Living overseas! Something that a large percentage of Indians would love to sign up for any day – some for the lure of the money, some for the experience and some, for the quality of life that one can get living overseas. I am one of those that had this dream for a while. Having missed out on an opportunity to do my Masters degree in the States nearly 13 years ago for probably the most silliest reasons in hindsight, an opportunity to go and work overseas was something that I’d sign up to even in the deepest sleep.

My current employer presented me with an opportunity to move to London pretty recently. Having been there several times and spent a fair amount of time, this was something that I said yes to without a thought.

People who have been through the motions will tell you how the process is slow – the selection to the decision making and then the eternal wait for your paperwork. As frustrating it can get, I waited for what now seems like an eternity to get it all wrapped up. Jumping to catch the first available plane out, I showed up here with bag and baggage.

My first realization was the fact that I was on my own – a business trip where you can’t care less about anything material is very different to the fact that you need to fend for yourself for the word go when you are on your own.

Coming from home, we tend to take a lot of things for granted – A vehicle to commute on your own, often 4 wheels, large spacious houses, the value of which we hardly seem to realize back home, Family – how many times have we stopped to think about them when living with them?, last not least, the domestic help that we consider a given – from washing clothes to cleaning dishes, needless to mention, the houses too!

I started missing home in no time – I think it was less than 24 hours. Walking into work, you are in the midst of a place where you are met with “what are you doing here” kind of looks and conversations that go no longer than a “hello” however hard you try. If you have a new role to boot, welcome to the party!!

I can tell you that this concoction really hits you! I was hit and hit pretty hard too. There’s never been a time in my life when I’ve missed home ever so badly. Initial thoughts were pretty simple – which headhunter can I call to get back home now? Who are the old bosses that are hiring that I can reach out to? F@#$ this, I can get back home and find a job., 3 months – worse case, 6 months!

The search to find a place to live in is pretty interesting too! I’ve had pretty much every corner of London recommended as a place to live in and in literally 60 seconds being critiqued as a horrible place to live in too! Wow!! Is this a city that people live in?? With confusing views and conflicting opinions, you are left wondering why the hell did I move!!

Speaking to friends who have done this before, I realized that I was not alone in feeling this way. It’s that age old thing of grass being greener on the other side and being uprooted from your comfort zone that make you feel queasy. Every one that I have spoken to thinks this is just a phase, a phase where I draw a line on the sand to say here is what I felt only to change things around in 6 months time. Whilst time will tell if this in indeed true, here are my top 5 tips for those that plan to move overseas.

1. We never spend time preparing for a move overseas mentally – while the excitement gets the better of everything else, please spend time preparing mentally. Overseas moves are pretty stressful
2. Speak to friends about places to live in. Remember, every area is safe and equally unsafe. Doing some ground work ahead of time saves you a lot of stress
3. Overseas moves are not for the faint hearted and pampered ones – Washing clothes despite using a washing machine and pressing clothes are pains that a two rupee coin can ease back home.
4. I don’t know if feelings would have been different had I been single. If you are married, never ever move without your family. It’s cute to say I will move and my family will join me later, but on the ground, they can provide you tremendous support when you attempt to win small battles on your own and alone.
5. While we all know that “ change” is difficult and the only constant in life, going through that change is a lot more harder than what you think.

Cheers and happy moving! I’ll tell you if I feel any differently after 6 months!

Image Credit: wwarby

Popularity: 27%

For reasons good or bad, Jade Goody is a celebrated reality star who walked the walk and talked the talk and now she is dying the death. Phew!

Like most of us Indians, I did not know Jade Goody until Shilpa Shetty became as star in UK. Luckily, I was in the UK, when this whole episode of Celebrity Big Brother was being telecasted. Shilpa Shetty, a celebrity in her own right, wasn’t bagging any lucrative projects for her survival in Bollywood when Celebrity Big Brother happened to her. She was one of the wild card entries along with Jermaine Jackson, Jade Goody, Danielle Lloyd, Jack Tweed et al.

In the weeks that followed, Jade and Shilpa were at each other – one showing the nasty side of her character and the other, character of tolerance, patience and humility. The show took a nasty turn when Jade snubbed Shilpa with remarks that were soon made out to be racial. What followed was a spate of controversies with Jade becoming increasingly unpopular amongst British tabloids and the public in general.  On the contrary, Shilpa Shetty became more of a household name in the UK.

While Jade Goody lost most of her commercial contracts, Shilpa went on to gather many more. Rubbing salt to the wounds, Shilpa was portrayed as the symbol of resilience, tolerance and mental strength while Jade Goody was set as an example of overdose of fame and familiarity gone awry.

Well, that was my impression until a year ago

Now, with Jade counting her days on this planet and fighting every minute to see more of this world , she has suddenly become an inspiration to many. One who lived life to the fullest extent, in the limited time that she is blessed on this earth. She is hardly 27 years old and in the last five years she probably has lived more than anyone imagine

She has brought a new definition to Reality TV. For all you know, she probably might be called the Queen of Reality too.

Jade Goody who was a dental nurse from Bermondsey in London before the Big Brother craze struck her and she came into the spotlight in the 2002 season of Big Brother. Although she stood at 4th place in that place, Jade went on to become one of the most successful reality TV stars doing several Reality TV shows, shooting many fitness DVDs, launching her own Perfume line called “Sshhhh…Jade”…which was once the third best selling perfume after Kylie Minogue and Victoria Beckham and so on.

Jade Goody has apparently appeared in 4 seasons of Big Brother – Big Brother, Celebrity Big Brother, Big Brother Panto and the very desi version a.k.a Big Boss, albeit for a short period until she flew back to London following the news of her cervical cancer.

With every passing day, she is moving closer to death and even in these hours of extreme difficulty and privacy, she wanted the camera clicking. Her marriage to Jack Tweed post her chemotherapy sessions, will probably be remembered for a long time as one of the most celebrated marriages in recent years. Her final days are being recorded by Living TV which is expected to rake in millions of pounds for telecasting her death, part of which would go to Jade’s two kids. If that’s not all, there is this OK! magazine which ran a Tribute Week in memory of Jade from 1981-2009 even before her death.

All this, apparently, with the permission of Jade who even in her last days wants to be the Queen who lived and breathed Reality TV. Replacing her stature as the undisputed Queen of Reality TV will be a humongous task for the next in line. Sounds like the death of reality, for some time !

What say you ?

Image Credit: Wikimedia

Popularity: 14%

Health is Wealth, so goes the saying, and adding, ‘If health is lost everything is lost’ would only be over-emphasizing the importance of health today. People are increasingly impatient with the inability of health services to deliver levels of national coverage that meet stated demands and changing needs.

Soon after watching a movie, one of my friends recently called upon me and exclaimed, ‘Are medical services free in the UK?!’ Affirmative was the answer from me. The next comment from him, ‘Then why do you want to come back to India, what else do you need if you receive reliable health services free.’ Not that this had not dawned to me previously but it only elevated it’s significance. Engrossing was the issue, and it compelled me to contemplate on how making health services free and accessible to all, by the government, establishes an all around development and prosperity of the society.

India has made rapid improvements in the health scenario of it’s people, what with it’s geographical challenges and at times adverse climatic conditions; nonetheless greater part of Indian population is still deprived of primary health care. A World Health Report gives communicable diseases, 42% as the cause of mortality and the rest to other diseases or injuries. It goes on to add that life expectancy at birth, in India, is 64 years as compared to 80 years in Australia.

Making health services free and centralized: Where-by the government provides free consultation to the citizens with the General practitioner (Dr.), free maternity services, Children care, subsidized drugs etc. With this the government would be duty-bound in the critical areas leading to health issues, vis-à-vis:

Food:

Availability food and it’s quality, in public places, groceries, food joints etc. Following a whip from the government, food inspectors would be forced to layout stringent quality standards and compliance, and safeguarding against food associated health predicaments.

Environment:

Local bodies ensuring cleaner surroundings with better waste management, helping to reduce viral and other infections.

Drugs & Medicines:

Improvement of drugs supply and quality, there by increasing it’s control on the Pharmaceutical establishments for sub-standard medicines.

Immunisations:

Increase in adherence to maintaining a record of births and hence leading to greater spectrum of coverage of the infant immunizations for eradication of diseases.

Failure to keep these in control could lead to deterioration in health and increase in government spending towards this. An election agenda, may be, for our political representatives?

Image Credit: Abraj

Popularity: 16%

Finally, Pakistan showed pragmatism and accepted that the 26/11 attack is largely linked to its citizens. The outcome of India’s diplomatic offensive has striking similarities to the outcome of Kargil war in 1999.

Planning

Both the attacks were executed after careful and lengthy planning and were highly professional. 26/11 has a frighteningly expansive global footprint. If Pakistan is correct, people in Spain, Austria, Italy and USA were involved in the attacks.

Objective

The Kargil war was waged to undermine the Pakistan civilian government and also to destroy the improving Indo-Pakistan relations at that time. The 26/11 attack also seems to follow the same pattern. While the former succeeded in achieving both objectives, we will have to wait to see if 26/11 also achieves the objectives.

Responsibility

Whereas Kargil war was carried out by the Pakistan military, 26/11 was carried out by militant groups with some apparent connection to the Pakistan intelligence agencies. India has accused the ISI of masterminding the attacks. In both the cases, the civilian government was caught unawares.

Strategic miscalculation 

If the masterminds of Kargil went wrong in the assumption that they can occupy Kargil forever before India can counterattack, the 26/11 planners went wrong in their assumption that none of the terrorists were going to be captured alive. The attackers also left evidence behind which turned out to be very crucial.

The aftermath

India suffered significant casualties in both the attacks. Indians were angry and went through enormous anguish, but in both the cases, rallied around each other and showed their outstanding resilience.

US influence 

In both the cases, US played a huge role in normalizing the situation. President Clinton acted very tough against Pakistan and was able to force the Pakistan army to pull back from Kargil. In the case of 26/11, US sent the FBI to India and helped in collecting foolproof evidence that Pakistan could not brush aside. If Pakistan were to divert its army from the Pakistan-Afghan border to Indo-Pakistan border, the biggest problem will be for the US. So it was in US’s interest to ensure that it did not happen.

Strategic implications

If Kargil forced the international community for the first time to acknowledge that India is the victim of Pakistan sponsored terrorism, 26/11 went further. International community, especially US and UK, put enormous pressure on Pakistan to come out of its denial mode and confront the terrorists in its soil. The first global “live telecast” of terror attacks and the killing of the foreigners significantly increased the concerns of the international community.

There is no doubt that while it must have been very painful for Pakistan to admit India’s blame, this is a significant victory for the Indian government for keeping up the pressure on Pakistan with its diplomatic offensive. Kudos to them for resisting the call by the war-hawks to attack Pakistan. That would have been disastrous. The only concern is, our political leaders will start a war of wards to claim credit and squander away the advantages of India’s huge symbolic victory.

One question remains. Kargil ensured electoral victory for the ruling establishment. Will 26/11 have a similar effect? We’ll find out the answer in another 4 months.

And how should India respond now? Read the article “India, please help Pakistan!”

Image Credit: Stuti

Popularity: 13%

What is a recession? The generally accepted definition of a recession is two successive quarters of negative Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth.

It’s a known fact that we are in deep recession, deeper in US, UK and other developed nations as compared to the developing countries. Developing countries are not immune to this, as the consumption and demand from these would be impacted as a result of recession and hence a cascading affect across the globe. China reported 20 million job loss and it’s premiere has been making rounds other side of the world to ensure the ‘doors are not being shut on them..’ India reported 500K plus job losses in textile, jewellery, auto and manufacturing. IT saw a marginal growth, however NASSCOM did lower the growth expectation from 21-24% to 17%, (may be a breather for some in the near  term.)

Defence budget put under scanner, budgets tightened, expansion plans seen the door at a faster pace than one could imagine. Recently Britain, shelved a plan to buy a £13 billion naval warship.

All said and done, we are coming to terms with it and we have no choice.

So why recession?

The right question to initiate a blame game, to blame it all on the financial decisions that grossly went wrong, made by the once gurus of financial world. The same DNA that made them last for more than a century? There’s more to it than that meets the eye.

Let’s go back and glance at our economics books which states product is an accumulation of labour. Unless there is labour there is not going to be any product. Over the last decade, growth in entertainment, luxury, & multiplexes across the length and breadth of the country has out paced the growth in any other industry. There is a mad rush for the latest gadgets, to achieve the zenith of luxury and live as much a comfortable life as one can possibly imagine, hoping that this will continue forever.

Something to ponder and introspect on.

Image Credit: Eden Pictures

Popularity: 15%