Take 2

I am not an inveterate blogger, and this blog (my only active blog) has had a rebirth of sorts this year with the IIPM vs Bloggers controversy, which kind of egged me on to write something on my blog.

The last word on the above controversy is yet to be said, but it has raised enough muck to get attention at all kinds of national media. Hope something does indeed come out of it, and we have more responsible advertising in the country and deviants are punished.

My personal life has seen a lot of change over the last 2 years or so, ever since I passed out of Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow with an MBA. I have worked with IBM (for a year) and ICICI Bank (thankfully, just six months here) and am now going to join Cognizant. I almost was made to join another company, Lenovo, but I managed to miss it by getting out of IBM just 2 days before the transition happened. I felt strongly about being with my parents then, and hence shifted to Hyderabad at the first opportunity. I am wiser now (I hope) and am getting into something that I believe will be good for me in the long term.

I hope I do have the time and enthusiasm to keep writing whenever I feel strongly about an issue on this blog. This is not so much to entertain, but to develop perspective on a lot of things that I think I should think about.

Hyderabad vs Bangalore

Now being a Hyderabadi is not something that comes naturally to me. The city has been home to me only for the last 5 years or so, and I have been mostly out of the city even during this time. A news article in ToI Hyderabad today does however raise my Hyderabadi instincts, in which it lists 13 reasons (Page 2 of the Main Paper) why IT firms should make a beeline to Hyderabad rather than Bangalore.

Taking cue from the recent controversy regarding Mr. Narayan Murthy's resignation from BIAL, the Andhra Pradesh Government has already begun parleys with Infosys to set up another campus in Hyderabad.

Hyderabad has much better roads than Bangalore & far lesser traffic, and to me this is reason enough for companies to move (especially larger ones like Infosys, which has thousands of people working out of a single campus). It's people are just as accomodative, language is a lesser barrier and in that sense Hyderabad is more multi-religious, multi-lingual & tolerant than Bangalore. Weather is almost as good, and far better than in Chennai.

Though with far fewer pubs, discs, restaurants, malls & theatres, Hyderabad is far less interesting, atleast for now. We will just have to wait and see, for now, if Mr. Murthy is mad enough with a particular Bangalorean to pack his bags and come back home.

A damp squib after all..

Warney & MacGill ensure that RoW is wiped out in just over 50 overs and it is a whitewash.. sad for the concept of Super Series...

Johnnie Walker series starts walking.. err.. rocking !

The 'Super Series' is finally alive now. Flintoff, Murali & Harmison have set it on fire ! Look out for live action on Set Max !!!

The Sensitivities involved..

The 'sensitivities' mentioned by the Pakistani Government, and 'respected' by Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, it turns out, were in the possible expose of terrorist camps if the Indian army was allowed to help in relief measures in PoK. Atleast this what the Indian Army has claimed.

Now every Indian and some other independent sources would vouch that Pakistani Kashmir is a still a breeding ground for exporting terror over into its Indian side. This is something that the current dispensation in Pakistan has never outrightly denied, instead taking refuge in its limitations in controlling terror camps and the pressures put on them by hardliners.

The fallout of the whole episode is that hundreds, maybe thousands of lives of innocent people in Pakistan-administered Kashmir that could have been saved are now lost. And it seems Pakistan couldn't care less. They have always had a reputation for snubbing Indian migrant muslim population as Mohajirs and never giving them quite the same treatment as the original resident population of Sindh & Baluchistan. It appears innocent human lives in Kashmir are far more expendable than mechanisms to spread cross-border terror.

When Nature takes revenge..

For more than 5 and a half decades, India and Pakistan have fought over and shared the land of Kashmir, which now lies in utter ruin on both sides. The Earthquake that shook most of Pakistan & Northern India, has taken more than a 100,000 lives and counting. That is more people killed than in 0ver 16 years of terror in Kashmir.

The quake also sends out a message to the people of Kashmir and that of India & Pakistan that life is too precious to be lost for decades together on a conflict that is unlikely to end any sooner. Things may have improved quite dramatically after what happened in Kargil, and people may now be visiting each other by travelling on a bus that goes once a month, but isn't life too short, unpredictable & precious to be taken & lost over an issue that has remained unresolved for over 57 years ?

Even now, the Jehadis have not lost time in playing politics on both sides, claiming that they have done more for the people than the respective governments. Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir have refused to take help from India in rescue & relief operations, contending that there are 'sensitivities' involved. What crap !!

Help from neighbouring India would have been faster, decisive & just as capable than from any of the far-flung, developed countries. India has had experience of handling disasters like the Tsunami & the Gujarat earthquake not too long ago, and disaster management & recovery skills are far more developed in India than in Pakistan.

This disaster could have been used to build bridges faster than any peace measure ever can by making the border / Line of Control porous for a short period on both sides. Relief would have poured in from all over India with pro-Pakistan sentiments better than ever. A moderate, centrist Government at the centre in India would have also helped matters. It is a sad statement on our relations that Pakistan has declared itself to be a visa-free state for a week for the entire world but India.

Whatever has happened, I hope people in both Kashmirs get speedy relief and international aid pours in, especially into Pakistan.

Gaurav Sabnis, my friend

I have had this blog for a long time, but I have never had the inclination or time to post anything. Maybe I was too lazy, or maybe things were too boring or normal around me and the people I know. Not anymore.

Things have been happening real fast these days. First it was Nimish, a year senior to me at IIM Lucknow, who was badly beaten up by RPF constables at the Bangalore Railway Station. Action has apparently been initiated after the initial hesitation and bureaucracy, but things seem to have moved fast enough in his support.

A few days later, it was Gaurav Sabnis, a batchmate (and yes Rajk, i too have spoken to him a couple of times ;) ) who is harrassed by a particular B-school which sends him e-notices and threatens his employers.

Now we all know how that B-school is, but its really crazy for them to have stooped to the levels of harrassing somebody on the basis of his personal views on his blogs. Probably his views would have been mostly ignored or maybe at best laughed at by a few regular readers had they not taken this up. With media interest sure to rise, it can only get more damaging for that particular B-school.

Now having worked with Gaurav at IBM and also having personally & professionally known the particular Senior Executive from Lenovo (formerly IBM PC Division) who spoke with Gaurav, I can assure you people that it is extremely likely that he was NOT asked to leave. The particular Senior Executive is a man of high integrity and is too professional to have suggested to Gaurav that he leave, especially since IBM & Lenovo are two separate companies now.

Pressure, however, could have been put on Gaurav to remove his posts, but since Gaurav has chosen to stand by his posts, it is for all of us to support him in whatever way possible. One major actionable would be to ideally help Gaurav into a job outside India, and with employers who would know the case and be supportive. This would prevent daily harrassment that is quite probable in India.

Go on Gaurav, we are proud of you and we are with you !