Forget the Government, now Indian’s are not even worthy of a quality corporate service – Private sector’s new degrading benchmarks!

Is, India steering itself towards a mode where only ignorance can answer the displayed complacency? Till yesterday if it was by the govt. departments today even the private entities are not shying away from competing with the govt. officials in displaying their non-professionalism.

This was witnessed during my interactions with the ICICI general insurance, today (29^th Dec) around 11:15 a.m. as I entered their office space.

Oh, I forgot to introduce the issue. Earlier this month I renewed my Car insurance with ICICI, though I received several calls from other insurers, being a loyal customer to ICICI, I went with ICICI for 5^th time in a row. Whatever premium was shown on the website, I made the payment for the same. I received the cover note and the policy document in few days everything was seamless. But one fine day, I received a letter from ICICI general insurance, which stated in a professional rudeness mimicking the style of government notices and in entirety it meant - “Since you haven’t paid for the No Claim Bonus, you will not be entitled for any claims, if you do not make the remaining payment within 15 days of receipt of this letter”.

Q.1: I paid whatever premium was calculated by the ICICI general insurance website, then why was this NCB amount not updated?

Fact is, they take 2 -3 months to update their databases! So, if there are any recent claims you have to face this issue.

Q.2: So, it’s a clear mistake from their side, how can a letter stating that customer has not paid, would be sent?

Signals to send the PR and Communications team of ICICI general insurance for training in communications?

So, as I entered the office with bit of anger and feeling funny about myself for visiting ICICI office 3^rd time for the same issue! It took me not long to see people around equally furious and may be in a lot higher intensity. And one of them said out, what I was thinking inside “Is it a govt. office? Why cant you people serve the customers?” then some one said, “Why is there a board stating – ‘May I help you’, when you cannot help?” other gentleman who looked as if he would burst out any moment, demanded, “I want to see the manager, will not leave without seeing him!”

It was 12:15 and I was still standing there for them to take notice of me and take the payment from me! While everyone was in queue eagerly waiting for his or her chance, another gentleman landed who looked and talked as an NRI he was there to pay his home loan. After some 20 min’s, we heard the same statement from him, “It’s weird here I have come to pay 38,000 and no one is bothered to take the Cheque from me!”

Then to kill some time, I looked around to find the posters with messages as –

‘Jho Chaho click click karo’ – weird for this one feature I called them several times requesting them to provide me a way to pay this NCB online.

‘Sensitivity’ – We now know how sensitive the letters can get and it would be mentioned to drop at our door and make the payment but it will not be mentioned that they remain closed on Saturday’s and Sunday’s, we should assume this. I failed to assume this and wasted one of my Saturdays!

‘Now one number for all your insurance needs’ – When I call them and say, “I drove 20kms to reach your office and your guard rudely replies, its closed!” I get a funny reply, “Sir, can you stay in Hyderabad for 2 days?” Please some one teach him that, driving 20kms doesn’t mean I am not from Hyderabad!

‘Responsive’ – Yes, it’s responsive when you stand there for 30 – 40mins and none attends you and bothers about you. And when you try to ask something pat comes the reply  “It will take time, Sir!”

‘We keep you going’ – True, by making us to visit an average of 3 visits and a minimum of 30 mins each time to solve one petty issue. And with parking as bad and small which would be blocked all the time by some random 2 wheelers or a wooden log. And the building parking has same exit and entry point with steep slope mind you. Twice my car got saved from a speeding car and a bike coming down the slope! If I visit one more time for sure I might have to make a claim!

‘Transparency and at your service’ – I mailed this sad state of mine after the second visit to the customer support email id. Today I am done with the payment as well but I am still awaiting their reply. And if I were to believe the people out there, they are waiting for the email and call response for days together now! Another incident happened in my second visit when an ICICI person rejected to handle my payment when the help desk asked him to, saying NCB it’s a headache. What! Right in front of the customer you decline, I just cannot get this any day!

I am sure after reading all this, you might have felt that I visited and interacted with a government department but no, you have to believe me its ICICI General Insurance.

Where they have to pull the strings:

1: PR & Communications

2: Reduce the latency in updating the database

3: Customer Support – you cannot have single lady handling all the angry pouring in customers every minute.

4: Well-behaved and well-groomed individuals right from the security guard, parking guard, customer support through calls and also at the help desk.

5: Equip the center with responsive and quick decision makers

6: Monitor the customer feedback queues whether it’s in person, email or phone.

7: Concentrate on serving the existing customers that would automatically get in the new acquisitions. Now, I guess more concentration is on new acquisitions and little or no concentration towards the existing customers.

This post was to make people aware, especially the ICICI management to pull up their strings before its too late. Also, I hope this complacency doesn’t creep into other corporates.

‎100% Success rate in all my Political Analysis from PRP launch to the recent No-Confidence motion in AP...

On the day of the PRP launch – Aug 30 2008, I wrote “Its like a over hyped movie which may not run for long” and on Feb 6 2011 PRP got dissolved and merged into Congress.

Sep 14 2009 – I wrote about Telangana, “I want to warn that if these situations are not handled gracefully and with respect even the greatest National leaders couldn’t stop the Nation from being divided even though none had the intent to partition. So, even this situation unless and until understood to the core and handled accordingly none and even the greatest powers cannot stop the happening!!!
I sincerely and ardently hope that it doesn’t…. “

Nov 29 2009 – KCR gears up for Fast-unto-death, starting Telangana agitation again after the1969 agitation

Dec 9 2009  (mid night) – Telangana was declared

Dec 10 2009 (around 2-3 am) – I wrote, “The govt. has announced that initial step would be taken but no time limit has been framed for the final step. So, they can work on it on their whims and fancies and might actually not even work on it. Nothing has been talked about Hyderabad, which has become the main concern for the people and leaders of all regions. Was this done deliberately? So that the separate statehood can be stopped again citing this as a reason once this issue catches fire!”

And now we know this exactly what has been happening till date… as Telangana still burns..

Aug-Sep 2011: CBI takes Y S Jagan to task.

In a week: My fb status was “Y S Jagan will not be arrested”

Till now he is not arrested.

Dec 4 2011: I wrote, “Govt. will surely win over the no-confidence motion and Jagan will not get arrested atleast till 2014. In 2014 congress would likely form a coalition govt. with YSR Congress party”

Dec 6 2011: Govt. actually sailed over the no-confidence motion!

Happy that, it’s a 100% success rate in my political forecasts till now.  


Now the question remains will my forecast of Congress + YSR congress coalition govt. in 2014 will come true?

 +

In 2014 Elections, this might happen...

Jagan Mohan Reddy, would he ever be brought to justice by the CBI?

This question lingered among many politically active brains of Andhra Pradesh for many days and may be for months now, which still remains to be an unanswered question. While there was a wide spread news about the CBI raids on Jagan, I was to write this article but my daily business never allowed me to and got delayed. But today when I see news channels brewing news again and again about the no-confidence motion in the AP assembly against the government. I found it to be silly…. Read more to find out why!

So, is everyone so serious about it? May not be! Every political party in AP now wants to avoid elections until they can, as they are uncertain and far from claiming their win. A futile situation, were they are apprehensive about their future and quite happy with the status quo. Then why was this No-Confidence motion moved to shake the status quo? Many would have probably already understood that in today’s AP politics you would be out of the game if you don’t make enough noise.

TDP being a seasoned political party very well understands this and though while it was being time and again targeted for not justifying its main opposition status it maintained its calm. But as today it is very well aware that if it passes a no-confidence motion, government is in a very good shape to withstand it and have no threat of falling apart, since congress MLA’s who used to support Jagan has dwindled in numbers and the ones who even now present a bold face in front of media supporting Jagan are not that strong inside and certainly not enough to be a threat to the government. A more bigger reason why TDP choose this is to test its own MLA’s who have jumped borders and who are feared to jump and if they jump now, they might loose their MLA status, which I am not sure any day any MLA would want to.  At times I wonder how will these MLA’s would have survived had they were not MLA’s, are they skillful enough to do any other work without using un-law full means? Now, I feel god saved us by making them the MLA’s or else we never know what they would have become!

Similarly, even Congress is happy to have this No-confidence motion, as it provides an opportunity to test and threaten their MLA’s too from jumping the borders into the YSR party and the TRS. So, it’s a win-win situation to both TDP and Congress. And who is at a loss? May be Jagan or TRS or Chiru? Lets see. Jagan – has an opportunity to negotiate with the congress high command, though he will support the No – confidence in the public eye, since he doesn’t have enough numbers to threaten the congress so High command wouldn’t mind and would be happy to negotiate and most likely even if the Jagan congress supporters vote against the government, congress will not initiate any action against them, it gives them an opportunity to show a brave face in public that congress is democratic. TRS – it will be happy to have any opportunity to say Jai Telangana, as its well aware that Telangana will not happen in coming times and till the time Telangana happens their jobs are secured, so nothing else would worry them. Chiru, is the most happiest man; his dream of becoming the king maker will be full filled and so will his demands with congress.

Is this a rocket science to understand? Certainly not! Everyone who has some political understanding would have understood this. Then why is the media so obsessed with it that it see’s nothing else than this, no prices for guessing even Media needs some noise to stay in competition.

Now, coming to a bigger question, “Will Jagan ever gets arrested?” No, certainly not before 2014 elections! Simple logic to this is Congress needs him to keep TDP at bay. No one can debate on this, that who ever congress needs, it will not crucify him. Or, else there is no other reason for not arresting Jagan even now, when you have all the reasons and proofs to arrest him. When Gali Janardhan Reddy was arrested in haste, why not Jagan? Congress doesn’t need Gali it certainly needs Jagan!

So, why commission a CBI enquiry on Jagan when there was no intention of bringing him to justice? You guessed it right; you need a whip to control any one who slips out from your control. And CBI is a good way to bring him to the table of negotiations. Today, I forecast, though all the other CBI enquiries might come to an end or to come conclusion but Jagan’s case will be dragged till 2014 elections. Though Jagan’s image got tarnished with all these but still he has a high mass appeal probably no one else in the state presently has this appeal and its certain that he will garner a good number of seats for the YSR party. And congress the king of negotiations will invite him for a coalition rule in the state. I certainly fear that congress again will continue its haphazard, selfish, corrupt government post 2014 too. So, now we know whom to vote out apart from the congress!

Thus our entire question’s got answered? Well ok then why an enquiry from CBI was commissioned onto Chandra Babu Naidu? One straight answer to this, is if you smear color on others face, others will not remain silent. The other not so outright answer, TDP was cruising away with the limelight of nailing the KCR nexus with the contractor of Polavaram, which certainly was a threat for the Congress. And Congress obviously is a master of using government departments to its political advantages. And it also very well knows where to stop it; this makes me remember a famous dialogue of a Hindi epic movie Waqt – ‘Jinke ghar seeshe ke hote hai voh doosron ke ghat par pathar fekha nahin karte’. But our politics is different, every party certainly knows how to throw the stone strategically that it makes enough noise in the eyes of the common man but it will never break the glass and our media is obsessed with only the noise!

I End this boringly interesting article, flop article with –

“Why this kolaveri kolaveri di…..” a song dedicated to the AP Politics!

- Harish Bheemarthi

If Darwin theory is true, Will human would remain human? Who would emerge more intelligent - our pets or we?

One fine morning while I was driving on my way to office and while I was competing and racing with the fellow commuters a sudden thought struck me. And I kept pondering on it throughout the drive, which lasted and ended with the drive. No serious thinking has gone later on and certainly no research was done. The second time I thought about it was when I wrote this.

So, what was the thought? Before I jump to the point let me introduce you the sequence again. As, I was trying to overtake every other vehicle, which was in my view; “Survival of the fittest” was the first thought that stuck me! It all started with this and with further evolution of thoughts. Darwin theory stuck me strong; yes it is about the “Natural Selection” which we have all read during our school biology classes, which honestly helped us in the evolution of our final scores.

Today, many argue and present counter arguments against the Darwin theory but there are still many of us who vouch with the Darwin theory. I might be presenting another or some one might have already presented these arguments. I am not a biologist per say, neither a science graduate; if I am at flaw with any basic science principle I beg an honest ignorance! So let’s get on with the topic…

If human have evolved from the apes and our thinking has evolved over the ages. Darwin theory was not only about the human but also about every living being; he proposed that every complex being has evolved from a simple structure through theory of natural selection. That is, complex creatures evolve from more simplistic ancestors naturally over time. In a nutshell, as random genetic mutations occur within an organism's genetic code, the beneficial mutations are preserved because they aid survival -- a process known as "natural selection." These beneficial mutations are passed on to the next generation. Over time, beneficial mutations accumulate and the result is an entirely different organism (not just a variation of the original, but an entirely different creature).

If I may draw inferences, human’s started using brain a lot and they have become smarter as they travelled the timeline. And every organism is constantly evolving in very minute steps towards a completely different form.

When I vouch on this theory and explanation, my argument becomes very simple. Human will not be the same as they are today and they might become smarter or might not be as intelligent as today. Its complicated and tough to predict in what line we would be traversing. Our brains got evolved over the ages, since our ancestors profusely challenged the brain. And we can say human are the intelligent and much smarter than any living organism known to the mankind. But how do we compare our thinking levels or the stress levels to the brain today i.e., by the men today with the ancient human. According to the Darwin Theory the brain would evolve further only if its being stressed more than what it is today and if the stress levels are decreased when compared to what it was for the early man then we are at a dangerous stage where we might worry that brain might not only stop evolving but might even retreat!

To explain this with an example, how do we measure the brain stress levels and compare what brain went through when man invented Wheel or Fire and what it was like for the brain when lets say a Mobile was invented?

We might never be able to measure this, as there is no standard metric to measure this. If the brain stress levels for the Mobile invention was more than that the invention of Fire or the Wheel; we are on the right track and we need not worry. But if that is the other way round, we certainly need to worry according to Darwin theory! (For the mischief commenter who opines that Fire was a discovery and not an invention; I would argue, other animals also discovered fire too but none invented a way to use it, forget about creating it.)

Other question lingering on my mind is, “if there is any other organism that have been using its brain or rather stressing it presently more than what the human are doing?” Again its very tough to measure, I would not say impossible as we the human have shown time and again that nothing is impossible. So, if that organism is been using the brain or challenging it beyond the levels while the human are not stressing the brain as much as that organism is been able to do today. Then according to Darwin Theory, that organism one day would be more smarter and intelligent than the human!

Do we still have to worry about the aliens to come conquer us one day? We have a competitor right here!

So, to put my thoughts in a nutshell, might be scary to many; adult supervision is much suggested. “Human will not be the same that they are today, they might be more smart or might not be smart at all; they can look as human or might look completely different; as they travel with the evolution” and my other view is “There might be an organism right beside us which might turn out to be much intelligent and smart than the human again as we sail through the evolution”.

If these are freaky thoughts, please think on them more, stress your brain cells to the levels they haven’t ever reached before; please keep the human race going, be human help human!

-       Harish Bheemarthi

harish@bheemarthis.com | facebook.com/HarishBheemarthi | Bheemarthi.blogspot.com

Entreat of an Epic City .......

An Hyderabadi's Soulful Outcry....

If you are from this part of India, where I am from; probably you would have been asked this question not once but many a times and the question is, “Do you support Telangana?”  How uncomfortable you felt then? But I was not the one to be uncomfortable, every time I was asked this I would say, “I sympathise with the misery of certain sects of Telangana who have been deprived from any sort of respectable living for decades”. By now you might have pictured me as a supporter of the ongoing burning issue, if you did! You should continue reading to know the actuality. I am a Hyderabadi, not just according to the birth certificate but also by the nature, by the heart and this is the only place I know and I want to live in, may be that’s the reason even the Texas’s and Atlanta’s couldn’t hold me back eve for a month. Even my family has its strong origins on this land of richness in wealth and the warmth; this was just an FYI only for the curious gentlemen!

Time passed by, situations and issues started unfolding more and more to an extent where now I sympathise with Hyderabad more than the telangana, you read it right, I used to sympathise with Telangana but now my large sympathies are for Hyderabad, I say this after having spent my last two years in and out of OU completing my post-grad. I have seen the struggle inside OU and as well as the struggle outside, while the media was more interested about the inside news, I am curious to talk about the struggle outside OU. My sympathies are just not enough; I seek sympathies for Hyderabad from humanity at large. I want every human on this earth to take a notice of this, for they would learn not to be a warm host ever again, for they would know that the cities that they live in shouldn’t be shared with the others, for they would know the pain of a historic city once on the Times Cover for its richness now weeping and wailing for being friendly as it always does.

Hyderabad, which was established as a symbol of love, much before the great TAJ was built; still it always got sidelined. But never did it complain, never did it asked for its due recognition. Though the city was built to be as big as the present Great Britain, it was planned to accommodate very few. But due to its richness and glory the influx of men continued and according to the 1901 census population was well over 5lakh; many migrated from the different parts of the Deccan to this city. A city as great as this today seeks sympathies from its own people, it still calls them all as its own since it welcomed them all with the open arms at different points of its life. If almost everyone dwelled into Hyderabad’s heart for their living at various points of time in the history, how can this land decide upon who is close to it? To which point of the history do we go back to decide to whom does this great land belong? It never asked any one their origin before providing them with an asylum but today the same people want a complete possession of it? When a large part of Hyderabad has gone into Maharastra! Now should we also ask for those regions as well, as they were once a part of Hyderabad?

Hyderabadi’s, having inculcated this culture of warmness from their land have welcomed each and everyone from various parts of the country and the world with open hands. They didn’t differentiate among the religion’s, the caste’s, the economic status but little did they know that the same people whom they welcomed ages back would start differentiating on the name of region. Hyderabadi’s though they witnessed other parts of the city being transformed in the name of development while they remain ignored, they maintained a staunch silence through out; for they never differentiated among the regions of this city. Even today Hyderabadi’s doesn’t speak up, even now they don’t voice their opinion and they remain unasked. They are left unasked for their views, their willingness, their likings, unasked for everything since they have been too amiable with everyone. But now its time to raise our opinion, today we cannot be a mere spectator to the misery being inducted to our land.

Yes, Telangana culture, custom’s and accent is different from the other regions but if that becomes a basis for a separation. Then under which region do we group Hyderabad? Hyderabad all through its existence displayed its unique culture, unique language which is widely popular across the country for its friendly slang. My common sense says to me that I cannot group it under any region, if culture, custom and accent is taken as a consideration, what does your sense say?

Even in the midst of all this protests and bandhs for past few years, Hyderabad and hyderabadi’s have kept their spirits high and did not bother to get bogged down with the situations. Or else why you would still see traffic jams on the roads on a day of bandh, when the protesters did not even refrain from using the force against anyone willing to carry on with his day-to-day work. Even the pulse of Hyderabad is not disturbed, the malls are still gushing with people and theatres filled to the brim. Hyderabadi’s love towards the food and movies is still intact keeping the spirit of Hyderabad alive.

It’s just not that, though the industry and commerce in Hyderabad are being pushed into every hardship possible time and again. But the organisations kept performing and kept achieving. City has shown no less growth compared to the other cities of India, it still shows same IT revolution and software exports as it did few years back if not more. Though I had to go to OU everyday for my post-grad, my sessions were disturbed only twice in two years! It’s true that we Hyderabadi’s are being troubled to an extent where it can be termed it as harassment as well. We are not being allowed to work on what and when we want to, we have to follow their schedule and their timeline. We have to plan our travel according to their moods and we need to plan an outing based on their will. Or else our roads get blocked and turned into their kitchens, if we divert ourselves to the other routes our vehicles get stopped and when somehow to escape this trap we end up driving more our engines give up for the need of fuel and when roads are blocked why would the bunks be open?

Still we went forward, still we performed and still did we achieve what many other cities couldn’t. We stretched ourselves, compromised with our weekends, compensated the holidays, sacrificed the vacations and we now seem to be up for every obstruction. If state run buses are off the road, we took autos and trains to our destinations and when the trains and autos were forcefully stopped, we took private run buses and not sure how but we did reach but we reached our work places and continued our work.

It’s good in a way that we found an opportunity to showcase to the outer world that come what may, disaster what it might be Hyderabad and Hyderabadi’s doesn’t stop. And we showed a promise that your investments here surely would be valued with a promised growth even in the dire situations as it may be. This city has always been a paradise for the true hard workers, empires have been built based out of Hyderabad, and if you have put your efforts you were never disappointed. So why not we start putting more efforts towards reaching further heights, instead of fighting among us, Hyderabad still is as encouraging as ever!

 - Harish Bheemarthi

Zero Tolerance towards Terror; Z+ for the, by the, of the VIP’s; Commoners your just too common!

India a historic land has seen many great kingdoms and many great kings, wise emperors and abundant great warriors. This piece of land gave birth to many brave men who guarded their followers by being armor around them. India has since then buried them all deep in its crust. We love them all and we still remember their sacrifices, their brave stories. Young India gets nourished in the schools with their stories and many grand parents still believe them to be the best bedtime stories for their grand children.

If all that seem to be going well, how our present day leaders who get guarded by the brave policemen and the army men, doesn’t anymore care for us? Are they weren’t born here? Or they never read these stories in schools? Or they never heard their grand parents narrating the stories of the brave Indian legends? There should be some lag or else why would our leaders feel to be ashamed to be born here while they are being guarded, while they are being elected to represent us and while the innocent Indians respect them. Why do they forget that, A leader cannot call him a leader if he cannot guard his followers. Now, I am curious to know how a politician feels when he visits a terrorist blast site in a Z+ security cover?

Most young Indians would have never heard or seen a politician becoming a victim of the terrorist attack. Even I, can only remotely remember my kindergarten days when such news use to flash in the morning papers. But now we only hear and see the innocent country men and women being the targets of the terrorist attacks; be it Mumbai, be it Delhi or be it Hyderabad, sufferers are the same poor innocent people who only know how to meet their daily needs who knows no other malice and who can never harm the others. Terrorist outfits have found a soft target in the form of the commoners, as the vip’s got insured with x, y, z and the z pluses. India now provides 'Right to live' only for the VIP’s, its time that even the constitution is amended to make it a law. When we are so successfully guarding our politicians and the vips against all the odds, why cant we provide same security, same sense of guaranteed cover to the common man?

We the innocent Indians ask for nothing, does that mean we are not even provided a life to live? Knowing well that we have become the soft targets for the terrorism still the leaders of this nation drool in the bullet proof, blast proof, mine proof, signal jammed cars and closely guarding intelligence while the commuters on the road are stopped to a standstill, oh our work is not that important you see. Why cant we stop terrorism at the borders and donot allow it to pass our borders, is that a big ask? Seems so since we have deployed our best man in and around our VIP’s, who cares about our borders as long as our politicians are well guarded? If you are an Indian and if you live here, frisking at every entry point of the malls and the cinema halls would be very common day to day activity and we see no more doors but only the metal detectors everywhere; when I compare this to the US, I found frisking and all the checking points at the public places to be completely non-existent. But then how come they are able to avoid any other attack post 9/11? Answer lies at their ports and the borders, if you ever passed through the checking at a US airport you would know how concerned the Homeland security is, they know no VIP, they know no politician. All that they know is to secure their land from any terrorist infiltration. Why can’t we similarly kill the terrorism at the borders itself?

We don’t, instead every time there is a terrorist activity we upgrade our x,y,z and the z pluses for the dearest vvip’s and leave the commoners to the fate of the terrorists. Yes, we love sloganeering like zero tolerance towards terrorism but now we know in which context it is. Please don’t be afraid my dear politicians as long as our brave police and army men are around you, they are really zero tolerant towards anything that would cause harm to you. Rest assured you can have a sound sleep on your velvety mattress without any fear engulfing you while the commoner thanks the god for keeping him alive for yet another day. After the huge anti corruption movement, the government extended security cover to Anna, grouping him to be one among them who craves for the security cover but Anna rightly rejected it. Government here forgot that it was a people’s movement but sadly they remember Anna but not the people who are the drivers of the movement who are as important and may be more important than the Anna but why will the government care about us? But we are happy that we are still alive!

Why such a treatment towards the commoners? Do we punish him for paying his taxes judiciously? Or do we punish him since he is a law bided citizen? Or do we punish him for not having a swizz account? Why this country only values the lives of important and the prominent men? My sincere suggestion to the politicians, please guard your citizens, if not them whom else you would loot? Who else you would rule if not them, the mortals? Donot forget in their existence lies yours existence!

- Harish Bheemarthi

Ganesh Nimajjan, is it really living to what it was started for?

“Oh its a Monday morning work today is going to hurt”, I thought. But, can it be evaded? Can it be postponed? Well how fortunate it would have been! Just then I heard the horn and rushed for the cab. We started on our way to office, on the way I found Hyderabad roads were looking different they are not the same, they never looked this bad, papers scattered everywhere with many stuck to the tar as a gum. The roads looked utter messy with no cleanliness found throughout the stretch and throughout our drive! What might have gone wrong? Why it looks so messy? Then a thought struck me, “Oh it was Ganesh Nimajjanam yesterday “, but then I thought “So what? We all like to celebrate it; we all associate ourselves with Ganapati from our childhood more than any other God. But I also know that cleanliness is next to godliness and will God accept what we have done?”

While I was returning home we took the Tank Bund road and I was surprised to see how depleted it looked, it was looking no less than a left over after the floods. It was depressing to see a iconic road of Hyderabad, which is symbolized, to be a bonding between the twin cities now was lying unattended, marred with the debris. Was this avoidable? Yes it was certainly! With little consciousness and compassion from our side towards our city. How justified we are in destroying the infrastructure of which we are only a custodian and which needs to be passed to the future generations? Why does only the roads display the gloomy look, why doesn’t the same is repeated back at our homes? Since we care about everything that is ours and in that case even this city is ours, how can we ruin it?

Every year before the festival we hear people talking about using clay instead of plaster of paris and natural colors and they make honest efforts to motivate us! But do we ever heed to their concerns? They are genuinely concerned about the wealth that the nature has given to us and we are genuinely bent upon destroying it. We hear people talking about Musi in Hyderabad how it looked then and how it is now. But why don’t we realize that it might happen to Hussain Sagar as well, though we know it well we don’t care for it! We have to care for it if we have to save ourselves from the backlash of the future generations. 

Water is considered to be life, life was born in water and is still striving on water; it is the precious gift that nature has given to every living being, so do we have the right to destroy it for our selfish intents? How fortunate it would have been if animals and plants were able to speak for them! It’s a scary thought to think how in future we might be saying; “There used to be a lake here” pointing at Tank Bund, isn’t it scary to even think? We Hindus consider water to be sacred and one among the five godly gifts, then how can we think to pollute it with harmful substances? I am as Hindu as anyone or more religious than people who dance in disdain while the god idol is being pushed off the cliff into the water and celebrate while he melts and whistles while nothing godly is left behind. I fail to understand this form of prayer; instead we can have better forms of showing our devotion towards the God. Today we dance while the environment is getting polluted, day is not far when the same environment will make us dance under the scorching sun. 

Ganesh Nimajjanam was initiated by, Shri. Bal Gangadhar Tilak, though we had festivities earlier but the tradition of installation of the idol during the prayer days and then dissolving it into the water was his initiative. When he started this he had an honest motive of bridging the gap between the Brahmins and Non-Brahmins and to spread brotherhood and goodness among the society and it was also a strategic move against the British, a move that helped in social gatherings which was not allowed by the British. Today, what motive do we have in following this tradition? Do we have the same social conditions still prevalent? Or are we really able to bridge gap between the communities? Today different communities are organizing the Ganesh Pandals in the closed quarters among their social class. I saw a hoarding in Hyderabad by most prominent politician inviting VIP’s to the Ganesh Chaturti Celebrations; do you still think that we are spreading brotherhood in the name of Ganesh Nimajjanam or we thickening the divide? 

We bring in the Idol with great devotion; pray only for some days since we cannot continue the same sacredness throughout the year, we restrict it to only few days. Then we have found a way to dispose the Idol through submerging in water. If we ponder on it we would know, how selfish we are! We neither pray all days nor do we pay a respectful homage to the God and we know what we are upto with the mother earth! And yes we have right for all this, yes because no one questions us, yes because the animals and plants cant stop us and yes because I don’t listen to my consciousness! If you had a thought on this, why don’t we establish the Idol throughout the year at our homes and offer our prayers all the days.

And if your answer was a - No, we only care about the tradition! Then lets atleast take a owe that next Ganesh Chaturti will be harm less, will be free of plaster of paris and free of harmful colors, will unite us all in the name of humanity forgetting the dividing factor called social class and community!

- Harish Bheemarthi

India – today aspires for a land of equality and equal opportunities.

India is going through an historic moment where people’s voice has forced the leaders to stand, notice and rush towards an action. There is a debate going on everywhere today across India within the political bodies, in the Parliament and among all the Indians. All of us are worried about the corruption and how cancerous it has been to the nation. We have the numbers to prove, we have the reports to state how devastating corruption has become to our society. And today when we see an impounding victory against the corruption, being a greedy Indian I urge brave Indians again, to also stand against the much bigger and more denting an issue, which has been a primary reason for India to be in this sorry state. Do we dare to talk against it? Are we ready to take on it? Or our conscious is dead ages back?

Here I am talking about the social issue, which we all evade talking about and scared to opine on! While the world has been witnessing this strange happening a billion people failed to notice. Its weird and its strange, why? Never in the history or anywhere else in this world we observed people getting deprived and treated unequal and still they are happy to be treated so and they are happy to be contented with whatever is being forced on them. Yes you guessed it right its Casteism in India, which is foreign to us but we owned it to such an extent that now it’s more and beyond our closed ones.

Yes, it’s foreign and it was forcefully fed into our culture, though it’s largely debated on the origins of Caste system but certainly its roots are not in Hinduism, as it is perceived to be. While the Portugal and other invasions seeded it, the British drawing parallels between the casteism and their class system back home, cemented it for ease of penetration, solidification and then rule, a strategy more famously known as divide and rule. Indian society even after centuries is not been able to rise above this and still reeling under it, by the name of reservations. When we disown the british names of our cities and states like Banglore, West Bengal, why do we still keep the caste which is again foreign to us in our hearts? Why don’t we disown it as well?

Instead of finding a suitable, sustaining and amicable solution to the social menace called casteism we tried to bring in a social balance using reservations. For centuries facilities and resources was taken away from a group and stacked with another and now it’s the other way round. But the crucial part here is we don’t have standardized weights to measure the balance and in the process of making a balancing act the middle men always got benefited, if it was British earlier today its our politicians. The major political activity in India revolves around caste, Political parties are structured upon castes, and people swear on the name of caste and vote on the name of caste. Though its more cancerous to our nation every political party bets on it and supports it directly or indirectly. While few parties have been tagged to be communal and maligned, why doesn’t other parties get tagged as casteist though its nothing but obvious that they are structured in terms of caste in every state. If for any day we want to have political reforms in India, it should start with caste since our politics is deep rooted in caste, unless we have an equal distribution of power in terms of equal ground and equal opportunities we cannot talk about equality. Now its for the young Indians to decide are they content with just curbing people who have the power from corruption or they want to change themselves as well and owe not to support this social malice as a part of the new found victorious revolution.

Our jaws drop when we hear about the Indian Rupees being stashed in swizz banks. Will you believe if I say we have lost much more and infact we lost our present and future due to casteism in India, how? India had a vital share of inventions in the ancient times be it Mathematics (Aryabhatta), Science, Surgery (Sushruta), Languages (Panini) but we lost our way and we haven’t yet found our way, we hardly can now boast about our inventions in recent times. India has lost golden opportunities in terms of inventions that the world had witnessed. Based on those inventions the rest of the world cruised away while we just kept noticing, empires have been built like GE, Mercedes, GM, IBM and more while we were busy in social maligning. From a share of 25 to 30% of the global GDP we fell to 3% even then we did nothing and still we do nothing. Casteism can be directly or indirectly be related to this situation, had we allowed the bright Indians to pursue their passions without categorizing them and forcing them for caste based occupation India would have pioneered in inventions what it was before we lost our way. For thousands of years we did not allow our brains to work, we just followed caste blindly. Result of which is the present India, which was once termed to be the land of inventions and discoveries and biggest economy of the world. Yes, casteism provides a sense of security to the society in terms of streamlining the work force. But is it really worth it? We strongly know that it’s not worth it as the opportunity cost is unimaginable! We wouldn’t have had the master epic Mahabharata and we wouldn’t have had missiles now in India had Vyasa and Abdul Kalam stuck to their family occupation. Though this loss cannot be measured in any reports they should easily stuck our brain cords! How different India would have been had we never had casteism in place?

Casteism has been so deep routed in our culture now that most of us no longer pursue the same occupations but we get identified for it, why don’t we prefer to get an identity based on our occupation or for what we are rather than get an identity through our ancestors. Why do we complain when politicians pass on their legacy to their offspring, they have the right for it under casteism! We love our surnames more than our first names, strange but true in India. Its psychic that though we know its wrong and no religion or god would approve of what is being done but we still resort to it due to our upbringing in those situations. Parents in India are lot stronger in inculcating the good behavior, culture and ethics in a child but why do they teach the same child to practice a demon like caste. How correct are they in polluting the little brains? Can’t we see a nation growing above all these social inequalities and identities? Can ever we see our names without our caste being mentioned, Can we dare to? I believe in this present India that is fearless and committed for a change will dare to and there would be a day soon when this would happen!

Reservations is only a time being support, let us not consider it as a solution. Solution for cateism is within us, in the society, with the political parties and the government. With the triumph of the recent victory over the corruption, let us all once again resolute that we disown our caste; we do not approve casteism in India anymore. Let us resolute while we treat everyone as equals in our country we would also render help towards our economically limping fellow Indians in every way that we can but we are against casteism today and forever!

-Harish Bheemarthi

And to me this is not just a real beauty but its a life....

After bidding a soulful adieu to my family and friends at the Hyderabad International Airport, we went inside the airport lobby, yes its we since I was traveling along with a friend. And we both knew that we would be able to see our people waiting anxiously outside to have one last look, only after an year as we both were heading for our masters in the USA.

As we were walking further inside the airport, one glance at him told me that he is not able to handle himself, so I took his luggage and told him, “Go near the entrance again and wave to your family one last time” and in a moment he was back at the entrance giving a last glance; smiling to myself I thought, “Too pampered, it would be tough for him to adjust in the USA”. He came back gasping and took his luggage back and we both started walking again. We heard an announcement that flight would be taking off in another hour, leaving us some time to have rest. While I was looking around appreciating the infrastructure of the new airport, he asked, “if I could lend my mobile as he was not carrying his”. I said, “Wait let me talk to my people and would give you” and I spoke for a minute and gave him. I got my mobile back only after I finished surveying the complete lobby and checking out all the duty free shops there, I again thought, “how would he survive?”.

All through till we landed in Heathrow airport, the wait and then boarding onto another flight, I was the brave one among us both and enquiries at each spot was my job, his job was to follow me. As we where on board on the flight taking off for Chicago. I just started reminiscing my moments back home, the times I spent with friends in hyderabad. Then a small thought came into my mind, I was unaware that this thought would change my route, my thinking and me all together. The thought was , “Why I have to leave hyderabad or India? Why I should stay away from everyone? I was having good time and good opportunities at Hyderabad itself, then for what was I leaving it?”, and this changed the situation completely and I started asking myself first and then him and then everyone whom I met in the USA, how quick I can complete my MBA and return back? So, was I the bravest? Not sure!

This was the moment which made me realise the real beauty of my life, its my place 'Hyderabad' and my people which make my life complete. For many this place is very crowded and people here lacks in traffic and common sense but for me they are lively, they know to live their life on their terms and everyone here is living his life the way he wants it to, so whom would you complain on? A one walk through the Secunderabad station or Charminar would freak any new comer to this place but for people who have opened their eyes and learned to live here, its their definition of life. For me its so lively and people everywhere around you; everywhere you find people defining their own standards of life. Nothing is in place, nothing would seem working but its perfect in the minds of people who earn their living there. While in the USA, everything is in place and everything seems perfect but where are the people for whom the things are made and kept in place?

What else can beat you satisfaction levels, than freaking out with close friends on the necklace road, getting into a jam packed Eat Street and observing everyone before you find a place for yourself and than gulping something before you take on a boat ride....what else can be more sufficing than driving with bunch of friends on cars and bikes on the outskirts of hyderabad, while the clouds as serene as ever till then starts pouring....and the bikers take guard under a tree and you sit in a car and tease them!
Where else you can sit around with your family for tea while you watch the Breaking News on TV9 and other channels...

After a hectic work, all you friends get into a car with the door yelling at you. Frisking around the city for the theater you booked for a new release, what else can be more irritating when you find the theater you spotted was a wrong one and when you found the right theatre the show timing you booked for was afternoon show and not the evening show and all you friends yell at one poor fellow who gets punished for holding a credit card; these little moments make life worth remembering, worth sharing!

And for me this is not just a real beauty but its a life....