Being Biased or Chivalry

In the last season of the television show - Bigg Boss, the host Salman Khan was termed as biased by many watching and ardently following the same. Some said if Salman can so strongly advocate the eviction of Kushal Tondon (accused of hitting an inmate intensionally) he should have done the same in case of Tanisha Mukherjee pushing him.

                                               

I in here, have a couple of very simple and straight forward questions. Which one is worse - a man hitting a woman or a woman hitting a man? Secondly, should you sacrifice principles and rules for money?

To start with the first one, i think man hitting a woman is totally demeaning and unacceptable and cannot be justified under any circumstances. Merely for the fact that by definition man is supposed to be physically stronger than a woman.

At the same time a woman hitting a man is even worse and more often than not i would blame the male counterpart to be at fault. Women are gentle, sensitive, caring and by nature nonviolent. Hence if a certain woman hits a man imagine the magnitude at which she is hurt so as to have compelled he r to become violent. Hence a man who has forced her to reach such an extent should be punished.

                                                

In our context, Kushal, who had no personal grudge against Tanisha still target her in the ‘Box’ task and many others to come (later on claiming that it was because of the clash between Gauhar and Tanisha). He himself got out of the box in less than a minute or so which clearly indicated his disinterest in the task. Now if he goes on to generate plans on how to evict the competing group and concludes that targeting Tanisha would be easier than the rest is clearly unjustifiable. Why was he so interested in winning the task all of a sudden? If you can go to such an extent, trying to anger a lady whom you had claimed to be your sister-like in the initial day of the house, Tanisha’s act of pushing him aside was completely justifiable and so was of the host Salman Khan who tried to explain things to a certain Kushal Tandon. If this is biased then i guess Cavalry is dead.

                                 

Secondly, when kushal was banished from the house on the grounds of intentionally hitting Andy ( another house mate) certain viewers desired to have him back and for the TRP and monitory reasons Kushal was called back into the house. If the channel has made a rule that hitting an inmate would not be permissible on any grounds/ under any circumstances then I guess they must have the dignity to abide by it. On the occasion of kushal being eradicated from the house, his friend Gauhar (again for whom the fight between Andy and Kushal was instigated) left the house along with Kushal stating Bigg Boss was unfair on doing so and she would rather leave. If that be the case, I wonder what light of knowledge she got overnight which alarmed her to return (Possibly monetary reasons). So in here we see three very strange but prominent elements of the society-

1. The producers of Bigg Boss, who once evicted Kushal for what he had done and then recalled him for no given reason. Can Bigg Boss Producers justify this? How for money and TRPs they compromised on principles.

2. Similarly for Gauhar. If she believed in Kushal and thought he was justified, why would she return unless kushal was taken back? Reasons might be pretty much same as in the first case.

                                         

                                           

If the host, who also is an individual and member of the human society, raises his voice against all this and condemns them for behaving in the manner that they did, IS HE BIASED against Kushal? Knowing the fact that Salman Khan has no occasion to be against Kushal Tandon who happens to be from his school, who claims to be a big fan of the actor, will he for no sane reason impound his own fan? One more thing I shall want to highlight, that is about the comments that kushal made after eviction and the ways in which he behaved apparently to gain publicity at the cost of Salman Khan. He must be reminded of the fact that once upon a time an aspiring actor tried to do the same calling upon press conferences and shit to defame salman and gain popularity today he barely exists in the industry. So chap try attaining success through hard work an and dignity rather than finding an easier way out that would take you nowhere.

                                                 

Why is India still a ‘Third World’

Allan Bloom once said, “Education is a movement from darkness to light”; is it so?

36% of the scientists in NASA are Indians, 34% of the Microsoft employees are Indian, we have 4^th largest army in the world, India has the second largest pool of Scientist and Engineers in the World, we export software to more than 90 countries, 66% of our total population is youth below 35 years of age and in spite of all these and many more we are still considered as the THIRD WORLD.

If I get into the ‘why’ debate, it can be manifold but for me the major reason for us still being a so called developing nation (which in itself is a paradox), is lack of indigenous ideas. In my course of life, I have come across people from almost all spheres and strata of the society. As per my observations and as proved by the above mentioned facts, Indians by no means lack talent and abilities. We have the capability of executing any given plan, materialising any strategy but what we lack in is - formulating them. Name a software or a gadget and we shall develop it faster and better than people of any other country in the world, show us an industry and we will master it, give us a sport and we play it better than you. What we are not able to do is - generate ‘new’ software, create a new gadget, come up with a new industry. Basically we are lacking innovation. Why 34% of the employees in Microsoft are Indian but not one of them could create a similar sector? Why in spite of 36% of the employees in NASA being Indian, we are not the first one to reach Mars or Moon? There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve – the fear of failure.

This is all mainly because we are becoming good followers, great performers but we need a guide, we need someone to tell us what to do. For me this degradation in the Indian mentality can solely be blamed on our education system. From the very start we are taught to learn and spill it in the exam. Our education system hardly ever gives us scope to be innovative. I remember during my school days nobody would dare to come up with a creative idea for the fear of failure or losing out on marks. None of us would try something new, give it a shot, at least make an attempt to think out of the book. Everyone would merely study what was there in black and white and vomit the same in the answer scripts. Creativity has been crushed by this system. This I say because it is not that we do not have the capacity to be indigenous or innovative, but this very ability has been destroyed. In a recent judgement, the Supreme Court of India stated - It is unfortunate that today education, in our humble opinion, appear to have failed to achieve its objective It will have to be stated that we are yet to reach the preliminary level of achievement of standardised literate behavior.

Now when I sit and think, I realise my initial days in the University of Glasgow, where we were divided into groups and were asked to develop a completely new product, design the business ideas and generate plans to materialise them. If my memory doesn’t ditch me, all my Indian friends in the class actively participated in the course work, helped the group in developing the plan but none of us could take the credit of coming up with the idea of the new product. But after a year’s education, when at the end it this same set of students were given yet another course work of similar sort, this time we all could come up with our own innovativeness. Hence a good education system did help us nurture our abilities which were somehow unmoved for so many years.

The competition has become so fierce that we are scared of generating ideas, we fear of losing out in the race. So tough has life become that we don’t dare to experiment. We are happy to lead the life by the formula. The zest to learn something new, to try and perform something different is almost lost. We are simply waiting for others to create things and then we follow or adapt the process. The fear of failure has got on us like a deadly virus. I wish we can change the pattern of education, I wish my countrymen can overcome this fear of failure and have the courage to be innovative. That I guess is the only way we can break out of this ‘third world’ tag.

why do we work?

Last weekend I came back home from office pretty late and was all tensed with work load. We were to go out for a family dinner. I was in no mood to go out and wanted to stay back. This was not the first time I was in such pensive mood due to work. It had become a custom in the recent past. Well nonetheless we went out for dinner, came back home and when I was about to go to sleep, papa called me to his room as he wanted to talk. 

I went to him and he taught me the most wonderful philosophy of life. He started firmly by asking "why do you think you work?" pretty ordinary question I guess. I replied saying "we work to earn money, to get successful or may be because it's fun to work." 

Papa: Not exactly. We work to lead a better life; we work so that we can earn enough to enjoy the pleasures and luxuries of the world. We work so as to have a fun filled peaceful life. Nobody has forced us into work. You are doing it by choice. If work is putting you under such pressure that you are not able to enjoy life, you feel tensed every time then the basic ideology of working is defeated. It indeed is important for you to apply your brains at work, get involved, give your best shot but at the same time do take advantage of the worldly pleasures. Go out and party. Enjoy the life. The tension and hardships related to work should be left back at the office. Once you are home, don’t carry your strain with yourself. We work to live we don’t live to work. To work is not the ideal of life. The basic objective is to lead a nice life. Now to lead a nice, comfortable and happy life, work is necessary that is why we work. If work is not allowing to lead that kind of a life then stop working because you aren’t reaching your goal.

This wonderful piece of advice from him apparently has changed my life. A complete turnover I must say. Such a beautiful thought which was so nicely and calmly described by him.

should we change with the change in situation ?

One who changes with time is not a man. Again, one who does not change with time is not a man.

To start with the first one, a person whose attitude and perspective changes with changing situation is certainly not a man of honour.  For instance, if with sudden change in one’s life he or she becomes arrogant, selfish and starts behaving differently; then, the person would not be held with high esteem. Such change can be anything, an upliftment, a failure, a loss or success. If a man succumbs to a particular situation and allows the circumstances to rule his/her nature and mode of living, the character would certainly not be admirable. Hence, this section of the debate says - come what may, the basic soul, the innate qualities of a man should not change.

The second side of the debate says, if we don’t change with the changing circumstances we cannot be considered as a man. We’d rather be programmed robots or any such non-thinking, non-living object with practically no brains to adapt. Now, this contradicts the first thought, where changing is rather unscrupulous. But if we don’t change, we aren't growing and if we aren't growing we are not living.

Speaking for the motion, it might be at times necessary to change or adapt oneself according to the scenario but then, in the process we just happen to lose something in ourselves which was good and noteworthy. Whereas on the other side they say, “we might lose something good, but we may gain something even better”.

Having considered all the thoughts bumping into my brain cells, I can conclude in the Shakespearean way as he once said “people don’t change; only their costumes do”.  What I mean to say is with changing time and circumstances, the basic characteristics should be retained while the peripheral qualities might be adapted and modified to suite the demand of the situation.

Might be a bit out of the context but this reminds me of my school Principal, Mrs. Kak, who would always tell us that there is a kid in us and come what may , growing age or changing life, we should always let the toddler in us alive. For according to her, only kids can live and enjoy life and the day the child dies we shall not be living but just be ageing. 

Why being in love is important

To be in love is the best feeling/emotion that God has blessed the mankind with. And no, this is not about loving your parents, siblings, cousins, relatives or any such other person. Of course all of them do have a very important role to play in our lives but then, there is this someone special whom we don’t get as a relative since birth but whom we choose from the crowd of a zillion. A standout soul that makes us feel that we are complete. We have all at some point met this somebody who is different from the rest, for whom we care, who looks familiar at the first sight, for whom we get this urge to be with, someone who means so much to you that their mood effect yours, someone purely magical. 

There are many opinions that float around us regarding the consequences of being in love. They say it distracts you, curbs you, weakens you, some even say love can be the greatest cause for your commercial failure. For me, being in love is completely different. Being in love actually gives you the strength and reason to do and achieve something beyond your grasp. Romance in life helps you feel good about yourself. When in love, you get this urge to prove yourself, stretch your abilities, broaden your horizon. William Shakespeare was rightly quoted saying “Love asks me no questions, and gives me endless support”. And all of this has nothing to do with whether or not your loved one is with you. It is not romantic to be with whom you love; to be in love itself is romantic.

 Never should we run away from this awesome feeling of being in love for the fear that we may lose, or even worse, never get to be with the beloved. As Groucho Marx once said “It is better to have loft and lost than to never have loft at all”. Only a person who has been in love can understand life, the marvels and beauty of nature. From personal experience I can say when I am not in love, when there is no such special one in my life, there seems a great void, an emptiness that bites your soul. The world around appears dull, everything is so spiritless. You have nothing to live for.


Finally I would conclude saying Love doesn’t make the world go round. Love is what makes the ride worthwhile. So do not run away from love. Love someone, be loved by someone and life would be a fairy tale.

Think you are smarter than 5th grade? Think again

On this 312^th birthday of the City of Joy, a leading daily organized a heritage hunt in here. Me and three of my friends- Sumesh, Devansh and Sailesh were quite excited about the entire thing as we enrolled ourselves for the hunt.

It was great fun as we drove across the city and explored some of the places that probably we’d have never come across otherwise. The journey started at 8 in the morning and by 1 P.M. we were done with it and reached our final destination. The prize distribution was scheduled at around 2.30 P.M. hence, for the next hour and a half we were to enjoy the beautiful place. We were done with the lunch and were sitting in the garden enjoying the sun, when a kid walks in and sits beside us. It all started with short discussions about the hunt and the quiz we had in the morning. Then we started talking about his school and the subjects he was studying.  He turned out to be a class five student; the conversation took a turn when we opted to check our IQ. So I asked him put up questions from what he was studying just to see how knowledgeable we are?

So here is the scenario, there is round table, on one side of which is a class five kid putting up questions and on the other side of the table are four management Graduates from ‘ the best college’ in India, not just that, the group consists of Devansh, a chartered accountant and a Company Secretory; Sailesh a Chartered Accountant with work experience in Citi Bank and YES Bank; Sumesh a Computer and Mobile App designer with a professional degree from NIIT and Me, an MSc from University of Glasgow. All claiming to be very educated with profound knowledge. This guy or as we say ‘the kid’ started shooting questions at us, History, Geography, biology, maths and what not and believe you me for 7 out of every 10 questions that he asked we either gave a wrong answer or did not have a clue at all. He kept coming up with new questions and we failed again and again to live upto it. How embarrassing could that be to sit in there with dumb faces in front of a ‘class five’ kid. If good things do come in small packages then this one surely was one awesome thing that happened to us.

When we started off in the morning we were sure that the treasure hunt would be real fun but we never knew that something like this was in store for us. This incident today did remind me of the famous saying from The Great Isaac Newton – “To myself I am only a child playing on the beach, while vast oceans of truth lie undiscovered before me.” We all might have a lot of knowledge and degrees but still have so much more around us still to be learnt.

Looking for a job? Try this

I was standing in front of the town hall waiting for someone when a descent looking guy walks up to me points at my laptop bag and says – “ hey, nice bag. Where did you get this from?

 I gently replied “I got it free with my lappy.”

Him  – “hmm nice, can you say where can I get such a bag ?”

Me – “any bag shop. This isn’t something very unique should get it easily.”

Him – “ yeah sure, but then a laptop bag would suit me best. Do you think if I approach the HCL store I can get one from in there without buying a laptop?

Me –“don’t know but should not be tough if you pay a bit to the sales man and get one from back door.” (giggles)

Him – hahahahhha

Admiring the architectural beauty of the town hall, he suddenly cropped up with another question.

Him – “so, do you work in a service industry?”

Me –“ nope, I am into real estate.”

Him – “ok. I actually got a call from NK realtors a few weeks back for a job but I wasn’t in Calcutta then hence could not respond. Do you think a person with no experience in real estate can get into its marketing?”

Me – “yeah why not. It’s not that technically complicated. You can be abreast with the knowhows in a few weeks.”

Now it started to take the heat.

Him – “so where is your office?”

Me = “Gariahat.”

Him – “can I get your visiting card?”

Me – (thinks for a while) “ na sorry it’s exhausted.”

Him – “ that’s ok. It should be getting weird for you. It all started with the bag and now I am asking for your visiting card.”

Me – “ perfectly ok. That’s how relationships build.”

Him – “Are Saturdays a half day at your office?”

Me – (by now I was sure he was looking for a job and had no special interest in my bag L) “depends. If there is work one has to stay long, else can leave early. (just to set him aback I added) Sometimes we call in staff even on Sundays if the workload demands. :D :D

Him – “that’s a bit too much don’t you think? Where exactly is your office?”

I explained to him the location, admiring his unique way of seeking a job.

Him – “ is this your second or third job?”

Me – (job??) “ nope first one.” ( I was quite liking this conversation by now)

Him – “how is the management of the company?”

Me – “ its really good. We have a very healthy work atmosphere.”

Him- “ ah if I ever meet your boss I shall say you were all praises for firm. Hahahaha it all started with a bag “.

Me – “ that should be quite obliging. Yes indeed all started with my nice looking bag.”

Him – “ but really do you think a person with no experience can get into real estate?

Me –“ yes sure. Its not complicated at all. Ok I go to go. “

The person I was waiting for arrives and I am all set to leave when he looks at the bag and repeats himself.

Him – “ your bag is really good.”

I gave a smile and moved on. I really found him interesting. The way he initiated the talk and gradually approached the major motive of his was fascinating. It reminded me of Jim Cambell ( my career advisor at the Uni) who would always say – “ 80% of the jobs are hidden and you have to dig deep to find them.”

This surely was a nice way of looking for a job.