Zindagi Migzara

Savage Slitherers

2011-12-18T23:44:00.001+05:30

I look around in the corner.

They are there, lying around, theslender and long black shapes, curled, twisted and entangled. Some are thin whereas some are thicker.It looks as if they are moving but close observation indicates they arelying still. Waiting to make a move! What are these objects thinking? What are they waiting for? How longhave been lying there?

Let me count how many are there.One, two...Oh! It’s difficult to count exactly, since I am not able to figureout the starting and the ending. Their ends seemed to be lost in the criss-cross.Their bodies are intertwined and it is impossible to separate one entity. Whatif they all wake up from their dream and start slithering all over here?

Long back, in my childhood I usedto be scared of these creatures. In my town and villages, near the creek, Ioften used to spot them. Some of them even came close to my house during therainy season. This is the one creaturethat creates the maximum terror amongst us till date. Also, our movies and thestories have over hyped the terror. We are known for the land of the snakes. Perhapsthat’s why I still accept snake sightings in streets as normal and just pass itoff during conversation. But I must bet, I am still as much afraid of them as anAmerican or a European.

Living now in a popular metro andin a posh area, the snakes are no more seen and I can safely walk the cornersof my house, even without bothering to switch on the lights. I am not scared tolook at any remote corner of my house or beneath the door. But still, the fearhas not subsided.

They still haunt my dreams. They chaseme there, almost catching me helpless. Often, I wake up in shock thanking God thatit was only a dream. Every rope, pipe or wire that I observe in my room closelystarts moving and approaching towards me. Which is why when today, I startedobserving the scattered network of wires from my laptop, charger, headphones,LAN wires, I was reminded of them.

They were all huddles together inthe corner. The more I looked at them, the closer they resembled the creatures.Centuries ago, God created the snakes to scare its enemies. Today, we havethese man-made snakes which do not hiss or slither, but can do the damages to thesame extent, if not more. Perhaps, these are the real snakes and are morelethal. We must be cautious.

The last arrow

2011-09-08T19:34:00.002+05:30

The last arrow in the quiver goesaway. This arrow was hidden. Even thoughI knew, it was safely tucked somewhere. However hard I tried to look for it, itcouldn’t be found. Somehow, the arroweluded me. But I was certain, the day would come and when this arrow would bediscovered. And I kept waiting for it. Eventhough the quiver was empty, I didn’t throw it away in anticipation of the lastone. The quiver was constantly on my back all the while. It had become abaggage, rather. I had often dreamt of it only to wake up finding it empty. Ineeded the last arrow badly to try one last shot. All the previous arrows hadmissed the bull’s eye. My hope solely rested on the last one. As time passed, Ibecame more and more convinced that this one would be the saviour. This onewould finish up the pending work.

And the time came, the arrowsuddenly appeared. It looked silent and innocuous as if it was in the quiverall the time. But I can swear, I hadn’t seen or felt it before. It was mockingat me. But, this was not a time to blame. I had to take my last try. Withtrembling hands, I straightened the bow, put on the arrow and tightened thestring.

Looking at the arrow, I asked myself.What if, this also misses the point? The arrow, which was missing all this timewould again vanish in a moment. Why not just keep the arrow and avoid facingthe truth? Atleast, the last hope wouldn’t die. Why did the arrow make me waitjust to disappear again and this time never to return?

I closed my eyes. Perhaps, it wasn’tmeant to be. Every arrow is differentand every arrow has its own course. Every arrow has its own target and isdifferent from the target we choose for them. The path laid for them has to betraversed by the arrow alone. Perhaps, it was time to let the arrow go and dumpthe quiver. I would feel lighter. The quiver started feeling heavier. I couldn’tbear it.

I opened my eyes. The world lookeddifferent. It was all new. Encouraged, I took the aim and shot the arrow.

The war inside

2011-06-06T17:42:00.003+05:30

Once, a person gave me Rs. 100 and asked me to keep it safe as he was going on a long journey. I deposited the money in a piggy bank, but in that act of doing so, my pet cat, “Madver” saw it. Later, I read in the newspaper that the person died due to an accident. Wondering what to do with the money, I still kept the money safe. Madver demanded that the piggy bank be broken and the money be used for the household purposes. I didn’t feel it was right as the money was not mine and someone could come any day in the future and demand the money on my friend’s behalf. However, Madver couldn’t understand it and demanded it repeatedly that the money be brought back. I kept the piggybank at the top of my cupboard so that Madver couldn’t jump and reach it.

When all efforts failed, Madver thought of a master plan. It contacted its popular neighbourhood friend, a dog, “Zahe Anran” who always had been successful in his demands from his master. Adopting his style, Madver announced to me, one fine morning that she was going to sit outside the house and would not eat anything, unless the piggy bank was broken.

I never considered it seriously, but to my surprise, next morning, I saw all the nieghbouring cats assembled outside. Shocked by the reaction, I called up the animal catcher and asked them to take away the animals. The animal catcher van arrived soon and started taking away the animals. There was a loud shrill, meows,claw fights, fur and blood scattered on the streets. Finally, they managed to control the situation and most of the animals were taken away. Madver was caught at last as she managed to disguise in lamb’s skin and keep the catchers at a bay for a while.

I was relieved but I didn’t realize, it was temporary. Next day, I received a summons from the “Against Cruelty to Animals and Pets Department” of the city and was asked to explain my undemocratic and cruel behaviour. It warned me that any such future actions would lead to severe penalty.

On the other hand, similar stunts were seen in several parts of neighbourhood. The war had begun!

Oh my Madver, did I not feed you well enough? Didn’t I take you out for a walk twice a day? Did I not stay quiet when you dirtied my room? Why do you have to be so greedy? And such a coward to take those steps? You have lost all your dignity and all the respect that I had for you till now.

IPL new Avatar

2011-05-16T13:14:00.000+05:30

IPL4 has come up with a new avatar and this time it has come without any controversies as compared to earlier seasons of IPL.

There has been no buzz this time. It has come down smoothly and has been going on in the same manner. Even though, the face of IPL has very much changed from its first version, it no longer enjoys the trademark controversies like Test vs Twenty 20 or ODI vs Twenty20, youngsters vs the legends like Dravid/Kumble, or cheerleaders' culture. No more FakeIPLPlayer, no more Preity Zinta hugging Kings of Punjab. And no more Lalit Modi's press interviews. We also miss Vijaya Malya dancing after a boundary. Where are the MRF blimps?

The players have been reshuffled and two new teams have come. We also do not have our Dada in KKR and no one is cribbing any more, their attention now focused more on Sachin and Dhoni, thanks to the latest World Cup victory. All the illogical things like the Pune team, not having a home ground, playing in Mumbai and Indore stadiums, are hardly cared by anyone.The captains of half of the teams are now foreigners, a "taboo" in the first IPL but now been happily accepted by our cricket crazy IPL loyal nation.

The live telecast of the auctions was the only one that generated some noise and since then, no one seems to care about who are losing and winning.

Have the audience had enough of cricket or Has the IPL become so ingrained part of cricket that it cannot be questioned any more or No one now gives a damn about the direction IPL is taking since we have now won the CUP and we need to take a short break from cricket?

The loyal fans have been decreasing and many now don't keep a count of how many matches a team has one. What we now remember is that when we go back home and turn on the TV, there's going to two teams and we just don't care who wins, yet we do watch the entire match.

Perhaps after May, when the TVs would go blank in the evenings, we would fill an emptiness in the house as if some guest has just left the house. Till then, we will keep saying 70 matches are too many.

Reaching the “Break-even” point

2010-10-03T13:33:00.000+05:30

Today morning, when I woke up, it was a different feeling. Unlike other days, I felt neutral. I did not feel any emotional attachment to my past days or towards my previous lifestyle. The feeling of change had suddenly disappeared.

The transition was a big one as in the days following the change; I was a person fighting with myself, struggling with the unknown. The fight was between a student and a salaried individual. It was the differences between a young, unknown college and an established reputed college where an engineering graduate tried to master the “master” courses . It was the transition from Bangalore to Mumbai, shifting from being a flat tenant to a hosteller.

It was the change that I had been disliking since. I had been trying to somehow compensate the negative feeling of the transition with the fond memories of the past, hoping that this change is just a short break and the past would again come back with a U-turn.

I had tried to count the days and got happier with each passing minute hoping that the two years would end sooner. Three months have gone so far and to me it seems like 2 years. But today morning, I did not feel any such kind of disappointment or frustration. I simple felt calm, as if I had been in this life style for years. I no more missed the Sunday wherein I would lazily spend away time sleeping and relaxing. Perhaps I thought, this new feeling is just a hallucination and would quickly go away as the day progresses and I would soon return to “normalcy”. But the “normal” feeling never came, leading me to the surprising conclusion that there has been a change yet again.

I knew the change would eventually come but never knew that it could happen overnight without any warning.

Ok, now that the break even point has been reached, LET’S RUN THE RACE!!

THEY SAY “DREAM BIG!!”

2010-05-31T02:14:00.002+05:30

You are allowed to dream, dream BIG, really BIG. They say you should dream. They say you are free to dream. So, you dream but little do you know that you are not allowed to achieve them. Because these dreams are not meant to be realized by you. It is only meant to be dreamt of. And do you know the reason why you can't make your dreams come true, even after being allowed to dream, dream BIG?

I shall tell you the biggest secret of why you can't make your BIG dreams becomes BIG realities.

The reason is very obvious but no one realizes it. In fact, the reason is the very same reason why you are allowed to dream. Does it sound strange? or weird? Isn't it weird that the same thing is responsible to make you dream BIG and also responsible to prevent you from making them BIG? It might appear weird for a moment but ponder for two more such brief and thoughtful moments and the truth automatically comes to light. This truth is the very obvious truth. And I shall tell you the truth right away but before knowing the truth right away, to better understand the significance of the truth, we have to digress for a moment and go back in history to the point when you were formed. The time when you were formed, you were in majority and you thought you won but you didn't realize that the majority is the least powerful. Adding to your ignorance that majority had won and was free, was this assurance that they would listen to you. They told you that the time had come for all of you to dream and dream BIG. And so you did. The trend of dreaming BIG has continued since then by every one of you without questioning at any point, this line of thought carried over from generations. It is as though you have accepted this as a basic necessity of life and freedom.

Coming back to the truth which I had left midway to better understand its significance even after promising that I would tell it right away, the truth is that you all are still in majority and the truth is that you are still ignorant to the same extent as before and the truth is that you can do nothing about it. You can do nothing about it because you have never dreamt of doing anything about it. You have dreamt of all other things, but not this and that’s precisely why you will never do anything about it, even though continuing to be free and ignorant. This is the truth that you are free and ignorant. Free to dream the BIG dreams and ignorant of the fact that you can't achieve them.

Now, after understanding the truth and also after better understanding the significance of the truth, it's time to dwell upon the reason for the truth. Why can't you achieve your dreams, even after being allowed to dream? As I had already mentioned the reason was obvious, very obvious yet not being spotted by anyone. The reason that it was not realized by anyone of you was because none of you could do anything about it. So the obvious, yet unrealized reason is that you all are in a dangerous zone. It is dangerous because it is also the majority. It is dangerous because it is not the minority. It is dangerous because it is neither the upper minority nor in the lower minority. It is dangerous because it is in the middle. It is in the middle majority. They hate the majority. The reason that they hate the majority is also very obvious. The reason is because they are not the majority. And those who are not the majority hate those who are the majority. They are the ones who make you dream BIG and they are the ones who actually achieve them by preventing you to do so. Weird? I guess it is no weirder now. Instead it should be crystal clear. If there is still a shade of doubt in your mind and I know that it’s actually more than just a shade, as I knew you will not believe me, so I challenge you to achieve any one of your dreams, BIG or less BIG. And then you will believe me. You will believe me when you will be crushed by them at the very minute you think you achieved your dreams. And at that moment, you will realize that perhaps I am right.

So can you never achieve your dreams? The good news is you can. The bad news is that after you achieve them, you cease to be the majority in the middle. You become them. Because the fact is that the middle is forbidden to achieve dreams.

Zindagi Migzara

2010-03-26T01:12:00.005+05:30

Finally, I decided to rekindle my blog with the title post. This title couldn’t have been more apt as life has been back on track, after meandering off a bit. It had to come back. Everyone knew it. All were waiting for it. And I was more certain about it than the others. Since, life never waits. Because the fact of the Life is - “Zindagi Migzara”.

Life goes on. Whatever happens, it never stops to wait for you to recuperate. It never waits for you when you detour. It’s you who have to catch the train. And at some time, you are going to meet with the Train. Even when, one tries to change the Track, one will meet the same old Train at some point and then one has little choice other than to follow the Track.

But what happens, if two trains, which started together, after being away for a long period, happen to cross each other at a junction? Would they change their original tracks and go parallel for the rest of the way? Would they rather pause for a while to decide what to do? Does their decision actually matter? For, the truth is that the Track has already been laid. This track has been etched on the Life permanently and nothing in the world can alter it. An attempt to turn away from the track only results in false hopes and aspirations, which may be detrimental.

So, is there no other way? What if, the Train passes by and you watch helplessly? What if, even after seeing the Train, one is unable to board it? What if, one misses the only Train? How about getting a ride from another train to catch it? What if, this train meets the Train but still have to go separately? Is this how the Life moves on?

Is there no time to pause? Doesn’t life give a break? A short break to give time to think. A break very much needed to explain and convince the Train to change the Track of the Life.

Wrong Judgement

2009-07-25T21:08:00.001+05:30

What is the one thing that we human beings keep doing all throughout our life?

We try to pretend as someone else.

We are never happy with ourselves. We always look out for other examples. Every minute, every second, we want to be someone else. We imitate someone all the time, both consciously and unconsciously. The reason for that is put below.

Everyone has an idol in their minds. That idol can be someone in their family, or some celebrity or just some fictitious person who possesses all the qualities and characteristics that they want their idol to have. All throughout their life, they want to get closer to that character. Hence, they talk like the idol, they laugh like the person, they walk, eat like him/her and in fact their every activity tries to imitate that of the idol.

Let’s analyze this hypocrisy from a different angle. Everyone behaves differently at different places. For example, a guy would try to behave like a romantic and loving husband to his wife, a strict and yet loving father to his children, a good, practical and professional at his office. Everyone have their different “spaces” and they adapt to that situation when they switch “spaces”. Hence the quick differences in behavior. The same guy might appear to be very strict at office, yet very compromising when it comes to family matters. The same girl might give the impression of being a very jovial person among friends but at work, she might act as a workaholic. Whenever strangers meet each other on a train, they all put up their best behavior and appear to be very decent and disciplined, which might be very different from their behavior in a familiar group of people.

Now that we have seen that human behavior is never constant and it constantly meanders between the different types of characters possible, the question is, what is the true character of a person? By looking at one face of the person, should one have the liberty to judge him/her? Now that it is proved that everyone constantly fakes their behavior, how does an outsider know which one is the real character?

In this world where we are constantly judged by the society, we live in the constant fear that we are being judged. And on top of that, there is the additional fear that we are being judged for the wrong type. To give an analogy, it’s something like we hate to be tested when we are not ready for the test and that too, when the test is for a different subject itself. It is because of this innermost fear that we, unconsciously, project ourselves as someone else, whom we think would get more score in the exam conducted by the society. Hence, we do not get, even one moment, when we are “unwatched” and we can enjoy the joy and the freedom of being ourselves.

We work so hard , we use all our spare time to get more money and during the process we lose the time to be ourselves and we keep masquerading as the fictitious, wannabe person, who is constantly fighting with the innermost true and realistic person.

GOLDEN MOMENTS

2009-07-17T01:09:00.011+05:30

“I can’t find my red shirt”, “Should I wear my black jacket?”, “Hurry up! We are getting late”. These were the common conversations that used to occur in those days when the entire family used to get dressed up for a family photograph. After getting ready, they go to the nearby local studio. At the studio, they are asked to wait for their turn as some other clever family has already sneaked in before them. As they wait, they observe the photos of celebrities adorning the table and the walls of the studio. When their turn eventually comes, they rush inside hastily.

Inside the studio, the family waits impatiently for the photographer to adjust the background and the lightings. The photographer struggles to fit all of them in one frame. After a long time (which seems like eternity for the family) of adjusting with the camera sets and the lights and the people expressions, etc, he says “Say cheese”. Everyone, on the opposite side of the camera, gets nervous as the ultimate moment draws closer and CLICK. A blinding flash and everything is over. The family doesn’t realize it’s over and wants to linger for some more time in the same position, not ready to believe that the shoot is over. Some how there is a feeling that some thing might not have been correct. Hence, the request of “Once more”. The camera man finally takes one more shot, not to mention all the hassles of repeating the tiring steps all over and once more CLICK and flash, much to the satisfaction of the people who are photographed.

The head of the family pays the studio person and highlights that the print should be good and after getting assurance that the photo would come out well, leaves the studio. In those days, since the photos used to be developed out of the negatives, the whole processing used to take 3 days. Nevertheless, during this waiting period, both adults and children used to be equally excited at the thought of looking at the photos when they come.
When the photos finally arrive, the whole family, filled with both excitement and suspense, huddles together. The head of the family takes time to take out the photo from its envelope, handing it delicately, demonstrating to the kids how to handle the sensitive paper. The photos get passed around and everyone gets to handle them but with the strict advice that it should be touched only at the edges. During this time, it is not unusual to hear sentences like “How come my eyes are closed?”, “I look darker in the pic”, “My face didn’t get enough light”, “He didn’t shoot properly”, “Next time we will go to the other shop, who takes better photos”, etc. Finally the photos are very carefully put in a family album which is stashed away in a secure place in the corner of the house.

Compare this 3-day ordeal and drama to the 3-second snap of the digicam’s era. The digicams today enable one to preview the shoot, then shoot. If it goes wrong, re-shoot. Today is the world of instant photography. One doesn’t need to be extra cautious, any more, while shooting. It is the world of “Click and Forget” and one is able to view the photo immediately. The long wait of excitement has now gone away. The nostalgia associated with the feel of touching the paper photos and the memorabilia attached to the bulky albums is now reduced to mere soft copies on some laptop.

Seeing all this, I couldn’t stop myself from asking the questions “Have the role of photo- studios declined?”, “Do people still need professional photographers in this era of Digital Imaging? Would the computers kill away the art and the emotions associated with human photography?”

If I am correct, shouldn’t the studios be at loss, these days? But they are not, atleast not in India. I realized that the importance of studios will still continue. Primary reason is that in India, the role of studio becomes very much essential during arranged marriages. Still today, the exchange of photos of the grooms and brides between both the families is the traditional first step for the marriage. The photos enable them to make the first level of filtering. Hence the need for a professional photographer who uses up all his imagination and photography tricks to cover up the physical abnormalities like “dark”, “bald”, “skinny”, “fat” ,etc and projects a rosy appearance of the individual. Even throughout the wedding ceremony, the photographers and the videographers are very much in demand.

As long as marriage is considered an institution, the photographers can feel take solace in the fact that their jobs are not going to be taken away by any type of revolution in technology. Rather, the technology would only assist them.

Having said all these, whichever course, the photography takes, one thing is sure that we will miss those old golden moments of photography.

Half-Democracy

2009-05-09T18:01:00.001+05:30

As I look at the polling participation post elections, I wonder if this is what our law-makers had envisioned when they made us a democratic nation.

In spite of many voting appeals by NGO’s and awareness about voting rights, in spite of making the election day as a holiday and in spite of huge election budget for ensuring security (IPL was moved out for the same), we Indians have failed in our national and most fundamental duty. We have made a mockery of ourselves in front of the entire world. How dare we say that we are the largest democracy in the world when more than half of our citizens do not vote?

Now-a-days, people find time to write and discuss lengthy articles about non-functioning and inefficiency of government. They talk of all those things like “how rains expose the quality of roads in metros and cities”, “how cheerleaders are becoming a threat to our culture”, “how media has become paparazzi”, etc. They even go to the extent of protesting against new policies by making human chain or by lighting candles at India Gate. Not only that, the same people who don’t vote, criticize the politicians and mock at the politics of coalition governments, immediately after the election results. How do they find time and energy for all these protests, when they can’t spare a couple of hours to get themselves to vote?

Democracy has now become synonymous with protest. It won’t be wrong to say “Democracy is a form of government, where people protest against the leader, whom they haven’t voted”. These people won’t vote a new leader and still complain about the current one. As if, they don’t want themselves to be blamed for the government, hence they play safe and keep their hands clean in the election process. As if, people always are on the look out for a scapegoat, not realizing that they themselves should be the one.

Is this the only way where we use our weapon of democracy? As long we continue to exploit the one-sided meaning of Democracy, we will remain “Half-Democracy”

The Unexpected Secret Test

2009-05-03T20:39:00.000+05:30

A young brilliant Indian student prepares all his life to get into an institute of his dreams. It is his paradise. He compromises all his leisure time and toils all day and night and finally he gets a good rank and a ticket to the institute. He manages to get a bank loan and arrives at the campus of his dreams.

The rest of his life story is very brief.

He gets ragged and commits suicide.

Is this what our education system is made of? Is this another acid test that every fresher has to undergo? Don’t the senior guys in their universities have other sorts of entertainment?

Imagine brilliant talents from all across the country who have been respected in their previous schools/colleges getting abused and thrashed and humiliated in front of all. Suddenly their most-sought-after-school becomes the most-loathed-building in the world for them. And he/she had anticipated helpful seniors who would have helped them settle in the initial days. Much to the contrary, they stare in disbelief at the same people, now mocking at them.
Although for many of the freshers, ragging can simply pass off as a humorous incident, to be remembered and be laughed about at a later point of time, but for some selected people, it becomes a harsh nightmare. If these people get lucky enough to survive, the nightmare continues to haunt them as long as they remain in the institute. Their state of mind gets affected, jeopardizing their career. Their perception of life becomes that of a dark one. Sometimes this victim out of revenge, rags the next junior batch in the same ruthless manner. Thus, this infamous trend carries on.

It is for the betterment of these victims (however smaller in number they be), that ragging be altogether banned and the ban strictly followed in each and every corner of college, through out India. We should not let our talents get wasted at the cost of few moments of laughter and sadist humor of the seniors. As of now, every popular college has banned ragging and “ragging” is now a non-bailable offence. But apparently, there have been recent cases of ragging which exposes the flaws in the implementation of the ban. Many more incidents of ragging do not come into light, as the victims, who are all away from home, feel threatened and insecure in the new college and city and do not report about the incidents. In spite of the bans, ragging continues to be operated secretly like a secret cult, practiced religiously by its followers.

One of the important factors that have popularized the art of ragging is Bollywood. And I feel it is the same medium that can wipe out this dirty and dark trend. Ragging needs to be removed from people’s mind first.

Till then, every fresher will have to undergo this unexpected and secret test of ragging

The other side of IPL

2009-04-28T20:18:00.001+05:30

When the first IPL had started, there was a lot of hue and cry about it being a threat to cricket (Test matches and ODI). Many had apprehensions about IPL, regarding killing cricketing talent in the country, specially about the bowling and Test match specific skills. Some people couldn't keep off their eyes off the huge money involved and always cribbed about one thing or the other. When there was nothing left to complain, they started criticizing the cheerleaders, as a threat to Indian culture and traditons.Every one wanted to be a part of this drama and entertainment, right from the media people and bollywood stars. In the midst of all these, IPL-1 was successfully conducted as well as entertained in all parts of Indian subcontinent.

This IPL-season 2 is no different from the first one, in the sense that it also had its own share of arguments and controversies and uncertainities,exactly before its start. No one can forget the security concerns raised during the scheduling of the matches. The matches got postponed, rescheduled to different venues and finally got shifted out of the country. The cricket fans (or rather IPL fans) got emotional and argued "How can Indian Premier League be conducted outside India?". Some politicians, knowing it was election time, used this opportunity to argue for poor security provided by the government. Many were sceptic that this IPL wouldn't be as hit as the first season, attributing the cause to the lack of ground support in SA. People had got so busy in these controversies and discussions that they failed to view "the other side" of IPL, which I intend to put forward, further in my post.

First and foremost, the message that I get from the government's decision of not allowing IPL to be conducted during election period is that the Indian government will not bow down to the pressures of IPL, where huge money and big celebrities are involved, thus compromising our security. We, as Indians, have known our limitations in security and hence have not risked our lives just to provide entertainment by a private association, however rich that might be. It has sent a strong message to the money minded business guys.

The next positive thing to notice is that the pitches in South Africa are bowler-friendly. This is unlike the last year where Indian pitches enabled huge exaggerated scores and gave little choice to bowler's strategies and tactics. Now as the matches are going on, we can see the more action coming from bowlers'quarters. Hence, this IPL avoids giving undue advantage to the batsmen gives a fairer deal to all players. This will also help in reducing the general misconception that Twenty20 is just a do or die game. We see many senior players, who couldn't do much last year, now performing well. Apart form these, there are many young Indian faces that have got a chance to test themselves outside India. Thus, they will truly get a taste and exposure of international pitches and weather conditions. Some might argue that rains in SA have affected most of the matches, but it's also been raining in Bangalore in most of these days. Besides, rainy weather is also part of the match.

Finally I come to the last topic of cheerleaders. Here in a foreign country, there would be no controversies to their attire and they have the complete freedom to carry on with their jobs.

Anyways IPL will continue to go on parallely with other forms of cricket and will keep coming back, once in a while, to give us some entertainment and critics will crib and complain all the while.

Question and Answer

2009-03-29T00:21:00.001+05:30

Waiting for the answer!! And finally the wait is over. I have got my answer. How lucky am I? Are you jealous that I found the answer to my long awaited question.

A question that has been pending long ago in my heart. A question that used to bubble up whenever a slight hope of answer seemed to be near. A question that kept my heart and mind debating with each other about the probable answer all the time. A question that made my heart heavy each time the answer eluded the poor heart like a tangent. It comes close enough just to miss it as if it was all planned. The question had planned to torture me. It had conspired to keep me entangled in the tentacles of emotions. It never wanted to liberate me from the shackles of sentiments. I was held as a captive within myself. It played with me, teased me like a monkey in the circus being allured to food.Yes, it knew that I was hungry. And thus had used my hunger to make me a joker in front of myself.

The search for the ultimate answer had started ruining me from inside. The worst part of it was that I knew that I was becoming hollow from within. And even worse was that I didn't want to stop the search. So the quest had continued. When the rest of the world did their job and lived happily, I was running hither and thither, spying, tracking and continuing my futile search. The hunt had led me to A deep tunnel with the hope of light at the other end. And I went deeper and deeper and still deeper, to a point of no return. I was stuck. And I could hear the question mocking at me from outside of the tunnel. Was the mock of the question a hint that I should give up? But I didn't heed the warning because I had wanted to fight. I wanted to challenge all the questions with my own answers. I did try to break the tunnel, but the tunnel was strong and the mocking grew louder with each attempt to destroy the pattern of tunnel . Finally I had given up.

I lay in the dark, alone. I didn't get sleep. Then suddenly out of nowhere, I felt that the answer was near. I wasn't waiting now. I wasn't searching anywhere else. My instincts told me that this night the answer would find me. It is the sixth sense that tells you that today is the day. You will get all your answers today. The bubbles would stop. The sadness would be wiped out from your face. There would be peace and ultimately, calmness would prevail over your heart. You will get a good sleep. You will feel lighter and free. You would be freed from all the bonds of miseries. You will get peace on this planet. You will be independent.

Atleast that's what I had thought. I wish I had never known the answer.

Stony Story

2009-03-22T22:44:00.004+05:30

DISCLAIMER: This is entirely a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any character, living or non-living is purely coincidental.

There was a stone. Let’s call him Bonnie. Bonnie used to live with the Trees. He enjoyed being under the shade of the big trees. He played with the other stones that use to gather around the trees. There was a River that flew beside the trees. Bonnie liked the charm of the River. He was mesmerized by her snow white colour. He liked her agility and determination. She was his inspiration and motivation. But he never said about it to anyone. All were happy and life seemed perfect. Bonnie gradually became bigger and powerful in size.

Then, one day, from nowhere, suddenly the Wind blew. The River was told by the Wind that she was destined to become great and powerful like the Sea. The only way to achieve that was by becoming the Sea itself. This would be possible only if the River moves on towards the Sea and blend with it. The River, being greatly inspired by the Wind, decided to achieve something more in her life. After all, she couldn’t afford to waste her life by just languishing there in the forest.

Needless to say that the stone was shocked and shattered, when he heard about it from the Wind. He kept his grief to himself. He didn’t try to stop the River, nor did he ask the Wind to persuade her to stay. Instead, he just followed her, as far as he could. He tried to get all the details relevant to the River and the Sea. During this course, he got corroded and washed away and his size reduced. Chasing, he went far ahead from the stones and the trees. Chase seemed to be the only thing in his mind. But the River became swifter and outran the stones and Bonnie. Bonnie, being unable to control his feelings, sobbed. Nobody but the Wind noticed it. But it was too late. Bonnie, returned back to the trees and quietly climbed to the top and jumped off in the River. The Wind stopped blowing. The trees stopped moving. There was silence all around.

The River was too busy to notice all this. It finally reached the Sea and blended into it. It became powerful, strong and larger, just the way she had dreamt of. But she also became darker, brackish and rough. When the river looked around, there were no trees, no stones and no Bonnie. She was isolated. The Sea seemed so enormous, and at the same time so lonely and empty. Was this what she had craved for? She didn’t need anyone but still wished there was someone, with whom she could share her happiness and success. Even the Wind had stopped. She started realizing all the things that she had missed and ignored in the past. Seeing the cold and unfriendly boulders in the ocean, she was reminded of those stones of the past. Oh!! There were several stones in her life and she hadn’t spent enough time with anyone. Out of them, there was one that wasn’t merely a stone. It was a diamond. She longed for the diamond, now.

Today, when one goes for a stroll near the coast of the Sea and concentrates enough, one can hear the waling voice of the River, amidst the noisy sea waves. Every evening, the River sings:

My Bonnie lies over the ocean
My Bonnie lies over the sea
My Bonnie lies over the ocean
Oh bring back my bonnie to me

Bring back, bring back
Bring back my Bonnie to me, to me
Bring back, bring back
Bring back my Bonnie to me

Oh blow ye the winds o'er the ocean
And blow ye the winds o'er the sea
Oh blow ye the winds o'er the ocean
And bring back my Bonnie to me

Bring back, bring back
Bring back my Bonnie to me, to me
Bring back, bring back
Bring back my Bonnie to me

The winds have blown over the ocean
The winds have blown over the sea
The winds have blown over the ocean
And brought back my Bonnie to me

Bring back, bring back
Bring back my Bonnie to me, to me
Bring back, bring back
Bring back my Bonnie to me

Reminiscence of the Rails

2009-02-20T23:59:00.002+05:30

The long awaited train arrives with the familiar whistle, bringing relief, cheer and hurriedness on passengers’ faces. Suddenly the platform becomes alive, buzzing with people and activities all round. Fathers holding their kids’ hands tightly and making way through the crowd to find their way to the compartments, the coolies pushing the luggage in between, with the hawkers shouting, desperately, at the top of their voices, trying to utilize every available space and opportunity to sell their items. Finally the train departs, with the relatives bidding farewell to their kins on the train, till the train fully goes out of sight. Everything becomes as quite as before.

Indian Railways: The one and the biggest entity that connects to all of us in India. Not only because of the fact that it employs more than 5% of total Indians, but also that everyone from all parts of the country have witnessed the activities described in the previous paragraph. Everyone has some or the other experience with train journeys to share.

The best part of travelling in a train is that one gets to meet lots of people from different cultures and backgrounds. One gets to socialize with people with different opinions and all of them share their thoughts and views. Pre-Independence, trains were a major factor in bringing people, with similar thoughts but from different regions, together. Even Mahatma Gandhi used the trains to mix with people that laid the foundation for the independence struggle.
In a long distance journey, one can find everyone to be very friendly with each other and trying to put up their best character in front of others. They kill time by playing cards, discussing over politics, sports and about everything that one normally doesn’t talk about in their daily lives, for lack of time. On the other hand, some keep themselves busy by reading novels and newspapers. There are yet others, who use the precious time in retrospection of their lives. If there is nothing else to do, one can simply observe people and their activities, both, inside and outside the train, like watching a mother scold her child for spilling things or a farmer working on the fields or simply the nature itself in its full-fledged pure form.

The charms of trains are also evident by the fact that many scenes of Indian movies are related to trains, most famous being “The Burning Train”. Also one can’t forget the famous last scene in DDLJ, where Raj pulls Simran towards him in a moving train. Since then, parting and meeting in trains have often been romanticized in films. Many love stories start in train in films, and may be in real life as well.

Even though Indian railways are much behind in infrastructure, when compared to their foreign counterparts, nevertheless, travelling in a train is still the most comfortable and enjoyable ride and every ride is a unique experience in itself. In spite of the tragedies and mishaps like train theft and train delays, memories of rail journeys will keep reminiscing us throughout.

The Chase Ends

2009-02-07T12:03:00.006+05:30

Often there are many things that one keeps chasing in life. He/She tries his/her best to achieve them. They try all sorts of things for those. But finally realize that all of them lead to the same dead end. All end up at the starting point. Life is such a maze of twists and turns, but ultimately there is no twist. Everything is the same. Life is a pattern. Everything follows a pattern. Whatever you try, How much ever differently you try, you gonna soon see that it’s been happened to you before. Many times you know the result before hand, but you don’t wanna believe that it will end up in the same way as the previous ways. We all want to avoid the past, the patterns already followed before, but the truth is that every new pattern some way or other, is exactly the old pattern. Déjà vu? No not exactly, because in the case of déjà vu, you realize it’s been happened before, but in this case you also know the result. Everyone knows the result of their actions, instinctively. It is just that we don’t want to believe our own predictions. Isn’t it strange that you don’t want to believe in your prophecy, in your instincts? It is because we hope that it won’t be the same as if hoping against something will actually lead to something different. Sadly, enough, it doesn’t work like that.

Talking about patterns, let me tell you that there is a unique pattern for every individual. Something inborn in that person decides the pattern that would be repeated throughout his/her life. There is no problem in this, as long as the person doesn’t realize the truth of the pattern. When one is oblivious of the pattern, he/she will try out things that are supposed to give him a different way of living. This will keep the energy/fire/momentum alive in his/her heart, and will make him/her experiment everything in his/her life. These people do not know the result and keep their fingers crossed till the last moment and still unable to believe in the outcome. This hope of the unknown result keeps them alive. This section of people is fortunate who don’t realize that everything they do will follow the so called “pattern”. But the trouble lies with that category of people, who realize the pattern before it’s too late. They know the result of their experiments beforehand. They know what lies ahead in their career and how their life is gonna shape up in the future. Though it sounds as if these sections of people are fortunate/talented enough to know the predictions, it is worse inside. Why? Let me convince you of this in the next paragraph.

Consider a guy who falls in the latter category who knows the pattern. He wants to try out a different experiment in his career. His instincts tell him that it won’t work, because the pattern depicts so. Now the guy is in a dilemma. What should he do? Should he go ahead with the experiment, being fully aware that it won’t produce the desired result? Or should he abort the experiment and thus get stereotyped as a coward, who doesn’t try out things, going against the popular Bhagavat Gita (which advises one to not to worry about the fruit of one’s action). Should he then just stop fighting with life and surrender to the mysteries of kismat? Wouldn’t giving up everything abate the fire inside him and stop the possibility of making his life different? To give an analogy, it’s like buying a lottery. You know the result that you won’t win it. So should you stop buying up the lottery and hence end up all the possibilities of winning right away?

Poor guy!!! Will he still keep the hope and spirit alive in his soul? I don’t know/care about his new style of living. But temporarily, “The Chase Ends”.

Dreamers’ Dimensions

2009-01-25T16:55:00.000+05:30

The most beautiful aspect of our lives is that we can dream. By dreams, I mean literal dreams that we have during our sleep, the dreams that Alice in Wonderland used to see.

Dreams have played an integral part in the human lives, right from the past, in all the civilizations. How can one forget the dream of a man who warns Julius Ceaser of his doom before his death? Many people strictly follow their dreams and respect the gestures suggested in them. For example, the Hindu king “Harishchandra” parts with his kingdom and family to fulfill the promise made by him to a sage in his (sage’s) dream. Many books have been written on “The Interpretations of Dreams”. Science and religion both have their own explanations for the occurrence and mystery of dreams.

The best thing of dreams is that no one can predict as to what dream one will see the following night and also if there will be a dream at all. So, one has to completely surrender oneself to the DreamLord/DreamLady and let the movie begin. Yes, believe me, it is better than watching a movie. Better in the sense that you can get a first hand experience of watching first day (rather, first night)-first show, because many a times you are the actor/protagonist in the movie and the whole plot revolves around yourself. And that too, free of cost.
The next best part of dreams is that you get to see and do things that you have long wanted to do but are always afraid of the result. The inhibitions, buried inside a person, come out in a full-fledged way. In this world, where society does not permit you to do things as per your whims, you are free to try them, as many times as you wish. This is the beauty of dreams. Many a times, you commit mistakes, or do some grave sins and then wake up and say “Thank God, it’s only a dream”. Dreams are truly, another dimension that lets out all the frustration and also the truth inside oneself.

Dreams always fantasize me. I love dreams. I enjoy dreams. That’s partially the reason why I like sleeping, in the hope that I see a good dream and then wake up and still remember it. I am utterly disappointed when I fail to recollect all the details of my previous dream.

I have jumped from a 50ft building and still my legs don’t hurt. I have tried yelling but my voice just wouldn’t come out, as if I were dumb. I have missed my trains and exams. I have beaten up many rascals. I have died and watched my own funeral. I have kissed her. I have seen ghosts and gods. I have seen more weird creatures than those shown in The National Geographic. I have woken up in the midst of a dream just to discover that it is still another dream. WOW!!! What a variety.

Oh!! See you next time. It’s time for me to glide to the Dreamland.

Greatest Inventions of the Aeonic World

2009-01-14T13:42:00.000+05:30

What are the greatest inventions/discoveries in the history of mankind? The three things that have changed the human race and given Homo Sapiens a distinct and superior identity are undoubtedly “Fire”, “Wheel” and “Paper”. All of them have enhanced and sophisticated the mankind at different times in different fields. Let me elaborate on each of them separately.

FIRE symbolizes both light and heat. In the initial days, fire offered warmth to the cavemen, protecting from the harsh cold. It allowed them to see things and work in dark. It also enabled them to cook/roast food. A secondary benefit was that it helped them to scare away wild animals from their homes. Electricity is the modern version of fire. Needless to say, electricity has been very much a part of our lives and development.

WHEEL signifies the entire transportation. It allowed us to save time and energy and reduced the distances between fellow human beings. I wouldn’t be wrong if I say that wheel led to the discovery of continents, mountains, rivers, people, civilizations, etc. It enabled people to mix and trade with other people from different lands. Even today, we feel the presence of wheel in the form of trains, ships, airplanes, rockets, etc.

PAPER, although an invention much later than the first two, has made our civilization progress by leaps and bounds. Paper could imply lot of things. For example, accounting, maths, science, etc can be called the effects of paper invention. If not for paper, we would have still been in the Stone Age and trading in the form of barter system which needed minimal calculations. Paper actually enabled us to refine our calculations and thus came out scientists and technicians. It allowed us to share/retain knowledge in a more visible manner. It developed the traditional form of teaching called “shruti” (ancient oral based learning) to a modern classroom based education, supplemented with books and computers.

Now that we have dealt with all these three, one feels tempted to compare them and ask as to which one is the greatest invention ever. Anyhow, all these put together have definitely revolutionized our lifestyle and made MAN as the most superior species in the universe. One might also want to analyze if there are anymore similar discoveries. One might say telephones, but if we look closely, it is a mixture of the effects of electricity and paper. Hence, fire, wheel and paper are the mother of all inventions and will continue to do so.

A few good movies

2008-12-28T23:54:00.000+05:30

A Wednesday
Dasvidaniya
Mumbai Meri Jaan
Ramchand Pakistani
Ghazini
Rock On
Welcome to Sajjanpur
Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na
Jodha Akbar
Aamir
Superstar
Black N White
Tahaan
Khuda Ke Liya
Shoot on Sight
Shaurya

As the year 2008 ends, I feel satisfied that this year has given a lot of good films. Based on reviews of movies released in 2008, I have made certain observations.

1) Low budget movies were the most successful ones.
If you notice closely, you can see that most of the films in the list are low budget movies. This simply show that these low budget movies have made it big without any glamorous stars or exotic shooting locations. They also didn't get the media hype which proves that the smaller movies have survived purely on their script and good direction.

2) Promotion of films is the new mantra.
Promotion is today's mantra for making money before and after the movie. The importance of the movie has shifted from the script to the stars and promotion of the film. Even the news channels feel that film promos and stunts are more important for their TRP, rather than their daily news. Many movies simply suffered for the lack of media hype. Although promotion of the movie may not always prove to be the success formula, but no one would take the risk of skipping the promotion part.

3) Male acting has risen whereas the female acting has declined.
The actors like Ranbir Shorey, Rahul Bose, Vinaya Pathak, Irfaan Khan, Shreyas Talpade, Naseeruddin Shah have shown that acting is still a thing revered by the audience. On the pit side, there is a shortage of acting skills in today's actresses who prefer showing off their body and making news in media rather than refining their acting. Perfect examples are Kareena Kapoor and Minisha Lamba.

However, lets hope that a few good movies like this year's keep coming up, so that one can still feel the presence of better directors of Bollywood and can expect some masterpieces from them in the next year.

England –The pioneer in sports

2008-12-23T22:54:00.000+05:30

Although recently England has lost badly in both One Days and Tests, that doesn’t stop me from appreciating their innovativeness in sports. If not for the English people, there would not have been so many different outdoor varieties of sports today. Almost all the sports, widely known today, have been invented and popularized by the Britishers, be it football, cricket, hockey, tennis, rugby, basketball or badminton.

They don’t stop after inventing a game. They keep on researching and are always on the lookout for new rules, different strategies and techniques. They always keep on trying different ways to make the game more interesting and enjoyable to the audience. Cricket can be a good example to prove all the above statements. When the English invented cricket, it was Test type of cricket. Then they refined it and shortened it with new rules and developed One Day International form, which was gradually accepted by all the cricket boards of other countries. But they went on further to shorten it to a Twenty20 format game, which is yet to find acceptance by all, including country officials and critics.

Even within the cricket game, they continuously researched and found out better techniques of batting, bowling out, etc. For example, the famous controversial “BodyLine Technique”, was also as a result of innovative British ideas.

Today England still gives lot of respect to its traditional and purest form of cricket, namely Test Cricket. People still find time and turn out in large numbers to enjoy this sport. We can always find young English ladies and gentleman out there in the stadium under a sporty umbrella passionately watching and enjoying cricket. Now there is talk of cricket being included as a proper sport in Olympics. “When so many sports are already there, then why not the popular cricket” is the typical argument of Britishers. I am sure when the next Olympics 2012 is hosted in London, cricket definitely would be an Olympic sport as well, thanks to the British Olympic organizers. Perhaps cricket being in Olympics would give them a sense of achievement and satisfaction.

Even though England has never won the World Cup in both One Day and Twenty20, it still holds cricket in high esteem. It still plays all formats of cricket and enjoys them. That would never happen in India where a defeat or victory decides the fate of sport. The domination of cricket over hockey proves it. We should learn from England where despite defeats, all games are still alive and very much popular.

E-Voting

2008-11-22T23:27:00.000+05:30

Now a days, everything that we do in our daily life has got an internet solution. Most of these things can now be done at the click of a mouse. Just a few years back, all these things involved manual work that consumed lot of time, patience and problems. Just to enlist some of those things, they included “booking a rail/bus ticket”, “paying electricity and other utility bills”, “doing money transfer”, “shopping”, “booking a movie ticket or that for a sports match”, etc. The list is endless. However, there is one thing that probably has been forgotten that should be made online by now. I am talking of online voting.

Nobody is giving much thought to this election process. The government has probably forgotten that it is this election that still enables India to depict proudly its status of being the largest democracy. It is a genuine concern because the polling rates have fallen rapidly. Now a days, there seems to be just 50-60% polling in the urban cities. The literate population is turning away from using their ballot.

The main cause for this decline is that most of us are always on the move and are hardly present in our native land at the time of election. Most of the eligible students study in schools/colleges outside their native place. Also, many end up in jobs in places away from their home-town. It is but natural for them not to go to their native just for voting.

Not only that, people tend to give more priority to their personal life and hence don’t feel voting as an activity worth enough to go to the voting booth and cast their vote. They would rather spend time with their family or meet some relative or get some urgent household work done. They cannot be blamed for not using that time to vote. Today’s life has become such demanding and competing that one has to spend each and every bit of time for his/her personal activity.

To add to all of these, there are still others who do not have a registered voter’s card, as getting one is a government process that usually gets delayed by a long time.

Hence, by looking at all these, the only viable solution is in making this voting process online. Today we see so many polls on internet like “Best Company “, “Most innovative company”, “Best Actor”, “Best Youth Icon”, etc. We do not have a separate polling booth for these polls. All these surveys are mostly done online that takes up hardly 10-15 minutes of our time. Similarly, if our voting gets online as well, it would enable many migrants to vote. It would make the voting job as a comfortable and time-saving activity. This would certainly increase voting participation in the urban sections of people.

I have come across the NGO “EFG” that is trying to spread the voting awareness among people by organizing seminars, rallies, etc. It is a very noble effort by these people, who are really conscious of the decline in voting interests. They are doing their bit and now it is government‘s turn to do something that is very much needed and along with launching “e-voting”, start promoting voting in cities.

Only when all of India participate in election, can our nation be truly called as a democratic nation.

Kismat's Trap

2008-11-21T00:15:00.000+05:30

Call it luck,fate, destiny, kismat, naseeb or bhagya. It is all the same and still I have never fully understood as to what is this Kismat.

In my school days, my English teacher had said that Luck is nothing but God. She explained that it is just a word to define God's presence, because something happening by chance in one's favour can only be manipulated by God and therefore luck can never be explained in normal human terms. I have often tried to figure out how God is synonymous with luck and still not been successful to either prove or disapprove the correlation.

Logic fails to explain it. Science calls it probability. Sometimes I wonder that maybe it is not at all complex and is just another word coined by human beings to give a appropriate name to their mistakes or someone else's success.

Many a times, people say that it wasn't their day. Sometimes students before exams say it all depends on your luck. You may get easy questions or you may not be able to recall something needed at that time. Still, there are many others who contradict and say success doesn't lie in luck. They feel that it is pure hard work. When Shah Rukh Khan was once asked about the reason for his success, he had said "You have to be at the right place and at the right time."

Yet there are many who still associate fate with palmistry, and may sometimes develop an inferiority complex in themselves after discovering that their fate line is not blurred/missing. Just to add a note, Panini (the great Sanskrit scholar) had etched out the education line with knife on his palm to make out for the missing line.

According to most of the religious mythology, everything has been decided beforehand. And no one can change the "vidhi ka vidhaan". It is said that none can change destiny.
In the movie "Serendipity", the girl believes in the power of luck and decides to choose her partner only if luck brings him to her. Maybe it sounds ridiculous or superstitious but if properly analysed, people still fall prey to the sheer superstitious power of fate.

For example, today we have many games and lottery that lure people to squander their money by giving them false promises of Kismat. All the share markets, stocks are all one or other form of Kismat. Not only that, the charms, gems,amulets, etc. still have a market of their own.

Kismat is such a beautiful mystical event that it makes almost anyone believe in it. One can't help but get engulfed in this maze and then get trapped and wait for the angel to open the door.

I am trapped and I need to be rescued. Where is the angel whom I am seeking? When will Lady Luck knock my door? If I am to believe the protagonist in Shantaram who defines the angel as "Luck is what happens to you when fate gets tired of waiting", then how long should I (or rather my fate) wait?

“Fabulous Four”

2008-11-08T00:52:00.000+05:30

For me, to pinpoint the Fabulous Four, I need to dig deep into Indian mythology. But wait a minute, I am not judging these famous characters by their skills and prowess. The underlying factors to pick up these mighty personalities are more based on their honesty, integrity, truthfulness and kindness.

Hanuman

He is the only character that has never come under any criticism or controversy in the entire Indian history, save for an incident where he refused to accept his “son” as his own. That can be partially justified, considering the strange circumstances in which his so called son was born. Apart from that, he isn’t a human. This can also indicate that animals are more honest than humans.

He has never crossed his lines and always maintained the respect for everyone around him, right from his birth. He also had respect for the Brahmastra that Meghanath had thrown upon him, by not defending it and allowing himself to be bounded by it. He was a true devotee of Ram, which was depicted when Hanuman tore his chest out to reveal Ram and Sita in his heart. This amar (immortal) lord continues to be amar in everybody’s heart in this “Kalyug”.

Karna

Karna was a very brave and dexterous person. He was the guy who had met with lot of injustice in his life. Though an upper caste by birth, he was refused proper education, because of lower-caste of his foster parents. He was not allowed to show his skills in front of Pandavas, for the fear that he would outshine them. He was also forbidden to attempt the Swayamavara of Draupadi.

He is the greatest donor ever known in the history of mankind. Even though when he was warned that Indra would come in disguise and ask for his kawach and kundal (his shield and earrings), thus leaving him defenceless, he still readily parted with his life saviour elements, by using his sword to separate them from his body.

Just as a note, he was killed unfairly by Arjun when he tried to remove his wheel that had sunk in the muddy ground.

Eklavya

Eklavya was also one of the characters who could not become famous as a skilled archer, just because he was refused education by Dronacharya on grounds of his lower caste. To add to that, he was also asked to sacrifice his right hand thumb as a token of guru-dakshina. There is not much mention about Eklavya as his growth was restricted. But still, he will always be remembered for the greatest “Guru-Dakshina” ever, in the history of mankind.

Mahabali

Mahabali, the Lord of Asura (devils), was the greatest and the best king on the patal-loka (underworld). Even though an Asura, he always kept his word. To add to his power, he decided to perform a yajna. To stop the yajna, Lord Vishnu had to come to him, disguised as a dwarf (popularly known as Vamana avatara) on the pretext of begging for something. Before Bali (Mahabali) could promise the beggar alms, he was warned by his wise teacher, Shankaracharya, to refuse to give anything, as he had recognized the true identity of the beggar. But inspite of being aware of all this and also knowing that it could be disastrous for the yajna that had been continuing for a long time, he promised the beggar, 3 steps of land.

Even being an asura, he kept to his word and on the contrary, the gods had not kept their word of sharing the amrita (nectar) equally with the asuras, during the samudra-manthan.

These above characters always stood by their principles and words. Although there were many other great characters like Krishna, Rama, Yuddhishtira, Ravana but they all have been accused of deviating from the moral principles as a safeguard measure to protect themselves or their kin. So we find that the people who are portrayed as “good” also have flaws in their character, and the others, who are equally honest, are simply tagged as evil, on the pretext that they are asuras.

Old Television Days

2008-10-26T22:01:00.000+05:30

Going back in the memory lane, the one thing that we all have in common is the old television programmes.

Back in the 1990’s, when I was a kid, I still remember the advent of television in India and slowly in my neighbourhood and eventually in my home. Doordarshan soon became a household name. Doordarshan brought with itself a whole set of serials varying from entertainment to sports to quiz to cartoon to suspense thrillers.

As it was the only channel available in that period, most of us have grown up watching the same serials and soaps. Today watching some of the episodes of those serials that are re-telecasted, makes me nostalgic. So, I just decided to enlist some of the popular serials that, I am sure, all of us would have definitely been part of it at some point of time.

Sunday was the most loaded, starting with Rangoli at 7am. We used to have breakfast watching the old melodies. Rangoli was followed by a serial meant for children, which changed over the time. Some of the popular ones were “Jungle Book - Moguli”, “Chandrakanta”, “Shree Krishna”. “Shaktimaan” which became a huge hit, was shifted from Saturday to Sunday, as a result. Then there was also “Captain Vyom” a sci-fi thriller.

Every Saturday and Sunday evening, one movie used to be shown. I still remember when a power cut during the programme used to disappoint us so much, that we all kids of neighbourhood used to pray to God, to get the power back. The joy that we used to experience when power used to come was the ultimate one.
Regarding the animated programmes, there were “Aladdin”, “Disney Tales”, “Sindbaad”, etc.
Coming to the religious programmes, “Shree Krishna” by Ramanada Sagar was the best and my favourite. I hardly missed any of its episodes. The other serials were “Mahabharata”, “Jai Hanuman”, “Om Namah Shivaya”, etc.

Doordarshan also had its share of comedy programmes like “Dekh Bhai Dekh”, “Nehle Pe Dehla”, etc. Among the thrillers, magic and suspense were the programmes like “Alif Laila”, “Vikram-Betaal”, “Tehkikaat”, etc.

There were other episodes that were also liked by certain sections of people like “Surabhi”, “Shanti”, “Swabhimaan”, “Turning Point”, “Yug”, “Akbar –The Great”, “Bharat ek Khoj,“Noor-Jahan”, etc.
There were also some musical shows and quizzes like “Antakshari” and various programmes.

Between various programmes were beautiful nostalgic melodies like “Mile Sur Mera Tumhara”. The famous advertisements of “Nirma”, “Bajaj (buland bharat ki buland tasveer)” still haunt our memories. Even the screen that used to appear in case of transmission problems, which had the seven vertical stripes of rainbows , reminds me of the old television days.

Having said all the above things, I can’t stop myself from comparing those days with the current television scenario. Today we have an abundance of channels that are dedicated to news, music, movies, cartoon, television daily soaps, bhakti, etc. Today we have lot of celebrity driven news and reality shows, that have be come the norm of today’s entertainment. Religious serials have declined. News channels have become the crappiest ever since. The excitement of waiting and watching for a movie has gone. The impatient wait for an episode for a week has also diminished. Even with so many channels in all languages and also with recent foreign channels, we have so less quality programmes to watch. The bulk of repeated advertisements, that intrude the normal show, add to the irritation of the viewers.

Inspite of all the good serials of Doordarshan, it has today become a laughing stock among everyone and it is only viewed in the rural areas. Probably because Doordarshan still connects to the heart of India and hence cannot afford to be glamorous to cater to the needs of urban India.

But the saddest part is that our new generation will miss the whole fun and knowledge offered by those day programmes. It is a pity that they cannot enjoy and imbibe the beauty of our great epics “Ramayana”, “Mahabharata” and “Krishna”. I am not sure if they will really miss something by not having a chance watch the legendary shows of DD. Of course there have been new ventures in the cartoon sector that have greatly developed owing to the new and better animation technologies. But I must say, that’s all that can really be called as shows meant for children and nothing else, can be safely assumed as unobscene or not vulgar. The difference between news channels and entertainment ones have blurred. The idiot box has become the idiotest. Now the only genuine reason for still remaining glued to the dabba is watching live sports (mostly cricket).

Let's all turn atheist!!!

2008-09-29T02:18:00.000+05:30

In view of the recurring bomb blasts and the recent attack against churches, one is bound to think about the origin of all this. "Why all of a sudden?", one gasps at the very first mention of these agitations. One always has a perception that religion is behind all this.

I have always wondered at the logic and the cause for all these. What do these miscreants get in return? After finding no definite answers, I divert myself to another question. Why in the name of religion? Why not in the name of the poor? Why not in the name of the vulgarity of our films? All the other topics, apart from religion that were once strong protests have subsided. Even the hot reservation issue has become silent now. The water sharing disputes among the southern states also crop up only when there is a shortage of rains. Then why can't the dispute on communal matters mitigate? Why these religion matters always come up every now and then? Why behind every attack, every bomb blast, the religion issue gets dragged into?

The problem I feel is too much loyalty to one's own religion. The group of persons, who get very possessive about their beliefs and religion, somehow get the wrong perception that their religion is the best and the other religions are a threat to their principles. The common people, however, do not bother about these things. They have lot of other things on priority like, making money, growing their career, taking care of their family, etc. If an outsider takes a look into the Indian society, he/she will be really amazed to find the harmony with which all the different religions' people live together, talk together, and have fun together. Looking at these, one can hardly imagine the same group of people to be at daggers with each other. So the conclusion is that the average society people have no problem with the people of different religions. Hence, the blame lies with those small group of narrow minded fanatics that claim to be extra loyal to their religion. If we take a closer look, we can easily identify such societies and associations that are lurking and operating in every small town and cities. They form themselves in groups and try to create fear, suspicion and mistrust in people towards those of other faith. Sadly, these are backed and funded by our own politicians who want attention and can even go to the extreme of blaming the minority religions for every thing that goes wrong. To make matters worse, these khadi-clad figures try to mix social and economic conditions to the religion issue. These people keep reminding the general public about it and they dig up the past to support their statements.

There is a very thin line between loyalty to oneself and disloyalty to others. That thin division has to maintained strictly by all faiths. One should not get so much carried away by the religions, that they start vandalizing holy places or start blaming other sects for one's condition. We don't want another Crusade or the Swastika fight again. The only solution is to forget what has happened. Let us defeat the purpose of our enemies. Let us not fall prey to our politicians' shrewd communal tactics.

In other words, let us not believe in anything attached to religion. Let us be bold and become atheists. Let us all sacrifice the root cause of all these evil. If we want to live in true peace and harmony, let us abandon our individual faiths and believe solely in our karma and destiny. Sometimes some things have to be changed by drastic measures. Let's all face it.

The mighty Dal-chawal.

2008-09-27T23:22:00.000+05:30

Do you have Dal???
Enna sarrr?
dal, daaal..
It is the most common scenario when a north Indian sits down to eat "Meals" in a Tamil Nadu restaurant. The most basic and the most common food across all the north Indian states is the famous Dal-chawal. It is always an essential part of food at household, dhabas and restaurants. Yes, the sight of steamed basmati rice with hot dal and ghee floating in it is enough to make you go hungry. Believe me, it is the most satisfying and filling dish that one can have. No other food pair in the whole Indian food community is as relishing as Dal-chawal.
Even those running after pizzas and burgers, finally resort to Dal-Chawal at the end of the day.It is also the most nostalgic food item for all Indians outside their home.
Even though India may be leaping ahead in technology and growth, even though the count of millionaires will increase and the country might be divided economically in various sectors, there will be one thing that will be common to all. The common food habit(Dal-chawal in particular) will keep the different communities, divisions and sections of people glued to each other. It is this invisible string that binds all of Indians together no matter in which part of world they are.
So, be it channa dal, moong dal, masoor dal, or dal makhani, dal fry,
Dal-Chawal is the King.

PS: This post is dedicated to my sister who taught me how to prepare Dal-Chawal.

The dilemma

2008-09-11T23:36:00.000+05:30

The reason why I would like to revisit the debate between "love marriages" and "arranged marriages", is because of my discovery of another Indian truth. It is not the debate between "love" and "arranged", rather it is between within caste and inter-caste. At the end everything boils down to so called "caste". No one knows the benefit of within-caste marriage, but still follow it like a divine order, as if their forefathers are watching them from the heavens. Dare not go against our set standards, or else, I will see you in heaven. Is it because of some unknown fear or because nobody wants to think differently, still remains the big unanswered question.

But because of this unsaid rule, it is we who have to suffer.. The new generation, who somehow can not accept the paradigms have to cope up with the side effects, just to see their parents happy. One marries someone just to make their parents and grandparents elated. Of course, it is every child's duty to make their parents happy. They have made lot of sacrifices and compromises just to enable us to live a better life than they had. Hats off to all parents (Dil se). I am not advising or asking all the youngsters to rebel. I am just putting forward the dilemma in which these youngsters get into. This dilemma has no quick fix solution, or no solution to be more accurate. We have to suffer, we are destined to accept things we don't like, for the sake of the so called society.

To explain the troubles that one can get into if one is bound into the unsaid rules, let me give some real life scenarios. A guy/girl, when grows up, gets a picture of his/her near future like better education and sufficient money (again money is never sufficient, but that's another philosophical topic) and only then a good life partner. He/she might have made a mental plan as to when and how to achieve those, but alas, he/she was not even aware of the plans their parents (in other words, the society standards) had made. His/her plans conflict with theirs and life goes into chaos. After the chaos is temporarily sorted by mutual disagreements and compromises, he/she is shown the list of potential spouses (mind you, this list has been achieved through years of hard work, discussions, bargaining,. negotiations and more strangely, the person not being aware of the whole process).
So what should the person’s reaction be?????

The answer is not easy. The person realizes the hard work spent for that remarkable feat, hence cannot reject those right away, in fear of hurting sentiments and emotions (Emotions and sentiments are the words that I strongly hate, just because they become the biggest obstacles in any person’s life). If that was not enough to create a total dilemma in the person’s mind, he/she is indirectly threatened by saying that if they miss this chance, there is very less probability that they will get another man/woman of such caliber.

Suddenly, all the high aspirations and dreams of the person are shattered to the ground. His/her expectations of his/her partner are put to a toss. He/she has to make a decision quick enough (in other words, accept the parents decision)…….or else, god knows, what may happen!!! The world might end….

Why didn’t the LHC(The Large Hadron Collider) fail and create a black hole to end the universe? At least the dilemma would end.

Government work is God’s work

2008-09-08T00:18:00.000+05:30

In India, the government is always stereotyped as “slow, traditional and corrupt”. Their policies are always considered an excuse for politicians prior to elections to gather votes. People feel that these policies remain only on paper. That is the general idea of any government policy or project. People often resort to private companies for quicker solutions.

Let me try to give a different picture of Indian government policies.
The first word that comes to my mind when I think of government is “Trust”. One can safely trust the government policies and schemes. Private companies always look for profit. They will never do anything that is non profitable. Sometimes they become so much business oriented that they are ready to cheat their customers through indirect means. On the contrary, the goal of any government policy is welfare of public, even though it might give a return. The aim is to benefit the masses, improve their style of living, give them better life security, etc. Government plans will never cheat or betray customers. For instance, investing in a government backed mutual fund is always considered safer. One can safely put their money and forget about the risk of losing the amount.

Another thing about government initiatives is that they not very expensive. This is because the majority of people are still middle class people and government. The policies are always designed, keeping the common man in mind, so that they can make use of them. Doordarshan channel comes free of cost and it has loads for good quality programs for all age groups. Indian railways are very much cheaper than any other private mode of transport. All the low cost airlines that had tried to make a revolution few years back is now back to their rocketing prices and hidden costs and taxes. All the government hospitals/clinics provide free treatment and medicines at minimal costs. Many government schools or colleges have fees that can be easily afforded by anyone. BSNL is a lot cheaper than any other service provider.

Consider the case of government jobs. They have better insurance policies and retirement plans. The employees feel more secure working in a government organization. In view of the recent slowdown of the US economy, many US based companies have started laying off people. These private companies, mostly in IT and ITes (IT enabled services), have started firing employees based on some excuses. In these companies, the employees always work under pressure, which can be a health concern. In government jobs, the employees can enjoy their work and life, without worrying about their future. The recent Sixth Pay commission (a government policy for the government employees) is a brilliant example of the above statements. It proves that the government does care for it employees and will keep coming with new policies, as and when needed.

ISRO, DRDO, AIIMS, IIT, IIM, NTPC, BARC--- All these institutions are Indian government initiatives and they all are renowned for their expertise all over the world. They all have brilliant students and faculties and they all are the best in their domain.
One should be proud of Indian army and military, which are examples of perfect management and discipline. They do their duty at all times. They do not even think about the so called “profit” factor. Imagine if they were to do their jobs only if that work yielded profit.

All said, the implementation of any govt. policy takes longer time because it needs to be reviewed many times by different departments. It needs to be accepted by majority. Only when the government is certain that it caters to majority, it goes ahead to implement the policy. The reason, government policy gets delayed is because lot of people start misusing the power of democracy. These narrow minded people use democracy as their weapon and oppose every project of govt. for a few days of fame. To ensure that government’s work becomes God’s work needs the cooperation of the public to implement its policies perfectly. If all the government employees vow to work honestly and diligently and if the common man starts to take initiative at their own level, instead of blaming and complaining, only then the lines inscribed on Vidhan Soudha in Bangalore, will truly prove its meaning.

Why the "other guy" has a girlfriend?

2008-08-30T14:32:00.000+05:30

Everybody in the world has different physical and behavourial characteristics. Some are fat, some are short, some are dark.Some can sing well, some can dance perfectly, some are intelligent whereas some are strong and well built. One can enlist lots of such traits and features. Everyone tries to achieve what they don't have. And they always wish something like "I wish i were taller", "I wish I were fair",etc.
One can broadly categorize these characteristics int two parts:appearance related and behaviour related.
Of these, behaviour related things can be improved by attending several classes and constant learning.But changing physical features is much more difficult and costly.Hence people develop a constant inferiority complex in themselves.This complex is very often reflected in guys who don't have girlfriends.
Let me list out the possible thoughts running across several such "Singles".
A dark-complexioned guy: I wish I were fairer. Girls would have been simply attracted to me.
A fair-complexioned guy but of short-height : Only if I weren't shorter,I would not have been rejected by her.
A fair, tall guy but not muscular: I wish I had those shoulders and biceps. Girls would have definitely fallen.
A fair,tall, well built guy but not intelligent: Girls like intelligent guys, not a dumb person like me.
A fair,tall, well built and intelligent, but not rich: If I had money, I could have won any girl by gifts and treats.
A fair,tall, well built,intelligent and from rich family background: I have everything, but these girls love my money, my appearance. How do I know which one of these will love me truly? I wish I did not have so many things.
If you are still not convinced with the above statements, you may watch the movie "Bedazzled".

Open Book Policy in Examinations

2008-08-09T15:12:00.000+05:30

As I write about this topic, I am reminded of my school days when History subject was a bête-noire. The night before my history exams, used to be a complete nightmare. Today we have many students getting stressed up at the mere mention of exams. They start panicking a few days before the exams. Students either resort to complete night outs or sleep late before the night, deteriorating their health. Even a few minutes before the exams, many can be seen trying to remember as much as they can. They have a constant fear of forgetting one or the other thing. This is the tragedy of today’s examination system. Open-Book system can change all the above.

Of course, it is very difficult to prepare an exam that truly tests an individual's skill and talents. But the current examination system fails to test anything other than one’s mugging skills. It defines a syllabus that consists of a few chapters and then requires students to mug them up and spit it out as best as they can, on the examination day. It cannot identify whether a person has understood the syllabus or has just vomited everything out of his/her memory.

This system generally creates the impression in students’ mind that they would be called talented only if they are able to learn everything by heart. They get disappointed when they fail to do so and it creates an inferiority complex in them. No one knows beforehand as to what questions might come up in exams and it may so happen that the portions not studied by a person comes in exam and his/her partner who might have studied only that, answers them successfully. So it is more of luck in that case.

Open-Book Policy will remove undue advantage to any candidate and ensure that everyone gets equal chance and opportunities. Everyone will be provided with the same resources and they can actually show their skills and understanding during the tests. If books are allowed during exams, then the questions will be of different types that will test the students’ ability to understand the text, read between the lines and hunt for the answers. When studying, one will have to analyze each and every line thoroughly. One cannot escape just by mugging up things. This will eventually give them a better understanding of the entire syllabus, which will be easier to remember. The reason why one fails to remember things is because they merely try to memorize them.

To prove the effectiveness of Open-Book Policy, let’s consider the real time scenario when one actually gets into a job. At that point of time, one hardly needs to remember precisely all the details of their syllabus that he/she had studied in their school days. So when coming up with a solution for a problem, they are free to refer books, internet, etc. They can get all the information whenever needed. At this point, the skill and effectiveness of an individual is determined according to what he/she does when given all the resources. One can be called talented only if he/she is able to use his/her resources in a smarter and efficient manner. So why should one be asked to memorize everything in his/her lower classes?

Mugging up has another great disadvantage. When students memorize any article, they forget it soon after exams and then they have to learn everything again before next exams. So effectively, at any point of time, they hardly remember anything. So practically, then there is no use of memorizing if one has to forget them immediately after the exams. Open-Book system will make all the students all time prepared for exams and they need not panic immediately before exams.

Students in order to learn everything just try to skim through everything and do not concentrate on one particular chapter or portion. This makes them just very vaguely aware of any one topic. If books are allowed, then they can leave aside all the memorizing stuff and concentrate more on the statements. This will ensure that they also enjoy studying and are able to retain whatever they read and are fully aware of what they have understood.

Open book systems can also minimize copying during exams, because there will be no question of chits and other things. Many students who resort to copying do not study the portions as they feel they can get away with chits. This also discourages other honest students who get poor marks in spite of studying. Sometimes students who do not get sufficient time to prepare (maybe because of fever, marriage or deaths in family, etc.), get low marks. By Open-Book policy, students will be affected to a much lesser extent because of the above incidents.

The one and the only one thing that Open-Book cannot test fully is memory power of students. For that there can be one subject that will only test memory. Perhaps some subjects like Civics and Geography can have the exception of not having Open-Book system. But definitely other subjects should have the system of books during exams.

In conclusion, Open-Book policy will stop the old practice of mere mugging and will replace it by testing analytical skills. It will be able to test the skill and talents thoroughly. It will give more satisfaction to the individual and to others. It will result in the students having a better and complete understanding of the subjects. It will also stop the dread of exams in them and will make them ready for exams anytime with minimum preparations.

UNITED NATIONS MOCK CONFERENCE

2008-07-27T17:10:00.000+05:30

Background:

Indian Aircraft Carrier "INS Vikramaditya" Sunk!
Monday July 21, 2008: 11:45pm – Pakistani Submarine “Ghazi” has sunk an Indian aircraft carrier “INS Vikramaditya” 60 kms from Gulf of Kutch.
The Pakistani Submarine has been absconding.

India bombs Karachi in Retaliation
Tuesday July 22, 2008: 11:00 am - In order to retaliate, India has confirmed bombing of Karachi.
Mig 27 Fighter Bombers have bombed port of Karachi. Our correspondents have reported huge loss of lives and property

In lieu of the recent events in the Indian Subcontinent, the UN General Secretary has called for an emergency meeting.
The Agenda for the meeting is to look into the matter and prevent any further collateral damage. Since both India and Pakistan have possible nuclear weapons, the UN council has called for a cease fire to prevent a lurking nuclear WW III

MEETING:
INTRODUCTION

At the center of table is United Nations Secretary General, who will preside over the meeting.
Starting from the left of the table, we have the delegates and ambassadors of USA, India, Egypt, Pakistan and Russia.

UN Secretary General: A warm welcome to one and all present here. As you all are aware, this meeting has been called in view of the recent terrorist attacks going on in the Indian Subcontinent. It has always been United Nations duty and responsibility to ensure peace among nations and to avoid war at all cost. Keeping this in mind, let’s carry on with today’s proceedings.
To start with, all the ambassadors of each country will give an introduction speech. Then we will indulge in a discussion among the delegates. At the end there will be a conclusion by each ambassador.

US ambassador: A warm welcome to all present here. India and Pakistan have been in disputes several times regarding terrorist attacks across the border, despite many peace talks between them. This situation has just worsened and is about to be more severe if there are no control measures. The United States of America has always condemned terrorist activities around the world. We have always played a major role to bring peace and harmony to the world. We do not want another world war. We would request both countries to stop fighting and bring an immediate ceasefire. We would also want all other countries to vote for the same for the benefit of the entire mankind. Thank you.

Russian Ambassador: Hi, all of you. We, very much, condemn this terrorist attack. Our history has suffered severely due to two world wars and no one likes to have a third one. War is never the solution. It just aggravates the situation. India has since long been the victim of cross-border terrorism. If this problem is not solved now, it will keep recurring and innocent people in those areas will keep paying for that with their lives. It is high time that we all wake up to the situation and realize the seriousness of these haunting evils. We would want UN to be very active in eliminating terrorist from those areas, because such terrorist activities are detrimental to the growth of Indian subcontinent and we all know that it is significantly contributing to the world in IT industry. This would in turn hamper the development of the world. We also condemn the Indian attacks on Karachi. This is to make clear that we are totally against war. Thank you.

Egyptian Ambassador: Hello to all. Our country has been friendly to all the countries in the world. We are always committed to global peace. We have maintained goodwill relationship with both Pakistan and India, and we look forward to continue it over the future. We are totally against terrorist activities anywhere in the world. We are deeply saddened by the recent attacks. Our history has stood witness to the fact that terrorism is not restricted to any religion or nationality. It is a global disease. And we all must pray to God to protect us and our children and fight it together. We request the United Nations to call upon an immediate ceasefire between the two countries and to arrive at a negotiation between them. Thank you.

Indian Ambassador: Hello everybody. I would want to stress the fact that India has always been a peace loving country. We have never started attacks on any country or encroached anyone’s territory. We respect everybody’s freedom, culture and religion and that explains why we have so many religions here, why so many people with different cultures, languages and communities continue to live in peace and harmony. But it seems that our neighbours do not like this peaceful atmosphere in our country and hence always find some fanatic excuse to destroy our calmness. We have been constantly attacked by them from the time we got independence. That’s why we have lot of young and brave soldiers for defense who work tirelessly on the LOC (Line of Control) and put their life in danger.
Coming back to the recent bombings in Karachi, we have done it out of self-defense and as retaliation to the Pakistani attacks on our ship. Our investigations have confirmed that there was a Pakistani hand involved in this. We would like to give a message to our enemies that no one can take undue advantage of our peaceful attitude.
As always, we are still ready for ceasefire and negotiation talks if Pakistan stops all kinds of terrorist activities immediately. We would like to catch United Nations’ attention and request them to help us in solving this problem. We have always requested for the same in our earlier conferences but have never received active responses. It is high time that the world pays attention to us and let our innocent people lead their lives in a human way. Thank you.

Pakistani Ambassador: Hi everybody present here. Let me stress that we are also very much peace loving country. We are often accused wrongly of any terrorist activity that happens on Indian soil. Indian people always point fingers at us whenever a bomb goes off. In the past we have always been open to India’s peace talks.
Concerning the recent accusation of our Ghazi submarine, we confirm that we had nothing to do with those attacks. Our submarine did not intercept any enemy signal and our logs show no trace of any ship near itself. India has falsely accused us and used it as an excuse to bomb thousands in our developing city, Karachi. We would like to convey to the world that we are not a terrorist state and we do not promote any such activities in our country. Pakistan is doing its best to suppress the few miscreants that carry out blasts on border, thus defaming us. I request all of you to take the correct decision. Thank you.

Secretary General: Let’s now have the discussion among the delegates.
India: Let me again stress that Pakistan breeds terrorists in its soil. There are hundreds of madrasas that run in their country that corrupt young kids and prepare them mentally for fight. The Pakistan government has always supported them and never taken any actions against them. If Pakistan wanted, they could have wiped out all these wicked evils from their land. But they have never done those. We would request US especially who had supplied weapons to Pakistan to stop doing that. How many more attacks does UN want to get a confirmed proof that Pakistan is a terrorist state?

Pakistan: We again deny that Pakistan had anything to do with that attack.

US: We have supplied weapons to Pakistan to help them fight the terrorists in their land. This was as a response as per the request of Pakistan government and as a US initiative to eliminate the terrorists residing in their country and disturbing the government.

Russia: US has always played double standards. It says that it condemns terrorism. But it was the one that created Taliban to trouble us and the same Taliban has been the center of terrorism. We also cannot let any nation dominate another nation by taking advantage of their situation.

FLASHING NEWS: There have been confirmed reports that equipments used in the strikes against India were purchased from a Russian mafia.

US: Now we all know who plays double standards. Russia has supplied war equipments and helped in agitating the war.

Russia: We have nothing to do with the unsocial elements that supply weapons. We have taken strict action against those mafia groups and have been trying to wipe them out completely.

FLASHING NEWS:Indo-Russian deal scrapped.

Russia: As we have stated before, we strictly condemn all war activities and this deal has been put off because we agreed for the deal on the conditions that India used nuclear weapons only for peaceful purposes. We also expect similar responses from other countries. We will go ahead with the deal as soon as India agrees for ceasefire.

FLASHING NEWS:Ghazi submarine has safely reached a port of Egypt. The captain and the crew are safe and have communicated on the same.

India: We told you, it is the work of Ghazi. After it went absconding, it has suddenly appeared and has been under Egypt’s shelter. Even Egypt is helping Pakistan in concealing the submarine. Both countries Egypt and Pakistan have to play a role in this.

Pakistan: The Ghazi submarine went to Egypt just as a part of routine patrol and has not been trying to hide from anyone.

Egypt: We have ordered a thorough investigation as soon as the ship reached our port. As soon as the results are out, we will share them with the world. Even though we are of Islamic faith, it does not necessarily make us blind supporters of any Muslim nation or “jihads” for that matter. We have equally good relationship with all nations in the world. We are against terrorism.

FLASHING NEWS:There have been news that US is ready to supply Eagle fighter bombers to Pakistan.

Russia: Is this the response from US side after we scrapped our Indo-Russian deal? How are you helping to solve the situation?

US: We have agreed to supply only as a safeguard measure and to ensure that every nation gets full justice.

Egypt: But we do not see any justice to the whole world. We would like to remind all of you that we have come here for a ceasefire agreement.

Secretary General: Let’s stop and focus on the issue at hand. I would like to ask Pakistan if they have agreed to the peace conditions put forward by India.

Pakistan: We have always maintained that we favour peace and are ready for talks, but then we should not be attacked by India as per their whims and wishes.

FLASHING NEWS:Reports have confirmed that it was Ghazi submarine that had brought down INS Vikramaditya.

India: We have told that we had done our attacks only as retaliation. In response, we see that our nuclear deal with Russia has been cancelled and US is ready to supply bombers to Pakistan as usual. The Pakistan ship is safe in Egypt. I want to ask the UN that if this is the price that we have to pay for being a peace-loving nation. How long should we silently suffer?

FLASHING NEWS:US has sent a team to search for oilfields near Mumbai port.

Egypt: Is the US looking forward to strike against India this time? America’s war is always as a result of their greed for oil wells. We wonder if our country will be the next.

Russia: Yes, I agree with Egypt. Last time America searched for oil, it resulted in Iraq war. Are they planning to launch a war on India with the help of Pakistan just to acquire more and more oil?

US: Our hunt of oil is purely because of oil scarcity in the world. And if we discover oil in India, it will benefit the Indian government as it is under them. This has no relation to the current war crisis going in the Indian subcontinent.

Russia: But what about your agreement to supplying bomber fighters to Pakistan? We are talking of ceasefire here. We all are aware that both countries have possible nuclear weapons. If we do not stop this argument, there will be a major World War and a disaster to the whole world’s development.

Secretary General: Yes, Let’s not deviate from the purpose of this conference. I ask India and Pakistan to immediately stop all attacks from both sides and go for peace talks. Pakistan should readily accept the peace talks with India and cooperate with UN in abolishing any terrorist activity in their land. As for US, I would request them to stop supplying arms or any kind of war machinery to any nation in this crisis situation. Egypt should immediately arrest the captain of the Ghazi and hand over to Pakistani authorities who should then take strict actions against the captain. Every country should try to wipe out the terrorist from their states. Only then we can experience a totally terror-free world. Now as a conclusion of this conference, I would request all the ambassadors to briefly present their final views.

Egyptian Ambassador: I agree to the secretary general and will take the captain in custody and hand it to Pakistan for their trial. We want an immediate ceasefire agreement from both countries. We are ready to co-operate to curb terrorism at all cost. Thank you.

Russian Ambassador: Let’s forget the past and lets stop blaming each other. We should see the present and plan the future to avoid any more blood shedding. We look forward to every nation in this world to co-operate and ask them to avoid taking any steps that would give an impression of promoting war. Let’s solve the issue by peace talks and not by nuclear weapons. Thank you.

Indian Ambassador: Thank you all for coming to an agreement. We are ready for ceasefire and we have already put forward our peace terms and conditions and we would request Pakistan to accept our negotiation talks. Thank you all.

Pakistani Ambassador: We accept the ceasefire and are ready to go for negotiation for border disputes with India. We also look forward to end all inland terrorist activities in our country. We do not want ourselves to be branded as the house of terrorist. Thank you.

US Ambassador: We respect everybody’s point of view, in general and Russia, in particular. Let’s bury our past’s mistakes and look ahead to eliminate all the wars in future. We have cancelled our decision to supply fighters to Pakistan as a good will measure to the whole world. We again condemn the attacks and we appreciate the ceasefire agreement between Pakistan and India and hope the tension eases out in the following days and situation becomes again calm and peaceful. Thank you everyone for your wise opinions.

Secretary General: The meeting is dismissed. Thank you, everybody

The real meaning of friendship

2008-07-20T19:30:00.000+05:30

Do you have a best friend?
True friends are rare. I say they do not exist. The only friends that you can have is your pets.
Just to explain my above statements, I will start off with the definition of friendship.
Friendship is a symbiotic relationship between two humans that exists as long as there is the need for the friendship. It is like a barter system where you exchange favours and expect them in return for your services.
Friendship is always selfish in nature. The only selfless friendship that can exist is between blood relationships. There is always a bit of self interest involved in any friendship.
Another thing that I should say is that the geographical distance between two "friends" matters a lot in deciding their extent of friendship. If two persons stay together, then they will have lot of disagreements, arguments and there will be practically no friendship. They will even start disliking each others actions and movements.
Consider another instance. If two persons who were close friends at some point of time have to separate, then their friendship will gradually lose that intimacy and after a period of time, it will be reduced to just an exchange of "Hi! How life" over emails once in a week or month. So, at any given point of time, virtually a person will never have the so called "true friend".
In this world, only money speaks. No one does anything for the other out of pure love or friendship. He/She does it only for the sake of getting back some favour one day. If he/she doesn’t get those expected favours, he/she feels disappointed.
Many youngsters who start going to colleges or stay away from home, look for a long lasting friendship with others, with whom they can share their fun, sorrows, jokes, etc. they want someone to whom they can trust their secrets. They need someone who can care for them, help them in all situations, etc. They start examining and evaluating others in their neighbourhood and start helping others so as to gain their attention and to find a friend. But very often, they are disappointed when they find that the friend they had trusted, turns hostile, or falls below their expectation in returning the favours. Sometimes this mistrust happens instantly and sometimes it may take lot of time. That is the reason why these poor chaps find themselves shifting from one friend to another, getting disappointed everywhere. They lose faith in others and start suspecting everything in the world. In some cases, it can go to extreme levels where they become a total skeptic of any guy/girl that they meet or who talks in a sweet manner.
I have some advice for all these heartbroken and disappointed students. I want them to know the meaning of friendship that I have stated before. First of all, do not have any expectation from anyone. Just remember that the person with you at the moment is the closest to you and is your friend. Just behave well with him and that's all. Expecting the same behaviour might result in a disappointment. And one should be careful to draw the line of trust between friends. One should not trust too much or reveal too many secrets to their pals.
If one wants to make friendship, one should create the need for him/her to the other person. For example, one can have the knowledge of some subjects that the other may not have and thus help him/her before exams. One can get the friends through money. One can have a good taste in shopping and thus have a demand for him/her during shopping. One can crack lot of jokes and make the conversation lively, thus pulling the other person. These all trivial things help you to avoid being alone and will always have someone with you. But again don’t make the mistake of conferring him/her as the status of a true friend. Friends exist as long as the demand exists. If you want someone to roam with you, you should have enough things with you to avoid getting the person bored.
Sometimes, rarely, it may happen that the friend becomes a true and ideal friend. But that is only the exception and not the rule. It might come as a bonus, when you don’t expect it.

Our society's biggest hypocrisy

2008-06-14T19:49:00.001+05:30

Love Marriage vs Arranged Marriage

I have always ignored this topic for so long, but now i cant resist it anymore.I want to share my opinion. Don't ask me the reasons. (In fact there aren't any other than to add another post)

Since my school days, i have often come across debates,discussions, articles that always argued one form of marriage against the other. They mention various advantages and disadvantages, citing various instances from somebody's lives and so on. Some people even mention a third hybrid form of marriage---love cum arranged---where both take place. I have never understood why this argument finds place only in India whereas it is unheard of in Western countries. If there is any serious advantage of arranged marriage (as many say), then why it is not followed in other countries? You might argue India is a traditional country and its traditional beliefs still looks towards 'love before marriage' as taboo. But why only in terms of marriage and love, does tradition comes into picture? Where does our tradition go when it comes to Western education? Everybody wants their kids to have Western education, but when it comes to marriage, they resort to India/Indians.

I have finally discovered the answer.The simple reason is caste/religion. Having arranged marriage ensures that people of same caste are married. It is just a measure to allow caste to continue because some very orthodox people feared that their caste may get extinct if love marriages were allowed. They feared that their ethnicity would get lost. They were afraid of the dilution of their race,religion and culture.

People still look at other caste/religion people with distrust and suspicion.But let me tell them that in this world, only money speaks and no religion or caste. Money can bring betrayal even within the same caste or religion.

The other reason for arranged marriage is dowry. Believe me, dowry is still very much silently functional in many parts of India. I am not going to stress more on this, because it exists. Our society people try to mask the above inner reasons by the excuse that arranged marriages ensure life long happiness as the parents scrutinize the bride/groom for everything ranging from physical appearance to financial security. If all these things are okay, the couple to be married will live happily ever after....Do they???They force the husband to love his wife by social pressure. How does love/arranged decide if you are going to live happily ever after...does anybody have a future looking glass?

If arranged marriages mean some elders get to decide the partner, then even in love marriage , the guy/girls chooses his/her spouse. Aren't they grown enough or mature enough? People say the student has to decide what he wants to become? which subjects to choose? which career path to follow. Likewise there are many big decisions in a student's life that the society feels that the student should do it himself/herself and the elders/guardians should not force/coerce their choice, because it is the student who has to study and the subjects/profession should interest him/her. Fair enough, Agreed!!Can I ask why do they make exception in terms of marriage? Why not let the person choose his/her life partner in a manner similar to choosing his/her career/profession? Our elders trust our education system in making us successful in life. They remain silent throughout the education of the child but suddenly they jump and interfere when it comes to finding the match. What happened to their trust in education?

This is our society's biggest hypocrisy.

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What’s in a name?

2008-05-21T22:06:00.000+05:30

The above Shakespearean’s quote, reminds me of the ad where a Hari Sadu's name is spelt out...and later I came to know that a real guy named "Hari Sadu" had sued the admakers for spoiling his name and finally the case was ruled in favour of Mr. Hari Sadu.

When I talk about name, I don’t necessarily mean individual's names. It applies equally to name of companies, events, films, tournaments, etc.

Having a good name brings the initial recognition and attention. It enables you to pull the audience towards yourself. It gives the first impression. Let’s explore those areas where name plays significant role.

The best example where a name can work winders is seen in politics.
Many politicians have made a mark in their career because of their famous title.
In this world of politics, look at Benazir Bhutto (Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s daughter), Hillary Clinton (Hillary Rodham Clinton’s daughter), Shekh Hasina (Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s daughter), Khalidasia (Iskandar Majumdar’s daughter), Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga (Wijay Kumaratunga’s daughter). Needless to mention our own Indira Gandhi or Sonia Gandhi. The only exception that I can think of is Margaret Thatcher. They all have entered politics because their husband or father was a known figure in politics. And their party wants to promote the title by using them as scapegoats and get the votes.

Names can also be used to show one's dominance.
This can be clearly seen in nomenclature of important roads, cities, buildings, institutions, etc. after politicians. The opposition always opposes whenever such namings happen and they revert back to the names when they come to power. This is just to demonstrate power and authority through names.

Names also act as brands. A person attached with a title like Ambani, Mittal or Bachchan easily gets in a top position in any enterprise. For example in films, Abhishek Bachchan would not have directly jumped into films, if it were not for his title. On the other hand, other wannabe actors would have to go to various acting classes. Similarly we can see the entire Kapoor parivaar venturing into films. There is nobody to question the talent? Many talents go unnoticed because there is no media interest and they never come in limelight. It is very tragic that one’s career can depend also on names.

Another area where the naming is exploited is in corporate world, where sometimes, the name of the title or designation matters more than the salary. Employees crave for a tag like CFO, CEO, COO, CTO, etc. attached to themselves, although the difference between the title would be very trivial. It is something like No1 and No2 are always very close, but as they say, topper is topper.

Even in movies, directors pay lot of attention in naming the movies, the characters. When remaking Sholay, Ram Gopal Varma was asked to change everything from the title to the names of each and every character. If there is nothing in name, then why so much attention and controversies?

Now let’s finally come to the naming of individuals.
Many couples, just before having a baby, do a research on what names would be suitable for the newborn. They buy books, visit websites, discuss with other relatives and so on. Some name it after scientists, filmstars, etc. But often when the kids grow up, they don’t like the names given by their ancestors on the pretext that they are too traditional and doesn’t suit their personality or job description. They might even find the name as funny and obsolete. For example many people who want to be DJ, VJ or do modelling, have their name changed so as to make it consistent with their profession and make it more "cool", “fancy” and “hip-hop”.

In Bollywood, names like “Ramu”, “Chottu”,“Banwari Lal”, etc. are stereotyped as of that of servants, milkman, pan-wallah.
Take the movie "Namesake", where a guy named Gogol is dissatisfied with his peculiar name or the movie "Khosla ka Ghonsla" where a guy who doesn’t like his name "Chiraunji Lal" because he says it doesn’t suit him as a software engineer and is more close to that of a pan-wallah.

Come to the case of Indians residing in US, the name gets transformed to some Americanized name, or they themselves do it. Hari becomes Harry. Hardeep might change to Hardy. Krishna prefers to be called as Chris. Shall I ask them why do they want to hide their identity through names?

Overall, I conclude that having a very fancy name gets you attention at the start. It puts you in a leading position, gets you lot of opportunities, the initial fame. So, names give you the much needed push, from where one can soar upwards.

But after that it is upto the person or the company to prove itself. If they are not able to keep up what their name suggest, then no tag or name will help them. All the initial crave will immediately go down, as media can forget things as easily as they can remember. The first impression might get you the first step, but you need talent to have a long lasting impression.

Is IPL promoting or killing cricket?

2008-04-27T19:28:00.000+05:30

The Indian Premier League, or rather, IPL has given a new dimension to cricket. And the good part is that it has happened in our country. With suddenly the whole nation and the world taking so much interest in the shorter version of the game, there is bound to be lot of controversies and disinterests.

This is the first time ever that in India, the cricket is so much hyped. Why not utilize it, rather than criticize,ridicule or even mock at it? Everybody knows that cricket is the most popular sport here. Every child down the street can be seen with a bat and ball, claiming to grow up like Sachin or Dhoni. Ask that child as to who is Narain Karthikain or Dhyanchand, and he looks at you dumb.Not even bollywood movies like Chak De, Goal or media discussions on promoting other forms of sports could make any effective change in those games.

Now considering these circumstances, one would be a fool not to escalate this game into a really big show. After all, everybody is business–minded in this competitive world of the survival of the fittest.

So, it is very much obvious that it is because of our cricket associations and boards that cricket continues to be the dominated game and the interests of the masses. Otherwise our cricket (because of which India is known as global giant) would have long been lost and faded. If you donot believe this, kindly read the following paragraph, unbiasedly.

Post 2007 world cup, Indians and Indian media had lost interest in Indian cricket owing to the bad performance of our squad. There is another lesson to be learnt from this. Our media and fellow people praise and ridicule our playing men almost at the same time. One moment, they will say “Kudos to the Boys in Blue”, and immediately after one defeat, they will complain about BCCI, scold the players who endorse brands or walk on ramps, which is indeed very surprising. Coming back to my post world cup scenario, when all interests had faded, people thought cricket was going down. All the sports crazy fans had started to seek tennis, football, racing, etc. The various reasons were the duration of the game and the poor performance by Indian team. Having analyzed all these, the immediate solution was to redefine cricket. Make a newer shorter version of cricket that would not take much of time. The matches would be more close and the audience would have to stick to the TV’s till the last ball. Needless to say, it succeeded. The Twenty20 worked, India won the world cup and brought back the cricket fans.

Having said that, now if the BCCI is trying to escalate this success by bringing the concept of IPL by mixing it with Bollywood to create even more interests, why make the fuss about it? Of course, everybody is business minded as I mentioned earlier. So what’s wrong if one makes millions, or spends millions. It is their money. Bet me, if you had money, you would have done the some.

All those, opposing IPL and seriously wishing IPL to flop, are taking the excuse that the sporty nature of cricket is lost. They complain that cricket has become commercial and true spirit of game is lost. Common man, do you think all those people who sweat out there on the field lack spirit? It is us, the audience that lack spirit and enthusiasm because somehow we just don’t want to ignore the huge money involved. If we are keen to watch only the sport, it will always be a sport. Why do you want to watch the glamour? Remember, glamour is just a side show. If you want to watch that, then I suggest you go for bollywood awards function or Page3 parties. If one needs to watch dance, go to bars. Why pull cricket in all these controversies?

For those who say, it will destroy the bowlers, I say it is a mere excuse. If the bowlers are beaten up every now and then, then it is the same for all the bowlers. And then the bowling economy of 7 will be considered a good one. I am sure that bowlers will adapt to this new form and deliver better performances as the game develops. It is too early to say anything or disregard anything. After all, cricket, or for that matter, any sport is relative.

If you have seen the squads of the teams, you would have seen a lot of new Indian young faces that have come out. It is a chance that the world pays attention to them. In return they get chance to play with players like Ricky Ponting, Mathew Hayden, Gilchrist, Sachin,Shane Warne,etc. Isn’t this a great opportunity? I am sure this is a dream for them that has just got fulfilled.

Do you still think IPL is killing cricket? On the contrary, it has revived it, given it a new life.