With the risk of being termed a MCP, I dedicate this post to all the girls I have known and will know in times to come (I feel like god :)). I bet anyone who has known a woman (including women themselves) will agree that this poem is so damn true. Enjoy...
An angel of truth and a dream of fiction,
A woman is a bundle of contradiction.
She’s afraid of a wasp, will scream at a mouse,
But will tackle her boyfriend alone in the house.
She’ll take him for better, she’ll take him for worse,
She’ll break open his head and then be his nurse.
But when he’s well and can get out of bed,
She’ll pick up the teapot and aim for his head.
Beautiful and keenly sighted, yet blind,
Crafty and cruel, yet simple and kind.
She’ll call him a king, then make him a clown,
raise him on a pedestal, then knock him flat down.
She’ll tell him that he is the best guy she ever met,
Then she'll ask him why can’t they just be friends.
When she is upset, she'll like him to leave her alone,
And if he does so, she'll tell him he has a heart made of stone.
She’ll inspire him to deeds that ennoble man,
Or make him her lackey to carry her fan.
She’ll run away from him and never come back,
But if he runs away, then she’ll be on his tracks.
Sour as vinegar, sweet as a rose,
She’ll kiss you one minute, then turn up her nose.
She’ll win you in range, enchant you in silk,
She’ll be stronger than brandy, milder than milk.
At times she’ll be vengeful, merry and sad,
She’ll hate you like poison, and love you like mad.
Note: This one is not original; it is by a Mid Day correspondent and was published in March 2006 in Mid Day, Mumbai. However, I have added one paragraph in the original one; I hope it has fit in well. No prize for guessing but no harm in trying either.
Friday, April 21, 2006
Saturday, April 08, 2006
One thoughtless political decision, one giant setback for meritocracy
Never write off politicians. Just in case you did, they have come back. They were ignored for a long by youth, who gave a damn to them. They lost their front page print media space and their time share on TV channels to shining stars of India Inc. Dalal Street started making more news than Indian Parliament and I thought we are moving forward. Moving forward to building an India where the country has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls of religion, caste and gender. I thought we are inching towards making India a country that is built on foundation of meritocracy, an economic powerhouse where results matter and not reasons, a future that puts the ghosts of our political blunders to rest and a political environment where youth can stand united and fight to regain and restore India’s supremacy. They yet again proved me wrong.
The Human Resouce Ministry has recently proposed to introduce reservations for other backward classes in higher education institutes, including the IITs, IIMs and 20 central universities. If implemented the overall reservation in the central government institutions will be from the current 22.5% for SC and ST students to 49.5%. The politics of reservations is back and for politicians definitely make great sense ahead of the Uttar Pradesh elections next year where the OBC vote could change the political landscape.
I was in school when Mandal commission report stirred the whole country. I still can’t unremember the burning pictures of Rajeev Goswami (The poster boy of anti-Mandal agitation, 1990) on India Today cover page and what followed it. It started the series of self-immolation incidents all over India. He was a Hero for me in my childhood and in my teenage years I developed a sense of anger for reservation due to the cost I paid. Rajeev never got a government job and died a lonely and unnoticed death last year. Barring a few cursory references to the act that had once catapulted him to iconic status, it was an unsung death. Why Rajeev Goswami died unsung? It’s because India has changed so dramatically in the last 15 years that neither the cause he espoused with such violence, nor the methods his opponents employed to crush the agitation are relevant today. But I guess there are still people around who want to bring back the ghost of Rajeev.
I believe with age come wisdom but I guess not for politicians. Though I had been deeply involved in caste based politics and gang rivalries during my early undergrad college days, I matured and put behind the caste discrimination. Our politicians still seem to be stuck with caste based politics. My point is that everybody needs to be judged based on his/her capability. In what caste one is born is something which he/she doesn’t have a control on. So why differentiate based on caste? Are we saying that everyone born in upper caste is born with a silver spoon? Are we to believe that all backward caste families are below poverty line in India? Yes, we need to support under privileged social groups to elevate them to even levels in social strata but at what stages and up to what extent? India has had reservation system in place from ages and politicians need to accept that it has not worked the way it was envisaged. If we want to do the same thing over and time again but expect different results, that’s pure insanity. This caste based reservation has just divided the nation at grass root levels.
The recent government proposal is a giant setback for meritocracy and forced me to initiate this caste Vs merit debate. I don’t believe that caste should be criteria for reservation; rather it should be economical status of an individual. If you want upper caste kids from lower middle class families to score almost double marks than their lower caste, higher class counterparts and still be out on stands, go ahead. If you want to penalize him/her because he/she is born in an upper class family, go ahead. If you want few more Rajeev Goswami, go ahead. Else, rethink.
This post is an expression of my personal views. I do not intend to offend any body. If you agree with me, please sign the petition against proposed reservation (Link below). I do not know if this will change anything but I still want to do my bit for supporting a cause:
http://www.petitiononline.com/No_Quota/
The Human Resouce Ministry has recently proposed to introduce reservations for other backward classes in higher education institutes, including the IITs, IIMs and 20 central universities. If implemented the overall reservation in the central government institutions will be from the current 22.5% for SC and ST students to 49.5%. The politics of reservations is back and for politicians definitely make great sense ahead of the Uttar Pradesh elections next year where the OBC vote could change the political landscape.
I was in school when Mandal commission report stirred the whole country. I still can’t unremember the burning pictures of Rajeev Goswami (The poster boy of anti-Mandal agitation, 1990) on India Today cover page and what followed it. It started the series of self-immolation incidents all over India. He was a Hero for me in my childhood and in my teenage years I developed a sense of anger for reservation due to the cost I paid. Rajeev never got a government job and died a lonely and unnoticed death last year. Barring a few cursory references to the act that had once catapulted him to iconic status, it was an unsung death. Why Rajeev Goswami died unsung? It’s because India has changed so dramatically in the last 15 years that neither the cause he espoused with such violence, nor the methods his opponents employed to crush the agitation are relevant today. But I guess there are still people around who want to bring back the ghost of Rajeev.
I believe with age come wisdom but I guess not for politicians. Though I had been deeply involved in caste based politics and gang rivalries during my early undergrad college days, I matured and put behind the caste discrimination. Our politicians still seem to be stuck with caste based politics. My point is that everybody needs to be judged based on his/her capability. In what caste one is born is something which he/she doesn’t have a control on. So why differentiate based on caste? Are we saying that everyone born in upper caste is born with a silver spoon? Are we to believe that all backward caste families are below poverty line in India? Yes, we need to support under privileged social groups to elevate them to even levels in social strata but at what stages and up to what extent? India has had reservation system in place from ages and politicians need to accept that it has not worked the way it was envisaged. If we want to do the same thing over and time again but expect different results, that’s pure insanity. This caste based reservation has just divided the nation at grass root levels.
The recent government proposal is a giant setback for meritocracy and forced me to initiate this caste Vs merit debate. I don’t believe that caste should be criteria for reservation; rather it should be economical status of an individual. If you want upper caste kids from lower middle class families to score almost double marks than their lower caste, higher class counterparts and still be out on stands, go ahead. If you want to penalize him/her because he/she is born in an upper class family, go ahead. If you want few more Rajeev Goswami, go ahead. Else, rethink.
This post is an expression of my personal views. I do not intend to offend any body. If you agree with me, please sign the petition against proposed reservation (Link below). I do not know if this will change anything but I still want to do my bit for supporting a cause:
http://www.petitiononline.com/No_Quota/
Friday, April 07, 2006
Outlandish disorder
The idea of this post is not to bitch about life or generate sympathy by self pitying. These are random thoughts to vent out something which I have no clue about. I am going through some very strange syndrome; don’t know what it’s called coz it never happened before. It’s strange and definitely not fun. I am not myself anymore. Last I remembered, I was right on the top of life, couldn’t have complained about anything not going my way. When everything seemed so perfect, just right then something swept me under my feet. I guess I have a reasonable idea about this ‘something’ but no clue on what followed it. Funny part is that being swept is not new to me. Life has tried that many times before too, but this time looks like life fellow got it right. So here I am, down and out in myself.
Everything that can go wrong, have gone (Murphy must be pretty happy to see that his law works, I bet it does). You name it, I got it. “Identity crisis”, “Directionless life”, “Comparison Blues”, “Crushed spirit” and “Evaporated confidence”. I am still doing fine enough to not generate even a minor blip on external radars about my state of mind, I guess of late I have become damn good at it. What has got hit is definitely something in me.
Living life with lost confidence is something that I am not used to. Its painful coz it makes you forget everything which you were so proud about and good at. It makes you realize what all you have lost and how miserable you are. Your flaws and limitations seem larger than life and you hate yourself for whatever you are. You lose sleep and start operating in a pre programmed manner. I guess right somewhere there I am. I thought giving time to myself will make a difference but this seems to be one of those things that get worse with time. Just when you think it can’t get worse, something happens.
I guess one good thing in this syndrome is that I am getting to know myself and knowing your limitations is not bad if you have never admitted those. At the end of the day I am not a perfect person and when I come out of this syndrome I will just want to be what I am. Until then I am lost, will not let system get me down but got no energy to fight back either. Gonna try everything other than giving up :-)
Everything that can go wrong, have gone (Murphy must be pretty happy to see that his law works, I bet it does). You name it, I got it. “Identity crisis”, “Directionless life”, “Comparison Blues”, “Crushed spirit” and “Evaporated confidence”. I am still doing fine enough to not generate even a minor blip on external radars about my state of mind, I guess of late I have become damn good at it. What has got hit is definitely something in me.
Living life with lost confidence is something that I am not used to. Its painful coz it makes you forget everything which you were so proud about and good at. It makes you realize what all you have lost and how miserable you are. Your flaws and limitations seem larger than life and you hate yourself for whatever you are. You lose sleep and start operating in a pre programmed manner. I guess right somewhere there I am. I thought giving time to myself will make a difference but this seems to be one of those things that get worse with time. Just when you think it can’t get worse, something happens.
I guess one good thing in this syndrome is that I am getting to know myself and knowing your limitations is not bad if you have never admitted those. At the end of the day I am not a perfect person and when I come out of this syndrome I will just want to be what I am. Until then I am lost, will not let system get me down but got no energy to fight back either. Gonna try everything other than giving up :-)
Saturday, April 01, 2006
SSDD Demystified
If I ask you to remember and list significant days of your life, how long a list will you come up with? Fifty, hundred, five hundred? I sincerely doubt if anyone can list more days than that. So now what is your age? Let’s say twenty five years. Now tell me if you just remember hardly two years of that, where did other twenty three years go? Other twenty three years of your life can be termed SSDD; Same Shit Different Day.
SSDD is vastly misunderstood and is considered as a negative way of looking at life. However, I firmly believe that one agrees or not, SSDD exists in everybody’s life. Let’s face the truth; in life there are two types of days, few to live and rest to survive. It’s like they tell you in cricket, not every ball is to hit. You need to leave tough ones and hang on there until that loose one comes your way on which you can free your arms. Similarly in your life, you go through ordinary days in ordinary ways doing all the ordinary stuff, don’t you? So there is SSDD, isn’t it? However, you obviously don’t sulk and become full of pessimism when you are letting an ordinary day go by. So you see SSDD is not a pessimist phenomenon, its rather your way of telling life that you will not let ordinary stuff divert you from stuff that you are really excited about. So next time when you realize that life has thrown an ordinary day towards you and someone asks you how is it going, what are you going to tell? Tell the truth, embrace SSDD.
SSDD is vastly misunderstood and is considered as a negative way of looking at life. However, I firmly believe that one agrees or not, SSDD exists in everybody’s life. Let’s face the truth; in life there are two types of days, few to live and rest to survive. It’s like they tell you in cricket, not every ball is to hit. You need to leave tough ones and hang on there until that loose one comes your way on which you can free your arms. Similarly in your life, you go through ordinary days in ordinary ways doing all the ordinary stuff, don’t you? So there is SSDD, isn’t it? However, you obviously don’t sulk and become full of pessimism when you are letting an ordinary day go by. So you see SSDD is not a pessimist phenomenon, its rather your way of telling life that you will not let ordinary stuff divert you from stuff that you are really excited about. So next time when you realize that life has thrown an ordinary day towards you and someone asks you how is it going, what are you going to tell? Tell the truth, embrace SSDD.
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