Am I being watched......

For those of you who know me well, saying that I am observant, would be an understatement. And so it was; my antenna was up early this morning as I waited to board a flight at the Bangalore Airport.

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I find observing people and the goings on around me more interesting than burying oneself in the free newspapers that are ever present in the airport.

I zeroed in on an old man who was tearing parts of a newspaper. He looked around furtively and continued with his task. Peopled around him, muddled in their own world, did not seem to notice this rather strange behaviour. He finished with one newspaper and commenced with the next. When he found something that interested him, he glanced furtively around and tore that bit. Intrigued I strolled over to where he was sitting. What was he tearing? Imagine my surprise when I noticed that he was tearing Sudoku and crossword puzzles from the newspapers and putting them into his pocket. He caught my eye and flushed!

My roving eye took in the youngster listening to his Ipod. The beatified look on his face, the half smile and the nodding of his head indicated that he was listening to his current anthem. A pretty young girl passed him by; there was an exchange of glances. A slow smile formed on his face but it froze as the girl walked on by expressionless.

Somewhere behind me a middle aged lady was taking instructions on her mobile phone as to how to switch it off on the flight. Without looking behind, I was able to make out that she was a novice on using the phone as well as talking on it. Heads were turning as she let loose a torrent of words in a loud nasal twang. She hollered that she could not hear the person on the other end. So natural; when the voice on the other side fades, we tend to raise our own voice.

A family of four was lost. They were probably infrequent fliers. The patriarch was looking for the toilet but was embarrassed to ask anybody around him. He asked his wife and children to be on the lookout for one. Just then their flight was announced. There was panic. The patriarch rushed to the nearest airline personnel and with his digit finger raised asked the directions to the toilet. He was directed towards it; and his entourage joined in escorting him to his pit stop.

Disinterested voices announced the arrival and departures of flights. Ground staff went about their task in robotic fashion. People of all shades and hues passed through the boarding gates; some bored others excited. Physically challenged individuals were hauled along in wheel chairs. Babies cried as if in protest. Then it was my turn to board my flight. One glance at the queue and I had my next victim. 

But was I being watched?

This is written by Professor Lionel Aranha. He is an Adjunct Faculty in the Humanities and Liberal Arts Area of IIM Kozhikode. Follow him on Facebook here.

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Way to go, India!

Dhoni once told his wife that she is only the third most important thing in his life after his country and his parents. When asked if he has his newborn on his mind (whom he hasn't even met), Dhoni denied, and said that he is focused only on the job at hand. Playing for his country. Cool, calm, an excellent wicket keeper, an outstanding batsman and one of the best captains India has ever seen. 7 wins, 70 wickets, and a well played semi final.

He had tears in his eyes at the end of the match, especially when asked if he will play in the 2019 World Cup. And the things people are saying about him! About Kohli! About Anushka! The cruel jokes, the insults. When did the mindset of Indians change so drastically? When did it become so disgusting and shameful? And to think we were so proud of our culture, the sense of respect we have in our language, thoughts, actions.

It's not just about cricket. The issue is so much deeper than that. It's about the mentality. Mentality about sports, religion, politics, people, women, the poor, power, equality, rights and a million other things. When did it change so much? Or maybe it's been changing all these years and I started noticing this only with the regular use of social media. I thought some morons I met after moving away from home were exceptional. But I see the larger picture now!

Before that, maybe I was in my own world, living by the advice and rules my parents brought me up with. It's so simple. Respect. Don't judge. Be kind. Don't lie. Love unconditionally. Take extra care of children and senior citizens. Avoid harsh words or fights. Keep your integrity. Don't compromise with your principles.

I know sometimes it's not as simple as it sounds. That it's not just black and white, but numerous gray areas. But the basics? Why can't just the basics be followed? If you peel off the layers of teams, religions, nationalities, languages, genders, age groups, qualifications, orientations, actions, mistakes, and the nature of people, the basic is just to be a good human being. And once you are a good human being, you can be a good everything! All the layers will be as good as the root, then! Why is it so hard to understand?

Once again I couldn't finish the national anthem yesterday without choking up. It's sad that the love for my nation runs in my veins but everything else going on has started to disgust me.

Well, nowadays, every single thing like this results in a rant from me. I immediately start feeling angry, sad, disappointed, helpless, disgusted.. And to think ours is one of the most respectful, noble and rich cultures in the world. What a waste!

Anyway, if I was MS Dhoni, I would retire and decide not to play the 2019 World Cup. No point in playing for morons. But, you see, he wants to serve the army in some way after he retires from cricket. Oh, just patriotism and the satisfaction of being a righteous man. Silly thing to be bothered with, isn't it?

Aah, at least after he retires from the army, he would have his cricket money to fall back on instead of joining the others at traffic signals, hungry and disrespected.

Way to go, India!

This article is written by Krishna Raval Maithel. Follow her on Twitter here.

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Thinking out of the class - IIMK Professor's advice for the graduating students

Now that you are graduating & moving into the real world of business, a few points to ponder:

1.    Global gas & PPTs do continue to work. But try massaging egos and buffing of posteriors as well.

2.    If you get a good boss, you’ll become happy; if you get a bad one, you’ll become an entrepreneur.

3.    Just because your fishing expedition wasn’t a grand success on campus, don’t, for heaven’s sake; fall in love with the first person who walks into your line of vision.

4.    You will be afforded with the opportunity of meeting people who think their crap smells of lavender. You don’t need to imitate them. Remember the story of the rabbit – the poor chap died of strain trying to imitate the elephant taking a dump.

5.    Learn to be humble; humility doesn’t kill. Remember the African proverb: ‘When the great lord passes the peasants bow deeply and silently fart.’

6.    Bide your time & do get married. In the long run, marriage is all about meeting of minds & not mating of bodies. It’s about companionship.

         a.    For the ladies; prince charming is a myth. Remember the Malayalam proverb pointing out that it is difficult to tie an elephant in the cowshed.

         b.    For the guys; never lead a girl whose father considers her as a princess to the altar. She usually thinks she’s the queen.

7.    Cherish the fleeting moments that you get to spend with your parents. They aren’t going to be around for long. There is no point in regretting later that you did not have time for them. Their union of passion resulted in you; your mother bore you for the whole of 9 months & then both your father & mother groomed you for the next 12 years!

8.    Money isn’t everything in life. Don’t chase money. It will come around when you have given up chasing it. Make enough for your needs & some; but not to satiate your greed. Need can be satisfied but greed can never be.

9.    I’ve learnt that the beauty of life does not depend on how happy you are; but on how happy others can be because of you.

10.    Make your children the focal point of your happiness. Allow them to bloom as per the laws of nature. Teach them that there is a brilliant world beyond the government sponsored education system that we helped to perpetuate.

11.    One day, sooner or later, you will have to leave this world. When you came in you bawled your lungs out; when you leave you should be remembered as a smile on someone’s lips in spite of the tears that may flow!

Goodbye.

Take care & be good!

This advice is given by Professor Lionel Aranha to all the graduating students. He is an Adjunct Faculty in the Humanities & Liberal Arts Area of IIM Kozhikode. Follow him on Facebook here.

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Religion: The satanic temple for kids

Does religion actually teach the true values of life to kids and bring out the best in them or does it actually impede their natural potential. Here are the ten advantages of raising children without religion

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1. Fearless - This is true. Kids are not afraid of devil and Satan. They are not afraid of spending overnight in house by themselves. Nobody taught them of devils, hell and Satan. Free their minds of evil and harmful thoughts. Kids are more outgoing when the fear factor to subdue them is not there.

2. Less Friction - There is no friction between kids and parents - no harassment or nagging them to go to church or temple and participate. My childhood memories are full of my mother doing same to me.

3. Family Time - Quality time / free time Sunday. Sunday can be a very good family day for plenty of activities. Sunday was otherwise a lost day in my childhood.

4. Respect - This is very true. Kids respect parents as they think parents are broad minded and kids appreciate parents. As they grow up, they will find out religions are one of the major reasons for wars and fights in the world. Kids feel hypocritical if parents follow religions and then complain about wars and fights.

5. Marriage - Kids can be friendly with anyone and are even free to select their life partners without the bounds of religions. This is huge welcoming factor for the kids to be happy in life after marriage. Lots of time, the person they wanted to be with ended up in a different religion.

6. Rebellious attitude - Rebellious attitude is not there with kids as parents don't tell them to do things which they don't like.

7. Well Mannered - Kids are more charitable, benevolent and good mannered. This is what normally the kids become as against the common belief that religions are only source of teaching morality.

8. Sex - Sexual behaviors are normal: kids when they grow up become sexually active and can do things with an open mind without feeling guilty. This will lead them to behave very responsibly in engaging and in handling sexual desires with the opposite sex. Not feeling guilty is a huge factor in growing to be responsible adults.

9. Ethical - Kids are found highly ethical. Religions play a negative role in making people unethical. Everything religions teach are against normal thinking. Example, Most Christians preach non-Christians will end up in hell. When the teacher lectures about evolution, churches teach opposite. This will make them believe against rational things-parents are irrational as they tell the kids to follow things blindly without questioning.

10. Sensitivity - Insensitive to animals and other species: religions make humans or Homo sapiens a superior species. It is really not true. We are very similar to chimps. However our 20 years of training is what is making us think scientifically and logically. Cave men did behave like animals

This article is written by Abraham Binoy. He is the President at Baylight Construction LLC, Englewood, Florida. Follow him on Facebook here.

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Pakistan wants India to win against Australia

Though supporting Pakistan for a cricket match is frowned upon in India, it is surprising for me to find few Pakistanis showing allegiance to India for the semi-finals against Australia in this World Cup. I was browsing through social media for the past two days and I found interesting facts to support my hypothesis. In one post, an Indian working in Middle East commented that he had seen Pakistanis supporting India when Pakistan is not playing. But he equally blamed Indians for not supporting Pakistan when India is not playing. He mentioned, “We Indians do support Sri Lanka or Bangladesh but not Pakistan.” He added that, most Pakistanis support India when their nation is not playing. It is really interesting for someone like me who had never interacted with any Pakistanis.

If you’re an active follower of cricket, you might know about Mohammad Bashir, a Pakistani who supports India when Pakistan is not playing. In fact, Dhoni used to arrange tickets for him.

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Here is a blogger from Pakistan supporting India after Pakistan lost to Australia. Follow her here

 

I have heard stories from School and College friends stating that Muslims in India in their locality used to burst crackers when Pakistan wins against India. I personally asked few of my Muslim friends which nation they would support. This question of me blew the fuse of many and they were angry at me for asking such a stupid question. Before jumping the gun and stamping me as an RSS agent, I am sure you’d have heard about the 2011 semi-finals between India and Pakistan when Srinagar was shut down on the day of encounter and fall of wickets on the Indian side was cheered by bursting crackers. May be, I should not have stereotyped and jumped to conclusions. You cannot blame me too. I have asked this question to few of my Tamil friends, “If the LTTE occupied area in Sri Lanka was announced as a separate country and if they had a cricket team, and if they played against India, which team would you support.”

I am sure, the answers I got were very surprising. I remember an article published by a Chinese magazine that said each state in India has a sub-level identity and a wider Indian level identity is missing in India and therefore each state can be disintegrated into separate nations. Though it is a fantasy for China to think that way, the answers to my question intrigued me. Even today, Tamils feel that the media is biased towards the state. Let me quote an example, a leading English daily mentioned, “Indian fishermen fishing near territorial waters of Pakistan got arrested by Pakistan” while when Sri Lankan navy arrest the fishermen from Rameshwaram, the same newspaper mentioned, “ Tamil fishermen arrested by Sri Lankan navy.” Why not Gujarati fishermen in the earlier case and why Tamil fishermen in the latter case? This post was doing rounds in the social media for a while.

May be this is the agenda of the Political masters to divide and rule to keep the powers to themselves. I am not sure how many who doesn’t know the language Tamil know this fact that the word “Nadu” in Tamil means country. So what Tamil Nadu means is Tamil Country. Seems like a larger political agenda. I am not trying to justify the answers my friends gave but I am trying to find answers for myself. Before writing this article I asked few friends why they did not support Pakistan in cricket matches when India is not playing. Pat came the reply, we hate them. When I probed them further, some said, it is because of religion. So I asked them, do you hate UAE too? They said NO. After talking to almost like twelve friends, the conclusion is, they export terrorism into India and have killed innocent civilians. They quoted Kargil and then Mumbai attacks and numerous bomb blasts that happened in India.

In 1999 test match between India and Pakistan, the Chennai crowd at Chinnaswamy stadium gave Pakistan a standing ovation when they won the match. Is that possible anymore? Why is it that the trend has changed and we don't even remember that such an event happened? So people in India hate Pakistan for its terror activities in Indian soil. What could be the reason for Pakistanis to support India in cricket matches when India is not playing? Do they also realize that the terror attacks in India are because of the terrorists who infiltrate from the Pakistani side? Or is it because the very few rational thinkers in Pakistan are the ones active in social media? Whether this was their opinion for long or things changed after Pakistan started imploding on its own due to internal crisis. Whatever it may be, it is a surprise for someone like me.

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Does honesty really pay?

I would have definitely made my parents proud had I chosen to become an IAS officer.  They were very confident that I could have easily cracked it. Well, I can hear their mumbling mind voices now that I didn't even try for it. It was in my second year in engineering that it dawned on me that we live in India and all such proud IAS officers can thrive only in movies. My friend and I had serious discussions about the profession and finally decided that there shouldn’t be a dilemma between the two, Money and Power. It was never between money and service. Even now nobody considers IAS as a service rather it is known for the power it gives. We chose money. Fast forward ten years, the same friend and I started a business venture (you cannot call it a venture; it is more of a hobby).

When you run a business or work for some business, time is the most valuable commodity. You cannot run from pillar to post to get your files moved and waste your days particularly when you have a foreign partner. Time is money. Either you get it done or your competitor would get it done. It is cut throat competition. But how far will you go to win in this competition. Would you bribe someone through money or other means? Would you desist from wrong-doing even if you lose? Welcome to India, where honesty in life is a rarity. I am sure you’d have heard about honest officers from the cadres of IAS, IPS and IFS being transferred every now and then for being honest. Today when the nation mourns the death of the honest and upright officer D K Ravi’s untimely death, there are few questions that linger. When the entire police force is solving or covering up various scams and rapes in this country, can we expect the Police Department to probe this case without any influence? Already they have concluded that there is no foul-play and it is a case of suicide. It is highly surprising why an officer like D K Ravi would commit suicide. What was he going through? There are lots of stories floating around the internet and one thing that is clear is, today, every parent of any IAS, IPS or IFS officer would be worried. Forget about movie dialogues, which will never happen in a household. My dad would have advised me to go to office wearing blinkers had I been an IAS officer. If everyone is going silent about the scams, why should you worry would have been the exact words he would have spoken.

From the Facebook wall of DK Ravi's batch-mate

I can say with no doubts that he is an honest and proud dad but when it comes to his only child, this is how he will talk. For parents who would love to teach their kids about honesty and being courageous, they would be in a dilemma today whether to teach them to be courageous, upright and lose them or to go with the flow and prosper. What would you do as a parent? I was wondering few days back, would we have Bhagat Singhs in India again. Would we have such patriots for whom the nation comes first? Yes, there are many amongst us. Again, I would like to ask this question, what would you do as a parent? Would you teach your child to be honest and upright or to go with the flow?

PS – My heartfelt condolences for the family of the officer D K Ravi. I have never seen such public outrage and protest for a death of a Government official. You will always live in our hearts!

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1 ball, 4 runs and 1 wicket

No this post is not about cricket.. the title is the name of the Tamil movie I watched yesterday.. and even the movie is not about cricket.. its a Horror movie.. Yes.. and that is the WORST horror movie I have ever seen.. probably because I have not seen any of the movies where Bipasha Basu acted without make up.  Horror movies can be scary, not scary, weird, sad, horrible etc.. but this movie was funny.. extremely funny and that too unintentionally.

What are the ingredients of a horror movie in India? A good looking heroine, horrible looking hero, hero’s comedian friend who always cracks pathetic jokes, a house which looks like a normal house in the day and like an haunted house in the night, a weird character in the house like the servant or a gardener who comes every night with dim lighting to scare the young couple, intimate scenes between hero and heroine before the introduction of the ghost, Ghost gets into the heroine’s body, heroine becomes scary, Frying pan becomes a Flying pan in the house, neighbor’s dog dies, an amateur exorcist comes,the exorcist runs away, professional exorcist comes, everybody in the theater runs away.  This movie has most of these ingredients.. but….

In the opening scene of the movie, one lady is shown hanging from the fan. Lucky person, she doesnt have to see the rest of the movie. Then the scene cuts to a temple where the heroine is shown eloping with the hero. I didnt know if I had to feel happy or sad for the hero. After a fiery chase, few flying vegetables and more flying human beings and tons of artificial screeching sounds of the wheels they escape from her groom and both of them reach the haunted house. Even my four year old daughter could explain what would happen next but in a better way than what they showed in the movie. Yes the ghost in the house gets into the heroine’s body.

The next one hour of the movie revolves around how the people and other objects revolve (literally) around the house because of the ghost. The heroine now has more make up with the voice level literally crossing 100 decibels. She walks around the house without swinging the arm, with loose hair and a plain white saree and turns suddenly when she hears a noise. The movie now has more silent moments followed by a sudden and scary noise err music. The hero gets restless and so do we.

Finally the hero gathers courage and goes near the heroine (ghost) and when we expect him to do something bravely that would chase the ghost off, he falls at the feet of the ghost and asks the ghost to leave the heroine’s body. (Bull Shit – No.1) The ghost does what the audience wanted to do… spit on his face and tells him its flashback. Apparently there lived a woman with her husband in the house. One day both of them fight for watching TV. The husband wanted to watch cricket (Ha!! finally the reason for the title is revealed) and the wife, the last episode of a mega serial. The house was so huge that they have 3 floors in the house all for themselves but they couldnt afford a second TV (BS – No.2). During the fight the husband slaps the wife and she hangs herself from the fan (BS – No.3). Wow.. the first scene hanging and now. Is it the same woman?? Yes… the director did a recall. Amazing stuff from him. Who would have thought?

The flashback is over and now its the hero’s turn to spit on the ghost.. and asks about what she wants to leave the body. The reply is “I have to watch the climax of the mega serial which I missed”. Now I felt like hanging myself. The hero leaves to go to the channel office to get the recording of the serial and the movie gets over with the following line “To be Continued…”. I walked off the theater appreciating the director’s guts to take a Part two of this movie and expect audience to watch it without dying.

This movie review is written by Comedian Praveen Kumar. To know more about his upcoming shows follow him on Twitter @Funny_Leone

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