Timeless Dreams

The life is changing and changing pretty fast. We celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary this week. Last month we had our second child. With wife gone to India and me all alone in Singapore, I have plenty of time to ponder on things which I could not for last few years.

What are my goals, what are my dreams, what do I want to achieve? I have no clear answer. Do I want to earn million dollars? hell yeah why not. But that is not my dream. I am sure more money will not make me happy Do I aspire to be a businessman/entrepreneur? Naah..not really. I never think of working hard to grow my business or enterprise. Then as I ponder, I think of moments which have given me immense pleasure. And then I think, will those same things make me happy today and tomorrow? The instant answer is yes for many such things.

I have gone trekking and hiking in India a lot many times. And almost always I had fun. The sense of
achievement is great. Not that I set records but it gives me pleasure because I overcome my physical and mental limits as I climb the mountain. In the process I also do something I like most, being amongst trees, birds - nature. With over night treks I can spend nights watching sky full of stars. I love to plant trees. I will not claim that I have planted hundreds of trees. But I maintain a small garden in my apartment in India. I have also planted few trees in my life and it gives me nice feeling seeing plants and trees grow. I would love to grow lots of trees which are sustainable and good for the nature.

I love to hang out with my friends. Who does not? With a glass of beer, it makes it even more enjoyable. With IPL, tennis or football game on, its a double bonanza. So this is something that my family will frown upon. I want to have a nice TV-sports-bar where I can enjoy TV, sports and drinks with my friends and family.

There is one thing that fascinates me a lot, planes, real fast planes. I have never flown a plane and don't see me flying a plane given my profession in IT. But none the less I want to fly a jet plane at 1 mach at least.

What else do I aspire, I want to run a marathon. Stop laughing. I seriously want to. Looking at my shape I can barely run 4 km, leave alone 42 kms. But I am going to try, I am going to run, exercise and train to run a marathon soon.

 So looking at the dreams and goals I have, they don't seem professional at all. Some are materialistic and to achieve them I do need loads of money. So yeah I want that million dollar. If I had enough money I would stop working and do something I really like. I will do all that I mentioned above. But life is not easy and fair. It makes you toil hard to achieve your dream. It makes the satisfaction sweeter because it makes you sweat to achieve it. I have realized that I dont need one single thing, i dont have one single goal, I dont have one single dream but I have bunch of things which I will like to do over and over again.

 I had a dream that I wanted to go down to a shooting range and fire a shot gun. This dream was achieved this year. And was it fun, yes it was. It gave a nice adrenalin rush as I was firing those 30 cartridges down the range.

 This kind of blog/post should come early in the year, as new year resolutions. None the less I wrote it mid year. Who cares when the dreams are achieved as long as they are achieved.

Kavita

mi ataa khup damloy
dukhashi zagadun damloy
sukhasathi zatun damloy
bhandun damloy
khota bolun damloy
khota aikun damloy
vadavivadatun damloy
chidun damloy
radun damloy
hasnyacha aav aanun damloy
ata jara nivaant basaychay
thodi vishranti ghyaychi ahe
pan visava shodhun damloy

Valentine day gift to me.

Life can be ruthless and
full of hardships,
but with me things ought to be fine
For you are my valentine,

I know I dont need a time or a day
for this to say
And love is what will always stay.


WE have shared times good and bad,
lived through moments happy and sad,
I survived through all cos you were there
and you were mine
And not just today but always
you are gonna be my valentine

Pune blasts-Not shocked

On 13th Feb one powerful blast rocked German Bakery in Pune.
I was in total grief and felt really bad for punekars. Its a peace loving city which I am sure is shattered by this incidence. But I was not shocked because of these blasts.
These blasts were waiting to happen. Lot of arrests have been made previously from Pune in connections to various terrorist activities. Which means that Pune has been a hub for terrorist activities for sometime now. You can't keep your hands clean and work in coal mine too.
People have blamed government of providing security to the movie _My name is khan_ and ignoring the security of general public. But then was the home minister silly to have allocated the complete force to protect theatres? Was the nexus between politics and film industry responsible for lack of security? Should India stop the dialogue with Pakistan because of these blasts? Is it a mischief by some terrorist organisation to derail the talks?
All these questions don't have easy or straight answers.

Few observations from my conversations with my friends is
1) Pune was obvious target and not many were shocked and have taken it in their stride. This is really shameful and shocking. I wish people come out strongly against the government and hold Kalmadi, RR Patil and Ashok Chavan responsible.
2) People say Shahrukh is responsible for raking up controversy and diverting the police force to provide security to the theatres. I call this bullshit. Shahrukh's right to have a peaceful screening of his movie is very much justified and it had to be taken care of by government. And also government should have nipped the bud by arresting Balasaheb and Uddhav. They are the one who created this ruckus by threatening the screening.
3) Congress government is spineless, is a common allegation, and yes it is true as the track record says. But we deserve such government because we vote them to power. RR Patil should not have been elected to power after his performance during Mumbai attacks. We did not learn from mistakes and we have to pay for it.

Pune needs to show a united front, it has to lift itself up from this situation. Its image has been tarnished and will need some serious repair work.
Police, public, press and administration have to show maturity here. We have to show that we are men and not boys anymore.
Need of the hour is to realise that we are not a safe and peaceful city anymore. Once everybody realises this we can work towards improving the image.

I hope people remember this event and vote sensibly next time around.
I hope people learn from mistakes and not open unclaimed packets.
I hope people become more sensitive to such issues. And not indulge in mud slinging when the time calls for condolences and support.

Jay hind, Jay Maharashtra

tamasha

Wake up sid released..Raj Thakre threatens to ban the movie in Mumbai, because the Mumbai has been referred as Bombay in the movie...
All movie channels report this for about 2-3 days before movie is released. On the day of release Karan Johar meets Raj personally and apologises and promises to put a notice/apology for calling Mumbai as Bombay before movie is screened.

Shahrukh Khan makes a statement last week regarding exclusion of Pakistani cricketers from IPL. Uddhav makes a statement that screening of movie My name is khan will be banned across Mumbai because Shahrukh made such statement. Movie is slated to be released on 7th Feb, today is 4th Feb. Coincidence being My name is khan is also made by Karan Johar.

I am sure there is a nexus between bollywood and political parties, both get enough matter to chew. Uddhav and Raj got something to hammer upon and keep their agenda of fuelling Marathi manoos fire and Karan Johar got free publicity from stupid media. Who knows media might also be getting some fodder here. But if media had ignored Shahrukh's, Uddhav's, T Balu's and Raj's statement, there would have been peace in Maharashtra, people would not have gone to see Wake up sid (not that people went to see it because of controversy), News channel would not have got _breaking news_.

Every news channel and news paper is covering this story which is free publicity for Karan Johar's movies.

There was a huge controversy just before Jodha Akbar released. There was no political party involved in the controversy but Rajput community got offended and had a huge agitation and they stopped screening of the movie in Rajasthan (I stand to be corrected here) that again gave nice publicity to Ashutosh Gowarikar.

People are fools...and they deserve to be fooled. I hope somebody wakes up to this and stops this stupid racket.

God save us all (no discrimination)

The best gift ever

Words will always be few
To tell you how much I love you
You walked into my life one fine day
But it feels like you were always there hiding some where

with you the dreams seem so true
And all the times that I can smile through
Life will travel in miles and miles
Will be a journey of frowns and smiles

But on this day I want you to realise
that in walking it, you will always find me besides.
this life will pass too
But words will always be few to say 'I love you'


This poem was dedicated to me by my Wife for my 29th Birthday.

राज ठाकरे

Raj Thakre (Raj) says that Marathi people have first right on resources in Mumbai. The outsiders from UP and Bihar (Bhaiyya land) should be driven out or be given secondary preference. Let us analyze why Raj had to take such a stand and what are the implications and how rational is it to take such stand.
Let us start with a little background of Raj. Raj is nephew of extremely powerful politician from Mumbai, Mr. Balasaheb Thakre (BT). He is also referred as Hindu Hriday Samrat (Supreme ruler of the Hindu hearts). BT became a very popular leader in late 70s and early 80s in Mumbai, because of his very flamboyant and ruthless writing against and south Indian immigrants, Muslims etc. He rose to popularity in early 80s, because of his (and shiv sena’s) anti-South Indian Campaign, where he gave a slogan “Uthaao lungi bajaao pungi”. This campaign was started to counter the huge number of South Indians coming to Mumbai to take up jobs and find different business opportunities. BT was trying to safe guard Marathi population from influx of Southies. Ironically the slogan he gave was Hindi (non-Marathi). Now coming to Raj, he started his political career as a Student leader in BT’s Shivsena. Raj was president of Vidyarthi Sena. BT’s son Uddhav was made president of SS. This made Raj furious. Raj thinks/claims that Uddhav is inefficient and has not done any ground work and cannot run SS well. He showed his dissent and parted ways with SS and started his own political party called Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (Army for rebuilding Maharashtra). Most of the folks joining his political party were leaders of Vidyarthi Sena, mostly young chaps(student leaders) from various parts of Maharashtra who dream to make it big in Maharashtra’s politics.
When MNS was started there were already 4 major and well established political parties in Maharashtra, namely, NCP, INC, BJP and SS. To make a mark and gain popularity Raj had to come up with an issue which would appeal to masses and give him immense popularity. Following footsteps of his guru/uncle BT he started Anti-Bhaiyya Campaign. Bhaiyya are North Indians, especially from UP and Bihar. They normally take up all labor and blue color jobs in Mumbai and its suburbs. They normally migrate to various parts of the country (Delhi, Assam, Rajasthan, Jammu etc.) in search of livelihood, since UP and Bihar are traditionally under developed and have very less job opportunities.
Raj made a statement against the most popular icon in Indian Cinema, Amitabh Bachchan who hails from UP. AB has settled in Mumbai for more than 30 years and has been working in Indian cinema for more than 30 years. AB coincidentally shares very close ties with BT. Raj said that AB has become brand ambassador of UP and has neglected Mumbai and Maharashtra to which AB owes his success. This enraged Amar Singh (close friend of AB and big politician from UP) and he made statements against Raj. This move by Raj shot his popularity (positive popularity as well as negative) to leaps and bounds. Raj’s statements were covered by major TV channels. Suddenly a local leader from Maharashtra was known to every Indian.
Raj proposes that Marathi people should be given preference in all jobs in Mumbai and Maharashtra, and Bhaiyyas should be driven out of Mumbai. There should be a cap on number of people migrating to Mumbai. His party members and supporters carried out violent attacks against Bhaiyyas in various cities in Maharashtra. An FIR was lodged against Raj but he was not arrested by Mumbai police.

There are some fundamental questions which need to be answered before we analyze this agitation or proposal made by Raj.
Who are Marathi people? : One who speaks Marathi is Marathi Manoos (man).
Who are outsiders? : Those folks who are not domicile/citizen of Maharashtra are outsiders.

Using the above two statements I have a question, if at all we reserve some job quota for Marathi manoos in Mumbai/Maharashtra, would we consider a Marathi speaking person from Bhaiyya land as a Marathi manoos? Would we consider a Bhaiyya born and brought up in Mumbai/Maharashtra as Maharashtrian?
By doing all this are we not marginalizing the society? Why is Raj claiming that Mumbai has been over crowded by Bhaiyyas, when there are millions of Gujaratis, Marathis and people from all across India? Mumbai is truly cosmopolitan City.
If we are intolerant about Bhaiyyas coming to Mumbai, would Bhaiyyas be tolerant about Marathis in Jhansi, Kanpur and Allahabad? We are unnecessary creating rift amid already marginalized society and all this for publicity and launching pad for a new budding politician?
Other implications of his violence and protests were that lot of Bhaiyya workers and laborers from Nasik, Pune and Mumbai fled back to their native places. They went back in thousands per day. This affected day to day business in these cities. The laundry business was affected, because of which my laundry man who used to get my Ironed clothes 3 times a week could deliver only once a week because of labor shortage. The factories which employed Bhaiyya workers had to cut down the productions. The construction sites having Bhaiyya laborers had to stop construction activity. Raj might have gain popularity but has certainly not gained many friends in Business fraternity for sure.
Raj also claims that Bhaiyyas are involved in Criminal activities in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra, but my question is do we have a statistic to prove that there are more Bhaiyya criminals than other communities? No he has not produced such statistic

So is Raj’s statement/stand wrong altogether? Not really, Raj is correct to some extend. But then he is trying to solve a wrong problem. If the locals (Marathi manoos) are not able to find enough jobs/business opportunity because of large scale migration by Bhaiyyas, this also implies that Marathi man is not resourceful and hard working enough. Marathi man is not opportunistic and is not able to utilize the opportunities in Mumbai and Maharashtra.
Asking Bhaiyyas to leave is not a solution; you are going against the basic provisions of constitution of India. Freedom of speech, freedom of movement and right to vote are some of the fundamental rights given by constitution of India to every citizen of India. The protest by Raj it self is illegal. Let us put aside the legality issue. But when I say he is solving the wrong problem, I mean that we should address why do these people migrate? Why can’t they find livelihood in their own state? The problem lies there, most of the industrialization happens in southern India (Tamilnadu and Karnataka) and western states of Gujarat and Maharashtra). Raj should have taken a shot at Bihar and UP governments, and questioned them why were they not trying to create jobs in their respective states. If there are enough jobs in Bhaiyya land I am sure nobody will migrate to Mumbai/Maharashtra.
If Raj thinks Mumbai is over crowded and its resources are being over utilized then he should plead to government to make a legislation against granting any new ration cards, any new building licenses and granting licenses to any new businesses in Mumbai, which is practically impossible and would have resulted in negative publicity for him.
If Raj thinks that Bhaiyyas are involved in criminal activity, he should question the home ministry of the state, which coincidently is the rival political party.
Raj has tried to gain quick and easy popularity, by raking up an issue which has no easy solution and to some extend is not a problem at all.

There are serious and grave problems which Maharashtra faces today. Maharashtra the most industrialized state, state with maximum FDI et al, is not able to provide 24 hours electricity to its people. Cities like Pune which boast of being IT hub don’t get 24 hours electricity. The roads across Maharashtra are pathetic and can bring shame to any citizens. There is lots of law and order problem, murders, loots and thefts are a common sighting in any news paper. The farmers in eastern Maharashtra are committing suicide due to bankruptcy. These are problems which need immediate attention.
Raj is focusing on a situation which is more Mumbai centric and may not appeal to masses across Maharashtra. He has support of youth who are keener on action, because of young hot blood. But as a leader he should lead this young hot blood to things which are much more constructive and can solve problems which affect the whole state. Mumbai has about 15 million people, while Maharashtra has more than 130 million people. If he wants to Rebuild Maharashtra then he needs to solve problems of Maharashtra and not Mumbai alone. He has most good qualities of a leader, like he is a good orator, he is charismatic and he is young and commands lot of youth. He needs to identify that he is potentially very powerful and should focus his resources and energies on issues which affect masses; this will not only solve problems of Maharashtra and make him a bigger leader but also reduce the rift in the society.