साठ साल के बूढ़े या साठ साल के जवान !!!

For those who do not understand or can see the Hindi Fonts for the title..its an expression which says 'so ..60 years old or 60 years young ?' There was an old advertisement of an energy dose which had a similar tag line. Here I am referring to our country, India, completing 60 years of being a republic.

This year, I am happy that I attended both the Republic Day Parade and The Beating Retreat Ceremony. Till around 1992 ie., 18 years back, these events used to be a family's must watch on TV/live. With the boom in television programming channels, the interest for this event reduced just like many other shows which used to be an occassion when the family gets together. Similar to the trend, for many years, Republic Day became just a holiday for me as well when I could sleep till late but not so for parents though. They still enjoyed watching the parade. It was only a few years back when I actually started thinking about this event and the significance that it holds vis-a-vis the changing culture, interests and ideologies of the society. Today when we talk about such achievements or events, the reactions by many young people including a generation previous to me is that of sarcasm and cynicism. Even though there is no smoke without fire but the fact is that for many of them, especially the younger generation, this cynicism comes as a "learned" attribute only. Criticizing and constant comparisons with other countries (especially west) on various parameters primarily civic in nature has been the order of the day and would probably remain so for some time.

Whatever be it, I feel that simply being a part of the audience watching the proceedings and cheering for them makes me a tiny part of our huge entity. At the same time, I feel that the problems affect me as much as I have the little potential to bring in some change towards cleaning up being a part of the group. Isn't it the problem that the human race is facing in totality and not just any single country ?



The little things that made my day were the sights of small kids who were enjoying their little picnic and at the same time asking their parents for details about whatever they were seeing. The aged set of people who were in the audience had a mixed look of pride, nostalgia, patriotism and a certain concern for the results of whatever they dreamt about. I remember seeing a very old gentlemen with a walking stick. He was wearing a tattered blazer with a label reflecting some sort of Indian representation. He had a rather shabby track pants and an old pair of shoes without socks and a hat. I saw him sitting till the very end of the proceedings and walked slowly in the crowd to finally disappear from my sight. I still wonder about his life and his thoughts at that age, wherein he attended the entire parade while he was in the midst of all sorts of crisis viz., poverty, old age and without support/company. Well....I was sitting in the section where there were lot of senior defence personnel from our country and abroad. Our section was diagonally opposite to the President's section. I was slightly disappointed at the end wherein I saw all the Senior Defence Personnel walking out with their families like quite a lot of civilians saying that the show is over. It was just about to get over and there was still the National Anthem to be played in barely 2-3 minutes time and more importantly the President (Supreme Commander) was yet to leave. I am not trying to make a big issue out of it but...whatever...nevermind.



At the Beating Retreat, my parents were also with me. When the Rashtrapati Bhawan got illuminated, the excitement of people and the gleam I saw in my parent's eyes were 'Priceless'. All n all the Beating Retreat seemed to be more of a family affair along with the President, where people were cheering a good show.

Job Opportunity : COO

Required
-----------

Designation : Chief Operating Officer

Company : My Life

About the Company :
The Company is nothing like a regular company but seeks regularity in operations and maintenance once the COO is hired. The Company is responsible for its own growth and the COO's growth. The COO can enhance the growth rate if she performs well in her roles and responsibilities. The company is listed and believes in the Super Power Stock Exchange and has shown consistent performance and shared consistent dividends with all the stock holders.

** The Company has not appointed a COO before and has never advertised its requirement before. **

The Company is proud to have retained ethical and sustainable policies for its own growth and contributing to the ecosystem as well. The Company shows great enthusiasm in performing arts and creative fields, new concepts, academics and ethical practices for progress and is concerned about the society at large. The Company doesn't limit its imagination at any stage to avoid any barriers towards further goals achieved and is constantly in a pursuit to stretch itself and grow further.
The Company believes in the self made philosophy that the ultimate displacement of any company ( read "life") might be ZERO but its the distance covered that matters.

Role :
The COO focusses on the establishment and optimization of day-to-day operations in the company. All internal department heads report to the COO.

Responsibilities :
- Should be responsible for managing a house with a family of 4-10 people and the operational staff.
- Should be responsible for motivating, supporting and tolerating the CEO.
- Should be able to conduct/direct company operations to meet budget and other financial goals.
- Should direct short-term and long-range planning and budget development to support strategic Company goals.
- Should establish the performance goals, allocate resources, and assess policies for younger members and provide confidence and security to senior members.
- Should conduct regular meetings with department heads to ensure that priorities are clear and coordination is good.
- Should be able to take charge in high-priority crisis or in absence of CEO.
- Should be able to facilitate resolution of issues between departments and members of the Company.

Skills :
• Excellent interpersonal, communications, public speaking, and presentation skills.
• Ability to generate respect and trust.
• Passion, or the willingness to become immersed in work
• Initiative, organizational skills, time management skills
• Flexibility n Openness towards learning, culture and change.

What You Can Expect by Joining My Team:
- Complete access to all the company's resources.
- The opportunity to work with an exceptional team of people who are relaxed, objective, completely unaffected and many a times completely unaware of unhealthy social biases/trends/practices.
- Would be given complete respect, freedom and support to learn, grow and achieve your personal goals and interests.
- I would hopefully provide you with an interesting ride of experiences which would be different, challenging, sometimes testing and stretching your capabilities but overall a healthy and satisfying LIFETIME experience.

Requirements :
Gender : Female
Age : Negotiable
Physique => Default Status : Gods Creation in any form is Welcome.
Current Status : Negotiable ...points would be given if you havent abused god's creation to unrealistic limits.

Drinking : Social
Smoking : hmmm not daily please. Ocassional and depending on situation is fine.
** Deformed babies as a proof for gender equality and power is an unfortunate reality. **

( Strict Requirements)
- Mental Age : Young
- Attitude - Objective, Open n Learning
PS: Age doesnt define attitude...its the reverse.
- Empathy n Kindness towards anything living or non-living
That automatically brings in respect for other people, elders, animals and surroundings.
- Flexibility : Willingness/Readiness or Flexibility to say live in a hostel setup or a jungle, if the situation arises.
- Communication Channels : All incoming and outgoing communication channels should be open 24 X 7 X Life time. Since all the possible potential scenarios can be discussed openly/objectively hence closure of communication channel during any time can be seen as a potential clause for termination.

(Preferred)
- Social Awareness n Concerns
- Dreams and new ideas and concepts.

(Pls DONT Apply if )
- If you are someone who minds other people's business more than yours.
- Having Fussy n Inflexible attitudes.
- Gender (Social) issues are seen as a shield to get away with any shabbiness.
- If you foresee any issues from the existing Life members.
- If your own family has issues or foresees any potential issues.

Tips :
- Referrals would be preferred.
- Acquintance would certainly have their positive/negative bias.
- Past applicant(s) suiting the current requirements may apply.

Acceptance and Termination Policies :
- The Acceptance of the Job, once the offer has been made should be done after careful examination of all the points mentioned above and also any clarifications can be taken after discussing with the CEO.
- Termination is an option not really open and would not be a possiblity if all the requirements are met in the first place but in the dire circumstances if its considered then you would get complete access to whatever you desire as per your objective and reasonable wish list without resorting to any unpleasant remedies.
- Any illegal and unethical practice would be severely dealt with, by the management.

Note :

The above material is not a copied text for humor and is a serious attempt to document the personal ideas and requirements of the blogger who writes at http://my23cents.blogspot.com . This has been published in public domain for comments and potential interaction.

Zest for Life !!!

Today, during my conversation with a friend, I was reminded of my visit to AADI (Action for Ability Development and Inclusion, Delhi) with a radio station to celebrate Holi with the kids there. I believe that was 2006. It was just an hour that I spent there but it was an experience that I probably can't forget. I saw a writeup of that in "My Documents" and here it is :

2006 : "Experience of a Layman at AADI"
As amongst the majority of people, I was quite ignorant about Cerebral Palsy and the needs that come with the same for people affected by it. My one hour at AADI as part of the Holi ki Toli from Radio Mirchi was definitely a rollercoaster ride of thoughts and experiences within such a short span of time.
When I was entering AADI, I had a sense of curiosity, doubt, slight fear and over precaution for what I was supposed to do and at the same time what I shall be subjected to. When I entered, I couldn’t react much as I felt being subjected to various sights and sounds which were personally unknown to me and unexpected and too fast that I didn’t know how to handle. I drifted away from the Holi ki Toli and allowed myself to be colored by many kids to their amusement and pleasure while I was simply observing their reactions and expectations as I felt like an object that they felt happy playing with. What I really wanted to know at that time was:
What are these kids seeing in me? An object to play with or a new person/friend from the world outside or a person whom they listen to on radio or maybe just one more target where they can splash whatever colours they had and amuse themselves. I didn’t know what I was supposed to be at that moment.
During this while I was trying to make myself comfortable and was observing some of the most ruthless colour exchanges amongst few kids. Talk about over precaution, well I honestly felt vulnerable and was also a victim of some colour attacks. Slowly I was getting used to the reality i.e., the normalcy of small kids enjoying themselves and nothing more than that. I was comfortable now.
I was fortunate that couple of very energetic and enthusiastic young adults grabbed me for a chat. I didn’t know how to start but soon realized that they were looking for an opportunity to discuss relevant issues with someone who is available. The issues were relevant to any young adult across the world but I thought that the only difference here being, that the challenges were more and the opportunities made available to them were very constrained and limited. I also noticed that the challenges faced were different for different people. I spoke to them for a while and while exchanging each others contact information, I was surprised that the person had five email ids. One of them sounded like “summer beach “ bla bla bla …. I did recommend the person to have a consistent and a regular email id for which he responded (read obliged) by sharing his regular email id. So it wasn’t a very smart and unknown tip from my side after all. :-)
I was personally very inspired by their attitude, determination and dignity that they reflected. All n All I enjoyed playing Holi and meeting new people who taught me a lesson or two in what I would simply put as “A Zest for Life”.

Please watch http://www.aadi-india.org/AADIFilm.php

Blessed !!!

This is something that I wrote on my laptop on 29th May 09 in a mud hut in Kanthalloor.

Here it goes :

I am not feeling any typical flavor of the state that I am in. It’s not the typically green coconut/banana/rice plantations all around and neither are there any backwaters here. But again, its exceptionally green……I am in Kerala. This district is called Kanthalloor, which is around 50 kms from Munnar and comes after Marayoor. This place is called PeruMala. I am in a mud hut on a hill which is surrounded by forests. There is hardly any electricity and the only sounds around are the insect noises and the typing noise on my laptop. Since I am not really a camping enthusiast, I haven’t had such kind of an experience before i.e., being completely with nature. The skies are clear today unlike yesterday. The crescent is shining in all its glamour.

On this journey to Kanthalloor, which was purely by accident, I was happy to meet an ex IT professional turned restaurateur and organic vegetables farmer. I am not a herbal tea/cuisine connoisseur, but I had one of the best herbal tea here. The leaves were simply plucked from the plant and put in boiled water. That’s all. It was an amazing drink. I think it was called lipaya. With this experience, I hope to educate myself more about organic farming. He gave me a stem of the same, which I am trying to bring to Delhi and grow it there. This would be the birthday gift to my mum. Lets see if this works in the climate of Delhi.

Considering that I love animals, I was really excited to meet a really interesting dog. This dog belonged to the owner of the cottage that I lived in and was popular amongst all the farmers and workers and everyone around multiple plots of land in the neighbourhood. While scouting around the place and on my way back, I saw this dog and she actually started directing and taking us to the cottage we lived in. It took a route which was difficult for us to follow. And hence we didn’t follow it and took another route. It came back from its intended route and then again guided us on the route that we were taking.

Earlier in my journey, I had met another amazingly friendly and socializing dog at my uncle’s place. It had many peculiar things to its credit. This was the first time; I had seen a dog with a fetish for carrots, tomatoes, mangoes and banana’s. This dog would feel sad when its not allowed to mix with guests and asked to go to its cage. Once it was made to feel alienated the entire day, it simply pushed as hard as possible and was successful in putting away the food from its cage. Again, this was the first dog I had ever seen, who would eat the drumsticks used in sambar (a curry recipe in South India) in a technically correct way. It could teach people, how to eat the drumsticks used in sambar.

My trip this time covered kannur ( pallikunnu and cherkunnu), thrissur, cochin, munnar and kanthalloor. The relaxed air, the lush greenery and the comfortable and helpful people are the perfect recipe to de-stress oneself from the craziness of the city life.

The temple in Cherkunnu, is a very famous temple. I remember coming here while I was a kid. I simply relish the payassam ( a sweet dish ) made out of jaggery at this temple. One can get payassam as a prashaad (food offering at the temple), but the taste here has been distinct and has remained the same since last 25 years that I personally remember. I think I had this payassam after around 18 years. J

On this trip, I really felt connected to my home town and would like to keep this connection in the future as well. I am feeling blessed to have my roots here. It’s seldom that one’s roots are in God’s own country and I am happy to realize it. J

Krazzzy Kiya Re ......!!!!!!

To all our politicians/leaders/public figures who are influential but flying high and claim to love people for that ......

"That kinda lovin' turns a man to a slave
That kinda lovin' sends a man right to his grave
I go crazy, crazy, baby, I go crazy"

Ok thats aerosmith alrite :) but yeah it kinda suits the situation ..aint it ?

Sometimes its demoralizing to write about politics ... and as it is everybody is writing about it to debate some daily event in the election process in India.

In this existing scenario of mayhem across the world, due to the terrorism, communal tensions, conflicts between nations/races and natural calamities, the elections are about to take place in the world's largest democracy, India. During the elections, the religion issues, the communal hate speeches, the criminilization debates, the celebrities debate .....everything is pointing to one and only one thing ...and that being ...the ordinary people (especially the lower economic class) are being taken for such ultimate fools and being insulted on their face for their helplessness, day in-n-out by everybody around.

Now, without getting into the details and debates of what a young gentleman said in his "hate" speech, the very fact that a young person coming from a well-off family can actually go and talk such utter disgusting rubbish in a remote village shows the entire state of lawlessness and power corruption. This remote village is a place which he wouldn't have any business with, in his personal life. The region has been assigned to him by the party to work upon professionally. Now, the party is not backing the young fellow's alleged statements but at the same time, definitely backing him up after initial days of hiccups wherein they had to collect their own wits. If that's the case then, either the young fella has taken things into his hand without consulting his party or he was actually given complete freedom to do so. Considering that he is completely being backed by the party as a candidate, we can assume the latter ie., complete freedom being given to a candidate with limited experience in the profession. Now, if a politician with such limited experience and working under such a super banner is allowed to make such an extempore speech and also a free hand to conduct howsoever he wishes to then, doesnt it speak volumes for the unprofessionalism of the party itself. Should I assume here, that the party is literally "Ram Bharose" in their operations/methodologies ? (pun unintended). I am not really chasing this issue as the "end of it all" situation or getting into any party bashing/preference on my part.

Talking about hate speeches or communal speeches, I saw a documentary called "Final Solutions" by Rakesh Sharma. Anybody who can get a copy of it should view it once. And please keep the kids away because of its sensitive content. Apart from loads of sensitive details, it showed some really communal speeches being delivered, which obviously never got highlighted. I fairly assume such speeches are being delivered even at this moment and would be continued as a standard practice to woo the "ordinary" ( read "foolish n helpless") people of this country.

Just a quick thought here as to the reasons if any behind the other speeches not getting enough attention in the media or discussions. Is there a star power factor attached here as well ? Even though the hate speech needs to condemned but is there a factor of 'who delivered it' responsible in highlighting the entire issue ? Don't know really ..but maybe.
*** keywords for research : Media Favourites/Corruption/TRP's ? ***

Ok, I am reading a book called "India After Gandhi". Now Ramachandra Guha has compiled and narrated an amazing story of the manner in which "India" was actually born and how has it shaped up till now. Even though a country like India and its story can never be told in an 800 page book but its a masterpiece without a doubt. It has a bibliography of around 90 pages. I would strongly wish and suggest, not only translating the book into all the possible languages in the country but also to have it in the school curriculum as a compulsory subject say over a period of 3 years (VIIIth - Xth class). We have got to know, where we are and how we became what we are today as a nation. No-one amongst my peer group would actually believe that our nation, as we are today, was almost ruled out as technical impossibility, as per political scientists in that era. And its seen as a wonder, even today. Now the mention of the book might seem as a deviating reference from my initial focus on religion being the standard and the only ingredient at times for political campaigns. The reason that I mentioned this book was because of the starkling similarity between the manner of influence used in the early 20th century and in the 21st century. The same topics and debates to influence people, the same class of people and the same style still exists. What has really changed afterall ?

I think the notoriety of formulaes on how to rule the common masses have obviously been passed on till the current generation and is being used quite effectively. The formulaes has definitely made more impact in the psyche of the nation than the fading popularity of the committment and perseverence by many, to make this nation a possibility. And such a losing battle prompts my desire to make this a text book or rather an integral subject for the young children, who deserve the right inputs in moulding their ideas instead of the largely corrupt caricature of the entire political or administrative "system".

If I tell my young urban peer generation to read the book that I mentioned above, before reading say a book like "Audacity of Hope" by Mr. Barrack Obama, I would get raised eyebrows for sure. I would get a cynical remark saying "Nothing will work here..so stop your pseudo idealistic preaching" or "Are you in your senses ?" or a remark on my marital status (single) saying "You need to get married more than reading such books". Why is that ? Is it because we as a generation are tired of keywords taken in the cliche'd envelope containing our history ? Say keywords like Freedom Struggle, India, Gandhi.... n all. Is this generation somewhere tired of listening to the same bugel for ages and are almost closed to even listening to it now ? Does this generation really know the details of the real challenges that have been faced in just bringing together and managing a single structure called India ? No. Thats because, from the time everything started for this country, the keywords have been taken advantage of in gaining political mileage or raising sentiments or if simply put, to raise enough dust to confuse/convince ordinary people.

With absolute due respect to Mr. Barrack and his book, let me now think about the general impression or attraction towards a book like "Audacity of Hope". The motivational aspect in the urban youth might be dissected in the manner say ...
1. The current generation does see some hope in a contemporary icon of integrity more than the sickening rut of debates that we end up wasting our energies on a daily basis locally.
Everybody here knows the truth beyond the cloud of dust and that is the reason for such well accepted discontentment. "
2. In very rare cases, it would make a more fashionable statement in the peer group. And why not ...??? we definitely need to have pride n style in anything to get us interested in it. So nothing wrong in it.

So where does this blabber end ? This blabber ends in a note that
1. Its time that we be open to accepting and being positive towards the progress which we have made till date as a nation. And that is very significant indeed.
2. We do have enormous amounts of issues and problem areas for us to work upon. So instead of simply shouting for a "change" or looking upto the need for a messiah, one thing that we can practically do is to try and know whatever we can about our growth and about our country. This would be a concrete step to have more qualified ideas and sensitivities which is needed more than hollow/infectious emotions and lazy demands.

Valentine Departure : Heart Shaped Piece of Bone !!!

Feb 11 - My aunt expired. She had a brain stroke and then a series of complications which finally led to her death. She was 67. [ The hospital and the struggle with the administration being the topic of much concern in our society had a role to play once more...... No comments at the moment.]
Feb 12 - Funeral - I have only been to two funerals before in my lifetime where I saw the body being burnt. The peculiar thing for me was the noise of the bursting skull. I had never known that before and it was the sign that the soul has escaped. Had the noise not been there, the skull would have been broken by a wooden stick. I am not sure .....but can someone confirm by technical means that it is the skull which bursts and makes a noise due to the fire or can it be any other part of the body ? And also in the previous two cases there wasnt any noise and hence the skull was broken using a wooden stick instead. There was another fact which I had come to know of ...that was a "heart shaped" piece of your bone is supposed to be carrying the soul and is sought while collecting the remains n ashes for the last rites.

Feb 14 - Garh Mukteshwar which is around 90 Kms from Delhi in UP is the nearest place from Delhi where the River Ganges flows. All the ashes and remains were immersed in Ganges. Its a separate issue that Death was the source of livelihood for many there, the boatman, the pundit and whosoever was involved, would try to extract the maximum amount of money. The more money you give to the pundit (priest), the prayers would be more precise and elaborate and that would allegedly mean that the departed soul would get Mukti/Moksh easily and/or for sure.

Happy Birthday Dad !!!

There's one sad truth in life I've found

While journeying east and west -

The only folks we really wound

Are those we love the best.

We flatter those we scarcely know,

We please the fleeting guest,

And deal full many a thoughtless blow

To those who love us best.

- Ella Wheeler Wilcox-

Kitty Katty !!!

A mad cow or a smoker ????

“I’d rather kiss a mad cow on the muzzle than a smoker on the mouth.”