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Showing posts with the label India

When Destiny Sends Its Helpers

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Keep running. The right people find you on the way. At different stages of life, you’re confronted with different challenges. And each time you cross a hurdle, you feel that familiar sense of accomplishment. It’s tempting to attribute that success to your own skill, tenacity, and willpower — to pat yourself on the back and feel proud of how you handled it. But when you zoom out and look at the moments where you somehow managed to trump the odds, a quieter realization sets in: It’s never just you. There is always an unseen army that shows up at the right time. It was 2005. I had decided to pursue my Master’s in the US. I picked a few schools in the Midwest where the expenses were manageable, and that’s how the University of Missouri–Rolla entered the picture. But funding was still a massive question mark. I hadn’t secured any assistantship, and we didn’t have the means to pay out of pocket. We went from bank to bank, hoping for an education loan. Each manager aske...
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The general elections

Nothing grips a nation like general elections.  There is constant buzz and chatter all around, with each person supporting a leader of his choice; arguments and tensions rising galore.  While in school, I used to spend my summer holidays in Tamil Nadu.  In front of our village home was a huge maidaan , where leaders of all parties would deliver their speeches (of course on different days).  So, I have had the chance to see Jayalalitha, Karunanidhi, Vaiko, Ramadoss and the others from close quarters.  I wouldn't understand most of the things they said, but the crowd and chatter before the speech was riveting. Anyway, I always wanted to vote during the elections.  And you weren't able to do that until the age of 18.  But, by the time, I got myself registered as a voter and all the verifications were done, another election went by.  So, in 2004, I was very much excited when I was cleared to vote.  I was very clear that I wanted to support one...
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Drawing the line

It is a fact of life that it is never easy to draw the line when it comes to a myriad of things.  Even if there is a thick line between contentment and greed, it is amusing to find that certain individuals find ways to be on the wrong side of the line.  Now, what's the wrong side? The Indian Premier League (IPL) has thrown open a can of worms bringing to the forefront the involvement of politicians, financiers, famous personalities, and almost every biggie directly or indirectly.  The final entity of the IPL happens to be the sportsperson himself, when he actually should have been the primary, speaks a lot about the way the tournament is designed.  I, personally, have nothing against the IPL.  It is a dream tournament for every cricket fan, who longs to see stars from various countries share the same dressing room in this city based format.  It is an English Premiere League like concept, where the best of footballers from all parts of the world represent ...
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Diwali wishes!

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My last year's India trip definitely does not feel like a year ago. I had planned my trip in such a way that it coincided with Diwali, and it was well and truly worth it. Here goes some pictures from Diwali 2008 (all pictures taken in Malleswaram, Bangalore) and of course, wishing everyone a very happy Diwali 2009. Diwali is the festival of lights. No wonder, you see the "Akashdeep" hanging out in abundance! Flowers are overpriced during festivals, but who cares! The little fella won't have a tough time selling his earthen ware. Earthen lamps, a common sight during any Indian festival, and during Diwali, you just have to see it to believe it A neat line of bikes; all are sure shopping in Malleswaram 8th cross Not very surprising to see the crowded 8th cross street! The shopping spree continues indefinitely for the next few days Almost anything and everything available in this little shop The night is buzzing with activity with the firecrackers lighting up the city...
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A Tamil Iyer wedding

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It is never hard to imagine an Indian wedding, be it the buoyant north Indian type or the conservative south Indian type. An Indian wedding evokes the oohs and the aahs even from the foreign audience. You guys have a grand wedding arrangement, right. I hear it lasts for weeks. The normal cliches are not too uncommon. But then, they have a point. Even a simple Indian wedding is nothing but grand. It lasts for a minimum of two days, and a maximum depending on the time and money that can be spent on the wedding. It is an exercise by itself, rather a really taxing one. In the non-South weddings, the fun factor is amplified by the jolliness of the event. What I hear from friends, the event is fun filled with a minimum ritualistic approach. But then, India is so diverse that there are a hundred different ways to celebrate a wedding. So, after saying so many things about a restrictive (or conservative, depends on which way you see it) type of wedding, you might not want to read t...
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India votes decisively - Elections 2009

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Update: It might seem pretty astonishing, but when Yadu told me about the National Public radio's coverage on the Indian elections, I really could not believe it until I heard this (Click on the listen now link at the top of the page) . It is totally hilarious, and I hope Rajdeep Sardesai listens to this and calms down!!! In what may be the most clear cut verdict since 1977 in the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, India emerged out of the shadow of coalition governance, with sulking high profile trouble makers, to offer a unanimous verdict in favor of a stable government at the center. There was a definite paradigm shift in the voting pattern in most of the states in the country. The Indian National Congress was in a revival mode, and after the country had been battered and bruised, everybody was in a mood to vote for a nationalist party, be it the Congress or the BJP. Even during the lead up to the elections, I offered my not-required view to my friends, " I have a f...
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Lit..er..al..aaa?

In any language, you take certain words for granted, and the perfect pronunciation of the word is limited to the complete word minus, maybe, the last letter or the last couple of letters. So, actually, it's not perfect, but the utterance is close to perfection. I am one of those guys who can make simple things complicated, but never vice versa. I often wonder how difficult it is to translate something verbatim from one language to another. The beauty of every Indian language lies in its enthralling ability to appease you with the perfect choice of word(s) for the perfect occasion. It is almost close to impossible to maintain the same diction and poise, as you work your way to the global medium. The same analogy applies when you want to say something in your local tongue from English. You get the feeling of being trapped, as you try to explain the phrase, and end up pleasing none. Many a time, as I stand outside on the balcony at home, and as the first few drops of rain touch ...
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The same old rants

There was a time in the past when mothers of little children had to warn their children, " You better not get on to the streets. Better play inside the apartment building. There are a lot of bad people out there who will not think twice to kidnap little children. " The children would listen attentively and stick on to the comfort limits of well-being. Today, I am not sure whether it is only the children who have to be told by the elders. There is a vast section of the society who run the risk of getting kidnapped, thanks to some of the most obnoxious and atrocious elements of our society. At any instant of time, if you want to visualize what's happening in India, you will have your plate full. There are so many things happening out there, some of which can leave you baying for blood. It tends to become creepy, and suddenly, you are at such a boiling point that you kind of get an insight to how a murderer really feels before he is going to commit a crime. I really h...
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What a victory!

What a victory! What a victory!!! I not only could see the excitement in his voice, but also in his whole body language. He was running around as though India had just won the world cup (Cricket, of course, not soccer!). For a second, I was confused and had to check up whether I was on the right website. This, neither was entertainment news and neither did it have anything to do with sports. Anyway, I was watching the Assembly election results in six states held across different parts of India. After watching election news all these years,, I can still safely say, without any presumptions, that Prannoy Roy was simply the best in business - calm, composed, and perfect to the point, with a good team of political analysts. Now, with the advent of time, and with the advancement in technology, there is so much access to statistics online, that anything and everything is just a click of a button away. But, those days, to compile everything methodically from different sources, was mor...
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Mumbai

I try to keep away from current affairs on my blog, simply because, there is so much media coverage that you feel who cares about what is written here. But then, I also realize, that this statement holds good for other posts as well. Whatever said and done, my mind just refuses to forget what happened last night at Mumbai, the financial hub of India and one of the important centers of the world, where a small ripple here can cause major waves in the global market. I try to switch my mind to other things, but, invariably, and rather, involuntarily, my fingers make an impression on the keys that correspond to the different news sites across the web. I want to find out more and at the same time, get away from what's happened last night. I am not sure whether I am getting callous. Yesterday afternoon, when I was at work, there was an update in the web space that Mumbai was caught in the midst of yet another series of blasts. Oh, God! Yet another one. I hope nobody is injured, an...
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Change or no change?

As I made my way out from the airport, I made a mental note of the fact that I should brace myself for the changes. Well, I had not visited India for the last three years, and all that I could gain about India was from the different websites and inputs from my friends who had traveled back home during this period. There is always a sense of apprehension and fear as you prepare to face what you do not want to face. There is a fixed image of the country in your mind, and for heaven's sake, you want to see it that way. You want to see certain changes, and at the same time, you do not want to see a wholesale of them. Life is strange in the sense that you want to adapt to the changes but without the knowledge that you are actually reacting to the change. I walked out on the road with not a trace of unfamiliarity. They were the same roads, the same muddy pools of water, and the cracks on the roads did not breed any sense of contempt from my side. The waywardness of life did not st...
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The moving equation

It certainly has been a moving time for everyone in the family.  As I made my way from Boston to Kansas, my brother graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Engineering, and found a job in one of the numerous IT companies in India right now, getting placed in Madras .  Like him, a lot of my friends have their brothers shifting away from their respective homes to wherever the placement calls.  A couple of my cousins too are going out to other destinations to excel in their careers.  So, certainly a moving time for all. For me, relocation from Boston to Kansas has certainly not been a huge task.  In fact, it has been quite easy, considering the fact that the cost of living in Boston is much much higher than the mid west states in US.  Not that Overland Park is too economical, but at least, compared to Boston, here, it is easy to cut costs on quite a few things.  Just to give you a comparison, a 2 bed room flat in Boston (in the suburbs) costs about 1500$...
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Turning up(on!) with a bindi

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I had to check the title twice so that I did not end up adding an 'h' somewhere that could result in a vegetable. The whole meaning of the post would have been lost. But, Google has always helped my cause to verify things instantaneously, and here goes the post to convey the right meaning. Bindi is a symbol anyone from India would be familiar with. In South India, it is referred to as Pottu or Bottu , and since I am from the South, my first reaction would be to associate that tiny dot on a woman's forehead as Pottu . I do not want to write about the religious significance of a bindi since a significant lot has been written about that. I have always wondered how that tiny addition to the forehead of women serves as a nice decorative item. A bindi comes in different sizes and shapes associated with a myriad of decorative features thus answering a big question Why do girls spend hours and hours of their time selecting a bindi? But today it is different. It is no m...
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The North South Divide: A Chasm

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In a land of billion people, with 1500 miles separating the east from the west, and an equal distance separating the north from the south, the resulting cultural exchange that culminates across different parts of the country allows us to accept the similarities and probe for those differences that can get baffling at times and at other times, equally glaring. India has in her the wherewithal to adapt to the changing times, and in today's fast paced world, she is really doing a good job in staying in tune with the present. North, south, east and the west, but if you notice, people tend to classify India into two broad divisions, the north and the south. The east and the west somehow tend to get aligned with one of the two major divisions. Ask any Indian about the two regions, and he will be quick to draw the boundaries. At least 99% of the Indians will agree with me: Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Tamil Nadu fall in the southern part of India, and anybody hailing from an...
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Building a house in India: A paradigm shift

All the members of the G-gang used to laugh at Prasad when he used to come up with this statement Shucks man! I should have been born a few years earlier. I would have been a millionaire. But then, over a period of time, we could realize what he said was just true. The IT (Information Technology) scenario around the time of 1998 was one of the best periods for a budding engineer to blossom. People made money like never before, investing in the stock market and reaping the benefits to the last pie. It was the time when the common man turned into a big man. Let us forget the IT boom and the resulting doom. Let us go back to the early nineties, no, the late nineties. Everyone knew that if you could come to the US for a couple of years, it was well within your reach to build a palatial home in Malleswaram, Bangalore . Make it three years, and you could enhance your home with the best of furnishing. There was a huge difference in the economy of the two countries - USA and India....
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India - Shining and Rising @ 60

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It sometimes requires a lot of effort to come out of your dumps, beat the blues and get into the real world amidst the thick of things. The last two weeks kept me busy with the unfavourable modes of life, and after sighing (a bit actually) and sulking, I came to terms with reality and now have moved on pretty well. A two weeks of hiatus from the world of blogging, I wanted to continue only if I found something stirring and moving to write about, instead of writing about the daily vagaries of life. What better topic can get more evocative than writing about the country! All Indian channels are beaming the news to keep us aware that India is turning 60, but that feeling lay hidden somewhere in the corner of my heart, and I had not truly felt the magnitude of the moment. Of course, the feeling was developing within over the last few days, but not good enough to express it in words. Some things are best left unwritten when the moment does not take you over. One has to wait for the righ...
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A la Swades...?

As I recover from the sadness of leaving Rolla to begin my job life at Boston, sitting in the lounge of the food court at the Charlotte airport, I got a wonderful forward from Prasad directing me to take a peek at the IBNlive article composed by Sandeep Verma, an analyst at Lehmann Brothers. I did not need this article to set me thinking but it kind of gave me an idea of what all the desis here in US are thinking about returning back home. One of the common topics of discussion in any forum " Are you returning back to India for good or not? " generally gets a lot of heads thinking, at least if it doesn't get them rolling. Even a die hard American fan desi who would want to settle here will think twice when you ask him this question. It is not easy to say yes to that question even if you know it is a no. The American dream is such that everything is so undecided - you don't have any idea how you are going to fare in your GRE, no idea whether you can get an admit, ...
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ARR's Vande Mataram

Sometimes, people benchmark a particular song or music, and elevate it to an unscalable point, that anything seemingly less comparable to the earmarked audio sounds astoundingly trivial. High quality music can always be stretched to eternity surpassing all doubts about its survival in a race against time. Any thoughts of it dying down with time is pulverized as events relayed from the past reflect the strong bonding etched to futuristic events. AR Rahman's Maa Tujhe Salaam or Thai Manne Vanakkam , all under the broad classification of Vande Mataram , falls under this supreme category. Rahman came up with this composition, along with BharatBala Productions in the year when India readied itself to commemorate the fiftieth year of Independence from the British. Both of them readily strike a good vibe when it comes to portraying national footage that exemplifies the class and beauty of India. That was the year when India turned defiant in Pokhran signifying one of the greatest...
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The turnaround

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After the results of the last Lok Sabha elections, I was sure about one thing. The Indian railways is going to go to dogs. I am sure many of you would have seconded me on this. That, coupled with a possibility of a non-Indian donning the Prime Minister role, was giving almost everyone around a lot of heart aches. All felt that it was one of the darkest periods of Indian history. Nobody had a clear idea of how things would shape up in the future. Laloo Prasad Yadav , the Hon'ble Railway Minister did not sound too good on the Indian resume. We needed people with dynamic skills and definitely Laloo's name did not hit the right chord with the masses. Times have changed now. The wrong judgement passed on Laloo had to be reconsidered. Reconsidered? It was thrown out without ado. What with the Indian Railways having a cushion of Rs. 11000 crore , who can blame Laloo now? He has passed the acid test that was set upon him a couple of years back, and has really taken the bull b...
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