Very few people seed the urge in me to write. We learn different things from different people. This is a continuation to my post People who have made me to re-think over.
I saw this man first while I was travelling in bus to Andheri station in the morning hours. The bus is crowded usually. This man asked for the bus route and got into the bus from the driver side which he is not supposed to. He then rushed to the other side of the bus through the crowd, pushing people around, but with a huge smile, asking excuses and then he returned back to the same place. On seeing this for the first time, although he was asking excuses and sporting a big smile, I was furious that he was doing it for some notorious fun and the conductor also seemed not to bother.
The next day, it was the same bus stop and this man got into the bus and was rushing through the crowd the same way. But I felt ashamed for not noticing something. He was having a stick in hand which the blind men use to guide them. Yes, this man is blind. It was a shock to me. I asked sorry to myself. I did not know that he was blind and was making wrong assumptions. I was wondering why he had to rush through the crowd to the other side. By the stop where he boards the bus, the conductor is on the other side giving tickets and this man goes all the way to get his ticket. And he does it with a smile and asking excuses all the way to the people.
I have re-learnt to be gracious to people from him. He can demand a seat to sit and ask the conductor to come to him for a ticket. He doesn’t do that and goes all his way not bothering about the difficulty in between to get the ticket. He greets the difficulties in between with a smile. This man displays the confidence and humane nature in him. I have stamped few shoes in the crowded places by mistake and have never asked excuses. I take it for granted that it’s a crowded place and it happens for me too.
We tend to forget the small things in life. We devalue people before us. We don’t bother, don’t ask excuses and missing to communicate also happens. We take them for granted and don’t realize how much it would have concerned them and we keep doing it the same way. We are humans and do mistakes. It does not matter as far as we don’t repeat it time and again. Let’s re-think what we had learnt about kindness and love. I am now returning a call to a friend who was concerned about my health and I had not answered properly while asked.
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A clean politics is what every average citizen wants in the country. Elections 09 seem to have indicated it. With congress getting a clear mandate, Mr. Singh and Rahul wanting to have a clean and young cabinet at least from their party, it gives a fresh perspective of the government. This election has also made the BJP and third parties to revise and redo their policies which were outdated. My interest in politics have pepped up again after a gap of over 5 years.
The UPA camp on deciding the cabinet looks refreshing with a bold and professional look. Mr. Singh once criticized as weak PM and lags in decision making, looks bold and energetic now. The portfolios to be given influence the performance of the upcoming government. MPs like Rahul, Scindia, Milind Deora, Maran, Chidambaram, Kapil Sibal, Shashi Tharoor and more with good expertise are definitely refreshing. Mr. Singh himself being one of the best economists in the world being a PM is a pride to our country. The first 100 days is to be watched out for few economic reforms. The noted economists’ magic is the need of the hour to tackle the job loss and the slowdown.
Altogether somewhere I read few years back that India will be able to show its superpower to the world by 2010. I feel this as the beginning.
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The title of the post draws inspiration from the title "Angels & Demons" just for its rhyming sounds.
My name has 3 R's in it and people call be triple R or sometimes "R cube" also. That’s how Im related to the cubic entity. But from no where, the square entity follows me at times when I haven’t given a thought about it. Google had announced "Project10tothe100" program. I wanted to contribute to it and the title of my idea in a jiffy narrowed to E2. It denotes Education & Empowerment. Yeah…The antenna in my brain pops up wherever there is something to be conceptualized. And when Google calls for ideas, I got pepped up. Unfortunately I was not able to complete the idea I started to visualize. To more about the Project from Google visit project10tothe100.com
Back to square, my earlier naming patterns for an event of CII were I2 and P2. I2 means Inventions & Innovations and very straight and a bit silly too, P2 is Paper Presentation. These again were conceptualized but could not get executed.
Guess the squares made by cube were not fit enough to get executed and showcased but I am glad for the attempt.
Democracy is our nation’s strength and sometimes I feel it as a weakness as well. 10 terrorists came into the city and killed several people which the world knows. One terrorist is caught alive and he is interrogated. I guess he should only be interrogated. Why does the court need to give him a lawyer? Is the court trying to give him a chance of fleeing free which is not going to happen!! What is the motive behind booking some 300+ cases against one single terrorist and appointing a lawyer for him? There is a cost attached to all these court proceedings. He should be interrogated and his back links should be found on intelligence basis but I feel its waste of time and huge money in bringing him to court when the whole world knows he is a terrorist.
The above is an external affair problem and below is an internal affair.
Elections are in pace. I know for sure there is going to be no change after the election whichever party holds the cabinet. As a voter I see all the candidates as invalid and I decide not to vote. But there are a lot of chances that my vote will be misused. Thank god, I found out the section 49-O in the Conduct of Election rules. I have a right not to cast my vote which means I don’t need to vote for any candidate. It’s like me boycotting the election. It’s not going to affect the winning chances of the candidate but by this my vote can’t be misused. I felt happy about the law in place until I read about a loop hole in it.
The section says – “If an elector, after his electoral roll number has been duly entered in the register of voters in Form-17A and has put his signature or thumb impression thereon as required under sub-rule (1) of rule 49L, decided not to record his vote, a remark to this effect shall be made against the said entry in Form 17A by the presiding officer and the signature or thumb impression of the elector shall be obtained against such remark.” which means the anonymity of the voter is lost which is against the procedure of voting behind the ballot box and hence the rule cannot be used by any voter wishing to live peacefully.
Moreover, the EVMs don’t have the option of “None” or “Not applicable” which again forces the voter to vote on some candidates of no caliber. Its like wherever there is a provision of law there is provision of a loop hole as well. Our law sings to the every citizen's tune.
A fine morning, after reading the headlines, I asked a friend “Do you know Sarath Babu”. He replied “Ya ya, the one who acted with Rajinikanth. Ya I know him.”
I did not expect that reply or else I would have got prepared to face it. Then I told him about Sarath Babu. Sarath is from a very humble and poor family in Chennai. His mother sold idli’s door by door for his schooling. Sarath made it to BITS Pilani for his engineering degree and got placed in a software firm. Later he got into IIM-A for his management degree. He topped in the exams and offers poured in. But, he did not take them. He said “I want to be an entrepreneur and adding more he wanted to start a food chain inspired by his mother”. Touching story!
Now, Sarath is taking another step in his life. He is contesting for the Lok Sabha elections. Now wants to give it back to the society. He is an independent candidate from the South Chennai constituency contesting against the biggies.
I wonder in which film has the actor Sarath Babu played a role like this.
Btw, 2009 elections have transformed to be a national event with a day holiday for most of the citizens. Campaigns are at full swing in all means and forms of media. Why is this all for? Where is the change? are my questions. I could hear few voicing out "You be the change!". It makes sense while hearing and while reading the below statistics I feel "God save this place"
Total no. of Candidates with Criminal Records = 222 (i.e. 16% of 1425 candidates)
Most of the major political parties have fielded candidates with criminal records, with top four parties being INC (24), BJP(23), BSP(17) and SP(10)
Most states have candidates with criminal background contesting elections- Bihar is at the top with 51 candidates (or 26%)
There are 306 charges of heinous nature on the candidates which includes, murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, extortion, etc.
Percentage of contesting crorepatis has increased from 9% in 2004 to 14% in 2009
68% candidates have not furnished their PAN card details.
Number of women candidates is just 122(7%) as compared to 1593 of men(93%)
Source: ADR Press Release in New Delhi. Thanks to Anil for the mail.
I have no comments to explain the above!!!!! X(
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I was recently reading an upbeat news article which will make us very proud. It was a dream coming true article which made feel proud and astonishing. The heading was "Mumbai to emerge as the global financial center". I was surprisingly shocked with a pessimist mood on how could this happen. Not that I don’t wish it to happen, but how could it happen and how will it be. Then scrolling down to the bottom of the article there were comments from fellow citizens. A copy/paste of that for you is below;
The article says "Mumbai is the best suited to emerge as a global financial center, especially because the domestic demand for sophisticated financial services is high," a finance ministry official, who asked not to be named told The Economic Times. After the formation of the new government, the ministry will take up 49 recommendations to restructure the current financial regulations. The popular proposals which are being speculated include encouraging innovation, introducing new products, removing segmentation of financial markets and strengthening corporate debt market.
Reader's comments (8)
1: How long did it take to build the Bandra-Worli sea link? About 25 years in the making...! How long will it take to remove Dharavi ...about 100 years+. Look, nobody is going to accept Mumbai as a World Financial Center unless it learns to present itself clean with good roads, communication, drainage plus other necessities such as Hong Kong. Our politicians will never let it happen.
2: Caution! Idiots at work :).
3: hmmm.. sounds just like the $10 laptop to me!
4: Wishful thinking. We don't yet have the infrastructure to support the current IT business we have. Indian govt seems to have no clue as to the kind of infrastructure demands a global financial center requires. It's a different story that India will come out stronger after the recession. That always happens with many countries except that this time around it may take a while for the US to come around stronger.
5: one more scam in the making
6: but before it happens i think all we will die due to poverty. but still happy feel proud of Indian
7: so, the opinion that India will emerge stronger after recession is coming true. hope the ministry succeeds.
8: Guys, we all know that India can turn into what we want it to be overnight. There needs to be a revolution and maybe this is the opportunity. When the politicians realize that anything they do will be reflected in how India is perceived by the World, they might bring in a radical change to their thought process. Let's hope for the best. This could be the first step towards India becoming the Super Power in the years to come (not too far, well before we die, for sure).
Source: SiliconIndia dated 02nd April 2009
All the above comments represent an average citizen’s anguish and yearning to see a developed nation. It is not that we don’t have anything to make it. We have everything and it’s all getting eaten up by some crooks in between who are supposed to make it happen.
நல்லதோர் வீணை செய்து அதை நலம் பட புழுதியில் விடுவதுண்டோ!!
You dont make a beautiful musical instrument to trash!!
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