From TOP to STOP!

Sometimes, I think writing is a gift....it really is. It relieves me of my stress, my anxiety, my fear. I write these posts not for people but for myself. If they read then I’ll be happy, If not there is no reason to be sad. When i write these posts, I forget about the viva, the trimester that hangs like a sword or even those boring to-be-attended lectures. All I am, is a spectator watching the entire show from a distant eye. It's beautiful! how you can be so attached, yet so detached from the world. It's 11.37 and I feel no fear....for that exam, for that viva or for that trimester. At this moment, it's just me and this world. With all it's complexities and chaos, I still think…. it's beautiful! People are running like crazy. All want to be at the top. Top of their class, top of their profession and as a matter of fact, top of the class CGPA. In this rat race, what people miss to see are those subtle beauties of life.....that one cute smile, that one soft whisper, that one golden moment of silence that seems to stretch infinitesimally. All you need to do to watch this magnum opus is to say "STOP!" Let the time freeze. Let there be no bondage's....no accounts, no stats, no OB, no pesky little room partners, no nagging teachers, no girlfriends and neither any boyfriends. Precisely at this moment, you would be in tune with the world. The art is not in getting  away from the world but rather getting in tune with the world, a tune long forgotten.....

(And yet again, some sheep have flocked my room breaking my flow…..TO HELL WITH THIS…..Sometimes I think people are Violent even in subtlest of terms. Consciously or subconsciously WE ARE DESTRUCTIVE….and when we have nothing to destroy, we destroy time! Reading the Question papers and saying that I don’t know ANYTHING isn’t going to help. Stop preaching, start practising. I hate these sheep's.)

2 months at Bimtech…..Kya Khoya Kya Payaa??

It has been 2 months (well…..they will be in a matter of 32 hrs)….2 gruelling/funny/awesome/depressing/repressing months!! Some things i learned in these months are 1. SWOT-> saare bande/bandiyon/companiyon….the whole human race through the eyes of a manager is this – SWOT.

2. Some results reaffirmed my faith in HR as a career option (though I had my fair share of depressions…..something like ZERO placements in this field!)

3. The most important thing that OB (Organizational Behaviour) taught is PERCEPTION. It made me understand that what we ‘understand’ is not what we look, but what we perceive. When I went through the chapter I wanted to climb on the rooftop and shout…….AWESOME! AWESOME!

One of the best lectures of my life was the one conducted by a Mr. K.K. Jain from IIM-I……that day I wanted to climb on the rooftop and shout ….AWESOME! AWESOME! yet again.

BTW….let’s talk about the students. Some are decent, some irritating…..fortunately the decent outnumbering the irritating. My hostel wing is good too (except for a few!) There are some who are very eccentric….we have a decent guy who asks too many questions…a girl who appears to be the decent guys’ sister in terms of her questions. A guy who is set on fire merely by the mention of politics. There’s another one who along with his entire band of boys appears to have everything together, from sutta to studies. I also have a soft target for some fun...his name's KD, that's all I can tell about that nerd....kabhi phursat se aur bhi bataunga.

NOW,you must be anxious to know about the gals….isn’t it?? Well, there are a few good women (yeah….the phrase does bear a resemblance to the famous movie name A FEW GOOD MEN)….The baby faced CR girl (whom I call the Caped Crusader for reasons you wont know or even remotely assume) is always smiling like a bonny girl….but i can tell she’s a fine human being. One of her friends is a super silent types (many people say this about me too – SUPER SILENT….cheeee!)…her speciality is that she always sits with such a straight back in the class, that sometimes I just wanna scream out – HOW DO YOU DO THAT??? I tried it for an hour and was writhing in pain on my bed for rest of the day. GOSH!!! Albeit she too appears to be a a very fine person.

I think that’s enough for today……also because some distraction has broken my though process. I’ll see ya next time I’m sad……(I write only when I am sad. All my other posts were output of PRE and POST CAT depression.

BTW: Till now i have only told a fraction of the Payaa Part……rest of Payaa and Khoyaa is left! What type of writing style is this? MBA karo phir pataa chalega!!

Col. Harish Puri's open letter to Gen Kayani.

This is the letter that Col. Harish Puri addressed to Gen Kayani. Apart from the diplomacy and politics involved, this letter is surely the panache of writing. Impeccable use of Vocabulary and exuding the sheer intensity of Gen. Puri's thoughts, the letter would go down as one of the most marvellous letters ever written in English.

                     An open letter to Gen Kayani 

Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Dear Gen Kayani, 
Sir, let me begin by recounting that old army quip that did the rounds in the immediate aftermath of World war II: To guarantee victory, an army should ideally have German generals, British officers, Indian soldiers, American equipment and Italian enemies. 

A Pakistani soldier that I met in Iraq in 2004 lamented the fact that the Pakistani soldier in Kargil had been badly let down firstly by Nawaz Sharif and then by the Pakistani officers' cadre. Pakistani soldiers led by Indian officers, , he believed, would be the most fearsome combination possible. Pakistani officers, he went on to say, were more into real estate, defence housing colonies and the like. 

As I look at two photographs of surrender that lie before me, I can't help recalling his words. The first is the celebrated event at Dhaka on Dec 16, 1971, which now adorns most Army messes in Delhi and Calcutta. The second, sir, is the video of a teenage girl being flogged by the Taliban in Swat -- not far, I am sure, from one of your Army check posts.

The surrender by any Army is always a sad and humiliating event. Gen Niazi surrendered in Dhaka to a professional army that had outnumbered and outfought him. No Pakistani has been able to get over that humiliation, and 16th December is remembered as a black day by the Pakistani Army and the Pakistani state. But battles are won and lost – armies know this, and having learnt their lessons, they move on. 

But much more sadly, the video of the teenager being flogged represents an even more abject surrender by the Pakistani Army. The surrender in 1971, though humiliating, was not disgraceful. This time around, sir, what happened on your watch was something no Army commander should have to live through. The girl could have been your own daughter, or mine. 

I have always maintained that the Pakistani Army, like its Indian counterpart, is a thoroughly professional outfit. It has fought valiantly in the three wars against India, and also accredited itself well in its UN missions abroad. It is, therefore, by no means a pushover. The instance of an Infantry unit, led by a lieutenant colonel, meekly laying down arms before 20-odd militants should have been an aberration. But this capitulation in Swat, that too so soon after your own visit to the area, is an assault on the sensibilities of any soldier. What did you tell your soldiers? What great inspirational speech did you make that made your troops back off without a murmur? Sir, I have fought insurgency in Kashmir as well as the North-East, but despite the occasional losses suffered (as is bound to be the case in counter-insurgency operations), such total surrender is unthinkable.

I have been a signaller, and it beats me how my counterparts in your Signal Corps could not locate or even jam a normal FM radio station broadcasting on a fixed frequency at fixed timings. Is there more than meets the eye? 

I am told that it is difficult for your troops to "fight their own people." But you never had that problem in East Pakistan in 1971, where the atrocities committed by your own troops are well documented in the Hamoodur Rahman Commission Report. Or is it that the Bengalis were never considered "your own" people, influenced as they were by the Hindus across the border? Or is that your troops are terrified by the ruthless barbarians of the Taliban?

Sir, it is imperative that we recognise our enemy without any delay. I use the word "our" advisedly – for the Taliban threat is not far from India's borders. And the only force that can stop them from dragging Pakistan back into the Stone Age is the force that you command. In this historic moment, providence has placed a tremendous responsibility in your hands. Indeed, the fate of your nation, the future of humankind in the subcontinent rests with you. It doesn't matter if it is "my war" or "your war" – it is a war that has to be won. A desperate Swati citizen's desperate lament says it all – "Please drop an atom bomb on us and put us out of our misery!" Do not fail him, sir.

But in the gloom and the ignominy, the average Pakistani citizen has shown us that there is hope yet. The lawyers, the media, have all refused to buckle even under direct threats. It took the Taliban no less than 32 bullets to still the voice of a brave journalist. Yes, there is hope – but why don't we hear the same language from you? Look to these brave hearts, sir – and maybe we shall see the tide turn. Our prayers are with you, and the hapless people of Swat.

The New York Times predicts that Pakistan will collapse in six months. Do you want to go down in history as the man who allowed that to happen?



The writer is a retired colonel of the Indian army who lives in Pune. Email: hbpuri@hotmail.com

The Making Of: PlayStation

A wonderful article by edge online. It narrates how Sony, battling with both internal and external struggles, created the playstation and beat nintendo at its own game.

http://www.edge-online.com/magazine/the-making-of-playstation

Meri Kitaab!

Iknow! I know! It has been 5 months since i last attended upon this blog (which nobody see's!) Anyways, today is a special day- aaj main apni paheli kitaab likh rela hoon....my first book. It's a science fiction and hopefully, itni buri nahi hogi. Agar koi dekhne ki zehmat uthana chahta hai to he can see it here:

http://www.ifiwereabook.com/BookDisplay.aspx?pid=570

Comments,Ratings and criticisms are welcome. You are also invited to throw shoes and stones at your computer if u feel that the book is utter crap, but mind that I am in no way responsible for the injury caused to your computer screen. Bhagwan aapki raksha kare (May god protect you!)

By the way, Ghajini se to meri book achchi hi hogi...see ya.Bye!

The new name of Nonsense - Ghajini!!

Warning: Watching this movie can cause severe head damage. Viewer discretion is advised. Only people w/o brains shall be able to suffer this cavalry. Incase you survive, you will beg to be a patient of anterograde amnesia so that you can forget this ordeal.

What happens when you blow up a balloon off its limits? It bursts. And that is what happened with my expectations with Ghajini. If you have to look at your watch seven times during a movie, believe me, it's not good for the movie! Half the way through the story, the director actually goofs-up with amnesia and anterograde amnesia! The songs all work in conjuction in slowing down the pace of the already sluggish film. Sometimes, it gives you a feel that you are watching a B grade South Indian film instead of a Hindi one. Rab ne bana di jodi, which till now I considered as  purely idiotic, lest funny, now appears as a box office  blockbuster. Aamir khans growls, just like his family pack body are all plastic. He is brilliant actor, I agree, but he fails to get into the mould of an action hero. 

For people who have already seen momento, the ghajini affair won't even be tolerable. The acumen that the plot of momento possesed is altogether missing from ghajini. After a point it becomes a hero-on-a-vengence-for-lovers-death movie that you have seen a zillion times. The disease itself is unconvincingy potrayed, as if Aamir is selctive of when to forget and when to not. The entire story is fairly predictable. Aamir's way of wrecking havoc over his enemies is indigestible. Asin is good. Jiah, as usual, boring. Aamir echelons lower than the DJ of Rang de Basanti.

The beauty of Momento was its simplicity and intelligensia of the plot. You could easily identify with Guy Pearce's forgetful character, which is not the case with Aamir's. The fim is salted with some cheap comedy with a Shahrukh look-alike which might impress the Reserve and First class audience. A.R. Rehaman's music is a BIG loser. You just can't believe that this is the same person who did the orchestra of Slumdog Millionaire. You won't even understand a word of Prasoon Joshi's lyrics. 

The only impressive scenes are Asin's brutal murder and the penultimate action scenes, because they were done without any gore or blood. Overall, Ghajini fails to impress; rather depresses. Don't waste your money on Ghajini as I did by going first-day-first-show. In the theatre Amir was tearing off his clothes, and outside the theatre I was tearing off my hair!

(..............And which type of person wears muscle clinging short shirts in the corporate world, please clarify!)

 I'll rather suggest to beg, borrow or steal the DVD of Slumdog Millionaire and watch it. Change my name if your heart doesn't jump out with joy after watching Slumdog.  

Sire, it is not a revolt - it is a revolution!

I wanted to write this blog post on 16th november, the day of CAT, describing the Cat-astrophe. But due to some rasons, followed by a terrible turn of events, I wasn't able to do so. For 3 days, I, you and all our countrymen were under siege - the siege that engulfed Chabad, Taj and Oberoi.I won't talk of the facts and figures, as they must be pinned to your memory by now. I am not a bureaucrat or advisor who wants to advise the deaf indian government on what it ought to do, and what it did. This is just the voice of a common Indian, of what he wants to see, of what his newfound bloodthirstiness is about, and  also, of what he can, and will do....

We are thirsty - thirsty for the blood of those who were responsible for the annihilation at TAJ, thirsty for the blood of Afzal Guru, thirsty for the blood of Lashkar-e-toiba and thirsty for the blood of terrorists and those breeding them. A debate's raging in the nation. For the first time people are explicitly vocal against politicians in a unanimous voice. They want immideate results! 

               Sire, it is not a revolt - it is a revolution!

For me, cleanliness and revolution start at home. Today, I was thinking of what I, as an unarmed common man, can do to combat terrorism. The media and newspapers are busy dissecting the political, beureaucratic and intel. failures, but I am concerned with me, and the 1 billion people with 2 billion eyes, and what they can do.Indians are known to be submissive people, they aren't born-fighters (and when they do, they fight for all the wrong reasons.Eg. The NaistoNabood Sena). We will need to progress from "Dehal gayi Mumbai and Seham gaya Bharat"  to "Badla legi Mumbai and Khoon ke aasoon rulayega Bharat." We need to act, and act fast. To aid this these are some of my thoughts: 

1>A PSYCHOLOGICAL mentality, similar to Cold War Soviet Union, or present day Israel -"Remain Vigilant at all times". The armed forces should train people for this. We should know a way to spot the unusual among the usual. The terrorists had videotaped Taj, Chabad House and many other spots in Mumbai. Assume someone vieotaping your home - you WILL enquire him. Assume someone videotaping your country - you now NEED to enquire him.

2>A NO-NEGOTIATION policy against terrorists - It's easy to say, but hard to achieve. I know what I am asking, I am asking you (touchwood! it may never happen) to leave hopes for any negotiation, in case your near and dear one's get in such an ugly situation. This did happen in the IC814 hijacking case, and we had to let go of three dreaded bastards because of it. This one policy will work towards our benefit in the long-term. It will act as the womb of the "fighting-spirit", that I am talking about. People will experience that fearlessness, the same courage that American civilians showed on 9/11 onboard the United 93 flight preventing it from crashing over the White House, because they will not have an option. There will be blood, but all those people would act as a warning to the terrorists - BEWARE! We can Fight, and We can Kill. Secondly, this will also prove to be a deterrant for hostage situations, because if such a policy is in force, the very purpose of holding people at ransom is defeated.

3>Compulsory MILITARY Training - Basic combat moves will help people with their reflexes. If, by chance, you as a hostage, get hold of an AK or even a knife, and have an advantageous position, you should atleast know how to use it. You should know where the Gun's lock is, or how a knife is held and on which part of the body should it be targeted for a sure-shot kill.

4>TERROR for TERRORISTS - It may sound inhuman, but terrorists should be promptly and PUBLICLY executed. Terrorists can take to anything, but not humiliation. They should be executed in full media glare, so that a prospective terrorist should think twice before venturing in any destructive activity.  

People now want to see pro-active actions rather than re-actions. Unfortunately, the government has not been able to give even a proper reaction. The days of political apathy and dilly-dallying are over.People want to see PoK, if not Pakistan,  bombed. We want slain terrorists. 200 people have been killed in the mayhem, don't we have the right to kill one Afzal Guru??

I would like to end this with an advise for those terrorists,

                   If you are a terror to many, beware of many.......