3 Incidents

3 incidents,
Easy to forget... Yet memorable.

Incident 1.
Location, Vaishali Nagar bus depot, Mulund... Morning time... I was
Waiting for bus 402. No Q. A big mob was waiting for the bus. The bus arrived and even before it stopped, people started rushing into the bus.
Chaos was the order of the moment.
I was quietly standing aside and watching plus waiting for it to get over.
There was a man standing next to me. From overall aapearance he looked like a villagers who probably for the first time had come to Mumbai. He too was watching this whole eposode.
He looked at me, smiled and said "nusatyaa jagesathi avadhi hanaamari... Thode paise asate tar hyaa lokaani ekmekaanche gale kaapaayla kami kele nasate" (so much of fight just for a seat... no wonder these people would not hesiatte to cut throats if there was even a little money involved)
I had nothing to say. He had just uttered simple truth of our life in Mumbai.

Incident 2.
Churchgate Local from Virar...
Morning rush hour.... second class compartment...
One gentleman looked around the compartment. there were many small stickers of advertisements all around the compartment. many of types of "Baba Bangali" and likes.
he looked around for a while....cursed a little to those unknown people.... and then... then he started removing those stickers. he removed as many as he could and threw out of the window.
taking a clue... I too removed a few....
One simple act... but a good start....

Incident 3.
Kalyan fast local from Dadar
A young man standing beside me talking on fone.
He was talking to a friend whose grandmother had expired.
"what is use of that big package if you can't even take a leave for your dadi's funeral?"
he thundered into the phone. "look at us, we have a simple shop but when my dadi died, the shop was shut for 10-12 days.... what is use of all that money if we can not spare some time for our family?"
he made me think.... once again eternal truth.....

A lot of good people are around... just need to keep the eyes open....

Why the tiger became cat...

Just read editorial in Saamna…
So painful….

Not only the words but more importantly for the person who wrote them…
The article itself was telling the root causes for failure of Sena…

It says… “Marathi people betrayed ShivSena”

More important than the sentence is the mindset that exposes…

It means that the Sena always took marathi people for granted…..

Yes… ShivSena did a lot for marathi people especially in Mumbai…

But does not mean that it can take people for granted…

Existence of ShivSena is because of Marathi people and not vice versa….

This is time for introspection and not for blame game… and certainly not time to blame the voters…
Voters “Donate” their vote…and the candidates being recipient are at a lower level….
A recipient can not blame a donor for not donating to him.
He needs to think why the donor found him not worthy of donation.

The article also says that people elected some new candidates for ShivSena….

This clearly indicates that people are not fool and they voted for the candidates they found suitable for their constituency.

So the question is why the old candidates’ failed and fresh candidates got elected?

ShivSena is definitely not the same old one…. The article talks about what Sena did in past 44 years…. But unfortunately what matters is what it does today…

In fact why there is need to refer to the past? Is it because there is no present achievement to refer to? If past was only the reason for vote then the congress would have perpetually remained in power because the party did so much for the independence in the past.

It is not that Marathi people who betrayed the Sena… but in all probability it is that the Sena failed to meet the expectations of the people. When in power… there was no difference felt in the way Sena ruled and in the way congress ruled… the system moved ahead on it’s own inertia….

I remember a story here… not sure how relevant….

The one from Aesop…

A Fox after crossing a river got its tail entangled in a bush,
and could not move. A number of Mosquitoes seeing its plight
settled upon it and enjoyed a good meal undisturbed by its tail.

A hedgehog strolling by took pity upon the Fox and went up to him:
"You are in a bad way, neighbor," said the hedgehog; "shall I
relieve you by driving off those Mosquitoes who are sucking your
blood?"

"Thank you, Master Hedgehog," said the Fox, "but I would rather not."
"Why, how is that?" asked the hedgehog.
"Well, you see," was the answer, "these Mosquitoes have had their fill;
if you drive these away, others will come with fresh
appetite and bleed me to death."

May be that’s what people thought….

Entering the world of drivers….

Finally on 14th February, I got hold of the keys for my first car…. Chevy Spark.
It was more than 2 months after I got my driving license. It was hardly one month into driving school and that meant always with a trainer. Now I had to try on my own.
Staying a densely populated area of Thane near Mulund check post, everyone was thinking that I should drive with someone experienced alongside at least for a few weeks.

But there was no one around who could take up this job. This was the only second time that a four wheeler was bought first one being that of my sister’s. It was not possible to spent time and that apart from her and her husband I was the only person in family to get a four wheeler license.

So finally I decided to venture out on my own or rather I had to.

On the day of collecting vehicle from dealer, I had my brother in law Yogesh with me to guide me to take it safely (for me as well as for others :-)) home. And later we went out for a dinner when I drove it alone thus gaining confidence.

The very next day I drove it out to the petrol pump. It was an “end to end first gear” journey. It took me whole 10 minutes just to position the vehicle correctly at the pump. Also I did something which I had read so far in jokes about women driving a car…. I drove for sometime before realizing that I had not released the handbrake.

Then again in the evening I and Deepa went out roaming around the city. We entered into heavy traffic. I “managed” to brush against a biker who trying to squeeze between cars and make way. Thankfully traffic police there took my side. So that was first day out alone. The next day also we went out in the evening… this time it was something bigger I “managed”. Again in heavy traffic I hit an auto from behind when it suddenly stopped I could not. Although it was at less than 5 km speed and neither the auto nor the car had even a scratch, it was a start of dealing with the special class of drivers called “Rikshaw-wallah”.

Since then it has been a smooth ride so far… only once I did a mess up after that when I stopped in the middle of a fast moving traffic. I ended up getting too much curses and advices at the same time from all directions :-)

All this has taught me to look at the surrounding from a driver point of view. Earlier as a pedestrian I used to cross the road in anticipation that that approaching vehicle will somehow manage to stop or all of a sudden getting into the way of a vehicle when it is slow traffic in market etc.

Now after getting behind the wheel I realize how much pressure it gives to the driver.So at least one thing has changed for me… the way I look at the world… it ias a new perspective now, a “Drivers perspective”

Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap … From Pakistan to Talibanistaan…

Recently read a news in Times of India... that Taliban controlled areas are now closer to Indian border than Mumbai to Goa…
The accompanying image was too bad….

(Image taken from Indiatimes website... for original Click here)

I felt sorry for the people in the region….
But then they are facing the consequences of their own actions. For many years now Pakistan has been using this terrorism As a means of proxy war against India whom they cannot defeat in the conventional warfare…

They also allowed a lot of terrorist organizations to flourish… gave shelter to Indian gangsters like Dawood Ibrahim…. And so on…

There is a saying something like one rotten fruit in the basket soon affects all others…
Here Pakistan has collected too many rotten potato’s into it’s basket….
It was just a matter of time before other fruits were spoiled…
Now all the rotten fruits are stinking and Pakistan is on it’s way towards becoming a terrorist shit….

There is story in Hindu Mythology about a devil called “Bhasmasur”
Story goes that the Bhasmasur was a devotee of lord Shiva… he performed great penance to get a boon from Lord Shiva…

When pleased lord asked him for his wish… he asked for a boon that whenever he put hi hand on someone’s head, that person should turn into ashes…
Without thinking.. the lord granted his wish…. And Bhasmasur started troubling everyone….

When people asked lord Shiva to intervene…. The Bhasmasur threatened to put his hand over the head of the lord himself.

the terrorist Bhasmasur created by Pakistan… is now threatening to put his hand over its creator….

But in the original story lord Shiva was saved by Lord Vishnu who took the form of Mohini .. A beautiful woman and lured Bhasmasur to put his hand over his own head….

There does not seem to be anyone who could save Pakistan….
The transformation of Pakistan into Talibanistaan now looks imminent….
The country that created and used terrorism as a state policy…. Is falling victim to its own creation….

Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap - Bible, Galatians vi. 7.

I think soon there will be no trace of Pakistan that once used to be enemy of India…
There will be a country full of terrorists… who will treat entire world as their enemy….

India will suffer most just because it happen to be the next door neighborhood …. And not because of old rivalry…

When I think of this…. A picture of a place full of worms….
Similar to the one seen in the end of the Movie The Mummy Returns…into which Imhotep finally falls….

Or the one seen in the movie Aliens where all the alien creatures breed….

Disgusting……!!!!!
I really feel sorry for all those peace loving souls in Pakistan (No matter how small in number they are…)

A Truly Eventful Year...

Hmmm… so 2008 is over and we are already into 2009.

Looking back… 2008 has been a turning point in my life… the previous ones could be

2003 – I passed out as BE and Joined Infosys…,

1999 – I completed DME and joined L &T,

1995 – I passed SSC and walked into the new world called college…,

1994 – another eventful year ,

1990 – I completed primary school and entered 5th standard… ,

1985 – I enrolled into first standard…. Start of school life…

And of course 1980… the year when I arrived on this planet…

To be very brief…

It was a year of roller coaster ride. Not only on the global perspective but on the personal front also.

I had already put down my papers in Infosys in Nov 07… so this year started with one major career move where I left my 4.5 year old job… my first job… and entered the Lehman Brothers on 11th Feb 08. Got a huge hike in the salary.

It was just the right time for salary rise since I was about to get married. A lot of shopping… a lot of fun…

Finally the D day arrived on 20th April 08 and I lost my bachelorhood… entered a totally new word of Married life….

We started living at Virar, but soon after that we found that it was too difficult for Deepa to travel to her office from Virar

So we shifted to Thane in a rented accommodation… now it was like 4-5 days in Thane and 2 days in Virar routine…

After Ganapati we started off with construction activity for our new venture… A garden hall in partnership with my cousin Amit…

It was to take a lot of tolls on my finances later….

A few months high into it and there was another twist in the tale…

Lehman brothers declared bankruptcy….

So called Global meltdown was at my doorstep… A whole month of uncertainty and frustration…

Finally Nomura took over the Indian operation… but I have had enough of investment banking and decided to quit.

Here comes another new job… At Intrex India ltd.

I had a 4 and a half year straightforward career at Infosys… and after that within a span of 8 – months I was entering my third job.

A moth into that and A lot of trouble started starring at me…. This time on family front with my aunts starting property dispute…responsibility of solving that again rested on my shoulders… a lot of twists and turns there too which I would rather not mention here

But as Shakespeare said... All is well that ends well….

I signed off the year on a high note when I Booked my first car… Chevrolet Spark in the last week of December….

I am expecting to get it in next week now…

Hmmm… so 2008 is over and we are already into 2009.

Looking back… 2008 has been a turning point in my life… the previous ones could be

2003 – I passed out as BE and Joined Infosys…,

1999 – I completed DME and joined L &T,

1995 – I passed SSC and walked into the new world called college…,

1994 – another eventful year ,

1990 – I completed primary school and entered 5th standard… ,

1985 – I enrolled into first standard…. Start of school life…

And of course 1980… the year when I arrived on this planet…

To be very brief…

It was a year of roller coaster ride. Not only on the global perspective but on the personal front also.

I had already put down my papers in Infosys in Nov 07… so this year started with one major career move where I left my 4.5 year old job… my first job… and entered the Lehman Brothers on 11th Feb 08. Got a huge hike in the salary.

It was just the right time for salary rise since I was about to get married. A lot of shopping… a lot of fun…

Finally the D day arrived on 20th April 08 and I lost my bachelorhood… entered a totally new word of Married life….

We started living at Virar, but soon after that we found that it was too difficult for Deepa to travel to her office from Virar

So we shifted to Thane in a rented accommodation… now it was like 4-5 days in Thane and 2 days in Virar routine…

After Ganapati we started off with construction activity for our new venture… A garden hall in partnership with my cousin Amit…

It was to take a lot of tolls on my finances later….

A few months high into it and there was another twist in the tale…

Lehman brothers declared bankruptcy….

So called Global meltdown was at my doorstep… A whole month of uncertainty and frustration…

Finally Nomura took over the Indian operation… but I have had enough of investment banking and decided to quit.

Here comes another new job… At Intrex India ltd.

I had a 4 and a half year straightforward career at Infosys… and after that within a span of 8 – months I was entering my third job.

A moth into that and A lot of trouble started starring at me…. This time on family front with my aunts starting property dispute…responsibility of solving that again rested on my shoulders… a lot of twists and turns there too which I would rather not mention here

But as Shakespeare said... All is well that ends well….

I signed off the year on a high note when I Booked my first car… Chevrolet Spark in the last week of December….

I am expecting to get it in next week now…