45% people are good enough to be in Pune

Last week we voted. This 'we' constitutes only 40% of eligible voters. add to that around 5% who were turned back for lack of their name in voters list. Remove around genuinely ill people out of humanitarian grounds.
rest have no right to stay here. better they leave the country or be treated as ' non citizens'. I know there is no good choice of candidates, politics is at rock bottom, no issues, corruption. a feeling of what happens if i dont vote' etc.
But a way has to be found. a method has to be adopted. we can if we want to.
all this you have heard many times and may sound rhetoric. My suggestion is to collectively define penalties for non voting populace: or have incentive for voters. example
For tax payer: an additional 5k relief in income for voters, must record their PAN card no.
For Non tax payers: Free health checkup voucher at Govt Hospitals.
On penalty side: If a person does not vote for 2 consecutive elections, he cannot apply for passport and driving license or existing passport and driving license gets cancelled.
any more ideas?

Triumph of Good over evil

Most of the stories : cinema, novels end up in a situation which has good triumphing over evil. Infact human mind thinks that should be the case wishfully. Even there is a poem from saint Tukaram that the last day should be happy, and thats what has been my effort. There is a great song in marathi ' shevatcha din god vhava yaach sathi kela hota attahas'
But does that happen in life. all the efforts of farmers in vidharbha fighting against loan sharks end up hanging off a rope. Loan sharks are evil for sure. But do the victim signify Truth and Good. To an extent yes, they are hapless part of evil system. But there are weaknesses as well. But who does not have weakness on this planet.
So how can truth overcome evil: Patience and Belief Shraddha and saburi. Thats what makes difference. If the situation is not happy then its not an end. Picture abhi baaki hai mere dost.
Idea is to work towards that end with belief and patience.
I am sure all evils will be overcome that way.

Divinity

Human mind is very weak. It cannot cope up with external influences. It plans a lot. It has a vision. It has a rational thought process with cause and effect justifications. At the start of my adult thinking person, i used to be atheist. Intrigueed by exploits of man. Fascinated by Ayn rand philosophy about Human spirit, achievement and ego.
As life went along, there came in vast insights. a deep frustartion to let things go beyond your control and external factors defining your life. Life had shown unfairness as well as given largesses. seen the great dance of destiny in its very rude forms: accidents, calamities, narrow escapes, matter of chain of events leading into another chain (concatenation: remember that Jeeves -Bertie dialogue 'there is a cat in it?), plain luck making things big. Its all about externality. Maybe that externality is defined as God.
That exeternality does exist and so does God if thats the definition. Then if i believe so, then i cease to be an atheist. Yes ofcourse i do not believe in rituals but at the bottom of my heart i lay and behold towards the almighty (if there is 'anyone' who is in control). Or is it just random without any cause and effect. In plain auto mode. This dilemma has been experienced, shared by many before. Nothing for me to add.
Only for me to add is my own experience of solace i felt last weekend in viscinity of a public religious place. I felt like i used to when i returned home after kgp semester. At Home with closed ones. After a long time. Maybe it was my own thought process or it was influenced by ambience of divinity created (i spent whole night 20 mtrs from world renowned shrine).
have i turned into believer. My debate continues. But experience was great.
Guys i am sure you must have felt that sometimes as well. share with me if you do have

Political Mess

Is there any party which means real business of Politics . I guess not everybody is politiking and no one is seriously interested in Development, Security.
Incumbents have failed on multiple fronts. Security is one main point. Developement is still skewed. vested interests are at large. and its high time we drop secularism and social justice from political dictionary in india. secularism is definition taken by everyone conveniently and basic meaning that everyone is equal before law of land itself does not hold true in india. every one has different law. Election is all about caste equation be it maharashtra or bihar. Politicians who do lip service to remove social inequality are champions of caste polictics. eg Third front.(if it exist). But as compared to worst case scenario, current incumbents still are acceptable as they dont have disruptive values to democracy, development . Yes they have hampered security by some injudicious decisions. They have served vested interests.
Opponents are non existent. they claim support from urban educated masses. the agenda of hindutva as system of indianness against just hinduism was even supported by nehru. In its right sense as adjudged by Supreme court, it could have been a real replacement for secularism which is more opportunistic. As true sense of indianness is all inclusive and adjusting. But seems like opposition has lacked charisma of good leaders and organizational skills needed. they cannot impact hinterland but for some exceptions. They too are busy politiking and trying to set some new equations. But failing badly. there needs to be a charisma that can do miracle.
That arises a fear of real opportunist to set equations convenient post election. That might hamper national interest. each one will have its own agenda and these leaders are dangerous. They might impact democracy, development and national security by arbitary politics. nation needs a strong decisive government.
If elections spring up undecided verdict, democracy must survive and should not be left to opportunists in the spectrum. thus in national interest, we should have a national government of current incumbents and leading opposition. sounds daring but its a need of hr.

Stepping in to new year

Its time to celebrate new year. I am referring to Marathi one. we as if need an occassion to celebrate. Best wishes for marathi new year and happy gudi padwa.

New year 09 is 3 months old. Q1 numbers are yet to be out. Things did not deteriorate as was expected at the start but no signs of improvement as well on economic front. Sensex has risen. Dollar has fallen. Elections round the corner. Summer has set in. Exams will be over in a weeks time and time for kids to enjoy. IPL finally will take off in april.

Gudi Padwa means Basundi and exams. Not much difference this time. A new financial year takes of as well. March end keeps busy on numbers. Everyone hopes to do better in next year than current one. wishing you fulfil those dreams in next year.

A long summer ahead and a very important Q2 ahead for all economies. may you have all strengths to meet the challenges. ..

Pune in new Millienium

In came the famous expressway thanks to vision of Bal Thackrey. That changed Pune by having utmost linkage with sister city and all in things from Mumbai found place in Pune. Pubs and parties in pune had people driving from Mumbai coming in. Many new pubs and clubs started in Pune. Nightlife with happening college crowd is what drove people to Pune.
Old pune found this bit neocouture and wannabes there tried to match the peers. Hinjewadi was fully operational and all majors were there in Pune. Dotcom had created varying notions about epune and various portals came in lanscape. Chatting was in. Reliance and BSNL ventured into mass market for mobility bending and twisting rules. BJP finally came into power with stable support. Vision of golden quadrilateral improved other roads as well connecting Pune to cities like Nasik, Kolhapur, Nagar, solapur. Lot of migration happended from interior maharashtra to Pune for edcuation and IT jobs as well.
Then came the dotcom bust with many techies impacted. But again by 03-04 things returned to glories of 05-06-07 a bull run in Indian market. Real estate went unreal in these years and property values doubled trebled from 01 rates. Interest rates went down in these years resulting in Housing boom. drought like situation in 02-03 turned into floods in 04-05-06. Rains started changing patterns. water supply of pune was dependent on dams and rains. But for increase in polulation made these systems inadequate. Now you see tankers plying in socities in fringe areas. As we enter last year of 00's world is amidst recession and many here have suffered. Industrial belt is place for the fittest. banking is tainted, finance and markets are bad words.
Pune started with load shedding in 05 and i suffered a lot. Many enterpreuners suffered. Till now situation has not changed. This has added another dynamics in Pune life. Pune had Only one private FM channel throughout these years but since last few years there is a competition.
Mumtiplexes first started in 01, now we have 5-6 such multiplexes which are another hangouts.
Still Tapris are mushrooming esp for out of home student/professionals. Theme parks have not done that well here. Tourism has increased to places close by and its a foul if you are in Pune especially on long weekends. farmhouses have risen. Foreign population has increased.
A new positive trend has emerged on social front with committed volunteers for environment, civic groups. Its fashionalbe now. But still rampant is phsycophancy involved in flex board. Every demographic group is now militant about its pride and honour and tolerance of dissent has reduced. Old Pune was much more progressive and tolerant. But now we have a paradox; accepting each new trend, technology we have fallen back on horoscopes, superstitions. Maybe life has become more tough and human mind is very weak. And family instititions are falling resulting in support and communication systems being on downside.
People spend more time online than with family. Connectivity increased in pune. we got VOIP, chats, videos connecting to members of families overseas. A reverse migration from US started in mid 00s with many professionals coming back (after taking oath of US citizenship) to get best of both worlds (very typical to NRI mindset). many international luxury brands , malls, started filling the scene. cars came in.
Law and order started becoming issue with rampant burglaries, murders. This was an indicator of rising divide betweens haves and have nots esp migrants from other parts. Traffic now is pathetic though there are some uplaudable initiatives launched. real estate with recession has got a correction. But change has been enormous and all inclusive. name a field and you have it.
Board exam are mere formalities with multiple CETs. Many new branded schools with people preferring ICSE/CBSE over State board. admission for pre-primaries are major stress factors for parents. Hospital situation got worse with no much added capacity. Though new hospitals came in but still there is undercapacity. health insurance became more popular. But noble profession became more unethical and money minded.
Gyms and health routines like walk, etc became in thing. Holidaying abroad became more feasible than domestic tours.
On ganesh festival side, more awareness and regulations have setin. more festivals are socially concsious. But new things have arised like dahihandi, navratra toran, dandiya, year end etc. These are DJ nights with processions/celebrations.
Pune has now involved in terror activities with some evidences linking have been established. With all defence establishments and central govt bodies, it has considerable threat.
But Pune has still retained old charm in those localities, manageable commuting distances, reasonable weather, lot of avenues for professional as well extra curricular activities.
But will pune sustain this growth. whats in store post 2010 as we head into next decade?
Need some good governance, active citizenship, beyond politics forums to make that happen.
But always you have a hope. world lives on hope. Hope this recent crisis is taken care of as we head into next decade.

Pune of 90s; An outside view

Continuing on Pune city.
In came 90s with a lot of political uncertainty with eras of VP singhs, devilals and chandrashekhars. Assasination of Rajiv Gandhi resulted into congress headed by Shrewd PV Narasinharao into power. manmohan singh had no alternative but to liberalize and though not many credit PVN for what he did but according to most keen observers in politics it would not have been possible under anyone elses leadership. Coming to topic, Liberalization came in. came in MNCs, Brands, Cars , TV Channels. India was now exposed to world. Muliple channels started. I remember craze for B&B, Baywatch etc... Zee started Bollywood top ten etc with some bold serials etc. In mid 90s to late 90s pune got taste of Macdonalds, Pizza Hut, Dominos and many brands. Colleges started mushrooming. Many outsiders started sending their children to Pune in these colleges. Mainly Engg, medical and MBA.
I meanwhile did the reverse migration going out from Pune to kharagpur for education. I thus lost everyday experience of Pune in 90s till 01. But i was either a vacationer or weekender throughout this span. Thus every vacation visit resulted in finding new changes. MG Road, Deccan now were hangouts for these collegians. Flats in Kothrud, aundh etc were shared by this crowd. These hostelites acted as role model for citilities (another COEP term). Intercollegiate drama fests etc attracted more intensity, sponsorship. Ganesh festival went from bad to worse with noise and pollution levels, unrestricted crowds. This is the time there was alround development in adjoining areas like Kondhwa, wanowrie, kalyani Nagar, Viman Nagar, Vishrantwadi mainly cosmopolitan look and feel.
On IT scene by early 90s few software companies really got push from Y2k, early to mid 90s were formation years and by mid 90s we had strong bodyshopping model. Everyone had US dreams. earlier only iit/coep crowd used this route through scholarships. But now companies started sending bodies. Every house had someone sent to US. US grooms were in thing in marraiges.
Cars started rolling in. Maruti 800 was height of status till early and mid 90s. In came Santro, Zen, Cielo, esteem. But Roads were same. two wheelers came in with more than 100 cc etc. small scooties with terrorist like clad females riding them was a common site. cycles started vanishing. Then came the opiom of masses: Mobile phones. having cell phone was height of self importance. rates were 16rs/ min and cost of handset was 10 to 15 k with those bulky models.
Mumbai Pune AC coaches were introduced by Metrolink. But road travel was still messty. i was stuck many times for whole night in such buses.
Migration from peth to kothrud was not complete. Thus Kothrud, aundh societies were in things. Big builders got bigger. many big schemes were planned which materialized by end of 90s like woodlands, karishma, swapnashilp, girija shankar, parisar.
Hotels started mushrooming on J M road. Out of Pune Dhabas got popularity. Chandani chowk got prominence. Sinhagad got accessable with more vehicles. At single advent of rains people started flocking. weekend outings started to be popular to lonavala, mahableshwar, konkan etc.
We got first Pub in Pune TDS. Camp was ultra modern with fancy shops, branded stores.
Cinema was still single screen with Rahul, westend, among top. Cinema turned romantic from action in this period. Yashraj scored hot with Darr, DDLJ. Hum apke was phenomenon. Aamir, shahrukh, salman came in. Songs were big, NRI crowd tastes were introduced.
Its in late 90s that companies started making Big in Pune. Industrial belt of PCMC went through crisis in mid 90s but recovered thanks to Indica project which took off in late 90s. Plus companies innovated in energy, biotech etc. In mid 90s lot of core engineers shifted to IT. There was a craze to do SAP. Hinjewadi became operational by late 90s. expressway was inaugurated in 01 and that marked another phase of Pune of new millenium.
If 80s were meant in preserving pune of old though with a small window of growth in mid 80s, 90s meant change throughout and all around. It was the beginning of end of old time charm of Pune and ringing in of a new Pune which still has mixture of old habits out of nostalgia, new dynamics, resignation to change and insecurity of future.

Old Pune (my generation: 80s in school)

As promised in my earlier post, there needs some special mention on Pune for old timers sake.
PL Deshpande had one observation about Pune. Immense Nostalgia, a typical phrase meaning 'things were different in old times' can be heard from Pensioner block, Offices, houses, and as well schools. Even youngsters/toddlers have something defined as 'their own time' as per PL. Thus one can conclude that generation gap widens in pune after every 4-5 years. Thats a fact as we are seeing a tremendous change in our social fabric since 90's. IT is one of the drivers here in Pune. I have most of my classmates /friends coming from modest old wadas now living international lifestyle thanks to IT revolution. This is one side of story. On other side, we see a uncontrollable growth with a lot of migration from all over india zeroing on Pune. Pune did have slums and 'slumdogs' esp Dandekar bridge, Janawadi, etc. But now its expanding in fringe areas. Pune still carries old charms like greenary. In fact i can say pune is now better in terms of forestation esp on hillside. I remember that ARAI hill, warje hill were barren when i was in school. now they are green. Threat is from builders and corporators who have construction plan (DP) on hill slopes . environmentalists have objected rightfully. But city in itself has lost green cover owing to construction. But things have not gone beyond repairs. Climate has changed since 05, heavy and unpredicable rain pattern., very hot summers and non existant winters are the order of the day. Earlier winters used to be severe and we used to enjoy in our school days. it was cold , we used to wear sweaters even in daytime, nights were fun inside blankets. Summer evenings were marked by cool breeze, rains were moderate.
Old city had old wadas. wadas were lifestyle. hanging around with wada mates at sarasbaug, sambhaji park was in thing. Today it must be CCD, barista. Camp area had old city charm and outing to camp was an event. chole bhature from mona food, sandwiches from marz etc. Now camp has lost that charm a bit with mushrooming of similar MNC joints all across. Deccan was the most happening place. Kothrud, Aundh, baner were other cities just like what we have PCMC today. Sahakarnagar was the most fashionable address for middle class and Deccan for upper classes. Old city masses migrated from peths to these areas (kothrud, aundh, baner, sinhagad rd) in mid 80s when there was some boom thanks to rajiv gandhi liberal window. STD booths were around with quarter charges post 10 pm. many icecream joints in summer. Mobiles were not there (how did we live then must be question to todays gen). we used to hire VCRs to see movies collectively in wadas. ganpati fest has regained some sensibilty. in our time it was uncontrolled noise pollution etc. But we used to enjoy drama etc at our wada ganapati which many people still do even today in societies. Diwali was much polluted and boisterous those days. Today maybe due to cost or awareness its down a bit (still beyond acceptable limits). we got into hoteling in mid 80s thanks to my relatives (esp ones from Mumbai). Till then we were restricted to dosa or max a thali plate with all family together. Alka or rahul were the most happening movie theatres to see good western movies. still i remember the hype around guns of navarone, or where eagle dare or absent minded professor etc. Hollywood movies those days were much better (thats my opinion, experts may differ and debate). Hindi movies meant Bacchan. Now we have variety. Drama had only bharat, tilak and balgandharv. we preferred bharat as it seemed that a play gets better performances there. There were lot of good chidren dramas. summer vacations meant learning bicycles (by renting them for 50 ps per night), cricket at sp ground in evening, swimming batch, mangoes and playing cards. Miss those acutely. Trekking took popularity thanks to YH, Yuvashakti. Pune Mumbai journey meant Trains and not expressway. Road travel meant ST. Deccan Queen had great charm with Omlette toast as high point. Asiad Buses started in mid 80s. Shopping meant laxmi rd esp for clothes. Groceries meant local vani. A lecture/speech was still meaningful evening entertainment. Going to mandirs with grand parents meant incentive of prasad. Sunday evenings meant TV movies. We had only DD. But quality was much much superior than millions of channels today. Marathi DD was excellent: gajra, even amchi mati (agro show) had very entertaining Gappa goshti, Kilbil, Saptahiki, Chayageet. serials started in mid 80s with yeh jo hai jindagi, humlog, ramayan, kathasagar, vikram vetal and many such varied enjoyable shows. we had many quizes : Quiztime , sports quiz etc. whats the good word as well. real quality.
Experts can add more points for 80s. Next in this round will be 90s and then 00's. will talk to old timers from old wadas of what was like in 70s . seems like it was more fun then. every generation has nostalgia about Pune. And i am sure every town has that. But traditionally P L had some soft corner for Pune as he was bit harsher on Punekars and that too sadashiv pethis like me which still feel was unjustified. But PL is PL who can say a word. Buck stops there.