Till the Sun walks into the Dawn …..

I’ve read a lot these days in the newspapers about the master completing his 20 years in international cricket and the pressure, the burden he has been carrying throughout his career since he established himself in the international arena.

It reminded me of a cricket match, India vs Pakistan, I saw as a kid on doordarshan. It was a friendly match, practice match what they call, and it was before 15th November 1989 for sure (but the year was 1989 and the month must be October or November). Doordarshan was sort of kind those days and because of non availability of so much of useless channels; it sometimes aired the not so important matches as well. I was a kid but have developed some sense for the game of cricket through my uncle; he was a professor of physics but also an ardent fan of cricket. I can recall few incidents, for example, Srikant imitating Abdul Quadir’s action during the two overs he bowled. Few of the cricketers from both the sides were wearing their pullovers in backside-front manner and everyone was enjoying as it was not an international match. India had to chase and were in trouble at some stage by losing 4 odd wickets, I don’t remember the scores but I saw a thin little boy wielding his bat like a sword hitting the most dangerous spinner of the era Abdul Quadir, hitting sixes and fours one after another, dancing down the track. The only shots I remember from that innings are those in which he advances or came dancing down the track hitting straight and disappearing the ball all over the park. He didn’t even score a fifty, but those 35-40 odd minutes he batted was a treat.

In the course Indian team lost that match but it was a beginning of an era, an era which has not yet ended. Those were the 1st rays of the sun which is not yet willing to set even after 20 long years. From that match only, that guy had set an expectation, expectation that he will come and tear off the bowling no matter whosoever is the opponent. He carried the responsibility and the burden of expectations with utmost dignity, discipline and respect and delivered more often than not.

Yes the sun has not yet set, but the dusk is knocking on the door. The injuries, human body and many more reasons might pull the sun to the dawn. For most of us, the game will no more remain the same, many of us might stop following the game as throughout some of has only followed the Sun and not the game. The ton, the bat raised to acknowledge the spectators and the eyes looking into heavens just to thank the GOD, there will be no such view again.

Before he decides to take a call and hang up his boots, I want and for that matter every admirer of him wants him to play the coming world cup final, leading India to its second world cup victory and his 1st. It will be a fitting finish for his incredible and astonishing career. Having said that, even if he fails, we must thank him for all his efforts and achievements and must be grateful to god that we were born in the era in which Sachin played.

Till the sun walks into the dawn, let's enjoy the sunshine.

"Akhil"

Kushal left Org, So does an ever smiling face

Kushal is the only person with whom I’ve studied as well as worked. During study days we were not the best of friends, neither bad. After joining the same organization and having selected for the same department I came to know him better. In Nov 2006 we moved to the same project thou in different roles and after few months were in same section of the projects.

Initially I thought he was a moody guy (which of course he is), but then he is a great friend as well. We partied, hanged out quite often during those days before he left for another project. After a year and half, he joined us again but this time only to leave the organization.

With Kushal leaving, left an ever smiling face, a friend at work place and a calming influence in hectic work schedules filled with tensions. With him left us a true party animal, a person whom you ask any time for partying or hanging out, and with an answer “Yes”. With him also left, a chilling material, a great dramatist.

This is a part and parcel of work life. People leave and join for their betterment. I wish Kushal a great success in career.

"Akhil"

The Second Fiddle….

Since I’ve developed senses, I’ve been in love with the underperformers or the people who are the next best or are in the second lead. Be it sports, movies, study or friends. I’ve always preferred, admired or supported those who are the next bests or are not the best. During my childhood, my favorite tennis star was Andre Aggassi thou number one position was held by the Great Pete Sampras. During Doordarshan days, I loved the movies of Dharmendra over Amitabh Bachchan. I always preferred non toppers as my friends. None of my close friends were the toppers from the class neither was I (I was an exception for few years when I stood second). My favorite Indian cricketer is Rahul Dravid whereas the world praise for Sachin Tendulkar (I too love the master's game but here I’m talking about favorites). I loved the role of circuit in the movie series Munna Bhai. I don’t know why I found the character of Ardeth Bay (by Oded Fehr) in the movie “The mummy Returns” worthy than the lead Richard O’Connell (Brendon Fraser).

I don’t know the reason(s). It might be because I’ve never been in elite list or I hate the aura surrounding the best. But the truth is I esteem the second fiddle and I love to eulogize under praised.

“Akhil”

The GOOD BADminton

In one of my previous blogs, I’ve written that I don’t know any of the residents of my apartment and only those whom I talk to are security guards, the electrician only because our wiring is too faulty to need an electrician too frequently, the IRON man who takes care of the cleanliness of my car and the KOORA WALAH.

Few months ago my flat mate and I thought of playing something outdoor to keep our paunch in control. We started with weekly Cricket on Saturdays and Sundays, but that was not as effective as it was dependent on lots of factors, people and also it was not happening daily hence was least effectual. Finally we decided to use one of the few amenities available in our society, Badminton Court.

The badminton court in our society is not the world’s best one. It has all sorts of problems associated with it, the base is rough and it has two lights out of which only one works; it has lines drawn, which are visible to some sharp eyed people only, the person like me, who is handicapped with the divine body part provided by the god, eyes, are the worst victims of it. I manage with my four eyes. Then there are bushes, trees, plants surrounding the court and are ready to invade it anytime, in fact few of them had already encroached and are giving all sorts of trouble to the human beings who play there. We cannot complain, they’ve learned encroachment of the areas from humans, but here we are the victims.

Anyways, despite of all sorts of shortcomings, this place provides the best of environment to play. When we started there were hardly any regulars. Me and my flat mate use to play for hours, without anyone standing or waiting to play. But now-a-days there are huge bunches of champions playing there. The game has become more and more exciting as few of the players are too good counting my flat mate, to ensure the eminence of competition.

Apart from all the entertainments and facilitating physical fitness, the badminton gives me an opportunity to meet few of the residents of our society. Meeting new people and talking to them has always been the best thing for me. It helps you understand different minds, nature and behavior different people possesses. Here also I meet different people of different region, different colors, having different natures and languages and accent. Some are quite, some are chirpy, and some talks little whereas some are talkative, some are dominant and some are mild.

Lets see how long our initiative continues. We all are enjoying the game and it’ll continue for long, I’m sure.

It's the Game that Won

Brilliant display with the bat by two Englishmen batting at number ten and eleven denied Australia a much needed victory. James Anderson and Monty Panesar are supposed to be the star with the ball, but today they saved the game for England with the bat. 69 balls what they faced together to get 19 runs undefeated. Each run was greeted by applaud and each block was greeted with the same enthusiasm.

No matter how T20 has become popular or how 50-50 has the charm, the traditional test cricket remains the same, great, charming, graceful and valuable. The proof of the same was the jam packed stadium. The new form of this game has always been welcomed but till date nothing has been able to eliminate the Test Cricket. Ask any cricketer, he will tell you that only Test Cricket completes his career. No matter what so ever shorter form of game comes, the Test Cricket will weather the storm. Today’s match has sealed the faith. Sorry for those who think the test cricket is out of fashion.

Today at Cardiff, may the match has been ended as a draw, but for sure the Game was the winner.

“Akhil”

The Evening Tea

The aroma of the evening tea has often lured me since my childhood. The necessity of it has been developed off late, but the love for the evening tea has there inside the depth of my heart since I was a kid. It’s quite a misfortune that I’ve not got the privilege to enjoy it often. I was not a tea aficionado till my hostel life. Tea is supposed to be an insignia for grownups in suburban families of India and hence those not having it are often supposed to be kids.

During summer vacations we used to visit our native place. Apart from our Mango orchards, farms and love from my Grand Parents, the afternoon tea was one of the lucrative offerings that my village has for me those days. We (Bro, our cousins and I) lovingly call our grandfather BABA. Baba was very particular about his morning and evening tea and for that matter with his all daily routines. But the point of discussion here is the Tea. To me the evening tea was more interesting, the reason was the visitors from every corner of the village used to come during evening and we get a chance to meet some of the interesting, knowledgeable, conversant and divine spirits of our homeland.

My father is very strict of having kids this obnoxious drink called tea, I and my bro used the power of our grandfather to shield us, as we knew that Papa will not oppose to Baba, he had never argued with him entire life, thou we do with him sometimes as we are not as disciplined as Papa. Coming back to tea, during summers the quantity of tea consumption of Baba would suddenly increase thou the number of dosage remained same. This all ends with the end of summer vacations till the next one.

Then came the post graduation era, during which we have the classes normally on second half. The evening tea was not as exciting as it used to be with Baba, but still it was an opportunity to get together with the hostel mates. Towards the end of the hostel days, the famous “Sharma Dhaba” of BIT was the venue for evening tea, more often if not daily. The tea sips in open air under the trees at “Sharma Dhaba” were more fun than having them in grand but closed dining halls of the Great Hostels of BIT. Post BIT the thing I missed the most apart from friends was the serene and joyous atmosphere of “Sharma Dhaba” and yes the evening tea under the trees sitting over wooden benches.

These days too I go out with my colleagues to have evening tea. But the smooth and delicate chairs of corporate cafeteria are not as soothing as the lap of Baba was, neither they are as comfortable as wooden benches of “Sharma Dhaba” were. The taste of the branded tea is not as good as the “Sharma Dhaba” offered. There is more heat when we go outside for the same, but the warmth is missing. The aroma of it is not even near to what it was in the summers of yester years.

Deep inside my memory, the taste, the aroma of the evening tea of those days are still fresh. The reason may be the sand or the ambiance of my homeland or the diverse cultures or the love of Baba, I don’t know, but the evening tea is not as tasty these days.

“Akhil”

The Truth that Prevails

Last week there was a death in someone’s family in our apartment. The departed soul seems to be an old man. The NOIDA SAMAJ ANTIM YAATRA VAHAN was there to take the body of the departed soul to its final journey; the journey from which no one returns. I inadvertently saw the van through my balcony as I was preparing to go out for lunch with few closed ones.

I suddenly realized that how near I was with that family, who lives in the building just next to mine. Still I’ve not heard their sobbing, expression of grief as I was comfortable and busy in my own closet. I thought to go and pay the last tribute to that gentleman, but I don’t know what restricted me to do so. They live so close to me and I still didn’t know them. Yeah, this is the apartment life. I love its privacy, my own space which it provides but somewhere deep in my heart I hate living in this comportment, where people keep aloofness from each other and share little most possible. Such a mean minded we’ve become and we say we’ve evolved.

I often tend to think about “who am I?” sort of things when such incidents occur. Yes the death is inevitable. Those who take birth must depart someday. But we can remain in the hearts of several even after departing, only by spreading joy, love and care. Everyone knows the truth, but still we fight for money, land, false ego and many more nonsense chattels. Every one wants to become a successful person at any cost.

For me the success lies in becoming what I want to be. I want to be a butterfly, unrestricted to visit each and every bloom in the garden. I want to be liberated flying bird, having no boundaries. I want to be the sky, giving space to each one through enormity and eternity. I want to be an ocean, vast, powerful and still serene. Before I come to the rest I want to live the life, talk to every soul on this earth, share their sorrows and spread my joy. It seems to be illogical these days, but it’s possible. The truth remains the same for all of us. I need love and care and so does all of us.

“Akhil”

Salaam Talent

The stimulus performance of Pakistan team in T20 World Cup is a big relief for the world of cricket. The Pakistan cricket brings the fresh bouquet of raw talent. Also it brings the exceptional quality of uncertainty. The Pak cricket has been blessed with such sheer talents in the past and surely it has too much to offer in the coming future as well.

The world has discovered the theory of reverse swing through Pakistan. Their contribution to the bowling in the world cricket is same as the contribution of India to the batting. Also this T20 World Cup has witness the sign of revival of West Indies. West Indies had dominated the world cricket with their power play in yester years. It will only be good for the world of cricket if they will come at the same level.

Thou India have lost its way early but I’m sure they are having loads of talent. Majority of Indians only supports the team when they are winning. In fact the winning teams need less support. The team needs it most when they are down and loosing. They’ll be surely back to the winning streak.

But, right now it’s time to praise the new champions. The victory of Pakistan is the victory of talent over technology. It means the victory of instinct over strategy. It means the victory of faith over planning. SALAAM TALENT.

“Akhil”

Thank you Mr. Bond

Penning your thoughts down erratically and to write a best seller are two poles apart aspects of writing. I was and still am not at all a good reader. Little interest I’ve developed in reading few years back when I read some Satyajeet Ray’s work. It was a short “Detective Novel” and then I read “Anne Frank’s Diary”. Both were different. Former was interesting and a fiction novel whereas the other was just the pages from the diary of a young girl. The later changed my view towards the novels, thou after that I’ve scarcely read something of that category.

Afterwards I read few more. Then I got the collection of short stories of Ruskin Bond, which one of the kids from my family gave me. It was almost for 3 months unread with me, kept safe on my bedside table. One day I was almost to return the book without a single page turned. I don’t know why I placed the book again where it was. Next day I started reading the book. Since it was divided in chapters and the stories were not related to each other, I started reading the chapters arbitrarily. The size of the chapters and the time available were the factors to decide which chapter I should read.

The writer has written about almost everything that happened around him, sometimes openly, sometimes keeping himself disguised, just letting the imagination of reader to find or relate with the characters. He wrote about his friend, friends, love, relatives, trees, plants, journey etc. The writer comes from few generations away from ours, may be 50s and 60s but still we can relate ourselves to his stories. I loved his story about a train journey and the one in which he explains his affection for a girl with basket at Deoli Railway Station.

Then I read “The Funeral”, awesome, it was a story about a 9 year old boy and his emotional or rather unemotional feelings during the funeral ceremony of his father. Today I read a new chapter “The Room of Many Colours” (after so many years I have written colours instead of colors, yes the author has English connections). This chapter explains about the father of the writer and his propinquity with the writer. The boy in the chapter “The Funeral” was the writer himself, I concluded.

We often fail to see the happenings around us. There is story or two or rather many stories running concurrently around us. Most of them are beautiful, emotional and silent. We fail to see them, but the great artists find something to describe and portray. Some write it in their stories, some sketch their emotions, and some outline it as poem. And we mere mean minded people don’t even give a look to it. Have we ever seen into the eyes of an old aged beggar asking for few bucks on the traffic signals, the beauty in the wrinkles of the elderly workers working around your living place, the dreams in the eyes of young rickshaw pullers, the pathetic state of the home of the maid working at your house. Neither, I’ve seen it. Nor we are concerned in the feelings of the people working around us, so mean we are. Let’s give it a try next time.

Ruskin, an Anglo-Indian, has shown lots of love for India, his childhood place Dehra (doon), The Himalayas, The forests, Trees, People of India and many more. I sometimes wonder that how he has been in love with this place, whereas we, so called pure Indians, are always ready to leave India to get settled abroad. How this man had developed love with all the shortcomings with India, whereas we didn’t remember even the good things about our own country. He insisted many times in the book that he is an Indian, thou his parents were from England and Norway. I developed some respect for this writer. Many outsiders had in past and in present portrayed only the dark side of India and won Great awards.

Thank you Mr. Bond, you’ve portrayed India in such a beautiful manner, through your books. And thank you, for invigorating the love for my country inside me.

“Akhil”

The Rebel speaks

I’m a rebellion by nature and often repudiate to be controlled by others, especially when it comes to personal things and working. I had never intervened in anyone’s personal choices till date, even if it would have been the person, whom I felt most important in my life, would had choose to leave me, I have had never asked him/her to stay back.

There are two special categories of people I’ve observed. First one, say A, they are always complaining and crying over the situation they are in. They often put the blame on others, their managers, peers, GOD, fate, food or even on them who don’t even exist, except for themselves. They are never satisfied with whatever situation or position they are in. If you ask them for work they’ll cry, if you don’t give them work, they’ll cry either. Their focus is never on the job in hand, but on other’s and other’s achievements. Thank god I don’t fall in this category and I’m happy with the things I’ve been doing. The day I’ll feel I’m not destined to do the work I’m doing, I’ll quit and will do the things I want to do. Till date, I’ve been doing the same.

Then there are another variety of people, say B. They will ask you to do the things their way. They are often in false impression, that they are successful in their lives and that they are the best and the only one in this entire world who know how to do things. They have done nothing constructive in their lives and in future too they’ll do anything constructive is doubtful. In reality, they are mere losers. I’m not of this kind either.

I often sense that if you give the ownership to someone and motivate them instead of showing the way how to do it will extract the best out of the person. May be they’ll come up with better innovative idea or even if they fail, they’ll learn.

I’ve sympathy for both the above categories A and B, but at the same time I’m thankful to them too. They have taught me a lot in how to deal with the people around you. They’ve helped me in growing personally. Till the species of the kind A and kind B of human race exist on this earth, it will keep the categories like me and most of us on learning track. Thank you ‘As’ and ‘Bs’.

"Akhil"

Ain't a Rainbow beautiful cuz it has seven colors?.

The attack over Indian communities in Australia has triggered some thoughts in my mind. I would not like to name any particular community, but what I’ve experienced during my short stay in United States, Certain people from certain community confined themselves to either themselves or the community they belong to. Also they think they are intellectually superior to others. These certain Indian communities not only keep themselves distant from the local folks in an alien country but also from the communities from their homeland.


Their behavior was irritating to me sometimes, but since they were neither in my project nor I was left with much time to interact with them, I was least bothered. I already was having few friends over there and made few new ones as well and one of them became a good friend of mine. But there are other problems as well with us, the Indians. We often hate each other and have disrespects for other fellow countrymen. This often surfaces in our conduct.


Lots of hullabaloo had been made over removing the North Indians (mainly from UP and Bihar) from the state of Maharashtra. Similar forces rose their heads in Delhi as well but the hubbub soon fade away as it was not possible the same in Delhi due to various political and geographical consequences. If our own people are scared of someone from other region eating up their jobs, why should we blame other countrymen? No, I’m not justifying their deeds, but first let us clean our own hands before pointing on to others. Beating UPites/Biharis in Maharashtra is no different from and Indian getting beatings in Sydney or Melbourne or for that matter anywhere in the world.


The day we will stop thinking like “a Marathi”, “a Bengali”, “a Bihari”, “a Tamil”, “a Telgu”, “a Punjabi” and start thinking like an Indian most of our problems will be sorted out. We often forget that, our strength lies in our unity in diversity. We’ve forgot the moral values read in the Moral Science books during our school days. Unite as they say “Unity is Strength”.

After all, a Rainbow is beautiful because it has seven colors together, similarly our India is beautiful because of many colors it has. Certainly it has more colors than a rainbow.

“Akhil”

Emotions

Emotions play an important role in our lives. Remember the moments, sport team you were supporting clinched a victory out of nowhere, as a child you topped in some activities, you took the field despite of badly injured index finger and sore foot to make sure that your team wins, when you saw the eyes of you father glittering when you succeeded through a competition, you leave for the hostel and in the bus alone thinking of family back home, when you saw wet eyes of your mom when you were about to leave your home to settle down somewhere else, you got selected in an interview after getting rejected earlier in few others, you shared your feelings with someone you considered special and got rejected by him/her.

In all these incidents you’ll find the emotion taking over you, at that particular moment, you were a different person, sometimes calm, sometimes vulnerable and sometimes childish. In this era, we are so busy that we’ve hardly anytime to even get emotional. We are too busy to listen to our hearts. Mind is getting rid of heart, leaving no room for feelings.

Emotions are what make a human, a human. For me to be emotional is to be humane.

Sign of Change

I’m not a great follower of politics, though my roots are from the part of India where politics is supposed to be in the genes, “Bihar”. I think even if we’ve interest in politics or not, it affects our lives someway or other.

The General elections 2009 of India has shown some sign of changes in the voter’s mental state. This sign is positive. This time the “BAHUBALIs” were unable to find their way to parliament irrespective of whichever parties they belong. This time the voters didn’t vote for separatists. This time the work has taken precedence over caste, religion and negativity. This time a mix of experienced and youth made it to the supreme house of democracy. This time a gentleman retained the post, Yes Mr. Prime Minister, Dr. Singh, is being retained in his office.

The largest rival fought the battle on wrong foot and were ethically wrong this time. Though, many of us are great admirer of the policies set by them, the security policies, foreign policies and financial policies, but the negative campaigning, lack of Leadership figure like Mr. Vajpayee and aggression against a gentleman, so called “Weak Prime Minister” have taken toll on their performances. The reasons are many and since I’m not a political analyst, my words might not be as worthy. But since I’m having the power of one vote, I must have a say.

As a common man, I want politicians fighting over their policies, without throwing dirty comments on each other. I want them to be educated and good enough to prepare planning for the country (whereas in the past the people unable to make budget for their homes were chief ministers, and still there are few holding the post). I want them to be accountable on whatever they do. I want, if they are from poor section of the country, they must not become a millionaire after a tenure of 5 years. A son of poor cannot become a millionaire after 5 years of government job, do they? Yes I want MLAs and MPs as servants of the nation rather than the Kings.

I’m sure; most of us want the same. There is a sign of change, let’s hope the things will get better as the time progresses, and will make INDIA SHINING

“Akhil”

Yester Years Revisited

As many of my friends know, Cricket has been my all time favorite sport. Given a chance, I would love to play it rather than watching. I’ve missed watching quite a few great encounters because of playing; few to name are Independence Cup 3rd final in Dhaka (India-Pak) and Rahul-Sourav Tauntan “Run Feast” during world cup 1999 against Sri Lanka.

I’ve done few crazy things too to play the game e.g. turning all of the clocks and watches of my home 30 minutes faster (except of my father’s, he is such a cool gentleman that he’d have never minded and he was always to my rescue when mom get fierce over me on over playing, may be the sportsman inside him is much closer to me), riding a by-cycle to reach to play a tournament, which was held 25 KM away from my home and I was unable to grab the bike keys from mom, keeping all my stinking shocks outside my house in the lawn away from my mom’s eyes, keeping my playing kits and gear away from home and wearing it unwashed for almost a month, spending all mine and bro’s pocket money on buying my sports gears (I cannot pay back your debt bro, you are a gem), all those superstitions on match days and many more like this .

Today after a long time I took the field again which reminded me of my yester years. Thou this was not as passionate as it used to be. I thought that it’ll be a better way to reduce my growing paunch. Anyways, no one in the field today had ever seen me playing, so they hardly knew how good or bad player I’m and how affectionate I’m about it. Also I’m a better player of leather ball. That does not mean I’m bad in time-pass tennis ball.

During the weekends all the cricket crazy species flaunts their talent in the parks available to their neighborhood, the parks, grounds are jam-packed and you’ll find many-a-teams playing diagonally, perpendicularly and in all sorts of mathematical definitions possible on two dimensional boards

Waking up early in the morning has never been a big deal for me. I still wake up at 7 AM - 7:30 regularly, which is supposed to be early given the IT professional’s standards. So I woke up early today around 5:45 AM and drove to my nearest park at around 6 AM. I found few of my mates playing in the park and joined them to showcase my talent; thou I got a little chance to do so because of too many players playing a side leave too less for an individual. But I’ve got a chance to meet few of my good friends, who do live just few apartments away from mine, but we hardly get time to meet. Also we (8 or 9 of us) quenched 19 glasses of “Shikanji”, an Indian classical refresher, after the play was over as our bodies were running out of water. The poor chap owning the Shikanji Stall had hard times fulfilling our demands. Today it was less draining as it was relatively cool morning and cloudy one too.

Coming back to my hobby-horse, cricket I mean. It was nice to see I can still hold the bat firmly, I can middle it, I can play few shots but the only point of concern was stamina, I found my agility missing, which is the aftermath of working for an IT software firm. Tomorrow again I’ve planned to play as it is Sunday and to showcase my other aspects of the game as well.

I’ve been regular in writing my blogs these days (touchwood). There is so much going inside my puzzled, baffled, confused, befuddled and sometimes tolerant brain, I need some place to store them all and clear my head ;-). It’s time to move in front of TV. Kings XI Punjab has clinched an enticing victory over The Deccan Chargers, Hyderabad. Now the battle between the last year’s finalists has begun (RR: 42/1 7.1 Overs).

“Akhil”

Of voting, power, rights and many more :-)

Today here in NCR we have a holiday, reason NCR is voting today in GENERAL ELECTION of INDIA 2009. I’m sitting inside my room, thinking of how to kill the time as nothing is open here, cannot go to Delhi, cannot call to other cities to my friends as they must be working, I don't find pleasure in watchin TV except for sports and I cannot vote here, no I’m matured enough to vote but I do not hold a voter ID card for this region. Since, the procedure to vote while you are away from your constituency is too lengthy and many of us are not aware of how to use it, a large number of citizens of India are not able to exercise their supreme right of democracy.

Those who exercise their voting duty also suffer, they feel it difficult to find a choice whom to vote unless they are illiterate enough or dumb enough to think. Today our literacy percentage might have increased according to figures shown in census but we are far more behind to be called educated. Knowing the alphabets doesn’t guarantee that you get the power of understanding things. A large number of populations consist of such dumb people, who do not have an identity and who do not even thrive to get their identity. They are mere follower of few dictators and are happy doing so throughout their lives.

The so called leaders (I hate to call them leaders as they’ve defamed this great word) of today use the religion, caste and power to attract the voters. They even use money, alcohol etc to get rid of the mind of voters who are so dumb to get attracted to these silly things that they misuse their UTMOST POWER. I cannot blame those leaders as we are the real culprits who for few buck, few pecks waste our votes.

Where are the Leaders like Lal Bahadur Shastri, who has no house on his name even after he became the Prime Minister of India? Who is going to question the leaders that how they are able to multiple their properties 7 times in 5 years? Who is going to ask them where they are wasting our hard earned money which we pay as taxes to the government?

Yes, we can question them and after every five years we have the power to make them answer, but when the time comes, we start seeing for someone from our religion, caste, sub caste or of our proximity are there to be voted. We forget about our security, our development, our day to day sufferings because of negligence of government, big Pit holes on our neighboring road, corruption. We forget a terrorist is a terrorist no matter which religion they follow, we forget that by electing malicious personality we are actually giving them authority to make the laws…………….. but who cares

May be someday we ourselves will change and hence the system will. Sounds too optimistic, but YES WE CAN.

"Akhil"

We are Human ..... Not Resources

I’ve heard a lot about corporate culture, since the time I’ve developed some grey cells in my brain to understand these terms. Thou still I find myself unfit for the culture. To be in corporate and survive, you always need to use your brain instead of your heart and I’m bad at it. Throughout my life my heart has taken precedence over my mind, thou people say I’ve got a sharp brain. Seldom, I’ve used my brain to deal with people; it’s always the honor of the heart to do so. It has effected in both ways, I’ve earned some great friends and some sore relationships at the same time. Let me make you clear, using heart doesn’t mean that I own a great heart or I’m a good human being, no nothing like that. Going by heart sometimes I ended hurting someone. Sometimes I’m too straight that people think I’m too arrogant.

Coming back to corporate, from the 1st year itself I’ve been keenly observing the culture, but the more I come to know the more the distance between me and corporate increases. I find no room for honesty here, no room for transparency and no room for ethics but they claim HONESTY, TRANSPARENCY and ETHICS will lead you to places.

In corporate human being are mere RESOURCES, those whom the management think has become worthless are thrown out as rotten eggs. The millionaire owners cannot afford to get few bucks lesser, they ask the management to illustrate the growing graphs only in terms of money. Only money matters for them.

Have you ever been inside a butcher shop? If not, let me explain. You go to butcher and ask the butcher to have 2 pounds of chicken meat. He choose a big one, then suddenly you remember it’s recession, you change your mind and ask him for one pound only, he leaves the first and chop up another smaller one for you. The chickens inside the cage do nothing; the only thing at that point of time matters for them is their own survival. But they don’t know they will be the next victim. It’s just matter of time.

I visualize the Customer as the Owner of the organization, the butcher as the senior management and the chickens as the poor employees. Today few survived, watching others going holding pink slips, next day it will be their turn.

It’s time for the corporate employees to stand up and fight for their rights. As an employee they have done their duty with utmost dedication and devotion. Now in bad times the employers also must show some respect and sense of duty towards their employees. The employers must show sense of responsibility. It’s time for all of us to dismiss the word RESOURCE tagged to our names. We are not mere resources, if we are; the organizations hiring us are BODY SHOPS. It’s time to remove the department named HUMAN RESOURCE DEPARTMENT to EMPLOYEE WELFARE DEPARTMENT. This change is inevitable; sooner or later it will come. ….. I’m waiting for the GOOD TIMES TO COME.

“Akhil”

P.S. I admire few of the corporate houses, for example TATA, who despite of being the greatest business empire of this country has not produced a single person having wealth to top the chart of Indians with respect to their wealth. The reason, they are the BEST Employers after government and the reason people working for TISCO and TELCO have the sense of belongingness.

The Super Sunday

I’m a keen follower of cricket especially if some quality is attached to it. IPL in that context is even better than the world cup as here almost all the sides have equal strength unlike the world cups where there are many teams of different countries just for the sake of participation. Also since I don’t stay with my family, IPL is good time pass these days during evenings and more on those weekends in which I’m not travelling out. My flat mate, Manas, gets irritated due to my regular stay away from home during weekends, but mate I can’t help it :-).

Today was one of those Sundays in which I’ve to stay back at home, and one good movie plus two of the IPL matches helped me pass the time. Before today’s match started I watched Mr . Viktor Navorsky (Tom Hanks) and Catherine Zeta-Jones starrer “The Terminal”, an awesome movie, followed by two good matches of IPL.

Today’s 1st match was between KKR and Kings XI, and mind you except for luck KKR has matched Kings XI ball by ball today. It was heartening to see the greatest under performer of the Indian Cricket, Ajit Agarkar using all his experiences during the death, but it was equally disheartening to see his efforts going in vein. I firmly believe that the experience is the key in any team game and if it is cricket and that so in South African and English pitches. If KKR would have won the match the table would have been open an extra bit.

Another match of the day was not as close as the 1st was, but since it was between the two teams I’m supporting, It was great for me. The result came out in the order I support them. 1. RCB, 2. MI. RCB because of my favorite Rahul Dravid Plays for them an MI because of Master himself, Sachin Tendulkar. My lovely friend, Sourabh must be hurt today for two reasons, one, his favorite MI took some beatings and two Sachin failed with both bat and ball.

On the other hand, Kalis, Kumble and Dravid, the veterans along with young guns (Robin Uthhappa, Praveen Kumar and DU Preez) managed an easy win. Peiterson’s going back to England seems to be helping out Royal Challengers as the now Captain Anil Kumble is an Indian and must be more efficient to convey the messages to the team, which largely consists of Indians. Thou I’ve lots of respect for outsiders like Shane Warne and Gilchrist for the way they lead their respective teams.

As I was writing the initial parts of this blog one of my friends came to visit my place. Later in the evening few special guests made their way to my home and at last the delicious chicken prepared by Manas, made this Sunday a Super Sunday.

Dreams Shattered, but ..........Keep Faith

When I was young, I was enamored by the thrilling life of an IT professional. I often heard about someone or other in our proximity has gone on a tour to US, Europe, Singapore or Australia. Thou no one of our close relatives was in the field of IT. I was always thrilled by the life of an IT Professional and this led to such an extent that I wanted to become one of them.

Anyways, the God has been grateful to me and I finally landed in the IT world. Also I got an early opportunity to visit one of my dream places, US and that so New York. Ohh, so exciting it was.

But somehow, now I feel people are loosing faith in this exciting career. There are many reasons to it and I might be wrong at all, but this is the way I feel. Being a student, I always felt that your knowledge and adaptability to any situation, your logic towards solving any problem will lead you to places in IT. So far I’m having success in it. I’m privileged to have such BOSSES, who have been fair enough towards me so far. But I’ve seen some dirty politics against few people who were dedicated and were having great determination towards work.

What I’ve observed in the small span of my career, that there are fewer people who work and relatively large number of who are overhead to the organization. Having said that, it’s not that when it comes to cut down jobs those overheads are effected. That is determined by some measly ratings which is more or less dependent upon personal contacts to the big bosses no matter whatever the HR people claim about fair judgments, after all we all are human beings, carrying egos larger than the life.

I agree the GLOBE has been hit by recession, and there will be cut backs, cost cuttings, resource cuttings, but it’s high time for senior managements of all the organizations across the globe to think of a better model to evaluate people and to think of them as their family rather than treating them as mere resources who are useless when are not billed. At the end of the day, the dedicated and determined employees at the execution level are the people who will sail the organization through the rough times.

IT industry has contributed so much in economical growth to our country, its high time some sort of body, government or non government, should take step towards the welfare and interest of IT professionals who have been contributing so much to the nation but right now are feeling heat. The owners can also cut off their profit margins, If the employees getting few thousands are contributing towards cuts why not the owners who have been privileged to have luxury and cushion of wealth.

Tomorrow again I’ll be going to the office and will work with the same vigor and passion as I’ve been doing since last three years, thinking that my work will pay fruits and will earn respect for me. Tomorrow again many others like me will be doing the same. Tomorrow again few dreams might get shattered into pieces……… but one thing I’m sure of, the good times will return ........................Keep Faith !!!

"Akhil"

Corporate Vs Sports

The blog by a frustrated IPL player from Knight Rider's camp has gained enormous popularity which not even the poor chap had thought of (I'm going by the words of the blogger). But I'm 100% convinced that the Fake one is actually the Real.

From the 1st edition of the IPL, some of the owners failed to differentiate between a "Corporate Organization" and a "Sports Team". They thought as in corporate they pay heavily to work hard, the same will happen in the sports as well. But in the sports and especially in a team game, the team and team members need to have the sense of "Belongingness", they need to have lesser "Pressure" because at this big level there is already enormous amount of pressure on the players. One must know that no player in the world wants to fail even if you pay him/her to fail, 99% chance is that he/she will not fail deliberately.

Apart from that, Cricket is a different game altogether. You might get boundaries on edges and get out of a good shot. You might get a wicket out of a loosener and may get a stick on one of the best balls. To understand cricket you need to understand it more than a bit. One also must understand the players are not "Corporate Employees" who are bound to get continuous sticks from their bosses. There are many "All Time Greats", "The Icons" associated with different different teams,. One must deal with dignity to them and give due respect to them. Some of the players are "Once in an Era" sort of.

One thing I didn't liked about few of the owners is their "SLAVE LIKE MENTALITY". they still feel, "An Outsider" is always better than "Our Own". The captaincy issue of few of the teams had confirmed their mentality. One of the India's Finest captains "Sourav Ganguly" has been replaced by a NON-CAPTAIN player of Newzealand for knight riders. Another Successful Captain of India "Rahul Dravid" has been replaced by " THE REMOVED CAPTAIN OF ENGLAND" Kevin Peiterson. The slave mentality and the inferiority complex is what I can see in few of the owners. both of them have been proven wrong. They have not yet learned anything from "CHAPPELGATE". Irony is, an IPL team is having support staff more than what an Indian team has. Mind it BCCI is the richest Club.

The team can only succeed if the Team is gelled together as an unit, each player of the team is willing to give 100%, the owners have no rift with the key players and the "NOT-SO-EXPERTS" of the game have lesser impact on the team. Owning a team is very easy if you've money, but running it successfully need "MIND". It seems that the arrogant owners are not learning anything and they are fooled by their own aura.

But, what we get from all these are the spicy hot news, exciting matches and a super BLOG.

"Akhil"