The Politics of the Falling Rupee!

I am absolutely not talking about the end of the world literally.
It can't happen. Not now any ways, there is too much happening otherwise, for the world to physically collapse. Economically, well, that is questionable.

In the light of recent events, I think that one way or the other the great Indian Middle Class is going be squeezed to the hilt. It is we who are going to take a hit, unless the black money lodged in the swiss banks comes home and fills the coffers of the Indian Treasury.
Honest to God, that is the ONLY way that the present UPA Government can survive the economic slowdown. Because knowing the politics of my Country, I know for sure that any concrete steps that may be taken by the government are going to come back on their face by the opposition and allies alike.

What we as the people have to do is via our actions prove to the politicos that we can take some hard hitting steps but we would really like to still believe in the 'Great Indian Dream', where for the last 10 odd years despite everything, India as a whole was doing much better than rest of the world.

My sister explained this to me and my mum when we were cribbing about the price rise, I thought that I would share it with you too:

- The Oil cos lose about 8 Rs/litre on petrol with the current price of the crude and the various taxes that the poor companies have to pay to the government.

- Therefore to cut out on the losses, the petrol prices are hiked. But because petrol price hike means rise in commodities, the government pays subsidies, meaning they pay out of their own pockets so that the price hike does not effect the common man that much. But because they pay out of their own pockets, they lose the tax money that they have collected for development.

- If they take loan from the foreign entities like World Bank or IMF, their foreign deficit increases and like it is with any other loans, they have to start getting more money in their coffers to develop on the various schemes that they run for the poor.

-Thus to fill their coffers, they either cut the subsidies and therefore the hit comes to the common man or they increase the taxes, again making sure that the burden comes to the US. The poor common man.

Then what to do?
The decisions of a price hike hit us like a ton of bricks. And so does the taxes. Like I said before, all of us should shut our eyes from the fact that the swiss banks have the Black money and encourage the politicians to bring back that money into our country.
I have heard it and read on FB that the amount of money that is in the swiss banks if it comes back, will make us all free of the tax burden for the next 50 years. JUST IMAGINE!
No more taxes.
Actually, I don't mind paying minimal taxes so that the money keeps getting replenished, but helloo?? Dear Poliricians, if AT ALL any of you feel the need to compete with the US of A and move forward and become the rulers of the world- I think that you should give a thought to bringing back the money that is rightfully ours.

Further, as a part of the austerity measures that the Government proposes to put- First should be that all the politicians should pay their electricity & water bills. My GOD, more than half of the electricity dues that are unpaid are the government dues. We all pay for our usage, they should all too pay.

The Parliament Sessions are the bonus sessions where all the policies are decided. The politicians attending these sessions should be paid on daily basis as in only those who attend the sessions shall be paid during the months that the sessions are on and ANYBODY who disrupts and/or breaks the furniture of the Parliament house and stages a walk out- should be penalized, by obviously not being paid that days wage.
*NEVER have I seen a proper discussion and weighing of pros and cons properly of a matter that really matters... which sort puts the country in a tailspin and lets not even talk about the mockery that we make of ourselves in front of the rest of the world.*

Oh, considering that we are burdened with the petrol prices, all the politicians should also pay for the petrol that goes in the cars that are allotted to them, and in addition they should also be paying the salary of the household help/drivers/maalis that they keep.

And last but not the least, the ticket of the ministers may be borne by the state but that of the family.. extended family should NOT be borne by the state and the ministers/ family who is travelling should pay for it.

The politicians are nothing but Government SERVANTS and they should be made to realise just that. The reason that they are in a position to make policies is  because the entire nation can't come together and make them. They are OUR representatives and NOTHING more. The day we realise that politicians are humans too and nothing more, is the day they will also come down to our pedestal and maybe start working, on the things that really make a difference.

The 500 mark!

This is the 503 rd post! Which means, that I have officially crossed the 500 milestone.
I don't even know if this is a milestone at all, because, my blogger profile tells me that I have been blogging almost 6 years and that averages to about less than a 100 posts a year.
Again I don't know if this is a milestone or not, but one fact that is absolutely sound and clear to me is that I can't believe that I have wrote so much.
And looking back to the last two years, I can't believe that I actually wrote some posts that made sense, sense enough to have discussions about.
I have ranted. I have shared my dilemmas, my observations, have blabbered absolute nonsense but now I that I have done that for about 6 odd years, I have a repository of what I thought and what I was thinking, of the past that was then, a future which is the present!

But first, I have to thank THE person who pushed me in to blogging (not literally) and then got me hooked!
*Obviously, he is the one person who I don't think even reads what I write any more, comments therefore obviously are a scarce commodity by him*.
So, yes, the bf introduced me to the world of blogs.
His writings for obvious reasons caught my fancy, and trust me, if he writes about things other than technology, his emotions still capture your heart.
I used to read, his writings.

But then I started writing on my own. Mainly quotations, and stuff that I read and reproduced the same on my blog (which was at Yahoo 360 that time), but then I realised that I actually had a lot to say and finally after much coaxing from the bf, I shifted to blogger.

I am not a prolific writer, but I think, I did impress a couple of people here and there because today those very people are the greatest friends that I have. They are a couple who blogged as pseudonymous but gave out their true identities to me, because we became friends.
You know the best pat about becoming buddies through blogs is, that, when you start to blog you are not a 4 year old (the 4 year old now may have the capacity and the intelligence, I as a 4 year old din even have a computer, forget internet!) who is all innocence, as we have grown older, we all made a conscious decision to befriend people revealing limited information and slowly building it up. As fellow bloggers, we first read your thoughts before we judged and the innocence of a 4 year old returned.

I just want to thank all my blog friends who are still virtual friends, and blog friends who are friends with me out side the virtual world, fellow bloggers, readers and anonymous readers for all the love and support that I have been showered with!

And, a HUGE thanks to the bf, because had I not decided to impress him further, I would have never blogged and reached this mark!

Happy Blogging & Happy Reading! 

Randomness

I have done absolutely nothing productive since morning. I even missed out on the exercises that I have been doing now a days!

I am in office. Bored stiff.

The AC is too cold, and honestly despite the fact that there a drafting that needs to get over and get settled within the coming week, I JUST don’t feel like working. Somehow the application of mind is not happening.

The world around is becoming a happening place, the best friend is ready to launch her own label and that probably gives me immense happiness, because it was something that I always dreamnt for her.

As for me, I think I am the most confused person EVER. I want so much from life, that in the end nothing really falls into place. Passion dwindles on and off.. and I am left wondering if this is what I was meant to do.. at all? But nonetheless I do get excited on certain days when I have so much to do and at the end of the day I sleep a satisfied person.

I have started cycling. Early in the morning, followed by some yoga. And I have noticed that I am in a happier place on the days when I make it a point to get up and exercise.

There is so much to say. The words just seem to disappear.

So, I am gonna just cut the randomness here and wish you all have a great great weekend!

PS: I had to remove the previous post because it was office related and din want any bad blood even by accidental chance. 

"Great Moments"

"Great moments often catch us unaware-beautifully wrapped in what others may consider a small one"



I have been meaning to actually write about a lot of things, but unfortunately after the whole day of typing and staring into the computer- often for no reason at all.. sort of discourages me to get on the computer again and start typing. 
The main reason behind this super duper laziness is that, my right arm starts hurting after the whole day of typing and all and then, there is my Blackberry, that keeps going "PING" the whole day and keeps me updated :P 


But nevertheless, I have been going over posts, and commenting where ever I can :) 


The good thing out of the whole thing is that I have re- started reading. 
I am reading the most talked about "Hunger Games"  the review will come after I read the entire trilogy, but I have finally started to read at my own pace..
Not for finishing the book, but for, actually enjoying the book!


The office took us to Goa for the annual retreat, and for the first time in my life, I attended the "HR Sessions", which all the hot shots MNC's have. 
I had fun. 
I actually made it a point to have fun, to talk to people but not put my heart out on my sleeve :) 
Clicked loads of pictures (That I am yet to segregate). 


And, well, bf has been traveling far and wide himself, and I can't stop wishing that I could have been with him! 


Rest all is great.. gonna try and update more often :)
Cheers and Happy Summers!

Plain Truth!

I am not a huge fan of Amir Khan.
I seriously think that he is a very pompous mean guy.. (Yup, I am true blood SRK fan camp girl);
But Satyamev Jayate bowled me over.

It was honest to God, plain truth, put extremely plainly to us. The people who matter, the people, who ignore the every day truth that is reported in the newspapers not as "Breaking Stories", but in the corner somewhere, and not as a part of a statistics or a survey that randomly comes out, but about he people who have actually suffered.
There were tears, but, I am glad, that none of the women who came on the show broke down emotionally to get the TRP's high.. or stating controversial statements with a background score that makes the controversy larger than what it really is.

Of course, this particular episode touched a chord somewhere, because, after hearing what people had to say about having a girl child, I truly thanked my stars that I exist.

It is the sad truth that people as educated as doctors or professors or teachers believe in the whole "Beta khandaan ka chirag hai" funda.
No offense boys, but seriously, girls are prettier, they are like the cutest babies and above all they too are human, they have exactly two hands, two legs, one face with two eyes a nose and two years.. the only difference is that they have a vagina and a pair of breasts.

It is the woman who bears the children, imagine, if there is no woman, how are you going to have children? The so called "Khandaan" will only not be there.
And, if a male acts dumb in the family, the women of the family are not expected to encourage the practice of miscarrying because the pregnant lady is carrying a female child!

The truth really did hit the heart.
It was amazing to know that the literate act like the illiterates and rural and the poor act like intelligent human beings.

The Doctors should learn their lesson and clean up their acts, the giver of life, the ones equated to Gods, should not encourage let alone indulge in such practices!

If there is one thing that I am sure Amir Khan will be able to achieve is to hit the heart.. now I only hope that he is also able to stir the conscience of the people and actually help root out the evils that hold our society back!

Kudos to Satyamev Jayate!    

Appraised

It is a very normal practice in various MNC's, where the forms are given out and self as well as senior appraisals and team appraisals and what not happens.
31st March, is THE deadly day.

I remember in school, it was THE day, when the final report card use to come and we used to hope that, we wouldn't be butchered alive by the time we reach home after the Parent Teacher Meets.

The fact of life is, that, 31st March still remains THE day in the life of all of us professionals, who work in a 'naukrai', that too private for a living. Unfortunately, life butchers you every year on this day and parents, spouses *girlfriends*, wherever applicable, just support you and encourage you to "Perform Better" *If I may use this term*


In a law practice, increment is heard of, but appraisals, well, you really don't have that sort of a thing here, not in litigation offices where there is no thikaana of the fees that will come.
How in the world can a lawyer then appraise, increase the salary- of his court clerk and his junior *if he has one*.

But thanks to the advent of the era of Law Firms, where there is no deen duniya imaan of the already not so likable profession of lawyers- Now the lawyers also have appraisals.
*Of course, considering, the new found breed of "Corporate Lawyers", actually work like they would work in a corporate- you know sending out updates, making presentations, putting the papers in order etc*, it has become highly commercial.
Hell, we have proper 'HR Firms', who deal with the Law Firms and putting their system together, but mind you, we ares till not 'Employees' but just "retainers".

So, I had my first EVER appraisal.
To be honest, I was more confused than ever, because in terms of everything, I am better than my contemporaries, but because, I came to the firm 8 months later than them, I am suffering a huge loss as far as the salary bit is concerned.
Rest, my partner in-charge is VERY happy with me *touch all the wood around me*  and that for me is a huge incentive over the other contemporaries that I have in the firm.
Our team follows the motto of 'Chota parivar, sukhi parivar' and trust me, we are happier like that. We are just 3, 4 if we include our secy, but we are politics free, and that is the way boss likes it.

I feel bad about being paid less than the rest, but the Bf and the dear Daddy and my Mommy are VERY happy about it, so I am burying the hatched right there.

Of course there are the unhappy around me, but then, I going to be absolute Zen about it, and not bother.

And, it seems that every in office is getting married, Ms. PK's was the biggest shocker, especially since the news/invite came right after we were given the much awaited envelopes! *Talk about timing, I tell you!*

So I have been appraised, the gossips have happened- and now its back to the 'gadhagiri' of being a lawyer!

Vicky Donor

First, kudos to the film-makers for taking up such a sensitive topic and then setting the same in a conservative, Hippocratic Delhi ka Lajpat Nagar, where the people mind more of other's business than their own.
Second, kudos to the audiences who have accepted the movie. As it is. No big names, no big sets and no  item numbers, I think, I like this movie the most amongst the ones that have released this year.

The story is as simple as it can get, an infertility specialist *who runs his clinic out of the very shady Darya Ganj*, a south delhi da punjabi munda bought up by a widow mother and grandmother, who is 25 and doesn't give a care *Doesn't want to join his tayaji's business, but knows the ins and outs of how to do the beauty treatment at his mother's parlour* and the beautiful banker babe, who is an independent working bengali girl.

The doctor needs a donor to save his clinic and Vicky's *sadde dilli da punjabi munda* great grandfather bore 19 children, the last one at the age of 78.
And, wham, starts the journey of the doctor to convince Vicky, that sperm donation is completely legal, and pays really well, both in "cash and kind".
After days and days of stalking, pestering and convincing sadda Vicky agrees to become a sperm donor, and that is when his life changes. From cash to kind, Vicky is now an earning member of the family.

While Vicky is donating his sperms, he is also wooooing the Girl of his dreams, Ashima Roy, a bengali babe who is a divorcee and does finally gives way to the charms of sadda Vicky. And in the background there are the expert comments via the dialogues exchanged between the super modern Beeji and typical punjabi mother *A atypical saas bahu, who drink their whiskey at the end of a long day*

The story is about how, the wife who could not get pregnant copes with the fact that her husband has fathered so many children. The movie was about accepting that and forging new mentalities and stronger relationships.

The apprehension of the sperm donation being a 'ganda dhanda' and the non society looking down at it... has been dealt with so much maturity, that it is hard to believe that this movie has been conceived by an Indian, and most of all, has been made into a commercial movie.

Each character was portrayed with an amazing amazing maturity, that is hard to believe...
Annu Kapoor as Dr. Baldev Chaddha;
Ayushman Khurana as Vicky the donor;
Yaami Gupta as Ashima Roy, the bengali babe;
Dolly ji as Vicky's Mom and;
Vicky's Beeji...
Each one of them makes you a part of a movie experience that makes you smile, cry and bring back home great memories of a movie that is well made!

Vicky to his Beeji, "Poori Delhi mein sirf do hi toh cheezein modern hain, ek Delhi ki metro aur doosri meri beeji"

PS: The favorite moments for me and my mum in the entire movie were when the Panju-Bengali wedding was taking place :P We just LOVED it :)

And, btw, my Mom thinks that this movie is totally oscar material, therefore in case you were planning to give the movie a miss, think again, go see it :)