Time for a `Kutti` story

 A well built 12th grade boy and a mediocre built 5th grade boy got into a quarrel which later turned out to be a fight. The 12th grade boy is hurting 5th grade boy badly while the entire school is watching but no one came to help the 5th grade boy. 

The 12th grade boy being an influential person in the school, the school management couldn't take any action either.  Some students didn't even support anyone while some just cheered the 5th grade boy verbally saying that they are there for him in this fight. 

Inbetween the 5th grade boy kept calling other kids for help. Meanwhile there is a 10th grade boy with a kind heart in the whole school. This time the 5th grade boy decided to ask this kind hearted 10th grade boy for support. The 5th grade boy pleaded  the 10th grade boy to help. But the 10th grade boy is confused whether to help him or not,  knowing the fact that if he offered to help the 5th grade boy, he might also get hurt. 

Now if you are the parent of this kind hearted 10th grade boy, what would you advice him?

1. Ask him to stay neutral and away from fight. Afterall it's not his fight, why to interfere and get hurt in others fight. Tell him that when even other 12th grade kids are scared to fight him, why you should fight.

2. Ask him to fight alongside the 5th grade boy as the 12th grade boy's activity is totally unfair. Tell him that it is always important to support and fight for the good cause regardless of whether we are winning or not in the end.

3. Ask him to advice or threaten the 12th grade boy saying he will no longer be his friend if he continues to fight with the 5th grade boy. But tell him not to get into the fight as fight is never a solution to any problem.

"தர்மத்தின் வாழ்வுதனை சூது கவ்வும், எனினும் தர்மமே வெல்லும்!!!"

Think!!!!  Decide !!! Think Different !!!

The Indifferent Democracy!

We all Indians are proud that we are living in the biggest democracy in the world.  We all have read in our books that democracy is a form of government of the people, by the people and for the people. So when I am 18, I am much exited just like any others. I was like "Yay!, Now I got to choose who should rule me". I really felt empowered and confident. But as time flies by, my perception begins to change. Today I really wonder if the real definition of democracy is still valid or it needs to be rephrased.

Is this democracy? People make someone loose by defeating him in loksabha elections but still he gets to become a Rajyasabha MP.  So what happens to the votes and opinion of lakhs of people who voted against him. In a country with population of 1.33 billion, can't we find someone other than the loser. Is this a democracy of the people?

Is this democracy? People vote for a particular leader thinking they will be the CM, but someone else becomes the CM by winning the party's internal politics. What if people doesn't want that person to be their CM? In our country where most of the power is centralised to PM/CM, what is the use of people just selecting MLAs and MPs who often behave as puppets in the PM/CM hands and doesn't have any power on their own. Don't we have rights to choose our leader directly? Is this a democracy by the people?

Is this democracy? Two parties in coalition contest and wins an election wherein people mainly wanted one party to come into power. However post polls, the other minority party brakes the tie and joins hands with another party to form the government. So what happened to all the people who voted just for that one party or that coalition? If that coalition is no more the peoples verdict gets invalid isn't it? So with all these confusions around coalition, can't we just ask parties to contest individually without any coalition? Is this a democracy for the people?

So these are just sample instances which got popular because of the recent happenings. However the list is never ending. So all we need is not just a new system, but a system which cannot be broken by the new system.

Think! Decide! Think different!

My Journey to the center of the earth !!!

Well exactly speaking I would say the title is little misleading as I didn't drill down in to the earth lava core as you could have see n in the Hollowood movie with the same title. Rather "My journey to the near center of the map" would be the opt title. But I decided to keep it fancy as it was popular and well known title.

So where did I actually go? This is about my  business trip to a city called Malatya in Turkey which is almost at the center of the world map from 5th to 9th December 2016. So I am just going to share some of the challenges I faced in the Turkish city.

The request came just couple of days before the planned start date and hence I had a very short time to plan the trip. I managed to purchase a set of thermals to fight the cold weather. My travel desk shared me 5-6 air travel options and after lot of confusions I finally settled with Ethihad flight which connects Malatya through Abu Dhabi. There are 2 reasons for me to select that flight. The first reason being it's a much familiar flight for me as I took Ethihad for travelling to San Diego sometime in 2015 and my experience was very pleasant. The second reason being the fact that it has the least transit wait time and less overall travel time to reach Malatya.

I started on 3rd December night in Ethihad flight Chennai international airport. I only had about 1:15 minutes of flight transfer time at Abu Dhabi airport. It was my bad luck that the flight reached Abu Dhabi around 55 minutes late due to heavy fog leaving me only only 20 mins for flight tranfer. I had to run and catch the flight to Istanbul and finally reached Istanbul airport. This is where the second challenge was waiting for me. I was looking for my baggage for 30 minutes and finally realised that it was missing. I went to the baggage lost counter to file a complaint where I got to know that my check-in baggage got struck at Abu Dhabi as it was missed in the flight tranafer. I reminded of the fact that I only had about 20 minutes of tranfer time at Abu Dhabi. I then realized that I am yet to get a turkish SIM. So I gave them my Chennai number, went out and got a local Turkish SIM, called back the baggage lost counter and updated my local number. Good that I foresaw these kind of issues and kept one set of dress in my carry-on luggage with myself.

I finally reached Malatya and this where the next challenge was waiting for me. The temperature at Malatya was freezing cold with less than 0 degree Celsius. I felt my blood getting freezed if I stand still. Not to forget the fact that my thermals and woolen jacket are in the lost check-in luggage which got struck at Abu Dhabi. I checked into the Ramada Plaza Malatya Altin Kayisi hotel at Malatya. I received the call from Ethihad baggage counter next day and I spoke rough to them as my brother advised me and I would say it really worked. My baggage got delivered to my hotel room at Malatya the very next day all the way from. Abu Dhabi to Istanbul and from Istanbul to Malatya and further from Malatya airport to hotel room in 4th floor.

I really had a wonderful learning experience in this business trip. I got an opportunity to see a live liver transplant operation at Inonu University Hospital at Malatya and the Hospital staff explained how the Hospira infusion pumps are being used in operating rooms. I really felt happy and proud to see how my work was helping to save people's life. The next biggest challenge waiting for me was communication. Unlike our country, everywhere in Malatya is written only in Turkish. Only less that a percent of people in Malatya speak turkish with even the front desk managers at the hotel could not communicate properly in English. I missed to mention about the power adapter issue. The power sockets in Turkey are of different type and none of the Indian and US type power plugs will fit into it. I managed  to buy a adapter which converts the US type to Turkish type plug from nearby electronic mall to power up my mobile and laptop.

The one another big challenge I would like to mention was about food. Thank GOD I am not a veggie as this country don't offer much option for veggies. Everything in Malatya is either chicken or meat. So what meat ? Only the cook knews :). I sticked to chicken for all 5 days and I would say the food is not so great but I somehow managed. I used to go to a nearby shopping mall called Malatya park which had lot of food options but I settled with McD as it had its menu card written in English. Just to clarify that it was the only restaurant which had its menu card written in both English and Turkish among all other restaurants which gives only Turkish menu. Thanks to McD for its International policy of maintaining English menu favouring international travellers from around the globe.

I decided to make a local sightseeing for 2-3 hours in my free time on fourth day. But Malatya is not a place of touristic importance and there wasn't much options. I managed to visit a famous grand mosque in a place called Battalgazi and a place called Aslantope ruins where archiologists invade and uncover many ancient sculptures. I am sure these visits will remain in my memory for the years to come. One think that irritated me was smoke. People at Malatya smoke a lot to withstand the freezing cold and as a result all public places, toilets, restaurants and even streets are filled with smoke. As a non smoker, I had a difficult time to breath the smoke filled atmosphere.

So what's special in Malatya? In one word, Apricots. I see Apricots everywhere. Apart from that turkey is famous for European chocolates, Lokum and Baklawa sweets. I managed to purchase a box of these for my family. Apart from these I bought a cabin luggage in an offer price and a colorful kitty shall for my sweet wife.

Having said lot of challenges I faced at Malatya, it's time to mention some good points. The city is very clean and neat with well laid roads, beautiful buildings and well maintained pavement without any garbage spills. Unlike our country where private hospitals dominate medical industry, that have big government university come Hospital which serves not only Malatya but also other surrounding areas on Turkey. I wonder if this can even happen at India.

I returned to India on 11th December 2016 early morning and fell asleep. And that when I got call from my Manager asking whether I reached India safe. Only then I came to know that there was a big blast in Istanbul which killed 29people and it happened just 5 hours I started from Istanbul. Thank God I reached home safe and sound without any problem. So I would like to conclude saying that the world is full of challenges and each challenges makes us more stronger than yesterday. So next time when you face some difficulty while traveling, consider that as an opportunity to grow and get stronger. Awaiting more travel and challenges in the future...

Think !!! Decide !!! Think Different !!!

Traffic Traffic Traffic

This is my second blog post on Road safety. But this time I would like to highlight the important factors that contribute to traffic in Chennai city. Traffic is one the important stress causing factor in a crowded city like Chennai. Most office goers struggle everyday because of traffic congestion. People often blame the government for the traffic congestion. We cannot deny the fact that government has a major responsibility to control the traffic. But I feel that it's also the duty of every individual and self decipline which can make our city better. Let's discuss some the traffic trouble makers in our city.

1. Government Buses
        Government buses stands first in the list of traffic congestion makers. Most of the roads in our city like Chennai have very narrow streets with no more than 2 four wheeler can go side by side. Hence its important that buses stop close to the bus Stand near the pavement. But we hardly find any buses stoping that way. Most government buses stops in the middle of the road blocking the entire traffic. Having said that, we cannot blame the buses alone. The people waiting for the buses have to stand on the bus Stand pavement leaving way for the buses to stand close to the pavement.

2. Autos
           Autos are a major nuisance to our city roads. They take unexpected uturns at unexpected time causing major road blocks. In the roads 70% blocked by buses, the autos block the remaining space leaving no way for 2 wheelers. They also slow down the entire traffic till they get a ride.

3. Individual Self
      Most traffic congestion happens because of indicipline individuals. Even one person travelling in opposite direction can can block an entire road. One day I notices that an entire road was blocked because of a cycle rickshaw travelling slow in an important main road at peak office hour. Hence individuals have to act sensibly with common sense. If vehicles occupy both sides of a 2 way road, how the vehicles from other side can travel. Most traffic happens because of selfishness of individuals.

4. Government
        Last but not least, government has a major responsibility for reducing the traffic. It's a well known fact that good roads can help to reduce traffic congestion to a great extent. Instead of giving free items to people, government should strive to make the quality of life of people better by making sure that they have good quality roads, better sanitation and underground drainage system and pure drinking water supply. Government should laydown long term plans which can drastically reduce the traffic considering the increasing population and growing infrastructure.

I would like to conclude telling that it's always the duty of each and every individual self to act sensibly and cooperate government to reduce traffic.

Think! Decide! Think Different!!!

Idiots in the streets

Idiots are found everywhere in our day to day life. There are found at work place, hospitals, banks, government offices, railway stations, bus stands, public buildings, neighborhood, streets, etc. Not all of them affect our daily routine life. But today I am only interested in writing about particular kind of idiots whom we cannot avoid in our daily routine. Yes, they are the idiots in the streets. Let’s see them one by one.

Bungee Zombies

Bungee Zombie is a kind of Zombie in “Plants vs Zombies” game. They sneak out at unexpected times and are always a problem to the plants. Likewise these idiots always do unexpected things in the streets. They take unexpected turns and unexpected stops at unexpected time without watching the mirror like a Zombie.  At times they forgot that there vehicle got a third wheel and drives it like it were a two wheeler. Yes of course it is the Auto Rickshaw men. Gone are the Super Star’s “Batsha” movie days when auto men are considered men with social responsibilities. Today they don’t even dare to respect the rules framed by our government. In total they are simply in human, unreliable and useless even in emergency situations and are always a problem in the streets. They rank #1 in my idiots list.

Deaf Riders

These idiots are very dangerous hence we need to drive utmost careful when they are found nearby. They live in their own world unaware of the surroundings. Horn sound is something which they don’t hear. These idiots are none other than the people who use mobile phones and ear phones while driving. They think they are smart enough to drive and talk or listen to music at the same time. But instead they are not only just putting their lives at risk but also the lives of other fellow drivers in the streets.

Walker pokers

They virtually own the streets and use it as if they are inside their house. They show no respect to the vehicles travelling in the streets. Horn sound is something they don’t want to hear. Their characteristics resembles Buffalo and they are more prone in road in residential areas rather than Highways and main roads. The people who walk in the middle of the roads, Parents of kids who allows them to play in the middle of the road and those people who covers the entire road with their house construction sand in order to get them dried, all comes under this category.

Reckless rashers

They are the most dangerous of all idiots. They consider road as their playground and a place to showcase there extraordinary driving stunts. These idiots never bother about the lives of others travelling in the streets. They are the riders who does rash driving, who drives fast in the opposite direction on a one way road and those who perform stunts in a busy road.  They are the reason for most accidents in roads these days. We have no other option other than to stay away from these reckless idiots.

Disease distributors

These idiots are like a disease and needs to be culminated from our social environment as soon as possible. Like a disease they spread wrong culture to people around and makes our society a trash. They make our country a bad place to live and bring bad name to our country. These are the idiots who spit saliva and pan masala in the streets, drink alcohol and smoke in social places.  With more stringent rules, these idiots can be eliminated.

Money Diggers

I wonder if there exist a street without pot holes in a country like ours. Different departments divides the year for their digging activity and makes sure that roads stays in bad condition all 365 days. But has the Government not allocated money to lay down the road once it is digged?? I realized that they are not actually just digging the roads but in fact digging the people’s tax money. I wish to see a pot hole free roads in INDIA someday.

White Collared Beggars

I feel ashamed and sorry to include them in my list of idiots but I am left with no option. They are not the people who beg for their living at the traffic signals. They are the ones who are meant to serve people by keeping a check on other idiots. But instead they are always a nuisance to normal day to day commuters. They catch innocent commuters and beg in groups at the end of the month by threatening them with irrelevant accusation. I hope I need not mention their name. Someday I hope to see INDIA without these beggars.

This is just a basic list of idiots I felt worth mentioning here. Also please not that the objective of this writing is not to accuse an entire group of people but only to pin point those in the group who were a mess to the society. Apart from these idiots, there are numerous other hidden idiots in the streets who were a nuisance to people and commuters in everyday life. Hence it is our responsibility to stay away from these idiots as much as possible and live a safer life.

Think !!! Decide !!! Think Different !!!

Why do it the same way ???

Is this it???

Finally here I am, back with a blog post after more than a year interval. This is something which I am interrogating myself for a long time, but yet to find an answer. All through our life we are running chasing something, and at some point of time if we take a moment to stop and look back, we see that we stand where we started. Weird??? Yes it is.

      Life always seem to remain balanced. In the recent years there has been lots of technological advancement. Humans have evolved much over the years. Today there are people who live in well-furnished sky scrapers. Technology has advanced so much that today humans were able to create a living organism with synthetic DNA. But has the quality of life improved?? Are the people living today more happy than the people who lived some hundreds of years ago??  I don’t think so … We don’t get one without sacrificing another and you believe or not, there exist a balance always, some visible but some hidden to us.

        This applies to everything and everyone and I am not an exception. My very first mobile was Nokia 1600. It’s a very popular Nokia mobile, very sturdy and handy. Today I have a LG touch screen android mobile p500. Also my pay package has been increased from my initial pay. The big question is, has my quality of life improved?? . If you take a closer look, you can see that there exists a balance in everything. Nokia 1600 has its own advantages compared to LGp500 like lesser cost, better battery life, ease of use which were the primary necessity for any mobile phone. Not to forget the 3G data usage cost incurred for using Internet, Facebook and Emails in your touchscreen mobiles.  Coming to work life, it’s not just the pay which increases, but also the responsibilities and in turn the stress which increases as you go higher.

        Another typical example is the choice of bike to purchase. Higher the cost, better is the comfort and speed. But will it give the same mileage of a low cost 100cc bike? Just because you bought a costly bike, is it going to stay with you for life long? Not to forget that everything will degrade over a period of time.

         When I was studying 9^th standard, my teacher said, “Students you just have to study hard for 2 years. It was these 2 years which decides what you are going to be”. I studied well and got into first group. Again in 11^th standard, the teacher said, “It’s you college which determines your job opportunities. So study hard to get into good college”. So I studied hard and got into a reputed institute. And this doesn’t end there. Again I had to study well get placed in a reputed company thinking that will be the end of all sufferings. But the fact is work life turns out to be the beginning of a new mile to run.

Even today we keep chasing for better and better. But will it end someday?? I don’t know. Why are we running?? I don’t know. There were lot more unanswered questions in my mind. All that I know was, it all depends on how one defines Happiness.  Happiness is not what you can feel or reach. It is something which you have to realize and perceive…. We just have one life to live. So when you run, just remember the “balance” and you will automatically perceive the happiness…

          Life is not a ‘race’ to complete and complete at first place. Whereas life is a ‘journey’ to be cherished and enjoyed every moment. In this journey, not everyone happens to get a ‘window’ seat. But it’s the individual’s perception that makes the journey interesting.

Life is beautiful.  Just Live it!!!  Love it!!!

Think!!! Decide!!! Think Different!!!