Why should Aamir Khan apologize? – Satyamev Jayate!

These days if you call a thug, “A thug”, he wants you to apologize for saying so!

So are *some* doctors now asking Aamir Khan to do so, after he aired the 4th Episode of Satyamev Jayate that focussed on the unethical practices, commercialization of health services, malpractices in the medical profession and various woes that a common man faces in Healthcare each day! It’s like unscrupulous politicians in the Parl asking apology from Team Anna for calling them thieves. Just because our Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is NOT corrupt doesn’t mean all Politicians are doodh ka dhula hua! In a similar fashion, if those doctors who want an apology, think they are right at their place, why are they making a fuss about it? Just because their colleagues kept doing something for years together and now that the cat is out of the bag, they are feeling ashamed? Instead they should try cleaning the shit that has accumulated in the medical system. They say, Guilty mind is always suspicious. 

There were eminent doctors too at the show who were no less than Role Models of Medical Profession. For instance, Dr. Devi Shetty of Narayan Hrudayalaya. If you are doing “a service” then please continue to. No one is pointing a finger at you but to those, who have made Medical Profession more like a lucrative business; who admit their children into some private hospitals with a fat donation so that they could run their clinics and hence the business. Do these clinics pay taxes at all?

You are asked to do an X-ray, MRI scan, CT scan… blah blah blah…even before meeting an Orthopedist! What for? Because they say it’s the process! (Oh yea, process of overcoming the cost on the new instruments bought, & making successive profits post that!) I am subject to a demo of various medical equipments just because the screws in them might get rusted. And in the process I am charged an arm and a leg!  In Bangalore, if you visit a doctor, the 1st question they ask you is “Are you in IT industry?”, even though it has nothing to do with your profession, say you went for Flu or loose motion! They know you’ll be reimbursed as most IT companies “cover” your medical expenses.

You are seriously critical. You will be admitted in a hospital for days together (until the Hospital thinks they have got enough margins) and then you will be asked to undergo a surgery. In a worst case, you will be sent to ICU. Then you die! By then, your family would have sold themselves after almost selling the entire property with a hope that a private hospital will pay heed to your kith and kin and a life will be saved (we all know how caring Govt. hospitals are, agree some of them are too good, but time is more important to save a life than patience to wait for your turn in a queue). But you die! So, tell me do these doctors or Hospitals REIMBURSE or return a portion of the money spent by you, back to you?? You really don’t want that anymore. Because you lost someone priceless, despite putting all the money at stake. Ask me the trauma! I have lost my brother, and my beloved aunt.

In India, we don’t have any rule to do so, nor the licenses of doctors who indulge in malpractices and Gynaecs who indulge in illegal practice of Female Foeticide are cancelled. They have a UNION. They will go on a strike. Only IT Industry doesn’t. (Don’t tell me about NASSCOM, they don’t pay your treatment fees for neck pain or back pain for constant long hours at work in stress, nor do they donate sperms for your receding sperm counts)

Much has been said and done in the show. So, I wouldn’t elaborate here. Today, iff someone in your family is a Surgeon, you can breathe a sigh of relief.  I am glad that Aamir got this issue out to the public that has been plaguing Healthcare and adding up to the common man woes each day, which mainstream MEDIA never highlighted. Just because Satyamev Jayate has notched up record TRPs, so media has to do something to bring back the TRPs back to them. And in the process, relay all the NEGATIVE aspects than going to “common man” and interviewing them of their sufferings.

Thanks to the changing times, today you don’t save money for dowry, but you have to do the same for the doctor and the hospital where you might be admitted tomorrow for an unknown disease and unnecessary surgery, God forbid.

Last but not the least, an excerpt from the show,

“The practice of medicine has long been seen as a noble one. The doctor is looked upon as healer, guardian of our well-being, and someone we trust with our lives. Literally. But, does Healthcare need Healing?”

Yes, it does. If you’re good, you will COMMAND respect and be worshipped. You NEED NOT DEMAND RESPECT!  And Aamir Khan WILL NOT apologize!

Satyamev Jayate!

Finally, the episode in case you missed or aren’t sure what I am talking about.

Ekla Chalo Re…

What if your friends pull out of a trip you planned so desirously,
What if there’s no one to accompany you to a rock concert or a trek,
What if you invite people to dine together and all you get is alibis,
And then there’s none to give you company to a movie theatre…

What if you had a real bad day at work/interview & you got none to share your woes,
What if you wish to give vent to all your bottled up agonies & the world is busy,
What if you have all the love to give but there’s nobody to accept,
And what if you want love and just everyone’s so cold?
……………..So what! My friend, just remember these precious lines of wisdom from the great Rabindranath Tagore “Jodi Tor Daak Shune Keu Na Ase Tobe Ekla Chalo Re” (If no one responds to your call, then go your own way alone)

Wait for none...I walk alone.

Jo beet gayi, So baat gayi…

One of the loveliest poems of all time, out of many I read and studied during my KV High School days with Course A Hindi subject was, Harivansh Rai Bachchan’s following poem. Quite closely related to my life and times at the moment. I could not but scribble it down on my blog. Here it goes:

जो बीत गई सो बात गई

जीवन में एक सितारा था
माना वह बेहद प्यारा था
वह डूब गया तो डूब गया
अंबर के आंगन को देखो
कितने इसके तारे टूटे
कितने इसके प्यारे छूटे
जो छूट गए फ़िर कहाँ मिले
पर बोलो टूटे तारों पर
कब अंबर शोक मनाता है
जो बीत गई सो बात गई……..

जीवन में वह था एक कुसुम
थे उस पर नित्य निछावर तुम
वह सूख गया तो सूख गया
मधुबन की छाती को देखो
सूखी कितनी इसकी कलियाँ
मुरझाईं कितनी वल्लरियाँ
जो मुरझाईं फ़िर कहाँ खिलीं
पर बोलो सूखे फूलों पर
कब मधुबन शोर मचाता है
जो बीत गई सो बात गई…….

जीवन में मधु का प्याला था
तुमने तन मन दे डाला था
वह टूट गया तो टूट गया
मदिरालय का आंगन देखो
कितने प्याले हिल जाते हैं
गिर मिट्टी में मिल जाते हैं
जो गिरते हैं कब उठते हैं
पर बोलो टूटे प्यालों पर
कब मदिरालय पछताता है
जो बीत गई सो बात गई…….

मृदु मिट्टी के बने हुए हैं
मधु घट फूटा ही करते हैं
लघु जीवन ले कर आए हैं
प्याले टूटा ही करते हैं
फ़िर भी मदिरालय के अन्दर
मधु के घट हैं,मधु प्याले हैं
जो मादकता के मारे हैं
वे मधु लूटा ही करते हैं
वह कच्चा पीने वाला है
जिसकी ममता घट प्यालों पर
जो सच्चे मधु से जला हुआ
कब रोता है चिल्लाता है
जो बीत गई सो बात गई…… 

—   हरिवंशराय बच्चन (Harivansh Rai Bachchan)

Real Beauty is felt, seldom seen.

Beauty is a manifestation of secret natural laws, which otherwise would have been hidden from us forever ~ Johann Wolfgang

Real beauty to me is a sensation felt with sheer delight. As the old adage goes, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever”. Real beauty is precious, is prevalent among all of us but the irony is we so less often are able to identify it and for some it’s very much relative. Real Beauty commands respect, never demands.

As of today, commodification of humans have changed our perception of Beauty. When we say he/she is beautiful, it has definitely to do with someone’s physical appearance. The boom in showbiz and glamour has given a great setback to our pride of possessing melanin. A fair skin is considered beautiful by the so-called fairness creams and ads that simply boast to beat what nature has bestowed upon the not-so-fair you.

But 1^st let me elucidate a few beautiful instances/people who most of us can’t deny of their real beauty.

• Beauty is not in that hot skimpy nurse walking down to Charlie Sheen for a room service (Two and a Half Men types) but in a lady who had devoted her entire life in the service of the poor, sick, orphaned, and dying! I consider Mother Teresa beautiful.
• Beauty is not in featuring in the Top 10 Forbes list of World’s Most Powerful People, heading a leading Political Party just to eyewash the poor and stash away billions of black money in Swiss Banks but in braving alone to fight for her people to ensure calm and peace amid an Empire’s unrest! I consider Rani Lakshmi Bai beautiful.
• Beauty is not in being a glamorous star-daughter and heading to the red carpet with an ultra-expensive designer attire, posing for the cameras (None many even recognize them there) but in winning a billion hearts through their simplicity and mellifluous voice! I consider Lata Mangeskar beautiful.
• Real Beauty is in every mother who is always by the side of her son/daughter, fasts for his/her well-being even if they’re the most notorious types. Is any child on earth ‘ugly’ for his/her mother? Motherhood is real beauty!
• Real Beauty is Sunitha Krishnan who has never breathed easy as she grew up but fighting for so many helpless, trafficked women/girls to breathe easy and survive in this ruthless world. Please find some time out to watch and listen to this video (my blog may not be that important right now).

Those wannabe models, gaudy women, drowned in sheer opulence and covered by Page 3 are seldom beautiful, as others perceive with their eyes but not brains.

Some definitely are pretty. But would you call a lady out of this elite league (who would seem to have spent a fortune on her get up for one single night) to be beautiful who litters the restrooms? Who falls flat in that disco tipsy – out-of-order with liquor spilled all around? Who throws a cigar bud on the floor right in front of an astray in a public place? Or who throws a Cola can or Bisleri bottle on the road or somebody else’s yard while driving the Mercedes??

Real Beauty is never confined to a race, sex or age. It is seamless; it doesn’t have boundaries. It is perpetual. It is to be felt and rejoiced; just like the beautiful verses of Kalidasa.

Beauty is in innocence; that helping hand; that shoulder to rest upon when you are in tears; a simple smile that heals; this precious life we live each moment & the entire creation of mankind. Everything is beautiful. Life is beautiful.

A snap of the jubilant schoolgoer kids I took as I trekked down Triund to Dharamkot (Himalayas)

Beauty is relative. Real Beauty should be apparently clear. To behold real beauty, all you need is a beautiful mind.

P.S. My post is biased towards women since the Yahoo Specials on Real Beauty is powered by Dove, where as Men prefer Cinthol or Durex. 😉

(This blog-post is a part of the Indiblogger Real Beauty contest)

The phenomenon that is Anna Hazare

 

Pic Courtesy: FB fan page

Victory tastes sweet. Be it over Corruption or be it Cricket. But this is just the beginning.

I do not think I have enough depth to admire the person with balls of steel. I am simply short of adjectives to admire the courage, wit and dedication of a person towards a selfless cause i.e. an India free of Corruption.

Lest you aren’t aware, India tops list for black money in the entire world with almost US$ 1456 billion in Swiss banks. Proud to be Indian? Why not. We are #1 after all.

Needless to say about the revolutionary leader, for now you already would have had the “10 things to know about Anna Hazare” forwards floating on emails & Facebook (notes). But in case you stumbled upon this post out of the blues, Kisan Bapat Baburao Hazare‘s Wikipedia entry here.

Social Media:

Since the last couple of days, my status messages & tweets were flooded about the Jan LokPal Bill and supporting Anna Hazare’s stand against Corruption. A 73 year old man, who has dedicated all his life for the cause of the Nation, got into indefinite fasting as a means of protest to the long pending bill for 42 years and people still had problems with it. Some popular twitterers with quite a thick follower count started cracking jokes on Anna!! Some said Anna was blackmailing, some said Elections ahead in few states, few others ridiculed the bill implementation and questioned the whole ‘Civil Society’ formation. Some even questioned his timing of fasting associated to the festivals and religious practices. Couldn’t get any cheaper than this, could it be?

I do not give a hoot to what they say sitting at AC rooms, & keep cracking jokes all their lives. No twitter, they don’t have an existence, if only the fat follower count is what they are arrogant about. They can never be a part of the change nor would change themselves for a cause, can never accompany you in your fight, nor could ever give any solutions or join politics, but just ‘opinions’ and cribbing over the entire Indian political system and politicians. Hence, the ‘Chalta hai’ attitude will never continue to cease for them.

Scams:

As a person, I may not be able to do much to eradicate corruption on a mass scale but I can at least show solidarity and support an old man who is fighting selflessly for me. I do not give a damn to what is questionable. All I know is that I am tired of the scores of multi-crore scams that I cannot even count. A politician or a bureaucrat has no right to build mansions out of Tax-payer’s money, our hard-earned money! But few that I have known with my little ‘concerned’ knowledge:

Ø      CWG 2010 (80,000 Crore) – Link here

Ø      2G Spectrum Scam (1,76,000 Crore) – Link here

Ø      Adarsh Housing Society Scam – Link here

Ø      ISRO Scam –  Link here

Ø      Cash for Rally Scam 2010 – Link here

Ø      Telgi Stamp Paper Scandal 2006 (43,000 Crore) – Link here

Ø      Bofors Scandal (1980s, 40 Crore) – Link here

Electronic Media:

I am glad that the media played a great role in putting additional pressure on the GoI. Although they too sell, & you will find some Pro-GoI, and some Anti, but the role of media, as said by a journalist friend, should be, in most cases, Anti-GoI.

One thing I would not approve of still, which I opine personally is that the people/media are comparing Anna Hazare to an eminent personality in the history of Indian Independence struggle and politics. Anna follows Gandhian principles, true. But the formulator of this principle, was allegedly, not Gandhian himself. Is it acceptable for a person who preaches “Boora Mat Dekho” (See no evil) could allegedly sleep naked with two nude women beside him & join them in the shower just to test this chastity as a part of his experiments with truth?

IPL:

One more noticeable move was to ask people to boycott IPL etc. But why force or persuade them? Solidarity doesn’t mean oppression. They are passionate about a commercial sport and life means fun to them. If they can’t feel the pangs of corruption, you cannot compel them to join the bandwagon of which they have been making fun of.

We are a billion strong force. We are good enough to show our collective strength and no one can divide us from this unity.

Personal Effort:

Last but not the least, as a part of supporting the cause and not just shouting on Facebook, I joined the mass for candle light vigils, shouting out slogans and displaying anti-corruption placards for hours together at Freedom Park, Bangalore. (Pic below)

At 6pm, in the evening (Friday, Apr 8th), Freedom Park, Bangalore - In support of a true fighter Anna Hazare against Corruption. Followed by candle light vigil, shouting slogans until a sored throat n back home at 10pm to find we're heard n we're victorious! Lets hear it for the leader!

 

Hats off to the leader who has not only gotten a solution and worked selflessly towards it but now is steadfast at getting it passed in the Parliament without giving chances to the Govt. to keep it pending any further.  The fight continues…

“I have to ensure that the bill passes in Parliament” – Anna Hazare

I am the common man, and this write-up is straight from the heart.

P.S. A brilliant post on Anna Hazare and all this stir –  http://j.mp/fkfWmM . And a message (video) right from the man – http://youtu.be/yxksAURdwTI

An Open Letter to Mark Zuckerberg

Hi Mark,

What’s up, Bitch? By the way, congrats for being the youngest billionaire, and the CEO of the 3rd highest valued company in US and making over 550 million friends. Hey, wait! They also include 250 million Farmers and Mafioso, 100 million disabled-accounts and 75 million fake (includes stray dogs n pets), out of which 50 million would be from India and rest 25 million are, perhaps, our neighbor’s contribution; thanks to Orkut’s decreasing popularity.

Good that you are coming up with an innovative and state-of-the-art technology Facebook Messaging (email) system as you discovered 4 billion messages getting sent each day. (What’s up with Groups? A big fail, eh?) Now we are sure the mails are going to be blocked half-way through, for your TERMS are going to be even longer! Longer than the 8189 paged Ayodhya Verdict, even a Federal Govt.’s rules and regulations. Do you also follow the terms set by you? Then why isn’t it possible to block you?

Well, it’s nice that with Facebook email, you are allowing attachments now. So, guys can send their masturbating videos to ladies they sex-texted before! Me? Sorry, I’ll still stick to Gmail for that. I do not wish anyone to see me while I am shagging away to glory. I need Privacy!

And then more blockages, more profiles disabled (but not deleted), new profiles added to Facebook and Voilà! Facebook’s counter shows 1 Billion profiles and soon to overtake population of China. Is this how you show the numbers to the whole world of Social Media?

Hey, I saw The Social Network. And my admiration and adulation for you knew no bounds after learning how you got this social-networking/dating site out basically! No wonder when you have disparaged your girlfriend and deceived your best friend, you will do very less to care about people’s privacy or their concerns.

Although your PRIVACY explanation is written in simple English, but your business rules are damn faulty! Do you test your privacy features at all? Automation, Manual…? Here are few nuggets and my observations on how you have been compromising your 500 million users’ privacy:

• Pandora, Yelp, and Scribd. Now you added Instant Personalization options. But hey why did you forget to notify users on homepage when you ‘checked’ Places by default for them under Account Settings> Notifications?

• Popular Applications/ ‘Apps’ on Facebook steal/transmit personal information.
• Your application developers sell user information to data brokers for money.

• Users set their Photo Album privacy to Friends Only (How am I so sure? Click ‘View Photos’ -> This content is currently unavailable) but if the wall is public one gets access to the published photos and to the entire album thereafter clicking ‘Back To Album’. WTF! Don’t you see the Ugly World of Morphing out there?

• Those whose friend requests are “Awaiting Confirmation” can still have my personal posts/photos/photo-tags reflected on their feeds! How outrageous is that?

With so much of privacy breach stories, no wonder why this Halloween, people had been wearing your mask!

Now, let’s speak about the DISABLED profiles, on who violated your Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, as per you:

• Thanks to your Share button people could share profiles they need to Report Abuse, on their walls. So, your Pinoy devotees have done the needful to my maiden & ‘Authentic’ profile.
• Why the hell can’t you give or send warnings before you disable a profile? Your automated response after two months of my appeal says,

Your account was disabled because your behavior on the site was identified as harassing or threatening to other people on Facebook. Prohibited behavior includes, but is not limited to:

• Sending friend requests to people you don’t know
• Soliciting others for dating or business purposes

Isn’t the reason ridiculous, Mark? For what effing good do you have these “Looking For” options in your Basic Info then!!! Looks like your principle-makers are only on Twitter!

• Have you ever had a chance to see how pissed people are because you disable profiles for reasons unknown? If not, have a check at http://facebookdisabled.org who are also on Twitter and have been reaching out to victims to sign the petition against your totalitarian attitude. Also, http://getsatisfaction.com/facebook. Not just a handful of them, there are millions, even bloggers at NetworkedBlogs. You could check your own Petition groups and this topic. And some ridiculous reasons as mentioned in this topic as well. Oh yes, the previous topic is written by a lady if you thought only “Male” profiles fell prey!

• You don’t have a mechanism to weigh the volume of data/IP content in each profile i.e. Photos, Albums, Videos, Links, Notes, Contacts etc. before disabling a profile? Why? You have an idea how agonizing it is to lose them & what a pain it is to upload them all over again!! And when friends are concerned, they think I have kicked them out from my list!

You know what man, I could go on, but I also have to mention about your “People You May Know” algorithms that usually pull out fake profiles with suggestive photos, which in turn invite one’s profile to be blocked again going by your Terms! You keep changing Facebook features every morning, without informing people what’s new on the site and let them accept whatever shit you offer! Do you know the recall of Publish Profile Picture feature on the wall has been a huge disappointment for users?

It’s an application and it would definitely have bugs. Do you just intimidate and block FRIEND REQUESTS or do you ever test your own application before letting it ‘Go-Live’? Did I just hear a deafening YES, then what’s this all about? And at times, when you post a comment, others don’t see it after sometime, makes one think he/she deleted it. Misunderstandings over FB now! WTF! Well, how many more times would you keep changing the useless SPAM filters for Amora/Anita/Astrology Predictions and all that shit app!

Although we’ve had a Quit Facebook Day on 31st May, 2010 fetching 37971 committed quitters, I understand it doesn’t make much difference to you, the ratio is just too less as compared to 500+ million active users, after all, right? But, keep your fingers crossed Mark, for this quitting no. would soon emulate your bragging FB figures.

You cannot do good to your users, the disabled and crippled profiles, all right, but if you could do this favor for the sake of mankind- PLEASE Unfriend Coal and keep the Planet Green and not make it Black instead. You’re CEO, Bitch! C’mon.

If you still cannot do any of these, then please change your name as suggested in the text editors.

Many Thanks,
Facebook-turned-Twitter Addict

 

Image (Zuck’s Mask) Courtesy: Gawker

The guy with a magic wand: 6 + 4 = TENdulkar!

The + Master Blaster; Little Master; Run Machine; Little Champion; Slashin Sachin; The Bombay Bomber; Legend Of India; God Of Cricket……….

The list goes on. So would I leave the readers of this post to connect the dots….

I can only think of Einstein and his E=MC² when I think of an equivalent here when talking about an immense talent and intelligence and not to mention the fan-following-furore! Nothing could create as much hysteria any given day as would Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar’s knocks/records ignite.

As (once upon a time) a hardcore cricket fan, I stopped following cricket once the then most-successful Indian captain Md. Azharuddin came into the news for all wrong reasons. My fanhood for Azhar died down along with cricket. Though you could give me a 1000 reasons that it wasn’t really the end of the game but I was way too hurt with it.

But anyways, watching few people play cricket right from childhood era is kind of euphoria. One such euphoria is watching SRT play even today at a time when I would have had fathered 2 kids had I gone by the Indian Govt.’s norm of boy marriage age OK TESTED @ 21.

As tweeted by one of my friends, “If you answer “Sachin” to any cricketing record question…you have a 80% chance of getting it right”.

I do not think I would be able to speak much on him when there are already a 100 biographies floating in the book-market. And 1,00,00,000 fans with infinite facts and figures. Needless to speak a word on what he is or what he means or what he did or does or will ever do. The name itself is enough!

Few nouns I would like to put in here which always fascinate me of him, for him, by him:

a. Grit

b. 3D – Dedication, Discipline, Determination

c. Stamina (never takes a substitute right from Over 0.0 till 50.0)

d. Focus

e. Confidence

f. Composure

g. Patience/Perseverance

Last but not the least, Congratulating Sach on his DOUBLE Century – ODI highest for being the 1st person walking on earth till date, I would end this short post dedicating a little note from the movie 3 Idiots from my side literally:

“Jahapana, tussi great ho! Taufa kabul karo” 😀

On behalf of Sachin Tendulkar aka Tendlya:

“For Men may come, and Men may go;

But I go on forever………………………….”      — Alfred Lord Tennyson

Click to enlarge