Tresspassers will be recruited !

The recent issue of The Economist talks about the shortage of brain power around the globe. It was an interesting read, because there is so much competition in every possible sector that I was under impression that we have more brain power than needed. But the brain power they defined is not lower level clerical (read computer skills here!) but more of middle or upper level managerial skills. And, they argued that the universities (at least in US and in Europe) are not producing ‘talented’ people but more of literate people. The most interesting thing is they argued that the corporate world even in India and China is furiously trying to get hold of talent.

The argument seems to be contradictory to the situation in India. The companies are hiring people left and right. All they need is a graduation degree and they will be happy to recruit for all sorts of jobs. With over a billion people (and millions of useless Bangladeshis!) and almost 2.7 millions graduates every year, it seems that we are too many talented people in India. But reality always throws the perception off the balance.

Talent can be defined as knowledge necessary to succeed in the current world. Thus the number of students graduating from India may sound staggering but the percentage of graduating students with relevant set of skill is tiny 11%. According to the recent report of NASSCOM, only one out of four undergraduate in India is eligible for any kind of IT job. The unemployment rate among graduates is 17%. That means, India is producing staggering number of inept graduates. Who’s fault is it? It’s definitely not students fault but rather the government is extremely incompetent in providing any sort of useful education.

As far as outsourcing is concerned, we don’t have to worry about dollars inflow for at least another decade or so. The outsourcing expenditure is going increase from current $193 Billions to $260 billions by 2009. And that’s why we see so much desperation in grabbing anyone with a degree. As the firms that are on the forefront of outsourcing business start making forays into the first division product development, the talent deficit is going to be detrimental to their growth.

By the end of year 2000, the tech bubble went bust in US. There was greate pressure on American companies to save money in downturn economy. India was like a god given gift to the American multinational firms. With English speaking working class and passion for work, India poised itself correctly to tap the out-sourcing dollars. But if we don’t build the second floor i.e. knowledge, industrial and infrastructural base on this dollar flow then we will miss the bus of 21^st century.

Cursory glance on our education system and it’s clear that road to our dream of leading 21^st century is full of pot-holes. Though primary education is provided free by the government and it’s the constitutional right of every child, the system itself is in ramshackle. The teachers are underpaid and over-stretched. More ever, the students are missing too! We don’t have standardize testing or evaluation system for the whole country. Most of the school even in the cities lacks labs for computers or physics. We don’t encourage students to participate in extra-curricular activities. Rather than learning we focus more on getting grades in the exams. I haven’t even started talking about deficiencies on high-school and college level education. It will require separate blog.

But instead of working on the development of primary and higher education, our government is busy in introducing reservation policy in every facet of civil life. The vote bank politics is turning draconian and it seems another generation of talented individuals will be gutted in its self-consuming fire.

I often get forwarded email of Mr. Manmohan Singh’s resume. There is no doubt about Mr. Singh’s brilliance or his accomplishments but sadly, he will be remembered as a Prime Minister who forced more reservation policies rather than developing our knowledge base. Last time I heard, he was setting up a committee to enforce the reservation policies in private sector.

A Hostage Nation

So, Mr. Afazal Guru, mastermind behind the attack on Parliament is very close to getting clemency. The game plan is pretty clear - he will get clemency and his death penalty will be converted into life imprisonment. He will have quite and luxurious life in the jail, proudly sponsored by Indian tax-payers. And, when he is bored, he will call his colleagues in Pakistan, they will do some hijacking and stuff and force Indian government to release him from the prison. He will then start working on his job of killing innocent Indian people again.

India is a reservation nation. Lower castes have reservation preference even for promotion in the government jobs. Minorities have separate civil code and separate education system. And, now we are going to have reservation policy for terrorists too. If you happen to kill more than five hundred people then Indian policy makers will think of prosecuting you. Anything less than that is a free ride. If you are a Muslim terrorist then no matter what you do, you will have complete support of Muslim community. Ok! May be not whole Muslim community but that terrorist can surely count on political class. The 93 bomb blasts prosecution is still dragging. In the mean time we suffered at least two major bomb blasts in Mumbai and Delhi and an attack on the Parliament. We had scores of small bomb blasts around the country but let’s just forget about them. I mean, isn’t it in-humane to scold terrorist and Pakistan so much? They are humans and they have rights too!

Mr. Afazal Guru was found guilty after four years of prosecution. All though, the attack on Parliament had Pakistan’s signature all over it, our politicians made every possible attempt to clamp on prosecution. And, now when the verdict is reached and that bastard mother-fucker is designated for hanging, the political hoopla began. It’s pretty systematic. First, the Muslim boards across the countries ‘expressed’ their concern for death penalty and set the vote bank politics set into the motion. Then the Muslim politicians in the congress party began to meet Sonia Gandhi to voice their opinion against the death penalty. But the nadir was to see the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir saying that the death penalty is wrong. Recently, former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Mr. Farokh Abudullha babbled that such a penalty will divide Hindu and Muslim community. And, I wonder the reason behind insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir.

I am pretty sure, had terrorist killed few Member of Parliament (I wish, they had done that!) then the situation would have been totally different. Because, politicians are extremely important specie in India. And they are the one who are holding our nation hostage. They are petty, weak, boorish, clownish, thuggish corrupt and inane. They are dividing our society in order to reap personal profit. And, they won’t mind selling our country to Pakistan. I don't see any way out of this situation, unless, voters start thinking hard.

I am not sure if Mr. Afzal guru will receive clemency or not. I sincerely trust our President. I hope, he stays on the course and do what is necessary.

Random Walk To Nowhere!

I am feeling like running in the vacuum right now. Without any external push you can’t run in the vacuum. No matter what you try to do, you ain’t going to move an inch. Similarly the more I try to do, the situation ain’t changing a bit in my life. Basically, actions without consequences. I don’t like to talk about my life. It’s not that worthy. At least not yet. In any case, there is very thin line between sharing experience and fantasizing one’s own beauty i.e. narcissism. And yet, I am trying to tread this line and catch the absolute abstractness of my life in words. From the outside, even to me, everything looks picture perfect. I graduated from prestigious university (at least, I think my university is prestigious!) and within a day or two of graduating I got the job offer in New York City. And that’s when then my seemingly attempts to swim in the thin air began.

When ever I see myself in my dreams, I find myself to be extremely slow in every motion. It is as if I want to do certain things like run but suddenly, someone is pausing my actions. Have you ever tried to play the movie before de-pausing it? The way words come out of actor’s mouth are hilarious. Now think you are actually inside the TV and someone playing you without de-pausing. And, you could speak three words per minute and trust me, it doesn’t feel good. Though, the rest of the world (I am still talking about the world in my dreams) seems to be within the laws of earthly physics, somehow I transcendent the three dimension realm of reality. I know, dreams are beyond three dimensional realm and no, I ain’t having any mystical experience. It’s just I feel frustrated and handicapped to do even mundane activities in my dream. And, this examples are to explain the way I am feeling right now. This sense of deja-vu is driving me insane because this is happening for real. Interestingly, the part of the dreams that are coming true are not the stuff I would like to experience. But irony is the essence of life.

College life provided me the structure. Exams, projects and home works etc. kept my mind focused on the objective, that, was for me, an unnecessary necessity. By the senior year, I was more than ready to enter into the working life style. But with me entering into work force it seems I am missing the college structure. The sense of desolateness caught me with surprise and I am desperately looking for the light at the end of this tunnel.

I know this is a passing phase. Perhaps, everyone goes through this ordeal and I really don’t want to sound pessimistic here. When this scenario will change, I probably won’t even remember this period. And, all these ‘sense of feelings’ will just be a space filler on my blog.

Lage Raho MunnaBhai !

Am I the only person who don’t want to see Lage Raho Munnabhai? By not watching this film, am I being dumb or by watching film, Indian society is fooling itself? The film is a box-office hit and though, I am not talking about film’s content, I am definitely enraged to see Sanjay Dutt getting kudos for the film. I am frustrated to see this guy still acting in the film industry. I am sad to see that people are actually watching his films.

The court drama related 1993 Bombay Blasts is ending in installments and looking at the verdicts so far, and Sanjay Dutt’s role in the blasts, I sincerely hope that Sanjay Dutt will be found guilty. But hope is mostly an illusion. So, let’s try to put some light on Mr. Dutt’s role in the blasts and then evaluate the probability of him actually being find guilty.

Mr. Dutt had stockpiles of AK-47 stored in his house right after Bombay riots of 1992 and just before Bombay blasts. He was a drug addict and had illicit contacts with Muslim underworld- Messer’s Dowd Ibrahim & Co. All though, Mr. Dutt wanted only one AK-47 – supposedly for his own protection - these underworld people dumped a lot more in his house. They were expecting more riots to break after the blasts and The arms and ammunition was the defense buildup by Muslim underworld to protect Muslims during the riots. The riots never happened but cops soon picked up the scent of large stockpiles of weapon in and around the Bombay. The Bombay Blast investigation was open and shut case as far as investigation is concerned, so, soon cops arrested Mr. Dutt’s. When cops showed up at his door, allegedly, he was trying to get rid of his weapons by melting them. (How ingenious!) Mr. Dutt had to spend 18 months in the custody before being bailed out by his father Mr. Sunil Dutt, Member of Parliament at that time. All these incidences are well documented. Usually, Mr. Dutt often argues that he had no clue of nefarious design of Muslim underworld. Nevertheless, the mere fact that he was in contact with traitor Muslim underworld makes him guilty of killing more than 300 innocent people. But the facts and logic is not enough for conviction, at least not according to Indian justice system. Extremely corrupt and inept, Indian justice not only lacks eyes, it lack brains too

As the prosecution of 93’ blasts dragged, Mr. Dutt got a second chance in life. His film carrier took off in late 1990’s and people soon forgot his murky past. He gave a blockbuster hit Vastav in 2000 and even won Filmfare award for his role in the film. Ironically, he played the role of an underworld don in that film. Obviously, the Indian film industry which is intrinsically connected to the Underworld, gave Mr. Dutt clean cheat. But the sad part is general populace also seems to have given him clean cheat. People are not only watching his films but also applauding for his so called acting talent. Frustratingly enough, even the city of Mumbai –which bore the brunt of Muslim terrorism – is gladly accepting Mr. Dutt as a returning Hero.

True to his real nature he continued to keep close ties with the Muslim underworld. His long conversations with Chhota Shakil were made public by cops and yet, he continued to sign films after films. His father who was member of parliament since 1980’s kept him safe from Law and cops. And when he died, Mr. Sanjay Dutt’s sister became member of parliament to save his ass. Indian press as usual biased, corrupt and inept always sided with Mr. Sanjay Dutt.

Given the extent of his influence on public mindset and his political influence through his father and now from his sister, it’s highly unlikely that he will actually be convicted for his crime. In the end of his blockbuster film Vaastav, the charected of an underworld don that Mr. Dutt played is killed by his mother. But unlike the movie, Mr. Dutt who is real life underworld lynchpin will definitely going to be Scot free.