सस्ता शेर

The following is to tickle Your Funny Bone, taken from सस्ता शेर

Understanding Indian Politics

Almost every educated and civilized person believes that democracy is the best way for progress of a country. I am no different. But, I think, pure democracy at all levels will lead to a chaos and ego clashes. Because, democracy makes every person equal, and if everybody is equal, there won’t be any leaders. I will take examples of Indian politics. By all means India is democratic. Ideally our political parties should be democratic too i.e. their leader should be ELECTED by the party members, and it happens; only the elected member belongs to the same family of the previous leader.

Axiom: Only a blood relative of a big political leader has the ability to become a big politician in India.

Proof:

• Congress has the most powerful family at helm. That’s why this party has ruled India the maximum.
• Whereas when we see the other parties, they came into power riding high on the public image of somebody but vanished soon after. Janta Party came into power because of JP (Jayaprakash Narayan), but since JP did not have any scion to take the mantle from him, Janta Party disappeared.
• Similarly BJP came to power because of Vajpayee, but sadly he is a bachelor. :-) So no question of son/daughter taking the responsibility. Today, everybody in BJP is equally big leader and there is no super leader to lead them. That’s causing it’s downfall.
• The sons of Karunadhi are the strong contenders for the crown of Tamilnadu. I can predict the downfall of AIADMK after Jayalalitha if she remains unmarried. :-)
• The sons of Deve Gawda are the most likely for chief ministership of Karnataka in future.
• Sons of Mulayam Singh Yadav are ready to take the UP battle from him. Poor Mayawati, she is still unmarried.

So, an engineer can not certainly produce (biologically) an engineer, same is true for a doctor, scientist, cricketer and so on. But only a big politician can produce a successful politician in India. The world’s biggest democracy is run by monarchs, literally.

Well, this is strange and seems wrong from an idealistic point of view, but it works that way in Indian politics. So the future India will more likely be led by the sons/daughters of Sonia Gandhi, Bal Thackarey, Mulayam, Karunanidhi, Chautala, Narendra Modi…..and so on.


Similarly, there are companies in western countries owned by professionals, but traditionally India has had family owned businesses (the TATAs, Birlas, Godrej, Bajaj, and so on). The globalization has given us the professionally owned companies like L&T and Infosys. But still, till today majority of Indian businesses are owned (or controlled) by families.

Conclusion: Family owned political parties and businesses are most suitable and stable for Indian conditions.

* And Gandhis will rule here generation after generation.

Diwali - Missing Home

Sitting here in USA on the eve of Diwali, this poem of Dr. Rajeev K. Saxena best describes my feelings.

Thanks Dr. Saxena.

Very Happy Diwali to all the guests at this page. Please enjoy extra on by behalf.

कौन हो तुम

कौन हो तुम,
कौन हो तुम रात की जो
नींद को हमसे चुराकर
याद का आकार लेकर
तब हमारे पास आकर
कल्पना की सतह पर तब
भाव को आकार देती
भाव निर्मित चित्र में
बहु रंग की बरसात करती
स्नेह सागर की लहर में
ज्वार का वरदान बनोगी?
प्रेम की ताकत मुझे दे
क्या मेरी पहचान बनोगी?

कौन हो तुम,
कौन हो तुम हृदय की जो
अनकही कहने लगी हो
स्वप्न में आती नहीं तुम
स्वप्न में रहने लगी हो
विरह की यह वेदना जब
हृदय तल को बेध जाती
याद की खिड़की खुली
औ तुम खड़ी हो मुस्कुराती
इस अधूरी कविता का क्या
तुम ही पूर्णविराम बनोगी?
अपने दिल की बात छुपाकर
क्या अब भी अनजान बनोगी?

Love - Another Dimension

To love a woman for her virtues is meaningless. She's earned it, it's a payment, not a gift. But to love her for her vices is a real gift, unearned and undeserved. To love her for her vices is to defile all virtues for her sake -- and that is a real tribute of love, because you sacrifice your conscience, your reason, your integrity and your self-esteem.
What is love, if it is not self-sacrifice?

----Ayn Rand "Atlas Shrugged"

Here is one of the best movie reviews I have ever read:
http://insearchofi.blogspot.com/2007/10/my-confession.html

NRI

My idea about NRIs was, since they live out of their motherland, they would be very nostalgic about their country of origin. I used to think that the urge for money was the only strong reason for the several lakhs of NRIs to live in the prosperous countries, and they all would like to return to their motherland someday. Alas! I was so wrong. Here I would talk about the NRIs in Detroit USA, which perhaps can be generalized.

I got to attend the marriage ceremony of one of my relative’s daughter. They are settled here in Detroit since the last 40 year. On this occasion I met many NRI families and talked to them about their views and emotions for India. I will now share my inferences:

The 1st generation of NRI has an identity problem. Though he is settled here since many years, he is still at least 40 % Indian. How do I know it? Talk to some Bengali, Bihari, Tamil guy. You will notice the very unique accent of the place of their birth.
Not only the accent, the thought and behavior is also very much the same. E.g. In India we know the typical characteristics of a Bihari, a Tamilian and so on. From behavior of a 1st generation NRI, one can know in which part of India was he born and brought up. So I conclude, the 1st generation NRI has a divided identity, he may be an American among Indians but he is Indian among Americans.

The second generation who were born and brought up in USA, are no at all NRIs. I am sad that the govt of India tries to give duel citizenship to these people. They may be called Rahul or Vineeta or Surabhi or anything meaning something in Hindi. But nothing else is “Indian” in them. I request the people and govt of India, please do not call the kids of NRIs as NRIs. They are not.

PS: These are general observations and as always, there will be exceptions, but not many I think.

Mindless Research

I was just browsing the website of my engineering institute and happened to see the “Professional Resume” of one of the professors. He claimed to have 51 technical publications. The document listed the titles of his research thesis, papers published, the lectures delivered at national/international conferences and so on. I started to read the list and it went on and on. My god, such a long list, so many publications, lectures....

While
“Generalized Cell Formation in CMS using Metaheuristic Algorithm”

“Design of Cellular Manufacturing using Neural Network Model”

“A Methodology for Evaluation of Service Quality using Neural Networks”

“Application of Theory of Constraints on Scheduling of Drum-Buffer Rope System”

were some of the titles of his papers almost none made any sense to me.

Then I opened my own “Professional Resume”. It had almost nothing worth mentioning except a B.Tech degree and some 3+ years of experience in an IT services company.
I feel dwarfened. But the logical mind tries to argue.
No, I can not dare to compare my resume with that of my esteemed professor, but I remember Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam saying the universities to stop doing mindless research and do something productive.
I wonder how many people except this prof would have read his research papers. Well, he is just symbolizing the hundreds of research scholars in India who keep publishing technical literature here and there some for getting a better job, promotion, certification etc.

Thousands of people get PhDs from various Indian universities every year in engineering disciplines. So why don’t at least a few exciting technologies come out from India every year. Clearly the researches are directionless (as acknowledged by many including Dr. Kalam). I think the exam oriented mentality in our country has devalued PhD which now is mere another degree or certificate of a course completion rather than being finder of something new.

The heights of Great Britain was fueled by the industrial revolution, that of USA was similarly supported by the pioneering technological innovations. So I think India can not ride high forever by only providing cheap services and labor. Innovations will be needed to sustain the growth and not the hundreds of publications without practical output.

Cost Reduction

Why are things so sluggish in big organizations? As students we do a lot of activities in our colleges, which are parallel to what the industries do. For example, I am working on an assignment of modifying an electronic circuit (which is an intelligent brake control of automotives) in order to reduce its cost. I belong to a service provider company in India which has posted me in USA at the client company location for this assignment. I have a couple of suggestions to achieve the goal. These are nothing but some slight modifications similar to what we used to solve in our engineering classes while solving numerical problems. My company sent me here in USA bearing all the cost to do these slight modifications which an engineering undergraduate does in his classroom as simple problems. Worse, with these ideas I am waiting for multiple levels of approvals so that it can be implemented or rejected. It has been one week since I am waiting for the team members and the manager to assemble for a meeting to discuss my idea. I know that if they accept it, it does not end there. It will go to the design team and from there god knows where for approvals. My concern is, why does it take such a long time to do a small thing in a big organization?

Actually, my company will be happy if it takes more and more time. Because they will get more and more hourly billing for my work. But it is a definite loss for the client company. Well, my job here is to try and reduce the cost of the product by modifying the design, but I think, if they become a little more efficient in execution of works, co-operation and communication among the various departments, they can reduce a lot of cost. Alas! I can not give this feedback for cost reduction here as it is against the interests of my company.

Relations

Life is an unknown journey. Everything, every moment is unknown. Although we can predict the outcome on a few occasions, most of the times future remains unpredictable. In this journey we make friends and relatives. Whose behavior towards us is pretty much predictable, e.g. I know how my mom will care for me when I go to my native place after many months. This also is a function of time and space. A mom in USA will not have the same feelings (or expression of feelings) for and the same expectations from her son as a mom in India. The relations mean differently in different parts of the globe.

NBC news channel here once reported that people have 40-45 % divorce rate in USA. Even the couples over 60 have around 40 % chances of getting divorced. I am sure these couples would have spent over 10 times more money on their honeymoon than an average Indian couple. (I am yet to go on a honeymoon after 7 months of my marriage.)
So, it implies that these cosmetic affections do not promise a stronger bonding. An Indian husband can not tell his wife, “Well, it was nice living with you these 5 years, may be we should look for a change.”

Detroit Diary

The world is a village, thanks to the globalization, internet, the economic reformers and MNCs. Today you do not feel away from home in the sense of food and commodity market. I wonder what those early birds had faced when they flew to the USA or Britain all the way from India in early 80s or even before. It is unlikely that those people knew if pizza is edible or anything else, what is MacDonald’s or Subway or any other such brand. Today we are used to all these even in India, so when one comes to USA for the first time, apart from the infrastructure and the cars, you do not find much difference when compared to the Bangalores or the Delhies of India.

I reached Detroit at around 12:40 PM local time. As I came out of the airport, a smart young man approached me, “Taxi service required, sir?” I answered in affirmative but before that I wanted to make a couple of calls. He gave me his cell phone to make the local as well as international calls. This kind of generous behavior is hard to find in India. The taxi was a luxury car (I dunno which make it was as it is not available in India). With the help of GPS we reached the hotel without any difficulty. In India, I am sure; you can’t reach a place without asking several people if you do not know the way.

The first day, Vic and Steve took me for a lunch. We went to “Jimmy John’s” a famous restaurant here. Having spent around 27 years in India, I can’t say a veg sandwich and a coke a good lunch but their gesture was good. They wanted to know more about me. It was kind of a welcome meal.

The next morning as I was walking to office, someone called from a car, “You want a ride Sushil?” It was Hamid, my colleague here. He told me how he spent time till mid-night playing soccer at a club. My god, the guy looked above 45 and he has got such an enthu. And we Indians feel too old to play after 25 or so. It reminded me the saying, “You do not stop playing because you grow old, but you grow old because you stop playing.”

Then came the News of strike at General Motors. I saw all the demonstrations as the GM plant is just next to the hotel where I am staying. In our office people were of the opinion that the GM employees are cutting their own throat by going on strike. Fortunately, within 40 hrs the employees union reached at an agreement with the GM management and the strike was called off. Still the strike left its impact as I read many other suppliers of GM (primarily Delphi) started laying off people.

Truly, Detroit is the automotive capital of the world. All the major automotive companies are having their presence here. But hey, are not all the major global companies (of any sector) have their presence in India and still going strong? So India is definitely on her way to become the world’s factory and the world’s market.

अभिमान सौन्दर्य का

गर्व मत कर पुष्प अपनी अधखिली सुकुमारता पर
गूँजते चाहक भ्रमर की कामना की विवशता पर
मत अकड़ इस वायु विस्तृत फैलते मकरन्द ही पर
तितलियों का दिल लुभाती देह के इस रंग ही पर

पवन तुझको गोद में लेकर झुलाती है सदा
सूर्य की किरणें अभी तुझको हँसाती हैं सदा
किन्तु इतना ध्यान रख तू ऐ सुकोमल पुष्पवर
रूप के अभिमान की तो कुछ दिनों की है उमर

अन्त की तो कल्पना कर जरा को ला ध्यान में
वृद्ध सा मृतप्राय सा जब तू पड़ा उध्यान में
जिस पवन की गोद में तू झूलता था प्रेम से
उसी के इक तीव्र झोंके से गिरा तू भूमि पे

श्वास अन्तिम ले रहा तू है पड़ा अब भूमि पर
साथ देने आज तेरा है नहीं आता भ्रमर
सूर्य की अब वही किरणें जो हँसाती थीं तुझे
आज तेरे वृद्ध तन को हैं जलाती तपन से

अन्त के इस दृश्य को ही याद करके पुष्पवर
रंग का अभिमान मत कर गर्व मत कर रूप पर

क्या हुआ जो.....

क्या हुआ जो अब हमारे, स्वप्न में आने लगी हो

अधखिली सुकुमार सी जो कली थी वो खिल रही है
और उस पर ओस की जो बूँद थी वो हिल रही है
ओस की उस बूँद सा ही स्वच्छ निर्मल प्रेम मेरा
और उस कोमल कली के बदन जैसा रूप तेरा
वर्षा ऋतु के बादलों सी हृदय पर छाने लगी हो
क्या हुआ जो अब हमारे, स्वप्न में आने लगी हो


चाँद से नजरें मिलाकर पूछने अब ये लगा मन
क्या कभी देखा धरा पर तुम सदृश सौन्दर्य का धन?
रूप यौवन औ गुँणों की कल्पना से भी अपरिमित
मंजु मुख की कांति जिसकी सदा करती जग प्रफुल्लित
हाँ तुम्हीं तो काव्य बनकर छंद में आने लगी हो
क्या हुआ जो अब हमारे, स्वप्न में आने लगी हो


सूर्य की हों रश्मियाँ या चन्द्र की हो चाँदनी
नदी की लहरें हों या फिर खगों की कलरव ध्वनि
देखकर सौन्दर्य जिसका प्रकृति भी ऊर्जित होती है
रूप रस का पान करके स्वतः गीत सर्जित होती है
हाँ तुम्हीं तो कलम बनकर गीत लिखवाने लगी हो
क्या हुआ जो अब हमारे, स्वप्न में आने लगी हो

Sine Wave

My professor of Electrical Engineering once opined, “Sine wave is the most natural wave.” It seems to be true. Everything in this world has rise and fall. Be it our age, friendship, strength, beauty, knowledge, progress, wealth, happiness or anything. The sine wave has equal rise and fall at regular intervals. Physics tells that everything in this world has a natural frequency of vibration. That means everything, including the massive planets and stars, is vibrating. Vibrating in simple harmonic motion (a sine wave pattern).
So sine wave is the most natural wave which describes the behavior of the universe.

We don’t have the same level of affection with our mother as we had when we were babies; we could not live without mother then, and now we can easily be away from her for a few months or years.. Your love (or infatuation) towards your GF first increases till the peak and then reduces. Same is true for success and failure.
So don’t you worry if things are not going your way, it will one day. Yes efforts should be continuous else your sine wave wavelength may be comparable to your life span i.e. by the time success comes to you, you may be too old to enjoy it.