Demonize Demonetize

Nov 2016 to Dec 2016 demonetization seemed to be a buzz word. So much so that there were many elements who tried to demonize 'demonetization' and yet Modi stood victorious in most elections that followed demonetization. He promised 50 days to bring in normalcy and come Dec 30 we did see huge decline in ATM lines. So now I see the new target is the term 'Cashless'. And the same elements are trying to demonize cashlessness.

Here is my take on it.

Did you know that about 1.6 crore paid tax in the year 2012-13? That means just 1% of the nation is bearing the financial weight of the entire nation. Doesn't this ring any bell? With so many rich people around, does it make sense that only 1% of the nation's population bear the burden of the whole nation?

How do we know how much money people have? Unless we enforce cashless transactions, it would be very difficult to monitor who is hiding how much wealth? Unless of course the myth of the super powers of Rs 2000 currency are true. Every single digital transaction can be recorded.

So whether it's Paytm,  Jio Money or any mobile wallet transaction  or any Credit Card transaction,  every transaction can be recorded and accounted for. With this level of transparency, there is a good chance that people would pay the due tax.

And when so much of money comes in banking, it helps in generating good amount of credit. This in turn helps the economy. In layman terms, when banks get more money, they get more power to give more loans. Thus the supply of loans increases. This will benefit people who need loan. This will help entrepreneurs, people buying houses, cars etc.

There is an argument floating that the govt has taken this step to favor certain big industrialists. And gullibles are easily falling in that trap.

Cashless economy is a service. Credit Cards offer you a credit of 45 days. Who would pay for that? Huge expenditure is needed to maintain security of the digital transactions made, who should pay for that convenience? Nothing comes for free. Where there is a service there has to be a fee attached to it. They primarily charge the vendor and the banks. Certain vendors pass on the charge to the end user while others succumb to competition and wave off that charge. As end user you can take an informed choice of whether or not that trade off works for you.

Yes this policy of govt is going to help certain industries. But then that is true for every government policy. Should we be restricting every government decision just because it specifically favors certain industry? I think it is important for us to look into the larger picture. 

The Man with the Plan

BKC was filled with people. I couldn’t find a spot to park my car anywhere in the radius of 200 to 300m. Finally I found a spot and walked down to the venue – MMRDA grounds. Never before had I entered a political rally. I had always despised all the politicians and I could not dig an iota of inspiration from any of them. Not until now. I was getting drawn to this magnetic place which had a different charm. A charm that was full of hope and optimism that yes we could have a rule where we can focus on development. We can have a politician who will take pride in speaking about his nation. And his pride would be so infectious that all our chests would swell by at least few inches. Most certainly his chest would swell 56 inch while talking about all the work he has done so far. And the nation rightfully measured it with cheer and joy. ‘Yes we can finally have a stable govt’ ‘We can after all see a government formed with more than 200 seats’ He had high hopes of achieving the magical figure of 272. Although it seemed far-fetched, it seemed too tempting and hence the nation believed him. Little did anyone know that 272 was not even a piece of cake for him!

Millions were walking in the direction that I was walking towards. The ground was made into a fortress by multiple checks and multiple metal detectors. Not an empty space. From the place where I got a seat, I could see the 5 storey stage as table and the politicians could be identified only by their silhouettes and body language.  His name was roaring everywhere. The cheer was louder than what Sachin gets in Wankhede (please no offence – even I am a Sachin fan). This was the cheer from all the 1B Indians who were left in utter despise about their own nation. Where politicians prospered from one scam to another and “Is desh ka kuch nahi ho sakta” was a daily dinner table line.  The roaring chants of his name came out from that level of frustration. One politician after the other spoke. Ramdas Kadam, Ramdas Athavle, Uddhav Thakray etc. Finally the 4 lettered man with whom the nation was about to say the 4 lettered word to the most corrupt rule every seen by this nation, walked to the podium with the grace of a lion and left people awestruck.

People could read his plans. They could relate to him. They knew that he is not merely mocking other parties and partying on their miseries. They knew that he was addressing their miseries. He could clearly lay down his vision for the next 5 years. “Terrorism distances people while tourism brings people together” It certainly seems like a catchy line. But he just didn’t have the line. He had the plan. He has done that before. He had shown what tourism can do. “Everyone right from a tea vendor to a big 5 star hotel benefits from tourism.” And the crowd gave a loud cheer on mere reference to the word – Chai Wala. I was not surprised that a mere chai wala can dream of becoming a PM. As they say Kichad mein hi kamal khilta hai. Someone who has lived the life of a poor know what the poor wants and understands him better. In his speech he must have uttered the word “Juggi Jhopadi” at least 10 times. Yes it is a branding strategy. In marketing they call it as a recall factor. But he knows the recall factor. He knows how to connect to the Aam Aadmi. He has exemplified the maturity to handle a situation where you are subjected to insults, non-cooperation, and stiff opposition and yet you manage to pierce all that.

“Mein kehta hun, aaj hamare railways ke liye university kyon nahi hai?” And I was awestruck at the revolutionary thought. Railways easily employ 2 lakh employees. What would be the population of an average college in Mumbai, 5000? 10000? Here we are ready with 2 lakh employees. Why can’t we train them? “Train them on what” one would ask. Make better trains, better online systems, better ways to handle customers, better communications skills so that passengers can be dealt with more respect. Unfortunately in a country like India, respect is a premium product. We all crib about railways, the uncleanliness, the messy ticket booking system, the food served in pantry. Why can’t we train the railway employees to better themselves? I could see tourism resonating so well in that speech. He has plans to connect Indians from every village. I won’t be surprised to see George Clooney in ‘Incredible India’ campaign 5 years down the line.

When he became PM while sitting on a whopping 333 seats, the first thing he did was to start ‘Swatch Bharat Abhiyaan’. And he won my heart once again. Yes he has tourism in him mind. And he knows what stops a foreigner from coming to the exotic country called India. Apart from setting a culture of good hygiene, he means business. He knows the return on investment for Swatch Bharat Abhiyaan is way too much.

Now it has been more than a year since he became PM last year. But that evening is etched in my memory forever. While leaving, I had a candid chat with the cops who were standing there for security. They said “Its 9:30 pm and the crowd is still not leaving. Yesterday in Rahul Gandhi’s rally in same location, by this time even we had reached home.” I turned to my right watching ‘The Man with the Plan’ leave the stage and the huge mob making its way out through a huge dust cloud that got took birth by their mere walking.

Journeying Between Rest and; Awareness

-Nimish Inamdar  22^nd May 2012

“The overall experience was wonderful. I feel energized. While feeling the happiest moment and sensing it, brought tears to my eyes. Now I have lot of energy for the day even after lot of sleepless (less sleep) nights.”

 Many a times to reach the happiest moment of our lives we spend thousands on a vacation trip, throw parties, buy our dream home, dream car etc. Ask Madhavi on what did she do to reach this state of mind and her answer would be that, “I closed my eyes for 15 minutes.” Of course buying house, vacations are all important aspects that drive the overall growth of our life. But Madhavi and many others participating in the Meditating Monday initiative realized that happiness is merely a game of 15 minutes of closing your eyes.

The Meditating Monday Club founded in July 2011 is the initiative founded by the YES!+ (Youth Empowerment and Skills) volunteers of the Art of Living Foundation to promote the knowledge and experience about meditation. The pilot of this concept was first launched in ISC-2, Hyderabad with support from Pavan Joshi. With encouraging feedback from the participants, and a personal strong backing from Amarnath Juluri, we launched this club in DLF, Hyderabad. With close to 20 successful meditation sessions so far, the club is gaining popularity as more and more realize the benefits on meditation.

While there have been varied responses over how people feel after the session, the common factor amongst all of them was an outcome of a perfect healthy and peaceful mind. Research says that 20 mins of deep meditative rest equals the rest of 8 hours of sleep. Participants are seen energized right in the morning to face the day. “It would be a good idea to have this session every time before the project delivery” chuckled Swathi. “I think my manager needs it very badly” reported another participant on the condition of anonymity. Although it is a good idea to practice meditation every day, the Meditating Monday Club has ensured weekly meditation sessions in CSP since past 3 months, enabling CSPiites to soothe their mind ironing out their weekly frustration and discover a lot of things about themselves.

As it is rightly said, “Sometimes to open your eyes, you simply have to close them for a while.”

New Age Nursery Rhymes

Baba black sheep why do you drool?

I just got bribery 3 bags full.
1 for my master 1 for myself,
1 for the rowdy boys, to buy voters down the lane.

Pussy cat Pussy cat where had you been?
I had been to 10 janpath to look at the queen.
Pussy cat, Pussy cat, what did you there?
I saw a frightened minister under the chair.


Twinkle twinkle gold bars,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the reach so high.
Soothing the black market, in the sky.

Humpty dumpty sat on a stock
Humpty dumpty had a great fall.
And all the Queen's politics and the corruption fame
Couldn't put Humpty dumpty together again.

Sonia had an old lamb, old lamb an old lamb,
Sonia had an old lamb
His integrity was white as snow.
And whatever Sonia said, Sonia said, Sonia said and whatever Sonia said
The lamb was sure to follow.

Om Shanti Shanti

I hear people give up on religious beliefs in the interest of preventing terrorism. It seems they take the lines by Colonial Cousins 'Religion is the reason, the world is breaking up into pieces ' too seriously. But honestly, the world will anyway break into pieces. If not religion there will be something else to take care of that aspect of human evolution. We need a paradigm shift in our understanding of terrorism.

Paradoxically, hatred is an emotion that people love to nurture. Add to that our daily encounters of fear, anger and jealousy that creates a pool of sewage where we sink our tender hearts . Then eventually comes one intellectual with amazing oratory skills and mind blowing convincing power, that points finger to a section of community while belonging to another particular section of community thus channelizing this sewage into that direction. So whether it's religion or something else depends upon the 'leader', and his/her oration. Hitler channelized this hatred against Jews, Osama Bin Laden channelized this against Americans, Hafiz Saeed channelized this against Hindus while L. K. Advani channelized this against Muslims, Rahul Gandhi used this against the saffron clad sadhus, Digvijay Singh against the anti-corruption lobby, Maoists against the capitalist government, KCR against non telangana brethren and Raj Thackeray did the same against north Indians giving equal opportunity to Sanjay Nirupam against Marathi people. What we need to understand here is what is at the core? Is it religion or is it a philosophy? If you look deeper you will understand that it's human emotion given a shape of philosophy that eventually vents into religion, caste, nationality, community et al . And the opportunity for such philosophies to crop up is plenty because the breeding ground of anger, jealousy and fear eventually leading to hatred is bountiful with our minute to minute encounters.

Our leaders have a hobby of collecting such pieces of hatred and then channelize them with their convincing power. "You see that fellow is going ahead of you killing your opportunity to progress" thus blossoming jealousy into hatred. "You see the way so and so religion is growing? They will soon eat up our space on this planet" thus allowing fear to rise into hatred. "You know why you were late for the interview? Because chaps from the unwanted community have occupied all of our public transport leaving no space for you to travel and breathe", sculpting anger into hatred. All these "leaders" need is; to nurture hatred in us which coincidentally turns out to be our favorite hobby. The argument they make to convince us seem plausible, since it is something we can relate to and is served to us in oration at its best.

Try to look little deeper, in their arguments; it's not the solution of the problem, but but it is our emotion of hatred that gets pumped up. And what is missing in all of the scenarios mentioned above is understanding of human values.

There is a very valuable quote from H. H. Sri Sri Ravishankar that says "Fanaticism flourishes when religious concepts are kept before human values." And there lies the solution to our problems. Understanding the depths of human values is what can help us get rid of these emotions.

I am not in denial of the problems people face. With increasing population and limited resources to live on, our socio-economic fabric is bound to go through the acid test. But we tend to find out solutions in philosophies that promote hatred, and probably because that's an easier way out. When it is hatred that we need to get rid of, we struggle to get rid of a particular community or religion. Who imbibes this hatred within us? Is it religion? No, it is a philosophy without the background of human values. It is religion without the spiritual essence.

Sri Sri has the perfect metaphor in this context, "Religion is the outer banana skin, while spirituality is real banana. People stuck on religion chew on the skin while throwing out the banana." What really is this word spirituality? Sri Sri puts it up simply, "Spirituality is nothing but caring & sharing ; offering oneself in service." When we are in service, we end up taking a voluntary responsibility, thus committing ourselves to be the social change agents, attempting to build an ideal society through love and compassion.

So changing our religious beliefs will not help since the trend says that our "leaders " always have some agenda to make sure we nurture hatred for the sake of their power in our society. Society changes, ideologies change, philosophies change, beliefs change, what remains the same is the "leader " with a pointed finger, with new ideology, new belief, new agenda to nurture hatred so that s/he can securely fasten the seatbelt of power and enjoy the ride while we juggle the tower of our principles and religious beliefs on the tune of those new philosophies. Whether it's the way Muslims say Aamin, Christians attend mass prayers or Sikhs sing Ek Onkar every religion in its every prayer harbors peace and happiness in our hearts. Observe the way Jews greet, Buddhist meditate, Jains live their lives and the Hindus end their sessions.

Loka samastha sukhino bhavantu,
Om Shanti Shanti Shaaantihi

(Let there be happiness everywhere.
Om peace peace peace)

India Won Finals ...

Because Amir Khan wore his lucky old T shirt,
Because Dineshbhai Patel successfully managed his match long maun vrat.

Because N.T.Raju didn't budge to move from his lucky position,
Because 'not to keep left foot down' was Mrs Sen's 4 hr mission.

Because the tri coloured bangles' reponsibility was shouldered by Priety Zinta,
Because Rahul Gandhi positioned himself amongst stadium's aam junta.

Because Ramanathan Iyer performed hrs of Rudra Pooja,
Because justice awarded imprisonment to Shiney Ahuja.

Because Izaz bhai offered a chaddar at the darga of Haji Ali,
Because Tatya Kulkarni fasted in front of the one & only - Bajrangbali.

Because the Wankhede encore in unison 'ganpati bappa morya'
Because of the mere presence of the phenomenon called Tendlya.

Because Sr Bachchan resisted his temptations of live commentary,
Because the words worked in our favour from the commentary of all time jinxed Ravi Shastary .

A billion hopes, a billion superstitions, a billion prayers worked it may seem,
Forgetting all of this at the end we dip ourselves in the national celebration that lauds the efforts of the Indian team.

posted from Bloggeroid

Return to your innocence

Isn't it ironic that people engaged in the industry needed for our very existence are found neglected? Why do people we practically cannot live without carry an adjective of "poor" against their identity of "farmer"? Agreed a laborer in every industry doesn't necessarily be rich. A farmer - essentially is a labourer in the agricultural industry is merely working for the landlords, the traders, the merchants and the political bigwigs that govern the rules of the industry. But when you compare it to say a laborer in IT industry, you do not really find a starving person barely able to meet his family's square meal. Again someone would debate that this has always been a difference between a white collar job and a field work job. But should this be a prerogative of the industry that is responsible for our survival? Today all the billionaires have sprung up from the industries without which we lived for centuries together. These industries are not responsible for our survival. They simply soothe our existence. Logic dictates that this economics when peered through the glass of demand and supply asserts that our demand for our survival is no longer given the due importance. I think there is a paradigm shift in our requirements and priorities where today we value our existence more than our survival.

It feels ironic that today we worry about screwed up internet connection while taking our survival for granted. It reminds me of the story where once a lion hired an ant to do some work. The ant being hardworking and efficient impressed the lion very well with her initial deliverables. Lion now wished to increase the efficiency and hired an owl as a consultant. Owl suggested on introducing a grasshopper as a manager to the ant to monitor her work. The grasshopper reported on some infrastructure malfunctioning and requested a crow to repair their "logistics". The owl now suggested that since we are too many people to work, we need a place to work. The lion hired an eagle to scout a right work place and manage the admin of his company. Now with so many people working the lion couldn't really find the time to make sure his employees were happy. So he hired a parrot as an HR. With so many mouths to feed, all of the employees set their expectations towards the ant. They urged the ant to double the output by sitting late and working in double shifts. Ant, mentally tortured by this soon declined in her performance. With low output , the lion demanded a production report from the owl. Owl after a through analysis presented a report stating that ant has performed poorly. The lion then upset over the ant fired the ant. We, at times in the process of organizing our lives and soothing our existence compromise on the simplicity of life.

As stone age man, the funda was simple. We need food to eat. We formed a bunch of hunters. Then we found vegetables, we formed a bunch of farmers. Now someone needed to buy this food, we invented finances. To protect these finances we invented security. In order for this to synchronize, we invented systems. Then came people to govern the political , financial, military, healthcare systems. To automate these systems we invented IT. While all of these systems are needed to soothe our lives, we forget where did all of this began in first place. We have been giving excessive importance over the peripherals. Maybe the effects are slowly cropping up. With farmers committing suicide and increasing agricultural prices, we can infer that our ant is no longer in the mental and physical state to cope up with our increasing demands.

Let us pause our lives for a while, look back and ponder over this. Let us help our "poor" farmer remove the adjective from his identity. Let us return to our innocence.

posted from Bloggeroid

The Silent Mumbai

There is a paradox in the tile of this blog itself. Mumbai a city that keeps buzzing can never really be silent. Even at night as the eye lids get heavy, you cant escape the energy in the air that resonates along with your morning alarm giving you another purpose to begin a new grind. Pu. La. Deshpande once described that, "Mumbai is the only city that knows that the clock has a minute's and a second's hand. This is a place where a watch is tied not just to a person's wrist, but also to his destiny." In this city of dreams, running is mandatory. If you are not connected with this essence of a Mumbaikar, you will certainly misunderstand a Mumbaikar's resilience towards terrorism as his/her apathy towards a subject of national grief.

I was buffering a clip where actor Siddharth was incorrectly canvassing Mumbaikar's inherent nature to work for himself as a stone cold heart that turns a blind eye towards a scar just cast on him.
I highly despise such insensitive comments. The actor sensing the lively energy in the city, concluded that the city has forgotten about its scars within a month's period. I have read and listened a lot of Mumbai bashing off-late. Critics have been heavy on this 'zindadili' attitude of Mumbai. I would want all of those guys to leave their comfort zones for once and get on field here when Mumbai is actually at seize.

When the terrorists were spraying their bullets across the city, there were stories of the common man on the road being brave enough to be at ground zero to help the injured. The city has never let the blood banks go dry in such times. Donations flood not just come in form of money, but also in form of volunteering. During every bomb blasts, it is the locals who have done the first aid even before the police or the paramedics arrive. When we are flood victims, the able cook food and pass it on to the needy. The next day we make a tally of our losses and make a new plan on how to run our lives bearing the catastrophe. Please don't blame a Mumbaikar of forgetting his/her scars.

I have friends who have taken months to recover from the trauma of 26/11 before mustering courage to take a glance at The Taj and The Trident. So Siddharth, if you think that people forgot about 26/11 a month later, then you are sadly mistaken. Do not expect an event of grief to be a piece of conversation on every dining table every single day. And talking about the issue over and over again is certainly not justified. You should make an attempt to give a vent to your grief and look towards the time ahead. As far as actions of Mumbaikars are concerned, you should have been there at the rally of 3rd December 2009. The anger of an average Mumbaikar was pretty evident in the posters, slogans their acts and voices. The aam junta this time was not blaming Pakistan, nor did it booed the terrorists. The protest constructively demanded justice and security from the government.

Yes I agree, the anguish did not reflect in the General Elections that arrived few months later. However I do not still attribute the low turnout as Mumbaikar's indifference towards emotional issues. I think that an average Mumbaikar does not consider politics as an answer to his/her questions a misconception that needs to be changed.

Overcoming yesterday's tragedy by setting out to work is a need in Mumbai. It is this need that drives its engines and makes Mumbai what it is. The resilience of the city begins its day 2 in remembrance of the tragedy, with high emotions, with fear but with a grit - a grit to work for myself, my family which in its own fraction adds some activity towards the nation. I see no reason to discourage this bounce back attitude of the city that in effect destroys the sole purpose of terrorism. I, a Mumbaikar, salute the spirit of the city.

Salaam Mumbai!!

Where Einstein Meets Hinduism ...

If someone asks you and me, “What time is it?” we would involuntarily check our wrist, or roll our head to the grandfather clock on our wall. But there was a man few decades back who would have snapped back, “You need time in relation to what?” That geeky German / American with innovative hairstyle and a thick moustache acknowledged as world’s most intellectual brain was none other than Albert Einstein. The old man in his”theory of relativity” went down to the pendulum of our grandfather’s clock and changed the definitions and the very foundations of the concept of time. He said that time is different for different people. “Well of course!” you might say “it is night in the USA right now while its day time here.” Please step back from that door in case your thinking is heading there. Do you think someone like Einstein would come up with a world renowned theory to prove that? What the genius meant was that what felt like 2 seconds to you might well be 2 days, 2 decades or maybe 200 years for someone else. “How can that be?” “Is he nuts to think something like that?”

I know, it is something difficult to imagine and understand, but needn’t be difficult to digest, after all even Joey the dumbest of all characters amongst the FRIENDS could assimilate the concept in one of his roles. Joey, acting as Victor on one of his stage performances in season 3 of FRIENDS gets on a spaceship to some BlogOn 7 planet in search of alternative fuels and is set to return back after 300 years. “And, when I return 300 years from now, you would have been long gone, but I wouldn’t have aged at all. So you tell your great, great granddaughter to look up to me. Because Adrian, baby, I would want to meet her.” This concept even decades after Einstein released his papers of “Time Dilation”, is found amongst comic series. People even today find it difficult to understand and easy to mock at. So guys, a standing ovation for the genius who could actually do an out of box thinking and come up with this theory. Come on, get up and applaud the man’s creativity and his efforts to prove that thinking.

But a Hindu would find a man in orange robes, with garland on his wrists and a pair of chaps in one of his hands that when stroked together add background music to his rhymes of, “Narayan, Narayan!” smiling at this discovery. Ladies and gentlemen meet Mr. Narad Muni, a divine sage in Hindu scriptures given the powers and the ability to travel between different planes and planets of the universe. If the Hindu mythology really exists then Narad Muni is the one who should know about this and the means to tackle with this kind of physics, mainly because the Hindu scriptures have professed this theory more than 5000 years back. “Now what was that?” Let me tell you a short story found in the epic of Mahabharata.

Once upon a time (isn’t this how a story should always start?) there was a kingdom beneath the oceans. It was ruled by a nice benevolent king called as Kakudmi who had an extremely beautiful daughter Revati. Kakudmi finding none amongst the earthlings as a capable life partner for his daughter, decided to consult Bramha the creator of the universe himself to find a capable groom for Revati. Since Lord Bramha was already engrossed in the music of the Gandharvas (yes, Gods rock too), Kakudmi decided to wait patiently for Gandharvas to finish their concert. After applauding their performance, Lord Bramha was amused to see King Kakudmi an earthling waiting at his door step with his daughter. Kakudmi sought consultations of the Lord Himself to find an appropriate groom for Revati. Bramha laughed at that moment and said, “O King, you have come to my door step. Here on this plane of the universe, time is different from what it is on earth. In the time that you were waiting here, 27 chaturyugs have passed by on earth. Your kingdom is long gone by and all of the grooms existing in your era on earth are now dead. All of your fore generations are already dead and an altogether different kind of human life is now growing itself on earth.”

Now let us dig deeper into this concept of Chaturyugs. 1 Chaturyug is actually 1 Mahayug made up of the 4 Yugs viz. the Satya Yug, Treta Yug, Dwapara Yug and the Kali Yug. 1 Yug equals to 432,000 human years. But the Hindu scriptures shaking hands with Einstein’s theory of relativity assert that these 432,000 human years are nothing but 0.01% of 1 day of Lord Bramha.




While 1 Maha Yug is 0.1% of Bramha’s day. So if you calculate backwards, 27 Chaturyugs (27 Maha Yugs) roughly turn out to be 78 minutes of Bramha’s day and that is the time King Kakudmi was waiting at Bramha’s doorstep with his daughter while the earth below spinning itself while revolving around the sun successfully completed 432,000*10*27 years of its life (1 Maha Yug = 10 Yugs). I am sure Einstein must have applauded this story. Now what happens later to King Kakudmi?

Lord Brahma assures him that the Lords themselves are now set to take an Avatar on the earth and thus you can marry this pure and pious Revati to one of them. King Kakudmi after setting back on earth finds a complete different picture from the time he left. Not just that the landscape and the places have changed, but the striking difference is the change in the human race itself. Instead of progressing, the human race has degraded itself. People now are that of lower intellectual and physical capabilities. But then comes Lord Balaram, the brother of Lord Krishna himself who is one capable person to marry Revati. So as per Brahma’s suggestions, Kakudmi marries Revati to Balaram.

This Yug philisophy is very much in sync with the Greek mythology where the Greeks have divided the life of human race into 4 ages viz. the Golden Age, the Silver Age, the Bronze age and the Iron Age. The Greeks profess that humans have degraded way of life from the Golden Age to the Iron Age. Each of the ages can be related to each of the Yugs in the Hindu philosophy. So when the Greeks say that we are now living in the Iron Age, Hindus christen the current time as the Kali Yug. The definitions and the descriptions of each of these Yugs do go hand in hand with the Greek Ages.

The difference that I would notice in the philosophies is that Hinduism drags the concept further to a cycle of Maha Yugs that come and go every now and then. And all of these 432,000*10 human years are nothing but few minutes of Lord Brahma. As per the calculations made in the Hindu scriptures, we are currently living in the 51st year of Lord Brahma and Lord Brahma along with this materialistic Brahmanda or today what we call as the universe, is set to live and exist for another 49 years. Ah well, excuse me, ‘Ahem!!’ 49 Brahma’s years.

My Dear India

My Dear India, I wish you Happy Birthday
I wish you Happy Independence Day,



I wish you a secured zone,
Where the Ganges and the Godavari play like a child.
I wish the Indus gets purified on the other side,
And the Padma-Meghna’s violent delta turns mild.

I wish the Himalayas stand tall to protect you from the yellow fever,
And your peninsula shines like a dagger,
Defending your borders with a vision of an eagle,
While claws of that of a tiger.

I wish you prosperity and growth,
Where the circular disc at center focuses on developmental politics.
I wish the investments within you gain returns very high,
And your GDP finds a growth in double digits.

I wish you electrified villages,
Where your farmer smiles when he droves his tractor,
I wish a GPS enabled device in his hand,
For him to forecast the climate factor.

I wish you 1 billion smiling faces,
All standing firm and united under the turf of your tricolour.
The tolerance level all so high,
That the saffron and green embrace at your foundation pillar.

I wish you happiness, I wish you success,
I wish you the enthusiasm to take over many.
I wish you a very happy Independence Day,
As we your children, make another tryst with the destiny.

Enough is Enough

Enough is Enough

Mumbai has seen and stood in resilience against all sorts of terrors.
Mumbaikars have seen explosions in cinema halls, petrol pumps, corporate offices. They have seen, trains, taxis, busses, rickshaws and for that matter even cycles being blown out to pieces. The entire nation feels the pinge when the families of such victims cannot do anything beyond mourning. The recent attacks on the two most prestigious and luxury hotels on Mumbai, brought out a new face of terror. The so called Fidayeens are no longer here to fear their death. A scary chill does run down our spine when such murderers come out with the power to sacrifice in the name of religion. Let us talk to Mr. so-called-Jihadi, in the typical Mumbai style. " Boss, we are not terrorized. "

Now for a moment let us turn our heads from the west (both, west to India and India's west) to the center. The question is, what were the government officials doing with the red alert report submitted by the RAW? Were they busy playing "Malegaon arrest politics " with the opposition? And the opposition gracefully spent their resources featuring the accused and the casses as their election mascot. Why arent our leaders not sensible enough to understand that terrorism is an issue sensitive enough to be not used for petty politics?

We need a concrete solution for the problem. We need some good leaders in place to take the due course of action. Had there been a single casualty on the parliamentary attacks, the scene probably would have been different today. Our leaders would probably have taken terrorism as a serious issue. Let us go out to vote, and vote for the best possible candidate. Let us collectively understand the responsibility of choosing the right leaders for us.

I remember after the mayhem at the Malegaon blasts, the affected Muslim families were brave enough to throw the compensation cheques back on the government's face demanding for an action on the issue. The nation is in a need to draw up some inspiration from the episode.

Right now, my heart goes out to all of the brave policemen who have died in the counter - attack. Let us all pray for the safety of all the hostages, with a hope that the trauma end as soon as possible.

VOTE INDIA

Whom do you think should be blamed for your taps running dry? Your building secretary? Or the local corporator for not policing or rather encouraging the water theft? Whom do you think should be punished for the potholes on your roads? The daily increasing traffic or the corrupt ministers at pwd who aim at filling their pocket at the tax-payer's expese? Who is ultimately responsible for the load-shedding that you and me have to bear for hours? Is it the lack of resources? Lack of funds? or is the existence of few dumb-heads heading our country with no vision in mind aout the nation and its power needs?

We travel in crowded busses, fall off the crowded trains, fall sick during some epidimic, face inflation, settle down to the mediocre education, fight in riots, feel insecured to travel in nights, live a terrorized life like there may not be tomorrow.
And we face all of this with a "Chalta-hai" kind of attitude.

We, the people of India have developed a sickening mentality of adjusting to the mercy of few power thirsty people.
Where there is a seat for at most three people, we push ourselves to discomfort to accomodate the fourth or even the fifth person. While appreciating the nice brotherhood feeling, we ultimately eclipse the flaws of the government and their sincere lack of planning in terms of calculating the influx and maintaining a proper infrastructure for the same.

But what is government? it is a set of people whom we give the power to govern us. in that case they are nothing but a set of people arisen from us. Then where do we lack in choosing the right? The main issue is here is that we, the people have forgotten to excercise our moral right to vote.

(Image Courtesy Vivek Thakkar's blog)

"What shall happen if and when we decide to vote? I love tackling the potholes." Nice point. Potholes may not be a problem for you per se, but they put the unborn babies at high risks. Potholes create problems with your neck and spine in long run. In such situations how can we live with the "Chalta-Hai" attitude? It is not just our right, but our duty to voice an opinion against this unjust approach. The constitution of India, world's biggest democracy has give you the ultimate power to voice your opinion by excercising your right to vote.

Dear India,

Give up the "Chalta - hai " approach.
Ensure that the power goes in the right hands.
And realise that this kind of power is there in your hands.

Vote India.

Cricket and IT's evolving faces

Cricket the single largest passion of the nation has sought attention from people of all disciplines. Maybe its "The Bulk" phenomenon of economics that is acting as a magnet for all the moolah seekers or maybe its merely the passion for the game that people love to give attention to the game. But the fact is that today, builders give free homes to cricketers, mobile companies use Sachin and Sehwag for elevating their brand prestige, the finance guys take serious note of the money involved with the game, the gamblers find paradise in this unpredictable pool, the politicians seek publicity with the generous donations given to the winner's funds, the bollywood stars land up in stadium to promote their films. In such a situation how can we expect the IT industry - the industry on which the country's growth is thriving - to stay behind?

Technology has been evolving its faces in its cricketing implementations ever since we first saw the black and white televisions flickering images captured by the on field camera, constantly in search of ball. Technology has evolved a lot ever since and we are now at the stage where the high speed cameras can give you a slow-motion picture at the detail of milliseconds. Image processing is developing rapidly with the "wagon-wheel",
"negative images", "ball pitching area" and many more wonders making it an ease for everyone to ensure clarity with respect to their individual views about the ball just played, removing all of the ambiguities, if any. in this, what more can we expect?


How about using a blend CRM, BI, AI, Data warehouse etc!! Seems like a Latin for you??
Let me explain in lay man's words.

Imagine a screen predicting the next ball to be played by the bowler.
Where and how will he pitch the ball!
"WOW!! How is the that possible?? How can we predict the future?"
Well the answer to this lies with the AI (Artificial Intelligence).

1.Here we develop a system that will Google out (search for) the history of the baller

2.Find out the permutations and combinations used for the currently playing batsman.

3.Will calculate the probabilities of all the possibilities with respect to the current situation.

4.The situation can be compared with the time, innings, no of overs, wickets remaining, type of batsman playing, target etc with varying importance.

5.The system will list down all of the possibilities one below the other in descending order and..

tan-ta-dan..

we have a list of probable balls TO-BE pitched by the baller.

Guys, the future is here.


-NIMISH