Me

Let's start with what all I was caught up with!!

2011-08-10T18:39:00.001+05:30

Having a baby changes everything. It has changed me as a person and has made me in some ways more resilient more enduring and more tolerant at the same time it has made me more irritable and hyper.

Now everything revolves around Romana. When in the past I'd research current affairs to write on, now I research on baby food and diaper rash creams. This is what babies do to us women :)

And the last reason being no access to internet. This just taught me how dependent we are on internet and how obsolete news papers have become. So now here I'm trying to use the wifi service at home that totally sucks to blog again. Don't know how will blogger survive this harsh internet facility but please stand by me my blog!! I m going through a rough patch. Lol!!

Back to Blogging!!

2011-08-10T17:48:00.002+05:30

Someone took a slay knife and killed my writing spirit. Trying 2 revive it. Learnt it the hard way how important freedom of speech and expression are. Wish I'd known this before.

I almost lost myself in nursery rhymes and my babys developmental milestones... So now trying to find myself again.

My Baby Gal - Romana

2011-02-23T00:10:00.003+05:30

Taj Mahal - Symbol of Shahjahans lust vs true love

2010-12-08T00:29:00.002+05:30

For TRUE LOVE:
1. Mumtaz was Shahjahans 4th wife out of 7
2. Shahjahan killed Mumtaz’s husband to marry her
3. Mumtaz died in her 14th delivery
4. After Mumtaz’s death Shahjahan married her sister

What comes time and again to my mind after reading these facts is whether we should call our prestigious “Taj Mahal” the true symbol of love. Shahjahan didn't even know the meaning of true love, all that I can deduce is that he was blinded in lust. I won’t disagree that architecturally it’s a marvel, but I would think a zillion times before calling it a “Symbol of True Love.”
Taj Mahal gives us Foreign Currency but it would be foolish to compare anyone’s love with that of Shahjahan and Mumtaz.

Paradise for Racism – “India”

2010-10-23T13:07:00.002+05:30

Do we really have a right to feel offended when Indians have to face the racist brunt in US, Australia, UK etc? Aren’t we Indians racist ourselves? We appreciate everything that the white world does, we rarely appreciate our nation.

When Shilpa Shetty won in Big Brother (The UK Version), she made India proud. If anyone saw an episode in that series they’d exactly know how much of proud Shilpa did to our country. She mentioned India so sparingly in the entire series that it was clear she was herself not very proud of India. I don’t blame her because there are very few things in India that can make us proud. There was a huge hue and cry when racist comments were passed on her. Didn’t that work perfectly for her; she was clearly riding the racism wave for commercial gain. After all, She shot to tremendous fame internationally after winning in Big Brother.

Now let’s discuss the Indian counterpart, “Big Boss” when famous advocate Abbas Kazmi was in the show he was condemned by many. To the extent he was divested from his rights as a trustee from the Imamiya Masjid Trust on the grounds that his conduct was not appropriate and brought shame to the trust. WWF wrestler, The Great Khali has been the recent entrant in Big Boss. However, the Indian kushti board (or some organization like that) has been demeaning Great Khali claiming that he is bringing shame upon India. This is really a sign of how emotionally driven a nation we are. Both Kazmi and Khali have not uttered anything against our beloved nation or done any compromising acts, but still they are being condemned for merely being a part of Big Boss. I question all these people who are condemning them, whether their feelings would be the same if instead of Big boss, they were participants in Big Brother. Are we not racist too??? Don’t we appreciate the so called White world more than our brown world??? Frankly, aren’t there enough reasons why the white world is superior to ours???

When the same acts are done by a lady but on an international platform among “whites” that’s considered as making India proud. However, when an Indian in India does the same acts he is bringing shame onto our nation. I totally fail to understand this analogy.

Another similar example, Malika Sherawat kissing Imran Hashmi in Murder condemned, same Malika Sherawat sleazing with Jackie Chain in Myth alright, rather appreciated. Further, our queen of bollywood Aishwarya Rai Bachan kissing Martin Henderson in Bride and Prejudice applauded. Why do we Indians fluctuate so much when it comes to appreciating our own kind? Isn’t it clear more than any other country men being racist towards us, it is we ourselves who are racist. And this is precisely the reason why we are a billion years behind the white nations when it comes to all types of development.

Jana Gana Mana OR Vande Mataram

2010-08-04T14:18:00.002+05:30

"Jana Gana Mana" - Just a thought for the National Anthem!

How well do you know about it?

I have always wondered who is the " adhinayak" and "bharat bhagya vidhata",whose praise we are singing. I thought might be Motherland

India ! Our current National Anthem "Jana Gana Mana" is sung throughout the country.

Did you know the following about our national anthem, I didn't.

To begin with, India 's national anthem, Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka, was written by Rabindranath Tagore in honour of King George V and the Queen of England when they visited India in 1919.

To honor their visit Pandit Motilal Nehru had the five stanzas included , which are in praise of the King and Queen. (And most of us think it is in the praise of our great motherland!!!)

In the original Bengali verses only those provinces that were under British rule, i.e . Punjab, Sindh, Gujarat , Maratha etc.were mentioned.

None of the princely states were recognized which are integral parts of India now Kashmir, Rajasthan, Andhra, Mysore or Kerala.

Neither the Indian Ocean nor the Arabian Sea was included, since they were directly under Portuguese rule at that time. The Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka implies that King George V is the lord of the masses and Bharata Bhagya Vidhata is "the bestower of good fortune".

Following is a translation of the five stanzas that glorify the King:

First stanza: (Indian) People wake up remembering your good name and ask for your blessings and they sing your glories. (Tava shubha name jaage; tava shubha aashish maage, gaaye tava jaya gaatha)

Second stanza : Around your throne people of all religions come and give their love and anxiously wait to hear your kind words.

Third stanza: Praise to the King for being the charioteer, for leading the ancient travelers beyond misery.

Fourth stanza : Drowned in the deep ignorance and suffering, poverty-stricken, unconscious country? Waiting for the wink of your eye and your mother's (the Queen's) true protection.

Fifth stanza : In your compassionate plans, the sleeping Bharat ( India ) will wake up. We bow down to your feet O' Queen, and glory to Rajeshwara (the King).

This whole poem does not indicate any love for the Motherland but depicts a bleak picture. When you sing Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka, whom are you glorifying? Certainly not the Motherland. Is it God? The poem does not indicate that.It is time now to understand the original purpose and the implication of this, rather than blindly sing as has been done the past fifty years.

Nehru chose the present national anthem as opposed to Vande Mataram because he thought that it would be easier for the band to play!!! It was an absurd reason but Today for that matter bands have advanced and they can very well play any music. So they can as well play Vande Mataram, which is a far better composition in praise of our Dear Motherland - India .

Wake up, it's high time! Shouldn't Vande Mataram be our National Anthem. Come Join together to put Vande Mataram as our National Anthem.

Girl Who Cries Tears

2010-02-22T12:58:00.003+05:30

I saw this documentary on National Geographic and was pretty amused. Its worth watching if someone can find the video on Youtube.

Obviously people of India think its HOLY and flock her house. However, Doctors say its faked, but how difficult is to confirm that. Why not hospitalise the girl and keep her under cameras?

India is the 88th Best Country in this World to Live in.

2010-02-06T18:20:00.003+05:30

A travel magazine "International Living" states that India is among the best countries to live in in South Asia. Can you believe it... we are better than Russia and China. This is based on some calculation which compares our cost of living, leisure, economy, environment, etc.

Something unbelievable is the comparisons are made with a milestone - United States. And countries like Iraq and Afghanistan are the worse countries to live in.

Comparing Kutch Bhukamp to Haiti Earthquake.

2010-02-06T18:13:00.002+05:30

Read the well written article:

"Haiti reminds Indians of Kutch. The rescue, relief and rehabilitation of earthquake victims have local requirements that vary from region to region but, the story of how Kutch was reborn after the devastating earthquake of January 26, 2001 can became a useful template for Haiti...."

Some of my brain children which might get lost in Facebook traffic....

2010-01-20T00:02:00.003+05:30

1. There are two types of people: Human Beings and Saints. Humans are 2 legged animals who live on instinct and Saints are those humans who live on some principles that other humans fail to understand...

2. If facebook was really a book, how big a book would it be? Unimaginable!!!

3. In every girls life there will always be those 3 guys...the one she loves, the one she hates, and the one she can’t get enough of...and in the end...they're all the same guy.

4. How does one quantify happiness, by the tears that are hidden behind the smiles or by the smiles that are hidden behind the tears?

5. "Every woman has the exact love life she wants." - from the movie The Wedding Date. I think this line is perfect. But it also applies to men, so this is from me - "Every man has the exact love life he wants."

Respect KILLS Excellence.

2010-01-19T23:57:00.002+05:30

India is full of “HYPER” respecting people. Right from birth we are taught to respect elders, teachers, people of status, etc. Unfortunately we are not taught to respect people by their actions or by the work that they do. Thus, we are blind to the real attributes in human beings that deserve respect. We really don’t respect the individuality of our children; we don’t respect our house-help because according to us they are doing a pride-less job; thus we don’t respect people based on their credibility. We only respect those who are famous or rich, although they may have a bad nature, be unlawful, rude or cunning; whereas a bold middle class person’s good qualities may be overlooked or shunned. This in turn also means we don’t respect the people that don’t fall in these preconceived categories.

Imagine the side effects of this system, we are so culturally trained to respect elders and people with status that we can never criticize them, we can never have a non biased opinion of them as that would mean being disrespectful and is not appreciated in Indian society. Often a question is asked why Indian youth is so passive; it is only because of our respectful nature. Face it we are never taught that elders can also be wrong and can be told they are wrong. However, this system works perfectly well with our politicians. They would never want to change this system as the only reason that they are where they are is because the aam janta (common man) out of fear respects them and never assert their flaws.

In Mumbai it’s common among the rich and niche kids to say “we deserve ___________, we can afford to _________, how dare he_________” By deserve they mean we deserve to not stand in queues; we can afford to break the laws, and how dare he talk to me like that doesn’t he know whose son I am... Somehow the respect is self conquered and the society lets them. This is impossible in any other country except India, here a rich man’s kid is treated better than a middle class man’s kid; this is just because Indians are tuned to blindly respect.

Respect is drowning the “Credit Based System.” Think of Baba Saheb Ambedkar, he had started reservation for SC and ST people for their upliftment but he didn’t think of the other large 90% of the population that suffers and suicides because of this 10%. His reservation system has made it impossible for a 98% student to get a medical seat because a 62% SC/ST student from an affluent family in entitled to that seat blindly under the law. When will our nation realize every law becomes obsolete and every law needs to be changed and reformed, especially when it is not serving its purpose.

Are we proud of what we do? Do we really strive for perfection and excellence? This is another problem that reaps under our system driven by respect for the wrong people. Think about the roads that BMC constructs and how BMC blames our rains for washing them away. We think that the BMC officials are not doing their job right for a few extra bucks but this is not entirely correct and that why can't we ever get excellent work from BMC. The fact is this happens because the same BMC officials don’t take pride in the job that they do. They think they are doing such insignificant work that even shoddy job will make not much of a difference to anyone. These same people respect only the babus and not the common people like themselves. This shows a whole system of wrongly evaluating people and work

India can shine only if she stops respecting the wrong people and starts taking pride in herself.

Lowwwwwwwwwwww Rise Jeans

2009-12-25T21:15:00.001+05:30

I came across this Facebook Advertisement. It was about this Sanna's Ultra low-rise Jeans and I went through their website... I can't imagine how low it gets out there.

I love Low-Rise, but this much low.... Just overwhelmed actually.

Forgot To Blog... My Few Moments Of Fame

2009-12-25T20:54:00.009+05:30

This has been pending in my draft list since a long time and I had completely forgotten about it. So hear goes...

‘Laws’ of attraction...

TNN 19 January 2009, 12:28am IST

Ayesha and Zaheer’s (son of noted lawyer and NCP national secretary, Majeed Memon and Saeeda) one-and-a-half-years romantic rendezvous that began in the premises of a law college (Emphasis Mine: We didn't really fall in "LOVE" in law college and our relation kick started months after my graduation.... ) culminated into a grand marriage on Saturday with blessings from both the families.

The attendance from the world of politics, the police force and Bollywood, added the glint of power and glamour in this otherwise family affair. Majeed, wife Saeeda, elder son Zulfi and his wife Suzzane along with the bride’s parents Nergish and Viraf Bilpodiwala played the perfect hosts overseeing the comfort of the guests.

Chhagan Bhujbal came in with son Pankaj and nephew Sameer. R R Patil was seen enjoying the company of Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu. Others who were seen enjoying the party were former cop M N Singh, K L Prasad, Mrs Hasan Gafoor, Baba Siddiqui, Nawab Malik, Kripashankar Singh, Asif Bhamla, Mukesh Tyagi, Samir Kadam, Shatrughan Sinha, Madhur Bhandarkar, Sachin Ahir, Udit Narayan with wife Deepa, Tariq Anwar, Aneez Ahmed, Mahesh Bhatt, Anu Malik, Prakash George, Nasir Jamal, Upen Patel with his mystery lady, Feroze Nadiadwala, Naseem Siddiqui, Abraham Mathai amongst others.

Frankly, all these so called VIPS didn’t really make my wedding a grand affair; it was grand by the presence of all those people who are close to my heart. What the article missed was as follows: I want to thank Sid, Afzal, Ajaz, Tejas, Khushboo, Robin, ReemaPrachi, Pallavi, Sonali, Madhura, Rhea Arora, Sucheta, Zainab, Abhi, Gauri, Anish, Disha, Kranti, Veera, Sanaea, Parinaz, Preity, Smita, Adnan, Mashooda, Chaitaly, Jigisha, Irum, Amber... and their respective families.... These people really made me feel special. Some reached the venue before me and were there to escort me to the dais. Most of my friends attended the Nikah ceremony. I will always appreciate their gratitude. All my fond memories of that day include my extended family members who supported me in keeping up this decision and were present in their full “bawa” spirit in the wedding. I should not miss to thank Zaheer’s friends who really put in their full efforts and made my day turn into “A Great day.”

SHIVAJI MAHARAJ KI JAY HO

2009-12-18T22:55:00.003+05:30

Amchi Mumbai cha very own, loved "Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj" is now going to compete with the Statue of Liberty. His memorial is going to be standing taller than Madame Liberty in our precious Marine Lines water. This will cost a meager 350Cr. I wonder if Maharaj ever imagined wasting of such enormous State Funds.

Balasaheb aani MNS doghe khoopach khush asnar!!!

But in case my dear blogger friends are unhappy with this proposal please visit this link and sign the PIL to stop such wastage of funds.

"CONSERVATION"

2009-12-10T23:32:00.007+05:30

Lately this word has started having lot of meaning in my life. I categorize myself among those people who get very influenced by social awareness issues and that line of movies. I always feel like doing something, changing the world, blah blah, but I must admit almost always all that zest dies out in weeks.

Recently I visited some families... typical after being newly married but something’s really upset me... 2 such houses had Tiger skins put up as articles of attraction. I just flipped seeing them. Don't these people feel guilty that this same gorgeous beast must have been poached for his skin? Don't they realise the implications of their expensive likes. Then there was this Doctor's house that I recently visited. The Doc had a Cockatoo bird in a tiny cage. There was a party in that Docs house and the parrots cage was in the sitting area. All the people in that party were loud and so was the terrified parrot. If the Doc guy really loves birds how can he be so cruel to them. The poor guy had no way to stretch his wings or even move around. I really felt like stuffing the Doc guy in that cage. It was the height of inhuman behaviour. I really wanted to call SPCA and ask them to rescue the parrot, but my hubby explained that the SPCA guys aren’t really trained in this kind of rescue job and that the bird would most likely die if taken out of the house. Although I am not very convinced and I am still considering making that call, I personally feel how is this life any better.

Anyways not straying from my main point "Conservation," as you can see from my last post, I just saw 2 movies on Tiger and Cheetah Conservation. I was really touched by 2 Brothers. So before the zest dies I thought the least I can do is blog about it and help create some more awareness....

Let me first dwell on Conservation of the Big Cats in India:

I went through many web sites on what our government is doing about wildlife conservation. What amused me was that most of these websites have only a donation page or some tourism information. They have no information on how one can help in person. They neither have any information on the past success in rehabilitating any animal, nor any experts on the list of people handling cases of wildlife conservation. As you all will agree in such matters its best to place the least expectations on our Government to be pro-active.

All predators play an important role in keeping a balance in the environment. The carnivores keep the population of the herbivores in check. Also imagine our future generations might never get to see these animals in wild. Imagine dinosaur movies being replaced by tigers and lions going extinct movies. I hate this thought. So please everyone who reads this blog do something to conserve our forests. Don't buy cat skin, lion teeth, elephant tusks, or forest wood. I would even go a step further and ask people to stop goin to circuses which have wild animals on display as you can't imagine what goes on in their training. Their pride is crushed over and over again to tame their wildness. The old animals are slaughtered for their skins. Imagine their lives in captivity and their lustous life being painted black. Hunting is still an adventure for some rich men in India, take our film personalities for instance; I always wished I could give that gun in the beasts hand just once and see the fear on the face of these adventure seekers.

Now let me ponder on the other thing that really needs attention, our environment:

I was in London for 20 days. A few weeks before reaching London I was down with really bad throat infection and cough. Once I was back I was again down with sore throat. One thing I realised was when we were flying over London, just before landing all I could see was greenery, clouds and really clear blue skies, but as soon as I was on Mumbai skies there was something BROWN below and everywhere. Skies were not filled with anything blue… they were filled with something brown. Can seriously anyone tell me what exactly that brown thing was? Everyday when I get up in Mumbai and I see outside the window I see fog... oops its smog. Being asthmatic I was apprehensive to go to London because I suspected that the cold there would make me ill, that obviously didn’t happen. Its not Mumbai’s weather changes that causes people to fall ill, it’s the pollution and unhygienic conditions. Its our attitude thats leading us closer to the doom day.

Another thing I learned in London was how seriously they took plastic waste. Super markets asked people to carry their own bags or they would have to pay for the carry bags there. A 5 litre Mineral Water Can was priced cheap because they didn’t want people to buy small half litre bottles and add to plastic pollution. I really liked their concepts. So I have started applying a few practical ones myself - I have stopped taking plastic bags from local vendors when I can do without one. Most often if I go shopping I carry some bags from home. Also I avoid using Air-Condition when not required. I have stopped using water heater whenever I can bath in the afternoons and I try to avoid wasting water. Small changes will lead to a big change and that’s what I am hoping for. So join me in my minuscule quest of CONSERVATION.

Two Brothers and Duma

2009-12-09T22:58:00.004+05:30

I saw these 2 movies recently.... I rate them 10 on 10.... A must see specially for kids.

Accident Information

2009-12-09T22:32:00.003+05:30

Have you ever witnessed a road accident but whisked pass it, not helping the injured accident victim. Eventually, feeling guilty thinking if the victim is still alive or dead.

Following information might help you change your insensitivity to being a more responsible citizen:

1. There is some S.C. Judgment on "Right to Emergency Care," (I could not find the judgment online). Purportedly, as per this judgment your responsibility ends as soon as you leave the injured victim on the door step of the hospital. So, impliedly there will be no forced police inquiries against you and it becomes the responsibility of the hospital to conduct the police inquiry. Also surprisingly, this Judgment has changed my age-old "filmy" view that before the police formalities are finished first-aid is provided to the patient in the hospital.

(From a forwarded email) "The Supreme Court in a judgement on Right to Emergency Care, case no Appeal (civil) 919 of 2007 of 23 Feb 2007, has ruled that all injured persons especially in the case of road traffic accidents, assaults, etc., when brought to a hospital or medical centre, have to be offered first aid, stabilized and shifted to a higher centre / government centre if required. It is only after this that the hospital can demand payment or complete police formalities.

In case you are a bystander and wish to help someone in an accident, please go ahead and do so. Your responsibility ends as soon as you leave the person at the hospital. The hospital bears the responsibility of informing the police, providing first aid, etc.

Please do inform your family and friends about these basic rights so that we all know what to expect and what to do in the hour of need."

2. Further, there is a Bill which if enacted as law will make it mandatory for Hospitals/Doctors to treat accident victims immediately.

My only concern in our civilized society is Mob Fury.... When one thinks of helping an accident victim, often the mob doesn't think rationally and is prejudiced against the one who owns the bigger vehicle. But if you think you can handle a mob instead of living in guilt then please reach out and help as much as you can in such a situation because you never know when you are on the other side of the road.

ABU ZAAD Edgware road London

2009-10-31T16:04:00.005+05:30

I'm not sure how the food tastes at this one. The First and only experience that I have with ABU ZAAD Edgware road was one of its kind and in one word awful (terrible, pathetic, sad, shocking etc etc).

I had been a regular to quite a few restaurants in Edgware road and other restaurants in London, the best ones and the not so good ones too. But the STRANGEST thing I came across was here.... Me and 2 friends of mine entered Abu Zaad on Edgware Road and were given a table. We ordered our snack (or meal) which was enough of a bite for 3 of us. The bill would have totalled to around 10 pounds. (I cant help it if what we ordered only cost us that much). As one of our orders was served we started our dinner but before anything else could be served and much before we could finish half of our first dish, we were rudely asked by one of the staff to order some more dish (to a minimum of 8 pounds per head) if we wished to sit there, that is.....

THIS IS BLOODY SHOCKING.....then he asked us to leave if we were not ordering further..... We did not even know how to react to this unreasonable, unexpected inappropriate and inhospitable behaviour of the staff....We just paid our bill and left..... THIS IS BY FAR ONE OF THE MOST PATHETIC EXPERIENCE I'VE EVER HAD IN ANY FOOD OUTLET IN THE WORLD....may it be a small time cafe or a 5 star hotel restaurant... SAD!!!! These guys need to go to SCHOOL BADLY....

Management lesson forward

2009-04-28T23:04:00.007+05:30

I came across this forward on Management lesson, really fun. Its a must read:

A lesson for Every Salaried Employee:

A shopkeeper watching over his shop is really surprised when he sees a dog coming inside the shop, He shoos him away. But later, the dog is back inside again. So he goes over to the dog and notices that it has a note in its mouth. He takes the note and it reads “Can I have 12 soaps and a shampoo bottle, please. The money is with the dog.” The shopkeeper looks inside the dogs mouth and to his surprise there is a 100 rupees note in his mouth. So he takes the money and puts the soap, shampoo and change in a bag, and then places it in the dogs mouth.

The shopkeeper is so impressed, and since it is the closing time, he decides to follow the dog. The dog is walking down the street, when it comes to the zebra crossing, he waits till the signal turns green. He walks across the road till the bus stop. He waits on the stop and looks up the timetable for the bus. The shopkeeper is totally out of his mind as the dog gets into the bus and sits on a vacant seat. The shopkeeper follow the dog. The dog waits for the conductor to come to his seat. He gives the change to the conductor and shows him the neck belt to keep the ticket. The shopkeeper is almost fainting at this sight and so are the other people in the bus.

The dog then moves to the front exit of the door and waits for the bus stop to arrive, looking outside. As soon as the stop is in sight he wags his tail to inform the driver to stop. Then not even waiting for the bus stop to arrive the dog jumps out and runs to the house nearby. It opens an big iron gate and rushes towards the door. As it approaches the door, he changes his mind and walks towards the garden. The dog walks up to the window and beats his head several times on the window. It then walks back to the door and waits. The shopkeeper maintaining his senses walks up to the door and watched a big guy open the door.

The guy starts beating, kicking and abusing the dog. The shopkeeper is surprised and runs to stop the guy. the shopkeeper questions the guy “What in the heaven are you doing? The dog is a genius he could be famous in life.”

The guy responds “You call this clever? This is the 3rd time in this week that the dog has forgotten the door keys.”

The moral of the story: You may continue to exceed onlookers expectations… But will always fall short of the bosses expectation…"

A lesson for Every Salaried Employee

2009-04-28T23:04:00.006+05:30

I came across this forward on Management lesson, really fun. Its a must read:

"A lesson for Every Salaried Employee
A shopkeeper watching over his shop is really surprised when he sees a dog coming inside the shop, He shoos him away. But later, the dog is back inside again. So he goes over to the dog and notices that it has a note in its mouth. He takes the note and it reads “Can I have 12 soaps and a shampoo bottle, please. The money is with the dog.” The shopkeeper looks inside the dogs mouth and to his surprise there is a 100 rupees note in his mouth. So he takes the money and puts the soap, shampoo and change in a bag, and then places it in the dogs mouth.
The shopkeeper is so impressed, and since it is the closing time, he decides to follow the dog. The dog is walking down the street, when it comes to the zebra crossing, he waits till the signal turns green. He walks across the road till the bus stop. He waits on the stop and looks up the timetable for the bus. The shopkeeper is totally out of his mind as the dog gets into the bus and sits on a vacant seat.
The shopkeeper follow the dog. The dog waits for the conductor to come to his seat. He gives the change to the conductor and shows him the neck belt to keep the ticket. The shopkeeper is almost fainting at this sight and so are the other people in the bus.
The dog then moves to the front exit of the door and waits for the bus stop to arrive, looking outside. As soon as the stop is in sight he wags his tail to inform the driver to stop. Then not even waiting for the bus stop to arrive the dog jumps out and runs to the house nearby. It opens an big iron gate and rushes towards the door. As it approaches the door, he changes his mind and walks towards the garden. The dog walks up to the window and beats his head several times on the window. It then walks back to the door and waits. The shopkeeper maintaining his senses walks up to the door and watched a big guy open the door.
The guy starts beating, kicking and abusing the dog. The shopkeeper is surprised and runs to stop the guy. the shopkeeper questions the guy “What in the heaven are you doing? The dog is a genius he could be famous in life.” The guy responds “You call this clever? This is the 3rd time in this week that the dog has forgotten the door keys.”
The moral of the story: You may continue to exceed onlookers expectations… But will always fall short of the bosses expectation…"

India TV - I hate them.

2009-04-28T22:51:00.002+05:30

This channel is obnoxiuos. Todays breaking news was Priyanka Gandhi ne sari unchi kyu pehni "Why does Priyanka Gandhi wear her sari so high?"

Wow and on that point they did some research, had discussions and eventually they interviewed Priyanka... she said she wears her grandmothers sarees.

I make a humble requet to the people who advertise on India TV and support it financially, please save us from this torture. Its crazy seeing those losers vomit crap in the name of "Breaking News".

Are Parsis really dwindling? No dodos small 7 year olds are being killed!!

2009-04-17T12:56:00.006+05:30

Parsis are a small community... I can finally say I'm proud to be out of it. I always had issues with Parsis. I didn't like the culture. They ate like carnivorous animals, they drank like the worse drunkards on planet earth and they swore like no one has heard before... so I had more to hate the community than love it.

This whole feeling got reinforced when I came across the article of a 7 year old dying out of starvation. I never ever thought this could happen in parsi community because one thing that they have in bulk is money. Records say that each parsi can be given 1 crore and still few thousand crores will sit in the bank. See the irony, they are desperate to increase the Parsi population and how by starving their own kids. Ohh sorry their own half kids... All reports of this incident mentioned something like

"The death of a 7-year-old half-Parsi girl from hunger has rammed home the sharp reality of starvation at our door-step, and riven the Parsi community which her mother had been petitioning for help."

Can you beat it... have you ever heard a news report like this... "a half Christian kid blah blah blah..." Please!!! I mean are Parsis on war with the other communities or something?? Its like ohh you are half paki... So just because the mother was a non-parsi she was refused help. WHY?

In humans, I would tell Parsi Panchayat trustees one thing... as human beings you should have helped her if not from the fund then from your own pockets even if this family was not "Half Parsi." Think about it so so much money enough to buy every Indian enough food for 1 month but they couldn't spare a few hundreds to help this family. Its utterly utterly inhuman. DISGUSTING. These very same trustees spent lacs on feeding Parsis to gain their votes... these same guys made some promises and the community believed them and voted for them. They are no worse than Advani, Pawar, Modi, Lalluji, A. Singh, Thackreys.... (Did I mention Sanjay Dutt...)

All the best to the dwindling Parsi community to further dwindle.

Elections, why did you turn our perfectly normal Sanjay Dutt into some seat hungry beast????

2009-04-06T00:21:00.005+05:30

Sanjay Dutt, son of Sunil Dutt and Brother of Priya Dutt, is a convict for illegal possession of an AK- 56 under the Arms Act and under TADA. However, he is not serving any sentence right now because supposedly he was the only financial support of his daughter and because some crores of rupees were invested in him by prducers... what a lame reason to let a convict evade serving sentence; besides he was also acquitted under TADA...

Now this dude wants to contest ellections ... Supreme Court refused him a ticket and he is outraged. My thinking is GOD, give this guy some common sense.... His point of argument is if some criminals in UP and Bihar can be allowed to contest ellections and are allowed to be the sitting MP's, then why not me? Its like saying since in Bihar law and order is a piece of shit lets apply the same rule in the whole of India. Technically speaking Sanju baba you may have a point but just that you ain't lucky enough this time around. And logically speaking just because some wrong is happening in some part of India does not mean that our country of fools are that big fools.

However, Mulayam Singh has now made Sanju baba the party's National Secretary. Dude come on its like you wanted cake, Big Momma didn't allow you that so now you are settling for a toffee. Show some self respect dude.

U.P. and Bihar are the known shit holes of India, where criminals not only go without a conviction and roam freely, they are matter of factly in high ranking positions in Politics. So we understand your frustrations Sanju... you must be thinking if they can why can't I... but as I said before you ain't that lucky this time around. But a humble suggestion... don't give up dude in a fools paradise you may some day get lucky.

BEST OF LUCK LOSER!!!!

Wedding Hues and Blues

2009-03-18T21:58:00.004+05:30

2 months after 17th Jan 09..... Finally today is the first time that I am home alone and have my hubbies laptop... So I am making the best of this opportunity...

Wedding planning was overwhelming, when it was on I used to think when would all this get over and when would I finally be with Zaheer. Then came the honeymoon planning and preparation. Now that it is over and so is our honeymoon... things have changed so drastically. Everyday is like a learning experience... everyday I discover a new feeling for Zaheer (most often positive); I discover how much time I have now since I chose to be a housewife, I discover what all I could'nt do since I was workling and I also discover what all I can't do now since I am married... So basically without getting flamoxed by the immense changes in my life I am currently enjoying every single moment of being a newly wed.

Fortunately these days everyone treats me right and I don't feel ignored or left out. Zaheer obviously takes fab care of me, my mum dad miss me and love me more now, his mom and family too go out of their way for me and the whole package is soo gratifying... Trust me this is as good as the pre-wedding time.

Since mine is an intercaste marriage I have no time to get bored, I am always learning and hearing something at times about Muslim religion, sometimes about some distant family members, at times about Zaheer's childhood, etc. So alls well in Ayesha-paradise as of now.

I am prolly gonna turn my blog into my diary... can't call it a personal diary... as I am gonna let everyone read it :)

2008-12-19T12:27:00.005+05:30

Remember my post "Mumbai An Easy Target," it was about High Street Phoenix Mall in Lower Parel and how their security system was totally flawed. Since I had a video to prove my stance, I emailed it to Phoenix authorities, some news channels, posted it on Youtube. Recently I revisited the mall, this time with a DigiCam to record their security flaws even better, but to my surprise, these people had improvised tremendously. I for a change felt really secured.

They had these young boys dressed in Black, who looked stronger than their previous counterparts. These guys were also sensibly equipped with detectors and walky talkies. They seemed serious about their job. They checked every bit of the car, they opened all the doors, checked below the seats, checked the glove compartment, checked the boot and the bonnet. Wow I was amazed. They even had 4-5 security personnel posted at every entrance of the mall with hand held detectors and bag checks.

I was just Wowed.. Miracles do happen in our city. We should probably thank those terrorists because without them this would be almost impossible in our city.

LPO Is The Least Preferred Among Law Students

2008-12-14T22:35:00.002+05:30

All my LPO buddies read this:

A career with an Indian Legal Process Outsourcing is the least preferred among law students.

New Delhi, Dec.13 (ANI): A career with an Indian Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO) establishment is the least preferred among law students, according to a survey.

In its survey, ValueNotes Database, a leading provider of business intelligence and research, says that 45 percent of respondents felt that the pay package at an LPO was better as compared to the pay package at law firms, but they still did not consider it as a preferred career choice.

Multinationals, international law firms and Indian law firms tap the same talent pool of graduating law students. While multinationals are expanding their operations in India, the Indian companies are expanding their global footprint. Thus the requirements of both these groups for legal advice on financing, mergers and acquisitions, immigration, etc is expected to increase. In addition to this, international law firms are also interested in setting up shop in India and are pinning their hopes on the Bar Council to liberalize the Indian legal services market.

With the increasing demand for legal services from different sectors in the legal industry, there is bound to be a fight for talent, the survey says.

Though there are about 80,000 law graduates each year, the number that is employable is quite low.

According to the survey, LPOs will face an even greater problem in the fight for talent as they harbor a negative perception among law students.

The common feeling among students is that work at an LPO is repetitive and highly process driven. One of the primary challenges for service providers currently is to change this perception of students.

In light of this, the report recommends greater participation of service providers in spreading awareness about the offshore legal services outsourcing not only among students, but also faculty members in law schools. In the long term, greater partnerships/tie-ups between industry and universities will improve both the quality and quantity of the labor pool and change the perception that students have towards the LPO industry.

Some More Ideas on Mumbai Attacks....

2008-12-03T11:29:00.000+05:30

1. Do not worry about those who have come thru boats... Our forces can easily defeat them.
WORRY about those who have come thru votes.... Those are our REAL ENEMIES….

2. What a shame and disgrace to every citizen of India that the elite NSG Force was transported into ordinary BEST buses, whereas our cricketers are transported into state of the art luxury buses, these Jawans lay down their lives to protect every Indian and these cricketers get paid even if they lose a match, we worship these cricketers and forget the martyrdom of these brave Jawans. The Jawans should be paid the salaries of the cricketers and the cricketers should be paid the salaries of the Jawans.

3. An ace shooter shoots and gets gold medal, government gives 1crore, another shooter dies while shooting terrorist, government gives 5 lakh.

WHO DESERVES MORE? Huh.. This is our India....

RULE 49-O gives every Indian citizen a right to NOT VOTE

2008-12-02T21:55:00.008+05:30

RULE 49-O is a Rule in the The Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, "covers the procedures to be followed when a valid voter decides not to cast his vote, and decides to record this fact. Recording one's vote under Rule 49-O is a choice that voters can exercise to prevent electoral fraud, and misuse of their vote."

I mean this is the coolest thing that I have heard of imagine a situation of negative voting. This could really bring about drastic changes in our whole flawed political system. But obviously and undoubtedly this right can not be exercised because no where in our electronic voting systems are we given a button which say "No candidate deserves my Vote."

Any guesses why our government wont let us exercise this right, besides I really fail to understand I am a law graduate but I was unaware of this right... so I really don't think common people have the slightest knowledge of it.

To start with, I guess we should ask our Politicians "Purported Leaders" to give us means to exercise this right.

Mumbai An Easy Target

2008-12-02T20:28:00.002+05:30

1 day after the terror attacks were sorted in Mumbai, a friend and I visited High Street Phoenix (a shopping mall) at Lower Parel, Mumbai. We were astonished to see that the roads to Phoenix were desolated; there were no police men on the roads. When we were just entering the mall we realized the security system in place was overly flawed. The 2 security guards at the entrance were unarmed; they merely checked the bottom of the car and the boot. Neither did they ask us to roll down the windows, nor did they check on and under the back seat of the car.

Only presumption that I can arrive at was that either these security personnel are over confident, or that they by instinct know that this car isn’t carrying anything suspicious. I mean they themselves looked very disinterested and all the while were chatting with each other. The car before ours, even had a suitcase but they didn’t ask the driver to open it. This whole drill in these malls and multiplexes is just a farce. It’s a mockery of my, our and their time. I'd say don't do a job because you have to... do it because it matters... Besides even if they would suspect something what would these security people do... RUN? I haven’t seen a city that boasts to be one of the richest in the worlds to be so hapless. It is like we all Indians, especially Mumbaikars were cursed to be born here, where our lives really don’t matter.

Mumbai Will Always Be Under Seige, Unless...

2008-12-01T23:02:00.006+05:30

In the 2 pictures clearly contrasting armour capabilities can be seen between US and India. When India's defense budget is the second largest in this world, why can't we also have as much or better arms and ammunitions to combat terror? There is only 1 answer to this - Corrupt Politicians are enjoying vacations from this money, their children study overseas from this money, their houses are adorned with exquisite collectibles from this money, they spend our money to get FSI for their IT Parks, 5Star Hotels, Malls and of course a few Ganpati Towers in Sindhudurg District "Aapli constituency" ... still we chose to keep our silence and wow ourselves for our resilience.

I am sure, soon people will get over this terrorized feeling and soon we'll all get back to our normal lives forgetting the fateful Wednesday. Unfortunately as soon as it is wiped out from our memories, the same terrorists will pull an even stronger attack. Again the history will repeat itself and you, me and every Indian will be a potential target. Again we'd be left to protect ourselves on our own or the police men who are merely equipped with whistles and all they can do is shout "Bhago, Jaan Bachakar Bhago." I say, We say, We all say "THATS NOT ENOUGH."

So let’s unite, let’s ask these politicians where our defense money is being used and why? Their resignations would mean them not being required to answer these impending questions. Their resignations do not mean their gratefulness, it shows their cowardice. It shows the escapist behavior of these politicians. Let’s not allow them to resign until they have answered all our questions.

Let us first take them to task and then move our attention to Pakistan and ISI. Asking the right questions at the right times is the beginning of a revolution. Let’s start a revolution.

Vodafones new AD - "I can't follow you everywhere...!"

2008-12-01T22:24:00.001+05:30

Mumbai Attacks

2008-11-30T19:15:00.010+05:30

I got this on email and it has kick started a new line of thinking on all this....

The Attack on Mumbai

By Amaresh Misra

Doubts and People

Some people have raised doubts about the `theory' I am circulating supposedly on the net. They have every right to question and doubt anyone and anything. After all doubt is the mother of all kinds of right thinking.

I have received dead threats, hate mails--but more, I have received praises for courage and conviction.

I am not surprised and I do not mind people ridiculing me or anyone else--but I do mind when that ridicule actually goes a long way in hiding the hypocrisy and criminal face/intent of several prominent politicians and corporate figures.

Yes--corporate figures as well; what people do not understand is that in complex situations such as the Mumbai terror attack, new lines of thought will emerge as more facts emerge. But that should not stop anyone from offering critiques of the official or media version.

My initial theory that basically the Sangh Parivar elements instigated the terror attacks is stronger now. In fact more than the Sangh Parivar, it was Modi--yes he is the new, modern face of Indian fascism. He is the one to have a cozy relationship with Ratan Tata, one of the most ruthless and anti-Indian business man, whose family earned its money while smuggling opium to China during the 19th century, and sided with the British in 1857, when 10 million Indians, Hindus and Muslims, lost their lives fighting the British.

In fact, Modi has left the RSS behind in many ways--he is Mossad's number one man. Recently, a top RSS functionary told me that "Amaresh we have lost control over out cadres. We never wanted to let things get out of hand in Orissa and Karnataka. In Orissa, we had even planned a joint declaration with Christian leaders. But there was a revolt from below. The VHP and Bajrang Dal refused to fall in line. Then they got the subtle support of that man Modi. We were helpless".

Basically, the RSS lost control over the Frankestein they created.

In Modi's form this Frankestein struck a deal with Mossad--now remember Mossad has links in the faction torn ISI--remember also that several `Jihadi' groups, in Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Middle-East are still remote comtrolled by either the Mossad or the CIA. In a recent case, a Muslim `Jihadi' organization in Yemen was found to be a Mossad set-up.

That is why it is possible the several young men who attacked Mumbai used Pakistan as a base. But their nationality is varied. Some might be Muslims from the UK as well; at least there is one with a Mauritius passport.

Now it is coming to the fore that someone from Saudi Arabia (called Maulana Bedi for now) probably collected and sent these `Jihadis'. That mastermind must have been paid by an Indian/Modi interest. These masterminds have no ideology. They are creations of America who now work for money, and even against American interests. This is again a complex but stark reality.

Also Nanda, the owner of Oberoi, is a close friend of Modi. He has millions invested in Gujarat. How come terrorists were holed up in Taj and Oberoi for days before the operation? How come arms and ammunition were stored for days in the two 5 star Hotels? Can the common man do this? Is all this possible without some sort of a connivance (known or unknown) of Hotel authorities? And is it too incredible to suppose that Hotel owners will not, knowingly or unknowingly, encourage the destruction of their own property? Taj maybe great for us--but what is its emotional or financial value for Tata? Modi's acceptance of the Nano plant in Gujarat on extremely favorable terms might be more important for Tata.

I leave this aspect to you all.

Coming to the Nariman House, I am really surprised at the perception that why would a Mossad backed operation kill Jews? Why not? In any case Mossad backs aggressive Zionism, which is very much a modern religo-fascist ideology like Hindutva. Zionism is not part of Judaism, just as Hindutva is not part of Sanatan Dharma, the real religion of Hindus. In the Praggya Singh affair, Sanatan Dharmis opposed Hindutva especially when they were maligning Hemant Karkare.

So Mossad and Zionists are known to have killed ordinary Jews--after all Hindutva ideology killed Mahatama Gandhi--can anyone deny that? Also Modi without a qualm masterminded the killing of several of his own people in the Godhara train incident, in order the create the atmosphere for large scale anti-Muslim and anti-India riots.

Remember evil thrives in the world because the `good' lacks imagination. Evil triumphs because it is capable of out-thinking `good'.

Those who call themselves supporters of Modi and Advani, they are also supporters of the killers of Gandhi. Hindutva ideology and politics since its inception has been opposed to the idea of a secular Indian nation-state since 1947. They staged an uprising against Indian state in 1947; proof exists that Golwalkar the RSS chief was hand in glove with the British army in carrying out anti-Muslim attacks. This was brought to the notice of Rajeshwar Dayal, the then Home Secretary of the United Provinves (present day UP) who took the case to Govind Ballabh Pant, the the then UP Chief Minister.

Muslims who stayed back in India after 1947 did so because of choice. There was an acute polarization within Muslims between Jinnah and the Muslim League on one side and the Muslim Ulema and its supporters who sided with the Congress.

Karkare's death
Now the Karkare incident--two versions are already coming out. It is unclear how he was killed--and foul play is suspected. Karkare's mother came onto TV and wanted to know how her son was killed. Salaskar's cousin raised the same issue.

So the relatives of the brave martyrs are asking for justice. They feel that there is more than meets the eye--and that somehow Karkare's death, and that of Kaamte and Salaskar, was related to the Malegaon blast investigation conducted by Karkare.

Why has Karkare's son refused the 1 crore announced by Modi? The latter came to Oberoi when the firing was still on; he made a very petty statement disliked by everyone. Modi was probably feeling that he had pulled off an ace by triggering this crisis just before elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi, areas in which the BJP was clearly losing before the terror attacks.

Think--the boat to Mumbai could not have come without the co-operation of the Gujarat Government!

The fact is that Hindutva forces who were castigating Karkare and the entire Mumbai ATS team as villains and `enemies of Hindus' are now suddenly hailing them as heroes? What double standards man--people have send me mails, saying that they support Advani and Modi. All these people are supporting the killing of Karkare, just as they supported the killing of Gandhi.

Karkare and Kaamte were true Hindus and the most secular elements within the strife-torn, and highly communal Mumbai Police. They were men of integrity--how come Karkare died while wearing a bullet proof vest? Or like Sharma in the Batala House encounter, was he not wearing that vest? Was he shot in the heart or the neck? Probably we will never know.

But we should know--we have a right to know. Karkare was hated by Hindutva elements. And they masterminded his killing--they are responsible. Karkare is a great hero, a martyr in the cause of secularism.

Modi, Advani and all the anti-Sanatani Hindus posing as Hindus on the net have a distorted mind. In their blind or soft anti-Muslim hatred, they are unable to see how, to suppress the Malegaon Blast investigation, in which Karkare was about to take the name of Praveen Togadia and even Chota Rajan, Karkare was eliminated.

Communal forces backed by foreign agencies are hell bent on destroying India--America wants to dismember Pakistan, gherao China etc. and for that it needs India firmly in the US-Israel orbit. That is why Americans, British and Israelis were targeted. Nariman House was a hub where according to eyewitness reports, several suspicious Israelis were seen coming and out; it is possible that these people were involved in the terror attacks and that they killed their own people.

The Mumbai terror attacks were a gigantic exercise, a fight between those forces within the Indian establishment who want to take India towards the dangerous and suicidal US-Israel nexus and those who want India to stay Independent and have good relations with Pakistan, China and Iran.

Everyone in this battle would not everything or all the countours. But the pattern is becoming clear slowly and steadily.

Indian nationalism has to be redefined--India's slow drift towards a pro-US and a pro-Israel policy and towards Hindutva gives the ground for people like Maulana Bedi and Mossad to attack India. India has to go back to the anti-Imperialist, Hindu-Muslim unity, anti-Hindutva 1857 nationalism.

Why were the 1857 150th anniversary celebrations downplayed in India? Why was my book on 1857 downplayed? Because the pro-US and pro-Israel lobby did not want 1857, the nodal point of true Indian nationalism to resurrect.

Think...just think...we owe this to Karkare and all brave NSG men and army men...

Thanks to Bush, global terrorism has become an industry, a money making machine. It has other phenomenon like outsourcing war and terror to mercenaries attached to it. Mossad excels in forming armies of private mercenaries and destablizing states the world over. Just go to the net.

Indian Journalism a Ghastly Joke

2008-11-29T21:03:00.005+05:30

“Our journalists battled along with the Commandos and put their lives at as much risk to give the world point-to-point news.” This is what all T.V. channels and news papers have been boasting about related to the Mumbai Attacks. But any person following the media would realize that there were so many loop holes in their reporting.

Today I saw India TV interviewing a man outside Taj Mahal Hotel, who had come there because his wife had gone missing since Wednesday night and she was dining at Taj on the fateful day. The India TV reporter was asking the grieving husband strange questions which no human would ask another… another irritating thing was that journo had the audacity to ask the man such questions over and over again. It sort of went on the following lines (in Hindi)….

Question 1: Are you worried about your wife’s security?

Question 2: Do you think your wife is dead or alive?

Question 3: Do you love your wife?

Question 4: Would you be happy if your wife comes out unharmed?

When I was seeing this telecast I was thinking you freaking MCP think your wife, mom-dad, kids are in the hotel and then think of someone asking such questions. Besides what did he mean by asking do you love your wife… why would a non-loving husband go from hospital to hospital, road to road to find his wife. I mean was this reporter intoxicated…. an asshole

Anyways, besides this there were clear flaws in most of the reporting… initially it was announced that there were 10 terrorists, where as eyewitnesses in Oberoi said there were 10-15 of them. TOI reported that there were 10 in all. If all this was to be believed I don’t know, every 2 hours into the news they’d declare 1 terrorist killed, so in that case there should be at least 30-40 of them. Or should we believe that most of the news gave hoax numbers. Before releasing the news who gives the news channels or anyone the right to speculate? Think about the family members of those captive in the hotels, every time they’d see a report of a terrorist dead their hopes of getting back with their relatives would grow and again and again in these 3 days of terror their hopes were crushed… All this thanks to the irresponsible media.

Rediff mentioned that its information comes from the interrogation of "Abu Ismail," while according to TOI a terrorist named "Ismail" was killed at Girgaum Chowpaty and was never interrogated. To the extent the various news papers reported different names of the vessels that were hijacked to enter Mumbai. How can they goof up this way, I’d say rather wait for few more hours confirm to the fullest extent that the news is 100% reliable and then go ahead and publish it.

We have notoriously bad, TRP hungry and politicized journalism going on in India. Every thing needs to be sensitized and sensational, otherwise it won’t sell. I was seeing BBC, which in comparison although slower than the rest of the news channels it focused solely on the operations and did not disclose any figures on the no. of terrorists or the dead. BBC was any day a more reliable news channel.

In the last 3 days every Mumbaikar was put through a lot... Uncertainty of their personal security, politicians, unreliable media, and every man/woman here thought how unfortunate he or she was to be borne here, to be borne in a country which can not protect it, to be borne in a place where freakos can walk in with armour enough to rage a war. We all can wow by the heroes who died trying to protect us, especially Bharat ke teen anmol ratan, “Kamte, Salaskar and Karkare,” without offense to anyone... our police was so unequipped that these three did not shoot 1 bullet out of their gun and were killed. It was sheer Bad Luck and they without any display of bravery lost their lives. However, they were given so many salutations for their bravery and the remaining 10-11 police constables of lower ranking who also lost their lives fighting for us were not given any recognition in the media. This is what Indian Media is all about.

How can we complain about external terrorists when we have many sitting within our country without armour but with a stronger weapon “audience” and who continuously and successfully lie to us… THE MEDIA.

4th World Toilet Summit in New Delhi.. Hahahaha

2008-11-17T14:25:00.008+05:30

Can you beat it there is a Toilet Summit? And it’s a “world summit,” Really?
Does this mean US, UK, Italy, Russia, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, etc suffer from lack of lavatories syndrome like India?

I don’t wonna mock this thing but it really makes me laugh. Maaan toilet summit…

Read on to laugh a little more..

“The Rural Development minister, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, claimed that within five years, the government will have built sufficient facilities for everyone – many years ahead of an international deadline.

He revealed that the government would spend around £125m on rural sanitation projects this year, a increase of 43 per cent on last year. He said: "By 2012, India will be free of defecation in the open and will meet international commitments in this regard.”

Ok they have already started doing this for rural India, what about the metros. Has this so called Rural Development minister, Raghuvansh Prasad Singh and the not so rural development ministers ever visited a “Sulabh Sauncalay” (Mumbai’s public toilets) and seen how much they meet the international commitments… If I were a guy I’d rather defecate near a tree or behind a building rather then visit these lavatories. I am sure most people would agree with me on this one.

What are these international commitments? No lights, non-working flushes, no water, infested with all sorts of insects.. etc.

OK OK enough of mockery.. only thing that I really appreciate is that they plan on rehabilitating the scavengers.

“Up to half a million people in India are engaged in "manual scavenging" – cleaning toilets that have no sewage system and carrying away waste or "night soil" on their heads or in carts. The practice has been officially outlawed but persists because in many places there are no alternatives.

One former scavenger, Sushila Chauhan from Alwar in Rajasthan, told delegates how, unlike most people in her dry, desert state, she hated the rain which spilled the waste she was carrying in a metal tray on her head all over her. She was "rehabilitated" by a training and education scheme provided by Dr Pathak's organisation. She said: "The nauseating acidic smell of human waste used to remain with me throughout the day, even hours after I would return from work. But worst of all there was a lack of appetite for food and everything good in life.”

India's minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, Meira Kumar, told the conference that the government would provide more resources for the rehabilitation of women such as Ms Chauhan.

Ms Kumar said: "We have banned the practice of manual scavenging and the government will complete the rehabilitation of all scavengers by March 2009. We launched a scheme for these people in January 2007 and the focus is to train scavengers for self-employment.”

Shaher mein gadhhe nahin, gadhhe mein shaher hai!

2008-11-17T14:06:00.002+05:30

Does some one remember this dialogue of "Electric Baba" in the movie "The Wednesday" (This is not a movie review... I loved the movie). This scene was so not required in the movie but I am so glad it was there. Someone falls in a gadha with live wires and survives an electric shock, it was sort of a spoof on the condition of our city.

But what the actor said was so true "Shaher mein gadhhe nahin, gadhhe mein shaher hai!". After all the PILs and Court orders, has BMC really done anything for Mumbai ke gadhes. Right to Information (RTI) the tool given to Indians to seek answers from public organizations and officials comes with a price tag. It is an expensive and a time consuming affair. Firstly confirm the BMC ward that the locality that you are complaining about? Secondly find out by going to that ward (which by the way is very unorganized and would mean a 30-45 min wait) which corporate managed the roads department. Then they’d tell you that the road in question is not under BMC directly it is under some other sub-division… then I didn’t have the patience to pursue it further.

Basically they will do everything it takes to waste your time and test your patience. If you are a job going person like me, then soon the patience would wear off, you’d accept the gadha’s in the roads and move on. You’d stop pursuing the problem. The only way that this problem can be solved is by having 1 person to pin point for every small to big government undertaken project. Have a web-site with the names and contact info of such persons. Make the babu’s accountable for every singe penny. Put CC TVs in their offices. Make sure those TV’s work.

Is all this that difficult that it just can’t be done? Then why can’t our government do small things and make our lives a little simpler. I have the answer because they are “GOVERNMENT,” they have pledged to “Help not the common people, help the rich who’d in turn make you rich.”

Who ate my Cake? Who? Who? Who? Who?

2008-11-17T13:35:00.004+05:30

Someone sent me a lovely cake and I wanted to relish it in office “Alone.” So I saved a small piece from the scavengers at home. I carefully packed it to avoid the intricate sweetened flowers on it from squashing. Gleefully I carried the box upright in the train so as not to twist and turn it.

I winked at it in the empty lift telling myself hash I saved you from those scavengers. I placed the box in the office fridge hoping to have it bite by bite post lunch. When I went to fill water, I opened the fridge and checked if it was secure, then when I went to heat food I checked on it again and it was there.

But when I went to eat it, it had gone… My precious cake had just gone. It had disappeared. I can’t imagine someone did this to me. My tummy surely cringed as it was missing the cake. I even thought of “God,” I was still a little hopeful, I went again and again to the fridge hoping that my cake would some how reappear. Either the person who took it realized it isn’t his and returned it, or God by his mercy sent a blessed cake piece honoring me for my past good deeds. But, no.. it was not there. I ruffled through other boxes but no it was gone.

It was resting in peace in some colleagues wretched stomach. I was disheartened and after a few arguments with office boys hoping they’d have a cue where my cake was, I realised it was all in vein. My cake had left me for ever…

Atleast Cake Chor return my box!!!

Uma Bharti - Blaming Media

2008-11-10T23:40:00.004+05:30

Is you have heard of the news of the Bhartiya Janshakti Party (BJS) President Uma Bharti having slapped a district party office bearer, Anil Rai then you’d know where I am heading.

Uma Bharti said that had the incident not been captured on camera, no one would have come to know about it and the person who was slapped would also not have left the party.

Is she thinking of what the news channels covered as some scripted T.V. show where she could sort of get away with it and hope that it would be edited for being too sensational? I can understand media being blamed for over-sensitizing issues but Uma Bharti's blame shows off her attitude of getting away with anything.

Has Science Erradicated the GOD Feeling?

2008-10-30T14:52:00.003+05:30

The question that rings in many minds when we think of America, UK and people who explain everything by science. I read this Article which in a way explains this phenomenon of losing faith to Science and finding a scientific explanation for miracles. Although the writer seems like an Atheist he brings out the problems of losing faith but really doesn’t have any strong solution to the problems that he enumerates.

In some place the writer says “When I was an undergraduate I knew a rabbi, Will Herberg, who worried about my lack of religious faith. He warned me that we must worship God, because otherwise we would start worshiping each other. He was right about the danger, but I would suggest a different cure: we should get out of the habit of worshiping anything.”

Emphasis ME: In a way disagree; I know that most deadliest wars fought pretend to be in the name of RELIGION, in reality they are a fight of regionalism, a fight for land & its resources. So, I think a world that believes in God is still less dangerous than a world that does not believe in God because somewhere God and the literal teachings of Various Prophets keeps the believers in some sort of positive control.

On the whole the Article is a thoughtful analysis of the weakening of religious belief in countries with advanced science.

Really Creative

2008-10-23T12:07:00.005+05:30

With the hype of Raj Thakrey being in judiacial custody, this was really a refresher.

Vodafone Harassment...

2008-10-18T20:07:00.000+05:30

I am a bonafide subscriber of post paid services from Vodafone Essar Limited. I have 3 numbers on my name. I have since the inception of subscription of Vodafone at all times regularly paid all bills due. Despite the same, I have been harassed due to the high handedness and irresponsible behavior of Vodafone since the past 4 months regarding the payment of my mobile bills. Vodafone has on several occasions erred in computing and sending the correct bills. Despite me going to the Vodafone stores my billing problems have not yet been resolved and every month I have been visiting the store trying to resolve them. Due to Vodafone’s erroneous billing, I have been often charged late payment fees which again on my insistence are reversed in the next bill and this continues every month since June 2008. On October 3, 2008 I made timely cheque payments for my 3 numbers. As seen in my bank statements, the amount was debited from my account on October 4, 2008, but Vodafone claims that it has not received any such payment. I was time and again called and smsed by Vodafone and their recovery agency “Enterprise” to make payments. I faxed the bank statements on the October 8, 2008 as per Vodafone’s request. On October 9, 2008 all outgoing services from my numbers were blocked. On October 10, 2008 I visited Bandra Vodafone store and spoke to Mr. Gufran Sayed Kadri and Mr. Kamaal Sattani. I was made to wait for 2 hours in the store from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. They verbally assured me that my problem would be resolved. Further, I requested them to give me a written assurance or some receipt that I had made a due complaint. However, they refused and the calls from the recovery agencies continued, hence, I again visited Vodafone Lower Parel store on October 16, 2007 but there again I was verbally assured that the billing details would b updated immediately and that the phone calls from recovery agencies would stop, but they still continue to call and threaten me. I fail to understand why nobody in Vodafone has the authority to give me a written assurance. All I wanted was a receipt of my complaint but they blatantly refused. All the higher officials who are in a decision making position sit behind sound proof glass walls and the security officials at Vodafone head office would not allow me in to speak to the concerned person. Enterprise agents continue to threaten me on phone. Whole day my family is busy at work and only person at home is my 80 year old grand mother and servant. I really fear that if these recovery people come home it would be dangerous for my grand mother. Hence, I went to police complaining about the harassment by Vodafone but they too claim that they can do nothing till Vodafone actually sends a collection officer home. Again, why wait for further injury? are police official’s so helpless that instead of preventing crime they wait for it to happen and then take action. Is the common mans security not the police responsibility?

Bad Roads: Aftermath of a crater attack!!

2008-09-23T14:42:00.003+05:30

To my humble mind, I have very few, but unusual thoughts coming when I’m moving and shaking uncontrollably in my car; not because of any such tendency that I have, but because of the pot holes that ‘we’ have.

Why is it so difficult rather impossible to solve the ‘hole’ problem.

Roads in and out of Mumbai are pathetic, awful, unbearable, unsafe and yet expensive.
I fail to understand what are the Road tax and the Toll we pay, all about. Maybe it’s never sufficient for the corrupt lot as they must have had to cut down on their family foreign trips because of a lesser collection.

After the unsuccessful effort of solving the unsolvable question of whether the egg came first or the hen, a second such unsolvable question that comes to my mind is, what causes such bad roads that we have.

Some of the probabilities could be, curse of some Gods or Goddesses? Our past Karmas? Or maybe it rains acid? Oh yet again, maybe there is no better substance available to mankind that can fill these holes or just because, now it’s part of our annual budget which we have to spend anyway.

At times my mind has doubts of some kind of a nexus between our friendly car manufacturers and not so friendly road making bodies. As obvious as it is, what I know is that the life of a car in our cities could be three times what it is, thanks to the bad roads.

My last ride on the Mumbai- Ahmedabad Highway was quite a horror. Not because of some security threat but because of what looked like an aftermath of a crater attack, a desolated battlefield at the end of a war.

In actuality, the end of the war is far away. We still have to fight and get not what we want but what we rightly deserve. After sincerely paying all the tolls and road taxes and other such heavy taxes that come to us as a duty, the least we can expect is the right usage of such funds which are originally meant for the purpose of making our lives easier, safer and better. Maybe we should have a Right to good roads added in our Constitution. It might just give us one more reason to be proud to belong to our cities, States and the Country.

Spectacular Lamborghini Gallardo

2008-09-09T20:42:00.004+05:30

If you wonna learn to to keep a Lamborghini clean u have to watch the link...

Excruciating stuff and profound meticulousness is what it takes to keep a car of that caliber clean.. Seeing the efforts I think its better that I don't own one :)

CORPORATE CRAP in PANGEA3

2008-09-08T15:32:00.006+05:30

Lawyers talking about platforms and system downs!!!

As the CTRL key controls us... (CTRL C + CTRL V)

TARGETS to be met, TIGERS of the week, (Weak??)

COMMANDOS without the guns....

UNACCEPTABILITY...

E S C A L A T E---even though your still in the same level for sooo many months

ISSUES-- the latest one --- use-less ISSUES

People reviewing contracts that is going to be reviewed again by the QCs and again by the people and again by the QC's and again by the people and again by the QC's and the Client changes his mind

Working Saturday-----Chilled out Mondays

STATUS pronounced as “STAAYTUS”....

LOCKED TIMESHEETS.....futures in jeopardy.... appraisals at stake…

HELPDESK… Emails for the printers and the lights and the AC temperature and the TISSUE BOX and the what not!!

SHHH---GUYS PLZ keep it LOW---Coz somebody wants to share a JOKE in their private 'BAY'

Working INDEPENDENCE DAYS -----for the people who celebrate their INDEPENDENCE DAYS....

HR is called Talent Management… wonder what talent are they managing…

Here BIO-METRICS is much more important than the fact of you possessing a “Lawyers Degree”

Finally, as trifle as it can get…. entering Office at 10:15 a.m. and 10:16 a.m. really matters...

WOW Get a Life "LOSERS"!!!!!

Dad and World Wars...

2008-08-18T23:16:00.004+05:30

My dad is a collector of World War collectibles and a Article to that effect got published in Times of India supplement Downtown plus. I rarely appreciated his work and always thought that life would be so much better if he’d stop collecting the junk but today I realize the worth of his efforts.

Keeping History Alive

Posted On Saturday, August 09, 2008

From written work to military attire, Viraf Bilpodiwala continues to gather world war collectibles spanning across the globe, finds out Irene Fernandes

Viraf Bilpodiwala displaying Second World War treasures

The world war may have ended 63 years ago as a chapter in our history textbooks but for Viraf Bilpodiwala it has been a life long passion to gather collectibles associated with the Second World War (WWII) from all over the world. The 54-year-old businessman, a resident of Dadar Parsi Colony, is the proud owner of several original world war artifacts. Since 1969 he has been collecting literature to army fatigues. “As a school kid, I was taken by awe watching war movies like The Bridge Over The River Kwai, and Battle of Britain. From that point my interest in the subject began and over the years I have managed to lay my hands on everything related to WWII,” says Bilpodiwala.

His expansive collection includes literature pertaining to the WWII that spans over 1000-odd books, posters that were printed then, magazines and several old newspaper cuttings. Most of them are illustrated and some were got hold of when they were discarded from school libraries. That is not it! He also owns a used uniform that belonged to Rommel’s army in North Africa plus a few silver badges and his favourite - the Nazi helmet and the Nazi cross, which he purchased from local store in London. “The American and the British helmets are easily available, the Nazi war items are no longer available anywhere, not even in Germany,” explains Bilpodiwala

Bilpodiwala has travelled the world over to touch the heights of his passion. While some were a treasure hunt, the others were easily available in the local markets. “In 1975, when on a tour to Europe, I visited the Imperial War Museum in London, and the Army Museum in Paris. The war had ended 30 years ago then, but in Europe, there were several antique shops that were still selling original world war artifacts,” expresses Bilpodiwala, who exclaims that most of his collection has been gathered from the chor bazaars from all across the country and world over.

As easy as he makes it sound, he promptly adds the fact that across the globe, the world war is an incident looked down upon by many. “The world war has left a bitter taste in the mouths of many and people are not willing to speak about it openly. I had to hunt meticulously and with great difficulty I managed to procure these collectibles,” he adds.

An unusual passion and a dedicated one like this also entails unmatched commitment to maintain it. And this credit he attributes to his family, especially his wife Nergish. “There were times, especially, when we were touring the war museums, I would simply wait till he finished his extensive research. The war can be quite a boring topic for many, but for my husband it was a natural outcome of a genuine interest in reading. It was a widely-covered topic then and television, too, was not so popular,” Nergish says.

The Nazi helmets, dagger and silver badges that were used in WWII

The Bilpodiwalas take a lot of care to maintain their invaluable artifacts. “Most of our collectibles are kept in cupboards that are well-aired. Since the number of items is a lot, once a year I clean all of them. To keep away white ants, tobacco is spread between the pages of books, once or twice a year,” adds Nergish.

So what does one do when history has completed its phase? Bilpodiwala adamantly mentions that he will continue as long as he lives to keep this passion alive. “Whenever I get the chance I collect. Nowadays, it is difficult to get the latest editions of war material since that era of history is done with. When time calls for it, I shall most happily gift this priceless treasure either to my children or donate it to a library or a museum.”

Fight over Scrabble

2008-07-27T23:45:00.004+05:30

Fighting over Scrabble... Come on grow up... let people play a smart game in peace. F#*k the copyright laws man... The ideology behind a game is fun and why bring these meaning less Copyright laws.

Discovering True India on a Bullet

2008-07-27T23:38:00.003+05:30

This guys perseverance to see the real India at its best and courage to take on the risks of driving on Indian Highways... its just commendable.

"I fell off just the once but I feel I looked eternity in the eye several times," says Martin Buckley.

Pangea3 and Teli Gali

2008-07-25T20:48:00.008+05:30

I work in Pangea 3 located in the posh Leela Business Park in Andheri East. But the way to my office completely sucks.... I have to ferry my way to the company pick up spot through a tiny lane called "TELI GALI."

If you have heard of the famous Teli Gali just outside Andheri (E) Station in Mumbai than thats what I am talking about... children pooping near your feet, women washing clothes and utensils, open wires that can electrocute you, mice and roaches might just run around the feet, sewer lids are almost not there, etc.. etc.

The best way to reach office is to "fly" as the road traffic is excruciating, foot board at the stations are so packed that getting from one end to the other would take at least half an hour, irregular buses drive me crazy and above all THE TELI GALI...

Imagine the way to the Big multi-nationals in Andheri E, MIDC, SEEPZ is through Teli Gali... You have to see the video to know the plight of people who travel from this gali...

Floods under my house, Mumbai.

2008-07-25T20:36:00.002+05:30

Hoax Calls and Abuse and Abuse and Abuse

2008-06-12T14:11:00.003+05:30

How willing is a person to obey an authority figure who instructs him/her to perform acts that conflict with his/her personal conscience? Imagine a phone call from the police asking you to inflict injury (mental of physical) on someone under the cover of police investigation… Question is… Would you buy it? Would you abide?

In America some freak made such hoax calls to people asking them to physically investigate someone who has been a suspect. People actually bought it and in turn happened a series of abusive crimes.

What is most chilling about these stories is that it happened repeatedly, across America, to people just like you and me. The inflicter and the inflicted were victims…. This story just dumbfounds me.

Food Crisis in Ethiopia

2008-06-12T12:26:00.003+05:30

When we eat, and waste, do we think of the millions of people in this world who are on the brick of starvation, do we think of a 3 year old child who weighs less than 5kgs, do we think of the deaths caused by food crisis, do we think of their grief and do we and can we do something about it.

Ethiopia is stricken by the worse food crisis of the century. There are ways to help and donate… all of us can make a difference…

Click on the following link to help http://www.praxisethiopia.org/?gclid=CKX-5oys7pMCFQpEegod5m4zVw

Moral Policing in Bangkok....

2008-06-12T12:11:00.003+05:30

Call it hypocrisy or pretentiousness on the part of Bangkok government… they have put a love curfew on Bangkok teens. The officials are concerned that those under the age of 18 might do more than just gaze into each other's eyes on Valentines Day. Hence, the Bangkok Police have imposed a curfew. The teens have to be home by 10 pm or risk spending the night behind bars.

Wow!!! Shiv Sena alikes in Bangkok…. But in a city like Bangkok which is renowned for sin, where sex is for sale in hundreds of strip joints and brothels, Valentine's Day curfew is laughable.

India and our Woes

2008-04-27T21:10:00.008+05:30

If you are an Indian you'd know what the following post is all about:

Why is the media here so negative?

Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements?

We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why?

1. We are the first in milk production.

2. We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.

3. We are the second largest producer of wheat.

4. We are the second largest producer of rice.

Look at Dr. Sudarshan , he has transferred the tribal village into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters.

I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place in Tel Aviv. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news.

In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Why are we so NEGATIVE?

Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things?

We want foreign T. Vs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology.

Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance?

I once asked a 11 year old girl what her goal in life is.

She replied: I want to live in a developed India . For her, you and I will have to build this developed India . You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation.

YOU say that our government is inefficient.

YOU say that our laws are too old.

YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.

YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke,

YOU say the airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination.

YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits.

YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it?

Take a person on his way to Singapore . Give him a name - YOURS. Give him a face - YOURS.

YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best.

In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground links as they are. You pay $5 (approx. Rs. 60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come back to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity... In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU?

YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai .

YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah .

YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds ( Rs.650) a month to, 'see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else.'

YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, 'Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost.'

YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand .

Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo ?

Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston ???

We are still talking of the same YOU.

YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own.

You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground.

If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India ?

Once the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay , Mr. Tinaikar , had a point to make. 'Rich people's dogs are walked on the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place,' he said. 'And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect the officers to do? Go down with a broom every time their dog feels the pressure in his bowels?

In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same in Japan . Will the Indian citizen do that here?' He's right.

We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility. We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage allover the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin.

We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms.

We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity. This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public.

When it comes to burning social issues like those related to women, dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home.

Our excuse? 'It's the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my
sons' rights to a dowry.' So who's going to change the system?

What does a system consist of? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbours, other households, other cities, other communities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU.

When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away.

Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to England . When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money.

Dear Indians,

The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too.... I am echoing J. F. Kennedy 's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians.....

'ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA
WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY'

Lets do what India needs from us.

Diary Mania

2008-04-23T12:32:00.003+05:30

I always wanted to write a diary.. just to capture some important events, thoughts and plans. But I was too scared as an actual diary would mean the risk of someone reading it. Now with all the virtual diaries, this is a minuscule problem exists but its quite small. For instance I am sure my parents wont get to it ever.

Also another problem with these virtual diaries was that it was difficult to alter the date of publishing/saving the diary. Whereas now this is also solved, free online diary providers give you the leverage to add a diary to the date you wish. This is incredibly helpful as often I write my diary once over the weekend and often I am writing about something that happened 10 days back. So now I can save the event on the date that it happened. Plus I save pictures and videos which support my description of events.

Stocks

2008-03-14T11:11:00.005+05:30

I started investing in shares sometime back and always would wonder what site would help me get all the past scores and relevant data on the stocks that I was interested in. I finally found a winner after good amount of researching.
Rediff Monies is what it is called!
It is truly fantastic, helps you add favorite stocks to a watch list where you can track all of them together. Also, you can check the highs and lows of last 1 year. You can place alerts for the stocks. Imagine all this free. Thanks Rediff.

No Swearing Words!!!

2008-03-08T12:11:00.004+05:30

Can you beat it, South Pasadena has passed a proclamation that the people should not use the curse words.

"City Swears Off Swearing For One Week

SOUTH PASADENA, Calif. -- We swear this story is true: it's No Cussing Week in South Pasadena.

The City Council passed a proclamation Wednesday, putting curse words off limits during the first week of every March.

The mayor said it provides a reminder for people "to be more civil, to elevate the level of discourse."

No Cussing Week was the inspiration of 14-year-old McKay Hatch, the founder of South Pasadena High School's No Cussing Club.

Hatch admits he himself engaged in colorful language in the past, but said he tries not to anymore.

Hatch hopes his No Cussing Club will lead to cuss-free zones in other cities.

He said he thinks it could be a quality-of-life issue and said there could be less violence if people behave better."

Name Change

2008-02-05T17:17:00.002+05:30

If you think Indian Courts ponder over ridiculous issues and waste precious court time, think again... An Italian couple lovingly named their son "Friday," however one not so busy city hall clerk didn't like the name and brought a suit against the family in an Italian tribunal. In India, we don't have written norms for so many critical issues but in the progressed countries its different, they have an administrative norm which bars parents from giving “ridiculous or shameful” first names to children!!!

Italian Court Orders Name Change
December 23rd, 2007

An Italian court has ruled that a couple could not name their son “Friday” and ordered that he instead be called Gregory after the saint whose feast day he was born on. “I think it is ridiculous they even opened a case about it,” the family’s lawyer, Paola Rossi, told Reuters by telephone from the northern city of Genoa on Tuesday.
Friday/Gregory Germano was born in Genoa 15 months ago. The parents registered him as Friday in the city hall and a priest even baptised him as Friday — unusual in Italy since many priests insist that first names be of Christian origin. “We named him Friday because we like the sound of the name. Even if it would have been a girl, we would have named her Friday,” the boy’s mother, Mara Germano, told Reuters.
When the boy was about five months old, a city hall clerk brought the odd name to the attention of a tribunal, which informed the couple of an administrative norm which bars parents from giving “ridiculous or shameful” first names to children. The tribunal said it was protecting the child from being the butt of jokes and added that it believed the name would hinder him from developing “serene interpersonal relationships”.
The Germano family appealed but lost their case this month and the story was carried on the front page of a national newspaper on Tuesday. When ordered to change the name, the parents refused and the court ruled the boy would be legally registered as Gregory because he was born on that saint’s feast day.
“I really doubt this would have happened to the child of parents who are rich and famous,” the boy’s mother told Reuters, recalling that some famous Italians had given their children unorthodox names such as “Ocean” or “Chanel”. The appeals court ruled against Friday because it recalled the servile savage in Daniel Defoe’s novel Robinson Crusoe and because superstitious Italians consider Friday an unlucky day.
“I am livid about this,” the boy’s mother said. “A court should not waste its time with things like this when there is so much more to worry about.” “My son was born Friday, baptised Friday, will call himself Friday, we will call him Friday but when he gets older he will have to sign his name Gregory,” she said. I hope he has not siblings named after the other days of the week.

How can they do this to me???

2008-01-09T10:07:00.005+05:30

Have you heard of a bad dream coming alive... this is what has happened in my life. And all I ask myself is "How can they do this to me?"

I live in Mumbai and I work for a LPO "Pangea 3." I worked in Colaba (South Mumbai), but last week I got transferred to the Andheri East branch. This has truly been a reality check for me!!! The whole traveling part is unpleasant and disturbing. In the literal sense "Mere raton ki neend ood gayi hai" (I have lost sleep).

Insensitive Management: Decision making people in my company are Non-Indians "Whites." They haven't lived in Mumbai for long enough and obviously are not aware of the sad conditions of local trains and buses and general transport problems of Mumbai. Somehow its OK according to my company to spend 2 - 3 hours everyday commuting. Most other employees like me seem to be overlooking this part... some my company presumes that its okay to put employees through a few traveling problems for the bigger good of "the Company." I say BULLSHIT.

Is this Christmas??

2007-12-25T12:13:00.003+05:30

No leave on Christmas :(

Pangea3's Leave policy sucks man... they don't give any public holidays (No independence day, no new year, no nothing.) They merely give a bulk of leaves and we can chose which leave we wonna take and when.. and they are subject to approval.. And there is no guarantee that your leave's would get approved. Something similar has happened I applied for Christmas but it got rejected :(

There is a benefit of this policy that may be I would prefer to take a leave on my B'day instead of say Labor day but there are many drawbacks too... I land up not using any leaves and accumulating them hoping that some day I'd need them more than today... Also approval is a very big problem.. Although I may be a Parsi, I do celebrate lot other religions and hence I'd prefer a set calendar of leaves. Atleast that would make life more interesting where I would feel happier knowing that there is a public holiday this weekend.

But unfortunately this doen't happen. And I spend most of festivities in Office.

My Boys....

2007-12-24T00:51:00.002+05:30

My Boys

What Traffic Jams Do To Me...

2007-12-17T23:40:00.005+05:30

Living in Mumbia and Imagine owning a Car... Imagine having just 1 lovely angel and how much you love it. I love mine too … but off late I have started hating the whole traveling by road experience.

Just imagine your new new car’s bumper being pressed against the hind of the car in font. Imagine a Bus which pins you to the left, almost into the abusive owner’s Scoda (Me fearing all along that my car might damage that car). The bus eventually, in the race to overtake, scratches my cars bumper and the side view mirror and the conductor saying something, but his voice getting lost in the loud honks.

And to add to all the misery a few beggars and Eunuch ’s, who get my heart racing each time they appear in front of my car with their hands raised and ordering to stop. They are only asking for alms or wanting to cross the roads or allow a few bikes through but they sure do scare me…

*Sigh* I don’t know, but for me it is a nightmare come true, the tension, noise, and the pollution almost kills me every time I am on the road.

Non-Hindus Can Now Adopt.

2007-12-16T22:15:00.000+05:30

As per an article in the Times Of India, the legal rights of non-Hindu couples who wish to adopt have been significantly increased. This is remarkable on the part of Indian government.

After all why should parents who put equal amount of love and affection in raising an adopted child fight to be called the rightful parents of their child???

"Non-Hindus to get full adoption rights

In a significant move to enhance the legal rights of both adopted children and the couples who give them a home, the Centre has changed the law to allow non-Hindu parents to claim full parenthood instead of just "guardian" status that they were allowed till now.

The changes in law also seek to encourage adoption by simplifying procedures.

Under the law so far, only Hindu couples who adopted children could claim to be "parents". Non-Hindus were just guardians to their adopted children. This led to the children being denied rights to inherited property besides creating procedural hassles for parents at the time of school admissions etc.

Some clarifications may still be needed on whether the changes would apply to Muslims as the community has its personal laws. These will be cleared in the guidelines to be framed by Central Adoption Research Agency. The new law also makes adoption by inter-faith couples easier.

Under the new guidelines issued by the women and child development ministry under the Juvenile Justice Act 2000, amended last year and notified on October 26, the new rules will also cut red-tapism in adoption procedures while increasing the number of recognised adoption agencies."

Reaction and Over-reaction

2007-12-16T00:23:00.000+05:30

Adoption - The demand of adoption agencies in Asia (Specially South Korea) to restrict or ban adoption seem to be merely an unnecessary outburst.

Merely because one European couple goofed up (may be), does not mean it is the end of the world for all those homeless kids who dream of someday going to a loving home. While weighing the pros and cons of adoption, I hope the concerned governments do not ignore the larger picture which clearly indicates that adoption is a gift of life not only for the orphan child but also for the childless parents.

Adoption fulfills the dream of raising a child.

Islamic Justice and Moderate Muslims

2007-12-16T00:10:00.000+05:30

Ayaan Hirsi Ali writes a thought provoking article in the New York Times on incidents in Saudi Arabia, Sudan and India that have done severe damage to the image of Islamic justice:

"IN the last few weeks, in three widely publicized episodes, we have seen Islamic justice enacted in ways that should make Muslim moderates rise up in horror.
A 20-year-old woman from Qatif, Saudi Arabia, reported that she had been abducted by several men and repeatedly raped. But judges found the victim herself to be guilty. Her crime is called “mingling”: when she was abducted, she was in a car with a man not related to her by blood or marriage, and in Saudi Arabia, that is illegal. Last month, she was sentenced to six months in prison and 200 lashes with a bamboo cane...
We also saw Islamic justice in action in Sudan, when a 54-year-old British teacher named Gillian Gibbons was sentenced to 15 days in jail before the government pardoned her this week; she could have faced 40 lashes. When she began a reading project with her class involving a teddy bear, Ms. Gibbons suggested the children choose a name for it. They chose Muhammad; she let them do it. This was deemed to be blasphemy.
Then there’s Taslima Nasreen, the 45-year-old Bangladeshi writer who bravely defends women’s rights in the Muslim world. Forced to flee Bangladesh, she has been living in India. But Muslim groups there want her expelled, and one has offered 500,000 rupees for her head. In August she was assaulted by Muslim militants in Hyderabad, and in recent weeks she has had to leave Calcutta and then Rajasthan. Taslima Nasreen’s visa expires next year, and she fears she will not be allowed to live in India again.
It is often said that Islam has been “hijacked” by a small extremist group of radical fundamentalists. The vast majority of Muslims are said to be moderates.
But where are the moderates? Where are the Muslim voices raised over the terrible injustice of incidents like these? How many Muslims are willing to stand up and say, in the case of the girl from Qatif, that this manner of justice is appalling, brutal and bigoted — and that no matter who said it was the right thing to do, and how long ago it was said, this should no longer be done?...
But while the incidents in Saudi Arabia, Sudan and India have done more to damage the image of Islamic justice than a dozen cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, the organizations that lined up to protest the hideous Danish offense to Islam are quiet now...
Islamic justice is a proud institution, one to which more than a billion people subscribe, at least in theory, and in the heart of the Islamic world it is the law of the land. But take a look at the verse above: more compelling even than the order to flog adulterers is the command that the believer show no compassion. It is this order to choose Allah above his sense of conscience and compassion that imprisons the Muslim in a mindset that is archaic and extreme.
If moderate Muslims believe there should be no compassion shown to the girl from Qatif, then what exactly makes them so moderate?..."

Fake Government Office

2007-12-16T00:00:00.000+05:30

Can you beat it...

"Fake Indian office issues birth, death certificates: report

NEW DELHI (AFP) — A fake government office has been discovered in northern India that collected taxes, provided civic services and even handed out birth and death certificates, a report said Monday.
An office was set up outside Jhansi town in Uttar Pradesh state and 20 people were employed to carry out jobs such as street sweeping.
Officials believe the operation originally started as a scam to collect fees from residents in return for one municipal janitor.
But the leader of the operation, named as Shyam Valmiki, allegedly branched out, opening a functioning office that employed a team of janitors.
"He later seems to have decided to carry on with the office as it did not appear to be a loss-making proposition," an unnamed police officer was quoted by Times of India saying.
The scam only came to light after some employees complained about salary problems to superiors in the actual government department, the report said.
"We were shocked to hear this as we ourselves were not aware that our department had a branch office," R. Kulkshreshtra, an official with the Jhansi Municipal Corperation, told the newspaper.
It is not known how long the office had been running before being uncovered.
"It would have been difficult for me to believe that a racket like this could exist had we not actually stumbled upon this," Jhansi district official Rajeev Agarwal told the newspaper.
One man employed by the office as head supervisor of street cleaners said he had no way of knowing the branch was fake when he got his job.
"There was hardly any scope for suspicion," said Anirudh Singh Yadav.
"After submitting the papers we went for a medical examination and were provided certificates."
Valmiki, who was said to be an employee of Jhansi Municipal Corporation, was not at the office when police went to search it, the paper said.
The office was located seven kilometres (4.3 miles) outside the city and used a signboard of the Jhansi Municipal Corporation."

"Accused are Absconding..."

2007-12-15T23:46:00.000+05:30

I am sick of reading articles on domestic violence and other forms of sexual offenses which almost always end in "the accused are absconding."

Wonna feel the jitters read about the hideous crimes that recently in UP and Bihar, and how conveniently both the articles end with "the accused are still absconding."

If Mumbai's Traffic is Terrible, See Moscow

2007-12-15T23:31:00.000+05:30

I saw these pictures of traffic jams in Moscow. I thought Mumbai was living hell because of those unendingly long hours wasted in traffic jams. But thank God I am not in Moscow.

Asus Eco Book - What an inovation!!

2007-12-15T23:23:00.001+05:30

Internet was down again and in frustration I felt like taking a bite into my P.C., wish I had the Asus Eco Book (bamboo laptop)!!!

Gods Are Not Spared By Laws Of India!!

2007-12-15T01:00:00.001+05:30

Judge Sunil Kumar Singh in the eastern state of Jharkhand has summoned two Hindu gods, Ram and Hanuman, to help resolve a property dispute.

Is this merely a mockery of law or is it that Judge Saheb thinks the law is above all, even the Gods?

Are we free to be foolish?

2007-12-15T00:46:00.000+05:30

Came across this article by Shruti Rajagopalan, it illustrates what our government thinks of us and why it makes laws which really question the credibility of the citizens who are subjected to it. Further it demonstrates that "the paternalistic state believes that people are fundamentally stupid and must be protected from behaving rashly, even if such behaviour affects no one else."

And the most important question asked by her is "Do we really need the state to protect us from ourselves or our foolishness? Or are we capable of evaluating the little risks we take to make our lives more pleasurable?"

Commendable work Shruti.. Applaud!!!

Blogging Woes

2007-12-15T00:26:00.000+05:30

Blogging is kind of becoming difficult by the passing day...

1. Bad broadband connection. It always goes down when I need it the most.

2. Unknown uncles who visit my place and in turn take immense delight in occupying my home PC, when I am in my most creative moods.

3. My Vodaphone GPRS, which works at a snails speed.. (OK thats an exaggeration, it is a little faster than a gulab-jamun rolling uphill.)

4. Constant persuasion from a dear friend, asking me to quit blogging and in return making me impressive offers (One of the offer was he'd pay me 2 grand, if I quit.. wow see I told you someday I would get paid for my par excellent writing capabilities.)

5. Finally, my office which has kind of blocked all interesting sights... So if there is no fodder for brilliant thinking, it ain't my fault. And please don't expect me to read the old way - I mean newspapers!!!

Recovering After Fights

2007-12-09T15:40:00.000+05:30

I am always amazed by the way my parents, who are now married for more than 30 years, recover after fighting and fighting passionately with each other. Although the weight of the topics on which they fight differs, their ways of mending and reconciling do not change. Rather than letting the fight defeat them, they break the cycle. My mom often gets defensive and feels accused, but my dad is patient and tolerant, he prefers talking things out and says sorry even before he starts explaining. This gesture brings my mom's soaring temper down and she comes to a better frame of mind to have a sustainable conversation. I wish I can use my dads techniques in my personal life too, but I usually tend to over-react in fights.

Most common problems between couples is one partner almost always never apologizes. This makes the other partner have to apologize too much.. enough to hurt his/her ego. Another problem is one partner is over judgmental of the others actions. Ideally for a relation to work sometimes its okay to ignore even the most unreasonable actions of your partner.

Lastly, partners who err too often expect some kind of special treatment or some concession for their bad behavior but if they rarely get one, this might just trigger even worse behavior.

Fights between couples are called healthy for a reason - they tend to clear the air for the partners and the hurt partner can now voice his feelings that he was suffering in silence. Often when a fight goes out of hand and everything becomes messy, partners might feel that the relationship can't be saved but it almost always can be saved. Things always get better. Surviving fights is the test of a healthy and fulfilling relationship and key lies in having a frank, honest and open conversation.

See the Sceleton Dance

2007-11-21T00:04:00.000+05:30

India, Gujarat, Godhra and Being Human

2007-11-18T00:42:00.000+05:30

Gujarat is again doing what it does best - provoking humanity. Hoardings are up in many areas in gujarat asking for a Hindu Rashtra and declaring these as Hindu Zones. Does BJP expect all the Non-Hindus in Gujarat to leave their "Hindu Rashtra", do they want an all Hindu state? If this is true, I wonder if they even realize the gravity of what they desire because BJP's success in attaining this goal would facilitate mass elimination of the Hindus in the so called Hindu Rashtra. In simple words, Gujarat is digging its own grave.

Haven't people learned that somewhere a line needs to be drawn? Or is the whole Godhra incident wiped out of History? In case it is, I guess its my duty as a "Human"(read below why I say I am a Human) to remind all those blood hungry, life sucking, m.c.p. Politicians that Politics, Religion, even National Boundaries have limited purpose, they can guide you, secure your borders but unfortunately they can also limit the human vision. We must rise above this danger. The Hindu Rashtra activists should know that their actions would have repercussions.

I see the pictures of 2002 Godhra riots with glistened eyes and a heavy heart. Today, I decline to be an Indian first, because our country and its caretakers are soiled with the blood of thousands of innocent civilians. Imagine the man in this picture takes pervert delight in killing and murdering fellow Indians. Do you feel proud to be an India? Does he make you proud of being an Indian?

I decide to be a human first and than an Indian.

8 Limbed Lakshmi

2007-11-09T11:01:00.000+05:30

Wonna see the so called Avtar of "Goddess Lakshmi!!!

A two year old whose life is going to be a ongoing struggle is fortunate to be born in India. In India Goddesses and Gods have innumerable limbs and heads.... So at least she wont be ridiculed upon and may be she will be put on a thrown and worshiped. My best wishes with this kid.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ioEP8is7RqYTbWBie4flPm7qJmiAD8SPIQ1G1

The Cow Plunge

2007-11-09T10:53:00.000+05:30

Can you beat it a cow fell from a cliff, landed on a van damaging it severely. Wow was the cow high on GRASS!!!

Brains, not bullets

2007-11-06T17:13:00.001+05:30

The Economist does have some smart stuff too. I read this article about "shift from technology to manpower". It is about focusing on Construction instead of Destruction.

The line that says it all in this article is "The military planners' job is to cope with the likely, not to restrict democratically elected politicians' options."

Important Research Article in "Economist"

2007-11-06T16:56:00.001+05:30

Do you want to roll laughing.. people in this world have really got patience and time to waste.

The Economist has an important article by Dr Geoffrey Miller, of the University of New Mexico. According to Dr. miller, the gentlemen's clubs (dance bars of India) are the field site for revealing human biology as the Serengeti of the biology of lions and antelopes. Even more surprising are his research tools "lapdancers!!!" The cherry on the cake is undoubtedly the conclusion "lapdancers make more money when they are ovulating." Yeah right.

I keep wondering what on earth must have made him chose this topic for research!!!!

The Ayesha Fad

2007-11-06T16:21:00.001+05:30

My understanding of the Gender Bias:

Lets talk about foolish fads today... I have this fad of naming things and assigning a gender to them... for instance anything that has a negative attribute is always a "He" in my dictionary..

My stomach is a "He", (He often aches without a reason)
My Liver is a he (He ached a lot when I was suffering from jaundice)
My ears are he (They ache when my blood pressure falls)
Cars are always she (I like them all)

Then, I name things too and seek immense pleasure in calling those things by their "assigned names"
1. My computer - Phoenix (He)
2. My nails - Iky (He)
3. Perfume - Fusssy (She)
4. Stairs - Robby (He - I hate him)
5. My Cupboard - Nichy (She)
6. My Car - Speedu (She for sure)
7. My Mobile - Ruffian (He gives me trouble sometimes.... Although since some time I am contemplating a Sex Change for him ;)..............

etc....

Laws of India

2007-11-05T18:01:00.000+05:30

Everyone must have come across the news in which 2 cops in Patna were caught on video beating a suspect thief (Aurangzeb), who was later cleared of the wrongdoing. The video's were the epitome of harshness, clearly inhuman behavior on part of the Cops. One man was seen whipping Aurangzeb with a belt. How can this go unpunished, or is it some Indian rule of law that a mob which goes wild should not be punished. More so this gives me the picture I don't wish to see - that the laws of India do not apply to its implementers.

Chula Women

2007-11-05T17:28:00.000+05:30

My perception that the "Indian Women" are the non-smoking element of the society changed after i read this article. I am not talking about the women in Indian Metros who take up smoking by choice, I am talking about women in rural India, who smoke not by choice but by necessity. This article, says "indoor pollution (caused by the chula, the primitive stove still used in villages across India for cooking) is responsible for over 550,000 deaths in India every year, mostly of women." This is an alarmingly high number and I am not sure if the government is doing anything about it.

"There is a misconception that our cities are death-traps while the villages are idyllic havens," correctly says Dr Roy.

Mumbai Cabbies

2007-11-05T16:36:00.000+05:30

Frustrations of living in Mumbai – to survive in the city of dreams is no less than a struggle in itself.

Everyday morning when I leave for work, I am forced to wait for 20 minutes for a Cab driver to accept me in his "esteemed taxi" and take me to my requested destination.

Since the travel distance is small and it is a minimum fare charge, taxi drivers are most aversive to take me in. Not only that, they are outright rude and just look outside the window if they don't intend to go.

I wonder every single morning if there are any rules and regulations, under which a taxi driver is disallowed by law to refuse a potential client.

This is a huge problem for people who stay in South Mumbai and want to travel in close distances. If anyone knows a solution to this problem, please e-mail me.

Music!!!

2007-11-05T00:06:00.000+05:30

I found some really cool quotes on "MUSIC", these are worth sharing -

Music washes away the dust of everyday life. Red Auerbach

Without music, life is a journey through a desert. Pat Conroy

Composers shouldn't think too much--it interferes with their plagiarism. Howard Dietz

There are more love songs than anything else. If songs could make you do something we'd all love one another. Frank Zappa

You are the music while the music lasts. T. S. Eliot

I think music itself is healing. It's an explosive expression of humanity. It's something we are all touched by. No matter what culture we're from, everyone loves music. Billy Joel

Music is the key to the female heart. Johann G. Seume

Music is what feelings sound line.

Music, in performance, is a type of sculpture. The air in the performance is sculpted into something. Frank Zappa

One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain. Bob Marley

Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything. Plato

Music is love in search of a word. Sidney Lanier

Music is everybody's possession. It's only publishers who think that people own it. John Lennon

Music is well said to be the speech of angels. Thomas Carlyle

Music is nothing else but wild sounds civilized into time and tune.
Thomas Fuller

Happy Birthday

2007-11-03T03:03:00.000+05:30

Some poem this is I say -

Somebody died
So nobody showed up
I thought I had friends
but nobody showed up.

Years go by
some things stay the same
seems I will always cry
On my birthday

I want to sleep all day
I want to sleep sleep sleep sleep sleep
I want to sleep all day
I just want to sleep sleep sleep

Every year
I fear the day
It’s been going on
For over a decade

A mere coincidence
Is what I try to say
But why do bad things
Always happens on my birthday

I want to sleep all day
I want to sleep sleep sleep sleep sleep
How can I live through the day
I want to sleep sleep sleep

Happy Birthday

25 and Going

2007-11-03T02:14:00.000+05:30

I turned 25... yeah it was my birthday. Got up to slight melancholy. I had to reach work in time so that I can be in time for an important life-changing appointment (if you may call it "life changing"). Luckily, I was saved from traveling in Mumbai's First Class local trains. I cabbed it... while I saw familiar buildings and streets pass by, thoughts were running through my mind... how my last year was (just happens that it was great), how life has changed drastically (what matters now is not what mattered then), how I have much less time for myself than what I used to have, how in one year I have grown to hate walking my dog, how my patience has drastically decreased (making me hyper-irritable - step on my tail and I will surely bite)?

Then I took a walk down my memory aisle - 10 years ago I was 15 and on my birthday I was getting dressed for my awaited birthday bash.. it was my last year in school. This was the first time I decided to invite some guys (colony friends). Just turned out to be the biggest disaster. The guy on whom I had a "Crush" - b.t.w. I can laugh on this today - was dancing with my then best friend. Heart broken and shattered. I still remember crying myself to bed.

Then I went further down in my memory trail - 20 years ago I was 5. I was in school.. I had very few friends, so mom called them over. She thought this would help me make friends. And I actually did get acquainted and friendly. The only problem I remember was when I had to give my newly crowned "friend" their take away thank you gifts. I held each packet so tight like it was a life and death situation. I still remember when the last guest was gone I was standing on my window and wondering what would happen to me when I finally grew up. How can someone be so innocent not to know life is not about packets colored in red, yellow, blue and green.

In the past few years I have suffered from severe "BIRTHDAY BLUES". Every year I'd make resolutions and promises to myself, some got fulfilled and some failed. But I can say this year was different. In the past I promised myself unrealistic things. I attempted the very thing I resented... I hated my birthday and still hoped I'd celebrate it somehow. So this year I thought, positive thinking! I stopped expecting unrealistic things... every single day before my birthday I told myself I have reasons to celebrate.

Every day "Someone" helped me think this way. "Someone" made me realize that wasting a day now was actually wasting a day of your life forever. "Someone" held my hand when I was weak and unwell and also held my hand when I was laughing uncontrollably (ku ku ku ku).

This is to my "Someone" thanks for helping me realize the value of time and how it will never come back. Thanks for sticking around in all my mood swings. Thanks for giving me a memory for a blog which I intend to write after 10 years - where I will surely say "10 years back I was 25 and I CELEBRATED my birthday with a very special Someone."

Cute Hippo-Doggie Video

2007-09-02T14:31:00.000+05:30

I think this is one of the cutest animated videos.

Jigsaw Craze

2007-09-02T12:29:00.001+05:30

I solved this Jigsaw years back when I must be 14. As a child I was so much into solving Jigsaws. Holding the pieces and detailedly examining its characters was my definition of entertainment. These cardboard jigsaws came with 1000 or more pieces and it used to take days and weeks to complete them.

Now I try solving jigsaws online and let me admit its not even half the fun. I don't know where to find these cardboard ones in Mumbai. If anyone knows where I can find them, please email me on ayesha_bilpodiwala@yahoo.co.in

Learning to Drive on Mumbai Roads

2007-08-31T23:36:00.000+05:30

Learning to drive on Mumbai roads is not a joke. Those narrow lanes with more people walking on the roads than on the footpaths and traffic signals not working half the times, it can only get messy. More so, if you are girl learning to drive, you will be looked upon as an “idiot” who has no potential what so ever to steer a car correctly.

To make this feat even more difficult our beloved BEST bus drivers, cabbies and auto rickshaw drivers add their bit. In the pursuit of making the driving experience for the novice drivers as challenging as possible, these MCPs (Male Chauvinist Pigs) also tend to slow their own commute. Leave alone their deafening horn blowing skills and seriously is using turn signals a sign of weakness for these smart asses?

My driving experience has helped me learn a new set of driving rules:

1. Don't be fooled by the lines on the road. If there is almost enough room for two cars--move over, it's two lanes.

2. Never put on your signal in anticipation of a turn. Signals are to be used to let other drivers know what you have just done. Always wait until you are well into the turn before signaling.

3. If you are a pedestrian, size up the traffic flow and find spots where you can dart in between cars to get across several lanes of traffic. Don't worry that you are crossing against the light. If any startled driver stops when you jump out inches from his car, be sure to give him a dirty look because now he has messed up your traffic pattern.

4. Bikers never overtake from the right. Its okay if you forget to horn before overtaking.

My conclusion: Indian’s are known to be the best drivers in the world… London, New York go anywhere you’d surely find an Indian Cabbie. Has anyone wondered why so… because Indian drivers are not afraid to die.

My take on "How I met your mother"

2007-08-31T16:41:00.000+05:30

In one word "Awesome"
Romantic comedies depend on appealing actors, and these five are irresistible.
Humor quotient is high, characters are well-played and dialogues amazingly scripted.
What more to say I think this one's already a winner...

Panda Sneeze

2007-08-31T15:32:00.000+05:30

To Pam & Zain

2007-08-31T13:17:00.000+05:30

I read this poem somewhere and thought how well it suits Pam and Zain.

Standing by,
All the way.
Here to help you through your day.

Holding you up,
When you are weak,
Helping you find what it is you seek.

Catching your tears,
When you cry.
Pulling you through when the tide is high.

Just being there,
Through thick and thin,
All just to say, you are my friends.

How Far Is India From Where She Started?

2007-08-29T20:08:00.000+05:30

According to a World Bank report, the absolute number of poor has risen along with India's population in the past 60 years. India, by any measure, is one of the poorest countries in the world. Roughly, 1 out of 3 Indians are living below the national poverty line. Further, the life expectancy of a 63-year-old person is a decade lower than many other developing countries, and the illiteracy rates for men and women are higher than average for low-income countries. The gap between men and women is among the highest in the world, one indication being the fact that a girl is one-third less likely to attend secondary school than a boy.

Solving these problems is India's greatest challenge. There is much scope for improvement even given India's current level of income.

Nothing illustrates this better than the comparison between the state of Kerala and India as a whole. Kerala's per capita income is slightly lower than that for India as a whole. However, an average Keralite can expect to live a decade longer than the average Indian man. Kerala is the only state in India that has more females than males, the "natural" outcome of equal treatment of the sexes. Literacy is virtually universal for boys and girls between the ages of 10 and 14, as compared to India as a whole where roughly three-quarters of boys can read and only one-half of girls. Finally, Kerala's death rate for children from 0-4 is one-sixth as low as India's. Today Kerala is the only state in India that is known to leave aside its religious differences, and practices common culture. For instance, “Onam” the annual harvest festival of Kerala is celebrated by every Keralite, may he or she be a Muslim, Christian, or a Hindu. Isn’t this a marvelous achievement and why cant the rest of Indian States also adopt such amalgamating practices.

For once, put your nation’s welfare before your religion and see the difference for yourself. Social development can make a big difference. The dream of a truly independent and progressing India can be achieved only through unifying practices undertaken by the people and encouraged by the government.

Demolition of Babri Masjid - Shame for India

2007-08-20T14:04:00.001+05:30

The demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992, was an event that exposed the fragile state of rule of law in our country. Our country which is the largest democracy and which advocates “equality of law” failed in its main task of protecting rights of minority citizens. The fault lies in the Indian Judiciary and Police who are not organized for impartial law enforcement.

Police is, rather, a subordinate body for enforcement of the policy of the government of the day, which is generally based on cynical calculations by players of the game of power. This could be clearly seen in Ayodhya where the majoritarian composition and attitudes of the police and security forces, whose subservience to the political executives made it function as a partisan force in the service of Kar Sevaks. Next, the judiciary, which is the only source of hope for the weak and vulnerable groups, failed miserably to come to the rescue of the victim group in 1950, when a one–sided attachment order was passed without removing the "idols of Shri Ramchandraj” secretly and in a clandestine manner put inside the Babri Masjid. Muslim worship was illegally brought to a stop 60 years back, and their dispossession was legally sanctified under the plea of apprehension of breach of the peace under Section 145 of the Criminal Procedure Code and Hindu parties were allowed limited right of worship under a subjectively defined status quo. According to me this was an act of national shame.

Given the state of Indian judiciary and the time-consuming affairs, I wonder how within three days of the Munsif Court order, the District Court passed an order directing the government of Uttar Pradesh to unlock the gate and within hours of passing of the above order, the temple was unlocked and even the Doordarshan cameramen were present to cover the occasion, which was widely telecast all over India? How did this case move at this speed? How did the government acquiesce in this case? How did the Faizabad District Court allow the appeal ordering the opening of locks in a matter of two days when the Hindus had been pleading for nearly 37 years? How did the Doordarshan cameras click the opening of the locks within an hour of the court orders? All these questions have only one answer — when the government is against a particular religion and pro another, such things can, and do, happen (then who cares if it is legal or not). It was more than clear that it was at PM Rajiv Gandhi’s behest the lock was opened for political considerations.

Such incidents fall rather neatly into the pattern of political blessing, official connivance and police partisanship and impunity. The only reason I can see for such happenings in our country is that the institutional machinery for impartial, effective and humane law enforcement for prevention and speedy control of any inter–community violent conflicts simply does not exist in our country. The fragility and malfunctioning of institutions of law and order in India, has led to a denial of equal protection by law to all poor citizens and weak and vulnerable groups. (Do we care what Article 14 of the Constitution of India say “The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India”).

It is distressing to note that during the last three decades no sustained effort has been made by the various human rights groups, the bureaucracy and the media to reform the system by setting attainable goals. At present Muslims continue to be underrepresented at all levels and ranks of the police. In spite of periodic official directions for special recruitment of minorities, no appreciable progress has been made in this regard. The issue of adequate presence of minorities, in the law–enforcement machinery has not been addressed by the human rights movement, nor by the secular political class, because of a "secular-communal" fixation. Whatever opinion one may hold about how to ensure a fair share of minorities in other sectors of public life, their presence in the police is quintessential to enable it to enforce law more impartially by neutralising its own biases, and by inspiring greater confidence in the communities that it wants to serve.

I think the only overriding solution is that the government assumes the role of the promoter of “fruitful dialogue”. Appeasement of minorities is a necessary condition for creating an atmosphere conducive to a profitable dialogue over Ayodhya and other issues. Thus, the government should promote Individuals with the courage of conviction to be able to take apparently unpopular decisions over all contentious issues in the larger interest of the communities and the country. It should also make minorities develop a greater sense of belonging by expanding avenues and opportunities for their participation in national life.

A necessary component should be the “de-stigmatization” of Muslims for imagined sins of the past and their consequent negative stereotyping and treatment as a suspect community to be replaced by their treatment as normal Indians. This would require a commitment to educate and sensitize any average Indian for inculcation of positive humanist attitudes. Thus, the need of the hour is to bestow

India

with a new system wherein the correctly prioritized interests of all communities would be protected lawfully and with due respect to varying religious sentiments.

Trading Daughters for Money

2007-08-17T17:36:00.000+05:30

I stumbled upon this article on how parents in various villages in India have the heart to trade their daughters for money to families who cant find their sons a bride.. Although its an old article its surely worth a glance.. Being a Mumbai gal its hard to believe that I live in the same world. I am not sure if the NGO's and women rights organizations pay attention to such problems.

"The Price Of Being A Woman:
Slavery In Modern Iindia
By Justin Huggler
04 April 2006

The Independent
The desire for sons has created a severe shortage of marriageable young women. As their value rises, unscrupulous men are trading them around the subcontinent and beyond as if they were a mere commodity

Tripla's parents sold her for £170 to a man who had come looking for a wife. He took her away with him, hundreds of miles across India, to the villages outside Delhi. It was the last time she would see her home. For six months, she lived with him in the village, although there was never any formal marriage. Then, two weeks ago, her husband, Ajmer Singh, ordered her to sleep with his brother, who could not find a wife. When Tripla refused, he took her into the fields and beheaded her with a sickle.

When Rishi Kant, an Indian human rights campaigner, tracked down Tripla's parents in the state of Jharkhand and told them the news, her mother broke down in tears. "But what could we do?" she asked him. "We are facing so much poverty we had no choice but to sell her."

Tripla was a victim of the common practice in India of aborting baby girls because parents only want boys. Although she was born and lived into early adulthood, it was the abortions that caused her death. In the villages of Haryana, just outside Delhi, abortions of baby girls have become so common that the shortage of women is severe. Unable to find wives locally, the men have resorted to buying women from the poorer parts of India. Just 25 miles from the glitzy new shopping malls and apartment complexes of Delhi is a slave market for women.

Last week, an Indian doctor became the first to be jailed for telling a woman the sex of her unborn baby. India is trying to stamp out the practice of female foeticide. But in the villages of Haryana, the damage has already been done. Indian parents want boys because girls are seen as a heavy financial burden: the parents have to provide an expensive dowry for their weddings, while sons will bring money into the family when they marry, and have better job prospects.

But in Haryana, so many female foetuses have been aborted that there aren't enough women for the men to marry. The result is a thriving market in women, known in local slang as baros, who have been bought from poorer parts of India. Anyone in the villages can tell you the going rates. The price ranges from 3,000 rupees (£40) to 30,000 rupees for a particularly beautiful woman. Skin colour and age are important pricing criteria. So is whether the woman is a virgin.

When the police arrested Tripla's husband, he could not provide a marriage certificate. Generally, there is no real marriage. The women are sexual "brides" only. Sometimes, brothers who cannot afford more share one woman between them. Often, men who think they have got a good deal on a particularly beautiful bride will sell her at a profit.

Munnia was sold when she was only 17. Considered particularly beautiful, she was resold three times in the space of a few weeks. Like Tripla, she came from Jharkhand, but she was lucky: she escaped. Today she is in a government shelter for women. As she tells her story, she breaks down in tears several times.

"My father sold me to a man called Dharma," she says. "I don't know if he paid for me or not. I came to Delhi with my mother on the train, and then Dharma took me to his village. He used to beat me very badly. He used to hit me until I allowed him to sleep with me. Usually it went on for half an hour."

She was with Dharma just 20 days before he sold her. Her route criss-crossed northern India: Dharam took her to his home in Rajasthan, before selling her to a man in Haryana. "He told me: 'I have sold you to a man for 30,000 rupees'," she says. "But when we got there I realised that man wanted to sell me on as well. Then I ran away."

She found a social worker who helped her escape. In that she was fortunate: few of the women who run away from the villages where she was make it out alive. Government medical tests found she had been raped by two men. She was only 17 at the time, and the age of consent in India is 18.

"My father told me Dharma would marry me, but the marriage never took place," she says, blinking in the sun. She is deeply traumatised by her experiences; all the time she speaks, her hands play nervously with her shawl. When we ask if she wants to go home, she says: "I don't know anything. I have no will and no hope in this world."

She is the lucky one, all the same. In the villages she escaped from, hundreds of women are trapped in similar slave marriages. The village of Ghasera is a world away from nearby Delhi. It is still walled, like a fortress from centuries ago, and you enter through a narrow gateway. The roads are dirt and the houses ramshackle huts: It is hard to believe you're just an hour and a half's drive from the bright new India that is being courted as an ally by the US and attracting investors from across the world. More than 100 brides have been imported to this village alone, according to locals.

The people are hostile and crowd round strangers suspiciously. Even the police don't risk coming in to these villages unarmed. Villagers have attacked police who tried to rescue the brides, and set their cars on fire.

Anwari Katun was sold for £130 and brought here from Jharkhand. The house she is living in now is thick with flies, so many they make patterns in the air as they swarm. A small girl is asleep in the corner, flies crawling over her face.

Ms Katun wants to tell her story, but the villagers crowd into her house and stand by menacingly as she tries to speak. Her fear is evident as they stand by. Most prominent is an old woman who moves forward threateningly when Ms Katun says she is not happy. Cowed by the crowd she says: "I accept what happened to me. I'm not happy but I accept it. This is a woman's life. The only thing I want is that this doesn't happen to my sisters, that they never get sold like this."

With that, she sits in silence. Desperation is written on her face, but she is afraid to say any more with the villagers crowding around. Once they are here, with no family and no friends the women are helpless.

Rishi Kant has spent the past four years rescuing women like Ms Katun. A jovial man in designer sunglasses, he once spent four nights in Delhi's notorious Tihar jail when police carried out mass arrests of protesters at a human rights rally. His organisation, Shkati Vahini, has rescued more than 150 trafficked women. But he says he can do nothing for Ms Katun at the moment. The government women's shelter in Haryana state has places for only 25 women, and it is full. When there is no space, he can do nothing: there is nowhere else safe for the women to go. As soon as a place opens up, he says, he will go back for Ms Katun.

To get the women out of the villages, he has to enlist the help of the police. In villages such as Ghasera, the police only raid in heavy numbers, and only in the middle of the night, when they can take the villagers by surprise. Otherwise, the heavily armed villagers will resist by force. But the police are co-operative, and do get the women out. Then the long process of tracking down their parents, and trying to get them home, if possible, begins.

Getting the women out of the villages is often not easy. Recently, Mr Kant found a trafficked woman who convinced him that the man who had brought her to Haryana was running a business, and had several more women. He and the police waited in the hope the woman could lead them to the trafficker. But when they got back the next day, it appeared he had become suspicious. The woman had disappeared. Mr Kant believes she was probably sold to another part of India. He hasn't found any trace of her.

Many of the trafficked women in the villages are minors. Shabila came to Ghasera from Assam, a thousand miles away. She says she is 25, but she doesn't look a day over 15. One of the women in the government shelter, Havari, looks the same age. She is highly disturbed and talks at one moment of having had a baby, then denies it the next. She has hacked off all her hair. There is no psychiatric counselling for the women.

One of the women in Ghasera told us her sister had been sold to the village along with her, then kidnapped from it and exported to Oman. She was desperate for help to get her out.

Some of the trafficked women become traffickers themselves. Maryam, who was sold here from her native Maharashtra in 1985, has just arranged the sale of another woman, Roxana, to the village for 10,000 rupees. Although Ghasera is poor, it is better off than many of the remote villages the women come from. With their contacts there, the trafficked women can easily entice others to come voluntarily. But once they come, there is no way out. Some of the women become reconciled to their lives. Afsana speaks openly in front of her husband of her unhappiness over the years here: she is not afraid of him. Although there was no formal marriage, they have stayed together.

"I never thought I would come here. I never even thought about where Haryana was," she says. "There are several girls who do not want to stay, but what can they do? They are in a helpless situation."

Her husband, Dawood, could not get a wife locally because he has a damaged eye. He travelled to Bihar and saw several women before choosing Afsana. He paid £40. He complains that there aren't enough women in Haryana, but he does not see the link between aborting female foetuses and the shortage of women.

In Asouti, a village a short drive away, you can find the reason behind all the suffering of the slave brides of Haryana. Lakhmi Devi had five abortions, each because the child she was carrying was a girl. She had already given birth to four daughters.

She is still tortured by guilt over the abortions. "It is better for a mother to die than to kill her daughters," she says. "I was under immense pressure from my husband's family to provide him with a son. My mother-in-law even demanded I get another woman to sleep with my husband to give him a son." Eventually, she gave birth to a boy, Praveen, and her agony was over.

A recent study by Indian and Canadian researchers found 500,000 girls are aborted every year in India. Today Haryana has only 861 women for every 1,000 men. Strict laws have been put in place to prevent the practice. Abortion is legal in India but testing the gender of a foetus is not. Anil Singh, a Haryana doctor, was sentenced last week to two years in prison for telling a woman she was carrying a girl and offering an abortion.

But still, the abortions go on. To get round the police, doctors have started using codes to tell the people the sex of their baby: if the ultrasound report is written in blue ink, it's a boy; if it's in red ink, it's a girl. If the report is delivered on Monday, it's a boy, if it's Friday, it's a girl.

Meanwhile the trafficked women keep coming, from across India, to fill the places of the unborn women.

Tripla's parents sold her for £170 to a man who had come looking for a wife. He took her away with him, hundreds of miles across India, to the villages outside Delhi. It was the last time she would see her home. For six months, she lived with him in the village, although there was never any formal marriage. Then, two weeks ago, her husband, Ajmer Singh, ordered her to sleep with his brother, who could not find a wife. When Tripla refused, he took her into the fields and beheaded her with a sickle.

When Rishi Kant, an Indian human rights campaigner, tracked down Tripla's parents in the state of Jharkhand and told them the news, her mother broke down in tears. "But what could we do?" she asked him. "We are facing so much poverty we had no choice but to sell her."

Tripla was a victim of the common practice in India of aborting baby girls because parents only want boys. Although she was born and lived into early adulthood, it was the abortions that caused her death. In the villages of Haryana, just outside Delhi, abortions of baby girls have become so common that the shortage of women is severe. Unable to find wives locally, the men have resorted to buying women from the poorer parts of India. Just 25 miles from the glitzy new shopping malls and apartment complexes of Delhi is a slave market for women.

Last week, an Indian doctor became the first to be jailed for telling a woman the sex of her unborn baby. India is trying to stamp out the practice of female foeticide. But in the villages of Haryana, the damage has already been done. Indian parents want boys because girls are seen as a heavy financial burden: the parents have to provide an expensive dowry for their weddings, while sons will bring money into the family when they marry, and have better job prospects.

But in Haryana, so many female foetuses have been aborted that there aren't enough women for the men to marry. The result is a thriving market in women, known in local slang as baros, who have been bought from poorer parts of India. Anyone in the villages can tell you the going rates. The price ranges from 3,000 rupees (£40) to 30,000 rupees for a particularly beautiful woman. Skin colour and age are important pricing criteria. So is whether the woman is a virgin.

When the police arrested Tripla's husband, he could not provide a marriage certificate. Generally, there is no real marriage. The women are sexual "brides" only. Sometimes, brothers who cannot afford more share one woman between them. Often, men who think they have got a good deal on a particularly beautiful bride will sell her at a profit.

Munnia was sold when she was only 17. Considered particularly beautiful, she was resold three times in the space of a few weeks. Like Tripla, she came from Jharkhand, but she was lucky: she escaped. Today she is in a government shelter for women. As she tells her story, she breaks down in tears several times.

"My father sold me to a man called Dharma," she says. "I don't know if he paid for me or not. I came to Delhi with my mother on the train, and then Dharma took me to his village. He used to beat me very badly. He used to hit me until I allowed him to sleep with me. Usually it went on for half an hour."

She was with Dharma just 20 days before he sold her. Her route criss-crossed northern India: Dharam took her to his home in Rajasthan, before selling her to a man in Haryana. "He told me: 'I have sold you to a man for 30,000 rupees'," she says. "But when we got there I realised that man wanted to sell me on as well. Then I ran away."

She found a social worker who helped her escape. In that she was fortunate: few of the women who run away from the villages where she was make it out alive. Government medical tests found she had been raped by two men. She was only 17 at the time, and the age of consent in India is 18.

"My father told me Dharma would marry me, but the marriage never took place," she says, blinking in the sun. She is deeply traumatised by her experiences; all the time she speaks, her hands play nervously with her shawl. When we ask if she wants to go home, she says: "I don't know anything. I have no will and no hope in this world."

She is the lucky one, all the same. In the villages she escaped from, hundreds of women are trapped in similar slave marriages. The village of Ghasera is a world away from nearby Delhi. It is still walled, like a fortress from centuries ago, and you enter through a narrow gateway. The roads are dirt and the houses ramshackle huts: It is hard to believe you're just an hour and a half's drive from the bright new India that is being courted as an ally by the US and attracting investors from across the world. More than 100 brides have been imported to this village alone, according to locals.

The people are hostile and crowd round strangers suspiciously. Even the police don't risk coming in to these villages unarmed. Villagers have attacked police who tried to rescue the brides, and set their cars on fire.

Anwari Katun was sold for £130 and brought here from Jharkhand. The house she is living in now is thick with flies, so many they make patterns in the air as they swarm. A small girl is asleep in the corner, flies crawling over her face.

Ms Katun wants to tell her story, but the villagers crowd into her house and stand by menacingly as she tries to speak. Her fear is evident as they stand by. Most prominent is an old woman who moves forward threateningly when Ms Katun says she is not happy. Cowed by the crowd she says: "I accept what happened to me. I'm not happy but I accept it. This is a woman's life. The only thing I want is that this doesn't happen to my sisters, that they never get sold like this."
With that, she sits in silence. Desperation is written on her face, but she is afraid to say any more with the villagers crowding around. Once they are here, with no family and no friends the women are helpless.

Rishi Kant has spent the past four years rescuing women like Ms Katun. A jovial man in designer sunglasses, he once spent four nights in Delhi's notorious Tihar jail when police carried out mass arrests of protesters at a human rights rally. His organisation, Shkati Vahini, has rescued more than 150 trafficked women. But he says he can do nothing for Ms Katun at the moment. The government women's shelter in Haryana state has places for only 25 women, and it is full. When there is no space, he can do nothing: there is nowhere else safe for the women to go. As soon as a place opens up, he says, he will go back for Ms Katun.

To get the women out of the villages, he has to enlist the help of the police. In villages such as Ghasera, the police only raid in heavy numbers, and only in the middle of the night, when they can take the villagers by surprise. Otherwise, the heavily armed villagers will resist by force. But the police are co-operative, and do get the women out. Then the long process of tracking down their parents, and trying to get them home, if possible, begins.

Getting the women out of the villages is often not easy. Recently, Mr Kant found a trafficked woman who convinced him that the man who had brought her to Haryana was running a business, and had several more women. He and the police waited in the hope the woman could lead them to the trafficker. But when they got back the next day, it appeared he had become suspicious. The woman had disappeared. Mr Kant believes she was probably sold to another part of India. He hasn't found any trace of her.

Many of the trafficked women in the villages are minors. Shabila came to Ghasera from Assam, a thousand miles away. She says she is 25, but she doesn't look a day over 15. One of the women in the government shelter, Havari, looks the same age. She is highly disturbed and talks at one moment of having had a baby, then denies it the next. She has hacked off all her hair. There is no psychiatric counselling for the women.

One of the women in Ghasera told us her sister had been sold to the village along with her, then kidnapped from it and exported to Oman. She was desperate for help to get her out.

Some of the trafficked women become traffickers themselves. Maryam, who was sold here from her native Maharashtra in 1985, has just arranged the sale of another woman, Roxana, to the village for 10,000 rupees. Although Ghasera is poor, it is better off than many of the remote villages the women come from. With their contacts there, the trafficked women can easily entice others to come voluntarily. But once they come, there is no way out. Some of the women become reconciled to their lives. Afsana speaks openly in front of her husband of her unhappiness over the years here: she is not afraid of him. Although there was no formal marriage, they have stayed together.

"I never thought I would come here. I never even thought about where Haryana was," she says. "There are several girls who do not want to stay, but what can they do? They are in a helpless situation."

Her husband, Dawood, could not get a wife locally because he has a damaged eye. He travelled to Bihar and saw several women before choosing Afsana. He paid £40. He complains that there aren't enough women in Haryana, but he does not see the link between aborting female foetuses and the shortage of women.

In Asouti, a village a short drive away, you can find the reason behind all the suffering of the slave brides of Haryana. Lakhmi Devi had five abortions, each because the child she was carrying was a girl. She had already given birth to four daughters.

She is still tortured by guilt over the abortions. "It is better for a mother to die than to kill her daughters," she says. "I was under immense pressure from my husband's family to provide him with a son. My mother-in-law even demanded I get another woman to sleep with my husband to give him a son." Eventually, she gave birth to a boy, Praveen, and her agony was over.

A recent study by Indian and Canadian researchers found 500,000 girls are aborted every year in India. Today Haryana has only 861 women for every 1,000 men. Strict laws have been put in place to prevent the practice. Abortion is legal in India but testing the gender of a foetus is not. Anil Singh, a Haryana doctor, was sentenced last week to two years in prison for telling a woman she was carrying a girl and offering an abortion.

But still, the abortions go on. To get round the police, doctors have started using codes to tell the people the sex of their baby: if the ultrasound report is written in blue ink, it's a boy; if it's in red ink, it's a girl. If the report is delivered on Monday, it's a boy, if it's Friday, it's a girl.

Meanwhile the trafficked women keep coming, from across India, to fill the places of the unborn women."

This is a concern and I think we the so-called educated class need to take action against such happenings. According to me only thing that can really change this would be social ridiculing which again is possible only if there is some way in which more such stories can be exposed. Any suggestions...

Indifference Versus Incompetence

2007-08-07T15:38:00.000+05:30

I wrote this last year never got time to finish it and publish it... but I think its worth a glance.

A lot of people are accusing our past & current governments of indifference to the plight of common man. Consider the plight of religious victims, the delay in investigations and trials thereafter which seem to never end and not even a handful of convictions to those who killed numerous and more importantly murdered India. I don't think it's entirely fair. Moreover, I don't think it's useful.

It comes back to the same old razor: "Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence." And it becomes clearer with every passing day that incompetence is more than adequate to explain our government's inability to react quickly enough to circumstances across our country.

"Indifference" is a charge that defies empirical data, because we can never truly know the hearts of others. "Incompetence," however, can be quantified: So let's keep our eye on the ball. There's no benefit to anyone by getting personal, and by claiming that "the government doesn't care about poor people or is dead set against a particular religion." It's much more useful to make it crystal clear that the government has been just plain negligent, and that their negligence led directly to the deaths of thousands of people -- because a negligent government is something that, with enough support, we can change.

Incompetent journalists, criminally negligent journalists or liars who are complicit in the mass deception of the Indian people; there are no other ways whatsoever to describe the men and women who comprise the news institutions of India. From the hired face you see every day on the CNN's of India and aaj tak to the journalism interns. Every person currently employed in the corporate media today has some soul searching to do.

The members of today's news media warrant outrage from the people of the world who have fallen victim to their despicable practices. With each new day brings new crimes while a false sense of reality is passed to Indian people via our media. In olden times when street justice was the norm we would be dragging our beloved anchormen and women into the streets and having a public execution, for these people have been the empowering force behind the most despicable anddangerous Indian administration in history.

NOTE: I use this word: Lie. Not mislead, not mistake, misspoke, neglected to inform, omitted, left out, misrepresent, factually incorrect etc. Part of the definition of a lie is to leave a false impression. These people lie to us. I (we) should be angry. There has been too much writing and discussion about the state of the media. The good people who are trying to address the problems with the media have been dignified, intellectualized, soft spokened and IGNORED. IT IS TIME TO GET LOUD! It is time to get angry! It is time to stop the madness! With dignity and fairness the media critics and watchdogs tried to alert the public of the information being withheld by our news media. Dignified and standard methods of communication can not defeat the hugeness of false reality that emanates from our TVs, and news papers.

With dignity Media wrote about many events. They did their own investigations, held hearings and they exposed the complicity of our ruling government and its administration in those events. They wrote with dignity until their fingers hurt. They spoke with dignity until their voices gave out. They filmed documentaries until they ran out of film. They were ignored, suppressed, murdered in the literal sense. The Congress administration has devastated this nation and the world. Everything that is Indian is being destroyed while the media continue to sell catch phrases and concepts to public like "democracy" and "security"; empty words that in most cases have described the opposite of what is actually taking place. This is the stuff that ignites revolutions! Where are all the revolutionaries? Where is the outrage? Where is the anger? From the environmental terrorism and no way that our government is sensitive to this topic and failure of the dignified commissions to bring about any major changes this in itself will kill more people than all terrorist combined have issues like these go unmentioned by the media. The fact is that the not many Indian public can believe there is a reality other than the one presented on their television, news papers and radios. This, in essence, gives the broadcast media the power to control perceived reality. They abuse this power.

In response to this article the Government supporters are going to talk about the liberal media and they will sarcastically start to bring up menacing entities that control the media. I don't care who controls the media. It is a secondary issue. As long as you know that the deception is taking place you can counter it. As long as you know that there is a pickpocket in the crowd you can protect yourself. It is a bonus if you can identify him/her. It is a double bonus if you canarrest and convict him/her. Suffice to know you are being lied to. Protect yourself Get angry.One thing that we do know is who is lying to us. They splash their names all over your life. They lied about virtually every aspect of the Mau Attacks (just for your information Mau is a very small town some where in UP where over 100s of Hindus literally got butchered by Muslim fanatics who entered the trains and killed almost all the passengers) and I am sure lots of people would try to justify this as an act done by media to avert greater harm or probably mediawas ordered to do so by our very prestigious government . But what about our right to know, whatabout solace to the victims and their families and what about their unanswered sense of vengeance or the most required pressure on judiciary and our lethargic police system to wake up and find these gruesome murderers who are roaming free in our society, our government which promises us safety and media which can ensure this, are betraying us on our face, isn't this outrageous.

Enough is enough!

I am asking you to get angry. Get furious. When you turn on your TV and find that the top storyis one that you used to have to read about in a supermarket tabloid, ask yourself what news is NOT being reported. Then try to figure out how the on screen pretend journalist keeps a straight face as they try to pretend that a domestic crime is national news and worth deep thoughtful journalistic discussion.

We have to educate the public about the people who lie to them every day. You should be furious. You should feel rage. You should do something. At least spread the word!

Exploitation in Indian BPO’s:

2007-04-04T12:32:00.000+05:30

The Indian media and business elite never tire of enthusing over India’s growing role as an IT and Business-Processing Outsourcer (BPO) to the world. Yet not much attention is paid to the working conditions in the Indian BPO sector. Little inspection would show the high levels of labour exploitation in the industry—including constant surveillance, long hours, health problems and burnouts. Any mention of exploitation in BPO’s provokes a hostile reaction from Indian business community, highlighting the economic and political reliance of India’s ruling elite on the success of the BPO sector.

Question is WHY? Is the wellbeing of Indian youth not important enough?

The comments by Pramod Bhasin, the CEO of the outsourcing provider Genpact was outrageous. He told the Financial Express: “The world is praising the Indian IT Industry... But we are bent on killing the golden goose. I am aghast any findings of workplace exploitation.”
Studies reveal that BPO employees are under constant stress because of their workload, competitive pressures and surveillance. Workers are monitored for every single breath they take in office. Closed circuit cameras and electronic timers monitor the time staff are away from their desk, including in the loo. The high targets set by the management not only unrealistic but unattainable without “burn out”. Even worse the hours are regimented. Adding to the stress, management creates an environment of competition by assessing staff performance against the figures of the “good performers”.

Further, studies reveal that the BPO industry seeks a “productively docile” workforce that has no job security or rights. The majority of its staff is considered “non-core” and dispensable. In some BPO’s, Codes of Conduct discourage employees from discussing their salaries with peers and they are subject to disciplinary actions for breaching the code. A number of states in India have exempted outsourcing companies from the Industrial Disputes Act, which provides, amongst other things, for unfair dismissal rights.

The role of human resource staff in the BPO’s is that of “camouflaging work as fun” through the use of things such as popcorn booths and ping-pong tables. Management gives their BPO staff titles such as Associate, Call Centre Executive and Customer Care Executive in an attempt to portray the positions as being high level and privileged. However, the pay and hype surrounding the jobs mask the fact that there is almost no career development in the industry. Thus, most of these youngsters are in fact burning out their formative years as ‘cyber coolies’.

Other than reports on health problems such as nervousness, chronic fatigue, body ache, insomnia, nausea, anxiety, restlessness, irritability and depression due to odd working hours and stress, a study also showed that BPO’s, especially shift work, seriously impinged social life. It said “90 per cent of the respondents did not balance work and family life. The respondents had no social life or interaction with people in the family.”

The various studies conducted on these aspects are severely backlashed:

The Financial Express editorialised against such study. It once accused the authors of being “divorced from reality”. With barely a mention of the contents of the study, it denounced it as “another ‘bleeding heart’ report that only those living in privileged institutes can afford to indulge in.” It went on to say that some “minimal creature comforts” are acceptable but any “misguided attempt to push up costs” by improving working conditions would lead to the loss of BPO jobs.

Likewise, the ruling elite fear any information emerging about the industry which could cause workers to organise against exploitation in the industry. Far from workers in the BPO sector being free to organise and join unions as stated by Nasscom, several states, including the West Bengal government, have declared the IT and IT-enabled services (ITES) sector as “public utilities”, making it much more difficult for workers to gain the legal right to strike and easier for the government to declare industrial action illegal. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the chief minister of West Bengal and a Communist Party of India (Marxist) Politbureau member has promised to crack down on any strikes in the IT and ITES sector. More importantly, the hype surrounding the growth of the outsourcing sector is seen as politically important for winning support from a section of the Indian population for the program of privatisation and the integration of India into the global economy.

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) 2004 election campaign slogan of “India Shining”, particularly hailed the successes of the outsourcing sector, and featured the smiling faces of contented middle class Indians. In a shock result for the Indian ruling class, however, the electorate rejected the BJP and its claim that India was prospering. This partially explains the nervousness of the political and media establishment about a discussion of the exploitation of labour in the BPO sector. The majority of the population is already hostile to the program of privatisation and opening up India as a cheap labour platform for transnational capital. The fear is that even those who are employed in the BPO sector—the alleged beneficiaries of the agenda implemented by all ruling parties—are becoming disillusioned.

Conclusion:

Although the IT and BPO sector brought the Indian people a better standard of living, it has resulted in public-sector job cuts, destruction of whole industries, and cuts to food and fuel subsidies, which have been devastating to rural areas, the poor and large sections of the working class. Young employees need to grow beyond their “American dream”. They need to unite for the future of the country… for their own wellbeing. As someone rightly said “Suppress the young and the young will always rebel. History has seen it and proven it.” This is a wake up call for all those BPO’s which indulge in any kind of workplace exploitations. It’s an either-or situation… Either stop the exploitation or lose the “golden goose”.

Government

2006-10-18T12:36:00.000+05:30

There are four ways in which you can spend money.

1. You can spend your own money on yourself. When you do that, why then you really watch out what you're doing, and you try to get the most for your money.

2. Then you can spend your own money on somebody else. For example, I buy a birthday present for someone. Well, then I'm not so careful about the content of the present, but I'm very careful about the cost.

3. Then, I can spend somebody else's money on myself. And if I spend somebody else's money on myself, then I'm sure going to have a good lunch!

4. Finally, I can spend somebody else's money on somebody else. And if I spend somebody else's money on somebody else, I'm not concerned about how much it is, and I'm not concerned about what I get. And that's government.

Jessica Accused Manu Sharma Can Walk Free

2006-10-06T13:19:00.000+05:30

You read it right. All Manu Sharma needs to do is organize some street protests in Chandigarh or Punjab through his politician father claiming that any punishment to him in Jessica case would lead to law and order problems in Punjab or even better it would result in return of militancy in Punjab. Some minister can be requested in Punjab to take up his case with congress president or President of India to show mercy in the name of larger good of people of Punjab.

What - You do not agree? Then what is your take on the protests in Kashmir on death sentence to Parliament attack accused Mohammad Afzal Guru? While it is perfectly understandable for his family to request the President for mercy, it is beyond my comprehension how can people take to streets to protect a convict of an attack on highest democratic symbol of the country - Parliament. Is there a rule of law in India or not? What most surprises me is the action of the Chief Minister of the state to take up his cause. If this is how punishment for crimes is to be decided in India, then all cases should first be referred to Chief Ministers of concerned state before taking them to court. And in case of crimes by foreigners the same should be referred to Prime Minister or President of that country. After all, the foreigner may belong to a nuclear country. Why take the risk of nuclear attack by punishing a foreigner.

CRAZY INDIANS awaken; with the fear of what has yet not happened don’t impede justice. Try to help the path of justice rather than destroying it. Think about the victims, sympathize with the right people or even better don’t sympathize with the wrong ones. Support what is right because you can grow only if India as a whole will grow and India will grow only if justice remains “JUSTICE”

Veil Philosophy

2006-05-21T15:38:00.002+05:30

Is “the Veil” just a piece of clothing for women? A woman of any culture of any century knows that she will be wrapped in veils of all sorts, some literal and some not so obvious. Veils are prevalent in almost all cultures throughout the centuries. It was pity when I saw a woman wearing very tattered, therefore, revealing clothes, carrying a load of bricks on her head, but still amazingly very conscious of her veil down to her shoulders. Then again it was religious awe, which struck me, looking at veiled women pouring into church. Wondering about it, I decided to take a deeper look at what drove women to hide their faces and along with it, their aspirations & sentiments.

I am a Zoroastrian woman and in my religion, women have to cover their heads during prayers. This is a latest trend, and in actual Zoroastrian Literature the rule is to cover the head all the time. The stringency of this rule in those times was so much so that even a strand of hair falling out of the covering would be considered as shameful and there are stories of women being denied cohabitation with their husbands or denied the right to rear their children for such a mistake. Wow!! I am thankful that such tortures do not exist anymore, at least not, where I live.

In the 1917 Code of Canon Law, it was clearly stated that women must cover their heads. Therefore, when St. Paul decreed that man was created for God and woman was created for man and, umm, somehow the veil comes into the picture. I did not quite get the connection, but it was long time back, 2000 odd years to be precise. So, women have been wearing the veil to show submission to authority, to God and men!

Sanskrit literature is replete with instances where women have to wear veils. It is not surprising to me that under the laws of Manu the status of women is completely dependent on the man. The various religious texts have got a bewildering array of proscriptions and rules for behaviour of women, all for modesty and chastity's sake. Scholars have mentioned how women have to dress, behave and generally conduct themselves in public, which was generally under a veil, figuratively and literally.

With the British rule and then following on with independence, many atrocious practices were eradicated from the “rule book” which slowly died away in real life as well. Although if one walks around in certain parts of the country it still looks like the dark ages to me as far as the status of women goes anyway. The Hindu woman, reasonably emancipated but still a long way to go yet compared to her western counterparts.

What about the Muslim woman? Growing up in Mumbai, I will remiss, if I do not mention the other great religion, Islam. Well, needless to say that is making most of the waves these days. Stories are circulating in the media about photographs of faces not being allowed to be taken for driving licenses in various states. Turkey, which is an Islamic country, has made it compulsory for girls to wear veils in schools. Imagine women getting acid thrown on their faces and threatened in ghastly fashions if they aren't veiled in Pakistan and Bangladesh. What do the scripture say about this?

Sura 24:31 in the Koran is the key to this entire debate.

The literal translation goes as follows: "And say to the believing women that they cast down their looks and guard their private parts and do not display their ornaments except what appears thereof, and let them wear their head-coverings over their bosoms, and not display their ornaments except to their husbands or their fathers... and let them not strike their feet so that what they hide of their ornaments may be known; and turn to Allah all of you, O believers! So that you may be successful."

This is the crux of the matter and reading this translation, its pretty clear that veiling is compulsory and the woman is not to show herself except to her husband or close relatives.

For a non-Muslim like me, the question that comes up is - Why is there such a huge hue and cry about veils when it comes to Muslim women? Lets see.. isn’t modesty and not the veil a requirement for all women. Reading the stories of the women who have freely and voluntarily taken the veil, it seems like their motivations range from a desire to be seen separate from the mass of other women, to portray their faith, to affirm it in a visible manner and in certain cases, to fulfill cultural traditions.

Needless to say, the veil for a Muslim woman is far more prevalent than the others. I am sure somebody will ask and has asked why this is so? Male supremacy? Religious statutes? Cultural traditions? Modesty? Chastity? Better people than me have tried to explain this. Pushing people to wear the “VEIL” is forcing one's religious beliefs down somebody's throat and may well give rise to oppression. This goes for all religions, your relationship with your god (s) is your own, you define it the way you want according to the degree of faith in your heart, but using the name of God to oppress women is cowardly and should be shunned, may your conscience be pricked.

Should the discussion end here on what women wear? Is this the only field where women are covered in veils? How about analyzing other aspects of life where a woman wears veils which are invisible to those who don’t have to wear them? In our society, whether women belong to the majority or the minority group, what is apparent is that there exists a great disparity in the matter of economic resourcefulness between a man and a woman. Our society is “male dominated” both economically and socially and women are assigned, invariably, a dependant role, irrespective of the class of society to which she belongs. A woman on her marriage often gives up her other avocations and entirely devotes herself to the welfare of the family, in particular she shares with her husband, her emotions, sentiments, mind and body. Her investment in the marriage is her entire life, a sacramental sacrifice of her individual self and is far too enormous to be measured in terms of money. This is perfect but this in no sense gives “men” the right to oppress women merely based on their earning capacity.

The history of humanity has been witness to the fact that the religion has been used as a facade to perpetuate violence against women from time perpetual. In my eyes, a nation that does not respect its women cannot be described as a civilised nation at all. Such a nation cannot grow and develop and will ultimately perish due to its own rudimentary and tyrannical dogma. Thus, the national consensus should concentrate on betterment of women by suitably empowering them.

Need of the hour:

This situation of gender discrimination requires an immediate attention of the society since the problem is societal in nature. The mindset of the society needs to be changed by both voluntary and involuntary measures. The law regulates the social interests, arbitrates conflicting claims, demands security of persons and property of the people, and is an essential function of the state.

Law as a corner stone of the edifice of "order" should meet the challenges confronting the society. The social impact of the crime, e.g. where it relates to offences against women involving moral turpitude or moral delinquency which have great impact on social order and public interest, cannot be lost sight of and per se require exemplary treatment. The government should refuse to extend the benefit of the remission to the convicts who have committed hideous crimes against women even while extending it to other convicts. Further, safety of women victims must also be provided so that they can effectively bring before the law the offenders. Thus, in holding trial of child sex abuse or rape, a screen or some arrangements may be made where the victim or witness do not see the body or face of the accused. Recording of evidence by way of video conferencing vis-a-vis Sec. 273 of the Indian Criminal Procedure Code is permissible under the law. These measures must be supplemented with suitable "empowerment measures" like reservations in jobs and educational institutions, financial assistances, etc.

The plight of the women, however, cannot be improved until they are duly represented in the "power structure" of the nation. In a democratic country like ours, the voice of women can be heard only to the extent they are sharing the power structure in the supreme governance of the country.

So may it be a veil of cloth or may it be the veil of precincts, boundaries & restrictions, I don’t date to despise those women who take it up voluntarily. However, I am concerned about a large chunk of women who are taking it up merely on basis of parental or societal pressures without an ounce of credence in their own beliefs and doubting whether they’d ever be lucky enough to liberate themselves of these Veils.

Bush Vs Democracy

2006-05-17T16:07:00.000+05:30

When US President George Bush vowed in his second inauguration speech to break the traditional US policy of backing authoritarian regimes in the Muslim world, he may have heralded a new era.

Bush promised to support genuine democratic movements in the Middle East and elsewhere even if it meant dumping America's traditional friends and allies.

Democracy may indeed be the cure for most problems confronting the Muslim world. But the question is can the United States take the bold steps that are needed to give concrete shape to its promises?

Can it allow democracy to take its natural course in the Muslim world, given that across the region, from Lebanon to Egypt, Islamists are emerging as a political force that the West can no longer ignore?

Promotion of democracy in Muslim countries is likely to see the empowerment of those predominant political players who turn to Islam for inspiration and guidance in public life.

If Bush was serious in his commitment to democracy, he would tell his "friends" in the Middle East to allow truly free and fair polls, even if that means Islamists coming to power.

As Islamists move to center stage in many parts of the Arab world, it's time that the United States and the rest of the Western world accepted the idea of dealing with them as legitimate representatives of the people.

In the past century, the West has sided with dictators & tyrants as they victimized the Islamists. In Egypt, grave human rights abuses by successive regimes have been ignored by the West. In Algeria, the military prevented the Islamic Salvation Front from taking office after it swept the 1991 parliamentary elections - with the blessing of the West, which saw the rise of Islamists as a threat to its interests. The consequence was a decade-long civil war.

Democracy is a must:
As democracy has been mocked elsewhere in the Islamic world, the West has consistently looked the other way. No wonder many Muslims blame the West for the suffering inflicted by their dictators. Yet Western leaders appear surprised when Al Qaeda extremists attack Western targets.

If Bush wants to usher in a new era of democracy and peace in the Muslim world, he should be prepared to deal with Muslims' genuine and legitimate representatives. He would do well to recognize the fact that Islamists are emerging as the leading political players in the Middle East and engage them as such.

PRACHI

2006-03-27T23:55:00.000+05:30

This is from me to you
a true friend
without you I don't know what I'd do
I hope our friendship will never end.

I remember the good old days
when we were small
and nothing mattered anyways,
nothing at all

From the good times
to the rough
laughter and rhymes
there were never enough

Nothing should tear us apart
not even a boy
even if he is smart
and he brings you eternal joy

Words cant express
how much you mean to me
though I must confess
I didn't always think our friendship would be.

This is a poem from me to you,
there’s no doubt to why
I hope I never have to,
ever say good-bye.