Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Memorable Quotes

In our lives we often come across some great quotes. Some have an everlasting effect on us. Some quotes strike us purely because of their intelligent quotient and others because of their profound personal effect. I am truly grateful to have come across some quotes that have had a great influence on me by some real ‘wise’ people. Here are a collection of quotes that has been engrained in my memory:
• Travelling is the best education a man can get.(Anonymous)
• If you have to enjoy life, being fit is necessary.(Vikram Muthanna)
• People change with time.(KUP)
• Even a rapist can be nice; for the few minutes you spend with them.(KBG)
• No matter the magnitude of a persons achievement, he is human.(KBG)
• Before each meal ask yourselves, 'have i earned this'? (KNK)
• The best fertilizer a planter can provide to his estate are his own footprints.(KNK)
• You have to care about society, not have society care about you. (KKU)

INDIA & ORGANISATION

NAISSANCE(SDM-IMD Inter collegiate fest) What did it mean to me? Three days of getting pissed drunk and....... yeah pretty much it. I was advised to get involved by my seniors, said it would be quite the learning experience. There was no debating that fact. I tried being involved in the sponsorship part of it. It was quite disastrous; we literally had to beg people without any bargaining clout whatsoever. Everyone from college was unleashed on the streets of Mysore; it was reminiscent of India’s CWG fiasco in terms of lack of preparation. It was all last minute. We were desperate. Soon the blame games began. I could not help but indulge myself in this, as i sometimes love to impress upon people my pseudo brilliance. The seniors blamed the staff, staff blamed seniors, juniors blamed college; on and on.

What is it about Indians and making a mess of whatever we put our hands in? On a recent trip to Cambodia i saw a board highlighting India’s involvement in the restoration of the Ta Prohm temple. Asking some local about it he said something to the tune that money promised had come very late and the work rate was very slow. There are numerous instances of us messing up. Two year’s back Field Marshal Sam Maneckshaw passed away. The audience to see him off was paltry and none of the heads of state were present. President, prime minister, leader of the opposition, chief minister, chief of any of the armed forces including the defence minister no one was present. Sam Maneckshaw was one of India’s two field marshals. If it was a film star or a politician there would have surely been quite a number of people from the political elite clout. This is the sad state of affairs of our country. A man who put his life on the line for our country gets below par treatment on his final chapter. There have been numerous instances of us messing up in various facets of administration, law, etc. The worrying part is when we pride ourselves on finishing up the mess we ourselves created.

In talking about the CWG screw up.; I remembered about the Sydney Olympic Games, the authorities of the games actually thought the city would go into post games depression on completion of the games. So, what did they do? They actually organized fairs and festivities thereafter slowly phasing the festivities out. They did this thinking abrupt ending of the games would affect societal working thereon. This is what development and forward thinking is all about. This is exactly what differentiates great organisers from mediocre ones. The difference between a developed nation and a developing one is clearly illustrated here. We can only talk about being a permanent member of the UN, being a superpower by 2040, being the fourth country to send a manned mission to the moon blah blah blah...... What purpose does this all serve? It is internal development we should be focussing on rather than our portrayal and image building of our country to the world. We still have more than 300 million people who are below poverty line in India. Our healthcare sector is still sub-standard. Aren’t these issues that have dealt with immediately?