Morning of graduation...

All,

I begin this after Varun Murthy (my current room-mate) has just commented on my Facebook status (one of the million status "cribbings" of mine), but you guys will see it on the morning of or the morning after the grad ceremony. I first thought of posting something about my grad days - something along the lines of the famous (or rather not so famous, considering that my reader base was an appalling five, including yours truly) Google Docs "thingy" that I had started last year, but failed to finish.

However, I felt that the following would make more sense than filling up a few kilo or mega bytes in the Google servers with student ramblings (the ramblings will come soon though).

In this first post (after a hiatus of three years), I will try to make a feeble attempt at keeping the viewer(s) of this blog follow me for the lifetime of the same, of course, in the hope that it lives longer than a fruit-fly.

The first few readers of this blog are, in all likelihood, family and friends. People that I must have invited, requested, emotionally blackmailed, begged, pleaded and possibly even bribed. Yes, you heard that right. Bribed. With money. Those awesome pieces of paper with either a Mr. Lincoln or a Mr. Franklin or the Mahatma on one of its sides. Although, those who know me well will know that I am too kanjoos and "cheap" to part with these "awesome pieces of paper".

Rs. 176,000,000,000,000. The figure splashed across the headlines of Indian newspapers over the past three-four weeks. When you put in the zeroes, the numbers seem to be terrifying. Although, I guess if you start bandying about "1.76 lakh crores", it still seems unfathomably massive. Anyway, to the ignorant, that is the amount that the exchequer has lost in the 2G scam and, more importantly, shame on you for not keeping track of the news.

Prior to this, Adarsh Nagar happened.

Scam. The buzzword over the past six months or so. It started with the Commonwealth Games. The Games that was to highlight India's glory to the world. The Games that was projected to signify India's coming of age. The Games that was headed by an ex-IAF pilot. (@ Prateek Sharma: If you are reading this, I bet you would have said "Pata hai"). I believe we will be bidding for the Olympic Games. Well, duh!

Five months. Three major scams.

This is not including the bribes to traffic cops (pandu havaldars), Government babus, etc. and black money involved in real-estate and tax evasion.

As a desi graduating from a Masters program in the Land of Opportunity, I wonder if there is hope left back home. A number of my erstwhile colleagues from University of Mumbai landed in the US for their respective graduate programs. How many plan on returning home? How many talk of returning home? How many are honest enough to talk of never wanting to go back to the land where you need to bribe the local telephone exchange for a connection, the land where you walk through slums to reach your Antilia, the land where you get paid a measly Rs. 8 lakhs as a graduate student from the US, the land where you are a citizen, can vote (that you still don't is a debate for another day) and not a foreigner stealing jobs, the land where your roots lie, the land where you get bhel puri, paav bhaaji, and what not at 3am?

On that thought, I take your leave.

Until my next,

Aditya