When did I sing the national anthem last ?

As in the olden days this year I decided to watch the republic day parade. As lady luck smiled on me the parade was about to start when I switched on my idiot box - this year's chief guest Vladimir Putin was been received with a lot of warmth and after they were seated the our national anthem started - as it should come naturally I also started to sing along with the band. To my dismay towards the end I nearly fumbled on the exact words - it was very disgusting and felt a bit humiliated that I was not able to sing the anthem fluently. After school where you are forced to sing the anthem there are hardly any instances where it is mandatory later in life at least if you are an Indian Civilian .I was at pain to remember when did I last sing - my memory failed me.

It may not be as big I am making out but the old adage comes to mind " Do not think what the nation has given you but what you can give to the nation " - the problem here the nation is represented by the corrupt power hungry politicians and the bloated red taped bureaucracy , a nation where a vote is more important than a life. But when I see my contribution - actually nothing except the mandatory Tax I pay on my income. Some food for thought .........

Guru lacks intensity

I have always the admired Dhriubhai Ambani (DHA ) which at one point in time even made me join the Reliance group. His legacy has made a profound impact on the Indian industry. His insatiable appetite for scale is very difficult to replicate. his vision of straddling the entire value chain is remarkable feat in execution. I can go on singing paeans about him even though his methods of achieving the unthinkable may have been controversial or out right against the law or rather around the law.

I was very keen on watching the movie Guru - I cant remember an Indian movie which is based on the life and times of a Businessman and this was on DHA. After watching half a dozen reviews was not very sure why Mani Ratnam kept on denying that the movie was not based on DHA though it was very obvious - from his middle east sojourn to starting from the by lanes of the cloth market to the famous spat with Indian express and even the humble gujrati pedigree - the son of a headmaster. There are too many incidents which cannot be just a coincidence.

I must admit its a different genre altogether and a difficult act when you dont have similar kind of films made. After coming out - the first feeling was the movie lacked intensity , though AB baby was good and Aish very restrained ( round about from D2 ) the overall pace was a bit slack. Its a momentous task to make a film on such larger than life figure. To make it look like fiction the director added certain co-stars like Vidya un-necessarily which too away precious screen time instead he could have focussed more on the protagonist. I see no point in the flip flop which has resulted in the director doing away with liberties and restricting the scope which makes him to go into avoidabel facets. The camera work is superb and couple of songs are hummable and the music has to grow on you very typical of ARM.

Neverthless with its flaws the movie is watchable once. Mani Ratnam has not done an encore like Bombay or Roja yet the themes in the movie particularly of how AB comes out against the established system using the media or the his means of getting the work done by corruption/condescend is shown with remarkable maturity. The movie may not be a tribute to the great man but makes an earnest attempt to show even by adopting dubious means wealth and value can be created not just for personal gains but also for other people in the value chain.

Astrology the sufterfuge of the weak or power of 3

I found the definition of Astrology on the net as follow ( dictionary.com): " the study that assumes and attempts to interpret the influence of the heavenly bodies on human affairs " . There is a never ending debate on the rationality and efficacy of the predictions made on the basis of the heavenly bodies. The obvious question that keeps coming to mind is how does a planet or star situated thousands of miles away affect the future of a person . Delving a little deeper the more fascinating aspect is the planets at the time of the birth or start of the event kind off decide the destiny and all other changes are incremental. No wonder we have pay so much importance to "Muhurat" - the auspicious time of undertaking the activity and in effect trying to give a pass to the destiny. I was wondering the date and time on which Microsoft was started by bill gates - it must have been the most opportune time to start anything in the history of mankind. Though astrology is based on the ancient vedas but some how they are in direct conflict with the essence of Hinduism of your past Karmas deciding your future. Probably I am confused and need to investigate the relationship a bit more.

My experiences have been mixed and with some success. I have referred to astrology mostly when I felt weak, feeble, directionless, uncertain and in times when astrology would guide me to take decision ( really bad ). I don't remember instances being on high and ever trying to consult anyone. I had in one point in time nearly 4 of them and was always trying to find who gave answers to my expectation or rather what I wanted to hear - as typically I rejected who did not meet this criteria and kept on trying . Consulting an astrologer is very prevalent in India and I was wondering if the folks in the west can be so successful even without bothering about any sort of auspicious time why do Indians are so much into it. I have know very successful people who will not do anything in "Rahukalam" ( a two hour period everyday ). From film stars to industry houses everyone seems to be in grip of these soothsayers and now we have variety of them from numerologists to tarot card readers to even people reading the patters on coffee mugs ( this is ultimate in predictions)

Reliance where I have worked in the past is one amazing company. I was surprised to find out how much they are into astrology etc. For example they have this firm belief in power of 3 to elaborate further as simple as any car that is bought in the company the sum of digits has to be divisible by 3. I have checked in past and any major financial number that is published is divisible by 3. I not sure what is behind this belief but boy they are mighty successful. This belief in the power of 3 may not be exactly related to astrology but I think the genesis is in it. The obvious question - what makes such a highly successful and powerful business house to kind into such nuances.

With the future becoming uncertain and so much pressure all genre of people going to these folks and the prediction psychology has undergone a lot of change it is becoming more popular and the ilk of this community growing. Have known a guy who has successfully predicted couple of rises and falls in the Indian stock markets by combining the tenets of astrology and the science of technical trading. Its all pervasive in our daily lives like never before and worth pondering about.

Chennai the city of the future ?

I was in chennai recently and have been going there on and off for the last couple of years. In this visit I was surprised to see the infrastructure build up. Wide roads , cemented pavements , malls coming up ,very few potholes - though the quality is still suspect in some cases but nevertheless it was obvious that the city is probably gearing up for the future even though any one who visits chennai has only horror stories of dealing with the local populace. How he or she got ragged by the auto rickshaw is the famous grouse. One of my friends has even name them " cockroaches" . The language problem seems to be getting worse. Inspite of these overwhelming odds against the city - as per the current statistics Chennai has more software exports than the silicon valley of India - Bangalore and growing.

The Chennai airport was in stark contrast to bangalore which is nothing but a secured Bus terminal, hardly any place to sit after security check, dirty sofas , nothing worth mentioning about . Whereas Chennai is far better and where the chances of getting claustrophobic are rare. I happen to see a group of 25 firangees ( supposedly were here to attend some partnership summit) and they seem all lost in the hustle bustle of bangalore airport , they did even have a place to stand and where getting pushed around by the other folks coming out of the airport.

Even Infosys has plans to have close to 50000 employees in chennai in the next couple of years as against Bangalore most of the development has already been carried out.

The goverment seems to be serious on the development and wants to make chennai a world class city even with the obvious constraints and looking at the current developments, surely will be the city to watch out in future.

Gruesome - no other word to describe Nithari killings

It was horrendous to watch the proceedings in the Nithari serial murders. I was disturbed for quite some time the way the killings were carried out and most surprising was children were the victims. It baffled me as how on an earth an educated man with a decent pedigree of education can be part of such a gory and macabre tale. It has shocked the daylights out of our nation the ghastly manner in which the killings were carried out in a posh neighbour hood for such a long time on so many victims.

It is more disgusting to note that the administration and in particular the police did not take cognisance of the children disappearing with alarming frequency and they were not able to establish any pattern. The drains were not cleared for nearly 2 years which smacks of the lack of civil administration in our cities. What happened to the the stench of a decaying human body ? were are the neighbours ?

I am not sure why there is so much speculation on the motive of the killings when the alleged perpetrators of the crime have been caught. What ever the motive - sexual , organ trade or cannibalism the truth should be easy to brought out. Thrash them - any ways police are known for their brutality why not channel that to these folks - subject them to 3rd degree torture. All the truth will come out - even the riddle of the missing human torsos. All the narco analysis and truth serum is bull shit. I have not seen a single case succeeding and the actual truth coming out.

We as a civil society have to build a deterrent - give these criminals the harshest of conviction which has never been seen before. They should be given a public flogging and beheaded. there can be no excuse what so ever - the killings as it so obvious were done with a devious intent.

The administration should also be tried and convicted it seems obvious the killings continued due to their o their lax approach /corruption and taking timely action could have avoided the loss of so many innocent lives.

Till now a lot of questions are unanswered. I sincerely hope - the actual truth comes out and justice meted in double quick time to the victims and their families. Probably the looming UP elections will accelerate probe- another disgusting fact of our society where the politicians value a vote more than a life.

Feeling low

Coffee country part 2

We ( family )started on a cool saturday morning from bangalore at 8 am ... I had never drove a car for 300 kms .. but this seem to be my day. I was a bit apprehensive as to how the car will behave .. after all its an 8 year old model.

The journey started well and by 830 we touched the mysore highway and after that it was simply great .. the car was responding very well and with very few speedbreakers left it was exhilarating and that was before we got a flat tyre .. Goodness gracious I was below 60 kmph. This was my first flat tyre in more than 2.5 years . Managed to get it changed with the sun now beating down at 1030am. It was tiring. got it repaired at Mandya just about 10 kms further , could not have taken a chance. Stopped to have some refereshements and hit the road again. Delayed by about an hour now. reached mysore and took the route as detailed out. Had to reach Murnad a small village about 15 kms from Madikeri. We took the hunsur - gonnigopal - Virajpet to Murnad. Had to ask a couple of times on the way so as not to get lost. The road was surprisingly good even though a single lane and lonely.. hardly any cars. The road had a lot of curves which made it a bit strenous .

Reached Murnad at 230 pm tired and late for the lunch. Had driven 280+ Kms.

Once reaching the estate got a bit taken aback as we actually had to share the house with the owners. I had expected some rooms tucked away and the guests to be left alone. The rooms were cosy and did not have fans (even though this is not a hill station)

The food was typical of this region - akki rotis etc mostly made of rice. We had a hearty meal and then off to the bed. Woke up couple of hours and its was already evening and our evening coffee was ready . Whiled our time away around the estate . Was lucky to see couple of shooting stars. I had never seen such a bright starry night. It was simply amazing.

Still going strong ..

I am actually surprised that I have survived to live for another year .. I mean my blog. Some folks who know me actually mentioned and were surprised that I managed to keep posting despite my obvious nature of getting bored too soon .. the fickle mind and restlessness.

Though the number or quality of the posts may not be great .. its still a beginining and thats what its all about. keep debunking your self

In hindsight I was also happy that I managed to beat the odds this time ... 2007 seems to be great year ahead with lots upheavels and uncertain times. As per the chinese calendar its the year of the pig/boar. Try this out and find out what your destiny holds in the year 2007 as per the chinese astrology.