2009 - Revisit

Today is the very last of the year 2009. It's time to say bye-bye 2009 and also a time to revisit the incidents which had huge impact in our lives. Everyone will have their own list but here I am trying to compile a list of top 5 events which made huge impact without being partial. Here it is:

1. Rise of Rahul Gandhi and Congress: 2009 will be the witness of rising of Rahul Gandhi, the Nehru-Gandhi scion and Congress as a party. The general election 2009 outcome was a pleasant surprise when congress won 207 seats and made it possible for Congress to create government at centre on it own terms. It is not small that madam Maywati see him (Rahul Gandhi) as a threat for her political career. Rahul Gandhi is picture perfect of young Bharat and he will definitely impact our lives and take our future in newer and better direction.

2. Drought: Last year sugar was 20 Rs./Kg and this year it's at 40 Rs./Kg is one of the most common statement we are listening nowadays. Not only sugar but the prices of all the food items have skyrocketed and still going up. This is the end result of the drought in most of the parts of Bharat this year. You can get the fair idea of seriousness of the situation by knowing that this was the worst drought in last 37 years.

3. Pay per second: When earlier this year TATA-DOCOMO has launched per second billing, it created a revolution in Bharatiya telecom industry. Existing players were shaken to the core. Telecom Industry in Bharat was having least billing rate in the world even without per second billing. At that time no one even thought of going it down further. But with almost 50% cut in telephone bills people in Bharat are definitely talking more. That is why we are saying "Eat less Talk more".

4. H1N1: Also known as Swine Flu in general language. This was the virus which came from Pigs. Till now there are 10K death around the globe by this virus and the toll is still growing. Though it made less impact in Bharat as compare to other countries but it had definitely impact our lives this year. There was a time when in media, every news was of Swine Flu. We literally craved for some news other than Swine Flu. People using mask (sugical mask - which was not helpful) was a very common sight in malls, multiplexes, and at every common place.

5. Roller Coaster Ride of Sensex: This is not the event in itself really, but the result of all events happened throughout the year. But it has definitely made impact on people lives so giving it place in my list. Most (read all) of the finance BigBs were negative on the share market until February, 2009 when the market took a complete U-turn and going North since then. Till February experts were skeptical of reaching to even 12K mark. They were saying that it could down upto 5000 odd level. But the fact is when everybody seems to be confident of the situation, share market always unfold some new story.

With this, it's time to bid adieu 2009 and welcome 2010. May this year our live will full of good energy and all our wishes come true. Amen.
HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!!!!

Now my complaint will also be FIR

As per today's news Union Home ministry will write to all the states to register all the complaints as FIR. Till now if you go to police station to report the theft case (which is of not much amount) at your home, they never used to write any FIR for that. Moreover, everyone knows how the India police works as far as complaints are concern.

They use to tell us to write a complaint on white paper and give it to them. That's it. No follow ups, no tracking of the record. Many people might have same story.

But not any more, police has to take all the complaints as FIR. And frivolous, incorrect and false FIRs can be rejected by the police after investigation as said by Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram.

I really appreciate the move. Many more steps to be taken Mr. PC.

What's you take on the issue, let others also know. So, do write comments :)

What's Your Resolution - 2010

One of the most hot topics these days is about the New Year Resolution. It's always good to take a new start. And 1st January gives a great opportunity to take first step towards that change. It's like rejuvenating your mind and soul before year long run. Everybody is busy in preparing a list of do's and dont's for the year 2010. Some of the hot favourites are:
1. Lose Weight
2. Stop Smoking/Drinking
3. Better Time-Management
4. Save/Earn more Money
5. Find better Job

So, Have I made new year resolution this time? NO!!!! Because somehow I am not convinced with the theory of new year resolution or may be I've rejected it after believing and trying so hard for many years. Good to make a plan in advance but I prefer flexibility of changing my deeds according to the situation. And anyways my past history also does not suggest me to do so. Yes,I had made many plans in past. Some of them definitely got successful but most of them were lost half way through.

But I definitely think of one thing not only as new year resolution but as a daily resolution for myself to be a better Human. This is subjective and vague in nature but still I'll go with this.

So, what's your resolution for the new year. Share with us. May be it'll help others in planning.

In case you do not hear from me in 2009, Wish You Folks Very Happy New Year!!!!

Hindutva - Common Man Perspective

Disclaimer: I am not a subject matter expert on Hinduism. I am sharing my perceptions about the same. I am sorry, if I hurt anyone's sentiments.

What is Hinduism, who is Hindu, How it like to be a follower of Hindutva? There are many such questions which come to mind every other day but do not get proper answers (I do not want to get the answer from so-called Hindu Gurus also). I've seen people who follow proper Hindu rituals but quite ignorant to the blind person on road who wants to cross the road. It's very common to see a person (including me) who calls themselves Hindu without knowing ABC of Hinduism. I've never read any book on the subject, I am ignorant to the history of the subject yet I called myself Hindu.

But still I am one level above of the mass (who never give it a thought in their whole lifespan) where I thought about it and created my own version of Hindutva based on whatever little information (Thanks to television and my Hindu background for the same) I have.

The bottom-line of Hindu religion, as per my opinion is love for all the Human Beings irrespective of their colour, looks, region, language, race. A single and only word "LOVE" is a core of the religion. Everything else is created upon it. I've my own points to reach to this conclusion, which are as follows.

Let's start with Lord Shiva. He is seen as the Supreme God. But how he looks? He has three eyes. Shiva smears his body with ashes. He is the one with matted hair. He is accompanied by Ganas (Boothaganas, or ghostly hosts, on account of their nature). Shiva wears a snake. Frankly speaking, I will not like a person who has not-so-well-behaved friends, do not take bath and use ashes on his body. Who does not have proper hair and the body defect of three eyes. But we still worship Shiva. I chant "Om namah Shivay" as soon as I see any temple/mosque/church/gurudwara. Why? It's because Hinduism says don't go with the looks of a person. Look at the inner heart. He has saved earth by holding Ganga in his hair. He drank the poison churned up from the world ocean. This is why we worship Shiva. This is what Hinduism says also.

Will you like a person with three heads (Yes, I am talking about Brahma), I really suspect so. Again the moral of the story is looks does not matter. We should love and respect every single human being.

Why we worship Krishna who used to steal butter, who was very much involved in eve-teasing. Who had affair with every girl in his village and nearby. Do you really like a person with such image in today's world? The answer is yet again, a BIG NO. But still people are mad about Lord Krishna.

The best is Ganehsa and Hanuman. Look wise they can't be put on normal Human Being's category. But still they have long-list of devotees.

Not only these there is a long list of Hindu God/Goddesses who has more than 2 hands, more than1 head and so on so forth still we worship them not because of there colour, looks, region, language, race but for their deeds. All the books (Vedas, Granthas) etc which are filled with similar stories directly points towards "LOVE" for everyone. And this is the only core of Hindutva.

Please let me know if you think same or otherwise. How you look at Hinduism or any religion for that matter.

Weird Thoughts

There are times when you don't know what to write, but you do. As a result, this post. I had many things in my mind, but not now :). Lets talk about thoughts, weird ones. It’s weird how time flies by, how we forget others with time, how others want to forget us with time. It’s weird how close we feel with someone very far away and how far we feel when we are close to someone. Sometimes it feels like ages have passed away and sometimes it feels it just happened yesterday. It’s weird right? A person so close is just a contact in your address book, which even you don’t remember its there. Sometimes I just surf around my address book to check whether I am still holding on or I have moved ahead. Most of the time I find myself holding on. Hope is weird too, it assures you of something will happen or someone will come back. You hope, you wait, you dream, you live, and then one day you forget everything when the hope fades away. Have you loved someone, have you not? Do you miss a part of your life, or do you realize that part even exist? Are you brave enough to face the truth or will you just pretend to be brave to move on? It will not matter after sometime. But it’s okay, this is life. It moves on, so do we, so does everyone. What we can do is, to be grateful for what happened, and LEARN. At the most, we can remember as long as we can because even if we do move on or forget, what we experienced(or felt) at the very moment was real/true, even if it was for once.

Lately I realized my loneliness has slowly and steadily changed into solitude. You might ask what is the difference? But that you can realize only if you have been through these phases. I can only tell you what I have realized. So, when you are alone and you fear to be alone again, that is loneliness. As Mother Teresa said “Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.”. Now what this fear can lead you to? By affect of this fear, you try very hard to avoid being on your own, so you either trap yourself in an unfulfilled relationship by pursuing a wrong person or you do other weird things too :). My Loneliness has transformed into solitude. In words of Alfred Polgar , “When everyone leaves you it’s loneliness you feel, when you leave everyone else it’s solitude.” So now I enjoy being alone.

P.S. : To readers, so when did you last surfed you address book and found a contact which was once very important to you? And is your loneliness still a loneliness or solitude?

-- Atul

The writing here is solely a fictional work of Atul Rawat.

Nonexistence of Human Being Yet Fake Egos

Yesterday I was going through an old family photo album and saw myself in a snap with The Great Himalayas in the background. I was looking at the snap and noticed that I was looking very small in front of those peaks. And I don't know how the mind went towards the question of my existence in this world? Suddenly I started feeling very light.

The thought process reminded me the mail in which the comparison of our earth and some of the biggest stars and galaxy itself was portrayed. Our earth was looking like a tiny dot in front of the bigger stars. As compare to the size of galaxy, our earth is no-where. Take one step upwards and just think of millions of galaxies. Thinking about the vastness was like a conundrum to me. All of us know that human mind is a superpower. It can think beyond our expectations but the universe is spread beyond that.

An interesting data I want to quote here is, As a guide to the relative physical scale of the Milky Way, if it were reduced to 10m in diameter, the Solar System, including the Oort cloud, would be no more than 0.1mm in width (0.001%), source Wikipedia. People say one picture is worth of thousand word. So just watch this video and decide where we really stand?


Let's come back to the human form. If we try to see ourselves in the same scale, we would not be able to see ourselves. But the way we are living in this world and doing all types of nuisance, it looks as if we are superior to everything else. To satisfy our false ego we are fighting with each other, wasting all our resources, energy, power, time in maligning other person, country, and even race. When we are in a city, we fight for our blocks. When we talk in a state level platform we think only till our city limits. Then at next higher level, we talk about states, so called culture, languages which will not have any meaning once we are out of this world. Then at the next level we say that I am American, I am Bhartiya, I am from Africa and so on so forth. And within all this we keep fighting based on our race, caste, religion, origin.

How many of us can be so sure that our forefathers were of the same race, religion or the same caste and belong to the same place where we are living right now? Just take any history books and you'll get an fair idea that how frequently people changed (by their own wish or forcefully) their religion and places. Even then if we feel that we are so called pure blood then, I can only laugh at you.

We spend most of our lives in satisfying our fake egos rather than doing something "bigger and better". That "bigger and better" can be anything. I'll leave this to you to decide what can be the "bigger and better" means to you. I believe every living being in the universe has it's own purpose of living for which only, we take birth. And if we do not work towards that purpose, we are not only trying to make ourselves fool but also cheating to our respective GODs (or the power in which everyone believes).

Happiness is Easy : If you look around :)

If you will look around, you’ll see where you can find happiness. Don’t ever look at me. I smile without any reasons and I do have a whole stack of PJ’s for which my loved ones despise me :P. So as the day began I realized it’s not too hard to squeeze happiness out of the moments. I observed and what I found was amazing.

1st Smile: The first one who smiled was me. While I was going to office I saw a girl waking up at 11 O’clock. She just opened the door and the first face she saw was of me. She smiled I smiled back. (Am I a clown? No, need to answer please.)

2nd Smile: I like watching out of window while I travel to office. I saw a kid running behind other. They were both laughing. Happiness is easy you see.

3rd Smile: A college couple holding their hands. They were both talking and smiling. The thing about being in love is you Smile even when you are alone. Isn’t it amazing?

4th Smile: I reached office and everyone was smiling. Okay now this is a professional smile but anyway we smiled.

5th Smile: I was taking a break and a half paralyzed old man asked where Dr. X and Dr. Y are? He was smiling constantly. I asked him twice what he was saying? I was lost in his smile. This is amazing again. People, who somehow are incapable, make up with things which capable people find difficult. How hard is smiling you capable people?

6th Smile: While coming back to home, I was listening songs on my mobile headphone and making weird noises which I call my singing talent. Two kids in front of start giggling and soon they were laughing, smiling and singing and of course teasing me. Yeah I am a clown, officially now. Although, I doubt they even know any word in Hindi. But the song they were singing was “Aashiq Banaya Aapne”. Himesh, there is nowhere escaping you:(.
Since the time I started my day to the end of it there were many instances where I saw and felt happiness. You see happiness is not that much difficult? Just look around and feel. Don’t think you are confused, you are just inquisitive.

-- Atul

The writing here is solely a fictional work of Atul Rawat. Any resemblance to any person living or dead or any event is purely co-incidental.

Magic Of Love - Part 1

I was reading a quote about love and told 1 of my friend about it. She immediately stopped doing whatever she was doing and the first thing she did was to forward that quote to one she loved. That was then I thought about the Magic Of love. Is not it amazing? You hear something and the picture of someone appears before you instantly. It's very hard to explain what you feel when you are in Love. For me its impossible because I never fell in love with anyone fortunately and unfortunately. But whatever I’ve heard from people around me (like this friend of mine) I will tell you. And also about the longing which I feel sometimes.

1. 1 of my friend told me, when you are in love small things add up to one magical world. I don't know what he meant at that time because those talks really bored me at those times and above all he was a shit-head(oops). But now I realize what that fool means. He wanted to tell me that everything seems to be special when you are in love. I remembered him ordering 2 glasses of juice in mess all times, the 1 that he drinks was paid by her and vice versa. He use to find reasons to show his love and surprisingly that senseless gal use to do same. I saw him watching intently towards her room in girls hostel. Fortunately for him girls hostel was close enough to have a clear vision ;). But his reason was love. For him love has created a magical world out of small things.

2. He was weird/philosophical but 1 thing that made him common was love. He was a different species of lovers, the one sided ones. And the amazing part was he was happy. Just being in touch with her made him happy. I saw sparks flowing out of his eyes whenever he saw her, talked with her. He often told me “when you are in love, everything seems fine. World is a better place.” I use to wonder how. Now I realize how. Whenever he was angry, he reached to her and everything was fine. Whenever he was sad, he talked to her and everything was fine. Everything about world was fine because she was the part of his world. In fact she was his world I guess. Fortunately she also realized that, although after 1 boyfriend, but they are living happily. An ideal example of “Love will find its way”:).

3. He was the one whom I least suspected will fall in love. He was a looser(Although lesser than me since he at least got 1). But someone once told me “Love transforms and if its true, it does that for good.” He just sat with a girl once in class. She realized he was a looser because somehow he is not able to understand things being taught in class. And the reason was he was not from an English medium. Most of girls will never entertain such a guy. But she did. She explained her everything, sometimes more than required ;) .(You dirty minds.) And he started doing wonders. This was the first time I have seen love growing. It was not for looks, it was for two souls destined to converge into one.
Continued…

-- Atul

The writing here is solely a fictional work of Atul Rawat. Any resemblance to any person living or dead or any event is purely co-incidental.

CAT 2009 - Hard to Catch

CAT, One of the biggest exams in country conducted by IIMs most reputed institute for business studies. But 2009 is the different year for CAT exams. This year CAT went online. And the contract went to Prometric, renowned name in online test. And it cost whopping $40 billion to IIMs.

This year since the online system went on air, it went down. It cost several futures. Several years of preparation went in vain for many candidates. It created havoc all over the country when those systems are still not working fine even after 4 days. But who will take responsibility for that. Prometric just happily said that it happened due to virus. But is it not a responsibility of Prometric that it should have conducted thorough test of the system before opening it for students? The students who did not get the chance to give exams are still in better situation because they got new dates but what about those students who have completed all the sections of the paper but at last, system said your DI section is not completed and time remaining is just 15 minutes.

Here, I tried to find some feedback on Prometric's online test system. This link tells that the user had a problem with Prometric, but even after 2 months it did not get resolved. In another instance we can get the fair idea of the horrible experience with Prometric systems.

Every system has it's own drawback and the problems are natural to have. But when there are so many stake holders involved, many years of hard work are at stake, is it not the responsibility of respective authorities to make sure that system works fine even in the worst scenarios? They should have done many round of testing before opening it for CAT aspirants.

The Rain

It was the 1st time since he proposed her, that he was holding her hands and was so close to her. As soon as they went out, it started raining heavily. So to run for a shelter,he caught her palm but did not let go even when they reached to the shelter. He felt her hands were still warm. After a minute of observing the moment, he said ” Do you know, it was raining that day too, when I first talked to you.”

“Yes I do.”

“What ? So why were you so cold towards me back then. I thought you don’t even know me. “

“I am a girl. I wanted to be sure.”

After a minute’s silence, she said “Do you know, when I saw you for the first time, I believed we will be in love someday? “

“Yes I do.”

“Huh?”

“That was why I was running around you. It was love I knew.”

They remained there for a while even when the rain stopped, staring blankly in the darkness feeling the light that was in their hearts.

- Atul

The writing here is solely a fictional work of Atul Rawat. Any resemblance to any person living or dead or any event is purely co-incidental.

Burden In My Heart....

"What the hell?" I muttered. I burnt my fingers again. It's a weekend and I was pathetically trying to cook. So,I thought its better I eat outside as usual. Within 15 minutes I was in Mc D. "Hello Sir! Can I take your order?" greeted the Mc D boy. I think they recognize me by now, I am a regular face you see. "Of course you can." I said. And smiles all around." I will decide in a minute." I said. "Sure Sir." The boy replied smiling as if he is happy that he will not be taking my order. I wonder whether they trained in "Smiling" too. "Boy you are useless." Smile. "Boy I am useless." Smile. "I want one Maharaja and one medium coke."
"So you are quick to choose now." Now that sounds familiar. I turned back and there she was.
"Oh... Hi. aaaa... Ambika."
"Is it so hard to recall my name, Chandru." And all smiles. "Sir your order."
"Oh yes! Can I take your order? What do you want?"
"It's okay, I will give my own order. You go and sit somewhere." It's 4 years since I left the college but I guess some things never change. She is still the boss.
Within 5 minutes she was above my head. "Can I sit with you?" "Oh! Yes."*(Like I had any other choice.) "Are you shocked or what?"
"No, just it was unexpected. So what are you doing in Bangalore?"
"Same as you, working. I was sent for a project. This market is nearest to our guest house so I thought to roam. Feeling hungry so came to Mc D."
I started devouring my burger with proper sound effects.
"You still do not know how to eat."
"Oh sorry."
"So how is life? Still single?"
"Yes."
I don't know what was wrong with her eyes, but I have never been able to make contact with those two sources of light protruding into my soul. Her eyes always seem moist to me. Earlier I thought its because she is "I can cry anytime" girl, then I thought, no may be her eyes are showing sympathy for a looser like me but later I realized it's love that has made her eyes so lively for me. So from that day onwards I restrained myself from looking into her eyes.
"Are you still afraid to make eye contact with me?" Asked Ambika. (What are you, a mind reader, I thought in my mind.)
Within 5 minutes i finished my burger and she was still playing with hers.
"Well then! I will see you around."
"Yes. Of course. By the way, although you did not ask but let me tell you. I am married. My husband works in the same company as mine."
"Oh congratulations. Bye." Those Mc D boys were still laughing, I hope on me. This time I did not smile back. I calmly went outside Mc D, took a deep breath, looked into the sky. There are times when even your mind does not know which emotion to choose to reflect on your face. I took steps towards my home. Those steps were the heaviest I had ever taken.

The writing here is solely a fictional work of Atul Rawat. Any resemblance to any person living or dead or any event is purely co-incidental.

Burden of 26/11 (Mumbai Attack)

Today is the first anniversary of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, which changed the way we used to think of these attacks. On 26/11 they came precariously close to our abode and it shaken the entire nation from its core. It was the direct attack on the heart of Bharat. That event told us that no one, even the highest class of the society is spared of such attacks. That changed our thinking and everyone is ready to give his bit for not letting it happen again. Today, all of us remembering the martyrs of the event in our own way with all available means. Some of us including me lit the candle. Some of us written the poem as a condolence. Some of us just praying for their soul to be rest in peace.

Now let us look at the report card of the events which was the result of 26/11. Let's start with the data which caused chaos in Parliament yet again today. The data which Mr. Advani (an opposition leader) presented is that out of 403 persons eligible for relief, only 118 have received cheques so far and while 64 of them were eligible for railway jobs, only 32 had received offers till now. If Mr. Advani is presenting this data is just for political benefit I really condemn that. But even then if the data is correct partially then it's definitely a cause of concern.

Secondly, some days back in TOI (Times of India) published that around INR 30 Crore has been spent till now on the security of Ajmal Kasab, a lone survivor out of 10 militants. The cause of concern is, if there is such a huge money of tax-payers is involved why couldn't the court tried to complete the processing as fast as possible. If you analyze the data little more, Kasab has taken the tax paid by 300 people like me (If I am paying 1 lakh tax per annum) in a whole year. The money ideally should have gone for betterment of the education system of our country or to fill the pot-holes of the roads in country. But we are wasting our money on Kasab for no reason.

This is not the end. Still Kasab will take some more money from our pockets. First he has taken life our countrymen and now he is taking our money. He is attacking us financially now, and we, our government is letting it happen. At the most, some time later he might get life-term. In response some other Kandhar tragedy will happen to get him out of the jail. And then Kasab will attack again with more planning and power. I am not against the humanity but the security of our country is supreme. We cannot bargain with it in any case. We should have have totally different law for such people. We should not spend in providing them a lawyer or to provide safety to them. We should have given capital punishment within a week after 26/11 has happened.

Also view this: http://bhpawan.blogspot.com/2011/11/burden-of-2611-ii-third-anniversary.html

Forbe's 100 - But Bharat's 25%

Recently Forbes has published the list of top-100 richest people in Bharat. Mukesh Ambani is at the top of the charts again. But the news really excites me is that the net worth of top 100 people is $276 billion, which is one-fourth (25%) of whole Bharat's GDP. Just 100 people has that much money. Rest 1.2 billion people in this country is sharing rest of the money. Unbelievable, but true. They are the real source of money for political parties during election and otherwise. This is the reason why most of the policies our government makes is for them who are already rich.

Whenever I switch to any news channel they talk about more than 9% GDP growth for industries but when it comes to farmers the kind of growth we talk about is just around 2-3%. Why can't we talk of similar kind of growth in agricultural industry also. The reason is simple. Farmers are poor and have no power too. No one is ready to listen to them. Just to tell what they want, they have to call for bandhs. They cannot ask for high-level meetings with government. They cannot talk to finance minister directly. But government is just one call away from these big businessmen. Recently we have seen Delhi bandh in protest of sugarcane policy.

I am not against of the businessmen. They really worked very hard to earn the money and being in such a position. But my question is for government because it is supposed to work for whole Bharat not just for handful of people. Why can't they bring the policy which will help farmers too which inturn will help to bridge the gap between 1.2 billion and just 100 people.

Bal Thakery - Retired Hurt

Bal Thakery - Shiv Sen Supremo. Since his party lost ground in recent Maharashtra polls, he also lost his mental balance. Since then he is trying to holler as many controversial statement as possible. But everytime he is making situation worse for himself and his party.

First, he gave to malign statements about Sachin. I think Mr. Thakery forgot that Sachin can play the bouncers very well, which he tried to give in form of his dirty statements. Mr. Thakery forgot that we are living in democracy and everybody has complete freedom of speech. Moreover, Sachin did not make any statement which will hurt any Maharashtrian sentiments by saying that he was proud to be Maharashtrian but he was an Indian first and a Maharashtrian later.

Yesterday goondas of Shiv Sena (which they call sainik), attacked the office of IBN Lokmat. And Mr. Thakery supported those goondas wholeheartedly. First of all they are maligning the meaning of word "shiv" and "sena" by using this name for there hooliganism. Lord "Shiv" or any other God for that matter never discriminate people on the basis of racial, geographical (which is the sole moto of them), gender differences. Secondly sainiks (army) do not discriminate too. In army, people from different part of society, country work together to save country. They do not fight with their own countrymen in any case.

These are the people more dangerous than Pakistan. You will know when they attack but what these people are doing harm to our society by dividing its people is going unnoticed. They just playing a dirty politics by using "Divide And Rule" policy. We should definitely beware of them.

One more reason to remember 15th Nov

This 15th November, the God of cricket has achieved one more milestone in his long career. He completed 20 years in international cricket. It's not an easy task by any means. During this time-period he has made and break many records. Oh, ok I am not going to talk about those because it will take months to compile. I'll definitely be short of words, if I'll try to talk about him.

Today only I come to know that Sachin has started his career on 15th November. Coincidentally it is my b'day also. So, this year onwards I got one more reason to cheer that day.

I really don't remember the days when Sachin started playing. I was just 10 on the day when Sachin started playing international matches but since I remember, Sachin is bearing the weight of my hopes (as well of other billion people) in every match with his natural elegance and humility.

Sachin I thank you for playing cricket during my life and making 15th November so important.

We- So Called Educated People

We, the people do not loose any chance to say ourselves great. We use so many adjectives such as educated, sensible, literate, software engineer in Bangalore. But when it comes to show any of this, people go numb.

Day before yesterday my friend who was on bike met an accident with a car. It was not in odd timings or odd place where it's hard to find people for help. It was around 3-4 PM that too in one of the big market. But no one came and took him to hospital, not even that car driver.

The blood was coming as if some fountain was flowing, but people were there just to be mere spectators. What a bullshit!!!! He requested for help, but in vain. People in other car stopped, looked at him and moved away as if he was untouchable. At last, an auto with school students took him to the hospital. This proves "I was born intelligent but education ruined me". We are ruined as we grow up.

With all this, How can we even say ourselves "Human being"? I must say that we all are living in some imaginary lives made by ourselves. And in that we think that we are prone to the things happening to others. But they don't know (or they pretend it) that there is very high probability of happening the same which you try to ignore most.

PS: Please do post your comments on this.

Caution - Driving on Speed Breaker

"Caution - Speed Breaker Ahead" is one of the common road-side notices on Indian roads. But the truth is far away from it. It has to be something like "Caution - Driving on Speed breaker".

Just to kill time on my way to office a noble (not sure though!!!!) idea came to my mind. I started counting speed breakers in my apprx 13 km (parking to parking) journey. And the results are shocking. While going the count was 22, OMG. shocked???? There is more shocking data while back to home. The number is huge; 35. Yes, you heard it right. I need to cross 35 speed-breakers while on my way back to home. It comes around 1 speed breaker at every 300 meters.

They (I really don't know who but I didn't anything else to write.....) say that roads are key to the making of nation. Roads are the back-bone of the nation. But if the road itself has so many speed breakers how can we put our so-called great nation on fast-track of development. Not only speed-breakers are there to put brakes on your speed, our roads have innumerable (I thought of counting it, but it was like counting your own hair) pot-holes.

But the best part of these speed-breakers are that most of the speed breakers are invisible and without sign-board. Especially at night if you are not familiar with road, it's not safe to drive at more than 20 km/hr.

Every year PWD (Public Works Dept.) construct the roads, but everytime they come to there original condition within months. I really cannot understand the quality of the construction. Does it happen also in US, UK, Singapore or even in China? Please do tell me if anyone visited these places. Maybe all this act gives them (PWD) opportunity to earn money (obviously black) every year.

Please do tell us what yours take on this.

Sachin - The Best Leader

Leader is not the one who perform well on there own. Leader is the person who also make others in their team perform well. Sachin Tendulkar, who not only performed extremely well today against Australia but also inspired Suresh Raina to perform well.

This is even bigger when keeping in mind that Suresh was not performing from last many matches. But this is the result of Sachin's aura which makes him hitting a good half-century knock.

Sachin has done the same in the past also. Remember last series of India-Australia when India visited Australia. Rohit Sharma played the best knock of his life till now when sachin was at the other end.

This is the ability of great leaders, which is definitely can be seen in Sachin Tendulkar.

Quote#2

At one moment life is sailing smooth, next moment it fall apart. This makes life interesting.

Quote#1

No one is introvert or shy. The problem is he did not get right audience.

My Date With Andhra Food

Today I got to eat Idli with sambhar from new opened shop nearby. It also had 2 chuntnies. One of them was not had any taste. But the other one was so spicy that I needed to eat sugar to pacify myself. That sugar eating after such a spicy food reminded my first ever encounter with Andhra food.

First time I had Andhra food, after around 15 days I landed in Bangalore. I was staying in Laxmi hostel, Bilekahalli. After fifteen days of Andhra meals, new andhra mess came opposite to our hostel. Just to try new food me with my friend went there. Even the first appearance was different from our past experiences. First time we had food in banana leaf. We were excited with lot of caution. We asked for mini-meals. The difference between mini-meals and full-meals was that in full-meals they provide unlimited amount of rice. The first time even mini-meals was more than enough for me. But the daal, sabzi, kadi, and chutney they provided was so spicy that I drank at least a full jug of water. Even after that I had sugar with curd and again a jug of water.

Still till evening the spicy taste was there on our on taste buds. But we liked the food and went there again, this time with our other friends. After that it became our daily food for lunch and dinner. Hardly we used to miss that andhra food. Interestingly, after lots of feedback and request from us mess owner started making food less spicy or might be our tastes buds adjusted accordingly.

It's been long since I had andhra food but still I relish that food. There are lot many interesting stories attached with andhra food tourney which involved me and many of my friends. But I remember the food as a savior on which we survived during initial days in Bangalore.

One Night Stand

That night was different. It was gloomy. There was something not-so-good about the weather too. None of my friends was here in Bangalore. They all were at their respective places to celebrate Diwali. So, I was alone in this big city for the first time. It's not that I was new to the city. It just that I always live with friends.

To make life little exciting, I decided to go to the pub. There I was in 30 minutes at "The Royal Pub" in Brigade. Initially I was not comfortable in the absence of my friends but then I saw a pretty face sitting alone in one of the corner. I thought of talking to the girl to pass my evening. It was not that I haven't seen gorgeous girls in my life but she was different. She was in light pink dress with no make-up. It was hard to believe that I can notice so many things in that dim light.

I approached her and asked "May I join you?". "Oh, yes. Why not" She nodded affirmatively. Within 30 minutes we were talking as if we were known to each other from many years. Initially I hesitated but then we started with very general talks, then we moved to some intimate talking . After 2 hours we were there on the way to her apartment. She had the nice 3 BHK apartment. I was wondering that how can she buy an apartment in such a posh area.

Once we were there at her home, after some talking we started getting physical. I was little shocked but that feeling was suppressed by the excitement of having sex with such a gorgeous lady. I stayed there for a whole night and came back to my rented apartment in the early morning. I was feeling at cloud nine after having one night stand as none of my friends even kissed a girl till now.

After that incident I didn't get chance to talk to her. Firstly my friends was here and they were quite orthodox. I feared that they might tell the incident to my parents. So, I didn't tell the incident to them as well as spared myself from calling her. Secondly, I got busy as my project delivery date was nearing in my office.

But there was something after that night, due to which I was not able to concentrate on work. Initially I thought it was sheer excitement of that night. After sometime the symptoms changed to feverish feeling all the time. Whole day I felt dizziness, with weakness. But when it has been more than 2 weeks I thought I might got viral and decided to visit the doctor. He gave me some pills and advised a blood test. I thought it must be a routine test. Next day, I went to the hospital to collect the report. I was doomed when I saw in my report "HIV : POSITIVE"

Disclaimer: The story and characters are work of fiction. Any resemblance is purely coincidental.

Kahi flood kahi sookha

Kahi dhoop kahi chaya, yahi upar waale ki maya.

Mumbai flood is back in news. The news get the worse in 2004 when Mumbai halted. But now the news doesn't excites more as it is more like a regular news every year. Everybody is used to of the floods. Even after all the efforts put in to avoid it, but all this in vain. I do not know who should be responsible for this. Mumbai Development Authorities or the God?

But one thing is sure, the journalists from other parts of the nation are definitely much more relaxed and must be partying. It's been many hours that I am only getting the news of floods in Mumbai, it means that only journalists in Mumbai are busy rest are holidaying.

But all this was in lighter note. On some serious note I would like to mention that the floods are not only in Mumbai but in north-east states too and since last couple of days. But they don't make news. Might be the news are not worth of the air-time for top and self-claimed "responsible" and "fast-paced" news-channel.

On the opposite there are drought like situation in rest of the India. Long power cuts, high food prices, water scarcity are just some of its results. In MP, water-rationing is already in place since long. There were riots also for water. people starting feeling in cities that they are living in 100 years back when there was no light invented. I really do not know what many govenments, and civil servants did about it during their respective tenures.Let's not go into the way of solving the problems but if possible give it a thought. Till the time we solve the problem enjoy not getting the chance of viewing those s**t-like news channels, Rakhi ka svayanvar and many more. Try to know your neighbours, friends and live a social life like 15 years back when we were not confined to our homes only. We used to know all the families living in our street and next to that also.

Cheers to power-cut!!!!

Budget with Behenji

Just 3 more days and "the" budget-2009 will be presented by our FM in the parliament. As always everybody has its own wish-list towards this budget, but the question of the hour is how many of them will get the answers. We'll talk about later. Here we'll talk about something else and not so serious. Businessmen want import duty cut. Salaried people are eyeing to increase the tax limit. Armed forces wants to increase their share of budget. Bharitaya aam-aadmi still asking for water, food and monsoon? But above all what Mayawati could be asking from FM this year. Her wish-list includes but not limit to:

1. First and foremost increase in the funds, which UP will get for natural calamity, disaster. No, she is not foreseeing any such thing in UP rather she wants to use that fund to build her statues. You may think where is the disaster. Don't you think she herself is the disaster to the UP.
2. She wants the increase in her security. She does not fear any Gundas. She has fear from the central government itself.
3. She wants more helicopters in the state quota, so that she does not need to move on the roads.
4. She wants the new "park-garden policy (PGP)" as SEZs. So that she can grab the land from the farmers and build her statues in the name of the parks. And by the way security for the parks too because anyone can throw the stone on her statue.
5. To implement "PGP" policy all over the country aggressively. She wants to build her statues all over Bharat.
6. She will ask for tax-rebate in pink colour paints. So, that people can paint there houses in pink colour. In fact she can demand to declare "pink" as the national colour. In addition to that she will demand to paint all the government building and monuments in pink color. May be, she will start from Taj Mahal.
7. Last but not the least, as she is well-known as behenji. She wants government to declare her "National sister" like National father Mahatma Gandhi. May be she'll ask for sister-day also.

PS: Please do not take it seriously. This is just to tickle funny bones inside us.

In-built Confusions

Sometime I get confused with:

1. If not having vehicle insurance and get caught by traffic police should I i) pay 50 or 100 bucks and get away or ii) pay full challan.
2. i) Will satyagraha still work in 21st century against the corruption in India or ii) even Gandhiji himself has opted for something else?
3. In the RTO i) should I get the driving license (DL) through the agent by giving money or ii) should I miss the office for a week and spent that time in RTO's office struggling to find even 1 officer to talk there.
4. i) Should I feel happy about the people making money in Sensex or ii) feel bad for those who do not even get 1 meal a day?
5. i) Do I need to be happy when I see Agatha Sangma as MP at the age of just 28 or ii) I need to feel pity of the political situation as she won because she is a daughter of well-known minister P. A. Sangma
6. i) I feel happy because women are doing as good as men or ii) and feel bad as they are doing good in smoking and drinking too.

Cricket vs Management

So, all of us witnessed the debacle of Indian cricket team in 2009 T20 world cup. I'll not go for what mostly are saying that M. S. Dhoni was the reason of team's bad performance there in England. There were whole lot of other issues also. It's just that the decisions taken by Dhoni did not went that straight and missed there target. After all it's just a game. Win and loose are just a side of coin. Australia too was out in first round itself. It does not make them an easy side. They are still tough to play. But of' course everytime we fail we should take it as an opportunity to learn things. There are couple of management lessons which we can learn from the cricket story.

Put your best foot first: One of the major reasons of Indian team defeat, which people are discussing about is sending Ravindra Jadeja up in the order in place of in-form Yuvraj Singh. And when Yuvi got a chance to play it was probably little late even for him too. It helps in understanding that everybody has to put his best when working in a team. You do not want to rest when project starts and slog when it seems to miss the deadline.

Be Aggressive: Again it comes to Ravindra Jadeja, he was on the slower side when it came to scoring run in T20 side. Might be he was instructed by Dhoni to keep the wicket. In the process, he might loose the runs. And this was the reason alone due to which they won T200 world cup 2007. What this incident suggest is that it's better to be aggressive when working on any project. If you'll be slow then you might end up in chasing deadlines always.

Don't wait till it comes to the height: One of the major reason of losing matches was the bouncers by West-Indies and England teams. They used it effectively. Similarly don't wait till the work-pressure will come to your head. It's always better to keep work-pressure low. Only then you can keep balance between personal and professional life.

Don't let fatigue grow: When we work we need to rest too. At last people are saying that players were not fit due to long cricket schedule and IPL. So to take rest is one of the most important aspect of keep yourself fit to work and take pressure.

Believe all your team members: I still question the decision of not giving the ball to R. P. Singh, who was in good form and he gave just 13 runs in his earlier 3 overs with one wicket too. Albeit, Dhoni asked Ishant to bowl, which cost him quite handsomely. So, it's better to understand all of your team-members, there strength and weaknesses and ask them to play the part accordingly.

R. P. Singh - A new episode in Indian Cricket Team

So, what is the difference between these two pics. They both led Indian cricket team bowling attack once, out of the team for a while and trying to come back to the side now. But who is selected for this year's T20 world-cup Indian team. It's R. P. Singh. You might have heard almost all the people about Sreeshanth's attitude problem in and out of the cricket ground. Even if he takes a wicket in last over of someone, who has already done enough damage to the Indian team, he dance like he has taken a wicket in first ball of the first over.

Aggression is good, but we must understand that there is a very thin line between being aggressive and being funny. Sreeshanth surely has crossed that line many times and make himself funny. Either it's a dance on the field after hitting six or it's the slap episode of IPL's first season last year. Just to re-iterate the fact that R. P. Singh is the most wicket taker in this year's IPL season. I remember after taking every wicket he used to smile, and did not shout like an animal.

Shreeshant was once a part of Indian cricket team. He has speed but I personally feel that he is overvalued bowler. He has a speed and aggression which is good but as I already mentioned that to be successful you are supposed to learn to contain your aggression and put it in one clear direction. You can not become Zaheer or Glen just by shouting at the opponent batsmen. You need to bowl well and get there wicket. And mind you just getting one wicket does not complete your job. You need to keep doing it regularly.

On the other hand R. P. Singh does not have that much speed as Shreesath's but the swing he got is lethal. And I never saw him getting satisfied with one wicket. That's why he is a purple cap holder of the tournament. He was neither depressed when he got a hit for six nor shouted when he took the wicket at the next ball. This shows the real character and the distance he has covered to reach here. He surely now an exprience bowler and I hope this experience will help him in taking wickets in coming T20 world cup as well as in following series. I believe that he'll do well and get many wins for Indian cricket team in future.

Wish-List

Here is a list of eight-things I want to do in my life:

1. Want to read as many as 100 books at least.
2. Want to write at least 10 books.
3. Want to start my own venture.
4. Get 5 patents.
5. Want to get Ph.D.
6. Want to be a lecturer/professor in an engineering college. I've an experience of 1 year in the field.
7. Want to visit at least 100 places in India. Till now I've seen around 20 I believe.
8. Want to stay with my parents, at least after they reach 60.

New PJ

ZOOZOO - A vodafone's new character

Q: Who is zoozoo's mother?
You might want to take some time to think?

My answers will be in next post. In the mean time if you have some answers then put it as a comment of this post.

The Verdict is Out

More than a month long marathon finally comes to an end. And what an end of The Great Indian Elections? INC came out to be a largest party by thrashing all those 3rd front, 4th front and so on so forth with the high margin. Thanks to a poor regional politics played by Mayawati, Jayalalitha, Lalu Yadav, Paswan and a never ending list of others. And of' course the leftovers oops...I mean the left parties. So, what is the good about this year election. May be we can count couple of them.

From last 15 years everybody was pissed off with these local names. And at last people of India realized that if they want to be on the fast track of development without the hurdles (of local parties with cheap agendas) then they have to go for national party either it can be INC or BJP. These are the only two good option we have. So, are we moving to an era of 2 parties at national level, even the regional parties are still little stronger at regional level?

Moreover, gundaraaj seems to come to an end now in this year election. Many local gundas, bahubalis, bhais have lost there ground in this year's general elections. May be the people are realizing that ultimately the good character should be an eligibility to sit in the Parliament.

Even the next elections are a distant dream as of now, but hopefully this trend will be continue in that too. And yes of'course UPA has to do lot more than expected if they want a good results next time because it will be 2014 then. And the generation of 2014 will be more educated, responsible, and demanding for sure.

The Changing Times

The only constant thing in this world in change. Everything keeps changing, but some fools try to stop the change. They do not remember the very basic thing that change is inevitable.

On a lighter note let me tell you my mobile story.

I bought my first mobile way back in 2003. In my early days of mobile usage I did not like to talk over the mobile. In fact I was not habitual of using mobile. In office I used to keep it at my desk even if I was not there. One of my colleague even commented me that "You use your mobile like a land-line phone. Why don't you carry it with yourself so that you do not miss any call?"

The time come when I got habitual of mobile usage. I enjoyed those voice calls, sending SMSs every day. But even in those days I used to frequently switch-off my mobile for weeks to get myself some time. While traveling I used to switch-off my mobile. Thanks to less salary and high roaming-charges. At-least I used to get some time.

Now the things have been changed. Thankfully, I am still not addicted to the mobile. But I did not switched off my mobile since long. Now I also keep my mobile ON while traveling because of very less roaming charges. But I do not get time for myself now.

But to earn some time I've some rules for myself. One is, I do not take any call between 10:00 PM to 5:00 AM until it is emergency. In fact, all of my family members and close friends know this, so they do not call me during that time until it's very urgent. I do not reply to missed calls. It still helped me in some way, not to get distracted by that "tring-tring" every now and then and of'course finding some time for me, myself.

Cricket Maniac Country

I will not hesitate in calling ourselves a cricket maniac people. And this is the problem with whole country. Whether cricket match is played or not we talk only about cricket. And so called news channels (they claim it) also can not see beyond it. Nowadays every news channel is having a full dedicated 30 minutes program for sports. But those sport news does not look beyond cricket. Aren't any other sports being played over the world.

Why the heck they call it sports news. Better they call it cricket news. I did not see any news about hockey team and team members since long. I do not know where Joginder Singh right now. Where is he participating or how is he doing practice etc. As a matter of fact most of does not know the top 10 players of India in all the games other then cricket team members, because we do not hear any news about them.

The bottom line is even the news channel does not show the news. It's only business now. They are oblivious to what news channel mean and what should it show to the people. They sell only what is hot currently in market. I do not see any difference in news channel and Bollywood movies or television shows.

Tigers, Trees etc.

Last week I went for waynad trip. A small city in north Kerala. On they way while passing Bandipur we saw a Leopard just 100 mts away from us. Soon it has disappeared in the jungle. But the excitement everybody has shown just by getting a glimpse of it was awesome. I too was overwhelmed by getting a 5 seconds view of big-cat. Then I thought of several other animals which have disappeared over the time. These big-cats are on the verge of the same situation. Soon the generation to come will see the these great creatures in text-book or hear a story about them from there grand-parents. There is no rocket science involved in understanding that if we do not protect them now or keep killing them the time is not far when big-cats will be the thing of past, irreversible past.
********************************************************
As soon as we crossed the Kerala border, the first thing we noticed the greenary spread all over. In waynad trees are everywhere. We enjoyed a greenery, the cool temperature there. As it was a long weekend several people (in thousands) from Bangalore and other places were in Waynad to escape the heat in Bangalore. Everybody was enjoying but how many of us have ever given a thought to plant a tree so that we do not need to run away to beat the heat. As temperature of the earth is increasing everyday, ozone layer is shrinking, water level decreasing we all should take a oath to plant two trees in the name of each children we have. Time has gone when a tree for a child was sufficient. Now we are living in more dangerous situation, the time has come to plant as many trees as we can. Otherwise the time is not so far when even Waynad people will have to go somewhere else on the weekends to beat the heat too.

Are We Laughing Enough?

Yesterday I was talking to my mother on phone and suddenly she asked where your smile have gone? she said, "You are not laughing enough these days, at least while taking over the phone".

When I gave a sincere though about it, I felt that the number of times we laugh in a day has been drastically reduced.

When we had no money in college, we used to laugh.
When we used to travel in general class, we used to laugh.
While sharing a single samosa and coke we used to laugh.
We used to laugh even we got less marks in exams.
Even the girl friend who ditched could not stop us to laugh.

But now money is there, we travel in planes or in AC compartments, getting free coke in offices, need not to prepare for any exams but still the smile from our faces have reduced not if gone.

No HOLI+DAY on HOLI

What the f**k. I can not use any other word to show my frustration. There is no HOLIday on HOLI. I am getting call from my friends and relatives from north India and they are reminding me of Holi today. What a pity situation I am in.

My cousin was shocked when she come to know that there is no HOLIday on Holi. She thought that I am living in another world. For her it a first time experience of this f**k.

In school we read that HOLI is one the biggest festival of Hindus. They did not mention that it is only true for north Indian Hindus only. What the f**K. Even Hinduism is having various definition based on location we are in. There is a huge gap in what we read in books and in reality.

Anyways, on this day I am in front of my laptop in office and looking at a piece of s**t, which we called as code in professional language. In reality I am a f**king software engineer, working in one of the big buildings in Bangalore and just wishing friends and family over phone and gaining sympathy of not having a HOLIday on HOLI.

Anyways wish you all a very happy and colourful Holi this year and every year.

Life is a Journey not Destiny

Life is a journey not destiny,
So, keep going and do not stop.
Bring all your enthusiasm
and move along.
Inculcate the passion in you
and keep it going.
But there are many others in the journey
so do respect them too.


Do not run too fast
as it will make you tired early.
Do not get too slow either,
as it will make you surly.
But do help others in course
as you will get it back too
Life is a journey not destiny,
So, keep going and do not stop.

There will be ups sometime,
but do not overwhelm.
There will be downs at times,
be cautious to survive.
whatever the situation is
keep going instead of slowing.
Life is a journey not destiny,
So, keep going and do not stop.

Blogging - No Longer Safe

Recently I read a news about blogging, which said that bloggers may no longer express their uninhibited views on everything under the sun, for the Supreme Court said they may face libel and even prosecution for the blog content.

I do not understand why from past couple of months our Government is working against freedom of expression of media in all the fronts. It reminds me a story which I heard long back (may be 15 years back or so). I also do not know whether it is true or not. But as per the story our first prime minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was once giving a speech from Red Fort, Delhi about democracy. After some time a lady who was not very impressed with the democracy, came near to Mr. Nehru and slapped him. Everybody was shocked including Pandit ji himself. She told him that I do not see any benefit in being democratic country that is why I slapped you. In place of getting angry Pandit ji smiled and said that you slapped me and still standing right in front of me is itself the biggest benefit of democracy.

In such a country where the prime minister himself was the biggest supporter of democracy, how can some people can put restriction on the freedom of media. Afterall it is our fundamental right to freedom of expression and speech. I have tried not be very harsh with my words, who knows I might face some action too.

Sometimes it Hurt Itself

Mr. Hari Krishnan, chief mentor of BSSS (Bhartiya Sanskriti Suraksha Sangh) is busy man these days in his personal as well as professional life. Personally he is not happy since he knew that his daughter is dating a software engineer from middle class family that too from North India. Being a pure South Indian Brahmin (read rich and powerful) he has different plans for his daughter. On professional front Mr. Krishnan wants to get media attention during V-Day celebrations on 14th February. Actually he has tried for MLA and MP tickets in past from BJP but never got. So this time by getting media attention he is seeking MP ticket in forthcoming elections. For that he and his 100 odd men are planning to protest against V-Day celebrations in Bangalore and near by in the name of Hindu culture. He has vowed to force unmarried couples found together on Valentine's Day to get married. For that they have created a team of 20 people each for different areas.

Like many other couples in love Sulekha and Mayank are also planning for V-Day. They have taken single day leave from there respective offices and planned to spend whole day with each other. On the morning of V-Day they have planned to meet at CCD (Cafe Coffee Day), CMH Road. From there they will go somewhere.

At 10:00 AM they both met at the pre-decided place. They both were looking very happy, wearing nice dresses and carrying lots of stuff for each other. They entered in CCD adn exchanged gifts. Sulekha gave him a greeting card, a nice teddy and leather belt. Mayank gave her a greeting card of'course, pack of chocolates, a big teddy bear, and a bracelet. They both were enjoying each other company.

Suddenly a group of 20-25 people entered there and started assaulting young couples. These were the men of BSSS. They took 3 couples including Sulekha and Mayank to the court. At the gate of the court they posed in front of media persons, who were already there in anticipation of grabbing some news. BSSS men then took couples to the magistrate and get couples married forcibly.

In the mean time Mr. Krisnhan has arrived to the court and started giving big speeches about his work, his group, men and self-portrayed Indian culture. After all the political rituals he entered in the court and saw Sulekha and asked his daughter,"what the hell you are doing here?".

Disclaimer: The story and characters are work of fiction. Any resemblance is purely coincidental.

I love You

It has been a week since I put Prateeksha, my wife in flames of fire. But it seems that it has been years since I lost her. If she would be alive she must be celebrated our 30th marriage anniversary next month.

Today after putting lot of efforts I managed to come to the park. But nothing seems to be interesting. Everything is gloomy. Old as well as young people are walking to keep fit. Children are playing, their mothers are chatting, as well as keeping sharp eyes on their kids to protect them from any misfortune. The park is crowded but it felt like I am the only one who is alone in this world. In past 30 years there was not even a single day when I came alone in this park. I want to shout, I want to cry as well but the effort is in vain.

"It has been some time I am sitting here, let me go back to home", I tell to myself. People are also looking for empty benches to sit. A small girl may be of 8-10 years with her father is coming directly towards me. Might be they are coming for the bench as well. As that little girl comes near to me, she reminds me of Prateeksha. She have the same eyes, big and black.

That little girl stop in front of me and said, "Thank You for everything you and aunty did to me. I can also see now". This remind me of Prateeksha's wish of donating eyes to someone after death. Drops of tears were making their way on my wrinkled face but I am smiling. It felt like I am not alone anymore, Prateeksha is somewhere near to me, watching me, smiling as always and saying "I Love You".

Disclaimer: The story and characters are work of fiction. Any resemblance is purely coincidental.

Slumdog Millionaire - Is it really worth

Slumdog Millionaire. Nice movie to watch. A small movie with full Bollywood masala. It is like any other Bollywood masala flick. But why then it is making a lots of fuzz in the international arena. It has already got 4 Golden Globe awards and nominated for 10 categories in Oscars. I really do not see any reson.

The only reason I could think of is some white man Danny Boyle directed the movie. As far as acting is concern it is no where near to legend Bollywood actors. Even Anil Kapoor has acted better in his own other movies. But still the movie is widely acclaimed.

As far as A. R. Rahman is concern no doubt his music is always good. But he could have got that (Golden Globe) for other Bollywood movies also.

It is a good movie but is it really better than Wednesday, Swadesh, Taare zameen Par, Rang De Basanti so on an so forth? I don't think so.

As I already mentioned the only reason why this movie is making news is the involvement of some foreigners. This shows how the awards have been distributed there. They all have notions that we can not make the movies for Oscars but I believe and know that some of our movies are better than there awarded movies.

Some things should better go unsaid !!!

"We've been in relation from last one year. How will I say this to her?". I said to myself while looking into the mirror. "But she is mature. She can handle this. I wish she do not make big fuss about it". I assured myself with these words and wash my face. I shaved my two weeks old beard. It was a long time I met her that's why I did not shave since long.

I went to my wardrobe and try to find a T-Shirt. As any other software engineer none of my T-Shirt was clean. So, I started looking for the T-Shirt which was least dirty. Somehow I found a decent enough T-shirt and a pair of jeans. While dressing I was unable to stop myself from thinking about Sonia, my girl friend. I guess I've already mentioned that I was seeing her from last one year. Today I am going for date with her last time. Afterall, I am going to get married after three months. My parents have selected a girl for me whom I also had met and agreed to marry. Today I am planning to tell Sonia that I would no longer be seeing her anymore.

Today I called her in Forum. For this date I wanted a crowded place and where can you get more crowd other than Forum itself. Actually she may make fuss about this issue so I selected a crowded place where she will restrict herself of doing that. I smiled at myself and appreciated my intelligence.

When I reached there she was waiting for me. But she was looking different from other days. It seemed there is melancholy spread everywhere. She was looking dull, in fact very dull. "Is she OK today?. Had she got the idea of what I am going to tell her today?" Just thought. "Anyways how does matter. Today is last date we are going to have", I re-assured myself. After small greetings we started towards third floor food-court. It was unusual short greeting today we had. we have bought a pizza and two coke and found a corner seat in that over-crowded place. We talked about work, office, latest movies - Ghajini, Rab ne Bana di Jodi, and Aamir Khan.

Suddenly she changed her emotions and started saying. "Pawan, I do not know how to start but listen to me carefully". She left me puzzled. "I know you are mature enough to understand my situation. Even though we are in relation from last one year but I can not carry it anymore. My parents have selected a guy for me and I also said yes to him. He is in US in Microsoft.". She left me baffled. One one hand I was shocked and on the other hand it felt that someone has off-loaded a heavy burden from my head. With this dual feelings I came back to home, give it a thought and as a daily ritual I was dialing a number of my fiancee in my mobile.

Disclaimer: The story and characters are work of fiction. Any resemblance is purely coincidental.

Everything Which Glitters is not Gold.

Last weekend was an eye-opener for me. It was one of the most eventful weekend for me. From a long time me and my friends were making a plan to go to pub but I was just ditching them by some reason or other. But last week they did not hear any of my excuse and we went to Milky Way, one of the renowned pub in the heart of the city Brigade last Saturday.

After 45 minutes drive (even the distance is just 6 km to cover) in Vishal's car from Indra Nagar we reached Brigade and spent another 20 minutes in search of parking place. The pub was over crowded on the day as it was "Weekend" in Bangalore when whole city rush to pubs, discos, restaurants. Milky Way was playing loud Rock music. The light was dim. Every corner was filled with gang of girls and boys, who were chilling out with their drinks and different brands of cigerattes. No one was bother about another person. By the way I forgot to introduce my friends who were with me on that day, oops night. I've already mentioned about Vishal, another was Ashish. As I don't want to spend much words in those those guys I'll come back to my story. Initially everything seems to be quite boring. We asked for Beer and started gulping it. Yes of'course we were cribbing our jobs, managers almost everything in this whole world while doing all this.

But between all this I saw a girl sitting alone with her beer. My God! she was the most sexiest girl I have ever seen in my life. Might be it was the beer which was giving me that picture but for sure she was one of the most sexiest girl I've ever seen. All of my senses started working towards the option of talking to her. I got an idea and told my friends that I'll be back in five minutes and make a point towards restroom. But went to the table where she was sitting.

"May I sit here, every corner is full". I asked. "Yeah sure". She replied. It was like a dream come true. Her soft voice had made my evening. Now I started thinking for more. After that we were chatting and I asked her for a drink too. The drinks alongwith the beauty were affecting double that day. When I thought of just taking her for a drive she prompted me "Look you have already taken enough of time." I was shocked with that response. She continued while picking her glass of wine (which I bought her), "Please spare me. And yeah you can pay if you want more."

Without having any words with her I came to my friends who were still with beer. Suddenly my boredom was over and I was enjoying even with my friends.

Disclaimer: The story and characters are work of fiction. Any resemblance is purely coincidental.

Marriage - A Path Not a Destiny

2009 is going to be eventful year for sure. 7 batchmates are going to get married after all. From last couple of weeks some of them in Bangalore was asking for some help regarding marriage life. Initially I thought they were just joking but when I felt their seriousness for this matter I was compelled to think about the same. I am not the SME (Subject matter Expert) for this topic but sharing what I think about marriage. Here are some points.

Disclaimer: Some of the points I made will be correct only for men.

Friendship: The most important part of the marriage is look for a friend. Remember how we talk to our friends, give respect to them, ignore those silly fights about weird topics, be with them in their tough times, sometimes give privacy to them, do not expect any gifts from them on birthday even after throwing a party and list goes on. The same happens in the married life. once we are done with exploring each other bodies this "Friendship" keeps our relationship alive. So just be a friend.

Ready to get change: By the way why we say yes to marriage. If your answer is one of these due to parents pressure, due to social pressure, my friends have been married etc, the I'll seriously suggest you to wait and introspect and ask "Am I ready for the marriage?". The reason you are marrying is you want to change your current way of living and ready to move to new phase of life where you want to take responsibility of not only your own but of your partner also. So why you fight when someone tells you to change your habit of throwing wet towel on bed? Why you fight when someone tells you to keep things in place? Why do you fight when someone tells your not to rub your face with curtains? We married because we want change so change these habits. You do not want to loose your marriage for these silly habits.

Micro management vs Macro Management: In the professional life as you keep growing up in the ladder, you are supposed to macro manage the things. if you try to micro manage your subordinates you are pissing them off. the same holds good in married life. Never ever try to micro manage. The food is not good, these rotis are not well cooked, masala is not proper in the vegetable. I am a man, I'll not do household jobs etc etc. Believe me the list is very very long.

Comparison is the key: Yes! comparison is the key to fight. Never ever compare your spouse or his/her work with others. Gentlemen please avoid comparing your wife with your mother. She is not. Ladies all the men hates appreciation of Bollywood hunks in front of them even if they do not show it.

I had enough. Couple of last words. It is true that marriage is made in heaven but to make it last is your responsibility.

Ghajini - A Disappointment

I've just reached home after watching one of the most awaited movie of this year "GHAJINI" and unable to stop myself writing about it. In fact I was also waiting for the movie to be released because Aamir is in lead role in this movie and he is one of my favorite. I was expecting a lot from it especially when the Tamil version of this movie was a big hit.

But frankly speaking the movie was a huge disappointment for me. Big disappointment. I felt nothing in the movie. The movie was unable to relate with the viewer. It was just another Bollywood masala movie. Nothing more than that.

One of the funniest part of the movie is in the last sequence when hero was chasing villain. When hero reached to the villian after defeating at least 15 of his Goondas and only villian is left, he told to hero "Ab to gaya tu". Oh man!!!! it was he, the Goonda who was in problem, not the hero. How can he say this to the hero, who has already killed all the men. Anyways, after this dialouge same happened what generally happens in all the bollywood movies.

By the way when I am talking about last sequence I must tell you that it was total fake. Hero can remember the things only for just 15 mins. In that 15 minutes not only hero reach to villain's place from the hospital as well as did all the fight but hero still remember everything. In fact in the whole movie I got the idea is that hero lost his memory only when he wants to.

If all this would have happened in other movie I had not given a single thought about it. But Aamir, the so called Perfectionist was working in this movie so unable to ignore these silly things.

Anyways it will be one of the biggest hit of the year even if Aamir's fan watch this movie once. But for me it's one of the biggest flop of the year. May be 1 out of 5.