Monday, October 22, 2007

definition of success

Yesterday while watching some program on NDTV, Jaideep sahni(?) (Chack de director) told "Now a days, bigger home loan u have, more successful you are .... that's how people are defining success". I could not agree more with him on this issue.
Buying a house in some metro cities has become one of the most important "social status symbol" now a days. The kind of return(increased value) property prices has seen in most of these areas makes this decision looks very smart also.
What's my take on this? I have decided that i would never buy a house in any Indian Metro city. The reason is simple. I have a good and big enough house in my hometown and also in my village. And these are the places i would love/like to spend my life after retirement. So, it does not make any sense for me to buy a house to live in metro. I never like the concept of "Flat" and don't have enough money to buy a house is another reason. As far the investment is concerned there are many other ways to do so.
This also started a "comparison" thought process in my mind about better life standard. I was thinking that whether my life is better than my father's life? My father is in gov. job. Last time when i went to my village with him, many people came to him ...said nameste or pranam , talked about some trivial issues.... He earns a respect among his own people. Will i ever get that while working in an MNC ? I don't think so. He was able to send me to a good school and give a decent education. He has a good enough house and more financial assurance than me. He does not know how to e-mail but he knows many more people personally than i can ever imagine to know. More than all these, he lives at a place which he thinks as his own.
I have a desire to live with all of my family members (I have a joint family). But it's not possible if i continue working in an MNC in some part of India. But right now, i can't afford to do anything else. Let's see what future holds!!!!

Monday, October 15, 2007

मोदी vs लालू

रविश कुमार के article के लिए :

गोधरा के अलावे मुझे नही पता कि मोदी ने कौन सा ऐसा जुर्म किया है जिसके चलते रविश भाई को वो इतने ज्यादा नापसंद है। वैसे, मुझे नही पता कि लालू और मोदी मे से किसने ज्यादा बेकसूर लोगों को मारा है। हर साल बिहार मे बाढ़ के चलते कम से कम १००० लोग मारे जाते हैं। १५ साल तक गद्दी पर रहने के बावजूद लालू ने इसका कोई हल नही निकाला। क्या ये नरसंहार नही है?
पिछले 4-5 सालों मे असम, जम्मू, पंजाब मे ना जाने कितने बिहारी मजदूर आतंकवाद कि भेंट चढ़ गए। क्या बिहार का आर्थिक रुप से पिछ्ड़ा होना इसका मूल कारण नही है? और क्या इसके लिए लालू दोषी नही हैं?
फिर क्योंकर communalism गरीबी से बेहतर option नही है? मैं communalism का समर्थक नही हूँ पर मैं ये मानता हूँ कि गरीबी और बेकार कानून व्यवस्था इससे कंही ज्यादा खतरनाक हैं।
जितने मुस्लिम मोदी के डर से गुजरात छोड कर कंही और जा बसें हैं उनसे ज्यादा (शायद कई गुना ) लोग बिहार कि गरीबी और दुर्व्यव्स्ता से ऊब कर और डर कर बिहार से बाहर हैं..... आप और हम खुद भी तो उन्ही लोगों मे से एक हैं.... दूसरों का दर्द तो आपको दिख रहा है जो कि अच्छी बात है पर अपने जख्मों को क्यों भूल रहें हैं?
किसे बुरा कंहू मैं ? और किसे चूनुं सापनाथ और नागनाथ मे से?

मनोज