gojek and Solv!

gojek and Solv!

Dear World,

Came across this Super App gojek! Could not resist but writing about it!

Meet gojek!

Almost everyone in Southeast Asia, if not the entire world, has now heard about or used ‘gojek’ services. Not many know exactly what it means though. The name is a combination play on universal ‘Go’ with the Indonesian word for motorcycle taxis - ojek.

Don’t really want to talk about all the services that the App offers now to the users. Perhaps a user will get tired with the unlimited possibilities and services that are on offer to take. Don’t worry! One can even avail a therapeutic massage from gojek, to be completely stress free and to rejuvenate the soul, body and mind.

No doubt that the now ‘Super App’ evolved from hiring motorcycle rides in Indonesia. Currently, the App simply ‘Solv’es everyday problems and effects positive social impact.

Everything about gojek is in big numbers. Millions of users, drivers and merchants benefit from the App. Billions of dollars of economic impact to the Indonesian government. But, what is amazing is the company’s Technology Mantra to ‘build startups within a startup’.

With gojek, you can GoPay, GoSend, GoFood, GoMart and just Go and do anything you want. In one word, you can ‘GoFree’ of day-to-day operational challenges, and don’t worry about the cost involved with every service; it is negligible and saves money for all – gojek to build a region’s economy, after all.

When rest of the world says ‘Go check for something good!’ when it comes to Mobile Apps for getting anything done, Southeast Asia proudly says ‘gojek for everything good!’

Meet gojek!

The 5 Chair Hotel

The 5 Chair Hotel

As I sit down to write about the 5 chair hotel, a lot of striking, closer-to-heart emotions rip through and the recollections take me back to the most precious years in school, just after my adolescence. The school is Regional Engineering College in the inconspicuous city of Trichy, a Southern Indian non-metro.

The campus is not lush green with buildings of architectural excellence. In contrast, the campus is a dry, barren land with buildings of modest outlook and sufficient facilities for the activities of a highly technical educational institution.

There were a couple of cafeterias, a shopping complex with a juice centre and a few more shops where anyone can get a quick bite. Though these joints are still in my faint account, the 5 Chair Hotel comes across strongly as a treasure to cherish.

Everything revolved around the 5 Chair Hotel for most of us in RECT. The Restaurant was, and most probably still is, in the Trichy-Tanjore main road. A stone’s throw from the main gate, the 5CH was strategically located to attract the hungry youth in the hour of need – typically around and after midnight. The business hours are between 10:00 p.m. and 03:00 a.m. The menu includes delicacies with eggs, chicken and roti, among the other chef’s specials.

The ambience boasts unconditional air with open space as dining area and a small roof made of dead plants. The seating capacity is for five - equipped with wooden chairs, some with lay back comfort. The restaurant does not have an official name (other than unofficial SamFox). The tax authorities did not require one – the owner used to tell us. It is the number of chairs that influenced the identity process and later would become as a legendary name for the restaurant – the 5 Chair Hotel. The owner loved it for the sheer rhyme to that of a five star hotel.

The recipes for most of the bill of fare are kept secret. However, the food preparation is done right in front of the hungry youth for dosa, omelette, bull’s eye and muttai parotta. More like the style practised in Japanese restaurants minus the usual gimmicks with knives and sticks. And certainly, the master chef does not throw pieces of muttai parotta in the general direction of student guests.

The making of muttai parotta is an art that involves the skills that of a mathematician, sculptor, architect and a musician. The batter is divided into small globes and every globe would eventually become a parotta. I would fail miserably to describe the process which turns the battered globes – made of flour and water – into parottas. Let me just say the globes are stretched into thin layer as outlying as the shape could hold. The single layer is folded into multiple layers in a spherical shape and then fried with oil until golden brown. I strongly recommend the reader to visit 5CH to see and listen to the music that is orchestrated when the eggs and parotta are mixed together into small pieces using a metal ladle atop greased tava. My feeble attempt can best describe the music as ‘Tangtanang Tanangtanang Tangtanang Tanangtanang’.

Everything revolved around the 5 Chair Hotel, I told. The mid-night tennis ball cricket games, last minute preparations for the examinations (bi-weekly, internal and the semester exams), the late night walks for better health, the late night walks to spoil health (the 5CH boasts a varied collections of cigarettes as part of the dessert menu), the expeditions to the local touring talkies, the rehabilitation counselling to the Devotees Of Perfect Eternity (the user group of narcotics – DOPE) and the bedtime story telling routine - judiciously practised as a round-robin, among the special interest groups.

Everything revolved around the 5CH. Everything was scheduled between 10:00 p.m. and 03:00 a.m. The favourite dialogue among the friends, along with the morning news, used to be about the Chef’s special they had at the 5CH the previous night. Due to the unconventional business hours, the 5CH invites only the male guests. The unwritten rule expects that the guests are engineers OR pursuing to be engineers. The owner frowns upon the trespassing drivers and probably charges them more to discourage using the academic facility.

The time was 1991-1994. After two decades and half, and after a few memberships with star hotel chains, I still openly yearn for a late night walk towards the 5CH in the dry, barren lands of my Alma mater – to savour the chef’s special of the night.

Google Apps

https://goo.gl/BvnkNS

Meet My friends series: Dr. Sakthivel!

Meet Mr. Sakthivel! True to the first part of his name, he understands that the real power is in feminine form in this world, at his home and in his whatsApp groups. The second part of his name, in Tamil, denotes a weapon. Though divine, the weapon can qualify to be as dangerous as any other sharp edged armory. However, the man himself is not armed. In fact, his own bodily arms are used only for folding to extend respect to others and clapping against other’s achievements, however much silly or insignificant they may be.

The man does not own stocks of the commercial group ‘Lodha’ in Mumbai. He is not a known authority in the literary skills of ‘Tamil’. But, when those two words are put together, he is the single most authority in the township. Anywhere, if someone talks about Lodha and Tamil or Tamizhar, Dr. Sakthivel’s name will inevitably precede or follow the core conversation. Yes. The man is a doctor. One of the very rare occasions, Dr. Sakthivel will get angry is when he is not called as Dr. Sakthivel (People close to him claim that this change in behavior happened only after he watched a Tamil movie called ‘Sathi Leelavathi’) Dr. Sakthivel is not a modern day Krishna, but clearly is the savior of ‘damsel in distress’ and his status in the WhatsApp groups run by him almost equals to demigod… Meet Dr. Sakthivel!

ADMK 2.0 launches logo contest – Expand ADMK!

ADMK 2.0 launches logo contest – Expand ADMK! 

The most novel idea will fetch an unimaginable prize!

The persona

Affable Darling Mom Kool

Affectionate Dear Mom Kool

The policy

Always Doing More Kindness

The electoral

Anbu Deivathudan Makkal Kootani

Anybody Dare Move Kazhagam?

Go ahead all! write your comments! Make this viral! The prize is priceless!

Dr. Mallya and India

I am not an economist. I am not sure what this means to Indian economy and finally affects a common man. I can assume a very little, considering huge sums in several political scams. However, having flown KingFisher during Good Times, would like add a fact for the record: Dr. Mallya tried his level best to introduce world class Air Travel Service in India and succeeded to great extent despite losses. He even sold his family silver for a loss making Airlines to keep afloat in the skies, for us to have a 5 star flying experience.

I am not a shrewd businessman. However, I strongly feel that buying off Air Deccan and paying huge sums was his only and greatest mishap in running KingFisher. He made business loss there. Mind you, he brought better service flying those Deccan Aircrafts, re-painted and re-branded and almost for the same cost for an Indian Air traveler and adding the world class service that he always believed an Indian should experience during an Air Travel. He is the best host that an Indian businessman can ever be or can ever become. Period.

As far business loss and settling with banks, I do not know any details and cannot comment. One thing, if any, I have to criticize strongly against Dr. Mallya is – KingFisher not having paid the employees. Whatever the excuse, the employees should have been paid and Dr. Mallya, in exile or not, should arrange to pay the outstanding salaries to the employees. Once done, he is as good as or, in most ways, a better businessman India ever had who treated his customers as guests who visited his home. 

Rajavel Thiruvu Weblog: The nation salutes Dr. Kalam!

Rajavel Thiruvu Weblog: The nation salutes Dr. Kalam!: The nation salutes Dr. Kalam – one of India’s greatest guiding fathers – who inspired an entire generation of Indians. Dr. Kalam inspires ...

The nation salutes Dr. Kalam!

The nation salutes Dr. Kalam – one of India’s greatest guiding fathers – who inspired an entire generation of Indians. Dr. Kalam inspires more Indians on his death and would continue to inspire more and more in the coming days, months and years.

Such was his legacy; it is a privilege and honor to write about Dr. Kalam and I cannot possibly write anything more powerful than a few of Dr.Kalam’s quotes – a message to all of us.

“It is very easy to defeat someone, but it is very hard to win someone”.

“If you fail, never give up because FAIL means "First Attempt In Learning".

“ End is not the end, if fact END means "Effort Never Dies"

"If you get No as an answer, remember NO means "Next Opportunity". So Let's be positive."

“Dream, dream, dream. Dreams transform into thoughts and thoughts result in action.”

“Where there is righteousness in the heart, There is beauty in the character. When there is beauty in the character, there is harmony in the home. When there is harmony in the home. There is an order in the nation. When there is an order in the nation, there is peace in the world."

#SwachhBharat Abhiyan

I hail the Indian government’s Swachh Bharat Abhiyan (Clean India Campaign). The campaign is in good direction and the movement is in good direction. Nevertheless, for results, ‘#SwachhBharat’ has to be accountability-oriented and process-driven.

A campaign can bring more awareness and perhaps more support among the Indian public; but, cannot produce results until the battle is process driven.

Accountability:-

1. A central governance committee to be setup and responsible to complete the mission by 2019
2. Make the District collectors accountable for their districts
3. Let there be yearly (or) half-yearly reports on the progress – district level and rolled up to state/national level and published by the central governance committee

Process:-

1. Let there be a common process (or) a customized process for every district to make/keep the district clean
2. The process to highlight the difficulties and escalate the hardships - along with the possible solutions - immediately (perhaps in a common forum) for the central governance to take action

Let the government do the monumental task, taking in my ideas (or) not! For me, as an individual, I am going to start today, as I write this blog, to actively participate in the campaign. My goals

1. My Home – this weekend
2. My Housing Society – 31^st December, 2014
3. The streets around the Housing Society - 31^st March, 2015
4. Sector 14, Kharghar, Navi Mumbai – 31^st December 2015

If I can achieve a clean neighbourhood by the end of next year, I can then pass on the processes, hardships and solutions of the #SwachhBharat drive, to the local administration.

Ladies and Gentlemen, please expect an update to this post on the mentioned date(s) and lets all build a ‘Clean Nation’.

A note of caution: - What we are talking about here is changing century old behaviour of a common man in India, when it comes to public sanitation and cleanliness. It is going to be challenging, slow and a monumental task! Let there be a dustbin in every street in India! Let the force be with us! Jai Hind!

Diwali wishes from ABC Software!

Welcome to ABC Software! As with many things in life, the tenure with ABC is what one makes of it! We have had several unique personas with distinct idiosyncrasies having worked/still working for ABC. Then there was (is) he/she, who

·         Manages the Managers

·         Follows the law : ‘For every action there is an equivalent and opposite inaction’

·         Communicates only one-way

·         Sets up processes to set new policies from already set policies

·         Talks to only ‘n’ ABCians where ‘n’ equals to the number of years spent at ABC

·         Writes poems even for official communication

·         Would not read anything other than Software code for more than 15 seconds

·         Likes to meet (or) should we say, ‘likes Meetings’

·         Picks nicknames to go trendy with latest technology

·         Practices clothing style like late eighties; grooming style like late nineties and constantly wishes to be in late twenties

·         Has unique patent-pending algorithm in picking up colour and style of the outfit, for the day

·         Wrestles the way through to top title in most of the games

·         Looks at software systems only as subsystems

·         Believes ‘Marketing’ lies with    well...

·         Does not spell names Sebisfically Karrectly!

·         Talks only in numbers (or) should we say numbers the ‘Talks’ that are made in a day

·         Measures the smile and if gets flashy, immediately frowns

·         Works hard creating something funny and often times creates funny work

·         Practices the art of conversing in one syllables even for official communication
           An example excerpt:

Q: There is a bug in the system, XYZ.

A: O!

Q: Can you fix it?

A: Y?

Q: Who coded that?

A: I.

Q:  Can you fix it?

A: S.

Q: Where is your Team Leader?

A: T.

Q: I will tell your TL that you fixing the bug.

A: K.

·         Defies science with Decibel level – High

·         Defies science with Decibel level – Low

Welcome to ABC Software! You will be fine!

Amma released statement from Jail!

If I were the political advisor of Amma, I would recommend the following statement be released immediately by Amma:

"My dear countrymen, I would like to announce to the entire nation that I take complete responsibility for the current legal situation. It is up to me to fight against the hardship and come out clean, unaffected by the challenges, that are posed against me. Thank you for your overwhelming support, during the difficult times. Having said that, I want the following activities be stopped at once in our state.

1.       No protest, in whatsoever form.

2.       No statements in my support, in whatsoever form.

If anybody does one of the above two or both, they are NOT going to enter in my good books. Rather they would end up in my bad books. I appeal to the police department to take strictest action against anyone who breaks the law and cause trouble to the general public and normal life in the state, under the excuse of supporting me.

Until after the legal situation is resolved, in the eyes of the rest of the world, your leader is beheld as corrupt. To some of them your leader is beheld as criminal. I respect their opinion and they are totally entitled to the opinion; I appeal to all my supporters not to display any advertisement projecting me as ‘Dharma Amma, ‘Can GOD be punished?’ etc., It would purely be nauseating to them and would be outright comical to the rest of the world.

Jaya TV to stop broadcasting all the nonsense about 60 people committing suicide to protest against my arrest. It is highly of very bad taste and wrong precedent. It is downright embarrassing when political critics call me and ask ‘Why none of your council of ministers, who cried so profoundly during oath-taking ceremony, haven’t had cardiac arrests?’

I want to reiterate to my supporters that your leader is much taller and too big in stature for a legal situation like this to affect in any significant manner. Also, I would like to reiterate to my countrymen that my agenda for the welfare of the state is vast and I would not go down easily and fight till the very end towards my goal of betterment for the people that immensely have faith in me. In power or not, I would continue to work towards the betterment of my state and would not tolerate any harm done towards my people – physical or emotional, especially under the excuse of supporting me. Jai Hind!"

Bloody Fear!

In the Indian sub continent, anything bloody is considered an expletive: an inappropriate thing to say. However, the write-up involves Blood and fear induced by blood. I cannot possibly choose a better title than ‘Bloody fear’!

I want to tell you something! ‘Bloody’, the adjective is not an expletive. It just means, ‘with blood’ or ‘full of blood’ or ‘lot of blood’. Furthermore, the narration is about blood and fear – outside of Indian subcontinent. On that bloody intro, let us get on with the story.

The year was 2000. I lived and worked in the United States of America. The city of Bentonville is an unassuming small town in Arkansas, with all the characteristics that qualify for something ends with ‘Ville’.

My apartments had 18 holes among other things. During weekends, I used to just stand in the balcony of my home – smoking and watching lazy golfers putting around. The game of golf never intrigued me as much as Tennis or Football (for Americans, it is ‘soccer’ or simply FIFA)

The laziness or the smoking never bothered me during those years until I found it. Blood. Initially, there was a trace of it when I goggled after smoking a cigarette. Then I noticed blood every time I had a mouthwash, smoking or not.

Having severely influenced by the Tamil movies I had watched as an young adult, I sported a beard and started coughing. Everyday I used to practice cool philosophical things to say about life, for my restaurant/bar time dinner chat.

As days passed by, I grew tired of waiting to die. After a week, I wanted to turn the things around, and stopped smoking. Well. Not completely; just one cigarette a day.  I even had a clean shave and started to smile more and talk less philosophically. Nothing helped.

After two weeks, I decided to visit a doctor. The doctor advised a series of medical examinations: an X-RAY, ECG and ironically a blood test too and also a few more tests (which are not common names as ECG, X-RAY or a blood test)

The lab technicians sent reports back to the doctor declaring me having a ‘clean bill of health’. The only suggestion in their reports was for me to have a couple of sessions of therapy, to straighten my thoughts out. Apparently, Tamil movie cancer philosophy crept into the conversations during medical tests.

With the test results, the doctor called me back. After briefing the results from the reports, the doctor had only one thing to say: Go, see a dentist! Well. You guessed it right. The dentist fixed my weak bleeding gums and helped me improve oral hygiene practices. Voila! Or Bingo! The blood stopped.

I have to tell you. The feel of normal life again was extremely boring and not cool at all; I needed that blood. I needed that beard. I needed that philosophical air about me. Nevertheless, I called the doctor and informed about my bleeding gums. Over the phone, he laughed out loud. I sighed and was about to hang up and then he asked me the question: ‘Raj, say - when do you smoke that one cigarette?’

Resume Writing!

Alright Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am going to touch upon a topic and make it easy for everyone involved – Working men and women. That is almost 60% of the world’s population. One time or the other in our working life, we ought to type out a resume.

I have known a lot of people who have worked for one single company in their entire life just on the fear for typing out a resume. Ironically, some of the aforementioned people have worked in the companies, who make money teaching the world ‘How to write successful Resumes’.

My Mantra on Resume Writing has 3 simple rules:-

Rule No 1 – Do not pay someone to write your resume!

Rule No 2 – Do not spend more than 1 hour to write your resume!

Rule No 3 – Do not make the resume exceed one page of A4 size paper!

Want an example? Please check this out:

RAJAVEL THIRUVU

rajavel.thiruvu@gmail.com

9947084620

Education

MCA, NIT Trichy, Tamilnadu

National Merit Scholarship and Dept of Electronics (Government of India) Scholarship

Current Title

Delivery Manager – Middle Management

Title Looking for

Upper Middle / Top Management

Project History

1994 – 1997 – Tata Unisys Ltd. - INDIA, USA, CANADA

Projects in Banking, Legacy to PC, IVR

1997 – 2003 – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. – USA

Projects in Retail, NT Admin

2003 – 2005 – TonePoint Inc. - USA

Projects in Games, Game Tools

2006 – 2008 – Exilant Consulting Pvt Ltd. – INDIA

Projects for Apple Inc. IT

2008 – 2009 - iAssure Info Solutions Pvt Ltd. – INDIA

Projects in Insurance, Aviation, Hospitality

2009 – Current – Gemini Software Solutions Pvt Ltd. – INDIA

Projects in Shipping, Banking, Business Intelligence

Passion

Writing Articles

Puzzle solving (Running an email group forum called Puzzle-IT!)

Team building

If you are thinking an important part is missing in the resume, you are right. Where are the salary details? Guys, it is all in the QRCode! Cheers! 

Rahul Gandhi interview with Arnab Goswami

Ladies and Gentlemen readers, firstly I would like to declare that I am not a Congressman. Also, I do not write about politics. However, after seeing the interview of Rahul Gandhi with Arnab Goswami in YouTube and after reading thru the newspapers and columns in internet, I wanted to take time off and write about the interview and what, in my opinion, is the right perspective to analyze the interview. More importantly, what is the right message to take away from the interview.

The reviews were very sad. Almost all the reviews, some from eminent columnists, were trying to depict that Rahul did not get what Arnab was saying and repeated himself. On the contrary, it was Arnab who did not get what Rahul was saying and it was Arnab who repeated the questions which, in my opinion, when answered will only be of interest to masala movie-goers. Rahul avoided them. In fact, so subtly he had tried to explain to Arnab, ‘let us try and talk about important things’.

During the final minutes, a frustrated Rahul openly condemned that Arnab is not interested in talking about serious issues that Rahul wanted to talk about. The reply from Arnab – lamest excuse possible: ‘If I want to talk about them, I would be listening to a Rahul Gandhi speech. But, this is a Rahul Gandhi interview’.

What it really means – we, the media (channels and newspapers), are not interested in how you are planning to run this country and what are the changes you plan to bring about to the system? Rather we just want to know your answer on ‘Modi calling you a ‘Prince’’. Rahul is not going to answer these questions. He is much bigger than that. And certainly Rahul is not going to be dragged into sensitive and unfortunate riots (and sadly, sensational for the channels even after years have passed) and scams and arrests. He is not game for talking about anything Past. Learning from the Past is as far he would go. From what I could see: Rahul is present. Rahul is future.

Take the single-most important thing from Rahul’s interview! If you listen carefully, he mentioned critical things about how India is run. India is run by policies and laws made by elected representatives. He challenged, read carefully here – even his own party’s procedures, about how we select our candidates who contest elections. Is it not crux of the whole thing? SELECT RIGHT CANDIDATES! Send them to parliament! They make the right policies and laws. They do not involve in scams. The system changes!

After what had happened in the parliament over Telangana row recently, after seeing corrupt politicians arrested, released and re-elected over several decades, after scams after scams looted Indian wealth and after seeing India’s poverty raising to the third of world’ poor – it is high time, we actually listen to someone who has a plan to select right candidates and who has the power to nominate right candidates. Listen to him. Empower Rahul Gandhi! Empower him with overwhelming support!

I thank Rahul for using the word ‘System’ so many times. I sincerely hope every common Indian who had listened to the Interview heard the word as many times and understood that the system in India is fundamentally wrong.

Have questions on Rahul’s plans/ Strategies? Please send someone other than Arnab Goswami, perhaps in a show called ‘Frankly listening’ and listen to Rahul’s idea about selecting right people to run the country and about his plans on changing the system.

Now, please do not come back to me with an intellectual debate that it was Congress that started the Telangana issue and Congress had been severely scam-hit in recent years. This write-up is about all the political parties and current Indian system and about someone who has vision, power and influence to change the system. We, the people of India, have to empower him with overwhelming support that he needs. Let me be very direct and very clear. Empower Rahul with absolute majority! That is the only way the system can change. Just think about it!

User Experience

What is User Experience? The phrase can be associated with any consumer product or service. You visit a hotel for a couple of days’ stay. How was your experience? You run into a restroom in an office building/in a restaurant for nature’s call. How was your experience? You feeling sick and visiting a doctor. How was your experience? (From registration, waiting, consultation, diagnosis, billing and the aftermath) You buy a latest model mobile phone or camera. How was your experience?

For Software, the phrase UX is becoming the new paradigm. Yesteryear’s definition of good looking UI does not hold good any more. UX is not about a great looking UI for your application. It is more about making sure the application works great too. What is ‘Great’? Everything. The success of providing a great User Experience with a Software application lies in details. The App has to be Easy on the eyes; Easy to Navigate; Easy to Learn and Easy to Use.

Let us analyse a story of a typical Software Application. Finance department of a retail giant, requires all the store managers in the chain to prepare and submit a monthly budget for the store to plan the financial needs of stores for every month. The CFO calls the CIO and tells him he needs the Budget App and will nominate a Point of Contact (POC) from the Finance department for all communications. CIO calls the Manager in-charge of ‘Applications for Store Managers’ and gives brief details of the request and the POC in Finance. After a plethora of meetings, discussions, reviews, approvals and demos, the software application finally gets installed for the store managers to access and prepare monthly budget.

The CFO calls CIO and thanks him and the two top guys congratulate each other and fix up a round of golf on green grass and an evening of cocktails to celebrate the success of the new system. The Grass is not always greener in the other side – The end users. By the time a Store Manager gets a printout of a monthly budget in the approved format, he would pretty much curse everyone in the world with particular attention to the programming team and the CFO. The store manager, of course, does not go to celebrate with cocktails. Instead, he hits the bar hard every night, during the budget week.

The moral of the story: The feedback for a software product/application has to be obtained from the end users of the App, who deals with the system at a transactional level day-in and day-out. Unfortunately, the voice of the customer is too feeble to reach up to the last programmer, who builds the system, due to several commercial, political and tactful reasons.

The paradigm is shifting and a lot of big software corporations are becoming user centric. There are focus groups set up for this thought process. The focus groups work relentlessly towards Usability Studies. The groups strive to represent the voice of the customer to the programmers. The Focus groups play the role of an end user and would not let an App out of the building if it fails to provide a greater UX. The report sent from the Focus Groups to the Programming Team will list the ‘Offences’ in the system, which will make the life of an end user very difficult, at least while they spent time with the system.

What do we all do herein programming community? It is really simple. There is a ton of literature available to read about UX. Also, by asking one simple question, we can change the way a system operates: “If I were to use the system for most of my work life, would I be comfortable?”

Ladies and gentlemen, the buzzword is: Intuitive. If the end user appreciates an application with the words - Intuitive and Slick, you can congratulate yourself for having built a great software application.

Honour killing! Really?

It has been months since I had read about the Judgement in Aarushi murder case. Even today, as I sit down to write this blog, I am extremely disturbed and worried.

An investigation based on the theory of ‘Honour killing’; A Judgement based on the theory of ‘Honour killing’, in the year of 2014. I agree that we are a third world country and technology & the facilities offered to (and the processes set up for) various government departments are way inferior compared to that of developed world. That should not necessarily dictate that the quality of thoughts, actions and expressions by these departments to be very inferior and downright unacceptable.

The UP police did kill Honour of a child; The Post-Mortem team did Honour killing; The CBI did Honour killing; The Forensic team did Honour killing; The media, both ‘Print’ and ‘Telecast’ did Honour killing; The Judgement did Honour killing; Above all, the people of this country did the biggest of Honour killing – reading and watching over several years and doing nothing about it;

It is so very convenient for everyone involved, to shamelessly do this, because Aarushi is not alive. It also is extremely convenient because they can sell this theory in India. What is worse, the public wants to read more and flourish on the cheap entertainment about a bad character here, an Honour killing there and swinging couples everywhere.

 By some miraculous divine intervention, if Aarushi were to be alive today, how many of these gentlemen/ladies have the moral courage to go and stand before her and say the things they have said about her openly to the entire nation. Aarushi would apply pepper spray on them because this is an attack on her character. And Aarushi would have every right to question their character.

If an investigative agency and a court of law can convict parents of a child on Honour killing theory and circumstantial evidences, what is the sentence against CBI for killing the Honour of a child (just by wild and shady imagination) with no evidence whatsoever?

By this post, we pray along with million others for the higher courts to restore the Honour of a murdered child. Truth must prevail!

Tamil Nadu Students and 2014 Parliamentary Elections

At the outset, I would like to declare the target audience for this write-up – Tamil Nadu students. Also, though the write-up can act as general guidelines on a student’s role in any elections, would like to restrict the conversation to 2014 parliamentary elections.

Worldwide, there are several examples when Student movements brought about astounding changes. The students of various colleges and institutions in Tamil Nadu have participated in rightful and just movements before; Very well know the effect of such protests.

The time has arrived again when the students have to act upon and exercise the power they rightfully own. VOTE! During the elections, it is the opportunity and duty of the Tamil Nadu students to vote right. Three simple guidelines:

1. Vote right.
2.  Influence everyone in the family, friends and the community to vote right.
3. Spread this message across the entire Tamil Nadu to bring about the change.

I am not a political advisor. I have said so several times in my earlier articles. However, if anyone has an uncertainty as to whom to vote, please read upon, for my thoughts:

What to do?
1.             All Daringly Must Knock out anti-Tamil Nadu forces
2.             All Dutifully Must Knead to decisive leadership
3.            All Dravidians (so to speak) Must Know the truth

Why to do?  Because,
1.            A national party has routed itself in the state
2.            Another national party has a comical coalition
3.            Permanent benefiters have more family issues to sort out

The student communities of the state of Tamil Nadu have a clear mandate for 2014 elections. Remember, we are electing representatives to protect the interests of Tamil Nadu. Please be prudent and prevail! Truth must triumph!

Author’s note:-

It is a deliberate attempt to delay this write-up and post 10 days prior to the elections. The author wants the message to be new and fresh in the minds of all – yet there has to be enough time to spread the message throughout the state.

It is a coincidence that the message goes out on the day of Tamil New year! Happy New year everyone! One Vote! One Leadership!

I have a dream!

Prologue: - Hi All, I had dreamt this write-up on 02nd day of April, 2014. Currently, we have a new Prime Minister in India. Nevertheless, my dreams are still very accurate and I hope and pray that my dreams will come true!

Dreams:-

I wanted to write this post and publish on the 01^st day of April. But then, I did not want this post to be read with the hint as an April fool’s joke, laughed at and as quickly dismissed from thoughts. I wanted to write this post as a collection of ‘Then There is…’

Since the writing goes on the 02^nd day of April, for a good reason, the post would be a collection of ‘Then there will be…’

Then there will be a Prime Minister who would appear on National Television and announce ‘I will not allow any farmer to commit suicide in our land. Farmers, who are watching, take my direct official telephone number and call me if such a thought ever crosses your mind. We will find the cause and eliminate the cause altogether. Trust me! Farmers are the heartbeat of India and I will not allow a farmer’s heartbeat to stop by suicide. Not under my watch!’

Then there will be a Prime Minister who would NOT want to leave a legacy as ‘I have done nothing wrong!’ Rather who would want to leave a legacy as ‘I have done everything Right’ and a stronger legacy as ‘I have not allowed anyone in the government to do anything wrong’

Then there will be a Prime Minister who would NOT allow a neighboring country to mass murder hundreds of thousands of innocent citizens in the name of war against terror. Then there will be a Prime Minister who would NOT allow the same neighboring country to kill Indian fishermen on a daily basis.

Then there will be a Prime Minister who would send a direct strong command, if needed military power, against a State government to force open the rightful River Water Supply to the neighboring state where thousands of farmers die year after year due to the illogical and completely opportunistic political system.

Then there will be an unpolluted political system in our country which will not blend the corruptive measure ‘Cash for Vote’ in any level of the democracy. Then there will be chief ministers of our states with the wholesome goal towards upliftment of the nation and people of the state’s only.

Then there will be authors who will not promote underage drinking and premarital sex in every book that they write to promote sales among what is called as ‘mass’ in the country. Then there will be media as a whole that understands ‘A country is as good as its press!’

Then there will be Police, Investigative and Judiciary systems that are mindful and actually understand the meaning of justice, dignity of justice and understand the know-hows as to whom, for what and by how the justice will be carried out.

Then there will be advanced and civilized society when foreign tourists would declare that our land is the safest in the world, for women. Then there will be a day when almost all billion plus Indians can stand up and say ‘I am proud to be an Indian’! Cheers J

MH370

I wanted to write this post and publish on 01^st April, 2014. Two reasons why I would like to publish a week earlier:
1. Going by the current search results, the post would still remain an April fool’s joke on 01^st of April. 
2. Ten days from now, as harsh as it might sound, the world will no longer be interested in MH370.

I have not searched the net for the statistical data on how many Aircraft have gone missing and found or not found, how many ships have hit the bottom of oceans and how many Aircraft have crashed. I do not seem to recollect any information from my memory other than the Sep 09^th, planned Aircraft(s) crash into World Trade Centre. The same would be true for many readers.

Why? We always delve into the current hot news. For any other News to stick into our memory, the news has got to be BIG. Unless our relatives, friends or someone we know is affected, the news will be fast forgotten.

Not many details in the search procedures interest me. There is one fact about the passenger(s) mobile phones were ringing even after second or third day into the search. If, in fact, according to the accepted theory, the Aircraft had hit the bottom of an ocean then I would like to know the make and model of the mobile phones and also the service provider details. Very impressive!

As someone who used to be a frequent flyer myself, I sincerely pray and hope that the MH370 be found and all on board are still alive by some miraculous means. People alive or not, still I hope for the Aircraft to be found 1. To pay respect for the departed souls by their relatives and for honourable burials.  2. To get whatever clue towards the cause of Aircraft missing and crash, to learn and avoid such serious errors.

Before signing off, wish that I do not have to post this again on 01^st of April, 2015. 

Khobragade and Aarushi

Today, I have read the news about “India welcomes US court dropping indictment against Khobragade”. India is happy to pull off what is being considered as restoring honor of an Indian citizen, to be more specific, an Indian diplomat. Well done! Congratulations! Indian government stands up strongly for one of her daughters, corrupt or not.

Am I happy reading this news? Not at all! On the contrary, I am deeply saddened. The same government did nothing to stop tarnishing of a murdered child’s honor. Aarushi! Almost every governmental organization (Police, CBI, Forensic Labs), Media and Judiciary assassinated the honor of a murdered child. The entire country allowed this to happen. The Indian government allowed this to happen. Mother India let one of her youngest daughter’s honor ripped and did not shed a tear.

When a country, with all her might, is fighting for restoring honor of a diplomat, a common man expects the same for every citizen. Now, what does a common man expect when Aarushi murder case goes for appeal in higher courts? Restore honor of a child! Even if that takes to admit that all the governmental organizations have erred, admit it! There is no shame! Rather, India will be more proud to declare to the world that, she does not mind admitting wrong-doing and looking bad by her earlier actions, if her current righteous actions make her daughters look good and make her daughters honourable!

When the government has the audacity to question and challenge a foreign country’s legal system on an arrest of one of her diplomats (probably corrupt), should the government not fight against wrongful judgement meted out to one of her innocent daughters (and, in all likelihood, guiltless parents) by the home judicial system.

All of us pray that the higher courts will do the right thing and restore the honor of a murdered child! Satyameva Jayate!