The year was 1996. Indian cricket team was on a tour of the British Isles. As usual the Indians were getting beaten left, right and centre. Navjot Singh Sidhu had flown home after a tiff with Mohd. Azharuddin. So, on 20th June 1996, two Indians made their debut for the Indian side at the home of cricket, Lord’s in London. Both the young men left an imprint that day. One made a century on debut and the other fell for 95. I am going to talk about the gentleman who made 95 on debut and was overshadowed by a century on debut, the perennial unsung hero of Indian Cricket, Rahul Sharad Dravid.
I don’t exactly remember when I became a fan of Rahul Dravid. It was right after he made his debut in England, I suppose. I was amazed by his calm demeanour, the seriousness in which he played the game. He was not brash in any way. Very down to earth. He has had ups and downs in his career like any other sportsperson. He had an amazing 1st year of International cricket. Then, he was dropped from the ODI side. The reason given was that his strike rate was not up to the mark. Also, he was predominantly a legside player. Dravid was still playing test cricket. He scored his first test century against South Africa in South Africa, an innings of 148 against the likes of the Allan Donald. He was recalled to the ODI side for the series against Bangladesh and Kenya. I had to sit and watch him struggle against Kenya I think where he scored 1 from 30-odd deliveries. It was very difficult to watch to see such a class act struggle. But he battled it out. He went back to the drawing board, worked hard on his game, and came back to the Indian side for the 1999 World Cup. Dravid was the highest run-getter of the tournament where India was knocked out in the Super Six stage. He then went on to score centuries in both the innings of a test match against the kiwis in New Zealand. Then Sourav Ganguly took over the captaincy and India started a journey towards redemption. I still get Goosebumps when I think of the Kolkata test against Australia in which India won after following-on. People will remember the heroics of VVS Laxman. But Dravid also played one of his most important innings. He contributed 180 to the score and batted a whole day alongside VVS to deny Australia even a single wicket on the 4th day. As the 2003 world cup rolled by, he was asked to keep wickets for the ODI team. He did it without saying anything. The Headingly test where Dravid again scored a century in very demanding conditions. The Adelaide test where he scored 233 and 72* in the second innings and helped India to a famous win on Australian soil after 22 years. Then he was appointed the captain of the side. India under his captaincy won the test series in England. But then came another low point. India got knocked out of the World Cup 2007 in the 1st round itself after embarrassing losses to Bangladesh and Srilanka. No one had asked for his resignation as the captain of the side but he stepped aside himself. And then he struggled, struggled a lot. Finally last year, he had an amazing year where he scored 6 centuries. And then the disaster called the Australian tour came and the rest as they say is history!
I think Dravid has made the decision to retire at the right time. India doesn’t have an overseas tour for the next year. Youngsters can be blooded in the Indian side in home conditions. The coveted No.3 spot is up for grabs.
Rahul Dravid has always handled himself in a very dignified manner, a perfect gentleman in a gentlemen’s game. He is a role model for all youngsters. You don’t have to abuse or show the middle finger to get a point across. Let your performances do the talking.
Rahul, you will be sorely missed. Best of luck for your future ventures. Hope you became a commentator. Atleast, it would give me an incentive to watch the game again. I don’t know if I will watch test cricket again! Thanks a lot for all the memories!
In the end, there is only one Rahul “The Wall” Dravid. There never will be another one!!
Friday, March 9, 2012
Saturday, February 25, 2012
When You are Nervous
One of the meanings of Nervous given in Oxford Dictionary is anxious or apprehensive. Be it that test tomorrow for which you have not studied at all, or the presentation which you know how so much you prepare the chances of getting a positive feedback on that is 10% or less, or in some cases when you are going to take a major step forward in your life. The first day of a new school, college or work sets off the butterflies in the stomach. Now imagine the nervousness of a man when he stands next to a lady with a ring in his hand all ready to get engaged. What will be his level of nervousness?
One of my best friends went through it today. He got engaged! Congrats, you know who (don’t want to name him here). Anyways thinking of settling down first of all is a faraway thought. But actually going and doing it is sheer courage! In recent times I have seen quite a few of my friends getting married/engaged. And the symptoms are all the same for all cases and I mean the interviews and tests and all but the following are most accurate for the engagement.
It all starts with “Have I made the right decision?”. Then you waste a few hours thinking over it. Going over and over, playing each scenario, each one more improbable than the previous one. You fight yourselves into the corner. Finally, after boxing yourself into a corner, you get an absolute amazing idea. The idea is “Phone a friend”. Next you call up a friend who you think will understand your plight. But Alas, all he does is laugh at you for being a chicken! But after calling you a chicken, he does provide you with some encouragement like “you made the right choice”, “she is the best thing that happened to you, so count your lucky stars and be happy” or my favourite “you should have thought before”.
As the days go by and the grand occasion is coming nearer and nearer, you feel a sense of dearth. Again you call up that friends of yours who you think will understand. Again that friend makes light of the situation and tries to laugh it off. You also laugh along with him and realize that you are making a big deal out of nothing. So, you let it go.
Finally, the day arrives. Your dear friend calls you up and wishes you luck still making some joke or the other. The feeling is still not sinking in. You inhale and exhale deeply to calm yourself down. Finally, the moment is here. You take a deep breath. You say “I got to pee!” Go to the bathroom, you look yourself in mirror. And your bachelorhood whizzes past your eyes. Those drunken parties, those awesome trips. You think to yourself “Is it the end?”. But somehow you manage to pluck up some courage and go to the ceremony and 5 minutes later you are engaged! All the build up panic, apprehensions go away. You feel deflated. You are tired without exactly doing much. So you sleep. Your friend calls you up again and this time he just wishes you. Finally, the doubts are out. You feel at peace with yourself.
All I can tell you is that for the time being the panic attack is avoided. Now let’s wait for the wedding!
P.S: Congrats Chigi! I know I have made a quite a number of assumptions above and blown everything out of proportions, you ask why? It wouldn’t have been funny!!!!
One of my best friends went through it today. He got engaged! Congrats, you know who (don’t want to name him here). Anyways thinking of settling down first of all is a faraway thought. But actually going and doing it is sheer courage! In recent times I have seen quite a few of my friends getting married/engaged. And the symptoms are all the same for all cases and I mean the interviews and tests and all but the following are most accurate for the engagement.
It all starts with “Have I made the right decision?”. Then you waste a few hours thinking over it. Going over and over, playing each scenario, each one more improbable than the previous one. You fight yourselves into the corner. Finally, after boxing yourself into a corner, you get an absolute amazing idea. The idea is “Phone a friend”. Next you call up a friend who you think will understand your plight. But Alas, all he does is laugh at you for being a chicken! But after calling you a chicken, he does provide you with some encouragement like “you made the right choice”, “she is the best thing that happened to you, so count your lucky stars and be happy” or my favourite “you should have thought before”.
As the days go by and the grand occasion is coming nearer and nearer, you feel a sense of dearth. Again you call up that friends of yours who you think will understand. Again that friend makes light of the situation and tries to laugh it off. You also laugh along with him and realize that you are making a big deal out of nothing. So, you let it go.
Finally, the day arrives. Your dear friend calls you up and wishes you luck still making some joke or the other. The feeling is still not sinking in. You inhale and exhale deeply to calm yourself down. Finally, the moment is here. You take a deep breath. You say “I got to pee!” Go to the bathroom, you look yourself in mirror. And your bachelorhood whizzes past your eyes. Those drunken parties, those awesome trips. You think to yourself “Is it the end?”. But somehow you manage to pluck up some courage and go to the ceremony and 5 minutes later you are engaged! All the build up panic, apprehensions go away. You feel deflated. You are tired without exactly doing much. So you sleep. Your friend calls you up again and this time he just wishes you. Finally, the doubts are out. You feel at peace with yourself.
All I can tell you is that for the time being the panic attack is avoided. Now let’s wait for the wedding!
P.S: Congrats Chigi! I know I have made a quite a number of assumptions above and blown everything out of proportions, you ask why? It wouldn’t have been funny!!!!
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Looking Back!
On August 25th as I looked at the MET building in Bandra, many random thoughts went through my head. The one over-riding nearly every other thought was “How would College 2.0 would be for me?”
Returning to college life after more than 3 years was tough. I was used to earning money and spending it. Returning to the student lifestyle would be tough I thought. And believe me it still is!
So getting back to reviewing the last few months of college 2.0, let me start at the very beginning. The 1st three days were pure torture to begin with. Just sitting there on those uncomfortable chairs for 9 to 9.5 hours with sporadic breaks thrown in to keep us from shooting each other or just jumping out of the windows!
The next 2 days spent in outbound were really good. I made my 1st friends in that place! And then the lectures started!
Now a 3 hour lecture to start with after 3 years of not attending a single lecture can be very disorientating. One can easily be in a deluded state thinking that the last 5 minutes seemed to last an hour! I went through that phrase. I still go through that whenever the lecture gets boring.
11 subjects in total. At least 10 lectures of 3 hours per subjects. Do the math yourself! In the end we ended up doing much more than that!
Crazy times followed!! College, presentations (too many if you ask me), debates, parties and everything in between. I shifted base to Bandra from Malad. If you see, from Belapur to Malad to Bandra, I am surely moving in the right direction towards South Bombay ;-)
Well, we had quite a good faculty, I must admit. From learning how to respect women to “all the beautiful girls and handsome guys”, from reading ET every freaking Thursday to attending the last lecture on every Saturday, from Kotler to Johnson, from Debit/credit to how to write snail mail in the electronic world, from writing till the end of the world or the book whichever came first to doing nothing at all in a lecture, to wearing suits and sarees to wearing casuals, we did it all.
If you haven’t seen a zombie in real life, you could have seen me during the written exams. 11 papers in 12 days is no joke! And it doesn’t help when you actually open the books for the 1st time 2 days before the exams.
The one positive side effect of college 2.0 was that I made quite a few friends and I hope to spend the rest of my time here with you guys enjoying every bit of the journey. It sure has been a pleasure sharing this ride with you guys!
Everyone have a glorious new year. Here’s to 2012! CHEERS!!
Returning to college life after more than 3 years was tough. I was used to earning money and spending it. Returning to the student lifestyle would be tough I thought. And believe me it still is!
So getting back to reviewing the last few months of college 2.0, let me start at the very beginning. The 1st three days were pure torture to begin with. Just sitting there on those uncomfortable chairs for 9 to 9.5 hours with sporadic breaks thrown in to keep us from shooting each other or just jumping out of the windows!
The next 2 days spent in outbound were really good. I made my 1st friends in that place! And then the lectures started!
Now a 3 hour lecture to start with after 3 years of not attending a single lecture can be very disorientating. One can easily be in a deluded state thinking that the last 5 minutes seemed to last an hour! I went through that phrase. I still go through that whenever the lecture gets boring.
11 subjects in total. At least 10 lectures of 3 hours per subjects. Do the math yourself! In the end we ended up doing much more than that!
Crazy times followed!! College, presentations (too many if you ask me), debates, parties and everything in between. I shifted base to Bandra from Malad. If you see, from Belapur to Malad to Bandra, I am surely moving in the right direction towards South Bombay ;-)
Well, we had quite a good faculty, I must admit. From learning how to respect women to “all the beautiful girls and handsome guys”, from reading ET every freaking Thursday to attending the last lecture on every Saturday, from Kotler to Johnson, from Debit/credit to how to write snail mail in the electronic world, from writing till the end of the world or the book whichever came first to doing nothing at all in a lecture, to wearing suits and sarees to wearing casuals, we did it all.
If you haven’t seen a zombie in real life, you could have seen me during the written exams. 11 papers in 12 days is no joke! And it doesn’t help when you actually open the books for the 1st time 2 days before the exams.
The one positive side effect of college 2.0 was that I made quite a few friends and I hope to spend the rest of my time here with you guys enjoying every bit of the journey. It sure has been a pleasure sharing this ride with you guys!
Everyone have a glorious new year. Here’s to 2012! CHEERS!!
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Last Month at Work
On 19th July this year, I came to know that I had finally got into an MBA college. After exactly 3 years and 1 day, I put in my papers here. And thus, began my last month in my company which has been like a home to me for the last three years.
It all started when I was in Ranchi enjoying myself after my sixth semester holidays. I got a call from my friend saying that there was a company coming to college which would allow people with less % to sit. I took a flight to Calcutta the very next morning and then a connecting flight to Mumbai. Once I was in Mumbai, I came to know I had to report to the Logitech office of some “CITOS”. I just knew C in CITOS stood for Citigroup. This was a big thing. I mean who didn’t know what Citigroup was (Believe me, many people still don’t know what Citigroup is. You have to tell them that it’s basically Citibank). So I reached the office, cleared my written exams, followed by GD, then two rounds of Interviews. Thankfully for me, the interviews were a mix of both technical and HR questions. I made a mess of all the technical questions but did pretty well on my HR segments. Anyways around 7:30 in the night, the final results were announced. I was in. my first job! More than been happy at that moment, I was more relieved that atleast I had a job in hand when I got out of college. The last year of Engineering just flew by. And it was already 18th July 2008 and I had to report to office. CITOS was CTS by that time.
Now, when you are joining the private sector, people tell you all sort of horror stories of how they are blood suckers and what not. So, I reported to Interface very apprehensive on 18th July morning fearing the worst. That whole day is just a blur in my mind. All I remember is just signing the mountain of papers in front of me and that the Airtel network was down that day. Then one of the best months of my life started. There was a month long training. And the people I met inside that conference room have become my closest friends since. There was Karan who was from my college only. We had never ever looked at each other during our college mainly because he was in a different branch from me. The more mind baffling case was of Nipun. We were in the same branch in the same college and lived like a 200 yards away from each other, yet for some reason we had never spoken to each other. These two guys quickly became my very good friends once we started our training. Then slowly and surely I become friends with nearly everyone from that room. There was Arvind. A typical nerd. (sorry Bro! but you know that I felt like that initially). He always had a question after a long winding session. Then there was Abhishek Kalapatapu. A really nice guy. Nisha Patel, the sweet chocolate loving girl. Then, there was Liana Deboo, one of my best friends with an amazing sense of homour. There was Furhad Jidda, who could turn Pink at the drop of a Hat, literally! Manan Shah, the most chindi-est person I have had the honour to call one of my best friends (come on Builder, you know that you are Chindi) and then we come to Santosh Sai Venkat, a most amazing friend and the biggest flirt I have ever met in my life till now. And though, he didn’t join with Batch 3 initially, but Mark Fernandes, one of the funniest guys..EVER!! This was our small group and we prided ourselves as “BATCH-3”. Things were damn good when all of these guys were around.
I was allotted a team which was easily one of the stress free ones. There was Nimisha, who taught me everything about the work and who was and still is a very hard working person. Pooja, one of the biggest gossip mongers I have come across! Just kidding but she does like to talk. Then there was Shweta “Ma’am”. Atul, a guy who did all his work without any issues and Sumith, one of the best friends I have around here. Rahul was my 1st TL and a cool one at that. There were also Eunice and Darshan. Then there’s Dhiraj. The official Batch 3 buddy and an amazing guy. Sandeep Naik, one of my best friends once I shifted to Powai and an awesome boss(he was for like 3 months which were the most hard working months in this office for me). There were quite a lot of other people from that time who were my good friends. Those initial 6-7 months were really fun. Whoever would have thought working could be so much fun.
Then in Jan of 2009, our company was sold off to an Indian MNC(don’t want to name it here) and things started to change. But still it was fun working with my friends all around. Till March 31st 2010, everything went on as usual. People left and moved on to higher studies and with Arvind leaving and me shifting to Powai Office from 1st April, things completely changed. Coming to Powai had some plus points also. I met and made quite a number of new friends like Sayali, Yogesh, Smruti, Ameya, Vandana, Shreyashi, Sanjayji, Mukul, Gati, Bijal, Rasika, Viraj, Ashish and Chinmay to name a few. I got along very well with my new TL, Vipul. So, nearly after an year in April 2011, every old face of the team was gone, moved on to different projects. The only guys who were left behind were me, Yogesh and Dhiraj in the team. The last few months have flown by because I was busy with work and what not. And with 19th August fast approaching, the day I leave office, I am very sure that I will have mixed feelings. I would like to take this opportunity and thank everyone who made these last three years fly by. Post 19th August , I am going to miss you all.
It all started when I was in Ranchi enjoying myself after my sixth semester holidays. I got a call from my friend saying that there was a company coming to college which would allow people with less % to sit. I took a flight to Calcutta the very next morning and then a connecting flight to Mumbai. Once I was in Mumbai, I came to know I had to report to the Logitech office of some “CITOS”. I just knew C in CITOS stood for Citigroup. This was a big thing. I mean who didn’t know what Citigroup was (Believe me, many people still don’t know what Citigroup is. You have to tell them that it’s basically Citibank). So I reached the office, cleared my written exams, followed by GD, then two rounds of Interviews. Thankfully for me, the interviews were a mix of both technical and HR questions. I made a mess of all the technical questions but did pretty well on my HR segments. Anyways around 7:30 in the night, the final results were announced. I was in. my first job! More than been happy at that moment, I was more relieved that atleast I had a job in hand when I got out of college. The last year of Engineering just flew by. And it was already 18th July 2008 and I had to report to office. CITOS was CTS by that time.
Now, when you are joining the private sector, people tell you all sort of horror stories of how they are blood suckers and what not. So, I reported to Interface very apprehensive on 18th July morning fearing the worst. That whole day is just a blur in my mind. All I remember is just signing the mountain of papers in front of me and that the Airtel network was down that day. Then one of the best months of my life started. There was a month long training. And the people I met inside that conference room have become my closest friends since. There was Karan who was from my college only. We had never ever looked at each other during our college mainly because he was in a different branch from me. The more mind baffling case was of Nipun. We were in the same branch in the same college and lived like a 200 yards away from each other, yet for some reason we had never spoken to each other. These two guys quickly became my very good friends once we started our training. Then slowly and surely I become friends with nearly everyone from that room. There was Arvind. A typical nerd. (sorry Bro! but you know that I felt like that initially). He always had a question after a long winding session. Then there was Abhishek Kalapatapu. A really nice guy. Nisha Patel, the sweet chocolate loving girl. Then, there was Liana Deboo, one of my best friends with an amazing sense of homour. There was Furhad Jidda, who could turn Pink at the drop of a Hat, literally! Manan Shah, the most chindi-est person I have had the honour to call one of my best friends (come on Builder, you know that you are Chindi) and then we come to Santosh Sai Venkat, a most amazing friend and the biggest flirt I have ever met in my life till now. And though, he didn’t join with Batch 3 initially, but Mark Fernandes, one of the funniest guys..EVER!! This was our small group and we prided ourselves as “BATCH-3”. Things were damn good when all of these guys were around.
I was allotted a team which was easily one of the stress free ones. There was Nimisha, who taught me everything about the work and who was and still is a very hard working person. Pooja, one of the biggest gossip mongers I have come across! Just kidding but she does like to talk. Then there was Shweta “Ma’am”. Atul, a guy who did all his work without any issues and Sumith, one of the best friends I have around here. Rahul was my 1st TL and a cool one at that. There were also Eunice and Darshan. Then there’s Dhiraj. The official Batch 3 buddy and an amazing guy. Sandeep Naik, one of my best friends once I shifted to Powai and an awesome boss(he was for like 3 months which were the most hard working months in this office for me). There were quite a lot of other people from that time who were my good friends. Those initial 6-7 months were really fun. Whoever would have thought working could be so much fun.
Then in Jan of 2009, our company was sold off to an Indian MNC(don’t want to name it here) and things started to change. But still it was fun working with my friends all around. Till March 31st 2010, everything went on as usual. People left and moved on to higher studies and with Arvind leaving and me shifting to Powai Office from 1st April, things completely changed. Coming to Powai had some plus points also. I met and made quite a number of new friends like Sayali, Yogesh, Smruti, Ameya, Vandana, Shreyashi, Sanjayji, Mukul, Gati, Bijal, Rasika, Viraj, Ashish and Chinmay to name a few. I got along very well with my new TL, Vipul. So, nearly after an year in April 2011, every old face of the team was gone, moved on to different projects. The only guys who were left behind were me, Yogesh and Dhiraj in the team. The last few months have flown by because I was busy with work and what not. And with 19th August fast approaching, the day I leave office, I am very sure that I will have mixed feelings. I would like to take this opportunity and thank everyone who made these last three years fly by. Post 19th August , I am going to miss you all.
Friday, July 15, 2011
End of an Era
10 years ago, I watched the 1st Harry Potter movie “Harry Potter and the Philospher’s Stone”. Now 7 movies and 7 books after, I bid adieu to another bit of my childhood. In the last 10 years many things have changed but the Potter series was one of the constants.
To be very honest, I never was going to read the books. The movies were doing it just fine for me. Emma Watson was more or less the reason why I watched the movies initially. Then after the Goblet of Fire (the movie) came out, I was at my friends place and she started talking about how awesome the books were. And she asked me what I think of them. I told her point blank that I haven’t read any books and nor I am going to read them….EVER! I also told her that I watch the movies because of Emma Watson. She gave me Order of the Phoenix to read. 700 odd pages. I was like when will I ever read it. But she made me promise that I have to atleast give it a try. Two days and 700 pages later, I was a Potter maniac. And then I started reading the books one by one and I came to realise how much better the books were from the movies. The movies never showed it all!
The whole series is quite a reflection on many things relevant: The good v/s evil, friendships, sacrifices, first crushes, love and heartbreaks. The Harry-Ron-Hermione friendship has to be one of the best examples of friendships today. They have gone through their ups and downs but never let go of each other. Maybe Ron, in the 7th book leaves them, but he more than makes up for it by saving Harry’s life. One of the things which J.K.Rowling did different from the other authors was that Hermione ended up with Ron and not Harry. The sidekick never gets the girl..NEVER! The romantic angle between Ron and Hermione was build up throughout the series and finally culminated in the last few chapters of the last book.
My favourite character from the series is Ron. I see a lot of my traits in me. Another character which I really like in the whole series is that of Severus Snape. He has to be one of the best if not the best Anti-Hero of our generation. He did everything in his power to protect Harry and Harry realised it in the end and that’s why named his son Albus Severus Potter. Another character which constantly grew during the series was Neville Longbottom. From a fat chubby kid to leading the DA in his 7th book. If you catch the last instalment on screen, you will realise that Neville’s the man! The scene in which he kills Nagini is one of the highpoints of the movie. People were actually cheering for Neville in the theatre.
It has been a truly amazing ride for me in the Potter Universe and today it’s all over. There won’t be another movie or a book. I am really going to miss it.
Farewell Hogwarts! You will always be remembered!
And thank you J.K.Rowling for giving us the Potter Universe! It was quite a ride!!
To be very honest, I never was going to read the books. The movies were doing it just fine for me. Emma Watson was more or less the reason why I watched the movies initially. Then after the Goblet of Fire (the movie) came out, I was at my friends place and she started talking about how awesome the books were. And she asked me what I think of them. I told her point blank that I haven’t read any books and nor I am going to read them….EVER! I also told her that I watch the movies because of Emma Watson. She gave me Order of the Phoenix to read. 700 odd pages. I was like when will I ever read it. But she made me promise that I have to atleast give it a try. Two days and 700 pages later, I was a Potter maniac. And then I started reading the books one by one and I came to realise how much better the books were from the movies. The movies never showed it all!
The whole series is quite a reflection on many things relevant: The good v/s evil, friendships, sacrifices, first crushes, love and heartbreaks. The Harry-Ron-Hermione friendship has to be one of the best examples of friendships today. They have gone through their ups and downs but never let go of each other. Maybe Ron, in the 7th book leaves them, but he more than makes up for it by saving Harry’s life. One of the things which J.K.Rowling did different from the other authors was that Hermione ended up with Ron and not Harry. The sidekick never gets the girl..NEVER! The romantic angle between Ron and Hermione was build up throughout the series and finally culminated in the last few chapters of the last book.
My favourite character from the series is Ron. I see a lot of my traits in me. Another character which I really like in the whole series is that of Severus Snape. He has to be one of the best if not the best Anti-Hero of our generation. He did everything in his power to protect Harry and Harry realised it in the end and that’s why named his son Albus Severus Potter. Another character which constantly grew during the series was Neville Longbottom. From a fat chubby kid to leading the DA in his 7th book. If you catch the last instalment on screen, you will realise that Neville’s the man! The scene in which he kills Nagini is one of the highpoints of the movie. People were actually cheering for Neville in the theatre.
It has been a truly amazing ride for me in the Potter Universe and today it’s all over. There won’t be another movie or a book. I am really going to miss it.
Farewell Hogwarts! You will always be remembered!
And thank you J.K.Rowling for giving us the Potter Universe! It was quite a ride!!
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Mumbai’s 26/11 Part Deux
Another series of blasts, many died, even more got injured. It’s just another day for us Mumbaikars. I got the news while I was going back from work and was stuck in a traffic jam. When I came to know about all this, I was just thinking about getting home as soon as possible. I started calling my friends in all parts of the city just to make sure. But suddenly all the networks were jammed. Anyways I got home and a miracle happened. I got through to my parents on the first dial. Told them I was fine and at home. Then again started calling up everyone. Thankfully was able to contact them.
All the news channels were beaming the pictures, getting accounts from the witnesses. Some of what the eye-witnesses to the blast said was horrifying. I would never want to be caught in such a situation. I thanked God that everyone I know was fine.
This time around, the reaction was swift. The police and ambulances were at ground zero (3 in this case) within 15 mins of the blast. All the eye-witnesses praised the police in dealing with the situation. They must have been good. They are not praised that often. The official statements were coming in at regular intervals always increasing the death and injury toll. But atleast there were statements! The emergency numbers were being flashed continuously. People were asked to maintain calm and stay at home.
I am glad that we can have such quick reactions. It’s better than the last time. But why do such instances take place again and again. In Mumbai’s case, once every two years. We never seem to be able to stop them. But kudos to the Mumbai police for swinging into action so soon.
Now, moving on to the political reactions. Every politician worth his bread and butter “CONDEMNED” the attacks. The word is fast becoming the most over-used word in the case of terrorist attacks in India. For that matter, even Pakistan CONDEMNED the blasts. Yeah, even PAKISTAN uses this word! So, anyways from the Prime minister to the taluka head of a remote village in the middle of nowhere, “CONDEMNED” these blasts and promised a detailed investigation into the blasts. They all promised to bring the culprits who did this heinous act of terror to justice and keep them as an honourary guest at our prisons and keep them happy for the rest of their lives. They said as it is the tax payers money is going to be eaten by us the politicians, may as well include these guests of state. Prime example – Kasab. Futhermore, the political brass was quick to add that they worry about how we live our life and not our lives. They have already embarked to make a rule to ban holding hands anywhere in public. They were quick to add that increasing the drinking age to 25 was the first step in constructing a better future as the current generation is so immature. Maybe, that’s why we keep voting for dumbasses like you! Get off your asses, do something useful with your time. Instead of increasing the drinking age, maybe give a lot more time and attention to internal security. You won’t be able to tell the people how to live their lives if there aren’t any left around.
I know the above para sounds like a Rant and it is a rant. I am sick and tired of politicians “COMDEMNING” the attacks. If we do compare USA and India on this scale, after 9/11, USA no terrorist attacks. India: every now and then. The apathy shown in such cases is appalling. There’s always the detailed investigation and even if someone is caught finally, they are treated like royalty.
I don’t know what will shake the Political class out of its present indifference to the common man’s life. Mumbai will be back on it’s feet AGAIN! Life goes on here. We “MOVE ON”. How many times do we have to “MOVE ON? It seems only God knows the answer to that question.
Keep safe everyone!
P.S: Yesterday according to some reports was Kasab's B'day. Go figure....
All the news channels were beaming the pictures, getting accounts from the witnesses. Some of what the eye-witnesses to the blast said was horrifying. I would never want to be caught in such a situation. I thanked God that everyone I know was fine.
This time around, the reaction was swift. The police and ambulances were at ground zero (3 in this case) within 15 mins of the blast. All the eye-witnesses praised the police in dealing with the situation. They must have been good. They are not praised that often. The official statements were coming in at regular intervals always increasing the death and injury toll. But atleast there were statements! The emergency numbers were being flashed continuously. People were asked to maintain calm and stay at home.
I am glad that we can have such quick reactions. It’s better than the last time. But why do such instances take place again and again. In Mumbai’s case, once every two years. We never seem to be able to stop them. But kudos to the Mumbai police for swinging into action so soon.
Now, moving on to the political reactions. Every politician worth his bread and butter “CONDEMNED” the attacks. The word is fast becoming the most over-used word in the case of terrorist attacks in India. For that matter, even Pakistan CONDEMNED the blasts. Yeah, even PAKISTAN uses this word! So, anyways from the Prime minister to the taluka head of a remote village in the middle of nowhere, “CONDEMNED” these blasts and promised a detailed investigation into the blasts. They all promised to bring the culprits who did this heinous act of terror to justice and keep them as an honourary guest at our prisons and keep them happy for the rest of their lives. They said as it is the tax payers money is going to be eaten by us the politicians, may as well include these guests of state. Prime example – Kasab. Futhermore, the political brass was quick to add that they worry about how we live our life and not our lives. They have already embarked to make a rule to ban holding hands anywhere in public. They were quick to add that increasing the drinking age to 25 was the first step in constructing a better future as the current generation is so immature. Maybe, that’s why we keep voting for dumbasses like you! Get off your asses, do something useful with your time. Instead of increasing the drinking age, maybe give a lot more time and attention to internal security. You won’t be able to tell the people how to live their lives if there aren’t any left around.
I know the above para sounds like a Rant and it is a rant. I am sick and tired of politicians “COMDEMNING” the attacks. If we do compare USA and India on this scale, after 9/11, USA no terrorist attacks. India: every now and then. The apathy shown in such cases is appalling. There’s always the detailed investigation and even if someone is caught finally, they are treated like royalty.
I don’t know what will shake the Political class out of its present indifference to the common man’s life. Mumbai will be back on it’s feet AGAIN! Life goes on here. We “MOVE ON”. How many times do we have to “MOVE ON? It seems only God knows the answer to that question.
Keep safe everyone!
P.S: Yesterday according to some reports was Kasab's B'day. Go figure....
Friday, June 3, 2011
Failings
We are living in a time right now where Petrol is worth 70 bucks in Mumbai. When and how did it become seventy bucks. I still remember the days when petrol was just worth 50 bucks. Everything was cheaper back then. Anyways the oil companies increased prices twice in the last month. The government we selected should have done something about it, right? Something on the lines of controlling the price. When the price of petrol is increased, it leads to a domino effect where every essential commodity price also increases. Do we Indians have so much money that we can afford it?
Maybe the answer is “YES” but that money is stashed away in the Swiss Banks. There must be lakhs of crores of black money in the Swiss banks belonging to all Politicians and corrupt babus. Why hasn’t the government taken any steps retrieve it? And why are they trying to stop Baba Ramdev? He’s only asking about the black money.
Moving on, Whatever happened to the Lokpal Bill? There’s absolutely no development on that front apart from the government people in the committee trying to disrupt the talks. The govt has very good firefighters in Kapil Sibal and Digvijay Singh. If someone asks an uncomfortable question, one of these two often attack that person and try to undermine him. Good tactics, I must say!
This govt. was supposed to be the Common Man’s govt. And it is the common Man who is suffering the most. Why doesn’t Rahul Gandhi do anything about these failures of his govt.? Doesn’t he get some time away from his shenanigans to focus on something like this?
The govt. was pushed into taking action on the whole 3G spectrum case. If it wasn’t for the media who didn’t let this issue die down, A.Raja would still be roaming free and probably would still be the Telecom Minister. Same was the case with the Commonwealth games, the Adarsh society scam! If the media wasn’t adamant on getting the culprits to book, all of them would have been roaming free.
As far as the state govt. of Maharastra goes, what should I say? They have the time to pass a bill for increasing the legal drinking age to 25, but yesterday after a single pre-monsoon shower, all the street s got water logged, what did they do over the last one year?
Who is to blame in the end? It is Us, the people of India who vote for these guys who are too busy filling their own pockets than to actually work for what they have been selected. We have to change to bring about a change and the sooner we change, the better it is for the nation!
Maybe the answer is “YES” but that money is stashed away in the Swiss Banks. There must be lakhs of crores of black money in the Swiss banks belonging to all Politicians and corrupt babus. Why hasn’t the government taken any steps retrieve it? And why are they trying to stop Baba Ramdev? He’s only asking about the black money.
Moving on, Whatever happened to the Lokpal Bill? There’s absolutely no development on that front apart from the government people in the committee trying to disrupt the talks. The govt has very good firefighters in Kapil Sibal and Digvijay Singh. If someone asks an uncomfortable question, one of these two often attack that person and try to undermine him. Good tactics, I must say!
This govt. was supposed to be the Common Man’s govt. And it is the common Man who is suffering the most. Why doesn’t Rahul Gandhi do anything about these failures of his govt.? Doesn’t he get some time away from his shenanigans to focus on something like this?
The govt. was pushed into taking action on the whole 3G spectrum case. If it wasn’t for the media who didn’t let this issue die down, A.Raja would still be roaming free and probably would still be the Telecom Minister. Same was the case with the Commonwealth games, the Adarsh society scam! If the media wasn’t adamant on getting the culprits to book, all of them would have been roaming free.
As far as the state govt. of Maharastra goes, what should I say? They have the time to pass a bill for increasing the legal drinking age to 25, but yesterday after a single pre-monsoon shower, all the street s got water logged, what did they do over the last one year?
Who is to blame in the end? It is Us, the people of India who vote for these guys who are too busy filling their own pockets than to actually work for what they have been selected. We have to change to bring about a change and the sooner we change, the better it is for the nation!
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