Stereotype

Stereotype- this is one word I have been trying to explaining a major part of my life since I come from a State, the culture and customs of which are entirely different and new to people from rest of the country. That added to a recent chat I had with one of my colleagues from North who happens to be in Tamil Nadu currently, gave the push I needed to let it out on the blog.

It is not just personal to me but I am tired of people judging every possible guy based on their region, language, and so on. The judgement is hardly driven by understanding and majorly swung by the perceived notions about stereotypes with the same background. The funny part is, in most cases the assumed stereotype is itself a myth and the stereotypes are mixed up. Again, it is not personal but just so it is easy to understand for the many Indians who have heard it a zillion times by now, Tamil and Telugu are not the same. First, you judge a person without even trying to know him. Next, most of your perceptions are made up or illogical. Finally you mix up the notions too and expect the other person to fit the bill. That doesn't appear to be personal at all.!

Well, this thinking is not regional. For a stereotypical Tamilian, everyone from India except the four peninsular states is a North Indian (my bad, it is actually five now, and it is not long when Telangana also might become northern), who eat nothing but rotis and speak only Hindi.

Enough about pointing fingers, when I actually tried to understand the cause behind such preconceived notions, my thoughts on idioms were instigated. Stereotyping is similar to the usage of idioms. One uses it with the conviction that he/she has in its usage rather than the true meaning of the phrase or the actual genesis of the idiom. That is indeed why they are called idioms and similarly that is exactly why the baseless concepts are called stereotypes. It is in the usage and thoughts passed around instead of an actual understanding.

For instance, the idiom ‘black sheep’ gives a negative colour to someone in a group whose views and actions are different if not opposite to that of the collective viewpoint of the group. When you trace the origins of the phrase, it was given a negative colour because the black wool couldn’t be dyed and was useless. I don’t know about the rest of you but sure as hell I didn’t know that actual black sheep existed. So, the people who were negatively impacted by the birth of a black sheep laid the seeds for this idiom. Likewise, people who don’t understand and find it difficult to accept a different view or thought try to stereotype it amongst a group of thoughts they can’t digest.

The next time you have time to read upon Russian idioms, please do check out the phrase ‘white crow’. :P

Discount Generation

I guess, the title says it all. The festival and holiday season just got over. The shopping fever has gone down and so has the rainfall of discounts. So for the Gen Y folks who have become far too dependent on discounts and deals, it is a bad time to go shopping, even online. Coming from this lot, I do experience the same hardships as any other young man who wants to buy the latest gizmo in the market during off-season. The discounts have been for better and worse. Although they have increased the number of purchases an individual makes turning us into shopaholics, they have also definitely made us price conscious. Today's youth is ready to wait it out for a month to get a product on an e-commerce portal rather than buy it from the 'new arrivals' section in a retail store. 

I remember, as a kid I used to wonder how can the big shopping centres offer discounts upto 60 percent and more in the time preceding the festive seasons and my dad used to tell me that the stores try to clear out the old stock from their inventory and its not always better to but at that time. Fast forward a decade and now I am telling my dad about the working of the e-commerce, at least what I have a grasp on. Adapting to online shopping is not easy and may be it is for the best because once you do, you kinda become addicted. The websites don't make it easy for you to decide by sending a humungous number of promotions and you end up shopping what you might not use more than once or some stupid stuff you thought looks great in the image. As I mentioned earlier, the preconceived notions about purchasing below the listed retail price is one hurdle before the portals and it is actually ironical too. Should you offer discounts to get customers or should you not offer much to ensure they don't perceive of you as selling faulty goods? 

While this is the case of online shopping, in the last couple of years even the restaurants, hotels, taxis and other service offerings have jumped on to this bandwagon doling out steep discounts and fighting it out to capture a bigger pie of the market. There are indeed apprehensions about the future of e-commerce too, since it is reasonable to believe that the discounts will run out once they capture that bigger pie. But again, how bigger? for instance amazon has been around for quite a while and still it is extending discounts in the established western markets. Yes, the kind of offers have changed over time. One clear indication is the scrapping of loyalty program on Myntra post the acquisition by Flipkart. 

Compared to this scenario, the old brick and mortar stores of the '90s were better. Then, if you purchase from the same shop the experience changes for the better every other time and the discounts keep increasing as your bargaining capacity increases due to the rapport build over time. But it is vice-versa in the case of online purchases. One thing is clear, no matter how much the portals scale, the stores are here to stay forever as has been observed in the western countries albeit a doubt, will the individual stores stay or will they be beaten to the line by the corporate chains?

As an end customer, seldom do we think of such business and economic (if not socio-political) impacts behind our day-to-day purchases and activities. We are in our own race to scout for the best discounts and deals that can be availed at each and every transaction possible. With no worries about the future, just living the present. Carpe Diem!

Common Enemy

This is more of a follow up to my previous piece. I had an informative conversation with one of my friends who had to read it as I kept nagging him. He is into political sciences and he started off with asking me about the Dravidian movement. In a while, we landed on the best topic - Secularity. Although the politicians of today have altered its definition to 'being pro-minority', the origins can be traced back to a few centuries when the Church influenced the rule of law. It meant the separation of parish from the throne. Before you start wondering about the origins of the word in Hindi or Tamil, let's not forget that even before Christianity, Islam and other beliefs found place in our country, our ancestors had squabbles over the sects of Hinduism too.

Similar to the Shia-Sunni conflicts in modern day Iraq that has given room for the growth of outfits like ISIS; and the many European wars motivated and aggravated by the disagreements between the Catholics and Protestants, the dissent between the various sects of Hinduism was prevalent in the last millennium. Although differences exist between the followers of other beliefs too, probably the low population following them has kept them from fighting against each other.

Although there exist many a divisions within the followers of the same religion, majority of the dissension is between the two big brothers. Partially because being bigger among the lot, they have a huge following, deep pockets and high political stakes. Ya, that's right - POLITICS. As much as I would like to not come up with a conspiracy theory that religious turbulence was spurred by the underlying political equation even centuries back, history says otherwise. My understanding of the entente between religion and politics in England during the time of the Tudors influenced me in penning this piece. Tudors in particular because my interest in the British history was kindled by the tv series in that name, if not by the 'Bloody Mary' drink.

Gradually, over the centuries the differences between the sects of Hinduism has disappeared owing to the arrival of new beliefs in the country, that helped in realising the similitudes rather than the dissimilarity. Even a friend of a friend may not be a friend, but in this pragmatic world, enemy of an enemy is surely a friend. As Kevin Spacey from House of Cards would put it "three cheers to 'ruthless pragmatism'!". That show is one hell of a depiction of cutthroat politics. This trend in Hinduism hasn't been observed in Islam yet or for that matter in humankind yet. As the number of lives lost due to riots is still significant in our country,most of them provoked on religious grounds.

Political masters have used the concept of religion for the good and bad, right from overthrowing tyrants to instigating a pogrom. Sadly, they have been more successful in their attempts to achieve the latter objective. Any play of politics is incomplete in today's world without the media playing its voodoo.   Of late, even once-credible news organisations are turning into TRP craving gossip channels that exaggerate every miniscule incident into a gargantuan clash. We cannot single out the media houses to take the blame for concentrating on delicate issues since as much as they would like to toe the line of their corporate daddies, their survival is based on the audience and their preferences, after all we are the TRP drivers.

With a government at the centre, that is making the citizens responsible and accountable for governance to cleanliness at every chance it gets, the onus is on us to educate ourselves of the art of 'think before you act' or even better 'think before you opine' since silence kills many a conflicts.

Let us unite again against the common enemy - the politics of religion.

The Irony.

As usual, I was trying to zero in on a topic that would be my next piece in this blog. The choices ranged from a simple documentary of one of my experiences to an emotional retort upon the peshawar attack. My flatmate laughed off at my latter choice. So I chose the happening topic-resolutions on new year's eve, to begin with.

We are at the beginning of another year and it is time for those long list of resolutions that are forgotten in less than a fortnight. One of the common ironical resolutions is pledging to quit drinking while taking a shot on New year's eve. The reason is logical too, "its my last shot, before I quit" except that it is not as one can't be expected to pledge other resolutions without a shot each :P.

I am no exception but on this day, I would like to ponder upon a thought that has been growing within since the last few days, the politics on social divisions.

The recently concluded elections in Jharkhand resulted in a non-tribal chief minister for a tribal majority state and the winning party is the one accused of being communal. Many adversaries of the same accused it of playing divisive and communal politics by placing a non-tribal at top and many more learned folks have shared their opinion through various media. This is just my interpretation and understanding of the same with the preconceived notions that I have developed throughout my life.

Not just because I used to admire the leadership of the winning party but I can't digest the irony in opponents claiming it to be communal for placing a non-tribal as the head of a state. As for as I know, there is no say in the constitution that states the head of a region should be from the majority caste, then how is it communal or against the minority in a person from minority wielding power. This is another irony in this entire political game of our country. Many an organisations that claim to support the minorities actually raise their voice in places where the 'minorities' are actually the majority in that region and are economically weak as well, for that is the demographic that exercises the fundamental right of casting their votes, probably because that is their only right that hasn't been exploited, well atleast not denied.

One thing I am happy and proud of being a Tamilian is the fact that the then leaders of the Dravidian movement took steps to eliminate the significance of castes by advocating the exclusion of surnames that reflect the lineage. Wish more was done in that front before they got fixated on political gains and started vote bank politics, another feature left behind by the British ideology of divide and rule.

Although we claim to be a secular nation with no disparity on the basis of caste or creed, it is one of the first things asked in our life right from kindergarten to college and at every scratch with the government proceedings. That's an irony we have grown accustomed to since we are toddlers. Well, I guess even a 100 'PK's on caste (instead of religion) wouldn't help the next lot escape from these questions, if we don't resolute to avoid asking or answering these and doom the political masters who try to pull out this wildcard whenever they require.

I guess, that makes for one solid resolution this year. Happy new year folks.! Have a great year ahead..:)

Looking back

       Less than half a decade back, I thought I had found the genesis of my career with my admission into one of the prestigious institutions in the country to pursue under graduation in mechanical engineering but even now after an exponential learning and exploration curve in the past four years, I feel incomplete in identifying my dream. Before I ponder over the failure of exploring my dream, I am obliged to mention the success of exploring myself which by far is the best learning experience I could ever have dreamed of.

It all began when my studious sister failed to make it into the jee exam and and kept going on about the perks of being an IITian. I had no clue about what an engineer actually does, except that they build things. Even when I was determined to choose nothing but the mechanical stream that took me further away from home, I didn't realise it was very much short of building sports cars and humanoids. But like most stereotypical youths in the country, I assured myself that it is my ambition to get into IIT and become a scientist(only if I had known what it takes to be one..:P) and embarked on a two year strenuous coaching exercise after my secondary education, leaving a well endowed boarding school for a cramped multi-storey building with the soul motto of manufacturing IITians. It was indeed worth the workouts, if I wanted to be an engineer as all said and done IITs are still the best colleges in the country. Unlike popular perception, there is very less or no pressure on academics and it feels like a freedom from slavery after the two year(for a few,it's much longer) exercise. As always, freedom without restrictions could prove detrimental to many and so it happens for most of the brightest minds(at least believed to be so) of the country after enlisting into IIT. We still try to keep ourselves worthwhile by engaging in various extracurricular and club activities but in the process get obsessed with filling our resume, neglecting the topmost column that caters to the academic score. The major fault is listening to the hearsay advices that float around preaching academics is not very much important and it is sufficient to have a threshold cgpa to get a decent job placement, which happens to be a non-core industry for all but the computer science graduates. I wouldn't say it is false but the regret one(I speak for myself) has at the end of the course isn't less either.

During my years at college, I wanted to build my career in many a paths like a trader, a consultant, an entrepreneur and so on like a kid who wants to be a doctor,engineer,artist all at once. I understood that I am another proof to the meme 'In India, people become engineers before they decide what to do in life'. As we realise that it is too late to change tracks now, we try to pick the best option available which incidentally turn out to be management profiles and not engineering ones. This draws the ire of public who accuse the IITians of using the taxpayers' money without returning anything to the nation. Of course, one can't blame the common man for being misguided by the media that tend to blow up the packages and shrink the achievements and contributions of IITians. But the opportunities to payback to the society right from the beginning of career is close to nil. I recollect one of the IIT alumni from the early '60s saying 'brain drain is better than brain in the drain' was the justification during their time(he returned to donate millions to his alma matter). Certainly the situation has altered significantly since then but only the location of work preference has been modified and not the nature of roles sought or the companies preferred. I do believe that citing folks who make up fake documents to claim public funds through different avenues is a justification for us taking care of ourselves but there is nothing wrong in living by the quote 'Charity begins at home' either. Well there is a limit to this charity and most of us realise this sooner than the rest. The many budding entrepreneurs and social activists/entrepreneurs from IITs are the living proof for that.

I guess I have gone off the track from what I set out to write today and it is pretty long already. I wouldn't wanna bore the few readers(friends who don't have a choice) by extending it any further.

I wouldn't do what I have done if I had another run at it but there is no saying whether I would be satiated with a different set of choices/decisions. Nevertheless I am proud of the learnings and friendships I garnered on the way. In short, I went in with great desires of building the gen-next devices and earn millions but came out with the dream of starting up(and earn millions too- well, there are few things that don't change easily). Hoping to realise it sooner than writing my next 'look back'..:P

My first accident..:(

Travelling in a local bus made me nostalgic about the good old days when I used to leave for home on holidays with excitement from my boarding school. Whenever I thought about those times before, all I could recollect was the boring part of it,especially when I was commuting alone. But after what I experienced in the last 24 hours has made me wish for nothing but a boring time.

My flatmate was all excited when we finally decided to go on a roadtrip to Amritsar. We started after a light dinner of toasts to keep us from dozing off. I was in the company of two photographers or should I say DSLR maniacs who wanted to stop at every possible location enroute to expand their portfolio. We opted for the shorter route although we started regretting it within the first few miles. Maybe that was the first hint I must have picked though it wasn't the last. We stayed on the course only to find us driving in a deserted road followed by a national highway that had speed bumps(really how stupid could people get??) which I couldn't notice at a distance and we had a couple of jumps. That was the second hint if we don't count the 3 stray dogs that tried to get squeezed under our wheels. We had covered half the distance and I handed over the wheels to another at a dhaba on the highway, which served hot but not so delicious pakodas and a strong coffee. Wish I had slept at the rear after that,but did I?

Frankly,we could have had a better navigator but we didn't had an option,so we paid the price of going off the tracks onto damaged roads when I woke up due to the jerks. We were soon back on the highway and all was well till we almost collided with a truck loaded with sacks of stuff,probably grains. We misjudged the speed of the truck and the tolerance/ability of the brakes, especially since we had already experienced a couple of skids before. So it resulted in our hood getting a huge dent and cracks. That instant preceding the hit, we realised the 'you can do nothing' situation when we saw ourselves sliding nearer to the truck. We still had luck on our side since we stopped where we stopped else probably our front glass pane would have taken a hit and smashed. That was the strongest hint we could have hoped for, but that didn't deter us either. We halted a few miles ahead as the photo freaks wanted to capture the rising sun, I must admit here that you gotta give it to them for identifying the best spots to view nature's beauty. After the brief stoppage, I took over again as he was not feeling confident post the incident. Our navigator told me about the time when I was sleeping. They had used my silence to their advantage and halted a couple of times to shoot on the way. Well, that explains the comparatively shorter distance covered. The other guy also had his share of hints when he drove over a huge pothole at high speed,leaving them both spellbound for a couple of seconds,or so I heard. That was the last thing I could remember before the big thing happened.

I would have covered nearly 20 miles since I started steering for the second time. It was a two lane road,enough for just two four wheelers to pass by without interference. I saw two cycles back to back at a distance. Maybe I should have honked,but they were riding in cohesion and I was under the belief none of them would deviate to right. To my shock,the one in back tried to overtake the other cycle so I had to slide left. It wouldn't have been a big deal if my front right tyre didn't burst, resulting in the car drifting further rightwards. To gain control, I applied brakes and steered left to find myself skidding perpendicular to the road. I remember that instant when we were drifting and our vehicle was nearing a tree at the left with the right side about to collide on to it. The next moment we landed parallel to the road on the left at about 20 meters from the tree. "God,what happened?? Are the other two alright?? Were the two on cycles hurt??" were the only thoughts in my mind. My door was jammed or maybe I was on a shock to open it properly. One of the many that had gathered unlocked from outside and  helped me get out. I could feel pain in  my knees and I had hit my head against the side window,so that added to the mental trauma. I walked out and tried to understand what had exactly happened. I saw parts of the engine and front bumper lying on the other side of the road. The headlight was in pieces near the tree. As I started putting the pieces together, one of the vehicles passing by and a guy in turban came over and asked a man,if all the passengers were dead,making me realise the seriousness of the accident. The sliding car took off when it neared the tree due to the slope near it and collided with the tree head on and rotated mid air to land after taking a 270 degrees turn. The front end had fragmented due to the crash and flew off during the rotation (remember the circumferential velocity concept?). All said and done, the only solace for me was that no one was hurt, well not seriously hurt atleast. Then we called the rental company who made us wait for nearly 5 hours to send a towing vehicle. The five hours of nothing kicked in the realisation mode.
I have a poster at home that has a quote by Jobs that reads "If today were the last day of your life,would you want to do what you are about to do today?". I came very close to this quote today and was wondering what all have I procrastinated and postponed for another day. Then I understood I can't change the course of my career in a day but surely I can restart the many other things I had left midway like this blog. So, here I am composing this piece.

After the vehicle was towed by the on road support service, we went to file a report with the cops. My first experience dealing with the cops directly. It took over 2 hours to get it done after a lot of requests. Then we left for Ludhiana which was the closest city from where we could get a direct bus to Delhi as my friend wasn't ready to go back by car that night after the incident in the morning. We covered the 60 kms in over 90 minutes and were surprised to find how big a city Ludhiana actually is. We booked a sleeper to Delhi and went to feast on Punjabi cuisine, that was the least of our plans we could accomplish after a day of struggle. After gulping not-matching-our-expectations food, we left the land of five rivers to the capital city.

We didn't have the experience we planned but sure did have hell of a one that I shan't forget. And I hope I wouldn't stop blogging this time.

Tradition vs Change.

     After days of blogs and videos about the general elections in the country, it was youtube browsing as usual when I landed on a Tamil debate show. It was on the topic of societal changes and its impact on the younger generation. While debating on the gains/losses of the younger lot, the predominantly older lot of panelists did little to actually probe the changes and rather struck to rhetoric and kollywood dialogues. I must admit that it is what drives the populace to watch it but it also got me into thinking about the millions of articles and speeches spread across the internet preaching the losses borne by the young folks due to the social transformations in the country. This urged me to bleed down my opinions in this blog.

       A week doesn't pass without the mention of the tradition and culture lost as a result of modernization, especially in the Tamil media. I am sure many would concede that although we wish to spend time in nature’s beauty in the countryside breathing in fresh air and enjoying the soft breeze by the farms it is evident we can’t give up the accessibility available in the congested hustling cities for more than a weekend, especially the ones habituated to having everything door delivered. Also the hypocrisy in judging the growth of IT industry is another nightmare almost every engineer faces on his/her visit to the village. While the incomes and living standards are welcomed, the long working hours and professional stress is detested. Another point argued upon was the changes in culinary practices that have led to health discrepancies arising earlier than usual. It is indeed true but it is also essential to understand that the current generation has appraised the pros and cons of the same and is growing to be more conscious than it was a decade back. Certainly the customs have changed and I do not have any animosity against the traditional customs but I am also of the opinion that traditions are dynamic. They alter as time flies by. 

        Hence it is time the infatuation for serene villages and classical fashion is given up for adaptation into relevant lifestyles because the former will be history not very long from now. As Thomas Jefferson put it “I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past”, we must learn to appreciate the enhancements and swallow the deficiencies as graciously as we can.