India President a “rubber stamp”

The heading clearly describes the pain and anger of India against non acting Pratibha Patil, India’s so called President. Before starting, I would like to thank Members of Parliament and State legistation for electing the president as powerful and influential as Mrs. Pratibha Patil. BTW did you know that she is the President?

When Mr. Kalam was sworn in as President we saw hope, innovation, power and emergence of India domination. He set high standard for his successor. He was common man’s man. He was accessible. People wanted to be like him. We were proud to call “Abdul Kalam” as first citizen of India. How many times we saw people acting like Kalam, donning Kalam’s hairstyle. It was evident that people were proud of this man. He was a HERO. Infact he is. It wouldn’t be wrong to compare Mr Kalam with US President-elect Mr Obama.

On 25th July, 2007, Mrs. Pratibha Patil was sworn in as first women president of India. She won the contest by margin of over 300,000 votes. As I said earlier all thanks to MP and State Legistlation for unanimous decision. It is very clear now that we have so little talented pool of influential leaders in our country. For bio on Pratibha Patil, one can refer wiki.

Mumbai attack is over. Interrogation of captured terrorist are going on. People from all over the country are expressing their disappointment with India government. Celebrities, crickets, common man are pleading for justice. Everyone is writing and speaking on the terror attack. We want answers. We want condolence from the leading lady. Did we get any?? I dont think so. One small comment in TOI:

” Such acts are highly condemnable,” Patil, who is on a four-day visit to Vietnam, said in a statement. The President said she was confident that the authorities would bring the situation under control. She asked people to maintain calm and cooperate with authorities at this crucial moment.

Thank you President for you kind words. We didn’t expect more from you. When India was crying with fear, you were watching some CD on terrorism. You went to Andaman with dozen of your family members on our tax paying money. You supported your criminal brother and bring nation to shame. People refer to your conversations as “spirit of dead”.  You forgot to salute our tri color in Mexico at a ceremony. We surely, didn’t expect you to take a lead and express our tears…….  After all, we didn’t realize you were the President.

Ripley’s believe it or not: Pratibha Patil once said that she will not be the “rubber stamp” President!!

Mrs. President, we want a President who can erase the fear and stamp confidence in bleeding India.

Bio: Ajmal Amir Kamal (the terrorist)

One of the 10 terrorist who was captured alive by Mumbai police has exposed many things during the interrogation. Here’s his description:

Age: 21

Location: Reportedly lived in Faridkot village( population around 3,000), Dipalpur tehsil, of Okara district, 50km east of Multan – Pakistan’s Punjab province

India Identity: Samir Chaudhary, a student of Arunodaya PG college.

Family: Ajmal belong to Qasai caste. He is the third of five siblings. His father Mohammad Amir Iman, runs dahi-puri cart in Faridkot near Multan while his elder brother Afzal, age 25, stays in Lahore, near Yadgar Nagar and works as a labourer. His mother Noor Elahi is a housewife and his elder sister, Rukaiyya Husain,  age 22, is married. A younger sister Suraiyya, age 14, and a brother Munir, age 11,  stay in Faridkot with the parents.

Education and Poverty: Ajmal’s poor father can’t keep him in the local government primary school. In 2000, 13-yr-old Ajmal , who has done just class 4, is sent off to his brother Afzal in Lahore. The elder brother, then 17, hardly has the means to look after his young brother Ajmal shuttles between Lahore and Faridkot village. Due to poverty, Ajmal left his house in 2005 and moved to Lahore.

Another source DNA says his father asked him to work for LeT two years before so that he could use this money to run the family.

Beginning of the end: In Lahore he didnot stay with his brother. He stayed at the shrine of holy man Syed Ali Hajveri. Like his elder brother, started working as labourer. Later he didnot find the job good. From thereon he was attracted to petty crime. With friend Muzaffar Lal Khan, he launched a new career in armed robberies . On Dec 21, 2007, Bakr-Eid day, they went to Rawalpindi to buy weapons. It’s here that they ran into activists of Jamaat-ud-Dawa – Lashkar-e-Taiba’s political wing – handing out pamphlets about their organization. After a brief chat, the duo sign up – not because of their conviction but for the training they might get. That, they feel, would further their career in crime Reach LeT’s base camp, Markaz Taiba.

The training: In the training programme, he was shown films on India’s alleged atrocities in Kashmir, and fiery lectures by preachers, including Lashkar chief Hafiz Mohammad Saeed’s talks, which led him to believe the Lashkar’s cause was worth giving his life. The camp gave him a sense of belonging that he never had in his family . When he used to come home during a 2-month breaks he found suddenly being treated with respect by his family and community kin After this break, Ajmal was chosen for for LeT’s basic combat course, Daura Aam. He did well and was chosen with small group of 32 for advanced training, Daura Khaas, at a camp near Manshera. Did well there too and was selected for high-skill marine commando and navigation training, especially imparted to the team of 10 fidayeen team, chosen to attack Mumbai. (Source: Times of India)

Sail to Mumbai: At 4.15 am, on Nov 23, Ajmal with the unit, sail off from a forlorn creeknear Karachi, each equipped with AK-47 s, 200 rounds of ammo and grenades Just before his departure, LeT military commander Zaki-ur-Rahman Lakhvi promised Ajmal a reward of Rs 1.5 lakh to his family for his sacrifice in the cause of Islam. (Source: Times of India)

Mumbai: We want action

Its game over. Around 200 dead, over 350 injured. It can be easily said that terrorist succedded.

Who are these terrorist?? Whose fault was is? Was it Pakistan?

People of India want answers to these questions.. We will not sit back and surf news channel to see what will happen. Its time for us to raise our voice. These terrorists were linked with Pakistan. It gives me no reason to doubt their link but I will still not say Pakistan is a terrorist nation. I will also not say that Muslims are terrorist. But I will difinitely say that they all are always linked with terrorism. Most of the terrorist are from Pakistan. Most of the terrorist are Muslim. I would not like to make any religious statement. I should also mention some Hinud militants who were involved in Samjhauta and Malegaon blast.

But this post is to question Pakistan in their effort to bring peace with India. Dont they know where the militant camps are? Dont they know where Dawood is hiding? Is their intelligence agency completely un aware of these activities taking place? I dont know whom to blame – ISI, government, militants or Pakistan. We dont know anything.. but what we know is they are linked with Pakistan. So it is pretty obvious to raise finger on Pakistan. They have to answer our question or we will continue to protest against Pakistan? WE WANT ANSWER TO MUMBAI TERRORISM. When Pakistan gives us this answer, we will go forward for peace. Else our armymen and devastating arms are ready to look for answers. Time to raise red flag and not white.

Jai Hind

Please express yourself

Mumbai Massacre

Mumbai- the city which never sleeps truly was the city which could not sleep.

People around the world maynot have seen anything like this before. Its been more than 50 hours and still they are alive with same passion and hunger to create havoc. Around 20 men loaded with AK-47’s, grenade attacked Mumbai at the wee hours. Its so painful to hear the way they open fired at a Cafe and Bus Terminal. Then they attacked the 2 biggest hotel – Taj Mahal and Trident-Oberoi. People are bleeding. India is bleeding. And now is the time to hit back at those who supported all this. This is the voice of India. For how long we will live accepting the sound of explosives, living as if we never saw everything. We always say- its the spirit of Mumbai. NOT NOW.

Can we go with same ease to multiplex and restaurant? Can we jog early morning with the same pace as we used to do before? Can we sleep with same pleasure as we used to do before? May be we can…. after all its the spirit of our country. But we will not. If we do then this day will become nothing but add few more pages to the history. Let this day mark the beginning of new era. Let us prove ourselves as world power. We have been too mallow to the terrorists and the supporting countries. Time to hit them back.

Few days back we hoisted flag on moon. It gives me immense pain to say that we have not been able to hoist flag peacefully on our soil. Its hurting us. We are investing millions into missile program but is it protecting our country? We want investment that can save our country from these crisis. We should invest our money to strengthen intelligence agency, root out corruption, protect the country.

Its time now for political parties to join hand and fight for a common cause. Indians pray to congress and BJP to not involve religion before the election. We should learn from US where democrats and republicans join hands to save their countrymen. If our politicians do not do it then they should be convicted of crime more heinous than this one. Lets forget personal differences and fight for the country.

This day will end soon but we the biggest days are ahead of us.

Jai Hind

Financial Crisis: As seen from the eye of undergraduate

Everyone is fed up of all this. There are thousands of blogs on the current turmoil, but this post will have the perspective of student looking for a job in finance. So lets see how a student will describe this global recession( ooh i forgot to ask – has it arrived?????)

“Finance” is too scary a word for me now.

Every since I saw an investment banker, I wanted to be like him. Million dollars, sexy cars, girls, beer…. it has everything. I also wanted all this luxury. I didn’t know what banking was all about. All I cared was a penthouse, porsche, best gadget and unlimited credit limit. Frankly, speaking this is all one want. So I thought why not banking. But what is banking? I didn’t know. So what. I can get all the information from Vault, WetFeet.. My seniors got through interviews reading those guides. I got GPA of 3.8. I know I can easily get through.

With all the dreams in my eyes, I enrolled myself into the finance program. Why finance? Because if liberal arts guys can get into banks, I can definitely get in one of the top firm on Wall Street. I still don’t understand why the hell people hire history major in Wall Street.  I recently met a Managing Director of top investment bank whose major is Chinese histroy. He is smart(So am I). He has experience(that I will get with time). It seems to me that I will be better qualified than him after graduation. Wow!!! I can definitely join IB. But what is IB?? I didn’t know.

Things are going on pretty well…. Suddenly, I heard of some weird names- MBS, CDO… What the hell is this? Why do I care about it? I have to goto Investment Bank. I should not be bothered by this ABCD. I want to do Merger & Acquisition. It sounds pretty cool. Yeah…. its very sexy.

In the meantime things started getting bad. Lead by Freddie and Fannie, came the mortgage crisis. It started hurting companies involved in mortgage securities. Billions of dollars flowing out of the market. Investors going crazy. Then came credit crunch – Reduction in availability of loans. US tumbling. Companies writing down millions of dollars. Low profit in Quarterly report. Next quarter prediction of huge losses. Then came the biggest downfall. Bear Stern fallout. Things started worsening even more. Reduction on fed rate posing inflation threat. Fed trying everything to calm the market. Bailout plans within Fed. At the same time many regional banks getting bankrupt. Seeking mercy. IndiMac fallout. Then came one of the biggest shock – government bailout of freddie and fannie. At the same time Lehman bankruptcy. End of wall street. AIG – the biggest insurer fails. Fed takes over. Infuses $80billion. Government planning for $700bn bailout plan. Tax payer money at risk. Fallout of Investment Banking model. Firms running crazy, begging for help. Can it get any worse? Yes. Every bank started falling like a pack of card. Merrly Lynch, Wachovia.. merging with other weak firms. Then came question of recession,Inflation. In the meantime – oil price went above $140 in july to come back at $67 in October. Fear spreads all over. Major indexes dropping. Foreign banks falling, looking for help from government. Fortis bailout. Iceland bankruptcy. Dow Jones dropping 22% in a week; worst performance ever. Technology sector started affecting after hard hit auto sector.

In all this I missed job reduction. At every point- companies reducing their headcount. As of now 110,000 people displaced from their job since last september in finance firm. Particularly in Wall street 10,000 people shown the pink slip.

My dream shattered. No more M&A. No more hot job. I am helpless. I am clueless. I am jobless

Testing Times

This is one of the toughest time of my life. Tough because I want to achieve something and now realize its not easy to achieve what you want. Sometimes you are governed by people around you- be it good or bad. This is exactly what is happening to me right now. Whole throughout my life I was governed by people around me, chose the route that was easy. Now I feel I have wasted all. Should have understood what was good for me. Whom do I blame? Me ofcourse. When I cant see what’s good and what’s bad, I have no one to blame. Things are not as bad as it could have been. Still have time to do what I want. Want to say one line that I love using now a days- I am still 22. This line relieves me and pushes me hard to do good things. I feel time is still in my hand. And once you feel you have time you can do things that you want. There comes a point in your life when you crib about time and loose faith in destiny. Thankfully I am not in that phase. I don’t believe in destiny and know only one thing- what you sow, so shall you reap.

I am filled with zillion of thoughts. The desire to succeed has filled me with passion, hunger. I WANT TO SUCCEED AT ANY COST.

Life comes full circle. It pays what you do. Every action has equal and opposite reaction. So take each step only in the direction of your destination. And make sure your destination is what you want. Destination may not be known. Even if you follow the path which is not your destination, be wise enough to carve out a path in the middle towards your final destination. The greatest strength of the person is in realizing what he want and having the strength to take a full U-turn to reach the route of success.

All that I have written has given me strength. Didn’t know writing can be such a pleasure. Brain can store everything. But when your brain is composed of interwoven threads of confusion, even Einstein’s brain will become bottleneck!! So blog is the perfect OS. Ctrl + X thread from your brain and Ctrl + V in words.

Review-Kuwait Airways

From: New York, US

To: New Delhi, India

My spring semester got over. I had no plans to goto India for summer. Credit crunch in US left me no choice but to go back to India and look for internship opportunities in Investment Banking. Didn’t know East follows West!!

Ok, now straight to Kuwait Airways. A return ticket for $1000- its cheap considering my return ticket is in mid August. There’s one more airlines that provides cheap ticket, Aeroflot. But I would never want to fly that airlines just for the simple reason that it has a loooong stopover in Russia.

Kuwait Airways fly from NY to London for a technical stopover and then to Kuwait before landing IG Int Airport, Delhi. I am a veggie. So I had requested my agent to request for Vegetarian food. Don’t know whom to blame but I had to survive on the flight to London with salads and drink( no alcohol. Its Kuwait please). The best thing about Kuwait Airways is its leg space. Not even for a second I found myself trapped for 14 hours. Seats were also wide.

Technical stopover is not that technical. You have to get out of airlines and then take a full round of Heathrow and wait for half and hour before boarding. The best part about is that you get to stretch your legs and relieve yourself from sticking to seat with seatbelt on. The worst part is you didn’t know it would be such a long technical stop (Atleast I didn’t know).

The food was not much to my delight. Even their menu was not that great. They serve two times and it repeats again from London to Kuwait. Their menu included Chicken Spaghetti, one sweet, salad, burger. Even if I am a vegetarian, I could see many not enjoying the food. Overall a bad experience in food on flight from NY-Kuwait. When we landed Kuwait, I wanted to satisfy my hunger with some delicious pizza or veggie burger. To my surprise I saw McDonalds and Pizza Hut. How would you feel if you see these two? I was excited. The Airport was not that big. So had nothing much to do except for relishing Veggie Burger with fries and coke and surfing Internet. Yes, they have wi-fi, for FREE. I couldn’t have asked for more to spend my 3 hours. Security check to flight to India was a breeze. They don’t do any security check. Its just a mere formality. This flight had good food and menu was prepared according to Indian taste. Being a vegetarian I was served dal, kadi and rice. I didn’t mind eating that also even after eating stomach full of burger in McD.

Inflight entertainment system sucks. I think they are vintage screens with some funny mechanism to adjust screen. I didn’t care scrolling through channels and movies as I had my i-pod with me. All the screens were flashing on and off. I think their circuits had loose connection! If you are not carrying an i-pod with you I would recommend to take sleeping pills.

After reading all this what do you expect of Air hostess? Don’t worry they were not as bad as other things. But I would definitely comment on Air hostess that were on flight from Kuwait to Delhi. How did Kuwait manage to find them? I am sure they organized a talent hunt in and out of South Indian Village for Air hostess to India. But still it was better than stinging stewards in Air India!!!

Overall, it was not a bad experience as I didn’t want inflight entertainment, I was, not for a moment hungry for food and was ready to for 2 stops(kick your agent’s ass if he says 1. kick yourself if you booked online).

Why complain when you gave priority to cost effective airlines and not to great service airlines.

3 out of 5