Saw something in the morning and started thinking about the concept of suicide: Ending one’s life of your own wish. While most people think of suicide as cowardly, I completely disagree. In my view, suicide is perhaps one of the most courageous acts one could perform. Unless, it is caused by a chemical imbalance. In […]
We Indians have always been proud of our morals, ethics and beliefs. With a glorious history of religion and worship behind our back, we have traversed the same disciplines into our way of life. Some recent events (you know which ones), make it evident that our loyalty and trust, when it comes to worshiping our […]
Today is Women’s Day! A day to either celebrate the might of 50% of the human population or, to rue over the exploits of 50% of the human population. The intention of both need to be identical. Creating the right place for women in the society. Please note, I didn’t say equal. Men and women […]
Goods and Services Tax – The biggest tax reform in India since independence! Conceptually, the best thing that could happen in a country laden with incredibly complicated tax structure. For a very long time I have been a strong proponent, till I saw chinks in the chain. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a great philosophy. […]
“We all know it, we all hate it and yet, we all do it!”
Well, I am talking about the (in)famous Indian Standard Time!
Have you ever wondered the genesis of Indian Standard time? Why are we always beginning meetings and things late?
Let’s start from the beginning!
We do take the usual 9 months to come out. We usually start our pre-school at 3 and our regular schooling at 5. It is not like we have a higher life expectancy than other countries. Yet, somewhere in-between, we have the Indian Standard Time.
In our country, schools start on time. Kids are never late in getting to school. Somewhere from where we get out of school to where we get to adult life, we start getting late for everything.
I have seen people blame colleges for it, saying how the entire concept of college is chilled, relaxed and okay with students being late. But, in my opinion, that’s not it. College classes do start in time. And the schedules do get managed.
In my view, it’s a social and cultural issue. And the thing about the cultural and social issue is that it is made by us. WE THE PEOPLE! We are not the ones who suffer from IST, we are the ones that proliferate it. It’s what most of us have gotten as inheritance, maybe even genetically transmitted.Continue Reading
Let me begin by congratulating Narendra Modi and the NDA government for successfully completing 3 years. I am extremely glad that things in India are much better in 3 years than the 3 months of the newly elected US government.
Even the staunchest opposition to Narendra Modi and the current government will agree that his ability to connect with the masses is strong and effective. The working of the government is a miracle at best and a very well run marketing machine at the worst. This is where closer analysis need to be done.
This government so far has much lesser serious scams, though a lot more newsable discussions.
Everything from intolerance to cow-slaughter to caste/religion and other aspects have kept this government on its feet and points to a less than effective control.Continue Reading
He must be the most unique personality of the post independent India. Nobody has gained as much popularity during this time, much bigger than Anna and AK, perhaps bigger than JP Narayan, perhaps as big as Indira Gandhi. He has become the symbol of non-corrupt, developing Indian, a true statesman. Even his biggest critics can’t take this away from him. The only true statesman of significance I can think of in the last 20 years. Anna may be in the list but was very short-lived & hence insignificant.
But the confounding question is: Who is he and where is he headed? To answer this question, we perhaps need to delve deeper into the human psychology and the past of Narendra Modi.
Let’s start from the beginning. Narendra Damodardas Modi is an Indian politician. He comes from a lineage of megalomaniac Indian politicians who have spent their lifetime working their way through the dirty milieu of corrupt and extremely complex Indian politics. He has trampled over bodies, he has broken, bent and misused laws and everything he could muster. He has been part of an amazing crony-capitalism that stands in India. Truth being told, you can’t reach to where he is without going through all this. It’s a part of the process. Let me take it one step further: I am sure he was part of the Godhra riots. I am sure he was one of the core participants back then. Everything that he has been blamed for before 2014, he has done.
In the last blog I talked about how demonetization looks like a TRUE socialist movement or policy created in independent India. The last 3 weeks has indeed been a rollercoaster ride for all of us. As politicians, activists, common people discussed, debated, criticized and accepted the move, memes, conspiracy theories and obnoxious WhatsApp messages and Facebook statuses spread like wildfire.
Even today the nation stands polarized and the good, bad and ugly about the move has rented our peace of mind.
After much conversation, coffee and analysis, my point of view now has some fineprints*. No, I am not releasing videos revolting against and abusing nor am I stupidly relating it to being anti-islamic (yes, high-end functioning brains have called it so), I am simply making amendments to it. The move is first in the line of some major changes we will see soon but for it to be truly impactful it needs to be followed up with some major reforms.
Before I jump to plausible reforms, let’s first look at demonetization at the base level followed by the effect it will bring around in various aspects.
Perhaps the biggest change in India since I have been born has been what we have seen in the last 4 days. It’s not the change that amazes me… It’s the ferocity with which it has happened. For years and decades, cynics like me have been calling for an almost dictatorship like rule in India […]
Independence – What does it mean for an individual?
If independence is the ability to do what you want, when you want and where you want, then let me start by breaking down the basic notion of independence for you. Are you really independent? Can you really be independent? Will you really want to be independent? Before everyone jumps to the obvious answer, I […]