Untolerable vision of the Society....

Recently I finished reading one of the most famous love story's of all time "A walk to Remember".I started reading this series contemplating something that would touch my heart as I had heard a lot about the same movie but never got a chance to view it.But quite unfortunately,I felt completely letdown in the manner things proceeded in the end.

It was something like "There is a boy and a girl who didn't initially paid heed to one another, then as things starts turning around they become friends and gradually lovers,then to bring some sort of spice towards the end the writer announces that the girl suffers from a leukemia and eventually dies leaving the guy remembering her forever."

Now what kind of a crap is this...I just completely and absolutely disagree with such plot.If you want to add some kind of masala ,these writers have just one solution.Name one grave disease and the audience will be attracted towards it. After all, it emotionally connects the audience with the story. But my dear, story and reality is completely different. I was always under the impression that only Indians lack the basic knowledge in medicine but it is quite sad that the same condition is prevailing in other parts of the world too.Let me tell these writers and everyone else that sitting in a chair at your workplace,dining room or bed room and writing about such diseases and spreading negativity is very easy.Nobody is interested in finding out the reality. If you really are interested in finding out the truth ,take some pain and visit the real patients, hospitals and if you cant do this much then atleast you can surf the net on this issue and find out the reality. You will find that not only are these kind of diseases completely curable but they also lead a healthy and normal life afterwards. But the main problem is that nobody will go to facts,people are more likely to read interesting stories such as this one rather than a document showing them the actual stats.It is for this very reason that till date the awareness hasnt grown.

If you ask me its a real shame on the part of the writers who themselves lack knowledge and through their so-called "bestsellers" convey wrong message to others also.Remember,for diseases such as leukemia, cancer etc if you think that death is the ultimate destination and the road to destination is pain and suffering then you are completely out of this world .

I know I blurted out openly today, but its necessary sometimes.It is really painful to see such hopeless stories which are so hit among people.These gullible creatures never bother to broaden their parochial scope of vision.GROW UP PEOPLE!!

Invading Privacy

The ambit of our private lives is becoming shorter every passing day.The number of advertising text messages which we get in our cell phones everyday is alarming. This is a very serious issue and I have been brooding over it for quite a while now. I may or may not receive calls and messages from my near and dear ones , but I am sure to get atleast one from the advertising company daily. What is more disturbing is that these people doesn't hesitate to send the same at even midnight causing great amount of inconvenience to users.

Although this situation has been aggravating since long, but it was brought to notice by a leading newspaper and a magazine only when the VIPs weren't spared too.Recently our Finance Minister Mr.Pranab Mukherjee was interrupted by one such message during his speech in parliament.Quite understandably, Mr. Mukherjee was baffled to see this and has asked for an explanation from the mobile company. If dignitaries like him are being targeted so easily then think about the situation which common people are facing.

Its quite astonishing to see the way these mobile companies play with our private lives. They are in deal with these advertising agencies and handle our private data given by us while registering for a phone number to these agencies and that too for some exiguous amount of money. These advertising agencies , in turn, are in deal with various educational institutions,political parties, Local showrooms and shops and advertise for them. Sometimes its the users fault too when they carelessly fill forms in shopping malls, billing counters asking for their feedback and suggestions or suggesting some scheme.There have been various mechanisms to counter this problem but none have proved to be futile enough.The " Do not Send" facility incorporated by various mobile companies was one such but has completely failed to deliver.

Competition is so tough nowadays that comapanies try to enamor customers in all possible ways. This is one such handy medium of promotion. But people need to remember that there is a line drawn between private and public which should not be crossed. Advertising is necessary to make customers aware of the new services and product but clearly better methods will be appreciated.

Commonwealth Games...(OR GAINS??)

Before starting I would like to mention that today while reading an article in Economic Times ,I saw the RS. sign replaced by the new rupee symbol for the first time(the one with the Roman R and Equal to = sign).It just intuited me with vanity!!!!

Coming back to the discussion,I was mentioning about one of the fields where India still needs to take some serious lessons atleast from its neighbouring nations like China.With FIFA World Cup over already about a month ago,what should now make headlines in the sports section of every newspaper???We as cricket loving nation should have some news about the ongoing test series with Sri Lanka.OK agreed.And what else???I suppose its the right time for the media to focus on the preparations being made by the athletes participating in the Common Wealth Games 2010 and about the quality of arrangements being done for the megaevent to be held in the country in the month of October.But quite contrary to it,I see nothing of that sort in the sports section but yes a lot of spicy stuff in the front page in every news daily!

So whats its all about.One daily talks about that how the Organizing Committee(OC) has overshot the budget some blah blah times (I don't remember the exact figures) than its original estimation of $1.1 billion.It quite comically exemplifies by mentioning that a single treadmill machine which is about 7.5 lakhs in the market has actually been hired for one and a half month during the games for 9 lakhs, giving the readers a preview of how unorganized the planning has been. Then there is some baffle regarding the relay baton in London as to how the OC has digged misappropriate amount of cash from the British firm . So quite sadly,every news beleaguering the event has negativity around it.

I think its time for every Indian and the media to understand that highlighting the drawbacks will bring a bad name to the Games as well as the nation.Every big event has issues associated with it but we must try to see the favorable side of the coin. We should look at the Games Villa, the newly and well designed roads of Delhi, and the most talked about new terminal 3G of the Indira Gandhi International Airport.We have a grand new Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium which will host most of the events. There are ample of good things to look around. Just think about that hosting a games of this magnitude will put India in a strong position not just among the CommonWealth countries but among the whole world.

But unfortunately there has been nothing of this type.Most annoying part is that the leaders of national stature have been praying for the failure of these games and are even bold enough to announce it publicly. Such parochial outlook of people will never help India grow. I would rather blaming it completely on media will put some onus on the general public as well.Its because media simply sells the stuff that has market value. Like ,we as readers are the first to gather and express our outrage at any anti-national issue, here also its high time that we come up together and vow to make these games a memorable one in the international history.

What's in a Single Day?

Logically this article should have been posted yesterday, but due to some reasons it got delayed. But its a wise saying that “Its better late than never!!”, so I will follow the same. Till yesterday night, I wasn't even aware that today is the big day called "The Friendship's Day".But then one of my friends told me a strange fact that every year on the first sunday of August we celebrate this day.I inquired the theory behind this...!!! Well I could not find any concrete reason, but as expected it was a custom followed by western countries which gradually came to India.

Personally I have some reservations about celebrating friendship on any single day.The only point I see is that it brings an opportunity for all to remember their old and distant buddies atleast once a year when they might have gone unnoticed for years. But whatever the reason may be,friendship for me can never be a one day celebration. Any bond of togetherness cannot be restricted to 24 hours and if someone does have counter opinions as that mentioned before I would give them a single argument in my favour that “If you are remembering any person only for a single day in a year,he is no more your close ,it’s a mere formality which you are doing and trying to stretch a dead relation”.

In the past few months I have realized a fact.Its true that feeling of love definitely fades with distance but its just the reverse for friendship.The bond of friendship strengthens with time and distance.I have many friends of mine who are not beyond a kilometer of a range but I or they hardly care to bother about each other but there are a few special ones who are over 1000 kms far away still we make a point to converse atleast weekly if not daily.

In an era of social networking,people have an easy and convenient way to maintain contacts with each other.I have seen my siblings from age group 9-10 years to my uncles of age group 60 and above being an active member of sites like facebook.So where is the distance anyway???For me any friend of mine in US is just as far away as a friend sitting in the next city! Either you are a student or a job holder ,taking out an hour or so for your friends and keeping updates of your friends through these sites s not a big deal.

Having written so much I will not hesitate to say that today even I wished and celebrated “Friendship Day” with all my friends.Thats because I am a part of society which is bounded by rules.But celebrating any relation whther it be love ,friendship etc etc on a single day is something that can go down well with me.

Impatient, Psycho And Covet!!!!

The war is between the insensitive Human nature and impeccant eight limb animal.We provide a hungry mollusk with its fav. food "mussel" in two boxes.These boxes have the fates of two different nations sealed in it. Now, we understand this but that poor animal doesn't.He opens them one by one and eat it contents and we add prophetic or so called divine angle to it.Inhabitants of the first box consider this "oracular" while the second one calls the mollusk a "psychic"!!

But ,whatever the case may be, "Paul,the octopus" is now an international celebrity.There are different versions of the story by different mouths.Some believe he has a God-Gifted natural power,some say its master deliberately keeps more delicious stuff in the more probable winner,for few he always chooses the righter side box first and finally for some its a case of mere co-incidence.

But I say that why do we associate every story with the octopus.For me its a case of pure human desire to know the future somehow. We are trying every possible way by manipulating things as per our own convenience.Has anybody thought of the fact that instead of blaming the animal for the consequences, this kind of future predicting desire might have produced a negative impact on the minds of the players???Not certainly but a possibility definitely exists.Then these predictions also pave way for big money making by the bookies. So aren't we indirectly promoting illegal trade?

But the problem is that we are so engrossed in fulfilling our wishes that we hardly able to see these consequences.The case of Paul clearly illustrates three traits of human behaviour-Impatience,Psychic and covetousness.But as always the "intelligent" human mind has adroitly escaped by blaming the octopus and the poor creature became a scapegoat....

Seething Valley, No Takers

For my first article of July,I have picked quite a deep, controversial and chronic issue. But any newspaper ,magazine I pick,I am sure to find an article or two everyday on the ongoing recent crisis in Jammu and Kashmir.The valley is boiling once again,this time its own people are in a fit of rage,the reason being the covert killings of several "innocent" civilians.

It has been a month since these protests started but the administration is still miles away from finding any concrete solution.All have their different version of the story.Govt. report says that "Ahmad Mattoo" a 17 year old boy whose death started these protests was killed by his girlfriend's co-lover.However, the authenticity of the report could not be established. Local residents allege that he was killed by the tear gas shell thrown by the police that hit his head,killing him instantly.A student who was preparing for the medical exam entrance suddenly became a martyr and was even buried in the Martyr's Graveyard in Srinagar against his family wishes.

Hearing such events everytime , I always think the same that why do people have to include a communalism angle to each and every incident. Instead of creating it a bigger issue ,they could have waited for the real sequence of events to be unfolded. The subsequent killings of more than 15 people as a result of violence due to death of one boy is inexplicable. Both the police and the civilians need to maintain some patience and tolerance. To add fuel to the fire, Omar Abdullah has been inefficient in managing the events. Consequential actions taken by him proved futile. Transfer of top level police officers and hush-hush meetings of top officials were not only inadequate but were criticized by one and all. With the main opposition refusing to cooperate with the govt activity at any level, there is little ray of hope for the Kashmiris.

I recently read about a survey conducted on the people of Kashmir -both the PoK and the Indian occupied.It was surprising to see the results in terms that the majority of people in both the sections were of the opinion of a independent state, "Independence from both India and Pakistan".This illustrates their frustration from both the states. The Indian Govt has entangled the Kashmir issue to such an extent that a possible solution in the coming time is completely unexpected and Pakistan is too busy in its internal issues to look into the miseries of the general public . Its merely a matter of ego now for both the nations to extend their control over Kashmir. and its quite unlikely that there is any respite for Kashmiris in the near future...

Love is not life,its only a part of life....

This one comes from "Direct Dil se".The agony of a failed relationship took yet another high profile celebrity's life and I wont sympathize .Rather it creates an anguish within me for people wasting their precious lives such as this one.

Yes, I dont know about the intricacies of the big bad glamour world but surely I can relate the events in my own sense.There is this girl who dreams of becoming big in the fashion world,comes to India ,gets opportunity and reach the zenith after much toil and compromises. All is going well for her when suddenly she falls for a man. Everything goes fine for them initially and then suddenly things turn around. They have frequent quarrels and face-offs.Unable to bear, girl goes into depression and then suddenly she took her life. This is my view of things. And this story doesn't holds for just one ,it stands true for hundreds of other couples.

I have just one question in mind.Why are mostly girls the victim of failed relation? Isn't the guy also a part of it..He never thinks about taking such drastic steps. Why so? Do girls get more involved and serious in a relation than boys?

The answers to these questions might vary from couple to couple, but it is surely a general tendency of the girls to get more emotionally involved in a relation.I am particularly saying this in context of middle class families of which I am myself a part of. I have seen many female friends of mine who have not only risked their personal lives but also professional career because of the words "Love and commitment".Guys always tend to be more practical than girls. They may be into a relation but when it comes to testing times, they take decisions logically as against girls who will go to any extent to make their relation work.

Being a girl myself and having faced such a situation before , I would like to advice few tips to those girls who face similar situations. Yes, its true that when relation doesn't seem to be working or has eventually failed either due to your fault or of the guy's, depression and loneliness does surround you. But then always think of moving ahead in life.It might seem tough at first ,but you have to be strong. Don't let your mind think of what happened again and again. Engage yourself in something that interests you .It may be anything like reading novels, watching favorite movies , shopping your fav. clothes, hanging out with friends etc etc. The point is that you need to come out of that thought.Once you do that, you will realize that there are ample of things that are better and can bring satisfaction to you. Remember that you had a life before you met that guy. Infact you were more social and had variety of activities to do . The same is the case now.

Having said all this, I never meant to defame guys. We cant change the way God has created us. But yes, it is always up to you as to how you shape up your life, how wisely you take your decisions. However, if a mistake has been committed, try to learn from it,don't let yourself get shattered.Maybe, after few years when you think of what happened, you might smile at it as I do. Remember that Love is a feeling that makes you smile and complete . One that brings frustration and tension is not love, its a failed compromise.

Are we really Envious people??

Recently I read an article in TOI by Chetan Bhagat which claimed that we Indians have a strong tendency to be envious towards the affluent and eminent people of the society.He exemplified his point by mentioning two famous personalities.First was Aishwarya Rai Bacchan. As per the author, the media and subsequently the general public has formed a negative opinion about the actress because she has earned peerless name and fame for herself despite being from a modest background. Time and again , Aishwarya had been in the eyes of media glare either for her wrong choice of apparels in social events or for her incapable acting skills which as per the author is not correct. Second name mentioned was Shashi Tharoor who has been described as an incapable politician by the Indian media because of the same reasons. The author believes that it is a widespread Indian metality that "Only the children of the rich and famous have the tendency to be rich and famous as well".

As the member of the same society which Chetan Bhagat mentioned in his article I would like to elicit my views on this issue. The point which he has aroused is definitely worth consideration but I would not agree as to how the author has kept his point.Infact most would not, I believe!!

Yes ,it is a natural human tendency to win in the race of life. And for "that win", he has to overtake his competitors. But that does not mean competing with each and every individual. There are some exceptions in this game which I will discuss in the coming lines. But to say that we envy personalities like Aishwarya is not at all justified. If she is from a modest background so is Sachin Tendulkar, Shahrukh Khan, Kiran Bedi and if stretching too far then even Mother Teresa as well.Do we envy them as well. Sachin is a God for Cricket lovers and Shahrukh for bollywood fans. Kiran Bedi is a role model for women and who in the world can think envying Mother Teresa ?? Even Aishwarya herself ,if not liked by mass, is popular and a role model for majority of Indian public. Yes she is termed plastic, and rightly so but that is something more to do with her acting skills rather anything personal.

As for the enviousness prevailing among we Indians, I would like to clear that such kind of feeling arouses within every individual be it be Indian or not. But that doesn't mean at all that we have grudges towards each and every person. There are certain factors which alienates some people from this competition.

First is the" feeling or passion we have for a person".There are few in the crowd who are very close to us and with whom we are very much attached to.They may be our friends,relatives, siblings. They are those few in a million for whom we truly pray for, their joy gives us pleasure and their sorrow makes us sad. Competition and enviousness towards them is completely unimaginable. Second factor is the "field of work". If I am a painter, why will I envy a successful writer or a successful doctor. I would want my work to excel and be the best among all the painters. If I am not a politician nor dream of becoming anytime, why will I envy Shashi Tharoor??? In fact , I would like him to correct his mistakes and move forward as he is people's representative. Third factor is " Age and Stature". Ok, I am a software engineer and I want to perform better than my colleagues. I will have a direct competition with my fellow joinees and not with my boss as there is considerable difference in our work experience.

Summarizing, the point which I wanted to convey is that every game has its classifications and the players are classified accordingly.But at the end it is same mantra of "survival of the fittest!!" that works and which keeps all thriving for better results in this competition.

Is Death Penalty the only solution for Rape Convicts?

Today inspired by an article from one of my friends, I would share my opinion on one of the most heinous crime prevailing in society-Rape. Women had always been a soft target of crime in the human history.Often they become victims as they are weaker in physical strength than then male members of the family. Most often we find that this rape is committed not because of sexual pleasure but to avenge from the victim's family. She might not be the cause of the restlessness of the rape convict but often gets trapped in his animosity against her family. Often other crimes such as robbery, dacoit, murder are preceeded or followed by rape as well.

Rape is such a filthy crime that it destroys the victim emotionally and mentally apart. In addition the physical pain inflicted upon her just creates a hell life for the victim. Rape mostly prevails either in the extreme lower sections or the upper higher classes of the society.As compared, the rate of this crime in the middle classes is very marginal. One that occurs in the rich society is often a consensus sex and thus cannot be termed as rape.Dwellers in the slums, chawls who dont have a proper regular income are most vulnerable. It is often found that the male lead of the family is unable to earn bread for the family,in such a situation the female member goes out in search of work.They get landed in the hands of corrupt ,rich brokers who find it easy to attack these poor ladies. This might sound like the story of some old Indian bollywood flick but this is true in real life as well. One finds such kinds of reports being published daily in local Hindi Newspapers.

Time and again ,I have criticized the Indian judiciary for its method of tackling the pending cases. But now the laws have become stringent against the rape accused.Some 7 years back, a rape convict Dhananjay Chatterjee was awarded capital punishment for the rape and murder of a school-going girl.Subsequently, he was hanged till death.But its still agonizing that we have to reverse the calendar 7 years in history to exemplify the fate of rape perpetrators.

But the big question still remains unanswered as to whether is capital sentence the only solution for rape? Clearly we have other alternatives as well.As this point I would like it to make it clear that I am not at all against legalizing death sentence for rape convicts because if such a law gets passed, it will clearly send a strong message to those who ever attempted or conducted such heinous crime. But we can ponder over other alternative as well. Life imprisonment, regular monetary compensation, marriage of the victim of the convict(if possible in case both are unmarried and adults) are some other solutions. But whatever it may be, the ultimate decider should be the victim in this case. She should decide solely and without any pressure as to what she wants to be done with her torturer.

In India, rape is one of the most frequently committed crime after robbery and murder. Delhi ,the national capital is considered to be the most unsafe metro for women and rightly so because number of eve teasing and rape incidents are at an all time high. The law which safeguards the integrity of the women needs to be enforced at the earliest and additionally it is upto the women too to protect themselves from the savagers of the society because the law can help them get a justice after the crime is conducted.So why not try to reduce the crime itself...

Rahul Gandhi:Undisputed Future of Indian Politics

19th June 2010 marked the 40th birthday of Rahul Gandhi.There was much activity in the media regarding the same. And there has always been something magical about Rahul which doesn't allow me to avoid any news relating to him.This propelled me to pen down my opinions on the man himself. I am fully aware that some of the content might not be agreed with all but as mentioned in my very first blog "Blogging:A new experience" this is what blogging is all about.

A member of Nehru-Gandhi dynasty, Rahul's destiny always had him entering into politics one day. He did it sometime in 2006-2007 by contesting and winning for the Amethi seat held long by his family members including his grandmother Indira Gandhi,Father Rajiv Gandhi, Uncle Sanjay Gandhi and mother Sonia Gandhi. But unlike other MP's who merely fight elections for a seat in parliament,Govt. bungalow and other perks ,Rahul had a vision in mind for the people of his constituency. Ever since his inception in Amethi, his number of visits there have been innumerous and each time he tries to bring in something new for the people. He has made a point that not even the remotest of the village remains untouched. His Self-Help groups have helped rural women bring small and new methods of employment for themselves. His unique style of bringing in International approach in his work has helped pour in more media glare and monetary funds.Recently, Microsoft Founder Bill Gates visited Amethi along with him and promised the development of IT sector in and around UP.

These efforts of the youth leader shows his capability at the grassroot level. Although he has a strong alignment for the infrastructure development like roads,schools ,home for the poor but he stills lacks the vision of industrial growth.I say so because so far in 3 years he hasn't spoken or done much about any industrial development in UP.His agenda is to reach the masses individually. One of the reasons for his growing popularity is his attempt to alienate the caste politics prevailing in UP. He gave a tight slap on the parties playing dalit politics by resting a night out in a dalit women's hut. It is widely speculated that in 2012 Assembly elections in UP, Congress will emerge in a much stronger position than it currently holds. Not only in UP but Rahul has tried to make his presence felt in other states as well.In 2010 beginning ,when Shiv Sena tried to woo the Maharashtrian public by marking Rahul's visit with black flags,he answered them back by travelling on road and even in local train successfully interacting more with the public.

Rahul has always tried to answer his critics not verbally but by his actions.One hardly sees a leader of his stature interacting rarely with the media.So far,in current political scenario none of the youth leader has matched to his potential.Yes there have emerged leaders like Sachin Pilot,Omar Abdullah,MadhavRao Scindia but they have maintained their regional politics.In 2009 when the then firebrand chief minister of Andhra Pradesh Mr.Y.S.Rajashekra Reddy suddenly died in a helicopter mishap,his son Jagan Reddy was asked to take his father's position.People wanted him to be what Rahul was seen after Rajiv's Gandhi demise.But then Jagan Reddy himself clarified that it will be too early for mass to presume him in the same position as of Rahul.

Much has been said about the leader now. I would like to conclude by writing the same what every common man thinks of Rahul, to see him as the PM of the nation someday.Not because he is a Gandhi but because his work has shown that he possess the ability and vision for a better and developed India.

Social Networking Sites...Everyone's Invited!!!!

It actually amazes me to think that some 5-6 years back, we in India had never listened to what actually were social networking sites..In today's era, they are such immense part of our lives that more than 80 percent of the online community make it a point to visit them at least once a day.With growing awareness, popularity of these sites is souring and communication is becoming better.The main factor behind this is that what was restricted to just the urban masses have reached rural population as well.
As always to explore my database further I referred wiki and yes again,I found some information of my use.Social networking as a concept emerged some 15 years ago.Some of the initial sites were Theglobe.com, Geocities and the Tripod.com.These early sites did not had the concept of separate user profiles.Rather the most they could offer was a home page where some basic information of the user was provided and an email id.This id was the source of contact with fellow users.By the end of the 1990's,Friendster and LinkedIn were introduced.Major revolution as we all are aware came with the inception of Facebook in 2004 in United States and in 2006,its expansion to non US boundaries.Four years hence,it has still retained its top position.
In India there is vast following of orkut.Its a google controlled site named after its developer Orkut Boyukokkton. Orkut has highest number of members in Brazil followed by India. Facebook and Orkut together account for 16 to 17 million users in India. The simplicity and diverse features have helped them gain immense popularity. Picture and thought sharing,recent status and updates,knowledge sharing and ofcourse meeting up with old chums are their salient features.
Initially there were issues with the security of the users particularly the female members. There were no restriction to the amount of data that could be accessed by the outside user to one's profile.But now with advanced technical skills like AJAX feature of newer orkut version,amount of data to be share could be restricted.Further creation of "Hate Communities" was also a grave issue.There were instances in Africa where there were racial abuses.Technology and advancement as always faces hurdles, and they need to be sailed through with a proper solution. But this opportunity of opening up the mind and heart and socializing with peers should not be let loose. After all friends are the best gift of God after parents!!!

Justice not denied..but Buried.......

So its prooved once again.....Nobody can beat Indian lethargic judiciary...A wait of 26 years has been thrown as a mere garbage.A time , a year when I was not even born,people have been waiting since then for a justified decision from the court in order to punish the offensive and get some amount of financial help from the government.But 26 years on,the wait still goes on.
With Bhopal District Court convicting the 8 convicts for merely 2 years, its clearly a mockery of the whole governance system.These convicts were put to jail and then granted bail within hours.To add on to the miseries, Warren Anderson , the then chairman of the Union Carbide plant didn't even feature in the names of convicts.And now post verdict, as always the ministers and the bureaucrats have started playing the blame game.
For those who are not much aware of the facts, let me rewind that I am talking about the Gas leakage tragedy that struck Bhopal on midnight of 2-3 December,1984.People woke up in the morning inhaling the toxic pesticide gas,Methyl Isocynate which had "accidentally" released from almost 20 sites of the Dow Chemical,then named as Union Carbide plant. From the reports presented aftermath,some suggested that accidental flow of water into the tank containing methyl isocynate led to an exothermic reaction producing high temperature and pressure which could not be beared by the iron tanks and their vents opened up releasing the gas into the air.Poor maintenance and corrosion of pipes added further to propel this reaction.More than 20,000 people have died due to this carelessness till date and over 2 lakh have been diagnosed with some or the other kind of after-effects.Some of these include major problems like neurological disorders,visual impairment,failure of reproductive organs in females etc.
Looking into the seriousness of the issue,the CBI had then ordered for the arrest of the chief of UC plant ,Warren Anderson.He was,but later released the same day only to leave for UK and never return back.And now every minister,committee is trying to put the blame on other's shoulder as to who was responsible for the extradition of Anderson at that very time.Will these politicians ever able to understand that how does it matter to the affected people whether Rajiv Gandhi or Narasimha Rao was responsible in his escape.What matters to them is the treatment and the quality of life they and their future generations will lead.The amount of compensation which was nearly US dollar 3.3 billion asked by the government of India from the UC was turned down to dollar 470 million .Still nobody knows what amount have actually been delivered to the victims and how much rests with the mediators. And yes aggravated people surely wish to see the perpetrators punished who made life a tough challenge not only for them but for their children too.

Coming of Age.....

Some 8-9 years ago, as a small kid I was a avid fan of hindi films.Since I was living in a small town there were not many theatres to watch out the movie.And to add more, cable connection came very late at my home.I remember we had weekly movies and other related award ceremonies coming every weekend nights at doordarshan. But since we would be having our school early morning the next day, we were forced to sleep without being able to watch the complete movie.I would feel frustrated and at times lying in my bed and would think "how nice it would have been if I could have a mini TV of my own in which I could see the complete movie...that too without anybody noticing!!!!!!"
Well that dream has been fulfilled with the coming of 3G technology.With mobile TV being a distinctive feature of it, a TV channel can be redirected to the subscriber's mobile where it can be viewed directly.
Although introduced in India currently, the same has been in use in South Korea and Japan since 2005.BSNL introduced the mobile TV application in India through its application "isee" in 2007 itself,3G features have further enhanced its features and coverage.High bit rate providing better resolution and dynamic swtching are some of the essential features. Peak bit rates of atleast 200kbit/sec is provided by the 3G.MTNL has been the first service provider for 3G in Delhi and Mumbai.With the successful bidding for 3G among all the private telecom operators for different regions ,this application is bound to play a major role in people's life by the year end or so.
Such great had been the impact of Science and technology in individual's life that now what still appears to be impossible will surely be possible in couple of years.Only point to notice is that uncontrolled use of any technology would only lead to problems. Imagine if I would have really got this 3G phone at that time...I would have watched my movie the whole night and might have skipped my school......which is not a good indicator either....

Shifting Colours

After 12 years of struggle and survival for existence, didi is finally cruising towards her goal.Didi for the masses of West Bengal Mamta Bannerji. With her recent success in the civic polls of West Bengal, it is quite evident that the mass is in a favour of change. They wish to see what benefit a different party with a different ideology can bring in their lives.
Rightly So!For almost 30 years they have riding on the promises and governance of the left front.And frankly what result have they got?Bengal is still in the initial phases of development. Kolkata is still struggling for big projects ,highly rated infrastructure whereas its counterpart such as hyderabad,bangalore have gone far ahead in the race. With didi's growing influence in the state politics, it will not be false to predict that there might be a turn around in the next state assembly elections slated for 2011.
And even when there is a time for the left front to reconsider their policies and their shortcomings, it is unlikely that they will ponder much about it. When it comes to development and new policy formation,CPI(M) are ought to take a backseat. Similar stories did happen in the past when the left front was a member of alliance in the previous UPA government. After much hoolah, they took their support back because of the Indo-US nuclear deal. Such attitude of the left was not taken in good spirit by the general public.
However, if we consider the reputation of Trinamool Congress in the state, just 2 years back, it was no less bad. With the Singur Nandigram episode where the Tata Motors had to shift their plant out of Bengal finally to PantNagar in Gujarat,thousands of people had lost their jobs.The land which she claimed was of farmers in which the plant was constructed had already been used therefore shifting it out did not do anything good but added to the chaos of the people.
But now people have changed their mindset.They want to give her a fair chance.Lets see if she can succeed in getting herself this opportunity at the next year polls.At the same time,she should avoid riding on two boats. As it is clearly evident that her main focus as of now is Bengal politics, then she should hand over the change of her Railway Ministry to some able MP from her party as her inability to perform in the Central Cabinet might hamper in her chief ministerial plans too.

Star Child....

In this competitive era,everyone is in a race to reach the zenith.From kids to adults all want to prove their might.They want to get the better of their competitors, neighbors ,relatives and even siblings. It takes my heart away to see young kids fighting it out hard for survival. As rightly mentioned by Aamir Khan in one of his movie, "everybody is in a race to win,no body wants to gain pure knowledge".Deserving or not, one wants to leave the other behind by hook or by crook.
Whether it may be for selection in some competitive exam, or participation in any reality show, kids are at tremendous pressure everytime. Whats even more concerning is that once they succeed they tend to feel superior than the one who made them what they are.
Lets take the case of little stars appearing on television ,films.At a tender age, they try out thier luck big.Or rather I would say that it is their ambitious parents who make them try big. For some parents its matter of just showoff in front of one and all and for some it is recognition of talent of their child. Once the child succeeds, he becomes a popular face with all. In some cases, these kids leave out their education for their work.This is not correct.One should remember that this fame and popularity can be taken away anytime but knowledge cant be. During hard times,it is your degree and your knowledge which will remain with you. I have seen many examples where the child left his education to become something big and later on losing wings from both sides.
Also children should be taught to be generous and humility should be his first virtue.We have many examples where these children go on to fight with their parents when they achieve big name.Imagine the condition the parents go through when a child humilates them in public eye.
Always remember that it takes years to build a name for yourself but one wrong step can instantly defame it. Being famous and successful is good, but one must be able to handle success with poise and dignity.

Live the moment....

First of all I would like to admit that my writing has got clumsier in the past few days as i have been out of touch with articles,news,writings...But as they say practise makes a man perfect so it will make this girl perfect too in some time.....
Today I will not write about the nation ,the government, the current affairs.I will neither be pessimist in my approach nor I will be in any sort of denial mode.Rather I would like to talk about life from my experience. I would like to share my experience as how life can be dealt in a happier and sleeker way.
Its normal for us in day to day life to get annoyed at petty things. Similarly small things make us happy too.We are excited at one moment and depressed at the very next.This is the way life carries on.Till life is there, there will be ups and downs.We dont have any control on that.But what we can do is to be happy in testing times.Yes ofcourse it's easy to write great quotes upon this but difficult to follow .I would like to share my personal experience to explain this to you.Recently I had to undergo some sort of small surgery.The thought of going into the operation theatre,with all the ECG,blood pressure measuring machines etc etc. haunted me so much that the night before operation I could not sleep just due to worry.I would suddenly wake up to panic imagining that Saline bottles, blood bottles are put all around me .Ofcourse all this sounds very stupid but this was what happening with me.The next day I had that surgery and ofcourse when I regained consciousness I was very relieved that finally this surgery is done but that night I could not sleep due to immense pain.There was ofcourse that saline bottle but it mattered none at all that night.I wanted to sleep but could not.There and then , I repented that the previous night inspite of being so fit and fine with no wounds, I wasted my sleep due to useless worry.
The summary of this whole story is that nothing in life is that worrisome as we take it.When it actually occurs it might not be that horrible as it appears.So try to live the present moment rather than moaning over the past or pondering about the future.
Young students before appearing for the board exams feels so much pressurized that they feel sacrificing their live is much easier than to face the challenge.I would appeal to all such students to atleast try and give out their best.Dont think it as a big task.Take life as it comes.
In testing times,always remember one thing.You are not the first one who is facing that problem.People have faced harder times than what you are currently and still are living their lives with flying colours.At such times just try to take inspiration from them and your burden will surely be eased.Atleast this is wht I have learnt from the past few months.
Cheers to the gift of God called LIFE!!!

India-a nation at war with itself...

So here I am again,back after a fortnight gap.In midst of this, witnessing one of the toughest week of my life. But to add to the dilemma, it was not only tough for me but for the entire nation. The downs by far exceeded the ups during this period.
There was a air crash, a rail crash , road mishap making people think twice before traveling in any mode of transport. Even after the death of close to 350 people in all these accidents, government and authorities continued to act irresponsibly. The Air India employees went on strike barely after 2 days of the mishap on issues of privatization adding to dilemma of the passengers. The zero tolerance level showed by these employees was inhuman. The state govt of west bengal and the rail minister still cannot get over their war and egos even after such a big rail tragedy.Perhaps both are too preoccupied with bengal civil polls to concentrate over this.As a result,maoists as always are set free to plan for their next carnage.
Every year we are witnessing rise in temperature due to global warming.Immense heat and temperature is also taking the toll on the people.Cyclone Laila hitting in the coastal regions of southern India caused a lot of disturbance and wreckage.
In short, the country witnessed one of the toughest times without any external threat. So is it under threat from its internal forces ???I think yes, the growing corruption, the declining tolerance are all enough for the people to worry about. Terrorists across the border can relax until the time India gets free from its internal issues as the damage caused by it is pretty much the same as by these terrorists.

Reality Bites..

The season of Reality shows is here again.Every national channel is on a competition at once.Ranging from dance, singing, acting and every kind of drama is seen all around. Well this is a nice source of entertainment for all the viewers like me, but certainly all is not well for the participants.
These shows may swagger of the high publicity they provide to its contestants, but are they really ready to face this challenge. Who started this long road of reality?Well,few might remember, it was the famous money maker "Kaun Banega Crorepati" anchored by Mr. Bachchan. It was a simple show where the participants just needed luck and basic knowledge to earn pelf for themselves. No stress of under performance,drama stuff by the judges and anything and I am not at all against such kind of reality TV.Infact, they were a source for knowledge for the viewers too.But then, started the great war.Dance reality like Dance India Dance, Singing reality like Indian Idol,Voice of India, etc etc were introduced by different channels.Aim-"To provide the country with fresh and raw talent..."DO you really think so???Nah....It was just "To be at the top of TRP chart by hook or crook"...
Well whats even more disturbing is that these shows are more focussed on individual's life and struggle rather than the ability.Every participant will try to woo by expressing how much toll he took to reach the zenith...C'mmon dear,every common man has the same aspirations....I am an IT professional and it took my near and dear ones enough to make me an engineer.Similar is the tale all around. But if I or everyone around starts making a big deal of it as shown by these shows, then at some point of time there will no value of emotions too...So try to keep these precious memories within you rather than a hot public gossip.
Then there is a Television Atyachar oops...Emotional atyachar. Well it's not the producers fault,rather it's ours that we like to view such mockery of relationships.That is what keeps it going.Other blunders closely in competition with such a bug are the annual television Swyamvars, sach ka saamna etc. etc.
OK, what I meant to say in the whole article is that,its not that only crap stuff is liked by the Indian audience,rather any show well scripted
and well organised will be well received as well.Only the makers need put to put in little more efforts and produce shows keeping in light the Indian culture.Lets take some lesson from the comedy reality like Laughter challenge, Comedy circus where we are less likely to complain that reality bites.....

Caste Count..

The dream to a caste-less society remains distant....With Govt. bending down to the demands of OBC leaders of including caste in 2011 census,it will be the first time post-independence after 1931 census.Since then, the caste factor was removed in a bid to remove casteism.
This decision of the Govt. does not go well down with me.Actually, the demand of the OBC leaders is not validated.OBC's have already become a dominant part of the Indian society. They have reservations in top institutions like IITs and IIMs. Yadavs have become a critical part of the Indian politics at the state and at the central level both. Thus, OBCs play an important role in the social as well as economical clout.Inspite of all this, they seek more special recognition.
Census of 1.2 billion population is a humongous task itself.It is estimated to be a 6000 crore(Indian currency) project with 25 lakh officials working all over the country to complete the task. It includes counting evry Indian of all age-groups from newly born to old.For the age group above 15 years,the individual will be required to give his or her personal details including name,age and other basic information.They will be required to give in their 10 finger impression and a recent picture.This all is done keeping in light of the Unique ID project which aims to provide a unique ID card and a unique number to every Indian. This project headed by Mr.Nandan Nilekani will help determine how much percentage of the population has access to internet,mobile phone ,drinking water and other basic amenities. It will be a major achievement in curbing terrorism as well. Such huge are the dimensions of this census that it will almost 2 years for completion.
Adding caste based distribution will only lead to more efforts, chaos and time.and I dont find any such major advantage which OBCs ,dalits or any such community can take from this caste based census.

The Beginning of an End....

So here it is...On May 6th,2010 came one of the most awaited decisions from the Special Court in Mumbai for which the entire nation was anticipating for.Nearly after One and a half years of Mumbai terror attacks, its lone surviving perpetrator, Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab was rewarded capital punishment under 4 charges and life imprisonment under 5 other charges.Prior to this,on 4th May the Special Court judge Justice ML Tahilyani found him guilty in 86 different cases.
Sentencing of Kasab has brought back smiles on hundreds and thousands of faces all over the country, particularly to those who lost their dear ones in this gruesome attack. The conviction and the speedy trial has bought back the faith of people on Indian judiciary. Justice Tahilyani has had a reputation for speedy and impartial trail for years.He was also the judge in the Gulshan Kumar murder case trail in 1997 where he had then convicted the accused,Mohammad Ali Rauf to life imprisonment. In the Kasab case, since he was the lone surviving terrorist ,any punishment other than death could not justify his acts.It is believed that during the trial sessions in court, Kasab would not have any remorse for what he did,instead he grinned. It was rightly mentioned in the conviction statement that such a terrorist is beyond repair to moralize his values.
As I was studying more about people like Kasab,I started to wonder what really leads them to these anti legal activities.Is it merely jihad that they are ready to lay their lives for??I really dont agree. If we look into the life of Kasab,he was born in a remote village, Faridkot in Pakistan. He hailed for a very poor family.As a child when he could not get money for new clothes from his parents, he turned to small crimes like robbery.It was after he saw the posters of jihad all around he went to its camp.He was promised a huge amount for himself and his family for successful conduct of Mumbai attacks.When he was caught alive,he requested the officials to kill him since jihad doesn't allow to be caught alive.Its "Do or Die .Then only Allah will bless you".
Well I am not at all trying to defend people like Kasab.What I am trying is to get into deep root cause of the people who commit these crimes.If Pakistan and other countries who actually habitats these crimes try to figure out these problems and work upon it rather than playing the blame-game, then may be one day we can proudly boast of a terrorism free world.

Silent Tears......

Human life is all about ups and downs. Perhaps, more downs than ups. This is because, good times move rather smoothly and at a rapid pace than the bad ones. But is it true? The actual reason what I find is that it is the human tendency to keep on pondering about the worse ,worst situation when he is in a bad situation. With such grief comes pain and sometimes tears too.
Tears are sometimes inevitable. Rarely does one finds a direct relation between pain and tears.But yes, when the pain exceeds its threshold, tears are almost inevitable.They roll down without any consent. The more harder you try to stop them ,the more they flow.
Sometimes I find it soothing to cry and sometimes it causes some disturbance too. Disturbance as it can unease me further or can cause unrest among the near and dear ones.In such times,it is best to let have SILENT TEARS. Well I felt this feeling myself for the first time yesterday.
Believe me or not,they eased my heart instantly!It is for this reason that I went on to write on it today. It was almost like sharing my heart out with someone.Well sometimes its good to sober quietly.

There is no right way of doing a wrong thing....

All have read and said about the April 6th,2010 massacre of Dantewada district in Chattisgarh. About 76 jawans of the CRPF were brutally savored by 2 groups of Maoists. Is this a justified act? Mass replies in a chorus "NO"....
This grave incident led me to think and inquire more about the history of Naxals.They originated from a small village 'Naxalbari' in West Bengal from the Communist party of India(Marxist).There were three main leaders agitating this "revolution" Kanu Sanyal who passed away recently, Charu Majumdar and Jangal Santhan. Their main agenda was to crush the upper class landlords, the ruling govt. by the use of military arms. This way they can liberalise themselves "the poor peasants and the tribals". Astonishingly, what started as a small movement was joined in by platoon of tribals, college going students leading to a creation of 30 Naxal organisations covering an estimated area of 92000 square kilometre till date!!!!
But the question is the same.Will this kind of brutality give them what they want? Emancipation can never be achieved upon the blood of innocent. These pusillanimous acts of ambushing and killing the sleeping soldiers,attacking innocent children in schools would rather toughen their way.They should ponder over the fact "If they are right in doing these of anti-legal activities, why haven't they achieved Renaissance till date?".
People ,politicians and media who earlier used phrases like " Naxalite, a problem to be solved and tackled" have now started using language of wipening them out.
On the part of the govt. also ,they need to change their course of plan. They should use "think first,act next" strategy. Merely taking blood for blood will be like "throwing a stone in return for stone in other's house leading to damage at both houses".One must follow a real scenario of Andhra Pradesh where when Late Mr.Y.S Rajashekhar Reddy took over as CM in 2004, went on peaceful negotiations with the Naxals leading to considerable satisfaction at both sides.
Whatever the future has in store, Maoists need to understand that their aggression and activities can never be justified, and that it will only lead to thickening of the wall .........

Ships are safer in the harbour,but they are not meant for the same....

Ok ,So here comes the second day and with it the second blog...This time I took a complex kinda title...just to check my ability....and let me clarify from now itself that I am confused....
But anyways lets start....the above statement can be justified only by some fair real life instance.Something, that is happening around me and it will be better if I dont contemplate or indulge in it, but the big question is "Till when?". Issues or problems cant be left as they are eternally.Politics is an ever booming agenda but quite outdated .Second option is terrorism , but its quite humongous and way ahead of my capability to explain.So why not relate the recent IPL controversy with it and see the outcome.
Recently, we saw the successful completion of IPL3. IPL has been a phenomenal success right from the day it arrived.No doubt, fashion, glamour, cash have been the dominating factors, but for a ardent cricket lover there was sufficient sports too.
Today, if I speak on behalf of a regular citizen, which I am ,will the recent Lalit Modi-Shashi Tharoor spat and subsequent events will have any impact on my love for cricket???Will I stop supporting and loving my fav. team in the IPL....?????Na....
But yes, if I have to dig the facts out and start thinking as a responsible member of the society, I wont be concerned as to how Modi became the highest tax payer suddenly in past 2 years or why he wasn't pellucid in his activities relating to IPL .....I would rather be asking the big question that why all the politicians have suddenly made him their main agenda.Why are all beleaguering him? Dont they have ample other issues other than this?Doesn't Mr. Sharad Pawar ,instead of concentrating on cricket should give more time and planning to curb the rising food prices.The inflation rate is touching skies but the govt. is still keeping its hands folded. Cant the Opposition parties suggest and work hand in hand with the govt to help the poor rather than asking for resignations every now and then....
I dont say that they should shut their eyes to whatever is happening around,but the area of concern definitely need to be more focused on pennyless and needy rather than the rich and influential who anyways will get full media glare anyhow..........

Blogging- a new experience.....

Hey friends,
This is my first blog and i m bit nervous....Although before this I have wrote a few times in my diary about a day or so when there was something extraordinary but blogging as such never came to my mind.Its just that day had to be today...So here i am about to start ...
First and foremost today I would like to restrict my boundaries to blogging -the topic itself.I believe that for a blogger the most crucial aspect is to keep his words and language simple .Its never necessary that his genre of writing might be understood by one and all.So for me blogging is to be-Be Simple and Be concise.
Blogging, I feel is the online conversion of personal diary writing for many.What people had been doing for years now has become public ,computerized and much more hyped.Earlier,I saw in movies people use to pen down their daily chit-chats,routines or their views regarding any social or neighbourhood event in a sheet of paper.The same has now a new term associated with it-"blogging".
Blogs can be of two kinds categorically-personal or commercial.Personal blogging is meant for the individual himself and for some of his buddies.Commercial blog has a much wider outlook expanding to the public, fans and most importantly the media.Example of such a commercial blog being the "Twitter" nowadays which every celebrity is making full use today.
Well ,for writers like me "the first timers" blogging is more than writing.It is brings within me some mixed emotions like "how will anyone who reads it respond to",am I right in the way to carry forward any topic etc etc.In a way I am feeling too shy of words today.But the answers to some of them are here too.This kind of blogging will some day or other make me influential in my words,I can be more sleeker in my writing and views.
I read an article in Wiki that commercial blogging sometimes carries with it unwanted controversies too.I might comment or write upon an organization which might not be liked by the same.Ha ha but I shoud not go too far to that end.Right now I am taking babysteps and this problem is way ahead to come..........