Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Only for Ladies

9:20 am ,I was on my usual Metro Ride to office .On one of the stations an old  lady and her son boarded the train, with all courtesy and without any delay i jumped off my seat and offered the seat to that lady. She gave me a appreciative and thank you smile before accepting the seat.
There was a uncle and a young girl sitting in the same row with Aunty ji.

I got busy with my iPod but  i kept standing right in front of  Aunty. May be she gets off somewhere before my station and i get back my seat.

A few minutes later  ,the uncle sitting with the Aunty ji got off his seat...i gave a glance at the empty seat between aunty and that girl..
The girl adjusted a bit to make room for me to sit.  She knew i had offered the seat to Aunty ji . Aunty ji smiled and gestured towards me to have that seat.

I smiled in response and started moving towards the seat..as i was about to sit..she irritatingly kept her hands on the seat and furiously asked me to move away.
I immediately looked back to confirm as to whom was she gesturing to ?

It was her son..
He came, tucked his bag under the seat and made himself comfortable on the seat.

The girl gave me a cheeky little smile and laughed quietly.
I threw up my hands slightly in desperation ,slightly in amusement.

Again back to my iPod ...song that was playing was from PEEPLI Live
"देस मेरा रंग रेज़ है बाबु  ||
घाट घाट यहाँ घटता जादू "

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

I would love Indian Politics if..

I had a dream that some really nice people got into politics ...

Aamir Khan held the  "Ministry of  Meaningful Work" , 
E Sreedharan led the "Ministry of Building India".....
Sachin Tendulkar handled the "Ministry of Creating Humble Champions"...
Narayan murthy headed the "Ministry of  Empowering Others".

The cabinet was discussing the top goals they needed to immediately start working on.

Following is the debate that followed...

Aamir Sir -  I think i would want my nation to  Experiment..a nation where people don't fear the result of the experiment but are curious and excited  to see what happens when we add those two chemicals. It may blast or it may create a  beautiful new chemical but that would be known only after the experiment. In either case the journey is worth giving a Go. So i would go for a change in attitudes where Trying is rewarded much more than the failure is rebuked.

"Par uske liye is desh ke baapo ko sudharna padega...jab tak is desh ke baap nai sudhrenge ye desh nahi sudhrega .... kyun Sachin??

Sachin Sir -- I think Aamir is correct...I would just like to add that.....when you are doing those experiments... i am sure you'll surely get your dream experiment.There will be one experiment when you'll say that "Yes... this is what i always wanted to do. " When you find that something..please don't compare yourself with others...try and fall in love with that experiment and try to improve your expertise on that experiment day after day. When you are competing with yourself...humbleness automatically comes in your work..you can't be haughty and arrogant after improving on your last performance ,
I always have believed Excellence is the thing to be strived for...perfection is a myth. 
[Looks towards Aamir and gives a cheeky smile]

Murthy Sir -- I think Aamir should change his name to Mr Excellence... [everybody laughs]

Sreedharan Sir -- Excellence is truly the thing to be chased ...i second that hands down. I would like to add my point that for India to devleop... it has to believe in itself. 
I am very much against the notion of Developing nations and Developed Nations. The nations which call themselves developed nations ...have they stopped developing?  Each of us is developing infact the developed are developing at a faster rate. Those nations just want us to feel that ..the benchmarks will be set by them and we need to be following them in the development...every nation's development is relative and it has to be continuous..no nation is developed...because once you say you are developed..your improvement will stop and your downhill roll will start. 
If we think that being a "developed" nation will make us happy.... can we just feel developed for what we were 30 years ago and not feel "developing" for the things that we want to be 30 yrs from now. 
Being a developing nation is true for all nations.. then why to feel inferior because of this categorization. 

Murthy Sir, Aamir Sir and Sachin Sir Clap in unison ...Sreedharan Sir thanks in all humility.
All this while Sreedharan Sir was speaking, cabinet was in pin drop silence listening to his views and jotting down points. Speaker of the cabinet couldn't believe his eyes as this was not the usual Cabinet Meeting.

Aamir Sir...  I think Sree sir extended what Sachin just concluded. It's again competing with yourself and when a nation does that it never becomes developed..it is always developing. Brilliant. 

Murthy Sir....  I agree to everything that you people said...We have to be experimenters, we have to be constantly improve ourselves and  we as a nation have to start taking pride in ourselves for being what we are and for believing in what we can be .

I would like to extend this discussion by suggesting a change in the mindset of the working force. While working there has to be a shift in your earning paradigm. This shift is called S2T. Salary to Turnover. 
I want the knowledge workers of my country to make this shift as early as possible. In this change the person stops thinking about the salary and starts thinking of a turnover. This is a huge systemic change and would require support of the parents ,the institutions ,banks..etc. When we start thinking in terms of turnover...we start empowering people.We start to build the India of our dreams. We  leave our cushions and take the path to that elusive first turnover. Turnover need not be millions or billions...it isn't about the scale ..it is about meaning.  I really wish some school to come up where students don't talk about the highest package one got but the highest turnover his company generated.

Aamir Sir- Sir Your Catamaran Venture fund would surely help people take this shift.

Murthy Sir - ya Aamir i am doing my bit...you are doing the same job with you aamir khan productions.We need to empower people to realize their dreams.

Sachin Sir...  I think i should also start with some academy where i can help people understand the lessons which i myself got in 20 long years.

Sree Sir....India is really fortunate to have people like you...please carry on the good work...

Everybody shook hands and left.

Notice board had the following agendas
1)Be excited to Try and Experiment ,failure is secondary. 
2)Compete with just one Person. YOU
3)Take pride in being a Developing Nation....coz every single nation is.
4)Think Turnovers not packages.

Suddenly i heard a huge protest on the street..i went outside and saw an Aamir Khan effigy being burnt  because in some conference he spoke his heart out on Reservation .

I thought Dream was better...reality is a nightmare.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Cycling Dilli

It has been around 6 months now that i have been cycling in and around Delhi. Trips to Noida and Gurgaon have been a real strength and endurance testers .So in a nutshell cycling has been fun but the post is not about my cycling expeditions ..it's about something else.

It's about how the people of Delhi have taken my cycling? 
It's about their reactions....

Normally i leave for my cycling expeditions looking something like this  ------>

Ok so.. now we start with the reactions....


Comment  1- "Beta ji aapko sharam nahi aati..office cycle pe jate ho." :-o 
Source -  Aunty Ji(Neighour)
My reaction  - Confused, i mean i was like speechless.Why should i be ashamed ???????  What have i done ??

Comment 2 - "Aapki salary kam hai kya..."
Source  - HDFC guard ,he sits right in front of where i park my cycle.
My Reaction - Hanji bahut kam hai ...kuch nahi dete ye log.Cycle se metro ka paisa to bach hi jata hai. 
He nods his head as if his assumption had just been validated by my answer.

Comment 3 - "Oye.... cycle utte bhi helmet laya hoya hai..ki gal oye.??"
Source -  4-5 Punjabi Boys in a Santro car. They were having beer and music was blasting loud.
My Reaction - Smile on the face and the most vulgar of pejorative in my mind. They made fun of me for some distance and i was just wishing for them to get lost out of my sight.



Comment 4 - "Commonwealth se pehle nahi rukne wala ye"
Source - Blue Line bus conductor
My Reaction - Smiled and hoped the conductor was true...i really want to continue my cycling .The conductor made that comment and then did a small hi five with one of his co conductors.


Now the last one is quite creative



Comment 5- "Ohhh michael jackson side ne ho laiii......" [Ombir style- khosla Ka Ghosla]
Source - Rickshaw Wala
My Reaction - I mean i am not sure if Michael Jackson ever did bicyle...even if he did he was not famous because of that. I very politely got to one side[i should have moon walked]...and  with utmost politeness i offered him the pass.

These were the top 5 comments that i remember.Cycling in itself is fun...these incidents make it  funnier.
Infact i have started enjoying them.... 

Monday, July 5, 2010

Inflation


"I am Leaving for some party meeting,would be back by evening." Ramesh tells his wife.

"Who will take Rahul for his Exam? He has his Entrance today." Sudha asks Ramesh.

"Arey..Arey i forgot ..Acha do one thing keep Rs500 and please drop him at the centre.
I am getting late ..i'll leave now."

"500Rs won't do...I'll need more."

Ramesh grudges a bit and then hands over a 1000 Rs note to Sudha.

On his way to the meeting he is visibly frustrated and irritated as he has no idea of what was expected of him in the meeting.
On reaching the meeting ,his party leaders tell him about some BANDH today.
He was given the responsibility to stop the METRO train.
Being a loyal worker of the party he accepted the responsibility and left for the metro station.

He had to wrestle the security officers but he overpowered them and managed to enter the Dwarka Metro Station.
Without wasting any time he jumped on the track ,followed by hundreds of similar clueless party workers.

Train entered and around 500 passengers had to be evacuated as Ramesh and comrades were lying in front of the train.
Ramesh was dancing in front of the train.

Amongst the passengers were his wife and his son.
Rahul had prepared very well for this test and there he was almost..about to miss the test and that too because of his father.
He was petrified at the mere thought of missing the test and ironically Ramesh was busy in his bhangra on the track.

Sudha and Rahul somehow forced there way out of the station.
They had to take an auto and paid Rs 250 to reach the center(150 more than the normal).
The autos were charging exorbitant rates as they had to circumvent these dharnas and the bandhs.

Exam finsihed around 2:00 in the noon but by then Delhi had been brought to a complete halt.
Metro Service was disrupted,buses were punctured ,effigies burn't and all this was done by people like Ramesh.

It took around 3 hours to reach home,the auto guy charged them 350 on their way back.
Both of them were cursing the people who had disrupted the metro service.
The trip which would have cost them just 60 Rs had cost them a hefty 700 Rs .

Reaching home..they saw that all the vegetable vendors were also made to close there shops.
They couldn't buy any thing for the dinner.
Moreover these bandh people closed down only the small small vendors.
Five star hotels and the other big eateries were wroking routinely.

Sudha thought of ordering some food from the nearby three star hotel.
Rahul and sudha had there dinner .

Ramesh came home at around 10 in the night.
He loved the dinner..it was delicious.

Before sleeping..he picked up the diary to write today's expenses.
He was shocked to see his wife's entry for the day..

5th July 2010
---------------------------
Auto to Exam Center --Rs 250
Auto Back  home - Rs 350
Dinner  - Rs 1500

Total - 2200

----------------

He took a deep breath ....
and sighed ...
"My god ...how expensive this city has become? I don't know where this country is heading?"
and then he SLEPT....