From Icarus to Ajax….

Its that time of the year again.Everyone wanting to get rid off the current year and eagerly waiting to embrace the new year with celebrations,parties,resolutions what not.Already the newspapers and television channels have come up with ‘Top 10 Movies’,'Top 10 Songs’,'Top 10 Accidents’,'Top 10 Couples’,'Top 10 Sportsperson’,'Top 10 Businessman’,'Top 10 Indians’,'Top 10 Martians’(We can expect the last one in the future )  

   Instead of these routine lists,which few bother to go through,I thought why not come up with the following,which directly affect the day-to-day lives of individuals across the globe..!!(Ok I m exaggerating a bit here..Effects of having lots of time at your disposal) I’ve only declared the winners in each category as I know that you wouldn’t bother to go through if i had compiled detailed lists.If you feel my decisions are contestable,you’re most welcome to come up with your own winner and the reasons for the same.

# Top 10 Movies which you never should’ve watched(Not even look at the poster) – I give the 1st place to Vyabari(Tamil).As my friend commented after coming out of the theatre “Even if this Rs.100 note had flown out of my pocket,I would’ve felt better..!!” 

# Top 10 Songs which were shamelessly lifted from popular originals – The first place goes to the song from Thamirabharani(Tamil) which was copied from a popular devotional number.Maybe the music director got bored of composing music and said to the director “What the heck..!!People have very short memory.Who’s gonna find out??” But I suggest Yuvan Shankar Raja take a 15-day course from Deva,the expert,who can teach him how to lift tracks seamlessly and make it sound like an original composition.

# Top 10 Articles in the newspaper meant to serve as trash,and fill up space-I give the 1st place to the article in TOI on the chronology of Kareena-Shahid relationship and the subsequent break-up.Maybe I missed the National importance of these dates.Or who knows, it could become one in the future,like celebrating  the day of their break-up as ‘World Break-up Day’ where couples who had had enough of their partners can ditch them conveniently on this particular day.

 # Top 10 Celebrities who hogged the limelight constantly that you felt like kicking them-The first place is bagged by Brangelina or Bradd Pitt and Angelina Jolie.Jolie writes letter to father,Jolie was scared of Motherhood,Jolie insists she never argues with Bradd infront of thier kids,Jolie bought a hand kerchief for $50,Bradd Pitt andJoile went in an auto…!!Heights of Paparazzi.(If you thought I made up all this,search Angelina Jolie in Google News)

# Top 10 Hyped Events of the Year,which turned out to be a disaster-The unquestionable winner is the Cricket World Cup in West Indies.After the 2-subcontinent teams failed to cross stage-1,3/4 th of the population who watch cricket,woke up to the fact that they have better business to mind than to follow this month-long event which became a pain in the *** even to hardcore cricket enthusiasts and had only one winner right from the beginning.

#Top 10 Sportsperson who bit the dust after the initial Glitz and Glamour- This was a closely fought contest between the Indian cricketers and Lewis Hamilton.But Hamilton emerges the winner in the end.Being a rookie,and apart from winning 4 races in the first season,he was all set to clinch this year’s Driver’s Championship.But maybe success and fame got into his head,or maybe he was already feeling like a champion.The last few races were a total disaster for him and he ended up 2nd after leading the championship by almost 14 points at one stage.

#Top 10 Politicians who excelled in the service of the poor and the needy(He he..Polticians and service..I couldn’t stop laughing) -And who can you pick other than our dynamic,industrious,untiring former PM Mr. Deva Gowda.His achievements include playing musical chairs with the CM’s chair,refusing to develop the infrastructure of Bangalore,putting major development projects on hold,help in the creation of 2 additional political parties by non-conformists,making Karnataka the most hostile state for Investment due to political instability and the legacy continues,all in the service of the poor and the needy,mind you.

So people, I can go on and on with these lists,given the number of things happening around you.But time’s running out.Catch you all in the next year.And yeah wishing you all

                             A Very Happy New Year 2008

P.S : Play Safe

I visited Sripuram temple or as it is fondly called ‘Chinna Tirupathi(Small Tirupathi)’ this weekend.Though it’s barely 10 kms from my home in Vellore I never really got the chance all these days.During my short stay there,the things I saw, started off a train of thoughts inside me. And hence this blog.

Let me just give a brief background about this place.It was formerly called Malaikodi.And there was a small temple there built by “Sri Narayani Siddar Peedam”, something similar to the one in Melamruvathur.The place was relatively unknown a few years back and it was never a great crowd puller unlike other famous pilgrimages,though it was famous with the people in and around Vellore.This institution,I heard was involved in a lot a social activities in the surrounding villages.

 Word spread before a few years that a ‘Golden Temple’ is coming up there,which raised the curiosity of many.After 6 years,it was opened to the public after the consecration a couple of months back.And lo…Overnight people started thronging this place from all over India(all over the world should not be an exaggeration).It took me 4 hours to go inside and get the darshan,that too on a sultry Monday evening!!This will give a fair idea about the crowd I had to encounter.As I stood in the queue waiting for the darshan the following questions popped up within me :

1. Why did people start coming here all of a sudden?Is it because of the power of the deity here or because of the fact that its a ‘Golden Temple’?
2. Why were people running like mad inside the premises?As if they are going to catch the last train.Isn’t a temple or any place of worship for that matter, a place where peace and tranquility prevails?
3. Why did people here looked the least pious.All around the place I could hear everyone chatting and bickering,least bothered about the surroundings.They were as good as the crowd you would find outside a cinema hall or cricket ground.
4. What happened to common sense?Have humans lost their gift to think rationally?I could see visiting cards,coins and notes of various denominations in fountains and the small pond surrounding the ‘Ardha Mandapam.’
5. No one had the time time to enjoy the beautiful landscaping of the place.There were teachings from Gita,Bible and Quran inscribed all along the pathway.I didn’t find a single soul reading them.Are we leading a mechanical life,where we are constantly  running a race against time? Only to find the futile result in the end?

    The point I m trying to drive here is,in a world driven by materialistic needs even places of worship have to be captivating to attract people.After all, we know that Tirupathi is the richest temple in the world in terms of revenue coming in the form of donations and offerings. I m not a firm theist but the sight I saw made me think where the world is heading to.It looked least like a place where you surrender yourself to the divine or for the antagonists let me call it a place where you find some peace.

    I m sure half of them who visit this place are more enthralled by the golden ‘Vimanas’ and ‘Ardha Mandapams’ than the deity herself.Because as I mentioned earlier I never saw such a mad rush when I had visited the old temple.The approximate cost for this construction is around Rs 600 crore in a sprawling 100 acre land using 1.5 tonnes of gold!!(Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sripuram )

  I have nothing against this lavish spending,but all I question is the attitude of the people.Where had discipline gone?There was constant pushing and pulling in the queue and people were behaving no less than the ones in a ticket counter outside a movie hall.And what is the ultimate purpose of this hassle?To worship or just to pay a visit like any other art exhibition or museum.Where has the sense of cleanliness gone?I know that my expectations are sky-high here.In India,people and cleanliness never go hand in hand.Still it was pathetic to see people littering a beautiful place as this.

   One inscription on the pathway went like this “People ask why was the money spent to build a golden temple instead of using the same for building hospitals or educational institutions.But our answer is the wisdom gained in this place will help build many hospitals and institutions.” I m not sure if it’ll truly fulfill this purpose,as I only see people losing their faculty on seeing the golden structure instead of gaining any.

 For more details about the place visit : http://sripuram.org/htmls/sripuram.html 

We, a group of 10 Infoscions decided to make our end of the first year with Infy special.After a lot of delibration and planning a common consensus was reached to visit Kodaikanal,the “Prince of Hills”. Since we were were scattered across Bangalore,Chennai Shols and MCity DC’s it required meticulous planning for travel and logistics.

All of us decided to meet at Dindigal which is at the foot hills of the Kodaikanal from where we would start together.We reached Kodaikanal in less than 3 hours after a winding journey uphill which left a couple of us dizzy and puking all the way.As expected the vast green cover and salubrious climate greeted us.After having a quick breakfast we started to a place called Berijam.

Now Berijam is a government reserved area and public are normally not allowed to enter it to protect its thick forest cover with innumerable herbal plants and trees.But we got special permission to without realising the adventure that was awaiting us. Since monsoon had already begun there were landslides and uprooted trees all along the way.But all of a sudden a huge tree had falleen right in the middle of the road blocking our way.Since we had come through a long,narrow road we couldn’t go back and the only way forward was to remove the uprooted tree.Talk of a Catch 22 situation and there we were experiencing it! With great grit and determination all of us,with the help of couple of localites tried to lift it but in vain.My friends who throng the gym regularly decided that this was a real test to their strength put in their best efforts but it refused to budge.After 3 hours of constant struggle with a little application of our basic physics laws we finally lifted it to make way for our van to pass by and heaved a huge sigh of relief.

And Berijam was worth all this effort.It was a serene place replete with wild animals like Bisons,Elephants and Deers.The silence and mystique charm was overwhelming.It was an escape from the concrete jungles of the city and the continuous honking on the roads.The temperature by this time had dropped from pleasent to cold and the blanket of green dotted with small water bodies was a sight to relish.
After spending the entire afternoon there we returned to the town but taking a different route this time which had small villages along the way and add to that innumerous tea estates and grass lands.
The following day we decided to visit places of popular tourist interest.And the first one was “Guna” Caves. Now this is a series of 500 ft deep caves between two hills which became famous after the film “Guna” was shot here.It is notoriously dangerous and has claimed many lives of people who dared to get inside it.Next we went to what was popularly called as the ‘Suicide point.’ Many people have voluntarily ended their lives falling from the edge of this cliff directly into the dizzying deep valley.Now,of course the government had stepped in and raised high impenetrable fences all along but localites say that there are many more such ‘Suicide Points’ throughout Kodai which were still unguarded.
Our next stop was at the pillar rocks.One of natures wonders where two huge rocks stand like pillars and hence the name.Many rumours surround the mysterious cross which happens to be on top of one of these rocks,one of them being an American had a delusion that he’s actually conquering Mt.Everest and instead of planting a flag he took a cross with him to the summit.But before long he realised his mistake and fell from it only to meet his end. After a bit of respite we went the beautiful Kodaikanal lake for boating and it was a fun ride all the way.

After exhausting all the places in Kodaikanal we packed our bags to Gods Own Country the next day.Yes, we went to Thekkady which was just about 3 hrs from there.Thekkady didn’t disappoint us to say the least.A slight drizzle accompanied by a cool breeze was awaiting our arrival.We went straight to the Periyar National park for sight seeing and a boat cruise. After 2 hours of joy ride which included spotting a variety of birds and animals we started to Kumily falls.
This falls is considered holy by the localites and they refer it as ‘Kumily Theertham’ (Holy water of Kumily). We directly plunged into the falls and had pure fun playing around for over an hour much to the awe of onlookers. The cool water was very refreshing and helped a lot in renewing our energy.

All thats well that ends well.We packed our bags that night to leave for our respective places after three days which was full of adventure and unlimited fun that also marked our one year of stay with Infosys!!!

The latest edition of the ‘Outlook’ the weekly magazine has run a long article about how people in the IT industry are deteriorating the living standards of cities like Bangalore and how others are suffering bearing the brunt because of that.Being in the IT industry myself for the past 1 1/2 years and having experienced first-hand all the harassment  I thought I’ll contribute my 2 cents to it,and hence my first blog,which was due for a very long time.

Lets dig deeper into the subject :

Accusation no.1 : IT people responsible for rising prices of real estate,commodities.

Reason : Good salaries,Extravagant spending,Splurging money,Overpaying without proper enquiry.

My point of View : Yeah agreed.The economy is booming,if that’s the correct term to use.People are getting richer.And hence spending has increased which naturally leads to demand and the result the increase in costs.But is the IT industry the sole reason for it?I think this needs some introspection.With due respect to Captain Vijayakanth I m forced to give some statistics here.Out of 1.1 billion people in India,IT/ITES employs only a hint above 1 million.This comes to approximately 0.1% of the total population.And the total revenues generated by this industry is close to $40 billion.Now the question is ,people who belong to this 0.1% of the entire population ruining the entire country?No. People outside are led to this delusion by the media and the politicians.With the BJP’s “India Shining” campaign and the tv channels and newspapers continuously tracking the growth of the Sensex which the ordinary man was led to believe reflects the growth of the nation created an illusion that India is truly developing.And with the IT industry growing at a scorching pace,it was directly equated to the booming economy.

True.Everything began to grow after three great minds,our PM,PC and Ahluwalia,came together and decided to liberate the economy from the clutches.But the bitter truth is that it hasn’t reached the grass-root level.The large middle-class benefited from it.But the even large poor are yet to taste its fruits.But before that happened our politicians decided to gain political leverage from it. And hence all the hype about rich pay packets and heavy cash at disposal.One thing led to another and people decided to milk out whatever excess money people in the IT industry have.And naturally everything became costlier.So who is at blame?The politicians,the media or the people who are being accused when they had only a little role to play in this?I m not speaking for the IT people.But I know how they are being treated.In a new place like Bangalore,when the autowallah asks for an exorbitant fare the innocent me doesn’t realise that he is trying to rob my pocket.I end u paying whatever he asks and I indirectly contribute to the rising fare?Or if the house-owner says 15k per month and 10 months advance flat,should I fight against it,when I have no place to stay,and this is easier for me to to get to office in the morning,or surrender meekly to his demands contributing to the rising real estate prices?Of course some people want to flaunt their new found wealth.But that is what human nature is all about.And only a small percentage of people fall under this.

A no. 2 : No contribution to the society.

R : Leading a greedy life .I dont care about others as long as I’ m fine attitude.

MPOV : Let me ask the readers one thing.How many sectors are there in this country? There is Banking,Agriculture,Insurance,Manufacturing,Automobile,Hospitality,Consumer Goods,Services,Airlines and finally comes IT.Out of all these how many of them have actually given back what they got from the society?Yeah. The TATA’s have pioneered in this.But apart from them what else have others done?A bigger pardon for my ignorance here,but I feel that there is an unnecessary finger pointing in this case.I do see a lot of social initiatives,awareness programs,contributions taking place in the company I m working for.But this has not caught the fancy of others.At the end of the day everyone has their own lives to live,each one has to earn his/her bread.I m not being selfish here.And I m very much for the cause of uplifting the poor.But why blame only the IT people.The society is to be blamed.The corrupt bureaucrats who dont deliver the govt projects to the people are to be blamed.If the system works the way it is supposed to work then we wont have anything to crib about.

A no. 3 : No cultural sense.Detorierating our culture and values by blindly aping the west. 

R : Globilization.Western Impact.Not enough awareness about our culture.

MPOV : I quite agree to this.In an attempt to lead an affluent life influenced by the western countries,we are slowly losing our own identity.Right from the food we eat,to the clothes we wear to the movies we see we are heavily influenced by foreign countries.But it didn’t start all of a sudden.It started when Britishers introduced their education system here.When they rewrote history books to make us feel ashamed of our very own ancestors.When they introduced Videshi products.There was firm resistance to this during the freedom struggle.But after that we became lax.We started believing that anything from outside India is way better than the same thing with the “Made in India” tag.MTV revolutionised the way youngsters dressed.Jeans became the in thing.Led Zeppelin and Eminem became gods.Having coffee at Barista was considered cool.And saturday nights are wasted if not spent at the local pub.These are the effects of globilisation.We welcomed it with open arms.And now we have to face the consequences.

People have the right to decide how they live.That’s what fundamental rights are all about.But we have to take responsibilty  to preserve our identity.To preserve our culture.Lets not forget that the moment we lose it we become nothing.The rich heritage we have can only be envied by others. Lets rather be proud of it.

A no.4 : The traffic woes in the cities are due to IT people.

R : Everyone has a car or a 2-wheeler which in turn congests the roads leading to havocs.

MPOV : The short-sightedness of the politicians who rather than improving the roads and the transport system were busily debating if Ram was a Civil Engineer or a Mechanical Engineer(No offence meant to anyone.Jus pun intended).If everyone can afford a car we should be proud about it.We could afford what our father or grand-father couldn’t.This is in line with the Darwanian theory of evolution.We are becoming better.I dont want to get into globla warming and pollution which is a rather lengthy topic.But the bottomline is the country is on the road of development. We need better infrastructure for a better future.Without improving that blaming the users is utterly meaningless.

To sum it up,today industry means IT industry,nice pay means he/she is with IT,if the people are not socially responsible then it’s because of IT,if there are malls and pubs it’s because of IT and even in one of the television talk shows they want only IT people to participate.THis should change.Our perceptions should change.The media should be more reponsible.And the politicians should be far sighted.And above all eveyone should be responsible for himself/herself and to the society.Without this happening we are doomed.