A Doer's Chronicles

The Dearth of a HOME

Friday, April 09, 2010 Posted by Vishnu No comments

Every living being including birds and mammals need a shelter to make their 'living' existing. Even the cuckoo which does not build a nest lays its eggs in the nests of other birds and the snake seizes the ant hills for its dwelling. All these natural occurrences signify the universal fact that you are the KING of your own home when you actually have a home for yourself. Imagine yourself living as a tenant and I bet you would definitely feel the difference when you are living in your owned property.

Doesn't it give the confidence that it is YOURS? Could your family or relatives come and support you personally when you are living far away across the seas?

Somehow I feel that most of the losses that the Deccan Chargers have faced this season could be accounted for the above mentioned reason. The Dearth of a HOME!

I was watching the game between RCB and DC which was held in Bangalore the other day. Every single ball, I heard the cheers 'RCB', 'RCB'! Even the batsman on the pitch couldn't hear what the non-striker was saying. Somehow, I felt that having a home ground would have helped the Chargers to win a couple of matches. It is not just the field conditions that contribute to the team victory but the fan factor is the main thing that boosts the morale of a player on the field. Well, the case is completely different if Sachin is batting, he would get applauds from every corner of the world ;)

All this started with the Telangana Agitation; it is high time that the government takes some decision on this. I congratulate all the activists in this significant accomplishment. 1st you drive all the corporate investors out, next is the turn for tourists. Doing all this, we might still be able to secure a separate state and ensure that the younger generation do not face the current problems but choosing violent options, we are also responsible for halting the progress of the state each day.

I then came across this wonderful campaign by the Hyderabadis, I loved the way they portrayed their love for the game; imagine someone calling off a Bandh for snatching IPL from Hyderabad! There was this article which supported my view :).

Those who are under the impression that T-state agitation is not the reason for IPL snub. On alighter note, I found this amusing video :P

Irrational Male Homophobia

Thursday, March 18, 2010 Posted by Vishnu U.S.A 3 comments

"Do not put your arm over another man's shoulder!", the first word of caution that I got on the day that I stepped on this LAND OF OPPORTUNITIES! Ever since, I kept observing people (both desis and videsis) and their perspectives on this. Just as everyone else, I adapted myself to all the surprising unwritten rules of the society. Initially, I was laughing at the different ways people try to limit themselves to a particular group of entities (living beings / interests / whatever..).

Baba Ranchod das Chanchad said ... "Be an American while in America". I tried being the same by keeping some of my friends at a distance while talking or not allowing them to walk closer to me. I remember insisting Keral, my friend, not to lay his arms on my shoulder when he was new to this deviant regulations. At first, I missed India, I was so used to hang around with my friends and somehow I had this strange feeling of warmth when someone puts his arm on my shoulder (It used to give me a sense of feeling that person actually cares for me).

One day, in the downtown of Lawrence, Kansas ... I found two guys belonging to a particular sect, roaming around hand in hand. Just like anyone else ... I was staring at them and that is when I realized that I was not being ME. I discerned that it is high time I roll back all the impositions on me and I cursed myself for practicing Americanism (which I'm not!). I realized that I was imposing the baseless myths upon myself. I sensed that I was scaring away the real ME who used to love the gesture of roaming around with friends (Guys). All the myths seemed absolutely meaningless to me.

Have a girl in you group when there are more than three guys hanging out

Do not wear pink , light blue and all the other color restrictions (These colors are better than hanging naked, ain't it?)

Refer guys as Buddies if they are your friends and Girls as Friends

Wow .... this list doesn't seem to end

And then I decided to protest this attitude by sporting all the colors that suit me, irrespective of the color (pink, blue or rainbow colors). I actualized my decision when one day a person at my workplace commented about my pant. She was trying to tell me that black jeans are meant for GAYS and she was wondering why was I wearing Black colored Jeans (She knows that I have a girlfriend). I had to accost her remark saying that "All that you need to wear a jeans is a pair of legs and I have them". It does not make sense to me to live by the rules framed by someone whom I don't know, in certain aspects.

Tit-Bits

Tuesday, February 16, 2010 Posted by Vishnu India 3 comments

Banging my head on the desk right now, to thwart the Jet Lag off my mind. This struggle has been going on for the past couple of hours. My very sympathetic boss guessed this in the morning and said "I am sure you would be having jet lag and I will not expect any productive work from you today". With such zero relentlessness, it becomes even more difficult for me to shed it off and I am trying blogging to do that part for me.

I just came back from India after a short trip of 3 weeks. Life in those 3 weeks was like a Digital Equalizer for me (sometimes refreshing and sometimes gloomy). A few snippets on the situations in India and Hyderabad in specific (Might serve as a musing corner for those who haven't been home since long).

First things first, every morning I wake up with a pre-decided food menu on my mind for the rest of the day. I draft the same to my mom and she fed me like a li'll kid. I should say I lived life king-size in this aspect. Most of my friends being in the U.S, I had spent most of the time with family unlike the last time.

Hyderabad has changed so much,

More and more number of flyovers
Increased traffic -> Increased pollution
Drastic increase in the number of apartment complexes
About 100% price rise on almost everything
Roadside Beggars have stopped taking 1 Rupee coins
Every Kirana store is now an authorized dealer for prepaid calling cards and everyone including rag pickers have cell phones and sometimes high-end ones.
Most of the playgrounds vanished and gully cricket is still alive.
A couple of big malls in the city, very big ones.
Night life is awesome now, even at 2.00 AM the roads are busy and hotels are crowded.
If the politicians are bored, they call for a 'bandh' which has become quite casual of late.

Overall, one might face a culture shock if they are visiting Hyderabad after a log time.

Recession's Repercussions

Thursday, December 17, 2009 Posted by Vishnu 4 comments

Years from now, one evening on a weekday, a child would return from school, throws his bag away on the sofa, and gets ready to join his friends in a game of cricket. His mother, who just sees all his moves, warns her laadla: "Padle beta nahin tho Recession ka shikhaar ban jaaayega". Her caveat would not have been baseless, she would have been a victim herself to the 'Recession 09'.

Not being an absolute believer of the Media, I was not very concerned when I read the news: It's Official: U.S in a Recession. I considered the genuineness of the news to be 30% and apportioned 70% to the media hype. Whenever I read the news saying: XYZ company about to costs by terminating jobs of 500, 1000, 2000 employees, I always wondered, how come I don't come across a single person who has lost his job recently. That gave me another reason to criticize Media, which I bet most of the people would do.

Days passed by as more unemployement hit the news. Every day I read the news, atleats one major company used to creep up the headlines. All throughout this phase I never encountered anyone who lost their job. One fine day, in July I believe, when the Networking giant Sprint / Nextel laid thousands of employees and that is when I encountered people hit by recession. There were recent graduates, experienced professionals, international immigrants with families .. everyone. They had to try umpteen ways to surf through the recession wave.

While some had to lose their jobs, several had to wait and are still waiting to find one. I know people who have graduated in May 2008 and are still on the hunt. One of my friend had to go back to India as she was finding it tough to handle herself without a job here. She was a Graduate from Clemson and believe me she is so good at coding but she never found one that could suit her profile. A very close friend of mine was laid off even after his H-1 was sponsored and approved by his employer. And the one that awed me the most was, one of my friends was supposed to get wedded this November and the marriage was stalled because the groom had lost his job in the U.S and he could not travel to India because of Immigration problems.

I know there would have been many others who are experiencing the heat, as a matter of fact, I am myself one of them. My dad always keeps asking me: "Hows the situation there? Has it been any better?" and I believe most of you would have been facing the same question from your dear ones. Do not lose hope brothers, the monster does not beam over us for too long and hope everyone would fall out of the wrath very soon.

The Inglorious Countrymen

Tuesday, December 08, 2009 Posted by Vishnu India, Politics, U.S.A 10 comments

A furore over a deep rooted issue; ringing back to 1946, when the Nizams rule was just fading. The last Nizam ruler never wanted Hyderabad to be merged into Indian Union as he wanted the princely state of Hyderabad to be governed by the Nizams. Pressurizing the annexation of the Hyderabad state into Indian territory, the Indian Central government sent an army to finish this task and finally on 17 September 1948, the state was declared as integral territory of the Indian Union. The basic motto behind this instigation is SELFISHNESS of the Nizam ruler. After the 1st elections in 1952, Burgula Ramakrishna Rao was elected as the Chief Minister of the Hyderabad State. Being aware that he was not to lead the new State, he exhibited great foresight, spirit of sacrifice and statesmanship in agreeing to merge Telangana with Andhra State to give birth to Andhra Pradesh.

The disputes over this region were never buried and they were stirred once in a decade by some or the other SELFISH politicians. Remember this, no one else raised this issue other than the leaders in the opposition party. Once they are into the ruling side, they forget all the promises and priorities on their agenda. The Seperate Telangana State Movement in 1969 was reasonable as there was agitation behind the movement that the people of Telangana were deprived of their rights and that they were exploited of their resources. Despite electoral successes, some of the new party leaders who then supported the Separate state for Telangana, gave up their agitation in September 1971 and, much to the disgust of many separatists, rejoined the safer political haven of the Congress ranks. You can find the SELFISHNESS of the politicians here again.

After 1969, the movement was again provoked by BJP and they could not keep up their pre-election promises, again due to SELFISHNESS. Start of the 21st century saw a new start to this movement with the establishment of a new party called TRS with the single point agenda of creating a separate Telangana state, with Hyderabad as its capital lead by Kalvakuntla Chandrasekhar Rao popularly known as KCR. Since last week, the tension has mounted in the city of Hyderabad with the ruthless acts of Mr. KCR. It was a good decision that he went on a hunger strike and decided to take the Gandhian way. Inspite of breaking his fast, unnoticed, he still claims to be on hunger strike and disguises the role of an able leader, which he is not.

The student bodies at Osmania University, Hyderabad went on a strike and called for a bandh which I bet , would have been causing immense trouble for all the employees, students, tourists and many others including the 'Telanganites'. It is a well known fact that the strike and bandh were stirred by the political bodies, the student leaders are well gripped by these youth associations who would have been promised a party ticket and a MLA seat post their electoral win. Now, it is these SELFISH student leaders and youth associations which are benefited from all these riots and processions. I wonder how people get engrossed in all these stuff which hinder the economical, industrial and financial progress and stumble the state of balance in a state.

You might want to quiz yourself with the following questions if you feel that there is a need for a separate state for Telangana:

Were you ever deprived of quality education because of migrants from other parts of the state?
Have you ever been a victim of racism shown by other people?
Did you ever lose a job because another person from a different region was preferred on regional basis?
Who cultivates the cereals and pulses that you eat daily?
Where does all the steel come from?
If there is justice in your demand for a separate Telangana, then there is justice in Kashmir being claimed by Pakistani's as well. Do you welcome this?
Do you have able leaders who can govern the state without SELFISHNESS?

You are living in a modern world where mutual co-existence is critical and a nation can flourish only when there is unity among its subjects. I was born in Eluru but right from the 2nd month I was brought up in Hyderabad, I have lived in Rezimental Bazaar in Sceunderabad which is a 'Basti' where 'Bonalu' cleberations are usually at their best and also in 'Malkajgiri' which is no less a core-Telangana region. I was never deprived of any rights as an individual. I believe that it all depends on the social awareness and your maturity levels.

I was surprised to see that there was a procession here in the US as well, in support to the 'Jai Telangana' movement . You feel that there is a need for a separate Telangana state, good! And I believe the basic reason you want that is because you feel that 'Telanganites' are treated as under-privileged and their resources are being exploited, Right!? Remember that you are an Indian Immigrant in US and how do you feel if they do not provide the opportunities that you are enjoying currently?

Finally, for all the hardcore fans and supporters of Mr. KCR, here is a small snippet.

While widening my view over this issue, I found a few links which I thought, you'd be interested in looking at:

I do not intend to hurt anyone's feelings. I just spoke my heart out. Its not that I'm against the separation of Telangana. I just wanted to make an effort to make people realize that there are many cons associated with it. I just don't want people from other states or countries to 'laugh' at us.

JAI HIND.