Vivek Pradhan wasn’t a happy man. Even the plush comfort of the First Class air-conditioned compartment of the Shatabdi Express couldn’t cool his frayed nerves. He was the Project Manager and still not entitled to air travel. It was not the prestige he sought, he had tried to reason with the admin guy, it was the savings in time. A Project Manager had so many things to do!

He opened his case and took out the laptop, determined to put the time to some good use.

“Are you from the software industry sir”, the man beside him was staring appreciatively at the laptop.
Vivek glanced briefly and mumbled in affirmation, handling the laptop now with exaggerated care and importance as if it were an expensive car.

“You people have brought so much advancement to the country sir. Today everything is getting computerized”
“Thanks”, smiled Vivek, turning around to give the man a detailed look. He always found it difficult to resist appreciation. The man was young and stocky like a sportsman. He looked simple and strangely outfox place in that little lap of luxury like a small-town boy in a prep school. He probably was a Railway sportsman making the most of his free traveling pass.

“You people always amaze me”, the man continued, “You sit in an office and write something on a computer and it does so many big things outside”. Vivek smiled deprecatingly. Naivety demanded reasoning not anger.
“It is not as simple as that my friend. It is not just a question of writing a few lines. There is a lot of process that goes behind it”. For a moment he was tempted to explain the entire Software Development Lifecycle but restrained himself to a single statement. “It is complex, very complex”.

“It has to be. No wonder you people are so highly paid”, came the reply.

This was not turning out as Vivek had thought. A hint of belligerence came into his so far affable, persuasive tone.

“Everyone just sees the money. No one sees the amount of hard work we have to put in.Hard work! Indians have such a narrow concept of hard work. Just because we sit in an air-conditioned office doesn’t mean our brows don’t sweat. You exercise the muscle; we exercise the mind and believe me that is no less taxing”, he had the man where he wanted him and it was time to drive home the point, “Let me give you an example. Take this train. The entire railway reservation system is computerized. You can book a train ticket between any two stations from any of the hundreds of computerized booking centers across the country. Thousands of transactions accessing a single datax-ud at a given time; concurrency, data integrity, locking, data security. Do you understand the complexity in designing and coding such a system?”

The man was stuck with amazement, like a child at a planetarium. This was something big and beyond his imagination.
“You design and code such things?”
“I used to”, Vivek paused for effect, “But now I am the project manager”
“Oh!” sighed the man, as if the storm had passed over, “so your life is easy now”.

It was like being told the fire was better than the frying pan. The man had to be given a feel of the heat.

“Oh come on, does life ever get easy as you go up the ladder. Responsibility only brings more work. Design and coding! That is the easier part. Now I don’t do it, but I am responsible for it and believe me, that is far more stressful. My job is to get the work done in time and with the highest quality. And to tell you about the pressures! There is the customer at one end always changing his requirements, the user wanting something else and your boss always expecting you to have finished it yesterday”.

Vivek paused, his belligerence fading with self-realisation. What he had said was not merely the outburst of a wronged man, it was the truth. And one need not get angry while defending the truth.

“My friend”, he concluded triumphantly, “you don’t know what it is to be in the line of fire.”

The man sat back in his chair, his eyes closed as if in realization. When he spoke after sometime, it was with a calm certainty that surprised Vivek.

“I know sir, I know what it is to be in the line of fire”, He was staring blankly as if no passenger, no train existed, just a vast expanse of time.

“There were 30 of us when we were ordered to capture Point 4875 in the cover of the night. The enemy was firing from the top. There was no knowing where the next bullet was going to come from and for whom. In the morning when we finally hoisted the tricolor at the top only 4 of us were alive”

“You are a….”

“I am Subedar Sushant from the 13 J&K Rifles on duty at Peak 4875 in Kargil. They tell me I have completed my term and can opt for a land assignment. But tell me sir, can one give up duty just because it makes life easier. On the dawn of that capture one of my colleagues lay injured in the snow, open to enemy fire while we were hiding behind a bunker. It was my job to go and fetch that soldier to safety. But my captain refused me permission and went ahead himself. He said that the first pledge he had taken as a Gentleman Cadet was to put the safety and welfare of the nation foremost followed by the safety and welfare of the men he commanded. His own personal safety camelast, always and every time. He was killed as he shielded that soldier into the bunker. Every morning now as stand guard I can see him taking all those bullets, which were actually meant for me. I know sir, I know what it is to be in the line of fire”.

Vivek looked at him in disbelief not sure of his reply. Abruptly he switched off the laptop. It seemed trivial, even insulting to edit a word document in the presence of a man for whom valor and duty was a daily part of life; a valor and sense of duty which he had so far attributed only to epical heroes.

The train slowed down as it pulled into the station and Subedar Sushant picked up his bags to alight

“It was nice meeting you sir”

Vivek fumbled with the handshake. This was the hand that hadclimbed mountains, pressed the trigger and hoisted the tricolor.

Suddenly as if by impulse he stood at attention, and his right hand went up in an impromptu salute.

It was the least he felt he could do for the country.

PS: The incident he narrates during the capture of Peak 4875 is a true life incident during the Kargil war. Major Batra sacrificed his life while trying to save one of the men he commanded, as victory was within sight. For this and his various other acts of bravery he was posthumously awarded the Param Vir Chakra – the nation’s highest military award.

On googling, I found these links:
Captain Vikram Batra
Story on rediff.com
The same story on indiatimes

If somebody finds the original somewhere, please let me know. Thanks.

Torching the office of media killing 3 innocent people.

M. K. Azhagiri had a problem with Dinakaran‘s survey. In fact the survey was done with the help of AC Nielsen, a professional organization. If he was shown as having less than 1% chance of becoming the next DMK chief then that was the truth. And it was not as if the newspaper portrayed Dayanidhi Maran as the next chief, they still said 70% felt M. K. Stalin – Karunanidhi’s youngest son was the most able successor. If Azhagiri torches the office of the newspaper that just says the truth aloud then he should be torching M. K. Stalin in fact.

This incident has obviously exposed the rift between the Maran family (owners of the SUN Network) and the Karunanidhi family, but what could possibly be concluded on keener examination is a rift between the sons of Karunanidhi – Stalin and Azhagiri. At this stage of DMK, the last stint of Karunanidhi as CM, time is ripe for him to announce a successor and lead him into the next elections. With this survey maybe Dayanidhi Maran wanted to suggest to Karunanidhi that he is also interested in some important party post once he is gone. (It is kind of foolish to imagine that Maran would want to drop hints to Karunanidhi!) Anyway, looks like the move has backfired. Not only will he lose his ministerial berth to Raaja, he is also probably going to be left out of DMK in the future.

In the middle of all this brouhaha, nobody is bothered about what happens to the industry in Dayanidhi Maran’s absence. Not that there are no more talented persons to handle the ministry but then the post is apparently reserved for DMK! What is the PM doing? I thought he was the one who bothered about development and all that we identify him with, but alas, looks like politics ties everyone up.

We have many problems now to solve. Who will be an able replacement for Maran as the minister? Who will head DMK once Karunanidhi finishes with his reign? What is finally going to happen to the dynamic Maran? I like him.

Mysore will become another silicon valley and lose its identity :), im pretty sure.

Chennai retains its identity because the labour working in IT firms is largely frm in and around TN, and chennai has close connections with TN, culturally speaking, chennai is an overgrown village. if mysore doesnt have roots with karnataka and workers don come frm the state, then Mysore will lose its identity just like blore :)

I replied:

Mysore will become another silicon valley and lose its identity :), im pretty sure.
I can never be that cynical about Mysore for sure! And would love to disagree but I don’t have the benefit of foresight! I hope I can come back one day and tell you, “Ha ha Vatsan, see that?! That’s my Mysore!”

Chennai retains its identity because the labour working in IT firms is largely frm in and around TN,
I agree with this. But there is a large crowd from outside TN in Chennai. A bad example to prove my point would be the successful running of all hindi and telugu movies in TN. Let me see if I can get my figures about non-TN population in Chennai from somewhere.

and chennai has close connections with TN, culturally speaking, chennai is an overgrown village.
Absolutely right! Totally agree! I keep saying the same thing to lot of people!

if mysore doesnt have roots with karnataka and workers don come frm the state, then Mysore will lose its identity just like blore :)
I can’t make sense of this statement. Do you mean to say that B’lore is the capital of the state with which it has no roots? Doesn’t that sound absurd? I am sure you can rephrase this so that I can understand better.

Vatsan clarified:

…in chennai there is a 30% telugu population, and a huge marwari population, even before the IT boom, who are an integral part of the city. they managed to blend in and assimlate with the city, i doubt if mysore, or blore for tht matter has such a diverse population, before the boom. in blore for instance there was a sudden influx of diverse people, who refuse to assimilate the local culture, then the city lost its identity. chennai is already diverse so it wasnt a huge issue, and as long as other assimilate the local culture, they will be absorbed into chennai. visit parrys corner to chk out the marwaris in chennai.

what i meant is tht blore is the capital, but then it should have strong ties with the village, which i don see it does have therefore when kannidigas frm the state flock blore, they will change the culture. likewise with mysore. if the average mysorean can relate the the rural lifestyle, then with an influx of people from rural areas working in IT wnot change the culture. but if not, then it is a problem.

I said: 

You are making extremely valid statements. I agree with you that the sub-sets of diversity in a city’s culture should get assimilated in an overall culture that the city already has.

Rural and the city cultures need to assimilate into each other to form an unique culture representing the region. Chennai has it and you are right.

But I am not sure if we can attribute this alone as the reason for the “identity-crisis” that Bangalore is facing or like you say “Mysore will face”. 

What are the other reasons? Why do cities like Bangalore face an identity crisis? Why should native kannadigas fight for their language to be spoken in their own land? Wasn’t the partition of states done on the basis of language spoken? Then why these issues now? If you can’t speak the native language of the state you are in, then you ought to atleast learn to live with it.

Let me know what you think.

Our security personnel stood their ground against these terrorists and killed all of them. But not before sacrificing eight lives to prevent the heart of our democracy from being attacked (or God knows what was on their mind!)! The martyrs were soon forgotten after giving them a few notes of paper and one piece of metal (no, that’s not a typo error!) each.

The investigations took place. It was concluded that the mega event was well-planned and excecuted. The main guy who planned the event and managed the back-end was found to be Mr. Mohammed Afzal (bloody traitor!). Quite surprisingly, within 5 years he was caught, booked and convicted by the Indian judiciary.

Then began the drama. J&K politicians threatened that J&K would go up in flames if he (Mohd. Afzal) was hung to death. Did you know of a society called “Society for Protection of Prisoners and detainees”?! Arundhati Roy (for whom I had a little respect till now) and other people got together and said, ”the case is filled with incomplete evidence and that Afzal wasn’t given a fair trial”. Some people went into the most fundamental issue: “Why should we hang someone at all? Who are we to end the life of a person?”.

Arundhati Roy, on the face of it looks like, is making a lot of valuable points. You can check her questions (she has exactly 13 questions since it was 13th December, clearly she isn’t superstitious!) here. You can watch the unedited footage of the attack here, here, here and here. Also, Jawed Naqvi (columnist of “The Dawn”)  in a TV interview with CNN IBN said that the media has considerably swayed public opinion in this case and that’s what has in fact brought Md. Afzal to this state. You can read that interview here.

After all this, I realise that even my opinion is purely based on what the media says. And on deeper analysis, I found that I didn’t have access either to the courts that were hearing Afzal’s case or to his lawyers or the prosecution lawyers. So, I was supposed to watch the television, listen to the radio (more of FM junk nowadays than anything else), read the newspapers and arrive at my own conclusions. Even then, those conclusions will be based on “media” as such! So, what is Mr. Jawed Naqvi talking about?

I believe in my country’s judicial system. It might take its own sweet time in getting things done, but that’s the way the system is. If you want to change it and know how to, then go ahead and do it. But then, please don’t keep shouting till your throats dry up about how “useful” it is. Today, it has convicted Md. Afzal. And what do we do? Instead of welcoming the decision and hanging him to death (I believe that our country’s lawyers would have done the best they could have to produce conclusive evidence for the same) we ask for sympathy for Afzal and clemency and what not! And I guess, our president is waiting for his term to get over so that his successor takes this decision and subsequently face the music himself. Good thinking I must say!  

Afzal has been found guilty by all the courts in the hierarchy leading upto the Supreme Court. The consistency should be respected atleast if not anything else! He has admitted guilt on camera too. His brother assured CNN IBN that he was a terrorist. For me, as a layman, it looks like he is definitely guilty. For every point there might a counter-point and arguments, but then my opinion is that he should be hanged to death. The mistake he has committed is grave enough to deserve the ultimate punishment. And unfortunately, it is not the first time he has been found guilty of betraying his own country!      

A transformed Manmohan
Harish Khare

Controlled aggression, a game plan and application of technique At the outset he positioned himself in the Mahatma corner, quoting Gandhi’s abiding injunction to wipe every tear from every eye, and declared himself a legatee of the Jawaharlal Nehru vision

NEW DELHI: Manmohan Singh has been Member of Parliament since 1991 but he had never been applauded as an exciting parliamentarian. And perhaps never before did he display as emotionally combative a streak as he did on Thursday in the Rajya Sabha in the debate on the controversial nuclear deal.

Before dealing with the doubts and questions about the India-United
States Civilian Nuclear Agreement, the Prime Minister almost stumped the House with a kind of personal testimonial. Rather than conforming to his reputation as a shy and reticent person, and as a humdrum speaker, the Prime Minister spoke as a man who felt that his reputation and pride were being questioned.

It was a Virender Sehwag kind of performance — controlled aggression, a game plan and an application of sound technique. At the outset, he positioned himself in the Mahatma corner, quoting Gandhi’s abiding injunction to wipe every tear from every eye, and declared himself a legatee of the Jawaharlal Nehru vision.

To those who questioned his professional competence to deal with so
complicated an issue as the nuclear world, he asserted, “I have some experience” of dealing with economics and technology of nuclear business. He reminded the House that as member (finance) of the Atomic Energy Commission he has had worked with the distinguished nuclear professionals like H.N. Sethna and P.K. Iyengar.

And then, a bit of working philosophy. Status quo is always comfortable, but the challenge lies in breaking out of familiar terrain, and to cope
imaginatively and confidently with “uncertainty.” He talked of all the names and epithets that were hurled in his direction when he induced the post-1991 paradigm shift in the economy. He was no stranger to the name-calling game; he seemed to be telling his critics but told the House that he felt he stood vindicated by history of last 15 years.

Recalls TTK’s observation
Dr. Singh recalled the insightful observation of T.T. Krishnamachari of “tigers on the prowl” in New Delhi and added, somewhat challengingly, that he had nothing to fear from the new tigers, scenting blood.

In an unusual personal touch, the Prime Minister reminded everyone that he was born in a poor family and had the blood of freedom fighters in his veins. He conceded that while he was a latecomer to the world of politics, he belonged to a party that had a proud heritage of having brought freedom to the country.

As the Congress benches repeatedly applauded him, Dr. Singh promised that he would do his best to promote and protect “the vital interests of the country.” In an unusually emotional pitch, Dr. Singh told the parliamentarians that he was in the “service of India” and was committed to “the last ounce of my blood” to work for freeing millions of Indians who suffer “day in and day out.”

Unexpected
This sentimental preface was totally unexpected. It galvanised the Congress benches who were till that moment somewhat sceptical of the Prime Minister’s parliamentary skills to respond to the critics’ daylong assault.

In a way, Dr. Singh won the day even before he came down to the specifics of the nuclear deal. At the end of his 70-minute performance, the Congress MPs were left wondering the transformation that overtook the Prime Minister.

The PM played all the cards he had in this speech. He started off by thanking all the members for raising queries so that the issues would come up for debate and get clarified too. He elaborated on the types of queries and answered them brilliantly. To read meaningful exceprts of the speech please click here. What stood out for me are the following statements:

• I did not seek Prime Ministership, it came to me and I have carried out my duties faithfully and will continue to do so. Infact, if you ask me, choosing Dr. Manmohan Singh for PM was the most sensible decision made by Sonia Gandhi. And after this speech, my opinion only got strengthened.
• I am the son of a Freedom Fighter who left his job to fight for the independence of this country. So, there is the blood of a freedom fighter that runs in me. I got those goosebumps on hearing those words. Even the PM choked on saying these words and paused to have a glass of water.
• I made it clear to Mr. Bush that the intervention in Iraq was a mistake. This statement told me that Dr. Singh is not a weak and spineless man. He has it in him to speak on behalf of the country whatever be his political pressures.
• When I introduced reforms during 1972-73, I was labeled a pawn in the hands of the US. Looking back, I wonder how India would have handled the Great Asian crisis . He was now taking the entire issue on his head. His capabilities are well known and from here on the entire house just listened. They were sold already.
• I was the Finance Secretary for the Atomic Energy Commission and I know what are the costs involved in the deals that we are involved in. He understands the domain of Nuclear Energy.
• There are risks involved in such deals. And I am willing to take such risks for the sake of the development of the country. He knew what he was doing.
• I will serve the country to the last ounce of my blood and nobody can take that right away from me. I didn’t care about the speech anymore. I was deeply impressed by this man who is leading my country.

I am sold to the Nuclear Deal!

You can watch the video of the speech here.

And if you want to know more about our PM. Click here.

Rang De Basanti  thodisi dhuul meri dharti ki mere watan ki - 2 thodisi Khushbuu baurai se mast pavan ki thodisi dhondhane waali dhak-dhak dhak-dhak dhak-dhak saansein jin mein ho junoon junoon voh boonde laal lahuu ki yeh sab tuu mila mila le phir rang tuu khila khila le - 2 aur mohe tuu rang de basanti yaara mohe tuu rang de basanti mohe mohe tuu rang de basanti - 9 oh mohe rang de basanti basanti rang de basanti - 2  Take some soil from the land of my country, And a little scent of its sweet air, And a little breath of ours, In which there is the passion of our blood, Add everything and enjoy the colour that blossoms, Colour me with the colour of patriotism my friend!   sapnen rang de, apne rang de khushiyaan rang de, gam bhi rang de naslen rang de, faslein rang de rang de dhadkan, rang de sargam aur mohe tuu rang de basanti yaara mohe tuu rang de basanti (thodisi dhuul meri dharti ki mere watan ki - 2 thodisi Khushbuu baurai se mast pavan ki thodisi dhondhane waali dhak-dhak dhak-dhak dhak-dhak saansein jin mein ho junoon junoon voh boonde laal lahuu ki yeh sab tuu mila mila le phir rang tuu khila khila le - 2 aur mohe tuu rang de basanti yaara mohe tuu rang de basanti)  Colour your dreams, colour your people, Colour your happiness, colour your sadness too, Colour generations, colour the crops, Colour the heartbeats, colour the melody, And colour me with that colour of patriotism my friend! Colour me with that colour of patriotism!    dheemi aanch pe tuu zara ishq chadha thode jharne laa, thodi nadi mila thode saagar laa, thodi gaagar laa thoda chhidak chhidak, thoda hila hila phir ek rang tu khila khila mohe mohe tuu rang de basanti yaara mohe tuu rang de basanti  Place love on a simmering flame, Get a few streams and add rivers, Get some seas and oceans, Sprinkle a little, stir a little, You will find one colour that blossoms, Colour me with that colour of patriotism my friend! Colour me with that colour of patriotism my friend!    basti rang de, hasti rang de hans hans rang de, nas nas rang de bachpan rang de, joban rang de ab der na kar sachmuch rang de rang rez mere sab kuchh rang de mohe mohe tuu rang de basanti yaara mohe tuu rang de basanti  Colour your streets, colour your hands, Colour your smiles, colour your veins, Colour your childhood, colour your youth, Don't wait anymore colour me fully, Colour everything, Colour me with the colour of patriotism my friend! Colour me with the colour of patriotism!   thodisi dhuul meri dharti ki mere vatan ki - 2 thodisi KHushbuu baurai se mast pavan ki thodisi dhondne waali dhak-dhak dhak-dhak dhak-dhak saansein jin mein ho junoon junoon voh boonde laal lahuu ki yeh sab tuu mila mila le phir rang tuu khila khila le - 2 mohe mohe tuu rang de basanti yaara mohe mohe tuu rang de basanti - 9 mohe rang de basanti basanti rang de basanti - 4 rang de rang de rang de basanti (ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding) - 3 mohe rang de basanti basanti rang de basanti basanti mohe rang de basanti rang de basanti rang de basanti  Take some soil from the land of my country, And a little scent of its sweet air, And a little breath of ours, In which there is the passion of our blood, Add everything and enjoy the colour that blossoms, Colour me with the colour of patriotism my friend!  My Apologies to Mr. Prasoon Joshi for not bringing out the true spirit of the song. I wanted it to reach out to a wider audience. That's all! I get inspired everytime I listen to this song!  And Mr. A R Rahman, you never cease to amaze me Sir! Take a bow!  Thank you for such a great song! 

This time it’s not just the police; academicians too have joined the brigade and launched a campaign against tight clothes, jeans, skirts and T-shirts.

Banning cell-phones is one thing but asking students what to wear is another issue. It does seem fair to ask students to switch off their mobile phones during class hours as it does indeed disturb academics. Not many students seem to have an objection to this.

But enforcing a dress code on students is moral policing, students say.

“The ban on sleeveless tops, tight-fit outfits and jeans clearly seems to target girls,” says a postgraduate journalism student. “It is not only sexist but a completely old-fashioned male chauvinistic attitude resurfacing,” she adds, almost enraged.

During engineering, the dress code used to be a T-shirt, One pair of Blue jeans [Yes! Only blue! Why? Because sky is blue! I don't know yar!] & bathroom slippers. Only during the first year [that too because of ragging], would we ever wear formals [Yeah! With those open cuffs and slippers].

I absolutely cannot relate to this rule from Anna University. Considered to be one of the top 10 colleges in India (according to one the recent surveys by India Today) , and one of the top 30 in Asia.

Why can’t students be made to learn that they should not wear ‘indecent’ dresses? Why does the University feel that the students it has selected after so many entrance barriers don’t have the basic dressing etiquette? [Getting into Anna University is the toughest through TNPCEE]

In this age of MMSes coming out of schools, this move is a reverse gear. Instead of educating people on the right and wrong[What else are educational institutes for?], we are trying to implement more unimplementable rules. There’s an age-old saying, “Don’t judge the book by its cover”. By wearing formal clothes, you are not going to make students study and concentrate better. You ought to teach better. Somebody needs to give this funda to those authorities at Anna University.

Students, as a group, never bother anyone unless they are needled like this. Let them be the way they are. Help them realise what they should do and what they shouldn’t do. Don’t teach them by force. There are other methods too. Try them first. Students are the future of this country. Their energy must be harnessed towards positive things than distracting them with such dumb rules. [As if there weren't enough distractions already!]

“I have planned a trip to Munnar. It’s a wonderful place you know. I booked the Club Mahindra resort long back. It’s a long weekend na, that’s why”

“Oh good! Enjoy! I have never been to Munnar. Hope you have a nice time”

“Thanks!”

Munnar, Kodaikannal, Pondicherry, Colombo and Singapore are the places a few people I know are going to on the long weekend of August 13, 14, 15. The more intelligent of them have applied 4 days leave and converted it into a jolly 10-day vacation. Brilliant!

Incidentally, August 15th happens to be the day we became independent from the British rule. For some strange reason, it has been made a National Holiday. I agree that it’s a reason to celebrate the anniversaries of the day we were liberated. And one way of celebration the Nation thought was by making it a holiday.

The Independence day is actually a result of the effort put in by the people of that age to help us live our lives today. There were several people who sacrificed their lives for the sake of the succeeding generations. When I say sacrifice, I point not only to those who died but there were those who contributed 100% of themselves to the cause called “Independence”.

Independence was not a right in those days. It was a cause to live. I don’t think we understand the gravity of the paradigm shift. The cause united millions of people. The cause gave people the ability to fast for months together as a mark of opposition. The people then didn’t have independence, they fought for it. The lucky ones got to enjoy the freedom. They realised the value of a free India.

The freedom fighters didn’t fight for nothing. If we are right now in a state that’s worse than when the British left, then they handed the Country to inefficient people like us. We can wash our hands off by saying that the Nehru family was the one that ruled us for almost half a century, they are responsible to the country’s present state of affairs. But, let us take the stand that the damage has been done, but it’s not beyond repair. We still have 600 million young people raring to go and make this country a developed country. We can win if each of us decides that we are going to do whatever is in our potential for India.

Independence Day should be a day when these promises are strengthened. We should remind ourselves of our commitment to this wonderful country. It’s a chance to do a review of the past one year and set new goals for this year. Do a conscious analysis of the past one year and write down three things that we have done for the Country. I am sure we will not even fill up the first field.

August 15th should be the day such decisions are taken. The only problem that India faces as a country is that we lack a cause. We stand united when there’s a Kargil, we stand united when there’s a Latur earthquake, we stand united whenever there’s a collective danger to the country. The danger to the country right now is that we will continue to remain developing if we don’t make the conscious decision of reaching the rural areas and helping them develop.

There’s no water in certain areas. And here I am getting to sell low cost computers to them. Is there a paradox? Actually, this is a paradox that will appear to us at every step. We can talk about this paradox sometime later. A short answer to the question is that, to provide essentials to the rural areas is the responsibility of the Government. I am willing to do my best if I am able to figure out how I can help the situation. They need to get out of certain non-core business and get into concentrating solely on the essentials. Well, these are huge topics. Lets take them up some other time.

In my humble (for sake of correct grammar, don’t take it seriously!) opinion, Independence Day should not be a Holiday. It should be a working day as usual. And with a Flag hoisting ceremony made compulsory at every workplace, educational institution, etc. We don’t need to have long speeches on the day. Just hoist the Flag, salute the people who sacrificed their lives for our sake, say the National Anthem with the pride of being an Indian and retain the pride for the rest of the year. Next year you can renew the ties with our Motherland with new vigour.

Jai Hind!

(This post was supposed to be posted yesterday)

Tomorrow: Bangalore