I woke up the morning with this news that Pakistan bans Facebook and is planning to ban Youtube which may extend to banning Wikipedia, Flickr, Picasa and what else. Not sure, if this is all rumour where news frenzy media has gone extreme with extremist Pakistan but who cares … and thus this haha !!!  Oh My poor boy Pakistan, you remind me of my 14 year old cousin who gets offended by every second thing in the world … bless you !

There is so much to write on this story : cite religion, criticise Pakistan, freedom of expression, some history digging with Dutch cartoonist or the recent militant warnings to attack Dutch team and supporters in the FIFA World Cup 2010. I am getting excited … Pakistan has suddenly given me a stress-buster for my stressed office life … thank you Pakistan !

I will begin with couple of status messages that I have found on my facebook wall today morning, really made my day -:D

1. Pakistan may just become the most productive country of all, now that it has banned facebook! -  Shwetak .

2. What’s the difference between Facebook and Jamaat-ud-Dawa? Ans: Facebook is banned in Pakistan – @Acron,

3. Pakistan bans pen and paper in schools as they can be used to draw and depict objectionable content – fakingnews

There are many more, but I don’t want to fill up my post with other people satires.

Honestly speaking, I was not aware of the root cause of this ban and no hints of any contest to draw Muhammad, and after some googling, the whole thing looks so funny. Summarizing for my less news-savvy readers, the story goes like thast there is some cartoon show – South Park in US where the producers have showed Mohammad in bear suit earlier this year and that has attracted lot of criticism and threats from various Muslim groups. After that, the producers have publically apologised which didn’t go well with one Seattle based cartoonist Molly Norris and she in turn created one cartoon criticising South Park with a hoarding – ‘Everybody draw Mohammad Day’ – which soon caught the fascination of couple of people where they went ahead and made a campaign out of this, created a facebook page and decided 20th May as the day to submit various drawings. While Molly is now horrified and has joined the group – Against Everybody draw Mohammad Day but the pro group has already crosssed 40K mark and against group also crossing 55K+ ( I see after this ban, pro may move faster than against as whole lot of people will not be able to access FB). Alrite, moving ahead, Pakistani people - Protest champs- have protested against this ban, some people have filed petition in Pakistan court and the court has given verdict to ban the Facebook (not just the page but the entire website as the later has allowed to put the page). Not surprised to see how suddenly court has become so efficient to pass this electrical verdict when millions of cases are pending.

While I am smiling finding this whole series of events as funny, it’s real sad and frightening to see a nation with nuclear powers acting this childish. I can compare this to lot of things – I have been teased by the neighbor child and I committ suicide (Note: it’s not like killing neighbor – here Facebook – as ban will kill Pakistani young generation who must be clueless and confused after this).  It’s like – My sister has been teased by someone on Road and after that she has been banned to come to Road. It’s childish, stupid, non-liberal, most idiotic thing on planet !

While I don’t connect this particular incident with Muslims but with couple of power holding, power hungry,  self-indulgent illiterates as Pakistan doesn’t represnt Muslims. There are more muslims in India and Muslims worldwide are protesting in various ways – like deactivating their accounts on 20th May for one day, taking oaths to boycott Facebook etc etc, so my dear friends, I respect your religion and your belief with whole gratitude and don’t take any of my writing otherwise.  I am angry with these politicians, hard-liner judges, religious leaders who fool poor, god-fearing people and play with their sentiments.

These power hungry politicians are not able to provide electricity, clean water, homes  so they are diverting people attention. While govt can’t save dying people in NW Frontier from Al-Qaeda, govt is attacking/passing death sentences to writers and cartoonists. While they can’t ban militant outfits, they are banning facebook. They are so coward and weak that they can’t tolerate any criticism. Tell me one thing – Is it that one religion is above all crticism and there should no questions on it but just blind beliefs. Whatever has been written in Stoneage will hold true always. Perhaps this is the reason which made me to write this post on why I wish to be Hindu always? If you will not improve and accept positive criticism then there is only one way for you – backwards !

While this is sad for many of Progressive Pakistanis and Muslims who have been trying their best to gel with the whole world, like recent Muslim Miss USA, even the court decision is flawed if analyzed most objectively. What was the problem – A campaign to draw Mohammad  and who has been punished – some US community website. Now the whole hatred have been shifted from those bunch of people who have started this campaign to Facebook. We know that these websites (after that they are nothing but money making companies who have to take care of their shareholders and quarterly statements) have been very supportive to obey rule of law. Has Pakistan govt asked to remove the page, I don’t see any reason why Facebook would not have pleased. This hastiness has given bad taste and twisted the whole event.

This ban has once again provided fuel to those who see Pakistan as intolerant society. The new Pakistanis must be feeling at loss – the govt has acted on their behalf, done something which people should have done on their own where the govt has really failed to perform it’s essential duties. A bunch of haters have caused hell lot of inconvenience to whole Pakistan young fraternity and Govt only supported those haters and marketed their hatred to guys like me who were not aware that today is some Day and now you see that I am expert on this case.

Sad for Pakistani young people, you are the change …bring the change !

I love to write, yet I have not turned to the only place where I write since last so many weeks or months?? I love to live free, yet my alarm always wake me up at 7:00 and after snoozing, I get up at 7:20. I have just read the blog of one of my friends and started feeling how different and yet how similar our lives have become?

But I don’t wish to make this a crib writing, instead I am looking for some solution, something positive. Fine, I am in hustle-bustle but this is me who has choosen this life over other things and I have to manage this, perfect it to the point it could be, correct the mistakes and ease out the pain. But how would it be ?

The world is getting faster each day, Internet is overloaded with tons of data pages, scientists are busy making super fast computers to process that data. I, in my small capacity gets over 20-25 work emails (fine, you may chuck at this number, but this itself is pain to my ass) by the time I wake up early while I invariably clean up my mailbox before sleeping. What are options?

First is to move with the world, the more information is provided, the more you start to process. Get smarter each day, pick up the pace and run and run and run. The risk here is that you may easily get lost. This pace may prove counterproductive and you end up loosing the focus, forget your aim, the basics of the whole thing.

Second, is to Stop and say ‘No’ (As I am writing these words, I am smiling on my own contradiction. If you know me than you must know that I am not a ‘No’ person.) Isn’t this like not fighting the war and keeping down your ammunitions even before the enemy attacked? No. I am not saying to say ‘No’ to everything and start living in a lonely island with your beautiful wife, kids, spend some quality family time (how fancy it may sound but we are trying to find out pragmatic solution here). It’s to be focused and say ‘No’ to the non-important thing of your profession, business, life. The risk, you will not be as updated on the world events as your friend who reads the online news every 15 mins and you’ll be delayed by some couple of hours, as you’ll read it next day morning at breakfast table. With so many books of faces (read it facebook, duffer), links to get in, tweeting, blogging, we fight to keep pace with our friends, family, followers …aha !

Here’s what I have read somewhere (Sorry, I don’t recall the source but perhaps some news site – healthy living blog) and really appreciated it. To prepare two lists of things:

1. First will list out your priorties, the things which give you happiness like playing with your kids. List out all the minimal things that are important things which you can’t and should not avoid and which are so interrelated that you keep focused in your own world. Alrite, here was the easy part.

2. Second list will have all your aberrations. This list will contain non-important but tempting items which many-a-times cause you to loose focus. Here non-important means the items which are non-important to you. What doesn’t make you happy or what you don’t wish to achieve?  This is the tough part.

The second is more difficult and getting more important each passing day owing to distractions coming on the way. Stop responding each email right away, stop going to news site every 30 mins and stop the temptation of your blackberry as soon as it vibrates.

While you prepare the list, ensure that you also follow them and don’t put them in your office file. You might have to disappoint a few people, get behind from some people but believe, it’s going to pay. Even God doesn’t have everything, so be focused, stay focused and cut out the distractions. That’s the key to win !

Photo Credit : annakieblesz

This is a guest post by my wife. She chooses to put a poem written by her -

एक दिन अचानक यूँ ही सोचा मैंने
काश कही ऐसा होता
इस दुनिया में कोई गम ना होता
कोई प्यासा ना होता
कोई तरसा ना होता
हर होठ पर शबनम और हंसी होती
इस दुनिया में सिर्फ ख़ुशी होती
हर दिल में सिर्फ मोहब्बत होती
नफरत की कोई जगह ना होती;
फिर तभी सोचा मैंने
अगर कही ऐसा होता
इस दुनिया में कोई गम ना होता
कोई प्यासा ना होता
कोई तरसा ना होता
तो ख़ुशी की कोई कीमत ना होती
हसी का कोई मोल ना होता
गम भी ख़ुशी का हिस्सा है
सारा किस्मत का किस्सा है
किसी को पहले गम
किसी को पहले ख़ुशी मिलती है
दुनिया में हर चेहरे को एक हसी मिलती है !

-Sonam Verma

I couldn’t figure out the original source of this … so no credits. If you happen to know then please drop a comment.

 

This is a guest post of one of my dear friends , Amit Goyal. He is sharing his admisson interview experience for Rice University, USA.

Amit writes,

Interviewer – I am Kolin from Rice University and currently a second year student here. I am basically from States only. I did my under graduation from Purdue University and worked for few years at P&G before I joined MBA.  I just did my summer internship at CITI Group and looking forward to join them by August. So why don’t you walk me through your resume -

Me – I am an engineer in Information Technology, for almost three years I have been working with Wipro, an Indian IT services company. I started my career as an implementation team member in the field of Identity and Access Management. My first project was with Sri Lankan Telecom, later I moved to Dubai and worked as an Information Security consultant for Road and Transport Authority, Dubai. For last one year I am in Saudi Arabia, working as a technical team lead as well as onsite consultant for Saudi Arabian Airlines.

Interviewer – Thats good to know Amit, so why do you want to pursue an MBA at this point of time

Me – In my three years of career, I have worked with multiple clients and working with them have been given me an understanding of various industries, the way a business moves ahead following a strategy. I have found myself to be working for the completion of larger strategic plans. Now i wish to play a bigger role, however I also realize that i will need few skills like finance etc etc before i move to my future goals   After spending almost three years in Wipro and getting promoted from technical engineer to team lead, I guess that this is the right time for me to move ahead and acquire the necessary skills.

Interviewer – What’s so special about Rice that you would like to come here?

Me – There are couple of reason for me to select Rice University, first being the smaller class size which will give me an opportunity to have a good interaction with my faculty. Another important and unique thing being the ALP program which will provide me a practical experience on industry. I believe ALP is very important for me as I wish to change my career domain. Other factors include the location advantage, Rice reputation etc.

Interviewer – Going back in your life what would be your biggest accomplishment till now

Me – Made up a story, as how got selected in my summer internship through a tough examination: P

Interviewer – Tell me about a time in your professional life where in you went against everyone for a cause you believed was correct.

Me – Again made a story as how my team members and management wanted to go ahead without the clustering in our final Go-Live. However, I convinced people and solved the issue of clustering.

Interviewer – Tell me about a failure in your professional life in which you had a tough time with your boss and what was your leaning

Me – I was working for a sales deal with one of our client, i was quite new in the company. I had to collect data and quotes from various internal departments of Wipro, however the process didn’t go very smooth and the final proposal didn’t come up quite well. We didn’t get that deal, I guess I should have escalated these issues well on time and if people were not responding on time i should have put more pressure. Learning being – a proper communication goes a long way: P

Interviewer – Do you read financial news like finance times etc or some other news through which you keep yourself updated.

Me – I do read various newspapers like Indian news paper economic times, I am also a fan of BBC business news.

Interviewer – Can you share any recent financial news and if you have any views on that event

Me – Well recently President of USA Mr. Obama has decided to levy huge taxes on banks, which from my understanding is not a very god thing to do. These banks have just come out of a difficult phase I guess these banks need more support and should be given 2-3 years more. Such harsh rules will not do any good currently

Interviewer – And if you don know he is pushing these taxes to finance the auto industry that is much worse. One thing I would say here. I interview many people and I always find them very much informed about USA which we Americans don’t know much about other countries like I don’t even know who is the president of India or China. Although i know India will be growing at the rate of 7% .  I guess the basic problem with USA is the uninformed electorate but i find outsiders very much informed

(At that point I thought he was trying to persuade me to say something bad about USA)

Me – I guess the people you interview are quite reading kind of people but our general population is also not that much informed

Interviewer – ya you may be right on that, so now again go back in your life and tell me your biggest disappointment

(I had not thought about this question, quite out of blue)

Me – made up a story how i was not selected at IIT;s and  after that i worked very ahrd and today i find myself competitive to them

Finally he asked me if I had any questions, I asked him few question about internships, jobs, funding etc and Khallas. He wished me good luck.

Happy Republic Day !

I recall to dedicate a post  on Republic Day in 2007. I would say things have not changed much or should say that things have improved by far or ohhh no …. things have deteriorated a lot…. err, am I confused? Guess, no …. let me explain !

Things have not changed much:

Things are same as they have been three years back.

1. We are growing steadily, being seen as world’s future economy, maintaining the recession proof growth etc etc.
2. There are no changes in corruption, terrorism, population, floods, all the problems in the India. You can swear India by them and them by India.
3. Our relations with our neighbors are nearly same with slight ups and down but on a graph, it would be a zig-zag straight line.
4. Our IT indsutry is thriving as usual and so are our cities, with lot of village people migration.
5. To connect all the rivers and to built all the national highways, was a dream three years back and it’s still the same. 
6. We are still religious fanatics and bomb blasts are realties.
7. Bollywood was and is producing the same and highest number of movies.

There are so many things but this is just a spot-on post and has it’s limitations.

Things have improved:

Yes, things have improved.

1. After a long long time, when coalition has become synonym with the Indian politics, people have voted for a single party majority. We should not care if the correct people have been voted, that’s not important but India has voted unanimously. United we stand !
2. We are having better and more consistent cricket team than ever, got 1st position in Test cricket though it’s a short time now.
3. We have given IPL to the world showing our business acumen and now in a position to kind of dictate our rules on the ICC.
4. Our private companies are on buying spree, when US companies are getting bankrupt, we are buying them out.
5. Came out with World’s cheapest car, launched rockets to Moon – all showing that Science is now no more West’s domain.
6. Bihar has got the second highest growth rate in India, much higher than national average.
7. More IITs are setup and so does more Supreme Courts (I count it even though it’s a proposal only).

Things have worsened:

No, things have worsened

1. We are the largest democracy but never has become so family dependent. Rahul is next Prime master unless something extremely unfortuante happens- are democracies this predictable ?
2. President has become a real Rubber stamp. Though, he has always been quoted so in India but this time, she has really been. I was reading somewhere that there are no controversies in President Pratibha Patil’s time : Do you really believe that there would be any? Rubber stamps don’t create controversies ! And I even don’t care to write about Vice President which has always been second highest authoirty in country (FYI: Primeminister comes third in hierarchy!)
3. We are less safer. Fine, Chandni Chowk and Mumbai trains- common man has never been safe but we have been beaten, killed inside Hotel Taj, rich man is also unsafe in India. (I would disagree if you quote Parliament attack as then only police guards have been killed and not any politician. The loss was much less severe !)
4. Localisation, division is all time high. Don’t know Marathi, can’t get a Taxi permit is what signifies India? Are we on the verge of breakup? Name it as biggest threat which should be checked immediately.
5. With all the radical economic developments, we are worse than Zimbabwe, Pakistan and Bangladesh on nourishment.

We are soaring at 60 and I wish that we  continue to have such strong democracy for next thousands of years but that doesn’t make us any lenient towards our responsiblities at home. 

Regards,

Pawan

Photo Credit: Sujesh

This video caught my attention during usual surfing …. recommended !

Photo credit : Gabor

With recent responsibilities, I have taken the resolution to take my finances more seriously (sadly, which I have never!). With this, I have opened one more joint bank  account, applied for a joint credit card and this time, have not got with any pre-approved offers but selecting from couple of choices available. Thanks to my in-time credit card payments !

Honestly, being in US on working visa doesn’t leave much of a scope to have long term house mortgage but still there are other small loans, that I may need from time to time e.g. auto-loan. Everyone knows that we should maintain good credit score and it pays but after that things are blurred, confusing and facts are unknowns, if not to all then to most of them.

There are several kinds of credit cards available in the market based on cash back, fees, points, interest rates, balance transfers, other benefits. While there is no defined rule which is the best credit card for one, you should always check your needs and priorties of credit card e.g. I always pay my credit card bills on time, have a separate savings account to check unwanted events in life and thus don’t need a 0% balance transfer card, howsoever tempting the offer is. Similarly, even if there is a credit card that matches your needs, always ensure that you read the disclosures properly.

Your credit card is more important than you think . Apart from all the well known facts like you’ll get number of benefits like cash-back, free travel and hotel points, auto rental insurances , maintaining a good credit will invariably get you a loan with the low interest, quick processing of applications etc, there are several other facts too.

I was checking some report on MSN money, how a bad credit report might cost you a job and seriously affect your job hunt. Although I believe that this is overblowing credit score but this is the reality which we can’t deny. These days many companies have started checking the credit report (unfortunately, this is legal too!) and can deny a job outright based on bad credit report. Even though, I maintain a good credit score but I never know when some such thing happens when I have to squeeze my credit card and could not pay the bills in time, some medical emergency, it can be anything. While companies believe that bad credit scorers are poor decision makers in life and so is the probability of their cheating and theft with the company, I could not really coorelate this, but let that be altogether different discussion. Bottom line is bad credit report might cost you your job (if your company is looking for an excuse to fire you or is under financial stress!) and may dent your job-hunt.

Insurance rates are other major things for which you should maintain good credit score. I know that house mortgages companies are using them and so is perhaps auto-insurers. You have to pay a higher insurance quote if you have a bad credit past. I am not sure, what is dwelled in the future : more  electricity bills, phone bills because you could not pay your last bill on time !

I don’t know how many of us really care about credit score if we are in States for a shorter term (perhaps you can manage even without that !) but if you need financing here then you really need to be careful and maintain it. For long term aliens and even US citizens, it’s an absolute must. Another grimly funny thing is several out-of-the-box advices like going bankrupt from so many credit counsellors and debt relief programs, I really can’t start how bad the ideas are and you should not try this if there is any last hope. I have already quoted  one bad aspect above and ie difficult job hunting time. Rest in next post …

Photo credit: Jene

Should India be divided and no, I am not talking about dividing India into more states but into several nations. This is hurting but this is where we are leading to. Look at now not-so-uncommon articles in daily newspapers, be it growing intolerance towards other states as a nation, demand for more states, Fatwa against Vande Mataram, unconstitutional demands of disallowing Indians to work in India by a person sitting at the state highest constitutional post.  I have pulled these articles from just last couple of days and nevertheless, all are highlighting the growing intolerance of Indians towards India.

Seems, Indians don’t want India anymore. There has been news to make Marathi billboards compulsory in Maharashtra else shopkeepers’s face the heat from local hulligans. There has been a growing wrath in Northern states towards north eastern states. Biharis don’t waste a minute to burn trains (in Bihar !) on every remark that’s passed by any street leader somewhere in Mumbai. What’s all this? Where’s our philosophy of ‘Unity in Diversity’ or ‘United, we stand’ ? I don’t feel that we are united anymore and this diversity which I was so proud of once upon a time, is making me fear the very worst, a nightmare. I recall, how delightfully I use to explain that India has 26 states and every state has it’s local language and how people in our country, invariably knows 3-4 languages. Now, I wish, had we had just one language, we would have had peace.

There is a growing intolerance from everyone to everyone. Marathis don’t want Biharis in their land, for Mumbai is already too crowded and all the Mumbai resources should belong to Mumbaikars. What they don’t realise is that what is Mumbai or who has made it up? Why is Mumbai a Mumbai and Patna not a Mumbai ? I’ll not divulge much but similar is the analogy, why is USA an USA and India not an USA? Guys, it’s all about people. Mumbai consists of more than 60% of migrants from Gujarat, Bihar, UP etc who just not don’t come themselves but  brings humanpower, their intellect, an ambition, a dream and lot of hardwork as they have to prove themselves, establish their identities, to achieve their dreams. Who moves out of one’s home?  Either one who is ambitious & good enough to utilize opportunities present in the outside world than his homeland can offer or one who is extremely needful, to toil and do any job that is needed to survive him and his family. And isn’t it that these are the people who build cities and demarcate Mumbai from Patna.

Guys, let’s break the bollywood and send every actor to it’s native. Amitabh can work only in UP movies, Shahrukh in Delhi cinema, Aishwarya, Bipasha in Bengali. Would Bollywood remain same ? If no then how can Mumbai remain same by sending people back to home who has been what Mumbai is.

I agree that there is a set of problem : Urbanization, Resource crunch, City infrastructure getting handicapped because of mass-migartion.  But the way, it’s currently handled is unconstitutional or is the only way that any local leader will stand tall and issue warnings against every non-local? Why is India getting buried in Bengal, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu? And if our policy makers are not able to control this daily rape of India then let there be separate nations, let there be a Maharashtra country where every Bihari need Visa to move to.  Let there be Tamil Nadu with the forced language as Tamil and complete ban on Hindi. This is where we are leading to and this is what our shrewed neighbor analysts have put in a white paper to divided India into several nations by providing fuel, arms, everything that the local leaders need.

The spirit of accomodation is needed to make a nation what it is. There is no limit to shrink to localisation, you can restrict another states to enter your state then you can restrict other cities’ people and then one neighborhood to another, finally shrinking everyone to one’s home. Do we want and need a secluded home? Isn’t it what we were couple of years back when we have to lend our gold to World Bank to feed ourselves ? Isn’t it when Government opened up the doors to another countries’ companies, we become what we are today. I believe, India has kept alive it’s culture for centuries while similar ones of Mesopotamia and Egypt are long vanished, it’s because we have been tolerant, we have been compassionate and we have taken the good out of every civilization that has come and ruled us, be it Arya or Mughal or English. What has happened that we have become intolerant towards our fellow nationals ? Our fundamentals are strong and we are not weak culture but now it’s an attack on those foundations and before the foundations are hurt, we need to do something.

Image Courtesy: carolyn

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Sometimes, it’s fun to make a fool out of yourself and that’s what I have been doing since last of couple of days.This damn show has just hooked me up and I am embarrassed to accept that I am doting fan of ‘Rakhi ka Swayamvar’. Guys, if you start pitying me then please stop as many share the same belief and this show has got the highest opening ever in non-fiction tele sops (More popular than both Amitabh and Shahrukh starrer KBC  !). Rakhi, we love you :- D

To check ‘Why Swayamwar’ in Rakhi’s own words, please click here.

Hmmm, so what do I want to write? Blabberings … hehe ! Personally I don’t like her, but don’t you see that I am dedicating my post to the girl and she has got all the attention, she wishes. You may love her or hate her but can’t ignore her. With all her previous evil deeds, right from slapping her boy friend in front of whole media or creating a national havoc after Mika kissed her (’Main ek bhartiya naari hoon, I can be kissed on cheeks but not on lips, wah’ !), she has gone a step ahead and started her Swayamvar like our ancient princess and that too in real princess grandeur, in the mind blowing Fatehgarh palace of Udaipur. Heard that she has got some 12K+ entries and out of those, she has selected some 16 contestants for this show.

Friends, I am not oversmart guy and I am sure that you have also asked these question to yourself?

The show selection form has which all questions? Was ‘If you are married or divorced’? a question? I believe that this should be one of the most basic question to ask and if yes, then how come our Kashmiri police inspector got selected in Final 16. What was the criteria that 20 or 21 yr charlie from some Haryana or Punjab has entered and exited the show the very same day? Anything impressive on his profile or do show directors just wish to emphasize in tele-ads that Rakhi has got aspirants right from age 20 to 35 or something !

It’s all about money, honey ! Remember, there are no short cuts of success and if this show is getting all the credit then it’s because, it’s a masterpiece. I am not sure if Rakhi is going to marry any of the guys in end or not but whosoever has conceived (or steal!) this idea has been brilliant and thereafter it has been crafted well. There can’t be better bride than Rakhi (I am accepting that she is best in something!), there has been careful selection of guys, right from filmy heroes to serious businessmen including business tycoons :- ) However, there has been a bias towards North Indian community? Why is there no Mallu or Telugu or Tamil friend (it’s just a genuine doubt, don’t frame racial charges against me ! ) The 16 contestants have been chosen such that show can have electrifying endings and melodramas like of policeman and marriage counseller from Nagpur. Awesomely awesome !

India is already big and growing big. The K sops can’t hold people to TV sets anymore, they want different and here it is. We have seen elegant cheapness in Rajkapoor’s movies, followed by cheaply cheap double meaning bollywood movies and now we want something trashy. Aha … young India is ready to do anything on bright set lights, right from a brahmin eating chicken, another one stopped his mom’s hands feeding him, to breaking moons and stars and turning iron rods with their throats (this can cost them lives !) and walking on fire coals ! But guys are getting the fame and recognition that they can’t get by toiling hard in their lives. They dine in king palace, have romantic dates in flashy cameras, get prince treatment on their return to hometown, being watched by India. Many are going to get a career out of this show and are sure to return back on another reality TV show (can you recall our Roadie, Ashu ?)

And what’s Rakhi getting? I would say, everything. The way, she is gaining sympathy (I am even stupid enough to check the people’s comments on Youtube videos and conclude that people have changed their opinion from Episode 1 and started loving Rakhi and seeing a nice Indian girl in her who is devoid of love all her life !) and who knows that if she’ll marry someone then she’ll get the husband too. I have no idea how much money she must be making, when there are reports than her necklace is going to cost some 3 million bucks! Is she going to be the highest tax-payer in next season?

I just love the way, India is growing. My country is fascinating. Drama, sound, action, music, emotion, love, lust …aha ! If everyone would say that it’s deteriorating Indian culture, I would love that also, for it confirms that we are different and still the great nation. I love the condom and pill ads that are floated during the serial breaks, sexually active India ! Like the show, like the advertisements !

Question to NDTV: Are you going to show Rakhi’s bridal night too? Cheap me !

Regards,
Pawan

Photo Credit: 4.bp