Thank you 2012 : Welcome dear 2013

Hey 2012 ..I welcomed you a year back ..happily with open arms and mind ..with lots of hopes ,aspirations and those carried over promises !  You are leaving in a weeks time .. may be happy , along with garrulous Santa with a sign of victory all over you ... and let me confess I too am not too disappointed ! You taught me a lot ... lessons of life .. completing the near full circle from 1 to 12 ! Now let me party for the last week .. while I forget disillusionment and grief that was unfortunately and unknowingly thrust upon by you .. I am getting ready to welcome 2013 .. your newer version !  
Preparing my resolutions for the new year , I am pondering at the left overs ..carrying some over to the next year and striking of some for ever !  I must also thank you for the joys and friendships that you brought me all year long.. never making life dull ..either with some joy or anxious moments ! Sure, 2012 was a challenge like many other years ..but now I am through it ... preparing myself with a new vigor ...leaving old bygones bygones !  Let us drink to it partying with fun all week of 2012 .. welcome 2013 ! Party all the way !



Veedee

Wisdom is a by product of Experience !

Recently met a guy who is a renowned music arranger ... My obvious question to him was about how does he select group of musicians for his orchestra among all the talented musicians he comes across ? ... and got  an extremely wonderful lesson as an answer ....not just about music but also in Human Resources and team building..or life in general !

He started with a famous quote from Pu La Deshpande ... " काही लोकं सुरात आपला सूर कसा मिळवता येईल ह्या कडे लक्ष देतात ... आणि काही मिळालेल्या सुरात आपला सूर कसा वेगळा हे दाखवण्या कडे लक्ष देतात ... दुसऱ्या वर्गातले लोकं हे राजकारणी होऊ शकतात ...आपल्या ला फक्त पहिल्या वर्गातले लोकं शोधायचे असतात !  "

" Some people are good at tuning themselves to the sound of a team ... some are good at showing their distinctive voice from a tuned group. The second category of people may land up in politics .. we just need to concentrate on people of first category  ! "

This is the crux of many team efforts that succeed !  For team to be successful there is hardly a need of lots of talented people ... but majority of  people with some talent who can adapt and work in group without compromising the skills and talent ! One of the way he explained was.... to look at the behavior on social network ... People of category two generally post many solo pictures of themselves all over .. people of category one have pictures posted on social network but majority are with group !
I myself have crosschecked many of the social network profiles and am fairly convinced about the conclusion. Also , recently did I have an experience of playing in group band. One could easily make out people who could adjust to team effort of playing in unison ... from the ones who pretended to be right and blaming others for missed beat here and there ! Humbleness .. he said was one of the key attribute of a team member .. the ability to learn and sometimes even accept mistakes .. that is a rarity now a days. But music that comes out of an orchestra is very much a direct result of how the members are gelled as a team.
One such example that he gave was having a right kind of leader who understands music / goodness of team members and the bigger interest of team .. who is ready to adapt without compromising quality and  talent. Though this would sound as an ideal  utopic recipe... most of the successful team efforts have this ingredient in them !
I realize how important it is to get experience in various fields ... work at grass-root level to understand the distinct individual traits of a team member. Participating in any team activity can be a learning experience and one realizes at the end of a small trek , a stint with a local band , a voluntary social service with a group of dedicated individuals .. that  wisdom is really a by product of experience !

I am convinced that I should keep my learning going with the experiences I get with every project I undertake !  Bon voyage !

That fun of completing a project successfully !

There are small things in life that give us immense pleasure and sense of achievement .. I had an occasion to celebrate the same .. At the outstretch this might seem trivial but ..it gave me immense pleasure and a boost to my conviction of returning back to Pune :  participating in a  dhol-tasha-dwaj  pathak during Pune's GaNpati Festival  !
Having born , schooled and lived in Pune in 80-90s .. when traditional Pune was still in existence and the GaNpati Festival with the finale of Ganesh visarjan was one of the liveliest moments of year .. with Dhol-Tasha and Dhwaj played by energetic youth whose energy , so contagious that simply watching them, one could feel it all over the body. In 80s-90s the dhol-tasha pathak was traditionally non-professional and monopolized by the troupes from schools like Dnyan-Prabodhini , Garvare , NuMaVi  and RamaNbag . It was a ritual to watch and cheer those school children play during the Ganesh visarjan procession.

Over the years of late 90s and 2000s .. the place of school pathaks ( troupes ) has been taken over by very famously named pathaks .. even the economics of such pathaks makes them  a very good seasonal business with high ROI !  Pune has over 46 such registered Dhol-Tasha-Dhwaj pathaks mostly fueled by the energy of the youth from colleges who deligently work as volunteers ..devoting almost 2 months in preparation !  Almost all the pathaks have good assets , free man power and human resources of volunteers and it seems .. they are doing very well !

Back to my story ... during my school days and even college days the only thing that was possible was to watch , listen and appreciate those troupes of the schools that played during GaNpati visarjan procession. However there remained an inner burning urge to participate in such troupes which was left un-attended for years while I left India. The recordings of every year 's visarjan miravNuk always reminded me that this is something I still have not tried in life ...!
This year was the year I decided that I would give it a go...took it as a project ... practiced daily for 2-3 hrs from Aug 11th  to Sept 30th  with the pathak (troupe)  ...dhol -tasha - Dhwaj in a traditional Puneri way ! :)
Pathaks are full of energetic young people who almost instill energy and vigor in you .. they were inspirational and energy boosting for every day grueling practice of almost 3 hrs for a month ! That group effort ...energy of the young people is absolutely invigorating ..
Enjoyed each and every moment of practice every day ..shared numerous moments of shear happiness , had new learning experience almost every day ...and finally was successful in playing for processions ! :)
Thanks to all the young friends from ' Rudra ' who really need to be credited for the success and fun of this personal project of mine ! Thanks all .. ! :)

The Olympic Festival - Enchanting !

" Every one who participated is a winner .. some of us were awarded medals too.. "   this reaction sums up the true spirit of Olympics.

The youth , their spirit , their contagious enthusiasm... injects a kind of hope and energy into every one watching. Over 200 countries represented in the Olympic movement , London 2012 was extremely well organized. Kudos to the organizers. I was mesmerized by the organization, the athletes and all the enormity of the scale. Things went almost error free. My salute to all and the unsung heroes.

Last 14 days, I made it a point to watch each and every sport every day .. some live and others recorded. To start with , to many of these sports , I simply had no clue of rules ! However within 10-15 mins of watching these, I was engrossed in the sport.. by the end ....I was through with the rules and the tricks of these sports. The enthusiasm of athletes and their interviews have taught me more than anything I have learnt in many classes ! 

I have watched each and every stream from the Olympic channel     from July 27th  to Aug 12th . This has been one of the best parties I have enjoyed. The interviews of athletes after their winning a medal was some thing I enjoyed the most. Their joy , their tears , their words  coming out of their open hearts were genuine. True to the spirit of Olympics. Some athletes have worked for it all their life and will cherish that moment for rest of their lives.. I was a spectator and witness to their glorious moments ! That makes me proud.

Thank you London ! you were memorable.

The closing ceremony was fantastic and now we eagerly wait for the Rio 2016 , Brazil. My preparation for those games has already started !... by learning Spanish !   Bienvenidos !   :)   

Riding Pleasure

One thing that I always found myself enjoying on a automatic transmission cars was to go on  a long drives .. enjoy ones solitude and nature (without having to worry about the "clutch" every now and then ), just step on the gas paddle and brake if needed... recharge one self while driving to work. Every summer in US , I had driven all across east to west coast.. I-20 , I-40 .. I-80 and from north to south on 1-95 , I-35 ... Driving was fun then....  With roads as smooth as one can imagine, driving was not just required  but enjoyable ..this is what I miss the most in India. Over a decade of "spoiling" by US consumerism, has made me into a creature who only needs everything to soothe my senses..a better "consumer". Undoing this has been my biggest challenge. In fact, most of the time I feel guilty enjoying pleasures of "five-star" quality, which 95% of population almost only can imagine and crave for.
Film " Taryanche bet" in marathi made me aware of how low have I fallen in the decade I spent in US.
One astonishing fact about a country like India, with abysmal infrastructure and "roads" is that of growing number of high end cars (bigger and faster), SUVs etc.
In ,once a calm and "bicycle/two-wheeler driving" towns of Pune and Banglore , cars have created living unbearable.. clogged roads, parking ha-wok . The situation being created is almost irreversible.
Unless in future only cars like that of small Maruti cars, Tata nano etc are allowed to be bought for residential-personal use, things would be moving from bad to worse. I can understand the aspirations of "young-rich"  people wanting to imitate the lifestyle that they enjoyed in US, but reality is that ...it is simply impossible to imitate that kind of lifestyle here is congested India.
A total ban on SUV like vehicle will seem anti-democratic, anti- "free market capitalism".. but something similar will have to be encouraged...
I fail to understand the logic of buying huge cars with high speeds by the rich... they can neither enjoy the luxury of having the riding pleasure of such cars nor can avail those high speeds on Indian roads. Even on express way like that between Mumbai and Pune... a speed of 100km/hr ( 70miles) is kind of max one can reach. Also , depending on a "driver" to take you in a car everywhere is more like loosing ones "right of driving ones own vehicle" ...most rich in India feel ..loosing this right is kind of gaining in stature !!! So it be for them !!
I sure am trying to undo the consumerism that I learnt during my stay in west... I only wish that India follows the path of European socialistic democracy and not that of American consumption- capitalism ( which seems the more attractive and easy path).
For me , I have now learned right hand drive, stick-shift manual gear car driving.. however must confess that have lost all my interest in enjoying driving myself for pleasure of riding.... or maybe I am yet to learn enjoying the manual transmission.. but the process has begun!

Those songs of solitude...

Some songs have fascinated me over years and seem to vibe with that blend of shades of true happiness, freedom and the melancholy that sometime accompanies that soothing loneliness.

"American Pie" by Don McLean , "My way" by Frank Sinatra and "Hotel California" by Eagles are the songs that have such kind of spell on me. I am not sure what is in these songs that bring out all kinds of emotions in me ...I must have listened to these songs more than hundred times and still they seem so fresh and lively... a newer interpretation every time ... may be that is the reason these songs are called evergreen.. :)
American Pie:Don Mclean

Hotel California:Eagles

My way:Sinatra

Wonder Years

While growing up,I was very fond of "Swami and Friends" and "Malgudi Days" serial by Anant Nag. Somehow these books and serials touched my daily life and experiences. Over the years as I moved to Wonder Years where I found Kevin Arnold as like able as Swami. Also both these fictitious biographies depicted the scenario and times that was quite innocent. Most of the characters very much down to earth , easily relate able and gripping the emotions of the viewer.
In US I became a fan of "Seinfeld" for its real world everyday humor. Intelligent humor, depicting characters that one finds in everyday living. Most of the people almost get hooked on to Seinfeld. Comedy Central Channel that is newly launched in India , is carrying the reruns of these two popular serials. I still myself watching these serials with interest and enjoy them as much as I did earlier. They seem to represent that era , those times in US that was fun , lively , relatively innocent and more social than one finds now.
Somehow , I could find archived copies of episodes of  " Malgudi Days" "Swami " from early 90s or late 80s . I finished watching all those 16 episodes at a stretch and was filled with that nostalgia which I cannot put in words...
Malgudi Days ... Wonder Years .... Seinfeld ... don t know the common link.. but I find myself relating to all three.. they have become a part of my growing up ..  memories or experiences which makes my life fulfilling and  rich..
I am sure the next generation will be missing these innocent experiences... but then they have their favo(u)rite "Friends"


 

Assembly Elections - UP, UTK,Punjab, Goa,Manipur

Let me at the outset congratulate Yogendra Yadav , a psephologist who perfectly predicted the trend and seats in UP. Almost all other exit polls failed to catch the trend of SP sweeping the state of UP and getting around 225 seats in 402 seat assembly ! Aptly the Yadavs were the winners for the day - Akhilesh, Mulayam and Yogendra !
Looking at the results in all five states, the true losers in all five states was- BJP. As a party it was a complete failure in UP . Almost all of the major leaders in UP lost their assembly seats. BJP had a golden opportunity to swing voters in its favor due to anti-incumbency and people being fed up with Maya raj ! People in UP saw SP as the only alternative to unbearable Maya raj. Akhilesh Yadav was almost an obvious choice for people.. young, vibrant, talking their language and talking about progressive ideas, supported by all sections of society including the brahmins who have traditionally kept themselves away from SP and had joined hands with BSP in the previous elections. Brahmins who were traditional Congress voters in 60s-70s-80s... moved to the  BJP in 90s... to BSP in first decade of 2000 and now are moving towards SP in 2012 !
SP has a traditional base of thakurs and muslims.. this year they could also garner support from dalits moving away from BSP and the upper class, educated, Brahmins, younger voters and women.
BJP has been reduced to a party of elderly , orthodox , traditional hindus with strong views about religion. They lack true leadership in UP , almost all leaders are in 60s-70s. Their views are orthodox which shy away many young voters. People have become fed up with their rhetoric of building Ram Temple in every election since 1992 . The UP voters are looking at a progressive party with young blood which could fight with the cadres of BSP .. The only alternative they find is with SP with a fresh  invigorating leadership.
UP is fast becoming like TN of north with power shifting from one regional party (BSP)to other (SP) while national parties like BJP and Congress are mere spectators taking sides !

Loss in UP or failure to gain in UP should ring loud warning bells with in BJP to act swiftly or they would be reduced to null like Congress in UP.

BJP has barely been able to hold on to its seats in Uttara khand. However loss of Khanduri is a big blow to BJP leadership. BJP will have to take help of independents / BSP and others to create some coalition to remain in power. However Congress is the largest single party and may stake claim for the government !

BJP has clinched power in a small state of Goa ( which barely has two MPs) which primarily is on account of blatant corruption by the incumbents and clean image of the projected leadership of Manohar Parrikar, an IIT engineer who is dedicated social worker !  In fact , BJP has not played its traditional "Hindutva" card in Goa.. and field 10 catholic candidates .. 7 of whom won in predominantly christian areas.

In Manipur, BJP barely could show its presence as a national party by opening its account with one seat in 40 member assembly. Cong has comfortably won in Manipur for decades with almost no opposition.

Punjab assembly swings between Congress and Akalis... BJP with its coalition with SAD..does not have it identity as a individual party but has had strong alliance with Shiromani Akali Dal which by itself poses good opposition to Congress. BJP is always a junior partner in coalition and would never be able to have it own identity for staking claim of govt.

Performance of BJP is not just disappointing but abysmal to the extent that it poses a serious question mark to its stature as a national party. The picture in all these five assembly elections clearly shows how BJP is merely remaining for name sake in all these states. A serious setback is in UP where BJP must try to establish its identity again .. build a strong ground base.. provide a strong , young , progressive and able leadership like Vinay Katiyar. Until the next general election is 2014 or probably earlier .. BJP has a  huge task of building its party and creating confidence among UP voters...otherwise BJP will be in worse state than the Congress is in UP.

UP assembly elections 2012

The elections in Uttar-Pradesh are always interesting. There is always a chance of evolving new political alignment and equations ! I am eagerly looking forward to the counting day of March 6th.
I vividly remember the 3 days I spent in and around Banaras and Sarnath during the last elections of UP assembly in 2007. Most people were sure of the success of SP lead by Mulayam Singh, Amar Singh and Co. There was a strong clout of Amar Singh in the areas around Kashi / Sarnath. So much so that our Sahara-Jet Flight from Banaras to Delhi was delayed for an hour , just because of Amar Singh's arrival  from his nearby village was delayed !  Most of the contests were triangular: BSP, BJP and SP ! Cong was nowhere to be seen. There was a very strong undercurrent of BSP even in the bastions of BJP like Allahabad and Banaras. SP , though strong and incumbent , were the only formidable opponents of incoming BSP.  I however had a feeling of strong wave for Mayawati in almost all constituencies that I visited. People felt that strong urge to give Mayawati a chance after seeing SP and BJP earlier. Even the traditional voters of BJP/Cong and SP supported the BSP candidates for voting out SP from the state ! Most political observers were expecting BSP-BJP coalition or a hung assembly. However BSP swept the state keeping everyone including the political observers and psephologists owe struck.

This year I expect the contests in UP to be very strong , multi -cornered  and close ones. Though the main rivals seem to be BSP and SP , I feel that BJP will make significant gains. The Cong is expected only to gain as any addition would have to be counted as gain over the null they had in previous assembly.With Amar Singh not in SP camp , BJP might be able to play the game of kingmaker in UP. Again , a BSP-BJP coalition is very much in offing , if BSP fails to get a majority ! But then that was the prediction even before the last UP assembly election..a hung assembly with possible BSP-BJP coalition !
In-spite of anti-incumbency , BSP seems strong with its strong vote bank . The muslim vote tilting from SP to Congress may give some edge to the BJP candidates in Western UP. I seriously doubt if BJP would be in position to form its own govt in UP. The only option that remains is BSP, BSP-BJP coalition, or SP with all its partners supported by Congress .
My guess is BSP-BJP coalition , but the UP electorate is always good in surprising everyone including themselves !