Gender related mindset

Wifey dragged me to 'TexMach' expo in Pragati Maidan on the weekend. I was forced to tag along because there was no one to go with her and she was really interested in attending that. The expo was a display and presentation of machinery used in the manufacturing of textiles. There were international companies showing off their wares in the expo from Germany, China, Korea etc.
What hit me was something else though. The stalls were manned by Indians mostly. When wifey (and I) approached any stall to enquire the details etc, the person at the stall would invariably explain the query refering, talking and giving attention to me (the male), even though it was wifey who asked the question and was the one who was keener and interjecting during the explanations. I believe that we in India have still many a mile to go before getting over the gender bias at professional level. Doesnt matter that we have had a woman prime-minister and women chief-ministers. Doesnt matter that we have the most powerful politician in the country today who is a woman. Doesnt matter that the most well-known cop in India is a woman. Doesnt matter that we have women CEOs in many Indian companies today as well as an India woman heading the international giant PepsiCo.
The common man still gives attention to the Male in the group in professional arena. This could also be industry specific because in the textile manufacturing industry there are not a lot of women on the factory floor and hence these people may not be acustomed to talk to a woman in position or possession of knowledge. But then these kind still form the majority in India.

Singur and SEZ Controversies

I have been thinking a lot on the Singur controversy and the fast?? of "Maumta di"!!

The agitation of the farmers and the government as well as the corporate house's predicament. I am no fan of Communists... I believe that the Indian Commies are a lot of rigid, narrow-minded and useless old hags who just want to hold on to an idealogy which has been proved to be a failure. They support the government from the outside which shows another aspect of their slyminess - Authority without accountability. Now this might be seem to be a tirade in favor of "Maumta di". That is not true. I have friends from West Bengal who tell me that the people over there are very poor and the kind of money which Tatas have offerred to them is a big saviour.
Neverthless, what gets my goat is that India is a Democracy in just the name. We just elect our law-makers. That is the only democratic aspect of our country. After that the government and the elected (and non-elected) decision-makers just keep everything about running the country under wraps. I have not seen any parameters based on which the government decided to allocate the Singur land for SEZ. If they have really done a good deal then they should come out with facts and figures to convince at least the classes. No one bothered to do that. Where are the statistics related to the percentage of land that is farmed in Singur area. Where is the statistic related to number and kind of crops harvested in a year for the last 5 years in the region. Where is the statistic related to the number of deaths due to poverty, the number of people who are unemployed etc etc.
The best way would be to make the people partners in the industry which is getting developed. The local population also becomes stakeholders in the development and fully supports it. Look what has happenned in Magarpatta near Pune. There is no controversy there and everyone is happy.

Guru!

I was very well inclined to watch this on the very weekend it released and finally did manage to get tickets, albeit they were of Friday night itself but of the very first row in the theater.

I wonder when everyone knows that the movie is based on Dhirubhai Ambani's life then why does the director still put a message that the story is fictional. Why not come out in the open and say that it is biographical. It also showed the animosity between him and the Wadias of Bombay Dyeing. Anyway...

Great and very promising first half. Second half was also good but because the first half was so good that there was a hint on dissatisfaction at the end of the movie. A couple of songs were also misplaced and should not have been there.

But all in all one of the better films and a good one to start 2007 with.

Good that we are seeing refreshingly different films being made by Bollywood than the same old masala and song and dance route. Last year had a lot of those kind of films and this year has also started on that positive note.

New Don

Just saw the new Don on cable. Found it to be a very decent attempt at a remake. Hi-Tech, Classy, Sophisticated and loads of attitude. People often criticise Indian films comparing them with the western counterparts but I do not see anything amiss with the way Indian Cinema has evolved and continues to churn out its own kind of movies. Cinema is for entertainment and I am thoroughly entertained by Indian films. I get completely lost in a good film while watching it, whether it is Hindi or English, and I believe that ultimately, thats what Cinema is for.

Hiding Taxable Income is OKAY!!

When you do not get service by the government for which you pay tax then I feel that it is morally justified that one goes all out to hide one's income as much as possible and not pay tax.
Nithari skeletons are a case in point. Gurgaon cab serial killers are another case. Police refused to register FIRs and even ignored the pattern of killings which was there to see around these.
These days, at any point of time when Indian cops come across any case, their mind starts thinking in the direction of now can I make money out of this!
I believe that the DPS RKPuram MMS scandal around three years back also got the hype and attention by the cops because all those involved were rich and there was every option to harass them and extort money.
I do not make resolutions, but today I feel like making one. I will go to extreme length and pain to hide every part of my income as much as possible so as not to pay tax to the government of India to the greatest extent. The government does not give me even the most basic service for which it charges tax - Police, Road, Electricity.

Match-Fixing again (Tendulkar and Dravid doing it)!!

Sure seems like it when batsmen of the calibre of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid hop around while facing a rookie leg-spinner - Harris. Dinesh Kartik, another debutant played fluently against him and attacked him beautifully.
What were Sachin and Rahul doing just standing there and trying to defend the ball? What the hell were they afraid of? When in India Sachin has hit Shane Warne around the ground when Shane bowled in the rough then why did he give Harris so much respect and not hit him? And what was up with Dravid also? These kind of things give you proof and start making you believe the match-fixing theories.

New Year

Here is wishing the patrons of this page a wonderful 2007.

Wifey and I celebrated the arrival in Nainital. I went there after 14 years. So much changes and so much remains the same. The shops in Bara Bazar were the same and the faces manning those shops familiar but all of those faces had grown old. There is a motorable road right upto 'Snow View' now.

My school has changed quite a lot but it still seemed as if I was there only yesterday. We met my House-Master Mr. Pande who is still as moody as before (initially gave us permision for 20 minutes to show wifey around the school premises and then himself sat us down and talked for an hour in his office). He retired last year but is on an extension. Good to see the new principal exposing students to the world 'outside' by sending them to compete in extra-curricular activities around the country.

Also met Shravan Nagpal, the bloke from my class who teased and troubled me quite a lot in school days. He is running a cloth business in Haldwani along with his brother and is doing rather well (bloke supplies uniforms to 50 schools in the region). We enquired about his shop and stopped there on our way back. I knew that he would certainly meet me extremely warmly but the way he welcomed me was truly extraordinary... with such warmth and compassion :-) While the two of us talked, wifey decided to make good use of her time and started looking at some of the sweaters in his shop and picked one and dear Nagpal refused to take any money for it as this was our first visit to his shop.

I showed wifey around to so many places where I did so many firsts of my life... where I played Billiards first time... where I tasted butter chicken first time... where I tased fried fish first time... where I learnt leg-spin bowling... you get the point, dont you !

The Mall Road has become so commercialised. It is decorated with lights and there are megaphones around playing music... Rowdy elements stop their bikes in the middle of the road and dance vulgarily!!

People are discouraged from using plastic bags to preserve the lake. You get your stuff in good old paper bags and if you buy a few things then unless you are carrying a hand bag or something, you have a problem carrying the multiple paper bags around.

All in all a nice visit to my past and an excellent way to welcome 2007. Lets hope this year also brings in its path memories as cherishable as the ones this trip of mine brought back to me.