Heads have begun rolling following the Congress Working Committee meeting over the weekend. Shivraj Patil has quit – the first political fallout of the Mumbai terror attacks. And here in Maharashtra R.R. Patil has followed suit – following the dictates of his conscience it seems! I can’t figure out how a dumb idiot like him ever managed to make it to the post of State Home Minister. Would anyone with even an iota of sense make a comment like the one he made last week? Must have been inspired by Shahrukh Khan’s “Bade Bade Deshonmei aisi chotti chotti battein hothi rahathi hai” dialogue in some masala movie some years back. Dumb! Or maybe he is a palpable reflection of the mental faculties of our cabinet ministers. God Forbid!

Well to come back to the point, is quitting or asking the person in charge of a ministry portfolio to move out the way to right wrongs?

What struck me as funny was the fact that when a leader mentioned the words "the Navy's responsibility" defence minister A K Antony immediately offered to quit. When the wisdom of sharing intelligence with the ISI was questioned the foreign minister offered his resignation. Even the PM and the external affairs ministry offered their resignations. All these jokers must have known that the resignations are not likely to be accepted. Secondly, with just some months left for the next general election how much do they stand to lose by resigning now. If they stay in power the media would probably continue talking about their inefficiencies and thus stymie any chances they may have in winning next time round. But by moving out at this stage they can get out of the limelight and salvage the situation. The public memory as they say is after all quite short.

For the party in power it serves as an exercise to minimize the political damage. Just chop a few heads and convey the impression of stringent action being taken. And even here they didn’t have the guts to just ask the home minister to quit outright but had to actually bring it about in a very roundabout manner.

Shouldn’t these guys be forced to make up for their lapses? Shouldn’t they be held accountable? How does this quitting business help anyone? The new minister will probably spend a few months just trying to figure out operational issues before he can get acting. While the guy who should actually be bearing the brunt gets away scot free. I mean you mess up things and then at the last minute when the shit actually hits the ceiling you just move out of the room leaving others to clean up after you. Who wouldn’t mind a job like that! Be a minister for 5 years, enjoy all the perks and not deliver anything. Forget delivering, you actually screw up and get away with it.

These guys should definitely be stripped of their posts but also forced to deliver, clean up the mess. Even if it means putting them on the street. Make them accountable for every single resource under their control during their days in power. And the public should make sure these guys don’t get a single except probably their own during the next election. And if the party high command has any sense they should make sure these guys don’t even get a ticket to contest the elections next time round.

I just saw an ad promoting Royal Enfield’s new Thunderbird Twinspark. The tagline – Leave Home — took me back to the time I first left home. Ironically, I bought my own Tbird within a few months of this transition. This reminded me of an entry I had made in RE’s networking section called ParkingSpace. Since it’s not going to get any eyeballs there I decided to ferret it out of the RE archives and post it here as a first step towards becoming an active blogger again. Hopefully!

After almost four years of planning and dreaming and reaching levels of absolute madness and frustration I finally became the proud owner of my TBird on Dec 31, 2004.

I had been obsessed with the Bullet since my college days. But then I saw the American classic Easy Rider and realized I actually wanted a thumper cum Cruiser that could handle the highways and off-road locations of India. The Western world had its Harley’s and Triumphs and BSAs. But the combination I was looking for was still a dream in India. Sometime around 2000 I heard about REs plans to launch a cruiser. So I decided to be patient and wait.

The months rolled by but there was no action on this front. Many a times my patience almost ran out and I thought of getting hold of a second hand bullet and modifying it to my likings. Well there was a big hindrance in the form of my parents. And another even bigger one in the form of cash flow. So I convinced myself I didn't quite like the idea of riding a modified bike. And the wait continued.

Then RE introduced the TBird and I knew that very moment this was it. I wanted an Indian thumper cum cruiser. And before my eyes my dream machine was taking shape. However, convincing my folks was an impossibility. The other option was to collect the moolah myself. But going by the measly salary I drew in those days that plan was equivalent to robbing the Mint.

But in Jan 2004 I took a resolution. I will have my Thunderbird before the year ends come what may. But soon it was December and I thought here goes another resolution for a toss. I was ready to kill, shoot, pillage. My brain was doing somersaults morning thru night thru morning, day in day out. I had this huge poster of a Tbird on my soft board. The first thing I did every morning was look at it. Through the day, wallpapers and screensavers of the Bird flashed on my PC. The RE website had become my daily bread.

I finally decided to give up and convince my folks to pitch in. But that was an impossibility especially seeing that I had crashed my existing 100 cc quietly badly the previous year. And not once but twice. The second landed me in bed for more than a week.
So a guy who can't handle a 100 cc how can anyone ever expect him to stay alive and in one piece on a 350 cc! But then a miracle did happen. A company I used to work for earlier had a provident fund system and in the third week of Dec they credited my account quite unexpectedly and send me a mail. Ah 42 beautiful ks!

I immediately ran to the RE dealer from whom I had fleeced zillion test rides of all the models that used to hit his showroom. But then he didn't have one in Black. I almost compromised and took a Red one home. But then sanity prevailed. After all a miracle had already taken place. Now it's just a matter of waiting for a few more days.

I began haranguing the dealer every single day. At least 3-4 times a day. It was 31st and I had given up hope. I thought OK so what I'll begin the new year with a thump. The sudden windfall had restored my sanity to some extent.

But then around lunch time I get a call. Your Bird is here. Off I ran. With dad and bro in tow. Bro because he was as excited. Dad cos he was also excited but he was on express orders from my mom to prevent this disaster from taking place. heh heh

But Dad actually welcomed the new member into the family with a warm prayer. Now the best part. No money in my pocket to buy fuel. Ah!

This time however Dad relented and after stopping in the middle of the road umpteen times and struggling to figure out the kick system I finally brought my bride home.

The very next day we left on our honeymoon. Wandering, wandering we reached the foothills of Matheran. But now that's another story.

Last Sunday morning, at church the pastor made an observation that took me back in time to my college days. Ah the good old days!

Well, not to digress, each August, our college hosts Malhar, an intercollegiate youth fest that is supposed to be a platform for highly talented college students to display their painting or sculpting or eating or other such sundry skills. But the major chunk of the jantha come for the rock shows and music concerts and other such stuff that Malhar is commonly associated with. Malhar hosts (or at least used to host) two personality contests. The main one is the Mr. and Miss Malhar contest which grills the poor sods who participate on various aspects of their (underdeveloped) personality. The other one, which is less complicated and usually more fun (for the audience that is) is basically about quick repartees and cheek. Try as I might, I can’t remember the name of this contest. Old age catching up maybe!

Anyways, that particular year, a visually impaired candidate from Ruia College participated in this contest. I had seen him shine in some other college festivals the previous year and so had a feeling he might just beat all the other hotshot candidates to the prize, which included, I think, a date with Maria Gorretti (Who Maria? Well, we are talking ancient history here, so do your own research). For the Misses’ there was Arbazz Khan (ya I know it was supposed to be a prize. But then I guess a prize is a prize only in the mind of the giver). Well at the end of the day there were three or four male finalists on stage. The one who came up with the cheekiest response to a question posed by Maria would win the crown.

The Question, “If you were the last man on earth and I the last woman, what would you say to win my heart?” The other candidates gave the usual clichés. I can’t recollect any except that they were all quite ho-hum. So won’t attempt repeating them. Then it was the turn of the visually impaired candidate. And his answer left no scope for any of the others. A true classic that will forever resound in my mind, “Maria, the future of the whole world depends on you.”

Why are most of us obsessed with the need to prove that women are better than men or vice versa? This morning, I was reading the newspaper where the State SSC topper was quoted saying she’s happy to have proved girls are more intelligent or something to that effect. Now I don’t know why she needed to make a statement like that. What has she proved? Ok great you have topped and stuff. We are all happy for you and you also please bask in the glory.

Or maybe she was influenced by the media or she was tactically coerced into making that statement. Or maybe she never said that but some journalist decided to attribute the expected quote to her!

Doesn’t matter! What I am trying to say is that this is just an instance. There are so many polls and articles and studies, which try to prove this stupid point. The joke is that a point proved to be so by some bledy study is sooner or later proved otherwise by somebody else. A particular sex is favored depending on who conducts the study, and his or her prejudices I guess.

I mean in this day and age, why do we need to do this! What are we trying to prove? There are serious issues that need to be dealt with; there are plenty of women in rural India and even in our great Metros being abused and treated worse than cattle. Plenty of women given no opportunities to get out of the rut.

Recently, there was this case in Mumbai where a neighbor beat up the folks of two girls for allowing them to go to college.

This is what we need to fight and oppose and change. And not saying women are better cos some gal score a percentage point more than the boys or boys are better cos of whatever reason.

But I don’t see any hope, seriously! People read such shit and quote it for their cafeteria and local train conversations. And for the journo writing this crap it’s safer to take the tried and tested path rather than open up new vistas. Most of them don’t have it in them anyways, I guess.

When you are traversing other worlds, when all the worlds are within your grasp, when travellin at the speed of thought you go back into the future.
And now you a wondering whether that would make sense to anyone who hasn't touched the planes I have. Only he who makes sense is worthy.
You have to fly to see all. To know all.
And I have soared to worlds far above. I have touched the zenith of orgasmic meaninglessness. I have seen what i saw and what you see.
Why do we do it? That is the question. 
Well the question exists because we did it.
uhhh
If the act was not performed, how could it warrant the question. The past that we saw is the reason the future is.
Now all this because someone nudged me.
And it's good cos the spirit of celebration is here.
Fly High. Only remember the Ground Beneath.

The various cultures that exist within India today -- the media culture, the call center culture, the software industry culture, old economy culture, classical culture and all the rest, which will win the day. What will be the future culture -- the culture that emerges out of the amalgamation of all this?

I look around me and I feel we are growing up in cultural silos. Each unit, I feel, is so cocooned in its own ways they seem far removed from all the other units around them. Well, there is exposure to the traditional culture. Can’t escape that. I don’t think any of us can even if we try. There are vested interests at work there to ensure this remains so. But unfortunately more often than not these parties are bent on promoting a skewed notion of right and wrong.

In the present scenario, I think, there is very little communication between members of different culture. None are interested in building bridges to connect two disparate silos. The common refrain seems to be – we are leading the better lives so the rest of the world better follow us. The media could have been that factor. But then media comprises of similar lost cases. The common sentiment among members of this community seems to be there’s none on the planet more cultured or knowledgeable than us; so why should we bother with the rest of the janta.

I wish this were true. But when I used to attend press conferences and look around I used to often feel “what am I doing here?” I expected serious discussions and ideation; strategies to improve society or at least an attempt to do so; a serious editorial stance to influence the way society thinks and acts; articles and columns to push this agenda for the betterment of society.

Well the media today is influencing society—go around coffee shops, clubs or bars or any other common meeting place; eavesdrop on conversations in trains or buses and you will find the conversations revolving around the hot news promoted by newspapers and televisions -- the doings and escapades of our film stars and television stars. I think the print is slightly better. Not all of them have gone so rotten. But then the option is between selecting the better from among the worst.

Coming back to culture -- be it the music we listen to or books we read, the way we spend our leisure hours, or our ideas about various issues if you look at the various silos then you would find a common refrain within those silos. Of course exceptions are there. But over a period of time each individual within a silo gets molded to fit that particular culture. Else you can’t be a part of the scene.

So the people you work with are also generally you friends, you shopping partners, your dinner and lunch partners on weekends, your movie and clubbing partners and so on…

I think the displacement of people from their regions of origin or birth has a major role to play. It existed earlier. But it is more so today. And unlike earlier, Bombay or Delhi or couple of other prosperous cities are no longer the only destinations. Several new cities have now come up in the radar of the job seekers. So existing, even deep rooted, values and cultures are being shaken or being trampled upon. And new whimsical, superfluous ones are being created.

I have heard several theories about who would win the day – the older sections think they have been here they will continue being there while the “new fangled” ones perish. Proponents of the “new way of doing things” feel this is the only way going forward. And there are some who think both will co-exist in new ways; each changing to adjust with the other. Things are going to change. If not now then sometime down the line there is bound to be a shakeup. There might even be a clash. There’s so much of stress in the air, God alone knows what shape this will take. What is of interest to me is, however, what form will the new culture take post shakeup?

Last month, the long bike trip I have been dreaming about for eons actually materialized. Of course my original dream was to bike it all the way to probably Kanyakumari and back.

However, some guys said they were planning to go to Vizag for a camp; and to make it interesting, bike it all the way. The destination however changed along the way and Bangalore emerged as the main goal thanks to a cousin's impromptu wedding plans. I am not complaining. The guys, Benny and JOhnson, agreed to come along. Very important considering their original plan was very different and most of the others had dropped out at the nth hour.

But we had our bike trip, saw lands we never planned to see, and I attended a wedding after more than a decade and a family one for the first time (reconfirmed my feelings about the worthlessness of it all) and after 10 days on the road made it back home safe and sound.

I won't go into the details of the trip now. Will save that for later. As I keep telling friends who want me to write about these stuff I am not good at expressing my feeling in words.

But the last leg of the trip was memorable. We were planning to leave Goa early morning on the 31st, with a stopover at Ratnagiri. But one bike broke down along the way. Nothing major. Just the clutch cable snapping due to the strain on the Ghats. But how does one proceed without the clutch! Since we had to stop at the mechanics anyways I decided to get some work done on my clutch as well.

Unfortunately, no Enfield mechanics along the way. And the one we finally found didn't have the necessary tools to work on the Thunderbird. Thankfully, this guy was quite innovative. But Innovation takes time. And after a two hour delay we finally made it to Ratnagiri. Once we reached there though our plans underwent a dramatic change. I wanted to make it to Mumbai before the clock rung in the new year; and the other guys were also enthused with the idea. So with full support from my two team mates we started speeding. Close to 250Kms to cover and less than 5 hours at hand.

It was already around 7:00 PM. Dark as it can get. A dangerous two-lane highway with no dividers separating the traffic. At times the road narrows down to a lil more than single lane width. If it was daytime and if it was not the last day of the year we probably wouldn't even have attempted something so crazy.

But for the next four hours we sped nonstop over the Ghats straining both ourselves and our machines to extremes. My head is spinning even as i write this. Our initial plans of taking breaks after every 70-80Kms completely slipped our minds in the excitement.

And the more miles we covered the more eager we were to reach home at the earliest. with around 80 Kms to cover and just a lil under an hour left for midnite hour we knew we were short on time. And we definitely didn't want to start the new year with a sense of failure. My Pillion, Johnson, goaded us to speed at 80kmph or above.

Crazy. Especially since he made that comment just before we touched the Karnala Ghats where I had met with a bad accident coupla years back. And for similar reasons. Speeding at 100kmph on the tortuous curves in the middle of the dark night. But that's exactly what we did.

I guess we were doing that from the moment we left Goa. Speeding on the ghats like crazy, taking in those curves at full throttle. The only difference after 7:00PM is that visibility is next to zero. And when the taillights of one bike is gone and only the dipper works as far as the headlights are concerned you are half blind.

But what an adrenalin rush. To feel in control at that speed when combined with the possibility of things going wrong in a split second is amazing. The thrill, the heady rush cannot be described in mere words. It has to be experienced.

To tell you the truth, at high speeds control is just an illusion. You could ride straight off the road and fall off some 3-400 feet down or crash head-on into an oncoming vehicle or just smash into the hill or rock or bounce off a pothole or just go skidding outta control on a really sharp curve especially since there's so much of loose gravel and sand to aid you here, and then there are the oncoming vehicles blinding you with their bledy headlights on upper instead of dipper. The possibilities are immense. And all these thoughts constantly fight with your insanity. But then as Nietzsche once said to build character you have to live dangerously.

I don't know whether that makes any sense but I would like to think he's right:) Anyways we made it home with 20 mins to spare. Five mins to unpack and at the door at quarter to midnite. Welcoming the New Year on a different kind of high.

I visited my native land after almost nine long years. It was the first real holiday in more than six years. Now my friends might argue that I am always taking off somewhere or the other on short trips every other month. Well, yes. But those trips are generally more tiring than office work. I have never considered trekking a relaxing exercise. Well it does de-stress you but it also tires you out like crazy, and the aches and the pains after a really strenuous one can put many first timers off trekking for good.

Holiday for me is spending time sleeping, eating or just sitting and whiling away your time. It may sound boring. But my whole being craves for that kind of boredom. Just sit there and think about nothing in particular. Daydream all you want. Imagine yourself in paradise. To me this kind of boredom means that I am at peace with myself and the world.

No phone calls, no computers, no Net connection, none of the regular people you hang around with, no worries about office and other bull shit, complete absence of the paraphernalia of daily life.

Well, this holiday was all that and more. Couldn’t avoid taking my cell –phone though. It’s a bad addiction. Every time it rings u get irritated. But switch it off for a minute and u feel a part of u is gone. Ironically, the people whose call you would like to attend never seem to be able to get through while all the credit card guys and loan sharks never seem to have an issue in reaching u.

Well, the best part was the famous Kerala boat race—the only outing I went for. I was forced to by some cousins. But then I think it was worthwhile. The excitement at the venue is almost palpable. And our boat winning the race more than made up for all the hassles borne in reaching there.

Now I am so relaxed that I don’t feel like working again. People told me I would be dying to get back to work once I took a break. Wrong. I think I want to spend the rest of my life in like manner—eating, drinking, sleeping, swimming, reading, taking and repeating the same processes all over again. Other activities could be boating, biking, a lil bit of farming or gardening if you want to call it that, fishing, frying those fishes, eating those fried fishes ahhhhhhh, climbing trees, trekking, and so much more. Ah! This is life as it should be.

I was waiting outside Vashi station for a friend when i saw some unknown NGO calling out to people to come and light candles in memory of all those who died during the blasts. There were coupla guys taking turns on the loudspeaker inviting people to think about how lucky they were to be alive and so to spare two minutes to do their bit for society in return. Almost 4,000 people (or so they claimed) had already lit candles at their set up.

Now, first of all, I wonder what society had to do with us being alive and whole! WHy should I thank society for the fact that there is a man up there who watches over me? What role did society have to play in my being alive? WHat is this bledy society that they keep harping about? (No, I won't get into that now--it calls for a much bigger argument)

Secondly, how will burning wax candles help those who are dead and gone. Some candle maker surely made a lot of money--wonder if the particular NGO itself is in the business. But other than burning fuel, wasting a lot of wax and candle power and generally adding to global warming (ok the last maybe a bit far fetched but couldn't help adding) how has burning candles or wasting a lot of flowers (something else i saw at other stations) helped the deceased or the injured and their families any.

Wouldn't it have been better to utilise those resources to pay for the medical bills of a few people or in case a family had lost their bread winner to help them sustain for at least a few days.

This suckers can't leave even the dead alone. Have to use even that as an excuse for cheap publicity to promote their vested interests.

I wish i could motivate myself to blog on a daily basis. But now I have got into this habit of waiting for somebody else to put the thoughts going on in my head into actual words. And as expected I have seen this happening in the last two weeks. And they have been doing a better job of it than i would have. Just goes to show that you are not the only one in the world with such thoughts.

For instance, I was gettin fed up with all the talks about Mumbai's indomitable spirit. I don't think spirit has any major role to play in ensuring that a major chunk of the jantha were back at work the very next day.

I was roaming around town the next day and overheard one lady tell her colleague that she had already taken two days off during the heavy rains the previous week. She couldn't afford another leave cos her plans to club all these leaves and take a vacation with her family sometime in November was already in jeopardy.

Another guy said they are targeting the Western Line so we are safe. Maybe he travels by Harbour or Central. So tell me what does spirit have to do here? Nothin. All are scared probably. Many don't even care.

And if not for the all the stories in the media and the initiatives taken by a few political parties and NGOs it would have been a topic of classroom debate in less than a fortnight. And i was very glad to read similar thoughts expressed by a feature writer in the ToI -- can't remember the name now.

It's basic lack of options in life, the need to work every single day to bring bread to the table, feed the children, pay the thousand and one EMIs imposed on hi, by the dream vendors that pushes the common man to get out of bed the next day, cloak his fears and motivate himself to get into that train reach office. I think, the scene would have been the same in any city, anywhere in the world after such an incident. Look at Kashmir, they get bombed almost on a daily basis. Palestine, Colombo, and so many other examples.

Instead of feeling good about the fact that we are at work on time the next I actually feel bad that we don't have the leeway to take a break and help out with the rehabilitation process or even help somehow in bringing those idiots who did it to justice. No, we unfortunately don't seem to have much choice in these matters.

Today, some joker bombs the city and you either get killed or injured or if lucky escape unscathed. Tomorrow, the cops pick you up and bash you if you unfortunately happen to be living in the wrong part of the city or belong to the wrong social set or the wrong community. If you are lucky you get away with a few raps on your knuckle for something you haven't done, else God help you. No, we don't have much choice--we are the common man.

Btw, how did the police and the politicians establish so quickly who the people behind the blasts were. That's some super quick investigation team we have in the police department eh?