Bhopal @ 25+

This post is not about Bhopal. Its not even about the fact that its been more than 25 years since the day Bhopal got its name registered in the record books. It is about looking beyond the obvious questions surrounding the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. But why I am discussing about Gas Tragedy today? It is not even 3rd December, its July now. So what exactly has happened now?

The answer is: nothing exactly has happened now(verdict of the Bhopal court is too trivial to discuss).

I am discussing about Bhopal because Bhopal is not something for which our minds need to be "refreshed" only on 3rd December. It is something which should shake our soul atleast once every day even if it is for the briefest moment possible.

To think that its been more than 9356 days(more than the number of days I have been on Earth) since the disaster, and that pain has still not subsided is truly convulsing for me.

I will not talk of justice because I don't believe in the logic of Justice in this context. What is Justice? What is the meaning of Justice when lives have been lost. Can anything be "just" when lives are being lost year after year?

The pain lingers on !

The Un-met Hopes

It was billed as the football for hope 2010. After all for the first time, Federation Internationale de Football Association World Cup Football was being organised in Africa. However it didn't turn out to be "the hope" for many of the players hoping to make a mark amongst the deafening sounds of Vuvuzela. Lets pay homage to those who went there with some hope ( or no hope)but whose hopes were left shattered and bruised.

The "Pawar" factor

The world continues to amaze us all or rather I should say the administrators continue to amaze us all. Year after year we keep coming across events which catch everybody's attention due to all the wrong reasons The recent rejection of candidature of John Howard for the post of the president of the international cricket council was one such event.

We will remember you Jyoti Da

We will remember you Jyoti Da
We will remember you Jyoti Da for rising from being the third son of one Dr Nisikanata Basu to the 21st Chief Minister of West Bengal.
We will remember you Jyoti Da for getting elected to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly a record 13 times after Independence.
We will remember you Jyoti Da for being the longest serving Chief Minister of a state in India- 23 years- from 1977 to 2000
We will remember you Jyoti Da for undertaking one of the most successful rural land reforms movement in India- Operation Barga.
But we will also remember you Jyoti Da for transforming Calcutta- a hub of intellectual and industrial activity into Kolkata- a stagnant economic and professional hub.

The IPL Team of 2009 : The ZooZooZ

One of the major cricketing highlights of this year was the Indian Premier League going international. Some of us were left wondering what and where was the “Indian element” in the IPL. I have a hunch that may be in times to come IPL will come to mean International Premier League. ( How about Injured Players League? Or Ignored Premier League? Or Idiots’ Premier League ?). Meanwhile IPL has decided to increase the number of teams from next year ( or may be next to next year), and I have decided to encash this opportunity. I have formed a team selecting the best of best Indian talent available. For this selection performances of players in 2009 only have been taken into account. I introduce my team as below:

1) Raj Thackeray: As an opening Batsman, there couldn’t be any better Indian, oh sorry, “Marathi Manoos” than this flamboyant and aggressive player. He redefined the meaning of Marathi Manoos, Mumbaikars and made sure that those daring to use “Bombay” in their movies are taught a lesson. He fears no politician, no media, no courts and obviously no bowler !! Really the year belonged to him and we ( including me) look forward to see and hear from him next year.

Road to Nowhere

For any growth to happen the most important thing is Infrarstruture. Roads are one of the most important component of Infrastructure. A lot of obvious and not so obvious things depend on the availability( or the lack of it) of roads. In our country the best of roads are generally some or the other Highways, National Highways to be more precise. One such NH is the NH 33, considered the lifeline of Jharkhand. In June this year a strange incident occurred on this NH 33.
The NH caved at a location, 60 KMs from Ranchi.

small states : BIG ISSUES

It started with Telangana, or was it Gorkhaland? One can’t be really sure the demand for which new state was the propellant but there can’t be diversity of views that the issue of smaller states has come with full force onto the national picture and will remain there for some time.
Due credit for it must be given to the three parties involved, viz KC Rao, the media, and the Central Government. It took the “historical” step of KC Rao to go on fast unto death, the prominence given to it by the media and the perfect example of ineptness exhibited by the Central Government to make big the issue of small states. So much so that fasting unto death has become the latest technique to hog the limelight.

Does Sid really needs to wake up??

This Sunday I had decided to give a try at waking up Sid and went to the nearest Movie hall(cineplex for some). Whether it was a result of Sunday rush, or the limited capacity of the hall or some other reason I am not sure, but I had to try waking up Sid for around 2 hours ( 4:30 PM- 6: 25 PM) from the most uncomfortable place in the hall: in the centre of the frontmost row.
For the 2 odd hours I was trying to wake up Sid I kept on switching between one posture to the other posture to get in somewhat comfortable position. But blame it on the distance between the frontmost row and the screen or the fact that I had gone at the wrong time to book a ticket for waking up Sid, I was not successful in my endeavour to get comfortable.
In some ways the movie depicted everything which was missing in my life.
A life in a metro.
College in a Honda CR-V.
Wardrobe with as many clothes as one would find in a small shop.
No worries about what lies ahead, coupled with the chance to own a Porsche by working for 30 days.
Heir of a super rich Business Czar
and much more obvious things...
I am not sure if Sids like these really need to be waken up !!
They will continue to get their bread and butter(and much more than that) without much of an effort, especially when many more non-Sids toil out day in day out.
For them life is indeed a bed of roses, made possible by the hard work of their previous generation.
They don't need to think about their studies, particularly in a country like ours where even 95 % in some exams are not sufficient to get a seat in a college of your choice.
They don't need to get a job because something is already reserved for them.
This is something which we often encounter in Politics. Son of ex- MLA, ex- MP getting election tickets and then getting elected because of not what they are, but because of what their someone else is!!
Son/ Daughter of a mega star getting the perfect launching pad, and then the stories that " acting is in my blood"," I had always wanted to be an actor/actress".
Oligarchy vs meritocracy??
Overall the film was a smooth cruise, not many songs, not many emotional dramas, somehing which was easy to watch, may be not so easy to digest.
This oversimplification of life on the celluloid often shrouds reality, the brutal truth.
I liked the movie because it showed a mother fighting against her shortcoming/handicap to win over her son.
I liked the movie because it gave a glimpse of the confusion in the minds of youth today.
I like the movie because it showed relationship between a boy/man and a girl/woman from a somewhat new/refreshing angle.
But I can't stop wondering if Sid really needs to be waken up...............

Nobel for "noble" intentions ??

The Nobel Peace prize 2009 have been in news for some days now. There are many reasons one can think of for it. First the awardee- Barrack Hussein Obama. Second- His actions (or the lack of it) which might have been a deciding factor for the jurists to give him this honour. Third and the most important one- it again raise that fundamental question " Is nobel prize given for actions or for intentions"?

खूबियाँ और खामियां

खूबियाँ और खामियां तो वैसे सब में होती हैं
पर जो नज़र इन्हें पहचाने , वो नज़र बहुत कम में होती हैं ;
सब जीते हैं यहाँ ख्वाबों ख्यालों की दुनिया में
जो झेले समय की तपिश , वो कूवत बहुत कम में होती है II

जो हो न सच वो तो बहुत सुहाना सा लगता है हमें
और जो है सच वो जाने क्यूँ बेगाना सा लगता है हमें;
दूसरों की कमियाँ गिनते गिनते उम्र बीत जाती है
पर दूसरों की क़द्र करने की हिम्मत बहुत कम में होती है II

Amazing Mumbai

Trip to Mumbai
I don’t believe that Mumbai is a city.
I don’t believe that the word “city” captures the pulse of the phenomenon that is Mumbai.
I have not been to Mumbai many times, nor have I stayed there long enough to pass a judgment, but whatever I have seen of Mumbai makes me believe that one cannot describe Mumbai just as a “city” or for that matter a metropolitan .

Bandh in Bengal, impact on me, gain for Railways !!

Recently I had to go to Mumbai for an official training along with 3 other friends of Eastern Region. It’s a long journey by train to Mumbai, so we thought to book our tickets from a place which would be convenient for the four of us. Therefore we decided to book our tickets from Patna, the date of departure was 18th.

UID- and its Uniqueness

UID or unique identity number for each Indian is one of the very few logical proposals to have been proposed by an Indian Government in the recent past. This is a project about assigning an unique number, to every Indian. Whether it will be a supplement or complement to the existing PAN, Voter ID, Ration Card etc., one is not very sure but the idea is definitely a step in the right direction.

There is a urgent need to instill the feeling of “Indian-ness” in the presently rampant “Indian-less” mindset of the Indians. One hears of a “ Marathi- Maanus”, a “Bengali Babu Moshay”, a Bihari , a Tamilian, or a Punjabi, but hardly does one get to hear about an Indian. We tend to identify ourselves more with the state/ region/ religion to which we belong rather than the nation which is our identity. It is the need of hour to identify this identity and associate ourselves with this identity.
Today we live in a time where it is difficult to distinguish between a illegal Bangladeshis infiltrator/migrant and a Bengali Hindu/Muslim or a Assomese. These illegal immigrants are not only restricted to these two states but have slowly found their way into Bihar, Jharkhand, Delhi and even the western state of Rajasthan. This has also been the cause of many troubles in Assom in the recent past.
Another angle to be considered is the spread of terrorism. Gone are the days when one used to hear about terrorist activities mainly in Kashmir valley. Today one is not sure about his/her life in Mumbai, Bangalore, Jaipur, Kolkata or Delhi for that matter. Getting access to India is very easy for the unwanted/ nuisance lot and it has been a challenge for the authorities to nab them and then prosecute them. Often due to lack of evidence or turning hostile by the witnesses the suspects are let off.
Unique ID is going to be very handy tool to deal with all these and much more. All the information about an individual will be recorded in a database, access to which will be through the UID. It is expected that in future it can be used in lieu of PAN, Voter ID card, and Passport. Only thing which now remains to be seen is how it is implemented. Only time will tell whether this proposal will get itself added to the list of several pending proposals in the files somewhere in Delhi, or will find itself as one of the glorious achievements of the Indian Democracy.

Lalgarh in the Lal-rajya

The present operation in the Lalgarh district of west Bengal has been in news for quite some time now. In fact there have been many events prior to the present military operation in Lalgarh to flush out the naxals. This article is about naxalism and events which caused Lalgarh to hog the limelight.

Happiness-absolute or relative?

In our day to day life we consider certain things as absolute while some other as relative. Things like a brick, a coin, a computer are absolute example of absolute quantities, while other things/virtues like relative velocity, relative growth are examples of relative terms. In fact velocity itself is a relative term, as by the principal of physics, it depends on the framework in which it is measured.
So how would be classify something like happiness? Is happiness an absolute term or a relative term?