Unsafe Politics

A news peice I came across yesterday strikes me the most. Some robbers entered a bank, attacked the manager and ran away with some money. What immediately strikes me was not the loss of money or anything, but rather the dangers to life. I have heard many people say Politics is an unsafe place to be in. U might be attacked. Politics is filled with rowdi's and u come in comtact or face to face with them. Now, the manager of this bank was not into politics, he still had to face the dangers from the negative elements of the society.

We see a lot of hoax calls, saying there is a bomb planted in your office. Employees are trained to respond to emergencies, but how good they can be at these times I doubt. If Iam working at 3:00 am in my office and if a security alarm goes off also, I wouldn't be concerned. Afterall my issues with the software are more important that any alarm. How awake I can be to dangers.

Dangers from Terrorism, Gundas, Robbery or to the recent rape and kill or omnipresent. These are born from the political clouds, no doubt. But the negatives in the society are not restricted to any levels. If we need to face dangers, we will face it wherever we are. A S/W Engineer is as unsafe as a politician and a politician is as unsafe as a fisherman.

In the area I live I have seen numerous Hindu-Muslim clashes, Tear gases et al. Now the people affected were not the politicians or anyone, rather the man on the streets was attacked.

Ignoring politics or running away from it can never be an option. If we feel there are dangers, they would obviously spread over to other spheres of life and they have already spilled over. We cannot be safe by being away from it. the only way to safety is to change. Change How and When, we will discuss further as we go along.

Taxing

Today, is the day we met Tsunami an year back, It just strikes me, what will happen if the world is destroyed at this moment. No I dont want to go into the details of destructions et al. I just wanted to stretch it out. If the world is destroyed today and the archealogists unearth our lands after some 5000 years, Can they judge that a civilisation existed here, a city existed here.

I have my doubts. If the roads and drainage systems are any indication for a city, the archealogists will not be able to imagine good old chennai as a city. Leaving aside the judgement of the future generations, and living in the present wat do we have. Bumpy Roads ahead can be a caption at the entrance of this city (I wud call it a city as Iam used to doing so).

Someone quipped, why dont u get a bike or car, I said who needs those in these roads. In a public bus, atleast the effects of the bumpy roads will be shared by many people, but in a bike, the sum total effect will entirely be on us. So, better I share the burdens of my roads with my fellow brothers and sisters (Not all) of chennai.

This is not just an issue about roads. They can always say, Rains have damaged the roads. But I find the ECR road and the Road along Marina beach to be gud. The rest, I doubt if they ever laid roads. The issue here is about the total negligence for the common man.

When I say common man, the communists might immediately say, the ones in slums, the labors. Unluckily, me and many others like me, the middle class are not part of the common man slogan. And who are we. We are the ones who pay the taxes or whose taxes are snatched away from our salaries and we get the remaining. We are the ones whose blood is sucked by the business big bosses, the Government et al. We are the ones who spare our one day, one month Salary For Tsunami Relief, For Flood havoc, For kargil Relief. We are the ones who invest in insurance and mutual funds to evade tax and end up paying more tax when we get the returns.

But We are n't common men folks. No government cares for job opportunities, infrastructure, educational system. They care about "Meals for Education" schemes. They care for slum relief. They care for the big business houses. They dont care for the normal middle class guy who works 12 hours a day and ends up losing it all in all scandulous investments. Not even the media, even they dont speak about our plights. We are the generation of men and women, who dump our nation and leave for other places for earning opportunities. To them we are traitors. They care for this middle class when a girl is raped and killed, only when a glaring issue occurs.

I love my nation the most. There is a neccessity for me to reiterate this at this point. Iam blaming the things here, not because I dislike these, but because I care for these. Iam ready to pay the taxes and Iam paying them. Iam ready to give for all relief measures, Iam ready to involve myself also. Iam not asking for returns. I am self sufficient. I dont ask anything from the government. But I dont want them to take away my money and give us under prepared roads, and a poor water and drainage system. There should be some responsibility on these folks who manage these. They should be answerable. I dont want to see my courts spending time on cases pertaining to pre marital sex. there are an hell a lot of important matters concerning the common man. Turn your attention to these, rather than thinking about what names films should bear. That is the least I can ask for.

The Sourav Episode

This has been the hottest NEWS, all around the media this past month. So cudnt prevent myself from saying something. Of course, no one was waiting for an opinion from my side. the selectors r not asking for it.

If it is a BCCI team, a team formed by the BCCI to play against a team formed by PCB et al, We have no issues. But it is called as a team to represent INDIA, and the people have no say in it. A group of people make the decisions and we react rather wastefully.

Not that Ganguly is a great test match player and neither is his replacement any good. The 2 innings cannot quiet convince us that yuvraj is a good player. Even Harbhajan singh scored runs in the last match. Ganguly's non-inclusion in ODI's was unacceptable. He is the second highest century makers in ODI's. There are not much of short pitched balls to trouble him in ODI's.

The people of Kolkata revolted, rightly against his exclusion from the ODIs. But what good is a revolt. If they planned to revolt, they should have boycotted the IND-SA ODI. The Board that has earned so much from us would have got a fitting response. But the people went to the ground and then what use is it to oppose the people there.

Not that Iam a great fan or supporter of ganguly, but the fact that a foreign coach comes in and says he is no good and we nod to it and respond is highly disheartening. Our love for anything foreign is shown again. Winning against Sri Lanka that always struggles away from home cannot be a good measurement. Let us wait and see the Pakistan tour to know if Chappell's coaching is any good.

But I do beleive Ganguly wud be part of the Pakistan tour. Obviously with Shoiab in such good form, the selectors know well that Ganguly's shortcomings would be exposed and his firing might then be accepted. That his firing has happened after a century against Zimbabwe and some good knocks against SriLanka has lent fuel to the fire.

But I do not understand the logic behind Dungarapur becoming the team manager. One he is dead against Ganguly and two why such an high profile manager, wont that aggravate the ego clashes that already seem too big within this Indian team. Lets wait and see the updates.

Back to the Present

I got a mobile, ok this is old news now. But I set the date in it to an year back, rather accidentally. So, am back in time. Here Iam to the time when I started to write some decent poems, when I was more than relaxed in a S/W company. When I started sowing self-doubts in me.

Here I was learning to play Table Tennis. After all it was a let-out for an hunger to win. Not that the time was great to relive or the time was worst nothing in it. But just that I could have changed some of my actions if given out the same situations now.

If a Host of Wasted opportunities would present again, may be i would react better. May be i would act better. But I know, switching back and forth in time needs some ther watches also to be adjusted. So, rather than being dependent in that way, lemme come back to the present. So I reset my date and am back here now.

Blog - In

So, me into the Blog world at last. Wanted to get in for a long time, but somehow did not have the inclination to start it off. With 24 hours internet access available in the office, wat more creative can this mind stretch to. So started doing wat all other youngsters of my generation r doin.

Yes, following the existing ppl has been a habit Iam yet to undo. Joined S/W company, afterall all others do it, and now started off a blog, so nothing more creative than the existing ones. Though me not comfortable with the concept of the huge "Online Personal" diaries, the term sounds an Oxymoron, quiet so.

I wud try to keep posting abt as diverse things as possible in here. Afterall this world offers me such a lot of things to keep discussing about. Weel, lets discuss and let this first one not stretch too far.