Barack Obama in his new job

Barack Hussein Obama took the office of the World’s most powerful person yesterday. On 20th of January, Obama was sworn to the post of President of the United States of America. And although he did stumble while taking the oath, he did it (even a Golma Devi did it in India despite her lack of education).

It was quite amusing to see George Bush as one of the many in the crowd. The Spotlight was on Barack Obama. Even Bill Clinton, who was the ex to ex President, could manage to attract some camera lenses (thanks to Hillary Clinton who might become the Secretary of State), but not Bush. It would have been so difficult for him to step down from so powerful a post. But that is what is democracy.

Now that there is Obama in office, what will be the strategy of Osama camp? Although not exactly a Moslem, he does sport the Hussein in his name (that’s because of his parents practised the religion). Will Osama be able to convince his men to wage the same kind of jihad as he did against Bush? What’s more, will they forget Bush, by far the most hated of the lot.

Also Obama’s steps on India will have to be seen. He has already expressed his disapproval on outsourcing. Will India continue to be the number-1 outsourcing destination. Mexico and US Tier II cities are already set to give tough competition. On stake are the careers of lakhs of young people who joined BPOs as a long term career.

Moreover, would India get some hearing in the durbar of Obama, vis-a-vis Pakistan and its jihadi brigade. Bush was particularly close to Pakistan and no amount of bombings was enough to prove US about Pakistan’s allegiance with terrorists.

So Obama has a lot at hand. He has joined at a time when the World’s economy is tumbling down. His first priority will of course be to bring the economy back to track.

I wish him luck in all his ventures and want him to have some barkat-e-inayat on India as well.

Mumbai under siege

When I arrived office on Thursday, Mumbai was the focus of all talks.

Why Mumbai? Has something gone wrong there?

Don’t you know there have been blasts there?

Blasts! When? I did surf the news channels in the evening yesterday before sticking to a Hollywood movie.

It was after 9 in the night.

After 9! That means it is not safe to venture out at night too (The recent blasts had a few things in common – they were on weekends and in the evening, closer to 6).

Are we safe anywhere and anytime?

…………………………………..

Deep was the first friend I called in Mumbai.

Arre…blasts are common in India these days. Didn’t you recently have one in your city (he meant Delhi)?

Yeah but they have continued till today. Isn’t that a cause for concern?

Not a bit. Waise bhi I am not going to office today. Isi bahane mid-week mey relax karne ka mauka mil jayega (will get a chance to relax).

But as the day proceeded, his concern was palpable when I called him in the evening that day.

Yaar, I am afraid now. How can this be so prolonged? Also schools, colleges, offices, local trains, and shops too are closing. My parents want me to immediately leave the city.

I had no assurances.

———————-

Later in the night, Star Movies was airing ‘Babel’.

Starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, the movie busted the long held belief of Americans that they are a superior race and that they are born to fight all evils afflicting the world.

Brad Pitt finds himself in Morocco with his wife (played by Cate Blanchett) badly wounded by a gun shot by two curious boys (which everyone believes is the work of terrorists).

While the natives attend to the wounded women, there is no help received from the American embassy, not even an ambulance. Even fellow tourists, with who the couple were travelling, refuse to stay any longer, complaining of non functional AC.

At the same time, there is the illegal Mexican help, who saves the life of two American kids, at the cost of her own life.

Why I mention this film now has a reason.

Raj Thackeray and team has forever looked down upon people from the north, especially UP and Bihar. At a time, when Mumbai was undergoing the worst ever crisis, and Raj and goons decided to be mute spectators, it was people from all over India (Maharashtra included) who decided to give their support. The NSG had not the sons of the Maharashtra soil as the only fighter. They were sons of the entire Indian soil. All of us, from different parts of the country, had their eyes glued to our TV sets, waiting with bated breaths, when the bloody battle would come to an end.

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The battle of Mumbai is won. But the cost that India has to pay is massive

• 195 dead and over 300 injured.
• Initial cost of attack Rs. 50 Crores (approx)
• Loss of foreign exchange $20 billion
• 10 foreigners among those killed
• 15 police personnel lost their life
• Among them were Hemant Karkare (ATS Chief), Ashok Kamte (Additional Commissioner of Police), Vijay Salaskar (Senior Inspector), Major Sandeep Unnithan (National Security Guards), and two commandos.

And how the policy makers want to compensate for all these losses?

• By making a scapegoat of Shivraj Patil, the Home Minister of India
• By pressurizing the Maharashtra CM and Deputy CM to part with their chairs
• By suggesting a new anti-terror law that is yet to be agreed upon by allies, leave apart the opposition.
• By suggesting more policies that show no immediate effect.

And then follows the reactions of people who have no faith in politicking:

Hemant Karkare’s wife declines any compensation from Narendra Modi. During his living years, he was heading the Malegaon blasts case, the bone of contention for the BJP.

Major Sandeep Unnithan’s father declined to meet Kerala CM.

And then the common man

“After each blast, you tell me this was the last. This was the last time my life was terrorised; life will be safe hereafter, the government assures. Since I have no choice, I go about my life as ever. The media praises me, says that life is once again back on track. And just then there’s another blast – not the last one though”.

The Indian Muslim is confused, worried and angry

Imran, a ten year old, tells that his grandfather says all hindus are kafirs. But he enjoys watching ramayan and stealthily watches it in his hindu friends’ home.

Latif was in office the day police shot dead terrorists and caught some more in a flat in Jamia Nagar. And he is worried. Not because one of his ‘kaum’ has lost life. He is worried about his khala (aunt) who stays closeby.

Matin is angry. A colleague has just said that he rightfully belongs to Pakistan. Does he? His father, grandfather and many more generations before have stayed in India. Then how come he is from Pakistan or any other muslim country.

The Indian muslim is confused and worried and angry.

As soon as a bombing or a communal riot takes place, he is required to take sides.

As soon as the neighbouring Pakistan prepares for attack on India or attacks India, he is required to take sides.

As soon as someone from the community bombs some city, he is required to take sides.

He is required to take sides for all muslims all over the world.

Why is this standard not applicable to hindus?

Why is a Hindu in India not responsible for a Hindu in Nepal supporting ISI of pakistan?

It has been in open now that hindus too indulge in unlawful activities. But everytime such a thing happens from the majority community, soon a civilised group appears within hindus that condemns the activities.

In recent years, some civilised groups within the Islamic community too have come to condemn the ills, but they are very few or they are considered hoax.

Many say that the Muslims mustn’t have been allowed in India at the time of partition.

Can India be freed of Muslims?

My answer is no. Pakistan, which is a Muslim country, still houses Hindus and people advocating other religions (let’s not talk now about the pains these minority communities have to face there). Is it then possible for India to oust Muslims being a secular country?

Others will just want to point at the irrationality of the issue. It is not the matter of allowing anyone to stay in a country. Isn’t India as much the home of Muslims as Hindus or Sikhs or Buddhists? It is. Had religion been as important to the lives of people, wouldn’t the Muslims have left India at the time of partition. But they didn’t. They loved their land, if not the country (Is there a difference between the two?). They would not gamble all of this for a religion.

And they didn’t accept the bait given by Pakistan. But time and forever, they are said to have a soft heart for Pakistan. They stayed back in India because they genuinely wanted to stay in India.

Islam has come to be associated with terrorism. But have we ever tried to understand why the Mohammedans (only a small part of the community) indulge in such activities. It is because they have been traumatised. Traumatised by the west. Traumatised by people in power (Nanavati commission gave a clean chit to the Modi government. Then who committed the rioting in Gujarat?)

I also do not think that the few people who say they represent the Muslim community and are spreading terror to take revenge are right? Some people with vested interests are using the non-representation of Muslims to their advantage.

What if there was no islam? Would the world have been any peaceful? Many of us will believe that the world would be peaceful without Islam and Muslims. But this is not so? Moin Ansari, a noted scholar, says that the world would have been just as tumultous, muslims or not. Read it here.

Delhi Blasts and Mumbai Meri Jaan

On saturday, Indian Mujhahiddin, the notorious SIMI in a new form, once again struck delhi with 4 blasts killing 25 people and injuring hundred others. 4 other bombs were diffused just in time.

Delhi Blast Suspects

we had plans to visit karol bagh that evening – fortunately, we decided to visit bhajanpura instead. a relative informed us of the chain bomb blasts when he saw the news flashing on TV. without wasting time and without panicking, we went to the parking lot, took our bikes, and returned home.

almost every channel was airing the same news. there was a chain blast at 4 different places in delhi. two places in CP, karol bagh, and greater kailash. at india gate a live bomb was detected just in time, averting a bigger casualty, as this was just near the children’s park.

it was heart-rending to see the plight of people who had died or were injurred. there was a girl who couldn’t walk because of injuries in her leg. there was a woman who laid dead just close to the pavement. the dustbin in which the bomb had been placed had completely come apart. there were people running with fear. there was blood all over the place.

i remembered suresh who works close to barakhamba road and often visits the central park that hosts cultural programmes in the evening. but all cell phones were jammed. I could reach him at 8. called another few friends who i suspected could be at the spot.

then once again got back to surfing channels. but i couldn’t move away from ‘mumbai meri jaan’ when i came across it on one of the channels. i had heard a lot about the movie (it has been rated 4 – rare in present times when the critics are too stingy in rating films).

mumbai meri jaan is the story of five personality types that emerge in a scenario as bomb blasts, communal riots etc.

Mumbai Meri Jaan

KK Menon – he heard about the bombings on television and has since come to believe that every muslim supports the terrorists and therefore it is the duty of common men like him to rid the society of muslims. until the time when an enlightened paresh raval enters the life of KK Menon. K K Menon understands that not all muslims are terrorists or supporters of terrorist activities. he makes friends with yusuf, a muslim youth he forever believed was a terrorist.

Madhavan – he has barely escaped death due to bombing of the train. had an insurance agent not insisted him to travel by second class, he would have travelled in the first class and would have lost life or at least a limb (as his colleague). he is so moved by the close shave to death that he forever fears being killed by another such bomb. He takes a taxi instead of commuting by train. He also plans to shift to the US since he believes it is safe. However, in a dialogue with a friend who resides in the US, Madhavan comes to know that no place in the world is safe these days (there was a world trade centre in one of world’s safest places- the US). he shuns plans to leave india. and once again begins commuting by train that he believes is more environment friendly than personal cars.

Soha Ali Khan – she has lost her fiance in the bombings. until this turn of events, she was a successful journalist who would cover similar manmade and natural calamities and yet the pain didn’t touch her a bit. but she is devastated now. for the first time in her life, she understands how difficult it is to deal with journalists trying to poke you for answers. However, time plays a better healer of wounds.

Irfan Khan – an ordinay man who has learnt to misuse the bombings to his advantage. a shopping mall ousted him for window shopping. he has taken a dislike for all shopping malls – and calls the police about bombs here – all hoax calls. he enjoys the pains the mall owners take to empty the premises and the loss of business for those few hours. until the time when Irfan khan’s pranks on shopping malls disturbs an elderly citizen so much that he suffers a stroke. he knows the vileness of his act. he cannot forgive himself until the man safely comes out of the hospital.

Paresh Raval – an average cop who is about to retire and as his last duties has been assigned to work on the mubai bombings case. he would have gone by the custom followed when any such bombings take place in india – book people from the another community and beat them until they reveal the names of others involved – then book the people named – hand them to the law which takes years to judge their acts before which they are again freed by hijackers at the cost of innocent people’s lives.

mumbai shows it is not frayed by the bombings. the mumbaikars come together to pray for the deceased and peace for the city by observing a two minutes silence. the entire city comes to a standstill for those two minutes. local trains, the life line of mumbai stops. so do passengers who stand up to show their support.

just then i remembered that deep lives at borivali and regularly takes a train to travel to and from office. as soon as i take up my cell phone to call him about his safety that i remember that i am watching a film – wake up aditya, this happened in the past – yaar, what am i doing? i didn’t know what happened to me – may be the film was really very touching or the fact that “it (one of those dead) could have been me“.

Crowd pullers

when sunny deol’s dare devilry in the movie ghatak inspires the crowd to fight against the local don danny, we hail it as good prevailing over the bad. we again appreciate the crowd when it rises to save cops who poured acid in the eyes of criminals in the movie gangajal.

However, in a real life incident, when a similar crowd gathers to hand out justice to some petty theives (and the latter die in the process), their act doesn’t fetch appreciation. it is branded as brutal and uncivilised, not coming of a cultured society as india. TV channels across india, are out pooh-poohing the perpetrators of the barbarous act. people are glued to their TV sets (news channels repeat video of the barbaric act) trying to think how cruel some people can be.

some thousand miles away, at the place of the incident, the entire village believes that the act was for good. that the theives lost life was for good since they do not believe court of laws would have acted as fast.

India’s internet story

When the US pioneered the use of internet as a part of a military project in 1958, little did it fathom that it will be such a big hit commercially as it is now. Today internet users account for 16.6 % or 1,093,529,692 of the total World population. Now that’s what is called a revolution.

Internet’s story in India is no less revolutionary.

Back in 1958, had one referred to the internet, he would have received the same blank glares as Aristotle would have when he first proposed that the earth is a sphere.

India took half a century to recognise the vast potentials of internet.

The future of IT in India

we all agree to this. indian IT & ITES industry is pampering it’s employees with way too much in salaries, a lot of it undeserved (had they stuck to the same company, they wouldn’t have made more than the measly hike during appraisal. they chose the easier route though. by jumping fences often, they have continued to boost the salary they take home, and giving frets to their HRs through attrition). IT & ITES employees will thus have to share a part of the trouble that the industry is going through now.

Online newspapers, virtual computer and Doordarshan days

god knows why these online edition of newspapers don’t give all news on the home page. i was trying to find an article i read in print on the online edition of the economic times and there i was sifting through sections and subsections and more trying to locate the article. final result: the article was lost in the vast maze of the web.

Dwindling respect for Mahatma Gandhi

while commuting everyday to noida from north delhi, there are a horde of temples that i pass enroute. as a devoted believer, i make it a point to show respect to these roadside gods and goddesses with folded hands. a slight deviation is when i pass rajghat, the samadhi of mahatma gandhi, the man who gave us our freedom from the british, and should have thus been equivalent to any god. not wanting to be an oddity, i decide to follow the general apathy of people towards mahatma gandhi (some people insist on not using the word mahatma). my respect for mahatma gandhi though is intact.

Tied with an employment bond

Most of my friends who are working and planning to quit will know that resigning from a job is much more difficult than even finding one. At least you have nothing on stake and nothing to lose in the latter, i.e. when you are finding a job.

Most companies these days get you to sign a employment bond at the time of joining. Some also do it at a later stage. The employees have no resort than to sign on the dotted line. The bond wordings can differ, but in all cases they will act as obstacles to free mobility in jobs. Some of the typical clauses in a common employment bond are: