I am an Indian

The recent debate over sachins comment over being an indian first and then a maharashtrian is proabably one topic which should never have been made so big as it has been made . Instead some leeching elements in politics thought that they could make this a big point and earn some score from the seemingly foolish junta that they refer to as votebank.

I call these elements terrorists ; terrorists because just like the terrorists we all are familier with (Al-qaida etc )have only one objective of destryoing the rule of the land , in the same manner these elements are also trying to divide the country with their hate politics.

So does saying that i am an Indian first and then something else is a sin or is it something we should all be proud of and make it a daily ritual.

If someone has seen the movie “Chak-De” , he might have noticed that the coach in the movie while trying to form the team gives the states and the individuals the least priority and teaches them to be Indians rather than being Maharashtrians or South-indians or North-indians.

The message was loud and clear , if we want to suceed as a nation we will have to leave out individualism and think as a nation.

Sadly our belligerent and obscured visioned politicians have never really thought of success of a nation as such and have only thought of themselves.

I am personally of the view that these terrorist elements should be thrown out of the parliment and be feeded to the hungry and troubled people out on the streets to be taught a lesson just like the way it was done in “Chak-de” (Remember the McDonalds scene in the movie where the girls teach the boys a lesson when they were trying to play around with the girls)

They should be hanged in public and be given a public execution so as to pass on the message to other people who want to divide the country on hate agendas.

Sadly this is one of the drawbacks of democratic laws that every person here is heard and tolerated , but this should not discourage us from making us teach these people a lesson.

Let us all take a pledge today that we will not support people like these , we are one and we will be one no matter what happens and we will not support terrorists like you.

Let us show them the power of ONE and let them not succeed in their malicious goals.

Let us all get together and say “I am a proud INDIAN”.

Thanks Sachin for reminding us all this today , you have again showed us the right path today.

JAI-HO

26 years of my life

My bday is just 2 days away now and I still feel no excitement, no big feelings no expectation from the day.
This is nothing different for me , as for the last 25 years I have never felt like it would be a special day for me or something like that , maybe that’s just the way I am , I take things as they come without any expectation.

I don’t say this is the ideal way to go around but its just the way I am and what I think.
This coming 9/11 I will be completing 26 years of my existence on this earth , and when I look back all these years I do not think I have fulfilled my potential and done things which I can be proud of in all these 26 years.
I do not know how long I am going to live or in other words how many years of existence I still have on this earth but certainly I have made a promise to myself that the next 26 years will be much more fruitful that the years gone by.
I believe everybody should have goals and dreams set for their lives and am a firm believer in the alchemist quote “when you really want something in life, the whole universe conspires you to get that thing”; I am determined to achieve that goal.
I am getting a little philosophical here but I certainly believe in the fact that the Mind and the thoughts of a person make him the person he wants to; if one has control over his mind and over his thoughts he can achieve the impossible.
Another great quote which inspires me is the adidas advertisements which come on the Television sometimes
No matter how good you are, getting better never stops - Impossible is nothing
To think in a certain way when there is so much of negativity and when things are going bad around you is tough task but then when somebody really wants to do it he does it, and all the motivational novels and books around are a tool which can help you here.
I am no motivational guru but these are things which I have felt by reading and practising those philosophies written in all these books over the years ; I have much to learn in this long life and I hope and wish I reach a stage where someday I am able to guide people like the way I seek guidance.

Question of the day

An evening to remember

Last Wednesday i had gone to sirifort to see Pt Shiv kumar sharma and Pt Birju maharaj perform and what an evening it turned out to be.
Pt Shiv kumar sharma started the show , and he mesmerized us for over 2 hours for which he was performing with his tunes and ragas. It was after quite some time i have gone to see a classical music show and as it turned out i will be going to a lot more in the near future.
For the 2 or so hours that he was playing his santoor , i had no sense of what was going around around me ; i was completely lost in his music and was hoping this would continue forever.
Unfortunately all good things have to end some time as one but another masterpiece followed it.
I witnessed classical dance for the first time in my life and had a really good time watching Pt Birju maharaj perform.
He seemed pretty old to me , but still had the enthusiasm of a child performing with charm and panache.
Hoping to see more shows like this in the near future.

Saving Mother Earth

Saving Mother earth

I had written this piece of article some 3 years back when i was working with Induslogic ; just got it back from there hence decided to post it here.
Hope people see this and it has some positive effect.

We all need to think about the environment now otherwise tomorrow may be too late to think about it

Yesterday was the earth day and some of the issues that scientists' worldwide have found in their respective studies is that if we don't take care of our environment today it may be too late tomorrow to care for it.

See the level of water rising in our oceans everyday, due to global warming.

See the temperature growing each day again to due to global warming, the highest temperature each year is always greater than the previous year giving a clear sign we need to do something about it in the days to come.

I was watching things that each and every one of us can do in our daily lives to do something for mother earth, on the television yesterday which I am listing below.

Even if a couple of people understand the importance of this I would think my effort has not been lost hence please go through the list at least ( J and hopefully follow some of the things mentioned).

1. Save paper ---only take out printouts when and when it's absolutely necessary, after all saving paper is like saving trees.

Even if you have taken out a printout by mistake do not throw it away, instead use if for rough work like writing notes making calculations etc

Remember saving a ton of paper saves 17 trees.

2. Join a car pool --- car pooling saves the extra fuel that's been used for the other car and also saves the road from the vehicles load.

If even 2 people start coming by a single car then a lot of fuel could be saved each day.

3. Walk and don't use the vehicle while going short distances --- while going out to take out daily use items we all are in a habit of using the car or our bike but while it may be much more convenient for but just going that extra 300 or 400 meters by walk would save the precious fuel again.

Being in the IT line we do not walk enough and we all need to walk (studies show that a person should walk at least 45min a day to keep fit ) so lets start doing it today.

4. Use CFL's instead of Bulbs --- using CFL's and tube lights instead of using the bulbs also saves a lot of electricity (a lot of electricity is still produced by burning coal) so using the CFL's could go a long way in saving coal as well as the tones of smoke it emits each day.

Already in the US and other European countries bulbs are being discouraged and CFL's are being promoted.

5. Educating others --- this is probably the most important of all the above points as if all of us start educating others and make others realize how important it is to save Mother Earth it could help in a campaign of sorts which would gather momentum in the long run.

I hope every body who has a concern for the environment would take measures in supporting me in this battle for the survival of Mother Earth.

Please forward this message to all you dear and loved ones as it's for benefit of all.

Today is the 15th of August

Today is the 15th of August , India's independence day , in fact its the 62nd time that we are celebrating this day today.
The first thing that comes to my mind today is that for the majority of the junta i in the country today it is a declared holiday and they seem to be really disappointed that today happened to be a Saturday and not a weekday.
Anyway moving forward , i heard Dr Manmohan singh give his speech today in the morning and was wondering the challenges that he has got in his hand this time around.
2009 has been a difficult year for the country ; we have had a global economic crisis to look after , then the country is facing a year with low rainfall and drought like situations in majority of the states , swine flu scare is spreading like fire in the country and of course our usual battle with terrorism and Pakistan is something we have been facing for years.
I feel something different today , something which makes me think i also need to do something in the building of this nation.
I have always wanted to do some kind of service for my nation and this feeling gets a pump every time an independence day or a republic day or some other patriotic event takes place in the nation.
I always wanted to join the armed forces but my health did not allow me to do so and candidly speaking i never did try enough , but now i really think of doing something which would help nation grow and prosper.
Although i have not seen the phase when we had the partition but after seeing on the TV the kind of sacrifices that people gave to earn independence i feel a sense of duty in myself to repay back.
In the coming few days i would give it a thought of what i can do and should do in future.
JAI HIND

Rain after soooooooooooo long

Rain after so long

Its raining in delhi after a long time and it it feels great watching the rain come down heavily from my window seat in the office.

Rain in delhi has been a rare sight in Delhi this year , and hence whenever it has come down i do feel exited and rejoiced.

I love seeing the rain fall down , and it is the one thing that always makes me smile whenever i see it.

The last time the rain came falling down as when i was admitted in Max and i was watching it from the hospitals confined windows , it did not give me the pleasure i am having today.

My seat is just adjacent to the window , the kind of seat i always wanted to have and i am experiencing a certain high at this point of time.

The only thing missing here is a bottle of whiskey and some chilled beer , i am having to make up that with a glass of machine coffee here :)

Kabul Express

Finally after a few years of my friends persuading me into watching Kabul express , I watched it yesterday and all it took was bottle of Kingfisher , Chicken momos , Hot and spicy mutton kebabs and my 5.1 channel speaker system connected to my laptop to that I finally did watch this film.
Candidly speaking I enjoyed the movie thoroughly , it gave me an insight into Afghanistan for the first time in my life ; I have always wanted to know about Afghanistan , its culture , its people , life after the Taliban took over but probably never made any effort in that direction , but this film certainly gave me a direction.
It is a nice movie moving at a brisk pace about two journalists looking out for a story on the Taliban and how they land up in the hands of a Talib who forces them to drive all the way to the Pakistan border. The story moves around their experience through this journey, he telling about his life, his family and how he had been part of the Taliban without approving of their mindset.
There is a particular scene in the movie which is really moving in which the Talib called Imran here, when he goes out to see his daughter and does not meet him but just puts up some 300$ for her at a distance and leaves; that is because she hates him for being a Talib and he does not want to embarrass her.
I especially liked the accent of the Afghans through the movie; it made me smile every time I listened to some afghan speaking in his peculiar accent.
The movie travels through the serene places in the country now torn apart from war and shows glimpses of the natural beauty of the landscapes there.
The story moves around the Talibs life, who is an army commander serving as a Talib as part of his duty and how he is dumped at the end by his own people at the end when he approaches his country for shelter.

The movie made me think about the kind of lives that the people in Afghanistan have been living, under the dreaded regime , and how they themselves hate the Talibs and their rule.
Overall it was a thoroughly enjoyable movie , with beautiful backgrounds and landscapes and a nice story.

Why i was happy to see Pakistan win this time ..............

I have never been happy seeing Pakistan win something , be it any sport or any other kind of achievement , but probably for the first time in my life I was rejoicing seeing Pakistan win the world T20 tournament 2009.

The win is significant as it comes at a stage when the state of Pakistan is in shambles and in dire need of some kind of support from outside.

What ever is happening in Pakistan is terribly sad and my heart goes to every individual who is fighting everyday to get his life back on track in that state.

Human loss anywhere in the world is a cause of concern, and the victory of the Pakistan team certainly gave a few smiles to a nation in dire need of some good news. It felt great to see the people cheering in the streets, dancing like they have gulped few bottles of wine down their throats, coming out openly in the streets without having to think about any bombscare , it was indeed something to smile for them after a very very long time.

I am hoping that a time is not far away when the people will have more reasons to cheer and not just rely on a world cup win to come out and celebrate like this.

Bangalore calling

I delayed my joining at the Bangalore centre by 1 week to attend Siddharths marriage and what a blessing it turned out to be (why this was a blessing would be narrated in a later story).
It was really exiting getting in the airplane after such a long time; my last journey on this machine was nearly 3 years back when I went to Singapore with Rahul.
A strange kind of adrelenine was rushing through my body when the plane took off and as I saw the objects from the window getting smaller and smaller; smaller cars smaller buildings, it felt terrific in the air at that point of time.
I don’t quite remember which movie I saw in the flight but I really did enjoy the flight with the sexy airhostess serving me in there, I was feeling like a king out there in the sky.
When I finally landed up at the Bangalore airport and put my first steps out of the flight a gush of fresh air hit me on the face, like somebody giving me a light hug saying "welcome to Bangalore".
WOW finally I was in Bangalore, they city of gardens, the city I visited 10 years back with my family.
I called up home and told everybody I had reached safely here , then called up Ankur to get directions to his house. It was almost 3 years since we last met apart from a meeting at CP 2 months back where we had Carlsberg with Roasted Chicken at the Minar.
WOW, the feeling was still so fresh and it was so good to breathe the air; the airport looked beautiful; it felt like a dream being here.

After getting directions from Ankur I boarded a Volvo route no 8 , my first Volvo trip here and headed to his home nearly 50 km and an hour and half’s journey from here.
The road was magnificent; the A/C was really cool and the scenery terrific

It felt good coming in here and watching the coconut trees, I still could not imaging being in this place. When the city finally did start after an hour or so after we started the IT parks took over and one after the another I saw these huge buildings in the background; Nokia , AOL , Accenture , CISCO , JP Morgan , ARM , Oracle ..........the list just continued , this is why they call Bangalore the IT hub of India.
Unfortunately, I got down at the wrong stop thanks to my conductor and I called up Ankur for help, he came to pick me up in his car 10 minutes later and it felt good seeing him after years.

This was my first house in Bangalore , His room was quite neat and clean considering he was staying alone up there.
I was damm exited to be in here that I said lets get moving as soon as I put my stuff up there, it was nearly 4 at that time but I wanted to just get out and explore the city.
We called up Adi ( Aditya) as we call him and planned to meet at Forum ( that was my favourite hangout in Bangalore for the next 2 months) , caught a bus , changed another bus then another and finally did land up there at 6.
The first time I saw Forum , I was a little disappointed considering what Ankur told me that this as the biggest mall in here ; frankly speaking it was smaller than the centerstage mall at Noida and in that respect it did seem pretty small.
After roaming in for a while Adi arrived in his conventional looks, wearing his loose T-shirt and slippers as usual, he has not changed 1 bit since college days.
We planned to have beer and entered some pub , don’t remember the name though. The music was brilliant there, it was slow rock and I was so damm drunk that i couldn’t understand 1 word of the songs but still it felt good listing to the guitars playing in the background.
We ordered 2 pitchers for 500 bucks and after the booze had dinner at some Northindian joint , it was 11 in the night and somehow we did make it home that day.
My first day in Bangalore ended here.

This was my first day there and my next two months here would be as rocking as my final day…………………….