I Bunked Office!

This Monday when the entire world went to office i bunked work. And why did i bunk? Was i feeling the usual Monday blues...well maybe but then thats not the exact reason. I think the main reason was that monotony...the pain of following a routine. The pain of been a cog in the wheel..the pain of doing something every day without really understanding what value you are adding everyday. I think most of the working class suffers from this. And if you think I am wrong...well congrats to you. You are God damm lucky...hope your luck continues.

So when the entire world worked i drove down to my grandpa and grandma's place. It was a complete surprise visit. No prior intimation. No hint. And this type of visit has a charm of its own. Seeing me they were so happy...and i felt really glad. At least i have made two very old people extremely happy that day. How many of us can?

After lunch i started taking a walk with my grandpa. We remembered all the good times we had. I had a close look at the mango tree which i used to climb in order to avoid study. The pond where i learnt to swim is almost non-existant. The empty place of land just behind our kitchen where me and my grandpa used to play cricket is now full of Brinjal trees. The bamboo trees have grown in numbers...how i feared those trees in my childhood. My grandpa used to tell me ghost stories and those bamboo trees were as important character in most of his stories. The best story was the story of the "Petni" (female ghost). He told that those bamboo trees used to have these female ghosts. These "petni" used to trick human beings by laying the bamboo trees straight on the ground. And once you cross them the trees would carry you straight to the top. And the "Petni" will have you. Now you can say thats bullshit. But for a six year old thats quite a hell of a story. And worst of all...i even sometimes fantasized getting laid by these female ghosts. How stupid of me!

I really didnt want to leave the place. But had to go back in the evening. One of the very few productive days of my life came to an end.

Spending time with Jerry Mcguire...one more time

The joy of enjoying a favourite movie at home when nobody is around is something, which few people can afford these days. I mean in big cities considering the high rental you pay for your flat,well it makes sense to have few people around to enjoy the roof over your head. Sounds stupid..isn't it?

Anyway i have this luxury. Too bad if you don't. And today i saw Jerry McGuire once more. This is a movie i love watching again and again. Why? Probably its because of that Black guy dancing and sayinf "Show me the money". Jokes apart...this movie always teaches me to keep your head high when evevrything is going against you. It inspires me to do those things once again, which i could never accomplish. And it teaches the importance of human relationship, friendship and loyalty in particular. But most importantly it makes you realize the value of passion.

Success consists of simply getting up one more time than you fall.

Amazing letter to Chidambaram! You must read it!

From: angrywal@hotmail.com
To: hm@nic.in
Subject: Re Interview on NDTV Response from a member of civil society
Date: Wed, 19 May 2010 13:50:54 +0000
Dear Shri Chidambaram,

This is in response to your repeated taunts on NDTV that the civil society must respond to the wanton killing by the Naxals. It appears that the interview was tailor made for getting the consent of the Cabinet for more firepower and airpower to combat the Maoist. The diabolic support of Arun Jaitly, be it by describing you an injured martyr, was designed to achieve his ambition through the support of the mining barons of the BJP ruled states.As a member of society I hope I am being civil in disagreeing with you on your hard line approach against the innocent tribal,. I also hope you will not find it too shocking for being accused of being largely responsible for the rise and growth of Naxalism, as the following happened on your watch as Finance minister.Is it not true that Naxalism grew exponentially in the last ten years to become the present menace ? In fact you have yourself identified the time frame of the last ten years in your interview with NDTV.Is it not true that the rise in popularity of Naxalism is also coincidental with the rise in iron ore mining profits which increased from around Rs50 per tonne to over Rs5000 per tonne in the last ten years?Is it not true that the map of Naxalism is also the map of the Indian Minerals. These minerals belong to the people of India but have been handed over to mining barons and corporate in a relationship of mutual benefit, more appropriately described as crony capitalism. It is for this reason that Arun Jaitly is your staunchest supporter because the fate of four state government ruled by BJP is dependent on the money from the mining mafia..Is it not true that during your watch as Finance Minister for four and half years, corporate raked in a profit of over two lac crores through legal and illegal mining, mostly in the iron ore sector? How was this profit shared?Is it not true that during your entire tenure as FM the royalty on iron ore was not revised and remained at a ridiculous Rs 7 to 27/ tonne ( depending on the type and grade of iron ore) with the average of around Rs 15 per tonne.. This royalty was neither made ad valorem nor was it revised from year 2000 onwards when the international price of iron ore rose to dizzy levels.Is it not true that the minerals are owned by the people of the State? Is a meager 0.5 % royalty on iron ore profits adequate compensation to the owner of the resources? Would you sell your one crore property for Rs 50,000?Did your fulfill the oath that you took as a Minister to abide by the Constitution, in particular Article 39 (b) and (c) of the constitution which directs the government to use natural resources owned by the people of the country are used to subserve the common good?Would the Naxal problem have been there if 25% of the mining profit was spent on the poor and the tribal living in the mining area and whose life was uprooted by the greedy corporate/mining mafia with active connivance of the law enforcers and policy makers ?What prevented the government from nationalizing the iron ore mine industry and handing it over to a PSU or NMDC whose shares of Re1/- was lapped at a premium of Rs300(30000% premium) and using the profit for benefit of the people?Are you aware that even a resource rich and affluent country like Australia with a low population base is imposing an additional 40% windfall tax on the mining profits? Can a poor country like India afford to forgo these windfall profits?Will you reveal as to how many times you have defended public interest through PIL and how many times you have defended corporate interest during your professional career as a lawyer? The question is relevant because of your empathy for the corporate sector is in apparent conflict with that towards the toiling masses.Is it wrong for the civil society to conclude that both as Home Minister and Finance Minister you have been protecting the corporate profiteers ( by first allowing them to loot the mineral wealth belonging to the people and now securing these mines for them) and not protecting the interest of the poor and tribal people who are victims of corporate greed and crony capitalism of the political parties? You in particular should have known better having been a Director of Vedanta Resources!In your appearance on NDTV you talked about the two prong approach and one of them having been weakened. It is the prong of development which has been weakened and is non existent. The royalty collected is not sufficient to pay for the various types of direct damages done by the mining industry ( health, environment, water, roads, rehabilitation etc) let alone the cost of security forces.Is it not true that the killing of innocent security forces and tribal is the direct result of the policy of securing the mineral wealth for the corporate profiteers and political parties who share the loot?It was shocking to know that you were more concerned about your CV falling short by a few months of completing five years as Finance Minister when you met your maker) refer the NDTV interview) than about the blood of the innocent that has been spilled on both sides as a consequence of corporate profiteering..It is not surprising that all the State government which get reelected on the money of the mining mafia are interested in using air cover to make mining safe and profitable ever after. You should know better the role of money in elections after having managed to squeak past the post while the DMK MPs romped home with handsome margin. Mr Raja retained his portfolio!.What is at stake is the credibility of the State : that it is using force to benefit the mining mafia and that it has a vested interest in the profiteering of the mining mafia which is prospering because of crony capitalism.To restore its credibility the Government should resume all the mines which in any case belong to the people and give a solemn pledge that a minimum of 25% of the mining profits will be used for the benefit of the local people. The solution is not only just but one mandated by the Constitution. It is only after restoring its credibility that the State will have the right to act. That one hopes, will not be necessary because honest development based on the resources belonging to the people is the best contraceptive against the Maoist ideology .( One is happy to note that according to newspaper report the Mining Minister has made a similar proposal and not surprisingly facing resistence)What happened Mr Chidambaram, you used to be a nice guy? You resigned over the Fairgrowth affair when you were not even guilty.Life is not about arguing a brief in Court for money. It is about arguing for what is right. You have wrongly accused us being “clever nor being devious “ ( refer interview with NDTV), because we are not capable of it. We cannot argue the way you do. Your arguments in Parliament over the oil for food programme while shielding Reliance from being referred to the Pathak Committee were indeed “brilliant.” Were you being clever or devious in your arguments? ( Refer the book Reliance the Real Natwar written by the undersigned for deciding the issue) Please do not use the civil society as an excuse for your omissions and commissions. We have no vested interest except that what belongs to the people should go to the people and that innocents, whether the security forces or the people forced to join the Maoist, should not die for corporate profits.. We are not powerful to tie the State governments with legal cases on police excesses. Those trying to uphold human right violations do so at considerable risk to their life and liberty and deserve our respect and not condemnation as misguided romantics.On a personal note Sir, Will you resign and argue my PIL before the High Court involving three lac crores of iron ore being gifted by the State to Posco and Arcelormittal ( as Palkhivala did to argue the Minerva Mill case) . It will be difficult to lose the case because law, facts and most important you will be on the same side.If you agree to do so, Sir, I am sure He will give you far more credit than He would for the extra six months that you missed out as Finance Minister!In case you are interested I will send you a copy of the petition.Looking forward to hearing from you. For far too long you have been shifting the blame on the civil society. We too need answers..
With warm regards
A K Agrawal

Source: http://mediavigil.blogspot.com/2010/05/civil-societys-response-to-chidambaram.html

The writer of this letter needs to be appreciated for speaking the truth. There are two sides to every story. Media is not neutral and we need to be cautious and get to the bottom of everything. The root cause of all the problems in India is the deep corruption in the political system, which runs totally by greed. But then what much can you expect when an Italian runs the country. No Indian has balls big enough to run this country! Thats why we get useless people, past their expiry date as Prime Ministers! Thats why we get Bhopal gas tragedy. Thats why all critical clauses are removed from the Nuclear Liability Bill. And persons like Quatrocchi are allowed to roam free with royal treatment. Long live India.

India Mamtacised!! Politicised!

During 1940s when India was brimming with the general enthusiasm of achieving “Purna Swaraj” lot of politicians and thinkers in the West called this a misplaced dream. A wish that should never get fulfilled else it will only ruin the country. Winston Churchill, Rudyard Kipling, to name a few were the greatest votaries against giving independence to India. Well the Indians didn’t like it that time. And neither do we like it now. But then honestly speaking the Indians are simply not capable enough to rule themselves. Please do not doubt my patriotism. But we were better under the British rule. If you do not believe me have a look at the facts. Whatever law, constitution, governance we have now is 100% British inspired. And it has run its life. Now we are left at our own. And the prophecies from the likes of Churchill are coming true. It’s more than 60 years we have got our independence but we are yet to get that unity which binds a country together.

The state of a country is known by its leaders. And when you have a mad selfish woman like Mamta Banerjee as one of ruling leaders, well you have it. She is not interested in the welfare of the train passengers who suffered in the Maoist tragedy few days back in Bengal. She is more interested to create divisions and blame her political opponents for trying to sabotage her. All our politicians are playing divide and rule. And the future is an easy interpretation. Punjab is more different than Bengal, so is Tamil Nadu and Haryana. So from where the unity is going to come? And the politicians instead of uniting our country are backing the divisive forces for own selfish interests. It is for these reasons that states like Jharkhand gets created in the first place and crooks like Madhu Koda rules. And for the very same reasons Maoists are rapidly growing their base. And people like Aparna Sen, Maheswata Devi, Arundhati Roy supports them. Everybody has their own motives. Nobody is clean. Sare jahan Achha Hindustan Humara. Par Kaise?

The Rotten Naveen Jindal

India is land of dirt, squalor and rotten politicians. The latest politician to join the rotten list is Mr Naveen Jindal. I kind of liked this fellow. He was at least young, a quality which our current MPs lack bitterly! He shot to fame with his celebrated court battle regarding the right to fly the national flag. And he won the case. He got support from the entire country on this. Everybody, proud of their country should have the right to fly the national flag. Period. But that’s past. He was new to politics then. Young blood made him do lot of things which got nothing but whole hearted appreciation. But look at him now. He has finally become a seasoned politician! He has penetrated the list of the mighty corrupted political fraternity! He has supported the Khap panchayats. Reason is to safe guard his MP post in Kuruksetra in Haryana. And the entire country till date got fooled that Mr Naveen Jindal had progressive mindset within his head! What a big joke? This guy is mentally retarded! His mind has nothing inside but greed for power. He is now in the extraordinary league of the Yadavs, the Mayawatis, the Thakreys and the Karunanidhis! He has finally started playing the dangerous game of Identity politics! This guy had everything. Money, education, family! But I guess politics gives much more than these three and thus to safeguard his political career he has taken side with the “Jats” and their oppression of the poor class. Shame on Naveen! There are better ways to earn money Naveen! You could have easily stayed away from this regressive Khap Panchayat setup! How much more money do you want to mint by selling this country Naveen? How much identity and caste based politics you have to practice to safe guard your parliament seat? You guys after all are fed by us, the tax payers. I sincerely pray to God that people like you should be picked up by Yamraj ASAP! But then I am sure you have bribed him and sent some poor Dalit to die on your behalf! The Jats can always beat the system. Isn’t it? Wish somebody from your family got killed in the name of Honour Killing. And then we could have watched you amusingly! And I am sure your boss, the old Sardar would have also jumped in joy! Unfortunately he cannot scold you because he also needs to keep his position safe. End of the day its all about satisfying madam to the fullest!

No More Bullshit Hero Worship for me! I admit my mistake!

Recently something extraordinary has happened in my life. I have lost my urge to watch cricket. I simply find it a complete waste of my time. This was not the case even few months back. But something has happened during the IPL 3 that has cured me from my cricket malady. May be the Tharoor Lalit affair! May be Sunanda’s clean shaven arm pits and operated nose! May the too much cricket been played …I guess it’s mainly the cricketing overdose that has killed my desire to watch. And honestly i do not even find Sachin Tendulkar’s batting that much captivating any more. The way he goes kaput in the critical days makes me think just one thing – end of the day it’s all about luck! I know my statement will make me a no 1 enemy to lot of people but that’s the fact. Cricket is a time waste for a nation where 70% of the population lives at Rs 12 per day! I guess we have better things to do than continue our futile hero worship. In my school days I used to watch too much sports – all kinds. Except Golf. I couldn’t understand it. My mother used to say “They are playing, are getting paid in millions. What are you getting? Instead of watching these stupid games if you study a little extra you will benefit” How right she was! But by the time I realized it was too late to recover. Too much time has already been spent.

We Indians are obsessed with two things : Cricket and Bollywood! I mean we invest so much of our time viewing cricket that dickheads in the BCCI are getting rich at our expense! And so with Bollywood! Else how can people like Emran Hasmi become so rich? Only if we all used our time more productively we could have easily beaten the hell out of Japan, the epitome of productivity! Our obsession with our filmy and cricketing heroes makes me remember an incident in Dilip Kumar’s life. This happened in the sixties. Dipil Kumar was a big star. e was travelling in a plane wH He was flying in a plane and JRD Tata was also traveling with him. JRD sat just next to him. Dilip recognized him! But he wanted JRD to strike a conversation. He is afterall a Star! JRD was too busy going through some papers. Dilip got anxious! Finally he could not control himself.

He told – “Hi! I am Dilip Kumar”
“JRD looked up and gave him a puzzled look. But he smiled and got back to his paper”
Dilip told again “I am Dilip Kumar, the Film star”
JRD told “Sorry I cannot recognize you gentleman. Neither do I watch Films”
I guess this incident throws light on lot of things!

But I will stop here. After all everyone has the right to live their own life! And in democracy you can chose heroes! And what stuff you want to watch! This is not thankfully China where you can lose your head if you do something which is not liked by your state! But at least i will try to do something different when the entire India will be busy worshiping Sachin and the SRKs. They are great but not true heroes for me! I need to find my true hero! At least my hero finding journey has begun. What about you?

The Failed Bomber!

There is lot of speculations going on in the media regarding the credibility of the guy as the “suspected” bomber in the failed New York car bomb attack. Firstly the attempt is too much amateurish. Secondly the guy who wanted to create mayhem decided to co-operate fully within a span of 24 hours with the security agencies! Thirdly the kind of life he was living – well it’s really tough to convince that kind of progressive modern character about the benefits of declaring Jihad! He was working as a Financial Analyst with a fat salary, came from an extremely well to do family. But I think these points can be ignored. The depth of human mind, the way it behaves – it is difficult to understand. So let’s not come to conclusion. Lastly lots of people are also saying that the guy seen in the CCTV footage has a big bald patch in his head. The suspect Faisal Shahzad who has been caught looks completely different! Well what I think is the CCTV footage released in the public domain is just meant to confuse! FBI guys are not kids that they will tell the whole world that this is the picture of the terrorist. If it was our CBI this kind of childish behavior was understandable. But not from the FBI. The aim of the footage is just try to give a false sense of security to the guy who actually did it. The CCTV footage shows the bald guy just taking off his shirt near the car and having a shoulder glance at the car. That’s it. Now why the hell the guy who knows that there is a bomb in the car come so close to the car and take off his shirt? Probably our Arnab Goswami and Barkha Dutt will hold unlimited discussion regarding this on their famous TV channels and the Indians will watch. They have so much time to waste! But to any sensible guy I don’t think this activity makes much sense! Something is seriously wrong. But one good thing has happened. The world has again been directed to the terrorist breeding ground called Pakistan! God knows how many more pointings will be required to hammer some sense into the head of USA. I guess lot of the US politicians receive huge kickbacks from Pakistan when it receives those all kinds of US financial aids. To me USA is just a hypocrite who is hell bent in fulfilling its narrow self interests.

I can only say one thing for sure. The US education is not good. I mean it’s not competent enough. The way the bomb was set up, the kind of trigger that was used and the way the car was bought…Mr Faisal got his education in the US. He simply couldn’t get the basics right!

And one more thing that continues to puzzle me! Why majority of the muslim community so much in love with Bombs? Is it something in their DNA?