Can you see through our National Flag?

We are done and dusted with the idea of freedom. We are. I know that. From opinion pieces to research papers, most of us have read everything there was. We have analysed the texts, the words, the lines and even the spaces between them and I have come to realise is that freedom has no one definition but if there is anything about it that most of us will agree with- It's the fact that freedom is about choices.

What that makes us free is to form an opinion, being able to speak and act as we want to without being tried for it. But the moment you impose it, you traverse across the thin line of freedom and become its enemy.

It is about making choices as far as you are not curbing other person's freedom to make choices.

You are curbing my freedom by forcibly trying to enter my personal space or restricting my movement by shouting, yelling or terrorising me when I drive back home from work.

You are curbing my freedom if you are imposing your decisions on me in the name of tradition.

You are curbing my freedom if you are imposing your language, your religion and your opinions on me.

Most women in our country, the tribals, the minority in this sense, are not free. The Chandigarh stalking case, the lynching cases across the country and the fact that we are still selling skin whitening cream saying that it will help us succeed in life speak volumes about where we lag.

Our national flag stands for strength, peace, and prosperity. It stands for our freedom which we won with our cultural, psychological and physical strength. Cultural because if anything 200 years of British rule could do to our forefathers and foremothers was - to make us adopt their ways, not eradicate theirs. Psychological because British official accounts' narrate how mentally disturbed it made them when they oppressed the oppressed and physical because it cost blood.

The fight for our freedom is not very different today. Our fight is cultural, psychological and physical. Just like we can't see if we put out the national flag in front of our windscreen, we won't be able to see if we keep ignoring all that's wrong with this country. There is nothing wrong with loving your country, but to romanticise it, in my opinion, is wrong. Our job I feel as people who can empathise, as people who can understand the nuances of life is to tell people what we believe is right.

And so, my job here as someone who is free to form an opinion and realises its duty, is done.

Here's Faiz Ahmed Faiz' 'Bol ke labz aazad hai tere'

Bol ke labz aazad hai tere

Bol, zabaan ab tak teri hai,
Tera sutwan jism hai tera –
Bol, ke jaan ab tak teri hai.

Dekh ke aahangar ki dukaan mein
Tund hai shu’le, surkh hai aahan,
Khulne-lage quflon ke dahane,
Phaila hare k zanjeer ka daaman.

Bol, ye thora waqt bahut hai,
Jism o zabaan ki maut se pahle;
Bol, ke sach zinda hai ab tak –
Bol, jo kuchh kahna hai kah-le!

Corporate world woes: That Are-You-Healthy email from HR is how they choose to mock you

One thing about being an adult is that you start checking emails more than your social media accounts. Another thing about being an adult is that you don't particularly enjoy doing that, mostly because the emails are either from NGOs asking you for money or from banks suggesting you borrow money (It's a lose-lose situation in both cases) Anyway. Other than emails from NGOs and banks, we get emails from the HR. Now here is the thing about mails from HR- they are harmless but they mock. Mock how? Consider this- No matter how much you want to use the 'Kaam utna karo ki salary zyadda lage' mantra- it's not going to work. Courtesy, universities our bosses went to study at. Given that I am so suspicious of everything in the world [ Eg: I still think Hillary Clinton paid Donald Trump to stand for the Presidential elections so that she could win but then she got trolled and I firmly believe that the bird which sat on Bernie Sander's podium during his speech was trained to do so. Also, I have zero faith in technology. Even though my auto sync is forever switched off, I make sure I don't click things I don't want people to know about because I get a feeling Apple is watching us and that it is partially funded by the US government to provide data ], it was not a big deal for me to think that MBA students have chapters explaining tactics to exploit their employees without them knowing it. Or to sound subtle- To make the most of their resources. Now, since by this age I have plenty of friends working in corporates; here's all that I have been able to figure out and if you're an MBA, let me know how close to reality it is.

The tactics in my view include:

1) Divide and Rule: Don't let your employees become friends
2) Tell them you're an NPA for the company. A Non-Performing Asset, In other words- A liability
3) Tell them their ideas are naive and then add a few flowcharts and tables and present them as yours
4) Give them big targets and the day they reach the target, increase it by half so that the initial target becomes the minimum target.
5) Act sweet.
And 6) Decorate your HR department with showpieces.

Coming back to why I feel the HR department mocks: So last Thursday I got an email saying that the department has arranged a free check up sorts for its employees- For liver and for kidney. I mean? You guys think we are so free we drink often? If there's anything we need a check up for- It's the brain. And the eyes. I am not sure how sitting in front of your system for such long hours can affect your liver or your kidney? The graphic attached asked- How healthy are you. Well, I don't know. I have massive back ache, my brain is exhausted and I am thirsty but I can't get up from my seat because WORK. But sure, let us get a liver check up and see how healthy I am, Showpiece.

Sometimes, I think it's a huge hoax where the government and the corporate worlds are not very different from each other. Consider this- You pay the government for education-the government pays you for working,-you pay the government through taxes-government makes you ignore your health- you fall sick- the government gives you medicines- you think it is taking care of you. Same is with the corporate world. But my problem is not with deceiving because that's what every government does. (Pentagon, are you smiling?) My problem is with mocking. You cannot not get noticed when you do things like this.

Liver check-up.

 WTH.

It is like asking a painter to take tuitions for Mathematics and like asking an ice cream seller if he needs a microwave at his shop and like asking Punjabi parents if they need lessons on good parenting. Futile. They won't do it. They don't need it.

Is this the 'Yahi' in 'Yahi toh maar kha gaya India' ?

Courtesy: MT

India is progressing and progressing. There's no reason for anyone to doubt what Indians are capable of and no, this is not be being all romantic about my country. This is just me talking about a group of people with a common history and the situations it has dealt with. However, there are some problems, peculiar to India. Problems so small and so funny, nobody has been able to figure out a solution. Here's one little problem which could be the "Yahi" in "Yahi to maar kha gaya India".

So, I was never a morning person, I used to be up till late night for exams, for movies, for parties and I have never complained. However, I have started to realise that the situation is different when you're expected to be up all night. Here's a peep into a day of my working life.

I come home at 4am, it's still day time for my body so I hang around the house, eat something, check out all the viral videos I had missed during the day and go to sleep in an hour or two.

It's 9, my maid talks for 15 minutes non stop on an extremely high pitch and I wake up, sit on a chair and wait for everyone to leave the house. 

Maid leaves, I go to sleep and fifteen minutes later my mom calls, "Don't forget to leave my medical slip and card at home before you go.."

Whatever.

I go back to sleep. My brother, excited because it's the second day of his college wakes me up again (I stop keeping a track of time by now) and asks me how he LOOKS. I beg him to let me sleep, he says okay, he leaves my room, comes back to my room, all set for college, fresh and shiz, asks me to lock the door. I get up, finally thanking the lord that I'd finally get to sleep, he stops at the doorstep and asks me which lock would I use to lock the door when I leave. 

It's 10 and I give up by this time. I tell him politely that it's his choice. He picks up the keys and leave. 

I crawl back to my bed, hoping to get an hour or so of good sleep, half n hour goes by and I'm deep asleep. 

And then, two door bells within a gap of 20 minutes. 20 minutes, too long to not sleep, too short even for a nap. 

The inquiry guy and the flipkart guy. 

Okay, whatever. I take the parcel, everything's sorted. I can go back to sleep and still get an hour of good sleep before the day starts. 

And then, my sister calls. Thrice. On landline. 

Call 1. Please receive my flipkart package. Oh it has come! Wow, send me a picture whenever you can. 

I come back to bed. 

Call 2. Did you find the black stockings? 

I come back to bed. 

Call 3. Reminder, send me the picture. 

I come back to bed. 

Mom calls, on mobile. 

Mom: Did the cook come? Okay, if she does ask her to... 

And before I know it. It's 4. And I have to catch a bus at 4:30. 

I havent slept properly, the cook hasnt come so I'll have to pack whatever's there, and I have to give the flipkart package to someone because no one's gonna  be home when the driver comes to pick it up.