The murder of Lokpal bill

Lokpal Bill was like a newborn on ventilator,whose doctors kept arguing about the line of treatment and kept the Ventilator off. RIP Lokpal.

This is what I have tweeted after seeing the disgusting debate on Lokpal Bill in the Rajya Sabha on 29th of Dec, 2011.

It was a shameful display of the dirty politics which we keep on hearing about. The intention was clear midway thru the debate, that our politicians were just killing time and by the end of it nothing is going to come of it.

188 amendments demanded for by various parties….is this a joke…here you are to finalize the bill after so many months, and now you come up with not one or two but 188 amendments!!!

If there was a need for amendment, the bill could have been passed, and slowly after seeing the practicalities involved amended for better working. But no, the main intention was not to pass the bill itself…there was absolutely no political will.

Just by saying, we are For the bill, but we want these changes, does not make these politicians a Saint.

By passing the bill, they could have saved the newborn on Ventilator, and then carried out the correct treatment, unfortunately this was not to be…This was a cold blooded murder…

Un-Wanted

Year after year I have been an active member for helping out in organising functions. During the functions it had become impossible for me to sit and enjoy with my wife and kids.

This year I was surprised and shocked at the attitude of others when I was approached for an upcoming function, where they asked me if I will come for the function, 'Come' not 'Help'!!! That everything has been finalised made me understand that meetings had been conducted without even me knowing about it. Inclusion of certain new organisers who dont see eye to eye with me might be the reason.

So now what should I take it as?? That my help is no longer required? I am actually taking that as the case. It feels insulting, after so many years of trying to give in the best for the very people who are now wanting you only as a guest. :(

Feel so unwanted.....Makes me feel I wasted my time all these years for nothing....

The Wolves are prowling on Twitter

The format of Bigg Boss is simple, put in a bunch of page 3 people who for the first few days behave as if they are on page 3 but slowly find it difficult to remain goodie goodie.

Not that they are bad. It human nature to be angry, to protest, to err.

And then the true facets which they keep away from the public are visible to all.

Same is the case with celebrities and politicians on twitter. Here they have to take bouquets and brickbats. Sometimes these brickbats get out of hand and celebrities hit back only to have more brickbats if the celebrity goes overboard in replying. A few people who come in late latch on to the fact that a celebrity has used certain abusive words without verifying the start of the conversation.

Twitter thrives and actually its thriving on criticism. Any topic will have its bunch of jokers and criticizers. There are supporters but the human nature likes to thrive on spice. There is no spice on good news..the wolves are out waiting for the celebrities for one small slip... And then they will pounce....

Essence of Marriage

Many a times we get to hear, I have sacrificed so much for my marriage...I am a compromising person...one has to keep on compromising and sacrificing to keep the relation intact.

I for one dont agree with this. I believe one needs understanding to be together. Compromise , sacrifice are trouble makers in the future, one use of this word and whatever good has been done is erased for ever.

Understanding never pops up ever in any argument, and where there is understanding the ego never come in.

Understanding and compromise may both solve the problem, but the latter is never reliable.

Baba Academy

I am actually quite impressed by Baba Ramdev’s Assets of 1100 Crs. Though I would like to own similar of more of such assets, I am not interested in becoming a BABA. So another Idea has surfaced in my head.
I can start an Institution for Baba Aspirants. Train the students on how to become a Baba!! Instead of becoming a Baba and earning, why not train thousands and earn crores ;)
The training will involve various classes including Yoga, Accounts, Public Relations, Public Speaking etc.
The course will include providing minimum 100 followers( u scratch my back , i will scratch yours – students), who will attend the the Baba’s discourse, sing his praises, If the Baba aspirants wants, his photos can also be garlanded(even if he is alive) at all his followers homes(at an extra cost though). This process should fetch the aspirant another 100 followers and so on and so forth.
If the aspirant is willing to shell out more money, than a few aspiring TV stars, out of work film stars, a few politicians can also be added to the followers list with full media attention. This will ensure more followers.

*this blog was written by me a long time back and today because of @rameshsrivats article in Outlook, I dug it out from the drafts. Its incomplete…….maybe will finish it off one day :)))) . I am posting it today to express my liking to his article in Outlook where I did not comment because I was not in a mood to register myself on a new site*

9/11

I have my own reasons to remember 9/11 anniversary.

Had a shocking experience with the Mumbai police that day. Infact got a call from home regarding the WTC crash while was at the police station.

My car stereo got stolen from my building in the evening and so went to the police station to file a complaint.

There the inspector on asking me what the problem was, pointed out to a father and son duo sitting in front of him, told me....ur stereo got stolen, these guys are here to lodge a stolen car complaint, and I am informing them that finding the car is impossible, so u better go home without filing the complaint!!!!

Was seriously shocked at hearing this but then the news of 9/11 attacks poured in, so rushed home to witness the worst ever terrorist attacks unfold live on TV, my stereo all forgotten that day.....

Twitter an uncontrolled bane

In the past there have been trends on twitter like RIP Jackie Chan, there have been other rumors which circulated more faster than before even Media could get hold of it.
There was a bridge cavein in Mumbai recently…and Mumbaikarrs were tweeting about it like an entire bridge had fallen down…..
Yesterday Twitter was abuzz with tweets regarding possible end to Anna Hazare’s fast by use of force by the Government of India. There was nothing on NEWS about it….but slowly media started picking up the NEWS after more than 20 mins of this coming up on twitter.
My point is : Is Twitter faster than Media and is Media also just picking up titbits from Twitter. There was a lot of controversy later with both the Police and GOI denying any plans of forcefully arresting/ending Annas fast.
Twitter has become a very powerful medium. But it can also create a lot of problems. Some people who are used to passing out chain mails, or unverified information on emails, just start retweeting or posting on their on profiles about things they read without verifying.
It is difficult to control so many tweeters, but the only request is to verify the facts before passing out any information and not resort to spreading rumors……
IT IS GOOD TO BE SOCIALLY ACTIVE BUT BE SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE TOO……

The Emperors New Clothes

We have all read or heard the the story of Emperors New Clothes. Indian Governments current situation is similar….everybody is able to see the corruption around except our leaders. Even a small child is taking part in the support of Anna Hazare and know that corruption is bad, but our shameless politicians are still undecided over the future of Lok Pal Bill.
Anna Hazare has acted like a small child in the story of Emperors New Clothes and raised his voice by declaring that our Government System is Corrupt…….and now everybody has come out into the open by supporting him.
In the story the Emperor realized his folly but will our Government do the same????????
I dedicate this blog to Mr. Bimal Maskara who tweeted this to me…

Why Annas fast is also scary…..

It was always said the Cricket unites our Nation like nothing else. The last World cup victory and the celebrations all over India and also in other parts of the World proved it with people dancing on the streets and tri-colour being waved everywhere.
Now another “C” word has united India….its Corruption. People are actually tired of corruption, which unfortunately is too deep rooted to be removed immediately from our system.
But Anna Hazare movement is a start and I wish, along with thousands of Indians that its can be reduced if not completely eliminated. It has brought the public together for a cause, something which we had always heard of but never seen….Unity in Diversity…..and now getting to see.
But India is a country which along with corruption is also reeling under another threat that of terrorism. It is just a thought…what if someone(could be an insider could be an outsider) manages to create some security issue at Anna Hazare’s fasting place. Two things can happen…either the Government will get a chance to end this protest or the public might revolt badly in protest.
In both cases the cause will come to a back seat, but the worse is the second scenario, if public gets out of hand, it will be impossible to control an uprising. Hope I am wrong…….but yes I am scared…..

I hate you …like a love you…

Lost my mobile phone last week and then bought an IPhone 3gs …more out of peer pressure(from my son and wife).
Dont know what to say about the phone….never seen such a fast thing in my life. With most apps coming only thru itunes…I think chances of the phone catching Virus is also very remote(hoping that most apps are going thru the stringent checks of Apple before being put up on the itunes store).
There are a few things I am still trying to figure out…will take time…but will get there I am sure.
But then there are certain things which I dont like about the phone…..
Very few apps are bundled along with the phone , and most apps you have to either download from itunes…or if they are free you have to waste your data on the stupid adverts displayed….better to pay one time and download if you dont have an unlimited plan…..
No flash for the camera…..seriously need one.
No editing options to the photos clicked….though there are others apps on itunes which you have to conveniently buy
No homescreen todo list…..somewhere during my years of using Nokia…I am so used to see my homescreen filled with my todo list….that I really miss it. I have downloaded an app from itunes for Todo(again the phone is shipped with just a plain calender which can have appointments…but no todo list….)but i have to enter the app to check out the list….
I miss the simple arrow key to go back in a sentence and edit it…..with this phone there is a magnifying glass which i have to take to the point of editing and then try and place the cursor there…..
There are many such other things which i do miss in this phone….but then am actually amazed at the convenience of most things in this phone…the speed…..
Its like I hate the phone….but yet I love it….

Random thoughts

Wanted to open my windows live mail…some how my live writer got opened……
Now sitting and staring at the many posts in which are there in the Drafts but I have not completed them or just typed and not posted…..
Blogging was an outlet for my thoughts…it has now been replaced by twitter.
8 out of 10 times a thought converted into a 140 character tweet is responded to or retweeted……compared to blogs which are random being read(i think)….
but that doesnt mean i will stop blogging…..if a certain topic needs more than 140 characters and which i think will be injustice if tweeted will certainly find their way to my blog….till then cyao…have a nice day :)

Ganda hai parr Dhanda hai yeh….

Seriously sometimes when I think of all the scams by Raja, Kalmadi, Kani and now Maran….I wonder what have they done wrong.
Think of it like a business person. Who wouldnt want to make more money. It was the Government and the system which was gullible. These scamsters(should we be even calling them that till proven guilty?) saw an opportunity like intelligent Business people and made an earning for themselves.
Maybe the profit sharing was not found appropriate by some who got the lesser amount of pie and thats where they got exposed, but otherwise I think now we should stop blaming them.
If our Government with all its capabilities feels that buying a thing for 100 rupees is the best rate they can procure it than why blame the contractor even if the same thing is available in the market for 10 rupees.
It is the system which is wrong, which gives a person the best opportunity to profit more if s/he has the brains to take advantage of the system to earn more. So why get jealous of them?
Agreed crores of money is going in some individuals pockets…but had the Individual decided to leave politics and do the same work than it would have been termed as business and not scam. Public would have invested in their firms and would have been happy to see the bottom line of crores of profit.

Being in touch

Met a school friend on facebook after around 21 years. It was fun talking to him. Though we chatted on the fb chat…we both were down the memory lane talking of our school teachers, friends, places.
Now that I think of it wonder if our children will have that kind of fun to talk to friends after so many years. There will always be a difference between them and us. During our school time 20 years back we didnt have mobile phones, social networking sites, emails.
Passing on Telephone numbers then was also not always feasible more so because telephones were not available in all houses and kids were random allowed to make calls.
I remember I used to be in touch with one of friends who had to shift to another city thru letters. But then even that stopped over the time.
Now the kids have some many mediums to be in touch.
Anyways it was nice chatting to my friend after so many years….

My tweet birthday

Yes today is my tweet birthday….thanks to @tinucherian who tweeted the link to @twbirthday on Twitter. I am also sharing my tweet birthday with Mr. Pritish Nandy @pritishnandy and Mr. Cherian TinuAbraham.
Found that I had joined Twitter on 30th of June, 2009. Here is my Twitter Birth Certificate…certainly better than the one Municipality gives ;)

So here’s a Very Happy Tweet Birthday to me and @tinucherian and @pritishnandy :) May we have many more tweet days ….

Publicity Stunt

Recently film artist Anushka Sharma was in the news for being detained by customs for over 8 hours. She claimed she didnt know that she had to declare her jewelery before leaving. Odd…..when most Indians have already read and seen on news channels the way Minisha Lamba and Bipasha Basu were also detained for similar reasons, a person from the same fraternity claims ignorance.
This makes me seriously ask…are these people doing it for publicity?? Quite possible, since Bollywood is no strangers to negative publicity is the best publicity. Link ups, court cases etc so many times we see such news and then a movie releases and everything is forgotten.
Take the case of hue and cry over Shah Rukh Khan being frisked at an Airport…a few months down the line we had a similar scene in his movie My Name is Khan….
Even in the past we have had many such issues…out of sight is out of mind….these filmdom people need to be in the limelight…and might go to any lengths….maybe I am wrong…but i bet not :)

Technorati Tags: Customs,Anuskha Sharma,Bipasha Basu,Minisha Lamba,Shah Rukh Khan,Publicity Stunt

Main karoon to saala character dheela hai…

Recently on fathers day, author Chetan Bhagat wrote a tweet which drew a lot of flak. His tweet was :
"Mothers give birth, but the coke belongs to the guy who puts the coin in the vending machine. Happy fathers day"
Personally I read the tweet, laughed and ignored it. It was an old joke heard many times. But then by evening Chetan Bhagat began to trend. Like every “coin” this too had two sides….those supporting him, and those against him, but most people started abusing him to the extent that in the end he had to delete the tweet.
It makes me wonder, I see so many people just shooting off anything they like, but just because they are not being followed much or unlike Chetan Bhagat who is in the public eye since long, their tweets are ignored. But when a person like Chetan Bhagat or any other well know person puts in such a tweet he is crucified!!
Ok..you dont like his books…he never asked you to like them. He writes, people who like his books read them. If they dont like it, they will trash it..if they like it its good for him. Not every author’s every written book is liked by one and all. So why the hell start abusing him about his books. about his social thinking?? He is an individual with his individual rights like every other tweeter.
And why just him, every few days our timelines are full of celebrities facing trolls. So should celebrities tweet actually what is in their minds or just tweet what their followers will like. Is this what twitter is about? Why do tweeples just jump at an opportunity to crucify the celebrities?
Every Tom, Dick and Harry posts some post which might be offensive to others once in a while, but when celebrities do it …..unka Character Dheela hai!!!!

Fleecing the traveller

Having a very bad experience with Kolkatta taxis, during my initial visits, now I always head straight to the Pre-paid counter. During my last visit also I did the same, but the taxi driver was not happy to know the destination. Once he moved out of the airport, he is telling me, Sir I can take you through a shortcut, if you pay me 100 rupees extra. I put my foot down over the matter and told him, I have all the time in the world to reach my destination, and dont care if he takes the shortcut or the normal route. On the way, he tried many a times to tell me to get off some other place citing that he didnt know the route, but then again I stood my ground and finally he reluctantly dropped me off to my destination.
I thought this was the end of it, but had more in store ….and this time not at Kolkatta but at my home turf…ie. at Mumbai. My flight landed after 12 am, so i was quite aware that I will have to shell out night charges. Being tired I was mentally set to sit in the first cab/AC cab or autorickshaw whatever was available immediately. The first person I met was a Cool Cab driver who agreed to take me to the my home address. When I asked him to start the meter, his response was that his meter was not working and he would charge me 600 Rupees for a distance which would normally in a cool cab would have taken only 250 rupees even with night charges. I refused point blank. Got out and approached a normal taxi. Same response, I wont take you on meter, I will charge your 350!!!! I moved ahead, and was surprised to see same responses from most of the taxi drivers. I was not beginning to lose my patience and infact told one that I am not from Alibaug( a common term by most mumbaikars). There was one taxi driver who even went on to tell me….Sir I will take your from Highway which will be empty right now and not from SV Road. He is telling me..this is Mumbai saab…never sleeps in the night. I told him….tell me something I dont know!!!!
Finally I had walked all the way from the terminal to the Main Highway from where I caught a rickshaw and reached home by paying normal charges.
Since I am from Mumbai, and know the roads and the rates, I knew I was being fleeced. But I really pity people from outside who are not aware of such things :(

Sachin’s tons a jinx??? I dont think so…..

Not being much interested in IPL, I seem to have missed a master century by the Master Blaster in yesterdays match of Mumbai Indians vs Kochi Tuskers.

Today the social networking sites are full of talks about the jinx of Sachins century which ultimately result his team in not winning the match. As a matter of fact, there were so many people during the World Cup final, who were happy to see him get out without getting his 100th Century(though I am well aware…had we lost the cup the public reaction would have been different)

Coming to the point of Sachins Tons being a jinx…I enquired around …is it really true….did a bit of groundswork…and the results are as under:

Sachin has scored 48 centuries in ODI and 51 in Test matches in his tally of 99 centuries.

Out of the 48 ODI matches in which Sachin scored centuries, India has one 33 matches and lost in 15.Winning % is 68.74%

Out of the 51 test matches in which Sachin scored centuries, India won 20, Drew 20, Lost 11. Winning % is 39%, but then how many results do we get in test matches?

So the jinx discussion is wrong. So let the man be…and let him enjoy his game…….

Being part of History….Part 2, the party spoilers

Blogged about the WC 11 finals experience. But the party had its lows also. Drunken men on the road, coming out in front of the car, dancing , wanting to shake hands with all alike…
Wonder how many such cases might have occurred all over and how many actually got reported. Mumbai in particular has had its share during New Year Eve outside J W Marriot at Juhu and even during the T20 WC final celebrations on the road, when a few guys misbehaved in the crowd with a girl, resulting in the girl falling in a drench.
Holi and Ganpati are two more occasions where I have seen such people passing lewd comments and trying to act fresh.
Such party poopers are around everywhere, cant argue with them, have to use tact and move ahead.
Before ending this piece, I would like to share one interesting point told to me once…..
Why is it that a drunkard in his best of mood , call his neighbors wife “HELLO DARLING”, but at the same time if he sees his mother or wife, will fold his hands or put his fingers on the lips and say “SHHHH….I am ok”. If he can recognize his mother or wife, what makes him forget the tact that he should be knowing the neighbors wife also??

Being part of History

Yes it was nothing less than being part of History being made. India winning the ICC World Cup 2011. It was during Holi, that our building people started having a discussion of seeing India Pakistan Match together. At that stage no one was sure, if they will be meeting in the Quarter Finals, Semi Finals or if at all.

But we were in for a very Big Game!!!. India Pak were to clash in nothing less than Semi Finals. Our frentic efforts to get a projector screen failed, since we were making our plans at the last moment. Most screens were booked, and those who had a few left were charging exorbitant rates. So all of us sat at our individual homes cheering our Team Blue as it won the semis to enter the Finals.

The talk of watching the Final again gained a lot of momentum. One of our member offered his 42 inch LCD, I offered my Sound system, one more offered his cable connection from his first floor flat. And all this just on the morning of the finals, a good 2 hours away from the toss. What to say, the idea was accepted like fire and we were all set in a few hours. Chairs were brought in from various flats, popcorn, colddrinks, bhel, etc…whatever one could get flowed through out the matches.

At the start of the game we were around 20-25 odd people, but the national anthem set the mood, when all of us stood along with the crowd at the stadium, ending the national anthem with shouts of Vande Mataram and Bharat Mata ki jai. Young and old alike, we all sat for seeing History in making. By the end of the match the crowd had grown to over 100 people.

The re-toss itself was a reason for us to raise our voices, shreesants bowling, jaheer khans 3 maidens, Tendulkar coming to bowl on a Mumbai pitch, everything was going crazy, every dot ball being cheered, every wicket being shouted at, whistles, dhols, daflis, horns.

The lowest point of the match was Tendulkar getting out immediately after Shewag got out. Silence. It was like everything had collapsed. But no, not a single person moved out. The general consensus was, if we are going down, better go down fighting. And then started Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli’s innings. The situation was that even their singles were being greeted by the loudest cheer. One of the member announced that in this world cup, Gambhir is due for a good inning, Virat is due for a good inning….but DHONI IS OVER-DUE!!!!!!

And overdue Dhoni was, when he walked out to bat there was a collective shout of expletives, as to why he didnt send Yuvraj. But the overdue was paid with lots of goodies along and Dhoni finally managed to play a Captains Knock in the all important game. During the last over, most of the elders didnt even get to see Dhoni hit the winning six, because all the people had already jumped out of their seats and were standing right in front of the tv screen.

And the celebrations…..Koli style dancing in circle, shouting WORLD CUP …..WORLD CUP……exhalting in front of the TV screen to Dhoni…..that was a scene to see, and will always remain in my mind for ever….the kids were bowing to Dhoni’s Image on the screen…..everybody was so happy……

and me?….well I was dancing on  the compound wall with the whistle in my mouth, throughout the last over, because by then we were all confident that we are going to win…i didnt see Dhoni hit the winning Six!!!!!!!!

The victory celebrations later spilled on the roads, with all being packed in 4 cars with the tricolour and shouts of Vande Mataram and Bharat Mata ki Jai!!!!!!

Dear Mr. Finance Minister

Sir,
I was listening to your budget speech and was not able to control myself from swearing out loud when you said that the Refund process is been made faster and simpler.
My wife is waiting for her Income Tax refunds of more than 5 assessment years. I have personally been following up with the department since more than 7 months now and have been able to get only refund till date.
This week I had the opportunity to sit with the Officer for more than 2 hours and the experience brought back memories of my travails over the past 7 months. The system is very clear. A person who comes asking for his refund the very first time is heard, his data checked and sent back saying that the refund will be released after a month. A person who comes back after a month is told that the refund should have come out by now, since it hasnt, it is better to put in a request in writing. On followup after giving the request in writing, the papers which are stored in “Bundles” are to be found. After one more visit to the Department, the Bundle is found, and the papers are found to be “Missing”. Next step is file an affidavit. Once the affidavit is filed, the person is again asked to come back after a week or so. During all these visits, I am not accounting the number of times the peon or the officer is not to be found on the table. Finally after a year the refund is released, if at all.
Btw…let me clarify, I am still to receive the refunds. The receipt of refund experience I am sharing of others.
Sir, you have not made e-filing mandatory for quick and easy refund. But even after e-filing the papers are still to be couriered to the Department in some place of our Country…as far as I know..to Bangalore.
These e-filing data’s are not “available” to the Income Tax officer for reasons best known to the department. My wifes last years returns are still not being shown on his computer, inspite of filing the returns electronically.
So all in all, some loophole is still there in the latest system also.
Yes I had the opportunity to visit an Higher Authority last week. He was very helpful. He has asked me to write a letter to the Department. So my saga continues………

Yours faithfully
A Citizen of India who is paying is Taxes so that your Department people can draw their salaries as per 6th Pay Commission

Jai Hind

Friends

Who are they?????

The one who holds your hand in a crowd, which is against you and says
“Tu tension mat let. Apun sambhal lenge sab”
The one who taps your back, when you are wrong and says
“I knew it, aise ghaple bus tu hi karr sakta hai”
The one who does everything for you, but then refuses to take thanks and says
“Abbe yeh formality ka natak mat karr”
The one who message you saying
“Abbe reply to karr”
The one who make you smil and stops your tears and himself starts crying and says
“Aankh me bhi abhi hi kachra girna tha, aur tu saale band karr ab apna ye Radio”

FRIENDS ------ Dont ever forget them :)

Transit camps in Mumbai

Mumbai is seeing a lot of Slum Redevelopment or chawl redevelopment. What the redevelopers are doing is building Transit Camps for the residents, breaking down their old houses, and constructing new buildings, before shifting them back to the new place.
However there is new trend nowadays…these transit camps are made of Iron girder framework and have cement sheets as walls. Not sure how safe they are. On top of it, these structures are going up as high as 7 storeys!!!!
Yesterday I saw one more such structure with shops on the ground floor. One of the shop was a Marble shop. I shudder to think what will happen if the load of Marbles fall on the side wall….will the cement sheet wall and iron girders be able to handle the weight of the marbles then or will the entire structure of seven storey fall down like a pack of cards. God only can save the people staying in transit there.

TV killed the Radio Star…….

This was once a very popular song. Come to think of it, over the years so many things have vanished. The VCR by CD player, which in turn by the DVD player, the rotary telephone by modern day push button phones, the CRT TV by LCD and LED, the type writer by computers. I have blogged about this before also. So why am I writing abut it again???

Simply because I am missing out on Emails from friends and family. I miss the attachments in emails, the jokes, the pictures, the news from them. No my friends and family are not busy…..but they are doing the same thing on social networking sites. I am kept updated by them over there. So there you are……Social networking is slowly killing the Email…………

Dont know if I am writing about it a bit early….but I feel I will be missing out on emails soon………….