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!!!!!!

Salaam Namaste!!!

Hi All,
This is my first blog and naturally am excited about it!!!! Actually I've been thinking about starting a blog for quite some time now, but something or the other used to take precedence over it. That does not however mean that the precedence order has changed in any way, just that I thought it's high time I stop giving stupid reasons and get on with it (I know I'm lazy bum!!!).
Now the question is what do i write and what should be the frequency of my posts? Hmm.. the unearthly hours of my work (ya u guessed it right..I'm a software engineer..didn't u read my blog name by the way?!? :P) would not allow me to write very frequently, but yes I would try and write atleast once a week.
The topics I haven't deliberated upon as yet, but it could be virtually anything under the sun. But please keep giving in some feedback on whatever shit i pen down, atleast that would keep me motivated to throw up some more shit (please take it metaphorically only :))!!!!

Signing off for now..ciao.

- Sid