when such incidents occur and when adequate steps are not taken to stop such events from occurring so frequently, it is difficult to stop yourselves.
While it is not completely wrong to blame the politicians for not providing us our basic rights, it is we who need to stand up for ourselves. It is we who make these politicians for what they are, they are people like us only. We elect them and we ourselves forgive them of their misdoings by not complaining about them. It is high time we stand up for our rights, for the people who have lost their lives for no fault of their own, for the families who have lost their beloved, for the police and commandos who fought without any fears of death, for the hotel staff who lost their own lives in order to save the lives of their guests and last but not the least for our beloved country India.
India has advanced so much in the last few years, to the level that it is now being called a super-power in the global politics. The term is generally associated with the developed countries only. But when you see the conditions here, you start to doubt that whether India is worthy of that position or we still need to improve a lot before being called a developed country. And the reason I feel so is that still most of the people here abstain from their right to vote giving the reason that they don't find any candidate worthy of their votes. But how many of us will even have the audacity of standing in the elections. And so the people left to vote are only the uneducated people who are quite easy to be pleased by our despicable politicians. At many places the votes are won by money. And at the other places it is caste based.
It is our responsibility to first to exercise all our duties well and then ask for the rights. If the politicians are not acting upon the promises made by them before the elections, it is our duty to keep reminding them and also complain about them. If all of us understand our responsibilities and stand up together, we will definitely bring about the change here.

"Be the change that you want to see in the world"
- Mahatma Gandhi

Arsenal - Never count them off

Arsenal are an amazing side...Though they have been a little inconsistent in the English Premier League this season, but the form that they have shown in some of the matches and in all the matches of other competitions including the UEFA champions league has been truly magnificent...
Last night they were up against Wigan Athletic in the Carling Cup.And as always Wenger fielded his second string side, making 11 changes from the side that played against Manchester United at the weekend...The average age of the side was 19 years.And again as expected, the young guns didn't let him down and won fairly comfortably 3-0... The win even made Wenger say that he is tempted to field some of these players in the EPL...
Arsenal have an amazing style of football, which is very different from what the other teams show in EPL... And the way they attack and counter attack at times, its really remarkable to say the least... One team that comes close to showing their way of playing is Barcelona...
In last Saturday's big match against ManU, all odds were against them...But the way the came back showed that you cant write them off any time... Even when they were 2-0 up, they didn't stop attacking...It was a spectacular display of football...With 5 minutes remaining and the scoreline favouring them, they still had 5 players moving towards the ManU goal line which is a rare sight anywhere.... Though they conceded a goal in playing such superb football, but still it was magnificent to watch them play like that...
I really hope that they don't slump this season like they did last season...And with Rosicky and Eduardo slated to come back soon,hope that they show the same kind of football like they showed last Saturday more consistently...

VIVA ARSENAL

The Democratic CHANGE

Today, Senator Barack Obama was elected as the president of the United Stated of America. And he has many firsts to his name. He is the first black president and also the first African American president of the most powerful nation of the world. And this speaks for itself...

People around the world have an image set on their minds of America being a racist nation. And the riots that broke out after the assassination of Martin Luther King was a good testimony of this. So the same nation voting for a black president just 40 years after that, looks quite amazing. The elections were very closely followed everywhere around the world. And one thing looks certain "America voted for a change"...

And the change was needed after eight long years of Bush administration. The country's image has derogated ever since. The economic crisis also happened at the worst possible time for the Republican party. Also America's failure in Iraq was due to take its toll.
People always like change....Or to say in other words people don't like the same to go on for longer than necessary. And this is true not just on the political front but also in any other case. If the change looks even slightly better than what is current, people certainly go for the change. And I believe this was a major factor which led Obama to such a landslide victory over McCain.

I just hope that the much needed CHANGE also comes to India sooner than later. Also whatever the change is, be it in America or elsewhere, the change always remain better.

Fashion is not so fashionable

I saw the movie "Fashion" on the day of its release...And believe me it was a complete waste of money and time...We had great expectations from Madhur Bhandarkar, especially after his two previous films, Page 3 and Corporate got such wide acclaims from the critics as well as the public...

"Fashion" was meant to throw some light on the fashion industry which for most people is a very dangerous industry. Dangerous in the sense that most of the conservative Indian people don't approve of the skin show in the modelling industry and consider it against the morals. Also most people have a thinking that people have to go to any heights in order to establish a name in this field.
The film does go on to show all the harsh realities of the industry...But a movie has to get the audiences grooved to it till the end. Unfortunately, this movie fails to do so...And being a 3hr 15 min long movie, audiences were bound to get bored. And the main point that was missing in this movie as compared to Bhandarkar's earlier movies was that there were absolutely no surprises in this particular flick, no twists and turns as you had expect from an artist of his genre.
The story is about a small town girl coming to Mumbai to live her dreams of becoming a super-model. She does become a super model but in the process of doing so, loses her morality and eventually the friends also leave her...Later, she comes to realize her mistakes and comes back again in the industry and again makes her mark and achieves greater success as a model than earlier... The movie gets very boring at the end...Audiences keep expecting that there would be some twist in the story at some point, but unfortunately they don't get even one....
My personal view on the movie is that it could have been a lot better. There were certain characters included in the film that were absolutely unnecessary which made the film a little longer. So go and watch the film at your own risk. And do stop expecting a lot from Madhur Bhandarkar...

Need is To Change

Politics or to say using a "good" word, governance was introduced so that the better management of all the resources present in the region, including the human resources, could be done. In other words it was meant to be a respectable duty or service to mankind and was meant to be on the lines of philanthropy. But, has it achieved what it was really meant to achieve. Or has it even gone on the path of achieving its goal. Probably not. And most of my colleagues of this generation will agree to this. And especially if you are from India, you will be more inclined to support me in these thoughts.

Everybody in India will have his or her own thoughts of what is wrong with politics in this country. Most of them will have their own personal experience to share on this matter. But, when you ask why is this problem prevalent here and what should be done to improve the conditions, a majority of the people will not have answers. And even if they have the answers, they dont want to come into open and articulate their ideas. So, then if you dont have the solutions or you dont want to share them, then I believe that it is worthless to complain about the conditions. Perhaps, this is the reason why politicians here are always busy in thinking of the ways to please the voters to gain their votes rather than winning them by the virtue of good governance.
And this is the case wherever you go in the country. And the situation becomes even more grim when the election season is around. So be it Raj Thackeray seeking to make his mark in Maharashtra politics by following on the path of his uncle, Mamata Banerjee trying to help farmers retain their land in singur from the TATAs, Mayawati helping her people by cancelling the rail project in Sonia Gandhi's land, Left parties fighting with Somanath Chatterjee, and many many other cases, everybody has the same ultimate goal.

This situation has to change, for the betterment of the country, for the betterment of its people, for the betterment of mankind...
I would like to end with an appeal to the youth to come forward and take more part in the governance and thereby help the country and its people. It is WE who can bring about the big change.

Introduction

Dear friends

This is my first post and I have no idea as to what to write here, so probably my first post may bore you. I wonder whether it is a good idea to give my introduction here. Probably I should.

Well then here is a person in front of you who doesn't believe in boasting of himself, so I cant just describe myself...Otherwise, I will have to cross all the limits of modesty :-)

But to tell something of me, I am a sports enthusiast. I love watching Football, Cricket, Tennis and Formula1. I also like reading, be it novels, newspapers or magazines, anything will do. Also, I have an inclination towards social work and have been engaged in some activities in my past... And lastly, I am currently not enjoying the best of my times...Infact, I feel that the past few months have been the worst.But it happens with everybody and it happened with me too...So, no lamenting about the uncertainties of life...
I believe that one should enjoy life to its fullest... But first of all, one has to realize oneself first... One has to realize what the true pleasure is and doing which activity do you feel a true sense of accomplishment... Once you realize this and start working towards it, I believe you will find yourself the most happiest....
Now, enough of lecturing in the first post....

To quote in the end----
"Live life today as if you were to die tomorrow...Learn today as if you were to live forever"
-Mahatma Gandhi

Finally, something from my side- Have a blast and enjoy this wonderful gift given to you called life....