Let's all turn atheist!!!

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.

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

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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?

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.