My First Bike: TVS Apache RTR 160 Review

After Driving my bike for around 6000 km and using it for around 2 years I thought that I should write a review for my bike. 

First of all I am a guy who doesn't know much about bikes. For me only things that matter in a bike is its looks and mileage. If these two are good I would go for the bike. Finally after lot of research I settled on TVS Apache. So on 17th May 2011 I bought my TVS Apache RTR 160 for SLV TVS in J.P.Nagar. So there it was on standing rite in front of my house my new shining jet black Apache. 

Although I said above that I am not a huge bike enthusiastic, I would still like to dwell upon few pros and cons of the Apache. 

Lets start with pros first.

1. The 1st thing I noticed about this bike was its balance. I have driven pulsar,FZ and unicorn. But the balance of Apache is really awesome. The moment you are on it you know its completely in your control.
2. I would like to highlight the engine of Apache.Its super smooth. Very less sound while driving. I have had people who has driven pulsar,CBZ and unicorn commenting on the quality of the engine and its smoothness.
3. Third thing to highlight is its looks. Simply awesome. On road I have seen people on Yamaha R15 and Karizma give second look to my bike!!! Makes me feel proud.
4. I have to comment about the quality of brakes. My bike has rear disc also. So if I press hard the bike literally comes to stop without skidding. That's simple mind blowing. And in Bangalore traffic you need to use them a lot.
5. The digital meter is also very good. Plus it has a clock which is immensely helpful.

Now that I have talked about lot about its good qualities, lets see some of its cons.

1. The Tyres are a real let down. The model comes with a TVS tyres which are not at all up to the mark. The tyres does not have a good grip on road and if you are driving on a wet road then you really need to be careful.
2. The battery that comes with the model is also not good. I had it changed to Amaron.Now its ok.
3. Another minor problem is that Apache does not have any indicator for reserve. It has one indicator for low fuel. But it does not really tells you how much fuel is left that causes some uncertainty  It would have been better if thy wld have included both reserve and low fuel indicator.

 I have not talked about mileage. On Bangalore roads it is real difficult to get a good mileage. But currently my bike is showing anywhere between 40 km/ltr to 45km/ltr which is good for a 160 cc bike. About the speed barrier, I haven't tested it to the maximum. My max has been 105 km/hr on Hosur road express way.

All in all this is a great bike. My first bike and I really made a great decision buying TVS Apache. Do I recommend it? Yes I Do.

Trip to Airport via Nandi Hill

On 18th December 2011, me and my 5 friends (Anupam,Pawan,Plaban,Ashok and Debasis) set out on our bikes , destination Nandi Hills. We set out at 4 AM from Bangalore. It was a chilly night .It was a new experience to travel on Bangalore roads sans any traffic and jams. The plan was suddenly made and we expected it be a fun trip.


The 1st phase went well and we reached Mekhri circle in little time.From Mekhri circle we hit the 6 lane expressway to airport.Now things started going off the script. First of all the cold was chilling and biting. Second there was dense fog. I have never seen such a dense fog in Bangalore ever.Practically we cant even see few feet ahead. Finally we stopped at a roadside shop to have some tea.It was desperate necessity as we were numb with cold.I was having problem even opening my mouth.It was frozen.


Having wasted lot of time for tea we started again. Due to the dense fog we missed the sign for Nandi hills and kept going. That was our first mistake.When we reached near the airport instead of going under the over bridge we went over it. We only realized our mistake when we have reached airport itself!!!And we were not the only ones. There were other groups also which has done the same mistake.


From there we made a U-turn. Here another tragedy happened with us.The over bridge is forked and me and Pawan took the wrong side.By the time other could calls us and inform we were already 1.5 kms ahead.Once our mistake was discovered we had to walk back the entire road as it was quite risky to drive back in a narrow high speed one way.This also ate up lot of our time.

Finally we were able to reach the correct turn at the over bridge.By the time we got on the correct road it was 5:30 Am and it was getting bright.Hoping against all hope we hasten our speed to see the sunrise.By the time we got to the Nandi hill road we were running out of time.It was getting very bright.Driving through a hill is never easy.This time also it was no exception.We slowly started making our way up the hill.With every passing minute it was getting brighter and the sun was rising higher and higher.We also saw an accident (NOT serious) happening at a bend. Regretfully we were not able to stand and watch the fight.


After reaching the summit we wasted some more time in parking our vehicles and answering all sorts of call of nature.After that we started climbing the hill which another 10 minutes. By then the sun was high in the sky.So instead of watching the sun rise we watched "Rised" sun. Plaban's rant of  "Ghar chalte hain yaar" had obviously started once we have reached the summit.


Although the we failed to accomplish the main objective of the trip, the trip in itself was not a total bust. We took a lot of snaps in various positions (no pun intended). Also we saw a lot of girls, beautiful girls, in Nandi hills. The crowd was better than the one available in FORUM in week ends. After having a heavy breakfast of dosa, idly-vada and bread omlet  we decided to head back (Plaban home sick rant had nothing to do with it!!!).


All in all it was great trip. We had lot of fun while traveling and pulling each others leg.Hope we have more similar trips in future.

Team Anna and Lokpal Dilema

Since last few months the mainstream media has been flooded with reports and news items about the famous (or infamous?) Lokpal controversy. Many people have many views and they have been discussed in detail in media.There are two viewpoints ,one of the Civil Society,now known as Team Anna in media, and Government or politicians view.Let see each of them one by one.

Civil Society View

1. The Lokpal institution should be powerful ombudsmen against corruption.
2. All Indian citizen should come under purview  of Lokpal institution including PM and high judiciary.
3. The Lokpal will be financially, administratively and functionally independent from the government. Thus making it free from Government interference.
4. There should be a committee to choose the Lokpal. The committee will consist of PM,opposition leader,Supreme court judges etc.
5. The Lokpal should be able to investigate, prosecute and also convict a person found guilty.
6. To attach or confiscate property made form ill gotten wealth.
7. To initiate Sou Moto appropriate action under the Act on receipt of any information from any source about any corruption.
8. For the purposes of investigation of offenses related to acts of corruption, the appropriate Bench of the Lokpal shall be deemed to be designated authority to approve interception and monitoring of messages of data or voice transmitted through telephones, internet or any other medium as covered under the Indian Telegraph Act read with Information and Technology Act 2000 and as per rules and regulations made under the Indian Telegraph Act 1885.
9. The CAG will be empowered to conduct an annual financial and performance audit of the Lokpal.

The above mentioned points are very few selected points which I have  choose to mention here.If you need to see the detailed draft you can go to the rediff  site which explains each draft in detail.

Most of them are excellent points and  can really bring some amount of accountability into the public functionary.But I have reservations about point number 5 and 7.
According to point 5 Lokpal alone will be investigator, prosecutor and can also convict a accused.Now this completely belies any logic. A single agency can convict or prosecute . In my opinion the Lokpal must investigate and like current practice should file a charge sheet in court.This is most democratic way and the best way to maintain justice. Courts must be the only authority to convict and prosecute a accused.Giving Lokpal these power will set a parallel institution outside the ambit of constitution.This could lead to misuse of power even at the Lokpal office.What type of misuse? Well let your imaginations run!!
 Point 7 talks about what crimes comes under the ambit of Lokpal.According to civil society  draft any cases of corruption brought to notice from any source should be investigated. While it looks right on a first glance there are graver implications.Anyone can stop any initiative,tenders, defense tenders etc. Any person with malicious intent can hold up any work or project just by complaining to the Lokpal.For example, any defense contract can be withheld by merely complaining to the Lokpal and that can put country's strategic security in jeopardy.This provision could also kill the creativity and innovation in public works as many would fear that stepping out of prescribed procedure could bring him under investigation.While I agree that point 7 can not be done away with but it should be with proper safeguards and protocols.

The Government View

1. The committee to choose the Lokpal will comprise only of politicians,bureaucrats and judges.Obviously the number of politician on the committee will be much more.
2. The Prime Minister and higher judiciary shall be exempted from Lokpal.
3. The Lokpal should not inquire into any action related to MPs and others members of parliament which has been taken inside a parliament.

The detailed government draft can be read at the rediff's site.

If one goes through the draft minutely then it can be seen the government draft clearly protects the high and mighty from clutches of Lokpal. After all as per our most esteemed Pm said last week "If we go after our politicians like this we might make India a police state!!!!". Politicians must be protected after all.

After June 20 when the draft committee negotiations fell through due to differences between Civil Society and Government committee, the government has been completely non-committal on the Lokpal bill. They even gave indications that while the bill may be introduced but not passed in the parliament.

We may see a weak Lokpal bill being passed in the monsoon session of the parliament.This would virtually ensure a Government win. But for a bill that has been rejected by Parliament for 42 years getting passed is its self an achievement!!!! 

Well Winston Churchill once said "If we leave India, It would be ruled by goons !". Sadly after 60 yrs of independence we are moving towards that path.

MMRCA : The Agony of Selection

On 27th April 2011, the GOI  declared the first down select of the multi billion dollar MMRCA competition. To every body's surprise including mine, two down select platforms were European platform. Not American Not Russian but European!!!!!!!! The Eurofighter Typhoon consortium (comprising of Germany,Spain and Italy) and French Dassault’s Rafale were invited to extend their commercial bids. All four other firms were informed that their platforms did not made the cut.

There were 6 fighter platform fighting for this lucrative deal also called the "Mother of all Defense Deals ". The US giants Lockheed Martin and Boeing fielded their world famous fighters F-16 IN Super Viper and FA-18 Super Hornet respectively.The Swedish fielded their small, multi role and very agile platform Gripen NG (Next Generation).The Eurofighter consortium came out with their Typhoon, currently the newest and most advanced 4.5 generation fighter. The French put forward their newest fighter in the block Rafale.Our most trusted partner Russia flew in with the MIG-35 (higher version of MIG-29 which is already in use with IAF).

The decision took everybody by surprise (except the MOD and IAF of-course!) that two European platforms were chosen. Considering the American diplomatic muscle all expected one of the American platforms to be a down select. The F/A18 SH was the favorite of many. It is a combat proven platform and also a very good aircraft. The F-16 was out of contention and was probably never considered seriously as same platform is being used by Pakistan.The IAF was actually very apprehensive about American platforms due to sanctions,tech denials and various agreements required to buy the American platform which severely restricts the operational freedom of the platforms. Headline today defense journalist Shiv Aroor has written an excellent piece about IAF reservations regarding American equipment.

As for the Russian platform, it became a no-entity once the field evaluations were over.The IAF were convinced that it is nothing but a MIG-29 platform with a new engine.Considering that IAF was looking for something that is cutting edge in terms of technology, MIG-35 never was supposed to make the cut.

The Gripen , Swedish aircraft, was touted as the independent choice.Sweden is not a political heavy weight but it offered a splendid platform and Gripen was bang for the money. But I think 3 factors ruled out Gripen:   

1. Gripen's specification is much similar to Indian home grown fighter LCA Tejas. Selection of Gripen could be a death blow to the LCA.This is something the MOD and IAF both wouldn't want.
2. Gripen being a single engined fighter had a inherent disadvantage.A twin engine fighter is always preferred over a single engined fighter in terms of reliability in case of emergencies.
3. The engine for Gripen is an American engine. Thus there was always fear of  American sanctions.Moreover there was doubt over American support if Gripen wins defeating a American platform.

The two chosen platform Eurofighter Typhoon(ET) and French Rafale are the newest fighters on the block.ET offers India the most latest technology in aerospace and that also with the promise of full ToT (transfer of technology).The Rafale a/c is derived from the Mirage-2000s platform which is most trusted by the IAF. Also the French factor looms large which is very comforting for the IAF. One must remember that France refused to put sanctions on India after 1998 Pokhran test but rather stepped up defense cooperation. Also during Kargil war IAF made few modifications to its Mirages which were not allowed as per contract with France.But France very maturely did not raise any concern about that (mature because France saw long back the potential of doing business with India). It was all settled quietly within diplomatic channels without anything coming in public domain.

Moreover apart from buying 126 a/c in MMRCA competition (worth 10 billion dollars), this deal will be a commitment to partnership from the buyer and India for the next 40 years. 40 years is the expected life cycle of the MMRCA in the IAF inventory. Moreover it is also speculated that the order could go up to 200 a/c due to high rate of attrition currently in the IAF.
So the question is with whom India will be comfortable for next 40 years in diplomatic dealings? With Americans it is love and hate situation.Some times we are friend and sometimes we are not. Moreover with the US being the major supplier to Pak , the GOI may have doubts have about restrictions put forward by US in case of war with Pak.
The Russians although have been a steady partner through the decades, but some deals have been buffeting this steady boat for last few years especially the fell out due to Admiral Gorshov aircraft carrier re-negotiations. Also with India already committed to buying as many 272 SU-30MKIs and around 250 FGFA, its not prudent to put all the eggs in one basket.

ET is a consortium of few countries namely Germany, Spain and Italy. Will India be able to negotiate the sensibilities and maintain partnership with all the 3 nations at the same time given the fierce European competition culture? Or will India be very comfortable in dealing with French for next 4 decades it has done so in the past? The future only holds the answer to these questions.

My vote was and will be always with the French as they proved many times to be a trust able partner. Moreover the promise of full ToT along with the source code for Radar is a very tempting(Radar needs to be programmed for mission according to mission parameters.The mission parameters are highly secretive and and divulging to them to companies of other countries can seriously blunt India's offensive edge ). The only drawback of Rafale is its high price (around $80 million/aircraft). But again the other chosen platform ET is more than $125 million dollars/aircraft.

Whatever may be the choice The agony of selection continues and will do so for few more months.

BOOM BOOM Afridi

The above title of the topic could suggest to readers that I might be talking about the old and brutal Afridi technique of batting. Well I am sorry to disappoint you on this score. The BOOM BOOM Afridi of the cricketing field has disappeared (alas!) long back. But after 2011 world a new BOOM BOOM Afridi has emerged.

For people who are not updated with recent developments , here is a refresher: I am talking about Afridi's  new statement deliveries which has mystified many and all (just like his 140 km/hr googly in the world cup).

His 1st comment about Indians "I think, they (Indians) will never have hearts like us (Muslims and Pakistanis). I doubt even they have such large and clean hearts that Allah has given us."

Stumped or bowled????? That's a questions everybody is wondering silently in India and some section of Pakistan. It is quite mind boggling for me as to why Afridi made such comment. Both India and Pakistan both played a fantastic semi-final match and the deserving team won. Afridi himself accepted that in India. A sudden U-turn (the Wrong one!! delivery). Is the loss still ringing in his ears? Or is this another ploy to distract public from the perception of loss to India (We all know how difficult it is for Pakistanis to accept defeat from India)?

His 2nd comment about India "It is really difficult to live with Indian or to have a long-term relationship with India. Nothing will come out from any talks between us, you can see how many time in last 60 years we have had friendship and how many times the things have gone bitter." Indeed our relation has gone bitter Mr.Afridi. But was it because of us or you people. It seems that Afridi also needs coaching  in Indo-Pak history (ofcourse, along with the batting coaching. He is being again taught HOW TO BAT).

His 3rd comment "Our media (Pakistan Media), which is criticized by people, is hundred times better than theirs (India Media)." Now that's a interesting comment. How can you compare Indian media with Pakistani media. There is no comparison at all. Indian media is huge  and free from any government control. whereas the Pakistani media is sadly still controlled strictly by the government.So Afridi's comment are not only mystifying but also weird.

Why Afridi made those comments are anyone's guess. Maybe it was done to divert the public attention from the loss they suffered at India's hand. Or maybe since these comments were made in a television show they were purely for public consumption. Whatever may be the reason Afridi's comment were most undignified, untimely and were said in a very poor taste.

What Afridi should realize is that he is the caption of a national team and the words coming from him will be given importance. He should also realize that cricket is the only sports that has been able to diffuse tension between the hostile neighbors many times.

Well we all hope that in future Afridi will be able to control his temper and probably his mouth. These unthoughtful comments have already cost him a lot of fans and goodwill in India. He mustn't lose more. He should remember that he has lot of fans in India also and they look up to him.

We all hope that in future will Afridi go BOOM BOOM on the field not off the field.

CONGRATS TO TEAM INDIA

Congrats to team India on their spectacular win over SriLanka!!!!!

We are now WORLD CHAMPIONS 2011!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL

New Year begins,
let us pray that
it will be a year with New Peace,
New Happiness
and abundance of new friends,
God bless you
through out the New Year.

South Africa Tour: A Golden Oppurtunity

Sachin will be the best hope for India

      

The opening pair will be India's 1st stable opening par in a decade in SA

              


Tomorrow the Indian cricket team will play the 1st test match of the SA tour. This tour is being touted as world test championship final. Its quiet true. The series between and world's number 1 and number 2 team will invite lot of attention.I have been eagerly waiting for this series. After a pretty mundane New Zeland series, hope that this one will be cracking contest. All the ingredients for a spicy encounters is present with both the teams. SA batting line up is very strong. But can be equally challenged by the Indian pace battery. The famed Indian batting line up will have to face the tough conditions and equally dangerous SA pace attack.

This would be a cracker of a contest. But on the whole I feel that this is the golden opportunity for India to get their 1st ever test series win in SA.The cause for this optimism is also  very valid.We never had such a strong team touring SA. All the players are fit and at the top of their games.Never before we have seen a India that was so much confident and so much feared  on a overseas tour.

Why am I so much sure that this is the golden chance? Well, here I present few reasons below:

Indian Batting

For the 1st time in a decade we are going to SA with a stable opening pair of Shewag and Gambhir. In all the previous tours we used to have make shift openers. This used to always push us on backfoot.This time around we have a solid opening pair from whom we can expect a solid start. A partnership of  100 runs or so in any innings by them can put India in the driver seat. 

Our middle order boasts of world's two most famous and technically correct batsmen. Rahul Dravid is the grammar book of Cricket. His solid defense and technically flawless batting would be most invaluable in the SA conditions. 

At number 4th the Little master is beyond any comparison.This is his last tour and I am sure he would like to make it a memorable one for himself.

Suresh Raina and Dhoni are very solid batsmen who can very dangerous on their day. Most importantly we can rely on them to take the team to safety in case of crisis.

The Very Very Special Laxman is at his elegant best. What can I say more about him. I would just ask all the readers to remember his innings against Australia and New Zeland.

Thus Indian batting is actually very strong and the SA will have their job cut out.Moreover in the recent series we have seen even the tail-enders making invaluable contributions to the score. Harbhajan's back to back century cannot be forgotten so easily.We must also remember Ishant's heroic batting against Australia when he held the fort for so long and made sure we win. Even an extra 50 or so runs form tail-enders  could make lot of difference in this hard fought series.

Indian Bowling

 The Indian pace trio of Zaheer, Ishant and Sreesanth, have bowled well in the unfriendly subcontinent conditons. In SA where the pitch and sometimes even the weather will be seamer friendly, they can become very dangerous.Added with this will be the spin of Harbhajan. One must remember that he could become deadly on a fast bouncy pitch especially if he gets a early wicket.

These four have the ability to knock down all the 20 SA wickets which is necessary for a win.

Along with them we can expect some part time bowling of other Indians if required. Raina and Shewag are very adapt at bowling and picking up crucial wickets at the time of need.

Above all this the most important part is that this time we have a confident Indian team. A team that is no more an underdog in overseas tour. This is a team which is equally favorites like the host team. This I think is India's big plus point.

Another good thing which has happened is that some key players of Indian team has reached SA long ago and has got lot of time to get accustomed to the conditions there. This was  a very good move by Kristen. All kudos to him.

All said and done, this analysis is still on paper. A lot have to be done to convert the words into action.The SA team are no push overs like New Zeland or Australia (yeah !!!!Aussies too). They are hard fighting unit with very good options. Moreover they will be playing in their home condition and they would love to humiliate the world's number 1 team and prove their superiority.

This Indian team has both the opportunity, motive and the will to conquer. Thus only thing now needed is to win the battle and conquer. And at last I would say this:

CHAK DE INDIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Varanasi Blast: Another inteliigence failure?

It had been 10 long months of peace before  on 7 Dec 2010 the Varanasi blast shattered it. The Blast was not a very powerful blast and neither  the bomb had any sharpnels in it.Nonetheless it was an attack on India and its citizens. Varanasi, a prominent Hindu worship place, has been made target before also. The last blast claimed the lives of 2 people and injured 35 others.This blast killed a 2 year old girl and injured 65 others.

While expressing solidarity with the victims, there are also noises made from quarters about intelligence failure.The Center and the State Governments have started quarreling over intelligence provided. Each blaming it on the other.

The question of intelligence failure is something we should look at carefully.Every time there is terrorist attack people start shouting about intelligence failure.How much truth is there in these accusations? We really need to examine that.

For example, the Kargil war was also said to be a big intelligence failure.But latter it was found out that RAW (Research and Analysis Wing ), the external agency of  India, has in fact given such a warning back in 1998.It has warned of Kargil like infiltration int he Northern J&K sector. Surprisingly the Indian Army's Northern Command ignored this warning. According to the generals nobody could survive in such cold. Amusing it is.Did our generals forget about Russian army which stays in Siberia???? OR did our generals forget then that our soldiers are deployed in  Siachen for more than 10 years in similar conditions. I don't think so. Still every body was shouting about intelligence failure. The reason, it got heat off them for the time being.

One must remember that the intelligence agencies in India have no public relations part unlike in America.They live in anonymous world, which is both of advantage and disadvantage.The people responsible knows that nobody from intelligence will refute their claims of intelligence failure and they can blame it on them and get off the hook.In the Kargil war this is what exactly happened.Not a single general was punished for negligence which claimed life of our 463 brave men.

It seems it has become a trend in India to blame intelligence agencies and deflect the blame onto them. The Indian public should start asking question as to why there is every time intelligence failure?Who are the real culprits?Are they the intelligence agencies every time?or are they some officials who comfortably hide behind the veil of intelligence failure?

In the Varanasi blast also it seems the  warning was passed to the UP police but police did not sanitize the area properly. The UP police claims that the intelligence was not specific. My question is how specific can intelligence get?Do UP police thinks that they will be told the exact time, location and names of the person who are going to do it?Don't they want to do a little investigation themselves? It seems our police have been reduced to security guards who just provide security to VVIPs and VIPs.

It's time we ask the government to do proper investigation and find out the real culprits.It's not only the ministers but also the babus and officials which stay insulated from all these.

The Varanasi blast may not have killed many but such incidents are waiting to happen if we do not pull up our socks now.It time to stop blaming intelligence agencies.It's time for introspection.It's time that we do some serious policing.The fight against terrorism can not be fought by the intelligence agencies alone. We need to fight it at all levels.The police and the common people also need to join the fight.We can't  be careless any more.We can't ignore our duty as citizen.Ask yourself , how many times have you reported any abandoned bag to the police?How many times have you asked questions to people who act suspiciously?We just try to get away from such responsibilities thinking it's not our problem.

I don't think a terrorist attack is intelligence failure or police failure alone.It's a collective failure. It's not a failure of a certain department of GOI but it's the nation as whole which have failed.India has failed.We Indians have failed.So it's time we stop blaming and start working towards a better India.

Lastly, my heart goes out to Sanjay kumar's family who lost their only 2 year daughter in his barbaric act.May she rest in peace. I also like to remind all Indians we could be next.Lets start being responsible from today.

Wikileaks: Effects on world diplomacy

Julian Assange( founder of wiki-leaks) courtsey ABC news.

Interpol notice against Julian Assange (courtsey www.wired.com)

The world currently is fascinated with the wiki-leaks. Every day it makes head lines in national newspapers and Julian Assange , the founder of wiki-leaks, has become a short of celebrity. The common people and some small nations are praising him as a hero ( some are doing so privately) whereas the big wigs diplomats of the big nations are crucifying him. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (aka FBI) incidentally has started a  investigation to see if he has broken any espionage laws. Already there is a Interpol notice against him and he is currently in hiding.This has made him sort of a cult figure.


But lets see the wiki-leaks in some perspective light. What is has achieved or rather what it has changed? What is effect on world diplomacy?


The wiki-leaks published some 391832 documents of Iraq war and 91,731 afghan war documents. Now it has threatened to release 250,000 diplomatic cables.


The question one must ask is whether any thing new has come up through this documents or anything has changed in respect to diplomacy.


The Iraq and Afghan war documents has changed nothing or told us anything new. President Obama has went ahead with his troop withdrawal from Iraq. And for any careful watcher it is very obvious that the NATO troops in Afghanistan are not wining the war. It is also clear to anybody with little bit of strategic sense that since their defeat in 2001 in hands of Americans the Taliban has re-consolidated their position in Afghanistan.


The release of diplomatic cables is the new episode in the wiki-leaks saga. Unsurprisingly nothing ground breaking have come up. Moreover, will somebody really believe that a country's intelligence agencies had no prior access to these? These cables are actually intercepted by intelligence agencies on a regular basis. That's how government make foreign policies. The cables are actually nothing but memos, officials write down to show something for their work. Not much different from a software industry lol. The real discussions only take place in closed door meetings.


So what has wiki-leaks achieved? In one word NOTHING . Probably the only thing it has done is to give the common man a glimpse of diplomatic procedures or practices (both good and bad) that happens in the murky world of world politics. The other things which have come out are name given to the world leaders of various countries by diplomat like calling Putin a Alpha Dog. Dog really??



My point here is that wiki-leaks have not changed anything in world politics and in future also it is not going to change anything.

Wiki-Leaks and India


As far as Afghan and Iraq war documents are concerned, India was not mentioned as much. The diplomatic cables saga do have mention of India on few occasions. They are mainly in relation with Pakistan . 

But what I would like to point out here that is the proper and very mature way the GOI has handled the issue. There has been no rehotic or unwanted false bravado sentences from GOI or the opposition parties. This I think is because that the south block has finally understood that India has arrived on world stage that empty rehotic does nothing for one's country. India's interest can not be altered by any cables diplomats send to their governments. India can easily achieve its goals in world stage if they do bargnaing at the negotitations table.


An example of how nothing has been affected in relation to India's world ambitions could be gauged from India's UNSC aspirations . The American secretary of state of Hiliary Clinton jeered India as self appointed front runner for UNSC seat. Months latter the President of the United sates, Barack Obama, stands on Indian soil and endorses India's bid for UNSC seat. Nothing can be a better proof of India's prowess at the world stage.


Personally I think that wiki-leaks is not going to harm India's image or its ambitions on world stage, even if something startling comes out form the rest of the cables.


In case of India also the wiki-leaks again has achieved nothing. 


The whole point of my article is that the wiki-leaks has caused no damages or big scale changes in diplomatic relations. Nothing new has come up and all the things that everybody knew secretly or rather privately has cone out in open. 


The only thing wiki-leaks has caused are few embrassements which I am sure will be forgotten in some time. For me wiki-leaks doesn't deserve the front pages of any national news paper.

My First JOB

This is a story in Flashback.It is flashback of how I, rather we, all got in to our 1st job. I recount this at the time, when I have left my first job.

FLASH BACK July 2005

The start of 3rd year is always an exciting thing. The reason CAMPUS RECRUITMENT.Every body waits in anticipation.Personally I think It is the only year where engineering student of our college studies seriously.Personally it was the only year when I maintained a 80% attendance i.e. without proxy.

At the start of the year its always grab the sweets form others and hangout in each others room.Its load of fun. After getting bored at home for around a month and staying in restriction, we are again freeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well the 1st month of the 5th Sem goes on normal. As usual classes and stuffs.....Come August and the placement department swings into action.Preparation for placement training, lectures, sermons etc starts to come your way. Man!!!!! You dont know if you are scared or bored with this..

By September we are into training programs organized by our college placement department.It takes it own toll. Up to 5o'clock we used to have regualr college classes. Then form 6 in the evening we will have placement class up to 9 in the night. Then grab your dinner and go to your room for your own studies.

FLASH BACK January 2006

Start of 6th Sem and time to be serious has arrived.Campus was at the door steps and first company would be here soon. Everybody in our hostel was studying hard.There was tension,fun ,joke and lot of doubt clearing.People were studying into night, mind you studying, not playing games. This should give anybody idea how much serious we were. It was quite unusual.

FLASH BACK March 22nd 2006 

The 1st company was to arrive on 23rd i.e. tomorrow. The atmosphere was of tension, anticipation and nervousness. Every body was trying to keep themselves busy with something or other. At night I took out my special formal clothes brought for the purpose and tie (will be wearing tie for the 1st time in my life) and kept them on my table. I decided to retire early.

FLASH BACK March 23rd 2006 

The Big day has arrived. Finally we the unblooded soldiers were ready to march into our 1st campus battle. The 1st company was CTS. Around 400 of us took the the written exam.

The results were announced around 2 o'clock in the afternoon. And they shocked me to the core. I haven't qualified even the written. Months of preparations and all went down in 15 mins. I remember sitting in front of the D-block with Alok (bapu) and Raghu. I dont know for how long we sat there but it was long time before we came to senses and went back to our rooms.

I straight went to bed. I was so upset that I forgot to wish best of luck to my friends also. 

It was a bad day. A sad day.

FLASH BACK March 24th 2006 

This is the time when all the not placed students (including me) were studying hard. Last night our seniors came to our room and encouraged us. I will never forget this line for Rohan Bhaiya "In KIIT the question is not whether you will get the campus or not, but when you will get it". So they told me to be cool and just be relaxed.

FLASH BACK March 25th 2006  

 Today is the second campus (Day1). WIPRO technologies will be visiting our campus. The start was auspicious with a very good presentation.They did drop a bombshell by saying that only CS and IT students are eligible for campus. It took a little persuasion from our placement department to convince them otherwise.

The written test was  a tough one with 60% cutoff. But thanks to silicon institute of technology that we all sailed through. Wondering why thanks to SIT??? That's because they delayed their recruitment process which caused half of WIPRO recruitment team to to be stuck up there. 

So due to less number of invigilators it was our students who did the invigilation. The atmosphere was relaxed and we gave the exam with very good cooperaton. :)

After qualifying written it was interview time. Surprisingly I was the 1st interviewee in the panel number 1. When I entered the I was sweating (AC room) . But the interviewer was a very cool guy and I had very good 55 mins discussion with that guy. After that I was sent for HR interview. The HR interview lasted for 20 mins and went exactly according to the script I have prepared.

I was finished by 7:30 PM and after that it was a agonizing wait for the results. Those 5.5 hours were most anxious moments of my life.

The results were finally announced at 1AM in the morning. 

I WAS THROUGH. I HAVE BEEN SELECTED. IT WAS THE GREATEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE. AND WHAT MORE WE HAVE ALSO BROKEN ALL PREVIOUS RECORD IN ORISSA. 101 OF US GOT SELECTED IN WIPRO WHICH WAS  BY FAR THE HIGHEST NUMBER TO BE RECRUITED BY WIPRO IN ORISSA.

After reults

It was great time and there was  great deal of celebration. I remember samant sir was himself present there. I remembered touching his feet and saying that "Aaj KIIT main sarthak ho gaya". He smiled at me and patted my shoulder and said nothing. But it was clear for everybody to see that he was also overwhelmed.

After that whatever happened it felt like getting punished for getting selected. friends were congratulating me from everywhere. I was hoping that would be the end of it. But no, then there were punches, kicks and sticks which broke on our back. I was sore for next 2 days but honestly I didn't mind anyhting. I was very happy. The only fly in the soup was that some of my close friends were still to be placed. But then I remember the line "In KIIT the question is not whether you will get the campus or not, but when you will get it". I know my friends will get it too.

Present

Reflecting back now i still think that it was the greatest day of my life. AFTER ALL IT WAS MY 1ST JOB. A feeling I don't think anything else can match and that is because I will never again have my 1st job. It will always be 2nd or 3rd.