Shame on us

I'd like to ask you a question, Are you satisfied with the government's performance today (the outgoing government, not the newly elected government)? If Yes, leave me your number I'd like a dose of your positive spirit too, If No then tell me what are YOU doing to change it! If you are NOT satisfied with something, then why do you accept it. Why do you ignore it, WHY don't you CHANGE IT!!! W H Y ?


I don't need to take your permission for this; I can say this clearly and confidently that Indian politics today - sucks! BIG TIME! NO Doubts there. So my next question is, what do we do about it. This problem has been lying around with us for such a long time that it has become a part of the system, Hell it has become the system itself! So my next Question is, what practical, feasible, and permanent solution do we have to tackle this impossible-like problem?


I believe that educating the politician is both crucial and necessary today. A certain educational program should become a pre-requisite to contest the elections. A special course\degree should be made mandatory for all aspiring politicians for which a rigid entrance test should be taken, and only those who pass their final examinations with good scores should be allowed to contest the elections. I say this with many reasons. One, this would entail the public with a natural and trustworthy system for rating the politicians. Two, because it is senseless and idiotic to allow an illiterate, uneducated, and untested person to run and command a whole nation of learned men.


Think of it this way, while an uneducated \ unqualified person is not considered worthy of an ordinary 9-to-5 job, he is given the privilege to govern the brightest and the most cultivated minds of the country !If knowledge is power then how and why are the politicians given such supreme power when they don't have an iota of knowledge or intellect?


A Politician holds the highest and the strongest position in the world. He controls the whole society, his thoughts and philosophies are legally enforced upon millions, they have the power to influence a billion lives; they have the power and the responsibility to better a billion lives so how and why should we leave such an important position of the society for the unchecked and the unknown? When we choose to empower the most knowledgeable and the educated to run the companies of our country then why do we employ such unsuccessful and unpolished people to run our government?! As somebody has rightly said, "If we won't entrust our children to the politicians then how can we entrust them with our country?"!!!!


It is time that we, the educated drop down and participate in national politics and change the perception of politics itself. It is time that we assume responsibility that the development and growth of us individuals and eventually our country rests with us, and by not participating in it and by calling it names, we are merely running away from our responsibilities.

Politics is not bad, it has only assumed a bad reputation and it is up to us to change that!

If we think that the current horde of politicians are inefficient and corrupt then we need to step down and prove that we are better than them by doing their work better than them or else we should accept that we are worse than them because despite realizing their ineffectiveness, we fail to do any better than them and rather we continue to allow them to be re-elected to power and at times even help them get re-elected for our own greedy needs! And then we go on singing to the world that these politicians are good for nothing, they are the reason that the country is in shambles. Helloo, excuse me who do you think has elected these politicians? YOU YOURSELF so why throw mud at them when you yourself are engulfed in dirt, at least they are decent enough to do misdeeds in the open and then accept them openly, but we don’t even have the courage to accept it! And to top it all, we call ourselves a Democracy, the world’s largest Democracy. Shame on us!




More Suggestions in the same regard are on their way. Meanwhile you may give suggestions about how I can better my article or my thought process. Thanks!

Why Journalism?

India is a country with a population of more than a hundred Crore, so to bring about any positive change on the national level, the main requisite is communication. Thus my interest in Journalism & Mass Communication

A person of great intelligence with even greater ideas may not be able to do any good unless he is able to communicate well. And herein lays the role of Mass Communication. A journalist while acting as a middlemen between the masses still ends up playing as crucial a role as the masses itself for how can a person travel between two cities unless there is a road connecting them.

I believe media holds the power to make or break societies. What it chooses to talk about, becomes talked about, what it perceives as interesting, becomes interesting. Even a small mention of some work in jeopardy can pave its way to glory.

Thus the role of media today is as important as that of the doer. As they say, It takes two men to make great things, one who is great and does great and two, even rarer, who is great enough to see greatness and appreciate it.

A day at work

It’s time to wake up, the time is 8’o clock.

It’s time to wake up, the time is 8’o clock.

It’s time to wake up, the time is 8’o clock. 

An aggravated and totally annoyed me woke up to these very words at 8 in the morning everyday to begin another day at the office. Putting in motion my new routine centered around the office.

Brushing my teeth taking a bath putting on the office gear and basically making myself presentable for the office took about 30 minutes of my time, which was highly accelerated by the mental pressure of reaching office on time. Having the breakfast in a rush, gobbling up the milk making supreme efforts not to spill it on myself and my hastily worn formal shirt (Office code, formals on all days except Friday) I am all set to hit the road. On the street rushing towards the bus-stop to catch the jam-packed DTC number 764, a glance on the watch confirms that I am on time today, and unless I meet some unforeseen incidents on the way I’d be well on time in the office today.

After some anxious waiting at the bus stop and then some pushing and shoving in the bus, I reach my mid-way halt Nehru Place, from where I change buses for my next destination, from where it’s a five minute walk to the Corporate Voice – Weber Shandwick’s Delhi headquarters a.k.a my workplace. 

At the entrance I was greeted by a smiling receptionist alias Gayatri and a register lying in front of her which I, like all employees of CV|WS was compelled to fill. The choice was that if you were on time that is, if you reached office before 10.15 am then you could enter your name in it with any ordinary pen, whereas if you dared to enter the office even a minute above 10.15 you would be handed a RED pen to fill in your attendance implying your having taken half day’s leave and thus a half day’s worth of sum being deducted from your salary. Thankfully I never got my name in red leaving quite a lot of scope for defaulting. 

Sitting on my desk in front of my BENQ computer I begin to go through all the pending works that I have with me and simultaneously look around for today’s FILECOPY circulating around the office. For the uninformed, FILECOPY is a compilation of all the leading and important newspapers of India; it includes the majors like HT, TOI, IE and the local leaders like The Telegraph, The Pioneer etcetera.

After glancing through the newspapers for today’s news and for any mention or coverage on my clients I move on to more pressing matters like sending the daily coverage reports to clients. This requires to be sent to the clients by 12pm sharp and takes up most of the afternoon. Thankfully I wasn’t single handed responsible for this, and a whole media team was set up to commission this job (which also happened to be the most sought after team of the office, as nearly everybody kept jumping on them time and again to check whether their coverage came in or not). 

After this I move on to other pressing issues like making the monthly dossiers or preparing for the next Press Release event, lending a helping hand to my seniors wherever possible.

Around 1pm in the afternoon hunger starts to hit in, and slowly and steadily we all queue up to give our lunch to Narendera Bhaiya, Office’s Man Friday who would reheat the lunch and then serve it on a dinning plate. All my colleagues of the same stature gather around a table, which was nearly always mine (as it was always so neat and clean, free of the heavy files the others had to bear), to share their lunches and to dig into others. This took up nearly an hour of hour time as it included the long wait for the return of the lunch from Narendera Bhaiya. At around 2pm we would all get back to work with full stomachs and an energized body.

The rest of the day passed away with the usual activity revolving around work and with the wait for the clock to strike 6. The atmosphere at this time was always quite relaxed as most of the reports to be sent to the clients had already been sent out by 12, so it was quite normal to find the a decrease in the number of office personnel at this time as most had left for their homes or to prepare for some upcoming PR event. The rest that had decided to stay either sat around gossiping with each other or smoking outside in the ground. The only highlight of the evening was the welcoming sight of Narendera Bhaiya with tray full of his special cardamom tea rejuvenating every soul in the office. 

At 6pm sharp a race amongst the remaining staff members began to finish their work and then head back home. Every other minute a chair could be heard moving backwards and the main door opening and shutting announcing the departure of yet another colleague. By 7pm the office would be nearly empty with only a select few remaining to complete their unfinished work.

I too would head back to my place taking the same route back home. Bringing another day at the office came to an end.

 

 

P.S.: I really cannot finish this article without mentioning the extreme support and help that I received from some of my friends-cum-colleagues there, like Dipanjoy Seal & Nishant for their ever readiness to help, advice and most importantly teach, without them, I can easily say that this internship would have been fruitless for me as all I learnt, I learnt from them; Shivani Ramiah, who apart from cheering up my day with her friendly gestures also taught me the importance of valuing and appraising that what I have even if I personally dislike it; Chiteshwari Anand for being so kind enough & patient to pick and drop me off from the office (thanks to her I was cry goodbye to the disgusting service of 764); Sanjeev Singh for rather than being a boss was always a friend or an elder brother towards me; and last but not the least Neha Singhvi for having gotten me this opportunity. Thank you all for making my first venture in the professional field so personal for me.