Resurgence

The ‘Celebrate Humanity’ campaign which was launched in the run up to the 2000 Sydney Olympics remains one of the most effective Olympics campaign. Seven smart creative not only communicate the core values of Olympic Games but also invite the world to celebrate these values. This promotional campaign had touched my life deeply – every time I come across this campaign I feel inspired. As the Olympics 2012 is round the corner, I thought of revisiting the campaign and understand what these values mean to us. I would like to start with the Creative ‘Giant’ (primarily because of the things I would like to say via this post) – go through the embedded video or just read through the narration below: To be a giant - This has forever been our passion, this desire to be a giant. Not to stand on one's shoulders or have one for a friend, Though these may be fortunate things, But to be one. Giants step over barriers that seem never-ending. They conquer mountai...

Dear Nitish Sir, Before I write a word, I must state that you are one of the very few politicians whom I admire. The way you have brought ‘hope’ to the state of Bihar is remarkable. There is a visible shift in the perception towards a Bihari elsewhere and that in itself is a big ‘achievement’. ‘Law and order’ has seen positive changes and there has been some impetus in creating infrastructure in the state known to be ‘laggard’. However, these are known facts – and in ‘euphoria’ of the ‘turnaround’, we tend to overlook our shortcomings. I would like to draw your attention to some of the shortcomings which I observed in my recent visit to Patna. It is my belief that if Bihar has to attract investments then Patna needs to gear up for the task first. A capital city is the gateway to the state and for many the mirror to judge the state as well. Thus for Bihar to grow, Patna has to grow first. It is not that it is not growing – but is the growth taking place in the right directio...

From our Correspondent In what is being described as the most heinous assault on our existence in last 5 years a Homo sapiens is accused of slaughtering 30 of our comrades in the Indian city of Noida. While the details of the incident is still unavailable, our sources report that the Homo sapiens who goes by the name of Rahul Shanu used savage force to decimate one of our food gathering troops. This unprovoked act of terror on a peace group has outraged the administration and has given impetus to the demands of a strategy relook at our co-existence formula with the humans. ‘Dui’, the spokesperson of the Protection and Upliftment of the Mosquito Rights, says – ‘While the official figure to the death is 30, we have evidence that it is much more than that. We have been advocating the relook in our policies for quite some time now. These individual acts of terror against us are becoming more frequent and we need to evolve new mechanism to protect our race.’ A government official on...

I firmly believe that in days to come the cities would compete fiercely to attract and retain talents. Cities are increasingly becoming the axis of growth for any economy and it is but natural that they would compete with each other to attract business investments which will enable them to create employment and improve overall standard of life. While business and regulatory environment would be important to I think the kind of human capital which a city attracts would be the ultimate differentiating factor. A city which offers quality intellectual and cultural engagement to its residents along with good infrastructure would then be the frontrunner to attract and retain good talents. This is also precisely the reason why I believe that cities like Kolkata, Lucknow, Patna etc. have the potential to lead the next phase of our growth. I know many of you would have smirk on your faces as most of these cities (especially Patna) do not even offer basic necessities to its residents as of...

‘Do you have the Window seat with you?’ I asked the personnel manning the airline counter at the airport. ‘Sorry sir. We do not have any window seats with us now.’ He expressed his helplessness. I was at Patna airport and was returning to Delhi after celebrating Holi. I looked at the Boarding number – 63 it said. It seemed unlikely that a flight with 48 window seats in ‘Economy’ class would have all the window seats reserved at number 63. I do not have any fascination of occupying the window seat of an aircraft. It is only at the time of taking off or landing that the child within me becomes curious for watching the expanse of the city. And watching a beautifully lit city from the sky has its own charm – it adds aura to that city. I have flied to and from Patna before as well - but this was my first opportunity of watching the ‘revived’ city in its full glory from the sky in night. Having seen cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai etc. from sky in night I was loo...

‘Hey, where are you going?’ Rahul asked his alter ego Shanu as he found him packing bags. ‘I am going out in search of Soul of India.’ ‘Soul of India!! Why?’ ‘Well!! I have always wanted to meet her. Have only heard about her, felt her presence but never actually met her so…’ ‘Dude, even I would want to meet her.’ ‘Join me then.’ Rahul was elated. ‘Give me some time to pack my things.’ ‘Of course.’ ‘So, where shall we go to look for her?’ asked Rahul. ‘That’s the problem. I do not have any idea. Have you noticed that of late there has been no reference of her in the media? I was uncomfortable with this absence – precisely the reason why I thought of undertaking this journey.’ ‘Well!! Had never thought about it but now that you say I realize she is actually absent from public sphere for quite some time. But there needs to be a logical starting point – we cannot just go on looking arbitrarily for her in this vast nation.’ ‘Right’ ‘Shall we start from ‘Villages’? It is said ...

Winter had set its foot on the accelerator. The roads wore deserted look even at 8 in the evening (quite uncharacteristic for the metropolis the city was). He checked his watch again. The radium lit dial showed that it was close to midnight. He was sitting in a park. Fog had taken reign of the entire area. The night was eerie aided by the absence of functioning street lights. He whispered something under his breath, waited and tried to look through the dark. If he was counting to keep impatience in check then probably the trick was failing him. The lone functioning light in the park flickered and went off. He suddenly felt a further dip in the temperature. Though he was well guarded, he had not expected such harshness from the weather. And then suddenly he heard a faint giggle. “You are late.” he said. “And what makes you think so?” came a female voice. The voice had a certain enchanting quality in it. “Ah!! Now you would not accept that you are late. I am sitting in this cold fo...

As I write the last article of the series I realize that I have been fairly erratic with my timings. Despite my desire to complete the series at the earliest, I could not do so due to unavoidable situations. In the last two articles, I have tried to suggest a few measures which would help in developing the two gateways of Patna – Patna Junction and Patna Airport in a passenger centric manner. This article would try to explore possibilities of improving the facilities at third important gateway – Bus Terminuses. A few months back I had to visit the ISBT at Kashmiri Gate in New Delhi. It was in deplorable condition with crumbling infrastructure, leaking lavatories and small enquiry cum ticket cabins devoid of the relevant personnel. The unsheltered area was either flooded (I went during the peak of Monsoon season) or strewn with filth. I wondered how this important landmark was left behind of the beautification drive led by the various authorities of Delhi in the run up to the Comm...

In the previous article I had tried to put forth my vision for upgrading the neighbouring areas of Patna Junction – this article would concentrate on Patna Airport. In recent times, Patna Airport has always been in news both for good and bad reasons. Good because it ranks high among those airports which are registering maximum traffic growth; Bad because it is considered as one of the riskiest in the country because of the short length of its runway. Patna’s Jai Prakash Narayan International Airport has a peculiar location – it is surrounded by the botanical garden on one side and railway tracks give it company on other. Bounded by the city on other sides, there is little scope for the expansion in its current location. Also, the presence of tall trees (of botanical garden) on one side, historic clock tower of old secretariat and railway cabin on others affects the approach funnel resulting in further reduction of effective runway length available for the aircrafts. This not onl...

I think many of you would agree that the gateways to any city hold extreme importance in building the image of that city. This is the primary reason why I would like to take this particular aspect of our beloved city in this article. Patna as we all know have three important gateways – Patna Junction, Airport and the Bus Stand at Mithapur. The first one in this series would focus on Patna Junction. Step out of the Patna junction and you would have a glimpse of the chaotic life of this city. While the Mahavir Mandir stands tall in harmony with the neighbouring Jama Masjid and the newly built Buddha Park has added its own flavour to the surroundings, one can’t help but wish for a little more of order in that place. Rickshaws, Autos and Buses jostle for space and compete for every potential customer in a manner which would not leave a good taste to many. To complicate the matter, encroachments on the station road does not leave much space for the vehicular traffic to move swiftly leading...

Yesterday, had a talk with few Anna enthusiasts, kept a tab on social network (Facebook primarily) and watched news channels – Few things were evident to me: Many either could not offer a definition to corruption or had set a very restrictive scope for it – Ideally one should know what he / she is fighting against. Self-introspection and improvement are down the list of many in this fight against corruption – or to put it more bluntly people are using different lenses to judge acts by different parties. I just wish now that Anna has awakened them from slumber, he would also aid in developing an instinct of self-improvement and check. To some it is not fight of principles – it has turned into a slugfest against individuals. Fight against corruption and its protector. History has shown that once people start getting personal they lose focus of things to achieve. Media has showed immaturity in the way it has handled the coverage of this episode. It appears that the coverage is biased....