Tytler Case: A Small Specimen Of Social Justice

No, I have nothing personal against Mr Jagdish Tytler. Neither I have anything personal against Mr. Sajjan Kumar. But honestly, I could not help warmly welcoming it when they were forced to withdraw from the Lok Sabha elections.

With due respect to Mr. Tytler, it would have really been a matter of disgrace for the Indian democracy if he got the opportunity to contest, and then could manage to become a Minister later. I am saying this not only because he was accused of a particular crime. Rather, I am trying to highlight the nature of the crime that he was accused of. It was not extortion. It was not a forgery. It was not a scam. It was rioting. It was carnage. It was a crime that was associated with the massacre (mainly spontaneous, but somewhat planned as well) of a huge number of innocent people. And no such person can be permitted to be a member of our national legislature who has been accused of being involved with such a heinous crime, even if he has been given a clean chit by the court.

Surely, Mr. Tytler has a very valid point to make. We cannot be sure about a person’s involvement with a crime or misdeed simply because he has been accused. There are lots of instances when a person is wrongly (or even falsely) accused of being involved with an unlawful act. Therefore, we cannot be absolutely sure that Mr. Tytler was involved with the anti-Sikh riots of 1984 simply because he was accused to be.

Fair enough. But then, as per the same logic, we cannot be sure about a person’s innocence simply because he has been acquitted by the court of law. While a person can get wrongly accused because of some circumstantial factors, similarly a person can get wrongly acquitted because of some factors like absence of witness, absence of strong evidence, etc.

While we cannot confidently say that Mr. Tytler’s acquittal was wrong, can we be confident that it was a correct decision? It is significant that the court has acquitted Mr. Tyler of the charges not because it has got some strong evidence in favour of his innocence, but because it has not found any strong evidence against him. And yes, that does make a difference!

There is another aspect of the story. We all know that our Sikh brothers and sisters have not yet been able to overcome the trauma of 1984, for pretty understandable reasons. Even the Sikh youths born after 1984 are aware of the carnage (they have heard about it from their elders), and are as sensitive about it as are the ones who experienced it personally. The gravity of the community’s pain and agony can be understood by what Mr. Jarnail Singh did other day. It must be remembered that Jarnail is not a hot-blooded teenager. He is a 30 plus educated professional, an experienced journalist for that matter, and a family man. If a person from such a background does something like this, we can pretty well understand what a terrible pain this community is suffering from.

Now, while their entire pain cannot be cured overnight, some steps can surely be taken to bring at least some partial healing. Something that will help them have this consolation that “OK, we have got some justice, at least a little one”.

And this forced withdrawal of Mr. Tytler from the Lok Sabha election will certainly provide such a partial healing to the Sikh community (of course, it is much less than satisfactory). After the level of anguish the community has gone through for such a long time, even such a partial healing is highly precious. And even if we accept that Mr. Tytler is innocent, his candidature cannot be more precious than the faint healing touch that his withdrawal will offer to our Sikh friends. It would have been a terrible emotional blow for the community if Mr. Tytler were permitted to contest the election. And that could have snowballed into some larger problems. Let us not forget that nothing can be more dangerous for a country than a long-suppressed feeling of anger and frustration in a community.

Mr. Tytler, you are an educated and decent man. And you certainly give more value to the emotional feelings of a community than your own political career, right? Then you should be happy that you are not contesting this time. While you are a nice person (at least apparently), you are not known to be a great administrator or leader. So India will not lose anything if you do not become an MP and do not become a Minister. But a community will get some partial satisfaction that you are not contesting this time. And that is really valuable. So, be happy! Whatever has happened, it has happened for good.

Photo Courtesy - news.outlookindia.com

The Recent Disturbances in Pakistan – Is The ISI-Army Combination Behind It?

It may sound a bit outrageous, but somehow I cannot help having this feeling that the ISI-Army combination might have been behind all the recent disturbances in Pakistan, which started with the attack on the Sri Lankan cricketers, and had the latest development today (4th April 2009) with explosion in Islamabad.

It is very much possible that by engineering all these disturbances the ISI-Army is trying to send this message to the Pakistani mass that the elected civilian government is an extremely weak and incompetent one, which is completely unable to offer minimum security to the citizens. The image of the Zardari-Gillani government has already been in tatters, with the government hardly enjoying any public confidence.

Under these circumstances the ISI-Army combination is probably trying to give the final touch to the “funeral” of the civilian government. It is probably trying to push the common people to the end of their patience. And then, when it will feel that the time has come, it will go for a military coup, thus bringing back the Army into power (I mean, bringing back the Army into power officially. It is already the de facto ruler of Pakistan, right?).

This doubt is getting momentum as I find that the Pakistani investigative agencies are directly or indirectly trying to frame RAW (the Indian secret agency) for these unfortunate developments that I am referring to. It is after all a common knowledge that enhancing the anti-India feeling of the common Pakistanis will ultimately help to enhance the war hysteria, which will significantly facilitate any attempt to revive the Army’s official control on the government.

Finally, my heartfelt condolences for all the bereaved families of Pakistan who have lost their dear ones in all these attacks.

"Slumdog Millionaire" – Such An Enjoyable Movie

I watched "Slumdog Millionaire" today (29th March 2009) with my dear friend Sourabh Sinha and his wife Ranjana. And man, I really loved watching the movie.

While I will not say that the storyline is very innovative (though certainly imaginative), what was really innovative was the presentation style. “Narration through flashback” is nothing new in movies. But usually it is a “continuous flashback”. What was really new in this movie was the “situational flashback”, the way every flashback scene was being presented in the context of another scene.

The quality of acting in this movie is really startling. While there is nothing surprising about the world class performance of Anil Kapoor (we all already know his class), I am simply floored by the acting delivered by Dev Patel (Jamal), Freida Pinto (Latika), Madhur Mittal (Salim) and even the child actors – Ayush Khedekar (youngest Jamal), Tanay Chheda (middle age Jamal), Rubina Ali (youngest Latika), Tanvi Lonkar (middle age Latika), Azharuddin (youngest Salim) and Ashutosh Gajiwala (middle age Salim).

Dev Patel has a beautiful command of facial expressions, which shows that he is a natural actor. Some effective pieces of facial expressions (and eye expressions) have been displayed by Freida Pinto as well. And little sweet Rubina and Ayush are also quite strong in this context. Tanay Chheda and Ashutosh Gajiwala have impressed me with their natural body movements and dialogue delivery. In a nutshell, it was a superb teamwork.

At the end, all the best for Freida and Dev. Hope they will have a great career, and will keep entertaining us for many more years.

Have you watched the movie? If not, then please watch it. I bet you will love it.

Photo Courtesy - www.firstshowing.net

I have resumed my physical exercise, and enjoying it

One good thing to have happened recently in my life is that I have resumed my Yoga and free hand exercise after a long break. And you know, I am really enjoying it.

I started Yoga and free hand exercise in high school, and continued it till my college days. I was, honestly speaking, quite serious about my daily exercise routine, determined not to miss it for a single day. Even after college I retained the habit while pursuing the post-college professional courses (like PG Diploma in Public Relations).

Then ultimately came a time when I entered the professional life. Life became tough, demanding and strenuous. I slowly started finding the daily routine of exercise to be an unpleasant burden, and eventually I gave it up.

My professional life has already seen seven springs, and it has so far been a “sans exercise” period. Sometimes I have missed my fitness regime, and have started to resume it. But just after 3-4 days again I have found it to be burdensome, and withdrawn myself from it. This has happned for at least 4 to 5 times.

Then, after a long time, few days back again I got “bitten by the fitness bug”. This time I was determined that I would not only start it, but would stick to it. Yes, I used some common sense this time. I realized that now it is impossible to do a host of exercises every morning, as I used to do during my student days. Because now I do not have that time. So I decided to mark out a handful of exercises (both Yoga and free hand exercises), which would not take much time, and stick to them.

That precisely I have done. I have marked out certain exercises, and have been doing them every morning for last 2 weeks. And I am really enjoying my life. I am feeling fit, feeling energetic throughout the office hours and less exhausted after the office is over, and also happy. People may say it is psychological. May be. But how can one deny the fact that I am feeling better?

I have realized what we all actually know – No matter how much work pressure we have, we must have due time for two important aspects of our life – a.) Family and b.) Health.

I Am Grateful To Bollywood

I am really grateful to Bollywood, the largest film industry in the world and one of the objects of pride for us, the Indians.

So why am I grateful to Bollywood? Because it is only by watching Bollywood movies that I have got to know a lot about my community (the Bengali community) that I myself was unaware of.

a.) It is only by watching Hindi movies that I have come to know that the Bengalis are always dressed in Dhoti and Punjabi. It was a fact that I was unaware of despite being a Bengali myself.

b.) It is only by watching Hindi movies that I have come to know that the Bengalis always comb their hair midway. I am really so ashamed that I myself did not know this interesting fact about my own community.

c.) It is only by watching Hindi movies that I have realized how terribly bad our Hindi is. While I always knew that our Hindi accent and pronunciation are not up to the mark, I never knew that our Hindi is really so funny. And yes, I am not even counting the Hindi spoken by the Bengalis brought up in places like Delhi and Mumbai, who speak really good Hindi (at least I feel so, the Bollywood people may think otherwise). Watching the archetypal Bengali characters of the Hindi movies and listening to their smattered Hindi was really an eye opener for me.

d.) It is only by watching Hindi movies that I have realized that all Bengalis are so obsessed with Rasogollah. I never knew that all of us are so obsessed with sweets, and that too precisely with a single type of sweet (i.e. Rasogollah, while we have so many other types of sweets as well).

e.) It is only by watching Hindi movies that I have realized that all Bengalis have the bad habit of saying “Uribaba” at every 5 minutes. This is really a news for me. I have never said “Uribaba” in my entire life. And now I am really doubtful whether I am really a Bengali.

Bollywood, I am really grateful to you for making me know so many interesting things about my own community, that I myself was unaware of. Hats off to your knowledge base. Keep it up. Keep typecasting the Bengalis, the Biharis, the South Indians, the Gujaratis, the Sindhis and the Sardarjis. Good luck to you.


French Translation

Je Sais gré A Bollywood

Je suis vraiment reconnaissant à Bollywood, la plus grande industrie de film dans le monde et un des objets de fierté pour nous, les Indiens.

Donc pourquoi sais-je gré à Bollywood ? Parce que ce n'est qu'en regardant les films de Bollywood que je dois savoir beaucoup de ma communauté (la communauté bengalaise) que je m'ignorait.

A.) Ce n'est qu'en regardant les films de hindi que je suis venu savoir que les Bengalis toujours sont habillés dans Dhoti et Punjabi. C'était un fait que j'ignorais malgré est Bengali me.

B.) Ce n'est qu'en regardant les films de hindi que je suis venu savoir que les Bengalis toujours peignent leurs cheveux à mi-chemin. Je suis vraiment si honteux que je me n'a pas su ce fait intéressant de ma propre communauté.

C.) Ce n'est qu'en regardant les films de hindi que je suis rendu compte comment terriblement mauvais notre hindi sont. Pendant que je toujours ai su que notre accent de hindi et la prononciation ne sont pas jusqu'à la marque, je n'ai jamais su que notre hindi soit vraiment si drôle. Et oui, je ne compte pas même le hindi parlé par les Bengalis a amené en haut à sa place comme Delhi et comme Mumbai, qui parlent vraiment bon hindi (au moins je me sens alors, que les gens de Bollywood peuvent penser autrement). Regarder les caractères bengalais archétypiques des films de hindi et écoutant leur smattered hindi était vraiment un ouvre-boîtes d'oeil pour moi.

D.) Ce n'est qu'en regardant les films de hindi que je suis rendu compte que tous Bengalis sont si obsédés avec Rasogollah. Je n'ai jamais su que nous tous si obsédions avec doux, et cela aussi précisément avec un type seul de doux (c.-à-d. Rasogollah, pendant que nous avons tant de types autres de doux aussi).

E.) ce n'est qu'en regardant les films de hindi que je suis rendu compte que tous Bengalis ont la mauvaise habitude de dire d' « Uribaba » à chaque 5 minutes. Ceci est vraiment une nouvelles pour moi. Je n'ai jamais dit « Uribaba » dans ma vie entière. Et maintenant je suis vraiment douteux si je suis vraiment Bengali.

Bollywood, je suis vraiment reconnaissant à vous pour faire que me sais tant de choses intéressantes de ma propre communauté, qui je m'ignorait. Les chapeaux d'à votre base de connaissance. Le maintenir. Garder cataloguer les Bengalis, le Biharis, les Indiens du sud, le Gujaratis, le Sindhis et le Sardarjis. La bonne chance à vous.

I Am An Indian

Neither Bengali nor Punjabi nor Tamil nor any other Indian community

I am an Indian who identifies himself with the entire Indian fraternity.

I love and respect every Indian community, and identify with its customs and culture

And know for sure that we all are same, except some apparent differences in our nature.

I believe in a pan-Indian identity, and identify myself with every region of this land

I am quite proud of my so-called own community (the Bengali community), but on any day I will prefer to carry an “All India” brand.


LONG LIVE INDIA! I LOVE MY MOTHERLAND.


French Translation

Je Suis Indien

Ni Bengali ni Punjabi ni Tamoul ni l'autre communauté indienne

Je suis Indien qui s'identifie avec la fraternité indienne entière.

J'aime et respecte chaque communauté indienne, et identifier avec ses douanes et cultiver

Et savoir exactement que tous sommes mêmes, sauf quelques différences apparentes dans notre nature.

Je crois en une identité casserole-indien, et m'identifier avec chaque région de cette terre

Je suis tout à fait fier de ma soi-disant propre communauté (la communauté bengalaise), mais sur n'importe quel jour que je préférerai porter un "Toute Inde " marque.

INDE LONGUE DE VIE ! J'AIME MA PATRIE.

Human Blood

I am the same inside James Brown, a Roman Catholic American

I am the same inside a Buddhist Chinese, named Miao Chan.

I am the same inside a Muslim Arab named Amir Muhammad

And I am again the same inside a Hindu Indian named Akash Chand.

Yes, I am also the same inside you, no matter which religion or country you are from

Who am I? I am that precious red liquid present inside everybody – the Human Blood.


French Translation

Sang Humain

Je suis le même dans James Brown, un Américain catholique romain

Je suis le même dans un Chinois bouddhiste, Miao Chan nommé.

Je suis le même dans un Arabe musulman a nommé Amir Muhammad

Et je suis encore le même dans un Indien hindou a nommé Akash Chand.

Oui, je suis aussi le même intérieur vous, n'importe qui religion ou le pays que vous êtes de

Qui j'est ? Je suis ce présent liquide, rouge et précieux dans tout le monde – le Sang Humain.

We Salute You Rahman, The Crown Prince Of Music

A.R. Rahman, the Crown Prince of music, and the King of our (Indians) heart

Your music is as refined as your nature, and precious like a rainfall in a desert.

You had already conquered India, and today you won the world

Trust me, “Oscar” itself is honoured that you have won the award.


French Translation

Nous Vous Saluons Rahman, Le Prince Héritier De Musique

A.R. Rahman, le Prince héritier de musique, et le Roi de notre (Indiens) le coeur

Votre musique est comme a raffiné comme votre nature, et précieux comme une hauteur des précipitations dans un désert.

Vous aviez conquis déjà l'Inde, et aujourd'hui vous avez gagné le monde

Me fier, "Oscar" lui-même est honoré que vous avez gagné la récompense.

My Key To Immortality

All living beings in this world are mortal, and so am I

There is no way to permanently elude death, no matter how desperately I try.

There will come a day, when I will have to say goodbye to all of you

And will be forgotten by most, while being remembered by just a few.

But……

I will ensure that my link with this world remains intact even after my death

Years after my death people will remember me, you bet.

I will remain “alive” through all my creations – like my blogs and poems

Which are so insignificant for the world, but for me they are like precious gems.

Every time one will read my poems I will get “alive” for that moment

This way my entity will remain alive, even after my mortal self meets its end.
(22nd February,2009).

French Translation

Ma Clef A Immortalité

Tous les êtres vivants dans ce monde sont mortels, et donc je suis

Il n'y a pas de façon d'une façon permanente pour échapper à la mort, n'importe comment désespérément j'essaie.

Viendra là un jour, quand je devrai vous tous dis au revoir

Et sera oublié par, pendant qu'est plus rappelé par juste quelques-uns.

Mais……

Je garantirai que mon lien avec ce monde reste intact même après ma mort

Les ans après mes gens de mort me rappèleront, vous pariez.

Je resterai « vivant » par toutes mes créations – comme mes blogs et comme les poèmes

Lequel est s'insignifiant pour le monde, mais pour moi ils sont comme les gemmes précieuses.

Chaque temps l'un lira mes poèmes j'obtiendrai « vivant » pour ce moment

Cette façon mon entité restera vivante, même après mon mortel rencontre automatiquement sa fin.

(22e février, 2009).

The Cost of One Shahtoosh Shawl? At least Three Tibetan Antelopes

You must have heard of Shahtoosh shawls, right? Apart from being a work of art, a Shahtoosh shawl is also a perfect symbol of your status. Quite understandably. After all it is so costly. And you know the cost? At least three Tibetan antelopes.

A unique member of the global wildlife, the Tibetan antelope is native to the Chinese part of the Tibetan Plateau region. Considered to be an endangered species, the estimated population of this strikingly beautiful animal is less than 75,000, and even that number is fast declining.

And why is it so? Well, it is because of the skin of the hapless animal, which the world knows as Shahtoosh, and which is the raw material for the world famous Shahtoosh shawl.

Reportedly around 20,000 Tibetan antelopes (also called Chiru) are killed by poachers every year, to ensure that the worldwide Shahtoosh trade is never short of raw materials.

Since the Tibetan antelope or Chiru never sheds its skin, therefore the only way to obtain Shahtoosh is to kill the animal. Generally three to five Chirus need to be killed to gather enough raw materials for a single Shahtoosh shawl.

After killing, the dead animals are skinned, after which the skin is used to manufacture the world famous Shahtoosh shawls (and other Shahtoosh products). Then these Shahtoosh products are illegally transported to fashion capitals worldwide, where they are sold at astronomical costs.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) – which controls the trade in endangered species products – has completely banned international trade in Tibetan antelope products (including Shahtoosh). It is illegal to import Shahtoosh into many countries, including the USA (ironically, Shahtoosh products are so popular in the US fashion industry).

Unfortunately, despite such laws being in place, the Shahtoosh trade is going on in full swing. This is because it is not enough to have laws. There must also be a strong public protest across the board against every person who is by any means related to the Shahtoosh trade. There should be a widespread public sensitization campaign to educate the common people. People must be discouraged from using Shahtoosh products, and the ones who use these products should be publicly taunted and humiliated (so that they are forced to stop using these products). The fashion crazy (read status crazy) morons must realize that the life of a single Tibetan antelope is much more precious than their so called social status.

Also, we must stop purchasing any product from the shops and retailers which sell Shahtoosh products. I mean, we should not only refrain from purchasing Shahtoosh products, but should also refrain from purchasing any products from the shops who sell Shahtoosh products. In a nutshell, they should be boycotted. Only then they will be forced to mend their ways.



Information courtesy: http://www.earthislandprojects.org/tpp

Photo courtesy: www.gov.cn

Congrats to Japan for launching Ibuki

Japan has done a really appreciable job by launching Ibuki – the satellite meant to study greenhouse gases concentration in the Earth’s atmosphere.

Ibuki will take readings at around 56,000 locations, across land and sea, thus facilitating accurate predictions on the future of global warming.

With the global warming being a burning problem for the modern world, such a step was long overdue. Loads of congratulations to Japan for taking a significant step in this regard.

Hopefully countries across the world will now start sharing their technical expertise to counter the global menace that global warming is. And yes, it is not enough to identify the sources of problems. Such initiatives will be meaningful only when, after identification, the reasons for global warming will be properly eradicated. If that somehow hampers the business interest (or other interest) of country, even then the latter should not hesitate to cooperate with the rest of the world.

Arjun Dev Gandhi – Simple Effort, Big Impact

Whenever we think about social initiative/entrepreneurship, we always love to think about it in terms of enormousness and a catchy focus area – that it must be a more or less huge organization with a number of committed people, working on a sensitive issue like street children or environment. While it is heartening to think big, that sometimes makes us overlook the simple ways through which we can provide apparently simple but actually valuable service to the common people.

And one such person who so successfully personifies it is Mr. Arjun Dev Gandhi of New Delhi. It was such a pleasure to read about this man and his initiatives in The Times of India, New Delhi on 25th January.

A former officer with CRRI (Central Road Research Institute), Mr. Gandhi regularly lights up candles at a newly renovated subway three times every single evening. He has been spending money from his own pocket to buy candles to light up a “powerless” subway at Masjid Moth in South Delhi. A sudden spurt of nobility that will soon fade out with time? No dear. He has been doing this for more than a year now.

So how did this idea of lighting up the subway come into his mind? Well, one evening he was walking through this subway. It was as dark as anything, causing huge inconvenience for all the pedestrians including Mr. Gandhi. He thought about the problem for few days, trying to identify a possible solution. Finally he decided to light candles in the subway every evening. Since then he has been regularly lighting candles in the subway three times in the evening at an interval of one hour.

Mr. Gandhi’s initiatives seemed to be successful when lights were installed at the subway. However, the power connection has been disconnected more than three times in the last six months. So, ultimately it is this enterprising old man that the pedestrians find to be their only refuge.

What a nice lesson for all of us. No big plans, no catchy focus area. Just a simple effort powered by civic consciousness. And what a big impact. It is an eye opener for all of us, who only waste our time in complaining without trying to do something ourselves.

We do not need to be larger than life to do something constructive. We can do a lot despite being just common people. Let all of us take a leaf out of Mr. Gandhi’s book.

Bengali TV Serial Actor Kunal Mitra Dead

Though I am not a huge fan of modern Bengali cinema (and I have no disrespect for them, either), I am more or less appreciative of the Bengali TV serials, some of which are genuinely good in terms of over all quality. And there are some actors and actresses in the Bengali serials whom I really love watching.

And I am really sad that two of these actors, both just in their 40s, passed away recently.

Just a couple of months back we lost Shiladitya Patranabis. An MBA from Calcutta University, Shiladitya appeared in the world of Bengali TV serials way back in 1986 (if I remember correctly). That time he was still a student, and virtually a “boy”. And I was certainly a kid. I grew up watching him playing so many characters of so many colours. And he was a smart actor, though a bit confined to a specific type of roles (that of an audacious young man).

Of late he had become very flabby, and I was shocked to learn after his death that he had already been to rehabilitation centre for a couple of times thanks to his heavy drinking habits.

It is seriously heart breaking to find an actor dead whom you have grown up watching, even if you are not a great fan of his acting skills.


And just recently we lost Kunal Mitra. A versatile actor, this handsome man with an elegant personality was equally comfortable in playing diverse characters – ranging from the one of a sober doctor to the comic character of a funny politician. I was just dumbstruck to learn about his death from my mother after I was back from office.

It has become a cliché to use phrases like “His death has caused a huge vacuum…”, etc. However, I am confident that Kunal’s death is a serious damage for the world of Bengali TV serials. I have seen him portraying difficult characters with élan, and despite being a layman I understand the value of such an actor for the world of films and TV serials in any language.


My sincere condolences to the deceased families.

The Mad Maruti Driver of Noida

Date – 13th January, 2009.

Venue – Sector 22, Noida, i.e. the area where I stay.

Time – Around 4:45 pm.

I had just gone down at the 12/22 bus stop of Noida, and was going to my home in the pocket G of Sector 22 of Noida. I was in front of the “Federal” bank branch of Sector 22. I was about to enter the lane that is located just opposite to the lane where the bank stands.

It was precisely at that time that I heard the sound of a car, or better to say the sound that one hears when a car moving in high speed suddenly applies the brake (kiiiiichhh). I turned round to see a white coloured Maruti Suzuki Alto (UP 16 R 7286), that was traveling in a speed extremely high in comparison to that narrow lane, and had to suddenly stop to avoid running over a cycle that came into its way. All the guys present there were as shocked and confused as I was, with the man on the cycle sporting a pale face, reflecting the shock of having a close shave.

However, the driver, a well built man in his 30s, was unapologetic. He was chewing something (probably Pan Parag, or something like that), with a defiant face clearly showing his callousness to other peoples’ convenience. He again started his car, took the lane that I was going to take, and crossed that narrow lane in a speed that I will use while traveling in a highway.

“Has he gone mad?” That was the first question that I asked to the man standing just beside me, after the car was gone. The man gave a smile that contained irritation, shock and displeasure, everything rolled into one. The same mood was being reflected by the body language of all the bystanders.

An uncultured family can overnight become rich through a stroke of luck (or may be by own caliber), and can immediately arrange for all sorts of status symbols – costly clothes, latest gizmos and gadgets, flashy cars, etc. Unfortunately, culture is something that cannot be bought from any shop, no matter how much rich you have become. It is something that a man from an educated family is born with, with the seed of culture and decency running in his blood. This explains why the “neo rich” people from uneducated (or semi educated) families are always so devoid of culture, even though they have all the apparent glossiness in the forms of costly homes, latest cars, glamorous life style, etc.

But do these neo rich elements at all try to develop some culture, in the first place? Do they at all understand the value of culture?

The Satyam Fallout – Is The India Inc’s Image At Stake?

While the Satyam incident is certainly an extremely unfortunate and disgraceful event for the India Inc in general (and the Indian IT industry in particular), is it really an image tarnisher for the former?

This question struck into my mind after coming across the plethora of reports/views/comments, etc that the Satyam incident will rob the India Inc as a whole (and not precisely the Indian IT industry) of the faith and confidence of the foreign investors.

First, I fail to understand why the India Inc as a whole should be judged in the light of the financial irregularities practiced by a single IT company.

Secondly, I also fail to understand that why even precisely the Indian IT industry is likely to suffer an overall image backlash for this Satyam fiasco. The Indian IT industry has been holding a prestigious position in the global business scenario for quite some time now, with a host of Indian IT companies like Infosys and Wipro having successfully curved a niche for themselves across the world. A number of global players across business domains and industries are well familiar with not only the quality of service provided by the Indian IT players, but also with the high level of corporate ethics practiced by them. How can these existing and prospective stakebearers lose all their confidence and faith overnight for what has been done by one Satyam, no matter how much shocking the Satyam incident may have been?

In case the Indian Inc’s international credibility at all has suffered any setback, then I feel all the concerned parties and other influencers (the top Indian companies, government, the media, etc.) should launch a well crafted Public Relations campaign, aimed at ensuring it that the world does not get a wrong message about the India Inc as a whole for what they have seen in Satyam’s case. Did the world lose confidence on the US Inc as a whole when Enron happened? No. Then why should the world misunderstand the entire India Inc because of one Satyam?

A Very Happy And Prosperous 2009 For The Entire World

Through this blog I express my love and hearty wishes for all the cultured and peace loving people of this world, who value a civilized human society and are always ready to do their level best to achieve and preserve the same.

The world population is a motley crowd of people of diverse nature, ranging from genuinely innocent and harmless people to the ones who can stoop to any level for their murky interests. And it is just taken for granted that while the people of shady characters will keep trying to pollute this world (as such a world is most suitable for them), the rational people will relentlessly try to counter those evil forces, thereby protecting the sanctity of this world as much as is possible.

Let all of us – the rational people across the world – join hands to make this world a much more beautiful place to live, putting a final end to all the evil forces. Let us achieve a human society where the driving forces are ethics, love, empathy and camaraderie. Let us turn this world into the heaven that we hope to visit after death.

I LOVE THIS WORLD. I LOVE THE HUMAN SOCIETY. I LOVE EACH AND EVERY RATIONAL SOUL OF THIS WORLD, IRRESPECTIVE OF COUNTRY/ETHNICITY/RELIGION.