Day 358 - That Time of The Year!

Yes, it is that time of the year, when everything slows down and everyone seems to be in the holiday mood, even those who are not taking a holiday!

It is also the time of the year when you might see a series of 'Annual Day' events being celebrated all around you.  I attended two such events over the last weekend; well actually Friday and Saturday. 

Friday was my organisation's annual day event.  It was a nice little package comprising of speeches, a song and dance show and a lot of food and drinks.  The whole program was timed just right, the speeches and the song and dance show being long enough (or short enough) to hold the audience's attention, before the booze desk took over!  The high point of the evening for me was the spirited performances by some of my colleagues.  Liana and her band belted out some terrific numbers.  This was followed by Ruchi, David and Meghana impressing one and all by their dance performances on the stage.  The low point was, a moron with zero road skills brushing my car and leaving a deep and long dent on the side of my car, while I was driving to the venue of the event  Anyway, once the show was over, the focus shifted to the dance floor and the DJ, and of course the booze!  I have not quite figured this out, but something very strange happens to absolutely sane individuals when they see free liquor!  A mad rush for the drink, till it reached a point where the bar had to be closed.  All in the space of an hour flat!  People danced to the DJ's beats to their heart's content.  The food, of course, was just incidental; or so it seemed to me. 

The 'Sheila Ki Jawani' number

Before I could recover from Friday night's exertions, it was time to attend another such event.  This time it was Suryanksh's school's Annual Day bash.  Indeed, compared to the previous one, this was a prim and proper event!  Interestingly, the theme was 'Rock N Roll'.  Suryanksh performed in one of the pieces, where he was one of the Beatles.  Hmmm...not sure which one.  He was on the guitar so probably Paul McCartney!  He did very well.  The joy on his face while performing on the stage was amazing.  He had this big smile while doing his routine with the guitar along with his other 'Beatles-mates'.  It was equally matched by Priya's tears while watching him perform on the stage.  Not sure why she has to cry everytime one of the boys performs on stage!  Anyway, it was a wonderful event with kids from JrKG till the 9th Standard performing on stage.  Of course, no booze and no food involved.  Instead we decided to treat Suryanksh for his brilliant show with a pizza after the event.

Suryanksh, in his Beatles avatar just before the show.

Last but not the least, was out again on Sunday night, attending my colleague, Cheryl's wedding.  Witnessed a Christian wedding after a long time.  It was good fun with all the rituals of cake cutting, confetti, the toast and the dances. 

In fact, I have attended a series of weddings over the last 2-3 weekends.  I guess it is indeed that time of the year!

It is also that time of the year when one tends to take stock of what has been accomplished throughout the year gone by and starts thinking about what is in store for the next year.  More about that in the next post, which might just be from Ahmedabad.  I look forward to being in Ahmedabad next week.

Take care!

Day 347 - Wanted - Plumbers!

Its leaking! And its leaking everywhere!

Overseas, in the country, in the city and even in my house, I got an errant flush rectified before I moved in!  Mumbai experienced rains at strange times of the year this time.  Maybe a result of a leaking tap somewhere up there, if not due to the detrimental effects of global warming as discussed in my last post.

Nationwide, leakage of a completely different type has been in the news off late.  The Niira Radia Tapes leak has kept everyone in the country interested; and some even amused.  The tapes reveal Ms. Radia spinning her corporate / political lobbyist web over all top dogs of Indian politics, business and even the fourth estate.  Conversations with Barkha Dutt and Vir Sanghvi are especially very explicit and expose the connivance of the media in the unholy nexus of business, politics, babudom and crime.  As a young boy, I used to admire Prannoy Roy from the time of his 'The World This Week' days, as a pioneer in news coverage.  Further on, his election news coverage was also path breaking.  Naturally, I carried forward the same respect to his media house, NDTV, for all these years.  Barkha Dutt and her 'error of judgement' has eroded that respect.  Not only for NDTV, but for all of Indian media.  Interestingly I saw Peepli (Live) today, in which Aamir Khan Productions has given a lot of credits to NDTV, strangely, in a film which mocks the media and its greed for the 'next big thing'.  It will take me a long time to regain confidence in the media and its independence.  As of now, I just can't get the image of them as the power broker and agent out of my mind.  There is no question of whether what Barkha Dutt / Vir Sanghvi have done is right or wrong.  It IS wrong.

In other parts of the world, another big time leakage is making big news.  Wikileaks and Julian Assange have taken the world, especially the cyberworld by storm.  The release of classified information, exposing the big boys of all kinds of wrong-doing, has actually triggered a cyber war.  The United States of America has been at the receiving end of most of the classified cables which have been released by Wikileaks.  Interestingly, it transformed itself into a 'Ku Klux Klan' type of propaganda machinery, with Ms. Clinton and Ms. Palin coming out strongly and denouncing Assange and Wikileaks.  US based servers have off-loaded the website; payment mechanisms to the website have been stopped and the hence now the website itself is off the web. Assange himself has been arrested in UK on flimsy charges of rape (actually having consensual sex without condoms!). A group of Assange admiring hackers have taken on the might of US and started retaliating by hacking into many sites which supported US action.

 The question that I beg to ask is: What is right and what is wrong in this whole series of events?  Is Assange the villain or the hero?  Is he the symbol of the right to freedom of speech or a crook who has accumulated classified information to be used against countries?  I am in no doubt that the original thieves of these classified information would have been Americans themselves and are on the wrong side of the law.  Is Wikileaks also on the wrong side of law by buying the information (from the capitalist thieves of a capitalist country) putting it in front of the world?  Maybe yes, but a whole lot of people out there obviously do not feel the same way and consider Assange to be a crusader.  In the same vein, is Niira Radia wrong in what she has been doing?  Maybe not, she is just doing her job for which she is paid.  The true criminals are the people who entertain her. 

I have to however say, that after hearing the transcripts of the Radia tapes, Ratan Tata definitely comes across as someone who is not comfortable with this lobbying business.  There is nothing in the tapes to suggest that he was party to anything unethical.  He can only be accused of one thing, which is, hiring Niira Radia in the first place. 

Thank heavens for that!  My goodwill for the House of TATAs remains intact, Rajeev Chandrasekhar notwithstanding.  But then that is another chapter of the same story.

Take care!

Day 345 - Global Warming is 'Cool' - Why?

I have not posted to the blog for more than a week now.  The reason being, everyone at home, including me, has not been keeping very well.  All four of us have been suffering from various degrees of cold and flu.  All this due to the sudden climate change in Mumbai.  There is a bit more chill in the air in the mornings and the evenings.  To be frank, this is the coldest climate in Mumbai that I have ever experienced.  I hear that a couple of years ago Mumbaikars had to bring out the woollens, which was unthinkable a few years ago.  The weather patterns are certainly changing.  Blame it on global warming!

On a lighter side, how ironic though, that global 'warming' is causing cold conditions everywhere.  London is another example.  London experienced heavy snowfall last week, disrupting vehicular traffic as well as the train services.  A lot of regions in the US have had unusually cold weather in the recent past. 

Snow in London - 2010

The theory is that due to the increased emission of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane & nitrous oxide into the atmosphere, the ozone layer around the planet is being depleted.  This in turn is increasing the harmful radiations of the sun on the planet, consequently, increasing the overall temperatures of the planet's climate.  This causes the polar caps to melt faster and hence the sea levels rise.  Small changes in the temperatures of the deep ocean currents can cause enormous effects on the weather patterns.  Earth has its natural cycle of boom and bust, spread over hundreds of years.  It is believed that the Earth, in its present form, emerged from 'The Little Ice Age' about 150 years ago.  But the effects of global warming seem to be causing this natural cycle to play itself out in quicker and unnatural cycles.  All of this still does not tell me why does global warming cause the planet to ultimately get colder!?! 

However, something which is very clear, is that the population of this planet has to reduce the emission of the greenhouse gases if it has to secure the planet and its goodies for its future generations.  While the governments of this world keep arguing about who should do how much under the banner of things like the Kyoto protocol, we as human beings on this planet can do our own little bit to reduce these emissions.  Switch off the lamp if you do not need it.  Switch off the ignition during long waits at traffic junctions. Use recyclable material.  Use solar power wherever possible. Plant trees!  Just small bits which will go a long way in preserving this planet for a few more generations.

The kids are recovering now.  So am I and wifey. 

Take care.  Of yourself and this planet.