Weird dreams!!

I usually get weird dreams. Something like - 'I'm in the office in the midst of work just to discover that I've not worn my shirt. I move around desks asking people for a spare shirt'.

This is just one of so many weird dreams I get. I forget things and that's why I maintain spares. I've a spare bok, pen and even a hand kerchief in my bag. After this dream, I was left wondering if I should maintain a dress too in the bag! Who knows, it could be useful to someone like me, if not for me.

Amma...avakaya..

Staying under parental guidance was the best thing to have happened to me. I never cared of anything and was enjoying life. 22 years, that's till my graduation, was the exact time I lived like this. Always got whatever I wanted, be it food, clothes or anything. Maa ka haath ka khana was what I always liked. Once in a while I used to crib. "What's this amma? You did the same curry yesterday." "C'mon amma. Why don't you do something tasty?". Though I got the best of freedom, I always craved for more. I always thought that I could stay even away from home. Alas, this was not to be.

I had to move out looking for jobs. This was about 18 months back and I landed in Hyderabad. Took a small apartment with 4 more friends. What about food? Well...a 'good' mess in the localty was where we used to go. First week was awesome. "Wah..life ho toh aisi. Cool work, masti with friends and good food in the mess. What else do you need?". Well, things change rapidly like a One-day international.

The mess proved to be a damp squib. Repition of the menu and deterioration of quality made us look for a better alternative. But, is it a problem with the mess? No. It's the same as it was in the beginning. I liked it at first because I was looking for a change. Change from what I get at home. But, once I got used to it, it's the same old story. This is where I really miss maa ka haath ka khana. Put simply it's like this... Home made food is good more often than not. You will enjoy outside food only if it's once in a while.

May be, this is the way life taught me...You never admire the beauty of things when you possess them. You feel the greatness only in the absence.

Is it fair to our heroes?

If you ask a 10 year kid in India, "Who is Sachin?", the answer you get will have all the details about him. If you ask him "Who's Shahrukh Khan?", you will a quick reply of all his bio-data. But, if you ask him, "Who's Satyendra Dubey?", you will have a blank face.

Leave alone the child, how many of you seriously know who Satyendra Dubey is. He was the same whistle blower who gave away his life fighting the corruption in Bihar projects. Satyendra was an IIT graduate. When every other IIT alumni was looking towards the greener pastures of the west, Satyendra decided to stay and serve his motherland.

Satyendra got himself a job with the roads authority in Bihar. That was the time when A.B.Vajpayee's dream project "Golden Quadrilateral" was undertaken. Satyendra was working in Bihar on the same project. After a couple of months he found out that the whole system is corrupted. The dealers and brokers are making merry at the cost of our own money.

Satyendra had enough of this and wrote to the Prime Minister office indicating everything and asking them to keep this in secret. Alas, that was not to be. No action was taken to prevent the brokers and on the other hand Satyendra's name was revealed. And one night Satyendra was brutally murdered.

Did he deserve this? He refused all the hefty offers from the west and tried to serve our country. He tried to bring the corruption in the most barbaric state of our country. What did he ask in return? Secrecy. And what did we give. Permanent rest to one of the most talented and dedicated engineers of our country.

The newspapers raised a hullabaloo for, you guessed it right, the first couple of weeks. A bollywood film maker went ahead and said that he'll bring Satyendra's life in a film. All the protests fizzed out in the second week. Neither the central government nor the Bihar government took confidence building measures. The result??? India lost more and more Satyendras.

If this is the case, can you persuade a highly educated Indian leaving for the west, to stay in India? What will you show him to make him work for the country? It's a pity that even now we are in dark about the murderers of Satyendra.

It happens only in INDIA

We have a minister who shuffles his time between visiting Courts and presenting budgets...

We have a movie star who is remanded for hunting down endangered species but has the backing of the whole industry...

We still have criminals who are at large. We still have the Dawoods and the Rajans. We still have corrupt police men...This is to bring the facts about one such cruelty that was left unpunished...

I was surprised to read this -- "Jessica Lal murderers set free"

I, for a moment, thought to be dreaming. For me, this was an open and shut case. The police, for a change have proven their keenness to punish the culprits. Alas, that was not to be.

The rich and spoilt brat of a former minister, Siddharth Vashist alias Manu Sharma, shot a former model Jessica Lal for refusing him a drink in a party. There were high profile witnesses to this incident. One among them was the owner of the bar, Bina Ramani, a high profile socialite in Delhi.

The witnesses vouched to have seen the culprit asking Jessica for a drink. Some of them even recognized Manu. But most of them turned hostile in the court. Most of them, including the eye witness Shayaan Munshi, have told the court that they were either not at the scene or just left the party.

The Court had no choice, but to release the high profile culprit. Reasons being, not enough evidences and inability to establish the sequence of events. The question now is, is this the right verdict??

There will certainly be views and counter views. But, the thing everyone has to agree is that the Indian judiciary is still not giving enough due to circumstantial evidence. This is another case of the rich getting away with the law even with so much evidence stacked against him.

There may be stray incidents where the high profile culprits are punished. There's a Laloo or a Jaya here and there. But the fact is, no high profile culprit has ever completed his jail term. Be it Laloo or be it Jaya. They all have managed to get bails and rule the roost. This leaves me with a despairing thought --- "It happens only in INDIA..."