Role model, do they even exist?

I posed a question to my friends, who is their role model these days?
Most of them were at loss, questioning whether is there such a thing left anymore. I wondered, was their lack of knowledge or lack of faith that made them answer this.

I made my own checklist as I read about people and the lives they lived. I remember an old proverb, that life should be like a candle, even though you burn, others get the light.
JRD for humility and honesty
Baba Amte - sacrifice
G R Khairnar - standing rooted to the ground for what he believed in
Vikram Batra - The man whom almost made me join the army and Anita actually did.
Girish Wagh - The man behind the cheapest car in India and in the world. I can't help remembering the man behind K-car or the ever-green Mustang. Can we give him the same status as that of Lee Iacocca? Grish Wagh was give just three requirements for the new vehicle: It should be low-cost, adhere to regulatory requirements, and achieve performance targets such as fuel efficiency and acceleration capacity. And lo what did he and his team achieve!!! Are we celebrating, are we proud? Probably not, probably yes. (Head noding, the Indian way). Yes, that's the maybe world, where we thrive in the halo region. Why do I mention him here? Its not just the Tata's whom I adore, he has made me proud, the nation proud.

I mention him here, as Tatas battle the Singur crisis and now would have their factory set up in Gujarat. Governments should have been more liberal, forthcoming and fast to let Tata's set up their factory and help the nation create when the world keep's wondering, how?

Sounds of Silence

Silence like a cancer grows.
Hear my words that I might teach you,
Take my arms that I might reach you.
But my words like silent raindrops fell,
And echoed
In the wells of silence

- The Sound of Silence, Simon and Garfunkel

Sounds..

Sound of water as it juggles the pebbles, I remember the sound of the river flowing near our tent at the base camp, Kasol, HP and every night that I slept there, how peaceful it sounded...

Sound of the ocean, I always wondered how unfathomable it is yet so very attractive, at times benign yet malignant...

Sound of children's laughter, how innocent, open, effortless, casual and truly living the moment...ekdum dil se...

Sound of mom going about the house as I just open my eyes, how I miss that...
Rain drops on my window as I look at the garden bathing in the comfort of nature

The story behind the title...

I came up with the title of the page during engineering. While studying Satellite and Television Transmission, I learned the concept of vestigial side band (VSB). A side band of bigger spectrum used to transmit the desired frequencies. This means that even the vestige is useful and plays a vital role important. This blog symbolizes that it is part of the whole.

This probably should have been my 1st post...

Melting Pot...

Major cities are the best places to explore the melting of cultures and evolving of another. Though I grew up in a cosmopolitan milieu, I never really experienced any differences in culture. Reason, I was never 'living' with those heterogeneous cultures.

In Mumbai people seamlessly blend, let go of their differences and embrace the new culture, the Mumbai culture. And this is true of other bigger cities where the whole ethos is defined by the people who live in those cities. New York is city of immigrants, the amalgamation of cultures.

It was, living in the US, away from family and with a bunch of other Indians that, I truly discovered how diverse we are and how we all melt into the same pot "Indian". This I discovered while cooking, how quickly I took to other non traditional ways of curry making. The various spices, flavors and aromas that filled my nostrils were due to the confluence of those cultures. However we have chosen to be different and maintain our differences while in India.

Something that I have learned here is that what I adopt, what I adhere to does not matter to the society you live in, you are free to choose what you like, adopt what you prefer and make your own out of it. That they say is the "American Way", a person evolved from different cultural backgrounds.

I am hoping to re-discover India in the world.

Have we stopped celebrating the present?

Hindi language uses the same word 'kal' for past and future. Its like we live often in the past or the future often forgetting that we are supposed to live in 'now'.

The memorial day weekend here left me wondering, here is this country celebrating every year the scarifies of their soldiers and almost every holiday has a relevance today. What has India done for the glory of their soldiers? India Gate - erected in 1931 for those died serving the British in the world war. Indian government later converted it to be a memorial for those who died in the Indo-Pak war - 1974. How appalling! The country which spends maximum percentage of budget on defense does not have even one monument dedicated to its war heroes.

We have regaled in the glory of the past. Celebrating the victories of the past and often forgetting the relevance of today. Do we have any role models today? Who does today's youth look up to? Ambanis, Tatas or Birlas. What about those leading the nation, do we have a hero there? Leaving no chance, we have often quoted Gandhi and others. Yet another case of living in the past.

The truth is we have left the decisions of choosing our leaders to the masses and intelligent audience does not ask potent questions to those who decide to take oath. We keep living in the future and taking cues from past experience and forgetting that it is the present that will build the future.