I was watching TV the other night, a panel discussion on one of the business news channels, and one of the panelist said in the course of his argument
"Mind your own business"
This phrase originated in the west. Over generations its implied meaning has metamorphosis into "Don't bother me"
But the literal meaning originated from the basic ethos of a Capitalist society. The fact that anyone could say to anyone "Mind your own business" because everyone had a business. There was no middle class and no salaried employees, no big corporates and no lobbies.
I am not an entrepreneur and my risk appetite is very low. And I still want to start my own business; for one simple reason.
I WANT MORE ROOM TO CUT CORNERS IN PAYING MY TAXES
It's a genuine reason. The Government milks us salaried class to the hilt because every penny we earn has a perfect paper trail. We have to show our investments, else we get screwed even before we get paid; fucking TDS. We have no source of unaccounted earnings.
I don't have anything against paying taxes per se. It's just that I don't think I owe my taxes to the Government. This is a democratic society, and barring extraordinary situations (war, epidemics, natural calamities etc) I want to know why my money is being wasted. I am not satisfied by the chalta hai attitude, saying that its India, we are a poor country, corruption is rampant, there is no inclusive growth blah blah blah.
I am a educated, concerned and aware citizen. These issues are real and must be addressed. But they are for the Government to solve. That's why they get elected. That's why they get all freebies and facilities from the State.
Subsidies never reach the intended people. Police and Legal system are hollow. their nexus with crime and politics gives no elbow room to straight people like me. Industrial lobbying and vote bank politics will always mean that a salaried honest middle class guy is bound to get screwed.
So, if I am not getting my money's worth (roads, healthcare, water, law & order, justice) I want to embark on an endeavor where I can use the loopholes in Government tax structure to cut myself a larger piece of pie.
Sometimes it is so frustrating that I feel I should have an option, there should be more than one Government, and I should be able to decide to whom should I pay my tax to. The noose around the neck of the salaried employee has tightened further after the introduction of PAN. I don't forsee any system in near future where business transactions will be effectively tracked. Maybe the day will come when Technology, change in voter demographics and generl increased levels of prosperity and education across sections of society will make things better. But I have a strong feeling I won't live to see that day, and my patience is running out.
Right now, I feel angry and used up. And so, I want to start my own business.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Sunday, November 8, 2009
And it continues
Well, finished watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S ... the tenth time. It started way back, in 2005.
And I a pretty sure the eleventh time would have begun by the end of next year.
Yeah, there are things other than Wine and Single malt which get better with time.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
It Sucks to be sucked into work
I wanted to be home early today. Mainly coz of the match to be played tomorrow morning.
I did not sleep much last night ... several reasons; Phone calls, Wonder Years, Girls in my dreams ...
Anyway, the gist of the matter being I wanted to sleep big time. And there was no way I was going to miss Tuesday morning's Cricket. After all, Saturday was so much fun ...
And guess what, things actually went wrong at office.
As I watched my colleagues leave office one by one, while I was stuck deploying a war file.
I mean, it's a darn simple procedure a two year old can do in 5 minutes; it's no rocket science once you know it. But something went wrong... horribly wrong.
I got exceptions of the kind and size I had never seen before. No help was at hand. My US counterparts were having an off day celebrating Columbus Day (Thanks to Teddy Roosevelt). And the Indians were already cozy in their homes ....
As I battled the horrible errors, my frustration began to mount. Here I was, bursting my brains out for an answer, while everyone else was enjoying, thanks to democracy and the election vacation it brought with it.
It kept on building, until I snapped. Most likely, the error was out of my league. I had done all I knew a million times. Nothing helped, not the online help for Weblogic neither the scores of Log file entries.
Moreover, I needed a few access IDs to probe further, and as I said, nobody was there.
In the end, after all that sweat, I narrowed it down to three possibilities. First, maybe the war file had gotten corrupt. No big deal, happens frequently. Second, maybe the file had been accidentally placed at the incorrect location in the server. And thirdly, that there might have been an issue with the rights of that file/containing folder.
I really really hope that the reason is one of the three. Else, all that hard work done alone in the office would amount to nothing. It would make a big stupid out of me if tomorrow the error turned out to be something which I could have fixed by myself.
Anyways, may I bat and bowl and field and argue like a true champion tomorrow. AMEN.
I did not sleep much last night ... several reasons; Phone calls, Wonder Years, Girls in my dreams ...
Anyway, the gist of the matter being I wanted to sleep big time. And there was no way I was going to miss Tuesday morning's Cricket. After all, Saturday was so much fun ...
And guess what, things actually went wrong at office.
As I watched my colleagues leave office one by one, while I was stuck deploying a war file.
I mean, it's a darn simple procedure a two year old can do in 5 minutes; it's no rocket science once you know it. But something went wrong... horribly wrong.
I got exceptions of the kind and size I had never seen before. No help was at hand. My US counterparts were having an off day celebrating Columbus Day (Thanks to Teddy Roosevelt). And the Indians were already cozy in their homes ....
As I battled the horrible errors, my frustration began to mount. Here I was, bursting my brains out for an answer, while everyone else was enjoying, thanks to democracy and the election vacation it brought with it.
It kept on building, until I snapped. Most likely, the error was out of my league. I had done all I knew a million times. Nothing helped, not the online help for Weblogic neither the scores of Log file entries.
Moreover, I needed a few access IDs to probe further, and as I said, nobody was there.
In the end, after all that sweat, I narrowed it down to three possibilities. First, maybe the war file had gotten corrupt. No big deal, happens frequently. Second, maybe the file had been accidentally placed at the incorrect location in the server. And thirdly, that there might have been an issue with the rights of that file/containing folder.
I really really hope that the reason is one of the three. Else, all that hard work done alone in the office would amount to nothing. It would make a big stupid out of me if tomorrow the error turned out to be something which I could have fixed by myself.
Anyways, may I bat and bowl and field and argue like a true champion tomorrow. AMEN.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Saturday Morning Cricket
The Gladiators... another one is behind the camera.. meThe weekend has definitely started with a bang. Work finished on a good note in office yesterday, followed by an impromptu beer party late night, and now today morning, the gala event ... a cricket match.
The wheels of today morning's events were set in motion by a discussion at the start of the week by the regular Cricket enthusiasts of our office. One thing led to another, including a tasteful chain mail on Thursday, and generous contributions by people (in some cases unwillingly).
Once the funds were in order, the whole gear was bought which included a baseball kit for a cricket game.
Now lets get one thing straight. It is not easy to wake up at 6 am on a weekend when tons and tons of Beer has been consumed the previous night.
But as fate had it, after calls being made all around to get people out of beds, we were there on the field in Kandiwali.
All in all, the game and it's vibe cannot be described in words. But still a few stellar moments will remain etched in the memory of most who were a part of today's celebration. Moments when champions were born, revenge was taken, reputations were tossed ...
1. We found two genuine all rounders ; Siddharth and Sreenath. They carried the teams, with their batting, bowling, fielding, arguing and cheating skills.
...................... Him and of the Gutter ....................2. We discovered that we are as a group gifted with a bunch of truly besharam sportsmen around us; with few like Ankit, Siddharth, Nigam and Vinay standing out.
............................... Body builder allrounder ..............
2. The Dark horse was Vinay, whom everyone perceived to be a kachchi goti before the game. But he showed that he has the mettle to swing the bat towards leg side off each and every ball bowled by each and every bowler. His blitzkrieg in the first match was a moral breaking innings for the opponents (Sid, Nigam, Ankit). From next time, there will be no off side field for him.
.................... Loosers to pay for breakfast .....................
3. The back-breaking over by Chinmay when he uprooted the stumps of Ankit and Nigam, ensuring a speedy end to an already lost match.
......................... The Devastating Over ..........................
3. It still remains a concrete fact that ball wire se nahi lagee thee , courtesy Ankit.
4. The outburst by the last man standing, Chinmay, when he found out that his right to stand his ground were being denied as the last wicket (Rahul) was caught and bowled by Sreenath.
ye sab kya bakwaas hai
Main ghar jaa raha hu
Main nahi khel raha
This legendary whining reminded me of the time I was in 4th class and used to bitch around and get my way (owing to the best bat on the block)
5. The comeback over by Ankit followed by the life Chinmay got after that, where he had his revenge by claiming his wicket. It could have been a first ball wicket caught by the keeper, Rahul. Bur unfortunately Rahul's Team Spirit far exceeded his Sportsman Spirit, as he dropped the catch.
.............................. Taandav Mudra ............................
6. Rahul was the most relaxed person on the ground. Barring his laziness, he proved to be a good guy to have on your side. Also, no one dances like him.
........................... The Unbeaten ..................
7. Nigam thinks he has silenced everyone by his brilliant unbeaten Opener's knock. He will soon realise that things wont change in any way.
8. Sid Shukla played knock of the day, the only 50 scored, to clinch the last match.
.................... Food is Always Good ............
So, 4 matches down, we emerged victorious men. We headed to get our brunch, after retrieving the balls from dubious places and packing our gear. Our appetite was well served, and the presence of Thakur College chicks made things better.
................... Very Very hungry .....................
We will meet again next Tuesday, same place, hopefully a bit earlier ... and the baseball bat may come in handy that day ... 
The worst loss in 4 matches (Team winner of Fair Play award)
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Politics and Movies in India
I recently saw a few movies highly recommended to me. By coincidence, they all turned out to be political dramas. Crisp, thrilling, and with a high dosage of reality.
Thirteen days captures the 13 days in JFK's presidency when the world came dangerously closed to a nuclear war, a potential World War III. It started with USSR creating missile sites in Cuba. The movie captures the tensions pretty realistically; the armed forces Chiefs hell bent on a confrontation to salvage their pride after the bay of pigs fiasco, the back channel negotiations with Kruschev, and so on.
Frost-Nixon is a classic; brilliant screenplay and superb acting. It is a s much a reflection on the chemistry between David Frost and Richard Nixon as much as the interviews revealing the confessions of a fallen world leader.
The best thing about Lions for Lambs is that the narrative and treatment leaves you with unanswered questions. The parallel scenes presenting the political, philosophical and real action on the ground encapsulated my imagination. A charismatic Republican Senator breaks the exclusive story of a new strategy in Afgan war to a veteran journalist. A Professor of Political Science probes a bright student as to why has he stopped attending his lectures, while making his arguments based on two former students. And then we see those 2 students in action in Afganistan at the same time. Simply superb.
It made me wonder what was it that Kevin Costener, Ron Howard and Robert Redford had in common. Why can't such movies be made here, with our rich, diverse and complicated political legacy.
Other than partition, no other issue has really been dealt with credibly till date.
Maybe one of the reasons is a lack of mature enough audience. But is that the main issue? Come to think of it, is it really possible to objectively play political leaders of the past and present as characters in our country?
The answer is sadly NO.
We can't have a movie on our politics unless it's an all praise biopic of some leader. Or else, it has to be a war movie. We do have some good work in background of terrorist activities, but the center is never politics; it's either terrorism itself or a bunch of characters affected by it.
I've heard and read a lot of stuff, why not touch those topics?
1. Political upheavel when India carved out its states on linguistic basis.
2. Nehru's era post Chinese 1962 invasion.
3. Jay Prakash movement, emergency and Naxalism.
4. Reservations
5. The rise of regional parties
These came to my mind at the drop of the hat, and I'm sure there are many more out there. I soooo wish we had some good Indian movies based on Real Politic.
I hope it happens one day.
Thirteen days captures the 13 days in JFK's presidency when the world came dangerously closed to a nuclear war, a potential World War III. It started with USSR creating missile sites in Cuba. The movie captures the tensions pretty realistically; the armed forces Chiefs hell bent on a confrontation to salvage their pride after the bay of pigs fiasco, the back channel negotiations with Kruschev, and so on.
Frost-Nixon is a classic; brilliant screenplay and superb acting. It is a s much a reflection on the chemistry between David Frost and Richard Nixon as much as the interviews revealing the confessions of a fallen world leader.
The best thing about Lions for Lambs is that the narrative and treatment leaves you with unanswered questions. The parallel scenes presenting the political, philosophical and real action on the ground encapsulated my imagination. A charismatic Republican Senator breaks the exclusive story of a new strategy in Afgan war to a veteran journalist. A Professor of Political Science probes a bright student as to why has he stopped attending his lectures, while making his arguments based on two former students. And then we see those 2 students in action in Afganistan at the same time. Simply superb.
It made me wonder what was it that Kevin Costener, Ron Howard and Robert Redford had in common. Why can't such movies be made here, with our rich, diverse and complicated political legacy.
Other than partition, no other issue has really been dealt with credibly till date.
Maybe one of the reasons is a lack of mature enough audience. But is that the main issue? Come to think of it, is it really possible to objectively play political leaders of the past and present as characters in our country?
The answer is sadly NO.
We can't have a movie on our politics unless it's an all praise biopic of some leader. Or else, it has to be a war movie. We do have some good work in background of terrorist activities, but the center is never politics; it's either terrorism itself or a bunch of characters affected by it.
I've heard and read a lot of stuff, why not touch those topics?
1. Political upheavel when India carved out its states on linguistic basis.
2. Nehru's era post Chinese 1962 invasion.
3. Jay Prakash movement, emergency and Naxalism.
4. Reservations
5. The rise of regional parties
These came to my mind at the drop of the hat, and I'm sure there are many more out there. I soooo wish we had some good Indian movies based on Real Politic.
I hope it happens one day.
Help
All my life I have been too proud to ask for help. Or should I say, too reluctant. Always, without fail. No matter how big or small the crisis, I never went to anybody ever. Always trying to figure it out on my own.
Occasionally I got creamed along the way due to this. I wasted a lot of time figuring out stuff I could have simply asked; I took decisions on my own, when the advise of others didn't sound convincing.
Some things you just don't learn I guess. Maybe one is made a certain way, that can't be undone. Somewhere deep down, I think the burden of satisfying my ego hinged upon me being independent. If you ask for help, you are not good enough.
And this isn't the worst part. Somewhere along the way, I realised something was wrong. And another realisation followed this one; it was already too late. Even if I decide to change from now on, it'll take too long to actually be able to do it. Moreover, I cannot undo the things I have already done. Those actions, the results of which have so far steered the course of my life, I just can't go back and undo them.
Everybody wants a fresh start, a clean slate, a second chance. And everybody knows .. it ain't coming.
There is no heroism in being on your own all the time.
I recall the title song from the Sitcom Scrubs ..
Well, I know what I've been told
You've got to work to feed the soul
But I can't do this all on my own
No, I know
I'm no Superman
Occasionally I got creamed along the way due to this. I wasted a lot of time figuring out stuff I could have simply asked; I took decisions on my own, when the advise of others didn't sound convincing.
Some things you just don't learn I guess. Maybe one is made a certain way, that can't be undone. Somewhere deep down, I think the burden of satisfying my ego hinged upon me being independent. If you ask for help, you are not good enough.
And this isn't the worst part. Somewhere along the way, I realised something was wrong. And another realisation followed this one; it was already too late. Even if I decide to change from now on, it'll take too long to actually be able to do it. Moreover, I cannot undo the things I have already done. Those actions, the results of which have so far steered the course of my life, I just can't go back and undo them.
Everybody wants a fresh start, a clean slate, a second chance. And everybody knows .. it ain't coming.
There is no heroism in being on your own all the time.
I recall the title song from the Sitcom Scrubs ..
Well, I know what I've been told
You've got to work to feed the soul
But I can't do this all on my own
No, I know
I'm no Superman
Friday, September 25, 2009
Just how our Nation spends Money ...
Today Chandrayaan-1 led to the confirmation of presence of water on moon via American made M3.
The cost of this historic discovery was Rs 386 crores (77 million)Just made me think how well this money had been spent, such wealth of knowledge and expertise was applied to complete the mission, and further wealth and knowledge to be generated as a consequense.
Another news some time back was the a 300-feet high statue of Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji to be erected in the Arabian Sea, facing the Marine Drive. The proposal is for it to be surrounded by a garden with a museum. It will be a unique a landmark in the country's financial capital.
The cost of this project is estimated at around Rs 350 cores (70 million)
Speaking of Mumbai Landmarks, nobody can miss the grand Bandra-Worli sea link that stands proudly as the city's ornament.
This project, when all 8 lanes are complete will eventually cost us Rs 1600 crores (400 million )
UPA government's Farm loan waiver, Rs 60,000 crore (12,000 million)
And then we have Mayawati statues in Lucknow and Noida, at a cost of Rs 500 crore (100 million)
The DMK government gave away colour TVs worth Rs 700 crores (140 million)
The Delhi Metro project, which has set high standards of project completion and execution not only in India but worldwide has cost of Phase 1 as Rs 10,600 crores (2120 million)
Now people will have a different take on each of these acivities and others like that depending on their socio-economic level, native place and community affiliations. There have already been heated debates about a few of them.
As these random expenditures came to my mind, I realised that the problem isn't the expenditure as such. The concern lies somewhere else:
1. Priority of work. Where is the money required first?
2. Vested interests. Is the work beneficial to some section alone?
3. Whose money is it anyway, to be spent on this work?
Once this gets sorted, there will be no issue. Every activity i wrote above drives economic activity, in some way or other. Those like DMRC, Sea-Link etc can be measured in their ROI as a pure economic activity. Others like statues and Space mission have a greater social impact on the psyche of the nation, compared to the economic rewards.
So, nothing is a waste as such when things begin. The waste sets in when the premise is wrong. The waste in Mumbai's sea-Link project due to court battles; the waste when Mulayam Singh says he will demolish Mayawati statues when he comes to power; the waste when money for farm loan waiver disappears in the middle...
The only matter is, prioritize, start execution with full planning, approvals and advance court rulings.. and dont steal.
The cost of this historic discovery was Rs 386 crores (77 million)Just made me think how well this money had been spent, such wealth of knowledge and expertise was applied to complete the mission, and further wealth and knowledge to be generated as a consequense.
Another news some time back was the a 300-feet high statue of Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji to be erected in the Arabian Sea, facing the Marine Drive. The proposal is for it to be surrounded by a garden with a museum. It will be a unique a landmark in the country's financial capital.
The cost of this project is estimated at around Rs 350 cores (70 million)
Speaking of Mumbai Landmarks, nobody can miss the grand Bandra-Worli sea link that stands proudly as the city's ornament.
This project, when all 8 lanes are complete will eventually cost us Rs 1600 crores (400 million )
UPA government's Farm loan waiver, Rs 60,000 crore (12,000 million)
And then we have Mayawati statues in Lucknow and Noida, at a cost of Rs 500 crore (100 million)
The DMK government gave away colour TVs worth Rs 700 crores (140 million)
The Delhi Metro project, which has set high standards of project completion and execution not only in India but worldwide has cost of Phase 1 as Rs 10,600 crores (2120 million)
Now people will have a different take on each of these acivities and others like that depending on their socio-economic level, native place and community affiliations. There have already been heated debates about a few of them.
As these random expenditures came to my mind, I realised that the problem isn't the expenditure as such. The concern lies somewhere else:
1. Priority of work. Where is the money required first?
2. Vested interests. Is the work beneficial to some section alone?
3. Whose money is it anyway, to be spent on this work?
Once this gets sorted, there will be no issue. Every activity i wrote above drives economic activity, in some way or other. Those like DMRC, Sea-Link etc can be measured in their ROI as a pure economic activity. Others like statues and Space mission have a greater social impact on the psyche of the nation, compared to the economic rewards.
So, nothing is a waste as such when things begin. The waste sets in when the premise is wrong. The waste in Mumbai's sea-Link project due to court battles; the waste when Mulayam Singh says he will demolish Mayawati statues when he comes to power; the waste when money for farm loan waiver disappears in the middle...
The only matter is, prioritize, start execution with full planning, approvals and advance court rulings.. and dont steal.
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