Going back – constant or changing?

“Can we go back to the way we used to be?” – a question everyone has thought about at some point in their life.

I suspect this is used as escape route from current problems and to get into comfort zone and live life the way they had in past. And for some, it is about resolving current problems. Alternatively, for some it is about reminiscing the “good old days” (school days/college days/courtship period/honeymoon period etc…)

But no matter what, going back to the way we used to be does not mean we will be able to really go back and live life the way we lived then. When we have moved to a new place/new job, at same time, others too would have moved on, mentally if not physically. And when we go back, we will feel the difference and sometimes feel whether we have made the right decision to go back. And then we will neither be here or there.

That is, everyone would have enjoyed their school days and college days as well, but after growing up (what is growing up is another subject to discussJ) into a middle aged person, you cannot go back and live the life of college days (hang out with friends, spending hours together just chatting, ogling at girlsJ, get drunk and what not…), though you might continue to wish.

Everyone has problems in their life and look for solutions. Though, they all sound same, our thinking and way of finding solutions are not same and are different/strange in their own way, but going back is easier said than done…

Inflation eroding savings - scary state!

Read the below article in newspaper and felt it perfectly explains the current situation in India and metros in particular where the savings / surplus money post expenses has reduced significantly. While the issue of increased consumerism was the cause till sometime back, now the increase in inflation year on year and consistently remaining high is causing the problem.

Read more at: http://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/inflation-eroding-savingsindiansmetros-survey_991462.html

Many middle income families are trying hard to maintain the consumption levels through opting for value buying (buying equal product at lesser costs), cutting costs where possible (reducing eating out, going out for movies, postponing expenses etc.). And similarly, many are also considering switching jobs to increase pay.

While, another survey suggests that average increment in 2014 can be expected to be around 11%, but after factoring in inflation, the rise in India is expected to be 2%. On companies side, the high inflation is putting pressure in terms of high input costs, slowing economy and coupled with demands for higher salary hikes.

These impacts the standards of living, lesser savings, reduction in net worth. Reports say that the household savings rates have dropped by a staggering 40% in last 3 years.

Scary state to be in currently and scarier, when you think of the future!!

Social Media or Newsmakers?

This article in ET caught my eye. It is interesting that this guy's FB post of Saravana Bhavan being bought over by Sun Group got noticed by a Bangalore based techie, Suseendran, as reported here by ET and journalists and finally led to an IT department raid.

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-11-06/news/43733531_1_kalanithi-maran-tweet-journalists

I am not really a person for conspiracy theories, but do we now have newsmakers in Social Media, who randomly write random stories like this.

I am wondering, how much of news/updates that we see in Social Media are true? This leads to next question of, why do we have these so-called newsmakers or social rowdies in Social Media?

Is it for:

• Vengeance against the celebrities?
• Cheap thrill?
• First to break news, update friends?
• Gossiping, spread rumors?

Whatever be the reasons, this has led to many false news being spread which are far from truth – right from celebrities being pregnant to their marriages to their death.

Quite a many times, media picks up these news/updates, turns into news/articles and publishes it in newspapers next day. Is it because of lack of news or laziness and easy source to tap and create news?

After this, the concerned celebrity will have to defend his position, send more updates, etc, which again becomes news for Media.

In short, you create one news and that babies more news. Vicious circle!!

Do we need a fresh law to tackle this? Then, people will raise objections stating freedom of expression is curtailed. Question is, how much freedom is too much freedom?

Bottom line - do not trust a social media post blindly. Always verify, double-check its source and authenticity. Especially when it involves people, their families and their livelihoods.

To regret or not to regret…

Ever thought, what is it like to have a life without regrets? Does it mean that you keep badgering on something or some situation, someone until you get what you want? How irritating/nice is that? And why do we regret? Is it because, we feel guilty for achieving something others have not or guilty that we have not achieved what we should have, as per our wishes?

Is it like going after something that you want even though the ones at the receiving end would not really like to see you around? Where does irritating begins and go-getting attitude ends. Or just simply, where does the path of following your dreams end? Does it ever end or does it just transposes to a different path and dream after dream blends into, dissolves into another in a seamless manner?

Have you ever wished that you could have probably tried something a bit more harder and you could have clinched it?

Does having no regrets mean running yourself down? Or becoming a doormat? What is it like to desperately want something though all logic and everything tells you that it is not going to happen the way you want it? Been there? Felt that?

What is right for someone is wrong for another or it is not just meant for you.

There are several times that I wish whether things can be just black and white. Or maybe that kind of world would remain colourless. More than the black and white it is probably the gray that makes life exciting or confusing, despairing. And is it the despair and confusion that makes life, LIFE?

Even after pushing your limits, would there ever come a time, when you wish that you could have done things differently – may be, some other day in some other thought process – perhaps, a case of wrong day, wrong place? Wouldn't that be a brand of regret by itself?

There comes a time in everyone's life where you feel like a glass of soda. There is bubble after bubble rising up to the top of your conscious mind. And the bubbles don’t go pop. They just keep simmering. If that is ever possible. Well simmering bubbles in soda.. Wow, what a thought..

The problem is the bubbles don't come one by one. Several come at a time. And it becomes impossible to miss any of them – the onslaught rather. Sometimes the intensity is almost like someone is going amuck with a machine gun - only that the firing is from inside you., keeps popping up till it decided enough and settles down…

Have you tried making a straw stick to the bottom of a glass filled with soda? And the bubbles will stick to them and you will wonder what happened to the stick/straw that you had put in. If you let it go, the stick/straw will bob up and eventually fall out of the glass, on to the table. With all the unrest within trying to keep your wits about you is a lot like pinning the straw down. Quite an exercise!!

It is but a bubble, once it goes pop, there are going to be no remnants.. But that’s the issue. It is like each bubble has a center filled with color fast liquid. The bubble goes pop. It leaves a mark. And each mark is like a snowflake. Unique. Unmatched.

The biggest mark right now is the bubble of no-regrets.

And a lot of times these bubbles make you ask questions to answers that you do not yet know. Murky? You bet.

Music – Is it dying?

People keep saying that music is dying and the current era of music is no match to the golden era of 60s & 70s. While there is truth to an extent to this, importantly, for me music will never die. Let me state, before I write further, I am no expert in music and these are purely personal opinion based on my experience and what I have seen & heard.

Earlier, music used to be played only at certain locations (concerts/cinemas/radios) and hence, viewers could get to listen only in parts and that too infrequently when they get chance. Now, public has plenty of choices, they can store the same music in their mobile/Ipods/laptops/pen drives/CDs and can hear it any number of times in a single day. From personal experience, I have the same song in my mobile, laptop & pen drive, and play it as per convenience. If viewers could hear a song once a week earlier (50 times a year), now they can play the song in loop and hear it 50 times in a single day.

Because of infrequent hearing, the longevity of a song was longer earlier and it has definitely shrunk now. Also, the purity of music now is not the same as earlier, lot of copying (imbibing as some would say), mixing n matching music without bothering whether it improves the quality or not are also having negative impact.

These points apply to films also. Earlier films used to run for 175+ days (golden jubilee/diamond jubilee etc), but if a film runs for 25 days now, it is declared hit. Again this is due to frequent viewing, large scale release etc., which are the same with music too.

Having said that, good music will live long. People who look for purity, quality and lovers of karnatic music still throng the December music festival. So much that, there is demand for passes and good singers/musicians are booked in advance (some time the previous year itself).

Music is like the river – It will keep flowing and will take the shape & colour through which it passes. If it was all about classical music earlier, it is all about westernization, imbibing the rock & pop culture now. If we heard only classical music earlier, now we get to hear and enjoy wide range of music.

As they say, we Indians need music in some form for every occasion – be it birth or marriage or death and this will not change for years/decades to come.

BEST services in Mumbai

Happened to travel through BEST bus through one of the busiest roads in Mumbai – LBS Road and it left me wondering, how difficult it must be for its drivers.

Some of the challenges to the BEST bus driver that I noticed during my travel were – Autos driving all around with no signals for left/right turns, pedestrians crossing the road anywhere it pleases them, traffic jams at all times and for hours together, and the drivers still using the same route knowing very well that they will get stuck in traffic for hours, braving engine heat in hot summers and sitting in the seat for 6-7 hours, taking over 2 hours to travel 10+ Kms distance (origin to destination), commuters complain about buses being late, not stopping at bus stops… The list goes on…

Also while talking to one of the driver, got to know that they make just one round trip per day, which itself takes over 6 hours. And then, there are complaints that there are not enough buses and are not maintained properly.

Should we then call it BEST or WORST?

Online Freedom – is it declining?

Over the past decade, the influence of internet as a means to spread information and challenge existing media controls has rapidly expanded. Being online these days is not only about emails, it also includes all modes of communication – Facebook, Whatsapp, BBM, Twitter, Nimbus, Yahoo Messengers, Google Talk, Wechat, Viber, Youtube, blogs… the mode is huge and widespread.

As events in the Middle East in 2011 demonstrated, the internet has also emerged as a crucial medium through which citizens can mobilize and advocate for political, social, and economic reform, sometimes for positive development and sometimes to spread rumour and hatred. Fearing the power of new technologies, authoritarian states have devised subtle and not-so-subtle ways to filter, monitor, and otherwise obstruct or manipulate the openness of the internet. Even a number of democratic states have considered or implemented various restrictions in response to the potential legal, economic, and security challenges raised by new media.

10 MOST COMMONLY USED TYPES OF INTERNET CONTROL 

1. Blocking and filtering
2. Cyber-attacks against regime critics
3. New laws and arrests
4. Paid pro-government commentators
5. Physical attacks and murder
6. Surveillance - electronic
7. Takedown illegal content and deletion requests
8. Blocking social media and communications apps
9. Intermediary (like Internet Service Providers, Hosting services, Webmasters) liability
10. Throttling or shutting down service

Though India was largely liberal on this till couple of years ago, the case has turned around with Government resorting to all type of controls of online freedom for varying reasons.

• In Aug 2012, Indian Government blacklisted social media accounts, for causing spread of rumours and calm simmering sectarian tensions between indigenous Bodo community and Muslim settlers in Assam, which apparently led to mass exodus from cities like Mumbai, Pune & Bangalore.
• In 2012, Government authorities placed a ban on sending bulk SMS messages, so as to avoid spreading of rumours.
• Also in Nov 2012, Mumbai police arrested a woman for complaining on Facebook about widespread traffic and service disruptions in Palghar to mark the death of Bal Thackerey. The woman’s friend, who “liked” the comment, was also arrested.

Media reports now state that India is showing the biggest decline when it comes to Internet freedom. All along, people were getting comfortable to air their views and follow leaders on internet. And now, with these clamps & restrictions, this is seriously getting impacted. Of course, internet freedom does not give right to abuse others, parody accounts and hiding behind some nameless/faceless and attacking others. But any sort of restrictions should not take away the liberty and bring down the medium that is helping in bringing closer people across geographies and improve ties.