Hi friends,

FEEL THE TERROR OF DEATH…!!!

An e-mail is sent to all national news channels on Saturday, July 26, 2008; at around 6:30 p.m. from an anonymous e-mail id, alarbi_gujarat@yahoo.com. The mail contains, at the end of it, the title of this article …Feel the Terror of Death…!!! It is an open challenge to the authorities – Stop It If You Can. But the time this mail gives to take up this challenge is only 5 minutes. In 5 minutes, the police has to save hundreds of people roaming around on the streets of Ahmedabad…! And…before anybody can do anything, just after 5 minutes of reaching that mail, it is BANG...BANG...BANG...!!! The otherwise peaceful city of Ahmedabad experiences the most ghastly of all terrorist attacks in the history of India…!!! The serial bomb blasts in various areas of the city leaves over 55 people dead in Ahmedabad. The mail-sender had succeeded in sending tremors of terror all around the nation…! The mail was allegedly sent from ‘Indian Mujahiddin’, a home-grown terror outfit of SIMI (Students’ Islamic Movement of India), a banned Islamic student organization. SIMI is banned for promoting terror activities in India.

It was just another busy day on the streets of old fort city of Ahmedabad. Various areas of the old city were crowded with people as usual. Nobody knew that after some time the place, where they were standing and bargaining for fruits and vegetables, was going to get converted into their cremation center. At around 6:40 or something, the first blast took place in the Maninagar area, Chief Minister Narendra Modi’s constituency, leaving all the people frightened and rushing to take cover…! And then it was a series of bomb blasts, like what we generally see in the time of Diwali while bursting crackers, that simply left the city and the nation trembled…!!! One could see the Tandav Nritya of terror and death in just a short span of time! Many areas of the city were covered in this act of terror, such as Maninagar, Bapunagar, Isanpur, Raipur, Narol, Hatkeshwar Circle, Sarangpur, Thakkerbapanagar, and Sarkhej. Just look at these statistics: -

• 18 Bomb blasts
• Only in about 50 minutes
• Over 55 Dead
• Over 225 Injured
• Around 8 areas covered
• 2 hospitals also attacked

Any rock-hearted person can shudder by looking at these statistics. They left nobody untouched, be it women, be it children, be it old-aged, be it Hindu, be it Muslim! First time in the history of terror attacks, one thing was noticed in this particular incident that the terrorists attacked the hospitals, ripping apart all the possibilities of getting them back on the tracks of humanity. It is sure the terrorists have completely turned into monsters, carriers of terror, and the flag-bearers of death...!!!

By looking at the series of events that happened on Saturday and from the subsequent news, I could locate a few things in this horrifying event. The same type of incident happened in Jaipur, Malegao, Hydrabad, Varanasi, and latest to join the list was Bangalore on Friday. I think it was the modus operandy that was observed in this incident: -

• Use of crude and low-intensity home-made domestic bombs
• Use of timers to explode the bombs at the desired time
• Use of ball bearings and gelatin nuts to cause more damage
• Use of cycles, the common men’s vehicle, as the ‘death carrier’ so as to seem innocent
• Exploding the bombs in the crowded areas so as to incur heavy casualty

I think the blasts in Bangalore the day before were only a laboratory test before hitting Ahmedabad. The original target was probably Ahmedabad. We all study management in our MBA course. But, I think this time unfortunately the terrorists proved to be the better ‘managers’ than our authorities when it came to planning, strategizing and implementing their plans. The mastermind behind this attack must have planned the whole thing much before and that too in a full-proof manner. From the happenings, I could find a few things that can lead to discovering the dangerous strategy adopted by the mastermind: -

• Selection of crowded areas, and that too the busy markets, so as to create maximum casualty.
• Selection of the perfect evening time slot when all the vegetable markets are crowded.
• Strategizing twin blasts. One blast for grabbing attention; and then the other blast at around 10 meters distance when people out of curiosity gathered at the site of first blast (e.g. Hatkeshwar circle twin blasts). The time difference between the two blasts was kept only 20-30 seconds.
• At several places it happened that one bomb was planted at one location and the other bomb was planted at the Exit route which was to be accessed by most people to save life (e.g. Raipur twin blasts).
• Attacking the hospitals where the victims of the blasts are taken to.
• Selection of two main hospitals of the eastern city, LG Hospital and Civil Hospital; because most of the victims will be rushed to these heavens-in-disguise due to their proximity to the affected areas.
• Timing of the bombs in hospitals: bombs in the LG and Civil exploded after 20-25 (approx.) minutes of explosion of bombs in residential areas. The timing was perfectly set on an assumption that this will be the time taken by the victims to reach the hospitals.
• Exploding blasts in Bangalore so as to divert the attention, so that the attack on Ahmedabad becomes comparatively easy to execute.

From this revealing of the facts, one can easily determine that the terrorists have got support in the form of intelligent and educated young people who can plan maximum damage with the use of mind power in strategizing attacks.

However, there are a few things which are considered to be the reasons for the blasts: -

• The blasts are considered as revenge for what happened to the Gujarati Muslims in the post-Godhara riots in Ahmedabad
• Just have a look at the selection of areas by the extremists. (1) Bapunagar, VHP leader Dr. Praveen Togadia’s gadh; (2) Maninagar, CM Narendra Modi’s Constituency; (3) Sarkhej, Home Minister Amit Shah’s Constituency; (4) Raipur, Gujarat Assembly Speaker Ashok Bhatt’s Constituency; among others. All these stalwarts are said to be Hindu protagonists.
• The first serial blasts of this kind happened in Jaipur last year. On Friday, it was the turn of Bangalore. And now, Ahmedabad. Just look at the pattern. The States that have been attacked are Rajasthan, Karnataka, and Gujarat, respectively. All these States have BJP, allegedly Hindu party, in ruling.
• Some also say that the next target can be Indore, a city of Madhya Pradesh, another BJP-ruled State.
• The blasts are considered to be an answer in-the-face to Modi’s challenge to the terrorist groups to execute any act of terror in Gujarat.

Many of the numerologists have started giving their share of opinions by citing the date 26 as a very inauspicious one. Even though this might be just a co-incidence, it is interesting to have a look at their claim: -

• 26^th December – Tsunami
• 26^th January – Gujarat Earthquake
• 26^th February – Burning of the Sabarmati Express coach that lead to the riots in Gujarat
• 26^th June – Terrible Flood in Gujarat
• 26^th July – Serial blasts in the local trains of Mumbai last year
• 26^th July – Serial blasts in Ahmedabad on Saturday

As I am writing this, the news has come that Anti Terrorist Squad (ATS) has seized another explosive material and the carrier of this material, Maruti Wagon-R, from Surat. One theory is also moving around that the strategy of the terrorists was to double the number of blasts in consecutive three days. That means, in Bangalore the number of blasts was 9, in Ahmedabad, it was 18; and in Surat the number was supposed to be 36. Horrifying…!!!

Hats off to our police and the ATS team for preventing another mind-boggling incident happening!

Also we need to thank the News Channels for their unstopped coverage of the incidents in Ahmedabad, and Bangalore. Just one thing which is irritating me is that the news channels are blaming the Police and the Jawans for not being proactive. I think this is not the time to find scapegoats. We should not blame our Jawans when they are working day and night for the citizens of the two cities, because they are ultimately the toys for our politicians to play with…! We should rather encourage them and not demoralize.

Also hats off to the people of Ahmedabad for taking the terror attacks with positive mind frame and courage, and showing the all famous never-say-die fighting spirit…!

If anybody is to be blamed, it should be our ill-willed contaminated politicians of this country. You know what? The other countries in the world are thinking of us as an impotent country and laughing their heart out to us! They think that India is just an elephant with loads of fat (here population), but don’t possess the killer instinct…! Whenever any such incident takes place anywhere in the nation, our politicians will start the same old recorded tap, “This is a very horrible act of terror…the investigations are going on…whosoever is behind this will not be forgiven…we will take harsh actions against them…blah…blah...!” This has been the standard response of all those bullshit f**king politicians. I am sorry I am using such offensive language, but keep your hand on your heart and tell me. Don’t you feel like shooting all these politicians to death at one stroke? My anger may be a result of my young blood. But can we tolerate what we recently saw in Parliament (the vote-for-money scam), the entire stage-show? If they can sell their soul and morale for money, they can sell anything, including our motherland, India. After each attack, we always have seen them holding high-voltage meetings which have turned out to be fruitless. So, if anybody has to be blamed, they are our politicians and nobody else. I think we as young India will have to take up the responsibility and initiative. We need to be in Police & Army, we need to be IAS officers, and we need to take active part in the Indian politics. One may ask what the hell then I am/we are doing in MBA. My answer to them is that we MBAs are serving/will serve the nation in our own way. We will take forward the brand India, and the India Inc ahead in the world. We are the intellect lot of the young India. I know I have gone off the track, but this was my fury and antagonism which needed to come out…

At the end, we collectively pray to God for people who died in this act against humanity and mankind. May their soul rest in peace and May God give courage to the relatives and families of the victims to bare the loss...!

So, this is the account of what happened in Ahmedabad on Black Saturday and what I believe about the happenings. If anybody has something else to share, please write your views on the subject in terms of comments. Show your love and respect for your motherland...!!! And yes, don't forget to give your opinion to the above mentioned question...! Yes, there at the top...!

Keep sending in your raves and rages as always. See you in the next post. Till then, live and lead a safe and happy life.

Asta-la-vista, friends!

Hi friends,

I am back again…! How are you all? We have entered the third semester very quietly and quite surprisingly, the result of second semester is out! And that too, so suddenly! Of course, there has been mixed reactions about the results. Not commenting on results any more, the college has reopened. But…we don’t feel fresh, do we? It’s so boring these days. No fun. No excitement. We probably need a break. At least, I need it desperately. But, can anybody help it? It’s fine, yaar. It happens. Now, let’s talk something serious today.

We know why we have joined MBA, right? I know what all bullshit things we have cited in our GD-PI sessions of GCET. Basically, we want money. Loads of it…! We are not all billionaires. We have not seen lakhs and crores of rupees floating around us. We want money! Fine! How do we get that is what matters the most. The easiest way to earn this money that we have found in life and that falls in our comfort zone is…join a good MBA course in some reputed institute! One may think why I am talking about all these at this moment. The reason is that the placement season will start soon! You know, across the world, there are only three seasons! But for us, the MBA grads, there is one more season called the placement season. And there will be loads of companies coming in and offering all sort of fancy packages. It will be like a Swayamwar for us. We decide which company we want to choose and not the other way around.

My point starts hereon. Till now, we have taken a conventional stand on these normal proceedings. Can we have a closer look at it, now? The issue is not as simple as it seems. This is a very complicated phase of our life wherein we decide which way we want to mould our careers and subsequently our lives. I have two questions to pose in front of you: - (1) Do we only need money, or also need some feeling of achievement/growth? (2) Should we opt for job or become an entrepreneur? If we decide to become an entrepreneur, what is the right time?

As far as the first point is concerned, I totally agree that in the initial phase of our career, we do need money. But what about the later part of life? Or, at least after some three-four years…! For the time being, let’s think we have started earning money. Enough of money! What next? We again need something interesting in life. A human mind always needs to grow from its existing position. If it doesn’t grow, it feels suffocated. It needs to come out of status quo. We always need to move on in life. So, after some time, there comes a stage when a person wants some sense of growth/achievement. We want to grow in life. We want to move further. We want to climb up the hierarchy. So, money doesn’t always motivate.

The first point was o.k. Moving on to the second point, there can be some of the wildest debates of all. There are advocates of both, employment and entrepreneurship. I leave the first question to you whether you want to take up employment or you want to be an entrepreneur. You have to decide what you want to do. Both have their own pros and cons.

But, if you want to become an entrepreneur, you will have hundreds and thousands of problems in your way. You won’t have a product. You won’t have any office. You won’t have customers. You won’t have investors. You won’t have employees. You won’t have systems and processes in place. You won’t have equipments. You will have to create a brand of your own. You will have to create your credentials in the market. The only thing you will have is…COURAGE! This is not to scare anybody. This is what is called ‘thinking on rational grounds’. Because of many such reasons, many of us don’t want to take a tough call in life. Fine! Even I am not sure what I want to do after completing my degree.

Now, think for a while, you are planning to start up your own venture. Then, the question of choosing the right time arises. One way is that you take some experience in the industry and then start you own business. I know that many of us have thought of doing this. Even our professors tell this to us. The other way is that you start it right from the beginning just after passing out from your institute. Both things have its own pros and cons. If you, first of all, want to take some experience, you will of course have benefits. You will know the nitty-gritty of the business. You will have a better idea of market. You will know who your probable customers will be. You will know how to put the systems and processes in place. You will know from where to get the business. All these things can work positively and prove fruitful. But when you decide that you want to do business now, the time may have gone! Just imagine that you are now married. You have your school-going kids. That is a huge responsibility, isn’t it? Till now, you were getting a fixed amount every month. You have your plans in place. You have settled your investments plans, home loan installments, car loan installments, insurance premiums, school fees of your children, etc. in accordance with your regular Pay-Cheques. Now if you have to start your own venture, you will have to devote your full time to it. You will stop getting your regular payments. You will have your entire schedule of things messed up. Remember, you have a huge responsibility of your family. This is the time, you can’t afford to lose, damn it! You lose and you are out. You don’t have a second chance to prove yourself. You have family pressure and thousands of other sabotages. You are not allowed to lose! Otherwise, you will have to start again from the scratch. You will suffer. Your family will suffer. One has to give a serious thought to it.

Now, what if you have to start you business from the beginning? The problems will be the same as mentioned above. But the major benefit will be that you will have time to rectify your mistakes. You will have time to own up your mistakes and start again. Because then you won’t have much of responsibility. More importantly, you will learn from the process. And this learning is the most crucial of all. Because, once you’ve leant the lesson, you won’t commit the same mistake again. In the first case, even if you have learnt your lessons, you won’t have time to put your learning in to practice.

Choice is yours. I chose this subject this time because I have heard many people saying that they will start their venture after getting some experience. I am of the opinion that if one has to start his own business, the right time is to start it right from the beginning. If you have the courage and the right mindset To Do It, everything else will follow. Be it investment, customer, employees or anything else for that matter. As far as experience is concerned, it will come with learning, failure, success and the passage of time. As mentioned above, the placement season will start soon…! Give it a thought as soon as possible, guys…!!!

Before signing off, let me tell you that this is what I believe. If you have some other opinion to share, do tell me by posting your comments and letting the world know about it.

Keep sending in your raves and rags. See you in my next post. Till then, live and lead a successful life…

Asta-la-vista, friends!

Hi friends,

Hope this post finds you in best of your soul and mind! It is raining outside heavily, as I write this post. And I am enjoying the mausam to its fullest. Hope you too do. By the way, you enjoyed reading about the life story of Steve Jobs of Apple Corporation, didn’t you? This time I am back with something about which I should have written some time back. Ever thought, why do people blog? It is actually a psychological process, wherein your latent desires to have your own space in this ‘crowded’ world is satisfied! You can do whatever you wish in your this world in which people come and share their views.

Is there any specific reason, why people write blogs? There are numerous blogs on the internet. People write and like the blogs of different kind, variety and tastes. There are blogs on history, music, movies, geography, architecture, marriage, love, automobiles, cell phones, property, marketing, engineering, finance, nature, human body, psychology, computers, gadgets, and lots more. You name it and you have it on the ‘blogosphere’. What drives a person to indulge into such an activity which is not so important in life?

Wait a while! Take a closer look at it!

There are various reasons for which people resort to blogging. Whether you read a blog or you write a blog, you are a blogger. There are various websites which provide you the valuable online space for your own sake! Blogs are not newspapers. Blogs are not magazines. Blogs are not somebody else’s opinions. The blog is completely your own space and your own world. Here, there is no compulsion on you to believe what other people believe or think or write. You are your own king. You write it out your own way. There is no body to stop you. If other people like your blog, they will comment on it. One can have an online discussion forum in the face of blogs.

In India, though, the blogs are not much popular. Around the world, the blogs are more famous among the youngsters. A lot can be done over a blog. People discuss various issues related to their life and the society. People discuss their tastes and preferences. I have seen instances wherein people discuss upcoming movies or some music albums online. People discuss some upcoming automobile model, or gadgets or computer operating systems. I tell you the latest trend. For example, earlier, the companies used to take the traditional route for reaching out to people. They used to do a survey or some research for knowing whether their new offerings will work in the market or not. If the results are preferable, they will go on and do a pilot study by selecting a few selected target segments. Now what happens is that the companies don’t indulge into such tedious and expensive activities. They just open up blog and invite people to discuss their tastes and preferences over it. This will give the companies some of the essential insights as to how to position their products and services to people. This activity is prominent in the music industry in India. Before launching an album, the music companies select a focus group on blogs and try to know their opinions about the albums. This will give them a hint as to what the population will think if the sample thinks in certain ways. So the blogs have their commercial uses also.

People also resort to blogging when they want to tell somebody about what is happening in their lives. Some people love to discuss their lives in public. Some don’t. I have seen people discussing their views about some issues concerning the society or the nation as a whole. For instance, people talk and discuss about the ongoing nuclear deal controversy in the nation. People also discuss stock market and the stock indices on blogs. I have seen people discussing inflation, population, poverty, living standard, nutrition, war, etc. on blogs. We know all these issues concern the society very much. One may ask that mere discussing is not the solution to any problem. I completely agree. But the discussion may lead to some sensible solution. Mostly, the blogging activity is the hobby of youngsters. So we can come to know what other youngsters, like us, think on some point.

One may ask why I selected such a topic for this article (post). But I wanted people to be aware of what is going on in the world. We as MBA grads should know new and innovative ways of communicating with people. For instance, earlier the chatting was considered as a nuisance at the work place. But today, many corporate meetings are conducted on chats and online conference rooms. As people don’t have time and the geographical distances becoming immaterial due to telecommunication tools, people prefer such new ways of communicating. By the way, as the cliché goes, every coin has two sides. While on one hand the blogs contain mature and sensible things, they also contain pornography and other adult material. But as sensible adults, we know what is best suited to our taste, don’t we? The choice is up to us. And why people like porn and adult material is another issue which needs a completely different elaborative article as it requires a totally unorthodox and unconventional point of view to deal with.

That’s it! This is what I wanted to write as of now. Hope you enjoyed reading this and got something new to know.

See you again in my new post. Till then, live and lead a happy and successful life!

Asta-la-vista, friends!