Archive for the ‘Real Incidents’ Category
Tata vs Mistry
We haven’t heard the last of Tata vs Mistry. New revelations are coming out each day. Leaked emails, sound bytes, sources and what not. I don’t want to take sides here, but a bad image of India Inc is going out to the world. For investors looking to invest in in India, the feud is a red flag.
I was puzzled as to the manner of removal of Mistry (not the removal itself). Removal of a chairman is the prerogative of Board of Directors, which was well within its right. However the manner was puzzling. There was a report that Mistry was asked by Ratan Tata prior to the board meet to step down, but Mistry turned it down. There has been no clarification on this from either Mistry or Tata’s. Mistry, who has been a lot vocal on a lot of things, is conspicuously silent on this report.
I see a deep rift and a suspicion that Board members had with Mistry, so much so that they thought that giving Mistry 2 week notice might be detrimental. Maybe they feared sabotage. That can be the only logical explanation. Mistry has not covered himself with glory by badmouthing Tata Group. That’s not what grownups do. It is his conduct post the exit that makes me and a lot of us wonder. Outing privileged information is just not a done deal.
If you see the ouster as Chairman as a reputation loss that you need to salvage by going with a hammer after the organization, you were wrong to become the chairman in the first place. After all it’s a job and it comes with a threat of termination.
I think the issue here is that he was a Chairman with 20% stake in the company. He was not an employee but the owner. He was too rich for his ego to take the termination in right spirit. Any employee level chairman would not have done so. He/She would have been worried about the prospects of next job. But not Mistry. He doesn’t need to find another job. He is hell of a rich guy and has his reputation loss to take care of.
I urge Mr. Mistry not to wash dirty linen in public. It doesn’t suit the stature of ex-chairman of Tata Group. As this moment, his conduct since exit makes me believe his ouster was the correct decision.
Gandhi: To be or not to be
Let’s go back to Circa of Aug 1947, when India got Independence. A new republic was born. And there was one man, Mahatma Gandhi around whom the freedom struggle was fought. There has been a debate over the years about Gandhi, what he did and his legacy.
Fortunately I have been brought up with both sides of the spectrum. My Maternal Grandfather (Nanaji) was a freedom fighter who fought alongside Gandhi. My Paternal Grandfather (Dadaji) was a businessman. Both had differing views when it came to Gandhi. Nanaji was a Gandhian in spirit and in practice. He had a big framed photo of Gandhi in his room. He praised Gandhi a lot for what he did for the freedom of the country. “Desh ko ajaadi dilwayi Gandhiji ne”, he often said proudly. He also related me stories as to how the freedom fighters were tortured in jails during British time.
Dadaji had a family business. According to him, life pre and post 1947 was poles apart. He was no fan of Gandhi. No so much for his role in freedom struggle. But what happened post that. Nehru was the damnation which led to destruction of the nation. Steep inflation and rise in crime rate were two things that he saw soon after Independence. “Son, there was a leadership deficit. He made Nehru PM, who had no plan at all. No plan at all”, he told me. Dadaji was not a political person, just a common man. “Ghee, Dal, Atta ka bhaav aasman choo gaya. Chori chakari, aam baat ho gayi. Angrezon ke jamaane mein yeh sab nahin tha. Kya faida hua?”, he often lamented.
They both were good and honorable man who never tried to impress these views on other people. This is what they thought and told to people who came to have a chat. I think both were true in their own regard. Gandhi was a unifier who brought a fractured nation together against British. At the same time, we all know how that freedom withered away with rampant poverty, corruption and breakdown of law of order.
Disclaimer: These are from my childhood memories to the best of my recollection.
Then I woke up
After quite a while, I had a bad dream last night. Funnily enough, I remember quite a few details of it. With those details in mind, I try to understand the reason behind the dream.
I have not been in a great spirits last few weeks with a lot of things bothering me, and I guess this dream might be connected to it.
The setting was in a neighborhood that I have lived in long back. But it was O! So drastically changing. It was not completely changed, mind you. But huge infrastructural change was going on in front of me. I was there discussing with an unknown young fellow about landmarks which were no longer there.
Then there was a murder case which that guy told me about. A murder that took place in the same neighborhood recently, but in a house that was not there during my time. It was a two story house overlooking a lake. But there was no lake when I lived there. A guy killed a girl and then shot himself. They were both students who lived on rent there. Then there was a tale of the ‘girl that lived’. Apparently this guy open fired, one girl died on the stop and the other girl remain unscathed.
I found myself talking to that dead girl. Séance of some kind. She was telling me how that guy entered her room, told her he has already killed two others and shot her dead. She didn’t know anything else. There was no reference of two others killed anywhere in my dream.
I found myself crying for some reason with all the sadness around. Then I woke up.
OnePlus 2 Phone heats up like Indian summer afternoon
The review I wrote on amazon.in
Purchased on 12th Oct, in the one hour invite free window. Received on 13th Oct and requested for return that day itself. My reason below,
THE PHONE HEATED up like anything. The upper half body was on fire. I installed 5-6 apps and played few videos. It was smoking hot. I could even smell that burning smell.
I asked my colleagues in office (as I was not sure of myself anymore). They assured me I was not going insane and phone was really hot.
It’s sad as I was excited to get my hands on this phone and I had to return it.
All the raving reviews seem to me FAKE as there can’t be so much difference. Most people just want to show off in reviews.
I read a review which said, “I finally got my hands on this BEAST”. I too was excited by this review and was eagerly waiting for a BEAST to arrive. But alas!
I feel ONE Plus guys have screwed it up big time and will feel the pinch in times to come. It’s an invite game.
People who are giving rave reviews are just happy to get hold of this artificially elusive product. If not for invite, they too would have felt cheated.
India is an already hot country. Why give me a phone that heats up so much.
Fast-Track Talwar Case Campaign: A case of Rotten Journalism by Times of India
As if “Times of India” group was not content of unleashing that shouting headache on us, now they want to sway public opinion to achieve social injustice. Their latest gimmick is “Campaign to Fast-Track The Talwar Trial”. They are asking people to Join Times Campaign.
What a load! Do they even know what fast-tracking means? If these pretentious and arrogant people don’t know, let me explain in simplest of words. Fast-Tracking this case means, delaying justice to someone else. Someone else who might be as eagerly waiting for justice to be delivered. Maybe more. Someone else who was waiting so eagerly for his hearing date, but would be delayed. Someone else who do not have money to such fanciful and expensive lawyers.
Just because ToI thinks, we should delay justice to some unknown, poor man, whose case hasn’t got traction to get ToI readership and TRP’s, and fast track the case for Talwar’s why? So that their shouting headache should go on air and ride on his high horse of righteousness.
I mean media get a grip. It’s okay raising issues. It’s okay reporting news. It’s okay highlighting corruption and demanding justice. But to delay justice to some poor man that hasn’t graced your newsroom or been a part of the mainstream news is not good.
I am not against Talwar’s right to justice. They are entitled to it. But it should be equitable. Media has no right to make some case more important than others. I understand in crimes of rape, it is necessary to get justice faster than others, and hence we as a society support jumping the queue. But latest ToI campaign smacks of rotten journalism. Not unlike their cheap news on Deepika Padukone not long ago.
Fight for more courts, speedier justice for all. But if you start to cherry pick readership and TRP worthy cases and start campaigns in their support. You tend to lose public confidence. Already a number of surveys have cited media as the main reason behind all that ails our society.
We don’t want good media to fall prey to the deeds of such bad media. People from good media stand up, be counted and raise their voice against such bad media.
Talvar: A movie which should not have been made
Talvar. The case fascinated us all, didn’t it? It hijacked airwaves like no other. The mere mystery of it! It was like a crime thriller unfolding live television. It became a real world Bigg Boss which provided entertainment like no other.
Movie based on the case was the most apt culmination for this sordid saga. The movie is so intriguing, so heart wrenching, that it’s hard not like it. Add to it Irrfan’s acting and we have got a gem. But does it really portray the case or is mere art of fiction?
The crux of the movie is that Parents were innocents, servants were culprits and what happened was a travesty of justice. Title Talvar refers to the sword in the hands of Lady of Justice, a sword that has become rusted of late and more so due to this judgment.
Director/Writer claimed to have taken an unbiased view and presented all three viewpoints. Of local police (which blamed parents), first enquiry by CBI (which blamed servants) and 2nd enquiry by CBI (which blamed parents). But the fact is first and third enquiries are shown as shoddy. The 2nd CBI investigation is shown as proper. No wonder 2nd investigation was headed by our protagonist Irrfan.
Although the film makers are entitled to their expression. For their part they have changed the name of the characters to remove any direct reference to the real incident. But still, when you claim to be unbiased, you need to be unbiased.
The movie takes an open stand for the parents who are portrayed as victims (maybe they are for all we know), and demonizes the servants. They disregard the human rights of the servants who might be victimized by society post this movie. They too might be innocent. But not for the filmmakers!
It’s not too hard to realize why the storyline? A movie becomes emotional and heart wrenching if the parents are shown as victims of the system. If movie would have conformed to the courts judgement, it would have become a demonic thriller, where parents slaughter their daughter.
The only issue with such movies based on real incidents (when the matter is still in court) is, they tend to sway opinion of common public. I felt the mood in the theater after the movie was somber and everyone felt for the parents. Guilty servants went scot free!
I cannot pinpoint but I feel something was not right and this movie ought not to have been made. Not until the case was in court. It felt like an appeal on parents behalf under guise of a movie.
Ola going the Nestle way: Degrading Quality
I used to admire Ola a lot. A start-up that solved the commuting headache of evolving India. I have used Ola in metro cities Mumbai, Delhi and have admired their service. Nice ride, with informed drivers. Ola service centre provided good guidelines to the drivers which I think helped them to service customers.
However what I faced recently in Agra, was a very bad experience. I called a cab. A very old and bad looking cab came to pick me up. “How does looks matter. I just need a ride”, thinking this, I got in the cab. Now the cab started shaking as the ride started. At the very first turn, driver then hit a two wheeler which fell down and needed helping to picked up. I realized it was not the drivers fault, the brake was at fault. The car was so old, it was not in a position to run smoothly. Gates opened only on one side, AC was not cooling the cab.
Then came the next part, Driver asked me money for Diesel. Hell! I told him, I have recharged my Ola cash, and couldn’t pay cash. Poor driver didn’t understood what I was talking about. Apparently, cab belonged to some local heavyweight, who run 4-5 cabs with Ola and have hired drivers to drive his cars. This driver didn’t know anything about how Ola cab worked. In fact I have to remind him to click “Start Journey” on his device after 500m or so. And he was like, “Sir kuch upar se de dena 500 m ke, boss gaali dega warna”.
Coming back to the diesel. He stopped the car and called his boss. He told that passenger won’t pay cash and diesel is running out. “Aapne subah bas 3 litre dalwaya tha sir, aur paise bhi nahin diye aapne”. I heard him telling his boss.
Anyway, a shaky ride with me praying at every turn ensued. As I was still to reach the destination, driver stopped again. “Aap yahin pe utar jao. Main aage nahin jaoonga. Boss yahin pe aake petrol bharwa dega. Mujhe dhakka nahin lagana”. I told him that I won’t argue with him. I will complain to Ola. “Aap jo bhi karo, kar lo. Meri gaadi nahin hai. Mujhe kya. Waise bhi yeh gaadiyaan Nisaar sahab ki hain. Unka kuch nahin kar sakte Ola waale. Saalon ko Agra mein Ola chalaani hai toh Nisaar sahab se panga Ola waalon ka baap bhi nahin le sakta. Agra mein Ola band karwa denge sahab”.
I got down. Waited for a rickshaw for a while; Took the rickshaw and got to my destination.
I enquired further as to the root cause. The issue is lack of checks by Ola. People are buying old, debilitating cars for 50,000 bucks. They get 36,000 per month from Ola. Keep a driver @ 6000. Diesel for another 8000 bucks around per month. Clear 22000/- profit per month. Since the cab is old, no burden of EMI’s. I came to know such practice is rampant in Tier-2/3 cities like Agra, where they say, “Bas call aata hai, koi check karne to aata nahin hai, ki kitni ghatiya car hai”.
I say Ola has gone Nestle way because, Swiss company Nestle think of Indians as Poor people and apply different quality checks for Indian and Switzerland/US/UK. Same is being done by Ola. They are applying different standards and responses to Metros Delhi/Mumbai/Bengaluru and to Tier-2/3 cities. In a bid to expand quality is being degraded.
I complained over the phone. Got a lot of apologies from call centre executive of Ola. They promised me refund. I asked them I don’t need the refund. I want to know when they will ban such cabs and improve quality checks. Otherwise it’s a tragedy waiting to happen with such gundaism.
Mind Games
I met a friend of mine today after a very long time. However we hit it off like yesterday. Now this friend is a person with extraordinarily high IQ. He is a genius but like with all of them he has a problem. He tends to micro analyse things.
He don’t know when to let go of things. He will keep thinking about incidents in his life from a factual perspective. You can’t find a fault in his analysis per say. But what he fails to understand is, we don’t need to do it always. If we have a quarrel with our brother, we should hug it off the next day. But his brain works differently. He will analyse the quarrel to find the root cause and in turn will never talk to his brother.
If you talk to him, you will be mighty impressed by his reasonings. They are theoretical and hence very difficult to be punctured. He will let himself suffer because his brain tells him he is right.
Such mindgames that he plays with himself, hurts no one but him. I hope with time he realizes that being happy is more important than the concept of right or wrong. Hope he loses with himself in these games of mind.
Poor man’s fight
Not 5 mins back two people in my coach were having a shouting match. Topic “Whose space was it to put the luggage?” Let me call them passenger A and B.
B came and found luggage space under his seat occupied. He asked around and nobody claimed. The bags were exchanged and B settled down.
10 mins later A entered. His seat was couple of rows away. He flew into rage seeing his luggage on the ground. And the slinging match started. Clearly A was in wrong here but I don’t want to go into it.
Have you observed that chances of such fights are higher in trains than in planes; higher in sleeper coaches than in AC coaches; higher in city bus than in private AC bus; higher in hot places than in cooler climates. In fact they increase with decreasing money in the pocket.
Two relatively poor people are prone to fight over such things more than two relatively rich people.
Guess everything is a fight for survival for us poor strata of people.
Fart by Heart
I am travelling via train to my hometown. Given the upcoming extra long weekend, the trains are bulging with passengers. Just as I settled in my seat and started to take a nap, I woke up with a nauseating smell.
My fellow passenger introduced us to the lunch he took earlier in the day. It was a sickening smell which left us looking for cover in true sense.
My head became heavy and heart beat a notch higher. Just as I tried to acclimatise, the next attack. I lost all my senses and the will to live.
Since all I can think now is fart, I thought to put it to creative use. How does the below things smell now?
1. Flip-fart
2. Fart-tey raho
3. Fart bina chain kaha re
4. Fart-ti utaaroon main
5. My fart will go on…
6. Fart-tiya ilaaz hai bhaisaab.
7. Deepak Chourasia Fart Tak
8. Aisa com-fart aur kahan
9. Fart se maar do isey
10. I like Fartists.
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