Die for us but don’t ask better living standards!

That’s the sentiment that is being sent across to all our armed forces. All the three heads of Army/Navy and Airforce are unanimous in their statement that it is high time the pay structure is revised. However our government seems to be avoiding this issue for some reason.

Even after scores of resignations from high-ranking officials the government prefers to turn a blind eye to this matter. The salary revisions in all the Central government employees, the ministers and their bureaucrats was justified saying that Indian economy is booming and the financial health of Indian economy is in a great state, then why a step motherly treatment to our defense personnel?

They form a very important vertical in India’s progress then how can we ignore their and their family’s well being? As it is the defense sector is threatened with low recruitments. The number has been steadily declining for some time and if they are not given enough perks and better pay packages the sector is bound to loose its charm and cease to be lucrative.

Considering the high levels of insurgency and the dangers that they face on a daily basis, I guess it is a small amount to pay. Why would anybody with decent education prefer to join the Army/Navy/Air and subject themselves to dangers while they have much better lucrative careers to look forward to? Even if they did for the love of their motherland would their love survive the test of our ignorance where we don’t even think it is our responsibility to ensure that their families lead a better life?

The outdated pension plans that our government has in place in not even enough for an individual to survive then how can a young widow take care of her family? Why would a layman think of joining the defense sector?

Our government needs to introspect and chalk out better options for this sector. It is a matter of pride to serve your country, please don’t make them feel ashamed of their decisions, don’t make our armed forces feel that the citizens of India, people whom they protect day in and day out don’t care for them!

From Hindustan Times -
The wage increases recommended by the pay panel could see the top generals getting as much as Rs.90,000 a month. In the case of PBORs, the commission has recommended that at the entry level, sepoys (privates) and their equivalents receive a minimum of Rs 7,860, rising to a maximum of Rs 40,600 for subedar majors and their equivalents. (All before tax)

"I would like our civil and defence services to be properly rewarded. I also believe that the tax payers will not grudge anyone of us better remuneration as long as we are serving the best interests of our people, most efficiently," Manmohan Singh

I hope we can do better than this and come up with a reasonable solution!

IPL - a glittery fanfare in Bangalore

A little late but nevertheless....

The IPL twenty20 series had a grand opening in Bangalore and the atmosphere in Bangalore was certainly electrifying. With the home team playing, people were busy laying their hands on last minute tickets that were available.

The event started at around six, and looking at the kind of celebrities who adorned the event, the Airport must have been chocked for most of the time in the past 2 days. The glittery event also saw the captains of all the teams being formally introduced and they signed a memorandum promising to keep the spirit of the game alive.

There was no dearth of music, excitement, fun, food, glitter and in front of a packed stadium the opening match of the grand IPL series kick-started. I am not much of a cricket fan so; spare me from naming any of the players or grading their performance!

The energy was superb and the show that Sharukh Khan and his band, Oh! Yes there was a huge parade from the Bollywood industry that had come to witness this event was enthusiastic. It must have reminded them of college sports events!

The result as everybody knows - Kolkatta washed out Bangalore and there was nothing called as face saving grace in this game. The highlight for the Bangalore newspaper hence was the party before/after the game than the actual game! I wouldn’t blame them much for this; they hardly had anything to write about.

All in all the kick start to the game was fabulous, what needs to be seen is if the energy levels remain the same till the end of the series or the bubble bursts after the initial hoopla!

Just something that criss crossed by mind

Was watching ‘Step Mom’ the other day. It had a scene where the mother is dying and for Christmas she presents her child with a homemade quilt that traces the child’s growing days by way of photos scanned all over the quilt. It had many tiny memoirs sewn in the quilt, right from a piece of the child’s most favourite dress to the image of first step that she took. It was very touching and a beautiful way to deal with death.

It made me think, had I known could I have dealt with the death in my family differently? There were so many things; so many days of my life that I shared with them. They all were so important in my life… All the little secrets that I shared with them, my growing up days that they witnessed, the immense joy that they bestowed on me, the assurance that they gave me every time while I took a new step, the bedrock trust that they showed in me, soothing my qualms – however small or irrational they might be – How could I ever have wrapped that all in something to show them I care?

I guess it was a good thing that I parted with them so suddenly. I could have never been able to see them in pain, struggling through each day and begging for death while death betrayed them. No! I could have never been able to stand that.

Now atleast I have all the good memories with me, stored securely that no one can tarnish. Bless them for making my life so fulfilling

My visit to the dentist….

Well this isn’t anything new as in my life I have visited a dentist more than I ever visited my grandparents! (A little exaggerated… but now you get what I mean!) Well we can safely say that I am an uncertified dentist owing to my vast experience.

The purpose of visit this time was surgical extraction of my third molar (in simple terms extracting my wisdom tooth). As I have been through this before I knew what to expect, yet was a little scared considering the prolonged time it takes for recovery.

After leaving early from my office I headed first for Subway (I wouldn’t be able to eat anything great for a week, so this is acceptable). After a hearty meal I headed for the dentist and reached on time. As I entered I heard some other guy undergoing the same treatment. How many people end up with crooked wisdom tooth, I wondered – probably a depiction of our crooked lives (philosophical me!)

The moment I sat in the dentist chair, he asked me to open my mouth wide and injected one of those local anesthesia. Once it was numb enough the doctor and his assistant shoved some hundreds of instruments in my mouth as if it was a gold mine!! Then using his sophisticated instruments he started meddling with my teeth as if they were a marble and he, a great sculptor! not to mention in the process I suffered some small bruises and scratches.

The worst was he was giving a running commentary about the whole extraction process (I really wonder how this can be a common habit across dentist fraternity?) “Good that we created an incision in the gum beforehand, otherwise while extracting this deep rooted tooth, there would have been a danger of jaw dislocation….” He went on and on with passion, forgetting that I could here everything and understand it too! I said to myself “Why is that the dentist never wants to remove the tooth that is decayed and the one that he extracts is one of the most healthiest tooth?” another question I continue to wonder…

After some half an hour more I left the clinic minus one wisdom tooth, a swollen cheek, a giddy myself and loads of medicines to pop! The only good thing of this trip was I ate lots of ice-crème.

For the next two days I did nothing but pop those numerous pills, put an ice-pack on my cheek and sleep like dead – I slept for nearly 15 hrs :). Now on the road to recovery I hope the dentist is kind enough to say, ‘everything is well’ and hopefully this is one of my last visits to a dentist – atleast for a long time!

Transfer?... Why dont you shift to North Pole!!

My cousin is getting married in a week and I am extremely happy for her. She seemed in a foul mood yesterday and on enquiring it was understood that her company - TCS, has refused to give her transfer to the place she wants!

She is an IT professional and all these major companies boast about their flexibility in allowing a person to shift to any of their regional offices. Some of the companies even have onsite flexibility i.e if the spouse is also working on the same platform or (whatever that is), then they are sent together for an onsite project if anyone has to leave. Many of the companies are even accommodating in terms of employing the spouse after they relocate; hence her reply was quite shocking and unbelievable.

What was even more irrational was their attitude. She had been following up for the past 2 months, asking them for a transfer and explaining her circumstances. What’s more, as per their (HR and project leader etc) instructions she even refused the onsite offer and now they tell her they cant accommodate her in Pune, but she will have to report to Mumbai!?!?! How weird can one get!

Did they not hear her when she was asking for a transfer to Pune, or they just assumed (looking at the map) that Pune- Mumbai distance isn’t too far!

I was surprised by the apathetic attitude shown by the officials, while all the other companies are interested in showing their employee friendly nature and curbing the attrition rate. When they boast about flexibility in location and loads of other benefits while an employee is joining the company, why can’t they stick to it?

I would have understood if they had said, we cant accommodate you right now as there is no opening, we can try in a month-4-6 months etc. It atleast shows that you are concerned about that employee and are trying their level best! This attitude where you don’t even revert to mails/calls hardly makes any employee propagate the company!

Quota story- the climax just started!

Well this quota debate has had far reaching effects on many people around. To begin with in some newspapers I read quotes like “We hadn’t thought about exclusion of creamy layer from the quota, with the current decision we will have to work out a way on it”

The other said “ Exclusion of creamy layer doesn’t make sense as who else will take the benefit”!?!?! Whatever did this statement mean! It just deflated the halo around this landmark policy!!!

Some media agencies said they were hot on trail of exposing a racket of issuing fake caste certificates! All this triggered by one decision?

I really wonder if the political parties were oblivious to this scam of issuing fake caste certificates? Time and again with admission season coming close such exposures keep happening, yet no action seems to be taken on it. Even before going ahead with a decision relating to 27% quota there were no stringent regulations laid regarding this and now suddenly everybody is crying foul!

Getting fake certificates is nothing new in our country, I guess our great politicians just made a minor error by not realizing that they have opened floodgates for such scams as many more will be joining this thriving business.

Policies that change the society for good are the indicators of good governance while policies that are made to make short term political gains only end up screwing life’s of thousands

Quota upheld – Is there a reason to celebrate?

Yesterday the Supreme Court upheld the quota policy, paving way for 27% reservations in professional education. A judgment that made all and sundry politicians happy, they just gained a vantage point, why wouldn’t they be happy?

The judgment ruling however excluded the creamy layer in the backward caste from using this benefit. I was really amused hearing about this judgment and sad for the fate of education that would be imparted to the coming generations.

Mr. Arjun Singh says that this quota won’t affect other people, as they would increase the number of seats in these institutions ensuring that other students don’t suffer. Come to think of it, I really wonder how he proposes to do that.

Do we have an infrastructure, money and quality staff that can bear this burden? In my college days itself I had seen instances of unrest as the teachers/professors were not being paid at the right time. Now with an increased burden of number of students with the same uncertain conditions does Mr. Singh expect quality education to be imparted to students?

Also how does he propose to exclude the creamy layer is something that needs to be seen. I think in this whole farce many people chose to turn a blind eye on many of the important issues

1. Do they seriously think a person who falls under the category but is from creamy layer would declare that and miss a seat in a premium institute?

2. As this would be brought in affect in phased manner, can the current infrastructure and other auxiliary services be upgraded at a similar speed?

3.How do they propose to keep a check on the background of the students being included in the institution to exclude creamy layer?

4. How many students (excluding creamy layer) would be able to afford the fees of IIM and IIT that now might range anywhere between 5-11 lakhs?

I think we as citizens of India do have a right to these questions, before our great politicians continue their cheap tricks of dividing this country under innumerable heads.

India is now gearing up to compete with world leaders in various fields, do our politicians seriously feel that their cheap tricks would help them in the long run? Does anybody in the world market care if I am a OBC, SC or ST or something else?

They can’t fool an average Indian by saying that they are seriously thinking about uplifting the poor and backward. Because if that’s the case then I want to know why isn’t India successful even after 60 years of independence in providing a decent school in every village across India? Why are there absolutely no substantial scholarships that are being given to rural schools. Today we can’t even boast of 90% literacy, then how does Arjun Singh propose to materialize his haloed reservation quota bill that he has been defending vociferously.

I just hope that Indian politicians grow out of their cheap tricks, that they have been using for ages to fool the masses and we as citizens stop accepting such unrealistic decisions.

Some paradoxes worth pondering…

Was speaking with a very dear friend of mine. On the exterior, she has a great life – a perfect example of a thriving metro-woman. Beautiful, successful, handsome husband who is equally successful. They are one of the affluent families, with great social network… yet there was something missing. She yearns for a child of her own.

It hurts me to see her trying so desperately to fulfill her desire. She is not asking for too much- for maximum couples in India it’s just the next step after their wedding, yet its not so easy either. Endless treatments and doctors efforts have been futile. The couple is healthy and as per docs there are absolutely no problems for them to conceive, yet there is something not right. Some doctors have also said that it is their hectic lifestyle that is a major hindrance and some say it’s about too much stress and irregular habits.

I am no doctor and have no clue about the reasons, but she is my friend and an extremely good person, so it tears me to see her wish not being fulfilled. Their efforts have been tireless and the agony that she subjects herself too, as a part of treatment is just too much to bear. She doesn’t complain and her husband has also been extremely supportive all the while. She has also done all sorts of fasts etc that were told to her for a child and has also put a halt to her surging career to take a break and release herself from a hectic schedule.

Sometimes I feel like yelling out loud… telling her to stop all this, but then the hope that glistens in her eye every time when she is trying some treatment pulls me back.

Is coming to terms with ‘Adoption’ so difficult even today? I might not be the right person to say this, as I am not someone who is in the thick of this problem, yet it just bothers me that even the new emerging and progressive India that we are being ‘touted’ to be, cant come to terms with words like Adoption, girl child etc.

Children are even today, left at adoption centers doorsteps and the adoption centers are still struggling to find good homes for these children. Wonder when the stigma against adoptions be erased.

Are we too hypocratic or is it the fear that we might not be able to love the child as our own child? For now I just pray for my friend…..

Belur- Halebid

Well, in continuance with our chikmagalur trip, as we couldn’t see much there, we decided to see Belur and Halebid. Our driver… the Formula 1 guy was all the more happy to take us there and in pouring rain we reached Belur in record 1 hr flat.

The Belur temple is huge. The moment I entered the main gate I felt transported into a different world. The temples old world charm is enticing enough for even a non- religious person to take a peek. The spread, architecture and panoramic views of the temple were enough to make me spend nearly an hour in the temple.

As I roamed about spell bound taking in the beautiful stone carvings that were crafted with such precision and beauty that I was scared they might come alive any moment, my husband had a field day clicking pictures.

The beauty about these temples is that the carvings are so intricate and beautiful that you really wonder if it is stone. The necklaces worn by the women in the sculptures are so delicately and skillfully done that one could pass his fingers between them.

Both the sites are equally beautiful in terms of the sculptures however it is sad to see the state of affairs at Halebid. The place has been rampaged with cement and concrete blocks to support the now crumbling stone structure. It not only robs the place of its beauty but I really wonder how much good would any of these measures do to the structure. The stone structure is clearly caving in.

It was also sad to see that people were foolish enough to write or rather carve their names and endless crap on the stone structures, be it the pillars or the huge stone Nandi’s next to the temple. Though now the place is circled with ropes and is off-limits for public to touch the structures, the damage is already done. I felt terrible when I saw those grotesque marks and worst of all they were in English! That means the well-educated or literate segment of Indian society is doing/done this crap!!

I remembered the ad issued by Government of India, tourism that is aimed at increasing awareness among public and warns them against defacing our heritage monuments. It is a shame that our government has to release such kinds of ads. We harp about how proud we are of Indian culture and heritage and yet when it comes to preserving them we are the worst at it. And this coming from the educated class is worse, I guess such people are better illiterate, atleast they cant write anything, if they don’t know to read and write.