thanks

Thanks to the ones who took the poll and I am encouraged to continue writing some other pieces of the story, will go on posting as and when they are ready.....

The post 'Rebels and results' is an excerpt from a set of stories I am planning to write based on my college life experiences. I just wanted to run it through you guys to check whether I am completely off, or at least somewhere near 'readability'...

Rebels and results

From the dark corners of the hostel corridor, Ramesh came running, panting, yelping for Hari. Opening Hari's room door with one hand, still breathing very heavily, chest thrusting up and down, sweat falling down his forehead - he cried "We have done it man! we have done it! Let us pack for home ... glee ... glee ... can't wait to attend my sister's wedding ceremony!"

Hari, as calm as ever, so very acquired characteristic of a small town boy - gave a sigh. Left his books on his bed, slowly got up and glanced at Ramesh. "So man, credit goes to you!"

And again, so very true of those small town boys, thought in his mind - 'Rascal, he has to attend a wedding, for that, the whole class has to suffer with a rescheduling of the exams! What happens to my hard work of 10 days preparatory holidays? Does somebody, the so called friends, care about it? All selfish guys, so full of themselves! What do I go and tell my mom, exams are postponed, yet again? How many times will she have to pay for my trip to village? Will Ramesh's dad pay for it? For how many of our batch mates ? Hoon... "

Aah, and there he goes again, with the outward politeness. 'Ramesh, how did you do it, it seemed so unachievable with the new discouraging principal at the helm?'

'Don't you know a thing? Come on man, don't study so much that you lose all clues about what is happening around this place. It is a long story - can't say it now.' Ramesh said, and started running ahead to other nearby rooms of his classmates to break the news.

'Go back to your bed and continue studying, you will get 5 more percentage of marks this semester with the extra time .. haaa haaaa ....' . Ramesh's voice was heard from a distance, slowly fading, from the other corner of the long hostel corridor.

Hari sighed again, even more deeply this time. Continued looking towards Ramesh's path and wondering what to do now. Neither can he concentrate on studying now, nor can he close the books and take part in the supposed-to-be-happening party in the hostel this evening. It is against his principles, he does not want to encourage anti-exams campaigns or take part in the victory celebrations. But does he have a choice? He closed his room doors and locked it from inside. Sat down noisily on the bed, forced his thought to concentrate on the chapter he had open in front of his eyes.

At the other end of the hostel, a group was slowly gathering in front of Vish's room. There was excitement everywhere, loud shouts, door bangs, running footsteps all around. Ramesh was thinking hard on what should be done to make this evening as memorable as possible. .....

Cleansing the parliament/vidhansabhas in India

Saying that our political system is a mess - is a big under-statement.

There are 1000 parties in India listed under the election commission for elections this year -> see this . What a huge list of choices with only few worthwhile candidates?

Now one more startling fact is 120 MPs have criminal record in the current parliament -> See this one .

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar says that good politicians do exist, provided people are aware and can take a good decision. I think it is an impractical solution, at least in 2009 - asking for majority voters to be aware and to choose right/wise-ly.

What I wonder is, why can't we pass a bill saying that nobody can contest for MP/MLA posts if they have a criminal record? As in,
- pending case where s/he is not cleared yet.
- if there are any proven criminal record in any lower level court even though applied/pending in a higher court.


Now now, if you think about it, it also seems impractical :) no political party will like to support such a bill in parliament (check out the list of political parties fielding candidates with criminal records to support what I am trying to say here).

But then, can the election commission bureaucrats make a rule like that?

The political drama

When Orissa was going through all the turmoil in Phulbani after Sri Lakshamananand Saraswati's murder, BJP was probably seeing the golden opportunity to spread its wings in the state. So called communal feelings were at a high and the Hindu population was on a boil.

No wonder, that the BJD and BJP have parted ways in Orissa. The political drama that unfolded this week was expected. BJP would have asked for more seats and BJD can't be expected to agree after such good response in local elections.

Navin Patnaik has some guts, I must say, whether misplaced or not only time will tell. But he did the right thing for his party in Orissa by parting ways with BJP. He has been called the 'Betrayer' by some and 'a masterstroke player' by some. He is both, but he can play intelligent political games. There is no benefit to BJD from the partnership at this time, so why not break it! Nobody expects moral commitment from political leaders, not in India! BJP should have been more accommodating as it is the one who would have benefited from the partnership, they could have waited for a better opportunity to demand much more....

I get this feeling that BJP has lost its charm, Congress has the momentum and the so called 'third front' is definitely not going to get majority to form a government at the centre. So, looks like we will again have a hung parliament with Congress forming 'yet another' alliance to form a government... whatsoever, it is sad to see no single party being able to convince the population about its credibility.

In my opinion, all regional parties should be asked to contest at least from 5 or 10 states, to qualify for the parliament seat elections. That will discourage the regional sentiments and more and more political parties will be forced to look at the benefit of the country and not just for their own state or constituency. It is ridiculous to see regional agendas taking higher priority for the parliament elections.

May the citizens rise to the occasion and vote for people who have the right election agendas and not for the ones who go on distributing 100 rupee notes ...

Change in co-ordinates

Changed co-ordinates from 18°37'50"N 73°47'20"E to 40°34'59"N 74°15'52"W.

What I have immediately started missing is, as Dipti once said, the live telecast of cricket matches. I would have loved to watch - no rewards for guessing :) - the 3rd ODI between India and New Zealand.

Weather is cold in this part of the world, air is dry, roads are excellent and humans are rare to find :)

Anyway, after listening to 'highest number of jobless people in USA this month' news for almost two days, I am a bit cheerful about the other bit of news 'About 2 million jobs exist even in this market'.

One can always choose to see the glass half full, and feel good even while contributing to one bit of the empty air in the other half :)

The theory of perception

A part of us is what we perceive to be.
A part of us is what others perceive us to be.
Which is the real 'us' and what percentages work best for a peaceful life?

The other day I was trying to convince somebody on why it is ok for a brahmin to marry a non-brahmin, and how all human beings are born equal and deserve equal respect. Can you guess the results of my attempt? Na, I could not convince...

And then there was this argument on whether females should work outside of the home or not, and yet again, I failed to convince the person.

These things got me thinking, how/when and whether our perceptions should change. Yes, agreed that, whatever we are, our life is based on our set of values and perceptions about life and world. As our values change, we change as a person. But exactly when we start becoming better or worse, it is difficult to judge.

I am watching myself changing perceptions as I have grown and migrated from village to town to city to abroad and all the way back again (I still live in a village, a small town, a town and a city to get a feel of all). Whether all of them were for good, I can't say. But yes, as a person I have changed, definitely. For better or worse, nobody can say, because these things are so relative and vary from person to person, nobody can make a judgement or concluding remark.

I think the core set of values/perceptions never change though, and probably they make the 90% of the person who we are. And the 'social' values that is the remaining 10%, keeps on changing. All the problem starts when we focus on the 10% rather than the 90%...

Anyway, the point is, as our perceptions make us what we are, it is so difficult to convince people otherwise. Even if most of the world thinks that it is a wrong perception, it is still difficult to convince the person. Reason may be, as the perception changes, the person has to change, and it becomes extremely difficult when there is no willingness. One has to let go of her identity and become another person altogether, it is surely not easy. But sometimes, it might be the right thing to do.

So, go ahead and embrace change for better...whenever that is the right thing to do, that causes less pain to somebody and that embraces humans.


Change is inevitable, and change there will be, we have to decide our course - for it or against it - in all aspects of life.

My theory of perception is, see everybody's perception and empathaize, that helps to understand the person and handle the situation in a better way.

An inspirational quote to start the new year

Disclaimer: it is not my creation.

I don't remember where I had seen this or who wrote it, came across it while browsing through some old collection of quotes (college time hobby).

And as expected, got inspired by it - once again.



To dream the impossible dream,
To fight the unbeatable foe,
To bear with unbearable sorrow,
To run where the brave dare not go,

This is my quest to follow that star,
No matter how hopeless, no matter how far.

To fight for the right without question or pause,
To be willing to march into hell for a heavenly cause.



Best wishes for the new year!

May this year bring us peace which is not at the cost of innocent lives.
And may we have the courage and the wisdom to defend us and punish the criminals conspiring against our country.