Random Ramblings

One of my friends let us call him AK got admission into an IIM. Being a sarkari institute there are some conditions to be fulfilled. One of them is physical and mental fitness certificate (or sanity certificate!) from a civil surgeon or its equivalent. This entails rounds to one of the many sarkari hospitals, as the ones from private practitioner are not allowed. So began my not so long, yet a long journey through few government hospitals of the city for a work that was supposed to last few minutes. First was the Jaideva Institute of Cardiology. But there they declined stating that that is an autonomous institute. We left thinking that “Hadh hai … autonomous hua to kya hua … hai to sarkaari … and these stupid requirements of the Institute”. But we got the address of next location and continued our quest. Next location was Sanjay Gandhi hospital for accident. The doctor had gone for breakfast and we were told to wait for few minutes. We kept on bugging the receptionist/ nur

These days almost every TV channel has its own talent hunt show, inspired by Indian Idol, showcasing judgement and other talent of of who is who of the music industry. Some of them even managed to have warring personalities like Annu Malik and Alisha Chinoy to share the same dais. The talent is often amazing, yet at times it seems so melodramatic, so contrived. Each disappointment comes with a Pandora box of emotions, and then some inspiring and some harsh words by the judges. Who knows how much truth is there in it. For example a recent 'speech' by Himesh, “Mujhe tere ghar roti chahiye!” Maybe it was a promotion of his acting talent before Aap ka suroor releases. And then there are participants making a case for themselves, so that people vote in their favor. Yet, few survive this ruthless competition. And then comes a flurry of emotions, probably with an attempt to influence the decision. But it seems, this has become more of a norm then exception. More often than no

Recently I read a quote in TOI: " What is difference between Indian democracy and American? Ans. In American demoracy it is OK to kiss in public, in Indian it is OK to pee in public but not to kiss in public " Moral police, what do you say? Probably you would love people to be forever in the dark and not make any choice out of their will, but rather they would love to see them towing to their line of thought, or rather lack of it, pollute the culture of free will and people taking responsibility for their actions (if it exists !), and ransack the place where they read this thing, if at all they do.

Why is it that we often dream about those things which we know we won’t be able to get, and even if we get it, the price may be too heavy? And yet dream on till it becomes too painful to live without that dream. And become a prisoner of your own dreams; the dreams that were supposed to set you rolling, dreams that ought to give direction.

The vegetable vendor yelled. It had been an hour since she ventured out in a somewhat posh locality to sell vegetables. This has been her routine since around a decade. She made a small profit in a day and on some good days the profit touched Rs 100 mark. But in most of the days it was much less than it. She managed few hundred rupees, usually breaching the Rs 1000 mark a month. That was barely enough to make her family earn a decent living. She had been living with her 3 children, which she had before leaving her abusive, alcoholic husband. Like many others she dreamed that her children will have good education. She was an illiterate but she understood the importance of education for good living. This was one of the reasons she did not allow any of her children to work, though occasionally they helped her. Today seemed a bad day. Not even a single buyer since an hour. Finally one lady showed up. She was a 30 something, stout, seemingly snobbish lady with loads of make up. She cam

“ Churchgate", I said. He dumped my luggage into the boot space and went to the driver’s seat. He was a man probably in his late 50s, seemed like a person who hardy opened his mouth, so unlike many drivers who start blabbering the moment you step in the taxi. A tall man, with some hairs white, though they were mostly covered by a cap, rather a hat. His face wasn’t visible, especially in the dim light little after sunset. But fifteen minutes in the journey which would take probably an hour, his baritone voice started talking. He was quite amazed by the level of ignorance I had about Mumbai. I told him that I belong to a small town near Allahabad. He also belonged to Allahabad. And then came numerous discussions from government policies to sports to Indian economics. He revealed that he left his hometown in his 20s and is has been a long since then. He had a daughter who was married and a son who would be getting married shortly. However, I didn’t go deep into his personal life

Few hours and it has been world of a difference. I had to catch a flight and to catch that I had to go to Delhi taking a 2 hour ride in general compartment of a train. In the general compartment, it was not much overcrowded, maybe 120 odd people in a bogie that can seat around 80 people. Not overcrowded by any standards in this part of world, and they all were comfortably adjusted at their seats. There was a teen smoking his beedi, who reluctantly put it off after I complained that it was causing uneasiness in me. Then there was that lady in her teens probably married who was hollering on probably everyone out there. Then there was a group of 3 ladies, of whom one was a grandmother, and 2 had probably 9 kids between them (I could count only till 9!). They seemed highly ignorant about where Delhi was and were reluctant to believe that they had still more than an hour before Delhi came. Yet they were adamant on being close to gate as they had kids and didn’t want to be left behind when

Do good intentions necessarily do good? I think, at times an action or even an advice with a good, perfectly noble intention may do more harm than good, or do no good at all. Still it is often followed, and often believed to be gospel truth ... not because of the merit in the advice or action, but due to the tag of good 'intentions' attached.

The performance of Indian team in the cricket world cup has disappointed millions of cricket fans (... or the word 'fans' is an understatement!) across the country, and I too am one of them. But isn't it that we are going overboard with it ? Like burning effigies, attacking the houses of players, or a politician going overboard by saying "I can play better cricket than the team" among many other derogatory things. Yes, they were same people who were adulated and at some places, even worshipped and now they are suddenly living under a constant threat, by the same junta. Cricket is not alone. Often in various other fields, people love to see you rise, then adulate you once you are at top, raises its expectations and then they literally rip you apart if you fail to meet their great expectations even once. This might be most in case of sports (cricket in this part of world), but even other fields have ween the same. For example few years ago bollywood had seen a sen

Why do people believe in God? Is being religious tantamount to believing in God? Does God exist? These are few questions which have kept many philosophers and thinkers busy since ages, and often at loggerheads with each other and with the society. I am no philosopher, nor a great thinker. But yes, these questions do arise in my mind, and too often especially when I see the countless customs and traditions, which often overlap with some superstitions, when I am told to perform rituals or puja, when I am criticized for being an atheist as I am unwilling to indulge in sycophancies to please gods for favors and often here and there. I am not an atheist. But I am not a great believer either. Actually I am a terribly confused person. I am not sure why do people believe blindly in an all powerful supreme being without questioning, and accepting (or pretending to!) everything that comes their way – good or bad as the will of god. Maybe it is just because it is convenient to do so. It o