My CWG Experience

Yesterday, I went to JLN Stadium to watch athletics. First time in my life, I watched sports live in a stadium. I am not going to write that I have to walk 5-6 Km to get inside the stadium. I will not crib that there were no dustbins placed outside stadium for entire walk of 5 Km. I will not complain that there were lots of garb outside eating joints and not properly managed. i will rather share my happy moment inside the stadium.

I did not anticipated about huge crowd and long walk so I reached 20 min late inside stadium from schedule time 5.30 pm. While I was passing through 2-3 layers of security check (lost Rs. 6 worth coin as coins were not allowed inside stadium :P ), there were huge roar coming out from stadium. At that time, I just wanted to get inside and was angry on police men for such tight security (though it was necessary and police were quite cooperative) . Finally I reached inside !!!!!!!!

Stadium - What a beauty !!! Huge, Lovely, Awsome, Fantabulous ............ by 7 o clock stadium was packed and only sad part that VIP and high price ticket galaries were not fully occupied. but nevetheless, for a capacity of 60,000 crowd and if 50,000 spectators were there to watch athletics. It was great for CWG, despite not many people know the rules of events like high jump, discus throw, long jump, etc etc.

Simultaneously, many events were going on... apart from various kind of race, there were high jump (women), Long jump (women) and Men's discuss throw !!! Luckily in all three non-racing events, Indian players were participating. Whenever an Indian player came to do his bit, Sound of cheer for the player probably could be heard well outside the stadium. The atmosphere was not electrifying throughout but whenever Indian palyers came into the scene it was not less than a cricket match.

About stadium infra, I first time saw a camera mounted on rail track covering the running events. there was a small robot car, ferrying the disc of discus throw. there was one camera hanging on a rope and shotting from top of the stadium. Two giant screen were showing miniature details of sports... the green grass and light red color track was kind of ' "Sone pe Suhaga" ...Only missing items were that there were no DJ, no Drums, no loud music ... at the end of day, India got two silvers in athletics one in discus throw by Vikas gowda and one in women's long jump. there was one Indian girl who competed in 800 m race (heat round 3), the crowd appreciated her most as from the first step, she maintained her lead till the end of 800 meter and made her entry into finals of that event.

Good things about spectators that they stood up whenever there was anthem song of gold medal winning country's were played. My friend Rahul's father still have the tickets of Asiad games held in delhi, I am also going to preserve my ticket !!!

While coming out of stadium, I was saying to Rahul that India has won mostly medals in those events which you can related with fight (ladai-jhagda) like shooting, boxing, wrestling than Rahul said what Gandhiji might be thinking that he wanted our country as peace loving country and we are winning medal in events which you can't relate with peace and we laughed !!! Never mind, as these are just games and good to see that Indian sports person are getting recognition otherwise except cricket you dont know the name of sports persons.

I could not get hockey match's ticket but watched last 7-8 min match outside the stadium on giant screen and when final whistle blown, huge cheer for India !!!!

Journey with a German

On Sunday evening (29th Aug), I was traveling from jaipur to gurgaon by train in the evening. in my compartment a german born austrian resident was sitting. as only angrej in the compartment, every passerby passengers were staring him. before i start my story, let me take you through what happened in my home town 8-10 days back.

There were college election in rajgarh college, some students attacked DSP, Kotwal of police deptt. three of them were seriously injured and admitted to hospitals in jaipur. Police arrested 19 students (according to unconfirmed news mostly were not students, they were part of group). All students belonged to one particular community, very dominated in my area and nearby. So one of the tallest leader of that community, and sitting MP ( not from my constituency) came to Rajgarh and protested against police. They sat on dharna on Railway tracks on the same date i was travelling.

so come back to angrej story.. Train stopped at Bandikui Rly Station (30 km from my hometown). Now this german guy stepped out of train and was wondering why train stopped. I went to him, smiled and then told that there are some technical issues with tracks. After that we started some general conversation as I also getting bored. after 30 min he asked again what's exact problem. so I described like this
me : there are some political protest by students and they are sitting on tracks, not allowing trains to pass through. this kind of protest are very common and probably are not good sign of democracy.
Angrej : really, in Europe, we have to give advance notice for protest and we are not allowed to stop the public transport. But I think you have more freedom here that you can raise your voice. I also believe that there are problem employment and poverty. I have read that after 60 years of independence Indian government is not able to solve this problem. People lives in hell situation.

this discussion went on, I took balanced approach. Train was still at bandikui station. we both got tired and went inside our compartment. and some further discussion from politics to caste, society, corruption etc...

me: how strong is family and marriage as an institution for you or in Europe.
Angrej: my family members are like my friend. I took advices from them but it is upto me to take it or not. I am not dependent on them. we all sat together and dine. during my childhood, my mom used to stop me where i am going and with whom.. but not now.. its not necessary for me to get married for having child. but there is a catch as pregnancy case on rise at earlier age. a child is becoming parent, bad for our society. I think we need to correct this situation.. What about you??
me: family are utmost important for us, We take family's permission and suggestion for a big decision. though in large city area where intellectual people are more they opt for nuclear family... trying to adopt european culture.. for a normal indian, its tough to get marry with a girl of his choice.. family has to accept that.. but now things are changing..
angrej: why you are saying that people are attracting towards european culture.. is it bad? people should have independence.
me: there is nothing wrong with your system because its working for you.. but it cant be for us.. if we try to inculcate the european culture.. neither we will be european nor indian.. he laughed and same me...
some futher discussion on those line than shifted to Asian countries and their power.. by this time we spent two and half hour at Bandikui Rly Station. finally train started...

me: I dont perceive pakistan as a threat to our nation but definitely from China.. Thanks God we have nuke weapons, which we called as weapon of peace.. Due to that we have peace on our borders.. But china got guts and any day they can encroach upon us. No europe and US can stop them..
Angrej : got some josh, you think nukes are good, my country doesnt have. but we are doing fine...you think that china can come and drop bomb on you, its a global era.. European and US will step forward and will stop anyway this kind of situation.
me: China has got more than 1 trillion USD on USA. think how much power they have.. I dont think Europe have got that power to oust China..China is causing petty troubles daily. but not direct confrontation due to the fact that we also got some nukes.
Angrej: its crazy man, why you think that.. whats the need of this..
me: During Indira Gandhi's first instinct as PM, we had to face shortage of food grains.. not many countries came forward to help. We didnt have good relation (not even normal) with USA. after the first bomb test, world took us seriously. and our situation improved after 1998 bomb test.. and after that we have never looked back. Every country want to have business and political relations with us. which was not a condition prior to that.. Though we are IT Superpower.. but bomb test opened the gate for us...
Angrej: (got more crazy after listening to me) let me tell you the fact, We European have purely business relation with India. do you think that we are interested in 100% indian population. Europe doesnt care about 95% of indian population. They are only interested in 5% of population. which have enough money to buy are product...
me: Dont worry they will be interested in 100%, we are on the verge to become developed nation. whatever may be the reason, Indian voices are being heard globally. Thats more than satisfactory for me..

My destination arrived, I shook hand with him ( we didnt ask each other's name) and told that Earth is round, we will meet again somewhere................

My journey with technology

Recently some of tweeple junta was putting forward their views about windows 7. I was thinking how quickly technology is changing. It has been 10 years since I started using a desktop computer. It was during my first year of engineering (1999) when I first hold the mouse. It was a Windows 95 operating system. Starting few months we didn't go to computer centre due to ragging. So only after diwali I used computers. My classmate Avinash shaw helped me to create my first e-mail id on yahoo. It took around 1 hr as net speed was too slow at that time. Though majority of students learned basic of computers during their school but our case was different. Most of Rajasthan board Hindi medium students saw PC in Engg College only.
Both Windows 95 and Windows 98 were used along with unix also. During my four year stint in Engg College I saw many OS like windows millennia edition, windows 2000, Windows NT but I liked windows 98 most. We also used Netscape navigator for browsing purpose also, probably it's not used today. There were few students in my class, who knows in and out of OS and PC very well. In fact those guys helped a lot to maintain our department lab and computer centre.

During second year we became addicted to chatting. Yahoo chat room was commonly used among students. My friend Gaurav goyal (naam rashi :) was the guy who spent time on chatting more than any of us. We made many fake profiles and entered in different-2 chat room. It was good experience. Chatting with friends happened after college only as my other friends were not in touch with computers.
By the time we entered in third year, a few of my friends bought personal computer in hostel rooms. We didn't have LAN in hostel at that time so computer were used to watch movies only. We used to see movie in group with lot of hulla gulla. Slowly-2 people shifted to Windows XP as we are mastered in copying the OS without paying. If I am correct, XP ran quite longer time compare to other previous OS. At the end of third year (2001-02), mobile services started in jaipur by BSNL. A few of my friends bought mobile phone in final year and most common use of mobile were SMSing as initially BSNL kept SMS free and call rates were exorbitantly high. Due to this free SMS and congestion, if someone sent a SMS - 'coming for lunch' that used to deliver after finishing the lunch. Due to this problem they started charging SMS. Digital cameras were also not common at that time, so most of friends have that reel based camera.
In my company I used laptop (HP-Compaq) first time and bought my first mobile in Dec 2003. After college, social networking sites became new theme. I joined orkut quite late as internet uses were restricted in my organization. Due to non-availability of softcopy of my college day's pics I couldn't upload those pics on orkut. It's quite tough to connect all of your batch mates after college. I have connected many of my class mates but still some are off the radar. Suddenly yahoo chat disappeared and gmail rocked the world.
A rapid change has happened during last one and half year in IIMK. I addicted to twitter and facebook. Made profile on number of social networking sites. Working on Windows vista on my own laptop though I found vista is worst OS so far. It's going to be exciting as technology changing at very fast rate. I will try to keep abreast of latest technology now on.

Mumbai or Bombay? What's in the name?

“Ae dil hai mushkil jeena yaha jara hat kar jara bach kar yeh hai bambai meri jaan” A song from old hindi classic ‘CID’ which and many other song depicts the true character of the city. I have to take care of now as I can’t sing this song in my country, because there is no city in India named as ‘BOMBAY’. Recently released ‘Wake up Sid’ has entangled in the controversy over using Bombay 12 times in movie instead of Mumbai. Producers have done the biggest sin on the earth. Biggest surprise was the way the producer has repented by apologizing to the self proclaimed GOD of Marathis.
After 62 years of Independence, What kind of law and order situation prevails in our country, I am pointless. If someone has any problem with the use of word ‘Bombay’ than there is police and court to report that objection but as they are the self posted whole sole leader of Marathis, their ego hurts if they go to police and court, according to them it should be other way round.
From the K-Jo’s and Film unit’s point of view, if there movie screening has been installed than they should have gone to police. But they choose the safest option to drive through the residence of chief. Producer apologized to him, God became happy as it shows the strong position they hold in the state.
Why there is so much fuss about name of the city? Are we not confident that if we continue with the name given by angrej to city, our culture/patriotism will vanish? Ok, now the name has changed, but is there any rule or ban by law not to use old name, than change the name of IIT BOMBAY, IIT MADRAS and many other.
Though, it’s true that we should not hurt the sentiments of masses especially this theory apply to the public figure but what about freedom of expression? Next time each producer should have a special screening before release to these powerful people, and should secure their blessing. Otherwise it is tough to run their show.
If someone wants to start political career in my state Rajasthan, what should be his/her entry strategy. They should invoke sentiments of masses. There is one trap in Rajasthan; there are different dialects in Rajasthan – Hadauti, Shekhawati, Marwari, Mewari etc. So based on language the invoking sentiments will be tough task. So what can be other point?

A Visionary Leader - We need you a lot

One of my role model Mr. E Sreedharan, Padma Vibhushan, Chief of Delhi Metro has resigned today. Today is a sad day for delhi for two reason. first it was third mishap on delhi metro since its inception caused five casualty so far and second due to resignation of Mr Sreedharan.

At the age of 77, he is serving for people of this country. As far as I know, he has done a gr8 job in developing Konkan Railways and Delhi metro against all odds. In India where bureaucratic hurdles delays each project, he has shown that a world class infrastructure can be developed in our country. We are not entitled to be called as third world country.

Having worked closely with government department I know how a project complets and reach its end. I am not sure but when government started Delhi metro project way back in late nineties, they approached mr E sreedharan. I heard that he put some conditions that he should be given free hand in all area of metro functioning, no bureaucratic hurdles, no political interfere and result is in front of us.

He has shown to the our fellow countrymen as well as other countries that we Indians are not behind other countries। At this age, he deserve a great accolade। He has resigned because DMRC is famous for its safety record and today five labour died in the mishap. He shouldnt have given the resign because it is fault of some other officers in charge but he has taken its moral responsibility. No beaureaucrat has that much courage to do so. They always play safe.

He could give us metro because he has courage, dedication and vision. If delhi govt. accepts his resignation, I am pretty sure that DMRC will not be able to complete its task in time. Compare it with Bangalore metro a project with hell lot of chaos. I mentioned in one of my previous blog that why we cant find a man out of 1.1 billion population who is comparable to Mr E sreedharan.

I think delhi junta should come forward and ask him to carry out responsibilities till commonwealth games. as far as I concern, I have full faith only in him to finish the project not in any other officer/bureaucrat.

First year at IIM Kozhikode

IIM K Kampus

I have completed one year in IIM K. It has been great learning experience so far. It’s just not academics but overall exposure which was entirely new for me. Due to recession, sometimes I used to think whether I have made right choice to leave a reputed government job. But when I look back I feel that I have made very much correct decision. Prior to IIM life I had monotonous job, daily going to office, doing same job for more than 4 years and came back to room in the evening. It’s very difficult to conclude what I have achieved in last one year in B-School. One thing which I found unique in B-school especially in IIMs that your colleagues in institute are not from common set of people, they have different age group, different education background and work experience. Compare to my engineering college everything I find here is extraordinary whether classroom or hostels, facilities and infrastructure. I feel very proud studying here in such a healthy environment after doing my schooling in typical government schools. Teaching methodologies are very much in contrast with engg college. Class participation gives us so much power to share our ideas with professors which were missing in my graduate college. I feel that my communication skills have improved slightly and become more confident in speaking to others. Hope this learning curve will steep rise further. My performance in academics is below my expectations, it’s improving but not same as during engineering days. I am trying hard and not disappointed.

Cooperation among students are amazing, those who know a subject better never hesitate to share their knowledge with others. Internet especially IP messenger is life line at K. Festivals are being celebrated with full josh and vigour here. My days at K have made me very flexible in terms of sleeping; I can manage with 3 hour sleep and also can go on for more than 10 hour. I have started running first time in my life (coz gained some weight). Studying in library was new for me as we didn’t go to our engg library except for book collection. Parties at K are best across the campuses.

Still lot to do, would like to participate and win some competition. Hopefully I will utilize my remaining 283 days in my college.

Challenges for new government : Foreign Policy

India is euphoric about thumping victory of UPA for its clean sweep. Most of people are happy as Left is left out and government will functioning without any hindrance. Even bulls returned in stock market with a bang. But as the dawn settle before PM swearing, there are few immediate challenges which India government have to take care according to my understanding.
Over the years our relations with neighboring country have been sour. Each neighbour is facing problem in its turf.
a) Pakistan: Most unstable country in the region is a new democracy, where is fight going on in order to save democracy. US has dropped Indian concern while giving billion dollar annual aid. It will be tough for Indian diplomats to keep a good rapport with Obama administration. We are not able to exert pressure on Pakistan regarding 26/11 attacks.
b) Nepal: Only Hindu country in the past and a new democracy. Only good things happened there that maoist has renounced the violence and now they are in main stream. But problem is the increasing relation with China and Nepal. Recent removal of Nepal Army Chief controversy has done a damage to indian foreign diplomacy. At least we should have the best relation with this tiny Himalayan country.
c) Sri Lanka: Aftermath of LTTE fall, onus is on India to take care of ethnic Tamil issues. India should look that these srilankan tamilians get honorable citizenship, equal rights and resources. These people should become the part of main stream as divide between singhalies and Tamilians are mammoth.
d) Bangladesh: The country which was created by us is creating problem. The terror camp, support to ULFA, the refugees problem, water sharing are the important area of concern.
e) Afghanistan: Though India have strong relation with this country. As taliban is emerging again, we should continue cooperate with Mr Hamid Karzai government. Its an important nation for our foreign policy.

Other than that relation with USA, China, EU and Russia will be interesting to watch.

Road ahead is full of thorn. It will be interesting to see How Indian government reacts to these issues in next 100 days.

All the best to new government.