Patience

Just realised that the older you get the limits of your tolerance and patience goes down dramatically!

Saying thank you!

I just realised that people  are more inclined to tell the world (read : facebook) that I would like to thank x,y,z.. this is plastered as status messages across the fb account followed up with multiple 'likes' . Being a privy to this fad, it just struck me if I want to thank someone, the only person who needs to know is the other guy .Why tell the whole world?. Is it massaging of ones ego or self glorification ?

Nathuram Godse - On Why i Killed Gandhi

I picked this writing up from a facebook site.
Reading this gave me quite a few goosebumps...Pasting his confession below.
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Born in a devotional Brahmin family, I instinctively came to revere Hindu religion, Hindu history and Hindu culture. I had, therefore, been intensely proud of Hinduism as a whole. As I grew up, I developed a tendency to free thinking unfettered by any superstitious allegiance to any isms, political or religious. That is why I worked actively for the eradication of untouchability and the caste system based on birth alone.
I openly joined anti-caste movements and maintained that all Hindus were of equal status as to rights, social and religious and should be considered high or low on merit alone and not through the accident of birth in a particular caste or profession. I used publicly to take part in organized anti-caste dinners in which thousands of Hindus, Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, Chamars and Bhangis participated. We broke the caste rules and dined in the company of each other. I have read the speeches and writings of Dadabhai Nairoji, Vivekanand, Gokhale, Tilak, along with the books of ancient and modern history of India and some prominent countries like England, France, America and’ Russia. Moreover, I studied the tenets of Socialism and Marxism. But above all I studied very closely whatever Veer Savarkar and Gandhiji had written and spoken, as to my mind these two ideologies have contributed more to the moulding of the thought and action of the Indian people during the last thirty years or so, than any other single factor has done.

All this reading and thinking led me to believe it was my first duty to serve Hindudom and Hindus both as a patriot and as a world citizen. To secure the freedom and to safeguard the just interests of some thirty crores (300 million) of Hindus would automatically constitute the freedom and the well-being of all India, one fifth of human race. This conviction led me naturally to devote myself to the Hindu Sanghtanist ideology and programme, which alone, I came to believe, could win and preserve the national independence of Hindustan, my Motherland, and enable her to render true service to humanity as well.

Since the year 1920, that is, after the demise of Lokamanya Tilak, Gandhiji’s influence in the Congress first increased and then became supreme. His activities for public awakening were phenomenal in their intensity and were reinforced by the slogan of truth and non-violence, which he paraded ostentatiously before the country. No sensible or enlightened person could object to those slogans. In fact, there is nothing new or original in them. They are implicit in every constitutional public movement. But it is nothing but a mere dream if you imagine that the bulk of mankind is, or can ever become, capable of scrupulous adherence to these lofty principles in its normal life from day to day.

In fact, honour, duty and love of one’s own kith and kin and country might often compel us to disregard non-violence and to use force. I could never conceive that an armed resistance to an aggression is unjust. I would consider it a religious and moral duty to resist and, if possible, to overpower such an enemy by use of force. [In the Ramayana] Rama killed Ravana in a tumultuous fight and relieved Sita. [In the Mahabharata], Krishna killed Kansa to end his wickedness; and Arjuna had to fight and slay quite a number of his friends and relations including the revered Bhishma because the latter was on the side of the aggressor. It is my firm belief that in dubbing Rama, Krishna and Arjuna as guilty of violence, the Mahatma betrayed a total ignorance of the springs of human action.

In more recent history, it was the heroic fight put up by Chhatrapati Shivaji that first checked and eventually destroyed the Muslim tyranny in India. It was absolutely essentially for Shivaji to overpower and kill an aggressive Afzal Khan, failing which he would have lost his own life. In condemning history’s towering warriors like Shivaji, Rana Pratap and Guru Gobind Singh as misguided patriots, Gandhiji has merely exposed his self-conceit. He was, paradoxical, as it may appear, a violent pacifist who brought untold calamities on the country in the name of truth and non-violence, while Rana Pratap, Shivaji and the Guru will remain enshrined in the hearts of their countrymen forever for the freedom they brought to them.

The accumulating provocation of thirty-two years, culminating in his last pro-Muslim fast, at last goaded me to the conclusion that the existence of Gandhi should be brought to an end immediately. Gandhi had done very well in South Africa to uphold the rights and well-being of the Indian community there. But when he finally returned to India he developed a subjective mentality under which he alone was to be the final judge of what was right or wrong. If the country wanted his leadership, it had to accept his infallibility; if it did not, he would stand aloof from the Congress and carry on his own way. Against such an attitude there can be no halfway house. Either Congress had to surrender its will to his and had to be content with playing second fiddle to all his eccentricity, whimsicality, metaphysics and primitive vision, or it had to carry on without him. He alone was the Judge of everyone and everything; he was the master brain guiding the civil disobedience movement; no other could know the technique of that movement. He alone knew when to begin and when to withdraw it.
The movement might succeed or fail, it might bring untold disaster and political reverses but that could make no difference to the Mahatma’s infallibility. ‘A Satyagrahi can never fail’ was his formula for declaring his own infallibility and nobody except himself knew what a Satyagrahi is.

Thus, the Mahatma became the judge and jury in his own cause. These childish insanities and obstinacies, coupled with a most severe austerity of life, ceaseless work and lofty character made Gandhi formidable and irresistible. Many people thought that his politics were irrational but they had either to withdraw from the Congress or place their intelligence at his feet to do with, as he liked. In a position of such absolute irresponsibility, Gandhi was guilty of blunder after blunder, failure after failure, disaster after disaster.

Gandhi’s pro-Muslim policy is blatantly in his perverse attitude on the question of the national language of India. It is quite obvious that Hindi has the most prior claim to be accepted as the premier language. In the beginning of his career in India, Gandhi gave a great impetus to Hindi but as he found that the Muslims did not like it, he became a champion of what is called Hindustani. Everybody in India knows that there is no language called Hindustani; it has no grammar; it has no vocabulary. It is a mere dialect; it is spoken, but not written. It is a bastard tongue and crossbreed between Hindi and Urdu, and not even the Mahatma’s sophistry could make it popular. But in his desire to please the Muslims he insisted that Hindustani alone should be the national language of India. His blind followers, of course, supported him and the so-called hybrid language began to be used. The charm and purity of the Hindi language was to be prostituted to please the Muslims. All his experiments were at the expense of the Hindus.

From August 1946, onwards the private armies of the Muslim League began a massacre of the Hindus. The then Viceroy, Lord Wavell, though distressed at what was happening, would not use his powers under the Government of India Act of 1935 to prevent the rape, murder and arson. The Hindu blood began to flow from Bengal to Karachi with some retaliation by the Hindus. The Interim Government formed in September was sabotaged by its Muslim League member’s right from its inception, but the more they became disloyal and treasonable to the government of which they were a part, the greater was Gandhi’s infatuation for them. Lord Wavell had to resign as he could not bring about a settlement and he was succeeded by Lord Mountbatten. King Log was followed by King Stork.

The Congress, which had boasted of its nationalism and socialism, secretly accepted Pakistan literally at the point of the bayonet and abjectly surrendered to Jinnah. India was vivisected and one-third of the Indian Territory became foreign land to us from August 15, 1947. Lord Mountbatten came to be described in Congress circles as the greatest Viceroy and Governor-General this country ever had. The official date for handing over power was fixed for June 30, 1948, but Mountbatten with his ruthless surgery gave us a gift of vivisected India ten months in advance. This is what Gandhi had achieved after thirty years of undisputed dictatorship and this is what Congress party calls ‘freedom’ and ‘peaceful transfer of power’. The Hindu-Muslim unity bubble was finally burst and a theocratic state was established with the consent of Nehru and his crowd and they have called ‘freedom won by them with sacrifice’ – whose sacrifice? When top leaders of Congress, with the consent of Gandhi, divided and tore the country – which we consider a deity of worship – my mind was filled with direful anger.


One of the conditions imposed by Gandhi for his breaking of the fast unto death related to the mosques in Delhi occupied by the Hindu refugees. But when Hindus in Pakistan were subjected to violent attacks he did not so much as utter a single word to protest and censure the Pakistan Government or the Muslims concerned. Gandhi was shrewd enough to know that while undertaking a fast unto death, had he imposed for its break some condition on the Muslims in Pakistan, there would have been found hardly any Muslims who could have shown some grief if the fast had ended in his death. It was for this reason that he purposely avoided imposing any condition on the Muslims. He was fully aware of from the experience that Jinnah was not at all perturbed or influenced by his fast and the Muslim League hardly attached any value to the inner voice of Gandhi.

Gandhi is being referred to as the Father of the Nation. But if that is so, he had failed his paternal duty inasmuch as he has acted very treacherously to the nation by his consenting to the partitioning of it. I stoutly maintain that Gandhi has failed in his duty. He has proved to be the Father of Pakistan. His inner-voice, his spiritual power and his doctrine of non-violence of which so much is made of, all crumbled before Jinnah’s iron will and proved to be powerless.

Briefly speaking, I thought to myself and foresaw I shall be totally ruined, and the only thing I could expect from the people would be nothing but hatred and that I shall have lost all my honour, even more valuable than my life, if I were to kill Gandhiji. But at the same time I felt that the Indian politics in the absence of Gandhiji would surely be proved practical, able to retaliate, and would be powerful with armed forces. No doubt, my own future would be totally ruined, but the nation would be saved from the inroads of Pakistan. People may even call me and dub me as devoid of any sense or foolish, but the nation would be free to follow the course founded on the reason which I consider to be necessary for sound nation-building. After having fully considered the question, I took the final decision in the matter, but I did not speak about it to anyone whatsoever. I took courage in both my hands and I did fire the shots at Gandhiji on 30 January 1948, on the prayer-grounds of Birla House.
I do say that my shots were fired at the person whose policy and action had brought rack, ruin, and destruction to millions of Hindus. There was no legal machinery by which such an offender could be brought to book and for this reason, I fired those fatal shots.
I bear no ill will towards anyone individually but I do say that I had no respect for the present government owing to their policy, which was unfairly favourable towards the Muslims. But at the same time I could clearly see that the policy was entirely due to the presence of Gandhi. I have to say with great regret that Prime Minister Nehru quite forgets that his preachings and deeds are at times at variances with each other when he talks about India as a secular state in season and out of season, because it is significant to note that Nehru has played a leading role in the establishment of the theocratic state of Pakistan, and his job was made easier by Gandhi’s persistent policy of appeasement towards the Muslims.
I now stand before the court to accept the full share of my responsibility for what I have done and the judge would, of course, pass against me such orders of sentence as may be considered proper. But I would like to add that I do not desire any mercy to be shown to me, nor do I wish that anyone else should beg for mercy on my behalf. My confidence about the moral side of my action has not been shaken even by the criticism leveled against it on all sides. I have no doubt that honest writers of history will weigh my act and find the true value there

UPA is in! - 15th lok Sabha elections

Now that was a pleasant surprise to see congress party getting a huge majority...
atleast now there wont any more coalition politics.....
the markets reaction was instantenous, with BSE's trading to be halted as it hit the upper circuit of 15% within minutes of opening the market...

SO What did the UPA did right and Where did the NDA go wrong?

1. Leader ship -Manmohan singh! - UPA clearly showed that they had a PM candicate!..
honestly i dont think LK advani is even 1/10th of manmohan singh;s stature.....
about the 3rd front?? they turned out to be a joke!

2.Economic crisisThe urban(semi urban) india felt if there was one party which can pull them out of the current economic crisis.. it had to be Manmohan... Where else can u find a PM who understands the economic position BANG ON!!
Note: there was not a single point in BJP's manifesto on how they are goign to counter the economic crisis....what a bummer!

3. Rural Projects and Writing off Rural Debts
This was actually one of the key issues which won them the elections in 2004.
Admit it or not India's rural sector just cannot be ignored...Accroding to me they are the kingmakers.....The national Rural employement program and the minimum employement guarntee program seems to have worked wonders...and they did keep their promise for sure...This year though they are dangling a 60,000cr rural debts were waiver..... (am a little skeptic about this one though...)There are some interesting statistics about this though....
Banks like NABARD and rural co-operative banks have complained that recovery have been a big issue.... now what will happen if banks have high NPA coz of this ? :P
Allocation in 08-09 budget for agricututal loans is 2,80,000 crs!!!

4."The(y) Left"
The party which stoods for equality for workers interms of growth, salary, ammenities,working conditions, etc...... but the whole campaign took a beating this time....
1.The Nuclear fiasco.... everyone(atleast urban india) clearly remembers how Left balantly accused the PM of selling India and Pulled out Govt....
2.TATA pulling out of WestBengal. (i felt this was the deal breaker)People knew that if TATA had stayed on... it would have transformed lifes of so many people.... afterall why should a farmer's son be a farmer? This Hit was felt in Kerala too!!
from 60 seats in 04 to a mere 22 in 2009....unless left invents itself, i feel they will vanish into the obivion.....

5.The Fourth Front Fiasco
Totally caste based politics and..basically paraded as power mongers...
i mean which party would say "we would like to keep our options open"!!?? So much for parties vision and manifestos..
and ultimately got a slap from the people, could be more proud :D
Shudder to think what would be india's image if mayawati became the PM!!!

6.The Terror attacks & its fallout
i guess ppl basically didnt care.... in mumbai the turnout was only 44% despite these... i guess elsewhere congress was able to show it is capable of handling such events in future...


and the Equation Congress+ allies = 206+56 = A stable govt for the next 5 years.....
This many feel is the best chance for UPA to form govt till the next decade, if they make these 5 years count......

49-0 that i missed....

after all the hullaboo about voting.....
there seems to a silent din....
all am hearing is the exit polls... which predict a hung parliament (as usual) NDA or UPA is very clear.... but its the "alliance" who are creating all the ruckus... and one party went to an extent saying.. "we are keeping our options open"
so much for election manifestos and how the party is going to usher india into the 22nd century....
after all...election in the worlds largest democracy is not about ideals, not about values, no convictions, no idealogies... it all boils down to 2 things... Power & money..... what a bummer...

so much for voting for change... :P one criminal repalces another....
i missed out... being stuck in bangalore (work obviously) n bosses sneer if you say u want a day off for voting....

really wanted to excercise my "49-0"....

but then silver nitrate not on my finger.... n doesnt feel that bad...

Life hits a new low.....

yeah.... bummer it is....

am probably going through the worst time of my life...

how abt athis....
i work in india's top IT company(cant relveal the name folks...HR's getting touchy these days...), my existing role has ended, and i dont have another role yet, i am due for a vacation, but my bosses aint giving me one... i want LOP for 3 months which the HR says that if my boss approves i can take it, but my boss lies and says no!
he wants me continue my role or... QUIT!!! looks like the lamest excuse ever to lay me off...
n how confusing is that? welcome to my world.... jus crap!
to top it off i have to relocated to bangalore, a city of which i am tired off.

am due for a role change, i have been intimating my bosses since november, those assholes havent done a shit about it.... and i am forced to continue in my existing role!!!

and to make things worse there is character called B, who is an absolute asshole... he jus got a promotion abt 4 months back, so i am forced to work under him.... peers one day, boss the other... but he is always an asshole....

just shudder to think how its gonna be in the next 4-6 mpnyths....

whats even crappier is that am not able to find a job in chennai....

kullu manaleee

After a loooong time took a break n ganged up with my friends to go to kullu...
was a great time and we had lotsa fun ...
posting some snaps of em...
visited the rothangpass, managed to do some skiing, did rafting...
was a totall blast of a time... :)
the trip was most remembered for sreyas hindi+tamil mix lingos.... n the extreme delight we had during rafting...

one of the sad things was the the govt there does so little to promote it...
its a brilliant place, a vast untapped region of eco-reserve and tourist spot...

more snaps could be seen in http://picasaweb.google.com/karthikpr/KulluManali

adios...

lighter side of .... Being Finance guys....

there is a saying 'work is a part of life not life onto itself' -anynomous.

and being in a quarter end...i decided to look at the lighter things that this throws out...

In any finance guy the following are the dreaded terms..

Laptop - more like a girl friend For some its an extension of themselves... feels odd if you aint around with u r laptop....
Note comes with a cavet - "always keep working!"

SAP(or any ERP) - the holy bible.... also turns itself into as a Satan from time to time.

ExcelSheet - The messiah! of above.

Month ends - 7 days of absolute crazyness... symptoms range from dreaming about excel in your dreams to replying "i am 8.9% down month on month"when someone asks you a simple "how are you?"

Quarter ends - The father of month ends... where within a span of 5 days you get an insight as to what hell actually is...

Year end (Q4 )- may the lord have mercy!

MIS - which falls right after month/year ends where everyone snaps at you for no apparent reason...

Quarter end audits - where u haggle constantly with the auditor and keeping swearing him with the choicest language (mentally ofcourse) and yet give him the details with a smile..


Process improvements - where You make a beautiful note which no one follows...

weekly reviews - where u have to show each week that you have worked and not merely coming to office for attendance and there must be some path breaking thing that you should have done.

weekly Meetings - where u are expected to come up with some brilliant idea and the boss takes the credit for it.

Budgets! - where there always will be over-runs.... despite spending hours on it.

"OM & Revenue walks" - to explain the gap between a faulty bugeting and a faulty operation!

Reconciliation - Be all and end all of every accounts guy.

Revenue Recognition - where you try hard to reverse what the sales team had achieved.
"Note - Auditors use this as a vital weapon"

Accounting Standards - we have studied it... we know it... but if you ask abt it, i have to refer my book.....

and finally ....

Boss - who believes that everything should happen at the click of his fingers and holds you squarely responsible if something goes wrong....

Auditors - the people on whom you vent your frustrations on!