This years reads and next years target

The year was imbalanced in respect of my reads distribution over the month. The first six months were sort of blank. I was busy reading the technical stuff as I had the task of teaching in the hand. However, the last 5 months were progressive. I finished following books.
1. Achoot
2. Into the wild
3. Train to Pakistan
4. Indira by Inder Malhotra
5. Amish's Immortals of Meluha
6. Secret of Nagas
7. Corporate leaders by Ramachandran,
8. Osho's Fame, fortune and Ambition
9. Raghuram Rajan's I do what I do (in progress)

This totals around 9 books. Maybe I am forgetting one more name. I still missed by years target of 12 books. However, I am committed to making up for this lag in my book count in the coming year.  

For next year, I have already listed the titles I will be reading. Here is the list for my own record:

1. Influence

2. Shashi Tharoor's book on Modi

3. Agatha Christie: Anyone

4. Murakami: Anyone

5. Weight loss book by Rutuja Divekar

6. Amish's 3rd book

7. Gora

8. P.B. Mehta's book

9. Rural Manifesto by Varun Gandhi

10. George Orwell 1984

11. Power of Unconscious Mind

12. Economics simplified by Sanjeev Verma

In addition, I need to read 2 to 3 more books to compensate for this year's lag. I am keeping my fingers crossed and ask for will, energy and good luck from the almighty that he gives me the strength to finish these books.

Book review: Secret of Nagas

This is the second book of the Shiva trilogy written by Amish Tripathi. The book is a continuation of the plot from the first book. Once again, Amish has got it right. His lucid writing with multiple parallel tracks, all merging in one big drama makes it an interesting read.  This also has the potential of becoming an epic tale on 70 mm. Amish has detailed every scene so beautifully that the novel runs like a movie in front of reader's eyes. I recommend this book to all fiction-lovers

Problem of poverty

If you are not a socialist at age of 20, you have no heart. If you are not a capitalist at 40, you have no brain. We often hear young people with socialist heart bragging about the richness of poverty. The idealist types can be heard saying they do not possess any material desire. They are well-off with their limited needs. But all this is easier said than done. We live in the age of materialism where money drives 99% of the things in life. Your place in the society, and family is governed by Money.

One who gives away his material desire should either become Mahatma or be ready to accept his fate as no-one.

The point to note here is the problem of poverty does not stop at the transition from BPL to APL. It goes beyond this and penetrates the boundaries of contentment and happiness. The feeling of relative deprivation is considered much severe than absolute deprivation. To say I do not wish to be rich suits only when you have earned enough in the life to be called rich. Or else somewhere we need to set our limits on what we want/desire/expect from our lives. 

Many things in between

Ideally, this blog should have been published around Dipawali but for no reason I delayed it. Maybe because there was no theme of this blog rather it was a mixture of many scattered thoughts, observations, and experiences. 

First among them is my experience at Sheroes Hangout. My niece asked me for a treat and we visited a hangout cafe named Sheroes hangout. The special thing about this place is that it is run, and managed by acid attack victims only. The place is entirely donation based. They do not charge you for food. It came as a big surprise for me. The food was raw and only the front staff was acid attack victims but the plight and sight of them touched my heart. I was happy to see them reconstruct their life after such horrific unjust committed to them by evil members of the society. It was inspiring. Sometimes, the instinct to survive makes you do many things.

Another such example of survival instinct was a person running with the Samosa tray in his one hand while trying to get inside a fast-moving train. Maybe the one-minute difference will help him in selling 4 more samosas. The desperate expression on his face made me realize how fortunate I am in my life and how silly I am to curse my luck or people around me.   

Another example was to see a person driving rickshaw on the eve of Dipawali to earn few extra coins when everyone around him is celebrating with their loved ones and family members. Sometimes it feels like everywhere there is so much sorrow. Everybody is running to achieve something or trying for wish-fulfillment. 

Sometimes when I see famous, rich, successful, influential and achiever people, I start comparing them with me, thinking about how do I fare vis-a-vis him. The ambitious me surge its head again and again. At times, I feel content but not happy. I do not know the trick. Getting rid of ambitions, expectations, and desires sound impossible and impractical. But when I see such people, I feel how rewarded I am. How lucky I am? Suddenly all my desires/ambition/expectations go away. I develop a sense of Niskaam Karma. In such a moment of insight, the only thing which seems to matter is to do my duty in a disciplined and consistent manner. A productive work-life will follow as a consequence.

Sometimes I wonder, why am I not able to do what I wish? Where am I wasting my time? Is it the laziness inside me or over-ambitious character of mine. I do not have answers. All I know is if you keep trying, things happen. Take everything as a duty and just do it. Maybe the desire of being productive is not so fulfilling in the end. So why to run behind it. Just live in the moment.

Book review: Immortals of Meluha

The year is ending and hence time has come to write the pending book reviews for all the books which I gulped in this year. One of the interesting read was Immortals of Meluha by Amish Tripathi. 

The book is the first part of the Shiva trilogy written by Amish. It is based on a different interpretation of our mythological stories.  The book shows the famous Indian god Shiva, the destroyer of evil in a totally different shade. He is the chief protagonist in the book and shown as a human which his share of faults, imperfection, emotions, and anxieties. 

The book is exciting, fictional drama and a kind of perfect potpourri for a filmmaker. The storyline is interesting. The book is punctuated with philosophical thoughts which enlighten readers heart and mind. He has successfully conveyed a message about the necessity of celebration of the diversity in thought, lifestyle, and culture. In addition, he also pushes forward an alternate picture of our much-revered gods like Shiva, Agni or Brihaspati. His entire star-cast is inspired by Indian mythology. Despite the mundaneness of characters, the book keeps you glued to the story and captivate your imagination.

A good read for all the history lovers, drama readers, fictionphiles and mythology believers.

Beating the lazy me

As usual, I woke up feeling lazy, in the state of half sleep. However, as soon as I opened my eyes, a powerful thought struck me. I asked myself, why should I wake up? Why should I not continue sleeping in the quilt?

I closed my eyes and went on a thought ride with the hope of finding some convincing answer to this question. To my good fortune, an answer came in the form of inner voice. The answer was "balance". Something within me told that go out, see the sun, water the plants, feed animals, experience the early morning breeze, do exercise and do many other activities which you like to do rather than investing all your time on just one activity of sleep.

This voice reminded me of my vision of ideal life. It brought to my memory the fundamental question of what kind of person I am? With the self-observation and experience of so many years, I know that a productive, disciplined, consistent life style is what I crave for. Then how could the lust of sleep hold me back in the quilt. I sprung out of my bad, immediately standing on my feet and did all my lovely morning activities. Those little moments of activities were  very joyful cherishable moment of the day.

To add to my good luck, I discovered few videos which I was searching for long time. I listened to those videos in the morning. It made my day. I will write about those videos some other time.

Another trick which we all know but we rarely put in practice is listing the minute by minute schedule of our day before going to bed on the previous day. This exercise gives us purpose and goal to leave the bed and energize our action.

For past few days, I am following a consistent schedule filled with numerous small activities. This to me is the beginning of living a blissful joyful life. The moment your face bears a pleasant smile from an activity as small as seeing the sunrise or watering the plants is when you get away from the clutches of competition driven world and connect with your soul. That is the essence of happiness.

Book review: Indira By Inder Malhotra

The book is a chronological account of  Indira Gandhi's life during her prime ministerial years. It would not be an exaggeration to call it the history of India from 1965 to 1985 because as summed up aptly during those years, "Indira was India and India was Indira". 

Indira Gandhi is considered the most profound personality of post-nehru India who has shaped the destiny of our nation, first as the daughter of prime minister Jawahar Lal Nehru and then Chief of Congress. Whatever our country's political system is today is a result of actions and reactions of the time of Indira's years.

The book outlines a few traits of Indira's personality. For example, her decisiveness and strong personality were an asset to the nation and made her the world leader India was looking for after the death of Nehru. The book is balanced in the view that it also highlights the negative side of her personality like her blind love for Sanjay and her high-headedness which sowed the seeds of destruction of Institutions which her father and Congress party had built so meticulously.

The book leaves a lot in terms of the personality dissection of Indira Gandhi and providing anecdotes from her life. Much of what is told in the book is already available in the public domain. However, coming from the mouth of one of the most respected journalist, it leads to greater credibility. 

Overall, I recommend the book for Bhakts who are blind with the vision of saffron India. This book will provide them some fodder for blasting congress as well as will melt away some of their misperceptions related to the history of India. This is also a good read for aspiring leaders who wish to know more about what does it take to lead a country and how to build institutions. 

  

Book review: Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh

The book by Khushwant Singh is a captivating read which provides a thrilling account of migration Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims at the time of partition of India. It tells a story of border village Mano Majra which is a habitat of both Muslims and Sikhs. However official machinations result in migration of Muslims to Pakistan. 

The book provides a parallel story track through various characters. One story is the love affair of Juggat Singh and Nooran. Whereas other is the story of Iqbal Singh a communist activist who is foreign educated and venturing in the foreign territory for some confused purpose. And the story of Hukum Chand magistrate and his keep adds more spice to the entire drama.  

On one hand, the author is able to bring out the complex emotions of people at the time of partition through various characters like the Inspector, gurudwara caretaker and Chief Maulana whereas it has also been able to bring out the dichotomy of ethics in characters of Hukum Chand. 

Overall, this novel is good enough to be adapted as a movie. Khushwant Singh proves his class of a gripping story-teller through this drama.

Why do I take metro every day to the office?

All of us are aware of the benefits of public transport. There are enough media marketing and government awareness programs around this thought and especially in the season of Diwali and stub-burning. Use of public transport as a response to an increase in pollution, global warming, heavy traffic helps in saving time, money as well as physical and mental resources. However, there are some other benefits which I would like to list here.

It keeps one rooted in the ground. When a senior officer stands in the queue and waits for his turn to enter in the metro rail, it breaks some of his artificial ego. His official benefits of 24*7 availability of the car, driver and other goods transport him to another world generally called as cloud nine. With this everyday experience, he understands the pain and suffering of others who yearn for better services in our routine life.

When an officer travels with his subordinate then it helps in melting away the yes-man tendencies of the subordinate and dominating attitude of the officer. They can work better as a team.  Their public behavior can set an example for the rest of the population which is called a common man of India.

Most importantly, it gives you enough time to read books, glance through daily newspaper or finish your unproductive activities like Facebook and WhatsApp before you reach office. This may not be possible in the car which you drive yourself or pool with someone else. There you may be bound to engage in conversation with the fellow traveler. Moreover, the metro provides proper lighting for the purpose of reading and sends a larger social message to the fellow travelers.

In this context, the government of India should mull making it compulsory for the government of India to use public transport where ever possible. This will be a good bridge between government and the governed.

The electronic data processing cadre

The president of Singapore codes the computer programs regularly His logic is simple. The computer is the present and future of this fast-paced automated world. India is expected to be a leader in this process of change and automation. We are the IT prowess of the world. With the help of homegrown IT giants, we have been able to change our image from a snake-charmer to champions of technology. However, our record of treating our technical staff at a lesser pedestal than the administrative staff in the government sector raises doubt over our willingness to lead the world.

In this regard, the role of electronic data processing cadre (EDP) in various government department holds utmost importance. The EDP cadre of the government is considered as a technical computer savvy wing of each department. Many such technical wings have performed a good role in the process of e-governance in their respective parent organizations. For example, EDP cadre of Income tax is expected to steer the process of digitization of the Income Tax department. It has played a huge role in making the process of income tax return filing a paperless and faceless system. However, they have never received their due rewards and often seen as tech-support in the hierarchical structure of the government. As a result, our process of digitization has suffered two-fold.

Firstly, the private sector has overtaken most of the work of EDP cadre. Thus, it threatens the national safety and raises a security concern. Rather than relying on our own cadre for data safety, we seem to bank more on private IT companies. This goes to the extent that a TCS low-to-mid level staff may have access to income tax database but not a senior level group A gazetted officer.

The second impact is growing to obsolesce of EDP cadre. The EDP cadre is reduced to a facilitator or liaison-officer with the private companies. This has made them irrelevant in the structure. Rather than being a technology specialist or at the least a technology manager, they have become people manager. And to add burn to this wound, let us not forget that people who they are supposed to manage are not employees of the government of India. Rather they are employees of the private organization who are accountable to their own hierarchy. This is definitely a serious trend with far-reaching consequences. It requires a strict course correction in a planned manner.  

The revival of EDP cadre

In order to revive EDP cadre, the government needs to act on 4 levels namely skill, structure, purpose, and power. We will take each of them one by one. As far as skill is concerned, the cadre should be put on the channel of continuous learning. The cadre should have the basic requirement of completing at least one technology certification every year. They should also mention a particular area of expertise and specialize in the same. Those who fail to upgrade their skills in due time should be flushed out of the system. For the people, who are already entrenched in their respective jobs and are unwilling to upgrade their skills, a way should be found to move them out to some other positions.

With respect to structure, we need to redefine the existing electronic data processing cadre into a technology cadre. Rather than each organization managing their own EDP cadre separately, a cadre like Indian Technology Services (ITS) should be constituted and all the technology wings of government department should be merged in this one. Be it EDP cadre of each department or NIC itself. Further, this cadre of ITS should have dedicated wings to serve army or state government or local department. This way the conflicts in each office like generalist vs specialist could also be resolved. Further, it will help in transforming the nature of governance from generalist to the specialists.

With regard to purpose, EDP cadre should be provided with a clear vision and purpose. Just like experts in DRDO are counted as scientist or research cadre, EDP cadre should be promoted to become subject expert in cybersecurity, data analytics, and any other technical matter. This need for subject expertise would provide the vision and purpose from the very beginning and thus will take away lethargy and irrelevance from the cadre.

Last but not least, they need to give powers vis-à-vis their counterparts in government or private sector. For example, if a member of Indian technology services is deputed to the technology wing of income tax department, then he should be authorized to look at the code, database, and network access. This will not only reduce our dependence on private vendors who have become big elephant difficult to be replaced over the years. It will also increase the government’s vigilance of the data that originally belong to the government itself.

This process of reform is not an easy deal. There will be a definite pushback from many quarters. The private players sitting on the legacy code for years, the existing EDP cadre which has slipped in the lethargy and developed a laid-back attitude and the generalist cadre who never want the technocrat to lead them or sit with them. It requires a certain degree of deep thinking, political vision, and strong leadership to take this idea forward through the labyrinthine of status-quoist power structure.

Status quoist vs revisionist

In every walk of life and in any endeavour, one will come across a species known as status- quoist. These are people who are opposed to anything new, who are settled, steady and believe in continuing with existing traditions, rules, regulations and procedures. In short, they are opposed to any change.

On the other hand, one can invariably find a species called revisionist. These are people who spearheads the campaign for change. By nature, they are proactive people, looking for new ideas and possess creative orientation.

This dichotomy of status-quoist vs revisionist reflects time and again in every sphere of life. Sometimes it is under the garb of old vs young. At other times, it is rural vs urban outlook. In the government offices, it is in the form of paper vs technology.

Government of India is the biggest victim of this dichotomy. There is a large section in the government which is against anything new. The reason being this undermines their own authority. Their way of working and their hold on system will slip in obsolescence and thus comes the resistance.

As a direct consequence of this traditional change resisting mindset, such people develop a hand in glove approach with the support staff or vendors or service providers. This creates an entire web which is traps every initiative of change by revisionist.

The only way to pierce through this cobweb is the sheer force and intensity of change. It requires courage to lead the process of change. One of the form of expression of this courage is performance which speaks for itself. However, at times performance goes unnoticed or often sidelined. Thus, it also needs proper channels so that it can reach to the right tables making its way from bottom to the top.

Without the ears of top leadership, change does not happen. Process of change requires it's friend at every quarter.

Learnings from the job

1. There is no hurry.
2. If you wish to insult someone, Don't abuse them. Make fun of their rationality.
3. Keep low profile.
4. To say something negative, say it in the most positive way.
5. To show your importance, make the person wait.
6. At the technical job, Do it yourself.
7. At the managerial job, delegate and communicate.
8. Listen carefully.
9. Always try to see through the hidden meaning.
10. Always respect seniors.
11. Create situations and observe how do people react. Remember these are generic observations. These are simply cues and should not be the whole basis of judgement.

Some examples are like:

Want to see someone's real views on the issue then  tell the shitty things as a usual affair and see their reaction.

Want to see some one's ego, then call the person by name or Tu/Tum.

Never offer money or anything in reward to a person who was doing a job which he did not like/enjoy. His congruence will make him love the thing.

Want to see the depth of relationship, ask for a petty favor. See if other person can take the pain for you.

Want to see the truth in person's voice, look in his eyes.

12. Meet at least one new person everyday.
13. Use the techniques like foot-in-the door to get things done.
14. Always call people on their birth days and write personalised messages.
15. Always help others. Unconditionally.

Few learnings

1. Never act greedy in these 3 investment options
FD
Stock market
Mutual fund

2. Never keep the fee dues of three people
Muneem
Hakeem
Vaidya

3. Best three option of investment
Small investment plan
PPF fund
Long term equities

4. Three necessities
Life insurance/health cover
Tax history
Credit history

5. Never participate in anything which can be taken for granted

6. Never do anything for free

7. Be mad

8. Ask probing questions.

9. Never shout at your staff

10. Be stern. Be confident. Be polite and read between the lines.

11. See the indirect meaning in people comment

12. Tit for tat

13. Speak less

14. Never give monetary award to people for a boring task. They will see it as the reason for doing the job.

15. Keep your friends close to your heart

16. Never forget your bad-wishers

17. BE FEARLESS

18. Keep smiling and think why a person is behaving in a particular manner

19. Three things to live peaceful life
Good wife
Good skills
Good house

20. Key to happiness
Speak less. Smile more. Work purposively.

Visit to Udaipur and meeting with some interesting people

In last few days, I have many interesting people and visited some interesting places.  Here I am writing about them with an intention to document my meeting with them or places I visited.

First in the list is set of people whom I have met in Pathak hospital Agra. It includes some nursing, pharmacy and sweeping staff. They were people working for more than 20 hours a day, back to back duties. Some of them had been working for nearly 36 hours continuously. It was amazing to meet such people. It helped me realize how fortunate I am to enjoy such a lavish life. I started appreciating my own life a little more.

Second is a set of tourist places I visited in last week. It included a stay in Tak lake palace, visit to Delwara temple, a trip to Ranakpur and Kumbhalgarh fort and fun time in Udaipur's Udai Vilas museum.

Few important pointers about the visit:
1. Taj lake palace is a beautiful place. We had wonderful time in there. If you are staying there, then it is recommended to completely devote your time to enjoy the beauty and hospitality of the place rather than wasting away your time in other locations.
2. Mount Abu is not so great. We did not explore the place enough. We stayed in government cottages which we found very costly. There is no worthwhile item to buy from Mount Abu except some wooden items. 3 major points in Abu are Delwara temples, Guru Shikhar peak and Chacha museum. I feel we could have explored options of safari. For food Sankalp restaurant near Nakki lake was a good option. Some other local joints around it were not so great. I did not even like the ice cream offered in there.
3. Ranakpur was a good place to visit. It was similar to Delwara temples. It is located within wild life sanctury. This made it more scenic and beautiful. However day time is more advised for this place. It is not a great place for night stay.
They serve Jain food in bhojan shala which was ok.
4. Kumbhal Garh was also a great place to visit. The fort was amazing. It is a must visit place.
One can buy Dohar shawls which have healing effect for pain. The saris made of sitafal, and rose were also good but they were bit costly.
5. Udai Vilas museum was infotainment but little over priced.
The Oladar cafe outside Udai Vilas was good. We also enjoyed food at Traditional Khana. However food at Celebrity mall was pathetic. The Palkhi restaurant inside the palace is less preferred over Oladar.

Overall it was fun visit. We had good time together.

Everyday learning

There is so much pain around. Every other person is angry, frustrated, anxious, worried, and agonized. People are fighting for resources, facing illness, suffering physical and mental diseases. Everywhere something is missing. People are not happy. They have one or other grievance in their lives. The world is full of sorrow and misery. How can one stay happy and blessed in this world?

The trick is simple.
1. Take everything as God's blessing.
2. No expectation of end result. Only karma.
3. Identify things which give you peace and happiness. Strive for them.
4. Forgive. Forgive. Forgive.
5. Understand people's anger. Try to see the reason behind.
6. Speak as little as possible.
7. Read on everyday basis.
8. Help others as much as possible.
9. Live a disciplined life.
10. Think of people who do not have as luxurious life as yours.
11. Talk to yourself.
12. Do not expect anything in return of your good deeds.
13. Live the life joyfully.
14. Never get angry. You can pity them in your mind for their behaviour. Question them politely but don't get angry.

Title

For 10 minutes I thought about the possible title for this blog. Many flickering ideas came to my mind. It could be "A new beginning" or "Once upon a time" or "Do not give up" or should I put it as  "Just chill".  The competition was so tough that I found it more appropriate to put "Title" as a title instead of choosing one among them.

But then I introspected about the root cause of this confusion. I realised such confusion is part of our life. It has become integral to our ecosystem. Every institution, every social practice, and nearly every relationship is going through a phase of confusion. The gentle optimist breed may call it flux or euphemistically quote it as a change in the positive direction. But I prefer to call it confusion.

I can substantiate my point. For instance, every relationship has become either uncle or aunty. The nuanced sense that relationship with Bua, Mami, Mausi, Chachi and Bhabhi has been monochromatic Ally become just one i.e. aunty.
Similarly, in political circuits, no one knows where lies the power center? Is it centered in PMO or does it lie with respective ministries?
People confuse kindness with cowardice, corruption with conscientiousness, consumerism with richness and money with happiness.

The right thing to do is to seek solutions to this situation. The solution lies in knowing yourself. Knowing your inner core. Knowing your priorities, ambitions, dreams, capabilities, needs and emotional vulnerabilities.

The bigger question would be how to do the above-mentioned. Answer is observe, meditate, self talks and make your standard template of good behaviour. But it runs the risk of becoming rigid so guard against such tendencies.

Exhilaration

The last month was again full of excitement, travel, fun and new experiences. In the first week, one of the great inspirational poet Shri Gopal Das Neeraj died. I paid the tribute to him by listening to his songs for nearly the entire night. 2nd week I visited number of places like Ujjain, Indore, Bhopal, Budbani and  many other places. I also had darshan of baba Amarnath and final culmination was with a trip to Leh Laddakh. Overall, it was very joyful and funfilled time I had. There were lots of good memories and experiences I wish to write about. Will add the details later.

Shadi ke side effects

Marriage is often described as a laddoo "Jo khaaye pachtaaye and Jo naa khaaye wo bhi pachtaaye". Today is end of my first month of staying in this holi pious god-approved alliance.

For most of my life I have stayed alone, moved as per my will and whims. So entering in a partnership is a novel experience. Thankfully, my solitary existence has taught me some crucial lessons to deal with the bumps, breaks and speed of this new journey. With God's grace, things are pretty good for me till now. But there are learnings everyday. So here I am listing the initial little impression of eating this laddoo and best way to digest it.
1. No expectations: keep no expectations or dreams. Marriage is nothing but cohabitation of two people for long term. Do not bank on your partner to take care of you.
2. Me-time: Keep a me time come what may. List your must and must nots and do not compromise on that. Set your daily tasks which you enjoy and perform them. At the same time make some space for your partner and do not let her feel isolated or alone.
3. Love is fools game. Care is right word. If you are living in the world of Romeo Juliet and heer ranjha then you are mistaken. There is nothing called LOVE. Caring for your partner, and being affectionate is more appropriate phrase to describe the bond between two people living together as part of social arrangement.
4. There is no running away: once in a wedlock, there is no running away. So you got to experience it. Better do it with fun and joy.
5. Do not become liability: make sure you are not becoming a liability in any sense on your partner. "Khud dhoiye and khud khujaiye" is a better mantra for long term sustainable relationship.

Having said this, I must say it is good to have some one by your side and I am sure there are many more flavours of Laddoo I am yet to taste.

Book review: Into the wild

One book which I am least likely to forget albeit for a negative reason. The reason is it took me a very long time to finish this one. Just a 200 page real life journey of a young boy wild-voyager Chris Mccandless, but it took me as many days to finish as the number of pages in the book. Something in me discouraged me from grasping the psyche of the young man Chris was. However, towards the end the book captivated me and made me think, introspect and wonder about the philosophical basis of life and it's connection with mother nature.

This book is authored by Jon Krakauer. It is the life description and investigative report in the nomadic journey of a bright young man Chris Mccandless. Author has tried his best to get into the mind of Chris. However, the story is presented in a desultory manner which made it difficult for a naive reader like me to keep up their momentum.

A good read for wild lover. Rest can manage with the movie based on the book.

ऐ नादान परिंदे

!!आईएएस का जिन्न !!

ऐ नादान परिंदे झूने आसमान को निकला था
सूरज को लड्डू समझ खाने को मन फिसला था
अभिलाषा का उन्माद मन में जोश उबलता था
विश्वास और जूनून की गर्मी से रग में ज्वार  गरलता था

आज बहुत चलने पर भी जब आसमान ओझल होता
थका हुआ मन थका हुआ तन अपनी किस्मत पर है रोता
मित्रमंडली से मिलता हूँ हर कोई पूछ रहा होता
क्या पाया इस अंधड़ में इससे अच्छा था तू सोता

लोग मुझे समझाते  हैं जीवन का विश्लेषण करकर
क्या खोया क्या पाया मैंने  इस अंधंड का हिस्सा बनकर
जीवन के उल्लास चरम को तपति ज्वाला में भुनकर
पैसे और भोग से हटकर तपक्रिया को चुनकर

पैसा खोया चैन गंवाया फिर भी हाथ नहीं आया
ऐसा लगता है मानो सब कुछ खोया कुछ नहीं पाया
नहीं नहीं मेरे प्रियमित्रों ऐसी गलती मत करना
रंगीनमिजाजी शौक सिद्धि से नहीं जूनून की तुलना

आकुल अंतर है शांत हुआ मन और अधिक गौरांग हुआ
करुणप्रेम संज्ञान हुआ ऊर्जाशक्ति का आवाह्न हुआ
मन थका नहीं तन रुका नहीं जीवन-दर्शन अधिक महान हुआ
आत्मशक्ति और संतुष्टि से परिपूर्ण परिंदा  बलराम हुआ

कर्मशक्ति और भाग्यशक्ति सदैव मेल नहीं खाती
पर अटल सत्य है कर्मशक्ति कभी बेकार नहीं जाती
जीवन क्षणभंगुर किस पल जाने साँसे छोड़ चली जाती
अन्तसमय में आत्मसंतुष्टि और आत्मसिद्धि है काम आती

प्रत्येक सांस से मन में प्रफुलता का संचार हुआ
हरेक फड़फड़ाहट से परिंदा और अधिक आज़ाद हुआ
पैसे से लोगों के  जीवन में खुशियां का आगाज़ हुआ
पर क्या पैसे से जीवन में संतुष्टि का साज हुआ?

जब तक जियो एक शौर्यवीर की भाँती चाल प्रचंड रखो
हर व्यक्ति प्राण ज्योति को लेकर मन भावों को निश्झल रखो
कोई बुरा कहे या अच्छा मन  में भाव सरल रखो
शांत चित्त संतुष्ट  ख़ुशी को  जीवन चेतन में लख़खो

अगर नहीं नादान परिंदा उड़ता सूरज को खाने
आकुल अंतर अपराधबोध से रह जाता बस मर जाने
पंख जले पर मरा नहीं है उसका अंतर्मन जाने
आसमान से धरती देखी इसका सौभाग्य अतुल माने || 

जिंदगी के रंगमंच

जिंदगी के रंगमंच में 
कुछ  ऐसे भी किरदार होते है 
जो ना हॅसते हैं और ना रोते हैं 
दुःख के सागर को अपने अंदर समेट कर ढोते हैं 
जिंदगी के रंगमंच में 
कुछ  ऐसे भी किरदार होते है 

कुछ अपने लिए होते हैं 
कुछ अपनों के लिए होते हैं 
पर कुछ खुद की परवाह ना करते हुए 
केवल औरों के लिए बोते हैं 
येही वो लोग हैं 
जो जीवन को रंगों से संजोते हैं 

कुछ लाचारी का पात्र होते हैं
जो रोते रोते अपने आप को खोते हैं
दुनिया पर बढ़ते बोझ के
यही जिम्मेदार होते हैं
कुछ संघर्षशील कुछ संतुष्ट
कुछ दार्शनिक कथाकार होते हैं
जो बहुत ही अद्भुत और मजेदार होते हैं 

जिंदगी को झेलने वालों के लिए 
यहाँ बस गोते ही गोते हैं 
जीवन की इस श्रंखला में 
अधिकतर लोग सिर्फ सोते हैं 
बहुत काम ही हैं जो वाकई में जीते हैं 
और हर गोते की कलमन्दी में गिरकर भी लौटे हैं 
ये वह लोग है जो अक्सर मुस्कराते रहते हैं 
और चमड़े के होते मोटे हैं 

इस रंगमंच के असली कलाकार यही  होते हैं 

जो लालच धूर्त मक्कारी से परे होकर

खुद पर हँस सकते  है और औरों के लिए रोते हैं 

जिंदगी के रंगमंच में 

कुछ  ऐसे भी किरदार होते है

A new twist in the Civil Serviecs

As per media reports, Modi government has proposed a change in the process of Civil Services recruitment and planned to make Academy training as the fourth leg of this grueling exam. This has once again put the spotlight on the issue of Civil services reform on which nearly 600 committees have been set up till date but none could find a way to out of the dustbin. All the reports became a victim of politician-bureaucracy tussle and power games. Politicians have a vested interest in keeping the door of civil servants in their hand so that they can tighten the noose whenever necessary. On the other hand, any reform is prone to be looked at from political coloring. Possibly this is the reason, Mr. Gandhi has come out against this move and calling it BJP's tactics to subvert the merit.

In this backdrop, let us evaluate the plusses and minuses of this move.  

Good move:

FC had become a picnic duration for many candidates. The culture of drugs sex alcohol and class bunks is no unknown in the academy. This acts as a detox or relaxation phase for people who look forward to settled life after many years of cut-throat competition. The training academy had been sending reports each year regarding declining standards of candidates who come for training. Hopefully, with this reform measure people will start taking it seriously.

This move will also play a role in diluting the role of Interview. The interview is playing too crucial a role in selection and service allocation. Despite all the experiences of Civil servants in dealing with interview candidates day in and day out, the method cannot be termed objective. In many cases, the same person who appears in the interview in two different years has a wide variation in interview scores. Internal biases, frozen mindset and 30 minutes of luck play too crucial a role in deciding your rest of the life. Moreover, the relative contribution of Interview is disproportionate. Though on paper interview is just 275 marks out of 1975 marks but in practice, the interview does not just make or break but it also a like a veto for you to get into service of your choice. Taking a lead of 50 or 60 marks in Mains require disproportionately high effort and getting the same lead in the interview is just a matter of 30 minutes performance.

And lastly, It'll reduce the news hype and sensationalism around Civil services specifically IAS. Too much social respect and felicitation without even any real contribution to society result in inflated ego and a false sense of enlightenment. Hopefully, some focus could be taken away and people will stop risking their career for such thing.

But does this mean that all the political brouhaha and allegation of merit compromise are baseless? Well in a vibrant system like India where ideological fights are more visible than in any other democracy in the world, such allegations cannot be brushed aside under the carpet. We need to evaluate the downside as well.

Downside:

Yes, it is true that transparency in the new system needs to be monitored. Else some bias may creep in allocation. Already there is a perceived fear in the society with regard to institutional hijacking by a particular political agenda be it Supreme court or office of governor or award ceremonies. Therefore, the government should come out with the fool-proof plan on the modalities of things instead of proposing a demonetization type potpourri. 

The most damaging part of this entire exercise is from the perspective of the candidates who prepare for the exam. The delay in service allocation means people will further go through 4 months of the grueling process. There is no guarantee if this extra level of scrutiny will add any other aspect of wisdom and testing which UPSC might have missed. But it'll increase the length of exam duration. Just like India has got tired of eternal election mode, even the candidates may develop severe mental and physical fatigue due to the lengthy process of examination. In fact, one positive aspect of FC is it acts as a cooling off period where candidates live in a relaxed settled atmosphere and grasp the finer points of administration. It helps in taking away the exam fatigue and facilitate bonhomie between young lads who are going to serve at important positions in the system. 

But the question we ought to ask ourselves is whether this is the panacea. Is this the magic wand we were looking for? Is the issue of civil services reform so small? Was it for this nearly 600 committees have been set up? Why are we so hesitant in taking big-ticket reforms? The need of the hour is to bring bigger reform along with this like independent transfer and appointment process just like for IRS cadre and as per recommendations of second ARC Report. Another could be brining police service reforms as per Prakash Singh case judgment. This will help in bringing down the scale of corruption and give greater stability to the life of civil servants. Further, bringing specialized cadre and recruit more people from private sector or academia at a mid-service level as per Niti Ayog recommendations may further help in making system more diverse and expertise oriented. The unnecessary perks are given to civil servants and the king like status given to them may be divided into 3-4 equal rank officers so that powers do not get centralized at the district level and all the media hype created around IAS will melt down. A beginning of this could be done by taking away the beacon and the big Bungalow. Just give a 4 BHK quarter to IAS. What is the need of big bungalow? Tap corruption by bringing technology and social audit mechanism in the work of IAS. In addition, any talk of reforms will be incomplete without reforming the state level agencies as they have become the real den of corruption.

A lot more needs to be done. But as the philosophy goes, good should never become enemy of best. All one can wish is that good should not turn out to be a half cooked plan and whatever changes occur, transparency, rule-orientation and objectivity should not be compromised. Hail modi, Hail UPSC and Hail the candidates.

State of Media

Open any news site and you can see very predictable polarised platitudinal news items. Few Sunny Leone and Sonam Kapoor news items, some on political boxing happening between heavyweights like BJP and Congress,  news on rape, theft and crime and some oft-repeated opinion mouthpiece. News has boring to the degree of predictability of traditionaBollywoodod movies that one may feel exhausted and irritated reading the same news item again and again. And as this was not enough, the poison of fake news acts as an icing on the cake. 

State of media in our country and around the world has become so abysmal that it would be unjust to call it the fourth pillar of democracy any more. The news anchors have become representatives of political parties. Rather than news presenters, they have become opinion makers and opinion feeders. They feed the ideology in the minds of people who remain glued to television channels in the hope of some good news. In fact, this hope is a euphemism for their hidden anger due to their inability to find my purpose in the life. The news opinion markers and feeders who were hitherto only presenters are tapping into this turbulence generated in the minds of people due to anxiety, tension, and fight for survival. In the process, most of them seem to have taken sides with one or other political party or ideology. They characterize the presstitute in the true sense. The sadness takes the toll when we see that even those who try to be neutral, become so sarcastic and caustic in their remarks that they are seen as anti-establishment. 

To make the matter worse, social media has emerged as the biggest factory of fake news, instant justice, trolls and negative commentary. Everyone seems to have an opinion and eager to express and defend it without having a thorough political economic and cultural understanding and least of it the knowledge of the subject being discussed. Seems like people have taken the 'Chai par churcha' bit too seriously just like the 15 lakh jumla of BJP and 'Garibi hatao' slogans of Congress. 

The problem lies in our narrowing vision. From a polychromatic multi-colored thinking, we seem to have degenerated to a binary vision where only the grammar of either-or, yes-no, for-against and national-anti-national find space. Rest all is brushed aside in one stroke under the carpet or on the fringes where it is left to be rotten just like people who live on the fringe channels. Sometimes it feels like society as a whole is going through a phase of depression. It has developed delusional thinking about people killing each other, one section trying to harm other and one destructive thought overpowering all other thoughts. The worst part is this depression is manufactured and media is playing a big role in it. The question we ought to ask ourselves is what is the remedy? 

Just like the best antidote to depression is activity, the best remedy for societal depression is the debate, discussion and free exchange of ideas. The word free assumes a huge importance here. It can not be manufactured. News readers and presenters should come back to their original role. Our education system should promote critical thinking and questioning so that people can form an opinion of their own instead of borrowing other's thoughts or speaking like parrots. But a big question which remains unanswered is can this really happen? 

Let us understand this with the analogy of an animal with four legs whose all four legs are tied with each other. Can he really walk? The answer is obviously no. Similar is the situation of present-day media. It is tied with the leg of economy and politics. Today businessmen are the politicians and they are the media moguls. In such a state of affair, does democracy really stands any chance?

Wisdom

Q. What is the best antidote to depression or negative thoughts?
1. Work/activity
2. Music
3. Devotion
4. Love

Q. What is the best way to stay happy?
1. Happiness is a choice. It does not happen naturally in the state of society.
2. It comes when you drop the words like want or wish or me from your dictionary.
3. Once a person came to Gautam Buddha and asked Guruji I want peace. The answer was simple. Drop I and want.
4. If you can't be happy in your present circumstances, you can never be in future.
5. Every incident in life has a positive and negative side. It depends on us from which eye or lens we wish to see the incident.
6. Love nature. One word key to staying happy. Love Sun, love the grass, love the animal and enjoy their innocence and devotion.

Q. How to get rid of guilt?
1. No clue. Just accept it as your destiny and learn from your failures/mistakes.
2. Dedicate everything to Shiva. Victory as his and defeat also his.
3. Be considerate and generous to others.
4. Understand the limits of human nature.

Q. How to stay calm in most difficult and testing circumstances?
1. Enjoy meditation and hours doing nothing.
2. Forgive and forget attitude for others.
3. Understand that nothing is yours.
4. Everyone is a product of his or her circumstances.
5. Try to experience the thoughts and feelings of other people.
6. Remember you are just an actor and your duty is to do your job.
7. Raise your character.

Q. Wisdom of life?
A. Think and rethink the deep meaning of the words like character, discipline, honesty, conviction, love, joy and service.
B. Whoever you see and whatever you see, with good health, wealth and peace for the person.

Q. How to react to someone who is trying to harm you?
1. Forgive. Ignore. Avoid.
2. Easy. Easy. Easy.

When a dream dies

When a dream dies,

Heart is sliced
Soul cries
Wisdom defies
Happiness belies

Things turn hazy
Mind go crazy
You become lazy
Feeling cagey

Faith becomes blurred
Wish feels cursed
Destiny pierced
Life teared

It feels as if a part of you has died.

Today, I got the answer to many questions.
Hardwork vs Luck, it is luck.
Life vs Death, it is death.
Love vs Hate, it is hate.
Truth vs Fake, it is fake.
Full vs Void, it is void.

Always wins.

Coming back to life

Teaching in BITS Pilani, Experiencing Dubai, Honeymoon, Marriage, Civil Services Interview, Assistant director income tax selection and so much more in last six months. It proves to be the most intense phase of my life. So much in so little time. preparing for civils was much more intense from the perspective of business but experiences were limited. In last six months, new experiences were raining on my head. Every day I get to see new things, new people, new situations and so much more.

It's like I am meeting with my own hidden self. Amid all this, one thing I missed badly is my habit of blogging. The sad part is I did not pen my experiences and encounters with the younger lot, with people of Dubai and with my own other self. 

Nearly 1000 times the thought came that I should pen down particular experiences, thoughts but somehow I could not. Something was amiss. Somewhere I faltered. Some guilt, some lethargy, some preoccupation of mind stopped me from capturing all these beautiful moments. So today I begin again with the compilation of my experiences with the first step being the revision of eleven cardinal principles of my life.

1. Good should never become enemy of best

2. Charaiveti Charaiveti (Keep walking keep walking)

3. You are just an actor, not the director

4. Be clean in your thoughts, deeds, and words

5. Give everyone around chance or a benefit of the doubt

6. Whatever happens, happens for a good reason

7. Every moment in the life is an opportunity

8. There is no right time for doing the right things

9. Helping others is the best way to help yourself

10. Wish peace, success, calm, happiness, love, money for everyone around

11. The basic quality of life is necessary for living worldly life in a happy manner

With this, I start my blogging process again after an unhappy break of  50 days. But as I said, it is better late than never. There is no right time to do the right things.

Out of box 3.0

If one analyses India, one can see various missing links, potential ideas, and opportunities waiting to be tapped. But then things do not seem to move at the desired pace. For example, some simple ideas like having a data collection agency across India for conducting surveys or an idea of providing marketing, packaging, and export as a service to Indian housewives for delivering their home-made food products to the market or career counseling platforms in each city and likewise many other ideas have a great business potential but have remained untapped till date. Here I am listing some of my out of box ideas for few of the recurrent problems of India.

1. On Kashmir:

Step 1: would be to develop Kashmir through its internal resources like Saffron, tourism, apple, orchard trade. Connect Srinagar with Vaishno Devi. Engage Ex-army personnel who are familiar with the territory of the land to engage in joint business proposals with Kashmiris. End corruption by using technology in Kashmir. Develop rail and road network from East to West and North to South in Kashmir.

Result: Kashmir becomes richer.

Time: 7 years

Step 2: would be to do solid border fencing. Use smart fences, drones, satellite, night-vision facilities etc to secure the borders and reduce the infiltration. At the same time, court Pakistan in dialogue process to break the offensive process.

Result: Less inflow of terrorists.

Time: 3 years

Step 3: Reduce the hostilities and bitter memories of our Kashmiri brothers and sisters toward India which they might have harbored due to unintentional conflicts with Army. Remove AFSPA but also simultaneously remove article 35 A. Try to maximize our chances in Jammu and Ladakh region and win the state assembly elections by grooming a new young leadership which is more favorable to India. Once that is done, try to undo article 370 as well. Allocate seats for Kashmiris in all central and state universities so vigorous student exchange may occur.

Result: Kashmir would be better integrated with India as more inter-mixing and inter-dining would occur.

Time: 8 years

Once we have achieved the above three steps, we should move to the fourth.

Step 4: Engage Pakistan in a resolution of Kashmir issue. Agree with LAC as an international border. Enter in give and take by agreeing to CPEC and develop the tail links of highways we develop in Kashmir to CPEC. In return, get access to Central Asia and Afghanistan. Declare Siachin as a mountain of peace and International research station jointly controlled by India and Pakistan.

Taking such measures will solve the world longest pending dispute in most credible and long-lasting manner.

Interview 3.0

Q. How to develop the culture of Library?
A. Change in the RTE act and ensure that libraries are made mandatory part of it.
Year around competition at school and college level with respect to books, quizzes etc.
Open more reader's club.
Translation of books in local languages.
Providing rewards to people, identify young authors.
Reading, writing,  and speaking comes as a package.

Q. Psychological counseling and intervention?
A. It is all about listening and understanding other person's concern in an unconditional manner.

Q. Maldive crisis?
A. China factor, Began with Nausheed, Dictatorship of Yameen,
UN intervention necessary. The Maldives falling in the Chinese debt-trap
India should use diplomatic channels to bring the Maldives in line.

Q. Modicare vs Obamacare?
A. Size and scale are different.
B. It is like the anti-poverty program.
C. Center-state share in the scheme
D. Obamacare was also aimed at other issues of medical system
E. Obamacare had no limits on subsidy.

Q. Net neutrality?
A. Governments should mandate Internet service providers to treat all data on the Internet the same, and not discriminate or charge differently by the user, content, website, platform, application, type of attached equipment, or method of communication.

Q. Should the government go for net neutrality?
A. Yes sir, the government should go for net neutrality in order to protect startups and smaller players and avoid monopoly in the market but the government should provide some free MB of data to each individual BPL so that people can learn facebook, google, youtube and WhatsApp.

Q. Do you think you are overqualified for this job?
A. Sir the job of a civil servant and especially IAS is a very very challenging job. My skill sets are very small. There is lot more to learn and do. So I am definitely not overqualified for this job.

Q. India vs USA work culture?
A. Getting the tools right first
B. Culture of excellence and perfection
C. No sir culture, no hierarchy, flat culture
D. Focus on technology and education
E. Emphasis on details

Q. Palmistry a pseudo science?
A. Sir, I do not think it is pseudoscience. It is similar to our social sciences as most of the work is correlational rather than cause-effect.
My reading of the subject shows that

Out of box 2.0

Indians were the first to launch most of the forward-looking visionary policies in social space. For example, national family planning program was launched as early as 1952. Similarly, first export promotion zone was set up in 1964. Be it universal health insurance or universal job guarantee scheme or the reservation to people at margins and periphery, we were the first one to take the initiatives. But somehow our plans did not work. Countries who picked up our ideas and executed well reaped huge dividends of such schemes. For example, Chinese SEZ or family planning initiatives came later than India's but took China to great heights. The reason for our failure is we could not execute the plans in details. It required some out of box execution strategies to achieve the desired goals. In this series, we will explore some out of box ideas for women upliftment and systemic improvement in India's architecture.

With respect to women upliftment:
1. We should integrate transgender community as a change agent. Transgenders come to each house to collect their donation whenever a wedding occurs. All the people around ask them to give their blessings to the new bride for a male child. Their blessings are considered very auspicious. So, if we can sensitize them to not just give blessings for a male child but also for a female child then it may help in changing people's orientation.
2. We should create jobs with 4 to 6 hours of working. This will help us in harnessing the potential of a large number of housewives and women who are restricted in houses. For example, phone based marketing, call center based jobs, women helplines etc.
3. We should launch an education van which should go to residential complexes and educate housewives about various issues like english education, skill sets, and other new productive skills.
4. A scheme for credit points for employers who employ women workers should be launched. Such employers could be given tax incentives for maintaining a minimum level of diversity in the workplace.
5. The issue of women empowerment and safety begin at home. Every person has sisters or daughters and mother at home towards whom he is always concerned and respectful. However, all such women often become victim of some or other abuse. If such women discuss the issue at home then it can sensitize the male members in serious manner.
6. Another idea is to shift companies to tier 2 towns so that more opportunity could be opened for women of smaller towns. Further to promote the entrepreneur skill set, provide the service based marketing, export, packaging skills to the home based products. This can bring greater change in the economic conditions of such women.
7. Lastly, we need to launch nukkad nataks, content in local languages and free whatsApp, Youtube and facebook data for women to connect with rest of the world.
8. The IGNOU model of education should be further promoted so that women of the country can chart her own trajectory in the society.

Out of box 1.0

If we think in details then a universal panacea of all our problem emerges as a good inclusive education system. Be it the problem of traffic or health or corruption or anything else, education is considered as a magic wand to all our wounds. But question we ought to ask ourselves is whether current education system will prove a panacea or will it worsen the education system? Not very difficult to imagine, it may stop things from getting worse but it'll not guarantee to make them better. Case in point is all the big scams of India which has a serious involvement of so-called educated class. Similarly, violators of overspeeding and drunken-driving are not the illiterate rowdies. Oftentimes they are young educated modern class people. Therefore, our education needs some out of box suggestions to solve these problems.

A. We need to switch from k-12 to the k-13 system of education. The additional one year should be to learn the vocational skills like masonry, Welding, tool cutting, electronics, electricals, computers, manufacturing, traditional arts and artifacts, sculpting, hospitality, driving, and basic skills education etc. This has multiple benefits.
1. It'll allow people to develop real marketable skill set with which they can even open their own businesses.
2. It'll help in institutional mechanism to save our traditional skill sets.
3. We can hire traditional artisans as teachers and provide the platform to reach out to a wider audience.
4. It'll revive the Guru-Shishya tradition of India.
5. It'll reduce the pace at which people are entering the workforce and thus give more time to the government for generating more jobs.
6. It'll integrate the Skill India in our formal education system and thus will take away huge corruption introduced by a cartel of private skill training institutes.

B. We need to focus on ethics aspect of education by integrating subjects of psychology, corruption, cleanliness and social values in the age group of 12-16 years. The subject of psychology in class 8th will help in developing a sense of self-esteem and internal locus of control. It'll help in turning young boys into a man at an early age so that they will develop a sense of right and wrong. It will make them more immune to vulnerabilities of drug addiction, stressful life and prevent them from falling into the rat race.

C. We need to revive the library culture in our society. For this multiple initiatives need to be taken.
1. We need to amend the RTE act and ensure that libraries are opened in every school.
2. We need to conduct year-round competitions of readership/debate/extempore starting from primary level.
3. Reading cannot be separated from writing/speaking and listening hence a comprehensive Padho India scheme should be launched with a focus on essay writing, and district level student newspaper etc.
4. All the books and texts should be converted to local text and languages. More and more audio and video texts in a local language should be introduced.

D. A good teacher lays the basic foundation of the education system. For this, we need to recruit people who can reflect on the text and can really ignite the curiosity and zeal for learning among students. For this, prime minister's scheme of asking scientists to teach in schools is a very effective scheme. To this pool of engineers, doctors, administrators, and scientists we can add people who appear for UPSC interview but who fail to qualify for the final list of UPSC exam. Every school should compulsorily arrange for at least one or two hours of daily teaching by such people.

E. Another point is related to plagiarism. The model of UP government should be followed in entire India. All the schools and classrooms should be equipped with the CCTV and exam-time recording should be provided under RTI to RTI functionaries. Further plagiarism is one big menace in higher education as well. It has led to a deterioration in the quality of our engineers and arts graduate. Therefore, a medical like all India passing exam should be conducted for engineering students as well.

There are many other things which could be done in this regard but rest all are very general and oft-talked points. The recommendations of T.S.R. Subramaniam committee would have covered other points in detail.

अनुभूति

बा द ल  ह ट  र हे हैं
आ स मा न  दिखाई दे रहा है
दूर  है
अनुशाशन की कमी है
रेगिस्तान में भाग रहा हूँ
धीरे हूँ
पसीना नहीं आ रहा
पागलपन खो रहा है
मेला लगा हुआ है
कुछ ना कुछ छूट रहा है
एक अधूरापन एक खालीपन
में कौन हूँ
क्या चाहता हूँ
इन्ही सवालों की जद्दोजहद में खोया हूँ
मैं एक ही जगह पर खड़ा होकर दौड़ रहा हुँ
यहाँ बिना खुशबू का गुलाब है
यहाँ बिना तेज की अग्नि है
शीतला ता रहित जल है
क्या में लालची हूँ या स्वार्थी या एक मोहरा
में करनेवाला नहीं, ना ही में जाननेवाला हूँ
सब पागलों की भीड़ का एक हिस्सा हूँ
या भीड़ से अलग एक पागल
विचारों के द्वन्द या सवालों के शूल शब्दों के तीर या आखों की धूल
मैं मैं नहीं हूँ
ना में सुखी हूँ ना ही दुखी हूँ
ना शून्य हूँ ना ही अशून्य
ना श्वता हूँ ना रक्त हूँ ना भगवान् हूँ ना ही शैतान हूँ
मैं आत्मा में उठा कोहराम हूँ
में दुनिया में हो रहा संग्राम हूँ
रेगिस्तान का हिरन हूँ जंगल का हठी हूँ
चिड़ियाघर का शेर हूँ या गली का कुत्ता
मैं  गीदड़, चीता और सियार भी हूँ
मैं ही ब्रह्माण्ड हूँ में आत्मा और परमात्मा का निलय हूँ
में इंसांनी सोच का एक हैवान हूँ में धरती पर जन्मा एक प्राण हूँ। 

Last few days

The last few days have been disturbing as I suffered from indiscipline, neuroticism due to excess workload and struggled to finish things in proper manner. Lot of time went in listening to Osho and Sadhguru. Despite their soothing lectures, the reality that life is just drama takes some time to sink in. May be it comes by experience. May be we need to get rid of all our desires to get over this.

The biggest problem was feeling of incompleteness. When you try to do N things at the same time then it usually happens. We make micro-progress on each front and at the end of the day we feel that nothing is done or achieved. Last month was a disaster in this regard. I was simultaneously doing so many things that I failed to make any substantive progress on any of them except three. The only three bright spots in the pursuits were consistency in Gym, submission of research proposal and initiative of cyber security research group.

The problem is rooted in lack of planning, strategy and consistency. Somehow, I have not been able to get some free time for my fun activities and rest. It is not like I had no free time rather it is because of my tendency to take more and more work on my head. Sometimes I wonder how people like Shashi Tharoor and others manage to do so many activities at one time. In last few weeks, I have not even read one full book.

Anyway, the best part of persistent introspection is that you may miss on few things but keep coming back on the track. If your basics are right you may fall occasionally but you can never fail. The key to coming back again and again is to maintain a time table, list your activities, prioritise among them and keep moving. That is what I need to do at the moment.

Teaching

Teaching is one of the most selfless, and thankless job. A teacher ignites the dream, vision, and powers in his students. It requires being forgiving, joyful, and loving to the students. One of the big task for a teacher is to how to change the mindset of students? How to ignite that dream to achieve something? How to make them understand the importance of discipline? How to motivate them to pursue excellence?

The foundation of any teaching process is contingent on the teacher-tort relation. The recent innovations and development in the technology space have changed this relation. Now the offline classroom model is being replaced by the offline classroom model. The one-way information delivery has changed to a two-way exchange of the communication. Now the relation is of a friend rather than of a hierarchy. Classrooms have become more interactive and inquisitive.

People raise the question over the traditional model of brick and mortar universities. The online classrooms and courses have changed the entire landscape. In such scenario, the relevance of universities and classrooms have changed. The course material which teachers teach is also oftentimes available over the internet. Hence, students essentially pay for the culture, peer group and brand of the college rather than classroom content.

The culture of the university is defined by club activities, kind of discussions, quality of peer group and in-class conduct of the people. For example, whether classes are being conducted on time or not, whether college timetable is followed rigorously or not, the culture of copy-paste or plagiarism etc. in totality define the culture of the college. Thus the focus of teachers and college administrators should not be entirely teaching. Rather it should be to build the culture of the college.

Now comes the big question of how to build the culture of a place? Or how to change the culture of a place? Solutions of most of our day to day problems lie in this basic construct. Be it at the level of government or at the level of institution/office or even at home. Cultural reorientation will solve our many problems. For example, 'Chalta Hai' and 'Jugaad' culture of India has become anathema to our social system. Similarly, the culture of corruption has created a wide gulf in India's economic profile of people.

The first step of changing the culture of any organization is to identify the ills and goods. The immediate second step is to develop an alternate style of cultural behavior. For instance, if we wish to change the culture of cleanliness then we develop a cultural behavior of throwing the waste in the dustbin. Similarly, if we wish to change the culture of class punctuality then we develop an alternate behavior of coming to class on time. The third step in this direction is to develop some incentives for the new behavior and set some punishment mechanism for old behavior. However, this requires the change in the status quo which oftentimes result in criticism and resistance. Thus, it requires institutional and individual level leadership skills.

Therefore, today a teacher should not only be a content deliverer or content provider rather he should be a leader, a trend-setter and change-oriented person. In the process, he may face criticism, rebuke or ridicule. But that's what makes the teaching a thankless, faceless or selfless job. It is with this perspective, the students can gain the maximum from the relation of teacher-tort.

Budget 2018

Indian economy is standing at an inflection point. It is akin to a patient whose wounds are being operated upon and hence business sentiments across India give an impression of it as a patient lying in the hospital ward under mild anesthetic effect. On one hand, IMF and World Bank are projecting India as the upcoming fastest growing economy in the world. The index of industrial production is coming up and purchasing managers index is also showing positive signals. However, in contrast, the job market remains sluggish and the dream workforce of prime minister's 21st-century vision is now forced to sell pakodas to make two end meals. The window of reviving the job market is very small for this government else there is a risk of losing the power in the year 2019. In this context, the budget of 2018 holds absolute significance. So let us see what can we expect from this budget.

One thing is for sure from the election campaigns of UP and Gujrat, the BJP would leave no stone unturned in holding onto power. Thus, it would have three gameplans achieve its purpose. First is the real revival in the growth. This would come by reviving the job market. Now jobs are not flowing from the manufacturing sector and service sector was becoming the den of black money so it is still under operation. Therefore, the most vote-fetching option is to invest in the agriculture. Nearly 58% people derive their livelihood from the agriculture sector. Plus, they are swing voters who could be easily turned into favor by reviving job guarantee scheme or loan waiver scheme as we saw in 2009 election and in recent UP election. The second way to revive the growth is to increase the public investment in the economy. Build new roads, launch new townships, open industrial corridors, complete the pending projects like dedicated freight corridor etc. Building public infrastructures like roads and townships are the first step in generating more jobs, activities and new businesses in the region.

The second strategy would be to wage a mini-war against Pakistan and Pak-sponsored terrorism. This could ignite the patriotic sentiments in the country and may result in victory for Namo just like it did for Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 1999 after Kargil. However, given the poor state of defense preparedness, it would be a risky adventure to fight Pakistan. Thus a large chunk of the imminent budget may go for upgrading defense infrastructure. Pak-bashing is one of the surest ways to win the election in India and our PM will not refrain from exercising such options.

The third way to generate more votes is to fulfill the promise of Ram Mandir, revoking article 370 and cleaning Ganga. This would help in arousing communal sentiments in the country and would definitely provoke Hindu fundamentalists to vote in favor of BJP. The project of Ram Mandir does not require any separate money allocation. It would require some political investment in resolving the crisis. The article 370 would be achievable by the end of this year in the parliament but state government partnership with PDP is a big roadblock. Hence, BJP may go for an auxiliary goal of article 35A in return. Cleaning Ganga would also require some administrative effort however some money may be allocated to express the process of cleaning. Already Ganga water pipeline is laid down in some part of the U.P. and other states of the country. More than the thirst for water, it is aimed at dousing the thirst for the religious fundamentalism among the masses.

Overall, one can expect this budget to favor agriculture, public investment, defense and clean Ganga project over other areas/segment. However, the country could only be sustained in the long term when we are able to fulfill of demand of jobs rather than Ram Mandir or Pak-bashing. And more importantly, it should be more than chai-pakoda.

Update

I asked him "what time do you wake up"? He replied with his characteristic smile 4:00 saar in the morning. And then how long do you work here? We are picked at 5:00 AM from our place and gets dropped here by 6:00 AM. Then we stay here till 5:00 PM in the evening, he said. So then what time do you reach home? He said 9:00 PM and then we cook food. But wait a minute. Why 9:00 PM? Your job is over at 5:00 PM isn't it? Sir, we go for another part-time job and finish it to reach home at 9:00 PM. All the while his faced beamed the smile as the white light flows from the bulb. In a split second, it made me realize how lucky I am. I don't know why but I felt a sense of relief after listening to his work hours and story. If he can work for 16 hours a day for 1000 dirhams of saving and carry that beaming smile, can't I do away with that gloomy and tensed look falling on my face due to excess work? I have heard some desi brothers settled abroad often saying Indians are not hard working. I believe they have not seen the Indians like my office sweeper. We have everything in us to build create and innovate the future of human civilization. All we need is a right ecosystem and little guidance.

Yesterday I visited Global village in Dubai. It was a cultural shopping complex with theme based shopping complex from 32 nations. For someone who loves shopping, this could have been a paradise. I saw the stunt show with cars screeching on the arena and bikes jumping up in the air. I tasted Baklawa the Turkish sweet, Bosnian sweet, Italy's Batata and avocado juice. It was a fun evening. I did not buy anything. I do not know why but I could have bought something there may be zafran. There were some cultural events from different continents and countries. This was a fun sight to watch.

The new semester has begun. I have started teaching computer networks, and cryptography. Along with this, I am also taking some labs. It has become really unmanageable with wedding and interview preparation. Most of it is in mind rather than actual load. However, I am learning to cope up with things. I need to attend various mocks. Time is running. Let us see how will it unfold.

Interview thread: Conversation 1

Saurabh, What do you understand by the office of profit?

Why are we not able to compete with China in manufacturing or why the make in India mission is not working?
Sir, we have a serious cost-disadvantage in manufacturing due to high logistics costs. Secondly, our skill India program does not reciprocate manufacturing sectors need. Third, manufacturing job is seen as a more laborious yet less incentive job so people prefer services. Fourth the policy uncertainties are pushing people away from the manufacturing sector. Lack of coherent export linkages is also an issue.


Do you think that governments decision to stop Haj Subsidy is justified?
Yes, Sir, It is a very welcome step. I say this for 3 reasons. Firstly, The obligation of Haj only applies to people who can afford Haj so anyone taking subsidy is not fulfilling the complete obligation. Secondly, the subsidy will be used for the very productive purpose of minority girl education where it is needed badly. Thirdly most of the subsidy was used for rich/affluent Muslims. Fourthly, various committees, court, and even Muslims organizations had called for its phasing out.

The situation of the economy?
There is a slowdown in business due to tax uncertainty and poor sentiments but future is bright. Recent industrial production figures are strong. The manufacturing sector is coming up. FDI figures are high. The concern areas are low investment rate, poor unorganized sector output, and slow agricultural reform.


Q. What do you understand from a smart city?
A. Sir, a smart city is a 3 layer architecture. At the base is basic services in the economy. At the middle level is technology and at the third level is people. A city would be called smart if it is able to provide effective basic services to the people using the lever of technology.

Q. Is technology an essential part of it?
A. If it is smart then somewhere we need to involve technology as its integral part.

Q. So how should we go about it? How would you make Agra a smart city?
A. Sir, the most viable and effective first step to make a city smart is
Bring metro rail system and unified public transport system in the city.
The second step would be to bring technology for efficient waste collection and sanitation.
The third thing would be surveillance centers in the cities.

Q. What do you mean surveillance system?
A. Sir, it means we need to install CCTV cameras in the entire city, in every nook and corner and deploy the personnel in a centralized city-based location so that any law and order issue could be monitored from the surveillance center itself. For example, traffic police need not cut challans. Rather an overspeeding car or red light or helmet violation could be captured on the camera and fine amount could be deducted from the person's account.

Q. Then Why metro has to be a beginning point?
A. Possibilities are endless. But beginning would be from Metro because it has gained a country-wide acceptance and we also have experience in the field.

Q. What are the advantages of the smart city paradigm?
A. Citizen participation, control on migration, people empowerment, need-based intervention, bottom-up approach, innovation and creativity came out.
Projects like integrated command and control, smart water projects, waste management projects.

Q. What are the 3 most significant concern for Indian state?
A. Sir, the first is employment generation. Second is collapsing urbanization. The third is skilling India.

Q. What is India's big strength in contemporary era?
A. Reform orientation of government and people is one of the big positive for us.

Q. Why has India not been able to generate enough good runners?
A. Money, Sporting culture, Failure to nurture our talent
School level sports competitions, dedicated parks and playground facilities, sports stadiums in localities
Sports injury insurance, Caste class barriers, Excessive career orientation

But the scenario is changing off late. People are affording sports at their own cost and we have excelled in Tennis, Badminton, Chess, Kabbadi, and cricket.
Names to be dropped: Dutee Chand, Shiva Kesavan,

Q. Most untapped areas in India?
A. Tourism, Sports, Agriculture

Q. What is status of clean Ganga and how the present program different from previous programs?
A. Sir, cleaning Ganga is a work in progress. It will take atleast a decade. Present program has specific projects on sewage treatment plans, crematorium and waste management. It includes state and district in the implementations. Youth and civil society groups are given prominent role.

Dud and Mud

Sky is lar'ge

standing far

Sleepy eye

Can't see the sky

Legs are small

fear the fall

Heart is weak

feelin' freaked

Hands are lenghty

sky becomes sandy

canned in the box

chained in the locks

drenched with the mud

feeling dud

Feelin dud feelin dud 

feelin dud feelin dud

An extra mile

without a smile

An ounce of will

almost nil

Trapped in glass

lacking class

So much waste

no good taste

Muscular pain

all in vain

Fluttering mind

makes me blind

The last step

with heavy breath

A broken oath, broken heart

broken will, falling short

Missing the mad

feeling bad

Missing the action

so much tension

Final destination

so much hesitation

So feeling dud.. 

something amiss

be bullish

something wrong

be strong

something dry

don't be shy

Dont be a pleader

bring out the leader

Say no, get lost

say this at any cost

Become mad

feel glad

walk and walk

never stop

may be small

or just a crawl

but with time

it should be fine

A walk to moon

should begin soon

be it heavy be it small

be it slow or  banal

One day you'll reach your dream

Locks will open heart scream

Blessings bestowed on forehead

He is with you at every step

dnt feel dud.. dnt feel dud

keep walking in the mud