Slumdog Millionaire in Oscar: Moment of Proud or Shame

Slumdog Millionaire has won 4 prestigious Golden Globe awards and has been nominated in 10 categories for Oscar. Facts suggest that the movie is extraordinary and thus the makers should be acclaimed and showered with accolades. Every Indian will see the event as a moment of proud. But there is another side to it and is flipped by many indians including Amitabh Bachchan. Let me put it this way. Slumdog Millionaire is a certificate that says:

To Whomsoever It May Concern

1. We are willing to show the darker side if and only if we get fame, money and applause.

2. We are not concerned about the lack of apathy shown to the poor. We have no time to think about what is right or wrong.

3. The slumdwellers should have ethics and moral responsibilities. If not, we will provide them oppurtunities to build illegal slums, electricity and water for daily livings. They are a good votebank.

4. We are not bothered even if our airports and other important places are exposed to danger because of this.

5. Riots are just a part of life. Let us fight each other and see who gains domination.

6. Indian filmmakers should not expect any prestigious awards no matter what subject they base their stories on. Good music is not enough for winning an award. Music for a film directed by an englishman can make some sense.

7. Life is full of filth in India. Dirty words, imbalanced system and immoral behavior are not surprising.

 

Now check this:

Swiss Banking Association report, 2006 details bank deposits in the territory of Switzerland by nationals of following countries:
TOP FIVE  

INDIA	$1,456 BILLION
RUSSIA	$470 BILLION
U.K.	$390 BILLION
UKRAINE	$100 BILLION
CHINA	$96 BILLION

Now do the math’s – India with $1,456 billion or $1.4 trillion has more money in Swiss banks than rest of the world combined.

Probably this will not make a good subject for a film.

Letter by a Satyam Employee

This letter gives an idea of what life an employee in IT services company has. Yes, because most of the things happen in every Indian IT company. I am sure that the composer of this letter must have used office computer, internet and time too. Just read n think (optional)

At a time when almost 90% of my Satyam friends are cribbing about the fraud and betrayal by Ramalinga Raju, I have a slightly different opinion. It’s bold of me to write this in black and white but this comes straight from my heart and experience. 
   
Let me start by quoting an example of 2006. Most of my friends were unemployed with 50-60% plus marks in BTech, with a degree from an average University and hunting madly for a job. Whether people accept it today or not but the truth remains that Satyam was the ONLY saviour and the only mass recruiter who was ready to accept students who had back logs but had cleared them and also it did not put a very strict minimum marks criterion. And this was true not only for my small college at Lucknow but also those across India . Satyam is the fourth largest in IT in India. Looking at India’s population I really want to thank Raju for giving some 54000 Indians jobs atleast for all these years . He was the reason for the revival of confidence and the reason for the bread and butter for many a families.   
 
Satyam training was renowned all over India. Their STC training centre created numerous love stories and unexpected rekindling of a youthful environment where girls and boys were more indepenent than their college days . I remember most of my Satyam friends felt that they made better friends at Satyam’s three to six months training than those in the four years of BTech. 
  
  Unfortunately people forget to thank God in sad times . I understand that what Raju did is deplorable and unpardonable. He should have treated business more formally and not dealt with it like a family affair . He should have been strict a couple of months or years before itself. Why did he hire so many non potential candidates and keep them on bench? When were the managers and the team mates last told that if they dont work hard, they will lose their job? Business cannot be run lousily. 
  
  I have been staying with some 200 odd girls for the last 2 years and many of them are from Satyam. Moreover I network a lot and I have lots of male friends at Satyam . I have seen how people tail gate to Satyam, how they give their swipe cards to others to swipe it on their behalf , how female employees have gone home sharp at 6am irrespective of when they landed at office, how employees sit at home for months at a stretch, prepare for all kind of post graduate entrance exams and still enjoy a full month’s pay, how often they went for movies at local theatres at office hours, how often employees went to office just to sign on registers in the morning and at evening, how often they faked their certificates , how often they put unlimited fake medical and house rental bills. 
  
  How can we blame just one man when EACH AND EVERY person was disloyal ? How can we exclude Auditors like PwC ? How can we exclude the Board of Directors who have washed their hands off so clean? How can we exclude banks who gave hefty loans without true verfication? How can we exclude the Chief Minister of AP who allowed leniency for Raju’s fellow businessman? How can we exclude managers who were never able to trace which bench employee under him had been away from office for how long ? 
  
  Yet how can people forget this is the same man whose ideas and potentials gave them an identity for the past several years? How many couples found the right match at an IT industry , courtesy Satyam and how many Andhra farmers benefited from their crores of investments in Satyam shares .How can people forget that Satyam launched its offices right at the doorsteps of a residential colony, where people can simply walk to work ? 
   
The most gruesome experience that I can recollect was when a Satyam tag wearing person was waiting to attend an interview and I overheard him saying that he was in a business meeting at the My Home Satyam ( Madhapur) office when he was sitting right infront of me at a totally different company. When employees themselves show such a lousy attitude and dont care a damn for the brand that they carry around their neck, how can they expect others to care? 
  
  I am not saying that ALL Satyam employees are bad. I have known very dedicated people too, but my point is very clear, before pointing fingers at others, introspect .There are thousands of people who have completed certifications at the cost of Satyam, got trained at Satyam. Satyam made several freshers stand on their feet to get better jobs elsewhere across the globe and attain onsite exposure through Satyam. 
  
  What Raju did was to keep the business of Satyam going at any cost. I see a very smart man in him when he understood that he should rather accept his mistake than be caught by the USA laws . I see a selfish father in him too that he put a lot at stake for Maytas. However, he resigned with a lot of dignity and his letter of resignation shows humility. It takes a mammoth amount of courage to accept your mistake in public at a time when the media is ready to blow everything out of proportion. If humans dont make mistakes who else would ? 
  
  My last salute to this man is for creating such mass employment in India for 57k employees and 57k families when even opening a beetle(pan) shop in a lane in India is a challenge !! Thanks to him for creating income for all the thousands of families who benefited through food chains, the tiffin wallahs, the transport people and all those who made money by renting their houses. 
   
I read he donated Rs 12000 crores from his personal pocket to give the January salary of his Satyam employees. Today Satyamites call Raju a FRAUD. The true and loyal Satyamites surely have all the reasons to say this word. But all the rest who sucked every rupee out of Satyam without doing any value addition need to understand – who was a bigger fraud.

How to prepare for an IT Interview

  

This is a good article, taken from a friend’s site, that can be used as a reference by some IT professionals. Though I don’t agree with all the points as the indian IT culture is partially politicized and is full of cunning and pestering souls.

     

     Attending and interview is not a new term for an IT professional in India, but when it actually comes to attend an interview, the scene is similar to giving first speech in school, or solving first question paper of a board examination. Though everybody knows that interview is to check your competencies along with confidence, but we go for an interview with no confidence, and skill demonstrated without confidence are rarely accepted. Then the questions arise – is giving an interview such a difficult task? Can we not manage those 45 minutes to 1 hour to achieve best results? Is there some theory involved behind these interviews?

     

     In this article, an attempt is made to bring out the personal experience of interviewing people for different IT roles. There may be some variations in the experience of different people, but in general the philosophy remains same. This article does not focus on any technology or domain, but tries to abstract concepts that are applicable across industry.

     

     After reading this article one can come up with own interview questions suitable for one�s needs. The underlying technology and domain may be same, but the role performed by each individual in given technology and domain is definitely different and so is the experience. These two parameters govern the questions to be asked in given technology and domain, hence each individual is the best person to come up with a question bank for own usage.

     

Role and Competency Mapping Metrics:

     

Competency Role	Technical	Management	Process	Financials	Communication	Innovation	Leadership	Domain
Developer	Concepts, syntax	Code	Applicable quality processes	NA	Good	Specific to work	NA	Module
Module Lead	Concepts, syntax, design	Approx. 5 member team, other module aspects	Development related quality processes, change management	NA	Good	Specific to work	Required	Application
Project Lead	Concepts, design, philosophy behind important concepts	Project delivery, requirements, change etc. aspects of project, team of around 10- 15 people	Development and management processes	Project billing related	Good articulation skills and client interfacing skills	Related to management and processes	Required	Application, business stream
Project Manager	Concepts, design, philosophy behind important concepts	Everything from project lead applied to multiple projects of total team size around 30	Development and management processes with applicability to larger units	Complete delivery financials	Same as above	Related to management and processes	Required	Client’s business
Senior Manager	Concepts, philosophy behind concepts, some knowledge of trends	Same as project manager but for larger team and scope like account, delivery unit etc. depending on role	Development and management processes with applicability to larger units	Complete delivery and organization financials depending on scope	Excellent in all areas	Related to management and processes	Required	Clients and organization�s business
Technical Lead	Concepts, syntax, design, philosophy behind concepts	Technically quality of delivery	Development related quality processes	NA	Good	In technical solutions	Technical leadership required	Specific to work area
Technical Architect	Concepts, design, philosophy behind important concepts, Knowledge of recent Trends, applicability of trends solution	Same as technical lead	Development related quality processes	Technology / products costs	Good articulation and presentation skills	Related to technical solutions	Required	Business stream
Business Analyst	Some knowledge of trends	Some aspects of business requirements and change.	Development and management processes	Financials around business domain	Excellent	NA	Required	Complete
Consultant	Same as technical architect	NA	Development and management processes	Both technical / product related and delivery related.	Excellent	Related to technical solutions	Required	Complete

     

Interview is to see if a person fits in the role? Or sometimes to find the role in which a person fits in:

     

     Number of years of experience and organization-wide standards are used to identify suitable roles for a person. The interview panel is always composed of people having a role at least one level higher than the identified roles. These interviewers have already gone through these roles; hence they appreciate the competency requirements very well. They frame the questions in such a way that the graph of competency check is always increasing. E.g. for a project manager�s interview, few basic questions to check understanding of technology concepts, and new trends in technology are asked. Depending on success ratio in these questions, further course of interview is decided, which may be through process, management, financial, team management and domain related questions. Now, when one prepares for an interview keeping a role in mind, he/she must select the competency requirements from the role/competency metrics, identify possible questions on those requirements and prepare on areas surrounding these thoroughly. Number of questions out side these selected area should be very less, and these questions will carry less importance in the decision of selection of the candidate.

     

     Most of the IT companies (the big players in Indian IT industry), have standardized the role to experience map. E.g. Module lead can have experience between 3 -5/6 years. If you want to change this fitment, say you are having experience of 2.5 years, and want to be a module lead, then there has to be an exceptional performance in the interview, cause at the end of the day, the interviewers will have to justify the offer to some one. Consequently, you will have to prepare to be and exceptional performer in answering the difficult questions possible for the role or the questions that will appear difficult to you, as you are looking at one level above your normal capability.

     

Not an interview but a discussion:

     

     This will have a direct impact on the selection decision. An interview is never a oral examination, where the examiner is asking questions, you are giving answers, and waiting for next question. In an interview, the person is not fitted in the technical competency requirements, but also to the organization�s culture and teams. You can change the mode of interview into a group discussion from one to one questions and answers. How to do is learning the group discussion technique, the only difference is – here you are allowed to speak freely after a question, and you don�t have to wait for an opportunity. But the answer should be such that you encourage the interviewer to express his/her view points. Once this flow is started, then the discussion will happen on its own. This will also make you comfortable during interview and increase your confidence.

     

Tell us about yourself/tell us about your previous assignment:

     

     Mostly, this is the first question where one is caught on wrong foot. Though this is the starting question of most of the interviews, people do not take it as an opportunity. This is the golden opportunity to set right tone of your interview at first step itself. Though the question remains same, the answer goes on changing dramatically as you move from one role to other. Such as, if you are going for a fresher�s interview, the answer would revolve around your family background, and your academic achievements. But if you are appearing for a project manager�s interview, then the answer should reveal how you deployed your skills in your past assignment and worked on the role which you are targeting now. This might be the only chance for you to tell how you fit in the target role. When you end this brief answer, try to guide the interviewer to your favorite topic so that you feel at home at the start of interview.

     

When is the resume referred?:

     

     Prepare should mapping to the role you are applying instead of a general purpose document. Resume is a question bank given by you to the interviewer. If your first answer/any other answer does not lead to any concrete topic, then the interviewer goes back to the resume and prepares questions mapping to the role/competency metrics. This action happens periodically, hence it is better to go thoroughly through your resume and prepare on the areas on which you expect questions. It is not advisable to not let the interviewer to go back to the resume during interview, because if he/she does not refer to the resume, then he/she will continue drilling down on same topic, which will increase the difficulty level considerably. Every time the resume is referred to, one can be hopeful to get a first difficulty level question.

     

Every role has a language of it�s own:

     

     Every role has a language of it�s own, and this language is comprised of few words/jargons/short forms which keep on changing periodically. May be this is inline with the technology advancement, or business maturity but the truth is � at each role there are few words, which a person should be speaking while giving an interview or practically in day to day official life. There may be some terms which last long e.g. a project manager can speak of top line, bottom line, margins, etc. forever, but there may be some terms coming and going. Find out these words and use them appropriately during interview. This will show your familiarity with the target role. It is as simple as – when you are answering a history question; you should not use scientific language.

     

Why are you leaving current organization:

     

     It is known to everybody in the interview panel that you are ready to leave your current organization, and they are also ready to accept you in their organization. But this question is generally asked to understand how long you are going to continue in the new organization. They would have done your resume analysis on this point, but they just want to make sure that you are not considering their organization as a hop in/hop out sight seeing bus. Few other aspects, like your relations with your current organization, your behavior in your current organization, and how much maturity you show while speaking about your current organization are also checked in this answer.

     

Salaries are getting rationalized across Indian IT industry:

     

     This may be one of the last questions, “What is your (salary) expectation?” and you say a number which spoils so far successful show of your interview. Over last few years, the salaries to experience to role mappings are getting standardized in Indian IT companies. These standards may have different charts depending on the category in which your target organization falls. E.g. Salaries of module leads of some experience in organizations like TCS, Infosys, Wipro, and Cognizant may vary by narrow margin. Some factors like job security, size of company, onsite opportunities, etc. can bring in some variation in the packages offered.

     

     When you accept an offer, you can perform a basic check – you are not going to get any role change or any hefty salary revision in next two years after joining the new organization. Now put your current organization�s compensation growth path for you along with this and compare. If you are getting considerable benefits in monitory and designation in short term/long term, then move on. Otherwise recheck if you really want to change (or just changing the boss will do), cause you will have to build the reputation from scratch in the new organization.

     

To Summarize:

     

     It is possible to determine and drive the course of interview to a best result. In addition to extensive preparation and experience, there is need of a systematic approach. The guidelines provided in this article should help you to identify the questions and to drive through your interview. Good Luck!!!

 

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Nano Mania

The name may be Nano but the problems are Mega.

Nano has already started creating problems in Singur. Forget about the problems it will pose for traffic and pollution in India.

Personally, I never want to see Nano on Indian roads. Already the traffic condition is worse and pollution is all time high. But i am not bothered much because i know Nano will be used as a Taxi and can never become a status symbol for standard and luxury hungry people of India.

Get familiarize with Tata’s Nano:

http://www.esnips.com/doc/46d3a208-609f-4bbc-896a-099e7999066d/Nano-Over-View

Deal or No-Deal – The Big Game

The politicians of world’s largest democracy are playing a game. The game is called “Confidence Vote”. The biggest challenge in this game for the two teams fighting each other is to hoard maximum players in their camp. The camp that has atleast 271 players is bound to emerge as winner of  the game. It is a game of ego, honour, deals on deal, money, loyalty, power and bargaining. This game will be played in Delhi inside parliament between UPA and NDA+UNPA on 22nd July.

Need for this game aroused because UPA wanted to go for a Nuclear Deal with Superpower America. As the deal is with America, it is imperative that America-loathers will certainly play a spoil-sport. And the Indian politicians are well known for their role as Killjoy. Again some points that I failed to understand. If these points are part of a pyschological test that the politicians are made to undergo, I am sure each will fail.

1. Left(Communists) withdrew its support to UPA on this issue. If the government falls, Left is in no position to make the government on its own. Either BJP or Congress will be part of the government even if general elections are held. Left can’t have an alliance with BJP and will never want to see BJP in power. So what is the point in making a government unstable?

2. Left are known for their anti-American policies. I am happy that the Left are not in power else millions of Indians currently working in call centres and IT industry would have remained unemployed. Imagine what progess India could have made in the last two decades.

3. Some said that the Nuclear deal will contribute to only 3% of India’s energy needs. What they mean is that our scientists are not capable to improving the performance, 3% of 113 billion population, who will benefit from Nuclear power, is a very small number and we have an infite number of renewable sources of energy.

4. Thomas Friendman, autor of The World is Flat is wrong and his masterpiece that says that the world is a level playing field should be banned. We will use goods bought from America and visit America for holidays but wont do any business with America. We don’t want Bill Gates, an American, to spend 26 billion $ for fighting HIV in India. Let these HIV infected patients rather die without treatment.

5. Some say that the deal is anti-muslim. Bush led America attacked Iraq, a muslim nation. Therefore, Bush is anti-muslim. The deal is with Bush led America. Therefore, the deal is also anti-muslim. We will oppose the deal even if Obama replaces Bush. So, the entire America is anti-muslim. What a logical conclusion!!

6. BJP wanted the deal when it was in power but if it supports the deal now, the government wont fall and it will not get an oppurtunity to share power. BJP as an oppurtunist is now anti-deal. Who cares about the deal? We want power.

7. If the two camps are offering 30 crores to each MP to buy support, then whats wrong when a government officer asks for a bribe of just 30 rupees?  

8. Opposition says that Inflation is too high and the government policies are responsible for the surge. What they mean is that if elections are held now, it will be free of cost or opposition will sponsor the elections in order to save money and curb inflation. Assuming that they dont want subsidies on essential goods to be lifted .

9. Three-Fourth of energy needs in France are fulfilled from Nuclear Reactors. Does that mean France is a banana country? India’s coal reserves will last for another four decades only. What will happen after that?

There is a huge gap between words and deeds. Only the confidence vote will decide whether it saves the blushes for Manmohan or will bring a lot of embarassment to the country.

India in a nutshell

Just for fun, no offence meant.

Bengali

One Bengali = poet.

Two Bengalis = a film society.

Three Bengalis = political party.

Four Bengalis = two political parties.

More than four Bengalis = Countrywide agitation to bring Ganguli into Team.

Bihari

One Bihari = Laloo Prasad Yadav .

Two Biharis = booth-capturing squad.

Three Biharis = train capture.

Four Biharis = caste riots

Five Biharis = entire literate population of Patna …

Punjabi

One Punjabi =100 kg hulk named Pinky.

Two Punjabis = Pinky with his bigger brother Twinky.

Three Punjabis = assault on the McAloo Tikkis at the local McDonalds.

Four Punjabis = combined IQ equal to one.

Mallu

One Mallu = coconut stall.

Two Mallus = a boat race.

Three Mallus = Gulf job racket.

Four Mallus = oil slick.

UP Bhaiyya

One UP bhaiyya = a milkman.

Two UP bhaiyyas = halwai shop.

Three UP bhaiyyas = a fist-fight in the UP assembly.

Four UP bhaiyyas = mosque-destruction squad.

Gujju

One Gujju = share-broker in a Bombay train.

Two Gujjus = rummy game in a Bombay train.

Three Gujjus = Bombay ’s noisiest restaurant.

Four Gujjus = stock market scam.

Andhraite

One Andhraite = chili farmer.

Two Andhraites = software company in New Jersey ..

Three Andhraites = Naxalite outfit.

Four Andhraites = song-and-dance number in a Telugu movie.

Kashmiri

One Kashmiri = carpet salesman.

Two Kashmiris = carpet factory.

Three Kashmiris = terrorist outfit.

Four Kashmiris = shoot-at-sight order.

Tamil-Brahmin

One Tam-Brahm = priest at the Vardarajaperumal temple.

Two Tam-Brahms = Maths tuition class.

Three Tam-Brahms = Queue outside the U.S consulate at 4 a.m.

Four Tam-Brahms = Thyagaraja music festival in Santa Clara

Mumbaikar

One Mumbaikar = footpath vada-pav stall.

Two Mumbaikars= film studio.

Three Mumbaikars = slum.

Four Mumbaikars = The number of people standing on your foot in the train at rush hour.

Sindhi

One Sindhi = currency racket.

Two Sindhis = papad factory.

Three Sindhis = duplicate goods shop in Ulhasnagar …

Four Sindhis = Hong Kong Retail Traders Association.

Marwari

One Marwari = The neighbourhood foodstuffs adulterator.

Two Marwaris = 50% of Calcutta

Three Marwaris = Finish off all Gujaratis & Sindhis.

Four Marwaris = Threaten the Jews as a community.

Haryanvi

One Haryanavi = tube light.

Two Haryanavis = agriculture.

Three Haryannavis = Lathi squad.

Four Haryanavis = actually just one was enough.

Last but the best

Kannadiga

One kannadiga = devegowda

Two kannadigas = devegowda with his son Kumarswamy

Three kannadigas = rivals of devegowda family

Four Kannadigas = total no of kannadigas in bengaluru

Forbes Top Global Firms — 2008

No.. I will not list forbes list of top 2000 global firms here. That data is overwhelmingly available on forbes home page.

The big news is that 48 Indian companies has featured in that elite list. What!!!! just 48!!! Oh common.. our economy is growing at a stupendous rate of 8.7 %. We are the next superpower. We tout ourselves as a country whose 4 gentlemen complete the list of World’s 10 richest persons. This is not fair (sarcastically).

RIL and ONGC are the two companies in top 200, holding positions at 193 and 198 respectively. I am not keen on improving anybody’s general knowledge but to highlight the fact that there is a big difference between organizational and personal achievements. There are some over-performing organizations run by some under-estimated creatures who never bothered to make it to the list of richest human-beings. Ironically, in India, we have the opposite. Barato (the famous Italian Economist) who gave the 80-20 principle (which says that 80% of people hold 20% of wealth) seems to be in India when he carried out research on his theory.

Neverthless, we, the Indians, never give importance to things that discourage selflessness. What if 5 % doctors in US, Canada and UK and 4 % doctors in Australia are from a country which is short of 60K doctors and 1 million Nurses and where patient to doctor ratio is 10000:1, it is our promise that we will never be short of human resources.

Mutual Fund Analysis 2008

Indian Mutual Fund has investment of approx Rs 2,00,000 crore.

The report gives answers to questions like

· What they bought ?

· What they sold ?

· Top 20 stock holding across funds

· The cash position they have

· New stock purchased in mid-cap category

· Stocks completely exited by these funds.

Follow this link to open the Excel file: Mutual Fund Analysis Feb 2008

Cricketers on sale!!

Every dog has its day!!

This proverb is best suited for Indian Cricketers. There is absolutely nothing wrong in saying that if presented an oppurtunity money will always beat passion. If you ask a cricketer about his ambition, his reply would be that he wants to represent the country but he will never tell you what lurks behind in his mind which is ofcourse a big fat paycheck. If you still don’t agree then ask Anil Kumble why is he in the T20 team when he can’t even find a place in the 50 over game. He is not doing any charity work either. The fact is Anil Kumble is not there for playing cricket. His job is to pull crowd inside the stadium and pull money outside. IPL (Indian Premier League) has given aging players a last chance to hoard as much money as they can and secure their future. Even foreign players have set their eyes and don’t want to miss the bus. It doesn’t matter even if their price tag doesn’t show a amount greater than that of local heroes. Ricky Ponting would be in great dilemma and must be scratching his head and trying to draw a logic to understand 

1. Why teammate Andrew Symonds is getting thrice as much he is getting?

2. Whether he should buy the argument that even Manoj Tiwari who has not played even a single one-dayer, forget about cementing a place in the national side, is getting much more than him.

3. What will happen to his captaincy skills with which he has led his nation team to win 2 world cup titles? Will Sourav Ganguly come to him for suggestions during any of those IPL matches?

Michael Hussey must be laughing at himself for not finding anyone who considers a man with highest average in 50 over game and second highest in Tests (after Bradman) worthy enough to bid for. If he is not then atleast his brother David Hussey must be because ironically, even he is wearing a price tag of 2.5 crores INR. Piyush Chawla will probably never beat Warne’s charisma on the field but he has already beaten him up in the bidding game by getting signed a paycheck of whopping 2.6 crores. My sympathies are with the legendry Mc Grath, the athletic wicket-keeper Tatenda Taibu and the finisher Ramnaresh Sarwan. They don’t deserve to be in the reserved pool but they should accept the fact that it’s Indian premier league and it’s all about doing business in the name of cricket.

Such things can happen only in India and such things can happen only for crazy people which India was never short of.

Whose Mumbai is it?

The first two weeks of february generated a lot of heat in Mumbai. MNS chief Raj Thackeray popped up a question which created a lot of chaos in the city. Politicians and Media kept the issue open for a long time, started a blame-game, challenged each other and then left the entire episode inconclusive. Keeping an eye on the entire issue as a mute spectator so far, I have some suggestions and points which i feel should have been considered.

1. In 1983, 70% taxi-owners were Maharashtrians, the figure is 10% today. Where are those ppl? or is it that the number is stagnant and others have outnumbered them?

2. If there are lot of illegal slums used as shelter by migrants in the city, then who provided them electricity and water for daily living.

3. When nobody bothers about observing the lane discipline and lowering the traffic and accidents, then why does the goverment spend a lot maintaining them. It is comparitively easy to make Mumbai a city like Shanghai but hard to discipline the citizens for not converting it into Dhaka.

4. Constitution was written in 1950, more than 55 years ago. So, when are we going to make an amendment in it? Are we waiting for the situation to go out of control?

5. One politician who raised his voice was none other than our Railway Minister, Lalu Prasad Yadav. Why don’t Lalu take a ride in local train from Thane to Dadar during the peak hours as a common man? Lalu can make arrangements for his 9 childrens in Bihar but not everybody can. Mumbai continues to lure them for money.

6. Kolkata and Delhi are other Metropolitan cities much closer to UP and Bihar. What is so special in Mumbai? What is here which is wooing parties like SP and BSP? What does these parties mean by slogans like “UP hamari hai, ab Maharshtra ki baari hai” and “UP to jhaanki hai, Maharashtra abhi baaki hai”?

7. What measures have been taken to provide jobs to poors in UP and Bihar? Is there lack of political will that stops these states from catching up with other states?

8. Why does it always happen with people from UP and Bihar and not others?

9. Why don’t we make such hue and cry in US where Indians are called Browns and are victim of hate-crimes?

10. Who should be held responsible if a situation like July 26, 2005 arises in the city?

11. What should a farmer of Vidarbh region, belonging to the same state, should expect from politicians who are busy all the time solving only the problems of financial capital of the country?

I am not an ardent supporter of MNS and I fully condemn the way this situation is handled but you can’t make someone think what is bad or what is good unless and until he is a happy man. Till then, such things will only bring shame to the country. We haven’t understood gravity of the situation and our lackadaisical attitude is akin to something written on an illusory blackboard with a non-existant chalk.