Resilience – an abused word

I am sad, disgusted, confused. I get madder as I watch the news. I feel helpless. There are a million questions/thoughts in my head. Who are these guys?? What religion teaches you to kill innocent people?? Are these people even fit to be called human?? I wonder what is it that these animals want?? A part of me says – whatever it is just give it to them… nothing is worth a hundreds of lives and the sense of insecurity that has become a part of our lives…


The other part of me wants to stand up and tell these %^*^^&& to get out of my country and let me live in peace. A part of me looks to my government and implores it to do something about the vulnerable country that we have become. I now hate the words like resilience and phrases like “spirit of India”. I now feel that it is an excuse to not do anything about these attacks. I now do not want the country and me to forget about this in a few days and get on with life. I definitely do not want life to go back to “normal”. I want to be like the Americans who still haven’t forgotten the 9/11 attacks and bombed a couple of countries in their supposed quest for the culprits. I don’t want India to go that far. But I also do not want my country and the politicians to become the “peace loving” country that we love to be. I want the politicians to remember that the number of people who died are not just a statistical number but they meant the world to someone. I want the same politicians to remember that tomorrow it could be them. I do not want to listen to things like intelligence failure. I do not want the lives of the people who died fighting these terrorists go in vain. I want the law makers of this country to now to something to take the bulls by the horns. I want to now become like an Israel or maybe even like the Arab world. I almost believe that an eye for an eye is the only thing that works. I want these jerks to be scared of even thinking of attacking my country. I do not want India to become like some of the countries I do not want to visit due to fear of safety. I do not want my foreign friends to ask me if it was safe to travel to India. Most of all I want each one of to stand up and say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!

Read more...

The Young Guns of India

Yes this title is taken from one of my favourite movies, and like that movie, this blog is dedicated to the generation next or the Young India as its being termed now. A couple of days back I was reading the results of a survey on the youth in different parts of the world on a website. It mentioned that the Indian youth were the happiest, focused on work and the most optimistic about the future as compared to the youth of the rest of the world. The survey ironically was done by a Swedish agency.

Then a couple of days back the Indian cricket team won the world cup. Well the cricket team features yet again, but this time it’s not cynicism, but pure admiration for the way they won the cup. They were fearless, brave, calm and played like a team after a long time. It was pure joy to watch the semi-finals and the finals (courtesy the internet and cricinfo), though I didn’t think I would survive the heart attacks that I almost got!! It was more special since we put the Aussies at their place and a win against Pakistan is always special (looks like that record will take a while to break). The celebrations all across the country are warranted for, as the cup comes to us after 24 years, and no one really knows when the next time will be. It’s a pity that I am far away from all the fun in India, and have given up on explaining to the Swedes, the part that cricket plays in our lives!!

A lot has been said about Dhoni, and the team playing fearlessly, enjoying what they do and not being bogged down by the past etc, and I find no sense in repeating it here. To me it’s a reflection of how “Young India” is. And I see it everyday, especially now that I am here in Sweden and I can appreciate the difference between the youth of the two countries and hence two very different cultures. People here get surprised when my colleagues and I (all below 30) talk to them about various aspects of business and get involved in decision making. They cannot imagine how kids are sent for such important assignments, and get all the more bewildered when I tell them that it’s a common feature in the company to give responsibility to youngsters, more so because the average age of the employees of the company is around 26. That shocks them beyond belief!! Almost all of them who have visited India talk of the young people there, how educated they are, and how they are willing to stretch, and how seriously they take their careers, this apart from complaining about the traffic there!! While it’s nothing unusual for me; after living here, I can understand why it shocks them. Most people here start taking their careers seriously only after they turn 30 or more. And even when people work, the attitude to work is very different from what it is in India. Here work is as aptly put by a Swedish colleague, a method to sustain their hobbies; very different from India, where it’s a social symbol, a means to a good living and a lot more…. Obviously when these people meet 22 year olds who know exactly what they want, and are prepared to work hard and take all possible chances to get there, they do a complete somersault!!

While at one hand when I look around here, I feel these people here are lucky not to have as many people as we have in India making their lives easier and more content, on the other hand I feel I am lucky to be born in India in this era. Its good to be a part of the club termed as an achiever, fearless and willing to go all the way!! It’s possible that all this due to the excessive competition that we face from childhood that makes us aggressive and give our all out to win. Maybe the fact that “if not me, then someone else is going to take my place”, or maybe its only because we live in a society where education, the kind of work someone does, the kind of money someone earns decides his or her social standing that propels us to give it our best and not fear from taking risks to win.

Whatever the reasons are, I feel it will do us good in the long run. Its already proved by the Indian economy doing so well, the rupee rising, the sensex being around the 17K mark, a lot of Indians abroad wanting to get back, some Swedish colleagues of mine expressing interest to work in India and now even with us doing so well in Hockey, soccer and winning the world cup!!

PS: I am aware of the contradictions in the previous blog and this one on Indian cricket… cannot help it, I am the original fickle Indian cricket fan!! Also wanted to spew venom against that statement made by Shoaib Mallik, but then let it pass, since its either a reflection of his poor English, or ignorance or pathetic thinking - in any case, completely unworthy of any comment.

Read more...

Contradictions Galore

A new Indian, or desi as we call ourselves here, has come to Skelleftea recently, and as always, I treated (read dragged) him to my famous 5 km walk by the river, on our walk he threw a wrapper on the road… and this became the topic of discussion on the dinner table… how conscious are we as nation towards cleanliness of our environment??

The answer comes easy to all of us, since we do walk/drive on streets with out eyes wide open – its there for all to see!! It’s amazing how we Indians generally insist on keeping our houses spic and span, but don’t follow the same rules when it comes to the streets…..most of us do not think twice before throwing something on the streets without a care for what will become of it, how unhygienic it is, or what impression it would create on the minds of foreigners coming to visit one of the fastest growing economy...we don’t care since its not our house getting dirty!!!

One major excuse that I get to hear whenever this comes up is that there is a lack of infrastructure (read sufficient dustbins), but come on guys, how much of an effort is it, to keep the wrapper, or any other kind of garbage with you until you find a garbage can and then just dump it… its basically just a mindset issue… on my last visit to Cochin, the burning issue was the garbage disposal system, and I am not exaggerating but there was an ever-growing pile of plastics bags full of rubbish every 100 mtrs on the streets.. The whole city was stinking and there was a hue and cry created on this issue, which finally needed the intervention of the high court…well yes the blame was put on the municipal cooperation, but what do they do in a state where almost no land is owned by the government and everyone is ready to go on a strike for just about nothing….I saw some really well dressed people, living in beautiful big houses come early morning and throw their bags on the street … the question on my mind was that hadn’t they heard of the age old method of disposing waste - the decomposition pit!! You don’t really need a court to tell you something which is basic common sense…but then again common sense is not so common after all…

The amazing thing to see, is that these same very people who have no regard for the surroundings in India, become an epitome of following rules in every aspect when go abroad, so much so that they surpass that the locals living there ( my friend was an exception though)…the heartrending thing is that we have become so insensitive to the whole issue in India that we don’t even notice it as a problem …its only when you come abroad do you see a stark difference…. its not that the Swedes are extra clean, they are far from it….its there for anyone who wakes up and takes a walk early in the morning before the cleaning happens – there are beer bottles and wrappers everywhere. They have the advantage of being so scarcely populated for the place and the money they have that they can afford to look spic and span despite not being that… We don’t have that in India, so isn’t it as dutiful citizens our duty to keep it clean?? I know it’s a fairly basic issue but then shouldn’t we get the basics right before we aim for the stars??

PS: I know a lot of us are conscious about what we do.. this is targeted at the other 75% of the population

Read more...

Breathe free... You are born in a free country!!

At the breakfast table today, we had a long discussion with the Vikings on India’s independence. Surprisingly the Swedes are very aware of the Indian Independence story a little bit due to us talking about it for days, but more so because it’s been in Swedish papers and the TV channels here are showing Hindi movies this whole week!! (Pity I am missing it all because I am in Finland this week)

During the course of these discussions, when we talked about Sweden, Finland, their development as a country, a few things just struck me deep, and I was proud I was born in a free country – free in every sense of the word.

Sweden for example got its freedom of religion as late as 1950 in spite of never being ruled by someone else. It basically meant that anyone born on Swedish land would automatically be Christian. I was taken aback by that concept, since I could not fathom a life like that; where I would not get a right to practice any religion I wanted to. It made me appreciate the true meaning of being born in a secular country, and no I am not denying that there are numerous riots that happen in the country in the name of religion, but still for a country diverse in every aspect of societal norms, most times we coexist peacefully. There are yet some other countries, where the freedom of press and speech is an alien concept, and in some orkut is banned ( poor those guys), when I think of living in such places, is when I realize how important freedom is. And most times, you are free in India (except for when some crazy people try and be the moral police)

Another thing that I realized when the Swedes talked of 1930s being recent was that how young we are as a nation - I am ignoring the long history of the pre- independence era, since we were not free and definitely not one country. And when I realized that, I grew immensely proud of what we have achieved as a country in this short span of time despite the three wars. For a country which is just 60 years old the economic growth that we have had is worth mentioning, specially the past 4-5 years have been really good for India, with everything going its way, be it a string of acquisitions putting India business houses on the global map, or the Indian movie industry stars gracing Madam Tussauds in their statue forms.

Not that I believe totally in the “India shining” story, or that I believe that we have truly arrived , and I know we have miles to go before we are called a developed nation, before we can be close to a developed country…but like the rang de basanti dialogue goes - koi bhi desh perfect nahi hota, usse perfect banana padhta hai…..

Read more...

Billiards anyone?

I still remember the day I landed here in Sweden sometime in February, to a small place called Skellefteå( pronounced as Shell-ef-teo). Everything I saw was white, from the ground to the trees to even the sea and the rivers!! I couldn't’ imagine as much snow anywhere and what amazed me more is people going outdoors to have fun in all that snow. I remember while driving to Bodo (North of Norway), where all I could see were mountains covered with snow, and amidst all that snow, far away, I would find a tiny “thing” moving, and would discover it’s a person skiing, fishing or simply taking a walk! At first I did think they were crazy! But then I realized that it was simply a way of life...

The Swedes are sports, nature and outdoor lovers, and six months of winter gives them no other option but to welcome the winters and the snow with open arms. And that’s precisely what they do – skiing, ice hockey, snow mobiles, dog sledging, curling, you name it and they have it. I didn’t even know of the existence of a game called curling, let alone there being an Olympic championship for it. Coming from a country where cricket is (or should I say was after the world cup debacle) an obsession and where Rediff till very recently had different sections for sports and cricket, how could I be blamed for my ignorance!

It’s a different experience to be among people, who give sports and outdoors as much importance as the Swedes do. It’s amazing to see how children are encouraged by their parents to be a part of at least one sport along with their studies. I guess it’s the fact that the parents know that the children do not need to worry about their future and that the government will take care of him, and the fact that the child will not be looked down upon, if he is not as good in studies but plays ice hockey, or soccer or something else. I am sure that there are exceptions in India as well, but they sure are few and far, and that too in very few sports. I guess its all a matter of security and what the future holds for people in sports, especially when the media of the country goes ballistic over the highs and the lows of the Indian Cricket team, and is obsessed with Sania Mirza’s T-Shirts, but doesn’t really bother about the likes of Viswanathan Anand, Rajyavardhan Rathore and Joshna Chinappa (does anyone even know where Geet Sethi is??).

Yet while I am here I cannot help but wonder and feel despondent, on why amongst a population of over a billion, we cannot consistently produce a world class team or a sportsman, be it in cricket, soccer, hockey or anything else.

Read more...