Zimbabwe Today

Zimbabwe became an independent nation in April 1980 following the Lancaster House Agreement.

There has been a chronological sequence of events that lead to the downfall of the nation from being one of Africa's most developed nations to the world's worst nations economically and socially.

I will try to jot down the reasons behind this massacre:

1. The Land Reform Program initiated by the Government of Zimbabwe: This was an attempt of an equitable distribution of land among the population. The majority of the land was owned by the minority white farmers in the nation, which was supposed to be given back to the blacks. This in turn saw a major reduction in the agricultural production of the country and increase of disputed land in the nation causing a decrease in the productivity. This created a shortage of agricultural products which was once the backbone of the economy, creating a demand supply mismatch.


2. Operation Murambatsvina was initiated by the Government of Zimbabwe following the elections in 2005. An operation aimed towards the crackdown of the illegal markets and towns that caused the emergence of slums in the towns and cities, so as to provide decent housing and living conditions. This in turn, left a huge chunk of population homeless without any rehabilitation.


3. Humanitarian Crisis has reached a stage wherein the population is chronically suffering droughts affecting the entire region, HIV/AIDS Epidemic gaining monstrous proportions (1.8 million affected), and unsupportive government price control and land reform policies. There has been a dramatic decrease in the life expectancy from 60 to 37 since 1990, which is the lowest in the world.


4. Hyperinflation is attributed to the majority of the issues pertaining to the human population in Zimbabwe. Beginning 2000, the national economy contracted by as much as 40%; inflation has vaulted to over 164,900.3% (official est.) , and there is persistent shortages of foreign exchange, local currency, fuel, medicine, and food. GDP per capita has dropped by 40%, agricultural output dropped by 51% and industrial production dropped by 47%. A $500 million bearer cheque was introduced by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) on May 15 2008 valued at about USD 1.93 at the time of issue. The situation is worsened due to the difference between the Official and Black Market rate.


5. A War with the Democratic Republic of Congo has been fought at the expense of billions which by no means have helped the cause of the people of Zimbabwe.

Go Goa!!

So now I’m on a complete blogging spree.... After the Puri experience here I come with the Goa experience. Mind you the Goa trip occurred much before the Puri one... Somehow, just that I could not gather the energy before. The maiden trip to Goa has a special relevance to me because it was among the most sought after destinations of the final year college days, but could not make it due to a terrible sequence of events (beyond the scope here).

The planning phase had been initiated at a very early stage by me, Sumit and Pratap (Pratap recently bought a brand new house at HSR Layout, Hats off to his meticulous planning!!), almost a year ago while shifting together to our newly rented house at #124 VijayShree Complex. And, finally it happened during the first week of April, with a long delay thanks to our professional and personal obligations. The best part of the plan was that it did not comprise of the just three of us but, a total of eight of us including Bumba, Lallu, Dipak, Ezhil and Jha (I'm too bad at remembering good names of people so please pardon me for that).

So, one fine Friday evening in the first week of April, the coterie set upon the Goa bound journey. But, the carrier was such a wonderful one that by the end of the journey, it left us admiring ourselves in awe, for our capability to undermine adversity. And, the icing on the cake was the last set of seats allocated to us (reminded me of the good old school days.... lastbenchers.... but it was not the same comfortable and cozy feeling). Finally, we reached Goa at around 1 o'clock in the afternoon with our ebullience being overpowered by tiredness and dehydration, followed by a wasteful argument with an adamant bike wala (one can rent bikes and cars from them at a daily basis). Then, we reached the Calangute Beach (one of the most populous beaches of Goa) with hope to find something worthwhile, and to our delight we found a very affordable accommodation (can’t call that a hotel) with the beach a couple of minutes walk away from us. The locality was nice one with a huge potential for pleasure of sight as well as might (After all, Game was the only Aim)!!! So now the time had come to free ourselves upon the arms of the Arabian Sea and this feeling was magnified due a thrilling Para-gliding experience I had along with Pratap, Motu and Lallu. I was noncommittal at first but, Thanks to Pratap on this occasion!!! This was followed by hours in front of the sea with beer in one hand and fag on the other (Then I feel like a man!!! :-))... The sight of the lambent sun setting down in the horizon makes one think about the bigger things in life, and not about the insignificant day to day hassles. The evanescent feeling of the Wind in my hair and sand at my feet.... is amazing, romantic, self interrogating, supernatural.... it’s beyond me to put this down in words. After this enchanting rendezvous with the sea, it was dinner time and it was a royal dinner with a variety of Sea Food on offer at the Baga Beach in front of the Britto's or Tito's (Bumba educated me that those are one of the famous places in Goa). Bumba also gave me vital information about beaches in Phillipines, Sea food, etc during the trip... he's a Rock Star!! Then, came another high point of the trip... Ezhil ki zindagi jeene ki iccha jag uthi and we kept ambling aimlessly in search of the true Goa, but alas found nothing (cannot express much here). That’s too a memorable incident, and with lallu around there was no scope of boredom to prevail. I always feel a sense of consanguinity between myself and lallu because of the commonality of the dialect that we both speak informally. This marked the end of our enervated first day in Goa.

Then arrived the day#2 of our trip and we had plans to go to the Palolam Beach (I'm informed it has blue waters and white sand). But, those plans remained as plans due to a hapless interception involving Jha (soon to be a part of the class of IIM K, Congratulations to him...) and our very own apna Holdy (enigmatic personality!!). However, after a lot of discussions and strategies, we concurred to head towards the Anjuna Beach (the foreigner infested beach - the infamous Scarlett Murder Venue). We had an inundated session sun bathing and profused sea bathing, where we taught Mera Bharat Mahan to a couple of firangi kids. Worth a mention here is the comment that our Ezhil got from the kids causing a lot of embarrassment to all of us, our motu is a genuine whimsical kid at heart!! With the gusto of driving the well maintained blue Wagon R on the streets of Goa, we drove to the much awaited Vagator Beach. Vagator was the most scenic and vignette of all the beaches of Goa, circumscribed by the Chapora Fort of the movie DCH fame, perfectly sating to the eye. Here too, we had rounds of bakar with Dipak leading the Bihari bandwagon (he is one of the most amicably non controversial person I have met!!) and Sumit on the center stage as always due to the fact that all the rest seven were his direct friends someway or the other. On our way back we did see a set up of the much hyped Rave Parties, which elevated our hedonist desires, but could not experience it unfortunately due to some unavoidable circumstances.

That was about the end of the second day at Goa and the next day we were supposed to head back to Bangalore with wait listed reservations. Fortunately, 5 of the 8 reservations were confirmed and we have a moderately comfortable journey back to Bangalore.

The tour was definitely very festive, frivolous and a galvanizing one, and more so due to the presence of like minded people together (This is Sumit's favourite one liner). I wish I was destined to be a part of many more such outings with these people around. The feeling emanated by its reminiscence is still Elysian!! Never mind, it was an experience that I would cherish all through and preserve down the memory lane......

F.R.I.E.N.D.S. @ Sterling Puri

Enough of the knowledge worthy stuff I have been writing in the recent times (I feel so when I recall my golden olden days!!!), so thought that I will write something that’s close to my heart (very very close). Off late I have been touring all parts of the country right from a colleagues wedding in Erode, TN to Puri, Orrisa... has been quite hectic but, could not feel it as I have been happy and satisfied with some developments personally as well as professionally... mind comes before the body ..isn’t it??

I went home for a long long vacation of 2 weeks to get some passport formalities cleared and also meet family and friends.... The last part of the vacation was specifically very memorable because of the fact that it was an innumerably planned and once executed F.R.I.E.N.D.S reunion at Sterling Resorts in Puri. The place itself makes me nostalgic given the fact that we had visited this place 4 years ago during college days when we were freaks in the true sense. At that point in time we reached the place with anticipation of two adjoining suites, one occupied by us and the other??? Pushkar will relate to this better....


Day #1:
So now we had finally reached the place..... Here we means myself, Ankit,Thapa, Pushkar and Goldy, with Saket joining us a few hours later. We just had a couple of days in hand and ready to relive it all. The trip started with a Bakar session in the wonderfully air conditioned room at the resort and a perfect English breakfast. Then, we finally moved out of the comforts of the room to the arms of the sea in one of the less crowded beaches of Puri in the middle of killing heat. Yes, that was of course preceded by a sumptuous lunch at Bideshi Hotel suggested by Thapa wherein Ankit was completely unable to lose his Los Angeles charisma. Our high pitch conversations were being frequently interrupted by Ankit saying dhire bolo kya sochega aas paas ka log and was very ably reciprocated by Thapa with the lines saying I'm on holiday..... I can f@#$ everybody this way..... I'm cool!!!. The expression on Thapa's face and the hand-eye coordination while delivering this was simply amazing... Thapa is true genius (read CS... we know what that means?). And, also not to forget Thapa had a very eye pleasing Donkey ride, on the dirty beach of Puri, which he thought to be horse initially (I guess you don’t have horses and donkeys in Nepal??). O.K. then we all headed back to the resort completely tired and desperate to take a plunge in the not very well maintained swimming pool, and to add to the icing of the cake Pushkar made it even dirtier courtesy some unique act of his, I assure no one else is capable of such acts. And then, Saket joined us in the resort after a hard day at office (feel the sarcasm...), by this time we were hungry enough for our dinner. Then, started the big plans for the booze party... Where's the party tonight??? ...... On the sea Shore!!! So, the issue in hand was to get enough stock for a night long sustenance, so the most intrepid of the lot i.e. myself and pushkar (2007) were given the charge and we got the pre-requisites and requisites at the expense of 350 bucks for 10 kms (mind you we're in Puri not Pennsylvania). That night was magical, it was pure, it was undiplomatic, it was we and we were together. The fun was of course acknowledged by our very own Ankit Pushkar (read Cat-Dog) fight, that’s a signature authenticating the genuineness of the parties we have, nothing unnatural. Then came the best part of the night (im still confused whether that was night or morning?).... We suddenly realized that the first rays of the morning sun had descended upon the lovely beaches of Puri and I must tell you that’s a particularly weird feeling!!! And, Goldy with his pran of no booze and meat until he achieves a personal goal (the goal referred here is the baap of all accomplishments and it is achieved but for a mere formality and the ever tensed Goldy!!) was sleeping in peace. Now, I should introduce all of you to a concept of H2O Treatment which is capable to accomplishing the impossible too... We'll see how in the lines to follow.... The simplified definition of H2O Treatment is Water on a bottle head and Bottle head emptied onto the Human Head. That was it; a well executed H2O Treatment by Thapa caused Goldy to rise from the world of his dreams (Wat dreams?? It’s beyond the scope of blogger to express!! Very dirty!!!). By this time Saket also woke up from his sleep after finishing the whole Vodka bottle (13 pegs down.... 14 pegs down!!!!), which was later found hidden below the bed cum sofa in the living room. Then started the song.... "Kya khabar thi jana ki humko pyar ho jayega........Kya khabar thi jana ki humko pyar ho jayega" with Pushkar, Saket and Thapa dancing and me and Ankit uncontrollably laughing. And, poor Goldy thinking How on Earth can these hopeless people do this to me and with a mechanical movement of his feet and elbow in a poorly synchronized tandem. The scene was such that, its beyond my capabilities to re generate it, but rest assured it was one of the funniest and most humorous events of my life. This circus went on for the whole of that hour and finally we went to sleep for a couple of hours at 7am, (Goldy also had a strategy behind letting us sleep) and abruptly woken back to reality with a revengeful H2O Treatment by Goldy for Thapa (respite to me, Pushkar and Ankit that we were not targeted) and Saket was enjoying the show with complete indulgence.

Day #2:
I really cannot differentiate between the two days, after all one needs to sleep to see a new day. The second days are never as enjoyable as the first ones, coz you start feeling that its the final half of the trip. Plus, Goldy had his flight back to Hyderabad from Kolkata, so he had to leave that day itself.... Sad but true!! The second day we went to the pool again withstanding the disaster caused by Pushkar followed by TT Games thanks to the poor table, poor racket, hot conditions (Grapes are sour … I lost even to Pushkar!!) and then Goldy irritated me by stealing off my favorite shorts …. Goldy should mind it (to be read in Rajnikanth style)!!! Then came the high point of the second day, we went to the Sterling private beach which was truly serene, deafening and monstrous. One needs to feel the sound of violent waves hitting the beaches with closed eyes... that’s the door to creativity, divinity. We played games like shoe (one has to jump on the opponents foot in a bid to win the game), followed by a mad Saket summer salting in the beach. And of course, accompanied by the wonderfully contrasting moods that Thapa posesses... i.e. when everyone is high, Thapa is low and when everyone is low Thapa is high... you need to have high caliber to act or even behave like Thapa. One needs to witness this phenomenon to realize it. Hats off to Thapa.... eeeeee Thapa!!!!!!! Now came the time to see off Goldy in the Kolkata bound express..... Bye Bye Goldy!! By now, Our hunger was killing us and to our delight, it was followed by a very satisfying meal consisting of a variety of sea food delicacies at Chung Wah, Puri. That night too we took some bottles of beer to the resort, just for the sake of relaxing for of the stressed nerves and enjoyed it well along with a nice IPL match involving the Kolkata Knight Riders (that’s my favorite team). Our bodies had been starved of sleep since a couple of days and that night we needed some sound sleep as we had to leave Puri for Bbsr early morning so as to catch my flight back to Bangalore. So Lights Off and Sleep..........

The next morning we were off to our journey to Bbsr at around 9.30 in the morning and reached the destination at 12 noon, thanks to a very matured driver, his logic of driving slow was that its not good to decelerate in congestion, so drive slow.... God save me!!! That was the end of the Puri Trip for us... Thank God that after all it materialized.

It seems that it will be long before all of us are together again, given the fact that Pushkar is leaving for London for a span less than a year and me to Manila (AIM) for one and a half years. Goldy will also be moving to Delhi soon (FMS) and Thapa does not plan for his future, so I can’t say. Ankit, also might fly to the UK for a couple of months thanks to his Vodafone and Sony projects (Ankit bhai is our Vodafone regional head)... He is the most dedicated worker of the lot.

So, the pure fun will elude us for quite some time it seems. However, cannot predict because all the memorable plans have been unplanned. Hoping and looking forward to another such even in the near future.

*The grass was greener
The light was brighter
The taste was sweeter
The nights of wonder
With friends surrounded
The dawn mist glowing
The water flowing
The endless river
Forever and ever

*High Hopes - Pink Floyd

Disclaimer: This is a very personal blog and targeted only to a specific set of individuals. So, if you are unable to relate to it, it’s not your fault, may be you are not a part of the target audience.

Consumer India

Consumerism is phenomenon spreading across the width and length of the country like never before. This phenomenon is not endemic to particular cities and zones but a characteristic to the modern India. This has led to a spree of chain retailing, hypermarkets, supermarkets, etc. The Indian consumer has never been so privileged to have such a diverse access. News of world class players entering into Indian markets is common place today. The Indian consumer is no more a commodity starved lot today. The Big Bazaar belonging to the Future Group is a revolution to the Indian consumer upheaval.


There have been a number of major reasons to this consumer revolution that is being witnessed in India. The segmentization of the market has been a welcome change where the consumers and retailers are aware of the expectations from each other. The Indian economy comprises mainly of workers in the unorganized sectors and a chain like Big Bazaar has provided affordability and reliability to such a market segment. The possibility of such a revolution can also be attributed to the meticulous supply chain that has been set up by these organizations. This enables enhanced revenues and decreased overheads. The example of such an initiative is the e choupal set up by ITC. Aggressive advertising has helped each of the brands to become visible across the varying demographics of the country. Again, ITC's work has been exemplary in this regard; Bingo is a wonderful example (Demographically varying target segments). The booming economy has helped brands with the improvement in the buying capacity of the consumers; the current generation of Indian consumers is uncompromising in nature. A simple example would be to observe that there is simply no difference in retailing patterns between a posh mall in Bangalore and a similar one in the Queens, NY. Our IT sector also deserves a huge applaud here, after all we are arguably the most sought after IT destination in the world. The role played by the FIIs (Foreign Institutional Investors) is a critical one as we all realize the significance of investment into any sector, we all hope the bulls carry it on........ The recent urbanization trend of modern India has also helped this scenario to a very great extent, also because urbanization entails greater representation in the tax net and that creates a hope for a better India. Last to mention, but not the least is the role played by our very own intrepid entrepreneurs with their incredibly original and innovative ideas. Hats off to our desi leaders.... I strongly feel that Indians have the capability of being immaculate managers due to the fact that the implication of the phrase manage kar lena yaar comes very naturally to us.

The picture is not as rosy and does not apply to the whole of the nation as there are a number of issues on which our country still struggles on. But, the picture presented above is definitely the way forward. This is an optimistic account of things and hope that the optimism pays off. I find the line India Poised very apt in this scenario, with a hope that India finally turns it on......

After all, one cannot discount one seventh of the world population!!!

TSA Trip

TSA stands for Technologists for Social Action. For the uninitiated, TSA is a group of people with an objective to give back to the society, in an attempt of mutual sustenance. It involves a range of activities from visiting Missionaries of Charity (MOC) homes to teaching the underprivileged secondary students (Sri Lankan Refugees).


MindTree happens to be a core participant of this group, the reason being that this initiative is in ideological synchronization with the organizational DNA. Social Responsibility is an essential component of the CLASS (Caring, Learning, Achieving, Sharing, and Social Responsibility) values, which are representative of the culture at MindTree.

This trip happens on the second Saturday of every month wherein the MindTree Minds and their families, friends, etc. dedicate a day of their precious weekend to the benefit of the society. Actually, anyone with a positive intent can join the trip irrespective of the organization one belongs to.

Inline with the theme mentioned, the trip started at about 9AM from the MindTree House III with a separate arrangements for the first timers and regular visitors. This bifurcation is done to educate the first timers on the objective of the trip and relevant information. I believe this is required too, to make participants understand the relevance of this initiative. Also, the first timers were also made to introduce each other in an innovative manner to break the ice and make participants comfortable with each other. As planned, the cabs reached the MOC Destitute Home at around 10 AM. A destitute home is a home for people, who are forced to sacrifice existing relationships due to the lack of love and affection, and set themselves free due to the lack of any loved ones to take care of them. It is a very disturbing scenario wherein one moves out of all family bonds and ties due to the pain one suffers being in it. The experience of visiting a destitute home is one that is unforgettable and very valuable. Each of the residents sees the visitors as their own loved one visiting them, loving them. It involves engaging with the residents, sharing time and energy with them, along with an initiative of serving lunch to them. This takes around one and a half hour and then we proceed towards the MOC Shishu Bhawan. This is a home for children and new born babies, who have been abandoned by parents and illegitimate couples due to reasons beyond the comprehension of a sensitive mind. It is poignant to feel that the children are not responsible for the fate assigned to them, it’s distressing and unfortunate. This is also an experience that has the potential to get the emotional self out of you and makes you wonder what the future of these kids are.... I just hope it’s good. We again spent around an hour with the children surrounded with varied thoughts. This was the last part of the trip, followed by the journey back to the MindTree House in a state of complete silence (Everyone was contemplating I believe).


I strongly feel that one should experience this unprivileged side of life, at least once. There are very few events that have very lasting impression on you, and this definitely has to be one of them. It opens you up to see the other side of things and suddenly the worries of your life start seeming to be so very insignificant. It does make me feel that one does not need a platform to perform socially; it’s just that you should have that intent. It also prevents misdirection in life and helps us realize that it is of utter importance that we avoid creation of destitutes in our vicinity. It is significant that we spread public awareness to make people realize the crime of abandoning a new born and children.

It is amazing to feel the potential of transformation one has, while visiting such organizations and homes regularly. Words are not sufficient to express the religiousness MOC attributes to each of these activities. It’s worth a mention that MOC has been doing a wonderful job with utmost sincerity and dedication. At least, the residents are in a much better state the counterparts straying on the streets. These are organizations that are close to divinity.

The mail seeking my participation read as "TSA is not about material involvement…It is about sharing their lives with us." I could not understand the implication of these set of words then, but now probably I know what the sender wanted to convey.