I'm a patriot but I have seen what no patriot should ever have had to witness

I'm a patriot to the core, I love this country with all its greatness, beauty and its shadows. I am proud to be born Indian and would not change that, no matter what the choices are in any life this or the next.

I'm a patriot. My heart swells up and I stand taller every time I see the tricolour. I have seen it fly high and wrapped around the patriots I am indebted to. 4 generations of olive greens and I'm proud it flows through my veins.

I grew up in the India where soldiers were "martyred" in battle and only the enemy was "killed". Where the family of a martyr was seen to have earned a lifetime of respect. Where the small city stood still just to get news of those fighting at the front so everyone else could hold up their head. Where medals were recognised as blood and sacrifice not metal. Where every one knew the real meaning of Naam. Namak. Nishan.

I'm a patriot but I have seen what no patriot should ever have had to witness. I saw a media falling over itself to cover a murder and ignore those who gave their lives to protect this country. I saw the same media mention in 2 lines an encounter where 5 terrorists were killed by the army in a "fierce battle". I saw the forces called to maintain peace where people were burning tax payers property because they wanted their demand for special treatment met and in the same breath I saw the media print propaganda against the veterans calling their demands a burden on the GDP. I saw a 22 year old threaten the peace of an entire state bringing it to its knees and I saw the medals and respect ripped off a veteran on peaceful protest by the police. I saw thousands of crores being promised for votes and I saw the veterans being evaluated as a burden on the GDP. I saw the flowers being laid amidst flashing cameras in a tokenism of "respect" for the martyrs of 65 while the wife of a Param Vir Chakra holder of that war has to wash utensils to keep alive because the 5000 Rupees of pension does not last the week. I saw the media at its prestitute worst calling the boycott of the very same war event by those who won it "disrespectful".

I saw the thankless people sitting in their air conditioned rooms trolling the veterans on social media complaining of a burden on the GDP and I saw the media print propaganda, I saw paid Twitter trolls amplify propaganda in an effort to break morale and systematically destroy public support for the very same ‪#‎OROP that the babus quietly signed for themselves decades ago.

I saw people call our veterans impatient, greedy, stubborn and as the media mocked all this or ignored it. I saw the tiny ticker of "PAK Firing: 3 killed 22 injured. Cease fire violation yet again firing from across the border escalates" on news channels. I saw for the first time ever indians quoting the enemy taunting our troops "humse Jo takrayega jantar mantar pe dande khaye ga"

Meanwhile the widow of the Param Vir Chakra awardee from the war of 1965 we celebrated the golden jubilee of today... Lives in extreme poverty and that news ticker which announced "3killed really said 3 more are now in line for a lifetime of thanklessness"

I saw the future but I am afraid to voice it for it 

The "well-wishers" stereo-type

From experience and that of a few well placed friends, here is an attempt to stereo-type "well-wishers" the sarcasm be obvious these are the people one encounters in life who go out of the way to wish you into the deepest well they can conjure up. So many well wishers, so many wells one can never figure out which well you are being wished into. Please feel free to add to this list n the benefit of humankind. 

The random acquaintance who targets you: This "Well-wisher" you will never figure out, takes sides where there are none. Will make it a point to be a jerk in public not to target you but to have his "bro's" think he is a strong supporter of theirs.

Precaution: Completely ignorable, do not give much thought they are more talk less bite.

The gives free advise: A common "Well-wisher" every one has one. Will give you constant advise which when not taken will go around looking hurt and crib about you and the decisions you make, comes disguised as a friend, colleague or even distant family. 

Precaution: Do not pretend to like the advise, this only serves as encouragement to this breed. 

The goody 2 shoes: This is one "well-wisher" you will always have a niggling doubt about. You may have X-pals in common with this one. Moment you discuss something he will go tell your not so good friends. You never really find out till you get tiny pieces of news from people you never talked to. 

Precaution: You may never really nail this one down but the good thing is that they are not so significant

The "saint and best pal": This "well-wisher" is a piece of art, God forbid if you meet one. Will be your best pal, will constantly remind you how much he / she has helped you, and how you are blessed to have them as a friend, this is a clingy and secretly jealous individual. Uses every trick in the book to try lower your confidence and has developed rumor mongering to a science, in most cases their viciousness increases in direct proportion to your success. Its common for such "well-wishers" to go whining to their other friends with hurtful looks trying to garner sympathy.  

Precaution: Avoid clingy people, if you see this type, run like hell. They will only poison your life with negativity, like a bad stink they refuse to vanish completely even when gone.  

The waggly tail: Mostly encountered at workplace, is of average intelligence and high ambitions, prefers to inhabit large organizations, though is not unknown in smaller ones. This "well-wisher" will try his best to make you believe that he worships you, will be supportive of all your decisions especially the wrong ones, every time you turn around he will be there right beside you. Beware if you had not turned around he would have snapped at that ankle. True colors of this ankle biter will be revealed when you make a career move. 

Precaution: Watch your back! don't trust any one who says they trust you completely. Carry that pinch of salt

The crab: Yes perhaps the most common of the "well-wishers", hates every one! You are not special. Blames the world for his troubles, constantly lives in the past, is competitive but not hard working, will carry mediocrity like a flag and quite proudly so. Will pull any one down just so there is equality in his world. 

Precaution: There is rarely an opportunity to avoid this one completely. 

to be continued .....     

"its a small, round and messed up world"

A true story: In 2011 putting in 48 work hour day's to start up, struggling to get a window with a “MNC” (lets call them MNC as I do not want to name thisOrganization) who would not shell out a brief, pick up the phone or have the courtesy to just clearly say no or why. Once they did send in a brief this great company would not even clarify what they had written in the 2 slides. “Present what you understand” was we are busy”. When there was the rare window to present and we made the cut it was always the same “ we like what you presented but we want to go with a bigger company” Right down the ladder the attitude was the same. We eventually stopped making the calls and focused our efforts towards those who appreciated good work or even the effort.It stung at times how common professional courtesy had died it would have been perfectly ok had the organization just said, “We are not open to working with new agencies at this time”. It takes all kinds and having buried the episodes life goes on. All we got in a text or a 1 line email. It was hopeless but not being one to give up with out serious effort we still worked over night on pitches preparing concepts, pulling together samples and creating designs,only to be told “mail it” ther is no time to meet as “

A lifetime later things have changed, the agency has shown its metal and is firmly on a path it carved for itself, I got a call from a young technology organization that were anxious for a window to meet. As a policy we always meet startups and prefer to work with them if there is proof of concept. Years of P&L and list of clients don’t matter as long as the team is solid, sincere and there is synergy with their offering. They got their meeting. A fledgling organization with a team of two obviously stressed but bright individuals. Imagine my surprise when I saw one of them from the MNC. Not letting on the connect and without a mention the presentation started, in the 1^st 15 minutes I knew that they were in a nascent stage, they had neither grasped the humbleness of entrepreneurship nor appropriately grasped the market challenges of their offering. I wont deny thatI was tempted to stomp out and give them a taste of their own medicine but Idid not. I sat through the 30 minutes and discussed the product answered their questions and went through multiple rounds of coffee.

The presentation soon turned into an interview, what is the market like? Who are the big players? What is the best product in the category we have seen before?How do you approach clients? What are the payment terms in the market? When did you decide you needed a big office? It went on. 3 hours I sat through a string of questions, sharing experiences and giving pointers. The gentlemen from thatMNC sheepishly said “I am ex - --- company” waiting for a reaction, we let it slide as they joined us in evening snack time.

As we finally drew to the end of the session with the agreement to work together if they could revert with a proof of concept and a plan, the gentleman said“thank you for everything but most of all for the time. We rarely get the window to present ourselves, you may not remember me from a few years back…” I told him I remembered and also that “someone gave me the time when I was looking from that window and even if that someone was not you I am returning the favor”. 

I do not know if the gentleman got any of the answers he was looking for, if he learnt any thing or when he is on the giving end will he show better courtesy to fellow professionals. I do not know about him but I learnt that it is far better to move on and forget the tiny people who lack basic courtesy, because the world is round and they will have the chance to remember me without me remembering them.   

To my fellow bikers… This cross is ours to carry

This week yet again we lost a fellow biker. Long days of riding, back-to-back long distances, and fatigue bad luck what ever. The truth is a good soul was laid to rest too soon leaving behind a grieving family and a few friends. The rest of the world will forget in a matter of weeks may be days, the Facebook posts will fall down the timeline, the tweets will be buried, the newspapers well they just about managed to sell a few more copies with the death of a biker on a big bike. Today there are judgments and there is gyan. What happened? Then come the guessing games. Maybe it was fatigue, maybe the breaks gave way, may be the rider was going too fast, maybe was not able to bank the bike, was a novice, was a good rider tried too hard to keep up with the boys …. It’s endless for about 3 days. The postmortem report gives closure from the speculation – internal injuries. In the end the family and the friends grieve alone. 

A lot of us bikers push the limit once too often, brag about the speeds we reached, proudly share the 1000 Kms runs without a break, share horror stories of near misses over a drink, take off on 10 K in 7 day missions the list is endless. I am guilty of it myself. So why the gyan? If we are so learned what are we doing about it? All our experience, and learning for the day a biker goes down never to get back up again, and mark my words at this very point some hard headed fellow biker who is short by 2 days of leave from office is planning a 8000 Kms X 7 day trip, motivating his buddies to take the plunge with him. When was the last time you said NO? No to a certain road because it was unsafe, no to a certain speed because it was not ok? No to a couple of extra 100 KMS because it was too much in a day? No to riding like a maniac at night to get from point A to point B? How many times did you put your foot down and said NO I will not be party to this? If you did then my guess is that you got snickered at behind your back, got called a chicken or worse your pretend friend called you a back stabber for not taking that trip with him / her.  

Pushing the limit on safety is like drinking and driving you cannot do that even one time! Same with safety you cannot ignore it even once. And lets not make bones about it; safety is not about just the helmet the gear and the boots, because when you hit the concrete at 150 Kmph no amount of gear will save you. You will get hurt and really badly hurt. You may not get lacerated or get road burns but your insides will turn to mush and your brain will dislocate inside your skull – oh yes the helmet will protect your skull from cracking but fat lot of good that will be to you when you are dead or even worse a vegetable for life. Are you angry yet? Well you should be because this is the truth, the truth always hurts and unless you have one of those nine lives stacked away ready to use, you better pray that the next high speed high fatigue crash either leaves you completely unharmed by sheer luck or you end up dead on the spot, being a vegetable will be no fun for either the biker or their family.  

This part I will get a lot of flack for and there will be many judgments on this article but I will say it any way. If you want to end up an old biker with the engine still running and a couple of lac kilometers on the ODO you know that safety is about discipline. You also know that when you are old only a certain type of friends will still ride along side you. The ones, who will still be alive. So the next time some one makes a trip that is more than a 550 odd kilometers a day, rides faster than their guardian angel, goes without a break for more than an hour, rides without gear, rides on a rickety bike or rides when fatigued. Say NO!. Loose that friend or one day you will loose that friend anyway and then you will be party to the blame for a rider dead. Every one of us who have pushed the limit, been party to the limit being pushed or bragged about it so that some idiot with a piddly ego wanted to better those stats, we are all guilty. Say no and stop making kilometers, speeds and hours into medals to be stuck on our jackets. 

To all the experienced bikers out there the cross is ours to carry …… to all bikers everywhere God be with you on the road you are going to need him.