Waking Up to Sid

So, the movie ‘Wake up Sid’ is a look at today’s Youth and their abhorrence to the 9 to 5 job culture. It is a good portrayal of dreams and winning them and yet, many will see it as critical of the way today’s Generation is leading their lives, waking up late, shunning responsibility and not learning ‘Family values’.

Indeed, it is true that at our ages our parents were more mature, responsible and career-oriented, but allow me to show you a side which the movie only hinted at but did not explore as it devoted time to the Love story enmeshed in it. Does anyone realize that today, the average age of a person to remain a child has gone a lot further! There are many influences towards that- the increasing demands of education being one; it is impossible to get a decent job in today’s scenario with at least two degrees tucked in your belt, proof of that comes from my discovery that the taxi driver, who drove us from Guwahati to Shillong when I first came here, was a Graduate in English Literature and yet not able to secure a good job in Welcome to Shillong. Its amazing how we can proudly jump from one level of Education to another without ever gaining any real Education, vis-a-vis, experience in Life. In that sense we remain Children at least till such ages when our parents we looked at by their parents as Adults who had secured jobs and were starting families. Another influence pushing towards this attitude is the advent of Pleasure. Today, the amount of devices and methods to get sensory pleasures is a huge set. My Father first used a computer in His Masters Degree while I got mine in Class 6th. Obviously this affects our choices and level of enjoyment. Any one with a computer today listens to the latest songs and watches the latest movies at the click of the mouse, while our parents specially took out time and permission from their parents to enjoy such pleasures. Finally, we today have a lot more services which can be accessed via more comfortable means, thereby pushing us away from the real action of getting up and standing in that long queue to book that train ticket. Who is to blame? No One! Society has been consistently pushing these amenities into the hands of its children. Parents will keep loving their children and considering them children as long as they stay in their parental homes and pursue higher standards of education before getting real jobs and learning real values. You will say- “But what of those parents who push their children and make them work hard??” Read on…

The second reason why we are so misunderstood is that today, our Education System is competitive, Our Society, open-minded and pushing our creative talents but our “Traditional” look at a career still points towards a limited set of supposedly “valuable” and good careers such as Engineering, Medical and Accounts. It is this stereotyping of jobs which, at the same time both encourages our creativity and limits it. There are enough Summer camps in school to make students believe that art is a viable career yet enough pressure during exams to cause suicides even in Class 7th students. This ping-pong battle between passions and “consistent source of income” causes a messed up attitude amongst children and shows in their callousness towards life and insistence on living in the world of games and fairy tale love stories. In short, todays Youth is up for many challenges but is not encouraged to take risks. In light of this, I laud Konkona Sen’s role in the Movie, who takes a huge risk at one point of life and is courageous enough to make sure that she’s successful.

This debate and the future of the Indian Child has only two possible outcomes- the parents suddenly realize that the best way to rear children is to give them more responsibility, sooner, so that they learn how to live at nearly the same time as their parents did. This is akin to what happens in many western societies where no job is looked down at and children learn the value of menial labor earlier than their counterparts in India. Alternatively, parents will continue to crib about their children yet keep pushing them towards more books and learning without understanding. That model will only yield a generation which prefers to live in the gaming world and wake up late in the afternoons.

I wonder where India is headed…

How Indian Politics is doing what China can’t in a Hundred years

The politicians of India are decidedly against the concept of India as a Nation, a single entity with One Status and One System, an Open country with no biases and certainly no reservations against any of it’s long parts. While citizens of many other countries in the world fight over sports, break each other’s bones over the singular football match or hate each other over long histories of wins and losses in Ice Hockey matches but come together when the Country’s solidarity is questioned, Indians fight and kill when it comes to region, religion and water, but don’t care a paisa’s worth over local sports, partly because of it’s non-existent local sports and partly because it’s easier for it’s politicians to raise anger against other communities and religions instead of building dams, bridges and stadiums.

The Chinese think tank International Institute of Strategic Studies claims that Beijing

“should work towards the the break-up of India into 20-30 independent states with the help of friendly countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan, support Ulfa in attaining its goal for Assam’s independence, back aspirations of Indian nationalities like Tamils and Nagas, encourage Bangladesh to give a push to the independence of West Bengal and lastly recover the 90,000 sq km territory in southern Tibet”.

It argues that a fragmented India would be in China’s interests and would also lead to prosperity in the region. Further, it goes on to say that if China “takes a little action, the so-called great Indian federation can be broken up”.

A lot of people on This Pakistani Forum agree with the Chinese and have even provided a ‘Map’ of India after Partition and claim that India has never existed as a Nation but Pakistan has been around since 3300 BC. Tall claims, for sure, but they need not crib so much against India.

Gandhiji had strict instructions regarding Quotas, they were a system to bring the backward classes of India’s Society into the mainstream so as to provide Total Equality, yet more than 60 years after his death, the system continues, reinforcing the sickly condition of India’s education, job, social and moral infrastructure. Some time back, a few more quotas were introduced into the Education system with a keen eye on the voters. Then the concept of quotas for teachers was thought up, bring up a whole new system of prejudice ( People can say, “I am a Khatri, why should I study from a lowly class teacher?? “). Recently, Maharashtra reserved 80% jobs in state industries for locals. Shiv Sena and BJP promised to implement this rule strictly if voted to power. There’s not going to be much time before every state starts playing the ‘sons of the soil’ card and promising such ridiculous reservations. What will the outcome be?? Well, what happens when you reserve jobs, the most important reason for migration of people? The flux of people stops and soon regions become tightly locked strongholds of Politico-Religious affiliations and look at every outsider as an enemy or worse. This kind of attitude leads to glorification of the State above the Nation and though this is relatively healthy for the growth and cleanliness of areas within the State, it is bad for the concept of the Nation as a whole and Pride in the Nation. How many Indians today even utter the words, “I am proud of India”? The ultimate result, that of disjointed, hateful and suspicious states, is what many political powers wish to achieve about India.

Let us now look at an Organisation where this will not happen. The Defense Forces of India, the Indian Air Force, Army and Navy, are prime examples of anti-quota systems. No matter what his father earns or what his caste is, every soldier kisses the mud in the NDA training. No matter how much bank balance a person has, they all get the same houses at the same Rank, they all drive the same vehicles to work and get the same ration to eat food. A Squadron posted in Madras does not crib when it gets a Commander from Kashmir and a Platoon deep in the jungles of Assam will not say a word if a Rajasthani boss comes and tells them how to execute guerrilla warfare. Nor do they reserve 80 pc quota for locals. For this reason alone, they do not have any qualms about making friends with people of different religions, cultures, color or social standing. They have an open institution where anyone can be posted to any part of the country, ensuring that they fall in love with India and not Maharashtra, Assam or Haryana.

There are a lot of NGOs willing to fight the Tatas from building Seaports and to launch massive protests against private organisations for their wrong doings, but very few NGOs stand up against such blatant misuse of Public power by politicians to destroy the sovereign status of India.

Do you really want to see India as this one day??

The future??

Very few organize human chains, unending sms lists, forwarded emails and collect online signatures to present a letter to the President of India (who, strangely, has no power at all).

Very few organize human chains, unending sms lists, forwarded emails and collect online signatures to present a letter to the President of India (who, strangely, has no power at all) when politicians continually abuse Indians with Vote-gathering schemes based on instigating the common man’s anger against ‘outsiders’. Very few indeed…

There ought to be more.

My Govt’s got Balls!

I am truly Amazed! My Government suddenly seems to have found the balls to stand up to the non-sensical rantings of the Chinese Government. They have been trying to provoke the Indian Government into doing something stupid since a long time, for example crushing the Asian Development Bank’s proposal for development in India’s Eastern states, specifically claiming that since Arunachal Pradesh is “disputed” property, the ADB can’t pump money into it via India. I don’t get it, How can AP be disputed?? It’s Our territory! Anyways, the other day there was the news about Chinese incursions into Indian territory along the Line of Actual Control and it seems that China wants us to keep diverting more personnel and resources into the area for at least one stupid mistake to flare up into a big issue, but it’s ok from their side to fire at us and injure two of our soldiers. Also, there was the noise about what the Indian Democracy should Not do about The Dalai Lama (read-we shouldn’t let him in!!!). Apparently it’ll be bad if we let him go to Tawang to reconnect with his roots…

Here’s what China’s stance has been about India-

We’re not here to listen to your nonsense
You better listen to us or we’ll give grenades to Pakistani Terrorists the next time they come to your country (oh wait, we’ll do that anyways…)
Give us Arunachal Pradesh and anything west of that, we’ll be happy with that.

Oh did I forget that a recent report by a Chinese think tank says that the best way to win in the future is to make sure that India is broken up into twenty-thirty small states and effectively destroyed?

So, what’s India doing about all of this?? In the recent past, they were stupid enough to let the CPI(M) jeopardize it’s integrity but now they seem to have done quite a bit to reverse the idea that we are breakable…

India recently caught a Chinese plane carrying Arms and Ammunitions across Indian airspace, apparently they forget to tell us that they had some nice missiles on board. Good for you India! Way to go!

And just today, India said to the Red Dragon, hey, too bad, the Dalai can visit any time he wants, We Like him… Also, something which sounded like,

Arunachal Pradesh is a part of India and the Dalai Lama is free to go anywhere in India

Finally the right moves India, Cheers!

I wonder who we should be thanking for this, Manmohan Singh(uhh…), S M Krishna (ya, maybe) or Shashi Tharoor and his new ideas?

Seriously, people, start reading the News, you’ll learn a lot!

And, The Price is Wrong!!!

What was it that the erstwhile Hutch (now Vodafone) did as it’s first move into the Indian Mobile service provider scene? They gave us 1000 free SMSs at an obnoxiusly low price of Rupees 6/- a joke so laughable that we used to message just to get our mobile batteries low, a feat now affordable to people with BSNL Student SIM Cards… And all this was to ensure that the market share was OWNed by Hutch within a few months, riding on the Youth’s need for a cheap communication medium which was hip and happening too…

Now, after the dreaded change called Vodafone, the prices of an SMS have shot up from less than a Paisa to 10 paise per SMS and yet Vodafone leads with the share, partly because people would rather stick to the number they’ve been using for quite some time.

But this post is not about Vodafone, it’s about market share and pricing of goods.

Today, roaming around in the market in the evening, my curiousity led me to a general store to ask the price of the new energy drink named Cloud 9 (or 9 Cloud, whatever it is…) which is being pegged as India’s First Natural Energy Drink which is produced locally. The branding, shape and graphics of the can and the contents point out to only one thing- They’re trying to compete with Red Bull.

Here’s where the brand is going to fail-

a) The price of the drink is put at Rupees 75/- Ring any bells? The Price of a Red Bull, which is imported from outside is also set at Rupees 75/- So if I’m going to pay the same price, why not buy the branded goods which have worldwide acceptance and have proven market value? (I’ve had Red Bull, it’s good, Full Stop)

b) The Ad agency hired by the company for Cloud 9 made it good to rope in players of the Chennai Super Kings, most noticably Mahender Singh Dhoni and also, Shilpa Shetty for the launch and RP Singh as the Brand Ambassador, and then wasting away these big faces in a string of downright Stupid Advertisements that in no way make the Indian Consumer want to go out and buy the drink.

c) The drink is being pegged as India’s First Natural Energy drink. As though the average consumer cares. Haven’t we been having Coke and Pepsi and Vodafone long enough NOT to care if the brand is Indian or Global?? Haven’t we become used to all sorts of Unnatural foods and drinks to not care if the drink is Natural at all? What’s so natural about Coca Cola by the way??

Small Note to Cloud 9: Don’t even think that a person who’s just come from the gym will go buy your drink for 75 rupees, they’ll buy milk. And even if they do spend money on an energy drink, it’ll be Red Bull. Here’s Why-

What’s Cloud 9 offering that’s different from Red Bull?

ans) Nothing, the price is the same. I have no reason to buy a brand that’s just entered the market instead of a worldwide accepted brand.

Why can Cloud 9 never beat Red Bull in marketing?

ans) Cloud 9 has the worst possible marketing agency, useless. Red Bull has been making innovative ads since they were born. And they have a lot of money which they can squander on popular actors and cricketers.

Now, What’s the solution? Here’s what Cloud 9 must do in order to beat Red Bull for the market share…

a) We all know the drink doesn’t cost more than 25 rupees. Bring down the price to something near that.

b) Fire your marketing agency. No, am not telling you to throw him off the job, drink a case of Cloud 9, load up your gun and fire AT them. They’re useless and they’re wasting your money. Get someone else to make your ads and make sure that they are very very cool.

c) On the Cloud 9 website there’s a video in which the Director of Cloud 9, Priyesh Ganatra accepts very un-suavely that they copied the USPs of all major energy drinks from all over the world in order to create their own. That video is very very UNCOOL. Remove it. Also remove every trace of CORPORATE nonsense from that webiste. Reason- If I visit the website of a Youth Oriented product, I want to see downloads, product Videos and features like games and more sales pitch, not your God Damn Company’s Address. You want a Hint? Go to the Fuel Deo website here.

In the end I just want to say that Indian Brands have yet to realise the importance of market share and how to capture it.

p.s. To my readers- I have cc’ed this post to the Cloud( manufacturers. Lets see if they have the brains to read it and change a LOT about their brand.

Freedom

The Freedom to make mistakes. That’s what Mahatma Gandhi asked for when he said that India must have Complete Freedom. Today, as the players in the field of Law are being jostled by Various Human Rights Agencies and Motivated Individuals into changing the Laws of our land, I would like to point out two instances where the misunderstanding lies in the fact that we want to shop at a QuickieMart for a good Constitution. Unfortunately, the QuickieMart, a symbol of traditions too foreign to be adopted, cannot give us something which has to other countries by decades of freedom- Experience. And although India stands free for more than a half century, we are too young to be adopting foreign laws without looking at where our country stands today.

The first is the demand for a very strict law against ragging. It is now being said that ragging is a sin and no senior at any college must be allowed to take pleasure in it. However, any Hostel Warden with an experience of over 20 years will tell you one thing very clearly; whether it be today or a score years back, there is no chance that WITHOUT ragging, a batch of students can have good relations with their seniors. The life of a college student starts in the first year with a sense of freedom, a feeling that perhaps now their decisions will be their own and they can finally break societies barriers and some home rules as well. High on this new-found freedom, a freshers fails to learn to respect his seniors and also respect with that, the hierarchy that exists in society. This causes a failure to respect the system of education into which they have been included and hence they become misfits, causing a lot many more problems than they would if they had been ragged and in the least, been introduced to their seniors as tough task masters at first but as very good friends later. I speak with some experience. Another important thing to understand is thus- ragging today is being equated to something ghastly being made to do by the freshers at the behest of their seniors under the influence of alcohol. This is what the lawmakers and others are primarily against. Agreed, today ragging is causing many deaths and suicides as the juniors come under pressure to act in a particular fashion in spectacularly humiliating scenarios. But are the Board exams not causing the same? Are our Board exams anything more than a soulless show of toppers who slogged out nights to remember spectacularly useless facts with no practical relevance to life in general and are these exams not causing an equal number (and a lot more) of suicides by students who failed at reaching the grade? Then why is our Supreme Court not banning the Board Exams or at least replacing them with a system where a student is not judged by the number of books they can LBH! (Learn By Heart)

Second comes the problem of Capital Punishment. Many countries in the world, specially the European Union have laws against extradition of prisoners to countries which have Capital Punishment. This and other factors have induced a call for removal of the concept of Capital Punishment. However the amount and types of crimes being committed in India today require not only speedier Justice but also a harsh one. The number of Gang rapes, dowry deaths, Infanticides and other such crimes which cause a huge outcry need nothing less than Capital Punishment in order to deter the Guilty and others who have similar mindsets. If India today decides to do away with Capital Punishment, we will be doing away with a huge opportunity to straighten out the crooked and to learn from the mistakes we might make in the future. One might say that if we have to learn, if we have to remove Capital Punishment later then why not today. But if we do so, there will be nothing left to deter these criminals who today feel safe enough with the number of appeals they can put in and the number of years they can waste of our courts by stalling the proceedings. Even the poor, handicapped “rarest of rare” cases based Capital Punishment needs to remain in order to help India have the freedom to punish the guilty and the freedom to make our own mistakes.

Today India does not need Laws it cannot use. If we must adopt Laws, we must learn to understand that our society is too different to be judged with the same glasses as the societies of other countries are today.

The Statue!

the many types of thieves…

A Statue, in honour of the Indian Criminal!

His head held high, encompassing all boundaries of politics, religion, region, caste and creed.

He is Everywhere.

He commits every type of crime- financial, moral, physical and non-humanitarian, knowing of his prowess and that of his money.

He is omnipresent, omnipotent and has every physical size, shape and appearance possible.

He is the black market and the black money and every black deed ever committed. He is friend to all, the terrorist, the dacoits, the politician, the policeman, the tax man, the reporter and the reportee, the society and even the common man.

He is Robin Hood when he wants to be, Hiranyakashyap when he feels like it and even the Leader of the Nation when it must be so.

He is the Nano and the Ferrari, Jet Airways and Kingfisher, Satyam and Infosys, Haryana and Punjab.

He is the MF and the PF, the fixed dividend and the High Risk.

This is not just a statue, this is THE STATUE.

This won’t be spit on or shit on or decapitated. Instead, it will be revered forever, as the True Saviour of our Nation.

All hail,

Our Grey National Hero.

Here’s An Interesting Solution

The Problem I wrote about in my last post was the reservation issue which is being shoved in the face of the IITs by the Government right now. Ideologically speaking, the Government can claim that the IITs give only too less back to the Government as compared to what they get as grants. This is due to the Brain Drain. Even though a lot of Companies have started to Relocate to India to gain the benefits of cheaper labour while keeping their cream- the IITians near home and feeling happy, thereby temporarily offsetting the problem; most IITians still aim at getting jobs which immediately take them out of the country and to Foreign Shores.

Here’s a Solution I propose that the Indian Government can apply to Gain back from the IITians and IIM Grads some part of the amount of Funds that goes in their Education-

Many of us know about Compulsory Military Training which some countries insist all their fresh graduates undergo to gain a sense of Discipline and to work in teams and learn to Respect others and to Defend themselves (don’t worry, I am not asking all IITians to be sent to the Barracks)

What the Government can do is to ensure that all IIT and IIM Graduates Compulsorily work for Two Years in some part of the Government to gain experience and to ensure that the Government gain from their Knowledge and Smartness before any other Company does.

The Grads may be allowed to choose the field they wish to work in- whether the Executive, the Bureaucracy or Aid in the various development contracts around India on Important projects like Dams, Highways, Town planning etc.

This way, the Government gains as it has a continuous supply of fresh brain to apply on their problems of Development, Finance and Judiciary and the Grads gain as they get high amount of Exposure and the Experience of working in and handling Government Machinery. Maybe some of them might even like their work and be allowed to Join the Government immediately.

This will ensure that all passing Graduates from the IITs and IIMs understand and Value their Country and learn to respect it before docking on foreign shores. Meanwhile, the issue of Castes and basing reservations according to them should be done away completely as they are nothing more than Social Evils which weaken the Fabric of Indian Society. I refer to the Idea of Castes Dividing us and not to the people who comprise them.

This may not be a very viable solution but it is certainly a step towards one because many Graduates would welcome this effort to create a Government based on Intellect and Knowledge instead of Politics and Party Agendas.

Hoping that someone out there might be affected by this post.

Indian Political Gimmicks and My Response

HRD orders faculty quota, IIT directors livid

News….

MUMBAI: Buoyed by its success in pushing through a quota for OBC students in
higher education, the government has now ordered IITs to introduce – with
“immediate effect” – quotas in the teaching faculty for scheduled castes,
scheduled tribes and OBCs.IIT directors, not surprisingly, were livid with the
decision, though none of the four TOI spoke to were willing to go on record.
The high quality of IIT faculty has built the institution into a globally respected
brand. Said an IIT-Delhi professor: “It is hard to imagine that even teachers will
now use the caste flag to get in.”
The order signed by Seema Raj, director of technical education in the HRD
ministry, read, “I am directed to say that the matter relating to reservation of
SC, ST, OBC categories in recruitment to teaching (faculty) posts in the IITs
was considered in the second meeting of the SCIC (Standing Committee of
IIT Council) held on 11/2/2008. The recommendations made by the SCIC have
been accepted by the chairman of (the) IIT Council. Accordingly, it has been
decided to implement reservation for SC, ST, OBC, in recruitment to teaching
(faculty) posts in IITs with immediate effect.”
For subjects in science and technology, posts will be reserved for lecturers and
assistant professors. In areas like management, sciences and humanities, reservations
will be applicable up to the professor level. The ministry allows IITs to dereserve
the posts after a year, if they do not get filled “despite all efforts”.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________

My First Comment–
Beautiful. Unhappy that only the best students were getting to the IITs, they
introduced quotas there. Now they want to ensure that those studying there
get less quality education too. This is indeed, a <strong>NATIONAL SHAME</strong>.

This is a Comment I read on the Comments page–

Sewaklal Khobragade,Bangalore says:This is a great move towards bringing eqality and quality of education to
underpriviledged masses. No one is borne scientist. One has to groom into
right atmosphere and directives to achieve technological excellence or achievements.
I am sure SC/ST and OBC also will do BEST if they are given chance to prove
themselves. I am thankful to the ministry of HRD for this right step in right
direction to implement guidelines laid down in Indian Constitution.

My response to this–

Dear Respected Editor, I am sorry for writing again into this Comment box,
but the comments of one Sewaklal Khobragade,Bangalore regarding the same
article and displayed just a few comments below mine has come to my notice.
The Author points out that “No one is borne scientist. One has to groom into
right atmosphere and directives to achieve technological excellence or achievements”
I agree deeply with this person’s thoughts. But why should people be given the
right to teach on the basis of who they are born? The Pillars of Education are
being shook up by the very thought that it is not merit and intelligence which
are going to define the Mentors of the cream of India’s students, instead, they
will be chosen on the basis of family history. Is this the path Envisioned by our
Mahatma? Did ever any God of Indian Mythology decide to visit a devotee based
on his/her caste?
Forgive me for writing in again and I do not worry that my comments may not
be posted.
I do not, in any way, wish to incite anybody against anyone because of my
comments.
Lastly, I would like to point out that I too aspired to get into an IIT but I accept
that my Aptitude and more importantly, Attitude towards my studies did not
allow me to. I do not regret that, but I do regret that the Directors of the IITs
have accepted this Political Gimmick hands down.
I do not see my Mentors with the eyes of a Judge, for me, they are Leaders, no
matter what they are called.
Thanking You for allowing me this opportunity to express these thoughts via
your medium.

Overall Comment-

It is not just a Shame that this is happening but also that we are allowing this. People can easily come up to me and say that hey, this is not your fight, so why are you commenting?

India’s Progress is Our fight, the fight of the coming Generation. Equality is our fight, the fight of every worthy Child of India

But above all this, I wish for everyone to understand that I would not like it if any of my friends would have to look at his Mentor and Think even ONCE before believing his words. I would not want anyone in the whole of India to believe that the Teacher/Lecturer teaching them is anyone other that that Idiot who keeps giving them assignments and deadlines. (S)he is just that, no more. Not a name, Not a caste, Not a religion, just an Underpaid, Overpriviledged SOB who likes to fail boys and pamper Teacher’s Pets and give Assignments like they were the Elixir of Life.

Sorry for the Satirical tone. It comes Naturally now, ever since the HRD Ministry put a Quota on the Type of jokes you can make. Now 49.5% have to be about SC, ST and OBC.

15 Till I Die

So yesterday I went to the market to get some Ice… The markets in India, as we all know employ a large number of helpers, sometimes upto three in one shop only. The first thing which I saw when I got there was a little boy, probably twelve years of age (probably younger, I’m very bad with identifying age) standing near the counter lifting and arranging packets of chips. I have, as many have, heard about the new law by the Indian goverment increasing the minimum age for a person to work to 15, below which it is considered as Child Labour. It was evident at first glance that this boy was much younger. So I asked him two questions–

Do you have Ice Cubes?
What is your age?

To the First question, I got a prompt affirmitive, but for the second one, the little one wavered and then said he was 15 years of age. Well Lied, I thought. Then I thought that I must do what I can about this situation. So i asked the price of the Ice Cubes and was redirected by the boy to the Shopkeeper who had just returned from inside the shop. I accosted the Shopkeeper and without looking even once in my eyes, he said that it was none of my business. He seemed right at that moment and I bought the ice and walked away.

But the thought that I did not do anything about the boy kept hurting me the whole day and I will probably be ashamed of myself everytime I will think about it.

So today, I sat down to think what I could possibly do about the Situation. I came up with very few answers as follows–

Do Nothing, which, trust me, is as bad an idea as punching your father-in-law in the face.
Punch the shopkeeper and then run for it, because if you stick around, the people of the market association will thrash you to glory.
Call the Police and report to them, in which case either the shopkeeper will be fined and then he’ll again employ a young child or he won’t have to worry because the head of the market association has already bribed the police.
This one seems to me the best solution to me and I will follow it every time i see Child Labour around me– Ask the price of a lot of goods, ask the shopkeeper to pack them and then walk off without buying them after commenting casually to the shopkeeper that you don’t support Child labour. This will frustrate him and even if two to three people do this to him, trust me, he get an above age helper.

I don’t suggest that you stick to my plan, although I’m sticking to it already, its your choice.

On the other hand, you could also think about what if that kid was the only one to support his family or that he was aiding his family in finance needed because of the large number of his siblings. If you wish to take this route and support Child Labour, just think about this for a minute– Don’t your Children go to School? So isn’t the right place for a Child a School?

A SubPrime Crisis for India

India is always fast in picking up various trends from the International markets. Whether it be clothing, fashion or foreign policy. Thus how is it possible that India not pick up international faults and repeat them in its own style? Well, I’m not just talking about the cost fluctuations due to Oil Prices and the whims of the Oil Sheikhs and those of the Federal Bank of the US. I’m talking about taking the biggest blunder of the century being adapted to the Indian scenario. We all know what the sub prime crisis has done to the United States, the world’s biggest economy is now at the brink of a recession best remembered way back between the World Wars… And its not even War right now, it least not for a majority of the world (I hate to say this, but I’m wrong, it IS war for most part of the world). But India is Unique in that unknowingly it is having a sub prime crisis too. No, not food grains, Cellular connections. India is currently one of the largest growing cellular markets and in order to woo the populace, the many cell operators in India Introduced very early various schemes for which the ICM (Indian Common Man) fell hook, line and sinker. But these amazing schemes have a draw back. Lifetime prepaid is a dream well dreamt, but most people are not staying with it at all. Thousands of free smses per month are a boon for the college student, but the companies providing these facilities are now facing the heat of not just TRAI but also the fact that they have to earn money in order to buy more spectrum in the coming years. So companies like Hutch (now Vadophone) and Spice have done a volte-face and upped their prices. MTNL and BSNL still hang on to the Great Dream but they too will soon realise that the government is not interesting in funding their whims and fancies.

Worse of all is the fact that the govt will be introducing Number Portability as early as 2009 in many circles. This will give undue power to the consumer in threatening the Cellular Operator into giving away freebies or loosing vital subscriber database which already has their favourite phone number. This will lead the companies to join hands under the Aegis of TRAI and set the minimum standards for call and sms rates. This will also lead to a uniformity not achievable as yet as each operator tries to use some loophole to their benefit.

For Example- TRAI told all operators to start charging rupee 1 per sms on goverment denoted holidays or festivals. This was a bane for prepaid consumers who had to develop strange habits of being overpunctual in wishing their relatives a day before the festival in order to save precious talktime. But odd it is when you still recieve many smses on the good day too! These are from PostPaid consumers who, amazingly have been granted the boon of being exempted of such silly reforms.

May God only Intervene in the Crisis now ravaging the minds of the mobile happy ICM.

Hoping that solutions be Just a corner away,

Nitin.