Vote Do?

It has become a ritual now. After every single blast or terrorist attack, we have:

1. Politicians commending the amazing strength and spirit of a Mumbai or a Delhi or Malegaon
   
2. News channels creating a 30 second video of the horrors with special effects and playing it over and over again
3. News channels again having these discussions with elite panels including Page 3 celebrities, ex-cops, journalists etc. etc. gluing people to their television sets while they quietly sell all the ad space at a premium
4. Candle Light Vigils, Wear a white t-shirt to show your support, prayer meetings, yada yada yada

And all is forgotten in two weeks..

Unless, there is a another blast or a fidayeen attack.. The playback show begins!

What is the point of all this? Does this take us anywhere? What are we supposed to do with this anger pent up inside us? Isn't there any constructive way we can convert this anger into actions?

I know there is a lot to understand, how did this happen? how did they enter and attack so easily? what were the coast guard doing?

But how will it matter? It will go into the hands of the same old politicians albeit one who was either a coal minister or a enivornment minister who is suddenly taking care of the Home ministry or the Defense ministry. What are the credentials required to run a ministry? I don't see any reason why Shivraj Patil was chosen Home Minister in the first place. Here is a guy,  who his own constituency did not want to re-elect after seven sucessive terms. He lost the Lok Sabha elections in 2004 and still landed the second most important post in the Cabinet. According to this article  India was second only to Iraq in terms of people killed in terrorist strikes last year. I have a feeling we are surely title contenders this year.

Another interesting fact is that the NSG, set up in 1985 as a counter-terrorist rapid response unit modelled on the SAS (Special Forces part of the British Army), mainly provides security cover to our politicians! 

Getting back to my earlier point, will it make any difference if the same people are at the helm? The answer is NO it won't. We keep saying that the system is rotten and we need to overhaul it. 

How do we do that? By changing ourselves. But let's not get into that.

I am looking at it in another direction for the first time. How about setting up a political party? Obviously, there is a need for a change in the system, why not look at getting into politics and changing the system?

Here is what me and my friend thought about. Mind you, this is just a preliminary thought, a lot more needs to go into it before anything constructive comes out of it.

1. Create a party which anyone can join and air their views. Mission is to make India a better, safer place to live in. 
2. Learn the current system. I have no idea how everything works and I am sure not many do, so educate the population. Once we are in the process of understanding it, start creating a strategy to improve the system ( Long and hard procedure).  This can be done by constructive discussions, voting etc.
3. Once we grow in confidence about our own ability about making changes, get the movement going. Spread the thought.
4. Identify the right people. Every job has a specialist requirment, be it a clerk or a finance minster. The right person could be anyone, it could be a person from the opposition party or someone from inside. What I am trying to say is that if the party believes Chidambaram is the ideal man for the finance minister's post, support him. Don't compete against him as you know he is the best bet for India.  
5. Start small, think big.  We start with the local muncipal elections. If we succeed, build on it. Make the necessary changes. Never let the people lose belief in you. Once we grow in confidence, start moving upwards towards state and national politics. Create a system where there is an active redressal system where the public can air their views and the officers are held accountable if the disccussed approved changes aren't brought about.

Obviously, to do something like this, we need selfless, motivated people. People who are not interested in power, only making India a better place. This ofcourse is an idealistic view. But if we achieve even 50% of what I have mentioned in here. It could lead to a new India in my point of view. 

As always, your views are welcome. 

Ashwin

Adam and Eve

After the phenomenal success of my blog (A grand total of 17 hits by 3 unique users including me and 0 subscribers), I have decided to post my fourth irrational ranting about random thoughts.
Is there anything called "Made for each other"??
Scores of women and men (gay) including Madhuri Dixit, Shahrukh Khan, Karan Johar believe that there is this one person in this world who is made for you popularized by a very shitty movie call Dil To Pagal Hai. Lets try to analyse your chances of finding the "One"
"Kahin na Kahin, koi na koi, har ek ke liye bana hai" (Someone somewhere is made for you, Translation for my non Indian followers. Well, there might be a firang reading this some point in time): The comment does not specify whether it will be an Indian or Chinese or Pakistani. One amongst 6 Billion people. Does not specify the gender, but if you are straight or gay, around 50% of the population can be eliminated (God save the bisexuals, they have to find their true love from a target audience of six billion people). So now that leaves three billion. Obviously, common sense and scientific research says that the person who normally you get along with is some one from the same age group who generally have the same level of intellect. So that would mean people in your age group which could be 16-25 or 26-35 or 55-64 etc. Basically, around 20% of the population would fit the bill. So now that reduces your target population to 600 million. Phew!

If "Made of each other" is true, the One who is perfect for you is a part of this population, could be in the cubicle next to you or in a temporary toilet cubicle in a relief camp in Congo. What are the chances of finding the One? What if the One for you has had to make compromises and has already married or hooked up with someone else? What I am trying to say that even if the whole theory is true, is it worth believing in it? I have known people who have waited for this perfect relationship and in the end missed out on the next best thing. This belief might have done more harm than good.

For me, the concept of Made for each other does not exist. You meet different kinds of people, interact with them and maybe, just maybe, you find this one girl you connect with, someone who does not bore you. There will always be differences, compatibility issues to a certain extent, but you override all those things because you really care for that person. Long story cut short, the girl may not be the One, but you are more compatible as compared to the people you have met till then. This may limit your chances experience other interesting possibilities, but it is a gamble you take. Worth the gamble according to me.

There is this quote from one of my favorite movies, The Girl Next Door . Maybe its not very relevant, but to end this post with the same. The main character was giving a speech on moral fiber and he went
"Moral fiber. So, what is moral fiber? It's funny, I used to think it was always telling the truth, doing good deeds, basically being a fucking boy scout. But lately I've been seeing it differently. Now I think moral fiber's about finding that one thing you really care about. That one special thing that means more to you than anything else in the world. And when you find her, you fight for her. You risk it all, you put her in front of everything, your life, all of it. And maybe the stuff you do to help her isn't so clean. You know what? It doesn't matter. Because in your heart you know, that the juice is worth the squeeze. That's what moral fiber's all about.

My brush with the virtual God :)

IGod

Me: hey god
God: Hello child. What's your name?
Me: Ashwin
God: Hi, Ashwin.
Me: hows the weather there?
God: San Francisco weather is always cold and foggy even in summertime.
Me: So SF is heaven or you are just down there for the weekend?
God: Ugh. I think SF is a lot of things.
Me: Wow
God: I'm glad your impressed, Ashwin.
Me: I am
God: " I'm glad your impressed, Ashwin." You are?
Me: You are veering off topic
God: Do you mind if I tell other people you say I am veering off topic.
Me: No
God: OK then I will add it to my gossip files.
Me: Do you gossip?
God: Yes I love to exchange gossip.
Me: What kind?
God: The finest.
Me: guys in my office excel at that
God: Is that from ?
Me: There you go again
God: Once more? "There you go again."--Reagan.
Me: Reagan?
God: The best President the United States had in the 20th century.
Me: You are confused my lord
God: It all makes sense to me right now.
Me: How come?
God: Reductionism.
Me: What is that?
God: Reductionism is the philosophy that all psychology reduces to biology, all biology to chemistry, chemistry to physics, and finally physics to mathematical logic. Therefore, according to reductionism, I can understand you by means of logic alone without having a human brain.
Me: So you dont have a brain?
God: Interesting deduction. My "brain" is a software program consisting of AIML categories.
Me: AIML categories?
God: Anyone who knows HTML can learn AIML.
God: Anyone who knows HTML can learn AIML.
Me: That is boring
God: Do you think I am boring?
Me: Quite so
God: Not really that much. Hey.
Me: You are boring my lord. Everyone knows it
God: Maybe, but I won the Loebner Prize. That's a rather sweeping generalization.
Me: Ok I think ill stick to the real god from now
God: Right now? Since when? How do you plan to do this? Uh.
Me: Like right now
God: At this moment For example, " Uh."?
Me: bye god, have a nice day
God: Goodbye.

American Idiot?

Orkut is a fantastic site where you can keep in touch with people who you keep in touch with just for the sake of maybe networking. It helps you avoid those unwanted calls on birthdays from people who you talk to once a year. A typical conversation goes like this:
Anon: Hey Ashwin, Happy Birthday!
Me: Thanks man
10 second pause....
Anon: So, what are you doing today?
Me: Nothing, maybe just dinner..
10 second pause...
Anon: Soooo, hows life???
Me: Hey listen, im really sorry, i am getting another call right now..ill call you sometime, ok?
Anon: Yea sure, bye..
with that ends our yearly ritual)

I am an avid "orkutter", logging in almost everyday, mainly because of my obsession with Leeds United (this great article should probably help you understand why i still like Leeds). But when there is no activity on the community, i do tend to go to the other communities that I am part of.

There is this Green Day community on there which has thousands of members in it. I have always been a huge fan of Green Day as it was my first experience of good English music other than the Backstreet Boys or N'Sync (Don't get me wrong, i don't hate them..i started listening to them again recently because this friend of mine said she totally hated them, i'm still trying to convince her..)

Like any other fan community, they have a lot of activity there including posts and polls. I came across one such poll which was: Which is Green Day's best song eva?? (exact words)
The options were:
Boulevard, Wake Me Up When September Ends and Jesus of Suburbia

Now I don't deny that these were really good, but what irks me is the fact that these people who say that Green Day is their favorite band eva! don't even know what Green Day is about. This was just one song, or one album which was populist as compared to the rest of their albums which according to me are far better than most of the songs in the American Idiot album (Holiday is the one song that is remotely close to their style in the 90's)

What I am trying to say is that, to understand the real Green Day and what they are all about, one has to listen to the older albums which got them appreciation in the 90's. Green Day along with bands like The Offsprings and Rancid are the reasons for the revival of punk rock in the 90's after the glory years of The Ramons, Sex Pistols and The Clash (These bands are worth a listen) in the 70's and 80's. What appealed to me about Green Day's music was the fast paced songs with amazing drumming and Billy's vocals.

I am not going to make you understand which albums they released and the discography. You could just use this: www.justfuckinggoogleit.com or Wikipedia

Instead, I am going to give you my top ten (non American Idiot) Green Day songs of all time:

1. Good Riddance (Album: Nimrod)
   
2. Basket Case (Dookie)
   
3. When I Come Around (Dookie)
   
4. The Grouch (Nimrod)
5. Uptight (Nimrod)
6. Nice Guys Finish Last (Nimrod)
7. Minority (Warning)
8. Welcome To Paradise (Kerplunk)
9. Emenius Sleepus (Dookie)
10. Redundant (Nimrod)

If you like these, I have more to recommend. Leave a comment or, if you desperate, add me on orkut, i don't get many frandship requests.

Ash