GOING OUT OF "FOCUS"

Joseph Nicephore Niepce, on a summer day in 1827, made the first photographic image using his camera obscura. But today, I sit here and think if he would be happy to see how his invention is being put to use.

Using technology isn’t something new for people; prehistoric caveman has played with fire, which was a new technology for him way back then. Today, the comparatively new technology that makes everyone go crazy is taking photos using their smartphones, cameras and then sharing it over some social networking website.

I was strongly inspired and worried by the way the cameras and the photos affect our lives, two incidents made me to think about that, one, the article about a small kid and two, was how my own classmates were running mad to get them clicked. 

Let me start with the first story, a father assumed that his 3 year old kid enjoyed the superpower it gained in using the touch screen of his iPhone , but over a period of time it proved to be wrong. She was having an obsession for photos, she seemed to be too much perturbed about the way she looked, and she was becoming overly self-conscious.

The kid was asking her parents to take a picture of her when she did something new, the parents were awed by the way she reacted, for them she should be more involved in the moment rather than thinking if the moment is worth being documented.

Though the father doesn’t deny the fact that, his kid has to develop an awareness of  how she looked and her relationship with others, he is worried about the way she is becoming more self-conscious, the way she was becoming older at a young age , it simply didn’t seem to be a constructive effect anymore

Second story is more of a personal experience, a couple of weeks ago we went on a class trip, I would say that the way my friends behaved was quite poignant to me, I am almost certain that none of my friends enjoyed the scenic beauty or wondered how the pine forest around us was perfectly aligned naturally, instead, my friends were involved and almost forced me to involve in a weird story, they were trying to convert every moment of that trip to a photo opportunity.

If you take life to be a book, photos are just anchors of memory, these photos act as only bookmarks, these photos can’t write stories on its own, and we can’t have hundreds of photos with no stories to share. The very umbilical cord that tries to connect us with others, shouldn’t strangle us right…??? 

I will surely say that; we are losing our precious time in getting a perfect shot by fighting with our electronic devices. In doing this we are making an average experience which else would have been a great experience.

A birthday party doesn’t seem to get completed without hundred photos taken, which would surely include a considerable number of selfies, and pictures of our tilted faces. Reveling in the party is much more an enriching experience, than trying to enjoy the moments from behind the screen. We all know that, there are people who don’t take single photos, but remember and cherish the moments much better later.

There would always be a new social media tool to distract us, but there could never be a tool to replace our memories, I accept that we are great with multitasking, but studies show that multitasking reduces the way we remember things, so we can’t argue that we will create a great experience at the same time we handle our cameras.

I am not asking you people to agree or disagree with my point, because that becomes voting, I am just asking you people to think…So, next time you are with your friends relinquish your pavlovian search for your smartphone because great moments come from great opportunities and opportunities are like heart beats, you can’t afford to skip them.

P.S. When you are out of focus in front of cameras, you always have another chance but when you lose focus on people around you, i doubt your second chances...and courtesy to star sports for the last line(opportunities are like heartbeats, you can't afford to skip them).

ATHIEST TO THEIST

                                               

Why this article...???.. My tribute.

What am i going to say in this...???...What can be said about a man on whom everything has been said?

Who is this guy..???... "THE GOD".

I am not even an average cricket analyst, leave alone being a professional one. Knowing this, I still want to pay my tribute for the man, sorry "THE GOD".I don't understand why this one single man gets so much respect. Though the reasons are obvious and no one needs an explanation. I pondered upon this question in the past couple of weeks…There were many other cricketers who have contributed to the game, to the nation but they never seemed to be worshipped...why...???..I have even had naysayers, telling that ODI cricket is not more than a generation old , so wait till his records are broken....I am sure the records are meant to be broken, but one single man breaking all the records that he has created would be the toughest task for any one born with human powers.

15th November, 1989 to 16th November, 2013...the longevity with which this man has carried the burden on his shoulders can't be met with words. Others were a part of a big journey, a Sachin journey, they boarded at various points and got down at different destinations but this man has been travelling for 24 years and has completed the journey successfully, because according to me he wasn’t a “little master” he was always a “little student” hungry for learning.

My favorite magic of his is the back to back hundreds at Sharjah in 1998, The Desert Strom innings, Taking India into the finals in a tri-nation series and beating Australia in the epic final battle. At the age of  24, who could have demolished the then mighty Aussies...The defeat handed out to them  made them to say that, "We didn’t lose to a team called India , we lost to a man called Sachin".....I know your century of centuries , your six world cups, the double hundred against the Proteas, the win at Mumbai in 2011, and your emotional speech in the 200th test match , each of them need a separate book on themselves, but enough has been discussed and going to discussed on your numbers and your style of play...I am no good at doing that.

What can be said about your achievements...???...When I say this I am not talking about the destructions using your beloved weapon, the bat, i am talking of the wins you have made off the field. Why did I see tears from 2 billion eyes that had no blood relation with you...Why do they have to feel gloomy when you bend down and touch the 22 yards pitch for one last time....why do we feel bereaved when we hear your final words...???...and why do I feel the moist in my eyes when I recall this…???..I don’t know.

I have never believed and always booed when people say, "as all good things come to an end, the show has to come to an end”. But today I can understand the impact the statement has made on me. It was Gavaskar yesterday, Sachin today and someone else tomorrow ...true, the cricket was there and is going to be around, some one or the other is going to play the game, but will we ever get to see the game the same way you showed us...???..I am sure it is going to be a big NO.

It’s said that a very powerful person on the planet has made such a remark, “I don't know about cricket but still I watch cricket to see Sachin play…Not because I love his play it’s because I want to know the reason why my country's production goes down by 5 percent when he's in batting...”..This quote revolves around the internet as being said by Obama, though it wasn’t actually told by him, I am sure Indian Prime Minister can well make such a remark.

The contribution he has made to the cricket, the service he has done for our nation, he is surely one of the esteemed son of the soil. 

Before today, India had only 2 epics The Ramayana and The Mahabharata but from today it will have 3, THE SACHIN.

P.S..I know there are lots of atheists in this world , but i am sure no cricket fan would be one , because seeing you bat he would have witnessed "THE GOD" in action...Today I am proud of being a theist...Cricket is our religion and Sachin is our GOD. Thank you Sachin..!!!

HOW TO NAME IT…???

                                         

I am sure that the title is enough to raise one’s eyebrows. For those who know what this actually means they will fly in bliss on reading it, but for those who don’t , it’s the name of an instrumental album by maestro Ilyaraja. Though being an ardent fan of maestro this article is neither about him nor about his instrumental album. So, I request those people flying in the lovey-dovey mood on the thought of the album to come down to the reality of this article.

Our Supreme Court has once again taken the center stage after its two important and bold judgments. One, on the immediate disqualification of the convicted lawmakers and  two, on making NOTA (none of the above) or the scratch vote as a ballot option in our elections.

Immediate disqualification of convicted lawmakers though made the headlines for  different and spicy matters, let us look at one of the first victims of this law, Former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad Yadav, now a MP, was sentenced to five years in jail for embezzling funds in the fodder scam during his tenure in the mid 1990’s. Sad isn't it..? Laluji could have walked out with an appeal, if this law wasn't there.

Talking of the spicy matters, our parliament wanted the President of India to revert back the SC order on the convicted lawmakers, through an ordinance. An ordinance has the same force and effect as an act passed by the parliament. But the president should believe that the ordinance is important and needs attention when the parliament in not having a session. Both houses have to ratify this, else this gets nullified within six weeks from the reassembly of the parliament.

When this ordinance was submitted to the president for consideration, a young (I am sorry, we are used to calling this man young even at the age of 43) enigmatic leader at a press conference made a brazen remark that- "I'll tell you what my opinion on the ordinance is. It's complete nonsense. It should be torn up and thrown away. That is my personal opinion," we are happy that someone is voicing our concerns, but wait from where does that personal opinion come from, at the very end. If that was the personal view of the young leader it shouldn't have found its way in a press conference that would be followed by millions of people.

The young leader is none other than Rahul Gandhi, We can understand the fact that the congress is trying desperately to push him as a front-runner in the prime ministerial race ahead of other strong competitors, but this U-turn of his, has exposed the weaknesses of our inscrutable Rahulji . 

In his roar for a change he has made the people to ask a few questions, one, did he really not know about the ordinance at the party meetings or was his concerns underplayed by the other congress leaders, so he had to take the media route to showcase his views, if this was to be true then he has to ask his mother to reconsider her dream of making her son as a PM.She has to accept that, not everyone's dream is fulfilled  Two, why does he have to undermine the PMO and PM whom he later called as his political guru?  This has made the Gandhi family look weaker in the party where we all believe that they run and take decisions in the party. They should have practiced much better to pull off a high spirited political drama.

To some extent i hate our citizens, they always seem to be cynical, they never even try to believe a person who wants to be genuine, let us think this way, all the compromises that this young leader makes to see his country prosper has reached its limits. We tacitly understand that this man cannot tolerate any nonsense or compromises anymore and he wants things to start happening. He wants to lead the party, knowing that this assertive remark could cost the elections in 2014, if losing doesn't matter to him unless the party changes the way it works, he would have ample time to rebuild the party according to his goodwill after May'14. But, the time is running out for him to think about his party’s sabbatical from ruling this nation.

What do you call this, a stunt, or a step towards the so called desired change…Political veterans are totally confused on “how to name it(the heroism)…???” .

Second on the list is something which is mouth-watering for the first time voters, the NOTA option on the ballot machines are new contenders in the elections from this year. To stop our electoral democracy from being a subset of some goonda democracy where only the goondas would be the candidates, the Supreme Court has made its point clear. Our Honorable Chief Justice P.Sathasivam said that “The election is a mechanism, which ultimately represents the will of the people. Not allowing a person to vote negatively defeats freedom of expression and the right to liberty in Article 21”. Though this judgment comes with a heavy risk where a constituency can see an election repeating itself without a proper result and lead to political instability. The Intentions are loud and clear, if a party is going to support a candidate against peoples wish , they would be voting for NOTA again and again, and the parties would have no other choice other than to make a good candidate represent the party for the elections. Once again we don’t know how this is going to shape up. We have to wait and watch for the upcoming state elections in Chhattisgarh, Delhi, MP, Rajasthan, Mizoram .We are eagerly waiting to see the  new empowered youth showing the way for us.

P.S- I hope we aren't so indifferent in electing our representatives where in 272+ constituencies are won by NOTA out of the available 543 or am i wrong in understanding my fellow Indians....???

Om “NaMo”-INDIA

13^th September -2013 (Friday) 

Friday has been considered an unlucky day at least since the 14th century's The Canterbury Tales  and many other professions have regarded Friday as an unlucky day to undertake journeys or begin new projects(I repeat, begin new projects). When this Friday is coupled with the number 13^th it’s considered as one of the worst combinations according to western superstitions. It didn’t seem to bother our politicians much, this time at least , With already existing slogans didn’t do much to the progress of the nation a new slogan has been added officially to the walls of our nation  “nayi soch, nayi ummeed” (new thinking, new hope).

  

Since the time I recollect there has always been a saying ‘vote for the best, vote for us’ but in Indian polity it doesn’t seem to work much , the best suited for the job never really finishes ahead of others. So the above stated adage is of no use in this machiavellian system. If you want to sound positive we can call it as phenomenal marketing skills or he knows how to strike the chord with the youths (Remember, the person I’m talking about turned 63 on 17^th of this month)  to sound in a negative way you can tell it’s more than a hype . Whatever it may be i haven’t seen a person in Indian politics being trusted and disbelieved so much at the same point of time. Media seems to increase their target rating points (TRP) by pouring their affection for this man or rather they are bored of covering the same faces for the past 10 years.

The man of the day, the man of the moment- Narendra Modi aka NaMo. For many of us at the start of all this he was a person who was highly criticized for the 2002 Gujarat riots. The most respected man in the BJP Mr.Vajpayee once admitted that the riots can’t be ruled out as a major reason for the party’s defeat in the 2004 election and also acknowledged that he made a mistake by not removing Mr.Modi.

But today, for the man who won the hearts of Gujaratis in the past three elections surely knows how to win the rest. But wait, we are missing out the fact that he is struggling to convince the 14.23% Muslims of our country (secularism…???).

Keeping these riots and statistics aside for a while (but I’m surely going to come back) let us think about the economic slowdown and what might be Modi’s statement to alter and put back our GDP growth and control inflation (this comes as a serious doubt for me when a cabinet minister’s callous statement about skyrocketing of the onion prices– “”Why don’t you ask the traders this (hike in onion prices)?  The government is not the one selling onions”). What if he or his party’s ministers ask the same questions after rising to power?  In one of his rhetoric speeches Modi was lamenting the ruling party that there is a lot of FII involvement in Indian stock market and there might be a slump in our markets if they withdraw, he added that “But this does not mean there is no way out.... The country need not be in such a depressed state.... I am a very optimistic person. We can find solutions”. Seeing his optimism even in such a crisis situation(some claim that we aren’t doing as bad as the media sounds after all In 1991 our forex reserves were just $5.83 billion dollars which wouldn’t have funded us for more than 3.5 months of imports. But today it stands at around $287billion dollar.) is good to see but it would be much better if he can state a solution which can help us out of the blind belief we have on this man and we can start believing that he really has something to offer us.

But on the other hand, UPA believes that they are in the driving seat after passing the Land Acquisition Bill and the Food Security Bill. They think that the two bills will increase the vote banks and make it a hat-trick for them but they failed to recollect that Indian citizens no longer believe in the utopia that the bills promise to deliver and also the fact that elections are fought on local issues rather than the national issues (remember that congress had to find their egress in 1996 and BJP came to power even after 1991 economic reforms by the UPA).

So 13^th September,2013 Mr. Narendra Modi the CM of Gujarat has been anointed as the Prime Ministerial candidate of BJP  ahead of the party’s patriarch Mr.Advani, a new journey has surely begun for him , he has started a new project(recall my first two lines) -to guide a billion Indians .To convince those 14.23% Indians(they really need a special mention in this case), that past won’t be repeating itself and get their votes and mainly their trust, to find his way to 7,Race Course Road, New Delhi.

Namo smartphones (with special signature edition), Namo phablets, Modi kurtas the sensation has already hit the markers and if this trend continues he is well on his path of acing the election-2014 unless the congress has some magical tricks to change the happenings.

P.S-My friend and I were having an argument, my friend was arguing that both parties shouldn’t come to power and he did have some valid points to debate on, but I oppose it strongly because elections are around the corner and no party or an individual is as strong as the existing two parties to sweep the elections, we are left with no other option of choosing between these two. I would like to accept with what churchill once said “If we open a quarrel between past and present, we shall find that we have lost the future.”.

                                                                  

Corporate vs. ‘KARPARATION’

Well this is my first blog, as all the first time bloggers say “when I was thinking what to name my blog and what to write, I came up with this idea”…they usually start like this but I’m not doing that here, I’m here to share a mixed bag of thoughts which sprout in me every other day starting from Politics (my so called favorite area), Cricket ( I won’t mention it as sports because I’m an Indian), a bit of philosophy and day to day events which might have occurred in lives of other  people around us (I don’t gossip) which would help us one way or the other in our path of travel towards ‘wisdom’. I will name this blog as “Silence Agreed”. I’ll name this, my cynosure of everything that defines me, as “Silence Agreed”.

Having all said and done let me tell you a story of “Corporate vs. Karparation” .This story is all about a man(Mr.A) who had high dreams of achieving big in life (as all heroes in all stories).Mr.A finished his degree from a well reputed college, he wasn’t planning to roam the streets with files in search of a job because he was placed in some PQR private limited which paid him heavily. He was very happy because this man was waiting for this day to enter the world of corporates, to learn professionalism because to him he had only dreamt of such things. Almost all the well-wishers he knew advised him not to show his personal anger or insist his personal views in a work place and asked him not to forget the most important word “professionalism”. So, this guy knew what to do and landed in Chennai where he had rented a room with his friends for staying.

Mr.A from the start had no problems, being a quick learner, he adapted well to the work environment and had a happy first month. After receiving his first month salary he did the same thing, what would you and I dream of, frankly speaking most of us would dream of. He bought a bike which everyone called it as a “beast” for its majestic look. He took his majestic beast to R.T.O for registration but as usual he saw the same helter-skelter in the office as described in most of the Indian cinemas ,he encountered red-tapism and ofcourse giving money under the tables. He asked the person working as a peon, can’t I get my vehicle registered without giving this money. The man replied “Do you really want your vehicle registration done right? Then pay me Rs.307(taxes included sir.!!) and consider your work done”, and then he added “do you know how much you have to pay as fine or rather let me put it this way , do you know how much you have to pay the police at every signal??”.Mr.A argued that he had every paper correctly and his paper work can’t be really questioned and then went inside the room of the issuing authority for getting his vehicle registered but eventually he came back with an empty number plate. The peon laughed and said,” you are in “Chennai Karparation” you can’t expect anything without treating us with hot currencies notes”. Mr.A had no other choice other than to give him the money he wanted and get his work done.

That night he thanked God that he wasn’t working in any government organization which treats people with a “non-professionalistic” attitude. He encountered what ‘karparation’ is    but he was yet to see the full corporate world.

One year passed since this incident happened and one sultry morning in Chennai his manager called him to his cabin and said “Mr.A, you wanted to go abroad for your Master’s right…??”…Mr.A replied “yes sir, I am going to Michigan State university…it would be a matter of couple of weeks before I leave“. ”Sooner or later I would come to you to get my relieving letter”. The company has a norm that they would give a person’s work experience certificate on the day he receives his relieving letter. ”Sure Mr.A, I would be happy to sign it”.

When Mr.A came out he saw the staff coordinator collecting money for the staff day function. Company doesn’t fund these functions and staff members have to raise the funds required. Fortunately or unfortunately Mr.A hasn’t attended one such function in the past one year and he won’t be attending this year too because he would leave the company by then. The coordinator asked him to give Rs500 for the function , which Mr.A wasn’t ready to give because he wasn’t going to be there for the function .Apparently it’s the manager who arranges the function and Mr.A was blackmailed by the coordinator that if he doesn’t give the money there might a delay in getting his experience certificate and relieving letter. For Mr.A money doesn’t seem to big issue it’s hardly a big amount, but the way he is being persuaded to “donate” the money remains a concern for him. He went and explained his manger and didn’t get any positive reply so he returned to give the money to the coordinator.

A couple of weeks later Mr.A got his experience certificate and relieving letter. It was just a week before he left India he realised what had happened, he was totally bewildered to know that in both Corporate and ‘karparation’ he had to pay the money unwantedly ,against his will. That day he knew what professionalism these companies really teach you .It was not company or the environment which makes you a true professional it should come from within. In both the cases he had been either blackmailed or threatened to give the money others wanted. He also came to know that if a person is really interested in something then he/she would come forward voluntarily or if that person wasn’t interested he/she wouldn’t come at all, in either case there is no need of force. People have to learn that by mere forcing we can’t get going for long. When are we going to force open the rooster coop we are in ??? (due courtesy to Arvind Adiga.).Do we even realise that we are trapped in one such coop..???

So the conclusion to this story is that it doesn’t matter if you are a corporate or a peon in ‘karparation’ it hardly makes no difference if you are going to live forcing others, blackmailing them. What is the use of a PhD in Rocket Science if you still behave the same way as 10^th std. guy?? The difference in terms of number for this comparison (Corporate vs. karparation) was zero, hardly any difference. As we grow higher let us know how to behave and how to respect others.

P.S- Rs 807/- wasn't a huge amount at all but Mr.A still tries to find that one valid reason for giving that money. Many of us would have lost many 807’s in our lives let us all start thinking the real meaning behind the use (sorry, misuse) of power on us.