1,000 Years, 1,000 People

There was an article in "Hindu" today, about a new book "1,000 Years, 1,000 People: Ranking the Men and Women Who Shaped the Millennium".
The rankings are based on a BioGraph system which is made of up five key elements:

• the person's lasting influence and impact,
• their influence and effect on the world in their time,
• their contribution to wisdom and beauty,
• their charisma, and
• the singularity of their contribution.

It is very interesting to learn that Johannes Gutenberg, the inventor of printing press has been top-ranked in the list, leaving behind giants like Newton, Edison, Beethoven, Shakespeare, Marx etc. The primary reason given for his elevation to the top spot was that the printing press "harnessed the power of ideas on the world".
The entry at the 1000th place is all the more intriguing. It has Andy Warhol from US adorning it. To be frank, I didn’t know much about this person. So out of curiosity, just checked on the internet for some information about him. I was pleasantly surprised to know that he was the one who coined the concept/phrase "15 minutes of fame!!!!!"
By the way, there are many Indians on the list; Mahatama Gandhi without any doubt tops this list at 12th position. Others who feature in the list are Indira Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Akbar, Babur etc.
Another point which catches your attention is that around 20 people in top 100 are scientists/inventors whose work or invention have left a mark on humanity in a big way.
For those who are interested in glancing through the top 100 entries, click on the following hyperlink: http://www.wisdomportal.com/Books/1000Years1000People.html.

Slump forces IITians to board IAF!!!

"Slump forces IITians to board IAF", thus read the heading of an article in the Chennai edition of a leading daily. (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Chennai/Slump_forces_IITians_to_board_IAF/articleshow/3944498.cms)

This reminded me of a discussion I’d with my co-passengers in the train from Pune to Chennai about a week back. Both of them were IITians, one having passed out in early 1990s and the other still pursuing his B.Tech. The former being a top government official now, incidentally in the Indian Railways.
I asked the IIT student, "Do the IITians still join the Civil Services (IAS/IPS etc.) these days?"
He replied, "Dude, government services are not for us. We are made for bigger things in life!!!"
To which the government official retorted, "So those working in the government sector are fools? Or are they less competent than those working in the private sector? "
The IIT student was taken aback. Obviously his horizon wasn’t broad enough to appreciate the work done by the government officials. Time and again he would mention about the average salary drawn by the IITians, people going abroad for work or higher studies, apathy for the political condition of the country.
He even mentioned that he had an offer to join a medical college in Mumbai after 12th, but he opted for IIT instead. The reasons being, that he would have to slog much less and chance to earn a lot more than the doctors.
I’m in no way trying to make a statement on the IITians here, as I respect them a lot having come across many who are a boon to the society and always have a bigger picture in mind for every problem/situation in life.
Now coming back to the article, I sometimes wonder whether the defence forces aren’t worthy enough for the IITians to join. There haven’t been any IITian in the defence services after 1960s!!! That’s shocking. I believe the forces would have benefitted a lot from the services of the top-notch engineers of the country.
What is stopping the IITians from joining the government services? Is it the lure for more money, their superiority complex, less challenging nature of the job?? Only the IITians themselves can explain the reason.
As far as I am concerned, I feel that the IITians have the potential of bringing about cross-fertilization of talents to the enrichment of the vibrancy and resilience of public service as a whole.
As for the "bigger things in life" is concerned, the opportunity of influencing the government decisions on a myriad of situations and problems ranging from farmers’ woes and women empowerment to internal and cross-border terrorism would be unparalleled in the plethora of jobs offered in the country or abroad for that matter!!!!

P.S. There are many IITians who have opted for government service. Some of the names I could find on net are as follows:
1. Manohar Parrikar – the first IIT graduate to become the CM of a state (Goa) from 2000 to 2005.
2. Duvvuri Subbarao – the Governor of Reserve Bank of India.
3. V.C.Agrawal – MD of IBP Oil.
4. Arvind Kejriwal – Ramon Magsaysay Award Winner. Instrumental in getting the Right to Information bill passed.
5. Satyendra K. Dubey – National Highway Authority of India employee. Was assassinated for blowing the whistle in a corruption case.
6. Srikumar Banerjee - Director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC)
7. Jairaj Pathak – Municipal Commissioner of BMC
And many more.....

Hats off to the Hinjewadi Police!!!

Last Friday (21st Nov 2008) I along with a friend of mine had an altercation with the local police (Hinjewadi). Although the mistake was ours, as we didn’t have the relevant documents, but I was highly surprised with the calm and composed behavior of the police personnel.
From all the experience I’ve had since childhood, especially in Delhi, I know one thing for sure.. never raise your voice even against the lowest ranked police, else you are in for a big trouble.
But last week’s incident was truly a learning experience. My friend inspite of being on the wrong side of the law was behaving rudely with the police officers (as we all generally do). But to my utmost surprise, the constables and officers were not perturbed a bit and displayed exemplary behavior.
The fine for our mistake was Rs 1000/- but the Sub-Inspector (PSI) thought of giving us another chance, inspite of our rude behavior and fined us only Rs 100/- (this was not a bribe, as he gave us an official govt receipt).
He even made us sit in his office for about 15-20 minutes and explained to us the virtue of talking politely.
We later learned that he was a President Medal awardee in 2006 for his exemplary police service. I was not surprised a bit.
Later that night I shot off a letter to the Editor of Pune Mirror (local newspaper) highlighting the incident. And to my delight it was published in Sunday’s edition of the paper (attached)!!!! We carried the paper to that very PSI and showed him the article. He was on the moon to say the least that atleast someone appreciates the work done by police. He took the Xerox of the article for his perusal and thanked us umpteen number of times. Even the constables were happy that their work is getting recognition.
Such small gestures go a long way in boosting the morale of the police and government officials. What I felt was that their job is very thankless; they have to deal with hundreds of people from varied backgrounds every day, and yet be in the same spirits all the time. If I were to do the same job, I would have given up long time back!!
So here’s to the Police officials of India, for their inspired work culture with the least expectations of rewards, let alone awards!!!!!

Whom else do you think they could have made Chief?

He was in his office at Fort William, Calcutta, when the news was conveyed to him by General Kumaramangalam. He hastened home and told Mrs. Manekshaw who happened, at that time, to be reading in bed. Without taking her eyes off the book she was reading, she muttered a brief ‘congratulations’. Irked, he asked her if that was the only reaction she could display. To which cam the classic retort : “Sam, whom else do you think they could have made Chief?”

By now, I’m sure you must have guessed who is being referred to above. Yes, it is the one and only Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw. Recently I got hold of a book by Lt.Gen Depinder Singh on Sam. This is supposed to be a biography on Sam Bahadur, but after having read about a 100 odd pages, it looks more like a recount of the incidents, or rather encounters between the writer and the protagonist, sprinkled here and there with some major events in Sam’s life.
The most endearing trait of Sam’s personality was the ease with which he handled his jawans and the political leadership. It surely required guts and conviction for someone to confront the firebrand PM Mrs. Indira Gandhi .

His humorous side is more apparent to the people, as he was always seen joking around with everyone around at any event. His ready wit is a thing of folklore's. Some of his most famous quotes are as follows:
"Gentlemen, I have arrived and there will be no withdrawal without written orders and these orders shall never be issued" -During 1962 war, when he was sent to North East Frontier Agency (NEFA) to command retreating Indian forces against the Chinese force
"If anyone tells you he is never afraid, he is a liar or he is a Gurkha."- On the Gurkha Battalion of the Indian Army.
"I'm always ready, sweetie,"- 1971 war, on being asked by Indira Gandhi about the Indian Army's readiness.

I’ll probably have more to write when I complete the book. Till then Jai Hind!!

A moment of glory is a joy forever!!!

11th August 2008 would be etched in the annals of Indian history in golden words. It was a day when the burning topic of the day in the lives of an ordinary Indian was not cricket, politics or dismal state of administrative affairs, even the much hyped ‘Singh is Kinng’ had to take a backseat. It was a day when a billion lows found a high, a billion visions found a path, a billion hopes found an expression!!!!
Abhinav Bindra, the first ever Gold Medalist for India in a solo event has catapulted to the status which no other athlete since the inception of modern day Olympics could achieve. His years of toil and perseverance finally paid off. No Indian alive will ever forget the spectacle of Bindra standing on the podium, National flag raised in the background and the National Anthem being played simultaneously. The thought itself is enough to give you goosebumps. Thanks Bindra for providing this moment to us!!!
The international media was amused by the hysteria surrounding this event; more so when informed that it was India’s first solo event gold medal. But atleast a message has been sent across that "We have arrived". 25 years back another event had created such hype and hoopla, when the Indian cricket team won the 1983 Cricket World Cup and shattered the belief that Indians can’t win at the highest level and in the process inspired thousands and lakhs of Indians into taking this sport more seriously. Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly and many more were the by-products of that achievement.
Now history has provided another moment when the inspiration is much stronger, much greater and much mightier. Let there be thousand Bindras, Rathores, Nehwals, only then we would be able to proclaim proudly that "yes" India has definitely arrived on the World stage.

At Secunderabad Railway Station

Just waiting for Paul to get up... will surely kick his butt when he meets me today. Just imagine you have gone to a different city for sight-seeing and you end up writing a blog in a cyber cafe!!!!!
Wow...as i'm in the process of writing this Paul calls up and I'll have to leave my blog mid way, otherwise i was just about to write a list of beautiful expelitives for him!!!! He is saved today!!! :P

Sehwag is too fat!!!!!

Don't kill me if you don't like the title. Actually I'd written an article when the T20 World Cup was at its feverish best. Though it's a little misplaced in today's context (India is playing a test match with Sri Lanka..moreover Sehwag has hit a swashbuckling century and still going strong!!!!), but just wanted to portray the perception the two sexes have on cricket, or rather on the gentlemen (if they can called so) playing the game. So here goes....


Sehwag is too fat!!!!!

"RP Singh actually is very handsome!!!"…."Bret Lee should be the Lead India campaigner!!!"…"You know what? Yuvi is single again!!!!"…..
Are you still wondering what’s going on? Well, it is the post-match discussion amongst the pundits of cricket, Gavaskar, Shastri and Bhogle. Ok…Ok….no more running around the bush. The above aphorisms are actually the signal that the mail bastion has been intruded, not by the aliens from Mars, but by the fairer sex from the Venus.
The other day, I overheard a conversation between two females that Virender Sehwag should be dropped from the team because he is too fat!!! Wow…. I was shocked, not because of where the statement came from, but because of the reason pointed out for cutting short poor Sehwag’s career.
But, to be very frank the latest avatar of the game, T20 has done a world of good for the coffee table discussions in the offices (and elsewhere :)). Earlier, the only common interest between the two sexes was "movies"; but that is passé, cricket is the in-thing now.
The T20 format has done to cricket what even Mandira Bedi had failed to do. To enable the male population to watch and enjoy cricket peacefully at home, without the nagging comments like ‘half an hour to go for the saas-bahu serial’, ‘have u paid the electricity bill’ or the most irritating one ‘how can you watch these 22 men for the whole day?!?’
If you are thinking, there are no side-effects to this phenomenon, beware. I asked one of my friends (female :)) to accompany me for a movie some days back. Very nonchalantly she replied, ‘Aren’t you watching the match tonight?’ Then I realized these new entrants into the fold of cricket euphoria are here to stay.
T20, I believe is a great concept as it infuses the much needed glamour quotient into the sport. So move away purists, the young brigade likes to keep it short!!!!!!