cat random_ramblings_and_frustrations > randomgod

... better than polluting my tech journal with them.

Outsourcing, Bhaiyya style

The Marathi-Bhaiyya issue from my own metropolitan, middle-class viewpoint looked like a complete farce, a means to polarize Marathi votes away from the Sena and towards the MNS. Today, I had the luck to look at it from the viewpoint of a grassroots worker, a rickshawalla in Mira Road. He was far away from the "they don't learn our culture" talk that Raj Thakarey flaunts and was much closer to the issue that hit him most -- employment. Here's what he had to say (So that the comments don't sound out of context, they were made as a reaction to the State Government appealing to the fleeing workers in Nashik to come back. Also, Mira Road rickshaws follow the pre-paid fare system; no meters):

"Those bhaiyyas, they herd into the city by the dozens, stay like dogs, 7-8 in a room and earn money at our cost. One comes here and then gets 10 other relatives to dirty our state. They sell their pride for chump change, steal our jobs by agreeing to work for half the salary. A Marathi manoos would never sell his pride, he will never work in such conditions. A Marathi manoos, with his family, will never live in conditions that they do. We have our pride as well. We won't simply bear anything for work. I'm not saying we should shoo away all the bhaiyyas, just stop more from coming over."

"Among all the rickshawallas in Mira-Bhayander, most are bhaiyyas, but we make sure none of them pick up fare at our stand. They pollute our business area by taking fare from our stand for less. Wherever we charge for Rs. 20, they willingly take fare for Rs. 10. Commuters then fight with us for the fare, which is just not right".

"But, why are they able to afford taking fare for half the cost?", I asked.

"Because they're like nomads. They don't stick to a single stand like we do, and simply wander all over the place. We have stands, we belong to a place, not like them. Passengers know us. Whenever they forget anything in the rickshaw, we make sure that we return it to them the next time. Thay is why we make sure only our Marathi brothers do business from our stand, not those unreliable bhaiyyas".

So to conclude, North Indians should be shooed out of Maharashtra since they are creating competition for the locals. In other words, Raj Thakareys Marathi manoos doesn't have the spine to compete with the hard working UPites and Biharis.

Shame on us.

Divided we stand

The strife for complete equality and non-discrimination will never work. The simple reason for that is that we always fall into groups and point fingers at each other. If it's not race, then it's money, gender, education, educational streams, geographical locations, age, disabilities, or even technological preferences.

If all else fails, there's always physical looks and/or skin colour.

Beautiful

Absolutely beautiful sights the Kokan Kada and Taramati peak were. Their description, however superlative it may be, will still be modest. One has to see it to witness nature's art at its best. Visit, but be responsible and do not litter the place. We cleaned it up day before yesterday. 4 gunny bags full of glass, 5 gunny bags full of plastic and 3 gunny bags of paper -- enough said isn't it?

Youth for Equality

The YFE sent emails to everyone on their list today, notifying that they have now entered politics to clean up the system. The email asked questions to the reader; the result is a bit predictable isn't it :)

Received: by 10.90.32.3 with HTTP; Sun, 21 Jan 2007 09:47:41 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <6e19a8cd0701210947h6267c261y3130413f884eac6@mail.gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2007 23:17:41 +0530
From: "Siddhesh Poyarekar" 
To: "Youth for Equality" 
Subject: Re: YFE Goes POLITICAL
In-Reply-To: 
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Disposition: inline
References: 
Delivered-To: siddhesh.poyarekar@gmail.com

Hi,

To be honest, I have not been following the development of the YFE
forum for quite some time now. But since these questions came in I
thought I'd answer on my behalf since I feel that's the least I can
do.

On 1/21/07, Youth for Equality  wrote:
> Q. Don't you think that it's cruel and unjust to beat
> innocent students, throw water cannons, tear gas at
> them, and put them behind bars in order to curb their
> silent protest?

True, it is. But the issue is much larger than water cannons, tear gas
or for that matter, even reservations

> Q. Don't you think that there is a possibility that we
> are living under a dictatorship?

No we are not. We are living in a corrupt democracy. There is a very
vital difference. There is no justice in reserving seats for different
classes just as there is no justice in NOT reserving seats for
different classes.

> Q. Don't you think that the government is playing the
> game of "Divide and Rule" with its reservation
> policies?

Yes they are. No arguments about that.

> Q. Did you ever think of protesting against the
> functioning of the system in a democratic way?

Yes. But if you think protests and demonstrations are the democratic
way then please think again. There is also a very strong case for
reforms. Devote all that time that you sit and prepare slogans and
slides for this movement to educating the under-privileged and THEN
claim that there's no need to give them crutches. Only then will you
have a morally higher standpoint. Demonstrations and protests make YFE
and the Indian youth in general look very selfish.

> Q. Don't you think the current politicians are
> unfairly using public emotions for their vote bank?

Honestly, so is the YFE. That is exactly what politics is all about
and YFE is already a part
of it.

> Q. Don't you think that there is an urgent need for
> replacement of the people controlling the Indian
> system?

This is a very difficult question to answer. The Telegraph describes
YFE as follows:

"One group represents the cream of the country's youth"
(http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070108/asp/atleisure/story_7233137.asp)

Honestly, I can't quite disagree with that. There's many more people
in this country than the few lakh students that forms and supports the
YFE. It is really no use if YFE is just another organization that
shouts on and on for 'equality' and doesn't do anything else.


Regards,
-- 
Siddhesh Poyarekar
http://siddhesh.tk