IF-Rudyard Kipling (A Classic Poem, My Personal Favorite)

If

If you can keep your head when all about you 
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; 
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, 
But make allowance for their doubting too; 
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, 
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies, 
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating, 
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; 
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; 
If you can meet with triumph and disaster 
And treat those two imposters just the same; 
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken 
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, 
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken, 
And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings 
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, 
And lose, and start again at your beginnings 
And never breath a word about your loss; 
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew 
To serve your turn long after they are gone, 
And so hold on when there is nothing in you 
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, 
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch; 
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you; 
If all men count with you, but none too much; 
If you can fill the unforgiving minute 
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run - 
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, 
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son! 

courtesy:-http://www.everypoet.com/archive/poetry/Rudyard_Kipling/kipling_if.htm

The Difference Between "Bharat" And "India"

So here I am, restless, anxious and in a state of lull, with not even the remotest interest in these college studies, which are suppose to stimulate an intellectual revolution in me. In my opinion, books are just one aspect of learning, which are given undue importance, probably on account of the dearth of other methods of education which our system.

Yesterday, was infact the day when I went through an "intellectual revolution", and was enlighten through mere observation of our surroundings. No doubt I have been a keen observer throught my life, however it was just a petty thing thing like a trip to Juhu Beach, that brought me face to face with a plethora of new realisations. Just yesterday I developed a greater understanding of my society, city, country and the denizens of this devious land.

Pakistan, our highly unstable neighbour, is often rebuked by various establishments around the world on account of its fragmanted nature. There is an evident divide in the power between the army establishment and the civilian government, with the latter in control of the armed forces and acting out of sync with the civilan government. However, the more our country indulges in critcising our hostile neighbour, the more I ponder about our current state of affairs and whether a similar analogy is applicable to our beloved land. Various sporadic incidents in the past have reiterated the fact that India too is a divided land, divided on secular, religious and regional lines.

The Brutal Attacks on the women in a pub in Managalore, the attacks on the peace loving Christians in Orissa, the poverty in the region of North India(Kashmir, UP, Bihar etc), the chauvinistics attitude of the MNS just point out to the fact that we are are secular country and land of equality only on paper. The reality is far different from what our constitution has had planned for us.

Thus goin back to my enlightenment, there I was at the entrance of the ISKCON temple, face to face with the powerful manifestation of the phenomenon people commonly refered to as "GOD". Please don't mistake me for an atheist, its just that I m neutral about the existence on "GOD", and never let it really bother my aspirations or my life in even the remotest way. It was truly marvellous to see people depict such faith in single entity, to the extent of even waiting in long lines for hours undisturbed and in deep penance. This propostition can be corroborated by my visit to the Vaishnodevi temple just a couple of weeks back. Though I do respect the faith that people have in God, I came to the realisation that this merely becomes a means of seeking solace once they fail in a venture on account of lack of a 100% effort. People attribute their failure to luck, which in my opinion is unacceptable. A wise man once said-"God helps those who help themselves", and I couldnt agree with him more. 

 So now I was at the prominent Juhu Beach, once a pristine area, it has become squalid and the odour emanating from it could give the pigs a run for their title. Though the whole setting was beautified by the susnet over the unclear blue water, the cries of armies of hawkers and sellers irritated me intensley. Walking on the beach, looking at the tons of garbage adorning the sand, a new realisation dawned upon me. The filth on the beach was the outcome of several years of abuse on our behalf, and thus a beautiful place had been converted into a mess by our irresposible actions. Drawing a similar parallel with our country, we can find that this beautiful land has been turned into a living nightmare on account of our selfish, irresponsible attitude. 

Hence I use this tool as medium to request all my readers to please take care of our surroundings and learn to be more responsible citizens. 

Now here I was in front of the magnificent JW Marriott hotel, probably one of the best hotels in the subcontinent. The sheer grandiose of the structure was impeccable,and thus it has been accredited with a 7 star rating. However just besides it were the shanties of the hawkers and foodstall owners, the whole area is popularly refered to as Juhu plaza. The more I looked a these two seemingly contrary establishments the more contemplative I became. These two stuctures signified the two sides of our country, one popluarly refered to as the "Shining India", with a phenomenal growth story and untaped potential. The other the bleak, frail and suffering India, one in a dire need of help and assistance as depicted in the movie "Slumdog Millionaire".  We have been far from successful in implementing the principle of equality. The more we grow the more the gap between the rich and the poor becomes unbridgeable. On one hand we have Mukesh Ambani one of the richest man in the world, on the other hand we have large section of our population committing suicide on account of failure to repay their loans. So were are we heading with this divide. Financial analysts often refer to India as growing economy, but they often forget to make any comments on Bharat. There is no clear cut solution to this divison, however the government should take some concerete measure to bring about industrailisation in the rural markets. A large portion of India still depends on the vagaries of the rains and this is a delporable fact in this era of supercomputers.Only a fair and equitable country can sustain its growth and avoid resentment amongst its citizens. 

Obama's Protectionism: A Death Knell For The Indian IT Story

So here goes my second post, hopefully it will meet with same appreciation as my first post did. A friend of mine suggested me to go soft on the vocabulary, and so I will make an earnest attempt to bring down my vocabulary level.

So, we are well aware that the world in reeling under the influence of a financial turmoil, one which has  originated in the US. This meltdown has had a widespread effect on most of the economies in the world, leaving behind some in "Recession"(a period of negative growth).Thus there is widespread chaos all around the world, due to the mere enormity of this disaster. There are parallels being drawn between the current turmoil and those of "The Great Depression" in 1930

(for futher reading refer to:http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/depression/overview.htm).

However, the purpose of my post in not talk about the financial turmoil, its causes and effects. I am here to analyze the fallout that this disaters has had on the US administration, with them bringing into effect new policies of protectionism. According to the new policies implemented by the Obama administration, companies receiving aid from the US bailout package are forbidden from hiring temporary workers which come from "H1B" category of visa.Thus a large number of companies which have received the US taxpayers money cannot rely on the relatively cheap labour coming from the H1B category of visa, these include the financial giants like Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sac, Citibank, AIG etc.Till now a majority of these firms were private, and thus were exempted from the whimsical influence of the government.With the new bailout plan, the US government has brought these firms under its regulations even though it may not have indulged in the purchase of shares of these firms. 

In my opinion, it was but a natural move on behalf of the government to go for a protectionist policy, in the short term atleast. With the implementation of this policy, the government has depicted itself to be concerned about the welfare of its citizens, thus gaining their trust and favour. Although this policy seems to do well for both the parties, the reality is totally different.The companies rely on the cheap labour for their competitive advantage, and to do away with this resouce will hurt their core competence. So though this policy will be a great hit in the short term , it will certainly not be sustainable in the long run. Once a firm starts to loose its competitve edge, others start to take over its market share and thus  its slowly and steadly starts to fade. We have seen this happen in the past, "The Great Depression" was the outcome of a protectionist policy pursued by the government and it left the economy in a bad shape.

In the current arrangement, the firms in the US are to great extent dependent on the"Software Coolies" in Bangalore to provide them cheap, skilled labour.This term has become a cliche in the western world and I differ from their point of view. Though the outsourcing industry in the India provides mere services to the western firms, we forget that we know their core businesses and thus these firms depend on our services for their day to day functioning.Thus to do away with cheap labour would infact be detrimental for the whole US economy. 

India on the other hand has relied a bit too much on the services industy to foster its economic growth and create employement.This statement can be corroborated by the fact that nearly 70% of our GDP is from the services industry. Its high time we reduce our depedence on  services and nurture some core skills which are purely our trade secret.Services industry is highly unreliable, as tommorrow it could be China which could provide cheaper skilled services thus taking all our business. It is imperative that we get on to the manufacturing bandwagon in order to slowly become an export driven country like China. China's export grow at an astonishing 25% whereas we struggle for a mere 15%, thus China leads the wolrd in the export driven countries alongwith the US and Germany. There is a lot to be done by the government to improve our infrastructre, exports, health and education. All these sectors can be driving force our economy, if they are tamed properly. Not to forget we have a large consumer base of about a billion people which remains to be exploited to it potential. This will provide a sustainable economy, which is insulated from events around the world. 

For the Indians abroad their is no end to their plight, as even the automobile sector is in doldrums. Once the giant car manufacturing companies start to fall, there will be cascading effect on the various secondary and ancillary industries dependent on them which may lead to another turmoil. On the job front these firms have already received bailout money and thus they fall in the same boat as their financial counterparts.Hence companies like GM, Ford, Chrysler will not be able to seek cheap employement from the H1B category.These events are likely to lead to what is popularly refered to as "Reverse Brain Drain", and thus we can expect some good talent back in our country in the mere future. 

So much for the financial turmoil, its a deep subject and rather serious subject. For all the MBA freaks, I happened to navigate across some really amazing webpages. 

These are as folllows:

1.http://www.quickmba.com/

2.http://www.investopedia.com/rotate.aspx?invsection=home&backurl=http://www.investopedia.com/

Hope they help you get a fair idea of what MBA is all about, though investopedia in for finance freaks like me. 

General Elections 2009: The Race Begins

Here goes my first post on my very own blog, hope it is appreciated and revered though that will only be a dream come true for novice writer like me.

So the dates for the general election are out in the public, and the political parites have started their own propaganda in full swing to get a majority at the center. So we have the largest democracy in the world all set to witness to the grandiose spectacle that is an inherent part of our lives. No one can predict the outcome of the forthcoming elections, but none of the political parites be it at the national or regional level, are leaving any stone untunred in a bid to muster their resources and form new allies. No matter whichever party forms the government, I pray to God that we dont have another arrangement of coalition politics. I know its a bit too much to ask for, but I indeed dread a coalition government specially at the center. The whole arrangement is detrimental to the welfare of our country,for we have seen in the past that coalition government fails to address the national agenda and fulfill the aspirations of the people. The primary motive of an amalgamation of parties, is the favour of the constituent parties for the coalition forming party. We have seen in the past how the UPA government had to bear the brunt of vote in the parliament on account of signing the Indo-US nuclear deal, which incidentally was opposed by the left. They were also opposed to certain economics liberation policies while they happened to be in power and promised extrenal support to the UPA .These facts just corroborate that coalition politics is in fact a strict no for India.

Though I am strictly against the notion of a coalition government, I cannot deny that my ideology is that of an idealist and not practical even in the remotest sense. Coalition politics is a product of the modern era, and is in fact now a living reality. Gone are the days when the nation was under the rule a single large party called the Congress. Now the country has become fragmented into various secular bits, which regional parties have utilised to further their gains. Thus we have the growing infulence of regional parites and a reduction in the outreach of the national players. Regional parties succeed in capitalising the unrest in our society and add fire to the fuel through provocative speeches and rallies. Thus we have to reckon with a coalition political system, and be at the receiving ends of this disastrous setup.

Now shifting my attention towards the developments on the political front, we have seen friends turn foes and vice versa, to satisfy their appetite for the ultimate power. Recently the much criticised Kalyan Singh joined the SP(Samajwadi Party), deserting his old friend the BJP due to irreconcilble differences and neglection on the party of the BJP. It is said that Bhairo Singh Shekawat was personally against the inclusion of Kalyan Singh in the list of ticket receivers due to his actions in the past. Thus Kalyan Singh was neglected by the very party to which he had been faithful for a long tenure.Kalyan Singh we all know is famous for the inflamatory speeches he delivered during the demolition of the Babri Masjid.

In UP(Uttar Pradesh), the state with the most number of seats, we have a tacit understanding between the Congress and the SP, in order to combat a common rival BSP(Bahujan Samaj Party) under the leadership of Mayawati a 'Dalit' as she prodly claims she is.Though Congress and SP are allies at the center there is still some seat sharing issues to be resolved in order for them to form a formal alliance at the center. BSP has shown exponential growth in recent years on account of having Mayawati as it leader, the party is currently in power in the state of UP and Mayawati is the reiging CM of the largest and most populated state in the country. Mayawati has taken a intiative to lauch a nationwide propaganda to draw greater number of seats in the forthcoming elections. UP has also been in the News for the announcement of Sanjay Dutt contesting for the elections on a SP ticket. However his eligiblitiy is in quetion as he has court cases pending against him in the Supreme Court.

Going from UP in the north to Maharashtra in the west. In Maharashtra the political game is of a different kind with both the major alliances in doldrums due to seat sharing issues. The Congress - NCP and the Shiv Sena-BJP alliances are still not confirmend due to seat sharing conflicts in the state. The issue is yet to be resolved with the Shiv Sena contemplating a tie with the NCP lead by Sharad Pawar(Union Minister for Agriculture). Shiv Sena and NCP are hungry for greater share in the number of seats thus highlighting the declinging influence of national parties.

Whatever be the outcome of these election I feel it is our duty and right to vote for the candidate we like to represent us . We should exercise this rigth and then only a palpable change will be evident in our country