Ready to accept the CHANGE??

I have witnessed lots of changes in the past three weeks. Some of them are on small scale while others are on global front. While some changes are trivial, others are of paramount importance. Some of them have been accepted reluctantly but others are seeing lots of hullaballoo.

To start on a lighter note, Samsung timings have changed. Office now starts as early as 8:00. As expected people were skeptical about the new timing considering the changes it might bring in their life-style. But coming to the office at unearthly 8 leaves us withe ample time in the evening. And this is were the advantages lie. Now we don't need to postpone our work for weekends. It also gives us opportunity to hang-out even during weekdays. There is an old saying that goes as- Early to bed and to rise makes a man healthy,wealthy and wise.

The legalization of homosexuality has received mixed response. The opposition has come from some self-professed moral police and religious groups. They claim that it is not natural and now that it has been legalized we will see more people opting for Gay marriages. What they failed to realize is that being Gay is not the matter of choice, but whether to act on it is. Why would anyone choose to be something that could cause them to be scorned by society, rejected by their families, deny them rights and subject them to possible violent hate crimes? We don’t choose our sexual orientation, but we do choose whether or not to come out of the closet.

Another big change was on the Television screen. Star-Plus has started airing a REALITY show 'Sacch Ka Saamna' with Rajeev Khandelwal (Remember Aamir??) playing the anchor. This show is the first of its kind being aired in India. Sacch Ka Saamna (Translation: Face the truth) is the Indian version of the popular American reality show The Moment of Truth. But unfortunately, the show has run into trouble due to its content. Hours after the furore in the Rajya Sabha over the reality show, the Information and Broadcasting ministry issued a show cause notice to the TV channel. With the new reality TV show unearthing hidden truths of people in full public view, he slammed the programme as unethical and completely against Indian culture. But Indian culture and society has undergone a sea CHANGE and they are no more averse to such naked truths. This is reflected in the TRP the show is enjoying. Moreover, if people do find the show obscene they have the option to switch to other channel and watch those "Saas-Bahus" serials. We have the freedom of speech and are mature enough to choose what is right and wrong. Moreover, contestant are fully aware of the questions they will be shot with their family and friends right under their noses and if they don't have the problem who are we to decide??

Whether these changes will do a world of good to us is not obvious. But the one thing which is obvious is 'Change is the only thing constant in life'. We should be willing to accept every change as it comes in our way because there is just a letter difference between CHANGE and CHANCE.

Swine Flu!!!

Today was an off day in SISO with one employee reportedly affecting from swine flu. He came back from Korea this week only and was in the office yesterday. So, when he was tested positive for swine flu, a panic was created in the company which led to shut down of the office for a day. Reasonable enough!!!!!

The team to which the affected person belongs is same as one of my friends. This led to a double panic among him and his teammates.. And they did not waste a single minute having a check-up. Reasonable again.... In fact i am waiting for my friend's report so that i can decide if i also need the to be diagnosed. Hey wait..Just now i got a message SISO HR claiming that it will be safe to work from Monday onwards because they are sanitizing the SISO premises and buses. Cool!!!

Now coming to the real purpose of writing this blog. One might wonder why there is so much fuss about Swine Flu in India. What about other fatal diseases that are so prevalent in India and have taken the lives of so many people across the regions? The number of people who died due to swine flu are far-far less than other major diseases such as tuberculosis (TB), hydrophobia, hepatitis B, AID. Currently, the total number of worldwide infections stands at 1419 with 30 related deaths. In fact, just because the swine flu, initially discovered in Mexico, is imported from the West, it is getting much media-hyped. We Indians always tend to give too much weightage on anything carrying "foren tag", whether be apparels, food, movies, awards or diseases for that matter. Last year we witnessed the similar scenario when there was a panic following Bird Flu outbreak in countries like China,Indonesia.

That is not to say that we need don't need to give any importance to Swine Flu. In fact Indian government is making sure that this disease is not transported from outside the country with every person being quarantined for swine flu in international airport. But what about domestically-borne diseases? Why do we give step-motherly treatment to them? Don't they need to be eradicated from our country after taking so many lives and still doing so? And what about the biggest disease plaguing the country-Terrorism!!!

WHO has declared swine flu a level 6 pandemic considering the effect it has worldwide. On our part we need to take all preventive measures necessary to combat swine flu. Regularly wash our hands, drink lot of water and avoid keeping contact with the person showing symptoms of swine flu such as cold, cough,high fever, fatigueness. There is no need to press the panic button. We have many other issues at the fore. And on the last note my SISO friend not come out with positive result for swine flu. That's a relief!!!