A Rational Mind

We have shifted....

2009-10-29T18:39:00.002+05:30

Hi Friends,

I would like to inform you that 'A Rational Mind' has now shifted to wordpress at the address www.rational-mind.com

You can find all the previous articles on this new location plus many more new write-ups!

Do visit us and leave your comments!
Thanks,

Regards,
Pranjal Wagh

Fighting over Food in the bachpan!

2009-09-08T00:35:00.003+05:30

*********
Hello dear readers! I am back after almost two months of running after the admissions in MBA colleges, sleeping, falling sick, recovering, falling sick again and then finally getting back to the routine! I am back to college life now and also the the world of blogging!
I am happy to see that the blog has kept up its readership in my absence. Thats a big thank you to all of you!
Ok, Lets get back to the blog posts now!
*********

Everyone of us who is lucky enough to have a sibling, be it elder or younger, is also lucky enough to learn the importance of sharing. Sharing food, sharing sweets, sharing clothes and even sharing the scoldings and beatings of parents, we siblings do it all!

I remember certain instances from my childhood days when we used to buy certain food items from hotels to have in the evenings. The food items would be exactly enough for the family members and me and my brother would always get into altercations like India and Pakistan over 'kisko jyada mila hai'. He has got more than me! How can you do like this? (to our mother!) Ultimately we would throw daggers at each others like South-Indian heroes via our eyes and still manage to enjoy our snacks.

I also remember telling my aunt one fine evening when one of the Mahabharats over the division of snacks (which were incidentally Venky's Chicken Nuggets!), " Me motha jhalo na ki me ekta ek packet vikat ghenar aani ektach akkha packet khanar!" (" When I grow up, I will buy one whole packet only for myself and have it alone!")

The reply that she gave to me was, " You will not enjoy it as much when you eat alone as you are enjoying it now while fighting over the food with your brother!"
Being a kid, I ridiculed her reply and did not quite understand the depth of the statement.

But today, when my brother is not here and is thousands of miles away from me, I get plenty of opportunities to have delicacied all on my own here. Chicken Sandwich, Mithais, Chocolate cakes, Samosas, Vadas all are at my mercy. I get to have them alone! What I had said one fine evening was indeed coming true! I was getting to have food all alone without sharing it!!

But then why was I not enjoying the food? Why was the chocolate cake not so delicious and tasty? Why was the chicken sandwich not that juicy and yummy as it used to be when we fought over food?

It was then that realization dawned upon me. The wisdom of the reply that my aunt had given me several years back hit me like punch in the nose. My brother wasn't here...

To fight over the food, to share it and always get the smaller share, being treated 'unfair' by the parents and him being preferred all the time, I getting more scoldings and he being let off lightly my brother was not here. The main ingredient which made the food that I ate after fighting and yet sharing it so tasty and fulfilling was not here!

And hence what our parents never said but inculcated in us from our childhoods - the habit of sharing- is so important in life. Sharing increases the love between siblings. It binds them so tightly together that even if they are thousands of miles away they are still bound together by that bond that they 'share'.

And that is why I do not enjoy the delicacies so much nowadays because of the absence of the very factor which made them worth fighting for!

Aamir Khan has rightly said in Andaz Apna Apna, " Arre, Do chai kyu? Ek chai vapas, Ek chai vapas! Do Dost ek pyale mein chaai piyenge, isse dosti badhti hai, isse pyaar badhta hai!"

So my only message to all the people would be to share! Because sharing your things with others increases the friendship and love!

-Pranjal Wagh

This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License

पाऊस गप्पा...

2009-07-01T17:10:00.002+05:30

मी बोलू लागतो,
त्या पावसाबरोबर.
माझ्या एकटेपणात,
तोच माझा मित्र असतो.

थेंबाना विचारतो मी,
तिच्याबद्दल.
थेंब मग तिच्या आठवणी होतात
आणि हातावर त्यांना झेलतो मी.

त्या टप टप पावसात मग,
तिच हसू ऐकू येतं.
दाटलेल आभाळ,
तिचे केस होतात.

वारा मग,
त्या बटा उधळून लावतो
आणि त्या सागरात
मन तरंगत राहतं.

जुन्या आठवणी अचानक,
मन आठवू पाहतं.
हरवलेल्या भेटी,
पुन्हा शोधू लागतं.

त्या आठवणी ,
मी पुन्हा जगू लागतो.
पावसाच्या सोबतीनं,
मी तिला भेटून येतो.

माझ्या हास्यात पाऊस,
हसू होऊन बरसतो.
ओघळणारे अश्रू ,
आपलेच समजून पिऊन टाकतो.

पाऊस थांबला ,
की मग वाईट वाटतं.
मित्र दूर गेल्याचं ,
दुःख होतं.

पण मग परत,
ढग जमा होतात.
परत आभाळ फाटतं,
परत पाऊस येतो.

पुन्हा आम्ही बोलू लागतो.
कारण,
माझ्या एकटेपणात,
तोच माझा मित्र असतो.

-प्रांजल वाघ
१ ज्ञुलै २००९

This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License

Broken News - 1

2009-05-18T13:16:00.000+05:30

There is an old man who once was a young man. During his college days, he thought his name was carrot. Then he saw the posters on his Left and noticed that they were red, just like carrots. Swept away by idealism and the pride of having such a great name, he joined the gang.

Years later, he realized his blunder, only to think that it's carat. So he went for broke, and literal struck gold. Now he's filthy rich, but alas! You win some, you lose some. He says he and his wife have decided not to have kids for the 'greater good of the gang'. We all know the real reason.

Pseudo-psephology

2009-05-16T21:37:00.002+05:30

Left nahi, right nahi, chalo centre hi sahi. It's almost out now, and it does seem like an increasing number of voters have decided to grin and bear it, and settled upon the Grand Old Party as the least of all the evils that compose our political system. But since anyone and everyone is a psephologist nowadays (who, like the humble journalist who also happens to be the head of one of the major news networks, distance themselves from their predictions the minute they start getting things wrong), I'm going to do some post-poll analysis of my own.

A couple of my classmates claimed to have gone for the bow and arrow - one, because he claims that those are the guys who actually show up at non-poll times, and two, because he preferred Advani over Manmohan. This second guy's naive chain of thought catches my fancy - as much as it is known that this is India and not the US, where it's a straight fight between the Democrat and the Republican, that's what the thought process seems to have been behind a significant number of voters. So even though it is but obvious that the chances of a two-party system being implemented are slimmer than the success of philo-anarchy, many voters went into the polls knowing that there were only 2 real contenders for the top job.

Moving on, if one notices the number of votes in each of the seats where MNS contested from, in particular the Mumbai-Thane region, one thing is clear: Congress n Co. were on their way out, but for Raj. Clearly, some flowers are due here. I'm yet to look at the detailed voting figures for states like UP where the mandate is greatly fractured, but from the looks of things, splitting of votes has played into the hands of the Congress. The pessimistic way of looking at the Bombay figures is that the local majority is easily swayed and has complete faith in the regionalistically divisive forces. The optimistic way is that the people voted for the alliance (i.e BJP), and by analogy, a victory for candidates from the UPA meant a vote against the divisive forces - of course, there are certain pockets among the business people for whom saffron is a friendlier colour, but though they managed to pull it off in Gujarat, the infamous Mumbai South was a different story altogether.

Then again, the much-publicized youth vote, however insignificant a percentage it might have formed (more later), seems to have gone to Rahul Gandhi and his peers - other than the 'crown prince', Sachin Pilot, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Naveen Jindal, Milind Deora, etc. all contributed to the image of Sonia & Manmohan's party as a youthful one, which had the young vote unless one was particularly attached to the opposite camp. One more name springs to mind - Omar Abdullah, who again is currently a friend of the party of the aforementioned. Little wonder, then, that the sub-35 votes were consolidated.

Of course, social equations were, are and will always be in place unless something drastic happens, but they were majorly re-written. So the rat-eaters and the other really low castes of Bihar voted for Nitish and against the Lalu-Paswan combine; the middle class mostly Punjabi Delhiite continued to repose their comparatively recently found faith in Congress; UP was spoilt for choice but the Muslim vote did not entirely go to Mulayam, while Mayawati seems to have lost the Brahmin votes she toiled so hard to get; Orissa went with Naveen's BJD; as is always the case, no one gives a damn about the few seats in the North-East and the UTs, but broadly it can be said that the regional parties shared the spoils with, yes, the Congress.

And finally, the Left. The continuous upgradation of ideology has finally got voters in 2 of their 3 states (Tripura being a north-easterly is a national non-entity) to wake up and smell the coffee - in the name of welfare, the states, one with the highest literacy rate and the other which is home to some of the most famous intellectuals over the ages, have been fooled over and over again. Especially West Bengal, whose Left leaders are from amongst those very intellectuals but who were a tad smarter than the rest and who in the name of social welfare and upliftment of the downtrodden were able to maneuvre the naive idealists and the sufferers. Only now, the traditional stances of the Left and its main opposition have switched - and while the socially backward continue to stand by those who seem closest, the urban populace seems to have fallen for the change rhetoric. As for Kerala, the less said about it, the better it is (if you want to know, major internal bickering and fatally wrong tie-ups).

So there you have it. The big businesses believe that the Manmohan-Chidambaram combine is as good if not better than the industry-friendly BJP; the youth loves its ilk namely Rahul & Co. These and the splitting of caste, regional and poor people's votes have all meant that Congress alone hovers around the double century mark. The good thing about it is that one-party can take charge and actually take decisions; the bad thing is that it that very party which has had that opportunity oh so many times and failed to capitalise. It doesn't take much to be a political analyst, does it? Or did I miss something major here?

PS: I missed out on a couple of things. Good governance over anti-incumbency? NREGA, loan waivers and pay commissions notwithstanding, I don't think so (the why of it later). And among past governments, neither has been particularly effective in combating terrorism. Also, both the large parties have major stains on their peace-loving credentials and clean sheets, except that our present single largest party hasn't majorly goofed up ever since the anti-Sikh riots and Bofors of the 80s, where the opposition-cum-opposition-to-be's recent track record springs to memory. The only counts on which the former has failed in the past 20 years are Babri Masjid and numerous terrorist strikes, which hardly matters since the latter didn't get Mumbai, in spite of all the hoopla, to care anyway.

Grin & bear it

2009-05-15T21:46:00.000+05:30

Long time ago, a certain someone with a highly romanticized view of the agrarian life proposed that the Indian National Congress be dissolved with the coming of Independence, and that free India be composed of self-contained colonies of people who keep to themselves and farm their way through life. Such philosophical anarchy was dubbed impractical by the realists who wanted to make sure they guide their motherland through the initial turbulent phase of freedom.

These realists, though, were themselves split down the middle - some were pally with the industrialists, while others believed that the only way forward for everyone was a state-controlled economy. The internal tug-of-war of what was independent India's defacto party made sure that certain things got completely overlooked - the North-East, north-south divide, aspirations of the religious majority, etc. Over sixty years later, and while Kashmir is atleast acknowledged internationally as a troubled hotspot, the problem with the North-East remains - it never gets to bask in the reflected glory of its turmoil. Southern India is in the vice-like grip of half-a-dozen regional parties; western India is similarly possessed by regionalism. And the strict practitioners of the majority faith have a clutch of saffron-coloured outfits to choose from, all of whom descended from the supposed perpetrators of that certain someone's assassination. The policies for tackling socio-economic inequalities were never enough for the Congress's oldest detractors, who in spite of having always lived in the national shadows, have taken a stranglehold over 3 states; elsewhere, such disparities have been taken advantage of by the various caste and religious based fragments, most notably the elephant which seems to be continuing its slow march towards a steadily increasing national vote-share.

Of course, none of these things directly affects me. Or at least they should not, but they do - and they anger me. I see a couple of my peers proud to call themselves Marxists - one, because he wants to be a part of the political system, and the other who, while shunning romanticism, indulges in the same. And when this "other" is being real, he is a victim of knowing small amounts about a lot of things while having not lived through any of those. This is the problem of 2 classes of people - the youth, and the pseudo-intellectual middle-class Marxist. And the intersection of these two classes has meant nothing but trouble since 60s Calcutta. For one, being a middle-class Marxist has meant that one hasn't seen abject poverty and most if not all of one's knowledge is theoretical hence ideal and impractical; secondly, being young means one just hasn't lived through enough or had enough experiences to fall back on, and as in the first case, most of one's knowledge is limited to books.

It is still understandable when a bunch of rural youngsters give up on democracy and take to arms to get rid of the tyranny of the landlords themselves. In an ideal world, all such oppressors will be wiped out and the available resources shall be distributed equally amongst all who deserve. However, as with all revolutions, somewhere down the line some chink is developed in its armour, mostly the leaders' lust for power - so, what started out as a noble albeit violent alternative to a failing democracy is now a pure insurgency which is spreading like a menace, sparing no one, not even the lumpenproletariat who, again I use the word ideally, should be the beneficiaries.

Karat's party was formed as a result of a split between the revisionists and the hardliners; of course, by now everyone who's sane has realized that either way, the goals were too idealistic, so of course, everyone's revising, so much so that the Left's main opposition in Bengal is doing almost exactly what the Left themselves did when they sought to gain power three decades back. It might be true that they're the only ones with any semblance of ideology, but it is truer that their ideology is totally confused, or worse, warped - all the so-called Bengal Leftists did was to create a mafia to secure their immediate interests while fooling a state full of people in the name of social good. So it's easy for those who have nothing to do with Bengal or those who are in power there to walk the Red line - since they are the very same people who don't deserve to talk.

At the other end of the spectrum are a bunch that, again, angers me when in fact it doesn't have anything against me. By birth, I'm a Hindu and that too, a Brahmin. So what am I worried about? If I think about it from my own selfish position, I'm worried about the fact that if these people are allowed to wreak havoc, there'll come a time when there won't be a single good place to have authentic, delicious biryanis and kebabs or a single good darzi left; if I look at it from a less narrow-minded perspective, I'm scared that my great nation's glorious and colourful (even if the darkest shade is the red of people's blood) history will be stained by its (possibly) even bloodier present. A bunch of thugs who slaughter people on the basis of religion, who bring down historical structures and who come to power by taking advantage of the naivety of the faithful do not deserve to run this country.

And in any case, who do they run it for? A select bunch of already filthy rich people who don't care about the welfare of the people as long as their coffers are overflowing. And with whom do they run it? All possible divisive forces, be it in Assam, northern Bengal, Punjab, Haryana or possibly Andhra. And of course, their friends in the western part of the country, who are exemplary of xenophobia at a micro-level. Such groups are multiplying, whereas they should've been outlawed right at the outset - a failure of the nation's Grand Old Party. Neglect by the Congress in the thirty years starting from independence has over the next thirty years culminated into the current mess. The solution? I would like to think anarchy, not necessarily philosophical, but it would require revolution, and aside from the fact that it's not just going to happen without some major push (clearly, terrorist attacks are not), revolutions start off as idealistic, somewhere down the line become impractical and frustrating and finally end up being the profit-making machines of its powerful few, which is not majorly different from our democratic parties.

There we go - the full circle from anarchy to democracy and back is complete. The only plausible solution is a whole gamut:
* to introduce election by absolute majority at all levels, be it civil, legislative or parliamentary, which would require a French-style Round 2.
* anyone with a proven criminal charge or any case pending in a criminal court should be debarred from contesting
* the model code of conduct should ensure that the use of caste, religion, gender or economic status during campaigning should result in immediate disqualification of that party from contesting that seat
* a certain number, preferably half the seats in both legislatures and parliament should be according to vote-shares. The candidates should be allotted according to a precedence list declared prior to the elections (of course, for this the no. of constituencies have to be halved)

Of course, the above measures will never be put into place, primarily because it will be detrimental to both the national as well as the regional parties. So there we have it - right, left or center, nothing works, and anarchy is for the poets. So what do I do, but do what the title says?

पॉलिटिक्स मिक्स - 2

2009-05-15T14:56:00.004+05:30

Part 2 of the Politics Mix series. Part 1 was published on 10 April 2009.

( "याव याव खमौ ब्येब्स
डू द बीट्स नाउ
पंप अप द बेस डॉग!" )

सकाळ झाली सूर्य डोंबल्यावर आला,
म्या बी उठलो न आलो की ओसरीवर.
पाहतो तर काय,
आमचा आजा, होता फेरी घालीत.
दर दोन मिनिटांनी हात जोडीत,
न हात उंचावून शांत करण्याची नक्कल करीत.

मला वाटल म्हातारा वेडा झाला,
वयाच्या ऐंशीज मध्ये काय खूळ घेऊन बसला!

म्या म्हनला आज्याला,
"काय र आज्या, हे काय करून राहिला रे तू?"
"अस खादी घालून, ध्वॉतर नेसून,
एकटाच नमस्कार करीत काय फिरतोस?"

आजा नमस्कार करीत म्हनला (चिरक्या आवाजात),
"देखिये....हम इस बार गावाच्या सरपंच पद के लिये निवडणूक लढ रहे है"
अगदी श्वाकच बसला मला!
"आर आजा, तुझा वय आता ऐंशी, तू कशी काय लढणार विलेक्शन?"
"ह्या वयात हे जमणार कस तुला?"
(मनातल्या मनात म्हन्लो, " म्हातारा बहुतेक झालाय खुळा!")

आज्याने आपला थरथरणारा हात हळू हळू उचलला
न माज्या गालावर मायेने ठेवला.
म्या म्हन्लो, " आर, लाड कशापाई करतोस?"
"बोल, माज्या प्रश्नाच उत्तर कधी देतोस?"

तर वैतागून आजा म्हन्तो कसा,
"ए, भुस्नळ्या, म्या लाड न्हाई क्येले,
म्या तर तुझे मुस्काट फोडले!
माझे हात थरथरले म्हनून
तुला नाय कळले!"

"म्या असेन ऐंशी
पण अजुन पन जवान हाय,
परवाच उंदीर मारला,
म्या निडर हाये!
ट्वायिलेटला कदी जायाच
हेची तुझा बा न्हाय आठव करून देत,
म्याच ठरीव्तो!
म्या निर्णायक हाये!."

" म्हातारा झालो म्हुन काय झाल?
मला बी सत्ता ट्येस्ट करायची हे!"
म्या चक्रावलो, म्हन्लो,
" आर पण, गावातल्या यंग उमेदवारांच काय?"
आजा आन्खी वैतागला, " ए शान्या, गप र्‍हा की!
म्या विलेक्शन लढणार म्हंजे लढणार!
जास्त बोललास,
तर माझ्या 'लाल' छ्डीने 'आडवा आणी' उभा फोडून काढीन!"

म्या म्हटला " स्वाँरी आजा, माफी असावी!"
तर आजाचा थरथरणारा हात परत गालावर फिरला!
म्या वैतागलो, " आता कशापाई मारतो?
आजा आपले खोटे दात दाखवत म्हनला,
" म्या तुझा आजा, माज्या राजा!
म्या लाड केले नाही मारली मुस्काटात!
चल आता रुसु नकोस,
गाडी काढ आपली,
रथ यात्रा काढली पायजे,
ह्या यंग गावाला
म्या ऐंशी वर्षाचा तरुणच
नीडर नि निर्णायक बनवू शकतो,
हा नि चा पाढा पढवला पायजे!"

-प्रांजल वाघ

This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License

Our Benevolent Netas

2009-05-08T14:11:00.008+05:30

Imagine a day when you turn up the page 3 for the latest gup-shup of your favourite star and to the surprise you end up reading the content of our politicos, you are just shell-shocked and might turn to the last page and few may even give up reading, well that’s the content many keep track off. All and all you see a hot blonde shedding off clothes and keep up cool in the summer; yeah photographers do click the very moment. But instead you end up seeing our sexagenarian or hepta or even octogenarian neta taking up his dhoti and hat and those glares, ohh la la, with a tag ‘this is how they keep themselves cool in summer.’ Oh Shit, just can’t imagine, eh?

Yup the heat is on, everyone in India or rather the world is looking up the IPL, sorry not the Indian Premier League but the Indian Political League. Jagore.com is on march waking up each and every youth, asking them to vote. The Times of India is giving daily updates under pages ‘Dance of Democracy’. Every form of public, private medium is used to put forth the election campaign of respective parties. ‘Jai ho’ the Oscar winning hit by A.R has been taken up officially by Congress to strategize its win. In the meanwhile the counter competing party, BJP has put it down, that if this continues, the song has to be changed to ‘Bhay ho’. Well one thing is there, people are best and experts in how to pull others down.

Elections, Elections, Elections.....whole day the same thing, new stories, war of words and in a way fun. Take up this: exactly what must be the case for those who lead the parties, definitely a big task at hand. Keeping up with the party members, meetings, rallies and whole lot of business, yes they got to win; a do or die situation indeed. Just imagine what all would be there in the secret diaries of our Leaders...

Sonia Gandhi:

With everything up close and even the third phase of polls out, indeed I liked to contest 2009 elections and yes it’s been different from 2004. So much so that I changed the ringtone of my cell phone to ‘Jai ho’, even the alarm in the morning rings up ‘Jai ho’. In addition I kept A.R photo as a deity and I pray Him, just not taking any chances. Surely each day is different. Sharadji has been giving a distant nudge and my eyes are wide open to see which signal blows up every day. I heard that Sharadji’s alarm rings PM, PM in the morning and because of that I wake up early just to check if Jai ho is well set or not, God when all this will end! Scratching my head even hints me that possibly Sharadji might have gone to Greg Chappell for advice and the least I expect is, as always Greg must have shown his ‘proper’ finger. That chills me again. Being a cricket head he’s learnt how to spell a googly at least. Laloo on the other hand is thinking his buffalo would be parked at 7 Race Course, hell with that for now as Nitish is doing his homework well, my lessons after all. Really Mulayamji is heading for stardom, thanks to SC that Sanju is out or else Munna would have created trouble with his Jhappi-pappi. This says things are quiet in my purse. Oh well, I can’t forget the bravo, 82 yr old hero Advaniji. Who can forget him, I heard he’s got an orkut account & is adding friends to vote him. I think I should get one on Orkut and one on Facebook too, that will help. Modi has always been an irksome guy, but my daughter is trained to treat him well. When will this Southies learn? I made them eat Idli, dosa & even took a bath in Sambar but seem everything is hitting me badly. For that matter I even told that Uthappam was a precursor to Pizza, yet the issue still remains Italy first then India. You see so many things in 10mins, wish me luck, vote me, Jai ho.

Manmohan Singh:

‘Wahe guru de Khalsa, Wahe Guru de Fateh’

I checked with myself the other day when Advani pointed out the ‘Weak’ aspect. To fight back I think I should wear a Turban with a three colours, saffron (not for BJP ofcourse), white and green, hmm yes this will make it cool? Or may be a pair of Jeans and say it this way, hey whats up Sonia? No No that was hilarious. Pranab soothed me and reminded me of my birth date and told me you are a PM, ah 'I said yes I know'. But following day I said I can juggle 5 balls at one time. Economy, US-N Deal, Af-Pak (Fak-Ap), election-09 & will make one ball to fall down, Advani.
Lately my family, are keeping their shoes well away from the door, maybe an indication that these days ‘shoes’ are the best gifts. To this I reviewed my Eco books, may be a nano level study is to be made on 'Shoeconomics'. The other day I checked how the leather industry is doing and it was bad(not actually) to see that recession has affected them too, hope May 16 + 100 helps them out with more shoes in production. I could go on indeed, but I need to put on the gloves to fight in the ring, EC has blown the whistle. If not now the boot will be under Advani’s foot.

Lal Krishna Advani:
On joining Orkut I found out that I have grown quite old, well indeed yes? So what if youth needs a youth leader. BJP is ‘Bulaya, Jamaya, Pa-diya’ what say? To say the least this year’s inspiration to fight elections was a ‘spider-man’ at my home. Yes he has made webs all around the walls, my very own spiders. Tried, tried & succeeded. Recently I learnt some new ways to high-five people. The other day I met Rajnath, he was flabbergasted to see this and asked me, planning to join congress?? There I recalled it was the symbol of Congress, nothing much to this but I put this again and again on myself ‘???????’ My PR has got a big job to make me young, every day I get tips that make me younger. The day is not far when you will see my photo with a guitar in hand, & yes it would be of Saffron color with a lotus-shaped plectrum.
‘Oh Man’, this Modi is doing his home work. ‘Oh Man’ Varun has slipped of a steep slope. The other day I was hit back when the same ‘style’ I mentioned to Shushmaji, to this my PR hit himself on his forehead, well did I do something wrong? I even sought that calling by nicknames would add more spice and make it even more cooler, Sush and Mods, oh wow that sounds great. Recently my vested interests have changed a lot, these days I read India: Crime Report 2004-2009 instead of reading India 2020, changed my homepage from BJP.com to Swissbank.com.

You see I have changed a lot; this is the least to mention. My diary would be updated. Do Vote me.

‘The above mentioned are just mere secrets and result of multiple jumping thoughts. Hope you have voted for the LS '09 election.’

Regards

सर्जेकोटाचा राजा!

2009-05-05T23:56:00.003+05:30

सर्जेकोट

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सर्जेकोट हा अलिबागच्या कुलाबा किल्ल्याचा शेजारी. खरे तर हा कोट नव्हे एक मोठा बुरूजच आहे. कित्येकदा सर्जेकोटाला कुलाब्याचा अठरावा बुरूज म्हटले जाते!
हा सर्जेकोट बांधला गेला तो संभाजी महाराजांच्या कारकिर्दीत. त्याला कुलाब्यचा अंगरक्षक म्हटल तरी चालेल. तर असा हा सर्जेकोट, ह्याच्या भक्कम भिंती आजही शाबूत आहेत. दरवाजा तेवढा नाही आहे.
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महाराष्ट्र दिना निमित्त मी एकटाच निघालो फिरायला. मी ट्रेकिंग करतो ते मज्जा मारण्यासाठी नव्हे. मी गड पाहायला जातो. त्यामुळेच मला लोकांना सांभाळत बसायला आवडत नाही. मी काहीसा एकटा असण्यात आणि ह्या किल्ल्यांच्या सहवासात हरवून जाण्यात आनंद मानतो. मला इथला इतिहास मग जाणून घेता येतो आणि मुख्य म्हणजे प्रत्येक गड बारकाईने पाहता येतो. त्याचा अभ्यास करता येतो!

कुलाबा किल्ला, अलीबाग वरून.

जेव्हा मे अलिबागच्या किनार्‍याला पोहोचलो तेव्हा ओहोटी लागलेली होती. त्यामुळे कुलाबा हा भुईकोट झाला होता. कुलाब्यचा अगदी बाजूलाच उभा आहे तो सर्जेकोट. आपल्या मोठ्या भावाला सार श्रेय देऊन निवांत उभा.

लोकांचा ओघ होता तो कुलाब्याच्या दिशेने. सर्जेकोटाकडे कुणी ढुन्कून देखील पाहत नव्हत! आणि ही मंडळी कुलाब्यावर करत काय होती? एकमेकांचे फोटो काढणे, गप्पा मारणे ह्यात रममाण. करा ना गंमत, काढा ना फोटो, मी कुठे नाही म्हणतोय? पण इतिहासाची काही जाण? का सत्य माहीत नसेल तर खुशाल काहीच्या काही फेकायच? आणि सगळ्या थापा मारुन पुढे एक शिवाजीच नाव लावला की ते सत्य होत?

असो.

मे जेव्हा तिथल्या एका माणसाला विचारल, की बाबा, सर्जेकोटवर जाता येत का? तिकडे कुणी जात की नाही? तर तो म्हणाला की तिथे जाता येत पण तिथे फक्त एक विहीर असल्यामुळे तिथे कोणीच जात नाहीत! ही तर माझ्या साठी एक मेजवानीच होती जणू! संपूर्ण सर्जेकोट माझीच जणू वाट पाहत उभा होता!

सर्जेकोट, कुलब्याहून!

माझा कुलाबा पाहून झाल्यावर जणू कुणी हाक मारुन बोलवल्यासारखी पावल आपोआप सर्जेकोटाच्या वाटेवर पडली. कुलाबा आणि सर्जेकोट, ह्या मध्ये एक दगडी सेतू आहे. तो सेतू ओलांडून मे सर्जेकोटाच्या द्वाराकडे निघालो.

सरेजोकोटाच पडलेल दार.

सर्जेकोटाच द्वार कधीच पडून गेल आहे. त्याचे भक्कम बुरूज मात्र तसेच उभे आहेत. असंख्य लाटांचा मारा थोप्वित! सर्जेकोटमध्ये प्रवेश केल्यावर सर्वात प्रथम नजरेस पाडते ती एक विहीर आणि त्यावर उगवलेल एक सुंदर फुलांनी सजेलल चाफ्याच झाड.

झाडावर सुंदर चाफा आणि विहिरीत गाळ!

झाडाला फुला खूप आहेत न सुंदर आहेत पण विहिरीत पाणी कमी आणि गाळ जास्त आहे. शेजारीच तटावर जाण्यासाठी पायर्‍या आहेत. पायर्‍या मात्र अगदी सुस्थितीत!

अत्यन्त सुंदर आशा पाय्र्या!

मी तटावर चढलो आणि सार पाहून घेतल. उत्तरेस खान्देरि-उन्देरी ही जोडी पहिली.सार झाल्यावर मी आलो आणि तटावर बसलो. त्या उष्ण वातावरणात देखील एक थंड हवेची झुळुक आली आणि मन सुखावून गेली.

सर्जेकोटाचा तट

लहानपणी एक गोष्ट वाचलेली, ती आठवली. गोष्ट अशी होती की एका रिकाम्या गढीचा ताबा घ्यायला एका शिपायाला पाठवल जात. त्याला एकट्याला पाठवतात कारण शत्रू त्या गढीवर चालून येईल अशी मुळीच अपेक्षा नसते, तो शिपाई तेथे पोहोचतो खरा पण शत्रू चालून येत असल्याचे त्याला कळते.

जराही विलंब न करता तो लगेच गढीचा दरवाजा लावून घेतो आणि शत्रू जवळ येताच त्यावर बंदुकींचा मारा करतो. एका बंदुकीचा बार उडवून लगेच धावत जौन दुसरी बंदुक उडवण अस तो करतो आणि शत्रूला अस भासवतो गढीवर भरपूर सैनिक आहेत. शेवटी तो थकतो आणि गढी शत्रूच्या स्वाधीन करतो तेव्हा कुठे शत्रूच्या ध्यानात खरी गोष्ट येते.

माझ अगदी तसच झाल! गडावर मी एकटाच. बसल्या बसल्या मनाला एक विचार चाटून गेला. कधी ना कधी कान्होजी आंग्रे स्वतः ह्या तटावर आले असतील.ह्याच मातीमध्ये त्यांची पावले पडली असतील! इथली धूळ पवित्र झाली असेल! तटावरून आपली जाणती नजर त्यांनी फेकली असेल. सभोवतलीचा परिसर न्याहळला असेल. गडातील अधिकार्‍यांना सूचना केल्या असतील....अंगावर कसा रोमांच उभा राहिला!

आज इथे फक्त मीच होतो. कुलाब्याला येणार्‍या एकाही व्यक्तीला इथे यावेसे वाटत नव्हते. इथे गडकरी मी, शिपाई मी, गोलंदाज मी, सार सार काही मीच! जणू काही सर्जेकोटाचा राजाच झालो मी! आज जर सर्जेकोटावर कोण चाल करून आल तर तो दरवाजा लढवण्याची शर्थ मीच छातीचा कोट करून केली असती! आणखी कोण होत तिकडे?

म्हटल, "अरे सर्जा, तू एकटा. तुला सार जग विसरून गेल, कोणाच्या ध्यानात देखील तू नाहीस. मी देखील एकटाच आलो आहे तुला भेटायला. तू एकटा आणि मी देखील एकटाच! सार जग आपल्याला विसरून गेलय. तुझ्या ह्या दगडी अस्तित्वात काय रहस्य दड्ली आहेत कुणास ठाऊक? कधी ते कुणाला कळणार देखील नाही! माझ्यासारखा एखादाच वेडा असेल जो तुला भेट देईल! आजतू माझा गड न मे तुझा गडकरी! राजाच जणू एका दिवसाचा!"

-प्रांजल वाघ

This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License

Marathi Saunskruti Sangraha is online!!

2009-05-03T02:43:00.002+05:30

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Marathi Saunskruti Sangraha or MSS, a venture of which I am proud of being a part launched its website on 1st May 2009 that is on the auspicious ocassion of Maharashtra Day. The sentiments and the reason behind the foundation of MSS and the website is what Ojus Narawane attempts to tell you through this article!

Visit the website and do give us the feedback!!
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मराठी संस्कृती संग्रह
लाभले आम्हास भाग्य बोलतो आम्ही मराठी!

Namaskar Mandali ,

We are extremely delighted to announce the release of our website, MarathiSS.com; that’s right, we have our own home on the web now. It also gives us great pleasure to tell you that we are particularly lucky to have Maharashtra Day as the auspicious day of our site release :).

After going through the Vision and Mission, you must have recognized the reason we are pushing for more and more text being written in English script, but of course in Marathi Language. This site chiefly aims to promote other Marathi Sites, which beautifully capture the essence of the rich and varied Marathi culture.

I felt there was a need to have something that provides a snapshot, as well as a doorway to the Marathi Culture online, especially for people like me … an average Marathi youth disconnected in many ways from Marathi Culture, yet proud of being Marathi, based on whatever knowledge I have about Marathi culture :). I felt that a website, especially something like File hippo, a directory that would point to all interesting sites grouped into various categories would serve the purpose.

So, thus began my discussion regarding the site, with Harshad, who is an expert when it comes to knowledge about Marathi culture. Having grown up in the Culture capital of Maharashtra, Harshad is, especially very well acquainted with anything that is related to Marathi Food, Theatre and Music ;). Ok, after brainstorming for a few weeks we had a few plans in mind now, but then who was going to put them up online in a proficient way, so that people actually felt like visiting the site again and again ;). The answer obviously was, Amey. Amey is an expert when it comes to web designing and related technologies. The entire site’s beauty is attributed to none other than him.

So thus began the journey of MSS…

After facing few restrictions in terms of creativity at the wiki dot site, we decided to buy our very own domain, and marathiss.com sounded so perfect and beautiful ;). And thus began the process of collecting interesting Marathi sites and grouping them in their relevant categories. We also have a forum which serves as a platform for members to discuss anything regarding Marathi culture. Just recently, Pranjal has joined the MSS team. We now have a professional blogger and experienced trekker with us to give a boost to MSS .

You can consider this site as hobby work done by four youngsters who are passionate about Marathi culture. We feel there needs to be greater representation of budding Marathi Culture talent and entrepreneurship on the World Wide Web as well as the real world. This idea was basically born after facing certain situations in the very capital of Maharashtra. To be precise, we usually have had situations where we have gone to the extent of organising weekend food trips to cities like Pune, cause there is a severe non availability of Marathi Food when it comes to places like Mumbai and Navi Mumbai. This is perhaps because Maharashtrians are not that enterprising or business minded as compared to other communities of India :). Which is why it’s sometimes sad to see an extremely rich and varied culture not receiving the appreciation and visibility it deserves. Through this site, we wish to promote Marathi Culture in our very own small way and also appeal to people to be a little more enterprising when it comes to publicising and promoting a product, an item ,a foodstuff or a bit of Marathi culture, however small or tiny it maybe. Just like Vada pav, Pav Bhaji, Misal Pav, Veg Kolhapuri are popular, wouldn’t it be nice to see Sabudanyachi Khichadi, Thalipeeth, PuranPoli, Varan Bhat, Piyush or Basundi or even Faral items listed in a regular restaurant menu along with the regular North Indian and South Indian cuisine? There are many small specialities which are linked to specific regions of Maharashtra like Konkan, Varad, Marathwada and their availability is limited to that region only. Kai Majja yete when naatevaikankade gelyavar kadhi Kokanatali fish curry khayala milate, kiva Varadaat ani Kolhapurat jaun masta tikhat jevan and thecha milato. It would be even nicer to see ashya chotya mothya goshti commercialised and documented on the World Wide Web before the knowledge base is lost in the coming years. The best way to start this is, I feel, through the medium of the internet, which is the first choice of seeking information for the present generation … I mean, wouldn’t it be nice to see a greater representation of Marathi Culture in a Bollywood Film, when it’s possible to have every alternative song in Bollywood, in Punjabi ; or isn’t it high time we have a entry about Music Directors like Ajay Atul featured in Wikipedia? By stating this example in a blog entry, we are basically trying to explain our feelings behind having such a site online. In fact there are many aspects to this, which can be discussed here, not restricted to Food, Movies and Music alone. We don’t mean to show disrespect for any culture or demean anyone; we have tremendous respect for cultures of all other states and regions and also for their peopleJ. It’s only that, we are simply fans of Maharashtra, its Culture and its simple and loving people, just the way you are, and are very happy to be involved with a project that will promote ‘Aapala Marathmola Culture’ in our own special way :).

We encourage well wishers to support the site if they like what we are doing. Our aim is not content creation, but to simply promote the already existing or newer content on the web and put it forward to the world, in the form of a Sangraha. Great efforts have been taken by the members of The MSS Team to gather information about sites which can be listed, but I am sure you too have a lot more suggestions regarding interesting sites which can be added in the Sangraha. So, do get your sites, personal WebPages, Picasa albums and blogs and help us promote you in our own small way. We have even made a forum for you to have discussions with likeminded individuals in your area of interestJ. Your comments and suggestions and praises and even curses are most valuable and will only help us improve. Do report dead links, incorrect classifications or any other mistakes from our side. We will try to rectify the errors as soon as possible. Finally, we would like the Sangraha to grow and take the shape of something like a Google or Yahoo online web directory…

Hope you have a wonderful experience throughout your time spent at MarathiSS.com :).

Regards,
Ojus Narawane
Team MSS

A Wild day at the Stock Exchange!

2009-04-17T12:43:00.001+05:30

Here is something I picked up from the Internet. This cartoon was published in the International Herald Tribune on October 27 1989.

Have a look and a laugh!

Cheers!!

Pranjal Wagh

Right To Information Act, RTI 2005

2009-04-14T12:15:00.005+05:30

Be informed....

We Indians always live and look up forward to be the most successful as a democratic nation & as a whole always seek for ‘Right of Righteousness’ in every sphere of life. ‘Democracy’ is not defined anywhere but in short all can be said is that democracy is a form of Government which is indirectly run by citizens, this being the most fundamental definition seen in the civics textbooks, although quite meaningful. Well there might be bit surprise as to why Democracy is being defined, if yes then there’s a simple answer that with every issue we face in India, we bring democracy into picture.

Why was it needed?

There in backyard lies the way to achieve this right of righteousness. To seek this, constitution laid down many fundamental rights for citizens and made it suited for people from the most diverse culture. The primary aim was to setup a People’s Government, although practical stories are rather lunatic and nowhere close, but anyways any elaboration on that part being fruitless.

There is a long chain of problems in India prevailing among masses. I found this chain of problems the most logical way to express the hierarchy of problems. Each problem depending on the predecessor and giving birth to a new problem.

Population à Masses Illiterate à Rich and poor difference/fissure à A mass competitive world àRat Race à Crime à Corruption à Ambiguous system à Frauds à & many more.

This is not the complete chain. On the contrary this all led to a sense of insecurity, injustice, & corrupted the minds of the common man. Then there emerged this fundamental right, though entrusted quite late, Right to information act, 2005.

Back to the topic again

RTI, the acronym for Right to Information is one of the indispensable acts passed by the Parliament and approved by the then Hon President of India in 2005. June 15^th, 2005 was date when this was given the approval. The aspect here is to provide for setting out the practical regime of right to information for citizens to secure access to information under the control of public authorities, in order to promote transparency and accountability in the working of every public authority, the constitution of a Central Information Commission and State Information commissions and those all related matters.

It falls in the 56^th year of our nation being republic. All lies in the vested interest of the general public and boon in the process of harmonising the democracy and nation building. Successively this led to win people’s heart and confidence in the system was reinstated once again.

However the act does not apply to the state of Jammu and Kashmir unless endorsed by the State’s Legislature. Now as per the act General Public has the right to get the information of almost every ministry affairs, appellate affairs, those all falling under the Union Government i.e. Lok Sabha & Rajya Sabha, the Indian embassies over the worldwide, Indian Parliament.

Hereby for the General Public, PIO’s(Public information officers), APIO’s(Assistant Public information officers), CIC(Central information Commission), SIC(State information Commission) acts as a interface and are appointed to help cordially and provide the needed information.

Who all are these people? A brief description:

PIO(Public information officers):

PIOs are the officers appointed by the public authorities appointed in administrative units or offices under it to provide the information the citizens who requested for it. PIO seeking for the needful information must get all the kind attention and also the concerned officer whose assistance is sought should render his/her duties, as per the act. The officer entrusted with this duty is recognized as a PIO.

APIO(Assistant information officers)

Every PIO is essentially designated with a APIO and forwarding the requisition are some of the duties entrusted upon him/her.

CIC(Central information commission)

This appeal is made through a Gazette Notification (Leading Newspapers do publish this). On the appointment of the Commission every time a Chief of information commissioner is appointed by the President of India and not more than 10 information commissioner’s are appointed at the same time. The eligibility to get appointed is to have an intellect in various fields of administration, commerce, economics, Science and Technology, Law and Government affairs. The office is centrally located in New Delhi but other offices for IC’s are sorted out with the permission of Central Government.

SIC(State information commission)

The same way as CIC, the appeal for SIC is made through a Gazette Entry. The Chief of Commissioner is appointed by the Governor of the State. Along with that several IC’s are also appointed, the number not exceeding than 10. The same way, office locations are decided by the State Government.

The Common rules are set for both the commissions.

An Eligibility criterion is set, and is same for officers of both the Commissions.

Term of office is for 5Years and no officer is entitled to get re-elected.

Salary

The salary in case of CIC is the same as that of Chief of Election Commissioner.

In case of SIC, the salary is same as that of the Chief Secretary of the State Government.

The CIC/SIC hold due powers of governance:

1. The Central Information Commission/State Information Commission has a duty to receive complaints from any person -

a)	who has not been able to submit an information request because a PIO has not been appointed;
b)	who has been refused information that was requested;
c)	who has received no response to his/her information request within the specified time limits ;
d)	who thinks the fees charged are unreasonable ;
e)	who thinks information given is incomplete or false or misleading ;and
f)	Any other matter relating to obtaining information under this law.

2. Power to order inquiry if there are reasonable grounds.

3. CIC/SCIC will have powers of Civil Court such as -

a)	summoning and enforcing attendance of persons, compelling them to give oral or written evidence on oath and to produce documents or things;
b)	requiring the discovery and inspection of documents;
c)	receiving evidence on affidavit ;
d)	requisitioning public records or copies from any court or office
e)	issuing summons for examination of witnesses or documents
f)	Any other matter which may be prescribed.

4. Power to secure compliance of its decisions from the Public Authority includes-

a)	providing access to information in a particular form;
b)	directing the public authority to appoint a PIO/APIO where none exists;
c)	publishing information or categories of information;
d)	making necessary changes to the practices relating to management, maintenance and destruction of records ;
e)	enhancing training provision for officials on RTI;
f)	seeking an annual report from the public authority on compliance with this law;
g)	require it to compensate for any loss or other detriment suffered by the applicant ;
h)	impose penalties under this law; or
i)	Reject the application. Well, let’s summarize and take it cut-short way. RTI, 2005 Ø The application procedure is also simple and can be taken in stride by almost anyone. Ø The application is to be made on a Plain Paper writing the details of the information that is needed, however it is not mandatory to explain the reason for seeking the information. Ø A subscribed fee is to be submitted. Usually it ranged around Rs 2, Rs 3-5 as per the medium of information reception requested. Ø It may include almost every type of information transmission, electronic, prints and almost every document can be scrutinized. Such is the significant act passed by our Parliament. As per internet source, around 42000 people have applied in 2005 and requested for the information covering various areas of ministry. Lastly, this blog-entry is meant to provide some inputs about the act and also make the general people aware about our rights. People should approach the authorities and make the system transparent and apparently reduce the flaws to put our nation at a Stead-fast growth. For more on the Act and regulations visit http://rti.gov.in/ Regards, Chaitanya Wakhale

Save the Olive Ridley Turtles

2009-04-13T23:10:00.005+05:30

Support Greenpeace in its campaign to save Olive Ridley turtles.

Tata is building a port in Dhamra, Orissa which if completed will result in endangering the Olive Ridley turtles there.

Mr. Ratan Tata is not paying attention to Greenpeace's demands of stopping the ongoing construction that will affect the turtles badly nor is he ready to move the port elsewhere.

I just hope Mr. Tata starts paying attention to the planet that we all are obliged to protect and conserve and just for one time keep aside our businesses and think about the how the earth will profit from our actions. Moreover he will be setting an eco-friendly example for other Indian industrialists.

Here is how the media is helping out Greenpeace:

Here is an advertisement that Greenpeace had published in ET and The Herald Tribune, papers that Mr. Tata reads,

The details of this campaign can be seen HERE

Please expect more blogposts from me supporting this issue.

Pranjal Wagh

The Power of Ideas

2009-04-12T15:52:00.013+05:30

Encouraging and empowering young entrepreneurs...

Wednesday , 8 April, 2009

We at, A Rational Mind, were surprised and overjoyed when we received an invitation from The Economic Times to cover the second phase of their event, The Power of Ideas as a part of Online Social Media. We jumped at the opportunity and were present at St. Andrews Auditorium, Bandra for this event.

The Initiative

The Power of Ideas is a joint initiative by Economic Times (ET) and Indian Angel Networks (IAN) for inviting new entrepreneurial ideas from young minds, testing them and providing them the necessary financial support.

This program is divided into four phases.
Phase 1 called for business ideas and received an overwhelming response with the panel receiving a massive 12000+ ideas. Over 1000 ideas were shortlisted for Phase 2 – Group mentoring and Elevator Pitch where the participants will present their detailed business plans to the investor panel.

Phase 3 involves One-on-One mentoring with senior mentors via phone/email and candidates selected hereafter will be presenting their mentored ideas in Phase 4 to a gathering of investors wherein suitable participants will get the required funds.

The evening begins

The evening began with Mr. Vinod Mahanta, Corporate Dossier for ET delivering the welcome address. He emphasized that in times like today when most CEOs have lost hope it is the hopeful young minds with good ideas who will make a difference.

He then introduced the panel which consisted of established entrepreneurs who were members of Indian Angel Network (IAN) and invest in potential business ideas. Mr. Mahanta then invited some of the members of the panel to share their experiences with the entrepreneurs-to-be.

Entrepreneurial journey shared

Mr. Harish Mehta, one of the founder members of NASSCOM and owner of Onward Novell (I) Pvt. Ltd., shared with us the highlights of his entrepreneurial journey and emphasized that entrepreneurship is the way to get paid for brains and not sweat. He expressed his opinion that not large companies but entrepreneurs will be the agent of change in the society.

Mr. Rehan Yaar Khan then took the stage and guided us through his journey in the floral retail business which ultimately led to the foundation of Flora2000.com which delivers flowers worldwide. He shared with us the mantra that team building is an important and lengthy process but once the team is built it is then that things start happening. He stressed that whatever your product may be it is the cool marketing idea that you implement that will appeal to the investors and the customers.

The evening was a very good learning experience for the entire audience. Mr. Krishna Jha, co-founder of ITfinity, a member of the panel and an IAN investor, kept the audience smiling by doling out funny but wise statements. When he was asked whether “It was the right time to start” he replied “ The right time to start is NOW”, quickly adding “irrespective of when the question is asked!”. The importance of having a partner in a business was also stressed upon. However, one of the most wisest things from him for the evening was “ One has to face rejection often in business. It is the ability to overcome rejection and succeed that makes the difference. The money made from this success pays off the trauma of rejection!”

A new entrepreneur’s tale

Mr. Krishnan Madhabushi, co- founder of Kwench, an online library for Corporates, was recently granted funds by IAN. He was invited to share his thoughts with the audience. He said that the inputs from the investors helps in the evolution of the company and looking at the business model from a different perspective is made possible only due to investor interest. These tips were really very helpful to the future entrepreneurs in the audience.

The format of submission

The panel was then engaged in a brief Q&A session by Mr. Mahanta. Ms. Padmaja Ruparel of IAN then explained the format of submission for the Elevator Pitch phase. The slides would cover important aspects of a business plan like Product & Services, Market Analysis, Sales Strategy, Team, Financials. The panel also expressed their own views about what the investors would expect from the participants in their presentations.

The Q&A

Ms. Ruparel then opened the floor for an interactive Q&A session between the panel and the audience. This was a very fruitful session where the audience aired their queries and got good explanatory replies from the panel. There was even a funny situation wherein a man had submitted many ideas and was shortlisted but could not find out for which idea he was selected.

One of the questions discussed the reasons for failure of new startups. It was said that “ Startups die not because of starvation but due to indigestion!”. Mr. Rehan Yaar Khan emphasized that high expenditure often kills startups and savings should be done till it hurts.

All-in-all, this was a very educative session both for us and the audience. It just showed the gold mine of talent that is Young India and the bright examples set by the entrepreneur-investors for us to follow.

We would like to thank Ms. Priya Kapadia, Asst. General Manager-Brand Team, ET for showing faith in us and inviting us over to cover this fabulous initiative. This was not only a learning experience for us in covering an event but it taught us much about what the investors & customers expect from new entrepreneurs. We learnt from her that one individual had submitted six different ideas and all of them were shortlisted for Phase 2.

These shortlisted candidates will now be undergoing the Elevator Pitch session after which they will be shortlisted for Phase 3.

We wish them all the best of luck for their bright futures!

The photos for this event were clicked by members of GeekOnNet team. Our sincere and full thanks to them for sharing them with us and allowing us to publish them! Click to see the slideshow!

Pranjal Wagh

This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License

पॉलिटिक्स मिक्स - १

2009-04-10T01:46:00.004+05:30

आमचा 'सोन्या' हाय नव्ह,
अमरिकेचा,
त्यो येनार हुता हित, कायमचा!
म्हनून त्येला आणाया गेल्तो इमान्तळावर.

त्यो आला तवा त्येला ओळख्लाच न्हाय!
एकदम खादी मध्येच अस्सा समुर आला,
म्या म्हटला " देवा, सोन्याचा असा काय झाला?"

सोन्याला विंग्रजीत म्हटला
" काय सोनोपंत, ह्यो काय केलय ध्यान?
कुठली तुमी तलवार आणि कसली घातलीया तुमी म्यान?"

त्यावर सोन्याने घेतला लाम्बलचक पॉज़,
खिष्यात हात घातला, नि काढला एक कागुद.
कागुद वाचीत म्हन्तो कसा?
" मी ठुम्च्या गावात निव्हाड्न्युक लॅडनार आहे"

सौरव गांगूली बॉल लागल्यावर उडतो
तसा मी बी उडालो!
लेका तुला न्हाय इथला काय माहीत
ना भाषा, ना काही, तू फॉरिनर,
आन् तू कसा काय उभा राहणार
इंडियाच्या विलेक्शन मधी?

विंग्रजीत सोन्या म्हन्तो कसा
(आता सगळाच कागुदवर असता व्हय, मराठीत बोलाया?)
"काळजी नसावी. आपल्याच गावचा 'मोहन' हाये,
त्येच 'मन' तयार केलय,
मी जित्लो तर त्यो र्‍हाईल माझ्या जागी
मी फकस्त पाठिंब्याचा 'हात' द्येतो,
हुबा राहतो मागी मागी!
सत्ता आल्यावर हाती,
काय बरा-वाईट झालाच
तर फोडू खापर मोहनच्या माथी!"

म्या चक्रावलो, म्हनला,
"असा कधी व्हतय काय?"
सोन्या दात दाखवित म्हनला
" गोष्ट न्हाई ही पूर्वीची फार,
तुमच्याच कंट्री मधी
हुतय हे सिन्स दोन हजार च्यार!"

-प्रांजल वाघ

This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License

For all Voters...

2009-04-08T11:23:00.003+05:30

The polls are nearing.
I do not think I have a chance to vote because the voter's card hasn't come yet.
But for all those who get to vote I have one suggestion (or advice if you may call it that!)

Think only about the candidate in your constituency.

Do not vote for a particular party just because you like their prime ministerial candidate.
After all who you vote in your constituency will ultimately matter to you. Not the head dude/dudette in the PM's chair.
Check the records of the candidates running for the LS polls. Make sure they have good records, that they are not criminals and that they keep the promises they have made.

www.mumbaivotes.com is an excellent site to check on your candidates credibility (although limited to Mumbai). I would like to thank Mr. Satish VijayKumar of Bombaylives! for this great information.

Start thinking from the grass root levels. Remember one thing " Drops make an ocean"

When you select good candidates at constituency level, in my opinion, the whole nation will be benefited.

Pranjal Wagh

This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License

2000 Hits!!

2009-04-07T14:36:00.002+05:30

Just 4 months 7 days and 33 posts later.....

Thanks a lot to all our readers for their fantastic and wonderful support and response!
Please do keep reading our blog in the future!

Regards

Pranjal Wagh

महाराष्ट्र माझा!

2009-04-06T16:12:00.003+05:30

This article was written by me for www.marathimati.com and can be viewed here

महाराष्ट्र....
या नावातच सारं काही आलं!
महा राष्ट्र!
या राष्ट्रात विवधता अगदी ठासून भरलेली आहे!
इतिहास, निसर्ग, कला, साहित्य, पाककला ह्या सगळ्यात इतकं वैविध्य क्वचितच जगात आढळेल!

ह्या राष्ट्राची माती पवित्र आहे! ह्याच मातीतून शिवाजी, संभाजी जन्माला आले! ह्याच मातीत स्वराज्याचे बीज परले गेले! इथेच ते फळाला आले! इथेच अनेक अनामी वीर स्वराज्यासाठी लढले आणी कैक धारातीर्थी पडले! इथली माती त्यामुळेच लाल असेल का?
जेव्हा मुजोर औरंग्या ३ लाख सैन्य घेउन टीचभर स्वराज्यावर चाल करून आला तेव्हा संभाजी नावाच्या एका 'पोराने' पहिली नऊ वर्षे आणी नंतर इथल्याच संताजी-धनाजी ह्यानी मोगली बकासुरास इथेच गाडले!

पुढल्या काही वर्षातच त्याच मोगलांच्या दिल्लिचं तख्त काबिज़ करून ह्या महाराष्ट्राचा भगवा अगदी अटकेपार फडकला! ही ताकत आहे इथल्या मंगटातली!

जितका रंजक इथला इतिहास तितकाच इथला निसर्ग वैविध्यपूर्ण!
इथला कोंकण किनारा,इथला समुद्र, इथले सह्याद्री पर्वत, इथली घनदाट अरण्ये...
इथली वन्यजीवसृष्टी देखील विविधतेने नटलेली आहे! इथली फळ ही जगप्रसिद्ध आहेत! सार्‍या दुनियेला वेड लावणारा फळांचा राजा हापूस आंबा देखील महाराष्ट्राचाच!

हा राकट, कणखर महाराष्ट्र कलाकारांचा देश देखील आहे! ह्या मातीला कलादेवतेच वरदान आहे! सतार इथेच जन्माला आली! वारली कला, बिद्रि कला, सावंतवाडीची लाकडी खेळणी, कोल्हापुरी चपला हे सारे प्रसिद्ध तर आहेतच पण महाराष्ट्रातील वस्त्रोद्योग हा अगदी पूर्वापार चालत आलेला आहे! पैठणी, नारायणी पेठ ह्या साड्या म्हणजे इथली शान आहेत!
इथली झणझणीत लावणी, खडे पोवाडे, कोळी गीत, भारुड हे सर्वांना भुरळ घालतात! इथली रंगभूमी, इथली नाट्यगीत सारी जगावेगळी!
भारतातील पहिला चित्रपट देखील ह्याच भूमीत तयार झाला!
अशी आहे महाराष्ट्राची कला परंपरा!

मराठी साहित्या म्हणजे रत्न-हिरे ह्यानी खचून भरलेली खाण आहे.
पु.ल. देशपांडे,कुसुमाग्रज, आचार्य अत्रे, रणजीत देसाई, शिवाजी सावंत, कवी ग्रेस, बालकवी ही ह्या खाणीमधली काही रत्ने!
विनोदी, ऐतिहासिक, विडंबनात्मक .... जी जी श्रेणी तुम्ही शोधाल त्या त्या श्रेणीत तुम्हाला मराठी पुस्तक सापडतील!
700 पेक्षा अधिक वर्षांचा वारसा लाभलेली ही आमची मायबोली ह्या प्रचंड साहित्य परिवाराने आणखीच खुलते!

महाराष्ट्रीय जेवण म्हणजे तर स्वर्गाहून सुंदर!
इथली पुरणपोळी, थालीपीठ, चकली ,चिवडा, श्रीखंड सगळ्यांना तौक आहे पण इथल्या प्रत्येक शहराला आपली एक पाक संस्कृती लाभलेली आहे.
मुंबईचा वडा पाव,नागपूरच्या सावजी समुदायाचे तिखट जेवण,वडे-भात, कोल्हापुरचा तांबडा-पांढरा रस्सा,मिसळ, सातारी क्न्दी पेढे, पुणेरी मिसळ, कोंकणी आआणी मालवणी जेवण....अहाहा! पाणी सुटल तोंडाला! हे तर फक्त मोजके नमुने आहेत!

तर असा आहे आमचा महाराष्ट्र! कणखर आणि राकट तरी सार्‍याणा माया लावणारा आणि जपणारा!

प्रांजल वाघ

This work by
Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License

Just some "creative" thoughts....

2009-04-05T00:08:00.007+05:30

Some thoughts in my head at the barber's..............

Day before yesterday I had been to the Barber's Shop to chop off my long locks (Oh! How I
miss them!). Mind you, it was the heat that forced me to climb the steps to the barber's, I
would never have voluntarily done that!

As usual I told "Crew cut banao!" and what do I see? In a matter of a few minutes my beautiful hair was gone! Chopped off like the trees of the Amazon rainforest!

सफाचट!
खेल ख़तम!

Game over dude!

The hair which I had very patiently grown over the past 6 months had been easily cut off
by this barber in a mere 6 minutes! The process of deforestation had taken a few measly
minutes and I could see my scalp again....

It was then that a thought struck me. This was something that I had learned in my childhood while reading some fiction novel but had been lost somewhere in the depths of my
mind.

The process of creation takes infinitely longer time than the process of destruction.

You can take a hell lot of time to build a sand-castle but a careless step or a deliberate
jump can crumble your castle. All your hard-work down the drain.

It takes thousands of years for Nature to develop a balanced eco system. It takes not even
hundred years for foolish man to topple the ecological balance.

Patiently, forests are grown, rocks are ground into soil, flora and fauna flourish.

Enter man, enter the beginning of imbalance.

The beginning of the end.

This is not just the case with nature, it applies to all aspects of human life.

It takes years for parents to nurture their child with love and care and try and make them
into responsible citizens. Right from the birth of the child, they give everything they have
so that the child will have a bright future.

It takes the squeeze of a trigger, a push from a running train, a rioting mob to end the
dream of those parents.
A snap of the fingers and the life is finished.
Dead.

It must have taken the buddhist monks a long long time to patiently carve the gigantic
Buddha statues at Bamiyan in Afghanistan. They must have been proud of work when they
were finished.

The Taliban took down the statues in a couple of days.

Empires, dynasties need lifetimes to take shape. It takes a matter of days to tear them
down.

A lot of time and effort went into making the World Trade Center in New York.

It took justtwo planes to bring them down.

The point I am trying to make is,

It takes a hell lot of hardwork from someone to build something, this something may be
anything, a life,a building, a machine anything, so before thinking about destroying anything one should always, always think about the efforts of the person who has created that thing.

Creation, not destruction should be our aim.

-Pranjal Wagh

This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License

The Mega problem that is the Nano..

2009-03-26T22:09:00.007+05:30

A list of head-aches that will probably be caused by the small Nano....

When Tata Motors displayed Nano publicly for the first time, Ratan Tata had said that he " saw middle-class families riding 4 at a time on a scooter (no doubt a Bajaj!) " and he thought that he should make a car that would be affordable to a common family. The 1 Lakh Car!

Commendable vision or just some Marketing Bullshit. We may never know!

But the stark reality is that the pint sized Nano comes with a Mega package of problems. Both for the infrastructure and the environment.

1. The problem of safety:

The Tata Nano lacks airbags and ABS (anti-lock braking system). Putting these two in Nano would have instantly doubled its price. Hence these essential safety measures have been omitted from Nano.
Tata has said that later versions of will have these features. But the price will definitely be doubled and who would want to buy a 2 Lakh Nano car when you have other better cars starting at 3 lakhs?
Also there is the question that when this variant will be coming out!
In India where almost 90000 people are killed/crippled in road accidents every year will it be advisable to flood the roads with a car that lacks airbags and ABS?

2. The problem of Traffic:

Major metros like Mumbai, Bangalore, Delhi are already facing bad traffic problems everyday. Small cities and towns are not equipped to handle a sudden increase in traffic(By the way neither are the metros!)

In such situation is it advisable to dump a low-cost car on the middle class which looks at a car as a status symbol? The middle class will definitely jump at such an opportunity without thinking about the consequences.

The Tata's wont stop marketing it since it is their business, the middle class won't stop buying it for the sake of owning a car at low price and the government(!) even if it opens its mouth a wad of money will be put in it and the mouth will promptly close!

Although it is said that Tata has conceived a scheme for crowded metros like Mumbai to offer Nano only to those individuals who do not have a vehicle already, I doubt how much this scheme will succeed regarding the implementation of it and also how many people will try to bypass this scheme!

A counter argument doing the rounds is that, once Nano enters the market the sale of two-wheelers will go down. Honestly can you imagine a college-goer going to college in his Nano? What about the parking problems then? In the college as well as on the roads?

Is a boy likely to take his girlfriend for a ride in Nano?
And when Tata has released Nano will the bike companies sit back and let Tata eat their share of market?

3.The problem of pollution

Although Tata Nano is a low emission car, is it emission free?
No!

A simple logic I apply is ,
Normal emission from 1 car = Low emission from 10 cars

Now if people are going to buy Nano like anything wont the 'low emission' of many Nano's eventually be equal to the normal emission of some cars?

With global warming already showing its drastic effects ( you noticed the sudden rise in heat-levels, the untimely rains, the warm winters - all side-effects of global warming!) is it advisable to market the Nano?

When are we going to learn to keep our managerial and business sense aside and care for the earth rather than for ourselves?

Is it so difficult to understand that if the ecological balance stays, we stay, else we are dead?

Tata has promised an electric variant, a variant with compressed-air as fuel. I do hope these ventures succeed and that they be better than the current Nano. I just don't want them to end up as REVA the electric 2 seater car did! A total flop.

4. Enter the rivals:

Market rivals like Bajaj have already started with their attempts at their own 1 lakh car in collaboration with Nissan & Renault and is called Bajaj Auto-Renault-Nissan ULC.
Other giants like Fiat, General Motors have expressed interest at developing a cheap car like the Nano.

Imagine the amount of traffic and pollution when these cars too make their entry into the market!

A solution to this problem would be replacing the existing old taxis (Fiats in Mumbai, Ambassadors in Kolkata, don't know about the other cities!) with Tata Nanos. Of course the Taxi replacements should be offered at a discount.
But if the taxi is a CNG one then I do not see any point in replacing it.
The same thing goes for the autorickshaws.
Infact, a cheaper variant of Nano could be introduced by removing the doors of the Nano to make it look like an auto!

It is upto us people, the common people to think, not only for ourselves but also for the sake of our cities, our nation and our planet whether buying a Nano would be really advisable or not!

Pranjal Wagh

PS: 1. This article although is based on the Tata Nano and the problems that it may cause, we need to use public transport to the max. Maximising use of public transport will reduce the number of cars on the roads directly leading to reduction in traffic (and also pollution!) 2. Any counter argument is always welcome. If I, in any way have erred in the above article please do comment on that!

This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License

New kid on the Blog

2009-03-20T12:46:00.003+05:30

I must admit. I am not a 'blogger'. I'm almost a noob to the blogosphere. I am not as adept with words and penning down thoughts as you would expect contributors of this blog to be. But my buddy Pranjal feels I've got some elements that could make me a good contributor to this blog.

I continuously check my Facebook notes and album for any comment.
If people compliment me in person about a post on facebook, I tell them go and add a comment in my facebook profile.
I am complete internet junkie (quite clear from point 1.).
I need a vent for my pathetic sense of humour and poetry.
I am totally free for 3 months (atleast).

So 3 days and a million "Ive got nothing to post"s later, here I am, posting actually nothing.
But indeed, its a pleasure contributing to a blog that just won 2nd place in the 'Best Mumbai Blog' competition!

Oh! Forgot to introduce myself! Hi! I am Amey Sakhadeo. A self confessed computer obsessed geek. Excuse me for the nuances between my kinda of writing and that of Pranjal's. But I solemnly pledge to keep my post as less nonsensical as possible.

As for the topics of my posts, I have no idea (or maybe I want to keep you guessing). But perhaps some technology updates, cool hacks, my thoughts about current happenings and some light hearted poetry, maybe!

I hope I wont (or haven't already) let the readers down.

Cheers,
AS

The Results are out !!!!

2009-03-17T22:48:00.005+05:30

Hello All,

The results for "Best Mumbai Blog" are out!!
Your favourite blog "A Rational Mind"(ARM) has secured 2nd place!!!

Here are the results!

Although our blog has come in second place, it is a big thing for me as my team is just a baby in this huge blogger's world!
Thank you all for your votes and support!
Please keep reading the blog!

Regards,

Pranjal Wagh
Team ARM.

Remember The Titans!

2009-03-13T20:54:00.010+05:30

The lessons to be learnt by Indians from an American flick.........

My sir, Capt. Vanjari says "No movie is bad, all movies have a lesson to teach us!"

I believe it. I do not hate any movie. There is always something that can be learnt from any movie. Be it any 'B' grade flick or a high-budget mega project, each and every movie has something or the other to teach. Maybe we already know that lesson, but it does remind us that that lesson has to be revised ;) Look carefully and you'll learn something from each movie!

Anyway, I'll go straight to the main topic now.

I saw 'Remember the Titans' about 2 years ago. I saw the relevance of that movie to the Indian scenario back then but thought of writing a blog-post about that relevance now.

Remember The Titans (RTT) is a movie based on a true story back in the 70's when a law indicating co-education for 'blacks' and 'whites' was passed. The story is set in Alexandria,Virginia where (American) football is a way of life! A new coach is appointed, who is black, Coach Boone (Denzel Washington) by removing the current white coach, Coach Yoast (Will Patton) for the T.C. Williams High School football team (a.k.a The Titans). His job is to integrate both blacks and whites into the Team and make it a force to reckon with, a united team. He has to do this against the wrath of the white townsfolk, the authorities who are against a black-white football team and the mixed education system.

The movie's ending lines are by Sheryl, daughter of Coach Yoast.

"People say that it can't work,
black and white;
well here we make it work, everyday.
We have our disagreements, of course,
but before we reach for hate,
always, always,
we remember the Titans. "

Such a simple statement but such deep meaning!

Indian society may look integrated on top. But remove the top layer and you will see the harsh reality in the division of the society.

Religion, Caste, Sub-caste, Region, Language, Appearance.
You name it, we got it!

Friends become enemies, unknown and known people are beaten-up,burnt,killed, women are raped. All in the name of caste, religion and other petty factors that differentiate between humans. Two good friends do not hesitate to slit each others throats just because of the difference in their religion.

Two young lovers are not allowed to marry just because inter-caste, inter-religion, inter-region marriages are considered taboo. A pure emotion like love is not allowed to flourish. The ambitions and dreams of the youth which are the life-blood of this nation are dashed to death. People even do not know why they oppose such marriages. It is just because it has been told by their parents to them. Why such blind beliefs? Where is the rational man?

A turning point in the movie, RTT, is this scene where Coach Boone takes the team on a midnight run to a ground where the historical battle of Gettysburg was fought in the American Civil War.

Have a look at this video:
The Gettysburg Speech

Coach Boone's Speech:

"This is where they fought the battle of Gettysburg. Fifty thousand men died right here on this field, fighting the same fight that we are still fighting among ourselves today.

This green field right here, painted red, bubblin' with the blood of young boys. Smoke and hot lead pouring right through their bodies.

Listen to their souls, men.

I killed my brother with malice in my heart.

Hatred destroyed my family.

You listen, and you take a lesson from the dead.

If we don't come together right now on this hallowed ground, we too will be destroyed, just like they were.

I don't care if you like each other of not, but you will respect each other. And maybe... I don't know, maybe

we'll learn to play this game like men. "

This statement is very much relevant to the Indian scenario. It may not look relevant, but go a little deeper, exercise your brain and you'll see the identical situation.
I can see the relation to India can be seen in each and every line!

"...fighting the same fight that we are still fighting among ourselves today."

1947 Hindu Muslim riots
1984 Sikh riots
1993 Mumbai riots
2002 Godhra incident and Gujarat Riots
2008 Anti-Christian violence
and still more to come.....

"....I killed my brother with malice in my heart. "

Neighbour killed neighbour. Citizens of the same nation killed each other. Sons of same mother India killed their brothers and raped their sisters.

"Hatred destroyed my family....."

Countless families were uprooted and destroyed during these religious riots. Houses with entire families locked in them were burnt to ashes. Their screams still echo in the air.

" You listen, and you take a lesson from the dead.

If we don't come together right now on this hallowed ground, we too will be destroyed, just like they were. "

If we do not come together as Indians by keeping aside our castes and our religions we shall be destroyed.

History is witness to this!

All the Indian rulers were strong but they were not united. So when an invading force much stronger than them attacked no one helped each other until all of them perished.

If we continue to divide the society on the basis of caste, religion then outsiders and external enemies will destroy us one by one.

Politicians, anti-social elements, religious fanatics are exploiting the nation and its resources by dividing it on the basis of caste, religion, language to satisfy their interests. For their small interests they are destroying the dreams of millions, throwing away lives like a rich man throws pennies for beggars.

They are selling our country to salesmen of terrorism for money. The country is going to the goons, dacoits, thieves.

Fix this in your mind.

No politician today wants to work for the nation. They are only interested in progressing their bank balance, not the country. We are a nation with 54% youth, but it is this youth that is not allowed to grow, their wings are cut even before they can spread them and fly just on the filthy basis of religion, caste ,and language!

When politicians tell you to exercise your right of voting it is not because they want to make you aware of your right or that they care for the nation. It is because there is a possibility that you will vote for them because they have told you about right to vote.

Some great politicians have now started beating up people just because they do not belong to a particular region or do not speak a particular language. All this under the false reason of saving the local culture and such bullshit. Creating a rift among the citizens of the nation and winning favour from a certain section of the society and hence winning their votes is one of their new pass times. And the worse part is, the youth are being attracted to these parties!

A person from the North-East states is teased and is called Chinese just because of his looks resemble the Chinese. Is he not Indian? Does he not love India? Does adrenaline not flow in his veins when he sings "Jana Gana mana..."? Why?

It is high time that we begin to trust and love the soul of a man rather than the look, the religion,the language and the caste of him!

All I can say to my Indian brothers and sisters,

"People say that it can't work,
Religions,Regions,Castes,Colour;
well here we should make it work, everyday.
We may have our disagreements, of course,
but before we reach for hate,
always, always,
we should remember the Titans. "

One thing we should remember,always.

As Coach Boone says to his players before their first game,

"Tonight we've got Hayfield. Like all the other schools in this conference, they're all white. They don't have to worry about race. We do. Let me tell you something: you don't let anyone come between us. Nothing tears us apart. In Greek mythology, the Titans were greater even than the gods. They ruled their universe with absolute power. Well that football field out there, that's our universe. Let's rule it like titans. "

India is a diverse land with equal diversity in regions, languages, religions. Keeping all these factors united is a difficult job. We have to do it as the educated youth of this country. Other nations may not have to worry about this diversity.

We do.

We should let nothing come between us.

In Greek Mythology, the Titans were even greater than the gods as they ruled their Universe with absolute power.

That country called India out there is our Universe. Lets rule it like the Titans.

Regards,
Pranjal Wagh

PS:
1. Although the movie Chak De India highlights some of the aspects I have mentioned in the post. Remember the Titans is much much closer to my heart and is a much better movie.
2. This is a true story. You can check out the details on the Internet.

This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License

The horrible head-on collision at midnight!

2009-03-07T01:20:00.007+05:30

Witnessing a head-on collision between a bike and a bus at high speed at midnight.........

07 March 2009
Approx. 0000Hrs.
Siddhivinayak Temple Junction

(Map gives approx location of accident)

Me and my friend were standing near HDFC Bank, Prabhadevi (Opp. Siddhivinayak Temple), chatting, when we heard a loud crash. Turning around we find a huge cloud of dust and flying human bodies, a bus speeding away and a bike thrown away!

My instant reaction was to phone the emergency ambulance helpline and call for the ambulance. The helpline guy assured me that the ambulance would soon arrive.

By now the police near the Siddhivinayak Temple had got to the spot. The bus driver had fled. The two bikers were lying stone-still knocked completely senseless by the speeding bus.

The Police and the "extremely" helpful public first tried putting the two injured bikers into a Taxi. But when attempts failed they were put in a police wireless van and sent off to the hospital.

Luckily for the two injured guys that they were involved in an accident at a busy junction with good police presence that they got immediate and prompt help. Due credit must be given to our police for being ever so helpful! And we must not forget the ever awake Mumbaikar! We are the city that never sleeps...the city that is always ahead in offering a helping hand!

Kudos to the public and the police!

07 March 2009
Approx 0015 Hrs
Siddhivinayak Temple Junction

Our investigation begins....

When all the crowd cleared and normal traffic resumed, we moved towards the smashed bike that was parked on the roadside to do a little investigation of our own.

The entire bike was in good condition except the front part. The headlight of the bike was gone, so was the fancy 'face' of the bike. The handle was twisted and the key was still in the bike! From the looks of the bike, we drew the following conclusions about the nature of the collision:

The Bus and the bike collided head-on! The bike was obviously no match for the monstrous bus.
The bikers never wore any helmets. There weren't any helmets lying nearby nor did we see any on the biker's heads when the accident happened.
The bikers nor the bus driver ever must've thought of slowing down. Even though they saw each other approaching. I wonder why?
The impact was of such great magnitude that the chappals that one of the biker wore were found atleast 20 ft apart,the front portion of the bike was smashed beyond recognition and the human bodies were thrown with such violence that when they hit the ground they lay like the dead on the road.

The bikers never wore any helmets!! That was one thing that could have reduced their injuries! Its by sheer luck that they have survived a head-on collision with a speeding bus but what they should have done was worn helmets and slowed down when they did see the bus approaching at
high speed!!

The bus driver could have also slowed down. Why the bus drivers drive like their rear is on fire only they know!!

A little traffic discipline can go a long way in saving lives!

Regards,

Pranjal Wagh

PS: And all this time the "Emergency" Ambulance hadn't even arrived!!It was approx 0022 Hrs when we left the accident spot and the ambulance was not even there! Emergency ambulance, my foot!

This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License

Vasota...a stairway to heaven!

2009-03-06T04:13:00.008+05:30

A trek to nature's wonderland and back!

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

**DISCLAIMER**

This is no travelogue and does not provide accurate directions to visit Vasota. It is just a web weaved with words by a lover of nature and history. It is the ranting and raving of a mad poetic heart. Technically, it is the output of a machine whose input is the haunting Vasota. This is what I feel it is. For pro-accuracy people, this is my interpretation, go take a hike (literally and that too, to Vasota!).
Even after this, you consider this a travelogue, its your loss or gain, as you see fit!

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

" If any task is difficult then it is worthy of being done.Anyone can do a simple task"

This legend left on a metal sign by Giribhraman Sanstha tells you the importance of trekking to the lofty heights on Vasota. Although not a difficult trek, it is one of the most thrilling and enchanting treks in all of Maharashtra.

Vasota Fort

Vasota....

The first glimpse you catch of Vasota is when you are approaching Bamnoli by S.T. Bus. Its spell binds you. As the bus twists and turns on the road down to Bamnoli, Vasota makes you twist and turn in your seat just to continue getting that one glimpse of it.

Vasota stands tall amidst the evergreen forests of Koyna Wildlife Sanctuary and mesmerizes you with its beauty. Each contour and fold of the Vasota mountain enhances its beauty many times over. It looks like it has broken free of the shackles of the earth and it is intent on kissing the blue sky.

Beside Vasota you can see the grand old fort of Old Vasota. Now rendered inaccessible by dense forests and vegetation and also due to presence of carnivores Old Vasota is much taller than New Vasota fort and is even more mysterious to a curious cat like me. The standing fortifications can be clearly seen from Vasota and they call out to you to come and explore them. Old Vasota is like an old man who is never visited by relatives and friends and never taken care of! Well, all forts in Maharashtra are like that, courtesty our great leaders who love Shivaji Maharaj so much that they have no time to look after his forts! Anyways...

The boat ride to Vasota is engaging and bewitching.

Shivsagar Reservoir of the Koyna backwaters

The blue-green expanse of the Koyna backwaters makes me want to jump off the boat to swim and splash in its cool depths. But I know that if I jump in the others will want to jump in and then I have to keep my appointment with Ms.Time too!The water is covered in ripples at times while at other moments it is glass-smooth and makes you marvel at the wonder called wind.

At times the water is glass smooth and again it has ripples the next instance!

You are greeted by scores of butterflies when you reach the banks of Met Indavali. I have never seen so many butterflies at one place before. All sizes and all colours in one place!

Walking up a small path you come to a camp set up by the Forest Dept. It is complete with tents for tourists and trekkers like us. Some of the tents do resemble those that were shown in the movie Border and have taken on the red colour of the earth but we got a huge Shamiana at our disposal which reminded me of a military camp right out of any periodic TV serial.

One of the attractions at Vasota is the Shiv Mandir in a cave inside the Nageshwar Pinnacle. Water drips on to the Shivlinga here from a crack in the ceiling throughout the year. No source of water at the top of the pinnacle but its just the rain water which is rationed by nature to drip all year long!

We opted to visit Nageshwar before Vasota contrary to others who normally proceed to Vasota first. On the way we first came across a Hanuman & Ganesh temple which is recognizable only because of the two carved idols and the plinth on which they stand.

Hanuman & Ganesh Idols together. The only other place I have seen this phenomenon is Kalavantin Pinnacle near Panvel.

No walls and no roof remain. Once you enter this area it is like you have come into an air-conditioned room! It becomes cold and shields you from the searing heat of the Sahyadri sun!

To the right of the idols is a dried-up stream. Although it is dried up now the stream must be a roaring-monster during the monsoons. All the greenery in and around the stream makes this evident!

There are some pools in this stream which offer you naturally refrigerated water.

Pool for Cool water

When you fill your bottle you get condensed water droplets on the bottle! Buy any of the most modern refrigerators you won't get this chill and thirst-quenching property in that water.Such clean and pure water that your filters at home are useless here. They are better-off at your house cleaning contaminated city water!This water is like the ad-slogan, just modified "No one can drink just once!"

Follow this rocky stream and you feel like you are walking through nature's own wildlife exhibiton!

Just one of the thousands you will see on the trail

I even saw an Asian Paradise Flycatcher, which ofcourse disappeared before I could shoot it (through my camera, ofcourse! :P). I did catch a fleeting glimpse of its flowing tail thought and it still is fresh in my mind's camera! We also found a skull of a Barking deer (Bhekar)
and lots of other funnily shaped rocks and boulders! (Ofcourse they were eroded by the water in the rainy season!)

As we proceeded through the path of the dry stream we came to one point where (you are not going to believe this!) we found butterflies in thousands and lakhs! They were like 100 butterflies per 1 cubic metre (to be technical). I found a dried up branch on which so many butterflies were sitting that I mistook them for leaves of the tree! And beyond the stream, in the jungle the air was thick with even more butterflies! That is a vision to be treasured and I have treasured it in my mind! No matter how many words I write I will not be able to describe the beauty that I saw that day!! That vision, I guess, will die with me! (Unless, ofcourse any of you also has seen it!)

After much walking we reached the base of Nageshwar pinnacle and from there we get a breathtaking view of Vasota and Old Vasota.

Vasota from Nageshwar base

The folds and contours on the mountain of Vasota coupled with its sheer cliffs give it the look of a muscular warrior!!

Vasota from Nageshwar, Nageshwar Pinnacle ,The Konkan region seen from Nageshwar

The view of Konkan from the point was also awesome! After climbing a few steps we reached the Nageshwar Cave temple. Cool breeze greeted us as we reached the temple. It is a hot favourite spot for pilgrims during MahaShivratri and one can clearly see the incessant drop by drop dripping of water over the Shivlinga.

Vasota from Nageshwar,Moving towards Vasota

The path from Nageshwar to Vasota is a flat path and one can enjoy the sight of the straight drop to the right into the Konkan region. This is real fun, walking on a narrow path where one wrong step spells instant death! I particularly love such paths more than any climb in the world! They have the ability to thrill the walker without making him use any of his energy and all the while he can just enjoy the relaxing cool breeze!! :)

It was getting dark and we had to use torches for the last kilometer or so but the more thrilling part of that last mile (or kilometer i must say!) was when we switched off our torches and stumbled and found our way out of the jungle!!

Our night-time was pretty much occupied by the regular food-making operations and other such things.

Enjoying by the fire , Ambience of our tent

But the highlight of the night was the camp fire where we had our dinner, told dirty jokes aloud, laughed raucously like wild, bearded stone-age men and then dozed off to snoring equally fast!

Next day we had scheduled a lightning fast climb to Vasota and an equally rapid descent from the fort, the reason being time again! The climb was once again awesome and never ever tired us because the entire path has forest cover over it! There are some patches where the vegetation over-head is so thick that the sun-rays refuse to touch the forest floor!!

The dense vegetation in Vasota forests

Once we reach the top of Vasota we come across a Bhagwa Flag fluttering in the wind.It fills you with energy!! It makes you even more enthusiastic to climb the remainder of the fort and explore it!

The Bhagwa Flag

As you climb the steps of Vasota's main entrance you cannot help but feel sad for the bad condition of the fort neglected by people and the government in general. The bastions and gates destroyed by the Britishers when they captured the fort still take you back to those days.

The Hanuman Temple on Vasota with no roof left

We come across a roof-less Hanuman Temple as soon as we enter the fort where one finds this legend:

" If any task is difficult then it is worthy of being done.Anyone can do a simple task"

It spurs you on! Makes you feel you are the King of the world! Makes you proud of yourself and gives you the satisfaction of having achieved something!

The forests on top of Vasota are thick and have grown over the ruins of the fort rendering access to the interiors of the fort almost impossible. But one can still see the foundations of many mansions on the fort.

The only entirely standing structure on Vasota & Nageshwar pinnacle from the Temple

The only completely standing structure on the fort is a Mahadev Temple. It has a photo of my god, Shivaji Maharaj, inside it. From here a splendid panoramic view of the Konkan region can be seen along with the Nageshwar pinnacle!!

The other end of the fort joins Vasota to Old Vasota via a narrow ridge and of course, the famous Babu Kadaa! Babu Kadaa( unlike its baby-ish name!) is a steep and tall cliff which reminds you of a very strong stone wall, only that it is natural! Babu Kadaa is the second steepest cliff in the Sahyadris, the first being Konkan Kadaa! The view from Babu Kadaa makes you speechless!! Just speechless!!

Old Vasota fort on top of Babu Kadaa, The view from Babu Kadaa point

Old Vasota sits like a king on top of Babu Kadaa. It has been stated as being out of bounds by the Forest Dept. We are like grown-up children. Denying anything makes us want it even more!

Old Vasota laughs at you. It taunts you! In your face pathetic human!! You cannot conquer me! The way to me is lost! You cannot walk on my sacred ground and defame me with your pathetic name writing and plastic garbage!!

I stare at its old fortifications covered in vegetation. I feel helpless, frustrated. I'll be back old man! With more time and more people! And I will find the way through to you because I know it exists! And whats more I will bring you to your knees by walking on your sacred grounds! I will unveil your mysteries!! You cannot deny me entry, I am born of these great old mountains. I will come to you!

We finally descend Vasota and return to base camp.

As we bid adieu to this grand old fort duo we find it difficult to move our eyes away from them until the boat turns and the forts disappear behind a hill.

The last time you see Old and New Vasota

They do make a re-appeareance when you are travelling to Satara but that is for only a brief period of time, just to say a final good-bye! Until next time my old friends! We shall meet again, I say!

-Pranjal Wagh

PS: Please click on the photographs for an enlarged view. Trust me, its worth clicking on them!

This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License

THANK YOU VOTERS!!

2009-03-05T23:42:00.003+05:30

Hey my dear friends,

A BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIGGGG THANK YOU TO YOU ALL!!

I must thank you all very much for your rock-steady support throughout the voting phase of the Best Blog in Mumbai Competition organised courtesy Mumbai Bloggers.
As a result of your tremendous support and love, Our Blog has stood second in the polling phase!!!

Here is the voting tally of the top 5 blogs:

http://umennet.wordpress.com (19.0%, 57 Votes)
http://thoughts-of-a-rationalmind.blogspot.com/ (17.0%, 49 Votes)
http://geekonnet.com (11.0%, 32 Votes)
http://www.bombaylives.com (10.0%, 30 Votes)
http://blog.sonaljhuj.com (8.0%, 25 Votes)

Moreover, the good news is, being part of the top 5 blogs in the voting tally, Our blog has been sent to the Experts Panel for review after which the final results for the competition will be announced!

Regardless of whether my blog wins or loses I will keep on posting good stuff!!
So,do keep reading my blog!!!
(And keep supporting me!)
Regards,

Pranjal Wagh
Admin

PS: The results are on 15 March 2009 so watch for that date on the calendar!!

Poll Conclusion: Are You Going to Vote This Year?

2009-03-02T12:55:00.005+05:30

The results are out!

Hi Friends,

The 'Janta' has spoken! The results for the "Are you going yo vote this year poll?" are out!

See for yourself!

Out of a total of 22 voters, a whopping 81% voted for voting in the Loksabha elections this year!
Only a mere 4 guys were against voting for the elections!
That's really nice guys!

By conducting this poll, I have once again confirmed to myself that the people of the country are keen on exercising their fundamental rights and want to select good leaders who will make India advance on the path of progress!

Let us hope that the elected representatives do the same thing!

They are after Bloggers now....RUN!!!!

2009-02-25T14:44:00.005+05:30

19 yr old blogger faces criminal proceedings as case is filed against him for hate content

(Pic Courtesy : iStockphoto)

I am really pissed off and angry too!

I recently read this article in a reputed daily ( I dare not write the name lest I be sued!)
It talks about how a young blogger from Kerala was made to face legal action and made to appear in court and explain his actions.

Click here to read the entire report

To quote from the report, it all boils down to one conclusion now :
"Bloggers may no longer express their uninhibited views on everything under the sun, for the Supreme Court said they may face libel and even prosecution for the blog content."

In simple words,

Our Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Speech is being taken from us!

The boy in the above mentioned report was made to face legal action just because he had started a community on Orkut against a certain political party and the comments on his community/blog indicated that the actions of the party were dividing the nation on the basis of region and caste! (What I really wonder is if one would start filing cases against these political parties on the basis of 'hate speech', 'hate content', 'violence' and so on...would all the courts of law of the world put together be able to give justice or keep the cases pending? )

In this country of ours, which is the largest 'DEMOCRACY' of the world, its citizens are not allowed to exercise their basic rights without being afraid of facing legal proceedings. This is the democracy that our great freedom fighters and leaders dreamt of!

A place where the common people would be forced to remain silent and adjust and adapt to the amazing bullshit thrown around by a bunch of imbeciles who label themselves as leaders of the nation and weave false dreams of " a stronger, taller and secure India".

The only right that the leaders/politicians want the common man of India to exercise is the Right to Vote. They say, choose responsibly the person you think is right. Choose a candidate who will take the nation ahead on the path of progress. (Now that the elections are near you will listen to this being thrown around by all politicos a dozen times a day!)

But then to speak of selecting a good candidate, we as citizens are given a choice from a select few. We do not select who stands for elections. It is like going to a stock clearance sale where your options are limited. You either buy the goods or you walk out without buying goods.

Coming back to the main topic of this post, these so-called protectors of culture and Indianness are now after us bloggers. I think they got bored of bashing up valentine couples and 'indecent' ladies in pubs. Now its the turn of the vile bloggers because it is they who still express their thoughts freely and write what they feel. Such people are potentially dangerous to their 'noble' activities of 'saving the nation' (what they really are after is saving and growing their vote banks).

I agree that indecent and abusive language should be restricted and not used against others on a blog. That should be curbed.
But what are we suppoesd to do when a blogger is booked under a certain section of the law while politicians and other big-wigs go scot-free in this land of ours.
Personaly, I think the complaint filed got much attention and fast response because it was done so by a member of a political party.

What should a common man do when these courts of law fail to punish our tainted politicians and other criminals while innocents are brought to book very quickly?
They say 'Justice delayed is Justice denied' . I do not think this holds true in India where people who file a case in their youth get the results on their death-bed. (or even after they are long dead). What do you expect if the courts waste their valuable time on such trivial matters?

( One of my friends had gone to a court to apply for his Domicile certificate. He saw a case being heard before one of the judges. It was filed by one man on his neighbour and both were arguing furiously and the judge was listening intently before doling out scoops of justice. Want to know what the case was all about? One man accused the other of stealing his plastic tumbler! You tell me if this is trivial or not!)

If you ask my opinion, the Supreme Court should have better work to do. I think it should set up a Quality Check Counter. Only those cases that the court deems fit to dedicate its time to should pass this counter.

While the culture-protectors and the language-protectors go on rightfully beating/killing fellow country-men the courts are busy punishing violators of law such as this young blogger from Kerala.

What will probably happen is that the young boy's spirit has been crushed after going through such proceedings at a tender age of 19. Or if he is a fighter and a tough one he will stand up and still continue to do what he believes in!

Today they have quashed attempts of one blogger tomorrow it could be all of us!

Rise blogger brothers, Rise!!

Pranjal Wagh

This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License

The ultimate publicity band-wagon called Indian Media

2009-02-24T13:26:00.001+05:30

Malcolm-X once quoted ‘The Media’s the most powerful entity on the earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and make the guilty innocent, and that’s power. Because they control the minds of masses’

Think over the above quote and it seems so true in the present scenario. The daily reports that we read in the news paper all abuzz about crime, extortion, ransom demand, forgery, cheating and many more, are all and all shaped by the media. Here media in particular refers to the print, television in primary and so on.

So our Indian media is capricious and at the same time can be intimidating at times. Indeed many do run away from it and at the same time many do run after it. To cut a long story short, the media especially the print and television have a great impact on the minds of people both in rural as well as urban India. A conspiracy, mishap, ‘kaand’ and so forth are the adjectives which would give a gleam of what exactly happens. It can educate the masses and at the same time it can corrupt the masses. It can make stand a Government to rule and it can make it defame to pieces. And in a democratic nation like India where there is a freedom of Speech and thought, media forms a vital role in the overall development. But do our media stand on its terms to shoulder the responsibility? Well this answer has a number of sub-branches and various aspects but to integrate and answer as a whole we have a sad but true answer and that’s ‘NO’

We come across many channels and many news papers which we refer daily to get into groove on the current happenings. The more recent matters have focused more on youth to channelize thoughts. They say young minds are the future of our society. I always failed to understand this. Over this the youth complains that the seniors have intertwined the system so badly and at the root level it’s unimaginable to refine and re-erect. I am of the opinion that our ‘smart’ and ‘intelligent’ media has all that what it takes on to bring our system on the right tracks. Take the case of a much acclaimed channel ‘The Aaj Tak’. I would refer to this as an entertainment channel rather than a news channel. The channel is a recipient of 6 awards for excellence, really wondering how, and yes it leads the charts in creating the cheapest news. The crew has that set of news which no one can ever think off. Amitabh Bhachan ko hua Julab and then Cheetah ko hua pyar, kya ban payegi inki jodi such kinds of titles just make it absurd and here they gain their fame. Rather than showcasing the proceedings of Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha they are keener on knowing where M.S Dhoni is celebrating his valentine or when is Aishwarya planning for a baby?? This might seem silly for most of us residing in Urban India but the rural India does not take it that way and watches it ebulliently. For them the news is a matter of concern and a very factual content. Over this they (news-channel) have the capability to delineate and club the ideas with a hi-tech IT department, that one fails to appreciate the news and start enjoying it as an entertainment. This is where our media tends to divert minds from sense to non-sense, the priorities tend to fade away and on the whole fails to serve the purpose.

The bottom line is the channel keeps the people tuned to the TV and if not all, many people can change their inception and might go under a wrong influence. I always recall one incident which had made people affix in front of the TV, it was about our charming young fellow ‘Mr Prince’, who fell down in the pit. The Star News crew got to reach the destination first and the cameraman pulled down his camera and every inch of his movement was calculated. Was this all really needed? At such a painstaking situation for his parents, they interviewed his mother ‘What do you feel now?’ It was broadcasted and millions are watching them, yet his mother answered with broken courage. Surrounding village cited a commotion and everyone enjoyed the scenario. The authorities engaged in rescuing the boy must have had a good test for their patience. This is the potential of our media to create such hype and furore. This is not just one incidence; there are plenty to goad on.

‘Aaj Tak- Sabse Tej’, Star News, Zee News and many more which are show casted for 24hours wobble around the same bunch of news. Media is indeed our backbone and so can’t be given up completely. When we stroll around newspapers and news channels we always tend to keep a follow up on certain set of news, that is say sports or box-office reviews etc. Most of significant changes that took place in the law, amending of the bills, changes in policies, and reviews of fraudulent companies are brought to light by this media only. Our pace of development can be enhanced provided our media fulfils its duties and works in the vested interests.

One of the crucial changes was brought about by Times of India. They initiated the ‘Teach India’ program which was inclined to educating the masses dwelling in the slums. The management called up for working professionals from various backgrounds and setup a platform for those who are motivated to work for poor. Educated class stepped out of the doors, apart from their offices and workplaces and came forward to give a helping hand. Also one more spectrum of our intelligent media came to light when they collected funds for Tsunami victims, the Bhuj earthquake victims, the floods hitting Mumbai and many more to their credit.

In short we form a perspective, form our opinion, get biased and we are made to think on by this media. Commercials by Jago Grahak, jaagore.com, insisting people to be alert on fraudsters, insisting them to cast their vote etc, are a boon to our rural development. The media at one node testifies and also panders, covering a wide range of people, politicos, bollywood stardom, industrialists, organisations and many more. Media is a buttress to the stratum of our society, provided it works and accomplishes its responsibilities.

I do not criticize any particular agency, any form of channel but it should be stressed and taken in to account the importance of our media, for the media personnel themselves, for the governing party, and lastly for the common man.

Are You Going To Vote This Year?

2009-02-18T23:33:00.002+05:30

Hi All,

The Lok Sabha elections are around the corner.
What? You haven't noticed it?
The stench of politicians preparing for their "Prachaar" (And our atyaachaar!) is already strong in the air! Petrol prices are coming down! The Sixth Pay commission has been announced and what not!

Many campaigns have been undertaken by student bodies and corporates which call for the people to 'wake up', drink a cup of tea and register for voting! (Actually voting toh sirf bahana hai...assal mein tumko sirf Chaai pilana hai!).

So, what I really want to know is how many of you are really planning to go voting this year round? How do you tell me that?
See that sidebar? To the right of this page? A Poll has been created in that sidebar. Vote in that poll.Do that at least, even if you are not going to vote for our 'responsible' and 'dutiful' political leaders.

Come on vote people!

Regards,

Pranjal Wagh

This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.

1000 Hits...and going strong still !!

2009-02-18T16:27:00.002+05:30

My Dear Readers,

I am glad to tell you that your favourite blog "A Rational Mind" has garnered a readership of 1000 + readers over a span of 2 and a half months ( To be precise, its 81 days and 21 posts later! :P)!

Thanks for the support!
I am now even more committed to provide you with articles that will cater to the taste of your 'reading' buds!

Thanks!

Regards,

Pranjal Wagh

VOTE FOR "A RATIONAL MIND"

2009-02-17T00:23:00.005+05:30

Hey all,
First and foremost, thanks a lot my readers for their great support and readership!

I feel happy to tell you that your favourite blog "A Rational Mind" has entered a blog competition. Precisely, "BEST BLOG IN MUMBAI" which is being conducted by MumbaiBloggers.net

The link to my blog is
http://thoughts-of-a-rationalmind.blogspot.com/

I need your votes to make my blog win. Votes count for 75% of the marks awarded to each blog. SO please please , I request you to vote for my blog!

Well here is the link to the site:

http://www.mumbaibloggers.net/vote-for-the-best-blog/

Thanks!

I'll keep writing new stuff on the blog!

Happy reading,

Regards,

Pranjal Wagh
A Rational Mind

शेर शिवराज है !!!

2009-02-15T19:09:00.017+05:30

Shivaji is the Tiger...........Excerpts from The ShivarajBhushan by MahaKavi Bhushan Tripathi

The ShivarajBhushan (The Ornament of Shivaji) by Mahakavi Bhushan Tripathi is a of nearly four hundred Brijbhasha poems written at the court of Shivaji Maharaj.This composition was made circa 1673 and with Shivaji’s ascent to the throne in 1674 makes it extremely likely that ShivarajBhushan was composed for the coronation of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

The following poem is but a part of this splendid composition. It touches upon all the virtues of the great warrior and rightly compares Shivaji Maharaj with the Gods.

This poem is currently a part of the Title track of the Grand Marathi Serial, Raja ShivChhatrapati, which is aired on Star Pravaah every Monday-Friday at 08:30pm. Check out the poem, its meaning and then watch the video and read the poem alongwith the song. If you do not get an adrenaline rush.....talk to me then!

Here is the poem:

इन्द्र जिमि जृम्भा पर

बाडव सअंभ पर

रावण सदंभ पर

रघुकुल राज है !

पवन बारिबाह पर

संभु रतिनाह पर

ज्यों सहसबाह पर

राम द्विजराज हैं !

दावा दृमदंड पर

चीता मृगझुन्द पर

भूषण वितुण्ड पर

जैसे मृगराज हैं !

तेज तमअंस पर

कन्ह जिमि कंस पर

त्यों म्लेंच्छ बंस पर

शेर शिवराज हैं!!!!!!!!!!!

- महाकवि भूषण

Literal Translation and Meaning:

I have tried my level best to translate and decipher the meaning this piece of poetry. If any errors are found please do forgive me. Point out the errors and I will correct them faster than the speed of sound. Here goes:

Stanza 1:

Translation:

Like Lord Indra against the Demons Like Vamana against against King Bali Like the King Ram of the Raghu clan against the Lord Ravana of Lanka

Meaning:
(Shivaji Maharaj is:) Like Lord Indra who defeated the evil forces of the demons. Like small Vamana who was an avtaar of Lord Vishnu, defeated the mighty Asur King Bali by just asking cleverly for alms while the Yagna was on.

{The story is that Bali, the grandson of King Prahlada was a very valorous and mighty asura . By his penance and might, he conquered the whole world. Indra and other gods fearing that he and asuras would conquer all the three worlds, went to Lord Vishnu for help. Lord Vishnu was then born as a dwarf Vamana in the household of a Brahmana. He went to Bali on growing up and asked for alms during a yagna.

Bali was delighted to offer him anything he requested even though his priest warned him that it was Lord Vishnu.Vamana then requested for the amount of land that could come under three of his steps. Bali gracefully agreed. Lord Vishnu then grew in size and covered the earth and heaven in two stride. And due to lack of space, he put his third step on Bali himself and crushed Bali to the nether or the Patala loka(underground world), thus helping the Gods out.}

(Shivaji Maharaj is:) Like the King Ram great Raghu Dynasty who defeated the mighty forces of Lord Ravana of Lanka with the help of an army of monkeys!

Stanza 2:

Translation:

Like Lord Shiva against Rati's Husband, Kama Like Parshurama, the lord of Brahmanas, against Sahasrabahu

Meaning:

(Shivaji Maharaj is:) Like Lord Shiva who slew Rati's husband,Kama,the lord of desire by opening his Third Eye and burning him to ashes!
(Thus implies Kavi Bhushan, that it is Shivaji who will burn down the evil Mughals and Adilshah to ashes!) Like Lord Parshurama, the sixth avatar of Vishnu, who was the saviour of defeated the Haihaya King Kartavirya Arjuna also called as Sahasrabahu or Sahasrarjuna, as he had a thousand hands.

{Parshurama was the son of Sage Jamadagni and Renuka.Parshurama was so called as his favourite weapon was a Parashu (axe). Legend has it that King KartaVirya Arjuna was drunk with power and used to trouble the brahmanas by stealing away their cattle, disturbing their pennances and their yagnas. Once, The king KartaVirya Arjuna visited Jamadagni's ashram with his army. Jamadagni welcomed and fed the king and his army with the help of his cow, Kamadhenu. The king was amazed and asked Jamadagni for the cow. Jamadagni refused to yield as he would need the cow for religious practices. Angered, Arjuna destroyed the ashram and took away the cow forcibly. When Parshurama came to know about this, he killed the entire army of the king and then killed the King himself by cutting of each of the King's arms by using his axe. The King's sons retaliated and killed Jamadagni while he was meditating. When Parshurama returned and found his mother crying he asked her the reason for her sorrow. His mother did not reply but beat her chest 21 times. Angered, Parshurama vowed that he would take revenge upon the Haihayas 21 times. He killed all the sons of Arjuna and killed all the Haihaya-Kshatriyas of the world 21 times. Thus he conquered the whole earth and donated it to the brahmanas. Thus he ended the arrogance of Kshatriyas.}

Stanza 3:

Translation:

Like Fire which burns wood, Like a Cheetah against a herd of deer, Says Bhushana, (He is )Like a Lion against Hogs.

Meaning:

(Shivaji Maharaj is :) Like the fire which burns wood, he is swift and deadly like the Cheetah against a herd of deer. Kavi Bhushan says, (Shivaji is) like a lion against wild hogs.
Stanza 4:
Translation:
Like a ray of light through the darkness, Like the Child Krishna against Kansa, Has descended upon the clan of Mlecchas(Mughals and Adilshah) Shivaji, the Tiger!

Meaning:

(Shivaji Maharaj is:)
Like a ray of light that shatters the darkness and he offers hope to millions of people oppressed by the cruel rule of Aurangzeb across India.
(He is) like the child Krishna who defeated his maternal uncle, Kansa in wrestling and killed him.
( This great warrior) has now descended upon the clan of Mlecchas, (Here the poet refers to Mughals and Adilshah who oppressed their Hindu subjects and tortured them in many cases. Although Shivaji Maharaj's kingdom was a Hindu State, he never forced religion on anyone. His was a state which practiced religious tolerance.) like a Tiger!

Here is the video of the title track of Raja ShivChhatrapati. Now try to recite the poem along with the title track and you will get the adrenaline rush!
The Link:

RajaShivChhatrapati Title Track
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpuzZGOAesY

Note:
The word Mleccha directly means a Muslim. Though the Poet has used the word in his work to portray the cruel tactics of the Muslim Rulers Aurangzeb and Adilshah and although Shivaji Maharaj established his kingdom to free the oppressed Hindu subjects from the tyranny of these two Muslim states, Shivaji never was against Muslim religion (and neither am I!). He was against the atrocities of Aurangzeb and Adilshah. Hence, I believe using the word Mleccha to denote a Muslim would be demeaning. Hence, I have not used Muslim as the literal translation for Mleccha but have used Mughals and Adilshah.

Let it be known to all those Hindu hardliners and the so-called Hindu fanatics that Shivaji Maharaj practiced, religious tolerance in his kingdom. He deeply respected Muslim religion and never demolished any Muslim place of worship.

On the contrary, his army had 1/3th part of it as Muslims. His navy had Ibrahim Khan and Maynaak Bhandari as the chiefs. He deeply respected and often sought blessings from Sufi saints like Baba Sharifuddin and also of Shaikh Yakub of Konkan.He called Hazrat Baba of Ratnagiri bahut thorwale bhau, meaning "great elder brother".

PS: Special thanks for this poem to my friend Tejas Thatte.Thanks, Chiknya!

This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.

माझं कोल्हापूर .... लई भारी!!!!!!!

2009-02-12T22:25:00.005+05:30

Friends, Indians, Countrymen, Lend me your eyes! This one is a different venture from me! For the first time I am going to publish someone else's work on my blog! This one's a short poem written by Marathi Singer/Musician Avadhoot Gupte for the Purepur Kolhapur (पुरेपुर कोल्हापूर). It is found written on their Menu Cards and I must say it takes you right into Kolhapur! It doesn't matter whether you have been to Kolhapur this poem will give you a feel that you are standing in Kolhapur while you read it. It made me nostalgic as I have been to Kolhapur and enjoyed the sights over there. Being a food crazy person and non-veg fanatic Kolhapur is like a seventh heaven for my taste buds (and me too!). This poem has made me nostalgic about Kolhapur. Read on and do make sure to inform me how you liked it via your comments!

PS:

I was told by one of my friends that Avadhoot Gupte has written this poem but If anyone has confirmation about the poet, please do inform me about it!
The credit for forwarding this poem to me goes to my friend, Ms.Latika Panjabi (No, She's not from Slumdog!).Thanks for the poem!

Here goes....... भावा, नाद नाय करायचा!!

तू.....

2009-02-05T03:14:00.004+05:30

मनात तू,
हृदयात तू.
डोळ्यात माझ्या तूच तू
विचारात देखिल तूच!

जिथे जातो मी तिथे तू,
एखाद्या सावली सारखी माझ्या संगे असतेस तू!
पावलो पावली आठवतेस तू,
गल्ली बोळात देखिल दिसतेस तूच!

पहाटेच्या गारव्यात तू,
दुपारच्या कडक उन्हात देखिल तूच!
दिवसा स्वप्ने पाहतो मी त्यात देखिल तू,
रात्री झोप येत नाही ह्याचे कारण पण तूच!

डोंगर कपारीत फिरताना जाणवतेस तू,
राना वनात भासतेस तूच!
थकून थांबल्यावर पुढे जायला प्रोत्साहन देतेस तूच,
घामाच्या धारा पुसण्यासाठी बनलेला रुमाल देखिल तूच!

माझ्या रोमा रोमात तू
नसा नसात भिनलीस तूच!
श्वासात तू,
उसासे टाकतो मी, त्यात देखिल तू,
माझं सळसळणारं रक्त बनून धावतेस देखिल तूच!

माझ्या हळव्या मनाला छळणारी तू,
मनाला कधी सुखावणारी तू,
वाट पहायला लावून मन बेचैन करणारी तू,
त्याच मनाला कधी उभारी देणारी देखिल तूच!

अशी फ़क्त जाणवणारी ती तू,
कधीही न भेटणारी ती तू,
दूर राहुनाही सगळ्यात जवळ तू
जवळ असून ही सगळ्यात दूर तूच!

-प्रांजल वाघ
०५ फेब 2009

This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.

The Sandbag Millionaires...the government that is!

2009-02-04T17:49:00.006+05:30

Shedding a little light on the mockery of security that is present in Mumbai.....

These days whenever you wherever in Mumbai the most common thing you find at every nook and corner is a sandbag post albeit abandoned. Tight Security supposedly!

Is Mumbai a battle-ground? Is it not supposed to be a City?

(A Paramilitary personnel mans a post at Mumbai CSt station. He is armed with a 5.56mm INSAS rifle and has a buller-proof vest but alas no protective head-gear!)

Moreover the policemen, if they do occupy these posts are 2 to 3 in number and have one SLR in between them! The others are armed with state-of-the-art lathis! Moreover they are not aware and trained of how to react to a Terrorist attack synonymous to 26/11!

Even if they are trained they still use riot-control helmets! And yes, their bulletproof vests are torn with the kevlar breastplates sticking out of the vests!

As for the sandbag posts ( or bunkers as the media choose to christen them! How many of them know the difference between a bunker and a post, God knows!) they are anything but safe for our police! As per a newspaper report, pests like mice and cockroaches have made these new posts their home!
(Good! Even if the government cannot rehabilitate the slum-dwellers atleast they do rehabilitate the gutter-dwellers!)
These little terrorists are now keeping the police-men busy! They have to face the butt of the SLRs and the lathi-charges inside the posts! Althought the BMC has promised to disinfect these posts who knows when that will happen?

Well, who can blame the poor police-men! I really pity them! They have to work through so many odd shifts!Keep the crime-rate below a level, protect the city and on top of that they are expected to combat terrorism?

In the police, I dare say, one man is forced to do the work of at least 5 people due to shortage of men!

And coming to the question of security, whatever happened to intelligence agencies? Have this politicians and police head honchos ever seen English movies based on the CIA or something? Whatever happened to good old electronic surveillance?

Are we even, 2 % of what they are as regards the level of intelligence?

Really do the politicians think that Sandbag posts and more number of police make a city secure? In fact they make the citizens feel insecure, like they are constantly under a threat!

One simple thing these guys have to understand!
What good is security inside your house when you have left the doors and wondows of your house wide open?

Is it really worth spending millions just to put up makeshift sandbag 'bunkers'or should they be spent on new equipment and most important, training!
Or how about increasing the salary of the poor chaps of the police department? I think that gesture is long overdue!
Come on, this is the least that the government can do for the cops! It would mean so much to them!

Think about this!

The only tragedy of being an Indian is that we need to be reminded by others of our shortcomings! Be it 1962 Himalayan Blunder, 1999 Kargil Intrusions, The numerous terror attacks and so on! And worst part is we never learn from our mistakes!

This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.

Thinking About Her....

2009-02-03T18:10:00.008+05:30

A Poem written by me in the rainy season..... :)

When I wake up in the morning
And I lie lazing in my bed
Listening to the sound of rain drops
Falling outside
I think of her
Everytime
And then my mind wonders
Will the rain be falling where she is,
Will she be lying in her bed
Looking ever more beautiful
And will she be thinking of me
And what i might be doing then?

When I am finding my way through a dense jungle
It reminds me of her long dark hair
It comforts me to think
That I am lost in the tides
Of her long and dark hair

When I finally find my way
And reach those mountain peaks
That seem to kiss the sky
Then I throw my sight from the top

And greedily devour the beautiful views
She comes to my mind
And I say to myself
Nature may be beautiful
But she is far more beautiful than Nature....

This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.

Diva Maharashtracha - A Destination for 'Burrp'pet food!!!

2009-01-10T20:17:00.010+05:30

A diversion from my usual serious blog posts....the foodie in me has finally spoken!

A casual call from my college friends Ojus and Harshad in the morning and a lunch date was fixed. Even other guys like Milind, Aniket, Hemant, Abhishek and Sharma were shopping in the nearby Parel. So we just called them for the lunch too.The destination - Diva Maharashtracha near Shivaji Park!!

Diva Maharashtracha is the third in a chain of excellent restaurants by the Maharashtrian enterpreneur and foodie Dr. Suhas Awchat and his wife Deepa Awchat. All three of their restaurants are dedicated to serving authentic South Indian and Maharashtrian cuisines......which we normally do not get in other restaurants!

Anyway....
So we decided to visit the restaurant which has been beautifully decorated in the true royal maharashtrain style!

The darwaan is dressed in impeccable maratha style and holds the door open for you with a smile and a warm "Namaskar!". A true marathi greeting straight from the heart!
As you enter into the restaurant a Tutari sounds overhead signaling your arrival! Your entry in the restaurant is declared in much the same manner as the arrivals of kings was done in the olden days!

As you are led to your table you are impressed by the ambience of the place. It plays popular Marathi songs and the wall-mounted lcd TV plays marathi channels! There are two mashaals mounted on the walls with simulation of fires in them! One can only imagine the kind of ambience if dinner is to be had at this fine restaurant!

As you sit down and have a look at the menu (the high prices not withstanding!) you can just glance and imagine the unbelievable diversity of the cuisine range offered by Maharashtra.
The menu card itself is wrapped in a beautiful Maharashtrian Paithani saree and provides detailed information about the dishes served by Diva....

The waiters are dressed in simple Kurta-Lehenga with a jacket over the kurta...and are so very polite and take extremely good care of you! I guess the waiters that I have experienced were never so very polite and well behaved!

'Diva' offers you authentic Maharashtrian chutneys (deviating from the normal pickles and stuff you get in everyday hotels!) shown in the pic below!

You get authentic Garlic-Coconut dry chutney, Mirchi -Lasun Thecha(Crushed green chillies and garlic) and Kairicha Loncha(raw mango pickle). Along with that you are served fried chillies and the usual onions and lemons!

* A special announcement for vegetarian public! 'Diva' serves all vegetarian food in different plates. A special set of plates is always kept for vegetarian food! * Not that I care about it but still..........

Coming back to the food that we ordered..........
I do not have enough good adjectives in my kitty to glorify the lovely food that I had! Even so, a futile attempt at describing the food.....

Vegetarian Cuisine:

1. Shahalyachi Bhaaji (Flesh of Coconut) :
This was one of the most amazing things that I have ever eaten! Served in the entire coconut shell itself this vegetable was awesome in taste and even surpassed the non-vegetarian preparations. This coming from me, a die hard non-veg fan, should be an indication of how much I loved this dish!

2. Varhaadi Paneer (Paneer cubes prepared in special masala from Varhaad region of Maharashtra):
Awesome! Awesome! Assal Varhaadi jhatka to the dish! The Paneer cubes almost melted inside the mouth!

3. Moong Khichdi(Preparation of Moong with Rice):

Heaven! Moong Khichdi never tasted so much better, even at my place! The rice and moongs were just perfectly cooked and the taste was delicious!

Non-Vegetarian Cuisine:

1. Saoji Chicken (A chicken dish from the Saoji Community):

Dark brown and mysterious looking this Chicken dish was the center of our attention when it was served to us! If Saoji Chicken was a beautiful woman then it would numero uno on the World's Most Beautiful Women list! ;)

2. Kolambichi Khichdi (Prawns and Rice Dish):

Although this dish is better known as Kolambicha Bhaat in my house, Kolambichi Khichdi was mindblowing...excellent!!

Alongwith these lovely dishes we had soft and hot Jowar and Rice Bhakris!
And ofcourse we had drinks....Rich Creamy and Spicy Sol Kadhi and Sweet Raw Mango Panha!!

Dinner for 8 was on a little on the expensive side....@ Rs. 2700/-
But its allright to spend so much on such lovely food once in a while!

I would definitely recommend this place for ardent foodies like myself!
Just go and experience the diversity of Maharashtrian food!

The taste of Sol Kadhi still lingers on my tongue......

My mouth has started watering so I'll just sign off! :P

* Next time I promise I'll get more pictures to stimulate your taste buds!

This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.

The 400-crore yacht, among other things - Part 5/5

2008-12-27T12:00:00.000+05:30

The capitalist messengers
All forms of media have been criticized and rightfully so, but being more of the business ventures (and less of informers to the public) that they've become, they've taken even that criticism and turned them inside out. So while the print media came out with defense articles (see above), the TV stations held debates upholding the rights and functions of the news channels. As if we didn't see uncensored shots of blood being flashed on the screen, and the constant "breaking news" being used to push hours-old headlines, and the live coverage of a terror tragedy as if this was the one and only chance for the news channels to compete with their sports counterparts.

And when it comes to debates and discussions, instead of providing a forum, these shows and in particular the anchors forget that their roles should be limited to being that of unbiased moderators who have an informed view of the subject being talked about. Like Joey Tribbiani once famously said, "You don't put words in people's mouths! You put turkey in people's mouths!" These "journalists" already seem to have a fixed view on things and will not acknowledge the other view. Capitalist mouthpieces, through their editorials, are shunning a very realistic analysis (and one which came to my mind long back) - why is it so difficult to digest that our increasing friendship with the West is a possible root cause? Just because the person who suggested so differs radically from you in terms of economic policies? And the fact that the owners of such news networks are collaborating with industrial barons and diversifying to celebrate the "good life of shining India" obviously means that they've turned a blind eye to - and here I shamefully use a term used by a prominent Leftist who was the only person talking any sense on a show on one of the very channels I'm overtly criticizing - "suffering India", which unless we choose to live in our urban cocoon we have to admit is the real India, and is not confined to the rural belt, but is also co-existing with us in the cities.

Thank God, then, for the re-opening of the Taj Mahal Tower and the Trident. Sorry, not God. Thank the pseudo-celebrities and the professional socialites for showcasing their resilience, expressing solidarity and making yet another stand against terror. As for me, I'm just sad that I wasn't there to pose for the cameras and eat without paying at a five-star. Who said there's no such thing as a free lunch?

(concluded)

The 400-crore yacht, among other things - Part 4/5

2008-12-26T12:00:00.000+05:30

Rich man's blood splashed on a rich man's lens
I'm sure most of you must have read at least one of the articles in the print media with the common title, 'Don't Shoot The Messenger'. By various authors, all try to defend the media, using the very example that has been cited most often as an example of the media's irresponsibility - of commandoes landing on a roof during the Nariman House siege. I personally would like to think that though that example is obviously flawed (even if the event was shown live - and there's considerable debate on that as well - given the noise a chopper makes, there couldn't have been much stealth involved), the argument isn't, and that's something I've already covered in my previous posts. Just to recall one incident that particularly comes to my mind, a reporter given access to the backside of the Oberoi/Trident complex accidentally spilled out the location of the commandos closing in on the terrorists.

But what's more of a concern to me is the 'why' and 'how' of this particular strike being the watershed. This very city has seen a spate of such gruesome attacks, and I happened to be stuck in office when a series of bombs went off in the local trains. Now, I wasn't going to be on those trains but my colleagues possibly would have, but thankfully weren't since it was issue-closing time. The marketing people came back from hastily terminated meetings and told us about the carnage they saw. People were desperately trying to get in touch with their families. We saw streams of people walking the 20-odd kms. home due to the suspension of train services and clogging of roads. I finally got home past 1am.

Interestingly, the news that followed focused on the spirit of the city (yes, that very cliche) being visibly shaken. Even more interestingly, even though just about a month back, there were candlelight vigils, peace marches, human chains and signature campaigns as a part of the massive anti-reservation protests (which I would like to attribute to that year's first hit Rang De Basanti), there was nothing of that sort after the blasts which seemed to suggest that people had had enough and wanted change. Maybe because Obama wasn't around back then. Of course, the entire coverage had its focus on the Taj and the Oberoi/Trident. Nariman House (which, it was reported by the international press on the very first day, houses an extremely orthodox sect of Jews) was completely ignored till the time our local media checked the international response and realized that it's not just some random building in the crowded bylanes of a not-so-upmarket part of south Bombay.

All the reactions have been from the showbiz and P3 fraternity, and not suprisingly, each and every one of them claims that the Taj was like their second home. Maybe they actually can afford five-stars on a regular basis; maybe they need to give such an impression for reasons known only to them. All I know is that I can't - heck, even Leopold was a place I went to when I felt I could afford to splurge - and happened to be in a mood to tolerate the differential treatment meted out to people with coloured skin. All I know is forget five-stars or even lesser luxuries - most of my compatriots can't afford to have 2 square meals a day, and who are yet to experience the things we've been taking for granted ever since we were young - telephone, television, electricity.

This is not the first time people have died such tragic deaths. Earlier, the targets were public transportation systems and such middle-class infrastructure; even this time, scores lost their lives in Victoria Terminus, a few each in Cama Hospital (imagine the kind of headlines one of those high-profile private hospitals would have made) and at Mazgaon docks, Vile Parle and Metro Circle. From the looks of things, these people were clearly lesser victims whose blood is meant to be shed. Granted that the people with the riches are the only ones in positions powerful enough to force a response, but what good does it do to talk in vague circles? And how is a rich man's blood any more precious than a poor man's?

Such stake-outs and seiges have been happening on a regular basis, but in troubled hotspots which are away from the media glare, most notably Kashmir and the North-East. No one gives a damn when that happens. The very people who are out on the streets now never gave a damn when the common man was blown apart again and again and again in the very city who ordinary citizens they now claim to be. And at the same time, they are hypocritical enough to say on camera that "earlier, these things used to happen at markets, trains and buses which are places we never went to, but now it's as if they've entered our homes. We thought that we, the elite, are untouchable but clearly even we're not safe." This shameful comment of a socialite was one of the many ones in a similar vein aired by one of the most respected 24-hour English news channels of our country.

(to be continued)

The 400-crore yacht, among other things - Part 3/5

2008-12-25T12:00:00.000+05:30

We, the people, suck
There is a huge disconnect between different strata of the society within the limits of a metropolis, and one needn't look further than the city which is always in the limelight, and quite often for tragic reasons - Bombay. Now there's a city which has seen strife not only recently, not only during the serial bomb blasts of '93, '03 and '06 (among many other such sporadic incidents), not only during the flash flood of '05, not only during the riots of '84 & '92 and not only during the on-and-off bashing of minorities and outsiders ever since the Shiv Sena was founded in the mid 60s, till date (with its breakaway faction MNS joining in).

Bombay isn't a unique case but is definitely a classic example of the undeniable fact that we, the people, are already divided on numerous counts, whether we like to admit it or not. There are people for whom religion is of utmost importance; for some, there are castes; for others, there are regions. For my fellow youngsters, it is increasingly becoming "cool" to shun religion and denounce the caste system while citing both as an example to deride our elders and emphasise the importance of our generation (augmented by the random percentage figures of our population under a certain age), but given the urban setting that we are growing up in, we are unbelievably divided socio-economically, and by our very own logic, are no better than our seniors.

It is so easy for us to blame the politicians for dividing us, whereas we are an inherently divided people and they are simply taking advantage of this fact. The fact that the Sena (and now, the MNS) survive is because they have a substantial enough support base. A reader who on the lines of the chain SMS wrote about non-Marathi commandos vis-a-vis "Marathi kids playing cricket on the empty streets" was lampooned by other readers, who in venting their ire came out in support of those 2 parties, their leaders and their beliefs. Then again, a politician who voiced the first thing that came into my mind when I heard that the ATS chief who was a key figure in the Malegaon investigations had been killed ("how convenient") and who could have done without saying so given that he is a Union Minister is being ostracized by what is emerging to be a potent combine - showbiz and media. And the urban populace is firmly with this non-political coalition.

(to be continued)

Well done Pranjal!

2008-12-24T18:34:00.002+05:30

This one's for Mr. Wagh. A Rational Mind has been awarded - Ms. Gauri Gharpure bestowed it upon me, and I feel that the founder of this blog is the deserving recipient. So this post is a notification of the award, as well as me passing it on to my benevolent teammate, and also to my main blog. Congrats - now we need to pass this on to other deserving blog and their authors.

The 400-crore yacht, among other things - Part 2/5

2008-12-24T12:00:00.000+05:30

The ever-lengthening bridge
The contrast was, as it always is but only when we care to look at it closely enough, spellbinding. While NDTV India's Zaika India Ka had Vinod Dua roaming around and sampling the local cuisines of the remote streets of Maharashtra's Konkan coastal region, the news that was flashing on our screens was the 400-crore gift that Anil Ambani has given his wife Tina. A bit of research revealed that this is the latest form of sibling rivalry - "Mr. Big" answering his industrialist brother, who gifted his wife Nita (note the coincidental anagrams) a 250-crore private jet. Congratulations on your mighty efforts, sirs.

The brothers, along with a handful of other people and industrial groups, represent everything that is shining about our country. Then again, this "shine" is confined to certain pockets in no more than the Big Six cities. I don't know how many of you are from or have spent considerable amounts of time outside the Big Six, so I'll just talk about myself here. Till the time I turned 14, vacations every year meant a trip to Patna. And though my age didn't stop me from realizing that it was a much smaller place than Delhi, the fact is I was really young, and also hardly had any reason to step out of the house and roam around. Of course, after that my maternal grandparents shifted to Calcutta and that was the end of my yearly visits to the capital of Bihar.

Now, I love travelling in general, and travelling by trains in particular. And I've travelled quite a lot, but haven't really experienced life in the small towns. But observing closely gives me quite an accurate picture of the ground realities. That, and the fact that due to certain quizzes, I happened to be first in Nasik and then in Anand (in case you don't know, the home of Operation Flood and Amul), and subsequently in Baroda. These are the places that occupy the middle rungs of the social ladder. They are nowhere near a Delhi or a Bombay, but are better off than the vast stretches of our lands where Reliance or Idea might have reached, but landlines have not; where only the richest farmers with sizeable holdings can afford that elusive solitary lightbulb which provides the only other glow in the wilderness, other than the headlight of a dusty old two-wheeler belonging to who is possibly the only person from that locality to have ever been to a big town or city.

I can keep romanticizing about real India - I feel I'm in that phase, and I sincerely hope it doesn't desert me. I feel wiser than I was a few years back. How wise I am not sure, but I was definitely very naive back when the whole "India Shining" campaign was launched by the people in power at the Centre, and whole-heartedly endorsed by the industry and the media, and predictably, therefore, urban India. In the firm grasp of the "feel good" factor, I refused to acknowledge my dad's remarks about real India. Come to think of it, I rarely ever acknowledge what dad, who has travelled to the most remote areas and troubled hotspots over the past five decades and is by far the most knowledgeable person I know, says. Anyway, I have a much less hazy perception of real India now.

(to be continued)

The 400-crore yacht, among other things - Part 1/5

2008-12-23T12:00:00.001+05:30

I don't really know how I'd like to start this one. And it's not like I'm facing a dearth of ideas - on the contrary, I've got too many in mind. So let me just put them all down.

(EDIT: I'm breaking it up and making it into a 5-part series, as otherwise the length is proving to be a deterrent)

The first rule of Fight Club is that you do not talk about Fight Club
I make it a point to mentally scoff every time one of my fellow urban youngsters says to me, 'Dude! You've seen Fight Club right? Isn't it, like, the most fucking awesome film, like, ever made?' and I am compelled to do so in at least 9 out of every 10 cases, and at multiple levels.

First, the literal level. Now, it's a fact that most people aren't smart enough, so it's safe for me to say that at least 5 of those 9 say so because they either loved the action sequences or were simply blown away by the premise of a character's non-existence. And I concur. But they watched it once, observed those things and that's about it, whereas the very reason why the film (and the novel) is so brilliant is its depth which merits at least one repeat viewing. Because without that, you have to be a genius to appreciate the existential angst of the protagonist caught in the increasingly materialistic world.

The reasons for the other 4 targets of my mental sneer are tricky, as in many cases, I should be at the receiving end of my own wrath. Anyway, these people are smart enough to appreciate the intricacies of the story, and acknowledge the demons of our times, but they (or should I say we?) are too used to the luxuries of our routine well-off lives that it's not possible for us to even think about life without them. Think about it - big brands, plastic money, the good life. In our own ways, we are as much addicted to these as we are to a certain substance or the other.

Since I've not a clue what I'm getting at, let me move on to the not-so-literal levels. Here, it's just the way my "hep" generation would say such a thing. In a way, it is intertwined with materialism. And while it's great that you have access to everything global, nothing can justify your need to turn into clones. While I'd love to be part of a group that makes good use of the resources of this information age but at the same time is wise enough to pick and choose attributes from the West while maintain one's Indianness, I'm sorry to say but I don't see that happening. And say it if you really mean it, but please don't say "change" just because a certain Obama says so.

(to be continued)

The 'Zero-Impact' protests

2008-12-21T13:49:00.004+05:30

Human Chains, Candle marches, Signature campaigns....all according to me are of zero use. They have absolutely no impact on the ruling parties or on anybody.

You build a human chain to protest against terrorists...they don't give a damn about it! Neither do the politicians. You achieve nothing more than media attention and just cause a distraction on the road and also tend to disturb the traffic sometimes!

You light candles to pay tributes to the martyrs..it is good that the citizens remember the martyrs, but these candle marches again have zero effect on the political powers. Above all, it causes wastage of wax and air pollution. Ofcourse, if you burn thousands of candles down, you expect it to be Eco-friendly?

And who is going to clean all the mess made by the wax after the candles have burned down? You?
NO!
It's the same BMC that we blame for not clearing up our 'kachra' who will clear up this waste!

Human Chains,Signature campaigns,candle marches are all the weapons of, in my opinion, high society crowd who just want their pictures in the newspapers. They care for media-mileage not the deceased. That is why you have 'prominent' TV and Film personalities on news channels discussing about the security issues and political decisions when they know nothing much about them and the only sacrifice they need to do is appear without make-up and act by talking in agitated tones(at which they are experts!).

These high society guys care for only their fraternity. If you kill a common man, it doesn't bother them! If you kill middle-class commuters returning to their loved ones after a hard day's work it doesn't matter to them. What matters are the deaths of the high profile people and the foreigners at the Taj and Oberoi.

Trust me, I have been part of such human chains and stuff...and the passers-by don't even give a damn as to against what you are protesting!
I guess next time such attacks take place, the people should attack some politician's house and beat him up. Maybe then they will wake up and be responsible towards the people whom they are said to represent!

MORAL:
It is better not to participate in such futile protests. Instead concentrate on your work and give it your 100%. Maybe that will help the country more than these 'ZERO-IMPACT' protests.

-Pranjal

This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.

The chauffeurs on our one-way ride to perdition

2008-12-20T17:59:00.002+05:30

***WARNING: Devoid of humour; might contain traces of romanticism; definitely contains dollops of cynicism and disillusionment***

I only vaguely recall the days of Doordarshan. In spite of having got a cable TV connection only ten years back, my recollections of the small screen prior to that, and of the news in particular, are very hazy. But what I do remember is that back then, we had to wait for a fixed hour to be informed by newscasters who never seemed to slip up or stumble, and appeared to be so emotionally detached, that at times they seemed to be almost inhuman. Cut to now, and we have at least a couple dozen 24-hour nation-wide news channels in each of the two national languages, in addition to several other localized as well as regional-language channels. And it doesn't take a keen sense of observation for one to notice that other than the time being devoted to the reporting, the quality (when you take into account not just the reporting per-se but also the analysis and the nature), and at times, even the quantity (in terms of distinct but significant pieces of information) of it all has been steadily rolling off downhill in an inverse logarithmic fashion.

The saddest part is that it's not just the dime-a-dozen newscasters (who, given their constant wriggling, don't seem to be anymore comfortable in Western attire than they were in a saree), over-enthusiastic reporters (who are able to avoid stuttering on only that one, oft-rehearsed line: 'with cameraperson , this is , , ') and the ever-increasing number of behind-the-scenes staff (which takes care of the tickers and comes up with such howlers such as "CONG COMABACK IN RAJ") who are to blame (that's not to say that they're not. Whereas earlier on DD, a gaffe would mean being out of a job and fading into oblivion, the current lot have a huge margin for error, and given the sheer numbers, they're bound to get an alternate even they do manage to get themselves fired after a series of slips.) - these greenhorns are merely following the instructions given to them by their seniors; those award-winning journalists who are the best known names and were, till as recently as about five years back, professionals I looked up to.

EXHIBIT 'A'
One of these seniors, a personal favourite since 20 years back (and the fact that I can remember so far back is much more of a testimony to him and his programme, other than its highly infectious jingle, than it is to my memory), claimed it was a national shame that the Prime Minister and the Leader of Opposition didn't travel together to Bombay during the terrorist attacks, in spite of announcing that they would. Well sirji, I wouldn't go so far as to call it a national shame, but the fact that even you, in spite of being one of the, if not the most experienced of the lot currently present, have started making an occassional error; more alarmingly still, the psephologist in you has been, of late, getting election analyses mostly wrong, and for reasons that are hardly surprising.

Granted that you do take into account the factors which come into play when it comes to the majority of the electorate and in particular the voting sections of the populace, and these are the people who actually interact with their area representatives. But you are increasingly doing so in very vague and generic terms, while your brainstorming and predictions are limited to the upper-middle class urban points of view. Which no doubt is your target audience (and I'm part of it) but, since they (rather, we) form an insignificant little percentage of the total turnouts, is a gross misrepresentation of the ground reality. To readers (if any), I ask this: can you name the legislator or MP of your home constituency? Can you at least name your home Vidhan Sabha/LS constituency?

EXHIBIT 'B'
On to someone who is probably the most celebrated journalist of our times. On one of the special debates after the recent attacks, she suggested that the people are getting caught up in a lot of passionate, romantic, unrealistic rhetoric. That was probably the only thing she said in those 4 days or so which made sense. Ironically, she was acknowledging the nature of the opinions stirred up, force-fed and reported by none other than her. She started off her coverage by insisting on drawing parallels with 9/11 by referring to people, trapped inside the high-rises symbolic of the economy, signalling for help. (Ironic again, then, that this was dubbed 26/11 and not 11/26. Why shy away from complete Cocacolonization, ma'am?)

As she shuttled from one location to the other and then to a third, she just became increasingly insensitive while interviewing directly affected people (some argue that she might even have given away the positions and hence lives of some people trapped inside; her critics have had similar complaints about her in the past, most notably the Kargil conflict). And while she tried her best to show that she shared their grief, she failed miserably in her efforts, all of which seemed nothing but contrived. It is difficult to believe a Metallica or any other band when they sing anti-establishment songs after they've been minting money for more than two decades; in the same vein, it is impossible not to see through the array of fake emotions of someone who has been there, done that and won accolades for the same.

It wasn't a pretty sight when she, a senior member of the editorial team of one of the most respected news channels, was being pushed around while mobbing a foreign hotel guest who had just been rescued; it was somewhat humorous when, while she wandered too close to the site after operations were wrapped up, she was being shooed away on live camera by security personnel unaware of her celebrity status; it was annoying, as it increasingly has been, when one saw that the panel of "experts" consisted of 5 from showbiz vis-a-vis 2 from fields of genuine expertise; it was outrageous when on the same show, she forced an apology out of an audience member for his rightful outrage against an irresponsible statement made by one of the five "celebs"; it was distasteful when she, on air, said about the anchor - "I can't hear what she's saying. Tell her to shut up"; it is amazing that most of the rhetoric she was referring to ('systemic failure', 'need for accountability', 'we, the people, are / want change') has been, over the years if not right now, been manufactured by her.

Kudos, then, to her ability of planting her creations in the pop urban lexicon. It's all too easy to take the opinions of the rich and the famous on behalf of being "average citizens of the city and the country" (which they are not - refer below). Or allow the people, and in particular the youth, to come and shout out ridiculous stuff like 'politicians leave the people alone', 'the entire system is to blame', 'let's form our own party', etc. and in the process, grant them their fifteen seconds of fame. But it would be great if even one feasible suggestion is thrown up - not necessarily implemented, just thrown up. Again, a question for the readers (if any): Of all the talk that went on during the crisis and after, did any of the suggestions seem remotely feasible? Do you have any ideas of your own?

EXHIBIT 'C'
And then we have the other celebrity journo with a legacy to live up to; the rebel who is responsible for the contents of a group of channels, known especially for exaggerating its facts and figures. (Remember the '03 Bombay blasts? Initially reported by his channel to be seven, the number was gradually, almost reluctantly brought down to four, by which time no one really cared.) Now he's a guy who keeps harping on about this being the age of the information media. Well, yes this is the information age, where practically anything is available at the click of a button, and yes, the growth of media on the whole is a part and parcel of this age. Then again, there is information media and then there's entertainment media, and our friend here is confused. While the sections of the media meant to entertain are of course allowed to inform and provoke thought (and we don't necessarily have to turn to European cinema for that, when we have equally good home-grown material), I personally think that it's best if the information media knows its limits and steers clear of being a source of entertainment.

Along the same lines, he also washed his hands off being insensitive and immature in the coverage of the siege, claiming that it was the sole responsibility of the administration to cordon off the affected areas, and not in the least bit of the editorial policy of the broadcasters. Never mind the fact that the events were telecast as live proceedings not unlike a cricket match, to the point of being a possible operational hazard and causing increased grief, and not only to those who were directly affected. Does he really imply that there is no such thing as moral responsibility? Yes, if he doesn't go ahead and show the footage, some rival will, but for someone who and whose channels are all for standing up for change, can't he exercise some restraint and with that, display some much-needed maturity? And you, the reader, won't you like to see (or for that matter, read) news without being told that this was first reported by ABC or is an XYZ exclusive, or without being misled by that now-eternally flashing 'breaking news' banner on your screens?

OVERVIEW
I can go on and on about lots of things, and I will post them soon in my upcoming posts, but let me just restrict this already humongous post to the 3 TV news stars, and try to wrap this up as soon as possible, for now. So, just a few generic pointers to act as an overview as well as reminders for full-length posts to follow. So just in case anyone didn't notice or refuses to acknowledge:
* the coverage of the attacks, for me, merely highlighted the elitist nature of these channels in particular and urban Indian society in general,
* in spite of all the focus on the people and the youth, it is clear that different segments of the society are totally disconnected from each other, and the voices that are being heard either lack conviction or brains. Little knowledge is a dangerous thing indeed,
* there might be a huge global financial crisis going on and mergers, acquisitions and take-overs might have become the norm of the recent past, but the capitalist nature of our country's media should be a cause for concern for one and all, and,
* politician-bashing is all well and good, but truth be told, it's sort of difficult to further divide a people who are already as divided as we are. Having said that, we should all thank our lucky stars for being part of the kind of system that we have here, because in any alternate scenario, even if these dissenting voices are heard, they are silenced ruthlessly.

It's not just the politicians who seek our votes - the media does too, albeit in a different form. Even though they have much more of a power to bring about change for the better, they are more bothered about approvals in the form of ratings and viewership, and are more than happy to pass the baton of action to us. And while we're comfortably seated in the wagon holding this baton, unless they, our drivers who are the media-persons, change the course of this ride they're taking us on, we are all headed straight to hell. And that hell is our own future.

[Originally written, but not completed, on 7/12/08]

Wipro and My Spineless Young Friends!

2008-12-07T20:41:00.003+05:30

My thoughts on the current Wipro-Students jhol!

A few days ago Wipro Technologies sent out emails to engineering graduates that they had recruited from Kolkata that Wipro would not be able to offer them jobs in IT sector looking at the current market situation and that they would be offered jobs in Wipro's BPO sector. Further they said that the engineering grads would be incorporated into IT sector after 12-15 months of service in the BPO sector.

There was uproar and a general wave of fear amongst the engineering grads from Kolkata, which was obvious. The protests that followed were apt and correct. But some of the statements given by the students that I read in newspapers were shocking!

One of the students said that since they would be offered jobs in Wipro BPO their pay scale would be reduced from the promised 2.75- 3.25 lacs p.a to around 1.5 lacs p.a. True, this may happen but what followed further was mind numbing for me! The same student said that they were ready to work in IT sector of Wipro for a lower salary than the promised sum but that they should not be put in BPO!

Also some of the students were saying that they were ready to wait a few more months but that they would want to join the IT sector of Wipro!

I was surprised to see such attitude from Kolkata youngsters!
विप्रो जोइन करने के अलावा और कुछ दुनिया में बचा नही है क्या?

Has the world come to an end?
Were you thinking that joining Wipro is the peak of your career? Were you thinking of never leaving Wipro and continuing to survive in that stagnant environment where their would be limited scope for your progress?

And what is this I hear about you people being ready to work for a lesser salary? Why?
Do you guys have no self-respect? Why should you work for a lesser amount? Why are you allowing Wipro to go on reducing your value?

Why should you work in the BPO industry which will ofcourse involve night shifts that will ruin not only your biological clock and your physical and mental constitution but will also involve hearing obscenities and racial abuse from self-proclaimed superior westerners!

Why are you guys ready to wait for some more months and join Wipro? Haven't you guys waited enough? You were recruited in June/July 2008(atleast I was!) and are being called in March 2009!
Last year Wipro called recruited grads from my college in January! And when I was also called in March 2009 my decision to join Wipro started to dwindle! Well, I don't think much of a company that wastes so much valuable time of their to-be employees! Why can Wipro not call its recruited grads if the other IT biggies of India can. And why the hell shift the recruited grads into BPO? नौकरी दे के एहसान कर रहे हो क्या?

I am surprised to hear such comments young Kolkatans. West Bengal is the land of Netaji SubhashChandra Bose. Of Ravindranath Tagore. Of Jatindranath Das ...It is the home of so many freedom fighters, revolutionaries,scientists and great social workers that their names would require many such posts! Kolkata is the land of communist movement in India! The leaders here have long worked for the benefit of the working class!It is in is land that the youngsters are at the mercy of a company like Wipro? Why?

Is there nothing worthwhile to do than joining Wipro? Think. The world is an ocean of opportunities! Join the civil services! Get your masters degree! Do your MBA! Get your doctorates! Give GATE,GRE,GMAT and increase your qualifications rather than being at the mercy of Wipro!
Join governmental services or better, defence services to ensure job security and immunity from the pink-slip! It pays well now after the sixth pay commission and also offers variety of facilities!
As one of my teachers has said, " This time of recession is the opportunity for youngsters to educate themselves more and more!"

Regards,
Pranjal

Of Indian Politicians and Condoms… ;)

2008-12-06T15:01:00.002+05:30

(Something on the lighter side that will have you seeing 'double'!)

One fine afternoon (i.e. today afternoon!) I was just surfing the net when a thought flashed through my mind and I started making an unusual but quite interesting comparison between Indian politicians and…guess what? Condoms!
True…however absurd that it may sound if you think (and look at both of them too) you may find some interesting similarities and,well, differences!
Let’s see then….
If you see condoms come for a price and so do politicians! If you want a condom to work for you you have to pay the buy it! The same thing stands true for a politician! You have to buy him so that he can work for you!
Both condoms and politicians are servants of the people but nobody understands that!(Think on this statement and comment! Because your thoughts will help me understand this statement! ;)) A faulty and corrupt politician spreads the deadly decay virus which kills off the immune system of the nation and weakens it. I guess I do not have to tell the experienced people what happens if a ‘faulty and corrupt’ condom is used in certain cases!
A condom is non-living thing.It does not feel ‘things’. Neither does a fat ass politician feel the pain of his people!
Politicians work collectively in benumbing their people and making them aloof so that they can enjoy the power of the power! Likewise,’Two’ many condoms, they say (How’d I know?) ,succeed in deadening the sensation of their ‘people’.

But if you see, you have to pay a nominal price for one condom and it works for you! But there’s no fixed price for the services of a politician. So you see condoms provide reliable service!

Condoms come in different ’shapes and sizes’ and offer service not only to the user but also ‘long-lasting pleasure’ to the ‘opposition’. Have you ever heard of an Indian politician who has ever given pleasure to the opposite party?

Oh yeah! The main point is that Condoms provide protection to the people that use them! But what about politicians? Do they protect their people? NO! Instead these dudes themselves demand protection (and leave their people for the dead!)
So you decide who are better! I think condoms would rule India better than these blood-sucking, money-eating, hatred-spreading, dividing and ruling politicians!

Regards,
Pranjal

This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.

The Game for the Hot Seat.....and the subsequent neglection of the current issues!

2008-12-05T23:21:00.001+05:30

Ashok Chavan has become the new CM of Maharashtra State.....New breaking news for the news channel...Good news for his supporters and his party...Bad news for bad boys Chhagan Bhujbal and Narayan Rane & Co..But what about us you dimwitted scumbags? Your greed for power has once again thrown the terror attack and the Mumbaikars out of the limelight!

On one hand we have a three month old baby who is the youngest victim of the attack, a Jewish baby who cannot understand where his parents have disappeared and on the other hand we have that Greedy Rane crying because Congress party did not announce his name for the CM post of Maharashtra. He keeps on saying " Ashok Chavan mera spardhak kaise ho sakta hai?" You bastard...don't you realise that it is not the time to carry on bickering amongst ourselves but to face the threat to our integrity with impenetrable unity.

Now Mr.Chavan has been appointed the CM..He will now select his favourite ministers....for that the to-be ministers will try to please him....their meetings....the announcement of the new cabinet or the so-called reshuffling of the cabinet and then the oath-ceremony of the new CM and his cronies....How much time will that waste? Can we afford to waste such valuable time that can be effectively utilized in filling out the gaps of our intelligence and internal security?

Was this new appointment necessary in such critical times? Could the so-called High command not have waited? Could the President not impose her rule on her Home state?

I really do not understand when our politicians will learn and grow up! Like in the story of the frogs in the pond and the boys who keep on throwing stones at them..... "It is just a game for you..but it is we who lose our lives in your games!"

"Tumchyasathi ha fakt ek khel aahe..pan aamcha hya khelat jeev jaatoy!"
" तुमच्यासाठी हा फ़क्त एक खेळ असतो ..पण आमचा हयात जीव जातोय!"

-Pranjal

This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.

Mumbai Terror Attack - What should we do now?

2008-11-30T20:08:00.001+05:30

Stop the blame game. The thing to do now is not to sit and blame those irresponsible and imbecile politicians (we all know that most of the Indian politicians are worthless money eaters who will stoop down to any level just to get money) but to analyze the situation and derive the ways and methods by which we can improve ourselves and our security.

They say mistakes made should be utilized to learn from them and then never to commit those mistakes again. In our case we have committed and almost always never learned from them. Be it ignorant and corrupt politicians or the lax security, this time we have paid the heaviest price. I do hope that it is time this lackadaisical attitude of the governing bodies towards the security of the nation and the state changes and we adopt a more firm and direct approach to securing our nation.

The height of vote seeking politics was when certain heavyweight politicians arrived at the attack site and gave full-fledged political speeches. If these people do not want to do something for the people at least they should have had the common sense to stay away from such sensitive sites. By arriving and delivering speeches, they not only made themselves viable targets for the terrorists but also stretched the already stressed security! If any of these terrorists would have gotten a politician between their crosshairs (Oh! How I wish they had!) , again the security personnel would have been blamed.

However, enough of the blame game now. It is not time to cry over spilt milk and decide whose fault it is. What has happened has happened; let us look at what measures we can take in the future to reinforce our brave police personnel and also how certain simple precautionary measures can make their job easy!

1. No doubt the security personnel who laid down their lives and as well as those who fought hard and won the day for us are respected and their sacrifices shall never be forgotten. But the question is, can we afford more martyrs? Do we need more martyrs? What can be done to prevent and minimize the deaths of outstanding and good soldiers?

· Develop Special Teams:

i. Instead of sending in the regular police into the attack, special teams should be developed especially for hostage crises such as these. The inspiration can be drawn from SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) teams of the US Police or the GSGN which were founded after the 1972 Munich Olympic attacks. The Mumbai Police Commandos can be easily trained and upgraded to be made into a special team which will tackle such situations.

ii. Moreover, instead of depending on other security bodies like MARCOS, Army and NSG and valuable time wasted in their arrival on the scene and understanding the situation can be prevented if the police had its own hostage situation team.

iii. Initially the NSG was established in Delhi and was going to be similarly established in the West, East and South India so that each part would have its own special force which would react quickly and thus minimize casualties and eliminate terror threats. But as Govinda has said in a song, “It happens only in India” that good plans remain only on paper and never materialize. For some reasons unknown to the common man, NSG was never established in other parts of the country and is till date.

iv. Another option would be reviving this plan and developing an independent NSG for each part of the country thus reducing the reaction time.

· Body Protection to the fighters:

i. To ensure that they get maximum protection during such attacks armor of the best quality should be provided. The current bulletproof vests worn by Mumbai Police were so obsolete that they were not even enough to stop AK-47 bullets. Moreover, majority of them were torn at places, the metal plates used as armor were rusted and in some cases the armor vests were unwashed and stank badly.

ii. Bulletproof jackets should be such that they should provide protection for vital body parts. They should protect not only the chest, stomach and back but also provide protection from the sides, protect the shoulders, neck (like the jackets worn by NSG and MARCOS do) and also the groin. Moreover, elbow pads and knee pads are also essential for protecting and preventing injury to these crucial joints.

iii. For the head, ballistic helmets should cover the head, forehead, ears and part of the neck. A good choice would be the helmets used by SWAT. These helmets look like bike helmets but are specially designed for combat. They are painted with a shine-less paint which does not give away the soldier. They have a reinforced bulletproof glass to offer protection to the face and also have a HUD.

· Good communication devices:

i. The Indian police as well as security forces use obsolete communication devices. The NSG commandos after the operation said that they could not communicate with each other because the terrorists might discover their presence. Throat mikes which sense the vibrations of the skin around the vocal cords and not the voice and air coming out of the mouth provide relatively noise free communication. Moreover, soldiers can speak in very soft tones but can be yet clearly heard and understood by their team mates.

ii. These mikes are available as a belt which can be wrapped around the throat and the ear set can be put in the ear. SWAT teams extensively and successfully use throat mikes during their operations.

· Good and Modern Weaponry:

i. As was seen on 26 November and as was observed previously the Indian Police lack the firepower to combat trained terrorists with sophisticated, modern and automatic arms. They still carry vintage .303 rifles and revolvers. Some of them do have pistols but still they are of no match to the AK-47s and the HK MP-5 carried by the terrorists.

ii. It was due to this that over 100 RPF personnel found it difficult to combat the terrorists at CST as they had SLRs which were no match for AK-47 rifles of the terrorists. It is not that they did not give their best; it’s that they were plainly outdone.

iii. It was due to the lack of good arms that a sub inspector bravely shot at the terrorists with his service revolver and was killed in the retaliatory fire.

iv. Scenes outside the Taj Hotel showed the policemen wearing no head protection but only bulletproof jackets and armed with only pistols!

v. If the ruling powers provide the police with modern arms and in sufficient quantity then such instances can be controlled and the terrorists neutralized quicker.

vi. Moreover, good equipment like smoke grenades, CS gas canisters, flash bangs and good night vision goggles must also be provided.

· Good surveillance and monitoring equipment:

i. As of now, major cities in India have limited visibility as regards to surveillance. Limited visibility implies less units of CCTV cameras or other cameras. We should provide maximum possible visibility to our policemen and other agencies so that their jobs become easier and they are not dependent on manpower only.

2. It was reported by many MARCOS and NSG that they had no plans of the targeted buildings available and hence had to move around and absorb the details and adapt to the environment while at the same time rescuing the hostages and neutralizing the terrorists while the terrorists knew every nook and cranny of the buildings. There is a simple solution to that will help our brave soldiers to plan well and take on the terrorists even more efficiently.

· The government should make it mandatory for all builders and constructors to file their building plans and layouts which should be stored in a common repository accessible to all security agencies. Of course these plans will be stored on a database which will be backed up daily. Traditional methods of storing hard copies should be done away with as they not only waste manpower but also occupy unnecessary space.

· A system should be developed which will enable to store the plans according to various categories of buildings like heritage sites, residential, commercial etc.

· Whenever a situation arises then the concerned security force should be able to access this repository and retrieve the plans. Once the layout has been obtained then planning an operation will be a lot easier as the commandos will already know the layout of the building.

3. The job done by the media in covering the events was really commendable. The media has greatly assisted the governing bodies in the announcement of special emergency phone lines which enabled the troubled citizens in contacting their loved ones. If there was any need for blood at any blood bank then the media was at the forefront requesting donations and thus helped in saving many lives. Moreover, their constant coverage of the incidents and on goings was greatly useful to the people. However, unknowingly one mistake was committed by the media and also the police.

· The media was closely covering each and every move of the police, MARCOS and NSG but somehow the police and the media failed to realize that this coverage could be seen by the terrorists from inside the Taj, Oberoi or Nariman House on television sets. By doing this the terrorists could anticipate the moves of the security forces and make the job of hostage rescue and terrorist elimination more difficult.

· It would be utterly wrong on my part to blame the media for the casualties that took place but such close coverage should be avoided in future so that we do not give a chance to the terrorists to gain an upper hand anywhere, anytime during the battle.

This according to me can be done to improve the fighting power of the police force. Also I am sure these observations will be helpful if in future a special team of the police is developed on the grounds of SWAT.

They say nothing is impossible and I do believe that. We come from the land were people have been making the impossible possible. Ours is the land where a thin and simple man wearing a towel around his waist drove away the mighty British. Ours is the land of Shivaji Maharaj, who built a kingdom out of nothing and successfully fought three big empires. Ours is the land of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose who suffered exile just to build an army that would liberate India from the British shackles. Ours is the land where a supercomputer, Param was built indigenously when the USA refused to provide us their supercomputer.

I believe that in the land of these great men we can do anything if we stand together. Remember United We Stand, Divided we fall.

This work by Pranjal A. Wagh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.