Individual, Who?

Saw Delhi Belly yesterday & loved it! Loved it in its full glory too, with all the gaali-galoch & the urban chutzpah. Finally a comic film for the adults, which actually treats the viewers as adults. Had been following the 'what he said, what they didnt' controversies about the movie for a while now & honestly, am pleasantly surprised that the censor board showed the maturity to actually pass the movie without any strategic 'beeps', inspite of scores willing eagerly to point out that the film is not 'Indian culture'. 

The other news I have been following is what the local media here is calling 'a civil rights movement' in India- the Lokpal andolan. While I am completely supportive of the right to a transparent governance, I couldn't help think after the movie yesterday that having some shades of transparency in governance or getting rid of corruption in the upper echelons, could never make our civic society 'liberated'. Many people talk the talk about having a free society- and they define freedom by the freedom of religion, equality, expression etc, but when it comes to actual implementation, one right which is abused more than other fundamental right in our country is the right to individuality. Individuality is the basic tenet of civil rights. And till individuality is not cherished, 'India could never be a land of the free'

Funnily, this is one wrong-doing which we cant blame entirely on the government, as we are wont to do. We Indians are taught  to put the family above the individual right from our cradle- when we are born, the mother who bore the pain for 9mths to bring us in the world cannot name us, the right belongs to the grandparents or the myriad relatives.We start going to school & what we read in school-textbooks is not the truth as we actually see it, but what the government sees fit for us to read (even if the course contents look like they belong to our grandparents era & has as much use as that!). As we finish our schooling, most often than not we are deemed unfit to determine our vocation,  its our parents who do the honors for us. Whichever novels we read/movies we see, we owe that to some 'upholders' or censors of the moral-society, who ever so magnanimously do us the favor of deciding whether something is 'Indian culture' or not. Nd ofcourse whenever we marry, its again the parents & the society deciding who is worthy to be our life-partner. Thankfully, society has left it upon the individuals to have kids & did not turn it into a collective affair!

Ah yes, we owe a lot to the Bhishma-pitamahs of the society. We have them to thank for deeming us old enough to vote, marry, even have the responsibility of kids at 18 but probably not mature enough to consume alcohol till 25. We have them to thank for for raising the population to a cool 1.2 billion, yet immoral for us to see or hear about sex on-screen or even have a meaningful discussion about it with our parents during our teenage years. We have also them to thank for letting us follow the tenets of any religion, but probably not good enough to criticize any. God save us from these morality-spewing collective do-gooders!

Kudos to the writer of Delhi belly for having the guts to show that every movie doesn't have to be about the kid & his grandmother. Wish we had someone scripting the same in our civil society as well.

An Essay on Education

Writing after a loooong time. No, not for paucity of time or motivation, but perhaps the need of expressing myself has decreased significantly now that I have a regular sounding board with whom I can ‘share’ my frustrations and my pet peeves (Poor thing!) Also I am taking time assimilating, absorbing (and appreciating!) the shock of living in a different country. I had never thought I could ever love a city more than Mumbai. But now I am in the throes of a toe-curling extra-marital affair with NY. Talk of being infidel!! :P

One of the things which has really impressed me so far is the American Educational system vis-à-vis its Indian counterpart. No, I am not discounting the lack of security or moral values in the high-schools or the under-grad levels: the bane of every young Indian parent trying to bring up kids here. What I appreciate is the quality of the education itself which encourages a child to have an all-round development & lets him/her study any field of his/her choice without fear of career & future financial security. In short, people don’t need to run after multiple degrees here; you could be an under-grad in Psychology or Sociology, but could easily be employed by Morgan Stanley or Nomura in Investment Banking or Research or Trading! Try contrasting that with the Indian educational system where people have to gain multiple degrees & endless hours of brain-numbing studying to make a break in a career of their choice. Often people in India take inane pride in their string of degrees without analyzing whether those degrees actually are useful for their careers or not. More needn't be always better.

Another major difference between US & Indian educational system is the flexibility in education offered to the students here. Students can choose amongst a host of classes and courses in high school and college. This means they can change their major (i.e. field of study) midway through college. This usually means that students in the US receive more exposure to a variety of subjects and hence, are more aware of their career options and opportunities. On the other hand, the Indian education and social systems are very hard on kids and completely ignore their feelings, opinions and ambitions. Kids are pushed to study from the age of 3 and non-performers are treated as dolts and ostracized by parents and society. The preferred choice of learning and teaching is memorizing facts. These facts do help in the long run; the multiplication tables we learned in primary school keep us ahead of our American peers who need a calculator to find out what 6 times 7 is ! However, the memorization approach to study does not allow and teach kids to think independently. The American school system lays stress on individual ability development and encourages kids to express themselves and their opinions from an early age. As a result, most Americans are way better at getting their point across as compared to people from other countries. As my husband once was shocked when a taxi-driver started intelligently discussing the oil & gas industry, after discovering he was an Oil analyst in a big investment bank!

I remember a conversation with an Irish colleague in London a couple of years ago, about the attitude of the West towards the rapidly developing India & China. One of the topics was the educational system which made possible the emerging of India as IT superpower. I remember my colleague remarking “I admire the brilliant minds from your country, but damn if I make my kid a geek & have him sit in front of the PC programming day-in & day-out. I would rather have him chase girls & drink beer & have a life of his own” A statement I have truly appreciated many times since then, whenever I see the parents & teachers holding the poor kids’ noses to a perpetual grindstone in a quest to get better marks than their peers. India has mass-produced many generations of geeks & nerds, unable to express an intelligent opinion on areas of study different from their own or indeed in many cases, unable to express an opinion at all, because their educational system never required them to have communication skills!

Contrast this to the educational system in western countries, where ‘additional tuitions’ to score more marks are practically non-existent, kids are compulsorily encouraged to take up at least one sport & multiple foreign languages are taught in schools to encourage appreciation of global diversity as well equip them with skill sets to cope with multicultural work environment.

It’s high time our Indian educational system becomes less ‘mindless study’ oriented & more ‘all-round development’ & ‘practical application’ oriented in the context of global economic & social structure. My fear is that the increasing pressure on the kids to perform academically should not result in majority of generations of students facing psychological problems in trying to keep pace with an out-dated system.

The Death of Mr. Common Sense

A forward I received ... called the Obituary of Mr. Common Sense which had supposedly appeared in the London times..don’t know if it actually appeared in London Times but it’s quite pertinent.

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: Knowing when to come in out of the rain; why the early bird gets the worm; Life isn’t always fair; and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student,only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.

It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an Band aid to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband;churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife,Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 4 half brothers; I Know My Rights, I Want It Now, Someone Else Is To Blame, and I’m A Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on.

Love, Scoop and Dhoka

Everytime I switch on the news channels these days, I am assailed by the greatest mystery plaguing the country at this moment (no, I am not referring to the inflation or even the opposition to the RTE/women's reservation bill, those my dears are quite passe these days. The press wouldn't be caught dead raking up a dead issue nyways!)...Am referring to the reality TV-meets Ekta Kapoor saga unfolding...the Shoaib-Sania-Ayesha triathalon (The press has even coined the saga LSD- Love, Sania & Dhoka) Endless hrs spent questioning the parties who are indulging in free-for-all rounds of mud-raking and the rest spent speculating over the moot question- Did he or didn't he? Am afraid the country would stop functioning, if we don't get an answer to this question of historic & national importance soon.

However, the main crux is NOT the point that even the most respected media-persons are plunging themselves wholeheartedly in this useless TRP war; HERE I am questioning the objectivity of the Indian media in covering important issues. Often, as in the Shoaib case, the press is quick in condemning the accused without properly hearing out the contentions of the accused as well. And if you see the line of questioning taken by any interviewer, it is in an extremely accusatory and derogatory tone; almost seemingly that in a matter which is sub-judice, it is not actual the judiciary but the media which is holding the trial and more-so a trial wherein the innocent-till-proven-guilty concept is reversed for the sake of generating exclusive scoops!

Moreso woebegone is the case of any male accused of causing any emotional/physical trauma to any female. The Indian press then starts seeing itself as a savior of the oppressed classes (read here a poor trodden-upon female) whose cause needs to be espoused to highlight the tyranny of the sexually-superior-class, assuming that if any accusation is leveled by any 'poor' female, it must always be true. And so in India, the press literally can get away with practically maligning any individual, as in 99% of the cases people just don't sue the channels fearing a long drawn-out legal battle, unlike the west!

Media is a very important tool & can be used to influence the judiciary too. There are many cases like the Jessica Lal case or the Nitish Katara case, where the public outrage after the media-coverage, brought forth a speedy and uncorrupted trial. However perhaps now, even the distinguished members of our media need reminding of the fact that foremost, it is the duty of media to report hardcore facts and not conduct trials-by-fire. Objectivity of the press is a very sanctimonious issue and shouldn't be discarded at any cost.

Taxing Airfare

A month back while returning from Bangalore (my first visit after the new international airport was constructed), I encountered a most vexing announcement- ‘All domestic departing passengers are requested to pay Rs. 260 as User Development Charges at the terminal entrance’ Now as a rule I am not against levying of taxes and it is not a question of money either but after the huge amount of taxes which airline companies already charge from the passengers (as everybody knows normally fare charges constitute only 5-10% of your total ticket amount; the rest are pure taxes), paying any sort of tax again was something of an anathema to my typical CA brain (Ahem!). When I went & asked the airport authorities I was told that the private developers of the airport were levying taxes for ‘building and maintaining’ the airport. Sic. Then I realized that about 4% of these charges goes in the Govt’s kitty. In short, we are being charged for making use of something which should have been our right, since most of us pay our taxes regularly which in ordinary parlance is anyways supposed to be used for infrastructure development issues, right???. This is a blatant example of 'double taxation'. I had no option but to shell out the money, grumbling and mumbling that inspite of being a frequent flier out of Mumbai and Delhi airport for the last so many years, had never heard of such ad-hoc charges being levied! Later on, I learnt from my cousin, that such charges are also being levied at the new Hyderabad airport.

Little did I know that the Bangalore/Hyderabad model would find favour with all airport maintenance authorities in the country. Today news has come in that Govt has allowed the GMR-led consortium Delhi International Airport Ltd (DIAL) that is operating and upgrading Delhi airport, to impose airport development fees (ADF) on passengers upto Rs 200 on domestic traveling and 1300 on international traveling. And news has come in that not to be left behind, Mumbai Airport has also applied to the Govt to allow it to levy ADF.

In short, your air journey is going to become more taxing, literally!!

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 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.

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!"

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!!

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?

Sab kuch Chalta hai!!

Read this on Ujjwal Banerjee's (Lead India finalist) blog at http://lead.timesofindia.com/Ujjwal_Banerjee.asp?pid=28. Very thought-provoking. Reproducing it here:

"Chalta Hai' nahin chalega

The day my nation adopted or rather accepted the vice of chalta hai, we opened our windows to all kinds of debilitating practices.

We started spitting on the road, pissing by the side walls. Getting away by paying a fraction of the penalty for unlawful activities, became a subject of jest. Coming late to meetings got converted to the stale joke of Indian Stretchable Time. Using deceit in competition became a mark of ambition. Holidaying at the nearest picnic spot on the day of election, littering on the streets by taking our hand out of a Honda City, started sharing e-mails on how the select section of our brethren speak English and everything and anything.

The danger with this attitude is that it allows us to accept anything and everything which a more advanced nation would frown at. Gradually it reduces the shock value of things and acts as a nice tranquilizer and we stop getting angry at the above mentioned things. This attitude of chalta hai has done more harm to this nation than perhaps anything else. How can we assume a Shanghai out of Mumbai or any other transformation of sorts unless we start checking these things within and without!!!

The belief (which I have found in a lot of people) that we have rights and government has duties is a statement smacking of sheer arrogance and is to a large extent suicidal for overall development. As responsible citizens we have to settle for nothing but excellence in our day to day activities. Be it turning to the polling booth in largest number or mainting our nation clean.

We, as a nation have immense potential- we just cant allow it degenerate into mediocrity If we want our corporates to compete with the Apples and Googles of the world or want our government to match our infrastructure to Shanghai or for that matter see our atheletes match up to the mettle of their western counterparts, only excellence in attitude would be the key.

Chalta hai nahin chalega."

Ujjwal has hit the nail on its head..It's precisely this Chalta hai attitude that has been the bane of our problems...an attitude which distinguishes India from the West. This attitude has reared its ugly head from time to time. How then else can we justify the fact that the day after the train serial blasts in Mumbai last year, the whole city was on its feet, pretendingly unfazed by the loss of life? Some people hailed such attitude as 'resilience of a Mumbaikar'.For me its sheer indifference.

For years, a moot point which had stopped FIIs from taking advantage of our strengths was the perception that India is mired in red-tapism & 'Babudom' - a direct fallout from the chalta hai attitude. Its only after myriad efforts on many fronts, has this perception lessened to an extent.

As India is poised for its correct place as a superpower, its high time we recognise this bogey which is pulling us down & take corrective steps.