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....

My Rupee Designs which I have submitted to the Ministry of Finance!

Following are the designs I submitted for the contest of Indian Rupee Symbol by the Ministry of Finance an year back! Not sure if I submitted the second design of mine as they were accepting only one design from an individual!



Design - 1





Concept =>

My idea for the symbol of the Rupee is a very simple construction of alphabets ‘ e ‘ and ‘ c ‘. Here e represents Economy / Economics and c represents Commerce.

I have emphasized upon Economy and Commerce because these two are most important factors for the upbringing of the society or the Nation. And the currency is related to the economy and financial aspect of the country. So an importance has to be given to the Economy in the symbol too.

India is the second fastest growing economy next only to China. Even in these times of slump and recession in rest of the world India has withstood and going quite strong in terms of Economy. There is a need to portray this at the global scenario so that India receives a wider attention.

India has pioneered the Economics even centuries before it was termed as economics. Economics was well in vogue in India during and even before the times of Chanakya a renowned strategist and economist who is not just admired by the Indians but the west too. He has authored books like ArthaShastra and NitiShastra giving comprehensive insight into the economics and politics at the times when the Europeans were glooming in the dark. India had the oldest university in the world Takshashila (Taxila) where all the modern sciences and even the Economics were taught and Chanakya was one among the teachers there!!

Thus, there is a need to throw light in these things, during that era most of the contributions to the world are being attributed to the west. And there is a strong belief in large sections both in and out of India that the Afghan and European invasions had liberated us from the dark days and taught us the nuances of Economics, Politics, Science and Technology. So, there is a need to show the world the past of India before the invasions where it was the idolized region for its prosperity, richness and knowledge.

The Commerce is an equally important term that has been used in the symbol in form of ‘c’. If economics has portrayed India earlier to the invasions. Commerce will portray how India was exploited out of its resources and how India has served the needs of the rest of the world. Around 1000 years of Mughul and European invasions India withstood the exploitation of its natural resources. India has served to the interests of these invaders willfully or rather unwillingly. Thus, even this becomes equally important to showcase the world; How India had served its resources to the rest of the world.

Even in the present global scenario India has been serving the rest of the world with its human resources. Most of the world scientists, technologists, IT personal, managers are the Indians. Indians are the forerunners of the world’s prominent organizations. Indians are known for their high skill levels and knowledge and their presence is felt everywhere. The best of the economies of the world now employs Indians in prominent positions.

Thus analyzing the present and history of India, Economics and Commerce are equally important factors that can emphasize, India’s importance in the Global Scenario. Today India is on its dream run towards the same glory and the present times when the world is digging deep into the recession India is able to show a steady growth only because of its strong base of economics. So, it’s time that world recognizes India’s and Indian’s contributions to the World and thus our symbol of Rupee should focus on this!!!


Design - 2




Concept =>


The construction of my symbol for Rupee consists two ( ~ ) characters and an inclined line or pole ( | ).

I have designed this symbol as it symbolizes two different and important things of India.

1: Indian National Flag (Tiranga):

This symbol with two (~) characters and a line ( | ) across them symbolizes our National Flag, The Tiranga - Tricolor.

And the meaning of our Tiranga need not be explained but I would try to state it in brief:

Bhagwa or the saffron color denotes renunciation or disinterestedness. Our leaders must be indifferent to material gains and dedicate themselves to their work. The white in the centre is light, the path of truth to guide our conduct. The green shows our relation to (the) soil, our relation to the plant life here, on which all other life depends.

2: Life its sustenance and India’s support to it:

The other important representation which I visualized while designing is – The two ( ~ ) characters symbolizes the flow of water. And water is the basis of life anywhere. Without the water life cannot gain its sustenance.

Here the water symbolizes the life which has flourished in the banks of Indus Valley. The Indus Valley civilization, the Harappa and Mohenjadaro civilizations are known to be the oldest civilizations. Thus, India has supported the rivers and water bodies which in turn gave birth to the oldest civilizations on earth!! Though mesopotamian civilization of Egypt is the first civilization, its not a continous civilization!!

The inclined line or the pole ( | ) actually represents the support to the ( ~ ) characters i.e, the support to the flowing water, indirectly supporting the life on earth. Hence, it can be portrayed that India had indeed been the forerunner than any other nations when sustenance of life is mattered.

The times when most of the nations look towards the west for their superiority we need to show the rest of the world that everything has started out from India and the civilizations had spread out from India. It also equally makes the countries realize the amicable conditions that India has for the life sustenance and its development!!!

My analysis on initial step towards – Telangana

It was September when I wrote my article “The plight of Telangana”, talking about various aspects of Telangana sentiments, history and struggle. I have also talked about the remedies that can be had to avoid the division of the state, but ardently and out rightly I have also warned that if things are not understood to the core and not solved the division of the state cannot be evaded further!

Only after about a month, the Telangana issue had caught the limelight through the media coverage of the threatening of Fast unto Death by Mr. KCR. And today, only after two months of what I warned might happen has really started to happen; The Central Govt. has taken the initial first step towards formation of Telangana!!

Today let us deeply analyse it,

-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!

-Did the congress only wanted to help Mr. KCR by giving him a reason to break his fast and no way concerned about the issue? Should we look this development only in this sense? Really tough for anyone to answer this.

Now, let’s think of the effects once a separate state is formed:

-In Telangana there might be a decline in the dominancy of two communities, which has started after 1956. Earlier to it this region had very less community and caste based differences. But it has increased due to the mass movement of the people from Andhra and Rayalseema regions where these sentiments are widely spread.

-Based on the govt. policies Hyderabad might see further development or stagnation. All these years Hyderabad’s resources and funds had been diverted to the other regions. Now citing the backwardness of other districts of Telangana as a reason if Hyderabad is further exploited; then that would lead to a stagnation of Hyderabad’s development. Here the govt. has to be wary as if this happens; this would again fuel in the movement for separate Hyderabad.

-This might not create a huge number of govt. jobs, as the present functionaries of the govt. will function the way they are doing and the people of other regions will continue working in the same roles. It might in fact create jobs in the Andhra/Rayalseema as they have to set up new offices and functionaries in their capital.

-There might be voluntary migration to their native regions, but I don’t see this as a happening in a large way.

-The reality in Hyderabad might take a setback initially for one or two years due to the speculations. But it would plunge back into the same position as Hyderabad has travelled a large distance away from the position where it can get affected by these political issues.

There could be many more than these which I can think of later but as for now and for this moment these are a few!!

The plight of Telangana...

If for my earlier articles I had received either good response or indifference, for the present article I fear about the response I would receive as now I trade in to the topic of a particular region i.e, Telangana and Hyderabad in particular. I also fear of instigating a sense of displeasure among people from other parts or the people who have migrated and settled in Hyderabad. But that would not deter me from talking the facts, talking the events and talking about the situations…

We hear a lot about Telangana and the movement to separate it from AP but will it solve the problems of Telangana? Can we not have a better solution?

Being Unbiased:

The regional discrimination and biased approach has what led to the present situation where the separation itself is being seen as a probable solution. So, if that is the main problem the most possible solution also lies in it. The government can itself stop this movement and sentiments of the people by not being biased towards other regions against the other. Though a lot of allegations are made over the govt. policies and funds being managed in such a way that it helps the other regions to develop over Telangana, but still it is being continued without any retrenchment.

Even Hyderabad couldn’t escape from such a treatment; the revenues generated from Hyderabad are year over the year being transferred for the development of the other regions. The lands in and around Hyderabad are being sold due to their high value and that money is being used elsewhere. Which is completely unacceptable, till the needs of Hyderabad are met, large part of Hyderabad still remains neglected with dilapidated roads, ill fated traffic signals, centuries old underground sewerage which was constructed during the Nizam era, but now as the population of Hyderabad increased widely over the years due to the huge migrations which has become a prime reason for the floods every time even though it pours only a little, this needs an urgent attention. The companies which have come to the state eyeing Hyderabad are being diverted to other cities like Vishakapatnam, a biased approach even though it will lead to the even distribution of development, it might affect badly where in the state might completely lose the FDI coming in as it had happened in the case of Volkswagen.

Leaving Hyderabad aside, the inner parts of Telangana are in much miserable state where few districts affected with fluoride don’t even have proper drinking water, even after 50 years of state formation if people are being deprived of drinking water, the miss management cannot be better than this. It’s really heart rendering that even the few parts of Hyderabad are in this situation.

Tolerance and Mutual Respect:

For few years now the Telangana struggle has been taking the self respect turn, where even the major political parties have now identified it as an issue of self respect more than the development issue. Yes, they are right at least in this. We see a lot of mimicking happening around of the Telangana slang, its culture etc., it’s sad that it is just not confined to movies but it has reached into the lives. Any tradition, slang or culture can be portrayed to be funny if wanted to and it happens with Telangana every time.

Though this land has provided a new life, livelihood for many a people from other regions, sad that many don’t tolerate Telangana’s customs, traditions and its slang is always ridiculed. The same persons if they happen to migrate to other countries, let alone tolerating their celebrations and customs, they even celebrate them as in the case of Christmas, Thanks Giving, Halloween and many other days!!!
That show’s we display a tolerance towards other countries but not to our own regions…. We should develop the regional tolerance.

The land of Telangana, was transcended by different communities like Qutubs, Asaf Jahi’s, Parsi’s, Sindhi’s etc and every community was heartily welcomed by the people of Telangana and they have intermixed their customs, traditions and even the slang. Most of the people from Hyderabad speak Telugu mixed with Urdu even though most of the Muslims of Hyderabad can’t even understand Urdu set aside speaking. Even the Dargah’s are visited by hindu’s largely, more than the muslims but other way it seldom happens.

Here it’s very sad to mention that people even exhibit the religion tolerance but not the caste and region tolerance.

These are the few little things if taken care of and followed; Telangana and more exclusively Hyderabad will be nothing less to any best places to live in. A mixture of modern and history, a mixture of cultures, a mixture of communities which is really a very rare pattern; this happens in only very few cities and Hyderabad is the rarest of the all!!!

But to end the probable suggestions, I also 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….

History

---------------------------

If interested in knowing the history and the events that have turned into this ugly situation please go on with the reading …

Why there is fuzz about Telangana and a movement or fight for its separation from Andhra Pradesh that we keep hearing on news channels etc…

To list out a few, Telangana was merged with the Andhra State against the wishes of the people of this region under the guise of linguistic based states. This led for utter discontentment of the Telangana people. Adding to it the major conditions which were agreed upon for the merger which is popularly known as ‘Gentleman’s Agreement’ of 1956 was never implemented. Not a single person from Telangana was appointed as Advocate-General so far in the State's long history; more than this the agreement of nominating a telangana person either as CM or Deputy CM was never followed later on. The first Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, ridiculed the post of Deputy Chief Ministership as the sixth finger and thus useless! While he served as Deputy Chief Minister in the B. Gopal Reddy’s regime till October 31, 1956!!

From then without any representation in the top posts of the state and in power making bodies, the people of telangana kept losing their ground. Before 1956, all jobs in Hyderabad State were filled with Mulkies with 15 years residence or birth in Hyderabad State. While no Telangana youth was appointed in Andhra districts, thousands of jobs in Telangana were filled by Andhras, some of them obtaining bogus mulki certificates. By 1969, it was estimated that over 22,000 posts were filled by Andhras with bogus certificates. In the name of rationalization of Departments, large numbers of engineers, doctors, gazetted officers from Andhra region were dumped in Telangana districts. They in turn brought their own Andhra staff for lower posts!!

Telanganas felt that their enrollment was not proportionate to their numbers. The selection of the city of Hyderabad as the state capital led to massive migration of people from Andhra into Telangana. Telanganas felt discriminated against in education and employment, non-Telanganas had been hired under the guise that qualified local people were unavailable. In addition, the unification of pay scales between the two regions appeared to disadvantage Telangana civil servants.

In such a situation, due to the public outcry an agitation for Telangana started in 1969 from the students of O.U. which spread throughout the region. Government employees and opposition members of the state legislative assembly swiftly threatened "direct action" in support of the students. The Congress-controlled state and central governments offered assurances that non-Telangana civil servants in the region would be replaced by Mulkis, disadvantaged local people, and that revenue surpluses from Telangana would be returned to the region. The protestors, however, were dissatisfied, and severe violence, including mob attacks on railroads, road transport, and government facilities, spread over the region. In addition, seventy-nine police firings resulted in twenty-three deaths according to official figures, the education system was shut down, and examinations were cancelled.

This led to the formation of Telangana People's Association (Telangana Praja Samithi) led by M. Chenna Reddy, who won 11 out of 14 seats in the elections from the region stating obvious support it had from the people of the region. But later due to political ambitions the association was merged into the Congress which became a debacle for Telangana.

With these unforeseen incidents, both the central and state governments passed Eight-Point programme of 1969 which protected the interests of Telangana but was never followed. Failure of which was succeeded by PM’s Five-Point forumla of 1972, following the tradition this again was never followed. Though these things couldn’t help the plight of the then Telangana, a reply for this was started from Andhra in the name of movement for Andhra. This eventually led to the popular Six-point Formula of 1973, providing decently good rights for the settlers from the other regions in Telangana.

Though the six-point formula was in a way advantageous to the non-Telangana still what little advantages it had for the Telangana been kept routinely violated, 126 times till 2006!!! Not even 200 employees belonging to Coastal Andhra working in Hyderabad were repatriated till 2006; taking a sample in that year, 80 per cent of the 15,000 youths recruited through `outsourcing' for different departments were found to be from Coastal Andhra. So by and large discrimination still continued towards the Telangana.

If the above was about employment, Telangana still faces a large discrimination in the allocation of funds etc., which are usually raised and talked upon by the now TRS in the assembly but never they are heeded.





What is the role of Hyderabad here?

I always will be more interested to talk about Hyderabad than anything else, as I have a very strong boding to this place!!!

We keep hearing about that the formation of AP and making Hyderabad as its capital has led to Hyderabad’s development. Whenever I hear these talks I laugh my soul out…. Hyderabad was made the capital as it was already a highly developed and orderly city then and provided the best amenities and the infrastructure. Hyderabad has got a history of over 400 years and its twin Secunderabad over 200 years, how can a few 50 years add in such a great extent to it. Infact the resources of Hyderabad had been exploited for the development of other regions.

If the pre history of Kaktiya’s, Mughals, Qutub Shahi’s are set aside as discussing them will make this post never ending… From the Asaf Jahi’s era Hyderabad was well prominent state under the rule of the Nizams extending over the Deccan, including the Telangana and Rayalseema. Hyderabad was always seen as a well rich state with surplus money reserves, noting the fact that the seventh Nizam was once world’s richest, even the then king of Dubai before the advent of oil travelled regularly to Hyderabad for the material gains from the Nizam!!

Even before the formation of the AP state, Hyderabad had well constructed buildings. Which the government had used to set up its offices like High Court, Osmania Hospital, Assembly, Osmania University and lot many structures which are still in use. The recent boom of IT and real estate is also because of the Hyderabad’s well developed facilities and importance. Even before to these recent IT and real estate, Hyderabad was always seen as an integral part of Telangana. Recent arguments are usually taken up, such as International Airport could have been constructed elsewhere other than Hyderabad, had it not been the capital. But they might be unaware that Hyderabad had airport, at times when Vizag, Vijayawada or for that matter any other city in the state could even dream of!! Hyderabad was the first state to separate the Judiciary from the Executive in 1901.

Hyderabad was developed over the centuries with the money of the Nizam state i.e, Telangana largely and also a bit from Rayalseema as it was given away by the Nizam to the British government to attain autonomous over the rest of the left out region i.e, Telangana through an agreement. That is the reason why there were mass conversions into Chirstianity in Rayalseema for the favors from the British. Thus, Hyderabad was, is and should remain a part of Telangana!!!

A historic Fight for Hyderabad State:

The people of Hyderabad had gone through a lot of turmoil and agony to join with the Independent India; still citing their patriotic passion finally was able to win their war with the Nizam.

The Nizam was very anxious to become independent and it had been Nizam's ambition to secure Dominion Status for his State. He tried to achieve this ambitious desire with the help of Khasim Razvi of the Ittehadul Muslimeen and its storm troopers, the Razakars; they were even ready to join the Pakistan than with India.

Fortunately, the Hindus of the Hyderabad State accounted for 93 per cent of its population. They launched the "Join India" movement with the cooperation of a very few patriotic Muslims for the integration of the State with the rest of the country – hats off to them!!!

The negotiations between the Nizam's Dominions and the Indian Union proved abortive. The Nizam Government did not agree to the accession to the Indian Union. The activities of the Majlis Ittehadul Muslimeen and the Razakars within the Dominions were posing a serious threat to peace and harmony. The growing violence by the Razakars seriously jeopardized law and order.

The Government of India tried to persuade the Nizam to sign the Instrument of accession with India. After tortuous negotiations, the Nizam finally entered into a "Stand Still Agreement" on November 29, 1947, with India for one year to maintain status quo.

This agreement provided the Nizam to gain time to procure military hardware from different parts of the world and smuggle them into Hyderabad. With the growing violence by the Razakars and the Nizam's attempts to get himself independent, the Government of India decided to curb these tendencies by launching a `Police Action' against the Nizam. The Razakars helped hand in hand for Nizam like digging and destroying the roads to put a hindrance for the movement of Police and the Army. The Indian Army, led by Major-General J.N.Chaudhuri entered the State from five directions and the military action was a brilliant success. On 18th September 1948, Nizam's forces surrendered to the Indian army and Mir Laik Ali, the Prime Minister of the Nizam, and Khasim Razvi were arrested. The merger of Hyderabad Dominions into the Indian Union was announced.





I feel highly distressed to say this that the people of Hyderabad and Telangana so
bravely fought with the Nizam and the Razakars to join with India, now they are being subjected to the discrimination and injustice in every govt. policy and funds and even its resources are being exploited.

SEPTEMBER 5..

As I brood over today’s date i.e., Sept. 5, I remember about the two most memorable days among the wonderful days I had at CBIT (my college). I always write about the social issues and politics of India, so this time around to have some break why not I try writing something about those two exciting and memorable days; I feel I should, so let’s pass through those times ….

I was in my 3rd year of engineering and it was three days prior to Sept. 5. While I was getting down the stairs of C-block, I saw one of my senior (4th yr) on his way to home which made me increase my pace and as I reached him patting his shoulder I said, “Hey boss, how things moving on……? Hey, by the way how are the preparations? Need any help let me know”. With a puzzled look he said, “What? Preparations for what”

I replied, “Hey in two days we have Teacher’s day and we usually have some celebrations for it, right!” For which he said “Oh! Yes, no idea dude may be this time we are not having anything”. With a sense of disbelief I said “But, last time your seniors did organize it amazingly, we really enjoyed on that day. And it’s a tradition which won’t be good if we drop it this time”. While I was talking to him, the last time celebrations just flashed on my mind. Where, I along with my friends was sitting in a group behind every one, commenting on every program that was being performed there. While this was going on all of a sudden I got up as I thought of some suggestion which could have made the program more exciting, so went up to one of the seniors present in front and before I could even talk to him; he brushed me aside saying we know how to organize things. Dismayed by his reply, I came back to my place and continued having a great time.

I got back to our discussion when he began his reply, “Harish, common we have so many other things to take care of, this is our final year and our placements are going on, we have our tensions don’t add any more to them!”. With a smile on face, I replied, “Ah, yes I was unaware of your problems; still I guess I will talk to the CR (class representative – topper for that semester) of your class”. He burst out with laughter, for which with a smile I continued, “I know CR in CBIT is nothing but a nerd, who only cares for his marks. But this is his responsibility and he is expected to take up the initiative, or why else should he be called a CR? Now it’s up to him he if takes up or not; I shall talk to him. Anyways have a good day, see you.” He replied back, “Sure, see you.”

Next day in the morning during break between the sessions, I was able to meet their CR. I asked him the same and as was expected, he gave a weird look; upon which I thought he might not even hear of something of that sort. Then I said to him, “No problem, I will take care of this event” without thinking and being unaware about the process and things involved in it. For which he gave a pleasing smile.

Here, I could have still gone back as none was there to help me out with the event and I kept thinking how I can manage everything all alone. But the ardent desire that the tradition should not be dropped made me to go ahead with it. I found out that the ISTE group present in the college was sponsoring this event for each branch with the props, cakes, snacks and other stuff. So that reduced my anguish considerably and got me a confidence that the event can still be pulled out though I was left with no time for the preparations, this news gave me a huge sense of relief.

After coming back to home, I started to ponder on it again. The celebrations will not be confined to only cake and snacks we still need to have some programs to make it exciting and here I was at home with little or no time left to even list out persons who can put up some show. Then something struck to my mind, two of the girls from the class junior to us (2nd yr) from the other section C-1 sings really well and we often used to make them sing during the ragging. Before I could think much on it, I called up one of them and persuaded her to sing for the event, after the usual ‘No’ that every one puts up, she agreed eventually, after I took much trouble in convincing her; thanks to her. Then I called her friend but this time it was bit easy to persuade. “Hey, your friend has agreed” always works wonders!!



I thought, now I have some song performances and I can add up antakshari and musical chairs to finish up the event. It might not be a great event but still a decently good one and much better than completely dropping it. So, had a good peaceful sleep that night, but next day morning little I knew that I will get myself again into the same tensed situation. I missed the bus that morning and reached college very late around 11 leaving only one hour to invite the lecturers. And in that one hour I have to prepare the invitations as well and missing even one lecturer will be such an embarrassing situation. I was cursing myself that had I come early before the classes started I could have caught a 1st year junior. May be god might have heard to me, I saw a guy passing at a long distant. Instantly, I called him to come near to me, The fact that I never saw him earlier in college made my belief strong that he should be a 1st year. But right in front of the classes, also without knowing much and calling from such a distance is considered to be risky for ragging and I was in a mood to take that risk.

As he came towards me, I asked him, “Which year?” to which he had replied “MCA 1st year”. Though we never rag MCA 1st years we only concentrate on the engineering 1st years but here I was in such a damn need. So, I told him, “I will not rag you not even interested in it, I need some help for which you have to bunk your class for this hour”. Surprisingly instantly he agreed without any buts’ and if’s. I took him to a lab where the invitation cards and other stuff were stored, then assigned him the work to place those cards in the covers and ran from there to the staff room.

Panting and in urgency approached the staff in-charge there, to which she was bewildered. With a smile I asked her, “Mam, I need the teaching and non-teaching staff list of CSE”. She instantly took the print out and gave to me without asking any question, maybe she understood the reason and was expecting someone would ask her for the list. That made me think how bad it would have been had we dropped the celebrations. Came back to the lab and sat along with him and completed the invitation cards. Assuring that invitation cards work was done, saying thanks I asked to him leave, once he left it flashed to me that I forgot to even ask his name!!!



Now, it was time to invite the lecturers for the celebrations. Thought it won’t be good if I go alone and invite so I asked few of my friends to accompany me and they did. We invited everyone, even the students which includes our juniors and as well as the seniors from both sections C-1 and C-2. After these events, we had a class session and having completed the work even I attended the session but all during the session I was so anxious thinking “How will it go, What if it dulled?”



The timing for which I booked the assembly hall and the end of class session had only five to ten minutes break in between, so I had put myself again into anxious moments by attending that class. As soon as the class was over, I rushed to the room where the cake, snacks and cool-drinks where placed. Saw a person in-charge there and requested him to send those to assembly hall right away. But, he showed his helplessness as he had no attendants to send those and told me he would do that as soon as he find someone. But, I was in no mood to wait as the time I was left with was miniscule. I requested him to give them to me and I will take them; he gave a surprised look too. They were around four to five big boxes, seeing them I understood why he had given that puzzled look; I had to carry them alone from that room to the assembly hall above the canteen one after the other. I could have called up my friends but I was not in a position to wait.





This confirmed my preparations where all done and set. And the assembly hall was also decently filled up with batches of all three years and again two sections in each of them and the teaching and non-teaching staff were all present. I had still around few minutes to start the proceedings. But then something stuck to me that if I start up the event with welcome message with my seniors and the outgoing batch sitting in front, it will amount as disrespect to them. So, I took one of my friends from the 4th year aside and told to him, “We have only two to three minutes prepare some welcome note and you have to start the event”. After those two to three minutes he came to me with the note and said, “Harish, look at it if this is fine”. To which I replied, “Whatever it is, its fine. People are waiting there, rush and start the program”.





After all the initial glitches and anxious moments I was into. The celebrations went really well with the help from my friends in organizing the shows and in distributing the snacks etc. Apart from once or twice running to the generator room from the assembly hall placed at diagonally opposite corners of the college, for the electrician to set the speakers right; everything else went on perfectly. Though when I compare this to the celebrations I attended when I was in 2nd year, this looked not so good but the sense of happiness and satisfaction was tremendous for me. As, if in that celebrations my words were not even heed to, here the very next celebrations I can proudly say that it was organized and even worked on completely by me.





This was the Sept. 5, 2005; it was my 3rd year of engineering, which will remain forever into my mind…. But little did I knew, what was in store for me for the coming Sept. 5!!! Interested in knowing what might have happened? Then read the next commencing part ….

Sept. 4, 2006; I was into my 4th year and final year of CBIT life. I along with my group of friends was idling our time in front of the sports room, post lunch; our usual favorite way of spending time. Then fortunately I happened to remember the date. I shouted with sudden rapidity, “Oops, today is 4th!!” someone from the group at their usual humorous best shouted back, “So what, is it your death day to be?” I replied, “Stop mocking guys, I am serious. Tomorrow we need to organize the Teachers day celebration”. For which Ratty (modernized version for Ratnakar) - if his looks has to be described. A tall, hefty having a typical nature of talk with heavy glasses slashed onto his face, anytime of the day makes him look a big nerd. Which he is, he is also the most decent and organized member of our group, he stood up and said, “Oh yeah! So shall we do it this time too?” I replied, “Of course we have to!!” and I continued, “Last time it was completely upon me but this time we all will do it together”. For which everyone were more than happy to work in their way.


So, I took Ratty, Pavan – person of extremes, if he can be taken to be the ultra modern kid as he enjoys and lives on rock music and other tech savvy stuff. He has got another side to him too, he equally is well aware and lives on the other kind of music (mass music in local slang) too and lot of other stuff too and always witty to the core and can get the nuts out of you, if you have happen to annoy him and if you do so, very easily it can considered your most unfortunate day; he has such great ability. He is a lean medium sized guy with always fully combed hair, sporting branded wear every moment. Along with Ratty and Pavan few other came along with me to the ISTE in-charge. I asked him, “Will you be providing the stuff for celebrations in similar manner, as it was done last time?” He gave me a complete shocker by saying, “No, this time we are not funding the event!!”

I was in full shatters, as again there was not much time left out it was almost the end of the day. So, whatever we can do we have to do only the next day. But this time I had greater hope, as I was not alone but my friends were also equally interested in organizing it. So, I told to Ratty and Pavan, “That’s ok, we will contribute ourselves. Tomorrow in first period start collecting in the class from our friends”. So, that’s what all we were able to plan on that day. And about the programs or shows to my amazement I didn’t even think of them.

Next day morning, I continued my legacy of going late to college and class. This was and is one thing which never comes into my control. Luckily as usual, the lecturer allowed me into the class. After having settled down at my place I looked at Ratty and Pavan, they said they were collecting. Till the end of the class session we had collected considerable amount, which I asked to keep it with them.

After the class sessions during the break, we went around each staff room inviting every lecturer. Mean time, Uday – supposedly the topper of class, takes up responsibility each time very well and he has a patient and friendly nature. To describe him, his style keeps changing; his hair keeps changing at times he complains of getting plump and eats all grass that he can find, at times he complains of being the same old personality.

And Bhanu – the other decent member of our group, who never talk’s bad and most dedicated to career and classes, never misses to take down the notes in class. To describe his looks, he is a tall, well built, and hairy with very unique gait. All his good manners will be lost in a second if he is any Disco or DJ, he would be the first person to hit the floor and gets into his own mood unaware of the surroundings, every time vows to eat less and not to eat non –vegetarian and ends up eating more than anyone else could and also ends up eating only non –vegetarian.

Both Uday and Bhanu took up the work of getting the best cake from the surrounding places. And we after inviting everyone went to the canteen at college and ordered there, for supply of the snacks and other stuff for the celebrations. And that officially were the end of the preparations, but for the shows to be put in there, we still had no clear idea. So, I took up that matter with my friends and after discussions we decided we will go with the conventional things like Antakshari, dumbsher arts, musical chairs etc, there was no time left for us to be creative and innovative.



Everyone including the faculty along with the HOD started assembling in the hall and we had our preparations going on too. Then I saw Uday coming in with the cake, as soon as he came in, I had some relief only then I remembered that a mam was not there in her room when we went to her staff room to invite. I went to Uday and told him, “Can you go and invite the mam, as she was not there when we went?”

May be he was tired roaming for the cake and began shouting on me, “Nee… @#$%&$ vere valu lera ….. (Youuu …. @#$%&$ you don’t have others …..)”. Being completely unaware of the fact that I had the microphone in my hand and it was in full active mode. His sound was echoing from the speakers which made him put a sudden halt to his word and embarrassingly he left from there to invite the mam. The funniest situation that can happen, we had a good laugh!!





Then, I started the proceedings with a welcome message and other programs followed it. We had a very good time with the lecturers and our other friends there. When it was time for the cake cutting, everyone pushed in towards the table to have a glimpse. And as, I was left with very little space, I pushed out myself from the crowd and was standing behind few others. Then there was the most memorable moment I cannot even think of. The HOD, after having done with the cutting of cake ; for the first piece of the cake he was searching for me and as I was standing behind, he was unable to locate me and had to wait for few seconds, still I got the first piece of the cake.



I Felt on top of the world, so euphoric and satisfied. Adding to it as it was a complete team work and more importantly along with my very good friends I was more enthralled and elated this Sept. 5, 2006 celebrations than the last year’s celebrations i.e., Sept. 5, 2005.



Next year, I was in Mysore for my training at Infosys. When I enquired my juniors on how they had celebrated Sept. 5, 2007. I felt dismayed and dejected to know that there was no celebration and an end to that tradition had finally come!!!

Is there a need for the Govt. (A.P. precisely) to re-strategize its higher education and employment policies?

Few days back while I was reading the paper, a news article about “No takers for IT SEZ, Govt. not favorable to allocate the space to other domain companies…” caught my attention instantly. Then I thought why the govt. is still hanging around to the decades old strategy of employment by the then govt.?

Another day I saw some other news “No takers for the traditional sciences/courses at colleges”. Then again I cursed the govt. for pushing the students away from the basic sciences, arts and other courses which are very much needed in every field and walk of life. This has happened because of the Govt. strategy of promoting only the engineering field and more specifically IT courses for few years now, as this field has created a huge pool of employment. Certainly then the reason for the promotion seems to be out rightly correct. But, is it really a right approach? Let’s dig deeper into it.

Very recently I saw some other news which was stating that around 1.6 lakh attended the engineering counseling from 3 lakh plus eligible candidates, where as last year almost every eligible student attended the counseling. Adding to it, only very few dared to take CSE/IT and many seats are left vacant. Seeing this, I was left so confused, if students are not getting into traditional courses and they are also not getting into engineering (precisely IT)? Then which other courses are they getting into? May be they are even more confused than I am, as for years taking a traditional arts/science was seen as degradable and a complete NO for a bright student and the IT which has provided the highest employment to almost all the engineering graduates, has back fired from past 1 yr.

Who is responsible for the present situation? The students and their parents are clueless of what field they can trade into. The way I see it’s majorly the ill efficiency of the Govt. agencies coupled with the wrong social outlook by each one of us.

Though, the govt. needs to be appreciated for its quick grasp of the then newly emerging IT field and using it efficiently to create wealth and employment but anything overdone is hazardous, which is what has really happened in A.P. now. Though the govt. can very easily wash away its hands by putting the blame on the present Global recession, but the fact remains is; this was going to happen with or without the recession may be the recession has pushed it a bit earlier. I always get surprised, that no politician or official talks about the govt. functioning towards the higher education and relevant employment. Most of the times they talk about very straight topics; the likes of agriculture, farmers where they don’t really have to put much of thinking and only needs to follow the set guidelines and even there they messes up hugely and keep discussing on it and side tracking the other major issues.

If, I have to cite a similar example; Detroit was considered as automobile hub earlier to the recession due to the presence of GM and Ford, the automobile veterans. Based on that, the govt. there (Michigan) should have promoted only mechanical and automobile education as they can get employment easily; but I am sure they haven’t. And why does our Govt. in AP always promote only IT and very few other sectors as a basis of employment for the educated youth?

The other reason for the present situation is the social pressure that an individual goes through. We in our society start glorifying and idolizing certain things over the above. Like for past few years Software Professionals were glorified and made poster boys everywhere and now when the situation has changed very quickly they are being asked, is your job secure, does your company started firing. Since the IT was promising along with huge pay checks till few years ago, everyone was being encouraged to get into it even though he might have not been interested in that work. The students were pushed away from their interest in other sciences, course etc. and influenced to join engineering as the IT companies majorly preferred engineering graduates over the other courses and for these companies even the branch of engineering never mattered and so was to the students, as at the end they were sure of being employed by an IT company.

But, are they really doing justice of the engineering education they had imparted? Very few get an opportunity to do that, since the work in an IT services company can also be executed by anyone and everyone with a few months of training in a technology and there is no engineering involved there. May be in few product companies the engineering skills are really vital, but the work in major IT services is not engineering and all that matters is knowledge in the technology/language and most of the job profiles there don’t even require that, it will be a mere work on excel and word with a bit of script execution. Hence the companies started hiring the other graduate students as well for the same job profiles with little bit less pay.

Being unknown of these points the work at software was always glorified which has greatly influenced most of the young men from this part of our nation to take up as a profession. The work here can very easily be compared to work in any other domain or even the Govt. organizations with only more strict process being employed, with more professionalism, with a little bit higher pay levels which is fast diminishing, with good naming conventions involved for the job profiles. But, it is highly volatile as it is depended on the foreign markets for the projects by ignoring our own local market which is also changing and changing for good, because of which there might not be big packages to the associates anymore. IT services are majorly used in automation of a process may be for a company or any other organization. By now lot of automation has already happened, largely for many process involved in various organizations of developed nations; that is the reason why we see an increase in maintenance projects and a decrease in core development projects. Also by now lot of applications has already been developed and huge and huge lines of codes are already stuffed into the repositories of various companies and now if there is any need of automation or any application development it’s a mere search into their repositories that can get the code for a particular required module. If this trend is followed I guess in coming years, every possible process will have an application developed previously and only customization of it will solve the problem, that way the opportunities in the service industry might sharply decline!!

I had to elaborate on a particular industry as it is misunderstood by many outside of it and also by the men inside it; When I had a discussion over the growth in IT sector with my friends before the recession, none agreed when I said, “Growth is not the same as it used to be and it will deteriorate further”. Now when I ask the same persons they themselves say that they see no good growth. I also had to elaborate on it as it was hugely glorified in our society and now it is being downgraded. Here is where we need to change our outlook towards the various work domains. Every industry has got its relevance, also good and bad; it is not right to weigh an industry over the other and glorifying a professional belonging to a domain over another professional of other domain.

Coming back to the Govt. strategy of promoting IT services as it creates high employment over the other sectors, yes it’s true that the service sector will have a good potential of creating employment. But how good an employment is, if it is seen as a volatile job and how good it is when insecurity is always running at back of the mind and more importantly if it is not relevant to what we have studied.

So, here we need to change the decade old mindset, when I see the discussion shows about the less numbers turning out for engineering counseling, the officials are still backing with their strategies and the only reason they see for this happening is because of recession. It’s high time that they realize their mistakes or else it’s the people who will ouster them as they did with the counseling. They need to rethink about it and come out with more focused and sustained plan for the higher education and relevant employment. If I have to propose the strategies for it, I think of the following:

More focused and practical oriented, quality Higher Education for EVERYONE:

The higher education be it the traditional science’s/ arts and other courses or be it the engineering; the reliance on the exam’s quickly need to be refrained. The need of the hour is provide the best of the education with good faculty and good infrastructure at each of the universities and their affiliated colleges. Colleges being run only for the name sake and which lack the facilities should either be shut down or supported to enhance their levels. Decentralization also needs to be done, i.e, the present system of glorifying few good colleges’ needs to be stopped. Presently the focus is only on the IIT’s , IIM’s and few other colleges, this way the funds for other colleges is ill effected. Due to the high idolization of these institutes other colleges are always looked down.

But, is there any study or survey done, which can prove that an IIT’ian or IIM or ISBian performs really well over the other college educated professionals in their further professional levels? They might get higher salary initially due to the idolization of the institute they are from; but it is always possible that a professional from other college performs well and better than him and can command more respect in the organization. If we have to relate it to US; the Harvard’s, the Stanford’s are highly respected, regarded and recognized but not idolized. There even the other universities have their own relevance and equally good facilities. But here back in India, it is seen as a crime if we have got low CAT or JEE score and got into other college. I might have exaggerated, but the situation is no better than that, it is seen as an end of one’s career if he has not been able to get into these institutes. But what everyone fails to recognize is eventually they have to get into same companies with some different pay packages obviously and from there it’s the individual performance that matters.

Due to the present over focus on the few institutes, the funds and the attention are always to those institutes and other colleges get a step motherly treatment. Because of this the students are going through tremendous pressure for the entrance exams to get into them and then we start publicizing that getting into IIM’s is more difficult than getting into world best schools as more number of students compete for few seats (here we forget that most of them are not serious about it, and it is not a single but group of institutes) and we take pride in it. Rather we need to be depressed with the present situation; our strategy has failed to create more good institutes and thereby increasing the competition among the students for very few seats, not because of lack of funds but due to the lack of strategy, lack of willingness and lack of planning. Also because of this the talented and skilled are being restricted to only few colleges, but when these people are distributed over the other colleges the rest of the students will also gain the all important exposure from them.

I find it really silly when a state fights with the center for an IIT or IIM as A.P. did, lead by the noted academicians’. I don’t understand what for they want more of these institutes, even if one more IIT is granted what good it will do to the huge pool of students, only few hundred’s will get a quality education leaving the rest lakh’s of students to their destiny. What for they want to create world class amenities in very few selected schools when large number of other colleges and schools lack basic facilities like labs and at times even the tables and chairs. How good this strategy is working for India? The few selected students who were given quality education, how many from them work in India or work for generating revenue for India? Does any study or survey been conducted? So, focus needs to shift to other universities and colleges as well, they are needed to be empowered with faculty, infrastructure etc. The basic structure of the universities and colleges needs to be upgraded to higher levels.

And the students need to be encouraged to think according to their interests and not to go by the popular beliefs and paths. Though some routes might yield higher pay’s initially and there might be a social pressure to get into that domain and work, but eventually following the interest and skill levels will be more fruitful and also towards the end only it can earn higher recognition and also remuneration. This needs to be propagated well into the society, as most of us are presently giving away our interest levels in our subjects and skills and take up a higher paying job or get into more popular path to US and there again get into the same work of IT with the help of all helpful consultancies. Here I talk about the majority and not the exceptions and not about the other few because we will have exceptions everywhere.

We are thrown into such situations as we believe we are not competent enough may be because of the low standard education we received, the reason is again the same. Along with the increase of quality education, research is what needs to be stressed on. How many innovations we were able to make? How many patents we have filed? If we compare these with other nations we stand somewhere down the queue.

Each vertical of the education be it a science/arts or others have to be given its due relevance:

The present situation confronting the students whether to take up engineering or not, whether to take up other courses or not, is due to ill planning that has been done over the years. Each and every field is important and relevant, it’s important that we excel in whatever field we take up to earn high returns. And that can only be done only if we are really interested in the work we are doing. This also needs to be widely promoted.

Create employment opportunities in other sectors too:

Along with recognizing the power of service sector in employment, the Govt. has to promote other sectors too. Every domain has got a power to provide employment, so it is needed to encourage setting up of more enterprises, industries and businesses. Encourage the entrepreneurs tremendously as they are not only reducing the burden of the Govt. as a job seeker but also creating jobs for fellow nationals, the present policies of encouragement are nowhere close of being helpful a lot still needs to be done here. A lot of employment happens through small enterprises and business and not the big corporate, but the sad state is that the big companies which doesn’t need any encouragement receives high level of assistance and where as the small companies end up getting discouraged with the stringent policies.

These are the few points which I present for now, there might be many added to it as well. To the end I want to warn the officials and responsible persons of the state that-

“Nothing can do more harm to a nation, than an aimless and clueless educated Young men and women.”

And for a nation like us, where we back upon our population and human resources it can cause even more harm. Naturally our biggest strength is our young population and if they are being pushed into the dark and left clueless; our biggest strength can also turn into our biggest weakness and a disaster. I only hope they take note of this!!!