The Epic Blog of Sarthak Goyal

"50% Indians have bribed atleast once in their lifetime, rest 50% are below poverty line"

So the Anna Hazzare drama is finally, over. It was all so fun! Wish it would have continued for a little longer. But now we have more entertaining stuff to look over- it's the IPL, dude!

This is the reality! If you think that we Indians have won a war against corruption or something, then stop fooling yourself. Won't you bribe the traffic policeman now? You will! Corruption is in our very blood, and we just can't live without it.

Out of the population of 1.21 billion, there were only 200 people sitting on anshan. Few thousands protesting at Jantar Mantar or Gateway of India. And some more tweeting or updating their facebook status or writing blog like this. That's it! And we call it a mass revolution? How many of the people actually even know about the Lokpal Bill? You know, the biggest irony of the protest was that we were using the by-product of the biggest (biggest among those revealed) corruption scandal in India, our mobile phone- the 2G, to register our protest against corruption.

No, I am not against Anna Hazare. Infact, I salute him for his work. But I am against this mass hysteria created around this protest. "The Second War of Independence" "Jantar Mantar- India's Tahrir Chowk"- It was all nuisance. The Lokpal bill still has a long journey to make. There has to be done- drafting of bill, passing the bill in Parliament, proper implementation of law and then getting it functional to act against corruption. And still there is no surety that it will stop corruption.

All this protest was like a ganga-snan (bath in river Ganga, which is believed to wash away all the sins committed by a person). By watching Anna Hazare news or tweeting about this, we believe that our image is now corruption free. But when it would come to getting our child admitted in the most-reputed college or in nursery, we will simply shutdown our eyes. Why shouldn't you be put in jail with A.Raja? Just because the amount varies?

The most common excuse that comes when giving bribe is that we don't have any other option. And I buy this point. Sometimes, actually we don't have any choice. But the problem grows, when we become habitual of it. Take this case-

"For the first time trying to give BRIBE to an INCOME TAX OFFICER..bt failed Will try again..may be better luck nxt time..:))"

This was my friend's FB status few days ago. He was simply ecstatic on giving bribe. It was like a big achievement for him. How can a person be so happy over the idea of bribery, i just can't understand. He doesn't even find it wrong. And that's the biggest problem.

Infact, I, being a chartered accountant student, am being taught (though unofficially) that how to bribe or not to raise a voice against corruption! C'mon this is just the limit! Stop having corruption as a part of our culture. Stop promoting it.

I don't expect everyone to adopt "I will not bribe" policy, but atleast have "I feel ashamed to bribe" attitude.

One doubts if corruption can ever be rooted-out from India. But It can be, with some radical change in our thoughts- when we start feeling ashamed of being a part of corruption, and not happy like my fellow friend; when we will not boost bribing as our achievement, but something as very unfortunate.

This is where people like Anna Hazare play a crucial role. They provide us with a mirror to look upon where we stand. The movements like these give us hope that we are not the only ones who hate corruption. Everyone wants to get rid of it. And if we raise our voice, there are people to back us.

Picture this. You go to a government office wearing an 'India Against Corruption' t-shirt. That government official will atleast think once before asking you for bribe and may even perform your work without any mithayi. That would be real change. The real win against corruption.

And yes, one day-and that day will come very soon- we Indians will live without corruption!



Some Important Information:

• Who is Anna Hazare?
• Jan Lokpal Bill
• Jan Lokpal vs Lokpal as proposed by the government
• Joint committee which will draft the Final Bill
• India Against Corruption
• The RTI- Right to Information Act

To

The Soldiers of India

SUBJECT: A simple Thank You message

I am one ordinary citizen of the country you protect. Few days ago, while I was enjoying my holiday,I saw you all marching along the Rajpath, and a lady, whom we call the President, was accepting your salaami. I was so much impressed, that you were doing overtime even on a holiday, that I have decided to write a Thank You letter to you.

1. I would like to Thank You all for providing such a secure environment to our politicians, that they don't have to fear once before doing any crime.

2. I would like to Thank You for fighting all those Kargil and other wars, so that we can enjoy movies made upon them.

3. Thank You for ensuring security at a cricket stadium, so that we ordinary people can show our real patriotism by cheering for those 11 real heroes of our country.

4. Thank You for bearing the stones thrown by public in any protest, when those stones are actually meant our ministers.

5. Thank You for ensuring that no other country men can kill us, so that we can kill ourselves through drinking and chewing tobacco.

6. Thank You for using substandard weapons, so that we can top as a nation to have maximum deposits in a Swiss bank.

7. Thank You for being the peons of your high ranking officers and cleaning their houses which they have got in societies like Adarsh.

8. Thank You for protecting people like me who can only think and talk, but never DO anything.

9. Thank You for giving company to the inmates of Tihar, to the chickens at a butcher shop and to the dogs on the street, that they are not the only ones who live in inhuman conditions.

10. Thank You for giving up your lives in an already populated country.

 

Please accept my Thank Yous for an otherwise thankless job.

 

Yours and only because of You,

The Shameless Citizen of India.

 

Why is it so that we "Shut Down" our PC, "Switch Off" our cell phones and "Turn Off" our TV Sets? Why do we have three different words for one single process!?

I am not a tech-geek, but any other person who has plenty of time to think about random things.

Take a simpler example. You have TV Set, it has got its own speakers. You have your PC, it has its own speakers. There is your mobile having its own speaker. Then you have your music system again having its own speaker! Won't it be much better and economical to have a single speaker set for all these instruments?

And its not limited to speakers. I am looking around myself, and I find there is so much wastage of technology, be it different displays for TV and PC or separate DVD players for TV, PC and music system or unique chargers for mobile, camera and iPod or, the most irritating one, different remotes for every product!

Why can't we synchronize all of them to act like a unit and not uniquely?

Hardware Synchronization

 

We have got a mobile phone, right? Nowadays it has inbuilt camera. But still it can't take place of a digital camera. Why can't we have all the features like optical zoom, panorma in a mobile camera? Apple provided music player in its iPhone, but why it's not at par with iPod? Why do we need a kindle when we can read on a mobile phone?

Won't it be nice if we have a mobile phone which can actually replace digicams, iPods, kindles and if possible, notebook too. And then this mobile can also act as the remote control for our TV, music system, DVD Players, ACs, fan, tubelights or any electric equipment. It may further act as our credit card, identity card, door keys and car key. Then you have further features like mobileTV, GPS navigation, gaming, the limit is endless. (Of course, keeping things simple while compressing everything in one small device would be a herculean task !)

This mobile phone would be completely synchronized with electronic equipment at your home and office. You play music in your mobile phone and it would be automatically played from the speaker set present in the house. Every electronic devices would have bluetooth or bluetooth-like technology which would provide wireless connection between them. Talking about devices, they won't be like computers, televisions, playstations, but functional based- a speaker system for audio output, and a display for video output and a player which can read data from CDs, pen drives, blu-rays, memory card and also act as your set top box and MoDeM. Thats it! What else do we need? Just these three products. Regarding input devices like keyboard, we can use our mobile or can have mini touch pad.

Whatever I am talking about is no science fiction. Read carefully and you will find there is no mention of any new technology but only proper use of existing ones.

Data Synchronization

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="259" caption=" One data centre connecting every electronic device"][/caption]

After hardware, lets talk about its soul- the data. How nice it would be if we get the same interface ie the bookmarks, shortcuts, settings, wallpaper and data while using any PC  in or out of the world  Today you have your favorite song stored on your mobile, your iPod, your CD and on your hard drive. And then thousands and lakhs of people have that song stored. Won't it be better if we store only a list of our favorite songs and play it via internet without actually downloading the song?

Another example- You click a photograph from your digicam. Now using a data cable, you transfer it to your PC, attach it on an email and then sends it to your uncle-aunt in New York. Won't it be better if they can directly access those photos from digicam's memory via internet (of course, there would be password protection for your 'special' photos)

What I basically want, instead of our hard disks, the data should be stored via internet at one single data centre. All we need to do is to just log in from any computer or mobile, like we on facebook, and access our photos, videos, music and other files. Instead of CDs, pendrive or atttaching file, we would just give the web-address of the file to the concerned person. (This system of data storage could be somewhat similar the The tree of souls and voices as shown in the movie Avatar).

Synchronizing Communication

Taking a step ahead, we can also synchronize the way data travels ie communication. Again I am looking around myself. I have got a DTH connection for TV, GSM connection for mobile, a traditional telephone line, a telephone based-broadband connection, a wireless landline phone and a FM radio. Then there are other technologies for communication like cable TV, IPTV, dial up internet, wifi internet, mobile internet, CDMA, 2G, 3G. And then within these technologies, we have SMS, MMS, emails, bluetooth, infrared and so many other things!

Again, i guess, broadly speaking we need only two modes of communication- one for short distances like bluetooth and other for long distance like 3G mobile or wifi broadband. The short distance communication would be used to synchronize our electronic devices at home, substituting the wires. And the long distance communication would be used for voice chat, text messages, television, radio, sharing photos, videos and other data.

Issues

I understand there are certain doubts about the viability of such synchronized system. And that's why I am not saying to introduce it all at once. But the electronics giants must take steps towards it. In fact, I am sure they must be taking it (like we have chrome OS based on storage of data via internet, TV on mobile etc.)

Some prime-facia issues can be-

Cost. Such technologies with so much of features would be really costly. But my point is the cost of synchronization would be nullified by the money we save by having lesser equipments (wont having single video disdplay for tv and computer save cost?)

Bundling up. Products would be bundled up with features that we don't require. Simple solution- customization of products as per customer needs.

Privacy. With our data  stored somewhere else, privacy issues may creep in. But tell me, where is it more  safe to keep valuables at home or in banks? With so much of data, obviously these data centers would have better security options than your pc.

Complicated. "So much" in everything would affect the simplicity and make things complicated to use. This a partly correct, but then any new thing appears complicated at first and then we get used to it (example is in front of you- Your PC!)

Likewise, I believe other issues can also be dealt with.

And as I have written above, these are nothing innovative. Having a camera in your mobile is also a part of synchronization. What I am saying is to take this synchronization to the next level, where mobile and cameras won't be different. Infact, daily we are having launches of products/technologies in this regard. iPad was one such launch (though I believe, it failed in its task of bridging laptop and mobile). Google cloud-based Operating system may revolutionize the computing world in this regard. Infact facebook is also doing the same thing by providing everything on our wall and also by storing our photos and other infos.

I again repeat: I am not a tech-geek, but any other person who has plenty of time to think about random things. So pardon my lack of knowledge or any mis-appropriation of fact.

Thanks for reading it. One more thing, I would like to clarify is- I am not saying all these changes should happen, but this synchronization (or you can say management) of technology is what I believe would be the future.

Eagerly awaiting your comments and suggestions.!

Just a random thought!

Yesternight, I was watching the TV show Emotional Atyaachar in which a person conducts a "loyalty test" on his/her partner through a sting operation. Though such shows are nothing more than crap and nor, I am here talking about of such shows. But watching it made me wonder, what is cheating?

A person who is committed to spend the entire life with you, can't he/she spend a night with someone else? People say relationships are not all about sex, but then why is it given so much importance if your partner has it with someone apart from you? It doesn't mean he/she doesn't love you anymore. We may love to dine out for once, but does it imply that we don't want home-made food anymore?(Just giving an example, I know these two things are not exactly comparable.)

People may talk about issues like morality, culture or societal order. But tell me what harm does it cause to anyone if two people are having some pleasurable moments?

One must understand that you don't own anyone. Let him/her do whatever he/she wants. What should matter to you is how he/she behaves with YOU. In this matter, I really liked the concept of dual-love in the Twilight series. Bella, she loves both Edward and Jacob, and kisses Jacob. But for Edwards it wasn't an act of cheating as he trusts that she loves him more than Jacob and would always be with him.

People may argue that their partner lied about spending time with someone else, but that's because society has created such an issue about it and as a result you two are not open about discussing such things. It's like we can't share everything with our parents and sometimes lie to them, though we still love them.

I am not saying whatever all I am saying, one should agree to it. I do understand that everyone has different levels of expectation. And if you can't let your partner freedom even for a night, though your partner still have it, fine! you two are probably not compatible with each other, just get separated. But don't label him/her as cheater! It's just that your thoughts didn't match.

See, what I basically wants to say is cheating is not if your partner is having good times without you, it's when he/she is not fulfilling his/her commitments. It's when he/she is not loving you!

I hope you got my point.

The topic is open for discussion!

One more thing- Do Not Have Double Standards! If you don't mind something for yourself, then you should also let your partner to have it.

 

(Wish I was a celebrity, so that tomorrow I would have had people protesting outside my home against my views, and as a result I could have got excuse for not going to office! Hate these Mondays!)

DO RATE.SHARE. POST YOUR VIEWS.

"...do not watch these Games. Do not go to the venues. Do not watch them on TV. You cannot become a cheerleader to an exercise in cheating. The Indian people have been exploited enough, but to expect us to smile through it is a bit much...."

-Chetan Bhagat, on commonwealth games, in an article in TOI.

Author and writer Chetan Bhagat in his article has urged the nation not to support the 2010 Commonwealth Games, which he has described as  "by far, the biggest and most blatant, exercise in corruption in independent India's history.

We Indians take pride in the fact that our GDP Growth rate is SECOND fastest in the world, but we ignore the fact that we are number ONE in terms of people living below poverty line!

If we try to understand, then Bhagat's point of view is very much correct. Supporting Commonwealth means supporting the corruption. But on the contrary, not supporting the commonwealth means not supporting our nation. So, we have two options- either to support our nation and give protection to corrupt leaders or to stand against the corruption and destroy our nation's image. (Its sad, but the matter of fact is, that India and corruption comes in a package, which we can't separate.)

See, its not the question whether games will happen or not. They will take place without any hiccups. Neither its about corruption. CWG is not the first corruption scam in our country, we have seen many. But its about the eyes of  the world that would be glued on us.

Think about a protest rally happening during the games at India Gate. The world media would be reporting it. From Britain to Australia, people would get to know how corrupted games are. Can you even imagine how much pressure would it put on the government! They would be left with no option but to clean their sleeves and take actions against the corrupted officials. I know this may paint the image of India as a corrupted nation. But tell me honestly what's more important- our image or what we actually are?

See, if you expect that for the time being we can support the games to protect our image and then after games necessary actions can be taken against corrupted officials, then that's not possible. Infact, Kalmadi & Co would become national heroes for saving India from shame. If we want to take stand against corruption, it has to be NOW!

Hey, wait there is this other side of the coin. One of my friend told me this. In a training session for CWG volunteers, there was this 85 years old retired army officer. When asked what inspired him to be a CWG volunteer at this age? His answer was- ' I have served the country on borders for 50years and today also, I want to serve my county. ' That's patriotism- the UNCONDITIONAL LOVE for the nation!

Not all of us are corrupted. There are such people who would do anything for our nation. We can't paint the nation, which actually belongs to such patriots, as corrupted!

It's a very hard choice. On one had is the image of our nation, on other is the opportunity to do a bit to save our nation.

What do YOU choose? It's your choice, make it count.

As I communte through metro to my college, itz a common site having people wearing masks as a preventive measure for swine flu. But I cant understand why there is so much hype about this H1N1 virus. Is it the number of deaths it is causing which is troubling you?? Then, have a look at these statistics

Wat will u do if u want to know about the population of Galesburb, Illinois? or about calories in 2gm of sugar? or about the date of birth of albert einstein?

This world has two sets of people. One who gets NERVOUS facing the challenges and others who do not. And you know what; second set is an empty set. There is no person in the world prone to nervousness. Then what about your friend or batch mate who is always so cheerful? The answer is simple. He/She has given a new name to his nervousness i.e. EXCITEMENT.

Both nervousness and excitement are similar feelings of anxiousness arising because of uncertainty about future events

Take a situation. Exams!! Suppose if u already know about your exam results, will u b nervous or excited about xamz?? Neither of them!!

These two feelings are like looking at a thing from two different angles of 0° and 360°. Both these angles are same. It only depends on the way that how you perceive it.

So next time don’t speak, “I AM NERVOUS.” but, “I AM EXCITED.” You yourself will feel the change!!

Bbye
Plz do comment. I am really excited to hear your thoughts.