If God gave you only 5 minutes, what will you do??

This question was recently asked to me by my superior during my yearly appraisal process. Now, how weird a question can get?? Does this question make any sense at all..the valid or the appropriate question would have been "How much hike do you want?", but that only one can dream of.

But this was no dream...thousand images flashed in my head, of family, of friends, of loved ones, of achievements, of failures, of disappointments, of mistakes, of desires, of ecstasy, of distress and of thousand things that I would want to do before saying goodbye. I was confused, is this a real question? Or is there any hidden agenda…oh my god!! am I getting fired?

I cried "why me? Look at my ratings, 90+ every year, I am a performer, so why should I be laid off?" Having said that I realized, that was not the question and I made a fool of myself. My boss calmed me down and explained the idea behind this question; it was not to baffle me, rather asked for my own development and empowerment.
It was then that I collected my thoughts and set on another trail of thoughts. It made me reflect on my inner self, what i have done in my life, and what will be the most important thing in the world which i would want to do in my last 5 minutes of life.

After thinking a great deal, I said “Ofcourse, I would like to spend those precious few minutes with the closed ones but I will also look back and see whether I had given my best shots to everything. It doesn't matter whether i succeeded or failed, whether i won or lost, whether i overachieved or underachieved. The ultimate satisfaction that I gave my best in everything I ever did should be enough”.

This was the answer my boss was looking for and as soon as I said this I realized that it just don’t matter whether I achieve my KRAs and get 90+, the most important thing would be to challenge myself with something new over and again.

FIFA WC - Where is India??

The Football World Cup 2010 is on and all crazy football fans are excited, glued to the TV screen all evening, watching the thrilling one and half hour event and silently praying for their favorite team to win. As an Indian, it is difficult for me to chose a team to support. There are 32 nations playing but where is India??

Back in 1950 when India was invited to play the Football World Cup, India could not participate in the event, the reason being our players were not allowed to play barefoot. Shortly after independence, were we that poor a country that affording 11-12 shoes would have been a herculean task? Probably the answer lies with the then Government or with Mr Nehru. Sadly, India never ever qualified again for FIFA WC despite being the second most populous nation. Is this because we are only interested in Cricket which is worshiped by many in this country or is it because of the lack of infrastructure for football. Kolkata is the only place where people are passionate about this sport, with East Bengal and Mohan Bagan, the two famous teams in this eastern city and the religious fan following by people, rest other states are into oblivion. However, the english champion league or the world cup football is followed across the country by football fans. Then why the sports ministry is not doing anything about this sports. What we need to do now is to develop a culture for football playing in this country otherwise it will always remain a dream for India to ever qualify for this wonderful game. Its a long journey but if seriously taken will not be difficult.

As far as this world cup is concerned, I am supporting Argentina and Messi remains my favorite player :)

Raajneeti - An epic retold

Raajneeti is a compelling film about a Gandhi like political family, though the characters of the movie are largely inspired by the characters of Mahabharata with some resemblance to Mario Puzo's The Godfather.

The story unfolds typically with conflicts between the cousins like Pandavas vs Kauravas. Arjun Rampal on one side while Manoj Bajpai on the other, both seeking reins of the family' political legacy after the head of the family suffers a paralytic stroke. The hunger for power leads to a massive bloodbath.

Ranbir Kapoor is the younger brother of Arjun Rampal, based out of US and not into the family politics until his father is murdered which brings a transformation in his character. He joins his elder brother and turns into a scheming politican. Ajay Devgan who plays Karna from Mahabharata, born out of wedlock and abandoned by his mother at the time of his birth stands against his own step-brothers for his friend (Manoj Bajpai) as depicted in the epic. Katrina Kaif's character has little resemblance to Draupadi, when she is used as a pawn for marriage for alliances to gain the power. Nana Patekar has played a wise counselor to the Pandavas like Krishna.

While the first half of the movie is gripping, the second half falters a bit with some half baked scenes like the confrontation between Kunti and her abandoned son Karna and the shootout scene during the end where Krishna counsels Arjun to kill Karna when he refuses to kill him.

Some incredible performances can be witnessed like Nana Patekar as a witty Brij, Ranbir Kapoor as a calm and yet so conniving youngest member of the family. Arjun Rampal is convincing in his brash role. Ajay Devgan, in the first half has performed brilliantly while the movie slips from him to the other actors in the second half and he has not much role to play. Katrina Kaif as Indu was not very impressive in the first half while later she does her job of looking good as a widowed politician with some resemblance to Sonia Gandhi.

The movie becomes little boring as it is 3 hours long. However, the brilliant performances put by various actors makes it a must see.

Environment Disaster

Most e-mail these days comes with a rider "Think before you print, save trees, save planet earth". And so often, it happens that you are left with no option other than printing. I faced a similar dilemma recently, caught in a very difficult trap, i went for saving my neck from boss's clutch rather than saving mother earth but that thought always remained.

And few days later i came across this heartbreaking news of oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico caused by BP's oil well blow-out. Claimed as the greatest environmental disaster in US history by US President Barack Obama. This leakage which happened in April is releasing 12,000 to 19,000 barrels of oil everyday into the ocean and BP's attempt so far to cap the well and plug the leak haven't worked. After a few failed trial and error attempt, BP is skeptical and predict that in worst case scenario, the leak would be plugged by christmas time which mean by year end, 4 million barrels of oil would be spilled into the Gulf. According to Harry Roberts, a professor of Coastal Studies at Louisiana State University, that would wipe out marine life deep at sea near the leak and elsewhere in the gulf, and along hundreds of miles of coastline.

This piece of news has put me in shock, i was guilty about few print outs but the loss to the environment with this kind of calamity is agonizing.