Anirudh Asher's Blog

Its true! And I’ll need very little information and deductive logic to prove this. As of today, there have been enough attacks on students all over the world. This is not the same kind of assumption as the one made by Manny Singh, singing about developed nations being responsible for global economic metldown and globabl warming.

Yeah so the developed nations did have a headstart screwing the world over but it isn’t like the Indian Circus(I’m not calling it a government any more) were very far behind in the sodomization of our planet it’s resources and inhabitants.

A discovery that is far greater than that of the telephone and youtube has been “unearthed”(pun intended), that Currency Exchange Rates ar responsible for killing more Indian students worldwide than racism. Get your calculator or pinch one from your Mum’s purse and start tappity tapping away at it. A vegetarian burger meal at Nandu’s is $12 AUD in Australia. The current rate of exchange from the celestial Indian Rupee (INR) to the Ruddy AUD is a whopping Rs.40 to a Dollar. And I chose this place due it’s currency being weaker than the US, big mistake! For my international readers let me put across to them that “The World Bank estimates that 456 million Indians (42% of the total Indian population) now live under the global poverty line of $1.25 per day (PPP).” Wiki Those poor people live under one Aussie Dollar a day! Yes! and Nandu’s have the cojones to charge 12 AUD per veggie burger meal?

Alright, enough math, its causing my head to go under the poverty line. Lets take things to the next level, if India had a stronger currency, Indian students abroad might have had safer lives, not having to work for to pay off loans and those pounds of flesh that our families have put on the line. But the hardest, saddest and most painful truth of all is that if India had a stronger currency the millions of students abroad would not even have had to leave the motherland and the love of their families to seek a better education. If only quality Indian education would not be limited to those MOFO IIT’s and IIM’s. So what if you have a higher chance of getting in if you come from the scum of a caste system(that was abolished in 400BC?), so what if you have a higher chance of getting into Mumbai or Delhi University if you have a parent who’s of the Sindhi, Christian, Hindu, Sikh, Muslim, Martian Religion?

Dear Mr. Puppet Indian Prime Minister, you will not achieve the title of a developed nation for India by pushing the rich under the poverty line and giving quotas to those who are already hurting below the belt.

Stop Screwing the nation, stop quotas! Stop racism from hurting you’re countrymen! Unleash the friggin currency!

©Anirudh Asher,2009

Now that the Bandra Worli Sea Link is finally complete. There are lots of expectations riding on those steel cables that hold up much more than just the bridge. As the dream project of Mumbai, Hindustan Construction Company tirelessly has been toiling to provide Mumbai-ites with a faster alternate route for travelling from north to south of the city and vice versa.

The sealink as I mentioned earlier holds a lot more than just the weight of the bridge, there will be many lonely drives going through there just to collect one’s mind as he/she contemplates on life’s complexities. Many couples will be seen driving over that romantic landscape and looking from afar, the breathtaking visage of a city that is more of a dream than anything else. Sadly, there will also be many trying to jump off the side of the bridge to end their miserable lives, as I say this I keep silent for all except the keyboard which goes “tappity-tap-tap”.

As I see it, the bridge is a flattening force, and a sign that Mumbai has upgraded itself from being Mumbai 1.0 to Mumbai 2.0. As Thomas Friedman mentioned in his books, that the world was becoming an equal plane, a flat playing field to rough it out on, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to introduce Mumbai’s very own playing field flattener in it’s physical sense, THE Bandra Worli Sealink (I refuse to call it by any other name, Gandhi/Nehru/Setu/motu/papplu)

Now Mumbai’s film actors and actresses will be seen more in South Bombay, the businessmen and women will be seen scuttling around through the whole city trying to “Mutthi mein” all the income they can squeeze into their tiny fists. Lovers will think less about what side of town their sweetheart is from and ofcourse, Politicians will empty out even full sealinks as they whizz around in their annoying little ugly cars, trying to make the people’s lives a traffic induced hell, which they swore to make into heavens.

The South Mumbai High Society/page 3/party imbeciles will complain about how the uncouth North Mumbai Page 3 wannabe’s are invading their space and the North Mumbai wannabe’s will complain how page 3 clowns in their short dresses and candid photos are encroaching on their favourite hangouts. If anything at all, I think Mumbai is in dire need of a lot more restaurants, pubs, bars, theatres and malls than ever before!

Lets not forget that the HCC lost Rs. 400 Crore to extend and make changes to the sealink purely so that the fisherpeople could fish and make their measly livelyhood of a a few hundred rupees a day. A price which our ever kind and loving Government refused to re-imburse. All because the government forgot to do their homework before doling out tenders like lollipops. One lesson learnt: Any company that deals with the Government in a large scale project is bound to fall in share price. Write that down.

Bombay had the north and the south, the yin and the yang. Spiritually speaking we all know, the yin and yang are opposite but equal forces, and the sealink is the invisible line that separates the two. Now that the distance between the two has been shortened, it can either equate to absolute freedom and bliss or complete mayhem. Which of the two will occur, is for you to decide.

©Anirudh Asher,2009

Note on Image: The picture above IS actually that of the Bandra Worli Sealink inauguration fireworks, which was very kindly clicked by Utsavi Jhaveri and given to me! Yay Utsavi! (it was clicked on her phone so don’t mind the quality)