The Wonder Years

I am on the run again. Back in Queen's land. I remember it was 1st of April 2008, when i landed here for the first time and stood on the 'Waterloo Bridge' across the Thames. It was quite windy, had almost been run over by a high-speed bike, was sleep deprived and was damn hungry but i could not help admire the beauty of the scene. That was just the beginning of my travel haunts.

The more i traveled, more i realised how similar people are all over. Human emotions, needs, motivations are universal. Their manifestation is different in terms of language, dressing sense, greetings and also body language. So if you pick these up quickly, you can adapt to any culture, team and region quickly. You need not even speak the same language. What you require is the will to communicate, rest follows.

The 'will to comunicate' is so important because many (or most) people i see have switched themselves off. They are so enamored by their own self that they fail to notice people around them living just paces away. It has become a routine existence to drift through and just survive.

That is why people go so much importance to 'feeling alive' in special moments. It is strange how ALL the other moments have just flown by 'without feeling alive' . The question then is do we realise that it is 1 life, 1 chance to do what ever you ever dreamt of. Then it doesn't matter how much money you have, how big your achievements are or how beautiful people think you are. If you don't feel alive enough at this moment, then probably it is time to stop, take stock of things, maybe look around and say Hi to the person next to you if nothing else.

I thought the writing bit was done. It wasn't that i ran out of inspirations but the impulse was absent. Trust a few authors to rekindle that. Those that make you think, introspect, ponder and force you to pick up the pen! Arthur Conan Doyle, Tolkien, Victor Hugo, Tolstoy and the most recent Joseph Conrad.

I have been at home now for almost 2 months feeling so comfortable and laid back as if i have never left this room for many years. It is that nagging lazy feeling that you get when you feel the absence of the zing in your life...It is quite surprising considering the past one year!! So i sat down and listed all the places that i have been over last one year and especially since working for TAS...

India

1. Lucknow : Aaah campus, my heart & soul
2. Mumbai: Lifeline, connect to all that i am and will be
   
3. Pune: Notable for TAS induction and the resplendent TMTC
4. Bangalore: It is difficult not to fall in love with the weather, cloudy, windy, its a crime to be single in this city! Plus i had damn good company here
5. Chennai: Let me put it this way, doing retail market research in this town is not a good idea
6. Kolkata: Just two words, Laid-Back, City of gardens and yeah beautiful people!
7. Delhi: Awesome parks, best roads in India but could use some Mumbai junta to spruce up things!
8. Babrala: A haven in the most notorious district in India
9. Jamshedpur: A glimpse into what Tatas really are, the Tata Steel City and i absolutely love the Tata Stadium, i have probably run over a 100 kms in this place!!
10. Mithapur: The most beautiful coastline i have ever seen!! Plus we had some very company and made some friends for life which was totally unexpected....
11. Junagarh: I will explain Juna in gujarati is old and garh is Fort!
12. Mt Girnaar: 10,000 steps. A humbling effort to climb them
13. Gir Forest & National Park: The abode of the lions but sadly we saw none in our safari
14. Rajkot: The city of morning jalebi ghatiyas and terrible heat in the afternoon. Rode half the city on a bike with some of the worst street driving possible
15. Dwarka: The city of Lord Krishna, awesome temple!
16. Amboli: The place with the heaviest rainfall in Konkan and also a city among clouds during rains...
17. Madgao, Goa: My all time favorite destination. Retirement plans are definitely ON for this place

Abroad

1. London (UK): Definitely one of the most vibrant cities in the world
2. Edinburgh (Scotland): Simply breathtaking
3. Sterling (Scotland): William Wallace!!!!
4. Port Talbot (Wales, UK): Land of meadows, hills and of course Corus
5. Scunthorpe (Lincolnshire, UK): Industrial 'Garden' City, some good forests around
6. Amsterdam (Netherlands): Also known as Sin City! If you want to foind out what you really desire, take $ 100 in your pocket and let loose on these streets...
7. Haarlem (Netherlands): It is a quiet town for quiet people
8. IJmuiden(Netherlands): The source of river IJ (eye)...
   
9. Utrecht (Netherlands): The city of my sis Dharmi, jiju Kaushik and ofcourse Vidhi!
10. Zaandvoort (Netherlands): The city of the beautiful beaches
    
11. Den Hague (Netherlands): The cosmopolitan city of Netherlands
12. Frankfurt (Germany): The land of cross-over flights!!
13. Koblenz (Germany): The industrial city and of course Corus

So there it is 30 cities, 17 in India and 13 abroad is where all life has taken me over the past one year. Definitely some doze to shrug off that sneaky feeling of laziness that was just crawling over. God Bless TAS :)

India has proved it again. The Supreme court has approved 27 % additional quota for OBCs in all the premier institutions in India. The last vestiges of some intellectual fervor present in these institutions will all but vapourise. Institutes like IIMs, AIIMs, IITs are some of the last few places where an Indian could think of going by giving even the international institutes a miss. They are simply good because of the quality of students going there and the environment present. Where they lag far far behind other institutes is in infrastructure. One look at international campuses will show all the difference.

Now each one of them will have 27 % additional seats with almost the same infrastructure. One cannot imagine the overload on the already over strecthed infrastructure in these places. This is being done in the name of oppression and also in the name of humanitarian needs. It is all being done in the name of stinking bloody politics......Where you tell some one with 99 percentile to wait and admit some one else only on th basis of caste.

I am not against helping those who are oppressed. But, caste is not the way to do that. Recently while doing a project in rural gujarat, we realised that in about 42 villages of that area majority (80 %) were of general category. They had unimaginable hardships in life, no drinking water, no proper food and medical facilities. These people had 2 school rooms for over 400 kids being taught by just 2 teachers. Help them first, give them at least water to drink and yeah, give them a fast track full scholarship route to higher education. But admission is based only on the basis of merit.

What are we telling our future generations that it is provident enough to be born with a certain surname and it is alright not to be working hard...What do you tell some one from a middle class family who studies hard enough but only misses out on a life time of education ...Help some one like Kashmiri Pandits who have had a life on the run for a long time and have settlement pangs in a new world...Help out people who are landless laborers who do not figure out in any electoral lists but are in dire need of help..

No, but we shall eternally be grateful to caste politics. And people will even rush to take credit for such an action..