Kaveri- The lifeblood

To be called "regional" and "selfish" is not something anyone wants. Yet, every single time the issue of sharing the Kaveri's water is brought up, I have to explain my stand on the issue to those close to me, and not, (usually in the virtual world) and it inevitably begins with Karnataka being labeled a villain. The most common response the residents of Karnataka get is, "learn to share."
My dear compatriots, one can't learn something one already knows. Karnataka contributes 53% of water to the Kaveri river basin and gets 37% in return. Tamil Nadu contributes 32% and gets 37% in return. Kerala contributes 14% and gets 4% in return. I do not wish to bore you with numbers, however I felt these were necessary.

Moving on, I wish to state that I am not against the sharing of water. No sane person (heck even an insane nationalist ) will have issues with that. Water is a national resource and must be shared. Shared how? shared judiciously. I refuse to remain a mute spectator when a mute PM who sits in Delhi and knows not what the ground scenario is, orders around one state to release a fixed amount of water on a daily basis. To this, your comeback will be that the honourable Supreme Court's judgement spells out similar terms. True, but we do live in a democracy and people do protest against Supreme Court rulings here.

Don't get me wrong; I am not siding with any politician or any political party here. They're all doing this to gain some sort of political momentum and the game of votebank politics is a dirty one. I am writing this as a common man, who is angry with the representatives of his state in the Central government for valuing their own seats more than the plight of the people they represent. I am angry with the state government for not doing enough to ensure that such a judgement of this nature was never passed in the first place. I am angry with every little scumbag who is trying to gain political clout using a real cause. *Takes a deep breath*

I am angry with the neighboring state's CM who was born in Melukote, which is in Pandavapura taluk of Mandya district in Karnataka and was brought up in my very own city, Bangalore. (To those who don't know, she was once a cottonian, yes.)
I know for a fact that she is feared and respected by many in Tamil Nadu, but I guess she still feels the need to convince them that she has no soft spot for the state she was born in. I am also angry with the citizens of Bangalore for not taking up this cause as their own, earlier. We have as much to lose as the farmers do, perhaps more. I had no idea I was this angry, I swear. *Sips water*

I have had the privilege of travelling to most of the places on the Kaveri basin. I say traveled, what I mean is that my father served in these places and I have actually interacted with the people there. A visit to Thalakaveri will convince you of the sacred status of mother Kaveri. Thousands of farmers from both TN and Karnataka flock there and pray to her. The Kaveri is such an important part of lives in both states.

It is unfair for us to say we will not share it with them, just as it is unfair of them to expect us to release a fixed amount irrespective of the situation here. Be it in the ancient scriptures or in Airplanes .... one has to use one's own oxygen mask to survive first and then, help those around them.

Let us not fight over this matter. Please do not judge us for wanting to have a fair deal. It hurts to be called regional, and it hurts to be asked to learn to share. We are not monsters who want to see our very own neighbors struggle (that, we turn into during the IPL alone).

To those who are protesting, let it be in a peaceful manner. Never advocate anything violent, and most importantly... This is not war. This is not a battle between Kannadigas and Tamilians. Most certainly not the Tamilians who live in our own city. They are as Bangalorean as you and I, and are an integral part of our city's culture. I only pray that the protests remain peaceful and that a consensus can be reached, soon.

Jai Karnataka ! Jai hind !

P.S : If I have not bored you to death already, I urge you to read this article  and this blogpost as well.

My nation and my generation.

Blog posts written after a huge gap are like those awkward situations when you meet a friend after half a decade; you know you have a lot to discuss, but you just don't know where to begin. The last time I wrote something here: I was fresh out of college,my state had a different CM, Team Anna was still a team, Sushil Kumar Shinde was yet to figure out that he loved the taste of his foot more than anything else, and India was still in her 65th year of independence.

I am aware of the fact that few who were around in 1947 will read this.I know not if they would approve of the manner in which we "celebrate" our Independence Day, but who are "we?" The word "youth" has been misused in such a shabby manner that people my age are careful not to refer to themselves as "youth." 

The word is now used either as a synonym for hooligans or as an excuse for politicians to sneak their children into their rotten world.

It pains me to no end to see a word that denotes something so powerful and full of potential, put to shame.

We may not be the generation that got India her independence, we may not have taken over the reins of this great nation yet, but to those who are of the opinion that to "today's youth," the 15th of August is just another  

holiday, I beg of you to not write us off.

One quality India has retained over the years is the concept of a close-knit family. Most of today's "youth," grew up listening to either first-hand or second-hand accounts of what happened on that glorious day. Our text books had chapters on our freedom struggle. The greats aren't forgotten. Anyone who has ever formed a club or society has immense respect for the iron man of India.Every single time one struggles to draft a leave note, one can understand the effort that must have gone into drafting the constitution. I hear you scoffing; there lies the problem. Stereotypes exist, and this is one that has gone on for too long.

You say my generation doesn't care; I say it gives a fuck ! Our language, our style, and our methodologies may be different; but I assure you, you have taught us well. We may be a bunch of swearing, low-jeans-wearing punks whose headphones are always blaring. It may look like we are texting or tweeting while you discuss serious matters, but we're listening; we really are, and at the back of our heads, below the mohawks and afros,the wheels are in motion.

It may seem like I am talking to the generations before ours, but I am writing this for my generation too. A generation that seems to have accepted that it is exactly what it is labeled as. I urge you, nay, beg of you to rise to the occasion and do your bit for this epic nation.

P.S: Most of you make amends a.k.a resolutions on the 1st day of January, every year. Some of you do so on your birthdays. I choose my nation's birthday to do so and I wish to start by donating contributing a small portion of my already small first salary towards the future of my nation.

I chose to do so by supporting Ahambhumika . I have followed their wonderful work closely on twitter and am convinced that my money will be put to good use. They are an NGO striving to assist the Education of Children and Illiterate Adults and Self-Reliance and Gynecological Health and Hygiene of Rural Women.

In the words of Subrat Goswami : " We intend to start computer literacy

in a village namely MAHABADIA.distt.Bhopal for the underpriviledged
girl children.They are 30 in number.They attend our infomal literacy
centre namely MAHAK(Fragrance),where they are taught Hindi,English and
Mathematics.Out of 30 girl children 13 girl children attend school
regularly while others remain in their house taking care of their
siblings.The parents of these girl children work as daily wage
labourer in brick kilns,stone quarries and construction sites.They are
least interested to edcuate their children; specifically girl
children.After a lot of persuading we have been able to convince
them to leave their girl children to attend our literacy centre ( for
two hours daily except Monday ) to have at least basic edcuation.
We intend to start computer literacy for these girl children.And for
this we require around Rs.30K.The fund will be utilized to purchase  a
system and few basic books on computer literacy. The system purchased
with the fund raised will also be utilized to show the girl children
inspiring clippings  / documentaries/pictures.We will aslo share the
photographs
with the donors once the computer literacy is started in the said

village"

Subrat has also sent me pictures of the children benefiting from this initiative, and is willing to share them with anyone who is interested in helping out.(You can mail them on ahambhumika@gmail.com) No amount is small, and every rupee helps a child secure a better future. I urge you, especially my batchmates who've just started earning. We are in this position today because we had people willing to pay for the finest education available. Others aren't fortunate enough, but have a right to it. As responsible adults, who are citizens of this nation, it is our duty to try, at the very least, to give our kids a better India than the one we were born in.

Open letter to my batchmates

Dear friend,

                  Who am i kidding?, not all of you can be classified as friends, some are way beyond that,

Friends do not accompany you to the railway station just to see you off and decide to hop on to the train themselves to delay the farewell by a few hours, friends do not weep like freshly widowed army-wives, friends do not hug you and say "I'm not letting go", while meaning it.

Given the advancements in the field of medicine and the number of 90+ not out batsmen(and women) in my family, four years do not seem like a lot, but boy did we change ! I'd bet half my grades and inheritance( both equally insignificant) and challenge you to find one person who hasn't changed, some more drastically, but all of us have changed. We've gone through events together which(if filmed) could be classified under 2 categories, sequels to the 'SAW' series and sequels to the 'Hangover' series.

There are a million examples i could delve into to tell each one of you how special you are, I'm quite the social guy, be it online or in person and in my 13 years of schooling and 2 years of Pre-university College I've made friends, loads of them, some so special that they're family now,but it took time, with you, it was destiny, diverse backgrounds, nothing in common, not even a common language with some of you, but we clicked ! I guess living 24X7 with someone makes you family first and friends next, but i assure you, had we met under different circumstances, we'd still be the best of pals.

As most of you know, i'm usually the guy who looks at the academic calendar and goes "hmmmm... 3 days of bunking before the vacations begin and returning 2 days late makes it a fortnight's holiday...coolio", not this time, this time i made the mistake of staying back a couple of days after the semester(course) ended, and boy was it hard(boy am i starting too many sentences with the word 'boy').Seeing you off at the railway station or even those brief farewell hugs in the canteen or PMC (for non-BITians : Piya Milan Chowk, which is where one meets one's love interest or dou) , a little part of me died on the inside, with each farewell.

This might be the right time to point out that for the first time in my life, it has taken me this long to write a piece, if i weren't typing this out, the initial paragraphs might have been blotted, lucky for me, tears won't show on a blog, hopefully the anguish and pain do though.

Haven't really been myself this past week, i doubt any of you have, but the realization that the way of life one has been accustomed to ever since one entered adulthood hits you hard, you aren't just leaving behind a place and friends, you are leaving behind a way of life, one that taught you to fend for yourself while having someone's back, one where caring and sharing become apt descriptions of you, no matter how you walked in .

I could go on, but since the bottom line of this post is that all great things end too soon, i think i must conclude(see what i did there? ), but before i do, HINDI ! how can i forget Hindi?, Most of you had a major role in this department, i shudder to imagine how I'd survive four years without learning from you guys(or with you guys).

Three and a half years were spent grumbling about how we never "lived" for four years but "survived", this last sem, especially those last couple of weeks made me realize that we did live ! To the fullest extent,

 Life wasn't rosy,The rooms weren't too cosy ,No scope for being lazy,No hope for the crazy.
But we were always around to wipe them tears,never missed a chance to bump mugs and say cheers, Friends who were never described as peers, chased away home-sickness and all of my fears

I just hope I influenced your lives to half the extent you guys influenced mine, because whether one admits it or not, the greatest fear is the fear of being forgotten .

yours forever,
Nikhil ,voldy, suar ,piggy, joe,nik, joey or whatever name you know me by

Nikky Boner

If you read the title and went “ewww” despite not getting the bollywood flick connection, you’re probably family, if not; the time is ripe for your palm to meet your face or your head to meet your desk, your choice.(you are probably thinking I used ‘your’ and ’you’re’ excessively in that sentence, well, now you are)

Most of you guessed right, this has something to do with the movie “Vicky donor”, not everything, but yes, something.(I hate spoilers, be it books or movies, so I assure you, you can read this post and watch the movie later, not like every hindi movie is a “kahaani” or “A Wednesday” anyway, this one certainly isn’t )

There are days when one feels bored for no reason, a boredom not even twitter can solve, real-world boredom. Today was one of those days, and I (very much like the protagonist of the movie) have the ability to kill time and feel happy on my own, so off I was on a day out, good food at a new restaurant followed by a movie was the plan, the only unplanned parts were what I’d eat and which movie I’d watch.

A quick twitter poll and a couple of positively depressed juniors I met ruled out “Hate story”, so “Vicky Donor” seemed the obvious choice and boy am I glad.  

It isn’t some art-film or something with too deep a message, neither is it your average  bollywood flick, allow me to elaborate, an average bollywood flick is one in which the hero has a trait, job or a secret that the viewer is introduced to within the first quarter of the movie, by which time he meets, woos or attempts to pataofy the chick, he succeeds, just before the intermission and about a fifth of the movie is about the rosy, cheerful lives that good-looking people who can sing and dance  at the drop of a hat live, then, without warning *snorts* out comes that secret and all hell breaks loose, movie then defies all Freudian theories and at times Newtonian too, just to right those wrongs and in the end, all is well.  Wait, so Vicky donor *is* an average bollywood flick, my bad :p

However, there are few random observations I wish to share with you :

1.     I remember random stuff like the guy’s car number (DL 06 C 2596) I think , old me went and watched non-khan hindi movies in a cinema hall for one reason only, that was before I started using the hashtag #ForeverAlone on twitter.

2.     Punjabi grannies drink whiskey! The only liquids apart from water and Kaapi my dadi partook were paanka(lemonade) and teertha(holy water).

3.     This awesome analogy is true Punjabis: Bengalis:: Kannadigas: Tamilians ::Smarthas : Madhavas .

4.     I have more in common with the bongs than I thought I did, you see, I thought the only thing we had in common was that I love double D and they love double Di, but looks like hatred for delhi is something we share too.

5.     I have more in common with the Punjabis than I thought I did, you see, I thought the only thing we had in common was that we love to “that which comes before part-B”, but looks like we share our hatred for bongs.

6.     Anyone can grow fat, seriously, that lanky, creepy looking dude who used to yell “Deewane, parwane, mastane” is now a creepy looking fatso with a Punjabi accent as authentic as my tamizh accent when I say “machaaaa vaa inga !”.

7.     I have a new “type”, that chick whose answer to the question “What’s your name?” is the same as my reply to the poor folks stuck in an elevator with me when they say “Do you smell something funny?, who did that ?”- “yeah, me”. (her name is Yami gautham and she is the sole reason behind the title of this blogpost)

One for the parents

How many years has it been? 23 today,

“Amazing” “Awesome” ”Oh my gosh”, the Americans would say,

People may feel the years went by like a breeze,

Practically speaking, they don’t pass with ease.

You’ve enjoyed the ups and borne with the downs,

And during times sad, been each other’s clowns.

No matrimonial site can find such a perfect match, ever,

No Nazi experiment could create kids so clever ;)

In all these years, not once has the romance dimmed,

Voices have been raised, but love has only brimmed,

Early in this journey, entered yours truly,

Root of nine years later came along a tyrant, unruly,

Seriously though, my brother and I are truly blessed,

At this point, my rhyme shall not be messed,

Rhymes are all I can gift, till I earn and pay my own bill,

Yours forever, your unspoilt, young Nikhil.

P.S: if you haven’t observed already, the first letters from every line , when read downwards form a phrase .

Goodbye Rahul Dravid

Unparalleled in humility and a class apart,

The gentleman's game is his chosen form of art,

Rarely did he cause any tumult or uproar,  

Every stroke he played , made the dil maang more.

The epitome of Edison's definition of genius,

footwork that could only be described as ingenious,

That subtle smile and coy demeanor,

A simple life and an untarnished career  , (i dare thee to find one cleaner.)

Contributions went unnoticed, credit was left due ,

yet,not once did we see his face display a shade of (red) hue,

Never one to claim glory or hog the limelight,

Always played with his heart and fought his own silent fight.

Many a post shall be dedicated to you today, my humble sonnet is but one,

Watching you play , my dear sir, has been immense fun .

Birthday-Bums time FB !

Whether social networking is a boon or curse, a fad or utility, in vogue or passé, the answers to these questions are extremely volatile and depend on various factors, the purpose with which social networking sites were made and what they serve today indicates the evolution it has been subjected to. Love them or hate them, be it for professional reasons or personal , rarely will you find anyone between the ages of 16 and 56 who has not signed up for a single social networking site(Dad, if you’re reading this, know that you’re the exception) , ok I’ll start referring to them as SNS (not to be mistaken for Scotch N Soda , there’s no love-hate relationship there…everybody loves that).

The role of a SNS also depends on it the person using it, no doubt it can be a powerful tool if used right and can help reconnect or stay in touch with people or help one’s business / career reach heights that cannot even be dreamt of by conventional ways, but, there’s also the stalker, the balker and the one who logs on and writes random shit after his bloodstream is a cocktail riddled with Johnny walker.

Statistics related to SNS are as mind-boggling as those related to competitive exams and the chunk of active users is comparable to the number of serious candidates appearing for the CAT, to most people , Facebook is a calendar that reminds you to wish people( you haven’t met in a while and don’t give a tiny rat’s ass about) on their birthdays and twitter will remain the place where one steals funny one-liners to post on Facebook with no remorse whatsoever because they can’t even spell plagiarism let alone know what it means.

I cannot begin to count the number of times my hands have automatically guided the cursor towards the block/report for spam button , but I’ve held back , almost every single time , not because I have any hope that things will get better(If their grammar were a puppy , it’d be in such bad shape that it would break my heart), but because I could do with the laughs(if you went “so meannnnnn” you’re probably one of them).

Having said that, I am very much aware that there are times when I myself am uber active, and I’m man enough to admit that those are times when:

         I have nothing better to do 

            I feel it is my duty to enlighten some of you on something I deem important      

            The recipe for the devil’s workshop now stands updated and alongside an idle mind, a smart phone is a  necessary ingredient

            I need to maintain my klout score

 I’ve digressed and will probably have to rename this post, I started off writing because I got pissed off at Facebook, rather the people I know who are on it , logged onto both twitter as well as facebook after the historic judgement recalling 2G licenses of various service providers , but not one single status regarding it I tell you , screw that , not a single update that was remotely intellectual, atleast the tweeple were cracking jokes left, right and centre.

So FB, despite all the news you’re making, what with the IPO and 8^th birthday and all, “son…. I am disappoint”.

P.S : follow me on twitter if you aren't already , god-promise I'm funnier there.@suar4sure