So for those us that prefer living lazy, the thought of running a half marathon can immediately cause hormonal imbalance. For us, only Forrest Gump would do that and he too is a low IQ movie character. Short distance running is not enough of a challenge and long distance running is just too mundane as there is no win-loss. And it demands too much of self-motivation and discipline which in the first place are against our laziness ethics. We would rather play a sport than to run where we can beat someone. And if we are the beaten ones, we have plenty to load until our next chance with all the adrenaline, testerone and a mouthful of expletives – which are all effective antibiotics to laziness. So unless we find a strong enough motivation, running is definitely not our cup of tea.

But what in life can give us that motivation which obviously is the biggest hurdle. Anyways, like mathematical induction lets just assume we find our motivation and proceed. Also, we often see Indian boys and girls slimming around the time of their marriage. Perhaps they are inspired by the thought of their soon to be wedding album or may be their fiancee is already in a better shape. Staying fit, checking it off our bucket list; active lifestyles are other unlikely reasons.

Once motivated the next challenge is to stay motivated. Running a half-marathon is about a two hour activity which means you would have to run longer than a typical English movie. Not that it is a physically daunting task as running at an average speed is just a psychological thing but it can be boring, especially during half-M training runs. To counter this you would have to find ways to stay enthusiastic and ofcourse being creative always helps. One of my friends who did a half-M said that he often finds a good looking girl and just runs next/behind her. May not be the perfect setting to ogle, running alongside some beauty (which inturn lies in the eyes of the beholder) is not a bad idea to stay motivated as long as it is done in a near-polite way, if such a thing is possible i.e.,. And ofcourse girls can do the opposite. In addition, you could get yourself a very nice running shoe. It mostly will not be the shoe itself that will push you but the price you paid for it.

 Apparently Anil Ambani hired a personal trainer to help him do a marathon by carrying his drinks, towels, cheer him and even tow him to the finish line if needed. Obviously a PT is beyond us but running with a group will help in staying motivated as you would find people fatter and older than you running relatively easily and you wouldn’t want to fall in your own eyes – not atleast right there, infront of them all. Though it is like comparing primitive hunting with rocket science, during the run when the going gets tough you could silently glorify your imaginations with a Lance Armstrong, Christiano Ronaldo, Roger Federer, Michael Schumacher or someone climbing mount Everest, just for a temporary adrenaline rush. 

 So if somehow you do manage to cross the half-M finish line (hopefully running and not walking!), make sure you take lots of pictures of yourself as it is very unlikely that you would run so far ever again (blame your lazy hormones). And when you tell your friends, family and even to yourself, make sure you say the distance you ran in kilometers as at that point 21 kms would sound lot more pleasing to ears than 13.1 miles.

If we have to name one person responsible for our independence, it is Mahatma Gandhi. He was born rich, never even travelled second class until his time in South Africa. But he dressed up like the poorest person in India just so that the poor will see him as their ally. Even he, being such a great man has his own fallings. He often was dubbed to be too stubborn with his ‘my way or high way’ attitude. So I guess, no one is perfect. And YSR wasn’t perfect too and there probably is some truth in the allegations against him. But the point should be is to determine if his overall good outweighs his overall bad. And I think it does, by a really good margin.

YSR is often cited to be a warm, welcoming person leading a simple life, and someone who understands, relates and identifies himself with the grassroots of an Indian village life. These exactly are the traits needed to be a truly mass leader, which he obviously is and the gigantic impact of his sudden disappearance on the indian population speaks for that. Someone pointed to me that probably because of his long time rivalry with Chandrababu Naidu, he gradually mellowed into an efficient leader with a sound footing on basic pro-poor policies. That probably is true, as competition tries to bring out the best in a human being. His fondness for pro-poor policies and his understanding of the need for penetrative public policies touched millions and made him the most sought after politician. His political acumen in crushing foes and patronizing friends made him an undisputed leader in Andhra. Presently, apart from the Gandhi family, going by numbers he arguably is the most popular and admired leader in the country, especially when we consider leaders only with secular credentials.

His victory in the recent assembly and loksabha elections should rank as a bigger achievement than his victory in 2004, considering that he had to counter the anti-incumbency and the Chiranjeevi factors in addition to the traditional TDP rivalry. Assuming that he may have had to expend some of his energies and influence in consolidating power in the state leadership the first time around, he appeared more settled now and seems to have realized a marvelous opportunity to make a lasting impact on the poor and backward population during this term. With the fresh popular mandate, enthusiasm and a strong desire on his side, he manifested his government into a train that is scheduled to traverse through a social development path with full steam ahead, all in just 100 days. It is very unfortunate that we don’t have him anymore to fulfill those expectations. Even if we wishfully hope that he can be replaced, it surely will take a few decades atleast before another personality of his stature can be developed.

Andhra is unlucky that it has lost an efficient leader sensible to the people’s needs, congress is unlucky that they have lost a popular leader who can potentially guard 1/5th of their national electoral interests for a decade or so atleast, his friends and family are unlucky that they have lost a caring, affectionate and a cheerful person, I feel unlucky to have lost him for a reason like badluck. I hate that he had to die so soon.

The true impact of the loss of YSR will probably be not felt by us – the educated masses, but the real rural Andhra that had come to believe in him to be their savior. It doesn’t actually matter if he would have really delivered on his expectations or not, but it is the hope that got cultivated in people’s minds and his sincere efforts towards their upliftment that counts towards his greatness.

I often found it strange that congress electoral banners in Andhra only have the Gandhis and Nehrus on them, even though we have had a handful of congress chief ministers and even a prime minister from Andhra. It is a bit sad that even after 60 yrs of independence we still have to cling to the Gandhi family as our leaders. But surely from now on, YSR will be put right next to them, and he truly deserves his place there. We will miss you YSR!

On a completely opposite note, in India the children of a man born to a Gowda (a subcaste from AP/Karnataka region) father and a Kerala Christian mother with a woman belonging to Bihari-Yadav community will still belong to the Gowda community. This is neither by choice nor by force but is by birth (actually, even prior to birth!). This kind of social norm may not be too unacceptable to communities that are already safely positioned in the caste hierarchy to reap maximum benefits from the society. But in a nation with 75% of its population not belonging to upper caste communities and with immense history of social inequality, backwardness and poverty, such kind of social norms may not be the exact fit.

Ofcourse, these are issues that everyone is aware of from times immemorial.  Any school sociology book will point very interestingly to all the social reforms of 19^th century, constitutional provisions for non-forward castes etc. But this in itself in a way led to further worsening of the caste structure in India. Constitution makes sure that a person’s caste will become all too visible and will become part of his identity that one cannot shed no matter what. This in a way is also the root cause for the caste based politics in India. For somebody, who doesn’t have any inherited social and educational capital, these constitutional provisions may serve as a life line to at least try to be on equal footing with upper castes in the long run. But for somebody, who has had already a lead over the rest of society in terms of inherited economic, educational and social capital these constitutional provisions will further strengthen their position in the already rigid caste structure. And for the upper caste poor, it is even worse. For them it is like adding salt to the wound as they are neither in a position to take advantage of their caste nor is the government lending any support for their upheaval. But from a broader perspective, this situation cannot be helped I guess. The constitution cannot obviously turn a blind eye and do nothing and there by letting 75% of the population remain backward forever and in turn making sure that India will never be a completely developed nation.

During the time of Indian independence and before, the Zamindars and a few upper caste members owned feudal land lord system existed in India. But the land reforms that followed in independent India distributed these lands to a new but limited set of claimants who now became the dominant caste politically, socially and economically. (Perhaps here is where Indian govt missed its opportunity in tackling the caste issue) Yadavs of Bihar, Vokkaligas of Karnataka, Reddys and Kammas of AP, Jats of Haryana are examples of such newly crowned dominant castes. So the castes that were putting up anti-Brahmin protests all over India until recently, all of a sudden became the show stealers with their newly acquired economic and there by political strength. For them their caste has become all too powerful and their sole political weapon. No wonder Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, the present CM of Andhra Pradesh openly practices Christianity but cannot restrain himself from publicly wooing political benefits of being a Reddy. So for all his spiritual purposes he follows a different religion altogether and for all practical purposes he resorts to his caste. Talk about smart politicians !!

Interestingly, amongst the urban upper and middle class, the caste factor seems to have evaporated. These are the people you would find on Page-3 of news tabloids and social magazines. From generations they had taken full advantage of their edge over others in benefiting from the developmental policies of independent India. Having their caste done its job so well, and since they have already consolidated their privileged status they probably started to believe that their caste has little to do with their present advanced social status and started to ignore it altogether. This explanation kind of gives the impression that a society that has nothing to achieve from a caste system will finally do away with it. Probably then, like in the west – a new set of social issues like the gay marriages, environmental issues, teen abortions, gun rights will form the crux of social problems

‘Sanskritisation’ is a sociology term that is defined as a process where members of lower castes attempt to raise their social status by adopting the social practices, habits and rituals of a higher caste. Adopting vegetarianism, practicing upanayanam ( sacred thread) etc. This process though sounding very neat and sophisticated probably has a pinch of hypocrisy in it. This can result in illogical chasing and unnecessary imitation amongst castes. And probably Brahmins who have started to eat meat and a few Hindus who eat beef can be considered to be in the process of ‘de-Sanskritisation’! No matter how small a sample set is to choose a bride/groom from, people still want to stick to their caste in finding marriage alliances for no apparent benefit. There are a few who don’t mind jumping over their caste barriers but they just don’t have a clue about how to go about doing it as the society as a whole is too rigid and conservative. World history has proven that a system based on races(Jews, Arabs etc), skin color(White, black etc), economic classes(rich, poor), religious beliefs(Christians, Islam etc), aristocracy, monarchy can all be driven towards betterment by revolutions and sincere governmental efforts. But the Indian caste system is not based on any of the above factors making it almost an impossible problem to solve.

Obviously such a place cannot be strict on morals. It would be a contradiction to its sole existence. Booze, women, drugs, money laundering, instant marriages, instant divorces are all integral to its culture. But I guess a society loose on ethics and morals is what people wish subconsciously, else Las Vegas won’t be what it is today. It is even aptly nicknamed ‘Sincity’. and the city apparently is not even 100 years old! People have become millionaires over night, or have lost millions overnight. People have got married overnight to strangers. We have heard millions of such stories either in real life or on the movies. And I believe most of them are true. Such is the legacy of Las Vegas.

So the story starts with a guy named Doug about to be getting married in a couple of days. His friends Phil (a handsome looking married with a child and extremely bored of life school teacher) and Stu ( a soft spoken dentist with a cantankerous girlfriend) plan to give Doug a bachelor party in Vegas. Alan, (a crazy looking, cranky and unstable with disproportionately developed intelligence) soon to be brother in law of Doug also joins the party. Once in Vegas, with an intention to make most out of the night, they all sneak onto the roof of the casino and take a toast for the night ahead..

The story moves to the next day; Alan finds a tiger in the bathroom.  There is a hen roaming around, Stu lost one of his teeth and is wearing a wedding ring, there is an infant baby in the closet, the hotel suite is a complete mess with signs of high voltage party from last night and more importantly Doug is missing, along with his mattress. But they couldn’t remember anything from the moment they took the toast last night. The whole situation was as insane as it can get.

As they work towards decoding the events from last night and in finding Doug, they learn that they stole a police car, threw Doug’s mattress from the  hotel roof on top of a statue,  Stu got married to a stripper, Stu plucked his own teeth, they are arrested by the police, beaten by chinese gangsters and a naked Chinese man locked intheir trunk, they make 80,000 dollars overnight in blackjack with Alan as hero, they free a wrong Doug from the kidnappers, an encounter with the boxer Mike Tyson(who turns out to be the owner of the tiger) and many other crazy things, all in one day.

There definitely are hundreds of movies with Las Vegas backdrop but the movie Hangover is for sure the most hilarious amongst those that I have seen. With all the constant twists and turns and an amazingly captivating story, the movie has cracked me up constantly throughout the movie.

Apparently, the entire cricketing world wants to be on his good books. When he says a world class player like Shane Bond cannot play for New Zealand; that is how it is going to be - even when they have a really small talent pool to choose from. ICL in a way is the father of IPL but it still has to be at Mr.Modi’s mercy. ICL can’t use cricket grounds that are not even entirely owned by BCCI even after paying a premium for using the facilities. The maintenance staff, janitors, taxi drivers etc., involved with ICL are banned for their lifetime from BCCI/IPL/ICC activities. Ridiculous, arrogant huh! He just doesn’t want his competition to even breathe.

Everybody from the cricketing world that are not gaining a penny from the IPL has every reason to hate him. But I think here is where he makes a difference. He is bullish, ruthless for a reason. He saw a potential in IPL to tap never seen markets and to march towards never seen riches by a sporting organization in such a short time. Once he got his vision set, there is no stopping him. No one wants to stop him as well. Who doesn’t want some extra money? For BCCI, ICC, players and for some cricket boards it is not just few extra pennies but it is actually minting money for them. Ofcourse, one can question – when BCCI is so rich then why do we still see kids piling up their lunch boxes as wickets and using pencils/fingers as cricket bats and rolled up trashed paper as balls to play cricket. But in a poor country seeing money in at least few peoples’ pocket is better than no money in everybody’s pocket. Isn’t it? If we can’t own a Benz car, we can at least see one and find happiness in it. And there can be no monetary value associated to watching your favorite batsmen hit a six, right?

I read once that there had been some companies in the united states that sift through rival company’s trash in the dark to know about their competitive secrets. Apparently such a practice is legal as trash is considered abandoned property once it leaves the premises! And we know how successful corporate America has been. Hopefully Modi will never have to resort to such deeds and everyone’s’ garbage remains safe but the point is that only because he has such a cut-throat corporate attitude, he is being able to almost single handedly run the IPL show and raising it to the levels of pound-dollar driven sports like football, golf, etc., An year ago, I thought of him as just another Marwari that is hell bent on eating BCCI’s money. Well, he may still eat tons of money – but he first is going to create lots of money and then eat from it. I guess, that is OK.

]]> http://udaykatikala.wordpress.com/2009/03/31/it%e2%80%99s-all-about-the-money-honey/feed/ 1 Uday http://udaykatikala.wordpress.com/2009/03/19/torturing-gandhi/ http://udaykatikala.wordpress.com/2009/03/19/torturing-gandhi/#comments Thu, 19 Mar 2009 07:44:24 +0000 Uday http://udaykatikala.wordpress.com/?p=36 Continue reading →]]> ‘No one who has wisdom will ever touch opium, liquor or any intoxicants’ – MK Gandhi.

Obviously, Vijay Mallya has lots of wisdom. He is a highly successful businessman and a proven citizen in his own right. He just used his tons of money to buy something he fancied. There is nothing unethical or criminal about it. I guess when Gandhi quoted the above; he just didn’t imagine that 65 yrs later a liquor baron would own his possessions lawfully. But maybe he meant wisdom from a philosophical perspective and quoted something that will stay true irrespective of the times. So there can be arguments if Gandhi would qualify Vijay Mallya as a wise man or not. Especially if Mallya decides to open a liquor shop and names it after Gandhi (Gandhi bar and restaurant?). But apart from the irony that Gandhi’s possessions are with a liquor baron, there is nothing heinous about the entire Mallya-Gandhi saga.  Unlike the case of Varun Gandhi.

Varun Feroz Gandhi comes from a family that was ultra influential in laying the secular foundation of our country and even the constitution itself which will continue to exist as long as our nation exists. May be he and his mother Menaka are not fond of their Gandhi/Nehru lineage. Menaka Gandhi is supposed to be an Animal rights activist even ! But Varun Gandhi seems to have built his own opinions and thoughts denying the upbringing and any possible hereditary influences. Fair enough. Our constitution provides every citizen freedom of speech and expression. But as per our constitution the right to freedom of speech and expression is subject to restrictions such as public order, peace and morality etc. And every citizen must abide by the constitution by law. So isn’t what Varun Gandhi did is against our constitution and subsequently against the law? Shouldn’t he be detained in accordance with ‘preventive detention’ provision of our constitution at least? I believe the Election Commission shouldn’t even worry about him, the police and the judiciary should take some kind of action against him. This will at least put some fear into those political leaders who are so insensitive to the secular existence of India.

Surely Gandhi wouldn’t have liked his name to be in the headlines for these reasons.

We have a prime minister who is 76 years old and if the coalition chaos again leads to a congress lead govt he can possibly again be our PM serving us until he turns 81. L K Advani, current leader of opposition and BJP’s potential PM nominee is 81 now. Even fringe candidates and regional leaders like Pranab Mukherjee 73, Somnath Chattarjee 79, Murli Manohar Joshi 75, George Fernandes 79, Antulay 80, Deve Gowda 75, Mulayam Singh Yadav 69, Karunanidhi 84, Sharad Pawar 68 etc belong to the same generation as that of MMS and LKA. Jyothi Basu served as the CM for West Bengal until he is 86!

May be I quoted only the senior politicians ignoring many other younger politicians in the country. Yes, there are a lot of eminent young leaders too. No doubt. But a quick peep into our history reveals that apart from the Nehru/Gandhi clan we havent had a PM less than the age of 58 and more than half of them served PM office into their 70s.  What is most interesting is the fact that the median age of Indian population is just 25.1 years. But clearly, we like our PMs to be really old and very very experienced.

Lets’ say a high level foreign official’ delegation runs for 3 hours, we obviously cannot expect our 75 yr old neta-ji to stay attentive and focused all the time. Yes, more often than not there would be other state ministers, cabinet secretaries, PAs’ and other deputies assisting our neta-ji in the delegation; but isn’t he the one that should be our first line of response while pursuing our national interests? No wonder Deve Gowda(our 14th PM) was caught napping on camera a few times. The whole situation could be embarrassing and even harmful to the health of the government. I’m not trying to say that a 50 yr old neta-ji would do his job better, but as one grows into their 70s, 80s;it generally gets harder for the body to be as efficient and proactive as it needs to be. This also is not to say that there can be scientific or social age limits to perform public service. We often see older people much more active than the younger generation. It is like people say 90% is mind and 10% is body.

Yes, senior politicians bring years of experience to the table. But at what expense? Isn’t less is more in most cases these days? The present world and country dynamics demand efficient, transparent, flexible and highly proactive administration. So the old fashioned, clumsy, arrogant, inflexible leaders should have no place in this current political set up. When highly qualified central and state government officials are forced to retire constitutionally around the age of sixty, shouldn’t there atleast be guidelines until when a politician is allowed to stay in public office; keeping nation and larger public interests in mind? Retirement paves way for the younger generation to pick up the baton for betterment. So don’t our leaders have ethical responsibility to groom and handover the future to their younger leaders? Shouldn’t the Indian voting population be educated to look at age as one of the key deciding factors while voting?

I think the answers to the above questions are not in blaming the greediness of the senior politicians nor the insensitivity of the voting public about the age of the politicians. But it is in the hands of the younger generation itself. May be because of the illiteracy and the relative indifference of the educated population towards Indian politics, Indian population is relatively easy to please. Our expectations are so low that even a mediocre effort by a leader can be projected as a life changing reform for the 1.14 billion population. And people will buy the story too, whole heartedly.

The onus is on the younger leaders to make the older generation feel the competition gently pressurizing them to step aside. We often see that a few senior politicians had been fire brigades in their younger days – taking up trade union disputes, padayatras, morchas etc. But they soon realize that the lazy route of lobbying has safer outcomes than to toil not knowing if the hard work will pay off or not. As there is nothing to lose, almost everybody hangs around lobbying all their life. Ofcourse like delegation is the essence of management, lobbying is the essence of politics. But here is where the younger politicians need to show the extra ambition, motivation and desire to have higher stakes in the game. Fire in the belly coupled with traditional political lobbying skills will for sure take our young neta-ji to the front of the waiting line.

But now times have changed. With every fall in the american stock market and with every terror threat on the US, the perks seem to diminish gradually. To begin with, the ‘friendly’ american consulate started to play a dual role as the front desk for the uscis audit team. They seem to have built a new software that prompts them to object half the applicants by queries, audits, seeking security clearances, client letters, tax papers etc; reject a handful and scare the rest. Contracts that went on for years endaed abruptly. Pink slips, firings, relocations and the Visa status concerns that follow causing deep stress and agony, especially for families with kids.

Green card processing seems to never even want to see the light at the end of the tunnel making one wonder if life in america is really worth that wait. More often than not, obtaining a GC demands sacrifices as it forces people to continue in a job they don’t like or work for lesser compensation. After all, nobody wants to lose a significant few years of their life because of a boring job, or a bad boss; they would rather sleep it off and retain the years in their GC account the next day. The highly creative act by making the current date the priority date turned out to be an attempt to show a mirage and to eatup extra fees in the process. I never understood the objective of such a tedious, inflexible, rigid process anyways. I feel such a system doesn’t help the employers nor the applicants. If it is to feed the immigration attorneys and for the extra fees, well then I understand ! But even then I’m sure most of the applicants would be willing to pay a hefty amount if it means getting a GC with less hassle. Why can’t USA have a permanent residency policy like that of singapore, australia, canada where total number of years of stay matters. OK uncle Sam, I get it!America is different.

And things seem to get worse. The insecurity and the uncertainity is increasing day by day. Anti-offshoring, anti-h1b laws by the american goverment which seems to have got caught between the IT corporate bullies, the unemployed citizens and the typical american showoff that they are the preferred haven for the world’s best. Well, the US govt can’t be blamed I guess. They should and will do what’s best for them.

May be upbringing, may be culture; America likes people with outspoken attitude, openness, aggression. But indians relatively are softspoken, shy, and introverts. This disparity clearly reflects in the career prospects in America. Becoming a software engineer is easy, but growing beyond that is relatively tougher, especially for softspoken, shy people no matter how equal employment oppurtunistic Americans are! But very few would like to retire as a SE. And not just that, the older one grows the tougher it gets to be hired as a SE. So one is forced to live an average life and the very unlucky ones suffer searching and changing jobs at an inconvenient age. All these and to any extent the killings of indians in the recent past made NRIs very undesirable for the fathers of the brides. All of a sudden the market is dead,in every perspective.

Well, one can always come back home. A mother always wants her son to come home. And you don’t need a visa too!yey! But it is real tricky to get used to a life in a developing nation. Agreed here is where we were all born, raised and boarded the flight to amreeca. But still!! Those murky skies, broken roads, crowded cinema halls, crazy traffic, insincere police-babus, corrupt politicians, prying relatives make the re-adaptation extremely difficult. Somebody told me that if one stays in america for six years, they get truly americanized and would rather stay there than coming back home. Well, I feel in most cases the period is far less than six years. To be fair to the NRIs, more than the superficial arrogance that one attains by living in a developed nation, it is the feeling that makes them think they would be missing a lot of unearthly things because they got used for them all and have developed a fear for having to lose them. Also, the salaries will be comparatively less and it looks even lesser when we are forced to pay almost the same taxes as that of America with lessthan half the infrastructure . And one cannot any longer boast of their ‘cool’ life in America to their relatives and friends. And if one really wants to be respected again, they have to find a different way to prove their worth. May be this time something truly worthy and not just by obtaining visa and escaping to a foriegn country where one cannot be verified if he is a bell boy or a board member.

But on the bright side, the career prospects will be lot better in India. You compete with like people. People as softspoken, as shy, as introvert as you are. You can go to your same old adda everyday that you used to hang around with your friends and family. If you are a part time smoker you can buy one cigaratte instead of a whole pack, you can even buy pawn to kill your cigaratte breath. The difference in accents between you and your 3 yr old child will not be too much. You have absolutely no worries on your visa status nor you have to worry about innumerous contracts that you are forced to sign in the states. Your parents will be double happy when you tell them that you came back for them.

I know, I know. Nothing in life is easy. It is not easy to decide whether to take maths or biology. It is not easy to decide when and whom to marry. It is not easy to decide to buy a toyota or a honda. It is not easy to decide when to buy a house. It is not easy to decide if you should take a salary hike or a promotion. Perhaps for the NRIs in America for the next few years, to stay or not to stay: that is the question.