Rain Drops-Can we Learn something from them?

The amazing spectacle of innumerous rain drops on the surface of leaves after a spell of rain is breathtaking to say the least. The ambience is refreshing,the air purer and the soul of every single living being ecstatic. Amazing really how rain drops brings about so many changes isn't it ?

The important thing to note is how a small drop is bringing about so many changes. Definitely there exists photographs of rain drops kissing the surface of the leaf which have been acclaimed at different art exhibitions around the world.That's the power of these tiny drops.
I would like to draw a comparison of these drops with we the Human Beings. Imagine each of us as these tiny drops coming to the aid of our ambience. This ambience will be our society, our value system,our conscience. If we all take the role of a Rain drop we can certainly make an impact.
The recent killing of a 15 year old girl in Goa is a startling example that had each individual been clean this sad incident would not have happened. We blame the police,the goons,the mafia...but who made them what they are today? It is we the people. We bribe the police to make things happen our way, we have played a big hand in making this goons and mafias. A lot of introspection is needed as to why the society(Our Ambience) has become so much corrupt.
Let us rise above ourselves and our own vested interests and realize that if we all can improve on an individual level the net result will reflect on the way we run the show.
How true it is that with everything nature created there is something left for us to learn. These simple drops combining to beautify nature should become more than an inspiration for us.
Come lets turn into these innumerous drops and make our society a better place to live in. The nation shares the pain with Scarlett Keeling's mother and promises to standby her during this difficult period.

The English Soccer Power!

The UEFA Champions league Quarter Final draw is scheduled to take place on friday,14th March.Four of the Eight knock out places has been reserved by the English powerhouses like Liverpool,Chelsea,Manchester United,Arsenal. The most important point to note here is we can easily see the dominance of English Premier League at the european level. The top four teams from this league are increasingly proving to be the top four of Europe.
Ever since the Roman Abramovich era started at Stamford Bridge(Chelsea Home), we have seen a plethora of football stars coming to English shores and entertaining the passionate crowds. Special credit goes the Merseyside team Liverpool FC who reached the final of this competetion 2 times in last 3 years. Rafa Benitez's(Liverpool Coach) men have done a wondeful job and proved their supremacy at this stage which ofcourse they have won for 5 times !( Milan & Real Madrid have won it on 6 & 9 times respectively)
It is clear from the present showing and the standard of football played that English Premier League is the best in the business and it has started to gather a huge momentum in terms of capturing the markets of Asia.

It is interesting to see how the Quarter Final draw pans out as most of us dont want the English teams end up playing against each other at this stage. Perhaps a face off during the Semis will be more suited. UEFA champions league matchdays are spectacular to watch and the level of football played is amazing to say the least. This is most important football event after the World Cup and the Euro.

Lets hope that the likes of Ronaldo,Gerrard,Ronaldinho,Messi,Henry,Fabregas,Ballack continues to entertain us and make this beautiful game even better! I am looking forward to the draw and i am hopeful for the following fixtures to emerge:



Barcelona vs Fenerbache



Liverpool vs Roma



Arsenal vs Schalke



Manchester United vs Chelsea



Semis:

Barcelona vs Manchester United

Liverpool vs Arsenal



Final:

Liverpool vs Barcelona



Winner:



Liverpool !!!!!!!!!!!!!! ( On Penalties)

The New Aggressive Woman

8th March,International Women's Day. As we all celebrated yet another special day for Women it is very hard to overlook the stupendous progress which the fairer sex has made over the decades. From being a subjugated,shy to a supremely independent,confident,having a lot of ambitions, the transitions has been astounding to say the least.
The modern woman is no longer dependent on social taboos,she is not bothered about what others have to say related to career goals. It is a fact though that the rise of Woman has come largely because of the supportive families they are getting. A modern husband no longer raises his objection when he finds his wife working and fulfil her own career ambitions. Similarly the new age kid understands that his/her mom is having to do a lot of work both household as well as office. A lot of mutual understanding has developed which has led to Women being able to perfectly balance their work.
It is must for a modern society to have both the sexes working in tandem and strive together for a common goal. Also its time that we stop pitting a woman against a man and realize that behind every successful woman there is a man and vice verse.
Let us all celebrate this phenomenal growth and hail the WOMAN who brings along with her the power of Saraswati,Kali and Durga.

Bangalore- The Sinking Ship!

It was 8 45 am. My office shuttle was negotiating the traffic at Mysore road. It has been a 50 minute journey so far and we are yet to reach office. The distance is not even 20 km and in any other major city which is globally known it should take a commuter much less time to traverse that distance. Is this an isolated incident? Does it happen once in a blue moon? No, Bangalore's traffic woes is persisting for quite a long time now. This is something which affects me directly but the interesting thing is Traffic problem is like a small droplet in an ocean of adversities facing the Silicon Valley of India. It makes me a bit jittery to term Bangalore as 'Silicon Valley'.

Looking at our own Silicon Valley in its present state i am caught among many misconceptions. First is what is the original Silicon Valley like?Is it a place where the population has exploded, the infrastructure has come down to its knees?

Second thing which keeps on coming to my mind is if we really look at Silicon Valley,California and than turn to Bangalore I find it hard to believe the disparity of standards. Are our standards such that we compare the largest industry hub in the world with a city which is crumbling under the pressure of overgrowing population?

Bangalore city is in the middle of a mass crisis from all fronts. Infrastructure be it Civic or transport is facing huge crisis. In the midst of this the booming economy is demanding more out of this city. People from different parts of India are coming for jobs and in that process exposing the cities shortcomings.

Call it the political gimmick or lack of vision but the fact is Bangalore is going down the drain. The political establishment has wooed the industry to this state successfully but it has not taken care of the essential needs which was bound to arise as the city grew. Today we see BMTC buses overcrowded..traffic snarls...pathetic civic supplies.

This is an alarming situation and its time we realize that this city is like a ship and the people living here are on board and unless we take care of this ship we all are going to sink very soon.

Maharashtra for Marathis or Indians

Bhaiya - it's a term commonly used to describe an inhabitant of eastern UP and Bihar. In Mumbai it is a term of abuse, call a Maharashtrian a Bhaiya and you could get into trouble. First it was the Gujarati then the South Indian then in the 90's it was the Muslim ...Raj Thackeray, they said was just following in his uncle's footsteps ..its the north Indians now ...ignore him and it will blow away. Bombay's North Indians were being targeted for individual gains by a politician on the make. Grim faced news anchors nodded their heads .

Let's for a moment look at the entire incident ...the first inaccuracy is that this is a campaign against North Indians, it isn't, this Marathi angst is specifically against the migrants from UP and Bihar. So to term this as an anti North Indian drive is misleading, more so because no one in North India, and here I am talking of the states of Punjab, Himachal, Uttrakhand, Haryana and Rajasthan, considers people from eastern UP and Bihar as North Indians!!! The term used to describe them in these states? But then, many would argue that even if it is against a specific group, it is just bad, they are just poor folk who have as much a right to stay in Bombay as anyone else. This after all is a part of India and as citizens of India they have a right over Bombay that no one can take away. This, incidentally, was the view of one of a very eminent Bombay wala, a parsee gentleman who referred to how the Parsees had found refuge in India ...how at the turn of the last century they controlled the island city ..how no one calls them outsiders. This again is an argument that is hard to refute-- it has fact history and reason behind it. Except for one small detail, even at the height of their power the Parsees never outnumbered or threatened to swamp the local Maharashtrian.And this is the core fear that is propelling this resentment against the Bhaiya.

Think of the middle class Maharashtrian, he gets up in the morning and the man who gets him milk from the shop is a Bhaiya, he goes to work and stops to buy a smoke and is sold a pack by a Bhaiya, he gets into a taxi and there again a native of Bihar drives him to work, in his office the guard who opens the door for him again is a Bhaiya ..as is the boy who serves him tea, on his way back he stops to buy vegetables and is sold some by a man from Azamgarh , next to his house is a clutch of boys listening to a Bhojpuri song at full blast. The maid in his house is from Balia and the boy who comes back to repair his cable connection is from Mirzapur .

Can you fault Mr Thackrey from feeling that his city is being overrun by Bhaiyas?You may say as many do does this mean that all Gujaratis and South Indians, all the Punjabis and the Kashmiris should be chased out of Bombay, does Mr Thackrey support ethnic cleansing? No. he doesn't because of two very different reasons First, he realises that every other group has a sort of mean cap on the numbers who will stay here, a cap that does not apply to migrants from Bihar and UP, he has seen their numbers in the city explode in the past decade and knows that these numbers will keep swelling. The second point that makes the Maharashtrian uncomfortable and this is something that has been ignored by many of us is the one single aspect that scares the Marathi the most, with these increased numbers lies the very real spectre of increased political power. Here you have to realise that for all the money the Gujarati might make in Bombay, all the resentment the well to do Marwari arouses in Calcutta, both these communities are content with acquiring financial muscle, they never meddle in local politics. The migrant from UP and Bihar is different, part of it is his socio-economic makeup, the way he behaves in a small group and his behaviour when he has the numbers are completely different.

The eminent citizens who speak so eloquently of the cosmopolitan Bombay that cannot be held hostage by the lumpens of the MNS are right of course but we ignore the fact that this group of eminent citizens inhabit a different India a city within a city, the Bombay of theirs is very different from the Mumbai that a Marathi sees.Unlike your film stars and industrialists the Maharashtrian cares how many local corporaters or MLA's are from Bihar and UP. So when the Maharashtrian looks at this unceasing migration into his city and he does see it as his city, this sense of political power slipping away real or imagined is awakened. Each community has its own attachments to their language or culture, the Punjabi to his language his food, the Bengali can be in any part of the world but come Durga Puja and he will celebrate it and of course the Bihari will take with him his language and culture, the Chat Puja that so irritates Thackeray Junior is just one of those cultural imports that are inevitable.

The entire Idea of India is that there is space for everyone, this is the only country in the world where 10 men can sit down to dinner, and each could have completely different food habits, habits dictated by his religion or the region he belongs to, nobody minds and these adjustments are made by millions on a day to day basis, we Indians know this, our land belongs to all of us and to accomodate each others' quirks is the only way we can survive. There is a simple rule that governs this accomodation, do not offend your hosts, so if you go to a masjid, even if you are not a Muslim you cover your head, visiting a south Indian home you take off your shoes, in a Sikh home resist the urge to light up a smoke.

A Maharashtrian feels his hold on his state is under threat, his culture is being overwhelmed or disrespected, Raj Thackery tapped onto that discontent.

At this juncture it is very important for us to understand the importance of regional sentiments and at the same time look into the aspirations of the poor one. India as they say is our motherland and a mother is always there to help and support her child till her last breath.

This mother which we are talking about has a larger than life image and its our reponsibilty to let our mother fullfill her duties! Lets live in peace and let the Rak Thackrey's understand that such regional politics cut straight into our motherland's heart.

The Country Awaits the Heroes !

In Cricket a tour of Australia is regarded as the ultimate test for any cricketer. It becomes even more important for the Sub Continent teams(India,Pakistan,Srilanka,Bangladesh). The Indian cricket team has never beaten Australia Down under to win a series. The last time the Men in Blue tasted success was way back in 1986 when they won the World Series. Ravi Shastri was the man of the series. Under such circumstances a tour of Australia always brings a lot of hope along with it.

The tour this time was no different and as Saurav Ganguly said it was the best Indian team to tour Australia for a long time, a lot of Indian cricket supporters were looking forward to a Historic victory down under.

The Test series was evenly contested. Although we lost it 1-2 still there were clear signs that our cricket team has started to match the Kangaroos. The victory at Perth was a great success. The way Anil Kumble led from the front clearly indicated that the Australians were rattled. The end of test series and even the most pessimistic supporter would have agreed that India are truly on their way to overhaul the Aussies.

Dhoni and his men proved it that India has become the sole cricketing nation which can not only challenge the Aussies but also win against it on a regular manner.

Winning the CB series and beating Australia consecutively will do wonders for this team and it will be the right impetus they need to win the World Cup 2011.

With a lot of excitement and adulation the nation awaits these conquerors. Every aspiring cricketer wants to meet their heroes more than ever after this famous victory.

The future looks even better. We must not sit on this laurel and stop working at our grass root level. We need to keep up the good work and I am sure many such victories will follow and soon we will reach the top of the Cricketing hierarchy.

Chak De India!