Girish's Blog

The UPA government announced an austerity drive in September this year, with all overseas travel on hold, five star bookings a strict no-no and local travel only by economy class. One should realize that the politician is in a class of his own – no morals, no ethics just pure thick skin – hence it wasn’t long before it was noticed that travel used to happen economy class with a compulsory upgrade to business class, five star bookings continuing but in proxy names and so on. There is always a slip between the cup and the lip - for our home grown politicians hypocrisy is a way of life – how many people do you know who can lie with a straight face and also think that they do so for the greater public good! Very few I am sure, unless of course you are fortunate enough to have politicians amongst your social circle! Not content to make a mockery of the so called austerity drive, the UPA government has surpassed itself by passing the air travel bill for Ministers. This bill was probably one ...

The countdown to the SCMM is under way with just 24 days to go. The biggest and most loved sporting event in Mumbai’s sporting calendar is just round the corner with an expected participation of more than 30000 people from all over the world. I am sure all the amateur participants for the half and full marathon have been training very hard these past four months or so. The idea of participating in this grand event is two fold – to find out one’s own endurance level and to see how much one can help the under-privileged by raising money for their welfare. There will be a lot of celebrity participants adding glamour to the event along with pageants and fun-loving peopke in the Dream Run category adding color and joy to the event. This year the half marathon and the full marathon will start at the same time – 6.45 am on January 17, 2010. The full marathon will commence from CST and terminate at CST and will go over the newly constructed sea link from Worli to Bandra and back. The half mara...

It is a well known fact – though spoken in hushed tones – that illegal construction in Mumbai goes on with the complete blessings of the political class and the underworld financiers. The need to post this blog has arisen with the Honorable Bombay High Court ordering the demolition of 17 illegal floors of a twenty four storey structure built at Kandivali. This building had the BMC approval for only seven floors but went on to construct seventeen additional floors. This raises a lot of questions which need to be answered and which I feel the Honorable High Court should also take into account for passing strictures against those responsible for whatever has transpired. I am sure that the BMC, the ward officer, the executive engineer at the ward were fully aware that illegal construction activity was going on – why was it not stopped at the stage when the 8th floor was being constructed? Why did the concerned officials wait till seventeen more floors were built – I am sure they were not b...

This post will probably highlight the state of our roads, the apathy of the BMC, the quality of drivers to whom driving licenses are given, all of which leads to traffic congestion and in many cases road rage. This morning the traffic was particularly bad on the way to office, and the car had not moved from 9.05am to 9.20am on the road approaching the traffic signal on the Andheri Kurla Road near Hotel Kohinoor International, so I decided to walk the half a kilometer or so to office. As I weaved my way through the cars and motorbikes zigzagging between cars and the pedestrians, I realized the reason for the massive traffic jam. There was a huge depression on the Andheri-Kurla road at the traffic junction with water seeping out of some damaged underground pipeline. The Versova-Ghatkopar metro is being constructed on this stretch which may have contributed to the damage. The BMC “constructs” roads to perpetuate their right to make money through contractors for road repairs, hence shoddy ...

Friends -this is one article which I wish to share. We have the developed countries trying to arm twist the rest of the world for economic benefits without any scientific backing. Makes interesting reading...enjoy... Climate change campaigners: 100 reasons why climate change is natural and not man-made - UK Express, Tuesday December 15,2009 HERE are the 100 reasons, released in a dossier issued by the European Foundation, why climate change is natural and not man-made: 1) There is “no real scientific proof” that the current warming is caused by the rise of greenhouse gases from man’s activity. 2) Man-made carbon dioxide emissions throughout human history constitute less than 0.00022 percent of the total naturally emitted from the mantle of the earth during geological history. 3) Warmer periods of the Earth’s history came around 800 years before rises in CO2 levels. 4) After World War II, there was a huge surge in recorded CO2 emissions but global temperatures fell for four decades afte...

From my college days I had a curiosity and a bent of mind towards the spiritual. I did not have even a foggy idea of the meaning of spirituality, but I used to go and attend Swami Chinmayanand’s discourses on the Bhagwad Geeta, and because of my uncle being a Secretray to the Tribal Ministry, we got to travel with him and meet a lot of Saints. I had the fortune of being blessed by Gagangiri Maharaj at his Khopoli Ashram, had met whom we knew only as Navsari ke Baba who was a devotee of the Sun God and Swami Pranavanand at Chaalisgaon in Maharashtra. I guess I was blessed to meet these holy souls. I have always had a very powerful inner voice which I ignored in my youth and which always ended in my being a loser for not listening to the inner voice. Whatever trials and tribulations I have faced in life, I think were just preparation for me to be introduced to Samarpan Meditation as taught by Parampujya Swamiji. A friend of mine and an ex-colleague, Mr. Ramnath Kamath came to my office a...

This is one story which needs to be read and the message therein absorbed. I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I did – it has been modified slightly to read better. Once a King called upon all of his wise men and asked them, "Is there a mantra or suggestion which works in every situation, in every circumstance, in every place and in every time. Something which can help me when none of you is available to advise me. Tell me is there any such mantra?" All the wise men got puzzled by the King’s question. One answer for all the questions? Something that works everywhere, in every situation? In every joy, every sorrow, every defeat and every victory? These were some of the questions which cropped up into the minds of the King’s advisors. They thought and thought. After a lengthy discussion, an old man suggested something which appealed to all of them. They went to the King and gave him something written on paper. But the condition was that King was not to see it out of curiosity. ...

It has been a long time since my last post – the reason for not writing was there was nothing positive to write home about! Whatever I have written in the past has been a critique on current events of the day. It was just a criticism of the system and what needs to be done to try and set things right. The trouble with life today is that the news on offer in the visual as well as the print media is news that sells, not necessarily news that is good, in fact, it can be safely said that good news does not sell. Today news is run as a business model – wherein TRP’s and eyeballs dictate the ad revenue for the media house. Who the hell would be interested in reading good news – people today are interested in news which titillates, excites, disgusts and which leads to gossip – good news does not set the blood racing you see. So what one reads and absorbs is all kinds of negative news which in turn adversely affects the thought processes of the person reading/watching the news. The programs on...

I distinctly remember the case of two Mira Road residents accusing their father of rape – on reading the article then I had a feeling of revulsion as to how a father could do what he was accused of doing. This case I had discussed with friends and the general feeling was one of abhorrence at the act. The mother was also made a party to the case and was a co-accused for abetting the crime. At that time the two girls were just 15 and 12 years old. The father, Manoj Patel, spent more than a year in jail! The girls were apparently tired of their father putting restrictions on going out in the evening with friends and the final straw came on 31st December 2007, when their father told them they could not go out for a New Year bash. That is when they decided to “teach their father a lesson”. The sad part is the case was converted from molestation to rape at the instigation of a local NGO who convinced the girls to file rape charges against their own father. It has now been proven in court tha...

I have been reading with concern the extended print media coverage on swine flu. I am sure the visual media will be milking this for all it is worth asking inane and heartless questions to victims families such as how do you feel, was the treatment right, etc. Instead of being responsible and presenting a balanced and rational view on H1N1 – we have all kinds of negative publicity doing the rounds. Politicians have now stepped in and are using the SMS service to give their two bits on how to avoid getting the flu! Questions asked by the visual media just help in fanning already insecure minds into rushing for H1N1 testing to already over crowded and inadequately manned testing centers. Our population is such that only large numbers will be generated – more people die on the roads than of swine flu. Out of a populace of nearly 1.25 billion people just a thousand odd have got the flu – and a few have unfortunately died – this does not mean the whole nation goes into a panic and states li...

The expose carried out by the MNS showing how easily a bogus ration card can be obtained nails the lie of proponents who insist that the ration card is a valid document for proving residence and identity. It is a known fact that politicians and builders connive with the rationing officer and the collector’s office for issuing of bogus ration cards. Every election sees a spurt in the issue of fake ration cards for obtaining voter identity cards. Builders connive to get bogus people into the list of people entitled for flats under the SRA scheme by using fake ration cards. Since 2001 the RBI and the central consumer affairs ministry have discouraged the use of ration cards as documents to prove residence or identity due to its easy procurement by paying a price. The Chief Justice of the High Court in Mumbai, Mr. Swatanter Kumar was shown a ration card issued in his name with a Shivaji Park address by the MNS representative! This was genuinely issued by the rationing officer for a price, ...

The flu Pandemic officially named “new H1N1" was first identified in India in April 2009. In simple terms it is called “Swine Flu”. It is a global outbreak of new strain of influenza virus. It covers many areas of India and many people suffered from swine flu. The areas which are mostly affected by swine flu include New Delhi, Pune and Hyderabad. The swine flu showed its virulent effect and a small innocent 14 years old girl died because of swine flu. A Pune girl Rida Shaikh died on Monday August 3, 2009 because of swine flu. She was the first victim who died because of swine flu in India as a result of multiple organ failure. Rida first consulted a local doctor when she reported symptoms of swine flu on July 21, 2009. After two days she recovered and again joined the school on July 23, 2009. But again on July 25, 2009 she felt fever and was admitted to a private hospital – namely Jehangir Hospital - on July 27, 2009. After admitting when her condition worsened she was shifted to...

There is a raging controversy going on with regards to subjecting our cricketers to dope tests. Doping is the bane of all competitive sports and the world sports bodies have agreed to accept the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) compliance requirements. The question is whether cricket is a competitive sport or it is a game played by a few select nations. It is a pretence at competition because large amounts of money involved because of the clout of the BCCI and the cricket fanatics in India. The money drives the so called spirit of competition – ask any cricketer who stands at third man or long leg all day long with the ball coming to him maybe once or twice in an entire innings whether he was physically stressed! If the cricketing community thinks theirs is a competitive sport then there should be no objections to be tested for drug abuse. The only reason these guys may be objecting is because they may be taking life style drugs for stress relief – who knows! There are enough cases of...

I have been asked by quite a few friends as to why I have stopped writing – apparently they are missing their daily fix from reading the blog – this is quite encouraging, hence I have decided to write again, but try and give a positive spin to whatever I write. This is because whatever I wrote ended up in criticism of the system with my thoughts for improvement thrown in. The first thought which came to my mind was to write about the current two controversial shows on TV – “Sach ka Saamna” and “Rakhee ka Swayamwar”. I have not watched either of these shows, but I have my views on them, for better or for worse. At the outset let me say that the program “Sach Ka Saamna” attracts people who derive vicarious pleasure in seeing strangers squirm in the hot seat. My view is that this copy of the American show “The Moment of Truth” is nothing but a crude attempt at buying participants with titillating or sensationalistic question-answer sessions by awarding prize money to the participants. I a...

For the last five years or so we had Airtel cell towers installed on our building terrace. Our backyard is Ruparel College’s botanical garden, which is verdant green with mango, jam, jambul, jackfruit, coconut and various assorted fruit bearing and flower bearing trees. Before the installation of the cell towers one would wake up in the early mornings to the musical cacophony of sounds emitting from sparrows, mynas, pigeons, kites, bulbuls, aureoles etc. After about a year, I used to wonder where all the small birds disappeared to as the early morning sounds had stopped and all you heard was the raucous cry of the crow! It is now almost six months since we dismantled the cell towers and guess what? – the small variety of birds are back with all their noise. Just goes to show that cell phone tower’s emitting electro-magnetic radiation does affect the smaller variety of birds. Studies in Spain and Belgium have established the ill effects of electromagnetic radiation emitted by cell phone...

My May 19 post had talked about Mumbai’s roads crumbling and flooding at different points in the city due to the shoddy and lethargic work being carried out by the BMC through its gravy train contractors. Well, yesterday was the first day of continuous rains, from light to heavy and guess what we had to go through the agony of bad and terribly congested roads due to water logging and potholes. Potholes have already started developing on the western express highway from Bandra onwards, the paver blocks have sunk and in places have come out leaving gaping holes which when underwater could cause serious damage to two wheelers and their riders. The tragedy of all this is we know it is going to happen, but we have BMC officials mouthing age old platitudes while twiddling their thumbs. We have a Municipal Commissioner who is more keen on trying to control the media rather than controlling and putting in line a system which rewards performance rather than corruption – I mean the Rs. 1000 cror...

Two incidents in the recent past have re-confirmed my belief that most Indian Parliamentarians are Muscle showing Politicians (MP’s) rather than Members of Parliament who should be behaving with dignity given the august history of the Indian Parliament since independence. The first involved Justice Regupathi, who had stunned everyone on Monday by announcing in the open court that a Union minister had called him and tried to influence him to grant anticipatory bail to father-son duo, C Krishnamurthy and S Kiruba Shridhar, both of whom were booked by the CBI for allegedly using the services of a Pondicherry University official and a middle man to inflate the marks of the latter. The second involves M Jagannath representing Nagarkurnool constituency of Andhra Pradesh in the Lok Sabha, who was caught on camera slapping the manager of rural bank in Uppunu-tala in the limits of his constituency. Both the incidents show gross disregard for norms of decency - forget the norms of democracy. It ...

On 28th June, the Indian women’s hockey team became the first winners of the Women’s Champions Challenge II Cup when they beat Belgium 6-3 in the finals. With the kind of coverage given to the win, you know how high the national game played by women is in the Indian sports psyche. I did not read about it in the newspapers – I came to know about the fact in a negative display on one of the “entertainment news” channels – namely IndiaTV. The news was being portrayed in their typical loud style – stating that nobody was there to receive the winning Indian hockey team at the airport on their return! Such a tragedy, you have someone bring laurels to the nation and the visual and print media is going gaga over what Dhoni said after India LOST to West Indies in the second cricket one day international! The women’s hockey team has won in spite of the shoddy treatment throughout – which began even before leaving Indian shores for Kazan in Russia. The Indian women's hockey team was unable to...

Can you imagine a green house gas guzzler proposing to tax “carbon-rich” Indian goods – just proves that recession has not only hit the US economy but also the brains of the US House of Representatives! The US ranks 10th in the per capita carbon dioxide emission stakes with 22.2 metric tons per person per year whereas India ranks low down at 133 with just 1.2 metric tons per person per year. By putting in provisions to tax goods from countries that do not impose curbs on green house gas emissions, the intent of the US legislation is to target India and China whose economies do not seem to have been so badly hit by the recession. India is saying that there can be no linkage between trade and environment and that the US move smacks of protectionism which is true – as the US is trying to extract a dollar from developing countries for having over the years degraded the environment willfully. It is the classic US strategy to first take advantage and then cry foul once they realize that suc...

I have been consciously avoiding this topic as it has been milked dry by both the visual and written media due to the perpetrator being an upcoming movie star. With the DNA forensic results out in the open, it will be very difficult to get bail as the results have conclusively proved that Shiney Ahuja’s stars and a lot else are not shining any more. Kudos to his wife for standing up for him unflinchingly, showing faith in her “Man” – but a lot of introspection would probably be required on her part to realize for herself why her “Man” has done what he did. The bail petition which has been put up by Shiney’s lawyer talks of four grounds on which he should be granted bail – a) he has no criminal antecedents, b) hails from a good family, c) his career is at stake and he has two upcoming film shoots next month, d) consensual act cannot be termed rape. After the DNA test reports are out, there is no reason why he should be granted bail as the law should be equally applicable to all (I know ...

It is that time of the year when children are deciding and fretting over which college to join, which course to take up, which profession should they opt for and such career deciding choices. We have probably the worlds’ largest educated population which is the envy of the world as the population is young and considered to be productive, thus supposedly giving an edge to the country. One needs to go slightly deeper into the system to find out the quality of education which is being dumped on the masses. It is a fact that the country has undergone a change from agrarian economy to a State supported manufacturing economy to the current services economy – and we have reached that stage in a very short span of 62 years post independence. Our leaders have tinkered around with education without understanding the concept of good, productive education – rules are made and overturned time and again ad infinitum ad nauseum without having any regard to the effect of those decisions on the vast ma...