Unfortunate but a valid point!

The India cricket team bus

.

DON'T MISS the VIJAY RATH

Now look at the luxury our commandos had after their 60 hr sleepless battle!!!

The Black Cat (NSG) commando bus after operation at TAJ . WHICH VICTORY WAS CRITICAL ?? What a shame and disgrace to every citizen of India that the elite NSG Force was transported into ordinary BEST buses, whereas our cricketers are transported into state of the art luxury buses, these Jawans lay down their lives to protect every Indian and these cricketers get paid even if they lose a match, we worship these cricketers and forget the martyrdom of these brave Jawans. The Jawans should be paid the salaries of the cricketers and the cricketers should be paid the salaries of the Jawans. Huh... This is our India.... Please be a human being and forward this to everyone u know. Please share with as many as you can , in the hope it reaches to someone who can make a difference. Do not worry about those who have come through boats... Our forces can easily defeat them. WORRY about those who have come through votes.... Those are our REAL ENEMIES.. , Guys lets utilize our votes sensibly , that's the least we can do. Pass it on if u r hurt to so we can spread the message of logical voting. Jai Hind.

For God sake dont let this anger die ..

Dt.- 12th December'08
Dear Friends,
We are smart, impulsive, self-centered people .. What a way to describe ourselves .. but if we see the reaction to Mumbai terror and a series of sms and mails going around, we don't look like this .. we seem to be very responsible citizens, fighting every moment for our rights and committed for a change .. Criticising every single person in the government & the system ..

After a few days - a new cricket series will change the priorities for the media, the newspapers will come out with half page luring and attractive advertisements for Christmas and New Year eve celebrations.
When our children will get a winter break and we'll start exploring the best deals for Manali & Shimla and we'll be worried again for our performance in our respective offices ..

But what about the quintals of wax we burnt to show our solidarity, the disgust, the call for change, millions of sms of hatred against the political system which made the mobile companies a few crore richer or the series of endless chain mails of saluting jawans and throwing bricks on politicians and systems ..

And what about intellectuals who suggested boycott of polls and the system, as a solution to get rid of these dirty politicians .. I salute these intellectuals; what a suggestion.. Don't fight- run away .. go and have a picnic but don't vote .. ESCAPE .. since every single person you vote for does not deserve it .. Let's create a vacuum ..

Let the country be governed by the people from their drawing rooms or coffee homes ..

I often feel why do we always need a disaster to wake up, that too for a few days? Why don't we understand that there are certain disasters, which remain with us, which have become a part of our life

BUT we don't want to work on those since we are too comfortable in our cocoon ..

We would probably send a hate mail to anyone who said we are the most self-centered people on this earth. When we find our house full of mosquitoes we bring a good night, if that doesn't work, we bring a spray, BUT when the municipality guy comes and fines us Rs.500/- for leaving some water in our cooler, in the name of breeding mosquito- do we ever question them on the drains maintained by them, with millions of mosquitoes ..

If you want water you buy a bottle or a cane, if you want in bulk you fix up an expensive RO system. Ironically the government sells its own brand of packaged water .. Have we ever questioned - why is the tap water not drinkable? The water bill doesn't say - bill for washing and bathing water, so why should we pay separately for drinking water?



Good for us since we can afford all this .. I guess one of the reasons we the rich, the middle class dont fight all these things is because we have no moral right since we are the ones responsible for many of these evils. How many poor people kill each other in over speeding cars? How many poor people have the confidence to jump red lights and break traffic rules since bribing a traffic cop Rs 100/-
is the easy way out? How many poor people do you see standing in the middle of the road and throwing tantrums, blocking the traffic if another car make a small scratch on their vehicle and how many have motorbikes to overtake from the left at high speed???

For most of us showing concern about the country and its people means sending a chain mail of a well designed power-point, giving some ugly details or sending a series of smsand we the responsible citizens adhere to our responsibility by sending it further and further. For GOD's sake please remember mere thoughts are not enough for this country to change .. What we need is an action .. an initiative .. means you need to add an action to a thought .. There is no dearth of
people who have opinions, thoughts, and suggestions but how many of us take an initiative to do something on the field? How many of us are ready to act ..

Why do we need an incident or a drama to react? When the media shows dramatic pictures of a child drowning in a manhole, our highly responsible media and new breed of breaking news journalists break the news and all of us are ready to help .. but what about thousands of unnoticed open gutters across the country and scores of people falling in them .. a father throws his child in the river due to poverty and you get a new national news- but what about millions of
children dying or deserted in similar conditions? How many of us know that 62 children of Korku tribe in just one block of Khandwa district in MP recently died of malnutrition .. due to lack of a few kgs of basic food material .. and what have we done ..

How many of us are raising a voice against the callous and highly unprofessional attitude of most of the electronic media, where a 20 years old so called journalist with no background knowledge shows you the live commentary of Mumbai attacks with most important- first ever visuals of blood soaked faces of dead terrorists & mutilated bodies. I remember in my mass communication days there was a chapter on ethics in journalism and we often used to hate the preaching but to score marks we had to read .. and these days when most selections are based on one's acting abilities and voice quality instead of your journalistic knowledge, who thinks of ethics? But, have we ever told the channel guys that we'll boycott your channel if you keep
showing these dirty, misleading, dangerous and often fake stories?

Why dont we put pressure on the authorities to cut the electricity to hundreds of offices and houses of big people for not paying their electricity bills for years.. When the same authorities fine us for a delay of two days .. Why dont we ask the municipality the reason behind breaking the same footpath or road ten times in a year and rebuilding .. what about the police stations across the country where we feel scared, to go and file a report? Why are we not raising the issue of police reforms and forcing our police to pay attention to the safety and security of people rather than hounding trucks for the extra bribe money ..

Its time to get up, wake up .. and change the way we do some things in our own lives. If you disagree with me on some points don't waste your energy in replying back or sending a chain mail .. work on the points you do agree on .. It's time to take a positive action. We can't spend time in criticizing the system, the bureaucracy, the administration and so on ..

We all know the realities and we also know that the people behind these failures are enjoying themselves. They know us well, they know how good we are in criticizing them from a distance. They also know that we are busy people, we are too involved in our personal lives, office etc. Top of all they know that we are impulsive and highly self centered people .. If we are able to develop our own comfort zone, we will not confront with them for the life of others ..

I somehow see the biggest fault in ourselves, in the masses, in the so called middle/upper literate class .. We are not angry enough and even if we are, we dont express it at the right place ..

In every field we need reforms .. even if we forget about the theme of India as a developed nation or a shining vision of 2020 .. first lets make it a normal nation where children stop dying due to lack of 100 grams of rice, where people are not forced to eat rats due to poverty, where a lady does not sell herself for 10/-, where countless people don't suffer due to lack of a piece of second hand cloth, where children don't have to walk 5 kms to school, with no notebook or pencil. Where a women does not become a bonded labor for a saree, or a lady does not die due to non availability of a clean piece of cloth to use as a sanitary napkin, where a family get at least a few litre of drinking water a day or where we have the basic medical facility so that people stop suffering due to non availability of basic medicines like Crocin ..

And believe me there are good hopes and chances rather a surety that all this can be changed .. We all have a series of success stories to follow- we all know a number of people who have taken initiatives and have changed the lives of millions. We are also familiar and were there, standing with the families of Nitish Katara, Priyadarshini Mattoo and Jessica Lall. Many of you were writing, walking and protesting in the heat, lighting candles, putting pressures on the authorities and the system and we all saw the results .. It was our collective power that worked ..

This is the time to do it all over again, the task is much bigger and the path is too long .. this time our target is not a spoiled child of a politician or a senior officer or a few terrorists who take us for ransom, this time we are talking about changing the system, the machinery, the way we all work and think.

And to start with, people like you and I need to start understanding our own power- the power to change. The value of our voice- the voice to scream on injustice, the responsibilities of a citizen- not just to live for self but to let people around also live ..

Its time to start using some of our unwritten fundamental rights-to get angry, to question, to raise a voice, to ask and match it with a fundamental duty: To ACT ..

With hopes & lot of confidence in us !!!

Anshu
--------------------------------
Regarding Bihar/ Orissa Campaigns and need of woolens/blankets This is also the time for us to send you another update on our Bihar & Orissa flood relief campaigns .. I sat down to write a note on the report only but somehow I couldnt stop myself from expressing my feelings on whats happening around us. The campaigns are progressing well with your support. GOONJ has come up as one of the largest agencies working in these areas. A large number of corporates,
institutions and individuals have supported our campaign and we are committed to be there till Dec 2009 at least. An updated report with relevant figures, photographs, acknowledgements, work so far and plans for futures will be up on www.goonj.info by 1st week of January
2009. We'll be sending you a link and an alert for the same ..

WHAT WE URGENTLY NEED; is alarge quantity of cotton cloth (for making sanitary napkins) and woolens & Blankets for our annual campaign RAHAT WINTERS. This year the need is much bigger as lakhs of people in Bihar and Orissa are added to the already huge targets of various other states.

So get back to us if you want to organize awareness cum collection camp on this or if you want to contribute. Goes without saying- please spread the message .. all of us have a lot in our cupboards ..

Remember, winters are a much bigger and reoccurring disaster than earthquake or floods- if you have nothing to cover yourself ..
Please listen to this audio interview on Indianngos.com on Bihar floods-http://lists.goonj.info/listman/lt.php?id=N0UCAlpUBQNJUARIAAYGVFQ%3D

Anshu Gupta (Ashoka Fellow)
Founder Director
GOONJ..
Tel:- 011- 26972351, 9868146978
Add- J-93, Sarita Vihar, New Delhi-76
Website:- www.goonj.info
--

What India needs today

A lot has been said about the Indian intelligence process or the lack of it, and its teams over the last few days since Nov 26 2008.

Several of us, probably those working in the corporate world, know and see a lot of similarities that come to mind when you compare the National Governance at the city/state level - call it Nation Management(which is not at all different from Project Management) - and the corporate governance which we can safely call - Corporate Governance - which is all encompassing management and progress.
The differences and similarities can be discussed as a separate thread.

Col. Hariharan's interview comments on Rediff.com – if reproduced and printed by their editor with complete accuracy - lays bare, the reality that plagues us Indians in general and also, what must be done to get to a better position than this - if the citizens really feel the need to do so.

Hats off to Col. Hariharan for pointing out what India really is lacking and what India is really about and what it needs to get over this.

1. India is a country of lazy citizens - top to bottom - believe it or not. You can see this in the daily choices the citizens make in their lifestyles, and the different options they choose for their selves. Look at the various projects happening in peoples' personal and professional lives, and you will see a clear reflection of the basic underlying laziness.
One simple reason, internally a lot of people have given up on the system and the processes for various reasons which shows up as the laze factor.

2. Some other comments in the article, namely the attitude of not taking responsibility, I see this as a huge reflection in some corporate companies I have worked/working. The higher management does not take action but always play 'pass the parcel' and puts blame on the more easily impacted lower level people who do the actual ground work, and are easily dispensable with.

3. Another thing that has been mentioned and needs a clear focus is that India needs a war-room in place, 24x7 where all intel news has to be assessed and processed.
This war room is needed not just for the intelligence issues, but it is needed across the board for ALL developmental projects that are taken up in the nation.
All developmental projects need to be tackled seriously and hence they need constant focus and thus a 24x7 kind of planning, preparation and execution. But do you think this will happen.... never - because of point 1 above.

War room kind of setups are steps corporates take to sort out their own internal issues.
- this is also a key to Agile methodology of software development and applies to other areas too.

So Col. Hariharan, if you can suggest what steps citizens need to take at their levels, it would be much better too, since citizens today - though they think they don't need a big brother watching over them -need guidance to live a better life and maybe only the folks from the defense can show some examples.
Based on this article, if we all recognize the very basic lacunae in the Indian mentality, then I must say, there is a lot of history behind WHY Indians have been so.
It is very important to recognise the contribution of history in order to assess our lacunae but bearing in mind, not to hold History thus responsible for all the mistakes we make today.
Our mistakes today are a result of our ongoing lack of realizing our faults, taking everyone and everything for granted, belief in luck thus leading to carelessness, inefficiency, unaccountability, lack of discipline and corruption.
All in all, Indians now need to realize that -
· this is the 21st century that we are living in.
· we live in a ever increasingly connected world and can't take our individual lives to be isolated to not have any impact at a global level - read Butterfly Effect.

· we can't continue to live like an Ostrich that buries its head, or like the cat which closes its eyes thinking danger has passed

· we are calling ourselves an emerging economy - as opposed to an being just an emerging nation that we were way back in the 70s. This comes with a lot of responsibility
· On paper we are an established nation with a 'thriving' democracy but in practice, we are still not facing our own reality that our people and mindset is immature because of
o a high level of illiteracy and thus immaturity

o unfounded faith in luck-factor
o lack of interest in the educated masses to move out of the self satisfaction loop into the more generic mass benefit mode
· we educated classes are armchair critics, as it was mentioned in an article in the DNA Mumbai edition last night, but we don't move a muscle to take action about anything - reason - Pt. 1 above
I could go on about these various issues, we are all aware. but to get into action is something no one will teach.

At our individual levels we, as educated citizens/vote bank/intelligentsia/intellectuals of this nation:
1. need to put our COLLECTIVE minds to work, not isolated thoughts floating around waiting for some signal from outer space
2. need to bring out the maturity in us, in our daily activities like

a. choosing a responsible way of behavior in our house, apartment, home, on the road, in public places, while driving, while talking, while interacting with fellow humans, and the environment
b. choosing to stop behind the stop line at traffic signals
c. choosing to not talk on the phone while driving
d. choosing not to spit on the roads
e. choosing not to honk unnecessarily
f. choosing not to overtake on the roads by being patient and showing care for everyone around
g. choosing to teach our kids the values of respect, discipline and self respect
h. choosing to create a better quality of life for ourselves for a better quality of life later
i. choosing to take interest in people around us so that we can ascertain they are all socially responsible people and not anti-social elements
j. choosing to conduct ourselves in an honest manner and promoting the same
k. choosing NOT TO BRIBE for getting our work done - not to take any shortcut but be clear we want quality work done the right way
l. Promoting Meritocracy over Autocracy, Bureaucracy and Aristocracy
m. Another very key aspect that needs mention here is - 3 to 4 generations of the current times have not experienced what it means to do hard work, and they have taken a lot of things for granted - like the presence of mobile phones, the internet, the TV and automobiles. As a result, the understanding they have of what it really means to earn things the hard way is not there in their heads.
Unfortunately, even Mr. Anand Mahindra pointed this out in his article
today in the ToI.

So the very important thing that needs attention is that these generations need to get grounded, get real and get practical to get this nation the strength it needs.

All these are very difficult choices, so we need to be making small self-sacrifices now for the greater good later is the only way out of this mess we are currently in
1. In short, we have to be the guides for the society keeping our patience, our perseverance, and our maturity on alert display for others to see and learn.
2. It is a lot of difficult choices, but unless WE make it NOW we can expect the next few generations to survive in this nation in some better condition - if we really DO CARE about our own kids whom we are producing as a social and moral obligation
3. Else we will all be living for our short term gratification leaving the future a dark mess for the new generations whom we are producing in blissful abandon

Is this a movement for change?

Thank you if you can take the time to read through my muddled, confused and angry thoughts here.
Hope you pardon me for this outrage and this intrusion on your private lives during this time of extreme crisis. If you are waiting for a better time for crisis to strike, please be patient in this city/country for it will be rewarded

I appreciate the humanity in you and the respect you have for those who can only vent their frustration this way but have to get on with their daily life because their life depends on just that.

--
With due respect to all those people who have laid their lives down to protect the human life that was under fire in South Bombay, I have some questions for those who are congregating at the so called 'ground zero' (we/the media are so at loss of sentiments and associated vocabulory in
this country that we HAVE to copy sentiments from elsewhere).

The media is being held accountable on other grounds too as you might read here
http://calamur.org/gargi/2008/12/02/week-1-post-2611-the-peddlers-of-dea
th-the-media/

Since the last few days, the 'educated well read intelligentsia and intellectual' people have been focusing only one issue - going to the Taj precincts and raising their voice against the political classes, organizing protest marches or what have you.
Doesn't anyone realise that this very act of going to the South - to the area that has been in focus for the attacks - has turned this so called mass movement into a very fragmented deal?

NO ONE in any other part of this city have really felt the impact of this attack.
There are no movements in any other 'class' of society - be it the laborers or the slum dwellers or the original residents of the city or anyone who lives up North.
There are no angry protests anywhere else but down South.

The working class has gone back to their daily grind of this city, the crush and rush of the trains and buses and the labor class has returned to their daily bread earning ways.

Amongst the dwellers of any other part of this city, from Dadar onwards towards the north - there is NO REPORT of a single gathering amongst them to do something on the lines of what folks are trying to do in South Bombay - raising their voice against those who are to have caused
this mass murder.
Either they have gathered and the media didn't find it worthy of reporting, or they didn't show any solidarity.

People from walks of life like theater, cinema and media and the so called high-society and corporates who have, in a way, been the key targets of this act - (you don't excect a daily wage earner to be going to the Taj every day do you?) - several of such folks live even in the
areas of Bandra, Andheri, Goregaon.

Why have there been NO MOVEMENTS at all in these parts of the city then?

Why don't the common working class, the so called vote banks of the suburbs of the city and elsewhere, feel the same pain?
the slum dwellers or the daily wage earner in the parts of the city I live in up North have no inkling of any damage that they themselves would have felt.
They would have felt only a little bit of glee that - good, now what has been happening to people like us is now happening in the high society.

You see, this problem and its impact has remained only amongst those of us who probably are on FB, or Orkut, those who use the Internet regularly to connect with people, mostly the 'pseudo' intellegentsia like you and me, the reporters of newspapers or the honchos of the corporate world. The rest are living in the land of their daily bread.

Unless these so called common folks of this city and its suburbs, whom the politicos seemingly represent through their vote banks do not feel the pinch, this movement has no impact and there will be NO CHANGE.

You might go all the way to the south of this city, raise a few slogans, have coffee at the hotels and cafe that were razed, and come back feeling smugly satisfied that you did your bit and the world will change... you are all SO WRONG

Tell me show me, report for me please on your blaring media outlets - how many of those daily wage earners will come to the Taj side today and protest in the language of the intellegentsia - English?
how many of these common people will even bother, for they have to go to their work again tomorrow and they will have no choice but to get back home for a new day.

You think you all have the power to change the way these vote banks will think?
I would like to see evidence of that happening.

Only then, I, the angry frustrated and shameless and helpless middleclass resident of this city, will feel the surge of encouragement in me, that NOW I can say change of even 0.01% will be felt BY ME in my daily life.

Only then my dear fellow citizens can we, as Indians, feel that this event has triggered some movement.

Otherwise, this will remain an event an isolated march to protest for a
change which will die down, come the party time of 25th - 31st Dec 2008.

--
Via Email

ya devi sarvabhuteshu...

As I watch the myriad evil events that happen all over the world by so called terrorist elements, I go back into Hindu mythology to the point when Mahamaya Devi Durga and Devi Kali’s stories originate.

Tales of those times when Mahishasura the asura who could take any form and more so that of a buffalo and his counterparts Raktabeeja come to mind.

Raktabeeja represents the same forces that we see today that are coming in more numbers every day.

The havoc by these demonic forces were so great then that it actually brought ALL the residents of their worlds together – the devas, the sages, the yakshas et al, and it was with their UNITED power that Devi Durga got her form, and each of her weaponry from their individual weapons.

See any similarity in our current times and what needs to be done?

an appeal to all corporate captains and media

With due respect to all the comparisons we all will end up doing with the US 9/11, we have to get out of the rhetoric that Indians take to so easily, esp. the media and maybe even some CEOs as heard saying that one can't stop such an attack even if prepared well.
We all know how much of self interest we Indians are really about, there can be no doubt about this aspect, not that other nations are not, but the Indian mentality has been exposed this time.

The solidarity, the anger and frustration that we see today, that the media tends to fuel oftener, needs to last individually in us for more than 4 weeks, which is the minimum time after which the short term attention span, we all are bestowed with, kicks in. If this anger for a change can last in us for more than 4 weeks, we can go ahead and really act on some change.

You realize that it is only the defence forces in India that today can comfortably take pride in being united and save the nation and those are the ones who really inspire us, not our bungling, corrupt and inept politicians and cops. In parallel we have the beureaucrats who join the services to eventually become servants of these politicians that they don't stand loyal to the position they come to represent.
The defence forces are the only ones we can proudly say, run with professionalism in them like the corporate world and hence are successfully able to achieve their targets.

We, the educated class who have become the silent majority, out of due respect for equality or simply due to our own selfish interests, have allowed all the village bumpkins to come to town in sheer numbers and go about beating their drums and blowing trumpets cementing their position in politics thereby catering to their own self interests with no idea of progress and professionalism.

As corporate India today has witnessed an attack in its own house, at the higher level, if a lot of pressure goes on to the government from the corporate houses, backed by all their employees who desperately need this change, things can really change.

A common man might not be able to lead from the fore in today's times like M. K. Gandhi did way back then.

I could be one of those few of us, if not all, who are really angry, who want to take action in our own hands, as I have heard that things will go back to being the same soon if action is not taken NOW.
But if the nation really needs a change, that growth happen in this nation, and that we really are able to utilize the human capital that we have, and make India a proud nation to lead the 21st century, private industries and their captains have to rise up and take charge of the change that the politicians are simply denying us from by their corrupt, inept and tiresome ways.

The Indian vote bank politics has to change and the biggest change I see is by educating the illiterate, uneducated members of the vote banks, by breaking down the loyalties of the vote banks, the slum dwellers of all cities, and all such set ups that contribute to the vote bank.

Today they are the ones who outnumber us, the silent educated majority, in their sheer growing numbers, and they are the ones who need to be made to realize their folly in electing corrupt politicians.

Thanks to all the corporate honchos for putting forth your views on this topic with the government to bring in some change but an action is very much warranted before you let things take their own course. There is much to say here, and much much more to show in terms of examples that underscore the lacunae in the system that has brought one huge mishap on this nation. We are all aware of the anger and frustration, that it could have side effects on people/employees who could lose their balance trying to make sense of where we go from here.

Hope this message goes out to all who can bring this change now - those with the economic power and will - or we will end up with higher collateral damage the next time.
Going by the number of responses this event has got, lets take action on these sooner than just write about it. I would ensure some action on my part in this direction.

Just adding a hand to this churn of anguish and pain so that maybe some amrut of positive action may emerge from it.