Support the Peace Rally (2nd Oct'08)~~An IIMK initiative

Talk of worst fears coming true! Even as the PCB was sparing no effort in slamming CA over its “double standards” in touring India but shunning its poor separated cousin, the situation has surely grown from bad to worse in the cash-rich land of the BCCI. Not since those gory days a few years ago when almost every single day news of famos builders being shot down were heard, have I grown so tense about the security situation of the country. As one friend of mine said today, very little can be done by us and that, when one thinks in peace, is such an almighty truth!

There are certain things that just “have” to be handled by certain people “only” and when responsible men fail to enact their duties, calamities are only waiting to happen then! As many as 5 major blasts have taken place now and yet the ‘Home Minister’ refuses to vacate his seat. People often say, its easy for all of us to talk about how inefficient the police is and how much of a liability Mr. Shivraj Patil is and so on. The point however is, the buck has to stop somewhere! In the corporate world, people do get fired for not performing their tasks. And so is the pattern in all walks of life. Sure, their task must be the most challenging of them all, no one denies that. That however, does not give them the license to cover up everything under the garb of excuses that can atbest be described as ‘lame’!

Think about this. The blasts have now happened in each of the major parts of the country; South, West and North. Its obvious that the network of these terrorists have sprung far and wide. Its no secret that either the killers must have entered the country through the borders or our very own Indians must have converted to the religion of terrorism and must have gotten their funding from overseas. Either way, it’s a shame that despite having a history of bloodshed, the country continues to get devastated. I mean, how often have people quoted the example of the US of A; one 9/11 was enough for them to have an airtight security system in place. Wonder how many of such catastrophes will the Indians have to live though to finally dream of a night wherein they can sleep with peace; that peace which comes with an assurance that no matter what, their country will not see another spate of terrorist attacks again.

Think about this (again and more deeply). The next 9 days are going to be celebrated with typical unabated and unabashed revelry. Its Navratri time and people wait for these 9 nights of fun throughout the year. Do you even want to imagine as to what will happen if one of those bombs were to rip through a 1000 strong crowd at an NSE Grounds, Goregaon or a Nirmal Lifestyle, Mulund? Needless to say, the blood freezes at that very thought and I hope the men wearing Khakis are intelligent enough to realize that a network that has surely spread across the country by now will “surely” have targeted the holy and fun-filled months of October and November.

Most of this year has spent in me and most of my batchmates worried about the slowing economy and the effect it will have on our Executive placements come Dec’08. Events such as this tend to put life in perspective and its great that that students from one of the elite inst. [IIMK] have decided to do something about it. Do participate in the peace rally, an initiative that was taken by them coz that’s the least all of us can do. None of us would want to do a Rang De Basanti (hopefully) and such rallies and non-violent protests are possibly the only means for us to let the powers-to-be know that the buck, heck, does stop with them! High time Mr. Patil and his coterie realize that!!

Mera signboard Marathi mein, toh main Mumbai ka?!

The legendary Shakespeare once commented, 'Whats in a name'? Not much he thought and yours truly tends to agree with him.

Thank God the great man isnt alive today, or even if he was, I wish he wasnt living in Bombay [Get a life, all of you who want me to call it any other way!]. Else, he'd have been forced to re-phrase his timeless lines as 'Whats in the way a name is written'?

Jai Maharasthtra!

Btw, the photo was taken outside Churchgate station [Not from any place in TN, stay assured :)]

Food for thought, or atleast I hope so...!!

We are like this "only"! Sab chalta hain re! Yeh India hain re! Chill dude/Take a chill pill! Zyaada load mat le!

These are some of the reactions I often get whenever I've tried to reason with my friends and close ones when they try to litter the place with sweet "everythings"! So much so that, I've given up now [Please dont accuse me of having a defeatist attitude now] But there comes a time really when you just are left hopeless and despondent.

Having a clean Bombay, heck India, for that matter is something very close to my heart and somehow people out here just dont give a damn to the thought. These very same people who'd dare not spit on the streets of Dubai or London will do all that and much more as soon as they're back home. Some of the friends that I travel with back home from college will just not bat an eyelid before throwing waste paper outside the moving train (This is the 1st class compartment btw), the sight of people spitting out of the train/bus window is as common as people breathing Oxygen to survive on Mother Earth, general littering on the streets is so rampant despite the fact that the BMC has done a decent job of placing dustbins at regular intervals. Infact, only yesterday while travelling back home, a friend of mine, ever so conveniently took her bottle containing mineral water to the platform to wash her hands! And the explanation? Well, its just water after all (which will actually end up cleaning the platform, right?) For a moment, I went thoughtless, speechless and wordless!

Sorry, I know, this sounds akin to a preaching session but as I said, this is something very close to my heart and hey, its my blog after all! :)

That pic as a matter of fact, sums it all up, doesnt it?

Belated Independence Day greetings!