Friday, October 21, 2011

Whatever happened to the phrase "I'm Sorry"????

"Corruptio optima pessima ~" The corruption of the best is the worst.

-      Latin proverb

And so it is on this note that I start this post.

Really, I have no expectations of morality from the Rajas, Marans, Kalmadis, Chidambarams, Ambanis of this country.

None. Zero. Nada. Nyet. (or whatever)

To get to where they are today, they have had to trample on someone, and ensure their own practical ends are met, whichever way possible.

And even if that involves basically laundering money for political gain, or getting kickbacks for favours.

It is we, given our good fortune of decent men and women in politics in the past, believe that our political leaders should be human beings with unimpeachable integrity.

It is our folly that we hold such naïve expectations of people who are essentially representatives of the people.

But I have my heroes, the kind I look up to, and would like my kids to follow their examples.

The Kiran Bedis and the Anil Kumbles of this world. Human beings, but different from the rest.

Individuals I have utmost respect for

People who have achieved something, in spite of the odds.

Even a whiff of impropriety on their part, hurts, and hurts bad.

Especially, when they accept that what they're accused of is a fact.

But I could let it go, you know. I really could.

All they have to say, is "It was a mistake / misjudgment on my part. I wouldn't accept this behavior if done by someone else, and so you shouldn't accept this act done by me. I am sorry."

That's all you need say, Ms. Bedi (and Mr. Kumble)

It's their defiance and justification of their acts, that really makes me wonder, whether it is really worth having expectations of propriety from someone else.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

What Rajnikanth can teach you about parenting, leadership and life in general..


"I will do what I say, I will also do what I don't say"

If I told you that someone said this to me, you'd probably look askance and ask me to look up the closest shrink.

Unless of course, I give you some more context to this "conversation". This is actually what the guy told me:


Naan solrathaiyum seiven, sollathathiyum seiven." - "I will do what I say, I will also do what I don't say."

- Rajnikanth  
Annamalai (1992)

At this point in the conversation, the context probably doesn't even matter. If I did something to piss Rajnikanth off, I must have done something horribly wrong. It doesn't matter whether why I did what I did, or whether I was in the right or Rajni was in the wrong.

I got Rajni angry..

And if I know what's good for me, I don't want to get Rajni angry.

He may be the poorest guy on the screen, but he has one thing that the rich villain who promises to make a million chopped pieces of Rajni's mother's liver does not

He not only does what he says he will do, but he also does what he doesn't say he will do.


And even an infant from P.O. Village Krishnapuram in district Madurai of Tamil Nadu State knows that Rajni does what he says he will do.

He's got style, panache, and class,

But more importantly he's got credibility.

And that's pretty much what every parent, leader, manager, terrorist, hunger striking activist, politician, and whoever has anything to do with anyone else pretty much needs, if she needs to convince another human being to change their ways.

PS: I really wish this was my original idea to begin with, but I cannot. Most credit goes to the Worthwhile Canadian Initiative blog post

Wednesday, October 05, 2011

A Sane Revolution

A Sane Revolution

If you make a revolution, make it for fun,
don't make it in ghastly seriousness,
don't do it in deadly earnest,
do it for fun.

Don't do it because you hate people,
do it just to spit in their eye.

Don't do it for the money,
do it and be damned to the money.

Don't do it for equality,
do it because we've got too much equality
and it would be fun to upset the apple-cart
and see which way the apples would go a-rolling.

Don't do it for the working classes.
Do it so that we can all of us be little aristocracies on our own
and kick our heels like jolly escaped asses.

Don't do it, anyhow, for international Labour.
Labour is the one thing a man has had too much of.
Let's abolish labour, let's have done with labouring!
Work can be fun, and men can enjoy it; then it's not labour.
Let's have it so! Let's make a revolution for fun!

-      D. H. Lawrence

 

Sunday, October 02, 2011

Things I want to do before I'm done

According to the data provided to the World Bank,  the average life expectancy of an Indian male is around 65 years as of 2009.

All this means to me, is that in a few weeks, I'll certainly be starting the second half of my life (!!!!!!!). Life is going to be all downhill from here on..

So, it probably makes sense of all the things I want to get done before I am done.. Presenting, in no particular order.

- See the birth of my kids  DONE ALREADY..
- Master Malayalam
- Make a visit to Lord's and Wimbledon.. and the MCG..
- Write a book
- Contest the Lok Sabha elections
- Complete a course in economics, ideally something to do with Game Theory.
- Have a library with at least 1000 books, the kind you see on TV in a lawyer's office, with a "branch" in my toilet.
- Run a marathon
- See Olympics and / or World Cup football first hand.
- Take a motorcycle road trip

These may be bloody easy to achieve, you may think.

But they're not. If they were, I would have done them already, no?

Will you help me?