Monday, January 21, 2008

Of GODS and Godmen(women included)

Disclaimer: I am a firm believer in the powers of the almighty and the purpose of
this piece is not to hurt the sentiments of any community or sect. The views expressed here are entirely my own and do not represent the views of my batchmates,
my community members and my religion. So if you disagree, just spare everybody else the blues and either deface my blog, my orkut profile or just take a hike.

Well, last week I had the ignonimous pleasure of witnessing an unusual event in my college. A guest lecture was scheduled on a friday evening and the guest was a slightly known(or unknown) actress, whose only claim to fame seems to be that she played the mother of the KING KHAN in one of bollywood's biggest hits. At first we thought that she was going to talk about maybe something that is useful for us B-School students, and then we got the whiff that it would be about spirituality. All wa well till she sounded like one of those evangelists on GOD TV promoting one oneness university. It was then that all hell broke loose for me.

According to them, they can rewire our brain.....I mean what the hell, what if there is a short circuit during the whole process of rewiring? And that too by just looking at the person and touching their heads. By this they channelize the cosmic(or comic) energy into us and help us to lead a successful life(:)). They have this three day course( Price:6k INR), which changes your life completely. And the evangelist even agreed to give us a trailer of it all with a quick blessing which would change our lives on a temporary basis for 2-3 days(laughter).

So, now I come to the point.....this whole BUSINESS of spiritual upliftment, an elevated level of conciousness, and being closer to God. The God, as we all know him(her) is all encompassing, omnipresent, omniscient being, and being closer to God comes from being closer to humanity, and not by attending spiritual seminars, and donating huge sums of money for religious fervors. But mind you, these godmen are smart people, because earnings from this business are non-taxable(and they will remain so in India), and there have been hardly a foolish beauraucrat or a politician who will point a finger at these people and demand to see their books.

So, all in all it is a very smart business proposition as the investment required is nil, there is not even a minimun qualification criteria to be fulfilled. So it all makes sense and all you B-schoolers looking for a good business plan to be submitted at some B-School fest, submit this one and you are bound to win(who wouldn't want an exponential growth on an YOY basis). How many Gurus have started schools and hospitals which cater to the poor and downtrodden, and the places which don't preach their ideology? And isnt it ironical that most of the people lining upto these ashrams(or resorts or universities) are those who are already poor and left even poorer by donating at these places. And what they get in return is a false hope of their condition improving or at least GOD being happy and rewarding them in this life or the next(another concept which is really amazing...more about rebirth later).

So I think its high time that we stopped believing in this kind of half baked stories and did whatevr job we do with full honesty, leaving the rest to GOD(and not to godmen)

And yeah about that quick Deeksha that we all recieved........though it was voluntary and not COMPULSORY, yours truly waited for half an hour in a queue to find out what the fuss is all about. To tell you frankly......I dont know......and i didnt feel a thing when i was being given deeksha and leave alone change my life for 2-3 days, nothing happenned even for 2-3 secs. It all looked like a circus and I think if someone goes with enough faith in him, he is bound to feel something, the art comes into play when you can convert a non-believer into a believer and that didnt happen and i dont think that can happen(I Feel only GOD can pull off that one).

Question: why are western doctors richer than their indian counterparts?
Answer : because when a weterner falls sick, he will visit the doctor, and when an Indian falls sick he visits the GURUJI.

Ciao
Mukul Tyagi

Friday, January 18, 2008

Musing of a Colonel's student!!!!

There is something about Indian Armed Forces that fascinates
the people of my country. Is it the amount of money that is
spent on them year after year for maintaining an organization
of such mammoth proportions, or the whole aura of piousness attached with the armed forces everywhere 
in the world(more so in India),or the romance of dying 
for your motherland(or fatherland.....whatever 
suits you dear.Its a difficult question to answer and an even
more difficult subject to discuss, because of the sanctity
of the whole issue. But lets not talk about this ..........i would 
rather like to talk about something which i have been influenced in my life and have given my
 deepest thoughts to: the idea of dying or killing for your nation. 
And the fact that it becomes a matter of endless adulations and awards. This is the platform which armed forces
personnels think gives them the right to take a moral high ground
and boast about what they have done for their country and how
civilians(yours truly included) and nothing but parasites sucking
on the nutrients of mother India. How the system is bad and India
needs a military dictator. How nothing else but the institutions of armed forces are the only 
functional pillars of this country and everything else has gone 
into decadence and going down the drain(Though there is widespread
corruption in the armed forces, but i guess ceaser's wife is above
suspicion). Very strong thoughts indeed for people who are not even part of the society. For people who live 
as if they are citizens of an alien land. For that matter not even the law of the
land does not apply to them. 

Lets take the issue of dying and killing for the motherland. Well, thats
their JOB..............they get paid for it. And if the Job Description includes giving up your life and taking someone else's, so be it. When the poor taxpayer suffers the agony of driving on potholed roads,drinking unsafe water, coping with power cuts so that the generals and their lieutenants can sip on their scotch at subsidised rates and play bridge all day long, well the dying and killing part will have to be taken care by the armed forces. And scotch and bridge are just metaphors for everything and anything that is supplied to them. I know it may sound blasphemous to some but I am as much a patriot as anybody else guarding the border. Just because someone chose a profession where one of the occupational hazards is death, so be it. And they are well compensated for it in every form by the government with the money it earns in the innumerable taxes it levies on the law abiding citizens.

Another thing which irks me is the part of life of servicemen when they retire from armed forces and come back to the mainstream. Though they are not fit to lead a life that you and me lead. The never ending lines of orderlies ends, along with the free accomodation and other perks. And when they confront the reality they end up doing nothing but cursing the system all day long, the same system which fed the white elephant all its life. Ironical but true.

Well the idea of writing this small piece came to my mind becuase of a retired colonel of the Indian Army, who now takes classes in personality development( a compulsory two day workshop at my B-School). Poor guy finds faults with everything around him and us and has to his credit 5 pakistani soldiers in a war that he fought(it was your job mister).
Some of his mantras of business ettiquetes:
1. There are only two colours of formal shirts: white and sky blue.
2. There are only two colors of formal suits: Navy blue and
grey(whatever happenned to poor black).
3. Drink only scotch( I say only when someone else pays :)).
4. Sunday should not be longer than monday(not everybody will get it :))

ciao
Mukul Tyagi

The Beginning

well this is my first post........just bleeding the virgin(did anyone say deflowering)....nothing more than that.......will post more of my shitty thoughts later.
ciao