The more things change.................................

For 8 years Barack Obama promised 'Change'
He cant complain people did not pay heed to him! They brought the change by kicking out Democrats (and most of the establishment Republicans) to elect a rank outsider Donald Trump!!!


Everyone wanted Kohli era in ODIs to start
They got what they wanted, but it is old wine in new bottle. We still see Shikhar Dhawan, MS Dhoni and Yuvraj Singh!!! The more things change, the more they remain the same.


They thought Pinarayi Vijayan and LDF will bring prosperity to Kerala, after 5 years of corrupt UDF (mis) Governance of Oomen Chandy and Team.
They have been so bad, people are yearning for the misrule of Oomen Chandy!!!


For years everyone screamed for the next generation to take over from the Fab three of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic
Come 2016, the organizers are banking on the 35 year old Federer to reach the finals to ensure audience interest!!!

Consigning Left (il)liberals to the Dustbin

I was in Kuwait during the 2008 US Presidential Elections and before that the Democratic Primaries. There was a buzz of excitement of the 'Change' that Barak Obama was supposed to bring. Eight years down the line, when Obama leaves the Presidency, he has proved himself to be a damp squib, and self promoting nincompoop, a weak leader and one who managed to decimate his own Party. He leaves behind an America considerably weakened, both internally and globally, where Russsi and Putin has stolen a march over them, and are considered to be the Global leaders. What a Fall!!

 

We are seeing a tectonic shift in Global politics this decade. The hold of the left (il)liberals, who had a such a vice like grip over the global agenda, has loosened considerably. Modi in India showed them their places in 2014, and the left (il)liberals narrative in Middle East and Europe stood exposed like never before. They thought they could manipulate the Brexit 'no' vote, but David Cameroon ate crow. The left leaning politicians who wanted the status quo cried foul and tried to sabotage it. They were glum that their poster girl Hillary Clinton will win in US, and they can use her to set the agenda globally. But Americans were fed up with the Washington coterie (just like Indians were fed up with Luteyans coterie) and gave the left (il)liberals the kick up their ass by giving Trump, a maverick who stood for everything that is against the leftist (il)liberals profused, a resounding majority. After a shocked interlude, they tried all tricks in the trade to discredit Trumps victory, just like they did with Modi. But Trump, so far, has proven equal to the task. Unlike Modi, who lets the opponents vent their steam and keeps quiet, Trump gives tit for tat, and doesn't give a hoot for niceties.

 

I am not one to support Trump. I care a fig about his policies as it doesn't affect me, but I like his candour and the style of showing the middle finger to these leftist (il)liberals, who have manipulated generations of innocent people around the world through their machinations.

 

How I wish someone in BJP (other than Subramanyam Swamy, a class act)  take a leaf out of Trumps manual and consign the Indian left (il)liberals in their place, which is the dustbin.

Lady of Trivial Issues

Look at this scenario:

 

I head a Company as Managing Director. My Office Tea Boy comes to me everyday to decide how many cups of tea is to be prepared every day, what biscuits is to be given. Later, he goes to the Super Market and calls me from there as to which brand of Tea, Coffee or Sugar is to be purchased. Any I publicize this act of mine in the Company Journal!

 

Before you start thinking "What the heck?", "Is this for real?", "Does this guy call himself a Managing Director?", "Doesn't he have better things to do?", let me ask you,

 

"HOW IS THIS DIFFERENT FROM INDIA'S EXTERNAL AFFAIRS MINISTER'S ACT OF RESPONDING TO EVERY SILLY TWEET FROM OVERSEAS INDIANS ASKING FOR HELP, AND SHE TAKING ACTION ON IT?"

 

And our Media gives her maximum coverage, with comments section flooded with comments as to how Sushma is the best Foreign Minister India has seen!!

 

Frankly, it is all fine she is helping out individuals who tweet her, including someone who wanted a visa for his girl friend from Pakistan, so that they can get married! (and this when both the countries have hostile relationships!!).

 

Let me reiterate... this is NOT WHY SUSHMA SWARAJ is one of the Senior Most Ministers in Modi's Cabinet.

 

Her job is to improve India's relationship with all Foreign Countries, Manage the IFS, Improve Trade Relations and ensure India has a very high standing in the World.

 

Her job is to DEVELOP SENSITIVITIES IN INDIAN EMBASSIES so that Expatriates grievances are handled promptly by the respective Indian Officials in the Embassies.

 

I am an Expatriate for the past 16 years and can tell you that our Embassy officials treat us like dirt, even now. Nothing has changed. They are arrogant, rude and absolutely insensitive. One has to face humiliation even for getting routine things done like renewal of a passport or getting a document attested. Recently a colleague of mine, whose wife is in Canada, was planning on a 3 month visit to Canada, and had plans to travel with her. He had just two blank pages in the passport, and approached Indian Embassy in Oman to get it renewed. They refused saying he has enough space left in the PP!!. This was a genuine request turned down because of a stupid technicality and insensitiveness to an Indians genuine need. And this happened one month ago! Nothing has changed at the Embassy level, and getting it changed is Sushma Swaraj's job, and NOT THE PR EXERCISE she is undertaking now.

 

I have nothing against her. She is indeed one of the hard working ministers who has stayed away from controversies, and has taken a secondary role under Modi, who is aggressive on foreign policy. But I really wish she will buckle down to bring about changes in the system, than bailing out isolated individuals.                  

The Art of Sending Individual Greetings and Invitations

The January 1st New Year Day has no real significance. For me, it is just another day. The Gregorian Calendar, which we follow, is itself unscientific, and a bit of a joke, unlike the lunar based Indian Calendar. And in any case, more than 50% of the World don't celebrate Jan 1st as New Years Day. But that is for another post.

 

This post is about simple courtesies. I still remember, in 1982, when my Sister got married, we printed 2000 Invitation Cards, of which nearly 1000 were for invitation in person, and balance to be posted. Even those posted, many, required personal letters to be attached. Also, one has to write by hand the addresses, a painful experience.

 

We, being a nucleus family, meant me and my mother had to personally visit at least 600 houses, with balance 400 to be distributed to classmates and friends. My elder brother arrived from Delhi only two days before the Wedding, Sister, of course, was not allowed to join the Invitation party, and Father - he would not be bothered to go house to house to invite people. He remained the master strategist, and HQ bound.

 

But the tiring experience taught me the value of human relationship, how much people, whom we have not met for years, really appreciated our visit, and their happiness at being honoured with a personal invitation. No wonder, 95% of those invited made it a point to attend the function.

 

The above was a norm those days, and still is, in rural areas at least.

 

But times have changed. With the advent of modern communication tools, people have lost the old world courtesy.

 

It galls me when I get an invitation attached to a mail, and me being part of a gigantic mail list. It is bad enough that my e mail id is given to all and sundry, and the recipient idiots clicking 'reply all' and sending a 'thanks for invite' reply, further inconveniencing me.  A wedding in the family occurs once in a decade or so. Can we not take the trouble of sending individual mails with names clearly mentioned in the dialogue box, along with the attachment? I do it, and I expect others to do it too. I feel insulted when I am part of a crowd. There is no personal touch.

 

What triggered this mail is this years New Year Wishes I received in Whatsapp. Without exception, none was personal in nature. Everyone just sent a Video (which is bad enough, with each video 5-8 mb in size), or image and used the 'Sent to All' option.

 

I too had a simple image as greeting, but I made it a point to add a message as Caption individualizing each Greeting with the name of the recipient and an additional message.

 

How many contacts do we have whom we want to really wish on New Year, Onam, Vishu or Deepavali? 20? 25? 30? or maximum 50?.

 

Can we not take some time to remember them personally and send individual messages?

 

Or better still, as someone close to me does every occasion - Call them up personally and wish them!

 

That would be great, right?

What I would like the Government of India do in 2017 - 2

Continued from Part 1..................

1. Free the Hindu Religious Places from Government control. Unfortunately Hindus get the rough end of the stick when the pseudo secular parties like Congress are in Governance. They hardly go anything during the Vajpayee NDA Tenure, and they haven't got much during the Modi NDA Tenure so far. The least this Government can do is to give the same rights to Hindus to manage their Religious places, as has been given to other religions.
2. With cultivable land shrinking, it is high time we adopted innovate methods of farming. Modi is an unabashed believer of Israeli type of farming, and a new Green revolution is the need of the hour. We need to move away from water intensive crops to more cash generating crops, that take a less toll on the soil and water, while bringing more benefit to the farmer. Modern farming methods that increases productivity 2-3 times, which is available is to be adopted.
3. Farmers should be encouraged to go for integrated farming, that includes value added production facility. It is a known economic fact that basic farming is not likely to produce high returns. Milk fetches Rs 30 for the farmer, but the products processed from milk fetches him 3-4 times the revenue for a little additional cost. Turnkey SME projects can be offered to farmers at reasonable rates and these units can be integrated with a regional, national agro products/ value added agro products marketing network and/or in a e-marketing platform, which is already in place. Retraining and re-orientation of farmers is the need of the hour.
4. Considerable exploitation of fresh graduates, Engineering or otherwise, occurs in our Manufacturing sector. These graduates are taken in as trainees and asked to do the job of a factory worker for wages less than minimum wages, and discarded at the end of the year. I have no objection to them doing the blue collared work. In fact, I encourage it, and will be a good learning experience for them. But they need to be paid fair wages. Government can agree with Employers and ensure fair wages, and longer tenure with Government bearing a portion of their salary for a period of two years.
5. There is a privileged class of professionals in India, mostly Metro based, who are working in good companies. These people have lost connect with the other India, the rural Bharath. The rural Bharath's children lack exposure, and are at a disadvantage. The professionals can be asked to dedicate X hours of rural/social work with youngsters in rural areas in a year and they could be allowed a rebate on Income Tax for fulfilling their Social Obligation, while the rural children benefit by gaining the much needed exposure.
6. A simple tweaking of School Kids time table, with only three subjects/languages taken per day, instead of all the six, as is vogue now will reduce the weight of the school bag by half. The number of periods per subject per day can be doubled, on those days the subjects are taught. For example, Maths, Science and English can be taken on Mondays, Wednesdays, two periods each. Social, Hindi, and Third language can be taught on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Friday can be kept flexible to accommodate subjects/languages based on syllabus requirements. Teachers work load wont increase, and children will get an extra day between classes to internalize what was taught in the Classroom. I had forwarded this suggestion to PMO, who in turn forwarded it to Ministry of Education.