Freedom to dream - India at 70

It’s been 70 years we have got our independence from Britishers but are we really free? I mean India might have excelled in various sectors but still we can’t include India in developed nations. Everyone has different meaning of freedom and different parameter on which they define freedom. A nation cannot be free until we eradicate poverty, illiteracy among other things. We say we got freedom from Britishers not Mughals or Turks or any other dynasty or rulers because those rulers considered India as their own land but Britishers considered India as there colony divided it into parts. Britishers loyalties lied with their queen and they used Indians for their own benefit. Surely Britishers developed India but for their own selfish interest, the money earned from India was used for their benefit.

Indians can never really be free because our genes for years have been trained and made to be ruled by someone else. The problem is we never question and even if we do we never really get an answer as the things are supposed to be a certain way and we don’t have the right to even question or suggest any better way. We are like herd of animals that follow the lead without any question.

We have to work hard to change this mentality. And education is the best solution through which can change the thinking of people broaden their mind but for that we have to change our education system only that way we can move forward towards a better future. The day we start questioning we can solve our problems and that day we will truly be free.

In search of truth

In today’s world many people say that this world is full of liars, frauds, cheats and hypocrite. May be this is true and deep down it frustrate us. Whenever we go out we see people in many faces, most of them are fake faces kind of mask. The real faces of a person is hidden somewhere, where not even that person knows himself. In childhood we used to see meet people with a pure and honest heart. We made friends and that friendship used to mean something. But are those friends still around us. If one got even one person from that batch he is a very lucky guy.

We often say that “tell me the truth” but has it been ever that you have sat down and thought what exactly truth is? For a moment let’s look at the picture below.

What do you see? 6 or 9! Lets make it more interesting

So what will be your answer to it or how will you judge which person is true.

Now lets say the person with wide smile is a more confident and have a very good PR in market. He bring in his friends and say see it’s a 9 and the other guy is saying it 6 and since everyone on his side also saw it as 9 and he was more influential so a common truth about the picture became as a 9. The other guy was being treated as a liar, cheat, a dishonest person. 

हासिल

पानी पर चलते तूने क्या हासिल किया

रैत में तैरते तूने क्या हासिल किया

जिंदगी जीते हैं हर लम्हे मगर खून पीके क्या हासिल किया

हर पल संघर्ष है

हर दिन खुद से लड़ते हुए

एक पल की खुशी के लिये  चल रहा क्या हासिल किया

मौत तो एक पल के नज़र में थी पर ज़िंदगी से चेहरा छुपाते क्या हासिल किया

कुछ कर गुजरने की चाहत में क्या हासिल किया

शायद एक लम्हा और जी लेते तो आज मौत यहाँ ना पूचति की आखीर क्या हासिल किया

Challenge accepted

The three big challenges that I have faced in my life can be broadly divided in: 

1. Choosing a proper career in my life: This is a long and on going process these days and I feel this a most common problem faced by most people when they were young. In our society when a students gets admitted in class 9th the pleasure from family and peers start to built up and as a preconceived notion, a student is taken as an intelligent student if he is in science, a less if commerce and worse can is if one chooses arts/humanity. In this pleasure most either end up killing the talent inside them and get stuck in a rat race. When I was in US this was not the case, there most of my friends studied political science to enter politics or to a bureaucrat. So the same happened with me where I without understanding my interest choose engineering then after completing my graduation I finally choose what I was good at. 

2. Distinguishing between profession and hobby: Even after getting on right track of education, college and right guidance, people fail in life professionally. This mainly happens as people compromise on many things on life and just try to swim with the flow. I would like to give an example of someone I know, the person did his B.Tech from Delhi College of Engineering in 1992 in computer science. At that time no one could have asked for more as that was the year when all IT companies were on their blossom stage with more demand and less supply of talent and Indian economic policies opened the gates for foreign investments. Even after getting everything right in hands the person didn't enjoyed what he was doing. So one day he decided to quit the job and search for something else. Finally after experimenting for couple of years he finally understood that he enjoyed teaching rather that doing some corporate job and he finally joined a college as a lecturer and now doing great at his end. 

Similarly I had a lot of ups and down in my path and then finally understood that doing something in life is different from doing something for a pleasure. Even when I started to plan the business it took long time to understand which business should we get into, something that can interest us, can also give a long term sustaining results. 

3. In search of true love: This is something which is not a very hot topic in my life at the moment but with the past experiences I am sure that this can a very big trouble in anyone's life. I have seen many people who could do good and grow in their life just because they had a good moral support from their family, even my dad had many failure in business during a time but today he says that the only reason he could survive them and get above them was because my mom was always there to support and take care of him. 

Four months that transformed my world

From childhood I used see my people around me becoming gold medalist and scholars. The usual topic of conversations in my house used to be about people going out of the national borders and excelling in their fields. Those were the days when brain drain was one of the biggest challenge in front of Indian government. That time I had only one question in my mind “when will I get a chance to see the western world”, it was like a childhood fantasy for my childhood dreams and the only answer that I could get was kid study hard get scholarship and then go. These lines were engraved in my mind somehow and throughout I used to search for international opportunities. All my dreams come true on the night of November 18, 2011 at 2:00 AM in the morning when I got a mail from The Washington Center about my acceptance to their “Prudential Global Citizen Scholarship” Program.

The next couple of months were most wonder period of my life and I was seventh sky, the feeling of your childhood dream coming true was giving an amazing joy. But I had only dreamed of it so I never knew what was coming towards me. I had only seen things in movie, listened to the stories but never knew that the reality was way too different from what I had in my mind.

During the spring semester I had an opportunity to go participate in one of the program of The Washington Center for 15 weeks, which I call as a Lifetime in DC. There I had a wonderful opportunity to work in one of the fortune 500 company along with getting involved in a civic engagement program and also study under one of the most experienced persons of their respective field. Apart from regular schedule I was also part of Model APEC and got a real life experience of international conference. This program was one of the best program from which every international students learn the about the America’s political, business, legal and civil environment and become part of such a multi-cultural experience that he can be a proud Prudential Foundation Global Citizen.  

Life - A walk to remember

Many times days just comes and goes
but sometimes it takes time to be close
I have seen people jumping out loud
but then everything vanishes in the crowd

It doesn’t matter who you choose to be with you
the uncertainties of future does not give you a clue
Time feels like a breeze of wind
touches you for a moment and then everything is a sin
I walk miles to find my lost spirit
in the hope of finding a rose in bunch of thrones

Living is all about crest and troughs
you have to understand it before it bursts
understanding it holding it fighting it
are the three words part of the kit

In the mean time many people walk by us
I never understand the rules of luck
some stay back and some move on
before we can realize, the moment is gone

The fight goes on between heart and brain
I prefer to flush my feelings deep down in the drain
heart is like a wild horse, don't know the sight of its course
Mind is the evil bitch, always take to the pit of ditch

Right is the one which can never be done
Wrong is always leading on the path to flunk
stuck in between dos and don’ts
in the end no one moans.

Une Visite A Mumbai - mon expérience

A month back I was very excited to go to Mumbai for a long nice trip. The city of dreams, where everyone dream of living. People say that god doesn’t shower water here, money is being poured. But my point of view towards this city is little different from what the conventional stories have made an image of this city. I came to this city after hearing lot of stuff about the place and how amazing it is to be in Mumbai. One said me “If you are in India and haven’t seen Mumbai, you have missed a life time opportunity.” After hearing so much I gave a shot and came to this city. After living here for more than a month, something started itching me deep inside. So I dig inside the city to find what is all the fuss about I didn’t find a single thing that make me fall in love with this city. The question was what was missing here? Did I overestimated the place or it is actually underestimated? So I started with the birth of the place.

History

It all started with the seven islands (isle of Bombay, Parel, Mazagaon, Mahim, Colaba, Worli, and Old Woman's Island, also known as Little Colaba) in a corner of the huge country which were first spotted by Portuguese somewhere in 16 century. Till this time the city has been passed on to every kind of ruler including Mughal Empire, Ashoka, Shivaji Maharaj and many many prominent rulers which gives this place such a rich blend of cultures. After the invation of Portuguese to these islands they started developing this place as a major hub of trade due to the geographic advantage. But the british was not far away and due to same reasons they tried every means to take control of this place and they were successful in 17 century and then they made this place as their presidency capital. The increasing trade and population forced Britishers to take a huge civil project to unite all the seven island into one. Thus a project called Hornby Vellard was initiated, forming the shape of India’s future financial capital.

Original seven island of Mumbai (Bombay)

Landmarks

In the history of Mumbai everyday has been a landmark in itself, but the major milestone in the pages of history can be listed as:

1. The union of seven islands: the reclamation of the seven islands was the first big step in the development of the city.

2. Connecting island of Bombay with the island of Salsett.

3. The development of the deep harbours through reclamation.

4. Reclamation of marine drive and Colaba

5. The visit of king George V and Queen Mary to Bombay at Gateway of India.

5. The major cotton manufacturer and traders shifting to the city and multiplying there money in manifolds.

The Bombay Dyeing Mill

The Phoenix Mill

6. The rise and fall of mafia and the Don.

7. The evolution of Bombay Stock Exchange: A special thanks to Harshad Mehta Scam.

Culture

The culture in Mumbai is not too different from what is rest of the country. But still the city has its own touch and variation of different cultures and religions. If I go to Bandra I’ll find that majority of the people residing in the area are muslims, will the next door area is parses dominated area and christians on other end. Still the city lives in such a harmony and peace where I can see a shoe cobblers standing rubbing shoulders with a diamond merchant. This kind of integrity of culture is a very rare to find in a country like India.

Food

Apart from what we all know as Marathi cuisine, pav bhaji bada pav, there is a long list of food items in their menu like kothimbir vadi, thalipeeth and the best sweet dish kharwas. There is a whole alphabetic list that can be listed down but these are the dishes that I just loved to have there anytime.

After all these days I want to know only 1 thing, who was the person who had this vision of making these small Islands to form such a big metro city where 40% of India’s money is rotated?