Corruption in India

Corruption- a word that seems almost inseparable from my beloved country. I have really been thinking about it! Why do we have so much corruption prevalent in India as compared to any of the developed nations? Why do we encounter corruption in almost all spheres public services? You get away from almost any offence by paying a suitable bribe, from as little as breaking a traffic signal to as big as murder.

Some of the reasons which I believe are responsible for such a deep and widespread of corruption in India are:

1. Extremely low levels of salaries:

In general, everyone wants to lead a comfortable life - live in a descent home, own a reasonable means of transport, give good education to his children, reasonable means of comfort and luxury. I believe there is nothing wrong in that. Problem arises when one's income from fair means is not able to support these requirements. This provides a natural push to look for alternate sources of income. And for those possible, they move into the lucrative world of corruption. And given the fact that they can get away with almost anything, corruption becomes an even more attractive option. Unless we do something about it, I think it will be hard to bid good-bye to corruption.

2. Lack of accountability:

There is very little or absolutely no accountability in the public system. Each year hundreds of crores of rupees are allocated to ambitious water, land and education projects. But hardly you can see a tangible output. No one just bothers once the money has been allocated and received.

3. Of course, a bad bad leadership:

This is probably the biggest reason. A corrupt leader sets a bad example for his followers. This provides an added motivation for his subordinates to get into corruption. I just read about the alleged scam in the allocation of 3G spectrum in India and have been deeply moved by it. I am terribly frustrated and really want that the involved minister and other people should be brought to justice. They should be given a speedy trial and a harsh punishment which will set an example for others.

4. Education
I think our education system stresses more on competition and than on making great humans. We have a terrific sense of competitiveness. In the race to excel in every sphere of life, we forget that education is first meant to teach us some basic human values. Long gone are the days when we used to hear-Honesty is the best policy. Always speak truth.
I think that's where from corruption sets in. Our basic moral values have degraded over the past many years and today's generation has mostly seen corrupt officers and ministers around them.

If we really want to tackle corruption, we'll need to many steps and it will take a generation's time to clean up the whole system. At the outset, the corrupt leaders should be punished harshly and be given exemplary punishments. This will have immediate effects. We should also work towards improving the standard of life of a normal public servant. Give everyone enough means for a respectable life. In the long run, we should improve our education system. Unless our upcoming generation really values the morality of our literatures, it will be hard to bid corruption good bye for ever.

I feel extremely frustrated to see that my country is lagging behind despite having a huge potential to be a world superpower. There are 1000s like me who feel the same. I wonder if there is something I can do about it.

Ten things I'll miss the most if I have to leave Adelaide

Photo by Dulce M. Muñoz Valla…

Adelaide was a new place when me and wife came over here almost 1.5 years back. But we have developed some strong bonds with the city. There are some things that I am going to miss terribly if I have to move out at some stage:

1. We made some nice friends here. Friends who have been with us through the good and bad times of life. I think their company is the single most thing I am going to miss.
2. Living by the beach: We were lucky to find a house next the beach. This would have just been a mere dream elsewhere. I would miss the evening strolls, the cool breeze, the jetty and the romantic sunsets.
3. Meditation sessions at Australian School of Meditation: I can't thank enough Gopaladasi and BalakrishanDas for their meditation retreats. The couple organises free chanting and meditation classes at their place and offer free food too to all patrons. The chanting experience is extremely mesmerising and has brought me even closer to my spiritual self.
4. BC sessions with a workmate: I think I have had a great time gossiping with a friend of mine at work. Over period of time, we have developed a special frequency. Certain things mean special to us and we can relate to situation in the wink of an eye. 
5. My time at the gym: Adelaide is the place which let me have some time for myself and my health. Gym is another important part of my routine and I am going to miss it too.
6. 20 mins drive: Adelaide is a small city and life here is extremely manageable. Takes merely 20 mins to drive from work to home. Another 10 and you can reach from anywhere to anywhere in the city.
7. Great pizzas: Adelaide has got heaps of places which make excellent pizzas. Pedro's, Squisito , Cafe Fellini (special dessert pizzas) are just few of them.
8. Breakfast in the hills: Living in Adelaide gave us the luxury of living by the moment without having to plan in advance for outings. Sometimes, me and my wife drive up to Adelaide hills just to have some breakfast. The views from Mount Lofty summit, the fresh made doughnuts in Handorf are all worth being missed.
9. Haigh's chocolates: My wife loves the Haigh's chocolates' Caramel coated with milk chocolate. She just can't stop eating them once she starts!
10. Hmm....Cant really think of a 10th one! Does anyone else know something about the city which I would miss!!!!!

What I want to see in my e-reader!

B&N has announced its new e-reader. Looks like its going to give a tough competition to Amazon’s Kindle. But I guess it still lacks a few things which I would like to see in an e-reader before I buy one:

1.  There should be a standardized book format like MP3 is to music. I should be able to buy books from any online store and read them on my e-reader. I don’t want to be tied to any single vendor for buying my e-books.
2. There should also be a facility to have someone read the books to me. For instance, if I am reading the book at home and I leave it at some point; then I travel to work in my car, I should be able to plug-in my reader to my car speakers and have someone read the book to me from the point I left off. 
3. There should be a facility to  browse books online, compare the prices and then I should be able to choose where I want to buy the book from.
4. It would be great to have some sort of online public libraries from where I can borrow books, read them and return them like we do in case of a normal library.
5.  Of course I would also like to be able to use my e-reader as an internet device, music player and watch a few movies. I guess I am looking for more of a pocket computer rather than just an e-reader. But that’s what I need. An all in one device.
6.  If not for (5), I would be ready to pay up to $100 for the device. The books should be priced lowered too. After all its saving publishers and retailers a lot of money by taking out any printing, retail and transportation costs.
7. External memory support, 3G and WiFi connectivity etc. are few other things but I guess B&N reader Nook already has these facilities.

 Till some of these things appear in e-readers, I guess I will have to be content with my i-phone!

Finally its over

I wrote my GMAT yesterday and more than anything I am glad that its over. It had me quite busy for the past few weeks. I guess I will now have more time for my pregnant wife, book reading, blog, gym and the new thing I am going to try this summer, tennis!!

Meditation in Adelaide

I recently started going to the 'Australian School of Meditation' classes being held here in Adelaide. The classes are held by an elderly couple in their early 50s. They have been practising meditation for well over two decades I believe, it could be even longer. The have transformed their living room into a full-fledged meditation hall. Its full of Krishna's photos, posters and statues. As soon as I entered the place, I felt a feeling of profound peace and calm within myself. The paintings of Krishna, comfortable sitting arrangement, mild lighting, together with the burning incense sticks created an extremely soothing atmosphere.
The style used mostly is meditation through chanting. They chant many Krishna mantras and play guitar along side. Its a very mesmerising experience. Above all, its free and many a times they also hold dinner meditations where by the patrons are provided free food. If you are interested in meditation and like the style of doing it through chanting, I guess this is the place.
For more information, you can visit the Australian School of Meditation website here.
I got a CD from them which guides you through a fifteen minute meditation retreat. You can enjoy it here -->

Apart from deeply soothing and enjoyable, another good thing about this CD is that it is just 15 minutes long. So you can get it into your daily routine very easily.
Hope you like it.

Racism in Australia

There has been quite a lot of talk about ‘Racism in Australia’ in the recent past. Being an Indian and having lived and worked in Australia for well over an year, I thought it might be worthwhile to pen down my views on the topic to give people an un-sensationalized picture. I will also write a few things about what we as Indians can do to avoid becoming victims of the same.

At the outset, I do admit that racism is prevalent in Australia to an extent. In my experience I have seen that the acceptance for Indians is on the lower side specially in elderly folks. Many of them still view India as a third world country. Thanks to movies like ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ which have successfully strengthened this feeling. So the very idea of living side-by-side with people from a place full of chronic poverty, hunger, disease and filth is just not comfortable. This feeling of disgust is further fortified when they see Indians competing with them in every sphere of life, especially the job market. Some people from Northern India might be able to relate this feeling of disgust; they might have experienced it when they see bhaiyas from Bihar coming to their state and flourish well. So, in my opinion its basically this feeling of disgust that comes out as attacks.

Now having said that racism is prevalent to an extent, I do not mean that it has marred every aspect of the society . I had some very good and rewarding experiences while working here. My boss at work is an Australian and he has always treated me and other Indians at par with the local Australians in the team. We have always been given a fair share of all the opportunities and rewards. He highly values our contribution and admires the fact that we all are living far away from our families to work on the project. He as well as our other Australian colleagues, have always tried that we never feel out of place. So the onus is on us Indians to reciprocate the same respect and love, and blend in the local culture. And admittedly we have failed to do so in more than occasions. I will give some examples of this:
1. Many of my Indian colleagues didn’t have a hair cut for well over 10 months. You might be laughing but its true. The simple reason being AUD 20 (average cost of a regular hair-cut) translates to ~ Rs. 800. And who in India will pay such kind of money for a haircut. One of our guys went a little over board and in an attempt to hide his over grown hair, he started oiling them with Amla oil. And trust me the smell of that was unbearable even though I have used the same oil many times.
2. We never think it to be our duty to clean up our table after having lunch. I am talking about doing so in office lunch room where we bring our own food from home. That’s because we always have cleaners in India who do their job promptly as soon as we finish our lunch. And now there are no cleaners, not just in Australia, nowhere in the west. And people here clean their own mess. But we as Indians just don’t get this idea.
3. We have this terrible habit of over-working, spending over-hours at work. While in some case this might be necessary and helpful, we end up building wrong expectations in the long run. People start expecting us to work long hours and on weekends.
4. We also have a habit of switching to our native language as soon as we start talking to someone from our region, ignoring anyone else’s presence who can’t understand it. I have noticed my fellow Indians doing so in lifts and many meetings. Sometimes it is also viewed as if you want to pass a secret message, which of course is not good. I am not against talking in ones native language. In fact, I love to talk in Punjabi (my native language), but not at the cost of disrespect to others.

As I said, I did have some experience of racism at my workplace. It was not right in the face but there was a certain air of dislike for Indians. Fortunately, I was able to handle it well. It took me a while to convince people that Indians can be sophisticated too, that we are a right mix of style and substance, that our presence here is for a mutual benefit and not a threat to their existence, and that India is not just the land of Taj Mahal, curries and cricket. There is more to India. It’s a whole new world, brimming with enthusiasm and energy. And we represent the same.