Saturday, August 21, 2010

Get your Geography right.

Ask any Indian where the US of A, is and he will happily point out on the map and also very confidently tell you the name of its President in correct English  ," Obama" Not  Osama.

 Ask him where is Tamil Nadu, Kerala ,Bangalore and watch his/her face blank out.  Were they  not paying any attention during  geography class in school?, one wonders.
" One and the same thing" is what they say. Well it is not so, please go get an atlas or google it.

Guys, Kerala is a  South Indian state. It is ONE of the South Indian states and not THE only South Indian state. All Keralites speak Malayalam .They do not speak Tamil, which is a whole new language with its own grammar not do they speak Kannada  or Konkani or Tulu. These languages do exist but in different states of South India. OK? Just because I speak Malayalam does not mean I also understand all of the different languages although I may know Kannada or  Konkani.

 " It all sounds the same to me" says one of my friends.  Well to me it doesn't. In fact what it does show  is the lack of information and knowledge  of the person making the statement.

 Another thing I absolutely cannot take is one's ignorance of the National Anthem. Its not just ignorance but complete lack of  Respect which is reflected in our surroundings. We need Independence Days not just to remind us of the Martyrs who lost their lives,We need Independence Days so we can be free from our own ignorance.

Friday, August 20, 2010

India is not the land of Corruption

Its funny, but of late I am coming to the conclusion that  India is not the land of the corrupt as has been stated in the various magazines etc.. Its absolutely nonsense!!! I am making a very important point and I invite people to feel free to disagree with me. Because I am speaking from experience.You know, in my normal routine day to day travel to work and off it, I find people breaking the law and getting away with it, but heck, if I even think of it, , lightning and thunder accompany my very thought and I find I cannot even fudge a single document, give a guy wrong change, a torn note, lie.. nope just doesn't work. ... I GET CHECKED!!!.
And that's funny, cos,  This is India,right ?  the land of corruption and it should be okay right ? WRONG!!!

I think we were so unhappy when the British left, we decided to settle for Corruption !. I mean we just couldn't live without all that abuse ( If you go by what  the history books say) we just had to get something else to replace them. But now I am not so sure ; Either the Times of India and Mumbai Mirror is full of bull crap about the corruption because I have absolutely not been able to hoodwink anyone till now, embezzle funds etc, hide and get a new passport ...

Yet, everyday, I am faced with this invisible corruption monster who laughs at me because I am just soooo not smart. Beggars on the roads, begging bindaas right in front of a cop vehicle at Santacruz Station. Not one but ten. OK, ten persons smarter than me.

 Hawkers selling  clips earrings, brushes toothpaste,wallets what have you in a First class ladies bogey without a pass. They even let the guy enter inside and asked him to have a seat. I was the only one complaining.  You guessed right. I wasn't asked if I wanted a seat.

Slums coming up left, right ,centre some right under police chowky noses but hey,  if  I stand outside a shop they ask me to move on.Maybe they think I will open a Vada pav stall  while I just stand there?

The residential building we live in has a tailoring shop and a dentist working out of their homes for commercial purposes and guess what, after beginning talks for redevelopment with the Builder , they backed out at the last minute,citing some irrelevant details, and in the meantime legalized their practices ,for a fee ,of course. How they got the society consent is a mystery and whose signatures have been forged, Heaven knows; But hey everything is legal. Corruption? Nah! Just perfectly  inconvenient to a bunch of the rest of the members who now have to run around and fix things in the perfectly legal way.

How the terrorists got fake passports is a mystery to me. I went for a reissue and they scrutinized each and every word. I was standing in line from 8.00 am in the morning outside the Passport Office and was there till 12.30 am by which time I was asked to get the correct documents.
 I go .."Sorry? I have the documents". "Maybe you didn't check properly"
Clerk : "Sahi paper leke ao".

Haan!Haan Bhai Haan!

 I am glad somethings are the way they should be. Jai Hind!!!