Seventh Day Adventist High School – An integral part of my life

First memory of SDA that I have was when I must have been around 2 years old. My Didi, Arunima had started going to school and I remember going with my Ma to drop and pick her during her first days of the school.

1980 was the year when I joined SDA. I did my nursery from Good Shepherd and joined SDA in LKG. My first few years of SDA were not nice at all. I was ragged a lot by my batch mates. I don’t know why but I was always feeling insecured and always looked upto some guys to be like them or follow them? I was just about ok in studies, but low on confidence. Then came Mrs. Kumar in Class VIth and turned me around - for good. She was instrumental in getting me inspired to do well in studies and once I started getting into the top ranks, everything else like confidence and security fall in their place.

Last 4-5 years were my best years in the school. The studies, the music, the cricket, the food fascinated me and I loved every bit of it. I made some great friends and some are still there, whom I have built life-long bonding - stronger than an oak tree!!! Most of the teachers were friendly. Some were strict, while others tried to act strict ;-)

Seniors were a big pain. Most always acted smart :-P Girls were pretty ;-) I had some secret crushes. Of course, I was timid enough to keep them within myself. I even had huge crushes on some of my teachers. One was our Biology teacher in class VIIIth. And then there was our computer teacher. We had given the computer teacher a code name of ‘Mini Computer’. Of course, I don’t remember the real names of both. I think I saw the Biology teacher somewhere in a Farewell snap on SDA FB board. So friends, one of them - I just gave away :-P

Being an Adventist school, discipline formed the core of the school decorum. Going to Colvin just after SDA was a rude awakening for me. I realized how much importance was given to discipline in SDA and how it served the student so well?!

Special thanks to teachers like Benjamin, Kumar, Bahadur & Sharma. They always did a great job taming and molding morons like me!!!

Thanks to social networking, I have been able to track many of my SDA mates and now we regularly keep in touch. People like Ravi, Tabrez complete me as a person. I recently connected with Sudip and visited his house a couple of weeks back. By Joe, felt so great to meet him and his family after a gap of 23 years!

SDA build up a strong foundation in me and helped built the attitude which serves me quite well even now and I’m sure, will accompany me for the rest of my life. I guess all of us are doing our bits to be good SDA ambassadors where ever we are!!!

This is me in class VIth. Mrs. Kumar in the middle.

'Queen-Bee' & the game of 'Kho-Kho'

Vilas Rao Deshmukh calls it a game of ‘Kho-Kho’. Some others call it ‘Musical Chairs’. To me it does not look like a game or sports at all!!!! It is pure business. Yes friends, I’m talking about the Cabinet Re-shuffle, which happened yesterday in New Delhi. It was purely a business act. And don’t get me wrong, it was not for betterment of the nation. Rather it was aimed at increasing the profitability or sustainability of a few individuals or as our Ex-Law Minister says ‘vested interests’.

It was touted as a face saving exercise by a Government, which many perceive as the most corrupt and worthless Government to have ever administered this country. A Government that, in the past few weeks, has a seen a bee-line of its Ministers going to Jail, and many waiting in the queue. A Government which has recently behaved in the most desperate and irrational manner, as witnessed at Ram Lila grounds, or in the exercise of replacing Attorney General by a private lawyer to represent itself at Supreme Court. It appeared that the Government was just hanging by the thread and this exercise will actually pull it up and restore it at a stable ground in the eyes of common man. That common man, who had lost all faith from this Government, yet was unable to do anything to remove it before 2014.

Then there were few who expected the tainted to go. People like Chidambaram, Sibal, who incidentally are the most corrupt but are amazingly in the Joke-Pal Drafting panels. They had to go just like Rajas, Kalmadis, Kanimozhis and Marans did over the past few weeks.

We thought that this was one moment when the Government would show us intent of rectifying its mistakes. It would confess to the Nation that ‘guys we goofed up, but have faith in us, we will rectify those one by one’.

But the mega-event, if you might like to call it, turned out to be a damn squib!!! More than a squib it even enhanced the fears in the minds of common man that this Government is not serious about handling corruption or corrupts. In fact, it will go to all ends to protect those.

Just look at a few changes and you will know what I mean.

Jairam Ramesh was one of the Congress Ministers who was sincere in his job. He was the Environment Minister and he did put his foot down and stamp his disproval to a lot of projects which, he considered a threat to the environment. Personally speaking, I don’t like Congress guys. To me all of them are corrupts. But there are some like Ramesh, Mani Shankar Iyer and Pranab Mukherjee, who are quite honest and they do their job exceptionally well and sincerely. So now all the big corporates saw Ramesh as a threat to the mega-bucks projects. And what does MMS do to lessen their worries? Ramesh is replaced by Gandhi Loyal – Jayanti Natrajan as Environment Minister. Now expect all the big projects, which were struck down by Ramesh, like Vedanta, Lavasa, Pedder Road flyover, Navi Mumbai airport to be cleared in no time and Congress king (read queen) pins to share the humble-pie from the corporates.

Another curious case here is of Veerappan Moily. Extremely corrupt by character and having a criminal background in the past, he was made the Law Minister in UPA 2. Don’t know what happened after his induction, but the important cases started getting processed in an urgent manner. He must have been doing something good there. Too good in case of the ‘Black Money’ case. Within a few weeks of filling of the case, there were 2 hearings and even Supreme Court started questioning the Central Government on its actions or inactions. That did not suit the Queen-Bee. Moily was removed promptly from Law Ministry and another Gandhi loyalist – Salman Khurshid was brought in. Yes the same Salman Khurshid who is said to have put all the misdeeds of ‘The Yuvraj’ in Amethi back in Dec 2006 under the carpet. He is back doing that now and trust me, he’s quite good at it. Don’t be surprised if ‘Black-Money’ case goes into a back burner in a few months’ time!!!

Murli Deora was removed. He will be facing some strict actions from Supreme Court by the end of 2011 for all his glorious deeds during his stint as Oil Minister. Nevertheless, they did a favor by making his son a Minister. So the pie remains in the house-hold.

Railways went to TMC as if it is their ‘jaagirdaari’. Expect a sorrier state of Railways in the days to come!!!

And then there were a lot of changes on the basis of representation of states as put by MMS himself. All this, I guess, with an eye on Assembly Elections.

In a nut shell, Ministries allocations were meant to improve the working of the Ministry but in the end they were done to please and turn things in favor for a chosen few. MMS says that this might be the last re-shuffle in UPA2. Yes Sir that’s right, I don’t think your Government will stay long enough for another re-shuffle!!!

So UPA 2 has played another round of ‘Kho-Kho’ and the Referee ala the Queen-Bee has got her peace of mind – at least for the time being!!!

Purchase of Indian Air force Aircrafts - Next BIG SCAM!!!

Letter written by Mr. Subramanian Swamy to our PM on Apr 29/2011. Another scam on the way - Purchase of Indian Air force Aircrafts:

April 29, 2011.
Dr. Manmohan Singh,
Prime Minister of India,
South Block,
New Delhi.

Dear Prime Minister:

I made some enquiries from well placed sources in your Government regarding the decision already taken but not yet formalized (short of the ritual of commercial evaluation and index of performance criteria)-- the choice of French planes for the Indian Air Force.
My sources indicate that the pre-determined decision to favour the French aircraft was the outcome of several conversations between the wife of French President Ms. Carla Bruni and the Chairperson of the National Advisory Council Ms. Sonia Gandhi, and surprisingly also with two foreign nationals who are the sisters of Ms. Sonia Gandhi.
Based on some credible information given to me on the conversation between Ms. Carla Bruni and Ms Sonia Gandhi’s sisters, there has been an agreement of the French to pay a hefty bribe for favouring the purchase of French aircrafts. This, if documented in the future, will be a major scandal which will haunt you and may lead to criminal prosecution for no fault of yours except that you have been compliant to the mysterious system of governance in this country that has been worked out by Ms. Sonia Gandhi since 2004. The Defence Minister Mr. A.K. Antony is like you, personally honest but he is even more compliant to these rules of governance. Hence I am sending a copy of this letter to him.
Therefore you should take necessary steps to see that you are not kept out of the loop, as had been the case in the 2G Himalayan scam. The US aircraft which has been deleted from the shortlist may or may not be the best for our Air Force (it has to be determined by your experts), but the US has a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act which makes it almost impossible to give bribes. The French, however, while dealing with a foreign country have a much more relaxed attitude to bribes paid abroad to secure contracts and this attitude has become a part of their mental make up of contempt for the foreigner, especially us Indians.
Therefore I demand that you call for the review of the decision taken so far in the matter of purchase of aircrafts for the Indian Air Force. I would urge you to make this review as transparent as possible so that those of us who have technical expertise will give good inputs for you to come to a conclusion.
Yours sincerely,
(SUBRAMANIAN SWAMY)

The Great Indian ‘Tamasha’ – Something Wrong with it?!

So the elections are over and the results are out!!! The Great Indian Democracy ‘tamasha’, that was enacted for more than 6 weeks, culminated on ‘Friday, the 13th’ with the results!!! These multi-phase elections are so boring. It’s like someone has kept a plate of ‘french fries’ in front of you but you are warned not to touch it until the whole meal is cooked and ready ;-) I really feel that the elections should be held on a single day and the results be out the next. ‘Jhat mangni-pat vivah’!!! Doesn’t matter if there is 1 state, 2 states or 8!!! We have enough resources and logistics to achieve that. Just the will is required!!! Anyway, I followed these elections closely. Felt glad that my predictions came true in all but two states. But I'm little worried too. My predictions of trends did come true in some of the states where, elections were fought on agendas highly dangerous for the country in the foreseeable future. Now, I’m not a political expert but allow me to share my thoughts about the results with you!

Tamil Nadu and AIDMK sprang up the biggest surprise of the ‘tamasha’. People had predicted a hung assembly. It was predicted that corruption would not figure as an issue for the people when they cast their votes. I also believed that!!! I thought that Freebies meant more to the people there than governance and efficiency!!! But the people of TN proved me wrong! They gave the nation a pleasent surprise!!! They gave a tight slap on the face of Karunanidhi and Sonia Gandhi!!! Congress had supported DMK all the way and I believe, will continue to do so - due to, as a MMS quote, ‘coalition compulsion’! I would rather call it a ‘corruption compulsion’! Both the parties are neck deep in their misdeeds and will have to bail each other out of their troubles. Centre will see that DMK 1st Family leaders don’t get jailed and DMK sees that Centre Government does not fall!!! It’s an unholy tie-up between thieves!!! Pondicherry went the similar way as TN. It has always been like that!!! The issues of the neighboring states are too similar and intermingled and that show in the results!!!

West Bengal went as expected. Mamta Di was riding on a huge wave of ‘Poriborton- Poriborton’ which won hands down over ‘Cholbena-Cholbena’!!! Such is her following in the state at the moment that she probably would have won without Congress support too. She has promised a lot, maybe a little too much. Let’s hope that she does a better job of CM than what she did as a Railway Minister!!! Guys, allow me to do some introspection of the elections in Bengal! Isn’t it so strange that these are the same people of the state who were so happy with the ex-Government for 34 years - yes for 34 years? The state was painted red all this while. How then, suddenly the same people found that the Left was not good enough!!! How come? If this had happened after 5 years, 10 years, or maybe 15 years too, it could have been explained. But, the people suddenly waking up and shouting ‘Poriborton-Poriborton’ after 34 years are pretty astonishing!!! I guess they had got into a long and mundane slumber!!! Well, I hope Bengal does not turn into Egypt in the future. Mamta Di has promised to transform Kolkata into London; hopefully she will not turn it into Cairo in a year’s time!!! In Egypt also people suddenly woke up after 30 years and shouted ‘Freedom-Freedom’!!! Now they don’t know what to do with the ‘Freedom’ they won after the Feb Struggle!!! There are protests every other day. Tahrir Square has been turned into a Weekly Protest center and as such, has lost its recent grandeur!!!

Kerala and Assam results also went according to people’s prediction. Kerala was lot closer to what I had predicted. LDF gave UDF a real close fight. My guess - Minority votes played a big part in the results of the elections in both the states!!! Now, there is something which troubles me when I try to analyze the two states. There’s a trend which has been happening in both the states and maybe in some other states too!!! And believe me, it’s a dangerous trend!!! Assam has seen enormous increase in illegal immigration from Bangladesh. There has been a 35% increase of the state’s population in the last 15 years due to immigrants sneaking into India. As such Minority population, which once stood at 5%, has multiplied to 40%. It is no more ‘Minority’!!! It’s saddening to see people cross in, and state governments wasting no time in providing them with identity cards and ration cards thereby converting them to Indian citizens. All for the greed of some cheap votes!!! Kerala is an awesome place to live in. They call it ‘God’s Own Country’. Greenery, seas, rivers, landscape, all of it makes it a great place to live in. But most enriching aspect of the state is its people. You have people who are very calm and friendly. People from different sect and religion live in the best of environments. But things have not been so cozy in the recent past. People with terrorist mindset have been harboring the state. Now, it’s a known fact that Congress has been winning on a high percentage of 'minority votes' as it prefers to call it, since 2009. It pretends to be their Messiah. Ofcourse, its all a hogwash!!!

Now if we consider these two states, we might not be wrong to point it out that Congress won on many votes which were illegal coming through illegal immigrants as in Assam OR on many votes which came from people with illegal mindset (read terrorists) in Kerala. That according to me is not an ideal nation building!!! Congress has been dividing the country on some very treacherous lines and has been polarizing people for its own benefit. But this is something big, something unimaginable. The nation’s security and integrity is at stake and there are some playing with it for their own short term benefits!!! If Government remains inactive against illegal immigrants or prospective terrorists just for the fear of losing votes, it is utter shameful and disgusting!!! Media also has been a part of this exercise and as such has not highlighted the grave dangers in the manner it should have!!!

But hold on!!! Exactly, when did our politicians ever believe in nation building??? All that concerned them was votes and cheap votes, even if it cost the nation and turned people against each other, be it the left, the moderates or the right wings!!!

Well if you ask, I believe that the Indian Democracy itself is a kind of farce!!! Imagine this – I am holding a masters degree, can think logically; can differentiate between good and bad. How many votes do I have? ONE!!! And there might be a person who has never gone to school, does not think logically, has a criminal mindset, and has committed heinous crimes. And how many votes does he have in our democracy? Incredibly, again ONE!!! Now, there’s something wrong here!!! Don’t you guys agree with me??? We need Constitutional reforms for our Election process. But, I’ll leave that for some other day!!!

As I finish my post, petrol prices are set to increase by Rs. 5/- That’s 9th increase in the past 9 months. Election over, votes received, time to get on with the routine business I guess!!! Make up your own assumptions guys!!! The ‘Great Indian Tamasha’ continues indeed, shamefully, unabated!!!

Nation Awakening – of the people, by the people, for the people!

Last week, if Indian Government had desired, then the next Telecom policy could have been formulated inside the Tihar Jail!!! Don’t believe me? Consider this – Ex Telecom Minister A Raja, Bigwigs from Telecom companies like Reliance, Unitech, Swan Telecom, all were in the jail for their roles in the 2G scam!!!

Suddenly, the Indian jail has seen celebrities like never before. Ramalinga Raju, Shiney Ahuja, A Raja, Vinod Goenka, Sanjay Chandra, Suresh Kalmadi, all normally found in the Page 3 every week, found themselves in the jail. Not to forget the Mumbai Shooting Star – Ajmal Kasab, who has, unfortunately turned into a celebrity over the last 2.5 years, sponsored and endorsed by our spine-less Government! And going by the media reports, Kanimozhi, daughter of Tamil God-like CM Karunanidhi could be the first female high profile figure to grace our jails by next week!!! The petty criminals must be partying and rejoicing to be brushing along with such who’s who in Indian sociality. God, they can’t believe their damn luck!!!

What brought about this? I thought I heard people say that in India, the rich and powerful are always above law. That they might get charge sheeted, but arresting them is completely different kettle of fish!!! India is a Democratic Republic. It is ‘of the people, by the people, for the people’. But tragically, it had become a Republic ‘of the elite, by the elite, for the elite’. If you were rich and powerful, no one could touch you. Legislators and Polity circles work hand in hand with Executives to toss the system upside down for their own good!!!

But events in the last 3-4 months have defied that logic. What has happened to our corrupt executive? How come the same investigative agencies which behaved as a Government’s and rich man’s pimp got their acts now? Well, the answer lies in the people. Things have changed!!! Don’t know how much has changed or for how long? India is still for the elites. But what has changed in the last 6 months has been the perception of the general people – the ‘aam aadmi’!!! People are tired of being ignored; they are tired of being taken for granted. An Indian man wants a simple life. He has a ‘4-point agenda’. He needs a good family, a safe accommodation, good food and a stable source of income. If he has all the above, he does not bother if there is rampant corruption around, if his chosen legislators are ripping off money for their benefits, even if there is politician-criminal nexus around - as long as it does not harm him. You might say that it’s an ignorant attitude, but to me, he does not have many choices. Either he stands up against the system and risks losing everything mentioned above or he chooses to be a meek spectator. He chooses to be the latter more often than not. He plays loser to survive. For him, for his family!!! Believe me it takes a lot of guts to do that, to constantly fight himself, to accommodate, to sacrifice, to pretend ignorant!!!

The last one year has actually affected his life in a subtle way!!! Huge scams. As huge as 40 billion USD. That’s the figure India lost due tom the 2G scam. CWG, Adarsh, Karnataka land scam, Black Money scam, etc. have made the ‘aam aadmi’ sit up and take notice. Prices have multiplied, Inflation has shot up, systems have rotten, and he has been sucked into those to make him even poorer and more susceptible. He felt angry. He felt his ‘4-point agenda’ at risk. He felt betrayed, humiliated, ashamed and angry!!! Believe me combination of fear, anger & shame can be productive at times!!! Media also has to be lauded for its role. They have, for once, played a constructive role. Perhaps, they too felt threatened by the same system which they had become corrupt part of!!! And then, we have had numerous civil movements, of which ‘Anna Hazare’ movement became a huge success.

The result – Executive and the Legislature have been forced to act. Even if, it’s a mere token response at present, getting some hot shot guys in jail to prove that they are serious and can act. Indian public is happy. We are Happy to see the elite being taken to task!!! I hope this gathers momentum and we are able to lessen the epidemic called Corruption. Make no mistake; we ourselves have to play our parts too!!! It’s a long way ahead!!!

For now, let’s rejoice and appreciate the fact that our Republic is being seen to make a statement ‘of the people, by the people, for the people’. It’s certainly a jolly good statement. Let’s make the most of it - while it lasts!!!

The petty criminals in jail might be thinking on similar lines too!!! With all the celebrities around!!! :-P

Bleed Blue, not orange, yellow or pink!

Did I just hear someone tell me that IPL4 has already started??? Oh my, how could I miss it??? Well, relax guys, I'm kidding. I know that IPL has started in 2011 and as I write, Sachin is on his way to another T20 50. Well, the zest of this man to score runs and score them plenty amazes me always!!! He is indeed the Greatest Batsman to have walked on the cricket pitch in the modern era.

The IPL brings no excitement this year. Is it just me or you guys are also going through the same feeling? IPL this year is a lame duck affair when compared to the high velocity drama of last year - both on field and off it. Then we had the charismatic Lalit Modi who brought the IPL up as his own baby, BCCI who got behind him for spoiling the baby. And then who can forget Shashi Tharoor and his lady love Sunanda Pushkar who became the biggest stars of IPL3. Oh did I forget the actors on field? Forgive me if I failed to mention Dhoni, Kallis, Sachin & Pollard who were the stars on field.

Dhoni, to me, is the blue eyed boy of Indian Cricket. If Tendulkar is the God of Indian Cricket, then Dhoni is the King. World T20, Asia Cup, IPL, Champions League and now the best of the best World Cup!!! Not to forget that India regained No. 1 Ranking in test cricket under him. He's the one with Midas Touch.

Did you watch the WC Final on Apr 2? Stupid question. Ofcourse you did. How many of you seriously thought that India will pull it off once SL had scored 270+, or when Sehwag and Sachin left for pavilion with very little on board? I would confess that I lost hope. It was the same old show for me. Sachin failing on a big stage, India capitulating under pressure. Me and Arpita in fact switched channels and started watching a movie. But the cricket was too big to ignore that evening. Every few minutes, we would switch channels just to check the scores. I, for one, was quite surprised when I saw Gambhir and Virat put up a gusty partnership under extreme pressures. Then enter MS Dhoni. The stage was set. He had to play the innings of his life, perhaps the most important innings of all time for India in an ODI. And sure he did!!! No Gambhir, no Virat, no Yuvi could have saved the day. It had to be Ice Cool Dhoni. This was not a 147 against Pakistan, this was not a 183 against SL where he mauled Muralitharan into pieces, this was a different calculated innings, cautious at most times but explosive when it demanded. An innings which can be played just once in a life time – at the biggest of stages, on the biggest of occasions. The way he soaked up all the pressures and back pains to sail through reminded me of Sachin's 136 against Pakistan. Only difference was that, Sachin did not finish the job and India ultimately went on to lose the test match. But here, Dhoni made sure that he was there to finish it off. And what a finish it was - a six to win WC!!!

I can easily say that I had not felt this proud to be an Indian for a long long time. Team India and Dhoni gave us the joy of our life time. Thanks guys! The emotions post match brought tears to my eyes. And I'm sure that I was not the only one crying during those moments, millions were sharing the feelings!!! Including the 14 on the field at that time. This was the first time I had seen men like Sachin, Bhajji and Yuvi cry like children!!! Truly incredible!!! I wish my Baba was alive to see this moment. He was a bigger cricket fanatic than me! He sure must be partying big time in Nirvana reliving the moments of 1983 in 2011!!!

Indeed guys, bleeding green, pink, orange, yellow, black at IPL does not inspire at all this year, especially when we bled blue just a few days ago!!! That was the ultimate! Special thanks to Nike for giving India the ‘Bleed Blue’ campaign. It is such a big hit!!!

Bleed Blue for the next 4 years guys!!! All the best!!!

Yalla Bahrain!

I have been living in Bahrain for the past 10 years. I came to this beautiful island country on 19/Mar/2001.

I was very apprehensive when I came here. I had heard all kinds of negative tales about life in Middle East and how people from sub-continent are mistreated in Middle East.

First thing that struck me were the people and their humility. I am from a different culture but I find Bahrainis very adjusting and quite aware of Indian culture. It never strikes my mind that there are two sects of people - sunnis and shias. To me, all of them seem to represent Bahrain. To me all of them think of the country before they think about their religion or sect. Ofcourse, now having stayed here for 10 years, I'm quite aware that there are extremes to both the sect. But the people with moderate mindset outnumber these and have always defined the texture of this country.

For the past one month, I have gone through a lot of emotions like fear, despair, anger, pity, affection and hate. And I have felt the same emotions in others too - expats as well as locals. For the past one month, I have seen a different Bahrain. This Bahrain looks alien to me. I have never seen so much of negativity in air. People here are known to be kind and peace loving. But now I see them baying for each other's blood. The fine line between moderates and extremists seems to be lost and all are bordering extreme thoughts.

The Government of Bahrain takes good care of people here. Ofcourse, this being a very small country, gives the rulers its own sets of pros and cons. HRM Sh. Hamad, HRH Sh. Khalifa and HRH Sh. Salman are doing a stupendous job of uplifting the country and its people. If you consider only the last couple of years, '2030', LMRA, Tamkeen, etc. have benefited all citizens of Bahrain irrespective of their sect, religion or belief.

Thats why I think that the protests were totally uncalled for. Just because people revolted against Governments of Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, etc, does not endorse the cause for people here to stand against the Government. Any Government in the world is not perfect. Governments which are pro-people are the ones who take care of the people needs more than they neglect. And I feel Bahrain Government does more than its share of pleasing people. But then you can't please everybody!!!

I feel the youth of this land have been misguided. They have been brainwashed and now after the past month's events, they must be extremely lost, angry and hurt. It is absolutely necessary for the Government and the Royal family to understand that and start the Healing process as soon as possible. Forget the leaders who are losers, concentrate on the people. People are hurt and angry!!! They are mis-guided at the moment. You all can guide them and show them the right way.

We, expats, fully support the Government and the Royal family. Expats form a very important fabric of Bahraini society, its economy and its culture. We have full faith on the Government of this land. And we trust that you will never fail us. Let us "rebuild and undo" the damage done to this beautiful island in the last one month. May God bless us all in that!!!

We all love you - the Bahrainis and are ourselves proud to be a part of Bahrain.