The Paradox of our lives

"
Duniya jise kehate hain jaadu ka khilona,
Mil jaaye to mitti hai, kho jaaye to sona hai
"
Roughly translated as "Life and world are said to be a magical toy. If one gets it all, its worth nothing. If we loose something what we loose seems like loosing gold"

I just thought how true it is. We pursue material gains as if they are all that matters. But we never know when the story could end.

Something similar
"
Zindagi ka muqaddar , safar dar safar,
Aakhiri saans tak beqaraar aadmi
"

Another year wanders by

Another year wanders by,

The dust swirls in the wind,

Confused rain moistens random evenings,

I see the familiar all around,

And yet I can't recognize the streets.

The world's going round and round,

And round and round and round,

And suddenly I see the familiarity,

For in a hazy flash I realize,

I have been here before.

The darkness claws at the light,

I can see the shadows at the back of my mind,

I want to close my eyes,

Hear the sounds, feel the shackles,

But I wonder what if the darkness waits,

Only for a moment like that.

To those who have closed their eyes,

Its all gone,

Now just follow the crowd,

But I could never shut my mind,

Questioning, wondering, musing, imagining

Its easy to sit back,

To watch life culminate at its pace,

But I must hope, fight persevere and believe,

For I want the shadows, the dazzles,

The sugars, the limes,

The almonds, the raisins,

The dates, the apples,

All those flavours, the wines,

Even from the grapes of wrath.

Do Muslims need that mosque?

I wanted to post this as a status message on facebook but the small word limit and the fear of being unable to be clear ensured I am now posting a blog entry.

First of all the disclaimer. This is totally my personal opinion. I do not mean to offend. Also I find it funny that on the internet on an issue concerning only Indian Muslims there are so many Muslims from other countries shouting at forums and indulging in a who can abuse more match with others.

So the Ayodhya verdict is out. The verdict is surprising and that is good. If any community had won we would have had victory processions by the extreme wing of one and protest marches by the same wing of the other community. Both would be equally provocative. There judgment had and still has a great potential of engulfing India in violence.

As of now all is peaceful. Most probably all the troublemakers and hired goons are still scratching their heads wondering if they have won or lost. Thats the beauty of the judgement. Its a win some ,loose a little formula.

The judgment runs into thousands of pages with all 3 judges giving seperate opinions.

The court ruled that Hindus and Muslims have shared joint custody of the land for the last 200 years at least and so it shall remain. There is no clear looser. Please read the judgment available online at this link before forming opinions. The judiciary has not favored one community or being pro-temple as being said by some parties. Indeed I have seen the BJP and the RSS blowing trumpets of victory but that is maliciously misleading on their part.

By a majority judgement the land is to be divided into three parts. I thought a 50-50 division would have been more equal but the judgement is still acceptable.

On nearly every important issue the judges were divided and hence we have a majority opinion as the assenting opinion. The court did not as a majority agree that the Area was the the birthplace of Lord Ram. What the court said was that its the place where for the last 200 years many Hindus have believed that Lord Ram was born and the court will accept it.

The verdict is acceptable but it is likely to go to the Supreme Court. No one has won completely and a judgment of this magnitude has to be contentious. Maybe the SC could expedite it.

Now that the Sunni Board has 1/3rd of the land , it should ask whether Muslims really need that mosque. The verdict is a setback to right wing Hindu groups claiming the entire land. The verdict says Muslim Wakf board has equal rights to the land as the other parties. Indeed if we look at the reasoning of the majority opinion in the judgment, the fact is the rights for the Hindu community come from the special case that this mosque was a common worship place since the British. The Hindus had the use of the outer area. This of course is a precedent that may not be applicable elsewhere but may lead to unrest at other places of conflict as who can guarantee there will not be another Babri Masjid incident elsewhere(the political gains for the BJP were enormous ). This is disquieting. Indeed I hope the Supreme Court while reaffirming this decision should lay out very clearly that never again can a similar thing happen.

After this judgement however ,now that the legal rights of the Muslim have been reaffirmed, the Sunni Muslim Wakf board should take a step back and think.

The mosque at Ayodhya is not special, its just a mosque. This is not Mecca ,Medina or even the Ajmer dargah.There will be no Muslims going on a pilgrimage to Ayodhya to pray at the mosque. To me it seems sacrilegious that a mosque will be built there. Just for that area so many Muslims and Hindus have died. A mosque with a foundation of human skulls and the moans of people mercilessly murdered during riots cannnot be a place of where I can offer namaz.

Instead let there be a memorial there dedicated to innocent victims of violence which aims to further understanding and peaceful existence in India. Let there be photogrpahs that may remind people of the terrible cost of religious strife. And let it be dedicated to the nation.

The Babri Masjid demolition represents the very worst of humanity. But that Masjid is gone. Broken down stone by stone and the pre and the post riots ensured hundreds died. It did not happen suddenly but was the result of a steady raising of tensions. Why should people forget the actual cost of strife and even more importantly the terrible cost of hate? Indeed each citizen of India should realize that only hate has the power to tear this nation apart.

Indian Muslims also should have other priorities as a community correct. We are the most economically and educationally backward of all communities. We need a vibrant leadership. Indeed our leaders have let us down the most. Let us fight for education , justice(the criminal case over the demolition somebody?),equality and that Sachar committee report recommendations be implemented.

So Sunni Wakf board people if you ever read this, take the initiative and be magnanimous. Dedicate the memorial to the nation and to fighting hate and discrimination.

Whatever be the verdict, India is the victim

So we have the Babri masjid title suit verdict coming this friday.

Let us not confuse things. This is not related to the demolition of the mosque. The demolition is a criminal case and has been around for just 20 years. Of course now there are hardly any accused left. No conspiracy, just 11 or 12 accused and it seems that a 400 year old mosque simply collapsed all by itself despite all efforts to protect it.

What we have on friday is the verdict of the nearly 60 year old suit asking who holds the title of the land. The Muslim community by virtue of a mosque being there or the Hindu community as a temple existed there earlier. The title suit is also linked to the Babri Masjid demolition by virtue of events of the last 20 years. Just to give some background info, Babri masjid was a bone of contention since pretty long but this suit is linked to 1949 when miscreants broke into the mosque and installed idols in the center(the alternative version is that the idols magically appeared). The mosque was sealed and the case went to court. In 1988, Rajiv Gandhi ordered the mosque opened and worship allowed in the temple now formed in what many say as a measure to please the majority committee after the government had bent against pressure from orthodox Muslim clerics and invalidated the Shah Bano ruling with a new law.

The pandoras box had been opened. A party called the BJP, a successor of the Hindu Mahasabha took up the issue. Over a period of the next 3-4 years the mass public mobilizations culminated in the destruction of the mosque. Prior to this event and especially after the demolition, riots would break out in many parts of India. The Bombay riots among them were especially destructive. Hundred and maybe thousands died. But the greater damage was to the fabric of India.

So who owns the land. That is the vexing question? Because there are a lot of principles of law at stake here. Assuming a temple existed there, can an act however reprehensible be undone 350 years old. I am really not sure. By the same standard, the American Indians could claim back large tracts of America and so could indigenous people in many parts of the world.

However since I really have no memories of 1992 , I will involve other people who knew.

One incident I know is a person who said the issue has been used for political mileage. He went to Ayodhya with a group in early 1980's. They went to nealry 12 temples and out of them half claimed to be the birthplace of Lord Ram. The BJP needed an event to propel it to the national stage and Ayodhya was it. There were nearly 20000 temples in Ayodhya and only 5 mosques. Now there are only 3.

Another relative, a very learned scholar mused recently that Muslim community lost a great oppurtunity. The mosque had not been used since 1949. Many muslims also beleive also that it ceased to be a mosque once idols were installed. So if the Muslim community as a whole had gone to the negotiating table and offered to shift the mosque to another plot they could have probably benefited greatly. Among the conditions he mused should have been proportional representation in the goverenment especially the police and constabulary. Another thing would be a new amendment in the constitution declaring 1990 as the status quo date and a law that no further mosque can be demolished for any reason whatsoever. However it did not happen and now we can only wonder how it would have sounded.

Now we have the verdict on the title suit. I don't know what the court will say. There is communal tension in the air because of the verdict. This is especially true for UP because of the political potential. If Muslims win , some fools will take out celebratory processions and if we loose idiots will take out a protest march. I am very much sure the same will stand true for some Hindus in either case. While there have been enough calls for peace and requests for no response of any kind to the verdict, there will always be fools and cynical manipulative leaders somewhere. A riot guarantees a vote bank.

If I could wish I would wish for a neutral verdict. Let that land be declared neutral area. I don't want a mosque which stands on so much of bloodshed of both communities.

I have always said the idea of a nation is weakened when we are so divided that we cant live together. Or stand each other. A nation held together only by force is one step away from imploding. India is a nation of many hues and shades. Unity in diversity. That we must never forget

Whoever wins, the final looser will be India..... Only India.

So I have been procrastinating

I haven't blogged in a long long time and there are some rather lame reasons for it

a) There was no stable net connection at home. Now I have it. In the absence of net I procrastinated. Not very nice but that is the truth.

b) I have been thinking of moving to a custom domain. That added to the delay.

c) In between I moved locations. Its tough shifting.

d) My poor scores in the mock cats became excuses why not to blog(lazy ones as usual.)

Anyway a lot to muse about. The world changes every day and I have missed months.

But moving to CAT. I have choosen 22nd Nov as my CAT date. Right now frankly I am imploding in all the mock cats. Getting scores that I never got earlier. And the time is running out . Lets see if I can pull my boots up or loose the game and become laughing stock which is very likely right now.

As usual I can remember a sher, one of my favourites.

"Muzamahil ho gaye quvaa Ghaalib,

Woh anasir mein aitadal kahaan"

Your powers have become weak O ghalib,

There is no moderation in the elements

Coming Soon

Plans are being made. I will be back.

Btw relocated to Pune.

Think about it

“Naturally the common people don’t want war… That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”
HERMANN WILHELM GOERING, Nazi Party leader

How true do these words still sound.

The idea of hate

I live in a world which is filled with hate. You dont need to go looking for it. In the morning newspaper there will be the report of a terrorist attack. Then I will see subtle hate in some of the pages. And if I just decide to browse news on the web there is Times Of India, rediff and so many sites with unmoderated comments with the the most vile comments possible.

The idea of hate is this only. When you want an explaination for the Holocaust, the 9/11 attacks, the suicide bombers, thr riots which kill hundreds or so many acts of evil around us, think of hate. Hate drove the crimes against African Americans in the Jim Crow south during the civil rights movement. The blacks were afterall the other.

However it appears humanity has not learnt its lessons. Hate is thriving today. Skin head gangs are back in vogue. The right wing in europe feeds of the right in middle east. The Islamic extremist and the Islamophobic's trip over each other to show the crimes off the other and showing themselves as victims. In the message is hate present.

I am tired of hate. Hate directed against me and others also. The hate on some of the muslim forums is as hateful as the hate on some of the christian forums I have chanced upon and both of them rival hate on the hindu forums.

Those who hide behind the freedom of speech should stop whining when their view are outed as what they are -racist, bigoted and hateful. Indeed the freedom of speech does not encompass the right to offend or the right to spread hatred.

I say no to hate today. I think its time to start a movement where hate is shown as unacceptable.

I dont beleive in a supernatural basis of evil. Man is capable of the mst evil acts possible with full choice. Indeed more than naxals hate is the biggest threat to India. If we cannot live together, see each other for what we are-humans , indians and citizens of a common world then the world's future is dark indeed.

Something Deep

So I read this poem that really got me thinking. Its not touching but it is contemplative. What are our identities? The poetess is a migrant to UK(incidentally she is Ayesha Tharkers mother).And she asks the questions. I will quote only 3 paragraphs. Love the last para. In an oblique way. Search for the complete poem if u are interested. I love the last para.

THEY’LL SAY: ‘SHE MUST BE FROM ANOTHER COUNTRY’

When I can’t comprehend
why they’re burning books
or slashing paintings,
when they can’t bear to look
at god’s own nakedness,
when they ban the film
and gut the seats to stop the play
and I ask why
they just smile and say,
‘She must be
from another country.’

When I speak on the phone
and the vowel sounds are off
when the consonants are hard
and they should be soft,
they’ll catch on at once
they’ll pin it down
they’ll explain it right away
to their own satisfaction,
they’ll cluck their tongues
and say,
‘She must be
from another country.’

When my mouth goes up
instead of down,
when I wear a tablecloth
to go to town,
when they suspect I’m black
or hear I’m gay
they won’t be surprised,
they’ll purse their lips
and say,
‘She must be
from another country.’

But from where we are
it doesn’t look like a country,
it’s more like the cracks
that grow between borders
behind their backs.
That’s where I live.
And I’ll be happy to say,
‘I never learned your customs.
I don’t remember your language
or know your ways.
I must be
from another country.’

Imtiaz Dharker

I would simply never have walked

It’s a phase of solitude,

A season of setting suns,

Drenching rains ,

Cold mornings,

Sweaty afternoons,

Reminding me each moment of the futility,

Of things, people, actions and rewards



The emptiness around me that haunts me,

While I miss you in ways small and big,

And as my loneliness caresses me in a crowd,

I feel a void inside that seems to be endless.



It’s funny how long I have survived,

In this desert without water,

Like a swimmer who lost sight of land,

With water the nourisher being the final,

Destroyer.



Now,

In this season of forced smiles and artificial grace,

That I look back and wonder,

How long I have survived.



When I started on the long trudge,

Had I known the then unwritten play,

My journey would be so lonely,

And I would hope of love,

Yet never close to drowning the emptiness,

Or filling up the yawning hole,

I would simply never have walked.

Articles

These are two articles which I wrote for a magazine that the toastmaster club in my company is going to publish. Read them if u have time. Enjoy maadi. :)

My journey with MyInfy

I remember the first time I heard about toastmasters. It was during my induction session when I joined Infosys. They talked about toastmasters as a venue for people with weak communication skills. Toastmasters seemed to be the last thing I would join. I immediately forgot everything about the MyInfy toastmasters. It appeared there was just too little time.

But there was a curiosity about toastmasters that I could not hide for long. Those tempting posts on the bulletin-board created a desire to attend a meeting but something or the another kept cropping up at exactly the wrong times.

So finally I went to a toastmasters meet and I simply had no doubts that toastmasters offered something special. To those who struggle with speaking skills toastmasters offered a chance to improve. To those who were already conversant toastmaster offered the chance to be better.

So putting my money where my mouth was, I joined toastmasters. And it’s been a great journey. The toastmaster projects allow me through their goals to each time focus on one aspect of public speaking. From words, structure of speech body language to voice modulation it appears toastmasters encapsulates everything. I have slowly seen my speeches and my communication skills get better. I was never a weak speaker as such but toastmasters has helped me polish my skills.

Also a big advantage of toastmaster is its visibility in b-schools and other companies. We all want to say that we have great communication skills. In that b-school interview toastmasters credentials as a CC or even an aspiring CC can vouch that you are a skilled orator.

The tablet topics section in the Toastmasters meeting helps sharpen on the feet thinking skills. So often do we feel after an interaction that we could have done it better. The table-topics ensure that such regrets come less regularly as the speaking on the feet skills rub off everything.

Toastmasters till now has been a wonderful journey.

It’s been a journey of self discovery and continuous improvement.

I hope you also get to walk the same trail and have as much fun as I have if you decide to take the Toastmasters journey.

My Area B1 Contest Experience

“We improve ourselves by victories over ourselves. There must be a contest, and we must win.Or at least aspire to win because we all think the best man has won.”

Toastmasters International endeavours to improve the speaking and leadership skills of its members. While projects help people sharpen individual facets of their skills, only a contest can test the mettle of people. Toastmasters International organizes fours contests over a year which are organized in groups of two every six months. So while during the first six months of the year we have the “International Speech” and the “Table-topics” contest, “Humorous speech” and “Evaluation” contest follow in the next six months.

As a toastmaster I have been involved in representing my club in the various contests for the last one year. I have been a participant in all the four different contest at different times. Unfortunately I haven’t won any of the contests even one time. Infact I can proudly say, I haven’t been even close. No special mention or even third or fourth runners up for consolation.

However while people and even I see failure at times as an indication that it’s time to give up, I am still as enthusiastic about contests as the time I first tried my luck. Maybe the fact is that contests have given me so much new to learn that I am still pining my chance. Here are my major learnings-

Sh** Happens- I normally consider myself as pretty good at table-topics. However the first contest I went to had a topic like-“My parents are in the iron and steal business. My fathers steals and my mother irons it.” The announcer announced the topic and I started speaking. Unfortunately maybe I was too scared or something as its only when I sat down after the speech that I realized the hidden pun. There was no reason why it had not clicked to me earlier except the random factor called luck.

Competition Helps-At times I have realized that my ego tends to get the better of me. After a good speech when people congratulate , I start to feel happy about myself and think I am very very good. Competition tells me there are better people. It allows me to set higher goals.

Practice helps- This international speech contest I saw someone steal away the top prize as he just had prepared too well. The speech of nearly each contestant was very good but this guy comes as if in a movie and simply blows us away with his body language, gestures , voice modulation. Practice allows even an average speech to touch greatness.

Never Give Up- I have seen giants(in terms of their earlier track record) ousted by people who were just members for a few weeks or those who had no prior record. Basically in the David versus Goliath battle the underdog wins. And that tells me why I should keep at it.

There is no limit to perfection- It is important to set high goals. You may be good but there is no reason why you cant be better.

Very few win by a wide margin- The margin of win and defeat is mostly very slim. Maybe better practice could have made the difference or a better modeled speech. Or maybe it just was not your day. Defeat is perfectly natural. You went and tried and that itself speaks a lot. Never forget there is always another contest six months down the line.

Why I havent blogged?

So I havent in some time now.

I feel guilty for it and will be back.

Its just that I am going through a phase where its all so confusing. Despite getting a 99.45 percentile I dont have the IIM calls that I desire. So I will probably return to fight another day.

Beyond that there are a lot of issues I am musing about. However I still dont see the bigger picture and from that stems an inability to put it in words.

Will be back soon

Article SRIJNA 2010

So this is my article for this years college magazine. I have been out of college two years now but I am still contributing. Now its been six straight years of Srijna articles. Unfortunately maybe there is nothing left to write now. I had an idea of this article in my mind since the last two years. And even last years one. So goodbye Srijna

IT career for dummies

So this is an article which could very well be titled ,’procrastination’. Despite having promised the Magazine board members nearly 2 months back that I would write an article on my experiences in the IT sector, I never got down to writing it down. The first deadline, got changed to the actual deadline which then was replace by the actual printer’s final deadline and in the end I had to grapple with the final-final hard deadline set by the Magazine Board secretary.

So with tonight as the deadline I have finally sat down to write down the article. But before I move on to the topic and talk about careers in the IT sector, I must introduce myself. I am Syed Ashraf Husain, proud to have been a part of the AIT comp batch of 2008 and presently working for a major IT company out of Mysore. I was also the Mag Sec of my time. I would like to talk more about my time at AIT, but I sadly realize that my time at AIT is long over. The memoir would be out of place now because nearly half the college would not even know who I am.

Thus this is about the IT industry and the last two years of my life. In the first week when a FE joins college, he hears the dreaded ‘I’ word- ‘Industry’. Or its variant-‘company’. And the 'I' WORD keeps coming back. This is what happens in Industry. This is how stuff works in industry. And it goes on and on. The grass is always greener on the other side but the industry is at times more intimidating than alluring.

This article is meant for anyone who has ever thought of working in the IT sector for even a sliver of a moment. If you don’t fit the bill, then you just saved the next five minutes of your life that everyone else will spent in reading what follows-

What companies’ need- Opportunities always exist especially for people with experience. However as a fresher, you should have at least one or even better all of the following things- dazzling marks ,great communication skills or rock hard technical skills. The recruiter needs a reason to hire you. Give him many such reasons. And the importance of communication skills can never be sufficiently stressed upon. The majority of Indian IT workers have very poor to average communication skills. Your skills can make you stand out.

Big versus Small companies- While small companies may provide better technical experience a great name at the beginning can do wonders especially for an MBA aspirant. The big companies can however be a bit random. They don’t really care if you want coding or if you have a language choice. You will do what they need. I consider myself lucky to have worked in core coding projects in all the time I have worked in my company. Please note the word ‘lucky’. I consider myself skilled and an exceptional performer but I have seen many equally talented people from my batch get stuck for years in hopeless projects. In the end you will only know once the cards are dealt out. It is very well possible for the most best of decisions to go awry.So the lesson is if a company offers you a specific work profile that is a better bet than relying on fate. As a side note as a mechie or an entc graduate shifting to core IT sector, large companies (Infosys especially) are a better bet as they invest a lot in training. Comp and IT folks smile- training difficulty is the most overrated thing I have come across.

Java or .net- I personally am biased towards Java but frankly the whole war of the languages is a mockery. There is no difference between the technologies. In any case you may be switching technologies frequently. And there is no dearth of opportunities in most sectors. Plus there are so many of technologies beyond these two with amazing scope.e.g SAP, Business Intelligence, driver programming, testing automation etc.

Development or testing- There is a lot of work beyond these two types of projects. As an example for analysis, Infosys has only 17% of its revenues coming from developments and even in the annual report they list 5-6 types of work. So this is the risk of big companies as usual. If you are fixated over a technology or a type of work, you may not necessarily get it. Live with the risk or know your escape routes. On the other hand maybe being flexible is not that bad. In the short time I have been around, I have worked on a testing project , two core development project and now a migration project.

Service sector versus product companies- The IT sector consist of the out sourcing and service sector companies like Infosys, Wipro or product based companies like Adobe or Microsoft. Given a choice unless you get a better profile, go for the better payer (product companies). Money is a big satisfying force. Also the benefits in service sector companies are petering out because of margin pressures.

IT sector versus other sectors-This is a purely personal choice. See what your heart wants. And have a flexible plan in place. There are so many people I know tired of the IT sector but then I also know people who miss the IT sector times. Every job has its share of positive and negative points(repeat this again and again. The grass unfortunately always looks greener on the other side). Choose well.

MBA versus MS (or M.Tech)-Again a personal choice. For the MBA aspirant I would from my opinion suggest some years of work experience. To see an actual business meeting, to see great incompetence and huge employee dissatisfaction is a great learning as well as a change of perspective. It becomes so real. Employees cannot be kept happy as easy as many people suggest. For the MS person, work experience is not a prerequisite. In fact for those planning on getting some work experience before MS or M.Tech I would suggest that you try to get development experience. For the MBA guy it does not matter but for the MS it could make a difference in your university application.

In the end I would suggest everyone to be brave try out changes and new things each day of your life. And remember you need to have a rough idea how your today fits in with your tomorrow. This will help you keep a straight perspective and objectivity. Don’t stop your education once you get a job. Plan for a higher education degree. And enjoy your days in college as they fly away. You will feel nostalgic about them someday.

S.A. Husain,
AIT Comp class of 08

The FeelingSeason of blues

Its the season of blues,
I heard the wind say,
As it swirled up the dust,
And tugged at the drying leaves,
End of stay on the branch,
As now is the season of gloom,
The coming of the end,
Of all we see around

There will be new dawns,
New seasons,
Spring and autumns,
But people forget ,
Those will be another year,
Another time,
But the present would have long,
Been vanquished to dust.

In the lonely season of blues,
Everyone survives in isolation,
Loneliness in a crowd,
Maladies with no cures,
There is a numbing within,
A disconnect with the world,
Feelings,
Bottled up emotions

Feelings that are not felt,
Emotions seemingly absent,
Near yet so far,
There is no grief,
No tears, no cries,
In this season of the Blues,
Yet a weight hangs,
All around,
Everywhere

Toastmasters Project 6

HELLO

Good evening

//NOTE-First call comes on mobile ,fumble//

Oh sorry

Good evening Mr. Toastmaster, fellow toastmasters and welcome guest. As I was saying.

//Phone rings again . Body language to depict surprise, fumbling with phone//

This might be important . I think I will just take it.

Hello

//5 seconds pause

Hi, I cant really hear you and I am in a bit of hurry. So let me assure you I don’t need to buy any insurance or a subscribe to hello tunes. If however, you have a credit card then I am interested.

Mom!! Whose number is this? Anway I will call you in some time. Bye.

Oh sorry folks. This is how life is. Now we are just simply never unreachable. All thanks to technology and the mobile phone. (wave the mobile phone)

Today of course mobile phones are everywhere. I went out with some friends to dinner some time back at a place in Pune. Since we were all sitting on low diwans, we all kept our mobiles on a side tables. I was amazed. There were eight people and eleven mobile phones. Two friends had two mobiles each and one of these two cool folks had a borrowed cell to talk reliance to reliance free.

There was a time when mobile phones were not that widespread. I remember in 96-97 when erickson and usha cellular first started offering mobile phones. Out going rates were 24 rupees per minutes and incoming was 18 rupees a minute. Those were the times folks. One sms was 8 rupees a minutes. I used to joke that dialing wrong numbers on mobile phones should be a criminal offence. At eighteen rupees a minute for an incoming call, a wrong number was like being punished by God.

My first cell was a grey screen cellphone and I was so happy. I did not think of another cell for years. Last month , I was gifted a touchscreen phone and I am already thinking about the next. I am not sure what I want in a new mobile phone that my present one does not have but I know new cells come into our lives as certainly as the income tax returns every year.

And then thanks to the mobile phone we have the 160 characters which mean everything in life nowadays. Yes, the 160 characters is nothing more than the length of a short messaging service message or as we all say SMS.


The S.M.S. service has spawned its own language where words are shortened acronmyms. Tomorrow as 2-m-r-w and good morning as g-m. Is this as many say a vice?

I do not know because most of the times I simply don’t get the language.

Like “tc”. For a long time in my first year of engineering I thought tc meant turbo C. For those who have forgotten, turbo c was this great compiler for c language. When this friend of mine started to sign off her messages as tc, I thought “oh! she must really like C language.”

It was only much later that I realised Tc meant take care, but the joke stayed.

Anyway there is a reason why I talked about mobile phones. With great power comes great responsibility. A recent international survey said Indians were among the nationalities with the lowest levels of telephone etiquette. And we need to change that.

I was sitting in the mutiplex sometime back ,watching a movie. Suddenly a mobile phone rang somewhere around. I thought, I would hear a sorry and the sound of the call being cancelled.

Instead , I heard someone say,"Hello ruchi, Hows you?" And instead of hanging up, the talk just went on and on. After about 5 minutes I tapped the girl on the shoulder from behind and said,"Mam, I know the movie is pathetic but still there might be people who would want to watch it. " I think she got the hint.

And so many times, phones ring in meetings,conferrences ,hospitals, and in so many other places where they should never sound.

It reflects badly on us. So I ask all of us to say that my mobile phone is silent or switched off in all places where it is not supposed to ring. And even if no one asked us to do the same.

And there is a simple reason why…

Once upon a time ,there was a boy who was gifted a mobile phone by his parents. He was very happy. Next day his cell phone rang. It was his mother . He was amazed. He asked his mother-"how did you know I was in the principals office"

The mobile phone does not know where we are. We should tell it so by keeping it silent.

Over to you Mr. Toastmaster

Something hollow inside

I havent blogged recently because I have just procrastinated.

So the last few days have been pretty bad.

A dark cloud hangs over me. Everything seems tasteless. I bite into a pastry, a mousse, a fruit and I cant feel a thing. Life suddenly is all grey.

I dont know why it happens, what it portends.

I dont hate the blues, but there is nothing to cheer me up this dry season of yellowing leaves.

So I walk a lonely road. I have started to realize that something does not sum up in my world.

It like a bug which I cannot find. A program that does not run.

Read this on a blog. Like the line.

"
The easiest way to propagate war, intolerance, etc. against a people is to convince others that they aren’t actually people after all. We would be wise to not only look to history, but learn from it.
"

Thinking

So I havent blogged in a long long time. Its not that I have been very busy or something like that but I have been preoccupied in the mind.

This is just to say I exist.

Will be back with something meaningful soon.

Toastmasters Project 5 speech

Again a speech with roots the past.

this is a speech as Project 5 in my aim to reach a competent communicator status(5 more to go)

A lot had to be added to make it worth it.

“Scrapped Unfortunately”

Scrap... There was a time when a scrap automatically brought visions of waste. But then occurred a revolution and they called it 'Orkut'. After that a 'scrap', it seemed had a whole new meaning for the masses.


Good evening Mr Toastmaster, fellow toastmasters and welcome guests.

Yes I am talking about the website Orkut. There seem to be various descriptions for it and its bethrehen include a networking site, a community website, a social site, etc. However I will not clinically analyze 'Orkut' today, but rather reminisce about the good old times, when things were still simple


My first introduction to Orkut were the unsure steps I took when a good friend of mine sent me an invitaion and literally forced me to register nearly five years ago. Of course back then Orkut was totally unknown and I was confident that I would never go back to check on the site again.


Time it seems has proved me wrong.


First came Internet in the college hostel where I was studying, then came 'Orkut mania'. The first signs were long hours on Orkut waiting in desperation for new scraps. As one of the first victims, I remember checking for scraps every hour and getting gloomy if I did not find new ones.


Of course suddenly the number of scraps became linked to popularity on Orkut and it seemed no number was big enough and no means mean enough. One afternoon, I remember this conversation between two seniors using scraps.


Gujral- “Oye Akshat, How come you have become so rare these days. I never see you around”
Akshat- “Hi Gujral! Have been pretty busy with life. Wassup with you”
.
.
some 20 smaller scraps...
.
.
Gujral- “So from where are you accessing the net? I am using Minocha’s comp.”
Akshat- “Yaar, I am sitting on Ashraf’s comp.”

Of course they conveniently forgot to mention Ashraf and Minocha were room-mates. The two were basically sitting back to back and chatting using orkut. I heard that one afternoon Akshat sirs rating jumped by 20 percent.


Beyond the addiction there are many benefits of Orkut. Somehow, I personally have never seen any. For example what is discussed in my engg class community on Orkut? Everything except academics. There are games like, will u kiss or marry the person above, whether the person above is sexy or hot(byt the way, I was hot and heavy) , etc. Somehow all games seemed to have something to do with the person above you. Or else there is someone trying to make me rich by working from home or even worse, advertising another equally boring community.

So after some time Orkut started to become boring. I wondered, is it over? Is the colour in life gone? Will I now have to watch a balck and white movie. However I should not have despaired!! To rescue me came a knight called Sir Facebook. Suddenly everyone was in love those funny apps , that ability to poke into other people’s conversations using comments. Of course Orkut in its later avatar would suddenly sprout exactly the same features but there is a charm with the original.

These days people folks automatically assumed that everyone and anyone else is on Orkut and Facebook. And when someone states that he does not access any of these sites, people automatically assume that something must be wrong with him. Afterall since everyone else is on orkut and everyone else cannot be weird, the person not on orkut must be weird.

Of course these days so many social websites have mushroomed up that its hard to decide on an essential list of social sites. I am drowning in spam. Someone want to meet me on Hi5, a bot by the name of Shruti invites me to apna adda, someone else has sent me a private message which will expire soon unless I accept an invitation to Jhoomla.com. The list just goes on. I suddenly miss the old days when even gmail did not exist. Forget facebook or Orkut.

Recently my parents became my friends on facebook. Initially I felt proud,” My parents are so tech savvy that they are on facebook.” I felt like writing a poem about it.

Five minutes later the panic set in. “My parents are on Facebook. They can see all my pics , the flirts with girls, the sarcastic comments in my friend-circle”. Ten minutes later , my facebook account was cleansed. Everything funny, interesting and even mildly suggestive deleted. Now of course I have been joined by the entire gaggle of relatives , cousins and even family friends.

Now I think twice before clicking publish always wondering who all can read it and what potential scandal can occur .The good days when liberty reigned are long gone never to return.

I am now beyond Orkut having left the temptation behind. But you like this speech please ,please let me know by scrapping me. My Orkut ratings are still at 80 percent. The scraps may just help.

Over to you Mr Toastmaster