Jokaoed...

One clarification before the post, Calcutta is by far the worst city and the people are the laziest I have seen in my short life so far. But, besides this obvious downer, life is not all bad actually...

The institution in itself is good and the faculty is quite chilled out (so far...). The subjects are diverse and the most positive development on the personal front is that I have a new laptop ... :) (No more of the Acer crap...)

This place has an amazing student culture - something which has eluded me for the past 9 years (ever since I left Campion). As much as the infrastructure and the people of this city disappoint me; I am still positive about my decision to come here, seeing the way the students stand for each other and the 'Joka spirit'. The ingenious orientation had left me awe-struck for a couple of days, and I commend the senior batch for all their efforts and their spirit.

Ever since I left school 9 years back I have longed to go back - I miss the institutional pride and the sense of school spirit which was drilled so deep in us. In that sense, I feel like I am in school again and it is an amazing feeling. l admire how this place is carried forward just by the students alone right from student placements to the student exchange program. Just like the country in some ways, this institute works despite all the administrative/infra shortcomings because of the people in it. So there are many learning points in all this mess, and I am beginning to realise that.

People often ask, why I came here... and I still am quite positive despite all the harrowing calcutta experiences (as explained in the post before). I now am trying to see all the crap as something which I have to get used to, having made the choice to come back to India and settle here (clarification - though in Bombay we have none of this crap! but I realise Rest of India-ROI and Bombay cannot be compared).

My favourite subjects are quite surely Indian Economic and Political History and Finance Accounting. Both of which remind me so much about my school life, doing History and Accounting. How I wish there were no exams and we would just learn without being assessed in the Índian way'. But then again, it is India and you have to learn to deal with the crap in the system if you have to survive here.

I have got a second chance to re-live the student life and experience the joys of over-sleeping on a weekday and endless project-related creative brainstorming sessions. I feel young again, and there is that hope in me again that anything is possible. This is the beautiful thing about student life, that you start to believe sky is the limit and there is so much positivity for the future.

I am grateful for that...

Heaven to Hell in 30 days...

Life has come a full circle. I am back to living a student life, something which I was craving for since the past 1.5 years. I have recently moved to 'Kolkata - the City of Joy' to pursue my MBA in the country's premier management institution.

I apologize in advance for this rant of a post... But, I needed to release somewhere...

A few things I will miss about my time in heaven....

1. My car : My beautiful Black Magic Woman, how I wish I didn't have to let you go...


2. Weather : Where the gentle breeze would add a spring to my step and the soft morning light would gently wake me up

3. My meal cuisine : Right from Thai to Tapas to the different flavours of pasta right to the rich desserts, I relished each meal like there was no tomorrow.

4. The people : Culture, politeness, honesty and professionalism were all four things which I admire about the people. I truly feel that it is the closest to a perfect society.

5. Relaxing weekends : Breakfast by the hills or a drive to luzern lake or just a walk into the woods was just the right potion for a taxing week.

6. A Second home : Though 8000 km away, monthly trips to India were made and home never felt as far.

7. Free phone calls to Singapore : Thanks to the company, right from friends in US to the fiance in Singapore - everyone was just a dial away...

8. Clean and respectful nature : Nature at its best and yet with creatures who kept to themselves.


9. Respectable existence : Living life the way it should be lived and gearing up to be domesticated.

10. Money has Power : Life could be improved with money, and any complaint could be done away with if you were ready to pay.

The place where I am today has taken away those very things from me, and life has thrown a new 'challenge' in my face... (I will be kind and not put any graphics for the hell)

1. The only available transport to civilization is a stinky cab ride of an hour. Which too needs to be planned well in advance, and the the one hour could very well shoot up to two hours, if it rains or you're crazy enough to travel during the evenings.

2. The humidity and heat is such that it wakes even the laziest of people in the middle of the night. Even a bath before bed, just results in more sweat through the night.

3. Daily Mess food at fixed times and the same masala, and the only variation is the masala maggi...

4. The laziest bunch of people I have ever encountered in my life... and yes, If you don't yell, it will NOT be done... it seems like no amount of money can make their laziness go away.

5. The Single Weekend agenda is, as Robin from HIMYM put it so eloquently, "Lets go to the mall...". In this case, there is just one choice... the world-famous South City Mall

6. The way this place is setup with the schedule, I think Bombay seems like a distant dream
,even though I happen to be living in the same country.

7. No call is free, and the pre-paid messages after every international sms or call ensures I never forget that.

8. Crow-droppings welcome you as you walk anywhere in this place (A victim 4 times already in the past 2 weeks). Lizards seem to be in some sort of competition with the humans in re-producing in mass. Mosquitoes have super-powers of going through multi-layer nets.

9. Even bathing here is a task, and I wonder that come winter, how will I manage without any warm water. The Sulabh Shauchalaya (public toilets) cleaners would shy away if they were to see the state of the WCs here. The fact that I use a harpic to clean a common floor toilet everyday before and after my use, should be a good indicator.

10. No amount of money I can pay, can ensure that my life can be made better here . The most I could do is for some trivial retail therapy like buying myself 24 bottles of Thums Up...



Pearls of Wisdom : If Life is good and you still have some stupid notion of a thirst for a new challenge.... just go play with a Rubik's cube instead!

26/11 - My first thoughts

Anger & rage is something which comes to me quite often... But it was more helplessness as an emotion which I felt as I sat glued to the television for those 60 odd hours... I did not want cynicsm to get the better of me and I did not want to forget.... So I wrote my thoughts down then, and even put a time stamp saying that I should come back to it so I can remind myself how I felt at the time it happened... What struck me when I read was that at no point was there any feeling of revenge....and I realised that I still feel all the things I wrote then. I feel relieved ....

Lest We forget - 28 November 2008

Though the idiocy and arrogance of Bush's administration has cost the world a lot, there are still a few things our administration must learn from his ... For Indians like us, its common to classify something as black or white, and we are more concerned with political correctness and community appeasement rather than learning from our mistakes and working pragmatically ... The one key undeniable fact is that the US Govt learnt from 9/11 and 7 years hence, there has not been one major attack in the US.

As if our privacy and rights are not violated, and trust me I am not a crazy liberatarian that I value it more than national security - the difference between our Government and the US is that they learnt from the mistakes and rose above politics... we are very far from that…

What the Bloody hell is the point of repealing POTA when you have a similar draconian law for Maharashtra (MCOCA)??? The Vote Bank politics of this Government has them more into minority appeasement . Not one change has been made after more than 30 blasts / attacks just in the last one year alone... As for this attack, and some sectors blaming the Navy... just heard that a proposal for Automatic Identification System (AIS) is pending with the government for the last two years. If you don't equip your security infrastructure or investigation tools (laws), how do you keep ranting that you are doing all you can to protect India Mr. Shivraj Patil...?

C'mon man, I don't start calling all my Muslim friends as terrorists just because the ones who attack us are from the same religion. We are not as dumb as the Americans. Move over the political correctness and minority appeasement and give us a bloody solution Ms. Italian Lady and secretary (PM Singh). Most Muslims too see through this and are sick of their games and false promises.

Now the youth issue: we have a relatively young MP from south Mumbai (Son of Oil minister and US Returned Milind Deora)... What has he done in the last 4 years for Bombay?? Has he put the Bombayite's frustration to lack of infrastructure development and security as a critical issue to the parliament?? I don't really see as yet any difference between him and his predecessor (the 'old' Jayawantiben Mehta).

Though, Obama has yet to prove himself. I believe he is not just 'THE' obama because he is young, he is so because he has challenged conventions and leaders and offered a vision. That could very well be done by any politician, not necessarily young by age but more by thought. I don't think the very children of these crooks taking over the reins of leadership are the hope of India. Rahul Gandhi is not my idea of an Obama, just because he looks 'decent', is young and is born in royalty... The point is we need young leaders from among normal people like us - who 'get it', and not just young sons of leaders ...

BJP as an alternative, is even worse now than it ever was... they have self-destructed with their clear lack of leadership besides just a single force in Gujarat. PM hopeful, Advani appears as a kid dillying and dallying from Jinnah praise to the Sadhvi's defence. So Modi??.... leader maybe, but a bigger risk to the divide between Hindus and Muslims of India.

Also, another important point is that besides the leaders the people / electorate too needs to be 'new-age' for the new kind of leaders to be elected. Look beyond the cities and 'urbanised pop.' - Caste / Religion politics, naxalism are still very much the harsh realities of our country. The Government is not formed by just the 50-70 odd-seats found in the major cities... not just among the NDTV and IBNlive watchers, but even among those whose outlook hasn't grown as fast as maybe ours. So its all great for all of us to want 'change', but all signs tell us it doesn't look anywhere near in sight...

Summing it up, for us to elect a 'new-age' person, we must really have one to do so... Unfortunately, there is also no impetus from people like us to provide this alternative...We need to bring all our regions together to align on this hope for 'change'. For a start, I think its time we come together as civilians and drive a radical change for our Mumbai politically...

P.S. - For all the true Mumbai lovers, watch Shobhaa De's interview on NDTV from 27th Nov night... I am sure all of us would have said the same thing at that stage....

Loose Talk

This is just why I cannot tolerate these pseudo-secularists and filmy people in politics (i.e. Mahesh Bhatt, Shabana Azmi...)

The findings speak for both the city's character as well as the frivolousness of this 'opinionated' woman.

Courtesy - Times of India

Actor Shabana Azmi has sparked off a huge controversy by alleging that Muslims cannot buy flats in Mumbai and that the community was discriminated against. TOI decided to do a reality check. Its reporters posed as Muslim flat-buyers-Mohammed Hanif and Abdul Rashid-and called up several builders' offices and real estate agents at random, inquiring about the availability of flats. The results were by and large contrary to what Azmi alleged. Here's what we did:

We dialled K Raheja builder (26005269) and inquired about his project on Link Road, behind D Mart, in Malad (West). An executive said booking was open and possession would be available by Diwali. Asked if they had any objection to selling flats to Muslims he replied: "Absolutely no problem sir. We don't bother about the religion of buyers. Anyone willing to pay our price is welcome.''

RNA builders (28975659) have a project at NG Park on Shiv Vallabh Road, Rawalpada, Borivli (West). A staffer said an 850 sq ft (built-up area) flat can be had at Rs 4,800 per sq ft. He categorically stated that being a Muslim did not matter to his company. "You can come anytime to have a look at the flats,'' he added cheerfully. ..... (catch the rest on the website of TOI)

Weak PM - That Legacy is gone...

Singh is King : Cliche tagline by now

In what would seem like a scene out of a true Madhur Bhandarkar movie, on 22 July amidst highly dramatic speeches and bundles of cash, the UPA delivered a final blow to the Left-Right combine....

I have no words for the NDA... often even at work place I see that people get so lost in operational brilliance that they no longer have their vision on the strategic direction. This is what seems to be happening with the NDA; where they are able to come out with clever, operationally planned small victories in state elections like Karnataka (where even though they did not have the popular vote, with smart operational planning they were still able to get a majority of seats), but lacking in their agenda/propaganda. Be it Advani sympathizing with Jinnah out of the blue, or the Ayodhya issue they are trying to pursue half-heartedly since the 90s, or now for that matter they opposing the very same deal which they had initiated (without giving clarity to the nation on what is their true reservation on the deal- especially when Brajesh Mishra and Abdul Kalam have come out in open support of the deal).

Dalal No.1

Rahul Gandhi, smartly stepped out in the parliament to acknowledge Vajpayee for having the strategic sense of going forward on this deal in his tenure. This was not a noble action, as much as a move to show to the public the frailty of the NDA's position on the issue.

Power Broker - Amar Singh would go down in history as the man who should be given credit for saving this deal. This victory would not have happened without his purchase of MP votes. Who would have thought that the future of a whole country would be written by a 'Dalal'. Such is the nature of Indian politics. Unlike the US, where the Republicans and Democrats have come together on a number of instances for the greater good, our political parties are just concerned with petty politics and mud-slinging, and we rely on this kind of crap to run the country; our leaders are still far from that stage of maturity.

The victory for the UPA has more or less wiped out the lame duck image of the PM from the pages of history, as history would no longer see him as the one who licked Karat's shoes but he would now be seen as the man who dared his chair for the future of our nation; and once again after the great 'Sacrifices' of Sonia (the PM seat for the foreign origin issue and the parliament seat for the office of profit issue), the UPA has come out of this messy situation as the moral victor.

Is the Lotus Dying?

I am not as amazed by the fact that the Left voted on the same side as the Right, as much as on the fact on how the Right could even think of having the same point of view in an politico-economic decision as the Left.

My next post I will speak about the 'supposed' co-incidence of the fact that all the recent bomb blasts have taken place in BJP ruled states...

No Left Turn - II

Apologies for abruptly coming up with this topic, before the Noida double murder part II.But, this was one of those sensational sudden developments on the national front.

For those who don't remember, kindly scroll down and see the earlier post of the same name or click on http://shadythings.blogspot.com/2007/08/no-left-turn-allowed.html.

Its interesting on how things are shaping up quite similar to what was deduced more than 10 months back in the earlier post. I suggest all to go back and read the earlier post.

After successive losses for the ruling Congress in state elections, its quite interesting that they realised they needed a brand new strategy if they were to have any chance back to power at the centre. Hence, they have gone for the 'sympathetic and idealogical' approach, where our otherwise cowardly PM, will put his foot down to do what is best for India by going ahead with the Nuclear deal with the US; and in that process, call upon early elections as the Left would withdraw and make the Government fall.

Even if the elections do not happen, this is still an excellent attention diverting act to divert public attention from rising prices (11.8% inflation as of today!) and security lapses (FYI Chinese Army have infiltrated a record 65 times in the last 6 months into Sikkim, as if it were there backside park). It is just to be seen now how 10 Janpath would move forward now;

The fact that Mayawati has withdrawn support for the UPA just today, though would not have any tangible impact on the government; but, it would definetly impact on how they approach the Left situation. The numbers are as follows:

UPA + Allies : 225
SP : 39
BSP : 17
Left : 59

Now, had Mayawati's BSP stayed in the alliance; the government's strength would be 281(assuming SP too joins the coalition), if Left were to withdraw their support. They could have still managed a slim majority. But now, the Left's position in the standoff is even stronger, as the government will definetly fall if they are to withdraw.

Mayawati : King breaker ?

But, my money is on the fact that the Left and UPA would wrestle publicly on this for some time while the UPA will buy time to try and divert people's minds, as the Congress will not risk elections immediately especially after their election debacles in Karnataka, Gujurat, HP etc. Then, there will be elections in about 6-7 months where Congress would try and project itself as the pragmatic party which pushed the deal forward for the country, and was ready to/or did 'sacrifice' power yet again for the betterment of the country (earlier the sacrificing was done by Sonia Behn when she didn't become the PM).

Sonia Behn : As Mr. Modi so eloquently refers to her

What is interesting though is that, it was actually the BJP who were the architects of this proposal during their term. The only reason why they oppose it now is because endorsing it would be giving Congress the credit for this. Anyways, the BJP still is ready to support the deal if the implicit curb on our future tests is clearly removed from the deal. I believe that if the Congress were to engage the Opposition more pro-actively there would be a chance of saving the deal. However, having said that I doubt that after 4 years of aggressive standoffs and un-statesmen-like mongering between the opposition and the government there will be any move on that front.

BJP - Will the lotus bloom again?

As for the Noida double murder case - the comments have been quite diverse and 'unique'. Will be back on that soon enough.

The Mystery of the Swords

A Double murder in Noida, India not a month ago, and how it happened unfolds what exactly is wrong with the 'new' Indian society. Lets summarize this chronologically as it unfolded before us:

Event 1 - A 14-year old girl's throat is slit and is killed in the darkness of the night, while her parents(The Talwars - Translation: The Swords) sleep soundly in the adjacent room. Parents call in the police, and the domestic is the prime suspect as he is untraceable.

Event 2 - The 'distraught' parents are in a hurry to cremate and finish the last rites of the body . The crime scene is cleaned by the father's compounder, the following day even while investigation is underway.

Event 3 - The prime suspect's (domestic) body is found on the terrace after 2 full days of the investigation on the terrace of the Talwars, by an ex-policeman who happened to see a blood trail leading up to the terrace; which went unnoticed by the 3 sets of police teams(Meerut Police, Delhi Police and Noida Police) working on the case.

Event 4 - After hours of questioning the father, one of the police teams reveal that this was the work of an insider, was the work of a butcher or a doctor and some talk on 'honour killing', saying the domestic was killed before the girl. While the other police team quoted the opposite sequence of events; leaving everyone clueless on the real sequence of the murders. However, Police still say, "Case will be cracked in 24 hours..."

Event 5 - The police finally arrest the father, saying he killed his daughter enraged by the fact that she knew of his wife's and his orgy sessions. He also found his daughter in an 'objectionable, but not compromising position'(this phrase repeated a record of 5 times in the press-conference in an 'attempt' to not look insensitive to the dead) with the domestic when he entered home that night; which they sa probably triggered it off. They highlight the email correspondence of the girl's to show the detoriating relationship with the father, which turns out to be as later discovered by the media - 1 year old...

Event 6 - The mother of the victim comes out and pleads innocence for her husband to the media. She came out in the open to give an interview to the media, to give their side of the story; what we took back from the interview was the image of a cold mother whose response to the question "How did you not hear anything, while your daughter was murdered in the adjacent room?" was "We are working professionals, who work like crazy people throughout the day and we too need our sleep". She didn't even deny the reports on their 'lifestyle' implying orgies.

Event 7 - After a couple of narco tests, the previously solid case against the father too turns out to be a dud; as the only thing against him is the inconsistencies in his story and his supposed confession to the police, which obviously was denied by him saying he was pressured to confess. So all the supposed forensic investigations is unable to implicate the father. All senior officials of the police teams are transferred for their brilliant Public Relations and use of tactful language with the media.

Event 8 - The Talwars demand a CBI(Central Bureau of Investigation) probe, while the centre is weary of picking up the case and this becomes a political fiasco as all can see this case ain't that easy to 'crack' and noone would not want to take on a losing battle.

Event 9 - Finally, the CBI accepts it and they too make some 24 hour tall claims soon after; The police try and use the compounder as an approver but land up arresting him on the grounds of him failing his narco test; 3 officials of the CBI too are transferred from the case due to involvement in leaks to the media. However, the case still remains far from solved even after a week.

Cursed Yamuna

There is a saying in Hindu mythology, that the river Yamuna is a river of sorrow and tears; formed by the tears of a sister, Yamini who weeps for her brother, Yama who she would never see as he became the Lord of the Dead (both are incidentally the children of the Sun God Surya). The sorrow was always represented by the river's dull colour, but now it is also with the curse it brings around itself wherever it flows.


This post is just as a statement of facts of the whole Talwar saga, and I would like to see what others make of this before I post my next entry where we will look at the meaning of each of these events and what I believe could be the truth...

P.S. - Yamuna flows through the NCR (Delhi, Noida etc.) Region.