Thursday, September 29, 2011

A Dumped Dog's Prayer


Don't close the door! Don't push me away.
Why are you lea...ving? Don't make me stay.
Slow down the car, I can't keep up. I am no longer young.
This pavement is hot and my pads are cut running after your car long after it has vanished.
I've got to quit running or my heart will pop.
Every muscle is aching. Why don't you stop?
I'm so hungry and thirsty. Darkness is near.
But I shouldn't leave, he will come for me here.


Several weeks have passed, I am dead on my feet.
They call me a nuisance because I eat off the streets.
Every car that passes, I chase it to see
If it's my master coming for me.
Though I approach those that come near
With trust in my eyes and no sign of fear.
With hate in their voices and a cold, heartless stare,
They threaten to kill me - they don't even care.
Batter my body with rocks that they throw,
I will not leave, he will come, don't you know?


Overtaken with weakness, my body is numb.
I'm sick and so lonely. Oh please, let him come!
I will go back where he first threw me out.
I'll wait for him there, he will come, no doubt.
My thoughts are fading. My chest feels like lead.


I'm sleepy, so sleepy - I can't lift my head.
It's so quiet, so peaceful -- all remains still.
There is my master at my home on the hill.
Yes, I can see him, he's calling my name.
His voice is so gentle, his hands are the same.
He decided he wants me. Things will be fine.
I really do love him, that master of mine.
My tail wags with pleasure. I can't catch my breath.
He came in my dreams, but so did my DEATH!!


~ Advocate for Saving Dogs


Saturday, September 24, 2011

Anna Campaign != J.P. Movement

Everyone these days seems to compare with the Anna Movement with the J.P movement of the 1970's. Is that correct???? I dont't think so....nopes...Anna and J.P. are poles apart with thier movements....


I decided to write this down...because...I had an argument with a friend of mine from Bihar...who thought Anna was just aping J.P......This made me wonder and dig into the history books a little......Dunno if its doing justice...and I am pretty sure...none of my friends..who sometimes read my blog....will find this readable....Anyways.....a writer's got creative freedom...to dish out loads of shit.... ;-)

Anna is like anyone of us....a common man...with an ability to not take NO for an answer.....a guiding force....the neighbourhood elderly patron...who thinks good and doles out good advice to everyone. J.P. on the otherhand was already a larger than life political leader...okay, larger than life...seems to generous a praise...but nevertheless J.P. was a popular leader even before the political turmoil which got rechristened as the J.P. Movement. Anna is like the rudder of a ship and is even portrayed as that while J.P. on the otherhand was like the ships steering wheel...leading from the front....(although he wasn't exactly that....more on this below)

The J.P. Movement, as we know it, was never started by him....it was just rechristened in his name...in other words...credit was gobled up as usual by a politician..... The movement or struggle...or political turmoil....call it what you may....was actually the angst of some engineering students.....Yes..u heard it right...engineering students....from Ahemdabad, Gujrat. Those were difficult times...the 1970's....with food rationing....black marketing....and red tapism...and a larger than life Indira Gandhi....treating the country as its own fiefdom....It was a situation tailor made for a matchstick to strike fire....things tipped over when canteen food prices in the Engineering colleges were increased....the students started agitating all out against this.....There was a Congress government in Gujrat....the CM being Chiman Bhai Patel.....and as was the norm those days...all congress states...deemed themselves invincible because of the larger than life Indira Gandhi....the  Gujrat government looked the other way...hoping the winds on the sails of the studen agitation would not be strong to carry too far forward....Boy!!!!...were they in for a suprise....the student agitation was quickly lapped up by the common man....who were having a hard time making ends meet......then politics took over....but this time for good.....The opposition parties...somehow seeing an opportunity at wresting control of Gujrat from the congress ....decided to throw thier backs behind the student protests.....Voila!!!...what began as a student agitation for price rise in canteen food....became a national issue.....and J.P. came to the fore front of this movement...and his ever eager supporters thinking that they were on the verge of re-writing history (and getting thier own names etched in history)..........rechristened the movement as the J.P. Movement.....The students who had started this...were relegated to history....no one remembers them now
The Anna campaign on the otherhand was something which was championed by Anna himself.....he was a man of guts....who thought of raising his voice himself against the current situation of the country...which if you look under a watch glass is pretty much the same as it was in the 1970's...what with rampant corruption....high inflation....high oil prices...et.al....Anna was joined in his movement by other social activists like Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhusan...and Kiran Bedi......who propelled the movement to stratospheric heights....

On the education front...J.P. was head and shoulders above Anna.......I am not sure, if people know this, because....J.P. was considered to be a rustic villager or rabble rouser as called by his critics.....J.P was an alumuni of the University of Berkeley and a well read man.....J.P. nevertheless his education...was attracted towards communism from the start. Anna on the otherhand is not well read in the typical sense of college education....he did not even complete his schooling...but as happens with such people...he was a self -read man.....

Anna's Campaign has always been non-violent....except from some stray incidents by over excited supporters....where as the J.P. Movement had its roots in violence....When Railways Minister Lalit Mishra was assassinated on a visit to Bihar in the January of 1975, the Congress Party accused Narayan of unleashing a "cult of violence, intimidation and coercion." The assasination was never pinned down on J.P., but the personal views of J.P. never discounted the use of violence as a tool to bring down the mighty government....

The last and probably the most glaring difference between the two mass movements is something which one cannot be seen clearly yet...but one which I am praying will ultimately be the clincher.......J.P. Movement was sprinkled with violence....as a result the Iron Lady Indira had to come down on the movement with what else...an iron hand...to end it...On the other hand...the Anna Campaign has been free from violence till now....so the ruling government cannot justify any violence against the campaign.....and so maybe it cannot be snuffed out......

Hope my wishful thinking in my last paragraph comes out true..... :)

Thursday, September 15, 2011

How leaders should manage failure? ... A true story


(Former President of India Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam at Wharton India Economic forum , Philadelphia , March 22, 2008)

Question: Could you give an example, from your own experience, of how leaders should manage failure?

Answer by Dr. Kalam: Let me tell you about my experience. In 1973 I became the project director of India ‘s satellite launch vehicle program, commonly called the SLV-3. Our goal was to put India ‘s ‘Rohini’ satellite into orbit by 1980. I was given funds and human resources — but was told clearly that by 1980 we had to launch the satellite into space. Thousands of people worked together in scientific and technical teams towards that goal.

By 1979 — I think the month was August — we thought we were ready. As the project director, I went to
the control center for launch. Four minutes before the satellite launch, the computer began to go through the checklist. One minute later, the program threw the launch on hold; the display showed that some control components were not in order. My experts — I had four or five of them with me — told me not to worry; they had done their calculations and there was enough reserve fuel. So I bypassed the computer, switched to manual mode, and launched the rocket. In the first stage, everything worked fine. In the second stage, instead of the satellite going into orbit, the whole rocket system plunged into the Bay of Bengal . It was a big failure.

That day, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, Prof. Satish Dhawan, had called a press conference. The launch was at 7:00 am , and the press conference — where journalists from around the world were present — was at 7:45 am at ISRO’s satellite launch range in Sriharikota [in Andhra Pradesh in southern India ]. Prof. Dhawan, the leader of the organization, conducted the press conference himself. He took responsibility for the failure — he said that the team had worked very hard, but that it needed more technological support. He assured the media that in another year, the team would definitely succeed. Now, I was the project director, and it was my failure, but instead, he took responsibility for the failure as chairman of the organization.

The next year, in July 1980, we tried again to launch the satellite — and this time we succeeded. The whole nation was jubilant. Again, there was a press conference. Prof. Dhawan called me aside and told me, ‘You conduct the press conference today.’

I learnt a very important lesson that day. When failure occurred, the leader of the organization owned that failure. When success came, he gave it to his team. The best management lesson I have learned did not come to me from reading a book; it came from experience.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Pata Nahi....



Pata nahi kyon mai ish tarha kavita types yeh likh raha hoon....

Pata nahi ...but i am missing you really badly tonight....
Pata nahi kyon...aaj mujhe bahut kammi khal rahi hai tumhari.....
Pata nahi kyon aaj mujhe lag raha hai....I am not complete.....
Pata nahi kyon aaj mujhe ish bandh kamre mai ghutan si lag rahi hai....
Pata nahi aaj lag raha hai....I am not able to smile today......
Pata nahi mujhe aaj mai apne aap se bhi baatain nahi kar raha hoon.....
Pata nahi aaj aisa kya ho gaya hai........
Pata nahi tumhe tumko tum meri zindagi ka sabse ehem hissa ho......

Pata nahi par mere se aaj bardast nahi ho raha hai .......
Pata nahi shayad aaj raat ko mai so paaunga bhi ya nahi......
Pata nahi shaayd aaj raat ko mai ro paunga bhi ya nahi........

Monday, September 12, 2011

What Options Do We Have???



Again there was a bomb blast in the seat of power in India some days back. Again some stats were updated....X number of people died and Y number of people got injured. The government appeared as clueless as always. Sweeping statements were made by our adorable politicians. Finger pointing started within half an hour of the news being flashed in news channels......... Something else  happened this time which caught my eye, family members of some of the injured heckled our adorable politicians when they decided to play a visit to the injured ones and show their heartfelt genuine concern to them....It caught my eye, precisely for one reason, people were getting pissed off with the sweeping statements made....It was the proverbial example of tall talks and short work of our adorable Indian Politicians....


As the day progressed, the stats kept on fluctuating with it being X+1 people dying....and Y+1 getting injured...As always opposition started baying for the ruling governments blood...That night, I was not able to sleep (I am an insomniac) and was thinking what all can we Indians do to stop these cowardly acts....Bingo...I got my answer (I am intelligent ;-))in a minute....We need to vote this government out and elect a new stronger one...One which will at least show some spine....make some newer statements instead of the same stale ones, like "We will ultimately win this war against terrorism" and if they do find their guts...then act against the perpetrators of these terrorist acts.....


Well what options we have....Anyone who has any remote knowledge of Indian Politics, would  know...that India has like a million, billion, trillion, gazellion different political parties....I mean parties are created...in the blink of an eye in India.....We have political parties catering to every taste, size, color, creed, cast, region, state, brand of under wear and God knows how many more options.....But primarily all of these political parties can be classified into three broad categories:
  • Congress(I) + allies
  • BJP + allies
  • Third Front = All allies
You are all Eienstiens......so I guess ..you would have figured out....the common factor above is of course Allies :)
What are allies?? Allies are the fair weather friends...who jump a bandwagon at the drop of a heart....If you have been reading my post above...then these are the gazellion political parties...I had talked about.....Each of them think they are King Makers....even if they represent one sex of a sub-sub...caste of a sub-caste of a caste in their constituency of 1000 people.....

So what options we have...if we do vote out the Congress (I) + Allies and do elect a new government....

Congress + Allies


Confused.....because I had just said what are our alternatives if we vote out the incumbent government led by Congress and its allies......What do you expect...despite the numerous scams tainting the government, the 80 year old leading PM contenders, a not so young Rahul Baba who is yet to leave any significant mark in politics..in all probability they would still be voted back into the seat.....We Indians...we are fools...we know it.....but lets see what happens....


  1. We will have some 80 year old as our PM (as Rahul Baba will be too busy suckling on to Mummy ji)
  2. Bombs will continue to return to haunt us...just like monsoons each year....
  3. The PM and his cronies will still declare...."We WILL win this war on terrorism"
  4. Terrorists will be the happiest folks as they know...nothings gonna be done by the Indian government
  5. We will continue to make ourselves fools 
  6. We will continue to appear as the weakest nation in the world.....just ahead of Guinea Bissau and Burkina Faso
  7. We will continue to act as the weak nation we are ....just ahead of Guinea Bissau and Burkina Faso
  8. Twenty three new development projects will be inaugurated for the up-liftment of the poor
  9. These development projects will be named after everyone in the Gandhi family....including the still un born children of Rahul Baba
  10. No development will still be achieved.....
  11. Scams....why am I talking about it.....they will happen...after all that's one thing our adorable politicians are good at....
BJP + Allies:

The second alternative we would have.....yes, Bharatia Janata Party and its bunch of allies...Lets see what will happen if this scenario becomes a reality
  1. Boooooooom!!!! You heard it...you will get to hear the largest bang possible...........Yes..India would do a Pokran III...
  2. Newspapers headlines will be full of bravado......
  3. Followed quickly by Pakistan......Status Quo will be maintained after Pakistan does its own nuclear bomb test.....
  4. India might...just might get into a fire fight with Pakistan terrorists....
  5. Terrorists will hit back with a vengeance...and more common people will die even as our adorable politicians garner Z+2-1*3 security for themselves
  6. Infrastructure projects already approved by the previous incumbent government will be renamed as Chatrapati Shivaji/ Veer Savarkar XYZ development projects
  7. Even after renaming no development will be achieved
  8. Witch hunting....oh!! the favorite sport of our adorable politicians will be played with a vengeance ...every Congress  and its allies politician will be proved to be embroiled in some scam or the other
  9. No congress or its allies politician will still go to jail.
  10. Scams....why am I talking about it.....they will happen...after all that's one thing our adorable politicians are good at....
Third Front = All Allies:

Hmm!!! Seems unlikely....but "yeh India hai...yahan par sab kuch ho saktha hai".....They are actually the essence of India....."JUGAAD"...You heard it....its a quintessential example of JUGAAD.....A rag a tag collection of parties coming together....to form a government.....Lets see what will happen if such a reality does dawn upon us......
  1. There will be 29 parties in the coalition government and 32 contenders for just the post of the PM
  2. There will be at the least 64 Cabinet Minister and 128 Ministers of State (see the exponential rise)
  3. There will be another 256 ministers...without any portfolio...but never the less ministers
  4. There will be 8 Prime Ministers within the span of 5 years...i.e if they pull it that long
  5. Terrorists will have a gala of a time.....because our defense forces will be out of bullets....as the ministry of defense and ministry of commerce will be fighting over in whose constituency the ordinance factory should be opened
  6. Each time a deadly terrorist attack  would occur...there will be finger pointing between Ministry of Rural Development and Ministry of Tribal Affairs....both the ministers belonging to different parties....
  7. Government will forget to point fingers to the terrorists with all the internal squabbling 
  8. The 256 ministers without portfolio will be in permanent world trips....learning about ways to reduce flatulence/increase gobar gas capacity/exotic locations for new Bollywood movies.....
  9. The Jugadus will announce 175 new populist development projects
  10. These deveopment projects will be named after neutrals and some unknown political entities like Seth Chunna Mal/Lovely Singh/Seth Koyla Mal
  11. No development will still occur
  12. Scams....why am I talking about it.....they will happen...after all that's one thing our adorable politicians are good at....or its allies  politician ...however will be prosecuted
Man...I know...all of you are probably gonna think...I am pessimist...I mean I did not write a single word of appreciation for any of the political parties.....I lampooned all of them.....h ah ah ha ha ha

Nonetheless this is the current scenario of our politics.....

PS: If I get arrested by the government after writing this...please get in touch with Anna Hazare...so that an agitation movement can be launched to grant me freedom ;-)