जो शहीद हुए हैं उनकी, ज़रा याद करो कुर्बानी

These words moistened the eyes of Nehru (in spite of him enjoying top slots in the India's biggest bastard list). 5 decades on, as a billion Indians hurtle thru the rat race that is an average Indian life, its saddening to see my country just chug over the sacrifices millions of men are making for us.

Thanx to rediff.com, I came across these articles about the fate of some of our army's officers. The series is very aptly titled "Lest We Forget".

Posting the links here for public viewing. Read every single one of them. Shed a few tears and be grateful. We live and run after millions while these men lay down their lives.

Capt. Saurabh Kalia - http://specials.rediff.com/news/2004/jun/07kalia.htm
Capt. Vikram Batra - http://specials.rediff.com/news/2004/jun/17batra.htm

This is one of those few times when I appreciate the Indian media (more of my cynicism in some later post). Thanx to them, such stories get etched into contemporary public memory and unite (one of those few times we do) the nation in grief, pride and rage.

But don't for one moment think that reality is only full of such paeans of valor unsurpassed. Read the next two articles and feel a pang in your heart. (If you don't, you are not human. You might as well go and start monkeying around in some zoo.)

Flight Lt. Abhijit Gadgil - http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/aug/13inter.htm
Lt. Colonel S. Ravi Shankar - http://specials.rediff.com/news/2007/apr/23slide1.htm

This is just the tip of a gory, deathly iceberg. The cries and woes of the families whose sons don't make it to the media's fancy go unheard. And you better not ask for data on this one. Some simple arithmetic can easily lead you to this conclusion.

Let's talk of just peace times. War times, to me, are too scary and blood-boiling to comprehend.
Think about how many officers and jawaans die every year thanx to terrorism and anti-insurgency operations. Think about the no. of MiG crashes that happen for pilots in training. These, at least, make the headlines.
Now think about the scale on which the Indian army operates. How many cantonments, how many offices, how many posts manned in how many locations. It isn't preposterous to then assume that many a scrupulous Lt. Ravi Shankar's would be turning martyrs. And, all the Defence Ministry and the administration can do is think of a cover-up to protect their slimy, blood-soaked asses!!

That said, it triggers a tsunami of rhetorical questions.

1. What sort of a nation treats it's soldiers this way? How can we forget our war heroes so easily?
2. What becomes of a soldier's family if he dies at service? Is the future of old parents or a young infant-son of a soldier secure if he is not around?
3. Why doesn't the government - those dickheads who parade themselves as the saviors of the nation - have the balls to stand up to Pakistan and take perpetrators to task?

Surely, conferring a medal, giving a notional compensation, best case - a post in some God-forsaken public service, can never be commensurate to a mother's loss of a son. Perhaps nothing can ever be.

Then, what should we be doing? Have a system in place that is rich enough to provide on-going care for soldiers' families and not just one-point braggadocios. A few thought starters are listed below:

1. A corporate can set-up a fund that provides for the welfare of martyr families.
2. A simple campaign by the army will generate selfless millions in donation, if they willfully wanted to do something for these families.
3. The media can take this cause up which would open tons of avenues of help.

As with any other system that aims at mass-welfare, the biggest challenge is in ensuring reach to the families of those countless, faceless jawans that die unglorified. This segment will be the largest and the one in biggest need of support as their families would be the most strained for survival. (Jawans are usually not super qualified and would be the main bread earners for their families).

The clamor for a defence-mechanism against such tsunamis should have been irrepressible by now. Sadly, it just remains a trepid, indiscreet murmur masked out and lost in the loud honks and blares that are India.
We are eons away from where we should be. Guiltily, it hurts to know we could've been there but apathy and indifference again got the better of us :(.

If I make something of myself some day, this post should serve as a reminder for me to do something for this cause. A few tears though is what I close the note currently with. It's the least each of us can do.

Country roads...are taking me home :)

Country roads, take me home
To the place, I belong...

Am going home this coming Friday. Will see Mama and Dad after 4 long months.
4 months that have been more happy than sad. Had some great weekends with friends here, had friends visiting from India, roamed around Singapore - a city I am fully enamored with by now :).
Made a coupla trips to Philippines, fulfilled a long cherished dream of watching a Grand Prix.

But, am going home now - there's simply nothing quite like this feeling.
There's much to look forward to - friends, relatives, food, warmth, peace, belonging and some much needed counseling and advice. Yoohooo... :)

GoogleCard - The future of communications

Computers, the World Wide Web and demi-gods like Yahoo, Google have expedited the rate of change that mankind has had to deal with more than most people acknowledge or are even aware of. Our habits and life-styles, egged on by these developments, are changing rapidly without us even knowing about them.

The once ubiquitous post-office and paper-mails are an endangered speices now. Our next generation will see artifacts like stamps on some fossil plate in a museum ;).

Voice chats, Webcams have whittled geographical distances away to just a matter of a few clicks.

But, this post is not to extol the generous blessings of the .Com age. It is my take on what the biggest leap in technology for the coming century is going to be. Am going to write that in the form of an ad concept. So, here goes...

"A web-chat is no substitute for that live, chirpy voice of your sister on the telephone call from home.
A faceless voice on the telephone is no match for the human presence and warm touch of your beloved over a cup of coffee.

The only thing technology can't do is be human.
For everything else, there's Google ;) "

Frustration soother - An unsung virtue of Blogs

Another listless, staid Sunday has gone by. I end it frustrated, despondent, fuming and tired - like others before this one.

I am really thankful at such times that I have a blog. It's a fantastic vent for seething out all your galls and exasperations. I don't think I have paid my salutes to this virtuosity of blogs :).

It's my blog. I can write what I wish and feel. So, at such times, I let all those extra-charged, anger causing, mind derailing hormones seep in to the white spaces of my blog.
No hurting anyone, no arguments, no getting gyaan, no favors...just plain and simple - problem fixed!!!

Tomorrow is a new day :). I just got a new project at work involving system design, my first love. I want to do it well and excel at my work. Don't want anything to get in my way now.

Friday evening takes me back to Mama...Yoohooooo....It's a week worth looking forward to.

The world's most profound Good Morning greeting!!

The perfect morning. Wake up to the sun beams weaving a gossamer of a myriad colors, as they disperse thru the glass panes of the apartment blocks on the far side of the road. Pay your daily homages as you listen to the light morning breeze rustle among the leaves. Break your diligent (hopefully) fast with a sumptous helping of cereal and fruit as you tap along to Mark Knoffler crooning away on the radio.

Tuck that dapper shirt in. Run your hand thru your hair one last time and step out! (I don't have a honey to kiss good-bye as yet ;) ).
The pep in your step, the confidence in your stride, is unmistakable. Relive John Travolta whistling Stayin' Alive as you embark on your conquest of the world.

And Whack!! IT almost hits you like a hard slap right across your pretty visage. You almost feel as if the Devil himself took lengthy pains to ensure all your morning blues and reveries were shaken off as you trudged to office (hell? Naah... :) ).

What is IT?

Well, IT's the billboard outside the church opposite my apartment which reads
"What on Earth am I here for??"

Yep, you read it right. Read IT once again, just to be sure. :).

Such profoundness! Every single day, at whichever hour - IT unfalteringly screams that life-halting question at you which every dude/dudette in his/her mid-twenties dreads!!

How's that for a morning greeting! The question never leaves you - you mull over it all along as you almost ghost-walk your way to office. Dreams of conquest retire to some forlorn corner in your attic (Duhhh...your brain ;) )..

The sun beams glare down and smirk at you, the wind flees to lure another unsuspecting soul, the radio bores you down with news :).
Lunch hour is now the salvation you solicit. Your work now assumes the role of your worship, your road to emancipation. Necessarily :).

Just 7 innocuous words - In the right place, at the right time!

Talk about the the power of words and the power of placement :).

Prince or Pauper eh??

Who is the richest, yet a not so rich, soul on the planet?

And no, this is not one of those philosophical questions mandating a sagacious answer from the 14th century like "one who has lived but never loved" kinds!! To me, those are classical top management replies - in from one ear, out the other in the same breath ;).

In my opinion, it is the dude at the government mint who prints/bundles/makes our money notes. The guy literally eats money, breathes money - millions pass under his very eyes and hands daily ;). And yet, if he's in that job, 8 out of 10 chances are he'd be just another average Joe!!

A classic case of "haath ko aaya, muh na lagaa" ;).

What do you guyz think?

Lol.