An Indecisive Indian

  L et me begin with what I quote frequently from the great visionary, our people’s President, Late APJ Abdul Kalam,   “Dream is not the thing you see in sleep, but is that thing that doesn't let you sleep”   It is this spirit of dreaming big by our Space, Missile and Nuclear scientists, supported by the governments over the decades, that India earned its pride of place in these areas. They did not merely sit on their dreams, they had the vision, an audacious commitment and an action plan to realize their dreams, particularly in the face of denial of technology by those countries which had it.   Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Hamlet are perhaps the most well-known minor characters invented by the bard , known for foolishly carrying a letter to the English king requesting him to kill them; sample their interesting conversation with Hamlet: Guildenstern: … the very substance of the ambition is merely the shadow of a dream. Hamlet : A dream itsel...

  Thanks to the extraordinary publicity and love afforded to me by the  Train 18/Vande Bharat  project, I frequently get invited to recount the story as a motivational tool. I do clarify that it would at best be the old wine in a new bottle with same terroir, same tannin, same body but nevertheless, the invitation is renewed. I received one such invitation for a lecture tour from the  JSW  group, a $22 billion conglomerate, one among India's largest.  JSW Group, founded by Mr. Sajjan   Jindal  in the 1980s, formerly known as Jindal South West ( JSW ), is diversified in steel, mining, energy, infrastructure and software business. One does not receive such an inestimable invitation every day so I readily accepted, even as I thought the lecture tour would be another  déjà vu.  Been there, done that.  Helena in the bard’s All’s Well That Ends Well , trying to sway the ailing king to engage her to cure him like a divine emissary, emp...

  T his is a follow-up on the changes sweeping in the way Indian Railways (IR) is administered, which was covered in this blog.   An Indecisive Indian: Talk show with Shakespeare and Ghālib on railway administration Access at: https://anindecisiveindian.blogspot.com/2022/10/talk-show-with-shakespeare-and-ghalib.html   The news is now about IR deciding that non-performers and corrupt officials would not be tolerated in railway jobs anymore; in the past year or so, IR have reportedly fired such non-performing and corrupt officers at the rate of one in three days.   https://www.timesnownews.com/jobs/railway-jobs-has-no-place-for-non-performers-indian-railways-removed-177-officials-in-past-year-article-95730192   It was declared by the ministry proudly that 139 officers were forced to take Voluntary Retirement and 38 officers removed from service in last one year or so. It was, however, also reported that not all amongst these 139 officials we...