Welcoming guests.. the Indian way!

I met this doctor a couple of days ago! She was working at a reputed hospital in Delhi. Researching cost effective and innovative strategy to heal little kids of serious illnesses like Leukemia, lymphoma. She would stop at every bed side, smile, offer a little something to the child, try to speak in broken hindi, turn around, encourage or counsel the parents and then move on to the next bed.

She would say hi to each sick child she saw in the lobby. What made this extra special was that here was a PHD doctor, still yearning to do more, and yet spending her efforts in a foreign country, loving the people here and trying to improve their lives further. U guessed it right … She was a foreign national, from france really… who came back to make this country her home, and share her best with us. Ironically, we see the reverse with our skilled and competent workforce, who looks for the first opportunity to get out.

It hurt me to see her being treated rashly… All kinds of folks (read rickshaw walas, cab drivers, and even the tea vendor) trying to get an extra buck… exaggerating costs, cracking jokes behind her back (not knowing that she spoke excellent hindi) She seemed to have gotten used to this. She said she had been "inducted" :)

Its not an uncommon site to see this happen in and around Delhi. We are going to play host to the next common wealth games.. are we ready for this? I think in terms of infrastructure we are getting there. But what about us as people? Are we going to be lousy hosts, and bad company? And this was a country of “Athithi devo bhaava..” (Guest is God) … May be time that we pick our threads, and weave out our best behaviour.

May be realize the "Incredible India” campaign.

Apun ki Mumbai ….

Whatever happened to the bindaas Bombay spirit...Oops...... Sorry .. I mean Mumbai Spirit … I remember a time when we had this city , gateway to India, located like a cradle , beside the sea, and opening arms to everyone and anyone who had a dream in his eyes and a wish in his heart.
This is the city where people came to see dreams come true, ambitions roar, and success materialize. The city that gave us the movies that weave magic in our lives, that was the symbol of a growing and leading India.
This proud and integral part of modern India has fallen from its glory… and the fall has been slow and steady .. till it became drastically unnerving…. Unfortunately, most of us downplayed the intensity of events, or were too busy to notice...Did any of us have alarming bells ringing the day Bombay was renamed ‘Mumbai’ ? Did we get it then …? The very fabric of integrity and diversity was being threatened under the grab of regionalism…. Bollywood didn’t react to it … Some even cracked a few jokes about it .... What happened next was easy to predict .. from humari Mumbai, it became Marathi Mumbai… North Indians being beaten up black and blue, not getting jobs, not being treated right. People being reprimanded for speaking in the National Language... Now this was a new height... Since when did state interest come over national interest?
Its not a localized affect… much to the contrary its getting a foothold across the country… Look around you … Madras became Chennai, and Calcutta became Kolkatta.... Will we wait for these places also to be tainted under regional powers and regional discriminations??
We now have people being thrashed around for voicing personal opinions, people being pushed into apologizing for having a view, for free expression. Indians have always been a country of free minded and free voiced people.. If there was anything we could always manage, it’s was free ka advice and free ka opinion! Now even that is threatened.
The government manages to take time investigating and deciding what to do on this as well. If we could ban SIMI for its separatist, and fundamentalist ideology, why cant we do the same for the Sena?
Its time each of us wakes up and makes some noise. Do we want our cultural fabric to be tanned by such dumb witted separatist opinionated folks? Do we wish to be crushed for our opinions, and apologize for free expression?
Or do we wish to take a stand, be heard, roar out aloud and make a difference
Be an Indian…..Speak out now.... “Till Hope Remains”

By Rabindranath Tagore:

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

Yet Again.. a time for promises!

it was the last day of 2009. And like most people I know i was in a contemplative mood.. What was the last year all about? What did I learn? What have I accomplished? What opportunities did I miss? Honestly, on the professional front things seemed pretty dim! .. Peanuts for increments, too much work, no promotions as per policy this year.. blah blah blah ! But before I got too depressed, I decided to shift gears and look at the personal front !... Things were brighter this side.... ! Assets had been added, Relations had been rebuild, Old differences resolved...Very encouraging!.. Infact at the end of the exercise, it low downs from work didnt seem heavy enough to outweigh the wins here! I think I realized that may be things that we eventually plan out or give least of our time to, seem to matter more in the long run.... So this I decided things would be different.. While I refrained from a resolution (It just doesnt work for me)... I did plan to shuffle priorities a bit and work out a regime...! This year "I PROMISE TO NOT PROMISE".... instead "I COMMIT TO MAKE IT HAPPEN!"
Some must dos for this year .... be Loud..,, Sing Loudly, Laugh Loudly... but subtle; when cribbing, crying or criticizing .... Read more, do things u didnt do in a long time (like whistle, paint, make a collage).. Live with Hope, Faith and Love ... Making each day a new day.....