Lest We Forget

As the year 2008 comes to an end, lets go down the memory lane and think about events that made the year unforgettable.

To me it occurred on 26th Nov and in Mumbai.



A fidayeen was arrested alive by a hawaldaar of DB MARG Police Chowky.



The man who was arrested was carrying an AK47 and had loads of ammunition. On the other hand, the hawaldar had a lathi.



From all that I have read, heard and seen, this is what I make of the incidence.



On the night of 26-27 November, Ombale and several other policemen were on alert in the Girgaum Chowpatty area. They had been told that two terrorists were on the run in a Skoda. The twenty policemen out there had a grand total of two self-loading rifles and two bullet-proof vests. The vests were given to the men with the rifles, who were placed at vantage points around metal barricades. The rest of the policemen carried only lathis.

Those (virtually unarmed) policemen tried to stop the Skoda. The driver fired at them. The police shot back from the pre-determined vantage point and got him. The other man slid out, pretending to surrender, but carrying an AK-47.

Ombale rushed to secure him when the terrorist started pumping away with the AK-47. Call it guts or instinct, dedication or sacrifice but Tukaram Gopal Ombale refused to let go of his assailant. Later something like 30 bullets were recovered from his body.

His colleagues took advantage of Ombale's last act as they rushed at the terrorist with their lathis. The plainclothesmen were later identified as a 'mob' in grainy footage shot by someone on a mobile phone!

Tukaram Gopal Ombale died for his bravery. Assistant Police Inspector Sanjay Govilkar received bullet injuries. But those ordinary policemen -- some in their forties, laughably ill-equipped -- succeeded in doing what nobody else could, they captured a terrorist on a suicide mission alive. They also recovered artillery dwarfing their modest weapons -- AK-47s, several magazines, 9mm pistols, and grenades.

Qasab had so much of ammunition that he could have killed each one of these policemen and then shot himself. After all he was sent to die. But this was not to be. I feel that Qasab had it written in his destiny to get the media attention. He was captured by 3 different cameras at 3 different places before he was finally arrested. Of the 10 terrorists who entered the city, he is the only one who was identified. He has now become the FACE OF TERROR

Now, look at the bigger picture. Politically, Qasab has become a most valuable prisoner. Due to his confession, the states that support terrorism have come under a lot of pressure to eradicate it. Things have been so heated that even a war is not of equation

The end is nowhere to be seen. But what can be seen is the beginning of the end. To protect humanity from such people, we need to overcome this mentality. That will take a lot of time and dedication. We need someone as strong as the Mahatma to bring this change.

But whatever the outcome is, the reason behind it will be the brave deeds of Assistant Police Inspector Tukaram Gopal Ombale and other officers of DB MARG Police Chowky.

Jingle all the way !!!

The only time I cherish my school memories is during Christmas.


As a student of a convent school Christmas was the most religiously celebrated festival of our school days.
The Christmas parties were the most awaited thing of our annual calendar.

The sight of the Santa Clause used to make me feel very special. When he handed me those chocolates I used to feel that here is a man who really cares.

I loved every part of it.

The charisma of Christmas ended along with the end of our school days. Since then Christmas has been just a vacation and nothing else.

There were times when I realised that I did not miss anything. I was living a life that was perfect. I pitied people who though I need to change. I had the best place to live. The best friends to be with. The best Motorcycle. The best team to play for. And I loved being what I was.

After a few years I found that I was stagnant.

Then, gradually I had to give up on a few things. I came across people who, earlier, had no part to play in my life.
Many of them introduced me to a new dimension of life.

From a very monotonous and predictable lifestyle I was pushed into this multi dimensional way of living. Gradually I found that I could deal with any person in any situation. And even then I could hold on to my own peculiarities.

I was engrossed in so many different things that life became confusing. Dilemma became a routine. To be or not to be was the 1st question. To be here or to be there was the next.

Suddenly, I felt like a child at the toy shop. I wanted that big green trash truck toy in my hands but I also wanted to ride this cycle.

There started this never ending phase of catching up. Catching up with responsibilities, catching up with irresponsibilities.

I had to play a role everywhere. A boss in the office, a coach on the ground, a naughty guy among friends and zany among relatives, a sincere fella at home and so many more...

When I was playing one roll I missed being the other.

This was a fresh feeling. I missed something.

To miss something is the gist of being alive.
I miss something cos I demand it. I demand something I want it in my life.
Hence I prove that I am alive.


At times it makes me feel desperate, helpless, hapless etc etc etc...
But then I like to believe. I believe that I will have what I want and it is just a matter of time. It makes the journey enjoyable.

Dear Santa,

Please give me dreams - impossible dreams - dreams which I can chase throughout my life.
I would love to be known as 'chaser' - even if it is at the cost of being an 'achiever'.

Give me so many dreams that I miss being contented.

And give me the energy to chase those dreams.

After all, what is life without that impossible dream?

For others ... do give them hope.

Thank you Santa

Merry Christmas

Korechilam, Lorechilam, Jeeteychilam

If anyone happens to explore my room, he will happen to come across this piece of wood.
It is not very neatly preserved or highly decorated. It is just lying on my table under a pile of papers and books and what not.
It feels like an art craft excavated from the reigns of some ancient civilization, a bit muddy and a bit damaged.

It is not a masterpiece or a glorifying piece of art. In fact it gave me a depressing feeling when I 1st saw it.

But when you go through the citation, you will find a small line at the bottom.

"Group Winner 7 Star C.C. "

The appearance of that whole thing changes when I read that line. This is a trophy that our team has won. This is a memento that reminds us that a few guys who just love the game of cricket, played it whole heatedly and eventually won the tournament.

So whats the fuzz about? Is it the 1st time I have received a trophy? Is the the 1st time my team has won? Is it the world cup that we have won?

Let's look back.
The 1st trophy we had won was .. I don't remember when.
We had players playing at different levels and almost all of them aspired to play at the highest level some day. We were the guys who measured our fitness, practiced daily, had team meetings, and did all sorts of other things which made the game a bit boring.

The level of competition was so high that you had to perform even as a 12th man to be in the hunt.

The only reason we played was to win. Loosing was sin.
When we won a trophy then, it was just as a milestone. There was nothing enchanting !!!

Then I was lucky to play for my college. I had a group of street fighters who came together to enjoy the achievements of the team. It was a privilege to lead the boyzes. We played for pride, pride of the team, pride of the college. It was important the the college wins. The event was not important .. the team .. not at all.

If I was happy that we won the cricket tournament ... I was happy that we won the basketball tournament. We received the trophy and handed it over to the director. I did not even care to see it.

Then, I got an entry into the 7 stars. Well .. getting entry here is not at all difficult. You just have to be on the ground. Generally, we play with not more that 9 players. So if you are available... you are in.

We termed ourselves as ready made players. We don't need to practice, we are always fit and we have a super understanding so we we don't waste time in team meetings. We did not care about our team combination. There are not many available with just 9 players, you see!!!!
If you have heard about visiting professors in universities, we were like visiting players on the cricket ground.

The fact is .. that this team won. It won all matches and it won convincingly. There was a big margin between us and the second ranker.
It is still hard to believe. Whenever I look at that trophy, I believe that magics do happen.
If you enjoy your job, you will get through it successfully. This trophy will remain special to me not because it reminds me of the victory. It will remain special because it reminds me all those things that happened for us to make us victorious.

And as Sachin Zende always says .... we must stretch our hands for the catch ... if the ball sticks its a wicket... If it doesnt, it is well tried.

RAISE YOUR HANDS, GET COUNTED, BE RESPONSIBLE.

I remember those times when we used to be on the grounds in the twilight.
After a hard game when we wanted to rest, the mosquitoes used to have a ball above our heads.
It was damn irritating. But all we needed to do was to clap above our heads. We could easily blow away couple of them.

Was is just because human is more stronger the mosquitoes ?

Read this...
You see ants. They are always in a group. No, lets not call it a group It is a parade, Isn't it?
Many times I have seen these ants carry over them, living things, much bigger than themselves, to be stored as their food.

So does being stronger always helps?

Well ... one prominent thing that we associate with ants is the discipline they obey.
Their discipline unites them and their unity is their strength.

I have been at the CST a few times. I have seen that there are metal detectors there, positioned at the entrance. There are many detectors, but, there are gaps between them.

What do we do? We take the easy way out. We don't wait until our turn to pass through them. We don't hesitate getting a bit smarter and passing through the gaps.

The reason is simple. We are sure that we are not going to do any crime. But do we know that there are people watching us? Do we know that those watching us are searching for these loop holes?

Yes, I agree that there are policemen to patrol. But how many will be needed and why, and what can they do and to what extend can they perform?

Just think of this situation....

People are religiously following security instructions without any interference on the police.
All of them are making sure that they pass through the detectors.

If there is an antibody who wants to enter such area, he has 2 ways of entering. Either through the detectors or by bypassing them. If he goes through the detectors he will get caught. If he does not go through them, he will get noticed and eventually be caught. It will be a smoother task for the police to ensure our security it will be a harder task for the antibody to breach our security.

This is something very important that we tend to forget. Our responsibility towards social security. We are free, but this does not mean that we have a right to take our freedom for granted. We must take the onus on ourselves to preserve this freedom. To preserve our freedom, we must set a few rules and obey them.

Freedom means setting our rules. Freedom does not mean breaking them.

Our security system might not be perfect. Nothing is! But by doing these small things right, we can help in making it better, stronger more efficient.

It is difficult. We have cultivated this habit of finding short cuts. But it is important to be patient. It is important to finish the process. It is difficult to resist the temptation to jump the red light when we see an empty road ahead.

But it is important to stop. It is one way of showing that we care. We care for other people, we care for the police. We care for the system.

There are many ways by which we can develop a social sense within ourselves. We need to observe, we need to be patient.

We need a change ..... Lets be the change ......

This one is for you ... ARUL !!!!

झुकू झुकू झुकू झुकू एयर देक्कन
खाने को देंगे ब्रेड और मख्खन
उड़ते बादल देखेंगे
मामा के गाँव को जाएँगे !!!!!

Aaahhhh, the rains !!!! ..... Oohhh, the rains!!!!!

At schools, I learned two poems simultaneously..
"Rain rain go away, little Johny wants to play ..."
and " ... ye re ye re pawsa, tula deto paisa"

As a kid I never observed the drastic difference between the two.
However, my grandmother never liked the English one.
"How can you ask the rain gods to go away ?" she used to wonder...

June and July are the months that you can associate to rainy season and a few other bad things. One of them is the end of summer vacation. Our preparation for the new class at the schools used to start with the 1st showers of rain. More often than not, our first day of the year was accompanied by rains.

A few years ago June and July were the months when our cricket season used to begin.
After getting through all the selection processes and practice sessions, we used to wait for this time of the year as anxiously as one can.

And to our dismay, we used to get greeted by the monsoon. Most of the matches used to get washed out. The others were reduced cos of bad ground conditions. A couple of times when I was set to make a good score, the overnight rains washed the match and I had to remain not out in my 30s and 40s.

Rains were the biggest enemy I had then.

I really wondered why people like the rains. What is so enchanting or romantic about it?
For so many years I found nothing likable about the rains. Ever thing seemed so gloomy.
Of course, then my favorite poem was " Rain Rain Go Away, We Cricketers Want To Play." I used to link this verses with the sports loving culture that the Western Countries have.


But today, I had a look at a completely different dimension of the rain. My car had a nice wash from the overnight rains. As I took on my road to office I saw many pedestrians and bikers taking shelter in under some tree ( the other days they are busy running helter-skelter and disturbing traffic). There was less traffic of course. Everything made my drive very smooth.

The commotion that I associate with these roads was not present today. This was the effect of the rains.

Yes, the rains were the same. But, I think the difference was that here, I was on my way to work and not on my way to the ground.

However, for the 1st time, I enjoyed the lines "ye re ye re pausa .. tula deto paisa"

a vicious circle

Its amazing the way macro economics work.
A pin drop somewhere can cause a earthquake elsewhere.

Like.. currently the steel prices are rising beyond control.
This is directly affecting the manufacturing sector.
But wait, the story doesn't end there.

Against the rules of the game, Maruti Udyog has decided to increase the car prizes.
Soon Tata Motors will follow the suite.

This will directly cause inflation in transportation cost.
Transport is the backbone of any economy. Every aspect of the economy depends upon the transport facilities.

Basic necessities like food and oil are available to us cos of this transportation industry.
An increase in the cost of vehicles will increase the cost of transport.
Also, increase in cost of steel will increase the cost of road construction and general infrastructure development.
Not to mention the high prices of fuel.

The prices of eatables are set to increase.
A common man has no option but to have more income to run the household.
Thus, there is an expected increase in the salaries and wages.

That goes in hand with the current high inflation rate.

When the basic needs are costly, it implies that the other things like services and entertainment are not sought for.

With recession in the manufacturing sector and slow growth of agriculture sector, the service sector will automatically get hampered cos there is no money to avail the services.

Service sector depends upon the mass utilization of services.
So a small effect here can bring it down in no time.

The banks are enjoying themselves by charging high rate of interest and thus holding down the cash flow.

This is the time to spend money, but where will the money come from.
Should the government cut down the taxes or should the banks encourage loans by cutting the rate of interests.

One aspect of the economy that many of us overlook is the R and D
Yes...
This is one thing that needs major attention.
Research is needed not only in form of technology and science, but also in management.
Management of Funds, Resources, Man Power, Environment,

I think this is the time when scholars and learned people should work overtime and more money should be spent on development of society.

Too much emphasis on these three major sectors has resulted in social growth.
Now is the time for diversification.
Let the money be spent on social uplifting. This seems to be non profitable. It is, but, for a shorter period of time.
A better society will automatically bring the economy back on track. People who don't have money today will get it tomorrow, invest it a day after and thus it will be back to where it was in a few days time.

As the money remains in a flow there wont be any stagnancy as it is today.

There will be a 3 dimensional growth in the society and that is what is called as development.

the only time I managed to get some media coverage

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/12985560.cms

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=47583

a war strategy

majha kholit achanak barech das jhale
nav janmalele das faar chapaL
tasa das marnyat mi mahir, gaadh zopet pan mi tyanna heru shakto. pan he das 21 vya shatakatle naa!!!!
sapadtayet kuthe?
mag ratra bhar atadyachi chaun chaun machchardani keli

me tyanna maaf kela... baki kahi karu shakat navta

mag kahi diwasani te faar susta zale asa maza lakshat ala

asa kasa? vichar karnya jog goshta ahe.

Mag laskhat ala ki tyanna yha kholit facta maza rakta milat hota..
susta nahi tar kay honaar >


Ata sagle das susta zale . ani me ekekacha CHUN CHUN KE BADLA GHETO


hahahahahah
what an idea

The coming death of Indian outsourcing

HERE IS SOMETHING I CAME ACROSS ON REDIFF

India is riding high on outsourcing.

Information technology and IT-enabled services will employ 4 million people in 2008 and account for 7% of gross domestic product and 33% of India's foreign-exchange inflows, according to Nasscom, an Indian IT industry organization.

The death of this industry is far from anyone's mind.


However, the reality is that wages are rising in India. The cost advantage for offshoring to India used to be at least 1:6. Today, it is at best 1:3. Attrition is scary.

Jobs that are low value-added and easily automatable should and will disappear over the next decade.

People talk a lot about India moving up the value chain. Some of that has indeed happened. An industry that started gaining momentum when Indian software developers were tapped to help fix the 'Y2K' problems in old software code has blossomed beautifully into one that offers a much more comprehensive spectrum of services.

Yet, India, for all its glory, is still the world's back office. India's tech industry is a "services" industry. The Indians don't do the thinking. The customers do. India executes.

As a result, India has not learned to invent technology products of its own. Barring a few exceptions, the huge amount of venture capital chasing India finds it difficult to be deployed. There is way too much money, way too few deals. Instead, tech-sector VCs are now diverting capital to retail, real estate, hotels and other non-tech sectors.

India's $30 billion IT/ITES services industry, meanwhile, is slowly and surely losing its competitive advantage.


Most of the 4 million people that the industry employs have now "arrived." They have breezed through the milestones that their fathers had to toil all their lives to reach. A phone. A watch. A TV. A car. A house.

They are complacent. They will not take risks. They have "outsourced" thinking to their customers.

As the 1:3 cost structure becomes 1:1.5, it will soon become inefficient to use Indian labor. Why not Oklahoma or British Columbia? For many Europeans, Eastern Europe has already become more compelling than India. The pure labor arbitrage equation will no longer balance.

ADP, the largest U.S. payroll services provider, has 45,000 employees worldwide, of which only 2,500 are in India. It has around 1,000 workers in El Paso, Texas, it's expanding a location in Augusta, Ga., and it's opening a facility in Jackson, Miss. It's also growing a location in Halifax, Canada. ADP isn't moving its workforce to India--it's hedging its bets geographically. On a recent earnings call, ADP's chief executive used terms such as "smartshoring," and "nearshoring" to describe the strategy.

The software as a service (SaaS) megatrend in technology also plays against India.

Here's an example: There's a tiny Silicon Valley start-up called InsideView. It helps customers to generate sales leads, qualify those leads and use technology tools to help find big sales opportunities for customers.

In November 2007, InsideView acquired a company called TrueAdvantage, which did the exact same thing manually with a team of 150 people in India. After the acquisition, InsideView moved all 2,500 of TrueAdvantage's customers over to its SaaS solution. All 150 TruAdvantage employees in India were laid off.

That's been a familiar tale in Detroit--but no so far in India. But that's changing.

Indian powerhouses like Infosys and Wipro must diversify their portfolios away from pure body-shopping and process competencies to technology-driven advantages. They, too, could build--or acquire--SaaS businesses.

So far that's not happening. Infosys is still hiring thousands of new employees in India every year. The mood is upbeat. Nasscom is forecasting 25% annual growth in the Indian IT services industry for the next few years. The golden goose is still laying large, warm eggs, enough to feed the 4 million and their families, servants, chauffeurs and cooks.

Meanwhile, the workforce is getting comfortable in their cubicle chairs, just as the turkey gets comfortable before Thanksgiving.

Forbes recently published some scary statistics on wage inflation in India. Salaries rose 15.1% in 2007, up from 14.4% the previous year. The 2008 forecast: 15.2%. This would be the fifth consecutive year of salary growth above 10%.

Add to that the appreciation of the rupee against the weakening dollar, and its impact on the labor arbitrage market.

Is the death of Indian outsourcing all that far off?

Assuming a 15% year-to-year salary hike rate, and a 2007 cost advantage of 1:3 in favor of India, if US wages remain constant, India's cost advantage disappears by 2015. Then what?

MARATHI MANSA JAAGA HO !!!

Maharshtra was once the most well established industrial zone in the country and very lucrative as far as tax income in considered.
Maharashtra is the only state in India that Charges Octroi. Now as other states like Jharkhand and Uttaranchal have entered into competition by reducing taxes, Maharashtra has suffered directly. Many automobile companies have have stopped their production in Maharashtra and shifted their units to North Eastern States. There was an acute shortage of skilled labor in those places so far. Paradoxically,the labor that worked in Maharashtra came from the North Eastern States. Thanks to MNS all these trained and skilled workers have now decided to return. These workers wont be at loss cos they will be getting jobs on equal or higher scale in their homeland.
The suffers would be the Industries in Maharashtra. These Industries that pay tax to the Maharashtra Govt.
I think that MNS giving jobs to Marathi people in Maharashtra is again a political move with a political motive. Once these workers have support of a party like MNS, we all can guess what kind of a working culture will they bring to the industry.
I was going through the MNS website and was surprised to find that all these 'sainiks' are well educated and young chaps. It is a pity that even such people lack a vision. And we call them leaders.

So what do they have in store for us. Maharashtra is again made up of different parts. Many people who now live in Mumbai are native of Konkan region or other parts of Maharashtra. So will Konkan region be isolated again. Will Punekars be kicked out of Mumbai. Will Vidarbha and Khandesh be separate states.

.... and the argument will go on

Just happened to read an amazing thing.

A study states that the people who get involved in an argument tend to live more than those who do not get involved in argument.

Seems logical. It might be clear that the people who argue let their feelings out. They are sure to have a relax mind.
But naturally they will tend to live more...

Well. If this statement is true, then I would like to go further and think about a few more things.

For the moment just throw the concept of LAUGHTER BEING THE BEST MEDICINE out of the window.
For a while, lets believe that ARGUMENT IS THE BEST MEDICINE.

Think what a place this world would be.

So far we had a practice of greeting people with a smile. Not any more. People might frown at each other as soon as they meet. A frown will ignite an argument more rapidly than any other thing.

Why only that, the laughter clubs that are a routine sight in any park early in the morning will be out of fashion. People might join at Argument Clubs. A hearty argument will make ones day. A stroll in a park on a fine morning, and you will see each one involved in some serious argument.

Loved ones will not use any romantic stuff anymore. The duet songs that the films contain will be finally seen a part of non real world. a couple who can argue with each other will be seen as the best of the lot.

I think the best scene might be seen in hospitals. Just imagine, someone is lying there in an ICU. each visitor goes in to meet him will have a fierce argument and come back. And in fact might believe the it has worked in favor of the patient.

How beautiful might this place be to live. All those gurus and babas and saints who preached for world piece will be seen as villains. People who tend to defuse the tensions might be seen as enemies of humanity.

Well, a set of thoughts make us to believe that such kind of lifestyle might increase the avg age but people wont like to live in such a society. So even if it increases the avg age, people will hate the life they live and this might ultimately reduce the avg age. So there might not be any difference.

But age will increase only if people are happy. And if they are happy arguing they might not hate the lifestyle.

This 'arguably' is the most arguable argument one would ever have to argue on.

The blog saga

Once in a while i happen to go on a Sant Gadgebaba mission.

And I seriously start cleaning my surroundings.

As it always happens, I was struck by a 'clean surroundings' fever today.. and as always, I found something to ponder upon.

I happened to come across my log book. I opened it and started turning its pages over and over to and fro.

I remember the date. ti was 3rd Nov, 2001/2 i don't remember...

That day I woke up with a stomach upset. had a bad time in the morning. went to the club and informed everyone that I was ill hence they should not consider me in the playing XI

It was a big match for us and hence it was essential that we play the best team.

As an athlete, you look forward to such situations. Where you are not fully fit yet you have to give your best on the ground.

Playing for 50 ovs, that too wicket keeping with an upset stomach can be treacherous.

I wanted to memorize each and every moment of that day... and thus the blogging started.

The fun about writing in the book was that I used to switch off all the lights, light a candle and write with an ink pen. more often then not the radio used to tune in to VIVIDHA BHARATI

Then, it was different. I was nostalgic.

When I read the book, I don't just remember about what i wrote... i also recall how I wrote it.

Well with all these memories... I cant resist myself now.
I am going back to the nostalgic way of blogging

One thing which does not happen in my book is that I cant get your comments..

So now you know what you have to do. right !!!!!

Reliving the moments

As India inch closer to victory at Perth, I cannot stop recalling that day when I say Indian team win in Australia for the 1st time.

That day I woke up at arround 3 in the morning and waited all the while for the match to start.

Then as usual Sehwag set himself after the Aussie attack ( which was much better than the current one)

I had my univ exams. At lunch I switched off the TV and got back to my studies.

I kept the track of the score on the net though.

As soon as I felt that the victory was a few shots away.. I rushed downstairs, switched on the TV and had my eyes stuck to it.

Dravid's square cut to McGill then a roar and a punch in the air - this moment will remain in my RAM for a long time.

Now that India is about to win its 1st Test at Perth, I am again having the same itchy feeling.

Sitting here in office on my PC, my biggest job was to get this damn broadband connection going. This keeps me updated with the score. However, I cannot just keep checked in and hence keeping a track of it every now and then

4 year ago .. I was to appear for an exam. That day when everyone complained about the tough paper, I ended up getting a 1st class.

Whats in store today !!!

challenging the supreme

BYPASS THE ICC
The matters of racism have risen time and again but the ICC has never taken serious thought into it.ICC are the main culprits in racism.Almost all match referees are biased. the decision go in favor of the whites.I am surprised why Ranatunga is still silent. He is the one who walked off when murli was no balled. Jumbo could have done that too.Rashid Latif once grounded the ball and appeasled. He was banned my match referee Mike Procter. Why wasn't ricky poning given the same treatment.Its clear how the ICC workes.Now I have an idea.More than 70% of the ICC income comes from the subcontinent.Captains like Ranatunga, Inzamam and Ganguly have taken firm steps against the ICC in the pastIf the icc is taking us for granted then we must by pass the ICCWe can have our matches under Asian Cricket Council.We have the best teams in the world. India Pak and SL. Bangladesh is an emerging team. The best cricket lies in the subcontinent.we can develop other teams better than the ICC.We do not need the ICCWe can have the best of cricket. and wont need to suffer the bullish attitude of ICC.