#Presstitute - Why we love this name calling

There was a time, I had a high regards for journos but over the period that regard has subsided and a hate feeling has cropped up somewhere within me for them! Though I value the freedom of expressions unlike the other torch bearers who have blocked more number of people than their respective followers on twitter but one should not hide her bias behind this word "Freedom of expression"! Interestingly now a days there is a discourse that - If I say something that is my FoE but if you disagree then you are being "Intolerant"! Irony! Now coming to the direct point - why we love this word #Presstitutes. Here are few points that I make to support my case-

When a terrorist, convicted by the highest court of the land, was being executed; media community presented him as a saint and the narrative, nationwide, set was the victim hood. Instead of showing the images of his heinous act, his soft side was shown.

When a Sadhvi says something un-parliamentary, it becomes a national issue and the statement, generally, is analysed at least for 2-3 days continuously. Even the parliament stops functioning!! We have not seen the analysis of others' statement with the similar gravity. I wont go into Aiyar/Khursid etc but most recently Arvind Kejriwal used a unprecedented words to describe Narendra Modi. Absolutely no discussion/analysis took place in the presstitute's vicinity.

For 12 years, Modi was tried by various agencies of govt of India without even a single FIR. He was declared guilty by presstitute community day in and day out. I did not see any diverging view by most of these independent presstitutes. Modi was given clean chit by agencies after agencies but the general discourse was that - "Modi must be hanged", "At least he should apologies' etc!! Who forgets that famous quote by one of the notorious presstitute channel -"Major blow to Modi".

Today Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are out on a bail for a criminal case in which two different court have declared them prima facie guilty however the general discourse that presstitute community playing is "political vendetta". Absolutely no presstitute is discussing the merit of the national herald case.

We all understand the independence of media but media itself dose not understand it. In the glamour era where we are evaluated by our wealth/post/positions/powers etc, guys in media also have started indulging themselves in corrupt activities. Mis-representation of facts, in a one way communication, has become a tool for them for their personal gain. Wealth of some of the most prominent presstitutes have gone beyond the explainable levels.

However I do believe that there are still some, though far and few, who are still holding the ethical flag and are not afraid of calling a spade a spade. I wish more power to them. Wish more like them join the vicinity.

Let’s Play – Corruption Corruption!

Corruption has been a constant issue in every single election in India, post-independence, right from Pt Jawaharlal Nehru - the first prime minister of India. Recently in 2014, Narendra Modi made corruption a huge political issue and like all other politicians, Modi too, got an immense support from the masses across India. During the same period, many civil societies, NGOs and other torch-bearers also agitated many times on the same issue. In 2013, Anna Harare did a "fast unto death" agitation in Delhi and people from all corners of India lent its support for the movement. Technological developments and evolution of social media added fuel to the fire and ensured active participation of every singly households by heart and spirit. These anti-corruption movements have seen the rise of many stalwarts and many of these stalwarts later took plunge in active politics with a single promise - "to bring a change" i.e. corruption free governance! Most recently we have seen the emergence of a new anti-corruption crusader- Arvind Kejriwal who questioned whoever he wanted to and the credibility of our contemporary politicians were so low that we all believed whatever Kejriwal told us and we trusted all his allegations. Kejriwal’s instant judgments put him in a different league, even though there were serious question marks on his allegations. The only man who stood the test of Kejriwal was Narendra Modi. Modi not only defeated the establishments but also passed all the allegations labeled in peoples’ court of Justice before marching to the highest corridor of power.

Anyway this article is not about Modi or Kejriwal or for that matter any other politicians. It is about the system or the establishments which were promised to be changed by many different politicians, civil society members, agitators, NGOs or many other self-proclaimed anti-corruption crusaders. Almost all prime-ministers of India and respective chief-ministers of all states of India, since 1947, have made a promise of “Corruption-Free-Governance” at some point or the other. Many of these office bearers regained the power with the repeat of the same promise. However the heat of corruption reached right to the doorstep of almost all these power riders – almost all CMs and all PMs with a very few exceptions. Even a man with highest integrity, Manmohan Singh– who has been the prime minister of India for 10 years, could not save himself from the established system and CBI had to call him for interrogations. Manmohan Singh had no answers to almost all questions asked to him. He, cowardly, had to hide behind the statement – “History will be kinder in judging me”! Those who were loudest in raising the anti-corruption slogans while not in power, eventually became the epicenter of corruptions themselves. Mulyam Singh Yadav, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Nitish Kumar etc. all are product of 1974 anti-corruption JP movement who rose to fame on the anti-corruption noises eventually faced serious corruption charges and some went to Jail also. These names, later, became the synonym of corruption once they assumed power. Jayalalitha, Karunanidhi, NTR etc came from reel world and they were not part of the system but even they had to face very serious charges of corruption and go to jail. Some other leaders who came from downtrodden community, whom people trusted enough to give them power, also had to face the allegations of corruption and were tried by various investigating agencies. Mayawati, Mamata Banerjee and Madhu Koda can be named from this category. After the demise of Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, Jagan Reddy had to pay for the sins which his father did. The point is we tried leaders from all sort of background with same hope but to no avail.

Let’s evaluate the two most recent torch bearers of anti-corruption movements – Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal. Their emergence to the national politics is purely because of their clean image and work against corruption. Modi had successfully demonstrated it as a Gujarat administrator while Kejriwal sounded credible. Modi, in his mammoth election campaign for 2014 general election & in almost all rallies, came heavily on various corruption issues and people involved in them during the then UPA govt headed by Man Mohan Singh.2G, Coal, Black money & Commonwealth scams were major high tickets scams which shook the UPA govt to the core and even Supreme Court made many adverse observations against govt. UPA govt lost its credibility completely and Congress sympathizers started appearing with various disclaimers. Modi also dragged the first family (By dragging Robert Vadra’s name) into the corruption discussion. Now Modi just complete one year in office but we see no major change in the course. Modi can only be credited with the fact his own first year administration has been corruption free and he must be congratulated for it. But he made no move in the direction of bringing other corrupts to the book. Similarly Arvind Kejriwal who always carried a file on almost everyone suddenly had no evidence against any one the moment he came to power. His major hara-kiri was on Sheila Dixit episode where he came up multiple serious charges with “credible” evidences. These evidences disappeared the moment he rose to power. His ridiculously high audacity was so high that he took support from Congress party to form govt in Delhi. Kejriwal returned to power with a historical mandate but the person who “sacrificed” his CM post on the issue of Jan-Lokpal does not even talk about it. Apparently he does not how to rule and hence his govt with struggling on almost all issues. He picks up fight with almost every one. His ministers are facing with various charges, many of which are serious in nature. One of his minsters was sent to jail.

Absolutely no-one likes corruption, let’s make no mistake about it. Still the question is- why this menace called “corruption” could not be eradicated even after so many battles, agitations, movements and sacrifices. The common men trusted leaders after leaders, agitators after agitators but the net result have been null for them. Those who made noises joined the power center, got their piece of cake and the common men, as usual, felt cheated not once or twice but every time. Anyway common men are meant to be cheated and nothing new in this. Even the technological paradigm shift could hardly make a difference. Those who promise to bring change are found changed themselves after assuming power. Therefore the million dollar question is – why the so called anti-corruption crusaders change themselves the moment they join the power corridors? What is there in the system that changes their own narratives? Why the things which look so easy outside power corridors become so hard the moment they become powerful. Why becoming powerful makes them so powerless? Why is it so easy to come up with ideas when not in power, to bring change, but those ideas have no meaning the moment they become powerful? Or the poison of power is so intoxicating? These questions have been asked since ages and probably will continued to be asked but will never be answered, not at least in foreseeable future. The irony with common men is that they support everyone who comes up with the fresh idea of change, and most recently the support has been unleashed on Narendra Modi and Arvind Kejriwal. They have been elected with unprecedented mandate. Let’s wait if they bring a change in the system or they themselves become the “system”. Until then, let’s play corruption-corruption!

India Presidential Election 2012 - Why no one is correct

2012 Presidential election showed us some high level of drama in which everybody played a role. After following the drama so closely and knowing India's political history to an extent; I belive no player was right in his/her position. Let me explain you why -

Congress - National interest clearly comes last for the corruption charges laden party as they never push and fight their allies (e.g. - FDI in retail, Pension Bill etc) but the moment it came to power sharing (in this case president post) they did not waste any time showing Mamta her limits. Entire Congress party was united rebutting Mamta B.

Sonia Gandhi - A mysterious lady and an autocrat with no accountability and entitled to take almost all decisions, never announced any candidate for the post. Everybody kept guessing two names - Pranab as first candidate and Hamid Ansari as second. Let me draw your attention to the level of humiliation to these senior politician. Choice 1- Pranab Mukharjee, must have felt humiliated because when it came to choose PM and president, SG never had choices. MMS and Pratibha Patil were single choice for the respective post. So why a candidate like Pranab with so much of experience was considered with an option? Choice2 - Hamid Ansari. When his names came as a "second" option; this itself was a humiliation. He never even came infront of camera to speak anything about it. More so keeping him with Pranab itself was a denial, one wonders why his name unnecessarily kept running around.

Sonia Gandhi's Political Advisers - Mostly it is Ahmad Patel, who almost kept SG in dark and the result was the public humiliation of the entire party by Mamta and Mulayam duo. When Mamta met SG, at least they could have asked her not to reveal any name on Congress's behalf! Congress took almost 24 hours to recover and revitalize the strategy that too after multilevel meetings with top leaders. Missing of plan B? Continuously ringing cell phones of top congress leader where never answered.

Pranab Mukharjee - The incumbent Finance Minister who is also heading more than 45 sensitive and empowered GoMs killed the entire growth story of Indian Economy. Promoting a person with such a bad CV who messed up the entire economy is never seen before in any system. More so when he could actually have taken up responsibilities and done some reforms; he is leaving a mess behind. Additionally, Mamta is like her "sister" when it comes to personal ambitions but not for national interests.

Digvijay Singh - The first one to react after Congress received Mamta&Mulayam shock. Nobody knows how he gets his facts and who asks him to react when mostly the Congress party distances itself from his statements. Today Congress issued a statement that "Digvijay is not authorized to speak on behalf of Congress Party". But "foot in mouth" yoga is loved by almost all Congis.

Manmohan Singh - A mock prone and good for nothing economist (who let the vibrant India die), did not know what to do when two allies of his own coalition publicly declared him unfit for the prime minister position. The statement that he made was "I-am-happy-where-I-am" as if he had a choice! What he could have done is resign from the post and then bargain a better power and free hand from Sonia Gandhi. But he did what he was good at - "Nothing".

Media - Oh! These jellies faced morons! They kept floating names without any substance. People were busy guessing and discussing the wisdoms of the names running. They did not stop there. They started asking question from their viewers - "Is Pranab going to be the next president?" "Will APJK agree to contest election?" If I knew the answer of these questions, why on earth would I watch news channels? They spoke nonsense on behalf of some unidentified "sources" who we could never found out. They reported that Advani is sulking from the presidential post discussion but we saw all meetings happening at Advani’s residence.

Mamta Banarjee - In a multi party democratic system, she took it almost on it own and went on naming people of her choice for the post, that too in order of choice! The word consensus never came into the picture. Her intentions were pure but the lady lost it all and is now living in isolation.

Mulayam Singh Yadav - The kingmaker, as it turned out, one could never trust him. Not known for any contribution to the state in his political stint. God knows what deal he struck with SG and backed off from a position he took just 24 hours before in broad daylight.

NDA Combine - The group of political party, led by BJP, never showed any maturity even when the ruling party was in a complete mess. They never took advantage of being in opposition. They did not have any plan in place about the president election that too when the contest was almost even. They were not sure even at the last hour.

JDU - The party which came to limelight after a resurgent victory in Bihar; off late lost its character and started behaving like an opportunistic party. On every big political decision of national interest, they look for deals.

Other Regional Parties - When India is standing on a cross-road and uncertain about her way forward; its power is now centralizing towards regional parties. They play big roles in larger national decision and their say is mostly driven by the petty benefits they can possibly make, mostly - position and money. Looser, in the game, are the common masses as a whole.

PA Sangma - A self declared contestant for the president post is going doors to doors and begging the support, as if he is contesting a local election. His own party colleagues never supported his candidature! What a loss of honor to the highest constitutional post!

APJ Abdul Kalam – Whom every Indian love beyond boundaries, kept everybody guessing. His name was running round and round for three weeks and he never stopped it. Finally the statement- "My conscience does not allow me to contest!" What took his conscience so long to answer? There were reports in the media that he would contest only when the victory is assured! Why did you want a cake walk instead of contesting the position?

Common people – Oh! Poor people! Who cares about you! While all surveys showed that people of India want Kalam as president but that has nothing to do with it. We are never going to complain! Let it be.

Disclaimer- the views expressed are personal.

After Thought : Why companies fail - Story change with changing time

I did some readings on the failure stories of many companies which were once very successful and were leading the markets. The summary -


Starting with Nokia - the largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world which started in 1865 as a groundwood pulp mill. It gradually became an industrial conglomerate and, among other things, produced paper products, tyres, footwear, communication cables and consumer electronics. In the early 1990s the company realised that its story had to change and decided to concentrate on the telecommunication business. It gradually sold out a host of its other businesses. The change of story helped the company become the largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world. But the company missed out on the smartphone revolution completely. By the time it changed its story and started concentrating on smart phones, other companies had already moved in and captured the market. A host of smaller companies from Micromax to Karbon Mobiles and many more are giving Nokia a run for its money in the Indian market. Why did this happen? For the simple reason, the company remained attached to its earlier story.


There are other such examples as well. When it came to reliable, trustworthy news, there wasn’t a bigger brand than the British Broadcasting Corporation(BBC). The company did not see the story changing and the rise of 24-hour news channels. CNN grabbed the opportunity and broadcast the Gulf War live into homes.


Sony is another great example. The company changed the entire music business with the launch of the Walkman. But failed to see the story changing and handed over the mp three-player market to the likes of Apple on a platter.


Bharti Beetel, which revolutionised land line phones in India by launching push button phones, failed to see the story changing and remained stuck to selling push-button phones, when more and more consumers were moving to mobile phones. Ironically, its sister company Airtel became the biggest mobile phone company in India. The company has recently started selling mobile phones. Now imagine, during the days when Airtel was a growing company, Bharti could have sold its own mobile phones (under the Beetel brand) to consumers who bought an Airtel connection and thus could have been one of the biggest mobile phone companies in India.


Those who do see the story changing and change their stories accordingly benefit from it. An often-quoted example is that of Nirma and Wheel. The Nirma detergent started selling at Rs 3.50 per kg at a time when Hindustan Lever’s (now Hindustan Unilever) Surf used to sell for around Rs 15 per kg. The low price of Nirma made it accessible to consumers, who till then really couldn’t afford the luxury of washing clothes using a detergent and had to use soap instead. To Hindustan Lever’s credit they did not remain stuck in their past. They realised that the story had to change, and thus went ahead and launched their Nirma killer “Wheel” detergent, which eventually beat the sales of Nirma.


The take away from all these examples, from Surf to Nokia to Sony to Bharti, is simple. At times in the lives of individuals as well as companies the story that had worked previously, needs to be dumped. Story must change with the changing time.

Looking back-

अभी अलविदा मत कहो दोस्‍तों ना जाने कहाँ फिर मुलाकात हो
ना जाने कहाँ फिर मुलाक़ात हो क्योंकि
बीते हुए लम्हो की कसक साथ तो होगी
बीते हुए लम्हो की कसक साथ तो होगी
ख्वाबों ही मे हो चाहे मुलाकात तो होगी
बीते हुए लम्हो की कसक साथ तो होगी
ख्वाबों ही मे हो चाहे मुलाकात तो होगी
बीते हुए लम्हो की कसक साथ तो होगी
ये प्यार मे डूबी हुई रंगीन फजाएँ
ये प्यार मे डूबी हुई रंगीन फजाएँ
ये चेहरे, ये नज़रें, ये जवान रुत, ये हवाएँ
हम जाएँ कहीं इनकी महक साथ तो होगी
हम जाएँ कहीं इनकी महक साथ तो होगी!
बीते हुए लम्हो की कसक साथ तो होगी
ख्वाबों ही मे हो चाहे मुलाक़ात तो होगी!
फूलों की तरह दिल मे बसाए हुए रखना
फूलों की तरह दिल मे बसाए हुए रखना
यादों के चरगों को जलाई हुए रखना
लंबा है सफ़र इसमे कहीं रत तो होगी!
लंबा है सफ़र इसमे कहीं रत तो होगी!
ख्वाबों ही मे हो चाहे मुलाक़ात तो होगी!
बीते हुए लम्हो की कसक साथ तो होगी!

After Thought @ Noble Peace Prize 2009

Year 2009 have been a happening year around the world - be it positive or negative. Amidst all the happening Barack Obama takes the office of president of US, the first country of the world. He took oath on 20th Jan, 2009.

Well Today he is awarded the highest civilian award for peace - Noble Peace Prize!! I would like to congratulate him.

However, something which is pinching me is following -

He took oath on 20th Jan and the deadline for the nominations for the prize was Feb 01 , 2009. In just a matter of 10 days, what difference did he make? Things in first sight do not look in order!!
The award has been given to him for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples and for his outreach to the Muslim and attempts to curb nuclear proliferation.

However, as per Alfred Nobel will, the peace prize should be given to the person who must have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses.

But the so called "the most" or "the best" of Barack Obama is yet to be realized and the impact so far is negligible or yet to be seen.

However, Obama do captures the world's most attention specially in the era of desperation and economic meltdown and other political and social threats. His vision for a world without Nuclear Weapon was also widely appreciated.

Congratulations and all the best to him!!

After Thoughts @ No "Vulgur" Salaries to CEOs

Last monsoon, our dear govt introduced - "Austerity Drive" for ministers and other public officials. Hope they would have saved billions. Now after "successfully" running the austerity drive - our "concerned" government wants to transfer this success to the corporate sector and hence a new formula - CEOs should check their salary.

The salary and incentive given to a CEO is linked with their productivity, risk appetite, selling ability, the return generated and other driving factor. No company pays a fat salary to an under productive leader.

high reward always comes with an inherent high level of risk. For ex - If anything goes wrong in the company, the first person that comes under the scanner is the CEO of the company. We have numerous example from last year's economic scenario. Top CEOs don't fear taking high degree of risks and hence they generate a big yields to the investors and other stakeholders and therefore they are rewarded with a fat salary hike and bonuses(A part of the profit). But if the business/risk fails, the same CEO would be sacked immediately.

On the other hand, in public sector there is, so far, no incentive to hard work and innovation and every single person is driven by same stick. And hence we find our govt offices so lethargic and energy less.

High salary of corporate employees can also be understood by their scarcity. We have very limited set of talents and the same skill keeps moving among different companies causing the labor price rise in private sector. Since every body wants the best talent to lead her company, they don't hesitate paying marginally more for pulling the employee from a different company. This can be understood by the success of ICICI, Infy, TCS and other top brand of India. Since independence, we had n number of banks but how many got the same success that K V Kamat achieved for ICICI in 10 years. They operated in the same market and among the same set of customers but with a magnificently different growth rates among the peers. Now should we really check the salary of these people. The moment we do this, their risk appetite would come down and this would hit the growth.

Well there may be some checking points in the private body, but still, govt should not interfere into the private business. We should note our GDP is majorly driven by services sector( contributes around 50%) and major chunk of this comes from the private corporates which are run by fat salaried people. This was never the case before. In a nutshell, the higher growth/return implies the "vulgar" salary and not implied by.

The govt would be better of checking it's own offices. Today corruption is a major problem in any govt offices. There are infinite number of things that govt should be fixing rather that advising corporate bodies. In a minor stint of 5 years of an MLA/MP, their wealth level rises 10 to 20 fold in general, but this does not happen with the CEOs.