Meera Madhava Raghava - A Review

Thilak, Diganth and Ramya!

I have been full of praises for T. N. Seetharam sir. T. N. Seetharam or Gouribidanur Seetharam is a proven director, a prominent law professional and a writer. He is also considered by many as someone who could get close to the maestro himself, the legendary Puttanna kanagal, when it comes to the much needed articulation and creativity in direction. T.N.S., as he is popularly recognized by all, has always been counted amongst the most intelligent breed of directors in the industry. He has directed some of the most wonderful serials in Kannada television industry like Maya Mruga, Manvantara and Mukta (the last one took him to the pinnacle of so-called name and fame!) Who can forget those court scenes in Mukta? It was reported that the TRP ratings of e-tv Kannada, which was telecasting this serial, recorded an all time high during the court scenes in the serial!!

If you concluded that this maestro has restricted himself to the small screen, then you are definitely undermining the potentiality of T.N.S. He has also directed a movie called ‘Matadana’, which elucidates clearly the mindset of a typical desi politician and the intricacies of vote bank politics in India! If you have been an ardent fan of his, and followed him quite closely, you would have discovered by now that, T.N.S., has a special affection towards this alphabet ‘M’! All his ventures have begun with this alphabet ‘M’. So I wasn’t really surprised when I first heard that T.N.S. sir is directing another movie that also begins with the alphabet ‘M’. It was titled ‘Meera Madhava Raghava’.

I was with V in Bengaluru (that’s official folks! Bangalore finally gets the much needed kannda touch to its name) last week, where the movie was being screened at santosh, a theatre near city central. Both of us had screwed up at an interview, an hour back and we badly needed a break! It was nearly 1:30 pm by my watch, on an all-set-to-clean-the-streets-of-Bengaluru kinda day! The clouds were all set to pour in really hard! So we badly need to hangout somewhere. We quickly hurried towards santosh theatre and bought ourselves 2 tickets of balcony. (Hey! They costed us only 50 bucks each!!) We literally galloped all the way to the balcony since we were a bit late to the matinee show. When we checked in to the balcony, the movie had already begun. We had huge expectations from this movie and I was praying “Oh god! T.N.S. sir shouldn’t disappoint me now! Not again please… especially after that screwing interview!!!”

Now coming to the real plot of the movie… It is basically the story of a trio Meera (played by Ramya), Madhava (played by Diganth) and Raghava (played by Thilak). If you were to conclude by the above description that it is just gonna be yet another movie involving a triangular romantic plot that sucks to the core, then you are surely in for a shock. Meera Madhava Raghava is certainly much more than that. Raghava plays the so-called (rich) bad boy in the movie. Madhava plays the supposed to be god boy in the movie. Meera is the one who neutralizes both the acidic entities in the movie. Raghava is basically a local rowdi, who is passionately in love with Meera (but he is shown to be an ethical rowdi! Now don’t ask him how a rowdi can have ethics?) Meera’s family members are forced to fix her marriage with Madhava, a part time lecturer in a college. It is done merely to save her daughter from the hands of Raghava, who promises not to wed their daughter if she has already been engaged to someone else. Meera moves over to her husband’s house after the marriage. Meera, who is gifted with a nightingale’s voice, gets an offer from a Mumbai based audio company to sing for their albums (a 3 year contract, with a remuneration of Rs 40K per month). This naturally catapults happiness amongst the members of her in-laws and all of them quickly share it with a musical cock-tail on screen. But! Yes, it’s these ifs and Buts that provide every movie the much needed twist and turns. Madhava isn’t happy about Meera working at Mumbai, as he wouldn’t be able to handle that ‘dooriee!’ The innocent Meera complies to her husband’s request and turns down the proposal made by the audio company! Madhava in the mean while is shown to have an insurmountable desire to become an IAS officer. But the biggest hurdle being Vitamin – M. He reveals his clandestine desires in front of his wife. She suggests him to borrow the required money from someone. But Madhava justifies his anti-money-borrowing theory and also asks his wife not borrow money from anyone in life.

In the mean while, Meera’s father expires and Meera plans to claim her share by selling the house her parents lived. Her share in the assets would nearly be around Rs 10 lakhs. With these ideas in mind, Meera manages to persuade Madhava to chase his dream of becoming an IAS officer. She promises to give him the required amount of Rs. 10 lakhs, from her share in the family assets. With the assurance of financial support from his wife, Madhava moves to Delhi, where he clears an entrance test of a coaching institution which trains students to pursue IAS. But to her great dismay, Meera is highly disappointed and heart broken when her family members express their inability to give her share of money in the assets immediately, on accounts of other financial commitments. She finds herself in an absolute fix, as she has reached the point of no return. If she fails to send her husband the required money, he might have to let go a golden chance of pursuing his dream, begging. Here arrives the first biggest twist in her life time. Under circumstances which seem to be highly unfavorable, she is forced to borrow the required amount from the BAD BOY, Raghava himself. He finances the required amount, after asking her to forge on a document which says that her husband has borrowed the amount to pursue an IAS. She forges the signature of her husband reluctantly! The rest of the movie is all about how she is tortured by Raghava and how she is made to do things that would favor the Bad Boy!

The last 45 minutes in the movie are really worth every penny you invested! T.N.S. sir shows you why he is considered as the next Puttanna kanagal of Kannada Industry! The story really pushes you to the edge of your seats. It brings out all shades of emotions like intense suspense, love, betrayal etc on screen. Climax is surely the one thing that would linger in your mind for a quite long time!! You will surely walk out of the cinema hall questioning yourself, “Heegu unte?” The movie is also marked by its unconventional star cast. They all have acted in Seetharam sir’s previous TV serials. They have all done justice to their jobs! I personally felt that after Amruthadhaare, this is Ramya’s best performace till date. Thilak as Raghava looks very convincing in the bad boy role! Diganth as Madhava has a very limited scope, as his screen presence is very much limited. The music composed by Hamsalekha is very melodious. The track ‘Vasantha Vasantha…’ (sung by Rajesh Krishnan and Anuradha Bhat) from the movie is my personal favorite.

If you haven’t watched a really good family movie for quite a long time, then Meera Madhava Raghava is certainly the movie you gotta be checking out this week end. You will surely acknowledge the claims made by me in this post about T.N.S. Sir. He is truly a gem of a director!

PS: His next big venture on the 70mm screen is titled Mrs. Mukya Mantri. I wish him great success in his next venture as well! I’m really looking forward to watch his next movie!!

Photo Courtesy: http://www.kannadaaudio.com

~IT's My Life

Music, The ultimate stress buster!

I'm an ardent follower of music. I can't think of a better stress buster than music. I listen to music of almost all genres. I'm a big fan of bollywood music in particular. Apart from bollywood music, I love to listen to Kannada, Telugu and Tamil music as well. (I had posted the lyric of a song Hrudayam Ekkadunnadi from the movie Ghajini on my blog).

The following are the songs that have made me fall in love with them. I have been listening to them over and over again, without getting bored.

1. Alvida - Life in Metro.

2. In dino - Life in Metro.

3. O Meri jaan - Life in Metro.

4. Rishtey - Life in Metro.

5. Tumse Yoon Milenge – Ankahee.

6. Ek Pal Ke Liye – Ankahee.

7. Beetain lamhe – The Train.

8. Teri Deewani – Kailasa.

9. Jaane kya chahe Mann – Pyar ke side effects.

10. Kyu aaj kal – Woh Lamhe.

Music Rocks!! The strength of music amazes me at times!! It surely has a sanctity associated with it. It is my ultimate companion and not to mention, an ultimate stress buster!!

~IT's My Life

Keep it simple!

I strongly believe that a relationship can bear all the hardships only if there is a TRUST factor involved in it. I have a lot of my friends, with whom I communicate very frankly and try to be as candid in my responses, and as straightforward in my affairs as possible. I like to keep things simple! I firmly believe that you should either operate in WHITE or BLACK shades but never in the GREY shades. Once you promise to shoulder a responsibility, you should go about achieving the same in a manner that involves transparency of the highest degree. It really pisses me off when people conceal the truth from me, on occasions where they might have failed to do something they had promised to finish on time. On such occasions, all I expect from them is a simple truth about what really happened. I don’t wan to see them bluff. All I expect from them is something like, “Look! I couldn’t do it on time because I had such and such a commitment…” Trust me; this is the best thing to do. For god’s sake, stop beating around the bush and bluffing. By doing so you might ward off an immediate headache of being accountable. But in the long run, when the truth comes out, you will have to face a bigger ignominy.

I some times wonder why people can’t speak out openly about things. Is it a crime to say NO? Why do they take up a task when they know in advance that can’t complete it? Is it because they have this fear of being tagged as INCOMPETENT? Is it because they want to IMPRESS someone? Is it because they are under the impression that the other party might FEEL BAD or OFFENDED, if they turn down the offer to shoulder a responsibility? Is it because they fear the consequences of being tagged as some one who is a point-blank?

Well… let me tell you something. If you answer to the above questions in affirmative, I can bet that you will never ever be able to do what you actually wanted to do in life. You will always be haunted by the guilt of having wasted your precious time in appeasing someone. Please don’t complicate issues with anyone. If you can’t do something, (may be on time) please for god’s sake speak the truth!! Avoid making false promises. You might find it tough in the beginning, but I am sure that you will soon begin to appreciate it . Try to imagine yourself in the shoes of the other party. What if someone promises you something and ditches you in the Nth moment? Would you expect some blah blah stuff from him? I’m sure that you too will be hurt to the core and develop a feeling of disrespect towards him. On such occasions you too expect him to speak nothing, but the NAKED TRUTH!!

I have constantly been disgusted by the behavior of someone in my friend’s circle. I have been wondering why that person does this each time. I mean, when you take the responsibility to complete some task, you got to take the responsibility to finish it on time, unless something unprecedented occurs. You cannot behave so irresponsibly and take things and people for granted! It might work with someone whom you know, but not when you enter your work place. Trust me; this is what pisses people off, the most at a work place!! You cannot take away the ACCOUNTABILITY factor from your character. People ask you to do a task, only when they trust you. It becomes your responsibility to finish that task, no matter what and thus retain your credibility and trust. If you aren’t willing to shoulder the given responsibility, say it on their face, flat and square, “Look! I can’t do this. Ok!!” This would at least ensure that you don’t make false promises and later deviate from your own words.

The behavior of my friend reminds me of the story of a cow boy, who used to call for help unnecessarily, even when he faced no threat. When the villagers would come to his rescue, he would make fun of them, and feel proud about how he had managed to fool them. But one fine day, when he was in really trouble and begged for their help, no one turned up. All the villagers thought that he was playing the same prank on them again. Because of his previous conducts, he had to lose his life. People had lost FAITH in him. The TRUST factor in him was missing!!

I have spoken to my friend in this regard on innumerable occasions. But that person simply doesn’t seem to take my words in the right spirit! As a good friend of yours, I sincerely request you mend your ways! Even if this means that you will start to avoid me from here on. I simply don’t care! All I need is to make you realize that it hurts someone pretty badly when you break your words, not on account of some genuine reason, but on grounds of falsity. If you think that people would never get to know what the truth is, I can bet that there is no bigger a mistake you can commit in life than that! Stop being someone you are not!! It’s not a crime to be the way you are in reality! Why do you project yourself as someone you not? People might not speak ill about you when you are there, but they will certainly make fun of you and ridicule you behind your back. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to push yourself in to such a situation. Would you?

Abh Main yeh sab kyu keh raha hu? Tumne aaj TRUST ki baat ko cheda, to mujhe yeh sab kehna pad raha hai!! Being a good friend of yours, I felt that I should speak the truth about what I felt about your ways of dealing with people (that’s how you have behaved with me), rather than putting up a face of false comfort, where everything seems ok! Please drop that chalta hai attitude of yours!!

Remember that you can fool someone all the time; you can fool everyone some time; but you cannot fool everyone every time. They say that it is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not! Please keep it simple!! I wish you great success in you career!!

~IT's My Life

Beete lamhein...

Note: All the characters, places and incidents in this post are highly ‘infectious’. Any resemblance to something remotely real, is purely co-incidental. Kya kare bhaiyya, apna batch jo aisa tha?

I swear in the name of all the VTU guides I have referred and all the JC parties I have attended till date, "Engineering is the best thing that has happened to me till date..." Today, when I sit back and refresh my 'hard drive', all the memories are just bubbling out. I am feeling very nostalgic! As I watch at all the wonderful snaps, which were clicked in sheer 'euphoria', on all the occasions which were worth a treat at JC, I simply have nothing else to say but to confess, "College days were THE BEST days of My Life!!"... These 4 years have given memories to cherish which are undoubtedly worth remembering an entire life time. I would like to share a few of them with you :

1. On any given day, JC would surely top the ‘Best places to hangout’ charts of everyone in my batch. All my batch mates owe a lot to this place. All THOSE people who were the protagonists of innumerable creative jokes at JC deserve a standing ovation! So folks, before I move on any further, please halt all the processes running on you system for a while and join me in saying this, "East of west, JC is the BEST..." What more can I tell you about those memorable parties at JC. Woh jannath thi, jannath!!! You know something? Not many in my batch know that the stall is actually called ‘Renukamba Juice Centre’. Hmmm quite a trivia isn’t it?

2. I was once asked by a senior when I was in my I year, "Do you know the MG road and Brigade road of B.I.E.T.?" I was quite a dumbo then, and mumbled some crap and escaped. But 4 years down the line, I know what they were referring to? I truly miss them now. For all those fella BIETians who still walk around with an aroma pseudo innocence, you know whom to ask about it. Don’t you?

3. Schmoozing!! Abh usse accha time pass to aur kuch ho hi nahi sakta? Phokat main time-pass karne ka maza hi kuch aur hain yaaro! All of us would grab the most coveted positions on the ‘chat-stand’ which is THE best place to watch the 2 roads meet (in perpendicular). The place is situated perfectly. It serves the purposes of everyone who come to its shelter, without any discrimination. It has been habituated by many ‘Legends’ over the years, for the most trivial ‘bench warming’ task, to the most daunting task of waiting anxiously to know their fate after attending a written test or interview of a company. rK has churned out N-number of memorable jokes, on all the famous personalities of our college. You name them and they all trace back to this ‘chat stand’.

4. I badly miss all those ‘Namgu-ond-slot-hakrappa’ sessions we used to have in the college canteen. All credits to SM. He is the source of inspiration for initiating the historic ‘Mil-baat-ke-khao-aandholan’. This used to be our mantra ‘Plate-ek-lekin-chamche (spoon)-anek’. Koi pehle plate lekhe aaye ya na aaye, lekhin spoon zaroor pakad letha tha. Yahan par saabhi log mil baat ke khate to the, lekhin coupons kareedna ka saza kisi ek ko milta tha!! Some of my friends later developed an ‘optimized’ strategy called ‘khaao aur khaane do’, according to which they would avoid breakfast at the regular break time of 10:00 a.m. and instead have their breakfast during the 11:30 a.m. break (mostly during the final year) when the ‘threat’ of intruders would be less. I really really miss those slot sessions!!

5. Abh college main fresher ho to ragging wagging to hogi hi. According to the universal law of ragging, "The more the number of seniors you know in a college, the greater is the probability that you will be ragged by the same hey-I-know-them guys!" I wasn’t an exception to this law either. One of my senior who was in his final year (I knew him pretty well) asked me to go to a girl seated at one corner of the reading room (I will speak more about this historic hangout, which used to be the favorite place of students to chill during college hours, shortly. Khair aage ki baat aage...) and get her bio-data. The reading room was quite an action-packed place as always, and I approached that girl (who was probably his class mate) and asked her to give me her bio-data. She looked at me and asked, "Yaar kalsiddu ninna?" I pointed towards the table, where my senior was sitting with his friends. She replied quite sternly (almost in a belligerent tone), "Kodalla anta hel hogu…" When I came back to my seniors, I realized that both the parties knew the consequences of this age old ritual pretty well in advance, and were laughing their heart out. I was out there standing like a Bakra!! Even to this day, this is one the most hilarious episodes in my college life. Every time I remember it, I cherish quite a lot.

6. I mentioned something about the famous reading room of our college previously. Isn’t it? Believe me; if I were to list all the misnomers in the world, in the decreasing order of their appropriateness, B.I.E.T.’s reading room would undoubtedly top the chart! Every guy/gal who has studied (or is studying) at B.I.E.T. would testify my claim. Wahan par kya mahol rehta hai yaaro? Door door tak aap nazre milaao, to aapko sirf chaffers hi milte hain. Except a few misled nerds (who lost their way and landed up there), you will (not even by mistake) find some one who is actually reading. Yeah! People do read there. They read your hands, bestsellers and of course not to mention the eyes of guy/gal seated opposite to him/her. Most of the people can also be found busy messaging their dear ones. I wonder sometimes, are Hutch’s profits staggering record high solely because of these duteous short-service-messengers in B.I.E.T.’s reading room? Chahe jitna bhi ghanta bajalo VTU waalo, yeh log mobile use karna kabhi bandh nahi karne waale. At times, the noise levels in the reading room are so high that even a guy with sony-erricson w700i, listening to his favorite flick (full volume + hands free) would request them, "Arey thoda dheere baatein karo yaaro, mujhe kuch sunayi nahi de raha hai.."

7. I miss all that masti I used to have by bunking classes (whenever I felt them boring) on account of forum activities. It was looked at, as a sort of compensation we claimed, for the shedding those extra gallons sweat in organizing events at our forum. I am proud to say that amidst all the differences we used to have, all my friends were so cooperative. Our forum is one of the vibrant forums in our college. It has given us so much. I owe a lot to all my profis in this regard, and especially to our HOD, without whom all this wouldn’t have been possible. Thanks a lot sir!

8. I used to hangout with sri (my project mate) and enjoy a KT or Badam milk (along with god-knows-how many biscuits) at a tea stall near the high school field. We used to discuss all the matters, remotely imaginable under the sun! The tea and badam milk were absolutely awesome. The stall has currently removed... I would pay any amount to sip a cup of KT again. I miss that hideout pretty badly!!

9. I miss all those anxious moments I used to experience before the results were ready to be put up on the notice board. We used to enquire about the results with the attenders of our department, Rammanna or Rameshanna. They used to reply quite monotonously, "Result bartiate bidu, tali yak kedskotya? En munche display madodrinda number change aagtava?" We used to nod our heads, half pacified by their logic. But the anxiety would still be lingering in our hearts, ready to take a toll of whatever we were engaged at. I still remember how I was taken by surprise when my 6th SEM results were out. I had scored nearly 8 percent more than what I had expected. That’s VTU for you folks! When you fear to fail, you end up passing in flying colors. But when you fantasize to top the class; you will end up being ‘stamped’. (Samjhe nahi ka? You will score just 35!!)

10. I miss all those last bench photo sessions that we had during CIP classes. We used to occupy the last benches in the class and click photos, in angles nothing less than the ones taken in a screen test. I got a golden collection of such snaps! Sri had bought a low-cost but mast-looking goggle, which was used by all the legends of the last bench to pose for the million dollar snap! Even during such boring classes, a minority of dweebs in our class couldn't resist the temptation to jot down whatever crap was written on the black board! Thank god, I already had my share of enlightenment by then.

I have countless memories in my heart. Likhte likhte space kam padjayegi, lekhin yaadein kam nahi honge! Thank you B.I.E.T., for having housed zillions of such memories. Na jaane kitno ki yaadein judi hey is college se? Co-icidentally this also happens to be my 101nth post on this blog. I have finally slammed a ton!

~IT's My Life

It happens only in India...

For the past one month or so, we have been bombarded with a second-to-second update about the Glasgow airport bomb blast and its aftermath. The media has left no stone unturned in presenting their viewers (or readers) with the latest (or rather hottest) news. Dr. Sabeel Ahmed and Khafeel Ahmed were the prime suspects behind this inhumane act of terror. Just take a look at the kind of education (?) they had pursued. One of them is a doctor and the other an engineer. Both of them are in to a profession that is very much respected in the society. A doctor is supposed to save the lives of people and not kill them. An engineer should work to make this world a better place to live in and not smoke the beauty out of it. One of the accued, Kafeel Ahmed has died after battling hard for survival. What a waste of talent?

Sources say that they were completely brain-washed and the seeds of jihad had already matured in their minds. They were at a stage where it was ready to bear fruits. They were constantly intoxicated with the ideas of jihad and the ways by which they could get closer to closer to HIM. It was taught that all this could be achieved only by becoming a shaheed in any of the jihadian battles. The ideas of hatred, revenge and intolerance towards other religions (or call it glorification of their own) had strongly been nurtured in them from quite a long time. They were constantly motivated by zillions of ‘inspirational’ pro-jihadian speeches by their warlords! People, who should have been using their resources for the welfare of humanity, were indoctrinated to pursue the path of violence. They were instilled with the misconception that the ultimate path of obtaining ‘MOKSHA’, was by pursuing violence. It has been rightly said, "As you sow, so shall you reap."

The aftermath of Glasgow episode was all about some Dr. Haneef, who was taken in to custody by the Australian police with the charges of having involvement in the bomb blast in London. He was subjected to rigorous questioning about the SIM card he is said to have given to his cousin Sabeel Ahmed. They have also questioned him about the chat (which is said to be about the terror plot in London) he is said to have carried out with his brother shoaib on 2nd july. After enduring all the Q&A sessions, the Australian police were forced drop all charges against him as they couldn’t gather sufficient evidence to prove him guilty. Finally Haneef was allowed to return to India. At times I felt that the media were probably a bit hyperbolic about the whole episode. C'mon folks, he was suspected to be involved in an international terror plot. You can’t expect any country to deal with a person accused of such serious charges, as though you were dealing with a picket-pocketer in Andehri! I don’t see anything wrong with Australia being very serious about this whole issue. After all they have shown open support to the US in the war against terrorism and being an ally to US only means that you are constantly on the radar screens of the terrorists. When he came back to India, he did try to gain some sympathy from the Indian media on the grounds that he was ill treated and the only reason being the fact that he was an Asian Muslim! His lawyer Peter Russo urged Australian government to provide him a suitable compensation for defaming his client and for

the entire family trauma his client's family had to undergo until then. Dr. Haneef did go one step further in asking the Australian government to give him honoraray citizenship. This probably was a bit too much for Australia to digest. The Australian Prime Minister John Howard slammed back at Dr. Haneef, and declined of any such options available in the Australian law.

But that is not what irked me folks! What really irked me are the 2 incidents that I am gonna share with you now.

1. After the whole bitter episode, why is Dr. Haneef so hell bent on returning to Australia? He wants to get back to a country, which left no stone unturned in ensuring that the charges against him be proved right, even if it meant that Haneef’s stature would be denigrated to the core. Is he that desperate to find a job for himself? Why can’t he serve the people back home? Our honorable chief minister has already offered him a job as a senior practioner in any government hospital in his home state. Mr. Haneef, isn’t this a golden opportunity for you to pay back all the millions of hearts that prayed for your 'clean' and 'safe' return? It is these very people back home, who supported you until the very last minute when you were looked up on by the whole world with an eye of suspicion! What more do you expect from our people? Are the dollar dreams so compelling Mr. Haneef? I feel that, by rejecting any offers from Australia (if ever you get one from them) to work for them, will certainly go a long way in registering your credibility? What do say doctor?

2. I am damn sure about this one. No responsible government in any part of the world would have acted such shamelessly as our Karnataka government did on that day! Our honorable chief minister Mr. H D Kumaraswamy was busy posing in front of the media alongside Dr. Haneef, while in another part of B’lore; our real heroes who had laid down their lives for our mother land were being cremated with all the military honors. But there was not even a single soul (do they have one?) who was a representing our government. Even to this date, the family of Colonel Vasanth which resides at Sada Shivanagar in B’lore hasn’t received a single word of condolence from the government in written, let alone someone meeting them in person. They are not demanding any job in your ministry sir. All they need is a gesture of humanity from you. Is that too much to expect from a family that lost its supporting pillar? How can you be so cruel Mr. Chief Minister? We all know how secure you and your party people are, under the covers of this knavish 'secularism'. Are you so busy in appeasing someone/some community that you forgot to utter even a single word of condolence to the members of that distressed family? What are your people in the ministry doing? We all know that this act of sharing this family’s grief isn’t gonna help you in strengthening your vote bank. Then why the hell would you do it sir? What a shameless act!!!

Now back to the media. I know you people have done all that you needed to increase your TRPs. You ensured that the viewers/readers didn't miss any scene in the whole Haneef v/s Australia episode. The media projected Haneef as though he was on the frontline in the battle field, and has returned home after winning a battle for India. He was projected as a hero? Does he deserve so much of a media attention? For god sake, we have trillions of burning issues to focus. You have all the time in this world to run behind Mr. Haneef or his family and report duteously what Haneef had for his breakfast? Or what special dish has his wife prepared for him? You have no time to share the grievances of the family of our soldiers? Why the hell would they bother about the lives of a colonel or some xyz in the armed forces? These people in the armed forces are paid for it folks! Isn’t it? Are they doing us any favor in protecting our borders? No certainly not… At least this is what the government thinks, and so does the media...

Our Prime Minister had sleepless nights on viewing Khafeel's and Sabeel's family members in tears. Why can't incidents like ruthless 'slaughtering' of the native Kashmiri pundits which happens almost everyday, render our PM sleepless? Why can't such inhumane gestures by our CM towards colonel Vasanth and his family render him sleepless? Why won't our PM lose a night's sleep on hearing about the torturous acts of naxals in malanadu? Why can't more dreadful problems like poverty, illiteracy, child labour, land mafia etc render him sleepless? Any guesses??? None of them will strengthen his vote banks folks!! Isn't it that simple? There is an adage in kannada, which suits the behavior of our ministers pretty well. Dina sayorige aluvavaru yaru anta!! How inhumane of you sir?

PS: Someone has rightly quoted, “You don’t know the value of a doctor when you are well, and the importance a soldier when the nation is at peace.” Who ever said this buddy, must have understood India quite well.

~IT's My Life

Should we 'appreciate Rupee'?

Received via an e-mail from Harish. Quite a thought provoking read...

Let me ask a question first.

What type of economic strength is preferable to India?

A) A strong Indian economy fuelled by its cheap labour due to a weaker rupee against dollar, where the Indians end up working in shifts, late nights, whole nights and what not… only doing low profile jobs which foreign companies want to offload to India, so that they can concentrate on high end works and become even better. For instance in IT field, providing BPO services, support and maintenance work for products…

OR

B) A strong Indian economy fuelled by its strong innovations and products, no matter whether the rupee is strong or weak against dollar. Where Indians work only in regular office hours of 9 to 6, developing cutting edge technologies and solutions, selling our world class products both inside and outside India. For instance in IT field, imagine operating systems, compilers, databases etc all coming out of India.

I do not deny the fact that the IT boom in India came to a large extent because of:

(A) Well we have had the benefits of our cost being cheap in western markets due to a weak rupee against dollar. We have had our share because of this advantage in the past 2 decades. But at the same time doesn't it make sense to move forward.

(B) Instead of crying foul against rupee becoming stronger against dollar?

What a pity! Indian IT companies are feeling bad because rupee is becoming stronger against dollar! Reason, their profits will go down when the value of rupee is stronger, as every single dollar that comes into their account now means lesser rupee than earlier. (If for instance earlier they used to get 47 rupees for every dollar that comes in, but today its about 40!)

But isn't this a matter of celebration? Our rupee is gaining importance internationally and is becoming stronger again. How many of us know that in 1947 when India got independence 1 Rupee was 1.2 US dollars?

These Indian IT companies instead of relying on a weaker rupee for their profit should now look at coming out with innovative products and technical solutions. What have these companies done in the arena of core system products? Why don't we have any operating systems, compilers, database systems, development platforms etc coming out of India? Why don't we develop tools like Photoshop or Flash? We have talent, but they all are working in American companies on these products. Can’t our Indian IT companies’ set-up at least small teams to develop such products?

Instead they are planning to make their employees work on saturdays too! So that their profits can increase due to extra hours the employees put in. As if India doesn't have any other option other than cheap labour, workaholic labours!! Are there no brains in India who can set-up companies developing products and make money just by printing out more serial numbers and burning their product DVDs?

If Indian companies continue to depend on its weak currency, then how would Indian economy survive in a world where all currencies have equal value? Survival of the fittest!! Only a greater innovation can help us in that case.

We need to have knowledge and technological advantage if India wants to become a superpower, not low cost based cheap labor advantage! Let the Chinese do it.

I hope that rupee becomes more and stronger so that Indians are forced to use their brains and come up with innovative products and next generation technologies, than to provide low end services.

We need to create a situation where other countries line up to buy our F-16s, to buy our operating systems, to buy our mobile phones and I-pods, to buy our Boeing, to buy our Mercedes. A stronger rupee means we can easily afford foreign trips!

"A stronger rupee means that we Indians can buy things anywhere in the world on par with developed economies! We don't have to spend crores of rupees then to buy a Boeing! We don't have to pay tens of thousands of rupees for international air travels! A stronger rupee means greater international exposure! There won't be a difference between buying a Maruti and buying a Mercedes! One can go on a trip to the Grand Canyon just like the way one goes to Ladakh or Nepal! How do you think Americans are able to tour all over the world? Is it because they earn more? No, But because their currency, USD is stronger. And this is where a strong rupee will lead us to! "

I am not saying providing low end services are wrong... It gave us a very good start in the 90s. But that should definitely not be the bread and butter, fuelling our economic boom indefinitely in the future... For the simple reason that it can't continue to do so any longer... other low cost destinations, cheaper than India are already coming up in the world… Let us move ahead… become more innovative... the journey has just started… This is just the beginning of all the beginnings.

PS: The next time you gnarl about the rupee appreciation episode, and bitch about the ‘heavy’ monetary loss that you would be incurring from it, please don’t forget that “Sronger Rupee = Stronger India”.

Coutesy: The original article can be found here.

~IT's My Life