"The Indian Herd Mentality", a big thanks to FB!

I wonder how people would react when they realize that anti-incumbency and induced cynicism is the reason for a good number of the netizens going gaga over Modi or NaMo (the so-called cooler way to refer to to him)?

I always tried to refrain from commenting/writing about the India Politics, as every Tom Dick and Harry nowadays has a view of how NaMo is biggest savior of mankind. 

But something I recently read earlier today in one of the social media websites, has absolutely taken away any chances of me continuing to refrain. I will not divulge into the exact contents of that post, however the gist of that post meant "1USD = 80 INR will happen if Manmohan Singh continues to remain the PM of India".

My issues with the above are:

1. I'm not an expert to comment on financial/economic matters of the nation, but if a statement as lame as this can be made sounding like an expert, then I'm Batman and I'm not going to refrain any further
2. Not everyone against NaMo is anti-nationalist. In fact from when did India become a binary nation of either Modi or Congress? Moreover the last I knew we as a nation were accommodating to China to tell us they had issues with what we did within our own country
3. You surely can have your own opinion, however those who strong advocate for any political party in India should be a resident Indian Citizen (Indian "living" in India through it's nuances)
4. If you still vouch that Manmohan Singh is the sole cause of the high dollar value, then I'd really want to see your credentials (educational/professional) which give you the authority to do so?

With that said, my annoyance is not just with that one post but with umpteen other such jingoist behavioral tendencies that have been popping up over the last 1 year, hence:

• If you feel strongly for NaMo then that's your opinion, others too, have the very similar right. So STFU (and yes, it is what you think it is), and stop trying to vouch against/protest against/make judgements of people who think otherwise. With every going minute you only sound like megalomaniacs
• A national leader is someone who is accommodating to everyone's interests and makes a decision that is closest to win-win and not someone who changes the meaning of the word 'secular' for his own personal vendetta
• There was a discussion I came across in a forum about an American Firm being hired to do the PR for NaMo, I don't know the truth behind this (and I'm more interested in knowing how many cactus's grow in the Sahara Desert than this) however my issue is not with the firm being hired, but with the fact that there are so many Indians who've blindly fallen for every claim without verifying it's merit
• There is another cartload of people who consider NaMo the messiah of god-knows-what and may even chant Modilleluja (Praise Modi, in modern day Hebrew). They actually believed a news item that NaMo's US VISA was rejected due to the Indian Govt. asking them to do so? Again, when (if ever) was the last time the US acted on something the Indian Govt asked it to do? 5th Century BC? or was it before the Big Bang Theory?
• There are umpteen other liberal views to NaMo:
• One of the most notable views which I've absolutely loved reading is by a Consultant Economist with Research and Information Systems (RIS) for Developing Countries called Shipra Nigam
• A friend's (Vibhor Mathur) liberal view of feeling the brunt of not being a NaMo fan, but not being a Congressman either
• A funny one by a fellow blogger MJ:
  "Soooo..I was just thinking...
  If Rahul Gandhi wins..its highly unlikely he will marry his foreign girlfriend, so he will not have any son or daughter to pass on the baton..effectively ending the political reign of the Gandhi Family..I mean Nehru's family..
  If Modi wins, Rahul might DDLJ and come back with 2 cute kids and then win the next term to carry on the family legacy (assuming we have eradicated NaMonia by then)
  Disclosure: I never went to any Political Party.. I dont know what happens there.. I went only to my Freshers' party.... It was fun
  PS: Laughter is the right response..everything else is just wrong"

This is a simple view from a humble India.

I don't vouch for/endorse any political party.

and on a cheesy note, I don't subscribe to Modi and I'm not a terrorist!

I have worked myself into a frenzy of Lethargy!

This is pretty much the story of 90% of the working population, in India at least. We want to do so much, but somehow in the midst of all the nuances related to work that keep us busy; we end up tired/exhausted and by the end of our working day, we consider sleep as the only other part of our black and white (work and sleep) life. In this process of always enhance lethargy we end up missing out on a lot of small, yet important parts of our life (which we only regret in retrospect).

It was earlier today that during a conversation (nicer way to refer to an argument) with my Mom, she happened to tell me that “Anyways you’ll only be working or sleeping”. However sarcastic that may sound, it sure got me thinking.

For a while now, I have my to-do list on a multitude of subjects set, but somehow I end up only sticking to/attempting the bare minimum (work, food, sleep and bare essentials of a Saturday night out). One of the biggies I’ve slacked on, and nearly paid the price was renewing this domain. I lost the domain irajiv.com and had to wait for over 2 months for it to be displayed for sale again, before buying it for 5 years this time around and enabling auto-renew (considering my forgetful memory).

But then, that was not just the list of things I’d promised to start doing since moving back to Bangalore, over a year ago and ended up completely missing on. The list was endless, and a couple of high priority ones missed out and worth mentioning is:

• Some form of exercise - I know how hitting the gym ends up being a fad unless you have a routine-freak for company. Hence I considered options like dance classes, yes dance you did read that correctly, yoga at home (dad’s insistence rather) and going for a jog work every morning. But alas, none of these even came close to completion 

• Toastmasters – This was something that I enjoyed to the fullest when I was in Mumbai. I always thought I was going to get going the minute I land here and find a new club. On this however, I did begin with searching for a club and even attended a couple of meetings in a couple of clubs. But after not finding a suitable club in the initial search, the look up suddenly stopped for some unknown reason

That list as I mentioned earlier only kept on growing. Hence it is no point cribbing over spilt milk; I knew I had to do something to change the trend, however small that change is doesn’t usually matter. It’s just that kick in your backside that you need to get things going again. :) 

To begin with I’m getting a Table Tennis Table, which will compensate for the exercising need and, I’ve registered/will be giving my Toastmasters ACB (Advanced Communicator Bronze) - Project 2 speech in a corporate club in Bangalore next week (thanks to a friend, Suman), which will reinvigorate my love for Toastmasters.

Least this way I’ll slowly get back to doing what I feel I do the best, call it doing multiple different things to keep myself (brain & body) busy (positive outlook) OR ‘Jack of all trades’ (negative outlook) *pun intended*

Do you find a similar trend in your life? Then I sincerely hope (wearing shoes, woodland to be specific), reading this article is a kick to your backside! :)

PS: I have to give credit to Justin partially, for making sure I write on my blog after over a year!