GAJU KI SHAADI

JUST BEFORE MARRIAGE

As the title suggests it is something about someone’s marriage. You go, make merry, laugh upon idiot looking well dressed couple, make a few remarks about not so good food, meet old friends, gaze at otherwise ordinary looking girls dressed up in their bests (of course, expecting the same from their side) and finally come back.

But this is much more than that or else the description of a typical marriage is over by now. It is about a free, happy independent man who would now not what he used to be. He is very few of my friends who would not touch alcohol, stay away from smoking and yet is a person with whom I can spend great time without getting drunk myself. This I am writing while I am just back from his (ladies may ignore or may use a ‘their’ here) marital funeral. May be I have used too much of pessimism in description of events but this is actually what everybody was talking about; “bechara acchaa ladka tha; has le beta tera last time hai” etc etc.

What I am feeling now is a strange kind of feeling and despite a futile attempt at this year’s CAT my vocabulary skills don’t suggest me a suitable adjective for this state of mind.

He is a person with whom I have enjoyed more than 2 years in college and we still feel like telling everything to each other. Alas! Now this statement would be used in past tense. For the past 2 years after he left college, we have always been in touch, and would talk on phone for hours discussing both trivial and serious matters. Though we had a rough patch while he was in final year but the real strength and resilience of our friendship stood the test of bad times and today I was in his marriage as a ‘ghar ka banda’ as I was instructed explicitly not to get drunk and control others!

You imagine a fantabulous dancer dancing to the tunes of his wife’s numbers. You hear from a carefree man words about planning a job, a home, life and what not! Though there had been some significant factors in the background but still the foreground matters. In addition to a great man transformed to a diametrically opposite being, there is another thought lightening through my mind.

Gaju’s marriage has sparked the beginning of nuptial nightmares for his batch-mates and this suggests that we are all there in the pipeline; sooner or later we all are going to be executed. There is no escape; the marital guillotine is not that far away now! We all will leave the world of happiness, freedom and bacchanals to the settled life of self control and being remote control, a doomed hell of abstinence, wife, kids…

May be that wont be as bad as I m trying to portray it but there will be a breed of people with whom you wont be able to share the same warmth as you do today. And that breed is friends!

In Gaju’s wedding I met Vandana, Gaju’s batchmate, who came with her fiancé. Though she has always wanted me to quit but earlier we used to talk a lot and I think she enjoyed me narrating my ‘spirit-ual’ adventures. But today, I don’t know why she turned me off when I had just started. I couldn’t understand the reason but the presence of another soul in absolute vicinity had definitely made an impact. She is no longer the same!

So the moral of the whole story is that basically and acidically, both ways, life moves on! You have to go the way life takes you and it suggests that you’ll then see your friends on yearly or decadal basis. Thus the moral of the story is, “ The clock is ticking away…stop reading it and have fun with your friends”

JUST AFTER MARRIAGE

The real state of intoxication

I am always drunk!

My Gtalk status message says,” I am always drunk”, so does my PC wallpaper. The title of this blog also states the same words. I doubt if there is any person on this earth reading these lines who wont call me a fool, a cynic or may be a a***ole who is unsure what he wants to prove. Once a TL in my office had a look at my PC and she was not amused as well. People ask me if I had been smitten in love for I once proved that a beer is better than a woman. Yes it’s about some kind of love & passion, but not about a girl. And please, don’t make your mind run helter-skelter, I am straight.

Well, the message is not about alcohol.

I like beer but I can’t risk my job, coming to work with a beer on my breath; or visiting my parents with my eyes red. I’ll narrate a small incident to clear the haze off. Once an anti-reservation group was boozing out and in a fit of rage they made a plan to kill union HRD minister the RDB (Rang de basanti) style, everything was finalized and they dozed off. The next morning, all woke up and ridiculed each other of thinking so filmsical. When I tried some leg pulling and asked when they gonna materialize their “noble” motive, one of them said,” arre, we were drunk yar, everybody say blah-blah while drunk” and he was right too. You make obscure promises, repeat a line endlessly while drunk, and once the alcohol relieves your mind, you forget it or just smile it off.

And that is what my point is. All those who have been forced to read this space, have been persuaded coz I thought reading such stuff might prick a little, the hearts of janta which is always looking agape at the west. I projected myself as a patriotic, nation lover, anti foreign companies and someone who hates the encroachment of Americanism in our social and cultural values. And I talk all this endlessly. Mailing friends to read it, people say would never make any difference and this weekend I thought they are right, coz if writing such stuff doesn’t change the author how can the audience be expected to believe him?

I feel I talk that way coz I have been drunk, drunk all the way and while writing this again I am drunk. I just talk, just write about it only apparently while I am not what you think I am!

A few days back I was watching a Doordarshan morning show, for our set-top box was out of order and I really appreciated the classical sitar show. While taking on my ablutions, I raised the volume a bit and it was a nice experience. I was appalled to think whether our next generation would even be able to think about an instrument of the name of sitar, sarod or shehnai while they grow up watching today’s satellite channels? I continued with the Doordarshan and discovered public awareness campaigns about women empowerment and global warming. I had a sudden feeling of distrust for all the Stars, Sonys and Zees. Because I was drunk!

When that spirit was down, I was fed up of the ‘poor’ programming and I turned it off since I couldn’t get my Discovery, ESPN, Mtv and History channels back.

I hate the mall culture and over use of English but yesterday I bought a Reebok, backpack and to my surprise, mysteriously talked to the sales personnel in English. I don’t think if I am not working for a greedy foreign company, is any product that I have worked upon in my government firm reached the market. Have I generated any revenues for the nation? I have just been a silly parasite and use government resources for blogging and chatting! A ‘Liberty’ or ‘Action’ is just as fine but I bought a Reebok pair of shoes. And I don’t remember the moment when I bought an idiotic Jockeys’. My favorite shirt is a Levis’ and I bought a Titan coz I couldn’t afford a Swatch or Rado!

Oh! My speech is slurring now, after-all I m drunk! I don’t know if all that you have just read defines my state of inebriation or is it just what people brag about while they are drunk. I doubt would I be able to explain my wallpaper to the TL or she’ll continue considering me a stupid!

Well to shrug off something, which you spat while drunk, you need to sleep and wake up to a new day. But what can I do, I sleep for 8 hours but this way I am suffering from insomnia! The way my deeds and words are so opposite, I feel even if I sleep one day, I’ll wake up with fresh booze in my mouth…

P.S. People say that a drunkard think that he sings well while drunk, I feel I sing well all the time! I am alwayzzz drunk…

A Great Appraisal!A salute to Vikrant Singh 2k2118

It’s the time when most of us (the 2k6 pass-outs) completed one year in the corporate world. Though I’ve been a non-corporate employee in a friendly govt sector firm, most of my friends are reeling under severe work-pressure, time schedules and strict deadlines. Oh! Did I just tell about the hard side? My apologies! They are being paid much more than, as a few under alcohol confess, they work for. And this is the celebration period since it’s the time of annual increments and bonuses. Though the recent rupee surge has affected the returns, its much more than the Rs. 275 hike in salary that Govt of India bestows upon me. Well I m not writing to cry out my vows here on this page but I am trying to honor a friend (this is the only way I can do it now) by telling you all what he has achieved.

He has got a special appraisal, an appraisal worth a lifetime! Ah, so u guessed it? Nah. He has not been promoted, nor being sent to an off shore client on eye rolling green salary. I am sure none of you would get it right and I must tell you before over-spicing to the extent of tastelessness.

Gentleman Cadet Vikrant Singh as he is now, has broken the barriers of Ctrl C, Ctrl V development teams, murky scripting and testing arenas to join a new battlefield. And this battlefield is going to be real. Absolute real, where there are no logical-syntactical bugs, no foreign clients and no un-necessary coffee vending machines. He has left a high paying comfortable job in an MNC for a different job that demands standard, which speak for them.

Cracking IMA (for those who haven’t yet got it, Indian Military Academy), is not something one can ever compare with getting into IIMs, IITs or the best US university; it is much more than that; and much tougher too. With a majority of engineers blindly running in a ‘cat’ race or craving for a US visa, what Vikrant a.k.a Tau has achieved is something that enlightens the spirit of patriotism, determination, self less ness and self belief. I remember when one of my friends was saying, “ Why do we over hype the army, they lay their life because it’s a part of their duty, like I work till midnight sometimes?” I am ashamed that there was a day when I partly agreed with his line of thought but accepting that ‘job’ itself is courageous enough to be respected, I feel now. Especially Tau leaving a lucrative job for a meager salary, for his lust to serve the nation is not some kind of a cynicism; it is passion for the country. Even sometimes when I boast about my patriotic zeal, I must confess I cant lay my life for the nation. While IT sector promises a lavish life style, (unhealthy) flexible work timings, vacations on Christmas and a holiday on July 4 (not on August 15); a disciplined life, a funeral under the wraps of our own tricolor is what attracted Tau more.

Although his parents wanted him to be an IAS and he was preparing wholeheartedly, but as he told me, being in military means, if someone is detrimental to the nation in your domain, shoot him while an IAS would always be under the command of a foolish and morally bankrupt politician. Of course the defense minister reigns above the armed forces too but at least a soldier’s vicinity is not dirty and rotten. There have only been a few cases of corruption there till now (please don’t spoil the note of this text as you may argue that not all cases are reported).

He got what he wanted to and I just wish he completes his training there successfully and I go to his passing out parade and witness him stepping his ‘Antim Pag’.

By the way Tau will always be Tau, he can anytime pop up with questions like, “Brian Lara lefty hai na?”

which one is better? a beer or a woman?

Beer v/s Women, Which is better
~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1. A beer is always wet, a woman isn't.
1 point for beer!

2. Beer is horrible when it is hot.
1 point for women!

3. A cold beer satisfies you.
1 point for beer!

4 . If you come back home smelling beer, your wife can get angry at you. If
you come back home smelling women, your wife will get angry for sure and she
might even not talk to you again.
Draw! (It depends on your point of view).

5. 10 beers in a night and then you can't drive. 10 women in one night and
you don't have to drive anywhere!
1 point for women!

6. The older beer is, the better.
1 point for beer!

7. Many beers can make you see UFO's. Many women can make you see God!
1 point for women!

8. If you ask yourself how the next woman will be, you're normal. If you ask
yourself how the next beer will be, you're alcoholic.
1 point for women!

9. For a beer you pay taxes.
1 point for women!

10. If you take a second beer, the first one doesn't get angry.
1 point for beer!

11. You can always be sure that you're the first one "opening" a beer.
1 point for beer!

12. If you shake a beer, after a while it calms down by itself.
1 point for beer!

13. You know exactly how much a beer costs.
1 point for beer!

14. A beer doesn't have a mother.
1 point for beer!

15. You can do it if you want, but beer won't ask you to hug her for half an
hour after.
1 point for beer!

Final Score: Beer beats women. (9 to 6)
If you're a woman and getting angry, think that a beer wouldn't.

Another point for beer! FINAL SCORE: 10 to 6.

not my own creativity but i really liked this one!

my frend BAG

July 5

Last evening I had a chance to talk to one of my college batch mate whom I hve always considered one of the best fellows in my batch albeit his academic life. He could recognize my voice as easily as I could his voice, which reminded me of the rapport we shared sumtime back in the good old days in the hostel rooms of our alma mater.

It is always very heartening talking to him coz he s always happy but the last conversation just left me aghast. He is suffering from a kind of epilepsy, which his doctor says is because of a tapeworm in his brain. I was wondering if Bag ever had a brain but he was damn serious. And he had been in trauma for the past six months with 4 severe attacks. It was literally difficult to hold my ground when I imagined our very own Bag lying on ground vibrating, his teeth tight, limbs clenched, tongue twisted and mouth frothing. But of course I remained calm, or I might have accrued to his agony. He has been instructed not to drive and swim for all of his life, on a heavy dose of drugs to wipe the dead larvae of the tapeworm off his head. He has lost his privacy for someone must accompany him for ablutions too, can’t go to work and his life virtually is certainly out of normalcy. He is no longer a normal man.

I was sad but to my astonishment I gauged a sense of excitement in his voice while he was explaining all the fundas of his version of epilepsy. He was very quick to tell me the formulas of his doses, the name of the medicines, the doctor, hospital and what not associated with his ailment. He, as always, had added his own flavor of humor in what I thought was the end of all happiness! At the end of that chat which we had to cut short because of his very time bound routine, I was thinking about the disease, my friend’s predicament but I had a strange kind of a smile!

As I later explained it to my flat-mate and Bag’s friend, I couldn’t hide my mixed feelings and he also knowing what Bag is, was carrying the same strange kind of smile composed of horror of the disease and love for Bag’s naive sense of humor!

Arjun Singh....get well soon!

The strength of a man isn't in how respected he is at work.
It is in how respected he is at home.

-Anonymous

I read it long time back and I think the self-dignified angel of Indian social reforms Hon’ble union minister for HRD must go through this very truthful adage. The recent spat in his home and his comments about the same quite clearly speculate his credentials as someone who can manage the billion plus human resources of our country.

I agree I am an anti-reservationist and the argument that my hatred towards minister’s policies is making me crib over his personal life might be true. But when someone is a public figure, someone invades our social thought process, someone fuels the splinter of reservations for his personal motives; we have an equal right to discuss his personal life too. His decisions have sparked hatred among the youth, and we are involuntary amenable to his ways because he is a minister serving us, a public servant democratically elected. Then we have the right to bring his character in public too.

To the charges he has been framed upon, he argued that he stays away from family matters. He didn’t attend his grand son’s marriage because he disapproved it. The question is, why you stay aloof of your family matters? If there was harassment under your nose, why didn’t you prick it? If a woman in limited confines of his house can be beaten up for dowry, what right he had to vote for Pratibha Patil? The minister stayed mute because it was his family and he let his family decide what is right or wrong! Then why the hell he doesn’t keep his mouth shut about reservations? Why is he spreading the acrid flavor all over the nation? Let the people decide by themselves if they need any such reservation!

This might sound awry, but such delicate an issue can be solved only through a national referendum. Yes, it means an added burden to our already stooping nation but it is much better to have a nation free from such abashing issues rather than saving a few crores, which we might otherwise spent in implementing all the quotas too.

May be since Mr. Arjun Singh is helping a great cause while being the HRD minister, it’s the duty of those who will be benefited un-necessarily to repay their debt.

May be Col. Bainsla (leader of Gujjar community) can now lead his community to smash a few more public buses, so as to help Mr. Singh in this phase of trauma. The Gujjars’ allegiance to the minister might someday re-pay them in form of their long cherished ST status.

The news item indicting Mr. Singh is available here!

http://news.webindia123.com/news/Articles/India/20070731/728662.html

Arjun Singh faces dowry case, Uttar Pradesh for CBI probe
New Delhi/Lucknow | July 31, 2007 1:05:11 AM IST

Union Human Resource Development Minister and senior Congress leader Arjun Singh faces a dowry harassment case, registered on a complaint from the father of his granddaughter-in-law, even as the Uttar Pradesh government decided to hand over the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Arjun Singh denied here Monday any association with the branch of his family directly implicated by the erstwhile ruler of Narauli Madhvendra Singh. Reacting to the report about the case being registered, he told reporters: "It has nothing to do with me. I stay away from family matters".

Meanwhile, the Mayawati-led Uttar Pradesh government decided to entrust the probe into the case to CBI.

"Since the matter involves a senior central minister and his immediate family members, the state government has decided to hand over the entire case to the country's premier investigation agency," Uttar Pradesh Home Secretary Javeed Ahmed told reporters in Lucknow Monday evening.

Madhvendra Singh, whose daughter Priyanka had married Arjun Singh's grandson Abhijit Singh, has alleged that the minister and his family members have been demanding a Mercedes car along with a flat in Noida near Delhi as dowry and have even beaten his daughter for not giving in to their demands.He complained to the chief judicial magistrate (CJM) of Chandausi who directed the Moradabad police to register a case of dowry harassment.

The CJM of Moradabad passed orders for the registration of the case July 27. The magistrate directed the police to name Arjun Singh, his wife, his son Abhimanyu Singh, daughter-in-law Beena Singh, sister-in-law Aradhana Singh, grandson Abhijit, brother-in-law Dilip Singh and Dilip's daughter Mandakani Singh as accused in the case.

Moradabad's Senior Superintendent of Police Prem Prakash admitted that the case was registered at the instance of the magistrate.

A new national hero!

There have been innumerous times when the police would deliberately or inadvertently charge an innocent but he is later acquitted by the judiciary. There has been a customary investigation procedure to look out for clues, when someone is charged. And when it comes to acts of terrorism, it is all but natural to peep deep within the family and possessions of the suspect. The traces thus acquired are used to further probe the case and those involved in it.

Thus, it was quite inevitable for the Australian Govt to charge Dr Haneef since his SIM card was found in the house of the Glasgow airport blast accused. The trial was framed and when the attorney failed to prove anything, he was simply let go. It is as simple as that. Of course revoking his visa has proved to be a bone of contention now. But even that can have a very amicable excuse. All those visa applicants must be quite aware of the reality that any criminal association, or even a false FIR can make it cumbersome to obtain a visa on moral grounds. Anyone implicated in the terror attacks in India, even when acquitted, wont be able to get work visa in any of the developed nations especially after 9/11 attacks. Though it is unethical, but when the security matters, it matters above a lot of things.

So what is really extra ordinary about Dr Haneef? Why has there been such a hullabaloo about his case? Why is he being welcomed in the nation as if he has brought our single haul of an Olympic bronze medal? Has he just been back from a space mission or after winning a Nobel Prize for his research in medicine? He hasn’t done anything for the under privileged either! He went to Australia, no doubt, for big money; got implicated for his kin’s deed, won a legal battle and is back. He studied in India and worked for Australians when there already is a shortage of doctors back home! The nation backed him diplomatically so stalwartly that, had we done the same in ’93 Mumbai blasts, we would have been able to extradite probably Dawood or Tiger Memon!

Has any one soldier or even a battalion, any one sportsman or even our cricket team ever been on front page for full 15 days at a stretch in esteemed Indian newspapers? I doubt even Gujarat earthquakes or Tsunami was given such a great media coverage.

I feel may be Dr Haneef was brought to books because of his religion, but I am pretty sure, he has been projected as a national celebrity on the very same rationale. I read yesterday, “ The Muslim doctor on his way back home…” Is it really important that he is a Muslim; what if he had been a Hindu or a Christian? I have serious apprehensions as to he might be felicitated like someone who has brought the homeland laurels just by proving his innocence.

Has he paved the way for all the Muslims who are always stared with uncertainity? “Even a Muslim can be innocent!” or, “Not all Muslims are terrorist!” Is it what media wants to bring into limelight? Or government wants to emphasize its secular credentials that they protected a Muslim?

Well, the conclusions can be invariably varied but for now the doctor’s family is as elated as Tusshar Kapoor would get after a super hit!

A RENDEZVOUS WITH THE NATIONAL HERO

Can you guess whom the old man standing with the smart young one in the picture is? Well, neither could I have been able to do that, had I not happened to see him last Tuesday!

Parametric technologies limited (PTC) invited people from my office to attend a thought forum on aerospace and defense. Nobody was interested but when told about the venue, Le Meridian, and allurement of free dinner and cocktails, we, the lowest cadre of engineers here, were tempted to join and hence we confirmed our benign presence. Four of us from cdot and one of my colleague’s friends finally reached the Le Meridian.

The forum was scheduled to start at 7:30 pm and all of us were equally excited as we have not been to a place of the repute of Le Meridian but it was quite understandable that the 5 star dinner was not going to be absolute free of cost since we would have to go through a mental trauma worth 2 hours of abstruse and monotonous technical talks. Though we are all technocrats but every technicality is what we try to avoid after 5 in the evening. The organizers probably aware of this fact overly emphasized the cocktails in the invitation.

And finally we reached D place; right ten minutes late, but it was not something to feel embarrassed about. After all it was an Indian event, supposed to be delayed for at least 20 minutes. So it was.

As we entered the convention hall, al eyes were on us. Of course, not because they were expecting us, but because, in a baroque ambience, dressed in ordinary office-wear, we were looking as pale as a drop of mustard oil on the clean water surface. But there could be no retreat now, so we pretended to ignore the gazing eyes and sometime later, the eminent personalities present there were also not staring us. We also didn’t stay behind to enjoy a variety of juices and appetizers.

At last, a huge fat-head, wearing a business suit, indicated the beginning of the grand event with an elite panel of 5 guests, a national hero as the convener and a meager number of audience including us.

The convener retired wing commander Rakesh Sharma, when called upon the dais gave an appearance of a distinguished personality and the way he carried himself, picking words very precisely; it was quite inevitable not to catch a glimpse of his charisma. The panelists’ credentials were equally impressive too. One Mr. Sisodia retired secretary, defense procurement; one Dr Attre, ex chairman DRDO; one Mr. Maheshwari, senior in Tata motors; retired chief of navy admiral Arun Prakash and one more man who is a member of space commission of India. It was very difficult not just to remember but also even to write down the plethora of titles and achievements all those were attributed. Here I m mentioning only a miniscule portion of what was said. We were bound to look towards each other, as Wg. Cdr. Sharma carried out with the proceedings.

The talks they give were all their practical experiences in their respective domains. The bureaucrat gave all the statistics; DRDO chief gave all philosophy; Retd. Admiral was all spanking the system; space commission member telling all hi abstract stories and the Tata motors man amalgamating his personal achievements with those of his organization. Well, it might take more than a thousand words to elaborate what everybody talked about but I have more important to write about what I said.

After the panelists were over it was the turn of the audience to give their views on the foggy agenda. That was, I knew, my chance to interact directly with the people of that stature. And I talked about student participation, hiring willing researchers for PSUs like DRDO, HAL and then praising the aerospace and defense, since it was necessary to tone down while getting back into my seat. I was trembling a bit while I got in to chair, the adrenaline retreating to its source! I got response from everybody and I was sure, I was going to have a personal chat with all of them and it happened soon.

First Dr. Attre, then space commissions member and then the person whom I was desperately waiting for Wg. Cdr. Rakesh Sharma. And to my surprise, he was talking to me just like a friend helping other in distress. One might not believe, how engrossed we were in conversation! As I alluded about his maiden space flight and enquired the truth of his statement which we have been reading about in books, he was emotional enough to tell me, “ young man, it comes right from the heart!” He also enquired about my aim in life, my dilemma and suggested me his self-tested remedy too. “Whenever you are in a dilemma, follow only the first instinctive thought that comes to your mind, all thoughts after that are rationalizations!” was his solution.

I felt privileged to actually communicate with a man of honor and equally elated to get his personal email ID as well. Of course my friends didn’t let me forget our real intentions of visiting the place in emotions and I dozed off heavily a variety of drinks from scotch, vodka to red wine.

The rendezvous was an experience of the lifetime and will stay in my memory for eternity. Later next morning, while discussing the night’s proceedings with my tl, a deep thought ran my mind. “When one always interacts with similar type of middle class people as himself, he is contented in the confines of his own little world, but to feel the kick of reaching to the pinnacle of social status, meeting such people definitely makes sense.”

Emulating my bosses or the director of my organization is not what I would hate to do but if could get to the level of extra ordinary men; life would certainly be much better!

The Right propaganda

Right propaganda

I recently came across a half page advertisement from Delhi police against the menace of eve- teasing. There have been innumerous campaigns for curbing the problem but this one; unlike all the previous ones had a very different tone.

It was a desperate call to manhood of all those who turn their faces off any event of eve teasing. The typical Delhi culture of trying to be aloof of anyone else’s agony, was highlighted as well as challenged in that particular campaign. I feel that this is the need of the hour when people instead of wailing about the government nuclear policy, rise above being mute spectators, understand their social responsibility, and be pro-active citizens to save any woman of the harassment and embarrassment she faces on the hands of eve- teasers. What is the point in writing gigantic editorials, huge essays with a plethora of abstruse words on everything from global warming, US politics to presidential elections when our own social structure is craving for a radical change? I sometimes wonder, are we really mature to have a woman president while we cant help a lady on a bus stop?

The advertisement reminded me of a friend, who was trying to help a lady in a public bus but was admonished by his father, “This is not a movie where you help a girl, beat the goons and are acclaimed a hero!” and he was gently pushed back in his seat. This is exactly the way most of us think and that need to be rationalized. May be the fact need to be forged in his father’s mind that his daughter sometimes travels alone too.

I hereby would like to congratulate Delhi police for coming out with such a propaganda, which would definitely lift the morals of not just generation X but also people aged my friend’s father!

yeh jo des hai mera, swades hai mera.....

Monday July 2 2007

Last night, I had a strange kind of experience when I suddenly got the same feeling, which Shahrukh got in ‘Swades’. I met elder brother of a good friend and my flat mate Pavan who is also a colleague of mine. His brother had come on the purpose of visiting German embassy to get his visa to Munich for his masters in Geomatics. I was quite impressed by the way he carried himself and his physical fitness. Obviously I was enthralled by his success that he was going to Germany for research.

He shares the same degree with me and has been working in DRDO for the last 4 years. It was kind of a big delay in pursuing a masters since he is aged 27 this date. A typical Indian company provides ample vroom for further studies but when I asked him why he got delayed his answer took me by surprise. He told me that he couldn’t make it in 2004 before he had a chance of visiting Antarctica with the annual Indian expedition to maitri, our research center over there. He said it was a lifetime chance and it was worth this delay in his PG course. He showed me hundreds of his photographs from Antarctica to Capetown to Goa all shot during the expedition.

I was certainly captivated by the beauty of the virgin ice, the abysmal glaciers, gigantic icebergs and what not. He showed pics of a ceremony, which is observed, when anyone enters the Antarctic Circle, the sign boards there displaying huge distances of Indian mainland from maitri.

Then as an obvious inquisitive me, asked about the budget of an expedition of which even he was not sure what DRDO would gain out from. He was too proud to say that government spends an average of Rs.70 lacs per expedition per person. Such an exorbitant amount! I don’t know why I couldn’t restraint myself and said, “And still you are leaving them to study outside with intentions of settling abroad?” May be he could not assimilate that too well and later said, “ After visiting a place like that just going to the moon is what is left, but of course one shouldn’t be too sentimental, the way you are getting. You go there, you enjoy and you come back, there is no scope for being emotional, life moves on…aaj yahan kal kahin aur.”

An engineer becomes worth research only after hands on experience for about 2-3 years. I was traumatized as to how he used the govt infrastructure, govt money to fulfill his own fantasy and after actually gaining an experience of 4 years, when it is actually his time to pay back the nation, he is leaving to serve someone else. His plans themselves boast of his intentions to just earn more even if it means kissing foreign asses. I don’t know why the PSUs don’t take a HR interview in their selection process to recruit only those who have the zeal for research for the nation!

The PSUs have over a period of time contributed much but of lately, are reduced to a state where they are considered as hubs where one can prepare for his future in addition to a handsome salary. In my organization I meet people preparing for civil services, CAT and GRE, even I might someday prepare for a high earning future. Most of the people argue about the rampant availability of free time as a consequence of which this phenomenon is emerging but I feel its all a vicious circle, there is free time because people don’t work and people don’t work that is why there is time!

I admit even I would want to be a man with money I cant count, power that I have always cherished but all on my own soil where my strength holds some meaning for my nation, where every rupee spend on my pleasure and leisure stays in our economy, boosts our nation’s growth, not of the people who considers us the labor.

I some times think about the plight of labor from eastern UP and Bihar in the towns of northern or western India, they way the word ‘bihari’ is used as an abuse and then I think about the people serving the westerners.

What would they call that DRDO scientist in Germany?

It's better to drink alcohol and talk shit than...

It has been scientifically proven that if we drink one litre of water each day, at the end of the year we would have absorbed more than one kilo of Escherichia Coli Bacteria found in water contained in faeces. In other words, we are consuming one kilo of shit. However, we do not run that risk when drinking rum, gin, whiskey, beer, wine or other liquors because alcohol has to go through a distillation process of boiling, filtering and fermentation. It is my duty to communicate to all of you people who are drinking water, to stop doing so. It has been scientifically proven that it is unhealthy and bad for you. THEREFORE - It is better to drink alcohol and talk shit than to drink water and be full of it.

what is news channels doing?

well, last night while i was watching a news channel on tv i saw something really disturbing. After the bomb blast in samjhauta express late sunday night, the news channel (INDIA TV) was showing pictures of people who have sustained burn injuries to an extent that it could be disturbing for most of people, especially for kids.
secondly, they were asking weird questions from those injured as well as from relatives of those dead. i think its high time our media rises to a level above TRP ratings and deliver some meaningful news to the masses!!!