Budget Buzz.......

Just a few hours and the suspense will be over!
The countdown had begun weeks ago....
The hows, the whos, the markets, the wallets, the masses, the classes....the talk is ON !!

Well, with the kind brouhaha created over the budget over the past few weeks, with any and every news channel airing something or anything and predicting, speculating, analysing with the different or same sets of experts, the BUDGET 2009 seems more to be a media circus and PR exercise than a statement of intent for the next fiscal in term of broad economic policies.

Never during our growing up years and thereafter have we been bombarded by such 'facts & figures' as has been the trend in the last few years! The crescendo has reached its peak during the current year when the tamasha has taken the minds of the junta by storm!

What we fail to realise is that the budget has never been full and final and can never be! And the government is at liberty to change, modify and introduce policies and taxes as per the need of the hour, throughout the year!

Well, as has been obvious in our present media-led society...the TRPs dictate...be it Ekta Kapoor's serials, T20 matches, Lakme fashion week or now.....Budget 2009!

So today as the day unfurls, We the People of India, will be glued to our TV sets, internet sites, watching, hearing, reading.... the BUDGET LIVE!!!!

PS:-Hats Off to the Marketing Guys....for successfully turning a serious matter into a Marketing gimmick, lapped up by us all

Saturday Morning Rants

Since morning the television is blaring and SD is glued to the set, devouring the statistics of wins and losses, as the presenters, commentators scream and holler into their microphones!

Television in the morning is something I just am not fond of! I like my mornings peaceful and serene...maybe a raga or soulful music playing in the backdrop while I sip my tea and glance through the crisp fresh newspaper....of course the latter again is a luxury, as on most days, when I get to read the paper (in the evenings), they are crumpled with a page or two missing!

Well today my complaints and cribbings WILL NOT be entertained. I have been categorically informed ....the counting process is on and the dance of democracy of the last few months comes to its (il)logical conclusion!

Of the many highlights being passed on to me by SD, a few which caught my attention :
* Mamata seems to have swept the election in West Bengal....I wonder how! A politician who successfully drives away industrialisation and industries from a state in dire need of it, wins people's hearts and votes!! And not only the rural votes...she has won several seats in the heart of the urban metropolis!
*The mechanised counting process in India is way ahead, in terms of time and speed given the mammothness of the numbers and the geographical spread, compared to the most developed nations of the world! And I am supposed to feel privileged to be able to witness the execution of such a gargantuan task, LIVE!! Well, actually, one privileged person in the family is enough....
*Chiranjeevi is almost on the verge of extinction even before he strengthened his foothold in the political arena
*Of the dames of democracy, DIDI is up, BEHENJI is down and AMMA is floundering !

Even as I finish this post, the television continues to holler, papers and toys are strewn all over, AD's cartoons are on and with a throbbing head I get down to the business of bringing order to complete disorder....

Pictures : courtesy -Google images & http://promiseofreason.com/; http://www.manjul.com; http://www.lead.timesofindia.com/images/letthegamesbegin.gif;

Democratic Rights....

The world's largest democary goes to the polls today onwards ...to renew its tryst with destiny, to reinculcate its faith in the power of its people, to shape its destiny, to give it leaders who will dare to think, to implement and empower a nation where its intrinsic diversity shapes its unity!

When an astounding 750 million voters are eligible to exercise this right of democracy, an evolved infrastructure and fool-proof system need to be in place. The voting machines we use are indeed an evolution from the days of manual vote counting..but are they enough?

As the city which has been my home for the past year or so goes to vote today, here I am sitting in front of my computer 'enjoying' a holiday...a passive participant in a dynamic process! I am not alone....there are thousands like me, who are unable to vote due to their frequently changing co-ordinates! Who are away from the city where they are registered in the electoral rolls! So dont people like us have the right to vote and be a part of the elaborate exercise of choosing the mandate?

In a country touted as a software superpower, churning out lakhs of engineers every year, cant we expect introduction and implementation of a new technology to address this handicap of a nation of mobile citizens?

If money transfer, bill payments, and many other exercises in which unique identity is not only crucial, but also essential, through mobiles and internet can become part and parcel of our lives, why cant the voting system be made online? An unique identity number or smart card (containing relevant details about a particular citizen) generated by the Office of the Electoral Commission can be used to cast our votes through SMS or the internet.

True, I'm simpilfying a complicated and a mammoth process involving years of micro and macro tasking. But with our giant force of technocrats, highly qualified technical experts, world reknowned and reputed software giants and a comfortable gap of five years between two consecutive elections, is it really an impossible task?

I doubt..... though such a system should have been in place during this year's much publicised, much maligned and much hyped General Elections, I sincerely hope, the forthcoming government will put this system in place in 2014 in joint collaboration with the best brains in the world!

So that wherever I am, I can exercise my democratic rights! Am I asking for too much too soon??

Live and Let Live...

STATUTORY WARNING: this is NOT a science blog nor a socio-political one…these are the thoughts of an ordinary person with only the layman’s knowledge of astronomy and evolution.

In an infinite and ever expanding mystery we call the universe, teeming with a billion solar systems containing countless planets, satellites and creatures who may or may not exist, who are we? Where do we figure in this vast and elusive boundary-less expanse of unfathomable space?
From the unicellular prokaryotes of a zillion years ago, the cell-toting technology-crazy organism of the 21st century has come a long long way indeed!

We, the human beings, are the self-proclaimed superior-most of all living beings to have set foot on this planet earth! We made the Gods and Devils. And now we are playing both the GOD and the DEVIL. Our creativity added to earth's beauty and many a heaven on earth was made. And again it was us who transformed the earth into hell.. as we killed, maimed and destroyed nations, regions and fellow humans. We still are…in the name of religion, altruism, diplomacy, fanaticism.

While on one hand, our technological advancements make us Super Powerful, millions are starving or dying for the lack of basic amentities. WHY I wonder?

From the perspective of the entire limitless universe, our planet is not even the size of a speck of dust. We are insignificant...powerless in the greater scheme of things.

-We don’t know how we arrived (the continuous discoveries of physicists and astronomers are part speculation part reality);

-We don’t know how we evolved from the unicellular to the multicellur complexity of our present form (we all are actually agglomeration of cells consisting of electrons, protons and neutrons!!!!!). Who knows what the next form of the evolutionary chain will be...

-We have no idea how many more years Mother Earth can bear our undisciplined and unrestrained treatment of nature and environment before we are subjected to her wrath and fury.
What with the natural disasters becoming rampant, drastic and unwelcome changes in weather conditions, melting of the ice-caps of Mother Earth, doomsday seems to be drawing closer (not the 'closer you and I can even contemplate....it's still lightyears away...but in the universal perspective, that's not too long away!).

For all we know, the lifetime of each planet may be finite. Just as it required a BIG BANG to create us, another BIGGER BANG BANG BANG may be enough to sniff the life out of our beautiful green planet!!

Why I wonder, cant we live in peace, harmony, happiness? Why does history have to repeat itself so often and still we dont learn?
Why cant we all live and let live? Why Why Why???

Terror on Television

There was so much angst, sorrow, disgust to express ….but I had no words.
Stunned, we watched the devastation unfold ‘live’. The sheer audacity, meticulous planning, the cold blooded killings of hundreds of people by young boys just out of their teens, left the whole nation and the world speechless with horror. Who were these people who had no qualms, no conscience and were daring enough to not even bother to hide behind masks we so associate with terrorists and gunmen?

What started as a ‘minor’ attack (or so we thought) took the shape of a bloody battle in the following two days. The common man on his way back home, the urban elite having an evening out, tourists and business travellers, the waiters and staff of cafes and hotels, brave men in uniform, a rabbi and his family from a faraway country….all apparently unconnected till the 26th of November ‘08. But a common destiny brought about their gory end for no fault of theirs.

I salute our men in uniform. Some of our most able, honest and senior officers laid down their lives combating terror. India needed these brave honest men to fight...not only terrorism, but also the rot infested system they were part of and yet had the guts and integrity to fight against, to safeguard the interests of the nation. The NSG , who fought a valiant battle against urban guerilla warfare, despite all odds.

But some questions asked by not only me but every angst-ridden Indian …why couldn’t the Government mobilize their services IMMEDIATELY instead of waiting for 10 hours and hundreds of deaths later? Why aren't our Police armed with sophisticated weapon instead of measly revolvers in these terror infested times?

One more question which has been bothering so many of us? Where is the ‘saviour’ of the ‘Marathi Maanus’? Why haven’t we heard even a single word from this gentleman who created havoc trying to safeguard the interest of 'his' state & its people and tried to divide the nation based on regionalism if not religion? Instead of wasting his force, energy, manpower and abundant political resources on non-issues, why could this gentlemen not fight the menace which has struck his city time and time again.

We are calling the war on Bombay as India’s 9/11. I find it an odd nomenclature. India has been unfortunate enough to be living with terror and terrorist attacks decades before 9/11 was even conceived. And what is more shameful is the fact that despite the ‘experience’, our power hungry politicians are still groping in the dark as to how to go about the process of eliminating these pseudo ‘warriors-with-a-cause’. Our esteemed politicians are perpetually busy, pointing fingers at one another, determining the religion of the terrorist, rather than realizing that these killers have no religion. I wonder how power poisons people to the extent that they also lose their conscience to act with basic honesty and integrity. Human lives cease to have value in the eyes of our politicians as serving their self interest is of highest priority. Can sheer greed for power and position do this to a section of people WE have chosen to represent us and lead us? Is the rot in our whole system so deeply ingrained?

True, terrorist attacks are not directly the result of corruption in politics. But the negligence, indifference, callousness, lack of synchronisation in the intelligence system have aided the strikes not once but every time...and every time they have been successful in their murderous intents, the failure of our system has become glaringly obvious.

Every time urban terror has struck India, there is an initial uproar, fervent superficial security measures, lot of talk and mudslinging between political parties and finally inaction. No steps are taken. No law is enacted. No concrete arrests are made. No kingpin terrorist is ever caught, put behind bars and hanged as he so rightly deserves. Public memory is short lived. Life continues. Other than those, whose lives are shattered by these episodes of mayhem and murder, life goes on for us others, with a nagging fear about the uncertainty of life …we are only armed with a prayer on our lips each time someone steps out of home…

But is this how it ought to be? Is this why we elect these people to their chairs?

Today India is anguished and outraged. But are we doing anything worthwhile or constructive? We, as an united entity, need to channelise this anger, fury and make our chosen leaders realize that they are in the position where the common on the streets cannot and will not be taken for granted. They are accountable for their actions and inaction to us. Just a perfunctory resignation, change of portfolio does not reassure us anymore. We want an end to this prolonged nightmare which has claimed lakhs of lives. We want a normal life. We want our children to step out of home, assured they’ll be back safe and sound. We want them to grow up in a world we can call beautiful, in a nation which is safe and secure with capable, honest leaders at the helm of affairs.

Are these too much to ask for???