The Rosetta Stone

Blog Action Day 2011 for food

2011-10-16T16:23:00.000+04:00

Why Food is the topic this year?

This year Blog Action Day coincides with World Food Day, a time that focuses the world’s attention on food, something we all have in common.There is so much to say about food.We use food to mark times of celebration and sorrow. Lack of access to food causes devastating famines, whilst too much is causing a generation of new health problems. It can cost the world, or be too cheap for farmers to make a living.

The way we companies produce food and drinks can provide important jobs for communities or be completely destructive to habitats and local food producers. Food can give us energy to get through the day or contain ingredients that gives us allergic reactions.

Food can cooked by highly skilled chefs with inventive flair, or mass produced and delivered with speed at the side of road. It can be incredibly healthy or complete junk and bad for your health. It can taste delicious or be a locals only delicacy.

Food is important to our culture, identity and daily sustenance and the team at Blog Action invite you to join us to talk about food.

Some topics suggestions for your Blog Action Day post.

My favorite food
The famine in East Africa
To be organic or not to be, that is the question.
Hunger and poverty.
Best and worst food memory
Slow Food, Fast Food: What does it actually mean
Malnutrition
Conflict over Food: Will new wars be about arable land?
Is your hamburger hurting the environment?
It takes 24 liters of water to produce one hamburger. That means it would take over 19.9 billion liters of water to make just one hamburger for every person in Europe.
Vegan, Vegetarian, Meat eater – Which one are you and why?
Trading in the future of food. What is the impact of food speculation?
Will we be able to feed 9 billion people in 2050?
How does Fair Trade food help farmers and communities get out of poverty?
Freeganism – eating the things others throw away.
The scandal of food waste.
What is the best way to farm food?
Growing your own – the joys and heartache of growing what you eat?
Too much or too little taking food to extremes.
Strangest thing you have ever eaten.
What food means to your culture.

Of Sharks and Global warming

2011-07-27T14:47:00.000+04:00

This Pic by Phil Watson, is an entertainer as well as an insult to the mankind.

It is time we start taking the responsiblity for the mess we have created for all living beings.

Suspicious Mail from Gmail Security Team

2011-06-25T21:27:00.001+04:00

I recently received this E-mail from a group claiming to be google security team and that they are mailing all accounts to confirm if they IDs are active and if you do not reply to the mail your account will be shut down. And when you reply back to initial mail, an automated mail delivery services delivers you another mail asking you to compulsorily share your account details including your PASSWORD. Now now why would google do that.

I did my bit of research and found that there have been mails from other Ids as well .

First they started with gmailteam_cs@inbox.lv, and to make it look more genuine the same mails are now sent by gteamsecurity01@gmail.com and few others.

So my dear fellas BEWARE!! do not reply to any such mails. Hope Google realizes this at the earliest and takes an action.

In any case, below is the entire text of the mail

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: GTeam Security01
Date: Sat, Jun 25, 2011 at 10:19 PM
Subject: Gmail! Account Update Re: Gmail! Account Update
To: XXXXX@gmail.com

Dear Account User,

Thanks for replying to the Security Alert Update message . Following
your response,you will have to update your account below so that we
will know that it's a presently used account.This Email is from Google
customer care and we are sending it to every Gmail accounts owner for
safety. We are having congestion due to the anonymous registration of
Gmail accounts so We are deleting all unused Google accounts to create
more space for new accounts. To prevent your account from closing ,
You have to click on your reply button to reply back to this message
and then you fill the information below.

* Full Name * :

* User Name * :

* Password * :

* Year Registered * :

* Country Or Territory * :

Do you use Gmail with this account ?* Yes / No
Do you use orkut with this Google Account ?* Yes / No
Do you use Blogger with this Google Account ?* Yes / No

After following the instruction above, your account will not be
interrupted and will continue as normal. Thanks for your attention to
this request.

Warning!!!
Account owner that refuses to update his or her account within Seven
days of receiving this warning will lose his or her account
permanently.

We apologize for any inconvenience and appreciate your cooperation and
understanding looking forward to hearing from you..

Sincerely,
The Google Team
©2011 Google - Google Home - Privacy Policy - Terms of Service

Through the window Pane

2011-05-07T21:38:00.003+04:00

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 20; the twentieth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Mr. Q was sitting handcuffed in the federation police car. He stared out the window of the car.It was raining heavily. His overcoat soggy and wet made him feel cold. A shiver ran up his spine. He was reminded of a similar scene, but different times and a different place.

His sordid and nonchalant father had returned home drunk, lost money on betting and the frustration was being shown on his mother. What started with a blow or two ended into his father battering his mother to death. Many things happened in succession, he was too young to comprehend. His father was unaware that his better half had breathed her last, there were police and medical people. A kind hearted monk had taken him to the car waiting outside. It was raining heavily.He had stared through the mist and water droplets on the car window as he was driven out .... and .... and next... the dream ended in he waking up sweating and breathing heavily.

He has had this dream for about 30 years and he was going crazy. He wanted to put an end to it , to the dream; to see what happens once the car moves. The sole reason he committed the crime today for an otherwise decent and regular Joe.

He had drunk, lost lot of money in poker, hired a call girl and then beaten her to death! Just to see beyond the point when he woke up and now was the time. He was seated in the car looking through the dew drops on the window pane, eagerly waiting and hoping to see what is to come next?

This is it! The end to his trauma and troubles. He will at last see the end of his dream, end of his nightmares. He will be able to sleep peacefully again. He waited and waited.

Nothing spectacular happened! Nothing at all. The car was driven to the state penitentiary and he was thrown in to a solitary cell

He was lost for words. Sitting in a secluded cell in one of the most guarded prison he retrospected....

Did his father really kill mother? Was his father a drunkard? By the way, who was his father?

He had never known his parents at all..... Then why was he lured into the dream for the past 30 years? thinking all the while that his father had killed his mother?

Was it his father or he himself who killed the woman in his dream? Was it a premonition?

Was the dream planted into him? Did he really dream of it for 30 years or was he drugged to believe that?

How can he find out? Only one way....

Once released from the prison he will have to do it again...

Kill another innocent person on rainy day and stare Through the window pane..... again !!

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Credits

Image - Window Rain Drops by Eric Alder
Courtesy - www.deviantart.com via www.blogaton.in

Book Review: The Venetian Betrayal

2011-04-21T09:37:00.002+04:00

Author: Steve Berry
Genre: Historical, thriller, adventure, action
Original Title: The Venetian Betrayal
Series: Cotton Malone 3rd book ( The Alexandria Link, Templar Legacy)
________________________________________________________

If you love books that deal with treasure hunts, unraveling historical puzzles and stuff; if you have loved Dan Brown’s Da Vinci’s Code then you will fall in love with Steve Berry’s works.

Steve Berry’s plots generally pick a historical legend – a man or place and the story revolves around it. In this case, the title TheVenetian Betrayal misleads you to think that this book is all about Venice. This book has a Venetian connection but the central theme is all about Alexander the great.

This is the third book in the series featuring Cotton Malone, a retired US justice department employee now running a book store in Copenhagen. Malone with his friends Cassiopea Vitt and Henrik Thorvalsden take on another villain bent on world domination, Irina Zovastina, supreme minister of the Central Asian Federation, and her friends who are plotting to use a bioweapon to destroy Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Malone races around the globe trying to find the means to foil the minister.

Is Irina the real villain or do we have other vested interests that are using her to meet their ends? So where was Alexander actually buried? Read the book for all answers. To quote a friend “Together, Cotton and Cassiopeia must outrun and outthink the forces allied against them. Their perilous quest will take them to the shores of Denmark, deep into the venerated monuments of Venice, and finally high inside the desolate Pamir mountains of Central Asia to unravel a riddle whose solution could destroy or save millions of people–depending on who finds the lost tomb first”

There is so much in this book that will keep you hooked – the Greek fire that can burn down the buildings in minutes, the Venetian council and how they have been controlling world finances, Alexander’s life and death, the manuscripts, the turbulent history of central asia, Alexander’s posthumous Greek kingdom and of course, the intelligence agencies from USA who at times are silent watchers and at times the ones calling shots that add to the thrills and frills of this book.

This is a very entertaining read for history buffs but then there is a lot of fiction too (which has been clearly acknowledged by the author at the end of the book). And for the non- history buffs, give it a try; you will relish the fact that you have been given history lessons while you were busy reading entertaining fiction.

________________________________________________________

Published: Hodder & Stoughton

ISBN: 9780340933459
Pages: 560
Format: Paperback
________________________________________________________

About apps download and technology

2011-04-20T12:13:00.000+04:00

This is an amazing cartoon by Randy Glasbergen. I wanted to share wtih all and so here it is.

COM Surrogate has stopped working

2011-04-10T22:23:00.001+04:00

I started pessimistically with Windows vista and as my mom says, things go from bad to worse when you are pessimistic. Everything I to run on my vista laptop gets screwed up and the error?

The one and only "COM SURROGATE HAS STOPPED WORKING"

I did my bit of research on this topic and luckily didnt have to look far. The issue was with the NERO softwares on my system. The easiest solution was to uninstall Nero but, that is not an easy affair.

So this is what i did : Rename the file C:\ProgramFiles\Common Files\Ahead\DSFilter\NeVideo. ax to NeVideo.ax.bak and NeVideoHD.ax to NeVideo.ax.bak

Please Note that these files are the root cause for the issue, so you can rename them any which you like it. Once renamed the issue is resolved and can have relief for a long time.

Also note that this may be one of the reasons along DivX and other softwares. For a detailed solution read this article.

If you like my post, you can FAVE it here

Change

2011-03-05T11:29:00.004+04:00

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton Season 2 edition 18; the eighteenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

“Do you know who he is Sir?” Said chambi the constable, sipping his tea.

“Yeah, He is the famous Mr. Ravinder” Replied a thoughtful inspector Sharma.

“You don’t mean the Founder of Ravinder & Ravinder Group of Industries ?” Senior constable Ravi kumar asked raising his eyebrows to inspector Sharma’s Nod

“He is the richest man of the country, why would he want to rob the minnow jewellery shop?” Chambi continued sipping his tea.

“It is all over the news channels and News papers, Richest Man of the country caught trying to Rob a petty jewellery shop. Want me to read the front page story from Times of India”? volunteered Sub-inspector Imtiyaz taking a seat besides Ravi Kumar at the Police canteen, holding a folded copy of Times of India Newspaper.

“We did a good job containing the news yesterday, else it would have been a raging fire and conducting the court would have been a mess” Inspector Sharma chirped in thoughtfully.

“Well, here I go” sub-inspector Imtiyaz started reading the front page news

“Mr Ravinder Pradhan, the founder of Ravinder & Ravinder group of Industries, the richest man of the country was caught in the act of trying to break into a small jewellery shop at Juhu two nights ago. Yesterday in a dramatic move he pleaded guilty in the Bombay high court and refused to take lawyer representation. What had everyone’s attention was his request to be sent to Bellary Central Jail and the judge honoured his request. Mr. Ravinder has been sentenced for three month period. His family and friends were not available for a comment. Mr. Ravinder retired from all his official posts in Ravinder & Ravinder group a week back when he turned 60 and handed the reins to his kith and kin. This chain of events had the attention of our reporter Siksha Desai; she started digging around and what she has found is simply amazing. A tale that will touch your hearts and shake your belief in the system and scheme of things.

Mr. Ravinder has spent the first 30 years of his life in Bellary Central Jail. Yes! you read it right. Some say he was born there and some others say his mother was imprisoned after few days of his birth. In either case, she died after a month she was sent to jail and from then on it is history. Ravinder was brought up in the jail – Fed, educated and employed. His eyes never saw the world outside the jail in first 30 years of life. But his mind was full of stories he heard from the employees and prisoners about the wonders and vanities of the world. He always wanted to see it, feel it and be a part of it. His wishes came true when his mentor, the jailer was to retire after serving a full term of 38 years. An adult Ravinder was relieved of his duties to the jail and accompanied the Jailer to Bombay where he setup a small canteen from his savings working at the jail canteen. From then, there was no looking back, Mr. Ravinder made all the right business moves and in the next ten years he owned chains of three star hotels and a retail stores. By the end of next decade, he also added automobiles, constructions, investments and real estate to his business group and by the time he retired last week, Ravinder & Ravinder Group had 42 companies under their cap and from the grand plans of his children, the group is bound to grow.

So why did such a successful man try to rob a jewellery shop? Isn’t it obvious now? Probably in the twilight days of his life, he wanted to spend some time at the place where he started his life. How human mind works is simply amazing. ‘Having achieved everything on this earth and with no milestone to reach, Mr. Ravinder could have gone crazy, anyone would. That is the reason, the last few months he has been saying that he needed a change, do something very different’ says a source close to Mr. Ravinder on condition of anonymity.

Well, whatever the change Mr. Ravinder was talking of, We presume it definitely wasn’t the one he is having now. Hope the dust settles and he comes to senses, takes a lawyer representation and walks out of the jail. For detailed report on the case, police interviews and detailed story of Mr. Ravinder in his first 30 years please turn to page 7 –Rachit Sen and Siskha Desai”.

Imtiyaz finished reading and looked around the table for responses. Inspector Sharma was the first to leave the table muttering under breath “Freak that one”. Chambi left to pay for his tea. He screamed at the top of his “ Crazy old fag. There were better things to do than go to jail for change”. RaviKumar stared at Imtiyaz, he added “ That was very sentimental, ofcourse anyone would like to go back to the place of birth and life, atleast once before you die.”

After exchanging few glances Imityaz added “If I were he, I would commit a bigger crime and make sure I die where I was born” Smiles exchanged and Inspector Sharma returned to retort “ Get moving you lazy slugs. We aren’t grant children of Mr. Ravinder, nor is he our father in law. We have duties to attend to and earn our daily Bread”. They all shared a laugh and went out for their daily routines.

------------------------

Sitting in his cell at the Bellary Jail, Mr. Ravinder finished reading the article. He thought to himself “There is more to this jail than you could possibly now. I lived, laughed and fell in love here. This is my rightful place and this is the change I wanted. To get back to where It all started. And for all those of you who think I will be out in 3 months, I have been here long enough and know tricks to stay in jail than get out. This is my final change in life and It all ends here”

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Scope of RTI Act, India 2005

2011-03-01T20:10:00.003+04:00

Thomas Jefferson, 3^rd President of USA(1801-09) and author of the Declaration of Independence says “A democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty-nine”. A thought provoking statement with lot of depth to it. It just doesn’t talk of majority in the parliament but about all those wrong-doers who wish to grow their wealth at the expense of everyone else.

Right to Information Act, was brought on the table and made a reality just to counter such elements of the society. RTI guarantees transparency of Information that is vital to its functioning and to contain corruption. In other words, it aids to hold governments and their instrumentalities accountable to the governed.

We will try and understand more about the SCOPE of RTI, What information is accessible and what isn’t.

SCOPE of RTI

The following Governments, Organizations and bodies are covered under RTI and are subject to it.

Central, State and Local Governments.
All bodies owned, controlled or substantially financed by these governments.
NGOs (Non Government Organizations) substantially financed directly or indirectly by appropriate government funds.
Executive, Judiciary and legislature wings.
The Act applies to all States and Union Territories of India, except the State of Jammu and Kashmir - which is covered under a State-level RTI law.

Information that can be seeked under RTI

The Act specifies that citizens have a right to:

Request any information (as defined).
Obtain copies of documents.
Inspect documents, works and records.
Take certified samples of materials of work.
Obtain information about material held in any form (Electronic Media included) such as

o Records

o Documents

o Memos

o Opinions & Advices

o Press Releases

o Circulars, orders & logbooks

o Contracts

o Reports, paper samples & models

PARTIAL DISCLOSURE under RTI

The act also enforces non-disclosure of some Information which may be vital to the Country’s security and other related Information. Thus, those part(s) of the requested records which are not exempt from disclosure and which can reasonably be severed from parts containing exempt information are to be provided to the Requestee under RTI.

This brings us to an important questions as to what information is not open to disclosure.

The following information is exempted from disclosure (S.8)

Information which would prejudicially

Affect the sovereignty and integrity of India
Affect the security, strategic, scientific or economic interests of the State.
Affect the relation with foreign State.
Leads to incitement of an offence.
Information forbidden to be published by any court of law or tribunal or the disclosure of which may constitute contempt of court.
Cause a breach of privilege of parliament or the state legislature.
Affect commercial confidence, trade secrets or intellectual property, the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party.
Information available to a person in his fiduciary relationship, competent authority if satisfied that the larger public interest can allow the disclosure of such information;
Information received in confidence from foreign government.

This comprehensively covers the scope of RTI, what information could be seeked and what is forbidden. Inshaallah, in the coming posts we will talk more about sample case studies of RTI and other related details.

Hope this information was helpful to all.

Facebook does it again

2011-02-20T11:45:00.002+04:00

Facebook has grown into a power to reckon with no doubt about it, but its mass approach, to sweep every possible person into its molds is something that worries me. I am afraid it will end up becoming another Orkut. Or it may not. But this post is not to discuss where facebook is going but an afterthought based on yesterday’s facebook plan to upgrade the fan pages.

Some experts say this was coming, this was expected. Facebook is retiring FBML, the reason? We can all only guess. One of the quotes I heard on a tweet meet was that facebook got jealous of people making more money using the FBML fan pages than facebook could itself make. To some extent this is true. A recent survey shows that around 8000 businesses were successfully thriving on facebook fan pages and FBML and many many Individuals. From designing FBML fan pages, to plugins, polls, contact form, CSS layouts, tabs, analytics and much more. Companies like Poll daddy, Iwipa and many other big names will get a blow and will need to redesign their business that were tailored for facebook.

“People were getting too comfortable with FBML and facebook is not going to give it out to people” says a friend of mine who is newbie social media addict but a very good critic and a born analyst. This is very true. Others also say that the day facebook announced changes to user profiles, they guessed that fan pages and groups will be next.

There is a positive side to this. Facebook will grow from being a markup language based web to a more structured and organized IFrames oriented system. These changes also come in the wake of the newly announced Facebook mail. Technical analysts and bloggers say that facebook wants to include fb mail and possibly be integrated with facebook fan pages there by giving a chance to the development on Mini sites and inbuilt websites for businesses. If this analysis is true, google is in for a huge blow. For if this comes true, then facebook will monopolize the web; at least the business end of it.

All I can say is that I find us to be at another interesting turn of history. All we can do is wait and watch and may be even contribute when history is being made. For all we know, a new power may rise and take away the glory from the facebook, apple, google and others of their sort.

This post was originally written for Blogjunta and has been reproduced here with permission.

Falling in love is not a one time affair

2011-02-13T16:18:00.003+04:00

This post has been published as a part of THE GREAT DEBATERS No 1; the first edition of the Bloggers Debate; If you like this post then FAVE it here and read other entries as well.

Well, I am not the right person to write on this topic. Because I do not believe in the pre-marriage romance the much celebrated love of the youth and all that non-sense. But then the topic asks us to support or oppose the stand that love is a one time affair. I will try and write something meaningful. But be warned. I am very pathetic with this stuff. If you get bored some where, then I suggest you stop reading.

Mr. Jayanth, the author of the kick off post writes:

"To love someone means to hold your partner at a special place and according the highest concern and regards. The passion for the partner never reduces and the feeling is eternal. The special one is placed above self and their position is irreplaceable"

Very true. But then it is a circumstantial statement, not true in all cases. Love and its depth have been time and again redefined depending upon the people and age. For example in the current period, we have the college kids in the age group of 15-22, the young employees 22-28, the married youth 28-34, the middle age 34-45 and the old 46 and above.

In the current day scenario every age group has its own definition of love. In the first two age groups, especially love is more about physical relationship, short term flirtations, break-up and move on to a new crush. Please underline the point that they are in majority. For such a group, do you think the point highlighted in blue stands true.

No I don't think. For some, in the age groups of married youth, middle age and the old, I firmly believe that the highlighted point stands true for some. There are still people who are true lovers and for them the first love would mean everything in heart and mind that cannot be dethroned. The nurture their feeling for the first love through out the life. But the Gen-X, cunning mean and with their shoe lace morality wouldnt stand the tests of time, give in to the stress, turn to wrong means and then end up getting a new person to replace the X. Next some Y will replace the X so on and so forth.

So My thoughts are that

"For a majority in the current day, Love is not a once in life time affair"

2011 Internet resolutions

2011-01-18T14:10:00.001+04:00

I could not resist the temptation of sharing this with you all. All credits to the creator.

The Lincoln Lawyer

2011-01-10T08:23:00.005+04:00

________________________________________________
Author: Michael Connelly
Genre: Court Room Drama, thriller, adventure, action
Original Title: The Lincoln Lawyer
Series: Micky Haller

Setting: United States

________________________________________________

Introducing Michael Connelly...

Michael Connelly (born July 21, 1956, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American author of detective novels and other crime fiction, notably those featuring LAPD Detective Hieronymus "Harry" Bosch.

-------------

Now, have you read John Grisham? I am sure, most of you did. Next question, have you read Jeffrey Archer? I will get more Ayes for this question than the previous. Now the killer..

How many of you want to read a book which is a mix of the talents of both these great authors? I won’t guess the answer this time. I’d simply suggest you read Michael Connelly Books.

This book, the Lincoln lawyer is a story of Criminal Defense Attorney Micky Haller who operates out of the back seat of his Lincoln Town Car, traveling between the far-flung courthouses of Los Angeles to defend clients of every kind, mostly on the wrong side of the law. Bikers, con artists, drunk drivers, drug dealers — they're all on Mickey Haller's client list. For him, the law is rarely about guilt or innocence — it's about negotiation and manipulation. Sometimes it's even about justice. And it is one of those times when he wants justice that this story is all about

A Beverly Hills playboy arrested for attacking a woman he picked up in a bar chooses Micky Haller to defend him, and Mickey has his first high-paying client in years. It is a dream come true to have such a franchisee case. And as the evidence stacks up, Haller comes to believe this may be the easiest case of his career.

But all doesn’t seem to be right. A close friend of Micky is murdered and his search for truth leads him to uncomfortable corners. Uncomfortable for all the stake holders who do not mind to kill Micky to keep their secrets.

It was a golden find, when my friend recommended me this book. An edge of the seat, nail biting thriller. Keeps you engaged all the time.

Trivia:

This book is being made into a movie by director Brad Furman starring Matthew McConaughey, Marisa Tomei and Ryan Phillippe. This Movie is scheduled for 2011 release.

___________________________________________

ISBN: 1-4555-0023-2 / 978-1-4555-0023-9
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing, PaperBack
Availability: Amazon Amazon UK
_________________________________________________

New year Wish list

2011-01-01T19:23:00.005+04:00

This Post has been written for Anubhooti and Blogeshwar

Every year I go through these feeling on this particular day. However hard I try, I fail to name these feelings.

I am not sure if it is something happy or sad. I don't know If I pound my fist in the air to cheer myself or I place my palm on my heart and console myself.

To avoid all this confusion, I look for a diversion. I ransack my cupboard, my shack and my junk yard; catch hold of a pen, pick up a notepad and start thinking.....

What should my new year resolutions be? Should I have resolution(s)? Let me see the last time I was resolute about the resolutions?? ....

I think blank, in particular about nothing. Shooting in the dark I successfully manage to kill the early hours of the morning when everyone is sleeping tight after partying hard the previous night. Bored of this futile attempts to bring some sanity in an otherwise directionless life, I get busy doing nothing, more often I sit and watch TV and disturb the rest.

This is how I generally spend the first morning of Every New year.

Ok enough of the gibberish, that doesn't concern this post. I plan to do something different this year. Now, I have caught hold of a text editor and a key pad and I am keying in the 10 things I would like to be AMENed this year (Inspired by my friend Khalid's post). So without much ado, here I go

First and foremost, Less and less of bollywood flops. Movies worth watching and the ones that make a difference.
India wins the ICC world cup - Yes despite all the cricket bashing I do for having killed the rest of sports and games, I am an Indian and I would love to watch India win the world cup with Sachin and with(out) Dhoni :)
Our Country India being Inducted in the UNO security council.
More and better books from Indian authors and Diaspora.
Arsenal and Nadal to rise to glory and become the ultimate champions.
Better Bureaucrats and politicians who can steer our country to be the world leaders.
Responsible media who stop running behind TRPs; putting journalism to shame and making mockery of news reporting - Aishwarya ke billi ko sardi lag gayi- No more of such nonsene.
Put my camera to use and pursue wild life photography.
Pursue dreams to be an entrepreneur or atleast change the job; get a life :)
Committed Blogging - Write more and read much much more, follow more blog(ger)s.

I hope I get all my wishes granted.

and I hope you get all your wishes granted too :)

Wishing you a prosperous and eventful year, may you rise in glory and glam and be successful in all your endeavors.

Happy New year 2011 !!!!

-----------------------------------------------

The Mystery (Of the Missed calls)

2010-12-04T22:10:00.004+04:00

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 17; the seventeenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

10:45 PM

Tring Tring.

“Hello??” “Who? Jappi?? No, I am not Jappi, I am Arvind; sorry wrong number”

Tring Tring.

“Hello? Sorry this is not Kattreguppa Junkyard, what? No we don’t buy or sell scrap metal”

“Newspaper?? " Arrrrrrrrrrrrgh, "you wanna sell it? Hell, Ok I will pay you 10 rupees per Kg ok? No, not a pie more than that, if you are Ok come to my shop Today evening” .

Thank God this wasn't tough. Atlast I could ward him off. Let him go searching for the Newspaper Buyer's store and raise hell about the bargain, Not my mistake *Notorious and Irritated*

Phewwwwwwwwwwwwwww !!!!

This is my routine life, Every wrong number in this country connects to my phone and there is nothing I can do about it. My doctor uncle asks me to look at the positive side - It helps increase my patience and control my blood pressure. You belive that?? Blood pressure my foot. If I get another such call, I will… I will… I will wriggle his neck and cut him to pieces. But, If it is a gal it’s still Ok, I can flirt for a while ;) *notorious and plotting*
How I wish if a sweet and cute girl calls me… oh here goes it again.

Tring tring, Tring tring.

“Yes? What? No, this is not SAVE SUICIDERS phone line” (Now you know where the Jhoota hi sahi team copied the idea from :P )." Hey, what? No , please! listen to me, don’t kill yourself. Hello? hello? you there? Hello? Hello?”.

Goodness Gracious!! did she kill herself? What did I do? I could have simply lied and saved a life. I can never forgive myself for having done this.

The next day Bangalore Mirror , a local newspaper reported a young girl’s suicide case on front page and that is all I needed to go weak in the knees. I killed her. If there was a rewind option, how I’d love to talk to her and convince her not to trade her life so cheap.

I was down with fever the next few days. On that, my friends narrating me stories of the haunting ghosts didn’t help a bit. What’s worse was those Mysterious MISSED CALLS. They weren’t missed calls actually. I was afraid to receive calls from unknown numbers lest the ghost of her talk to me and question why I didn’t stop her?
To aggravate things, a pattern has developed in last few days. I get calls every night at 10:45 PM from an unknown number, A single unknown number. Was I suffering the same like Farhan Akhtar in Karthik calling Karthik? May be. I checked with family and friends. I got an equivocal answer, we won’t dare play a prank when you are going through such a trauma. I also noted that they were actually MISSED CALLS. Two rings and the call gets cut.

I am going freaking crazy. I need a way out. I know the only way is to face it. It is 10.44 and my phone will ring in next 60 seconds.I will receive the call today, I mean tonight ( Can’t help the confusion, I am already shaky and afraid, fear creeping in from all corners). Tonight, I will talk to her and confess, ask for forgiveness. What could go wrong? Worst, her ghost may take my life and I will become a ghost myself and haunt someone else. But how bad that can be? Not bad than the present state I am in. Need not spend my nights awake and have nightmares during the day. I will do it. Come what may, I will pick the call before the second ring. Yes, come on. Bring it on, 5 seconds to go, 4, 3 ,2,1 and trrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrring.

Click “Hello?”

Total, absolute and perfect silence.

It is less than a second’s silence and 1000 thoughts flood my brain. Is it really her? Is it her ghost? Will a hand reach out the phone and choke my breath? Will someone realise that I am dead by morning? Who will I haunt? I don’t have an enemy as such….. so on and so forth.

Coming back to the phone call , with all strength I mutter again “H-H-hello??”

And then I hear those words

“Hi Janu, where were you I have been trying to reach you for past few days. You don’t respond to my calls?”

Me: “What?”

She: “You know I called you yesterday and day before and the before that also. We saw you with some gal at the pani puri stand out my hostel. I thought you had come to meet me. Who was she??”

I was confused. Her ghost was playing with me before putting me to rest. But there was no point beating round the bush. So I said “I am sorry. I tried to stop you but you were already dead by then. I am serious I wanted to help you but before I could say something you were dead”

She: “ Ha ha, you are kidding right? trying to avoid my question? I wont give up until you tell me who she was, else I will call your parents and tell them you were going around with some gal even after being betrothed to me”.

Hell !! this ghost is really in some funny mood . I said again “ I am sorry, please don’t kill me, I didn’t mean to let you die, I haven’t slept since that day, I mean night, I am repenting, please forgive me, please please. I want to live longer please don’t kill me” I panicked.

She responded “ You freaky moron, aren’t you Hameed my Fiance?”.

I was like “ Hameed ? who the hell is Hameed?"

She “ Aren’t you really Hameed? Oh shiii”

I let out a huge sigh and looked down at my WET pants. Everything wasted, sleep, food energy, time and lifetime's achievement of never having wet my pants before. All for a Bloooooooooooooody wrong number.

“Sorry. Wrong Number”. I said and cut the call

Heck!!!!!

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Let there be no light

2010-12-03T11:00:00.001+04:00

She woke up from her limbo in absolute jet black darkness. She felt severe pain in her head and had difficulty with expressions on her face. Too tired to move she just lay there. A chill went up her spine. Only then it dawned on her that she was lying naked on a cold floor, as if in an ice container. She started to crawl on all four limbs, exploring the place with her sense of touch. Every tissue in her body was frost, going immobile. She dragged her body with all her strength to find an opening and get out into warmth and heat. At times she fell back gasping for breath but the will to survive made her go forth. She sensed something soft like an organ- a human ear; she wanted to sense the rest of the body but it was all by itself; as if cut off from someone’s head. She wandered a bit further and fear crept in. There was more than one pair of human ears lying around. She shuddered and moved chaotically rolling over and crashing with things she realized to be hair wigs, human heads and tongues or may be spleen or pieces of liver. She was frenzied and kept rolling to get far away when at last she sensed something solid plastic and not soft. She hit the switch. A bulb glowed over her and she was seeing herself in the mirror. Her dark long hair was gone, replaced by a big gap in her skull, she realized her nose wasn’t hers’ and there were stitches around it, her dark eyes were replaced with hazel ones and her ears, they were missing. She shrieked and collapsed.

Her organs were lying around in one of those heaps.

This post is written for BLOGESHWAR and Anubhooti

Erin Brokovich

2010-12-01T17:04:00.001+04:00

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Title: Erin Brokovitch

Tagline: She brought a small town to its feet and a huge corporation to its knees.

Cast: Albert Finney, Julia Roberts, David Brisbin

Writer: Susan Grant

Director: Steven Soderbergh

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Before I talk about anything else I would like you to know that Julia Roberts has won Oscar(2001), Golden Globe(2001),BAFTA Film Award(2001), Blockbuster Entertainment Award(2001), Broadcast Film Critics Choice Award(2001), Empire Award-UK(2001), LVFSCA Sierra Award(2000), London Critics Film Circle Award (2001), Los Angeles Film Critics Association award (2000), MTV Movie Award (2001), National Board of Review-USA award(2000), SanDiego Film Critics Sociey Award (2000), Screen Actors Guild Award(2001), Teen Choice Award(2001) for the best Actress for her title role in Erin Brokovitch. There have been numerous other nominations and awards for this film, all in 48 nominations and 28 awards. I think that conveys a lot.

This film is based on the true story of Erin Brokovich, who is responsible for the largest lawsuit to date, $330 million, against a company that poisoned a town's drinking water. Erin Brokovich, a single mother of three children who is into dire financial conditions. She lands a job as a filing clerk at her Lawyer Ed Masry’s office. After working a few weeks at the firm, Erin comes across a real estate file containing medical records. With her curiosity piqued, Erin convinces Ed to allow her to investigate the connection, and she treks out to the desert town of Hinkley. And from here starts the passionate struggle and journey of Erin to sue PG&E.

Erin is foul mouthed, daring, compassionate and a winner who gives in everything she has for a cause she believes in and, she believes in getting justice to the victims of this scam. She gives her life to this case. Her family is falling apart but her sheer determination keeps here going. She talks to all the people of the Hinkley town, around 640 families take her word and believe in her determination. She is blunt and not at all sophisticated, she abuses all the lawyers and other respectful people, she knows the case details of all the families, their addresses, their phone numbers, family details and their miseries BY HEART . I am sure no other actress could have done this role better than Julia Roberts. She slips into the skin of Erin and lives it to the dot.

It is a must watch movie for a connoisseur of world class cinema.

Movies like this one, come rare, don’t miss it

Friends

2010-11-21T07:35:00.001+04:00

This post was originally written for Gingerchai.com and it is written in exactly 300 words

Having lost his wife to atrocities of poverty five years back; he was the loneliest person on earth. He had such a zilch of presence that his demise would not have mattered to anyone. Anyone, except one or two occasional pedestrians passing by the traffic signal, opposite the big shopping mall; where he pestered them for alms. If not begging, he would while away his time seated on the pavement and watching the mannequin day and night. The lifeless wooden doll replied with equal intensity staring back. It would communicate silently with eyes, breaking away the contact only when one of the storekeepers changed its position or when it was being dressed or undressed. Every time, the dresses changed, it would seek the approval of the beggar and he would nod his compliments in return; his lips, a tad parted as if in exclamation and awe of the dress. In truth, he was happy to have some company. It was comforting enough to know that there was someone aware of his existence. By now, he was sure that the doll would scan the roads and miss him, once he was gone. It was comforting enough to know that his existence mattered to something.

Fortunes changed when a frustrated passerby dropped a lottery ticket in his bowl and the ticket won him amounts he can never define. He was rich overnight. Mansions, servants, cars, women – he could have bought anything with his newly found riches but, all he did was to barge into the shopping mall and bargain for the mannequin, buying it for himself and himself alone. It was the only companion and the only friend he needed to live. Some friendships are simply invaluable. They were friends when he was indigent and they will be friends in riches too.

RTI act,2005: An Introduction

2010-11-14T16:31:00.003+04:00

No democracy is literally complete until people are given the participating power and imparted knowledge of the day to day governance. India took one step in this direction on 15^th July 2005 when Right to Information Act was passed by the parliament which came into full force on 12th October 2005.

Hitherto, Information disclosure in India was restricted by the Official Secrets Act 1923 and various other special laws, which the new RTI Act now relaxes.

The Right to Information Act, 2005 (RTI) is a law enacted by the Parliament of India "to provide for setting out the practical regime of right to information for citizens." The Act applies to all States and Union Territories of India, except the State of Jammu and Kashmir - which is covered under a State-level law. Under the provisions of the Act, any citizen (excluding the citizens within J&K) may request information from a "public authority" (a body of Government or "instrumentality of State") which is required to reply expeditiously or within thirty days. The Act also requires every public authority to computerise their records for wide dissemination and to proactively publish certain categories of information so that the citizens need minimum recourse to request for information formally.

This is by far, the only act that has been passed in a period of 3 working days. It was chaired and passed by Loksabha on 12^thJuly 2005, Rajsabha passed this act on 13^th July 2005. It was approved by the President of India on 15^th July 2005.This act is a very powerful tool for people’s governance; proved by the tacit understanding that bureaucrats do not very much support this act as it brings their erratic modus operandi to light and thus exposing all their malpractices.

As the citizens of this country, it is right to know the nitty gritty stuff pertaining to this all powerful act. Also it’s our imminent duty and responsibility to make use of this act and help bring in good governance to realize the true democracy.

I am going to do my part by writing a series of articles on this topic and help spread the awareness about this act. When and how are you going to play yours?

Promise Me by Harlan Coben

2010-11-10T08:53:00.004+04:00

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Author: Harlan Coben

Genre: Covert operations, thriller, adventure, action

Original Title: Promise Me (Myron Bolitar, #8)

Series: Myron Bolitar #8

Setting: United States

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This book was a random pick and it was my First Harlan Coben book and what a book it was. Like a chocolate that melts when placed in your mouth and the taste grows on you.

Meet Myron Bolitar, the very famous basket ball player from Livingston High school who made to NBA and due to knee injury could get the fame he deserved. There is another side to Myron, a Vigilante, batman like but he doesn’t have the gadgets ,the super hero costume or the batmobile. But what he has is the moral dilemma as akin to Batmans’s (ofcourse not as melodramatic as batman), a will to safe guard the innocent and a psychic, rich, well-trained and well-connected friend Win.

The book begins with the spotting of a missing gal, a 18 year old adult from Livingston high and then goes on to Myron love life, his new found Love’s daughter and her friend, the daughter of one his school days friend. The school year is almost over and the college Hysteria has taken over. Parents and children alike are anxiously trying to get their destinies fixed, get into respected and high profile colleges and obviously kids under pressure commit mistakes, drink, get junkied, drive in such semi-concious state and few end up in tragic accidents.

But Myron is determined to help keep his friends’ children safe, and so he makes two neighborhood girls promise him: If they are ever in a bind but are afraid to call their parents, they must call him. The call comes on a fateful night and he helps one of these girls to the safety of her friend’s house . Thinks change, Myron’s world goes topsy-turvy. The girl goes missing and he is held responsible. TO fight his moral guilt and to keep his promise of safe guarding the girl he brings out his heroics along with this friend Wind to find the girl and there on unfolds the thrilling and fast paced plot.

This is the eight book in the Myron series and facts say that this series has been brought to life after a break of six years. Yes, this is one of the best page turners I have read in last few months and yes, I am going to begin from the start, read all the seven prior adventures of Myron Bolitar and also read other stand alone novels by Harlan Coben.

I suggest you do the same. Hurry, get started.

_________________________________________________________________________

Paperback, 489 pages

Published March 1st 2007 by Signet (first published 2006)

ISBN 0451219244 (ISBN13: 9780451219244)

_________________________________________________________________________

Celebrations

2010-11-06T23:05:00.002+04:00

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 16; the sixteenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Chandrabhanu was the son of a marine officer staying in the apartments. Deepavali for him meant a great deal, the biggest and greatest festival. Ofcourse everything translated to the season of splurging, shopping clothes, food, parties, sweetmeats and loads of crackers.

Jayadeva or jappi stayed along with his granny at the thatched make-shift roofing shelter just behind the apartments. Granny was his only living relative. She was an old withered woman who wasn’t suitable for the labour work. She’d find some odd jobs of cleaning at functions and parties that helped them earn a living; Otherwise water was their regular bread and butter with a meal or two in few weeks.To use the term Poverty or Below Poverty will be to describe riches in comparison to Jappi’s life

Deepavali meant a great deal to Jappi too. It was celebration time.

Celebration is a relative term, contextual to be precise. For Chandrabhanu it meant exuberance and riches beyond measure. Mouth watering delicacies, exotic food and party at a pricey restaurant and high priced clothes to match the ambience. Not to forget, the best of the best crackers.

On the other hand, for Jappi, celebration meant expectation. Expectation, to put a temporary pause to ever lasting hunger. Expectation-not about the taste of food but about tasting the food, the leftovers. To feast on the leftovers and remnants(after the party), either handed to them by the rich or at times, even the food thrown out of the high windows of multi-storeyed mammoth apartments. The expectation- not to choose and buy classy clothes, but to wear clothes that are not torn from a hundred corners. They may be used or cheap quality new clothes, thanks to mercy of the likes of Chandrabhanu’s parents who donate on the eve of the festival. The expectation – not to burn the crackers but to watch them burst and then scavenge the paper pieces for the unburnt or failed crackers . To pick them and try to burn them when the rich are dozing off, to save his embarrassment of not being able to buy his own.

Jappi's is a true story from my childhood. There are hundreds of such children who taste food only during Festivals, millions who do not have clothes. This festival lets pledge to celebrate along with Jappi and his likes. Think twice (before splurging and wasting), that we can help them have a memorable festival by spending a little less on ourselves and share the resrt with them. This Deepavali, let us bring light and happiness to these poor people and be a part of their CELEBRATIONS. This Deepavali lets share some light to make lives.

Happy Deepavali

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Otiose Dreams Part 2

2010-11-03T10:27:00.008+04:00

This is second post in the Series Otiose Dreams. To read Otiose Dreams Part1 click here

This event takes place somewhere after the end of 6th book and before the beginning of 7th book of Harry Potter Series.

Dumbledore is dead and Harry says Snape killed him. But, the Ministry of magic wants an official confirmation and hence a bench is commissioned to investigate Dumbledore’s murder. Tenders are received from across the globe and through all ages of human existence. The tenders from 21st Century India are kept aside because of the super corrupt reputation they carry along. After much deliberation the most famous fiction detective Mr. Sherlock Holmes is hired for the job.

Sherlock has been busy time travelling, helping the Time traveller’s wife decipher an Enigma called her husband. During this period he has travelled to forbidden places and got mixed up with issues he had no right to meddle with and a result is simultaneously investigating multiple cases.

He has arrived at Hogwarts along with his faithful friend Dr Watson and they are working at the crime scene.

Holmes: It seemed to me that a careful examination of the room and the lawn might possibly reveal some traces of this mysterious individual. You know my methods, Watson. There was not one of them which I did not apply to the inquiry. And it ended by my discovering traces, but very different ones from those which I had expected.

Watson: I think I have heard it before *retrospecting*

Holmes: Yes. It is from one of my stories. You see Watson, the folks around here know not much about us, we can reuse most of our conversations.

And then there was this sound “To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure”.

Watson: Where is this coming from?

*Holmes ignores the echoes as well as Watson’s frivolous thoughts*

Holmes: Come here I see a board here, over this door. Can you help me read it Watson?

Me: I have surely heard this before. But where? Ah just if I had google to help me here.

Holmes: Watson, come here. I have found it, I have done it again. I have resolved the case. * jumping as never before, his exultant dance would have embarrassed Chris tucker from Rush hour movie*

Watson: Excellent!! Who is the murderer?

Holmes: *annoyed and complacent* what murderer? I have found out where Keanu Reeves, the Neo is lost. Quick quick, lets dispatch a message to the Oracle, but make sure it is addressed as “ To the Oracle, third movie In matrix trilogy”

Watson: *confused and irritated* what the hell are you talking about? You have gone bonkers dude, get some rest .

Me: You are right Watson, I think he has had an overdose of the dog medicine he was trying the other day.

Holmes: Comrade, listen to me first. During one of travels with the time traveller’s wife, we landed in the oracle’s house in matrix part-3, Neo is locked somewhere. Look at this, it is room of requirements, I can get Neo here and I will take him back to Oracle . Hurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrray

Watson: That’s great. We can come back here often to find answers to most of our questions *winks*

The echo is heard again “To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure”. This time a bit louder

Watson: I am sure I know this from the past, I think I read it in one of the books.

Me: concentrate hard, where have u read it. Come on Muddassir, you know have read this before. But Where?

The echo grows louder and sharper “To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure”.

Out of nowhere appear the trolls, so do the spiders. Watson and Sherlock standing back to back, spiders surrounding them.

Me: Wait! That is supposed to be Harry and Ron with Spiders, isn’t it? Whatever, but why are my hands tied to the flag posts? And who is so pathetically singing ‘Haath mujhe dedeThakur’? * I look around* Is it really Gabbar Singh? 20 feet tall? Since when, does Gabbar have four heads??Woah, hang on!! why is he holding those huge monstrous barbarian axes over my shoulders? Is he going to chop off my shoulders? Does he think I am the Thakur? I don’t even have a single strand of white hair forget a streak of white hair. Mummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmy!!!! save me!

All three of us are sweating. We may be dead any moment now. This is not the death I wanted, not so soon. And then, a loud voice announces

“Welcome to Joker’s maze, this is Riddler speaking. Solve these riddles and save your head, Shy away and you shall be dead. Now, now, tell me how, you will make the ghosts fall in love?”

Me: Now that is a difficult one. Er, make them watch ShahRukh- Kajol Movies?

Holmes: Apply one can of Axe deodorant on the male Ghost, specifically, the chocolate flavor.

Me: What? The ‘AXE-EFFECT’ ? It doesn’t work with humans, you think it will work with ghosts? Believe me, my friend Deepak tried it. Instead of being wooed he was shooed away. In fact he is planning to sue the company now.

Riddler: Wonderful, Wonderful.To you I raise a toast, now tell me, tell me; how will you kill a ghost??

Me: That is very easy. 1. Contract the Ghost Rider to kill them 2. Make them watch Chandni Chowk to China and RGV Ki Aag 3. Ask them to work with Suresh Kalmadi to organize the next Olympics in India. You see, the options go on and on.

The Riddler begins to laugh sonorously. Multiple things happen the next instant.

A lion jumps in front of me and The four headed monstrous and lamenting Gabbar raises his 200 pound axes, the spiders pounce on Holmes and Watson.I take a step back to stay away from the lion and fall in a pit.

A loud shrieking voice says“To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure”.

I hit the ground ,hurt my head and back. I wake up startled. I am breathing heavily and sweating profusely. I take a minute or two to return back to senses and understand what is going on.

That is when I realize that I fell down my cot, hit the floor, hurt myself and it was my alarm shrieking in Dumbledore’s voice “To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure”. I push a hand forward and shut the alarm. Sit back and take a heavy deep and long breath.

Phew!!! Me and my dreams.

This post has been written for Blogeshwar 5.0 and Anubhooti

Good Over Bad

2010-10-26T09:10:00.000+04:00

I have been thinking of an incident that will do justice to this topic and I have at last decided I will narrate something we witnessed during our childhood. The names have been changed well enough to disguise the religion, race or any other clue that will give away the details of my friend.

Around 15 years ago, Rameez’s father demised given the alcoholic he was. They were rich, his mother young and beautiful and without a guy to man the house. His relatives were trying all sorts of tricks to grab his father’s property – trying to marry his mother to one of his uncles and also trying to get Rameez engaged to one of their daughters, at such young age of 10-12 years.

Being kids, we didn’t realize that this was a serious predicament, but now when I retrospect, I have profound empathy for his mother. Fed up of constant bickering, they decided to relocate and that is when they shifted to my native, three of them; Rameez, his mother and his granny. They rented a small house and Rameez was admitted to my school.

They say little enemies and little wounds must not be despised but what if fortune has stopped being your friend and luck has a decidedly grudge on you? They were successfull in running away from those nasty relatives of his father’s but there was no hiding from misery. Within months, a goon started troubling them, threatening them to vacate the house as his uncle wanted to occupy it. Rameez’s granny was a woman like I had never seen before, she was determined to protect her daughter and grandson at any cost. She put up a brave fight, daring the goon legally. The goon was bound by law and they continued to stay at that house but the goon had decided to not to let go of this insult so easily. Life became harder for them so much so that, I even doubt his mother repented her decision of leaving her husband’s town.

But things changed, the goon’s family was faced with adversity; I am not very clear on what went wrong, the best I can recall is that one of his victims had set his house on fire. No one wanted to show mercy to him given his track record. Rameez’s granny stepped in, she provided his family with food and shelter. She also lent them money to reconstruct their house. Kindness, like grain, increase by sowing. This was the grain his granny had sown. The goon went on to become the greatest strength of Rameez’s family. He helped them get back to Rameez’s father’s house and own what was rightfully theirs. With this goon fellow on their side, Rameez’s paternal relatives preferred to stay away from Rameez and his mother.

It has been almost a decade since I lost touch with Rameez but I am sure the good of his Granny, the kindness she sowed would have enveloped the paternal relatives as well.

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Blog Action Day 2010 - Water

2010-10-15T21:15:00.004+04:00

I generally do not write travelogues, it's not my cup of tea. But today I want to quote one of my experiences in Zurich, Switzerland. I had been to Switzerland on a company sponsored visit. It is an awesome place,nothing less than a dream land. Of the umpteen number of things I have observed here, is that a bottle of beer is much cheaper than that compared to a bottle of water.

This struck me deep and I always wanted to join a cause to help save water and help reach it to the needy.Blog Action day is conducting this water day on 15th October 2010. I request all my dear friends to sign the petition and help this noble cause.

A Million Little Pieces

2010-10-12T10:03:00.000+04:00

Author: James Frey

Genre: Biography, Drug Addiction, Rehab

Guidance: May not be suitable for Kids

What do you know about addiction, in particular, addiction to drugs? You have seen it in cinema and sometimes you would have read about it as well. But do you really know what addiction to drugs is? What exactly it means to try and get rehabilitated? What and how are these rehabilitation centers? What kind of a fight a rehab patient puts up against the temptation to do it again? Just once? In a small quantity that wouldn’t hurt?

Yes, probably you could have read and seen it on TV or in movies but, this book takes it to next level. Intense, unpredictable, explicit and face-the-truth-in-your-face story of Mr. James Frey during the days of his addiction as well as during the rehab, ‘A Million Little Pieces’ is a true account (with a bit of creative freedom) of James Frey’s life.

Though there are many rumors of the facts being embellished, the book makes for an engaging read. It talks of all the troubles an addict goes through, his rub off with the law enforcing bodes, criminal charges against him and despite all these he manages to go on. My words may not do enough justice to the story, so let me quote few of my friends’ take on this book.

“The book made me laugh, made me ill, it shocked and saddened me, and I cried at the end. It made me appreciate NOT having to go through what James Frey went through”

“A Million Little Pieces is an uncommonly genuine account of a life destroyed and a life reconstructed. It is also the introduction of a bold and talented literary voice.”

I will let the book do rest of the talking, go get hold of it for if you are a connoisseur of good writing, you will never regret having bought this book or having read this book.

The Receptionist

2010-10-09T07:37:00.002+04:00

Context: The below wordings are the musings of an inebriated drunkard to other drunkards he is partying with

There sits a lady wicked

At the gates of heaven and hell

She wears high heels, huge ear rings,

Dark lipstick and rimmed glasses as well.

She has dark eyes, crooked jaw

And sports a snotty smile.

She is corrupt, she is cunning,

She is uncouth, prejudiced and vile.

Sitting behind the ominous desk,

She helps people to their place in afterlife,

Some accept happily

And some others grimace.

There are those who cajole her

Either by gifts or by praise;

To let them pass by

Through the forbidden gates.

We can do the same, my brethren

And change our luck,

Because the game of fate

Is won or lost by a nip or tuck.

There is hope my people

For now let’s sin and rejoice

We can win over the receptionist,

With a deception or devoice.

My First IndiBlogger Meet

2010-10-04T13:00:00.002+04:00

Do you live in a dream world? I do.

Brandbull, msigeek, Leo, Avada kedavra, Evil Me, anshprat, dhempe, dkris, flyfiddlesticks, addy, Mag[m] are few of the people I know by name. I had not met them, not before yesterday. I knew they were of my kind, unique and special –netizens, bloggers and crazy freaks. I had known them through blogs, twitter and other online social forums. I related with them and I knew they relate with me.

When Indiblogger announced that there will be a blogger’s meet @ Bangalore, it was a special feeling. I was participating in an Indimeet for the first. I would at last meet these people in person, see them in blood and flesh, talk to them, share with them and enjoy. It is rare to spend time anticipating what all could take place when you meet the people for the first time.Especially with the kind of work pressure my Mundane and routine jobs offers me. But I happily whiled the time day-dreaming and believe me it was worthwhile.

There will be many posts detailing the nitty gritty stuff about the meet and I do not wish you add extra garbage bytes to the digital memory space this post will take up.

I will try and make it different. Someone made a comment that we are a diverse group and oh boy! It was diverse group of about 250 odd people sitting there on the 7th floor of Fortune Park JP celestial.

Diversity of religion – Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Chrisitan and atheists.

Regional diversity –Kannadigas, Tamilians, Malyalis, Punjabis, and many from north India

Professional Diversity – IT folks, PR, branding, creative directors, students to revenue officers

Age classification – The youngest fellow was 16(not sure if it was 14) and (g)oldest was 63

Sex – Male and female period.

Thanks to the HP folks for helping make the event techjazzy and of course the effort of team Indiblogger to have live streamlining of tweets and tweeples in laudable.

Mr. Anoop was one of his kind breed. He irritated, insulted, abused, annoyed and agitated people but his words made us laugh and roar. He has a good sense of humor. The introductions round , 30 seconds of fame, gave insights into what everyone of us is and it was a fun event, everyone showing of their lighter side; trying to make people laugh. Few succeeded beyond measures and most of us were Dud failures to make people laugh.

Next we had the famous write-on-your-back Live and let live comments round for more interactions with our fellow bloggers followed by snacks –delicious Samosas I say. Then, there was a presentation by HP followed by a session on Moblogging and appeals for social causes; not to forget indipolice putting forward the issues about content on Indiforum.

The presentation by HP about next gen data and printers was simply awesome. It gave me insights as to where we are heading. I am glad they launched their cloud printing concept in our meet. It was a great honor to be a part of history in making. My friends simply loved the cloud printing concept when I mentioned it to them.

I simply loved the segment (which I believe was not on Agenda) were appeals were madefor social causes – Sanskrit Online, Civil Defense, pollution prevention and a case study –opportunities for different ability people on the net. Who says we the crazy freak bloggers are not socially conscious?

I want to thank HP for whole heatedly for showering us with the printers and other gifts (though I won nothing but the IndiShirt that was given to everyone). There was a photography contest where people where capturing Photos and mailing them. Tweets were flowing around and people were blogging right from the venue.

If I was Harry potter then this would definitely be my Howgrats. I could never thank Indiblogger and their partners/sponsors enough for giving me this opportunity to meet my kinsmen.

My friends at the event were carrying all kind of gadgets – Ipads, smart phones, iPod etc. Everyone was busy growing their network - taking snaps, mailing them to one another; exchanging the twitter handles and tweeting right away, getting the facebook IDs and making friends online. You won’t believe if I say that there was a tweet about going to restroom and another tweet asking not to tweet about your restroom adventures. Amongst all this Euphoria, I was running around as a person from another age and another period, carrying a pen and pocket book to make friends. No, I cannot use my phone to do all this, probably it is the most primitive mobile phone available in market, I am not even sure if it is available these days.

That is when I realized, I needed a smart phone that would help me lead a life like I want to. Make friends on the fly, tweet whenever I feel like, capture the precious memories as photos and mail them to friends. And what better than the new One touch Net Docomo Alcatel Phone.

Docomo. Here I come. Keep my life (the smart phone) ready.

The curse of the Deserted Railway Station

2010-10-02T09:14:00.001+04:00

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 15; the fifteenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Jane and Jeremy, a middle class American couple came to

India

to realize their dream wedding. It was not going to be a big fat Indian wedding but it was their dream nevertheless. They had about a week’s time for the wedding and wanted to go around. They hired a tour guide cum driver Taposh Ranjan Das. To say the least, they were simply floored by his humbleness and honesty. For three days, he took them around to various places across north India including Taj Mahal. Jeremy wanted to know things about India that back home his friends didn’t know or had not been to, so he requested Taposh to show them some places which not many people know about or visit.

Being the true Indian host and humble guide, Taposh agreed. They had been traveling on a lonely road for about an hour now when the vehicle broke down suddenly. Both Jeremy and Taposh’s experience with vehicles put together didn’t help to start the vehicle. It was almost dusk and they were but curious to get going. Taposh went ahead to look around for help, the couple didn’t want to be left back. Jane realized that if they were to be kidnapped and killed here it will take people weeks to find their bodies. She shuddered at this thought and hurried to catch up with Taposh.

They spotted a building and when they approached near, they realized it was a forsaken railway station. There was no one around, the counters and the benches empty. Dust and cobwebs formed such thick layers that one may drown in it. The railway tracks were rusted, it should have been ages since a train passed on his track. The place was full of stench and the couple wanted to get back to the safety of the vehicle. So did Taposh. When they turn around to leave, the couple let out a shriek and fell down to the floor. Standing behind them was a lady. When did she come? They hadn’t heard footsteps, how did she land up behind them? Taposh was shivering all about. Her dark eyes with an overload of eyeliner, her ear lobes which were adoring hundreds of earrings and the weird bangles she wore made her look terrifying. She was catatonic with pronounced limp and when she spoke it was a coarse voice filled with urgency .

She said “Why have you come here? Is it your death that called you? Don’t you know this place is cursed? The mother and daughter will not let you go from here. You are finished”.

Taposh knelt down before her, his hands folded, still shivering he said ‘O holy mother, please forgive us. We were looking for help and we stumbled here’.

Jeremy didn’t want to be seen as a coward by his future wife. He manage to stand up and asked the old lady ‘Who mother and daughter? What curse?’

She changed her gaze to Jeremy. Jane thought this lady was the from the horror show she was watching yesterday night.The old lady replied "Years ago, a mother tried to escape the rituals of Sati system with her 8 year old daughter. The girl was married to a 50 year old drunkard who died soon after marriage. The girl was to be burned alive with her dead groom. The mother wanted to save her daughter, so they escaped and were about to board a train to run away when they where caught and burnt alive, here, in this very railway station. Ever since, they have been haunting this place. No person who passes through this place will lead a happy life ever. The couples won’t have children and others would die of mysterious diseases."

Now Taposh was shuddering and shivering more than ever. He said “Please forgive us, we will go back and never return. Please save us from this trouble oh holy mother, give us a solution”

There was absolute silence for about a minute and it seemed like ages, At last the lady spoke “You people should not be here. Get going. Give me money; I will perform prayers to ward off the evil and to keep you safe. Give me the money and get going."

Jane chose to speak at this moment "How do we believe you? What if you just want to cheat us and this story is a lie”. There was silence again and after some thought the lady closed her eyes and spoke slowly “You aren’t married are you? You come from a land from the far west and you are here to get married. Ain’t I right?” the couple nodded, she continued without opening her eyes “You have come here to be betrothed into the sacred marriage and your vehicle broke down and that is why you are here”. Taposh started prostrating before her and said “You are right your holiness. You are right” He then addressed the couple “She has mystic powers and I am sure she can ward off the evil. Please give her the money she asks for”.

The couple was still doubtful. The lady opened her eyes and started walking out of the railway station towards the vehicle. She placed her hand on the vehicle, closed her eyes and asked Taposh to start the vehicle. The very instant Taposh pressed the start button, the vehicle roared to life. The couple was convinced now. Jane ransacked her purse and handed over 300 dollars to the old lady “This is all we have now. Please pray for us and bless us for our future wedded life”.

The catatonic lady accepted the money and blessed them; the vehicle moved on. After traveling a mile or so, Taposh’s cell beeped. He had a message; it read “Next time onwards, get better customers”.

A smile spread on his lips and he replied back “Ok Mom. See you later tonight. Keep my share.”

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Credits

Image - Alston Station by Wandering Soul

Courtesy - www.deviantart.com via www.blogaton.in

The holy dip took his breath Away

2010-09-29T10:00:00.016+04:00

Note: This is a work of my imagination and any reference to any person (living or dead) or to a place is purely co-incidental.

Dasappana Kunte (Dassapa’s pond) is a small village that came into existence 15 years ago and has been gaining popularity as a tourist point ever since. Like every tourist point, this village has a story behind it, a divine story.

Fifteen years back this was no village but a small establishment of around 20 families. The only distinguishing feature was the 3-4 feet deep small pool formed by rain water logging and rest all was wild. Since no one bothered to venture on these grounds, the poor families found it a safe haven to settle down.

Dasappa was a small, shrivelled fellow with deep set eyes. He carried a mystic aura and that made people revere him. He had quite a following and his USP: teach people to love!. No, Not the mankind or brotherly love, but tips and tricks to improve your romantic love life. Tips, that will help people keep their romantic life going and in turn spread happiness around.

How he managed to come up with these tips and tricks was a clandestine affair. Not many people knew that he would tour the bigger cities and towns, observe the trends, watch movies and come up with his own tips and tricks based on these learnings.

In a particular incident , he visited his nephew’s hostel in the capital city. He watched many movies and was inspired by two things – the Titanic signature of Ship-tip-scarecrow-act and the song “Take my breath away” from Top Gun and that’s all he needed to come up with his best blessing for his followers.

History was going to be made at the 4 feet deep water logged pool on this fateful sunny day. Word had spread that the divine Dasappa was giving out his most blessed learning and that the water pool was chosen to be the auspicious location to perform this act. Huge crowds from surrounding villages gathered. There were people from all generations – Married, to be married, will be married, wannabe married and divorced. All wanted to see the divine perform this act himself.

Dasappa tailored his observations and came up with the best-romantic-thing-to-do ever. He stood at the tip of a boat trying to balance himself in the Titanic signature style and addressed no one in specific and said ‘Oh my people, if you want to perform this act, you and your spouse/lover must stand the same way I am standing now with your partner in front of you and chant the mantra I will chant now’.

All observed with great curiosity and interest , everyone concentrating on the lips of the divine. He raised his head and screamed ‘Tyaak miy bireth awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay’ (vernacular version of take my breath away) and at that very moment he lost the balance and fell in water. He was totally embarrassed.

He tried again and history repeated, he fell in water again. He was totally furious and was cursing his own for not having practiced it beforehand. He started again, changed the location and direction of the boat within the pond and he realized that people were memorizing the process of the position, the mantra and how to take the dip after the mantra. An idea struck him and he smirked at his own genius. He addressed everyone that he will demonstrate one final time how to recite the mantra and take the dip and also that, this process will help them achieve Nirvana.

He screamed the mantra and took a deliberate plunge with all his energy, and indeed, this effort took his breath away. Unfortunately, the water was only 1 foot deep and his head hit a huge boulder and the force was enough to cause a brain hemorrhage and eventually his death.

People were mesmerized. The divine had sacrificed himself for the people, to improve their romantic life or their love life. The water pool was dedicated to his mission and renamed as Prema Sagara (The ocean of love) and the area was named as Dasappana Kunte (Dasappa’s pond).

If he was a hero while living, he was definitely a superstar after death. More and more people revered him as the word spread. People performed all kind of Pujas at this place and started settling here. His death brought more love and happiness to people than his life. The place became a major tourist point and business thrived, people residing in that area became rich and were naturally happy and loved their spouses more.

Even to this day, newlywed couples as well as the love birds who take oaths of being bound for seven lives come here, stand at the tip of the boat in the Scarecrow positions, scream ‘Tyakkmy-birethaw-aaaaaay’ (it is quite expected for the enchantment to be distorted as time passed by) and jump into the pool.

This post is written for BLOGESHWAR and Anubhooti

Lets be united

2010-09-28T08:39:00.000+04:00

Whatever the outcome of Babri Masjid case, Let us stay United

300 Words: The Escape Plan

2010-09-22T10:50:00.003+04:00

This story is written exactly in 300 words

Sylvia was a French agent whose identity was compromised. She was to be taken to the gallows in few days. She called upon the favor of a fellow French man settled in this country but still had a soft corner for his homeland. They devised a plan. She had three months before execution and few other prisoners were to be executed in this period. So, when the next prisoner is executed, the Frenchman would make arrangements for her to hide in the coffin of this prisoner. Later that night, after the coffin is buried, he will help her out of the grave and a horse cab will take her to the countryside. She will be free again.

A few days passed. Then things worked as planned.

Two weeks later, an execution took place on Monday morning. When the high bell rang, she made it to the coffin room and hid into the secret compartment within the coffin. The coffin was taken to burial grounds and buried after the rituals. Excited that she will be free again, she eagerly waited for the hour. Only that she didn’t know the wait will never end.

---------------------------------xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx--------------------------------

In the meantime,

The French revolution needed her, she was central to their plan. They knew they had to get rid of the dangerous Major in- charge of prison, to free her. They organized a coup to prove him a traitor. It worked well. He was charged guilty and hanged immediately. It was in his coffin that she was hidden.

The French revolution were very happy and were planning the future course for her escape. What they didn’t know was that they had set up and killed the only person who could have helped Sylvia escape - The Frenchman, the Major in- charge of the Prison.

BATMAN Spoof

2010-09-20T09:05:00.001+04:00

This is a cartoon strip by Space Avalanche. I loved it and felt it is worthwhile to be shared with all of you

Book Review: It's Not about the Bike

2010-09-17T08:58:00.002+04:00

Author: Sally Jenkins, Lance Armstrong Genre: Auto Biography, biography, Motivational, sports

Do you think you have faced hardships? The hardest of hardest? Want to be successful? Do you want to know what it takes to be a star, a true-blue star? Do you want to read a self help book which is as good as any fiction novel? Then Read It’s not about the bike – the story of Lance Armstrong, written by Sally Jenkins.

This book is the autobiography of Lance Armstrong. It talks about his life growing up in Texas. His upbringing by his single mom, the bike and his passion for riding. The hardships he overcomes to become a famous world-class athlete; the threat to end his career in a single stroke - his testicular cancer that spreads across to other body parts and his fight and sheer determination to live and win the most coveted title of the cycling word –Tour de France Championship.

Sally Jenkins is an accomplished sports writer and her prowess is displayed in the way she has portrayed Lance’s life. Not for a minute would one feel bored but turn pages anxiously as the story unfolds. The reader will connect with Lance when he goes through hardships in relationships and his life overall.

One would empathize with Lance when he learns that he will die and would support him all through his struggle there on and cheer him and celebrate with him when he wins the tour. Vicarious feelings exemplified. Kudos to Sally Jenkins for a book wonderfully written.

I will cherish having read this book and would keep visiting this autobiography time and again.

Trivia: Quotes from the book

"The one thing the illness has convinced me of beyond all doubt - more than any experience I've had as an athlete - is that we are much better than we know. We have unrealized capacities that sometime only emerge in crisis. So, if there is a purpose to the suffering that is cancer, I think it must be this: it's meant to improve us."

"The truth is, if you ask me to choose between winning the Tour de France and cancer, I would choose cancer. Odd as it sounds, I would rather have the title of cancer survivor than winner of the Tour, because of what it has done for me as a human being, a man, a husband, a son, and a father."

"You'll have to convince me you know what you're doing," I said.

"Look, I've done a large number of these,"Shapiro said."I've never had anyone die, and I've never made anyone worse."

"Yeah, but why should you be the person who operates on my head?"

"Because as good as you are at cycling"-he paused-"I'm a lot better at brain surgery."

-NeuroSurgeon to Lance Armstong

Spot the Difference - Answers updated

2010-09-13T17:00:00.003+04:00

Just to relive the memories of those good old days from Chandamama and other magazines, I have made a spot the differences graphic.See how many differences you can spot ( Hint: There are more than 10 differences)
Good Luck

The most obvious 10 differences are below:

1) Missing pebbles near leg

2) Extra pebbles near leg

3) Missing lines on the pants of second person

4) Missing line in the middle(top) of the stone

5) A dot on the nose of first Person

6) The shadow of the stone

7) The hammer in the hand of second person

8) Missing ARM band on the hand of first person

9) Extra pearl in necklace of second person

10) Missing leg jewelry in the leg of second person

Spot the rest for yourself ;)

P.S: The remaining answers will be updated after sometime

Return

2010-09-04T12:44:00.000+04:00

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 14; the fourteenth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Tring Tring.

Me: “Hello, I am Samantha Gaekwad. Welcome to Pelican Business Solutions …….”

No! I am not a call centre employee. I am a receptionist at Pelican Business Solutions. How I happened to land a job here is a controversial story in itself. All I would say is that the wretched recession played kingmaker for all my batch mates and I for sure was not in its good books else, how will you explain me landing this job despite scoring first class and being among top ten scorers.

But I also have to acknowledge my parents contribution to making my life such a successful failure. No, I am not talking about the values they have instilled in me or about my upbringing. I am talking about their genes. Both are good looking people and the genes passed down from two good looking people make me more beautiful, an eye-catching beauty. That was the only criteria for my recruitment to this post and nothing else. Who knows, I would be doing something better if I was not beautiful.

It is the month of June and monsoons are back fully loaded. The rains have done a good job this time; it pours day in and day out. I no more enjoy rains the way I used to in childhood. Those were the best days. But now, I have too many things on my mind to be a sport for the rains. You will find a smile plastered on my face through out the day but the gleam in my eyes is missing. I smile as it is a part of my job.

It is pouring heavily as I pack my bag and board the bus for my house. I some how feel lost with nothing going my way. At times, I feel like starting from the start at school and live the life again and today was one of those times. I had a strong urge to get back and all I could do was to get down at my school and walk to home just like the good old days. I open my umbrella and try to walk carefully not to wet myself. I am suddenly reminded how I used to run away from Nikhil when he tried to get me under the umbrella. I used to love to get drenched in rain but today I frown at few drops that barely touch me. What is it that had changed within me?

As I walk, I ponder on how things changed with time. Aunt divorced and dad in jail, the onus of running the family daily chores has shifted to me. I cannot quit the job although I have hated it from the start. The umpteen number of guys who pass by everyday and give me luscious looks embarrassing me and my boss who always tries to hit upon me. I hate them all.

And then there is Anshul, my boy friend who cannot make up his mind to marry me. Sometimes I feel I was too desperate to have a boy friend then, else I do not have taste for spineless creatures. We have been together for five years now and he still lacks the courage to talk to his parents about me.

How good will it be to let go of everybody and everything ? to become carefree again and enjoy my life? Myself and nothing else. Just me and my happiness? But alas!, I give upon it and continue walking. In the meantime, a car zoomed by not caring to slow down at the puddle. As a result, spraying my white dress brown with the muddy water from the puddle.

I was so furious that I let go of the umbrella and started swearing at the long gone car and the driver. By the time I calmed down, I was totally drenched in rain water. I raised my head in despair and few rain drops hit my eyes. Intuitive reaction forced me to close my eyes, but I didn’t look down. I braved the rain and as it hit my face time and again, I felt happy, really happy, just like the old times. What started as a smile, turned into a giggle. After a very long time, I was giggling, enjoying the rain water, without minding the numerous vehicles that passed though the puddle spraying more of the mud water on my dress.

I felt carefree as if nothing has gone wrong and enjoyed that moment. It felt light at heart again. My monsoons had returned and I had rediscovered myself.I walked, jumped, danced and half sprinted in the rain to my house. I knocked at the door like never before. My mom was aghast and angry, both at the same time. She said “Sam, look at the dress. What is wrong with you? You are no more a kid”. I entered the house ignoring her words, hugged her tight and placing a kiss her on cheek, I said “Mamma, surf Excel hai na” and winked.

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Life of Pi

2010-08-31T12:21:00.004+04:00

Have you read/watched Robinson Crusoe? No? Cast Away (Starring Tom Hanks) at least? If you haven’t, do it. Both are wonderful and so is Life of Pi.

Author: Yann Martel Time/era of story - 1960's-1970’s Type: Adventures Journal

I wanted to read a sea adventure and that is when a friend of mine suggested me to read this book. This is a simple tell-tale about the survival of a 15 year old kid in sea for 227 days in a small life boat with some extra ordinary company of the wild animals – Richard Parker, a Tiger; a female Orangutan, a zebra and a Hyena.

The book starts of detailing his life as the son of a zoo owner in Madras, his explorations and affiliation to Christianity and Islam. Then when his family plans to move to Canada, things go awry and a sad shipwreck afflicts killing them all. Piscine Patel or “PI” manages to escape in a small boat only to find out later that he has company, dangerous company – wild animals. From here on, it is struggle for the survival, survival of the fittest.

It is a heart touching book, though the details would bore in the middle but the author manages to beautifully explain the thoughts of a person who has no option left to live and how the sole will to survive helps him surmount the extra-ordinary troubles. Yann Martel makes you step in the shoes of PI and think what you would have done? The desperate measures to survive from drinking salt water to eating the fecal matter of the Tiger definitely give you Goosebumps.

There is an interesting conversation with the two Japanese in the final part of the book. Since the book assumes the autobiographical tone of the adventures of a kid, it becomes gloomy and drab at more than one occasion, but by then you will be in the grip of the author and would move with the flow of the book.

If you are an avid reader, looking for something different, this is definitely a book to go for.

Trivia:

Yann Martel was awarded ‘Man Booker Prize’ in the year 2002 for Life of Pi. A movie is being made, based on this book with the title same as that of the bookand it is being directed by Ang Lee. (Source:IMDB). I just hope the movie turns out to be worthwhile watch.

ZeeNews-MyEarth

2010-08-25T14:30:00.001+04:00

Zee News has come up with a wonderful Green Initiative. It is a bunch of initiatives actually. The aim: to help people realize the worth of the environment and also to increase the awareness of environmental degradation, its adverse effects and steps to prevent it.

Logon to http://www.zeenews.com/myearth and you literally enter into a green atmosphere. The various shades of green are eye catchy to say the least. The layout neat and decent. There is a carbon footprint calculator which is a very handy tool which help us keep a check on our carbon emission. Their Ideas/tips to save environment and also there is a did you know section, to increase you awareness of the state of the things.

The catchiest thing is PLANTATION DRIVE scheduled for 25th August 2010. Register here and ZEE NEWS will plant a tree for every registration.

Registration process is very simple, A small pop up form asking few personal details and on the click of submit button you are proudly responsible for planting a tree.

Please register and spread the word.

RakshaBandhan

2010-08-24T13:41:00.001+04:00

As I was reading through the blogs, a post by Purba Ray set my grey cells ticking (no, these days they are off work. On strike actually, a rebellion against the insult done to them by the kind of mundane office work I challenge them with).

Let me give you the background first. My brother is the eldest in our generation amongst all my cousins and I am the second-in-command. So I have not had the pleasure of having an elder sister (No bhayya, I am not complaining about you). After reading Purva’s blog post, there is this question I want answered – Who would you prefer to have, given a chance – Elder or younger sister?

Let me try to list down few points

1) You have an Elder sister and you may get a caring and loving second mom like character but you have a younger sister and in you are in the hot seat to give her fatherly care.

2) You can always wrestle your way around with elder sister (as observed in case of my friends) but very difficult to skip across a younger one.

3) You easily share all your secrets with an elder sister. Do you do the same with a younger one? I ain’t sure about it.

4) Unlike elder brothers who are strict and restricting, elder sister may be otherwise. Not very sure on this but have seen cases both to support and dispose of this argument.

One may go on queuing points to this list without an end. But all said done, elder or a younger sister, you are lucky to have one. It is an honor and responsibility alike.L ife is real fun and memorable growing up and growing old with them. I pity all those who don’t have sisters, for they have missed a very fulfilling experience.

Happy RakshaBandhan. Love you sis JJ

TOY STORY-3

2010-08-19T10:37:00.004+04:00

his was to be posted long back. But nevertheless, here it is back from oblivion

Who says TOY STORY-3 is a movie meant for kids and kids alone?? If you are under such a misconception, time to watch the movie and change your perception of it. Have you watched previous two versions of Toy story series? No?

Not to bother, Just catch hold of a movie ticket, get your Pepsi, pop corn, nachos or whatever you need when you watch a movie and get seated. For you are about to have two hours of total entertainment. You will not be able to figure how two hours passed by while you were watching the movie. What was it that kept you engaged … Andy, the coming-of-age kid? Woody the cow boy? Buzz Lightyear and his dementia state antics? The big small baby or the PINK Lotsa hug bear with the strawberry smell??

Running at 103 minutes long, directed by Lee Unkrich,With Tom Hanks, Tim Allen and Joan Cusack; TOY STORY-3, the latest edition in this series takes us through the adventures of the toys. First, to satisfy their urge to be played with and then, realization of their mistake and the counter measures to get back to their owner -Andy.

Whenever PIXAR is involved, there is a social message sent across and you can expect the same here. This movie brings to light the fact that how cruel we humans are. How we use things ungratefully and just forsake them later. There is a depth to the characters, taking about being faithful to the owner and to the friends. The level of distrust and disliking some develop towards others and how a single toy’s prejudices ruin it all for the rest.

I suggest you don’t miss it. You will walk out of the theatre happy and satisfied. There are hardly any movies being made worth the time and money we spend on them and this one in particular is total paisa vasool.

Common Wealth Games -Road Ahead

2010-08-15T10:34:00.004+04:00

First of all, hearty wishes on the 64th Independence Day. A peculiar thing I have observed is that, rather than Independence day, all over the media the hot topic being discussed is CWG 2010.

Yes, I totally concur with all those who say that CWG is in a big time mess and No, I don’t agree that we must give up organising CWG. Despite all said and done, everything is not lost. Some patches here and there and we will be able to pull out a decent show at least and save our face. I try to list down the DO s for the road ahead with CWG

1) First and foremost, we are being watched by the entire world and history is being written. Let’s all have an optimistic outlook and go ahead and give our best.

2) Our Honourable Prime Minister Mr. ManMohan Singh must intervene and try to touchbase with all the concerned people and stop the media from pulling the panic button.

3) The Media has a great role to play. Going ahead with the point one, the media must help build a positive attitude and atmosphere and build the spirit among all Indians.

4) Despite all the proclivities, all the concerned ministries must take action and a central investigating committee must be set up. The sporadic investigations must culminate into a single big investigation directly under PMO’s supervisation.

5) It will be foolish to replace Mr.Kalmadi with less than 50 days to go.Rather, put someone else along with him with equal powers as Mr Kalmadi and make them both divide and speed up the progress and ramp up the team with extra resources from different ministries to get things moving Ed Pronto.

6) The vision for organising CWG in India has to be revisited. The aim was to help build other sports and games (apart from cricket) in India. We have to have that vision in sight and a separate team from sport ministries to be set up to carry on with this goal as we move ahead with the CWG preparations.

Reading the cover story of newspapers today, I feel, Mr Prime Minister has already started breathing oxygen and resuscitating the merely surviving CWG games and It’s our task now to help build the positive atmosphere.

Let’s hope we dance to the tunes that will make the world applaud our efforts.

Jai Hind.

After The Funeral

2010-08-11T16:48:00.004+04:00

Author: Agatha Christie

Lead Character: Hercule M. Poirot

Genre: Fiction, Crime Thriller, Murder Mystery

Q) What happens when a rich man dies with no proper heir to his property?

Ans)Bequeathing of property and some crime associated with it.

Think of it and atleast a dozen bollywood movies and few Hollywood movies flash in front of your eyes. This is my first Agatha Christie Novel and above description is exactly what I went through after learning about the plot- Hollywood bollywood movies flashing away. But then I was in for a surprise.This book was written even before the ideas of these movies had had their inception in the minds of the people who made them and is defintely much better than most of the movies based on this premise.

Agatha Christie takes this posthumous family drama plot of rich man and brews a wonderful crime story around it. The characterization of the family, their relationship with the dead man, their appearances and their nature has been very well sketched in the book.

It all begins with a comment made by Aunt Cora at Uncle Richard Abernethie’s funeral. Richard has no heir to his property and thus everyone in relation wants to stake his/her claim. Aunt Cora comments that her brother Richard was murdered for his property. No one gives second thoughts to her comments as she has the fame of being demented. But things stir when she is murdered with Hatchet.

It is now that our gentlemanly and chivalrous Hercule M. Poirot is involved in the case. The book has some interesting top notch twists and turns and as one of my friend has put it “And really, After the Funeral (refers to the book) is a mystery that latches onto you a few paragraphs in from the first page. Latches on and refuses to let go.”

You will find yourself immersed in the book and will enjoy reading it. Although Agatha Christie has her usual biases in selecting the murderer and sometimes she goes very detail in the descriptive, the plot and the end of the trail make up for it. But then, that’s the style of Agatha Christie right? So if you love her writes and if you love detective stories, you definitely don’t want to miss this one.

Trivia:

There is a movie based on this novel. It is directed by Maurice Phillips with David Suchet portraying Hercule M.Poirot . More details @IMDB. Click Here for more details.

Flies!! - Flash Fiction 300

2010-08-06T14:30:00.008+04:00

It was over coffee that we decided to write a flash fiction story (<300 words) with the line 'A housefly was hovering at the bakery' in it. However, the line need not verbatim as suggested. It will suffice if it conveys the meaning and this is the best I could come up with

A lone housefly was hovering at the bakery. This was his first posting and far away from his homeland. Born and brought up at the sewers that were full of deteriorating waste and degrading feces, he found this neat and clean bakery to his gentlemanly distaste. But nevertheless, it was his first posting and he had a point to prove. He was a guard now. A scout and a sleeper who will find out and inform about newer sources of food to survive, for the growing population to be supported, to help his kind to flourish and establish the world rule. He would be famous, history would record his most important contribution in establishing a world dominion of the flies and he will be their hero. All possible medals of Honor and valor (that could be awarded) would adore his chest. With this thought, he zoomed around. Then he smelt fresh baked bread. Probably some human or other sane living form would have taken an eternity to let the smell go. But the fly found it repelling; being the connoisseur he was of rich and exuberant pungent odor of the sewers, he resented the smell of the bread. He noticed that there was a source of infinite light from where the smell originated. Out of curiosity, it flew towards the light. Blindfolded, it crashed into the source and was electrocuted bhuzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Sitting in a deep dark corner near the switch board. A mega housefly was muttering in its hands free.

“Experiment AZ3235 has also failed. Call a meeting of the head of all our clans. Our nemesis, the light source has arrived.”

********************************************************

Batman Movie Survey

2010-08-03T12:48:00.002+04:00

Celebrating Friendship Day

2010-08-01T13:20:00.002+04:00

Avarice, The Human Greed

2010-07-30T21:29:00.006+04:00

(Based on a small excerpt from Khalid Hosseni’s “The Kite Runner”)

I used to be a very happy man,

Leading a life, the best I can.

Blessed with a smart and beautiful wife;

What more can I ask, than a perfect life.

We didn’t have all the riches on earth,

But content that we had more than our worth.

People used to say that they envy me,

For I used to be cheerful and always in glee.

But to change, the things were bound;

And it’s then, “THE MAGIC CUP” I found.

“I am a mysterious oyster” it said,

“Will produce a pearl, if a tear is fed”.

I never knew to be sad and sorrow,

Was wondering “A tear? Where do I borrow?”

I then started looking for the gloom,

Unaware that it was to be my doom.

I looked around if someone would care,

A few tears, if they can spare

So that the cup’s veracity I could test,

To know how I can use it Best.

All my attempts were but in vain;

I looked around and found no pain.

To resist; too good a temptation the cup was,

I was ready to do anything decadent to crass.

I was ready to go on a killing spree,

Did not realize that my greed had better of me.

The closest to me was my beloved wife,

And I didn’t think twice before taking her life.

Now I have the cup and all the tears,

All the sorrows and all the fears.

With the cup in a hand and seated on mount of pearls,

I weep on her dead body, which in my other arm curls.

*********

Memoirs of Geisha

2010-07-28T14:03:00.006+04:00

Author: Aurthur Golden

Tone of book? - upbeat

Time/era of story - 1930's-1950's

Romance/Romance Problems Yes

Inside culture (main char) - Japanese

Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

Outside culture (society) - Japanese

Woman's story? Yes

(Courtesy: Allreaders)

Speaking frankly, I bought this book because of the catchy cover. They say in America ‘Don’t judge a book by the cover’. But that is exactly what I did. I felt when the cover looks so exotic; the book must be worth a try and Lo! I landed up with one of the best books I will ever read in my life.

Memoirs of a Geisha, Is more of an autobiography of a small girl Chiyu, who by fate has been sold to Gion (more of a prostitute house) along with her sister and then begins her turbulent journey to become one of the most cherished Geisha of all times - Nitta Sayuri San. The book is very intelligently written and once started you wouldn’t rest it till you finish the last page.

On one hand, the author Arthur Golden tries to explain Japan during the world war II as seen by the eyes of a small girl and the transformations it goes through her life period. On the other hand he very intricately explains the feelings of the girl towards her sister, Satsu; her delicate animosity filled relationship with Mameha, her love for the chairman and her confused relationship with Nobu, who wishes to be her danna. The book further goes on to explain the difficult times of world war and how she braved them with the help of the chairman, her guardian angel.

It is Japan like never before.

My Kudos to the author Arthur Golden, who despite being an American has explained Japan and Japanese culture in such mesmerizing words.

My Suggestion, at the very immediate opportunity, go grab this book and get started.

Teasers :My Favourite Quotes from the book

"Adversity is like a strong wind. I don't mean just that it holds us back from places we might otherwise go. It also tears away from us all but the things that cannot be torn, so that afterward we see ourselves as we really are, and not merely as we might like to be."

"This is why dreams can be such dangerous things: they smolder on like a fire does, and sometimes they consume us completely."

"Sometimes we get through adversity only by imagining what the world might be like if our dreams should ever come true."

"I dont think any of us can speak frankly about pain until we are no longer enduring it."

"We lead our lives like water flowing down a hill, going more or less in one direction until we splash into something that forces us to find a new course"

"I had to wonder if men were so blinded by beauty that they would feel privileged to live their lives with an actual demon, so long as it was a beautiful demon."

"Whatever our struggles and triumphs, however we may suffer them, all too soon they bleed into a wash, just like watery ink on paper."

*********************

THE FALL

2010-07-24T11:28:00.002+04:00

It was torn apart,

By the vehement and intrepid wind,

Though Unwilling, it had to depart

From its family and its rind.

It was atlast going to rest

After the hard and long toil.

It had risen form earth's crest

And now it was going back to the soil.

It swirled and it swayed

Whenever the wind gave it a jerk,

"I want to descend in peace" it prayed,

But the wind made it go berserk.

Those sultry summers and serene spring,

It had begun to recall;

The joy those happy moments bring

It thought, would lighten its fall.

It thanked God, for having made it a leaf,

For those jolly days and life on a tree,

Though it was short and brief;

For having bound it then and now let it free.

With this prayer it landed to be crumpled

by some feet, some hooves or some toe

And then the pieces to be blown away and humbled

Surely, the wind has proved to be its greatest foe.

Humpty Dumpty Sat on a Wall

2010-07-24T07:52:00.007+04:00

This is an artwork by Mark Parisi. It is funny and very witty:)

The other side of the wall

P.S: MURPHY'S LAW FOR HUMPTY DUMPTY

Murphy's law for Humpty Dumpty states that
"Everytime Humpty Dumpty sits on a wall, Humpty Dumpty must have a great fall " :)

PotterMania2020 - The Best Kept Secret

2010-07-19T11:11:00.003+04:00

“ We can never get enough of the magical world and we can never get over the pottermania.”

Right! For all who are done with the harry potter series and shelved the books, time to dust them off and read the books again. Time to get your basics right.

For we are about to enter the magical world of potters, this time fast forwarded to 2020.

People have come, people have gone but their nature remains the same. There are death eaters present even now about 20 years after the greatest dark wizard ever Lord Voldemort was defeated and killed. Some of these death eaters are into hiding, some others are trying to get along and the rest continue to trouble muggles and the weak. The order of the phoenix still continues to thrive to keep the bad wizards at bay and establish peace.

But something is wrong with the minister of magic. He is planning to go open to the muggle world. To let all the non magical folks know about the existence of the clandestine magical world. The death eaters are supporting the Minister and so are the FMIO - For Muggle Involvement Organization.

You find it interesting so far? I bet you do.

This is the premise on which the site best kept secret is built.

Check it out here: http://thebestkeptsecret.proboards.com/

It is a wonderful site , the plot especially keeps you hooked right?

Equally good are the role plays and the character details you get once you sign up. This site gave me a chance to relive the experiences of those best twelve years of my life. I am glad that this site has been made.

I am sure you will enjoy it too. Go have a look and join the bandwagon.

The guns of Navarone

2010-07-16T22:46:00.014+04:00

Author: Alistair Maclean

Tone of story: suspenseful (sophisticated fear)
Time/era of story: 1930's-1950's
War Thriller: Yes
Armed Forces: Special Forces
Specific to - WW II
Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book

(courtesy: All read)

Easily one of the best books by Alistair Maclean and by far, one of the best World War II novels.

I will try to summarize the plot without giving out much. During world war II, the axis powers have control over the small Island Navarone. This Island hosts the most powerful guns, guns to which many ships of the Royal navy have fallen prey. On the Island Crete, there are about 2000 British soldiers who need to be evacuated and to accomplish this task the allied forces have to pass through Navarone.

All possible means of entering Navarone to destroy the guns have been tried and failed miserably. However, there is one route to enter Navarone which neither the allied forces nor the axis powers would term as possible means to enter the Island.

It is to accomplish this task, to enter the Navarone and destroy the guns Captain Keith Mallory, a famed mountain climber before world war II is chosen along with a team of the best in business. What happens next is an on-the-edge-of-the-seat thriller story.

The book describes some intense situations and some heart touching ones. Andrea, the silent and deadly Greek giant is one of the best war hero characters you will come across. He doesn’t talk much but conveys things to the point and is more dedicated than anyone else on the team.

I strongly recommend you read this book. It is not every day that you come across Alistair Maclean at his best.

Teasers: My Favourite Quote(s) from the book :

"There are no brave men and cowardly men in the world, my son. There are only brave men.To be born, to live to die - that takes a lot of courage in itself"

- Andrea to Stevens

Trivia:
A movie has been made on this book with the same title. For more details click here (Courtesy: IMDB)

OTIOSE dreams

2010-07-12T09:43:00.012+04:00

This post has been selected as a 'Spicy Saturday Picks' by BlogAdda

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

6th June 2010, Sunday 06:03 A.M

I don’t know how I landed here. But I have been here for sometime now.I have gained great experiences, seen great struggles. David has fallen and I have fought Goliath with the help of Lord Voldemort. In return, he wanted me to help him find Shaktimaan. He was feeling very insecure in London, so he wanted to kill, defeat and take Tamraj Kilvish’s place. I Bargained for an autograph from Harry potter ( I actually wanted Emma Watson to sign. But :( ,some other day, Harry for now). He agrees and he has invited me to his father’s grave in part four of the HARRY POTTER series. Voldemort has regained his body and he is about to duel with Harry.

Me: Hey Voldy *poking my finger at his back, he feels tickled*
Voldy: Stop Tickling, Don’t you see I have to duel with Harry?
Me: Before you duel, I want his autograph. Remember the deal *eye winks*
Voldy: Hey boyo, you will have to wait till I have punished him and cursed him. I will Use Crucio to inflict pain and then kill him later. In between, when I take a break, you can get his autograph *smug look on the face*
Me: No, no no no. Not done. I want his autograph right now. He will escape with the dead body of Cedric and you will make a fool of yourself as always.
Voldy: *naturally irritated* what are you? A male Oracle or something?
Me: Believe me Voldy. You don’t want to do this. Don’t duel, just kill him if you want to. If he escapes now he will kill you bit by bit . I have read the books. He will kill your horocruxes and you in part 7. What a shame.
Voldy: * totally furious* Can someone shut this lad in one of the graves? *He gives a villainous smile*
Wait.*The smile grows into a big grin*. I think I will need to practice Avada Kedavra before I use it on Harry. Don’t I?

He raises his wand. I am shocked. Unable to move, I don’t know what to do now. He then utters the most dreaded curse. I close my eyes. So this is how it ends. All the dreams and passions gone for a toss.

I remember reading a thread on the bulletin board that said “If you get to know that the next moment you are going to die. What will you do?”
I was cursing myself. Damn it! Why didn’t you read the whole thread? You would have had some idea at least as to how to handle this situation. Then I remember. There was another mail from Deepak. He always plays these stupid situational games of what- you-do-when. A particular mail read “If you are given a chance to do things before you die what will that be?”

I tried to remind myself of what I had replied .

1. Go curse my manager using choicest of swear words
2. Tell that beautiful receptionist that I was looking for the HSBC drop box actually and not trying to flirt with her.
3. Say bye to my mother, sister, brother and dad.
4. To advice my neighbor aunty not to cry when hero divorces heroine in Pavitra Rishta. (What? You don’t know Pavitra Rishta? Zee TV? Do you have a mom/sis/galfrnd? Haven’t they mentioned it to you? No? Damn it, you are one lucky guy.For gals, I am sure you know this TV serial better than me)
5. Finish reading the book ‘ The God of small things’ (I have been reading it for 7 years now)
6. Watch the last episode of Heroes season-3.
7. Find out who was Phoebe’s mystery stalker in F.R.I.E.N.D.S (don’t remember which season).
And went on the list.

Phew!! None of the above will be possible now. The curse will hit me any second and my body will be air borne for few seconds and lay dud on the floor, just like Albus Dumbledore’s. I was feeling light, I was air borne indeed, but someone was holding me and then I heard it.

“ To infinity and beyond”.

Buzz light year?? (Apply breaks -zzzzzzzzzzzzsssssssssssscccccccccccchhhhhhhhhhh).
What was he doing in Harry’s world?
(And then it occurred to me)
Voldy must be Zurg’s friend and Buzz is trying to trace Zurg through Voldy.Yeah all bad men are connected like all the underworld people and villains in Bollywood.They must be conducting these meetings like in movies. Status calls probably??
Ahhhhhhhh! Why can’t I keep work out of my life when I am not working?

Whatever!!

So I am airborne with Buzz and screaming hoorraaaays when suddenly the erratic Baloo of Talespin crashes his Sea duck into Buzz and I fall down and down and down into labyrinths of darkness.

I feel a tap on my shoulder, open my eyes and look back.A tired and irritated looking giant standing behind me in the queue says:
“Aapka number aagaaya, ticket lijiye aur jaake train mein sojaaiye”.
(Translation: Dude, get moving, get your ticket and doze off on your seat in the train)

Ahhhhhhhh. I hate these queues for train tickets in Bangalore Railway station.

Twittermania

2010-07-08T13:55:00.002+04:00

The below picture is an artwork by Steve Nease. I just could not resist the temptation of sharing it with you all and here it is.

The Fourth Protocol

2010-07-06T16:20:00.004+04:00

Tone of story - suspenseful (sophisticated fear)

Time/era of story: - 1980's-1999

Spying/Terrorism Thriller -Yes

Cloak & Dagger Plotlets: - stopping a saboteur/spy - preventing bomb/biohazard/disaster

Kid or adult book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
(Courtesy: All reading)

John Preston, A senior officer at the MI5 of the British Intelligence system is constantly tossed around to various section by the Deputy head of the MI5 who is nothing but a political animal who wants to secure his position and keep away anyone who is faithful to the current chief of MI5.But as luck would have it, John Preston keeps running into instances which point to a plot to destabilize the British political machinery and disrupt its relationships with USA.

There are people out there, bad people who plan to break the fourth protocol; which if broken would lead to severe damage to property, resources and a great loss of lives. And then there are people who hold the strings and make others play and it is these people who help Preston through his mission. He has to deal with the foreign agencies and people who are trying to harm his motherland and also his own countrymen whose intentions he cannot be sure about.

A thriller which will give you Goosebumps as it goes through the well crafted twists and turns which at last lead to the triumph of the righteous.

Fredrick's attention to detail is simply awe-inspiring, one gets insights into the Russian and British intelligence systems like never before. At times, one may find the book lengthy viz Philby's well drafted letter which goes beyond four pages. But nevertheless, it is done in a typical forsyth style.

All in all a good engaging read and if you love the international drama involving secret agencies and men of valor, skill and strength then this be sure not to miss this book.

Teaser: Trivia from the book
Ian Flemming's James Bond series depict the chief of SIS as 'M' although it should be 'C' taken from the initials of the last name of the first chief of SIS.
There is a movie based on the book with the same title, directed by John Mackenzie and starss Michael Caine, Pierce Brosnan( Of James Bond Fame) and Ned Beatty.
Check out IMDB (click on the link) for more details.

The salary day

2010-07-01T16:23:00.003+04:00

HAPPY SALARY DAY :)

Recession Blues

2010-06-29T09:34:00.005+04:00

The below text is purely a work of my imagination, any reference to any person living or dead is puerly co-incidential

I had drafted this some time in may last year when the IT industry was gung ho about recession and job losses. I felt its worthwhile posting here if i could help a few laugh and few others smile about it :)
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Read from the bottom of the mail chain

--------------------------

-----Original Message-----

From: postmaster@localhost [mailto:postmaster@localhost]

Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 12:19 PM

To: Ashrafi,Gulam M

Subject: Delivery Final Failure Notice

Can not deliver the message you sent. Will not retry.

Sender: < Ashrafi_gulam@japkakakapa.com>

The following addresses had delivery problems

< mohdjaved.siddiqui@blalba.com> Reply from njpmail1.blabla.com[204.179.188.154]:

550 The mail ID no longer exists

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Ashrafi, Gulam M

Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 10:34 AM

To: Mohammed Yusuf; Mahammed Sharif; fareed; MdMuddassir_Shah; mohdjaved.siddiqui ; Azghar Pasha

Cc: javed.sjce; Mohammed_Hussain; shaffi.mohammed@gmail.com; yuppie.jaff

Subject: RE: Re:

Tats cool, when is the treat?

________________________________________
From: mohdjaved.siddiqui

Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 10:30 AM

To: Mahammed Sharif; Ashrafi, Gulam M; fareed; MdMuddassir_Shah; mohdjaved.siddiqui; Azghar Pasha

Cc: javed.sjce; Mohammed Yusuf; ; Mohammed_Hussain; shaffi.mohammed; yuppie.jaff

Subject: RE: Re:

Ah No ways.

I got the employee of the month award last week.

They wont fire me

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Mahammed Sharif

Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 10:19 AM

To: Ashrafi, Gulam M; fareed; MdMuddassir_Shah; mohdjaved.siddiqui; Azghar Pasha

Cc: javed.sjce; Mohammed Yusuf; Mohammed_Hussain; shaffi.mohammed; yuppie.jaff

Subject: RE: Re:

Dude,

Take care .

Hope it doesn’t affect you.

________________________________________
From: mohdjaved.siddiqui

Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 9:57 AM

To: Mahammed Sharif; Ashrafi, Gulam M; fareed; MdMuddassir_Shah; mohdjaved.siddiqui; Azghar Pasha

Cc: javed.sjce; Mohammed Yusuf; ; Mohammed_Hussain; shaffi.mohammed; yuppie.jaff

Subject: RE: Re:

Doing great bro, as always

Plus recession, they fired some 100 folks yesterday

There are rumors that they will fire more today.

________________________________________
From: fareed[mailto:fareed.h@blablabla.com]

Sent: Wednesday, May 27, 2009 8:07 AM

To: MdMuddassir_Shah; Ashrafi, Gulam M; mohdjaved.; Mahammed Sharif; Azghar Pasha

Cc: javed.sjce Mohammed Yusuf; Mohammed_Hussain; shaffi.mohammed; yuppie.jaff

Subject: Re: Re:

Hello All,

@javed,

How are you? Hows work

________________________________________

Disclaimer:- The information contained in this communication is intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom it is addressed.It may contain confidential or legally privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or taking any action on the contents of this information is strictly prohibited and is unlawful. The contents of this email do not necessarily represent the views or policies of blabla India Limited. We accept no liability for any damage caused by any virus transmitted by this email.

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Note: If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, or an employee or agent responsible for delivering this message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by replying to the message and deleting it from your computer. Thank you.

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Motives and Actions ...A short story

2010-06-16T21:02:00.009+04:00

He entered the village limping; his entire weight supported by a wooden staff that appeared to be in a shape bettered by his own. The sun was retiring for the day and so were the peasants. Young kids returning from school and the children dirtied from the farm work were running around carefree. The police constable along with some young men was trying to force the children back to their home lest the kidnapper make an appearance and abduct the children. The kidnapper had terrorized the village for a few months now, holding children for ransom until defrayment. No one had ever seen him and that made the matters worse. The police constable was under a lot of pressure to catch the kidnapper and he wanted to prove his worth.

The constable had this hunch. Anyday now the kidnapper will make his move and the constable will catch him. The prize for the catch was more than the pride at stake. The reward money to bring in the Kidnapper was handsome plus a photo published in the local newspaper will make him the hero and help him gain the interest of his lady love, the daughter of the local doctor.

He limped through the street struggling ; trying to find a tree to rest under and some water to drink. He had packed some food at his previous stop and now he was looking for a place to dine and doze. What better than a huge tree for a shade. And probably, if he was lucky he could rest at a temple or a kind family may let him rest in their garden. The possibilities were infinite. Being the vagabond he was, he knew better than to expect.

His ragged panhandler appearance with red cheeks, a twisted lip and the look of the liquor in his eyes made eyes turn to him and frown, some with disgust and some out of fear.He passed many kids playing and he atlast reached the centre of the village. He saw a large Banyan tree at the centre of a village. He paused out of breath, trying to take in the view of the village. He saw a temple at a far end and some houses nearby. The lights slowly switching on as it grew darker.

To his far left he saw a lonely kid playing with his toy train. He spotted some movement on the ground and quickly moved towards the kid. As he reached the kid he raised his staff as if to hit the kid. Seeing the approaching man, the kid let out a scream. All heads turned in his direction. He realized that in his attempt to scare off the snake he had scared the kid instead.

The police constable couldn ‘t believe his luck. His lady love and few other young lasses who were just passing by stopped to turn back and have a look. He was sure they had the kidnapper and this was his moment of glory. The constable ran towards the kid and so did the other men – young and old alike. They all started beating him; his pleas of mercy fell on deaf ears. He screamed that he just was trying to save the kid as he had spotted a snake behind the kid, near the cobbler’s house. The villagers were angered by the lies of kidnapper when he was caught red handed. They all started beating him harder. Everyone wanted a revenge for the atrocities committed and the trouble caused to the village.Their anger and frustration had the better of their senses, they beat him to death.

They all feasted that night; that they were atlast free. Their kids need not be afraid of playing out in the dark, the parents need not worry about the safety of the children. It was as if they had their greatest victory of their life and not to mention, the constable was their hero. He ran the fastest he could run and caught hold of the kidnapper before he could escape. He beamed with pride and he was on cloud number nine. Tired from the day’s work and the aftermath event and the celebrations, they all went to sleep. Sound, peaceful and deep.

The next morning, the cobbler and his family were found dead in his house. The doctor diagnosed that the kid and the wife were bitten by a snake and were spot dead. The constable established that the cobbler had struggled for sometime to fight the snake or to call for help but to no avail. His body was found at the doorstep while his wife and kid were found in the bed, in the position they had slept.

The beggar who entered the city; who was beaten to death, was not lying after all.

I didn't lose the keys

2010-06-11T23:13:00.003+04:00

I have developed this unique ability to lose/misplace the keys everytime I am honored with the onus of handling the keys.

Whenever, wherever keys go missing, people turn to me with an awful irritated look, a tacit question in their eyes “Where the hell have you placed the keys now? Sad, but true; I have become synonymous with the loss of keys.

Every time I visit my native, I turn the house upside down, everyone running around, ransacking every nook and corner for the Scooty pep, Bajaj boxer or some other keys. While at hostel I misplaced the room keys; at home, I misplace the cupboard keys. While visiting one of the umpteen friend’s brother/sister/cousin marriages, I have misplaced the room keys meant for the bride and bridegroom on the night of their marriage. During trips and outings, I have lost the hotel room keys and in college, I lost the auditorium and seminar hall keys.

Phew!! The scroll of honor grows bigger by day.

It is as if the memory of keys evades me. I am sure my brain has developed bad sectors in the memory area responsible for holding the instructions about keys.

But, for a change, I didn’t misplace the keys last week. They were safely placed in my hip pocket after I locked the door. I return from mosque after prayers and to my utter dismay the door doesn’t open. It was around 9 P.M and my brother with his Goliath like body overshadowed me flaring with a question in his eyes “Where are THE KEYS?” I handed him the keys and grinned from ear to ear. The evidence was so strong that I didn’t even need to plead NOT GUILTY. All he could do was withdraw from me. Still angry, he smashed his shoulder into the door aka bollywood style. “This is not a filmi door” I managed to mutter under breath. He probably realized it and thanks to some good neighbors, we located a key maker and entered the house through the safety door.

The real culprit was the auto locking mechanism. It was jammed, not sure how. My Brother was cursing the system and I was silently thanking it for saving me from another disgraceful embarrassment.

Let's change this environment day

2010-06-05T21:55:00.003+04:00

I was reading through my old Calvin and Hobbes collection when this particular strip held my attention. I read through it again and it hit like a punch in my face.

One, it speaks against all the rude and careless attitude of humans towards the nature and second, it speaks for the entire non-human earth community through Hobbes, a Tiger and his species is on the verge of being eliminated from the face of earth (and directly or indirectly Humans are responsible for it).

What hurts more is the tiger speaking as a wounded warrior who fought valiantly for a cause and who is about to give up his life and existence for it. The last words of the icon and idol warrior, which will linger around always and would hit us deep somewhere in our conscience as long as we exist and even when we are about to perish.

On this environment day, let’s take an oath to change our ways, let’s take some corrective action before it is too late.

Let’s prove Hobbes wrong and add another graphic to this comic strip where Calvin gives a befitting reply to the accusation of Hobbes.

Let us go Green!!

Adam, do you wanna be a woman?

2010-02-10T20:09:00.004+04:00

As soon as I was comfortably seated in the bus on Tuesday evening, I plugged in the earphones and tuned into Radio one 94.3 FM.Pavithra was running this 'Get-on-the-air" thing and getting opinions on the topic "Given a chance to swap genders, would men like to be women?" and this prompted the below musing (Ironically :0) ).

With "Do Dil Mil Rahe hain' from Pardes running in the background,I took a jog down the memory lane. Boy, I must say, that it was not at all surprising that at more than one instance I have heard frustrated grunts and gripes from my friends (Boys and men) that how they would have preferred to be women just to get out of the situation which led such thoughts creep into their minds. My observation says that their views on this topic have been purely circumstantial.

The long queues in School and college to pay fees, collect hall tickets, some society books, CET forms, movie/show tickets; the reservations in engineering/medical colleges, the preferential treatment in MBA seat allocations, the discounts in tax slab rates and umpteen other such situations, I find men left frustrated and all I could but empathize at most; after all I have been through such situations myself :). And they say, Chivalry is long dead with the gentlemen of yester years ;).

The song in the background changes to "Allah ke bande Hasde". I somehow love this song and put my thoughts to rest.The song ends and RJ Pavithra is at it again; getting opinions on the topic. I try to structure my incoherent thoughts When I see that my cell rings and the call is from my mother.I smile.I realize that every man can but respect women. After all, everyone (almost everyone) has a loving mother.Mother! Yes, as long as there are mothers, no man would object women enjoying the privileges.Probably that applies to wives as well, but I am still a bachelor and hence reserve my comments on that front.

With this, I rest my case.

P.S: I deliberately avoid using sister and friend, some other time and some other article I may take up the cause of sisters and friends.

Shab-a-khair

(Good Night)

Four Chances to live or Die .. A Flash Fiction Story

2010-01-13T20:56:00.005+04:00

Flash fiction is fiction of extreme brevity. There is no widely accepted definition of the length of the category. Some self-described markets for flash fiction impose caps as low as 300, while others consider stories as long as 1000 words to be flash fiction. [Source: Wikipedia]. The Below story is written in 200 words

George loaded the revolver with the three bullets he had and fired two shots in air Bang! Bang!. Now it was just one bullet that kept his life from death. He was not sure if he was fighting his will to live or braving his audacity to die.

He had been a loser all his life and now he wanted peace. He put the revolver to his temple and thought about everything that has gone wrong with him .He felt it right to let the bullet pierce his head and put an end to this sheer madness. He stared at himself in the mirror and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. He sighed, looked into the mirror and tried again.Nothing changed. He was furious with rage; he can’t have an easy death. He put the revolver to his temple again, closed his eyes and pulled the trigger .He was still alive. All his futile suicide attempts had failed miserably so far. But he knew that if he pulled the trigger fourth time, he will be dead. He put the revolver to his temple again but his hand faltered. He decided to give another shot at life and put the revolver down.

50 days ... a short story

2009-12-05T11:42:00.006+04:00

“Appa, Appa!”, he could faintly recognize a distant ramble. The sound neither raising nor rescending.But it went on and on. He tried concentrating hard. “Do I recognize this voice?”. “I am not sure but I have heard it before”. He neither had the strength nor the will to open his eyes, turn his head and look at the little girl now seated comfortably on the chair beside his bed, continually trying to wake her dad. She had been adamant about this for almost an hour now. She wanted her dad to open his eyes, look into hers and grin broadly as he did everyday before seeing her off at the school. However hard her mother tried to stop her, the girl wont budge. Tears were rolling down her mother’s eyes. She was confused initially and now worried that something was wrong for she had not seen her mother cry for long. Her elder brother sat on the floor, his eyes gazing between his toes; never lifting his head to talk to her, to stop amma from crying or to awaken appa, who had been sleeping for two days now; not in their thatched hut, but in a crowded building on a bed in a shabby corner of a room troubled with double the number of people it could normally accommodate. Unaware of all these, lay the man on a government hospital bed, Half conscious with all the pipes, wires and needles that traversed in and out of his body.

Given the alcoholic and drug addict he was, doctor had the faintest of hopes tht he would leave the hospital alive.But then, he had survived, fought against death; just to realize that the eventuality was merely deferred by 50 days. Both his kidneys had failed.His lungs had fought valiantly but the cancer overpowered them.He just had to open his eyes and start the countdown.

He started recuperating and was released two days later.His family was unable to afford the costs of his treatment any longer.

It was his third day since they had shifted to the their hut and he ws still unable to open his eyes.The same voice started to ring in his ears “Appa,Appa”.This time it was not a happy one but sobbing.He recognized it was lakshmi, his daughter.He forced his eyes open and there was nothing but silence, he was gazing at those grey eyes and it felt like eons pass before he could manage to grin at his daughter.A crackle of laughter burst out from lakshmi who was now clapping in sheer joy. Though he felt better as he continued to grin for his daughter, he knew something was wrong.

Lakshmi said “Appa, amma told me that you will be going to swarga and wont be back soon.Please take me with you. I want to be with you, be it the next 45 days here or when you go to swarga so that we both can come back soon”.

He realized at these words that his days were numbered.That he will not be buying a saree for his wife for their next anniversary.That he will not be able to gift his son, the cricket bat he promised.He cannot celebrate deepavali with his family.Above all, he cannot watch his dearest lakshmi grow, marry and have her own family. He also realised that he had left no reserves for his family to carry on with after his death..He repented for all his foolish muses and the wrong group of friends he had been with.He was ashamed of himself . He wanted to cry but his train of thoughts was disturbed. Lakshmi asked “ you will take me with you appa? Wont you? Wont you?”

He managed to grin again and feebly said “I am going no where. I will be with you”. Lakshmi brightened up on this prospect and after some thinking she said. “I don’t believe you. You had said the same thing last time you were gone. If you promise me that you will be wth me 46^th day from today, I will believe you”.He replied “Pray to God that he let me be with you and I am sure he will”. He promised to himself that he will try to make his family as happy as possible in whatever time he had and uttered a silent prayer asking god to give him one extra day on earth for his daughter’s sake. When he turned his head to see where his daughter was, she was already kneeling near the lord Vishnu’s photo asking him to give her dad the 46^th day on earth. She turned back and replied “Appa, I will pray daily asking God to let you be here”. He grinned and she clapped her hands again.He turned towards heavens and was uttering to himself “Atleast for Lakshmi, atleast for lakshmi…”.

Part -2

It was her brother’s birthday and dad had somehow managed to gift him a cricket bat. Everyone at home was happy.

He approached Lakshmi and said “Thank you lakshmi, It is your prayers that I am still here on 46^th day as I had promised to you”. He kissed her on cheek and grinned at her grey eyes. She started laughing and clapping again. He slowly moved away to talk to his wife.

Lakshmi turned towards Lord Vishnu's idol, knelt down and prayed, “My dear God, If you can give dad another 45 days of permission to stay here, I am ready to part with my chocolates for 45 more days…please”.

The Lonely shores

2009-10-12T21:51:00.004+04:00

At the end of the pathless woods

Lie the unfrequented shores

which silently bear the pain, of the winds

and the waves settling their scores

However ferocious,

the waves carry a tender heart

They bring the distant waters to the shores

and return for their regular chores.

The impertinence of waves comes

with a touch of love

Every time they touch the shores,

they leave a part behind and

carry a part from the shore along.

I want to always be here

Watching this intimate game

I find pleasure in the boisterous waves

and tranquility on the silent shore

Its not that I love the humans less,

But I love the nature more.

Bubbles of happiness

2009-09-05T16:56:00.007+04:00

Every afternoon, beneath the banyan tree;

Play children,happy and carefree.

Skipping stones, collecting pebbles

Eating ice creams and fighting for roubles.

Bigger and bigger, bubble they blow

When it bursts, they cheer and glow.

Few lucky bubbles escape and float.

unless the bubbles burst the children cannot gloat.

They chase the bubbles, trying to strike

success and failure they enjoy alike.

Laughter erupts when some bubbles perish,

Bubbles of happiness, the children cherish

The Desert Blues

2008-09-14T09:55:00.011+04:00

(Based on an anonymous transcript)

As I pass through this mystic land

all I see is but the golden sand.

Wind, the master of desert;

Plays the song

The dunes are but neigh

to dance along.

The wind blows

moving the grains to and fro;

giving them the life they much desire,

a reason to exist, compete, feel and persprire.

Sometimes a mighty storm

uproots the very foundation of the dune.

Sometimes a gentle breeze

shapes the features and puts it back to tune.

The dunes change form continuously

yet their essence survives

One wind leads them to perdition

and another revives.

Eons have passed

Yet the winds continue their game

The dunes eagerly await

for their elixir to come and proclaim.

Plannings for a sunday freak out

2008-06-07T18:58:00.003+04:00

Looking forward anxiously to meet my childhood friends :)
You have areat sunday :0)

The PJ party

2008-02-03T17:39:00.003+04:00

Hey met madhumala, sirish and Pai today. Wat more do u except when the masters of pjs clash??
more PJs, better PJs and new pjs.
The lunch @ roomali with a view, followed by a street chat and then into Indiranagar coffeday.
Had a gr8 time and this will go long down in the memory lane.

Did I tell you that the CAFERATTI google groups accepted me??
Oh yes! they did. Looking forward to do something useful here :)
had a great weekend. Hope even u enjoyed
good night

Tongue Twisters

2008-01-28T16:34:00.002+04:00

Of late, I have been fascinated with tongue twisters. They are quite a challenge, at times they are stress busters or at times they may add the stress load.
I have done my bit of look out and this is wat I found:

Wikipedia states:

"A tongue-twister is a phrase that is designed to be difficult to articulate properly. Tongue-twisters may rely on similar but distinct phonemes (e.g., s [s] and sh [ʃ]), unfamiliar constructs in loanwords, or other features of a language.The hardest tongue-twister in the English language (according to Guinness World Records) is supposedly The sixth sick sheikh's sixth sheep's sick. William Poundstone claims that the hardest English tongue twister is "The seething sea ceaseth and thus the seething sea sufficeth us."[1]"

I found these interesting,

Betty Botter had some butter,
"But," she said, "this butter's bitter.
If I bake this bitter butter,
It would make my batter bitter.
But a bit of better butter,
That would make my batter better."
So she bought a bit of butter -
Better than her bitter butter -
And she baked it in her batter;
And the batter was not bitter.
So 'twas better Betty Botter
Bought a bit of better butter.

Mr. See owned a saw.
And Mr. Soar owned a seesaw.
Now, See's saw sawed Soar's seesaw
Before Soar saw See,
Which made Soar sore.
Had Soar seen See's saw

Before See sawed Soar's seesaw,

See's saw would not have sawed
Soar's seesaw.
So See's saw sawed Soar's seesaw.
But it was sad to see Soar so sore
just because See's saw sawed
Soar's seesaw.

Now I say, Boy Humans are creative, they first create language and then induce puzzles to puzzle themselves. Great means to amuse oneself :)

My Regular Diet - ICE CREAMS!!

2008-01-17T11:24:00.004+04:00

ICECREAMS -KEEP YOU HEALTHY &HAPPY

MerryLand - The forest

2007-10-10T14:08:00.002+04:00

The birds are in the sky,

Trying hard not to fly.

But then they are so amused,

As the first rays of light are let loose.

The cold breeze is being replaced by wind

As the moon is about to rescind.

The silver night has made the way

For the golden beams and the sunny day.

The leaves rustle and the birds chirp,

As rain drops hit the grounds.

Every one cherisheth and asks

"Whence this nature’s music resounds" ?

Red, yellow and pink the flowers bloom,

The little animals jumping around dispel the gloom.

Every being riseth to seek his food for the day,

Life continues here harmonious and gay.

Welcome to the merry land!

Where every one walks hand in hand.

Joy pervades and everyone smiles,

Through out the stretch and across the miles.

Here rejoiceth every creatute,

To the Dhun - symphony of nature.

2007-09-25T13:20:00.002+04:00

Telephone Songs
This is for all of you frustrated musicians...who want to turn all of us into frustrated listeners. ...You can play music on your phone by pressing the buttons on the top (1,2,3)...and along the side (6,9,#). But don't play the 4,5,7,8,*, or 0. They sound even worse than the others.

Happy Birthday
112163
112196
11#9632
969363

Auld Lang Syne
11113212
321139#
#9331212
321##91

Frere Jacques
12311231
369369
9#9631,9#9631
191,191

Mary Had a Little Lamb
3212333
222,399
3212333
322321

Louie, Louie
111-66-999-66

Help
911
911
911
911

About Movies and motivation

2007-08-28T08:25:00.001+04:00

I have never considered movies as a source of social reform until late. Ever since I remember Iknow of movies leading people berserk in terms of love, romance, arrogance, style.. all in all complete show biz.. which helped people get flambuoyant and nothing else.

I don't remember even a single movie which motivated people to do something for the society, taught them to be selfless and all. Even if the movies featured on these themes, they had the least of effect on the junta.

The success of Lage Raho Munna Bhai and CHAK DE India!! not only on Box office but their effect on public has also been startling. If people in northern states practised Gandhigiri on roads earlier this year garlanding the ones who broke the traffic rules, the second half of the year is witnessing, youngsters, ladies and lasses pick up hockey sticks and play the game with passion. I say this because I have experienced this.

I had been to my college last weekend. I have never seen the hockey ground with people fully groomed in hockey sports dresses, especially the goal keepers wearing those accessories and all.But for two complete days all I got to witness was that the guys who used to play cricket are showing a new found passion towards hockey, playing hockey day and night.

Tat is seriously great. Our national sport is now getting the much deserved attention atlast.
Ans Now I wonder, if movies could have such an effect why not try something that would help make India a really secular country without any corruption.???

26th August 2007

2007-08-26T06:46:00.002+04:00

Hi All,
Morning and HAKUNA-MATATA!!

First things first. Today is my brother's birthday and I am back at home to spend some quality time with him but alas, he is sleeping as always. Never mind. The devil within me is Surely upto something. My dear bro is going to pay for it( read as treat, shopping splurge etc etc;)).

I was in Mysore for two days and last night I mounted the bus to Bellary. It was great to be back to my alma mater, which I strongly identify myself with. Few things passed my mind. Memories from the recent past( last 5 years) made me glad and also led a tear or two down my cheek. Its definitely one of the most important phase of my life where I metamorphised my self, transcended and now I am backto ground zero.

My visit to mysore strengthened my will to continue my constant struggle to beat myself at things and emerge out as a better person.

phew... no more philosopy or else people will stop reading "chicken soup for the soul".Just kidding.

Last thing.. this week has been really special. Lotta events.. As already said my bro's b'day and wedding of two fo my batchmates-krupa-from my dept and meghna-my close friend in IEEE Ed-Board and many more things. met mansi and gossiped all stupid things that wont help a mosquito to improve his efficiencies at biting shilpa.

Jokes apart, I have got a long day, so got to go

Sayonara!!

Those Familiar Faces !!

2007-08-20T07:39:00.001+04:00

Every morning when the sun begins to glow,
Now and then I peep down the window.
My eyes searching for the faintest traces
Of those old familiar faces.

It's long since I have recognised someone
Now, I wonder where all those have bygone.
I want to talk, hug and embrace.
Show me please, one familiar face.

I know I have walked a thousand miles,
But still, I miss those friendly smiles.
It would be a great solace,
Show me please,one familiar face.

Where are those consummate words and comforting eyes??
Those moments of joy and that of sighs!!
I grieve for having deserted those places
And now I miss, those familiar faces.

I importune to live that life again
And I know that I cry in vain.
My time has passed and still 'am looking for traces
Of those old familiar faces.

Aaghaaz - e - Mehfil

2007-06-12T07:14:00.005+04:00

"Falak ko zid hai jahaan bijliyan giraane ki;
Zid hume bhi hai wahi aashiyan banaane ki!!

The nothingness of life

2007-06-07T14:26:00.001+04:00

Probably this post begins with a pessimistic note. But then, I am being paid to sit and waste my time and my talent too.
Hang on!!.. dont you dare to think even for a second that I dont have much of work to do at office(Had it been so.. I might have been so happy ;) .)
Its just that I dont have quality work to do. The quanitiy of work, masha-allah is beyond the capability of oneself to accomplish it in alloted time. Like any other "Software engineer", Me too spending my time putting off the work for the next day and the next and so on. Darn it !!! This is tad mushy; I know it is.
And this is the life I have to live , infact most of us and this is the way we do it.

P.S: This piece of verbiage is to kill my boredom and to bore others. thanks for wasting your time on it ;).

Bryan Adams - Here I Am

2007-01-21T14:53:00.002+04:00

one of my favourites

2007-01-14T10:50:00.001+04:00

What is common in these words?
Banana
Dresser
Grammar
Potato
Revive
Uneven
Voodoo
Assess

Answer:
In all of the words listed, if you take the first letter, place it atthe
end of the word, and then spell the word backwards, it will be the same word.
Did you figure it out?

ALWAYS THINK OUT OF THE BOX!!!
chao

Where are thou??

2006-12-14T16:36:00.003+04:00

where are thou??
Long since the sun has gone home
The moon is on the duty above the palace dome
Long since mom has the dinner cooked and ready
and from then on we are waiting dressed and steady.

where are thou??
Long since the beacon and steak are roasted brown
From then on the delicacies are smelling down
Long since i think the dinner is gone stale
Mummy,granny are worried and pale.

where are thou?? where are thou daddy??
Bruno is hungry and barbie is sleepy
Its now time for going to bed
Coz scindy the devil is bouncing his head
where are thou?? where are thou daddy??

Daddy pls come home pls its very dark
I am crying as i can hear scindy bark
Bruno is silent and granny is asleep
all i can hear is mom s weep
daddy where are thou?? come home pls

come home plz daddy, where are thou??
where are thou ?? where are thou??

The Helmet boom- FIESTA LE HELMETTE

2006-11-05T17:32:00.001+04:00

I SPENT AN HOUR IN TRAFFIC JAM, ON THE LALBAGH ROAD.

I was not able to figure out the reason.. then as our pulsar slowly dragged us through i had the reason..URVASHI THEATRE which was screening umraa-o-jaan.. But then 6.30 pm is no time for a movie show to end or a fresh show to start!!.. I was getting furiated the furore but then, as i scanned sideways, my muscles contracted and expanded not letting me control my smile. The mayhem , the traffic jam was all about HELMETS. The jam was due to the reason that there was not enough place to park the vehicles. All people were calling upon the vendors who sold the helmets. There were all types of helmets.. various colors, various shapes and sizes to suit thte taste of the people. Ever since the law has been passed making helmets compulsory, people are moving around cribbing and balming the government wihtoout understanding the fact that to abide by the law is for our own safety, but again we indians will never change!! :)

there were people moving in and out of Megha enterprises, A.N enterprises some carrying the helmets, some wearing the helmets and other were even getting it packed and wrapped in glossy papers. Probably they may serve as better seaonal gifts. The only happy people were these vendors who were long awaiting this moment. They were beaming and gleaming with smiles all happy to serve their customers.All in all it was a great time for these people.. as i rightly said

"Fiesta le helmette".

Fine i better stop boring you people.. keep hanging around.. lotz more to come.

love,

chao,

allah hafiz

back after a hiatus

2006-11-01T17:29:00.003+04:00

hi ppl,
feels good to be back after a hiatus for ramazan, the holy month.
yeah back to work, life feels so bore, miss friends and coll college like hell.. the more i try to forget the more nostalgic i feel. sometimes an ephemeral thought passes my mind- what next? wats gonna be my future. but then , no time to work out that. so time being i am getting in line with what life has offered me and being thankful for having a better life compared to that of million others.
chao

Batteries that charge thru usb

2006-09-30T09:52:00.002+04:00

Hi, i recieved this mail recently and felt its worthwhile being shared
Chk this out !!!

love innovation - who doesn't? That said, my tastes lie specifically in the kind which make my life simpler and easier. We're talking email over post, wireless over wired, LCD over CRT and potentially now 'USBCELL' batteries over your traditional AAs.
Released as a teaser to the IT press over a week ago with the tagline 'Time to recharge the battery market', the details are finally out and they are oh so logical yet very cool.
Produced by Moixa Energy, USBCELL batteries are simply batteries that recharge from any USB port. They require no separate recharging devices, cradles or cables and can be used exactly like a normal battery. The design itself is rather like a typical memory stick with its flip top lid and they could be set to deliver the same killer blow to the battery market that memory sticks did to floppy discs.
At this stage the one unknown is how well they perform when compared to their established counterparts and how long they take to charge. The new wave is coming however and though they launch in the familiar AA they will soon comprise a full range of standard formats including phone and camera batteries and come with C & D size converters.

Available now and costing just £12.99 for two AA USBCELL batteries (including VAT and delivery from the company's website) I'm forced to say something I never thought would pass my lips: I'm quite excited about batteries :S

Update:
USBCELL batteries have a capacity of 1300mAH which is in line with most NiCd and NiMH batteries though some do go all the way up to 2500mAH. It takes five hours to charge a completely flat battery and an LED on the side will light up to indicate charging, flash for 10 minutes after charging is complete as an alert and switch off after that.

schumacher quits racing at high crescendo

2006-09-11T17:25:00.001+04:00

Seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher will announce at this weekend's Italian Grand Prix that he is retiring at the end of the season, Germany's top-selling Bild newspaper reported on Wednesday.

The 37-year-old Schumacher will announce that he will complete the season by racing in Shanghai, Suzuka and Sao Paulo before hanging up his helmet and overalls.

Bild said the most dominant Formula One driver of the past decade would not comment on his future before the race at Monza.

His manager Willi Weber said: "Until then we have nothing to say." Schumacher hinted at an imminent announcement when he said during a Ferrari function in Germany that "we've fixed everything for Monza."

"All I can do is ask everyone to understand that I don't want to touch on that subject until next Sunday," he added. Schumacher's contract with Ferrari ends this season, but it has indicated it is prepared to offer him a new one if he wants to continue driving.

The German trails reigning world champion Fernando Alonso by 12 points heading into the Italian Grand Prix and Renault are two points ahead of Ferrari in the team standings.

someuseful links

2006-09-10T19:08:00.000+04:00

useful links t download free templates:
www.templatesbox.com

www.oswd.org

www.templateworkz.com

www.interspire.com/templates

www.openwebdesign.org

www.coffeecup.com/freestuff/templates

www.webdesignhelper.co.uk

its just life!!

2006-09-10T18:15:00.000+04:00

Famous tennis star Arthur Ashe's last words when he was aboutto die of cancer and when he was asked if he was not feelin bad.

"THERE ARE 6 BILLION PEOPLE. 2 MILLION TRY TO PLAY TENNIS, 50000 BECOME PROFESSIONAL TENNIS PLAYERS... AMONG THEM ONLY 128 ARE SELESTED FOR WIMBELDON, 4 FOR THE SEMIS, 2 FOR THE FINAL.. AND ONLY ONE WINS.wHEN I WAS ON THAT VICTORY STAND, I DIDNT ASK GOD"WHY ME??"!! WHY SHOULD I ASK NOW".!!!

i start penning my thoughts with this quote to bring in a positive thought about life.. before i go ahead.

no one is perfect!! so is everyone s life!!.. believe me there s always a better we must be looking ahead to compromising with the present life and also giving our best and ardent efforts to reach our goals.never be diheartened if u dont get what u desire at times,bcoz there is always someting better waiting for us.

These words are no pep talk nor are inspired by reading stephen covey and other motivators. I have personally experienced and am today in a postion to post this.

every individuals life has ups and downs.. and its during the times when we are low we must not quit, we muat not give up. I have been a placement represnetative in my engg life and have seen people supposed tobe afficionados in their field fail miserably and get embarasser. but it was people who took the failure to be challange and beat it down to get placed in beeter than those had visited my college for campus recuitments.

so from now on i shall i write my personal experiences along with great exemplary real life stories.. which will help US(both u n me) to change our lives and reach our goals. I hope people who go thru this blog to comment on my writings and help me improve. Also i will be very glad and thankful if someone can add up to each post.
so keep running thru this blog as frequently as possible.
hope to see you soon..

ciao

Bidding adieu... bye bye mysore.

2006-06-17T20:05:00.000+04:00

Hi one and all..
I had my last dinner.. perhaps my 'LAST SUPPER' in the hostel tonight. Now I am back at my juni's room keying in these words... my last blog from sjce. Kashi , Darshan and Raghavendra shetty .. the three closest guys to me at the hostel left today... feeling very sad.. kashi cried itseems.. chey i missed it god:).. I wanted to see him cry. The last time I saw him cry was when june 15th 2005 when Ravi K S left. I would be leaving Mysore tomoro night i.e, 18th of June. I dont wanna cry .. perhaps that's the reason I am writing this,to let out all my feelings.

That's it. I dont wanna write any more or else i will cry. thats it.
I thank all the people living or dead for having made me enjoy this beautiful and most memorable period of my life.

love you sjce. love you mysore. thanks IEEE and Thank you BIOtech

bidding adieu, bye bye mysore!!!

adios amigos,

allah hafiz,

shab a khair, good night, shubhratri, sweet dreams

Md. Muddassir Shah B.E.

Er. Muddassir shah B.E Biotech

2006-06-14T08:50:00.000+04:00

hell! i thought when i walked out of my project demo.. the last qualifying exam to become an engi graduate in VTU. I did it... but then... was it this I was looking for? I didnt have the courage to scream nor the joy to shout and elp noises of happiness and achievements. It was a blank moment.. unable to decide wat sort of a mood I'm in. It took me four hours to realize that I am going to miss this four years of my life very very much.
love you sjce, love you biotech and love you mysore

Muddassir shah B.E atlast

2006-06-06T17:55:00.000+04:00

hey one and all
i finished my last written paper of engineering today.
finished my engineering itself.
dunno wat sort of feelings am in.
But yeah today i feel like thanking all my seniors for making my life such wonderful on.
thank you guys
allah hafiz,
muddassir

just felt like writing

2006-05-17T17:37:00.002+04:00

Hi,

I am in Vishal's room counting how many more evenings will I spend in this college.

No one knows how's life going to be on the other side of the turn. Hope we get more greener pastures to fulfill our dreams.

Right now I am burning F.R.I.E.N.Ds seasons to DVDs. Thanks to Vishal Naik for allowing me to use his system and to write these DVDs. These juniors have become an integral part of life and I am going to miss them.

Got the first draft of project report corrected yesterday.I think it will take more time to incorporate these changes compared to the time taken to compose the report.

Anyways got lots to do.

ciya later..

khudahafiz

P.S: Revisited this article after four years on 15/10/2010. Thanks to Sadiya. This post was written in 2006 at a time when I thought no one will ever read what I write. Sadiya, Thank you soooo much for bringing back this lost memory to life

Farewell continued

2006-04-26T21:46:00.000+04:00

we had lots of fun,,.. there were this one minute games... musical chair as i had told earlier.. then paper ants .. dance competition.. a superb menu of food... great ice cream... as usual i ate five full slabs and few pieces from others.

winnning prizes or being named Mr GENE doesn matter much.. what matters is that i learnt a new lesson today... learnt how much my juniors love me.. learnt how much i love them.. how much i love my classmates... alll in all a great day.
so next time i feel something important has taken place in my life i will be back to bore you

khuda hafiz,
shabba khair..
good night

thanky you juniors.... thanks a lot.. wont ever forget this day