Its awards galore!

1 award each from Meghana and Raji whoa!

am honestly floored and am kinda basking in its glory ;)

The first one's is the Honest Scrap award  from none other than Meghana
http://megzone.wordpress.com/2010/02/25/honesty-honours/

A big thank you to you!!!!

 Rules to accept the award:

1. Thank the person giving you this award
2. Copy the award to your blog.
3. place a link to their blog
4. Name 7 tidbits people don’t know about you from reading your blog.
5. Nominate 10 Bloggers.
6. Place a link to those Blogger.
7. Leave a comment letting those Bloggers know about the award.

Here are 7 tidbits that people might not know about me from my posts

1. Sleep - I love sleeping. A champion when it comes to sleep.
2. Languages - Bad at languages. With the exception of English which is can be considered as passable, the rest gets the mix of all the languages that I know so far ;)
3. Movies - am not a movie buff. But make it a point to watch all the movies that my friends recommend. ;)
4. Poems - Would to love to compose more poems instead of the drab emails that I compose day-in and ay-out.  Hope this blog sees more of poems soon!
5. Deadlines - Somehow I love deadlines. Not that I would be dancing with deadlines round the corner. Love the tense atmosphere just before the deadline when achieving it comes in question.
6. Inquisitive - Love poking my head into things that are completely useless to me. The curosity of knowing how things work or what circumstances caused a particular event always gets me. Thats where all the political news come from.
7. Technology - passionate about technology. But not very keen on gadgets. I would go with  a gadget only if I have a requirement. So the gadgets that I have may not be the latest nor the best. It may only be just right.

Second is the Happy Blogger's award from the master of Shape Poetry - The Princess - Raji
http://destinychildosheen.blogspot.com/2010/02/of-random-rambling-and-awards.html

Rules to accept the award:

1. Link to the person who gave it to you
2. List 10 things that make you happy
3. Pass it on to 10 happy bloggers
4. Notify the nominees about this Happy Award.

10 things that make me happy -

1. A good deep sleep - You have to be happy to be the true champion
2. Sports - am always game for it
3. Books - love reading new things all the time
4. Blogs
5. Friends - friends anytime :)
6. Teaching - Even when I have to give a small KT, I would be delighted ;)
7. Taking people's cases - although am not very good at it but do give a try with some friends (Read Himanshu :P)
8. Poking around - finding new ways of looking at things
9. Twilights - Sunrise, sunset and the clear blue skies :)
10. Good old hindi songs - espescially when I am coming back from work

 
Whew! Now I pass on the Honesty award and the Happy Blogger award to the following bloggers.

1. Himanshu - http://himanshukoshe.wordpress.com/ - At par with the best when it comes to movie reviews. A thumbs-up from him brings the movie to my must-watch list.
2. Arun - http://arun-bohemianwanderer.blogspot.com/ - Watch out his comic stripes. He can make the dead laugh if they can see ;)
3. Sudhakar - http://idlivadasambar.wordpress.com/  - Home to some delicious breakfast here of a different kind ;)
4. Saurabh Nair -  http://nairsaurabh.blogspot.com/ - Quizzes, Finance and business new - the place to be.
5. Nethra - http://otioseopinions.blogspot.com/ - For a dose of fiction
6. Farida Rizwan - http://www.chaptersfrommylife.blogspot.com/ - A story of surviving cancer
7. Subups - http://subups.blogspot.com/ - The bike rider riding in God's own country
8. Ajit - http://proclamationofsoul.blogspot.com/ Although he won't like this, but he is an honest blogger.
9. Merlin - http://www.merlinfrancanto.com/ - Photography - this is the place
10. Gary - http://somephilosophywilldonoharm.blogspot.com/ - Do blog more dude!

Happy Blogging!!!

The Star Award Winners!

Megz - The poet, shayar, the music reviewer, the book reviewer and the master of BeeJays has awarded me the Star Award. This is my first award! Danke Megz!!!! I am floored!

Rules of Accepting the Award: Pass the award to those in your blog roll.
So here are my blog-rolled friends to whom I present the Award

1. Vikram Nandwani
2. Sowmini
3. Shilpa Garg
4. Sree
5. Sourabh
6. Narayani
7. Pallav
8. Raji
9. Edrea
10. Revs
11. Gary
12. Abhishek
13. Nero
14. Ajit
15. Tavish
16. Sreeram

Congrats to you all! Your blogs have made my day on countless occasions. So cheer on!
Keep Blogging! :)

Lets go to war!!

Courtesy:http://whitewhaletheatre.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/nuke-war-h0011.jpg

 

Day 1

The recent terrorist attack on Pune coupled with the outrage felt across India, the Indian government declares a limited offensive against Pakistan

 

• to protect India's sovereignity against the terrorists based in Pakistan
• to dismantle the terror infrastructure across the border
• to ensure its citizens are safe and do not have to fear the terrorists

Majority of India supported it. India calls up Obama and tells US to stay away from it as the issue is between India & Pakistan and the situation deals with the right of India's sovereignty, just as US sovereignty was attacked during the 9/11 attack.

Suddenly Pakistan wakes up from lazy confidence that India will not attack it and Pakistani PM Zilani with a brave front declares - let India attack and we will show them what Pakistan is.

Meanwhile the maulas of Pakistan calls all the people in the name of Islam to unite and fight against Hindu India. Zilani calls up Obama for his support against India. Obama says US is committed to maintain peace across the globe. China declares India as the aggressor and it declares it will protect Pakistan against any Indian aggression.

 

Europe declares the issue can be resolved with talks and India should not go to war. A hurried meeting of UN Security Council is held and the permanent members of the Security Council declare India cannot go to war with Pakistan.

The Pentagon simulates the different war scenarios between the two countries and declares all different scenario point out towards a nuclear war. The whole world is tensed. 

 

Day 2

The Indian army fires the first shot across the border and shells start getting exchanged on the border. World Bank threatens India that it will stop its aid for various projects. Indian army starts advancing in the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Pakistan now moves its soldiers from its western front in Afghanistan towards its Indian border.

Day 5

The US army now without the backing of Pakistan army feels itself insecure. Now the war has a direct impact on US interests and it wants to avoid any conflict in this region. It threatens India with punitive action; India does not pull back its soldiers.

China with its string of Pearls against India deploys its nuclear submarine in the Indian Ocean and declares of its intention if India does not pull-back immediately. US ask India to exercise caution

.

 

Day 15

US put its own vessel targeting India. It announces that it is to prevent India attacking Karachi through the seas. Meanwhile, India's lone friend Russia threatens US of any aggression against India would result in Russia coming in.

At the home front, the prospect of bloody war, cause the Foreign Institutional Investors (FII) to flee the country tanking the sensex over a 500 points till the trading was suspended. The market loses confidence on India story and a frenetic selling starts happening. Fearing a short of essential food-items, the cost of vegetables and grains shoot through the roof.

 

Day 25

Expecting further deterioration of supplies, the traders started holding stock to sell at a higher rate. Government intervenes and RBI releases money from its coffers. This in turn increased inflation. With millions going towards war-effort, the other businesses will start feeling the pinch.. The economy would be impacted.

The Pakistani army general discusses a possible nuclear attack on India, if US and China does not make India retreat. Pakistani PM is under immense pressure to deploy a nuclear bomb from the Maulas for whom a nuclear bomb deter India from its advances It sends out an SOS to US and China about its intentions....

• During the course of the 25 days - the following things also occurs
• On TV, debates raged of the possible pros and cons of war with Government fiercely defending its decision. In the international community, India stood isolated on its stand with a possible Russia supporting it. Indian army was fast advancing through the PoK region.
• International community voices concerns over and over against India
• A thousand more jihadis are born seeing the war to defeat India
• The neighbours get nervous. Any nuclear strike will impact millions across the sub-continent including the neighbouring countries.
• Initial euphoria of the war will pass away and people will want to get over with the war soon so that they resume their normal lives.
• India will become permanently hyphenated with Pakistan.
• India will remain in the world's eyes the aggressor, even though India would have suffered colossal loss including the lives lost during the pre-war time
• Pakistan will receive billions of aid while India will only get sanctions.
• Taliban on the other hand will get a reprieve and they would re-group after the war and come at US stronger.
• The Pakistan civil society will become completely anti-India and army will be back in power.

 

Other scenario

 

• China will start attacking India, opening up a second front. US though reluctant will join China to thwart a nuclear war. Russia and Europe may come in, to ensure the stability of region is maintained.

 

Even if India captures the PoK region, a huge re-building effort will be needed. Needless to say India will have to woo back the investors and it will be some time before the pre-war era comes back. Terrorism will not end. In fact a new fresh would be formed between the two countries which can invoke thousand more jihads. Eventually this is what the terrorists want we would be playing directly into their hands.

 

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

The above scenario can get worse or even better. The point is war is not an easy thing. It definitely will put the nation back and the probability that terror will cease to exist is zilch as terrorism does not always originate from Pakistan. There host of other places it can come. Looking at all this, it never justifies going to war. However, talks help. Not in the short run though, but definitely in the long run.

 

The terrorists are throwing the gauntlet at us. We can improve our internal security to an extent we can prevent such dastardly attacks. Meanwhile a continuous dialogue, will weaken the terrorist claim - that India is against Pakistan or even Islam. Probably India improving trade and helping it to grow economically may have better impacts as the number of people signing up for jihad will at least reduce seeing the economic prosperity. India cannot grow alone. It has a shared history with Pakistan and probably will have to ensure Pakistan shares the destiny it wants to have for itself.

 

PS: The scenario that has been played out is similar to the one that happened during the 1971 war. See References. Also the impact on economy wasn't substantial during the previous wars, yet India is now more than ever before integrated with global economy and the perception of businesses do matter.

 

References

1. 
   
   String of Pearls - www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/PUB721.pdf
2. 
   
   1971 War Details - http://www.expressindia.com/news/ie/daily/19990312/iex12093.html
3. 
   
   Time magazine coverage of 1971 war - http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,878970,00.html
4. 
   
   Economic cost of war - http://www.thehindu.com/2002/01/05/stories/2002010501261000.htm

My First Love!!!

There she was. I had known her ever since I can remember. Most part of my childhood was spent with her. When I was with her, my mind would just go on and explore her coutless little features. When I was not with her, I would be recounting the time spent with her. My friends were also mad about her. They had also fallen for her. And so have a million others. She had her rules. Yet the rules always produced different ways of approaching her. What's on her mind even the greatest observers could not tell. To everyone, she showed a different feature and everyday we would try to decipher this new feature. My friends told me she can never be mine as so many others felt the same too. Yet my child-like enthusiasm blinded what my rational mind tried to tell me. Love is blind; I learnt much later. So true like a man in love, I tried to meet her, tried to impress her with my skills, tried to learn the zillion expressions she had so that for one moment I can find what her mind thinks. I courted her day and night for when she was with me, I felt alive. I felt this is the greatest moment in my life. I lived in this esctatic state for years. I met her daily to feel her, to make myself live another day. However, as in every Hindi movie, you always have a villian.

Here it was studies. I tried first to manage both. In the beginning I was successful. As the years piled on, I was seeing more of studies and less and less of her. I was thinking about her, whenever I could find time for she was always there, waiting for me to come and meet her. Slowly and steadily, the daily meet was reduced to weekly meets, and then the meets disappeared. Still I was able to look at her, adored her intricacies that I had fantasized for so long. I could look at her continuously sometimes secretely sometimes openly.

As I was getting used to this, then came another villain which is so non-Bollywood. This was Work. Now I had to leave my city and had to go away from her. For months I could not see her. Sometimes during a year, I would get a chance to meet her for a while and phoosh! She would vanish, citing some or the other reason. As seeing her became rarer and meeting still rarer, my hopes started diminishing. These days, I can only read about her what my friends say. Sometimes I can see her online updates or descriptions of her from some new fool. So I wait these days, hoping against hope for a miracle....

So thats my story of Valentine day. Ending this on a quote by some guy like me -

"You can never forget your first love"

PS: Guess who she is. A hint - she shares her name with a type of insect
Wishing you all

Happy Valentine's day

At least in U.S. people would have just woken up to it. :)
This is my offering on Carnival of Love hosted by Megz.

Updated on 18th Feb:
She is the game of cricket.

What if

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 7; the seventh 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.

What if we found out that humans themselves are aliens and does not belong to earth...

Image courtesy: http://swimbert.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/guru.jpg

This profound but intriguing thought came to none other than this guy who sits in almost a meditation inside a jungle (concrete jungle that is) looking absently at a 14" screen ahead of him. Suddenly he lifts up his head from the meditation causing screen, looking disturb. The years of twidling on an article having projections that resemble perfectly shaped ancient stones, but built of a material that is considered ages ahead of the stone-age has never disturbed his meditation. He also has a servant, though which helps him go through the screen. It is the humanly created incarnation of Lord Ganesha's faithful mouse. Despite all this, he was disturbed today. Disturbed for the first time after years of meditation in front of hi screen His disciples, sensing something wrong with the constant muttering of a four letter word, tried slowly to open a conversation with the Master. The Master considered speech an anomaly and he only communicated his ideas through the projections containing article. But today it was different - Finally disciples saw after ages the red, sunk in eyes of their master who in as many time as they can remembered had never lifted his gaze towards them. It was like Lord Shiva's third eye has opened..

Disciple(D) - What is it Master?

Master(M) - Where do you think you are from?

D - I am from this planet called earth where a million screens blink, and there are thousands twidling of ancient stones, where words are not read, but only written on the screen, where masters like you guide the humble servants in their search for meaning of life.



M - Where is your father from?

D - from the same land - where a million screens blink, and there are thousands twidling of ancient stones, where words are not read, but only written on the screen, where masters like you guide the humble servants in their search for meaning of life.



M - And your father's father?

D - from the same land - where a million screens blink, and there are thousands twidling of ancient stones, where words are not read, but only written on the screen, where masters like you guide the humble servants in their search for meaning of life.

M - and his father


D - from the same land..



M - so where does this all begin?

D - I don't understand. um.. is there something wrong master?



M - (now smiling) are you sure, your father's father and his father's and all his ancestors are from this land.

D – Yes



M - How do you know?

D - Well - Otherwise, how would they come?



M - (slowly lifting his index finger like people wearing white-coat while one around him would be screaming and a guy looking like a person who is in war looks tenatively at this white-coat guy)...

D - from outside



M - yes.

D - how could they?



M - can they not?

D - yes. But that does not change anything, does it?



M - Think about it.

D - I don't understand



M - Do you believe in GOD?

D - Yes



M - What shape do you picture Him, when you think of him?

D - Form would be like us, and face would be enlightened.



M - But if something comes from outside, would it be something like us?

D - of course not.



M - Then what about all the religions

D - religions will remain the same..



M - and GOD?

D - well GOD still exist but not in the way they are picturised by us.



M - so now you are saying that the GOD is an alien?

D - if we have come from outside, then GOD would also come from outside.



M - what would happen to religion?

D - they would be come invalid



M - you sure?

D - the concept of GOD changes, so religions would also be affected.



M - so do the religions depend on the kind of GOD they are following?

D - the tenets of religions contains principles and these prinicples for all religion remain the same..



M - so then the religion, you or me follows still remain the same?

D - It should. What we consider as GOD is a possibly an creation of ours only.



M - Then why are people fighting over religion? (looks back to the screen - the disciple is left in thought.)



Master suddenly looks up from the screen



M - so then does GOD become irrelevant?

D - yeah, whatever the case may be, the principles are important. We can relegate GOD to second position.



M - then why do people believe in GOD?

D - so that in extraordinary circumstances, when we feel alone, we need something that would help us in overcoming a challenging situation. We feel that something from outside, a super-human being can help us out of it.



M - but some people doesn't look towards Gods. They look somewhere else.

D - They believe in themselves. They don't feel the external assistance is needed.



M - Isn't the two beliefs lead to the same solution? Believing in our ownselves or believing in some super-human being whose existence is not confirmed to achieve the same task - of overcoming our challenges?

D - yes



M - so practically can I say, there is no GOD? saying this the master got back to his meditation and never looked up....

PS: I am not an atheist. Its only some of the questions that come to my mind that got published. I had earlier published the same ideas but in a very different way in my company's blog. So all my friends there will relate to it and will possibly bear with me :). I also got this idea from arecent news that a scientist thought we did not come from aliens.

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.

The First Month of the Decade!

The first month of the decade just flew by and interesting is the only word that I could conjure up to describe it. Jan 2010 courted controversy - the bread and butter for folks like me who are always on the look-out for interesting stuff.

A disclaimer - This post contains material that may not appeal to sensitivities of all people. So exercise caution and if you feel, you are sensitive, you are advised in your best interests to stop reading further.

Here goes the snippets of month gone by -

Tiger Tiger. burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye.
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies.
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire? - William Blake

1. Tiger Woods - No explanations needed here. The saddest part was the media. What Tiger Woods does in his personal life is his personal life. Media instead went all guns blazing... Latest reports coming in - John Terry - Chelsea defender - is not far behind


2. Aman ki Asha - A commendable initiative by Times of India to bring peace between India and Pakistan. A lot of people laugh at this initiative (myself included) especially after 26/11 and thereafter. However, we have fought to resolve for more than 50 years. Why not give peace that much time?


3. No Pakistani players were bought in IPL auction-3. This is exactly what we do not want and what the extremists want. As a journalist said, the Indo-Pak politics is the barometer of the cricket ties. I would put the blame for the fiasco on Hand-of-God.(read government)


4. Indian Hockey Players - No pay, no play. Another low for Indian sports just before the Hockey World Cup. Hockey players were never given their dues citing no funds. Funds started coming in from everywhere to help them. Yet the federation simply gave them the choice - nation or pay. Ironically yet expected, federation was more bothered about the upcoming elections rather than world cup.


5. Global Warming - Happening or another money making machine. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) goofed up big time in its report on Himalayan glaciers. Surprisingly Michael Crichton's State of Fear also talks about the manipulation of data by the NGOs working on Climate Change to divert funds. So what about Global Warming - Author's take - "In this world, there is enough for everybody's need but not enough for anybody's greed." - Mahatma Gandhi. Efficient and effective utilization of natural resources with minimal wastage and afforestation. In the long run an holistic approach towards development without exploitation of natural resources may well be the trump card for sustainable growth.


6. Pakistan cricket team - "You need to be a superman to lead Pakistan." Geoffrey Boycott on cricinfo. Its sad to see a bunch of such talented cricketers under-performing. Bad for Pakistan and bad for cricket. Probably a cricket series with India can help them ;). Cricket is the only secular religion both countries follow religiously.


7. Sensex - It started on a high note but then just went southwards. This was despite the fact that 2010 would be better. Sensex always prove one thing right. Whatever the level of maturity, people still are moody and have wild mood swings. Another, observation - when sensex, you read the business page of newspaper, you will see profits of companies going up and when it goes down, most company reporting results will be showing loss or less than expected growth. Is it something psychological or am just selectively seeing???
   
8. Telangana - a call for separate statehood or is it a call for development by the marginalised portion of Indian society. Government have simply tried to diffuse it by creating a committee. Author's take - Seeing the development of the newly forged states does make sense to have smaller states. However, the manageability of a state should be the criteria and not the others. Else there is a danger of turning the entire country into small states - much like the small kingdoms that ruled before the Britishers coming in.


9. Meghalaya - A tale of two CMs. Since its inception, only two chief ministers could last out their entire 5-year term. This is other end of spectrum when state size is concerned. To quell instability, a decision has been made to create two CMs. Indian democracy performing wonders. A lot to come on this front.


10. The Hottest - Bal Thackeray - A saffron-clad lunatic commanding such power who may not be even fit to read this entire post is the most feared person in Bombay (Mumbai to be politically correct) even when people have voted him out. Such is the intricacies of Indian democracy. Probably he has read Dylan Thomas' poem - Do not go gentle into that good night, so he is making noises. Cricket, bollywood, industry - everything is suffering. But the noises have taken out the fizzle out of Raj Thackeray. Poor guy is now busy defining who a Marthi-manoos is. Salute to SRK, AK, MA here. They haven't bowed before him. Or have they? SRK has not. That's a good sign. We need somebody to stand up to lunatics. Sadly people in power don't think it is their responsibility. Again the Shiv Sainiks were arrested when they marched towards AK's residence. Nobody touched the Tiger. You can read an Unposted letter to him here


11. FedEx pockets his 16th Grand Slam title beating Andy Murray. It was perfection personified. Its a privilege to see him play. Frankly only Nadal can test the perseverance of perfection in Federer. Else nobody can beat him on current form. Good news for Indian fans too. Leander Paes wins his 11th career grand slam title in doubles, catching up with Mahesh Bhupathi.


12. Apple launches I-Pad. Was not much impressed by its features. It has all the features of IPhone minus the phone and plus the e-book reader. Probably once it comes into the market and reviews from early adopters may fuel.


13. Google threatens to quit from China after some of the accounts of human rights activists were hacked by Chinese hackers and remove censorships by the Chinese government. The red-dragon has derived its power by blocking everything which is uncomfortable. Google just stands for the opposite. It was inevitable sparks would fly some day.


14. China banned Avtar for fear of popular uprising. Clearly the Dragon is feeling insecure. The Indian elephant at least doesn't have to worry about this. Else I would not be able to write such posts. True value of Indian Democracy.


15. Racial attacks against Indian in Down Under - Though it is sad to see racism against Indians, India cannot preach anti-racism to Australia. Racism is a form of discrimination. And most of us discriminate against fellow-Indians all the time based on religion, caste, region. Attacks against north Indians is just another example. Who are we who cannot stop discrimination in our own country against our own fellow-man, ask somebody else to stop discrimination against us in their country?


16. Bihar clocks second fastest growth after Gujarat. CM Nitish Kumar definitely should be given a pat on his back. Another example of effectiveness of Democracy - People voted out Lalu Prasad Yadav and growth in return.
    
    
17. After the stinging loss in to Democrats, Obama turns populist. Talks of stopping tax breaks to US companies who outsource. But the actual impact on IT seems to be minimal, as many US companies depend on getting services from India like IBM, Accenture. So US in its own interest may not implement it.

There is still a lot of news to cover. For example the earthquake in Haiti, Indo-Bangladesh test series, CPM Jyoti Basu passed away, three-idiots, where all wazz not well, Kumbh Mela, etc. But citing the length of the post, other news were given lower precedence. Really thank Sree, for his posts do give me lot of food for thought and also new types of post. This idea too from Sree's monthly rants :)

Do drop in your comments about the special news edition. Do let me know if a monthly edition of news does sound a good idea or not? Leaving on climatic note -