A vent in the Delirium

Rumor by weight is a very light object to lift, fairly easy to pass around, but very difficult to put back again. In a recent chain of events in Muzaffarnagar (a town situated 130 kms from Delhi) what started off as an episode of harassment of a Hindu girl, fed by retaliation from the girl's brothers culminated as a full fledged communal riot. An event  well orchestrated by the political parties to suit their vested interests in which, according to official records, 48 unfortunate people have died. What was achieved? What purpose it served? Which side ‘won’? These are the questions which will never be answered. What we can be certain about is that all those who have died from both communities were poor people, too weak to defend themselves. People who lived in slums were easy targets for a maniac mob advancing with grievous steps towards them. Whenever there is a brawl, even the strongest of oppressor looks for the weakest of adversary to prove his mettle .No David d...

Nathaniel Hawthorne from the book The Scarlet Letter remarked, “No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.”   We all wear masks. We pretend to become the person, the people around us will like. It is said that we display our true self when we are under a guise. What if it’s the other way around? What if the disguise is a way to mask our true feelings? How many of us want any of us to see us as we really are? We become the person that the others want us to see. Taking the popular scenario when friends and strangers come visiting.. What do we do? Straighten the cushions, kick the books under the bed and put away the letter you were writing?  We put on our social face . During all this, we forget to be the real us. In fact we forget whether we have a real self at all since we are constantly playing different roles and responsibilities. That is why “Tell m...

Wikipedia puts excellence as “ Excellence  is a talent or quality which is unusually good and so surpasses ordinary standards.” These ordinary standards are surpassed by a continuous extraordinary effort and dedication. Thus being Excellent is a long process and not an end-result. It’s important that we realize this because most people around us are looking at the results. The results don’t make people excellent, the process does. A Vinod Kambli or Abhishek Bacchan wasn’t in the excellent league for this precise reason while Sachin Tendulkar or Nawazuddin Siddique are in that list. They made some extraordinary efforts to finally achieve what they have. Since excellence lies in the process, it’s imperative that you choose the path that excites you and something that you are passionate about. A Sachin would have made a dismal actor and a Nawazuddin would have been a pathetic cricketer. Most of us have deprived ourselves any chance of excellence as we are busy doing things ...

Ours is a nation with the largest young population the world. This youth of our nation today is full of aspirations. We have built several stories around them and announced ourselves as the future superpower of the world. All these prophecies are based on the growing GDP of our nation, which is just a number, hardly indicative of the living standard of the citizens. The country is rife with scams; there is utter distrust in the ruling class and lack of dynamic leaders. Within the last two decades we have seen tremendous growth in the country. The IT sector has seen a boom and purchasing power of people have increased many-fold. We are also home to the largest under 25 population in the world. This population has seen this growth in front of them and hence is full of desires and aspiration. But this quench for success has largely remained unfulfilled for a large section of this population. Unemployment and underemployment is what has engulfed this generation. The sudden ...

India is a nation blessed with an exceptional constitution, not just exceptionally comprehensive, just and impartial but also exceptionally voluminous, archaic and irrelevant at times. Certain instances which have now become accepted as part of our lives still exist in the archaic law as violations. Our politicians lack the will to accept what is already prevalent but would make for a bold political and moral step. The country which claims to be the world's largest democracy still has a sedition law, which was enacted to prevent dissidence against the British rule. Betting is still illegal in the land where in Diwali it's a part of tradition. Driving age is 18 but where movies have school boys driving in Ferraris. Prostitution is too taboo to even make a reference and drinking is acceptable but too bold a step politically. India is no longer the nation of snake charmers that it used to be but we still resist taking things heads on. We as a nation love status-quo ...

We are a nation that is obsessed with absolute numbers. Our policy and decision making is based on these statistical gimmicks. The human or the emotional angle is almost never counted for. The nation is being driven by GDP numbers and the corporate world by CTC numbers. Just like GDP is the most flawed way of assessing any development or growth of a nation, CTC is the most flawed way of evaluating your career and its growth. GDP is only a measure of the total worth of a nation and CTC is only what a company is willing to spend on you. Both these numbers are too centered on money as the cornerstone of decision making. While money is important, it isn't the only factor on which decisions should be based. This is precisely why we need something like HDI, Human Development Index, which takes into account Life Expectancy and Education along with Income into consideration. For a nation it's more important for the people to feel the growth than just seei...

The United Nations was constituted in 1945 with an objective to promote international peace, economic development, social progress and respect for international law. It was the successor to the failed League of Nations. It is the world's largest international body with 193 member nations but has only 5 permanent members of the security council. In the last decade UN has failed to serve any of its desired objectives. In terms of International peace, we have seen attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan by the US. There has been civil wars in Libya, Syria and Somalia. While the tensions have been on the rise in Iran and North Korea. UN has played no major role in preventing these attacks. The mighty powers, like US and Israel, have largely had there way in world politics without any respect for the UN. In the past 60 years UN has also failed to resolve the Israel-Palestine conflict and territorial disputes are prevalent all over the world. India has disputes with Pakistan and China, an...

There has been a lot of debate recently on growth vs inflation with the government pushing for reforms and higher growth. The Government has been pitching for India as an attractive option for investment, but the growth model has gone wrong. The growth has not been inclusive. Our country has more mobile phones than toilets. This growth is futile. The unbalances growth over the years has led to a widening gap between the rich and the poor. While the rich are enjoying tax benefits, the poor are struggling to make ends meet. This gap between the rich and the poor is bad for the economy itself. It will lead to a very unstable economy. High rates of inflation are bad for the society as well. We have 57% of our population that lives below the international poverty line of $1.25 per day. This means that even a small rise in the inflation is detrimental to the fate of millions of Indians. In a country like India, high rates of inflation will have its political ramifications...

There has been a rise in the amount of mergers and acquisitions across all sectors. In the wake of the global economic slowdown, it has helped in consolidation. A merger is the convergence of two firms, in the same or allied sectors, that see synergy in them working together. An acquisition is a purchase of a firm by another firm as a part of its strategy to either expand or consolidate. But mergers and acquisitions come at a cost to both the corporate and the customers. Consolidation, as a result of M&As, leads to reduced competition. As the number of companies in the sector gets reduced, it is easier for the new firm to increase prices. We saw such increase in the aviation sector after the acquisition of Deccan air by Kingfisher and that of Sahara by Jet airways. There is also a chance of cartel formation when the industry has just 3-4 major players. M&As are good for bringing stability but are bad for innovations. When two firms merge...

The biggest flaw in our society is that any anger, awareness or revolt is only  ephemeral . Any issue is taken up only for it's face value. Once out of sight, the issue as well as its crusaders are soon forgotten and the long fight is left to be fought by their kin. The recent rage against rape isn't any different from that against corruption, black money, blue line, Jessica Lal, Arushi and many others that even I couldn't recall. The issues here are different but there is one common thread that binds it all. They all happened in National Capital Region , where all the news channels have their headquarters. A Project Director with NHAI gets killed for blowing the lid off a major scam and the CBI arrests poor rickshaw puller as the main accused. No matter how absurd this sounds, its not relevant enough to make the headlines. Eight out of ten people would have completely forgotten or never heard of Satyendra Dubey and the rest two wouldn't be aware of what...