Tuesday, November 29, 2005

More on Manjunath

Well a lot of blogs have come up on this subject but I guess this mail from Akhil Krishna (Manju's Friend) sums up the issue perfectly.

The poor man and the stone

Manju was my close friend at IIM-Lucknow. I have a Graduation Day snap with him. When I joined the IIM, he'd just returned after a Research Associate-ship in IIM-Bangalore. His topic of research, and the topic that really caught his imagination, was 'Values'.

He often used to speak of values, looking at me deeply with those sincere-looking eyes. His favourite course in the MBA program was 'Leadership'. He spoke from the heart and hated any pretence in presenting himself anywhere – class discussion, interview anywhere.

He used to speak of making a difference to society. He was interested in meditation and mind control - primarily as a means to overcome the impulses that make one deviate from values.

He was a brilliant singer and the most popular guy in the batch. He always gave joy to people and brightened their lives through his singing, jokes, and his free spirit. He never spoke ill; in fact he seemed incapable of even thinking ill of anybody.

Knowing his love for upholding values, I think the highest ideal Manju would have conceived of, must have been to die for them. All of us are bound to die one day, and all of us can die only once. He became one with his highest ideal – and met a heart-rending (or should I call it glorious – a romantic idealist's glory) death. (Read)

Satyendra Dubey from IIT. Manjunath Shanmugham from IIM. How many bright and honest young men will we lose like this?

The Economist estimates that of every Rs. 100/- dispensed from the centre for the poor (such as through employment schemes), only Rs.27/- reaches the people it is meant for – the rest feeding the greed of the corrupt scum of our country. When will this Rs.27/- take the poor man to progress? And do we need to contribute Rs.73/- to the coffers of the corrupt mafia in the process?

Please remember that this Rs. 73/- is not getting wasted down the drain (that would have been better); it is actively contributing to the growth of the mafia and ever making them stronger, bigger. It's something like this – I am trying to throw a stone off my head, and every time I grow in strength by X, the stone grows in weight by 2.7X.

I am a poor man from a backward area of the country. On my head is this huge stone called corruption and goondaism - which rule my land. Will I ever be able to throw it off, or will I just get crushed under it?

Other countries – Russia, France - have had full-and-full revolutions, no less! Is our basic peace-loving nature as Indians making us soft, and consequently, impotent?

If you think that men who are destined to get crushed by stones should get crushed by stones, read no further. If you think Manju and Satyendra Dubey were impractical idealists who should rather have written the screenplay for Hindi films, read no further. Delete this mail, right now! Though I find it hard to believe, I guess impotency can be a natural choice too.

If, however, you are outraged, and feel like spitting at the rot in our country, then first understand that there will always be some die-hard men of principles like Manju who will never waver from their principles irrespective of what you and I choose. We have a choice here – either we stand by them, and join hands with them in adhering to values. Or we keep adding weight to the stone and shed crocodile tears when the poor man gets crushed.

But then, I have always believed that all of us are born with inbuilt human values – goodness, kindness, love, wishing well for others. I have always believed that honest people are in a majority in this world and even more so in India. It is the corrupt that are always in a minority. But because the honest people do not stand together and the corrupt ones do, they are seen as majorities & they have the power to influence everything around us through these unholy groups and links – the Politicians-Criminals link, the Criminals-Bollywood link, and the Purchasing Officer-Vendor link.

They can kill one Manju, one Satyendra Dubey, but can they kill all of us? We know they can't. And yet they kill. Most heinously, they do.

Why? Because we don't come together!!

Coming together does not stop with signing an internet petition, making some noise when a tragedy happens. It means coming together in spirit. In ideology. In the way we lead our lives. In small things. It means, taking a receipt of 100 Euros for the taxi ride that cost you 100 Euros. It means, not looking left or right while writing an exam. It means, not giving a PSU purchasing officer an expensive watch because he suddenly became your personal-friend-from-previous-birth when you went to submit your tender in his office. It means, having the guts to stand up and oppose corruption – like Satyendra and Manju did.

There is no dearth of inspiring stories – Narayaswamy, G.R.Khairnar and Alphons Kannamthanam and many many more. And Manju & Satyendra if you're looking for the younger ones (they died really young didn't they…). As I said, the basic good nature in humans is strong, and good people are in a majority.

My first foreign work-visit convinced me that Indians are one of the most intelligent beings on the planet. My subsequent visits only confirmed this. The IITs and IIMs – Satyendra and Manju's alma mater, together have an alumni that MIT, Standford and Harvard would together be hard-pressed to match. Lack of Intelligence is clearly not the reason for India's backwardness, it is something else – lack of inspiration, lack of initiative.

Should the intelligence we Indians are born with, come with a baggage of impotence? And how many guises this impotence takes – 'being practical', 'being tactful', 'being wiser than the hindi movie script'. At the same time our intelligence thinks of principles as 'impractical', 'the 'melodramatic hindi cinema plot', 'not for the modern day'. Being intelligent is quite alright, but can't we be Inspired, for heaven's sake?

If I wish to really honour the memory of Manju, Satyendra and many others who have lived by their values, I should stand by them and commit myself to values too. I can't mince the words on that. I realized this when he was shot and all the old discussions we had on values came back to my mind.

To commit yourself to values, and spit at the rot that took Manju's life, sign here – and see for yourself that there is no dearth of good people in India:

When I studied for IIT, I used the famous Physics Textbook written by Resnick, Halliday and Jearl Walker. Prof. Walker was a daredevil. He used to try out all the theories of physics in practice. The *Leidenfrost effect* is the phenomenon by which a liquid in near

Contact with a mass hotter than the liquid's "Leidenfrost point", produces an insulating vapor layer which keeps it from boiling rapidly. In short, it says that if you walk on hot coals, the vapour of your sweat will keep your feet from burning. Prof. Walker believed in the physics that he taught, so he walked on hot coals many times, dipped wet hot fingers in molten lead, poured liquid nitrogen in his mouth.(Read )

The great Richard Feynman, no less, has been known to have stuck his hand in water first and then into the benzene and lit it, to prove a point in physics to his friends. The first time, it worked fine, the second time though, it hurt like hell – he had grown hairs on the back of his hand. (Read)

Prof. Walker has often argued that physics degree granting programs should employ "fire walking" as a last exam. If the candidate's belief in physics is strong enough that the feet are left undamaged, the chairperson hands the candidate a graduation certificate. By a similar token, I as Manju's batchmate, believe that he was the truest of true leaders, because he really carried out in life the values of a true leader. The fact that I might have got a higher grade in the Leadership course might be one of the most insignificant facts inhabiting the synapses in my brain.

Manju's story should inspire in at least a thousand people at least a ten percent higher adherence to values. That is really the only way I can console myself over the loss of this friend, the truest of true leaders.

Please see how you can make your contribution to make the Manju case an occasion to strike a blow to the rot in our country. It could be anything from writing a letter on this case to the editor of a newspaper, to using any of your contacts in media, to, let's say, arrange a talk show where administrators are called in and nailed down to some firm action. It could be writing an article in sulekha.com or suniti.com. Or forwarding this mail to influential contacts with some executive power. Just about anything, everything helps.

We are also planning some protest marches, and setting up something concrete in Manju's name to recognize and encourage honest people who help deal a blow to corruption. If you can help on anything, please join in.

I hate chain mails and have deleted with particular glee all those chain mails that promise dire consequences if you don't forward them on ("If you don't forward this mail within 5 minutes of reading it, God will strike you down with lightening" etc). However, since this is for a poor man with a big stone on his head, please do forward this to like-minded people. Let us strike the iron when it is hot – and strike hard.

Akhil Krishna

IIM Lucknow -2003
IIT
Madras – 2000
Comments, suggestions, ideas: akhilkrishna@yahoo.com

Back after a 4-day Haitus

Had been to Sarath's Marriage.
Here's wishing the happy couple "A Happy Married Life"
Photos Follow......

Friday, November 25, 2005

Beware Majaa

Most of the Tamil movies I see are what you call recommended. Well I always had an impression that if friends recommend a Tamil movie, it would be good. But Majaa was a major shocker. I mean I have seen some bad movies but a movie this bad would be really hard to find. After exactly 10 mins, I had the urge to leave the theatre but suffered for about 30 mins past the interval before making a run for it.

If you really want to know how we suffered in detail, please read Mad’s Blog.

Special mention of Vikram’s dress designer, who either is a complete nincompoop or a genius. He matches the lungi with a vest accompanied by the same coloured design on the equally flamboyant shirt. For more, watch the film but please watch out for your mental sanctity.

Thursday, November 24, 2005

Too many Birthdays

A whole lot of birthdays in the last few days. Some I missed and some I remembered. So here’s wishing all of them a very great year ahead.

Bujji (Kalyan), Pallavi, Pavan and Divya.

May the lord shower you with happiness and wish you all a very happy Birthday.

Now where’s the treat??

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Interesting Article in The Indian Express

"India empowered to me is when we are no longer called Muslim Indians but Indian Muslims" Maulana Dr Syed Kalbe Sadiq

This is an excerpt from an awesome article on Muslims in India in The Indian Express.Read the full article here.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

Can justice prevail?

Manjunath Shanmugam, May god rest your soul.

By now all of you would have heard of Manjunath (IIM-Lucknow batch of 2003) who was shot dead two days back. Details of this ghastly murder have been put up only on the India express (Lucknow version) and are unavailable in Rediff and Indiatimes.

Well so much for the state on web-journalism. Also found wanting are Hindu and Times of India, who allocate reams and reams of paper to baseless Page 3 news and advertisements (recall this week’s page-long IIPM advertisement) but do not consider this a news worthy item.

I also did a Google search on this topic and came up with just one result. Most of the details are coming from his batch mates and friends. Some of the few posts on this subject.
Gaurav Sabnis

Sharad Patel
Dhammonia


But do not let this dilute the fact that Manjunath paid with his life by standing up for, what he believed was right. He was an honest person who did not believe in taking the easy way out and paid for his principles with his life.

Hopefully justice shall prevail and the culprits will pay for their crimes. But knowing the Indian judicial system and apathy of the Indian media, I have serious doubts.

One more newspaper catches up.

Monday, November 21, 2005

Harry Potter Review

I loved the Movie. But as every HP Fan would say, I would rather have a detailed mini-series about each year rather than have one jam-packed movie. Mike Newell (Four Weddings and a Funeral) who directs this instalment does a brilliant job but makes a few modifications which may not please Witches and Wizards watching. He has commented that he sees the novel as a suspense thriller and that the best/only way to adapt the 734-page novel would be to shed everything that doesn’t involve the main story line. Well all that is fine but why do the grindylows attack Harry after he has rescued everyone in the lake. Makes no sense and seems a bit forced doesn’t it? And some other issues with the movie are:

  • Not one house elf makes an appearance in this movie.
  • Malfoy’s ferret scene is a disappointment.
  • Mad eye moddy does not have half his nose missing and does not look frightening
  • The lovely ladies of Beauxbatons especially Fluer Delacour are not as mesmerising as they could have been.
  • No one can understand what the Weasley twins are doing? The sale Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes are not well shot.
  • The Dursley’s do not even make an appearance and we lose a chance to see Ton-tongue toffee.

A major change was the introduction of Barty Crouch Jr in the first scene of the movie. Even though it eases things along for new viewers, it is something that will definitely rankle the chains of Harry Potter purists. The Quidditch World Cup is also skipped over along with the characters of Ludo Bagman and acts a set piece to introduce the character of Victor Krum and as a set-up to the frightening entrance of the Death Eaters.

However the movie has some spectacular special effects and some real good original dialogues. The Quidditch World Cup Stadium and the dragon sequence are stunning, but the maze does not have any obstacles except for some silly vines. But the overall visuals in the movie are amazing. Some of the dialogues, especially the one where Ron tries to tell Harry about the Dragons are a total hoot. The ball scene is also good (for all romantics) and the scene before where Professor McGonagall teaches the Ron Weasley how to dance is Paisa Wasool.

But the one thing that I shall remember about the movie is Emma Watson, who plays Hermione Granger. I remember a review which said she was too beautiful to be Hermione, but she will be the reason I shall see the movie again.

Friday, November 18, 2005

Weekend

Have tickets for Harry Potter and Goblet of Fire courtesy GRN. So I am off to Hogwarts for the day. Saturday and Sunday shall hopefully be alcohol-free and will involve a lot of cricket viewing. So here wishing all of you a very very VELA weekend.I shall let Calvin have the last say on VELAGIRI.Best of Luck to all CAT aspirants(including my bro, Deepthi, Bala, Trra, Sandeep and others). Crack Madhi!!!


Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Ganguly

For the past few months, Ganguly baiting has become a fashionable statement. Anyone and everyone who has or has not played/coached/commented/watched cricket has a view and here is mine. Let me say at the very beginning, that I was never a Ganguly Fan.

After seeing him score a century at lords on debut and then following it up with another in the same series, I remember the hula-hoop surrounding him when he came back to
Calcutta. I remember vividly, the interview given by his brother to Sportstar, where he said that they were getting about 100 calls a day on their Home Phone from crazed girls and how they were changing their number. He had become One of the few Bongs who was made it B’time in the past decade and was given a Demigod status.


From about ’97 to 2000, he played in numerous tests and one-dayers and if people with a short memory cannot recall, this was the time of the infamous match-fixing controversy but Ganguly was quietly making a name for himself and in those days of individual-glory rather than team work, he was one of the stars of the Indian team. Now I wondered after the Azhar and Sachin Captaincy saga, why Jadeja was not chosen captain especially since he had started to play tests and was well liked by the Indian Media. Soon after Ganguly was given the captaincy, the match-fixing scandal broke through and all of us had the answer to the question.


After this came the Nagma Episode and with the Australians in Town, it lead to a lot of questions about Ganguly’s Character. But
India won that series convincingly and even though Ganguly followed it up with other successes, they all came with a silver lining as every commentator believed that with the team India had, we had to perform better and India was not doing that because of Ganguly’s captaincy.

Now that’s where the HOG starts, if India did well in those days (Natwest series-World Cup-Australian Series-Pakistan Series). It was because Ganguly believed in an individual’s talent and went all out supporting him. This leads to self belief within a team and the confidence that if he went all out and if he failed, he would still have a place in the team. This lead to players like Sehwag, Yuvraj, Kaif, Harbajan, Zaheer, Nehra and Balaji emerging from the shadows and performing outstandingly well for India. The only downside of this was that Ganguly was playing favourites and this lead to ego-clashes with former players and discontent among emerging talent in the country that they were being ignored.

If you ask me, that can and must be done. Case in point Mike Hussey vs. Justin Langer and the Australian selectors got it right when they went for a seasoned performer and look at where they are now. As for the former players, they had always underachieved and could not bear to see a person who did not care a hoot about what they thought but merely looked after his team. Former players like Sunny Gavaskar (remember his 36 in 60 overs), Ravi Shastri (one of the most selfish players ever to represent India), Sidhu (Do I have to say anything?) and Manjerekar (On Ten Sports yesterday, he had the tenacity to say that Pakistanis in a Sharjah Final were like Lions and we could not do anything against them. What were you, Sanjay? A moron? Hmmmm For Once i agree)

Now I am sure that all of you would have read about Ganguly’s bad qualities in tons of articles. Let me see if I can mention a few good ones.
1.
Ganguly, as we all know is a fabulous opener but when the situation demanded in the world cup, he made way for Sehwag and Sachin.
2.
Never say die Attitude, I can recall many matches won just because of that.
3.
Dealing with Superstars, both Sachin and Dravid gave some of their best performances with him as Captain.
4.
Dealing with Youngsters, As I said before “He made the careers of Half the Current Indian Team”
5.
Getting under the Skin of rival Captains and coaches. Anyone recall Steve Waugh and his infamous “Ganguly is not a friend”
6.
Making his views on anything clear…..ahem crystal clear.
7.
Removing you shirt at Lords. One of the few everlasting impressions in Indian Cricket. And yet people ridiculed him for doing that, calling him unsporting and Not acting like a Gentleman(Gavaskar). I would tell Gavaskar as a Cricket Lover, that i prefer a bare-chested victory Salute rather than an Insipid defeat.
8.
Bouncing back from adversity. Remember Nagma, Injury, Suspension and now Politics.
I am sure he will be back. May not be as successful again but that’s not the point. He’s a fighter who taught
India never to wilt under pressure and had a true Lion’s Heart, which he wore on his sleeve.
So here’s Saluting India’s greatest Ever Captain.

Monday, November 14, 2005

Abolutely Fabulous Essay

Amitav Ghosh writes about the aftermath of Indra-Gandhi’s assassination.

Friday, November 11, 2005

IBM to expand in India - Rumor or Reality???

Been hearing a lot about this.
Hope its true.
Have a great Weekend!!!

Thursday, November 10, 2005

IITian according to Dilbert

Can anyone believe this crap!!!!
Your standards are falling Mr. Scott Adams

Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Seven

Seven Things I Want To Do Before I Die

    1. Become a Millionaire
    2. Take a World trip to places like Jamaica, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Venice, New Zealand, Burma, Congo, Brazil etc.
    3. Adopt a Girl Child esp. if I do not have one biologically
    4. Sky dive from a moving plane
    5. Dance like Hrithik Roshan or Gene Kelly
    6. Buy a Harley or a Ferrari or a Porsche
    7. Start an NGO for spastic children

    Most of these are dependent on Essential Wish number One. LOL

    Seven Things I Want To Do in the Next Year

    1. Bungee jump again, gives you a thrill which is unforgettable
    2. Cook excellent food
    3. Learn how to dance preferably Salsa
    4. Get a Tattoo
    5. Visit a Casino
    6. Learn to play the guitar
    7. Become a Hard-Core Romantic

    Seven Things I Can Do NOW

    1. Be a patient listener
    2. Make anyone laugh
    3. Love unconditionally
    4. Go out of my way to help family/friends
    5. Make fun of myself and take jokes about me in stride
    6. Organize clutter
    7. Write about any rubbish topic and make it sound sensible (ala my blogs)

    Seven Things I Can't Do EVER

    1. Sing
    2. Exercise or Wake up early
    3. Understand Women
    4. Pretend to work when Absolutely VELA
    5. Say 'NO' to someone in need
    6. Control my anger
    7. Forget people who deliberately try to hurt me or my family

    Seven Things That Attract Me to the Opposite Sex:

    1. Simple ,Elegant and Shy
    2. Eyes Eyes Eyes Eyesblue-green pleaseeee
    3. Neat & intelligent sense of humour
    4. Smile
    5. Genuinely nice, understanding and caring
    6. Slim & Cute
    7. Fun loving Attitude

    Seven Celebrity Crushes (in no particular order)

    1. Laetitia Casta
    2. Emmanuelle Chriqui
    3. Aishwarya Rai
    4. Daniela Hantuchova
    5. Lisa Ray
    6. Sridevi
    7. Bhoomika

    Since this is my blog, I take the liberty of adding Sonali Bendre to this list. Any issues!! Please do the unmentionable!!!!

    Seven Things I Say Most :

    1. Wokay or OK or okie
    2. Strong or Interesting or Learning’s
    3. IUSS – if you say so
    4. Cool or Bindaas
    5. Crap or $*&T or WTF or Damn
    6. No issues or No problem or No worries
    7. Oops or Hmmmmm

    Most of which is GAP lingo and to learn more about GAP read DD’s blog.

    Tuesday, November 08, 2005

    Murugan Idly and Vengai Chutney

    What do you say when a friend calls and says that she wants to have Dinner with you.
    Natural reaction:
    YES
    What if she says, she’s been on a fast for the past week and needs to break it with family and since her family is out of town, you are the only one she can think of.

    Humane reaction
    : YES, YEs, Yes. No more Senti plzzz
    What if she says I want to have dosa with Onion chutney?

    Still Humane reaction
    : OK whatever.

    Now starts the story. I start from office and wait for K to show up. Naturally since D is hungry and I am on time, hes about 10 mins late. Another delay after this is due to attitude of Autowala’s outside HAL office. None of them are ready to come to MG Road. After coaxing an auto guy to take me there for 10 bucks extra and getting there while answering numerous phone calls and sms’s from D (who was early for once, must be the hunger pangs). We are told that the only place to get Onion aka Vengai Chutney is in Kormangala which is really near my Office.

    After a few curses and a 15 minute drive, we reach Kormangala just to realise that none of us have a clue about where the restaurant is located? After going round and round in search of Murugan’s Idly Shoppe amid conversations which run as follows;
    B: HA Ha HO
    D: I am hungry
    Me: Ok
    D: I am really hungry and you guys are mean!!

    Me: ok ok ok
    Me: Murugan Idly Yengeyy??
    Watchman: #%$ &&^ *&*$$^ *&%$
    D: The watchman said “
    Tamil Thereyada, I am new here
    B: HA Ha HO
    Me: ok
    D: Hungry!!!!
    Me: What to do??
    B: HA Ha HO
    D: I really want Venagi chutney, I am hungry
    Me: All this talk of food has made me hungry as well
    B: HA Ha HO

    And at last we found our shop, but alas it was closed!!
    Maybe Murugan ran out of chutney yesterday but the damn shop was closed, so we went to Ponnuswamy’s and had Dosa. But alas no Vengai Chutney thr.
    So next time a friend calls and asks for vengai chutney, you now know where not to take her.

    Moral of Story: Be less humane

    Monday, November 07, 2005

    Books

    Was surfing for new blogs today and suddenly came across this very interesting blog about books and how she adores them. Well, I do too and hence decided to Copy Paste her Post and see how I compare!!! So here goes, BTW Please skip if bored or nor interested in books.

    Number of Books owned:
    About 100, not including my Management/Engineering books. But since I have started working@HAL, the number has been increasing steadily with the main benefactor being Crossword.

    Books I recently brought:
    Chetan Bhagat’s “One night at the Call Centre” and “War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy

    Last book I read:

    Well...finished ON@TCC about 2 nights back.

    Books on my Bed-stand as of now
    :
    Star Wars Trilogy and
    Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton(I know this sounds extreme but stop reading if it bothers you). Another Michael Crichton Classic is Andromeda Strain.

    One book that I couldn't finish:
    Moby-Dick (The Whale) with due appologies to Herman Melville. I know it’s a classic and all but it starts so slow that I could never keep up and always fall asleep.

    Five books I cherish:

    This is an impossible one. So just putting down the ones that randomly come to my mind (in no particular order).
    Pride and Prejudice: A non-detail text, I read even before classes started. One of the best from Jane Austin with amazingly etched characters. Have seen two versions of movies but cannot say that either does justice and the less I talk about Bride and Prejudice, the better.
    Love Story: A must read for all romantics and a bad book to have if you like collecting books as this never gets returned when borrowed. And YES, I have cried the first time I read this book and one of the few books I can recite verbatim. Wanna Bet!!!
    A Village by the Sea: One of the best books by an Indian author, this Anita Desai book is an another non-detail text I store till date.
    The Thorn Birds: by Colleen McCullough is described as “A Coming of age story of a young Australian girl in a forbidden love affair” but I think it’s much more. It talks about family values, life in Australian farms and about the ultimate sacrifice, Man has ever known. A true classic and a must read.
    PG Wodehouse’s Jeeves series: Every one of them is as good as the other. A great book to have on long train journeys (have you seen the look on your co-travellers face when you burst out laughing).
    Books missing from this list Motorcycle Dairies, Three Musketeers, Harry Porter series, Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance, If tomorrow comes etc etc etc.

    Authors I want to read but am too embarrassed to say so:
    Georgette Heyer: Well I had read just one short story book by her and was impressed with the language and style coupled with the fact that the tall handsome hero with the soft curls always gets the Virgin Heroine who as you would expect is really beautiful, what if she’s just a kid. The situations were so ripe that they could be scripted into a bolly/tolly/kolly/hollywood movies with the minimum of effort. Wonder why this has not been done!!

    Authors I Hate: Shobha De and Arundhati Roy. No reasoning here just a matter of personal choice.