random... faith

“When you come to the edge of all the light you have known, and are about to step out into darkness, Faith is knowing one of two things will happen; There will be something to stand on, or you will be taught to fly.” -Richard Bach

Celebrating the rejects

Well, a quick heads up on what I have been doing these days, got rejected by Cap Gemini, and still havnt heard anything from Deloitte, so that must be a reject too. I was sad, terribly sad for a couple of hours, i had worked so hard.

But now I look back, I have, in my whole life learned more from my failures than the success. GMAT was fine, but it were the failed GRE attempts that taught me persistence and courage. So, went out with the team to celebrate my rejects. Ate a lot, had a nice time, talked to Mom and Dad, and now just writing this blog. Well celebrations aren't over yet, tomorrow, I'll go out for shopping, and Life's Good and I am good to go. The companies are definitely at loss for rejecting me.

&& Now, i am gonna sart Phase 2 of my job search, and Lets see, for a record, I plan to find a good job, a really good one, in next 3 months. && Today is October 24th. && I am ready for it. :)

The Devil's Advocate with Arundhati Roy

Karan Thapar Hello and welcome to Devil’s Advocate. Why is Arundhati Roy angry with the police and upset with the press? That’s the key issue I shall explore today. Arundhati Roy, let’s start with the recent encounter in Jamia Nagar in New Delhi. You’ve called for an independent judicial enquiry headed by a Supreme Court judge. Why do you involve yourself into this work? What’s your locus standi?

Arundhati Roy: Well, I am just one of those thousands of people who are asking some very serious questions of the police. The trouble is that you know, even if you wanted to believe this police version, you so know which police version to believe…the Bombay police, the UP police, the Gujarat police or the Delhi police. All of them have different versions. There’s a blizzard of masterminds. The Additional Commissioner of Mumbai police, Rakesh Maria recently said that Tauqeer, who is the Delhi police’s mastermind of Indian Mujahideen, is a media creation. The point is who creates the media creations…is it the media or the police or do they work together?

Karan Thapar So you are motivated by these contradictions? Is that the sole reason you need a judicial enquiry headed by a Supreme Court judge?<0/i>

Arundhati Roy: Again, it is not just me. It was thousands of people who are saying one thing, you know. When the police have killed people, it ceases to be a neutral party. It cannot have an impartial investigation in its own actions. And there are so many serious questions about what happened at Batla House.

Karan Thapar But before we come to those questions, let me point out what many people will be thinking at this moment. They are going to why do you think will an encounter, when a senior police officer like M C Sharma is killed and another injured would be fake. The police would not endanger themselves in a fake and fraudulent incident.

Arundhati Roy: Well, historically the police and security agencies the world over have done things like that. I am not saying it is fake. I am saying lets have an enquiry because…this matter of M C Sharma, for instance would be cleared up if they would only produce the post mortem report. Instead the post mortem report is leaked in various ways and Mail Today says that he was shot from behind. (Journalist) Praveen Swami (of the daily The Hindu) says he was shot from two sides. The residents say that the police arrived and that there were drills and that they are making holes in the flat now. Why cannot all this be cleared up if they would just produce the reports, which even the Magistrate asked for the report and has put out a warrant for investigating officer for the investigating officer and they still haven’t produced it.

Karan Thapar As you speak, I get the impression that your whole premise is that you don’t trust the police. Millions of Indians do. Is it fitting and fair that you should question their veracity in this way when you know that it would not just demoralize them but it would seriously undermine their struggle to contain terror?

Arundhati Roy: Well. Millions of Indians do not trust the police. Is our choice not to question them because here we are talking about the communal profiling of a hundred and fifty million people, demoralising them, radicalizing a whole generation and asking serious questions of a story that is told to us that is full of holes? Especially because such a senior police officer died in the incident, why should we not clear it up for the sake of police itself?

Karan Thapar Let me for a moment play Devil’s Advocate and point out to you evidence that you are deliberately ignoring. AK-47s were found in Batla House, so were two pistols. Policemen were shot at, policemen were killed. Atif’s name appears in the Ahmedabad, Mumbai and UP police findings. Now, most recently, it transpires that Atif’s degree from Allahabad is a fake. Why aren’t you giving the police, as anyone else will, the benefit of the doubt? The evidence suggests that there is something suspicious, that there is a case. Why do you doubt it?

Arundhati Roy: Let enquiry clear it up. Even in the case of these recoveries, you know, there is a serious procedural lapse. When the police make recoveries at the scene of the crime, they should have independent witnesses corroborating it. They didn’t, like in the case of the Parliament attack.

Karan Thapar Isn’t it possible that people are scared to come forth?

Arundhati Roy: No, but they have to get the seizure memo signed, right? And even the magistrate is asking for all these documents…for the FIR, the post mortem report, for the case diary not being produced. Now, let me ask some questions about Atif. The reports in the media given out by the police say that they have had him under surveillance since July 17. If so, then how was he allowed to plant these bombs in September? And even when they say that they had him under surveillance, they say that his number was called by a number, which was called by another number…I mean, c’mon, that’s a lead, not proof that someone is a terrorist.

Karan Thapar Maybe the surveillance wasn’t effective. Maybe the police are exaggerating that they had him under surveillance. What about the other evidence that the police have brought into the public domain? It transpires that clips of the car that was used in the Ahmedabad bombings were found inside Atif’s mobile, it transpires that literature of Al Qaeda was found at Batla House. It seems that even Saif has been using an assumed name. He has been travelling under a false identity calling himself Rohan Sharma. He even had that gentleman’s voter identity card with him. None of these is suggestive or corroborated but you are dismissing it as otherwise.

Arundhati Roy: I am not dismissing it. If there is an enquiry, all this will also be a part of it. I am not dismissing they may be real terrorists. There are real terrorists; who are they; are these boys the real ones? While the police are giving us evidence, there are also strange stories floating around. The police have been using the media to put out stories. All this is very disturbing and all this could be cleared out.

Karan Thapar See, if I understand you correctly, there are two things you want clarified. One is that you want the questions and the inconsistencies in the police stories clarified because they suggest that the police hadn’t got a clear cut case. And the second thing is that you want to try and get at the proof that establishes that the police had good reason to suspicious of the people.

Arundhati Roy: Exactly! Even their own versions are contradicting each other. On the one hand they say that you know, we did not know that they were terrorists and that is why we went in, in this casual manner. But the minute something came up they come out and say that these were the masterminds. There are so many things, you know. They say that people were killed in the crossfire but the proof is that these two men were killed while they were kneeling with shots in their head.

Karan Thapar That’s an assumption, I must point out!

Arundhati Roy: No, there are pictures.

Karan Thapar Suggested. But we do not have the corroboration from the police.

Arundhati Roy: The police should show the post mortem report but we see it from the photographs.

Karan Thapar You know what listening to you, people will say? And I am repeating what I have said to you earlier! They will say that her problem arises from the fact that she does not trust the police. Is it right that you should have such serious doubts about them?

Arundhati Roy: Not just rights, I think its our duty to have serious doubts and especially today, when we are sliding quickly into fascism and terrorism. It’s our business as members of civil society to ask hard questions.

Karan Thapar In which case, what are you suspecting the police…or let me put me more strongly and bluntly…what are you accusing the police of, on this issue?

Arundhati Roy: Well, primarily of giving us a story that doesn’t hold together and insults our intelligence.

Karan Thapar Why would they do this?

Arundhati Roy: I don’t know. That’s what we would like to know.

Karan Thapar Is it not possible that they have got it right and you have doubts about them?

Arundhati Roy: Maybe! But an enquiry would show that, wouldn’t it? The more they block it, refuse to produce the post mortem…the more they subterfuge and obfuscate their way through this, the more people will get suspicious of them.

Karan Thapar An enquiry at the end of the day, would be in their benefit as well! Is that what you are arguing?

Arundhati Roy: Absolutely!

Karan Thapar What then do you say of people who argue that this is typical Arundhati Roy. She’s been against dams and developments; she’s in favour of cessation of Kashmir. She’s attacked nuclear weapons and is now she is defending terrorists?

Arundhati Roy: Well, to being accused of being typically oneself is not an accusation. But if you are accusing me of having a world view that I do not believe in…I mean I do not believe in neo colonial military occupation, I don’t believe in nuclear weapons and I don’t believe in ecological destruction; then I am guilty as accused. Raising questions does not amount to supporting terrorism. I raised questions on the Parliament attack along with the people; we want to know who the terrorists are. We don’t know. Now, of the people we defended, two of the four ‘masterminds’ of the case were released. Afzal has been convicted by the Supreme Court which says that says that we have no evidence to prove that he is attached to any terrorist groups but in order to satisfy the collective conscience of society, he is being sentenced to death. Excuse me Karan, its my case that the collective conscience of society is also a part of media construct and a part of the judicial imagination constructed by these stories that being put out.

Karan Thapar So, you are saying to me that as a citizen, as a conscientious democrat, it is your duty to question. And if the questions are awkward and unsettling, so be it and that they must be answered, none the less?

Arundhati Roy: Yes, absolutely!

Karan Thapar Arundhati Roy, lets come to the wider issue about how the police treats the people it has arrested and it is holding in detention. You are extremely upset by the fact that India Today journalists were given an access to the young men arrested at Batla House so that interviews could be done. Why do you call this a terrible thing?

Arundhati Roy: Well, look this phenomenon of media confessions is becoming a standard operating procedure with the Special cell and the Delhi police. The point is that neither the courts nor any kind of international law allows you to say that people who are being held in police custody under torture…

Karan Thapar How do you know that they are being held under torture?

Arundhati Roy: Well, the possibility of torture…maybe that day, they were not tortured…it was the first day…

Karan Thapar You are saying that Human Rights laws and values do not permit people under detention to be interviewed when they are not willing to be interviewed?

Arundhati Roy: Yes! And even the courts do not accept these as confessions or evidence. But the reason these are done is because they have a propaganda value.

Karan Thapar The assumption when you say that such incidences have propaganda value is that these are forced confessions…that the young men interviewed did not give the answers they did, willingly and voluntarily. How can you conclude that that’s the case?

Arundhati Roy: In this case it is very easy to be sure. Those young men, before they were caught, Zeeshan went to Headlines Today, Saquib went to Mail Today…both these (media units) are owned by the India Today, as you know. They were all people who came out in support of Atif and Saquib and said, look we know this guy. We know who he is.

Karan Thapar Then how come you are calling those so called confessions when they are incriminating themselves and that when they went willingly to Mail Today or India Today, there are inconsistencies.

Arundhati Roy: Yes, so which version are we supposed to believe? The custodial one or the non-custodial one?

Karan Thapar All the three men named by India Today and I will name them, Zia-ur-rehman, Saquib Insaar and Shakil admitted to planting bombs. You are denying or doubting the veracity of the so called confessions.

Arundhati Roy: Obviously! Its absurd not to, because they are in police custody. The same guys, Saquib went to Mail Today saying that I have known Atif for years…I got him this house. I mean it’s hardly the behaviour of terrorists.

Karan Thapar I assume that the point you are making is that any interview that is granted in police custody is not a willing and voluntary one and therefore any confession made in that interview is a forced confession and not acceptable?

Arundhati Roy: Well, it is not admitted. Even in the Parliament case, the courts admonished the police for parading these people before the media and giving these media confessions. They didn’t do anything to the police which is why the same police ; in fact Mohan Chand Sharma was a part of that cell, that same cell did it to theses people and it served the purpose. The propaganda value has been achieved.

Karan Thapar You are saying that the Courts had admonished the police at the time the Parliament attack had happened for arranging such alleged false confessions and the police disregarded that admonishing and did the same thing again.

Arundhati Roy: That’s right.

Karan Thapar In your eyes, is the police guilty of violating fundamental human rights by arranging what you call false confessions to be made in forced interviews? Is this a violation of basic human rights?

Arundhati Roy: It is a violation of all kinds of rights. I say it again, that in this atmosphere of communal profiling, this kind of propaganda is essential for them. It is the keystone to this whole enterprise. They have achieved what they set out to, regardless of what the court says.

Karan Thapar The police have made a habit of this. It happened under circumstances, in the Arushi murder case, practically everyday. They hold press briefings, where half baked theories or at least unconfirmed details they are repeated and revealed to the press. The press then prints them as facts. The readers and the viewers of television then accept it as the truth. Are you disconcerted by this?

Arundhati Roy: I am utterly disconcerted by this because now it is the combination of the media and the police…you do not know which ends where and which begins where. In a situation where these encounter specialists are going out and summarily executing thirty people, calling them terrorists…No one asks questions once they are dead. We just accept it.

Karan Thapar Just a moment ago, you spoke about the collusion between the media and the police. Are you saying that the press is itself in error when it accepts what is given by the police and publishes it without verifying or double checking it?

Arundhati Roy: It is not just an error. It is outrageous to do something like this.

Karan Thapar So the press’ behaviour is outrageous?

Arundhati Roy: It is outrageous. There are statements like…and this man looked at me and he looked like a human bomb…I mean what kind of journalism is that?

Karan Thapar So when as a result, like many people have said, this collusion between the police and the press leads to Jamia Nagar or to Azamgarh being thought as terrorist hubs or breeding grounds for terrorism, how unfortunate is that?

Arundhati Roy: It is not just unfortunate, its very dangerous. We now have a situation where a hundred and fifty Muslims and an equal number of Dalits and Adivasis in a different set of circumstances are being targeted in this way. Even if half a per cent of them decide to stop putting their heads down and decide to hit back, life as we knew it is over. A whole generation is radicalised and India becomes a threat to not just itself, but to the whole world.

Karan Thapar This is something very important that you are saying. You mean that this behaviour of the police and the uncritical reporting by the press is going to end up in alienation and breeding the terrorism that we think we are controlling.

Arundhati Roy: Yes, that and also that this is a recipe for sliding into fascism. And we are bang in the middle of it now and this is how it works.

Karan Thapar Why does the Indian middle class society that is so proud of calling itself a liberal democracy, accept this?

Arundhati Roy: Well, I don’t think we are anymore proud of this. We have increasingly accepted that we are a police state and there is a sort of sliding of the democracy into majority into fascism that is a real danger now.

Karan Thapar So you are saying that the middle class no more stands up for the liberal values it believes in. It is actually in a sense accepting the horrible shortcuts and therefore colluding. It’s a very strong criticism, do you really mean it?

Arundhati Roy: I do. In fact, I feel that some day like the Nazis in Germany, we will be called upon to answer for what we have done and why we kept quiet while this was happening.

Karan Thapar I get the feel that you are deeply disillusioned with the Indian middle classes.

Arundhati Roy: It is not just the middle classes, you know. It is the framework that we are putting into action these days. I have spent ten years writing about it. We are in a very serious situation. If we are to right it, all of us should ask ourselves very serious questions about when we chose to speak up and when we chose to stay quiet.

Karan Thapar But in keeping quiet, as you say suggesting, Indians today are prepared to do, they are not just betraying essential values that they claim they believe in, they are actually betraying themselves and letting down their country. That’s the case you are making.

Arundhati Roy: I am making that case and I am saying that with these policies that we are persuing, today every ordinary Indian’s life is going to be at risk and we will pay very heavily for the consequences of what is going on now.

Karan Thapar So it is virtually the last moment to stand up and be identified with the values that we claim to believe in otherwise those values are gone and with that our lives are gone.

Arundhati Roy: Absolutely!

Karan Thapar And that’s not an exaggeration?

Arundhati Roy: Nope! Absolutely not!

Karan Thapar Arundhati Roy, a pleasure talking to you on Devil’s Advocate

For the video of the interview:

http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/76234/10_2008/devils_arundhati_1/mediapolice-collusion-is-a-threat-to-society.html

Why so insecure?? Part 2

While admitting students for an MBA class, one of the most important criteria for the selectors is diversity. They say it is important because it enhances the learning experience for not only the students but also the professors. People from different backgrounds, different religions and different cultures bring their own unique perspective of looking at any situation and when they all work together they are able to give a holistic solution to any problem. I am living this culture for last six months, and I can say it is funny, entertaining, interesting and beautiful. I have learned more in five months here than I could have learned in IIMs back home.

India, a melange of different cultures, languages, religions, could have been a guiding force for the world, where people from different cultures and religions could live together peacefully. It would have been so beautiful. Sounds pretty idealistic, isn't it, too good to be true. So What is the Status Quo? Have we achieved that?

Well, for this kind of culture to incubate, everyone needs to feel secure, secure about their daily needs such as food, water and shelter, secure about the safety of their loved ones who have gone out to study, work or watch a movie, secure that they will not be ridiculously killed by a random bomb blast, which is the most happening thing now a days, secure about their daughters, secure that they will not be raped or butchered just because they chose to travel alone after a certain hour of night, and secure that they will not have to face suspicious glances just because they chose to wear a head scarf or sport a beard and skull cap, secure that if God forbid some injustice happens, the judicial and administrative system of the country, being run by the government that they have elected wisely or should have elected wisely, will protect them.

Well it is so easy for me to sit in the security and comfort of my temperature controlled room, be all smug and say "OH! Why can't they just be secure and learn to respect conflicting opinions and enjoy the diversity" . And, it is a different thing altogether when one has to live through this chaos, where the answer to all the above questions is No!!.

So, what to do now? Should we harshly judge ourselves because we are not able to handle this delicate situation. Well, as always, I was being really hard on my country with my narrow outlook and then somebody said something that made sense; this person from the richer part of world commented that what I am expecting from my country is probably too much to ask too soon because the prosperity and sense of security that people enjoy in richer and more developed nations are results of the revolutions that took place more than 2 centuries ago. It has only been 61 years that India got freedom and it is doing reasonably well.

There are two kinds of variable that decide the destiny of a nation and life of its denizens, ones that you can control and the ones you don't have control over. Further, if you do not properly handle the variables that you can control, very soon, you will lose control over them also. (this is my decision model course in mba speaking .. ;).

Anyhow, what you can control is that your citizens have enough faith, while voting in the elections that the government will be their for you, will protect you in case of any riot or massacre, regardless of your faith or religion or state. Faith that you will be treated fairly by the police and judiciary of the country, whether you choose or choose not to sport a beard. Faith that your daughters are safe even if they are working late nights as Call Center employees. Faith that you will not loose your land, without being given a fair compensation for it, in case some multinational company wants to build a factory on agricultural land. Faith that you will be rehabilitated fairly, in case the government decides to build to a high profile, technologically outdated big dam, which will submerge everything under water, the house where you lived, the school where you studied, the temple where you worshipped. Faith that your chief minister will not give lame excuses(lack of proper roads in region) for not protecting you while your church was being burnt, while you were being raped in case you are a nun.

If the country can provide these securities to its people, then it would be much easier for its government to unite its citizens from all the religions, castes and states against the war on terrorism. It would be easier for government then to control those rioters, those hooligans, who are making crude bombs in their homes and disposing them off in the nearest dustbin while cleaning the house. Then, no Shankar would get killed for his gesture of kindness of picking a packet, intentionally dropped, to return to its owners who happen to be bombers let loose on a bike. I don't know, whether I am asking for too much, too soon.

Those blasted theories

Writer: Sagarika Ghosh, IBNLive

It is October in India. October of the silken sun and blossoming trees. October is a holy time. Durga comes sweeping down from the mountains. Iftaar dinners are in full swing. The lamps of Navratri are about to be lit. October is the time of renewal. And this October it is more necessary than ever to ask questions that will renew us all.

There have been 16 major bomb blasts since 2002, and approximately 700 have died so far.The deaths have been meaningless and tragic but by the standards of most Indian calamities, approximately 700 deaths in 6 years is not a very high figure, not a figure suggesting that we are "a nation at war". So are we, policemen, media, government and politicians creating an industry and culture of "terrorism" and then feeding off it for our own purposes? Are these bomb blasts, acts of "terrorism" in all the epochal evil and ideological potency that the word "terrorism" today implies? Or are they simply acts of motivated criminality on which we are imposing our own ideological-political vocabulary. In the frenzy of television news, a crude bomb in a garbage bag acquires the same proportions as an aeroplane crashing into a building.

We are all guilty. When 24 hour television news shows a dead body 60 times in the space of an hour, one death begins to look like a hundred. When the National Security Advisor says in an interview that there will be more bomb blasts, he helps heighten a siege mentality and a culture of fear. When the police fixes a target first ("This is HUJI" or "This is IM") and then proceeds to catch individuals who best fit the profile of their preconceived target, they often lose sight of the real criminal. When politicians convert our society into a lynch mob against Muslims, they forget Tony Blair's wise words, that it is the communities that catch the "terrorists" and the police will never get the "terrorist" if it alienates the community.

In the "encounter" in Delhi's Jamia Nagar, 17 year old Sajid, 24- year old Atif and Inspector MC Sharma of Delhi's Special Cell, died. The slain boys had a photo of themselves in their laptop accompanied by the popular teenage caption: "India's Most Wanted," enough evidence, the police claimed, to confirm their "terrorist" credentials. A citizens'committee which launched a fact-finding mission into the Batla House "encounter" severely challenged the police's version. But instead of answering their questions, the committee's members, among them many distinguished academics and lawyers, have been dubbed as "anti-national".

Is it not time the citizen begins to ask if the police are catching the wrong men? In the Delhi Diwali Blast case of 2005 , one of the Delhi Police's main accused is Mohammad Rafiq Shah, a Kashmiri student. He continues to be an accused even though there exists an official letter from the Srinagar University Vice Chancellor and sworn affidavits from his teachers that Rafiq was attending class when the blast took place on 29th October. The Delhi Police said 24-year old Atif masterminded the Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Delhi and Varanasi blasts.Yet on the same day, the UP police produced another "mastermind" of the Varanasi blasts, an entirely different man who they said is a member of HUJI. Then, two days later, the Mumbai police, not to be outdone, produced not one but five "masterminds" who they said were responsible for "all major blasts since 2005." Every state police now claims to have the right culprits. With all "masterminds" either dead or in custody, what happens? More blasts in Delhi, Gujarat and Malegaon, Maharashtra. Whoever is planting the bombs certainly has no fear that the police will ever catch them.

After September 11 2001, the "global jihadi" entered our discourse. Before 2001 we had a different name for bomb blasts: we called them "organized crime" which were carried out by the underworld made up of multi-religious criminal gangs. But after 9/11 whenever a blast took place, the police embarked on a community-specific hunt for the "jihadi". Now the key words of "Islamist" terrorism are "sleeper cells", "terror modules", "masterminds" and " global radicalization." The words conjure up a ghostly enemy, a sinister fanatical Islamist force, when the reality could just be small gangs of criminal youth from any religion. Sure, the ideology of the global jihad exists and is growing, but to what extent is the Indian Muslim caught up with it? We have borrowed our language of "terrorism" from America, without trying to analyse if our "terror" realities are different.

If our "terrorism" is of the Al-Qaeda variety, why are there no suicide bombers in any of the recent urban blasts? If Islamist radicals can access high end global explosives such as RDX and inflict mass casualities, then why are they simply making do with crude bombs of ammonium nitrate, ball bearings and tiffin boxes? Why do bomb blasts sometimes take place in election season? If bombers are being driven by "Islamist" motives why do they often target masjids? Organized crime knows no religion. Criminal activity is readily available for a price to advance any social, economic or political cause.

Yet after every bomb blast, the police rounds up the "ideologically indoctrinated" Alis and Husains, displays them wrapped in tragi-comic "Arabic" scarves and after a ten day television drama, the cases fade from view, the police files laughable chargesheets which the courts throw out. No doubt the police is under enormous pressure to show instant results. Yet why is it that there has not been a single conviction in any of the blast cases so far? In the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case the police rounded up Muslim youth and had to let them all off for lack of evidence. In the 2003 Ghatkopar Blast Case, the 8 accused were acquitted by a POTA court for lack of evidence. Justice Gita Mittal is a conservative, not an activist judge. When she lifted the ban on SIMI at the Unlawful Acitivities Tribunal, she did so not because she is a "minority appeaser" or a "pseudo secularist" but because the evidence given by the government in support of the ban was, as the honorable judge held, "sketchy and casual and the officers fumbled on cross examination." Suspicion or prejudice can never be a substitute for legally sustainable evidence.

The universally accepted version is that "terrorism" is being created by vengeance-filled Muslim youth, funded from overseas and guided by fanaticism. This may well be true in some instances. But there may well be other truths about the bombers, other definitions. The police's single-minded search for a photocopy kaffir-obsessed "jihadi", a search fuelled by the media and by politicians is leading nowhere. Unless we get our definitions right, we will run like a blind mob after the wrong set of culprits, more bombs will be hurled and more toddlers will die.We are the children of Kabir and Mira, of Chaitanya and Nanak and these saints of love told us to look for the truth within ourselves and not in officially sanctioned mantras

Why so insecure?? Part 1

'To wear a tilak (vermilion) on the forehead and to dress up like Ravana and dance with a woman publicly is highly disgusting. The act was shown on several TV channels and the Sikh community can never tolerate such behavior, Harbhajan's act has hurt the sentiments of Sikh community and he should come out with an apology,''

The images of famous Sikh personalities performing Hindu rituals, shown in national newspapers and television channels, raise the hackles of prominent Sikh Clergies. For the major dailies and other media, they are the symbol of the Secular India, a prominently Hindu nation being run by a Sikh Prime Minister, who respects the culture and religious beliefs of the majority by performing Aarti at Ram Lila on the eve of Dussehra. For an orthodox Hindu being led by the likes of VHP and Shiv Sena, it is the substantiation of their celebrated propaganda that "Sikhism is not a separate religion or belief but an extension of Hindu Ideology". For the Sikh religious leaders, ones serving Akal Takht, it is a nightmare, they see it as a threat to their independent religious status, and are afraid of being perceived as a part of the main religious philosophy of the country. For the majority of Sikhs and Hindus all across the world, it is something they don't really care about.

So, why is it that the same action leads to starkly different reactions in different camps? So, what has happened that the most progressive and courageous sect of the country has become so insecure about its identity, its culture and its perceived image. Is it an external factor such as 1984 and its aftermath, or is it an internal issue that majority of Sikh youth wants to shun his "Gursikhi saroop" and doesn't really care about wearing a turban or is it that the majority of Sikh girls demand in their matrimonial advertisements that they want to marry a clean shaven Sikh?

Well, there can be a number of factors attributed. One of them is pride. Sikh, a name once synonymous with a meticulously hardworking and marvelously courageous, high spirit has been, over a period of time, reduced to the status of a "joker" in Indian Media Industry. The Bollywood industry, the creator and adherent of biggest stereotypes, intentionally or unintentionally has wreaked biggest harm to Sikh image than any other single factor. No matter, what the age, background or education of the character is, if it a turbaned fellow, be rest assured that the following scene would be a depiction of silly act, marked by the giggles, claps and whistles in a movie theatre. The intelligentsia of the country very rationally points out, why are the Sikh Leaders so insecure? Well, I will not blame them, if they have to fight a losing battle everyday to instill the Sikh pride in new generation, which is being the target of sadist sense of humor of the secular Indian Media.

The sense of insecurity is worsened by the sorry state of affairs of Indian Judiciary. Politicians like Jagdish Tytler, Sajjan Kumar, and R.K. Anand, are nominated as candidates for Indian Parliament for constituencies in and around Delhi, the same areas where they had allegedly instigated crowd to kill innocent Indian Sikh citizens in anti Sikh riots. Worse still, some of them even win the elections, and are nominated as Union Minister of State for overseas Indian affairs. Who is voting for them and on what credentials are they coming to power? So, should a common Sikh only worry about a handful of politicians or senas, or be intimidated by the law abiding citizenry of the constituency, who votes these people to power, in the largest democracy of the world.

However, it is up to the reader to decide, who should trust his or her rationality and conscience regarding understanding that why the leaders of religion, which preaches "Sarbat Da Bhalla" (O God! Endow us with ever rising spirit, and provide for the wellness of entire human race), are being insecure and demanding apology from a harmless "Ravana" dance act of a cricketer.

Status Quo..

Well, I am happily done with 5 modules... can't believe MBA is going so fast.... Even though I miss my family a lot but i just love this MBA program... am so glad and thank GOD that I chose queens over many others .. the team aspect is the most amazing and challenging experience for me till date..

any how.. am happy that I have got second round call from Cap Gemini.. i might not get selected eventually but atleast its a step forward...still waiting from Deloitte.. :(.. && applying to Nortel ..

Lets Get back to work..

PS: i made sambhar chawal today.. its not an iota close to the magic mom does with the same ingredients...

Guru Granth Sahib: The living Guru

The concept of oneness of all creation is the focal point of the ‘Guru Granth Sahib'. It advocates the unity and sanctity of all forms of life, whether high or low in the evolutionary table. Guru Nanak says: "When I cast my look around, I see none other. He pervades all places, and abides in all hearts."

The sacred `Guru Granth Sahib', is considered as the living Guru of the Sikhs. All compositions included in it are treated as Gurbani, the Guru's own words. No distinction is made between the Guru and the Bani or word as the word. The Shabad is contained in the Granth and, therefore, it is the Guru. Whoever reads it attentively, listens or sings to the hymns, is believed to get into direct contact with the Guru who is regarded as incarnate in these hymns because "the Word is the Guru, and the Guru is the Word".

Sikh simply means 'a seeker of Truth' and the Sikh dharma, through the philosophy of the `Guru Granth Sahib', provides a spiritual path for those who are looking to answer the eternal question, "Who am I and what am I here for?" Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh faith, had laid down the guidelines for an ideal Sikh as: Nam Japo practise the name, Kirat karo earn your livelihood through honest labour and Vand Chhako, share your possessions in the spirit of love and service. Purity of mind and body, contentment, forgiveness, justice and patience all go to make an ideal Sikh. The `Guru Granth Sahib' says, "Let Truth be the strict norm of all you think and do so that your pain and anxiety may go and all felicity come to you".

The `Guru Granth Sahib' is a unique collection of compositions of not only the Sikh Gurus but of bhakti saints drawn from different communities. Written in Sant Bhasha, with Gurmukhi as the script used for transcription, the holy book was prepared by Guru Arjan, the fifth Guru. The first copy was calligraphed by Bhai Gurdas. Words and phrases from Persian, Arabic, Hindi and other Indian languages have been used. These compositions, which are devotional hymns and prayers to the Supreme, contain the message of love and devotion, truth, humility, mercy, brotherhood, equality, service to others, and purity of mind and soul.

All 3,384 hymns consisting of 15,575 stanzas spread over 1,430 pages, are arranged under different ragas or musical modes of the Indian classical music system as there is a strong belief that spiritual experiences can best be had through a combination of word and music, that is, Shabad-kirtan. The Shabad-kirtan creates an atmosphere of sanctity and establishes a link between the Almighty and the devotee.

The gurus regard humans as the crown of creation; the body as the temple of the living God since it is through this temple that the Creator is to be realised and worshipped. Mystical experiences have been made comprehensible in images taken from household life. For instance, the lotus, which grows and blooms in muddy water but still remains unsullied, has often been used to express the idea that to realise God we need not renounce the world. There is no place for renunciation in the sacred Granth, inspiring the Sikhs to live an active worldly life, with Gurbani on their lips and hearts.

For the Sikhs, the ‘Guru Granth Sahib' is the ultimate authority, spiritual as well as historical. Sikhs strive to live in response to the `Guru Granth Sahib', the living Guru.

The writer teaches sociology at Delhi University. This is the 300th year of the conservation of the `Guru Granth Sahib': `300 saal, Guru de naal'.

** Written By Kulbir Kaur October 3, Times of India
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Lifestyle/Spirituality/Guru_Granth_Sahib_The_living_Guru/articleshow/3552999.cms

i am back...

Well, quite a long break...
the purpose of this blog is to keep a record of my adventures and my life experiences as I sail my way through the MBA. After a first couple of moths, MBA had become monotonous in the sense that I had become used to a new challenge everyday, how to deal with the team politics, groom my leadership and managerial skills as I lead the consulting engagements, work on quantitative assignments and deliver the presentations.

However, now the OCR(campus recruitment) season is in full bloom. I have already experienced 4 interviews by the consulting majors got rejected by 2 of them, waiting for results of other 2 and planning to apply in a few others. Its a great learning experience for me. Now I understand that its not how much you know but how much you can communicate effectively. If there is one piece of advice that I want to share through this blog, then that would be "Communicate". No matter how much you know, how intelligent you are, if you are not able to genuinely and effectively transfer this knowledge, its a waste.

Vision : Dare to Dream

Its summer of 1973, a young man in his 20's is sitting with his mother, busy making plans for his future and and well this is something that he loves to do.. lol there comes his father, a retired army officer, who scoffs and chides his son :"you do nothing except for daydreaming the whole day'.
Son doesn't say much, only replies what had read a day before in the Readers Digest :

Two prisoners looked out through the window bars of the same cell. One looked up and saw the stars in the sky; the other looked out and saw only the mud on the ground."

Eventually the son gets his decent dose of lambaste. Today, I see the same man, my father, owning everything that he once dreamed of. Hey Papa, on father's day I want to tell you how much you mean to all of us, me neenu, gp and raju!! and how blessed we are to have you as our Dad.

"happy father's day"!!! :)


I don't know why am I writing this here but its for everyone who happens to read this post. Dare to Dream!! and do not let anything or anyone turn you down. I know its easier said than done but if a person of my caliber can go ahead, move to a an alien country to pursue what I want, then u can too!! do not underestimate yourself and most important ask yourself what you want to do and work hard to achieve it. this is your life and live it the way you want to ...

Module 2 is Over..hi5

Can't really get over the fact that I am done with my statistics and Economics exams. well that was fun!! no classes for monday and tuesday ..yippeee :D
well we have a two day career workshop coming along where our team would be visiting 3 venture capitalists in and around kingston on monday .. meeeting these guys, going out on lunch with them ... basically getting an exposure to how these guys run their company ... then would be asked to prepare an elevator pitch for one of the companies (elevator pitch means that you have to convey the idea of what company wants, who are its target customers, how is it different..and blah blah!! in just 90 seconds).. there would be the elevator pitch competition on Monday evening ... and what are the plans for tuesday , the school has not disclosed yet but this is exciting for me..and especially to all those entrepreneurs in the class..

random!!!

some lines for my own record ... liked them so sharing with everyone.

Mai apne fann ki bulandi se kaam le loonga;
Mujhe muqaam na dena, mai muqaam le lunga....

"Hum Bhi Dariya Hain, Hamein Apna Hunar Maloom Hai!!
Jis Taraf bhi chal padengey, Raasta Ho jayega"

"Dil ka soona saaz tarana dhoondega
Mujhko mere baad zamana dhoondega"

"Yeh to apna apna zarf hai, apna apna hausla!!!
Koi udd ke baitha hai baam par, koi Kahkashan se guzar gaya!!!"... lov it

the biggest fear... aah interesting !!!

'A recent survey stated that the average person's greatest fear is having to give a speech in public. Somehow this ranked even higher than death which was third on the list. So, you're telling me that at a funeral, most people would rather be the guy in the coffin than have to stand up and give a eulogy'.
- Jerry Seinfield

and there was lite

well..friday nite... its past midnite and here i am working on some assignment that has to be delivered tomorrow. i was just wondering that if i keep on working here the same way i have worked all through my life..i'll end up with the same set of skills that i have always had. well thats not what i am paying sixty grands for. so immediately after this lightening struck, I did shoot an apology letter to kwesi for being myself today and i have promised him(hehee), well even if nobody else at the least i'll sit with him every evening under those constraints, discussing his deep concerns regarding the strategy, which at least i till date thought were completely out of context..lets see if it works .. if nothing else it will improve my negotiating skills..

moreover, i have met this guy who is doing phd in English(south african literature...coooll). he shares the kitchen with me. so we hav planned spending an hour every week discussing the south african literature with him...well i am excited...

so much for the morality...

btw who decides the morals anyway...i am kind of confused the way the human society decides the morals.. whats right and whats wrong, a black and white scenario with a large chunk of grey, which is basically the individaul discretion regarding how to interpret these morals..

well ... in countries like india, and especially Islamic countries, for instance its a complete black no no to drink alcohol,but in many parts of the world its perfectly normal part of everyday meal .. no dinner is complete without red wine.. and on the other hand bribery is a way of life for we indians ..imagine the hassles of getting even a simple driving license if you want to do it the right way.. but ask a simple American and the person would be scandalized to hear that...

well sometimes i feel that when we make this whole Drinking is Evil kind of scenario, we are actually giving it much more importance than it should be given ... believe me i am not saying that alcohol should be made accessible to everybody .. what i mean is that excess of everything is bad .. definitely coming home drunk every night is evil, not spending quality time with ur loved ones is worse but i am just pointing out the differences in the way different societies interpret different behavior . in india its cosidered bad coz most of the people who drink chose to do it at the expense of not spending quality time with ur loved ones but here in America a relaxed conversation over a glass of wine is amongst one of the ways of spending quality time ..
so who will decide whats right here and whats wrong ... i know there are some conservatives who will choose to castigate the whole western culture for their drinking habits..and there are westerners who think that indian society is based on dishonesty ..... so is it that we like to think that whatever our social norms are , they are correct and others are wrong coz it feeds our super inflated ego

if anybody chooses to waste time to read this messed up thought process, ur comments are the most welcome

United Colors of Business

module 1 is over. i can't believe that . thats all for strategy and leadership !!! there are 8 more to go.well this one was the smallest module. others would be more relevant for the study of business administration. got to work hard or make urself productive while working in a team where the oldest team member is 14 years elder to me.so much for the diversity. we hav finally selected a team name for our fantastic 424 team "United Colors of Business". next week shyam has invited us for a dinner at his place. lets see we should get flowers for his wife, with sincere apologies for keeping him in the school for 15-16 hours

though...now that the initial enthusiasm has waned off..each day has become kind of predictable, i mean classes, assignments, peer pressure, presentations, group discussions, and the readings above all that..topped in with dinners, informal gatherings, 'point 4s'. ok.. .4 is the name of official informal gathering of queens mba students at any local ghetto on every thursday evening. & it is called point 4 coz some stats prof at qsb did a research and came up with a conclusion that people who choose to keep an active social life, while pursuing an mba only lose 0.4% marks in the end. so its important to make work life balance . well thats something!!! though the prof never chose to disclose his identity.

synergy...what a relief!!

as i am writing this post, i have my mind on two very important things, one the dal biryani that i am making for dinner and much more important kwesi is sitting in our team room compiling our individual notes to draft our memo that we have to submit by midnite today. after the heated discussion of yeaterday, today we all admitted in our team huddle that it was sad for all of us. may be thats why we all behaved ourselves today and the team working meeting was a breezer, no sidebar talking, no cutting each other. we manged to finish the overall discussion of the case study and finalised strategy in record time. i can see the light!
btw i had a meeting with my personal trainer yesterday, who is going to draft a personal fitness program comprising of aerobics and cardio for me by next weekend. hope it helps !!!!

enough i need to go back and study my notes for the final presentation on strategy case study that we are doing tomorrow & unfortunately or fortunately i am lead on that one. i hope i don't let my team down. amen..

the indo-canadian chamber of commerce

in the evening i went to this indo canadian chamber of commerce meeting. met this guy from previous batch, an indian. whatever anyone may say, in the end , i think its only the indians, who have been there, done that, can give u the real perspective, tell the things that matter especially the placement stuff, the real stuff, at least what we indians want to hear. well that was encouraging, though the placement scenario here is drastically different, its more of self initiating, persevering, networking, stuff rather than ready to eat meals that you get back in the country. well thats good in one sense that you learn in real terms, how to market yourself!!
placing a price on myself..what a crap ...well i know i am priceless ;)

teamwork...will it work???

i don't want to sound skeptical on my working first day so lets start with the positive thing first. i managed to make enough food for the next whole week on sunday and right now i am happy wid myself and quite proud of my culinary skills. enough of these paeans, coming back to real world of mba; today we were given a case study and in different sessions, we had to identify different aspects( strategy, leadership and business develpment) of the same, discuss them in the team, come to a conclusion ( well thats not as easy as it sounds) and give 3 ten minute presentations to the class.
well we didn't do quite a good job of working in the team. six strong headed individuals, everyone from diverse background culturally as well as professionally; with different age groups coming to strategic conclusion within the constrained time frame of 15 or 30 minutes, well thats what we are here to learn. in the evening the meeting with the team facilitator, we decided some team norms and in the last assignment we picked david as our leader. he did the excellent job of splitting us, me and kwassi working together, kwassi reminds me of my last boss with whom i shared quite a ** professional relationship . but we did a good job of completing our assignment within fixed time frame. though we need to learn a lot but i hope somehow i will survive and it was just the first working day!!!!!!

pushing ur self to the limit!..thats queen's mba

in our transition nite ..aka fresher's party , i was talking to a senior and she commented that now looking back she can say that their is a human potential and their is queen's mba potential.ie way above the former one. pushing urself to the limit is what queen's does to u. we had a scavanger hunt activity. i alongwith my team was running across the streets of kingston for 3 hours, trying to meet checkpoints, completing questionnaires. luckily we had kingston locals in our team that made it a lot easier. but nevertheless i can't imagine how we did all though after couple of shots nerves were soothened. the good part was our team the goran team won second prize "a 5 dollar gift voucher from tim hortans" in the game.yipeee!!

i am just putting these random thoughts in words so that afterwards i can concentrate better on the 6-7 readings that i have to do to prepare for our assignments on monday

life is a golf course!

played golf for the first time in my life.it was a good experience though i don' know whether i am too ambitious or extremely self-critical; i felt bad when i could not match up to my expectations in the game.
but life is the biggest teacher, if you are trying too hard but not matching your expectations its better to broaden your view and think out of the box. when i wasn't doing really good there i thought that i should try something different . i went to mini golf section . for those who don't know what is a mini golf,it is basically the same thing but here rather than hitting too far you aim at shorter distances. i played excellently in it. it reminded me of the anecdote which tells the story of a bee who keeps on hitting the glass pane of window ,trying to enter the room through the pane rather than moving a little farther, changing its direction whereby it can find the big door opened and can enter the room through it.
hence i believe that though working hard matters, its equally important to aim at the right things, one should hit at the spot where it would matter the most. just random thoughts, nothing serious about.

u always hav a choice

Make Choices
Seek Change
Inspire Challenges
This is the motto of the "fit to lead" sessions that we shall be attending. I agree to the fact that whatever you do, wherever you are; its because of the choices that you made while on your road to Ithaka. So be happy with wherever u are coz at some point in the past this was the place where you had chosen yourself to be.
I am pretty much happy with the way the course is progressing though everybody has his or her fears. I am going to some fit to lead session activity in the afternoon today, where there would be some sports activities, golf, beach volleyball...

the first week at queen's school of business: feels like a tsunami

can't believe its not even a week at the qsb and it just feels like a tsunami. we hav been given a 10 day week schedule when we are almost busy from 8:30 in the morning to 10 in the evening everyday. we hav been put in our teams; they have ensured that the diversity in the team is taken care of. we are six people in our team, coming from all parts of the world US, Canada, Philippines, Trinidad, India with different work backgrounds. Not to mention I am the youngest one, sometimes i feel so stupid that what am I doing here ??? but may be I am adding a fresh perspective to the team..( just keeping myself happy with these feel good thoughts)

ok..we had to take 4 assignments that tell us how everybody among us is unique, what are our strengths, how can we leverage upon them to build a successful career in some kind of work that we enjoy. though i am quite a self obsessed, self analytical and self critical person but even i have had enough of it now!!@! but in the end i am loving this program. every morning new writeups are there waiting for me at my desk when i reach my classroom. though its busy and will become much more busier but may be this is what i wanted

weirdo??

I always knew there was something wrong wid me.the way i think, this conflicting combination of logical and emotional intelligence wid pathetic methodical skills. I took the HM assignment test , some weird method to analyze how different components of your brain work, measured my excellence in all the 4 quadrants of brain & my result depicted an internal conflict between high emotional energy and logical skills. I am the one of only two people in our class of typical number crunchers to have this kind of weird profile.

queen's first day...

the day started early with a decent breakfast. i was excited coz i was wearing the business clothes for the first time in my life. met lori garnier, bill and scott in person;the guys whom i had talked to a number of times on phone. they were excited, and bubbling with enthusiasm and intelligent sense of humor. our indian profs are nowhere near them at least when it comes to making each individual student feel special. i am glad that i made this decision and chose queen's rather than doing an mba at India or any other college in canada; at least for now. their speech was passionate and gave me chills. spent the whole day meeting and greeting professors, support staff, updating my laptop. tomorrow we shall be put in our teams. lets see how it goes. we are busy from 8:30 in the morning to 10 in the night for next 10 days. life has finally shifted to fifth gear.

the canada trip

Partap had chalked out a nice little three day plan for both of us. Well at 5 'o clock in the morning Bhuaji wake me up . By now I was sick and tired of traveling in and around Calgary, Cochraine and Banff for a week. Canada is beautiful but I had seen too much of it in too short a time span. Well a hour later I found myself in the plane going to Ontario, thousands of miles away. In the four hour flight I was awake for only fifteen minutes. I felt sorry for partap who was kind of bored and wanted to talk but couldn't help it.

Well at toronto airport we rented a car then commenced our canada trip. I was really excited now and moving at 120 Km/hour, may be talking at 30 words/minute. We went to the downtown, walked around for a couple of hours had a couple of hot chocolates, ate salads( i have never had so much salad in my whole life as I have eaten in this last week) went to CN tower, with the height of 558 meters it is probably the highest towers of world. then drove around 250 Km to kinston . The highway is one of the most beautiful highways in the world and I was at my philosophical best. By the time we reached kinston it was 10 in the night, so had a vegetarian pizzza and dozed off. Next day I went to Queen's. Its exactly the same as I had expected. The old castle type bulidings, a hostel that looks like a mini citadel, with all those creepy vines twining on the walls, it resembles Hogwarts of Harry Potter and I am truly madly deeply in love with it atleast for now.
We dropped off all the stuff and partap acting like a responsible cousin, may be after realizing how careless I am, ran off all the errands. It rained the whole day. but I love kinston, it has so many beautiful buildings , lake ontario -one of the five great lakes and it is much more greener than toronto or calgary. Well an ideal place to study. At night to put and end to this hectic day, we decided to walk around and find a nice place to eat. One of the clubs refused me an entry because I didn't have PhotoID proof. I was in case going to show them my passport, the only proof I had. Its kind of crazy living in a foreign country without an identity. Well finally we found a very nice Mediterranean food corner to eat and had a long, nice dinner. We deserved that after all the day's hard work.

Next day we went to an island through a free ferry. Well this Wolfe island is the place I loved the most in Canada. Green Fields, peaceful, serene and calm. then I realized that that the reason I like this place so much is because it looks so much like Punjab. Even the air smelt of fields in Punjab. Met an old couple, sat beside the lake and did some wild life photography. Afterwards went to Fort Henry.its a part of world heritage site, kind of boring in the day. But they say the place is haunted and they give guided tours in night. I am booked for one. In the evening said goodbye to partap and within an hour got ready to attend a meet and greet party and met many of the future classmates. Ironically it was the same place where I was refused an entry a day before.

Journey to the west

Its always hard to say goodbye, but after days of sleepless nights, tiresome packing, my senses had finally given up. Chandu's visit surprised me. I hadn't expected anything like that but she's a true sweet heart. Well in the plane i made the most of the time and slept for almost 12 hours in an 18 hour flight. Met a rich Indian businessman and a nice Canadian lady. She was more than excited to listen to all my ramblings and future plans. She gave me her contact number and told me that she was really willing to help me financially and otherwise also whenever I 'll care to implement them. It came off as nice surprise.

Well finally I reached the airport and volunteered to act as a translator for some confused old punjabi ladies who were trying to explain their purpose of visit to Canada, to the Canadian authorities in Hindi. Around a dozen of my relatives were there to come and welcome me. That was nice, but they were kind of amused when the same Canadian lady again came to me and said that she's serious about funding my plans. Canada is definitely a rich country.

The Road To Ithaka

Its an amazing poem I read, would like to share with everybody who would ever care to vivsit this blog.

As you set out for Ithaka
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
angry Poseidon-don't be afraid of them:
you'll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
wild Poseidon-you won't encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.


Hope your road is a long one.
May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you enter harbors you're seeing for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind-
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to learn and go on learning from their scholars.


Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you're destined for.
But don't hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you're old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you've gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.
Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you wouldn't have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.


And if you find her poor, Ithaka won't have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you'll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.