Arvind Kejriwal's India vs. Narendra Modi's India

Hello everyone,

In India, there is too much buzz lately about politics. Almost everyone is talking about it and I think there are 2 big events that are responsible for this excitement. First is the appointment of Mr. Narendra Modi as BJP's PM candidate and second one is creation of Aam Aadmi Party (and its fight for the upcoming Delhi Elections). In between all this excitement, i think that we are missing an important point. Thats why i decided to write on this topic this time. I realise that the internet savvy population in India is so small (% of total population wise) that any argument made online is politically insignificant. But sitting here in Holland, that's practically  the only thing i can do (except from donating money to the candidate of my choice, which i am already doing). I just hope that this article simulates some discussions and maybe, change some votes.  

First let us talk about Mr. Narendra Modi's India. And let us make an assumption here. Let's assume that Modi had nothing to do with hindu muslim riots in Gujarat. Nobody knows the truth, so lets give him the benefit of doubt. When you make this assumption, Modi gives an image of a clean and dynamic political leader of the country without any communal inclinations. He seem like somebody who can get things done. After all he convinced BJP and RSS to support him. I think if entire BJP is supporting one person as its PM candidate, it's a feat in itself and it shows diplomatic skills of Modi. With the assumption we made above, he looks to me like a credible PM candidate. I believe that if he becomes PM, the stock markets will rise, the business in India will boom and we will be back on the path of 8 to 10% GDP growth rate. And maybe, someday, India will even become a Ram Rajya (which is what so many of BJP supporters are so obsessed with!!). My problem with Modi's India starts after all this. The inherent nature of democracy will make sure that sooner or later, Modi will be out of power and someone else will take charge. Then what? Back to the slow and sluggish politics of today? My point is that this desire that a leader (Modi in present case) will come and make everything perfect in our country is no different than the desire of Ram Rajya. Its a desire to be ruled by a great king who will bring back india to its past glories. I think we must introspect a bit on this issue. We cry out our love for democracy and at the same time dream of becoming a Ram Rajya. This is my fundamental problem with Modi's India. Instead of participatory democracy, it relies too much on its king to solve all the problems. And may be Modi will be able to solve some of India's problems, but one day he will be out of power. And then and there, we will be back in the same shit as we are in today.

Now lets talk about Arvind Kejriwal's India. The biggest emphasis of this man in on decentralisation of power, or as Gandhi said, on swaraj. He is hitting the present indian political system where it hurts. He and his aam aadmi party talks about systemic change in our political setup. They want to set up strong rules and regulations to check corruption and they want to give more power to the common man. In my opinion, his kind of democracy will set up india in the right path. This way, we will aim to become an ever lasting just and progressive society and not a temporary Ram Rajya. We must observe the more mature western democracies very carefully. As we started late on the path of democracy, we have an advantage here. We can learn from their mistakes, adopt their rights and avoid their wrongs. Political power must become more decentralised, there must be swift anti corruption laws and there should be complete transparency in funding of political parties. Political parties should avoid large funds from corporations so that they don't have to do any favours for them in the future. And Arvind's India very clearly strives to achieve all this. But this kind of India comes with certain responsibilities. If we walk on this path then we will not be able to blame government (or for that matter king) for all our problems. Arvind's India will demand active participation and decision making from every citizen. Hence, if we fuck up, it will be everyones fault. We will have to decide if we are ready to accept this challenge. I believe that i am ready to accept this challenge. Its 21st century India dammit. I, with other community members have the capabilities to decide what's best for our community. And if we go wrong, we have the guts to accept it. Arvind's India is a self confident India and I want to be a part of it.

I hope I have made my point clear. 

Good Luck Arvind, Good Luck AAP!

Regards,

Karan

PS: I have intentionally left 'pappu' out of this whole argument just to show him where he stands in my opinion.

Indiaaaaaaaaaa!!!

Hello dear readers,

I am just back from a wonderful one month holiday in India!! So it is obvious that i want to share my experience with you all. In short, my trip was mostly about meeting my family, attending a friends wedding and eating a lot and lot of delicious food ... and mangoes :) :) 

To say the least, my trip started with a lot of confusion. When i reached schipol airport to take my KLM flight on 9th of June, after checking in my luggage and going through the security, KLM informed me at the departure gate that my flight to New Delhi is overbooked and i cannot board the plane!! WTF! I didn't even clearly understood what that meant so i asked the airline what do they mean by overbooked. The lady in blue there told me that airlines are legally allowed to overbook the flight by 10%. This means that if there are 100 seats in a flight, airline will put on sale 110 seats. This is because according to stats, around 10% people cancel their tickets after booking. So if they put on sale only 100 tickets, the flight will on average have around 10 empty seats when they fly which means financial loss for airlines. So they sell 110 tickets hoping that after all the cancellations, the flight will still be full. Now sometimes they sell all 110 tickets and less then 10% people cancel their tickets. As the airline only has 100 seats, this results in an overbooked flight! And this was the case with my flight. In this case obviously all the passengers with tickets cannot fly. To deal with this and to decide who gets to fly and who is left behind, airline allots seats to passengers when they are checking-in (online or on airport). The first 100 people to check-in get to fly and the remaining are left behind. Because of this rule, recently there is so much emphasis given to early online check-in. I recommend everyone who has an important flight to take, please check-in as soon as possible to confirm your seat on the flight. Now, for the people who are left behind, the airline is supposed to arrange their tickets in the next available flight for free and reimburse them for the inconvenience caused. This reimbursement depends on the distance of your air travel going till a maximum of 600 euros cash. And guess what, KLM paid me 600 euros cash on the spot!! And they booked me on an evening flight (the same day) to New Delhi via Athens. I didn't want to take with me 600 euros to India so I decided to go to an ABN AMRO counter to deposit the cash. This counter was in the main hall of the airport. I had to go through the arrivals area and through the passport control to reach this counter. When the security guy at the passport control asked me where am i coming from, I replied 'Netherlands'!! haha imagine how funny it was, entering back in Netherlands without leaving Netherlands :P Anyways i explained my situation and he let me go. So i deposited the cash, went through the security check again to go inside the departure terminal and at the gate waited for my flight to Athens. Just before the boarding of this flight was scheduled, it was announced that an airplane is stuck on the airstrip in Athens and hence all the flights going to Athens have been delayed by 2 hours!! For me, this meant that i will certainly miss my connecting Athens - New Delhi flight. Seriously?? I was quite nervous at this point. Anyways, i went back to KLM helpdesk to discuss this. They told me that the best option i have now is to take the direct KLM flight to New Delhi the following day. If i want, i can decide to stay overnight near airport (in which case KLM will book a hotel for me) or just go back home and come back tomorrow. Fuck! Quite annoying eh? Well, i calmed myself down and stayed overnight at the hotel that KLM booked. And guess what? To do this, I again had to enter Netherlands without leaving Netherlands :P Anyways, the hotel stay was nice and next day every thing went smooth. So after some confusion and waiting, I was finally in India! The only things that made this whole ordeal bearable was the 600 euro compensation and a young Dutch couple who were supposed to travel to India in the same flight as me on the 9th but were overbooked as well. So they were with me the whole time and went through the exact same events as described above!

Finally, I was in Sitamarhi, Bihar. Home sweet home! My 2 week stay there comprised of spending time with my extended family, eating delicious mangoes, cursing the heat, enjoying monsoon and picking fresh vegetables from my parent's new garden.     

With Mom

My favorite person, my grand mother ...

This is how you eat mangoes in my hometown :D

My mom said that after waking up, even before seeing God, she sees mangoes :P

Monsoon Bitches!!

A look at our garden from the roof

Fresh Okra (or lady's fingers) in the garden

One random evening in Sitamarhi, somehow this pic makes me homesick.

The following picture is a very special one. Once i was going with my cousin on a rickshaw and i saw this printed in front of a government office "To stop rapes, we must make toilets". This didn't made sense to us at all! We both thought this was so funny and disgusting. I remember that i was really angry thinking that how can someone write a crappy message like this? How is making toilets going to stop rapes?? I was so disgusted that i asked the rickshaw to stop so that i can take a picture. I went back home and showed it to my grand mother out of anger. What she explained me was so horrifying that i could have never imagined it even in my dreams. She told me that the printed statement makes complete sense. In rural areas, most households don't have toilets and people defecate in open. Women usually (and i guess obviously) go to a bit secluded areas to defecate. A lot of them go in farms with lot of plantation so that no one sees them defecating. This is when they are pulled by men in high bushes and raped. This phenomenon is rampant in rural areas of Bihar. After listening this, i was so shocked and not just because of how disgusting this whole thing was, but also because i realized that as a middle class Indian, I am so unaware and so cutoff from the problems poor people face in India. I am sure that almost all of my Indian friends will have never heard about this heinous act. There is a rape in Delhi and media goes crazy! There are so many protests! What about these voiceless poor women from rural India?        

"To stop rapes, we must make toilets"

After my stay in my hometown of Sitamarhi, it was time to head to Hyderabad to attend my friend's wedding. It was great to meet so many people i haven't met in ages!

@ chuha and sonam's wedding in Hyderabad

With Doga darling @ wedding! :)

Havas and Doga @ wedding!

Offcourse we had famous Hyderabadi Biryani! A nice article about this dish - http://in.rediff.com/money/2004/apr/09spec.htm

After the wedding, it was time to go to Bangalore to meet my remaining extended family. My parent also joined me there from Sitamarhi. It was so much fun!! I was meeting some of my cousins after 7-8 years. In my mind, they were still kids.  

With Mom, Dad and Bro @ some temple in Bangalore

Me and Bro sharing a coconut drink :)

With chinki after 8 years... she came all the way from Mumbai to meet me!

Chinu in my new suitcase, i guess she secretly wanted to sneak inside Holland with me :P 

Papa with ranjan and raju chacha in Bangalore

Pizza party with bacha party :P

It was time to dig in some delicious South Indian food!

It was first time after i don't remember how many years that 10 out of 12 'bhawsinka kids' were together, so we decided to go for a professional photo-shoot. The 2 kids missing are Chinki and Sonu. Sorry guys :( I hope all 12 of us will be together some day soon for an awesome holiday. We will have better pictures then!

The genX bhawsinkas ;)

I am blessed with kick-ass sisters :)

Say cheeseeeeeeeee :)

So after an awesome week-long stay in Bangalore, my India trip came to an end. On last couple of days i did most of my shopping, packed, bid and emotional farewell to my family and took my flight back to Amsterdam. 

Seriously, for a moment there, i didn't want to comeback to Holland. I didn't want to come back to the cold and lonely life. There are too many problems in India and its too easy to get frustrated. Comparatively, life in Holland is so easy. The light bulb is always glowing, the tap is always filled with water, the air is fresh, supermarkets are filled with food and I have a great job. But I have a big and close knit family and leaving them behind every time just breaks my heart. My family provides me an emotional security which is, i guess, far more important then social security of Holland. Anyways, i am here in Holland for the moment. Lets see for how long i stay.        

I will leave you, my dear readers, with a pic from one of the taxi's I took in India. This taxi had a freaking Van Persie jersey hanging in front. As if life was giving me signals that i am going to stay in Holland for the moment.

Van Persie in India!

Well, that's all for the moment. Life is back to its regular grind.

Cheers,

Karan

Life in late 20's!

Hey invisible people, how are you? Here i go again, with my random rants about random things in my random life. Well the thing is that i am 27 and off-lately i am feeling the effects of being in late twenties. A lot of things have changed within me quite quickly within past couple of years. I have realized a lot of things and have probably understood myself and the world better. I wanted to share some of these changes/realizations with you:

• Until few years ago, i use to think that i will never make great friends. Somehow i always missed having a 'gang' which i can call my own. That has changed. I have in past couple of years met some people who i consider my gang. I know they will stand by me in the toughest situations. This has given me a lot of personal confidence. Even tough most of them live far away from me, they are a big part of my life.

• I don't know why but I always avoid confrontation. If i don't like something that you do, i find it very hard to communicate it to you. And because i cannot take my anger/irritation out on time, it bothers me for a long time. Sometimes, things pile up inside me and i burst in the end when i cannot take it anymore. I know it is not a nice way of dealing with these kind of situations. I hope i can change this soon.

• I still don't know swimming and driving and i consider this a big weakness. I am not sure if i want to learn driving anytime soon but i want to learn swimming pretty bad. If any of you living in wageningen can help me learn swimming, I will be very grateful.

• I am becoming more comfortable with my professional life. A lot of people around me would tell me that its a great thing but i am not so confident about that. I have always dreamt of having my own company and making it big out there. Somehow this new found comfort with my present job is a bit unnerving. These days i wonder ... Will i ever have my own company? 

• Recently i saw a picture of my parents. My dad looked much older then i remember. This made me realize that in past 4 years, i have hardly been with them for a month. It breaks my heart. Tough i have learnt a lot in life by living abroad, i would never be able to make up for this missed time with my family. I cannot wait to see them all again next month.

• I have become quite comfortable with who i am personally. If you like me as a person, that's great. If you don't ... Whatever!

• I have an average intellect but i am a fighter. I have achieved most things in life by not giving up.

• Through observation and through practice, I have become a much better cook. Its such an important and satisfying skill. I think every one should learn cooking.

• I am finally doing a job that i like. I cannot say that its my dream job but i do like it. And that's itself a big step ahead for me. Its intellectually stimulating and gives me tremendous freedom to work and live the way i want. If i ever have a company of my own in future, i will make sure i treat my employees like my present employer treats me.

• I have realized (quite late, I know) that friendship is a both way bond. I have totally stopped putting effort in friendships which I realized were one sided. It saves me a lot of effort and gives me a lot of free time to do the things that I like.  

• I am still searching for that one thing that is my natural talent ... that one thing that comes naturally to me ... that one thing that i can become best in the world in. 

• I have accepted that politics is an integral part of life, professional or personal. Those who ignore it are always at a loss.

• I have realized that intellect is just one talent. Sometimes we give way too much importance to it. I have met people in past few years who i would say had average or even below average intellect but i was convinced that they will do great in their life.

• One of my finest realizations has been that love is my freedom. Some of my most peaceful and free moments were in the arms of my lovers. Only true love has freed me from all desires, it sounds ironical but its true.

I cannot think of anymore points at the moment and tomorrow i am going to Amsterdam for a day trip with some friends, so i better get some sleep now! But i will sign off with a recent pic ;)

Fish and Fisherman :P

Love,

Karan

Netherlands - Part 3

Hello everyone,

As you can see, i am not quite keeping up with my new year resolution. I couldn't upload my blog in February L ... but well, i hope to be more frequent in future.  On the other hand, i completed one of my resolutions. I submitted a conference paper and it got accepted. So i am going to Marseille on 6^th April to present it. The conference is called IWWWFB (International Workshop on Water Waves and Floating Bodies) and the website is - http://www.iwwwfb.org/. After the conference, i took couple of days off. So including the weekend, i will have a lot of time for sightseeing and for getting some sun in Marseille J. I cannot wait as i am getting pretty fed up of crappy Dutch weather. And off-course i will be couchsurfing on my free days!

Apart from that, i really need to put more effort in learning Dutch quickly. Other international colleagues who started with me are already on a more advanced level than me. I have to agree, i have been lazy on this front, almost never doing my homework L ... a couple of weeks ago, the director of my company suggested me that i should find a Dutch girlfriend. According to him it’s the best way to speedup Dutch learning. I have to agree, it seems to be working for other internationals who have Dutch partners haha but well, i told him it’s too late for that now ;)

For the moment, there are quite a lot of things to look forward in life. Coming weekend is a super-long weekend with Friday and Monday off and on Saturday I will go to Arnhem with my housemates and other friends from Wageningen to celebrate holi. And guess what, we have plans to make space cake and bhang before the holi party :D. Then the next weekend i fly to marseille for a week. After that, i want to finally go to keukenhof to see the iconic tulip fields. Than by the end of May, i am planing to take a month long holiday to go to India. Probably i am going to be deep fried with all the heat!! But well on the other side, i will eat so many mangoes J. We have mango trees just outside my dad’s clinic and my brother who is right now in sitamarhi for holidays told me that its already possible to pluck unripe mangoes from first floor windows haha. I also plan to do a lot of travelling in India this time. I will probably visit mumbai, bangalore and hyderabad.

Well that was a shot update of things that are happening in my life. For the moment, i am having a ball! Hope you are as well.

My second job ;)

Groetjes,

Karan

Munich Trip!

Hi dear readers,

With this post i would like to share with you my Munich trip :). I and Maya left for Munich on 2nd January morning and were back to wageningen on 7th Morning. So we were in Munich for around 4.5 days and we had such a great time there! We stayed there with Linda, my housemates best friend. She is born and bred in Munich, so she is the best host and guide we could have had :)

A classic train journey in the Alps! Let the trip begin :)

With Linda, our awesome host!

Munich is one of the richest cities in Germany with a huge economy. Many German MNC's have their headquarters there. Situated almost the the southern tip of Germany, it is very near Austria and Switzerland and is surrounded by Alps. It is the capital of Bavaria province and is known for its October Fest all over the world! For the first time i saw beer houses there. Basically you can eat food and drink some classic Bavarian beers in them. They are all over Munich. You gotta love their craze for beers!

On our first day, we walked around the impressive city center of Munich, did grocery shopping and made some couscous salad filled in roasted red pepper for dinner.

Maya and Linda @ Munich city center

Roasted red peppers stuffed with couscous salad and some red wine for dinner!

In next 3 days, we saw the Deutsches Museum (largest technical museum in Europe), Neuschwanstein Castle (inspiration for Disneyland's Sleeping Beauty Castle) and Kampenwand mountain.

en-route Kampenwand mountain

en-route Kampenwand mountain

We took a rope-way to ascend 1500 m

and Linda and Maya were so scared that they didn't even wanted to look outside :P

On the top, we found nothing but snow :( and no view because of fog!

I will eat Neuschwanstein Castle :D

Maya @ Neuschwanstein Castle

In between all these excursions, we offcourse found some time to try typical German drinks like Feuerzangenbowle (you can only drink it if you can pronounce it :P).

Cheers over Feuerzangenbowle!!

Here is a nice video on how to make your own Feuerzangenbowle: 

On our last day in Munich, we were invited for dinner by Eva's family. Her mom made the best Korean food ever!

Dinner with Eva's family and friends

It was the best end of our trip i could have expected. We had to roll after dinner to reach station to catch our train back to Wageningen. I wished goodbye to Linda and to Munich with heavy heart and with a promise that i will return for Oktoberfest next year ;). As train zoomed out of Munich, I tried to catch some sleep (unsuccessfully i must say)! We were back to good old Wageningen on Monday morning :)

That's all for now, its 1 am already and i have to work tomorrow. So good night dames en heren! Lekker Slaap!

Yours,

Karan