Cuss Words: To resign or not to resign

No business could be conducted in today's Rajya Sabha session, due to the constant disruption by the opposition. This is not the first time nor will this be the last. This post is not to lament the fact that tax payers money goes down the drain when these sessions are adjourned without any business, but to look into the reason which has gotten the opposition riled up and united.

A certain Sadhvi Jyoti, a BJP MP and an MoS in the Modi government, used an expletive while addressing a rally / gathering in Delhi. The exact words she had used were

"...ab yeh aapko tay karna hai k yahan Ramjadon ki sarkar banegi ya Haramjadon ki.."

This would approximately translate into "..now its up to you to decide if the government is to be formed by children of Ram or Bastards"

Plenty of things wrong there. Apart from the fact that i am not sure if a word like "Ramjadon" to denote followers or children of Ram has been used ever (Willing to correct if anybody can provide a link to its usage elsewhere), the usage of the expletive,which would loosely mean "Bastards", for opponents is really an example of the falling levels of political discourse. What i find equally disturbing is the fact the crowd actually cheers her after she makes the comment.Which makes me wonder if this was a "tukbandi"(rhyme) intended to get the audience applauding and not necessarily a result of ill will towards anybody in particular or general(i must admit here that i haven't seen the entire footage but only the part where she makes the now infamous comment). Whatever the reasons or motivations, the comment was uncalled for and in very poor taste.

Now to the furore which followed thereafter. Opposition MP's have united to demand that no less than her resignation will satisfy them. The Sadhvi, after much delay,has personally apologized for the remarks in both houses of the parliament and has expressed regret but has refused to resign. This brings us to the important question of whether a person is morally bound to resign after making such a remark. The answer will probably depend on how high or low the morals of that person are. But do we have a precedence in Indian political history where a person had to resign or offered to resign beacause of using expletives against anybody. The answer to that is a clear NO.

So what is the basis on which this opposition MP's are demanding the resignation? Have expletives not been used by any politician before? You don't have to go back much in time to find out the kind of  words that have been used for Modi. Here is a list for those who are interested.

And more recently, former quizmaster now politician and TMC MP had this to say about a journo whose views he did not subscribe to.

And he is a member of the "Upper House". 

Let alone resignations, not even an apology has been tendered in any of these cases.

Another important thing to keep in mind is that in most of the instances mentioned above, the expletives/remarks were aimed at a particular person with the objective of intimidating and belittling him/her . Whereas in Sadhvi's case it wasn't directed against anybody in particular. The former deserves much more condemnation in my eyes. An allegation saying all politicians are thieves is much less damning than saying e.g Srinjoy Bose is a thief. Leave alone politicians, journalists like Rajdeep Sardesai have verbally abused and physically attacked people but continue to perform their duties without anybody asking for their resignation or even an apology.

So is the demand for her resignation justified or is she being unfairly targeted for a) not using the Queens language for her rants  b) Being a women and an OBC MP from BJP c) being a Sadhvi

I think it is all of it and more. The opposition in the last few months has not had one solid issue using which it could attack the government. All their debates on communal violence, Black money have failed and backfired. This comes as a god sent opportunity and they will try to milk it to the fullest and prolong this as long as they can. This is an issue on which the BJP finds itself on the defensive. Has it done enough by making the concerned MP apologize? Will this make a dent in Modi Sarkar's image or will the public be able to see through these protests? Only time will tell.

What's in a name?..Actually a lot.

I have always tried to be a very confident person who can be on his own and does not need any approval to satisfy his ego. Frankly I haven't actually been able to do that great in this matter. And since what you do not have is what you admire most, i have always held such people in very high esteem. And it is to them that this post is dedicated.
All of us have found ourselves describing our college days or experience with friends to new made friends or colleagues. The songs you used to listen to, the booze, the smoke, the food, the girls etc etc. Next time you are doing it or listening to pay close attention. For in that conversation may be lying a peek into your/other's personality. Research(my own observation ) has found two kinds of people.
I had a friend in college, who was the best guitar player i ever heard.
or Subba, is the best guitar player i have come across.
The difference in the two lines tells a lot about you personality. I think people who openly take the name their friends, relatives, enemies in conversations are more sure and confident of themselves than those who do not. While some may finish a you telling a great story without ever taking a name, others will take names and introduce them to new friends. These are the people whose college friends know about their office friends who again know about their school friends and so on.
Try to act like the second kind. It may make a huge difference to the way you feel about yourself.

It's Rak..ingh

I have my end terms coming the day after and i am scratching my head trying to understand how activity based costing can save the world :)
What has forced me to leave that noble task aside is a lecture that i am going to forget the day i forget my name. Ok a bad PJ i accept. On a more serious note, today has been a helluva day. Occasion-Great Lakes Financial Inclusion conference.Boy, i have never loved lectures so much in my life. Day starts with Union Bank MD Mr Nair describing his bank's efforts and achievments on Financial Inclusion. Then C.Rangarajan, former RBI governor on his ideas to provide credit to the rural,small borrowers. He talked about the Business Correspondent model using which banks can penetrate deep into villages and also understand their borrower's needs better. Then the current Deputy governor of RBI Mr. Subir Gokaran and finally Mr. R Bhaskaran, director of Indian Institute of Banking and Finance. All the lectures were highly enlightning and i am not being politically correct here. But i have not yet come to the lecture i want to talk..oops..write about. That lecture was of our Macroeconomics professor Dr Rakesh Singh, who to make a long story short has been there done that and is by far one of the best professors i have ever been taught by. Today was his last lecture and by word was his last lecture is generally the best in his course. Coz on that day he and only he talks for 2 hours straight and by the end of it would have seen a movie on the Socio-Politi-Economic history of India since Independence. This was the first time i had seen a prof being forced to give a lecture.Dr. Singh agreed even though he had to catch a flight for Mumbai in a few hours.And believe me even though i went in with high expectations, the lecture surpassed them by a long way. It covered everything from Indian Independence,emphasis on agriculture, 130% growth in agriculture, green revolution, shift to industrialisation, PSU's, corruption,neglect of punjab and agriculture,nationalisation of banks, license raj and much much more. I wish i could write down all that he wanted to say..i tried to but gave up midway and focused instead on enjoying the free flowing lecture. He came up with the example of Ralegan Siddhi of Anne Hazare(google if u have not heard of either) fame and told us that many such experiments and innovations are happening in India and it is these that will take us into the next orbit. Leveraging on Agriculture, he emphasized, was the way to go for India. We will be feeding the world market in due course of time and our manufacturing will be based on agriculture. He finished his lecture and walked away to catch his flight not even noticing the standing ovation that took place as he left. I cam back from the lecture wiser and a with new aim in life, which i wiil share in due coursse of time. Thank you Dr. Rakesh Singh

Happiness

Prof Veeravalli's calss on Deep Learning...
What is happiness he asks??
Not able to think anything better i utter "An emotionally high state"..his looks say he's not satisfied with the answer,as expected, and he moves on to someone else who has raised his hand..this continues till everyone who had raised their hands has had a try... but none are able to answer what he is expecting..he turns to the next slide on the big screen..it says
Happiness=Outcome-Expectation.
Its really that simple isn't it...if you are not convinced just rewind yourselves to the times when you have been jumped with joy...There was a discussion after that regarding whether we should lower our expectations and not be ambitious to which he answered quite convincingly but i am not going to discuss that..i m here just to share my joy at being a part of what will most certainly be in the coming 2-3 years one of the top 10 BSchools in the world..Great Lakes Institute of Management...Amazing faculty...excellent paedegogy and very good mix of students from various backgrounds with an avg GMAT score of 690...when i had zeroed in on the college i did have a fair amount of expectations but hats off to uncle Bala, Prof Sriram and all other faculties who just exceeded my expectations on every front...we have interacted with with the top CEO's of India within the first week of our arrival..had excellent team building activities..salsa lessons..mountain climbing..u name it..we have done it..and the focus on Indian values is what truly makes this college belong in the top league....it is difficult to understand from the outside how Indian Values can play a part in management education..but once you are here all doubts will be cleared..It is evident in the faculties..the guest lecturers..the curriculum..everywhere..
I thank God that he helped me take the right decision and and financed my study...
Love u GOD

Shiva and Shankar are not the same

I had been thinking about this as to even if shiva and shankar are not the same why do we always take their name in the same breath. And why confuse shiva with shankar only.
Found this link to be very useful in answering some of these questions
http://www.shivbaba.org.pl/en/?name=basic-shiva-shankar
Posting the contents of the link here for easy reference..

Shiva and Shankar - basic knowledge
It has been depicted here that actually Shiva is separate and Shankar is separate. By mistake we combined both of them. But it is not a mistake, but our misunderstanding. Due to this, the Brahma Kumars and Brahma Kumaris are entangled in that misunderstanding. Which misunderstanding took place? When the Supreme Soul, an incorporeal Point of Light [jyoti-bindu] comes in this world, he will definitely make someone equal to him and teach him. When he teaches, then a student would certainly emerge, who inculcates [understands] the knowledge cent percent. So that incorporeal Point of Light Shiva gets revealed in the world through this form of Shankar, and both become equal [as Shiva-Shankar]. You see, no one says that Shiva and Brahma are the same. Why the name of Brahma is not joined with Shiva? Why the name of Vishnu is not joined with Shiva? Why the name of only Shankar is joined with Shiva? It is joined because Shankar is so deeply immersed in the remembrance of Shiva that he immerses Shiva in him. The stage of merger, i.e., Shiva and Shankar are one, becomes famous all over the world. Actually, both are different souls. The Supreme Soul Shiva never comes into the cycle of birth and death. That is why his memorial is known as "Shiv-Ling [phallus like idol]. It is not known as "Shankar-Ling. His festival is known as "Shiv-Ratri [Night of Shiva] and not "Shankar-Ratri [Night of Shankara]. God Father Shiva is beyond the sins [paap] and virtues [punya]; whereas the bodily human beings get entangled in the cycle of sins and virtues. Now you see, Shankar is seated in meditation. If he himself is a form of Supreme Soul [Parmatma] then whom is he meditating upon? If you visit the old temples you will observe a Shivling [Phallus like idol] kept in an important place in the centre and the idols of all other deities including Shankar are placed around the Shivling. What does it prove? Among the 33krores deities, the deity Shankar is the Dev-Dev-Mahadev [Greatest of all the deities], but he is not the Supreme Soul. He is also sitting in front of Him and praying Him. In front of whom is he sitting? He is sitting in front of Shivling. Therefore, Shiva is the point of light [jyotirbindu], the Supreme Soul and Shankar is the one who plays the role of a Hero of this World Drama stage.

Two Legged Affair

Saying it's been a looong time since i updated this blog would be to make a long thing short....but there are quite a few valid reasons why i cudnt get the time to put any of my thoughts....and no...it is not that i have been too busy with my work...actually i have been trying to bell that feline being(CAT) that has kept many a mortals guessing. Now that things are more or less clear about what i am going to do for the next 1 year of my life i thought of taking out some time and scribbling something.
I have been thinking this for quite sometime now. Have any of you noticed any difference in the way couples used to travel on their bikes ,say about a decade ago. While even now it is the guy who is running the bike, it is the damsels sitting at the back that i am talking about. When i used to go to school i used to see a lot of bhaiyas and didis on bikes with didis sitting at the back in salwar kameez with both their legs on one side of the bike. That has changed now to legs on either side of the bike even in salwar kameez. And this is the question that has me thinking that what is it that this change represents. Have the ladies become more equal to men than they were earlier. Is it a sign of them bcoming more bold and carefree. Does this mean that ladies now think less of what others might think or see as long as they are comfortable with it. Or does this mean that i do not have anything else to think about.
Think about it while i go and do some work as my last day in office is fast approaching. 20th April in case anyone wants to know.

My letter to Dad

Papa I need to talk to you for a few minutes. I want to keep two facts in front of you which you may or may not like.
1)I cant live for a moment without my family.
2)I cant live for a day without her.

I feel very embarrassed after saying this but I have no choice I had to say this. Had mom been there I would have said this to mom and she would have conveyed this to you in a much better way but now that she is no more the only person I can plead to is you. No parents , absolutely none would want there kids to be unhappy. You might have an impression that this whole affair is a trivial thing and can be forgotten just like that and I would live happily ever after. But I am afraid papa, it is not so. We have been together for more than 5 yrs dad and now are unable to think of anyone else as our life partners. Please forgive me for being so audacious but it is a fact.

Dad when mom was alive the only reason I wanted to pursue MBA was because my dream was to give her every pleasure in the world which money could buy as she had been through a lot of troubled times in her life. For things which money could not buy I tried my best to be a good son. After she left us, I lost my ambition to do an MBA. What was the use of it? What for? It was she who told me that I still have a family to take care of. I have a father who is shattered, couple of kids who need a mother’s love. I don’t know if you have ever noticed but I have tried to break all the barriers that could ever creep in because of me being so elder to them. I can never take mom’s place but I have tried to make sure the kids never feel they do not have anyone to plead to or share with or get angry at.
But where do I plead dad???
I have no one except you. Please don’t kill me by telling me to leave you or send me into a coma by saying not to marry her. Why do people marry dad?? Not only for starting their own happy family but also to keep the existing family happy. She loves the kids as much as I do and she will look after every need of theirs and care for them. I promise you she will be the best daughter in law you could ever imagine and keep this family together like fevicol.
Dad I am worthless child right now since I have the misfortune of having to choose between my family and my love. It is only you who can make me worthwhile by accepting me along with her. Please dad I beg of you!!!

N.B. My dad is against my relationship as the girl is a bengali and myself a UPite

My dads response:
You pig, your family is dead for you from today. You are no longer my son. You are barred from entering the house or having a morsel of food here. You get out from my house and find yourself a rented place.