My Take on the Trust Vote Market

To Congress or not to congress?

Elections now seem imminent. With our ministers being sold like fish in the market, it seems Indian politics has reached nadir. Now, I have the power to vote. The power, often disparaged, to choose my country's leaders.
Whom to vote for..Congress or BJP..or I can also decide like this

Why Congress?

The Nuclear Deal. It may not seem so valuable now but the dramatic rise in oil prices makes it necessary for India to brace alternate energy sources. The best alternative is nuclear fuel. We have with us the abilty to dictate terms on the 123 agreement thanks to our booming economy. Never before were we at such an advantageous position for getting nuclear fuel. Admittedly the problems with the IAEA need to be ironed out but it's a risk we must take.
It was expected that this deal would stir a hornet's nest. It has brought the govt on the brink of a collapse. So, kudos to the congress for standing by the deal. They may have vested interests in this deal but at the end of the day, they stood by it,which is in the best interests of the country.
It will be very difficult for any other party to see through the deal.

BJPs trump card is Hindutva. I am for regional politics but certainly not religional politics.

Why not congress?

First and foremost- reservation. The congress brought in the reservation solely to swell it's vote banks. What it did not realise is that the previously dormant youth will now cast it's vote..to seek revenge. If not the law..I as the youth of the country will seek to end the govt that got it in the first place.
Second-inflation. Congress took over the reins from the BJP at a time when everything was going great..Incredible India was not just a publicity campaign but a reflection of the state of affairs in the country. Four years later..congress has all but made a mess of the economy. Inflation has climbed from 4% to just under 12%. This with a Prime Minister who brought Liberaliztion,Privatization and Globalization(LPG) in the early 90s and a capable Finance Minister in Chidambran, only shows the soup the govt has created with the resources available to it.
Third-Shibu Soren may become a minister. This perhaps will put the icing on the cake of tainted politicians becoming ministers.
Fourth-The Gandhis have historically created blunders in foreign relations..Nehru trusted the Chinese in late 50s..we got back stabbed....he accepted a plebiscite in Kashmir that was Paks moot point in the UN for many years..Indira retreated 10kms from Lahore in 71 and returned 90,000 Pakistani POWs..Rajiv sent our troops to Sri Lanka in 87 to fight for a cause that was not theirs..we lost thousands there.
With the possibility of Rahul Gandhi becoming PM sometime soon..I would not like the congress to be in power. The congress needs to go beyond Gandhis to appeal to the common man.

My final vote..not the congress.

Patience..wazza????

We Indians cannot be patient..it is somehow embedded in our genes to just get over things as fast as possible.It is fine as long as this impulse is restricted to the concerned individual but it almost always gets displayed in public places..buses, theatres, admission lines,banks..just get the hell done with the work..no matter if you are cutting lines ,hurling or getting hurled at with abuses and angry stares(why dont people scream the hell out instead of cussing in their minds).
However, this practice is deep rooted that at times it is not even fruitful to take the effort of being just that-impatient.
I was sitting in the departure lounge of the Delhi airport. A female announced in halting English that boarding for the airline would start soon. This is followed by an announcement calling for people to get in the boarding line. In the interim period, one is expected to lay back and relax. Not in this part of the world. The first announcement had barely finished when an elderly gentleman got up promptly from his seat,a cabin baggage in tow and stood where the future line was to have started."Future" because the people checking the boarding passes werent even present yet. So there stands our uncle..all at please with the world. Then a lady seeing the sight of this "inspirational" man also gets up from her seat and stands behind him. Soon a mad race starts for the 3rd 4th ..by the time the announcement calling for the boarding was made,the line already numbered about 30.
It took a person about 10 minutes of standing to get his turn.
The seat is allotted so what is the point of standing first in the line. But we have to do this ...be ahead in pointless matters. I waited to see how many people had the sense to remain seated and get in the line in the end.
Three.
Me(expectedly..wat are geniuses for!)
An elderly man
A young girl of maybe 16...this young girl had an audacity about her that is common to girls who have strived for little and got everything(read as utterly spoilt). She wouldnt have dreamt of standing in such a long line. The logic of it probably didnt strike her..but at times people do things(even smart ..like this one) without realising.
Life is just.

My perfect little world

We will keep in touch..words said at every parting. It is so spontaneous that at times I wonder if there is even a thought behind it. Coming to coll meant leaving all the people I knew behind me. But, I believed that I would be able to keep in touch no matter what..this is the mobile age, right?. It is effortless to pick up a phone and make a call. Gradually, though the calls decreased, giving way to mails and then scraps.
It seemed that the onus of keeping in touch was upon me. All sorts of thoughts creped into my head.
Now, I realise though, that this just a part of growing up. It isn't that people are just lazy or ignorant to keep in touch. They have moved on and it is not possible to share the same camaraderie like before. Life has created a diversion and we have go to our different ways. My effort to build a bridge every time is futile...the journey is endless and if at some point of time in the future, the paths do cross again, we could enjoy each others company till whatever time it lasts.Clinging to the past is not healthy.

My day

I read one of Rohan's post about how his day had gone and thought it a nice idea.
So, here is how my day went
Getting up in the mornings is getting increasingly difficult but with a tut to give, I had to move my ass and go for SPM. Five minutes into the tut and I realised I'd made a mistake in coming at all..I could hardly make out what the questions meant. The structure of Nylon 6,6 was clogged somewhere in the back of my brain..it was in one of the amazingly boring Chem chapters in class 12th. At times I wonder if I knew more about sciences before coming to coll. Now, it is just cramming formulas one night before tests and burping them out the next morning in the vain hope of crossing that Thin Red Line..the average. Fourth semester into coll and I realise that making an A in a structured course may a remain distant dream..but hell Bs aint so bad too.
Moms cakes arrived and it has lifted my spirits like nothing else. Mom is good at making just about anything but I love her cakes the most...and with the mess food deteriorating each day..it will keep me going for the remaining three weeks before going home.
Evenings are now usually spent at the temple. As a kid I used to read a lot of books on public figures. These people questioned the world around them..particularly their faiths. I too started questioning and eventually that led to rebellion to whatever contradicted with my views. The last two years in school were particularly difficult. Without realizing I was pushing myself into seclusion. Grades were not great either. Talking at home had become nightmarish..just defending whatever I was doing.
With the second year..a sort of calming effect came over. I feel more peaceful. Happiness comes spontaneously. It is a feeling I had almost forgotten. Going to temple is something I look forward to. I am yet not sure about my views on my faith but I do know that my mind is so much more peaceful going to the temple and feeling the silence inside it. There is one particular dargah in Srinagar in Bibi Cant that I wish can go sometime in the near future. There is no other place of worship so serene..maybe because it is not religious..that is what appeals to me about Sufism.

Virgin Atlantic(Ctrl C+Ctrl V)=Kingfisher Airlines

The flight from Delhi to Pune was my first in Kingfisher and the best ever.Kudos to Mallya for giving the Indian passenger his due.The portable TV is a lovely feature,making the otherwise boring flights an enjoyable journey.
I have followed Mallyas progress in the past few years..about everyone has, given the huge media coverage he gets.Everytime,I cant help but notice the similarities between him and the other(more original)king of good times-Richard Branson,owner of Virgin Atlantic,Galatic,Music...whateva.Both are entrepreneurs,Mallya started with beverages, while Branson started with his newspaper "The Student".Both eventually diversified into various other areas.However, the manner in which they did is striking.Branson believed the best way to grab peoples' attention was to do stand out.While the feats that he achieved..becoming the first to go across the pacific and then around the world in a hot air balloon..beating the record for the Blue Ribbon in sailing,they ultimately built him a unique stature..smart,daring and brilliant.Mallyas becoming the person to reach the highest altitude in a hot air balloon..his zest for riding Formual cars(much before he bought Spyker)..being projected as a partyman..beautiful models around him,served the same aim for him.The media liked it and they have become iconic public figures.
When Branson started Virgin Atlantic, he had to deal with the monopoly of the govt owned British Airways..the stringent rules..bureaucracy..red tapism and a private airline sector lacking in innovation.Virgin Atlantic fought through all this ,providing its customers a whole new flying experience...a glamorous one.Delicious food..posh leather seats..liqour..movies..the Virgin experience.Remember this was in the 80s.Little wonder that Virgin became successful to the extent that it is launching Virgin Galactic...flights into space.
Cut to India about two years back..a booming private airline industry which soon became saturated.Kingfisher wrests its way through by giving its customers the Virgin experienceEven the colour of it's logo.It became successful too and the customers are simply loving it.So I wont be surpised when one day the first Indian company will offer its flight services to outer space..it will be Kingfisher.Maybe Mallya is already thinking about it.
My professor in the entrepreneurship course last semester said-"Entrepreneuship is not just about making something really innovative.At times, it is a slight modification of an existing concept."
Mallya has done just that...even to the extent of copying Branson's french beard and long hair.Amusingly enough..physique is one area he is yet to catch up on.

Where the streets have no name....

U2 songs always have a meaning attached to them.Where the streets..is my fav because of the awesome thought behind it and the amazing guitar by The Edge.Read this entry from Wiki to know why..."Where the Streets Have No Name" was conceived prior to one of the Joshua Tree recording sessions by guitarist The Edge.^[4] While recording the song as a band, however, they ran into difficulty. The song's frequent chord and time changes caused problems in playing the song correctly; the difficulty was so great that producer Brian Eno attempted to erase the track.^[4][5] Drummer Larry Mullen Jr. later said of the song, "It took so long to get that song right, it was difficult for us to make any sense of it. It only became a truly great song through playing live. On the record, musically, it's not half the song it is live."^[4] Originally, the third single from The Joshua Tree was meant to be the song "Red Hill Mining Town", but "Where the Streets Have No Name" was released instead.^[6]

The song is interpreted in different ways; a common interpretation of the lyrics is that it refers to the streets of Belfast, Northern Ireland, where a person's religion is evident by the street they live on. In a 1987 interview, Bono said of the song:

"Where the Streets Have No Name is more like the U2 of old than any of the other songs on the LP, because it’s a sketch - I was just trying to sketch a location, maybe a spiritual location, maybe a romantic location. I was trying to sketch a feeling. I often feel very claustrophobic in a city, a feeling of wanting to break out of that city and a feeling of wanting to go somewhere where the values of the city and the values of our society don’t hold you down. An interesting story that someone told me once is that in Belfast, by what street someone lives on you can tell not only their religion but tell how much money they’re making - literally by which side of the road they live on, because the further up the hill the more expensive the houses become. You can almost tell what the people are earning by the name of the street they live on and what side of that street they live on. That said something to me, and so I started writing about a place where the streets have no name.^[6]

He also alluded to this in a 2000 interview, saying in response to the question of what place he was referring to in the song's lyrics, "I'm not sure, really, about that. I used to think it was Belfast, you know, 'cos in Belfast you can tell somebody's religion, you know, from what street they live on. You just have to say where you're born and everybody knows if you're a Catholic or a Protestant and... I think that might have been where "Where The Streets Have No Name" started from as an idea."^[7] He said later in the same interview that the song was about "Transcendence, elevation, whatever you want to call it."^[7]