Ritendra's Blog

Lockheed Martin is in the process of wooing the Indian government to buy the F16 Block 70 jets for the IAF. India has a similar offer from Swedish company SAAB. Their 4++ generation fighter Gripen E has better radar. But Lockheed has appointed Mr Laal, who headed General Atomics, and supplied the guardian drones to India. The IAF is also buying GE engines for LCA Tejas. There are also talks of offering F35 stealth fighter to India, along with F16. They would also shift the production line from Texas to India. All this would make sense if there is critical technology transfer.

Most of us start believing that the position on our business card is our identity. We often feel proud to tell old friends and new acquaintances that we are this manager and that executive. The pretence identity affects you internally and you identify with your work role. All this goes very well until you leave your present job. Then suddenly you find that you are no longer such n such and you feel like a nobody. But suppose you do an activity like gardening and identify yourself as a gardener then no matter if one day you are the Managing Director or a peon, you will feel no different. In an interview the award winning novelist Amitav Ghosh, told the interviewer that he grows chillies in his Goa farm and thinks of himself as a farmer. It is always a good idea to keep yourself in a zone where nothing can touch your sanity. If you build an identity that is different from the work you do to earn a living, then you still be that identity once you leave work. Sometimes you can keep your ...

If your nature is to searches for that tiny and hidden bit of goodness in even the most horrible boss or co-worker than you must not be working in the Indian corporate sector. Sooner or later all the process of subversion that our Indian genes have in abundance, surface, rendering the difference between the lala company and the Global giants superficial. Now if you are wise and sensible you would know within the first few months of joining an organisation that you have made the wrong or right move. Two-thirds of new employees know that they have made the wrong move. But it is not advisable to resign within the first year. So here comes the question how will you survive the days? And how long should you stay? The very first thing that you should do after you have made up your mind that the role or the organisation does not suit you, is to look for a new job. But in most cases, the stress and work pressure take such a huge toll that it often becomes impossible to even search for a job ...

The humble scooter, the  humara  bajaj  of 90's India has now become the  Beblicious   scooty . This change depicts the  socio-economic  change of the Indian middle class. I personally prefer the large wheel motorcycle. It not only has a better grip at high speed, thereby better cornering, but it also has  long-distance  ride comfort. Now after 3 months of online research, I finally decided that TVs Jupiter and Honda Aviator are the best  scooty  below 1 lakh rupees. Though both have  12-inch  wheels,  and both  have telescopic front suspension, the Honda isn't an Indian company and so TVs it was our choice.  Japanese manufacturers often admit that only Indian companies like TVs  offer  them any competition anywhere in the world. But no matter how good the TVs Jupiter is, the  on-road price of 70,000 rupees is absolutely not reasonable for a  scooty . But considering the comfort of...

The food we eat is what ultimately makes us. It amazes me to see both man and woman eating the same food, but the genetic software in their body converts the energy derived from that food into male and female bodies. Without going into much details, as this post is not about Vedas, there are two different types of food, the satvic food (vegetables, nuts, fruits) and tamsik food (meat, egg, wine). It is advisable to achieve balance and cerebral success humans eat satvic food. The Japanese divides food as Ying food and yang food. They say a balance between the two kinds of food is essential for harmonic life. We Indians, instead of looking east to Japan, look towards west, where eating meat is abundant. Also due to the Turks, Afghans and later the Europeans conquest of India, the Vedic and Satvic way of life has given way to Tamsik ways. Earlier what used to be way of life of the people doing menial labor has become the way of life of people of all walks of life. While travelling in a tr...

From the middle of May 2017, we are seeing girls in their school uniform throwing stones at Jammu and Kashmir state police (own cousins) and Central reserve Police Force personnel. This is the first time uniform vs. uniform can be seen. More shocking is the fact that girls are throwing stones. Why are they throwing stones? They want Azadi (freedom) from India. They shout “Go India Go back”. Let us for once we forget the fact that India is one of the five world powers, and such absurd slogans will die as naturally as Charu Mazumder’s slogans had died in the hills of Naxalbari and the narrow stingy bylanes of Calcutta. What they are asking is separation from the most unique Republic, the most heterogeneous mix of races and culture, where no one particular race has hegemonic power, unlike in Pakistan, where the Urdu-speaking Punjabi elites completely rule the other ethnic groups. They are demanding separation from that culture that has from the start of civilisation advocated equal rights...

Ghagorburi temple near Asansol-Raniganj is the temple I have found most spiritual. Actually, I have seen the human manifestation of the child deity with my own eyes. In 2015, when I had left the Lecturer job at rani Birla Girls' College and was appearing for some Govt exams, some voices inside me was telling to give something for the brothers and sisters who sit outside the temple. First time (in 2011) I went there I gave them a few 10 rupee notes, when the last one asked, I did not give him any because I was offended by his tone. It was my stupidity to expect a polished manner of asking money from an uneducated poor man. Within 10 km our car had a puncture. We were going to our masis  house at Burdwan. My masis  (mother's sister) youngest daughter made some mocking sound about Ghagorburi and within 1 week she fell at Howrah station and hurt her leg badly. Last Durga Puja, I was able to give few new sarees to the people sitting outside the temple. I believe my new job at OUP a...