Notes to a development lead–part 2

The rule of the thumb to follow is that he should be able to say no to both the sides, up as well down. One measurable way it to count how many times you have said no to crazy ideas. From up and from down. You should be just while saying no to things that come from below. You should be stubborn when you say no to things that come from above. You should be political when things are coming from the same level.

Emotions generally do ruin things for you. But it is always ok to be emotional in control. Some times strong emotions take you faster to a desired goal. Strong emotions leave back deeper impressions. So it is ok to throw tantrums at the right moment. You should be using tantrum as one in a year kind of tool. In moderation and used at a right place, a tantrum is the best approach. But all this is only exception to the rule. As a lead, you should be empathetic to every one around. Even a worst idea should be given equal importance. Because an idea means a person is trying to think and that he is invested. This is pretty rare. But it can really be faked very very easily. A lead should be able to figure out the fake and even the extent of the fake. It is really interesting that the same thing is applicable from the other side also. A lead *will* throw some rubbish ideas up. He *will* enforce some random policies. He will have to and some times he will fake. But any down to earth person will always do it in proportion.

I think not faking it is not an answer, not for the lead at least. This is really important if you are in a people game to be ready for randomization and loads of bullshit. If you are too principled for that, do stay out of the role.

 

While doing all this, there is a high probability that a lead will just be running in the same place forever. There are so many urgent and important things coming on his plate, there are so many distractions, so many new technical and non technical areas to keep up with - that you may really lose sight of the original goal, to make progress - individually as well as as the team. So a lead should always ensure that things are moving. A lead should have either documented or mind-mapped milestones. He should have complete idea of the situation, at least view of the situation at his level. He should also play out possible variations in his mind.

 

This is more of a game than a nine to five job. If you are doing it really well, you will enjoy it more than any thing in life. At least in the country I am working on, the lead has a young family or just starting one. This required time and emotional investment. It will not fare well in future if you do not get a good foundation of your family and social life set up. In fact doing this will save a lot of time later. These are the most hectic and productive years in a developers life. So it should not also affect the time, effort and concentration at work. This means that a lead should pack more than any thing in any given twenty four hours. Time management is a very important skill here. A lead also should understand that it is more of an emotional activity than a planned one. any plan on paper is obsolete before the ink on it dries (or the file written on it is written to disk and out of cache :) ). This is some thing you should do by the ear. As you progress further, you get a feel for this.Managing your own time, your non work / work time, time of your team and time of your hierarchy for which you are responsible all falls in time management. It also should be noted that taking well placed breaks where you rejuvenate yourselves and the team is more important than it is credited for. Writing software is kind of a soft science. If you are doing any thing even a little involve that cookie cutting, it is going to be in intensely psychological activity. The state of mind of the reportees is very important.

 

So when we talk about time management, it is more of a productivity management. It is not necessary that you and your team is working more hours or getting more things done in given hours. It is also important that the activities are the most meaningful. It is imperative to say no to a lot of things. To find out ways of doing other things in a better way. A lead should always be skeptical of the incremental demands on time and how he ensures that the team is not dragged in to chasing the expanding requirement without any change in the time limits as well as in the deadlines.

On the other hand, a lead also should know that work expands to fill the time. So a normal team when given choice of what they choose will always end up being less productive then when the deadlines are pushed and enforced. The best way a lead deals with this is that he has two faces. He shows the upper layers one face where he is part of the team. He is talking as a developer and a team member when he is facing the upper layers. But when he is talking to the team, he should act as the management. He is ruthless with the deadlines and work assignments. Handing out them as opportunities and baits. Ensuring what ticks people and manipulating that to get the work done. While doing all this, he should also be tracking the actual time spent. So the time management as the traditional concept also should be implemented. In fact it makes a big difference if the lead individually is not managing his time well enough. He should also ensure that he inspires the team to follow his lead in managing the time better.

Notes to a development lead–part I

Last two days I have been feeling expansively self-expressive and affectionate. Here is the proof

http://750words.com/entries/stats/439809

and http://750words.com/entries/stats/442646

and this means that there is yet another barrage on the way, and here it is:

 

Today I will like to talk about the leads. I am kind of an self proclaimed expert about this if you think measuring just the time spent in a position is the criterion for experience gained. Though my experience is limited to established services or product companies. In my opinion in a start up or smaller companies, leads' role is more challenging than not but I have not experience about these.This is specific about technical leads in a product org. I do not have any experience about leading a semi OR non technical project. I am grateful that this is the case. Looking at the ambiguity involved in a well defined and measurable technical product itself, it is completely unimaginable to even fathom the challenges that a lead goes through in a non tech project.

 

In a technical project / product / module, Leads are really in a special position.Transition to a lead position most of the times comes when you are just evolving from being one of the best OR the most senior individual contributor in the team (caveat: Unfortunately it is measured as the number of years spent in the team and the availability of the individual in the lead role - both are not valid criterion in my opinion). As compared to higher management, they have pretty good control and understanding of the project. They generally own some particular piece as individual contributor as a team and are involved in most of the technical decisions of the team. They also have good veto powers on the implementation decisions. Typically they are also technical leads/consultants. I think this is the right position to be in. A lead should be and if he is not, should try to be the most knowledgeable person about the complete module or a project. If this is not the case, he at least should try and setup a confidant group who actually is knowledgeable and can decide future directions. As compared to any higher level managers, lead really knows what is going on in the team.

 

As compared to the team, the lead also knows what is going on in the general scene in the company. He knows the political undercurrents and the way changes are happening in the company better than the individual members of the team. This means that he should set up his network with important people in the org at his and higher level. There are a lot of trainings and events organized by a typical company to arrange this. But in my opinion they rarely work. And it is not also advisable to make this kind of networking a very formal activity. A lead has to be an extrovert and come out of his shell. Even if he is an introvert, he should ensure that he gets to be part of such a group. The challenge is to make such a group not a clique of all the "haves" and the big boys' exclusive club. The challenge is to ensure that it happens seamlessly and happens while not damaging the day to day schedule. They should have the unique ability to think and work at both the levels, the individual contributors of the team as well as the higher ladders. Most effective leads have access to multiple layers up. Of these even more successful are those who do not use this access to speed up things. This is again like an influence which diminishes as soon as you uses it. These two things, horizontal networking as well as upward influence are generally considered with aversion. I think this is a right approach to all this. There are so many ways these things can be misused and can have bad impact on your day to day activities that it is always advisable to treat these with all the skepticism possible. But a long term successful and fast growing lead seems to have these two traits in them.

 

The lead is always in a great dilemma. It is always drilled in to him that he is now part of the management and not a group of friends. He should be able to take unpleasant decisions, enforce certain things in the team, rule out the people he wants to be peers with. Be strict and firm and occasionally say no to people. The rule of the thumb to follow is that he should be able to say no to both the sides, up as well down.

Diggi Raja, shut up or open up

Digvijay Singh, a former chief minister of Madhya Pradesh and one of the top influential people in UPA 2 has made it a habit of being in the news. Most of the times for the wrong reason. And whenever there is controversy related to terrorism he takes keen interest.

Diggi Raja has an interesting history. He led congress in Madhya Pradesh for two consecutive terms. The media impression during his rule were that he is a progressive chief minister. It was one of the marquee state governments of Indira Congress. It was portrayed as poster child. And even after his rule is over, media always glorified his years at the helm. On the back of being a successful chief minister, he was pretty powerful inside congress party. Though the generic idea that I got was that once he lost power, he slowly started moving away from the main stream of congress party. historically this was pretty much  the fate of any one in congress who grows too powerful to be comfortable. He has been assigned multiple posts within the party. But his performance has been kind of away from the public glare. I think Congress at least in theory works in one person one post mode. He is one of the second rung leaders who are hand picked for ensuring that the party grows in future. So he will never participate in any government but will work on brining the party. He was one of the people working with Rahul Gandhi in UP. The luke warm response from Congress there again is being portrayed as a success by congress. This is because they can not afford to show that their prince - next - in - line - to - hereditary - stone has lost some thing. But they definitely could not achieve the internal goals they would have set for themselves. I do not have any problem with a party looking deep and planning for further in future rather than concentrating on the immediate elections at hand. For stability of India, the most national parties should have good presence in the Hindi heart lands. This will ensure that unity of the country is maintained. One of the short term approaches applied by Congress in general and Digvijay Singh in particular has been appeasement of terrorists from the district of Azamgarh. Most of the activities that are taken up by Diggy Raja there are bordering on supporting the terrorists and their families. But they have played their cards nicely till now and Diggy has always maintained that he was just talking to families and acting against alienation of the entire region where as congress has kept its distance from all this.

Diggi Raja recently has performed completely opposite to his history. He who once was known for his administration and long term decisions for the benefit of his states has stooped down to playing the religious politics and playing with fire using terrorists for these. And he has gone and done this again, this time it is the Mumbai 26/11 carnage.

There was always some thing burning. It is very interesting how he always finds himself in the middle of one controversy after another. Even when there are two independent events, he has managed to involve himself in both these.

There can be multiple reasons for this. It can be because congress is playing a very dangerous game of minority appeasement and Digvijay is the actor. And congress is silently trying to reap the benefits. If this turns sour, congress can always pull its card out and let all the blame fall on Diggy. This way he is one of the most important pieces in their strategy. The other angle can be that Diggi Raja has already been pushed to the long list of has-beens and it is his last bid to relevance. The party as such can not do much but stay completely neutral lest it can be considered to be supporting the fanatics.
But a has - been should only ensure that he takes up what he can handle. This can definitely blow up in congress's face pretty badly. So if it is Diggy's own game,his problem is that he is taking some thing up which he may not have strength to handle.

The worst part of all these is that this has hurt the cause of the martyrs, defeats the pressure on Pak and muddles already dirty picture. I am not sure whether the congress as well as Diggy knows the long term harm they are causing to the already torn fabric of the nation.

This particular approach, along with the inaction raises multiple questions. In the bigger picture the government has not done almost any thing about the terrorism issue. The security hawks in the government have been completely silenced or they have agreed to the general direction of using these events for appeasement and vote gathering.

This is deeply shameful. The country's integrity and sovereignty is at stake. At some level the reactions of then Maharashtra CM and deputy CM to the carnage can be attributed to short sightedness and political and national immaturity. But now there are signs that the congress party think tank has decided to use these events to their own goals.

But for a politician it is nothing new. Politics being art of the possible. But there is always a limit. Of all the failures of this version of UPA, the most biting is this change in strategy. Unfortunately the alternative to all this is equally bad and I see a very bleak picture for the nation ahead. There is not viable alternative to congress, which itself is completely collapsing under its own weight, when it is not crossing boundaries which it should not cross.

It is about time calmer heads and deeper thinkers prevailed.

Working at the speed of trust

Some time back I had this training from my organization. This was not necessarily the training I like to attend. But this was kind of a different training in a crazy way. It was really a lotus eaters delight. And as I am one such nut case, I really liked it.

Here are some thoughts on it

I definitely agree to the maxim that speed travels faster than light. If there is any thing that is going to cause a huge jump in productivity, it is basically trust that gets us to jump multiple levels in productivity. In software business, it is the next thing to the smart design and work allocation and tracking.

The training was by Franklin Covey institute and they have a book also along with it. I do not want to break their copyright by giving excerpts of their work here. So there are just some random musings inspired by the book and training. I am not even saying that you should go for that training or should buy that book. None of these two things have ever worked for me. Even if I am a self confessed self-help book junkie, the books that affect me most are the ones which are not written for doing so. So here is the divorce from the training and the book.

I think there is an interesting perspective of looking at trust, trust can be both directions, outward and inward. trust in others and trust in yourselves to achieve the desired goals. First thing that needs to be done when you want to trust some one is that you should build up that trust in others. It is a strange thing that comes back as much as you give it out.

The training really brings up this fact completely. Building trust is a very lengthy process. Losing it may not be. There are scientific steps which can be taken to build up trust. It needs the relationship to go through a set of levels before trust is built. It needs both the parties to be mature and winning. There is a high chance that trust can be broken and then it takes you down a very bad slippery slope. Inherently trust means that you would not have spent time building alternate solutions. If that happens, then once your trust-party fails you, you can never recover.

If this has to be a “fail-safe scenario” , this means that there is another angle to trust. It is of interdependence. There is another angle of making your dependencies soft. If your dependencies are soft, this means that you can still survive when everything else fails. And if every thing succeeds, you are at the pinnacle of success.

Trusting some one also means that the person you are dealing with should not have any exterior motives about your failure. If some one is fully inclined to make you a failure, it is very difficult to trust him. That's why trusting people is an issue in case of an environment where you are competing for survival. In an environment where you are losing ten percent of people annually you will be most probably collaborating with, it is really difficult not to think about stabbing people in the back when the opportunity provides. Some one trying to build trust is exactly giving the same opportunity to your competitors.

But in the long run, trust is the best way to achieve some semblance of justice in all this process is to be yourselves and ensure that people are always supported and helped. Working towards a greater goal and benefits of the collective may look like a day dream. but people have been achieving this even in case of worse situations than this. There are proofs of such behavior in extreme situations like the concentration camps. Then it should not so difficult to put it to use in normal office scenarios. You need not be a saint to reach there. As man is a social animal, soft power has been built by normal people and more competitive scenarios tackled effectively.

So we are just being our natural self when we behave in a collaborative manner. Only people with a deep sense of lack of confidence in their own abilities can rule this out. What is done is always more important than what is seen. If you do really stellar work, it can not be kept in cage because of just incompetence.

As a leader, the lead should ensure that the same thing happens in the team as well. Being the lead of my team, I am the owner of the direction, culture and success of it. My success should be measured with the ease with which I setup the culture of initiative, ownership, belonging and achievement in my team. In that sense, every team member should be like one to me. This is again some thing that is contradictory. How can I behave exactly same with all the reportees if I am the one who is going to differentiate between these two times a year. Or as the thing goes, I may be asking some of these to leave. but that is completely different track and I should be able to behave independently in both these situations. I think I need to do a bunch of stuff to track these things.

 

The TED talk that introduced me to myself

 

This is based on the TED talk:

http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

This really rang a bell some where. It made some thing in my life clear to me. It rarely happens at my age and at my stage. that's why I am thankful that it has happened and I would like other people to know about this.

750words.com, the site I use for writing my diary, rates this writing as self important. I am sure, it feels like that so take the things below with a pinch of salt. But I think these thoughts are important for some people I want to reach. Especially some of the dear friends who have been with me and really know me. I want to get them thinking in the same direction. I am just hoping they will find this at some point in time in some dusty unvisited corners of the web and then they will understand and learn. So I am daring to publish this .

Expressing myself has always been a passion to me. This was from a young age. I found myself to be an excellent performer when I found that the subject mattered to me. At this point, I would be so involved with the subject, that it will be one for me to think about myself OR think about the subject.
One such thing happened today which took me back in to the early days of stand up mimicry in my school. I just built on day to day stories I was exposed to. I used material which I found on my way to school or day to day materials in use in school or at home. I took the Belan, I took car lining and built wonderful stories out of these. Most of the stories were impromptu. In fact I failed when I tried to practice before. Those were the days I was blessed by the stage goddess. The audience danced at my fingertips. If I remember it correctly, I continued doing this for around three years. It could have been a speech competition, it could have been an one act play or any thing else to do with standing in front of people and doing my stuff.
One thing I know now that I was always considering the forth wall to be opaque. That means that I would never consider and work for the forth wall, which in performing arts jargon is the spectators. I would be in the bubble of my own in front of a crowd of multitudes. And that was my key to success.
Several important things happened in life. These included matriculation, cut throat competition in college, movement from a small town atmosphere to a fully cosmopolitan environment like my engineering college.
The fun of performing and the ability to succeed has been visiting me on and off. On my best day, I would be the best programmer, I would be the best thinker, I would be the best designer and the best student. Thankfully for me some times it happened at the right times. I was at my puzzle solving and thinking best when these two opportunities arose, in terms of my first job and in terms of my most important jobs till now, that is MS. I did so well in the projects I liked. I sucked royally in the project which did not please me. Apart from far basic, physical limitations: for example, my pronunciation in case of English theater and enunciation and lack of thoroughness in understanding the interplay of emotions and convey them properly in my body language in case of Marathi theater; it was always my intentions and involvement that decided the extent of success or failure.
So I notice that my pleasure and my expectations have a great part to play in my success. Any thing, however easy it may be, can fail if it is not pleasing to me OR I am not interested in doing these.
But the most important thing I notice is that  I always failed when I did things to impress or please some one. Even theater gave me less pleasure when it was done to impress some one. Only when I did it for myself I liked it a lot. It is something like the TED talk I am referring to. Some higher entity would stay in the abode of my body and soul for these moments.In all these cases, I now notice that I never played to the gallery. The best / the ideal came to inhabit me for some fleeting seconds when I was the most dissolved in satisfying myself with the pursuit.
Now that this thought is complete, I am relieved. I am not a software engineer who draws a huge salary. I am not even the best coder and designer. I am not the best actor that ever was there. I am not the best stand up comic.
This is what I am. I am just a conduit to all these higher forms. My day to day life is blessed with comfort because I allow all these entity to reside in me from time to time. I keep my body and my thoughts clean for these higher life forms, which may be mine, but are short lived. I should do every thing in my capabilities to ensure that my body,mind and thoughts are clean to receive these. I should always ensure that my body is flexible,supple and strong enough to achieve greatness when the greatness comes to it.
Otherwise I am just a middle class small town boy. That is the reality and I should live this reality as profoundly and clearly as possible. Any deviation from this reality will not achieve anything else but just drive the djinns away who perform through me.

movie Review: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

 

This is the third Narnia movie I am watching and I think the interest level is going down by each version. This is not a very interesting situation to be in. The best face saving this has always been the lion. Aslan is very much real to the fiction.

It suits really well to the lofty designs that C L Lewis may have.
But apart from that the movie has been a disappointment. This disappointment was completely overshadowed by many firsts and achievements. The best thing about it is that two of the three kids managed to keep the three dimensional glasses on (the third one was sleeping) and watched a fair bit of movie quietly (around half an hour) before being lulled in to sleep. This is an achievement because generally they convert the movie hall in to their play ground and do quiet a bit of shouting and distracting other people. But this movie some how changed that.

The second achievement is that they really liked the part that they saw. This was the sword fight by  the rat and the lion talking to the kids. They really like the majestic lion. This means that the film maker has done some thing winning here. Apart from the lion and the funny bits about the cousin turning in to a dragon, the movie was a bore. Either it does not have any thing to put OR it tried to fit too much in to a single movie.
A bit about the story line, in my opinion seven conquests is in fact a dangerous number of conquests to have in a two hour movie. It becomes one too many. So it looked like most of the swords are won without much efforts. They were just to be taken without any specific challenges. Even the last sword was actually captured and then the dilemmas started. By the way, it bodes not well on the imagination of a bunch of crew if the only thing that is most fearful to them is the huge slithery worm.
The other visuals and dilemmas also came in and went away without any context. I think the story did not do justice to the hard work put through by the graphics crew etc. The good point there was that the target audience, the kids and preschoolers could not have cared less about the story. They got what they wanted from the movie and thus it was successful.
But as I am reading the novel currently, it does not do any justice to the novel as such. I went to the movie with my parents, wife and kids plus nephew. all of them really liked it. Along with my wife who also watched her first 3-D movie with glasses on.
I tried to get her to watch the earlier three D block buster, Avatar but I had to hear about my weird choices of the movies for quiet some time since that time on. But this time it was a good family fare, not too jerky, the good won over the evil easily, which in turn was just a itsy bitsy evil at all. Put this together with good swords fights, a bit of comedy, a touch of brouhaha about human fallibility etc and we have a family entertainer right there.
I have not yet reached this part in the novel so I am not sure whether they have been very truthful to the novel. But the seven adventures looks a bit curtailed to me. I think the best way to look at these would be at least two full length feature films where the back ground is set in one movie an with first three challenges. The second movie could have contained the next four challenges and then the victory celebrations.
But for all said and done, it looked like the directors also wanted to get over this tedium of movies and go ahead to more meatier part of the stories.
I do not buy in to the talks of this being the last movie in the Narnia stories. In fact this is the part from which the lion does not figure in the stories. But the franchise is still on and I think has done enough to prepare for one more movie.
I think the next movie will definitely decide whether there is any life in the franchise at all. I think the story line and presentation will matter the most.
Thankfully my kids did not need to think about this. They were very happy playing the lion, the dragon and the rat alternately. And if the next movie also gets them to do the same, you have a winner at hands.

My search for an ultimate social networking client

 

It all started with my completely faithful web 2.0 client, tweekdeck, gave up on me. It would not sync my face book account, it will not even register new one. May be some changes with Facebook authentication that these guys have not caught up with. So I think after around a six month of totally dedicated usage of tweetdeck, I had to search for an alternative.

I found two completely different approaches to solve this problem, I had to decide between two of these. And this post is the story of that.

Email like update do not work with web 2.0. A typical email client works very nearly similar to outlook view. An incoming email is added either to the top or bottom of a folder. Each email is meant for a set of people who are either pigs OR hens(apologies for the SCRUM wordings here, this in short means that two kind of people, who either are affected by such an exchange Or have a say in such an exchange). Ideally the people who should act are in the "to" line and any FYI folks are in the "CC" line. Do not ask me why BCC is all about :). Typically emails are serious business and they are exchanged at the maximum average rate of three to four an hour per producer. The producer gets to decide who should be involved, he also gets to decide who all can subsequent (re)producers can involve. This is kind of state based model where each email expects some action, at least acknowledgement of comprehension and reporting back. It may also expect a dialog.

In comparison, web2.0 is like a Bazaar thing. You give a shout and if your shout is unique, hopefully some people may be attracted to you and you can form such groups. It is not a definite necessity that a group has to be listening to every shouts of its members. The shouts can be multimedia as well. You can also appreciate the shouts, in some cases by repeating them, in other solutions by marking them as "liked". As there are multiple sites claiming to be platforms for web 2.0 interactions, it is always possible that you are registered to more than one such site/platform. Another good thing about all this thing is that you are not tied to a protocol,website. any body can build an experience on the platform.(BTW, there are some really cool twitter feeds being built on top of windows azure currently). This gives the user power which it did not have before. As there are more than one platform where things are happening in parallel,the best approach is to have a spreadsheet like view where each column represents a platform. This is what tweetdeck does and does well. For me the sites I wanted to integrate were: facebook, twitter, linkedin and google buzz. The idea of this interface is that each of the update (upon configuration) is displayed as a biscuit (this is the rectangular thing that pops up on a new message). And like Pavlov's dogs, now arrival of this biscuit satisfies the sanctum sanctorums of web 2.0 junkies like me. Till last two-three years, it was ding on an email in my inbox. I can edit, reply to the same in the same window or create new shouts. All this is easy and comfortable.

The problem is that there is a third case, which does not merge so well with web 2.0, which is chat. If I see, we have been using chat almost for the same time as we have been using email (gosh, I am a software engineer, I should know this more thoroughly :(). Chat was completely independent from the email. Some of the email solutions, especially the online ones, did surely try to give an integrated solution. But it was kind of a slap on. So chat should be another angle of any solution that I am trying to evaluate. Another thing is that after all this email has not gone away. It will not go away soon as well. There are still some improvements and innovation there which needs to happen. Half an year ago, I was looking at a bunch (two to be exact :)) email aggregators. Digsby stuck as the most important one, but then I left using that. Now it looks like they have a desktop client which does what they used to do online, it also aggregates my social feeds, aggregates my chat accounts and gives me a complete window where I can see my friends and whether they are online or not and I can easily chat with them with any chat site. This also aggregates my email and reports the read/unread statistic. At the cost of few more clicks, you can reach the email and reply to it.

So to according to digsby postulate, web 2.0 does not replace something. It adds a new dimension to my interactions.

And the interesting point is that there are two ways to get to the web 2.0 thingie. One is build on top of the existing functionality, AKA chat and email, integrate these and then add web2.0 platforms to the same stream. This is the digsby way.
Second approach is that we should implement web 2.0 fully and leave every thing else to the choice of users. How he wants to use the earlier technologies.
It is a tough call to choose between these two approaches. I just needed one tool which works for me. But because I agree that the email and chat need some more work to be super useful and I think these are two different streams where progress will be made and web 2.0 is just a new kid on the block and nothing much else, I ended up making a convenient decision.

Right now,I am using both, digsby and seesmic desktop. Digsby as integrated IM and email client does not look like it has any comparisons. Seesmic desktop on the other hand takes the interface provided by tweet deck. Adds some better User Interface and tree traversal. It needs some more features of tweetdeck (for example: deleting / marking as read etc) and it will be the best client there is.

The next inflection point is going to be the smart phone entry on the block. I have not yet used my web 2.0 clients on any of the phone. Actually I am waiting for my windows phone seven drop. Once it comes to me, I think it will be easier for me to do most of the things I do on desktop on the phone. That will be my first smart phone I will actually use smartly, hopefully. So Watch this space for the updates on the phone revolution and how it would have changed the way I do things. Signing off till then, tada.

To dearest of them all, with love

Five years is such a long time and still I remember the first time I saw you. I was late to your home (my first visit). I do not know how I actually walked the steps and reached your drawing room. Maybe my parent told me. You were reclining on the sofa, sufficiently made up and resting there. As soon as you saw me you ran into the house. you were taller than my expectation. You were and have always been thin, bordering on frail. That is when I decided that it will be a very good idea to spend rest of my with you. The informality and the grace of your movements and attitude really struck me. That was the first quality that killed me then. It was one of my many impulsive actions that I decided that this is that and I told you so as well when we went to my college. Your have always been what cynics call a "low maintainance wife". But actually that was the only thing I watched. You were very comfortable eating at a nondescript place, going to the place where I spent my most importnat four years of my life till then. The place which changed me completely. This really meant that you were different, which was not as important as the fact that you actually matched me at some plane of existence. Though at other multiple planes we are as different from each other as possible. And thankfully that was one of my decisions that I never (mostly :) ) regretted. There were troubling time, there were discords and slightly different expectations and aspirations. I tried to take care of aspirations which I thought should be long term and viable. We had terrible fights for those which we thought should be trivial things or some thing wrong. I have been moving from my roots and in a completely different environment every ten years now. I moved from my small town Udgir to the district place, Latur. I moved from LAtur to my hostel. From my hostel I moved to Wipro. From Wipro I moved to Subex. Each of the move changed my life completely. So I know that it is very difficult to change things completely and start over. For you it was even more difficult. This was because you were in the same town and same place all the time. Things never changed for you. They changed drastically with a new family to stay with in a new town. You really did splendid to cope up with all that and do more :).
And while all this was happening we have our first born almost immediately. I think one of the most important and interesting things that happened to us together. Ojas ensured that our debates and fights that occur seldom do not tear us apart the way it is doing others at this moment. But that was just the side effect. Our life has been converted from the usual and run of the mill to the extra ordinary because our son is there in it. If in last five years giving birth to him is the only thing we did, we would still come out successful for first five years. But we did many more things. Apart form the really apparent physical prosperity (if you notice our income is almost double of what it was when we got married, we own a small flat of our own and a four wheeler), I think the most important thing we have is that we can still enjoy life and be happy without all these. Being detached from all the gains actually makes us worthy to go for more. And this is where I appreciate your contributions. This makes you very unique in my eyes. If there was any body who would have matched my way of thinking by actions, it is you. That is why I love you more than a husband loves a wife OR a father loves the mother of his loved children. Without you, I would not be living the life I wanted. Without you, I would not be so balanced and so free to do the stuff I like. Without me life would not hold me and give new meanings to every day. Without you I would not have the shine of my eyes, Oju and Aaroh. Without you life will be very less interesting and boring. I am lucky to have you as my wife for last five years and for the rest of my life. Thank you for everything and I love you for so many years.

The stranger: his hiding place

This is where I first saw him: http://sweet-kandy.blogspot.com/2009/06/stranger-part-1-introductions.html

And he has this habit of disappearing for long stretches of time. Like he did, it has been almost an year now. I am sure the sand and pond were there always, I some times might even have walked over there, though I am no so sure now. Actually not so sure of any thing. But definitely the wet conspicuous green smell of the still waters and the sand squishing and squirming under my feet is some thing I seem to have felt pretty often. But I have not seen him again for a year now. I almost completely forgot that he was there in the shadows near the pond, lurking harmlessly but intently in the darkness. Scavenging on the garbage of emotions I leave behind. Feelings, good and bad, mostly bad. I again saw him yesterday. I was doing my own thing, playing volley ball not specifically well and enjoying it. I had run five miles earlier the day and spend almost the whole day lazing about with piles of work awaiting me. I especially like avoiding work the more important it is and if it is going to have a wider impact, it eggs me on even further.
So it went pretty cloudy and dark and somebody asked to switch on the flood lights. The powerful flow of sliver light shone momentarily blinded me. when I opened my eyes, I found that it was reflecting sharply on the waters of the pond. I felt almost relived to find that this place still exists, though I would definitely like to see it during the day time. Now I am almost a regular visitor here and most probably I am the only visitor, but it is not very fair on the pond's part to seem lazy, moody, dark and unnecessarily mysterious. I think it is unbecoming and slightly vain to be so. And when two entities are so near and integral to each other, won't a little more transparency and openness help? Hell, even the management books say so. I have always found them as silly as books of so many religions though. But they definitely have their own addiction and may be the lotus eater inside me likes both these exactly for the same reason.
So with the lights shining in my eyes and me now wondering on the shores of the farm, it was cue enough for him to appear in some dark corner. And he being so near to me, promptly missed this cue. Damn you, I thought, you miss your cues so regularly and effortlessly that you do not know how much more similar to me you are. Even more than you actually are and definitely even more than you actually try to show.
But his absence there was a kind of strange satisfaction and I felt relieved. This is a similar feeling I have when I run away from people who are analyzing me and approving OR disapproving of my approaches and actions. He has always thus effect on me. Without even saying a word he watches me so intently and quietly that it always looks like he is going to make some severe comment or another. I do not have any hope of him understanding my actions or the reasons for it. I am pretty sure what he is thinking. He is saying, you idiot, you could have actually avoided that. In fact you could have done so many different things and would have done these better. Should have thought different, thought better or should have thought at all. You should have been more caring and loving. Should have understood people more. Should have understood yourself more. Should have been stricter with yourself. Should have been nearer to the people you love.
But now that he is not there, I am strangely relieve. I stroll around that place for sometime, watching our of corner of my eyes of any signs of him. But other wise very tranquil and quiet and content. We should move their sometime when every thing else is done and dusted. But then I smirk at the futility of the thought. Why should I move there when it is always moving with me. It is near me and I go there. I go there despite my choice and some times more abruptly and at uncomfortable times than I like but I own it. It will the last thing I should think about moving to when I am done with every thing what ever I am doing. In fact, it is not a very good idea at all.
This was a very good and quick trip of the pond, strangely for the reason that I expected to find him there and did not. But I was sure that he was watching me from some forsaken corner and I was sure that I will see him in due course of time.

Obama In India- Part III : The Future; near and far

As put earlier, Obama has got what he wanted while giving very less and promising a lot. He came here on the back of a big set back domestically. He had to show some thing short term that he gained. The problem was dealt with properly and he gained what he started with in his mind. A new business of tens of billions of dollars and jobs for tens of thousands of American workers is the bargain he had come with. Hopefully this will ensure that he has some breathing space at home. Even this relief looks temporary. The Grand Old Party has him in a death grip now and will keep squeezing it as they want for next two years. This may make Obama more belligerent and try to do extra ordinary things to break out of the grip. We can use this more and make use to gain more from him. I think helping him in his pull out from Af-Pak is the next important thing we can do. Once he is out of Af, we can deal with Pak on a one on one basis. With out any body else's strategic interests being hurt. I think one more split Pakistan will make India more stronger. Baluchistan and other tribal areas which are now any ways partially autonomous can become an independent country and they can be our very good friends. This looks like a fantastic thought right now but can be reality and will definitely be a good thing. We can use the capital we put in by helping Obama. Right now he has got away with what he wanted but we can definitely give him and America more. This will ensure that we will get back some thing other than just empty words.

Even if these are just empty words, this is also enough coming from the leader of the most influential nation on earth. We definitely have some thing tangible at hands short term. We can put this to better use. We can use the short term advantage to get some thing long term. May be increase out influence in Sri Lanka or Nepal. Right now it looks like we are tongue tied and are not comfortable with our strength. This also some times means that others are not comfortable with our strength. Right now the Man Mohan government is too dovish for my liking. We have tied our own hands in knots. We can improve on this by being more hawkish and being more transparent. As Obama mentioned our power gives us some moral responsibilities and give us some rights as well. We should work as big brother in most of the conflicts. We need not be completely on one side always. For example, dealing with Burmese Junta and Aang San Su Ki, we should ensure that we let the Burma know that even when we are supporting them, we want slow and steady improvement in the situation. And Obama is right in this sense. This is where America has also faltered historically. They have always gone for short and mid term goals without being aware of the rights and wrongs. If we use our power considerately, we can get what we want along with making the world a better place.

The problem is that historically we have been used to the responsibilities more and not made good use of the rights and opportunities. This is a tight rope walk and the balance is very difficult to maintain. It is even more difficult to show that the balance is optimal. But this is what foreign policy is all about. Obama's visit and his promises has definitely given us a new status. We should get used to the new status, even if it is short lived. We can make it more long term by doing some thing wiht a great impact pretty quickly. We can use this to solve some domestic problem OR use it to solve some problem with our neighbors. Our mid term goal is to stop the terrorist training centers in Pak which work against us. Even the congress needs to get his done so that they have some thing spectacular to show for the next elections. Civil Nuclear deal, a permanent seat at the security council, and stopping the terrorist camps in Pak as a stretch goal can be very good as a foreign policy achievement the congress can take it to the people in the next elections.

In my opinion these can be very formidable achievements.   And these can take us further down the path of being a responsible super power.  We can use it to get some things done that we wanted.

P.S. This is how I felt while writing this: http://750words.com/entries/share/367723

Obama in India–Part 2 : There is no re course to good strategy and honesty

 

Continuing from my last post: Here’s how I felt writing this  http://750words.com/entries/share/365045

 

India and United States have always been more of unnatural enemies than natural allies. We have always been distrustful of each other. Though their a very sizable population of India who has always been in awe of the United States. Some times for these people this country is their life's destination and destiny. Even with this for the fist fifty years or some thing of Indian independence, America has always been wary of India and Indians. Despite many times acting against India’s interests, Indians have always been pro US. This is in stark contrast with the rest of the world.

Very few times we see eye to eye. Whenever there is a chance of having the same point, the prevalent situation has always been such that we could not be on the same side. Latest example being Afganistan. (Read India's Afghanistan dilemma)   However India wants to involve in Afganistan more actively, the domestic politics does not allow India to do so.

In case of Burma, I think Indian intelligence has some under handed and shady dealing with the military Junta OR has failed miserably in the policy of intervention and wants to keep its hands off the east. It again can be a tactical necessity. Similarly in Bangla Desh war and India - china war, United states has been very actively on the other side  OR a silent spectator respectively. We definitely would have liked to do more. India by leading the non Aligned Movement and being inclined to the Russians has always sowed seeds of doubt in US's mind. So successive presidents have been wary / ignorant of India or did not care much for it. where as Pakistan has always been the blue eyed boys.

 

But things have changed quite drastically in last fifteen to twenty years. India's emergence in the world economy has been slow and steady .

Indian economy does not have the explosive growth of a Japanese OR a Chinese economy. Though it is strong in its own. By not growing too fast we have avoided going bust the Japanese way. (see chart)

India has the biggest middle class who are getting away from the normal spend thrift ways of Indians and is ready to splurge its income in the way it fits good. In parallel, United States has been losing its grip and lead as an economic power house. A unipolar world economy where Us is the only strong leader and director has numbered days . US needs to sell things to countries of it has to continue being the caller of the stakes, and which country if not India with its ready made set of middle class buyers. As indian economy is growing, India's other needs in infrastructure and industries is also growing. This is where U.S. can earn its next share of pie. With the emergence of the Indian middle class, we are going to be world's consumers. US is going to do any thing to ensure that it has favorable access to this group. This can involve giving in to some long term strategic demands like Security Seat and talking down Pak.

The danger there is that most of the late presidents (from Clinton to Obama) who have had an eye on Indian middle class do not still consider India as a trusted ally. India's centrist politics is one of the reasons for it. Indian leaders' non strategic ideas and moves can be another reason for it. We rarely do any thing for long term at least when foreign policy is concerned. We are too enamored with our two enemies China and Pakistan. We could influence the world more but we get embroiled in only these two countries. Manmohan two successive terms have been trying to change that but it always comes back. We are not planned enough to ensure that we progress despite these oppositions. We have always allowed other countries to gang up against us and then we have played the martyr. The benefits given by last three presidents, Clinton-Bush-Obama have been pretty substantial. But to me , the things offered by Obama look the most superficial of them all. We can not do any thing more with a permenant seat in the security council than we can do now. Similarly, the indemnity given to US companies is a cause for concern. So most of the times there is a thought that we are getting trivial pursuits OR empty promises and we are giving away more than we are getting in the bargain. So, the qeustion is The Obama gifts, are they  Trojen Horses? to me it looks more like the right of the Lord of The Rings. It has immense power but it comes with its own problems. We would want it as dearly as we can. But the problem is that it is going to tie us and make us a slave to its power. Hope fully our leader ship will pay heed to the state of Pakistan who has latched on to the US tit for last fifty years and majorly because of this is turned into a Mandalik state of it. It can not have any strategic position in the world as it has to pay US back the favors that the US did.
Though in short term, Pak can milk the Al Queda and US presence in Afgan and earn billions of free dollars, it is always a different case when you earn your dues through long term strategy and hard work rather than being at the right place for your master.

Obama in India–Part I–Tu hi aashiqui hain

 

Today I would like to talk about Obama and his visit to India. Foreign policy and strategies being my most interesting arm chair pastimes, I think I am entitled to my opinions. And all of these opinions are hundred percent right ones. As a warning, this may be affected by my political standings which is center – left to center.
The thing that struck me (again) about India is the importance we give to authority. We were going out of our way to please Obama. This does not include the hospitality that we are famous for but it does include the giving in of every thing you have to gain some thing more. I remember there was a controversy regarding "Jan Gan Man" being targeted to Geroge Fifth and not to the people of India. Similarly there was a song sung for him "Tu hi dil hain .. Jaan bhee hain ... Tu khushi hain .. Aaasaraa bhee hain". This really jarred. Who ever has chosen this song is the one to blame. This of course does not represent our national position and is just some lowly official trying to get exceptional rating from his superior but this is how it started.
The more important things that happened were most of the times expected and some times the unexpected were mostly pleasant. First let's discuss the expected things. I think depending on the importance of the president and the hope good part of the world has pinned on him. Being the harbinger of hope and a riding knight in shining armor, we should have enough belief in him. At least we should try and allow him to fail and give him room and time to do all this. And to be sympathetic to him, I think we should go out of our way to accommodate and honor him.
So apart from two things, one where some body low screwed up and another where the prime minister took a very good decision out side of the protocol, things went more or less on the accepted lines.
The reaction of Bharatiya Janata Party was expected and it is really sad to see the depth it has sunk to. Along with their criticism on the interlocutors to Kashmir , this was once again that they have been foolish and short sighted. They definitely do not look like a party who is expecting to come to power the next time and want to keep things as they are and in continuity. I think in matters of national importance, it is always important to have all parties either signed in before hand OR they ensure that their reactions are muted enough not to reflect our country badly in front of others. BJP failed in both the counts.
Other expected thing was that Obama will speak like a merchant. I think it is important for him to take back what he has earned, especially after his debacle in senate.
So he comes in as a messiah of hope and has to talk like a businessman working in a small margin business. This meant that he has to fill in the gap with him charm. He can not give away any thing else. Giving away some diplomatic advantages to India just because he is not behaving according to the perceptions is too much to lose. The only other option he has was to turn on the charm. Which both he and his wife are really good at. So he walked the tight rope easily, did not talk about controversial issues. Came across as genuine and charming, made the points back home by being business like and by winning a number of business deals.
I think the most important things are the ones that are discussed behind closed doors. But these will be apparent only in due course. If there is a drastic change in the attitude and stands taken by India in next four to six months, we can safely assume that we have sold it to Obama and he has agreed to our steps.
It is highly unlikely that any thing will change. But if it does, it is a pleasant surprise again.

To be continued: Here is the analysis of this post of mine in 750 words:

http://750words.com/entries/share/363422

Book Review: The Lost Symbol

 

After completing the very interesting and introspective “Sea of Poppoies” last week, I was a bit skeptical while starting with the new Dan Brown novel. “The Lost Symbol” though was a riveting read. I completed this in almost record time. It was really difficult part from the book at the end of each of my reading sessions. (my reading  sessions consist of the time I spend travelling in bus to and fro the office). It gave me a sanctuary from my *other* life(home,office,wife,boss,parent,kids,team et al) as “Sea of Poppies” did OR as any other favorite book would do.

Of course there is a definite difference between”The Lost Symbol” and “The Sea Of Poppies”. Some of this is because Amitav takes me to a trip of my own unknown history. Another point is that these two are targeted towards two different demographics and have different aims in mind. The characters in “Lost Symbols” are one-dimensional. The “Good” is always “Good” and “wins” in the end. The “Bad” is just a misguided “good” (this is a twist I was suspecting quiet early in my readings BTW )and ends up finding the folly for his ways too late.

The director of CIA is made fool of by a nutcase and an old professor. The symbol in the end is a big puff and after all this it is a certified case of “much ado about nothing”.

I do not want to give the storyline here and spoil it for everybody else. I definitely recommend this as a one-time read for everybody. Dan Brown definitely plays to his gallery pretty successfully. Though it has been getting pretty repetitive  and formula from him.

The verdict: Definitely worth reading once. (If this is a borrowed book, it is even better. (I didbuy it though :())

Sea of poppies

The current state of our nation being as it i now-a-days, This particular book is really a throwback to the forgotten era which marked sprouting of a concept  of modern Indian nation.

I was really mesmerized by “The Glass House”. Another novel where the action happens across multiple continents and the backdrop is the intertwined histories of Brahmadesh and India. In the ” Sea of Poppies” though the scale is comparatively smaller, Amitav puts the same amount of efforts and research  and brings out yet another fascinating facet of Indian seamanship as well as the whole movement of indentured labor from India flowing across the then British globe.

The tale unravels slowly and takes us through a journey of Afim trade with China, fertile Gangetic planes lying waste because of the cash crop of poppies. It talks about the Laskar: the Hindustani sailors. But in the end, it is a simple story about simple people, told simply. And that is one of the reasons it leaves a mark.

I am following this with another Dan Brown novel,The Lost Symbol. Though it is as captivating and even more thrilling as this one; “Sea of poppies” will always be closer to my heart.

 

Images: Wikpedia,internet, sea of poppies site

further readings :): http://seaofpoppies.com/

Minority Apeasement

The media has been going Ga Ga over Shoaib and Sania affair. Even the Shivsena has kicked in which now a days means that the whole country is lapping it up and it has a good cheap publicity potential. While browsing through the news channels on an especially slow Sunday, I noticed one fact.

Even in Pakistan, remarriage is allowed only after the first wife agrees to it. But in India, a Muslim can marry four time (the consent of the earlier wife/wives is immaterial). Muslim male is given an extra ordinarily long rope in India. Most of it is because of their minority status. (This is my interpretation and please correct me if it is wrong).

Definitely the meaning of minority status of the vote bank definitely has a bit to do with it. But that is not the end all and be all of the point I am trying to make. So anybody who agrees just for the hackney eyed agenda of uniform civil code can switch off now.

The minority status also brings with it an inbuilt opposition to progress and change. A Muslim woman in a Muslim majority country has more chances of getting her word heard. The fight for her rights has less moral dilemmas. In a Muslim minority country like India, she has to standup for her community as well as fight for her rights. Moreover, her opponents in her community have an ace up their sleeve. They can just blame her of trying to emulate the majority. They can blame that she is bringing disrepute to their religion and values with her immoral and uncontrolled behaviour. Immoral and uncontrolled behaviour is one of the first accusation made against any woman fighting for her rights anyways throughout the history. But in this particular case, it is loaded with even more possibilities. The opressed part of minority, thus needs to stand up for her collective as well as fight against it at the same time. Which is multiple times more difficult.

So, a girl who would definitely have fought against Hijab in Pakistan/BanglaDesh/Iran fights against a law banning it in France.

A country who genuinely wants to succeed in implementing equality needs to understand this. It needs to count for it in their planning. It is just now enough to lay down a legislation to right the wrongs. It needs to do a lot of groundwork as well.

In the footsteps of a wandering monk ..

Fri Sep 13, 2002 ...
(Note the subtle (No more now:) ) reference to the program on BBC "In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great", a must watch though) ..

She looks completely underfed and neglected but for the serenity on her face ..
sitting with her back erect like a ramrod she shuffles her feet just when sitting becomes unbearable with numb feet and she is really cross with herself for being so weak .. Her feminity is shown only during those instances when she raises her tenor to a surprising degree and gets a nod from the old violinist and happy for it... It is really a quaint team if there ever was one .. A mallu muchhad on the Mridingam a wiezened Tammu scratching on the violin and a motu struggling to accomodate two ghatams on his lap. A mad main stealing away the drinks offered to them and three or four disinterested onwatchers complete the scene. The stench from a nearby broken latrine gives the perfect finishing touch making life miserable if not unbearable.

But they keep on caring little abt what is going on around. Suddenly in the middle of the song she stops; looks at the Mridingam and Ghatam guys mischievously and it all break loose ...Ppl might not remember much but it was sure the Mridingam guy who starts it with two raps on the mridingam and looks at the Ghatam. Ghatam is ready with an answer. Next comes a sound that is humanly impossible from a Ghatam; just a piece of burnt mud after all; I mean goddamn it there has to be some difference between range of tones coming from leather tightly wrapped over a box and from a piece of earthenware. But surprisingly no; whatever the Mridingam throws at it; Ghatam repeats it. The attacks become more severe; the questions more direct; the smiles more mischievous almost bordering on demeaning;Mridingam is more celebrating his win than attacking. But all the advances are replied with stern resistance. Ghatam is a good fighter but he is sure retreating under the onslaught.


Mridingam thunders long thinking he has Ghatam down and out and this is the last blow and there is deadly deafening sielence for a split second.
Then Ghatam repeates the thunder; now that it has withstood the attacks it goes on the rampage with its counter attacks. The battle fluctuates madly; the flurry increases; frequecny of turn arounds increases the scene is really ecstatic. Stop,stop please otherwise it'll be impossible to breathe. Somehow suddenly one olympic ad comes to mind .. "I might be your adversary but U r not my enemy. U bring out the best in me. Without u I'm not complete; u r my brother, my competitior ..."

Fingers are not supposed to move so fast for such a long time. These sounds are not sposed to come outof Mridingam /Ghatam. The battle finally leads to a crescendo. now it is no more attack and defence. Everybody is going for others throat; like a boxer in 13th round; reeling like a drunkard; not bothering what's hit them but giving it all they've got; really hurling a sinc and a washing basins at each other ....

It gotto end sometime and it does in a flurry ... Ghatam and Mridingam exchange smiles and almost congratulate each other;; No, not so lucky; a rich tenor picks up the tune where it was left ... no siree, u can not leave something so divine just like that and I got something to add to it .... Whole stage becomes a halo; who is this ?? That frail underfed lasse .. It has suddenly became free for all and the wailing violin also joins it ... Everybody is smiling and then it comes down as it had gone up so fast it makes u dizzy ...

Some question linger, why ??? Why here ?? is the top most of them ... Why would somebody play such great music when there is nobody to listen?? Is this the land that does that ?? We won't wonder if it does .. Just 200 meters past somebody jumped into the sea to search for the truth after searching the whole country for it ...More surprising is he came back after he found that to give it to the less unprivileged .... That can be counted as one of the two most famous jumps into the sea in Indian history. One at Marselleies being almost of same importance; at least to some ppl ..
Is it Karma ?? Did they do it because they were sposed to ?? We beg to differ ...
Common sense:"Viveka" says stop;desist; get lost BUT the pleasure in it:"Ananda" says do it ("Just Do It " if u would ...). It is not done 'cos somebody is sitting in the heaven and watching over all of us but it is done because I like it ...
U were never doing it for the listeners; for the money and for the applause. U were always doing it for ur self... Ur pleasure .. Is this selfishness ?? May be ,but is is divine ... Not much different that the wandering monk ...

Anyway; "Gentlemen ; it was an honour performing with u" ... As the head musician on the Titanic says to his fello musicians ..

strength and courage on a cricket field

"Examples of raw guts and courage are many across the world of cricket over the years. The most moving and compelling story is that of an injured Bert Sutcliffe battling for New Zealand against South Africa in December 1953. Badly injured by a Neil Adcock bouncer, Sutcliffe returned from hospital with a heavily bandaged head and hit seven sixes in an unbelievable counterattack, making 80 out of 105. If Sutcliffe battled physical injury it was poignant that Bob Blair the man who partnered him in this effort had suffered even more grievously. News had just come that Blair's fiancée had been killed in a train accident. How Blair found the courage to keep his mind in a heroic tenth-wicket stand with Sutcliffe will forever be one of the most amazing stories of fortitude. Finally Blair was dismissed and then he let the tears come. As the pair walked back, arms draped over each other, weeping and emotionally drained, there was not a dry eye that day in the crowd."

from: http://blogs.cricinfo.com/inbox/archives/2010/02/courage_in_a_hard_game.php#more

Agenda for talks with Pak

पाकिस्तान बरोबर जी चर्चा (किवा चर्चा करण्यासाठी चर्चा) होणार आहे त्याचा agenda असा ठरवता येईल:

सन सन सन फट फट

किंवा हि गोष्ट नंतरच्या फेरयांसाठी राखून ठेवता येईल.

आपण त्यांच्या खेळाडूना बोलावून जो केळ्यांचा आहेर केला त्यानी तबियत खुश झाली. जर आता त्यांच्या परराष्ट्रमंत्र्यांची वेळ असेल तर किती बरे होईल.

आहे का चीदू/प्रणब/मन्नू मध्ये इतका दम?

Bad habits

Bad habits are like leeches. You do not know when they jump from the ground below or drop from the skies above and fasten onto you. Just like leeches they ensure that you are in relative comfort and are enjoying the experience.

And when something snaps and you just see a slimy bloated piece of black leather hanging onto you, your insides shudder with revulsion.

something similar happened to me. I just for fun used to look at horoscopes on and off. Especially before the exams (now calibration discussions etc). I always used to convince me that I do not believe that shit and all this is just for fun. I totally lost track when this habit turned on me and became obsessive-compulsive.

And something snapped (more on this later) and I just observed myself referring to my daily astrology multiple times a day !! I had to borrow support from them even when I am taking a decision of medium to small-medium importance. Thankfully I became aware of this habit early enough (hopefully :)).

And "All Is Well" after some withdrawal symptoms which lasted for three to four days. This whole thing was very remarkable. Myself getting into this cycle, becoming aware of it and snapping out of it with a little bit of struggle.

It really felt nice in the end.

नाच्या खान IPL वर

टाईम्स ला अचानकच पाकिस्तान बरोबर दोस्तीची उबळ अनावर झाली आहे.

अशातच IPL मालकांनी पाकी खेळाडून्चा असाच पोपट केला आणि Times Now ने प्रोग्राम नको पण anchors आवर अशी वेळ आणली. अर्नब चा परत आवाज लागला. एक वर्ष आधी हाच आपण पाकिस्तान वर हल्ला का करत नाही असे जो भेटेल त्याला विचारात होता. सगळे जन "मी नाही त्यातला" असा चेहरा करून त्याचा प्रश्न टाळायचे. आणि आता तोच परत "आपण आपल्या गरीब. बिचारया शेजार्याना असे का वागवतो" असा प्रश्न विचारतोय.

कुणी तरी आपली सुद्धा कार्यालये फोडावीत, फक्त IBN लोकामाताचीच का? आम्हीबी सुधारणावादी, आमचाबी TRP वाढवा, असा एकंदरीत सूर दिसतो.

आणि NDTV त्याना एकटेच कसे सोडणार? अशाच एका कार्यक्रमात नाच्या खान ने मुक्ताफळे उधळली. मुळ म्हणजे त्याला काय म्हणायचे आहे हे त्याला ही कळाले नसेल. ५ मिनिटांच्या clip मध्ये त्यानी स्वत:ला ३-४ दा तरी contradict केले असेल.

पाकिस्तानी सगळ्यात चांगले २०-२० खेळाडू आहेत..... माझी family पाकिस्तानहून आहे.... माझ्या संघात ५-६ पाकिस्तानी खेळाडू होते...... कुठेतरी प्रोब्लेम आहेच ... हा आमचा एकत्र घेतलेला निर्णय होता ... पण तो चुकीचा होता ... आम्ही फक्र नफ्यासाठी बांधील आहोत .... आम्ही aussies ना घेतलेच ना ..... पण आता लोक त्याना हि खेळू नाही देणार ... आता म्या काय करू .. कोठे जाऊ? .... "माय नेम इज खान" च्या सेल मध्ये या गोष्टीनी कुठे फायदा होयील का?

महेश भट नावाचा खरजूकुत्रा सदर्याच्या वरून काखा खाजवत आपली मते मांडत असता तर सोने पे सुहागा झाले असते. पण राणा-हेडेली लफड्या मुले त्याचे थोबाड सध्या बंद आहे. त्यामुळे TV न्यूज सुसह्य आहेत.

पण ते शाहरुखला पहावत नाही.हा जे काही बरळत होता ते फक्त NDTV च्या दाढीवाल्या बाबालाच कळत होते. तो मध्ये मध्ये (जेव्हा नाच्या त्याला chance देईल तेव्हा) "म्हणजे तुम्हाला म्हणायचे आहे कि आपण पाक बरोबर दोस्ती केली पाहिजे" असा सोयीस्कर निष्कर्ष काढत होता.

आणि भारतीय संपर्क माध्यमाच्या शिरपोचात आणखी एक तुरा खोवला जात होता.