Ego

An existence so small
Much a little smaller than the mole
An identity perceived so huge
Larger than the largest deluge

That “I” is the center of the universe
Woven is destiny around this energy
A Force to survive
A reason to live
Uniqueness meant to fight death


Is it some periphery of obscurity
Webbed to stay stuck
Being stimulated by the more aware
Cuisine for the masters
A purpose for the absolute transience
Living so that I could eventually die


Or does I have shades of either
Maybe neither
Wholesome could be this “I”
Ego so large, so holistic
Where the universe would submerge
All identities merge
Purpose, reason, existence and end are all but none
Forgiveness, love, in concert, futile and naïve
Bliss, untrue, pure to thrive
Maybe “I” is such a life

Miles to go before I sleep

Energies are low
Synergies unheard
New is old and old is now
Where to start and where to go

This transition is a vacuum
A silence of the mind
Of many strings that moved this puppet
Some are gone and some idle
Shall we wait for those fingers to move
Or shall we get out of the groove

There are strings that I lace
There are beings that look upon this face
Who Wish to see a brighter day
Look upon to show them a way

Aspirations mine and theirs
Yet to realize
Make them find their orbits
And stay on course of what is mine

Of some more then me
Of some more than mine
A little more than today
And much more than make hay

A world small as I
Big as the universe
And everything between them
Has a pull and push

There will be a tomorrow
With or without my sorrow
There is only enough one can do
Occupy one’s mind with much ado

For the day will come
When I shall reap
Till then, I have,
Miles to go before I sleep.

An Open Letter to Azim Premji Of Wipro

Dear Mr. Premji,
I like many have been an admirer of the company that you have built. Your entrepreneur skills and persistence, of your integration capabilities and diverse nature of your businesses, all this while were carrying a legacy baggage of an earlier generation business.
It all came to an end, while reading your views in times of India a few days back on the unnecessary spending of 28000 crores on commonwealth games; in fact, you go to an extent of calling any expense on sports as unnecessary.
It feels at this stage of your life’s achievements, crony capitalism and unrealistic philanthropy has taken over, as this cannot be a strategy. You have actually started thinking wrong.
• It cannot be denied that common wealth games, which are happening in India is an absolute bed of corruption, and better things could be done with that money. But you see, even if Rahul Gandhi did spend that money on MNREGA the fate of that public money would have remained the same. Government spending money they have not righty earned will always find the wrong hands. A person of your stature, when airs his view on gullibility of the social schemes and general tax paying citizen, who feels that sports is bad for the country and MNREGA is good.
• This is an absolute fallacy, MNREGA has almost 100000 crores outlay and not even 30 % reaches the needy, which also land up hampering the usual rural SME and Agriculture. Social schemes are a bigger disaster for India than common wealth games.
• You have mentioned about, Bihari’s getting unfair wages and perhaps they would have been better doing stuff back in Bihar. Well, the migrant laborers also built the metro project in Delhi and so many other projects, fair and unfair is an individual’s choice of staying put or going back to his village to dig earth. MNREGA is a way to keep the migrants at home and keep the cities clean of slums, but working for unfair wages and conditions happen due to better opportunities, infrastructure and life available in the cities. It will never stop, no country or civilization ever in the history of this earth has been able to stop migration, the migrants, with time, will earn their fare share.
• Wipro and many other such companies are a product of entrepreneur skills at its best, capital used for pure motive of profit, benefiting, millions directly or indirectly, not because your intention was other people’s benefit but because your motive was profit. When you seek dole money for your good intention of spending on education and health, you have killed enterprise. Thousands of individuals and organizations who are in these fields with a pure motive of profit are doing far better jobs than all the governments put together. There are private schools who seek rupee 1 a day per student and still make their profits. It’s like Wipro selling a shampoo sachet for the same price. Government sponsored social schemes, even in education and health can only construct buildings and pay salaries. They can never offer services.
• Sports on the other hand, besides celebrating the human spirit of excellence, creates enterprise, profits, jobs and infrastructure. There are countries that survive on sports tourism, and if India is a country of poor people with a massive human resource, India perhaps is the neediest of this industry and has the best resource of being a sporting nation.
• 28000 crores of public money is surely down the drain, but if it was a private event this money would look trivial. IPL has a brand value of approx 20000 crores, which does not have a state sponsorship and its core value is profit. If cricket was to survive or any other game, it will be due to the profit motive involved. In the interiors of the villages you will find pitches and boys in their creases in bare soles.
Recalling Gandhi ji’s advice to recall of the poorest person, in taking an affirmative step. Now! You think very hard Mr. Azim Premji, would you rather let that man learn how to fish and leave him a clean pond, or would you rather feed him a fish today?
do give it a second thought, before ending opportunities for millions you have already harnessed to arrive at a state of philanthropy.

Warm Regards,

An Unfair Wage creator Bihari.

WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved…….!!!

There is something fundamentally wrong with the above line.
“We” should be “I” and “people" should be “citizen”.
A collective resolve is no one’s responsibility.
And this is where all civil society where the state is supposed to be a big “we” start to decimate.
India historically and religiously has been a country of individuals.
It is only when the property became for common good did we start denying our roles.

We Indians are too busy feeling good of our democracy and freedom.
Celebrations are for the state to handle, we would rather sleep late on a holiday.
After all, isn’t that what freedom is for?
India, rightly, known as a land of festivals could draw parallels to other Indian festivals!
Well! If you do something religiously for 63 years it’s bound to become a habit.
One tends to forget the significance, value, like age old religious festivals, it gets associated to your culture and routine.
Celebrating, any age old festival as every adult Indian would know, has a lot to do with responsibility as well.
We would clean our premises, update our records, bring in new stuff, devote time with the family, sit in front of the deities and remember our vows, and of course the paraphernalia of the younger lot, sweets, food and the celebrations.
We also make sure that on this day we do not leave the underprivileged unattended.
How it that, this festival of democracy has become a state sponsored festival, where only the state celebrates.
Here, we have the individual’s sleeping on this festive day and their oppressors (state) celebrating.
Well, the state surely has a very good reason to celebrate.

They have our property, (right to property was taken away in 1977) our money (taxation, at times has peaked 90% of our incomes), the basic right of justice,( a well crafted effort by the state is to delay justice, as good as denial) social (reservation of every vote worthy section of society) economic, (till very lately, there are still industries and other means of economic activities that only the state can practice) and political ( only the socialist can represent the people of India in the parliament) have all been infringed upon and the citizens are sleeping.
Isn’t that a great reason to furl the tricolor on all state buildings and distribute sweets?

Freedom is individual.
The role of the state, which is formed by the representatives of these free individuals, is to protect their freedom. Not to increase its own size, citing that its citizens are not capable enough to think and act on their own.
We achieved freedom from oppressors.
Not to give it away to our own Frankenstein.
British like the Gabbar of Sholey, only wanted a handful of grains in exchange of the security of the people of Ramgarh.
That’s what this state is slowly up to.
Oh the poor are dying, so let’s have MNREGA
Oh the roads are terrible and so is the education system so let’s have a little more Cess.
And the farmers need subsidy and a waiver as well!
The planet is getting hot and thus we might need another Cess to take care of it.
Yeah! Ok, first we created Naxal’s, and now have to fight them, and perhaps we should give them a special package as well, little more of that doe please!
Oops! We won’t have enough water or electricity or we need to fight the terrorist and Pakistan also china!
We need all your money.
And by the way, the companies have not been doing much for the society so we will have a CSR bill passed shortly.
And are the individual citizens doing enough for the state, hmm! Some day we will have a “Jaziya” like Aurungzeb did to serve the royalty.
Oh, we did not find many sponsors to the CWG, so can we have more of your money!

Let’s wake up people; we didn’t know that the British were oppressors till 1857, that too we realized the importance of the struggle only after a thin old, bald man made us realize the difference, in being a subject and a citizen.

By being a free citizen we imply that we are committed to the creation of a society based on principles of freedom and tolerance, every citizen has a responsibility that comes with freedom, to protect our own freedom and that of others.

Don’t we need to question the oppressors, why do we need to give all our money for Suresh Kalmadi’s and Omar Abdullah’s of this country, why Arjun Singh is not tried if we don’t have Anderson for 22000 deaths? And a million more questions!
Stop feeling good about everything that is taken for granted. It won’t last long; we have a responsibility to the coming generations, least we have to do is not just pat our backs but question the establishment.
Resentment and disagreement is the essential tool of our freedom and democracy.
Let’s get into the habit of practicing it. To practice freedom one should always have a choiceice and there should always be an alternative.
Do we have one today?
Are you free?

Just like our other festivals, the responsible have a job to do, clean up the place, with some incense and flowers remember the dead and chant that oath.
Freedom and independence is ours and ours alone
Happy Independence Day!






.

Remembering Anniversaries.

What kind of moron would forget a close one’s Birth day!
Well, I am one and there are many like you who would scratch their heads with an apologetic grin.
Shit happens!
For men it is more like dysentery.

Besides the social insensitivity associated with the issue, lately, more so often, if we really think rationally about remembering anniversaries, its, hm…..kind of questionable!

There are different types of wishers:
I for one, wish some people out of habit. I remember the days as they have been around for a while and since childhood days, when birthdays were a big thing; these dates were slammed into my mind. Close friends, ex girlfriends, their friends, and sibling’s et al. remembering these dates are like remembering telephone numbers or car plates, before the advent of cell phones.

I also wish some people out of fear, sisters, their husbands, wives relatives and especially kids who won’t let you forget.
With the modern cell phones and other memory devices and social network sites who keep on beeping like a cuckoo bell before and after every remember able available date, the job has been so much easier for social compulsions.
But then, what is the essence of wishing someone on their important landmark dates?
And is it in the same spirit that everyone makes that call?

I suppose, except for your parents, and possibly someone who is madly in love with you ( which will have a short duration) anyone and everyone who would call you, is to let you know that he or she has managed to remember the dates and let’s see, if you could do the same.
How many who wish you, actually mean the words they use. “Have a great time” a common line, “wish you the best” there is a such a bankruptcy of even choosing the words suitable to that individual, who has an personality of his own, who could surely do with some personal lines.

Well, in a way its fine, as at least we do get to remember the new and old ones, once a year.

Archie’s and event vendors have worked hard on making a festival out of this Georgian calendar.
We are stuck to exchanging pleasantries, filling our memory devices.

P.S : The characters in this article are fictitious and any resemblance or inference to persons living or dead is purely coincidental."

fruitsofindia.com

Dear friends,
With this note, I bring you, fruitsofindia.com
An online store for traditional fruits of India
Let me apologize for the lack of finesse from the first look of it, might appear like a job that could be done better.
Of course, so it will be in due course of time.
The problem here is that we are at the end of the season and we will have to wait for another year before we could do some sample work.
So we start half baked, to your benefit this time.

Here is a why! To fruitsofindia.com
Till some time back and for some lucky people yet, people could select according to their preferences the trees they had their fruits from. They were the favorites and a lot of care went on to handling them.
Nature has been a part of the Indian culture and tradition, Worshiped and a part of our lives and families, especially, the ones bearing quality fruits.
A lot of rural India is still able to do so, for whatever reasons.
And with a little help from the World Wide Web, we could knit this together for our urban friends.
This was the core idea behind the origins of fruitsofindia.com

There is another reason, a more personal one.
It’s an effort to make people at both ends realize their needs, dreams and aspirations.
Like me, there are millions of people who have diversity in their backgrounds and aspirations, their responsibilities and dreams on a course of collision.
Issues of property, ageing parents and the burden of that guilt of not being there for your near and dear ones and society at large.
Many are lost like me in dilemma and how to bridge this gap!

fruitsofIndia.com was born as a vision and that bridge.
A lot of my friends have been through the incubation process over the years. We worked on many models that could be worked and perhaps will sooner or later. But, then there are limited resources and time is not limitless.
But then also, things have to be done to know, if they work.
We had to start somewhere. So we did.
So, we get you fruitsofindia.com, an online store to provide the traditional fruits of this subcontinent.
Mango’s all sorts, litchi’s, jamun, bael, guava’s and the ones that you will suggest.
With time, we would be incorporating your choice of region and up to the opportunity of tracing or booking the tree that’s your favorite.

Well, why would anyone buy fruits online, they are available down the road all over!
Of course, they are, but there are fruits that you would wish you could gift a close and dear one far away.
People having a Haphoos- Alphonso often compare it with the Mango’s available in their regions.
Anyone travelling to a distant place gets a package to deliver, pickles and local seasonal fruits.
Usually, the fruits go bad due to poor post harvest handling, packaging and transportation.

We see an opportunity here. We have tied up with some growers and traders in the most e-commerce affluent area, Bombay, the centre for Alphonso and international movements, professional commitments and good logistics. We store our produce here, pack and ship from here.

But then this is a business of credibility, why would anyone swipe his card on an unknown site!
That’s where you come in, my friend!
This credibility thing is going to take a few seasons for me to be around and bridge that gap.
This year we have lost out, for various reasons. But we are early for the next season.
Thankfully, I have some close friends like you, and your close friends who I can trust and you can trust to lend us a hand.
Do log in, leave your details, and we will try to provide you a free sample of litchi’s this year.
There will be a hundred deficiencies this year, like the quality of packaging, fruits, logistics et al.
Forget the price part and rest what seems to be the follies of the website, you will only get litchi’s this season. “Free of Cost”. This offer goes only to my friends on facebook.
All you have to do is, join our facebook page, and then log your details on to the website.
The dispatches are made automatically to all data put in there.
As the fruits are kept in controlled temperature, which have to be transported in normal temperature, there are bound to be some issues. But do let us know, what went wrong and we will improve on it.

You have to remember one thing. We are still working hard on it, and we need your feedback. We will try not to repeat the pointed deficiencies; we will try to live up to your expectations.
Do join in.

Rajesh

Villy My Friend

“Rajasthan ki team bana raha hai ya Pakistan ki?” Kishore Rungta uttered with a mouthful of whatever he was having for dinner.
The orator, who had just spelled four Muslim names of the six selected, quickly made corrections and omitted all the four names and continued,.
It was perhaps the winters of 1990, at Rungta’s house. I was there with a friend of mine, to find out if he had got in through his Ranji trials. The trials had happened in the afternoon and these results would have been announced next day morning. If one has to play for India, he had to play Ranji for any of the state teams.
Kishore Rungta was the king of Rajasthan cricket, “tiger” as he was fondly called, was an India selector and cricket had more politics than money then.
Of course, the much known Mr. lalit Modi, by whatever selfish virtue, in connivance with the great chief minister Vasundhra Raje, ousted Mr. Rungta later on to do some good to cricket.

However, villy did not make it. Mr. Rungta had killed villy and likes, his pet boy, Gagan Khoda later went to play a couple of matches for India.
I had not known villy then.
Vilayat, I later met at Xavier’s Bombay. He was a Mayo alumnus, Belonged to Ajmer.
Xavier’s those years used to have a substantial strength of mayoites who roamed around in a sort of gang.
Villy was never a part of it, kept largely to self.
When at hostel, he was in his pads and gloves, waving his bat at least 80% of the day he was awake, shadow practice.
He went on to play various county cricket and continued his efforts to play for India.
He was always well dressed for a hostelite. I remember his shark skin jackets and branded English shoes and shirts.
On later years, villy and me got quite close, we shared a pad at Andheri for around a year and that’s how I got to know villy well. I was working those years and villy was playing for Cricket club of India. He played with almost everyone in the Indian cricket team, and I had the opportunity to go with him to the Brabourne stadium many a times for trivial sporting.
Not that I know much about cricket, but I know villy was better than the most. He was meant to be there.
He never compromised on anything, he was not good with words and with little politeness did manage to speak his mind, be it anyone. “Aap to chutiye ho” he had said that to many including Pravin Amre once.
He hated mediocrity and was pissed off with us for having lesser goals in life.
I met villy after 13 years yesterday, and 12 out of these he told me he had a very tough time carrying his head strong, trying various fields in life to get somewhere, with his skills and attitude, the commercial world was hardly a field for success or even survival.
Things are different now.
Villy, however is doing phenomenally good, with perhaps among the few with an international degree in physical conditioning, he trains the top bollywood biggies.
Nothing could be more suited than this, years of hard work is paying and I am glad I have known him.
Way to go villy.