Rationale behind my decision to support Yogesh

Not all actions/decisions in life need reasons .

When my friend Vinod said he was campaigning for Yogesh ,an independent candidate from Bommanahalli constituency in Bangalore and asked me to utilize my time by helping Yogesh in the campaign , i needed no reasons as it was a request from my life time friend. But when he explained about his carrier i was quite puzzled and compelled to ask some clarifications from Yogesh ,who after working for around 20 years in a reputed networking firm(13 years in USA) decided to get in to social work.

I had put him series of questions and clarifications (Questions and answers are attached at the end of blog ) as a cynical journalist does and which i realize now that they can have demoralizing effects on any weak aspirant . But i was impressed by the way Yogesh answered patiently to my questions in a most practical way .

There are only few people who dare to explore the waters even after knowing the fact  that the journey would be fraught with storms. One answer which impressed me the most came to my pessimistic question " given the nature of contemporary politics your chances of winning are very bleak so how would you handle it?." answer was like this " YES, Chances are bleak in the given setup. But we have to change and change comes only in small installments. A new-born baby doesn't run the 1st day or 1st month or 1st year...Good democracies and systems of the world did not happen overnight nor in few years.. needs a several decades for that... american democracy has more than 2 century history... So we need to put our best efforts  and keep making progress.. If we are on right track, One/Some day we will achieve what we want... Reaching the destination should not be the sole objective but also to enjoy the journey to reach the destination..." .    After this answer from him I am not sure how good a politician Mr.Yogesh makes but as a person i am impressed by his optimistic approach towards life which is very important in today's political arena which is full of apathetic ,pessimistic politicians. My belief  is that  " when a person has positive approach  he would not hinder to think out of box and try new solutions to solve age old problems" and i guess you wouldn't disagree to this point.

Here is one more pessimistic question from me to which Mr.Yogesh answered in very convincing way.
Q: The votes that you are targeting of so called well educated are the most complacent audience in India. So you can least trust them.
A: That is because they were not given good choices consistently.. They have lost hope and so their apathy. As I said earlier, we got to change that by giving good choices. Winning is not my only objective but is one of the 4..
(1) Other 3 being bring the educated and dejected people to the booths to vote... 
(2) Make them to believe there is hope and they need to take part in changing the system...
(3)  Identify, mentor and nurture leaders for future..
if Yogesh get's 5,000 votes, I can assure you that there will be atleast 10 yogesh's willing to take the plunge in next election... 
If yogesh get's 25,000 there will 50 more... 
If yogesh win's (needs 50,000 votes) and delivers in 5 years.. there  will be 100 to 200... If I were to win, I personally like to mentor atleast 5 in next 5 years who are ready to contest public election (be it corporation / assembly / municipal council or whatever).

This was something like a knockout blow to me. I am not sure about whether all these listed promises would be implemented by him or not ( My apologies for being cynical ,i attribute this cynicism purely to current political scenario in India )  but what i am sure about is him being the only candidate contesting in election from entire Karnataka with such a noble vision.I call it a noble vision because today's  youngsters have lost faith in politics so winning back their confidence in politics is only way out to have sustainable democracy in India, which otherwise would lead to political unrest as we have seen in many Gulf countries. Yogesh has thought of not just bringing youngsters out to vote but to train them as a future leaders that India needs today to leverage demographic dividend that our politicians always boost about .

So now i have reasons ,obligation (as a Friend and as a responsible Citizen ) and moreover an opportunity to work with such passionate person (Yes i am being little selfish and greedy about knowledge ,experience and exposure which i am going to get working with him :) ) so I support Yogesh candidature in Karnataka assembly elections. 

So i here by request to my friends to kindly support us in whatever way you can and give us some good ideas to reach out to people.

Come be part of this noble work .

Website : http://www.yogeshdevaraj.in/ 

Answers to other questions that may be haunting you ...

1)When you say ,you have good intentions of working for people ,is politics is the only way out ?

certainly, not.. there are many ways but depends on what one wants to do.. one such way other than politics is working for non-profits... i did that for almost 12-13 years while I was in US. after coming back i found the governance at all levels is failing fast and absolutely their is no accountability either on fulfilling their responsibilities nor for their misdeeds. 

so the country needs big help in this area where day-by-day people are getting disinterested and loosing hope..  if we can bring little sanity, things will start changing for better.. a legislative house needs to elect 10% to 20% honest people with good track record..

2)What is the real power( Funds , Voice for a cause etc ) as an independent candidate you will have when the people from reputed parties are unable to do anything for their constituencies .

Representatives from all parties have proved that they are all the same when it comes to governance or accountability (for them it's all ME, ME and ME)...  political parties doesn't attract good people nor doesn't encourage them even if they come on their own... politics has become investment these days.. invest X amount of money and try to make 10x or 20x  money in 5 years.. once you get elected, you settle for life...

actually real power is one's character and ability to motivate others and bring people of different thoughts and interests into one platform that is DEVELOPMENT and MAKING PEOPLE's LIVES BETTER... to motivate others one needs to be CLEAN and a ROLE-MODEL.. These days the MOST CORRUPT get the best respect because of their money and muscle power

3)Sir , people are bored hearing false promises made by politicians about good governance they promise in every election campaign , so what's that make your candidature a unique one so that it catches people's attention?

YES.. every party promised and failed.. .that's the reason, people have lost interest in our political and administrative systems, which is very dangerous development.

I don't know about uniqueness.... but I'm trying to send a message across saying pl consider 4 things

 (a) I'M COMMITTED to the cause, if I were elected... Me walking away from a high-paying job and surviving in public service even after 2 1/2 years should get attention if people really want to see it.

(b) I have EXPERIENCE both PROFESSIONAL (of 20 years) and in COMMUNITY SERVICE (of 15 years, although most of it part-time). Know how to work with people and get work done. Community service is way different  (and tougher) than Professional work. Hence I will not promised what I will get done.. I'm saying what I understand and how problems can be solved...

(c) All my life I cared for HONESTY and INTEGRITY... That's what my parents taught us and we are teaching our kids. This is essential ingredient in Public Life which is grossly missing.... I can guarantee on this but voters have to believe seeing my past record...

(d) I understand THE PUBLIC GOVERNANCE SYSTEMS and have good idea on HOW TO SOLVE PROBLEMS.. will listen to the BEURACRACY for solutions and will work with them or make them work on the solution..

An Eternal Optimist

After completing reading a voluminous book "A Long walk to freedom:An autobiography by Nelson
Mandela" i could not resist myself but to write this post.

Who is an optimist? An optimist is the one who keeps one's head pointed towards the sun,one's feet moving forward.There would me many dark moments when his faith would sorely be tested, but he would not give himself up to despair because that way lay defeat and death.

I have found one such eternal optimist in Nelson Mandela. This no-normal human being held his hopes alive for around 27 years when he was fettered in an isolated island . He never accepted the things as they  were especially when he found them to be unjust.He was a fighter of a life time .He fought a indefatigable battle against the apartheid ,against the jail authorities for inhumane conditions of the Robben Island which was his home for around 20 years .

Even though Nelson drew his inspiration from Gandhian movements in India there are some striking differences between their approaches as a whole. For Eg: Nelson Mandela saw Non-Violence on the Gandhian model not as an inviolable principle but as a tactic to be used as the situation demanded.So Gandhi was a man of principle but Mandela was a more pragmatic leader.


Friends here is a story of an eagle :
EAGLE can live up to 70 years, but to reach this age, the eagle must make a hard decision in its' 40's
Its' long & flexible talons can no longer grab prey which serves as food, Its' long & sharp beak becomes bent
Its' old-aged & heavy wings, due to their thick feathers, become stuck to its' chest & make it difficult to fly
Then eagle is left with only 2 options: die or go through a painful process of change which lasts 150 days.
The process requires that eagle fly to a mountain & the eagle knocks its' beak against a rock until it plucks it out
After this, eagle will wait for a new beak to grow back. When its' new talons grow back, the eagle starts plucking its' old-aged feathers & after 5 months, eagle can take its' flight of rebirth & lives for 30 more years

I am sure that people have heard this story for more than once in their life time but i found this story to have some analogy to the life of Mandela and for that matter all the greats who have lived on the earth, for all of them had 2 phases in their life .The first half that is pretty ordinary that most of all live and the second half which is an extraordinary ones.The interval between 2 stories is the struggle , similar to that of an eagle, these people go through and endure without complaining .

So the question is why most people's life turn out to be so ordinary and lackluster ?
Is it something that is pre-etched in person's genes that decides whether he becomes a great personality or a mediocre ?
Answer to this is a plain NO.
Then what is it that matters? It is ,how big one's dreams are, how much one can endure without complaining ,how long one can hold on to his dreams working relentlessly..

 "Don't ever get complacent about your achievement" be RESTLESS. Be Restless to make yourself an artist in whatever art you indulge in , be restless to serve the poor and the society , be restless still you bring  the change in society that you want to see.

There were the words of Mandela after achieving the freedom for South Africa when he was in his mid 70's

"I have walked that long road to freedom.I have tried not to falter. I have had missteps along the way.But i have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill,one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.I have taken moment here to rest , to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance i have come.But i can rest only for a moment , for with the freedom comes responsibilities , and i dare not linger ,for my long walk is not yet ended"

Cooperative model in Kannada movie industry

LUCIA is first cooperative movie in the Kannada movie industry 

A very good attempt by a very talented director Pawan Kumar .He was Indian finalist in Young Performing Arts Entrepreneur 2009 by British Council .He should be credited for his not-so-conventional style of film making and novel ways of budgeting his movies.

As i have always been a true admirer of cooperative model of doing business and Kannada movies , i have tonnes of expectation on this movie.

I wish Dr. Verghese Kurien would have been with us to see the spread of cooperative model ,of which he was a passionate admirer.

To know more about cooperative model :  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperative

Mr. Pawan Kumar , ALL THE BEST

My experience at IRMA

"When ever you are in doubt or when the self becomes too much with you ,apply the following test. Recall the face of the poorest and the weakest man whom you may have seen & ask yourself , if the step you contemplate is going to be of any use to him? will he gain anything from it? will it restore him to a control over his own life and destiny?  Then you will find your doubts and your self melting away..." These were the words of Gandhi.

I am fully aware of the fact that these are too idealistic and most irrelevant words for today's omnipresent middle class population of India who are too obsessed with the self .But these are the words that lay path to the most satisfying life .Friends ,at the later stags of the life ,when you look back and see, it's not your bank balance but the impact ,however modest ,that you made on people's lives that gives you a real sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.

In life  things can go wrong at any time and they mostly does.But when you look back and pay little more attention, you notice that everything happens with a reason and you see every dot connected.So take life as it comes . Most of us compare ourselves with others mostly friends ,acquaintances ,relatives or someone we barely know to measure our success or happiness without realizing the fact that success and happiness are very subjective .

The other day ,as a desperate IRMA aspirant , was trying to gobble as much knowledge as possible on the institution ,it's alumni ,etc and i was really taken aback to see the kind of passionate people the earth has on it. Here was a gentle-man called Sanjay Ghose who ,literally, gave up his life for the welfare of tribal people. Hats off to this genius yet generous person. Request you to go through his life story ,who knows sometime in life when we may feel lack of inspiration /direction ,these stories may come to our rescue.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanjay_Ghose 

Oh yes , i was to write my experience at IRMA .

It was exactly an year ago when my guru Mr Ashutosh  suggested me about the IRMA when  he thought that i was becoming directionless . Then on ,series of events and discussions with like minded people like Anil ,Vinod ,Pradeep ,Raghavendra ,Shreyas ,Sandeep Jain have strengthened the need of education from institutes of ilk IRMA. I feel that and hope most people agree to the fact that our 16 years of education has not given us anything but a job . So i strongly feel the need for education  that can provide channel to ones raw ideas and make him a true thinker not just a job-seeker at least in the final stages of my educational carrier. With this belief i started my preparation and was able to crack the written test and was called for GD/PI on 30th January 2013.

It was January 29, 6 PM when i was in front of the institute i longed to be part of , it was a kind of dream come true. Institute spread across 60 acres of lush green campus .It was a rear example of a institute providing such a hospitality to it's to-be-students in this age of commercialization of education. During my stay at the institute i came across all the kind of people i.e true passionate as well as those who wanted IRMA as the back-up institute if they fail to make into other money making institutes.

My performance at GD/PI was pretty decent and am very optimistic about the chances. But again i am not the only true passionate to attend the interview .The interview panel may find more passionate people than me to be part of their institute as they have their own procedures to measure candidate's passion. Here i feel the relevance of Dr. Kurien's dream of establishing 4-5 IRMAs across the different parts of the country without compromising on the quality to cater to the needs of the rural people by providing sufficient number of Bare-foot managers as IRMANS are fondly known as.

Know more about IRMA at https://www.irma.ac.in/

After all one thing is clear i.e we need to be sensible human beings .Just to quote an example we spend Rs 200 -Rs 300 for a single movie ticket and the harsh fact is that our respected planning commission of India has defined Rs 22 for rural and Rs 28 for urban as poverty line . Here i may sound foolish to suggest my friends to stop spending but what i suggest them is to spend judiciously .We can use the remaining amount for some good deeds .here i just tried to keep my mind and heart open to you..you may find my opinion completely non-sense for now but i am sure that you realize these things for sure in later stages of your life.
So guys think about this ... ...