You are entering a Special KFC, Managed by Specially Abled People

Its Saturday today and as usual I was lazy to get up early in the morning to cook something (Seriously, I do cook my own food!) for myself. Woke up around 7 in the morning, watched a movie on my laptop (Well, actually two movies named Kungfu Panda and Alice in Wonderland). Now two movies after 7 in the morning makes the time 1100 hours. There were some “To Do” things for the weekend. One of them was getting my car washed. Other things would be to feed my vehicle with all the petrol it needs for the next week, usual grocery shopping for my kitchen etc.
So to club all this together, I decided to go to a shopping mall called "Total" at a nearby place called "Murugeshpalya". I had once seen a car being washed there with shampoo. Even though I don’t like washing my vehicle myself, I do like it to be clean and shiny. The plan was to have my breakfast in a KFC there and shop for the required groceries by the time my car gets washed.

I reached this place at around 1200 hours and went into this KFC. There was a young lady standing at the door who, on seeing me, opened it with a smile. The shop was spec clean and was almost empty. There was soft music playing in there which added to its ambience. The best thing about the place was, there was hardly any noise. It was all very silent in there. This silence is something hard to find in a city like Bangalore, especially in shopping malls. I was still looking around and taking in the ambience when another lovely looking lady gave me a wonderful smile from behind the counter. Her smile however was not followed by the usual dialogue that you get to hear in the restaurant. (Hai Sir, Welcome to KFC how may I help you?). I went to her and placed my usual order of a “Chicken Zinger Meal”. On doing this she smiled again and pushed a menu card to me. I returned the smile and said that I don’t need the menu card as this is something that I always have from the restaurant. Still smiling, she again pushed the menu card towards me, but at the same time, pointed to a badge she was wearing. The badge read “Please point your order”. Still feeling a bit strange about the entire scene, I found (with a bit of difficulty) “Chicken Zinger Meal” on the menu card and pointed the same to her. She punched the order in and then pointed to the display showing the amount that I should pay for the same. I paid the required amount. By this time I realized that something was really strange about the way things are done here.

No body was talking. Everyone behind the counter was pointing to each other and talking in sign languages. It took me a couple of minutes to realize that all these people were deaf and dumb. She had my order ready in no time and passed the tray to me with the same wonderful smile on her face.

I really cannot explain how I felt then.
If anyone thought that this emotion was sadness, then you are wrong. It was not sadness. It was a mixture of two emotions.
Gratitude and Admiration.

Admiration for every employee in this shop who unlike most of the differently abled people chose to work and earn their money. They had a choice, either to stay miserable and keep complaining about the fortunes that they don’t have, or to stand up and find a way to earn their own lively hood with the abilities that they did have. In the process, they also earn a lot of respect from every single person who comes to this restaurant. Admiration to the owners of KFC who took such a big decision of employing these specially abled people in their shop in a posh locality and in a mall where they may be paying out a huge rent for the space they occupy. A lot of us say a lot of things about social welfare. But most of us, which includes me, do nothing but talk. The KFC management leads us by example. They may have lesser number of customers because of this decision that they have taken, but by doing so, they have shown that they are socially responsible. They have shown one more way of doing social work. By employing a differently abled person they are giving him/her a chance to live in this world with pride.

The other emotion which I felt was Gratitude. Gratitude for the simple reason that I have been blessed to be able to see all the different colours, listen to music and express my feelings when I am sad by speaking. It also showed me that the problems that we face in our life, are so small when compared to the ones that these people face.
We are blessed. We choose to whine about things we don’t have instead of being thankful about the things we have. It’s true, we should always try to achieve more, but in the process of trying if we fail, we should be happy of what we have achieved in the process called trying rather than being sad about what we didn’t achieve.
After having my food, when I walked back to the door the same lady opened the door with the same smile on her face.

These people are called as differently/specially abled. They indeed are. They may not be able to hear, speak or see like we all do, but they have a courage and will power to prove that they are not behind anyone. This courage is something that people like me can only dream to have.

On the way out I found a small A4 sized board near the entrance. No one will see this board unless otherwise the person is really looking for it.

This board read:
You are entering a Special KFC, Managed by Specially Abled People.

What should be noted here is that unlike most of the other business establishments would do, KFC chose not to publicize this good work that they are doing.
Great work guys.

PS: I will try to get some pictures of the place on my next visit.

HAPPY NEW DECADE!! :)

A binary number 01 changing to 10 is a small change which means its decimal equivalent 1 changed to 2.

 

But when it comes to a calender, this change refers to a decade change, it means a change from 2001 to 2010.

 

This decade brought with it a lot of changes, and for most of the people in our age group, it will be the best decade we have had till date in our lives.

We started this decade as school going children in the year 2001, and moved on to working adults in 2010. Some of us got married, and some of the married have kids.

We completed our schooling in this decade. We entered college and had all the fun we could have. Activities like the exams, the supplys, the love affairs, the gossips, the fights, bunking classes and moments like waiting for your result for the semester or a cultural competetion that you have been a part of, are ones that you have gone through in this decade.

The bonds of friendship we had during these 10 years are ones, which will last for our life time.

In this decade, most of us got our first job (some of us put our first resignation :P) and got our first appraisal. We learned a lot in this decade. We today are professionals making our own living.
This is a decade which you will always wish to live again. You would want to enjoy each and every moment that has gone by and probably will never come back.
This was a decade, about which when we think later in our lifes, we will have a smile on our face and say that it indeed was the best decade of our life!

Adieu 2010 and along with it, the most happening decade in our lifes (yet).

The next year is 2011 where the last two digits in binary represent the decimal number 3 :). We can step into this with a lesson learnt to enjoy each moment as much as you can, because these are precious moments and will never come back.

 

With the hope that 2011 will be full of fun and the decade following it will match upto (if not better) the decade that has gone by.

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR :)

 

A wonderful email

I got this in my mailbox today. Tried to forward it to a couple of friends of mine but as the size of the mail was more than 50kb, the mail server denied me permission to do so. Hence am sharing it on the blog.
This is not my creation, i am copying it. But i feel that this is worth sharing :)

ഒരു സോഫ്റ്റ്‌വെയര്‍ യക്ഷി
"മിസ്റ്റര്‍ ഡീജെ, താന്‍ എന്തുവാ ഈ പാറപ്പുറത്ത് ഓന്ത് ഇരിക്കുന്ന പോലെ മോണിട്ടര്‍ നോക്കി ഇരിക്കുന്നത്? 3 ദിവസം ആയല്ലോ ഡീബഗ് ചെയ്യാന്‍ തുടങ്ങിയിട്ട്? ഇത് വരെ തീര്‍ന്നില്ലേ?" എന്റെ മൊയലാളിയുടെ സ്വരത്തില്‍ അമര്‍ഷവും ദേഷ്യവും തുളുമ്പി നില്‍ക്കുന്നു.
'ഞാന്‍ ഇത് തിന്നുവല്ല..'
"എന്താ?"
'അല്ല സാറേ ഇതൊക്കെ എന്റെ തലയില്‍ കെട്ടി വെക്കുന്നതെന്തിനാ? കോഡ് എഴുതിയ ആ പെണ്ണിനോട് പറഞ്ഞൂടെ ഡീബഗ് ചെയ്യാന്‍?'
"അവള്‍ ഇപ്പൊ വേറെ പ്രൊജെക്റ്റില്‍ അല്ലെ? ഇത് നീ തന്നെ തീര്‍ക്കണം."
'തീര്‍ത്തിട്ട് എന്ത് ഗുണം. "നിങ്ങളില്‍ ആര്‍ക്കാ നല്ലോണം ഷൂ പോളിഷ് ചെയ്യാന്‍ അറിയാവുന്നേ?" എന്നും പറഞ്ഞു പിന്നേം വരുമല്ലോ...എന്ത് മിണ്ടിയാലും ഇല്ലേലും പണി നമ്മുടെ തലയില്‍ തന്നെ കെട്ടി വെക്കുകയും ചെയ്യും.'
"വല്ലതും പറഞ്ഞോ?"
'അല്ല ഈ മെമ്മറി ലീക്ക് ചെയ്യുന്നതാണ് പ്രശ്നം എന്ന് പറയുവായിരുന്നു. ലീക്ക് ഫിക്സ് ചെയ്യാന്‍ നോക്കുമ്പോള്‍, കോഡ് കംപയില്‍ ചെയ്യുന്നില്ല. കംപയില്‍ ചെയ്യാന്‍ നോക്കുമ്പോള്‍ ലീക്ക് പിന്നേം വരുന്നു. രണ്ടും കൂടി ഫിക്സ് ചെയ്യാന്‍ ആധുനിക സോഫ്റ്റ്‌വെയര്‍ എന്ജിനിയരിങ്ങിനു കഴിവുണ്ടോ എന്നറിയില്ല സാര്‍. രണ്ടില്‍ ഒരാളെ നമുക്ക് ചിലപ്പോള്‍ എന്നെന്നേക്കുമായി നഷ്ട്ടപ്പെട്ടു എന്ന് വരാം. അല്ലെങ്കില്‍ എന്തെങ്കിലും മിറക്കിള്‍ സംഭവിക്കണം.'
"ഇയാള്‍ എന്തൊക്കെയാ ഈ പിച്ചും പേയും പറയുന്നേ? താന്‍ സണ്ണിയെ കാണിച്ചോ കോഡ്?"
'ഇല്ല. എനിക്ക് അങ്ങനെ ഉള്ള പരിഷ്കാരികളെ വല്ല്യ വിശ്വാസം ഇല്ല. ഞാന്‍ തിരുമേനിയെ അറിയിച്ചിട്ടുണ്ട്. അദ്ദേഹം ഏതു നിമിഷവും ഇങ്ങു എത്തും.'
"തിരുമേനിയോ? ആരാ അത്?"
'വേറെ ആരാ? സാക്ഷാല്‍ ബ്രഹ്മദത്തന്‍ നമ്പൂതിരി.'
പറഞ്ഞു തീര്‍ന്നില്ല...ഒരു വെളുത്ത അമ്പാസ്സിടര്‍ കാറില്‍ തിരുമേനി എത്തി.
'നമസ്കാരം തിരുമേനി..'
"നമസ്കാരം...നമുക്ക് വടക്ക് ഭാഗത്ത്‌ ഉള്ള ഏതേലും കോണ്‍ഫറന്‍സ് റൂമില്‍ ഇരുന്നു സംസാരിക്കാം. കുടുംബക്ഷേത്രത്തിലെ റിലീസ്‌ ഒക്കെ എത്രത്തോളം ആയി?"
'ഒന്നിനും ഒരു കുറവും വരുത്തിയിട്ടില്ല...വെളുത്ത വാവിന്റെ അന്ന് ഒരു ബഗ് ഫിക്സ് റിലീസും ഉണ്ടായിരുന്നു'
"കൊടുത്തു വിട്ട ചാര്‍ട്ട് പ്രകാരം ഉള്ള ടെസ്റ്റിംഗ് ഒക്കെ?"
'അതും നടക്കുന്നുണ്ട്'
"ഭാഗ്യായി...നിങ്ങളുടെ കോഡിന്റെ കാര്യം ഞാന്‍ പ്രശ്നം വെച്ച് വിശദമായി ഒന്ന് നോക്കുക ഉണ്ടായി. ജാവ അല്ലെ നക്ഷത്രം?..കോടിന് ഇപ്പോള്‍ ദശാസന്ധിയാ...അപ്പോള്‍ റിലീസ്‌ ഷെഡ്യൂളില്‍ ലേശം ഡിലേ ഒക്കെ സ്വാഭാവികം. പക്ഷെ അഷ്ട്ട മംഗല്യത്തിനു പ്രോജെക്റ്റിന്റെ കാര്യം നോക്കിയപ്പോ, ഇത്തിരി ഒന്ന് അന്ധാളിച്ചു. ഇവിടെ ഒരു സെഗ്മെന്റെഷന്‍ ഫോള്‍ട്ട് വരെ ഉണ്ടാവാം എന്നോരവസ്ഥയാ. അത്ഭുതം അവിടെ അല്ല...അത് സംഭവിച്ചു കഴിഞ്ഞിരിക്കുന്നു. അല്ലാ പരിഭ്രമിക്കണ്ട...ചിലപ്പോ ദൈവാധീനം കൊണ്ട് എല്ലാം ഒഴിഞ്ഞു പോയെന്നും വരാം. ആട്ടെ ആരാ കോഡ് എഴുതിയത്?"
'ഒരു പുതിയ എമ്പ്ലോയീ ആണ് . പേര് ഗംഗ. മുകളിലത്തെ നിലയിലെ തെക്ക് ഭാഗത്ത്‌ ഉള്ള ക്യൂബിലാണ് ഇരിക്കുന്നത്..'
"അപ്പൊ ഞാന്‍ നിരീച്ച പോലെ തന്നെ ആണ് കാര്യങ്ങള്‍"
അപ്പോഴേക്കും സണ്ണി കോണ്‍ഫറന്‍സ് റൂമിലേക്ക്‌ കടന്നു വന്നു...
സണ്ണിയെ കണ്ടതും തിരുമേനിയുടെ മുഖത്ത് ആകെ ഒരു കണ്‍ഫ്യൂഷന്‍.
"എവിടെയോ കണ്ടു മറന്ന പോലെ തോന്നണുണ്ടല്ലോ. കഷ്ട്ടായി...എവിടെ വെച്ചാണെന്ന് മറന്നിരിക്കണൂ. എത്രായിട്ടും അങ്ങട് കിട്ടണില്ല്യ..."
'തിരുമേനി മറന്നു..നമ്മള്‍ തമ്മില്‍ അമേരിക്കയില്‍...'
"ഹയ്! സണ്ണി...ഹമ്പട കേമാ സണ്ണിക്കുട്ടാ. നീ എന്നെ പറ്റിച്ചൂട്ടോ...ഹയ് എന്താ കഥ. നിന്നെ നോം മറക്ക്യെ? ഇവിടെ വെച്ച് കാണുമെന്ന് സ്വപ്നേനെ നിരീചില്ല്യ. ആശ്ചര്യം എന്ന് പറഞ്ഞാ മതി...പഹയന്‍ തടിച്ചൂട്ടോ."
തിരുമേനി എന്റെ നേരെ വന്നിട്ട് ഒരൊറ്റ ചോദ്യമാണ് - "ഇവന്‍ ഇവിടെ ഉള്ളപ്പോ ജാവ കോഡിന്റെ കാര്യം പറഞ്ഞു എന്നെ വിളിക്കണമായിരുന്നോ?
ആളെ വേണ്ടത്ര പരിചയം ഇല്ലാന്ന് തോന്നണു...ലോക പ്രസിദ്ധനാ..തനി രാവണന്‍. 10 തലയാ ഇവന്. പ്രശസ്തനായ സോഫ്റ്റ്‌വെയര്‍ ആര്‍ക്കിടെക്റ്റ് ബ്രാഡ് ലി ഇവന്റെ പ്രൊഫസര്‍ ആയിരുന്നു. അദ്ദേഹം പണ്ട് പാരല്ലെല്‍ കമ്പ്യൂട്ടിങ്ങില്‍ ഒരു പേപ്പര്‍ അവതരിപ്പിക്കാനായി എന്നെ അമേരിക്കയിലേക്ക്‌ ക്ഷണിക്കുകയുണ്ടായി. അന്ന് ബ്രാട്ളിയുടെ ജൂനിയറായിരുന്നു ഇവന്‍. അറിയുമോ, ആധുനിക സോഫ്റ്റ്‌വെയര്‍ എന്ജിനിയരിങ്ങില്‍ ലോക പ്രസിദ്ധമായ 2 പ്രബന്ധങ്ങള്‍ ഇവന്റെയാ. ഈ നില്‍ക്കുന്ന രാവണന്റെ...ഏഭ്യന്‍."
സണ്ണി: തിരുമേനി, എനിക്ക് അങ്ങയോടു കുറച്ചു സംസാരിക്കാന്‍ ഉണ്ട്...
"അതിനെന്താ, നീ പറയൂ സണ്ണി."
സണ്ണി കോഡിന്റെ അവസ്ഥ വിശദമായി തിരുമേനിക്ക് വിവരിച്ചു കൊടുത്തു...
കേട്ട് കഴിഞ്ഞതും, തിരുമേനി ആകെ disturbed ആയി കാണപ്പെട്ടു..
"മെമ്മറി ലീക്കിന്റെ പല അവസ്ഥാന്തരങ്ങളും കേട്ടിട്ടുണ്ട്...പക്ഷെ ഇത്ര ഭയാനകമായ ഒരു വെര്‍ഷന്‍ ഇതാദ്യാ. ഇത്രേം മെമ്മറി ലീക്ക് ചെയ്യുന്ന കാര്യം CPU ഇന് അറിയുമോ?"
'ഇല്ല..CPU ഇന് ഒന്നും അറിയില്ല..ഇനി ഏതാനം മണിക്കൂറുകള്‍ മാത്രമേ ബാക്കി ഉള്ളു...അത് കഴിഞ്ഞു ഔട്ട്‌ ഓഫ് മെമ്മറി എറര്‍ കാണിച്ചു കോഡ് ക്രാഷ് ചെയ്യും...CPU പൊട്ടി തെറിക്കും.'
"എങ്കില്‍ തനിക്ക് കോഡ് റണ്‍ ചെയ്യുന്നത് നിര്‍ത്തിക്കൂടെ? CPU എങ്കിലും രക്ഷപെടട്ടെ."
'ഇല്ല തിരുമേനി. എനിക്കിനിയും മണിക്കൂറുകള്‍ ബാക്കി ഉണ്ട്.'
"അനുഭവ ജ്ഞാനം കൊണ്ടും, പിന്നെ തന്നോടുള്ള വാത്സല്യം കൊണ്ടും പറയാണ്...ഇതിനു പരിഹാരമില്ല്യ. ഇറ്റ്‌ ഈസ്‌ ഇന്ക്യൂറബിള്‍ ."
'സോഫ്റ്റ്‌വെയര്‍ എന്ജിനിയരിങ്ങിനെ തിരുമേനിയോളം അടുത്തറിഞ്ഞവരിലാണ് ഞാന്‍ എന്റെ ഗുരുക്കന്മാരെ കാണുന്നത്. പക്ഷെ എനിക്കിവിടെ നിങ്ങളെ ഒക്കെ നിഷേധിച്ചേ പറ്റൂ...ഞാന്‍ പഠിച്ചതിനെ ഒക്കെ നിഷേധിച്ചേ പറ്റൂ. ഒരു സോഫ്റ്റ്‌വെയര്‍ എന്ജിനിയറും സഞ്ചരിച്ചിട്ടില്ലാത്ത വഴികളില്‍ കൂടി ഒക്കെ ഞാന്‍ സഞ്ചരിചെന്നിരിക്കും...ഒരു ഭ്രാന്തനെ പോലെ. അയാം ഗോയിംഗ് ടു ബ്രേക്ക്‌ ഓള്‍ കണ്‍വന്‍ഷണല്‍ കോണ്‍സെപ്ത്സ് ഓഫ് സോഫ്റ്റ്‌വെയര്‍ എന്ജിനിയരിംഗ്.'
"കൊള്ളാം മോനെ, നിന്നെ ഞാന്‍ നിരുല്സാഹപ്പെടുത്തുന്നില്ല"
'വളരെ അപകടം പിടിച്ച ഒരു ഘട്ടത്തില്‍ നിന്നാണ് എനിക്ക് തുടങ്ങേണ്ടത്. ഇന്ന് COB ക്ക് മുന്നേ ഗംഗ മനസ്സിലാക്കണം അവള്‍ടെ കോഡ് ക്രാഷ് ചെയ്യുമെന്ന്. എനിക്കറിയാം..അതറിയുന്ന നിമിഷം ഗംഗ അതിജീവിക്കില്ല. മരണം സംഭവിക്കാം. പക്ഷെ ആ നിമിഷം ഗംഗ അതി ജീവിച്ചാല്‍, പ്രതീക്ഷയുടെ ഒരു നേര്‍ത്ത വഴി എനിക്ക് തുറന്നു കിട്ടും...ആ വഴിയിലൂടെ എനിക്ക് പോകാം...തിരുമേനി അനുഗ്രഹിക്കണം.'
തിരുമേനി മൌനമായ ഒരു പ്രാര്‍ഥനയില്‍ മുഴുകി.
സണ്ണിയും, തിരുമേനിയും, ഞാനും, മൊയലാളിയും എല്ലാം ഒരുമിച്ചു ഗംഗയുടെ ക്യൂബില്‍ എത്തി. ഗംഗ ബാഗ്‌ ഒക്കെ ആയി എങ്ങോട്ടോ പോവാന്‍ ഉള്ള തത്രപ്പാടിലായിരുന്നു.
സണ്ണി ധൈര്യം സംഭരിച്ചു ചോദിച്ചു...'ഗംഗ ഇപ്പൊ എവിടെ പോവുന്നു?'
"അത് കൊള്ളാം. ഞാന്‍ നേരത്തെ പറഞ്ഞതാണല്ലോ ഇന്ന് ഉച്ചക്ക് ഞാന്‍ ഓട്ടോ ആയിരിക്കുമെന്ന്."
'ഓട്ടോ ഓടിക്കാന്‍ പോവുവാണോ?'
"അതല്ല ..Out Of The Office (OOTO) ആയിരിക്കുമെന്ന്."
'ഗംഗ ഇപ്പൊ പോവണ്ട...'
"ങേ ഞാന്‍ പോവണ്ടേ? ഞാന്‍ നേരത്തെ പെര്‍മ്മിഷന്‍ മേടിച്ചതാണല്ലോ..പിന്നെന്തേ ഇപ്പൊ ഒരു മനം മാറ്റം?"
'ഗംഗ പോവണ്ട...'
"അതെന്താ ഞാന്‍ പോയാല്?"
'പോവണ്ട എന്നല്ലേ പറഞ്ഞത്'
അപ്പോഴേക്കും ഗംഗയുടെ മുഖ ഭാവം ആകെ മാറി. ദേഹത്ത് ബാധ കയറിയ പോലെ..
"വിടമാട്ടെ...വിടമാട്ടെ..അപ്പൊ നീ എന്നെ എങ്കയും പോക വിടമാട്ടെ? അയോഗ്യ നായെ...ഉനക്ക് എവളോ ധൈര്യമിരുന്നാല്‍, ഇപ്പോവും ഏന്‍ കണ്‍ മുന്നാടിയാ വന്ത് നില്‍പ്പേ?..ഇന്നേക്ക് ഹാല്ലോവീന്‍...ഉന്നെ കൊന്നു, ഉന്‍ രക്തത്തെ കുടിച്ചു ഓംകാര നടനമാടുവെന്‍..."
'ഗംഗേ ഗേ ഗേ' (സുരേഷ് ഗോഫി സ്റ്റൈലില്‍ സണ്ണി സ്ലോ മോഷനില്‍ അലറി)
'പോടാ നായെ' എന്നും പറഞ്ഞു ഗംഗ സണ്ണിയുടെ അടുത്തേക്ക് കുതിച്ചു...ഭയം പുറത്തു കാണിക്കാതെ, എന്തും നേരിടാന്‍ ഉള്ള ധൈര്യവുമായി സണ്ണി അവിടെ തന്നെ നിന്നു...തൊട്ടു പുറകില്‍ ഞാനും, തിരുമേനിയും, മറ്റുള്ളവരും...
എല്ലാവരെയും മുള്‍ മുനയില്‍ നിര്‍ത്തിയ നിമിഷങ്ങള്‍...സണ്ണിയെ ഗംഗ കൊല്ലുമോ? ഗംഗയെ സണ്ണി കൊല്ലുമോ?
പെട്ടെന്നാണ് ആ തിരിച്ചറിവ് എനിക്കുണ്ടായത്...ഗംഗ സണ്ണിയെ ലക്ഷ്യമാക്കിയല്ല വരുന്നത്...ഞാനോ തിരുമേനിയോ ആരോ ആണ് ലക്‌ഷ്യം...ഹെന്റമ്മോ എനിക്കെങ്ങാനും ഇനി ആ കാരണവരുടെ കട്ട്‌ ഉണ്ടോ?
അപ്പോഴേക്കും ഗംഗയുടെ പിടി എന്റെ കഴുത്തില്‍ വീണിരുന്നു...കഥയില്‍ ഇങ്ങനെ അല്ല കുട്ടി, കൈ വിട് കൈ വിട് എന്നൊക്കെ ഞാന്‍ ആവതും പറഞ്ഞു നോക്കി...ഹെവിടെ കേള്‍ക്കാന്‍...അവസാനം ജീവന്‍ പോകും എന്നായപ്പോള്‍ ഞാന്‍ ഗംഗയുടെ കഴുത്തിനു പിടിച്ചു...ഒന്ന് ഒന്നര പിടിത്തം ആയിരുന്നു...വേദന സഹിക്കാന്‍ വയ്യാതായപ്പോള്‍ ഗംഗ ഒറ്റ തൊഴി...ഞാന്‍ മൂക്കും കുത്തി നിലത്ത്.
എഴുന്നേറ്റു നോക്കിയപ്പോ ഗംഗ ഇല്ല...പകരം ഒരു ഗംഗന്‍...എന്റെ റൂം മേറ്റ്‌..
'എന്താടാ പട്ടി? മനുഷ്യനെ ഉറങ്ങാന്‍ സമ്മതിക്കൂല്ലേ? ശവം. നീ ഇപ്പൊ എന്നെ ഞെക്കി കൊന്നേനെ..'
"സോറി അളിയാ..ഐയാം ദി സോറി.."
'ഇറങ്ങി പോടാ ഇവിടുന്നു...'
ഞാന്‍ പതുക്കെ എഴുന്നേറ്റു വാരാന്തയില്‍ പോയി ഇരുന്നു. എന്റെ മനസ്സ് അപ്പോഴും disturbed ആയിരുന്നു...തലനാഴിയിരക്കല്ലേ രക്ഷപ്പെട്ടത്...ഓഫീസില്‍ 3 ദിവസം ആയി ഒരു പണ്ടാരം ഡീബഗ് ചെയ്തു എങ്ങും എത്താത്തതിന്റെ പ്രഷര്‍ ആവണം ഇപ്പൊ തെക്കിനിയിലെ തമിഴത്തിയുടെ രൂപത്തില്‍ പ്രത്യക്ഷപ്പെടത്..പണ്ട് പഠിക്കുന്ന കാലത്ത് പ്രൊഫ്‌. മരണന്‍ ഇതുപോലെ സ്വപ്നത്തില്‍ പ്രത്യക്ഷപ്പെടാരുണ്ടായിരുന്നു ..അല്ലേലും അറിയാന്‍ മേലാത്ത പണിക്കു പോയാല്‍ ഇങ്ങനെയാ...ഓഫീസിലും കാണില്ല മനസ്സമാധാനം...വീട്ടിലും കാണില്ല. പക്ഷെ അറിയാവുന്ന പണി വെല്ലോം ഒണ്ടോ..അതും ഇല്ല...പഠിച്ചത് എലെക്ട്രോനിക്സാ...പക്ഷെ കപ്പാസിറ്റര്‍ ഏതാ കപ്പലണ്ടി ഏതാ എന്ന് പോലും തിരിച്ചറിയാന്‍ ഉള്ള കഴിവില്ല..നാട്ടില്‍ പോയി വാഴക്കൃഷി ചെയ്യാം എന്നോര്‍ത്താല്‍ അതിനുള്ള ആരോഗ്യവും ഇല്ല..ഇനി ഇപ്പൊ ഒരു MBA പഠിച്ചു മാനേജര്‍ ആവാം എന്ന് വെച്ചാല്‍, ഓഫീസില്‍ ഉള്ള സകലമാന ആള്‍ക്കാരുടെയും തെറി കേള്‍ക്കേണ്ടി വരും...ഇപ്പോഴാവുമ്പോള്‍ ഒരു മാനേജരുടെ തെറി മാത്രം കേട്ടാല്‍ മതിയല്ലോ...അപ്പൊ പിന്നെ ഇങ്ങനെ ഒക്കെ അങ്ങ് തട്ടീം മുട്ടീം പോട്ടെ അല്ലെ...തെക്കിനിയിലെ നാഗവള്ളിയേം, വേണു നാഗവള്ളിയേം ഒക്കെ വരുന്നിടത്ത് വെച്ച് കാണാം.

A SMILE : WORTH A THOUSAND CRACKERS & A MILLION DIYA’S

It was deepavali yesterday. My first one in Bangalore. After seven long years of moving out of Delhi, I lighted diya’s and celebrated it in grand style. A cracker free, pollution free deepavali. A senior of mine (Nidhin) from college joined me at my place. Both of us decorated our house with diya’s and lighted them. To be honest, it was real fun! There was a light breeze blowing which would extinguish the diya’s as soon as we light them. We had to run around to keep everything lighted up and mind you, it was not an easy task. It took us around an hour to get everything lighted up. But the end result was so beautiful that it made us feel that all the effort was really worth it. Here is how I celebrated my Deepavali.

http://picasaweb.google.com/107212723743566082106/Diwali2010?authkey=Gv1sRgCLekyvfA4oiaVg#  

The above picasa album will show that I had a beautiful deepavali, which included decorating my house, cooking food and distributing sweets. All this celebration was crowned with a small event which took place a couple of days back. Me and some of my friends (Hafeez, Rashid, Nidhin and Myself) went to Brigade Road in Bangalore last weekend. Every time I pass this place, I used to see a small girl aged around 20 holding a lot of red roses in her hands and running amongst people requesting them to buy one. I have seen this so often, that it had started to be a regular sight on Brigade Road.  These rose flowers are priced at INR 10 per flower, and believe me; those roses are so beautiful, that they are worth the price.

This time when we crossed this little girl we felt like doing something for her. May be buy a couple of roses and thereby help her. But as we didn’t have anyone to give those roses to (I am not lying :P, we are all single) we were a bit hesitant. Then we had a small but sweet idea.
We went to her and enquired the price. She said she is selling it in bunches of three with each bunch worth rupees thirty. She asked us to get two such bunches as we were four and the fact that she had so many more flowers to sell. We agreed and bought the flowers from her. We gave her a 100 rupee note and she gave us the exact change back. She thanked us and turned to leave. We called her back. Utterly perplexed on why we are calling her back (may be thinking that she had not handed us back the correct change) she came back to us. All of us smiled and gave her that bunch of six flowers saying that we bought the flowers for her. This took her by surprise. She didn’t know how to react for a couple of minutes. Then, reluctantly, she took them back from us, smiled, said “Thank you bhaiyya” and left.

There are times when people fake a smile and there are times when it comes from their heart. I have always felt that the smiles that come from a person’s heart are special and can be easily distinguished from a fake one, as a smile from heart will reflect in that person’s eyes.

I read in a news paper some days back that Bangalore will light up this deepavali as around 23 crore rupees are spent on fire crackers. For me, that one smile from that small girl was more precious than all those crackers burned together. It just took 60 rupees this deepavali to make it one of the best deepavali’s I have ever had. I will remember this one for a long time to come, more because of the smile on that kids face than the other celebrations that we had.

I learned a basic fact this deepavali which goes like this:
“It’s beautiful to see someone smile, and more so, when you know that you are the reason behind that smile”

U & I

29th September 2010 21:00 hours. 18 hours to go for a verdict from the Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court. This is not just another verdict. This is a verdict that will end a more than 60 year old controversy. The controversy is known as AYODHYA controversy.
As per history, Hindu god Ram was born here and there used to be a temple at this place. It is said that, when the mughal’s invaded India, this temple was destroyed and a mosque was build on top of it.  This mosque was called as ‘Masjid E Janmsthan’ for a long time. Hindu’s have being claiming this land for long. On December 6, 1992, this masjid, by then known as the Babri Masjid, was brought down by 1,50000 Kar Sevaks.
The controversy still exists, where in hindu religious/political leaders and parties still claim that there was a temple at the disputed site and a temple should be constructed at this controversial site. Muslim religious/political leaders and political parties do not agree to these statements and claim that there is no proof of a temple existing at the disputed site. One set of political leaders claim that a temple should be made. The other set is adamant on getting the mosque reconstructed.
These political and religious leaders are people with high influence and a lot of followers. They have used their influence in the past and convinced people, that getting a temple/mosque constructed at this site is of prime importance for hindu’s/muslim’s respectively.

All of us have to understand that tit for tat is will never give you a solution. It can be compared with a very simple situation where a person shouts at you and you shout back. We have to understand that shouting back is never going to help. Instead of helping solve the problem on hand, it will further complicate things.
Demolition of a temple to construct a mosque (if it ever happened) was  wrong . Destroying the mosque to  construct a temple is again wrong. Tit for Tat didn’t solve the problem. It just made matters worse. All of us know what happened next.
This was followed by communal violence of the highest magnitude that India has ever seen.
I do not know if there ever was a temple at the disputed site. But I do know that a lot of people lost their lives in the ’93 riots. Children were orphaned, women widowed, girls raped. My cousin sister who was a kid at that time had once told me that during ’93 riots, she had seen burning cars from her house’s window. The situation was so bad that govt. had given shoot at sight orders. People were totally confined to their houses. They were not even allowed to come into their balconies. Imagine experiencing the riots shown in the movie Bombay in your real life. I feel a chill running down my spine even today when I think about such a situation. Thousands of Innocent people, who neither cared about the mosque, nor about the temple were killed. Hundreds of families were destroyed.

It has been 17 years since that incident. Even after 17 long years, the verdict tomorrow is delivered in highest possible security. Bulk sms’s have been blocked since 22nd of this month. Schools and colleges are closed. The firm that I work has declared a half day holiday in Bangalore and a full day holiday in Delhi. I feel awkward when I think that a verdict, which is of least importance to majority of people in indian community has this huge an effect! Most of the people in India, be it a hindu or a muslim will want a hospital to be built at the disputed site.
I would like a park to be built there, as a memorial for all those innocent people who died in the ’93 riots. A park, where small children can play forgetting the man made barrier and discrimination called religion or caste and hence spread the message of communal harmony.

India today is blessed with people who think before acting. When the verdict is announced tomorrow, there will be a set of people who will try to disrupt peace. These people are either power hungry corrupt politicians or religious leaders or fools for whom monuments are more important than human lives. 

Let us together pledge that we will not be involved in any activity which is unlawful. India has a huge population, and it will definitely take a lot more than a few power hungry religious leaders and politicians to disrupt peace and harmony.

H I N D U and M U S L I M, both the words are incomplete without U and I.
 

H I N D U S T A N is incomplete without U and I.

Jai hind

LAST AND ALWAYS THE LEAST

It’s September 2010. Three quarters of this year are over and we move into the last quarter in ten days time. The latter half of this year has been really exciting for me. A lot of my friends either married or got engaged. On an average three friends of mine are getting married every month starting this October!
Marriage is perhaps the most memorable and one amongst the most important milestone in everyone’s life. A milestone, where ‘I becomes WE’, ‘ME becomes US’ and ‘MINE becomes OURS’. A time to celebrate as you have never done before, and perhaps, will never do again. It’s a day when bride easily becomes the most beautiful girl in the marriage hall. A day when groom gets all the attention even if the hall is full of ladies dressed at their best :).
It’s every parents wish to have the grandest and the best of weddings for their child. They spend all their savings so that everything, from the wedding dress to the invitation card, is perfect and the best.
All this gives us an impression that bride and the groom are the most important people in the process of arranging the marriage. But is it really so?
In India the number of arranged marriages will outnumber love marriages with more than 1000(or more) to 1. Most of you people may know how marriages are arranged. For those who don’t the process is as below.
•    Parents post their child’s profile on matrimony sites and load it with the best photographs of their child.
•    The profiles are filtered based on religion and community.
•    A list of matching profiles is made and then horoscopes are exchanged.
•    Now parents take their child’s horoscope to an astrologer and ask him to tell if it matches any one of the short listed horoscopes.
•    If yes, then the guy comes and meets the girl in presence of the entire family. The girl is made to dress the best and look at her best. If lucky, the guy and the girl get ten minutes to talk to each other in person.
•    If the guy and the girl are happy about each others looks (as I personally feel that it is the only thing that you can judge in ten minutes time) girl’s parents start bidding on the guy. After some negotiations, if the final bid is attractive enough and outsmarts all bids made on their son till date, you get to hear relatives exclaim “Look at them! This couple is made in heaven!” Else the girl invariably has a twisted nose or has a bad set of teeth or doesn’t have a sweet voice!
Background check about the guy and the girl is done in the time being. But more often than not, if the horoscopes match and bidding is done properly by the girl’s family, then the marriage is almost fixed.

One small drawback with this entire process is that the guy and the girl, the most important people in the marriage, the stars of the show, hardly matter! For argument sake families say that children met, talked and hence are supposed to be in love with each other. This means that you have only ten minutes to decide on your better half!

I really wonder if those ten minutes are enough. Most of the people get married in their mid twenties. I am sure that even after 25 years of living, most of us dont have a clue about ourselves! If a human being cannot understand himself in 25 years, how is he supposed to understand his better half in ten minutes!
If the child is in a relation, then an emotional torture happens on him/her with all sorts of questions being asked. “How can you do this to us?”, “Is this why we brought you up? To see this day?”, “What community/religion is your child going to be in?”, “What will people say?” and “Don’t you care about us and our culture?” are questions that top the list.
The child’s happiness and all other practical issues which should be the top priority such as financial stability, the guy/girls character, the guy/girls family and most importantly their happiness, takes a back seat if there is a conflict in religion/caste. This is also a time when parents are most prone to life threatening diseases. The risk of these diseases is high up until their child agrees to marry as per his/her parent’s decision (to a guy who is from the same religion/community). In between all the other things such as Horoscope, Community, Religion and Relatives parents tend to forget about their child’s happiness.
In short, more often than not, the most important decision of your life is taken based on an astrologer’s opinion and family status! I feel that in the marriages where the couples happiness comes after family status, religion, community and relatives, marriage is not the only thing arranged. Emotions like love, understanding, care and most importantly, happiness are also arranged.

I agree that marriage is a bonding not only between the couple getting married, but also amongst the families. But I feel the priority should be couple first, and then the rest. Unfortunately it is the other way round. When it is an arranged marriage, more often than not, the couples are ‘Last and always the least’ important.

PS: This blog entry is dedicated to my best friends from college who have stood by me through thick and thin. Both of them are getting married this quarter. God bless them with the choosiest of his blessings. They are the best and they deserve the best. Love you guys.

A PROUD INDIAN

One of my biggest dreams has been to do something for my country and set an example. To do something which helps India take a step forward on the road of development, of becoming a better place to live in.
Every time I think on how to contribute in my country’s development, I fall short of ideas. Nothing comes into my mind. I feel that I am nobody in this country having the second largest population in the world, with no authority or power to change anything. The only feeling that comes into my mind is that if I had the authority and the power to do something, I would definitely have changed the way this country is run.
If I were in politics and held a responsible position, then I would be more concerned about the frequent power cuts, unavailability of water and such basic needs rather than spending time debating if Sanya Mirza has the right to play for India after marrying Shoib Malik or debating if girls going to a pub! But alas, am not in politics and can do nothing about it.
If I was in our honourable Judiciary system, I would have speeded up my work and tried to move forward on the tonnes of pending cases and files that are still awaiting a hearing. We are still fighting a case for an extremist who was caught alive in 26/11 attacks on Mumbai. It is clear and a known fact that he has killed a lot of innocent people in cold blood. On top of this, he has admitted that he enjoyed killing these people. Our government and judiciary is still spending crores of rupees to defend this person! I would have closed such cases by giving him capital punishment. I would have felt that it is a question on my ability that such cases take such long time to reach to a verdict. But fortunately/unfortunately, I am not in judiciary too.
If I were in media, I would have been a responsible journalist who doesn’t ask a widow/mother on how she feels about her husbands/child’s death in an accident or a terrorist attack! I would not telecast a dog’s marriage on the television the whole day! In simple words, I would not sensationalize a piece of news to increase TRP and try to focus on issues that are more relevant and important. But then, I am not a journalist either!

I am just another software engineer who sits in front of a computer and spends most of his time away from his family more often than not working for people in US/UK or elsewhere. Lazy as most of the other software engineers are, I also prefer to sit back at my place on weekends, switch to some news channel and blame politicians and every other citizen apart from me for the situation of our country. Am 24 years old and like most of the people in our country, I have not voted even once till date.

I was like this till I watched a very famous advertisement “CHALO INDIA”, where a small school kid tries to push a heavy tree trunk lying across the road in rain causing heavy traffic jam. Seeing this kid, everyone follow suit, lift the tree trunk, and unblock the road. This simple advertisement has a very strong message which says that you take the initiative and the world will follow. It also showed that common people can solve a lot of problems themselves, provided they take the initiative. This advertisement motivated me more to do something for the country. It told me that I am someone important and can do things if I want to.
But I am an Indian, and we Indians forget things very soon. The excitement faded away way too soon, and I was back to the lazy software engineer sympathising on our country’s situation without doing anything to change things.
A lot of people I know are working abroad. These people used to tell me that the places abroad are very beautiful. Spec clean, no corruption, efficient system. This made me think. Its sad to say this but the same Indians who pee on Indian road sides, Spit in underground passes and railway stations and inside compartments, clean even their dogs shit when they go abroad! If only they had the same attitude while in India, we could have talked about our country as we now talk about others!
We are the most law abiding people when we go abroad, but try to find loopholes in rules created in our country! We park our vehicles under a “No Parking” board. The corrupt system doesn’t help either as we know that we can get out of any mess by paying a small bribe.
There are friends who have driving licence for a two and four wheeler but don’t know how to balance a bicycle! Pay 1500 INR and you will get your licence at your doorstep. Driving Licence, which is accepted as the basic address proof of any Indian citizen can be forged if you have 1500 INR.
We do not ask for bills to avoid sales tax. Even if ten lakh people pay 40 INR sales tax on a purchase of 4000 INR, it sums up to be 4 crores! We have so many rules broken on roads everyday that even if our police force do their duty properly for one day, Indian government will be able to collect crores of rupees from defaulters! A single day of proper work can add around 10 crores to country’s income. We have not even covered 1/10th of the population of the country and can already see 10 crore income! That is the strength and potential we have.
I am living in Bangalore now. The most commonly used vehicle over here is an autorikshaw.  Each autorikshaw has a meter attached in it. But no one bothers to use it. People living in Bangalore are ready to pay whatever the auto driver demands. They demand, because we are ready to pay them what they demand. They demand 50 rupees to places which are 25 rupees distant and we give it to them. If at all someone puts meter, and the sum comes upto 36 rupees, you have to pay 40 rupees to the auto driver. He keeps the remaining four rupees as if it is his birthright! Imagine if we stop boarding auto’s who don’t use meter (or have digital meter) for a couple of days. These people will have no other go but to start using meter. If police cracks down on auto drive’s who don’t have digital meter in their autos (which is a rule), more than half the auto’s n Bangalore will go off road. But then we are not ready to do it. Ask yourselves; if you are not ready to fight for your own rights, then what right do you have to blame country’s politicians? Or any other person for that matter!
We have to understand that we are a part of the system, and this system will not progress unless we work to do so. These are small issues which can be corrected only by us people.
I decided this when I was doing my final year engineering and am following it ever since then. I can proudly say that it has been three years that
•    I don’t throw garbage on roadside and neither do I allow my friends when they are with me.
•    I walk on the footpath if there is one.
•    I pay my taxes.
•    I treat people around me with respect.
•    I don’t spit in public spaces.
•    I do not bribe officials to get my work done.
I have also decided that I will vote next time there are elections.
I know this is not much, but then, it is one step forward. Me not throwing garbage around in public places will not make India clean, but if I am able to convince even one person not to throw waste on roadside, I will consider it as an achievement.
Today, I was watching “India has got talent Khoj 2”, where a team of sand artists did a beautiful act. They showed 26/11 mumbai attacks using a sand painting. As a judge on the show very rightly said, these artists did something that even they may not have realized. They gave a tribute to all martyrs of 26/11 in one of the most beautiful ways possible and they did that on national television. I thank them for doing that act. They not only took part in the competition, but also used it as a platform to send a message to the entire country stating that we are forgetting the path shown to us by the father of our nation.
Their show also inspired me to share my thoughts with people. The best way to do that is blog, and hence my first blog entry.

As it was said in a very famous Hindi movie, “No country is perfect; we have to make it perfect. We have to work together to make it perfect”.
Let’s make India perfect. This is my first step towards a perfect India.

Proud to be an Indian.

Jai Hind.