What wrong have we done?

For ages, the Indian outlook of sending our kids to foreign destinations for higher studies has dominated our culture. Not long ago parents used to be overjoyed with pride and their eyes glimmering with the very thought that their kids were either studying or working in some foreign destination away from home and earning plenty of dollars. But not anymore!

The world over we Indians are known to be the most docile creatures God has ever created. We constitute a sect of people who just strive to earn a better living and making our lives comfortable. And subsequently arise the ambitions and aspirations to perform better. Right from the unassuming maid servant to the high flying corporate executive each one of us is actually trying to move up the social ladder. But where do these aspirations of the submissive Indian take us? Are we slowly and steadily getting habituated to getting dominated and harassed by the so called racially superior creatures that seem to have evolved from the same Ape species from where we have?

The horrifying tales of Indians getting racially and physically ill-treated in Australia is indeed appalling. Rewind a few months back and stories of Indian students getting brutally attacked and cold bloodedly murdered in broad daylight was quite a common phenomenon in the most talked about nation, the USA. The gruesome killings followed some protests and after some assurances from the governments the issue just went down the drains. Now the same fate seems to haunt our students in Australia. The question here is what wrong have we done?

Is the very decision to gain admission to a foreign University turning out to be the biggest blunder of our times? I believe the answer to this in the recent spate of events should be a firm Yes! The most obvious question that arises again is "Why are we Indians targeted then?" keeping in mind the biggest irony that Indians are the biggest contributors to the plethora of Universities in the US and specifically Australia, which thrive whole heartedly just on Indian or Asian students. Some universities are able to survive just on the tuition fees paid by the foreign students. The reason behind this is that the local students are either being too happy with their limited education levels or they are too ignorant to pursue with their higher education programs because the idea of higher education just doesn’t impress them.

To top it all the main reason why we Indians are targeted is sheer jealousy. The very fact that a foreign national (especially Indian) residing in their country(Australia) and earning more than them is turning out to be indigestible for them. According to these so called natives who have over the years turned out to be racist freaks, Indian migrants in their countries are just fit for the jobs of either cab drivers or call centres. After all the mudslinging racist remarks that we Indians are subjected to for years in countries like USA,UK and now Australia, this jealousy has now taken the form of dreadful acts of physical abuse.

What can we do next? Prevent our deserving students from studying in foreign Universities or give the offenders a piece of their own pie? Coming from the land of Mahatma Gandhi certainly makes us complacent and hitting the Australians at their own games is not a good idea. But then when the matter is of sole survival for our students we just can't keep quiet by being a mere spectator. It might not be long before the same calamity strikes one of our very own friends or colleagues.

As of now the safest option to me seems to be to discourage all students to study in these foreign universities till the time these racist freaks learn to civilise themselves and stop being overtly envious of our ambitions and achievements. And special thanks to Mr. Bachchan for frankly declining the Australian honour that was to be conferred upon him.

Bang on Target!!

Yesterday evening as I stepped outside my house for some household shopping (you tend to do such things when you are absolutely jobless or when you bored staying indoors within the confinement of the four walls(chaar dewarein), I was greeted with the surprise of a lifetime!

Early in the morning (I call 8.30 early), as I suffer from a compulsive disorder of browsing through the pages of our beloved national newspaper 'The Times of India’, the news of pre- monsoon showers on Wednesday by the IMD (Indian Meteorological Department) greeted me. Like any other citizen of the city, sweltering under the torment of our very own nearest star this news certainly brought a smile on my face.

And guess what, by the evening (out on a household shopping spree), I actually felt the impossible event mentioned in the newspaper taking shape. It turned absolutely dark and in a few minutes I saw the first rain droplets of the season come trickling down from the heaven.

Call it an overtly accurate prediction by the IMD or just a fortunate co-incidence for the weather prediction guys; it is definitely a respite for me and my fellow citizens. On an overtly optimistic note I certainly wish the IMD keeps predicting as accurately as they have done yesterday. Armed with Super Computers and the Doppler radars, I hope this wish turns out to be true in the near future and saves us from the deluge of July 2005.

And the loot continues..

Living in the garden city for more than two years has definitely brought myriad experiences to my life.Some good, the rest range from bad to worst.After spending my childhood in a major metropolis like Mumbai the so called pub (or garden city) either way u prefer to call it, does throw up a lot of challenges specially to an ordinary bloke like me who was neither a localite(i mean a Bangalorite) nor a member of the ultra rich luxurious life-styled hip crowd who are used to shopping regularly in malls like 'The Forum' or 'Garuda Mall'.

At this point of song singing about our Bengaluru(as it is called now owing to name changing ceremony held by some of our very intellectual politicians) lets face some harsh ground realities.For an ordinary citizen, from another part of our vastly divided India staying here was not a cake walk.

Starting with the Hosur Road series of flyovers which seems to be under construction since ages(It was my hearts desire to see them completed and zoom to the Electronics City campus in a Company bus in less than 15 mins).However,this dream remained one as I returned to the place where I belong.

Coming back to the main point which really perturbed me was the errant behaviour of the auto-rickshaw drivers.For a harmless travel to say M.G. Road(which is one of the best hang out spots for both the rich and not so rich) from a place called B.T.M(more than 50 % of the IT populace resides in this area) the average fare would be around 55 Rs.However, there is hardly any day of the year when you can actually reach your destination at this fare.Mostly, the auto-rickshaw drivers will negotiate the fare way before you commence your journey on the pot holed streets of 'Namma Bengaluru'.This renders the so called meters absolutely ineffectual.And mind you they seem to be the most intelligent people on the earth.They can recognise that you are not a localite just by looking at your face at first glance.

As an icing on the cake,if it rains then God only save you from the wrath of the drivers.The moment it starts pouring, which is quite common in Bangalore even when its not our usual four month rainy season ,the rickshaw fare just doubles up.That means now a journey that I mentioned before would cost you a cool 100 Rs.Now that's what I call a pure act of day light "Looting". The same also applies when its night time when its actually "Party Time" for the drivers.Whether you belong to the filthy rich section of the society or some ordinary guy working in an ordinary IT Company in an even ordinary designation of Software Engineer,not a single soul is spared.

The main psychology that drives business in the garden city is that "If you cant pay me, someone else will" and definitely you don't deserve my services and better look out for something else that might suit your wallet.

Lest the rickshaw drivers come to know of Mr. Barack Obama's latest policies the ordinary (aam aadmi) as you call them continues to suffer and be at their mercy.
Tata Nano here I come.......

A bit too late..

Not less than 5 months back, I resigned from the second largest technology company in India.Little did I know that just few months down the line each employee would be worth a handsome jaw dropping 97 lacs.

The first and most obvious hyper reaction that characterizes my over indulgent brain was like "Hey, couldn't you tell that to me before"..My head started spinning like a ball just tossed out of Shane Warne's fingers.A feeling of extreme regret started engulfing me in its vicious grip. A few seconds later, as I regained full control of my senses, I realized that the eye popping figure of 97 lacs was just a hypothetical number that Infosys had arrived at considering the future earnings of the company.Never before in the two lively years that I spent in the company had i contemplated that one day I would be worth so much.Nevertheless, just thinking of the very fact makes my shoulders broaden with pride.

Cheers to the firm and the employees working in it still..And I seriously request the Human Resources department to release such tantalizing numbers very much in advance so that potential employees who are up to increasing the attrition rate do get second thoughts about concluding their association with the best in the business...

Super Saturday..

The election fever has gripped the nation and oh so deservingly..
As I finally got up this morning lazily creeping out of my bed at around 9 o clock,I realised it was indeed very late and so the first thing I did was to switch on the TV have a look at who had India voted for.The last thing I would have expected is a hung parliament after which our docile and complacent Her Highness the President of India would have to do her bit(would have been better for her since at least she would get some amount of political work in her tenure as President apart from giving away National honour awards to uninterested celebrities just for the sake of it).Though fate had some other plans in store for all of us.

And I was certainly pleasantly surprised.Yes indeed the Indian National Congress is poised for a win and our very own Mr.Qualified Manmohan Singh is readying for a record second term at the helm of Indian politics.

What India needs is a stable government and not a composition of coalition parties whose interests begin with getting a good ministry portfolio and ends with it.The very thought of we getting a stable government has lifted the spirits in quite a few quarters.

On Friday, the Indian Rupee gained gained against the dollar,the stock markets posted huge gains and surely even speculations outside the country predict a bright future for this sunny nation.
Now, all I can do is wait till our Electronic Voting Machines give out the final verdict and hand over the reins of the country to the most deserving party..

The least we can do...

Not less than two weeks back when Mumbai went to the polls, I decided that unlike last time I would go on to vote.
The polling booth was just a stones throw from my house.I got up early in the morning so that I could avoid standing in the long queues which is a phenomena that we Indians are pretty habituated with by now.It took me just 5 mins to reach the booth and a further 2 mins to register my vote and in the next 5 mins I was back enjoying breakfast at my home.
And I seemed to be delighted.Here I was so proud of my country which was holding the largest democratic elections in the entire world.The long indelible blue ink mark on my finger reinforced the patriotism in my heart as never before.And I thought such a great service I had done to the nation by exercising my franchisee.

Off to West Bengal,a small enclave called Tero Ghoria.For those who don't know what an enclave is,they are territories that are bound on all sides by a foreign country. There are at least 100 Indian enclaves in Bangladesh and some 90-odd Bangladeshi enclaves in India, which came into being at the time of Partition.

A sixty year old lady along with 42 other people crossed 2 canals and 7 km on foot to reach the Indian mainland.No, not to earn a living but to vote.Yes, now this is what I call true patriotism.

Coming back to Mumbai,what could we do for the Country on the D-day.We could just like our bindaas attitude manage a meagre 54 % voter turnout.It's an utter disgrace for a society like ours especially for the people of Mumbai where we cant even do the least that we can for our country.The outrage,the rallies, the anger have all dwindled and we are back to what we do best.Move on!

The most common excuse given by us is "The candidates are not good enough".People tend to forget that we do not live in a perfect world and imperfections are bound to creep in to any system.Why shy away from our duties when it comes to exercising our votes and electing the most deserving candidates out of the least deserving ones.

On a personal front,I have decided be it the general elections or be it the local municipality elections I am not going to sit back at home and give out lame excuses like these.Its the least that I can do for the country and the society I stay in.