Sigh!

I seem to have nothing to write abt...zilch...nought...
And I miss writing...it's become an essential part of my routine...so I shall just ramble on about inconsequential happenings. Those of you who like their sanity well-preserved..I suggest you stop reading this blog...

The other side...

I was watching this ad for Maggi Sambhar-flavoured (yuck!) noodles..and I notice a weird (apparently South Indian) accent..and a raag in the song..then there was this dance on Star One's Nach Baliye where they were doing a South Indian dance and hence the dancers were coloured black!
2 misconceptions that the Rest of India has about South Indians...that we are inherently dark-complexioned..and that we have a strange twang in our English...both of which are not completely accurate...I mean, yeah some of us are dark-skinned...but then I know a few North Indians too who are dark complexioned..and about the accent..heck..I think each state in India has an accent peculiar to it..
This North-South divide manifested itself quite vividly during my college life too! "Illad" was the term to describe us South-Indians...it was also treated as a synonym for being stupid and unenterprising apart from having a neanderthal connotation! Of course, we thought of the North Indians as "uneducated villagers"(unpad gavaars!)...but I have met a considerable number of exceptions to this rule as well...
So I guess you don't actually have a stereotypical Indian...or for that matter a stereotypical India..
One of my colleagues in Israel, when invited to India told me that she would "just die" if she saw a snake!!! Another expected to see elephants on the road....a third acted surprised when I spoke in the Queen's English!!! This is the India that people imagine..and yet, I have never seen a snake on the road :-)
Shall stop rambling here....and make myself useful...

What on earth is this country coming to???

This post is going to be in direct contrast to my other post abt "Why we aren't proud to be Indian?".

First on my hit-list : Ram Jethmalani.

One of India's most respected senior advocates. He has recently taken up the case of Manu Sharma, who is the (alleged) prime suspect in the Jessica Lal murder case. I am not condemning that. He is a criminal lawyer and is just doing his job. As an individual, Manu Sharma is entitled to the best legal representation he can get and is justified in asking for justice even though he is in fact guilty. And just because you,me and majority of Indians think Manu Sharma is guilty is of no consequence because we do not represent the judicial system of this country.

What I am condemning is the tactics used by the defense team. You cannot go about slandering a person's reputation especially one who is no more there to defend herself or her morality. Being a Page 3 person does not translate to being a person with loose morals. What exactly is the defense team's argument? That Jessica Lall is a "bad" person and hence deserved to get shot? That Manu Sharma did a service to society by ridding it of an "evil influence"?
I am questioning the morals of Ram Jethmalani. Does being a criminal lawyer entail that you sacrifice every shred of conscientious behaviour, every modicum of morality and every last drop of humanity at the altar of justice? Does being a criminal lawyer allow you to slander a dead girl's reputation? Does it allow you to justify that a man has the right to kill a girl who has (apparently) insulted his masculinity?

What is justice then? Does it even have meaning? If all it takes to walk away scot-free from cold-blooded murder is being able to afford the legal fees of Ram Jethmalani. He was yelling on national television indulging in what can flatteringly be described as buffoonery. He accused the media of "tampering" with the course of justice. When the truth is that, if not for the widespread media coverage of the case, Manu Sharma would be just another statistic in the growing list of influential people walking away from all sorts of heinous crimes.

Next on my hit list - the murderers of Manjunath.

I was not aware of this till they recently celebrated Manjunath's first death anniversary.
My aforementioned post was all about fighting corruption by refusing to join the vicious circle. Now I realise that the advice could well get you murdered.

Work ethic is all doing the job you have been asked to do to the best possible extent without any external factor (bribes) influencing your working ability. All Manjunath was doing was following his work ethic. There was a another case prior to this involving an IIT graduate called Satyender Dube who was murdered in connection to corruption involved with the national highway project.

The upside is that none of us are going to start encouraging corruption because of these incidents. In fact, it will just make us more determined to fight back. The downside is that we still have miles to go. If hitherto-unheard-of Lakhimpur is so diseased with corruption that it resulted in the murder of an honest official, just think of how many thousands of unheard Lakhimpur's are reeling under the same scrouge? Where do we start from then? How do we go about ridding this country of corruption?

Namma Ooru Bengalooru

Maybe its just me or is the city really taking a turn for the better??

I see lanes on the roads...with separate ones for autorickshaws and buses. And they are being followed to some extent...a lot more than you would actually expect from public transport drivers in our country. I see lots of special BTS buses too...for ladies only..for pass holders only...Public transport has improved considerably over the year...

3 weeks here..have been to Koramangala, Majestic...traditional traffic hotspots...no traffic jam. Even on the radio, the incidence of "jam busters" seems to have drastically gone down...the roads seem to be in a better condition...or maybe I just haven't been on the "right" roads yet.

We have new tourist attractions like "City Swaps"..the hop-on hop-off tourist bus that is very popular in Europe is now here..
Even bureaucracy seems to have improved..I don’t see people waiting for bribes before they sign your papers...Of course, no one is ever in office at 10am sharp..but neither are we software engineers..so that is a trait common to the working class of India I guess..public or private...

Hmmm...I must say...we are taking a turn for the better...Can't say the same though about the rich brats of our generation..

One son of high profile fashion consultant involves himself in a brawl with policemen..Another..our "mannina marimaga" ( for the non-Kannadigas..this means great-grandson of the soil..in keeping with DeveGowda's "mannina maga" rant..)..Nikhil Gowda starts throwing stones at a hotel in the wee hours of the morning..and the Chief Minister has the sheer gall to accuse Bangalore's cosmopolitan lifestyle for his son's misdemeanour...a lot of us stay out late at night..but I don't think anyone of us have ever been inclined to throw stones or be a public nuisance! So, Mr. Chief Minister..my advice to you..a little discipline never hurt anyone..take away his big fancy cars for a while...revoke privileges..and he will turn out just fine..the rest of us did!

Another interesting debate in the TOI edit yesterday..should SMSese be allowed in English papers? Good Lord no! Imagine quoting Shakespeare in SMSese!
"2 b or not 2 b is da qt"
Seems ridiculous doesn't it? The only chance we have of learning English the way it is meant to be written and spoken is in school. College, work..the quality of our English is downhill from there on..so if even that last hope is destroyed, future generations may not even know what English really is! or grammar..