Astitva.... The Fountainhead

Saturday, August 28, 2004

Harold and Kumar....

11:10 PM on a Friday night and you are still in office. You decide you have had enough. If you work anymore you may end up not getting any dinner and public transport back home.

11:28 PM at Orchard. BK is still open, Lucky me!! Grab a whopper meal without patty.

11:45 PM at Orchard. Dinner is done. Heard that Harold and Robin has a sneak preview tonight. Should I give it a try after 14 hours of work. I may end up sleeping in the theatre if the movie isn't good.

11:55 PM Lido at Orchard. I will take my chances. Show starts at midnight.

The next 1.5 hours is worth every penny spent. It's a movie about two Asian guys in Sates. One of Chinese origin and the other of Indian. Dunno how but I can relate to the Chinese guys in the movie at times. Guess singapore is showing its effect. ;-)

I am not sure if this movie will do well a the US box office, but Asians are going to love this. Trust Me!! Its a must watch for the younger audience. The humour is not neat and goes over the edge at times but it has variety. Its not the movie you will take your girlfriend out to. But one where you go out with a large gang of friends. I'ld call it one of the top comedy's released in the past 4 months.

Final Rating 4.5/5

Avyakt!!

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

India, corruption and us....

Every day we hear each other talk about how corrupt India is. We express our opinions about it.. We spoof on it and make jokes on the Indian politics and politicians. Most of us hate this corruption. Most of us wish it were not here. But ask yourself this. What have you done in the past 2 years of your life that could improve the situation?

Let me focus on some core aspects of this article.....

Who are We?

We are India's new generation of professionals who have emerged over the past 15 years. Most of us have completed university/college education and have a well paying job. We are the best brains of the nation.

What do We do for living?
Some of us work in large/small MNC while others in emerging Indian Firms. We are employed in India as well as many countries worldwide. We work in IT, Banking, Manufacturing, Consulting, Research, Education etc.

How are We helping the nation?
We attract foreign firms to setup offices in India and help in the FDI. Those of us earning abroad help improve the foreign reserves of our nation. The emerging firms in India provide tough competition to global firms due to low costs and facilitate the local firms as well as economic growth and exports.

Great going folks... I see a lot of economic development and growth but has there been any improvement in the political situation in the country. The Answer is No. Ever thought why? Read on...

All that money you earn converts to taxes and leads to an increase in govt spending. The more they have to spend, the more corrupt officials can pocket. Our earnings helps them more that we think its helping the nation.

The best brains of the nation are not even close to politics. Not only they hate it, they do not even want to think about it. So who ends up going into politics...
Those who can't run their own family, forget running a nation.
Those who got thrown out of college because they pocketed the students union funds.
Those who murdered a lad coz he stood against them in college elections.
Those who have no idea which is the biggest democracy in the world.

Its not going to help if we do nothing but say everything.
Someday we will have to clean the shit that has been laid in the past 57 years, and to do that we will have to get our hands dirty. It will stink a lot but that's the only way.

I can't ask a drought struck farmer from Andhra to do it....He is not sure of his next meal, how can he make the decision for the nation.
Or the suppressed housewife in rajasthan... She does not know whether her husband will beat her tonight... or will she be spared.
Or hungry kid in UP who does no know why his father did not come back home after elections.

Its not them folks....Its us who will have to take on this responsibility....
Coz we are the ones most able to do it. Say that we are the lucky or unlucky ones... but we have to take a lead on this. That's the only way I see it happening if at all.

Adios!!

Sunday, August 22, 2004

Things have changed around here

Yes, The template has been changed and has been customized as well. It turned out to be quite a revision of my HTML skills. The last time I tried my hand at HTML was during my Internship. As it turns out, I have not lost my touch yet. For now I am off for a tennis session before I start with another eventful week at work.
Adios

Saturday, August 21, 2004

Not the best start!!

This is definitely not been the best way to start a blog...
It all started with the username. Who the hell took the username Avyakt. That was just the start, guess the same guy took up the blog http://avyakt.blogspot.com. C'mon, there are not many Avyakt's in this world.Then I look for astitva.blogspot.com, and guess what.... that's gone too. I calm myself and look at the next best option i.e. http://fountainhead.blogspot.com and as lady luck would have it, it does not exist on the net, but blogspot refuses to register me to it. So here I am with http://fountain-head.blogspot.com As I said its not the best of the start, but this bad luck spree is not going to last for long. Wait for better times folk and you will find a lot of activity on this blog.
Adios!!