Congress Party - Boon or Bane ?

Indian National Congress is reportedly the largest and oldest democratic political party of the world with a very memorable history and leadership for more than a century.

In 63 years after independence, Congress party was/is in power for 55 years. So it implies without saying that whatever India is today, good or bad, the credit squarely goes to the grand old party. But what did they do to earn this power and what did they do with the power is altogether a different question. Looking back:

JL Nehru was more known for being an elite member and the most visible face among the political fraternity rather than his personal sacrifices for independence struggle. His affair with Edwina Mountbatten as a legendary folklore is more popular than his diplomatic achievements. His association with Gandhi, personal charisma and monetary status conferred him the prime minister-ship without any hurdle.

I won't mince a word before declaring my opinion that Nehru was the worst prime minister, India ever had. The kind of potential and fire in the newly independent country could have done wonders but bad decision making and mismanagement turned the tables for the whole country which inflicted a bad bruise on the face of Indian commoner.

Partition and subsequent riots that left a scar on both communities was very much avoidable if Nehru -Jinnah ego clash subsided. The scar developed into an unresolvable pit in the name of Kashmir conflict, thanks to his poor crisis management skills.

Current bitterness against China, present Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim border issues, unnecessary intervention in Chinese internal affairs by providing asylum to Dalai Lama, defeat in the Indo-China war are all certificates earned by Nehru.

Bad choice of getting closer to USSR and snubbing US (despite non-alignment policy), implementing socialism which brought in license raj resulting in todays corruption (read my previous article about India: History of corruption) remain the black spots in Indian history.

On the flip side, he established premier education system and presented a young India to the world, but damage done was much more.

LB Shastri had a very short but able stint but had to succumb to heart attack (or poisoning ???).

Indira who became the next PM had no other eligibility or qualification except being Nehru's daughter and having (Feroze) Gandhi's last name.

With the sobriquet Iron lady, she took issues like Kashmir and Khalistan by horns. India won war against Pakistan, shook Khalistani (separatist punjabi) movement, began nuclear program. Defense became stronger in her era.

But hers was a golden era for corruption. The whole system got infested with corrupt executives, bureaucrats, police. She openly encouraged nepotism by conferring unlawful powers to unqualified rowdies like Sanjay Gandhi.

The worst phase of democracy anybody ever saw in world history occurred in the form of "Emergency". When the whole country was against her and when she was about to loose her position and power, she called for emergency claiming that the country was in trouble ($%/?&?&%?*&). 2 years of dictatorship, tyranny and authoritarianism plunged India two decades back in terms of development and human rights.

Her decision of unnecessary involvement in Pakistan's internal affairs and creating Bangladesh gave a reason and motivation for Kashmiri militants and Pakistani intelligence to split Kashmir from India and the quagmire is getting deeper by day. Desecrating Golden temple gave a chance to expat punjabi families to scream ugly slogans about Indian democracy even to this day.

Rajiv Gandhi again had a unquestionable privilege to become the prime minister of the country just because he was a son of her ex-PM mommy. A guy who didn't know the demographic and political coordinates of India became the prime minister out of nowhere and the gang of sycophants crooned his glory since then and its going on even today by naming every airport, road, sports village, government scheme on his name.

Behind suave and handsome looks was an immature mind which created a new passive enemy called Sri Lanka. Again, like his mom and grandpa, he meddled with internal affairs of an alien land and thanks to his decision, both the Sri Lankan govt and the LTTE started looking India as their enemy and hence the provision for China and Pakistan to setup a naval and army base in Sri Lanka. His assassination by LTTE was another outcome of his regime.

Mr.Clean as he was initially referred to, smeared his face with Bofors scandal (mother of all political scandals), Bhopal gas tragedy and subsequent escape of its Firang boss.

Anti sikh riots that took place after Indira's assassination was passively supported by Rajiv but he gave a new meaning to "secularism" when he dismissed supreme court judgement about equal rights to muslim divorcée women just to corner muslim votes through appeasement. Uniform civil code (equal treatment of citizens of all religions) was never upheld just to make sure secularism is applicable only for non-minorities. Religious divide and hatred took a new turn

PV Narasimha Rao came as a breath of fresh air in the dynastic politics and nepotism infected congress party. He started abolishing the license raj, imposing new economic reforms, bolstering liberalization and globalization and earning the title of "Father of Indian Economic Reforms". He brought in an official like Manmohan Singh into limelight who in-turn implemented PVN's vision. India took steps towards being a nuclear nation under his era. Crisis management was PVN's forte despite running a minority government.

Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid issue and scandals like Lakkubhai Pathak case, St.Kitts' forgery case tarnished his image heavily (but as usual with every politician, he got acquitted from all corruption related cases).

But the sad part was after his death when his body was not allowed into AICC headquarters or teen murti bhavan and neither did the incumbent chief of congress, Sonia Gandhi pay minimal courtesy visit to his funeral. His legacy was demolished and sadly hijacked by wicked dynastic worshippers.

Sonia Gandhi, by far the luckiest woman the world history has ever seen, became the chief of congress after a brief stunt from manipulative Sitaram Kesri. Sonia, an italian by birth, a novice by political experience, an ineligible by knowledge about India skyrocketed to chair the most important position by becoming a non-ruling and unofficial PM by installing a puppet govt under Manmohan Singh. Sonia has apparently emerged as an unconstitutional power who takes undue credit of the development that happens, but never takes accountability or responsibility for any failures. Smart Move !

Manmohan Singh is the most educated, best informed, most humble and honest prime minister, India has seen as yet. He is more a working leader than a managing leader and has been doing exceptionally well under the given circumstances. Nuclear agreement with US, improving the economy, stabilizing volatile situations, breaking the shackles of corruption are few of his notable achievements. With a bit more authority over cabinet and bit more transparency, and bit more pro-activity, he can eventually become the best PM of India so far.

So the bottom line is that if India is backward in development, living standards, infrastructure, honesty, Congress is responsible for that and if India is a powerful, self sufficient nation, Congress is responsible for that too.

The Most Powerful Nation ?

US National Intelligence Council released the latest list of most powerful nations of the World. Quite expectedly USA topped the list followed by China, India as second and third most powerful nations well ahead of other UN security council permanent members like UK, Russia, France, Germany etc.

Any survey, any opinion, any debate, there can't be more powerful nation than US. US has attained this position with sheer hard-work, optimal utilization of resources, sustaining freedom and liberty, improving standard of living, augmenting defense might and of course a very intelligent image building mechanism.

Million Dollar Question: Then why US lost a war against minnows like Vietnam and now is on the verge of loosing another war against a non-entity like Al Qaeda ?

There are more odds than evens. Going deeper:

America is projected as an invincible, unbeatable superpower by (1) Hiroshima & Nagasaki bombings (2) Foreign Relation Diplomacy (3) Economy (4) Media (5) Hollywood

World War -2 and subsequent atom bombing of Japanese cities as a retaliation to pearl harbor kamikaze attacks stamped US as a military giant. Before or after that, history didn't see any remarkable power display by US, except an illogical gulf war. Remember any ?

Thanks to its military giant image and cold war with then USSR, US was/is considered the most intervening nation of the world. Vietnam War was a blow on US' image of a super-power and world police. The setback against Vietnamese guerrillas was unexpected and unprepared for.

Two of the most bloody conflicts in the world history: Israel-Palestine and India-Pakistan were fanned to its current gravity by American vested interests and military support to one or both the parties involved. US direct intervention in Korean crisis, Iraq-Kuwait conflict received much criticism as US didn't hold any direct interest in the areas in conflict.

United Nations (UNO), an organization supposedly established to maintain international peace was eventually dwarfed and silenced into an American accomplice. NATO and Commonwealth jokers like UK, Canada, France, Australia were dumb American puppets as ever.

Icing on the cake is the ongoing "War on Terror" where ironically the so called terror is the brainchild of US itself. Al Qaeda and Taliban were supported in their inception by US to counter USSR influence over South Asia and now waging a loosing war against the same forces. Its almost been a decade of search for Osama Bin Laden and the results are known to the whole world. A serious dent on "Most powerful Nation's" military, exchequer and brand image.

The frustration was vented on Iraq with a lamest possible excuse that Saddam Hussain has weapons of mass destruction (more destructive than nuclear warheads ?@#$) and after not finding any such weapons, captured and executed Saddam Hussain for abusing human rights (not in US but in his own Iraq). Nobody else could question US' rights of hanging a Country's president to death for mishandling his own subjects (though the white secret is to plunder Iraqi oil resources). Incidentally US supported Iraq's weapons program during Iran-Iraq war.

Waging a decade old battle on terror on one side and selling weapons to Pakistan, an aide of terror is a hallmark of American supreme foreign policy and diplomacy. Again nobody could question them. Reasons ?

The single most acceptable reason for this American hegemony is "US Economy". the richest economy, the most traded currency and the richest treasury. Money power which results in muscle power is the reason and this is remarkably similar to the unquestioned and feared power of villains / gangsters in movies or real life.

With economy came the power to buy or control anything, everything in the world. US was shrewd enough to invest the rampant money in development in various areas and it worked out spectacularly well. This resulted in ubiquitous "number one" image of US.

Media played a beautiful role in projecting Numero Uno status. News articles, documentaries, projection of life standards mostly in English language which is most followed and accepted language of the world, made US a dreamland of opportunities for millions. None of these American crazy masses know the kind of development in France, Germany, Russia or China due to the language barrier. So it worked out rather well for USA.

Hollywood catalyzed a heroic image of US. Movies precipitated patriotism among American masses and movies of various genres like war, action have put US in a superior league. NYPD, LAPD, SWAT are always depicted as supernatural heroes (without delving in the facts that five crime families of NYC control the mafia and crime that affects half of the planet). The whole world along with Americans themselves patronizes these movies and idolizes American heroism.

Having said all these, I acknowledge that US is successful in creating, managing the image which is enviable and almost impossible for any other nation of this world.

Be an Entrepreneur !

There is an unwritten notion among the masses in general that starting a business or being an entrepreneur is a risky job and that there are more failures than successes and that it consumes a LOT to start a venture. 95% of youth strive, aim to land in a dream job in Infosys, Reliance or a well-known company, earn a handsome salary and "settle" in life.

The apprehensions are due to the discouragement from elder generations and seniors in the family, possibility of loosing money and time, lack of expertise, lure of safe jobs and early settlement, prevalent education system and many more.

But it has to be understood that the world we live in now is totally different from what it was a couple of decades ago. The very idea of venturing into a business is different in current times. The scope of doing something with nominal monies is remarkable. The government policies towards business have changed, economy has changed, obstacles have disappeared, venture capitalists and project financiers came into the scene. FDI is gushing in. You just need to identify the area of your passion and expertise and just add a bit of commitment to that. BINGO

Business ideas are born out of either necessity or opportunity and most of the times you don't need to invest a fortune and hence there is no stigma attached either.

There are highly charged guys who developed an online grocery software and distributed it to grocery stores which help its customers to buy anything from home. Developing the product didn't need anything more than software programming knowledge. To tap the market, they started distributing the product free of cost, initially, to build relationships. The business later evolved into a big software company.

There are youngsters who could write well who wrote freelance articles and started tapping the vernacular newspaper publications and then graduated to become a PR agency; pack of youngsters who started a staffing agency recruited employees for big corporations for free to get into their good books; people who created online learning software and started webinars; hordes of examples who have made their mark with no money, no office setup, no infrastructure involved.

Somebody's such initiative gave us Facebook and Twitter today and see how they changed the world with no big investments. Its pure commitment and clarity of thought!

The magic lies in understanding what you are good at and what your interest lies in. It need not necessarily be technology, anything would do. Planet Earth has population enough to generate demand for anything you are good at. Try to sharpen your knowledge in your area of concentration and give it a punching shot. If money is not involved in the trial, what else are you going to loose? Nothing ! Its worth trying.

There are people who have the entrepreneurial spirit but lack direction and right expertise. But this is not a blockade either. You don't need an MBA from a Harvard or an IIM. You have internet at your disposal. Stanford, Harvard, Wharton and all business forums publish innumerable articles in internet in addition to their Youtube channels. Google and Wikipedia are the best teachers. You can self-learn technology, management, business through research on internet and interact with captains of industry and subject matter experts too. Again, no cost involved.

So the age old myths about loosing something doesn't arise as long as you don't loose spirit and faith in whatever you believe in and faith in yourself. Strong mind, ability to overcome discouragement, adapting to changes, thwarting fears of failures will make a lot of difference.

The only thing needed is a passion to start something, be your own boss, create wealth for yourself and the society, create employment and stand out in the crowd. I repeat "The magic lies in understanding what you are good at and what your interest lies in. Try to sharpen your knowledge in the area and give a shot."

Yes, you can be a businessperson and an entrepreneur !

Invincible Heroes

Few days back, I've posted a comment on my Facebook wondering why do I see circulated jokes only about Balakrishna (one of the tollywood actors) and why not about others though everybody does the same kind of insane acts.

I didn't get a lot of response there but there were scores of people who told me offline that they got offended as I "dared" to compare Balayya with their Gods. Though I care a shit if they took me in wrong sense, I tried to understand what made them feel so strong about a person whom they have seen just on-screen.

I agree that movie is a great medium of entertainment and we like the piece of art if it moves us in any way and we definitely appreciate the person who performed to make us feel happy, sad or experience a kinda adrenalin rush or whatever. But how can an intelligent person drag the same image off-screen and start adulating him/her. Or am I too naive or an idiot to understand the underlying Gyaan behind the phenomena.

How many heroes who kick 20 goons at a time swirling in the air in movies are fit enough to face one average built 20 year old guy off-screen ? More entertaining than these stupid stunts are the interviews with those stars who claim that no graphics or body-doubles have been used in their stunts :)

Thanks to these kind of blind hero-worship, the actors started taking themselves rather too seriously and began their new innings in politics and few also enjoyed power. MGR, NTR (and family), Jayalalitha, Chiranjeevi, Vijaykanth, Jaya Bachchan, Dharmendra, Shatrughan Sinha, Sanjay Dutt, Govinda are the jokers of the same pack. Its not limited to India. Americans are equally crazy (read Arnold Schwarzenegger, Clint Eastwood). What did these guys do to earn the power or votes is still a mystery to me ?

During my engineering days in Kurnool, I saw two guys who fought bitterly on roads and came to blows because they couldn't agree on who is better among Chiranjeevi or Balakrishna. I heard about such fan wars which turned into ugly caste wars in coastal Andhra Pradesh. Heights of insanity and idiosyncrasy !

In the day to day parlance, the word "Hero" lost its meaning and is synonymously used for actors and fans can go really crazy about their favorite stars and can also wage a war against anybody who reportedly "belittles" their demigods. Yeah baby, "Heroes" are invincible, both on-screen and off-screen.

India: History of Corruption

[Preface: This article is for mature and thinking readers. All those who seek entertainment or fun can skip this.]

I was going through Corruption Percentage Index (CPI) published by Transparency International and as ever found all the five Nordic countries in the top 10 countries with least corruption. But where is India? My pursuit of finding India's rank in honesty again faced a setback when India ended up at 84th place. The only solace is that it is out of 182 countries :-)

The wise APJ Abdul Kalam's famous speech suggests that India is corrupt because general public don't do anything about it. 100% right. But what can an average Indian do ?

When a goon troubles a common man, he will go to police for protection. But most of the times cops abet goons. If the cop is honest, he will get pressure from a local politician who patronizes the goon. And as everybody knows politicians are invincible. If the person lodges a case on the goon or the cop or the politician, he has to deal with the judiciary which is equally corrupt. No outlaw will be behind the bars for more than few hours. So there ends the matter. Hence its so easy to get rid of one goon by going to a more powerful law breaker than following the books.

When a person wants to officially get things done by a Govt officer, he is expected to pay bribe in cash or kind. If he doesn't, he faces world of hurdles and positively never gets his job done. If he escalates to higher authority, he learns that officers in the whole hierarchy are partners in crime. What else can he do ? If he goes to media, he finds himself in a state of shock as he learns that media-house owner is a accomplice in the trap he finds himself in.

When a person wants to honestly start a business, he is never given licenses by Govt. If anybody wants to be an entrepreneur, he has to be a relative or partner of the licensing authority who in-turn is affiliated to some political party which is funded by some corporate house. So everything is already fixed.

Criminals have support of police who have support of officers who have support of politicians who have support of judiciary, media and/or powerful businessmen. It is a powerful criminal network or a mafia with a long 50 years of history.

If a cop is honest, politician transfers him. If a politician is honest, criminals murder him, judiciary victimizes him with a fabricated case or self indulgent media maligns him with propaganda. If the political party is honest, businessmen don't fund them. If the media reporter is honest, the chief editor stops him.

To avoid all these issues, an average and common India condescends to bribing. Hence I would be the last person to agree that a country gets corrupt because of the general public who resort to bribing. If the authorities and the system is impregnated with corruption, the public is left with no alternative.

Flashback: Lets make a quick analysis as how did the corruption take its birth in India.

After independence, the great Pandit Nehru, in a bid to emulate Soviet Russia formulated a socialist policy which supported License Raj. It means no ordinary citizen can do business without Government's license and Govt is the only capitalist and the general public faces communism. Indira Gandhi revolutionized this with nationalization of financial institutions.

But sadly Govt failed to increase the economic growth, per capita income and mean standard of living with all the infallible plans on paper. Figures speak that economic growth was 1.5% from 1950 to 1990. A phenomenal shame and failure.Poverty began to rise its hood and so did desperation which is a natural mother of crime. The famous gap between haves and have-nots developed into an abysmal gorge.

Talented businessmen started lobbying with Govt for "licenses" and favors. Those who are close to bureaucrats and politicians started getting licenses, contracts for businesses and hence established firms. Now the omnipresent Tatas, Birlas, Ambanis enjoyed a "very good" relationship with all politicians across political parties and more remarkably the great Nehru-Gandhi family who were in power for 95% of the time during license raj.

This politician-businessmen nexus raised the curtain for bending the rules, corporates started competing among themselves with their money power which gave birth to muscle power, nepotism, corruption among all levels of supreme powers of the country namely legislature, executive and judiciary. Corporate world's currency, bureaucrats' greed, politicians' privileges, have-not's desperation proved to be an flammable combo. Struggle for the fittest was the mantra of the day and everybody raped the system to be the fittest and nobody was made accountable. This is the system which turned into quagmire and a breeding ground for corruption.

Things started improving, thanks to economic liberalization and breakthrough reforms upheld by PV Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh. Corporate-politician nexus eased a bit and rate of corruption decreased significantly. India became the 3rd largest economy in the world after US and Japan. With better economy came better standard of living, awareness, consciousness. But thats not sufficient.

The Roadmap:

The common man should be made aware of the "right to information act" to arrest the corruption. Ombudsmen, whistleblowers are working hard to improve the situation further but should be accessible to the common man. Anti-corruption bureaus should be unadulterated, public servants should be made accountable and answerable to public through transparent media. Putting this to implementation is not impractical but results don't appear overnight. Awareness and knowledge among the masses is the key.

May be in years to come, we see India cruising up in the index by Transparency International. Country has come a long way but has to go a longer way to heal the bruise inflicted by 50 years of mismanagement and bad direction.

Gandhi vs Gandhigiri

Albert Einstein famously quoted about Gandhi that "Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth". Back home in India, Gandhi is revered as a demigod if not God. Nobody needs an introduction to the person himself or the kind of value and respect he has been commanding for a century. Gandhian principles (or the more massy Gandhigiri, thanks to Lage Raho Munnabhai) have created a kind of sect with people devoted to those values.

But there is no dearth of people who fume at the very name of MK Gandhi and they have their own reasons. It can't be denied that Gandhi's contribution to Indian independence struggle was overrated and over marketed by vested historians and post independent regimes to push their own envelopes and surnames further. There were countless martyrs who forsook their personal lives for the cause and who suffered or sacrificed much more than him like Bhagat Singh or SC Bose who were systematically pushed into oblivion.

Like every mortal, Gandhi too was vulnerable to some follies and eccentricities. His passiveness in saving martyrs like Bhagat Singh received widespread flak. His political decisions were confusing to his own disciples and his minority appeasement, in a way, catalyzed a fundamentalism in Hindus, which gave a way to "Godsegiri" and muslims always treated him as anti-muslim congressman. Nathuram Godse and Md Jinnah are considered more patriotic by most Gandhi haters. Gandhi was not clearly the shrewdest politician.

Bypassing the political discussions about Gandhi, there is much more. But the younger generation quickly takes their stance without analyzing the difference between Gandhi the politician and Gandhi the inspiration / philosophy.

Agree or not, Gandhi is the best leader the world has ever produced till now and more likely forever. No other man born on this planet could shake the whole nation as much as he did. In the era of limited media and communications, the entire country swayed to the words of the single frail man. He created ripples in the empire where its said that sun never sets. The demigod status or mass hysteria he created among masses is unparalleled and I'm not sure if that kind of aura can be enjoyed by anybody in the future too.

While his leadership and winning the unconditional love and confidence of his subjects is one aspect, another being the philosophy and way of life he introduced; that philosophy surrounding extremities of truth, courage, simplicity and non-violence.

It takes a lion heart to face the anger and aggression of the mighty with non-cooperation and non-violence. It takes a hero to stand by determination and not get bogged over by threat, might, power, hunger and still not retaliate. It takes a legend to influence the nation to follow his ideals and it takes an icon to be remembered for his lifestyle and philosophy for centuries to come.

Simply put Gandhi is an embodiment of simplicity, self-restraint, humility, truth, determination, selflessness, will-power that only a sage of his wisdom can attain. Gandhism was/is a way of life that can never go wrong.

We can never become Gandhi, but we can definitely show some respect to the person who spent the whole life pleading the world, not to hate. Gandhi the politician may or may not be perfect, but Gandhigiri is !

Oh My God !

A question which I frequently encounter "Why are you so arrogant that you don't believe in God?"

Thats false. I never ever said I don't believe in God. I always believed in the existence of God, the things I don't believe are miracles of God, mythology, rituals and tantrums humans have devised in an attempt to influence the God.

As I've mentioned in one of my previous posts, I believe that there is a supreme power or an unknown power or a force which sustains and balances the whole universe and life on the universe. For me "Nature" is God. Thats something which is not apprehended or controlled by science or human intellect as yet. Nobody knows about that God and hence its perfectly OK to respect and revere that power as thats something which is bolstering our life.

But what I don't see eye to eye is when people assume that God is somebody who decides and controls the past, present, future of billions of people individually and we can influence God's decisions by performing rituals.

For me, religion is a way of life and performing rituals is an individual choice. The customs and rituals have been started by humans some centuries ago because they felt thats the way to appease the God or show their gratitude to that power and if they have done that, that doesn't mean they are always correct. Just that I don't see any meaning in following the same traditions and rites and if that means I'm haughty enough to override the almighty, I don't really mind it.

And if I'm doing a vratham at home or going to temple, its for the family and definitely not to influence the God to take my side.

Confused Desis

Few months ago I met a young man who recently came to Toronto from India in pursuit of a new career and a new life. He had that anxiety in eyes which reminded me of my own arrival here. He'z hard working, down to earth and was clear about what to accomplish in his new phase of life.

That was his first overseas trip and soon started to feel left out or a kinda inferior to the local Caucasians and local born and brought up desi diaspora in dress, behavior, cuisine, english accent and other ways of life and started to desperately own the local attributes soon. Nothing wrong in getting used to local ways of life, but in a bid to get completely into it, started ridiculing desi attitude or as he calls it "brown attitude".

And there came a day when he loathed a very sight of "desi crowd" or "desi neighborhoods" without realizing that desi crowds are formed by people like him. He feels shy to be a part of get togethers and cultural programmes which even remotely talk about Indian-ness. He calls Toyota Camry as a desi car and associates the word "desi" to every possible caricature describing Indian. And he is not the only case.

There are many such people for whom Indian movies, Indian groceries, Indian restaurants are a big no-no. Few kids start avoiding lunch boxes from homes as they might feel inferior to their firang friends while eating "brown food".

While I'm not a jingoist who vehemently believes in chanting 'Mera Bharat Mahaan' at every given opportunity, I'm quite amused at this kind of 'disowning' behavior of certain class of NRIs. I agree India is not the greatest country in this world and neither are our accent, cuisines, movies, etiquette, tastes the best, but does that mean you start hating that ?

Its OK to avoid if one genuinely doesn't like these Indian flavors, but despising just to be a part of mainstream is a symptom of confused and sheep mentality. Changing our identity and personality to appease somebody else is pathetic and ludicrous.

Though we change everything about our lifestyle, though we forgo Diwali, Dusshera and start celebrating only Halloween and Thanksgiving; we can't change our skin, our lineage and our ancestry. Whatever we are, we have our roots and origin. Irrespective of the fact if it is great or not, we are products of that origin. And we don't need to be the best or greatest to feel proud of that or own that.

I'm brown, I look and talk like a brown guy, my tastes and attitude reflect my upbringing and the environment I'm brought up in and I never felt sorry about my background or never felt a need to justify my stance or appease anybody...and I'm successful in this alien land.

PS: Also read my other post in this blog by the subject line "Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani" where I presented my opinion on other extreme :)

Sooperstitious, huh !!!

FIFA World Cup 2010 ended. But this tournament will be known more for "Octopus Paul" than the talent and hardwork of all those 32 teams. News sources throughout the world went gaga over the eight legged creature and so did tabloids, grapevine, bar-tables, facebook, twitter etc. Predictions of Paul notwithstanding, millions across continents started to believe the forecast, countries started proposing state security et al and funnily none of these people agree they are superstitious..lolll.

When a creature selects one among the two given options and it happens to be correct, why can't that be a coincidence ? Isn't it rational. Agree that the series of "predictions" went correct but does that provide a proof for the psyche of an octopus ? How about the movements of 22 people of 2 teams, their passes, dives, cards, goals..will none of these affect the match outcome ? Will the octopus display restraint if a non playing team is given as one of the choices or both ? There are people who win for 20 succeeding hands in Poker, can they predict anything ?

Thinking on a broader spectrum, am always amused to see the astrology / tarot card predictions given in newspapers everyday. They sometimes say Taureans will be successful in whatever they take up that day. Does that mean all millions of Taureans across the world can do anything and find success that day ? Linda Goodman wrote books on compatibility and behavior of people belonging to various zodiac signs, does that mean all Taureans get along with all Taureans and go against all Geminians ?

Nostradamus and our very own Veerabrahmendra Swamy predicted a lot of generic things which are anyways bound to happen. And people started at looking them as guiding forces. Didn't their predictions too, go wrong?

Did anybody ever wonder why predictors of various degrees, right from astrologers to palmists, match makers, numerologists, clairvoyants, fengshui experts, psychics, magician swamijis who claim to be knowing and predicting everything leading a not so successful life ?

Future is something which happens due to various activities and decisions taken by a lot of people and forces involved. Future is not a definite thing to predict, that may be changed with any change in the action committed by anyone. So NOBODY can claim what future can be unless and until all these forces resulting in something can be controlled.

Future can neither be predicted and nor can it be influenced by any other super natural powers except the forces in our control and reach. Stars, planets their positions and orbits can balance the Universe and thats astronomy. But they can't decide the outcome of somebody's destiny based on the time of their birth and time of marriage. Stars and galaxies don't have time to do that for billions of creatures on the earth !

Now am going to write something which might not go into the good books of most people who have been programmed by the family, society and community as a whole.

I don't deny or debate the existence of a supernatural-power (GOD) which is behind the existence, balancing and continuous support of this mighty universe and life on it; but am the last to agree if anybody says that we can influence this mighty One by praying, performing rituals, vratams, requesting for favors, thanking for results etc.

The belief and faith of God has been introduced to us by our previous generations in order to promote virtue and overcome vice. Any superstition is good only until it affects our psyche, behavior, thought and personality in a negative way. Period !

PS: I understand that these are sensitive issues and if I hurt anybody through this article, its absolutely unintentional. Its my personal opinion.

My Dad is Great – Happy Father’s Day, Nanna !

Few years back, I saw an email forward, which I fortunately didn’t move to trash folder. It says

What a person thinks:

At 4 years, “My Dad is great”

At 6 years “My Dad knows everything”

At 10 years “My Dad is good, but I know as much as he knows”

At 16 years “MY Dad is not in line with the current times”

At 20 years “My Dad doesn’t know as much as I know”

At 25 years “My Dad is behaving unreasonably. Why can’t he understand my thoughts?”

At 35 years “I can’t manage my son and family. Don’t know how my Dad used to handle things at my age”

At 40 years “My dad brought me up with so much discipline and values. Whatever I’m today is because of him”

At 50 years “My Dad went through so many hardships to bring us up. I never realized that before”

At 55 years “My Dad spent his whole life for us. At this age too, he still does that”

At 60 years “My Dad’s great”

Don’t take so many years. Realize it in time

Isn’t this touching enough?

The most precious or the only unconditional thing in the universe is the Parents – Children relationship and any specific day is not needed to show our love towards Mom or Dad. But we definitely need a day to acknowledge, celebrate and express the love we have towards them and make them feel happy as we don’t really do that everyday.

Nanna, You are the Best ! Love You. Happy Fathers Day !

Also wish my grand father, mamas, pedanannas, babais, dad-in-law, cousins, friends a very Happy Father's Day !

Love to all Fathers ! Hail Fatherhood !

Un"social" Networking

Facebook, Orkut, Twitter, MySpace, Blogs, Instant Messengers, eMails, SMSes....life is tough without these huh :)

A decade ago, when I was in my third year of engineering, the very concept of internet or email was so revolutionary and anybody who has an email id was treated like a techie whizkid. Owning a laptop was an extravagant luxury. Pager was fad and cellphones unknown. Computers were only used by software developers or high end white collar professionals. Otherwise the devices were only for playing video games.

But..people used to meet each other, talk to each other, greet each other, which was in that epoch called social networking - b'cos thats all about being in and with society.

Perhaps the biggest change in lifestyle occurred during these 10 years. The very meaning of social networking changed and now 'being in touch' unless mentioned otherwise is understood as through "online" sources. Emotions are being expressed through emoticon smileys like :) :( :D, the language changed into lingo and people reach all over the world through their finger tips with a click of their mice. But I don't complain because I too belong to the community patronizing the new age "progress" and am addicted to that too.

Times do change and we have to change accordingly. These channels of communication have abridged geographical distances between people and made this world, a very small village. Good for us. But I'm afraid the very channels may someday diminish emotional bond between those we love. Sending an e-greeting sometimes doesn't replace a handshake or a hug, text doesn't always replace our voice of concern. There will be people who long for our human touch.

I'm sure a lot of you would relate to yourselves when I say I'm so addicted to these social networking channels that I seldom feel the need of being social to anybody anymore. My day starts and ends on a lappy. I work on emails and MS Office, read online newspapers, bank through iPhone or web, get updates about others on facebook, orkut, myspace, express my thoughts in blogs like this or twitter for microblogging, communicate through sms-es, listen to more voicemails than direct calls....and so on and I call this "social" networking. How funny !!

Sometimes I take pride in seeing 3000 contacts in my gmail address book and 250 odd friends in my orkut friends list..without realizing that I don't even open my mouth to talk to 20 people in a month. Alarming !

My relationship with technically challenged people started waning and am getting more acquainted to like cultured tech-obsessed unsocial elements notwithstanding my rapport or liking towards them. I'm changing and that concerns me.

Am I living in a virtual world ? Is it a fake world which I created around myself ? Am I slowly turning myself from a human into a gizmo ?

Spread Love !

Qn: Whats the secret of happiness ?

Ans: Loving without condition, talking without intention, giving without reason, caring without expectation - That’s the real secret of success and happiness; Dare to disagree ?

Sounds impractical, bookish, foolishly romantic and like a hallmark greeting card ? It does :) but it works.

Try following these for a month starting today

Overcome your short temper. People have this wrong notion of assuming short temper as “attitude”. This very quality is a source of most of the woes in a human life.

I sometimes wonder the connotation of the word “Attitude” which in the urban dictionary, is forced to mean arrogance and rudeness. Attitude is not about being rude and arrogant. It’s all about influencing others with your words, actions, gestures. Bring in that “attitude”.

If you are short tempered, there is something wrong with you, your attitude and your upbringing. Just understand that you are as normal as others and nobody deserves to bear the brunt of your ill behaviour, whatever mood you may be in, period !

Kill your conceit. For this, first of all understand the words ego, conceit, self indulgence, excessive self pride.

Understand that whatever you are is not because of what you think of yourself, but because of what World thinks about you. So stop thinking too high about yourself. Let the World do that for you.

Never get judgemental. Never ever try to judge anybody based on what you see / hear. Circumstances, situations, contexts differ from day to day and person to person. The way everybody reacts or responds is different. Accept everybody on their face value.

Censor negative suggestions. Well-wishers, friends, family, loved ones guide / suggest you throughout your life. Know what to accept and what not to. Never take negative suggestions too seriously.

If you are asked to avoid somebody, keep a tab on somebody, trouble somebody, play dirty politics, indulge in hatred – think twice. Notwithstanding the love or positive vibes you enjoy with the person, please take everything with a pinch of salt.

Learn to forgive. As many popular quotes say forgiving is the virtue of stronger breed. Revenge doesn’t help anybody. You might afflict the other party by hitting back, but that doesn’t heal your bruises. Forgive and shower love on everybody around.

Enough of Gyaan on what not to do. Something on what to do here:

Love: Parents, spouse, family, siblings, in-laws, cousins, friends, colleagues – These are the people who define you. Like them. Respect them. Love them. Its infectious !

Care: Show your loved ones that that you care for them. Help them, go to their rescue. Celebrate their happiness, feel their pain, lend a shoulder if they wanna cry. Make them feel comfortable and make them realize that you are always around the corner for them.

Express: Do you belong to the clan of people who don’t believing in expressing love? Do you feel expression is dramatic, melodramatic and filmy?

If you feel so, you are used to taking people around you for granted ! You assume that they understand your love and care. May be, they do. But are you not loosing anything gestures. Definitely not !

If you are not used to that, it’s never late. Try it once and see how better you feel ! Its addictive !

Be patient, stop complaining, halt scheming, avoid negative flow, go against the negative system. Be Human !

Try to observe a deeksha for 1 month or 15 days or atleast a week and see remarkable difference in your life ! Even if you don’t, you are not loosing anything either.

Contribute in making the world a better place to live. Spread Love !

PS: I know I can’t change the world by writing a few words here and I don’t expect the readers to follow all these immediately and change the World either. But if you read this looooong post and reached here, that means you gave a thought about this. Thanks for that.

And hope you have noted the change in the blog URL. Its not vibrant-serenity.blogspot anymore. Its being-chandu.blogpost.com

Love, Health and Power to all :)

Change !

Change is the only thing thats constant and here I'm with a change. A change in the blog URL.

Retaining the theme of vibrant serenity, I took the liberty of changing the blog title as http://being-chandu.blogspot.com . All those who are following my blog, please take note !

Love and Peace

Three Years of Marital Bliss

Three years back, when I chanted the mantras "dharmecha, ardhecha, kamecha, mokshecha…nathi charami" little did I know the meaning of those words. Like most of the grooms, I just repeated what Pandit told me.

For me wedding was just a celebration of marrying my girl friend of two years. I thought marriage was a happy climax of the "Love Story" and the concept of marriage as an institution always confused me.

It took me time to realize that marriage is not just about living with your beloved. Its caring, sharing, feeling, expressing, understanding, respecting and loving each other for the life time. Its all about holding to each other through thick and thin - Thats the gist of the holy hymn nathi charami and it took me 3 years to apprehend that in reality and now I'm in the process of enjoying our "Real Love Story". It is said that a happy guy marries the girl he loves; a happier guy loves the girl he marries. I'm the happiest guy :)

Loving and being loved are the best things in life, marrying and being with the loved one for life is eternal !

Spread love, express love, celebrate love - Secret of successful marriage :)

Most Memorable Birthday

Officially, technically.. and finally I've completed three decades of existence on this planet.I heard wise people saying that first 10 years pass off without our own knowledge, 10-20 in education, 20-30 in career and life starts after 30. But my pursuit of knowledge is still going on and career is not established in a right sense. Am i going slow ?

Notwithstanding I believe my life has just started and there is lot more to happen from now or may be thats the way ageing optimists look at life :)

Coming to the topic of discussion, my recent birthday (April 30, 2010) was a day to remember at least till my last day. I don't really enjoy celebrating my birthdays but ironically almost every time end up having a blast, thanks to people who love me and their gestures. But this time, am simply zipped, zapped, zoomed, overwhelmed left right and center.

While the routine exercise of cutting cake amidst balloons, music and screams was arranged as expected, my wifey handed me over a folded piece of paper wrapped in a satin ribbon and announced "Your time starts now".

I was taken aback and cursed stupid reality shows she watches day in and day out for inspiring her in conducting this treasure-hunt. The task was all about reaching the final place in the house after a series of papers containing clues placed at various spots. I had to run around pillar to post for another few minutes and finally ended up at projector in the family theater room. "Whats next" was my expression.

She simply switched on the projector and screen to show me a video of my 6 month old niece Tanya holding a placard which reads "Happy Birthday Mama, Love you Lots". That was such a pleasant moment indeed ! I was about to retire after that video, when the shocker came.

There were 20 odd videos sent by cousins and friends. Overwhelming ! Each video was played and I had no words. Everybody was so sweet and was talking so embarrassingly nice things about me. I didn't know how to react, how to express my happiness. That was a moment to experience !

I paused the video and curiously and anxiously asked my wife, whats going on and how did that happen. She spilled the beans that she contacted my cousins, friends, loved ones and acquaintances and out of them many were technically challenged and few faced resource constraints but have made it a point to show their love towards me in this way.

I would take this forum to thank each of them for their gesture to each one of them involved

I was so happy to see my cousins Arvind, Priya, Bharani, Prasad, Rajani, Prasad and their kids Srija, Sriya wishing me though they are not mouse potatoes like me.

Karthik along with his brother Deepak and sister Deepika played a skit acting like reporter, cameraman and newsreader respectively. Till date I haven't cared to stop by and talk to Deepak or Deepika but those kids were so sweet and caring enough. These gestures bring out some humility in me. Thanks and Love you buddies.

Cousins Santhosh and Bhargava were so innovative in their expression. Thoroughly enjoyed their acts / skits. Dear Cousin Sandhya too sent her message despite busy with her kid. I know how difficult it was to record and send across those files. I still donno how can anybody take so much pain and put so much effort to wish on somebody's birthday.

Look at this, Shravya and Abhishek dedicated their beautiful renditions and conveyed birthday wishes in their messages. Guys, am not talented as you and I can never reciprocate to your gestures except saying "Thanks for making me feel special" :)

My best friend Soumya sent her video message wishing me. Buddy, you've always been so sweet and to me and your message is something I can cherish forever. Lotsa love !

Ramakanth, my roomie during initial days in Canada and a sheet anchor during my transition from India to Canada managed to squeeze in some time on the day of arrival from India after his wedding to send me his video wishes. Ramakanth, am not surprised with your being so nice anymore as I'm used to that :) Thanks dude !

Friends cum students Amruta, Rajanya, Sindhoora pleasantly surprised me with their video. Real treat to watch. Thanks friends :)

Now the time to feel embarrassed and sorry !

Hema got in touch with those people who mean /meant a lot for me with whom I spent a lot of time and learnt about life, but sadly was not in touch with them lately with a very lame excuse of being busy.

My engineering best friends Shyam, Pavan, Ranjeeth, Kishore. The people themselves sent their messages after my ignoring them for long time. They scolded me and abused me in their videos, but I felt their love. Mama, if you see my orkut profile - about me section, I have written "I'm a bad friend" because I was thinking about you guys at that point. Without making it more melodramatic, just wanna convey you that am not myself without you guys. Will call you soon for the earful :)

MBA buddy Vaishnavee sent her video message along with her daughter Satvika. Vaishnavee you are always beautiful, but sorry to tell you that Satvika is much more beautiful than you. Thanks a lot for the wishes. Treasured :)

Another surprise, my secondary school mates Harsha and Darani and ex-colleague Angshumala sent their messages. Thanks guys for your messages and am really surprised to see that you guys still remember me. Recording a video for someone who hasn't been in touch from ages is really special and thanks again for that :)

And...coming to my own family,

Suma, my darling sis-in-law sent her dancing video dedicated to me. OMG. I never saw her dance and hence felt all the more thrilled. She's so graceful and gorgeous and it was very difficult to resist myself from playing it a dozen times immediately. I never felt so proud of my loved ones in the recent past. Love you Summy !

My dad-in-law recited a self written poetry blessing me and mom-in-law spoke very very nice things about me. Such gestures from in-laws always boost us kada :)

Li'l Tanya, and her parents, incidentally my sister and Jiju sent me individual videos wishing me and also made her half a dozen friends to wish me.

My wifey gifted me an iPhone which is a huge leap from a Nokia 6070 I've been using for the last three years. She somehow has this larger than life image of me and treats me with best available gifts. Remember last year, it was Mercedes Benz. But getting these video messages after communicating and coordinating with so many people for days together, consolidating them, hiding them from me, packing and presenting in style - remains the best ever gift from her.

Mom, Dad were happier than me seeing so many people wishing, singing, dancing, acting, reciting, performing for their son. And how can they get away without surprising me. They presented me Rayban shades as they saw me loosing my earlier sunglasses. Don't know how they managed to buy such expensive gift but didn't think much, they are parents after all, they can do anything for me. And coincidentally this is my first birthday I spent with parents and wife together.

So many people took so many pains in making me happy and smile for a minute. Do I need anything else, I wonder ! They just wanted to show how much they love and its a humble experience for me.

I treasure, cherish and relish those moments !

Sania Mirza - A Phenomenal Waste

There were days when Sania Mirza's name was taken in the same breath as Sachin Tendulkar or Vishwanathan Anand. Nice to hear all good epithets about her being the first female tennis player from India to cruise into top 50 players and all blah blah blah.

But the kind of support, idolatry, support she received from general public, Government, media, sponsors was unprecedented for a person of her caliber. Records & facts talk aloud. Except for "Hyderabad Open" (which was not attended by creme), she didn't win or atleast reach finals of any major tournament, leave alone grand slams.

Whenever she was asked any question about her consistent bad performance, she used to go wild at the scribe saying that she is not a winning machine and all crap. But when she is representing India and enjoying the luxuries related to that, she is accountable and answerable by all means.

Her pursuit of being an alpha gal of tennis, craze of making quick money through Govt perks, TV commercials only catalyzed her steep down fall, which is anyways expected otherwise.

Now all these facts are not news anymore, but i was thinking about all these when I recently heard about her marriage to Shoaib Malik, former Pakistan cricket captain now banned for one year under disciplinary action.

Ours is a democratic country and everybody is eligible to marry anyone of his/her choice and live anywhere in the world. No constraints. But she is a person who received a lot of perks for representing India and whatever she is today is just because people associated some kinda pride and patriotism with her winning for / representing India.

Today she answers to a reporter that in an event of India - Pak match, though she supports India, she supports her husband too. Obviously every gal supports her hubby but that doesn't go well with most of her fans or fans of Indian sports whose emotions flare in the case (or may be its my feeling). After Mumbai terror attack, India -Pakistan political vibes hit rock bottom and diplomatic, commercial, business and other kinds of relations too suffered a lot. Lot of voluntary measures were taken by businessmen too in solidarity with Indian Govt and Mumbai terror victims. And this is not a right wing rhetoric. It was felt by a normal citizen of India, but sadly our darling of masses could not apprehend that.

She is happy for having got her Pakistani visa and is seriously planning for Dubai permanent residence. Bottom line is she will not be Indian anymore (though she announces about her representing India in 2012 olympics and all) and all the money, love and support showered on her is a phenomenal waste....And her case is not like any other gal of India. India is loosing its pride in favor of Pakistan and Dubai in the era of diplomatic war with Pakistan....Period !!!

Mohd Sohrab must be hurting himself and Saina Nehwal, Koneru Hampi and others who were eclipsed by Sania mania and her PR & glamor must be smiling !

SCL Tycoons – Journey to its Zenith

IPL fever is on and clearly cricket fanatics are having a blast. I too am keenly following the third season and my favorite is quite obviously Deccan Chargers. But am equally if not more interested in the business dynamics behind this version of cricket.

BCCI, IPL, TV Broadcasters, Players..everybody is minting money. Win-Win situation huh ??? Not really !!! Franchise owners are “currently” on the receiving end as they are still grooming the potential cash cow. Vijay Mallya, Mukesh Ambani, SRK and other owners of franchises are all set to loose some initial bucks before milking the cow. Quite interesting ! More details on the revenue model in some other post.

In the same breath, talking about cricket in my vicinity, “SCL Tycoons” a cricketing subsidiary of our SCL Technology Solutions is on the threshold of its second season at EDCL. “Tycoons team” is an avenue to encourage talent in and around Greater Toronto and to diversify the corporate entity into new areas.

The team has already started huddling and are mulling over various strategies to make the presence felt in the strongest way possible. Team management, captain, vice-captain are trying out different permutations to form a consistent team. For the records, the team comprises of former Ranji Players, former under-19 players and many of the core players are former junior and senior state, district, league players and have played in other celebrated tournaments. The chairman of the team happens to be Robin Singh (former Indian national team test cricketer, former Indian team coach)

So it’s clear that I can’t even think of suggesting or interfering in cricketing decisions or strategies. That’s anyways an alien world for me and am a happy spectator, for now. But being a Chief Executive of the parent company, am contemplating on adding a value to the brand SCL Tycoons and also to the team-members involved with the brand.

All long-term management and marketing strategies will converge at

• Providing a platform to serious players to pursue their dream of playing for the National Cricket Team.
• Creating a Tycoons-culture and building a “pride factor” in players, owing to their association with Team SCL Tycoons.
• Acknowledging players’ performance and contribution in more than one way.
• Promoting brand SCL Tycoons and hence SCL Tech through media management & public relations.
• Garnering sponsorship deals for the team and team members.
• Generating revenue and re-investing the portion for continuous improvement of facilities

We mean cricket and we mean business...wish us good luck :)

Do Women Deserve Special Attention ?

When I was a kid, whenever I traveled through APSRTC buses in Hyderabad, I always used to notice captions suggesting that “respecting women is our tradition” and wondered why women need separate attention and respect. But it took some time (rather years) for me to realize the rationale behind such privilege to the fairer sex.

These days, we see a lot of hullabaloo about women’s reservation bill, women empowerment, women welfare ministries etc...But do we see the difference in our society around us? Very minimal, if any!

Young gals are still facing eve teasing issue, working women are still facing harassment of some kind or other at work-places, housewives are still changing their identities to get along with their “new” families and suffering domestic harassment, women of all ages, stature are still fighting (with or without their knowledge) with the society to establish their career, identity and life. This is the case of an average Indian Woman.

Gals are considered as “grace” “respect” and “beauty” of Indian households. Good till here, but the very gals are paying the price of being the respect of houses. How many gals in an average (or even so called progressive) Indian family can claim they had equal upbringing as their male siblings? Everything from their dressing sense, talking sense, walking sense is directed, managed and programmed by the elders of the family to save the respect and grace of their families. May be they have their own reasons, but the truth remains that equality is not as conspicuous in treatment as in words.

If families are liberal, society isn`t in many cases; barring few cosmopolitan areas of metros, no place in India is absolutely safe for gals. If a gal is liberal, she is stamped as lewd and the whole world is hell bent to take chances. If a gal is seen in a modern wear, eve teasers strip them with eyes and dirty looks, filthy comments as if it’s their privilege to do so. Buses, malls, roads, colleges, bus-stops...you see that everywhere. So there is an unwritten rule that gals who are reserved are good and all others are bad. Broad-minded, progressive are taboo words. And we claim to be a country where ladies are worshipped. Sick

We hear about casting couch in film industry. But that doesn`t mean its limited to film industry, We hear about it more often in filmdom as some kind of glamour, celebrated status and curiosity is linked to celebrities and actresses. But it’s equally rampant in every nook and corner of the society. Corporate world, Fine Arts, Government offices – you just name it. These kinda favours are sometimes asked blatantly and sometimes in a garb and the style / intensity differs from person to person. Good looking gals can get their things done easily only because there are perverts around who fish for their chance.

Housewives are domestic labour in most of the houses throughout India. We see a lot of funny jokes suggesting that men laugh for the last time in the wedding and blah blah blah but how many men realize that housewives have to don the roles of poor chefs, baby sitters, maids of the house. That’s the fact, not withstanding some very progressive and broad minded guys of the new generation. The lady who bears the brunt of the pregnancy and delivers a baby putting her own life at risk can't even give her last name to her li'l one. Tragic ! But that’s how our society is

All the afore-mentioned cases refer to well to do secure families. Now what about trafficking and girl abuse? We can't even imagine the plight of such women. There are cases where gals of age 5-10 are raped and thrown into the dirty mire of prostitution. Only because they are vulnerable. Let me confess that the whole idea of writing this post came out from this small video by Sunitha Krishnan. My heart bleeds when I see this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jeOumyTMCI8

I know I can't contribute anything to this issue, except raising my voice in such platforms. Thanks to internet.

Coming back to the point I mentioned at the outset. Do women deserve special attention and respect in our community ? I got my answer now and it is YES.

A woman is a personification of love, grace and sacrifice. The woman is a beauty of home, grace of the society and respect of the family. She is mentally strong enough to take on the entire male dominated world full of hurdles. She is lovable, adorable. She sustains life and she makes the world a better place to live in. AND SHE DESERVES RESPECT.

I know Women's day was around the corner and this post would have been my tribute to the feminity. Better late than never. Just a word of love and support to the women you love might make a li'l difference to their lives today. Make them realize how special they are :)

I salute my mom, wife, sister, aunts, women among my family, cousins, relatives, friends, acquaintances in particular and all women in general for whatever they are. And yeah, whenever anybody addresses you (if you are a guy) as a momma`s boy or a wifey`s guy, take it as a compliment as I do :)

Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani !!!

Few days back, when I posted the link showing Toronto as one of the most liveable cities in the world as my orkut status message, immediately I got a spate of hate messages which all mean “Why are you so proud if Canadian city appears in the list ? Are you an Indian or Canadian? Are you trying to show off your new found love towards Canada ?” and many more...huh...

I see many of my NRI friends don’t have good words for their current countries of residence. May be thats the way they show their patriotism and love to Mother India. And there are my good old buddies and relatives back home in India who mock me as an escapist or opportunist who slogs to develop foreign countries :)

And whenever I say a word of respect to Canada or feel good about the country, these people see me with despise :). So it is expected that if I love my home country, I have to hate Canada, don’t appreciate Canadian lifestyle and chant only “Mera Bharat Mahaan”

Lemme tell you guys, thats not me !

My question to all those who say that I slog to develop foreign countries: Do you know that I used to work for US clients even when I was a Business Development Manager of a software company back in Hyderabad? Today, lakhs of engineering graduates, MBA’s, MCA’s who work for software and few other industries in India too slog to develop foreign countries. I just do it from out of India to earn more bucks, thats the difference. And, it doesn’t mean that you are developing India if you reside in India :)

I pity all those who mock NRI’s life style as pseudo lifestyle and their trials to become one among the locals as fake. My simple question: Can you accept any non Indian residing in India if he/she doesn’t mingle among you? How many residents of India religiously follow Indian lifestyle, indigenous products and desi technology in their day to day life? The intensity and magnitude might differ, but dependence on foreign technology or lifestyle is an integral part of most Indians. AND-ITS-NOT-BAD.

If you are in an alien place, fall in love with that place. Thats the least thing you can do to express your gratitude to the place which shaped your education, profession, career, your outlook and improved you in more than one ways, financially of course. And it definitely doesn’t mean that your love towards home country is demeaned.

I express my respect to my current country of residence. This is the place which gave me an identity and whatever I’m now, I owe it to my association with Toronto and Canada. Is that a matter of shame? If I don’t like this place, why would I be here? Why shouldn’t I celebrate development and recognition to my new abode?

In the same breath, I love to see the name “India” in local newspapers, follow Indian politics, cheer for Indian sports teams, celebrate Indian festivals, watch Bollywood and Tollywood movies, feel for terror victims in India, feel good about developments, reforms, feel proud of accomplishments, sub-consciously look at India everytime I see the world map. Though I don’t say India is the best country in the world, that doesn’t stop myself from being proud of my identity, my roots, my Indianness. After all, we don’t need to be the best to love or respect ourselves.

I respect and show-off my association with Canada, Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani..aur Woh Hamesha Hindustani Hi Rahega ! Its not the matter of choice, its destiny, identity and pride.

- Chandu Hyderabadi

My Take on Telangana Issue !

For the last few months, Telangana and whole Andhra Pradesh are getting boiled in this turmoil. Everyone has an opinion and so do I..and here it is.

I’m a Telanganite, born in Warangal, brought up in Hyderabad. My wife is from Coastal Andhra and I have a lot of loved ones from that area, my brother in law is from Rayalaseema and I have spent 4 years of my life in Rayalaseema (engineering in Kurnool). So I feel I have some kind of attachment towards all areas of AP.

Since November, a lot of people asked me “Do you support separate Telangana movement or Samaikhyandhra Movement? “. Huh....now do I need to support or believe in one of these movements? Friends, let me tell you that for me “Both these movements are sooooo UNREAL”. I don’t want to be part of either movements or political gimmicks.

To those who support separate Telangana movement:

Do you think your life will change if separate state is formed? What has separate state to do with development? Let’s assume for a while that all those statistics about backwardness of Telangana are correct. But how can you assume that a new state, a new CM can change things? There are some inherent issues which can never be solved by changing boundaries of the state. The only group of Telangana that would get benefitted would be political fraternity and nobody else. Get it straight.

Do you think there would be no differences among various areas of Telangana? When we say that Telangana is backward compared to Andhra, so is Adilabad compared to Hyderabad. So once Telangana state is divided, shall we start a new movement for separate Adilabad or Nizamabad as they are more backward compared to Hyderabad or Warangal? Then a separate state for mandals, towns??? Where will this end? Any answers????

Do you honestly feel that you don’t need any cultural exchange from Andhra people? Can you let go your love and passion for Telugu film industry, media, radio, Kuchipudi art form and other forms of entertainment which is predominantly sustained by people of Andhra origin?

Can you start accepting the fact that pilgrimage centres like Tirumala, Srisailam, Annavaram, Sinhachalam and beautiful cities like Vizag, breathtaking scenes of Godavari districts, culinary delicacies of Krishna and Guntur don’t belong to us anymore?
You may answer that all these don’t matter if we get our own Telangana. But brothers, just realize that we may get our own state of Telangana, but in this bargain, we will loose a lot, and a part of our identity too. Is it worth?

To those who support Samaikhyandhra:

Don’t you think that this so called Samaikhyandhra movement has been started by vested interests only to claim Hyderabad and all statements regarding “unity of Telugu people” are fake?

I heard people saying that Telangana without Hyderabad or Andhra`s contribution is like a begging bowl. Do you know that
- Most of the flow area of R. Godavari, R. Krishna is in Telangana and if Almatti saga is repeated in separate Telangana, Andhra can no more claim itself as a granary of rice. Period.
- Legacy or heritage of Telugu people roots back to Kakatiya Empire flourished in Warangal. There is no other place in AP which reflects Telugu grandeur or heritage as much as Warangal does.
-Singareni Collieries produce coal for most of South India and employs some 80,000 people;Ramagundam boasts one of the India`s largest thermal power station which produces electricity to many areas of South India.Ranga Reddy district is one of the most industrially developed districts with resources which can support large scale industries. Sirpur, Nirmal and lot of places support mid and small scale industries.
- Bhadrachalam, the second most revered pilgrim center, Basar the only Saraswathi temple in India attact thousands of devotees.
- If you still feel that Telangana is only about Hyderabad, think again buddy.

Hyderabad: The bone of contention. My friends from Coastal Andhra are heard saying that they are the people who developed Hyderabad. A small piece of information for all those who come from this school of thought
- Hyderabad is a city with history of more than 400 years. It was the richest area of British India, well before anybody can think of "developing it"
- People from Arabic world came, conquered and built state of the art universities (Osmania), hospitals, reservoirs (Gandipet, Himayat Sagar), monuments (Charminar), improved the way of life of Hyderabadis well before there were similar facilities in the rest of the country. But they never claimed that "only they developed" Hyderabad.
- People from Britain came, conquered and built railways, made Secunderabad the headquarters of South Central Railways, established convent schools and missionaries, built roads, highways and raised the standard of living. But they never claimed that "only they developed" Hyderabad. - Marwadis, Gujaratis, Parsis, Sindhis came to establish various businesses. So did people from Andhra, Rayalaseema and also from other parts of Telangana.
- Everybody contributed to the development of Hyderabad, but...but...nobody did it with the noble intention of "developing Hyderabad". They did it for their own livelihood and prosperity. Dare to disagree?
- Hyderabad is not developed only because it is a capital of Andhra Pradesh. If that’s the logic, how can Mumbai be a commercial and entertainment capital of India instead of Delhi? And how can New York be a financial capital and Los Angeles the entertainment capital of US, instead of Washington DC? Development occurs where there are resources.

How many people from Andhra or other parts of AP accept Telangana slang, culture as their culture. Telangana slang is always and only subject to ridicule and in movies, used only by comedians and villains. Even our very own Megastar did not / could not use the Telangana / Hyderabadi slang in Shankardada series though the hero of original version in Hindi used mumbayya slang. May be because "people won`t accept that" and the very people now talk about "unity of Telugu people and one state for all Telugu people". When KCR does his drama of hunger strike unto death or when Lagadapati Rajagopal performs his share of acting, they are trying to become Demi-Gods or future CMs of their respective areas and to support them in their political ambitions, people like us become fools and few people die too. Pathetic !

So it doesn`t make any sense for me to support either separate Telangana or Samaikhyandhra movement. I always belong to Andhra Pradesh and I wish all the people of the state respect each other and live with each other.

I would love to sing "maa telugu thalli ki malle poodanda" and also recite "naa Telangana koti ratnala veena". I love my identity as an Indian, as an Andhraite, as a Telugu speaking person and as a Telanganite.
Jai Andhra, Jai Telangana, Jai Rayalaseema (for me Samaikhyandhra is no more a good word). Your comments?