Finding the Feet

If the ball pitches short of length, you will need to rock back onto the back-foot to adjust to the bounce. If it is pitched full, you move your feet to the pitch of the ball to place it in the gap precisely. If it’s on middle and off, you shuffle your front foot across to play the ball into the midwicket region in leg side. If it is a spinner tossing up the ball, you might judiciously jump out of the crease to the pitch of the ball and loft it over the infield. The longevity of a batsman’s career at helm depends on how well he moves his feet to counter the fearsome balls thrown at him, but it’s not just the life of a cricketer that depends on the rule of finding your feet.

The story is similar for every one of us who ventures into a new thing or another almost every next moment. It might be a gadget that you just brought, a course you just opted for, a new person you just met up with, a relationship that you’ve just entered into or a new job you just got appointed for.

Just like the T-20, ODI& Test variants of the game, the above mentioned moments also classifies itself into various kinds, based on the significance and influence those events are bound to make to your life and into your foreseeable future. Some of them are like the normal T-20’s were you don’t waste time trying to find your feet, rather just go after the bowlers from the word ‘Go!’. You just go by trusting your instinct or hunch were in you might succeed or may even lose, but who cares, it’s just a T-20 and not the end of times. Then there are others like the 50 overs a side ODI matches, were you can’t afford to throw it away right at the start. Again, you wouldn’t want to waste a hell lot of time finding your feet, because then you’ll be lagging behind your mates with the task at hand.

Then comes the very random, occasional opportunities or events like a test match, were you are completely new to the situation and have a lot of time to compromise and be content with. The successful ones here are those people who accumulate the crease the longest, survive the most, for which you have to find your feet and get it moving exactly at the right times. First days of a job is one of those big opportunities and I am now padding up for that big test of mine. The conditions are totally unlike anything that I’ve seen ever before. It’s a challenge, but also an opportunity.

Many of the so called big problems in life may seem gigantic to many of us, but in fact it’s just a matter of finding the feet, changing our attitudes or perspectives of how we look at it. Picture them as challenges like seeing off the new ball in a test match and it is surely going to be an interesting chapter of our lives, which we are bound to come over with valuable investments of our time and our efforts.

My Camera Speaks – Beijing Unplugged!!

Beijing; the capital of the 2^nd most powerful nation in the world, and the 6 amazing days I spent there will not be forgotten any time soon.

This is a blog which explains the story of my 7 day trip to Beijing in 7 simple photographs. Photographs of the seven epic monuments & structures that defines Beijing. The Great Wall of China; the National Stadium which hosted 2008 Olympic games, a.k.a the Bird’s Nest; Tiananmen Square; the Summer Palace; the Forbidden City; the Temple of Heaven & the Monument of People’s Heroes at Tiananmen.

… the Badaling section of the Great Wall of China…

… National Stadium Beijing, a.k.a the Birds Nest…

… Tiananmen…

… Summer Palace…

… Forbidden City…

… Temple of Heaven…

… Monument of the People’s Heroes at Tiananmen…

Share your thoughts if you liked the pictures. Check out my collection in Facebook, C.l.i.c.k.e.D .

Battle of the Rivals – India v Australia

I'd wanted to write an article about Sachin Tendulkar when the master blaster scored the first ever ODI 200 in history, last year; but then, an exam kept me from doing that. I'd also wanted to write an article on the eve 1st match of this World Cup; but then a bad fever and infected throat had me rest in the hospital instead. Now on the day of the what is called the business end of the tournament, the first quarter finals, nothing will and nothing can stop me from coming up with this piece of writing on a sport that i love, that flows through my veins, that flows through the veins of over a billion people, Cricket!

Ever since that historical test match at Kolkata against Australia in 2001, the outlook of Indian cricket team had taken a U-turn around the world. Under the inspired captaincy of Sourav Ganguly and magical performances by Laxman, Dravid & Harbhajan India thrashed the then "Invincible" Australian side from almost impossible scenarios and even went on to win the series. The 2003 Indian tour to Down Under saw India winning a test match in Australia after ages, once again choreographed by Dravid & Laxman. A final resistance from Steve Waugh in his final international innings saved the test for Aussies and the series was drawn at 1-1. Since then, huge waves of anticipation followed every single India-Australia fixture and also produced some of the most finest & exciting performances of the last decade.

Today we are one day to go for yet another India-Australia contest and probably the most important one since the 2003 finals at Johannesburg. The core of Indian team remains the same even today, but Australia is no longer the might they used to be.

• Zaheer Khan will be daring to go against the Australian openers again, wanting to make up for his ill-fated opening over 8 years ago.
• Sachin Tendulkar will want to make his 100th international ton against his favorite opposition in a match that will take him closer to his only remaining dream, the World Cup.
• Sehwag will be looking forward to relish the big stage yet again, wanting to bat for the length of the innings and thus single-handedly take the match away with his blade.
• Yuvraj will want to continue his excellent showings with both bat & ball in his rebirth, a couple more of good performances and the Player of Series trophy could be in his showcase!
• Harbhajan will want to lead the spin trio from front, hunting the kangaroos down just like the way they did over a month ago at the warm-ups!

The above five couldn't stop an Australian team when it mattered 8 years ago, and they wouldn't want to repeat those mistakes again.

Enough said, Australia have always been my favorite team outside India and Ponting the captain is placed shoulder-to-shoulder with my icon Ganguly. I know its funny, but I often compared his autocracy in the field to the then President of USA, George W Bush. Its a shame that this game ain't happening at Mumbai with the World Cup all but up for the grabs. On any other day, against any other opposition Ponting, Lee & Clarke would've been the players I would've loved to see smiling, but not tomorrow. Come tomorrow evening, the Kangaroos will enter into the bulls ring surrounded by over 50,000 cheering fans, taking on the mighty tigers of India. Over a billion viewers will want to see the raised willow of a smiling Sachin & joyous celebration of Zaheer & Co in the field. Go India, Go!!!

My Story of a Cinema Going.

How many times have you gone to a theatre to watch a movie? I've gone plenty of times, and probably the list may well have been destroyed beyond recollection. But every now and then one of those movie-going-experience becomes different, memorable. Don't ask how they become memorable, it could be the rush-hush and adventures of getting the ticket, it could be the face of one beautiful girl you came across and it could also be for some disgusting incidents that took place. Here's my little story of going to a cinema some days back.

In this land where names sound more like that of a breaking of plates, getting to talk in English is rare. Even rarer is to watch an English movie in theatres and the rarest of incidents took place this December 1st. The movie My Name is Khan released in China.

Traditionally only 20 foreign language movies are permitted a release in China and this year My Name is Khan was one of those top 20 movies which makes it to the cinema halls in China, and stunningly, 10 months after its real release. The news of the release came out in the first week of November and we happened to know that Shahrukh Khan & Karan Johar would be there in Beijing for the premier of the movie in China. So our initial plans were to fly to Beijing to meet them. Fly to a city 1200 KM away, to meet an actor, and almost during our exam time. Plan dropped!

Then we came to know that the movie is releasing in two malls in Nanjing and we were again excited. Days passed by as exams came and swept us away. Someone had kept a remainder for the 30th of November, reminding the release of My Name is Khan and things were back in minds and plans were to be made again. Anxiousness was the ask of the day even though the movie had been watched a few days after its release in some cheap camera prints and later in crystal clear DVD's.

We will whistle when the titles roll. We will throw paper pieces when SRK makes the intro. We will shout; we will clap; we will create havocs.

Every Indian had a reason to be proud of because no movie of any other friends of ours had come here; none of those Pakistani/Nepali/Srilankan/Indonesian/African movies. God knows if all of them have even a film industry. So this positive energy continued from the classroom to the lunch hall and several friends from other campuses joined us too. The energy followed us through the metro trip to the place, and racing against time, we reached the hall at 2.45 PM and the show was supposed to start at 2.40.

Having reached the ticket counter, there was not many people enquiring or picking up tickets even though the mall had 9 theatres or so. We asked tickets for "My Name is Khan" which they didn't understand in the first go. So the geek among us who ate-drank-and-slept on Chinese language asked the lady in that language and she replied with a mouth full of flourish. "Wo de ming jiao ke an?" and the smile continued. That was incidentally the name of the movie in Chinese which translates to My Name is Khan literaly. So we shouted back "Yeah!!".

Suddenly her smile kind of disappeared and she asked the lady in the next counter, who seemed to know better English and the lady informed us. " Wo de ming jiao ke an mei you yinwen, shi zhong wen"

All our plans were broken down to pieces!! The damn movie was in Chinese and not Hindi/English. All the excitement and preparations only to see a Chinese poster of My Name is Khan.

His Excellency, The President of India.

…memories are vague, no beginning and no definite end. The finer the knots are tied, the clearer the image becomes, and the better…

...thunderous applauds break the silence in a huge hall in London…

The man clears his throat,

“That was a very inspiring piece of oratory from the Chief of World Bank. Now i take this occasion to welcome the Man of the evening, His Excellency, The President of India…”

…another round of thunderous applause. The man stood up waving his hands and moved to the podium…

“Those were very kind words. Good Evening respected guests, dear brothers & sisters of London and the rest of the world. It is indeed a very privileged feeling to be speaking in front of this grand audience on such a grand occasion.

I am honored to be the chief guest of this session of the world economic forum, which is celebrating the platinum jubilee anniversary, completing 75 victorious years. I am also very glad at the fact that my nation has given me reasons to be immensely proud standing in front of all of you. This march, Indian economy, along with Chinese has become the biggest economies in the world, and if the predictions are anything to go by, we will become the biggest economy in another 12 years.”

…the audience interrupts to present another round of applause…

It indeed is a very proud feeling to be the head of state, which has returned to the very zenith of it all. I am sure if the founding fathers of our nation lived now, they would’ve proudly felt jealous, for we live in an India, which they couldn’t have even seen in their dreams. India now has completed a full circle. For years, for centuries and millennia, we used to be the land of gold; the land of power; the land of prosperity; the land of cultures; the land of wealth and the land of ultimate intelligence. But then as a cycle don’t speed forward if the tires stay fixed and hence the darker periods of our history began. The might, wealth & intelligence attracted ambitious foreigners who along with time changed roles from anxious visitors to obnoxious rulers. Great selfless people fought them, not with guns and fire, but with words and principles and brought the light of freedom once again to our great nation. Those 90 years of selfless revolutionaries followed by a century of rebuilding takes us to where we are now, once again the biggest economy in the world.

Decades ago in a visit to India, an American President had pronounced that India had emerged, and was no longer an emerging nation. Back then, I had felt good, and proud. But everyone knew then that those words were just meant to sooth your emotions and that it was far from the truth. Then, it was far from the destiny of us being an emerged nation, which indeed was in all kinds of mess, the corruption, poverty and terrorism issues. But now, right now in 2045, a couple of years from hundredth year of our Independence, I can repeat those words and say, we have really evolved, emerged as a supreme power in the planet.

……”

The thing about dreams is that, we have no sense of belonging, no beginning and no end. The same dream might recur over a course of time, night after night, may be. Being in and under the spot-light in a dream every night is fun, but the real challenge begins when we try to find a way, our way to the beginning of the dream. That’s the challenge ahead for me, to find a way to the beginning of my dream, to  find a way to that very podium.

(Recollections from a dream that’s been soothing me during my sleep, of me standing in front of the world as the President of India. Certain facts from Wikipedia added in the speech, & a thought from the movie Inception.)

Google Vs Facebook. Strength’s Vs Weaknesses.

To start of with, this one ain’t a technical post. This is a post explaining the thoughts that crossed my mind during my first 5 minutes in Facebook Mail. The bolded text is the happening in the I-World (Internet-World) and the text below are my thoughts.

So there was this big buzz in the I-World when Mark Zuckerberg announced a thing or two about Facebook Mail, a couple of weeks back I guess.

Another newbie in the I-World and lots of waves created. The success of Facebook means high expectations on the yet to materialize Facebook Mail. So I send in a request to get an invitation for the new Facebook Mail.

I got the Facebook Mail today. I was asked to upgrade the normal messages to the new Facebook Mail & I was given my new Facebook E-mail ID.

My first expressions were in a “Glad” note. Glad, as in I got hold of the Facebook mail before many of my friends. On the first look, it looked plainly similar to the old Facebook Messages, except that may be it covers the width of the page now.

So just to check the working of it, I sent a mail from my Gmail to the new Facebook ID. Back in Facebook when I tried to access the mail I had sent in from Gmail, they said there was a temporary glitch. A problem which did disappear by a refresh, but that was enough for me to come out with a Moral message. The following was my next post in FB.

Facebook Mail Sucks!! Zuckerberg can't beat Larry Page in the mailing front! (FB vs. Google: P)

What’s the Message from all this?

Google has the most successful search engine in the world, and one of the better mail services in Gmail, and another super success in Blogger. But none of those helped a bit when they ventured into Google Buzz, an application similar to Twitter. Google Wave is another, yet similar story of tragedy.

Facebook has the most successful social networking site in the world, but their next big thing; the Facebook Mail looks all set to be a crash & burn.

Everyone has got their own domains, Facebook the Social Networking & Google their own ones. Then why do they have to cross borders into another one’s territories ambitiously? Just as a nation enters into another one’s territory eyeing to reap benefits, but ends up in wars, destruction & famine. If those efforts were spent in their own territory, surely they would’ve been a brighter nation. Alike, instead of transcending into others domain, I wish Facebook expand and improve the glitches in their own services and the same  goes on with Google.

Facebook, Google, Twitter and all similar applications were all results of some brilliant ideas and dreams. Why are they now diluting their dreams by carving out pieces from others dreams?

Work on your Weaknesses rather than another one’s Strengths! ~ Naveen.

Ashok Chakra. A Tribute to Mumbai 26/11.

Today, 26/11/2010 marks the 2^nd anniversary of one of the most horrifying incidents of Post-Independence India. Let us salute the brave souls who lost their lives fighting selflessly on the 3 black letter days in Mumbai and also pray for all of the deceased souls.

 

Click here for the full list of the deceased during the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

Everyone will have a story to tell about this day, the date. My story of the Mumbai attacks goes on like this. On the night of 26^th Nov, 2008, I was chatting with a friend of mine from Mumbai. So while we were chatting, the news of a terrorist strike broke out and this friend was the one who told me about it. She rushed on to make a couple of phone calls to ensure the safety of her friends. I glanced across several websites to get to know the details and was incidentally relieved to find out it was not a bomb blast, which could really take away lots of lives instantly. Only after a while did I notice that the attack was even more dangerous and serious than a bomb blast. Live terrorists were shooting down innocent lives with machine guns in many crowded and landmark places of one of the most populous cities in the world. While this friend was chatting with me late in the night, she got a call and a moment or two later, returned to say her friend was also shot at the Taj Mahal Palace and went offline before I could offer a word of console.

I’ve always had this belief that the best of anyone comes out when in troubled times. I have fond memories how people unite in face of troubled times. Back in Sainik School while in the 9^th class, we used to be the junior-most in the house, inferior to the 10^th, 11^th & the 12^th guys. So facing the rigorous punishments on a day to day basis, what really happens is that it unites each one of the sufferers into one, one big nutshell. Mumbaikars found the same strength in the troubled times and they showed their courage and determination by going to their respective works from the very next day. By doing so, they had given out a clear message to the perpetuators of the attack that nothing can hinder the spirits of the people of Mumbai and the citizens of India.

Two years have gone and the lone captured terrorist Ajmal Kasab is still alive. Several leads have been found, but no real action has been taken against the real organizers of the crime. Heaven knows what, ‘Dossiers’ have been exchanged between the Indian & Pakistani governments and even the Media doesn’t have a count of it. The country has been spending crores of money to keep Ajmal Kasab alive, on his safety and security, but honestly, does that man deserve all these?

I can’t help myself not to criticize the judicial system of our nation. A person who killed 166 innocent people with machine guns; who as per the court waged war against the country, why in the hell is he alive still? I don’t know if many are aware of this, but SI Tukaram Omble sacrificed his own life while trying to arrest Kasab alive. This is an excerpt from Wikipedia.

Baudankar says that Assistant Sub Inspector Tukaram Omble was hit by the bullets as he was the first to charge towards Kasab and his associate armed with just a stick. "All those who were with Omble survived as he stood like a shield," adds Kadam. "When we saw that Omble was not letting go of the terrorist's gun, we knew we could not let his sacrifice go in vain. He held on and we completed his unfinished task," his colleague Sanjay Govilkar said.

It’s nothing like the news of a death sentence for Kasab makes any change in my life or gives me a high, but it’s that the life and sacrifice of brave men like SI Omble goes down the lane worthless in the present situation. The loop-holes in our Judiciary that keeps him alive even today are almost making fun of the sacrifices of those valiant officers. Lets hope the perpetuators of the attack gets caught, and soon the whole of terrorism gets wiped away from the face of our planet.

26/11 is now a part of history and bullet holes on the walls and the scars in the hearts of Mumbaikars shall remain forever. The least we can do is to be better citizens of this vibrant nation. For a nation which has had to face many unfortunate challenges like the terrorist attacks, cross-border insurgency and interior Naxalism, it’s a shame that our politicians are adding on to the woes by stupid scams and scandals, which becomes bigger & filthier every next time.

The Ashok Chakra is an Indian military decoration awarded for valor, courageous action or self-sacrifice away from the battlefield, during peace time. 15 Police men and 2 NSG commandos lost their lives encountering terrorists. Officers Hemant Karkare, Vijay Salaskar, Ashok Kamte and Tukaram Ombale and 2 NSG commando’s Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan & Havildar Gajendar Singh were awarded Ashok Chakra for their sacrifices. We salute one and all of them.

Image Courtesy - Flickr

What Men Want? Check Out!!

“What Men Wants” is a blogging contest conducted in & by Blogadda.com. What attracted me to this topic was that a search on this topic in Google returned 34 million less results compared to “What Women Wants” and so I am here trying to eliminate the deficit (Ha-ha!), and on course trying to find out a diplomatic solution to “What MEN want”!

Similar posts on the wants of Men & Women are of abundance in the blogosphere and one obvious thing are the lists, specifying points as in men liked to do this and not this, men wanted this and not this, men meant this and not this. C’mon, how it is that one can describe the nature of more than 3 billion people through a list of likes & dislikes.

Then the genuine question is what is it that I can present, which differs from others, and still gives at least a hazy idea of what men really wanted. I can only write on what I want, and that may or may not be a real reflection or the real answer to the question. Suddenly the filaments of the so called bulb in my brain sparked and resulted in it shining at over a 1000 Watts!

ASK QUESTIONS!!!

Wow! That ain’t a bad idea. I mean, I can go on and ask this question as in a survey to people around me, Men of course, and see what they have to say. It also makes better sense considering it will be Men’s choices and not ‘a’ Man’s.

So this is what I heard from my friends.

The first one says. “Women...Money…Enjoyment!! …a big life…with lots of dreams…money…more money…lots of people…partying…want to share moments with family…and yeah, of course…you know it!! (The S-word)” So, I asked him, on the kind of girl he dreamt… “A pretty one, traditional, loyal, friendly, patient…and with a long hair…” And he had a giggle saying the long hair.

The second one went on like this… “I want to hit to gym for ever, a fit body always! Then, a beautiful girl, with a pretty pair of legs” On things other than girls, he said “I want to be able to sleep as much, have a nice job, high salary, less working hours, enjoyable life, a Lamborghini, enough n more time to enjoy, and a beautiful wife”. He adds he wants to have multiple dates with hot ladies in town, the dream girl of everyone. Well, I can say he might travel to the moon, but not his last wish.

Another guy was a bit different. He said he wanted to travel a lot, before adding onto the lady-part. He said “I want to travel around a lot…” and later added… “I want 2 kids, the elder one girl and the younger one a boy. A home beside the sea, a small one though. A wife who’s elder, say 5-15 years older than him.” He got some conditions too “She shouldn’t smoke and drink. Well…drink, occasionally okay, but not at home.” According to him an elder girl takes better care of you, much like a baby. Not a bad one.

So what is to be understood from what we’ve heard now? From the opinions and voices of Men from different nations, who have different sets of minds? Everyone wants a girl, a lovely relationship. They dream high and aspire for a grand house and fat-fat pay cheques. They want fun in their lives and wish to share them with families. They want racy cars and want to see the world.

So the question that crosses my mind now is, are all these the wants of just men? If a lovely relationship is the want of men, what is it that women want? If money and grand houses are what men’s wishes, do women dream of being broke & homeless? Ain’t having a family and living the life out with them as much a women’s wish as it is for men? So what is the big fuss of what women want and what men want? As I believe it, it’s not the gender that defines wishes, but personality and character. A person with a very serious outlook about life may have a set of things that he wanted in life, irrespective of him being an M/F. Another set of people who always sees the funny side in a life might want different things in their life; and here too, I don’t see the gender/sex defining a line that differentiates the wants or the aspirations of both.

Personally I feel the question very stupid and the truth is that many of the blogs which points out things that men like, women like and what we don’t like are only good to have laugh about. They are only good to you if you are a film director and you want an easy method to describe your characters, the female lead in a ‘Girly way’ and the hero as a ‘Macho Man’, for in real life, follow your instincts or you are paving your own path to troubled days.

The funniest thing about the question is, when I asked my friends “What do you want, as a Man”, they all jumped back on to me, shouting “Women & *** !!!”, as if answering a Rapid-Fire round for a gift hamper.

Go to www.myntra.com and check out t shirts for men! Also visit the largest community of Indian Bloggers at BlogAdda.com

India : The Soft Power (Video)

TED – Ideas worth spreading is a website which i had noticed something like an year ago for some of its innovative ideas. A boring evening took me back to the website and here I am sharing a video I watched over there. Shashi Tharoor speaks of India. I was impressed beyond words and I was not or surprised to see the kind of applause he got at the end of his 17 minute talk. This is a video you wouldn’t want to miss out.

 

The Man, his Diary and a Story!

The alarm tore apart the silence in the room; starting off smoothly, slowly and steadily gaining pace and sound. The shade of a hand, rose in the darkness and started crawling in the surface; searching for something and in a few seconds it got hold of the alarm clock and killed the already loud tone. Hesitantly a figure rose on its knees, it was that of a nicely built man; he looked all around in the dim light, as if searching for something and switched on the lights by the bed side. The room was not as messed up as a young man’s, a bachelor’s room. There were quite a lot of books in the table and some clothes hung on his chair, the shelf was closed down and the room was pretty empty but for the table, the mattress, the study table and chair.

He opened the laptop lid and starred to the background wallpaper for a few seconds and opened the VOIP calling software in his laptop, and dialed a number from the contacts.

Tringg….Tringgg…Tringg…..Tringg…..

Hello Mamma…

Albertttt!!!..... You are so on time again, right at two! (Looking at the clock rear side) Where are you now baby?

I am way far off, Mamma… (Far away from you he whispered)…

Far?? So what time is it over there?

Time..? I just woke up now Mamma…

Why do you sound different? Have you caught cold or cough Alby?

No Mamma…I am fine…

You said far, are you in the Siberians? Should be pretty cold out there…

No Mamma…it’s not the cold! I said… I am fine…

Alby, it’s been three years now, when are you visiting me?

Soon Mamma, I gotta go now, next week…Mamma…

Oh… So soon again!! Love you Alby…

You to Mamma…take care!

He pressed the end call button and kept his eyes on the phone number and the magical letters beside it, ‘Mamma’. Several expressionless moments passed by and he got down from his bed and went to the far end of the room and opened the door by it, the bath room. He spent several moments in front of the mirror, running his hands through the scars and marks and acne’s in his face, again the silence prevailed. Closing the bathroom door behind him, he took a sip of water from the flask and sat beside the study table. He searched for something among the ocean of books, and soon had that thick covered elegant looking book in his hand and the hard cover read “Diary – 2008”.

Under the elegantly written “Diary – 2008” was a hand written phrase in a nasty way which read “ Call Registry – only for saturdays”.

He smiled and opened it and kissed his mothers photo which was right at the first page. He moved on to the bookmarked page and read it and the page before it and the one before it, the dates kept on changing, but not the writing. The same text kept on repeating as in one of those impositions you were made to write in your yester-year classes, only the handwriting changed, which kept swinging from impressive to un-readable, probably explaining the regular mood swings.

He took the pen and started scribbling.

Called Mamma today. Another week has gone by and another week is to come. Another 6 days and 23 hours and 50 minutes to go; the wait for the last week now goes down the lane, the lane of history and its almost 3 years now. I still find it d…

“Albert…Alberttt!!...”

There was a knock on the door and someone was calling out his name, he dropped the pen by and rushed to the door dragging the chair while he was getting off it and making the irritating high frequency sound of metals.

The elderly sounding voice from outside, that of a woman, continued,

“...oh…how many times have I told not to drag the chair Alby? And how many times, not to lock down the door always?? You never listen to me…”

A rare smile crossed Albert’s face and replied, opening the door…

“You know I love irritating you, Mrs. Haven…”

“You & your love!! It won’t be long before I take away that chair from your room. Alby… have Suzanne come with the medicine yet??” enquired the elderly lady.

“No Mrs. Haven…its just 3.20 now and today is Saturday; your memory is rusting Mrs. Haven”

“Oh…well,come and have your lunch now…right now!!” added the lady in a stern voice.

“Sure Mrs. Haven…I’ll be there in 10 minutes…”

She let a sigh and said “Okie!!”

Closing the door behind him, he went back to his diary. He ignored the bookmark and raced to the back cover of the diary and took the cross-folded sheet of paper, nicely written on the flip sides and appeared to have been folded over and again in the same manner. He opened and glanced through, wondering if his hand writing was the only thing that had improved over the 2 years since writing it. It read,

Dear Mamma…

I want to apologize to you Mamma and this surely is not the letter you would have wanted to read, after not hearing from me for so long. I am sure you will have the patience to read through these lines and … and I love you Mamma.

I have been lying to you for all these years Mamma, of being busy across borders and oceans, with some work. I have been in an asylum in Philadelphia all these years I was infected by a disease and I was no longer wanted by my company. I was coming down to meet you on your b’day several years back and I lost consciousness while in the subway. The people took me to hospital and they found out my disease and with no personal information and contact details, they were forced to send me to the asylum where I had been for all these days.

I was told by the doctors on how serious my situation was and having faced troubles from my work place and among my old friends, I decided to stay full time at the asylum under the supervision of Dr. Stevens and Mrs. Haven & our lovely care taker and nurse, Suzanne. The time here was peaceful, with every one of us, the inmates being in more or less the same situation. I never returned to you fearing how your friends might respond to my sickness. I never even had the heart and guts to visit you. I called up only once in a week, because i wanted you to get used to, living without me, and i called you every week because i owed you every second of my life, for the breath that i took in was all a mercy of yours.

Mamma, I had AIDS and I am to be blamed for it. My actions are to be blamed and my care-less nature is to be blamed. I apologize to you for the discomfort this letter is causing you and I pray to god that you have the strength to overcome this. I’ve been regretting all my actions for the last years, knowing millions of hours of regret won’t let me rectify my moments in the past! I cry for another chance, for a wiser yesterday and a better tomorrow. I am sorry for leaving you all alone and by the time you read this, I would have closed my eyes for one last time.

Today is your birthday Mamma, a few years prior to when you will read this though. Happy Birthday Mom!!

Loving

Alby.

Oct 15, 2006

He was brought back to senses by Mrs. Haven’s loud thud on the door asking him to come over for lunch. He wiped the tears trickling down and moved on for lunch. At the dining hall he tiredly dragged the chair making the loud irritating metallic sound again.

“Alby, again how many times have I told you, not to drag the chair?”

He smiled and replied,

“You know I love irritating you, Mrs. Haven…”

 

AIDS not only kills you gradually but also kills your status in the society. People have their fear of being infected by working with or touching an infected person. Infected ones are hurt more by the way others behave to them rather than their bodies. This one’s a short story which was inspired by the Tom Hanks starrer Philadelphia in which he’s an infected men, who was thrown out of job on discovery of his disease. Various other films these days speak of the terrible diseases like AIDS and Cancer and the best thing one can do is to curtail one’s actions for a better tomorrow.

Lessons to learn!! From the 18th Century London to 21st Century Delhi.

I now recollect that day when I read news of India winning the bid to host the 2010 Commonwealth Games, at Delhi. I don’t quite remember when this was, but I do remember to have felt awed at the thought of India hosting a mega event much like the Olympics, if not as big. Fast forward days, months & years, being at the juncture we are in right now, the awe has for long given way to anger, frustration and pity-ness towards the organizers who are responsible for all the current mess. There have been enough of filthy living areas, shameful corruption and the shocking failures to newly constructed structures like the bridge adjoining to the stadium.

I don’t think there is anything at all, that I can add about the already messed up event, all I can is wish and hope for a decent event which brings about at least a smile on the faces of those Indian and foreign athletes at the end of the 11 day ‘supposed-to-be-mega-event’. What I intend to spread by this post is a warning to the mega cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata & Chennai (the list doesn’t end here, just naming a few), and this would be a right time to work on it, I guess!

I recently found a friend of mine sharing a link in Twitter which was about the Top 10 filthy cities in the world and shockingly Mumbai headed the list. Delhi’s filthiness doesn’t require an explanation and the dirty environment in Chennai near the railway station and under the bridges, a few to name, is something I have seen quite a dozen times. Kolkata, the 4^th Indian metropolis, I have heard ain’t much different too.

India has been a place of diseases, even when the name and the viruses or bacteria’s causing it keeps changing, the end result have always been the same, wide spread panic and uncontrollable deaths. There has been the Chikungunya, the Dengue fever, the Rat fever, and the more recent H1N1 influenza. London has a story to tell us, let’s check what it is.

London as we know it is one of the best cities in the world and UK has set high standards as a nation for others to follow. I am sure one of those things that attracts anyone about London, either in the pictures or videos or movies, is the mere beauty of the places and the cleanliness and hygiene in the environment. This is the London we know off now, the world knows of now. There was a stage when thousands and ten-thousands died every year in each British city as a result of epidemics like Small Pox, Cholera, Tuberculosis and even fevers like Typhoid. Several websites point out that around 80000 people were killed by TB alone in the 18th and 19th century and other diseases were as dangerous too. Poverty was the most basic problem and unhygienic conditions and polluted & sewaged water bodies like the mighty River Thames, all contributed to these age old tragedies. It was then that the Europeans learnt of the necessity of a clean environment and the dangers a shabby place can cause. Since then, there has been no looking back and it has contributed to what we see as one of the cleanliest & wanna-be places in this planet earth.

To read further about the 18th Century London – Click Here.

Most Indian states receive huge rainfall every year and the Indian cities like Mumbai & Delhi are no exceptions. This year Delhi received the highest rainfall in 35 years and there is no real stopping for the flood water. I am sure almost everyone knows the adverse effects the waste water causes like the un-controllable breeding of mosquitoes, which are responsible for almost all these deadly fevers. W aste water is just an example and the list of those pollutants and wastes shall go on forever if I start naming them.

The current condition in present India may not be as bad as the old UK, but it must be remembered that it won’t take long for a epidemic to spread across a nation and considering the billion plus population, there can never be a bigger tragedy. As Prevention is always better than Cure; a few cautious steps won’t do us any harm, and is in fact the need & necessity of the hour.

It would be the best step forward to take a couple of lessons out of the London experience, and make efforts to clean our city as we do in our homes. Constructing big buildings and express roads do improve the outlook of any city and nation, but it must be remembered and understood that the form stating India as a developed nation cannot be submitted when the “Hygiene & Clean Environment” box remains unticked.

Commonwealth Games is sure to have taught us a lesson, and i wish this is the right time to re-construct our nation, for the sake of the billion people who take pride even at the thought of being an Indian.

Oh God!! But where are you??

Existence of God has been one of the most controversial and debated topics across all over the globe & since the very start of our species. There has been many supporting the fact, that of the presence of god & many opposing it. Here is my take on Existence of God or how I feel about the Ultimate Power.

There has been no practical research work behind any of the things that I speak in this article and everything comes from my thoughts. You might or might not agree to what I have to say, so this one is intended to add another dimension into you already existing idea about God!

2 months ago I was reading this book, “The Goose is out”, an OSHO publication. Since then I have been trying to relate what god is, and how people describe many things as god. Since the existence of intelligent human beings, there has been gods. They found this new belief and found their gods on idols, in the sun, the moon, the earth, the rain, the clouds, the trees, the cow, the stone and the wind. The and at the end of the last sentence doesn’t mean it’s the end of the list, it’s just the beginning and human beings found a god in everything from the mighty sun to a mere stone.

Now think why would they have considered the sun as a god? And why, the wind as a god?

Who according to you now is god? How often would you have said “God Knows” to a question your pal asks you?! Why would you have answered in such a way? Because you may not have an answer to that question, right?!

Similarly, the earlier generations, the medieval people were left open mouthed at the question of who gave them this light and energy from every dawn to dusk. They found that a big ball rose into the sky every day at a particular time, travelled over their heads and disappeared later, taking away with it all the light & brightness. They, for then weren’t able to explain the physics or the chemistry behind the particular happening and for simplicity called the big ball the Sun God and prayed to him. Similar should have been the case with his worship for the trees, the rain, the wind, and the animals and so on.

I am sure every one of us believes that there is some extreme power which controls things, which controls the balance of the matter & the anti-matter, which controlled the birth of this earth, the solar system and the galaxies and the universe, one that controls everything. But the only thing is that we don’t know what is it that is controlling everything and we call it as god. Or we rather name this unknown, unexplained power or principle which controls everything as God! So is it really god or is it just a name, we had given to an unknown principle, the unknown quantity or the unknown powers, just like how the ancient people worshipped sun as god.

You, for once might be worshipping the same sun as a god, but not without knowing that the light and the energy you receive from sun is as a result of those nuclear fissions and fusions that take place at the central core of the star, and not because of someone godly powered, who rises his hands and a ray of light originates from it. So what I tried to mention here is that Sun is just a natural phenomenon, and not a godly one!

You are able to fly in the air, travel to outer spaces and even live there, those things which the earlier generations wouldn’t have thought possible to the human race ever. So by any chance, if they knew this, they might be calling us gods too, because they wouldn’t understand the logics behind the Space shuttles & the airplanes.

So my point still is that, we do attribute many of the present day happenings to be god’s play, not because it was really done by god, but more because we haven’t been really able to explain how it happened, or plainly we haven’t been able to crack down the logic behind it!

So as we move forward, as the human generation advances, we surely will find explanations to more of these unknown questions, which we now wrongly attribute as mere god’s plays!

So, What or who is God?

But i was not really contradicting the presence of god, or even I do believe in god or the extreme or ultimate power! I do go to the temples & I do pray to the god! And I have seen that ultimate power too, ask me where and I shall say through my eyes & in a mirror.

Yes, you read it rightly, and I do believe you yourselves are the gods, me myself is the god. If ever there was to be a god, then it is everyone of us!

We are gods because we have been doing things, once thought to be impossible and un-do-able. It was us, the human race itself who found the answers to all the questions we raised. The so called gods we pray now a days were actually one among us too. Jesus Christ, Gautama Buddha, were all just human beings who understood the meanings of their lives, and in a spiritual man’s words, they were the ones who got enlightenment. I wouldn’t want to take this post much into those streams because; I am equally un-enlightened as many of you and equally un-aware of all these terms as much as you.

So how do you reach to the god in you?

By above thought, that the god resides in yourselves, I am not asking you to quit going to temples or any holy places for that matter. Think what do you do when in a temple? You clean yourselves before entering the temple, you remove your slippers, yours shirts and you keep your bags at counters, but then these are all materialistic behaviors.

What do you really do once in a temple? You pray to the god, you tell him your wishes and your dreams and asks him take care of you and make you pass your class test, interview or that your daughter gets admission in a medical college, and blah blah blah...

Think what really happens here. Aren’t we actually reminding ourselves of the things we have to do, so that you get a bit more charged up to do it? Aren’t we reminding ourselves by praying to the god that, you need to study, since have an exam to do or you have to prepare, since you have an interview to attend or you have to drive carefully to be safely home? So by praying, aren’t you  actually reminding yourselves the things you need to do?

So the next time you travel alone in a bus or roam around by a silent paddy field, think about how your view of god should be? That of a global savior who has an answer to all your questions, one who cannot be seen, cannot be touched and heard. Or have you really understood that image you see in the mirror?

God is nothing but a creation of the people, but then it is sad seeing people being discriminated for the religion they follow, more so at the thought that none of us are following a religion by our choice! Religions do carry with it cultures and traditions, but are peoples happiness and peace secondary to any of these cultures and traditions? So stop discriminating people in the name of god, stop terrorist activities in the name of god, stop all such non-senses happening in the name of god, because they are nothing but mere Satanism.

My Camera Speaks III : Shanghai Expo Unplugged

Check the previous post if you haven’t, to get an idea what World Expo 2010 – Shanghai is all about. This is a continuation with some details.

Shanghai Expo started on the 1st of May this year and is about to finish in more than a months time, on the 31st of Oct. I was told that each day, the expo attracts anything between two hundred thousand to two million people. One day ticket allow you to stay inside the Expo site from 9 AM to 12 in the midnight, but if you felt that this 15 hours was good enough to see it all, you are terribly wrong. On a day’s ticket, it is not likely that you visit more than 5-6 pavilions. It took me some thing like one hour to get the security clearance to enter inside the Expo site. Our plans were to see all the pavilions  from outside, capture photos, and on the way visit the Indian, African & Aviation pavilions and see how the rest goes.

The Indian Pavilion

To be frank, Indian pavilion was a slight disappointment. Not that it looked bad, but considering the powerful nation we are, and considering the kind of Super Power we are supposed to be, they should have done better and invested better. The theme looked okay, the greenness and the structure of it displaying a bit of our culture, but there lacked something that attracts your eye like those of the European, American or even our neighboring Nepalese pavilion. We had to wait for something like an hour to enter the pavilion and inside it were a couple of stores, some antique shops, a food store, and a store of Incredible India & Air India together. The big dome seen at the center is an exhibition hall.

…Several photos from inside the Indian Pavilion are below…

What do you feel about the Indian Pavilion? Was enough work done? Didn’t it lack something from the other pavilions? Do share your views & thoughts through comments.

 

Some pavilion pictures that i missed last time…

…Russia & United States of America…

…Mauritius…

…the African Pavilion & Nepali Pavilion…

 

 

…Estonia…

 

…Romania…

…Germany…

…Winding off…

True, you have had to wait for 2-3 hours in queues to enter any major pavilion, but you can’t expect an easy passage when you know 500,000 people visit this place every day. And the 3 hour wait was made a comfortable one with various facilities and arrangements. Some of them included seating facility for the entire queue and fans every 5 meter or so, and then there was this innovative idea of spraying of water from the roof, every 30 seconds or so, which was nothing but a sudden escape from the humid, hot conditions.

To sum up the experience in a couple of sentences, engineering & organizing were all at their very bests, for this mega event. Pavilions that stole away your breaths, crowd control and voluntary works that made you jealous, free transportation services that made you feel home, an experience to cherish!

Walking through the Expo site, i was thinking how the Commonwealth Villages in New-Delhi would be looking like. Just like the Olympics 2008, this is sure to be a bench mark for any World Fairs from now on.

Happy Engineer’s Day! A Tribute.

 

Happy Engineer’s day to you mate~!

I know you are quite confused as like, ‘there is a day for the engineers too?’

Yeah dude, there is one and it is today. The 15th of September is regarded as the Engineers Day in India, as a tribute to one of the first and finest engineers India has produced, Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya. Today is his 150th b’day and let us, with all the pride, wish our fellow engineers a Happy Engineers day.

When i accidently came across this piece of knowledge, that of today being the Engineer’s Day, i knew nothing about him except his name, courtesy the Visvesvaraya Science & Technology Museum, Bangalore. Google and wikipedia helped me expand my knowledge of this great man and here are a few lines about him, a tribute.

Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya was born on 15th of Sept 1860, 150 years prior to today, at Muddenahalli village in the present day Karnataka. He earned his B.A. from the Madras University in 1881 and later completed civil engineering from College of Science, Pune. Upon graduating he took up some tedious projects under PWD & Indian Irrigation Commission. Visvesvaraya achieved celebrity status when he designed a flood protection system to protect the city of Hyderabad from floods. He was also very much responsible for the Krishna Raja Sagar Dam across River Cauvery in Mysore & upon completion, it was the biggest reservoir in Asia.

Upon retirement as an engineer, he was made the Diwan of Mysore and he was made the Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire by the British, for his invaluable contributions to the public. Sir Visvesvaraya was conferred with the honorary membership of the international Institution of Civil Engineers ( London based ), a fellowship of the Indian Institute of Science ( Bangalore based ) and several other honorary doctorates. He also received Indian Republic's highest honor, the Bharat Ratna, in 1955. He passed away on the 14th of April, 1962 in Bangalore. A true marvel who had lived for over 100 years.

I remember this true legend on his 150th birth day and i wish everyone a Happy Engineer’s Day!

Engineers are the ones who create this nation, structurally. Respect & support them.

Lend your Voice for the Nature.

Introduction to Environment Engineering is one of my subjects for this semester and at the end of the first lecture, the teacher asked all of us to write an essay, citing those things that we can do in our day-to-day life, to protect the environment, which in turn enhances the chances of some pleasant living conditions for the future generations. So I thought, how about publishing the same essay here and enlighten those who read this blog, about those little things they can do, to preserve our Mother Earth.

 

As per Wikipedia, the earliest forms of human beings took shape from Apes about 200,000 years ago and for the last 200,000 years human beings have been exploiting our earth in one way or the other. It all started with human hunting down other animals for their food and cutting down forests for shelter and other uses. As the race progressed, we became ambitious, striving for a better life, a better tomorrow and this ambition alone has been responsible for the comfy chair you sit in now and the computer you use now and the dress you wear and the car you drive and the posh flats you live in. But 200,000 years of exploitation of the natural resources have taken us to an irritating juncture, for now we are aware that the temperature is rising across the globe in a never-seen-before rate, the climate is changing all across in a never-expected manners, the reserves of those natural resources like the petrol,the diesel & the natural gas, those which fueled our vehicles for over a decade now are fast diminishing. Deforestation across the globe results in more and more CO₂ in the atmosphere and results adversely in the form of Green House Effect & Ozone Layer Depletion.

It must be noted that almost all the actions we do now a days destroys the environment in one way or other, and to live a life 100% environment friendly, you will have to boycott all automobiles, usage of paper, mobiles, electricity, wastage of water….well the list shall go on for ever. People are so used to all these luxuries that people starve for a day and they survive, but their mobile phones out of charge for a day and they might become mad. So lets look into those tiny aspects of life, which can be taken care of by a little concern.

1. Everyone quite know that wasting resources like electricity and water are not the best things you are doing as a citizen of this world, so please make it a point to switch off any un-wanted bulbs, fans & unattended computers, and ensure all the water taps are closed, when not in use. Use CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs) that draw almost 75% less energy than standard incandescent light bulbs.

2. Paper is one of the most widely used materials that you come across anywhere and almost everywhere, from your textbooks, bank cheque books, newspapers & magazines to the toilet paper. The list for sure goes on and on. Do you know the adverse effects of this paper? Paper is made by cutting down trees, which in itself is one of the big problems, called Deforestation. The next issue is that, the emission of Sulfur Di Oxide contributes heavily to air pollution, and this emission is largely due to burning coal in industries like that of petroleum products and paper production. So reducing the amount of paper you use could very well make a change. Recycling used papers is also a very economic solution.

3. Smoke contributes to air pollution heavily and some sources for this smoke like the heavy industries cannot be controlled by us, but we can do bits too. Please make efforts to use the public transportation system available in your town, instead of taking out your own personal car or motor bike. This not only reduces the air pollution, but also ensures the roads are lesser crowded, which in turn reduces the fuel consumption & occurrence of accidents too.

4. Every year one day is celebrated as the World Environment Day and each year, a new theme is proposed to be followed across the globe on that day. Last year, save power was the theme and the message was spread across to shut power at homes for one hour, voluntarily. Instead of shutting power for that one hour and utilizing the saved power the very next hour, make it a point to save an hour’s power every day. Similar to the “Save Power” are themes like “Plant a Tree”, “Save a Drop of Water” etc.

5. This might not be applicable to a student now, but keep this in mind. Airplanes burn 70 gallons of fuel per minute. So once you grow up and become a big business tycoon, teleconference can be an option for you, considering the amount of fuel saved.

6. Physical hygiene is as important as cleaning your room and saving the environment. Simple habits like washing your hands before & after meals, using a handkerchief, and staying indoors when you are sick, are little things that you can do to ensure that you do not pass on infections to others, as well as protect yourselves from other infections that might come by your way.

7. Keeping your home clean is one thing, but that doesn’t mean that you clean your home and throw the waste into your neighbor's courtyard. Treat the whole street as your own and don’t litter around, spit around or urinate. Try to keep it as clean as your own courtyard.

8. Reduce the use of plastics, and never burn them. It can destroy the Ozone layer and as a result, the earth could become one burning Oven.

It must be understood that the effects of you burning a piece of plastic here and someone cutting down trees in Russia & someone else polluting the water in Brazil, is not going to be faced by them alone, but by the whole earth.

I am sure you are aware of all the above mentioned problems and what you are supposed to do, this is just to remind you of your duties again. Understand them clearly and try to make all these simple steps practical, and spread the message to those who still exploit the nature for even their simplest needs, so that you can hope your children & your grandchildren also have the privilege to feel the nature & live in an environment like the way you do. Make a few adjustments to your life, be a responsible son of the Mother Earth and a responsible citizen of our great globe, or else, the future generations may curse us saying “ They destroyed everything and kept apart nothing for us, they destroyed the earth.”

I Pledge to the Nation, You?

This Post is a new entry to the Mera Bharat Mahan contest in Blogadda.com , sponsored by Pringoo.com

Two weeks to the 64^th Independence Day, take a quick look at where you are. Not personally, look where India as a nation has reached. Remember those leaders whose struggles won India our independence like Gandhiji. Would they have been happy seeing this India through your eyes? An India of Naxalism, an India of Political mishaps, an India were the problems like Poverty and Illiteracy haven’t been answered fully yet, an India you live in now.
Another Independence Day is looming on us; the 15^th of this month will be the 64^th of its kind, marking the independence of the nation from all foreign states, troops, lords and rules. Back then a colonial state or rather a colony which had internal kingdoms fighting out the British for their individual glories, a handful of selfless national leaders rose above others and as struggles continued and as lives were taken, on the 15^th of August 1947, the foreigners stepped out from our land. The struggles for survival and independence unified people more than anything and India as a nation was born and sadly broken away from it was the Muslim state- Pakistan. 
Surely enough, the story has changed over the past 63 years and now, with increasing number of governmental talks and military deals between India and the world powers like USA, many get a sense of feeling (or a wrong sense?) that we as a nation is being wanted and more attention is coming from the international fraternity than ever back in the history, we start questioning ourselves, are we a Superpower now?
I wish there was a gauge like in those computer games, that printed out in the screen, “Mission ‘India a Super Power’ – 49% completed”. Because people are more interested to know if India has crossed the line or not, in becoming a super power, many without even knowing what the two words jointly meant.
To the question, are we a super power now, all I have to say is I wouldn’t want another nation to become a super power if becoming super power is about reaching the juncture India are in, right now!
Naxalism taking lives in the north east, cross-border terrorism and insurgency in Kashmir, an ever degrading national airline- Air India which finds the headline space of every newspaper and news channel for a wrong reason or the other, and so far and so forth. Let alone the Naxalism and Terrorism and Insurgency and an Air India which can be improvised with improved management and better budgets, there is another thing which is much more dangerous than all these, Politics.
Politics, day in and day out, is becoming the cheapest game in the nation, one in which the citizens have lost their faiths in. The politicians now are not ashamed to play the worst of the tricks for bulking their pockets but then a question arises in my mind. Would the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, A R Rahman & Shahrukh Khan have all been this famous and loved by the whole nation but for their wealth and the amazing cars that they drove? Of course!! They are stars and they have this stardom as a result of their hard works and efforts over a prolonged period of time and our politicians should take a leaf out of their lives and start doing something sensible, honest for the betterment of life in this nation, and not for improving the furniture in their own homes. Then, only then shall the nation start believing in their politicians, only then shall a politician be respected. One billion people shall cherish the names of those sincere politicians who bring about a change to this nation.
There is a Malayalam folk song about the days of Mahabali in power; it goes on like this,
Maaveli naadu vaaneedum kaalam…. (When Mahabali used to be the king of this land….)
Maanushar ellaarum onnu pole…. (People all are equal, no rich man, no lower caste….)
Aamodathode vasikkum kaalam…. (When people lived happily….)
and it went on…
Would it be too much of an ambition for me to see such a dream? A day, when India as a whole is united to the tiniest of aspects, when people live happily beyond all doubts. Will we ever have such a national leader, a President or a Prime Minister who unites us all, like the legendary Mahabali?
We the people of India have to make the change, speak the change, induct the change and feel the change, by and through our actions. Filmmakers should make meaningful and thoughtful films, because we the people watch them. Writers have to write the change because we the people read them. Singers should sing the change and poets should rhyme the change. Radios, Tv’s & newspapers have all to spread the change, not as just another option, but as their Choice. Leaders have to come up and take up the responsibilities and work for the future, not to bulk up their pockets, but to make the nation a better one, for the wealth of the nation and then the state shall salute him, the people will respect him and his stories shall be told for generations by mothers and grandparents to the kids, for them to watch and grow.
I ask every one of you to pledge to this national cause, to initiate the change, not just to make India a super power, but more importantly to ensure that a father can send his daughter to a faraway university without fear, to ensure that the morning newspaper no longer have stories written in blood, to ensure that everyone, despite their color and creed and religion and caste and sex gets a chance to study what they like, do what they like and live the life they dreamt of…
Jai Hind!!

The Story of a Football Frenzied State!

This isn’t the first time that I am returning home from my university across the borders, but this will surely go down as the first time, the very first time that something amazes me the way it happened this time. Town to Town, Junction to Junction, there were these posters and banners, huge ones, of the soccer kings of the world. Messi was their god and Kaka the king. There were not many empty spaces left by the roadside or the hearts of the people, for the Kings and Queens of the Malayalam and Tamil film worlds. Yes, there were not many posters of upcoming Malayalam or Tamil movies but Argentine and Brazil football kings found spaces in every nuke and corner of the state.

My mind questioned my memory for similar incidents in Indian Cricket, if any at all, when the stars and the team found poster spaces in tiny towns and not many trace backs were found, nothing of this magnitude for sure, except those of the life sized stars like Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni or except when India won the World T-20 cup 3 years ago. Cricket definitely has a space in the hearts of the nation, but that’s for & with a reason, that they are the number one in it, which sadly ain’t the case with football, it’s just their love for the sport, for the ball, the field and the golden stars of it from halfway across the globe.

Argentina and Brazil may not have reached the finals, but I am sure the stars from Spain and Netherlands ended up winning more fans in their last few weeks of good fortune and hard work, than the rest of their lifetimes, millions of fresh fans and aspirers from a tiny state, the country of the god, Kerala.

Four years from now, when football starts rolling again in the grounds of Brazil, when the high tides of madness about football brushes the hearts of people, i wish if we were, the people of India, presented with a gift, that of a single nation to cheer about, a single flag and a single poster to post across the walls of the nation and a single name to chant in the hearts of the billions of people, that of India and the national football team fighting it out with the mighty big fishes of football for one single glory.

A Tragic Comedy! Beware of Thieves!

Being collage-goers, (Okay, in case you haven’t been to collage yet, or you are too old to rewind your memories back to those collage days, step into my shoes and feel the world!!) we thrive for every extra Rupee, Dollar, Ringgit, Yuan, Euro .. (Okay…Stop it Naveen!! You’re not giving a lecture on world currencies) .. so what ever be the currency, we thrive for that extra buck, so that we could add that T-shirt we liked very much, the one we thought  better suits us than that lifeless plastic model at the mall, or we could own that book you love so much, so that we can read a live & real book and not a pirated electronic copy. You would also want to go to cinema with your friends or go for a date with your girlfriend or even have your favorite burger at the KFC.


So imagine your papa giving you, say Rs5000 since he had a good day at business. You suddenly start planning under your study lamp on how to spend it and what you want to eat and what you are going to buy and what not! The next evening after your class, you are all charged up and excited. You set off to the best mall in a crowded city bus, and soon discovers that you had been pick pocket and your purse and with it the valuable Rs 5000 is gone.

Think of those few moments, the 5000 bucks with which you had planned a lot has been lost. It had just vanished into thin air. Its if those hours of planning and happiness that passed by were all just a dream? You feel bad, as if your girlfriend had just ditched you! The first couple of seconds pass by, silently and dejected. Next you find yourself cursing, not cursing yourself as in “ I am an idiot. Should’ve cared it better…” you would rather be saying “ That idiot who took my money is not going to enjoy it...he who stole my purse should be run over by a vehicle..Idiot!!..”

Imagine how it would be like to lose Rs 50,000 or a possession of yours worth that sum. Say your laptop. For a guy like me staying abroad, and that too in the strangest of all countries, China, a laptop is like the bread ‘n butter of your life. You want to watch a movie of your choice, want to chat with your friends around the world, want to listen to the songs of your choice, want a platform to save those things or files or study tools of yours, everything points down to this laptop and how would you feel about losing it?
This isn't imagination anymore, its neither a story nor a comedy, its a tragic truth. In the recent past, my friends here have lost 8 mobile phones, 3 cycle, and 2 laptops. The phones were not those random Chinese duplicates. They were brand new I-Phones, N-series & Sony-Ericsson’s. The cycle was brand new, and it was stolen being locked at the cycle garage. Many of them had saved money for long, to buy those beautiful and aspiring models, and they ended up losing it on a fine morning.



Its a worry for every international student out here now. We do everything we are supposed to do. We lock our rooms, but how about they open the rooms at night and take it from your side when you are fast asleep? Can you cuddle with your laptop,hiding it by your chest while at sleep? Can you put your mobiles in your pockets while sleeping?? It would have been okay if the laptop had fallen from your hands and damaged, or you left it unattended at the class room and lost it, you can curse yourself for your ill-care, but what did they do wrong, to see their laptop stolen one fine morning??


The worst part is that in the surveillance camera, we found a lady coming up at an odd hour and going back with a laptop, and gave this video to the police, and all they said was that they had never seen this lady, and that they didn't identify her. Is this any kind of explanation? Or is it because being foreigners, they don’t mind if we lose things? Letters and complaints have been sent on a daily basis to the University, Police and even the Embassies, but the guys who lost the laptop are left alone, with like a part of their body cut off. How would you summarize these loses? Their bad lucks? Their ill-fates?? Their bad times??? Or would you rather say that the guy stole it had a good time and he was lucky and it was his fate to get a laptop for free, or that he rightly deserves the money he got after selling it??

I know these words of frustration aren’t going to bring back their lost laptops and mobiles. I am just trying to make some people if not everyone aware of this dangerous epidemic. Keep your things safe and don’t indulge in any of this. Stealing is one of the worst habits, even if it is a cookie from a shop. Everyone should try spreading this word, atleast to a person if not everyone, so that you can sleep peacefully ensured that your mobiles and laptops and vehicles are yours even tomorrow.