Air Dhakkan & King Class

I was waiting for this for long. On 2nd Feb when I walked into Dumdum airport it was a revelation. The strike call by the AAI employees finally evened things out. You couldnt tell whether you were in Sealdah station or Dumdum airport. It was noisy, peopled and ofcourse dirty. There were still the airline kinds who were trying to stand out of the crowd. But they were dwarfed out as islands of snobbery.

The airports always had a bourgeosis feel about them. Everything looked new, smooth, sanitised and cold. A suffocating atmosphere when I started flying. The look-down stares. The "do not belong here" looks. Air travel was a class thing because of the sheer cost. It was 2-3 years of extensive flying that finally helped me to get it out of my system. Finally I dont get conscious.

After all its just another mode of transportation - nothing more, nothing less.

Ever since Air Deccan prised open the Indian skies its not the same anymore. The only time when I flew them I felt I was on a long distance bus. Gone was the uppernosiness. Even the Volvo service between Pune and Mumbai would appear more sophisticated. Inside Air Deccan I was squirming trying to judge each moves of the air hostess. But June and Mun were enjoying their ride. So what the heck, wasnt I getting into the same loop? A loop that used to tie me knots and make me so much more conscious about my place in the sky.

However when I flew Kingfisher for the first time I was impressed. Amidst all the "budget" talks I really flew "King Class". But this kind of service would be difficult to sustain for long. However Mr. Mallya has deep pockets. Afterall we need our Kingfishers to keep pushing the Jets. And amidst all this the government behemoth is still chugging along. The good thing about flying Indian is that it doesnt have a come-on approach, that usually gets instrusive.

After telecommunication this is the next big thing in India. Distances are reducing and India is becoming smaller. Its much easier to reach the sky.

And finally flying is becoming just another mode of transportation.

Rang De Basanti

Photo courtesy www.india.gov.in.
For more information about India's national flag click here

What does this National flag mean to us? What does dates like 15th August and 26th January signify?

One of the review of Rand de Basanti talks about how the youth (in India) have been projected to "... have no feelings for their country. India is a no-hoper where corruption is rampant, and nothing can be done to salvage the situation, they believe. " But the same guys during the course of the film "..as they play some historical characters.." is shown to change "... their perspective about the present, and their own role in it..".

I cant verify whether this reading is true as I dont believe reviews and I am yet to watch the film. But if this is so then it will be worthwhile to watch Rand de Basanti.

Any of you who chance upon this post of mine should visit www.india.gov.in. Some of us can write a 10 page critique of the site. However I would not like to deride an honest attempt towards creating India's first National Portal.

In a recent conference I had the opportunity to hear Dr. N. Vijayaditya, Director General, National Informatics Centre the man behind the effort. I was touched by what he said. I had worked very closely with another government agency NRDC (National Research Development Corporation). Since then I started respecting these government bodies who are at the forefront of formulating policies that shape the future of the nation.

I think the significance of these dates like 15th Aug and 26th Jan lie in the fact that they offer us opportunities to pause and think about relevant things about our country. Many of us in our blue collar environment have no idea how difficult it is to manage and run organisations like CSIR, NRDC, NIC etc. The vastness and diverseness of the country poses the biggest challenge. They are not in the business of running a business but in the business of running a country.

Very few of the best minds chose to opt for this path. But there are honest, intelligent and brilliant minds who have chosen to take up these jobs and take them very seriously. We should all try to get informed ourselves and generate awareness about them.

But organisations like these need the best minds of the country, people who are ready to realise that they can make a huge difference. These jobs offer something more than our blue collar occupations. The satisfaction to have made a difference to the course of the country....

Dont we all talk of job satisfaction these days??

Imagine there's no heaven,
It's easy if you try,
No hell below us,
Above us only sky,
Imagine all the people
living for today...

Imagine there's no countries,
It isnt hard to do,
Nothing to kill or die for,
No religion too,
Imagine all the people
living life in peace...

Imagine no possesions,
I wonder if you can,
No need for greed or hunger,
A brotherhood of man,
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world...

You may say Im a dreamer,
but Im not the only one,
I hope some day you'll join us,
And the world will live as one.

---

Imagine! It took me so long to discover this and get overwhelmed....

Marriage Today

An inspired post...

In a predominantly partriarchal society marriage was an apt arrangement which not only helped the economically & physically weaker women to survive but also allowed some rules around sexual communion.

Graphics courtesy Probir Sarkar. Mail him.

But why was this a partriarchal society in the first place? Was it because men were physically stronger or was it something else? I have huge faith in the power of nature to find a solution. I believe that a partriarchal arrangement was nature's way of setting some rules around human survival. It was not a man made arrangement but a culmination of a series of different methods tried at different times. And the best survived. If you disagree you will have to give better reasons.

So why am I raising this now? How much of a partriarchal society is this anymore? I was trying to think of the marriages that are around me. In a majority I see the women have some kind of earning power. In quite a few I even see women having more earning power. In many I see women playing the dominant role. All of these three conditions are alien to men.

Now lets look at the men. Once the master of the house he now finds his dominance, his earning power, his decision making all challenged at each point. In many a households they are no more the more educated. Its a quezy situation to be in, more so when you have enjoyed your thousands of years of nature-gifted dominance.

But women having allowed themselves to be dominated for circumstancial reasons have regrouped. They are equally educated, earn now and most importantly have discovered that sexuality is no more a disadvantage but can be used to good effect to make way in society.

Result? A permanent feeling of imbalance in most marriages. You fret, you slap, you kick, you fume! Sometimes you kiss and make up. Sometimes you make love and make up. At other times you just drink and make up. Sometimes you just make up. Sometimes you just dont make up and continue.

I do not see a single perfect marriage around me. Some are nasty, some stoically pathetic, some are so shamful that the least said the better and some give me the picture of slave trade (does not matter who is the slave and who the master).

So what happens to the institution called marriage whose basic tenets did not factor in a society in which men and women share power. In today's scenario where each of one of us wants to lead a life on our own terms marriage is archaic. Think of it - if you were asked to marry your best friend (forget gender here) would that be exciting? Why would you want to adjust 24 hrs with someone even if he/she is your best friend. For most of us the idea would puke.

But it is marriage's second reason that is the bigger problem. And this worries me the most. Most marriages fail after the reckless couple has procreated. And where they dont those moments of make belief kiss and make up (Hollywood Ishtyle) becomes the catalyst of procreation.

Suddenly you are left to parent a progeny who inherits the confused state of the world. Soon it becomes another tool of the power struggle. Like the car, the TV, the fridge it also becomes the bone of contention during nasty moments of tug of war. Unlike the tangibles it cannot be divided into two equal halves. But who cares in this war of the sexes. Each of us become a reason for a blotched childhood that leads to another disastrous adulthood. And the cycle goes on...

The law most often, with its eye blindfolded, gives custody of the child to the woman. Is it an acknowledgement of the 9 months of gestation or is it a signal of the imminent shift. But then we still have things like alimony, ladies seats, all reserved compartments for women. The physical strength of men is but the last bastion but the age of Viagra will soon come up with a solution.

So what will happen to Marriage?

Goodbye Dada!

Operation Gang-up is over. The end of the road for Dada.

The cricketer Sourav finally pays for the leader Sourav. A country once petted by the whites has docility running in its blood. India has history of dumping heroes. And how so?

I was an avowed fan of Sourav because he never blinked on the field, because he never hid behind diplomacy and got under the opposition's skin. He was a leader.


And our country has stopped producing leaders in all walks of life. How will a dimunitive frogjumper whose very existence is based on parochial regionalism understand all this.

But wait Sourav was also a silken batsmen. But alas cricket was never the reason for his being dumped? In India you have your tryst with fame till your are pulled down and thrown to the dogs. Its sad and hard and I have no words to express this.