Many moments.....one lifetime

Some say life is beautiful,some say its a roller coaster ride,others say its too complicated.However,one thing is very common in all these interpretations-moments.There are so many wonderful,ecstatic,poignant and topsy turvy moments in everyone's life to write about.In the end,it'll be these moments which will always stay with us forever.People will come and go,material happiness doesn't last too long,money will be there one day and gone the next,but moments will always stay with us till the end.How can one ever forget the moment when his/her heart went "thud thud" after seeing a beautiful face.The first chat with that special someone,the first time the yes met.
The fun-filled moments spent in class with friends,shouting,hooting,the secrets being shared will be treasured by everyone.Guys like me will never forget exam times especially the prelims.The profanities being exchanged before exams,baseless allegations like "yeh patty toh sab padhke aaya hoga","shree tu saale zyaada copy mat karna","sahul aur froila ka paper toh same hoga","kameene log half an hour main nikal jaana mast main tp karenge baadme".,"Patty(Thats what they call me in college) gandu agar pass hua naa toh dekhna saale(as if passing is a crime)"The "night outs" are another source of exchanging various stories and information about the various things happening in college/class.
Life is full of many firsts-first salary,first outing with friends,first beer,first kiss,first date,first marriage(and hopefully the only marriage).The feeling of happiness and ecstacy on buying something for our parents from our first salary is something which can only be understood once we get this wonderful opportunity.The cherishable moments of bonding with friends and collegues,colleagues from office,roommates and just anyone who would have crosses paths with us at some point in our lives will probly stay ethched in our minds for eternity.

SEZ's- A boon or a curse

The recent controversy surrounding the governments policy towards SEZ's and the subsequent protests by farmers has once again highlighted the huge gap between devoloping India and the large majority of places still grappling with poverty,unemployment and other social issues.The government needs to put a lid on the number of SEZ's that will come up on farm lands and also compensate the farmers for the loss of land.However it isn't as simple as it sounds.Firstly the government has to stop hobnobbing with the builder lobby and start doing things the legal way.The sale of government owned mill-lands in Bombay to builders for building shopping malls,multiplexes and the likes is an example of blatant exploitation(of mill wokers' rights)and money laundering between the builder lobby and politicians.Why is development always equated with the number of shopping malls,multiplexes and other such business ventures.Hasn't the goverment ever heard of the concept of a "state of the art city",something on the lines of the amby valley built by sahara.How much revenue will the goverment(not the politicians) get by allowing 5-10 separate shopping malls mushroom in and around the same locality.Think about the revenue a city with all such amenities can generate.Not to forget the huge skyscrapers(without any goverment ceiling on FSI) which will save a huge amount of space.The FSI issue is one of the most crucial issues which can turn into a monster if the government doesn't deal with it very soon.Why can't our state governments follow the norms being followed all over the world.Cities like Bombay,Bangalore and Delhi are already cramped up due to lack of space.On top of that there are restrictions over the number of stories a new structure can have.It is absurd,to say the least!A very simple solution to most of the problems being faced by the farmers as well as the industry is removal or rather raising the FSI cap to the general norms followed all over the world.
As for the SEZ's,the industry has to ask itself how much it returns to the society in return for the concessions doled out to them.Agreed,that the IT sector has really driven the economy over the last 5-6 years,still it needs to give back something to the society.Why not adopt government owned schools and colleges in the remote villages all over India?This will also be beneficial to the industry after a period of say 10-15 years.It will produce a generation of english speaking educated youth.As for the farmers,they have to understand that the days of freebies are over.Free electricity,tax concessions,free land are days of yore.The government also needs to put a check on deforestation.Developing India needs to bridge this ever growing divide between the rich and the poor.We need to balance industrial growth with social equality.Only then will vison 2020 be a successful venture.