Thus Spake Tan!

5 years of nuptial clasp

2012-01-23T00:00:00.004+05:30

One by one, the days passed. One by one, the months passed too. And now, when I look back, I see that one by one, 5 years have passed. 5 years of love and togetherness. 5 years of my marriage – our marriage!

This day in 2007, we – Maitri Majumder and I, took our second step towards a life full of love, togetherness, gratitude, tender & care. All the baby steps that we took, during the 10 years before that date, were only to get us to this stage, in life. These years have shown us many facets of life and made us stronger and brought us closer in many respects!

Thank you God, for giving all that you have! We will always be grateful to you.

Thanks to our parents, who are, in many ways and now more than ever, pouring their blessings on us.

Thanks to all our friends, without whom, this would have been tasteless, colorless and odorless!

May God bless us with many more such stages in life. May God bless us with love and togetherness – more than yesterday and less than tomorrow!

Goodbye 2011

2011-12-28T07:36:00.002+05:30

Out of site is out of mind. This is a saying from the yester years. How far is it true?

Well, it is true a lot!

The year 2011 is about to end and a brand new 2012 is peeping out of the womb of time, which passes by with each moment, and unless you have a time machine with you, 2011 will be gone forever.

This has been a good year; however, this year has brought many changes in to my life, like all the other years did. Both professionally and personally, there are so many things that happened in 2011 AD. If one opens the internet and searches for top happenings in the year, the browser will be flooded with those incidents – from Anna Hazare’s fight against corruption to Tsunami in Japan; from revolts in Libya and Egypt to Indian Win in 10th ODI Cricket World Cup.

Will we remember all these events in the coming years?

Hard to confirm that we will remember these happenings around the world which shook us when they took place! We never remembered the happenings, which were equally important and marvelous from the yester years; then, why should we remember the events that took place in 2011? What is special about this year?

We will not remember all of them, while some of them will reappear in front of our eyes and we will be coerced to pull references of these events in the future too. But, that would not reduce the importance of any of those events, will that?

Similarly, there are lots of my friends, who once were my heart beats, but are not around now – they are not near me, or in front of my eyes. They were not contacted in 2011, well, many were not! But that does not mean their importance has just disappeared! No!

In these late days into the year 2011, I remember each of my friends and recollect those wonderful moments that we passed together, that went down the memory lanes, but are still vibrant enough. I hope we will meet once, once again!

With this, let me bid goodbye to 2011. Hope we will have a better world and a ‘better me’ in the forthcoming 2012 AD. Let us welcome 2012 with all heart! Good luck to all of you, reading this and to those who could not. The world population has reached 7 Billion this year and I do hope that all of them would read what I am writing here, but it seems not plausible…

Thank you for reading me. Do not forget to share too, for we grow when we share and sharing is always caring.

Adios!

Supreme Knock by Virendra Sehwag

2011-12-09T01:22:00.002+05:30

The Man, the Machine – the Virendra Sehwag! Herculean Effort! Sehwag today, playing against West Indies, scored 219 runs in the 4th match in the ongoing ODI Series. He broke Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 200* runs with some mind blowing and Sehwag-like shots which sent the West Indian bowlers all over the park. There are lots of records associated with that inning of the master Indian opening batsman, which you can get in the internet. I would just like to bow down to the destroyer of any bowling attack and wish him all the best with whatever he does in the future for India, for us and for me, as a fan of cricket and the Indian Cricket Team.

This is what he said right after his memorable inning of 219 which came in just 149 balls:

I was telling Gambhir that if we are patient, we can get big runs here. The wicket was good, the outfield was fast and the boundaries were short. True batting wicket, you just have to spend some time and carry on with the shots. I picked the gaps and when I hit it straight, it went for sixes. Thanks to my family and friends. Our top order was not contributing and we needed starts. I never changed my style of play, I played my shots throughout, I just wanted to score runs in the batting powerplay and knew I would get there if I stay on the wicket. When Sammy dropped that catch, I thought god was with me and I just wanted to stay till the 45th over. I am 33 years now, I am an old man and my back is stiff, I will have an ice bath and try to get back on the field.

Sachin Tendulkar said that he is happy that an Indian broke his record. Dave Warner was up till late night to watch that inning; tomorrow he has got a test match to play! Chris Gayle called it a 'Child Abuse!' Click here to see what others have said in the very first few moments on Sehwag’s inning.

Well Done, Viru! We are, and we will always be proud of you.

Cheers!
PS: This is my 201st Post…

Finally, the Boss wins!

2011-10-29T18:08:00.001+05:30

Rajnikanth was bragging to Amitabh Bachan one day, “You know, I know everyone. Just name someone, anyone, and I know them. Tired of his boasting, Amitabh Bachan called his bluff, “OK, Rajini how about Tom Cruise?” “Sure, yes, Tom and I are old friends, and I can prove it” Rajini said.

So Rajini and Amitabh Bachan fly out to Hollywood and knock on Tom Cruise’s door,
And sure enough, Tom Cruise shouts : “Thalaiva! Great to see you! You And your friends come right in and join me for lunch!”

…Although impressed, Amitabh Bachan is still skeptical. After they leave Cruise’s house, he tells Rajini that he thinks Rajini knowing Cruise was
Just lucky.

“No, no, just name anyone else” Rajini says.

…”President Obama”, Amitabh Bachan quickly retorts

…”Yes”, Rajini says, “I know him.

And off they go. At the White House, Obama spots Rajini on the tour and motions him, saying, : “Rajini, what a surprise, I was just on my way
to a meeting, but you and your friend come on in and let’s have a cup of
coffee first and catch up”.

Well, Amitabh Bachan is much shaken by now, but still not totally convinced. After they leave the White House grounds, he implores him to
name anyone else.

“The Pope,” Amitabh Bachan replies

…”Sure!” says Rajini, “My folks are from Italy and I’ve known the Pope a long time”.
Rajini and Amitabh Bachan are assembled with the masses in Vatican Square when Rajini says, “This will never work. I can’t catch the Pope’s eye among all these people. Tell you what, I know all the guards so let me just go upstairs and I’ll come out on the balcony with the Pope.”

And he disappears into the crowd headed toward the Vatican.. Sure enough, half an hour later Rajini emerges with the Pope on the balcony.

But by the time Rajini returns, he finds that Amitabh Bachan has had a
heart attack and is surrounded by paramedics.

Working his way to Amitabh Bachan’s side,
Rajini asks him, “What happened?”

Amitabh Bachan looks up and says, “I was doing fine until u and the pope came out on the balcony and the Italian man next to me said, “Who’s that on the balcony with RAJINI?"

An Apple Dies...

2011-10-06T10:18:00.000+05:30

"Have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become." - Steve Jobs

(Full Story)

Recent times

2011-09-12T11:45:00.000+05:30

A lot has happened in the recent past. Personally, I had to go through a lot. Many of which would remain untold, I know; but are equally important in life and the residual memories of this time would never ever leave me.

I had gone home – after 4 years 6 months and 7 days! Agartala, as I saw it this time, is changed a lot. The last time I saw it, it was like an old corner town, but not anymore. With the insertion of railway tracks in the bigger part of the state, the whole aura has changed. There are visible alterations all over the capital; but people living there all this while may not just feel it. Big buildings, eating joints, hotels and malls have come up. Obviously those would not challenge anything that I see here in Bangalore (this was a bit of disappointment, as I was expecting a lot from the stories I heard, before landing there), but they are quite mentionable on their own.

I went to my village too, this time - East Jalefa, in Sabroom. May be after half a dozen years or more! The signs of change were visible there too; however, in lesser magnitude. But those old huts that I left there were still there – many of them. As I was roaming around my house and the neighborhood, I found that everything has shrunk, somehow! The big house that we used to live in, seemed not so big this time. The huge mango tree at the start of our house campus has somehow grown smaller. The pond of ours, even though my family said was widened a couple of years ago, seemed dried up. I know why. The images of all these were kept deep in my mind and were enlarged, as I grew older.

I happened to visit my wife’s house, in Sabroom. Had the privilege to lie down on her bed, in her room, near her study table. It was so much nostalgic and I felt like crying. Once, long ago, when I went to her house, she was in school. I took bath, had lunch and lied down on her bed. When I woke up, I found that she was back from school and was sitting on the corner of the bed, with her head on my feet, bending downwards. I do not know why she did that and why that moment, is still one of the bests that I had in my life is. That was heavenly – more so, at that point in time. Time has passed since; and in the crowded life that we lead today, those moments of love seem to have gone absconding!

Anyways, she was not there this time. And I had to leave her house sooner that I planned!

Back to Bangalore, to the speedy life, to office, smoke, crowd and noisy roads! Big city, big expectations to meet, big races to win, big promises to make and big and long road ahead! Somehow, the city of dreams (which I had dreamt years ago) is not satisfying my soul. These days, I live in unknown frights, unanswered questions, untold wants and utter surprises.

Let’s see how the coming days shape out to be…

Affairs - Part III

2011-07-31T12:46:00.002+05:30

Continued from Part II

Read Part I

7. Pay back in same coin

A man walked into a cafe, went to the bar and ordered a beer.

'Certainly, Sir, that'll be one cent.'
'One Cent?' the man exclaimed.
He glanced at the menu and asked:
'How much for a nice juicy steak
and a bottle of wine?'
'A nickel,' the barman replied.
'A nickel?' exclaimed the man.

'Where's the guy who owns this place?'

The bartender replied:
'Upstairs, with my wife.'

The man asked: 'What's he doing upstairs with your wife?'

The bartender replied:
'The same thing I'm doing
to his business down here.'

8. A new love!

9. Surprise, surprise...

Jake was dying. His wife sat at the bedside.
He looked up and said weakly:
'I have something I must confess.'
'There's no need to, 'his wife replied.
'No,' he insisted,
'I want to die in peace.
I slept with your sister, your best friend, her best friend, and your mother!'

'I know,' she replied. 'Now just rest and let the poison work'

At times, it feels really nice to joke and share a laughter. They say that laughter makes a man happier and fitter and it keeps people together. It flexes your muscles and lets you live long. Hope you liked this series. If you have anything to share, please do that with all of us.
Until next time...
Take care!

Affairs - Part II

2011-07-25T10:38:00.000+05:30

Continued from Part I

4. Surprise, Honey!

A mortician was working late one night. He examined the body of
Mr. Schwartz, about to be cremated, and made a startling discovery. Schwartz had the largest private part he had ever seen!
'I'm sorry Mr. Schwartz,' the mortician commented, 'I can't allow you to be cremated with such an impressive private part. It must be saved for posterity.'
So, he removed it, stuffed it into his briefcase, and took it home.

'I have something to show you won't believe,' he said to his wife, opening his briefcase.
'My God!' the wife exclaimed, 'Schwartz is dead!'

5. All in a family

6. I know how it feels, brother

A woman was in bed with her lover when she heard her husband opening the front door.

'Hurry,' she said, 'stand in the corner.'
She rubbed baby oil all over him, then dusted him with talcum powder.

'Don't move until I tell you,' she said. 'Pretend you're a statue.'
'What's this?' the husband inquired as he entered the room.
'Oh it's a statue,' she replied. 'The Smiths bought one and I liked it so I got one for us, too.'
No more was said, not even when they went to bed.

Around 2 AM the husband got up, went to the kitchen and returned with a sandwich and a beer.
'Here,' he said to the statue, 'have this. I stood like that for two days at the Smiths and nobody offered me a damned thing.'

Some more, very soon...

Top Performers

2011-07-22T23:55:00.001+05:30

2000th Test Match of Cricket started in Lords, England - the Mecca of Cricket on Friday. This is also the 100th Test match between India and England. The First two days belong to rain and England. Praveen Kumar of India took 5 wickets for the first time in his test career and Kevin Pietersen of England scored an unbeaten double hundred! When they declared, PK ran to KP to congratulate him. This is the best moment from the first of the five test match series, so far.

Good work, guys! Keep it up, both of you :)
All eyes on Sachin. Can he score his 100th International Century here?

More News on Yahoo...

Affairs - Part I

2011-07-19T12:29:00.004+05:30

Hello Guys!
I'm in a Jolly mood today and want to share a few humorous things with you all. Check this out and let me know if you like it. The short stories are taken from a forwarded email from one of my friends - I just added the titles; and the pictures are from Google Uncle!
Let me know if you like these...

1. Truth Does not Matter

A married man was having an affair with his secretary. One day they went to her place and made love all afternoon. Exhausted, they fell asleep and woke up at 8 PM.
The man hurriedly dressed and told his lover to take his shoes outside and rub them in the grass and dirt. He put on his shoes and drove home.

'Where have you been?'
his wife demanded.
'I can't lie to you,' he replied,
'I'm having an affair with my secretary. We had sex all afternoon.'
She looked down at his shoes and said :

'You lying bastard!
You've been playing golf!'

2. Too Soon - Bad Timing

3. Third Time Lucky

A middle-aged couple had two beautiful daughters but always talked about having a son. They decided to try one last time for the son they always wanted.
The wife got pregnant and delivered a healthy baby boy.

The joyful father rushed to the nursery to see his new son.
He was horrified at the ugliest child he had ever seen.

He told his wife:
'There's no way I can be the father of this baby. Look at the two beautiful daughters I fathered!
Have you been fooling around behind my back?'
The wife smiled sweetly and replied: 'No, not this time!'

More will follow soon...

Hello Life

2011-07-04T10:02:00.001+05:30

Hello Life,

How are you? Well, this is something I should ask myself, not you. You have been so nice to me and always so. You have given me things that I could only dream about. But there is still emptiness somewhere. Are you aware of it? Yes, you are! Who else would be?

They say life is always a struggle. I always knew that, and I was always ready for it – the struggle. I was ready and preparing myself for the struggle all the time – the one that gets you going with life; the struggle that you have to experience while getting on with your career, family, friends and everything else. I was prepared for it. And if you look behind, in the past 10 years or so, I have not done very badly, have I? No!

But the struggle has never ended. And it will not end, till I breathe last.

I know this all!

Then, what is that that is missing? Something is missing, and I am sure of it. The struggle has been within myself. There are some questions that I want answers for. I guess it is time to get to the basics, get a pencil and paper and write down things that are bothering me. This is one exercise I have done before and have advised my friends to do so too; however, I have not done so for a long time, it seems and I think this is high time I do that.

What are the things that are bothering me now?
What are the possible causes for these?
Can these be resolved by me or do I need to seek someone else’s help in this?
What do I need to do to get these resolved?
And so on…

There are many questions I want answers for. Most importantly, I have so many things in life that I know are pending and these small, but important jobs that are pending are creating more pressure on me. I can understand and can feel it immensely. Prioritizing things in life, small or big has been a challenge and I am not very good at it, it seems. What to do now? What to do later? Which one to start with?

Time… I need more time…
Is asking for some time for myself, being selfish? I am not sure. I want to hear things that I want to hear. This is again, a problem.

As I type, I get flooded with many more questions. I need to answer each of them, I know. The first step is always tough. Let me take this step. Let me take the very first step and I am sure I will see an end of all these. Maybe…

A guide to touring Mumbai - 5

2011-06-25T12:17:00.003+05:30

From there, the bus will bring you to the Juhu Beach. This is the most famous beach in Mumbai and the tourists love this spot. This is the last point and the bus driver or the guide should allot a good amount of time for this. Once done, they will drop the passengers in various parts of Mumbai, as per their individual choice. The bus trip usually ends again at the Gateway of India or the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) Railways Station at dusk or shortly after that. The view of the Gateway of India and the Taj Hotel along with the Marine Drive is heavenly at this time with all the lights up in the street. The Marine Drive is called the Queen’s Necklace at night, when all the lights in the city are switched on after sunset.

There is one more place, which is worth mentioning, situated very near to Mumbai and is a place to be – the Elephanta Caves! The Elephanta Caves along with the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus are pronounced as World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. These caves are a complex set-up of ancient sculpted caves that are located on the Elephanta Island which is 10 Kilometers away from the city. There are ferries that leave from the Gateway of India and it takes about an hour to reach the island. There are 7 caves open to the public at present. Each of these caves has stone sculptures that were curved on single stones showing the various Hindu gods and goddesses. They are ancient and are of much archeological importance. Many of the broken statues from these caves were smuggled into various parts of the world and those which were rescued are kept in museums across India and other parts of the world. It will not be possible for one to cover both the Mumbai Darshan and Elephanta trip on the same day and it is advised to keep half a day’s time only for this place.

This brings us to the end of this article. After reading this guide, one should be able to enjoy a day’s trip to Mumbai and use this day effectively. Even for those, who come to Mumbai with the intention to travel and visit important places and have time in hand, this guide should come handy. It contains all the important places that one would like to visit. If you have ample time, you can spend more time in each of these above said places and take more out of your visit to Mumbai. This place has lots to offer. It has always welcomed the visitors and has given them so much that many have fallen in love with the city and decided to settle down in Mumbai. You will see people coming daily from every part of the country with a lot of hope and eyes full of dreams. Tourists from foreign strands enjoy the city life and its weather and they come back time and again. Have a happy tour and stay while you are in Mumbai, the business and entertainment capital of the incredible country of India.

This concludes the Series on Mumbai Tour. Hope you had a good time reading it. More importantly, hope this helps you when you travel Mumbai. Have a good time in the Business Capital of India and enjoy. Let me know if I have missed on something important…

A guide to touring Mumbai - 4

2011-06-20T12:15:00.005+05:30

The bus trip would start in the Gateway, as mentioned earlier and would continue through Assembly Hall, Sachivalaya (or Secretariat), Nariman Point, Rajabhai Tower, Oberoi Tower, Air India office and will stop in the Marine Drive. From there, the bus will travel through Jain Temple, and take you to the Hanging Garden and stop there for some time. The Kamala Nehru Park is also adjacent to this garden where you can find the famous Boot House. The bus would again take you through the Raj Bhawan (Government’s residence) and the Tower of Silence and stop at the Mahalaxmi temple. This is a religious place for the Hindus and the bus will stop there for some time. From here, you would travel through the Chowpati Beach, one of the famous beaches in Mumbai and stop at the Taporwala Aquarium. This aquarium has a lot of sea animals to be seen and is one of the most enjoyable places for the kids. Here, you are supposed to finish your lunch and continue with the travel.

The post lunch ride would take you through World Trade Center (Mumbai’s version), Jahangir Art Gallery, Prince of Wales Museum and the H20 Boating Club. The bus may or may not stop at these points and the travellers are free to decide on this. It is advisable that you choose these places intelligently, so that you have enough time while getting down in the other places to follow. From here, the bus will move through Haji Ali’s Durbar. This is a pilgrimage for the Muslims. The durbar is situated half a kilometer inside the sea and at more times than often, the road remains submerged with water stopping the trespassing completely. This is one reason that the bus would not stop here.

Up next are the Bombay Race Course, Nehru Planetarium and Science Center. After checking through these two well-equipped and informative points, the bus will travel through the Sea-Link Bridge connecting the southern and northern parts of Mumbai. This bridge was constructed only recently and is a nice ride through. All the travellers enjoy this ride. The bus will take you through the Mount Marry Church, one of the famous heritage churches in Mumbai. It will also pass through the famous Jogger’s Park, Pawan Hans airport, specially built for helicopters.

With this, you would come to the last part of the tour and incidentally, the most interesting and enjoyable part too. This is where the bus will travel through different busy roads going through the richest corners of Mumbai, where the most prosperous lot stay, along with the big film stars and the business tycoons. The bus will take you through those roads on whose sides you will see bungalows or high raised apartments of internationally famous Indian cinema stars like Amitabh Bachhan, Aamir Khan and Shahrukh Khan and other business tycoons and sports persons, like Mukesh Ambani and Sachin Tendulkar. Indian crowd go crazy during this phase of the tour and they thoroughly enjoy looking at the rich houses in the posh streets in Mumbai.

To Be Continued...

A guide to touring Mumbai - 3

2011-06-14T12:14:00.004+05:30

For someone who has less time in hand and wants to visit most of the places in Mumbai, the best way to go about it is the ‘Mumbai Darshan.’ This is nothing but a day long bus tour, designed and planned for those who have very less time in hand. ‘Darshan’ in Hindi or in Sanskrit means sight as in seeing or beholding. This trip is for local site seeing in Mumbai. This takes one through the various parts of importance of both north and south Mumbai and covers the most important places. All in a day’s trip, you can finish seeing most of the significant places in Mumbai.

The trip starts from the Gateway of India. There are minibuses and big deluxe busses which run every day from morning till evening. Since, they cover almost 30 places on an average day, most of the points are non-stop view points, where the bus will just slow down and not stop and the guide will tell you about the significance of that view point. In other places the bus will stop for dissimilar time lengths and the tourists are supposed to get down, roam around the place and get back to their seats within that allotted time. One thing that would dishearten the tourists is that the bus would not stop where they would want it to; but the good news is that it would stop for ample amount of time in places which deserve a halt. Overall, this site seeing trip is effective, enjoyable and satisfying.

It is always better to start early with the trip. The earlier you start, more time you get in various places where the bus stops. However, the bus would start only once it is full with tourists. So, if you are going in a group, it is more possible that you can get the entire bus to start and stop at your will. It is also advisable to go by the time frame that the driver and the guide will give you, since they would know the various time needed in the various places. If you are travelling along with your own guide, it is advisable to let him decide about the places you would visit and the time you share.

To Be Continued...

A guide to touring Mumbai - 2

2011-06-10T12:13:00.004+05:30

Tour of Mumbai definitely starts with the Gateway of India, which is located on the sea shore in the extreme left edge of the city. The Gateway of India was built from 1911 and 1924. It is a huge 26 meters or 85 feet tall arch made up of basalt stone incorporating both Hindu and Muslim architecture. It was initially used by fishermen as a simple dock for their fishing boats. Later, the British renovated this heritage building as a quay for their ships carrying their governors and dignitaries. Visitors arriving by ship would still first see the Gateway of India while setting their foot in Mumbai.

Adjacent to the Gateway of India, is another heritage building – the Taj Mahal Palace hotel. It was custom built in Indo-Saracenic style by Jamsedji Tata as far back as in 1903. This is where the brutal massacre took place on November 28, 2008, when a few terrorists came into Mumbai and took to siege. The Taj, as it is popularly known as, overcame the disaster quickly and re-opened for the tourists within a year’s time.

Mumbai, along with the adjacent towns in Navi Mumbai and Thane, constitutes a tourism catchment where there are plenty of religious, historical and tourist places which are also of much archeological importance. It would take months to complete visiting each point and spending time that each one would deserve. There are places that would take an entire day to just visit, roam around, observe and understand and know the history and specialty of it. Mumbai and Maharashtra as a whole, has seen many dynasties ruling the people here over the centuries. There are numerous forts, temples, mosques and other palaces located in various places in Mumbai and the outskirts of the city with glimpses of these ancient kingdoms, their engineers and their architecture. One should come to Mumbai with lots of time in hand and with an inner desire of exploring and learning about these places.

To be Continued...

A guide to touring Mumbai - 1

2011-06-07T12:09:00.005+05:30

Thousands of people visit Mumbai daily. While most of them are looking to seal their business deals, many come to travel. This series of few articles will be a handy and readily available guide to all those who is looking for a tour of Mumbai. The guide talks about all the important places in and around the city worthy of a visit and is helpful for all the serious travelers. It talks about the various places to be visited and a brief direction of the rout to follow. This article will particularly help those who want to visit most of the places in least time possible.

There are many places in India where people would like to spend time while visiting or touring the country. Mumbai is such a location, with many places of historical and archeological importance. People from around the world come to Mumbai to visit and enjoy the various places in and around the city.

Mumbai, formerly known as Bombay, is the capital city of Maharashtra, the third biggest state in India. Mumbai is the most populated city in India and it ranks fifth in the world in terms of population. It is also the top city in India in terms of gross domestic product and is the richest city in the country. No wonder it is called the business or commercial capital of India. Most of the Indian top companies and over 500 multi-national companies working in India have their headquarters in Mumbai. The Reserve Bank of India and the country’s top two stock exchanges, namely Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange of India are also located in the city. The vicinity to the sea provides with more business and tourism opportunity to the city.

It has been the entertainment capital of India too. The Indian Hindi film industry has also grown and settled in Mumbai, and it is often referred to as Bollywood. Most of the biggest stars of Indian cinema reside in Mumbai or at least have a bungalow or apartment of their own in the city. The city tour, which we will talk about soon, incorporates a travel through those famous roads in Mumbai where these biggest stars of Indian cinema live. This part of the tour is of much importance to the entire Indian crowd and many foreigners who love Indian cinema and come to tour this city.

To be Continued...

The World of Indian Ads

2011-05-18T11:49:00.000+05:30

The advertisements have been a major catalyst in reaching out to the mass and an integral part of a growing business. Media has been targeted since the inception of advertisements. Newspaper and printed media, radio, television and mass events are seen to display catchy ads all over them. The latest form of ads that we come across in our everyday life is the ads that we see on blogs and websites. These days, the ads have been accommodated in the time we spend for reading newspaper, watching television or listening to the radio or even while browsing through the internet. The world of ads is swelling and at a fast rate.

We come across ads for almost all types of products that we know, such as fast moving consumer goods, entertainment, cars, motorbikes, food, real estate, drinks and everything else. For a long time, the FMCG industry was dominating the advertisers; however, the other industries have started showing interest recently and have started investing heavily on this.

The primitive advertisement bearers were the newspapers and other print media. Slowly the radio transmitters came and shared the load. When television hit the Indian market in early 80’s a good amount of advertisements were transferred on its shoulders. Television by far is the fasted way to reach out to the mass and hence it is still the leading medium for advertisements and the manufacturers of the advertised products. High definition printing has also helped the print media to attract a lot of advertisers. The huge billboards that we see on the streets were possible only after recent developments in the printing technology which proved to be a boon to the print media.

The ads we see on the internet which are displayed on every blog and website that we follow or browse through are the latest invention and the internet is getting cluttered too with ads all over it. This is a cheap way of advertisement and the returns are also good for the manufacturers as well as the advertisers and publishers of these ads. The internet ads provide a win-win environment for all that are involved and hence, they are getting more attention and preference these days.

The ads and the media that are chosen depend on the target customer, on the positioning of the product and the extent of impact that the advertisers want to put. Not all ads come in all the channels – some are seen in newspaper and some are seen to dominate the radio and are never displayed on television. The choice remains with the advertisers and as long as the publisher is ready to publish these ads, in the way they want. But whatever said and done, the world of advertisements is growing and is growing at a vigorous rate. Let us just keep a watch over this business; it certainly has a lot to offer.

Osama Bin Laden is dead

2011-05-02T10:28:00.003+05:30

It seems the Osama is dead and the Obama is claiming that. Times of India has released an article titled, “President Obama confirms death of Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden” which confirms the same.

Image Source

Will this mark the end domination by the extremists residing in Pakistan, Afghanistan and other Muslim countries and even India? Will this have any effect on the modern world?

I guess not! For, the world has seen lots of riots in the last few years and Osama was never involved or mentioned in any of those. What he has done, is that he has left behind a long list of extremist people who are the present leaders of the insurgencies that are happening across the world.

The reign of Osama might be over now, but the crop that he has sown in the barren lands of Turkey, Afghanistan and Pakistan will yield more destruction and violence in the world. Those atrocious, arrogant, nincompoop terrorists will keep on swelling the world with their vandalism and the uneducated, flabbergasted by their brainwash, incompetent fools will fall prey every time on the name of religion.

Anyways, there is a lot to talk about these frenzied, fanatic and terrorist leaders and the foolish followers, who keep on dying and killing others across the world. Let’s not get into it now.

Let us enjoy and celebrate the death of this scoundrel!

Check this link for more.

Jan Lokpal Bill

2011-04-07T11:25:00.001+05:30

What is this Jan Lokpal Bill over which we are seeing this entire movement started by Anna Hazare? To know this, we need to first know what the Lokpal Bill is. Lets start with what Bapu said, decades ago!

“Corruption will be out one day, however much one may try to conceal it: and the public can as its right and duty, in every case of justifiable suspicion, call its servants to strict account, dismiss them, sue them in a law court, or appoint an arbitrator or inspector to scrutinize their conduct, as it likes.”
-Mahatma Gandhi (1928)

Lokpal Bill

The word Lokpal means an ombudsman in Hindi. The word has been derived from the Hindi words "lok" (people) and "pal" (protector/caretaker). So word lokpal means 'Protector of people'. The concept of Lokpal has been drawn up ostensibly to root out corruption at high places the prevailing in Indian polity.

India is a country where honesty and integrity in public and private life have been glorified and upheld in great epics such as the Vedas, Upanishads and in the books and practices of every religion practiced here.

Yet, India today is one of the most corrupt countries in the world.

Bringing public servants under a scanner which makes them strictly accountable is the start of a movement against corruption in India. And one significant step in attacking the spectra of corruption in India will be the implementation of the Lokpal bill.

The Lokpal Bill drafted by the government has languished in the Rajya Sabha for 42 years. The first Lokpal Bill was passed in the 4th Lok Sabha in 1969 but could not get through in Rajya Sabha. Subsequently, Lokpal bills were introduced in 1971, 1977, 1985, 1989, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2005 and in 2008. Yet none of these bills were ever passed.

Jan Lokpal Bill

Lokpal Bill has been introduced eight times in Parliament since 1968. All the eight versions have been very weak. Even these weak versions have not been passed so far because Lokpal Bill seeks to investigate politicians.

The movement for Jan Lokpal Bill started due to the resentment because of the serious differences between the draft Lokpal Bill 2010 prepared by the government and the Jan Lokpal Bill prepared by the members of this movement, which has received significant public support. The current lack of any laws to curb endemic corruption has made the need for the Jan Lokpal Bill.

Salient features of proposed Jan Lokpal Bill

An institution called LOKPAL at the centre and LOKAYUKTA in each state will be set up.
Like Supreme Court and Election Commission, they will be completely independent of the governments. No minister or bureaucrat will be able to influence their investigations.
Cases against corrupt people thus will not linger on for years. Investigations in any case will have to be completed in one year. Trial should be completed in next one year so that the corrupt politician, officer or judge is sent to jail within two years.
The loss that a corrupt person caused to the government will be recovered at the time of conviction.
Help to common citizen: If any work of any citizen is not done in prescribed time in any government office, Lokpal will impose financial penalty on guilty officers, which will be given as compensation to the complainant.
One could approach Lokpal if your ration card or passport or voter card is not being made or if police is not registering your case or any other work is not being done in prescribed time. Lokpal will have to get it done in a month’s time. You could also report any case of corruption to Lokpal like ration being siphoned off, poor quality roads been constructed or panchayat funds being siphoned off. Lokpal will have to complete its investigations in a year, trial will be over in next one year and the guilty will go to jail within two years.
Government appointing corrupt and weak people as Lokpal members won’t be possible because its members will be selected by judges, citizens and constitutional authorities and not by politicians, through a completely transparent and participatory process.
The entire functioning of Lokpal/Lokayukta will be completely transparent. Any complaint against any officer of Lokpal shall be investigated and the officer dismissed within two months.
The existing anti-corruption agencies CVC, departmental vigilance and anti-corruption branch of CBI will be merged into Lokpal. Lokpal will have complete powers and machinery to independently investigate and prosecute any officer, judge or politician.
It will be the duty of the Lokpal to provide protection to those who are being victimized for raising their voice against corruption.

For more information and to support the cause, please visit:
India Against Corruption

(Sources: Lokpal Bill, Jan Lokpal Bill)

Anna Hazare's Letter to PM

2011-04-06T22:53:00.000+05:30

Full Text of the letter sent by
Anna Hazare to Dr. Manmohan Singh

India Against Corruption
A-119, Kaushambi, Ghaziabad . 201010. UP Ph: 09868069953
www.indiaagainstcorruption.org

Date: April 6, 2011

To,

Dr. Manmohan Singh,
Hon'ble Prime Minister of India
New Delhi

Dear Dr. Singh,

I have started my indefinite fast at Jantar mantar. I had invited you also to fast and pray for a corruption free India on 5th April. Though I did not receive any reply from you, I am hopeful that you must have done that.

I am pained to read and hear about government's reaction to my fast. I consider it my duty to clarify the points raised on behalf of Congress party and the government by their spokespersons, as they appear in media:

1. It is being alleged that I am being instigated by some people to sit on this fast. Dear Manmohan Singh ji, this is an insult to my sense of wisdom and intelligence. I am not a kid that I could be "instigated" into going on an indefinite fast. I am a fiercely independent person. I take advice from many friends and critics, but do what my conscience directs me to do. It is my experience that when cornered, governments resort to such malicious slandering. I am pained that the government, rather than addressing the issue of corruption, is trying to allege conspiracies, when there are none.

2. It is being said that I have shown impatience. Dear Prime Minister, so far, every government has shown complete insensitivity and lack of political commitment to tackling corruption. 62 years after independence, we still do not have independent and effective anti-corruption systems. Very weak versions of Lokpal Bill were presented in Parliament eight times in last 42 years. Even these weak versions were not passed by Parliament. This means, left to themselves, the politicians and bureaucrats will never pass any law which subjects them to any kind of objective scrutiny. At a time, when the country has witnessed scams of unprecedented scale, the impatience of the entire country is justified. And we call upon you, not to look for precedents, but show courage to take unprecedented steps.

3. It is being said that I have shown impatience when the government has "initiated" the process. I would urge you to tell me - exactly what processes are underway?

a. You say that your Group of Ministers are drafting the anti-corruption law. Many of the members of this Group of Ministers have such a shady past that if effective anticorruption systems had been in place, some of them would have been behind bars. Do you want us to have faith in a process in which some of the most corrupt people of this country should draft the anti-corruption law?

b. NAC sub-committee has discussed Jan Lokpal Bill. But what does that actually mean? Will the government accept the recommendations of NAC sub-committee? So far, UPA II has shown complete contempt for even the most innocuous issues raised by NAC.

c. I and many other friends from India Against Corruption movement wrote several letters to you after 1st December. I also sent you a copy of Jan Lokpal Bill on 1st December. We did not get any response. It is only when I wrote to you that I will sit on an indefinite fast, we were promptly invited for discussions on 7th March. I wonder whether the government responds only to threats of indefinite fast. Before that, representatives of India Against Corruption had been meeting various Ministers seeking their support for the Jan Lokpal Bill. They met Mr Moily also and personally handed over copy of Jan Lokpal to him. A few hours before our meeting with you, we received a phone call from Mr Moily's office that the copy of Jan Lokpal Bill had been misplaced by his office and they wanted another copy. This is the seriousness with which the government has dealt with Jan Lokpal Bill.

d. Dear Dr Manmohan Singh ji, if you were in my place, would you have any faith in the aforesaid processes? Kindly let me know if there are any other processes underway. If you still feel that I am impatient, I am happy that I am because the whole nation is feeling impatient at the lack of credible efforts from your government against corruption.

4. What are we asking for? We are not saying that you should accept the Bill drafted by us. But kindly create a credible platform for discussions . a joint committee with at least half members from civil society suggested by us. Your spokespersons are misleading the nation when they say that there is no precedent for setting up a joint committee. At least seven laws in Maharashtra were drafted by similar joint committees and presented in Maharashtra Assembly. Maharashtra RTI Act, one of the best laws of those times, was drafted by a joint committee. Even at the centre, when 25,000 tribals came to Delhi two years ago, your government set up a joint committee on land issues within 48 hours. You yourself are the Chairperson of that committee. This means that the government is willing to set up joint committees on all other issues, but not on corruption. Why?

5. It is being said that the government wants to talk to us and we are not talking to them. This is utterly false. Tell me a single meeting when you called us and we did not come. We strongly believe in dialogue and engagement. Kindly do not mislead the country by saying that we are shunning dialogue. We request you to take some credible steps at stemming corruption. Kindly stop finding faults and suspecting conspiracies in our movement. There are none. Even if there were, it does not absolve you of your responsibilities to stop corruption.

With warm regards,

(K B Hazare)

(Source)

Inspiring interviews of fellow bloggers

2011-04-05T12:01:00.004+05:30

Well, many of us get inspired by many things around us. However, it is a known fact that success has always inspired people the most. Hence, reading about success is always helpful to lift our mood. It gets no bigger when you read about success from the horse’s mouth; from them who have achieved it.

We bloggers always look for people who have been successful in blogging and try to imitate them too. It will be very good if we can speak to those people who have been successful, blogging and can tell us a tip or two to do better in ours.

Blogadda has put together an interview series with 21 successful bloggers. Now, you can read what they say about their own success. There have been 4 episodes out already and I came to know now! Poorly so, but I am happy that I can read them now.

Better be late than never!

Go ahead and read what these well-known Indian bloggers have to say about their success story while blogging. The following links give you direct access to the interview series at Blogadda.

Interview with 21 popular Indian bloggers

I have read a few and I am reading them all now. Do you know any of these? Check out...

Happy reading; hope this helps!

I am World # 1

2011-04-03T04:43:00.000+05:30

On the second of April, 2011 in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai, India, the Indian cricket team recreated history when they defeated a vibrant Sri Lankan cricket team, in the finals of the One Day International World Cup 2011 championship. India is now the number one cricket team in the world. We are the champions! We are the # 1, and so am I!

The world cup this time, started on 19th of February and the opening game was between India and Bangladesh in Dhaka, Bangladesh. I remember me and my wife in front of the TV watching the players come together for the national anthems. Probably this was the first time that two nations who were competing with each other, were singing their respective national anthems, both of which were written by the same person, Rabindranath Tagore. Probably we felt it more because we are Bengalis too, and it was a proud moment for Bengalis, either side of the border.

The first ball of the tournament was hit for a four, by Sehwag and India won, as expected. Since then, there were lots of happenings in the world cup. India won after 28 years of long wait. Sachin Tendulkar, at the end of his grand career would have expected nothing more than this. He successfully achieved his greatest dream and he said, “This is the proudest moment of my life!” The small personal medal he got yesterday, for being the world champions along with the other team members, probably is the most prized possession of the little champion in his entire cricketing life. This made his career a perfect one, with almost all the batting records under his belt, Sachin is the number one, and so is Team India and with them, all of us – the proud citizens of India! We are all numero uno today. The last ball of the tournament was hit by Dhoni, for a Six!

India beat Sri Lankans in the final. Sri Lankans played awesome throughout the championship and were unbeaten only to lose to India in the finals. Mahela Jayawardane scored an unbeaten century in the finals and put up a great total on board, which did not prove to be enough for the mighty Indians! Tillakaratne Dilshan scored 500 runs in the tournament and was the leading run scorer. Sachin scored 482, second highest and highest by the Indian team.

In the semifinal, India beat Pakistan and what a match it was. All the fans of the two countries wanted their team to win that game; even wining the final was immaterial to the fans. Sahid Afridi, the captain took the highest number of wickets in the tournament, along with Zaheer Khan of India, with 21 wickets each. There was whole lot of politics involved in the match, which saw delegates from both the countries sitting together in Mohali and watching the match. India kept the record of winning all their world cup matches against Pakistan. The festivities across the country were much more than the celebrations after yesterday’s win. Pakistan played well and gave a good fight.

In the quarterfinal, India beat the awful Aussies and there is not much to talk about that team. Ponting should retire and the entire team should learn a lesson which tells that mere sledging cannot keep you at the top for long, if you do not know how to play good cricket.

In the group stage, India lost to South Africa. That match was a winner for India right from the start of the match, but some impressive batting by the Africans took it out of the reach of India. India tied with England and that is another record! Every time, India won major tournaments in the last decade, they have tied one match in the qualifiers!

Bangladesh and Ireland beat England in the group matches, but none of them could qualify for the knock-out round. England did well in the other matches and qualified, only to lose to Sri Lanka in the quarters. New Zealand beat South Africa to get to the semis and Sri Lanka beat them there too.

Overall, it was an excellent world cup this time and I am very happy to have watched most of the matches even in this busy schedule. There were giant screens installed in our office, like many other places, where we could see the quarter final and semifinal. The final was yesterday, a Saturday and I could watch it from home, along with my wife. It was an awesome experience. Last time when India won the World Cup, I was 2 and she was 1 year old. Now, we know how it feels!

Thank you guys, for the gift! It’s my father’s birthday in a couple of days from today and he will be much happy to be world champion at this age!

There were so many things that people circulated through SMS all the while the tournament was on going, telling India would win and all that has become a reality now. The best of all those was that the year 1983, when India won the world cup last time, is exactly same as this year, 2011. Both started on a Saturday and every other date fits in exactly the same.

Whatever said and done, it is one of the best feelings to be the World Champions! India deserves this. In the captaincy of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, India has done tremendously well. They have won the T-20 World cup and the ODI world cup. India is now the # 1 team in both ODI and Test Cricket. Awesome!

We are the Best!

Awesome India! Wonderful Team India! Incredible India!

Enjoy and keep the spirit up. We need to keep the world cup with us and get ready for World Cup 2015 to be held in Australia and New Zealand. Till then, be proud and just enjoy!

Getting Online Soon!

2011-02-15T10:25:00.000+05:30

Happy Valentine’s Day!

At last, I applied for the BSNL Land Line and Broadband Connection. Only that seem to work here, where I stay. People in my office ask me why I have bought the flat where there is no broadband! They were joking, but to many of the mates of this era, this is not a joke. “No Broadband? No access to Facebook? You are not living man!” they would say and laugh at me. Well, I am not telling that I don’t need an outlet to the world – access to networking sites, but then I did not have it for a long time now. Since we moved in, it has been almost 6 months. However, it has been nice. I did not think much of the internet all these days and still I knew, it would not wait for me. It has just moved ahead, attaining higher heights along with all o’em who are a part of the social network. Now, after so many days, after applying for the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) broadband connection, I am also hoping to get back to my world of blogs and socialites. It should be on by a week or two, but you never know; after all, it is BSNL!

I will provide a review of their service later. Let it come first and let it be installed. As of now, I have only a landline number. Let us hope that it comes soon and I can get online!

For all those who are LinkedIn freaks, please go ahead and add me in there too. Check my LinkedIn profile here. Bye bye… all the best! Will India win this time??? Hmmm...

One Eyed Mother

2011-01-31T10:51:00.001+05:30

One of my old friends, Sriram Ravi sent this as a forwarded message. It is awesome - made me think - again! Hope you guys will also think, at least once more!

My mom only had one eye. I hated her… She was such an embarrassment. She cooked for students and teachers to support the family.

There was this one day during elementary school where my mom came to say hello to me. I was so embarrassed.

How could she do this to me? I ignored her, threw her a hateful look and ran out. The next day at school one of my classmates said, ‘EEEE, your mom only has one eye!’
I wanted to bury myself. I also wanted my mom to just disappear. I confronted her that day and said, ‘If you’re only gonna make me a laughing stock, why don’t you just die?’

My mom did not respond… I didn’t even stop to think for a second about what I had said, because I was full of anger. I was oblivious to her feelings.

I wanted to get out of that house, and have nothing to do with her. So I studied real hard, got a chance to go abroad to study.

Then, I got married. I bought a house of my own. I had kids of my own. I was happy with my life, my kids and the comforts. Then one day, my Mother came to visit me. She hadn’t seen me in years and she didn’t even meet her grandchildren.

When she stood by the door, my children laughed at her, and I yelled at her for coming over uninvited. I screamed at her, ‘How dare you come to my house and scare my children!’ GET OUT OF HERE! NOW!!!’

And to this, my mother quietly answered, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry. I may have gotten the wrong address,’ and she disappeared out of sight.

One day, a letter regarding a school reunion came to my house. So I lied to my wife that I was going on a business trip. After the reunion, I went to the old shack just out of curiosity.

My neighbors said that she died. I did not shed a single tear. They handed me a letter that she had wanted me to have.

My dearest son,
I think of you all the time. I’m sorry that I came to your house and scared your children.
I was so glad when I heard you were coming for the reunion. But I may not be able to even get out of bed to see you. I’m sorry that I was a constant embarrassment to you when you were growing up.

You see……..when you were very little, you got into an accident, and lost your eye. As a mother, I couldn’t stand watching you having to grow up with one eye. So I gave you mine.
I was so proud of my son who was seeing a whole new world for me, in my place, with that eye.

With all my love to you,
Your mother.

Happy New Year 2011

2011-01-01T00:00:00.000+05:30

A small message to all my readers. Wish you all a very happy and prosperous New Year. May this New Year bring you health, joy and prosperity. May God bless you with all that He has for you. This new year, let us take a pledge to make this earth a better place to live in. Let us move from darkness to light, from lies to truth and from death and stale living to a vivid and constructive life! May all of you have a great year ahead.

Happy New Year 2011. Let us welcome the new year with a smile on our faces.

God Bless!

Wish you a Merry Christmas!

2010-12-26T10:36:00.002+05:30

Merry Christmas Friends! :)

Hope you had a great Christmas this time and all of you enjoyed the same. I did enjoy my Christmas a lot. To tell you the truth, I was blessed with gifts from Santa, and people around me know how much I liked that. It was not planned at all, but Santa gifts like that and keeps it all secret, until it happens. This was a good Christmas in years and I liked it right through.

My wife’s family came in a couple of days before Christmas and it was a joyous moment for both of us. We saw them after years and everything was so nice and happy! It feels good when you are with your near and dear ones. We do not get to be in that mode very often and when we get our family nearby, we just do not want to let that moment go so fast. To add on to that excitement, my Mama, Mami (Maternal Uncle and Aunt) and their daughter came along with their family friend on the Christmas Eve. I met them after a long time too. I spent the night with them, in the hotel room that I booked for them and it was so homely. I felt like the olden golden days, when I used to go back home during vacations and I used to be treated like a king, returned triumphant from war. It was nice to be with them.

We spent the two days in various shopping malls in Bangalore and bought a couple of things for the kids and this time, believe it or not, we actually ended up making a Christmas tree! Well, this was our very first Christmas tree and we could do only as much as we did but it was awesome feeling. I liked it – it was a celebration kind of an atmosphere and the milieu took me back to the days I would always remember.

Hope you all also had a similarly awesome Christmas this time. The New Year is knocking at the door. What plans, huh? I am sure you all have planned it well. I wish all your plans come true this New Year and all your wishes get realized. Hoping to meet again during the New Year; and if I cannot, you be assured that all my wishes and blessings will be with you all. Make this the year of your life. Hope you get all that you aspire for in the New Year.

Happy New Year 2011!

(Pic Source)

Memories and Experiences

2010-12-14T11:44:00.000+05:30

Nothing specific today; just came here to ask, ‘how are you?’

The other day, when I was travelling to office I thought a lot of things – about my career, my past life, my new flat, my future plans and everything that I could think of. Time seems to run so fast. I heard in some movie – we try to catch time, like a kid standing in the sea shore tries to catch water with his two hands. It is that impossible. What we have from time that has gone is experience and lots of memories.

Experience yields at every step in life; be it professional or personal, it helps. We acquire experience each day and that piles up to boost our cubbyhole of knowledge, expertise and understanding. An aged man can always say he has got lot of experience and truly so – he must have! Experience gets stored in our minds. We get experience from peoples’ behavior, places’ environment and ambience and happenings around us.

Memories are something that time leaves behind, but unfortunately everyone does not posses memories. Memories are either good or bad. Both have their own places in our heart. Memories get stored in our hearts. Memories are full with people, places and events. Luckily, I have more good memories than the bad ones. That directly means I have majorly met good people; have been to good places and many good things have happened to me and around me. I am grateful and happy for this. It feels good.

I am sure you too have lot of memories from the past. List them down. Write them on a piece of paper. Let this me in front of you. I am sure you can’t make the entire list in one sitting. Amend the list – add, deduct and modify it, the way you want it to be. May be a month down the line, you will find, things that would inspire you to move forward. You will find things that you would love to do again – places you would like to visit again and most importantly, you will pick up the phone and dial a lot of numbers and talk to people whom you have not contacted over a long time.

That’s what I did, a couple of weeks ago and I was happy to get a few responses too. Life goes on. They won’t stay with me. I know. What I did not know was how they were. And this is what I tried to know, by sending them a small email. When I got those responses, I was very happy and so were most of them, I believe. Memories, occurred and were reinstituted and that made me happy…

Agartala - Best City

2010-12-09T11:47:00.000+05:30

Finally, recognition towards my city, my state! Agartala, the capital of Tripura was regarded as the Best City among all the cities in small Indian states on Friday last. I am proud today and unfortunate enough to have not witnessed the change that has taken place in the last four years. I have been out for four long years and in the meantime, there were august changes in the city. If this continues like this, I’ld better be away from my sweet little ‘native’ land.

With this, I pray that people now come to know about Tripura and Agartala. I am surprised and saddened seeing the ignorance about this place amongst the Indians. Yes, I am not joking! Almost 80-90% of all the people whom I had a chance to talk about Agartala or Tripura as a whole would not know what that is – whether to eat it or to wear! I am not talking about people who know not how to write their names. I have met engineers, managers and other people in big posts in big companies all over India asking me if Tripura is in Orissa or if I know how to speak Malayalam, since I am from Tripura or a simple and grave, ‘hmm, where is it; in India itself?' That has not only hurt me a lot of times, but made me laugh out loud and question our education system. When I was in school, I used to mark each and every nook and corner of India on those maps, I remember; from Porbandar to Perimar, from Leh to Kannyakumari and used to get beaten if my pencil would mark them centimeters away from where they actually are! I remember it all! I pray that (at least) the educated Indian citizens get to know about Agartala now, and of course Tripura, the state where it belongs.

But I am also unsure if this award would actually make people try and gather more information about Tripura. It would not do any good, I know. When the World Championship winner Somdev Devbarma could not; when the Indian idol Saurabhi Devbarma could not; when the legends like Sachin Devbarman, Rahul Devbarman could not spread the news amongst the Indians (and to those out there) that there is a place called Agartala and an Indian state called Tripura, I don’t think neither the Serial Bomb Blasts nor this award would do any good.

Nevertheless, I am happy that Agartala got an award. Someone somewhere has recognized the city and I am happy for that. I have been always proud to be from that place of the world and this makes me even more so.

Way to go!

Kaizen, in your life

2010-12-03T11:42:00.001+05:30

Every day I spend makes me feel that there is so much to be done. I have done so less. Life is moving steadily and surely, no doubt; but there is ample scope of improvement - improvements in my personal life and improvements in my professional life. Kaizen, a quality tool that talks about ‘consistent and continuous improvement’ is relevant, helpful and important in all realms of life – be it in office or at home or anywhere that one travels or ventures in. We need to improve and there should be a inherent fire within all of us to better ourselves.

I really believe that the biggest competitor one can have is himself. There are lots of ideas that come to a lot of people – ideas that can take people to heaven or to hell. People, who have taken these ideas far by acting on them and improving the same over time has risen. Countries that had more and more of these kinds of people have also risen. If we all pledge today that we will move towards improvements, towards goodness, towards light, there is nothing that would stop our country from rising. Then, if that happens, no one (be that the president of the biggest state in the world) can come and stand on our land and say or try to decide whether we are developed or we are still developing. It would be visible to all and all will talk in sync and talk only good about us, our country!

I remember one of my close friends in college saying, ‘remember, you are better than the best.’ I never understood it more than today, when I know what he meant. It is also telling to better yourself, to fight against yourself, the biggest competitor that you would ever have.

I saw a movie recently, which talks about this, in a different way. It says that every person has two choices in life – one that takes him to heaven and the other that takes him to hell. That is all about it. It is time we take the right decision at the right time. Think, think and think more and get all the ideas in you come out of your mind and put them in black and white. List them out. Do an analysis and find the one which would best suit you. Initiate and plan on it and act. Get that done and that idea going! Once done, take a deep breath and chuck it off! That is all about it… go to the next one now. Improve the one that you have done. Act on it again. And the circle goes on and on. That is all that Kaizen tells you to do. Not only with the reports that you send at the end of the day in office, but also try to improve your habits, your cooking, your skills in hitting a par, your blogging – continuously. Improve yourself and you will find nothing, absolutely, is unachievable.

All the best!

India Retains Number One Position in Test Cricket

2010-11-24T11:33:00.000+05:30

INDIA beat New Zealand in the three match test series to hang on with the number one position in ICC Test Team Rankings. What a relief! The series without Harbhajan Singh’s back to back centuries would have been 2-1 in favour of New Zealand for sure and not 1-0 for India. The Singh rose up to the occasion twice in two test matches and showed the world, why I urged people back in 2002 to call him as Sir Harbhajan Singh! He was a sweetheart in the test match series and will be truly wanted by the Kiwi pace attack in the rest of the tour. India, can now play with five bowlers, I believe.

The third test ended within four days and India won by an innings and more. I liked the way Dravid, Dhoni and Sachin guided the Indian inning between the vandalizing bowling in the two Kiwi innings. Some one very recently said, after Dravid scored a century in one of the first two matches, that he should now think about retiring and should let Pujara come into the team. I say, if Dravid can score 191 at this age, let Pujara wait!

The same thing I would say about Mularidharan, who took 10 wickets in his last test match. Why on earth, should Murali retire now? I do not get this logic of age here. A horse is as good as long he wins you races. After all, this is what he was born for. I truly believe Murali should make a comeback and may be Kumble too may think about it. There are much left in them to give us. The present generation and the growing cricketers would learn mountains from them.

C’mon India! All eyes are now on the ICC World Cup 2011. Hope we can bring the trophy home, yet again! I was 2 when it happened last time and now, when I touch 30, let Indians rise and hold their heads high. India is rising and the World Cup Trophy will help us rise it even higher!

A small note for Somdev Dev Barman, the youngster from my land, Tripura won the first ever Gold Medal in Asian Games Men’s Singles Lawn Tennis in Guangzhou. Three cheers to you, Hero. Keep going and bring us more and more…

The YOUNG generation

2010-10-25T10:43:00.000+05:30

India is booming, along with the sensex. The aftermath of recession has left a mark in the Indian market for sure, but the young population has made it a point that we rise again and so we are. The country as a whole has seen a lot of changes, developments and fortification in the recent couple of years. However, it seems, we could find a way back to light from the darkest nights of terrorism, recession, unemployment and emotional setback. The lion’s share of the population is young and that has increased the risk taking ability, raised the strength to hit back and shown the world that we can. These are still the early days of developments after recession, but it seems India has come out better than any other country in the world. Thanks to the growing strength of the country; carried on the broad shoulders of the young generation that we can now move forward – again!

The average population in the US is getting old. The new age US population is taking marriage more seriously and has started to believe in the institution of marriage now. They are having more kids these days than ever. Hmm…

The growing population of India has been a problem since long; however that has left the country with a majority of young heads which think faster and better. I am just worried a bit about the time after 20 years from now, when the increasing want to reduce our population will leave us wanting for the young blood in the country’s veins and the US will again have an upper hand with the increase in the number of kids of today. Though there is a lot of time to think about this, but we need to plan, as a country, as one bunch of enlightened people who have, over the years, catered knowledge needs of the world. I still fall in that group of Young India and I wish us all, all the best!

An eventful year

2010-10-14T11:23:00.002+05:30

A year went by and I grew older, stronger, more learned and more experienced. Yes, there is no doubt that I had gone through a lot of changes in the previous year and it is not bad to think of the good things first. There is a long list of good things that has happened in the last year and I would definitely see this as a year of achievements; big and small – the point here is that there were some achievements to talk about.

Firstly, a new house - our first owned house has materialized this year. It came out right from the dreams and now we are living in it. I am happy. There were lots of ‘ifs’ and ‘buts’ in the realization of this dream, but the truth is that we have our own house now and we are staying in it. Not many in my age can say that and I am happy for it.

Secondly, the new job! I have joined Genpact recently, after more than four and half years in Hewlett Packard. The role of a Business Analyst here is quite challenging and interesting and I already like the work here. These are initial days, I agree, but the little knowledge that I have obtained about the process, the role, the deliverables and the expectations that the organization has from me are admirable – truly. I have got a good start and I wish to take this far as I learn and grow here. I believe, this is (at last) something that I should be doing.

There were so many other small things that happened in the year that has gone by – may be I should have already blogged about them. Those have helped me and have assisted me in my journey and will, hopefully assist in the future too. There were many more good things, to think about the bad events now. All I can say is that I am happy with all that has happened last year, as I look back.

Yes! Today is my birthday!

I realize now, how important is it to grow up and when you grow up, how important is it to keep growing up! Ha ha ha… ya, I’m confusing you again. But that is one thing, I learnt recently. There are times you need to think out of your own dominion and make some hard decisions. Once decided, you need to stick to it and whoever has done so, has won!

And before I finish, let me congratulate myself and the entire nation, for being Second in the Common Wealth Games Delhi 2010 medal tally. The best performance so far, with 38 Golds and 101 medals overall is just awesome! My cheers go to the Indian Cricket team too, for overwhelming the awful Aussies and winning both the tests and throwing them to the number 5 position in test ranks and retaining our number 1 position. The God we see, Sachin Tendulkar is back to number one Test Batsman position after scoring a double hundred (for the second time in this year) in the last test and completing 14000 test runs. Quite a happening year for him and Indian Cricket Team too.

Let me finish this by telling that I do not have much access to the web these days. So, I am not able to write regularly. But I will come back, for this is where I can be myself. Thanks for your patience. Have a nice time and just enjoy each moment in your life; for these tiny moments together make what we call life!

Lots to do...

Boss or a Leader?

2010-08-30T10:53:00.001+05:30

What do you want to be? A Boss, or a Leader?

"A boss creates fear, a leader confidence. A boss fixes blame, a leader corrects
mistakes. A boss knows all, a leader asks questions. A boss makes work drudgery,
a leader makes it interesting. A boss is interested in himself or herself, a leader is interested in the group." - Russel H. Ewing

To get a few more similar quotes, click here.

By the way, who is this Russell H. Ewing? Did a small search could not find something authentic about him. Do share, if you have anything...

A Good Day!

2010-08-28T23:02:00.002+05:30

Well, this I write a few posts that I did not make much sense in – LOL! My friend will say I always criticize myself – that happens when things come out from the depths. So, will not do that today here. Just wanted to share this day I had today - lov'd it! Hope time gets me 'some' news that I can tag as good.

Anyways, I had a good day today. There was an outing from office and after that, it was just a blast. My friends and my wife and her brother joined and we all had a great time – playing games (ya we played kids’ video games in a parlor), boozing, roaming and window shopping in Brigade Road, Bangalore Central and coming back home in rain – awesome. So, let me finish the post with the good thoughts. Hope you enjoyed the day too… Have fun. Good night!

Greeha Pravesh

2010-08-13T21:17:00.002+05:30

What would you say?

2010-08-02T10:32:00.006+05:30

There has always been a conflict in choosing a winner from a pool of losers. Well, I am saying this because the number of Winners is certainly less than the number of losers around us. One such winner in life, whom I have met recently and who has inspired me in more than a way in life, once buzzed these. I loved what he mentioned and hence, thought of sharing the same with my readers. I am sure you will like this and I will hope that things change, even by a fraction, after you have read this:

The Winner – is always part of the answer.

The Loser – is always part of the problem.

The Winner – always has a program.

The Loser – always has an excuse.

The Winner – says, “Let me do it for you.”

The Loser – says, “That’s not my job.”

The Winner – sees an answer for every problem.

The Loser – sees a problem for every answer.

The Winner – sees a green near every sand trap.

The Loser – sees two or three sand traps near every green.

The Winner – says, “It may be difficult but it’s possible.”

The Loser – says, “It may be possible, but it’s too difficult.”

Yes! Its the attitude than one shows which makes him a loser or a winner. Winners need not come on the front page of Times Magazine, but yes, if you do, its not a bad thing :)

The above was shared by Vinay, my Manager at work! He's a winner in his own world and people around him would tell no different. He inspires, he takes charge and he completes every job that he is given - whether it is his own or others'.

Think it over people. Happy living!

Lets Welcome back my Blog!

2010-07-18T10:55:00.002+05:30

Blogging is very important!
Well, this is what I came to know while reading this new book that I bought from Crosswords, the other day. The book looks great on the onset. I have just started reading it and people knowing me know that I am such a slow reader. It seems I would need to write more and write more frequently. So be it!

Let me write then. Let me get back to my old self. Blogging! Blogging Tan! Thus Spake Tan! LOL – I feel like smiling on this, but still, it feels good to know that I am writing. Nice feeling, apart from the fact that people who used to come to my blog on regular basis will now have something to read, if I write regularly. I will try to do that for sure – more now, after reading that book.

There have been instances in the previous blog years when I used to talk about blogging and not blogging. Now, it is time that I get going again. I have given it a good thought during the weekend and I found that I can always chip in with a couple of posts on weekly basis, I guess – and this is exactly what I would want to do now. I feel connected to the cyber world – to that social part of mine, which has been missing since college. I feel empty at times, when I feel lonely and that has happened more than once in life. And more than once, I found my blog as my friend in need – indeed!

So, with a small vow that I would get on with writing regularly, I am putting the pen away for the night – LOL! I wish we would still write in pens – oh! I miss those school days – Class V – roll number 29 – the first time I understood what studies are – my ink pens – fountain pens – Chinese Hero – Sulekha and/or Chelpark ink – then those pens, I am forgetting the names – like Hero, but black in color, with a golden long cap! Ya… I know, I deviated from the topic. But I like to untie my mind at times, when it just rushes through the pages of past. And brings back memories – smells (I could actually smell Chelpark Blue-Black right now!) – thoughts – scenes that I would stop thinking about but never forget.

Good night! Till I write again…
Oh sorry, before I go…

Very hearty congratulations to the Spanish National Team for winning the FIFA World Cup 2010. I have been following the World Cup very closely and I saw the most matches this time, I guess. It was wonderful – Brazil and Argentina my teams, could not proceed much, even though there was a possibility to see them against each other in the finals. Then I supported Germany a lot, from the first game, that they scored 4 awesome goals. I do not like that country much, neither the team, but they played so well this time, that I had to support them and I did. They did not go beyond the Semis. I never expected Spain and The Netherlands to face each other in the finals of the World Cup – but that’s what has happened. The match between Uruguay and Germany was probably the best game of the World Cup. I did not like the Final much. Anyways, Octopus Paul seems to be the only one who predicted all the matches (the ones that he did) correctly! LOL… The Netherlands were unbeaten for 25 matches, I guess, before the finals. The Spanish people would be happy and rightly so. Spain deserved it! True Heroes!

Peeping out, from behind the clouds!

2010-07-06T12:44:00.002+05:30

Hello readers!

How have you been? I hope you are well and doing just fine. I’m ok too; just having a cough, cold and bit of fever from last couple of days. Need to reduce or may be stop the fags once and for all, I guess!

A few days ago I told myself, “Someday, I will also learn to live; for now, let me earn some money.” Yes, I am on that track now. Earning more money – learning more and more and devoting myself to work – for a better career – a better income and probably, a better standard of living! I am happy doing this, but I know I am getting away from myself again. I feel it – I have felt it earlier too, when I came out of college. Since I left college, I was never me. I could never be the same old person I used to be in college. Things change I know – but I still know that man has to be an individual at times. Tan, is not just a name and it should not be! Need to get back to my own self…

Life is a journey and you need to walk past every single road to know what it is and near your destination. I am walking too, as most of us are. With every new turn, I should near my goal; but with every turn here, I am going away – from myself, from my purpose, from the road I wanted to be on and holistically, from my destination! At times, when I look down, I see this is not the road I wanted to walk on – but there were winds which drove me, there were rains which washed me away and there were emotions which carried me away to this road I am on, at this point in time. This is definitely not my road. This is definitely not the place I wanted to be. I was moving nicely when I was by my own. The world was there for me to chase – but now, I am getting chased by love, life, work, office and all those involved in chasing me out of happiness!

It is easy to point fingers at others – it takes hardship to see your own mistakes. It is easy to delegate things to others – it takes responsible shoulders to pull the baggage on them. I am not a coward – I do not blame others for my defeat. I am not irresponsible – I do not delegate things to others and sit immobile. Hmmm… do not need to make people understand this. My job is to keep working – the results are not in my hand and that’s what I will do. For I know one thing for sure - फलनों परिचयते|

Until next time... Bye bye... Be happy!

My Latest Resume

2010-06-21T10:41:00.002+05:30

I Loved this new way of putting up your publications. I have absolutely nothing, apart from my resume to do that. Awesome!

Will try to post my articles this way too, what say? :P

The week that was!

2010-05-24T01:03:00.000+05:30

It is more like a weekly post these days and I don’t like this much! Can someone tell me or suggest me a name for my weekly posts?

This week was no good and the weekend was worse! Office is not growing to be a good place to be – unlike the first few months here. The work pressure is increasing and I am complaining. I know pressure would increase for sure, but I am finding myself in trying conditions after a long time. The pressure is so high in office these days that I hardly find time to have dinner – and that has been going on for weeks and months! The health condition is not something I can boast upon. Even on weekends, I have to work at times; and thanks to some process requirements, I need to work on Sundays too now, sadly, but surely! Today, after food when I did not find myself in talkable condition, I thought of sleeping and then I remember, just in the brink of time, that I have to WORK! So, I switched on the PC and finished 30 mins official work that took almost an hour to complete. The same I did yesterday night too! I am willing to see now how much I get to go through and how much can withstand. I was watching Rocket Singh today and it talked about me, in more than one way. When I get bugged up in office with work, I remember my teacher in PG who taught me math, tolerance and tyranny. Pathetic!

The more pathetic thing that happened this week, was this unfortunate plane crash in Mangalore Airport. An Indian Airlines plane coming from Dubai jumped into a valley from the runway after landing in Mangalore airport and 158 people died on the spot. Horrible, sad and horrid experience for all involved in that! God bless the souls and may they rest in peace…

‘When I get older, I will be stronger

They’ll call me freedom,

Just like a waving flag

And then it goes back!’

Heard these lines? Well, these are the initial lines of the Fifa World Cup 2010 official theme song. I just loved this. When I heard it for the first time, I thought some Indian has made that – but no, someone else from some other place composed it. I’m listening to this for a few times in succession now and I feel like making it my caller tune… will think about it. You enjoy the song here below:

FIFA World Cup 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BsN6mbYJGGM

Ooooooh Wooooooh
Give me freedom, give me fire, give me reason, take me higher
See the champions, take the field now, you define us, make us feel proud
In the streets are, exaliftin , as we lose our inhibition,
Celebration it’s around us, every nations, all around us

Singin’ forever young, singin’ songs underneath the sun
Lets rejoice in the beautifull game.
And together at the end of the day.

WE ALL SAY

When I get older I will be stronger
They’ll call me freedom Just like a wavin’ flag
And then it goes back
And then it goes back
And then it goes back (x2)

Oooooooooooooh woooooooooohh hohoho

Give you freedom, give you fire, give you reason, take you higher
See the champions, take the field now, you define us, make us feel proud
In the streets are, exaliftin, as we lose our inhibition,
Celebration, it’s around us, every nations, all around us

Singin’ forever young, singin’ songs underneath the sun
Lets rejoice in the beautifull game.
And together at the end of the day.

WE ALL SAY

When I get older, I will be stronger
They’ll call me freedom
Just like a wavin’ flag

And then it goes back
And then it goes back
And then it goes back (x4)

Wooooooooo Ohohohoooooooo ! OOOoooooh Wooooooooo
And we are all singin’ it

And until next time, keep fingers crossed and keep smiling! And don’t forget to pray – for you, for me, for all; and if you still find some time left, pray for my ventures and wish they succeed… love you all…. Keep the faith high – just like a waving flag!

Its noon!

2010-05-11T12:40:00.000+05:30

Its noon and the Sun is at its full blaze. Its hot outside and the weather is dry. Not a drop would fall from anywhere near. Times are not good – neither are the winds. They carry summer seeds with them and not rain. There used to be breeze in Bangalore and when I set my foot on this land, it used to be good to me – I mean, great to me! Now, it is not. It is acting like a surrogate mother – took care of me when my days were young here and when I started knowing the gallis and roads of Bangalore, it just left me on my own. The Sun used not to sear that bright. The Sun used to play with me – hide and seek – along with the clouds in my early days in Bangalore; unlike this Sun, which is burning above my head today.

Its noon and almost half way through my life, I guess. Its noon of my life too! Prem says, “Don’t look back.” I don’t much; but at times, I have to. The last 3 decades (almost) were past just like that (JLT) without any fruitful venture. Could not grow up to be a good son or a good husband! I was always the ‘other’ type of a son, a friend, a husband and probably the ‘other’ type of a man too.

I was on my own for long 8 years, when I ‘grew’ up! Before that, for first 14 years of my life I was living on my mother – without her support, I could not eat, take bath, study and even she made me join my colony’s cricket team. Then for 8 years, I was alone – self brought up. I did not do much well then, I guess. Because, in the following (and last) 4 years, I lived on my wife – without her, I could not eat, take bath, study and even she made me join Piano Classes.

And in return, I gave my mother tears, fears and sarcastic leers from all she knows for the rest of her life. She cannot come to me and stay here, which she wants to; but, stay back in Agartala and keep crying – may be waiting for something to happen – something which we do not know, but we are all waiting for. I left her in this age, when she would not move an inch without aid.

And to my wife – I gave nothing! She just went out to search for a job in the scorching sun. How hot it is outside! And she went alone. I could not even take her to the bus stand. She will be travelling in bus!! I'm not a husband she can be proud of. I can’t earn enough. Not a very successful person. When I moved to the new role, I asked her to leave her job. I thought it would bring us some fortune and we would manage. She did leave – and waited all this long for me – I could do nothing! So, she is out in the sun again – the scorching sun – and my little doll with tiny hands and legs is travelling through length and breadth of Bangalore in search of a job – an extra provide which I was supposed to bring home. She is in bus and her head spins and she feels like puking when she boards a bus. Still she’s there, in look out for a job.

My best friends say I criticize myself. It is not criticism. Neither this is something I am telling out of nothing. It is just that I am not doing things that I can, or rather things that I should do. And with each passing moment, I can feel it more intrinsically that I have not triumphed my triviality as it. That – hurts!

Shubha Nabobarsho 1417!

2010-04-25T14:54:00.000+05:30

The Bengali New Year just went by. It is 1417 Bongabdo now. Wishing all the Bengalis Shubha Nabobarsho! Hope this brings you all prosperity and health!

Today’s topic is Bengali and the Bengali language. Recently I came across a news article in http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ about Bengali being selected as the sweetest language of the world. (Find the article here) We always knew this, that after one of those European languages (may be Spanish) Bengali was the sweetest language of the world and one of the most spoken language too. I am proud to be a Bengali and this is one more reason to be so. I can read, write and speak in Bengali and that is an achievement in any human being’s life. I was blessed to have born in a Bengali family and hence, I did not have to toil that hard to learn Bengali. I wish people reading me, who cannot read Bengali would learn this someday and would be able to explore the treasure we have in our Bangla literature! Oh, such a great feeling to be able to address Bangla as my own! I was telling the other day to one of my friends in office, that there is so much in Bengali and its literature that it is not possible for someone mortal to read and learn everything that is in there. And that my wife could go on and on and on talking about Bengali, Bengali literature, Bengali people and Bengali land – we are so proud Bengalis!

That’s it!

I am a Bengali and let me be a Bengali and let me take pride in the same.

But that would not be the end of all of it. People in India speak so many different languages and everyone is proud of their own languages. Till this point everything is fine! But no! People will not just stop there. They will go much ahead of this and start comparing their language to their neighbors’. They will start comparing the languages and cross the limit and call names of the other language and the people speaking that. This is what the majority of Indians do at present. We discriminate fellow Indians on basis of their language, cast, creed, religion and color. We have seen it, felt it, talked about it and have kept quiet. I mean, we never had anything to do against or for this. We don’t take any steps ourselves. We keep mum and we condole ourselves.

I am staying away from home for last 12 years and I have seen it everywhere I went – be it Assam, Tamil Nadu or Karnataka; be it in street, shop, bus and auto or in office! Where are we heading towards? Are we a country of educated people? Well, if this is what education teaches us, we should go back to the jungles and start dwelling in caves. There is no tolerance, no brotherhood, no serenity and no forbearance in any of us! And we call ourselves educated, civilized and healthy human beings and citizens of a developing country – a republic, a democratic and a sovereign nation! Does anyone know the meaning of these words? LOL!

It’s time we rise and stand against this and pull those despotic nincompoops by their ears and teach them that this is a country of many people and all of those have the right to go anywhere they want; do anything they want; talk any language they want; practice any religion they want. And not only this, the citizens of India are free to eat at any restaurant; wear any underwear they want; sneeze as many times they would like to; watch any movie at any theatre.

If you have got a problem, just leave!

Grow up people and act as if you are civilized, even if you are not ;)

The picture is a cover of a book written on Indian Languages. I just loved the cover and wanted to post it here. Taken from here.

The above is also posted at: Bangladeshi Hindi: Portal to the Hindu World

Vedanta

2010-04-04T14:02:00.000+05:30

Vedanta (Devanagari: वेदान्त, Vedānta) was originally a word used in Hindu philosophy as a synonym for that part of the Veda texts known also as the Upanishads. The name is a sandhied form of Veda-anta = "Veda-end" = "the appendix to the Vedas".

Well, when I was browsing through the TV channels today, I was brought to a halt when one of the Spiritual Gurus were talking about Vedanta and in that 20 minutes of the program, he told a few things about the differences or rather the transformation of Vedas to Vedanta.

The most important thing that I liked was the order of facts. In Vedas, he said, the faith is imposed on. As in, “You need to do that this way and this way alone” the tone in the four Vedas were more orthodox – where the Slokas or the chants instructs one to follow whatever is written/told and not to question. This is similar in other religions, like Christians and Islam, where questioning God or the faith is prohibited in some forms. This looks autocratic on the upfront, but if one thinks deeply, one would find that coercing knowledge or faith or belief at that era, where light was only thing that could bring life to the lifeless, was inevitable and inimitable for most of the people in different parts of the world who were taught different religions and faiths with different outlooks. It was tough to make someone understand those hard languages and thoughts that otherwise sounded irrational and out of the world. Hence, coercing faith was implemented.

At a later stage, when Hinduism softened and was practiced by more developed and civilized people, they understood that faith cannot be imparted by force. It has to come from within – the thought of self realization – self education and self implementation. This is when they started to show people the reality as it is. Not telling them what to do or what not to do, but just showing that this is what has happened and this is what the result of that was. Opening the window towards reality! This was the time when the spiritual gurus showed the mass that if you do so, it might happen like this, as it happened previously. The orders in Veda became stories and tales in Upanishads – and people could see that more clearly. They would now know why they were asked to do a certain thing in the Veda. The mass would question now – to themselves, to their Gurus or to the environmental variables around them. They got the right to question – through Vedanta – which led to self actualization.

Vedanta is based on two simple propositions:
1. Human nature is divine.
2. The aim of human life is to realize that human nature is divine.

As in Science, people asked questions like, ‘why, what, how, why not’ etc. and discovered things that were there already and a step further, they invented things that were never there. It was this time, during the divination of Vedanta, when the mass started thinking and questioning the faith – Hinduism and its sermons – and they went a few steps further and deeper into the religion. People questioned more and more and discovered and re-discovered many more outlooks of the faith. Vedanta gave us the modern Hindutwa – the practice of Hinduism.

It is a very vast concept and an ocean of knowledge where I would love to dip sometimes. Hope the time comes soon. For more information on Vedanta or to explore more about the same, please visit the following weblinks:

2010-03-31T10:36:00.002+05:30

Quite a long that I did not write here. Well, many things happened in between and the most important of them all, I guess was the Live Match in Stadium! First time in our lives, we watched a live cricket match. It was the IPL T20 game where my Royal Challengers Bangalore locked horns with Rajasthan Royals. The game was a bit one sided where RCB won by 10 wickets! But the real thing was that we saw Anil Kumble, Rahul Dravid, Shane Warne, Jacque Kallis, Yusuf Pathan, Mornie Morkel, Mark Boucher, Jeremy Snape and the other players of both the teams – LIVE!! It was awesome! We enjoyed… want to go for the Mumbai Indians vs RCB match on 17th but no tickets available, it seems…

Things happened apart from this too. I got too much busy in my office work. And now that it’s all my duty to earn, the quest to earn good and more is taking over. It is not that I am not liking it, but it is coercing my daily routine, from which I have ran away at all times. After working for almost 4 years in HP, I am doing something that I am actually liking a lot. At last, I am seeing some future in this and hence, I am not complaining why and how it is keeping me busy. So busy, that I cannot blog; I cannot meet my friends and I am not thinking things that I used to – all of the brain is inhabited by the office work – the learning – the understanding and the implementation. It is nice to work with the group I am working with right now. If you stay with a group of stars, with the leader showing and glowing like the Sun, people are ought to envisage that you emit light too. So, I am just gliding with the team right now.

Its a weekend again and things are changing at home too. We are starting to like the weekends. God Bless! Hope it stays this way and brings us ample of happiness and togetherness.

Oh! The house? Yea, will update about it soon. Just to keep you on track with it, we have done the Registration and now, only the woodwork is to be done, before we get in! looking forward to it

My Name is Khan - a review

2010-03-07T18:38:00.001+05:30

Watched Shah Rukh Khan’s 'My Name is Khan' yesterday and only one thing came to mind – Forrest Gump! Well, that by far the best English movie I saw and I could so relate to the awesome dialogue in that movie: My Name is Forrest Gump. People call me Forrest Gump!

MNIK is a movie of its own color. India is shining – at least Bollywood is! I liked the movie. We liked the movie. The way SRK acted in MNIK tells me he has much more to offer. Well, there is no movie of his that I can say I do not like. I have not seen only one film that he has acted in and that is ‘Hey Ram’ – the Kamal Hashan movie. Apart from that, every other movie that he has done is there in my watched list. He is growing as an actor. He is almost ready to take the highest post in Indian cinema. Well, I do not compare him with Amitabh Bachhan or Dilip Kumar or anyone else – not even Aamir Khan, as Aamir is in such a realm which is untouchable. My friends would remember me telling, “Rehman, Sachin and Aamir cannot be compared. The list starts after them.” Its true to the core. But SRK has shown time and again that he has the mettle to be the best and he is done it again in MNIK.

Watch the movie people. Listen to what he says about Islam. Understand what he meant by two types of people – Good and Bad. Understand what he said about Namaz. Islam is a path of love, happiness and sacrifice – not killings, assaulting and that atrocious word ‘Jehad.’ People around the world should know what it is made of – its made of only two kinds of people – Good and Bad – you may be a Christian, Hindu, Jew, Muslim or Buddhist or anything else by religion but your Karma will tell whether you are good or bad. A good person is always a good person, whether he is in Afghanistan or in a hot air balloon or suffering from AIDS or playing Hockey. You would or can only be either a good or bad man. It is that tough to understand and that simple to be!

Anyways, before I close for today, would like to mention about NDTV Greenathon. WOW NDTV! What an initiative! This is the second year in a row where NDTV is engaging as many people as possible to light up some remote villages of the country. I love you all people, whoever has taken the pledge or have donated. I am sure the total contribution will surpass 3 Crores and much more. Best of luck people! Last year, NDTV Greenathon helped light up 55 villages across the nation. This year too, the noble cause continues with many more villages being adopted for a better tomorrow. So far 118 villages have been lit up. To know more about it, please check NDTV Greenathon.

C’mon India! Rise and Shine!

SACHIN

2010-03-07T17:40:00.004+05:30

What to say about The Legand of CRICKET, The Milestone Man, Master Blaster, The Man Of The Records, Run Making Machine, Bowlers Nightmare, Umpires Enemy(Giving work to them all the time), India's asset, The GOD Gifted Sachin Tendulkar.

Wowwwwwww…….I m tired. Anything we say about HIM is not enough. In one word “HE IS GREAT AMONG THE GREATEST”

Sachin Tendulkar The one of the most successful batsman in the world of cricket with lots of world records in his Bag has recently re-wrote the record books on Wednesday(25-02-2010), made the new record of making highest run in an ODI.

One-day international cricket, since starting from 1971, had to wait nearly four decades to see a batsman score 200. The previous best mark was shared by Zimbabwean Charles Coventry (194 not out against Bangladesh in 2009) and Pakistan's Sawed Anwar (194 against India in 1997).

Anwar in his reaction over Sachin’s achievement said, ”If any person deserved to do better than me it was Tendulkar. I am happy for him, there are no real regrets.”

Yeah HE is absolutely right. Anwar is Good but WORLD Record deserve to GREAT.Is not it??& the Great is none other then SACHIN RAMESH TENDULKAR.COMPARISON is Impossible. And another SACHIN “Dimag Kharap Ho Geya Keya….!!!!!”

After some years when this Legend retired from Cricket then in every news channel there may be Poll by SMS.

Do you think that cricket will become boring after Sachin Tendulkar retires? (A)YES (B)NO
In India, Cricket is religion and Sachin is 'GOD'. You agree? (A)YES (B)NO

To know more about Him You can log on to:

http://www.cricinfo.com/india/content/player/35320.html

Easy Auto service for Bangalore.

2010-03-04T12:52:00.004+05:30

Easy Auto service for Bangalore. 9844112233

(Good To Know Info - Not advertisement)
LOL - Do your homework before using the service.

Do you use auto rickshaw for your day-to-day commuting? Then you must be wasting an average of 20 to 30 minutes on the road trying to get a willing auto to take you in. REFUSAL!! This is a major challenge that you face everyday. This is not a challenge only for you, this is a issue for the law enforcement agencies as well. Other problems that we face are tampered meters, drivers who do not behave properly. Haven’t we cursed the auto drivers for all of these and more? But have we ever tried to understand why we ever face such issues? Have we tried to find a solution for this problem?

Easy Auto Service is a call-auto service that is an initiative licensed by the Transport Department of Karnataka through the Regional Transport Authority. This initiative is supported by the Bangalore City Police. By establishing a call-center that co-ordinates the passenger and auto finding, at Easy Auto it is our vision and commitment to make your auto-commuting a pleasant experience. At Easy Auto we feel that this is the beginning of a social change, because the revenue generated by this project goes back into supporting the livelihood of the drivers and their families.

Now the residents of Bangalore can have some respite from 'hunting' for auto rickshaws, thanks to Easy Auto, a scheme endorsed by the city police and RTOs.

http://www.easyauto.in/?page=home

HOW DOES IT WORK?
Just call 9844112233 any time you want an auto to commute and we will send it to your doorstep. Our auto rickshaws have GPS devices installed in them, and we track our vehicles using highly sophisticated servers that track the satellite data from the GPS devices that is updated every 3 minutes. Our autos are safe, our drivers are always polite and at your service.

In Easy Auto the meter charges are as approved by Government, which is a minimum of Rs.14.00 and Rs.7.00 for every additional kilometer. Though Government has approved a service fee of Rs.3.00 for availing this service, it is not being charged right now.

Please note that our autos will start the metering to you only at the point of boarding if the vehicle is within 0.5 km running of your point of boarding. But if the auto is beyond this, [our fencing for GPS is 5 km radius], then the agent will ask your consent before connecting this vehicle to you, and metering will start from the current location of the driver and not the point of boarding.

Happy Holi

2010-02-28T20:31:00.000+05:30

Holi kab hai? Kab hai Holi?

LOL! This is the famous dialogue that has made Holi immortal in Indian Screen Entertainment – TV and Cinema. One would find Gabbar Singh always asking this question in Sholay, the biggest blog buster of Indian cinema. Well, I have an answer to him today. Holi aaj hai – today is Holi. Wish you all a very colorful Holi and wish that God makes your days as colorful as you were today, while playing with colors.

Holi was today. And in my native place, it will continue tomorrow too. Today is Dol Purnima there and Holi will be celebrated tomorrow. We Bengalis do not burn the Holika Hut as in North India, but what we do is play with Abeer all day long and put Abeer on Gods’ and elders’ feet and seek their blessings. Also we eat and distribute sweets. Well, nothing happened to me today. All day, somewhere deep in heart, I was waiting for someone to come with Abeer and paint me all Green, Yellow, Blue, Pink, Red and Purple. Hahahaha – a dream, may be. Nothing happened. Nothing happens here – in this big bustling cities. Nothing happened at home too…

Did not get a single drop of purple on my body today. Did not even touch Abeer. And? And Holi is over! There was a time, when I used to pour Abeer on pictures and think that my Abeer has touched the person’s body – now, things are changed. People stay in closest vicinity, but not a drop of color splashes. ~~Nothing happens.~~

Anyways! Change is life is the only constant thing. Lets talk about variables or differences now.

There are lot of differences between our small Agartala and my big BANGALORE! In Agartala on this day, one would think 17 times before leaving his house. Be it your office hours or you are coming back from office at the end of the day. Whenever you are seen on road on ‘good’ dress, you are gone. You need not search for people who know you to get assaulted, all those who see you in that fashion will just pound on you and send you back home – in purple color! Hahaha! What a sight would it be for your family who might have sent you to office or the market in washed clothing to bring fish! Be it any time of the day or night. Wonderful!

Here? Well, I went out to market today. In the evening though. And was actually thinking, if there would be any gang painting people on Holi. There were none like that. I saw a few boys playing Holi with colors and I was passing them – they never even looked at me! May be because of the dark. Hehe… I laugh! I think of those days back at home and I laughed again. As I went pass the Bangalore Central – I saw nothing new in there. I don’t know if they have decorated the inside for Holi, but from the outside, there was nothing. Not even a small percentage of what they did during Christmas! Well, I don’t know – don’t want to think much too.

Wish you a very happy and colorful Holi once again. May your life be full of colors. God Bless!

First Ever ODI Double Century

2010-02-25T16:01:00.002+05:30

Sachin Tendulkar, the small wonder, has done it! He has scored the highest individual score in ODIs. For the first time in the history of the game has anyone scored a double hundred in a 50 over match! This was something long awaited for. This was something that everyone said could be achieved either by Sehwag or Gilchrist. But then, it was achieved only by the master blaster. Who else? Who else could do it? Who else would do it?

In the second match of the ongoing ODI Series against South Africa, Sachin Tendulkar scored an unbeaten 200 in 147 balls. He thrashed the likes of Steyn, Parnell, Langeveldt and Kallis. The first 100 came in just 90 balls whereas the second one came in a staggering 57 balls!!!

Bravo Sachin! You make us proud. Keep going… We all love you :) [24/2/2010]

Six Traits of a Wife

2010-02-23T13:59:00.002+05:30

In Indian culture, the sages and learned people of the yesteryears had defined almost everything – from a needle to the sun – everything was assigned a significance and responsibility of its own. And they had huge list of things that that small thing needs to be related to.

I do not like Ekta Kapoor’s Serials (and any daily soap for that matter) but there are things in everything that you can learn from. And when I heard this old sloka used in one of the serials, called Bandini, I was awestruck! I really liked the thought – not because I am a man and I want my wife to be as described in the sloka, but I have seen my mother and other elderly women in my family and I can so much relate this sloka to them – both for and against! LOL…

Anyways, there is lot to learn from the Sloka – for the wives. For any woman, for that matter. Read it:

Karyeshu Dasi
Karaneshu Mantri
Bhojeshu Mata
Shayaneshu Rambha
Roopeshu lakshmi
Kshamayeshu Dharitri
Satkarma Nari, Kuladharma Patni

It means, a wife…

Works like servant

Advises like minister

Feeds like mother

Makes love like nymph

Is as beautiful as Lakshmi and

As forgiving like the earth.

These are the six traits of a good wife who can be an example for everyone. In the process she would make her family proud!

In this world of today, it is very hard to find someone with all the above characters. I can write a whole paragraph on the same, comparing the six traits with my wife, or my mother or my aunt, but I wont go into that details here. Just wanted to share this with you, so that ask yourself, (if you are wife to someone) and see if you are actually having the same traits. I am not concluding anything – I cant. But I wish all women to keep this thought in the back of their mind – always!

BTW, thought of writing the meaning as:

With Wife

Works like servant

Advises like minister

Feeds like mother

Makes love like nymph

Is as beautiful as Lakshmi and

As forgiving like the earth.

End With

LOL… Only people using VB Coding would understand, if I would have written it thus :P

2010-02-13T23:59:00.002+05:30

Well, I was waiting for my wife to come back from office and I am still waiting. She is yet to leave from office. And then I thought of writing something – I have not written for a long time. And I wrote a small poem – Valentine in Love. Yes – I am waiting for my Valentine to come back home. Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and it will be our 4th V’day together. 4th in 12 years of love in 28 years of life – little too less, I know. But think of it – from now on, it will just increase and will keep on increasing!

Saint Valentine’s Day all over the world is celebrated as a day of love. For young lovers around the world, this is like independence day (lol) or may be Christmas or may be Eid! And in our India? We have Pramod Muthalik and a few similar lead astray minds, who have converted this day into a scary day. People are scared to go out on this day – be a married couple or one in love – even a brother thinks twice before picking his sister from school, in fear that these molesters may intervene and assault them on road. How pathetic is that? I remember the case last year – in Mangalore. I saw the scenes on TV how these filthy ‘dead’ people beat those teen girls. I have never seen any girl getting thrashed like that – that too, a gang of those hooligans attacked a handful of girls in a pub. The government did not do anything – nothing that could bring these people on ground and teach them a lesson. Neither the effort from the mass could do anything measurable. The Pink Chaddi Campaign did not help, it seems. This year again, these good for nothing gundas have stood up saying they would boycott the celebration. At times I think who would take care of us? The army is busy standing on the border, shivering in cold nights and waiting for the foreign foes to attack us. What will happen to the enemy we have inside the country? Who will take care of these heartless nincompoops? No, the government will do nothing for us – it has never done, and it will not do anything, apart from saying in a press conference that strict action will be taken, only after there is a massacre – so, wait and let that happen first…

Well, this post is not only anti-Muthalik or his terror group called Sri Ram Sena, I just wanted to write about this thought that came to my mind when I saw a few common men being brave and abuse that fanatic in public. A couple of days ago, while Muthalik was chipped in an interactive session on Valentine’s Day celebrations organized by some Kannada TV channel, a few valiant ‘common men’ took pen ink and blackened his entire face, right beneath the nose of his Sena and police stranded for his security. I am happy that the crowd present there and the policemen did not try to capture any of those brave hearts. I loved his face, for once. And I really appreciate the people who did that – from the bottom of my heart.

Go on people. Go out with your Valentines and prove that love still exists and will continue to exist and will not be deterred by this toads in the well. And I wish to get some severe punishment to these extremists. If we can fight the Maoists and the LTTE so wide and open, we can easily throw these gangsters out of our society. The other groups that I mentioned had a thought in their uprising. That could have been correct too – but I have never read about those philosophies and hence, I am in no position to comment on them. But I know what Sri Ram Sena and Muthalik in Karnataka, Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, VHP all over the country and similar groups in other parts of the country are doing is wrong. Let us come together to fight these too. Why would the government protect them, while the police should protect us from these pests of the society? Let the names ‘Muthalik’, ‘Thakrey’ be an abuse. Let it be a curse and let every mother in India come up and say, ‘I would rather be barren, than having a son like this filthy fellow and all those who support him.’ Only then, when we would resolve our own issues inside our own country we will be able to develop and fight foreign invasions. We need to clean and sterilize our home, before trying to do that to our neighbors.

Phew! Chuk it!

Have a good time people and enjoy life. And yes,

Very Happy Valentine’s Day!!

The Tiger

2010-02-06T15:57:00.005+05:30

Tiger Tiger. burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye.
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

These are the lines from the famous poem, The Tiger by William Blake. I heard these lines from my father when I was in my growing years. What a wonderful Poem! At times I feel the poet might have travelled to India and looked closely into the eyes of the Royal Bengal Tiger before penning down the immortal lines. The poem, no doubt will remain immortal; but will the subject be? If we do not care and do not take steps right now, the subject of the poem, the tiger will not remain with us for long. India is one of the countries of the world which has shown drastic and rather alarming fall in the population of tigers over the last few decades.

The country started the last century with a count of over 40,000 tigers spread all over. Now, after a hundred years, as human population rose in multiples extensively, the population of tigers has fallen down and the count as of today is mere 1411 – a shocking number! And I am afraid that the tiger populace may be falling further as I am writing this.

It is time that we stand up to the cause of saving the tiger – our national animal. Yes! Its time we do something. It is not only the duty of the government or the NGOs working towards establishment and sustentation of a poacher free country to bring back the tiger population. It is our job too – the mass; the common man; you and I can make a difference. If we realize the loss we will incur by expunge of tigers from our country and if we want to prevent that from happening, we need to take the oath ourselves, stand up and contribute. This is the time when we are needed and this is the time we can show that we care.

The situation is same outside India too and the world is feeling the need to act together and save the species. Different initiatives are on all over the world to save the tiger. India is fighting back too. It is just that we need to plunge into the movement and save our tigers ourselves, before they too, go extinct. The last of the Bali tigers was killed in 1937. The Caspian tiger was declared extinct after 1950. Javan tigers were not seen after 1972. The South China tiger is almost extinct now. The Royal Bengal Tiger, would soon also be extinct, if the poachers of Sundarban are not stopped. A major part of Sundarban has now been converted for human dwelling, decreasing the tiger habitat in turn.

The two major reasons for depletion in the tiger numbers are poaching and loss of natural habitat. With increasing human population and in a quest for more and more living area, we are converting natural tiger habitats to human residences – knowingly or unknowingly. Here is the need to spread the thought and educate the people who live in and around the natural reserves for tigers about the necessity. Cutting down of trees for paper and furniture and molesting the forest environment bringing up sky-scrapers also cause diminution of natural habitat of tigers (and for any wild animal for that matter) in turn provoking more and more reduction in the overall population.

Tigers are poached and killed for different parts of their body. It is illegal to use animal fur or any other part of animal bodies in many countries around the world. However, the demand for the same in the black market is high. Different parts of tiger body, ranging from the corpus, skin and nails to their teeth are in high demand in the illegal poacher market where these items are sold for millions of bucks. This is the reason, poachers and dacoits tend to kill tigers and get some easy money in return – the irreversible extinction of the animal from the planet is not what they would cry or mere think twice for.

This has to STOP!

And this has to stop immediately. The government has been trying hard to save the tiger but as we can see around us, it is not enough. We need to stand by the organizations that are working day and night towards saving the tigers and other near-extinct animals of the world and our countries. We have taken much from the wild and it is time we should return a bit back to them. If not, it will not be surprising if our children read William Blake and ask us what he was talking about. We only see a Dodo in clippings of Ice-Age; we only see a Kiwi on cover of shoe polish. Let this not be the only destination of our beloved, respected and feared tigers. Let’s hold hands and let’s stand up. We can make a difference and stop the downfall of tiger dynasty only if we stand together. Let’s roar – let the spirit be heard – let the tiger live for ages to come! Let us take a pledge and work towards saving the tiger – our national animal!

As Bapu (M. K. Gandhi) said, “Be the Change you want you see (in others).”

Here are some links, if you want to browse through and know more about tiger and various activities going on around us to save our tigers.

The above list is not exhaustive; but sadly, the tiger population may exhaust in no time, if we do not SAVE the TIGER NOW!

A head full of Qs

2010-02-04T13:41:00.006+05:30

Everyone in this world has something to tell about. I was just going through the blog-roll I follow and it was really weird and bizarre to read the titles of the recent posts of each blog, in sequence. There were so many varied topics that my blog-mates have written on. Someone wrote a forwarded joke; one of them wrote about Indians in Australia; someone else wrote on Shiv Sena and Shahrukh Khan while some wrote poems or stories from the deepest part of their hearts and posted in their own blogs. So many things people were thinking about in the last couple of days and have depicted their thoughts in their blogs. Its really eerie when you go through the blog rolls or browse through various different kinds of blogs. Today was such a day for me.

There are so many more things that I think that need to be pointed out. Who will write about all those? Not one man can do that. There should be many. Many can do that but only an organized group of such people will be able to write about all that needs to be written about. That group of people who write about various things going around the world in an organized way and present them to the mass to read or understand/know is called the media. The media (be it newspaper or news channel) is supposed to bring us the news – as it is and as it should be presented for a better and elaborate understanding. But are they doing that? I am not sure. When I see Pranoy Roy and Barkha Dutt and their colleagues perspiring in search of news I tend to believe what they tell me. When I see the death toll after a recent quack being shown in one channel as 500 and in another as 250, I still try to tell myself that it can be anywhere between 300 to 400 and still believe what I see. Well, many of us do the same. But now, Ram Gopal Varma has released Rann – the war against the media where they show how they modify, amend and alter news and present in a way that will benefit these channels the most. I am yet to see the movie, but want to watch it soon.

The thought just came to my mind, while going through the blog roll. The newspapers in olden days used to be the same. With variety of news being printed and published on paper where you can just browse through and get to know what is happening around you. It would often include poems and jokes also and some advertisements, that we see on most blogs too. Everything was there in a paper – but somehow, people are losing interest on reading papers these days. There are so many gadgets and e-papers available around you that you need not read it at all. I miss those times.

But then again, Abhishek Bachhan and his Idea group will say that we should restrict usage of paper to save trees and use mobiles and these gadgets more. Too many things to tackle! Too many things to rattle your thoughts! So much happening in the world, and we still need to find out some time for House Loan, ECS, buying Fish from the distant shop, the ever increasing belly, the job and its new goals and learning, the blog-mates who would again ask you why you don’t write, and friends calling and asking why you don’t call them! Well, I’m blessed that my relatives do not call me at all – and do not bother me with these unnecessary questions. In a way, I feel like I’m mapped one to one (me and my wife) and hence, less pressure! (LOL) This is life – this is the pressure of it. I wonder, how my father (or many other fathers in the world) take this pressure each day for long decades!

Don’t laugh mate. I know I did not make much sense on this post, but this is something I was thinking all night yesterday, when I came from office, cooked something, ate, watched Dulip Trophy Final highlights and news channels during breaks and woke up this morning and browsed through the blog-roll. Its weird, I know. Let it be! Sometime, I intend to find answers; but for now, I am filling my head with all questions and I like it. If there are no questions that I search an answer for, then there is nothing much left in life to seek. Well, will try to answer one after the other soon. And that would be more to me!

Thanks for reading. Have a good time!

GOOGLE: Keeping your data secure

2010-01-26T14:58:00.003+05:30

Happy Republic Day! How independent are we today and how much or republic India is? Today morning, as I woke up, I got a bad news. The Gmail account of my cousin has been compromised. He could not login today morning and could not recover the password. He received calls from his friends enquiring why he has changed his Orkut profile. He was surprised. Then he checked through others’ IDs and found that someone has taken over his Orkut account, changed the profile picture and profile information and name. No wonder the new information was vulgar and abusive. He was terrorized and so were we, upon learning the incident.

I’m not sure if this is what China is doing and the big chaos people around the world are talking about. I just wanted to tell and warn my blogger friends and my readers. The following information is from Google Website. Please read through and beware! Wish you all the best.

And again, Happy Republic Day!

You may have heard that we recently detected an attack on Google's systems. We take account security very seriously, and we regularly provide our users with tips to help protect their Google account and their computer. To reduce the risk of becoming a victim of cyber attack, we recommend following these steps:

Check for viruses and malware. Run a scan on your computer with trusted anti-virus software. If the scan detects any suspicious programs or applications, remove them immediately. Read more
Change your password at least twice a year. Make sure you choose a password that contains a combination of numbers, characters, and case-sensitive letters to strengthen the security of your account. Read more.
Perform regular operating system and browser updates. Whether you use Windows or Mac OS, we recommend enabling your automatic update setting, and updating when you get a notification. To check for browser updates in Internet Explorer, select the Tools tab and click Windows Update. In Firefox, just click the Help tab and select Check for Updates. Note that Google Chrome automatically updates to a newer version when one is released.
Never use your Google Account password on another website. If this website is compromised and your password is discovered, someone could try to sign in to your Google Account with the same information.
Protect your password. Never enter your password after following a link in an email from an untrusted site. Always go directly to mail.google.com or https://www.google.com/accounts/Login. Also, never send your password via email. Google will never email you to ask for your password or other sensitive information.

If you use Gmail:

Update your secondary email address and your security question. This will help you recover your account if you ever lose access to it. Make sure that you have access to the email address listed as your secondary, and the answer to your security question is easy for you to remember, but hard for others to guess. Learn more
Use a secure connection when signing in. In your Gmail settings, select 'Always use HTTPS.' This setting protects your information from being stolen when you're signing in to Gmail on a public wireless network, like at a cafe or hotel. Read more

You should also be sure to:

Never tell anyone your password; if you do tell someone, change it as soon as possible.
Use a strong password, and don't write it down or send it via email.
Run scans and change your password immediately after noticing any changes in your account that you didn't initiate.
Always sign out of your account when you're using public computers. Just click Sign out at the top right corner of the screen when you're done using your Google Account.
Clear forms, passwords, cache, and cookies in your browser on a regular basis, especially on a public computer.

Third Marriage Anniversary

2010-01-23T11:12:00.001+05:30

January 23, 2007 was the day when we married – three years have passed till then. Things change; people change; places change and changes change too! With all the changes around us, we have stayed together. We have lived these three years in love, squabbles, pain and happiness – all knotted and mixed together, that it seems it will be there for a lifetime!

The journey has just started and we need to carry on for years to come. We can and we will stay together forever – for this is the only learning we learnt in these past three years of togetherness. Life is not a bed of roses and we will have to try hard to stand triumphant after all. That’s what we are doing or rather, trying to do. There will be ups and downs and we just need to go on…

Thank you God for all that you have given us and for all that we did not deserve, but still had it. Thanks a lot. We cannot thank thee enough for all that. We started from zero and whatever we could build upon have come only through your blessings. Accept our regards!

Please bless us, my friends and pray for us. We would need that and we would appreciate your support and cooperation in the years to come! Take care and be happy.

Love is an excuse to be happy or otherwise,
Life is a better excuse to be
happy - Always... Tan :)

Change is not for all...

2010-01-22T13:43:00.003+05:30

And, it happened!

Last week, my wife took the challenge and finished all her work quickly. Then she took on the fish tank and removed the fish from it first. Removed the water – cleaned the gravels and the pebbles and the other items in the tank. Scrubbed the tank walls and when she put it back on the top of the refrigerator, it was sparkling like crystal! She put in the fish…

A day went … and it happened!

The fish died!

Just after a day of cleaning the tank the fish died. I thought so, and I was afraid that this would happen, but did not want to spell it out. And the moment, the tank was cleaned, the fish died – abruptly and just as I thought, it would!

Same happens with us too… our lives. We think changes around us will make us happier or peaceful, but no. At times, a small change can be killing!!

Change is not always golden and gold is not always the best! Think of it people, before you plunge yourself into some change… I wish all the best to the fish for its new birth. I hope it is already born to a rich father and as a human being. May God bless thy soul!

Self Appraisal

2010-01-19T00:21:00.004+05:30

A little boy went into a drug store, reached for a soda carton and pulled it over to the telephone.
He climbed onto the carton so that he could reach the buttons on the phone and proceeded to punch in seven digits (phone number).

The store-owner observed and listened to the conversation:

Boy: Lady, Can you give me the job of cutting your lawn?
Woman: (at the other end of the phone line) "I already have someone to cut my lawn."
Boy: Lady, I will cut your lawn for half the price of the person who cuts your lawn now.
Woman: I'm very satisfied with the person who is presently cutting my lawn.
Boy: (with more perseverance) "Lady, I'll even sweep your curb and your sidewalk, so, on Sunday you will have the prettiest lawn in all of Palm beach, Florida."
Woman: No, thank you.

With a smile on his face, the little boy replaced the receiver. The store-owner, who was listening to all this, walked over to the boy.

Store Owner: Son... I like your attitude; I like that positive spirit and would like to offer you a job.
Boy: No thanks.
Store Owner: But you were really pleading for one.
Boy: No Sir, I was just checking my performance at the job I already have. I am the one who is working for that lady I was talking to!

This is what we call
"Self Appraisal."

This was shared by my Manager yesterday. And trust me, it kick started my week as nothing before!!

Laal Selam, Jyoti Babu

2010-01-17T17:28:00.006+05:30

Jyoti Basu, veteran Communist Party of India (Marxist) Leader and the path finder of Communism in India has left for heavenly abode this morning. He was 95 years old. He was ailing for a long time and was fighting hard, until he lost his final fight to multiple organ failure and passed away today at 11:47 AM in Kolkata.

I never met him; I remember going to mass addresses of other leaders and Prime Ministers of India when they used to go to Agartala, but I don’t remember of going in any of his gatherings. Having said so, Jyoti Babu has always had a lasting impact on the people of Tripura. Everyone in the state always looked forward to Jyoti Basu and his contribution towards development of Tripura. The state being only the third communist state in India, was very close to Jyoti Basu’s heart.

Jyoti Babu, was the longest serving chief minister of West Bengal (and the country) and he served for a period of 23 long years, since 1977 till 2000 when he left all public appearances. In 1996, when the NDA government was going to form, he was requested to become the Prime Minister, to which the CPI(M) party disagreed. Basu later called it as, “Historical Blunder” for the communist party and the communist ideology.

I remember a childhood incidence when a child in school was asked about the chief minister of Tripura and he steadily pronounced the name of Jyoti Basu. Thus was the impact of the pragmatic leader. He had a long political career of 60 years, since he came back from London in 1940 and joined the communist party in West Bengal. He was a London returned barrister and could have earned a huge fortune for himself in those times, but he chose to serve the people and took to politics.

I know how much my father is hurt today. I talked with him the moment I heard the saddening news. He would not shed tears, but deep inside, he would cry rivers today; for he has seen Jyoti Babu from close vicinity and have known him since long. Same goes for my father in law. I talked to him too. They pretended to be sound and tough over the phone, but I know – I know what is going through their hearts and millions of communists and Bengalis in and out of Bengal.

I wish I would have known the leader more closely and could have learnt something from his ideologies, but life never gave me that opportunity. Now that he is no more with us, I would not get the opportunity ever again. I am happy that I lived during his lifetime – I’m honored more!

As a last gesture towards humanity and the cause he lived for, Basu left his whole body for medical and scientific research. This tells the story of a man, who lived for the people and when he died, he was only thinking of his own people.

I render a Red Salute to Comrade Jyoti Basu. May his soul rest in peace! Long live Communism! Long live Jyoti Basu’s legacy!

Golden Ring of Fire

2010-01-15T19:49:00.003+05:30

Today, there was a Total Solar Eclipse. Another one! But it was different too, like every other one else. This eclipse was seen after long time and will only be visible again after mere 1000+ years. The feature of this terrestrial event was that even it was a total solar eclipse, it did not give the Diamond Ring which forms generally at the peak of an eclipse. This time, it gave a Golden Ring of Fire. This time, what I felt is that the moon was further from earth and hence, showing more part of the sun while in eclipse. This is the reason, we got a thicker ring of the sun around the moon and there was no diamond ring. So, the one we saw is named as Golden Ring of Fire.

However, it was not visible from Bangalore and I never knew about the occasion too. It was only when my wife woke me up from sleep in the middle of the afternoon and told me about it, I went outside and watched the eclipsed sun through an X-ray plate. Well, I know it was not safe, but then I did not watch it for long; just a few seconds of exposure to direct radiations from the sun. I called up my parents and they asked not to look at the sun, while I already did that. We from Bangalore, could see only half or slightly more than half of the eclipse. The Golden Ring of Fire was visible only from Rameshwaram. Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) sent a few rockets yesterday, today during the eclipse and will send some tomorrow to spy around and see the activities before, during and after the eclipse. Some fellow on TV was researching on animals’ and birds’ behavior during the time. I liked the concept. Do more research fellows and hope you find out something which would aid the planet and its environment and we would see less of calamities like the Quake in Haiti, recently.

Well, people in office were not sitting idle too. They took out their cameras and captured the eclipsed sun from a few angles too. The Golden Ring was visible for almost 11 long minutes and the total eclipse time went over 2.5 hours this time. That was a boost to the spectators who travelled from different places to be at the best place they could to watch the Sun being eclipsed by the Moon. People all over India and other parts of the world paid homage to the Gods and did various Puja and offerings, during the period, which ended with a holy dip in the nearest (auspicious) river. Would not see this happen again in this life! Hope to see some more such supernatural events which tell us every time that even if we ask science to come in between and reason, we know and trust the existence of God somewhere deep in our hearts. Thank you God for letting us see this event.

I will leave you with a few pictures taken from office today by my colleague, Unnikrishnan. Enjoy! (I envy his camera :P)

To know more about today’s Solar Eclipse and for more pictures of the Golden Ring of Fire, please visit the following link: Indiatimes >> Picture Stories >> Solar Eclipse 2010.

The lonely fish in my aquarium

2010-01-14T02:55:00.004+05:30

There is a fish in our fish tank - a lonely one now. We had a lot of fishes and this one is there for a long time, unlike older ones. We did not change the water for almost 7-8 months now and the small tank is full with scum all over it. The fish is no beautiful. It was bluish when we bought it about 8 months ago and it lost its color now. It’s almost colorless; eats only once when we wake up from sleep in the afternoon; remains in one corner of the tank; does not move much. A couple of times, we thought of cleaning the tank, but somehow we did not. The fish is still there. You cannot find it if you do not look into the tank carefully. There is no light in the tank anymore. The oxygen pump does not work either. The fish is still there. And we feed it every noon when we wake up. Are we waiting for it to die?

Sadistic!

I'm not sure what we are waiting to happen to the fish or the tank around it. I can, but do not want to think about the lonely fish in our fish tank.

Did you get what I wanted to tell in the above thing? Well, I'm not very much sure what I meant above, but it is more like waiting for something to happen - something real bad, which is obvious and we do not want that to happen either; but somehow, we are walking in that path and we are almost eager for that to happen - that, which is something bad! Maybe, the fish would die soon and maybe that will be the day we would clean the tank and buy new fishes - more colorful ones - running from one end to the other and disappearing and reappearing in fraction of seconds. Maybe, we would consider buying another oxygen pump for the tank too... I do not know; but if all these happen, they may happen only when this last fish die...

Really, sadistic!

Or we can take out the water tomorrow morning and clean the tank and put the fish back in it. Maybe we can also bring a few more fishes on Saturday and a pump for the tank and everything will be fine again. Yes, we can do that!

But the big question is, will we do it? God alone knows...

(This is where it all started, in July 2007!)

Happy New Year!!

2010-01-07T04:35:00.000+05:30

Wish you a very Happy New Year 2010!

2010-01-01T00:00:00.000+05:30

Happy New Year friends! Its time again to wish – its time again to leave things behind and move ahead in life – towards happiness, towards perfection and towards ‘Self Realization’! This morning brought a new day, a new month and a new year with it. 2010. TwentyTen has begun. Wish you all a very Happy New Year and a time filled with joy, happiness, love and prosperity for the next 365 days and all the days of your life that are to come. May God bless you with all the god things in life! Keep laughing and keep spreading love all around and within yourself. Be good, do good and where you cannot, pretend to be good – and you will find one day – All Izz Well!

Blah! Blah! Blah! Blah!

Cut that crap! I wish you a year full of Sex, Alcohol and Heavenly Orgasms… and I wish you win that F***ing Lottery this year…

LOL! LMAO! Well, the above is a (modified) SMS I got amongst all the others. Everyone wished so much and so many good things that they forgot the basic needs of life. I liked and appreciated all the SMS or messages and emails I got and I thank you for those, but this one was special (with utmost respect to all others). Incidentally, this SMS was sent from a special friend – one, I cannot forget. I am sure he has not written it, because he would not have the time to invest on writing F***ing SMSs, but he is the one who sent it to me, which mattered.

We saw ‘3 Idiots’ today. In fact, we finished it a few minutes ago. They swapped the characters and modified the book, ‘Five Point Someone’ and what they created was no less than a great movie. Both (the book and the movie) are inspirational. We were three close(!!) friends in college too and I always related to the characters from the book closely. The ‘Ryan,’ ‘Rancho’ or Aamir’s character is something the reader would idolize. The characters are a bit different from each other, but they resemble one of the three in our group – my friend Rohan! I always thought he would have done justice if he were to be related to this bookish hero. I loved and followed him closely and he knows that. Sadly, we did not meet for a long time – almost five years!

You know the similarity between the above two paragraphs? Hehehe… yeah! Good guess. The SMS was sent by this fellow. I was watching the movie and was remembering him – his words and his works – more so, after getting the SMS last night. Nothing remarkable to remember about him – apart from his goal orientation, passion and unidirectional devotion to things that he took up!

He is in Bangalore now; after a long world tour and I wish to meet him sometime. Lets see if this new year can bring us together again! (I remember Somnath telling, “You are obsessed with him.” – LOL)

Hmm… as I said, lets see!

I started saying, this is the time of the year that we move on. There are a few reasons for me to move on too. Well, my wife stays with me for the rest of my life! I’m not talking about moving on in this relationship – hehe. It was made ages before we were born and hence, we will be together – forever and ever and one more day!

The first thing, that I will be leaving behind and move on is my job in HP. Well, I still have the job and I will be working in Hewlett Packard too, but the profile is going to change from now onwards. I have got into reporting and analytics and hence, I will no more be resolving customer’s issues as long as I am in this role. It was a hard earned movement and I am happy that I got through. Thanks for the wishes, I will talk about that later, may be.

The second thing I would leave and move on is Facebook. I was not in Facebook for long and I really enjoyed my days in FB. I transferred my wife’s account to my name to play games on FB and let me tell you, they have a great list of good games. I enjoyed playing FarmTown, FarmVille, Fish World, FishVille, Café World and Mafia Wars etc. These were the top games there and I liked the time I spent there. I will surely miss the gifts and calls for help in wars. Thinking of them, I smile now! I had made a lot of people to add me in their lists and as of now, my list shows 371 names in FB. I am happy that I did not get along with any of those that close that it would hurt me to leave FB, like it did when I left Orkut! Phew! …

Here are a few collages of my Games in FB, so that I can always remember the toil and time I spent on raising my fish tank, empire, my farm and my café:

Anyways, as DjN told the other day, ‘this is the year.’ Let this be the Year! Let this be THE YEAR! I have found a path now – a ray of light in the tunnel of my career. In the last three and half years of my work in HP I was heading nowhere; but after this movement into the A&R team, I see a definite career path. I want to put in my efforts towards walking on what I see. This is one of the reasons I am thinking of leaving everything else and concentrate on learning the tricks of the new trade I am in. As 3 idiots said, “Kabil bano, Kamiyaabi jhak marke tumhare peechhe ayegi. (Be capable; success will follow you)” Wish me luck and happiness.

Resolutions?

Well, I will do it next year! Hehe… jokes apart, I do not have anything in particular this year (I want to check back the last year’s post and see what I wrote last time and how much I fulfilled that), but I want to devote time on my career now – after school, after graduation and after post graduation and after four years of work experience, I am into something that I should be liking – I mean, this is something I could best relate to my aspirations in career. So, let me put my head in it and dig as much as I can. This is what I want to do this year.

Hmm, will talk to you about this in a year’s time then.

Okay! So, you have read this much? Great!! Never expected though :P What is it with your New year this time? Do let me know. Do share it here. Have fun and have a good year ahead – TwentyTen!

May you live as long as you do!

Tagged again!

2009-12-05T20:11:00.002+05:30

This time, I was tagged in Facebook. Well, I have not told you about my Facebook account. Will tell in some time. Many tagged me, so tried to take up the exercise once more…

***********************************

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?
No… I was named thinking of my father’s name in mind – but no particular similarity in the two, other than that both starts with ‘T’… well, my horoscope name was given after my elder cousin (Ram) and my Grandfather (Haribilash) – Lakkhibilash or Lakkhan (BTW, it has also come from the fact that I was born the next day of Lakkhi Puja.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?
Today, when I wake up and saw my wife’s tiny hands… she could hold only less! She slept for a few hours before she woke up, did all house chores and went to office, without food. I cry? May be…

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?
Hmmm… yes! I never had a good handwriting and was scolded always for this. Then my Mom told, “keep in mind that you need to write in a better way and keep writing.” I think that helped a lot and then, after a few years, I was actually praised for this. All these happened 10 years ago! Now, I don’t write much, apart from signing in the checkbook or the cab roster! So, don’t know…

4. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?
Yes! Not only because I am a good person and a trustworthy friend, but because of the best quality of a friend that I have – I can keep secrets! Lol! Even my friends keep mine… anyways, I would have a second thought too, if I really know me. I am not ‘a friend in need’ always – and I have reasons to say this.

5. DO YOU USE SARCASM?
Well, I do, I think. I never knew the meaning of the word until I joined college/PG. Those English classes were good. How do you pronounce ‘parrot?’ LOL …

6. HOW DO YOU WANT YOUR LIFE TO BE IN A COUPLE OF YEARS? (REALISTICALLY PLEASE)
Actually, I have no idea. But would like to move in to my new flat and get settled there and earn at least that much so that I can (really) ask my wife to leave her job. May be, we can increase ‘our’ count by then.

7. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?
Yes I would. It’s not that I am not afraid of doing that. But if my wife (and my parents) and friends are there looking at me, I would do that. I just want to be a hero in everyone’s eyes! (I’m not sure if jumping upside down from that height with a secured rope tied to your legs is actually an act of glory!)

8. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?
Rice – because we can make two of my favorite food items from it – Noodles and Dosa!

9. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?
I have the campus shoes which have laces on them and I do untie the laces – would not come out, otherwise…

10. WOULD YOU MOVE AGAIN?
I’m not sure what is meant by ‘move’ here! I will have to move as I do every moment. But if you are asking me if I will move into some apartment, well I will; and if you are asking if I will move out of the relationship I have, NO… not in this life, I pray! Anyways, lets move on to the next question.

11. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?
The way they talk (and what they talk about), move, gesture and smile. Well, all these combined is the ‘first thing.’

12. RED OR PINK?
RED – because it’s the color of Sindur, blood and the Compaq logo! My Maa’s favorite color is red – so, out of these two – RED! Gimme Red… :P

13. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
I’m a chatterbox. Well, I dislike one more thing more than this – I’m lazy, I waste time and I’m not goal oriented – not at this moment, for sure. I have got lots to do and I’m wasting time writing all these, thinking people will read me and will be eager to know who/what/how I am! Bullshit!

14. WHAT DO YOU MISS THE MOST?
My days in IIPM, during my PG! There are lot of reasons for that and this space, is nowhere near to take all those!

15. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO COMPLETE THIS LIST?
NO! Absolutely not… well, people I tag may do it, but I cant guarantee that I will read you – even though you have read me till this!

16. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING RIGHT NOW?
Sorry – none right now :P I’m home…

17. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?
TV Commentary by Laxman Sivaramakraishnan. Day 4. India vs Sri Lanka. JayPee Cup. India on the brink of winning the third test and the series and the cup and most importantly, the Number one position in ICC Test rankings – for the first time in the history. By the time you are reading this, we ‘are’ already at the top!

18.WHAT ANNOYS YOU THE MOST?
These days, power cut!
Well, there are things that depend on situations. One thing I get annoyed is with myself and my inability to make myself heard and understood.

19. FAVORITE SMELL?
Petrol, Kerosene, Paint and New Books and ________. Least favorite is the smell of alcohol. This is the reason I smoke so heavily when I drink!

20. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE?
My Wife… as she left for office!

21. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU?
Yes, all of them! I have not met any of them, but I feel, I know them very closely.

22. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
Football and Snooker (or any other Queue game)… but I do not get the chance to watch it.

23. HAIR COLOR?
Black and the white and gray ones are mushrooming in too … sadly!

24. EYE COLOR?
Brown – medium brown and I am sure they look really good. My best feature, after all!

25. DO YOU HAVE ANY MAJOR REGRETS?
Hmmm… yes! I could have been a better son; but now that I have done it and could never be one, there is no point in regretting. I want to… no, let me not spell it out here. I don’t want to regret later again.

26. FAVORITE FOOD?
Noodles – Hakka, Hunnun, Thukpa, Koithai, Mifun, with sauce or without it, with you or without you, day or night, in diarrhea or in Bhuturia, with a fork or without it – I love Noodles!! The best one is what mom used to prepare – Chow Chow – boil, rinse and put onion, chilly and Maggie Hot and Sweet Tomato Chilly Sauce – it’s different! Really!! Ullooooooshhhh!!

27. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?
Happy Endings. I can sit there for three hours hiding behind my wife or clawing the seat or trying to keep the holy spirit inside me and stay alive. But while coming out of the theatre, I would like to throw the packet of pop corn in the dustbin and walk with a smile.

28. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED, AND WITH WHOM?
One, Two, Three in Set Max – what wastage of time! Was alone at home and had nothing to do!!

29. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?
Its not a shirt – a sleeveless blue T-shirt!

30. SUMMER OR WINTER?
Winter – for a simple reason that I believe in: You can wear things and keep winter off; but you cannot take off things to keep summer out!!

31. HUGS OR KISSES?
Depends… something unauthentic is not welcomed!
LOL… I love both, actually… we share a joke – Public Display of Affection! So, anything is fine, as long as the kisses are ONLY from my wife :)

32. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
Handshakes.

33. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND?
Tantrums and street fights!

34. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?
Did not read any novels recently. Want to read Chetan Bhagat’s new one. But read some ‘Rahashyo Omnibus’ by various writers. Its good.

35. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?
No Mouse pad – the mouse lied bare on the computer table.

36. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT?
Last night? I was working pals!! Anyways, I saw the match whenever I got chance.

37.WHAT LITTLE THING MAKES YOU HAPPY?
Sudden ‘hellos’ from distant friends and the jokes and laughter we share when we are alone – that is most of the times :)

38. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES?
Michael Learns to Rock! To choose from the two… hmmm… rolling stones.

39. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?
2 years, 10 months and 19 days now and still counting…

40. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?
I guess I have some talent – I’m not sure if it is special anyways. For largely, I’m jack of all trades and master of none!

41. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK?
NONE!! Actually, a few, if they happen to answer… Shil and Prem’s? (I tagged them in FB) Well. May be…

42. HOW DID YOU MEET YOUR SPOUSE/SIGNIFICANT OTHER?
I don’t know – I mean, I don’t remember. Maybe when her parents brought her to mine or mine went there, carrying me as an 8 months old baby to meet the little princess… cant tell exactly. I met her when she was born!

Phew! I completed that… it was tiresome and due to the power cut in between, a lengthy work too… I liked the exercise and I think we should take up such things at times. It helps in retrospect and introspects!

Wanted to add a few questions more to get the count to 50! But then, thought against it…

Take Light

2009-11-07T01:00:00.000+05:30

“I am not happy with things around me. I am feeling suffocated. I feel I am bound by lots of DOs and DONTs in life and at times, I feel smothered.” Well, this is what most of us feel, don’t we? One of my friends told me this today and something inside me moved. And when I asked myself, I saw that I too feel the same, somewhere deep inside.

Life is not so simple – it never was. When I was a kid, I used to think life is very simple – colorful, truthful, blissful. Yes, life is blissful, but then we are not always blessed with that bliss. When we try hard and fight against all odds to reach a level where we think we should be happy, the GameMaker changes the difficulty level, saying that this is not the end and you need to carry on. So, we do – we don’t stop playing FarmVille in office, neither do we stop chatting with members of the opposite sex in Facebook, or smoking when your partner is not around – and thus, we carry on.

I am also not happy – not even after disregarding the whole society and marrying the best girl in the world. There are reasons for my unhappiness. India lost yesterday by mere 3 runs even after Sachin scored his 45th ODI century to the Awful Aussies – leaving me poignant. I read the news of fire in Oil reservoirs in Jaipur beating thousands off their homes and became sad. I was surprised as well as pissed off hearing the Muslim groups talk against the National Anthem – shouldn’t I be sad? I have a few hundred more reasons to be not happy. And so I am not.

But who cares? I will tell you one thing here – nobody gives a damn if you are unhappy or otherwise – not in this world! Everyone around you are so engrossed in their own lives that they do not find the time to care for you – its true! India too, is becoming America now. Nobody cares for anyone. So, why be sad?

Well, let’s not go far and look into my own life here. I am playing a few games available in Facebook these days – online and real-time games, like FarmVille, Mafia Wars, FarmTown, FishTank, UNO, Scrabble, Chess, Premiere Football etc. and I count hours and days when I can feed my fishes or harvest my crop. I wait for the next day when I will get an Energy pack and would be able to do some more jobs and enhance my level. It gives me happiness. I feel this is some time I spend for myself and I do this religiously. In doing so, I keep ignoring my wife and fool around with her emotions, time and happiness. She works all over the week in office and simultaneously does the house chores and wants me to spend most of the time with her, during weekends or whenever possible – which, I devote to my online games, thinking of spending some time for myself during my week off. So, in pursuit of my happiness, I sacrifice whose pleasure? The one who is the treasure of my life and around whom my life and my happiness revolves! I can say that she tries to binds me during weekends too and does not allow me to play in my leisure and sulk or else, I can give up playing those online time consumers and make her happy sitting next to her doing absolutely nothing while she is cooking in the kitchen. So, to make her happy, I need to renounce my happiness – isn’t it?

NO! What I can do is to plant long crops that mature only over the weekend and play during the weekdays when I am alone and thus keeping my entertainment quotient intact and giving her maximum amount of time possible. I (need to) ADJUST! This is the amount of fine-tuning that I am talking about today.

In a relationship or while we are in a family, we have certain priorities, goals and responsibilities that we cannot sideline. Keeping people happy is not the goal here; keeping people from being sad is! A little bit of adjustment and compromise can bring wonders in one’s life. Doing more things that you are supposed to do and doing less things that you want to do makes a difference. We cannot be happy all the time and we will definitely be not happy if people around us are grump. There are huge lists of DOs and DONTs in every family, every company and every hospital. Somewhere they bind people into stronghold relationships; somewhere they build strong teams and somewhere they save lives.

Keep yourself in the shoes of your father, asking you not to go around with filthy girls. He knows where they can lead you and why they should not be entertained. You might be enjoying those one night stands and public display of affection for some time, but you are sure to get drown in the fake and momentary happiness they would give you. The ‘DO NOT’ from father may sound harsh to you, but someday you will surely realize that what he told was right – may be perfect!

We go through stages in life, when life seems to be bottlenecked and we gasp for that fresh breeze or that one single star in the darkest night sky to give us light; when we find nothing is going right and that suffocates us from inside. This is the time, when we should stand tall and break the shackles for ourselves. I know the world will not give me time and space and I also know that I have only one life to do all that can be done. So, what do I do? That’s the question and whoever finds an answer to this (All by Oneself) will level up soon.

Take light!

Think less on how you are going to do a job,
Think more on what you are going to do.
This is what I believe in,
The rest is all up to you! ... Tan :)

A Song I love

2009-10-24T22:45:00.004+05:30

My B'day Gift!

2009-10-17T00:26:00.006+05:30

My Birthday Gift

At 2 AM in the night, when my wife came back from office, I was almost half dead in my bed when she wished me 'Happy Birthday' and gave me this wonderful Blue Rose! A Gift I would always cherish... I never thought that after all tiring night shift, she will be able to bring a gift for me! When I forget to get a gift for her she smiles and waits for the day when she would gift me something and her gifts are always like her - Wonderful and Exclusive :)

Thanks Love :)

Happy Diwali

2009-10-16T14:10:00.007+05:30

Happy Diwali… May the festival of lights lighten your lives and hearts and may Maa Kali bless all of you with love, prosperity and happiness.

Tomorrow is Kali Puja, and also Diwali (or Deepawali) celebrated all over India and by Indians all over the world. This year, Diwali just got a bit more colorful and brighter with its inception in the White House, USA. President Barak Obama is celebrating Diwali this year. The news channels showed him lighting the lamp already and a pundit chanting slokas, “Asotoma Sat gamaya, Tamosoma Jyotir gamaya, Mrityurma Amritam gamaya.” I hope he has remembered to tell Prez Obama the meaning of the words. The news of the Nobel prize came in good time it seems!

Anyways, let the world celebrate Diwali this time and let the festival fill the world with lights. This year it’s a Saturday and we are planning to lit diyas and fire crackers. Does anyone know where I can go to fetch some crackers in Bangalore? Well, by the time you read this, I must have bought some. So, never mind :P

This year, my birthday fell on the exact date. Maa said that every seven years it happens when it is a Wednesday, the 27th day of Ashwina and 14th of October. This was the very date when I was born 28 years ago! Yes, I am 28+ now and almost touching 30! Have I grown that old? The certificate tells that, but somewhere in depth of my heart I feel that I am still a kid – my wife and my mother will agree with that for sure. But I know, I have grown up. I remember the poem, “আপনাকে বড় বলে বড় সে নয়, লোকে যারে বড় বলে বড় সেই হয়।” Yea – right, but I am sure it was not told about this kind of ‘growing up.’ There are times when I find myself a little kid and at times, I find I have grown up. I know everyone feels the same – at least those who are my age. And actually, I enjoy being so!

Tell you what, I want to finish the above poem here. I so love it and have heard/recited it a thousand times since childhood. Ok, let me write it down here first:

আপনাকে বড় বলে বড় সে নয়,
লোকে যারে বড় বলে বড় সেই হয়।
বড় হওয়া সংসারেতে কঠিন ব্যপার,
সংসারে সে বড় হয়, বড় গুণ যার।
গুণেতে হইলে বড়, বড় বলে সবে,
বড় যদি হতে চাও, ছোট হও তবে।

I was actually confused about the last line for a long time, but as I grew up, I think I learnt the meaning of the same. Anyways!

This birthday was a bit on the sober side. No plans, no celebrations and absolutely no talks! When the clock struck 12, Maitri took a break from her work to call me. We talked :D Then, Prem called me to wish. He was again confused this year, asking me on 13th evening if the day was 11th – and I laughed :) But at last, he was right on time! Then, Baba sent me an SMS, wishing me good returns. He always does that. My father is like, ‘He might be sleeping. I will keep awake till 12 O’clock and send a quick SMS and sleep too. Will call him tomorrow morning.’ No Baba! I was awake, wasn’t I? And wasn’t I waiting for your call? It took 11 minutes for him to type those two lines and send. Anyways, I called him back and we talked for a short while before he slept. That’s it! Then Ruchi called me, from Baba’s number in the evening to wish. Joy also called the next day to wish belated. All accepted and I was happy :)

I have some plans for this weekend, when we will be together and we can do a small celebration kind of thing. Lets see if everything goes fine – Diwali and B’day. Actually, in our place, tomorrow it is Kali Puja and Diwali is celebrated the next evening. Lets see, if I can make it big this time. But first, I need to find some crackers. I pray to the scanner god (:P), no I mean, to the Goddess Kali that I find some crackers this time…

Well, let me wish you all a grand Diwali this year. It is also new year time for the North Indians. So, wish you all a very happy new year too; and the worship Devi Laxmi on this day. May the goddess Laxmi fill your lives with light, colors and gold coins. Gold coins remind me of Dhanteras! Happy Dhanteras to all of you :D Go guys go – rush and celebrate the festivity. Don’t waste anymore time in reading me… I really like this time when there are so many festivals all around the world.

And who do you think will win the Champions League T20 cup? Hmm… mmm… ummm… well, I don’t know. I wish the Bangalore Royal Challengers win, but I am afraid the odds are in favor of the Cobras from South Africa. Fingers crossed!

^_^ Happy Diwali ^_^
Happiness to all!

Have a Good one!

2009-09-08T18:43:00.004+05:30

Hello mates, how have you been? It has been sometime since I wrote here. Well, I was busy like hell and could find but no time for my writing. I could not read much too. Last month, my parents were here and it was more or less a serious medical treatment that my mother went through. She is fine now and they are back to my home, in Agartala. Then, we had a lot of planning and contingencies and have finally booked a flat here in Bangalore – our first ever home!

Well, all that is a part of life and will keep on happening. I am happy that everything is happening good and fine. By God’s grace, everything will happen for fine too.

A sort of bad news is that we are not going home this Puja. We planned a lot and wasted lots of money purchasing and cancelling tickets. I was reading Chetan Bhagat on Twitter, the other day saying that he was made a travel agent for his entire family booking tickets, since he knew how to do that online. Well, it’s almost same for me too… my wife helped a lot in the process too. After all the discussions, permutations and combinations and planning, we decided that this time too, we will be enjoying (!!) Puja here in Bangalore. Not going home!

Anyways, I am seeing light at the end of the tunnel. The best thing is, I am not going to cancel my leaves from office. That means, from 19^th of September till 4^th of October, I am completely free. And my wife has told me that I am free to leave home and roam around during that time – what else do you want??? Well, I am not happy solely because I am going to (I mean, I may) enjoy travelling but also because I have some time for myself. I will try to get cut off from the internet and from those gadgets and will devote more time to reading, roaming, photography, music, sleep and lots of alcohol! Hahahaha… I am planning a lot for these days to come – a lot! Man proposes – God disposes! I know, I know – but then, I would like to propose it this time and I wish I can do everything that I want to do. May Maa Durga be by my side and bless me with bliss!

Ok, before I leave you for today I need to announce one thing. I have another blog – incognito – about the programmer in me! I created that during the same time I created this blog, but I never find time to update that or make it readable. I plan to do that too, during this time. It would contain all the programs I have made, which are mentionable – my games, utilities and sTdwares! Hehehe… confused with that name? Well, that was my dream studio – my own company, for which I already have a few people ready to get employed. LOL! I will post and publish and uncover the same shortly – you will get to know more about it then.

Lastly, I want to remember a few friends of mine today, before I leave. A few of my closest friends have their birthday being celebrated in the coming few days. Time has kept us apart but I want to tell you all, that I remember you. My friends Sajal, Moulendu, Rahul and Banani share their birthday with Akshay Kumar tomorrow – 9/9. Two days after that Ashish will celebrate his birthday – 9/11. I will always remember you, buddy. I would never forget the time we spent together. It was awesome! And on 9/13 it’s the birthday of Shiladitya and Ranjana. Wish you all a very great Birthday and a happy life ahead! Have fun and keep rocking ... :)

This is for you all:

Have a Good One!

62nd Independence Day - Jai Hind!

2009-08-15T00:00:00.000+05:30

This year, I am late in posting my Independence Day post. Well, that does not mean I have not read others. Today, I went through a lot of reviews, pictures, blogs, stories and articles on Independence Day and I would say, people really spoke this time. I would speak too – as I see it.

The 62nd Independence day – India leaps up to another phase. There is so much that have kept India shaking and/but/yet moving – Slumdog Millionaire – Medals in Olympic – Recession – Satyam – IPL – Lay Offs – 26/11 Terror Attack – Akshay Kumar – Bomb Blasts – Chandrayan – T20 – Elections – Swine Flu and US/Pak Terrorism were all India raised up and stood mountainous! The cutoff in Tax and the inclusion of Rahul Dravid in the Indian team, against Dhoni and Kirsten’s will are all making news. And with all these, India is shining and shining bright. Happy Independence Day!

Today, as you all might remember, is the 62nd Birthday of my mother too. She had a minor operation yesterday and moved in to the next year in her life sleeping. The morning was vibrant, because I was there with them – my parents share 29th marriage anniversary today too. We cut cake, distributed sweets (among ourselves) and presented saree and shirt – but they were not happy. They would not be happy with me ever, probably! I wish I could be wrong.

Well, the year so far was a big one for me, seeing many changes in life – some good, some better. I know there is no shortcut to happiness; but at times, I wish, what if everything can be changed to a way I want that to be? India is developing, and so am I. Then, why is there a fuss? Have I made everything here very fussy? I guess, I have… but then, I ask again – did I do it for a good cause? Did I have any cause, at all? And if I had, why am I not happy then? Or, am I happy and I cannot understand it? Today, I am in a mood of asking questions and I know, as usual, there will be no one to answer all these – CRAP – they call these! My plights are like these kites – they promise to meet the sky and dissolve or disappear, but as long as I have the other end of the rope tied to my hand, I should know, they would always stay…

Anyways, hope we wake up to a new India – a developed India with a broader mentality and scope of love and respect, which has gone missing, since the time I started to love!

May God bless me! May God bless every citizen of India and may India shine brighter and brighter – some of the light, would surely pass my window panes and get into my room and make it look brighter too. Amen!

Jai Hind!

Previous Years' Posts: 2008, 2007

Swine Flu Emergency Warning Signs

2009-08-13T15:00:00.000+05:30

The First case of death in Bangalore has risen the alarm here too. I am sure we would do good by taking some precautions and measures not to fall prey to this H1N1 Virus. I have taken out some symptoms here, which is not an exhaustive list. Please go through the same and any other material available in the web to know more. Proper information is very important and should be known to us...
Tan...

Dont Panic - Wear Masks - Take preventive measures and Be safe!

Swine Flu Emergency Warning Signs
Early Signs Of Swine Flu In Children

Skin turns a bluish color
Trouble breathing or breathing become fast
Extended rest – the child does not want to wake up
No interaction – the child does not want to interact with those around them
Irritability - the child becomes irritable to the extent that they do not want to held
Flu like symptoms – these may improve but then return with an even heavier cough and fever
Fever with a rash
Dehydration caused by lack of fluid intake – the child may not want to drink

Early Signs Of Swine Flu In Adults
Confusion
Dizziness
Pain or feeling of pressure in the abdomen or chest
Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
Vomiting

If you live in an area where swine flu has been identified and you display some of the early signs and symptoms contact your health care provider immediately.

To avoid spreading swine flu, avoid contact with other people and remain indoors.

Emergency Information in Bangalore:
SDS Tuberculosis & Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases
Address: Hosur Road, Hombegowda Nagar, Bangalore - 29 (MAP)
Phone: (080) 26631923
Contact: Dr. Shivaraj - 9980148780

Shopping City - New Online Game

2009-08-05T23:59:00.001+05:30

You know people I am dying to write about so many things in here. Only thing is I am not getting the time and scope of doing so! There have been a lot of changes in recent times – some developments and some retrenchments. Anyways, I wanted to write about everything. Let me try…

Well, first of all, my parents came to Bangalore – and we met after 2 years, 6 months and 8 days to be exact! Think of it – we are still living in India and practicing lives in UK/US. I do not like this distance and neither do my parents; but it seems it is inevitable right now.

Then, today we took a decision – a big one – will let you know about this later. The happening fact of this matter is that exactly 11 years ago, on August 5, 1998 we took another big decision in my life – to join NERIST. The night before was weird – a toiling one and it has been a similar night yesterday too. We had long phone calls and people from all over gave suggestions and thoughts before we zeroed in. I hope it is going to be a fruitful decision… Amen!

Well, before I stop I would like to introduce you all to a new Online Game that me and my wife came across recently and loved it to the core. It’s a small strategy game – more or less like Ceaser (if you have played the game) and the best part is it is quick! The name of the game is "Shopping City" and the idea is to build and design a city accessible to the citizens who can shop and you can make money of it. There are targets (sales targets :P) to achieve within a fixed number of days and a few tricks that you will know once you start playing the game. You will surely enjoy it – do not waste time reading this – go play!

Link to the Game:

Shopping City @ OfficeGameSpot.com

Some pictures I took while playing – might help you in planning too…

Why Me?

2009-07-26T03:04:00.002+05:30

Arthur Ashe, the legendary Wimbledon player was dying of AIDS which he got due to infected blood he received during a heart surgery in 1983.

From world over, he received letters from his fans, one of which conveyed: "Why does GOD have to select you for such a bad disease"?

To this Arthur Ashe replied:
"The world over -- 50 million children start playing tennis, 5 million learn to play tennis,
500,000 learn professional tennis, 50,000 come to the circuit, 5000 reach the grand slam, 50 reach Wimbledon, 4 to semi final, 2 to the finals, when I was holding a cup I never asked GOD 'Why me?'. And today in pain I should not be asking GOD 'Why me?' "

"Happiness keeps you Sweet, Trials keep you Strong, and Sorrow keeps you Human”

A letter…

2009-07-23T02:40:00.007+05:30

Hello friends,

First of all, I apologize for being away for so long a time. Well, this has happened in the past too, when I did not blog for a long time. But this time, the reasons are different. This time I was not bored of blogging – I always wanted to write here. The time is such that I am not able to manage the time well and find a niche to devote some time on my writing. There are too many things happening with me simultaneously and I am in a state of dilemma and pre-occupation.

There was a jargon we studied during post graduation, called ‘Opportunity Cost.’ It sounds grave, but it is very simple in meaning. It talks about the loss incurred when you are doing something productive for NOT DOING something else, which could have brought you something else. Ok, suppose you are doing a ‘Job A’ right at this moment (like reading me) and you earn ‘Rs. X’ while doing this for 2 hours (Well, you don’t get anything here, reading me :P). in this two hours, you could have been somewhere else on ‘Job B’ and you might have earned ‘Rs. Y’ – since you have done ‘Job A’ and earned ‘Rs. X’ you are not able to do ‘Job B’ and hence, you miss out on ‘Rs. Y’ – which is the opportunity cost. Never mind, if X is greater or smaller than Y, whatever lost is the opportunity cost, in terms of management.

Now, compare my state here – not blogging and losing on my readers is the opportunity cost I pay for doing certain things in life, which are more important or time worthy at present. The fact that you are reading me here tells me that the opportunity cost is not much high for me; however, there is some. I wish I could do all the things simultaneously and I would not lose anything anywhere! I wish! But it was not to be, hence I could not write. I was just discussing this in TWL meet last weekend, that couple of months ago, I posted 30+ posts and now, it’s down to 2 posts a month!

This post is just to give you an idea about things I wanted to blog about, but due to lack of time, I could not do the same. Well, to ease the process, I will jot down these here below.

My first ever Solo performance on my Piano/Keyboard during April – Boishakhi Function.
My change of profile in HP.
My first ever call from Radio One and going live on air for a few seconds.
The India – West Indies cricket Series.
The evolution of Ads in the Indian Media.
A few blog awards that I received during this time.
The vacuum created in our lives by the absence of movies lately.
The first ever Series Win for Bangladesh.
The determined but awful Ajmal Kasav.
Yesterday’s Total Solar Eclipse – which I fortunately saw on TV.

Well, the list goes on and on… I am really bombarded with ideas everyday from dusk to dawn (yes, I work at nights) and I want to write. But I am not able to do that. I could have written something else in this time, when I am writing this, but then I thought, it would be better to give my readers and idea of all the happenings in my life. I will, for sure get back to blogging at the earliest and I am seeing light at the other end of the tunnel – hope, it’s not of that of an incoming train!

A Quote

2009-07-12T00:34:00.003+05:30

Read this wonderful quote by Herb Kelleher the co-founder, and former chairman and CEO of Southwest Airlines. It caught my eyes so deep that I could not do but blog about it.

“Business of business is not business. The business of business is people!”

I am sure you will also love this quote. It talks business and what it told was nothing but crude business. If all the companies of the world think alike, I am sure the world will be a better place to live in and there will be a motto of One Life – One Song – One Love and One Company!

Beat it!

My personality – birds 'I' view!

2009-06-25T17:07:00.005+05:30

Browsing through blogs is one thing I do religiously and more often. I often tumble on blogs that have something different information and try to understand and focus on the same. Today, while browsing through a blog, I got the following information.

It tells your personality based on various things, like First Letter of your name, the month in which you were born etc. I just read what was appropriate for me and would like to share the same with you all. People, who tag me to write different things about me and all, can have a look into this. You will know a lot about me.

I am not sure how they have deduced all these, but it matches a lot of characteristics that I personally boast on.

Disclaimer: I am really ignorant of the mechanism to construe all these
information. I just want to share what I read so that you also know about the
same. Please do not make judgment on this basis. I have not – you too, do not!

BY FIRST LETTER OF NAME

Does your name begin with: T?
You are very sensitive, private & sometimes very passive. You like someone who takes the lead. Music, soft lights & romantic thoughts turn you on. You fantasize & tend to fall in & out of love soon. When in love you are romantic, idealistic & mushy. You enjoy having your senses & your feelings stimulated, titillated & teased. You are a great flirt. You can make your relationships fit your dreams, all in your own head. Once you put your mind to something you manage to stand by it and see your dreams through. You aren't very good at expressing your feelings. You like things your own way. You do not like change; you like to hold on to things. This may not always be good because if given an opportunity things may develop into great things. You work your way to the top. Attention must be given to what others say because even though you don't want to hear it their advice may turn out to save your life.

BY MONTH

OCTOBER
Loves to chat Loves those who loves him/her Loves to takes things at the center Attractive and suave Inner and physical beauty Does not lie or pretend Sympathetic Treats friends importantly Always making friends Easily hurt but recovers easily Bad tempered Selfish Seldom helps unless asked Daydreamer Very opinionated Does not care of what others think Emotional Decisive Strong clairvoyance Loves to travel, the arts and literature Soft-spoken, loving and caring Romantic Touchy and easily jealous Concerned Loves outdoors Just and fair Spendthrift and easily influenced Easily lose confidence.

BY DATE

October 14th - October 23rd = SILVER
SILVER
You are imaginative and shy, but you like trying new things. You like to challenge yourself. You learn things easily, and like "Hard to get". Your love life is normally hard and confusing.

BY SIGNING STYLE

RANDOM SIGN, SIMILARITY BETWEEN NAME & SIGN
These persons are considered to be intelligent but never think. These people change their ideas & views as fast as the wind changes its direction of flow. They never think whether that particular thing is right or wrong. You can win them just by flattering them.

WRITING COMPLETE NAME AS THEIR SIGN
These persons are very kind hearted, can adjust themselves to any environment & to the person they are talking. These persons are very firm on their views & posses a lot of will power.

I know a few of you would be interested in getting to know all these about yourself and would like to know where I got this information from. If so, please visit this link to know about your own personality – Orangy.in!

PS: Excuse any grammatical error (if any)!

T20 World Cup Ends!

2009-06-22T18:39:00.005+05:30

The T20 World Cup (Men) ended and Pakistan lifted the cup! I am not sure how many Indians are happy to know that, but one thing is sure they were not a deserving side. I played Fantasy Cricket with CricInfo and the Pakistani players brought me so many points – I should thank them; but then, given the team composition of New Zealand, Sri Lanka and India, I never thought Pakistan will come out with flying colors! Well, many did not think the same, but that’s what happened yesterday! Pakistan won by 8 wickets with 8 balls remaining as the Sri Lankan players looked on. The last ball commentary in CricInfo reads:

18.4
Malinga to Shahid Afridi, 1 leg bye, he's done it! Afridi misses the
yorker and it hits him on the pad and the ball goes on the off side, it's a leg
bye but who cares, Afridi raises his arms in triumph, what a player, he's
delivered when it mattered most, the players rush on to the ground to mob him
and Malik, such joy, there are hugs all around.

Anyways, let me congratulate the Pakistan team. I have lots against the country and its foreign policy, but nothing against the players. I know they work as hard as anyone else (not on their English – it still limps or needs a runner at times). Sahid Afridi has shown what he is known for and has proved his mettle too. I like that cricketer – who says you need to KNOW cricket to play for your country? Sunny Gavaskar should watch his tongue when he talks about class and style and grammar in budding cricketers. Look at Afridi – he knows how to bowl fast flippers and knows how to use his bottom hand to dispatch the ball way out of the ground. Well done buddy!

There were multiple times during the tournament that I wanted to write; but then, I never had time to do so, until today, when I had to! So, I am sorry that you all missed out on a few thoughts of mine on different games and players in the tournament.

No word for the Indian team? Well, I want to say, but then, hum bolega to bologe ke bolta hai! I think Garry Kirsten has said it all – the fatigue has done it all. I agree. I would just add a few more adjectives – the urge for money, the pressure of IPL, the craving for promoting soaps and mobiles and the ennui of winning game after game are the various causes. Hope you understand that there is a BIG LIFE out there apart from Cricket and you have no rights to talk about one’s freedom of choosing his own life style!

The women T20 World Cup also ended with the sturdy England Women Cricket team winning the cup. India lost brutally there too. Hope we understand that we need to promote the same on regular basis or abandon those women who play cricket in India. If we do not cheer them up, we have no rights to question them for even a 10 wickets defeat! Anjum Chopra, Jhulan Goswami… whom else do you know from the Women cricket team? I do not know anyone else!

Anyways, best of luck to all the cricketers of India. Now that both the teams have failed greatly, I would love to see some new faces in the teams – someone who earns less in advertising and works only to improve his/her cricket. Best of luck cricketers. Best of luck India!

Three Years in HP!

2009-06-22T00:00:00.000+05:30

For all my posts regarding my office – Click Here.
Did not celebrate the same upon completion of two years - God knows why!!
Completion of One Year in HP – celebration post!

MAD Bangalore Recruitment Drive

2009-06-18T01:08:00.003+05:30

MAD is in Bangalore!

And Bangalore is all set to Make A Difference.

MAD Bangalore is all geared up to get into the activities and is eyeing the foremost classes to begin in July. At this point in time, we need YOU to come up and share the stage.

The society has given us so much from the very first moment that we were born. We need to give back something too. There is a need – a perfect want where we can contribute and fill up the space – a gap between unequal strata of our society. Education is a tool which can easily bridge this gap. WE CAN share the knowledge we have with them who are in need of it and can utilize it better, but have no resources to tap. WE CAN stand beside them and help them stand on their own feet.

Do you love to be with kids – surrounded, respected and inspired by them?
Do you think teaching English to a kid will help India grow?
Can you give away 2 hours of your time weekly?
Do you think that you can Make A Difference?
Do you have it in you, what it takes to MAD?
Can you do it?
I CAN, CAN YOU?

If you think YOU too CAN, then come let’s join hands and take the pledge. Let’s work together towards edifying the basic and most wide spread segment of our society – the children – the destitute – the future of the nation.

MAD Bangalore is organizing its very first recruitment workshop this Saturday, June 20, 2009. Let’s work together and contribute – together, WE CAN and WE WILL Make A Difference!

You all are invited!!

Event: MAD Bangalore Recruitment Drive

The Blind Date: June 20, 2009

Rendezvous spot: Rotary House, Bangalore (Contact for exact location)

Proposed Time: 4 PM to 7 PM (Saturday Evening – so, all of you can drop in easily)

Make a Difference (MAD)

2009-06-16T15:21:00.004+05:30

News! News! Make a Difference (MAD) is in Bangalore. An NGO working towards edifying that section of the society who has the talent, but do not have the obligatory resources to make the talent count. Want to know more about MAD? Read on…

MAD Vision: To Bridge Inequalities in Society through Education

Bring a change

Bringing a change is something we have always wanted to. Many of us did not like the education system in school; some did not like the teachers teaching us; a few more did not like the traffic jams on the way to office or the boss dictating there. We did not like the way it was and hence, we wanted to change it. We wanted to alter the education system, the government, the weather, the topography and the structure of the nose of the old woman next door – all these because we did not like. We always craved to change things that concerned us, and sometimes, that did not; but we wanted to bring a change. A change for ourselves was hard earned and many of us could not make it happen.

The cause here is different. The cause for a change here is not because it concerns an individual. Here, the concern is communal, national and humanitarian. Here the change is directed towards the holistic progress of the nation – the scope is the development of the unattended and unfortunate lot that makes up a lion’s share of the country’s population. Here, we come together to bring upon a change and make a difference.

Let’s come together, and make a difference.

A water drop in a pond means not much; however, millions of drops together build ponds, lakes, rivers and oceans. We cannot deny this fact. We cannot deny the strength, necessity and importance of an individual drop, for if those individual drops would not have come together, there would not have been any water body at all.

Similarly, to bring a change in the existing systems we need to get together. A group of likeminded people, who think that a change is inevitable and something needs to be done to bring upon that change, can actually make this happen. There are a lot of things around us that are happening for years immemorial which we have thought sometime or the other, need to be changed. Let us stop complaining about things that are not happening the way we want them to be and let us step in the puddle ourselves; for only we know what is wrong and only we can do our best to make the necessary changes. Let’s come together!

Once we are together, we can bend the highest of peaks and cut through the mightiest of oceans. Together, we can do the impossible. Together, we can make it happen – the way we want to. Let’s come together and make a difference.

How do I make a difference?

As isolated and secluded drops of water would not stand in the scorching sun, I do not stand anywhere alone. I cannot make much of a difference, unless I am tied up with a few more who thinks like me and works like me. Together, we can and we will make a difference. This is where a necessity of an organization is vivid. Things that I wanted to change and I could not, can be changed once I am in a group and while I am in a group, I can alter things that all of us think needs to be reformed.

Make a Difference (MAD) is such an organization that brings concurring people together and works to make a difference and bring a change into effect. Every individual member is equally important here and every effort is counted. Everyone is important when it comes to affect a cause that indulges everyone in some way or the other.

Scope: What does MAD do?

MAD works towards providing orphans and deprived children in different parts and corners of India with quality education and knowledge of computers to empower them with every possible skill they would need to compete with children of their age, as they grow up. MAD allows these children to acquire required skills and accrue on their knowledge base in such a way that they can also grow into qualified professionals in the long run.

There has been disparity among the education available to children from different realms of the society. There was a time when higher education was accessible only to the rich and well-to-do. Then, time changed and it was made available to a larger segment of the population. However, there remains a still larger section that is deprived, but equally talented and need some assistance in accumulating skills to match the rest. MAD works as a conduit, in bridging the inequality persistent in the society and the mode is always through education. MAD works towards changing the facade of availability of education to the entire Indian population, bringing together young students and bureaucrats to work and make a difference!

We always knew that we wanted to do something to assist children who are deprived of traditional schooling and higher education; however, we never knew how to do that. MAD provides us an opportunity to do that and a platform where we can come up and do what we always wanted to. MAD provides a network that will lead us directly to the war zone, where we are needed most. MAD offers an organizational backing to provide infrastructural and other support to all the youths who want to be a part of this mass movement. MAD trains us and provides us will all the necessary equipments that will be needed while we are with the children.

What needs to be done?

MAD is currently operating in Chennai, Pune, Cochin and Hyderabad and is mushrooming in other parts of India as well. There is a need of lot more participation and hence, there is a need of many people coming up front and joining the cause. One can make a difference by just spending 2 hours a week in a constructive way. By joining MAD and becoming a part of the movement one can really make a difference.

There are lots of areas where you can take part actively. You can decide on your mode of involvement in MAD. You can decide what you want to do based on your interests and skill sets and also you can decide how much time you want to devote every week. You can be a journalist and represent the voice of the youth around you – free and unbiased opinions of the youth, talking about the various problems faced by them or by the world as a whole. You can Start a cell in your college and plan and coordinate your own activities and also receive help from MAD as and when required. You can be a trainer too and train the volunteers of MAD and equip them with necessary skills to teach and aid the deprived children. There is a lot more to do. You will discover more avenues to flow your synergy the way you want it, once you join MAD.

Please feel free to contact MAD whenever you want to for more information and guidance. Also, visit MAD’s website at: Make a Difference to know more about the organizational structure and its current plans and initiatives. Come on, let’s join hands and work together. MAD looks forward to have you alongside in the quest to achieve a more powerful and developed country!