Dec 27, 2008

HILLARIOUS

Some INDO-PAK news that makes you laugh!

1. Previously, India was a part of Pakistan

2. Indian terrorist caught for triggering the Lahore blast. The poor Talibani's who had planned and executed the blast didn't get their credit and took responsibility for the attack a day later.

3. Zardari: We will fight till the last drop of blood.
So you have made up your mind you'll have to fight till the last drop of blood.

4. Pakistan High Commissioner to US: We want counselor access for Ajmal.
He had forgotten that only citizens of a country get counselor access. :P

5. We want hard evidence. I some how find this statement very amusing. Right since I was born on 26th December, 1989, I have been hearing the same statement.

I'm sure I'll end up getting more of these due to some great Pakistani Ministers and Diplomats

Dec 4, 2008

An open letter to a terrorist - By Kunal Merchant

Read this wonderful letter in Mumbai Mirror on 4th December, 2008. Couldn't stop myself from posting it. A very very good article to feature in Mumbai Mirror.




The objective of a terrorist is not to kill, injure nor maim, but to instill terror in his victims. Your bullets and bombs killed close to 200 people and injured another 400, but your malice victimised around 1 billion citizens of my
country.

Long after the dust has settled, long after the carnage has been moped away and long after we have returned safely home, the impetus of the terror you have instilled in us will then manifest itself. The grief, anger, mistrust and the fear will all turn into hatred.

Then words will become embittered, fingers will be pointed, views will get extreme, the schism between communities will widen, governments will get polarised and violence will be employed.

But aren’t these the very same reasons that led you to our shores? Is it not hatred that you yourself feel? Is it not terror itself that created you? So, the cancer would have come full circle and thus is the apparatus of your terrorism.

When the riots took place in Mumbai, I was too young to understand. When bomb blasts went off in other cities they were too far off from me to notice.

When trains in Mumbai were blown up, I only blinked twice. The night you attacked the Taj, I was having dinner there. Till that night, I had led my life in apathy, ignorance and cynicism.

Just like your apathy which let you take innocent lives that night, my apathy did not let me value those already taken by terror. Just like the ignorance that made you perverse, my ignorance never let me feel for my fellow citizens.

Just like the cynicism with which you marched into my city and ravaged it, the cynicism of my passivity welcomed you that day with open arms. I had allowed you to perpetuate your disease.

That night, I was trapped with a man who had lost all hope of ever getting out alive. Broken, he sat in a chair, his heart gave in and life left his body.

Your bullets and bombs never even touched him, nor must you have ever seen him, but your terror was what killed him. That was what you intended to do — to strangle hope.

That night, I hoped for my life, I hoped that I could go home and play with my dog, I hoped that I could go back to work and I hoped that I would live to grow old one day.

That night, this man paid the price of life for giving up hope, that night I knew the value of life for holding on to it. Hope – that is the difference between you and I.

Because you had no hope. You have no choice, but to choose the path you did. Because I had hope, I now have a choice to pick the path that I will take.

I can choose to do nothing and return to my apathy, ignorance and cynicism and let your cancer run its course, or I can choose to remove my blinkers and put an end to your terror.

My retribution to you and my resolution to your disease is in these choices I have made today. I choose love over hate, knowledge over ignorance, integration over isolation, compassion over apathy, construction over destruction and understanding over force.

Just as you did not care if you survived as long as you created terror, I too don’t care what becomes of you as long as I supplant this terror.

In my last words to you I want you to know that even if you think you have been successful in victimising my entire country – you have failed because I am alive and I will always hold a kindled flame of hope.

Just like only one of you could victimise an entire country, it will take only one of us to destroy your disease.

But I am not alone. The youth of India, the frontier of the largest democracy in the world is waking up and making the same choices as I have.

If it is terror that has created you – it is our humanity that will give you salvation. The evidence of this has always existed and soon you will see it.

You will be given a fair trial by the same country that you victimised. The taxes of the same people you massacred will afford you a lawyer to fight in your defense.

You will be tried by an impartial and unbiased judge and you will receive justice, though you deserve none.

This is the fuel of my hope, this is the sanctity of my democracy, this is the echelon of my people and this is the beauty of my country.



Yes this is the beauty of our country. and the beauty of our people.

Nov 27, 2008

Globalization and Human Relations

“Let’s meet up online today”... “I’ll call you up tonight”... “Come on Skype, it’s free”. Do these statements seem familiar? Yes, I bet you yourself use these every day. Facebook, Skype, Cell phones, Emails, Sms, Conference, Fax. You hear these words and the first thing that comes to your mind is the advancement of Technology. But what does it lead to? --- A sense of belongingness. Gone are the days when u had to make trunk calls once in 4 months or write 4 letters in a year to assure your loved ones of your safety. 10 days delay and their blood pressure would reach at its peak. Some people even suffered a lifetime separation from their families. And now? Your all time companion—cell phones remove this hassle off your mind. So what if you are 100 miles away from home. You still feel oh-so-close.
Thanks to Globalization – which started as an initiative towards economic prosperity by opening up trade routes, eventually led to cross cultural mixing. We now are used to sms languages, so used to that after completing this piece, am sure to read this twice to make sure I haven’t used any. Orkut has become our lifeline. Why not? After all we miss our far-away-living friends so much. And why to increase our bills by calling up when the simplest way is to go online and chat. Or talk for hours and hours free from Skype. And don’t we all enjoy it? Certainly we do. But enough of technology talks. Think of the international exposure we get. Do all of us want to do our Masters from India? Or U.K. and U.S are more preferred? In return what do we get apart from better job and education? Let me think-----‘firang’ friends? This is where the cross cultural mixing comes into picture. We now lovingly accept the enrichment of languages. Ever noticed the newly added ‘Hinglish’ words in Oxford dictionary? Then comes the ‘Adios’…’Sionara’…’Chow’…Don’t tell me even your grandparents used these jargons. Indian music, which was only confined to India, has now spread all over the world. Same goes for western music. Ask a 17 yr old what kind of music does he listen to and the immediate reply comes “Hard rock, Power Pop” and so forth. Not to deny the fact that this taste starts simply from peer pressure. We just don’t want to be the odd one out. And these common likes and dislikes, common topics of discussions tremendously help us to connect with our peers well. Cultural difference becomes a least-bothering issue. In fact, we simply love to boast “My best friend is an Australian”. Not only music, we find this blend of cultures in cuisines too—we all know how popular kebabs have become in England don’t we?
Globalization brings about both evolution and extinction. On one hand, we have an inter-twining culture—learning new languages, connecting to people from different parts of the globe, getting a taste of varying music etc. On the other hand, there’s an increasing dilution of cultural inheritance and stressed relationships. As we leave our footprints on the rest of the globe, we hardly realize the quickly perishing cultural identity as every subsequent generation absorbs more and more global culture (predominantly western). Where are the long-bragged about respect and reverence which we were known to give our elders? Does our so-called ‘sanskaar’ ask us to promote nuclear families by dumping our parents into some old-age home? Is our responsibility limited to providing them with material benefits? We now keep a track of the latest websites in the Internet. But do we care to bother ourselves with the torture the daughter-in-law of our neighbour has to go through? While our parents are counting days for our long-awaited visit in Diwali, we are busy counting the episodes of ‘Friends’ on satellite television—another ‘bliss’ of globalization. Okay, we all cherish the use of emails and sms. But do they hold as much importance as the personalized hand-written letters which we can keep forever as memories? Does your heart take a lift as much when you get an e-card as it does when u get a card via post?
A small town girl from Karnal, marries an American and goes on to serve the most prestigious space research organization of the world—Kalpana Chawla, like many others, never belonged to a single nation. They are the citizens of the world. Having belongingness to the planet as a whole, the children of globalization have made the boundaries between the nations irrelevant.
Globalization, with its numerous pros and cons, has no doubt implanted an increasing level of tolerance and acceptance within the people. Criticize it as much as you want, you still can’t do without it. This is when the saying by Kofi Annan proves right:-
Arguing against globalization is like arguing against the law of gravity.”

Nov 18, 2008


ANIL KUMBLE ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT COURTESY BCCI?????

Did he????? :P

Makes a good pic!!

Nov 14, 2008

VIVA VOCE RULES

When the "VIVA" season is over, the only word that can describe any engineering students state is RELIEF.

Here are certain rules and observations that can be applied to vivas:

1. The external examiner shall never come on time. He/She has to be a minimum of 1 hr late.

2. Vivas shall never be good, they can just be bad, worse or worst.

3. The professor shall make all effort possible to confuse you.

4. The student shall be asked a minimum of one question that he/she cannot answer. Following the question, there will be many such questions from the same topic that the question belonged to.

5. The student shall find that asking questions that he/she cannot answer is not a form of revenge but it actually gives a sense of fulfillment to the internal examiner.

6. If vivas were to be recorded on video camera, the expressions on students face's can feature in world's best comedy videos. 

7. Student has to agree with the examiner under all circumstances eventually only to learn that it was an idea to confuse him/her and get the wrong answer from him/her.

8. The only aim of vivas is to let students know that they know nothing of the concerned subject. Its a waste of time sitting in front of the two greats of the subject and trying to answer their googlies.

Nov 9, 2008

THE POWER OF YOU!

I just read this wonderful thought of an Angelic bishop...


""
When I was young and free and my imagination had no limits,
I dreamed of changing the world.

As I grew older, I realised the world would not change.
And I decided to shorten my sights and change my country.
But it too, seemed immovable.

As i entered my twilight years, in one last desperate attempt,
I sought to change only my family.
Alas, they would not change.

And now, as I lie on my deathbed, and realize( for the first time),
that,, if only I would've changed myself first,
Then ,by example I would've changed my family
And with their encouragement and support,
I may have bettered my country, and who knows?
Maybe I could've changed the world?

""

Powerful thought.
Not possible , you think?
Here's an example.

I recently read an article in the National Geographic on a region in China called Wenzhou.
Wenzhou is a cursed place.
No crops can grow there. The land in fact, is so bad that even roads can't be built there. In fact any Industrial Development progam would prove to be futile here.
But Wenzou has the advantage of an undying enthusiasm of the local people.
Families opened tiny workshops with fewer than a dozen workers and they produced simple goods. Over time the workshops blossomed into full scale industries and Wenzhou came to dominate certain low-tech industries. Today, one- quarter of the shoes worn by the world come from Wenzhou. The province makes 70% of the world's cigarette lighters. Over 90% of Wenzhou's economy is private.
The Wenzhou model has become a source of inspiration for the rest of the Zhejiang region in which Wenzhou lies.
80% of the Zhejiang enterpreneurs have an education of less than 8 years...

And it so happens, that this area has become now, the richest in the country! Industries are built within one day, plans are made within hours...and a dream of a young poor Chinese is converted to reality just within 48 hrs.

Magic.

The government there soon realised the power of the people's constructiveness. They promoted such industries and allow them to grow freely all over China.
And today, everyone watched in awe, as China played a fantastic host to the world's biggest games, The Olympics.
Maybe the little toy you got from Mc'Donald's today comes from Wenzhou. Maybe ten industries worked for an hour to get the final product for you. Maybe a village full of Chinese youth earned their wages, because you were ready somewhere in the world to buy a Happy Meal.

The point is that a poor village of strong minded poor Chinese people are changing the face of China as I am typing these words.

And if an 8-grader can bring about such a vast change...just by changing his own surroundings, then why can't we?
The world's a small place today.
It's reach, however ,is large.
I think it's time to harness this flat world's opportunities, to build ...not to destroy.
The world's moving towards becoming a village, JOIN THE CLUB!

Nov 8, 2008

Kahan gaye woh din....

Remember when you were young and went to a temple, the main attraction was 'prasad'. The small sweet white balls. known as 'sakhar futana' is what I used to crave for. I remember, our pujari used to give me a packet of prasad, I used to love him more than God. God was secondary then, tough at home I was thought that prasad was something that was secondary. How many times as kids we have gone to a temple and played in the courtyard? For me, it was many times. Its been long since I have gone to a temple. Not even for prasad, the one thing that used to take me there regularly.

Do you remember those days when whatever the teacher said was right. Even when our mother used to correct our teacher, we used to correct her. Teachers were meant to be right. Nothing said against our teacher was tolerated by us. She / He was the best person for us then. Respect was one thing that was always present for our teacher. Do you remember the last time you had respect for your professor?

Remember the days when cried without a reason in your mothers lap. You actually had tears in your eyes because your fell while playing cricket. You remember complaining your mom that a friend of yours has been teasing you with a girl? Do you remember the last time you went up to your mother and discussed you day's happening with her.

Remember you wanted to choose a profession like a conductor or a tv repair engineer? You found it more attractive than sitting in front of a PC and coding ALGOS. You didnt know that being a conductor is not the profession thats not respected. Do you remember the last time you hopped into a BEST bus and gave a smile to the conductor?

As kids we were used to do somethings without thinking twice. We just did things because we wanted to. Now, we do things because we need to.

We need to ask ourselves: " Kahan gaye woh din"

Nov 7, 2008

THE ARVIND KHAMITKAR HOAX!

Maybe you have already recieved this mail. Maybe you will recieve it some time. Maybe you have forwarded this to many others.
""

Don't avoid, Pls read this mail)

FROM Arvind Khamitkar   ,
I.A.S, Director of Medical & Research Div,
Chennai
 
Dear Friends,

A few weeks ago, in a movie theater, a person felt
something poking from her seat
When she got up to see what it was, she found a
needle sticking out of the seat with a note attached saying

'You have just been infected by HIV'.

The Disease Control Center (in Paris ) reports many similar
events in many other cities recently. All tested needles were HIV Positive.

The Center also reports that needles have been found
in cash dispensers at public banking machines. We ask everyone to use extreme caution when faced with
this kind of situation. All public chairs/seats should be inspected with vigilance and caution before use. A careful visual inspection should be enough. In addition, they ask that each of you pass this message along to all members of your family and your friends athe potential danger.

Recently, one doctor has narrated a somewhat similar
instance that happened to one of his patients at the Priya Cinema in Delhi .. A young girl, engaged and about to be married in a couple of months, was pricked while the movie was going on.. The tag with the needle had the message

'Welcome to the World of HIV family'.

Though the doctors told her family that it takes about 6
months before the virus grows strong enough to start
damaging the system and a healthy victim could survive about 5-6 years,   the girl died in 4 months, perhaps more because of the 'Shock thought'.
We all have to be careful at public places, rest God help! Just think about saving a life by   forwarding this message. Please, take a few seconds of your time to pass along.


With Regards, Arvind Khamitkar   ,
I.A.S, Director of Medical & Research Div, Chennai.

Rather than forwarding irrelevant mails, kindly pass
this to every one.
Probably ur mail can help some save his/her life
""
 
I recieved this mail today morning. This messege looks pretty convincing to the first eye's glance. In fact it is enough to scare the wits out of anybody. What if i was unknowingly pricked.?
What if this happens to me? Who could be doing this?
Panic.
A quick search on Google revealed this....
""

A hoax mail is causing sensation among netizens these days. The mail is warning about people being prickled by HIV infected needles in public places. Though, the original mailer is still to be traced out.

The mailer naming himself Arvind Khamitkar, I.A.S, Director of Medical & Research Division, Chennai, tells an instance of a girl from delhi who was infected by HIV virus containing needle and died in 4 months. He claims that the needle had a tag, which read ‘‘Welcome to the family of HIV.’’

The Health Department officials have described the e-mail as a hoax.

‘‘There is no such IAS officer or Department in Tamil Nadu. There is no cause for an alarm’’ a senior Health official said.

Dr Usman, former director of Institute of Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Government General Hospital said, ‘‘For the virus to be transmitted, it has to freshly taken in the syringe and the anti-coagulants had to be mixed.

The virus stays fresh till the blood is moist and it has to injected immediately on a person. But in the hot climates the virus cannot survive outside for long.’’

‘‘I would call this a combination of spam and prank,’’ said Na Vijayashankar, director, Cyber Law College, Chennai. According to him, especially younger Internet users indulge in such crimes to prove their technical capabilities and to satisfy their ego.

The police can easily trace the Internet Protocol address from which the e-mail had originated, he said.

""

This messege first began doing the rounds in 2006. especially this year, it has spread all over the country.
It is in our hands to verify the content of any mail before clicking the forward button.
I don't know if anybody could ever die of AIDS in this manner, but i surely am convinced that wanton spread of such hoax emails could bring about a "Shock-Death" or two!
So, live life KING SIZE!!!


Oct 20, 2008

POINTLESS

I was walking on the foot over bridge at Kurla station when i overheard a conversation between a mother and his son
Son: Mujhe 4 rupiya do na, vada pav khana hai, bhai ko bhi khana hai
Mother: Nahi, tu akele khayega, usse nahi dega
Son: do na paisa, khana hai mujhe
Mother: Paisa nahi hai mere paas, ja tu abhi

The same day, I had planned to have a pizza. A pizza by myself when people cant have a vada-pav for themselves. A pizza costing Rs. 200+ and a vada pav costing Rs.5-
The only feeling that was left was guilt. I don't know why, but there was guilt. Why am I having a pizza for me when people around me cant have basic food that they like. If he would have been asking for a chewing gum or a chocolate, I wouldn't have felt guilt. But what really moved me was he was asking for food. A filling food of vada pav.

Some people like to generate political mileage over "marathi manoos" and "we will resign for North Indians" when the common man doesn't even have money for a days food. Why not work for this common man instead? You want votes, dont you? Well, here is your chance to get votes and at the same time help the needy. Does a person who doesnt have 1 meal think about what state he is from or what country he belongs to? No, he just wants food. We talk about marathi culture deteriorating in Maharashtra, but we dont understand, why are immigrants coming here. At least the basic necessities are fulfilled to some extent. A person may not be getting even single meal a day at his hometown. In Mumbai, atleast he earns 1 meal per day. Its all for living. I didn't mean to talk about this issue in the post but it just came up.

The matter than needs to be stressed is many people in India cannot fulfil the basic necessities - food, clothing and shelter. Be it farmers from Vidharba or Biharis. The same goes for Oriyas and Andhraites from villages. We, sitting here in big cosmoplitian cities hardly care for them. We have other agendas on our mind. These people can easily be lured for a vote, and thats w government is formed (may be). Education is the cure to all this. Education - the golden word. Why can't we as educated people, help the backward. TIMES OF INDIA TEACH INDIA CAMPAIGN is restricted to cities alone, why not villages?

As you might have noticed that the post starts and brings up one point and ends at a different point altogether. Thats because may be, all these points are just entangled. Its a cycle, and once one link is broken, we might have a truely developed country.

Sep 7, 2008

Indianess - part 2

Sunday, 7th September, 2008.

Time: 11.00 am
I double click on "Connection to five network" icon. Click on Dial.
" The username/password you have provided is incorrect."
Realizing that my internet has been deactivated / expired, I call Swastik net (2522XXXX) and here is how the conversation takes place.
Me: Hello, me 36/A kamgar nagar madhun boltoy. Mala majha internet renew karaycha aahe.
SN: userid sanga.
Me: sunil_desh "s u n i l _ d e s h"(Spelling it out)
SN: Thik aahe, hooun jaail.
Me: Kiti time lagel?
SN: Eek ardha taas.

Time: 12.00 noon
Same damn username/ password incorrect message
Call Swastik net.
Me: Me 36/A kamgar nagar madhun................................(Same as above) Me 11 vajta fone kelella, tevha tumhi 30 mins bolla ajun jhala nahi aahe
Again I am asked for my username and told that it'll be done in 15 mins.

The same thing is repeated 5 times till 4'o clock.
And I am pissed now. I am controlling myself from shouting at the top of my voice on the operator just because people at my house were sleeping.
At 4.00 when I call them, that time I get the reason why my internet connection has not been renewed.
SN: Tumcha payment baaki aahe.
Me:Tumhi ghyayla aala ka? tumhi jevha yeta tevha payment hooun jaata, tumhi yeyla tari pahije!
SN: Ho saheb, aamhi aamcha manus pathavto, tevha tyala payment dya. Hooun jaail.
Me: Thik aahe, pathva.

The man comes at 4.15 nd collects the payment. He calls their office and asks them to renew the account from my house.

At 4.45, I check, and still my internet hasnt been renewed.
Again the same old procedure of calling and firing those guys
At 5, its activate and running as I write this blog.

I dont understand, if the operator had told me the reason for not renewing my account at 11'o clock itself, I would have had my internet connectiong running at 12 noon. But theres lack of management in every sphere of life. A internet provider can easily keep a recored of payments and reason for non -renewal of account canbe told then and there rather than making the person call 5 times and then telling him the reason in the first place. You can observe this everywhere in India. No work is done unless u spend Rs 10. on telephone calls. May be its because of our "Indianness" -in reference to the INDIANESS article that I have written. These are somethings that need to change.

If they dont:
We are there to adjust

but HOPEFULLY THEY WILL!

Aug 21, 2008

BREAKING NEWS

The most common thing in India along with 70 year old politicians is BREAKING NEWS. I got up one morning to read "BREAKING NEWS: AKHIL KUMAR JAIL VIBHAG SE PARESHAN". "BREAKING NEWS: 3 MAHINO SE TANKHWAAN NAHI MILI" "BREAKING NEWS: BLAH BLAH BLAH".

The first time I ever saw BREAKING NEWS on a Hindi news channel was when there was a bomb blast at Ghatkopar in 2001. It was really a biggggggg news as one would call it and it deserved to be categorized as BREAKING NEWS. After that tough I agree that the number of blasts taking place have increased but the number of BREAKING NEWS seem to have risen in multiples of 1000. News channels these days just want a small news to call it BN (I'm bored of BREAKING NEWS). Infact, there is an Hindi news channel INDIA TV which has a complete time slot dedicated to BN. They call the show BN. How stupid of them and even more stupid of people like us who see it. Khali came to India and his drinking water was something that the media highlighted as BN. What would you do if you meet your mentor after 1 year or your parents. You would surely bow down to take their blessings. News channels took it as an opportunity to have one more news as BN: 'Mahabali Khali ne jhooke. Maa ka aashirwaad liya.' The list of such stupid news is endless. You can't even call it BN. It is nothing but SHITTY NEWS.

News channels feel that the audience likes it. Do we? I don't think so. No sane person can watch such news. There are a few exceptions like TIMES NOW to these channels but then 90% of the news channels concentrate on news which are totally unworthy of the publicity that they get. There is only one word for these news channels - cheap. The news channels have become more of gossip channels rather than anything else. There was going to be a solar eclipse and after the eclipse there was BN: " SURYA GRAHAN HUA. SHANI KA PRAVAH". Nothing but nonsense. You get up in the morning and are trying to catch up on what happened yesterday but the only thing that you get to see is a fat woman with curly hair talking some crap about astrology. This is what news channels focus on when they could have 100 other things to talk about. If it rains for a hour continuously in Mumbai, you get another BN" Mumbai mai barish, Sab jagah pani". By 'sab jagah' they intend the regular areas where there is water logging. The has been water logging at Milan subway since years every monsoon even if it rains for 30 mins continuously. That doesnt cross the editors mind when he wants some feed as BN.

There needs to be a change. There needs to be an independent body out there to penalize news channels in case they provide people with such kind of false (or low quality) news. We need to have a 'News Ethics and Code of Conduct'. A 24 hours news channel should not become a 24 hour entertainment channel (sometimes they are worse than saas-bahu serials) . News channels on their part should change. That would certainly be a BREAKING NEWS for us.

Aug 16, 2008

NEW BLOGGER JOINS IN

Welcome Sneha aka Sreyashi!!!!

You can see two of her posts below this post. Certainly one of the best on this blog.

Keep writing. People enjoy it. (Got personal feedback from some friends :P)

~Harshad

Aug 15, 2008

the day u slipped away
leaving me with disbelief,
the world was turned upside down
for u, it must have been a huge relief!!
the day u left my hand
nothing had been so piercing,
i was dumbstruck for hours
the pain had been so excruciating!!
tears swelled up in my eyes
as my heart knew u left me,
it completely blurred my vision
i could then hardly able to see.
i withdrew myself from others
friends had turned into foes,
i kept regretting day by day
oh! how could i let u go??
the feeling of emptiness
being aloof from the world,
who would i share my feelings with?
upon me, all miseries were hurled.
am bound by the days u left behind
the world deserted, am alone
looking nowhere a vacant mind
with no more storm no cyclone!!
You are walking slowly on a black road glistening with rain. At regular intervals yellow light from the tall streetlamps falls on the road making it shine. A light drizzle touches your skin...amorously. The earphone plugged to your ears is belting out..."So Yesterday-m just a bird thats already flown away'".

Suddenly you want to turn your face upwards and close your eyes and let the rain kiss your face gently. Suddenly you want to outstretch your arms and lose yourself. Suddenly you want to mingle your tears with the drops of rain running down you face.Suddenly you want to erase the past and look forward to a new beginning. Suddenly you feel your dignity and self respect bloom like an immortal flower. Suddenly it feels like love---Madly in love with ur own self.

Jul 27, 2008

SE- DAY 1

I woke. My mind tells me to check the clock. Its 6.55. I have an alarm at 7.00. Lets sleep till 7 . I try and when I think its 7.00, its only 6.56. Totally bored to sleep, I wake up. Its 21st July, 2008. Thoughts start creeping in. Its first day of SE. SE dammit SE. I am a senior now. I won't have common syllabus . We might have a better lot of professors - Yippeeeeee. I won't have the same classroom - :(. "TRRRRRRIIIINNNNNNNNNNG" - 7'o clock alarm. Press Quit. Why does the alarm have to ring when something that makes you sad crosses your mind?

Fast forward directly to SPCE-SPIT Quadrangle. 8.45 am.

I can see Rishkul sitting. Kaushik is also here along with Shrey and Shreyansh. And there is Mark. I wave to everyone. Shake hands with everyone. All SE's now. I ask Rishkul - " Room kaunsa hai?" Room 304. 3rd floor - shit,climb 3 floors daily. Booooorrrriiinnng. First is the Maths lecture by some professor names Gajabiye. True to SP traditions of nothing starting on time, so did our SE class. Lecture canceled. We head to the Gymkhana. All of FE, not a single day was spent at the Gymkhana. Here we were spending our 1st lecture in the Gymkhana. All was fun till we got a call from one of our classmates saying the next lecture had begun. We head towards the classroom with anxiety as to how the new professor will be. Before I could have entered the room, she had already started her subject :(. Me, Kaushik and Suresh sat on the same bench which was made for only two of us. Last bench it was, so everything justified. Lecture over. Next professor in - Prof. Bhagat. A very very cool professor whose teaching is better than any professor I have come across in SP till now. He took class for 1.15 hrs of his 2 hours and left us to one horrible professor whom I wouldn't like to name. He was trying to exceed the 30 minute slot that we managed to fit in for him. That was it. The 30 minute lecture almost felt like a 3-4 hours lecture and he wanted to exceed it. We asked him to stop with shouts of "Sirrrrrrrrr....Sirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr". He said something and left the class but who cared. He left and that was the end of day 1 at college.

I don't remember my journey back home and what happened after that. But college was a bit boring that day. There was excitement of meeting all friends after a long time but that was the 1st one hour. Once back to normal, the first day was boring. Nothing changed about the lectures. the same boring ones. No change whatsoever. Neither our attitude changed nor the professors. Neither we cared what the thought us, nor they cared what we understood. We had our lunch the same way that we used to have in FE - eating more from others boxes than your own. Everything was actually the same - except for change in our year: FE to SE. What was the biggg fuss about first day of SE when nothing had changed.

Ohh! I forgot. Room 304 from Room 8!

Jul 21, 2008

BEST OF COORG

Here is a collection of some photos from Coorg- the Scotland of India. It is the best place that I have ever been to. I managed to get some good snap shots of that place. Here are some of them.
THE HAUNTED TREE
This photo came out this way due to fog. Visibility must have been 10-20 meters at the most up there at TALACAUVERY - the place where CAUVERY starts. It is located at the border of Karnataka and Kerela. The place is almost always covered with dense fog or cloud - whatever it may be. I feel this as the best photo taken at Coorg. RGV could use this photo for his film as a horror image.


Took me two shots to get a clear photo of this caterpillar. Saw it one the way to a cliff at TALACAUVERY. Once I spotted it, I knew I needed to get a photo.



Thats how the HAUNTED TREE really looks like without the fog cover. Just for comparison.




A monkey at Nagarolai for you. Clicked at the right time to get his face at that particular angle. They just can't sit without motion. Something like humans. Have to be on the move.
Look at those commanding thorns. What grace these deers move with. Wonderful, just wonderful! Had to get my camera inside their territory (enclosure) to get a picture of these awesome creatures.

Frankly, I don't remember taking this photo at all. Just saw this when I was looking at and deciding which photos to upload. This photo was taken at the Tibetian monestry at Khousalnagar.


The Tibetian temple. Look at the idols. Awesome, just awesome. The Tibetian people have spent around 50 crores on this temple. From where do they get this money from - aid. And they cry they want more rights in India.


Doesn't it look like a typical hindi film bungalow. It isn't! Its my friend - Appachu's native house. I happened to take this photo and everyone was surprised how I got this angle. The house looks completely different from what it looks like normally. Not suggesting that my photo makes it look like a hindi film bunglow. The bunglow is great in its own way. The road leading to the bunglow and the trees besides the pathway make this photo look completely out of the box. I just loved the bunglow and this photo as well.

Hope you people like these pictures. There might be some stop to my posting photos. I won't be going out of town to click photos for at least the next 2 months. I'll post on current issues till then. Waiting for your comments. Need them desperately. Want to decide if I should post photos or not.

Jun 21, 2008

INDIANESS

I was at my school reunioun and the DJ was playing lousy and sad tracks. Some English numbers were being played and no one wanted to dance. There was a request counter and one guy requested for nashik dhol. The crowd of 50-60 who were present there wen t wild. At that moment, I just thought about it "How Indian we are?".

Needless to say, Indianness comes to us from within. It is in our culture and how much every we try, we will always cling on to it. You can see us practicing it in every part of our life. Most part of it is good but somethings ought to change.

Indianness as one can say is the real Indian feeling that we get. Its all about overloading passengers in a car and traveling to having roadside stuff and feel and know that it is better than 5-STAR stuff. Its all about bribing people to not waiting in queves. Though the former thing can be more associated with, the latter people will complain is due to unavoidable circumstances and deny that it is Indianness. But yes, it is! Tough this form of Indianness has come up in the last 20-30 years, lets hope it doesnt continue like the other forms of Indianness over a century. Every Indian craves for this Indianness. I'm sure that Sachin Tendulkar after having more than 500 crores in his bank account misses the Shivaji Park vada pav competitions he had with Vinod Kambli.

Lets talk about us, the normal middle class Indians. Some cases where our Indianness is seen. This is something that separates us from the entire world. This is our identity. This is where our heart dwells. This is something 90% Indians, may it be in US or in India will always do. When an Indian family buys a car, the car has to go to the temple first. Then it can see the face of the house where its going to stay for years to come. Every year on dussera, it doesnt matter if you are a Hindu or a Christian or a Muslim, u pray to you machine. Whatever machine you associate your business with. These are some of the religious things that we as Indians do. We don't care a damn when we dance during ganesh festival that anyone would observe us. We just don't care. In fact, we feel left out if we see someone dancing on the streets during the ganpati festival.

Now about our habits. No matter where we eat, for us roadside stuff is the best food that we have every tasted. We enjoy the vada pav more than Mcdonalds burger, tough the latter is hygienic. We enjoy the nashik dhol more than rock songs which are referred to as trendy in front of Indian counterparts. We enjoy the 'ghati' dance more than the soothing and slow ball dance. And in the ball dance we get to come close to our lover. We all want to sit in a mercedes and we enjoy it but the fun of sitting on the first tier of a double decker bus right in front is different. Recently, while standing just round the corner of a road, I observed a vendor carrying gulab jamun on a hand cart. Heaps of gulab jamun. I instantly wanted to grab a bite of it, however unhygienic it might have been but only to realize later that i had my exams round the corner as well.

Why does an Indian mind differ from others in such cases? I have absolutely no idea but it has something to do with our culture and our traditions. We have inherited somethings and we can never loose them. We as the present generation have a job cut out. We need to see to it that such tings don't change and India and Indians remain the same as they are. Some things have to change but not the ones I have mentioned above.

JAI HIND
(See here again, v haven't used Jai India but persisted with our old things. I have goosebumps all over my body when I say these words. )

Jun 20, 2008

BACK TO BLOGGING

Kirti, Rishkul and Siddharth have somehow got me back to blogging. But I can't write blogs as they can write because:-
1. I can't think of any topic.
2. I can't express properly in words.
3. I manage to write half an article and then I get bored.
4. I make hell of a lot grammatical mistakes and then keep pondering over it, if it is right or wrong.
5. No one reads my blog.
6. Comments are rare to find.
7. I can write about current affairs, but no one wants to read it.
- News channel provide them with enough information.
8. Writing about current affairs is nothing but gossiping.
- People have newspapers at home to know about current affairs.
9. I cammit a lot of speling mistakes.
(Here, I did it purposely)
10. I like photography more than blogging.

The above 10 reasons seem perfect for any MU exam. Give 10 reasons why you don't want to blog. :P And the answer is just about perfect. That's what you need to crack a MU engg exam. You need to have the 'fekofying' skills. I have done that for a month now and I have had enough of it. I don't want to add such stuff in my blogs.

That is the reason, instead of writing article here, I will post some of my photographs I managed to take with my Kodak C663 digital camera in automatic mode. I still have to learn the manual functions. All pictures were taken during the SEM II exams. You just can't manage to keep me away from the camera.

I was forced to take this photo by my mother. I was busy studying CP-II when it started pouring and my mother wanted me to take the photo. I did it against my will and this just turned out to be a fantastic picture. Fantastic by my standards and mind, not by professional photography level.

This is one of the best pictures that I must have taken. I was in my garden studying chemistry and there I spotted this butterfly flying to find nectar from one of the flowers. I observed it till it found its flower. I rushed in, grabbed my camera and took 5-10 snaps of this fly, of which one of them is here.

This is from my neighbors terrace. This actually didn't need photography skills at all, but the view was awesome and thus, the picture. This might look to be a place outside Mumbai, in some dense jungle. But this was taken in the Konkan of Mumbai, Kamgar Nagar in Kurla. You'll find about 500 coconut trees here. And more than 10,000 trees. I wanted to take an aerial snapshot of this place, tough this covers only 25% of the entire area, I like this picture.

What got me into photography? "I don't know", I would say. I remember quite well , the 8th standard picnic when for the 1st time I had got my hands on my camera. The normal roll operated camera. I took 36 photos and none had me posing in for the photo. That had made my parents quite angry and rightly so, I would say. It wasn't free developing those rolls as it is the case with digital camera these days. But, I would say, that was the time, when I got into photography.

I have loads of pictures more to come. I hope you people like it and comment sincerely on those. Criticism is welcome. In fact, I like criticism more than praises. Praises don't bring about a change in me, criticism does.

Enjoy these pictures. More, I will post.

Once again, thanks Sidd, Kirti and Rish-i-cool!!!!!

Mar 3, 2008

The Santa Claus budget???


Recently we all saw the unveiling of the annual budget of 2008-2009...It was termed as the Santa Claus Budget. I don't know a lot about budget..............but I've heard a lot of praises for it this particular year.
So I'd really appreciate it if someone, anyone can tell me what this dream budget has done for the common man.
Further , with the very high levels of corruption in our country, can this money really reach the masses?
I'd really appreciate it, if someone really tells me what all this is about!

Feb 27, 2008

RAIL BUDGET FOOLS US, BUT STILL GOOD

The grand Indian Railways budget for the year 2008-09 was presented by Hon. Minister of Railways Lalu Prasad Yadav in the parliament on 26th February, 2008. The budget seems to be totally decided in view of the elections that are due in 2009. But, it is necessary to go through the budget carefully to really understand that Lalu Prasad has not really cut the fares or offered any thing out of the blue. He actually just got a platform to announce that he would be offering certain things which can be bargained for votes later.

Consider his lowering of fares. These fares will actually be applied only in the off season and non-popular trains. So, basically, the cut in fare is not applicable to most of the trains. The Rajdhani's and the Shatabdi's and trains between metro stations are all categorized as popular trains and hence there will be no fare cut in these trains. The middle class people living in these metros who cannot afford a plane ticket or rely on sleeper class and AC-III tier won't get any benefit. The 5% fare cut in second class doest serve any purpose because a normal ticket costs around Rs 100 and a 5% cut will mean it costs Rs 95. I know, I shouldn't be underestimating the value of Rs 5, but still, is it really going to help?

The second thing that caught my attention was Lalu announcing free suburban tickets for girls up to graduation. Minister, don't you thing that in India, Suburban trains are only used in Mumbai and the Maharashtra government already has concession in place for all students (not only girls) up to graduation level. The concession means that second class suburban pass for a month will be free. The student still has to shell out money for quarterly pass. The same is now going to be applied all over India but do students outside Mumbai actually use trains? Is the city network of trains that good as it is in Mumbai?

The next thing that really angered me was his announcement of Smart cards being introduce in Mumbai in the coming year. Mr. Lalu, it has already been done and thanks for letting us know that you are still not aware of this.

I really don't understand the meaning of garib rath's. The middle class is having access to it and not the poor man. I guess instead of having AC coaches as garib rath's and having a lower fare, he should have actually introduced Sleeper class at a lower rate. I personally dont like the name garib rath's as it is actually not ment for "garib's". We can have a number of names for these garib rath's. Also, I guess the charges that are levied for internet booking ought to be totally removed. It is saving man power and machinery of the railways when one books through the internet and gets a print out of the ticket himself.

But, even tough these points came up, I have liked the budget. Lalu has promised that by 2010 all coaches in Indian railways will be made up of stainless steel. He promised that 50 stations will have escalator and elevator facilities and that is the need of the hour. He announced that a company which was in loss 4 years back has made a profit of Rs 25K crores. His aggregate profit over 4 years has been Rs 78K crores. What he has done good here is, he has allowed the oficers to implement all programmes that they wanted without any fuss. He has not interfered in their working and hence he deserves this credit. He even alked abt food in railways not being upto the mark and thats good that he accepted faults in the railway service. The cleanliness issues in railways really need someone to address and he did it and I guess privatization is the best way out.

I feel the budget has been a balanced one even tough Lalu's attempt to fool people to a certain extent, he has offered many gains to people too. Kudos Lalu for your four years in the ministry. The Indian railways is getting a face-lift and that what is the needed and fast. I hope, the next minister of railways is as good as Lalu or better. Lets hope for the best and remember, success of railways is dependent on us as well up to a certain extent. Lets try to make the Indian Railways which employs 14lack employees, India's largest employer the ebst in the world. Many such budgets, will surely make it one.

Feb 25, 2008

LEWIS IN THE WRONG RACE


What happened in Barcelona, Spain during the F1 off-season testing was the most shocking case of racial abuse in recent times.
Lewis Hamilton the worlds first Black Formula one driver was racially abused by the Spanish crowd . The reason being Lewis ,in his debut season ,out performed his team mate Fernando Alonso who happens to be of Spanish origin and more importantly a white.
Lewis Hamilton is a resident of Britain and he entered the world of F1 in the2007 season . He became the first F1 driver to have a podium finish in each of his first nine races and missed the championship title by single point finishing second ,behind Kimi and in front of Alonso. It is truly disheartening that a skilled and an excellent racer like Hamilton who impressed the likes of Ron Dennis (the Mclaren boss) and Sir Frank Williams should be looked down upon just because he belongs to another race
This show the general white mentality of racial superiority and their inability to see a human deeper than his skin. It is neither a one off incident nor is it a new phenomenon. From the times of Jesse Owens ,sports has always been plagued by this lack of racial tolerance and baseless racial pride. No sporting body can,however hard it tries, stop it as it is in the minds of the fans(or fanatics I may add) and just too deep rooted and too widespread .
The only solution is an awakening,a revolution of sorts, among the fans and the sportsmen alike , to strive for a world where people love and respect a sportsman for his skills and not for the colour of his skin
But all this remains a Utopian dream, or it shall be as long as our eyes see no deeper than the skin. For when we see deeper ,that's when we realise and appreciate the beauty of the soul .
I'll end this by respecting Hamilton's attitude as he kept mum about his reactions to this incident and avoided the media attention which he could have easily used for his advantage. By doing so he did good for his race ........no not the black race .........the human race
Hey there
My name is ranjith. I am the third person to be posting on this blog.As they say the third person to do anything is always the best.................Okay so may be i made that up ,but hey! I will give blogging a try.I've got nothing to lose. I am not gonna blabber about myself as I know that frankly none of you are really interested in a charcter sketch of a person who is still a stranger to you .For those who read this completely THANKS A LOT . I will post as soon as i get a topic to post on . till then Adios Amigos

Feb 23, 2008

The Lost Wonder.

On the 11th of September,2001, the Taliban crashed two planes into the WTC, New York, sending tremors down the spine of the world....
The whole world described the event as one of the saddest, in the history of mankind...............
In the shadow of this event, however, the world also lost the memory of one of the greatest monuments in the history of mankind...the symbols of love and amity, serenity and reflections of our past.....THE BUDDHAS OF BAMIAN.
I'm sure most of you did'nt know that:
The Bamian region of Afghanistan was home to the tallest statues of Gautam Buddha in the whole world.......
These statues built by the Indo-European aryans were 180 and 121 ft. tall, and were collectively worshipped by the Indians, the Chinese, the Mongolians, and even the Greeks.....
Also, the Bamian region is home to the most peace loving tribe of Afghanistan. The Hazarat tribe.
It is compulsory in each Hazarat family to educate their children..
I'm not writing this blog to tell you the facts about The Bamian Buddhas...Even Wikipedia can do that...............
I'm writing this, to remind you of this wonderful monument and the beautiful people surrounding it........ALL OF WHOM WERE MERCILESSLY CRUSHED BY THE TALIBAN.

In March 2001, the taliban dynamited the Bamian buddhas for days,.....massacered thousands of innocent Hazarats............................. all because of the whims of a certain man called Mullah Omar, the de-facto head of the Taliban.
He did this, to uphold Islam...and to show that there is only one God.
He said that crushing other religions is the duty of the Islamists and they should be proud of the destruction of the statues.
Even today, the Hazarat people do not get jobs in the cities,cannot move freely, and are treated like dogs.........
I have pasted the Wikipedia pageto the Bamian Buddhas below....i urge you to read about these wonderful creations....

Bamyan lies on the Silk Road, a caravan route linking the markets of China & India with those of Central Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. Until the twelfth century AD, Bamiyan was part of the Indian kingdom of Gandhara. It was the site of several Buddhist and Hindu monasteries, and a thriving center for religion, philosophy, and Indo-Greek art. It was a Buddhist religious site from the second century up to the time of the Islamic invasion in the ninth century.

Monks at the monasteries lived as hermits in small caves carved into the side of the Bamyan cliffs. Many of these monks embellished their caves with religious statuary and elaborate, brightly-colored frescoes.

The two most prominent statues were the giant, standing Buddhas, measuring 55 and 37 metres (180 and 121 feet) high respectively, the largest examples of standing Buddha carvings in the world. They were perhaps the most famous cultural landmarks of the region and the site was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site along with the surrounding cultural landscape and archaeological remains of the Bamyan Valley. The statues were represented wearing Hellenic tunics, an echo of Alexander the Great's contribution to the Central Asian mix almost a millennium earlier.

The smaller of the two statues was built in AD 507, the larger in 554.[2] The statues are believed to have been built by the Kushans and Indo-Hephthalites (both eastern Indo-European peoples) at the heyday of their empires. The above mentioned groups were the ancestors of the Hazaras, the most persecuted ethnic group in Afghanistan.[3] Physical and facial features of the Hazaras are greatly similar to those in the frescoes found in the ancient relics and caves. Furthermore, considering the historical importance of the Buddhas of Bamiyan, unsuccessful claims over the Buddha's heritage have been made by all the ethnic groups in Afghanistan.

A monumental sitting Buddha similar in style to those at Bamiyan still exists in the Bingling Temple caves in China's Gansu province

In March 2001, according to Agence France Presse in Kabul, a decree declared, "Based on the verdict of the clerics and the decision of the Supreme Court of the Islamic Emirate (of Afghanistan) all the statues around Afghanistan must be destroyed. All the statues in the country should be destroyed because these statues have been used as idols and worshipped by people. Only God, the Almighty, deserves to be worshipped, not anyone or anything else."

Information and Culture Minister Qadratullah Jamal told Associated Press of a decision by 400 religious clerics from across Afghanistan declaring the Buddhist statues against the tenets of Islam. "They came out with a consensus that the statues were against Islam," said Jamal.


Dynamiting and destruction, March 2001

Photograph of a statue being dynamited on March 21, 2001
Photograph of a statue being dynamited on March 21, 2001

The statues were destroyed by dynamite over several weeks, starting in early March, carried out in different stages. Initially, the statues were fired at for several days using anti-aircraft guns and artillery. This damaged them but did not obliterate them. Then the Taliban placed anti-tank mines at the bottom of the niches, so that when chunks of rock broke off from artillery fire, the statues would fall and be blown up again. In the end, the Taliban tied ropes around some local Hazara men, lowered them down the cliff face, and forced them to place explosives into holes in the Buddhas.[8]

On March 6, 2001 The Times quoted Mullah Mohammed Omar as stating, "Muslims should be proud of smashing idols. It has given praise to God that we have destroyed them." He had clearly changed his position from being in favor of the statues to being against them. During a March 13 interview for Japan's Mainichi Shimbun, Afghan Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmad Mutawakel stated that the destruction was anything but a retaliation against the international community for economic sanctions: "We are destroying the Buddha statues in accordance with Islamic law and it is purely a religious issue".
Then Taliban ambassador-at-large, Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi, said that the destruction of the statues was carried out by the Head Council of Scholars after a single Swedish monuments expert proposed to restore the statues' heads. Hashimi is reported as saying: "When the Afghani head council asked them to provide the money to feed the children instead of fixing the statues, they refused and said, 'No, the money is just for the statues, not for the children'. Herein, they made the decision to destroy the statues".[10]


Feb 20, 2008

INDIAN PAISA LEAGUE (IPL)

The players auction and the huge amount that various franchisee spent on buying cricket players actually drove me to write this article. The highest bid was for the present India ODI captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni of about Rs 6crores. Many other players fetched round Rs 3 crores to be a part of a particular team. Forget the players earning money, the main revenue generated will go in the account of our very own BCCI which is led by none other than Sharad Pawar.

Sharad Pawar, out Hon. Minister for Agriculture can fetch over 1000crores for the IPL but when it comes to debt ridden farmers, there is no way we can fetch money. BCCI was never as rich as it is now. If Sharad Pawar, as the President of BCCI can bring about this change in BCCI, why can't he do the same thing for our farmers? Certainly, there is lack of will power. Any ways, the purpose of this article was to highlight, the way cricket has progressed and has been changed into a money making business.

It all actually started with Sachin Tendulkar bagging the 100crore contract from World Tel in the year 1998. There mite be (as I was too young, I don't know) many people opposing this or voicing their concern over this contract during those days. But why should our sportsmen not earn as other sportsmen for other countries do? From then on cricket has seen a number of changes and more and more money has been involved in cricket. The recent one being, BCCI's idea to form a Indian Premier League, which will have a 20-20 tournament between 8 teams and players from all round the world. Basically, BCCI got to earn more money through this. They just had to give out television contract, a sponsorship deal and lease out the teasm to private players and sit back and count the mullah generated. That's what the BCCI has been doing for the past 3 years from the time Sharad Pawar came into power in BCCI. Where has all the money generated gone? Isn't the BCCI responsible to asnwer this question. It;s good that the players are earning more, but thats only the international players, who already get hell lot of money through sponsorships. What about the Ranji players who don't have enough talent to come upto the international level. what has the BCCI done for them?
We all know the pathetic condition out stadium's are in. You cannot walk inside the Wankhede Stadium during the match. There are no facilities for the spectators. This is the condition,just because the BCCI knows the spectators are going to come in no matter what is the state of the stands. Can't the BCCI shell out its money to change this state? We all know, how school cricket is played. 4-5 matches are on on a ground that is not even as big as one full ground. The outfield is in a even more pathetic state. Well, changing this isn's going to bring in moolah for BCCI, itz only going to bring in good players. Who cares about good players. money is all that matters.
Coming to the pathetic state of other sports in India. The shooters don't have ammunation and the shuttlers don't have shuttles. One big country cant afford even these small things. I am fed up of writing against our pathetic politicians. The reason why Sharad Pawar became the president of BCCI was that he was intrested in sports and not cricket as such. If this is his interest in sports, why cant he even hand out 5% share of BCCI's earning to other sport bodies. I feel, even if that part is put to good use we can have world class sports persons. I personally feel the recent committee in BCCI is doing a fabulous job in getting in money for BCCI, but they have been a total failure in channelizing this money. We can have a separate group of people ie. ex cricket players to channelize this money. I am pretty much sure, we will be able to change the standard of cricket in India and take it to a new level.
BCCI has been turning into the Indian Paisa League. It is a good change, but the Paisa has to be put to proper use. That is what has not been happening. Lets hope, by the end of this decade, at least we have a very good cricketing authority and India is the number 1 team in the world.
~Harshad

Howdy!


HI Fellas...this is Yash!And thanks to Harshad , I will, from now on, be sharing a bit of space with him on this blog.So, lemme give ya'll an intro..(though Harsh did a great job of it!)
I was in the King George School, Matunga.And then i was with Harshad in Khalsa College. And we had a great time together...troubling our dear Tronix Profs., right naa???
Well yes as Harshad writes...my hobby is writing.(though i won't be any better than Harshad...he gets all the best topics to write on!!!) . But i'm a dull writer on the comp. cuz i take a huge time writing a single goddamned virtual line!!!
So when i heard Harsh has started this blog...i volunteered to write!!!And so now i'm here!!!

So, Let's make this a revolution!!!

Feb 19, 2008

2 ARE BETTER THAN 1


Yash Chitalia, my Khalsa College friend also be contributing to the articles on this blog. He is a superb writer, with his stories being published in famous science magazines. You'll surely find his articles better than mine.

We may also be writing quite a lot of articles together.

YASH: Welcome you on this blog and let us try to make it a famous one as well!!!

~Harshad

NATIONAL ANIMAL ONLY 1411

The number of tigers in India:
Year: 1990s
Tigers: 40,000+

Year: 1972
Tigers: 1827

Year: 1997
Tigers: 3508

Year: 2002
Tigers: 3642

Year: 2007
Tigers: 1411




We, as a country with an area of 32,87,590 sq.km and a population of about 113crores have a tiger population of only 1411 in the year 2007. This fact recently gripped the headlines.

I generally have a habit of reading the entire article but when I first read the headline, I didn't want to read the article. I was rather sad and taken back after I read the headline. Can't India as one of the largest country and a country having most manpower in the world even protect 3000+ tigers that it has? Can't India as a country take care of the national animal of India? If this is the state of our national animal, what would be the condition of other animals?

As the facts suggest the tiger population was about 1827 in 1972 from 40,000 in the early 1900s. There is no one you can blame because about 2/3rd of this period we were ruled by the Britishers and the rest period was spent in organizing India. After the census in 1972, the government launched Project Tiger which I guess was instrumental for the increase in number of Tigers from 1827 to 3508 in 1997. But don't you think that 25 years is a lot of time and the number of tigers should have at least reached 7000 by the end of 1997. even if we consider 3508 to be a very good number, especially after 1827, there wasn't any significant rise from the year of 1997 to 2002. It was only increase of 134 in a span of 5 years. The shocker that came recently stated that the tiger number is India had dipped to 1411 from 3642 in just 5 years. Thats 2231 tigers gone and there is no record of where and how. The government is least interested in animals and their protection. The just want to shell out some quotas of cry foul over each other in order to influence their vote-bank. After all, Tigers don't vote. A government which doesn't address to population concerns (increase) in India will actually be happy that now they have 2231 tigers less to look after. Any ways, the government never cared of what happens to these tigers. After all, Tigers don't vote. A person in India who goes to a forest to see the Tiger has to return with the tigers foot-marks only. This is the condition of tigers in India. They are so less in number, that our future generation will only be looking at the tigers in photo frames. i really don't understand what the administration up to. If they can protect the 3000+ politicians in this country, why cant the protect the 3000+ tigers. If one politician can have 4-5 security officers around him, cant we have one person to look after 1 tiger at least. Can't these politicians (who if actually die is going to help the country) sacrifice one security guard for the tigers?

The government needs to take steps and quickly to protect this wild animal. One way out of this, as I have already mentioned is, assign one man per tiger. That person has to take care of the tiger, right from his food to his health. And even protect him. Eventually, there will be no way of the animal being killed for its skin because, one person will always be there to protect the tiger. A second option out is, allow private bodies to take up sanctuaries in India and in turn give them tax soaps. This way, the government won't have to take any extra effort in protecting the tiger. The private body has to be answerable to the media and the government. this will ensure there is no foul play involved. If given a chance, people will be ready to volunteer in order to protect this animal in what ever way they can. The forests in India are becoming small to smaller day by day. The government is giving away forests in form of SEZ's and there has been no regulation of forest area in India. There needs to be proper regulation of forest land. Any further sale of forest land has to be stopped and the forests in India have to be preserved. If required, artificial sanctuaries for tigers should be built even if it involves chunks and chunks of money and man power. We have loads of man power and money too only if it reaches proper channels. We even need to bring in life-in-prison punishment for tiger killing. Our laws against tiger killing need to me made more strict. The culprits are most often easily let-off. Due to this, once they are free, they are not scared to kill another tiger. The tiger needs to be given the same importance as a human. After all, it is our national animal. It would be a shame, if we cannot protect even 1411 tigers and cant increase their number to 14110 in the next decade. We have science to support us and if required, we can always take the help of science to increase the tiger's birthrate.

Eventually, if the government even implements ahlf of the above suggestions, I am pretty much sure, the number of Tigers in India will be 40K+ by the end of 2030. Our target now should only be 40K+ and 2030. The should be no other number in our mind and even if there is, it should be more than 40K and less that 2030.

I sincerely hope that the tiger population in India rises and I am sure, if together, we try and persuade the government, we will be able to get the necessary changes.

Join my hand in protecting the TIGERS

SAVE TIGER!



Feb 16, 2008

ME MUMBAIKAR!!!!

The past two weeks have been quite eventful for Mumbaikars. Raj Thackareys provocative statements and then his arrest and finally being let out on bail has been gripping the headlines.

Let me clear my view first: Biharis and UP people are welcome in Mumbai as long as they are ready to live here legally and not in slums and shantis. Sorry! Mumbai cant take any more slums. More than 50% of Mumbai population live in slums and any increase in this will simply mean that Mumbai is going to crumble. The government is as reluctant to act against these slums as it was in arresting Raj Thackarey. The only difference in Raj's case was that finally people saw action being taken against him and that is never going to happen against slums. Come elections in state again and the government will again increase the deadline of slums to 2005. The massive vote bank that is generated from slums is a major factor in this. Lets be frank, a major proportion of these slums are occupied by Biharis and UPites who come here in search of jobs. Especially the slums that were built after 1995(which was the earlier deadline for legalizing slums) have a lot of "Bhaiyas" living in them. These "Bhaiyas" are responsible to a major extent to the awful state of the city that you see today. They have no discipline, they don't care about cleanliness and they don't respect the people of this city (the legal ones). Let me again tell you, I am no ways against any kind of people living in Mumbai legally. YOU ARE WELCOME. Why does no one have a problem against any gujurati or tamil person living here. The answer is the live here legally and respect the city. Every slum in this city has a UTTAR PRADESHIYA SEVA SANG. I don't understand the reason as to why we need a SEVA SANG (that too from UTTAR PRADESH) here in Mumbai. And moreover these SEVA SANG's are sponsored by political parties from UTTAR PRADESH. Wasn't Raj Thackarey right when he was against politics being played here on the cost of the city. The Maharashtra government was keen to make Mumbai slumfree when it was elected in 2003 but then the centre was more intrested in votebank politics. For the first time in India the opposition was supporting the ruling party in any state. If the Bihari politicians say that India is one and there should be no discrimination based on language, why were there reactions like "I'll give sticks to north Indians."
Well, as I write this article, thousands of people in Bihar are thinking of coming to Mumbai at this very moment. I don't want to blame these people because its the system that has failed in Bihar and not the common man. A person who doesn't even get money to fulfill his basic necessities like food clothing and shelter atleast gets all these three back here in Mumbai. No person in Mumbai dies of hunger. You eventually get some work and earn to have a meal at least once a day. The question is how many such people can Mumbai support. My answer is not many. A good solution to this problem is create a Mumbai in Bihar or rather every state of India. We have the workforce and the potential to do that. After that everyone will be proud to say "ME MUMBAIKAR" or we can have a new slogan "HUM MUMBAIKAR" When politicians from other states justify their state people presence in Mumbai they are accepting that their state has failed in every respect. There can be no other loss than having to leave your state in search of livelihood. That shows that the state has been a major failure.

I support Raj Thackeray's stand but don't support his techniques. Violence is not the way to sort an issue. We have room for discussion . the constitution in India is old and we need to change it to a small extent. Again the constitution doesn't endorse slums but the politicians cant see that they can only see Raj's statement being against constitution. Instead of giving their views on Raj's statement, why don't they concentrate on issues in their state?

i proudly say "ME MUMBAIKAR" and let all people living in Mumbai legally say the same!!!!!

Jan 8, 2008

Introduction

Hi guys and girls,
Welcome to my blog. This being my 1st attempt at blogging, my blogs can certainly be quite boring and abstract. guess, I'll have to sit down for 7 days to think of a topic and then I'll post it up here. Well,thats me and I like the way I am. Further, my blogs wont be having the Shakespearean English or some hi-fi words because I am not comfortable using them or rather I don't know how to use them. Any ways, if you understand whats written here, isnt taht all you need??

Well, my name is HARSHAD DESHPANDE, and I am an Indian first. Well, I have been residing in Mumbai, the financial capital of India which is full of immigrants from Bihar and Bangladesh residing in slums and thus causing harm to its image (no problem if u come here nd live in residential colonies...pls pl pls...stop slums..not that ppl who reside in slums will read this..but dont support them). I completed my schooling from FATIMA HIGH SCHOOL, VIDYAVIHAR which i regard as one of the best schools in Mumbai (at least its among the top bracket). I completed my 10+2 from KHALSA COLLEGE, MATUNGA(which isnt close to being a top college at all). Presently I am doing my Bachelors of Engineering from SARDAR PATEL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY formely known as SARDAR PATEL COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING or only SP which is the third best college for engineering after IIT-B, VJTI in Mumbai. It is in the Andheri area of Mumbai, one of the most important areas of suburban Mumbai. Ahh...i forgot to tell u guyz...itz Mumbai and not Bombay. Neither does Bombay sound better than Mumbai as quite a few claim. Back to engineering, m doing my BE in Electronics field and plan to get into R&D or complete any good course in finance sector after BE.
As much as I am an Indian first, I am a Maharashtrian second. I am quite proud of its culture and tradition. AS you all know, Maharashtra is one of the leading states in cultural and literature feild. And I am quite proud of it. You'll find the best talent here. (Sachin Tendulkar, Lata Mangeshkar, Madhuri Dixit) to name a few.

Well...cant think of anything else....

I just hope that the blog doesn't end up like many blogs which aren't updated at all and in the end just die off.

Thanks for reading this (what mite seem to be a stupid) article. (If you think it is a useless article, feel free to let me know) My orkut profile being: http://www.orkut.com/Profile.aspx?uid=15038422581266711977

~Harshad