But, there is a but

I wish to see large joys in small things,
but my vision blurs 3 feet ahead.
I wish to be a poet creating romantic scenes from regular experiences
but neither spring nor rain inspire me anymore.
I wish I could fly; rise up high in the sky
but right now I am searching for my guardian angel to take me along.
It is a mundane existence with little inspiration
but I wish, something good happens for a change. *sigh*

English Tutorials

'So you are going for dinner with Anand ?'

'Yes da, why do you ask?' Priya was standing in front of the mirror adjusting her hair for over half and hour now, worried whether Anand would like her new hair cut. He had made a passing comment that he had a thing for women with short hair. She had not forgotten it.

'Obviously you like him. Why don't you tell him'. Jai was visibily bored. He really did not want to answer her question of 'Do you think he will like it? ' Again.

' I will da, in a few weeks. I am sure both of us feel it. It is just that we have not said or asked each other formally'. Anyways what is the hurry? Its a lot of fun now also, right? . Now , move out. I need to change.' She pushed Jai out of the room.

------------

Anand checked his pockets for his purse, car keys, cell phone, house keys. He latched the door behind him as he completed the check. ' So where do you want me to drop you? IIT gate?' Anand asked Raj as they climbed down 2 floors.

'What? I thought I was also part of your candle light dinner plans? I am sure the table is big enough to accomodate one more person. And its not like the two of you are dating ? ' Raj had a wide grin on his face.

'Wipe that smirk off your face, Raj. I know where this conversation is leading to. The answer is yes, I like her. But I do not know anything more than that.'

' So let me help, loverboy. You obviously like hanging out with her. You are this athlete, the star cricket player. And out of nowhere you join a salsa class. You then start watching romantic movies. Dude.... '

' Hey.. hey.. just because I like You Got Mail, it doesn't mean I like the entire running behind the trees kind of movies. Meg Ryan was awesome in the movie dude. Diddn't she look amazingly cute in that short hair cut?. Now let me concentrate on the road.' Anand backed his Zen out his compound and joined the traffic.

'Thank God Anand. you cleared that doubt. I though you liked it for Tom Hanks or may be Brinkley'.

'Brinkley, who?'

'Brinkley, Tom Hank's dog. The Golden Retriever'.

' Shut up Raj. I will just push you off my car now. You can hitch your own ride'.

-----

Jai dragged himself to the swing in the balcony, and sat their staring out into the sea. Priya's 11th floor house presented a terrific view. The sea breeze had set in. He could smell the salt.

'So Priya, How many wickets did Srinath take in yesterday's match?'

' Jai, nice try. Srinath retired two years ago. My knowldge of cricket is better than yours ok? Don't even try.'

' If you want to impress Anand, tell him that you have cut your hair like that dude from Bihar'.

' For your information, that dude's name is Dhoni. And my hair is shorter than his and obviously better. Shut up now.'

' So, did you feed Anand with the stuff you made after your cookery classes. I heard he fell sick.'

' Yes. Anand loved it. Especially the penne pasta and...'

' Poor guy, I don't think he could have said anything else. He knew very well what would happen to him.'

' Oh please. Anand really liked it. I could see that. And just so that you have your facts right, Anand had a bad cold and fever the next day and it had nothing to do with the food. He had it earlier, it just got worse.'.

' Ha..ha.. ha. Anand told you that? And I am sure you believed him. Anyways, do you know that according to a recent research by one Dr. Jai, consumption of penne pasta can cause cold and fever. Especially when cooked near the sea at a height of 11 floors'.

' Look, I spoke to him that day. He really had a bad cold and fever. She opened the door and stepped out. 'And please remind me again, why am I having this conversation with you'
Priya was looking gorgeous.

-------

' By the way Romeo, do you know that statistics show that India has the most number of guys who like a girl but have not expressed their love.'

' Thanks dude. I diddn't know that. We've reached your stop. Take care and be good. I'll catch you next weekend.'

' I get your hurry. Fine. I know when I'm not wanted.'

' You suck at emotional blackmail. You need to learn from Priya.'

' There you go again about Priya. Go, she'll be waiting. Byee'

' Shit, I'm already 10 minutes late.'

------

' He needs a lesson in Chivalry. You never keep a lady waiting. He is 20 minutes late.'

' Lady? Who , what , where?'

' There, that must be him at the door. Had it not been for him, you would have got whacked. You should be thankful to him for saving your life'.

' You are late, 20 minutes late. whats your excuse mister?' Priya stood at the door guarding the entrance.

Anand looked at Priya. She always looked stunning when they went out together, but today she was charming. He was half thinking and half mumbling.

' Uhh.. Priya, you have got to take English tutorials for me. I seem to have run out of words to describe how amazing you look. seriously.'

' By any chance Anand , are you making a pass at me?'

Anand stepped closer to Priya. ' And what if I tell you I am'.

Priya was blushing. He leant forward and kissed her cheeck. A few seconds of staring at each other was followed by a long kiss.

' Ahem.. ahem... I seem to have a bad throat problem you see.' Jai said clearing his manufactured throat irritation. ' You guys might want to get yourself a room to avoid catching my disease. Its contagious'.

'Oh hi Jai, diddn't see you. Sorry' Anand was embarassed.

'Well, I can see why. I don't blame you. what do you say Priya?'

Priya gave Anand a small punch. 'Anand, that is the worst possible pickup line, one can ever come up with'.

' Well.. It worked'.

Sea

Standing on a beach, just staring at the blue expanse gives me a sense of tranquility. I go quiet and deeply contemplative in the vicinity of the sea.

My association with the sea started when I was three or four years old. I stayed in Ranchi, the current capital of Jharkhand. Come summer and I would make an annual pilgrimage to my grandparents' place in Madras. These days, the heat seems to be unbearable, but as a kid I remember, I would love those trips to Madras, the long train rides and sitting on 'red-oxide' floor with grandparents. I would do the ritual of relative hopping over the 1.5 months that I would spend in Madras. Regardless of the age of the cousin I was visiting, a trip to the beach was a given. Marina beach, Santhome beach, Gandhi Beach, Chepauk beach.

If the uncle I was visiting stayed nearer to the sea then we would go the the beach early in the morning, have a long splash in the water followed by a good breakfast at Saravana Bhavan/ Geetha Cafe/ Drive-in Woodlands and get home by 8ish. Else we would make an evening pilgrimage to the beach. But beach was an integral part of all summer vacations.

When I moved to Bangalore at high school stage, the proximity of the city to Madras meant that I would make more number of trips a year but the length of the trip would be shortened from anywhere between 2 days to a week. Short trips meant that I would invariably have to skip the beach :(

The draw of the sea, I guess to far too powerful. I returned to Madras to pursue my undergraduation. Those four years were, what I would call my 'growing up' years. In this period, I started making sense of the world around me. Some 'sensibilities' set in and if I may say I was slowing figuring out my bearings. My constant companion was the sea. I have spent hours on its shore. Sometimes it was to ogle at gals, sometimes to catch up with some old friend(s),sometimes catching up with special friend(s), sometimes just hanging out with people and a few times hanging out alone; with myself. And never has the sea been unwelcoming. The beach at Besant Nagar has seen my many phases. Its been a silent witness to my 'growing up'.

Now I am in Mumbai, and the sea still beckons. It has been a year since I moved to Mumbai, but I haven't been able to find my way to Marine Drive or Juhu beach more than once or twice. And whenever I did manage a trip in that direction, I always had something else to do, so I never got to spend time on the shores. But I made amends last week. I was sitting on Marine Drive post a sumptuous Gujju lunch at my friend H's place and a tiring 2 hours of scavenging through the second hand book shops on the road side. As usual I was in a contemplative mood. I caught myself reflecting on the one year I had spent in Bombay and the way it had just flown by. The sun had set and the yellowish orange tinge was slowly engulfing the sky. The waves were mild, trying to gently climb the wave-breakers. The sea visibly quiet; tranquil. It seemed to be telling me ' Ah, there you are. Welcome back. I've missed you!'

The picture above was taken on my mobile. This is view of Walkeshwar/ Malabar Hill side from Nariman point.

Need perspective!

I was reading this recent article from 'The Dawn' on why the corporate sector lags behind in Pakistan. This article is extremely crisp and compares certain aspects of the economy in Pakistan with India. I want to draw attention not to the economic aspects but to a statement which I am quoting here from the article.

' The swadeshi (self-sufficiency) movement was integral to India’s independence struggle. It protected indigenous industries, helped them grow organically and created pride in the “made in India” label. '

I always thought that We (India & Pakistan) had an independence struggle. It never crossed my mind that India had a separate Independence struggle and Pakistan had one of their own?

I am not cynical here, but can someone (possibily from the other side of the fence) give me the perspective that I am missing ?

Remorse, Regret!

It was around 1 pm and Bombay was literally burning. It was 40 degrees centrigrade and very high humidity levels. I was traveling in an auto to a friends place for lunch. I was reading the Mint, a paper I have beginning to like a lot.

We stopped at the signal and I could see that it was going to be a long wait. I was immersed in an article, almost forcefully, to take my mind off the discomfort of feeling a sticky shirt against my back. An old man walked in rags walked upto me. I could see his movement from the corner of my eye. He walked up to the auto and put out a begging bowl. He did not say a word, but just looked at me. I took my eyes off the newspaper and looked at the bowl. I looked up at him and then almost non chalantly looked back into the news paper. He lingered on for that split second and then walked off. As he walked away I noticed him walking barefoot on burning concrete.

It is then I realised the mean-ness of my action. I had so coldly ignored a fellow human being. May be he did not merit my charity (for what ever reason) but he definitely does not merit being treated like a non entity.

If only I could turn back time.

Niceness Recharge

This is going to be a post where I know the reason of the post but I have not thought about what exactly to write.It is just a feeling that I am trying to pen down .

This post is about a very good friend of mine H and his fiance D. I don't intend to write a eulogy (though, they would be pretty deserving recepients), but I intend to just bring out one observation.

Whenever we go out to some place to dine, they seem to know what is good in that place and which of their friends/relatives had mentioned that. It does not stop there. They try to pack up the item mentioned(if possible), for the person and they give it to him/her that very day itself.

It is a small gesture, but it leaves the other person with a feeling of being remembered and with a smile extending from the corner of one eye to the other. And, their 'magnanimous attitude' goes beyond food too :).

Whenever I need a 'nice feeling' recharge, I guess I know who to meet.

Setting sun

He lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. She walked in to the room, naked, and slid under the sheets. As she re-emerged from underneath the sheets, next to him, her fingers traced the contours of his body . His body involuntarily responded to the new sensation. She kissed him on his lips and looked into his eyes. He pulled her close into a passionate embrace. He closed his eyes and he could still see her naked. But there was no lust.

They made out till the sheets were drenched in sweat and both stopped due to sheer exhaustion than anything else.They lay, starring at each other, lost. She got up, got dressed and opened the curtains. The setting sun filled the sky with Orangish - red. The light flooded the room. It seemed to be completing the moods and the smells in the room.

She walked up to him and they held each other tightly almost clinging to each other. She then turned and walked towards the door. She opened the door, paused for a second and looked back at him. He looked at her and said , ' I will not be able to attend your wedding tomorrow.'

The flow!

Be like the river - fast and furious; taking the small pebbles along; in your flow.

Be like the river - intelligent and smart; Jumping and flowing over the larger stones and rocks.

Be like the river - calm and sagacious;Going around hills and the mountains.

But most importantly be like the river because no matter pebble , rocks or mountains, you just keep flowing.

Some thoughts on the Quota Issue

A lot of us are probably aware of the demographic dividend of India. India has 60% of its population under the age of 25. India's population is going to grow till 2040-45 around which time it will stabilise at 1.3 billion mark and start declining. Till this period we will have the largest number of people in 'working/ employable' age group of 20-60. After this period, the ratio of elderly people will start increasing. There are important ramifications of the above statistics.

Around 2020-2030, we will have over 400 million people in 'prime working age'. If we do not provide these many job opportunities we will have a huge group of unemployed youth and that is not good news. There will be social unrest. Imagine, say, 2 million unemployed youth in one city like Bombay. The kind of social tension that would create could be and would be detrimental to society in particular and the nation at large. We truly truly need to make these 400 million people employable. Today number of people in this country with a college degree is less that 5% and with the current(and planned) capacity it is not going to jump to double digits by 2025. Also, post 2043, increasing number of people will be dependent on the state for money from pension (post retirement) So if we do not create the corpus(which would need 400 million odd contributing to pension funds), the state could suffer financially as suddenly one would have increasing number of people dependent on social security and withdrawing their savings.

China had its demographic divident from 1980 and it is going to last till 2025. For India, its 2002- 2043. China is making the best possible use of its demographic dividend. The political leaders (I call them Political leaders and not leaders!) in India have recognised that we need to do it now and it is literally NOW OR NEVER.

Is quota the right way of doing it? I dont know. Somehow in the quota issue I feel that we are thinking like George W Bush. 'Either you are with us or you are against us'. There is no room for an intellectual debate any more. People are emotional. Not willing to listen to rational reasoning and give rational responses to them.

If someone raises a question which might be or sound to be pro reservation then he becomes 'oh! you are one of them!'. The same is true for the reverse case too. In this entire battle of us vs them, what we are losing out is an excellent opportunity to put all the problems pertaining to education (infrastructure and access among others) on the table, have a healthy and fruitful discussion and then take decisions on the same. We are losing a chance which allows us to take corrective action and change the things that have not worked in the past to better the chances for successes in the future. It is here that we need leaders and intellectuals to step in, take charge and show direction. It is here that we need leaders and statesmen who would rise about vote bank politics and jingoistic talk to do what is right.

Right now, I am neither for reservation, nor against it. I simply do not know if this is the best way. The anti reservation camp is going to fight with me and tell me that reservation is going to kill meritocracy and hence efficiency and hence our chance to progress as a nation. (Or something to this effect, if not this drastic!). While the pro reservation is going to tell me, that 15% of the upper segment of the society does not need to have 75 % of the seats. (Numbers are only suggestive) Leave some more for us. Give us access to opportunities and help the nation by helping us.

And right now, I agree to both the arguements and each has its merit (and demerits). My only submission to all is that lets create a system which looks into the future and tries to bring out solution. There are a few options which I can think of like industry partnership to create employable candidates, heavy focus on vocational training and creating vocational courses among others. The solution could lie somewhere among such ideas, or it may lie in quota or it may lie somewhere in between quota and these ideas. But hey, if we do not think, how will we know.

May be I am being wishful, may be I am being impractical and utopian. May be, I am hoping against hope itself. But then again, may be, just may be, we will do the right thing.

ps: But let me make my stance clear. I am totally against quota being implemented in the current manner. OBCs by definition are other backward communities and not other backward castes. I don't know if too many people are aware, that, OBC definition was brought in to remove the caste picture and define backwardness as a combination of caste, economic factors among others. However undue weightage was given to caste in that definition by certain elements who looked for short term political and vote bank gains. As Supreme court noted, that in 1931 when caste based census was conducted , many castes refused to be counted as backward and fought against that terminology. Today however, people fight to get a backward status. Strange are the ways of men! :(

*Lucky is disgusted with the system. He is despondent and is getting more and more cynical. But he hasn't lost hope or the will to fight for what he feels right*

Mahakumbh in Eden Gardens

While watching the world cup matches, I noticed that the grounds in West Indies had pools, where one could splash around and try and beat the heat. With peak attendance of 14,000 or so, one can defintitely afford to have a pool in the ground.

Now Imagine Eden Gardens, Calcutta, and India is playing against ??? ( It doesnt matter who is the opponent, there would still be 100,000 people who would turn up for the match ). Now imagine having pools in the ground to beat the heat.

It would be like a Kumbh Mela, I say. :)

P.S: Given that it is Calcutta, one would not be surprised if they find Fish in those pools :)

Employee of the Society

One of my favourite professors from IIMB had sent a mail on our last day on campus, wishing us luck for the future. The mail also had a word document attached to it which was titled 'How to be an employee'. I opened it, saw that it ran for 6-7 pages and closed it. I however saved it, for I knew that it would be worth a read in the future. While looking through my old mails over the weekend, I came across the document that I had saved and I began to read it. It is an excerpt from the book 'People and Performance - The Best of Peter Drucker on Management'. Here Peter Drucker has said a lot of things or atleast has tried to say a lot of things about How to be an Employee. And most of them make a lot of sense now. Maybe 5 years later, if I revisit this word document, I would probably be able to relate to it more and probably at a higher level. Who knows.

Among the whole lot of things that Peter Drucker has written in that piece, one thing to me that stands out to me is his two paragraphs on 'Your life off your job'. I am going to quote him here.

"I am not, as you might suspect, thinking of something that will keep you alive and interested during your retirement. I am speaking of keeping yourself alive, interested, and happy during your working life, and of a permanent source of self-respect and standing in the community outside and beyond your job. You will need such an interest when you hit the forties, that period in which most of us come to realize that we will never reach the goals we have set ourselves when younger - whether these are goals of achievement or of wordly success. You will need it because you should have one area in which you yourself impose standards of performance on your own work. Finally, you need it because you will find recognition and acceptance by other people working in the field, whether professional or amateur, as individuals rather than as members of an organization and as employees."

Peter Drucker's choice of words is immaculate. The words seem to convey 'feelings' rather than thoughts and ideas here. Being the eternal optimist, I would want to disagree about 'not reaching goals at forty', but for now I shall give him the benefit of doubt. (* Lucky is trying to show off.. nothing else ;) * )

On a serious note, all of us are employees of an organisation and being good employees we take it upon ourselves to push the organisation forward through our best efforts, thus meeting both organisational goals and personal goals. Additionally, I think what Peter Drucker is trying to convey is that, one should also be an 'employee of the society', contributing to it and demanding the same exacting standards that we ask of ourselves in the professional arena. It is a very interesting perspective, an inspiring thought. I intend to translate the thought into action very soon. Lets hope for the best :)

Cambodia and the Angkor

I had a week's trip to Singapore on work. While there, I made a quick weekend getaway to Cambodia to see the Angkor Wat. Here are a few pictures from the trip to Angkor.

[1]

[1 - The Angkor at a distance. A lovely walk through the moat to reach the complex ]

[2] [3]

[2,3 - Angkor is a Vishnu Temple. It has 3 levels. The first level has huge long halls (shown above) which have intricate carvings on Mahabahratha, Ramayana, Churning of the ocean episode from 'Kurma' Avatar of Vishnu and so on. The corridor shown above depicts the Churning of the Ocean of Milk to extract Nectar. The legend (shown above left) describes the churning of the Ocean episode, to the visitors.]

[4] [5]

[4,5 - The above picture (left) shows the steep climb one has to do to reach level 3. One climbs the stairs which is at 80 degree angle. It is almost vertical. Level 3 at the top contains the sanctum sanctorum. The logic given is that one has to put in effort to reach the divine abode (read : sanctum sanctorum). The picture (above right) is the view of the entrance from the top (Level 3) ]

[6] [7]

[6, 7 - The walls of the Angkor are carved with Apsaras (shown above). Apsaras are part of the Cambodian folklore and they represent the celestial dancers. The picture on the right is on the Lake Tonle Sap which has a floating village (villages comprising of people living in houseboats on the lake). This picture is of the sunset from one of the houseboats. ]

[8] [9] [10]

[8,9,10 - This is the Bayon Temple, which is a Buddhist Temple. The most interesting aspect of this temple is that it has 59 'faces' carved on to the walls of the temple. The faces (in pic 10) Do look similar right? :) ]

[11] [12]

[11,12 - This is the Ta Brohm Temple. This has been ravaged my nature and discovered by 'explorer Ravi' (pic 12) :). This is the temple where the movie Tomb Raider was shot.

Doctors and their handwriting

If there is a common joke universally about doctors, then it has got to be about their sloppy handwriting. And personally, I would tend to agree with the generalisation.

However, the bad handwriting actually causes trouble. Recent survey by National Academies of Science's Institute of Medicine reveals a shocking statistic. 7000 people die annually due to the doctor's sloppy handwriting skills and more than 1.5 million injure themselves due to medical mistakes. And this is in America alone. Whoa!

(http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1578074,00.html)

The aim is now to convert all prescription writing to electronic format so that there is no chance of error ( or atleast reduced chances). Big corporate houses are teaming up with insurance providers and hospitals to ensure that doctors in the US use electronic format for prescription.

This is definitely a plausible solution in the medium to long term in US, but across the world this just won't work.

The simplest solution I propose is to have handwriting classes for all medical students. The doctors should also pass a handwriting certification exam every alternate year to have a valid license to operate. They should also be taught calligraphy and all other artistic stuff, so that they may move from an unintelligible prescription to artistically decorated one. We could also have awards for the best written/ decorated prescription. The possibilities are endless :)

Cheaper by Haggling

' bachat mera adhikar hai.. ' goes a certain ad.

It taps into the Indian Psyche of value delivered through lower price and not necessarily superior (beyond base requirements) benefits.

Indians have mastered the art of bargaining. My professor in IIM Bangalore who is also an economist and member of trade panel representing India in the WTO forum, told me once that Indians are among the most despised souls in the forum, as they bargain and haggle to the hilt. Leaving the macro economic and trans national treaties and conundrums out of our radar, we all need to recognize that it is the Indian women who have kept this tradition, this heritage and habit alive. They have also ensured that they passed down this time honoured tradition, so that it does not get lost or forgotten.

The training is imparted to kids at a very early age. Make no mistake, when the mom drags the son or daughter along to the market. Nevermind that the son needs to play cricket and probably is the strike bowler in his 'mohallah' or if the girl needs to talk on the phone to catch up on the latest gossip of classmates, a trip to the market means that the son/daughter has to be there. In the market the kid witnesses his/her mother, live-in-action. She haggles with chappal waalahs, with sabzi waalahs and with all the other waalahs. Vegetables are always way too expensive, even if the prices have fallen by Rs 3 a kilo since the last visit. The kids are thus groomed to be our future negotiators at various levels from reducing grocery rates for homes to reducing trade percentage rates between nations.

Modus operandi of seasoned bargainers are many but have largely remained unchanged over years.First there is the simple, start with half / one fourth the quoted price and work towards the mutually agreeable price. The trick here is that you need to identify the right price point where the seller keeps stressing and is unwilling to go below that. Now you have reached the lowest point of seller. But you can take your prices further lower.

At this point, you can state that you are not interested at the current offered price and start a slow walk away from the shop. After a few steps, the seller calls you back with a new price.

The second part is where you buy, multiple goods. You negotiate the bottom most rates on individual items and then use an emotional blackmail when the final bill is made. You ask the seller to round it off to the lower 10,50,100 whatever the case may be.

There are, I am sure, many more methods, techniques and nuances to this art. However, I shall restrict myself on the 'gyaan' part.

I was out with my mom over the weekend and we were at Dadar market buying some stuff from the peddlars on the roads near the station. I never thought of myself as a great bargainer, but I thought I was decent enough. To learn from the expert, I let my mom go ahead and bargain and buy the first round of stuff. Pretty soon the seller realised that I was lost there and for the next item he looked at me and told me that I am offering this at 75. Just to prove that I could also bargain, I looked back with steely determination at the seller, and said, I ain't offering you anything more that 40 for that. Before he or I could react to anything, I received a punch in my abdomen that almost sent me reeling. My mom looked at me and was visibly shocked. She gave me a bag and said, go outside and leave the haggling to me. And without waiting for a reaction from me, she turned around to the seller and said, 25 bucks else I am not buying anything from you. I walked away from the shop dejected, like a kid in class 3 been punished by his favourite teacher.

Once outside, I became more sensitive to my surroudings. There were women everywhere haggling. They were haggling over junk jewellery, floor mats, bed sheets. They were all over the place - haggling. Thats when I realised that bargaining is a battle. Its a triumph of the never give up spirit, a big ego-kick. There is an immense sense of satisfaction and accomplishment when the buyer comes out victorius (or so she feels). It is immaterial whether one is arguing to reduce price by 100 or by 5, one just has to come out feeling victorius. I did not, but my mom was triumphant.

Nice !

Do not expect the world to be nice to you, just because you are
a nice guy

Its like expecting the lion not to eat you, 'cause you are
vegetarian!

- narrated to me by a nice friend.

RTI Helpline - 9250-400-100

Its been a almost a month since I wrote my previous post. For a while, I did not have anything to write about. And then when I did have something, I did not have time. I'm back :)

Manjunath Shanmugam was an IIML graduate who was killed last year on November 19th because he spoke up against the petrol adulteration mafia in Lakhimpur, UP. It did shock quite a few IIM graduates and the educated class in general, as this came when the memory of Satyendra Dubey the IIT alumnus who was killed in Bihar was still fresh. A few IIM Alumni got together and decided to setup Manjunath Shanmugam trust, with the objective of working for better governance in this country and ofcourse fighting Manju's case and seeking justice.

I am a volunteer in the trust. A small group of us had been working on an initiative for over 2-3 months now. The idea was to setup a national RTI helpline where the common man could call in and enquire on the Right to Information act and how to use RTI and not pay bribes while dealing with government departments/ agencies etc and still get his job done. The onus of solving the problem would still be on him; we would help him out by enabling him to get the right information. We have partnered with Parivartan, a Delhi based citizens group founded by Arvind Kejriwal, Magsaysay award winner 2006 to help us with the capability building for the helpline.

The launch of the helpline happened on Nov 19th 2006 in Gurgaon, NCR. The crack-team :) who had worked on bringing this to life travelled to Delhi for the weekend. The best part was that many of us had been communicating over phone for months, but were meeting each other only then. That weekend was a memorable one.

The launch cum press conference was to be held in the cafeteria of Sparsh - the call center which was supporting the Helpline. When we reached there on Saturday evening, it was,well, lets say a not so well maintained state for a launch conference. We got into action- contacted a tent-contracter, got the walls covered, floors carpeted etc. The entire placed was transformed overnight ( literally! - as we worked into the night :) ). The activities we were doing, along with a night out reminded me of campus days and VISTA :D

Sunday Nov 19th
Throwing modesty aside, I should say that everything went on perfectly. The trust as a pan IIM initiative was brought to the forefront and the activities of the trust were detailed to the large gathering comprising of media, IIM alumnus, corporates and other well wishers of the trust. The case proceedings were mentioned and the progress made in the case was also shared with the audience. We observed a minute silence in the memory of Manjunath. Post this, we set the stage for the launch of the Helpline. Kiran Bedi called in to give her support to the cause and wished the initiative luck. Mr. Narayan Murthy, Chief Mentor Infosys made the first call from South Africa, which was received by Arvind Kejriwal. NDTV and CNN IBN gave us live coverage of the event. The funniest part of the launch event was that we had started receiving calls even as we were launching the helpline. So we picked up two calls expecting Mr. Narayan Murthy at the other end, but they were from callers from across the country, calling in to use the helpline to know more about the RTI act :). We were popular, that too pretty soon I guess :)

We had a celebratory lunch after the entire event was over and came back home.I took the early monday morning flight and was back to work by 9.30 am.

Thinking of the weekend makes me happy. I feel that I have achieved something. It is a very small deed, but what gives me great satisfaction and a sense of fulfilment is that I feel that I have converted all my irritation with the system, all my talking and all the I-want-to-make-a-difference feelings to positive action. Its not the quantum of contribution I made, but the fact that I was part of something that is constructive and is definitely helping in changing things. How much of change, time will tell, but the start is for sure in the right direction.

The helpline number is 0-9250-400-100. Please do promote the helpline in any which way you can. If you would like to help us in our activities please do contact me.

Tryst with Destiny

I grew up fighting and arguing with a lot of people around me that it was easy to pass comments from the side but very difficult to force your self to do the same thing. I used to argue, pretty passionately I should say, to a group of cynics. A lot of them were elder to me. They were not all from my parents generation, but many were. They were disillusioned about the society, about politics and the system. I was a young, optimistic, almost utopian kind of a person who believed that things can only get better. You just have to try. I am a few more years closer to 25 now, but happy that my attitude hasn't changed. Yes, I know that one has to work harder than ever before, but I still believe that things will get only better.

A lot of people have/had given up on the system. "Things will never change", I've heard that enough number of times. It is not surprising. People of the earlier generation were given hope. They were shown a dream. A dream that they (or their parents) had fought for. A dream for which many had laid down their lives for. After all the struggle, you expect something good. Something bright. You expect a future. People have been patient. But 40-50 years is a lot of patience for an entire country. This I feel had/has given birth to a lot of disillusionment.

Everyone knows this. I do not have to repeat it. But what I find new is the change in the attitude of people in the last 2 years or so. There is a heightened awareness about societal, civic and national issues. The Indian citizen is tired of waiting. This change is for the good.

A lot of analysis and understanding of the modern youth / generation has happenned. One common crib is that the current generation has no patience. He is not willing to wait for long, but wants things to happen fast. I think this is one of key reasons for the change in the mentality of the current generation towards issues of larger importance. (of course other than heightened media activity etc). He is not willing to wait for eternity for things to change for the better. He wants to work for it and also wants to enjoy the fruits of his efforts. Its great! Cannot ask for anything better.

There has been heightened activity among NGOs. A lot of Self help groups, volunteer organisations have sprung up. Support groups for a cause crop up across the world. Information is flowing across the world quicker than we can think. This is making RTI ( Right to Information Act) a powerful tool that is now being used across the country, successfully, to fight corruption. People are not stopping with small efforts, but are taking big and giant strides in the right direction.

Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. I think its time.

Tryst with Destiny - Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru

Dont fret- Just not worth it!

I told him what I felt about time exposing the truth- that time did not heal wounds, but that the passing years gave us a vantage point to see the reality of things. I added that it was no fun to grow old but that the compensation for it was that time turned your mental shit detector into a highly calibrated instrument.

-- Paul Theroux in Dark Star Safari

How true. Looking back (now that I am old), the incidents/decisions that I had considered extremely important/critical at a particular point in time, today when I look back, seem not that important and sometimes even trivial. I am not taking away anything from those incidents or those decisions. They were extremely important at that point in time. But they do not seem that important now. Some of them have been major decisions but those everyday/routine ones for which, I was tensed and fretted over, seem so trivial now.
And these are not just my thoughts. A few of us had got together and somehow through the conversations somewhere, the same topic came up. And I was surprised that almost everyone felt the same way that I did.

I guess this is called experience :)

So, a simple decision has been made. Do not get your B.P. high or negative energy in over any and every issue. Just not worth it! Things have a way of falling in place. After all, life is what happens to you when you are busy making other plans!

For God's sake give the man something to do!

' Show man love
if you cannot ,

Show man hope
if you cannot ,

for God's sake give the man something to do!

Note: I heard this statement in a movie. Darn right, I say!

I remember

I remember

- catching a glimpse of you for the first time when you were crossing the road, near the station, before you disappeared into the milling crowd.

- looking at every girl on the street near the station hoping it was you, just to see you one more time.

- being surprised and grateful to god beyond my belief, when you were introduced to me on campus the next week.

- making up stories of my prowess and accomplishments just to impress you, and feeling like a road side filmy romeo afterwards.

- our first telephone call, that lasted for 4 hours.

- hoping that every telephone call that comes in would have you at the other end of the line.

- feeling stupid and simply-happy when you were around.

- being scared beyond wits on the day i decided to tell you that I was desparately in love.

- lying down on my terrace with my phone next to me and thinking why girls-need-time for everything?

- opening ur SMS with trepidation and feeling relieved.

- our visits to the beach

- searching for you when we were out as a group and feeling reassured when I noticed that you were doing the same

- putting my arm around you, this was not the first time, yet it felt very different.

- those tiny moments of being alone, holding hands without people noticing, when we were in crowded places

- me asking you what you were thinking, when all you replied was 'I love you'.

- feeling irritated, helpless and frustrated when you had to go off for a week on vacation and I had no means on contacting you.

- pinching myself today 10 years later, and realising that i still feel stupid and simply happy around you and empty when you not around.