What's next for humanity?

Philae lander detects sign of alien life!

Are we on the cusp of a historical breakthrough with a possible detection of alien life by the Philae Lander on the comet named 67P, isn't this mind boggling? If this discovery is confirmed in the coming days then just imagine that these alien microbes have been flying past our home planet for all these years and we were looking for life all over the Universe except a little far away from our backyard. Add this with the recent finding that earth is currently undergoing a massive extinction event, and who knows which species will be ruling the earth in another 50 or so Million years. Sounds amazing, isn't it?
And all those people who want to get the alien microbes from the comet to earth please beware that it may not turn out too well for organisms on earth. Nope, nothing like what was depicted in the movie Species is going to happen, but it could cause doom for the earthly species who have no protection against the kind of germs or diseases these alien microbes could be carrying. So, if it is found out that the comet 67P is carrying alien microbes then humans need to be very cautious in bringing them to earth and studying it.
In another news item of breakthrough potential, Facebook CEO mentioned that ultimate goal of Facebook is to allow Telepathic communication between people by mapping our thoughts and emotions from the brain waves into electromagnetic waves and then transferring it to other people. Well, that's very awesome but what if your brain gets hacked into? What about all those junk advertising, the hate posts and stupid videos? Hope our brain evolves pretty fast to cope up with all this and the useless chatting that we will be doing with 500 other people, thanks to Facebook and Whatsapp of future, during our (not so social) social mind talking experience!
Hopefully, humanity will be there to experience all these wonderful stuff and much more, but the most important thing that humanity needs to learn for being future-proof is to unlearn the evolutionary instinct of US vs THEM. We need to learn to live together in love and peace, and have fun while solving more puzzles that the Universe throws at us!

My first short-story on Wattpad!

My first short-story on Wattpad. Please read and provide your valuable feedback!

Thanks!

Blaming the victim!

There are people like Abhijeet Bhattacharya, the talented singer from my hometown Kanpur, who should keep their mouth shut or read their thoughts hundred times before posting it on social media sites. You don't need to mock poor people just for showing your support for someone. In an ideal world, people shouldn't be sleeping on footpath and in an ideal world, there should be no drunk driving or hit and runs. The people who sleep on footpath don't do it for fun or for adrenaline. They do it because they have no other place to sleep. Why don't the Bollywood starts a charity for building homeless shelter in Mumbai and in every metropolitan city in India?

       And on top of that you post an apology and explain how you had saved a poor person lying on road, so that gives you the right to make fun and blame innocents?

You are no better than those people who blame the victims for rape because the victim was travelling at night or wearing skimpy clothes, and then says that he/she is a feminist.
Lots of people love Salman Khan but that doesn't mean you need to deride everyone else for supporting him or showing your love. The best way is do something for the poor souls sleeping on footpath in the Mayanagri Mumbai and also go to higher court for Salman's acquittal. Hope that people like Abhijeet & the rest of Bollywood do something for homeless in Mumbai instead of just blaming the victims and lecturing about their thoughtless thoughts!

Ravana, really?

There is a post doing rounds on FB and Twitter where a pregnant mother asks her daughter if she wants a brother like Rama but the daughter says that she wants a brother like Ravana and starts explaining the flaws about Rama and starts praising Ravana. Very well, Rama was human, had his flaws, made mistakes repeatedly and had to finally live alone most of his life because he chose to be a good son and King, instead of a good husband. Coming back to Ravana, even Ramayana says that Ravana was a great and very learned person. Beyond that, beware of brother like Ravana who might want to get all of his family killed just for satisfying his false ego. On top of that Surpanakha was a psychopath, who wanted to kill Rama & Lakshmana because they refused to marry her, and Ravana decided to support her instead of shoving some intelligence in her brains. Nope, you don't want such family anywhere close to you!
Anyways, the epics are morality tales which explained how to behave in certain circumstances in those times, some of the teachings make sense even now, and the epics prove how human even Gods were, once they appeared on earth. Instead of praying for a brother like Ravana or Rama or Krishna, why shouldn't the girl pray for being like Durga or Kali?

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose

A lot of discussion has been happening recently about Netaji Bose, with accusations about spying on Netaji's kin by Nehru government and how Netaji wanted 20 years of dictatorship in India! May be Nehru spied on Netaji's kins after independence, may be Nehru was afraid of Netaji Bose, but I am pretty sure that Nehru, Gandhi & Patel, all had huge respect for Netaji Bose and revered his love for the motherland and Bose reciprocated same feelings for them.

But even after Netaji's complete devotion to the cause of Indian independence, nothing can erase the fact that Netaji made a mistake in taking help from first Nazi Germany and then Imperialistic Japan. British were much better than the axis powers, but were as human as anyone else. Don't agree, then visit Jalianwala Bagh which was a state sponsored massacre of peaceful people on the eve of Baisakhi in Amritsar or visit Nanarao park in Kanpur where after the revolt of 1857 many freedom fighters were hanged from a single tree. Also, if you think Indians were better than British then you need to visit Massacre Ghat, again in Kanpur, where more than 300 British men, women and kids were brutally massacred, hence the name Massacre Ghat (or as we say in Kanpur, Maskar Ghat) after the revolting Indian forces captured the fleeing British & their families. There are examples of brutal massacres and genocides by each and every country fighting in World War 2, but Nazi Germany and Imperialistic Japan were the worst as they were planning to erase complete races and groups of people from face of earth. On top of that Netaji Bose having formed Forward Bloc, a party with communist and socialist philosophy, was taking help from countries which hated communism & socialism to the extent where they killed people with those beliefs. Netaji Bose wasn't the founder of INA but his decision to take over the reigns of INA once he landed in Japan, made him the enemy number may be 5 or 6 for British in that ongoing World War, taking the limelight away from even Gandhiji.

Anyways, Netaji Bose gave his best for bringing freedom for India and laid down his life in that process. Despite all his mistakes, beliefs and humanity he was an Indian par excellence. His love for India and Indians, of all religions, was beyond doubt. He was the inventor of famous slogan "Jai Hind", combining Hindi & Urdu in the process. Many believe that if he was present during India's freedom, India wouldn't have been divided as he was loved and respected by both Hindus & Muslims. The fact is that we will never know how India would have looked if Netaji Bose was alive during India's freedom but I am pretty sure he wouldn't have liked the partition of India and the bloodshed that followed it. But after accepting partition as a necessary evil, he would have helped Nehru and Patel in building a strong & united India and he would have have been the true face of Indian secularism & pluralism if alive; and the same people who show so much concern for him nowadays would have hated him. Jai Hind!

Father of Nation

Every single person born on this planet has his/her shortcomings. Every person makes mistakes and every person commits some or the other act which is seen as completely idiotic by his/her successors or others. We often ask, how come this so called great person did this stupid thing?

Mahatma Gandhi, even though is revered all over the world, also had his share of follies, mistakes and stupidity. Despite all this, Gandhiji was a person of conviction and positive attitude. He stood for the liberty and freedom of millions of people through means of non-violence. He motivated the Indian population to break the shackles of mental slavery to British and brought the Indian population at par with their foreign masters, to deal as equals. Revolutionaries like Bose and Bhagat Singh, who didn't like Gandhiji's ways of freeing India and vice-versa, were smitten by Gandhiji's charisma. Bose even going as far as to attribute the "Father of Nation" title on Gandhiji. This should remind everyone who want to bring down one great freedom fighter to prop another, that despite all their differences, Indian freedom fighters had respect for one another.

No matter what ax you have to grind about Gandhiji, remember that it was his leadership ability that motivated people from one end of India to another. Whether it was NWFP province of the now Pakistan or Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu, none were left untouched by the storm called Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. As per different books/reports, he may have been sexually deviant in his later years, racist in his early years, egoist & hypocrite all his life; but none of these negative qualities or reports can diminish his greatness as a leader of masses. His penchant for being devout Hindu in his personal life but multi-religious in his activities, increased his mass following among Indians. He gave up his life to stop the religious blood thirst that was fanned by the partition of India and sadly was killed in trying to do so.

No matter what, Gandhiji's legacy will always be ahimsa (non-violence), "Ishwar Allah tero naam, sabko sammati de bhagwan" and freedom for India. Father of Nation can't just be limited to holiday and dry-day, he has to be read, studied and his teachings implemented on the minds and spirit of every Indian!

Happy birthday to India!

Very happy 67th birthday to India and on this occasion looking at all the economic and financial storms raging in India I remembered the times in May 1998 when India conducted the 2nd round of nuclear tests, after a blank of 14 years thanks to external pressure (meanwhile Pakistan was running to China and North Korea, both communist and atheist nations wink wink, for being able to become the 1st nuclear capable you-know-what nation), how the initial euphoria of smiling Buddha gave away to doom and gloom of sanctions and bans. Newspapers and news channels started debating how BJP led NDA had dug India's grave by doing something which was not attempted by anyone since Indira Gandhi in 1974, and how this will cause unfathomable problems for Indian exports, Indian industries and Indian diaspora living in west. But we survived not just 1998 but also the Y2K & S/W bubble burst and 9/11's inconceivable damage to S/W exports, in-fact we became stronger. But no one attributes this to the then PM Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee or his government because over time we don't praise any PM except those hailing from Nehru-Gandhi family.
    Today after 9+ years of Congress rule under famed economist Mr. Manmohan Singh (Manmohan Singh is the rubber-stamp for the you know who. Going a bit on tangent, civics books should update the definition of Prime Minister: Is a rubber stamp, one who works on the orders of Congress president) we are again at the crossroads of self-destruction and mutual-executions. We can't take any of the roads because neither of it is going to take us anywhere, the names of the roads are self-explanatory unless someone is Congress-blind. Why has the economic situation of a powerhouse like India come to this? Sure there are lots of external factors like US economy is in doldrums, Europe is slowly melting economically etc. etc. but everyone forgets how India was still a prancing horse in 2007-2008 despite global meltdown. One of the major reasons for this is the grand vision which our current government commands, vision which is scam tainted to be precise. Everythings starts with visions and promises but ends with scams. Meanwhile whole government machinery is working overtime to attribute the scams to different people, organizations, countries, or apply game theory (sorry for this Mr. John Nash) on the scams to make them zero loss etc.
Sadly, Congress led UPA government has nothing to boast after it decided to constitutionally modify RTI act with the help of its B-team BJP, so it wants to handout people the so called food bill which will help a lot of Indians vote for it again, though these same Indians will realize after 2014 elections that the food bill is farce because a huge scam will be uncovered and SC might ban the food bill or it might become very costly to sustain the food bill with so much of scam money gone from it. Who knows what other excuses might see the day of light in 2014?
   We will keep repeating this cycle again and again because the opposition parties are deaf and dumb. For opposition parties, surviving in the cut throat competition of democracy is more important than uncovering any real scams or fighting for people's rights. Once in a while we might get leaders like Mr. Vajpayee or some Janta Dal government or Anna but this will only be the silver lining in the otherwise dark clouds of Indian democracy. No wonder Netaji Subhash Chnadra Bose wanted dictatorship in India for first 25 years, it is way more acceptable now after 50+ years of dynastic rule of Congress.
Happy 67th Independence day again to India that is Indira and Indira that was Nehru and India that became what sons, daughters and in-laws wanted it to be!

Ajmal Kasab and few others!

Ajmal Kasab, a poor young man from Faridkot village in Pakistan has finally been hanged for the crimes that he committed in Mumbai. He was the lone survivor of the 10 terrorists, who not just terrorized thousands of Mumbai residents for 4 days but gave sleepless nights to millions of Indians who watched the semi-live coverage on Indian news channels.
While Indians all over the world rejoice or like me breathe a sigh of relief or others who feel bad about it as they are against capital punishment, we ignore some important points with respect to Kasab.
1. Kasab was poor. He was brain-washed with religious extremism and money to give his life for the cause of Pakistan. Now only if Kasab knew that you don't need to be terrorist to give your life for the cause of Pakistan. You  can join Pakistani army or even better, Pakistani politics.
2. Kasab was taught to communicate in Hindi and was given Hindu arm-bands by the Pakistani handlers to create an impression that the terrorist attack was a work of Hindu terrorists. What is more comical is that Pakistani new channels were falling head over heels in their tryst to make 26/11 the final coming of ......wait, Indian Hindu terrorism.
3. Kasab and the other 9 terrorists came to India via sea route from Karachi. The most important city in India is not properly secured and how ironical that in the war for liberation of Bangladesh, India had sent boats to blow up Karachi port successfully. And isn't all this terrorism for the liberation of Kashmir? Even if for a second we assume that India liberates Kashmir, will Pakistan then want to liberate Hyderabad (the Hyd in AP not the one in Pakistan)? What will Pakistan then do with all these liberated regions? Will it then kill the citizens from these regions just because Kashmiris and Hyderabadis might want to preserve their own language or even commit a mass genocide to prove that West Pakistanis are the best and the true rulers. Oh wait, I have heard about it before. Yes, the same happened with Bangladesh or the earlier East Pakistan.
4. It took Indian security agencies 4 days to clear the terrorists. Now I am not criticizing the Indian security agencies as I believe despite all their flaws they are the only ones who have actually worked for the betterment of our country. But when Mumbai police have 303 guns and it takes hours to get the NSG commandos flown over from New Delhi it says a lot about our preparations for any such miss-happenings.
5. We have not been able to make Pakistan accountable despite the over-whelming evidence that we have provided. Hasn't this been going on for decades now? Ok, let me check when was the first time I heard it. In 1948, when Pakistani regulars attacked J&K in the guise of being tribal militias or during the war in 1965 or during Kargil war in the guise of freedom fighters of Kashmir.
6. We can kill hundreds of Kasab but how do we kill this ideology of hate against India which makes Pakistani leaders say that we will fight India for 1000 years even if they have to eat grass. I am really not sure in those 1000 years, what the ruling elites in Pakistan will be eating but I am pretty sure what the innocent and poor residents of Pakistan and POK will be eating.
By hanging Kasab, India has done the right thing because there was over-whelming evidence against Kasab that he waged war against India and killed innocents. But we shouldn't rejoice yet because we haven't been able to kill the hatred that brews in handful of people for whom India is an eternal enemy. We shouldn't rejoice because by doing so we ourselves are being engulfed in the cycle of hatred. We shouldn't rejoice because one person's terrorist is another person's martyr. We shouldn't rejoice because, though Kasab died but the people who made him the scapegoat are still alive and probably plotting their next target.....

Hot-potch!

This will be my first blog post this year, gosh I have been so silent! Being a father doesn't leave you with much free time, and I realized this with experience. Anyways, after hobnobbing with diverse topics, I decided to write whatever came to my mind so that I can free myself from the blogger's block that has been taking a toll on my blogs.
Right from being a mute spectator to American Presidential election to wishing President Obama on his victory on Twitter, it has been an eye-opening last 1 year of witnessing American politics for me. For starters, I came to know the difference between a Democrat and a Republican and what is a liberal and a conservative. I also came to know that Obama and Clinton are Democrats, Bush father-son duo and Reagan are Republican. It has been a wonderful year for science so far (unless 2012 doomsday predictions come true to dampen all the progress we have made in last 5000+ years): humans have found evidence of water on Mars, God particle has been identified and might be fully understood next year, planets which are in habitable range of their respective stars have been found and iPad micro-mini is on its way by the end of the year. Ok, ok, the last one was made up but who knows what Apple has in store (yes Apple Store) to lift up its falling share prices. One of our colleague named Sandy left for India but Sandy the hurricane came back to haunt the East coast eerily soon after and caused a lot of death and destruction. Sometimes I feel that nature keeps on hitting us with vengeance as we keep on devouring one natural resource after another. May be the nature of nature is to be violent. Were there hurricanes and earth-quakes before humans inhabited the Earth? Obviously yes, the question is a no-brainer but who knows how the creationists will answer it.
There has been lot of debate around Arvind Kejriwal and his series of exposes. Just read on Twitter that Arvind is going to make another expose tomorrow, politicians in India must be feeling terrible tonight. But this is a wonderful way of making people conscious of your brand, a brand that promises to be different from all other surfs, nirmas and tides in the market. Let's see if this brand can stay here and help India in cleaning up some dirt, pun intended!
I believe this is all that I can write in the 15 minutes that I decided to dedicate for blogging today. Let's see when can I write my next blog. I seriously need to write a blog before 22nd Dec 2012, otherwise who knows if internet will survive the End as prophesied by Mayans!

2011: An Epilogue

It is still a bit early to write an epilogue for the year 2011, but couldn't help taking out some time to pen my thoughts on this year. This year wasn't different from all other years since humanity started keeping track of time , but for me it was. It was beginning of a new phase of my life, a phase called fatherhood. I am not sure if I will ever feel that ecstatic or amazed, like I was when I had my son in my arms for the first time. I am not sure if I will ever see my wife so happy with tears of endless joy in her eyes, when she first looked at our son Narayan. Yeah we named our son Narayan, a sort of old fashioned name but that's the best we could do out of millions of male names of God. I am not sure if my son is going to like his name but then naming the kids is one of the rights of parents for which kids can't create fuss about, not for some time at-least.
Also, this year with its few more days still remaining, marks a new beginning for a number of my very good friends as they have got married or are going to get married before this year ends. I wish them loads of good luck for their married life and apologies for not being able to attend the marriage ceremony. There was a time when attending birthday parties of friends was the most cherished party of all but now everyone has multiple occasions to celebrate.
Slowly the year 2011 will also fade into history like all the other years. I still remember how 2011 seemed so much in distant future when I was in school, it is like time-travel into the future at an incredible speed. And amazingly I can also travel back into time whenever I want, remembering all those wonderful moments of school, college and childhood. A new year is staring us in the face, what all does it hold in its womb is unknown but I wish that it is extremely pleasant for everyone. Happy new year in advance and don't forget to enjoy this wonderful time-travel called life, to its hilt!!!

Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam

Seems the Norwegian Killer wanted Hindus in India to assist in his global war against Muslims. Well Mr. Breivik you are asking for help at the wrong place. The religion which calls for "Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam" which means that whole world is a single family, can't help in your flawed Europe for Europeans ideology. Did Mr. Breivik forget that a similar ideology was used by some Mr. Hitler, calling it Europe for Aryans and I am sure that Hitler's ideology didn't do any good for Europe or the so called Aryan race.

Moreover today you are asking help from Hindus to fight Muslims, when Hindus start growing in Europe, you will ask help from Muslims to fight Hindus. There is no end to hatred, it needs a cause to breed and a keen person can find plenty of causes for fanning his/her hatred. Yesterday it was Jews, today it is Muslims, tomorrow it could be Hindus or even Christians. Since homo-sapiens (name of our species) were born in a small part in Africa, aren't each one of us except a few Africans living in Africa, some sort of immigrant?

There is also a misconception that people who let other beliefs to thrive are weak. In-fact these are strong men and women, because they are confident about their own beliefs. Won't Earth be a better place if everyone respected other's beliefs and didn't try to force their beliefs down others throat? Yet I agree that some practices which are based on out of date beliefs must be stopped unless we don't want to change or grow. Evolution happens not just at level of species but also at intellectual level. It is time we humans evolve from the baser instincts that tie us to cave men trying to safeguard their hunt from other tribes or may be I am hoping a bit too much!!!

The real champion of freedom, liberty and values

The real champion of freedom, liberty and values: Watched a documentary about Tibet last weekend and I did a sort of RCA (Root Cause Analysis for non-tech guys) for the real reason of Tibet problem. What dawned upon me has been elaborated in the few lines below.

The real reason for TIbet's problem lies in the fact that Tibetians have taken refuge in India and they expected India to support them wholeheartedly against expansionist policies of China. Tibetans were wrong, in 1950's, India was proud of being the father of Non-aligned movement and any pride that was existing for being the only place in the world for providing refuge to people around the globe for thousand of years, was slowly slipping by. And in present times, India doesn't want to ruffle the feathers of China in a wrong way, lest it disrupts the economic boom that has been sweeping India despite all the bomb blasts, high inflation, crime and corruption. So what if we have given refuge to Tibetans and Dalai Lama, so what if we have a moral reason for supporting Tibet, so what if China attacked us and made us eat a humble pie in 1962, so what if China openly supports our neighbors against us with weapons, so what guys! Laws of economics don't understand all these reasons, isn't it?

Pardon me for wandering away from the actual topic in hand and going into bashing Indian policies, but that seems so very natural. Anyways, so what should Tibetans do now which helps them in achieving indepndence or gaining the middle path against the mighty China?

They should actually plead for help from the country which has been champion of freedom, liberty and values for last 60 or so years; no no you are wrong, it is not USA but our beloved neighbor Pakistan.

The list of Pakistan's contribution to the freedom and values of mankind is huge, absolutely huge. Pakistan has fought alongside Palistinians, Afghanis for their freedom from foreign occupation; have been in a state of war against India for last 60 continous years for the K in Pakistan that is Kashmir, have helped in carving out a completely new country named Bangladesh out of their land, and have been supporting an independent nation inside their boundry (named Azad Kashmir).

So your holyness Mr. Dalai Lama, now you know whom to contact for the liberation of Tibet. The icing on the cake is that Pakistan is a very very close friend of China and this friendship might help in gaining the freedom of Tibet.

Apart from helping Tibet in their freedom struggle morally and emotionally, which they do to Kashmiris (shhhh! they don't do anything else) Pakistan will also teach Tibetans the following, which will help in raising the plight of Tibet in useless international forums:-

1. How to create propaganda out of no where.

2. How to swell the number of 1.5 million Tibetans killed in freedom struggle to 150 million.

3. How to make bombs, use AK-47 and kill innocent Chinese. Oh come on Mr. Dalai Lama, this isn't violence, this is freedom struggle.

4. How to convert the beautiful Tibet into a god forsaken territory.

5. How to eat grass and still fight for 1000 years.

6. How to name the missiles which were secretly acquired from 3rd country.

7. How to make nuclear bombs.

All this and more, if you request the champion of freedom, liberty and values for helping you out. And still if Pakistan is not able to help Tibet out, then they will take a chunk of Azad Kashmir and present it to Mr. Dalai Lama for establishing a new Tibet. That is how Aksai Chin became part of China.

I firmly believe that there is light at the end of tunnel and may be the people of Tibet will one day have enough right to determine if they want to continue with China or go back to the dark ages of serfdom (as per Chinese propaganda man!). Good luck!

Indian fortune and Temple riches

Temple riches can be utilized for building schools, flyovers, education, curbing poverty blah blah blah? Oh, do you think temple riches will solve all of India's problems? Will it resolve all the poverty and problems in India? Come on wake up, its almost noon, don't be so naive!

If confiscated by government, temple riches will go into the pocket of selected few who will grow richer and rest of us will read stories about how the files related to the temple riches suddenly vanished in thin air. We will discuss on FB and all social sites about these riches and the vanished files, will curse the government and then will be back to ways of earning our livelihood. There will be some court cases which will drag for years without any end and finally will result in rebuke to the government, dismissal of some babus and everything will be back to square one.

Temple riches are not the solution to India's problems. What we need is good governance and accountability, we need awareness, education, love and understanding among everyone. We need to stop discriminating and fighting among ourselves on the lines of religion, caste, language, creed and state. We need to remember that "God helps those who help themselves". Awaiting the change of fortunes due to some magic will only lead to doom. Even if temple riches are distributed evenly among poor Indians, it will not last them for more than few days or months. Then what? Will we ask government to sell the stuff in museums or stop the Indian space research or dismantle the huge Indian army?

Lunches are not free unless you are in Google, or was it Apple; anyways the point is that assuming some 100 Billion or 1 Trillion dollars will solve all our problems is foolish because no amount of money can solve the problems once and for all. Problems will keep creeping up one after the other; what we need to distribute among Indians (and its true for every country, yes even for Pakistan) is the will and courage to face the problems, the necessary education and knowledge to solve the problems, the perseverance to stand stiff against the force of adversity and come out unscathed.

Remember Temple riches will come and go, the riches of heart and mind will live until you are alive and if channelized properly will reach your next generation as well.

So don't await any miracle, be the miracle (inspired from the movie Bruce Almighty)!

Do Lyrics speak more than Music???

Do Lyrics speak more than Music???: "Listening to Senorita song from 'Zindagi Na Milegi Dubara' (really nice song) and the thoughts about the degradation of lyrics in Hindi songs flashed my mind and I decided to write few lines for this song...Here is an excerpt from my creation...Just listen to the Snorita song from the You Tube link below and try to plug-in my lyrics mentioned below. Hope you enjoy it if not feel disgusted :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhSKDV3E1Yc


'Main jo chahe,
lyrics daaloon dhun pe,
Tum kya bigaad logi mera,
Senoreetaaa.
Bhagaoon DK Bose,
Chahe nachaoon Munni ko,
Tum kya bigaad logi mera,
Senoreetaaa.
Do chaar shabd,
agar daal doon angrezi ke ismein,
Ban jayega yeh hip gaana,
Senoreetaaa.
Aise hi gaane,
chalte hain aaj-kal,
Lyrics se aakhir,
kee farak hai padta,
Samjhi kya Senoreetaa!!!'

P.S: No offence meant to song writers all over the world :-)"

From a God fearing Atheistically Theist...

On the eve of the doomsday predictions of 21st May 2011 by Harold Camping I am pondering over all the nonsense humans can generate, thanks to the functioning brain. I am not sure if animals also have their own doomsday predictions? It would be great if God of Viruses decides to end the run of Viruses in this Universe....Humans will be surely benefited and specially the ones suffering from or in danger of AIDS.
The basic question I have to such doomsday predictors is, why would God like to ruin his own creation unless He is out of his mind? Can't the all knowing God think of better ways to change the bad habits of His creation. For example, by just removing few connections from the mind of all human beings that makes them evil or, just hard-code in every human gene tenets of universal brotherhood, peace, love etc. etc.?
Why is such a drastic action required for instilling your love, God....such actions only instill fear!
Anyways who am I to question your authority my Lord.
For the extremely fortunate people who believe that God will take them to heaven, they must be overjoyed and feeling really special. Pardon me for questioning You (I will be using Y in caps for such chosen souls) but my question to You guys is, what would You guys/gals do in heaven? If there is actually a Kingdom in heaven, will You guys strive for democracy? And all those guys and gals going to heaven please remember, do not eat the fruit of the Apple tree from the garden of Eden. Otherwise God will have to throw You all out and another useless cycle of creation-destruction will follow. Please behave well in heaven and let's meet You all on the Judgment Day!
Well, for the folks like me who will remain on Earth waiting for the final judgment, don't be sad because in the end nothing matters...does it?

Whose belief is the right one?

Death of Sathya Sai Baba has caused mourning among millions of his devotees. His followers have been flocking to have a last glimpse of his dead body and pay their last homage.

What makes me feel even more sad than actual death of Sathya Sai Baba, are the comments which people have been posting on TOI/Rediff/XYZ sites about Sathya Sai Baba's followers. Sathya Sai Baba had followers like Sachin and his wife, Sunil Gavaskar and his wife; and people have been commenting on how backward Sathya Sai Baba's followers are in this modern age etc. etc.

Guys, each of us believe someone or some faith. Even atheism is a belief, that has cost a lot to humanity (yes Stalin and Mao were Atheists) and that shouldn't deter a atheist from following his belief. Every belief has some good things and some not so good things.....it is the followers who sometimes are more inclined towards the not so good ones. It is the followers who twist and turn the not so good beliefs into demons which whole humanity has to deal with.

Let others believe what they want to and you believe what you think is the truth. Your belief, just because it sounds cool or doesn't sound old, is no better than others belief.

In a nutshell, please learn to respect everyone's belief because that's what the world needs right now; much much more than your coolness or modernity!

My first blog from my mobile device. Hope I keep writing more.

--Subeer
(Sent from my iPhone)

Weeding out Corruption

Anna Hazare has announced fast unto death for the Lokpal bill. I am also supporting Anna Hazare like many others on Facebook by clicking on some buttons. May be Mr. Hazare's fast and the support he is getting, could lead to Indian government accepting the Lokpal bill in the format Mr. Hazare wants. But what I really don't understand is, how is it going to weed out corruption in every strata of Indian society?
For me, what is convenient could be corruption for other and vice-versa. I don't see any effort by citizens of India to take this evil head on. But in any case we had to start some where, so let it be the Lokpal bill, politicians and government.
Hopefully we would be able to straighten the tail and may be then it would wag the rest of the body :-)

To Mr. Afridi

Dear Mr. Shahid Afridi,

Ref: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/sports/cricket/cricket-world-cup-2011/news/Indians-not-as-large-hearted-as-Pakistanis-Afridi/articleshow/7861946.cms

Today morning I read this piece of news on TOI and was shocked to the core. Nothing can explain your comment except that your mental state has been disbalanced due to Indian win in World Cup finals. You are correct about Indian media but saying that Pakistani media is better, is extremely laughable. Oh come on, the conspiracy theories about 9/11 and 26/11 are something which makes Pakistani news channels the best comedies in the whole world.
I am sure most of the Pakistanis have large hearts, but by making such stupid comments you have in-fact proved yourself wrong.
Also Mr. Afridi a genuine request to you, please stop being the guiding light of Muslims all over the world...India has more Muslims than Pakistan and everyone knows what you did to Muslims in Bangladesh (East Pakistan before Dec 1971) when West Pakistani leaders couldn't accept the will of majority. And that was certainly a display of largehearted, more than perfect humans who roam on the earth.
Summing up the philosophy; "It is human tendency to make mistakes (Indians also did many)...to have large or small hearts is also human...nation, caste, religion, language can't generalize it..."
Better learn the above philosophy as you represent a great nation in the field of cricket, don't bring shame to your country by making such kind of stupid comments.

Thanks!
-- A halfhearted Indian.

Against fuel price hike in India

India's opposition parties called a nation wide strike (Bharat Bandh) on 5th of July 2010 for opposing the hike of fuel prices in India. I was going through people's responses in various Indian and International sites (Thanks to holiday in USA on 5th of July owing to USA's independence day) and I found that response among the masses who have access to Computers and Internet is fractured, just like the mandate after every 5 years during parliamentary elections in India.
I decided not to go by views of others, did some calculations of my own and here is what I chanced upon:-
Current price of Crude oil in World market = USD 72.14 per barrel
1 Barrel = 117.34 Litres
So actual cost of 1 Litre of crude oil = USD 0.614
The price of 1 Litre of Petrol in Bangalore = Rs. 59 = USD 1.26
Indians are paying more than double of the actual Crude oil price for 1 Litre of Petrol.
I understand that there are costs involved in importing, converting the crude oil and distributing the Petrol, but it can't be more than 50% of the actual price.
Now, surprise surprise....
In USA gas costs somewhere around USD 2.75 to USD 3 per Gallon.
1 Gallon = 3.785 Litres, which makes the price of petrol in USA ~= USD 0.726 per Litre
Which means, the price of 1 Ltr of Petrol in USA is 0.54 USD less than that in Bangalore, India.
Again, to counter the argument about world prices and all, Indian Government comes out with logic that when prices are high, they provide subsidies. That's true but didn't the Indian government get any better time to raise the prices. Whole of India is burdened with high prices of food items and now the hike in fuel prices as well. You first hit below the belt and then you hit below the belt to the paramedics as well, who came to save the poor soul...WOW...
And only God knows what will happen if Monsoons don't show up with their full vigor this time in India.
Anyways, I recently came to know that an egg now costs Rs. 5 in Bangalore. If this kind of price rise continues, it won't be long when every mango man (common man) in India will be singing "Sunday ho ya Monday, kabhi nahi kha paoge ande... FANTASTIC!!!"

My place of birth - The Earth

When the rivers were holy and pristine,
when the land was pure and full of divine.
Where the Gods lived and walked with us,
where there was no pain and sadness.

It wasn't a country, it wasn't a state,
it had no barriers, it had no gate.
It had place for the whole humanity,
it believed that every faith was worthy.

It had no wars, it had no plague,
there was righteousness at every stage.
Where people respected and loved others,
where there was greenery for acres and acres.

What terrible hast befallen thou,
where is the unity and brotherhood now?
You have been divided and ravaged,
your beauty has been severely damaged.

I feel melancholy whenever I think of you,
my heart just cries out for your rescue.
How crestfallen today is the land of my birth,
I am saddened, for my motherland Earth.

--Subeer

Khuda ke nawaaze anmol lamhe

"Hamesha be-qabil nahi hota har guzara hua lamha,
kabhi kabhi dhoondne pe khuda bhi mil jaaya karte hain....."

"Kyon beetein lamhon ko pal-pal qaid karta hai Zafar,
kho jaane de beetein lamhon ko agar khote hain,
dekh Khuda naye lamhe har pal banata hai tere liye..."

A poem dedicated to my wife

Whenever you look at me and smile,
it makes my life worthwhile.
Whenever you are not around,
life is dull and pain unbound,
To you I dedicate my love and heart,
to you I dedicate my spirit and art.
For you, is every word I write,
for you, is my day and night.
I wish that you are always with me,
and we are together for eternity....

-- Subeer

Afternoon

With heavy heart and moist eyes,
I miss those beautiful moments of my life.
Not the wonder years of college or school,
But I miss the unforgettable time of afternoon.

Playing under the hot burning summer sun,
Not caring about which corner life will turn.
Believing school home-work is not for me,
Until Mom used to shout from balcony.

With all my plastic pistols and the cool spy acting,
Aiming to be the next James Bond in the making.
Reading comics and listening to songs on tape recorder,
The moments, my heart still longs for, years after.

Now I am grown up and afternoon is just some time,
Wasting it has become some sort of crime.
Seldom do I realize, that very very soon,
I will forget that I lived those lovely afternoons.

--Subeer

Love and brotherhood

Listening to Kabir's dohe, so true even after centuries have passed when he spoke them. When these dohe's were taught in school the only thought which used to flash in mind was to somehow mug them with their meaning and then vomit them out in the exams. No one tried to explain the real meaning of these poems except my mother but with time nothing was retained by me.
After so many years, thanks to Youtube, when I can listen to them it really strikes a chord in my mind, oh so beautiful and so thought provoking!!!
Wish world would have understood the message of love and brotherhood which Kabir gave to this world. And why just Kabir, we Indians are lucky to have so many such saints who spoke not about following the religion but about following the path of humanity which eventually leads to God as well.

Daastan

Kaagaz pe likh nahi sakta dil ki daastan,
Dil ki baat hai, dil mein hi rehne do!

Jab socha ki kahunga kisiko haal-e-dil,
sochta hi reh gaya, aur manzar nikal gaya!

Afsana-e-gham

Kitna bhi karle Zafar, log sawaal karenge,
jab tu chala jayega to malaal karenge!

Kashti ko kinare le jaata hai samandar,
log manjhi ka hi istaqbal karenge!

Dil tera toot ke choor choor ho jayega,
to bhi tukde aur hazaar karenge!

Kuch lamhe dil ke...dil ko...dil se...

1. "Toofan aate hain taaki lehron ko pankh lag sake...ud sake woh...thodi durr tak hi sahi...."

2. "Deewarein nafrat ki girti hai banti hai....
seene mein kahin to har kisi ke insaniyat basti hai!"

3. "Tanhai mein jab dil ki awaaz suni maine,
Kahin khud ko durr sisakta paaya maine....."

4. "Kya har chehre mein ek aur chehra chupa hota hai,
Lagta hai sirf mujhko hi ya sach mein aisa hota hai?"

Maanvta ka rishta

"Kya dhoondne ka asafal prayas nirantar laga hai karne ko?
Maanavta ka sambandh kya paripoorna nahi aeka pirone ko?"

"Har varsh hazaaron, laakhon dharm ki sooli chadte hain,
to bhi kyon krishn, ishu, allah ki raah log takte hain?"

"Bhai-bhai ke rakht ka pyaasa, isi tarah hua hai sadiyon se,
to kya mila humein is avannati ke pag pe aage badhne se?"

"Shanti aur prem ka sandesa har yug mein jinhone diya nirantar,
unhi ke aadarshon pe jeene wale, karte hain manushyon mein antar?"

Kuch bhoole bichde alfazon ka taana baana......

Kuch bhoole bichde alfazon ka taana baana,
shiddate zindagi ka, hai kuch aisa fasana,
kabhi dhak jaati hai gam ki tanhaiyon mein,
to kabhi hai khushiyon ka kehkahana.

Chalte hain sab, magar rasta anjaan hai,
jante hain sab ki dhal jaani shaam hai,
phir bhi waqt ko rokne ki koshish karte hain,
pal do pal ki chahat mein kyon saikdon rehte hain?

Duriyan mitate reh jaate hain sabhi,
faaslon ke darmiyaan jaake sochte nahi kabhi,
ki zindagi ka yahi raha hai falsafa-e-raaz,
yaad phirse aate hain, wahi bhoole bichde alfaaz.

Kaash aisa hota ki milta sab chahne par...

Kaash aisa hota ki mujhe milta sab chahne par,

Taaron bhari woh raat aur woh neela ambar.

Na hota dukh dard aur na hi hoti pareshaani,

Tab duniya lagti kitni haseen, kitni suhaani.

Udd paata hawa mein, jaata chaand ke paar,

Hamesha hi jeeta karta, kabhi na hoti meri haar.

Sabko banata dost, dushman na kisi ko banata,

Jo bhi mujhe yaad karta, jhat se pohunch jaata.

Par kya kabhi aisa hoga, jab milega sab chahne par,

Dil ke armaan to bante hain, har pal, har manzar.

-- Subeer.

Terrorist attacks in Bangalore and Ahmedabad

Two serial blasts in two big industrial cities of India on consecutive days!
Seems, the terrorists have become fully aware that we are so much divided among ourselves that we will keep on fighting, instead of taking some action which will not lead us to play into their hands. The people of the country are divided on the basis of religion, caste, language, region and color. We just want to play the blame game. Some blame the Babri Masjid or Gujarat riots while others blame the minority appeasement and pseudo-secularity of the political parties. But the truth is that we have become so corrupt and full of hatred that nothing affects us enough. The need of humanity is that we should be united and fight the problems on each and every field.
What pains me the most is that whenever some incident happens, I could find in almost all the bulletin board portals, loads of inflammatory posts. May be the truth is that pain and suffering is the destiny of human beings otherwise why do we keep making the same mistakes again and again. Can't we show solidarity and perseverance even in the face of grave problems? Whatever be our religion or caste or region, the truth is that we all are humans. And killing innocent people is not what normal people do and those who do so can't be considered humans. If they are really humans, how can they attack a hospital where the victims are being treated?
Also, which war are the militants fighting? If they want to take revenge of injustice done, then they should take it in proper civilized forums. Please, two wrongs don't make a right. No religion teaches us to be violent and kill our fellow human beings. Come on, have some sense. The war over religions have been going on since thousands of years, yet there are hundreds of religions, faiths and beliefs. If the war is for land, then a land being won over the lives of millions of innocent people will never bear fruit. Please learn, that all of us are the children of the mother nature and mother nature will never forgive murderers of her own children.
In this hour of crisis, let's stand united, let's pray that peace should prevail on this earth and not pain!

Achievements

Sitting in front of my Dell XPS 1530, it really feels great. Want to really achieve lot more things in my life through hard work. It feels great to be in Software development field with more than 4 years of experience behind me. Really want to scale new heights. God knows if there are any more lives but want to live this life to fullest.

Though there are things which I wish had never happened, but it is really out of my control. Many times I have been face to face with defeat, grief and loss but what I have learnt is to keep going ahead. This is the biggest lesson for me and I try not to forget it.

Most of the times I try to adhere to my own words "Don't lose hope because hope is a rope that swings you through life" and yes I like those words.

Thoughts and Questions

The Blogger has become a kind of online diary for me. There are so many things I want to write but either I don't have time or just forget to write them. There are millions of questions which are just bubbling in my mind. I just have no idea whom to ask about it. I don't think that anyone can answer me correctly or even understand what I want to ask, because my questions are not straight forward, they are not even questions. It seems I have some thoughts which I would never be able to describe, which I would never be able to explain; thoughts which are not just concerned to me but this whole Universe.
May be others too have such questions/thoughts but I am not sure how many really ponder about these questions/thoughts or if even think about seeking answers to such questions or an explanation to their thoughts.
May be some questions are better left unanswered, some thoughts may be left for the time to provide the explanation for. But when is this time gonna come?
Am I supposed to wait for the eternity to get the answers to my questions?
Waiting for these above questions too....

Destiny...

What is Destiny? Do I have one? Who wrote mine? Does everyone have their own? Why is destiny so important? Can we re-write our own destiny?
There are so many questions which I have regarding destiny.
Well to be frank, I believe in destiny. But I also believe that destiny can be re-written if you have faith upon yourself.
Everyone has his/her own destiny and life of every person revolves around their destiny. It is not the force which keeps us down but it is the factor which plays the most important part in shaping our whole life. We must not take our destiny for granted but we should not be afraid of it also.
Destinies of many people are usually interwined and this leads to some new twist or turn in lives of people. Well I am not a pessimitic person but somehow I feel that we can't run away from our destiny. We should face our destiny with courage whether it is good or bad. After all it is the courage, faith and sense of hope that matters in life.

Birthday, again?

Today is my birthday and I am all alone here in Melbourne. It is really difficult to even guess where life is going to take you next. Last year on the same date, I couldn't have even imagined in my strangest dream that I would be here in Melbourne during my next birthday.
Well life takes us through bizzare twists and turns, no one is sure of what is going to happen next. What we could do is to hope that all be well.

Why so much hatred???

This is my 2nd trip to Melbourne and this time the place looks familiar. But just a day before my arrival, one of my friend in Melbourne who is also my team-mate was mugged by some 8-9 drunk people. They tried to snatch his purse, beat him up and also tried to strike him with a bottle. He was lucky to have escaped with minimum damages but still got a ligament tear in his shoulder. The guys who attacked him also abused him racially. It was a real sad event and a very bad experience for my friend.
What I fail to understand is why do we keep so much of hatred for each-other? People hate each other on the basis of language, caste, color, nationality, economy and God knows what reason! Can't all of human beings live on this earth in peace and tranquility, can't we learn to love and respect each other?
Hatred is the bane of humanity and it needs to be suppressed. We must let love rule our earth and our minds.
But then earth will not remain earth, it will become heaven....isn't it?

Questions?

With each passing day I am more and more awe struck with how life behaves in very different ways with us. There are so many questions about which I have no answers and everyday more and more such questions keep getting added to my list.........I have no idea as to when can I have answer to all my questions which I have ready for life.
Sometimes I have a question like, "Why me?". Other times it is "When?" or "Who?" or "Where?" or "How?" and most times "What???". Anyways, life keeps behaving differently with me with each twist and turn that it brings into my life. Again I have a question as to why so many twists and turns or even more specific why life??? Many people say that we all are born in this world with some special purpose but I have no idea as to what is my purpose or is there any purpose at all???
Who is going to answer all my questions is an even bigger question? God or who knows.....
Still I am falling in love with life more often than not.....
Who knows when, where or how I will get answer to all my questions....Will I be an enlightened soul then....Who knows?

Optimism

"Night slowly dies down as the rays from red and angry sun slowly cuts through the canvas of darkness; but not before vowing to return back soon, very soon."
Pessimism makes us percieve things in a way it is actually not, where as Optimism pushes us for better. Nothing else in life matters more than being an optimist.
But a person can never be a 100% optimist or pessimist; it's always a blend of both these philosophies that makes a person who he is.
My motto from now on is to be optimist for most of the times and keep pessimism to as low as possible.

Humanity

Many times I sit down and think of all the mayhem that is happening all around the world. What specially amazes me is the way humans are harming more & more fellow humans, sometimes for religion, othertimes for language or even for caste or race or color!
Aren't we supposed to live happily with all the others in this world, aren't we also the part of eco-system known as earth? Why can't we put an end to all the discrimination, intolerance and unfair treatment meted out to people by other people?
Why do we want everything rosy and fair for ourselves but don't hesitate to create problem for others? Why don't we understand that humanity must come before religion, country, race or language etc.?
May be we humans don't learn from our mistakes in the past and I sincerely hope that we don't need any bitter lesson to learn the code of conduct known as humanity!

To you Mrs. Bhattacharya!!!

Thinking about you, I remembered in hurry,
When life wasn't easy and all around me worry.
You came into my life as sunshine abound,
Made me happy like I was never around.

Taught me, made me understand the meaning of life,
Held my hands when in difficulties and strife.
It was for you that I could understand myself,
You just freed my soul from darkness of ignorance.

Today you are not with me as my guide,
But your teachings will always show me the light.
My heart often pains remembering the bygone era,
When I had a great teacher named Mrs. Bhattacharya.

--Subeer.

We will miss you Mrs. Bhatta....

She was my class teacher in 5th standard. She introduced many new ideas to improve us, namely Rs. 1 fine for not talking in English and putting up a chart in the class where every students performance will be represented by a star (red - good, white - average, black - poor). That was really a different strategy from the age old way of teaching students. I was really impressed by her.
Then she again became my English teacher in class 9th. Though I sometimes disliked her for bringing the family background into her scoldings but later understood that was part of being Mrs. Bhatta; which was the name we used to refer to her among ourselves.
She not just groomed me into the person I am but also helped me in recognising that everyone is equal irrespective of language, caste, religion or sex.
She inculcated the belief and confidence in myself and helped me in being a good human.
But suddenly I heard the news of her passing away in a tragic way. It is really sad that we have lost her in such young age. Had she been there, she would have helped and encouraged thousands of students in being creative, tolerant and brilliant.
Losing her is like losing the light of knowledge and creativity for students of VSEC.
May her soul rest in peace.
We will miss you Mrs. Bhatta!!!

I am missing Durga Pujo!!!

I had never thought even in my wildest imagination that one day I will be working on a Maha-Ashtami day, listening to the Dhaks on YouTube and RediffShare.
I always knew that Durga Pujos are for younger generation but had never thought that I have grown up so much that I will have to sit in office and work during Durgo Pujo.
Really really miss Pujo!!!

Retun journey!

Just 2 more days left before I return back to India. The last 4 weeks have been very hectic in terms of work but it also gave me some very good experience and I could learn a lot many things. I also got time to spend with my school time friends Varun and Kapil after almost 6 years. Well had a lot of fun...also felt the pain of seperation from my wife.
Life is so strange that I just can't stop being amazed. There is good & bad, life & death, happiness & sadness, pain & smile, hatred and hospitality etc. etc. All spread across the planet but in varying proportions. Even Australia is no different in this respect.
Wish I could travel around the world extensively and mingle with people from different countries, learn about different customs and beliefs.
I liked Australia and would surely like to return back here. Yet home is where the heart is and my heart still beats for India. So start packing the bags and be ready for flying back to India.

Australia

It happened suddenly and I didn't even get time to either pack my belongings properly nor shop properly for my first overseas trip. I was told on Friday that I had to leave for Australia on Sunday afternoon. Yeah just one day to get ready for a 1 month long overseas trip. And yes the travel itenary was nothing less than amazing. I had to fly to Mumbai and from Mumbai to Sydney and then from Sydney to Melbourne. I also met an accident on sunday afternoon, well that's a different story altogether. And yes I reached late in Sydney and missed my connecting flight to Melbourne. Finally when I reached Sydney around 7 PM in the evening I heaved a sigh of relief.
The city is really clean and nice, with its high rises, trams and people with good sense of traffic. I like the place though I feel lonely. The place where I am staying is also good and I get Indian food also quite easily. Well it is just 1st week and apart from work I have been doing nothing. Let's see how the next 3 weeks turn out to be. Hope I enjoy my stay here.

USA

Everytime I think of writing a new post something comes in between the post and getting posted. Anyways today I have decided to finally post something on my blog lest the Blogger people shutdown my blog :-)
The last 4 months have been quite dramatic and full of events. I got the VISA for USA after getting rejected once. The VISA officer didn't find me convincing enough to give the VISA and hence I came back from Chennai dejected. The heat and humidity of Chennai had made its way over my nerves and I sounded a bit nervous. Though I got the VISA in my next try but this incident tought me how to keep the confidence level up, even in adverse conditions.
I still don't know when will I be travelling to USA but yes it will surely be a great experience to put my foot over the vast expanse of land known as America, the country of opportunities, of silicon valley and the major business driving force in the world. Yeah I missed out the millitary and policing part, but that was intentional.
So I keep my fingers crossed for my voyage to the continent which was discovered because a sailor named Columbus wanted to find a shorter route to my country, India!

Happy B'Day...

It was my B'day yesterday (blogspot shows US time...so to make things clear 25th March is the date) and after soooooo many years I could celebrate it with my parents once again....Though I missed my friends.....During school days we had real fun on B'Days....In college B'Day meant giving a chicken party to friends....Oh how I miss Butter Chicken of Delhi...
This B'Day was quite peaceful as I celebrated it with my parents and my wife....Didn't eat non-veg also...though Mom cooked delicious Khoya-Paneer....
Time is running at very fast pace and sometimes it becomes difficult to maintain rhythm along with it...Yet life has been beautiful for me with its usual ups and downs....
So welcoming with open arms and warm heart one more year to not just live but make it memorable and lively.....
Happy B'Day to me!!!

Time and tide wait for none...

This is the most basic rule of the World, yet we never ever try to completely agree to it.....we hope that time should stop at some instant or the past can be re-lived. We expect to be given one more chance so that we can correct the mistakes that we made in the past....But there is no such thing as 2nd chance....a mirror once broken can never be made un-broken without some marks on it....Still things can always be made better and life is there to be lived, then why not do it happily and with grace...
I don't know why am I writing all this....I am feeling confused...
May be life's like that....

Transition...

This is a new phase of life. I have moved on from Infosys to Subex Azure Ltd. and this transition is not easy to say the least. In-fact transition or change has never been easy for me. When I completed my schooling I felt that there is no life beyond that. Same way I felt after my college, but there always is something which keeps your string attached to this game called life.
It has been two and a half years since I joined Infosys but the day is still sketched clearly in my mind when I boarded the taxi from Gurgaon to go to New Delhi railway station for my train to Hyderabad. The pain of getting seperated from NCR, my home for last 4 years was accute but there was hope in my heart that I am going for a bigger cause. The way to Hyderabad was quite long and all the time I missed Delhi, Gurgaon and my friends. Yet I made new friends in Hyderabad some of them are still there with me in Bangalore. Though transition from Delhi to Hyderabad/Bangalore was very difficult yet the faith that future has something good in its womb always made me excited.
Now I am in a new company in a new job with new people around me but I still have the faith that everythings gonna be good. The old ones I have not forgotten, they will always have a special place in my mind and my heart.

One fine day!

I have already posted this poem on Infy Blog, still :-

"Night will be over sometime soon,
Rays of light will throw away the gloom,
Darkness will surely lose this war,
World will be a safer place for one and all."

"No more of bloodshed and people dying,
no more of killings and children crying,
no more of one ruling & using the other,
that day the whole world will be together."

"Oh lord, make people see the ultimate treasure,
that you are present in each and every creature,
give us faith to bear the problems around,
so that one fine day, we can see peace crowned!"

Vande Mataram!

Today is the 100th anniversary of our national song. Instead of celebrations, controversies are raging throughout the country. The issue is whether the singing of the song should be made mandatory for everyone, after muslims have expressed their reservations regarding the country being equated to God. Though I really like this song but I don't think that forcing anyone to sing this song is going to do any good for our country or the song itself. The singing of this song doesn't prove anyone's patriotism towards the country. The song is a legend in itself and it does not deserve unnecessary controversies.
The government should not have passed a circular in the first place of making the singing mandatory. Though the harm is done we should not take an ultra-nationalist view over the controversy. We all are son of Mother India whether we accept it or not and our soul knows that we will always be in debt to our mother land. Whether we are Hindu or Muslim, doesn't matter, because whosoever is Indian must be Indian from heart. In these tough times where the ugly head of terrorism keeps propping up from everywhere we need to be tolerant. We need to understand that hatred breeds hatred. Force can make people bend but it will never make people accept.
Hopefully the politicians will understand all this and stop unnecessary fanning of religious sentiments. It is better if they divert their attention to more important problems our country is presently facing like floods, farmers committing suicide, corruption, lack of infrastructure, education and famines.
Let the true essence of Vande Mataram be known to every Indian, instead of blindly singing the song without even an iota of respect for either the song or the nation.
Vande Mataram!

Long long time

It has been a long time since I wrote a post on my blog but today is special because I am writing yet another post. Though I write reguarly on the blog in my company but don't know why I don't get time to write here in blogspot.
Life is moving in very relative speed, sometimes it seems like it is moving at a snail's pace and other times it seems to be just zooming past at breakneck speed. Well had a small get together with my college friends in the week previous to the last week. Bought a new Motorazor V3i phone, yeah after using Nokia 3310 for 3.5 years Motorazor seems like an alien gizmo. Though I use it mostly as an mp3 player during the long tedious bus rides to and from Infosys.
Went to see Golmaal on 15th August and really enjoyed the comedy. Heard KANK is a bore, I expected nothing better from Karan Johar this time. I am going to complete my 2 years in Infosys next month and really enjoyed the last 2 years. Had highs and lows, goods and bads, laughter and tears but I enjoyed every moment even though they seemed borin then but today they have a significance. They are a vital part of my past.
This time just nonsense as a post though I promise myself that I would write a nice poem next time.

Moving on.....

Walking down the road I heard her footsteps,
turned around with hope to find her by any chance,
even after knowing that she had left me long ago,
why do I want to see her, see her just for once.

I still remember the day she left me,
left me lonely and broke my lovefilled heart.
The pain of seperation still biting into my soul,
the pain which has now become my very part.

Again I heard the sound of her footsteps behind,
But I moved on along the road, completely immersed in pain.
I am sure that this time it is definitely she,
And I didn't care to look back, not even in vain.

Reservations

The storm of reservations and anti-reservation protest doesn't seem to subside and is gaining momentum with every single passing day.
My concern is how our politicians treat us as vote bank and nothing else. By raising communal tensions, by fanning communal hatred, showing the carrot of reservations etc. the politicians want to gather as much votes as possible so that they can stay in power.
Why don't any political party raise the issues of population, water, illiteracy, pollution, infrastructure, health, education, crimes and unemployment? Has everything become so stable in our country that politicians don't even touch these issues in their whole career spanning not less than 80 years?
Is religion, caste, creed, region, language and community more important than people dying due to floods and famines year after year? The thousands of farmers committing suicide have no weightage in front of few castes who need the status of OBC? Come on man it has been more than 50 years since we have achieved freedom and barring a few selected cities almost all the cities have reached the depths of under development and unemployment. City like Kanpur which was once called The Manchester of India has no major mills running, roads have become deep trenches as if to fend off enemy attack and electricity supply is so consistently inconsistent that every single house (ofcourse only those who can afford) has either a generator or an invertor. There has been sharp increase in crimes due to the huge unemployment but both center and state government are in a mode of deep sleep from which they never want to return into the consciousness.
I would have been happier had people come to the roads protesting for all these issues along with the anti-reservation protests, but (sigh) what am I myself doing? Just blogging and cribbing...............
Anyways I hope that our next generation understands these vote bank policies of the political parties and instead of voting for caste or religion, vote for party which raises genuine and people friendly issues.

Childhood dreams

So my school friend Arindam made his childhood dream come true of having a Yamaha key-board. But what was my childhood dream? From a list of many dreams which I used to have long time ago I could find only few of them still floating somewhere in my mind, though none of them seem to be possible. One of my dream was to be an astronaut. Wow what a dream I had!
Floating in the space connected by a chord to a space-ship or jumping on the martian land. Well that was one hell of a dream, isn't it?
Another dream was of being an astronomer. You must be wondering as to why every dream related to space?
But as a child I used to be really amazed by the vast expanse of the sky and the twinkling stars. Lying on my back at the top of the roof I used to look into the dark sky for hours, sometimes lucky enough to see a shooting star or an orbiting satellite. I really wanted to find some new star or planet, but .........
During our childhood we dream a lot many things most of which we slowly forget as we grow up. We find new dreams and targets as we keep growing up and slowly just one dream remains of getting fatter and fatter pay-check.
Life would have been better had there only been childhood and childhood dreams!

Rainy Days

Really miss those rainy days, when reaching the school completely drenched there is a sweet surprise awaiting you.
Hurry! The school is closed today.
Really wonder if there are rainy day offs in the schools in Bangalore, because rainy season here extends to almost 3-4 months as compared to 1-2 months in my home town Kanpur.
When I was in college in Delhi we used to wait for the rainy season with bated breath. That was our freedom from intense hot climate, but most of the times monsoon ditched us.
Anyways college days are things of past but what if there were rainy day closes in offices too? Well we had couple of half day's last year when due to heavy rains the Silk Borad junction was flooded and many people celebrated a virtual rainy day because of the severe jams on Hosur Road.
Beware junta, Bangalore rainy season is on the doorstep. Be ready to get wet and jammed!

Sardar Sarovar Dam

The Sardar Sarovar Dam is in news because Medha Patkar has been on hunger strike for the last 8 days against the increase in height of the dam on Narmada river. It is said that increase in height of the dam will improve the irrigation conditions in many draught stricken villages in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. It will also provide clean way of generating electricity. But the people from Narmada Bachao Andolan say that increase in height will cause complete destruction of the land and homes of the people who dwell around the banks of the river, moreover the Govt. of India has not been able to rehabilitate each and every displaced people.
Well it seems that the Dam will come as a boon to many but will be a bane to tribals and villagers who have been living at the banks of the Narmada river since a long time.
Government should first provide complete rehabilitation to the people who are going to be displaced due to the dam and only then it should think about increasing the height of the dam.
Dams are really effective in solving the electricity and irrigation needs of the people but this should not come at the price of people who lose everything in this trade off. Development is must and so is the use of technology but both of them should go hand in hand with humanity.

Hope!!!

When days are long, nights never ending,
when ground beneath you seems to be bending,
when even your shadow has left you alone,
Hope is everything that you can call your own.

Problems are like cold dark nights,
but keep your faith that there will be light.
If problems strike you again & again,
their efforts to dislodge you must go in vain.

Hope is the candle that burns in storm,
it wings your life towards a new dawn,
when chips around you are fast falling down,
Hope is the magic that takes you to crown.

Para-Sailing!!!

Oh boy what a scintillating and awesome experience!
Always used to dream that one day I will be flying; most probably in an air plane. But flying in the air suspended by a rope to a moving jeep with a parachute at your back catapulting you to a height above 100 feet was never what I had ever imagined. Those 5 minutes were one of the most cherished moments in my life.
Two of my friends (Narendra & Manish) also accompanied me to this experience of life time at the Jakkur Aerodrome in Bangalore and we all had great time there. We were also amazed to find a lot of girls also coming for para-sailing (and we call them weaker sex, huh!) and various other adventure sports.
Though I was a bit apprehensive in trying out para-sailing for the first time but it really touched my heart. I would like to try it out again and again. The feeling that I am flying really made me high and happy.
As soon as the jeep took off and the parachute lifted along with me in air it was just like dream coming true.
So tighten your belt and off we go in the sky; flying like a bird, breathing the fresh air and the things 100 feet beneath us appearing as toys.
Happy flying!!!

Patriotism

Haven't seen the movie Rang De Basanti but have heard that it is a good movie with a different view point about patriotism. So what actually is patriotism?
Is it the love for the motherland?
Then what about the system governing the country and the government ruling the country.
In Rang De Basanti the youth revolt against the system and the people ruling the country yet they are termed patriot.
So can we say that everyone who is not doing anything wrong against his fellow human being and not hurting them is patriot. The biggest threat to patriotism is from greed. Greed for money, power and fame. Greed which gives rise to dis-honesty and dis-respect towards own country and fellow humans. If we can curb this greed from soaking down into our coming generations we can surely make our country better!
To be a patriot everyone is not needed to go and fight at the borders. There is a fight which goes inside ourselves and we need to fight and win it. The fight to be a good human being. Human being with sentiments, love and care for others. As per me empathy, love, honesty and kindness are most important ingredients for patriotism. With self sacrifice being the greatest and most difficult virtue of all to follow in a patriot's life.
We all may not be courageous enough to sacrifice ourselves but can be brave enough to win our inner war and emerge as victorious. A victory which destroys greed and dis-honesty.
Lets all be patriots.
Jai Hind!

Yet another blogger

Well this is my first blog on my own blog here in blogspot.com. Hope I will be able to keep posting interesting information and posts here.
In-fact blogging has been like a revelation for me. I was always interested in writing and blogs provide me a platform for writing about my interests, hobbies, likes, dis-likes etc.
So am ready to zoom into this wonderful hobby of blogging and more blogging.