Play it again, Sam!

Well, as many of u know, I am a complete movie-buff, to the extent that i keep on collecting quotes from movies I love. Compiling here some quotes from my all-time favourite Hollywood movies. If anybody has anything to add, will be happy to pile them along:)

1. Forrest Gump:
Jenny Curran: "Do you ever dream, Forrest, about who you're gonna be?"
Forrest Gump: "Who I'm gonna be?"
Jenny Curran: "Yeah"
Forrest Gump: "Aren't, aren't I going to be me?"

XXX
Principal:"Your boy's... different, Miz Gump. His IQ's 75."
Mrs. Gump: "Well, we're all different, Mr. Hancock."

2. Casablanca:
Ilsa: "But what about us?"
Rick: "We'll always have Paris. We didn't have, we, we lost it until you came to Casablanca. We got it back last night."
Ilsa: "When I said I would never leave you?"
Rick: "And you never will"

XXX
Rick: “Of all the gin joints in the town, she walks into mine”

3. The Bridge on the River Kwai:
Col. Nicholson: "One day the war will be over. And I hope that the people that use this bridge in years to come will remember how it was built and who built it. Not a gang of slaves, but soldiers, British soldiers, Clipton, even in captivity."

4. The Scent of a Woman:
Lt. Col. Slade: "Oh, uh, Charlie- about your little problem- there are two kinds of people in this world: those who stand up & face the music, and those who run for cover. Cover is better."

5. The Road to Peridition:
"There are only murderers in this room, Michael! Open your eyes! This is the life we choose, the life we lead. And there is only one guarantee: none of us will see heaven."

6. The Sound of Music:
The Baroness: "You're far away. Where are you?"
Captain von Trapp: "In a world that's disappearing, I'm afraid."

7.Gone with the Wind:
Capt. Rhett Butler: "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn”

8. Top Gun:
Maverick:“I feel the need. The need of Speed”

9. A Few Good Men:
Col. Nathan R. Jessep: "Son, we live in a world that has walls and those walls need to be guarded by men with guns. Who's gonna do it? You? You, Lieutenant Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago and curse the Marines; you have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know: that Santiago's death, while tragic, probably saved lives and that, my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves lives ."

And yeah, Can this list be complete without this movie?

10. The Godfather:
Micheal: "My father is no different than any powerful man, any man with power, like a president or senator"
Kay Adams: "Do you know how naive you sound, Michael? Presidents and senators don't have men killed."
Micheal: "Oh. Who's being naive, Kay?"

XXX
Don Corleone: "I have made him an offer he can't refuse."

XXX
Don Corleone: "I never wanted this for you. I work my whole life - I don't apologize - to take care of my family, and I refused to be a fool, dancing on the string held by all those bigshots. I don't apologize - that's my life - but I thought that, that when it was your time, that you would be the one to hold the string. Senator Corleone; Governor Corleone. Well, it wasn't enough time, Michael. It wasn't enough time."
Michael: "We'll get there, pop. We'll get there."

Gavyatra....

Yeah, I have been again missing from the blog scene (this missing act has become too much of a regularity though). I have just had the most incredible two weeks of my life. A time to practice what I preach, so as to speak. After harping on the necessity of financing the grassroots in my earlier blogs, it was time to hit the road & actually assess the impact of micro-finance in the grassroots. And so we did- penetrating the heart of rural India. An India most of us have heard only in Amrita Pritam/Premchand books or seen in Shyam Benegal movies.

The ABN AMRO India Foundation gave 15 of us the opportunity to study the impact of microfinance on the beneficiaries (rural women), through one of its MFI partners CASHPOR India (Cash & Savings for the Hardcore Poor) which has its major operations in UP & Bihar hinterland. And so, 15 of us from the length & breadth of ABN AMRO offices aided by 7 local boys acting as interpreters, gathered in Varanasi to cover approximately 25 villages across 4 districts of UP- Varanasi, Mirzapur, Ghazipur & Chandauli.

It was an experience by itself getting up at 5 am most of the days, hitting the road by 6, traveling through dusty, cold roads, walking through muck filled kaccha roads, finding houses spread apart over 10 kms, facing lack of sanitation facilities, eating invariably Rotis and Aaloo-Gobi sabzi in roadside Dhabas and above all grappling with Bhojpuri & Khadi dialects spoken in the region. Really a world apart for a true-blue townie like me. But boy, did we ever relish this experience...beautiful countryside, refreshing pollution-free air and above all warmth seeping through the simplicity of the village people. And all through-out we had Mother Ganges to guide us through our journey!

Village tableau

Interviewing the people was an altogether amazing experience…at some places the village folk assumed us to be representatives of Electricity dept collecting bills! But once these people heard the name of Cashpor India & were made to understood that they were not being interrogated for any financial reasons, they were only happy to help. These people are really amazing: loss of livestock is a far monumental problem than death of children in the family. Most of the people struggle to earn 60 Rs. Per diem, but don’t think twice before spending lacs of rupees on weddings/death in the family (mostly through borrowing from the moneylender on interest rates as high as 15% per month!). We met both sets of people: prosperous villagers supplementing their seasonal agricultural income with various industries started with money borrowed from Cashpor- Animal Husbandry, Saree weaving, Grocery stores, etc & also the poorest of the poor lot; people who could barely feed their children because of illness, loss of livestock, effect of flood/draught. But what stuck us the most was the ever-present smile & the warm welcome accorded to us wherever we went. I can truly say that inspite of being poor, these people are far richer than us in the happiness quotient.

It was a revelation to understand the implications of micro-finance. For a corporate banker, a small ticket loan of 20,000 would be something unimaginably insignificant. For a city-bred person 20,000 would mean monthly shopping expense. But for a villager 20,000 Rs would mean annual income for his huge family. And therein lies the whole difference. But it would be really churlish to ignore the commercial aspects of the microfinance business, especially the almost non-existent NPAs. And I could actually see why. The self-respect and discipline micro-finance has installed in these people is a phenomenon seen to be believed. It was really heartening to see women walking as far as 10 kms every week to their centre, whatsoever weather, ailment, financial disaster etc to repay their weekly loan instalment. The seriousness by which these women swear their commitment for repayment in their concluding meeting prayer is an absolutely heart-touching experience.

Microfinance clients

Many things left us completely stunned, speechless. Here we could understand the true implications of the social problems of the country. For eg a family we visited in Mirzapur had 21 children, but even they were stumped in actually counting the no. of children in the family and where they are located! Child marriage is extremely prevalent here with the system of ‘Gauna’ practiced rampantly- in which the girl is married off at a very tender age but resides at her parental home till 15-16 yrs of age. But the severest problem we encountered was the caste divide. When finding out the location of a particular family, we would face difficulties on account of the fact that the villagers would be ignorant of families of another “Biradar” (caste). Imagine living in a small village for decades altogether, still not knowing the other residents because of the caste divide. But certain things made us smile too…people may/may not have electricity in their huts, but onething you would find frequently is- a mobile phone! Another incident which put a smile on my face was a household I encountered which was not educating their daughter, but was sending their young 15 yr old daughter-in-law to college…truly something really appreciable in these parts.

The RBS Team along with the local student-guides

The team had loads of fun too…by far the funniest of the lot were the evergoing discussions on differences between a ‘Cow, Buffalo, Bullock & Ox’ and ‘Tattoo nd Khacchar’. Boy, the theories surrounding the demystification had everybody in splits. (Ahem. Anybody interested in knowing the same can contact me off-the-line). Also a visit to the holy city of Varanasi is incomplete without a visit to Kashi Vishwanath temple, seeing the Ganga Arati on the Dashashvamedh Ghat nd the majestic Buddhist seat of Sarnath. I had my share of embarrassing moments too. When I was interviewing a lady, I found that there was a crowd of 25-30 people observing the whole interview keenly. When I asked what was going on, the lady’s son replied cheekily “Madam, sab aapko dekhne aaye hai” That point of time, I really could empathize with the tiger kept in a zoo peered at by everybody! But the crown..err.. has to go to the Bhojpuri songs I encountered on the trip. “Saniya Mirza Dhoniya pe chance mare re” takes the cake, hands down!!!

The Ganga ghats awash in lights

Buddha's shrine in Sarnath

An image which will stay with me forever is the swaying yellow tinged Mustard crop in the dew-laden sepia-tinged morning. Reminded of those famous Daffodil words:

“For oft when on my couch I lie,
In a pensive or a vacant mood,
They flash upon the inward eye,
Which is the bliss of solitude”

This image will be the one which will always remain with me whenever I think of my incredible Varanasi sojourn.

A random thought!

Why the hell does it happen that whenever I think 'Ke Boss, isse bura kuch ho nahi sakta hai?', I am always proved wrong...Does this mean I should stop thinking altogether or stop being optimistic. Any answers please???

A tale of a city

Yeah..i know. Have been missing myself from the blogging scene for a looong time. And not because of paucity of ideas either. More like a lack of inclination to do something more strenuous than moving the mouse after I come back from office. As I read it somewhere today: 'I am not lazy, just an effort minimalist'. Ahem. However something happened yesterday which rused me from my self-imposed effort minimization process and led to a serious chain of thoughts which i wanted to share with all of you guys. This article is an emotional soliloquy on my experiences in the city. Plz bear with the long post.

My city- Mumbai. A love affair which began 24 yrs ago and continues strongly till date. People who live here have either of the 2 opinions- either they love it or they hate it. But love it or hate it, u just can’t ignore Mumbai. The city keeps on constantly reminding you at every turn, at every nukkad, at every by-lane that u are part of a culture which has a soul of its own. An interesting pot-pourri of difft cultures but still unique on a standalone basis.

I have traveled extensively in India over the last couple of yrs. As a rule I never compare cities because each city has a fabric woven with the hopes, aspirations and dreams of so many people calling it their home. I have worked with many out-of-townies whose favourite past time is berating the city. And I often don’t react to their criticism bcoz sometimes it is well-justified. But you don't have any option right?

Yeah, sometimes the city gets to me as well. Sometimes I feel throttled by the fast paced life. Sometimes I feel like running away from the crowd. Yes, I hate traveling through a crowded train without even leg-space to stand; but everytime I travel home at 12.30 am from work & I see a big crowd in the ladies compartment I feel grateful. Yes, I hate traveling on bumpy roads, but everytime I feel the wind messing up my hair as I drive around Marine Drive or Palm Beach drive, I feel my spirits too rising up. Yes, I hate the huge waiting list outside a restaurant on weekends; yet when I am assured of a good meal at even 2 am in the night anywhere in the city, I have no cause for complaints.Yes, I hate the huge crowd of vehicles waiting ahead of me at a traffic signal when I am getting late for work, but then everytime I see people getting down from vehicles and taking the mantle of directing traffic through flooded lanes or when the city is rocked by serial-blasts, I feel happy about the spirit of the people in the city. Such is my life. Such is my city.

But now the spirit of the city has got eroded. And it is indeed surprising that it took few people with vested interests to bring a city of this magnitude to its heels. Yesterday, while returning home from a nearby mall with my Dad, I faced the first-hand experience of the unrest in the minds of people. My rickshawwaala was stopped at a police check-naka and asked for his papers and the fact why he was not wearing the uniform mandated by the Govt. Fair enough. But when my driver made the feeble excuse of his uniform being given for washing, the havaldar asked, “Kyu, kapde kya Laloo ke gaav mein bheja hai kya dhoneko?” & confiscated his license after giving him a hard slap. While all this was happening, we saw another rickshawwaala being caught on a similar pretext but who managed to drive away scot-free after pressing a 20 Rs. Note in the hands of the havaldar. In response to my query why he didn’t do the same, my rickshawdriver said “Kaun pakdega usse memsaab, wo to Marathi hai. Hum se to kam se kam 100 Rs lega. 20 saal ho gaya hai Bambai mein rickshaw chala rahe hu, par fir bhi aajkal roj Mumbai mein rehne ke liye jhunjna padta hai”. Me and Dad were completely flabbergasted to see how the people supposedly responsible for the law and order in the city were using divisive elements to mint money.

For the first time in my life, I felt ashamed of being a Mumbaikar.

Woh Kaagaz ki Kashti....

Her majesty, Royal princess Ananya has deigned to pay us a visit in her Diwali holidays. And as usual, she has left it upto her maasi to design new ways of entertaining her. Me and AD (my cousin) took her to Crosswords yesterday where we were fortunate enough to spy on the 'Jungle Book' VCDs. And so home came the warriors, having conquered HRH's boredom for atleast the next day or so.

Yesterday nght over some sweet-corns nd cornflakes, we sat down to watch the movie. And immediately on hearing the song 'Jungle jungle baat chali hai....', i was transported back to the good old days of my childhood. When Sunday morning was the time to catch up with those eagerly awaited toons on DD- 'Junglebook, Ducktales & Tailspin'. I remembered the old man who was undergoing reverse ageing and used to distribute stories out of his 'Potli Baba Ki'. When summer holidays meant playing badminton & carrom the whole day and in-between catching the 3.30 pm shows of 'He-man: Master of the Universe'. When the on-set of the rains meant making paper-boats and dancing on the terrace in the first showers. When winter meant making new ploys on winning the neighbourhood kite-flying competition. When Mom had to literally drag me away from my buddies at dinner time. When the only worry was how to destroy the kite of the neighbourhood bully!

Then came Cable-TV. And i grew on the daily dosage of 'I dream of Jeannie', 'Different Strokes' & 'Bewitched'. My first crush: Capt. Anthony Nelson of 'I dream of Jeannie'. And yeah, not to forget the taklu who used to make participants run & play for money in 'The Crystal Maze'.

Thanks Ananya, for making me relive my childhood again, albeit fleetingly. How I miss those serials! How I wish those days were back!

Monty is back!!

Yup, I DARED it...i actually went and saw Karzzz in a movie theatre. Now, I profess..i am no HR fan, infact nothing can be more to the contrary! So when I told a couple of my colleagues yest that I am actually gonna watch the movie, everybody thought i had Finally lost it, COMPLETELY! But the whole credit goes to my friend V...He was the guy who managed to convince 11 (seemingly!) sane people to actually go and watch Himesh Reshammiya's cost cutting exercise (well, he himself was the hero, singer and music director..3 at the price of 1!) Vaise I went, kyuki mera bet laga tha V ke saath...ke if I don't enjoy the movie, i could wring his neck..how could I have given up such a golden oppurtunity? :)

Yeah, coming back to the movie...the plot, characters, antiquated dialogues of the Original Karz remain the same..the scene has just shifted from India to the exotic locales of Cape Town and Nigeria...Pity though, the same couldn't be said about the songs...I mean just imagine the 'Om Shanti Om' song going something like ' Shamon Seher mera Rom Rom; kare Hari Om, Hari Om' and u will get the drift....

So, u have Dino Morea killed by his newly-wed wife Urmila (she looks really gorgeous!) and reborn 26 yrs later (there is some confusion over this statistic)... as the crooning rockstar Monty, apno dikro Himes...making the goras swoon and the gals faint, (literally!) to his songs in Cape Town (poor Dino, i mean if he really knew that he was gonna be reborn as HR, i think he would have preferred not to die). Nyways the plot proceeds wth HR the gr8, falling in love wth a gal (the heroine looks reaaally dumb) and proposing to her by singing from a helicopter (nonetheless!) Suddenly he remembers his pichla janam and also the fact that he had a mother and a sister (scope for corny dialogues..sample this:)

HR: 'Maa, mein aa gaya hu ...'
Mother: 'Mera beta aa gaya hai...abb main chain se so sakti hu'
Audience: 'What the hell!!!!!!!'

But the ULTIMATE dialogue of the movie is by a character-named Julie, a bikini-clad babe, going to HR and crooning: 'Hi, handsome!'. I almost fell out of my chair, laughing over this one! Wait a minute, just remembered another gem...HR's friend meeting him supposedly after a long time and asking, 'Dude, where's ur TOPI?'

Okie..Yeah..the plot again...so after discovering that he was actually killed by his wife, HR now goes on a revenge-taking spree...In between, u have Danny as the effable Kabir Chacha (played by Pran in the original) supported by two sidekicks who keep on repeating inane dialogues from famous Hindi movies...And boy HR actually, has guts! In one scene, the characters spout a dialogue from his earlier flick Aapka Suroor and credit the dialogue saying "Aapka Suroor, 2006, Himesh Reshammiya, SUPER-HIT" Go get a life, Kid!

But the ultimate scene in the movie has to be its climax; damn what a scene! Abhinav Bindra beware, u have a serious new competitor in Urmila...i mean can u imagine anybody driving a plane with one hand and shooting at a person running on the ground, SIMULTANEOUSLY and actually managing to hit the target, not once but thrice! Hats-off! And not to leave HR behind...he actually takes a piece of his torn T-shirt and manages to burn-down Urmila's plane using that...In another shot, he actually kicks a villian after jumping 60 ft in the air. Marvel of physics, boss! (P.S. I seriously think Rajnikant would have been really proud of HR)

So therein ends a great movie...Rishi Kapoor would commit suicide if he ever saw this movie. And as far as my fore-mentioned bet with V goes, he escaped on the grounds of technicality: the bet was that I would wring his neck, if I didn't enjoy the movie..unfortunately no mention of 'not liking' the movie. To be fair, we THOROUGHLY enjoyed Karzzz; rather we enjoyed passing comments on everything! I can't think of a movie wherein i have laughed so much (except maybe, Tashan). And for that matter..its complete Paisa-vasool!!

[P.S: For Vvvv (KarZzz ishtyle)...yeaaahhhh, I came up wth my review first...lemme c, how u will match this on ur blog! :) ]

Follow Thy Dreams...

"I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly, because you tread on my dreams.”

These words of William Butler Yeats always put me in a melancholic mood. When we are down and out; when we become extremely vulnerable with our dealings with the world, it is the dream of something to achieve, which keeps us alive; egging us to move ahead in life. Once we get over the initial fear of the unknown, we gradually become accustomed to follow the only course of action available to us: follow our dreams. Having courage to dreaming what we want in an extremely unenviable position, is the only way of showing our trust in God. Something which I believe in a lot : 'The magic of dreams'.

But then, these lines question us...When do we feel safe to capitulate these dreams to another? To give others a power of walking on them- knowing this can make or break our life. Is it really worth giving others the power to do so? Or should your own dreams be something kept to yourself- protected & nourished in the embers of your heart, lest they are invaded, ransacked and made to wilt? And if indeed it has to be given to others, how do we recognise the people who will nurture our dreams for us?

When do we confidently say, “I have spread my dreams under your feet” knowing that that “other” will tread softly upon them?

Love Futures & the US marriage market

First things first, a disclaimer- Guys, plz take this article with a strong dollop of humour. No offenses intended!

Thats what everybody in my group is talking about these days- 1. Markets & 2. Marriage. Well, the first topic is an occupational hazard...u just cant stop talking about it, especially in the current times. The second, well every single female (and some guys too) in my batch has been facing some heat at the home-front about their marriage-plans. So almost everybody is exchanging their tales of woe- one way or the other. But guess, we guys are so used to make money out of everything, even marriage as an area of possibly minting some money doesn't seem far-fetched :-) (P.S. The marriage mall idea i had mentioned in an earlier blog arose from one such merger of the two...)

Take another example of my conversation with AM the other day. Like me, AM is a Chartered & a banker. She is a sweetheart, a true-blue friend & about to get engaged. With the virtue of her having worked in NSE earlier, we were discussing the recently launched currency-futures. The conversation went something like this...

Me: So what do u think, will these futures.....

AM (shrieking): Yeoooouuuuiieeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(Almost sounding like a cross between Celine Dion singing & Tarzan yelling)

Me(panicking): A, what the hell happened? Are u alright?

AM(excitedly): Hey Veekay, guess what, I have a great idea!

Me(non-plussed): Huh??????

AM: Hey, we have so many futures- stock futures, commodity futures, currency futures? U know why- bcoz people think that their movements are a gamble nd they wanna hedge their losses, right!! But u know which is the biggest gamble on earth?

Me: Kya?

AM (more excited than before): Marriage, stupid! What if there were 'Love-futures'? I mean what if somebody could buy or sell assets that pay in proportion to the number of years the love will last in a marriage, say up to some maximum of fifty years.

Me (getting into the scheme of things): And what, if u get married to a person nd then u realise u dont love him?

AM: If the love never starts, you get your money back. Simple!

Great idea...dont u guys think so? :-)

******************************************************************

Another fallout of the ever-deepening mortgage crisis. My another friend PK has decided (wisely, i think!) that all the potential grooms working in the US are not to be considered. To quote her, "these guys are reallly risky assets...U cannot even think about leaving ur jobs here nd moving there bcoz ,
a. frankly u yourself will not find a job,
b. the guy can loose his job anytime too &
c. if he looses his job, both of u will be stuck with a piece of real-estate trash for which u wont be able to afford ur mortgage payments nd plus cant realise money out of disposing the property too. Better stick to the guys in India. Atleast, they will have liquidity'

Superb piece of credit analysis. Wish the mortgage houses & the IB firms had such practical sense too while identifying assets for investment :) :) Hehe, Jus kidding!

Carnage!!

Here it comes...

…my second blog, Finomanics. A blog which purports to touch the tip of the iceberg of the financial & business world. So people actually interested in some amateur finance gyan spawn by Yours Truly & Yogesh, can view it on http://www.finomanics.blogspot.com

Readers having more gyan are also invited to collaborate on articles. Happy Reading!

PDA or PDD ???

Yipee...finally thought of something to write about. Dedicated to my good friend DS nd his 'statement of the Day' :-)

Well, this topic stems from the myriad discussions that arose after I had put a status message on my G-talk the other day- 'Too much PDA is a huge put off'. Had all sorts of friends questioning me about my sudden aversion to the obvious love scenes on display in our everyday life.

Every morning I see a young Muslim couple sitting on a bench on Nahur station- cooing, making calf eyes at each other, holding hands, whispering nothing into each others ears; totally oblivious to the stares of the peak-time harried office-going crowd. Some people look patronisingly at the blatantly romantic couple, some frown at them nd others are completey indifferent to their romantic ardour. But today, something different happened. An elderly lady finally decided that enough-is-enough & admonished the couple in front of a big crowd. And the guy had the courage to tell the lady to 'mind her own business'.

You are enjoying the movie but are suddenly distracted by the couple in front of you. They are getting more than frisky and you are uncomfortable for yourself nd the people accompanying you. Public displays of affection (PDA) are rampant just about everywhere. Take a walk to your neighbourhood mall, the local jogger's park, back-seat of a public vehicle or even the road….you see it everywhere. Granted it is the couple's private life nd if they want to put it on exhibition, well, to each one their own....but the moot point is 'How much is too much?' Do we have the right to politely say to them "Guys, cool it!" without risking a cold "Mind your own business?"

Personally, i am put off majorly by 'too much' PDAs. Not that i am a prude, unromantic, cynical person; but somehow the very idea of putting my private life on exhibition for all sundry lascivious eyes is a put-off. Holding hands, an arm around shoulder, a bear hug etc all is fine. The problem arises when the display becomes too sexual. And I am not touching on the topic of societal norms anywhere here. Remember guys, you are still in India, where most people lack the maturity to deal with such situations. I mean, you definately wouldn't want to be in the backseat making out, where u can have the rickshaw driver staring at u with filth-filled eyes, would you?

The most common argument that I encounter against my view-point is that these lovers lack places where they can express their privacy..Agreed, very valid. It may help if some places are ear-marked as 'private zones' without the law-makers butting in their privacy. Maybe the trick lies in striking a balance. That means, not going off limits but not being completely alienated too. Restraint is the name of the game guys! Lawmakers & elders for once can get a little more generous for a change and realise that the world is getting more expressive!

On reading my status message, DS came up with his gem, which had us both rolling with laughter..."Affection is such a good word to be used in PDA and what u see nowadays is much different than 'affection'. It should be called-
PDD- Public Display of Desperation!"

Serendipity

(picture from my private collection)

Stood on the shore yesterday staring afar
The sun settling down for the night,
The remnants of the disappearing pink sky
Casting its silhouette
on the endless queuing mile.

The gentle evening breeze,
Blew tendrils across my face.
Felt the calmness seep into me
Allaying my fears; the longed solace.

Borne from the greyed ripples
Traveling far & yore
The waves- sputtering, burgeoning, rising, falling,
Finally slipping into oblivion,
Beneath my tired sole.

As the dark encroached the horizon,
A thought approached my mind
Now nothing can keep apart
The sea & its beloved, the land.

And I stood there.
Watching the play of nature,
Trying to figure what it means.
And it came to me when I was turning back
The Maker’s greatest creation:
The Serendipity of Life.

How... Interesting!

Believe it or not, these are actually Country Songs' Titles. Verry Interesting, to say the least:

1. Her Teeth Was Stained, But Her Heart Was Pure
2. How Can I Miss You If You Won't Go Away?
3. Just Bought A Car From A Guy That Stole My Girl, But The Car Don't Run, So I Figure We Got An Even Deal
4. Don't Know Whether To Kill Myself Or Go Bowling
5. I'm So Miserable Without You, It's Like Having You Here
6. If I Can't Be Number One In Your Life, Then Number Two On You
7. If I Had Shot You When I Wanted To, I'd Be Out By Now
8. Mama get a hammer (There’s a Fly on Papa’s head!)
9. My Head Hurts, My Feet Stink, and I Don't Love Jesus

And this one takes the Cake:
10. You're The Reason Our Kids Are So Ugly

I had warned u before too...Puhleeze dont kill me for my sense of humour :)

The Death of Romance

Gal- "Kya kar sakte ho mere liye?”
Guy- "Jaan de sakta hu"
Gal- "Bolna aasan hai, iss train se kud paoge?"
Guy- "Haa...station pe rukne do...kud jaunga :-)"

Recognise this? Its a dialogue from the movie Saathiya. I agree that jaan dene ka baat is seriously too crappy. But the whole point is...Where has romance gone? In today's practical world, it definately doesn't pay to be romantic.We're so concerned with getting things done away with, that we forget what Bollywood shows us still exists.

Recently I went to a wedding (typical Brahmin wedding; a love-cum-arranged one, where both the guy & gal are Engineers, living abroad). After the wedding, the guy went back to MIT, where he is pursuing P.H.D; the gal to London where she is doing her Masters. I teasingly asked the groom (my 2nd cousin), how many times had he dated his wife before the wedding? Just twice..came back the serious reply. This is the modern love marriage for you. No one has the time for silly things such like 'spending time together' or putting it romantically 'dates', both before & after marriage. And even if you go out, you're struggling with balancing your moment of free time with the person you care about and your friends, so you're out to dinner or drinks with people and not yourselves. Come to think of it, even traditionally, romance was never expected to play a part in the great institution of Indian Marriage!

Flowers are only given when there's a good chance that someone did something wrong. Not just because. Maybe it's in an effort to be green that we don't stop and just pick a single stem or because we forget that it's a fragrant reminder that someone cares. Maybe it's just because it takes too much time to stop the car and pick one from the roadside-shop. Love letters are long null and void and replaced with shortened SMSes, an abbreviated message of temporary satisfaction that will not be stored in a shoebox for the grand-kids.And its just not about an arranged marriage. Even the love-relations concept has become electronic; the proposal as well as the disposal nowadays comes via the SMS!

The dreaded 4 letter 'L' word has become passe. Many people are wont to express words of commitment or even praise. Feels claustrophobic, they say. Everything has to be 'technical' or 'logical', 'emotions' be damned. Happened with an acquaintance-

Gal-"U know What, I think I love you"
Guy-"I like you"
Gal- "Aren't you in love with me?"
Guy-"Technically speaking, what's the difference?"

I know the conversation is pretty silly. But the point is, do little words still matter? Words like, "I don't want you to go" or "I miss you". Will I come home from work some years hence and find a bouquet of yellow roses (because they're my favorite) declaring "Can't wait to see you"? Not likely, because romance may only exist on the flickering big screen, in Barbara Cartland novels - or better yet, for Rs 250 bought right off your cable box, because you also don't have time to take someone to the movies anymore. Or maybe its time that I stop looking out for romance & become a cynic like others in this rat race.

[ P.S. This article is just a general observation & not meant to pin-point the fallacies of any particular person/gender. No prejudices against anyone. Ready to receive flak for my warped thoughts, though...Bring it on!]

Nuclear Crap!

Well, as things go, there are forwards & there are Forwards. Appropos to my earlier blogpost on nuclear deal, I got a very interesting & apt forward from a colleague. Perhaps it was a very good hint that I shouldn't venture into areas in which I have scarce knowledge. Point duly noted :-)

A stranger was seated next to a little girl on the airplane when the stranger turned to her and said, 'Let's talk. I've Heard that flights go quicker if you strike up a conversation with your fellow passenger.'
The little girl, who had just opened her book, closed it slowly and said to the stranger, 'What would you like to talk about?'
'Oh, I don't know,' said the stranger. 'How about nuclear power?' and he smiles.
'OK,' she said. 'That could be an interesting topic. But let me ask you a question first. A horse, a cow, and a deer all eat the same stuff - grass - .. Yet a deer excretes little pellets, while a cow turns out a flat patty, and a horse produces clumps of dried grass. Why do you suppose that is?'
The stranger, visibly surprised by the little girl's intelligence, thinks about it and says, 'Hmmm, I have no idea.'
To which the little girl replies, 'Do you really feel qualified to discuss nuclear power when you don't know shit?

Left Right Left!

It is the end of the marriage of convenience. Day before yesterday when news filtered in that the Left had decided to withdraw its support to the UPA government, it was hardly a surprise to most people. Some expected the stock market to tank immediately, but then the market had been quietly gearing itself up for the upcoming political changes for the past few days & acted as resolutely as could be reasonably expected. Had spoken to many market players both before & after the support-withdrawal & indeed, many were of the view that the breakup of the marriage with the Left was the best thing to have happened & the stock market would have been bullish even had their had been no support from the SP & the UPA had had fallen; such was the negative impact of the Left ideology over the industry & markets (I myself can’t think of a single constructive contribution of the Left to the Govt in the last 4 years, apart from criticizing the various policies advocated by the Congress). Kudos to the Congress for finally finding some guts to stick to its guns amidst so much flak over the perceived Americanization of the 123 nuclear deal & the potential fallout of the Hyde Amendment.

Yesterday, had a very spirited discussion with my colleagues ‘A’ & ‘H’, over the role of Left in Indian politics, at lunch hour. More specifically, the topic was ‘Do we really need a Left to safeguard public interest?’. My colleagues were of the opinion that given the demographics of the country, we would never be able to completely banish the leftist ideology from the country, since most of the policies framed since independence have a pro-bono angle to them.'H' went ahead to say that had their had been no Left, the rich-poor gap in the country would have been worser than what it is right now. Agreed. But the moot point over here is does the traditional stance of the Left really hold ground in the bigger picture? Moreso its policy to resolutely oppose anything which takes India forward. (The opposition of the divestment, the opening up of FDI in telecom, aviation sectors, SEZ policy all boil down to the same thing, doesn't it?). Can India & more specifically, the poorer section really advance, if the Govt heeds to Left advise & the industrial progress is slowed down?

The left in India has resolutely followed a single policy...to oppose anything related to America, irrespective of the fact whether it is beneficial to the country or not. Global Warming & Energy conservation issues be darned. The 123 nuclear agreement is very important to India; the whole world & its aunty knows it. Already the stand taken by India as not to be a signatory to the NPT is a sore point wth the west. Considering the dangerous neighbours India has, it has no option but to ally itself with the powers who can reign them in, unless & until it wants total political isolation; something which India has already experienced disastrously during the Cold War. Even the Chinese Communists know that for their future survival, they will have to look with increasing favour towards the West. And in this scenario, the inability of the Indian Left to deviate from its age-old ideology & think the bigger picture really rankles.

In this context, it makes sense to say 'Good Riddance' to the Left.

The Woman in your life!

Read this extremely poignant post some days back, The woman in your life shared by a truely emancipated thinker in his blog. (Sir, I really mean it!). And have been itching to share it with all since then.


A strong recommendation for all the guys who are about to/want to get married to the new-age working girl. Think about this very pertinent issue!

Going back to the grassroots!

Recently I happened to meet the head of credit of a PSU Bank at a social function in Mumbai. And fortunately for me, got the oppurtunity to speak at length to this extremely learned person about the banking industry. Our discussion invariably turned to the impact of the farm-loan waiver and the difficulties the banks are experiencing in collecting dues from farmers after the announcement of the ambitious scheme. He noted that the banks are facing too much resistance over the loan-repayments from other allied agricultural activities as well as rural-based agro industries' loans , which are feeling left-out from the loan-waiver, as they too are as much (if not more) in red over the agricultural-slow down. The NPAs of the banks are mounting hugely over the cascading effect of the waiver. (Recently,news came that the SBI has decided to put on hold financing of new tractor and farm mechanisation activities.The bank’s NPAs during 2007-8 jumped by Rs 2,800 crore, of which Rs 1,000 crore was on account of farm loans that went bad during the fourth quarter)


I was not at all surprised by the news.The policy makers, instead of finding a long-term solution to the farmer suicides & the supply-chain problem largely ailing the sector, chose a temporary public gimmick to increase the political mileage. Also, another problem ailing the SMEs operating in this sector is the inability of these industries to garner funds from the private funding too...by & far, the main beneficiaries of the SME funding in the country have been the IT & ITES sector. [Like some time ago, Google.org, the Soros Economic Development Fund, and the Omidyar Network announced that they are setting up a firm in India that will invest upto $ 17 million only in small-to-medium businesses.]. However, Angel funds have chosen to remain afar from this industry fearing increased NPAs & losses; contributing to the sectoral disparity among the industry itself over the funding.


The need of the hour is micro-financing. On one-hand we have the huge NPAs faced by the banks & on the other we have got the example of the Vikram Akula led-SKS Microfinace, which has shown us that sustainable & judicious use of funds in this sector can yield excellent results to the investors in this sector.In the last year alone, SKS Microfinance has achieved nearly 170 % growth(Huh!), with 99% on-time repayment rate.And that too with a mandate of $579 million (Rs 2313 crores) and loans outstanding of $263 million. [courtesy:http://www.sksindia.com/background.htm]. I can hardly think of any other sector delivering such excellent results to their investors. Proves that going back to the grassroots pays too, literally!

Happy B'day, Addy!

Well, it's May 30th again. Time to raise a toast & wish my best friend Adwait Ranade (Addy to all his friends) a verry happy bday. Here it goes:

A toast to this great lump of a person...Should I call u a philosophical doctor or a philosopher who also sometimes wore the garb of a doctor! Friend extraordinaire, amazing son & my soul-brother..Nd above all a great human being...Confused, exasperating, jovial...A friend who taught me how to enjoy simple things in life...Nd also made me do lots of bowling while playing cricket (buddy, u still owe me lots of batting turns).

Thanks for everything, buddy...Wishing u a very happy Bday from the whole gang...Nd a big MISS U.... I am sure, u must be flirting with all the lovely nymphs & playing cricket with the angels in Heaven...

...whenever u find time to come out of your philosophical discussions with God, that is!!!

Mumbai Blues-I

Heard this very interesting story last week. Made me really question my own goals in life.

On the Juhu beach, an young ascetic was relaxing, stretching himself out. A passer-by noticed & asked," While everyone else is rushing around & working, why are you lying down doing nothing?"

The sage asked," What is the use of working?"
"To earn money, of course!", came the reply.
"And what if I work & get money...?"
"You will get all the comforts of life..."
"If I get all the comforts...?"
"You can relax & remain idle!"

And the ascetic replied with a smile,"Well, right now, I am doing the same thing, aren't I?"

The story somehow reminded me of an old Ghazal lyrics -

Seene mein jalan, ankhon mein tufan sa kyu hai?
Is sheher mein har shaks, pareshan sa kyu hai?

Kya koi ajeeb baat nazar aati hai hummein,
Aaina humein dekhke hairan-sa kyu hai?

Dungeons & Dragons!

Somebody asked me yesterday conversationally,"Hey, U still read Harry Potter na?? Escaping from reality, Veekay?" And that made me think....

Every child lives in his own magical world, a world full of enchanting princess, of dragons & dungeons galore. He hears stories of mighty kings, blood-thirsty knights, of the wicked witch, of evil stepmothers & of the prince-charming. And starts believing in the idiom, "Burai par hamesha sacchai ki jeet hoti hai !"
'Happies Endings?'

As time erodes & reality creeps in, he realises that the world he lived in is a make-believe world. An Utopia. An illusion.

In real world, good may always not triumph over the evil.
In real world, prince-charming may always not come to the rescue of the princess.
In real world, it is not always possible to unchackle the chains of the dungeons.
In real world, there are no knights-in-shining armour battling ur demons for u. U have to battle ur own demons.

The child then starts thinking that ours is an age past frontiers, past adventures. The mysticism is lost; lost along with innocence of childhood.

However, if u dare to keep aside the cloak of realism wrapped around ur eyes, u realise that the mysticism still exists though forms have changed. Dragons wear political-outfits & terrorism-suits today. Society's demons have taken the form of nepotism, hypocrisy & bureaucracy. The evil witch roars in the altruistic form of reservations for difft sections including the so-called "minority" & the "weaker sex".This is really like a playground bully going to the principle to get the really smart kid in the class punishment, because she studied and did better on the last test than he did..

But along wth this mystic evil, real life princesses, prince charming & knights also exist; however, even they have been so blinded by the appearances in this crafty, indifferent world, that they themselves need to be convinced of their own powers.

Yet sometimes, in this jaded world, there are some who have realised the truth, who make us believe that we still can wield the 'Excalibur', which can help us change the world as we wish.

All is not Lost; the magic still exists. We are magic!!

Role Models, Anyone???

‘Please name one person you consider as your Role Model’, so went one of our lecturers in a GMCS session held last month. And won’t believe it, there were some pretty amazing answers being circulated amongst a batch of 80 professionals. Apart from the usual to be expected ‘my parents’, Sachin Tendulkar or some filmstar Name responses, there were some pretty wacky ones too…right from MS Dhoni, Atif Aslam to (of all the people) Himesh Reshamiyya (reason- he makes optimum utilisation of all his natural resources, read- his nose) & height of heights, the ghost Manjulika from Bhool Bhulaiyya (reason- Good eye contact!!!!) The people who say that CAs are a serious lot lacking a sense of humour, should seriously have their heads examined or atleast, attend a GMCS class!

Well, amongst this crowd, there was one person who didn’t have any answer…If the prof would have asked me (she didn’t; thankfully), she would have drawn a blank. I tried hard that day to name one person as my role model, a person whose life I would wish to imitate & I suddenly found, that I liked being ME…accepting all my faults, foibles, my insensitivities. Much as I love my Mom, I can’t be like her. Call it my arrogance, ego, impertinence, Devil-may-care attitude or Whatever…Can’t imagine living any other person’s life!

And from that day, hearing those answers, questioning myself & others ‘Do Role Models still have relevance in this world?’ Can Filmstars, Cricketers, Businessmen be really called as role-models? Recently there was an issue when SRK was seen smoking while watching a cricket match…and somebody remarked that he should not smoke in public b’coz he was a role-model to millions. Agreed that the guy is good at what he does, but that does not mean that he should be expected to live an exemplary life in his personal space too…He is as humane as the rest of us & people should not forget it. The very premise of putting celebrities on a pedestal is really questionable: their real and reel lives seem to merge in to volatile heady cocktails of fear of unknown failures & of various romances of conveniences, centered on narcissism and hedonism.

There are many others who don’t go for the celebrity prototypes. These people seek out role models who exemplify the things they want to be and accomplish in life. For some it is people who stood their ground when others were willing to cave to convenience or peer pressure. For e.g. take the case of Vikram Akula, a guy single-handedly responsible for changing the financial face of many Indian villages. We may admire such people, but do we need to model our entire life on them. We forget that we are but admiring a particular facet of their personality. These people may have done many mistakes in their own lives, which we may not come to know of it anyways, because people choose to glorify what they like to read or see & not, what they don’t like. Here we are forgetting that life itself is not about Blacks or Whites, life is mainly Gray!

At the risk of sounding too sermonious, I really think that it’s okay to dream about others but an thorough education about our own potentials will open up more doors and lead us onto more paths than being in this fish bowl that these celebrity people call a life…As a slogan on my T-shirt proclaims-

I don’t have Any influences,
Any heroes;

It’s Just ME!

In search of Peace

This is something I found today in my old diary. Some words penned down at a particular point of time. Can't call it a poem, neither a prose, not even a lyric. Just some random thoughts...

I often think..What exactly is peace??
Is it something which we find only in happiness
Or can we find it in sorrow too??
Where shall i seek peace? Or will it find me?

Is it necessary to go to a temple to find it
Or could it be found in the teardrop of somebody's contended eye
Is it necessary to donate money to others,
Or can it be found by fulfilling wants of people we call our own
Can peace be found by seeing others making their farms lushly abundant,
Or could it be found in the sweat of our own brow seeping in the mother earth.

Can peace be found in the appreciation of the peers,
Or can it be found in the blessings of your elders
Can it be found in the the great emptiness of the oceans
Or in the lilting echoes of the mountains.
Can it be found in the embrace of a lover
or could it be sought amongst a child's joyous peels

And I found a answer that I already knew
Peace can be anywhere & how
Yes, It is present when I close my eyes,
But most of all, it is present, when I open my heart.

Optimum Utilisation of Resources!!

Appropos to my earlier blog post "Dare to be different", I have got many friends calling me up & telling me that I should be the first person to start practising what I preach. Point noted. That set my thinking wheels in motion (Uh-huh!). So, in addition to a hobby which I am good at (some may know that!), I am thinking of other possible areas, where my natural instincts lie & which will earn me great moolah too...Here are some thoughts that came to my mind:

1. My friend Shubhangi & me hit upon a great idea in bus one day, while travelling to our office. We were thinking on the lines of opening a 'Marriage Mall' which will be a one-stop place to cater to all needs of the public- rght from planning minute details of the marriage, to the actual ceremony to even post-marriage formalities. We have infact also come up wth an innovative promotional scheme, Ek marriage aur Ek Divorce par (provided offcourse, both conducted through us) Doosri Shaadi, absolutely free!!
How this innovative scheme came about..Don't ask me, that itself is a long story...Suffice to say it stemmed from our collective realisation, Ke Boss, India mein kuch aur beeke, na beeke, Shaadi always sells!! (somebody is going to beat me for this!). Ahem.. we have the entire management team & project report in place, are there any Private Equity investors reading my blog???

2. Talking about marriage, I have got another Plan B (an ace) up my sleeve, if plan A doesnt work out. I am thinking about opening a marriage bureau. This I think goes along wth my brilliant track-record, ke Aaj-tak kisi bhi friend ko jiske saath chidhaya hai, usi ke saath uska fix ho gaya (A pat on my own back for my instinctive genius!)
P.S. 1- I am not kidding, manyof my 'committed' friends will vouch for this
2- Never mind the fact, that my own score in this dept is thankfully zero.

3. Don't think I think only about marriage, I have got another great idea (Actually that's my another friend Urvi's idea for myself) ....To start a HR consultancy firm. Well, for the last few weeks, I have been trying to search for a good job profile for myself & also find a replacee for my current position. And in the process, have contacted so many people & promised so many tall promises, that I led Urvi to suggest this idea. (P.S. I am still trying to find an CA I.T. replacee in my profile, interested people Puh-leeze contact me)

4. If any of the above don't work, i still have a Plan D...Going for teaching...Well, maine logon pe itne bhashan jhaade hai, ke almost everybody thinks that I will be a gud teacher (Never mind the plight of the poor students!) Hey wait a sec...Doesn't this criterion apply to a Politician toooo...
Now that's another gr8 idea....

So what do u thnk will work for me!!

How One Thing Can Contain Everything

A beautiful concept-

A meeting in the house of a Sao Paulo born painter based in New York. We are talking about angels & about alchemy. At one point, I try to explain to the other guests the alchemical idea that each of us contains the entire universe & that we are, therefore, individually responsible for its well-being. I struggle to find the right words, but cannot come up with a good image that will explain my point of view.

The painter who has been listening in silence, asks everyone to look out of the window of his studio.
'What can you see?' he asks.
'A street in Greenwich Village,' someone replies.
The painter sticks a piece of paper over the window so that the street can no longer be seen; then, with a penknife, he cuts a small square in the paper.
'And if someone were to look through this hole, what would he see?'
'The same street' comes the reply.

The painter cuts several squares in the paper.
'Just as each of these holes contains within it the whole view of the same street, so each of us contains in our soul the same universe.'

And all of us applaud the lovely image he has found.

(Excerpt from the truly wonderful book 'Like the flowing River' by Paulo Coelho).

Dare to be Different !

Right now, I am in the midst of a very important phase of my life...The process of job-hunting. More precisely, the term should be 'profile-hunting'. I must say, this has been the most hectic three weeks of my life; what with juggling between GMCS, post-GMCS evening shift office, interviews, campus orientation & a trip to Matheran. Phew!!

Speaking of job-hunting & career, a very important question plaguing my l'il cousin these days is choosing a right career. Being a very intelligent science student, she has a choice between 2 paths; going for a career traditionally considered viable or going in an hitherto uncommon arena.She called me up yesterday with her dilemma; her parents are forcing her to go for the first, she herself would prefer the second. I listened to her patiently, then asked her whether she really needed my opinion.Maybe I sound rude, but honestly, I thought at that time, my cousin had made up her mind in favour of the first option, she just needed someone to reiterate that she was doing the correct thing...Which unfortunately I couldn't agree upon.

Is this something peculiar to my cousin? No, I think it happens to almost everyone. Sometimes we are so attached to our way of life, that we turn down a wonderful opportunity simply because we don't know what to do with it. Every person believes he should get a professional degree, have a successful career, get married, so on & so on. Does anybody ask themselves, "Can I be different?"

Most of my friends today have a professional degree to their name, but does it mean everybody is doing a job of their choice? Definately not. Some got a degree, because at the time of enrolling somewhere people said, in order to rise in this world you need this degree. And thus the world was deprived of some excellent gardeners, commercial artists, writers, sculpters etc. And that is the problem with the entire educational system in India. Perhaps, time has come to now review this entire situation.

I'll let these lines by Robert Frost provide a possible solution to this problem (have already quoted this immortal poem in my blog earlier) :-

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

(P.S. Hope my cousin is reading this post. May God give her the strength & the vision to follow what her heart knows is right!)

Budgeting Blues

When I had started writing in this blog, I had promised certain non-finance field related friends, that I would not include any article 'jo unke sar ke upar se jaata hai' to quote their words. Just for once, Shipra & Vikrant, 'Entschuldigen Sie.' (excuse me)

So Chidubond (a term coined by my friend Viren) has toed the line,has come out with a populist budget as widely expected. Yes, he has come out with some very good initiatives in the process...Rationalisation of DDT for one & ofcourse, easing of the tax slabs. And also came up with a good way of cleaning Banks' B/S by taking over their NPAs. Also a gud boost to the realty, pharma & power sectors. All things said & done, can't help pondering on the following points:

1. Agreed the FM has bought all the off-shore registered companies' M & A deals retrospectively into the tax net, but on a related note also wondering why the FM did not take any steps to address the Participatory Notes controversy, when the honourable PM has himself expressed his concerns about the issue in a recent paper to the IMF (I seriously doubt whether altogether banning P-notes is viable; but atleast some steps should be taken to address the recognisibility of funds flowing in the capital markets)

2. The sub-prime crisis & the US recession. The FM said that the impact of these two cannot be ascertained as yet & hence not accounted for in the budget. Fair enough. Just thinking how the rosy pictures & nos. depicted would have been impacted even if a fair amount of estimation could have been made of the looming crisis.

3. And ofcourse, the off-budget accounting of the write off of the farmers' loan. By keeping the write-off below the line, the FM has ensured that he complies with the FRBM requirements (meeting the fiscal deficit target). Can't help wondering how the FM would adjust the funds over the next 3 yrs, to buy off the PSU banks' NPAs ( 65000 crores is at stake here), without accounting for it? Also, on a related note wondering whether the FM has not indirectly punished the farmers who despite hardships have managed to fulfill their loan obligations... uphelding altruism yet again, Mr. FM??

The Big Fat Indian Media Tamasha !!

Owing to the fact that television in my house is completely monopolised by my Mom in the night on weekdays, catching up wth her Saas-Bahu programs (which I really can't stand), I tend to find my solace somehow in watching news channels, catching wth the days happenings. But the Indian media is hellbent in weaning me away from that too...for what is dished out nowadays in the name of 'breaking news' is anything but news. Sample this:

1. Amitabh Bacchan ko thand lag rahi hai (To main kya karu !)
2. Aishwarya Rai ne kachra balcony se bahar pheka (I m seriously not kidding, this was the hot news last week!)
3. Uttar Pradesh ke ek gaav mein ek aadmi ko pooch(tail) hai!

If u think this is bad enough, think again..the worst is yet to come. On Saturday, I was surfing the channels I caught upon an AV on a news channel..."Dekhiye..pehli baar..Ek Sher jhaad pe chad raha hai" Disgustedly, I turned off the idiot tube...After three hours, when I turned it on again, the channel was showing the same news again, as breaking news!!

I give up...Completely!!

Who packed my Parachute??

Charles Plumb, a U.S. Naval Academy graduate, was a jet pilot in Vietnam . After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent 6 years in a Vietnamese prison. He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons learned from that experience.

One day, when Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant, a man at another table came up and said, "You're Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk . You were shot down!"
"How in the world did you know that?" asked Plumb.
"I packed your parachute," the man replied.
Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude.
The man pumped his hand and said, "I guess it worked!" Plumb assured him, "It sure did. If your chute hadn't worked, I wouldn't be here today."

Plumb couldn't sleep that night, thinking about that man. Plumb says, "I kept wondering what he might have looked like in a Navy uniform, a white hat, a bib in the back, and bell-bottom trousers. I wonder how many times I might have seen him and not even said, "Good morning, how are you?" or anything because, you see, I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor.
Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent on a long wooden table in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn't even know.

"Now," Plumb asks his audience, "who's packing your parachute?" Everyone has someone who provides what they need to make it through the day. Plumb also points out that he needed many kinds of parachutes when his plane was shot down over enemy territory --- he needed his physical parachute, his mental parachute, his emotional parachute, and his spiritual parachute. He called on all these supports before reaching safety.

Sometimes in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is really important. We may fail to say hello, please, or thank you, congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened to them, give a compliment, or just do something nice for no reason.

As you go through this week, this month, this year, recognize people who pack your parachute. And tell them thanks for packing your parachute.

This mail was sent to me by a friend. Thanx Nikhil, for sharing such a wonderful message.

On Dharma & Religion...

Saw a politician on TV today making a statement on the Raj Thakeray controversy, "We will not tolerate an insult to our Marathi Dharma". Made me really wonder, why do people use the word 'Dharma' so loosely?

When asked "what does 'Dharma' mean to you", Bhishma Pitamah said in the Mahabharata that "Dharma Matibhya Udgritaha" translated meaning 'Dharma is one which appeals to reason, to conscience, to one's soul'...If this is true how can one justify mindless violence as one appealing to reason? Can anyone believe in & commit acts of violence with his soul remaining intact?

Dharma definately does not mean religion or language or caste; it is the purpose of life. Religion or should I term it this way, devotion to God is like a burning lamp post which guides people in reaching their destination. People however misconstruct it & intermingle them. Reminded here of Abraham Lincoln's famous words:

“When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion.”

The Papad-Seller

Train-traveling time is perhaps the only time in Mumbai when you have the time to witness a gamut of human emotions. Due to the fact that I can never sleep in trains unlike others, if I am fortunate enough to get a seat, I pass my time either reading novels or even more interestingly, observing others or reflecting.

Today, I was reading a novel, when I suddenly heard a soft voice speaking in polite Marathi,
“Konala Papad havet ka?” Does anybody want Papads?

Thinking who was adventurous enough to try & sell stuff amidst the huge peak- hour crowd, I glanced up briefly. What I found shook me to the core…For the seller was a very old woman! She must have been atleast 75 years old & from her appearance & language appeared to be from a very cultured Brahmin family. Bent at the waist, but still carrying a huge jhola from which she was disbursing the home-made papad packets. Everybody was moved to see such a frail, tired body being jostled by the rush-hour crowd & within no time all her packets were sold.

Having sold her packets, the woman was trying to find a place to stand. I got up & offered her my seat. She sat down, throwing a look of gratitude in my direction. Then she closed her eyes. And I proceeded to observe her unwatched. And thinking, what must have been the circumstances that must have forced an eighty year old woman to come out of the cocoon of her house.

Suddenly, I saw the old woman crying. Silently. She wasn’t even sobbing, just silent tears running down her cheeks, which she wiped periodically. What was she crying about; I wondered…has she lost someone? Problems at home perhaps? Or worst, a child had thrown her out of his house. I can’t really say. But felt really helpless & wretched, standing there…

After sometime she got up suddenly, wiping her eyes with her Pallu for the last time. And said to me “Tumhi basa, mala Thanyala utarayche aahe” Please sit, I want to get down at Thane. She turned, getting lost in the huge vortex of crowd which rose up to swallow her frail body. But before she turned, our eyes met for the last time. Her eyes arrested me. Or rather the lack of any expression in them. Completely vacuous eyes.

Some things are just so sad that only your soul can do the crying for you.

The need to go forward

I cannot rest from travel:I will drink
Life to the lees: all times I have enjoyed
Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when
Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vest the dim sea: I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known; cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments,
Myself not least, but honoured of them all;
And drunk delight of battle with my peers;
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.
I am part of all that I have met;
Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough
Gleams that untravelled world, whose margin fades
For ever and for ever when I move.
How dull it is to pause, to make an end,
To rust unburnished, not to shine in use!
As though to breath were life.
Life piled on life
Were all to little, and of one to me
Little remains: but every hour is saved
From that eternal silence, something more,
A bringer of new things; and vile it were
For some three suns to store and hoard myself,
And this gray spirit yearning in desire
To follow knowledge like a sinking star,
Beyond the utmost bound of human thought

An extract from the poem Ulysses by Lord Alfred Tennyson...One of my favourites.

On Halla Bol & Conscience

Was watching the flick Halla Bol yesterday eve with a group of friends. A film about the awakening of a man’s conscience, forcing him to take a second look at his own jaded, disillusioned existence in the glam world & inspiring others to have a second dekko at their own so-called principles through his efforts of bringing out the truth. Really thought-provoking movie.

But the conversation that followed the movie was even more thought-provoking. While returning from the movie, my friend Shipra (a civil lawyer) & I had an animated conversation in the train, discussing the flick. Do the awakening of the conscience which occured to Ishaan (the protagonist of the film) really happen to people when they actually see a women being molested, teased or even beaten by her own family members? Or are such cases restricted only in the celluloid Utopian land? Our thoughts particularly turned to the recent New-Year’s eve incident of molestation of two women by a group of 70-80 hoodlums outside the J.W. Marriot Hotel. And the much-publicised Jessica Lal murder case, the incident which has inspired the said film. In the above two isolated real-life cases, it was the public outrage which forced the authorities to atleast take cognizance of the offence, leave aside meting out punishment to the guilty. But there are so many unregistered, unnamed cases of crime which go unnoticed because people choose to turn a blind eye to the appalling happenings… Either the people have suppressed their conscience by adding layers of their fear to it or have become too indifferent to even let their conscience find its own voice…

At night, I asked myself what I would have done, if somebody was mauling another in my presence; be it a woman or a man…To be honest, if the victim were to be a woman, I would definitely try to curb the violence…but even I don’t know what would be my reaction, if the victim were to be a man…

In the dull drudgery of living, some choose their own conscience & pursue the cause till the end; the majority is content watching by the sidelines. What would be your reaction?

The Barriers of Mind!

Watching this very gud Airtel ad on TV lately ...What a beautiful concept! Two kids of inimical countries (presumably), crossing the barbed fence (a metaphor for all the self-imposed barriers preventing us from behaving as human beings) & coming together in a No-man zone, bound by their common love for football (truly, sports is a religion which binds men across all diversities). And a caption that says it all,

There is no wall or barrier that can keep us apart, if only we talk to each other.

But there are many who disprove this theory. Reminded of a discussion that took place a couple of months back. When I was studying for my finals at a private library, I happened to interact with a few doctors, who were studying for their MD examination entrance. And our luncheon conversations would range from everything to everything (Reservation issues, films, Medical problems, Economy, Finances, Sports,Politics et all). During one such conversation, we were discussing the Zee SaReGaMa finals, which was going on at that time. I remember saying that I loved the voice of a Pakistani contestant & that he should win. Immediately, a doctor friend remarked that a Paki coming to our country & winning a music contest is not acceptable. To quote him verbatim, “Hamare desh ke singers mar gaye hain kya??” I was stuck dumb by the bigotry of this guy.I had always believed that sports & music are the only two things in this world which has the effect of uniting diverse people. And true appreciators of music (and also renowned doctors) have always agreed that music is spiritual, something which transcends all barriers, a healer of souls’ & body’s imperfections. So how does it matter, whether the guy singing is an Indian or a Paki? Aren’t there many Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan fans in India even today?

Reminded of the lyrics of a poignant Javed Akhtar song in this milieu (can’t remember which film)

Panchi, Nadiya, Pawan ke jhonke,
Koi sarhad na inhe roke.
Sarhadein insaanon ke liye hai,
Socho tumne aur maine kya paaya,
Insaan hoke...